File photo of United Regional Health Care System.
SHARE Kashif Siddiqui, MD, Pearland I am currently practicing medicine in Houston. During 2009-2012, I was a resident physician at Wichita falls Residency Program. After reading an article that "United Regional Hospital is Parting ways with Residency Program," I am feeling that not only the residency program itself but the Wichitians as a community, were betrayed in a way that the decision to discontinue the joint program was errantly and too quickly made. The Wichita Falls Family Medicine Residency Program in association with the United Regional Hospital started 1976. Over the years, many great physicians have come out of this program. As you know, many are still serving the city, and 100 percent are passing board exams after finishing successful training. I feel myself lucky and privileged to train under the leadership of a great teacher, a physician and most important a very humble person Dr Ahmed Mattar. He not only dedicated his valuable time to the program over a private practice but also preferred to stay within the community. Under the direction of Dr Mattar, this program has evolved in many different ways and met abilities to train high-quality physicians. Nothing is more disappointing than the reasoning itself behind the discontinuation, After I graduated from this program in 2012, I was accepted for Fellowship program at one of the nation's best institution - Baylor College of Medicine, Houston TX. It was all because of Standard and Quality of training I received during my residency training. While our country is facing some challenges with health care access, and insurance reforms, Wichita Falls area citizens are totally dismayed and surprised at the recent news of discontinuing of this notable joint medical residency program which has served the city so well for more than 36 years, including indigent population. It would appear a reasonable request for the Hospital CEO and Board to take a step back and reconsider the decision. Thank you for your consideration on this critical matter. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate TROY Hudson Valley Community College wants to help you take to the skies. The school has partnered with a drone flight training academy out of Canandaigua called SkyOp to offer a three-day course that helps prepare people to get their federal drone certification. The course costs $1,499 which includes a small remote-controlled drone and will be held on three Saturdays from July 23 to Aug. 6. The classes run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. those days. An information session on the course is from 11 a.m. to noon June 21 at the Fitzgibbons Health Technologies Center on the school's Troy campus. More for you Unique courses you can take at local colleges Small, lightweight drones are increasingly being used commercially by wedding photographers, real estate agents, construction and security companies. The course, which has been held at other community colleges upstate, targets those who want to get federal certification for commercial use. Eric Bryant, a spokesman for HVCC, says the course is well timed because the Federal Aviation Administration is getting ready to release new rules this month that could make certification for small commercial users easier and more streamlined. Certification now takes several months and costs $5 and requires a training course that runs about $150, according to the FAA. There are different rules for "hobby" use of drones and the use by government entities. "The commercial potential for the use of drones is astounding; it will literally transform industries," said Brian Pitre, co-owner of SkyOp. "The challenge is there is so much more to know than buying a drone and trying to fly it in your backyard. There are a variety of systems and components to learn, safety concerns, regulations and more to know before taking to the sky." HVCC says to call 629-4111 or email workforce@hvcc.edu for more information on the course. lrulison@timesunion.com 518-454-5504 @larryrulison Olivier Meslay, associate director of curatorial affairs at the Dallas Museum of Art and a longtime former curator at the Louvre, has been appointed director of the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Mass. His unanimous election by the board of directors caps an international search following the retirement of Michael Conforti last August. Since then, Francis Oakley has served as interim. Meslay will assume his new post in August. The appointment was announced Tuesday. "For me, the most important thing is to keep what makes the Clark so great and to try to not only maintain but strengthen the excellence of each of its components," he said in a phone interview. "That means the museum, the collection, the research and academic program, the graduate program, but also something which is very important to me: the natural environment of the plot. ... I would like to explore more what the relationship between the Clark and the environment might be." More Information In Dallas, Meslay has overseen the museum's vast American and European collection and managed its research library and conservation program. He also served as interim director from 2011-2012. Previously, in his 17-year tenure at the Louvre, his work included overseeing British, American and Spanish paintings, curating the regional-branch Louvre-Lens project and organizing exhibits Sir Edmund Davis, William Hogarth, American artists and others. See More Collapse In addition, he said, he hopes to "strengthen the relationship the Clark has with all the institutions that are around the Clark and in Berkshire County, because I think that's a vital part of the area," he said, noting MASS MoCA as an example. In Dallas, Meslay has overseen the museum's vast American and European collection and managed its research library and conservation program. He also served as interim director from 2011-2012. Previously, in his 17-year tenure at the Louvre, his work included overseeing British, American and Spanish paintings, curating the regional-branch Louvre-Lens project and organizing exhibits on Sir Edmund Davis, William Hogarth, American artists and others. Honored as a Chevalier des Arts et Lettres by the French government in 2009, Meslay has also authored several books, including 2014's "Mind's Eye: Masterworks on Paper from David to Cezanne" and two on English landscape painter J.M.W. Turner. Meslay assumes directorship of the Clark two years after the museum reopened with an expanded and renovated facility featuring a new, Tadao Ando-designed visitor center. Since then, the institute has drawn increased attention and crowds with blockbuster exhibits on Whistler's Mother, Van Gogh and nature and, currently, Old Master "Nudes from the Prado." Meslay and his wife, art historian and French sculptor scholar Laure de Margerie, first visited the Clark in 1993, while he was serving as intern for the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. He recalls being struck by the institute's intimate collection and rural setting. "It was even more powerful than bigger collections because you see that in a completely different environment," he said. In 2000-2001, they spent a year at the Clark as fellows in its Research and Academic Program. "It was clear from the very beginning that he had a deep affinity for the Clark and for the unique relationship between our museum and research programs," Oakley said in a statement. He added that Meslay's "passion for the Clark and for Williamstown and the Berkshires, combined with his extraordinary scholarship and leadership, hold great promise for the future." abiancolli@timesunion.com 518-454-5439 BETHLEHEM Instead of a traditional senior prank, graduating Bethlehem High School students did something a little different this week: they organized a call for peace, decorating the school with signs and pinwheels in an impromptu and moving tribute to victims of the massacre at an Orlando club. "There was a lot of talk on social media but of all the ideas we had we settled on doing something positive," said Desiree Larivee, a Class of 2016 organizer. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Editor's note: Joshua Scism's name was misspelled in an earlier version of this story. A city man was fatally shot Monday afternoon by a plainclothes Schenectady police detective after pointing a gun at him and his partner on a Mont Pleasant street, according to police. The victim was identified as Joshua Scism, who lived on First Avenue near the scene of the shooting that took place shortly before 5:15 p.m. Police say Scism, 33, approached the detectives as they sat in their parked car near the intersection of First Avenue and Sunset Street. The detectives and Scism briefly exchanged words, and police say that as Scism walked away, he lifted his shirt showing a handgun in his waistband, which prompted the cops to get out of their car. The detectives identified themselves as police and drew their weapons, police said. Scism then allegedly pulled his gun and pointed it at the cops before one of them fired several rounds at him. Police said it was not immediately clear if Scism fired his gun. He was taken to Ellis Hospital, where he later died of his injuries. The crime scene was being processed late Monday night. Police say they will release the names of the detectives involved in the shooting sometime Tuesday. Albany A former Watervliet High School student who had a sexual relationship with ex-police Officer Joshua Spratt is suing him, the city of Watervliet and school officials in U.S. District Court. A 16-page complaint filed Monday in U.S. District Court contends school officials and Watervliet police looked the other way as Spratt was "grooming at least three students," including the plaintiff, at Watervliet High School. The girl was 17 when Spratt, a married father of three, repeatedly had sex with her between April 19, 2015 and May 24, 2015, court papers state. "He used his position of trust to build a relationship with young girls that he then lured and coerced into illegal sexual relationships," according to the lawsuit, filed by the girl's attorney, Ryan Finn. It alleges city and school officials knew about Spratt's misdeeds "yet no action was taken to stop the behavior." The lawsuit alleges negligence, personal injury, pain and suffering, severe emotional distress, gender discrimination and sexual exploitation. The suit alleges that five school employees expressed concern Spratt was "flirting and getting too close to female students, yet the school district chose not to do anything because it felt like it could not act on 'rumors' or 'speculation.'" And it states that several Watervliet police officers, lieutenants, and supervisors allegedly knew about Spratt's relationships with students and did not report the behavior. The girl suing Spratt was the legal age of consent at the time. Last November, Spratt, 35, pleaded guilty to committing a third-degree criminal sex act, the legal term for sodomy, with a different student who was 16 when she and Spratt engaged in oral sex between Feb. 15, 2015 and April 10, 2015 in the parking lots of cemeteries in Watervliet and Menands. In January, state Supreme Court Justice Thomas Breslin sentenced Spratt to six months in the Albany County jail. Spratt is registered as a Level 2 (moderate threat) sex offender. That girl has since filed a notice of claim to sue Watervliet schools. The lawsuit filed Monday contends officials ignored warning signs such as a collection of girls hanging around Spratt's office. Spratt's office window was obstructed to keep outsiders from looking inside. And "it was certainly odd," the suit states, that Spratt tutored the girl now suing him even though he was not a teacher. At least one parent expressed concern to the school district about how close the plaintiff and Spratt had become, but nothing was done, the lawsuit states. In addition, it says students would "hang out" in Spratt's office in an inappropriate manner that concerned the school's hall monitor. "However, despite repeatedly bringing up the issue neither the school district nor the city took any action to curtail the close and inappropriate relationships that defendant Spratt was forming with students, especially as it related to female students," the lawsuit states. "Spratt was at the school on average three days a week and, when he was at the school, (the girl suing him) would spend at least two or three class periods a day with defendant Spratt," the suit says. Stephen Rehfuss, the attorney for the school district, said: "The school district never had notice of any of this stuff going on until they heard that Spratt had been arrested by the State Police." The lawsuit asks for unspecified damages to compensate the girl for "the emotional and physical harm, damage to reputation, loss of enjoyment of life, embarrassment, and humiliation she has suffered and will continue to suffer," as well as punitive damages and attorney fees. At his sentencing, Spratt said: "I brought disgrace to the department. That affects me deeply." Spratt's case was part of a stretch in which former Watervliet Officer Nicholas Pontore was arrested on drug charges. Pontore resigned in June 2015 after the results came in from a random drug screen. As Pontore left, he "told a couple of people he was going to take a couple of people down," police Chief Ronald Boisvert said last year. The next month, Pontore gave a recording of Spratt speaking to a student to police Lt. Jake Watson, who went to the chief who, in turn, called in State Police. Another Watervliet officer, Sam Razzano, was investigated for undisclosed misconduct allegations. Sgt. Martin F. Zaloga Jr., an 18-year veteran of the Albany County Sheriff's Office, was sentenced to three years' probation for sending sexually explicit text messages to a teenage girl, a case Sheriff Craig Apple said had a "nexus" to the Spratt case. The lawsuit states Pontore, Razzano, Zaloga, Watervliet Sgt. John Brant and a teacher, Patrick Canniff, who was fired for sending a sexually explicit text message to a student, were all friends with Spratt and all knew about Spratt's trysts and failed to report them. rgavin@timesunion.com 518-434-2403 @RobertGavinTU This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate PLATTSBURGH Joyce Mitchell, the prison worker who helped two murderers escape from Clinton Correctional Facility last year, is asking to be released from prison, the Plattsburgh Press-Republican reported. Mitchell, who is serving 2 to 7 years for her part in the escape, wrote a three-page letter to state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision Acting Commissioner Anthony J. Annucci in April asking for clemency. The Press-Republican recently obtained a copy of her letter. "I was wondering if there was anything you could do to help me to possibly getting clemency," Mitchell wrote from her cell at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility. "I realize what I did was very wrong. No one will ever know the remorse I feel for everything that happened due to my part in the Clinton escape." READ THE FULL STORY WITH QUOTES FROM MITCHELL'S LETTER. Mitchell was convicted for bringing in hacksaw blades hidden in packages of frozen hamburger meat for inmates Richard Matt and David Sweat. They broke out of the prison June 6, 2015, and were on the loose for three weeks. Matt was shot and killed on June 26, and Sweat was shot and captured two days later. Mitchell, who was a civilian supervisor in the prison tailor shop where Matt and Sweat worked, was supposed to be the getaway driver, but she panicked and did not show up when they emerged from a manhole at midnight. In her letter, Mitchell said that she went to the police station on her own to offer information about Matt and Sweat. "I turned myself in ... I tried to help with any information I could to try and bring these men back to prison," she wrote. In an interview with the Press-Republican last week, State Inspector General Catherine Leahy Scott, who conducted a year-long investigation into the escape, said Mitchell talked to police only after they had her targeted almost immediately after the escape. She said authorities suspected Mitchell almost immediately and started calling her phone looking to talk with her. Mitchell said in the letter that Matt and Sweat threatened to kill her husband, Lyle, who also worked in the tailor shop, as well as her son and her mother. "I could not let them harm my family. I love my family very much and they mean everything to me," she wrote. "No one knows how scared I was." TROY A man who stabbed his estranged wife to death in front of their children and then fled to New Jersey pleaded guilty to second-degree murder Tuesday in Rensselaer County Court, according to the district attorney's office. David Campos, 46, brought two knives to Denise Gely's home where he attacked her in a hallway Nov. 23, 2015. His children and a neighbor witnessed the attack, prosecutors said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Albany Twenty years or so ago, Tom Scarff walked out of the Waterworks Pub on a weekend night. Three, or maybe four men waited for him outside. It was common then for heterosexual men to wait outside gay bars, Scarff said. He knew at the time something wasn't right. The men called him names, and then they attacked him, Scarff said. "They weren't asking me if I wanted to come to their house for tea," Scarff said. For members of the LGBT community, the horrific shooting at a bar in Orlando was a continuation of the violence that once loomed over them in the years before homosexuality became more accepted. It was also a violation of the belief that bars are where one goes to feel safe. Vigils in memory of the Orlando victims were held Monday in Albany and Schenectady. Albany's gay bars were anchors of the LGBT community not because everyone liked to drink, but because they were excluded from other public places. When Libby Post arrived in Albany in 1978, she went to the lesbian bars. She didn't drink, but they were a place to meet other women and be part of a community, she said. "The bar community here has always been important in terms of providing space for people to come together and be themselves, be part of a community," Post said. To enter a gay bar was to enter a place where there was no fear of an attack because of one's sexual orientation. Numerous LGBT activists said the shooting in an Orlando gay bar was a symbolic as well as physical attack. "The bars really are supposed to be a safe space for us to be who we are and not be fearful of retribution," Post said. Post and Scarff traced the beginnings of the gay rights movement to a bar, the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village. There, on June 28, 1969, a police raid led to riots led by LGBT men and women. The riots were a symbolic call to arms for LGBT people and are the reason June was selected to be Gay Pride Month. "We were born out of that bar culture because of what happened at Stonewall," Post said. "It's about being able to celebrate who we are." A bar was a place for LGBT people to hide from others, and to be themselves in private. "Back in the '60s when I came out," Scarff, a self-described Irish-Catholic boy, said, "you could get your head bashed in." There was a bar on Central Avenue called the Central Arms, which is now the Waterworks Pub. On the front door a sign read "Private Party." It was always a private party. "You had to knock on the door and they would ask if you knew what kind of bar it was." He recalled driving around and around the block, thinking about entering the bar. "It took me a few days before I went in," Scarff said. Once he did, he became a member of the thriving gay bar community. "Back in the day, people would gather together at the bar. They would be three deep at the bar for happy hour," Scarff said. "It wasn't really drinking. It was for camaraderie and getting together." In addition to the bars, the Pride Center of the Capital Region was an important safe space, Scarff and Post said. Scarff, who was the Waterworks Pub's manager for a few years, recalled the days when Lark Street was home to several gay bars. "People felt safe on Saturday night actually walking from bar to bar," he said. But violence and discrimination still weighed on LGBT people after the bars closed. Scarff said he was a bigger guy, but said smaller and more feminine men were attacked because of their sexuality. Scarff said police would raid bars to "kick people out and ruin business for a day." "It was almost like if they beat up a guy, they got notches on their belt," Scarff said. Post remembered in the early '80s how she moved into her apartment on West Street and found her neighbors had stuffed pornography in her mailbox. The police at the time were seen as complicit in the beatings of gays, Post said. "You expected there to be protection but you hear, 'Well, it's your fault.'" Sheriff Craig Apple was a young deputy during the early '90s. He said that while he said he did not see any beatings of LGBT people, he could understand why LGBT people distrusted the police. "The old way of thinking was just to arrest them, lock them up, throw them in jail. Now it's let's prevent the arrest," he said. "I think everybody should be treated equally." Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and features with our afternoon newsletter. Apple said change in law enforcement does not come easy and he's worked very hard to build relationships with different community groups. Post and Scarff said police today are much more tolerant than in the past. "Before, they were the enemy," Scarff said. "They're not anymore." Threats against LGBT people continue to the present day, and this includes the shooting in Orlando, said Michael Weidrich, executive director of the Pride Center of the Capital Region. "There is violence against LGBT people all the time, just not on this scale," Weidrich said. "Ironically, June is our Pride Month, and for this to happen, maybe we haven't come as far as we thought we had." Chad Putman, a Democrat running for the 49th state Senate District seat, was among the speakers at the prayer vigil inside Schenectady City Hall as the rainbow pride flag flitted in the wind outside the building next to Old Glory. He recounted how he cried when he learned about the Orlando shooting. Angelicia Morris, executive director of the county Human Rights Commissions, said she "wanted to bring people together in solidarity on behalf of our brothers and sisters in Orlando and let the LGBTQ community know that there are people in the community who support them." Putman said he hopes the tragedy will alert people to the vulnerability of minority communities. "Obviously this event that happened last night is going to garner a lot of attention, but what we haven't heard much about is the 22 transgender people murdered in 2015, 19 of which were people of color," Putnam said. Still, the entire country is more tolerant than in the past, Scarff said. He and Post said that the safety LGBT people feel when they go out is a sign of progress, which is the reason the shooting in Orlando resonated with so many. "That's one of the sad things about this event," Scarff said. "People do feel safe in bars. I wonder if that's going to change. I hope this didn't ruin it." "I think that there are people who still want to hang out at the corner bar, as a place to be social," Post said. jlawrence@timesunion.com [June 14, 2016] Axalta Debuts University of Michigan No. 88 Chevrolet SS during GM Supplier of the Year Celebration Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE: AXTA), a leading global supplier of liquid and powder coatings, yesterday celebrated its second consecutive Supplier of the Year Award from General Motors (News - Alert) (GM) during a luncheon at the company's Mount Clemens, Michigan, research and manufacturing facility. Also during the celebration, representatives from Axalta and the University of Michigan (U-M) unveiled the joint paint scheme on the No. 88 Axalta Chevrolet SS racecar that Dale Earnhardt, Jr. will drive on August 28 during the Pure Michigan 400 at the Michigan International Speedway (MIS). This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160614006461/en/ From left, Axalta's Joseph Campbell and Steven Markevich join GM's Randall Pappal and the University of Michigan's Brian Noble after unveiling the No. 88 Chevrolet SS that Dale Earnhardt, Jr., will drive during the Aug. 28 "Pure Michigan 400." (Photo: Axalta) "Axalta's global team takes great pride in the recognition that we've received from our valued customer General Motors," said Steven R. Markevich, Axalta Executive Vice President and President of Transportation Coatings. "Having the employees at our Mount Clemens plant and our special guests share this day as we unveil the car is a great way to recognize our new partnership with the University of Michigan and our long-standing relationship around the world with GM." Local dignitaries participated in the celebration at the Axalta Mount Clemens facility which is one of the largest companies in Mount Clemens, Michigan. Mount Clemens Mayor Barb Dempsey and Mcomb County Commissioner Fred Miller joined in issuing a proclamation proclaiming June 13 "Axalta Day" in the city. Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel and Marilyn Lane, State Representative for Michigan's 31st district that includes Mount Clemens, Fraser and a part of Clinton Township also attended the event. Recognizing Axalta, the proclamation states: "We, in Mount Clemens, are very proud to have such an outstanding company in our community and thank you for the support you continue to provide to our community-based activities." In March, GM recognized Axalta among 110 of its best global suppliers during its 24th Annual Supplier of the Year awards ceremony in Detroit. Automotive suppliers from 17 countries received GM's coveted Supplier of the Year award for consistently exceeding GM's expectations, creating outstanding value, or bringing new innovations to the company. "We are focused on building positive supplier relationships, bringing new, customer-centric innovations to GM, and being the OEM of choice among suppliers," said Steve Kiefer, GM vice president, Global Purchasing and Supply Chain, during the ceremony last March. "The companies we recognize tonight not only have brought innovation, they delivered it with the quality our customers deserve." Axalta and U-M recently entered into an educational partnership to support engineering and business students. To celebrate the relationship, the U-M branding will be painted on the side of the No. 88 Chevrolet SS in addition to the recognizable Axalta logo. Axalta will host 50 U-M business and engineering students at the Pure Michigan 400 race to help them better understand the technology and performance that goes into racing and Axalta's coatings that shine on the car. "The U-M team was very proud to be part of the unveiling with Axalta today," said Brian Noble, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education and Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at U-M. "The students affiliated with our Solar Car program had great engagements with scientists, researchers and manufacturing operators at Axalta. It was a thrill having hands-on interaction between the generations." "Axalta has been such a tremendous partner for us here in Macomb," said Marilyn Lane, State Representative for Michigan's 31st District, who also attended the event. "I am so proud to see them receive this award for a second straight year." About Axalta Coating Systems - Celebrating 150 Years in the Coatings Industry Axalta is a leading global company focused solely on coatings and providing customers with innovative, colorful, beautiful and sustainable solutions. From light OEM vehicles, commercial vehicles and refinish applications to electric motors, buildings and pipelines, our coatings are designed to prevent corrosion, increase productivity and enable the materials we coat to last longer. With 150 years of experience in the coatings industry, the approximately 12,800 people of Axalta continue to find ways to serve our more than 100,000 customers in 130 countries better every day with the finest coatings, application systems and technology. For more information visit axaltacoatingsystems.com and follow us @axalta on Twitter (News - Alert) and on LinkedIn. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160614006461/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 14, 2016] Florida Launches App to Connect Job Seekers with Employers TALLAHASSEE, Fla., June 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Florida workforce development officials have launched the Employ Florida Mobile app, which gives Florida job seekers instant access to thousands of job openings across the state. The Employ Florida Mobile app, which is currently available in English, is now available free on Google Play for Android and in the Apple App Store. The app connects job seekers to employflorida.com, one of the largest state job banks in the nation, with postings from Florida businesses and nearly 20,000 websites, including Monster, Indeed and CareerBuilder. Governor Rick Scott said, "Te launch of the Employ Florida Mobile app is great news for Florida job seekers. We want Florida to be the state where anyone who wants a job can get a job. This app is just another tool to help Floridians find a lasting career." The Employ Florida Mobile app allows access to more than 200,000 job advertisements from more than 130,000 Florida businesses. Customers registered on employflorida.com can apply for positions and save searches. Guest users can view openings on their mobile device and view previous searches to apply later. "In an increasingly mobile world, Floridians want to know about job opportunities promptly and take action," said CareerSource Florida President and CEO Chris Hart IV. "Businesses also will benefit from the Employ Florida mobile app, as qualified applicants can respond more quickly to their job postings." Florida Department of Economic Opportunity Executive Director Cissy Proctor said, "This user-friendly app will help job seekers across the state, with openings from the Panhandle to the Keys and everywhere in between." The app was developed by Geographic Solutions, Inc., in collaboration with CareerSource Florida and the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. Paul Toomey, president of Geographic Solutions, said, "As a Florida company, we are proud to partner with the state to place hundreds of thousands of Florida jobs a day at the fingertips of job seekers." The app allows job seekers to map, categorize and sort job listings by location and quickly find the latest jobs in their area with the "Jobs Nearby" function. Registered users can even upload their resumes and apply for a job while on the go. Registered users can use their job searches on employflorida.com, using the desktop version or the mobile app, for their work search requirements on their Reemployment Assistance claims. For more information about the app, click here. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160610/377977 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/florida-launches-app-to-connect-job-seekers-with-employers-300283102.html SOURCE CareerSource Florida [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 13, 2016] Growing Construction of Green Data Centers Will Propel the Data Center Cooling Market in MEA Through 2020, Reports Technavio Technavio analysts forecast the data center cooling market in MEA to grow at a CAGR of more than 19% during the forecast period, according to their latest report. The research study covers the present scenario and growth prospects of the data center cooling market in MEA for 2016-2020. To calculate the market size, the report considers revenue generated from the investments made in new data centers and the renovation of existing ones. Technavio ICT analysts highlight the following four factors that are contributing to the growth of the data center cooling market in MEA: Increase in construction of new data centers Growing construction of green data centers Increased heat density in data centers Need to reduce OPEX (News - Alert) in data centers Increase in construction of new data centers Cloud computing and big data analytics have influenced the demand for data centers in MEA. Public cloud is the largest growing market in the region. The cloud IP traffic in the region is expected to experience a CAGR of around 40% over the forecast period. The construction of data centers by global organizations is growing in the Middle East. In 2015, Alibaba partnered with Meraas, a Dubai holding group, to offer its cloud services in the region. In addition, in 2016, Oracle (News - Alert) is planning to open a data center in Abu Dhabi due to increased cloud service demand in the region. In 2016, Airtel opened USD 10 million data center in Sierra Leone. Also, Ecuador's National Telecommunications Corporation (CNT) constructed a USD 21 million data center in Ecuador in the same year. Many local organizations, governments, and banks are involved in the construction of data centers in the Middle East. This scenario is likely to continue throughout the forecast period owing to investments by telecommunications service providers and global CSPs. Growing construction of green data centers The growing demand for data centers in MEA has paved the way for the development of soltions that enable the operation of green facilities. Power usage effectiveness (PUE) and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification play a vital role in building and operating green data centers. Advanced infrastructure offers high efficiency with low power consumption and environmental effects. Innovations in cooling systems such as free and evaporative cooling solutions help in operating green data center infrastructure. Green data centers enable reduction of heat and noise emissions. There are also cooling systems that are designed to function with no moving parts and less noise emission. Rakesh Kumar Panda, a lead analyst at Technavio for research on data center, says, "Green data center solutions are gaining traction in the market as they can reduce the emission of greenhouse gasses. Green data centers are equipped with components that can inhibit the transfer of dust particles, increasing the efficiency of the cooling system." Increased heat density in data centers Rapid advances in technology related to data center equipment and the increased implementation of technologies have led to an increase in heat density. Currently, there are many data centers worldwide operating high-performance computing infrastructure to improve business operations, where the rack-level heat density is around 10 kW. At present, the adoption of high-performance computing infrastructure in data centers is low in MEA. However, growth in cloud, Internet of Things (IoT), and big data analytics will prompt enterprises to invest in data centers and adopt high-performance infrastructure with at least 20% spending with respect to the overall infrastructure spending. "This will lead to the operation of high-performance computing infrastructure for at least 20 racks from the total number of racks installed in the data center," adds Rakesh. Need to reduce OPEX in data centers Most data center operators in MEA are aware of the high OPEX involved in operating data centers. In this region, most upcoming data center facilities are expected to be designed based on Tier 3 (News - Alert) and Tier 4 standards. However, these data centers will require energy efficient infrastructure to reduce carbon emissions and power consumption. Power consumption is the major OPEX of any data center operator. Enterprises in MEA planning to establish data centers will likely adopt energy efficient cooling techniques like free cooling to minimize OPEX. Browse Related Reports: Global Data Center Cooling Solutions Market 2016-2020 Data Center Cooling Market in Southeast Asia 2016-2020 Global Data Center Precision Air Conditioning Market 2016-2020 Purchase these three reports for the price of one by becoming a Technavio subscriber. Subscribing to Technavio's reports allows you to download any three reports per month for the price of one. Contact [email protected] with your requirements and a link to our subscription platform. About Technavio Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies. Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users. If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at [email protected]. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160613005416/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 14, 2016] Kohl's Cares Donates $1 Million to Junior Achievement of Wisconsin Today Kohl's (NYSE: KSS) announced a donation of $1 million over three years to Junior Achievement of Wisconsin (JA) for continuing support of the JA Kohl's Education Center. The donation comes from Kohl's philanthropic program, Kohl's Cares, which sells children's books and soft toys and donates 100 percent of the net profit to benefit children's initiatives. The additional funding allows JA to provide students in southeastern Wisconsin with exceptional educational opportunities, including JA BizTown and JA Finance Park programming. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160614005020/en/ "Kohl's is proud to partner with Junior Achievement of Wisconsin and encourages their innovative efforts to increase student success and graduation rates," said Jen Johnson, Kohl's vice president of corporate communications. "The JA Kohl's Education Center continues to be a popular destination for Wisconsin schools and supports the development of future business leaders." Ninety percent of students who visit the JA Kohl's Education Center attend schools from the metro district, a four-county area including Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Washington and Waukesha Counties. Students attending schools within a 90-mile service range of the facility also participate. The students range from 4th-6th grade for JA BizTown and 7th-12th grade for JA Finance Park. Over the next three years, funding from Kohl's Cares will impact 60,000 area students and 12,000 adults (teachers/volunteers) involved with the JA Kohl's Education Center. "We are thrilled to continue our partnership with Kohl's," says Tim Greinert, Junior Achievement of Wisconsin's president. "This funding will significantly enhance the learning applications offered to local students through the JA Kohls Education Center. Engaging these students early on in a meaningful and memorable way will help arm them with the skills they need as adults." JA will also produce enhanced online training videos for teachers and volunteers. The new training module will assist educators when working with the students during the simulation portion of the programs hosted at the JA Kohl's Education Center. In addition to training improvements, funding will support several new student activities for the JA Finance Park program designed to enhance teen financial literacy skills. An initial $3 million donation from Kohl's Cares in 2010 allowed JA to build the JA Kohl's Education Center and provide Milwaukee's students with additional business, financial literacy and entrepreneurship education. Since then, Kohl's and Kohl's Cares have committed more than $5.7 million to Junior Achievement. For more information on Kohl's philanthropic efforts, visit www.kohls.com/cares. For more information on the JA Kohl's Education Center and JA Capstone (News - Alert) Programs, visit wisconsin.ja.org. About Kohl's Kohl's (NYSE: KSS) is a leading specialty department store with more than 1,100 stores in 49 states. With a commitment to inspiring and empowering families to lead fulfilled lives, the company offers amazing national and exclusive brands, incredible savings and inspiring shopping experiences in-store, online at Kohls.com and via mobile devices. Committed to its communities, Kohl's has raised nearly $300 million for children's initiatives nationwide through its Kohl's Cares cause merchandise program, which operates under Kohl's Cares, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kohl's Department Stores, Inc. For additional information about Kohl's philanthropic and environmental initiatives, visit http://www.Kohls.com/Cares. For a list of store locations and information, or for the added convenience of shopping online, visit www.Kohls.com. Connect with Kohl's: Facebook (News - Alert) (http://www.facebook.com/Kohls) Twitter (News - Alert) (http://twitter.com/Kohls) Google (News - Alert)+ (http://plus.google.com/+Kohls) Pinterest (http://pinterest.com/Kohls) Instagram (http://instagram.com/Kohls) YouTube (News - Alert) (http://www.youtube.com/kohls) About Junior Achievement Junior Achievement of Wisconsin is dedicated to educating students about work readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy through experiential, hands-on programs. The organization prepares young people for the real world, showing them how to generate wealth and effectively manage it, create jobs which make their communities more robust, and apply entrepreneurial thinking to the workplace. Over 160,000 students in the state of Wisconsin put these lessons into action every year and learn the value of contributing to their communities. To become involved, please visit Wisconsin.ja.org or call (414) 577-3800. JA BizTown: Created for fourth through sixth grade, JA BizTown is a life-size "city" and interactive program that involves student management of a simulated community and its economy. This includes the operation of the community's businesses, services and government functions. Students operate the many facets of their town, including producing and selling products and services, earning income, shopping, lending, saving and enforcing laws. This program includes a Kohl's branded store where students act as consumers and producers as part of their hands-on learning experience. JA Finance Park: Created for seventh through twelfth grade, JA Finance Park helps students build a foundation for making intelligent, lifelong personal financial decisions through classroom instruction followed by all-day participation in a simulated community. The 19 pre-visit curriculum lessons include rigorous activities and role playing exercises in personal finance including budgeting, consumerism, credit, financial institutions, investing, interest and taxes. In 2015, JA Finance Park programming moved to an entirely-paperless, tablet-based curriculum. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160614005020/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 14, 2016] Landmark Study Suggests Cranberries Can Decrease Use of Antibiotics Today leading experts on infectious disease and urinary tract infections (UTIs) will gather in London to discuss the alarming state of antibiotic resistance and present findings from a landmark study that conclusively shows that cranberries can be a nutritional approach to reducing symptomatic UTIs, and as a result, may be a useful strategy to decrease worldwide use of antibiotics. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160614005444/en/ Cue the juice- a landmark study, recently published by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found that drinking an 8-ounce (240 ml) glass of cranberry juice a day reduces symptomatic UTIs by nearly 40 percent in women with recurrent UTIs- suggesting a significant reduction in the need for antibiotics. For more information, visit www.cranberryhealth.com. (Photo: Business Wire) According to the study, recently published by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, drinking an 8-ounce (240 ml) glass of cranberry juice a day reduces symptomatic UTIs by nearly 40 percent in women with recurrent UTIs - reducing the burden of UTIs and reducing the antibiotic use associated with treating recurrent UTIs. "Currently the primary approach to reducing symptomatic events of UTI is the use of chronic antibiotics for suppression, an approach associated with side effects and development of antibiotic resistance. This study shows that consuming one 8-ounce (240 ml) glass of cranberry juice a day reduces the number of times women suffer from repeat episodes of symptomatic UTI and avoids chronic suppressive antibiotics," said Dr. Kalpana Gupta, infectious disease specialist and Professor of Medicine at Boston University's School of Medicine. An author on the study and panelist at today's session, Dr. Gupta believes that cranberries can help to reduce the worldwide use of antibiotics and significantly improve the quality of life for women who suffer from recurrent UTI symptoms. Single Largest Clinical Trial on Cranberries of its Kind The 24-week study of 373 women, conducted by researchers at Boston University, Biofortis Innovation Services (a division of Merieux Nutrisciences) and 18 clinical sites throughout the US and France, is the largest clinical trial of its kind examining the effects of cranberry juice consumption on UTIs. This trial adds to more than 50 years of cranberry research and supports the cranberry's ability to support urinary tract health and reduce symptomatic UTIs among chronic UTI sufferers. Researchers set out to find whether recurrent (or repeat) UTI sufferers could be protected from repeat infections by drinking cranberry juice. Participants were all healthy women, with an average age of 40, who had experienced at least two UTIs within the past year. During the study, participants were randomly chosen to drink a daily dose of eight ounces (240 ml) of either cranberry juice or a "placebo" beverage without cranberries. The rate of UTIs decreased significantly among the cranberry drinkers, with just 39 diagnoses during the six-month study compared with 67 in the placebo group. Compared to some other studies, this trial had greater statistical power to detect differences than others due to its larger sample, use of incidence density to account for the tendency of clinical UTIs to cluster in time within an individual, a high average level of compliance (98%), and a comparatively large percentage of subjects in each group completing the treatment period (86%). What's in a Symptom? Women with symptomatic UTIs experience all the discomforts of a UTI, such as a strong, persistent urge to urinate or a burning sensation when urinating, but may or may not test positive for a bacterial infection upon a consult with a physician. In many instances, women are treated with antibiotics for symptom relief whether bacteria is found or no. According to Gupta, the key to avoiding the situation altogether may very well lay with the cranberry. "The key to cranberry's benefit is consuming a glass daily to help avoid the infection altogether," said Gupta. "Most people wait to drink cranberry juice until they have a UTI, but once the symptoms start they'll likely need a course of antibiotics." The Correlation between UTIs and Antibiotic Resistance UTIs are among the most common bacterial infections in women worldwide. Up to 60 percent of all women suffer a UTI in their lifetime,1 and up to 25 percent experience a recurrence within six months.2 Some 150 million UTIs occur annually worldwide, according to the American Urological Association, resulting in $6 billion in annual health care costs.3 Antibiotics are usually the first line of treatment for urinary tract infections, and women who have frequent UTIs may be prescribed low-dose antibiotics. Unfortunately, chronic overuse of these drugs has increased antibiotic resistance at an alarming rate globally. So much in fact, that the World Health Organization (WHO) cites a 50 percent resistance rate to one of the most widely used antibiotics to treat UTIs.4 How Cranberries Work Luckily, cranberries contain a unique combination of compounds including Type-A PACs (or proanthocyanidins) that prevent bacteria from sticking and causing infection. In addition to PACs, new studies have revealed a new class of compounds, xyloglucan oligosaccharides, which have similar anti-bacterial properties against E. coli as PACs5. This means there are multiple, unique elements within cranberries working hard for your health. These unique compounds can be found in a variety of products, including cranberry juice cocktail, 100% cranberry juice, light cranberry juice, dried cranberries and cranberry extract; however most of the research surrounding cranberries and UTIs has been conducted using juice. Cranberries, a Natural Approach to Better Health The suggestion that a nutritional approach like cranberry juice could reduce antibiotic use is welcome news given the alarming challenge it presents to public health, one that the WHO refers to as one of the greatest challenges to public health today6, and that the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer said could become a threat 'greater than cancer'.7 According to Gupta, those who suffer from UTIs can feel confident that this nutritional approach is a potential solution - further validating more than 50 years of well-documented cranberry research. Find more information on the study and the health benefits of cranberries at www.cranberryhealth.com. About Cranberry Health Benefits For more than 85 years, Ocean Spray has been actively researching the cranberry's unique healthy benefits to deliver products that not only taste good, but are good for you. Cranberries are an exceptional fruit that provide one-of-a-kind health benefits. Besides helping consumers meet the recommended daily intake of fruit, consuming cranberries may be a nutritional approach in helping to reduce certain infections in the urinary tract and stomach. This is increasingly important as the bacteria that cause these infections are becoming highly resistant to the strongest antibiotics used to treat them, fueling what the World Health Organization believes is one of the greatest challenges to public health today - antibiotic resistance. For more information about cranberries and your health, visit www.cranberryhealth.com. About Ocean Spray Ocean Spray is a vibrant agricultural cooperative owned by more than 700 cranberry and grapefruit growers in the United States, Canada and Chile who have helped preserve the family farming way of life for generations. Formed in 1930, Ocean Spray is now the world's leading producer of cranberry juices, juice drinks and dried cranberries and is the best-selling brand in the North American bottled juice category. The cooperative's cranberries are currently featured in more than a thousand great-tasting, good-for-you products in over 100 countries worldwide. With more than 2,000 employees and nearly 20 cranberry receiving and processing facilities, Ocean Spray is committed to managing our business in a way that respects our communities, employees and the environment. For more information visit: www.oceanspray.com or www.oceanspray.coop. 1 Foxman B, Barlow R, D'Arcy H, Gillespie B, Sobel JD. Urinary tract infection: self-reported incidence and associated costs. Ann Epidemiol. 2000 Nov;10(8):509-15. 2 Foxman B, Brown P.Epidemiology of urinary tract infections: transmission and risk factors, incidence, and costs. Infect Dis Clin North Am. 2003 Jun;17(2):227-41. 3 American Urological Association. "Adult UTI: Epidemiology/Socioeconomics/Education." Available at: https://www.auanet.org/education/adult-uti.cfm 4 Antimicrobial resistance: global report on surveillance 2014; WHO; http://www.who.int/drugresistance/documents/surveillancereport/en/ 5 Hotchkiss AT, Nunez A, Strahan GD, Chau H, White A, Marais J, Hom K, Vakkalanka MS, Di R, Yam KL, Khoo C. Cranberry Xyloglucan Structure and Inhibition of Escherichia coli Adhesion to Epithelial Cells. J Agric Food Chem. 2015 Jun 17;63(23):5622-33. 6 Antimicrobial resistance: global report on surveillance 2014; WHO; http://www.who.int/drugresistance/documents/surveillancereport/en/ 7 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3539189/Common-infections-deadlier-threat-CANCER-unless-antibiotic-problems-tackled-George-Osborne-warns.html View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160614005444/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 14, 2016] SES Government Solutions and O3b Networks Commission Service to Provide NOAA with a High Performance Network SES (News - Alert) Government Solutions (SES GS) and O3b Networks announced today that the companies have jointly completed the first O3b managed services installation for NOAA's National Weather Service Office (NWSO) at Pago Pago, American Samoa. This remote station is responsible for providing critically important tropical weather alerts and cyclone warning information to a large part of the Pacific. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160613006605/en/ SES Government Solutions and O3b Networks Commission Service to Provide NOAA with a High Performance Network (Photo: Business Wire) An uninterrupted high-speed data connection between the Pago Pago NWSO and the primary Pacific National Weather Service (NWS) centre in Hawaii is essential for NOAA to update forecast models and issue safety warnings in near real-time. The task order is part of the NOAA Worldwide Satellite Communications Systems II (WSCS II) contract. The O3b service will provide a highly reliable, low latency link for passing critically important weather information between the NSWO in Pago Pago and the NWS headquarters Office on Ford (News - Alert) Island in Honolulu, Hawaii. As a result, NWS can now rapidly deliver large weatherfiles from observation offices in American Samoa to scientists and meteorologists in Hawaii and across the US mainland. "SES GS is proud to provide uninterrupted, high speed data connections that are critical for NOAA's continued push to understand and predict changes in the natural environment that might impact safety or commerce," said Pete Hoene, President and Chief Executive Officer of SES GS. "O3b Networks is excited to work with SES GS and the team at NOAA on such an important project," said Jack Deasy, Vice President, Government Sales of O3b Networks. "O3b is a game-changing technology for the US government, bringing a fiber-like connection to any difficult-to-reach place." The implementation included the procurement and installation of the O3b terminals, radomes and the ground segment network. Once the hardware was installed, the team supported the end-to-end service testing. The service was delivered on-time and within service level specifications, including the cutover of live traffic through the O3b network on 23 May 2016. About SES Government Solutions SES Government Solutions, a subsidiary of global satellite operator SES, is exclusively focused on meeting the satellite communications needs of the U.S. Government. Leveraging more than four decades of experience in the government SATCOM market, SES Government Solutions offers robust and secure satellite-based communications solutions. Supported by SES's fleet of over 50 satellites offering comprehensive global coverage, SES Government Solutions provides highly reliable fixed and on-the-move capacity. Further information can be found at www.ses-gs.com. About O3b Networks Limited O3b Networks Limited is a global satellite service provider operating a next-generation satellite network for telecommunications operators, Internet service providers, enterprise and government customers in emerging markets. The O3b system combines the global reach of satellite with the speed of a fiber-optic network providing billions of consumers and businesses in nearly 180 countries with low-cost, high-speed, low latency Internet and mobile connectivity. O3b Networks' investors include SES, Google, Liberty Global (News - Alert), HSBC Principal Investments, Northbridge Venture Partners, Allen & Company, Development Bank of Southern Africa, Sofina, Satya Capital and Luxempart. O3b Networks is headquartered in St. Helier, Jersey, Channel Islands. www.o3bnetworks.com View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160613006605/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 14, 2016] SureCall Aims to Improve Cellular Coverage in Canada With New Cell Phone Signal Booster SureCall, the premium cellular signal booster manufacturer, today announced the availability of its EZ 4G booster in Canada. The easy-to-set-up product boosts signal on all wireless carriers in Canada, reducing dropped calls and improving data performance on cellular devices. Designed for home or small business use, the EZ 4G for Canada is the first high performance consumer cell phone signal booster that does not require the installation of an outside antenna, making setup simple, while providing significant coverage enhancements. Approved by Industry Canada, the EZ 4G supports all voice, 3G/4G/LTE (News - Alert) networks, provides improved voice and data coverage for up to 2,000 sq. ft., and can support multiple users simultaneously, regardless of the carrier. "As cellular devices continue to play an ever-increasing role in our lives, the need for reliable signal is increasingly vital," said Hongtao Zhan, SureCall's CEO. "We designed the EZ 4G with the consumer in mind and made it not only easy to set up, but also future-proofed it by making it work with all carriers. If the consumer changes carriers they can continue to benefit from the booster." As part of its accessibility to the Canadian market, SureCall alo has finalized a deal with Hitfar Concepts, one of Canada's largest distributors of cell phone and smartphone wireless accessories. The company will begin distributing the EZ 4G and SureCall's line of products across Canada. "We're very excited to be partnering with SureCall," said Troy Fargey, President at Hitfar Concepts. "SureCall brings product quality and industry expertise that meet our high standards. Adding the company to our current portfolio of signal boosters allows further optimization of the product assortment offered within the signal booster category. With the new line of boosters, we can offer more choices and create the opportunity to capture new revenue streams to our dealers looking to support their residential and industrial customers affected by weak cellular coverage. We believe SureCall can contribute towards the success of our dealers and look forward to establishing a strong, long-term relationship." Like all SureCall boosters, the EZ 4G is covered by an industry-best three-year warranty and is available today for MSRP of CAD $599 at Thesource.ca and other fine retailers. To learn more about SureCall and its line of cellular boosters, visit www.SureCall.com. About SureCall Founded in 2001, SureCall is the multi-patented industry leader in cell phone signal boosters, combining high quality technology with innovative designs to create award-winning boosters that dramatically improve cell phone reception for homes, cars and businesses. SureCall's signal boosters are trusted in a variety of industries, both commercial and institutional. Its customers include Marriott, Chrysler, Hewlett-Packard (News - Alert) and ExxonMobil. Major institutions such as NASA, Stanford, Duke and Wake Forest Universities trust SureCall to make their signals go the distance. SureCall's line of FCC (News - Alert)-approved boosters for personal, commercial and industrial use have received multiple awards, including most recently the 2015 CE Pro BEST Award and 2015 EXC!TE Award by Technology Integrator. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160614005345/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 14, 2016] Wolfe Laboratories Addresses Rapid Growth with Executive Appointment Wolfe Laboratories today announced that Frank Tagliaferri, Ph.D., has been appointed Vice President, Pharmaceutical Development, effective immediately. Dr. Tagliaferri will lead technical operations for Wolfe's (News - Alert) rapidly growing client base, bringing a wealth of experience in analytical methodologies, formulation and process development, scale-up, and regulatory functions across highly diverse therapeutic modalities, including small molecules, peptides, proteins, and nucleic acid therapeutics. Dr. Tagliaferri will serve as a member of Wolfe's executive leadership team and will report to Janet Wolfe, the company's President and Chief Executive Officer. "Frank's proven track record of success in developing and commercializing a broad range of novel therapeutics and dosage forms is essential to Wolfe Laboratories as we grow to meet increased client demand for a strong pharmaceutical development CRO partner," said Dr. Janet Wolfe. "I am thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Frank; he brings outstanding strategic leadership and technical acumen that will greatly benefit our clients' programs and overall company growth." Most recently, Dr. Tagliaferri co-founded and served as Vice President of R&D at 4P Therapeutics with a focus on the design, characterization, and commercial development ofnovel delivery systems and drug/device combination products for biologics and other complex molecules. Prior to joining 4P Therapeutics in 2012, Dr. Tagliaferri served as Vice President of R&D for Altea Therapeutics where he contributed to the development of the PassPort System for the transdermal delivery of small molecules and biologics. Dr. Tagliaferri began his career at GeneMedicine (later Valentis, Inc.) where, as Director of Drug Delivery, his focus was on the development and characterization of delivery systems for both DNA and proteins. He later served the same role at Tapestry Pharmaceuticals working on small molecule anti-cancer agents and novel RNA-based therapeutics. "Wolfe Laboratories' integrated pharmaceutical development services are making a meaningful difference for advancing pipelines at its clients' companies," said Dr. Frank Tagliaferri. "I'm excited to join an outstanding team and help Wolfe Laboratories leverage its sophisticated development expertise." Dr. Tagliaferri earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Virginia and a B.A. in Chemistry from Franklin and Marshall College. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Tennessee. About Wolfe Laboratories, Inc. Wolfe Laboratories, Inc. is a premier contract research organization that provides integrated drug development solutions to the biopharmaceutical industry. Wolfe Laboratories is an essential element of the drug development ecosystem, recognized by global and virtual biopharmaceutical companies as a science-driven organization whose mission is to provide outstanding discovery and development services tailored to its clients' needs for rational formulation development. Wolfe Laboratories integrates the critical path components of early development to ensure that programs advance while meeting rigorous scientific demands with flexibility to address dynamic challenges and aggressive timelines. Wolfe Laboratories' vision is to improve human health, and we continue to strive towards that goal by embracing our core values of integrity, excellence and teamwork. The company has a high percentage of repeat clients, which is a testament to its long-term commitment of continual investment in its capabilities to meet biopharma's growing demand for high quality, integrated early development services. Founded in 1999, the company is located in Woburn, Massachusetts. For more information, please visit www.wolfelabs.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160614005260/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 14, 2016] Zaniac Launches 3D Game Design Program for Kids Zaniac, a national STEM education franchise, is encouraging kids to create the video games they love to play with the introduction of its newest STEM course, 3D Game Design, which launches nationwide June 20, 2016. In 3D Game Design, fourth through eighth grade students will learn to design and program every element of their own game, including game mechanics, three-dimensional animations, character models and more. The 3D Game Design course will also allow students to gain experience using modeling software, Gimp image editing software, the Unity game engine and the C# programming language. Students who fall in love with 3D Game Design can expand their skills by participating in Zaniac's Mastery Progression Program. To earn a Certificate of Mastery, students must complete all three 3D courses, including 3D Character Design, 3D Environment Design and C# Fundamentals. "At Zaniac, one of our core principles is to teach children how to create the technology and games they play with every day and to expose them to skills that will help prepare them for the jobs of tomorrow," said Sidharth Oberoi, Zaniac President and Chief Academic fficer. "We're excited to introduce 3D Game Design to our course list to teach children the fundamentals of what goes into the creation of their favorite games." The new 3D Game Design course will join the several other Computer Programming courses already offered at Zaniac. The program is a 90-minute class that meets once a week for six weeks, and the five-to-one student to instructor ratio ensures a personalized, peer-based education experience and also meets for five days in a single week during school breaks such as summer vacation and other holidays. In addition to Computer Programming courses, Zaniac offers a multitude of STEM learning programs that get kids excited to learn math and science while preparing them for 21st century jobs, including Zaniac Robotics: LEGO, App Creation, 3D Printing, Fashion Design and Game-Based Learning: Minecraft. The after-school STEM enrichment franchise currently has corporate campuses open in Salt Lake City and Park City, Utah, in addition to eight franchises in California, Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina and Texas. The fast-growing franchise plans to reach 50 campuses by 2017. For more information about Zaniac or how to enroll in the 3D Game Design program, visit www.zaniaclearning.com. About Zaniac Zaniac, based in Park City, Utah is a national science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education franchise with more than nine campus locations in eight states. Founded in 2011 by New York Times bestselling author, economist, social entrepreneur and Professor Paul Zane Pilzer, Zaniac aims to make after-school learning fun, helping K-8 children become engaged, develop confidence and measurably improve academic performance. For more information, visit www.zaniaclearning.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160614005266/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 14, 2016] Capgemini inaugurates 'Applied Innovation Discover' Toronto, helping organizations to apply digital innovation to achieve profitable outcomes Lab offers prototyping for clients; brings an ecosystem of alliance partners, start-ups, industry-specific insight, emerging technologies and resources to discover and deploy innovative technologies TORONTO, June 14, 2016 /CNW/ -- Capgemini Canada Inc., a member of the Capgemini Group, a global leader in consulting, technology and outsourcing services, today announced the opening of "Applied Innovation Discover" in Toronto. This new facility strengthens Capgemini's Applied Innovation global network of more than 30 innovation centers1. The 4,450-square foot facility will include an ideation zone for Capgemini experts and digital innovation consultants and a discovery zone for rapid prototyping to help organizations to transform ideas into business results. Capgemini's Applied Innovation is a discipline that addresses target business outcomes, as well as the adoption and consumption of innovation as its raison d'etre. Clients can ideate and apply innovative solutions, explore new ways to leverage digital, cloud, cybersecurity, the Internet of Things (IoT) and rapidly evaluate new ideas in a secure environment. "Capgemini envisions a shift for Canada from being a resource economy to becoming an innovation economy for the digital age," said Sanjay Tugnait, Capgemini Canada CEO. "We're excited to showcase our world-class digital capability in Canada, where we incubate and innovate digital ideas that will further enable business transformations for our clients. Applied Innovation Discover demonstrates our continued investments in this region to brng the strength of the innovation ecosystem to our clients. Setting up this center shows Capgemini's strong commitment to contribute to the Canadian digital economy and fosters an entrepreneurial environment within corporations." Through leveraging emerging technologies and collaborating with alliance partners, Capgemini has engaged in joint initiatives with clients in the financial services, utilities and hospitality sectors. The Applied Innovation Discover facility will showcase client demonstrations including a "next-best product recommendations" solution, which features real-time sentiment analysis and a 360-degree view of the customer for the largest bank in Canada, as well as a digital client-service command center proof of concept for a global leader in hospitality. Leading public utility provider London Hydro will demonstrate its Energy Data Platform, which helps utility customers to effectively manage energy efficiency and monitor usage as part of the industrywide Green Button initiative. The new facility expands Capgemini's presence in Canada, where it has been doing business for more than 15 years, with coast-to-coast coverage through seven offices as well as delivery centers in Halifax, Toronto and Mississauga. More than 8,000 employees address the Canadian market today from onshore and offshore locations. Capgemini works with some of the country's biggest companies in banking, telecommunications, hospitality, insurance, aerospace, retail and power distribution. Capgemini was recognized by Canada's Top 100 Employers Competition as a leading employer in two categories as one of Greater Toronto's Top Employers and among Canada's Best Diversity Employers. About Capgemini With more than 180,000 people in over 40 countries, Capgemini is a global leader in consulting, technology and outsourcing services. The Group reported 2015 global revenues of EUR 11.9 billion (about $13.2 billion USD at 2015 average rate). Together with its clients, Capgemini creates and delivers business, technology and digital solutions that fit their needs, enabling them to achieve innovation and competitiveness. A deeply multicultural organization, Capgemini has developed its own way of working, the Collaborative Business ExperienceTM, and draws on Rightshore, its worldwide delivery model. Learn more about us at www.capgemini.com. Rightshore is a trademark belonging to Capgemini. 1 Capgemini has more than 30 innovation environments globally. This includes facilities such as narrowly focused innovation labs, Centers of Excellence and a network of nine Applied Innovation Exchanges around the world, which help clients through the end-to-end Applied Innovation process. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150128/172130LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/capgemini-inaugurates-applied-innovation-discover-toronto-helping-organizations-to-apply-digital-innovation-to-achieve-profitable-outcomes-300283809.html SOURCE Capgemini [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 14, 2016] Personetics Taps Financial Services Veteran Steve Rooney to Lead Global Sales Force Expansion NEW YORK, June 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Personetics, the leading provider of personalized digital guidance solutions for the financial industry, announced that Steve Rooney has joined the company as global vice president of sales. Prior to joining Personetics, Steve held global sales leadership positions at a number of prominent technology providers to the financial industry, including FolioDynamix, Actimize/NICE, SunGard, SS&C Technologies and Oracle. His most recent role was executive vice president of global sales at Sapiens. "Joining Personetics is an exciting opportunity for me to be part of the personalization revolution that is overtaking the financial industry," said Steve Roney. "Personetics is well positioned with its predictive analytics technology and financial industry know-how to help financial institutions step up to the plate and deliver the personalized level of service and advice that customers demand today." "I am very happy to be working with Steve again," said David Sosna, Personetics Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer. "With his proven track record of ramping up sales and his deep understanding of the financial sector, Steve is the perfect addition to the Personetics team at this stage of rapid growth across our global operations." About Personetics Personetics helps over 15 million digital users of the world's leading financial institutions receive personalized real-time guidance at each step along the customer journey. Our solutions provide financial institutions with AI-powered intelligence to digitally assist and guide their customers by accurately anticipating individual customer needs. Using the Personetics Predictive Analytics platform, financial institutions are able to deliver relevant and useful insight and advice that empower customers to better manage their day-to-day finances and reach their financial goals. Led by a team of seasoned FinTech entrepreneurs with a proven track record, Personetics has been named a Gartner Cool Vendor, a Top Ten FinTech Company by KPMG, and a Top Ten Company to Watch by American Banker. SOURCE Personetics [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 14, 2016] Mush Beauty, One of the Top Beauty Stores in Ecuador, Launches New Website LOS ANGELES, June 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The founders of Mush Beauty, a leading cosmetics retailer in Ecuador, are pleased to announce the launch of a brand new company website. The new site helps to teach women from Ecuador how to apply makeup and use various cosmetics tools to get the most beautiful and effective results. In addition to creating the responsive and user-friendly website, Mush Beauty has also just launched a corresponding digital campaign in Quito and Guayaquil. Since Mush Beauty first opened, it has earned a well-deserved reputation as one of the top beauty stores in Ecuador. The makeup stores in Ecuador are well-known for transporting their customers to a magical world of color. "We offer products recognized worldwide that highlight the beauty of every woman, alwys in the hands of personalized advice from our specialist brands, who will provide a new learning and an unforgettable experience," noted a company spokesperson, adding that at Mush Beauty, cosmetics are a true passion. "In Mush you can discover and experience the benefits of each product, knowing their textures, nuances and effects that allow you to awaken creativity through beautiful makeup." Even though the Mush Beauty website launched a short time ago, it is already getting a lot of attention from Ecuadorian women who would like to learn more about cosmetics and beauty products. Anybody who would like to learn more about Mush Beauty may visit the new website at any time. About Mush Beauty: For over 120 years Moeller Group has had a passion for delivering beauty through the distribution of world recognized brands. However, they wanted to take their expertise a step further by creating Mush, the first concept that would be geared towards changing the makeup shopping experience in Ecuador. They wanted to create a shopping environment that would touch all the senses causing women to feel that they are in a different world. Their passion at Mush is to make women feel beautiful through the attention they receive in stores and by using makeup as a tool to magnify the existing beauty they already have on the inside. For more information, please visit http://mushbeauty.com/ To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mush-beauty-one-of-the-top-beauty-stores-in-ecuador-launches-new-website-300284205.html SOURCE Mush Beauty [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 14, 2016] Google Grants A Half Million Dollars to Genesys Works to Expand Pathways To Tech Careers SAN FRANCISCO, June 14, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Google.org has committed $500,000 to non-profit Genesys Works Bay Area to build pathways to academic and professional success for the youth of San Jose. Since 2013, Genesys Works has provided underserved high school students with technical and professional skills training, meaningful internships at leading Bay Area companies, and college support so they can succeed in today's economy. Their inaugural cohort of students from San Jose Unified and East Side Union High School Districts started their Summer Training on Monday, June 6. Justin Steele, Principal of Google.org, joined the group to launch the new South Bay office last month. "Too many of our communities' young people grow up believing that success in the corporate world is unattainable. Genesys Works is changing the life trajectory of economically disadvantaged students in our Bay Area high schools. And we're proud to support them." Google's support goes beyond grants; for the past school year, they have hosted a Genesys Works young professional in an IT internship. Through meaningful workplace experience, students learn how to navigate workplace settings while building confidence and communication and problem-solving skills. Casey Blas, a recent graduate of Burton High School in San Francisco, just completed his Google internship. He says the internship and training program were the first steps in becoming "the new Casey." During a final presentation to his supervisors, he shared: "I never thought I'd see myself at such a big company. The internship has set a foundation for the rest of my life." His supervisors benefitted too. They said at times they would forget that he was a high school intern, and that he made tangible contributions to the team. Google's grant will allow Genesys Works to serve over 200 students across Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose this year in partnership with over 25 corporations hosting interns. The end result is that students graduate high school with the tools and vision to thrive in the modern economy, and ultimately, close the opportunity gap. For more information on the program, visit: www.genesysworks.org/BayArea To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/google-grants-a-half-million-dollars-to-genesys-works-to-expand-pathways-to-tech-careers-300284410.html SOURCE Genesys Works - Bay Area [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 14, 2016] Cathay Pacific Airways And Furthermore From Equinox Partner To Launch The "Well Packed" Content Hub SAN FRANCISCO and NEW YORK, June 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Cathay Pacific USA and online digital magazine, Furthermore from Equinox, are pleased to announce the launch of the wellness content hub, "Well Packed." Through the "Well Packed" content hub, the brands showcase premium content around the seamless integration of wellness and world travelin an elevated aesthetic. The hub will serve to inspire and inform the high performance audience that Furthermore from Equinox attracts. Under the theme of Well Packed, the content hub features video and articles including a bespoke travel and wellness guide, called "The Jet Lag Bible," which serves inspiring and informative content essential to the lifestyle of the contemporary, mindful traveller. The launch video, which was shot in Hong Kong and Thailand, and takes viewers on a visual journey demonstrating how three passionate individuals, whose careers involve frequent travel, are able to maintain their healthy and active lifestyles. Photographer, Gregory Woodman and founders of women's lifestyle clothing line, ADAY, Nina Faulhaber and Meg He, all portray the symbiotic relationship betwen wellness and travel that translates effortlessly through their personal experiences. Shot in Hong Kong and Thailand with hotel partners Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong and Six Senses Yao Noi in Phuket, each location provides the perfect setting to enhance the message of the video with an emphasis on integrating wellness into every aspect of their guests' stay and beyond. "We hope to inspire travellers to honor their wellbeing when they travel," explains Robecta Ma, Vice President of Marketing, Americas, Cathay Pacific. "You take yourself with you wherever you go, and your mental and physical wellness should not have to be compromised. This creative partnership with Furthermore from Equinox highlights that a holistic approach is possible, regardless of schedules and time zones." Inspiring content will follow throughout the year, featuring in-flight beauty secrets of Cathay Pacific flight attendants, the training regimens of Shaolin monks, an extreme travel guide and 'bleisure' trip itineraries "Our audience of high-performers places a premium on travel but isn't willing to leave their fitness routines behind," says Liz Miersch, Executive Managing Director of Furthermore from Equinox. "We're thrilled to partner with Cathay Pacific and showcase the seamless integration of wellness and world travel. Our content hublike Furthermore itselfuses compelling storytelling, cutting-edge science, and an elevated aesthetic to inspire and inform." At the heart of the Cathay Pacific brand is the core belief that to travel well is to live well. The partnership with Furthermore from Equinox aims to reach more travellers with this message: to motivate, inspire and support the balance between wanderlust and wellness for those seeking to live a high performance lifestyle. About Cathay Pacific: Cathay Pacific Airways flies daily to Hong Kong and beyond, including over 22 destinations in Mainland China, from six cities in the USA and two in Canada: Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York (JFK), Newark Liberty, San Francisco, Vancouver and Toronto. More information, including current fares and availability, may be found by visiting the airline's website at cathaypacific.com/us, Facebook page at www.facebook.com/cathaypacificus, Twitter @CathayPacificUS or Instagram @CathayPacific. For North American reservations, dial toll-free: 1-888-233-ASIA. About Furthermore from Equinox: Furthermore from Equinox is the leading digital publication for high performance lifestyle content. Formerly Q By Equinox, the newly branded Furthermore site launched in January 2016 and delivers definitive, expert-vetted science in beautiful ways through proprietary articles, photography and videos that combine in-house fitness and wellness expertise with global tastemakers in travel, food, fashion and technology. Go further. Want more, click here. Logo- http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160209/331263LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cathay-pacific-airways-and-furthermore-from-equinox-partner-to-launch-the-well-packed-content-hub-300284426.html SOURCE Cathay Pacific Airways [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 14, 2016] Bell and the Festival d'ete de Quebec: an historic partnership looks to the future! Bell building on 3 decades of support for the Festival with financial support, world leading network technology and multi-platform media content through 2025. QUEBEC CITY, June 14, 2016 /CNW Telbec/ - Bell and the Festival d'ete de Quebec (FEQ) today announced an historic 10-year partnership agreement to ensure the ongoing success of one of Canada's and indeed the world's largest music festivals through 2025. "The quality of the cultural programming and production, coupled with the welcoming attitude and infectious enthusiasm of Quebec City residents, make the Festival d'ete de Quebec a spectacular and inspiring event," said Martine Turcotte, Bell's Vice Chair, Quebec. "Bell is proud and delighted to extend our support of the FEQ as we look forward to celebrating the event's 50th anniversary next year and growing the Festival and Quebec's place on the world stage for many years to come." "We are extremely thankful to Bell for recognizing our vision, our leadership and our organization's influence as a driver of cultural activity in Quebec with this partnership," said Louis Duchesne, Chairman of the FEQ Board of Directors. "Bell's commitment to us is an invaluable guarantee of stability, not only for the event, but also for the thousands of festival-goers, the tourist industry and the economic vitality of Quebec City." "I welcome Bell's tremendous generosity in supporting an event that is the pride of the entire population. Cultural patronage is more and more crucial to expanding the financial resources available for the region to continue to grow and thrive," said Francois Blais, Minister Responsible for the Capitale-Nationale. Official presenter of the Bell Stage, which brings international stars to the Plains of Abraham every year, Bell is also presenting the new Fibe Stage. In the central festival zone known as the Cur du FQ, the Fibe Stage will showcase rising stars of the Quebec music scene such as Charlotte Cardin and Safia Nolin. "I thank Bell for this major investment, which demonstrates beyond doubt the importance of the Festival d'ete de Quebec in the cultural and tourism landscape of Quebec and Canada," said Regis Labeaume, Mayor of Quebec City. "Not only will this partnership ensure the sustainability of an event that is the pride of Quebec City for years to come, it also gives organizers the necessary means to make it a resounding success for the next ten years." As the festival's official technology provider, Bell will help the FEQ develop and roll out its digital platforms such as the FEQ and Imperial Bell websites, while Bell Media will increase the Festival's national presence across its multimedia platforms. Festival-goers can head to the Bell Pavilion in the Cur du FEQ for interactive virtual reality activities, the very popular karaoke event and technology demonstrations. All festival-goers will have free access to Bell charging stations that can be found in various locations at event sites. Bell Fibe TV subscribers will also benefit with unique productions available only on TV1. In 2016, the Cur de pirate and Eric Lapointe concerts, along with many performances on the Fibe Stage, will air both live and on demand on TV1. "Bell's support means the FEQ can pursue its mission of making culture more widely accessible by offering young emerging artists a fantastic performance venue as well as an array of promising broadcast platforms," added Daniel Gelinas, General Manager of the Festival. Bell's continued support for Imperial Bell, one of the most popular cultural venue in Quebec City, will further enhance the cultural life of the city all year long and secure the future of this historic hall. Since the announcement of Bell's and the FEQ's involvement with this flagship Saint-Roch building, the concert hall has been sold out for performances by Patrick Watson, Bernard Adamus, Cur de pirate and Radio Radio. Bell will continue to use the venue for its Nuits FEQ, a series of reasonably priced concerts by the hottest artists of the moment. About Bell Bell is Canada's largest communications company, providing consumers and business customers with TV, Internet, wireless, home phone, small business and enterprise communications services. Bell Media is Canada's premier multimedia company with leading assets in television, radio, digital and out of home media. Bell is wholly owned by Montreal's BCE Inc. (TSX, NYSE: BCE). For further information, please visit Bell.ca. The Bell Let's Talk initiative promotes mental health in Canada with national awareness and anti-stigma campaigns, like Bell Let's Talk Day, and significant Bell funding of community care and access, research, and workplace initiatives. For further information, please visit Bell.ca/LetsTalk. About the Festival d'ete international de Quebec 300 shows, 10 venues and 11 days of music make the Festival d'ete de Quebec one of Canada's biggest music festivals. Early July sees international stars and top new talent playing every style of music coming together for a special time in a special place - historic Old Quebec! There's music for everyone: rock, folk, hip-hop, electro, French song, jazz, world music and much more! SOURCE Bell Canada [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] June 14, 2016 By Peter Bernstein, Senior Editor It should be no secret that we live in what has been called, The Real-Time Economy. It is characterized by the facts that regardless of company size or location, if you are not in business 24/7/365, being responsive to customers and all of your stakeholders, you are not really in business and soon will not be. I have characterized the era we have entered as The Age of Acceleration. It is one where the only constants are change and the increasing speed at which it is coming at us. Realities are in this new always on/all ways connected world, being agile in terms of dealing which dynamic changes and responsive to them in a manner that hopefully exceeds expectations is not a nicety but a business necessity. Indeed, this need to be adroit has been well-documented. Studies have shown that companies that leverage next generation communications and collaboration technologies employing an omnichannel approach, automate business processes to reduce valuable time of skilled personal that should be focused on high-impact interactions rather manual data entry, and integrate all of their customer profile data and workflow capabilities so as to be more responsive, financially outperform those that do not. They also almost always are market leaders. A major challenge that arises is how to assure the right people have the best tools and training to perform optimally in the real-time economy. Truth be known, real-time may be too slow. If all of the data and business processes your organization relies on to please customers and create competitive advantage is not integrated and easily accessible by your frontline people suboptimal results are sure to follow. Those front line people need to have a holistic real-time view of the entire customer journey at their fingertips, along with access to data and people that can solve problems quickly and in a satisfactory manner. This brings up two interesting questions for real-time economy success. Are all of your business systems and processes that contain and manipulate valuable data about the customer journey or your value-chain optimized, i.e., automated to the extent that they are best practices? Are all of those systems and processes integrated with each other, and with your communications and collaboration tools, so that frontline people can have the tools they need to maximize their time spent and monetize those interactions? The facts as noted are indisuputable, if the answers to the questions above are no, it is costing your company BIG TIME! For example, did you know? The average time it takes to log one call-[into Salesforce]-is 2.6 minutes, according to Griffith University. Multiplied by the number of calls a companys workforce makes a day and thats a significant amount of time and dollars wasted. 80 percent of senior executives say their biggest CRM challenge is getting their staff to use the software, according to Merkle Group Inc. With companies investing thousands of dollars a year on CRM systems, its no surprise that their ROI isnt matching up. Wasted time is obviously wasted opportunity. However, this does not have to be the case. The tools needed to leverage the data from various siloed areas, particularly CRM systems, integrated with unified communications capabilities can be customized to meet your unique needs and propel business success. How to optimize your Evironment to maximize your company performance in the real-time economy through business process integration will be the subject of the forthcoming webinar, Solving the Data Disconnect: Benefits of Phone (News - Alert) and Business Process Integration on your Business' Bottom Line. To be held Thursday, June 23, 2016 11:00 AM PDT / 2:00 PM EDT, you are invited to join me and Crisantos Hajibrahim, Product Evangelist, Vonage (News - Alert) Business as we discuss in detail: Current challenges across sales, marketing and IT What is business process/CRM integration, and how it works The benefits of a fully integrated communications system o Estimated ROI and Cost Savings: increase workforce productivity and mobility o Real-time data and intelligence: automated call reporting and analytics o Streamlined customer experience o Increased Reliability of Calls and Applications Disconnected data is a major obstacle to business success. You need your systems and data to work as hard as your people because the best tools and information in the right hands has no alternative when it comes to being ready to profit for whatever the future has in store. Edited by Stefania Viscusi What you need to know about Colts starting quarterback Sam Ehlinger Volunteer walks in honor of her husband Thousand Oaks resident Joan Hull will be among those participating in this years Conejo Valley Walk to End Alzheimers at 9 a.m. Sat., Oct. 22 at the Westlake Promenade. Hull... Overpass could get protective fencing A substantial safety upgrade for the areas most notorious overpass is finally getting some Caltrans considerationbut dont expect changes any time soon. At the Sept. 21 Moorpark City Council meeting,... Early detection is the best way to survive breast cancer Every October, we celebrate those men and women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer. But what is breast cancer and how can it be diagnosed and managed? There are... You have reached a premium content area of Transitions. To read this entire article please login if you are already a Transitions subscriber. Not a subscriber? Subscribe today for access to: Full access to the website, including premium articles videos, country reports and searchable archives (containing over 25,000 articles). European Union Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini delivers a speech during a debate on migrations at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, June 7, 2016. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler OSLO (Reuters) - The European Union is engaging with businesses and banks to encourage them to do business in Iran following the signing of the nuclear deal, the EU's foreign policy chief said on Tuesday. "In the first four months this year trade between the European Union and Iran increased by 22 percent," Federica Mogherini told a news conference in Norway. "We are very actively engaging with the business community and the banks in Europe and elsewhere to encourage engaging in Iran," she said. (Reporting by Stine Jacobsen; Writing by Gwladys Fouche; Editing by Janet Lawrence) By Tulay Karadeniz and Ece Toksabay ANKARA (Reuters) - The European Union's top envoy to Turkey has resigned, EU officials said on Tuesday, after displaying what a Turkish minister said was disrespect for national values and for President Tayyip Erdogan. The resignation of Hansjoerg Haber was a further sign of strained ties as Brussels tries to keep on track a landmark deal credited with curbing the flow of migrants to Europe. It comes a month after Haber was summoned by Turkey's foreign ministry over comments critical of Ankara's handling of the migration accord. An EU official said his departure was "not for personal reasons". Omer Celik, Turkey's EU affairs minister, told reporters it had become impossible for Haber to function in his role. "The first rule for all diplomats is to respect national values, which include the common value of the office of the presidency," Celik said during a visit to Slovakia in comments broadcast live by TRT television. "The comments made by the ambassador in question violated this fundamental rule and the necessary reaction was made. Following that, I believe his work no longer had a function or meaning," he said. EU officials declined to comment on the reason for Haber's resignation. The 28-nation EU is dependent on Turkey to enforce a deal, criticised by rights groups, that has sharply cut the number of refugees and migrants reaching Greece, giving EU leaders breathing space after more than a million arrived last year. But the EU is treading a delicate line, facing accusations of compromising its values by failing to be critical enough of Turkey's deteriorating record on human rights and freedoms. A spokeswoman for the European Commission said Haber would be leaving his role as of August. "The successor will be appointed swiftly. We, as the European Union, continue to work with Turkey, Turkey is a key partner, it's a candidate country. We have re-energised our relationship," spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic said. As a reward for keeping a lid on migration, Brussels promised Turkey to speed up its long-dormant EU accession talks. EU envoys to Brussels were due to act on that commitment on Wednesday by formally agreeing to open negotiations on financial and budget issues with Ankara, diplomatic sources told Reuters. COUNTER-TERRORISM LAWS Haber was summoned by the foreign ministry in May to complain about comments he had made about the migration deal. Turkish officials took offence at his use of an unflattering German saying, cited in local newspapers, to describe how a plan to ease visa restrictions for Turks travelling to Europe, part of the wider migrant deal, had run into problems. Turkey and the EU have been discussing visa liberalisation since 2013 and agreed in March to go ahead with it as part of the deal to halt illegal immigration from Turkey to the EU. But progress stalled when Brussels insisted that Ankara must also reform its counter-terrorism laws. Prime Minister Binali Yildirim repeated on Tuesday that Turkey had no intention of changing its counter-terrorism laws, even if that meant the deal on visa-free travel collapsing. The EU says Turkey must narrow its definition of terrorist crimes, which leads to extensive application of the law against intellectuals, Kurdish sympathisers and critics of Erdogan. Turkey says its laws are crucial to its fight with Kurdish and Islamic State militants. Officials on both sides have said agreement on visa-free travel for Turks, unpopular in many EU states, is now unlikely until the autumn at the earliest. (Additional reporting by Humeyra Pamuk and Ayla Jean Yackley in Istanbul, Gabriela Baczynska, Alastair Macdonald and Tom Koerkemeier in Brussels; Writing by Nick Tattersall; editing by Richard Balmforth) The OnePlus 3 has the speed, design and price to put a lot of other flagship phones to shame. Why you can trust Tom's Guide Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test . How much should a flagship phone cost? If you had asked me six months ago, I probably would have said between $600 and $700. But now, the OnePlus 3 gives you flagship specs for just $399. For that price, you get the world's first phone to have 6GB of RAM, along with a sharp 16-megapixel camera, a rich AMOLED display and superfast battery charging. Even more important is that OnePlus didn't cut corners to get there. The phone's exquisitely crafted aluminum body begs to be touched, and OnePlus' OxygenOS only improves upon Android 6.0. The OnePlus 3 would be a great deal even for $200 more, but at $399, its combination of price and performance is unbeatable. Design: Moving up to all-metal At a time when every all-metal phone gets compared to the iPhone, the OnePlus 3 (available in graphite or soft gold) doesn't do a ton to distinguish itself. But the devil is in the details: The OnePlus 3 upgrades the removable-back design on the OnePlus 2 and is now on the same level as other flagship handsets. And you can tell this wasn't a hasty move, because the subtly curved edges around the display and the ports and speaker grille on the bottom feature precision not found on OnePlus' previous phones. Image 1 of 13 The capacitive home button on the front features a fingerprint sensor that feels as fast as anything on the market; it's flanked by two additional touch buttons for home and menu. If you dive into the settings, you even get the luxury of swapping the functions of each side. The OnePlus 3's AMOLED display delights with deep, inky blacks, and vibrant colors. OnePlus has also done a clever job of integrating one of Android 6.0's features into the phone's design: The diamond-cut slider on the right features three positions for All, Priority and Silent, to let you set which notifications deserve your attention. (Image credit: Jeremy Lips / Tom's Guide) The company also claims that the OnePlus 3 has some of the slimmest bezels around, although a quick comparison with the similarly sized 5.5-inch Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge shows that Samsung still holds a very slight advantage in screen-to-body ratio. At 6.01 x 2.94 x 0.28 inches and 5.57 ounces, the OnePlus 3 is just a tiny bit bigger, though thinner, than the 5.94 x 2.85 x 0.30-inch, 5.53-ounce Galaxy S7. Display: Alluring AMOLED In addition to raising the level of its design, OnePlus has made the switch to AMOLED on the OnePlus 3's 5.5-inch full-HD display. It's a difference that's noticeable right away, as the OnePlus 3 delights with deep, inky blacks, and vibrant colors that bring things like the Battlefield 1 trailer to new heights. I enjoyed the visions of sickly yellow-green mustard gas and streaks of red-hot machine-gun fire. But if I had to nitpick, I'd say that, at 5.5 inches, the OnePlus 3's full-HD screen can look a bit inadequate. From 6 inches away, I could still see the pixel grid that makes up the screen, and with a max brightness of 379 nits, the OnePlus 3 can't quite match the luminance of the Galaxy S7 Edge's 530-nit display. MORE: Cellphone Carriers: Best and Worst Customer Service However, the OnePlus covered 192 percent of the sRGB color spectrum (100 percent is very good) and notched a Delta-E rating of 2.9 (0 is perfect), which makes it a match for the Galaxy S7 Edge in both color range (189 percent for Samsung's phone) and accuracy (Delta-E of 2.9). That's no mean feat, because I consider the S7 Edge's screen to be the best display you can get on a phone right now. Cameras: Sharp, but low-light pics could be better With the current crop of phone cameras, we've reached a point where every flagship handset can take a pretty sweet picture in bright light. And with its 16-megapixel rear cam, the OnePlus 3 proved that it can snap some impressive photos, especially if you're fond of landscape shots. (Image credit: Samuel C. Rutherford / Tom's Guide) In a shot looking out across New Jersey, the OnePlus 3 stunned with an auto HDR photo that captured great detail in the sky and the buildings, without blowing out the fluffy clouds in the distance. Shots like these are also where the OnePlus 3's 16-MP camera has an advantage over the 12-MP Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, because in wide-open pictures, a little extra resolution can make a difference. (Image credit: Samuel C. Rutherford / Tom's Guide) However, when I compared a shot of some colorful makeup, I found that pictures from Samsung's Galaxy S7 Edge featured colors that looked a bit richer than what I shot using the OnePlus 3. The 3's picture comes close, but if I had to pick one, I'd have to give the S7 Edge the win. (Image credit: Samuel C. Rutherford / Tom's Guide) Unfortunately, the OnePlus 3 didn't fare as well at night. Although its built-in de-noise function helps reduce the graininess and splotchy backgrounds you see in a lot of low-light photos, the f/2.0 lens on the OnePlus 3's rear camera lets in a lot less light than the S7 Edge's f/1.7 lens. As a result, the OnePlus 3's photos looked pretty underexposed next to shots from the S7 Edge. (Image credit: Samuel C. Rutherford / Tom's Guide) In a test at a nearby theater, even after the lights came up, the OnePlus 3's photo was significantly darker than the one from the S7 Edge. And the same thing happened outdoors at night. Even with a light directly in the frame, the S7 Edge's photo was brighter, featured more detail in the night sky and flowers, and captured an overall sharper photo. (Image credit: Samuel C. Rutherford / Tom's Guide) For selfie lovers, the OnePlus 3's 8-MP front camera includes a smile-detection feature that snaps a picture when you flash those pearly whites. But because I feel like a fool when I force a smile, I ended up snapping some selfies in the style of Derek Zoolander instead. The OnePlus 3 makes up for its middling battery life with what might be the fastest charging speed on the planet. The OnePlus 3's front camera has a higher resolution than most phones' front cameras, and lets you capture a lot of details in your face. However, it favors the wide-angle view like you get on the S7 Edge, which makes Samsung's phone better for group selfies. Performance: 6GB is the new standard for RAM The OnePlus 3 includes a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor, which is the same chip found in the Galaxy S7, the HTC 10, the LG G5 and others. But the OnePlus 3's true standout feature is that it's one of the first phones in the world with 6GB of RAM. That much memory results in a superfast phone that lets you switch between apps like lightning, even if you have 15 or 20 of them running in the background. Although the OnePlus 3 doesn't have an SD card slot, the 64GB of onboard storage means that you'll fret a lot less about running out of storage than you would with the 16GB you get on a starting iPhone. On Geekbench 3, which measures overall performance, OnePlus seems to have squeezed every last bit of swiftness out of the OnePlus 3. It scored 5,554, which was actually a bit higher than what we saw from the S7 Edge (5,448) and the HTC 10 (5,107), and markedly better than the Google Nexus 6P (4,289). The results for graphics were similar: The OnePlus 3's score of 29,957 on 3DMark's Ice Storm Unlimited graphics test beat the S7 Edge (29,851), the HTC 10 (26,955) and the Nexus 6P (17,674). MORE: Best Cheap Unlocked Smartphones Even when we used VidTrim to convert a 1080p video to 480p, the OnePlus 3 came out on top. With a time of 3 minutes and 29 seconds, the OnePlus 3 was 20 to 30 seconds faster than the HTC 10 (3:50) and the S7 Edge (4:00). Battery Life: Average runtime, chart-topping recharging My one disappointment with the OnePlus 3 is that even with such a big focus on battery life, its longevity was just average. On the Tom's Guide Battery Test (continuous web surfing over AT&T's LTE network), the OnePlus 3 lasted 8 hours and 33 minutes. The HTC 10 (9:56), Galaxy S7 Edge (10:09) and Nexus 6P (12:25) all lasted significantly longer. Thankfully, the OnePlus 3 makes up for its middling battery life with what might be the fastest charging speeds on the planet. With its 4-amp Dash Charge adapter, the OnePlus 3 can recharge its battery by up to 60 percent in 30 minutes, no matter if the phone is playing a game, watching a video or just sitting there taking in juice. That's a big difference from other phones with fast charging that fill up fast if you leave them alone, but struggle if you actually use them while recharging. MORE: Smartphones with the Longest Battery Life With the battery starting at 10 percent, I plugged the OnePlus 3 and the Galaxy S7 Edge into the wall with their respective chargers. Then, I streamed a 1080p video from YouTube. After 30 minutes, the OnePlus reached 71 percent. Meanwhile, the S7 Edge languished far behind, at just 34 percent over the same period. When it comes to real-world recharging, the OnePlus 3 gets top marks. OS: Making Android 6.0 better without the bloat Reviewers often complain when an Android phone comes with a skinned or altered version of Google's OS, but with OnePlus' OxygenOS, the company has enhanced Android 6.0 without the slowdown that can occur on non-stock phones. OnePlus uses a very light touch to add features such as a built-in dark mode (which is especially useful on phones with AMOLED screens), and custom color choices for the LED notification light, but with the clean material design of Android Marshmallow. (Image credit: Jeremy Lips / Tom's Guide) OnePlus says it focused on three core principles to guide its fork of Android 6.0: speed, stability and battery life. So you don't see things such as dropped frames, which cause the screen to look jumpy while you're scrolling. That leaves you with a phone that feels fast and fluid at all times. If you're going to mess around with stock Android, this is how you should do it. Networks The OnePlus 3 will be available unlocked directly from the company and for the first time, you won't need an invite to get a OnePlus phone. However, because the OnePlus 3 doesn't have full support for CDMA bands, you are limited to GSM carriers such as AT&T and T-Mobile if you want 4G LTE coverage. Bottom Line Despite some minor issues with the camera and just-OK battery life, the OnePlus 3 is a phone that's hard not to love. You get top-tier performance, 6GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, a seductive all-aluminum body and a rich 5.5-inch AMOLED screen, all for just $399. That's $300 less than the S7 Edge or the HTC 10, and $100 less than the Nexus 6P. (Image credit: Jeremy Lips / Tom's Guide) So although the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge remains the best phone on the market, the OnePlus 3 will probably be the one I recommend more often to friends and family. Because if you don't need to spend top-shelf money to get a first-rate phone, why would you? With its latest phone, OnePlus has finally made the flagship killer that we've been dreaming of. We sat down with Kevin Chen, the Vice President of Adata, during Computex 2016 to discuss the trends and market forces that are driving the company and the industry at large. Adata produces a range of products that includes DRAM, SSDs, USB, memory cards and external storage devices, but our discussion focused on its flash-based products. Not every meeting we have at a tradeshows is staffed by high-level product experts, but occasionally we get a chance to speak to the cream of the crop. In those meetings, though, we find that company representatives are forthcoming and more open to sharing insight and opinions on various market forces. Our recent discussions with Adata's Kevin Chen, like previous conversations we have had with him, provided us with insight into the inner workings of the industry. Chen is relaxed and personable, and his unrestrained responses to our questions are refreshing. Adata Overview Adata is a third-party SSD manufacturer that utilizes more SSD controllers and flavors of NAND than any other company that we are aware of. The NAND fabs are the engines that pull the third-party SSD ecosystem down the track, and Adata utilizes flash from Micron, Toshiba, SK Hynix and Samsung. (If you're keeping track, this represents every major NAND supplier.) SSD controllers also play an integral part, and Adata offers Marvell, SMI, Seagate, Realtek and Maxiotek SSD controllers with its products. Adata is experiencing a solid growth trend; the company's channel grew 65-70 percent last year, and the it projects a 40-50 percent growth trajectory per year for the next three years. This broad spate of both NAND and SSD controller partners gives Chen a unique view of the market and emerging trends. We asked Chen why the company utilizes so many products, and if he foresees any overlaps. He indicated that Adata tailors the wide range of SSD controller and NAND pairings to address a wide range of workloads, such as mainstream and gaming use-cases, but that any potential overlap merely provides the customer with more choice. Industry Transition To 2D TLC NAND The industry transition from 2D MLC to 2D TLC flash is well underway. Chen noted that last year, the company sold 80-85 percent MLC NAND, whereas this year the mix has changed radically to 70-75 percent TLC NAND. TLC enables a lower cost structure, which meshes well with the OEM and mainstream markets, but Adata does not target it for segments that require the best performance (such as gaming). Chen indicated that consumers have embraced TLC NAND because it has proven to provide enough endurance and performance for the majority of applications. Adata is one of the few third-party SSD vendors that purchases NAND in wafer form; most simply procure the finished packages. Adata processes the wafers itself, which allows it to bin the flash die and assure that it adheres to its rigorous quality standards. The company indicated that the wafer processing and binning capability provides it with cost and quality benefits, and Chen noted that 2 to 5 percent of the die that are sold as "SSD grade" do not meet Adata's SSD requirements. Chen feels that the ability to control the NAND binning process provides Adata with an advantage over competitors, particularly when it comes to TLC NAND, which encounters more reliability challenges. Transition To 3D NAND Beginning Chen is bullish on the industry transition to 3D NAND. Adata will introduce its first 3D NAND SSDs in July 2016, but Chen noted that the fabs are experiencing growing pains as they grapple with the 3D NAND manufacturing process. Some NAND vendors are not providing 3D NAND wafers yet due to lower quality that stems from manufacturing difficulties as the process matures. As a result, Adata is buying and binning 3D NAND packages for the time being, but it will transition to 3D NAND wafer processing as wafers become available. There have been industry reports of a looming NAND shortage in the second half of this year, and we have followed the topic closely. The difficulties with 3D NAND are common knowledge in the industry; many attribute difficulties during the transition to 3D NAND, which have most fabs one to two years behind schedule, as one of the key reasons that a shortage is looming. Some predict that prices will increases during the shortage, but Chen expects Adata's pricing to stabilize, as opposed to increasing, as a result of the shortage. Other sources have also indicated that Apple is buying a tremendous amount of NAND as it prepares for the iPhone 7, which increases the base amount of storage from 16 to 32 GB and the maximum storage capacity to 256 GB. Apple is known to be a NAND vacuum of sorts when it ramps production for a new device, which adds additional supply pressure. Chen indicated that the Adata strategy of using a pool of NAND vendors allows it to provide the most cost-competitive products and maintain a diversified supply. Adata produces its own SSDs, but it also assembles SSDs for OEM customers and other third-party SSD vendors, who merely resell the Adata SSDs under their branding. This increases the challenges associated with assuring the company has enough NAND, and the company has also increased its own NAND stockpile in anticipation of higher prices later in the year. Emerging Trends Chen cited 3D TLC and MLC NAND as the leading trends for the coming year, along with an increased commitment to PCIe 3.0 x4 SSDs in both M.2 and U.2 (2.5") form factors. Adata is expanding its NVMe offerings over the next year as the ecosystem continues to develop. The company is also experiencing solid growth trends in industrial automation, manufacturing and assembly, networking, security, and points of sale. Chen also commented that DRAMless SSDs, which usually employ TLC NAND and no DRAM package, are going to be more common as OEMs increase adoption of the emerging "HDD replacement" segment. Endurance becomes more of a concern with DRAMless SSDs, and some vendors may choose to lower warranty periods to one year to 18 months, but Chen noted that Adata will continue to provide a three-year warranty. Production Capabilities One area of considerable pride for Chen is the company's automated manufacturing process and rigorous quality control procedures. Adata's multi-layer quality assurance system employs heat ovens that help ensure quality (reliability, data retention) and allow the company to provide its OEM customers with quarterly quality control reports. I have been inside several SSD production facilities, and I have not encountered this capability elsewhere outside of the actual NAND fabs. The company's Suzhou, China plant generates 500,000 finished products per month, and its Taipei facility produces 100,000 finished products per month. Adata has outstripped its production capabilities in recent months, so the company is doubling its automated line at its Suzhou facility to deal with the increased demand. Adata also touts the fact that its Suzhou facility has achieved the highest level of accreditation (AEO) from Chinese authorities, a mark only 16 of more than 4,000 facilities in the Suzhou Industrial Park have achieved. Thoughts Adata is one of several SSD vendors that are in the midst of explosive growth as SSDs continue to steal the performance and client markets away from HDDs. Many of the third-party SSD vendors are experiencing more pressure as the SSD market commoditizes, which reduces margins and profits. Adata hopes that its investments in wafer production (along with diversified supply), IC sorting and binning, retention testing, quality control and automated production lines will assure its relevance in the 3D NAND era. If its growth trends are any indication, the company is headed in the right direction. Paul Alcorn is a Contributing Editor for Tom's Hardware, covering Storage. Follow him on Twitter and Google+. Police have slammed the organisers of Omega Festival, an unauthorised rave held over the weekend at at Newton Boyd, west of Grafton on the NSW North Coast, after a 24-year-old punter was found dead in his car. David Gallagher was found dead in his car on Sunday afternoon. Emergency services were called to the private property in Newtown Boyd just after 2pm. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, drug paraphernalia was found in Gallaghers car. NSW Police have criticised the conduct of festival organisers, who proceeded with the event despite the death of the Green Pigeon native, who died of a suspected drug overdose just 200 metres from where dancing revellers were partying on. Its understood the music kept playing as police, who required a crime scene warrant to enter the property, took Gallaghers body away and had his vehicle towed. Detective Inspector Darren Jameson of the Coffs Clarence Local Area Command was highly critical of festival organisers. My concerns are these rave event organisers show no regard for the safety of people, Inspector Jameson told Fairfax, insisting hed never seen anything like it in his 26 years of policing. #omega #omegafestival first Australian doof and Twas a beautiful success meeting beautiful new souls. Feeling blessed after this weekend A video posted by Jess Knudsen (@jknuds19) on Jun 13, 2016 at 3:37am PDT They need to be shut down and stopped. Evidence of their disregard shows how they failed to stop the event despite someone dying in front of them. Police had previously attempted to shut down the party when it was scheduled for Tabulam, west of Casino. After organisers secured a new location, they urged punters not to reveal the new site on social media, advising them that they would be emailed with directions. Police discovered the new site after receiving complaints of unusually high traffic in the area. The official website for Omega Festival does not detail the events emergency facilities, though Insp Jameson said organisers did not have an event management plan, risk assessment, evacuation, or traffic plan. [include_post id=466572] They had two medical people on site at the event but I would consider them to be inappropriately trained and resourced for this type of event and amount of people, he told the Sydney Morning Herald. Omega organisers have also received criticism from members of the public. So disgusting and disrespectful to continue, wrote one commenter on the festivals official Facebook page, echoing the sentiments of many. Scumbags! Not only do you disregard lawful intervention in your illegal commercial event. You keep the party going after a young person dies! another wrote. Oh, and thanks for making sure all future NSW doofs are cracked down on hard in the future because of your criminal negligence. (Photo: chloepaver / Instagram) Brisbane rock crew Feuds are today unleashing their brand new single River of Wine. For those uninitiated, Feuds are a re-invigorated project with a brand new name. If the band does sound familiar thats because the guys have been around for a while under another moniker, but River Of Wine marks the beginning of their new sound, style, and story. Recorded in various locations across the Brisbane area from bedrooms and rehearsal rooms to lead guitarist Perry Walkers farm with the help of Konstantin Kersting (Art Of Sleeping, Moses Gunn Collective, The Belligerents, WAAX) River Of Wine is an impressive effort from the band. Having supported local legends like Holy Holy and Bad//Dreems under previous monikers in the past, Feuds are re-formed, revved up and ready to slay in the second half of 2016. Check out the new singe below and if you like what youre hearing be sure to stay locked to the bands Facebook page for more info on their forthcoming EP (out August 2016). PROVING THAT KANSAS CITY IS MORE REGRESSIVE THAN ANYBODY CARES TO REALIZE . . . THE MAYOR AND MOST OF CITY GOVERNMENT STAND AGAINST JUDICIAL REFORMS FOR FERGUSON THAT WOULD BE APPLIED STATEWIDE!! Not so long ago, a little town in Missouri was the stage for a month's worth of rioting and international news over rebellion that against the judicial system.One of the things that most agreed on, even white people, was that these po'dunk villages in the stix have to stop using their courts like a cash cash machine.Remember:Currently . . .Here's a bit of propaganda offering only City Hall's viewpoint linked only to offer this reality check . . .Developing . . . Amazon boxes are seen stacked for delivery in the Manhattan borough of New York City, January 29, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said on Monday it is proposing a $350,000 civil fine against Amazon.com Inc for shipping a product that allegedly violated hazardous materials regulations and injured several UPS workers who handled the package. The penalty is the largest fine the FAA has proposed imposing on Amazon, which the agency said has had a series of at least 24 hazardous materials violations in recent years. The FAA alleged that on Oct. 15, 2014, Amazon sent a UPS package with a one-gallon container of "Amazing! LIQUID FIRE," a corrosive drain cleaner for transportation by air from Louisville, Kentucky, to Boulder, Colorado. The package leaked and nine UPS employees who came into contact with the box reported feeling a burning sensation and were treated with a chemical wash, the FAA said. The FAA said the shipment was improperly packaged, not accompanied by a declaration for dangerous goods and not properly labeled to indicate the hazardous contents. Amazon declined to answer questions about the incident or prior fines, but said in a written statement that "we ship tens of millions of products every day and have developed sophisticated technologies to detect potential shipping hazards and use any defects as an opportunity for continuous improvement. We will continue to partner with the FAA in this area." UPS spokesman Mike Mangeot in a statement declined to discuss the incident "other than to say our employees were fine after receiving treatment." UPS is committed to the safe transportation of hazardous materials, he said. "We expect our customers to follow hazmat regulations, and when incidents or discrepancies occur, we report those situations," Mangeot said. The FAA alleged Amazon failed to provide emergency response information with the package, and Amazon employees who handled the package had not received required hazardous materials training. The FAA said that from February 2013 to September 2015, the government found Amazon had violated the hazardous materials regulations 24 other times seeking a total of nearly $1.3 million in fines. In at least 15 instances, hazardous material leaked, the FAA said in its notice of violation reviewed by Reuters. Story continues It was not clear how many total times Amazon paid fines or admitted responsibility, since the FAA does not issue press releases for fines below $50,000, an FAA spokesman said. The company did pay $91,000 in April 2014 for a 2013 incident. The agency is continuing to investigate Amazons compliance with hazardous shipment rules. In April 2014, Amazon paid a $91,000 fine to the FAA after its employees improperly shipped a package in 2013 containing flammable liquid adhesive by air on Federal Express from Whitestown, Indiana, to Boulder, Colorado. (Reporting by David Shepardson; editing by David Gregorio and Diane Craft) Chastain...downtown streetcar system and citywide light rail system would mutually enhance each other It seems that Kansas City's foremost transit activist seys dueling transit petitions actually compliment one another.Local media recently played up these petitions and competition for one another but thissets the record straight . . .Here's the word . . .A citywide light rail system and a downtown streetcar system, connected together, would mutually enhance each other. They are not rival plans. The city's streetcar line is very nice, but needs a citywide light rail system connecting to it like the flower needs the rain.A faster, bigger citywide light rail system would not only connect all of the city's major employment centers and destinations together, it would also bring riders from all areas of the city, including (eventually) the suburbs, to downtown. Once downtown, riders could connect to a smaller streetcar system (at Union Station) and then be transported to multiple destinations throughout the downtown area (City Market to the Plaza / UMKC) not directly served by light rail. A fantastic rail system with convenient rail to rail connections.However, an isolated streetcar line, even to the Plaza, would have little transit value (in terms of getting people to jobs or serving the rest of the city, including KCI), unless it were connected to a faster more comprehensive light rail system.What's more, we do not support streetcar proponents current plans to expand the city's downtown streetcar line to the Plaza by means of another restricted election involving a TDD (Transportation Development District).How the city modernizes its transit system should be of concern to all citizens, not just a sprinkling of favorable voters who live along the rail route. This sneaky, undemocratic approach of restricting citywide voters from weighing in on this important urban planning decision is no way to run a railroad. We want a consensus from citywide voters on both plans so we are in a strong position to secure significant federal matching funds to help us build these two much needed and interconnected rail systems.Therefore, I call upon the city council and mayor to place on the upcoming November ballot both the citywide light rail petition plan and the streetcar expansion plan.I call upon Kansas City voters to approve both plans because they will enhance each other's success and the success of Kansas City.Clay Chastain...Kansas City activist, engineer, and leader of the people's light rail initiative petition.############### "This tragedy cannot be neatly categorized as a fight between the LGBTQ community and the Muslim community. As LGBTQ Muslims, we know that there are many of us who are living at the intersections of LGBTQ identities and Islam. At moments like this, we are doubly affected. We reject attempts to perpetuate hatred against our LGBTQ communities as well as our Muslim communities. We ask all Americans to resist the forces of division and hatred, and to stand against homophobia as well as against Islamophobia and anti-Muslim bigotry. Let us remember that the actions of a single individual cannot speak for all Muslims. Let us also remember that there are many straight Muslims who have been strong allies to the Muslim LGBTQ community. We see the beauty in our cultures and our faith traditions, and we have experienced love, acceptance and support from many in our Muslim communities." A note from Kansas City citizen media activists offers an alternative perspective on the divisive debate that follows the deadliest mass shooting in American history and aligns with neither the progressive nor conservative agenda exactly.Now . . .working in Kansas City and here's how they're sharing the love tonight . . .You decide . . . Four lesser-known Greek islands in the Aegean are recommended by Travel+ Leisure for this summer Four lesser-known Greek islands in the Aegean are recommended by Travel+ Leisure for this summer. The leading American magazine notes that "the aegean island of the moment seems to change every summer. Weve uncovered this years must-know islesalong with how to get there, where to stay, and, of course, what to Instagram." Simi The ongoing search for quiet hangouts has led intellectuals and history buffs to Simi, where there's been an uptick in colorful hotels. Getting There Fly in to Rhodes (there are nonstop flights from multiple European cities), then take a one-hour express ferry. Home Base The atmospheric Old Markets hotel (doubles from $942) is a registered national monument with 10 antique-filled suites. Photo Op Travel specialist Elena Papanicolaou of Fly Me to the Moon recommends hiking up to the top of the old town of Horio to see the crumbling remnants of a castle built by the Knights of St. John. Hydra The bohemian and fashion sets (Leonard Cohen, Chloe Sevigny) have alighted here, joining forces to create a happening art scene. Getting There Take a two-hour hydrofoil from Piraeus, which is only a 20-minute drive from Athens. Home Base Hydra is either about simple, charming guesthouses like Orloff (doubles from $160) and Cotommatae Hydra 1810 (doubles from $181) or villa rentals. Five Star Greece can help. Photo Op The Deste Foundation, a cutting-edge gallery in a former slaughterhouse, is a must-visit. Paros Despite its great beaches, easy access, and a variety of watersports, Paros remains off the radarwhich is why families head here to avoid the crowds. Getting There Take a 40-minute flight from Athens or a three- to four-hour boat ride from Piraeus. Home Base Paros has plenty of hotels, but big broods are better off spreading out in a villa. White Key Villas offers all types of rentals, including the brand-new, five-bedroom Villa Iro (groups of 10 from $15,146 per week). Photo Op Look out for the weathered blue furniture spilling from low-key tavernas to the waters edge in the harbor. Folegandros Thanks to an increase in nonstop flights to neighboring Santorini, this unsung Cycladic island is on the verge of wider discovery. Getting There Fly to Santorini, then take a 90-minute ferry (between May and October); or take a four-hour ferry (year-round) from Piraeus. Home Base The simple but lovely Anemomilos apartments (doubles from $281) have sensational views thanks to their cliff-clinging setting. Photo Op Local fashion designer Christina Economou suggests hiking up to the church of Panagia. Its the islands biggest religious building, and it looks out across the archipelago. Read more here. RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report Abu Dhabi's state-owned International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) asked a London court to arbitrate in a dispute with Malaysian state fund 1MDB, in which it is claiming about $6.5 billion, IPIC said on Tuesday. The submission to the London Court of International Arbitration alleges that 1MDB and Malaysia's finance ministry failed to perform their obligations under a debt restructuring agreement involving the companies last June. Malaysia's finance ministry dissolved 1MDB's board of advisers and took over its remaining assets last month. The fund is the subject of money-laundering investigations in at least six countries. - Reuters Arabian Shield, a leading provider of premium insurance products and services in Saudi Arabia has assigned the services of Shariyah Review Bureau (SRB) to manage its Sharia Advisory affairs. SRB has been operating in the GCC for more than ten years and has gained international recognition for its Sharia Advisory role across markets especially in the Islamic insurance sector in Saudia Arabia where it is the Sharia Advisor for cooperative insurance firms which make up 49.55 per cent of the market share (as of 30-Sep-2014) in the Kingdom, a statement said. "With offices in Bahrain, Jeddah and Dubai and scholarly resources expanding over fourteen countries SRB continues to invest in its resources and supervision capabilities" said Yasser S Dahlawi, CEO at SRB. While quality, cost, and quick product turnarounds continue to play a significant role in outsourcing Sharia Advisory roles, it is the demonstration of creative abilities to solve wider business challenges in light of Sharia which is now considered more exciting and relevant by the expanding Sharia compliant sectors. "We are pleased with the confidence Arabian Shield has placed in us to provide a broad spectrum of Sharia supervisory services and look forward to working with them while developing and streamlining their Sharia compliant operations, he added. Mansoor M Ahmed, AGM at SRB said: In our experience institutions who assign us have managed to stay on top of rapidly changing Islamic markets without having to expand their overheads, Sharia infrastructure or capital. To keep in touch with the changing financial landscape while availing arising opportunities in the growing Islamic market, institutions needs to spend resources to meet Sharia requirements. By assigning firms like SRB to manage all Sharia compliant functions the Islamic institutions frees up a major portion of their capital. The arrangement also allows them to concentrate on building their prime businesses and saves them from spending their time and energy on Sharia compliant functions and accounts, he added. TradeArabia News Service The US must do more to encourage banks to do business with Iran following the lifting of sanctions, Iran's foreign minister said on Tuesday. The US and Europe lifted sanctions on Tehran in January under a deal which also agreed to curbs on Iran's nuclear programme. However some restrictions remain, including on financial transactions, slowing Iranian hopes to reintegrate with world markets. "I believe the United States on paper has removed all the sanctions," Mohammad Javad Zarif said, but Washington needs to do more to removed the "psychological remnants" of measures which had been in place for decades. "On the banks, I believe it is important for everybody to realise that an agreement will be sustainable if everybody feels they are making gains from the agreement," he told a news conference in Norway with European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini. "Its implementation must also be a win-win implementation so that everybody feels there are benefits, there are dividends," Zarif said. Mogherini said the European Union was engaging with businesses and banks to encourage them to do business in Iran following the signing of the nuclear deal, but cautioned that progress would take time. "In the first four months this year trade between the European Union and Iran increased by 22 percent," she said. "We are very actively engaging with the business community and the banks in Europe and elsewhere to encourage engaging in Iran." Although challenges remain, developments were heading "in the right direction", she said. "Europe is committed to ensure that the Iranian citizens can benefit from the lifting of the sanctions," Mogherini said. Reuters Atkins, one of the world's most respected design, engineering and project management consultancies, has launched its new end-to-end advisory consulting business. The Atkins Acuity will combine the company's extensive engineering and masterplanning capability with new structuring, financing and project preparation expertise, said a statement from the company. This combination will support international finance institutions, governments, and large corporations through the delivery of engineering-led advisory solutions to target infrastructure development and funding opportunities around the world. This is the first new business to be launched by Atkins, with an aspirational goal of generating approximately 200 million ($283 million) in revenues in around a four to five-year period. Atkins Acuity will initially focus on the Middle East, South East Asia and Africa markets across the core Atkins' sectors of transportation, energy and infrastructure. Senior new hires have been made from organisations including McKinsey, KPMG, Arthur D Little, World Economic Forum, Standard Chartered Bank and the former executive director of the Philippines PPP Unit, adding structuring and financing skills to the deep technical engineering knowledge across the Atkins Group. Atkins CEO Uwe Krueger said the new unit is a direct response to the client's needs to deliver more rewarding and higher-value partnerships for infrastructure and energy investments. "We believe governments, corporates and financial institutions alike are frustrated at bottle-necks in programmes and a lack of delivery - the Atkins Acuity end-to-end advisory service is designed to help change that," noted Krueger. The Atkins Acuity team combine skills such as financial structuring, economic and strategy consultancy, organisational development, operations improvement, programme management, and due diligence, with the group's technical engineering expertise. Dominic Harvey, chief executive of Atkins Acuity, said: "By combining our engineering heritage with this broader offering of skill sets, our aim is to ensure upfront that projects are technically sound, properly structured and bankable in the international market." "We will support our clients for the long term, building legacy capability to make sure their teams are fully functional and fit for the future," he added. The new business will work with a range of clients including governmental institutions, civil authorities, IFIs, private investors, large corporates and funds. It has already secured new mandates in Turkey, Sri Lanka, Malawi, Kenya, Tanzania, Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi. In Sri Lanka, the business is providing consultancy for the development of flood and drought risk mitigation investment plans and in east and southern Africa helping deliver sustainable energy for all through sector reform.-TradeArabia News Service The British Safety Council recently launched its 2016 Sword of Honour and Globe of Honour awards, designed to recognise and celebrate health, safety and environmental management excellence worldwide. The 2016 awards mark the 37th year of the Sword of Honour, awarded for health and safety management excellence, and the seventh year of the Globe of Honour, awarded for best practice in environmental management. The two awards are open to business units and sites from all countries and businesses who have achieved the maximum five star rating in the British Society Councils independent Five Star health, safety and environmental management audits during August 1 and July 31. To be awarded a Sword of Honour or Globe of Honour, an organisation must be able to demonstrate to an independent adjudication panel that it has a proven track record and a culture of best practice for excellence in health and safety or environmental management that runs throughout the business from the shop floor to the boardroom. The Sword of Honour and Globe of Honour are an important part of the British Safety Councils drive to recognise and celebrate exemplary health, safety and environmental management in the workplace, a press release said. Mike Robinson, chief executive of the British Safety Council, said: The Sword of Honour and Globe of Honour awards shine a light on businesses which are at the forefront of achieving safe, healthy and sustainable workplaces and business practices. The awards celebrate their efforts and encourage other organisations worldwide to follow their lead. The British Safety Councils vision is that no one should be injured or made ill at work. Currently, 6,300 people die every day globally as a result of occupational accidents or work-related diseases, contributing to over 2.3 million deaths per year. The economic cost of poor occupational safety and health practices is estimated at 4 per cent of global Gross Domestic Product each year. This demonstrates that there is still a great challenge ahead of us to convince business leaders around the world that investing in good health, safety and environmental management is a social imperative that also makes business sense, he added. The closing date for applications is September 2 and the results will be announced on October 7. The winning organisations will be invited to a celebratory luncheon on November 25 at the historic Drapers Hall in London to receive their awards. Last year, 61 Swords were awarded and eight organisations achieved the Globe of Honour. The winners were drawn from a wide range of industry sectors in the UK, mainland Europe, India and the Middle East, including construction, education and training, energy generation and distribution, food and drink, leisure and manufacturing. In 2015, seven organisations including Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) won the double both the Sword of Honour and Globe of Honour. TradeArabia News Service Omans Ministry of Transport and Communications recently signed agreements with three ship classification societies for small ships that do not abide by international treaties, said a report. The agreements were signed with the British (Lloyds Register of Shipping), Italian (Rina) and Emirati (Tasneef) ship classification societies, added the Times of Oman report. Saeed bin Hamdoon bin Saif Al Harthy, undersecretary of ports and maritime affairs, signed the agreements on behalf of the ministry and the chief executive officers and regional directors represented the classification societies, it said. The authorisation includes conducting a technical survey on ships holding the Omani flag, as well as the issue of international certification regarding maritime safety and the safety of life at sea, ships safety certification, maritime pollution caused by ships and hazardous material avoidance certification, collision avoidance certification, load lines certification, tonnage certification and other internationally required certifications. These pacts will authorise the three classification societies to supervise small ships that are not abiding by the international treaties in order to ensure their navigational validities, as well their compliance with maritime safety requirements in accordance with the provisions of small ships not complying with international treaties regulations in the GCC, which the sultanate has approved under a ministerial decision. Al Harthy also added that the inking of these pacts with the international classification societies is part of compliance under Omani maritime law, as well the international maritime agreements regarding navigation safety, added the report. Italy and Qatar will sign an agreement this week in Rome that foresees the Gulf state ordering four corvette warships and a support vessel from state-controlled ship builder Fincantieri, a government source said on Tuesday. The order, when completed, would be worth around 5 billion ($5.61 billion), the source said. Italy's defence company Leonardo-Finmeccanica would supply electronics and weapons systems, he added. Italian Defence Minister Roberta Pinotti is due to meet in Rome a delegation of the Qatar government on Thursday to sign the accord, the source said. Fincantieri and Leonardo-Finmeccanica had no immediate comment. Shares in Fincantieri jumped as much as 4 percent on the news, and were up 2.4 percent at 1110 GMT. The ships would be built in Italy, in the company's shipyards of Riva Trigoso and Muggiano, both in the northern region of Liguria, the source said. National media have reported that Italy had been vying with France to supply warships to Qatar. - Reuters The Supreme Council for Women in Bahrain and UN Women have launched the HRH Princess Sabeeka Bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa Global Award for Women Empowerment. This comes in the context of the pursuit of Bahrain to highlight the successes achieved reflected in the status of women at the national level, and in effort to circulate active best practices to enhance the status of women at the global level, a statement said. The Wife of the King of Bahrain, President of the Supreme Council for Women, HRH Princess Sabeeka Bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa attended the signing ceremony which was signed on behalf of the Kingdom of Bahrain by Hala Al Ansari, secretary-general of the Supreme Council for Women, and on behalf of UN Women, Yannick Glemarec, UN assistant secretary-general for Policy and Programme of UN Women. The Supreme Council for Women had taken the initiative to contact UN Women to launch HRH Princess Sabeeka Bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa Award for Women Empowerment globally to coincide with the 10 year anniversary of the launch of the national edition of the award. The official announcement of the start of the registration process for the award will take place during the participation of Bahrain in the 61st session of the Commission on the Status of Women, to be held in New York in March 2017. The award aims to ensure the commitment of countries, official agencies and organizations through their legislative, public and private executive authorities, civil society in addition to individuals to adopt non-discriminatory policies against women and to achieve justice in equal opportunities between women and men in various fields. It will show appreciation to institutional and individual efforts, initiatives and projects that target mainstreaming women's needs and include the contribution to the positive change in the status of women towards more stable and productive lives; encourage the adoption of methodology to achieve sustainable impact in the development of the status of women in order to ensure they become value-added members within the family and community as well as encourage communities to stimulate their intellectuality and creativity in the field of women empowerment in order to achieve for women, their family and community, more social, and economic security. TradeArabia News Service More than 1,400 Emirati companies are contributing in a big way towards development of the countrys first nuclear energy plant at Barakah in the western region of Abu Dhabi, UAE, said a top official. The Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (Enec), the country's nuclear power utility, has till date awarded contracts worth more than $3 billion to various local companies. The contracts have been awarded over the past six years in collaboration with Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco), Enecs prime contractor. This achievement not only further facilitates the development of a local nuclear energy industry but also contributes to the development of the greater economy and stimulates the growth of heavy industry in the UAE, said a top official. "By working with Enecs dedicated industrial development team to raise their standards and meet the unique requirements of the nuclear energy industry, Emirati companies are now contributing to the construction of the nuclear plant at Barakah and also gaining a competitive advantage in providing nuclear-quality services and materials worldwide," remarked its chief executive Mohamed Al Hammadi. "A major factor in the UAEs decision to pursue a peaceful nuclear energy programme was the opportunity to develop and enhance the nations budding industrial sector and provide a diverse range of opportunities for talented Emiratis," said Al Hammadi. "The UAEs peaceful nuclear energy programme has supported the diversification and growth of the nations economy since its inception," he added. According to him, Enecs team works with companies to upgrade their processes and systems to become American Society of Mechanical Engineers (Asme) Nuclear Component certified companies. Companies that have upgraded their processes see benefits beyond the nuclear industry as their products and services are seen to uphold a higher standard of quality and excellence. "A key example is the Dubai-based Ducab, which has recently signed its first international export contract with the Korean Hydro-Nuclear Power Company (KHNP) to provide nuclear industry standard cables for the Shin Hanul 1 and 2 nuclear power plant. This is a result of Ducabs success in supplying cables for the Barakah plant," he added. Another local firm that has benefitted is Emirates Steel which supplies nuclear quality reinforcing steel bars (rebars) for the project. It was also the first company in the GCC to be awarded a quality system certificate (QSC) from the Asme. By focusing on local companies, Enec is also helping to stimulate the local economy in the Western Region and the UAE as a whole, stated Al Hammadi. The work at Barakah plant is moving at a steady pace with more than 65 per cent of the project completed. All four units will deliver safe, clean, reliable and efficient nuclear energy to the UAE grid, pending regulatory reviews and licensing. Once all the four reactors get completed, the UAEs peaceful nuclear energy programme will provide approximately 25 per cent of the country's power needs and save up to 12 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions each year.-TradeArabia News Service Saudi Arabia has kept its crude oil production steady in May, a sign that the world's biggest oil exporter does not plan to flood the market to gain more market share. Saudi Arabia's crude oil production in May was 10.270 million barrels per day, an industry source told Reuters on Monday. This compares with 10.262 million in April, according to Opec. But crude supplied to the market in May was higher than production at 10.450 million bpd, the source said. Supply to the market, both domestically and for export, may differ from production depending on the movement of oil in and out of storage. Saudi-based industry sources told Reuters in April that the kingdom's oil output may edge up close to record highs during the hot summer months to meet domestic power demand but is unlikely to be pushed to the limit. The sources said production would likely stay at 10.2-10.3 million bpd and could rise by some 200,000-300,000 bpd in the hot summer months to around 10.5 million bpd, if there was demand for it. The kingdom pumped 10.56 million bpd, a record, in June last year. Riyadh effectively scuppered plans for a global production freeze aimed at stabilising oil markets in April. It said then that it would join the deal, which would also have involved non-Opec Russia, only if Iran agreed to freeze output. Tehran argues it should be allowed to raise production to levels seen before the imposition of now-ended Western sanctions over Iran's nuclear programme. This raised fears that failure to reach any deal would prompt Saudi Arabia, Opec's largest producer, already pumping near record highs, to raise production further to punish rivals and gain additional market share. But in a shift in oil thinking, Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies had tried to propose Opec set a new collective ceiling earlier this month in an attempt to repair the exporting group's waning importance and mend fences within the organisation. The June 2 meeting ended with no new policy or ceiling amid resistance from Iran. Despite the setback, Saudi Arabia, led by its new Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih, showed it wanted to be more conciliatory with Tehran and promised not to flood the oil market. -Reuters A total of seven companies are ready to finance construction of a gas pipeline to Oman from Iran, Alireza Kameli, managing director of National Iranian Gas Export Company (NIGEC) was quoted as saying by Oman Observer. Seven foreign companies are keen on partnership with Iran on construction of Iran gas pipeline to Oman, Kameli was cited by Irna as saying. Construction of the pipeline takes two years after signing the contract, he was quoted in the report, which cited Irna. Iran will export 28 million cu m gas daily through an undersea pipeline to Oman for 15 years to be turned to Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) in Oman and export to the markets. Joint venture investment has been envisaged for implementation of the project and now companies are willing to finance the project, Kameli said. The amount of the joint venture investment has been estimated at around $60 billion, the report said. In a major move, Saudi Arabia's cabinet has given approval to a rule allowing foreign investors to own 100 per cent of the retail and wholesale businesses in the kingdom, the official SPA news agency said. The cabinet had earlier set the countrys foreign ownership ceiling in retail sector at 75 per cent. In March, Abdullatif Al-Othman, the governor of Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (Sagia) had said that it was finalising regulations governing full foreign ownership within the retail and wholesale sectors. Several international retailers have already applied to invest in the sector, revealed Al Othman, adding that rules will cater to businesses that plan to sell products in the country, as well as manufacturers. Prominent among the controls imposed by the new cabinet decision includes opening the field of investment activity in wholesale and retail trade to all foreign companies operating in this sector. It will not be restricted to manufacturers of their products, in line with those in the vision of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (2030), which contained a trend to ease restrictions on the ownership and foreign investment in the retail sector to attract regional and international brands, contributing to the creation of job opportunities for the citizens in this sector, said the report.-TradeArabia News Service (Fixes dateline) By Andreas Rinke SHENYANG, China, June 14 (Reuters) - Germany and China plan to pursue business opportunities in Africa and Asia together, German government and industry sources said this week during German Chancellor Angela Merkel's ninth visit to China. They cited particular interest in areas such as infrastructure, energy, transportation, environmental protection, agriculture and health care. Merkel told reporters during a visit to a high-technology forum that China had made huge strides in many business areas, including its construction of rail cars, with its production costs possibly undercutting those of German manufacturers. "If we join forces and get active in markets such as Asia or Africa, we can all benefit from our combined strength," Merkel told reporters. Merkel's trip comes in the midst of a furious debate over Chinese takeovers in Europe and fears over the loss of key technology, with some politicians calling for tougher restrictions. During her trip, Merkel praised the growing maturity and breadth of German-Chinese relations but also challenged Beijing to ensure a level playing field for German firms. The sources said further cooperation was aimed at helping German companies cope better with increasing competition and rapid technology increases by Chinese firms, and to help Chinese firms learn greater respect for international norms and standards, including environmental concerns. Joint business campaigns could help German firms, which have complained in recent years that they find it difficult to compete with Chinese firms in overseas markets, given their ability to tap into large government subsidies. Joint German-Chinese teams could knock competitors out of the running, while helping German firms tap into larger Chinese financial resources, the sources said. Financing could be provided through a new Chinese "Silk Road Fund" and the new Asian Investment Bank, they added. Siemens, for instance, signed an agreement with China's rail car manufacturer CRRC late on Monday, and further agreements are planned in the energy sector, the sources said. On the governmental level, China and Germany also pledged to increase their cooperation in Afghanistan, beginning with a pilot project in training for work in underground mines, and development projects in Africa, the sources said. (Reporting by Andreas Rinke; writing by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Alexandra Hudson) A worker walks atop a tanker wagon to check the freight level at an oil terminal on the outskirts of Kolkata, India in this November 27, 2013 file photo. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri/Files By Amanda Cooper LONDON (Reuters) - The oil market is now in balance thanks to unplanned outages and robust demand, particularly from emerging economies, but this equilibrium will tilt into surplus again early next year, the International Energy Agency said on Tuesday. The agency said in its monthly report that demand growth in 2017 is likely to reach 1.3 million barrels per day (bpd), the same level at which it estimates growth for this year, having revised up its May 2016 forecast of 1.2 million bpd. "Again, on the planning assumption that OPEC oil production grows modestly in 2017, we expect to see global oil stocks build slightly in the first half of 2017 before falling slightly more in the second half of 2017. For the year as a whole, there will be a very small stock draw of 0.1 million bpd," the IEA said. "At halfway in 2016, the oil market looks to be balancing; but we must not forget that there are large volumes of shut-in production, mainly in Nigeria and Libya, that could return to the market, and the strong start for oil demand growth seen this year might not be maintained," the Paris-based agency said. Most of the anticipated demand growth this year and in 2017 is expected to come from nations that are not part of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the agency said. "We must stress that this is our first look at 2017 and the huge number of moving parts will see us amend our numbers accordingly. However ... the direction of travel seems to be clear," the IEA said. The IEA's latest demand estimate for the first three months of this year shows global oil deliveries rising by 1.6 million bpd to 95.2 million bpd, with nine out of every 10 extra barrels going to a non-OECD economy. On the supply side, the IEA said output fell by 590,000 bpd year-on-year to 95.4 million bpd in May, the first major decline since the start of 2013, as spending cuts and outages reduced non-OPEC production by 1.3 million bpd from a year earlier. Story continues Having fallen by 900,000 bpd in 2016, non-OPEC supply growth is expected to rise by 200,000 bpd in 2017, lifting output to 57 million bpd, the IEA said. Crude output from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries fell by 100,000 bpd in May to 32.61 million bpd, after a spate of attacks on oil infrastructure in Nigeria offset higher output from the Middle East. Production was still 500,000 bpd higher than in May last year, however. "Iran has clearly emerged as OPEC's fastest source of supply growth this year, with an anticipated annual gain of nearly 700,000 bpd," the IEA said. "The only other substantial increase from OPEC in 2017 could be from Nigeria, should security issues in the Niger Delta be resolved." (Reporting by Amanda Cooper; Editing by Dale Hudson) Tribune News Service Amritsar, June 13 Members of the Christian and Dalit communities under the banner of the Pendu Mazdoor Union and Kirti Kisan Union staged a protest against the police for registering one-sided case in a clash between the two groups at Machhi Nangal village over the possession of piece of land yesterday. Protesters said as many as 30 persons were booked from their group, but the police had not registered any case against members of the other group of farmers at behest of the ruling party leaders. The two groups clashed over the possession of a piece of land, which members of the Christian and Dalit communities stated was allotted to them in 1973-74 under the Indira Awas Yojna. Kirti Kisan unions general secretary Datar Singh said, Allottees have so far failed to take possession of plots on the land, which is illegally occupied a panchayat member belonging to the ruling party. Protesters demanded that the police should help them get possession of the plot and cancel cases registered against their members. Pendu Mazdoor Union leader Dharminder Singh Ajnala said, Cases should be registered against policemen, who had cane charged labourers during which 10 of them were left injured. He said if the local police continued to favour the people, who had illegally occupied the land, which rightfully belonged to labourers, an intensified protest would be initiated. Meanwhile, protesters disrupted traffic on the Ajnala-Amritsar road. Later, an official of the administration accepted the memorandum from leaders of protesters after which the traffic was restored. Amritsar, June 13 Parents of private school students staged a protest at Bhandari Bridge today demanding cancellation of cases registered against leaders of the Punjab Parents Association (PPA). The PPA stated that the parents would sit on protest for two hours daily till the cases were withdrawn. The cases against association leaders were registered a few days ago after they had laid seize to the Deputy Commissioners vehicle during one of their protests. The parents are fighting against arbitrary and exorbitant fee charged by private schools in the city. Association leader Lakhwinder Singh Gill said, Instead of helping the parents in pursuing their genuine demand, the administration is trying to muffle their voice by registering cases against them. He said protests would be held daily from 9 am to 11 pm. The PPA demanded that the Regulatory Commission as promised by the government to safeguard the interests of the parents and the school students should be constituted at the earliest. The association also demanded that the administration should come forward to stop the harassment of the parents and the students at the hands of the private schools. The PPA stated that the administration has also failed to implement the letter issued by the DEO to schools about charging of fee and other expenses. TNS Charu Chhibber Tribune News Service Chandigarh, June 14 They were once the apple of our eyes, today we are an eyesore for them At Prabh Aasra, a home for the destitute in Kurali, this is the general feeling that pervades. Almost all inmates, most of whom do not want to return home, believe that their children only want their bodies, a ticket to their property and money. Depressing yet true. This World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, here is looking closely at their lives and longings. I long to meet my only daughter but all she wants is my money, says a distraught, wheelchair-bound Rajeev Malik (50). An engineer and scientist researcher by profession, Malik was left to fend for himself when he suffered a paralytic attack three years ago. I lost my wife in 2009. Since then, my little baby girl has been the only reason I lived. And even though I yearn to go back home and spend my remaining years with my daughter, I know she doesnt feel the same, says the Chandigarh resident. Unfortunately, the abuse elders report is common across social classes and cities. Septuagenarian Gurdeep Kaur from Moga was physically tortured, beaten and forced out of her home by her three sons and daughters-in-law seven years ago. Visually impaired, the widowed mother was told she was a burden. Surprisingly, many abandoned parents do not want to malign the name of the children despite being meted out the most inhumane of treatments. Bimla, an 85-year-old widow from Delhi, has a son, a daughter-in-law and a grandchild but hasnt seen or heard from any of them for three years. They have their own life, friends and social circle. I was the odd one out. Its good I landed here, she says. Bimla holds a masters degree in Hindi from Delhi University and was found abandoned at a gurdwara in Chandigarh. Youd think only the middle or lower classes treat their parents like this. Wrong. Amrik Singh, owner of several acres of agricultural land and commercial property from Chamkaur Sahib, was thrown out of his home by his son and daughter after he transferred his property in their names. His wife, though, was kept back as a domestic help at their daughters home. Unlike my friend Rajeev Maliks daughter, my children dont even want my body. Dr Arjun Arya, a neuropsychiatrist, who has been associated with the destitute home for the past eight years, says, These stories of abandoned parents are an unhappy reminder of the changing landscape of human relations in urban India, of desperate want and material greed. He says love, care and support in the dusk of their lives is all that these parents crave. This World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, let us all pledge to do better for our elders. Remember they are the reason for our existence, he says. Tribune News Service Chandigarh, June 14 In a first-of-its-kind meeting of the tricity mayors, it was decided to form the Council of Tricity Corporations, which will have all commissioners and chief engineers as members besides the mayors, to solve the common problems of the tricity. At the meeting, attended by Chandigarh Mayor Arun Sood, Mohali Mayor Kulwant Singh and Panchkula Mayor Upinder Kaur Ahluwalia, it was decided to hold monthly meetings of the council. The next meeting will be held at Mohali. Sood had called a meeting with the mayors of Panchkula and Mohali at his office in Sector 17, Chandigarh, to discuss various interlinked and common projects of the tricity. Kulwant upset with dog sterilisation programme At a press conference, Mohali Mayor Kulwant Singh said he was not satisfied with the stray dog sterilisation programme in Mohali. He said he would study the sterilisation programme in Chandigarh and Panchkula. Pkula to widen Route No. 2 Panchkula Mayor Upinder Kaur Ahluwalia said at the meeting they also decided to widen Route No. 2 connecting Chandigarh (Mauli Jagran area) and Panchkula (Industrial Area). She said the road was narrow. Mayors agree on Bahgas proposal Chandigarh Mayor Arun Sood and Mohali Mayor Kulwant Singh in principle agreed to the proposal of nominated councillor Surinder Bahga for the realignment of the Chandigarh-Mohali boundary. The boundary line passes through Sectors 48 to 56, 61, 63, 64 and 65 in an irregular manner. This is creating problems in the execution, management and maintenance of various services. Common issues discussed The mayors discussed common issues such as stray dog, stray cattle, encroachments, sanitation, water supply, sewerage, solid waste management, fire and emergency services, implementation of Street Vendors Act and re-alignment of the boundaries of the tricity. Tribune News Service Mohali, June 14 The local police have busted two gangs of criminals with the arrest of seven persons from different places. The police have recovered five firearms, live cartridges and 25 two-wheelers from their possession. Mohali SSP Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said the CIA wing arrested four members of a robbers' gang, who were conspiring to strike in the area. Those arrested were the kingpin, Pargat Singh Otla (26), a native of Bathinda, Gurwinder Singh, alias Raju (30), a resident of Kharar, Gurpreet Singh (30), a resident of Gharuan village, and Gurpreet Singh, alias Pardesi (26), a resident of Kurali. They were in possession of three pistols (.315 bore), a revolver (.32 bore) and a country-made pistol (.32 bore). The robbers were conspiring to give shape of their nefarious activities in the Mohali and Kharar areas, but were nabbed by the CIA team, led by Inspector Gurcharan Singh, said the SSP. Besides, a police team, led by Inspector Vijay Kumar, arrested three members of a gang of vehicle thieves and recovered 25 two-wheelers (20 motorcycles of different makes and five Activa scooters) from their possession. Those arrested were Sukhwinder Singh, alias Sukha (19), a resident of Khanpur village, Gurwant Singh, alias Happy (19), a resident of Kharar, and Ramandeep Singh (19), a resident of Kurali. The gang members were mainly active in the Mohali and Kharar areas as most of the two-wheelers recovered from their possession were stolen from these areas. We have worked out a number of vehicle theft cases with their arrest, said the SSP. The miscreants used to sell the stolen two-wheelers after preparing fake documents. Giving details about the robbers' gang, the SSP said several cases were registered against the kingpin, Pargat Singh Otal, under the IPC and the Arms Act in Bathinda. Raju was lodged in jail in connection with the Mintu murder case in Kharar. He had recently come out of the jail on a 42-day parole and started illegal activities. Raju was arranging weapons for the gang members, said the SSP. The gang was involved in brawls, land grab, assaults on persons after taking money from their rivals and robberies, he said. The police have registered a case under Sections 212, 216 and 382 of the IPC and Sections 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act against the four at the Kharar (City) police station. The police have slapped Sections 419, 382, 379, 467, 468 and 471 of the IPC against the three vehicle thieves at the same police station. Hasan Suroor A Mad Hatter's charter Too Utopian? Or an idea whose time has come? When the concept of a universal basic income whereby every citizen, irrespective of their economic status, gets a fixed amount of cash every month to ensure they have a minimal income was first mooted it was sought to be laughed out of court. And after the Swiss recently rejected it in a referendum, critics gleefully said, We told you so. But its protagonists may still end up having the last laugh. Or so, they believe. The Swiss vote, they argue, should not be seized upon to rubbish the scheme as it was heavily influenced by local factors such as widespread public fear of higher taxes prompted by the no campaign's use of misleading figures about how much it would cost to fund the scheme. Interestingly, the broad principle of a universal economic and social safety net is said to be growing and being seriously debated around the world, including India. In India, several pilots have already been tried out and more are planned. Indian policy-makers, it seems, have shown interest and are working with NGOs to try out the idea on the ground. Arvind Panagariya, vice-chairman of Niti Aayog , is among its most high-profile and enthusiastic supporters. He has hailed universal and unconditional cash transfers to replace subsidies as the simplest and most effective way of helping vulnerable groups. If you want to help the poor along all dimensions education, health, financial inclusion, basic amenities and even asset creation - put additional money in their hands with no conditions attached... Vulnerable groups, including women, Scheduled Castes and Tribes and the disabled gain more from the cash transfers than the general population, he wrote endorsing a book on the subject, Basic Income: A Transformative Policy for India, put together by a group of prominent Indian sociologists and a British economist. Sonia Gandhi, who was apparently initially sceptical, is also now said to be favourably inclined after seeing the feedback from areas where the pilots were conducted. Two pilot studies, funded by UNICEF and coordinated by SEWA, were carried out in Madhya Pradesh over a period of 18 months. The impact on the local population was transformative, showing a significant improvement in social indicators such as child nutrition, school attendance, sanitation, female empowerment, and socio-economic status of the elderly. So, what should we make of it? On the face of it, the idea of a universal cash-transfer scheme appears incongruous in an age of austerity when the welfare state is shrinking and there are calls for benefits to be scrapped. Increasingly, tests to determine benefits entitlement are becoming more rigorous even in rich European countries. Britain is in the midst of a raging row over the issue. In India, middle classes are under pressure to give up state subsidies. Which, apart from adding to the state's financial burden, has led to widespread abuse. The system is tottering under the weight of subsidies and the government is minded to phase them out. The ball was set rolling by the UPA government which cut fuel subsidies despite the political risks involved. The Modi government is taking the axe to subsidised LPG cylinders. Narendra Modi has made a personal appeal to people to give up LPG subsidy if they can afford to pay the market price, and the government has set a target of at least one crore consumers falling in line. If they don't, it is reportedly considering moves to introduce mandatory means-testing. Against this background, the proposal that the state should hand out hard cash even to those who don't need it sounds absurd. The universality principle is being touted as the scheme's USP; yet it is the most problematic bit. All it will do is substitute one kind of subsidy regime with another, except that it will be cash-driven. So, the same lot of people who are being urged to surrender subsided LPG will then be given cash. Arguably, there is a strong case for scrapping the corrupt and inefficient Public Distribution System (PDS) meant for poor and low-income families and to replace it with no-strings attached cash transfers allowing the people to use it the way they like. But there is no logic in extending it to affluent families. Imagine giving a few hundred quids to someone who happily pay thousands of rupees in salaries to their domestic staff, and the absurdity of it becomes self-evident. I put this to Professor Guy Standing of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London, who is closely involved with the Indian project and is one of the authors of Basic Income: A Transformative Policy for India. He insisted that a universal scheme, especially in the Indian context, could be less costly, easier to run and more efficient than a targeted one. Devising a cheap, error-free and easy-to-implement targeted scheme, whether using the discredited BPL cards or any other method would be harder, he argued. All targeting methods, according to him, tended to suffer from high exclusion rates. For example, only a minority of the poorest had BPL cards.There are two difficulties with this argument. One is that it ignores the fact that vast sums running into crores of rupees might end up going to people who don't need it and won't put it to productive use. It will not make any difference to the lives of these people and will be a huge waste. A better option would be to increase the amount cash proposed to be given to targeted groups. The second fallacy is to assume that a universal scheme would be completely fool-proof and not suffer from bureaucratic red-tape, corruption, and exclusion errors. Let's not forget that its implementation would be managed by the same bureaucracy that runs targeted projects. India being India, no scheme is immune to waste, inefficiency and corruption. If the results of the pilots are, indeed, as robust as being claimed then it certainly strengthens the case for replacing PDS with cash transfers though, of course, findings based on a limited controlled experiment must be approached with caution. But a free-cash-for-everyone system is fundamentally flawed. Even in many Western countries, especially in Britain, the debate is only about replacing the plethora of existing means-tested benefits with one flat amount in order to simplify the current regime. What India needs is not another form of freebies but a vastly improved welfare system for the poor. At the moment it is a bit of a joke, and any alternative is worth giving a shot. Let the rich look after themselves. The writer is an independent London-based commentator Vikram Sood THERE is no doubt that Prime Minister Modis speech on June 8, when he addressed the US Congress, was brilliant. The contents resonated with the audience; there was a bit of humour and all issues were covered. The first three Modi visits were the buildup to this hard-core business visit. The joint statement at the end of the visit sets out the path ahead in considerable detail. The expression that relations in the past were marked by hesitations of history was particularly evocative and summed up India-US relations in the past and points to a new future. Yesterdays natural allies are now referred to as indispensable partners, making it obvious that if India has to realise many of its dreams for its people, the US will have to play a major role in this. But surely not the only one. Hopefully, in India we will accept that we are dealing with a preachy democracy and a sanctimonious media in America. Just as much as one hopes that Americans have understood that they are dealing with an evolving, sometimes chaotic and hesitant, but aspirational democracy that is just breaking free from being a dynastic democracy. We were preachy at one time too, when Jawaharlal Nehru admonished the West for making Indians fight and die for their imperial wars. Modi turned this around by saying Indians too had fought and died for democracy. Thunderous applause. The script of India-US relations, since May 2014, has run like the first half of a mid-60s Bollywood movie. All fun and games with cosy moments and promises before the interval. The future looks bright, and together, the two can conquer the world. All this, while the bad guys China, Pakistan and North Korea sulk in their dark corners. The hard part is about to begin after the intermission, so fasten your seat belts and hope for a happy ending. There are plenty of positive takeaways from the visit for both countries, some grey areas still remain and some issues were swept under the carpet. The proof of this partnership lies in the future. Six AP 1000 Westinghouse reactors will be built in Andhra Pradesh once the contracts are signed. The question here is that the US has not constructed any reactors for decades and these might be with untested technology. We have merely agreed so far on the draft text of LEMOA; obviously, there are some reservations. As and when this, and the other basic agreements are signed, it will mean a marked shift in how India views its defence relationship with the US. The joint statement refers, in laudatory terms, to the 2015 US-India Joint Strategic Vision for the Asia-Pacific and the Indian Ocean Region. This is expected to serve as a guide for collaboration in the years to come, and the two countries should look to each other as priority partners in these regions. There will be collaboration in maritime security. The defence relationship could be an anchor of stability and the US recognised India as a major defence partner. That is different from being an ally. The US will continue to work toward facilitating technology sharing with India to a level commensurate with that of its closest allies and partners. This would also entail US support to the Make in India initiative. Strong words, indeed, but they are for the future; nevertheless, there is great stress on defence cooperation and diplomacy. In addition, the US is committed to bring to bear its technical capacity, resources and private sectorto spur greater effort in Indias renewable energy. These formulations bring the relationship a long way away from the Cold War era, when we were dubbed a satellite of the Soviet Union. However, now that the USSR has gone, we should not repeat the mistake in reverse of cosying up to the US and moving away from the Russians, acting on the rebound, as it were. The point is that we cannot and should not. The US-Russia relations were always destined to be inimical; Communism was an excuse and the real reason was that each sought global domination. And Russia has not quite collapsed the way Western powers hoped it would. Under Vladimir Putin, it has bounced back and India should not get carried away by the demonisation of the Russians and their leaders that we see in the West. We have to make our own judgments and evaluations. The India-US ties are not only about bilateral relations. There are geopolitical considerations for both that could affect the bilateral equation. The other consideration is that having raised the India-US bar so high, other nations watching these developments, will have already begun to take counter-measures. Americas relations with China are also strained, at present. Russia, too, will reevaluate its relations with India following the Modi visit and we must remain wary of a Russia-China arrangement, with Pakistan thrown in for added measure. The US ties with neither Pakistan nor Afghanistan are particularly healthy; nor with Iran. This means that the US footprint in our neighbourhood is presently weak and India is the only responsible power in the region that it can deal with. There should be a value-added for us in this situation. The US has not taken too kindly to the BRICS initiative and all the other initiatives that have followed with China playing the lead role. An alternative development bank is one of these, and BRICS is seen as the embryo of another grouping to oppose the Western G-7. Brazil stands weakened in the group and the US opposition to both Russia and China is no secret. It is doubtful that the US will, or can, influence Pakistan on terrorism and nuclear issues. The American warning, soon after the Pakistan-appointed Taliban leader Mullah Mansour was killed in a drone attack, related only to terrorism in Afghanistan. It is unlikely that the US would give priority in tackling terrorism on the ground if it does not affect its interests directly. Pakistan military leaders have obviously not read or followed what Sun Tzu said about the art of war You can fight a war for a long time or you can make your nation strong. You cannot do both. Pakistan chose to be in a state of perpetual war with its neighbours and China helped it along with the delusion that it was becoming strong with its missiles and nuclear weapons. And today, the results are showing but no change in policy either in Pakistan or China can be reasonably expected. Regardless of these geopolitical realities, it was a successful visit but our celebrations should be tempered with keeping our expectations reasonable. The writer is a former head of RAW The BJP has sounded the bugle for the UP elections at its national executive meet in Allahabad. Prime Minister Narendra Modi kept his focus squarely on vikas, politically running down the two major regional parties, but it was left to party president Amit Shah to unveil the BJPs strategy of Hindu vote-bank. Shah is playing a dangerous game. The BJP has never hit the current sweet spot in UP for over two decades. It was a leading contender for the Lucknow gaddi on either side of the Babri Masjid demolition but had to cede the political space to the SP and the BSP after Hindu-Muslim polarisation faded and the familiar caste divide re-emerged. A revised Hindu vote-bank strategy paid hefty dividends in UP in the last Lok Sabha elections. The party failed to catch the fancy of voters in Bihar but the BJP swept into power in Assam on the perceived threat from Bangladeshi (read Muslim) migrants. At Allahabad, the BJP peddled an absolute lie of Hindus fleeing a western UP town due to bigotry. What made it reprehensible was not this claims potential to set fire to the states social fabric that is already under considerable strain; rather the unverified allegation came from a BJP parliamentarian who admitted as much after the district administration and the media rebutted his lie. The noises at Allahabad were not isolated utterances. The latest issue of Organiser, the RSS mouthpiece, offers a glimpse into the BJP Hindu vote-bank strategy. It talks of a demographic offensive against the Hindus in western UP. For good measure, the migration of the Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley is cited as a parallel. It can only be a matter of deep concern that the president of the ruling party should have added his imprimatur to unverified allegations. Worse, the Organiser cover story on the silent exodus from a western UP town shows an ominous convergence. All this talk of vikas gets overshadowed by a preoccupation with the Hindu-Muslim divide and its electoral uses. But then the leopard cannot change its spots. Tribune News Service Rohtak, June 14 Former Haryana Home Minister and senior Congress leader Subhash Batra has alleged that BJP MLA Aseem Goyal had replaced the violet marker (pen) kept for marking the preferences during the Rajya Sabha poll with a blue one while Independent MLA Jai Prakash , who was allegedly involved in the conspiracy, again replaced the blue marker with a violet one afterwards. Addressing a news conference here today, Batra, who had accompanied the Congress and INLD-backed Rajya Sabha aspirant RK Anand to Chandigarh, demanded a thorough probe into the matter by the Election Commission of India as well as the Congress high command. Demanding a repoll for the Rajya Sabha seat wrested by Chandra, Batra asserted he would move the Supreme Court if re-election wasnt ordered within 10 days. BJP MLA: Abhay promoting caste-based politics Ambala: Aseem Goel, BJP MLA, said INLD leader Abhay Chautala had been promoting caste-based politics and the state had to pay a heavy price for it. Abhay targeted Subhash Chandra and me for invalid votes of Congress MLAs, whereas it was the outcome of infighting in the Congress and INLD, he told the media here on Tuesday. Geetanjali Gayatri Tribune News Service Chandigarh, June 14 Acting on the complaint about alleged manipulation in voting by the ruling BJP in Haryana by defeated Rajya Sabha candidate RK Anand, Haryana Chief Electoral Officer Vijay Singh Dahiya today conducted a preliminary inquiry. Anand is likely to file an FIR with the local police shortly. On directions from the Election Commission of India(ECI), a three-member team comprising Dahiya, Additional CEO Maheshwar Sharma and an assistant CEO examined the record available with the Haryana Vidhan Sabha. The team is learnt to have gone through the video footage of the polling held on June 11 to ascertain if any legislator spent more time in the polling booth when casting his vote. Sources said all MLAs, according to the video, spent between 40 and 70 seconds. Anand and the INLD have alleged that BJP MLA Aseem Goyal changed the pen when he went in to vote. This pen was switched yet again when Independent MLA and Subhash Chandras counting agent, Jai Prakash, went in to cast his vote. While Dahiya was present at the venue on the polling day as an ECI observer and sent his report for that day, the team is learnt to have interacted with the polling staff today as well. Other than the video recording of the polling, the team could not access other election-related documents since the entire record was sealed immediately after the result was declared. Sources said that the CEOs office will shortly send a report on the preliminary inquiry to the ECI. In the RS poll, 12 votes were declared invalid for use of an unauthorised blue pen. Tribune News Service Karnal, June 14 Office-bearers of units and sub-units of Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam observed a daylong hunger strike here on Tuesday in protest against the state governments decision to outsource maintenance of transmission lines of 23 subdivisions and the privatisation policy. The protest was held under the banner of Haryana Joint Action Committee, Power. N Kalia Khatkar (Jind), June 14 Leaders of the Akhil Bharatiya Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti (ABJASS) today claimed that they had not received any invite for talks from the Haryana Government. They said they did not know which Jat leaders would meet the Chief Minister on June 15 to press for the demands of the Jat community. Meanwhile, the peaceful agitation of ABJASS completed its 10th day today and has been witnessing massive public support from various villages of the district. Capt Bhupinder Singh Jaglan, district president of ABJASS, said: There are rumours that Jat leaders will meet the Chief Minister on Wednesday but ABJASS leaders have no such information. The national or the state executive council of ABJASS is also not aware of any such meeting with the state government. If any such meeting is taking place, then Jat leaders of the samiti are being kept out of it, said Jaglan. The ABJASS leader said: The government is not serious regarding our demands. It is checking the patience of the Jat community, protesting in hot weather since June 5. If the government does not meet our demands, the samiti will draft its new strategy and put pressure on it, added Jaglan. Meanwhile, the district administration has not granted permission to the samiti to start the agitation in Julana and Narwana. We have applied for permission but the administration is not accepting the sites decided by us. We have finalised sites at both places and hopefully, we will start the agitation on June 17 there. Peaceful agitation is our democratic right so we will not wait for the administrations approval, Jaglan said. Tribune News Service Shimla, June 14 Thousands of passengers, including tourists, schoolchildren and office-goers, remained stranded after HRTC employees went on a 48-hour strike defying the High Court order today. Their demands include regularisation of contractual staff and protection of pension benefits, upgrading the HRTC into roadways and increase in the monthly wages of drivers and conductors on contract. The strike call was given by the Coordination Committee of employees unions. The strike was peaceful as no untoward incidents came to light in the state, said police officials. In Rampur, the striking HRTC employees took out a funeral procession of the Transport Minister and burnt his effigy at the cremation ground, said the police. They also lodged a protest at the old bus stand here on the premises of the HRTC headquarters and Rohru depot raising anti-government slogans. JCC leaders Khemender Gupta and Pawan Guleria claimed that they were forced to resort to strike due to the adamant attitude of the Transport Minister and the state government over their demands. The leaders claimed that the strike was total and the entire fleet of over 2,600 buses was off road. The High Court yesterday directed the employees not to go on strike. The passengers were the harassed lot. We read in newspapers that the High Court had banned the strike. But we remained stranded at bus stands and ultimately had to hire private vehicles to reach Rohru, said Mahender Singh and Lokender Kumar, two passengers at the ISBT here. The private taxi or non-passenger vehicle operators made a quick buck. They charged at will from the passengers who had no option other than paying hefty charges to private operators, rued Rajeshwar Kumar, who travelled from Shimla to Chopal, paying more than double the fare. Tribals in Kinnaur and Lahaul-Spiti and other remote places were the worst sufferers as there were almost negligible private bus services available. Only a few buses, which started from Delhi last night managed to reach the destinations, said HRTC managers. Long queues of HRTC buses were witnessed at bus stands in Shimla, Mandi, Kullu, Nahan, Solan, Nalagarh, Hamirpur, Bilaspur, Kangra, Dharamsala, Palampur, Una, Chamba and other places. The tyres of some HRTC buses were punctured, thwarting any bid to run buses. There was complete chaos in Manali, Shimla, Dalhousie and other places as all 50 Volvo buses remained off the road. We have to cancel journey back to Delhi as private operators refused us six seats that we have booked, rued Rajesh Kumar, a tourist from Delhi, who along with his family members remained stranded at Manali. Tribune News Service Srinagar, June 14 Five Army men were injured in an ongoing gunfight close to the Line of Control (LoC) at the Machil sector in north Kashmirs Kupwara district on Tuesday. The gunfight erupted at a day when Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag was in the Valley and visited the forward area in Kashmir to review the security situation. The Army said the gunfight erupted this morning when soldiers along the LoC intercepted a militant group at the Katwara forest area in the Machil sector, 140 km from Srinagar. The militant group was apparently trying to infiltrate into the Valley when they were noticed by the Army along the LoC. When they were challenged, they opened fire triggering an encounter. In the initial gunfight, two soldiers were injured, the Army said. The injured soldiers were airlifted to the Armys 92 Base Hospital for treatment. The exchange of gunfight is going on and an additional deployment has been dispatched to the forest area to ensure that no militant manages to escape. This year, over 40 militants have managed to infiltrate into Kashmir so far, which is much more than the last years figure of 35. This year, 46 militants have been killed by security forces across Kashmir. Tribune News Service Srinagar, June 14 Five Army men were injured in an ongoing gunfight close to the Line of Control (LoC) at the Machil sector in north Kashmirs Kupwara district on Tuesday. The gunfight erupted at a day when Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag was in the Valley and visited the forward area in Kashmir to review the security situation. The Army said the gunfight erupted this morning when soldiers along the LoC intercepted a militant group at the Katwara forest area in the Machil sector, 140 km from Srinagar. The militant group was apparently trying to infiltrate into the Valley when they were noticed by the Army along the LoC. When they were challenged, they opened fire triggering an encounter. In the initial gunfight, two soldiers were injured, the Army said. The injured soldiers were airlifted to the Armys 92 Base Hospital for treatment. The exchange of gunfight is going on and an additional deployment has been dispatched to the forest area to ensure that no militant manages to escape. This year, over 40 militants have managed to infiltrate into Kashmir so far, which is much more than the last years figure of 35. This year, 46 militants have been killed by security forces across Kashmir. Tribune News Service Srinagar, June 14 The killing of a suspected militant at Kud on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway created an uproar in the Legislature today as the Opposition National Conference blamed the government for killing the youth in a fake encounter. However, the J&K Government maintained in both the Houses that the youth killed in the gunfight on Monday was a militant. On Monday evening, a woman was killed and two injured when a suspected militant travelling in a bus from Srinagar attacked a joint check-post at Kud on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway. The police said the militant, later identified as Tanveer Sultan of Bemina, Srinagar, was killed in retaliatory firing by the CRPF. Amid noisy scenes over other issues in the Assembly, PDP MLA Noor Mohammad asked the government to give a statement on the killing. As the PDP member raised the issue in the Lower House, NC members led by Ali Mohammad Sagar also urged the government to come out with the facts about the incident. Tribune News Service Jammu, June 14 Close on the heels of an encounter at Kud on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway on Monday evening, security scenario was today reviewed at headquarters of White Knight Corps at Nagrota near here. Security forces took stock of prevailing situation south of Pir Panjal in the 10 districts of Jammu region. This years Amarnath Yatra is scheduled to begin from July 2. The security core group meeting was co-chaired by White Knight Corps General Officer in Commanding (GOC) Lieutenant General RR Nimbhorkar, Director General Police (J&K) K Rajendra Kumar, ADGP (CID) SM Sahai, CRPF Inspector General (Jammu Zone) Rakesh Sethi, IGP (Jammu zone) Danish Rana amongst other top officials of the Army, police, security and intelligence agencies. A joint strategy was chalked out in a great detail between all agencies to ensure peace and stability in the region and ensure incident-free environment. The DGP appreciated the role of all security forces in maintaining peace and harmony in the region. He emphasised the need for maintaining high level of alertness to beat designs of inimical elements and exhorted all present to continue with synergy and coordination at a functional level to ensure peaceful atmosphere. Lt Gen Nimbhorkar said that the Army and its various formations deployed south of Pir Panjal have been proactively and aggressively dominating the Line of Control (LoC) and the hinterland thereby assuring a peaceful and secure environment in the area. He further stated that the Army was ready to face any challenge that may emerge in the future and was ready to counter it with all its might. Appreciating high synergy in operations exhibited by agencies in recent times, he encouraged all present to overcome contemporary challenges and work towards enhancing confidence amongst the people. He further emphasised the requirement to be vigilant, alive and responsive to the developing situation and maintain peace and ensure a peaceful and conducive environment. Sharmila Chand HR heads are constantly thinking of innovative ideas and best practices to retain staff as getting and retaining good manpower is a growing challenge. Management tries to lure them in various ways. Some try to break the work monotony by organising fun and non-work activities. Watch a movie together, start a book club in the office, have potluck once a month, family picnic, etc activities that help employees divert their mind from work stress. More and more Indian companies are stepping into this terrain and are making their employees more comfortable and connected. 'InterraIT Toastmasters Club', is one such initiative launched by Interra Information Technologies. It is meant to give people a platform to express themselves, socialise and scale up their communication and leadership skills in a completely non-threatening environment. "Toastmasters also connect them to their peers from other firms and exchange notes and ideas, which works out to the benefit of both concerned," says Asoke K Laha, MD and CEO, Interra Information Technologies. "We started the club in 2006 and it is the first corporate toastmasters club in the NCR area, it has been hugely successful and has earned major distinctions at national and divisional levels." Anuj Sawhney, Managing Director of Swiss Military, advocates 'Employee Development' as an important tool. He explains, "This could be training to learn a new job skill. Shuffle employees so that they don't get bored performing their task." At Infosys, technology is used to a large extent by CXOs to communicate with employees. Being at the forefront in terms of leading technology providers, technology goes a long way, especially in disseminating information and connecting with employees in a timely and relevant manner. "Yammer, our internal social networking platform, is a space that has been leveraged by CXOs in connecting with employees. Leaders put up posts on Yammer that are contextual to happenings in the company, their business, etc. Employees also talk to leaders on Yammer to get answers to queries and clarifications regarding various aspects of employee experience. This is a great channel as it is real-time, available on smartphones and places a face to each individual", says Richard Lobo, SVP & Head HR, Infosys. Foodcloud.in, an innovative startup whose platform is built on Open Source with the aim of connecting authentic home cooked chefs to clients sends samples of dishes of newly registered chefs to an employee's house. These exotic dishes and cuisines are sent for free for an employee to taste and have a unique kind of experience. For example, when the Thai chef joined FoodCloud, the samples of various veg and non-veg dishes of tofu, prawns and fish were sent to employee's residence. Vedant Kanoi, Founder of FoodCloud says it has helped them build a good camaraderie amongst the team members. ZS India, a global consulting firm believes that the driving force of their organisation is their workforce and hence engaging them and retaining talent are key to running a successful business. Keeping this in mind they have started a few initiatives which help the employees to ensure they don't miss out on life in the race for making a career. "Two initiatives "ME Time" and "Work-from-Home" are intended to help the people lead a balanced lifestyle one in which they can pursue any personal passion while still receiving an accelerated learning experience at work. Employees have pursued their passion while working full time and even won accolades in those fields, with the support and encouragement from ZS. A talented ZSer, Technology Analyst Bhavya Bansal (Pune), is an example of an Associate who finds balance between work and his passion for filmmaking. In October, Bhavya and a team of fellow filmmakers were chosen from more than 1,750 teams as a winner at the YES FOUNDATION's Yes! i am the CHANGE National Film Festival. At the Mumbai event, teams had 101 hours to produce a post-processed, theme-based documentary. Bhavya and his team won an internship opportunity with Guneet Monga, a renowned Indian film producer and CEO at Anurag Kashyap Films Pvt. Ltd. Bhavya Bansal says, "I have been with ZS for a year, and I volunteer to work and teach in the slums. I worked behind the camera at college in Delhi, where I was born, and that was when I worked on a documentary based on a woman who works on the bank of Yamuna River, which is a cremation ground. Since then, I've been interested in filmmaking. Yes Foundation focuses on stimulating entrepreneurship and innovative use of media initiatives for social transformation to enable India's inclusive growth and development and the film festival gave me the opportunity to showcase my talent. The theme of our documentary was 'Everyday Heroes' based on which we came up with the movie Temple of Humanity spanning the life of Ravi Kalra, Founder of Earth Saviours Foundation, who has made it his mission to provide shelter to homeless people of Delhi since 2008. With ME Time, I'm able to have an evening to myself, which I've used for filmmaking over the past few months." At Directi, the cornerstone of the organisation is: Values, Communication, Growth and Culture to help the management in retaining top talent. Margaret D'Souza, Head HR, Directi (Flock - an enterprise messaging and collaboration app; a part of Directi group), says the foundation for retention begins at the time of recruitment itself. Preferring a 'stay interview' over an 'exit interview', the company came up with an initiative called 'Pulse'. 'Pulse' sessions entail a one-on-one interaction of HR with a small group of people with similar job profiles and seniority levels. Timely running of employee engagement surveys ensure that issues at every level are addressed in the nick of time. Additionally, at bi-annual 'Town halls' and weekly TGIF meetings, profound discussions about our company, products, strategy and future are held with some beers at the table. "Our culture is our greatest strength and we take immense pains to hire only the right candidates that are a 100% fit for our culture. This is also the reason why we don't have a probation period for any new joinee. We hire the best, and we do our best to keep them," says D'Souza. Actress Amber Heard, who obtained a temporary restraining order against actor Johnny Depp, reportedly called the police suggesting that her estranged husband was violating the order. Depp reportedly violated the order by sending his team to remove items from the former couples home. Sources said Los Angeles Police Department officers, who had been called to the scene, responded to a possible violation of a court order. On the same day, it was also reported that the actress had made clear in court documents that she was withdrawing her request for temporary spousal support. The Pirates of the Caribbean star was ordered to stay 100 yards away from Heard, due to the temporary restraining order. Nevertheless, it includes a move-out order, which allows the actor to pick up personal clothing and belongings needed until the next restraining order hearing on Friday. IANS Ranbir Singh I JOINED Kurukshetra University as an assistant lecturer in political science in 1966. At that time, the teachers were divided into two groups Punjabis and locals. I was an active member of the locals who wanted to ensure that Dr VS Budhraj, the then Reader and HoD, did not become Professor because he was perceived as a leader of the Punjabi group. We were successful in ensuring that Dr SC Singh of Bikram University, Ujjain, became the HoD of the political science department. He retired in 1972, and Dr Budhraj took over in his place. Since I had worked against him, it was natural for me to fear that I would be harassed and superseded. I began to make efforts to shift to another university. I was asked by a professor of Panjab University, Chandigarh, if I would like to join the political science department as an ad hoc lecturer. When Dr Budhraj learnt of it, he advised me to remain at Kurukshetra University because I would be the junior-most lecturer in Chandigarh. Being second in seniority at Kurukshetra, I would soon become a Reader. This allayed my fears. He went out of his way to support me in the selection committee for the post of Reader, despite the fact that both, the then Chief Minister Devi Lal, and Chancellor of Kurukshetra University, and Haryana Governor Harcharan Singh Brar, were supporting another candidate belonging to a powerful political family. It was unimaginable that a person whom I had harmed would help me just because he felt I deserved the promotion on merit. Perhaps, he helped me because he thought I was a sincere, competent and dedicated teacher. He could have easily got me rejected because I did not have a PhD degree. Instead, he defended me on the ground that I had published high quality research papers. His large-heartedness made me feel small. It also enabled me to overcome my parochial mindset and develop a secular outlook. Above all, I was able to shed my casteist bias because the people who had opposed me belonged to my own caste. It taught me a lesson that one can win over ones adversaries by helping them in the hour of need. Whenever some chairperson told me about the non-cooperative behaviour of her/his subordinates, I always suggested the Budhraj formula to win them over. Dr Budhraj expired more than a decade ago, but I can never forget that great scholar who was also a thorough gentleman. He should be followed as a role model by the heads of department in other universities. TORONTO, ON--(Marketwired - June 13, 2016) - Kinross Gold Corporation (TSX:K.TO) (KGC) announced that the strike by unionized employees at its Tasiast mine that began on May 24, 2016 has ended. Striking employees began returning to work on June 11, 2016 and negotiations with the staff delegates on a new collective labour agreement and other outstanding items are expected to re-commence within ten days. Employees retain the right to strike during negotiations subject to Mauritanian labour laws. The strike is not expected to impact the Company's annual regional guidance and did not affect development of the Tasiast Phase One expansion. About Kinross Gold Corporation Kinross is a Canadian-based senior gold mining company with mines and projects in the United States, Brazil, Russia, Mauritania, Chile and Ghana. Our focus is on delivering value based on the core principles of operational excellence, balance sheet strength, disciplined growth and responsible mining. Kinross maintains listings on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX:K.TO) and the New York Stock Exchange (KGC). Cautionary statement on forward-looking information All statements, other than statements of historical fact in this news release constitute "forward-looking information" or "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of certain securities laws, including the provisions of the Securities Act (Ontario) and the provisions for "safe harbor" under the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as of the date of this news release. The words "development", "expect", "focus" and "guidance" that certain actions, events or results will affect, or will occur or result, and similar such expressions identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions that, while considered reasonable by Kinross as of the date of such statements, are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies. These uncertainties and contingencies can affect, and could cause, Kinross' actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward looking statements made by, or on behalf of, Kinross. There can be no assurance that forward looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. All of the forward looking statements made in this news release are qualified by these cautionary statements and those made in our filings with the securities regulators of Canada and the U.S, including but not limited to those cautionary statements made in the "Risk Analysis" section of our full year 2015 management's discussion and analysis and the "Risk Factors" section of our 2016 Annual Information Form. These factors are not intended to represent a complete list of the factors that could affect Kinross. Kinross disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, or to explain any material difference between subsequent actual events and such forward-looking statements, except to the extent required by applicable law. Story continues Other information Where we say "we", "us", "our", the "Company", or "Kinross" in this news release, we mean Kinross Gold Corporation and/or its applicable subsidiary(ies). www.kinross.com Kolkata, June 14 Virtually all states have supported the idea of GST except Tamil Nadu which has some reservations, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Tuesday after a meeting of Empowered Committee of state FMs on the long awaited indirect tax reform. He said however that there was no deadline as such for the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax which aims to subsume a string of state and central level levies. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook and Twitter @thetribunechd) The government had earlier targeted to roll out the nationwide single tax regime from April 1, 2016 but the Constitutional Amendment Bill on GST has been stuck in the Rajya Sabha due to opposition by the Congress party. Virtually all states have supported the idea of GST barring Tamil Nadu which has expressed some reservations. Tamil Nadu has offered a few a suggestions which have been noted by the committee, Jaitley told reporters on the first day of the two-day meet. The meeting was attended by finance ministers of 22 states, including West Bengals Amit Mitra as well as chief ministers of Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya, deputy CM of Delhi and senior officials of seven others. Stating that this was a record attendance of FMs, Jaitley said every state had given detailed views on GST. Chairman of GSTN and Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia were also present. Jaitley said the Lok Sabha had approved the GST Bill while it was pending before the Rajya Sabha. The first thing which will have to be done is to pass the Constitutional amendment which has to be then ratified by the states. Then Parliament will have to pass the CGST Bill and states the SGST Bills, he said. Interestingly, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are scheduled to meet in Delhi later in the day on Tuesday wherein she is expected to take up with him a host of state-related issues, including the Formation of Cauvery Management Board and Cauvery Water Regulation Committee. Jaitley said the states fear of loss of revenue for the first five years had also been addressed. The Centre will compensate the loss and there should not be any cause for worry, he said. On the contentious issue of the Constitutional cap on the GST rate, the Finance Minister said: There is a complete consensus on that, there should not be any such ceiling as exigencies may arise in future. Now it is left to the GST council. On the issue of additional 1 per cent tax as demanded by the producing states, he said the Centre was flexible on the matter. As GST is a consumption-based tax, the producing states had been demanding this extra tax. Regarding the future roadmap, Jaitley said: We will try our best to bring the Constitutional amendment in the monsoon session of Parliament. Then the CGST and SGST legislations will be put in place. On calculation of the revenue neutral rate (RNR), he said Mitra would again convene a meeting of the Empowered Committee in July and the Chief Economic Advisor would give a presentation. About dual control on tax rates by the Centre and states, he said it was again up to the committee to see that it was harmonious and there was no conflict. It will be again discussed in the next meeting. The next meeting is likely to be held in the second week of July, Mitra said. PTI New Delhi, June 14 A Hindu fringe group celebrated the 70th birthday of Donald Trump in the Indian capital on Tuesday, calling the US presidential contender the saviour of humanity who could end the global threat posed by Islamist militants. About 20 members of the far-right Hindu Sena held the festivities as Americans grieved over the deaths of 49 people in the country's worst-ever mass shooting, perpetrated by a gunman claiming allegiance to Islamic State. Trump has said Muslims should be banned from entering America. Everyone should support that, said Hindu Sena leader Vishnu Gupta, whose group is known more for its publicity stunts than for having any meaningful support. Donning red and blue paper hats, activists gathered at a stall on a Delhi road to pledge their allegiance to the presumptive Republican nominee, saying they counted on Trump to contain India's neighbour Pakistan. WATCH: Hindu Sena celebrates Donald Trump's birthday in New Delhihttps://t.co/2VPRif8f8r ANI (@ANI_news) June 14, 2016 They observed a minute's silence for the victims of last weekend's shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, before a large birthday cake was cut to shouts of "Long Live Donald Trump". Trump is about to become the king of the world," Gupta said. "How will we attack Pakistan without his support?" India accuses Muslim Pakistan of responsibility for a commando-style militant raid on the financial capital Mumbai in 2008 that killed 166 people, and an attack on an air base this year. The nuclear-armed neighbours have fought three wars since independence and partition in 1947. Reuters Pratibha Chauhan Tribune News Service Shimla, June 14 The AAP-BJP tussle in Delhi seems to be a repeat of the 2005 Congress-BJP faceoff in Himachal Pradesh that saw 12 chief parliamentary secretaries and parliamentary secretaries not only quitting their posts but also coming close to being disqualified as MLAs. The BJP had challenged the appointment of 12 CPSes and PSes in the Virbhadra Singh Cabinet, both in the High Court as well as before the Governor. The matter was referred to the Election Commission of India to decide whether the appointment of the 12 MLAs as parliamentary secretaries could lead to their ouster from the Assembly. Nine MLAs are currently appointed as chief parliamentary secretaries in the Virbhadra-led Congress government with three attached to the CM to look after Education, Tourism and Public Works department (PWD) portfolios. The other six are attached to various Cabinet ministers. The appointments have been made under the Himachal Pradesh Parliamentary Secretaries (Appointment, Salaries, Allowances, Power, Privileges and Amenities) Act, 2007, which was enacted following the adverse High Court order. The BJP, which had vehemently opposed the appointments in 2005, made a U-turn and appointed its MLAs as chief parliamentary secretaries after being voted to power in 2008. The 12 MLAs were forced to give up their posts after the HC set aside their appointments on August 18, 2005. BJP MLA Ravinder Ravi in a petition filed before the Governor seeking the disqualification of the MLAs had taken the plea that under Article 191 and 192 of the Constitution, if the appointment of an MLA from an office of profit is quashed by a court of law, the legislator must also be disqualified from the membership of the House (Assembly). The election commission, however, rejected the plea. Tribune News Service New Delhi, June 14 India is making all possible efforts to mollify China as the date for the crucial Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) plenary meet in Seoul on June 24 draws closer. India has decided to remove China from the prior referral category (PRC) for issuance of conference visas and it is likely to extend this concession to research visas soon. However, China doesnt seem very impressed with Indias backward bending gestures. In an op-ed in the Chinese official media today, the Chinese position was clearly spelt out with it stating that admitting India into the NSG would jeopardise Beijings security, touch a raw nerve in Pakistan and result in a nuclear race in the region. Global Times today wrote: India and Pakistan, both nuclear powers in the region, keep alert to each others nuclear capabilities. Indias application for NSG membership and its potential consequences will inevitably touch a raw nerve in Pakistan, its traditional rival in the region. As Pakistan is not willing to see an enlarging gap in nuclear power with India, a nuclear race is a likely outcome. This will not only paralyse regional security, but also jeopardise Chinas national interests, said the op-ed titled India mustnt let nuclear ambitions blind itself. Meanwhile, India is trying its best to placate China in the hope that it will drop its opposition to Indias NSG berth. Apart from the visa concessions, which yet have to see reciprocation from the Chinese side for Indian citizens, the government last year had also announced launch of e-tourist visa facility for Chinese citizens. While Indias membership in the NSG is being opposed by smaller countries such as Turkey, Ireland and Austria too, the main opposition comes from China. India is trying various ways to soften Chinas stand. While the US support for Indias membership is expected to bolster Indias case, the op-ed in Global Times makes it clear that China is not convinced. Rome/New Delhi: Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was on Tuesday reported to have been killed in an American airstrike. But there was no confirmation from US officials about the death of the most wanted terrorist, nicknamed the invisible sheikh, with a $25-million bounty on his head. According to Italian news agency AKI, which cited a report by Islamic State-run Al-Amaq, Baghdadi was killed in an air raid in Syria by the US-led coalition forces on Friday. This is not the first time that Baghdadi, 45, has been reported to have died in a coalition strike. He was named the head of the Islamic State of Iraq in 2010. He oversaw its expansion into Syria, naming the group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). IANS New Delhi, June 14 The Presidents refusal to give his approval to a Delhi Bill to shield 21 AAP MLAs from the office of profit rule triggered a major row today, with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of pursuing politics of vendetta while the BJP and the Congress demanded the disqualification of the MLAs. Faced with the prospect of fresh elections, if the MLAs holding the post of Parliamentary Secretary are disqualified, Kejriwal said President Pranab Mukherjees decision was based on the Centres recommendation and wondered why nobody was talking about legislators occupying similar posts in states such as Gujarat, Rajasthan and Punjab. Slamming Kejriwal for questioning the Presidents decision, the BJP and the Congress said the legislators must be disqualified as it was an open and shut case. There are Parliamentary Secretaries in Haryana, Punjab, Gujarat, West Bengal and across the country. Those in Punjab get Rs 1 lakh per month, car and bungalow as well. But they have not been disqualified. Why only Delhi? Because he (Modi) is scared of the Aam Aadmi Party, said Kejriwal. Rejecting Kejriwal's reference to MLAs holding similar posts in other states, DPCC Chief Ajay Maken said the states had amended their laws to allow such appointments. BJPs Meenakshi Lekhi called Kejriwal the new age Tughlaq. PTI/TNS This is an open and shut case. The EC must take the final call...The appointment of 21 Parliamentary Secretaries is illegal as the prescribed limit for such an appointment in Delhi is one. Meenakshi Lekhi, BJP leader The Kejriwal govt bypassed due procedure. He appointed 21 Parliamentary Secretaries, which is about one-third of the House strength. This is a joke Ajay Maken, Delhi cong chief There are Parliamentary Secretaries in Haryana, Punjab, Gujarat, West Bengal. But they have not been disqualified. Why only Delhi? Modi is selectively targeting the AAP government Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi CM Sarbjit Dhaliwal Tribune News Service Chandigarh, June 14 The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) has moved the Supreme Court to seek setting up of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) or a time-bound inquiry by the CBI into the killing of seven Sikh detainees in the Pilibhit district jail in November 1994 allegedly by the jail staff. Besides the killing of seven Sikhs who were detained under TADA, 21 Sikh detainees were brutally beaten up. The then UP Government under Mulayam Singh Yadav had quietly withdrawn the crime branch investigation and court case against the jail staff in 2007. This was recently brought to light by The Tribune. The co-chairman of the legal cell of DSGMC, Jaswinder Singh Jolly, said retired Justice RS Sodhi had been requested to lead the legal team to pursue this petition that was filed yesterday. The main petitioner is Tirlok Singh, who was among the detainees and was brutally beaten up. Tirlok Singh has been made the main petitioner because he is an eyewitness, said Manjit Singh GK, president of the DSGMC, which is the co-petitioner. Some other eyewitnesses are also alive. Among them is Gurnam Singh Johal from Tarn Taran. Johal, who now is vice-president of the SAD, remained hospitalised after the brutal beating. Limbs of several detainees were broken by the jail staff, Johal recently said, asserting that he was ready to appear in any court as a witness. Jupinderjit Singh Tribune News Service Chandigarh, June 14 On the Centre's orders, the Punjab Government has started the process to identify about 1,000 victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots who had failed to get compensation in 2006 due to incomplete documentation. At that time, the Congress was in power in the state as well as at the Centre. In the election year, the state government has asked the deputy commissioners to fast-track the exercise of identifying the victims. The government is also issuing advertisements asking the victims to apply afresh for compensation of Rs 2 lakh each. A government official said Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal held a meeting yesterday and said the state government should promptly give compensation as the Centre would reimburse the money. KBS Sidhu, Financial Commissioner, Revenue, who met Surjit Singh, president of a riot victims' union, told The Tribune that the victims holding the red card could apply for relief with the proof that they had been residing in Punjab all these years. Earlier, it was alleged that many victims had got compensation from several states. In 2006, many fake beneficiaries had received compensation and a government inquiry had recommended action against some leaders of the riot victims. Surjit Singh said, "The actual number of such victims is much higher. About 1,600 applications are pending with the Ludhiana administration. People lost their houses and documents in the riots and can't prove their identity. There are many who kept shifting within Punjab. I have requested the government to give compensation in all pending cases." Tribune News Service Chandigarh, June 14 Punjab Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh today accused Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal of adopting double standards while speaking against Kamal Nath, who was recently appointed partys Punjab affairs incharge. Quoting reports and showing pictures, Amarinder claimed Badal was a frequent visitor to Kamal Naths office when he was a minister and defended him over the latters role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. Kamal Nath was invited to the birthday bash of AAP leader Kumar Vishwas, he said. Till now, neither Badal nor any AAP leader raised any doubt over Kamal Naths credentials. Rather he always enjoyed cordial relations with them. Now, charges are being levelled that he was involved in the riots, he observed. Kamal Nath was the general secretary incharge of Delhi in 1998 when Shiela Dixit formed the government. The local bodies elections were also swept by the Congress under his leadership. This could not be possible without the support of Sikhs. No Sikh in Delhi ever complained against him, except Phoolka who has his own axe to grind, he said. Giving a clean chit to the leader, Amarinder reiterated that Badal and AAP were playing cheap politics by blaming him for something he never did. On a query on public perception on Kamal Naths alleged involvement in the riots, the PPCC chief said: I do not care about the general perception, but I stand by absolute truth. Public perception should be based on truth, not myth. He said Phoolka produced two witnesses Mukhtiar Singh and Ajaib Singh before the Nanavati Commission in 2006, 22 years after the riots. A journalist also presented himself before the commission. But their versions contradicted following which the Nanavati Commission, constituted by the BJP-led NDA government, exonerated him, he said. Senior Congress leaders Brahm Mohindra, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, Om Prakash Soni, Kewal Singh Dhillon, Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi and Rana KP Singh too said it was the BJP-appointed Nanavati Commission that had absolved Kamal Nath of all charges. On the Centres move to reopen the 1984 riot cases, the PPCC chief said the Centre should also open the cases of the involvement of RSS workers in the riots. Deepkamal Kaur Tribune News Service Jalandhar, June 14 Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said today that decks had been cleared to open the Adampur air force base for commercial flights as the two requisite NoCs required from the defence authorities had been granted. He said that a meeting would be held next month with the officials of Airport Authority of India and Air India. Parrikar said this during his visit to Hoshiarpur where he opened a war memorial. Alighting at the Adampur air force station, he first paid his respects to the 567 martyrs of the district and laid a wreath at the memorial. He was received by Union Minister and Hoshiarpur MP Vijay Sampla and BJP national vice- president Avinash Rai Khanna. Parrikar held a meeting with the intellectuals on the two years of the Modi government followed by a media interaction. Justifying the shoot-at-sight orders by the Indian Air Force against anyone found scaling the boundary walls of an installation, he said it was a normal practice to issue such orders in high-alert areas. He said an NIAteam was leaving for Pakistan for a probe into the Pathankot attack but the green signal from Pakistan was still awaited. On the crash of MiG 27 and a move to ground the aircraft by 2018, he said air accidents were currently rated as 0.23 per cent for 10,000 flying hours and had reduced considerably. We will phase them out, he replied. On the NCC cadets not getting their uniform, he said they would start getting these soon. Chandigarh, June 13 The decks are still not clear for the screening of Udta Punjab. Even as the Bombay High Court cleared it with just one cut, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today ordered its special screening by tomorrow to ascertain whether the film was fit for public exhibition. Issuing notice to the Union of India, the producer and another respondent, Justice M. Jeyapaul, on a petition by advocate Wattan Sharma, asked them to show cause as to why the films public exhibition should not be restrained. The Bench asked advocate Sujay Kantawala, present in connection with another case, to assist the court as amicus curiae pro bono an offer readily accepted by him. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook and Twitter @thetribunechd) The case comes up for hearing on June 16, a day before the movies release. At the very onset, the Bench asked the petitioner to clarify whether the relief sought had a direct bearing on the petition before the Bombay High Court. To this, the counsel submitted that the producer had challenged the CBFC revision panels alleged inaction before the Bombay HC. This petition, he contended, had been filed against the movies content, which portrayed Punjab's culture in a bad light. TNS Nikhil Bhardwaj Tribune News Service Jalandhar, June 14 The police on Tuesday rescued a 51-year-old property dealer who was kidnapped from Rose Park locality here in the morning and arrested three persons in this connection. Earlier, the eyewitnesses said Mohinder Kumar Gambhir left his house around 8.10 am. Around 8.20, he reached his mini-farm around 300 metres from the house where he parked his motorcycle. Suddenly, three men, who came in a car stopped the car in front of his bike and kidnapped him at gun point. (Follow The Tribune on Facebook and Twitter @thetribunechd) The CCTV footage from a nearby locality showed a white car. The mobile phone of the victim was on and the police had put it on surveillance. Earlier, the police suspected that some property deals might be behind the kidnapping. Police Commissioner Arpit Shukla reached the spot and started investigations. Tribune News Service Haridwar, June 14 Devotees thronged Ganga ghats on the pious occasion of Ganga Dasehraregarded as the day when the Ganga descended on earth from the matted locks of Lord Shiva, after years of meditation by king Bhagirath. From the wee hours today, devotees from across the country were seen arriving at Brahma Kund Har-ki-Pauri, and adjacent Ganga ghats in large numbers. As per the mela control room figures, more than 15,50,000 devotees had arrived in the city for the festive occasion by 4 pm. Besides Har-ki-Pauri, adjacent Ganga ghats of Malviya, VIP, Gau, Kushawrati, Birla, Alaknanda, Swami Vivekanand, Ram, Prem Nagar, Luv Kush, Maharishi Kashyap, Valmiki, Gobind, Pull Jatwada and others witnessed pilgrims and locals taking a bath throughout the day. Maha Mandaleshwar Hari Chetnanand Maharaj said the Ganga descended on earth on this very auspicious day of Jyesth Shukla Paksha Dashami, from the matted locks of Lord Shiva due to meditation done by king Bhagirath to provide salvation to 60,000 sons of his forefather king Sagar. Taking the Ganga dip and offering rituals, donating food, clothes and money to the poor and the needy on this day provides immense spiritual and religious bliss, he added. Dharamshalas, ashrams, lodges, hotels, guest houses and state guest houses in the city were abuzz with activity today. Railway stations, bus stands and private bus and taxi service stands also witnessed a huge rush, with the state transport pressing into service additional buses on various routes. Haridwar SSP Rajeev Swarup; City SP Navneet Singh Bhullar; and Circle Officer, City, Prakash Singh Dewli, monitored the whole festive proceedings. Swarup also inspected the CCTV control room at the Mela Bhavan and guided traffic police personnel at the Shankaracharya square-Har-ki-Pauri stretch as vehicular traffic pressure was witnessed from the morning till afternoon on national highways 58 and 72 passing through Haridwar. Besides about 1,000 police personnel, sleuths of the intelligence unit, a bomb disposal squad, cavalry squad, Jal police, firefighters and four companies of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) were also deployed to provide security during the Ganga Dasehra festivities. Tribune News Service Dehradun, June 14 Chief Minister Harish Rawat has ordered giving ownership rights to people living on the land of the Rehabilitation Department in the Prem Nagar area. Residents would soon be able to get legal rights on their lands, said Naveen Joshi, general secretary of the State Congress Committee. Joshi, while addressing mediapersons at the Press Club today, said despite the orders of the state government, the administration was not willing to give the land to the residents. Due to the indifferent attitude of the district administration, only 25 persons had been able to complete the formalities of land rights. He said: Many refugee families are living on the land of the Rehabilitation Department at Prem Nagar and the local administration is regularising their lands, but officers were harassing them for the past few years. We have talked to the Chief Minister and he has assured us of a solution. Manish Kumar Nagpal and Rajesh Pandey were present on the occasion. MANCHESTER (New Hampshire) /WASHINGTON, June 13 Republican Donald Trump on Monday placed responsibility for a mass shooting in Florida squarely at the feet of radical Muslims, who he said were entering the country amidst a flood of refugees and "trying to take over our children". The presumptive Republican presidential nominee drew on the country's deadliest mass shooting to sharpen his vow to ban Muslim immigrants, proposing that the United States suspend immigration from areas of the world where there is "a proven history of terrorism". (Follow The Tribune on Facebook and Twitter @thetribunechd) In his national security speech, Trump said it was time to "tell the truth about radical Islam", the day after 49 people were killed at a gay nightclub in Orlando by a gunman, likely self-radicalised, who had sworn allegiance to the rebel group Islamic State. His comments contrasted sharply to those of Hillary Clinton, the wealthy businessman's likely Democratic rival in the November 8 election, who urged increased intelligence gathering and more airstrikes on Islamic State territory, and cautioned against "demonising" American Muslims. "If we want to protect the quality of life for all Americans women and children, gay and straight, Jews and Christians and all people then we need to tell the truth about radical Islam and we need to do it now," Trump told the crowd in New Hampshire. He went on to lambaste Clinton's policies, saying they would allow "hundreds of thousands of refugees from the Middle East" to enter the United States without adequate security measures. There would be "no system to vet them, or to prevent the radicalisation of... their children," he said. "Not only their children, by the way. They're trying to take over our children and convince them how wonderful ISIS is and how wonderful Islam is, and we don't know what's happening." Trump said that, if elected, he would use the executive authority of the presidency to impose stronger controls on immigration to protect Americans from attacks, fine-tuning his earlier campaign promise to temporarily ban the entry of foreign Muslims to shore up national security. "When I'm elected, I will suspend immigration from areas of the world where there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe, or our allies until we fully understand how to end these threats," he said. He noted that the parents of the Florida gunman, Omar Mateen, 29, were born in Afghanistan. Pointing to specific incidents such as the September 11, 2001, attacks, Trump said threats were posed by people with roots in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Somalia. The immigration ban, he said would last until "we are in a position to properly screen these people coming into our country. They're pouring in, and we don't know what we're doing". Trump's hard-line proposals on immigration have helped fuel his surge in popularity among some conservative voters. But they have also triggered heavy condemnation from minority and human rights activists, and his political opponents many of whom have called his rhetoric racist. Trump has rejected the criticism, and has said he is often misunderstood by the media and his opponents. 'Anti-woman, anti-gay' In her response to the Florida massacre, Clinton, warned against demonising Muslim Americans and called for increased efforts to remove Islamic State propaganda from the internet, more air strikes in areas held by the group and better coordination with allies in the region. The Orlando terrorist may be dead, but the virus that poisoned his mind remains very strong, and we must attack it, she said in a speech in Cleveland. She specifically criticised three US allies Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait for allowing its citizens to fund mosques and schools that train jihadists. She also proposed stricter gun control laws, reiterating previous calls to prohibit people on terrorism watch lists from buying firearms. She pointed out that while the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was aware of Mateen as a possible threat, he was still able to purchase a gun legally. "It's important that we stop the terrorists from getting the tools they need to carry out the attacks, and that is especially true when it comes to assault weapons like those used in Orlando and San Bernardino," California, Clinton said, drawing a standing ovation from the crowd. Trump challenged Clinton to explain why she favored letting Syrian civil war refugees into the United States. He said his policies would better protect American women, gays and lesbians, Jews and Christians. Trump's support among women and gay voters lags far behind that of Clinton. "Radical Islam is anti-woman, anti-gay and anti-American," said Trump. He accused her of having ties to Saudi Arabia. "Saudi Arabia and many of the countries that gave vast amounts of money to the Clinton Foundation want women as slaves and to kill gays," he said in a Facebook post. "Hillary must return all money from such countries!" Republicans unimpressed The mass shooting in Orlando, Florida has allowed Donald Trump to seize upon the familiar issue he has used to great advantage to re-boot his sputtering presidential campaign. But while rank-and-file voters might respond positively to Trump's renewed call for a ban on some Muslims entering the country, his reaction to the massacre showed few initial signs of winning over Republican foreign-policy figures, who have spurned the New York mogul. "It's a missed opportunity to present a different image," said Peter Feaver, a top National Security Council aide in the George W Bush White House. "He has doubled down on policies I oppose and that aren't going to solve the problem." Although the Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack, US officials have maintained that Omar Mateen's motives were unclear and that he had no known direct links with the Syria-based group. Mateen, they said, was likely radicalised over the Internet. Reuters United Nations, June 14 Israel has been elected to chair a UN committee for the first time in the world bodys 71-year history, triggering strong protests from Arab countries and the Palestinians. Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon won the chair of the legal affairs committee of the General Assembly yesterday by picking up 109 votes from the 193 member-states. Danons candidacy was put to a vote by secret ballot at the request of Arab countries. All of the other committee chairs were chosen by consensus. Palestinian envoy Riyad Mansour criticised the regional group for putting forward Danons candidacy, saying he was divisive and unworthy of the task. Israels candidacy was backed by the US and European countries. Peter Thomson of Fiji is General Assembly chief United Nations: Peter Thomson of Fiji has been elected president of the next session of the UN General Assembly, which will choose the successor to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. In a keenly-contested election, he polled 94 votes, narrowly defeating Andreas Mavroyiannis of Cyprus, who got 90. PTI New York, June 14 Omar Mateen, the 29-year-old who gunned down 49 people at a gay club in Orlando, himself might have been gay but chose to hide his true identity out of anger and shame, his former wife has said as authorities looked into reports that he had visited the Florida club several times and also used a gay dating app. Sitora Yusufiy said she had met Mateen online in 2008 and the two got married in 2009. He might have been gay but chose to hide his true identity out of anger and shame, she said. A New York Times report cited a senior federal law enforcement official as saying that the FBI was looking at reports that Mateen had used a gay dating app. Patrons of Pulse, the club where he killed 49 people in the worst shooting case in US history, were quoted as saying that he had visited the club several times. Yusufiy said that her ex-husband had told her that he frequented nightclubs before their marriage, but that he did not tell her they were gay clubs. CBS News said in a report that club-goers have told investigators that Mateen had been at Pulse previously. The Orlando Sentinel and other news organisations also quoted regular customers at the gay bar as saying they had seen Mateen there a number of times. Sometimes he would go over in the corner and sit and drink by himself, and other times he would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent, said Ty Smith, a patron at the bar. Smith said he saw Mateen inside the club at least a dozen times. Yusufiy, during an interview at her home in Colorado, said Mateen had seemed perfect American enough for her free spirit and Muslim enough to please her traditional family. This man was a simple, Americanized guy that was also from my culture. And, you know, had the same religion, she said. So I was like, OK, this could potentially satisfy my parents. She moved to Florida, and they married in a quiet courthouse ceremony in 2009, but the short-lived marriage was marred by violence and isolation, she said. She had no friends or family in Florida, and Mateen preferred that she stay in the house. She said he sometimes returned from work angry and agitated, including one night when she fell asleep on the floor waiting for him to return home. PTI London: Lesedi la Rona, the world's largest gem-quality rough diamond discovered in more than 100 years, goes on display in London this week before it heads for the auction block where it is expected to fetch more than $70 million. The 1,109-carat diamond, shown to British media on Tuesday, was uncovered last November in Botswana by Canadian mining company Lucara Diamond Corp. reuters Google honours discoverer of blood groups New York: On what would be his 148th birthday, Google has honoured Nobel laureate Karl Landsteiner, the discoverer of blood groups with a Doodle. Landsteiners work made blood transfusion safer and helped millions lead longer, healthier lives. With the discovery of blood groups A, B and C (later renamed O), Landsteiner was able to show that the allergic reaction occurs only when blood samples of different types are mixed, not when the same type are mixed. IANS Osteria Francescana worlds best restaurant New York: Italys Osteria Francescana was crowned the worlds best restaurant of 2016 at an awards ceremony in New York, the first Italian establishment to win the annual accolade. Run by chef Massimo Bottura, Osteria Francescana pipped last years winner, Spains El Celler de Can Roca, in the Worlds 50 Best Restaurants awards, after coming second in 2015. AFP May 2016 hottest-ever month on record Geneva: May was the hottest on record and the Northern Hemisphere spring has been the hottest spring ever, according to NASA data released on Monday. The UN weather agency is warning of 'fundamental change' afoot in the global climate and continued warming, accompanied recently by unusually high rainfall in parts of the US and Europe. Dr David Carlson, World Meteorological Organisation global climate director, said the new data showed 370 straight months of warm or warmer-than-average temperatures worldwide. AP Chuck Schumer Senate Democrats pledged on Monday to reintroduce a bill banning people on the terror watch list from buying weapons in the aftermath of Sunday morning's massacre at an LGBTQ nightclub in Orlando, Florida. The massacre left at least 49 people dead and dozens more wounded. It was the deadliest mass shooting in US history. The suspected gunman, Omar Mateen, 29, was born in the US to Afghan parents, and, according to his father, was recently disturbed by seeing two men kissing in Miami. The shooting is being investigated as an act of terrorism, as Mateen allegedly pledged allegiance to ISIS and other terrorist organizations before the attack. The FBI confirmed that it had conducted two terror-related investigations into Mateen in recent years. During a Monday conference call, Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York said that, if the bill was passed when first brought before the Senate in December, then the terrorist attack would've been avoided. In December, just one day following the San Bernardino, California, attacks, Senate Republicans rejected the bill stopping suspected terrorists from buying weapons. The counterargument to the bill is that, since people can be placed on the terror watch list also referred to as the no-fly list without due process, then a citizen could be stripped of his or her Second Amendment right without due process. The bill failed on a 54-45 party-line vote. North Dakota Sen. Heidi Headlamp was the lone Democrat to vote against the bill while Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk was the lone Republican to vote in favor of it. Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat, did not vote. California Sen. Dianne Feinstein sponsored the legislation, and argued, as she did again during the Monday conference call, that former President George W. Bush initially proposed the legislation in 2007. "Now that we have lone wolves inspired by ISIL, even more [see] the reason to do this than ever before," Schumer said. "It made sense 10 years ago, it makes even more sense today." Story continues The Democratic senator said that the bill might be tucked into a recent appropriations bill brought before the Senate by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid also insisted on Monday that his party will be bringing the bill before Congress "as soon as possible." "We're just asking for people to come into this country and go out and buy a gun," Feinstein said during the call with reporters, later adding, "Even if you're a suspected terrorist, you can go out and buy a gun. And that's just not right. So I hope there will be a change." hillary clinton Both presumptive presidential nominees, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, voiced their opinions on this issue during dueling Monday speeches. Trump promised to do nothing in regards to promoting gun-control legislation, while Clinton expressed solidarity with the Democratic senators. Clinton said: If the FBI is watching you for suspected terrorist links, then you shouldn't be able to just go buy a gun with no questions asked. You shouldn't be able to exploit loopholes and evade criminal background checks by buying online or at a gun show. And yes, if you're too dangerous to get on a plane, you are too dangerous to buy a gun in America. Schumer insisted on Monday that the bill will do better this time around. He said: The bottom line is we have to keep trying, and I believe our Republican colleagues, particularly so many of them now in a difficult political season, are going to find it very very difficult [to vote against the bill]. We've had two incidents: San Bernardino and now Orlando where this type of legislation would be relevant, making sure the terrorists don't get guns. He added that the bill will include provisions for a "quick and speedy appeals process" for those placed on the terror watch list. "Believe me," he said. "President Bush wouldn't have put together a bill that took away people's legitimate rights." But, he said, rights don't "trump everything." "We can have both," he continued. "We can have people's rights protected and we can have safety. And that's what this legislation does. As I said, George Bush, who was hardly the strongest advocate of gun control in America, drafted it." Also on the conference call, Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal said "all rights have to be balanced." "No right is absolute," he said, adding that the bill "would provide a due process to remove people from the list ... that is an absolute requirement." "Many of our Republican colleagues who are hardline on individual rights on this amendment seem to blow those rights away on other amendments," Schumer said. "Hardly consistent." "In terms of terrorism, this is the most effective piece of legislation we can pass," he continued. NOW WATCH: The head of a domestic violence prevention organization says that gun control could have a huge impact More From Business Insider Skinner Trace which is off the S.S. Erin Road is experiencing major land movement which has This week and next, Foreign Correspondent is airing a two-part special by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, surrounding a child abuse case in Indonesia, which some claim lacks credible evidence. A puff of rumour grew into a tempest of accusations that led to the jailing of seven people for alleged child abuse at an elite international school in Jakarta. Was justice served or was it a case of moral panic? Canadian couple Neil and Tracy Bantleman came to Indonesia as idealistic young teachers in search of adventure. They scored dream jobs at the prestigious Jakarta International School, teaching the scions of wealthy Indonesians and expats. Now Neil Bantleman is serving 11 years in a Jakarta jail after being convicted of sexually assaulting three little boys. Its like, is this a movie? Is this a nightmare? Neil Bantleman A westerner accused of preying on the children of the nations elite The case triggered a media frenzy, transfixed the Indonesian public and galvanised prosecutors. But Bantleman is not alone: teaching assistant Ferdi Tjiong was jailed for alleged child abuse. So too were five school cleaners, including a woman. A sixth cleaner died, suspiciously, in police custody. My eyes were burned with cigarettes. They stapled my ear. They hit me with a metal chair and a hose one of the male cleaners who say they were beaten into making confessions Critics call this case a serious miscarriage of justice, citing the alleged torture and a general absence of credible evidence. Now Bantleman, his fellow accused and their supporters are fighting to clear their names. Foreign Correspondent goes behind the scenes of that fight and traces the scandal from its beginnings, when a mother first alleged an assault on her five-year-old son So the man grabbed him and locked him in the toilet and undressed him mother at school parents meeting to the same boys identification of the cleaners who were promptly arrested and paraded before a media pack and the subsequent allegation that put Bantleman and Tjiong in jail. They had been abusing our children and threatening all of them with Im going to kill your mum or dad if you tell them what happened here mother of schoolboy This two-part investigation by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Foreign Correspondent asks hard questions about an extraordinary case that has seen seven people jailed and another die in police hands. 9.30pm on Tuesday June 14 & 21 on ABC. Hamish & Andy have signed a new deal with Nine for an unnamed 2017 series from their production company, Radio Karate. Details of the new series, understood to not be another Gap Year series, are being kept under wraps for now. The news follows suggestions the duo might be headed to Seven. Michael Healy, Director of Television at Nine, said: Hamish and Andy are unique talent in Australia and were privileged to enjoy a longstanding relationship with them. The Radio Karate team have now created a bold and exciting new concept that were excited to bring to the Nine audience in 2017. The comedy duo are currently on a South Pacific cruise as part of their radio show. We are rapt to be continuing our journey with the Nine Network and were going to spend the rest of the cruise working tirelessly to invent a new cocktail to celebrate the occasion, said Blake. Hamish and Andy appeared in five Gap Year editions on Nine, drawing bumper ratings and Logie wins, including a Gold Logie for Hamish Blake in 2012. The end of a long weekend usually signals high ratings numbers as viewers bunker down for the working week. Last night there were a number of shows with high Monday numbers. But the AFLs afternoon event was central to strong numbers by Seven, notably Seven News in Melbourne at a cool 513,000. At 990,000 House Rules won the three way Reality battle ahead of The Voice and MasterChef. Nines Live singing event rang severely overtime with 904,000 in preliminary numbers and 918,000 for TENs cook-off. ABC News, The Project, 7:30 and SBS World News were amongst other titles to attract a Monday lift. Despite Nine topping multichannels, Seven network won Monday with 29.3% then Nine 28.1%, TEN 19.0%, ABC 18.3% and SBS 5.2%. Seven News was #1 with 1.37m / 1.16m for Seven then House Rules (990,000) and Home and Away (812,000). The Chase was 490,000 and 279,000 in 4 & 3 cities respectively, Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders was 488,000 / 359,000. Nine News was 1.14m / 1.11m for Nine then The Voice (984,000), A Current Affair (905,000), Hot Seat (618,000) and Adele: Live in London (570,000). Footy Classified was 110,000 in 3 cities. MasterChef Australia drew 918,000 for TEN. The Project was up at 719,000 / 552,000, Have You Been Paying Attention? was 676,000, TEN Eyewitness News was 549,000 and NCIS: New Orleans was 241,000. ABC News was high at 903,000 for ABC then 7:30 (689,000), Australian Story (672,000), Four Corners (555,000), Media Watch (554,000) and Q&A (547,000). On SBS it was Michael Mosley: Trust Me Im a Doctor (262,000), SBS World News (178,000) and The Island with Bear Grylls (145,000). A Great Welsh Adventure was 81,000. Peppa Pig led multichannels at 262,000. Today: 295,000 Sunrise: 275,000 ABC News Breakfast: 90,000 / 44,000 OzTAM Overnights: Monday 13 June 2016. Joanna Lumley has filmed her next travel series, Joanna Lumleys Japan. The three-part series follows the Ab Fab star as she journeys over 3000 kilometres travelling across Japan by boat, train, plane and foot. She travels from the icy Siberian seas of the north to the subtropical islands of the south, from rustic mountains to sprawling metropolitan super cities. Isnt it odd, we feel we are so familiar with Japan, with sushi and Toshiba, kimonos and Hello Kitty, tsunamis and sake and yet when we travelled around that spectacular country I couldnt even guess at the unknown wonders that were in store for us. Every moment was thrilling, fascinating and often very moving. With my hand on my heart I can say: please come with me to Japan! she said. No Australian date has been announced as yet. Starting in the north, in Hokkaido Japans wild north, Joanna will make her away across Hokkaido by train and car. Known for its rugged terrain, it is home to some of Japans most beautiful and endangered wild animals. Next, she will go to Honshu, the largest and most populated of Japans islands. Winding her way south, she will begin in Tohoku, before boarding the bullet train, which will plunge her into the metropolitan sprawl of Tokyo, before taking her to the ancient capital, Kyoto. Finally, Joanna will journey through Japans forgotten island, Shikoku, on foot, before crossing over to the volcanic Kyushu island. Joannas epic journey comes to its end on the idyllic beaches of Kohama, one of Japans smallest and most remote pacific islands. As previously reported by TV Tonight, The Monkees are headed to Australia this year. Two of the original stars Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork will perform from December 2nd, following their current US tour with their charting album, Good Times. TheMusic reports the band will perform two shows in Christchurch and Auckland before taking their 50th anniversary tour to Brisbane, Tweed Heads, Hobart, Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney, Adelaide and Perth. The show will feature all of The Monkees hits, plus an intimate acoustic set and solo spots for both Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork. Pre-sale tickets for all shows go on sale tomorrow between 9am-5pm, before going on sale to the general public from 9am this Thursday. In dramatic storytelling one of the best devices a writer can employ is the ticking time-bomb -that looming deadline at which a characters fate is set to turn. In the UK drama Undercover, never was it more palpable for Rudy Jones (Dennis Haysbert), a US prisoner on death row in Louisiana. With just two hours before his execution, he awaits a Supreme Court reprieve with UK lawyer Maya Cobbina (Sophie Okonedo). Galbraith is the one. She will come our way, she assures him. But a phone call delivers bad news, superbly handled by two consummate actors avoiding cliches and floods of tears. If nothing else, Undercover by writer Peter Moffat, opens with a compelling sequence. Rudy empowers her to rise above his inevitable end. Go big. Hold your dignity, walk away from me now. Go big, he insists. It is a quest that will resonate as a bigger story unfolds. Maya is the heart of this 6 part drama -a lawyer who has fought for human rights but loses a high-profile case. While the drama opens in the US it is rooted in the UK where Mayas family await the nail-biting news. Her husband Nick (Adrian Lester) and three teenage children -one of whom has a learning disability- support her work. But it is a family that will be challenged by an invitation for Maya being head-hunted as Director of Public Prosecutions. For one who has fought so many legal injustices, it isnt a prospect that sits well with her. Meanwhile Nick is dealing with the last days of his elderly fathers life when a face from his past surfaces with an unwelcome proposition. There are flashbacks alluding to Maya and Nicks initial meeting, during anti-racism protests in Hackney 1996. As the story delves deeper into its past it raises questions about deception, lying and dark secrets. Peter Moffats (Silk, Kavanagh QC, Criminal Justice) script directed by James Hawes tugs at the fragility of family, honour and idealism. There is a sense of longing and displacement, bitterly underscored by tension. Be warned, the first episode has so many moving parts to lay down it is complex and serves primarily as an establishing instalment. But with a star like Sophie Okonedo in the lead role, you cant go wrong. She can turn from vulnerability to defiant strength on a dime, with Adrian Lester matching her every step of the way. Haysbert brings added gravitas to an already-noteworthy ensemble. Aside from its luminous performances, the key to Undercover lays in its title. What appears to be a death-row saga or another legal justice drama offers surprises and twists. Undercover demonstrates yet again BBC Drama offers challenging, rewarding work for the discerning connoisseur. 8:30pm Sunday on BBC First. The Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) of Nokia Corporation will be held at Helsinki Ice Hall, Finland December 2, 2015. REUTERS/Vesa Moilanen/Lehtikuva HELSINKI (Reuters) - Nokia has signed a 1.36 billion euro ($1.5 bln) one-year framework deal with China Mobile, the Finnish company said on Monday, easing fears that it would lose market share while it merges operations with Alcatel-Lucent. Shares in the company were up 0.2 percent as of 1120 GMT versus a Helsinki bourse down 1.42 percent. Nokia's network equipment sales fell more than expected in the first quarter as buyers held off due to the Alcatel integration process. China Mobile is Nokia's biggest customer in China. "In the light of this announcement, China is not the market which one should be very worried about this year. They've managed to hold on to the positions of old Nokia and old Alcatel," said Nordea analyst Sami Sarkamies, who holds a 'buy' rating on the stock. He added that North America remained a concern. "Large customers there are waiting for Nokia to convince them with their integration plans before restarting orders in regular pace." Nokia bought Franco-American firm Alcatel-Lucent earlier this year in an all-share deal worth 15.6 billion euros. The deal is seen helping it more broadly compete with Sweden's Ericsson and China's Huawei [HWT.UL] in both fixed-line and mobile network equipment. The company is expected to cut 10,000 to 15,000 jobs globally, or up to 14 percent of its workforce. ($1 = 0.8872 euros) (Reporting by Jussi Rosendahl; editing by Jason Neely) Alaba will hold his nerve His country's undisputed star, David Alaba (midfielder, 7.0m) was directly involved in seven of Austria's 22 qualifying goals (four goals, three assists). The Bayern Munchen man has also successfully converted five out of six penalties for his nation dating back to June 2013, with three coming in UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying, including high-pressure efforts in both games against Sweden. Junuzovic can put club woes behind him Zlatko Junuzovic (midfielder, 6.5m) has had an up-and-down season at Werder Bremen but he still has the potential for points. Note that the 28-year-old found the net five times from direct free-kicks in 2014/15, while his corners are also on the money more often than not. Defenders coming forward Sebastian Prodl (defender, 4.5m) chipped in with two goals in Watford's solid Premier League campaign and looks likely to be selected for the opening match against Hungary. Christian Fuchs (defender, 6.0m) doesn't guarantee goals yet he is a reasonably regular source of assists. Under the radar One of the lesser-known names in Austria's squad, Marcel Sabitzer (forward, 5.0m) notched eight goals in 32 appearances to help RB Leipzig into the Bundesliga. He is a candidate to start on the right in Bordeaux, with his ability to cut inside and shoot just as dangerous as his wicked deliveries. In the form of his life A total of 11 goals and six assists in 2015/16 represented Marko Arnautovic's (forward, 7.0m) best return in the Premier League since joining Stoke three years ago. Arnautovic's three goals and two assists helped his country reach UEFA EURO 2016, and he will again be prominently involved in Austria's attacking play. Keep an eye on Schopf Alessandro Schopf's (midfielder, 5.0m) eye for goal could make him a shrewd investment. The 22-year-old scored for the first time in only his third international in the recent friendly against Malta, while he was one of few bright spots for Schalke after arriving in January. Military instructors from Canada are teaching courses on modernization of logistics for future officers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Odesa, the official representative of the Administration of the President of Ukraine on the ATO Colonel Andriy Lysenko told a briefing in Kyiv Monday, Ukrinform reports. "Military instructors from Canada have been teaching a training course for future Ukraine army officers in Odesa. Instructors will conduct three-week long trainings on modernization of logistics, as well as organizing and conducting logistical operations in accordance with NATO standards," he said. The spokesman also added that the military training for Ukrainian would-be officers is essential because the Ukrainian logistics hasnt been adapted since the Soviet Union times. tl The priority for Ukraine's cooperation with NATO is to achieve criteria for gaining membership in the Alliance. In this case, Ukraine expects to achieve full interoperability with NATO countries by 2020. Verkhovna Rada Chairman Andriy Parubiy said this during a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Inter-Parliamentary Council in Kyiv on Tuesday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. "The priority for us in cooperation with NATO is maximum deepening of cooperation in order to attain the criteria for gaining membership in NATO. First and foremost, the issue here is a wide range of deep democratic reforms. The priority is to achieve the full compatibility of the security and defense of Ukraine with the relevant structures of NATO member states by 2020," the parliamentary speaker said. ish Ukraines Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin took part in the ministerial meeting dedicated to the 20th anniversary of signing of the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), the Foreign Ministrys press service reports. During the ministerial meeting held in Vienna on 13 June, 2016, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin stated about the important role and place of Ukraine in the process of facilitating the entry into force of the CTBT, reads a report. Special attention was paid to the practical contribution of Ukraine to the development of the CTBTO International Monitoring System, in particular the efficient operation of technologically advanced primary seismic station PS 45in in Malyn (Ukraine), which enables Ukraine to identify the precise location of nuclear explosion sources and register maximum amount of relevant sources. In addition, the schedule of ministers visit also included bilateral meetings with European and American partners, heads of the secretariats of international organizations. iy The Vaticans Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin will begin his state visit to Ukraine on June 15. First, the visit is important because of its international resonance. This is a promotion of Ukraine throughout the world and its an equivalent to the arrival of the Pope, The Roman Catholic Church Metropolitan of Lviv Archbishop Mechyslav Mokshytsky told a briefing, Ukrinform reports. "The visit of the Vaticans Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin will officially launch the action "The Pope to Ukraine". The visit is regarded as a state one, and not a church one since the Secretary of State post is equivalent to the position of prime minister. It is hard to overestimate the effect that this event will cause in the world. Because it is an equivalent to the Pontiff's visit, " said Mokshytsky. According to the metropolitan, the State Secretary will discuss social problems, the issue of freedom of the church at the meetings with the President, the Head of Ukrainian Government. At the same time, the Vatican delegate will bring the word of God and the blessings of the Holy See to Ukraine. The Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Parolins official visit to Ukraine lasts from June 15 to June 20. tl facebook like button Tweet tweet button for twitter Published June 14, 2016 MONROE, La. It was announced this week that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has granted the University of Louisiana Monroe the license to operate its Doppler weather radar. The operation of the radar had been pending federal approval for months, but now, with the help of Congressman Ralph Abraham, M.D. R-Alto, a license to operate has officially been granted to the university. This process has been very complicated, and we want to thank Congressman Ralph Abraham for the help he and his staff provided in routing the paperwork through the necessary federal agencies, said Dr. Eric Pani, ULM Vice President of Academic Affairs. Everyone agreed that radar data will help protect northeast Louisiana residents, so there was a desire to expedite the approval. According to university officials, the next step will be for Enterprise Electronics Corporation (ECC)the company hired to manufacture and erect the radarto send a technician to adjust the radar frequency to the one assigned by the FCC and to install a filter to keep that frequency within tolerance. The university hopes the radar will become operational by mid-July. It was important to me that we do whatever we could to help ULM activate this radar because it is going to give Northeast Louisiana more weather data, data that will save lives during tornadoes and other storms, Dr. Abraham said. Im glad to see that this radar will finally become a reality. The university is planning a ribbon cutting ceremony to mark the official operation of the radar. About ULMs Doppler weather radar In 2012, ULM was awarded a $3 million grant through the Louisiana Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOSHEP) to acquire a Doppler weather radar. The ULM weather radar is a scanning polarimetric Doppler radar operating at S-band with a beam width of 0.95. In addition to being an education and research tool for the Department of Atmospheric Science, the radar will fill a low-level NEXRAD coverage gap over northeast Louisiana and southeast Arkansas. The radar data will be available to GOSHEP to help serve their mission of protecting life and property in this region, which is important considering the ArkLaMiss is prone to severe weather. Agreements are being negotiated for other users to have access to the data. ULM is the only primarily undergraduate institution in the United States with a S-band polarimetric Doppler weather radar. ULM students will receive hands-on instruction at the undergraduate level on radar operation, in addition to advanced radar analysis and interpretation techniques. This will uniquely position ULM graduates for jobs that require radar operation and/or analysis skill. By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK, June 13 (Reuters) - A New York hedge fund manager who at age 28 lost nearly all $57 million he oversaw in less than three weeks was spared prison on Monday, as the judge recognized how quickly and thoroughly the defendant owned up to his crimes. Owen Li, the founder of Canarsie Capital LLC, was sentenced to probation by U.S. District Judge Robert Sweet in Manhattan, prompting gasps from spectators in the courtroom. The defendant then hugged his lawyer, Scott Resnik. Li, now 30, had pleaded guilty in December to securities fraud and making a false statement. Sweet had in March indicated he would likely sentence Li to five years in prison, less than federal guidelines advise and in line with prosecutors' recommendation. But on Monday, he changed his mind. "You have done all a human being could do to go take responsibility and to clean up the tragedy," Sweet told Li. "Perhaps the lesson that comes out of this sentencing should be that there is redemption, and there is grace." The judge previously said Li, who attended Stanford University, should also pay $56.8 million of restitution to victims. Li, a former trading assistant at a unit of hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam's Galleon Group, suffered catastrophic losses in January 2015 after moving nearly all of Canarsie's portfolio into long, unhedged market index options whose value collapsed as prices went the other way. Prosecutors also said Li overstated Canarsie's performance to investors, and misled the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission about some trades. At the hearing, Resnik said Li made bad trades because he felt compelled to erase earlier losses, reflecting a "flawed" psyche from a life where Li had come to believe perfection was required. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Ferrara said prison was justified to deter others, and show that is not acceptable to "lose 50-odd million dollars and lie to your investors." But he also said prosecutors spent much time wrestling with the case, noting Li's "exceptional" cooperation and support even from a lawyer for some victims. Story continues "He simply came in and said, 'Here are my mistakes, here's who I lied to,'" Ferrara said. "My misconduct was, and is, my responsibility to bear alone," Li told the court prior to being sentenced. Resnik said after the hearing: "Owen looks forward to rebuilding his life and taking to heart the messages that the court gave him." The case is U.S. v. Li, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 15-cr-00870. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Additional reporting by Nate Raymond; Editing by Alan Crosby) Mike Rowe, the host of Discovery Channel's 'Dirty Jobs', has some unconventional advice for graduating students: Follow opportunity, not their passion. In a commencement address video he gave for online resource site Prager University, Rowe dispensed several "dirty truths" about passion and the realities of making a living. For one, Rowe said it was "terrible advice" for students to be told to follow their passions. Celebrities, he pointed out, often liked to give this general advice without even knowing what their listener is capable of. He also cited 'American Idol' and said the show's rejection of thousands of auditions every year is proof that people who are passionate at what they do "doesn't mean they won't suck at it." Another "dirty truth" the 'Dirty Jobs' host gave out was about looking that dream job. According to him, someone so fixated on landing the dream job he/she wants is essentially preventing him/herself from looking at other opportunities to earn a meaningful living. He recounted the story of a septic tank cleaner who, instead of going the same direction as everyone else, took the other route and followed opportunity rather than his passion. Needless to say, he became a multi-millionaire-soon enough he realized he had developed a passion for his job. Sharing his own experience, Rowe recounted how he once strove to be a house builder just like his grandfather. After years of studying and enrolling in countless workshops, Rowe realized that despite his passion, he had no talent in that field--with his grandfather telling him later on he could always be a tradesman but with "another toolbox". In the end, Rowe dispensed what he called the final "dirty truth"--that people should not follow their passion but instead bring it with them. On his website, the 'Dirty Jobs' host also endorsed Prager University and encouraged everybody to send the video to a graduate they know. A researcher at the University of Pittsburgh has contracted the Zika virus after accidentally pricking herself with an infected needle on Thursday. Officials from the university, as well as the Allegheny County Health Department, announced that the unidentified researcher had indeed tested positive of the Zika virus, the Medical Daily reported. Joe Miksch, university spokesman, stated that the researcher had accidentally pricked herself with a needle infected with the Zika virus while conducting experiments in the laboratory on May 23. The unfortunate researcher had been reported to have developed symptoms, which is closely associated with the virus, on June 1. This had called for a blood test, of which the results came back positive that Zika was in her system on June 8. The accident was reported to the ACHD by the university officials. This makes it the fourth case of Zika in Pennsylvania, albeit not being contracted from a mosquito bite, nor through sexual transmission, which is rarely the case. The three other cases were also reported that those infected had contracted the virus while travelling. The director of the ACHD, Dr. Karen Hacker, has assured the residents that the infection was an isolated case. Hacker also stated that Pennsylvania is at no threat from the Zika virus, as there has still been no cases of Zika being contracted by a mosquito bite, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Hacker continued to urge the citizens of Pittsburgh to practice caution when considering to travel to countries affected by the Zika virus, especially those who are with child. Although, the species of mosquitoes that are capable of carrying the virus is not native to Pennsylvania, officials still advise the citizens to protect themselves from mosquito bites. Authorities said that insect repellents that cointain DEET more effective in deterring mosquitos. Another way to lessen the risk is to remove still water from your home to help reduce mosquito breeding. Symptoms of those infected with the Zika include fever, rashes, joint pains, as well as conjunctivitis. The health department urges citizens to report such cases to the Allegheny County Health Department hotline, 412-687-ACHD (2243). Professor of environmental engineering at Virginia Tech, Marc Edwards helped unveil the water contamination situation in Flint, and he did so without any financial aid, using his own money. Michigan town's water contamination crisis has been existing for a long time, however it took FOIA requests along with Edwards' testing to legitimize the crisis from the standpoint of the media - which finally displayed the controversy in national headlines. Edwards has played crucial roles in bringing to light similar issues, like he did when he tested Washington D.C.'s water supply, however this has burned a hole in his pocket in the past, and he has not ceased to nag at the government agencies for this. Edwards' case hints a bigger problem in higher education. The problem seem to prevail in the method researches are been funded via public universities as its restricting research opportunities that could prove to be life saver and improve public's health in the long run. In the wake of public universities been deprived of state funding, and been compelled to operate like a business, universities have to switch over their priorities. With limited resources in this domain, researchers are left with no choice but to do fewer collaborations with communities, which results in less innovation, thus public lose trust in research, Edwards explained. In terms of figures, 7 out of 10 adults claim that government funding in scientific research generally does not pay off immediately, however the share of the public who consider American scientific achievements better than any other in the world has dropped 11 points from 2009, a Pew Research survey confirmed. The Flint Crisis: What Went Wrong? The problem, apparently began when the city of Flint decided to switch to Flint River water a couple of years back. Last April, Edwards was contacted by a woman who claimed there was a problem with the family's tap water. Edwards decided to delve into the matter after testing the water. In a Virginia Tech research that analysed lead levels in 300 homes in Flint, it was divulged that the water was alarmingly five times more corrosive as compared to other water sources in the area, this hinted that national, state and even local officials were not focusing on their duties. About 8,657 children in Flint are been tested for exposure to lead. The city, in collaboration with state are still toiling with the EPA to make sure drinking water is safe, ThinkProgress reported. Edwards claim the way the main model for how research is chosen and even funded in higher education - which Edwards refer to as "top-down model" - is apparently harming the public. Those at risk, such as the residents of Flint may end up losing their confidence in scientific researchers. Why Universities' Business Approach Is Not Ideal For Scientific Innovation While public universities try to survive with the limited funding, these institutions have eventually adopted a more business-like approach. This involve averaging a faculty's performance to gauge what they've given back to the university, and this approach does not quite foster innovation, according to some experts. A faculty's performance is determined on the basis of these analytics. The measures consider things such as the professor's patents, the number of articles published by the professor and their overall influence on academic discourse. Manuela Ekowo, a policy analyst with the education policy program at New America and Edwards believe that by relying on these analytics, the universities are actually forcing the professors to divert their focus on getting the best score and this will hurt innovation in the long run. According to Ekowo, universities should focus on getting more funding so that they could work with private-sector partners rather than having private vendors do all the analytics tasks. New study conducted by a team of scientists found that statin drug may not be effective for heart disease prevention in elderly. After reviewing some of the previous researches around high cholesterol levels and heart disease, the study found that there is no association between deaths of elderly (60 years old and above) from heart disease and bad cholesterol. Sherif Sultan, vascular expert from University of Ireland who is a member of the research explains that cholesterol is an important element to prevent muscle pain, infection in elderly people. According to Sultan, statin drug given to elderly people is not effective for cardiovascular medication. The scientist suggests changing lifestyle would give more benefits to their health condition, Irish Examiner reported. The study on heart disease prevention Researchers collected studies from previous reports. There were 19 of the paper that involved more than 65,000 people. The stunning result is that there is no connection between the LDL cholesterol levels and heart disease in elderly age 60 and above. More than 90 percent of the participants who have high cholesterol levels, have similar life expectancy to those with low cholesterol levels, BMJ Open Journal reported. Statin drug to lower down cholesterol levels may not be effective according to the new study Cholesterol in elderly can prevent internal cerebral bleeds and premature cataracts. Hence, the cholesterol is needed and 'has to be nourished'. Statin drug has been used to lower down the cholesterol levels in patients because bad cholesterol is related to heart attacks and stroke. However, after the review found no relation on both, study suggests reconsidering the use of statin drug for heart disease prevention. Statin prescriptions which have been used for treating people with high cholesterol levels, should be reconsidered. According to the researchers, statin drug benefits 'have been exaggerated'. The report is controversial given the many studies on high cholesterol levels often related to the use of statin drug to prevent heart disease risks. The transformation in academics can be a challenge in today's higher education Higher education has gone through a revamp. There has been an increase in the number of Hispanic, Native and Asian students in the country but white students show a lack of interest in study. College enrollment recorded between the year 1995 and 2009 showed Hispanic students grew double and African Americans who sought higher education increased up to 73 percent. On the other hand, white students only recorded 15 percents of enrollment, Washington Post reported. The right to feel comfortable There were reports on academics being banned from schools after speaking up their minds. Professor John McAdams was banned from Marquette University after defending gay students. And Dr. James Tracy being dismissed after a story he published on his blog claimed massacre incident at Sandy Hook Elementary School was staged, Sun-Sentinel reported. Many students are unprepared for higher education Apparently not all things are what they see because many students find that college life is not that simple. There are cultural and educational stuffs that they have to master regardless the assumption on first place. And some of the students don't feel prepared to have a high education and career, Edsource reported. Teaching interest declines American education institutions face a serious issue when a research found that teaching interest has been showing a decline. More students show a lack of interest in having a career in teaching. In 2014, students taking ACT college were asked about their career decision and 5 percent of them planned not to be involved in teaching. The statistics show a declining number compared to 2010 data. It shows a drop of interest, which means, negative interpretation on the profession itself. Another fact on the research found that 3 out of 4 adults feel that teaching profession is undervalued, University Herald reported. Union Pacific Plans to Invest $28.5 Million in its Wyoming Rail Infrastructure Union Pacific plans to invest $28.5 million in 2016 to improve Wyoming's transportation infrastructure. The company's multi-million dollar private investment will enhance employee, community and customer safety and increase rail operating efficiency. Freight railroads like Union Pacific operate on track built and maintained without taxpayer funds. Union Pacific's private investments sustain jobs and ensure the company meets growing demand for products used in the American economy. Union Pacific's planned investment covers a range of initiatives: $25.9 million to maintain railroad track and $2.4 million to maintain bridges in the state. Key projects planned this year include: A $7.6 million investment in the rail line between Cheyenne and Granite Canon to replace more than 13 miles of rail. A $2.6 million investment in the rail line between Rawlins and Rock Springs to replace nearly 4 miles of rail. This year's planned $28.5 million capital expenditure in Wyoming is part of an ongoing investment strategy. From 2011 to 2015 Union Pacific invested more than $164 million strengthening Wyoming's transportation infrastructure. "We constantly evaluate our customers' needs to make targeted investments that enhance our efficiency and deliver the goods American businesses and families use daily," said Donna Kush, Union Pacific vice president - Public Affairs, Northern Region. "Continuing to aggressively invest in our infrastructure is an important element in Union Pacific's unwavering safety commitment." Union Pacific plans to spend $3.675 billion across its network this year, following investments totaling approximately $33 billion from 2006-2015. These investments contributed to a 25 percent decrease in derailments over the last 10 years. ABOUT UNION PACIFIC Union Pacific Railroad is the principal operating company of Union Pacific Corporation (NYSE: UNP). One of America's most recognized companies, Union Pacific Railroad connects 23 states in the western two-thirds of the country by rail, providing a critical link in the global supply chain. From 2006-2015, Union Pacific invested approximately $33 billion in its network and operations to support America's transportation infrastructure. The railroad's diversified business mix includes Agricultural Products, Automotive, Chemicals, Coal, Industrial Products and Intermodal. Union Pacific serves many of the fastest-growing U.S. population centers, operates from all major West Coast and Gulf Coast ports to eastern gateways, connects with Canada's rail systems and is the only railroad serving all six major Mexico gateways. Union Pacific provides value to its roughly 10,000 customers by delivering products in a safe, reliable, fuel-efficient and environmentally responsible manner. The statements and information contained in the news releases provided by Union Pacific speak only as of the date issued. Such information by its nature may become outdated, and investors should not assume that the statements and information contained in Union Pacific's news releases remain current after the date issued. Union Pacific makes no commitment, and disclaims any duty, to update any of this information. Aug. 19, 2022 Fitness. When the average citizen thinks of being fit, it is easy for cardio and strength training to come to mind. That is not the case for those serving in the Air Force and Space Force. Comprehensive Airman Fitness teaches that to have overarching fitness and resilience, one must work on his or Public Event for New UW President June 20 in Cheyenne UW President Laurie Nichols Laramie County residents will have an opportunity to meet new University of Wyoming President Laurie Nichols during a public reception Monday, June 20, in Cheyenne. The event is scheduled from 4:30-6:30 p.m. at the Kiwanis Community House, 4603 Lions Park Drive. Light refreshments and beverages will be served at the reception, hosted by the UW Alumni Association. The public event is part of a more than two-day trip to Cheyenne for the UW president that will include a stop at Laramie County Community College and meetings with state government officials, legislators and media representatives. Nichols is scheduled to speak to the Legislatures Joint Appropriations Committee at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday. During her first months in office, Nichols is spending a day or two of each week traveling around the state to meet with citizens, community college and public school leaders, legislators, alumni, media and others. Im having a wonderful time getting around the state to meet with people and hear their thoughts and expectations for Wyomings university, says Nichols, who began her duties as president May 16. This is a crucial time for the state and UW, and input from the public is important to make sure the university fulfills its land-grant mission of education, research and service to the entire state. Nichols comes to UW from South Dakota State University, where she has served as provost and executive vice president since 2009. Before that, she was dean of the SDSU College of Education and Human Sciences from 1994 to 2008. She began her career in higher education as a member of the faculty of the University of Idaho from 1988 to 1994. Nichols was born and raised in South Dakota. A first-generation college graduate, she received a bachelors degree in education from South Dakota State in 1978. She then earned a masters degree in vocational and adult education from Colorado State University in 1984 and a Ph.D. in family and consumer sciences education from Ohio State University in 1988. Stocks sell off as the Fed meets and the Brexit fears grow. Catch The Final Round at 4 p.m. ET with Jen Rogers and markets correspondent Nicole Sinclair. Winners and losers Stocks in the red today include truck maker Navistar on a Stifel downgrade, credit card issuer Synchrony Financial tumbling on higher charge-off rates, and Kay Jewelers parent Signet, as it continues to battle allegations that its swapped premium diamonds for cheaper ones during repairs. Stocks swinging to the upside include Voip firm Vonage on a Citi upgrade, beverage maker Constellation Brands climbing despite a Zacks downgrade, and Chinese e-marketplace Alibaba as it said it expects to double transaction volume by 2020. Yahoo owns a stake in Alibaba which it intends to spin off. 'Category killer' the key to massive success? Christopher Lochhead, who co-wrote "Play Bigger: How Pirates, Dreamers and Innovators Create and Dominate the Markets," joins The Final Round to discuss why being a unicorn or a platform monopoly isn't enough. He says what startups need right now is to be a category killer. Looking ahead FILE PHOTO SHARE STAR FILE PHOTO STAR FILE PHOTO By Mike Harris of the Ventura County Star Oxnard-based Mandalay Berry Farms is closing and will lay off 565 employees. The company informed the state Employment Development Department of the pending closure in a June 1 letter as required by the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. The letter was disclosed at Tuesday's Ventura County Board of Supervisors meeting by Supervisor John Zaragoza, whose district encompasses Oxnard. The company has been in business since 1995. "This letter is to inform you that Mandalay Berry Farms ... will be permanently closing all of its operations effective the end of this current season," company President John Dullam wrote. The operations are conducted at nine ranches in Oxnard, he stated. The employees who will be losing their jobs effective July 31 are 497 harvesters/pickers, 19 harvest machine operators, 15 foremen, 15 stackers, five irrigators, five truck drivers, four forklift drivers, three punchers and two office/administration workers, according to Dullam. None of the employees are represented by unions, his letter stated. Dullam did not return a call Tuesday seeking comment. The disclosure about Mandalay follows last week's news that three other agricultural businesses in Oxnard, vegetable grower Hiji Brothers Inc., and two associated operations seedling nursery Seaview Growers and shippers Richview Inc. will be closing in early August. Together, they employ about 260 people. John Krist, CEO of the Farm Bureau of Ventura County, said he didn't know the particulars of why Mandalay is closing. "But what I can say is that the last three years have been extremely tough on strawberry growers in Ventura County," he said. "It's been a number of factors, but the bottom line is that prices have been pretty bad and berry growers have been losing money." "Part of it has been caused by an expansion of production in Baja, with varieties that overlap with our traditional market window here in Ventura County," he said. "So more fruit than usual on the market. Demand hasn't increased commensurately. Prices have fallen." Land and labor costs are considerably higher in Ventura County than they are in Baja, Krist said. "The production cost equations are so different here than in Baja," he said. "You make money growing in Baja at price levels that cause growers here to lose money." Still, strawberries remained the county's biggest crop in 2014, with a reported value of almost $628 million, according to the county's most recent annual crop report from the office of Agricultural Commissioner Henry Gonzales. Strawberries were followed by lemons, raspberries, nursery stock and celery. SHARE STAR FILE PHOTO Lemon growers are speaking out against a proposal to allow Argentina to sell its lemons in the United States. By Bartholomew Sullivan, USA TODAY WASHINGTON A bipartisan group of 18 members of Congress from citrus-growing districts Monday asked Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack to delay opening the U.S. market to Argentine lemons until economic and risk assessments can be conducted. The lawmakers, including three representing parts of Ventura County where the domestic lemon industry is centered, asked for a final rule now pending to be postponed and the comment period extended. "We are concerned that the department's proposed rule to authorize Argentine lemon imports may be finalized without a proper economic assessment and before completing an inspection for pest and disease risk in Argentina this fall, as requested by California's citrus industry," the lawmakers wrote. The full-court press follows lobbying last month on Capitol Hill by lemon growers and the U.S. Citrus Council in an effort to derail the rule. Richard Pidduck, a lemon grower from Santa Paula, told the Agriculture officials that growers are concerned that diseases already affecting Florida and Texas citrus might enter California's groves. He also said the department's assessment of the Argentine imports' economic impact was understated. The department published a proposed rule in early May that sets out a detailed production, inspection and import regimen for the Argentine exporters who have been banned from the U.S. market since 2001. The public has until July 11 to comment. The lawmakers are asking for an extension of "no less than 120 additional days." The rule as written would require stringent inspections for pests and diseases, picking lemons while they are still green and packing them within 24 hours of harvest. They would also have to be disinfected and waxed. The fruit would be imported with certificates establishing it is free of certain pests and diseases, including Huanglongbing, known as citrus greening, caused by a bacteria spread by the Asian citrus psyllid, which has been destroying the citrus crops of Florida and Texas. The lawmakers ask Vilsack to deploy technical inspectors to Argentina in the fall and to allow the California Department of Food and Agriculture and industry representatives to review their findings. They also suggest an economic analysis be undertaken pursuant to an executive order signed by President Bill Clinton in 1993 requiring review of proposed rules that would impact the economy by $100 million or more a year. The lawmakers note an industry-commissioned study estimates authorizing Argentine lemon imports could have an impact of from $183 million to $261 million. Lemon industry representatives in Washington last month said they were surprised at the suddenness of the proposed rule so soon after President Barack Obama's visit to Argentina in late March. Joel Nelson, president of the California Citrus Mutual, said the Agriculture Department's risk assessment is based on data from 2007 and should be updated before imports begin flowing. The letter was signed by Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer of California and Democratic Reps. Julia Brownley of Westlake Village; Lois Capps of Santa Barbara; Sam Farr of Carmel; Jim Costa of Fresno; Mark Takano of Riverside; Raul Ruiz of Palm Springs; and Juan Vargas of El Centro; Thomas Rooney of Florida and Ann Kirkpatrick and Raul Grijalva of Arizona. California Republicans who signed the letter are Reps. Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield, the House majority leader; David Valadao of Hanford; Ken Calvert of Corona; Devin Nunes of Visalia; Jeff Denham of Modesto; and Steve Knight of Lancaster. SHARE Hogrefe By Marjorie Hernandez of the Ventura County Star A judge said he would allow text messages retrieved from a cellphone allegedly owned by a Camarillo man facing a murder charge in the DUI death of a sheriff's deputy. Kevin Hogrefe, 26, wearing a dark suit and tie, appeared before Ventura County Superior Court Judge Matthew Guasco Tuesday for motions. Authorities said Hogrefe was under the influence and driving a vehicle that hit and killed Ventura County Sheriff's Office Deputy Yevhen "Eugene" Kostiuchenko, 41, on Oct. 28, 2014, as the officer walked back to his patrol car after an unrelated traffic stop on the shoulder of Highway 101 near Lewis Road in Camarillo. A grand jury indicted Hogrefe in December 2014 on charges of second-degree murder and felony fleeing the scene of an accident involving death. He remains free on $500,000 bail, but could receive a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted. According to court records, Hogrefe's blood-alcohol level about two hours after the crash was 0.23 percent. The legal limit is 0.08 percent. On Tuesday, Senior Deputy District Attorney Rebecca Day argued that 26 text messages retrieved from a cellphone found in Hogrefe's car contained correspondences with family and friends that showed "implied malice" and that the Camarillo man was aware of the dangers of drinking and driving. "These types of comments are not offered for the truth but offered to show the defendant's knowledge and state of mind," Day said. "They go directly to his knowledge base ... regarding the dangers of drinking and driving and the risk to human life." In one of the text messages, a friend allegedly told Hogrefe to call if he needed a ride home. The message was sent sometime before Kostiuchenko was killed, Day said. In another text, Day said Hogrefe allegedly talked about a driving under the influence incident that happened a year before the 2014 incident. Day said Hogrefe would later admit to that prior incident in an interview. Senior Deputy Public Defender Justin Tuttle said prosecutors could not authenticate whether Hogrefe actually owned the phone and said the Camarillo man did not pay for the cell services. "One of the most glaring deficiencies that was not addressed or mentioned in the people's moving papers is the phone was not paid for by my client," Tuttle said. "Simply on that basis, the people need to address that. It's essentially speculation ... and there is no physical corroboration. There were no finger prints on this phone consistent with my client's fingerprints." Tuttle also said Hogrefe's prior incident in Nevada was not a DUI, but a reckless driving charge, which Hogrefe pleaded to. Tuttle also argued one of the texts that included a discussion about "buying a sack of marijuana" would prejudice the jury against his client and "inflame their passions" if it was introduced during the trial. Day argued that text was included not for its content, but to show Hogrefe was corresponding with a friend while he was at a Camarillo bar that night in 2014. Day said the friend had offered Hogrefe a ride "if he ever needed it." Guasco said he would grant the prosecution's motion without prejudice, but on the condition that they have provided the foundation and proof the texts are authentic and accurate. Guasco said he is "keeping the door open" for objections to the texts that could come up as the trial approaches. "That doesn't mean the defendant can't present whatever credible evidence exists that these are not his texts, should that be the case," Guasco said. Guasco also said he would provide both sides with a written ruling before the end of the week that includes which of the text messages would be allow and which would be redacted. Both sides were ordered to return Aug. 8 for the defense's change-of-venue motion. Tuttle has said Hogrefe cannot get a fair trial in the county because of close ties among law enforcement. Tuttle said his client is willing to plead guilty on a determinate 15-year term, but he said the District Attorney's Office has refused to consider lesser charges. A trial date has been set for Sept. 7. SHARE Camarillo Youth can celebrate Father's Day Camarillo Hospice invites children of all ages to celebrate their fathers at the Camarillo Certified Farmers Market from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday at 2220 Ventura Blvd. Farmers Market volunteers will be on hand to help children create handmade Father's Day cards. For more information, visit www.camarillohospice.org or call 389-6870. Ojai Film Society to screen 'Rams' The Ojai Film Society will host a screening of the Icelandic film "Rams" at 5 p.m. Sunday at Matilija Auditorium, 703 El Paseo Road. General admission is $10 and $7 for seniors and students. For more information, visit www.ojaifilmsociety.org or call 646-8946. Film festival hosts art contest The Ojai Film Festival will host an art contest to promote its 17th season set for Nov. 3-13. People of all ages can enter original artwork for a chance to receive a prize package valued at more than $800. Entries should reflect the festival's theme of "Enriching the Human Spirit through Film." To enter, contestants submit artwork at www.ojaifilmfestival.com and pay a submission fee of $10 per entry. The winning artist must submit the full artwork in a layer or vector file that includes the original font. The entry deadline is at 5 p.m. June 24. Simi Valley Local musicians perform at concert Simi Valley Public Library will host a concert "California Dreamin'" from 6:30-7:30 p.m. June 23 at 2969 Tapo Canyon Road. Local musicians will perform memorable music from California artists. The concert is presented by It's a New Day. Call 526-1735 for more information. Class provides help with job search East County America's Job Center will present "The Power of CalJOBS" from 1-5 June 28 at 2900 N. Madera Road. CalJOBS is an online resource that can be used to navigate California's workforce services. Attendance is free. Participants must sign up with CalJOBS at www.caljobs.ca.gov before registering at 955-2282. SHARE Andrew Joshua Tafoya By Adam Foxman The saga of an underage girl who disappeared in 2007 and the man accused of taking her to Mexico took several new turns Thursday when he pleaded guilty and she asked the court for permission to visit him in custody, calling him her husband. Wearing a blue jail uniform with his long dreadlocks loosely pulled back as he stood inside the cage that separates inmates from the courtroom, Andrew Joshua Tafoya, 24, withdrew his previous not-guilty plea and pleaded guilty to one count of felony child stealing. Tafoya also admitted a probation violation that apparently stemmed from an earlier case in which he was charged with unlawful sex with a minor, Chioma Gray. He was later accused of taking her to Mexico. Tafoya was sent back to jail after the hearing. He is not eligible for bail. His plea was part of a deal in which he will spend no more than three years behind bars. He is set to be sentenced Jan. 23. After Tafoya entered his plea, the young woman made a statement to the court in which she identified herself as Chioma Tafoya, the defendant's wife, and asked for a protective order to be lifted so she could visit her husband and communicate with him in custody. The court complied with her request and lifted the order over the objection of the prosecution. Her mother, Francine Black, issued a four-point statement through her lawyer after the hearing, reiterating her belief that her daughter has Stockholm syndrome, which she claimed was tied to a baby boy Chioma has by Tafoya. Alleging the child was "being concealed," Black's statement also criticized the handling of the case by the FBI, the county District Attorney's Office and the county Probation Agency. "We are very disappointed with the fact that the Ventura County District Attorney's Office has failed to prosecute this crime to the fullest extent of the law," said Black's attorney, Cristina Armenta. "We believe that the marriage is not valid and was entered into as a sham to protect Tafoya from prosecution." Thursday's hearing came a little over a month after Tafoya returned from Mexico with Chioma, now 19. Before they returned, Chioma was last seen by her family on Dec. 13, 2007, when she was a 15-year-old student at Buena High School. According to witnesses, she got into a stolen car driven by Tafoya, then 20. He had been released from jail the night before after serving seven months on an unlawful-sex charge related to his relationship with Chioma when she was 14. After the trail went cold, Black at one point hired a retired assistant Oxnard police chief working as a private investigator to find her daughter. The investigator, Chick Hookstra, found where the two lived. They apparently lived at a small vacation spot where Tafoya taught snorkeling and Chioma was a waitress. The couple married in Mexico, according to their attorneys. Chioma and Tafoya returned to California from Mexico in early October. Tafoya's lawyer, Tim Quinn, said in the past that after he learned Tafoya and Chioma wanted to come home, he contacted U.S. marshals, who made it happen. Chioma's attorney, Phil Dunn, said after Thursday's hearing that his client went voluntarily to Mexico, though she was not of the age of consent at the time. Dunn said Chioma and Tafoya became committed Christians, and they decided after participating in a Bible study class that coming back and making recompense for any harm they had caused would be the right thing to do. SHARE Pastor Roger Jimenez, of Verity Baptist Church in Sacramento, said those killed in the Orlando nightclub Sunday, June 12, 2016, "deserve what they got." The video had been posted to YouTube, but it has since been removed. (Photo: USA TODAY) By Kellie McCown, USA TODAY NETWORK, KXTV-TV, Sacramento SACRAMENTO In response to the shooting at an Orlando gay nightclub early Sunday morning, a California pastor praised the massacre, stating "they deserve what they got." Forty-nine people died at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando after suspected gunman Omar Mateen, 29, of Fort Pierce, Fla., engaged in a shoot-out with police. An additional 53 people were injured. Mateen was killed by police. A recording of the sermon, given by Pastor Roger Jimenez of Verity Baptist Church in Sacramento, was posted to YouTube on Monday, the day after the tragedy. In the video, Jimenez preached to his congregation that they should not be grieving the homosexual victims of the shootings, comparing those killed to pedophiles. "Are you sad that 50 pedophiles were killed today?" asked Jimenez. "Um no. I think thats great. I think that helps society. I think Orlando, Florida, is a little safer tonight. The tragedy is that more of them didnt die. The tragedy is Im kind of upset he didnt finish the job because these people are predators. They are abusers." Initial reports said 50 people were killed at the nightclub. Law enforcement officials clarified Monday that 50 dead included the gunman. Jimenez went on to criticize the government, saying he wished homosexuals would be put in front of a firing squad. "I wish the government would round them all up, put them up against a firing wall, put the firing squad in front of them and blow their brains out," Jimenez said. Jimenez is clear to point out that the congregation should not advocate for killing gay people. "You don't mourn the death of them. They deserve what they got. You reap what you sow. But we don't advocate it either. We're not calling people to arms and if somebody goes out and says I'm going to go kill sodomites you don't listen to those people. That's not what we're saying." Jimenez did not respond to repeated requests for comment. The video has since been removed from YouTube. A note on the video says it "has been removed for violating YouTube's policy on hate speech." Follow Kellie McCown on Twitter: @kelliemccown200 Wonder what it takes to create an As Seen on TV infomercial? TV pitchwoman Taylor Baldwin joins Media Enterprises in shooting the infomercial for its next big hit, LobeMagic, at 10:30am in Fashion Mall, 3200 S Las Vegas Blvd, #600, Las Vegas, NV (in front of Dillards). Baldwin is known for her Hot Bun, Strap Perfect and Lash Full commercials as well as having starred in TVs 7th Heaven. Take a look behind-the-scenes into the production and marketing segment of the $350 billion As-Seen-on-TV industry and the launch of a never-before-seen product. CRUSH eat, drink, love at MGM Grand Hotel & Casino will participate in Fall Las Vegas Restaurant Week from Friday, August 22 to Thursday, August 28 with a specialty dinner menu to benefit Three Square Food Bank (Pictured: Grilled Salmon Photo credit: Jim Decker). The dinner menu is priced at $50.14 and will feature three courses. Guests may start with the choice of Arugula Salad with shaved fennel, radish and lemon or Scallop Crudo served with yuzu vinaigrette and red Fresno pepper. For the main entree, guests may enjoy the option of Grilled Salmon served with oyster mushroom and carrot miso broth or a Sliced NY Strip Steak topped with chimichurri vinaigrette. To end the night on a sweet note, guests may enjoy the Nutella Squeeze: an ice cream sandwich topped with chocolate whipped cream, Nutella cream and caramelized hazelnut. A young boy talks with the robot Pepper next to a nurse during a press conference at the CHR Citadel hospital centres of Liege, Belgium. (JOHN THYS/AFP) LIEGE, Belgium: His diction is still a little odd, and his movements sometimes a bit hesitant, but Pepper the robot is all geared up to help patients at two Belgian hospitals. The humanoid assistant, who has a screen on his chest and a round head, is the first robot in the world to be used to greet people in a medical setting, his software creators said. Pepper is taking up reception duties at hospitals in Ostend and Liege, where he was unveiled at the Centre Hospitalier Regional La Citadelle on Monday. Standing 140 centimetres tall and equipped with wheels under his white frame, Pepper can recognise the human voice in some 20 languages and detect if he is talking to a man, woman or child. In Liege the robot helper, who costs about 30,000 euros, will for the moment remain in the hospital's reception area. But at the AZ Damiaan hospital in Ostend, he can accompany visitors to the department they are looking for, said Raphael Tassart of Belgian firm Zora Bots which developed the software inside his robot brain. Robots like Pepper, whose components come from Asia but are assembled in France, have already been tested in Japanese shops and a few large French malls, generally carrying out retail functions. "But it's the first time that they will be used in reception," said the spokesman. Another line of smaller robots made by the same company, the 57-centimetre tall Nao, have already been deployed in some 300 hospitals and retirement or care homes around the world. In Liege and Ostend, they are used as a support tool in the paediatric and geriatric departments. Hillary Clinton The speeches Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump gave on Monday in response to the Orlando, Florida, terrorist attack laid out the key distinction in visions between the two candidates. One vision calls for doing approximately what we're doing now, with some improvements on the margins. The other vision is dystopian, urging our society to reject outsiders and arm ourselves to the teeth to protect against threats that are allegedly inherent in Islam. You don't have to like the status quo very much to prefer the former approach over the latter. Clinton's view is that America's society, institutions, and international relations are broadly working, but that they require tweaks to protect us. She says that we must make it harder for certain people to buy certain kinds of guns, spend more on certain kinds of intelligence, disrupt terrorism financing, and intensify the military campaign against ISIS. Trump's view is that everything is going to hell and that we need a radical, authoritarian shift to protect ourselves. He says that we must seek to exclude Muslims from the US and arm ourselves personally to protect against violent attack, because Americans and Muslims have a fundamental and unbridgeable difference in values. Trump indulged in fever dreams, saying that "Clinton wants to allow radical Islamic terrorists to pour into our country." Clinton is a Democrat, but as the conservative writer Matthew Continetti put it, she was speaking up for a bipartisan post-Cold War consensus on security and international relations, a consensus Trump is proposing to chuck. So the question before voters is: Do we want Trump's anti-Muslim revolution, or do we want to stay the course? For me, the answer is easy. I was horrified by Trump's speech it was the stupidest and scariest speech I've ever heard him give, which is a high bar. Trump, who has previously said that "Islam hates us," accepts the ISIS frame of a fundamental struggle between Islam and the West. Trump's choice of this frame will increase sympathy for jihad among Muslims abroad, making it easier for terrorist groups to recruit. It insults millions of Muslim citizens of the US who love their country. It surely also scares them, since Trump's words are likely to inspire anti-Muslim hatred and violence. Story continues All that said, Trump's appeal stems in part from the fact that the bipartisan post-Cold War security consensus for which Clinton speaks has had high-profile failures, including the September 11, 2001, attacks and the Iraq war. There is a strong sense among Americans that what we're doing isn't working, and that we need to do something else. I get that impulse, but here's the thing: "Something else" is not a policy. If we are to abandon the status quo, we must replace it with something specific, and what Trump is proposing is far worse than the status quo. U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump delivers a campaign speech about national security in Manchester, New Hampshire, U.S. June 13, 2016 in response to the mass shooting at Orlando's Pulse nightclub. REUTERS/Brian Snyder The specific ideas Trump advances a combination of isolationism and aggression, of vitriolic rhetoric and neglect of allies, of treating Muslims as an enemy and yet also saying that it would be OK for Saudi Arabia to have a nuclear weapon are worse than whatever we are doing right now, even if you do not like exactly what we are doing right now. Several politicians, including Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz, have framed a hostile stance toward Islam as necessary to protect the safety of LGBT Americans. It is reasonable to raise concerns about global Muslim attitudes about pluralism, and particularly about treatment of LGBT people in Muslim-majority countries, some of which sanction the death penalty as punishment for homosexuality. But those who do raise these concerns, including Trump, should note that opinion among Muslims in the US is very different than it is abroad. A 2014 Pew survey found that 45% of American Muslims think homosexuality should be accepted by society, a higher figure than for Mormons or evangelical Christians. That was up from 38% in 2007 reflecting the fact that Muslim Americans, like all the American religious groups studied by Pew, are becoming more accepting of gays over time. That is, we don't need to ask whether Islam can be compatible with a modern, pluralistic society that protects the rights and safety of LGBT people. In the US, we know that Islam is compatible enough approximately as compatible as various other major religious traditions whose compatibility with Americanism we do not routinely question. There is a reason the attacks in Orlando and San Bernardino, California, though apparently based in extreme Islamist ideology, were not supported by a local terrorist network like the attacks in Paris and Brussels. The reason is that America's Muslim minority is well-integrated, well-adjusted, and not disposed to harbor people who would harm other Americans. Lone-wolf attacks are a risk, but they are a risk mitigated by American Muslim communities, not exacerbated by them. All of which is to say that America's Muslim communities are an example of how our pluralistic society is working pretty well, not of how everything is broken. It's hard for people to be optimistic right now, but Clinton is right to take the view that we are better off with small changes than large ones, that we are better off being open to each other than identifying specific religious groups as threats, and that America has a pretty good thing going that we shouldn't just throw away for an authoritarian approach to "safety." NOW WATCH: TRUMP: Radical Islam is coming to our shores More From Business Insider Vietnamese opera: Tran Huu Trang Cai Luong Theatre artists perform. The theatre will present shows twice a month at the Oscar Hotel in downtown HCM City. Photo baodongnai.com.vn According to the theatre and Asia Media Company, the two organisers, the concerts on the 11th floor of Oscar Hotel will last two hours. Quoc Kiet, the theatres director, said in recent years cai luong concerts have faced difficulties in finding venues and audiences. It is good for us to have a venue like this. Though the stage in the hotel is not a professional place for cai luong, it is located right in the city centre. Beside Tran Huu Trangs artists, other renowned cai luong artists will be invited. Ky Yen of Asia Media, who loves the art form, said the company is spending money on the programme not for profits but in the hope audiences can discern the true value of cai luong. The hall has a capacity of only 200, and if the ticket money is not enough to cover expenses, the company would subsidise them, she added. The first show will be held on June 16 to mark the 100th day of composer Vien Chaus death. Famous cai luong artists Bach Tuyet, Kieu Phuong Loan, Giang Chau, Kim Tu Long, Phuong Loan, Trong Phuc, Ngoc Doi, Le Hong Tham, and others will perform on that day. After the event scholarships will be awarded to 15 children of poor artists. Tickets cost VND300,000 (US$13) and VND500,000 (US$23). The food is supposed to have been created by the Doan family. According to Ngo Thi Tinh, a descendant of the 4th generation of the family, the family started the business of selling "cha ca" to earn money to support the family members and to have a meeting place for the Vietnamese people who wanted to fight against French colonialism. The family food became a speciality of Hanoian people. The grilled fish must be made from a kind of fresh water fish called hemibagrus because it has very few bones and the flesh is very tasty. If hemibagrus is not available, we could make do with mudfish or snake-head fish. Some connoiseurs may request for a special kind of fish called Anh Vu, which is available only in Viet Tri city at the turning point of the Bach Hac river. Thin slices of Anh Vu fish are rolled with a kind of herb called "soi" then grilled to give an excellent flavour. To make grilled fish, thin slices of fish have to be mixed with ginger, saffron, fermented cold rice, pepper and fish sauce; then placed on bamboo skewers and grilled on a burning charcoal stove right on the dinning tables. Banking transactions are conducted at Vietcombank in Ha Noi. Local banks will have more opportunities to establish and expand their presence in international market with the onset of the ASEAN Economic Community and Trans-Pacific Partnership. - VNS Photo Truong Vi Hwa told the press meeting titled, ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and Trans-Pacific Partnership: Which way for Vietnamese banks' held in Ha Noi last week that with increased capital flow into the country, the solvency of the Vietnamese banking sector had been set to help banks utilise more abundant capital with lower costs. "A wider spectrum of products are being offered by local banks to cater to more sophisticated needs of the global client. This helps boost the competitiveness of Vietnamese banks," he said. However, the AEC and TPP would also put up bigger challenges for local banks. He said most of the Vietnamese banks were faced with funding difficulties. They should be technologically strong to have access to the development of other countries in the region. Hwa suggested merger and acquisitions as one of the solutions for banks in the digitalisation process as several local banks had encountered the problems of bad debts and modest scales. He noted that small banks could implement digitalisation successfully thanks to cheap solutions from start-ups. The wave of fintech in recent years has made investments in technology and has not been too expensive, he said. Hwa also said that Viet Nam's Government should consider unlimited room for foreign investors. The penetration of foreign banks would also open opportunities for Vietnamese banks to approach modern, cutting edge technology, dedicated expertise and state-of-the-art banking practices. "The issue is how to open the banking market to foreign investors while balancing the benefits. Viet Nam could step-by-step lose their room," he said, and added that the Government should complete the capital market. The role of the capital market in Viet Nam has seen limitations. The funding for the economy has still depended on bank loans. If there is no foreign investment, local banks could find it hard to resolve several targets. Sharing these ideas, Nguyen Thuy Duong, EY Viet Nam Finance & Banking Service deputy director said there would be a risk of brain drain when the highly skilled, English proficient world force of Viet Nam could move to other more developed countries such as Singapore and Malaysia. "Presence of more foreign banks will make competition among banks in Viet Nam more severe, especially when foreign banks possess more advantages of cutting edge technology, abundant capital base and other competitive edges compared to domestic banks," Duong said. She said Vietnamese banks had to meet the requirement on capital, management capacity among others. This would create pressure on domestic banks to enhance their capacities in order to achieve standards to meet with qualified ASEAN bank status. She suggested that banks should be active in enhancing risk management, seeking new capital resources and providing training to staff. "Local banks should quickly move to implement common standards on risk management when the country is integrating deeper into the international playground. Vietnamese banks could find it hard to meet with Basel II standards this year. However, Viet Nam has completed the legal framework with specific regulations toward the standard," she added. Agricultural products being processed at Nam Huy Dong Thap Company in southern Dong Thap Province. A law on extending support to SMEs company is being drafted.- Photo Vu Sinh It is part of the Government's determined efforts to promote the development of the business community and double the number of firms to one million by 2020. The planning and investment ministry will submit the draft law to the Government next month and to the second meeting of the 14th National Assembly (NA) for discussion. This will be the first time support for SMEs is legalised in order to provide a comprehensive approach. SME's account for 97 per cent of businesses in Viet Nam, contribute more than 40 per cent to the gross domestic product (GDP) and generate 52 per cent of jobs. Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Dang Huy Dong said Vietnamese SMEs were facing several difficulties in loan, land and technology access and market expansion, partly explaining the private sector's modest competitiveness and vulnerability to policy and social vagaries, said Dong. Dong said support policies for SMEs were currently provided by various legal documents, with a majority of them being support for businesses in general, placing SMEs at a disadvantage compared to large firms. The ministry's statistics reveal that as of the end of 2015, the outstanding loans of SMEs accounted for just 23 per cent of the total outstanding loans, although they make up 97 per cent of the business community. Dong said legalising support for SMEs was not a subsidy, adding that all forms of support would be compliant with international commitments. At a three-day consultation conference held by the ministry in HCM City that ended last Saturday, Deputy Head of HCM City's NA Deputy Delegation Tran Du Lich said the draft should turn a spotlight on the strategic significance of SME development in the country's industrialisation process, adding that SME development support would promote social progress and equity. Experts at the conference said the draft should define the roles of local authorities in giving assistance to businesses, as seen in other countries. Business associations also agreed to set up a national SME development council.Vice Chairman and General Secretary of the Vietnam Association of Small and Medium Enterprises To Hoai Nam suggested that the Government should lay out the details of the council's functions, missions and organisational structure. Experts also said support for business households that played an important role in the economy should also be considered. While State-owned enterprises (SOEs) were undergoing a thorny restructuring process, Viet Nam has recognised the private sector, mainly comprising SMEs, as an important driver of the nation's economic development. Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue said at the first-ever Viet Nam private economic forum that the Government would improve the business climate to enhance national competitiveness and ensure a level playing ground for businesses. Businesses imported 7.5 million tons of steel in the first four months of this year, up 48% against last years same period, according to a statement issued on June 12 by the Vietnam Steel Association (VSA). Chinese businesses accounted nearly 60% of the total imported volume, said the VSA. A huge volume of steel ingots and finished steel products were imported into Vietnam in spite of the imposition of temporary safeguard duties of 23.3% on steel ingots and 14.2% on finished steel products during the four-month period. This spike in imports was largely attributed to high demand by the steel industry for semi-finished steel products, including hot-rolled steel, which Vietnam is as yet unable to produce. Consequently, businesses across the country are forced to procure eight to nine million tons of hot-rolled steel annually from overseas sources to meet their needs for production, said the VSA. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks in Manchester, New Hampshire. (AFP/Timothy A. Clary) MANCHESTER: The Orlando massacre has exposed some of the sharpest contrasts yet between America's presidential rivals, with Hillary Clinton on Monday (Jun 13) warning against demagoguery and rival Donald Trump declaring prospective immigrants from some nations persona non grata. Instead of unifying a politically divided nation, the worst terror attack in the United States since Sep 11, 2001 has widened the gap between the White House contenders over how to tackle extremism and keep Americans safe. Both candidates used their speeches in the wake of the shooting to enhance their commander-in-chief credibility, in starkly different tones. Presumptive Republican nominee Trump ratcheted up his pointed rhetoric, blasting Clinton for seeking to "allow radical Islamic terrorists to pour into our country" and suggesting the former secretary of state "has no clue" about radical Islam. "When I'm elected, I will suspend immigration from areas of the world where there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe or our allies, until we fully understand how to end these threats," Trump said during a highly-anticipated national security speech in New Hampshire. "We cannot continue to allow thousands upon thousands of people to pour into our country, many of whom have the same thought process as this savage killer," he said, referring to the Orlando gunman, whom US authorised suspect was radicalised by Islamist propaganda. The provocative billionaire again called for a halt to Syrian refugees entering the United States and warned there are people living in America with "hate in their heart." In an exchange with Fox News, Trump said President Barack Obama "doesn't get it" when it comes to the extremist threat, a comment that drew curt reaction from the White House. "When you are focused on something as big as helping the country respond to the worst mass shooting in our nation's history ... and combating violent extremism, it's important not to get distracted by things that are so small," White House spokesman Joshua Earnest said. 'METASTASIZING THREAT Trump heaped criticism on his rival. "The burden is on Hillary Clinton to tell us why she believes immigration from these dangerous countries should be increased without any effective system" of screening, Trump said. "She wants to take away Americans' guns and then admit the very people who want to slaughter us." Clinton made no mention of Trump in her speech, instead urging Americans to reject political partisanship and "stand together" to defeat terrorism. "The Orlando terrorist may be dead, but the virus that poisoned his mind remains very much alive and we must attack it with clear eyes, steady hands, unwavering determination and pride in our country and our values," she said. "The threat is metastasizing." While Clinton zeroed in on fighting Islamic State extremism and the need to rein in American gun violence, Trump seized on how Muslims may be protecting their own. "We have to get the people that surround these maniacs to start talking," he told ABC. Trump's argument followed his accusations that neighbors and relatives of the San Bernardino attackers who slaughtered 14 people in December knew the couple had been radicalised but did not alert authorities. Clinton for her part recognized the need to track so-called lone wolves and prevent them from launching attacks, and reiterated her call for reinstatement of an assault weapons ban, saying Orlando shooter Omar Mateen used a "weapon of war" to kill 49 people. But she stressed that "inflammatory anti-Muslim rhetoric" and bans based on religious affiliation would only hurt the vast majority of Muslims who abhor terrorism. She warned that demagoguery would not end terrorism. "I'm not going to demonise and demagogue and declare war on an entire religion," Clinton said. But she did demand that other governments reconsider policies that allow extremism to thrive, calling out three US allies. "It is long past time for the Saudis, the Qataris and the Kuwaitis and others to stop their citizens from funding extremist organisations," Clinton warned, urging them to stop supporting "radical schools and mosques" that promote extremism. Trump expressed strong support for America's gay community, following Sunday's attack on the gay nightclub. "It's an assault on the ability of free people to live their lives, love who they want and express their identity," he said. "It's a strike at the heart and soul of who we are as a nation." remaining of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. In November last year, Long Thon was sitting in her village with her neighbors talking about their farms, which have been severely affected by the recent drought the worst in Cambodia for several decades. She has suspended working on her rice field in Kandal province since November last year due to the drought. On Friday last week Thon was taking a nap, exhausted by the heat. She said she was happy because it was raining on Wednesday night. She said it was the first rain since November last year. During the rainy season last year Thon, whose family lives in Ponhea Leu district, Vihear Luong commune, which is about 40 kilometers from Phnom Penh, could not farm given that there was not enough water. Her family, which used to live off the three acres of land she farms, now has to rely on her daughters, who are garment workers. There has been no rain, since you came to interview me [last year] till now that you returned, she said, adding that she spends about $8 each week on water, a large sum for a family used to living off the land. Thons story is not unique. Millions of Cambodians rely on the rains to feed their farms and use for the daily running of their households. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, three-quarters of Cambodians still rely on farming for their main source of income. We need water for drinking, laundry and also to wash ourselves, she said. Everyone is like everyone else. Vegetable and trees are dying [because there is no water], there is nothing left, she said. In Kampong Thom province about 70 tons of fish died in the Tonle Chhmar river in April due to the hot weather and drought, according to the Stoung district governor, Prim Rotha. In Battambang province, about 30 black monkeys died because they did not have enough water, food and shelter after they managed to escape a fire the month before, according to a community representative. Some scientists have blamed the El Nino phenomenon for the heat wave and drought. In Southeast Asia this heat wave joins the historical ones of 1960, 1983 and 1998, but as for duration, intensity and affected area it is definitely the strongest heat wave for Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, Maximiliano Herrera, a prominent climatologist who investigates world temperature records, told VOA. The government has taken some steps to address the crisis, including instructing schools to shorten the teaching day by one hour and by telling local authorities to dig wells and mobile water facilities for villagers. Keo Vy, cabinet director at the National Committee for Disaster Management, said that this year Cambodia was likely to experience heavy drought until July. Though the metrology shows that there could be some rain, there wont be standing water because of the hot whether the rain will be absorbed [by the soil], so there wont be standing water, he said. In 2004 we experienced drought in 21 provinces, but the situation was not as bad as it is now... people are deprived of water because there is no water in the wells as the water is dried out, he said. Trean Chung, 29, a farmer in Tbong Khmums Dambe district, said many farmers in the area had dug wells but were unable to draw water from them since the start of the drought. Many people do not have water. Some of those who raise pigs need a lot of water per day, said Chung. We did not have water for three months. Those people, who do not have access to water, have kept buying water for three months already, he said. For farmers like me, we are waiting for rain to come, so we could plant cassava. If there is no rain, we will have to wait, he added. I do not have another job. I rely wholly on farming. Tek Vannara, director of the NGO Forum, told VOA that the development of heavy industry, deforestation and large-scale development projects were partly to blame. For the long term people could collect and store the rain for the coming year as much as they could, so they could use the water when they are short of water, he said, adding that he would encourage people to have more ponds and canals around their houses to store water. For the government and local authority, they should set a clear plan to restore canals, dams, and irrigation, in order to store water to use in the dry season, he said. Vannara added that the government had to provide people new seeds that could stand the heat, and provide technical and other agriculture materials to them to mitigate the situation. He insisted that the government should plant more trees and protect the last remaining forests. Keo Vy acknowledged that the Cambodian government could not stop climate change from happening, so helping people to adapt to this dilemma is a must. We cannot solve the problem from climate change. But we could have our people adjust to climate change, he said. We could change from growing heavy rice to light rice as experts with the Ministry of Agriculture advise us. We call it adjusting to climate change, so that the farmer could adapt to climate change without jeopardizing their crops, he said. Nget Lat, chief of Vihear Luong communes Ampil Paem village, said that the price of digging wells was prohibitively expensive for most farming communities. The well cost depends on the size. One kind of well costs more than $200 and another kind costs more than $1,000. They [villagers] could not afford that. Since her first debut with a memoir in 2009, Cambodia-born author Sambath Meas was determined to break into the literature scene in the United States. Her passion for writing was nurtured from a young age by her mothers love for novels, Meas says. I love reading novels. My desire to write was shaped by reading enriched European literature when I spent one semester in Rome, Italy, she said in a recent interview. Meas also believes her mothers love for reading had a tremendous influence on her passion for writing today. While my mother was carrying me, she read many Khmer novels. She even named me after a female character from her most favorite novel. Meas has been prolific in her writing and has not felt restricted to a particular genre, producing titles that include murder, mystery, fantasy and science fiction writing. This year she published a short mystery novel, The Governors Daughter: The Scribes of Brahmadhan, and continues to work on what will be her first science fiction piece, Rise of the Eugenicists, as well as a book aimed at young adults titled Tommys Mind Palace. The Governors Daughter, set during the French protectorate in Cambodia, is a murder mystery centered on the teenage daughter of a Khmer detective. The detective is tasked with investigating the rape and murder of her friend, Esme Laurent, the daughter of the governor of Siem Reap. This novel reflects my love of the countrys ways of life during the time when there were many educated [people] and a literate population, before the country fell under the Khmer Rouge, Meas says. In fact, I wrote this novel in a way as a short series linking them to my larger debut science-based fiction novel, Rise of Eugenicists. Rise of the Eugenicists centers on three characters who hold the keys to unlocking the mystery of the multiverse and save humanity from self-destruction, she says. Meas 2009 debut, The Immortal Seeds: Life goes on for a Khmer family, tells the true story of her familys experience surviving the Khmer Rouge atrocities between 1975 and 1979. Meas and her family escaped the Khmer Rouge genocide and were accepted as refugees in Chicago, Illinois in 1981 after spending two years in refugee camps in Thailand. She has been working as a paralegal for 17 years and earned a degree in political science at Loyola University of Chicago in 1999. Due to the nature of her paralegal work, she only began writing in 2002, despite knowing she had a burning desire to write for many years. I found myself working crazy hours at Greenberg Traurig, LLP. As a result of my busy schedule, I could only find time to write and study on the train. Meas enrolled at Northwestern University of Chicago in 2010 to do a masters degree in creative nonfiction, and is hopeful to finish the program this year despite facing financial challenges. Meanwhile, I am pouncing away in the hope that one of my books will become successful and that I can use the royalties to finish up my three classes and earn my masters degree, she said. She also hopes her fiction work can inspire young writers-in-the-making to cultivate their imagination and put pen to paper. Archaeologists in Cambodia have found previously undocumented cities near the ancient temple city of Angkor Wat. The unprecedented discoveries could drastically alter the way ancient Southeast Asian history is viewed. The Australian archaeologist who published the findings on Monday announced that cutting-edge airborne laser scanning technology revealed multiple underground cities of up to 1,400 years old, which are approximately the size of modern-day Phnom Penh. Officials in Cambodia hailed the discovery on Tuesday. Damian Evans, the academic who published the research and worked in partnership with the Apsara Authority and Ministry of Culture, was quoted in the media as saying that one of the ancient sites discovered, named Mahendraparvata, is regarded as the Angkorian Empires first capital, complete with an extensive road and irrigation network. The site was discovered at Kulen Mountain in Siem Reap province. Long Kosal, spokesman for the Apsara Authority, said the use of airborne laser-scanning technology called Lidar had been ongoing since 2012. The evolution of the cities, the structure of the living space at that time they were enormous compared with what we previously thought, he said. Lidar gave us new discoveries, showing us Cambodian history at that time, the Khmer Empire. He added that only last year had the scope of the research been expanded to almost 2,000 square kilometers in Siem Reap, prompting the recent discoveries. So the Lidar technology gave us leads to do further research about Cambodias history, or a new history of Cambodia, perhaps particularly related to Khmer civilization, and the people living at that time the most prosperous era of Cambodia, Kosal said. Prak Sunnara, director general at the heritage department of the Ministry of Culture, said the new technology had proved extremely convenient as it meant that archaeology teams no longer needed to spend months conducting painstaking excavations that often bore little fruit. Therefore, the scanning data gives us the exact shape of the areas, which is convenient for us, he said, adding that the government was using the Lidar data to apply for World Heritage status for Kampong Thom provinces Sambo Prey Kok temple. Sambo Mannara, a history professor at the Royal University of Phnom Penh, told VOA that the discovery of Mahendraparvata was a reminder of the once-prosperous Hindu civilization that flourished in the region. As a historian, Im proud off the successful discovery off this city, which is about the same size as Phnom Penh. I would like to thank and express my gratitude to those who worked hard to discover this priceless civilization of Cambodian history. I hope the government and researchers will keep on the task to reveal further the history of the city from the 9th century, he said. Evans told the Cambodia Daily that Mahandraparvata, like the city of Angkor and other newly-found large cities, were abandoned by Khmer kings in the late 15th century due to political turmoil. However, Kosal said that there was no clear evidence of what fate had befallen the ancient kingdoms. We need to conduct some excavation or examine the place with our officials to make sure it is different from the data we obtained, he said. Protests were held in the United States, Canada, France and Australia over the weekend to demand the release of Cambodian human rights defenders and opposition members. Holding banners bearing photos of detained human rights defenders, environmental activists, and opposition officials and activists, protesters in Washington, DC called for U.S. intervention and for their immediate and unconditional release. We see that the current political situation has been changed, said Touch Vibol, president of the Cambodian American Alliance. This means that the culture of dialogue between the two leaders has failed. This is why we have to come to protest today against arrests we are protesting here today to show that there is not enough freedom and full respect for human rights in Cambodia. If their demands are not met, protesters have called for economic and diplomatic sanctions on the Hun Sen government, especially on senior officials with business interests. Four human rights defenders Ni Sokha, Nay Vongda, Yi Soksan, and Lim Mony and election official Ny Chakrya have been jailed for allegedly bribing a witness in a sex scandal case involving opposition leader Kem Sokha. More than 10 opposition activists and officials have been jailed on charges related to a violent protest and the supposed forgery of maps of the Cambodia-Vietnam border. Two U.S. citizens, Meach Sovannara and Um Sam An, are among those detained. Sorakphy Ou, a protester from Minnesota and a former education official, said she came to protest against repression because people are now living in fear despite some economic progress in the country. Economic growth is what we can see with our own eyes, but people hide their real feeling of pain, said Sophyrak Ou. They are superficially happy, but deep down they suffer mentally. Mary N. Uy, travelled all the way to Washington, D.C., to attend the protest to make sure that her voice is heard despite the fact people in her own state of Massachusetts also held a protest there. Mary sees that apart from restricting liberty, Cambodias economic growth has been made at the expense of forest resources. We see some changes, but forests and islands are all gone, she said. Protests took place simultaneously in Massachusetts, Washington State, California, and Canada last Friday. Navan Cheth, a protest organizer in Long Beach, CA, said the US should intervene more, otherwise there will not be a peaceful transfer of power if the opposition wins the election in 2018. Im very worried because the opposition party does not have any weapons, Cheth told VOA Khmer by phone from Long Beach. Hun Sens party has weapons. The protest in Canada drew several hundred participants. We are asking Canada, who was a signatory country to the Paris Peace Agreement on 23 October 1991, to put pressure on Cambodian government to respect the agreement, Sothi Kang, a protester, told VOA Khmer by phone. The government must release all activists without conditions. This includes land activists, environmental activists, political party activists, human rights defenders, and an election official. Protesters also urged the U.S. to create a so-called Cambodia Contact Group, with the participation of the U.S., the United Kingdom, France, Australia, Japan, and Indonesia. The team would work to ensure that there will be a free and fair elections and a peaceful transfer of power if the opposition was successful. U.S. Congressman Alan Lowenthal (D-CA 47th District) said the political situation in Cambodia was not favorable for the opposition, pointing to opposition leader Sam Rainsys decision to enter self-imposed exile and ongoing court cases against his deputy, Kem Sokha. This current political environment of fear and intimidation, which has been created by the Hun Sen government, offers little hope for fair elections in 2017 and 2018, Alan Lowenthal told the crowd in front of the US Capitol. Congressman Lowenthal and Congressman Matt Salmon last month introduced a House resolution calling for human rights, democracy, and the rule of law in Cambodia. A spokesman for the Cambodian government, Phay Siphan, dismissed the protests as nothing but an attempt to manipulate it for power and gain for their party. They take this as a springboard for political gain and then destroy peace and progress, he added. Only those who live in the past prefer the U.S. to take action on Cambodia. This is a shame. Less than a month after King Norodom Sihamoni signed the controversial Trade Union Law into force, dispute continues to rage between critics of the legislation who say it is bad for the countrys poorly-paid workers, and supporters who believe the law is necessary for business growth. Lawmakers from Prime Minister Hun Sens ruling Cambodian Peoples Party hurriedly adopted the law in April despite concerns expressed by the International Labor Organization (ILO) that provisions in the legislation could violate workers rights. Opposition lawmakers boycotted the vote while union leaders who had gathered to protest outside the National Assembly compound were dragged away and punched by district security forces. Independent unions and employers remain as divided as ever. How can a factory with 25 unions survive? asked Van Sou Ieng, chairman of the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC), adding that it was incomprehensible to expect an employer to negotiate a dispute with 25 different union leaders. A law was necessary to rein in the countrys unions, Van Sou Ieng said. According to GMAC, last year there were 3,166 unions for the more than 500,000 workers employed in the countrys 557 garment and textile exporting factories, and 58 footwear factories. Though garment production is already Cambodias largest industry, which accounts for 26.2 percent of the countrys Gross Domestic Product, Van Sou Ieng said without the trade union law, foreign investors will not come to do business. Only with the trade union law will we, employers, be able to survive. not only Cambodia, every country has trade union law. Those who criticize [the law] should do businesses, and [then] they will understand. The first draft of the Trade Union Law was completed in 2008 and passed through numerous consultative meetings involving government officials, employers and employee representatives. From the beginning, the proposed law fueled frequent protests from workers and unions, who said it restricted freedom of association as guaranteed under the Cambodian Constitution, and subjected unions to undue government control. Critics also claimed the law was not in accordance with UN human rights covenants and ILO conventions on workers rights and to which Cambodia is a signatory. While Article 5 of the union law says that workers and employers shall enjoy the right to form and join professional organizations of their choice, the law demands excessively high requirements for union registrations, and restricts union autonomy and activities, said Am Sam Ath, senior investigator at the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights. The law also restricts who can be selected as a union leader. Anyone prosecuted by the court cannot become a leader of a union, said Am Sam Ath, noting that a number of independent union leaders have been prosecuted in unfair trials that were politically motivated. They would be effectively ruled out of senior positions in unions by the law. The law also gives the Ministry of Labor excessive control over union operations, allowing the ministry to audit a unions finances and international financial support. Even more worrying, Article 15 in the law gives the Ministry of Labor extraordinary discretion to implement additional procedures - through directives known as Prakas - that allows the ministry to unilaterally decide whether or not to authorize a union registration request. Article 13 of the law also requires a union to collect supports from at least 50 percent plus 1 of its members in order to satisfy the meeting quorum to decide on whether to strike or not. With factories and workers spread over a large area and poor communications infrastructure, the logistics of such a task would be considerable. Such a requirement to qualify for strike action is impossible and impractical, said Moeun Tola, executive director of the Center for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights. In a democratic society, one person can (decide to) go on strike, said Moeun Tola. How can unions like the Free Trade Union of Chea Mony, with a hundred thousand members, obtain consent from fifty thousand members in order to go on strike? After ruling-party lawmakers adopted the union law in April, the ILO said its influential Committee on Freedom of Association in Geneva would meet regularly to assess if the new legislation complies with international conventions ratified by Cambodia. The ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) group was more forthright, saying the passage of the law was a step backward for workers rights and violates international labor and human rights standards. Employer organizations in Cambodia disagree. Describing the high-level criticism of the union law as unfair and unwarranted, Sandra DAmico, vice president of the Cambodian Federation of Employers and Business Association (CAMFEBA), said curbs on unions were necessary for business. DAmico was part of the CAMFEBA team that issued a policy paper last year calling the union law a necessity for industrial peace and economic growth, sustainability and diversification. Regardless of the concerns expressed by the ILO, APHR and others, DAmico believes the union law is in line with international labor and human rights conventions. Implementation of international conventions is implemented differently in every country around the world. If the world [was] perfect, we would have one law and one way of implementing things, DAmico said. The law is actually very good in the context of Cambodia in terms of industrial relation development, in terms of economic development. I am very positive about the law, she said. Moeun Tola, of the Center for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights, said the ruling party passed the law without proper debate and consultation with those who will be most affected. The law, he said, should be suspended until after proper discussion to address the concerns of its many critics from ordinary union members in garment factories to the ILO committee in Geneva. If necessary, we can make amendment to the law. The Cambodian community in Virginia, a state bordering on the United States capital, consists of just a few thousand residents. But Khmer-Americans here are active in exercising their democratic rights to elect U.S. leaders, and often wield influence among the Cambodian diaspora in other states. Most voters in the state who spoke to VOA Khmer said they would not be casting their votes in the November presidential election based on allegiance to a party. Instead, they are concerned about the pressing issues for their communityright now that means the economy, healthcare and education, and foreign policy. Rany Lushinski, 55, of Ashburn, VA, who works in the accounts department of a shipping firm, said she wants to vote for a candidate who doesnt have an aggressive foreign policy, has sound economic plans, andmost importantlywill lower college tuition fees. I see that tuition fees at colleges in the U.S. nowadays are very expensive, Lushinski told VOA Khmer. I believe that a country can progress when people are better educated and highly competent through study in schools. If the tuition fee is too high and people cannot afford it, their competency is also weak. Lushinski used to be a republican, but has switched to the Democratic party. The Democrats are set to pick former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as their nominee, while the property tycoon Donald Trump is the Republican partys presumptive nominee. I dont stick to one party, she added. I look for a competent candidate with good manners. Then, Ill vote for the candidate. I dont stick to one party because Im a member of, say, the Republican party and have to vote for Republican forever, even if their policy is not good. Im not like that. Vibol Tan, 58, a former engineer who lives in the town of Clifton, said he had also changed his allegiance in the past, and now considers himself an independent. We dont focus on only one party, said Tan. We look at the main priority for people in the country and if the unemployment rate is high, we will elect a leader who can create jobs. If the health sector is not good, well look for a party that will spend the money on improving that area. The same principle applies to Yap Kimtung, president of the group Cambodian Americans for Human Rights and Democracy. I look at the characteristics of the candidate, too, and I dont vote for only one party, said Kimtung. On the other hand, I dont want to see one party holding power for too long because once their power puts roots too deep, the leader and their cronies would do bad things. Kimtung appreciated the freewheeling nature of the U.S. election cycle, especially Trumps outspoken campaigning, he said. Its marvelous that in this country each candidate enjoys so much freedom that they even use it to criticize their own party, but still dont have an issue with it, he added. Primary election results in Virginia reflect the enthusiasm of voters in the state, and have tended to match the outcome of elections nationwide. In 2008, for example, few voters came out for the Republican primary, but the state voted for Barack Obamawho would go on to win the presidencyin the Democratic primary. The state has in fact elected the overall winner in all presidential elections since 2000. This year, more Republicans (more than 1 million) than Democrats (fewer than 800,000) voted in the states primaries, in which Trump and Clinton were the respective winners. For Cambodian-Americans, there is also the matter of their home countrys politics to think about. [The communitys] interest in Cambodia is surely bigger than in the U.S., because we have everything we need in the U.S., said Prom Saonora, the honorary president of the Cambodian American Alliance (CAA). We have freedom. We have money. We dont lack anything, even healthcare. Therefore, the most important thing is to protect the interests and freedom of the people in Cambodia. The CAA has recently been active in lobbying the U.S. Congress to support Cambodian causes, such as the recent creation of a bi-partisan Congressional Cambodia Caucus. The group is now urging the U.S. to create a Cambodia Contact Group to push for free and fair elections and a peaceful transfer of power if the ruling loses in 2018. Saonora said he would vote for Trump, brushing aside criticism of the Republican candidates controversial stances on immigration. Perhaps surprisingly, since Trump has not spoken publicly about the country, he believes the candidate would pay more attention to Cambodia than his opponent, due to his aggressive foreign policy. Mr. Donald Trump has his own way of speaking because he is a businessman, so his style is just like that, Saonora said. Business people are decisive, but there is no point at which they dont make a change to their plan. If they find it beneficial to them, theyll surely change it. Just hours after the deadliest mass slaying in American history, the owner of a Los Angeles-based satellite TV channel broadcasting to the Afghan diaspora took the unusual step of sitting in on a family show to talk about the tragedy. Since authorities identified the gunman in the Orlando shooting as Afghan-American Omar Mateen, Omar Khatabs phone had been ringing off the hook with calls from anxious Afghan-Americans. The show is about family issues, but I decided to join the host to address our communitys concerns, said Khatab, owner of Payam-e-Afghan TV. I wanted to appease the Afghan community because everyone was shocked and sad. Khatab and show host Temorshah Hassan fielded calls from Afghan-Americans who worried about how the biggest terror attack since 9/11 might affect their community. There were expressions of revulsion at what happened and sympathy expressed for the victims and their families. But one theme kept coming up: the fear that although Mateen was born and raised in the U.S., his Afghan heritage might inflame passions against the Afghan-American community. There was concern that somehow the tragic situation that happened by an Afghan would tarnish the name of Afghans, and the Afghan community would be affected, Khatab said in an interview with VOA. The whole media is focused on these issues and ask, Why are these Afghans terrorists? Sundays shooting marked the second time an Afghan-American has been implicated in a domestic act of terrorism or conspiracy to commit terror. Najibullah Zazi was arrested in 2009 for plotting to bomb the New York subway. Shooter's father Khatab's 24/7 channel airs an eclectic lineup of talk shows with a colorful roster of hosts. Among them was the Orlando shooter's father, Seddique Mateen, who from 2012 to 2015 hosted a talk show devoted to the century-old controversy over the Afghanistan-Pakistan border known as the Durand Line. Although seen as an eccentric character, the elder Mateen was not known as pro-Taliban, several Afghan-Americans interviewed by VOA said. He never had pro-Taliban views, Khatab said. If anything, he was against the Taliban because he knew Pakistan is behind the Taliban and motivated the Taliban to commit crimes in Afghanistan. In a video statement on his Facebook page Monday, Seddique Mateen called his son a very good and educated boy and said he was extremely saddened by the shooting. I did not know that he had a grudge in his heart, Mateen said of his son, 29, who was born and raised in New York City before moving to Florida, where he worked as a security guard. "Why hed do such a thing during the holy month of Ramadan, I dont know." 'Individual act' While condemning the massacre, Afghan-American community leaders sought to distance themselves from the shooter. This was an individual act that does not represent Afghan culture and Islamic laws, said Hamid Nawid, a prominent Afghan-American artist and poet in Virginia. Nawid said some politicians and media will want to capitalize on the tragedy and "turn it into Afghano-phobia, but this kind of thing will fade away as they realize that 99 percent of Afghan-Americans are decent, honest, hardworking citizens and that one individual can never represent the whole community. Zalmay Khalilzad, a prominent Afghan-American and former U.S. envoy to Afghanistan, Iraq and the U.N., condemned the terror attack. Many Afghan-Americans have contacted me to express their deep outrage over this cowardly act, he wrote on his Twitter page shortly after the shooting. Still, there was concern about a public backlash. What happened can affect the Afghan-American community in Florida and throughout the United States, and can become a source of concern," Florida-based Afghan-American Nematullah Illahi told VOA's Afghan service. Global reactions Around the world, Afghans' reaction to the Orlando killings were mixed. In an interview with VOAs Ashna TV, former Afghan President Hamid Karzai emphatically said that no Afghan, no Muslim would condone the violence that shook Orlando on Sunday morning. This is utterly condemnable, Karzai said. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, the CEO of Afghanistans national unity government, were among the first world leaders to issue statements condemning the attack. Others, however, took a completely different path online and celebrated the shooter. I hope for a day when U.S. and Britain fall in the same level of blood and dust that Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon are [in], wrote Feroz Sherzy on VOA Dari's Facebook page. Another user, Mahmoodullah Hamid, who described himself as a health worker for the Agha Khan Foundation in northeastern Afghanistan, wrote in broken English, verry brave mane. action is great. Of more than 500 comments users wrote under two entries on VOA Ashna TV's Facebook page, at least 60 percent were sympathetic to the attacker and his crime. Some incendiary comments even received multiple likes. "Comments of these nature point to the probability of a distorted mentality and a psychology already impacted by violence, said Mosadeq Nademee, an Afghan psychiatrist and social media activist based in the Czech Republic. Afghans have been deeply exposed to violence for almost 40 years, and this has impacted the way some people look at violence elsewhere. Nademee added that Afghans in general have very negative views of homosexuality. A Pakistan army officer and two Afghan soldiers have died, while at least 30 people were wounded on both sides in this weeks cross-border skirmishes, officials said. The situation at the busy Torkham border crossing remained tense, and the main gate there was still closed for a third day on Tuesday, leaving thousands of travelers stranded on both sides. In an overnight action, the Pakistani military was said to have moved heavy weaponry, including tanks, and deployed additional troops to the border, raising fears of more fighting. Afghan commanders confirmed beefing up security on their side of the frontier by deploying reinforcements. Pakistani officials said Tuesday an army major, Ali Jawad Khan, who was injured in the clashes the day before had died of his wounds. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif paid tribute to Khan, saying he became a "victim of aggression" on the border and "sacrificed his life in defense of his country." Authorities said the fighting has so far wounded at least 11 Pakistanis, mostly civilians, and forced scores of families to flee to safer areas. Afghan officials say two of their soldiers have been killed and at least 18 other people have been wounded since the clashes broke out on Sunday. Trading blame Afghanistan and Pakistan blame each other for starting the conflict. Islamabad says its border forces were constructing a gate on their own side to effectively deter terrorist and other illegal movements when Afghan security forces resorted to unprovoked cross-border firing. The Afghan government defended the action saying no new construction could be undertaken at the border without mutual consent. Speaking to VOA from Kabul, deputy presidential spokesman Dawa Khan Menapal reiterated his government is seeking resolution of the dispute through diplomatic means. However, he said the defense of the people of Afghanistan and its territory is the responsibility of the government. Afghanistan and Pakistan share a more than 2,500-kilometer long porous and disputed border, called the Durand Line. Kabul has blocked repeated demarcation attempts by Islamabad, rejecting the contours of the boundary that was drawn by former British rulers of the Indian subcontinent. 2000 - 2022 24 .- . focus-news.net, () . 24 . 24 . . 24 . Roland Margai Keller fled his native Liberia in 1996, as civil war was sputtering to an end, making his way through Ivory Coast and Nigeria before ending up in Libya. But when Libyas conflict erupted in 2011, he found himself running once again, joining a surge of people crossing the border into Tunisia and finding shelter at a desert refugee camp. Now, Keller is again adrift. Three years ago, the U.N. Refugee Agency closed the camp that once sheltered up to 18,000 daily, as Libyas initial crisis wound down. Some were granted refugee status; many others were repatriated. But Keller and several dozen other African men have gone nowhere. They did not qualify for asylum and they refuse to go home. So they remain in limbo in the Tunisian desert, roughly 10 kilometers from the Libyan border, where scraps of blown garbage and their frayed homes serve as the only reminders of Choucha refugee camp. We need a solution, but we get a deaf ear, Keller says. We stay here waiting for the United Nations for solutions. Not legal refugees UNHCR Senior Protection Officer for Tunisia Nabil Benbekhti says the Africans failed to meet refugee status. They now fall under the responsibility of Tunisias government. These people were offered the possibility in 2013 to be repatriated, Benbekhti says, so now they are in the position of foreigners on Tunisias territory. Even buried deep in the desert, Chouchas migrants have managed to keep their cause alive, fed by the occasional media report and sympathetic activists. There is a website dedicated to them, along with a recently released French-speaking documentary. Last fall, a Paris museum also hosted a photo exhibit of the camp. If nothing else, Choucha captures the broader, frustrated hopes of migrants escaping poverty or unrest who have failed in their dreams to reach Europe and other points West. One of their problems is psychological, says Taher Cheniti, secretary-general of the Tunisian Red Crescent Society. They dont understand why their compatriots, their friends and cousins were accepted for asylum, but they didnt have the same chance. So they continue this sit-in, hoping the position of governments will change. Dangerous area A few Choucha residents have found work in the nearby town of Ben Guerdane, but many beg for food and water from drivers passing by. The zone has also become increasingly dangerous. In March, Islamic State militants crossed over from Tunisia to launch an attack on Ben Guerdane. During a recent visit, police stopped a reporter twice to check papers, once driving into the desert to do so for security reasons. We survive by the road here by the grace of God, says Kadirl Abdou from Ghana, whose dreadlocks are tucked under a black cap. Abdou claims he left his homeland because of ethnic violence. Like the others, his asylum petition has been rejected. Ghana today is considered a leading example of African democracy, although there have been ethnic clashes in the past. Im just looking for relocation, for a safe third country, he said. Asked whether Tunisia might be that place, he shook his head. I come from a British colony, he says. The West, thats my colonial past. Chouchas residents have been offered temporary housing about an hours drive away, the Red Crescents Cheniti says, but most have turned that option down. They refuse to have their situation regularized in Tunisia because their ambition is different, he adds. Their final destination is the Italian coast. But Anais Elbassil, who heads the Tunisian chapter of French NGO France Terre dAsile says a few have applied for Tunisian working papers months ago, and are still waiting for an answer. The possibilities for those remaining in Choucha? she asks. There really arent very many." Apple has unveiled a new version of its operating system that for the first time includes voice activated commands for laptop and desktop computers. At its annual Worldwide Developers Conference, in San Francisco, company officials also presented a completely revamped Apple Watch and improvements in many of the most popular apps. Siri comes to Mac computers As the name implies, this conference deals mostly with software, so the biggest news that would affect the largest number of Apple product users, is the new operating system, OS X, or as Apple prefers to call it, mac OS Sierra. Another big announcement is that Siri, the upgraded personal assistant previously available only on iPhones and iPads, is integrated with the new operating system. Siri is now more intelligent and more intuitive, able to understand increasingly complicated commands, given with different word sequences. Also, Siri will be open to developers who will be able to integrate it with new applications. Synched destops across devices Assuming that the owner of a Mac computer also has another Apple device, such as an iPhone or iPad, the new operating system will provide full continuity with the so-called universal clipboard. That means a file or part of a file open on one device will be easy to transfer to another with a simple copy and paste operation. Not only that, it will now be possible to view the same desktop across the devices. Instead of re-typing the password whenever the desktop or laptop computer locks, the authorized user will be able to unlock it with a simple swipe of the wrist provided that it holds the owners Apple Watch. Mac OS Sierra will be released sometimes in the fall. iOS gets upgrade too The new operating system is coming to portable devices, too. First of all, waking up the iPhone will no longer require pressing the home button, but merely picking up the phone. The iOS 10 will offer a whole range of improvements handwriting recognition and better auto correction. Apple maps will start showing traffic conditions and calculating time for alternate routes. Maps will also now be open to developers around the world, which means that they will start being useful in many more countries. If your iPhone's memory is full of vacation photos and videos that you never got around to assembling into a story or a slideshow, the phone will do it for you, making it as long as you want and editing to the music according to the mood you chose. Among other upgrades, sending messages will be more fun, as you'll be able to embed videos, YouTube links, bubble effects and animations. Free upgrades to iOS 10 will be available in the fall for iPhone 5 or higher and some but not all iPads. Apple watch will feel as new Apple also presented a new and completely renovated Apple Watch, which company officials say is faster and more versatile. It has a completely new, intuitive interface, its apps now open instantly and it recognizes handwritten characters so messages will not have to be typed. If the owner is in an emergency situation, pressing the side button for a few seconds automatically makes a call to emergency service through the owners smart phone. Apple says it will work in any country in the world. Apples 5-day World Wide Developers Conference is attended by over 5,000 software developers. 120 of them are under 18 years, with the youngest being a 9-year old girl. The debate in advance of Britains June 23 referendum on whether it will leave or remain in the European Union has focused largely on immigration, and economists are warning that any new restrictions on workers from the continent may hurt Britains economy. After the collapse of communism in eastern Europe and Polands accession to the European Union, hundreds of thousands of Polish workers gained open access to Britain and the jobs offered by its nearly $3 trillion economy. Mariusz Wozniak has made the most of the opportunities that Britain has offered. He arrived in London from Poland nearly 18 years ago. Like many young Polish workers, one of his first jobs was at a fast-food restaurant. He studied, became an accountant and started his own firm. He now owns a building in West Londons Ealing neighborhood where he runs his accounting firm, a beauty salon and a store selling Polish-made cosmetics and toiletries. We pay lots of taxes Wozniak is proud of the contributions he and his countrymen have made to the British economy. We are honest, hardworking people, he told VOA. Some people say Polish people [are] taking benefits, but we pay lots of taxes in this country. Wozniak is among nearly 800,000 Polish-born EU citizens living in Britain. Their presence is so strong that Polish is now Britains second most spoken language after English. But that presence may diminish, and Polish workers fear they may no longer be able to come here easily if Britain quits the European Union. Uncertainty looming Mariano Mamertino, an economist at Indeed, a jobs website that tracks employment search and job availability trends, said there has been a sharp decrease in the number of Polish workers expressing interest in moving to Britain in the three months leading up to next week's referendum. This is already like an indication - signal if you want - of how the uncertainty of the possibility of a Brexit is already affecting hiring decisions of employers in the U.K. So they might be postponing investment in human capital and hiring, delaying hiring people in order to see whats going to happen, he said. Economists say Britains GDP could suffer as a result of the uncertainty, but even more so if a Brexit is followed by new restrictions on the entry of foreign laborers. Employers in the U.K. have been relying on this steady source of talent from other countries in Europe for quite a long time. Should this talent become less available in the future, this would have implications for them. So employers would be hit. They would maybe struggle to fill some vacancies, Mamertino said. Possible labor shortages One sector that has become most reliant on EU labor is agriculture. Alastair Brooks, a strawberry and raspberry farmer in Kent, tells VOA he is nervous about the consequences of a Brexit. The reality is that any interruption or nervousness about access to labor will certainly affect our investment plans for the future. I think it would hurt, is my guess, he said. We would either have to contract our business, or stop, I guess in the worst scenario, Brooks said. His fears are supported by what he saw on a recent visit to California, where he met with strawberry growers. They have got real supply problems as their supply of Mexican workers has been seriously constrained, and theyve actually reduced their production, so it is a serious issue, he said. If Britain decides to slap new restrictions on EU workers, it may have to turn elsewhere, including its Commonwealth, to meet its labor needs, say analysts. I do not know who is going to make coffee for you at Starbucks, said Wozniak. He notes it is largely young workers from other EU countries that are filling entry-level jobs in the food industry and other sectors. They do jobs that British people do not want to do. Have you ever met a British English waiter? Hours after images of bloodied Orlando, Florida nightclub patrons flashed across screens around the world, so-called Islamic State (IS) fanboys seemed energized, claiming and then trumpeting the terror groups success on social media. Yet while the pain and suffering caused by 29-year-old shooter Omar Saddiqui Mateen will linger, there is some doubt among those in the counterterrorism business that the groups declared victory early Sunday morning by someone they likely never even heard of will be anything more than fleeting for the self-declared caliphate. The problem for IS, they say, is that such high-profile violence, a hallmark of the groups rapid rise, was never really the driving factor. During its rapid expansion in 2014, ISIL was able to parlay battlefield success into public relations momentum and establish itself as a magnet for new recruits, a U.S. intelligence official told VOA using an acronym for the terror group. With losses mounting in Iraq, Syria and even Libya, IS has become increasing desperate to grab headlines and stoke fear, the official said, all in an attempt to mask its inability to hold on to territory as a variety of forces with U.S. and coalition backing close in. ISIL is unable to respond, the official added. So it is instead lashing out. The tactic does not seem to be playing well with would-be recruits, who at one point were flocking to IS at the rate of 1,000 a month. U.S. intelligence and military officials say in recent months the flow has slowed to a trickle, with no signs of speeding up. If the goal of Islamic State is to reverse its losses in Iraq, in Syria, to really change any of the main organization dynamics which really seem to be going south for this group, then attacks like these will be completely insignificant, said Max Abrahms, a terrorism theorist at Northeastern University and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Foreign fighters were attracted to the group because they wanted to side with a stronger force, he said. Had [the Orlando terror attack] happened two years ago, when Islamic State was making territorial gains, I think more foreign fighters would be inclined to join up with the group. ISILs outlook is in fact cloudy, said Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. I dont think they can reverse their losses in Iraq, Syria or in Libya. But Gartenstein-Ross said that does not mean the terror group is any less lethal, a warning repeated constantly by intelligence officials. The key thing to look for, in this case particularly, is North America and whether you get other copycats acting in ISISs name, he said. If that happens you can see, perhaps, an energizing of their North American network in the United States and in Canada. He bragged to co-workers about having ties to terrorist groups, including al-Qaida and Islamic State. He talked about wanting to become a martyr. He was the subject of two separate FBI investigations. He beat his wife so badly that her family had to come to Florida and rescue her. There were seemingly endless red flags that could have popped up when Omar Mateen walked into a central Florida gun store earlier this month to purchase the weapons he would later use to kill 49 people and wound more than 50 others at a gay night club in Orlando in what is the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. Yet Mateen, who pledged allegiance to Islamic State moments before the early Sunday shooting, was able to legally purchase the Sig Sauer MCX (a variation of the popular, military-style AR-15 rifle) and a Glock 17 handgun. The apparent ease with which Mateen secured the weapons used in the massacre has revived a debate over whether those with suspected extremist ties should be able to purchase firearms increasingly the weapon of choice for those carrying out terrorist attacks in the U.S. Since the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, 85 percent of people killed by terrorists in the U.S. were killed by guns, according to an analysis by the FiveThirtyEight website. That figure, which was based on data from the Global Terrorism Database, did not take into account the shooting in Orlando. The reason terrorists are using guns is that they are "readily available, and they have a better ability to kill with precision," said Malcolm Nance, a former counterterrorism and intelligence officer, who now heads the Terror Asymmetrics Project (TAPSTRI). "All you have to do is close the doors, and everyone in front of you is going to be a victim," Nance said. "It doesn't take a political analyst or someone with counterterrorism experience to know that that could be the most highly charged type of attack in the United States." 'Terror loophole' The increased use of guns in terrorist attacks has led many to speak of a "terror loophole" in U.S. gun laws. The debate has largely fallen along party lines: Democratic lawmakers generally support the gun control restrictions on terror suspects and Republican lawmakers for the most part oppose them. Last December, Senate Republicans voted down a proposal to block terror suspects from buying guns and explosives. That effort followed the San Bernardino terrorist shooting that killed 14 people. Following the Orlando shooting, several Democratic lawmakers were quick to push for another vote as soon as possible. Senate Democratic Minority Leader Harry Reid said Monday there is "no excuse" for the fact that terror suspects can "walk into a gun store and legally purchase assault weapons and explosives." Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer said he will work to put the issue up for a vote as soon as possible. "If that legislation had been in effect, it is very likely that the FBI would have been able to block the purchase of these two weapons by Mr. Mateen," he said. Campaign issue Gun control measures have also been widely discussed on the presidential campaign trail. "If the FBI is watching you for a suspected terror link, you shouldn't be able to just go buy a gun with no questions asked," presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said in a speech Monday. Donald Trump, the likely Republican presidential nominee, said last November that people on a terror watch list should "absolutely" not be allowed to purchase a firearm. But he also argued that "if people are on a watch list, this is already covered in the legislation we already have." But it isn't clear whether any of the proposals would actually have prevented Mateen from purchasing the guns he used in the massacre. The 29-year-old worked as a security guard and had a permit to carry a concealed weapon. FBI officials had put Mateen on a federal terror watch list, as a result of 2013 and 2014 FBI investigations into his "inflammatory statements" and past ties with a U.S. citizen who had gone to fight with Islamic extremists in Syria. He was pulled from the list, however, after no conclusive evidence was found that suggested he was actually linked to terror groups. That represents a failure of law enforcement, not a failure of gun laws, according to Sean Davis, a gun rights advocate and co-founder of the conservative Federalist web magazine. "I don't think the solution to terrorists killing Americans is to eliminate due process for Americans," Davis told VOA. "I think the solution is for the federal government to do a lot better job of tracking and apprehending these people and building cases against them when they do appear to be terrorists." Shouldn't it be harder, though, for terror suspects to purchase weapons? For Davis, it all depends on how you phrase the question. "When I hear the question, I hear: 'Do you think we should curtail some people's constitutional rights without due process if a bureaucrat puts their name on a secret list somewhere?'" Davis said. "I look at that question, and I say no." But others disagree. Ladd Everitt, director of communications at the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, says tightening gun laws on terror suspects does not necessarily mean curtailing someone's rights. "What's fundamentally important to understand is that we have a gun purchase system in this country that is predicated on speed and making the sale," Everitt told VOA. "Why not have a system that places a priority on caution and then allows due process for the individual involved if they are indeed clean of wrongdoing?" No progress likely Since the Orlando shooting, President Barack Obama has focused on the "terror loophole" legislation, presenting it as an issue where both Republicans and Democrats can find a compromise. "We have to make it harder for people who want to kill Americans to get their hands on weapons of war that let them kill dozens of innocents," Obama said Tuesday. "It is absolutely true, we cannot prevent every tragedy, but we know that consistent with the second amendment there are common sense steps that could reduce gun violence and reduce the lethality of somebody who intends to do other people harm." Some Republicans, including Congressman Peter King from New York, have also said more restrictions are necessary, but the prospects of progress for now look grim. "I support it," said King in response to a question from VOA. "But the fact of the matter is, it's not going to pass now." Ethiopia and Eritrea are blaming each other for a border clash that inflamed long-running tensions between the East African neighbors and caused an unknown number of casualties. Both sides claimed the upper hand in the fighting, which took place Sunday and Monday in the area of Tsorona, an Eritrean town that was a flashpoint during the border war the countries fought between 1998 and 2000. Eritrea said an Ethiopian attack was repulsed with the Ethiopians taking heavy casualties, while Ethiopia said its forces seriously weakened the ability of Eritreas army to launch further attacks. Neither side specified the number of those killed or wounded. Speaking to reporters in Addis Ababa on Tuesday, Ethiopian Communications Minister Getachew Reda said fighting stopped Monday around noon and that Ethiopian forces withdrew from the site of the clash once our objective was achieved. Reda said Ethiopia "chose to avoid a full-scale war" with Eritrea, but the Ethiopian government warned it would respond if Eritrea attacked again. The U.S. Department of State expressed concern over the military action, calling on both sides to exercise restraint. "We also urge both Ethiopia and Eritrea to cooperate in promoting stability and sustainable peace in the region," U.S. Department of State spokesman John Kirby said in a statement Tuesday. Eritrea is appealing to the United Nations Security Council to condemn what it called a military offensive by Ethiopia. We have already complained to the Security Council to have an emergency meeting on the issue, Eritreas U.N. ambassador, Girma Asmerom, told VOAs Horn of Africa service Tuesday. No country in this world, whether it is big or small, has the right to aggress or cross over another sovereign territory. They (Ethiopians) have done this and they have to stop this, Asmerom said. The border war between Eritrea and Ethiopia killed an estimated 70,000 people. Since then, the two countries have fought periodic battles on their boundary, the most recent before this week coming in 2012. Both governments accused the other of starting the latest battle to distract attention from political problems and internal opposition. The European Parliament has passed a resolution condemning the worsening political climate in Cambodia and said it would tie future aid to improvements in human rights. The resolution, which passed Thursday, called on the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen to revoke the outstanding arrest warrant against Cambodia National Rescue Party president Sam Rainsy, who went into self-imposed exile in November after it was issued over a long-standing defamation conviction. It also called for the release of four human rights workers and an election official jailed last month on bribery-related charges; for charges against former union representative and member of the country's election body Rong Chhun to be dropped; and for an independent investigation into an attack on two opposition lawmakers outside parliament. All politicians, activists and human rights defenders should "be allowed to work freely without fear of arrest or persecution," a statement from the European Parliament read. Phay Siphan, a spokesman for the Council of Ministers, said the resolution "only reflects the interests of the European lawmakers and politicians." "But we will try to explain it to them so that they can understand, because we believe that they are not colonizers who can dictate to Cambodia and do whatever they want. We see them as our dialogue partners, and I thank them for their interest in Cambodia," he said. "The order to the National Assembly to reinstate Sam Rainsy's parliamentary immunity is not acceptable," he added. "It's Sam Rainsy's responsibility to face the courts, and he has to cooperate with the courts to find justice for himself." Rainsy is due to visit supporters and officials in the United States next week. The CNRP's deputy president, Kem Sokha, has been barricaded inside the party's headquarters since an attempt to arrest him was made in May. He is wanted on solicitation charges and for failing to appear in court for questioning. The resolution passed Thursday calls on EU member states and other institutions to set clear benchmarks for the forthcoming elections in Cambodia that are "consistent with international law on freedom of expression, association and assembly," and to publicly communicate these goals to Cambodian authorities and the opposition. It also linked the bloc's more than $400 million aid package to Cambodia until 2020 to "improvements in the human rights situation." Europeans generally see Islamic State (IS) as the biggest threat to their nations, the Pew Research Center reports. Climate change is the second largest concern of Europeans, ahead of the influx of refugees on the continent from Iraq and Syria, according to the new study "Europeans Face the World Divided" by the Washington-based research center. Only 17 percent of respondents in the ten European countries surveyed feel IS is a minor threat, and only 3 percent view it as no threat at all to their nation. Terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels over the past year have put terrorism on the top of the list of concerns of Europeans, and security remains elevated across the continent. Most Europeans, however, do not feel that military spending should be increased, fearing that increasing military force to fight terrorism only leads to more hate which will increase violence, according to the study. Brussels was targeted by IS terrorists in March, with 32 people killed in bombings that hit the city's airport and metro. IS also attacked Paris in November of last year, killing 130 people. The study also found that a majority of Europeans want the EU to play a bigger role globally. Though it seems contradictory to growing disapproval of the Brussels-based organization, it's a criticism in line with complaints that the EU has mishandled the refugee crisis and economic problems on the continent. Respondents are almost evenly divided on the EU's dealings with Russia. Though multiple studies, including one released by the Pew Research Center just last week, show that many Europeans may want to follow Britain's example to leave the EU, or at least give more power to the individual states, this study shows that a median of 74 percent of Europeans think the EU should take on a more influential role on the global stage. Even in the UK, which will vote in a referendum on whether to stay in the EU next week, 55 percent of respondents said the EU should take a more active international stance in the coming years. Members of the gay community in the U.S. are calling for the lifting of a federal ban on blood donations by men who have sex with men. After this week's shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, thousands of homosexuals lined up to donate blood to survivors. However, they were turned away because of U.S. government rules that prohibit gay men from giving blood if they have been sexually active within the past year. In the wake of the shootings, the policy is causing anger and outrage among gays. The policy was put in place in the 1980s during the AIDS epidemic, and it barred gay and bisexual men from donating blood out of fear that they were at high risk of being HIV-positive and could contaminate the blood supply. Last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration revised the policy, allowing contributions provided the gay men had been celibate for one year. Scientific developments Public health advocates, who argued for lifting the blood donation ban last year, say the policy does not keep pace with some recent scientific developments to safeguard the blood supply against HIV. Sean Cahill, director of health policy research at the Fenway Institute in Boston, said the revised policy is still unfair. The Fenway Institute does public health advocacy on behalf of the LGBT community. According to Cahill, the so-called nucleic acid test is now available to detect the presence of HIV in a pint of blood in less than two weeks, compared with the months it used to take. The test is performed on all blood samples to make sure they don't contain the virus. Cahill said the second development involves a method of destroying most pathogens in blood, be they bacteria or viruses, including the AIDS virus. "Even if somehow an HIV-positive unit of blood gets through the systems that are in place, this pathogen inactivation technology could destroy the HIV in that unit of blood," Cahill said. Cahill said the one-year ban doesn't allow for those males who are in monogamous relationships or who are happily married and are HIV-negative. People in other high-risk groups are not barred from giving blood, according to Cahill. These individuals include those who have intercourse with sex workers, or intravenous drug abusers who may be donating blood in exchange for money to buy drugs. Call for updated policy Cahill called for a more refined blood donation policy. "We would really like to see a policy that ... distinguishes between high-risk gay and bisexual men and low-risk gay and bisexual men, and actually looks at individual risk as opposed to looking at people as members of groups." Cahill noted that 15 percent of gay men are HIV-positive in the U.S., but the FDA ban excludes the remaining 85 percent of gay men who would be suitable and safe blood donors. Cahill said the supply of banked blood nationwide would increase by 2 to 4 percent by lifting the one-year ban on blood donations by gay and bisexual men. He also said the move would ease the social stigma felt by U.S. gays. As Britain prepares to vote later this month on remaining in the European Union, people living in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar feel particularly vulnerable. The tiny rocky outcrop is at the southern tip of Spain and has been a continual source of tension between Madrid and London. One Spanish government minister recently suggested that a British exit could prompt a renewed push for shared sovereignty, despite that option having been rejected in a referendum in Gibraltar in 2002. For now, the red phone boxes, the double-decker buses, the pubs and fish and chips restaurants show Gibraltar is an unmistakable British outpost in southern Europe. The territory was ceded to Britain by Spain in 1713; but a British vote to leave the EU could give a boost to Madrids hopes of reclaiming sovereignty over the territory, says Alasdair Pinkerton of Royal Holloway, University of London. It is part of the European treaty system that theyre not actively allowed to pursue a claim to Gibraltar, whilst Britain is a member of the European Union. So in a way, the European Union is protecting Gibraltar, Pinkerton said. Spain has in the past tightened border controls at times of heightened tension, causing huge traffic delays. Madrid has accused Gibraltarians of cross-border tobacco and liquor smuggling, and that could be used as a pretext for closing the frontier, effectively cutting off Gibraltars 30,000 residents. Like any sovereign state not bound by treaties, Spain would be absolutely entitled to close those borders to a territory that is no longer part of the European Union, Pinkerton added. Existential challenges Gibraltars economy grew by more than 10 percent last year, fueled by its attractiveness as a low tax environment with access to the EU Single Market. Gibraltars chief minister, Fabian Picardo, fears the consequences of a vote to leave. How do you change your economic model to go from being able to sell to 520 million people to sell only to 32,000 people? These are challenges which are existential to the current economic model; we would have to completely reposition our economy, and it's something that's going to be very difficult, he recently told reporters. In Britain, polls suggest the "Leave" campaign has pulled ahead; but in Gibraltar a majority of residents say they will vote to stay in the European Union. Among them is pensioner Ivan Navas. "There might be a lot of debate, as we say, 'You fight within the family, but you don't leave the family.' Because as British Prime Minister David Cameron said, 'What do you want to be, little England or little France?' We've got to be together. Campaigners who want to leave the EU say Spain already ignores the blocs rules on recognizing the territorys sovereignty; but the people of Gibraltar fear a so-called Brexit could leave them cut off on the very tip of Europe. Despite all of the attention and resources that the United States and other countries have put into counterterrorism efforts, Sunday's mass shooting in Orlando, Florida, shows the threat from individual actors remains and is particularly difficult for governments to fight. There are no indications at this point that the Orlando shooter had a direct connection to Islamic State, and FBI Director James Comey said Monday the agency believes he was radicalized through the internet. Eric Rosand, a senior foreign policy fellow at the Brookings Institution, says the attack is an example of how Islamic State's message is being received by many young Muslims who have no coordination with the group but are angry, lost, and attracted to its vision of violence and destruction. "Countries have to deal with it essentially on their own," he told VOA. "They have to somehow come to terms with societies that are communities feeling marginalized, individuals feeling lost, and there's no mechanisms in place to actually prevent this, not adequate resources and innovation being directed towards the prevention aspect of the problem internally within each country." The U.S. State Department said in a report earlier this month the number of terror attacks worldwide dropped 13 percent last year, while deaths fell by 14 percent. Amy Pate, research director at the University of Maryland's National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Response to Terrorism, which prepared statistics for the report, says terrorist violence ebbs and flows over time but she does not see its total elimination as realistic. She told VOA what the world could see is fewer deadly attacks. "There was a point in time when terrorists actively avoided killing people," she said. "They wanted the publicity, but the negative publicity that came with deaths was something they tried to avoid. If you think of some of the European groups like the IRA or ETA, these are the modalities that they followed. They wanted attention but not a body count. So I think there is a way to walk back from what weve seen as this increase in mass lethality and mass casualty terrorism. Nearly two years ago, U.S. President Barack Obama declared a goal of eradicating Islamic State and set up a coalition to attack the group militarily and to disrupt its finances and its attraction for foreign fighters. There has been success in taking back territory the militants once held in Iraq and Syria, but the group still persists in large areas of those countries and has influence elsewhere. Rebecca Zimmerman, an analyst at the Rand Corporation, says the easiest part of eradicating Islamic State is attacking areas where the group tries to act like a state and exposes itself militarily. But she told VOA that while Islamic State has lost territory, it remains a "pernicious and difficult threat." "This is one of the difficult things about terrorism, its virtually impossible to know when you are done fighting it," she said. "How do you draw that line to say okay we won? What does that day look like, the day that you decide you won the war on terror? So yes, I can say that I think weve made progress in the fight against ISIS in Syria and Iraq, but that doesnt mean that weve eroded the global threat of terrorism and it doesnt mean that weve defeated the Islamic State." Rosand said governments have focused on killing, capturing, arresting and prosecuting terrorists, but that when the fighting in Iraq and Syria one day ends, many countries will not be prepared to handle the thousands of militants who will return home. "Theres a recognition now that not enough energy and resources and thinking are going into the front end on prevention and the back end on reintegration," he said. "Theres a concerted effort on the international level to develop some best practices, to invest resources, to provide training to countries that are interested in developing programs." Rosand identified the Netherlands and Denmark as two countries that have sophisticated programs already, albeit on a small scale, while Britain's response to the hundreds of people returning from Iraq and Syria is to put them in jail. "Its not willing to take the risk of anything other than prosecution. And I think ultimately thats a lot of the problem, is that we as a society are so risk averse in terms of this threat that there may not be a political appetite, a public appetite, for more risk taking in terms of policy making and that really limits options. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was projected to be the big winner of the last primary in the 2016 presidential campaign, held Tuesday in Washington, D.C. Clinton already had enough delegates to be the presumptive Democratic nominee. Clinton and her rival for the nomination, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, met Tuesday night in the nation's capital to talk about the Democratic Party platform to be drawn up at this summer's convention. Sanders is promising "the most progressive platform ever passed" by the Democrats. He told reporters it would be "crystal clear that the Democratic Party is in fact on the side of working people. ... The time is long overdue for a fundamental transformation of the Democratic Party." Many progressive and ultra-liberal Democrats have complained that the party has become too centrist and too willing to compromise with Republicans, making it seem as if there is little difference between the two major parties. Clinton did not talk about her meeting with Sanders, but a Clinton campaign official had told the Reuters news service that she was looking forward to the chance to discuss how to move forward with what the official called "their shared commitment to a progressive agenda" and stopping Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. Media effect Meanwhile, media coverage during the past year has boosted Trump's popularity at Clinton's expense, but that has not stopped Clinton from widening her lead over Trump, according to findings from a Harvard University study and a new poll. A study released Tuesday by Harvard's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy said Trump has disproportionately benefited from news coverage of his campaign, although Trump has regularly complained the media has treated him unfairly. Despite the study's findings, Trump announced Monday he was banning The Washington Post from campaign events, extending the list of banned media organizations to more than a half dozen. In response to the ban, the White House Correspondents Association criticized Trump for "arbitrarily" banning news outlets. "Any nominee for the highest office in the country must respect the role of a free and adversarial press, not disown the principles of the First Amendment just because he or she does not like the tone or content of their coverage," president Carol Lee said in a statement Tuesday. The study found Trump received 34 percent of the media's coverage of the Republican primaries, far more than any of his Republican rivals. Jeb Bush came in second with 18 percent. Trump's media coverage was worth about $55 million, compared with $19 million for Bush. The report said that because Trump had no political experience or voter base, he resorted to the use of harsh rhetoric to compete with party rivals Bush, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. "The politics of outrage was [Trump's] edge, and the press became his dependable if unwitting ally," the report said. And "Trump exploited [the media's] lust for riveting stories," the report found. Less coverage of Democrats The media was not as generous to the Democratic presidential candidates, particularly during the early days of the campaign season, the study said. The media coverage was significantly less, but Clinton enjoyed substantial leads in polls over Sanders and other democratic hopefuls. As media coverage of Trump boosted his poll ratings, it gradually eroded Clinton's advantage. Moreover, the study found that 84 percent of the issue-related coverage of Clinton was negative. The report was based on an analysis of coverage from eight print and broadcast news outlets: CBS, Fox, the Los Angeles Times, NBC, The New York Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. Despite the study's findings, a poll released Tuesday showed Clinton had widened her lead over Trump, 49 percent to 42 percent. The poll, conducted by NBC News and SurveyMonkey, was conducted last week, when Clinton secured enough delegates to become the presumptive Democratic nominee. It was also the week in which Trump was roundly criticized for claiming a federal judge was biased because of his Mexican heritage. Republicans hold their convention in Cleveland July 18-21. The Democrats gather in Philadelphia July 25-28. Indias film industry has hailed a court order allowing the screening of a movie portraying drug addiction with only a single cut as a huge victory for freedom of artistic expression. The Censor Board wanted nearly 90 cuts to the thriller Udta Punjab or Flying Punjab, because it felt the film, based on drug trafficking, cast a poor light on the northern Punjab state by showing many of its young people hooked on drugs. The decision led to outrage in Bollywood, which rallied behind the filmmakers, who mounted a legal challenge to the order. High Court rules against censorship of this movie While overruling the censors, the Mumbai High Court made tough observations about censorship. Saying that the Censor Board cannot act as a grandmother, judges said it was important to protect the industrys creativity. They said that the audience was the biggest censor. Bollywood called the judgment a much-needed breather for filmmakers, who have been exploring new ground in recent years and making some bold cinema which has won high praise from critics and audiences. Udta Punjab involved some of Bollywoods top talent. Producer hopes this ruling will ease restrictions in future The films jubilant producer, Anurag Kashyap, who had defended the movie as honest, says he hoped that the judgement that came out will become a precedent for the future of cinema, which I think is good. He has said that sponsorship of films by studios has become a problem due to fears about censorship. Indian censors are empowered to protect audiences from content that shows profanity, excessive violence or sexuality, but filmmakers and audiences complain they simply have not kept pace with the times. Censor Board officials on the other hand say they are simply following the rules set out in what many say is an outdated act going back to 1952. Noted director, Madhur Bhandarkar, called the courts ruling a great relief for the industry. You cannot show this, you cannot put that, you blur the shot. And for the entire film fraternity across India, it is the fundamental right for the filmmaker to make the kind of cinema he believes in, he said. Except for cutting a scene in which the lead character, a rock star, urinates into a crowd, the court has given the go-ahead to all other shots and dialogues that were to have been chopped for example a scene where a character injects himself with drugs, the use of swear words and even words such as election, legislator and member of parliament. The controversy over Udta Punjab became embroiled in politics amid allegations that the Censor Board chief, who is close to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, wanted to prevent any adverse impact on the Punjab state government, headed by a BJP ally. Punjab holds elections next year and opposition parties have accused the regional party that rules it of cooperating with a flourishing illegal drug trade in the state. The BJP says it had nothing to do with the Censor Boards decision. How the movie fares with audiences remains to be seen, but the widely-covered controversy has turned the spotlight on the drug menace in Punjab, an affluent state that is grappling with high unemployment among young people. While issues such as corruption and violence against women have generated much debate in recent years, the problem of drug addiction has received scant attention. The border state, which adjoins Pakistan, lies on the transit route of drugs from Afghanistan. At a multi-faith vigil at the front steps of the Islamic Center of Southern California, Muslim leaders said it is time to do something after the worst mass shooting in the history of the United States. It is time to be the change we want to have. Change starts with us. Enough with words. [Its] time for action. [Its] time for a national campaign to demand for gun controls and for the protection of the sanctity of life, said Hedab Tarifi, Chair of the Islamic Center of Southern California. Police said Omar Saddiqui Mateen, opened fire at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Forty-nine people died at the scene. Authorities said Mateen sprayed round after round at club goers with a semi-automatic rifle. Twenty-nine-year-old Mateen was an American Muslim born to Afghan parents. We express our unequivocal and total condemnation of this act, said Tarifi. Theres no room for LGBTQ violence in any of our faiths, said Salam Al-Marayati, President of Muslim Public Affairs Council who called what happened in Orlando the most vicious of hate crimes. U.S. President Barack Obama said Monday that Mateen represented a "kind of homegrown extremism that we've been concerned about for a long time." President Obama said the internet played a role in how Mateen received extremist information. A young Muslim man who will only identify himself as Waqas attended the interfaith vigil and said the internet itself is not to blame. Its not about whats on the internet. Its about how you use whats on the internet. The children need more guidance as to how to proceed with what theyre learning and how theyre doing, said Waqas. The mass shooting hits home for Gustavo Reyes Ramirez. He is gay and a resident of San Bernardino County. It has been more than six months since the terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California, where a husband and wife killed 14 people. This is a consequence of what we teach and every person of faith and every cleric of every religion must look at ourselves and see what do you teach? What does your religion teach? Are you teaching peace and if not we have to change things right now, Ramirez said. Ramirez said he attended the vigil at the Islamic Center of Southern California because he wanted to spread the message of peace and love. Thats the message that were spreading today to Muslims, to gay, LGBT, to whether its Republicans or Democrats or Green or Socialists and everyone else. Were saying we have to come together. There is no other option, to come together in peace and love. Politics became a focus at the vigil when Stephen Rohde of Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace spoke about Republican Candidate, Donald Trumps response to the Orlando shooting. "We cannot continue to allow thousands upon thousands of people to pour into our country, many of whom have the same thought process as this savage killer," said Trump to supporters in Manchester, New Hampshire. Trumps speech angered Rohde. When I saw the inflammatory words this morning, of Donald Trump feeding on this tragedy, extending and widening the hatred and the bigotry and the stereotyping of the entire Muslim community blurring lines between people who commit criminal acts and those devout Muslims who pray everyday for peace and justice, I was appalled, said Rohde. Muslim community leaders said unity among all faiths is important. They pledged to counter violent extremism and do their part in healing the nation from the tragedy in Orlando. A report from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) found at least 60,000 migrants died or disappeared at sea or on land routes over the past two decades. IOM considers the real number to be much higher because many bodies are never found or identified. The report said the majority of known deaths in the last two years have occurred in the Mediterranean region. The International Organization for Migration estimates 5,400 migrants globally died or were recorded as missing in 2015. This year, IOM has documented more than 3,400 migrant deaths worldwide. Director of IOMS Global Migration Data Analysis Center Frank Laczko said more than 80 percent of the deaths were people attempting to reach Europe by sea. The rate of death across the central Mediterranean route, we estimate is approximately one in 23 persons," he said. "The one in 23 persons who have tried to cross the central Mediterranean have died or are unaccounted for among migrants this year, which is a shocking statistic. The Turkey-EU agreement intended to provide legal migrant routes to Europe has largely choked off the eastern Mediterranean Sea route from Turkey to Greece. So most migrants are making the dangerous sea crossing from Libya to Italy. Laczko said the risk of death on the route has increased, but the actual volume of people crossing the Mediterranean has not increased as much as expected. He told VOA there has not been a substantial increase in the number of people coming from Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria. There has been fears that with the closing of the eastern Mediterranean route, we would see substantial increases in migrants turning to the central Mediterranean route," he said. "It still seems to be predominantly dominated by migrants from sub-Saharan African countries. Laczko said about 10 percent are from Nigeria, another 10 percent from Eritrea and most of the remaining migrants are from West and East Africa. He noted migrant death rates in southeast Asia are as high as those in the Mediterranean, though the volume of people crossing the sea in that region is lower. The right-wing Hindu group that supports Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump as a savior of humanity is celebrating the real estate moguls 70th birthday. About 20 members Hindu Sena, or Hindu Army, marked the billionaires birthday Tuesday in New Delhi by wearing red and blue hats, and serving a birthday cake that read long live Trump. The group is rallying behind the reality TV star because of his controversial comments about Islamic extremists. Some extreme factions of right-wing Hindus have been associated with violent attacks on Muslims in India. "Trump has said Muslims should be banned from entering America. Everyone should support that," Hindu Sena leader Vishnu Gupta told Reuters. The group also observed a moment of silence for the victims of the Sunday mass shooting at an Orlando, Florida, gay nightclub that left 49 dead and 53 wounded. "Trump is about to become the king of the world," Gupta said. "How will we attack Pakistan without his support?" India believes Pakistan was behind a 2008 terrorist attack on Mumbai that killed 166. Trump recently mocked an Indian accent while inveighing against outsourcing American jobs. India is home to many customer service call centers serving American companies. Some less radical groups have courted controversy by banning beef production and reported forced conversions. There are more than 170 million Muslims in India, or about 15 percent of the total population. Indias prime minister, Narendra Modi, a member of the conservative Hindu party, Bharatiya Janata, has been linked to riots against Muslims in 2002 in the state of Gujarat where he was chief minister. The riots claimed more than 1,000 lives. He was banned from entering the United States in 2005 because of his alleged role in the violence. The ban was later lifted, and Modi made a U.S. visit in 2014. Modi is not associated with Hindu Sena. Just a day after a mass shooting in Orlando, Florida, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest was asked by reporters about pointed criticism from likely Republican nominee Donald Trump toward President Barack Obama for being too politically correct to utter the words radical Islam or Islamic terrorism. Trump and others in his party have repeatedly said you can never defeat an enemy unless you define who it is you are fighting against. Earnest dismissed the criticism as too small to comment on, in the face of the huge challenges the president is facing. Fast-forward a day, and the tone changed dramatically. Obama mounted a passionate defense of his strategy and the U.S. militarys record in the global campaign to destroy the Islamic State group. And he revealed a seldom-seen flash of anger at Republican criticism of his refusal to say Islamic terrorists. Trump has repeatedly described Obama's efforts to defeat Islamic State terrorists in the Middle East as weak and said the United States has to take much tougher military actions against IS fighters and keep foreign-born Muslims out of the U.S. to thwart additional possible terrorist attacks. Flanked by his top national security advisers, Obama asked: What exactly would using this label accomplish? What exactly would it change? "Would it make ISIL [an acronym for the group] less committed to killing Americans? Would it bring in more allies? Is there a military strategy that would be served? he asked. Choice of words The president explained his choice of words, saying: "The reason I am careful has nothing to do with political correctness and everything to do with defeating extremism." He pointed out that several of the coalition partners in the fight against the Islamic State group are Muslim majority countries, adding that U.S. and coalition forces know exactly who they are fighting, and they have ISIL on the run. Obama said the territory controlled by Islamic State is shrinking, morale is plummeting, its ranks are shrinking and are now down to the lowest levels in 2 years. He said the coalition has cut IS oil revenues by millions of dollars each month. Obama, who is usually measured in his responses, continued. Without mentioning his name, he directed his comments to Trump, saying his loose talk is making Americans less safe. We now have proposals from the presumptive Republican nominee for president of the United States to bar all Muslims from immigrating to America. You hear language that singles out immigrants and suggests entire religious communities are complicit in violence. Where does this stop?" Obama asked. "The Orlando killer, one of the San Bernardino killers, the Fort Hood killer they were all U.S. citizens. Are we going to start treating all Muslim-Americans differently? Are we going to start subjecting them to special surveillance? Are we going to start discriminating against them because of their faith? the president questioned. Obama, who has endorsed Trump's Democratic opponent, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, said Trump's proposal would betray the U.S. heritage of racial, ethnic and religious pluralism and not be "the America we want." Responding to the president's criticisms, Trump said later Tuesday at a rally in Greensboro, N.C., that Obama was "more angry" at him than the gunman in the Orlando massacre. Earlier in the day, Trump said the U.S. "must now get very tough, very smart and very vigilant. We cannot admit people into our country without extraordinary screening." Counterproductive Max Abrahms, a terrorism expert at Northwestern University in Boston, told VOA Tuesday he agreed with the president that Trumps call for a ban on Muslims would be counterproductive in the fight against Islamic State, and could actually boost its recruitment efforts. One of the reasons why the United States has a less severe terrorism problem than other countries, like in France and in Belgium, is because the American Muslim community is relatively happy," Abrahms said. "And we need to make sure that they continue to be happy, and the best way to turn them against us is to discriminate against them. And if we do that, not only will we breed more terrorists out of an otherwise peaceful population, but we will reduce our ability to be able to generate intelligence,"he said. "Because the American Muslim community is really on the front lines in terms of identifying to law enforcement people who may be undergoing a process of radicalization. Caliphate is crumbling Abrahms said there is substantial evidence to corroborate the Obama administrations contention that the IS organization has been weakened, especially in its stronghold of Iraq and Syria. A couple of years ago, IS was much more successful and appeared invincible, he said, but now the dream of a caliphate is crumbling. Abrahms said there is almost an inverse relationship between IS success on the battlefield and its eagerness to claim responsibility for attacks on so-called soft targets civilians in the West. Attacks such as the one in Orlando would not give IS a big boost, but would strengthen resolve in the West to destroy them, he said. Daniel Pipes, president of the Middle East Forum, told VOA Tuesday that he had a much bleaker assessment of the Obama administrations policies and of the situation on the ground in the Middle East, saying anarchy is spreading throughout the entire region. So my view is that U.S. policy should be to not try and transform the region as [former President] George W. Bush did, not try to abandon it as Barack Obama has done, but to have a sweet spot in the middle where we help our allies, we protect our interests, but we dont try and fix things thats not in the cards," Pipes said. "And ... I dont think in the end it is good for either us to take on too much responsibility or for the Middle Easters who then become infantilized because were doing their work for them. They should take responsibility for themselves; we should be there to assist," he said. In just four short days, U.S. President Barack Obama went from celebrating LGBT Pride Month at a festive White House reception to reaching out in solidarity to members of that community who were targeted in the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. After meeting with top security advisers at the White House Monday, the president said it is relevant that the shooting took place at a nightclub frequented by lesbians, gay, bisexuals and transgender individuals. Well, I think we don't yet know the motivations, but heres what we do know ... organizations like ISIL or organizations like al-Qaida, or those who have perverted Islam and created these radical, nihilistic, vicious organizations, one of the groups that they target are gays and lesbians because they believe that they do not abide by their attitudes towards sexuality, he said, using an acronym in reference to Islamic State (IS), which is also known as ISIL, ISIS and Daesh. The Orlando nightclub selected by gunman Omar Mateen for his early Sunday massacre was not just any gay club. Pulse was founded by Barbara Poma to promote awareness of the area's LGBT community after her brother died of AIDS. It hosted nightly themed performances and monthly educational programs. Saturday night was Latin night most of the 49 victims were Hispanic. President Obama said that for radical extremist groups, tolerance, diversity and women being empowered is a threat. So, yes, Im sure we will find that there are connections regardless of the particular motivations of this killer there are connections between this vicious, bankrupt ideology and general attitudes towards gays and lesbians," he added. "And unfortunately, thats something that the LGBT community is subject to not just by ISIL, but by a lot of groups that purport to speak on behalf of God around the world. IS executes homosexuals IS militants have a record of reserving one of the most gruesome of its many brutal execution methods for homosexuals, dangling men from the roof of a tall building and then dropping them head first. Many Muslims consider homosexuality to be a sin, as do some Christians and members of other religions. In some parts of the world, gays and lesbians live in terror of having their sexual orientation exposed. After Sundays three-hour massacre in Orlando, FBI Director James Comey said, We are working to investigate what role anti-gay bigotry played in this attack. Just days before the attacks, the president welcomed several hundred prominent members of the LGBT community to the East Room of the White House to celebrate LGBT Pride Month for the eighth time during his presidency. A quartet was playing and the president invited his guests to celebrate their successful struggle for equality with a glass of champagne. So some folks never imagined wed come this far maybe even some in this room," he said. "Change can be slow. And I know that there have been times where at least some of the people in this room have yelled at me. But together, weve proven that change is possible, that progress is possible. Obama got a warm, enthusiastic response from the crowds, with his guests chanting Four more years! Four more years!" But amid the joyous celebration, the president sounded a note of caution about all the progress the LGBT community has achieved. Its not inevitable, though," he said. "History doesnt just travel forward; it can go backwards if we dont work hard. So we cant be complacent. We cannot be complacent. Clinton, Trump speak to LGBT community The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, also reached out to the LGBT community Monday in a statement. To the LGBT community: please know that you have millions of allies across our country," she said. "I am one of them. We will keep fighting for your right to live freely, openly and without fear. Hate has absolutely no place in America. Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump also had strong words of support during a speech. "A radical Islamic terrorist targeted the nightclub, not only because he wanted to kill Americans, but in order to execute gay and lesbian citizens because of their sexual orientation," Trump said. "It's a strike at the heart and soul of who we are as a nation. It's an assault on the ability of free people to live their lives, love who they want and express their identity. It's an attack on the right of every single American to live in peace and safety in their own country." Trump said he would be a better defender of gays and lesbians than Clinton, because of what he termed her political correctness. Trump also renewed his call for a ban on Muslim immigrants. When he fired rounds of bullets in an Orlando, Florida, nightclub early Sunday, killing at least 49 people, Omar Mateen triggered a refrain now common after U.S. mass shootings. While offering condolences, President Barack Obama for at least the fifteenth time publicly condemned a devastating attack and called for stricter gun laws. (He also acknowledged the incident was a terrorist attack.) Other politicians tweeted expressions of sympathy and, depending on party affiliation, urged legislative action on gun control or assigned blame for security gaps. Gun access is one of the most politically loaded issues in the United States. The Constitutions Second Amendment protects the right to bear arms, but Americans are divided on just who should have access to guns, and to what kind. Many believe these are very different times from when the Constitution was written more than 230 years ago. Polls show broad public support for background checks for firearms purchases, though diminished backing for gun control overall in recent years. That comes even as the number of American households with guns has fallen to roughly a third, down from about a half four decades ago, the University of Chicagos NORC opinion research center found in a report last year. It cited declining interest in hunting as a big factor. Likewise, Congress has been split. Republicans generally favor broader access and fewer restrictions than Democrats, though support also varies by geography rural versus urban and by culture. Activists on all sides of the gun debate largely have turned their attention to changes at the state level. NRA's grades The National Rifle Association aims to influence major elections by grading political candidates, giving more favorable marks to those who oppose most limitations. It said it would grade presidential contenders after party nominations have been confirmed. Shortly after the December 2 terrorist shootings in San Bernardino, California, in which a couple claiming loyalty to the Islamic State group killed 14 people and wounded 22 others, the Senate rejected two gun control measures. Politico noted they were designed by Democrats to put Republicans on record on the charged issue. On Monday, a group of Democratic senators said they planned to revive one of the measures, sponsored by Dianne Feinstein of California. It would close a loophole that now allows people on an FBI terrorist watch list to legally buy guns if they clear a background check. House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, planned to meet with his leadership team to determine whether and how to respond. Linda Finkel-Talvadkar, co-founder of a group that advocates for universal background checks and a few other reforms, said she went to its weekly Monday noon demonstration in front of the White House deeply saddened by the Orlando deaths but motivated to pressure Congress. We cannot give up, she said. Her group, We the People for Common-sense Gun Laws, was waiting for a complete list of the Orlando victims names to add them to a long timeline of mass shootings. Finkel-Talvadkar said the timeline also needs names from a mass shooting last weekend in Roswell, New Mexico, in which a woman and four children were killed. Police were searching for the woman's husband, suspected in the killings. After the worst terror attack on U.S. soil since 9/11, Muslims in the Orlando, Florida, area say they feel the backlash and have received thousands of pieces of hate mail in the last couple of days, VOA has learned through interviews with local residents. "The Muslim community has experienced severe backlash in the last 36 hours since this happened and the world came to know about it. Thousands of [pieces of] hate mail, calls and threats have been logged by phone, by email, through social media against our community here in central Florida, Orlando," said Imam Muhammad Musri, the president of American Islam, a national group representing moderate U.S. Muslims, and a member of the Islamic Society of Central Florida. Despite the efforts by the larger community in Orlando to keep rising tensions and anti-Muslim rhetoric in check, Muslims in the city feel uneasy and concerned about the situation. Musri said that the Muslim community understands the anger of the people in Orlando, but added that the anger should be channeled in a positive direction to help other people in need. Zarghee Mayan, who was born in Kandahar, Afghanistan, and grew up in New York City, runs a fried chicken restaurant in Orlando. He told VOA that, like a majority of people in Orlando, the attack caught him by surprise. "I think this was a cowardly attack. The people in Orlando and entire America, we keep going through terrorist acts like this by cowardly people. It is hurting us as Afghan-Americans over here," Mayan said. "Everywhere I have been today, I have seen people looking at me the wrong way. I hear people talking wrong [and saying bad things] about Muslims." Online funds set record In the aftermath of the attack, the Muslim community of Orlando rushed to help the victims, setting up online accounts and donating blood. An online account established by the Muslim community of Orlando has collected about $60,000 donated by 1,200 people. Another online account set up by the larger Orlando community is far larger, collecting over $3 million to date. Mayan says his Muslim friends took to social media to organize and help those in need. "We have friends on Facebook calling to come out and donate blood," Mayan said. Nuren Haider was among those Muslims who went to local hospitals to donate blood. She told VOA that it was a community responsibility and she had to step forward. "This is what Orlando is about. No crazy murderer can break us apart. We stand united with the LGBT community and have donated blood to help our friends," she said. "That's the least we could do. Orlando needed blood. The victims needed blood. They are my friends and I had to help." "We are one city, one nation and one people and will always remain so," she added. Mosques discourage extremism The president of the Islamic Center of Orlando, Tariq Rasheed, says that contrary to common belief, mosques discourage extremism and could be the front line in combating religious fanaticism. "These terrorists, if you look into their lives, the one thing which is very commonly found is that these people don't come to the mosque. This is a very strange thing. Most of them are on their own," Rasheed said. "If they do come to the mosque, they come occasionally. People that regularly come to the mosque get education every day." Joshua Weil is a part of the community outreach efforts at the Islamic Center of Orlando. He converted to Islam after he met his future wife in college in 2006. He thinks the internet is the main culprit when it comes to misinformation about Islam. "It is so much more misinformation, particularly if you are an American, because so much information is coming from other languages and it has to get translated," Weil said. "You have issues with poor translation, awkward translation, translations that do not carry context or just the completely made-up, uneducated and ignorant explanation of something they do not understand, and it's out there." U.S. intelligence officials did confirm that part of Orlando shooter Omar Saddiqui Mateens indoctrination was done through the internet, and law enforcement officers are going through his phone, emails and social media accounts to try to trace the sites he visited. Regardless of what prompted Mateen to kill so many people, the Muslim community of Orlando says his acts were contradictory to Islamic teachings. "We 100 percent condemn the attack. The Islamic Society of Central Florida and as a Muslim community, we want the people to know that what happened goes totally against the teachings of Islam," said Musri. "Islam is judged by what's said in the Quran and by the Prophet. Nowhere in the Quran does it say to kill innocent people." Patience Carter hid in a bathroom with her friends during the shooting rampage early Sunday at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida. She said she just wanted the shooting to end, even if it meant her own death. So I was just begging God to just please take me, and I just wanted to close my eyes and just let him, just literally take the soul out of my body, Carter said Tuesday. I was begging for God to take the soul out of my body because I didnt want to feel more pain. I didnt want to get any more shots. Carter, from Philadelphia, was shot in the leg and remains at a Florida hospital. She said she felt guilty for being alive. Angel Colon also described the shots in the midst of chaos. WATCH: Orlando shooting survivor details harrowing ordeal Everyone started running everywhere," he said. "I got trampled over. I shattered and broke my bones in my left leg. By this time, I couldnt walk at all. All I could do was just lie down there while everyone was just running on top of me, trying to get where they had to be. All I could hear was the shotgun one after another. And people screaming, people yelling for help. Colon said he heard the shooter, Omar Mateen, returning, and as he did, he was shooting previous victims people who were dead on the floor to be sure they were dead. He shoots the girl next to me, and I am lying there thinking, 'I am next, I am dead.' But Colon did not die in the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. He faked being dead until he was taken out of the nightclub by a policeman, who dragged him across the floor littered with glass from the shooting spree. Shot in the hand, the hip and several times in the leg, Colon was taken to the Orlando Regional Medical Center, along with many other victims of the shooting spree. On Tuesday, he was still there, talking to reporters at a news conference that included the medical personnel who worked to save him and the others. WATCH: Orlando hospital staff fight to save nightclub casualties Expression of thanks If it weren't for you guys, I definitely wouldn't be here, said Colon, sitting in a wheelchair. He thanked the policeman who saved him and the hospital's doctors and nurses who treated him. The faces of nurses in green scrubs around the room lit up. But their smiles were more emotional than happy. Initially, reporters in the room sat there with glassy faces. Then they started to shout over one another with questions. Later, one of the doctors who was on the scene Sunday compared the mayhem at the medical center to the clamor at the press conference. Dr. Tim Bullard told VOA that patients were crying out in pain and the hospital staff members were calling out to each other to get what they needed to treat patients. People try to get louder and louder so they can be heard, so it escalates," he said. "But in the end, it was OK and we got everything done, but its very much, very loud. Dr. Joseph Ibrahim, the hospital's trauma medical director, compared the situation to "a war scene. Trauma bay was very full. We had patients in every corner." The Orlando Regional Medical Center staff members uniformly credited their training for allowing them to do their jobs under enormous pressure, but they were uncertain about how the experience would affect them in the long run. Its been hard to sleep for the past few days, said one. You keep reliving it, said another. I dont know how this is going to affect me," a third staffer said. "We do see this [kind of trauma], we just dont see it in this magnitude. Grieving family members and loved ones gathered at Orlandos Beardall Senior Center early Monday morning to seek final word on the fate of the victims of Sunday's massacre at Pulse nightclub, where 49 people were killed and another 53 were injured. They came and went in pairs or groups at the senior center, just a kilometer and a half from the nightclub, their heads bowed low, shielding their faces from journalists' cameras. Many clung to one another. Some wore sunglasses to obscure tears. "We need prayers for everyone, said a Latino relative between sobs. No more hate," a woman rejoined, "or discrimination." By daylight, 37 had heard the news they did not want to hear about the deaths of loved ones. More trickled in throughout the day. Caring for community A block away from Pulse, standing in front of the yellow tape that kept the club cordoned off, Terry DeCarlo, executive director of the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Central Florida, talked about the horrific 24 hours he'd endured, which included only 15 minutes of sleep. A crowd, mostly journalists, stood in the mind-numbing heat at Orange and Grant streets. Volunteers came by with water. Overhead, helicopters circled nonstop. DeCarlo had not had time to process his own grief. He knew two people on the list of victims and said his heart was breaking, but that he'd mourn when he finally got home. In the meantime, he was involved with caring for his community, an effort that included providing counseling for anyone who needed it and raising money to help the victims of the massacre. Those families who have people in the hospital are not going to have to worry about a hospital bill, he said. Burial costs, whatever. Everything is going to be covered for those families of the victims in the club or in the hospital. The outpouring of love from around the world has just been incredible. By midafternoon, $1.5 million had been raised by what DeCarlo called "a massive ball of community" that had come together in the wake of the attack. DeCarlo said 100 percent of the money would go back to the families. The LGBT community in Orlando is large and tight-knit. And since the attack, it has been joined by others. Among those pulling together in the community were Muslims. Salaam Bhatti said the Muslims who lined up to donate blood, in queues that stretched for more than a kilometer, were horrified about what had happened. Bhatti, national spokesman for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA, which he said is the oldest Muslim organization in the U.S., said there is no place for hatred in Islam. You cannot go around hitting people in the LGBT community," he said. "You cannot go around hitting people because of their race or any gender, or anything." Progress breeds evil The question everyone was asking: Why? DeCarlo had an answer. It had to do with the rapid progress of gay rights in the past year, including the legalization of gay marriage. DeCarlo said it brought out the evil in some people. Although the evil has always been there, as we get stronger, our voices get louder, the evil comes out a little bit more, he said. But he said violent events like the one at Pulse would backfire on their perpetrators, because they only make the community, gay and straight, stronger. We know that the people who were standing to the sidelines" while others marched to demonstrate support for the LGBT community "are now walking into the street," he said. Volunteer Mark Gorodnick said he was proud of the strides his community has made but felt it was unfortunate that it took an attack to unite them. He's worried that the attention on the issue and the people affected will wane. A week or a month from now, is anyone even going to care anymore? Gorodnick asked. You have to hope that after everybody leaves, the community will still stand together. 'Tomorrow's not a promise' Orlando-area residents Tammy Fout, Gordie LaFaye and their granddaughter, Audrie, stood down the street from the cordoned-off shooting site, where they had come to say a prayer. Fout said that upon hearing about the shootings, she felt chills and had trouble breathing. "You just dont expect it," she said of the violent attack. "You hear about it all over the world, but when it really hits where you are at, where you can come and see it like this, it does something to you. Todays here, tomorrows not a promise, added LaFaye. So always give thanks and be blessed for what you have." Calls for Muslims to be banned from U.S. entry as a result of the Orlando mass shooter's claim of allegiance to Islamic State could strain U.S. relations with allies in Muslim-majority nations, said an official with the largest Muslim civil liberties group in the U.S. "Whenever you have a situation where allies are concerned about possible reckless behavior if someone gets into the White House, I think that can only harm our relations with the rest of the world," said Ibrahim Hooper, national spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). His comments came Monday after presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump repeated a call for a temporary ban on Muslim immigration to the U.S., following Sunday's massacre at a Florida nightclub with a predominately gay clientele. Authorities say Omar Saddiqui Mateen, an American Muslim born to Afghan parents, declared loyalty to Islamic State and its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, as he opened fire in Orlando, killing at least 49 people. Trump's call for the ban has received wide criticism, including from Democratic rival Hillary Clinton's camp, which accused him of "political attacks." Support for ban However, his call to curtail Muslim entry has received some support. "We need to halt Muslim immigration until the jihad threat is resolved, or Americans will be killed at home by Muslim terrorists," said Karin McQuillan in an article for American Thinker, an internet publication. It also comes at a time when some U.S. lawmakers have raised concerns about an alleged Saudi connection to extremism, as a bill that would open the door for September 11, 2001, terror attack victims to sue the Saudi government makes its way through Congress. In a May hearing, Congressman Brad Sherman questioned if there was a link between terrorism and the Saudi government's support for Wahhabism, an ultra-conservative interpretation of Islam. "What concerns me," said Sherman, is the Saudi government is seeking protection from legislation that could expose it to lawsuits while "defending every day the Wahhabi mullahs who not only preach orthodox practices of Islam but preach violence and murder against those whom they disagree with." Said Hooper: "Our government is doing what it can to mitigate the damage from this well-coordinated and well-financed Islamophobia industry in our nation. But there is only so much you can do." The State Department said more than 50 countries and leaders had expressed solidarity and condolences in the wake of Sunday's mass shooting. Bigotry and IS In a Monday appearance, Secretary of State John Kerry said the worst thing that could be done was to "engage in trying to point fingers at one group or one form of sectarianism or another, or one division or another." Shaarik Zafar, the State Department's special representative to Muslim communities, told VOA that in his travels abroad he is often asked about his perception of anti-Muslim sentiment in the U.S. "I generally respond by acknowledging that while bigotry and discrimination are unfortunate occurrences in every corner of the globe, including the United States, such intolerance does not accurately portray our country," he said. Counterterrorism expert Malcolm Nance said bigotry toward Muslims could inadvertently help extremist groups. "Rampant Islamophobia is ISIS' greatest weapon," said Nance, who heads the Terror Asymmetrics Project. In addition to aggressive law enforcement, one of the best things that U.S. leaders can do is to avoid "demonizing" Muslim Americans, said Brookings Institution Middle East analyst Daniel Byman. "Even as we mourn the tragic deaths of so many of our countrymen," he said, the U.S. must ensure that "someone like Mateen is portrayed as hateful and pathetic, not as a representative of a broader threat among American Muslims." Sunday's mass shooting in Orlando, Florida the worst in U.S. history has refocused the U.S. presidential campaign on the threat of terrorism and especially how to stop so-called "lone wolf" attacks. Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's previous proposal for a ban on Muslims also is getting fresh attention, rekindling fears among some Republicans that he will be a divisive general election candidate. "Well, he's a volatile candidate," said John Fortier of the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington. "And I think there have been moments where he has seemed to be tamed and become more a part of the party and made peace with the [Republican] establishment and then times where his comments really bring those problems up again. So, I don't think we are going to see that change with Donald Trump. He is who he is." But some Republicans have cheered Trump's focus on calling out President Barack Obama and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton for refusing to use the term "radical Islamic terrorism." It has become a prime example of Trump's pledge to do away with political correctness. On Monday,Trump spoke to supporters in Manchester, New Hampshire, where he seemed to offer a new version of his plan to temporarily ban non-American Muslims from entering the U.S. "When I'm elected, I will suspend immigration from areas of the world where there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe or our allies," Trump told cheering supporters. "We cannot continue to allow thousands upon thousands of people to pour into our country, many of whom have the same thought process as this savage killer." Debate over the term radical Islamic terrorism Trump also wasted little time in accusing both the president and Clinton of having policies that have left the United States vulnerable to attack. Clinton wants to allow radical Islamic terrorists to pour into our country. They enslave women and they murder gays. I don't want them in our country, he said. Trump also blasted both Obama and Clinton for a reluctance to utter the phrase "radical Islamic terrorism." Clinton took issue with that in an interview on CNN, and said she is not afraid to use the term, but added that she does not want to "demonizeand declare war on an entire region." Clinton did use the phrase "radical jihadists" during a campaign appearance Monday in Cleveland, Ohio. Clinton appeals for unity Clinton opened her remarks in Cleveland with an appeal for national unity in the wake of the Orlando mass shooting. "This is a moment when all Americans need to stand together. No matter how many times we endure attacks like this, the horror never fades." Clinton also spoke in favor of additional gun control measures, saying she would make lone wolf terrorists a priority and seemed to take issue with Trump's proposed Muslim ban. "We should be intensifying contacts in those communities, not scapegoating or isolating them," Clinton said to cheers from supporters. President Obama also mentioned the need for additional gun control during a brief photo opportunity with reporters. "We make it very easy for individuals who are troubled or disturbed or who want to engage in violent acts to get very powerful weapons very quickly, and that's a problem," the president said after a briefing on the Orlando tragedy from top law enforcement officials in the administration. Trump's challenge: please the base and seem presidential Trump's reaction to the Orlando massacre and some of his previous seat-of-the-pants reactions to foreign policy issues have raised longstanding questions among analysts about whether he can shift from a primary contender to a national presidential candidate. At the moment, Trump appears to be more concerned with solidifying his base within the Republican Party than making the political pivot to a more acceptable national candidate. "He needs to hold on to that passionate 30 percent base that really loves him, partly because he says things that are unpopular with the rest of us," said Michael O'Hanlon of the Brookings Institution in a recent interview. "So, can he maintain that bridge between saying things that are unpopular and saying things that are presidential, or can he establish that connection? I don't know." Recent polls give Clinton a big advantage in handling foreign policy issues, including surveys done by Quinnipiac University and Gallup. But a Quinnipiac survey done last month also gave Trump a slight edge on the question of which candidate would be tougher in dealing with the threat posed by Islamic State. Forty-nine percent of those asked said Trump, while 41 percent said Clinton. The father of Reeva Steenkamp gave heartbreaking testimony Tuesday as Oscar Pistorius' sentencing hearing continued. Barry Steenkamp says his daughters death devastated him and his family and that Pistorius needs to pay for his crime. The superstar athlete faces at least 15 years in jail for murdering his girlfriend. A fathers pain, laid bare. Gerrie Nel: Mr. Steenkamp, do you still think of Reeva? Barry Steenkamp: My Lady, every day. Every day of my life, morning, noon, at night, early hours of the morning. I think of her all the time. Barry Steenkamps hands and body shook as he told Judge Thokozile Masipa and her rapt courtroom about his youngest daughter. The law graduate and aspiring model was 29-years-old when she killed by her boyfriend, superstar athlete Oscar Pistorius. Her father was called to testify at Pistorius sentencing hearing in Pretoria. The athlete was convicted of murder last year and now faces a minimum sentence of 15 years. Pistorius sat in the dock with his head bowed, occasionally clutching his head in his hands, as Steenkamp spoke to the court for the first time since this headline case began in 2014. During the trial, Pistorius claimed that he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder when he shot four times through a locked bathroom door, killing her, on the night of Valentines Day, 2013. Prosecutors argued that he meant to kill Steenkamp. Steenkamp told the court of how the shock of his daughters death led to his stroke two months later, and to his continuing heart and health problems. He told the court how he and his wife were virtually bankrupt after Reevas death and were ordered to leave their home and how they reluctantly accepted money from Pistorius. He said his wife, June, cries at night over the only child the couple had together. Reeva, June has said, was their "laat lammetjie" a baby born years after older siblings. In the Afrikaans language, the term means late lamb. June, he says, has forgiven because shes a Christian. But then you must understand, while forgiving like that, it still does not exonerate you from the crime that you committed. So he must still understand that he must have to pay for that, although that June has forgiven him so that she can carry on with her life. Oscar has to pay for what he did, he said. Steenkamp declined to recommend a sentence, and said he deferred to Masipas judgement. In 2014, she convicted Pistorius of culpable homicide equivalent to the U.S. charge of manslaughter and gave him a five-year sentence. He was released on parole in October after a year of time served, only to see his conviction overturned by an appeals court and replaced with a murder conviction in December. Now, Masipa will have to choose a sentence to fit a murder conviction South Africa does not hold jury trials. But Pistorius dogged legal team is not giving up. On Monday, the first day of the hearing, his defense presented a psychologist who said that he is now a broken man and needs hospitalization, not imprisonment. The hearing continues. A senior police chief and an unidentified woman were stabbed to death outside his home in France Monday night. A three-year-old boy was rescued by police at the scene. The assailant was killed in clashes with police at the scene. The 42-year-old police commander was killed outside his home in Magnanville, about 55 kilometers west of Paris, before the attacker moved inside to kill the officer's presumed partner. "The toll is a heavy one," interior minister spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet told reporters at the scene. "This commander, this police officer was killed by the individual... [and] we discovered the body of a woman. The assailant, the criminal was killed. Thankfully, a little boy was saved. He was in the house. He's safe and sound." Islamic State's news agency "Amaq" has claimed responsibility for the attack, but Islamic State has not officially annoucned that the assailant was one of their own. French president Francois Hollande "strongly condemned this odious act," vowing that "all light will be shed on the circumstances of this terrible tragedy," in a meeting of top officials at the presidential palace early Tuesday. One day after a mass shooting killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump reiterated his support for a plan to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States. At a campaign rally in New Hampshire Monday, Trump promised his supporters that, if elected, he would use the executive powers to "suspend immigration from areas of the world where there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe or our allies, until we fully understand how to end these threats." Although the suspected Orlando shooter, Omar Mateen, was an American citizen, Trump suggested immigrants from the Middle East can come to the U.S. and radicalize people who are already here, or work to convince them online. "The media talks about homegrown terrorism," Trump said. "But Islamic radicalism ... and the networks that nurture it are imports from overseas whether you like it or don't like it." Middle Eastern countries Refugees and immigrants from conflict ridden Middle Eastern countries like Syria, Iraq and Libya could "be a better, bigger more horrible version than the legendary Trojan horse ever was," Trump said. But a recent Brookings Institution survey found Americans are far more welcoming of refugees than the billionaire candidate. Of those surveyed, 59 percent support accepting refugees, while 41 percent oppose it. Those views are split right down party lines, with just 38 percent of Republicans supporting taking in refugees from Syria and the Middle East, compared to 77 percent of Democrats. But among Trump supporters, an overwhelming 77 percent said they oppose taking in refugees. The Obama administration has set a goal of admitting as many as 10,000 Syrian refugees to the United States by the fall.Respondents of the surveys also were sharply divided on whether they would be willing to accept refugees from Syria in particular, with 61 percent of Republicans saying the U.S. should not accept Syrian refugees, compared to 27 percent of Democrats. Trump supporters again overwhelmingly opposed accepting Syrian refugees, with 52 percent of them citing fear of terrorism as their biggest concern. Refugees in the US An overwhelming majority of those surveyed said Americans should welcome the refugees already in the country and help absorb them into society. But 21 percent said the Syrian refugees currently in the U.S. should be expelled. Trump supporters favored expulsion by 67 percent, compared with 10 percent of Clinton supporters. The survey also asked respondents if they support "a total shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on," as proposed by the Republican front-runner. Among Trump's supporters, 80 percent backed the initiative. Only 14 percent of Clinton supporters did the same. The survey was conducted by Brookings scholar and University of Maryland professor Shibley Telhami between May 20-31. In Uganda, tensions continue to simmer, four months after the countrys disputed presidential poll. A wave of arrests, including those of current and former military officers, followed by an armed attack on a police station in the north, have sparked concern this week as the runner-up in the vote goes on trial for treason. Ugandan police have sought to downplay the attack late Sunday on the police station in the northern town of Gulu. According to official reports, 10 to 12 suspects opened fire, attempting to rescue Dan Oola Odia, an official of the Uganda People's Congress, an opposition party. Inspector General of Police Kale Kayihura told the media not to sensationalize the incident. "We wish to assure the country that Uganda is peaceful and stable and condemn those who quickly rush to post messages on social media after the attack exaggerating the situation, the magnitude of the incident and even giving their own version," Kayihura said. Police say the attackers in Gulu used guns stolen from a local defense unit last month. The firefight, which left one soldier dead, lasted 30 minutes. The suspects escaped, but police have since reported several arrests. A new group calling themselves the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) took responsibility for the attack on social media. Little is known about them. More violence feared Dickens Okello, a local journalist currently in Gulu, told VOA residents are concerned about the possibility of more violence. You remember this is the area that had two decades of rebellion. Like yesterday in the evening, that was Monday evening, there were two incidents where some bullets were released and the whole town went into panic mode again. It was at 5 pm when children were returning back from school and people were retiring from work... and you could see cars and motorcycles rushing just like on Sunday night when the incident happened, Okello said. The gunfire was later attributed to police, who upon arresting several suspects, were attempting to control the crowd. Sundays attack came on the heels of reports that around 30 people, including military veterans and officers, have been arrested for suspected anti-government activity. Local media are talking about an alleged coup plot, although Defense spokesperson Paddy Ankunda called this a mischaracterization. We are conducting a joint operation with police on tip-offs and very reliable information that some of these characters were planning subversive activities in the country that may jeopardize peace and security for other people. And therefore we have arrested some of them and they are helping us with investigations and we will continue to update the country on what is happening, Ankunda said. And tensions could continue to rise. Opposition leader Kizza Besiyge is expected to appear in court Wednesday on treason charges. Many of those arrested this week have ties to one of Besiyges allies, leading to speculation that their arrests could be related to the case against him. Besiyge has been detained since the February 18 presidential poll. He was charged with treason after he declared himself the rightful president of Uganda in April as President Yoweri Museveni was inaugurated for his fifth term in office. The opposition had contested the election results. For the first time the U.N. Security Council has used language acknowledging violence targeting the LGBT community in an official statement. The statement released by the Council Monday said "members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the terrorist attack in Orlando, Florida, on 12 June 2016, targeting persons as a result of their sexual orientation, during which 49 people were killed and 53 injured." The language was reportedly met with resistance from Russia and Egypt, two of more than 70 nations in which LGBT status is still criminalized. "It's important, it's a small change but it's an important change," the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power told reporters after attending the vigil at the Stonewall Inn to pay her respects to the victims of the shooting. "We've tried to promote LGBTI rights at every turn even brought the issue of ISIL attacks against LGBTI people to the Security Council for the first time, but we met a lot of resistance," she said, using an acronym for the Islamic State terror organization, which is also know as IS, ISIS and Daesh. Other bodies of the U.N. have acknowledged human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity, beginning with the U.N. Human Rights Council in 2011. A first resolution, adopted by the UNHRC in June 2011, expressed "grave concern at acts of violence and discrimination, in all regions of the world, committed against individuals because of their sexual orientation and gender identity." It also called for study to document discriminatory laws, practices, and acts of violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity around the world. Though this was a landmark resolution from the U.N., it was only adopted by a vote of 23 to 19, with all Muslim nations present and the Russian Federation voting against the decision. China abstained from the vote. In 2014, the U.N. secured same-sex partner benefits for U.N. members a decision that Russia, backed by 43 states including Saudi Arabia, China, Iran, and Egypt, unsuccessfully tried to overturn. Resistance from Russia, China, and Muslim states has not eased in recent years. Just last month, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), a group of 57 mainly Muslim states, blocked 11 gay and transgender organizations from attending a high-level U.N. meeting on ending AIDS. The inclusion of LGBT language in the Security Council's statement marks a small but significant change in the U.N.'s discourse, in which many member states have encouraged inclusion and a focus on human rights in a world increasingly plagued by terror. "We can see again that the way we defeat ISIL is we bring unity on behalf of human rights and on behalf of peace and security," Ambassador Power added Monday. The U.N. childrens fund warned in a new report that increasing numbers of unaccompanied refugee and migrant children in Europe are at risk of exploitation and abuse. The report, titled Danger Every Step of the Way, was released in Geneva. Last year, aid agencies focused their care and protection programs on refugee and migrant children arriving in Europe on the eastern Mediterranean; but, few people are arriving in Europe via that route since the closure of borders in the Balkans and a Turkey-EU agreement largely stemmed the migration flow. So, concerns for the welfare of unaccompanied children have shifted to those arriving in Europe on the central Mediterranean route. UNICEF spokeswoman Sarah Crowe said this new trend is very worrying. Nine out of 10 refugee children arriving in Europe this year through Italy are unaccompanied. This is a very worrying number of children," she said. "... When all eyes have been focused on Greece, this has unfolded in a somewhat silent tragedy in the central Mediterranean. UNICEF reports more than 7,000 unaccompanied children have made the crossing from North Africa to Italy in the first five months of the year. This is twice as many as last year. Children interviewed for this report described being forced into prostitution, exploited and trafficked every step of the way. Crowe said these children rely on smugglers in a system known as pay as you go that opens them to exploitation. Crowe told VOA 95 percent of the unaccompanied children are boys and most are between the ages of 15 and 17. She said they come largely from Somalia, Eritrea, the Gambia and lately from Egypt. She added that boys as well as girls are often forced into prostitution to pay off their debts to smugglers. With summer approaching, UNICEF warned the number of children arriving in Europe on the central Mediterranean route may just be the beginning. It noted 235,000 migrants currently are in Libya tens of thousands of them unaccompanied children. The agency said all unaccompanied children are entitled to protection. It said every country these children leave or cross or in which they seek asylum has a duty to protect them from the risks they face. Even as the humanitarian crisis unfolds during the fierce battle to recapture Fallujah, Iraq, another humanitarian disaster is developing in northern Iraq. More than 14,000 Iraqis have now been forced to flee their homes following a renewed offensive by Iraqi forces against the Islamic State group southeast of Mosul, and more are leaving every day. Mosul has been under IS control since June 2014. According to UNHCR, the U.N. refugee agency, civilians living southeast of the city have been walking through minefields at night to escape the fighting as Iraqi security forces edge closer to the city. Frederic Cussigh, head of the UNHCRs field response unit in Irbil, said there were reports some refugees had been trapped, severely injured or killed in minefields on their way to safety. Camps set up to receive them are rapidly filling up. An eventual assault on Mosul could result in a displacement of upward of 600,000 people, the UNCHR warned. The current offensive in Fallujah, by comparison, has displaced 43,000, and humanitarian agencies there are already warning of being overwhelmed by refugees needs. The numbers are impressive and show a rapidly changing world. Since 2008, more women than men have been earning doctoral degrees, and the percentage has continued to increase over the years. Black women are no exception, but according to the website blackwomenphd.org, they make up less than five percent of the total Ph.D. population in the United States That's part of what makes the eight African-American women who will earn their Ph.D.s in education this summer from Indiana University so special. For them, this graduation is a small victory and the credit goes to their support group, called Sister Circle. The womens reasons for pursuing doctorate degrees vary. As children, Nadrea Njoku and Johari Shuck watched their mothers earn college degrees, while Tiffany Kyser and Jada Phelps-Moultrie saw inequities while teaching that they wanted to address. No matter their motivation, Phelps-Moultrie says they are grateful to Sister Circle, aimed at women of color. "It was refreshing, I would say, to have other people that look like you," she told VOA. "Particularly when I was in a bachelor's and master's program where I was the only one." Sister Circle was born of a Facebook post, asking if there were any female minority students attending Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis pursuing advanced degrees. Isolation, solitude The eight women had met each other here and there before the group cemented their friendship and helped them toward their goal. Jasmine Haywood says it was a great place to vent frustrations, offer help, and cheer each other on. "It helps the take away the feelings of isolation and solitude," Haywood said. "No matter who you are, getting a Ph.D. can be a lonely process. Then add layers of woman of color, mother, wife it can become that much more isolating." In addition to meeting in person, the group offered a lot of online support from posting announcements about helpful educational opportunities, to sharing encouragement. On many occasions, it facilitated one-on-one assistance, like watching each other's children or helping those like Shuck who live several hours away. "We've all had each others' backs," she said. "I've been here in Chicago, but I still have business in Indiana, so needing things being signed, helping paperwork get around, I've relied on Jasmine to do that. Instead of the typical two or three education doctoral students of color, this year there are 10 the Sister Circle women and two men. University officials attribute that to a larger class than usual, a flexible admissions policy, and as professor Robin Hughes points out a special emphasis on recruiting minority students. "I'm hoping that this is a trend not only at this institution but at all institutions," Hughes said, "and that it won't be a big deal that we're graduating folks of color. That will be the norm." Transformed Hughes, the adviser for many of the women in the Sister Circle, says the key is to make sure schools don't just claim to embrace diversity, but take proactive measures such as hiring a diverse staff to attract students of color. Kyser, who plans to use her degree to help schools address racial inequities within their systems, says those proactive measures should start early from preschool on and focus on ensuring physical, emotional, cultural and intellectual safety in the classroom. "All students should feel free to take intellectual risks," Kyser said. "They should be supported in their learning and growth through a safe and inclusive framework." Njoku joined the doctoral program after her hometown of New Orleans was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Watching her single mother attend college is what sparked her desire to attend graduate school. She says the storm re-emphasized how important it was to get a higher degree, especially for people of color. "I just saw our life transformed in ways that I had never imagined it would," Njoku said. "Like I saw her transform as a college student in general, but then when she received her degree, the amount of financial independence that we received! The women hope to keep Sister Circle going long after they go their separate ways. They plan to hand it off to a new generation of students over the summer. If they have one piece of advice for anyone attending college at any level, it's to have a great support network of family and friends in place. It can make all the difference. The U.S. Democratic National Committee (DNC) said Tuesday its computer network was breached by Russian government hackers who gained access to opposition information on presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz described the incident as "serious" and said the committee moved quickly to "kick out the intruders and secure our network" with the help of a cyber company called CrowdStrike. The hacking incident, first reported by The Washington Post, does not appear to have yielded financial or personal information, said the DNC. The paper, citing committee officials and security expects, said the hackers had access to all emails and chat exchanges and to the DNC network for about a year. The top Democrat on the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff, said Tuesday he would not elaborate on the incident, but that Russian targeting should be expected. "While I cannot get into the specifics of any one attack or hack, in light of our increasingly adversarial relationship with Russia after their invasion of Ukraine, we must expect that Russia, in particular, will target our institutions relentlessly - and for those that are not well defended, successfully," Schiff said in a statement. A Russian embassy spokesman told the The Washington Post he had no knowledge of the breach. Tuesday is national Flag Day in the United States. While it is not a full-blown federal holiday, Flag Day is meant for Americans to recognize the importance of the flag and its place in U.S. history. Especially now, Tim Lankford of the American Legion National Headquarters in Indianapolis told the Chicago Tribune. His statement comes just days after the worst mass shooting in the country's history when Omar Mateen went on a rampage at the gay nightclub Pulse in Orlando, Florida, killing 49 people and injuring 53 others. "We would hope, or I would hope, the flag symbolizes everything America stands for and its Constitution," Lankford told the newspaper. Flag Day: June 14 (Tuesday) is national Flag Day in the United States. Commemoration: The date commemorates the adoption of the U.S. flag on June 14, 1777. The entire week, through Saturday, is designated Flag Week. National holiday: On May 30, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation for nationwide observance of Flag Day. In 1949, Congress passed legislation signed by President Harry Truman that made June 14 national Flag Day. Flag display: The flag should be displayed from sunrise to sunset. If there is inclement weather, an all-weather flag should be used. Orlando victims: President Barack Obama declared a national period of mourning for the victims of Sundays mass shooting in Orlando, Florida, with the U.S. flag to be flown at half-staff until Thursday (June 16) at the White House and all public buildings, military posts and naval vessels, as well as at all U.S. embassies and other facilities abroad. Cant lower flag to half-staff? The U.S. flag code doesnt specifically address what to do if a flag cant be flown at half-staff, such as those affixed to poles outside homes. U.S. Army Flag regulations allow for a black mourning streamer or ribbon to be attached to the top of the flag. Flag etiquette: However, experts said it is not disrespectful to those in mourning if the flag is left in its normal position. John Hartvigsen, president of the North American Vexillological Association, told the Chicago Tribune that the normal flying of a flag still would honor victims of Sundays tragedy. "It was not just an attack on the gay community and people in Florida, it was an attack on every American," Hartvigsen told the newspaper of the shooting. U.S. flag facts: The U.S. flag is older than the Union Jack of Great Britain and the tri-color flag of France, according to the Veterans of Foreign Wars. It also is the only flag to have been flown on the moon, Flag design: Legend has it that Pennsylvania seamstress Betsy Ross designed the flag. Pledge of Allegiance: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. The U.S. government says it is investing $200 million to help reduce the wait time for organ transplants, including a program to advance the science of tissue repair. The investment, led by the Defense Department, brings together funds and expertise from the government, universities, companies and non-profits. The plan includes more than $160 million in public and private funding to create the Advanced Tissue Biofabrication Manufacturing Innovation Institute, which will help develop ways of fabricating tissue. Grants will also be given to small businesses that are trying to improve organ and tissue preservation to allow more time for transplantation. The investments were announced Monday at an organ donor summit hosted by the White House. White House officials say more than 120,000 people in the United States are on a donor waiting list, with the vast majority of those needing a kidney. Social media sites Facebook, Tinder and Twitter say they are developing new options for donor registration declarations to try to increase the number of potential organ donors. U.S. Under Secretary of State Catherine Novelli met senior Cambodian leaders in Phnom Penh last Friday during a three-day visit to the country, discussing a range of issues including deforestation, the investment climate, energy and technology. Novelli also raised the possibility that Cambodia could join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a controversial U.S.-led trade agreement between Pacific Rim states. Visiting just four months after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry made a trip to the Southeast Asian country, Novelli met Minister of Environment Say Sam Al and Agriculture Minister Ouk Rabun, along with a top telecommunications official, journalists and tech-sector entrepreneurs. "I think that our economic relationship is strong, with $3 billion in two-way trade, and we are the top country partner of Cambodia in terms of trade," she said during a meeting with journalists during her visit. 'Bilateral investment' "We would like to enhance that, possibly to conclude a bilateral investment treaty as well as find ways to work to gather on practical issues that can really cement our relationship and help bring Cambodia to the next level," she said. Amid ongoing political tensions in the country, the government led by Prime Minister Hun Sen needs to do more to ensure political stability so as not to hurt investment, Novelli said. "Companies like to know that they are in a place that is open and stable in terms of that openness," she said, adding that the country has shown great economic potential and could even become a member of the TPP, connecting to a market of about 1.5 billion people. "The way that TPP was originally planned was that we would start with the countries that are the initial countries, but it was always planned that the TPP would be expanded," Novelli said. "Once everybody gets the current TPP approved and up and running, we'll be interested in having Cambodia be part of that TPP." Foreign investments Despite rapid economic gains, Phnom Penh officials need to do more to secure foreign investment, some business leaders say. Steven Path, president of the Cambodian ICT Federation, a trade group comprising the country's top information and communications technology entrepreneurs, told VOA Khmer that Cambodia's lack of trained employees is a major barrier to investment. Len Tan, CEO of electronics firm ICE, echoed that sentiment, calling on educational institutions to be more receptive to commercial trends. "If we had educational institutions that really emphasize human resources, I think it would help the economy drastically," he said. Novelli also visited areas hard hit by illegal logging, which she described as an issue to which the country's environmental minister has shown impressive commitment. In 2015, Paris-based Reporters Without Borders named Cambodia among the "deadliest" countries for journalists to cover environmental issues. The contrast couldn't be greater. International aid reached Syrian government-controlled areas in Latakia and Deir ez-Zor provinces Monday and Tuesday. Those aid deliveries came just three days after the government targeted the town of Daraya for airstrikes, hours after U.N. agencies delivered aid to the rebel-held Damascus suburb for the first time in almost four years. Opposition politicians say if proof was needed that the government of President Bashar al-Assad manipulates aid, here it is. The city of Latakia is not even besieged, they add. In most wars, combatants wield aid as a weapon, circumscribing humanitarian access to enemy-held territory, hoping hunger will starve resistance into submission and undermine the morale of foes. In no war is this truer than in Syria, where the horror of a vicious conflict has been compounded by aid being held hostage to politics and combat, according to analysts and Western diplomats. And, for the most part, it is the Assad government that blocks and restricts humanitarian access. "This is not an accident, but rather part of a deliberate ploy to use human suffering as a strategy of warfare," said James Denselow, an analyst at the Foreign Policy Center, a U.K.-based foreign affairs research organization. The Dayara aid delivery followed weeks of international negotiations. U.N. agencies and Western governments had been pressing for humanitarian access to more than 19 towns and districts besieged by Assad government forces. Many have not seen any food or humanitarian shipments in years. The United States and Britain have been among the foremost Western powers pushing for international relief agencies to be granted unimpeded access, stressing the insufficiency of the small amounts of aid the Assad regime has allowed through to rebel-controlled areas since a cessation-of-hostilities deal was struck in February. Airdrops controversial Western powers have urged the United Nations to consider airdrops to towns denied aid by Damascus. But the U.N. envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, has been reluctant to endorse that approach, arguing that effective aid delivery will need the blessing of the Assad regime. One of the reasons, his officials say, is that airdropped supplies can easily go astray, missing their target and falling into the hands of those who are not the intended recipients. What befell Dayara after it received a nine-truck convoy of aid Saturday could well make other towns think twice about receiving aid deliveries. Dayara's opposition council described the government's follow-up as a "violent and concentrated bombing" and says it caused "enormous devastation." What can the United Nations do to ensure Syria's besieged citizens get food, and then don't get bombed by Assad forces after receiving an aid delivery? Not much, U.N. officials concede. "This is a political issue for political leaders or peacemakers to sort out," Jane Howard, a spokeswoman for the World Food Organization, said in an interview with a German television outlet. "The World Food Program is really left picking up the pieces." The lack of adequate medical care, food and shelter has added to the death toll and misery that has made Syria the world's worst humanitarian catastrophe this century. More than 4 million Syrians live in hard-to-reach areas and close to 500,000 people live in besieged areas that are on the brink of starvation, the United Nations estimates. Some NGOs calculate the number of starving could be closer to 1 million. Repeating past patterns From the start of the conflict six years ago, the Assad government has controlled the distribution of international aid for its own ends, restricting access to war-torn areas, say U.N. officials. Damascus has refused to permit U.N. agencies or nongovernmental organization partners from moving supplies across the northern border with Turkey or the southern border with Jordan into rebel-held areas on pain that they will be expelled from Damascus. Even when permission is granted for an aid convoy, the go-ahead is often withdrawn at the last moment. Opposition activists complain that by abiding by the governments strictures, the United Nations has in effect allowed aid to be used as a weapon of war. Rebel militias, as well as the Islamic State terror group and Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaida's affiliate in Syria, also block aid convoys or want to oversee distribution among local communities they control. But 90 percent of besieged areas are encircled by government forces, seen as the major culprit. Even before the Daraya bombing, there had been doubts about the credibility of a regime promise earlier this month to allow aid to flow freely to 15 of 19 designated besieged towns and districts. Before the delivery, Bouthaina Shaaban, an Assad adviser, insisted, "Nobody is starving in Daraya," which was "producing peas and beans, and food and wild berries that is enough for the entire Syria." Now the focus again is on whether to start airdropping aid to the starving. That is likely to be on the agenda Thursday, when Russian President Vladimir Putin meets U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and de Mistura in St. Petersburg. Civilians continue to be severely affected by violence in the Yemeni city of Taiz, despite the cease-fire reached two months ago between warring parties, according to the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres, or Doctors Without Borders. Some of the fiercest fighting has taken place in densely populated parts of Taiz, including daily shelling, airstrikes, bomb blasts, land mine explosions and sniper fire, an MSF statement said Tuesday. None of the warring parties appears to be trying to prevent casualties among civilians, the statement said. MSF called for all parties in Yemens conflict to take greater measures to protect civilians, reduce the intense level of conflict and facilitate unrestricted humanitarian access in Taiz. Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmad, the U.N.'s envoy to Yemen, met in the framework of peace consultations with senior Yemeni negotiators participating in intra-Yemeni talks in Kuwait. Participants discussed their priorities, he tweeted Tuesday. Kuwaits KUNA news agency reported that the talks dealt mainly with the security arrangements to maintain the cessation-of-hostilities agreement, withdrawal of armed groups, surrender of weaponry, and release of prisoners of war and detainees. According to the latest figures released by the U.N. human rights office, more than 3,500 people have been killed and nearly 6,300 wounded in Yemen since the beginning of Saudi Arabias bombing campaign against Houthi rebels about 15 months ago. A report issued by the U.N. Children's Fund on March 29 put the number of children killed at 900 and the injured at 1,300 during the first year of fighting. The leader of Zanzibars opposition Civic United Front (CUF) party said strong opposition political parties and a truly independent electoral commissions are needed to be able to defeat incumbent presidents. Seif Shariff Hamad also says Africans must ensure that the army and all other security forces are kept out of politics because too often they tend to support the ruling party. Zanzibar is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania in East Africa consisting of two larger islands and many smaller ones in the Indian Ocean just off Tanzania's coastline. In March this year, Zanzibar held a re-run of its October 2015 presidential election. But the CUF boycotted the re-run polls because it believed its candidate, Hamad, won the October 25th election last year. Hamad is currently visiting Washington to meet with U.S. government officials about the political situation in Zanzibar. Opposition: Too much power is in the hands of the ruling party Hamad explained the situation in Zanzibar as he sees it. First of all, the chairman of Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC) had no power to nullify the election of October last year. So the results of October last year are still very, very legitimate results. Secondly, you found that in the constitution of Zanzibar and in the electoral laws of Zanzibar there is no section which says that there can be a re-run or another election on top of the first election. So all these steps were much illegal steps, he said. The Zanzibar electoral commission said it annulled the results on the grounds the election was marred by several irregularities. The commission called fresh elections for March 20th this year, but the opposition boycotted them. The ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party candidate Ali Mohamed Shein won the second round of voting with 91% of the votes cast. Hamad claims to have support from around the world. "The international community supported the democratic development of the country. They were convinced that the steps by Chama Cha Mapinduzi were steps that were undemocratic. If there is a process which is very open and democratic, they will support that process. Now, you find that when there is such problem, you have to meet these people who matter to remind them that the problem still is there and they could use their leverage to see to it that we get amicable solution to the problem, he said. Opposition says the second election was illegal Hamad denied that by refusing to take part in the re-run election, his CUF party literally gave victory election to the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party. We didnt take part because we knew that first it was illegal. We did not want to participate in an illegal process. Its a matter of principle. Secondly, even if we participated, CCM nullified the election and called new election so as not to be defeated again. They had all arrangements in place to ensure that they would win, Hamad said. He said Zanzibaris are not happy with Tanzanian President John Magufulis administration despite his image around Africa as the champion of the fight against corruption. The perception people have, especially outside Tanzania is that hes fighting corruption. But the same Magufuli, as leader of the country has refused to take his responsibility in Zanzibar. All the time when he is approached he says that he cannot act; his hands are tired which is not true. So, the people of Zanzibar what they want really is to see that Magufuli acts as a responsible leader of the United Republic of Tanzania, he said. Hamad agrees that too often African opposition parties are too splintered as everyone strives to be president. But he said once opposition parties can discuss issues among themselves they might be able to come up with a suitable candidate as was the case in Tanzania when the opposition put forward a single candidate, Edward Lowassa, in last Octobers presidential election. As the shortage of cash in Zimbabwes financial institutions continues, there is a mounting call for the adoption of the South African rand as a major currency in the country instead of the Ameican dollar, which is now scarce in commercial banks. During his time as finance minister, Tendai Biti proposed that Zimbabwe should join the Rand Union but this was not adopted. Members of the union, also known as the Common Monetary Area, are South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho and Namibia. The other countries also use their own currency even though the rand is the legal tender. The rand is one of the multi currencies that are legal tender in Zimbabwe but the U.S dollar holds prominence though due its reputation for stability and usefulness in international transactions. Bankers, economists, business groups and politicians are urging Zimbabwe to join the union but the government is insisting that it will not adopt the rand but is optimistic that the proposed bond notes scheduled to hit the streets in October will solve the cash shortages. Some economists say adopting the rand will also be an advantage to Zimbabwe, which one of South Africa's biggest trade partners. Economist Bulisani Ncube said the rand is the only solution in easing the cash shortages. That is the best route that this country can take even the circumstance that it finds itself and also if the intention is to grow the economy. The use of the U.S dollar after the demise of the Zimbabwe dollar managed to stabilize the economy but it cannot grow it because of the over-value of the US dollar in Zimbabwe, he said. He said if goods and services produced in Zimbabwe are based on the rand they would be competitive on the market compared to basing them on the U.S dollar. Some civic society leaders have criticized parliament for not allowing adequate public consultations on the proposed Local Government Laws Amendment Bill, which they say does not address important national issues such as devolution of power to provinces. The criticism of both the public hearing process as well as the proposed bill came out during a stakeholders consultative meeting in Bulawayo, ahead of the public hearings on the bill, which began in the country yesterday. Several people, who attended the meeting, said the public hearings being held by the Portfolio Committee on Local Government, Rural and Urban Development are too few and also hit out at the local government ministry for coming up with what they said was a half-baked bill. Lawyer Kucaca Phulu, who was a facilitator at the consultative meeting, told Studio 7 that instead of dealing with comprehensive issues under the realm of local governance, the bill only deals with the issue of how to remove councillors, council chairpersons and mayors from office. Phulu said the parliaments public consultation on the bill is far too inadequate, adding that he believes the bill is being fast-tracked in order to deal with the cases of the suspension of Gweru mayor Hamutendi Kombayi and his Harare counterpart Bernard Manyenyeni. They simply deal with the issue of the removing of chairpersons, councillors and mayors and we know that in Harare there is the case of Manyenyeni and in Gweru there is the case of Kombayi and others where the minister has acted unlawfully. All they are doing is simply to fast-track this bill and thats why you see even the consultation is not sufficient. They are fast-tracking this in order to deal with the current situation and they are taking the people of Zimbabwe for granted. Vice chairperson Ntombizodwa Khumalo of the Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association said although Zimbabweans have repeatedly called for the implementation of devolution as spelt out in the constitution, the bill does not deal with the issue. As the people of Zimbabwe we all aired our views about devolution which we think they have now ignored and yet they are talking about the local government bill. Again last year, as the people of Matabeleland we petitioned government through the Public Policy Research Institute of Zimbabwe about devolution. They have not responded to the petition and yet they are talking about having a local government bill. We are appealing to the minister to concentrate on the issues that are important to ordinary people. Maxwell Munenge, a Binga resident who also attended the recent meeting, echoed these sentiments saying the issue of devolution needs to be dealt with urgently as it affects ordinary people in their daily lives. The public hearings on the Local Government Laws Amendment Bill kicked off in Mutare, Chinhoyi and Karoi yesterday and will be held in Bulawayo tomorrow (Wednesday). Tiisetso Dube of the Local Authority Capacity Enhancement Project said with just one hearing in Bulawayo and none scheduled for other parts of Matabeleland North and South, many Zimbabweans will feel excluded from the process and wont have faith in whatever comes out of the public hearings. You look at the size of Bulawayo where we are going to have only one meeting Bulawayo has 29 wards and the meeting is in Nkulumane, and not everybody is going to be able to attend that meeting. The holding of the meetings should have been such that there is a clustering of two or three wards so that if a person fails to go to one meeting at a particular venue they may be able to attend another meeting elsewhere. As it is this is just like window dressing where they will say they consulted people in Bulawayo when in reality most people never got the chance to air their views. According to the bill, the local government minister will have the power to trigger the suspension of any councillor and also select the independent tribunal which presides over the hearing in which the councillor shall be facing charges brought against him or her by the minister. Phulu said the bill in its current form vests powers into the minister to be both prosecutor and judge, which he said is in violation of principles of the independence of the tribunal as envisaged in the constitution, as well as the right to a fair hearing. There is no way this bill will be allowed to pass in its original form. I find it very difficult how the parliamentary legal committee for example can let it pass when it says that you have no right to appeal against the decision of the tribunal, when it criminalizes a hearing. Certainly some of those issues will need to be amended but the question is are the amendments going to be enough. The Local Government Laws Amendment Bill seeks to amend the Rural District Councils Act and the Urban Councils Act in order to align the provisions of the acts with the constitution. The Waco-McLennan County Library will continue its Summer Showcase this week with the following programs: BaGar Theater presents Anansi and the Moss Covered Rock at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at Bledsoe-Miller Community Center, 300 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Didgeridoo Down Under! puppet show at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at the West Waco Library, 5301 Bosque Blvd. Storytime Theater presents The Velveteen Rabbit at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Thursday at the Central Library, 1717 Austin Ave. Magic Man Todd McKinney at 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Friday at the South Waco Library, 2737 S. 18th St. For more information, call visit www.waco library.org. 143rd Infantry reunion The 143rd Infantry Association and the post-war National Guard will have a reunion at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at the National Guard Armory, 2120 N. New Road. A program will be presented at 11:30 a.m. The reunion is for people who served in the 36th Division, 143rd Infantry, or the 71st Airborne Infantry Brigade. A catered meal will be served. Cost is $10. For reservations, call Robert Hawkins at 722-2033 or Gerald Hatfield at 772-3543. Midsummer concert The Carleen Bright Arboretums Midsummer Nights Concert Series will continue with a free concert by Mark Goodnight and the Ruby Creek Band at 8 p.m. Wednesday at the gazebo at the Carleen Bright Arboretum, 9001 Bosque Blvd. in Woodway. For more information, call 399-9204. State Bar meeting The State Bar of Texas will honor exceptional service to the public and the legal profession during its annual meeting Thursday and Friday at the Fort Worth Convention Center and Omni Hotel. Waco-McLennan County Young Lawyers Association is among the organizations being honored. It will receive the Award of Merit, presented by the State Bar of Texas Local Bar Services Committee For more information, visit texasbar.com/annualmeeting. NBWSC boil order The North Bosque Water Supply Corp. has issued a boil-water notice, set to start at 8 a.m. Tuesday, for its customers served by plant No. 2 on Compton Road. The notice could remain in effect through Saturday as crews work to locate a leak in the plants distribution system. For more information, call 848-4668. Driver program The Mature Driver Program at Baylor Scott & White Hillcrest Medical Center, in conjunction with AARP, will present a We Need to Talk seminar at 6 p.m. Thursday in the Travis Room at the medical center, 100 Hillcrest Medical Blvd. The free seminar for the families and friends of older drivers will be limited to 10 people. To register, call Ravonne McCray or Rose Moyer at 202-6539 or 202-6541. Submit items for Briefly in printed or typed form to Briefly, P.O. Box 2588, Waco 76702-2588; fax to 757-0302; or email to goingson@wacotrib.com at least one week before an event. The city of Bellmead will receive a $1.9 million federal grant to improve Tirey Road, which has become a vital thoroughfare as traffic grows near Texas State Technical College, the Sanderson Farms chicken processing plant and L-3 Communications, an aircraft modification plant and the largest industrial employer in Greater Waco. Bellmead will use this money from the Economic Development Administration for a $2.8 million project that will include widening Tirey Road between U.S. Highway 84 and Williams Drive from 20 to 40 feet, making drainage and safety improvements and strengthening the roadway to accommodate commercial transportation. The project likely will begin in fall or winter this year, with crews completing it in nine to 12 months, officials said. Tirey Road runs along the western border of the Waco International Aviation Park, which is so named because local industry recruiters and the Waco Industrial Foundation originally thought it would make an attractive site for aviation-related industry because of its proximity to the long runways at TSTC Waco Airport. L-3 already operates out of a sprawling complex at the TSTC airport, where it modifies military and commercial aircraft and employs nearly 2,000 people. Meanwhile, the aviation park serves as home to Dr Pepper Snapple Group distribution center and a Sanderson Farms chicken processing plant and hatchery. Sherwin Williams has outgrown its leased facility in an industrial park across town and is building a $39 million distribution center on Concord Road, adjacent to Tirey Road. For keeping its expansion local, Sherwin Williams will receive $4 million in incentives and $1.78 million in tax breaks over 10 years. All these factors came into play as the cities of Bellmead and Waco; McLennan County; the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce; the Heart of Texas Council of Governments; and TSTC joined forces to pursue a grant from the Economic Development Administration, which is an agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce. Congratulations to the city of Bellmead for securing a significant EDA grant, U.S. Rep. Bill Flores, R-Bryan, said during a ceremony this week. Our congressional team was pleased to play a role in helping to secure this grant, which will enable additional growth and create opportunity for this great Central Texas community. The project will expand economic opportunity in the area, EDA regional director Jorge Ayala said. This investment is a direct reflection of the impressive local leadership that assembled the needed collaboration and cooperation of a wide range of entities to make this happen, Ayala said. The community is to be commended for its commitment to making Bellmead a great place to live and do business. Everett Bo Thomas, Bellmead city manager, said the city in 2014 made a commitment to upgrading three roadways Tirey Road, Williams Road and Concord Road that had become critically important to moving traffic in and around Bellmead, especially traffic bound for TSTC, Sanderson Farms and the industrial district. We knew at the time we didnt really have enough money for the asphalt and drainage improvements to address the situation, but we began to have some preliminary engineering work done to see what it would take to handle greater traffic, Thomas said. Those roadways are heavily traveled by people going to and from work, and there are some heavy trucks associated with the operation of Sanderson Farms. With the relocation of Sherwin Williams, we knew there would be more. It will cost about $2.8 million to improve Tirey Road and another $6 million to upgrade the entire length of Williams Road. Concord Road will be the most expensive of the three, Thomas said. Securing another grant is not guaranteed, but we can certainly try, he said. This grant is an outstanding example of relationship building and group collaboration, Thomas said in a prepared statement. The work on Tirey Road will create more than 250 jobs and help retain more than 3,400 jobs, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker said. The Obama administration is committed to ensuring our nations infrastructure is able to support business growth and creation, Pritzker said. The EDA investment announced today will allow for critical roadway infrastructure improvements needed to attract new businesses and facilitate the expansion plans of established businesses. Upgrading Tirey Road gives local industry recruiters another tool in their pursuit of prospects, who typically consider strong transportation networks when choosing sites, said Kris Collins, senior vice president for economic development at the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce. About 300 acres remain available for development in the Waco International Aviation Park, which the Waco Industrial Foundation is marketing, Collins said. A cafe selling coffee created from a century-old roaster and a new home decor, furniture and gifts shop will open soon in the historic seven-story Praetorian Building in downtown Waco. Developer Peter Ellis is renovating with a personal touch yet another part of the vintage building. For the past four years, Ellis has worked to perfect his style of roasting coffee beans to create his brand, dubbed Bru. Customers will walk up to the old elevator inside the building to order coffee from baristas standing inside it, who will serve patrons. Construction on the historic building itself began in 1913 and was completed two years later. Were probably the smallest coffee shop in Waco, Ellis joked. Were excited to use it in a quirky, urban way. Locked in place for safety, the elevator is a rare historical, intact and nondecommissioned elevator. With room for up to two baristas, customers cant expect the drive-thru efficiencies of a Starbucks with 10 people behind the bar, but the coffee quality is unmatched, he said. I fully support Common Grounds and the new guys with Pinewood Roasters and Dichotomy for taking their effort and time and risk and producing a great product, he said. I think Waco has room for yet another quality coffee shop. With 10,000 people working downtown, three (college) campuses, I dont think weve met that saturation of coffee shops. Ellis said he has sold his coffee at the Waco Downtown Farmers Market and has received great feedback. He said his roaster is not automated or high-tech, but more of an artisan roaster, and is set up in the basement of the Praetorian below the cafe. Ellis said the basement kitchen is being restored to its original look and is large enough to continue housing operations for the Pokey Os ice cream sandwich truck. The older brewer uses flames as a heat source, he said. The design creates a whole different set of nuances to create different flavor profiles. Ellis said he focuses on ensuring his fair-trade coffee is made with organic ingredients for a more holistic product. Constructing canopies Ellis said he and his wife, Summer, have lived on three continents, including Europe and Africa, and time spent in cafes set in more dense urban environments helped spur ideas for this venture. Ellis is constructing canopies alongside the building on the Sixth Street and Franklin Avenue sides, which is a look original to the building. The shade will provide for covered seating, decked out in lights for those walking downtown in the evening hours. Ellis said he thinks cafes should serve as connecting points for people, creating a communal location. He said he also is going to offer discounts for those who walk or ride a bicycle to the location versus driving. The Praetorian in 1984 was added to the National Register of Historic Places as an exemplar of the Chicago School of modern architecture. While one side of the first floor will host cafe patrons, a Waco couple are launching Interior Glow, a decorating and planning venture, on another side of the building, which features a three-story mural of Jesus Christ extending his arms, the work of a Russian artist. Ellis said he is excited to bring in a more developed, mixed-market offering. Interior Glow is owned by a fabulous couple here in town, he said. They have a lot of passion and heart in what they do. Its fresh and organic, yet very clean and on point with trends. Bo and Alejandra Evans moved to Waco from Houston two years ago specifically to open Interior Glow. The couple closed on the building at 210 South Fifth St. in November, the original location where they planned to house Interior Glow. But during that process, they met the Ellises and decided a joint venture in the Praetorian was the way to go. Bo Evans said they were eager to open the store, as the renovations needed on Fifth Street will take time. Bo Evans said they were flipping houses in Houston when Alejandra discovered her love for planning and decorating. He said she has her own nature-centric style. Evans said they have always considered Waco a second home, as his parents live in the city and his brother attended Baylor University. During those visits, they fell in love with downtown. Great destination We believe its just going to be another great destination for downtown Waco, he said. Evans said they have included a kids corner where children can watch Disney movies on TV while their parents browse items or sip on coffee in the cafe. Alejandra Evans, who goes by Ally, said Interior Glow mixes wood with metal and presents more earthy home decor, featuring coral, and products from around the world. She said it also will feature contemporary and classier styles with a mix of modern. A little different than what Ive seen in Waco so far, she said. Meanwhile, in space facing Franklin Avenue, Summer Ellis jewelry also will be displayed. Peter Ellis said his wife has faced a growing need to separate the wholesale from retail to serve Waco better. We wanted to provide a better showroom and space for her designs, he said. Shes just elated and excited to have that space. Officials closed the McLennan County Courthouse at noon Monday and plan to reopen it Tuesday morning after an overnight storm caused a power outage. Power was restored by about 3 p.m., but the courthouse remained closed for the day as the air conditioning returned the building to a comfortable temperature, County Judge Scott Felton said. The power outage affected about 2,110 customers in McLennan County. Felton said the courthouse was open and running on generator power in the morning, but there was no air conditioning, making many of the courtrooms uncomfortable. Fort Worth-based National Weather Service meteorologist Juan Hernandez said 3.04 inches of rain was reported at the Waco Regional Airport between 10 and 11 p.m. Sunday. He said the heavy rainfall and a 74 mph wind gust, the third-highest recorded wind gust for Waco, also was clocked at the airport Sunday night. There was a storm complex that was moving through the area, and when you have the kind of environment that we had yesterday with a significant amount of moisture, these storms are able to draw the moisture and dump a lot of rain, Hernandez said. Although the cause of the McLennan County outages was not confirmed, Judge Ralph Strother still held his morning plea docket in the 19th State District Court early Monday morning. He said the full courtroom and lack of air conditioning was more than noticeable, prompting him to cancel the remaining docket list for the rest of the day. It felt like a sauna, Strother said. We got through our morning plea docket, but I let everyone take off as much clothing as they wanted as along as it wouldnt get them arrested or border on inappropriate. It was very hot. Although he did not have a morning plea docket, 54th State District Court Judge Matt Johnson also canceled a jury trial scheduled for Monday. We just recessed the jury panel and told them to come back tomorrow morning at 9 a.m., and hopefully the electricity will be back and we can proceed with regular court, Johnson said. The courtroom was OK, but there is no way we could have gotten 60 people in there, because with a crowd of people, it would have been too hot. Johnson also said elevators were not working, so a lack of accessibility also became a concern. Because of several issues, Felton said, all courthouse employees were dismissed until 2 p.m. Oncor regional manager Michael Baldwin said the power company brought in additional resources in an attempt to restore power throughout the county. The 51st Waco Citizens Police Academy will kick off from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Jan. 26 at the Waco Police Department, 3115 Pine Ave. The class will continue to meet on Thursdays for 12 weeks. The class is geared to give citizens a working knowledge of the police department via lectures, demonstrations, tours and hands-on activities. The application deadline is 5 p.m. Friday. Applicants are subject to a criminal background investigation before being accepted into the academy. For registration information, call 750-1761. MLK Candlelight Vigil The 30th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. candlelight vigil will be at 6 p.m. Monday at Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park, 100 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Frank Jackson, Texas A&M University System assistant vice chancellor for governmental relations, will be the keynote speaker. The event also will include performances by the Toliver Chapel Missionary Baptist Church Combined Choir and the Greater Zion Missionary Baptist Church Praise Team, Mime Ministry and Drill Team. Guests are asked to bring their own candles. For more information, call Coque Gibson at 722-1274. Free food distribution The Central Texas Food Bank and The Shepherds Heart will have a free food-distribution event from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday in the parking lot of Texas State Technical Colleges Industrial Technology Center, located at the corner of Crest and Airline drives. Participants will receive a variety of fresh food. Clients must provide a container to carry their food. For more information, call 799-8810 or 716-7064. Hewitt story times The Hewitt Public Library, 200 Patriot Court, will present story times for toddlers, ages 12 to 36 months, and preschoolers, ages 3 to 5, on Tuesday and Wednesday. The toddler sessions will start at 9:30 a.m. with a program about Cats and Kittens. Preschoolers will meet at 10:30 a.m. with a program about Painting and Creativity. For more information, call 666-2442. Seniors lunch talk Lake Shore United Methodist Church, 3311 Park Lake Drive, will host a free lunch-speaker program for senior citizens at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday. Ravonne McCray, with Baylor Scott & White Hillcrest Medical Center, will speak about Safe Driving Tips for Seniors. Because of limited space, reservations are required by noon Tuesday. For reservations, call 754-7333 or 772-2506. Submit items for Briefly in printed or typed form to Briefly, P.O. Box 2588, Waco 76702-2588; fax to 757-0302; or email to goingson@wacotrib.com. In the wake of the Orlando shootings, Ive tried to pray and Ive tried to meditate. Ive tried to be present with those much closer to and more deeply affected by this violence. Through it all, though, there is a dry and empty place in my soul where my questions, my grief, my outrage are lost, where my prayers echo without a reply, where my intentions to not only pray but to do, to not only be but to act feel hollow. I have prayed before, I have acted before. I have gathered with those who mourn. I have read the poems and written my own words, I have written and sent emails and letters, to faith leaders and political leaders, to friends and to loved ones. I have voted in all the elections, I have become a voter registrar, I have stood in the offices of our state and federal legislators, I have spoken on the telephone to them, and yet. And yet here we are, again. Here we are, refusing to look at the facts of gun violence in our nation, as funds to study gun violence as a health epidemic are once more denied. Here we are, erasing the LGBTQIA community from the narrative of this hate crime with the pointless and distracting cry of All lives matter! Here we are, singling out our Islamic brothers and sisters for suspicion and distrust, as if their religion somehow makes them less American, as if any religion (or the lack of religion!) makes a person more or less of a citizen of our country. Here we are, mourning. Here we are, again. I have no comforting words because there is no comfort to be found in this place. Theres no comfort in the 24-hour news cycle that will chew and chew on these murders till the flavor is gone and we move on to the next senseless, preventable tragedy. (Next on the news: The Ten Most Decadent Dessert Recipes, followed by How to Lose Weight Fast.) Theres no comfort from the leaders of this, my much-loved native state, who spout vitriol and vile rhetoric, all too often in the name of religion, all too often under the guise of salvation. (Save me from such salvation, I pray.) Theres no comfort in the civic life of the nation, where legislators express sadness and busily sow the seeds of the next political catastrophe. (Tell me again how racist, how narcissistic, how truly terrible the nominee is, and also how you still plan to vote for him.) Theres little comfort, even, in the peaceful vigils in which we participate, knowing as we weep and rage that we will be back. It may be next week, it may be next year, but we will see the same faces gathered, the same hands held, the same embraces given and received. (Because here we are, again is a refrain to which we know all the words, a feeling of hopelessness with which we are all too familiar.) I will continue to pray and continue to act, and eventually I will come through the empty desert of this grief, this anger, this despair, into a green and growing place of hope I hope. May the rage and sorrow I feel today we all feel today be of use in the coming weeks and months and years. May we sow seeds of justice and mercy, peace and compassion, so that we can stop coming back to this same place, again and again and again. Kris Cervantes is pastor of Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Waco. As further indication of how polarized America is, the bodies of the dead in Orlando this past weekend werent cold before political camps on the right and left began sniping at one another. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, at first seemed to demonstrate much-needed national magnanimity and then quickly reverted to form, blaming President Obama and the Democrats for weakness in addressing Islamic radicalism. In turn, Democrats blasted Republicans for refusing to label this a hate crime and for years of spewing gay-bashing rhetoric, enabling people such as American-born Muslim Omar Mateen to pursue malevolent agendas. And while we strongly suspect Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (or his staffers) scheduled his Sunday morning posting of fiercely judgmental scripture on Facebook well before the weekend tragedy, critics are still accusing him of regularly whipping up holy hate for those in the LGBT community. Lets remember that the 49 dead and 53 wounded at a gay nightclub in Orlando are mostly Americans. Even if not, they frolicked in confidence of our nations individual protections. All of us should pause with our politically motivated cheap shots and recall that these are mostly fellow citizens, whatever their sexual orientation, who dont deserve to be gunned down or in any way victimized. We should comfort families of the dead who might or might not have condoned the lifestyles of loved ones but surely had sincere hopes for them and fond memories of them. Yes, its a hate crime, given that it targeted those embracing a gay lifestyle. And, yes, its a testament to our confused national strategies regarding Islamic radicalism. (Mateen reportedly pledged loyalty to ISIS in a 911 call during the attack but had also allied himself with groups opposing ISIS. Huh?) And while Cruz may have justification in going after Obamas foreign policy, the senator and fellow Republicans should look in the mirror in shame if they voted against a bill that would have blocked anyone on a federal terrorism watch list from obtaining guns. Mateen at one point was on such a list and had been under FBI scrutiny. By the same token, Democrats havent exactly helped. Last December they opposed U.S. Sen. John Cornyns Republican compromise amendment that would have allowed the federal government to delay the sale of a firearm to anyone on a terrorist watch list for up to 72 hours. If during that period the government could prove to a judge there was probable cause that the individual seeking to buy the gun was involved in terrorism, the gun sale would be denied. So when congressional committees and think tanks and presidential candidates crank up the rhetoric, remember this: Solutions wont come and lives wont be saved if we dont all pitch in together. We can start by grieving the loss of life. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patricks Facebook page lit up Sunday morning. In the wake of news that a Muslim extremist had massacred 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history Patricks Facebook posted Galatians 6:7: Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Patricks office later removed the posting and said it had been scheduled for Sunday posting days earlier, but some of the outraged didnt buy the excuse, judging from comments on Patricks Facebook page: Syd Peppard Sikes: Im a mom, lifelong Republican and I live in Orlando. These victims, regardless of their sexual orientation, are sons and daughters and friends and loved ones. It is likely some of them are still inside the nightclub. How dare you have the nerve to quote this scripture. You are a disgrace as a human being. Joslynn Garcia Newton: Youre absolutely right, Syd. Allow me to apologize for our moronic Lt. Governor. Im embarrassed and ashamed. David Macaluso: Where does it say this message was posted in response to what happened in Orlando? It doesnt. Youre stirring the pot, twisting words that arent there. Rhendi Heibel: The LGBT community seems to think everything is about them. Lauren Wieckowski: So its completely coincidental to be posted the morning of a horrible tragedy in which 49 people were murdered in a gay club? Hes either a terrible human being or has hired morons to run his Facebook page who are so uninformed that they should be fired. Either way, its a totally inappropriate post on a day like today [Sunday]. Jacki York: This has nothing to do with LGBT! Its about the flood victims in Texas! I mean, obviously, you reap what you sow when you live too close to bodies of water and require the federal government to provide flood insurance because no private insurance company will insure you! What leeches of government subsidies! Nikki Mallaby: You have a long history of anti-LGBT rhetoric and fight equality every chance you get. 1. Someone on the FBI watch list shouldnt be able to buy a gun. 2. You need to do some serious soul-searching to ask how creating a climate of hostility toward gays contributed to this. 3. You need to treat LGBT as equal Americans, then folks will not need to argue about what flag to fly. 4. Is a gun of this capacity [an AR-15 assault rifle] really needed for self defense? Has one ever been used in self-defense or just to maim and kill people? You need to learn the value of a true apology for your tweet, even if it was pre-scheduled. There are so many more positive verses you could share. Dan Patrick: Nikki, I do treat everyone as equals. I am not hostile toward anyone. I disagree with men in ladies rooms and I was not in favor of gay marriage. One can disagree with people on issues without hating them. I dont hate anyone. My heart breaks for the people who lost their lives and their families as much as you. They were Americans. This madness of terror must end and the entire free world must join together to eradicate it. PROXIMA Chef Colo: Pasta a la carbonara, parte 1 El chef Colo junto al sommelier Sandro Giulimondi te ensenan a preparar una rica receta de pasta carbonara. Your Ultimate Investing Toolkit Sign up for MarketBeat All Access to gain access to MarketBeat's full suite of research tools: Portfolio Monitoring Top Stock Lists Premium Reports Stock Screeners Live News Feed Premium Support Free for your first month. We value your privacy. Focus Taiwan (CNA) uses tracking technologies to provide better reading experiences, but it also respects readers' privacy. Click here to find out more about Focus Taiwan's privacy policy. When you close this window, it means you agree with this policy. West Australians could soon be paying higher prices for local wines as the federal government looks to make controversial changes to the Wine Equalisation Tax. Margaret River wineries might be enjoying widespread praise for the quality of wine produced in the region recently but the tax changes could halt them in their financial tracks. Margaret River wineries now face an uncertain future. Despite continuing to benefit from an unprecedented run of exceptional vintages, which has cemented the wine region as Australia's best, Margaret River and surrounding wineries will be hardest hit by the WET rebate changes, which ironically were slated to better support small wine producers in rural and regional Australia. Independent analysis by RSM Australia commissioned by Wines of Western Australia found the government's plan to cut the $500,000 WET rebate cap to $290,000 would strip $8 million a year from WA's regional wine communities, with 75 per cent of wineries affected from Margaret River. A Shorten government would consider a national environmental protection authority as part of efforts to grab back key conservation controls devolved by the Coalition from Canberra to the states. Under the Abbott-Turnbull governments, "the national environment has been placed under great pressure", Mark Butler, Labor's shadow environment minister, told Fairfax Media. "It's important to reaffirm the Commonwealth's role." If elected on July 2, a Labor government would "explore options" to set up a federal EPA and, within the first 100 days, work with groups ranging from environmental activists to miners and farmers to develop new national laws. The Duke of Cambridge has broken one of the last taboos. He has become the first member of the royal family to give an interview to a gay magazine. Royal sources said even Princess Diana, an icon for the gay community, never granted any such publication the honour of an interview. Prince William, pictured giving a speech at celebrations for the Queen's 90th birthday on June 12, 2016 in London, England. Credit:Getty Prince William revealed on Tuesday that he will be appearing in the monthly publication Attitude, which comes out on Wednesday June 22. He told a member of staff during a visit to the American Embassy that he will be in the magazine, whose celebrity cover stars have previously included Gary Barlow, Daniel Radcliffe and Liam Payne. Prohibited weapons and illicit drugs were seized after three properties were searched by the Gang Crime Squad and officers from the South West drug team on Tuesday. Officers from the Gang Crime Squad in Perth joined local detectives to execute a warrant on theCoffin Cheaters motorcycle club headquarters in Zoe Street at about 8am. The Bunbury Mail understands two other private residences were also searched and the raids came on the back of tip-offs from the public. About 9.30am forensic police arrived at the clubhouse to join the search team. Have you been called by 'Sergeant William Connor' lately? If so, you have been targeted by scammers. Consumer Protection WA has warned residents of the latest phone scam making the rounds in Perth. Scammers will try to obtain your secure financial information. Credit:watoday The caller, claiming to be from the WA Police Major Fraud Squad, advises Perth residents their money could be at risk following a 'fraud investigation'. The caller then suggests they move their funds into a secure account while the investigation was ongoing. A female teacher already accused of sexually abusing a student has now also been charged with possessing child exploitation material. The 26-year-old woman was charged last month with 23 sexual offences committed against a 15-year-old girl between July last year and May, including sexual penetration and indecent dealing with a child. The teacher faces a spate of sex abuse charges, including rape. Police said on Tuesday that during a search of her Forrestfield home hundreds of child exploitation images and videos, allegedly recorded during the same period as the other offending, were found on electronic devices. - AAP Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on the campaign trial in Cleveland on Monday. Credit:AP Osama bin Laden was also the scion of a wealthy Saudi family and the nexus with US foreign policy has served as a power socket for conspiracy theories for years. But saying so publicly will be cheered by many people who long wondered why the US has stayed so cosy with the oil kingdom, especially given that 15 of the 19 hijackers on September 11, 2001, were Saudi citizens. A rockier road: Marine One is staged on the tarmac as President Barack Obama arrives on Air Force One at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh. Credit:AP It's not that we didn't know. The WikiLeaks disclosures showed right back in Clinton's days as secretary of state that she was secretly savage about Saudi reluctance to stem the flow of private cash to extremist groups. But as if to prove the ties are still "complicated", Clinton couldn't quite bring herself to single out Saudi Arabia. "It is long past time for the Saudis, Qataris and Kuwaitis and others to stop their citizens from funding extremist organisations," she declared in the aftermath of the Orlando attack. "And they should stop supporting radical schools and mosques around the world that have set too many young people on a path towards extremism." It may turn out Clinton's remarks are premature - at least as far as what motivated Orlando gunman Omar Mateen, whether he was indeed an Islamist radical or just wanted to associate himself with a cause. Still, for Clinton to even link Saudi Arabia to extremism at all marks what has become a revolutionary realignment in US diplomacy in the Middle East. One arrested, two to the hospital after hit-and-run crash on I-24 in Christian County Email To : Multiple e-mail addresses must be separated with a comma character(maximum 200 characters) Email To is required. Your Full Name: (optional) Your Email Address: Your Email Address is required. By West Kentucky Star Staff Jun. 13, 2016 | 10:01 PM | ALMO, KY Calloway County Sheriff's deputies responded to a report of shots fired on Friday on 1st Street in Almo. When they arrived, a juvenile suspect reportedly approached and assaulted a deputy near the street. After detaining the suspect, deputies learned that he had fired five shots from a shotgun before they had arrived, one of them into a vehicle with four people inside, and at close range. The juvenile, whose name is not being released due to his age, has been charged with attempted murder, three counts of wanton endangerment, assault on a police officer, resisting arrest and tampering with physical evidence. He was booked into the McCracken County Juvenile Detention Center, awaiting adjudication. A Calloway County juvenile is facing attempted murder, assault and several other felony charges, after deputies say he fired shots at a vehicle and assaulted responders. By Mark Edwards Jun. 14, 2016 | 09:52 AM | BENTON, KY Some endangered owls got a helping hand recently from a local animal rehab rescue and release facility.Donna Floden, a local wildlife rehabber with Mother Nature's Helping Hands was contacted June 6 by Heather Davis of Eric Howell Grain Company in Benton, about an endangered barn owl who nested her babies in a silo on their property.The babies were believed to be less than two weeks old. Floden said Davis told her they would try to not disturb the owls for as long as they could.Floden says she received a second call on Friday requesting help in moving the barn owls out of the silo that would soon be filled with grain. Several baby barn owls were removed under the direction of Broadbent Wildlife Sanctuary and transferred to their facility the next day.Although the mother was reportedly taking good care of her babies, Floden said she flew out of the silo during the removal and could not be rescued.The grain company is right in the middle of wheat harvest, so the bin needed to be used as soon as possible. Employees Jose Felixand Sean Cordes reported the endangered owls, which Floden says ultimately saved their lives.Mother Nature's Helping Hands, a state-licensed rehab facility located in Possum Trot, regularly assists Broadbent Wildlife Sanctuary inIrvington with birds of prey rescues and animal transfers. Locally, Mother Nature's Helping Hands cares for orphaned animals such as raccoons, skunks, possums, deer and others.To inquire about helping these endangered barn owls or other local orphaned wildlife in need, click on the link below. On the Net: By The Associated Press By The Associated Press Jun. 14, 2016 | 05:15 AM | FRANKFORT, KY Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear has been named co-chairman of a group of law enforcement officials that battles substance abuse. Beshear will serve on the Substance Abuse Committee of the National Association of Attorneys General. A release from the Attorney General's office says the committee works with law enforcement, prosecutors and community leaders to battle the drug epidemic. Beshear will co-chair the committee with Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi. His term begins July 1. He calls Kentucky's drug epidemic "the biggest issue facing our state, families and communities." Beshear recently spoke at the National Rx Drug Abuse & Heroin Summit in Atlanta about Kentucky's fight against the scourge of drugs. WESTOVER AIR RESERVE BASE, Mass. -- Thirty-six people from three area bird clubs came Saturday to watch something fly in the sky around Westover Air Reserve Base that wasnt an airplane. The birds they were watching are rare in Massachusetts, and they weigh just eight ounces. The Allen, Brookline, and Hampshire Bird Clubs came June 4 to see the upland sandpiper and the equally rare grasshopper sparrow. They saw both rare birds, along with 129 other birds. The area the clubs explored was a unique and well-managed habitat that supports the largest concentration of rare grasslands in New England, said Brookline Bird Club Director Linda Ferraresso. Westover has about 1,350 acres of grassland habitat, said tour leader Jack Moriarty, Westovers Chief of Environmental Engineering. This is the largest grassland in New England, and we maintain the grasslands that might otherwise revert to forested areas that could penetrate our airspace, he said. The walking tour began east of the firing range, and headed across a large field, which was busy with bird activity. As the tour began, the group spotted a variety of birds. As if on cue, a yellow-capped bobolink appeared above the grass, making its complicated call that sounds like the robot R2D2 in Star Wars. Voices rang out as the group spread out: Theres an upland sandpiper! I hear an eastern meadowlark. Come look through my scope. In all, group members spotted at least 35 species, but the stars of the day were the 19 upland sandpipers, which fly up from Argentina and southern South America in March through May. The black, brown, and white mottled upland sandpipers circled within twenty feet of the group and were visible in short grass by both naked eye and through a high-powered viewing scope. Some people would give their right arm to see what we saw today, said Springfield resident Lois Richardson, who raved about the rare sighting of the upland sandpiper. Nation-wide, there are an estimated 18.5 million bird-watchers who travel to observe birds, according to a 2001 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service survey. Moriarty has hosted annual bird club tours for the last four years. His predecessor, Drew Milroy, hosted the Hampshire Bird Club, the Massachusetts Butterfly Club, the Naturalists Club, and a group of scientists from the Massachusetts Audubon society, among others, for years. This is a breeding area for rare birds, Moriarty said. Safety comes first, and then we try to be good stewards of Federal land. He said base crews mow the grass to maintain a grass height of 7 to 14 inches, which discourages larger birds and mammals that could collide with an aircraft. Base officials try to strike a balance: ensuring that the flying mission operates safely and, where consistent with the mission, accommodating the rare grassland species around the airfield an area that has been called an accidental wilderness. Rita Redmond was a true lady who felt that every pupil had something to gift to the world Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 13/06/2016 (2326 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. As a comic, in all seriousness For aficionados of the great sketch series SCTV, the above line should be quickly recognizable among the catchphrases of Bobby Bittman, Eugene Levys incisive caricature of every shtick-spieling comedian who ever trod the boards of the Borscht Belt. The line came up on those frequent occasions when Bittman made an unsuccessful bid to be taken seriously. Curiously, the sentiment kind of applies to Levy in his role as Charlie, father to scatter-brained Dory, a blue tang with short-term memory issues in Finding Dory, the sequel to the 2003 Pixar hit Finding Nemo. In the sequel, Dory (voiced by Ellen DeGeneres) remembers she has a family and she drags father-son fishies from the first movie, Marlon and Nemo, on a trans-oceanic journey to find them. Chris Pizzello / Invision Eugene Levy has worked in countless comedies, but theyre nothing like the character he voices in Finding Dory. Certainly, the film is comic. But in its treatment of Dorys parents, Charlie and Jenny (Diane Keaton), the film takes a swim in a sombre undercurrent, acknowledging Dorys memory loss goes deeper than a comic character trait: it is a worrisome handicap. It raises the question: Why cast a brilliant comic actor like Levy in such a straight role? Levy, 69, isnt quite sure why he was cast, but he heard Finding Dory director Andrew Stanton in a forum where the director acknowledged a penchant for cataloging actors voices for future reference. So there was something in what he had seen or heard me do in my work, Levy says. A lot of my work over the years has been comedy characters, which is not remotely close to the character in Finding Dory is, so Im trying to think about it, unless it was American Pie Ah, yes, the American Pie movies. Ostensibly a series of teen sex comedies, the American Pie franchise proved to be a late-career boon for Levy in the role of Jason Biggs father, Noah Levenstein. Yes, it was a comic part, but the unfailingly supportive nature of the role allowed Levy not just to be seen in a different light by a new generation, but in a bigger light, Levy says. It was a major hit. Ive done character roles in a lot of movies, and people might say, I recognize you from this or that. But when American Pie hit, it was huge. Levy guesses that role was a direct conduit to Finding Dory, in which Charlie demonstrates the strength to be supportive, especially when you have a kid whos kind of memory-impaired. It shows the difficulty of raising any kind of a child with an impairment, so there is a very serious kind of tone that is added on to what should be a comedy film. And thats what I found interesting about it. The idea of playing straight, I was actually quite excited about that, he says. Its not like, This role isnt funny enough for me. I enjoyed it. Levy has done voice work for animated films throughout his career, but he acknowledges things have changed a lot since his introduction to the form in the 1981 film Heavy Metal, a sex- and gore-filled sci-fi opus that also employed the talents of SCTV alumni John Candy, Joe Flaherty and Andrea Martin. I remember that we were all recording together. We were standing in a group and it seemed like a bit of a free-for-all, Levy recalls. I honestly cant remember if there was room for improv, but I do remember we were reading our scripts together, which Ive never done since in an animated feature youre always working on your own but that was great fun. Thats what I thought animated features were like. In fact, Levy did get to record some of his performance in Dory with Diane Keaton, albeit in long-distance form. I was in Toronto and she was in Los Angeles and they had us hooked up on monitors and we were able to do the scenes together, he says, allowing that watching Keaton work proved so entrancing, hed forget to read his lines back to her. But it was odd that it actually happened, because nobody else in the movie actually recorded together. I know when I told Ellen that had happened, she was kind of surprised. Finding Dory opens in Winnipeg theatres Friday, June 17. randall.king@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @FreepKing If you value coverage of Manitobas arts scene, help us do more. Your contribution of $10, $25 or more will allow the Free Press to deepen our reporting on theatre, dance, music and galleries while also ensuring the broadest possible audience can access our arts journalism. BECOME AN ARTS JOURNALISM SUPPORTER Click here to learn more about the project. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/06/2016 (2325 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. As the saying goes, one mans trash is another mans treasure. That couldnt be more true for a Winnipeg couple, Mark and Ticia Lyng, the creative duo behind the company Lot Sixty-Five. They salvage abandoned farm and factory equipment to create new pieces of furniture and decor. They get their material from old factories in the Exchange District, antique stores, flea markets and the odd farm. PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Mark and Ticia Lyng at home with some of the antique farm and industrial equipment they have converted into unique works of art. We take different things and possibly turn them into cellphone chargers or lights and different things that you might use every day, Mark said. But the things could be from the late 1800s or the early 1900s. Their home is their work space and their revitalized creations decorate nearly every room. Leaning towards materials such as iron and wood, their work includes stools made out of car jacks, an iron lamp with a base that was part of a cauterizer from the 1800s, and a coffee table made from a large pulley they found in an Exchange District factory. Building a single piece from a variety of parts means no two pieces are identical, Mark said. They can never be recreated because theyre all unique pieces that are put together, he said. Everything truly is one of a kind. What was originally their hobby transformed into a business last December. Mark sent photos of their work to Barn Hammer, a local brewery set to open this summer. When they came over and saw what we did, they (said), This is exactly what we were looking for. We havent been able to find this in the city, he said. Barn Hammers interest prompted them to officially register the company, named after their plot of retirement land in Prince Edward Island. Ticia said theyre working on lighting and a few other projects for Barn Hammer, but theyre keeping mum on specifics until it opens. It feels good to be able to bring their vision to life; its going to be a good feeling when it opens, Mark said. Since then, Torque, another local brewery, has expressed interest in the couples work. They said learning about an items history adds to the fun. Its nice when you find something and it comes with a story, so you can actually talk to the individual who owned it and it was his grandfathers or something, Mark said. If the history isnt known, they scour the Internet to find out. I dont want to lose the history, I dont want to lose the past, Ticia said. People should be aware of the past and hopefully, they might be interested in a piece and have the same curiosity we do. The Lyngs said they have noticed similar-looking furniture and decor is gaining popularity, but were quick to add it can be inauthentic and only made to look old. They have old cameras from 1910 or the 1920s, but theyre plastic and theyre painted to look old, Mark said. So you know the looks popular, but we wanted to make stuff out of the actual historical artifacts as opposed to just plastic from China. PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS The Lyngs take abandoned and obsolete equipment and convert it into functional and decorative creations. Mark said the creative process can change depending on the piece. Sometimes you see it right away, and other times it takes awhile, he said, adding they dont look for something specific. Its not a job, its fun. Its fun for us. We cant wait to come home and get dirty and tinker, Ticia said. She said theyll put the purchases from the day in a pile in their backyard, sit on their lawn chairs and piece it together, occasionally jumping out of their chairs when inspiration hits to rearrange some parts. Its like a puzzle, she said. Youre just playing. They said its getting tougher to find the material they need. Were not hoarding yet, Ticia said. But when I see certain items that I know I could utilize then well get it. She said selling what they find on sites such as eBay could make them more money. But thats not what were buying it for, she said. Were buying it for re-purposing, for someone else to enjoy. Not for a collector to hide it. The Lyngs plan on eventually retiring to their farm in P.E.I. and will continue to sell their work, something Ticia said she cant wait for. We dont have to worry about being busy in retirement, thats for sure, Mark said. To contact the Lyngs, go to their website at www.lotsixtyfive.ca alexandra.depape@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/06/2016 (2325 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. OTTAWA Members of the House of Commons are debating an Opposition motion arising from the recent ruling on cross-border beer shopping in New Brunswick. The motion tabled by the federal Conservatives calls on the federal government to refer the ruling to the Supreme Court for review, given the implications for interprovincial trade. New Brunswick provincial court Judge Ronald LeBlanc tossed out all charges against Gerard Comeau, who was charged with illegally importing 14 cases of beer and three bottles of liquor from a Quebec border town in 2012. Various brands of beer are seen on display inside a store in Drummondville, Que., on July 23, 2015. Members of the House of Commons are debating an Opposition motion arising from the recent ruling on cross-border beer shopping in New Brunswick. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz Dan Albas, the official Opposition critic for Interprovincial Trade, says the ruling needs to be referred to the Supreme Court so that Section 121 of the Constitution can be clarified. The Fathers of Confederation intended Canada not just to be a political union but an economic one, and its an inherent constitutional right, Albas said Tuesday. The motion also calls on the House to recognize that it is a constitutional right for Canadians to trade with Canadians. We know that there are Canadian producers that want to sell their products, Albas said. We know there are consumers right across this great country that want to buy Canadian and support Canadian and we want these trade barriers torn down. The most effective way to do that is to have a Supreme Court ruling. Last month, the New Brunswick government filed a notice of appeal saying the judge in the Comeau case erred in his interpretation of Section 121, which deals with the movement of goods between provinces. Defence lawyer Arnold Schwisberg described the ruling in the Comeau case as groundbreaking and said it will have national impact far beyond saving Maritimers money on the cost of their beer. He said the ruling could have the power to shift a host of laws across the country governing everything from selling chickens to how engineers and other professionals work across provincial lines. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/06/2016 (2325 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The politicking goes on in Ottawa about how and when to legalize recreational marijuana use. Meanwhile, existing licensed medical marijuana producers continue to operate within a costly compliance environment, and are forced to grapple with the challenges of being left outside of the mainstream of the capital markets. The industry is looking toward a massive increase in demand when recreational use is legalized, but its ability to scale up in anticipation of that demand can be challenging. Delta 9 Biotech, the only licensed producer in Manitoba, is a case in point. John Arbuthnot of Delta 9 said the company is on the verge of closing a financing, but has been struggling to come up with the right formula with which to approach investors. Delta 9 has been operating for more than two years, and was one of the original group of 13 producers Health Canada licenced in 2014 (there are now 31, with most of them in Ontario and British Columbia.) Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has promised to legalize marijuana and his government plans to introduce legislation next spring. In the House of Commons Monday, the government said it will not decriminalize it before a task force reports in the spring. Its just more uncertainty for an industry that was forced to invest heavily in security and standard operating procedures in order to comply with Health Canada standards to become licensed. But the ongoing uncertainty continues to create challenges. Access to capital is difficult, said Arbuthnot, who is still weighing options that may include an initial public offering or a reverse takeover to get a public listing. Many of our competitors have had success going public, he said. The other option is staying private, which for us is more difficult than most because the banks wont lend to our industry. The licensed medical marijuana producers have also seen their market which has grown to more than 55,000 patients across the country with more and more doctors prescribing medical marijuana to treat a number of ailments compromised by a recent influx of black market dispensaries, mostly in Ontario and B.C. Last year, about 65 per cent of Delta 9s shipments were to Ontario, but that volume has now decreased to about 35 per cent. Arbuthnot figures at least some of that is the result of retail dispensaries eating into its market. JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES John Arbuthnot of Delta 9 Biotech says the company is searching for investors. The industry estimates even if the current licensed producers increase their output by 10 times, it still wont meet the demand expected to materialize once recreational use of marijuana is legalized. Despite its funding challenges, Delta 9 is energetically planning to expand. It is currently in the process of switching its production methodologies to hydroponics, which Arbuthnot said will create more efficiencies. It is also testing the use of shipping containers for the growing environments, which, among other things, will allow Delta 9 to double its production space to 150,000 square feet by double-stacking containers. We remain bullish, Arbuthnot said. We believe we are positioned over the long term to be one of the countrys premium producers and distributors of marijuana and medical marijuana products. While Delta 9 is in the process of finalizing a capital raise, earlier this year it entered into a partnership with a company in Ottawa called GrowPros Cannabis Ventures Inc. Delta 9 will have the chance to earn about $2 million by assisting GrowPros in achieving a number of milestones. GrowPros is in the process of building a production facility in Quebec, and is about to file its licence application with Health Canada. martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/06/2016 (2325 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. VANCOUVER A student residence under construction at the University of British Columbia could set a new precedent for wooden towers in Canada. The 18-storey Brock Commons is intended to show developers and the public that wood can be as effective as steel or concrete, better for the environment and support the countrys forestry industry. This project should effectively demonstrate that mass wood structures can be commonplace, said Russell Acton, principal architect on the project. A new building is being built at the University of British Columbia campus in Vancouver, B.C., Monday, June, 13, 2016. The 18-storey Brock Commons is intended to show developers and the public that wood can be equally as effective as steel or concrete, better for the environment and support the country's forestry industry. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward Taller buildings require so-called mass timber supports and special cross-laminated timber plates that act similarly to concrete slabs. Mass timber is a large section of wood, suitable for competing with concrete, masonry or steel construction. While 17 floors of Brock Commons will be built with mass timber, the buildings base and two cores are made of concrete. Designers, engineers and the university purposefully chose a simple design with repetitive floor plans in order to gain special approval from building code authorities. National building code regulations currently limit wood structures to four storeys. However, with new research and engineering, some provinces have allowed architects to push the boundaries. In British Columbia, provincial codes have allowed wood towers to reach six storeys since 2009. Codes in Quebec and Ontario have followed suit. Timber-related industries hope Brock Commons will help make a case for building codes to allow 10- to 12-storey wooden structures in the future. (As) a building like this becomes a reality, it really paves the way for additional projects across the country, probably throughout North America and throughout the world, said Lynn Embury-Williams, executive director of the Canadian Wood Councils Wood Works BC program. However, building with wood comes with a higher price tag. At $51.5 million, Brock Commons cost eight per cent more than if it were constructed with traditional steel and concrete, Acton said. The Binational Softwood Lumber Council, Forestry Innovation Investment, Natural Resources Canada and the B.C. government provided funding to the university to make up for the higher price. If Brock Commons is successful in inspiring more wood towers, demand would bring down the costs, making wood a competitive alternative to other materials, Acton said. Wouldnt it be great for B.C. to be a leader in what will be a growing industry, he said. Canada has not been a global leader in the development of wood towers, but it is certainly catching up, said Thomas Tannert, professor of wood science and civil engineering at the University of British Columbia. The environmental benefits of building with wood are a major incentive encouraging research in the field. We tend to forget that the building industry is responsible for 40 per cent or more of greenhouse gas emissions, solid waste production and carbon storage. If we tackle the issue of the construction industry by using a renewable material, we can really make a big contribution to slowing down climate change, Tannert said. Using a renewable resource like timber that is harvested and produced in a sustainable way can significantly cut back on the emissions typical produced in manufacturing and construction, Tannert said. There are also structural benefits to using timber. Massive wood beams are naturally fire-resistant, charring on the exterior while insulating the centre, Tannert said. Wood structures can also fair better in earthquakes. The impact of an earthquake on a structure is dependent on how heavy it is, meaning a lighter wood structure is less vulnerable than steel and concrete, Tannert said. The greater challenge in building with wood is how it settles and shrinks compared to concrete and other unnatural materials. For Brock Commons, designers had to account for 48 millimetres of settling that is expected to occur after construction is over. Engineering is a wonderful thing, said Acton. These guys can figure out how to send a man to the moon and back again, and they can figure out how to construct a building so it remains level over time. While there is great interest in the construction of the project, Acton said when its completed next year it will look like any other residential building. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/06/2016 (2325 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. CALGARY The pediatrician who initially dealt with a starved, diabetic child years before his death said the boys mother believed her son was misdiagnosed and that she and God were going to prove the doctors wrong. Emil Radita, 59, and his wife Rodica Radita, who is 53, are charged with first-degree murder in the 2013 death of their 15-year-old son. Alexandru Radita, who was one of eight children, weighed less than 37 pounds and died of complications due to untreated diabetes and starvation. Alex Radita is shown in a photo from his 15th birthday party, three months before his death. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Government of Alberta MANDATORY CREDIT Dr. Robert White was called to examine the boy at B.C.s Surrey General Hospital in December 2000 after the emergency room physician suspected the child had diabetes. White testified that Rodica Radita was convinced the doctor had made a mistake in the diagnosis and she raised the issue several times in the brief time her son was in the hospital. She continued to express concern that the diagnosis was made by the doctor jumping to a conclusion and she was very uncomfortable with that, said White. He said she also made an unusual statement to him just as Alexandru was being transferred to the B.C. Childrens Hospital in Vancouver. He didnt have diabetes and she was going to prove the doctors wrong and made reference to God in our conversation, White told court. She and God were going to prove us wrong. I remember the reference was she was going to prove the doctors wrong and God was going to make him better. White provided care to Alexandru for several months during which time the doctor suspected there was some problem with the boys diet and provision of insulin. But his diabetes was under control. Two years later, White was called to help out again when Alexandru, severely malnourished and near death, was readmitted to the Surrey hospital. White said the boy was gravely ill. He was so ill looking that the pediatrician on call was uncomfortable providing the resuscitative care that was necessary, White said. He was so sick when he came in that time that I was taken aback myself. The mother was with him and so I chose to not engage in a big discussion with the mother, because I was a little emotional at the time. White testified that the boys mother said she had been changing his medication and had stopped giving him the long-lasting insulin. This is quite a drastic alteration in the care she had taken of her own volition. The justification was he got a rash. White said there was one more thing that still disturbs him because it showed how unresponsive Alexandru had become. The mother had indicated she was trying to get food and insulin into the boy before his arrival at hospital, the doctor testified. He noted the boy was so ill they had to remove a chunk of undigested and unchewed wiener from his esophagus. He obviously was not very conscious. Follow @BillGraveland on Twitter Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/06/2016 (2325 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The provincial NDP and Progressive Conservatives have finally found something to agree upon. Francophone affairs critic Greg Selinger said in an interview Tuesday that his party will support the Tories Francophone Community Service and Support Act tabled Tuesday. Its a good bill its being done with the consensus of everyone in the legislature, said Selinger, who pointed out that the bill differs little from legislation the former NDP government had tabled last fall. WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Francophone affairs critic Greg Selinger said his party will support the Tories' Francophone Community Service and Support Act. Rochelle Squires, the minister responsible for francophone affairs, said in an interview Bill 5 will identify and implement best practices in beefing up French language services, and will expand those people who are deemed to be francophones. Every government department and agency must have a French-language service plan through the legislation, she said. They really have to establish a plan in which they are willing to enhance French-language services, said Squires. This certainly does allow for an enhanced definition of what it means to be francophone. Its inclusive of all the folks who have French as their mother tongue, but will also extend to those Manitobans who regularly use French and speak it on a daily basis, Squires said. Squires said she has enthusiastically undertaken to learn French through a private tutor. We do have the most vibrant French community in Canada, outside of Quebec, she said. The bill is promoting and enhancing the vitality of our wonderful francophone community. The Societe franco-manitobaine could not be reached Tuesday. nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/06/2016 (2325 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The Winnipeg Free Press has been covering the case of Irene Pearsons death since her body was found in November of 1979. Heres a look at some of our past coverage of the case. Click or tap any image to see the largest available version; use the toolbar on the PDF of the full page to zoom in for a closer look at the text or to open the page in a new window. Nov. 17, 1979 Irene Pearsons death makes front-page news. Nov. 19, 1979 The real-estate firm where Pearson worked had planned to discuss the safety of female agents at a meeting the day Pearson was killed. Nov. 23, 1979 Police release a sketch of a possible suspect. Jan. 3, 1980 The Manitoba Real Estate Board offers a reward for information on the case. Oct. 17, 1981 Irene Pearsons boyfriend tells the Free Press shes become his "spiritual guide." June 19, 1993 Fourteen years after the murder, the Free Press reviews the unsolved case and the polices handling of it. July 20, 1993 Tips following the previous months article have provided new leads, police say. Nov. 16, 2007 Police say a DNA profile obtained from evidence at the murder scene may open new avenues in the investigation. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 13/06/2016 (2326 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Thousands of Manitobans met on the steps of the Manitoba Legislative Building Monday night to honour the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Fla. Just eight days after many met for the Pride rally at the same place, Manitobans gathered with candles and condolences for the 49 victims killed in the gay nightclub. Handwritten cards bearing the victims names were positioned on the stairs beside tea lights, and a line to sign a condolences book stretched from the legislature to the street. Supporters began gathering well before the event began at 8:30 p.m., and speakers continued past 10 p.m. Early Sunday morning, a gunman wielding an assault-type rifle and a handgun opened fire inside the Pulse, a gay nightclub, killing 49 people before dying in a gunfight with SWAT officers, police said. Authorities were investigating the attack on the Florida dance hall as an act of terrorism. Jonathan Niemczak, president of Pride Winnipeg, said the event was put on to provide support for Winnipegs LGBTTQ community, as well as to honour the Orlando community. We wanted to provide a safe space for the (Winnipeg) community to grieve and reflect over the tragedies that happened over the weekend in Orlando, he said. Were just providing that opportunity to do that collective grieving. Representatives from Manitobas major parties addressed the crowd, including NDP interim leader Flor Marcelino, Liberal Leader Rana Bokhari and Green Party member David Nickarz. Premier Brian Pallister was not at the event. Cabinet minister Rochelle Squires, who spoke at the event on behalf of the party, said earlier in the day that Pallister was unavailable. Mayor Brian Bowman also addressed the crowd, as did Insp. Gord Friesen of the Winnipeg Police Service. Grand Chief Derek Nepinak of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs was unable to attend because he was in Ottawa, but a Pride Winnipeg official read his statement to the crowd. Representatives from Winnipeg Islamic organizations also addressed the assembly, and Mona Mousa of Pride Winnipeg encouraged the crowd to steer the dialogue away from Islamophobia and racism. Attendee Sean McGrath said he was still trying to come to terms with the Orlando shooting. Its kind of been a cloudy day, he said. It doesnt seem real yet. Orlando is more than 3,000 kilometres away, but Niemczak said the impressive turnout goes to show the global nature of the LGBTTQ community. Its part of my community. It affects my world, said Jo-Anne Wuziuk, another attendee at the vigil. I want to be safe to be who I am and express who I am, and Im here in support of those who lost their loved ones in Orlando. Im here to be out, loud and proud, because Im free to be here, she said. I create my own safety and Im going to stand up for it. aidan.geary@freepress.mb.ca with files from the Associated Press Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 13/06/2016 (2326 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. I am at the scene of the crime in South Osborne. A two-storey rental house with peeling white paint and an empty feeling about it, even from the outside, as I stand with the victims. What took me there on a Sunday, four weeks after the May long weekend break-in that left the husband and wife without any food or even a dish to put it on was a moving, open letter to the burglar who had emptied their kitchen and driven off in their 2013 red Ford Fiesta. JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Tyler and Shae Yakichuk are coming to grips with the robbery of their home on the May long weekend. Part victim-impact statement, part attempt at restorative justice, it was a plea for closure composed and sent to the Free Press by the wife, a 29-year-old University of Winnipeg chemistry major who had been through a life that had taken an emotional toll. I am a person with a disability, and my husband and I are both students who are struggling to get by, Shae Yakichuk, explained in a cover letter. The break-in left a resonating effect of fear and anxiety. And after some pondering, I decided that perhaps writing to the thief may help ease the effects of the violation. I would appreciate it very much if you found my letter worthy of publishing, as it would give me the opportunity to perhaps, in some way, know that maybe I had the chance to confront him and tell him what his actions did to us. So here I am, two days later, listening to the story I thought I knew from the letter. There was a missing detail. It turned out the burglar was emptying their downstairs of everything but the kitchen sink while Shae and husband Tyler were upstairs around 5:30 p.m. on that Saturday, May 21. But the couple didnt know for half an hour after Tyler arrived home and, while he was showering, Shae went downstairs in her housecoat to do some laundry. She discovered a guy standing in their kitchen, staring at her and nervously stroking his long red beard. Later, they figured out he had come through the back door Tyler had left unlocked for their housemate Mark, who it turned out, had taken off to Kenora, Ont., for the weekend. Which is why they thought the noise they heard downstairs was Mark making dinner not some fair-skinned, desperate dude who looked to be about 50, cleaning out their kitchen cupboards and everything else he could lay his gloved hands on. The gloves, Shae later realized, were the ones she had given Tyler for Christmas. The thief had them on when he extended his hand in that initial awkward moment they met. I remember shaking his hand, Shae recalled, and thinking, What a soft glove he has. She noticed a more ominous detail. When he was shaking my hand, his other hand was fisted. But how did he explain what he was even doing in their home, uninvited, clearing out the kitchen they shared with Mark. He kept saying, Dont get me in trouble. Im just doing what Im told. Im just moving the stuff out, like he wanted me to. Eventually, he suggested she go upstairs and get dressed while he finished. Shae followed his instruction, but instead of immediately getting dressed, she called Mark. When she couldnt reach him, she called 911. A short time later, the guy with the red beard had finished stuffing their car and taken off with their uninsured stuff, including their winter coats, shoes, her wallet and his backpack with the MacBook Pro laptop. While police were at the house taking their statement, something else surprising happened. The officers got word that their car, with the red-bearded guy driving it, had been spotted by police officers at Roslyn Road and Osborne Street. Red-beard rammed the cop car with their red car and, after running a red light at Portage Avenue and Memorial Boulevard, police would abandon their attempt to catch the guy. It was just too dangerous. The car was found a week later in Tyndall Park. It was a writeoff and it was empty, of course. I am about to leave the scene of the crime, and we are standing in the kitchen where the man who invaded their home and still lingers in their lives stood a month earlier. With one hand outstretched and the other clenched in a fist. Where he left the black kitchen cupboard doors flung open and a young couple feeling afraid and vulnerable, their home emptied of everything he could grab and drive off with. Leaving Shae and Tyler to deal with the loss. Thats sort of been the theme of our relationship, Shae says, as she cradles their Pomeranian, Brady, in her arms. Theres bitter-sweet. And there is sadness. But at the same time, like the day was empty, I held Tylers hand. And I felt like I was the wealthiest person. That was the one thing the man who invaded their home couldnt find, much less steal. The most precious and priceless of everything they have: each other. gordon.sinclair@freepress.mb.ca Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/06/2016 (2325 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Just a week ago, Winnipegs LGBTTQ community was celebrating at another successful Pride Festival. Under a bright blue June sky, resplendent in rainbows, thousands of people took part in a joyous event that, in 1987, many people were afraid to attend for fear theyd be outed, ridiculed or worse. Look, we said, surveying the shiny, happy faces of Pride 2016. Look at how far weve come. And then, a week later, a man armed with an assault rifle walked into Pulse, a popular gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., and murdered 49 people and injured 53 others. The gunman was a 29-year-old named Omar Mateen, a U.S. citizen who claimed to have sympathy for the Islamic State terrorist group. North America woke up to the horrifying news on Sunday morning: almost 50 people are dead in the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. It seems there is always a new worst mass shooting in U.S. history. So, yes, we should definitely be talking about guns right now just as we did after Newtown, and after San Bernardino. But we also need to talk about bigotry. We cannot lose sight of the fact that this was a targeted attack, fuelled by hate. JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS People participate in a vigil for Orlando shooting victims at the Manitoba Legislature Monday, June 13, 2016. Mateens victims were predominately gay and Latino. They were also young mostly in their 20s and early 30s with their whole lives ahead of them. They went out on Saturday night to dance and let loose in a place that was supposed to be for them. A place where they could be themselves, without fear. And now, 49 of them are dead. Thats 49 lives lost, 49 grieving families, 49 funerals. Their names and ages were written on white cards, which lined the steps of the Legislative Building on Monday night, flickering tealights competing with the brilliant sunset. Hundreds of Winnipeggers gathered for a Pride Winnipeg vigil honouring their memory, as well as to acknowledge that homophobia and transphobia still exist. A young woman carried a sign that read, in rainbow lettering, We Are Not Safe. To be part of any group targeted by hate is to be constantly vigilant. Youre never completely safe. Gay people are still being beaten and killed for being gay, and LGBTTQ spaces spaces of community, belonging, refuge are still targeted. Such a vigil being held on the legislative grounds is significant; it, too, has been the site of the murders of gay men. In 1978, 31-year-old Peter Petkau was beaten and later died from his injuries in hospital; 18-year-old John Usher received a life sentence for the crime. In 1991, 48-year-old Gordon Kuhtey was murdered by a group of neo-fascist men in their 20s. I ran into a teacher friend of mine at the vigil, who mentioned that sometimes her high school students dont understand why the need for activism still exists. Everything is good now, they tell her. This is why, she said. Indeed, it can be easy to get complacent. But the victories in the fight for LGBTTQ equality were hard won by activists and advocates and, for as far as weve come, we still have a long way yet to go. We havent erased homophobia, bigotry, prejudice and hate. Sometimes those things manifest as a horrific terror attack carried out with a weapon of war, an act of violence so shocking and painful it makes people sit up and take notice. But far more often, those things manifest as something more insidious, like panic over where someone goes to the washroom. Or panic over whats being taught in sex ed. Or panic over a gay couple in a Cheerios commercial. Tyler Rodrigues, 21, was at the vigil with a group of friends. I wanted to come out and show my support because this isnt just a local issue, this is a global issue, he told me. I feel like the more support that gets noticed, the more change can happen and the closer we get to having the equal rights that we deserve. Kerry Bertoncello-Dale, 25, echoes that sentiment. Its to show solidarity. As well as to show that love overruns hate, always. We need to love harder, kiss stronger, hug tighter and just show that just because one evil person has destroyed 50 lives or more, were stronger. As people from all walks of life, united by tragedy, gathered on a lilac-scented evening to exchange warm embraces, light candles and grieve, it was hard not to feel a flicker of something that approximated hope. I thought of those little tealights, being lit the world over on this dark night: tiny flickers that, together, create a glow. jen.zoratti@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @JenZoratti Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/06/2016 (2325 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Business leaders joined Premier Brian Pallister at the Legislative Building Tuesday to call on Ottawa to assure Manitobans that federal policies will not undermine the local aerospace industry. Government and industry are worried about pending federal legislation (Bill C-10) that would remove a requirement on Air Canada to keep heavy aircraft maintenance jobs in Winnipeg. They are also concerned Ottawa will make an untendered purchase of F18 Super Hornet fighter jets over the F-35, the construction of which has received considerable local investment. I think theres ample opportunity for the federal government to step up and demonstrate that it has a real commitment to the aerospace industry in Manitoba and Western Canada, Pallister told a news conference. JOHN EWOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Government and industry are worried about pending federal legislation that would remove a requirement on Air Canada to keep heavy aircraft maintenance jobs in Winnipeg. As one of the largest aerospace hubs in the country, the continued growth of Manitobas critical mass of equipment and expertise is dependent upon investment, innovation and the continuation of fair and open procurement policies, he said. Combined, these factors will allow firms to maintain their local presence and global competitiveness. Accompanying Pallister and and three cabinet ministers were: Nick Bevilacqua, director of government, community and business relations with Boeing Canada; Barry Rempel, president and CEO of the Winnipeg Airports Authority; Wendell Wiebe, chief executive officer of Manitoba Aerospace Inc.; Bob Hastings, CEO of WestCaRD; Loren Remillard, incoming president and CEO of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce; and Don Boitson, vice-president of North American operations with Magellan Aerospace. Last week, members of the Manitoba legislative assembly unanimously supported a government motion in opposition to Bill C-10, an act to amend the Air Canada Public Participation Act. The act ensures a certain level of aircraft maintenance work is carried out in Winnipeg. Pallister also wants assurances that if Bill C-10 becomes law it is now before the Senate Manitobas industry will be adequately compensated. He said he discussed his concerns with Justin Trudeau when the prime minister visited Winnipeg earlier this month. I have been told that Air Canada will provide us with compensatory job opportunities. These are not commitments that I have seen in reality. I have just heard the words. I need to see and our government needs to see the deeds, the premier said. He said the establishment of a $20-million transition fund to provide training in the aerospace sector would be a positive first step. The local aerospace industry and the province said they are also concerned that Ottawa may move ahead with the purchase of an aircraft other than the F-35 without an open and transparent tendering process. Pallister said large investments made by Magellan Aerospace in the production of components for the F-35 may be threatened by a federal decision to order the Super Hornets. In the past, the aerospace industry in Manitoba has suffered heavy losses when defence projects were cancelled after significant capital investments had been made in both human resources and equipment, he said. MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Premier Brian Pallister joined by colleagues in his government and members of Manitoba's business community and aerospace industry is calling on the federal government to ensure that Manitoba's aerospace industry is strengthened. Boitson, Magellan Aerospaces vice-president, North American operations, said the company employs more than 150 in Winnipeg, and that number could hit 300 to 400 in the next few years. Ottawas aircraft purchase decision could have a significant impact on Magellans business, he said. Pardon the pun here, but aerospace jobs dont land overnight. Really, its a long term commitment, a long-term investment by all parties to make sure were meeting the needs and the requirements (of purchasers), Boitson said. He said his company has invested more than $80 million to make parts for the F-35, $65 million of which has been invested in Winnipeg. larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/06/2016 (2325 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Premier Brian Pallister is on the defensive after an email produced by the NDP called into question his sick day on Monday. Pallister came under fire by the Opposition NDP Monday after his staff and fellow Progressive Conservative MLAs refused to explain his absence in the legislature, stating he was unavailable. He said Tuesday hed had a cold, so he stayed away from the legislature during the day and Monday evenings vigil for victims of the Orlando, Fla., gay nightclub shooting. I wasnt in Costa Rica, lets be clear, Pallister said. Im sorry I missed the vigil. I took my first sick day in about a decade. MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Premier Brian Pallister: I wasnt in Costa Rica durinf Orlando shooting vigil. Pallisters comings and goings became a hot topic during the April election after CBC revealed hed spent one out of five days in Costa Rica since being elected in 2012. The records revealed he was in Costa Rica during the worst of the 2014 flood, despite telling the Free Press was at a wedding in Calgary. An email sent Friday from an NDP staffer to party MLA James Allum revealed Pallister had arranged to be away from Mondays executive council estimates meeting. Pallister contends he planned to be in the legislature Monday, but needed to postpone the meeting. He said he spent Saturday cycling the Trans-Canada Trail and then got sick. I was sick. I am now. I am sick of questions already, Pallister said. I had a lot of work to do and things to prepare, and I just needed a day to do it, so I asked for it. Asked why his staff didnt just say he was sick Monday, he replied: I dont think anyone likes to admit they were sick. I dont. He empathically denied allegations his absence Monday was tied to wanting to avoid commenting on the Pulse nightclub shooting or attending the vigil. He accused they NDP of playing wedge politics. He called the attack in which 49 people were fatally shot while at a gay nightclub, appalling and disgusting. It is unsettling, I think, to all Manitobans and obviously, the LGBT community which already has people who live in (it) feel vulnerable, Pallister said. Just an absolutely offensive act and one that, I think, serves to remind us of the importance of reaching out. NDP house leader Jim Maloway said he got a call from his PC counterpart, Kelvin Goertzen, late Friday night, informing him Pallister would be unavailable Monday and needed to postpone the estimates committee meeting. I would say some people would ask for sick notes or doctors notes, but that is not my job. I simply have to slot people in, Maloway said. If the house leader tells me he (Pallister) or anyone else is unavailable, I have to take his word for it. I wasnt in Costa Rica, lets be clear Premier Brian Pallister, responding to criticism surrounding his absence Monday from the legislature and a vigil for Orlando, Fla., shooting victims Maloway said he asked why Pallister would not be available Monday, but didnt get an answer, adding Goertzen isnt always aware of the premiers plans. Political analyst and author Chris Adams said the incident reflects a pattern of stubbornness by Pallister. This is part of a pattern weve seen. If he feels that it is not anyones business what he is doing or where has been, then he doesnt feel he has to be forthcoming, Adams said, citing his numerous trips to his Costa Rica holiday home as further example. The more you push him, the more he resists. It is a stubborn characteristic of him not being open. Pallister ran into trouble last week after he struggled to produce a list of $122 million in savings Finance Minister Cameron Friesen said was found in the 2016-17 budget. We are willing to give them the benefit of the doubt but after a while, they are going to have to shift gears with their explanations. Being new to the scene is only going to last so long, Adams said. kristin.annable@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/06/2016 (2325 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. He drew attention to himself as police investigated an apparent kidnapping-for-ransom and then couldnt keep his story straight as the questions began flying. It didnt take long before Harpreet Kanda was in custody, facing a slew of charges stemming from this bizarre January 2014 case. Kanda, 23, is now on trial in Court of Queens Bench, accused of impersonating a police officer, snatching a 14-year-old boy and demanding the victims family pay up. One of the main investigators was Winnipeg police Const. Harminder Singh, who was born in India and asked to translate statements from frantic loved ones of the missing boy. This included interviewing Kanda, a family friend who was in their home at the time wearing a shiny silver suit that made him stand out in the crowd, court was told. The boys aunt told police she believed Kanda was the last to see him earlier that day. Singh asked Kanda about this, which prompted a series of puzzling replies as he attempted to describe his day. Kanda first claimed he was supposed to pick the boy up to play video games, but never did. Singh asked him where he went instead. Kanda said he went and got pizza, but then was unable to say where from. He then changed his story, saying he had spent time with another friend at a 7-Eleven that day. Singh asked who the friend was, so they could confirm. He changed his story again, Singh testified Tuesday. This time, Kanda said he had spent the evening alone, sitting outside a Winnipeg nightclub looking at the girls walking by. I had formed an opinion that there was something suspicious and he was hiding some information, said Singh. I wondered why he changed his story three times. Police began to close in after learning from some members of the missing boys family that Kanda had told them he was in training to be a police officer. At that point, officers placed him under arrest for impersonation. They then discovered a hotel room key in his wallet, along with an air-soft gun in his vehicle. Both would later be linked to the case. Hours later, Singh said he was approached by the missing boys father indicating hed just received a strange call from an employee at the Hotel Royal Plaza in downtown Winnipeg. He said he had a male here, that his friend had dropped him here and wished to speak to you for a ride, Singh recalled of what the father had been told. The teen had been holed up for several hours inside a room at the hotel, and apparently freed himself to ask for assistance. Officers went to the scene, where they discovered a duffel bag containing a laptop computer and pellet gun in the suite, both belonging to Kanda. The boy was not injured. According to the Crown, the kidnapping was set in motion when Kanda phoned the teen and told him he was conducting an investigation into an assault and needed to meet. Once together, Kanda allegedly continued the ruse by taking him to the hotel room and telling him he must remain inside one of the rooms or risk arrest, prosecution and jail. At that point, a handwritten ransom note was delivered to the boys family. (The victim) has been kidnapped by the Russian Mafia, the warning began. The author then demanded the Canadian equivalent of nearly half a million dollars otherwise we will kill him. Dont try to call police. You will have lost your son. You have one day to give us the ransom. Wait for a call. We have our eye on you at all times, it concluded. Kanda is on trial for a number of charges including kidnapping using a firearm, extortion, impersonating a peace officer, possession of a weapon and carrying a concealed weapon. www.mikeoncrime.com Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 13/06/2016 (2326 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. In early 2015, a few months after I had published a book on the history of Toronto, I received a nasty email from an anonymous sender who berated me for what this person regarded as my critical treatment of the late Rob Ford, the former Toronto mayor. And it was true: I had concluded that Ford, uncouth and with serious personal problems, was the worst mayor in the citys history. The most interesting aspect of the Ford phenomenon, however, was not that as mayor he smoked crack cocaine and initially lied about it or that he was drunk and vulgar in public. But, rather, that absolutely nothing he said or did made an iota of difference to the thousands among the Ford Nation, such as my correspondent, who were so blindly devoted to him they ignored his missteps, lies and foibles. To them, the fact Ford had not delivered on his key promise of saving Toronto taxpayers $1 billion was irrelevant. He was their champion, and thats all that mattered. Chris O'Meara, File / The Associated Press Files Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump The obsessive embrace of Ford comes to mind in trying to solve one of the great mysteries of the current U.S. political campaign: how is it possible so many otherwise intelligent Americans believe Donald Trump should be president? Given the large, zealous crowds his rallies attract from Maine to California, these fervent supporters cannot all be part of his so-called core group of disgruntled lower- and middle-class white, male voters fed up with Washingtons established politicians. (Truth be told, I have come across professionals in Winnipeg, bright and accomplished individuals, who if they could would inexplicably cast their votes for Trump.) To repeat what already has been said by Trumps political opponents as well as TV and newspaper commentators: it is near impossible not to conclude Trumps ideas are dangerously incoherent, as Hillary Clinton put it; that he is not just unprepared to be president, as she added, but temperamentally unfit for the job; and that he is the pathological liar and narcissist Ted Cruz, his erstwhile Republican foe, labelled him last month. His racism, negative comments about women and his general buffoonery continue unabated and surely will right up until U.S. election day in November. Most recently, there is his absurd accusation of bias against U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel. The judge, who is of Mexican heritage, is currently deliberating fraud lawsuits brought by former students against Trump University, which once offered courses in real estate and relied on Trumps reputation as a real estate mogul. Because Trump has said that if elected president he will build a wall between Mexico and the U.S., it follows according to his distorted logic that no judge who has Mexican parents, as Curiel does, can possibly give him a fair verdict. A ridiculous charge. And now in the wake of the mass shooting in Orlando, Trump could not restrain himself by tweeting that his proposed ban to stop Muslims from entering the U.S is somehow justified, ignoring the fact that the perpetrator of this tragedy while swearing allegiance to the Islamic State before he went on his killing spree, was American-born. From Trumps skewed point of view, spreading fear makes for effective campaigning. Across the U.S., Trumps growing army of supporters, who line up for hours when he is scheduled to speak, verbally and even physically attack anyone who dares to question or protest their candidate as anything but the saviour who will make America great again as the Trump slogan declares. They readily slough off, ignore or worse revel in his every outburst and insult. They are angry, some desperately so, about immigrants who allegedly have taken their jobs, trade deals that have weakened the U.S. economy and an African-American president who has seemingly ruined the country domestically and globally. Trump is their rescuer. He talks to them in the same indignant tone as a friend at the local bar might and vaguely promises them what they need to hear: he will magically solve all of their problems. Though several commentators have noted Trumps fascist tendencies, and as tempting as it may be, there is no comparing Trumps rise to that of Adolf Hitler. Still, there is something eerily historically familiar in the fanaticism exhibited by Trumps followers. During the late 20s and early 30s, average Germans, far more beaten down by the poor economic conditions than Americans today, humiliated by the countrys defeat in the First World War and disgruntled with the apparent ineffectiveness of the Weimar government, flocked in large numbers to Hitler, the one leader who, as his biographer Ian Kershaw writes, could reawaken Germany and restore the countrys greatness. Hitler was a much more polished orator than Trump, and those who attended one of his stage-managed rallies were thereafter under his spell a religious-like image of him bolstered by the Nazis ruthless use of propaganda. For the 13 million Germans who voted for the Nazis in 1932, Hitler was not just another politician, adds Kershaw, he was a party leader extraordinary, a man toward whom opinion could not remain neutral. Donald Trump is hardly as extraordinary a politician even in the dangerous sense Kershaw implies about Hitler. But he is definitely someone who is as impossible to be neutral about. Now & Then is a column in which historian Allan Levine puts the events of today in a historical context. Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/06/2016 (2325 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Forty-nine peaceful clients of a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., were shot dead and another 53 wounded early Sunday by a terrorist loyal to so-called Islamic State. The city of Orlando had a horrific day. LGBTTQ* folks around the world were reminded of the hatred and mortal danger that stalks them. Wielding a legal AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and a handgun, a 29-year-old American-born Muslim opened fire at the crowded Pulse club early Sunday. He was killed in a gun battle with police. Meanwhile, U.S. authorities at the White House and the Federal Bureau of Investigation say the killer was a homegrown extremist who espoused support for both Islamic State and Hezbollah. Meanwhile, Islamic State radio called the shooter Omar Matten one of the soldiers of the caliphate in America. The radio station praised the attack. Joe Burbank / Orlando Sentinel Officers near the Pulse nightclub It is important to keep in mind that Islamic State is no stronger today than it was a week ago and the United States is no weaker. As a sneak attack on innocent civilians, the Orlando mass murder was a cruel snuffing-out of lives and a cause of great pain to friends and neighbours of the victims. As exercises of military or para-military power go, however, it was an expression of impotence and desperation. It was, essentially, a spectacular publicity stunt. Canada has suffered similar attacks and may easily suffer more. One Canadian soldier died and another was wounded when an IS sympathizer drove a car at them in a shopping centre parking lot at St. Jean, Que., in October 2014. A couple of days later, a Montreal drug addict killed an army reservist on guard duty at the National War Memorial in Ottawa and then ran into the Centre Block of Parliament, where he was shot and killed. Canada mourned its dead and moved on. The damage to the nation went no further. Islamic State appears to rely on these attacks as a way of recruiting new sympathizers to its cause and Canadian police have been keeping a close eye on Canadians who show signs of IS sympathies that could lead to overt acts of terrorism. This is the prudent thing to do, though the Orlando case shows this method is only useful up to a point. The FBI had received tips about the perpetrator of the Orlando attack, interviewed him three times and then closed the file because they found no grounds for further investigation. Police forces and intelligence agencies should continue refining their techniques. It seems unlikely, however, that they will devise sure ways of recognizing who will kill and who will not. The bad news for Americans and Canadians in the wake of the Orlando outrage is that our neighbours include a tiny number of people who are listening to Islamic State propaganda. A few of them may attempt terrible crimes, but we cannot tell who they are or where they will strike. This may go on for many years, because the authors of IS propaganda can probably find a new home after they are driven out of Iraq and Syria. Canada, the United States and nations of western Europe should prepare for the continuation of these types of attacks, but recognize they are limited and its citizens remain relatively secure. These democracies will not be brought to their knees by terrorists. Canadians and our police forces should continue to watch for IS sympathizers who may start collecting weapons and explosives. We should not, however, fear that the nation is at risk. A grandmother unwittingly put Fillmore County law enforcement on the hunt for her car-stealing granddaughter when she called 911 over the weekend, worried that she had instead gone missing while tubing the Root River, authorities said Tuesday. The woman called 911 shortly after 10 p.m. Saturday, reporting that she was concerned because her 25-year-old granddaughter and her 30-year-old male acquaintance hadnt returned from their tubing trip as expected, according to the Fillmore County Sheriffs Department. The two had borrowed a tube and left about 6:30 p.m. but hadnt checked in since, so authorities began coordinating a search. Fillmore County sheriffs deputies, the Preston Police Department, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, and the Lanesboro Fire Department all assisted in the search, which came just a week after a similar effort rescued a teenage girl who had become stranded on the river. Despite an hours-long search using multiple boats, the tubers never turned up. About 1 a.m. Sunday morning while the search continued, members of the Lanesboro Fire Department noticed an open garage near the river. A vehicle was open and appeared to have been gone through. A sheriffs deputy arrived on scene and in the course of the investigation found that a 2014 Chevy Equinox had been stolen. Then, at approximately 6:07 a.m., a Fillmore County sheriff sergeant observed a vehicle reported to have been driven by the missing tubers, made a traffic stop and found the missing tubers. Closing that case, however, opened another one. As the investigation unfolded, the sergeant learned that the two missing tubers were involved in the theft of the vehicle, and placed both under arrest. Arrested were Jessi Kominek, 25, of Austin, Minn., and Joshua Vlasaty, 30, of Minneapolis. Both have made first appearances in Fillmore County District Court. Kominek has been released on her own recognizance, and Vlasaty continued to be held Tuesday with the ability to be released on bail. The city of Winona Planning Commission moved further Monday in discussion of the updated zoning ordinance, concerning how downtown areas will transition into adjacent neighborhoods now and into the future. Four areas are proposed to be turned into downtown fringe or downtown mixed-use, which would expand development opportunities without requiring additional permitting. The areas are several-block chunks, one in the southwest edge of downtown near the bridge, a small area on the southeast end, and two in the area that surround Bay State Milling. City planner Carlos Espinosa said the purpose of the relabeling is to clarify and streamline use. The point of these two districts is to really consolidate the multiple districts we have downtown, he said. Commissioners immediately questioned the effect of the proposal on the YMCA building and block, after the YMCAs decision late last month to step back from a proposal to sell its building and land to Kwik Trip as part of a plan to move adjacent to Winona Health. The commission then had recommended not changing the citys existing comprehensive plan, which defined the YMCAs area as traditional neighborhood, rather than downtown fringe. City staff has recommended the move to downtown fringe, saying that the current and potential future use reflects the surrounding area, particularly because of all the changes brought by the interstate bridge project. We think its a really important property when youre entering the city, Espinosa said, and that the change was foreseeable and reflected the adjacent properties fringe designation. While the YMCA property would be open to more uses with the change, it would also make most of them conditional and require consent from the city. The zoning ordinance overhaul and YMCA move may not overlap, however, with the zoning ordinance being at a year away from being finalized, and the YMCA expressing a desire to move sooner than later. One of the other issues with changing a diverse areas designation is creating legal but non-conforming uses. Again in the case of the area around the new bridge, this would happen for the one- to four-family residences, mostly rentals, that abut the YMCA block. The staff had recommended borders be moved to exclude them; otherwise they would be able to continue to operate as-is and change hands, but be unable to expand. Commission member Craig Porter said that since the area seemed to be moving in the direction of downtown fringe and it aligns with the comprehensive plan, it would be better to make them non-conforming uses for the area to actually change. To have people continue to make expansions and change things I dont think thats the direction we want that area to go, Porter said. As the commission was reminded Monday, the process is just starting, and definitions and specifics will be refined as it moves along. We have a lot of things to figure out with these new zoning districts, Espinosa said. New water reservoir approved City planning staff also Monday brought forward a proposal for a $925,000 water reservoir in the Cobblestone Creek subdivision. The plan was approved unanimously. City planner Mark Moeller said the area has enough water pressure for the day-to-day uses from the areas watermain, but may present issues in case of emergency, like fighting fires. The Winona Fire Department recommended the 50-foot-wide and 20-foot-high reservoir off of Echodale Road. The land is in a bluff protection overlay district, but Moeller said the ordinance allows for several exemptions, including the construction of infrastructure for essential city services. The site was made available by Cobblestone developers, and is on the upper elevation of the Pleasant Valley water system. The project is expected to start later this month and take about six months to complete. Two alleged drug homes in the Baraboo area have been shut down following separate investigations by local authorities. The investigations yielded criminal drug charges against 33-year-old Rebecca M. Phillips of West Baraboo and 55-year-old Cory Allen Seiler of Baraboo. According to court documents, a Sauk County Department of Human Services employee reported seeing drug-related items in Phillips home while inside last November. Phillips allegedly admitted to a detective that the marijuana-related items were hers, but claimed that paraphernalia consistent with harder drug use belonged to two three men she allowed to stay with her. A concerned citizen allegedly told authorities that three men were selling meth amphetamine, cocaine, crack cocaine, and marijuana out of the home. The criminal complaint against Phillips states that authorities later seized garbage bags from in front of her Cedar Street home on multiple occasions. Inside, they allegedly found documents that identified Phillips, along with multiple drug-related items, including marijuana stems and pieces, empty syringe packages, syringes with no needles, pill bottles with Phillips name on them, and other items. Officers with the Sauk County Drug Task Force raided the home March 21, and reported finding a slew of drug paraphernalia, including a one-pot meth cooking station that was set up inside a dresser. Phillips faces one felony count of maintaining a drug trafficking place, and a misdemeanor count of possession of drug paraphernalia. The felony carries a maximum penalty of five years and six months in prison and $10,000 in fines. She is due to appear in court June 29. The complaint against Seiler states that the drug task force used confidential informants to purchase drugs from him at his trailer in the Honeyboy Trailer Court on multiple occasions in May. He faces two felony counts of selling cocaine and one felony count of maintaining a drug trafficking place. The dealing charges each carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and $25,000 in fines. He has been released on a $1,000 signature bond and is scheduled to appear in court June 21. JUNEAU There is no guarantee when dealing with active shooters or active killers, but three words may point potential victims in the right direction: Run, hide, fight. Dodge County Detective Mike Reissmann said over the last five years, the county and school districts in the area, as well as others, have worked to teach those directions to students to help them have the best possible outcome if they ever had to deal with an active shooter or active killer. Before that each school district had different ideas and codes, Reissmann said. You cant have that. You have to pool your resources if something like that happens. Reissmann said he contacted Dodge County Emergency Management Director Amy Nehls who helped him to get in contact with the school superintendents in Dodge County. From there representatives from each school district, as well as the county, were sent to FEMA Emergency Management Institute in Emmitsburg, Maryland. We spent the week there and stayed up late as we all thought about things and planned a uniform but tailored plan specific for schools, Reissmann said. The plan has been implemented in area schools. Reissmann said he is very passionate about researching these types of shootings and has studied the FBI database and other law enforcement information that looks into mass casualties. They tell you how to survive an active shooter or active killer and the best way to survive, Reissmann said. Running, hiding and fighting are your basic options when you think about an active shooter or active killer situation. Statistically running is your best option, Reissmann said. However, depending on the situation hiding may be or you may have to fight. The plan is in place not only in area schools, but also businesses and in the county building with Dodge County Emergency Management and Dodge County Sheriffs Office working together to spread the message. It is as simple as that though, run if you can get away, hide if you cant or if you are pushed into action, then you may have to fight back, Reissmann said. A lot of people just freeze. They dont do anything. However this is all about what you are comfortable with. If you are not mobile, then you cant run, but you may be able to hide. If you are capable you may be able to take action. Mental preparedness cannot be taught, Reissmann said, but people can practice what ifs when they enter a situation to see how they feel they would handle an active shooter or active killer situation. What ifs can be used with people in a mall when they are with children of an appropriate age, Reissmann said. You can ask them what they would do if there was a bad guy with a gun. Its not about fear for the rest of your life but it is mental preparedness. Mass shooting situations can obviously happen anywhere these days, Reissmann said. They have happened in nightclubs, churches, malls. The biggest thing you can be in a situation like that is prepared. There are many videos out there that talk about safety in mass shooting situations including those on the Department of Homeland Security site at https://www.dhs.gov/active-shooter-preparedness. JUNEAU A 56-year-old Milwaukee man and convicted felon pleaded not guilty to an amended set of charges after the Dodge County Sheriff's Office raided his home and confiscated 35 firearms. Kirk Lupton is charged with 10 felony counts of possession of a firearm as a convicted felon. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and $25,000 in fines. Lupton entered a not guilty plea to the charges on Tuesday. He is currently being held on a $100,000 cash bond with the conditions that he have no contact with the residents of N3315 Highway J in the town of Lowell as well as his victims. He also may not leave the state of Wisconsin. A five-day trial is scheduled to begin Aug. 22 at 8:30 a.m. The Dodge County Sheriffs Office began investigating Lupton early this year, believing he may have been in possession of a firearm as a convicted felon. According to the criminal complaint, Lupton was convicted of theft by fraud and false statement in application in Milwaukee County in 1995 under the name Kirk Bintzler. He changed his last name from Bintzler to Lupton in 2009. A confidential informant told officers that he had purchased five or six firearms from Lupton over the last two to three years. Officers had the confidential informant purchase a .410 shotgun, a 9mm handgun and a 12 gauge shotgun from Lupton on separate occasions. Officers made contact with two escorts who identified Lupton as a client and said they saw Lupton in possession of a firearm while meeting with him as a client. One of the escorts told officers that Lutpon threatened her with an assault riffle and accused her of setting up a robbery in Milwaukee. The escort said she feared for her life. On March 18, officers interviewed a man who said he observed Lupton provide crystal meth to a woman. The man said he found a sim card that contained a video in which Lupton forced the woman onto her bed, tied her to it and sexually assaulted her. With the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, surveillance equipment was deployed on the property where Lupton resided. The surveillance video shows Lupton holding a pistol. Officers executed a no-knock search warrant April 25 at Luptons home. He was taken into custody for being a felon in possession of a firearm. He refused to speak to officers and requested a lawyer. According to the criminal complaint, Lutpon was found to be in possession of a Kimber 9 mm, a Berretta Parabellum, a Black Submachine Gun, two Smith and Wesson M&P 15s, a Walther 22, a Remington 30-06, a Smith and Wesson 9mm and a Beretta 22. Another man was also arrested during the April 25 raid. Richard Nutter, 34, was taken into custody on a probation violation. Online court records show Nutter has a lengthy criminal history including several felony convictions. Lupton's trial will begin on Aug. 22. JUNEAU Dodge County is looking at the best way to spend sales tax revenue while planning out its 2017 budget. Dodge County administrator Jim Mielke said the estimated 2017 revenue from sales tax for Dodge County is $5.49 million. There is an estimated fund balance for 2016 of just more than $1 million. Mielke spoke about the sales tax at the Dodge County Board of Supervisors finance meeting Tuesday to make them aware of the large number of projects the county is looking to finance with the sales tax. The projects the county needs to complete will cost just over $5 million. Mielke said. The list includes 2017 debt service at $3.5 million and $1.5 million worth of new projects the county has agreed to complete in 2017. In addition, there are more than $1.2 million of projects that the county board is considering that have not been approved. Mielke said the numbers do not include the pending pipe replacement project at Dodge County Jail. The Dodge County Board of Supervisors approved the architecture firm that will plan the pipe replacement in the Dodge County Detention Facility in April. The facility needs new piping to replace the cast iron sanitary and vent piping that was installed in the building 16 years ago. Bids for the jail project will not be coming until September, Mielke said. Mielke said in the next few months the county board will review projects for the next five years. The board will discuss that list during its September meeting. Dodge County and 61 other counties in Wisconsin impose a sales tax on local retailers, which is on top of a 5 percent state sales tax. Over the course of the Dodge County sales tax programs 21 years, it has brought in more than $94 million. Last year the county collected $5.7 million. The county and the state have had lower states tax remittances in the last few months. In April and May, the county saw $100,000 less than it did in 2015 for the same months. June 15 is World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD). ADRC of Eagle Country Mauston Office and Juneau County Adult Protective Services are commemorating WEAAD by displaying a banner and 142 pinwheels in front of the Juneau County Courthouse Building located at 220 State Street in Mauston. The theme: One person. One Action. One Nation. United Against Elder Abuse aims at raising awareness around the world. Every day, 10,000 people turn 65 in the US. That trend is going to continue for nearly the next 20 years. Demographics are shifting, and soon there will be more aging people in the US than ever before. At the same time that the population is growing, a startling number of elders face abusive conditions. Every year an estimated 5 million, or 1 in 10, older Americans are victims of elder abuse, neglect or exploitation. And thats only part of the picture: Experts believe that for every case of elder abuse or neglect reported; as many as 23 cases go unreported. WEAAD serves as a call-to-action for individuals, organizations, and communities to raise awareness about abuse, neglect, and exploitation of elders. The International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse and the World Health Organization at the United Nations (UN) launched the first World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD) on June 15, 2006 in an effort to unite communities around the world in raising awareness about elder abuse. WEAAD is in support of the UNs International Plan of Action acknowledging the significance of elder abuse as a public health and human rights issue. The 142 pinwheels in front of the County Courthouse Building represent the number of elder abuse reports made to the Aging and Disability Resource Center (ADRC) of Eagle Country Mauston Office in 2015 for vulnerable adults with disabilities aged 18 to 59 (52 pinwheels) and aging adults at risk aged 60 and older (90 pinwheels). Reports include concerns related to self-neglect, financial exploitation, and neglect by others, physical abuse and emotional abuse. An elder adult at risk is someone age 60 or older that is subjected to any of the following types of abuse or neglect: physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, treatment without consent, unreasonable confinement or restraint, financial exploitation, neglect by a caregiver, or self neglect. In an emergency, if someone is in immediate life-threatening danger, call the police at 911 immediately. In non-emergency situations call the Juneau County Adult Protective Services intake line at 608-847-2400. If anyone would like more information about this topic, please contact the Aging and Disability Resource Center of Eagle Country Mauston Office at 608-847-9371 or 877-794-2372, or by email at jcadrc@co.juneau.wi.us or visit our ADRC Website at www.adrceagle.org. June is Dairy Month in Wisconsin and, throughout the state, small family farms will be holding dairy breakfasts to give attendees a glimpse of life on the farm. But few know the amount of work and dedication it takes to successfully run a small dairy. Many small farms have been replaced by large-scale facilities housing thousands of cattle. Farmers also struggle with low milk prices and the demand to keep up, and pay for, technological advances. For farmers in Sauk, Juneau and Columbia counties, family farming is a way of life. Despite the daily struggles, the passion to feed the country, provide a strong upbringing for their children and own a small business remains. While the future of family farming is uncertain, a number of families in the area work every day to keep the dream alive. Growth and technology Karyn Bell can hardly believe the changes to her farm until she looks at aerial photographs taken throughout the years on display in the office at Bells Udder Farm. The farm, located between New Lisbon and Camp Douglas on Highway H, is not the place it was in the 1990s. Thats when Tim, Karyns husband, consolidated his dairy operation with Jim, her father-in-law. Since 1999, the farm has grown to include about 560 milk cows and employs around 15 workers, including extended family members. We were small, but in 1999 we decided to consolidate because having the two smaller farms just wasnt cutting it, Bell said. We had to put up a bigger barn and just built on to it from there. The challenge was for us to either go big or go home. You hear of so many farms that have 3,000 cows with 25 employees. About half of our employees are family. The farm milks three times a day, in five to six-hour shifts, including a 2 a.m. rotation. On average, their cows produce 94 pounds per day. In more than 30 years of milk production, the Bells have seen constant change in the dairy industry. The family keeps pace by investing in new technology that makes day-to-day tasks more efficient. In the past, the Bells stored forage in silos, but as the herd grew, they built concrete bunkers that store corn silage and haylage on the ground under tarps. Self-sustaining farming With a self-sustaining farm, the Bells rarely have to purchase hay or corn. Most of their hay is chopped into haylage, which can be fed throughout the year. The farm also raises plenty of young stock to replenish the herd. Bell said about 40 to 80 calves are born on the farm every month. All bull calves are sold to neighboring farms to be raised as steers. About 250 heifers are raised on a farm near Tomah and shipped back to the Bells before giving birth. After that, their milking careers begin. Between milking cows, dry cows and young stock, the Bells raise about 1,100 of the animals each year. Thats a good number for us that seems to work, Bell said. Tim doesnt really want to grow any bigger. To keep their hungry calves properly nourished, the Bells installed an automatic feeder that uses a mix of nutrient-rich powder and water to produce a milkshake. The feeder charts how much each calf drinks every day and how often it uses the feeder. With so many calves born every month, the Bells designed a birthing station where pregnant cows have their newborns while lying on sand. A camera is set up above the pen and the Bells can monitor a cows labor at any time from the office or their home. Tim can be lying in bed and watch the birth from his phone, Bell said. Normally, theyre pretty good about having the babies on their own, but sometimes they have complications and need help. Generational farming For many small dairy farmers in Wisconsin, the tradition of farming is passed on through several generations. In the Columbia County town of Lewiston, John Walkers grandfather began farming several decades ago. These days, John and his brothers, Tim and Tom, operate a 400-herd operation called Walk-Era Farms. With young stock, the farm has about 520 cows on 850 acres. My dad started milking about 40 cows in the late 1950s and it slowly expanded from there, John Walker said. We formed a corporation back in the 80s with my parents and my brothers and brought it to where it is now. To thrive financially in the fragile dairy industry, the Walkers purchased another farm in the town of Newport in the 1980s. Walker said it was the best move my parents ever made. The land was fertile, producing quality crops to feed more cows. Income diversification We went from 60 to about 100, which doesnt seem like a lot, but we expanded in other ways, too. We were able to sell more cash grain, which does help when the milk prices are low and corn is high, Walker said. There are some years when milk is high and corn is low. Thats certainly not the case this year it looks like both will remain low. Financial flexibility also is important to local farmers. The Walkers supplement their dairy income by selling crops and raising registered Holstein cows for sale. That really helps with our bottom line too, Walker said. While advances in technology have made farming easier, its also more costly. New tractors are equipped with GPS systems that monitor crop yields and fertilizer recommendations. In the barn, milk meters chart every cows production on a daily basis. Advances in breeding and gestation periods have changed farming in recent years. At the Bells Udder Farm, a veterinarian can determine the gender of an unborn calf by using a machine similar to an ultra-sound. When it comes to technology, we dont try to do everything, but we try to use it as much as we can, Walker said. Theres always something new to try to stay on top of. Limited hired help One of the biggest challenges in running a successful farm is retaining dependable employees. Many small farms milk twice per day; once in the early morning and again in the evening. Due to the split schedule, many employees work part-time for low wages. Thats the nice thing about having a family farm, you dont have to rely on outside help as much, Walker said. We dont take any extravagant vacations or anything. Once in a while somebody can take off for a week, but thats pretty rare. We do have to be here all the time and thats one of the biggest disadvantages. Youre really tied down. But if you love what youre doing, it makes it all pay off at the end. Just outside of Reedsburg is the Peterson farm. The family dairy will celebrate its 100th anniversary next year. Dan Peterson, along with his brother, Matt, bought the farm from their father who passed away in 2001. Since then, the business has grown to include Petersons sons, Clayton and Kyle. The Petersons milk 125 dairy cows and sell steers for extra income. About 400 head are raised on the property. Its just unbelievable how much has changed through the years, Peterson said. Its hard to stay ahead of the curve and everything costs so much stinking money. If you dont keep up, youre behind the eight ball. Despite the challenges, the lifestyle comes with advantages. Peterson said many of the pros and cons are similar to other professions, but work and personal time almost always are connected for farmers. Its a nice life. Youre running your own business and you get fresh air every day, Peterson said. We also do a lot of custom harvesting so we can go out and meet neighbors and get to know people. You have to work seven days a week and there are days you want to walk away, but its a nice life. Through the years, Peterson has seen several neighbors quit farming. We live on old Ironton Road that runs from Reedsburg to Ironton. When I was a kid, there were 27 milk farms on this road and now there are two of us, Peterson said. My dad raised seven children on 56 cows until he expanded to around 70, and then when my brother and I took over, we had to expand to 124. The future Both Chris Davis, 34, and Dale Lichte, 35, are younger farmers intent on continuing their successful careers in the dairy industry. After earning a degree at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, Davis returned to help run his parents' farm near Wisconsin Dells in 2004. Last year, Davis purchased a farm and combined it with his parents' operation. The Davis family milks 170 Jerseys and Holsteins and also raise young stock. Davis had a chance to pursue other career paths, but chose to return to the farm. The independence and freedom of running a small business attracted him to the lifestyle. I had a deep love and passion for cattle and the agricultural part of farming. I had an opportunity to be my own boss and manage it, Davis said. You make your own mistakes and learn from them. You dont have a boss telling you what you can and cant do. The rewards are what make you keep clicking. Every day is a new opportunity. Davis has seen the industry change in a short amount of time. While its difficult to stay one step ahead of technology and efficiency, Davis isnt afraid to try new things. We are always trying to stay on the cutting edge, he said. You have to harvest and store crops in an efficient way. You have to allow technology to do its thing. To help plant and harvest crops, Davis uses auto-steer on tractors, a GPS system that maps out fields so he doesnt overlap a parcel of ground hes already tilled. Growing world population In the future, farmers will have to adapt to changes in the markets, technology and the weather, Davis said. With the worlds population rising, he believes there could be a food shortage by 2050. We have to be able to produce enough food to feed the world because we are what supplies the world, Davis said. You have to deal with every curve ball that gets thrown in. The Lichte farm, in central Sauk County, is a fifth-generation dairy. The family milks 60 cows, but raises about 200 with young stock and steers. The Litchtes own 200 acres just south of Loganville. Similar to other local farmers, Lichte has made changes in recent years to stay competitive. Last year, he installed a state-of-the-art calf nursery, which replaced the small huts the newborns used to live in. That was a big plus. Its a lot less labor and the calves are even healthier than they would be in the hut, Lichte said. Its easier to feed them and they stay cleaner. Lichte runs the farm with his wife, Niki, and his father, David, along with other family members. On a small family farm, everyone pitches in. Lichte already is getting support from eldest daughter Lindsey, 6, and her brother Darren, 3. The Lichtes welcomed youngest brother Dylan to the farm three months ago. Even if the kids are in the way, theyre still helping out, Lichte joked. Having the ability to raise a young family on the multi-generational farm is important to Lichte. Family values of hard work and dependability are often ingrained in farm kids from a young age. When I take them out on the tractor and Im chopping hay or planting, just to see their little minds work, its just amazing, Lichte said. During busy periods which are nearly year-round Lichte puts in 15-18 hours per day. During planting and harvesting seasons, he works almost non-stop, especially when Mother Nature cooperates. I dont really have much of a life outside of farming, but I love what I do and its in my blood, he said. Watching markets Milk prices in the market can swing like a pendulum. Unfortunately for dairy farmers, they have dipped dramatically in the past year, falling to $13.14 per 100 pounds. Just two years ago, prices rose to about $24 per 100 pounds. The sharp decline in prices is partly blamed on too much milk in the market. As prices jumped, farms expanded, bringing more milk in. Lower fuel prices have helped curb some costs, but prices in seed, fertilizer, machinery and other necessities have continued to climb. Not knowing what youre getting from paycheck-to-paycheck is hard, Bell said. Its sad to see the smaller farms dying off. But, people still need to eat, so we need farms around here... Its really difficult unless you have a farm you can buy into or its passed down from generations." It's a view shared by many. Its a challenge getting young people interested in farming. I was born into it and most of the kids that I knew growing up were born into it and had a chance to go back after school, Walker said. Thats really the only way you can get in and thats even more so nowadays because the capital outlay to buy in is so high that its almost impossible. While farmers feel pressure to keep up with current innovations, the downturn in milk prices keeps their budgets tight. Weve looked at having automatic take-off (on our milk machines) but with the way the prices are, there are things you just have to put on the back burner to survive, Lichte said. The bottom line is, the milk prices suck right now. Theres no reason for them to be this low. We just have to ride the ups and downs with it. You try to pay for $100,000 worth of seed and fertilizer on $13 per 100 milk, and then try to keep up with bills, fuel costs, and pay for labor, its tough. Its just a bear, Peterson said. Mega farms Bell isnt opposed to large-scale farms that milk more than 1,000 cows because it helps feed the population. But just like smaller dairies, there are challenges to maintaining mega-herd farms. Besides having to hire additional employees, most large-scale farms employ herdsmen to oversee their cows, which can be daunting. Tim or Jim would never want to get any bigger. They know every single cow in this herd, Bell said. They can stand in the parlor, look at an udder and identify which cow that is. They like to be more up close and personal to their animals. Its a sad day when a pet because some do become pets gets sick or dies. We care about our animals and wouldnt have it any other way. Peterson believes competition from mega farms is forcing smaller family operations out of milk production. He cited a new 6,000-cow dairy near Wisconsin Rapids that received approval to build after years of debate. Near Oxford, MilkSource runs a mega farm that houses several thousand cows thats under constant public scrutiny. They allow for more jobs, but it could lead to a lot of environmental problems. Sure, if there are 10 other farmers in a small area, you will have the same problems, but its 10 of us trying to make a living and keep the states reputation going and then you get these big conglomerates, Peterson said. Im all for free enterprise, but its pushing us smaller farmers out. They can rent more land and pay more in wages because they have more income. For area farmers, opinions on mega dairies vary greatly. Im not a big fan of the huge dairies, but we might need them if were going to somehow feed the world, Walker said. Our feed, meat and milk are going to have to come from somewhere. But with the huge capital investment at the beginning, theres just going to be less smaller farmers doing it. On one hand, you dont want to see your neighbor milking 2,000 cows because it suppresses milk prices, but on the other, were going to need that efficiency to feed the world too. Davis sees the value in large-scale farms and believes they are well maintained and productive. Those dairies are heavily regulated and they are a very good representation of the dairy industry on a large scale. Because of that, they are very neat and tidy. They have the management underneath them and they have the newest technology and can be the most efficient they possibly can, Davis said. I know some of these large dairy farms and theyre just on a larger scale, like a Walmart or Costco. They just produce things at a cheaper cost. A Necedah woman, charged with 1st degree intentional homicide, was back in court on Tuesday. Natalie N. Murphy, 22, was charged with the shooting death of Andrew Dammen in February of 2015. While Murphy admitted to killing Dammen, a jury trial is scheduled to begin on Sept. 26. On Tuesday, a motion filed by the state to have Murphy undergo an independent psychological examination was denied by Juneau County Judge Paul Curran. Murphy was represented by defense attorneys Stephen Mays and John Orth. In May, prosecutor Christopher Liegel filed a motion for psychologists to examine Murphy. Curran, however, said he wasnt sure what the psychological evaluation would entail, which would complicate jury proceedings during the trial. Liegel argued that an evaluation could trigger events that Murphy may be suppressing from the night she allegedly shot Dammen. Upon initial investigation, Juneau County Detective Tim Andres said Murphy mentioned having blackouts in the past, but not specifically the night of the murder. She told investigators Dammen made her shoot him and identified the gun used to kill him. I dont know what it is and the jury would want to know about it too, Curran said, regarding the scope of the evaluation. Curran said testimony from a doctor could impact the jury if Murphy takes the stand afterward. The judge claimed that a psychologists testimony would likely be used to bolster their credentials and show how great they are in their field. Curran cited two previous criminal cases where psychological testing was used. But, Curran said he would need more information to determine if rulings in those cases applied to Murphys case. Does it advance cause for the truth? They use very specific language in those cases, but they were specific to factual items we dont have (in this case), Curran said. This is a law-following court, not a law-making court. The doctor wont be testifying as a conduit to what Murphy told him. Also on Tuesday, Curran set a deadline of July 11 for attorneys to submit names for testimony. If they are known in advance, I want them named. I have been known to allow rebuttal witnesses if its something that we reasonably could not have seen coming, Curran said. The next step in the case is an evidentiary hearing scheduled for Aug. 9 at 9 a.m. at the Juneau County Justice Center. A public argument among Wisconsin lawmakers stemming from Sunday's mass shooting in Orlando erupted as Rep. Jesse Kremer, R-Kewaskum, accused Rep. Mandela Barnes, D-Milwaukee, of failing to be a "strong, black leader" for his constituents. The conflict came to a head as Kremer criticized Barnes for comments made in the wake of this weekend's mass shooting at a gay club in Orlando. "Our country has been torn apart by President Obama's divisive racism, hatred of Christianity and lambasting of the military and law enforcement," Kremer said in a statement. "This terrible belief system has obviously crept into our own statehouse. The division must come to an end, and it should start with leaders like Rep. Barnes." Kremer's press release was a response to several tweets sent by Barnes after Sunday's shooting, which left 49 dead and 53 injured. "How many people have been driven to hate and act violently towards the lgbt community by 'conservative Christian' ideology?" Barnes tweeted Sunday. "So many terroristic enablers in churches, in Congress, and state houses. Whether by discriminatory policy or the love affair with guns," read another Barnes tweet. Barnes' tweets drew the ire of several conservative pundits and lawmakers who accused him of being too hasty to blame guns and Christianity for the massacre. Kremer accused him of politicizing a tragedy and attempting to "divide and conquer." But Barnes, calling Kremer's press release "bizarre," said he was engaging in some necessary soul-searching for his own religion, as he does within his own political party. "I said that to say that there is a very anti-LGBT sentiment that exists in a lot of people who misinterpret their faith, be it Christianity, be it Judaism, be it Islam. But I cant say that about Judaism because Im not Jewish. I can't say that about Islam because I'm not Muslim. I can speak to that because I am a Christian," Barnes said. The motivation for the attack the worst mass shooting in American history has been the subject of heated political debate at a national level. It has been reported that the gunman, 29-year-old Omar Mateen, had been previously investigated by the FBI and pledged allegiance to ISIS during the attack. It has also been reported that Mateen had visited the Pulse nightclub and other gay clubs regularly for several years. Family members have indicated he was intolerant of homosexuality. Kremer on Tuesday accused Barnes of "blaming Christians for the evil act of war on U.S. soil by an ISIS allegiant." The representative resides in a community that is crumbling around him, but doesn't even have the courage and fortitude to address the real problems in his own backyard an explosion of crime, the breakdown of the family and inner city youth who are thirsting for a strong, honest, father-figure leader with integrity," Kremer said. "Rep. Barnes could be that strong, black leader but that would take hard work and perhaps some criticism by his own colleagues." Barnes said he would welcome a visit from Kremer to his legislative district. "Thank you, Jesse Kremer from Kewaskum, for explaining to me how I should perform as a black person and thank you for the assumption about the community I live in," Barnes said. "I invite him to visit." Citing Kremer's legislative record, Barnes suggested the Republican lawmaker "wants to embarrass marginalized people." Most of those bills failed to pass, but a 20-week abortion ban Kremer championed was signed into law by Gov. Scott Walker. "There is a level of responsibility," Barnes said. "How many people have been driven to suicide because of people like Rep. Kremer who introduce bills that make them feel less than human?" Kremer's comments about crime in Milwaukee come one week after Rep. Janel Brandtjen, R-Menomonee Falls, called to cut funding to the city unless steps are taken to reduce its crime levels. Barnes tangled with Brandtjen over her comments, accusing them of carrying racial undercurrents. Brandtjen dismissed that argument. Kremer has no opponent in his upcoming election. Barnes is challenging Sen. Lena Taylor, D-Milwaukee, for the Senate seat she has held since 2005. A downtown Madison prayer rally organized by the Rev. Franklin Graham this week has taken on new significance after a gay club in Orlando was targeted in the worst mass shooting in the nation's history. As Graham prepares to urge Christians in Wisconsin to practice their religion at the ballot box, a group of lawmakers, secular advocates and faith leaders are prepared to meet him at the state Capitol. Madison is the 28th stop on Graham's "Decision America" tour. The prominent evangelical and son of the Rev. Billy Graham is holding prayer rallies in state capitols throughout the country, including one Wednesday at noon on the Capitol Square. "Hell be urging Christians to vote, to live out their faith in every part of their lives, and to pray for our nation just as Nehemiah cried out to God to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and restore hope to His people," according to a website for the tour. Graham has not endorsed a candidate in the presidential race, and he has called his nationwide tour a "campaign for God." He has said he has no hope in either party and that voters may be forced to choose between "the less of two heathens." He has also voiced support for some of presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump's ideas, including his proposal to ban Muslim immigrants from entering the United States. But in the spotlight Wednesday will be Graham's comments about the LGBT community. The preacher has warned gay people "that if they want to continue living like this, it's the flames of hell for you," and has said gay people cannot belong to the Christian faith. For those stinging from the mass shooting at a popular gay club in Orlando on Sunday, killing 49 and wounding 53, Graham's presence will be unwelcome. Rep. Chris Taylor, D-Madison, plans to stand near Graham's rally, holding her equality flag. She has invited others to join her, and said there are no plans to engage with the prayer rally. "I think it's particularly important in light of what happened in Florida. People are just so appalled by this hatred out there," Taylor said. "We're just going to be kind of a presence to really send a message that discrimination, intolerance and hatred are not values that we have." Taylor said she encourages anyone who shows up Wednesday afternoon to stand quietly in peaceful protest. She said she's heard from lots of people who plan to be there. "I think people are just really upset. They reject this culture of violence and this hatred," she said. "People want to do something positive, and show up and say there's another way forward." Also protesting quietly near Graham's rally will be members of the Madison-based Freedom From Religion Foundation. "We're going to be there," said FFRF co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor. "We want to make sure this has a secular presence and a reminder of the separation of church and state." While Graham encourages Christians to vote with their faith, Gaylor and her FFRF colleagues will promote the organization's "I'm Secular and I Vote" campaign. Meanwhile, a group of local religious leaders rejecting Graham's views as "Islamaphobic, xenophobic and homophobic" has planned an alternative prayer gathering at Grace Episcopal Church, also at noon on the Capitol Square. A website for the Wisconsin stop features a religious profile of the state compiled by an evangelical Christian polling firm. According to the data, 78 percent of Wisconsinites are "casual Christians" while 11 percent are "captive Christians." A spokesman for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association did not immediately return a message seeking comment. Information is taken from the records of the Portage Police Department and does not represent a comprehensive list of police activity. Each individual named in this report is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Between 6:32 a.m. Wednesday and 7:46 a.m. Monday, police responded to 181 calls. Airport Road: Police on Thursday responded to a report of threats made via text message. Ian Fisher, 18, of Madison, was issued a citation for disorderly conduct. Wal-Mart: Police on Thursday at 11:54 p.m. received a complaint regarding three pickup trucks in the parking lot of Wal-Mart. Upon arrival two appeared to have already left. Jeffrey Tomczak, 20, of Poynette, was cited for reckless driving and endangering safety. Northridge Drive and New Pinery Road: Police on Friday stopped Zachary Salerno, 27, of Portage, who was issued a citation for operating a vehicle after suspension of a license as a sixth offense. West Cook Street: Police on Friday at 5:39 p.m. encountered Linda Fuller, 58, of Portage, who was arrested for violation of a no-drink bond condition, later registering a blood alcohol content of .068. Volk Street: Police on Friday at 7:42 p.m. encountered Nicholas Jordan, 32, of Portage, who was issued a misdemeanor summons for possession of drug paraphernalia as a second offense. In addition Selby Dittmar, 26, of Portage, was issued a misdemeanor summons for possession of marijuana as a first offense and possession of drug paraphernalia as a first offense. Central Portage: Police on Saturday at 12:08 a.m. responded to a report of an ongoing dispute in which a 21-year-old Portage man was arrested for domestic disorderly conduct. East Conant Street: Police on Saturday at 1:43 p.m. responded to a disturbance, though subjects in question had already left the residence. In a separate later incident officers made contact with Rodney Smith, 17, of Portage, who was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and bail jumping. Kwik Trip South: Police on Saturday at 1:43 p.m. responded to a traffic accident in which Ryan Maynard, 18, of Portage, was cited for operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated as a second offense with a 16-year-old passenger. Maynard was also cited for possession of drug paraphernalia as a second offense and possession of marijuana as a first offense. Frontage Road: Police on Saturday at 11:55 p.m. stopped Jake Ableman, 28, of Portage, who was cited for operating a vehicle with a suspended license as a fifth offense. The vehicle was towed. Central Portage: Police on Sunday at 1:18 a.m. contacted a 16-year-old Portage male who was cited for underage possession of alcohol and released to a parent. Fort BP: Police with assistance of a Columbia County Sheriffs Deputy responded to a report of a man possibly intoxicated leaving the BP station. Officers stopped Matthew Jenson, 35, of Portage, who was arrested for operating a vehicle while intoxicated as a first offense, later registering a blood alcohol content of .284. Laughs, cheers and long-time-coming congratulatory fist pumps were shared in Goodyear Park as city and community leaders broke ground Monday for Portages very own skate park a project everyone onsite agreed is about bringing people together and investing in youth. Youre seeing police officers, city officials, many service clubs, like Kiwanis, which has helped us tirelessly, said an emotional Kyle Little, president of Portage Family Skate Park. Its just an unreal feeling, it really is. Lincoln City, Oregon-based company Dreamland Skateparks has started construction on what, by September, will be a 4,178-square-foot skate park. The park will be built in the large, open grass area just north of the walking path in Goodyear Park, estimated to be about 50 to 100 feet from the Splash Pad. The park will run about 120 feet in length and 30 to 35 feet in width. Its a family that all works together for a goal, and then the kids have something to do: get exercise and have fun, said Dreamland construction worker Doug Floyd. Floyd recently participated in a Make Life Skate Life volunteer project in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in which an army of people completed a 400-square-meter park. You could get a sense of the community coming together there, Floyd said of that project. People are more accepting of (skate parks) now than they were before, noted Dreamland construction foreman Jesse McDowell. Thats not surprising, but its nice. Little said Portages project brought people together whether they had any idea of how it operates or what the sport is. Weve come a long way, and weve done this together, Little said, holding a check for $50,000 given to the city toward construction money that PFSP and other organizations worked to raise in the community. McDowell, a skateboarder for 18 years in addition to his work with Dreamland, explained the first step of construction is to put in drain lines before building up the ends of the park where the high spots are, followed by digging, rebar and concrete. The skate park will feature a variety of street features and an open-ended bowl with a curling stone house at its center, Grindline Skateparks lead designer Micah Shapiro explained earlier this year. The curling stone is a raised, curved dome that skateboarders can use to change direction and speed. The open-ended bowl, at its deep end, will drop about 4 feet and can be used by beginners and skilled skateboarders alike. Dreamland in its application for the project sent the Parks and Recreation board a list of references from more than 50 skate parks the company has completed across the U.S., including two in Wisconsin one in Weston and the other in Sturgeon Bay. Whats the common denominator in so many projects? You have to work for what you want to do, McDowell said. Go, Portage Portage Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Marianne Hanson said the skate park provides yet another activity for kids and adults in Portage. We already have this great Splash Pad, and then to have another addition right next door to it just shows the great progress Portage has been making and continues to make. Steve Sobiek, the citys director of business planning and development, said skate park construction is big for Portage in ways that go beyond recreation. One of the biggest challenges for communities is trying to keep Millennials, young professionals, young families the high school students who graduate in the community, Sobiek said. Not only does the skate park possess direct economic development activity in terms of tourism-related events and bringing retail business that caters to the skate park community, Sobiek said, but it will also help to grow the demographic Portage needs to grow. If we dont grow, we die, Sobiek said. What are we doing with young professionals? Its so much more important than just a skateboard park. Its an investment in the future. You have to look at that: What does Portage want to look like in 5, 10, 20 years? This is the future. Im personally just so proud of Portage in having local government work with a private organization like Kyles to make it happen. I know of communities where skate park groups have come to governments and they say no, its too expensive, and theres always an excuse. So I just think: Go, Portage. The governors office recognized Lake Redstone in a surprise proclamation on June 11. The announcement happened during a celebration of the lakes 50th birthday at Lake Redstone County Park. Governor Scott Walker declared June 13 as Lake Redstone Day, according to the proclamation read by Lance Pliml, chair of the Wood County Board of Supervisors and vice-chair of the Wisconsin Counties Association. Pliml has ties to the area; his family has enjoyed the lake for 45 years. Pliml said Walker acknowledged Lake Redstone for its recreational contributions to the region. It has drawn thousands of residents and tourists for fishing, swimming, hiking, kayaking and sight-seeing. More than 1,100 homes surround the lake, which has 600 acres of surface water. N.E. Ike Isaacson, who developed Lake Redstone, was on hand to accept awards for his achievements. Isaacson, however, deferred the honors to the many people who supported the initial project. Officials in Sauk County and La Valle, 24 land owners and countless workers contributed to the lake. I dont deserve this, he said while accepting the awards. It wasnt just me. It was so many people. People realized what this was going to become. The Sauk County Board of Supervisors also issued a proclamation recognizing Lake Redstone and its creators. Sauk County Board Chair Marty Krueger called the lake one of the crown jewels of our county, citing its recreational and economic impact. He said the board unanimously approved the proclamation. Krueger said the park is an effective recruiting tool. He told a story about trying to attract a talented young professional to the area and how the candidate was impressed by Lake Redstone. Rep. Ed Brooks of the 50th Assembly District also presented a proclamation. History Visitors had the chance to discover more about Lake Redstones origins on June 11. Historical photos showed the lake from start to finish, and volunteers were on hand to answer questions. It dates back to 1963 when Isaacson, who was 34 at the time, was looking for a location to create a man-made lake. He settled on the La Valle area and worked with the Town of La Valle, Sauk County and land owners to make the dream a reality. On June 13, 1966, water fell over the spillway of the dam, signaling that the lake was full. Many years later Isaacson wrote a book, Building Lake Redstone: An Illustrated History, which chronicles the lake from start to finish. The book is for sale at Hartjes Travel Center, Market & Hardware in La Valle and Viking Village Foods in Reedsburg Celebration The lakes creation and its 50-year anniversary share a common theme: Teamwork. Planning the party took extensive volunteer efforts and donations, said Brad Horner, chair of the 50th Anniversary Celebration Organizing Committee. He said 35 volunteers were on site in red shirts but others worked behind the scenes. Nearly 30 individuals, businesses and organizations contributed to celebration. They didnt just say they loved the lake, he said. They opened up their wallets and their checkbooks. Horner closed by calling on young people to continue to care about the lake. He said it will fall to future generations to plan the 100th anniversary. A local campaign to raise money for the Badger Honor Flight has inspired hundreds of people to donate or hold fundraisers. The effort also has inspired the 200 people who work for McFarlanes in Sauk City. The result of that inspiration was to do what McFarlane Manufacturing does best: build something big from metal to work on a farm field. McFarlane Manufacturing General Manager Todd Lassanske said employees didnt require much additional encouragement to help build a 14-foot wide, 30-foot long tillage tool through the companys Universal Incite product line. From welders to fabricators, retail story and office staff, employees banded together on the project. Many employees donated hours of vacation time to work on the machine, or clocked out and worked past their shifts to get the machine built, assembled and painted. Even though the ag economy is down, McFarlanes is still inclined to do something, Lassanske said. They were going to make a sizeable donation, but I thought we could do more than that. So I came up with this thought to donate a product. Total support On top of an economic low in agricultural product sales, the company still is recovering from a devastating fire in 2013 that leveled its retail store. The staff here didnt get bonuses last year, Lassanske said. It was the first year in most employees tenure here that they didnt get a bonus. I wanted to be sensitive to that. So I grabbed about 30 people and said, I know none of us got bonuses last year. But what if the company donated everything for this project? It was a group of welders. One hundred percent of the hands went up in favor. The project is personal for some employees. Welder Rick Allisons brother is a Vietnam veteran, and his father and uncles fought in World War II. Hes been to the war memorials in Washington. Darrell Breunig works in assembly and is an Operation Desert Shield former U.S. Army paratrooper who served from 1989 to 1992. More than 170 hours have been donated by employees to get the job done. Even suppliers of the machine parts donated products. We have close to $10,000 worth of donations from our suppliers, Lassanske said. They gave us the chains, or the bearings and the wheels. We even had a donation from a Canadian supplier. The finished tiller rolled out of the building last week and is unlike any other the company builds. Its red paint fades to white, then fades to blue beneath a large black silhouette of the iconic Pulitzer Prize-winning photo of the flag raising at the Battle of Iwo Jima. The Project Eagle Incite tiller will be listed on an online auction until Sept. 1, with a potential price tag of more than $40,000. The profits after costs will be donated to Operation Eagles Wings, now on its second tier of fundraising for the cost of a second Badger Honor Flight that takes veterans to visit the war memorials in Washington, D.C. The cost of one flight is about $100,000, the campaigns original goal. However, once that number was reached two months ago, Fritz Wyttenbach and the Heroes for Honor fundraising committee kept going to reach the goal of paying for a second flight. The Sauk Prairie area is the first community in the state to raise enough money to fund an entire flight. Wyttenbach said the large donation may be what puts the campaign closer to funding a second entire flight, the deadline for which is three months away. McFarlanes just bought into this, Wyttenbach said. Todd is the instigator and he deserves a lot of credit. He just thought it was such a great project. He told me what he was thinking we all agreed it would be awesome. Wyttenbach said the McFarlane Manufacturing project is stunning. The whole thing has just been unbelievable and its been a very humbling experience, Wyttenbach said. But McFarlanes has gone above and beyond. They do so much for the community. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is defending its plans for the Sauk Prairie Recreation Area after the National Parks Service raised questions about its ability to manage some of the activities proposed at the site. Parks Service program manager Elyse LaForest sent a 10-page letter May 3 to the DNR seeking more information about added recreational uses that were not proposed as part of the DNRs 2004 application for the property. The latest revision to the property management plan was released by the DNR in August 2015. We continue to be concerned about the level of opposition to some of the forms of recreation proposed, specifically dual purpose motorcycles, rocketry and to a lesser degree, snowmobiles and dog training, LaForests letter states. We believe it is important for the DNR to address this public opposition by summarizing and responding to the publics concerns in this matter. In a 3-page response June 8, DNR Division of Fish, Wildlife and Parks administrator Sanjay Olson stated the additional recreational use proposals had not been considered in 2004 when the original application was made. He stated the DNR owns more land and public access easements in Sauk County than any other county in southern Wisconsin more than 30,000 acres and that the vast majority of these lands only provide opportunities for low-intensity activities. The DNR has long held that it is acceptable to include activities at properties, even if they may displace other visitors, Olson states. There is not a shortage of opportunities in Sauk County for people to enjoy low intensity, quiet or remote experiences on land open to the public. LaForests questions about specific times for implementation of steps in the recreational area plan and concerns about planned DNR staffing levels were not addressed. We are concerned that limited staffing will be consumed by managing recreational use and users while development and resource management may be delayed, LaForest stated. A local DNR representative responsible for developing plans at the Sauk Prairie Recreation Area could not be reached for comment. LaForest also raised concerns about the lack of an environmental impact study associated with a proposed sport rocketry area, the impact of opening the property to all hunting seasons on recreational users and potential conflicts, and an apparent lack of cooperation with neighboring landowners. The USDA (Dairy Forage Research Center) provided you with a list of concerns during public comment period, LaForest stated. An assessment of proposed uses should identify potential impacts to adjoining landowners. Many local groups have raised questions about plans for the property. Sauk Prairie Conservation Alliance Executive Director Charlie Luthin said some of the Alliances concerns include the small window of time during the year when no hunting is going on at the recreation area, and the inclusion of activities like rocketry, motorcycle riding and prospects for a shooting range. Luthin said such activities are not aligned with the original intent for the use of the property. They do not comport with the Badger Reuse Plan nor the DNRs original application to the National Park Service for the land through the Federal Lands to Parks program, Luthin said. To now include those recreation activities would be to defy the original planning process for the Badger lands. It is not DNRs prerogative to include everything that everyone wants as far as recreation. They need to acknowledge and comply with the original planning process. A single case of Black Crappie Sarcoma in Lake Mason has prompted the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to warn anglers on the lake not to eat such affected fish if caught. Instead, anglers should place affected crappie which bear tell-tale lesions, as indicated in photographs distributed by the DNR in the garbage, a department spokesman told the Dells Events Monday. It is not known whether the disease may affect people; ultimately its an anglers choice on what to do with diseased fish (eat them, fillet around the lesion, throw them back, dispose of them), said Jennifer Sereno, DNR section chief for external communications in an email. There is much still to learn about the disease, and research is ongoing, Even if an affected fish is properly disposed of and not thrown back, it is considered towards the daily bag limit for fishermen, Sereno said. The single case of Black Crappie Sarcoma was sent to the DNRs fish health lab in January, and news of the affected fish was reported locally June 8 by DNR Fisheries Biologist Jennifer Bergman during a public meeting in the town of New Haven. The DNR called the meeting to elicit opinion on potential bass and pan fish regulation changes, and an attendee asked a question about Black Crappie Sarcoma at the end of the meeting, Sereno reported. A couple of folks said they have caught them in the past, but thrown them back, she said. Besides that, no angler has called to report lesions. The DNR recommends reporting diseased fish at the following website, http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/fishing/fishhealth/index.html, and the agency also reminds anglers that it is the law to drain live wells. For more information about live well requirements, go to http://dnr.wi.gov/lakes/invasives/drainingcampaign.aspx. Black crappie from the lakes around Madison presented with large open raised sores as early as the late 1980s, according to a DNR handout regarding Black Crappie Sarcoma. The diseases origin continues to elude researchers. Originally this condition was diagnosed via electron microscopy as potentially related to a rickettsial organism, but this was never confirmed, the report said. At the same time, black crappies from Barron and Polk counties were noted to have the same or similar disease. The condition has been reported in large numbers in Polk, Barron and Dane counties since the mid-2000s, with small numbers reported in Adams, Pierce and St. Croix counties. Currently, Polk and Barron counties seem to be the most heavily affected, the report indicated. Actual prevalence is not known. A fisherman who caught two crappie on Friday on the south side of Lake Mason reported no signs of disease on the fish, which he threw back. They looked OK to me, said the Illinois man who identified himself as Kevin. Apparently the disease is not an indicator of overall safety of eating other fish from lakes that contain the diseased fish. There are plenty of other, healthy fish to eat in area lakes, Sereno said. From tragedy to triumph A confluence of happenstance, luck, skill and science allowed vet to get embryos from a beloved show Guernsey after having to euthanize her. South Africa and Cuba celebrate collaboration Two countries share 20 years of medical cooperation. South Africa and Cuba celebrated their 20-year-collaboration in medical training at Wits University by holding a panel discussion on the benefits of the collaboration recently. The two countries have held a long-standing relationship, and have been working together on the liberation struggle long before their official ties, and Cuba has been assisting the South African liberation movements have been receiving political, financial and military support from before the Rivonia trial. According to Luwellyn Landers, deputy minister of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, Cuba and South Africa has had a cordial and friendly relationship for decades. Cuba ensured apartheid declared crime against humanity, and have fought alongside Angolans and liberation movements for the freedom of the country, he said. The panel discussion was hosted at Wits University, and included speakers such as Carlos Fernandes de Cossio, the Cuban ambassador to South Africa, and Marcelino Medina Gonzalex, First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cuba. De Cossio said the medical cooperation between Cuba and South Africa started even before the Rivonia trial, through an agreement between former President Nelson Mandela and Fidel Castro, that South African doctors receive training in Cuba. The first group of doctors from Cuba to serve in South Africa arrived in 1996, and there are currently over 326 Cuban doctors serving in 100 communities in eight provinces in South Africa. This is not the only collaboration between the two countries, as there are 68 engineers and architects working in the housing departments of various provinces, 39 engineers serving in the water and sanitation departments and 38 defence experts in military logistics working in South Africa. There are also a number of arts and culture programmes, including ballet training programmes in South Africa. The cooperation is based on South Africas need for human resources in specific fields. It had a direct impact on citizens in both countries, said de Cossio. We should defend the cooperation between the two countries. South Africa currently has 300 students studying to become doctors in Cuba. 508 students have already qualified and are working as doctors, while another 55 Cuban-trained doctors will graduate at Wits in July. Terror threats and turmoil: a bad time for US-South Africa relations There are often disagreements both within and across intelligence agencies as to the seriousness of a potential threat. On Saturday June 4 2016 the United States embassy in Pretoria issued a warning to its citizens in South Africa that there was a heightened threat of terror attacks in the countrys upscale shopping malls in Johannesburg and Cape Town. The threat was tied to the jihadist group Islamic States appeal to its followers to undertake attacks on Western targets during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. For the next several days, skittish South African shoppers strode through Sandton and Rosebanks fancy shopping centres wondering if and how their own government would respond to the apparent threat. Four days later, on June 8, the South African government did indeed respond. A joint announcement by the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) and the State Security Agency (SSA) stated: The information provided as a basis for the latest terror alerts on South Africa has been found to be very sketchy. On closer examination, we have found the information to be dubious, unsubstantiated and provided by a walk-in source based on questionable conclusions. Put simply, South Africa disagreed with the assessment of the US (as well as the United Kingdom and Australia) that a credible terror threat existed. This is not unusual. There are often disagreements both within and across intelligence agencies as to the seriousness of a potential threat. Informed debate The question of how credible the threat was (or is) is also vexing because for the public it is unanswerable. Without access to the various pieces of information that the intelligence agencies used to form their judgment about the severity of the threat, the public cannot engage in an informed debate. They cannot decide for themselves whether South African or American officials came to a more accurate conclusion about the gravity of the danger posed. But the joint DIRCO-SSA statement did more than dismiss the credibility of the American warning. It also indicated that the American motive for issuing the warning was not necessarily to keep its citizens safe. In an accusation unmistakably directed at the US, the statement read: the South African government rejects attempts by foreign countries to influence, manipulate or control our countrys counter-terrorism work. We reject attempts to generate perceptions of government ineptitude, alarmist impressions and public hysteria on the basis of a questionable single source. This is a serious allegation. It suggests that the US issued the terror advisory to undercut the South African governments integrity and sow confusion within the country. Regime change Unfortunately, the theme of this accusation is not new. In February 2016 African National Congress (ANC) Secretary-General Gwede Mantashe suggested that the US Young African Leadership Initiative was designed to foment regime change in South Africa. In 2014, Deputy Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Kebby Maphatsoe labelled Public Protector Thuli Madonsela a CIA spy. He claimed she was attempting to undermine the ruling ANC and put a regime friendly to Washington in power. None of these accusations have been substantiated. Thus the latest DIRCO-SSA statement accusing the US of attempting to destabilise South Africa must be seen in a broader context of mistrust and paranoia that continues to plague relations. This mistrust matters. It could result in not just hurt feelings, but an actual breakdown in cooperation on key issues between South Africa and the US. And cooperation, especially in the realm of counter-terrorism, is vital. Effective counter-terrorism The DIRCO-SSA statement confidently proclaims: The South African government is fully capable of securing our country, protecting our people and taking care of the safety of foreign citizens on our soil. But this is not true. Global threats, such as terrorism, do not respect borders and therefore are difficult for any one state to combat. Effective counter-terrorism demands cooperation across states, and is impeded by petty conflicts between them. Casting wild allegations that the US warning is based on malevolent intent hinders rather than helps this cooperation. While unproductive, South Africas pique might be somewhat understandable. That is if the US did not follow the correct channels to issue its warning, as the DIRCO-SSA statement suggests. The facts regarding what channels ought to be followed, and which ones actually were, are unclear. At the very least the South African government felt it was not consulted sufficiently before the US warning went public. There is room here for growth in the relationship. Developing a clear understanding as to how to handle these types of terror alerts in the future would be a small but important trust-building step in a sometimes strained relationship. But broader questions must also be addressed. A more measured statement found on the South African Presidency website affirms that, South Africa and the United States continue to enjoy strong and cordial relations in various areas of cooperation including political, economic, social and security matters. But friends dont openly accuse friends of seeking to undermine them. If South Africa and the US want fruitful collaboration to continue, an end to public accusations and increased communication would be a good start. Chris Williams, Visiting Lecturer and Researcher, University of the Witwatersrand. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. China News on Women Sorry, the page you requested was not found. If you're having trouble locating a destination on Womenofchina.cn, try visiting the Womenofchina Home page Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Changjiang 2 attains first criticality 14 June 2016 Share The second unit of the Changjiang nuclear power plant on China's southern island province of Hainan has achieved a sustained chain reaction for the first time. The reactor is expected to enter commercial operation later this year. Changjiang 2's control room (Image: CNNC) The 650 MWe CNP-600 pressurized water reactor achieved first criticality at 4.10 pm on 9 June, China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) announced today. The milestone was witnessed by representatives from China's National Nuclear Safety Administration, it said. Initial approval for the Changjiang plant's construction was granted by the National Developmental and Reform Commission in July 2008. Early site works began in December 2008. Construction of unit 1 began with the pouring of first concrete on 25 April 2010, while that for unit 2 was poured on 21 November 2010. Changjiang 1 achieved first criticality on 12 October 2015 and entered commercial operation in December. The loading of the 121 fuel assemblies into the core of unit 2 was completed on 12 May. The plant, near Hoi Mei Tong village in China's Hainan province, is being built as a joint venture between CNNC and China Huaneng Group, with shares split 51% and 49%, respectively. The plant will eventually comprise four units, with units 3 and 4 housing either CNP-650 or ACP-600 reactors. Construction of both those units is scheduled to begin by 2018. CNNC has said that the first two Changjiang units will together provide almost one-third of the electricity needs of Hainan. By using nuclear power instead of coal-fired generation, the units will avoid the emission of about 7.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, it claims. Researched and written by World Nuclear News Related topics Cash (illustration) By: Chan Yuan Two men were arrested on charges of assault and theft after allegedly having sex with a male prostitute before breaking his nose and stealing his money, according to police in the United Arab Emirates. Dubai police said that they have arrested the two friends, 21 and 25 years old, after being accused of having consensual sex with a 29-year-old cook. The two friends were both charged with having consensual sex with a man, theft and assault. The cook was arrested on a charge of having consensual sex with a man. According to the police, officers received a call from the cook, reporting that he was attacked by two men. Police officers who arrived at the scene, noticed swelling on the cookas face. The cook told the officers that men kidnapped him, and he was taken to a house, where they raped him and stole $820 in cash. When the cook was questioned a second time, he changed his story, saying that the men were his friends and he worked as a male prostitute. The cook revealed that while having sex with the men, he was punched in the face. He fell unconscious, and when he woke up, his cash was missing. He went to a hospital, where he was treated for a broken nose. A young man wanted to make a point about racism in the United States, but his plan backfired when he was exposed for a liar by police. 20-year-old Khalil Cavil of Texas was working at the Saltgrass Steak House in Odessa when he claimed he was discriminated against because of his Muslim name. Cavil took Keqiu Wang taking the gun from Jabri Brown By: Wayne Morin (Scroll down for video) A woman was angry when an armed robber walked into her store. She decided to take the gun away from him, thinking it was fake. However, she soon learned that it was a real gun when she fired a shot. Keqiu Wang opened the Crazy Wings restaurant last year with her husband in Norfolk, Virginia. Wang was behind the counter when an armed robber in a hoodie came inside and pointed a gun at her, demanding all the money from the cash register. Wang said that she thought the gun was fake as it looked old and because the thief did had not bothered to hide his face. Wang refused to open the register. She fought with him, and grabbed hold of the gun. She fought with the thief for a short time before her husband, Lin Jiamde, rushed from the kitchen with a knife to help his wife. While they were fighting over the gun, the husband stabbed the robber, and he was left with two deep cuts on the shoulder before fleeing the restaurant. Now in possession of the gun, Wang decided to see if it was fake. She pointed it at the floor behind the cash register and pulled the trigger. The surveillance camera catches her puzzled look after the firearm actually went off. Police found 19-year-old Jabri Brown down the street with cuts to his shoulder. He was taken to a hospital before being arrested on charges robbery, attempted robbery and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. Wang said that she and her husband are trying to move past the incident. She said that she feels bad for the thief as he is just a teenager. aI hope he can change. I hope he does not do it anymore,a she said. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has issued its clearest warning yet about the global implications of rising corporate debt in China. It came in the form of an address delivered by David Lipton, its first managing director, at a conference in Shenzhen at the weekend. The speech came at the end of the review by an IMF team of the Chinese economy and in the wake of data showing overall debt rose to 237 percent of gross domestic product in the first quarter of this year. This was the result of a sharp rise in lending in the last months of 2015 and at the beginning of this year as authorities sought to stabilise the economy following financial turbulence and fears of a sharp drop in growth. Lipton told the conference that while the levels of government and household debt were not particularly high by international standardsboth running at about 40 percent of GDPcorporate debt was a different matter. Standing at around 145 percent of GDP it was very high by any measure. Corporate debt remains a serious and growing problem that must be addressed immediately and with a commitment to serious reforms, he said. Turning to the global implications, Lipton continued: We have learned over and over in the past 20 years how disruptions in one countrys economy and markets can reverberate worldwide. Those reverberations were evidenced earlier this year in the spillover effects from turbulence in Chinese markets. Lipton said the recent rapid increases in credit meant the debt problem was growing. This is a key fault-line in the Chinese economy. And it is important that China tackles it soon. In its latest Global Financial Stability report, the IMF estimated that potential losses for the corporate portfolios of the countrys largest banks could be around 7 percent of GDP. But it has acknowledged this is a conservative estimate because it excludes potential problems in the countrys shadow banking sector. Lipton cited the recent remarks by an official, described as an authoritative person in the Peoples Daily, who spoke of the need to deal with the problems of zombie firms and debt overhang. Singling out state-owned enterprises (SOEs) for particular attention as the major source of the debt problem, he noted that by IMF calculations they account for about 55 percent of corporate debt, while contributing 22 percent to economic output and were far less profitable than private enterprises. In a setting of slower economic growth, the combination of declining earnings and rising indebtedness is undermining the ability of companies to pay suppliers or service their debts. Banks are holding more and more nonperforming loans The past years credit boom is just extending the problem. Already many SOEs are essentially on life support, he said. The risk was that if the problem were not dealt with it could develop into a crisis. Company debt problems today can become systemic debt problems tomorrow and systemic debt problems can lead to much lower economic growth, or a banking crisis. Or both. Of particular significance is the fact that while debt is growing it is not bringing the boost to the Chinese economy it once did. In the year to November 2009, total credit increased by an amount equivalent to 34 percent of GDP, boosting the growth rate from 6.1 percent in the first quarter of the year to the full year level of 9.2 percent. In the year to last February, total credit increased by 40 percent of GDPa larger amount than in 2009 because of the growth of the Chinese economybut the growth rate has only been barely maintained at just over 6.5 percent. Three days after Liptons remarks, evidence of the problems of lower growth came in the form of data showing investment in China fell to its lowest level in 16 years for the first five months of the year, largely as a result of cutbacks by private companies. Fixed asset investment expanded by 9.6 percent, the lowest level since 2000, with private sector investment rising by only 3.9 percent, compared to an increase of 23.3 percent in the state-owned sector. China economist at Capital Economics, Julian Evans-Pritchard, noted: The continued deceleration of private sector investment means the risk is growing that as policy support wanes, the economy could face another downturn. Figures from heavy industries point in this direction. Steel output increased by 2 percent in May but production for the first five months of the year remains below where it was last year. Coal output dropped by more than 17 percent compared to a year ago and output from thermal power stations was down by 6 percent. In construction and real estate, the Financial Times reported that the housing market is struggling to work through the ranks of empty apartment blocks in provincial cities and country towns and property sales have slowed in recent weeks after sharp rises in the largest and most sought-after cities in the first quarter. The significance of the Chinese debt warnings debt and its slowing economy comes more clearly into view when seen in the context of the global economy. The massive expansion of credit in China was a response by government and financial authorities to the global financial crisis of 20082009 which saw the loss of more than 20 million jobs. It was predicated on the assumption that growth would resume its previous path in the advanced economies that provide the major markets for Chinese exports. But that has not eventuated. In the US, economic recovery after the ending of the official recession in 2009 has taken place at the lowest rate of any such phase in the post-war period, while economic output in the euro zone has only recently reached the levels it attained before the financial crisis. However, the investment boom in China, made possible by the expansion of credit did provide a boost to economies supplying raw materials to Chinese industry. This gave rise to the conception that the so-called BRICS economiesBrazil, China, India, Russia and South Africacould provide a new base of stability for global capitalism. Even a brief survey of these economies shows this was an illusion. China is experiencing low growth and rising debt problems. In Brazil, GDP contracted at an annual rate of 5.4 percent in the first quarter, following a 5.9 percent drop in the final three months of 2015. The Russian economy, hit by falling oil prices and sanctions, shrank by 3.7 percent in 2015, with warnings of further contractions to come or at best stagnation. In India exports have fallen for the past 17 months, the official growth rate of 8 percent is widely regarded as not believable and there are concerns about stress in the countrys banking system. South Africas economy contracted by 1.2 percent in the first three months of 2016, due to declining output in the mining sector and the impact of a drought, raising fears it will experience a recession for the year as a whole. The rising debt problems in China and the contractions in major economies that have depended on it are particular expressions of the basic trend in the global economy towards stagnation and slump. Over the past week, Socialist Equality Party candidates for the 2016 federal election addressed successful public meetings outlining the partys socialist program in opposition to the drive to war, the bipartisan program of austerity and the erosion of democratic rights. John Davis, the SEPs 22-year-old candidate for the Senate in New South Wales, spoke at the meeting in Toukley on the states Central Coast. Gabriela Zabala, who is standing for Blaxland, addressed the meeting in Bankstown, a working-class suburb in Sydneys southwest. Both meetings were addressed by James Cogan, the partys national secretary and lead candidate for the Senate in NSW. In Goodna, a working-class area of Brisbane, Erin Cooke and Mike Head, the SEPs candidates for the Senate in Queensland, elaborated the partys socialist program. In his report, Cogan explained that there were two fundamental tendencies at work in the worldthe reemergence of the working class into mass social and political struggles, and the drive to war by the major imperialist powers, which threatens the eruption of a nuclear war. Cogan noted the recently released report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), which warns that Australia could become embroiled in a military conflict in Asia. Cogan quoted the document, which states that tensions in the South and East China Seas, especially between the US and China, could spiral into conflict and involve Australia. Australian vessels operating with US forces in the region, as well as US forces stationed in Australia, would be at considerable risk of being attacked. Cogan said every other political party contesting the elections, along with the corporate press, was complicit in Australias integration into the US plans for war. They had all remained silent on the ASPI report. The SEP national secretary outlined the significance of the mass strike movement in France and struggles by the working class in the United States. In every country, Cogan said, workers face the same issue as they enter into struggle: they are directly confronted with the fact that they are in a fight against the trade unions and the Labor-type parties they once supported. In other words, they are faced with the need to build new organisations of struggle, and turn to a new political party and, therefore, a new perspective. He urged members of the audience to study the SEPs Trotskyist program and apply to join the party. In Toukley, near Newcastle, John Davis denounced Labor and the trade unions for the social crisis afflicting young people, which includes a youth unemployment rate of over 20 percent in the surrounding Hunter Valley region. He noted that the Hawke and Keating Labor governments, supported by the unions, had initiated the destruction of basic industry. Hundreds of thousands of jobs were destroyed in manufacturing in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Davis said. This was particularly catastrophic in the Newcastle and Central Coast region with the closure of the BHP steelworks and, more recently, the destruction of 30,000 jobs in the mining industry in the past year. Davis explained that the SEP calls for a radical redistribution of wealth, including the nationalisation of the banks and major corporations, and a public works program to provide jobs for all. In Brisbane, Erin Cooke contrasted the wealth of Harry Triguboff, a residential property developer and Australias wealthiest individual, whose fortune has almost doubled in two years to $10.62 billion, with the plight of millions of workers. The day-to-day struggle of the working class just to survive is one I know well, Cooke said. I come from a working-class background and have worked as a storeman, factory hand and labourer, with my pay ranging from terrible to below-average. I have spent time unemployed, and, under capitalism will never own my own home. At Bankstown, Gabriela Zabala denounced the war on terror, which has been used as the pretext for predatory wars abroad and intense police harassment of working class and migrant communities. Numerous innocent young people in the Blaxland electorate have been swept up in the police dragnets simply because they are Muslims or their families migrated from the Middle East, Afghanistan or East Africa, Zabala said. The demonisation of Middle Eastern communities has led to blatant discrimination when youth apply for jobs. It is an outrage. The SEP insists that the entire intelligence-police-state apparatus must be dismantled and all anti-democratic legislation abolished, Zabala emphasised. Lively discussions developed at each meeting. At Toukley, one attendee said he was a supporter of Bernie Sanders, the self-avowed socialist contesting the Democratic Party primaries for the US president. He described Sanders as the only shining star that can bring down the elite bankers represented by Clinton and Trump. In reply, Cogan explained: Sanders entered the presidential race to act as a lightning-rod What was needed by the Democratic Party, under conditions where Hilary Clinton is widely despised, was a figure that could, as they say, mobilise the base. That is why Saunders presents himself as a democratic socialist, calls for a political revolution and declares he is opposed to the financial elite. Cogan warned that Sanders was seeking to divert the support he had won behind the Clinton campaign. Fake-left political figures and parties were being promoted in every country, to prevent workers from breaking with the old organisations and turning to a genuinely socialist perspective. WSWS correspondents spoke to workers and young people after the meetings. In Bankstown, Iqbal, an accounting student from Pakistan, commented: Capitalism is the main cause of war around the world. Every country is trying to capture resources. They want to keep their dominance around the globe. At the meeting, Iqbal said, he heard for the first time concern with the working class, which is everywhere being persecuted. The working class is suffering in capitalist economies. All of the riches go to the business class and the working class has been ignored. Birisita, a social worker and Western Sydney University student said the situation facing young people was devastating. She said: Look at the statistics. There are not enough homes for the poor and disadvantaged. We need to build, but it is not done because its not profitable. Those in power dont care about us, Birisita said. I live in public housing and I am so happy that I am, but imagine those that cannot get help. There are people living right next door to us with three or four families forced to live under the same roof. Asked about the major political parties, Birisita replied: You know I have always favoured Labor, but for the past five years I have just been shaking my head and asking, What is going on? At Toukley, John, a retired draughtsman, said he had read on the WSWS about massive NATO military exercises in Eastern Europe. It is frightening to think that the United States is bringing all those personnel and weapons right onto the borders of Poland and Russia. John said he thought the US was seeking to provoke a conflict with Russia. Deals dont seem to be part of their vocabulary. They want to use war for the gain of land and a geo-political push for minerals, cheap labour and control of Eurasia. Because capitalism is not working, the elites want to send workers off from each country to kill other workers. The working class has to rise up against capitalism in order to prevent war. To contact the SEP and get involved, visit our website or Facebook page. Authorised by James Cogan, Shop 6, 212 South Terrace, Bankstown Plaza, Bankstown, NSW 2200. The growing social opposition to austerity in Europe has plunged the German Left Party into crisis. In Greece, the protests are directed against Syriza, an affiliate of the Left Party. In France, they are directed against the ruling Social Democrats. In Germany the Left Party wants to form a ruling coalition with the German counterpart of the French Social Democrats. Within Germany, the Left Party is increasingly viewed as a right-wing, bourgeois party, which spouts left sounding phrases, but is no different in practice than the established parties. In state parliamentary elections, in the middle of March, it lost almost 100,000 votes, mostly in Saxony-Anhalt, where it had hoped to win the post of minister president, but ended up far behind the far-right AfD. Now the pseudo-left groups inside the Left PartySAV (Socialist Alternative), Marx 21, International Socialist Left (isl), etc.are rushing to the assistance of the party leadership. Previously, they had justified their membership in the Left Party with the claim that one could also pursue left-wing policies from within. At the most recent party congress in Mageburg at the end of May, six supporters of the so-called Anti-capitalist Left (AKL) were elected into the party leadership. Marx 21s Janine Wissler is one of four deputy chairpersons. Christine Buchholz, who is in the leadership of the party, is a member of the defence committee in the German Parliament. Thies Gleiss, also a member of the party leadership, is a member of isl. This washed up left cynic has been a member of the Pabloite United Secretariat for over 40 years. He is an IG Metall union functionary and was a founding member of WASG (Work and Social Justice Electoral Alternative). Lucy Redler, a member of SAV, was newly elected into the party leadership at the Magdeburg congress. Ten years ago, she was the leading candidate of the WASG, which was running against the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) in the Berlin House of Representatives, although WASG and PDS were already working closely together at the federal level, and were preparing to found the Left Party. The PDS had been in the Berlin state government for five years already at that point and had implemented massive social cuts, privatizations, and public sector wage and job cuts in collaboration with the SPD. In order to preempt opposition to these policies, Redler and her supporters participated in the election with their own list of candidates. The election had scarcely ended before SAV joined the Left Party in 2008, although the Left Party and SPD were intensifying their antisocial policies through the senate. They justified this at the time with the claim: We joined the party because we are convinced that the Left Party has an important role to show the way out of the deepest capitalist crisis in decades. In reality, the SAV joined the Left Party in order to strengthen its bureaucratic apparatus and its influence in the unions in the face of growing opposition. However, opposition arose from inside the Left Party. While most SAV members were admitted without difficulty, the party leadership blocked the acceptance of Redler at that time. She was forced to beg for several years and even sought the assistance of the party arbitration commission before she finally gained entry to the Karl Liebknecht House (party headquarters). The fact that she has now been elected into the party leadership is symptomatic of the level of crisis in the Left Party and its urgent need for a left fig leaf. Redler was profusely thankful for the election result (just under 45 percent of delegate votes). Afterwards, the SAV published a celebratory article about the party congress, claiming it had provided a clear signal to the left. It stated that the signals sent by the delegates were clearly further to the left than at previous party congresses, and the insidious shift to the right of the past few years was at least slowed down. On the contrary, the very facts cited by the SAV article prove the opposite. They show that the insidious shift to the right of the past few years has become a rapid gallop. This is why the SAV was forced to admit that the powerful wake up call, called for by party head Riexinger had not taken place. An open debate aimed at clarifying the different political positions was absent. This was mostly prevented by the need to demonstrate unity to the outside. However, this need for unity only affected critics from the left. Right-wingers like Gregor Gysi disregarded it and had already begun campaigning for an orientation towards participation in government before the congress had started. The efforts by several delegates to distance themselves verbally from Gysis course did not amount to a fundamental rejection of participation in a government with the SPD and the Greens, the SAV article continued. This was demonstrated by statements made by Sahra Wagenknecht (We are suited for a coalition). In reality, the purpose of the entire congress was to prepare for Left Party participation in government. The Left Party has already placed a minister president in the government in Thuringia and is participating in a ruling coalition with the SPD in Brandenburg. The re-elected party president, Katja Kipping, also emphasized that the Left Party sought to make itself even more open to a coalition with the SPD and the Greens, and would emphasize commonalities with the SPD rather than what divides the two parties. These efforts are bound up with a right-wing nationalist political orientation, as demonstrated by the parliamentary debate about refugees and deportation policy. As the SAV was forced to admit, there were scarcely any critical statements about Wagenknechts political positions on refugees at the congress. The president of the Left Party faction in parliament publicly espoused opinions that are barely distinguishable from those of the AfD. Among other things, she demanded an upper limit on refugees and more deportations. Anyone who abuses the right to hospitality also forfeits the right to hospitality, she said. In her congress speech, Lucy Redler issued a warning about a loss of credibility if people are ripped from their beds at night and families are separated even in Thuringia, where there is a Left Party minister president. State president of Thuringia, Susanne Henning-Wellsow, replied: Yes, Thuringia must deport people. Anyone who believes that that does not gnaw away at our humanity has made a mistake. However, federal law must be implemented, she insisted, and, therefore, deportations are no reason not to enter or continue a ruling coalition. If brutal deportations are no reason for refusing to participate in a ruling coalition, then drastic austerity measures, pension cuts, police and military build-up and participation in war will also be viewed as acceptable. This is the reactionary logic of the political orientation of the Left Party, which SAV and Marx21 seek to obscure and conceal with pseudo-left phrases. The more openly the Left Party shifts to the right, the more they are attracted to this political orientation. Their admission into leading bodies of the Left Party shows that they fully support the right-wing, capitalist political orientation of the party. The orientation of the pseudo-left corresponds to their place in society. They speak for a privileged middle- and upper-class layer, and a well-off caste of functionaries, with lucrative posts and privileges in the various branches of the party and foundation apparatus of the Left Party and the unions. They feel threatened by the intensification of the class struggle and are well aware that the radicalisation of workers and youth currently taking place in France is also directed against them. A newly discovered archaeological site suggests that Neanderthals were capable of and practiced rudimentary architecture. The site lies in Bruniquel, a cave located in southwest France, and is dated to 176,500 years ago. If the early results are confirmed, they will further narrow the cultural gap between Neanderthals and physically modern humans. The site consists of six features, of varying dimensions. The two largest are roughly oval to circular, with four smaller ones of varying shape. The features are composed of fragments of stalagmites broken from the cave floor, nearly 400 in all. Most of the pieces are stacked horizontally, with some vertical elements acting as stays, plus smaller pieces placed as chinking. The tallest walls are nearly half a meter high. The largest structure measures nearly 7 by 4 meters and the second largest about 2 meters across. The purpose of these structures is unknown. However, the method of repeated, systematic construction and complex design indicate determined, patterned behavior demonstrating sophisticated cognitive abilities and coordinated labor. The placement of the walls over 300 meters inside the cave is also significant, as they are located in an area without natural light. Construction and use would have required continuous artificial light. Evidence of fire and pieces of burnt bone were found among the structures. There is a gap of 150,000 years between these structures and when modern humans, during the Upper Paleolithic, ventured into European caves to create works of art. The researchers at Bruniquel Cave suggest that both the cave art of 30,000 years ago and the structures of 176,000 years ago had an ideological/ritual significance, indicating that representational thought in humans has a much deeper past than previously thought. While their use as ordinary residences cannot be ruled out, the motivation for continuous habitation so far underground is difficult to explain. Apart from the structures and evidence of fire, there were no tools or other cultural materials found. Nor does the report indicate any evidence of overarching superstructuresthough, if made of organic materials, these may not have survived. The attribution of these structures to Neanderthals is based on their apparent age and the current understanding that modern humans did not arrive in Europe until sometime after 50,000 years ago. Regardless of who the builders were, these are among the oldest human-built structures known anywhere in the world. It is also the only known, if confirmed, use of deep cave settings by Neanderthals. The evolutionary split between the ancestors of Neanderthals and the line that led to modern humans is currently placed at some time before 200,000 years ago, diverging from a common ancestral species, possibly Homo heidelbergensis, which is currently known to have existed in parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa from about 700,000 to 200,000 years ago. It was long thought that Neanderthals and modern humans were significantly different, probably constituting separate species within the genus Homo, with the former having markedly less developed intellectual capacities, inferred from their supposedly brutish appearance and less sophisticated cultural inventory. Recent genetic research, however, has revealed that when modern humans, who evolved in Africa, moved into Europe and the Middle East where Neanderthals evolved, the two groups interbred, demonstrating that they were, in fact, not separate species, and that their differences may have been exaggerated. Other research may also indicate that Neanderthals may have created some forms of cave art independently of Homo sapiens. If the attribution of these newly discovered structures to Neanderthals is confirmed, it would not only further shrink the perceived intellectual differences between them and modern humans, but would significantly push back the origins of such complex behavior, possibly indicating that it was a legacy derived from a common ancestor. This would reinforce the understanding that reliance on culture and the capacity for abstract thought had a powerful influence on the course of human evolution. As the staggering scale of Sundays massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida continues to sink in, it is impossible to ignore the fact that both major capitalist parties have lost no time in attempting to exploit this tragedy for the most reactionary purposes. The blood of the victims has barely dried. Many questions remain about the precise confluence of religious, right-wing, homophobic and other motives that drove the shooter, Omar Mateen, who died in a hail of police gunfire. But this stopped neither the Democratic nor the Republican presumptive presidential candidates from rushing to deliver back-to-back speeches Monday arguing for an escalation of war abroad and repression at home. Democrat Hillary Clinton declared the slaughter of 49 innocent people at the gay nightclub in Orlando an example of the barbarity that we face from radical jihadists. Republican Donald Trump told his supporters that the massacre was the product of importing radical Islamic terrorism into the West through a failed immigration system. What information has emerged about the man who carried out the massacre has little in common with the rhetoric and prescriptions offered by the two candidates. First of all, he was a New York-born citizen of the US, not an immigrant. Coworkers, family members and others have described him as harboring pathological hatred not only for gays, but also for African-Americans, whom he regularly referred to using the N-word, saying they all should be killed. This kind of racism is the stock-in-trade not of ISIS or Al Qaeda, but rather of white supremacists within the US itself, the same elements who have been responsible for many homophobic attacks. Associates have also described Mateen as mentally ill and emotionally unstable, characteristics that apply equally to virtually all those who have been involved in such atrocities. How could it be otherwise given the profoundly abnormal, anti-social and random character of these acts? That in the midst of the mayhem he dialed 911 to declare his allegiance to ISIS is not taken seriously by even the FBI and police as an indication of actual contact with the Islamist militia. Moreover, late Monday reports surfaced that Mateen had himself regularly visited the Pulse night club, drinking heavily there, and had been active on the gay chat and dating app Jackd. The wider tragedy is that this type of atrocity happens in the US with terrible frequency. Mass shootings occur literally on more than a daily basis. Given this reality, it is not possible to understand a tragedy like the Orlando massacre merely by examining the motives of the individual responsible. When a society produces a significant number of people suffering from traumatic mental problems who then go on to commit mass murder, this can only be an expression of something deeply diseased within the society itself. Such incidents have grown in frequency in tandem with the endless wars the US has waged abroad since the first Gulf War of 1991, as well as the unprecedented growth of social inequality. The bloodiest of these events was the April 1995 truck bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City by Timothy McVeigh, a deeply alienated Gulf War veteran who became involved with right-wing militia circles. That attack killed 168 people and wounded hundreds more. Other massacres in the intervening years that stand out in terms of the death toll include: Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999, where two students killed 13 people and wounded 24. Virginia Tech in 2007, where a student killed 32 people and wounded 17 others before taking his own life. The American Civic Association in Binghamton, New York in 2009, where a 42-year-old Vietnamese immigrant killed 13 people and wounded four others before killing himself. Fort Hood, Texas, also in 2009, where Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, killed 13 people and wounded 30. Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, where in 2012 Adam Lanza killed 26 peoplemost of them young childrenbefore killing himself. The Washington Navy Yard in 2013, where a former Navy reservist killed 12 people before police shot him dead. The June 2015 Charleston, South Carolina church massacre, in which a 21-year-old white gunman killed nine African-Americans at a prayer service, saying afterwards he had hoped to ignite a race war. The Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California, where, in December 2015, Syed Farook, 28, and Tashfeen Malik, 27, killed 14 people before losing their own lives in a shootout with police. Smaller incidents in which three, four or five people are killed go largely unnoticed. Neither the politicians nor the media care to examine the social roots of this endless round of mass slaughter. The cynical and dishonest speeches given by Clinton and Trump Monday sought not to enlighten the public as to the real nature of this problem, but rather to pollute the political environment and lower the consciousness of the American people. In essence, despite mutual denunciations, there was little difference between them. Both speeches were designed to exploit the tragedy suffered by the innocent individuals who lost their lives, along with their families and friends, in order to legitimize a preexisting reactionary agenda. Both candidates called for ramping up US military interventions and bombings in the Middle East, as if the war-ravaged people of the region are responsible for the attack on an Orlando nightclub. The transparent aim is to exploit the tragedy in Orlando in an attempt to erode the anti-war sentiments of the American people so as to further not only escalation in countries like Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, but also war threats against Russia and China. Clinton spoke of acting to harden our own defenses within the US itself, by which she means an intensification of attacks on democratic rights and the utilization of police-state methods. For his part, Trump delivered a fascistic rant in which he repeated his proposal for a ban on Muslims entering the country and his rabid anti-immigrant chauvinism, demagogically linking immigrants not only to terrorism but also to falling wages and decaying infrastructure. He charged that Muslims as a whole in the US know whats going on in relation to planned attacks and would have to either cooperate or face big consequences. Both candidates cynically posed as the best friend of the gay community in a transparent bid to corral a new constituency behind their reactionary proposals. It was Clinton, however, who delivered the most tellingand chillingline, invoking the September 11, 2001 terror attacks and declaring in conclusion that it was time to get back to the spirit of those days, spirit of 9/12. It was in the spirit of 9/12 that Washington launched, based on lies, the illegal war of aggression against Iraq. It was in this same spirit that it passed the Patriot Act, opened the prison camp at Guantanamo, set up a network of black site torture centers around the world, and arrogated to the president the right to indefinitely detain anyone, including US citizens, without charges or trials. Clinton supported all of these measures and now wants to cash in on the 49 deaths in Orlando to retroactively justify her own political crimes that led to the killing, wounding and displacement of millions. To the extent that Clinton asserts as fact a direct link between the Orlando gunman and ISIS genocide in the Middle Easta claim that is highly questionableit is necessary to point out her own role in the emergence of ISIS out of the social devastation and fomenting of sectarian conflict at the hands of American imperialism, with her active and enthusiastic support, in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria. American workers and youth must take the bipartisan reaction to the terrible events in Orlando as a serious warning of what is being prepared, no matter which party wins the November election. Food riots and looting have become widespread across Venezuela in recent weeks, with leading opposition politicians warning of the threat of social revolution. On the specious pretext of a threatened foreign invasion, the government of President Nicholas Maduro has imposed a state of emergency to crack down on demonstrations. Reuters reported Monday that three people were killed in food riots over the past week, all of them having succumbed to bullet wounds. On June 6, in the western state of Tachira, a police officer used a shotgun to kill 42-year-old Jenny Ortiz after hundreds of residents gathered outside of a warehouse, drawn there by a rumor that there was food inside. In Sucre on June 8, a 21-year-old man was killed when the Bolivarian National Guard attacked a hungry crowd, wounding 10. The lack of food threatens millions of workers and pauperized middle class people with the specter of starvation. A count by the Venezuelan Observatory of Social Conflict showed 10 instances of looting, with crowds of hundreds of people demonstrating in working class neighborhoods across the country. In the last five months there have been 2,779 protests across the country, according to the organization. Ninety percent of the population is without basic foodstuffs and other necessary consumer goods, while the ruling class, including the pro-Chavez/Maduro Bolivarian bourgeoisie (known as the Boliborgesia), purchases food on the thriving black market. The government recently announced that food distribution would be carried out by local food and production committees (CLAP), allowing United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) supporters to hoard food and starve out workers who oppose the government. In recent weeks, food riots have developed into spontaneous demonstrations. In one recent manifestation held in early June, workers who had been waiting in line for 12 hours to no avail decided to march on the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas. The broadcaster Telemundo cited demonstrators shouting, We want food for the people who are dying of hunger. Protesters were attacked by Bolivarian National Guard forces and prevented from reaching the palace. On Monday, bus drivers launched a national strike in as many as 14 states. According to initial reports, the strike has effectively shut down bus transit in many cities, leaving terminals empty. Fearing the emergence of a strike wave, the Maduro government has responded by quickly calling for strikers to be jailed. Jose Vielma, the PSUV governor of Tachira State, said: Prosecutors have to act diligently because in cases against the peace we must defend the peace and the nation. There is fear of social revolution in both the pro-Maduro Chavista faction of the ruling class and the opposition, led by the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD). The ruling class is itself deeply divided. While the Bolivarian section is determined to stifle social opposition through mass repression, the opposition is internally split. Though in agreement that social protest is to be crushed by force, one faction of the opposition favors an accommodation with the PSUV while another supports a recall referendum aimed at deposing Maduro. Henri Falcon, governor of the state of Lara, warned that a social explosion was imminent. Falcon, a former leader of the PSUV who broke with Chavez in 2010 and joined the opposition, made clear the purpose of the recall referendum campaign: The referendum is an escape valve, he said Thursday. We are not only betting on the referendum, we understand that it is the only democratic, constitutional way out. MUD leader Henrique Capriles spoke to EuroNews on Sunday and said: If we dont have a recall vote this year, there will be social turmoil--society will erupt as a result of the growing daily tension. Last week, the National Electoral Commission announced it had accepted signatures on petitions to commence the complicated recall process, which would likely be drawn out over many months. The Maduro government appealed the decision to the countrys highest court on Monday. Attempts to broker a truce between the government and the opposition were rejected by imprisoned far-right wing opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez. Though Maduro allowed former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero to visit Lopez in prison last week and called for an open and inclusive dialogue with the opposition, Lopez refused to agree to negotiations with the government. Lopez tweeted on June 5: I told [Zapatero] there is no conversation or dialogue one can have in the popular interest: bring on the constitutional change in 2016. Zapatero, who visited Venezuela with the backing of the ex-presidents of Panama and the Dominican Republic, said on June 8 that negotiations were breaking down. In an article in Sundays Wall Street Journal, the newspaper voiced its frustration with the Argentine government of Mauricio Macri for holding up discussions at the Organization of American States (OAS) General Assembly meeting being held this week in the Dominican Republic. An attempt by OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro to sanction Venezuela appears unlikely to succeed. ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - A complicated picture has emerged of 29-year-old Omar Mateen, who opened fire in a gay Orlando nightclub. The attack left 49 dead and dozens more wounded in the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. CONFLICT WITH SEXUALITY? While many have condemned the attack at the Pulse nightclub as a hate crime against the gay community, and his own father suggested Mateen may have acted out of anti-gay hatred, reports have surfaced that Mateen himself was a regular there. "He was trying to pick up people. Men," Jim Van Horn, 71, told The Associated Press. "He would walk up to them and then he would maybe put his arm around them or something and maybe try to get them to dance a little bit or something. And then go over and buy a drink or something. That's what people do at gay bars, you know?" The FBI is investigating reports that Mateen was a Pulse regular and had used gay dating apps, according to a U.S. official who had been briefed on the investigation but wasn't authorized to discuss it publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. BORN IN AMERICA The son of Afghan immigrants, Mateen spent most of his childhood on Florida's Atlantic coast and lived there as an adult, not far from his parents. Born in the New York City borough of Queens in 1986, he moved with his family to the Long Island town of Westbury two years later and then in 1991 to Port Saint Lucie, Florida, about 125 miles southeast of Orlando. STRING OF JOBS Like many young men, Mateen worked a series of unremarkable jobs after high school. He eventually found stability with a security guard job in South Florida. He still held that when he attacked the nightclub and was killed by police. CO-WORKER TENSION? A one-time co-worker with security company G4S remembered Mateen as an angry man who used slurs for gay people, blacks, Jews and women, and threatened violence. Daniel Gilroy said Mateen badgered him and sending him dozens of text messages daily, and that he reported Mateen's behavior to his bosses. "I kind of feel a little guilty that I didn't fight harder," Gilroy said. "If I didn't walk away and I fought, then maybe 50 people would still be alive today." Gilroy told The New York Times that Mateen "talked about killing people all the time." Of the massacre, Gilroy said, "I saw it coming." UNSUCCESSFUL MARRIAGE An early marriage faltered. Mateen's ex-wife, Sitora Yusufiy, told reporters she believed he suffered from mental illness. Although records show the couple didn't divorce for two years after their 2009 marriage, Yusiufiy said she was with Mateen for only four months because he was abusive. She said he would not let her speak to her family and family members had to come literally pull her out of his arms. Asked during a CNN interview whether she thinks her ex-husband was gay, Yusufiy said: "I don't know. He never personally or physically made any indications while we were together of that. But he did feel very strongly about homosexuality." She said it's possible he hid feelings about being gay. MARRIED AGAIN It's unclear when Mateen married his second wife, Noor Salman, but an Aug. 30, 2013, property deed in Saint Lucie County identified them as a married couple. Family members said the pair had a young son about 3 years old. FBI Director James Comey said the agency was trying to determine whether Mateen had recently scouted Disney World as a potential target, as reported by People.com, which cited an unidentified federal law enforcement source. The report said he visited with his wife. FBI SCRUTINY The FBI became aware of Mateen in 2013 when co-workers reported that he claimed to have family connections to al-Qaida and to be a member of Hezbollah, too, FBI Director James Comey said. The agency conducted a 10-month preliminary investigation, following Mateen, reviewing his communications and questioning him, the FBI chief said. Mateen claimed he made the remarks in anger because co-workers were teasing him and discriminating against him as a Muslim. The FBI eventually closed the case, Comey said. His name surfaced again as part of another investigation into a suicide bomber from the Syrian rebel group Nusra Front. The FBI found Mateen and the man had attended the same mosque and knew each other casually, but the investigation turned up "no ties of any consequence," Comey said. HIS GUNS Mateen bought at least two firearms legally within a week or so before the attack, according to Trevor Velinor of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. He bought them at the St. Lucie Shooting Center. Store owner Ed Henson said Mateen passed a full background check and that if he hadn't bought the guns there, he would've gone somewhere else. Henson said he's sorry this "evil person" bought the guns from his business. HIS APARTMENT Univision News reported that it entered the unlocked home of Mateen and his wife in Fort Pierce after the FBI swept for evidence. Family photos, drawings, blackboard messages, a Quran and books on Islam decorate the apartment. On the living room table was a document listing items investigators removed: 9 mm cartridges, an iPad mini, a Samsung phone, a Dell computer, a CD labeled with Mateen's name. Associated Press writer Eric Tucker contributed from Washington. (Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.) TALLAHASSEE, FL (WTXL) - Forty students from across rural areas of the big bend got a chance to learn all about drones Tuesday, thanks to a STEM challenge hosted by TCC. Participants use iPads, computers, and phones to create a map for a drone and then fly it. Organizers say it will teach them problem solving skills and give them a chance to try something they may not have had the chance to otherwise. "We want to introduce these kids to that technology and hopefully peak their interest in perusing either post secondary education opportunities or workforce opportunities that will involve the use of drones," said Curtis Richardson, the STEM Coordinator for Gadsden District Schools and Tallahassee City Commissioner. The challenge is organized by the Panhandle Area Educational Consortium, as part of a partnership between Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and Tallahassee Community College. The students will be attending the challenge over three days at the Florida Public Safety Institute. VALDOSTA, GA (WTXL) - Valdosta Police need your help searching for answers, after reports of gunshots this afternoon on Inner Perimeter Road Monday afternoon. Officers tell us they're searching for those involved, but have little information based on what witnesses told them. According to police, two groups were fighting over money inside a car in the 3200 block of Inner Perimeter Road around 1:25pm. Police say one of the them pulled out a gun and it discharged. Police say the two suspects are from Sparks, Georgia. If you know anything about the incident, call Valdosta Police. A 25-year-old convicted murderer who fled a state work release facility in Yakima just months before his sentence was to expire was captured in South Dakota on Tuesday. What you should know about Washingtons work release facilities Q: What is the state Department of Corrections work release program? Jake Lee Eakin was arrested without incident when the bus he was traveling on stopped in Rapid City, according to officials with the state Department of Corrections. Now jailed in South Dakota, officials seek to have him extradited back to Washington. Eakin was under a work release program at the states Ahtanum View Work Release facility in the West Valley when he did not show up for work on Sunday. Officials with the DOC have not said where he had been working. Eakin is one of the youngest defendants ever tried in Washington as an adult, he had just three months remaining on his sentence when he disappeared. Authorities received information suggesting Eakin was traveling east on a bus, according to the DOC. When that information was confirmed, members of the US Marshals Service intercepted the bus at a bus stop in Rapid City at about 11: 20 a.m. Eakin will be sent to the Washington Corrections Center in Shelton, rather than be returned to the Ahtanum View facility at 2009 S. 64th Ave., the DOC said. In 2005, Eakin was 14 years old when he and another teen were convicted of second-degree murder for the death of 13-year-old Craig Sorger in Ephrata two years earlier. Eakin and Evan Drake Savoie were convicted of dropping a rock on Sorgers head, and then repeatedly stabbing him. Eakin beat Sorger, a special education student, with a stick, according to court records. Both boys were 12 years old at the time of the murder. Savoie was sentenced to 26 years. Eakin, who was considered an accomplice, was sentenced to 14 years in prison. As Eakin approached his September release date he was transferred to the Ahtanum View Work Release facility, located at 2009 S. 64th Ave., in April. The 60-bed facility houses men and women in rooms similar to dormitories and offers programs intended to acclimate them to return to society. As part of that acclimation, inmates are enrolled in a work release program. Depending on the location, inmates reach their work sites by walking, taking public transportation or are allowed to be picked up and dropped off by friends or family members. However, they must return to the facility immediately after work. The Ahtanum site is one of 16 such facilities in the state. Inmates are sent to them no more than six months before their release date and only if they are considered eligible for minimum security. DOC officials declined to speculate on why Eakin would leave just three months before his release from prison. A 25-year-old convicted murderer who fled a state work release facility in Yakima just months before his sentence was to expire was captured i Henry Strom, superintendent of the Mt. Adams School District, has been chosen as the new superintendent for the Grandview School District. (Photo courtesy of ESD 105). If you are sending a Letter To the Editor, please be sure to follow these rules: Letters have a firm 200-word limit and will be edited for grammar, clarity and accuracy. The person who signs the letter must be the author. Anonymous letters will not be considered. Letters must address the editor, not a third party. We will not print form letters, libelous letters, business promotions or personal disputes, poetry, open letters, letters espousing religious views without reference to a current issue, or letters considered in poor taste. Letters reflect the opinion of the writer. The Yakima Herald-Republic cannot verify the accuracy of all statements made in letters. Writers are limited to one published letter per calendar month. It happens again and again. Last week at Sarona Market, Saturday in Orlando, and exactly 75 years ago, June 1941, during the Shavuot holiday, in Baghdad, Iraq, when a mob set out on a pogrom against the Jews. Some 180 Jews were murdered in the "Farhud," the Iraqi version of Kristallnacht. That isn't a mistake. It was a night of bloodshed preceded by Nazi propaganda directed by the German ambassador in Baghdad, Dr. Fritz Grobba. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Iraq was in those days an independent country. Grobba's influence on the local elite was large. Inter alia, he sent delegations to Berlin, bought a newspaper and took pains to publish therein Hitler's Mein Kampf in installments. The hatred of Jews was not because of Zionism. The majority of Iraq's Jews were not then Zionists. They were, precisely like the Jews of Germany, part of the backbone of the economy, development and progress. During those years, Grobba ensured a steady and virulent drip of anti-Semitic Nazi propaganda. The drip worked: The government took a series of steps against Jews, and their situation worsened. Later, after having successfully spread the al-Aqsa plot hoax throughout Palestine and after getting into trouble with the British Mandate authorities, the Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, came to Baghdad and added fuel to the fire. Two months before the Farhud, a pro-Nazi coup took place in Iraq, headed by Rashid Ali al-Gaylani. The Second World War was at its height, and the British were advancing on Baghdad. Al-Gaylani and the mufti, the largest inciters, fled to Berlin, where they were received as heroes. The two left the massacre of the Jews of Baghdad to the incited local crowd. Mourners in San Francisco following Orlando shooting (Photo: AFP) Certain anti-Zionist Jews try to cultivate the legend of the Farhud pogroms as being the result of Arab fears of the Zionist enterprise. These people have made the justification for Arab anti-Semitism and terrorism their life's work. They want to see that revolution as a sort of opposition to colonialism and Zionism. Seventy-five years have passed, and the terrorist attack at Sarona Market is also receiving justifications. It isn't incitement, some are trying to tell us, it's opposition to the occupation. As long as these were the fringe of the fringeso be it. Such hallucinatory phenomena have always existed. But last week, Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai himself tried to explain that Israel was to blame for the Sarona attack. Until larger attacks happen, he added, Israelis won't understand. What won't they understand? That we must end the occupation. Mournersin Tel Aviv following Sarona Market attack (Photo: Reuters) Huldai "transformed" the murderers who came to Tel Aviv to peace activists. They didn't know that they were, but Huldai knows. Yes, Israel offered the Palestinians a state; yes, they rejected Barak's offer at Camp, Clinton's deal in 2000, and two drafts by John Kerry in 2014, but Huldai blames Israel. Huldai, not the regular loathsome anti-Zionists to whose grating voices we have become accustomed. This time, it's the person who is a potential candidate for the leadership of the Labor party. We can assume that the mayor of Orlando will not tell the people of his city that they deserved it, and that it's because of the American occupation in Iraq. He also won't tell them that Americans deserve a much more serious attack so that they can understand the attackers' motives. Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai Seventy-five years separate the attack in Baghdad from the attacks in Sarona and Orlando. It didn't happen then for freedom and liberation, and today it didn't happen to promote freedom and liberation. Then and now, they were murderous hate crimes. When I heard about Huldai, if I may admit, I felt a pang in my heart. Palestinians deserve freedom and self-determination. The current government is bad for Israel, and we should replace it. But when Huldai and those like him who understand and justify terrorism are the alternative, then the right will remain in power forever. Bilal Abu Ghanem was convicted of carrying out an attack last October in the Armon HaNatziv neighborhood of Jerusalem in which three Israelis were killed by the Jerusalem District Court Monday. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The terrorist, a resident of the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber, was convicted the three murders, seven attempted murders, and aiding the enemy during the war. The conviction was handed down after the court rejected a plea bargain agreed upon between the prosecution and the defense, since Abu Ghanem refused to stand before the court and admit to his crimes. State Prosecutor Uri Korb demanded that Abu Ghanem be given three consecutive life sentences and an additional 70 years for the attempeted murders. Bilal Abu Ghanem in Jerusalem District Court (Photo: Gil Yohanan) In response, the defense team stated that they would not be opposed to the submission of evidence to the court, which include Abu Ghanem's confessions to the police of carrying out the attack, that they would not conduct a cross-examination and that Abu Ghanem would not testify. However, they also stated that it is their position that there is nothing in the evidence that would convict Abu Ghanem of aiding the enemy during a war, contrary to the conclusion of the plea bargain. "The defendant argued with me about the bus transfer. He argued with me about 5.90 shekels, and he had a gun in his belt. I can't get it out of my head," testified Yisrael Zaken, the driver of the attacked bus. "Then I began to hear shots on the bus. The doors opened and after a half minute they automatically locked, and some of the passengers on the bus were trapped inside the bus. This is also something that has left a scar." Abu Ghanem and Baha Alyan got on the number 78 bus last October 13, and opened fire on the passengers, as well as stabbing several of them. The three Jews killed in the attack were Richard Lakin, 76, Alon Andrei Govberg, 51, and Haviv Haim, 78. Seven passengers were wounded.. Even after they ran out of ammunition and the blade of their knife broke, they went on to strangle passengers until Border Police arrived at the scene. A knifeman stabbed a French police chief to death in front of his Paris suburb home late on Monday and his partner's body was found inside, officials said, killings the Islamic State's Amaq news agency said were carried out by a "fighter" belonging to the militant group. The unidentified attacker repeatedly knifed the 42-year-old commander in the stomach before barricading himself inside the house, an Interior Ministry spokesman said. He was shot dead by members of an elite police unit after negotiations failed. Anthony Luis Laureano Disla, 25, started dancing at the age of 10 and was comfortable with any number of styles, from salsa to ballroom, his cousin Ana Figueroa said. Figueroa told the Orlando Sentinel that Laureano Disla invited her out for a night of dancing at Pulse nightclub, but she told him she was too tired. He was out with two roommates, both of whom were injured in the shooting, she said. The newspaper did not identify the roommates. Born in Puerto Rico, Laureano Disla moved to Orlando about three years ago to become a dancer and choreographer, Figueroa said. "I want people to remember Anthony as someone who was very happy and very kind," Figueroa said. "This is just devastating for our family and his friends." Two settlers were arrested during the demolition of an illegal moveable structure in Kiryat Arba in the West Bank. The settlers clashed with Civil Administration forces who destroyed the structure during the night. The Knesset Ethics Committee is set to discuss the current policy on Tuesday, which prohibits MKs from visiting the Temple Mount. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The discussion itself was brought about in light of police considerations to allow MKs to visit the site after the Muslim holiday of Ramadan. The ban was put in place for Jewish and Arab MKs alike to ascend the mount on the grounds that it may heighten tensions. Indeed, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had originally pushed for the police to implement the ban six months ago, fearing that vsits by public figures to the Temple Mount may encourage incitement of violence. The police directive was accompanied by a warning by the Knesset Ethics Committee, which stated that any MK who visits the Temple Mount would be punished. The Temple Mount (Photo: AP) Two weeks prior, Arab MKs petitioned Speaker of the Knesset Yuli Edelstein (Likud) requesting that they be allowed to visit the holy site during Ramadan. Their objection to the ban rested on grounds that it was inherently discriminatory, since it impinges on their freedom of movement unlike other citizens who are allowed to visit the Temple Mount. Responding to their request, Edelstein consulted with Chief of Police Roni Alsheikh and Jerusalem District Commander Maj. Gen. Yoram Halevi on the matter. Following the discussions, Edelstein decided to work toward once again permitting MKs to visit the site. On Tuesday, armed Palestinians overtook the vehicle of PA Minister of Social Affairs Ibrahim Shaer near the Qalandia Refugee Camp. The armed men removed the minister and his driver from the car, threatening them with weapons, and then proceeded to steal the vehicle. Though the motive for the incident is yet unclear, a likely possibility is that it was carried out in retaliation to the arrests of four residents of the refugee camp over the last few days. A victim of the Sarona market attack in Tel Aviv last week, which claimed 4 lives and left 16 wounded, is expected to be discharged from hospital in the upcoming days despite being shot twice in the head. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter This miracle can be ascribed to the resourcefulness of the doctors at Ichilov Hospital and sheer luck. Assaf Bar, a 27-year-old resident of Haifa, had two bullets lodged two centimeters in his head which, from a medical perspective, is relatively superficial. The doctors decided not to remove one of the bullets that entered the back of his head, for the time being, since it doesnt pose a danger to his life or health. The second bullet was more problematic since it penetrated the area behind the ear, making its way two centimeters in without exiting Assaf's head. Due to the severe bleeding which ensued and the fear that it could cause permanent brain damage, the doctors decided to perform emergency surgery during which they extracted the bullet. Assaf Bar at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv (Photo: Yariv Katz) Assaf recounted Monday the terrifying moments at the cafe where he was shot while sitting with his girlfriend. "I saw the terrorists. They sat at a table near us but I did not suspect anything. I was hit first. I was shot in the head at the very beginning of the event, just before paying the bill, a moment before we intended to leave. " Those around Assaf were emotionally moved as he mentioned that his mother died from cancer three weeks ago. "I took care of my mother during the last two years. It was a difficult time during which my mother never stopped fighting despite the toxins she was receiving and despite their side effects. My mother died knowing that she did she could to nothing to prevent it." Assaf Bar (Photo: Yariv Katz) Regarding the attack he said, Two despicable terrorists murdered four innocent people who went out to have a good time. I refuse to accept the reality that exists in the country, that innocent people are murdered and that no efforts are made to prevent it. Doctors say Assaf can expect to make a full recovery from his injuries and return to a completely normal life. When asked how he felt, Assaf said, Ive got some headaches and hearing problems, but every day I feel stronger and I hope to continue to do so." The Director of Neurosurgery at Ichilov Hospital, Professor Tzvika Ram stated, "Assaf is a great example that despite having been shot twice in the head, with lots of luck and the quick and immediate treatment by Dr. Strauss, he stands before you today." "His condition can be defined as light, and he is expected to be discharged in a few days. Finally, he even joked about the bullet remaining in his head: "It wont bother him at all. It may serve as an amulet and will help stop more bullets." There are two kinds of politicians in democracy: merchants and ideologists. The former are willing to say and do anything that will get them elected. As far as they're concerned, everything has its price, and all that's left is to name yours. The latterthe ideologistsare limited by the confines of their own perspective. After they are elected, they usually freeze up, attempt to survive within a cruel reality, and eventually they disappear. Currently, it is US President Barack Obama who represents the ideologists in American politics. The catastrophic mistakes created by his foreign policy, starting with his first term, have been a result of his world view. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Obama truly believes you can speak about human rights at Cairo University on the eve of the Arab Spring. He really does not see modern Islam as the leading source of world terror. He stumbles through the Middle East with a sincere wish to help, not hinder. Ideals can be very romantic, but they turn into a very real source of danger when they are aimed in the wrong direction. Donald Trump (Photo: Reuters) The political merchant is currently personified by both contenders for the US presidency, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. But while Clinton is merely a mediocre salesperson, Trump is an excellent one. He is a cool professional selling his merchandise, though he has no idea what it can be used for. One of the items he is selling is "Make America Great Again." Trump has been quoted as saying "Let's make America great again" on a number of occasions. How about we make it excellent, though, or good? I think the sun setting behind the mountains near my home is great, the sunrise is good, and occasionally I come across some excellent music. But how do you make a country great? Answering this question requires a plan, setting priorities and providing knowledge. Trump has no intention of supplying these items. From my own provincial perspective as an Israeli, I am wary of political merchants just as much as I am of ideology-led politicians like Obama. When I hear Trump saying that he supports building in the settlements because rockets are being fired at them, it is clear to me that he has no idea where the settlements are located or what is threatening them. If he were to be elected, I think Trump would have no qualms about bluntly telling Israel, "Make a deal with Palestinians. Retreat to the '67 borders, with all these rockets being fired at you, it's not such a big deal. I want peace, and I want to make the world great." At any price, of course, as merchants are wont to do. And while Clinton is not any better than he, hers is at least a familiar and well-worn story. I am focusing on the distinction between these political attitudes since the current struggle between two merchant politicians means that for the first time in human history, terrorism may become a strategic tool that could affect the fate of the entire world. Ever since the invention of the term "terrorism," which means fear, it has been influencing people on a tactical level. Terrorists have managed to damage symbols and top leaders, and it has also killed thousands of people. The terrorists did not, however, manage to change the world; unfortunately, we here in Israel have seen too many bloody intifadas, as has the US post-9/11. You can trace the events that led up to certain operations, and you can find wars that stemmed from large-scale terror attacks, but what they end up amounting to are footnotes in the pages of history. The present situation with ISIS, coupled with Obama's head-in-the-sand policy, is unlike anything else we have seen. When ISIS first came on the scene, I was a bit dumbfounded by what I felt was an excessive amount of world interest. With all due respect, how are a few thousand lightly armed, cruel Muslims with trucks scaring the Western world? What was the worst that could happen? Maybe commandeering more land in Iraq or Syria. The entire organization could be wiped out by an infantry operation or massive bombing campaign. Nevertheless, the West was scared. At the time, I did not yet realize that it was scared of itself. ISIS has no real assets apart from its place in the public's consciousness. Its soldiers are photographed beheading people, slaughtering women and children and proudly boasting about murdering gay men. On the same day as the Orlando massacre, ISIS butchered several dozen Muslims in Syria. No one seemed to care. But when something happens on American soil, ISIS wins the battle over public consciousness. And it is precisely for this reason that it now has an opportunity to affect the world at large. A deadly attack on the eve of the elections would tip the scale in Trump's favor. While President Obama still refuses to name the source of the violenceradical Islamthe American public will bounce back from this even stronger. As president, Trump will change the face of the democratic world. He has already begun changing the political spheres around him. I do not know how he will achieve this, yet I am already afraid. A Jew like me always fears the unfamiliar. The governor of a rural province in Burundi said that on Tuesday, one person was been killed in a grenade explosion in the hometown of President Pierre Nkurunziza. Albert Nduwimana, the governor of the Ngozi Province, said four others were wounded in the attack on a parking lot for passenger bicycles in Ngozi town. He said the attacker, a man dressed in military fatigues, was also killed in the explosion. Nkurunziza's decision last year to seek a third term sparked violent unrest in which hundreds have been killed. Most of the violence has been reported in the capital, Bujumbura, but attacks have occurred elsewhere in the country. A decade following the Second Lebanon War and on the background of warnings of Hezbollah threats, a few dozen residents of the Ma'ayan Baruch kibbutz in the Upper Galilee participated on Tuesday morning in an evacuation drill, the first of its kind. The imagined scenario was a war on the northern border with Lebanon. The participants stayed in shelters, and buses were brought for the evacuation. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The scenario was run for the first time since the Second Lebanon War. During Operation Protective Edge, entire towns were evacuated, but this is the first time that such an event was practiced in the north. The exercise was carried out by the IDF and the Upper Galilee Regional Council. According to predictions, if continued warfare were to come to the area, 14 communities along the border in council would have to be evacuated. Drill situation room (Photo: Avihu Shapira) Participants drill evacuating (Photo: Avihu Shapira) The territorial defense divisional officer, Lt. Col. Yanif Krief, commented on the evacuation exercise, "A significant preparation process is being performed here in light of the insights and lessons from the Second Lebanon War. We are learning; it's something new. It's a tool that we are preparing to use in case of emergency." Giora Salz, the head of the Upper Galilee Regional Council, said, "Ten years after the Second Lebanon War, we're carrying out a multi-scale exercise that will, inter alia, evacuating citizens, operating our rescue unit, and more." Practicing evacuation (Photo: Avihu Shapira) According to Salz, "There will be a few very hard days surrounding bombing and ammunitions, and the council will operate without help or support from external sources, as they'll be busy in other places that need it more. We'll have to evacuate residents from kibbutzim, at least near the (border) fence, so that we can continue dealing with the emergency routines The drill in Ma'ayan Baruch (Photo: Avihu Shapira) "We are prepared to operate so that we can produce here, despite the difficulties, emergency routines that will allow the IDF to operate, and so that we, the residents of the Upper Galilee, will broadcast to the country's residents and to the other side that we are here, and we'll remain here forever." Israels foreign policy is in collapse. This is not a sudden or momentary collapse either, but a general and systemic breakdown, born of a distorted conception immersed into the system over the years. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Israels national security policy isnt clear or sufficient or up-to-date, which is a systemic problem in its own right. Absurdly, one of the only clear things about it is the absence of the component thats supposed to be among its most important and foundational: a well-thought-out diplomatic and foreign relations police that are the result of a long-term strategy. The main challenges facing Israel, including those related to security, are diplomatic at their core. Israels conduct, however, is mostly based on improvisation and fire-dowsing. A long-term, planned foreign policy isnt seen as an essential component of the countrys national security policy. Even worse, a planned-out foreign policy is seen as impossible and impractical, due to the assumption that Middle East chaos wont allow for it. Thats one of the reason for Israel basing its security policy on military and intelligence strength, as opposed to diplomatic sophistication and stately power. PM (and FM) Neyanyahu speaking (Photo: Kobi Gideon/GPO) Foreign policy is seen, at best, as subservient to security policy. That perspective represents a deep and dangerous failure of imagination. Israel, which faces heavy, complicated state-security challenges, doesnt have the privilege of basing its foreign policy on improvisation. This is a severe perceptional mistake, which causes direct and concrete harm to the countrys national security. The first to fall victim to this perception was the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In any proper nation, the foreign ministry (or its equivalent) is the central body in charge of planning and implementing the countrys foreign policy. But in Israel, the MFA is at an unprecedented low point. There is not a full-time foreign minister, and the ministry is used to fulfill the prime ministers political needs. (The foreign minister portfolio is currently held by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ed.) The ministry is currently suffering a continuous decline in stature. Many of its responsibilities have been handed out to other government ministries, its public image is shaky, it lacks budgetary means to confront the relevant challenges, and it is plagued by frustration, depression, and despair. Meanwhile, Israels most important state matters are handled by the PM and his personal representatives, not by the experienced professionals at the MFA. The countrys public diplomacy center, which was supposed to be run by the MFA, has been spread over five government bodies, which are mostly suspicious of each other and hesitate to share information. The defined role of certain offices in charge of certain professional areas is often terribly inconsistent with the infrastructure afforded them. One of the main examples is the lack of ability to combat BDS (a boycott movement against Israel)a fight that is mainly political and diplomatic, not economic. Foreign Ministry director-General Dore Gold. His institution's power has been steadily drained. (Photo: MFA) I sponsored a bill meant to restore the Foreign Ministrys stature in the previous Knesset, intending to make it the leading government authority on foreign policy, diplomacy, and public relations. The prime minister and his people made sure to prevent the bill from coming to fruition. On Tuesday, at the Herzliya Conference, the subject was to be discussed. The public, and most professionals, seem to think that the Knesset committee responsible for overseeing all of this is the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. But the perceptional and cultural change we need will only occur once we realize that the governments thinking on the matter doesnt reflect the name Foreign Affairs and Defense. The way they see it, foreign affairs are merely one part of the defense whole. The Jordanian government intends to restrict tourists from crossing from Jordan to Israel on the same day they land in Amman, affecting the itineraries of many tourists traveling to Israel via Queen Alia Airport in Amman. Jordanian travel agents informed the Israel Incoming Tour Operators Association of the expected change. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter According to the general manager of the Israeli Incoming Tour Operators Association, Yossi Fattel, "The airport in Amman constitutes an important transit point into Israel, and many tourists travel to Amman with Gulf airlines and immediately thereafter continue to Israel via ground transportation. I estimate that there will be more than 60,000 tourists affected if the Jordanian government follows through with its intentions." Jordan (Photo: Roi Kais) Fattel mentioned that this is not the first time the Jordanians have created obstacles for tourists in general: "Many years ago, (the Jordanians) decided to collect a tax from tourists who wanted to visit Petra and stay less than a night. We do not need to allow them to take advantage of our politeness, because this behavior is unacceptable. In the event that the Jordanian government indeed introduces these restrictions on tourists crossing into Israel to maximize profits, the Israeli government needs to take reciprocal action and make clear to the Jordanian government that a similar tax will be collected from tourists traveling from Israel to Jordan." Patel added that the Israeli Incoming Tour Operators Association is also experiencing troubles attaining entry permits into Muslim countries. "There are many tourists traveling to Mecca who want to come to Israel as well. We contacted the Shin Bet with a request to expedite the review of permits for such tourists who want to visit to Israel. The Israeli government needs to decide on its tourism policy for tourists coming from Jordan and other Muslim countries. The current policy is weakening (the tourism industry) and making it very arduous to bring tourists to Israel," he said. The Tourism Ministry said in response that various officials are reviewing the matter. Israel's efforts to reconcile with NATO member Turkey will help enhance Israeli intelligence sharing and other security cooperation with the alliance, a NATO diplomat said on Tuesday. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The once-strong Israeli-Turkish partnership was shattered by Israel's killing of 10 pro-Palestinian Turkish activists who sailed against its Gaza blockade in 2010, and Ankara had chafed at Israeli contacts with NATO. But with both countries now working to mend fences, Turkey last month acquiesced to Israel setting up representation at NATO's Brussels headquarters. NATO headquarters in Brussels (Photo: Reuters) Hosting envoys from NATO countries in Israel, including the Turkish charge d'affaires standing in for the ambassador who was withdrawn during the bilateral crisis, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered to further close ranks with the alliance. "Israel has much to contribute to NATO. I believe NATO has much to contribute to Israel. We've already begun that process, but I think we can extend and increase our cooperation," Netanyahu said before the closed-door meeting in Jerusalem. Israeli officials declined to elaborate on this, but one of the foreign diplomats who took part in the meeting cited Israeli intelligence, as well as the country's cyber security and battlefield medicine capabilities, as assets to NATO. "There is a host of areas where we could start doing more (but) cooperation has been stifled. Turkey, to put in frankly, has blocked many (Israel-NATO) activities," the diplomat told Reuters on condition of anonymity. "Now there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel." Where Israel might have previously cooperated in such fields with NATO members on a bilateral basisfor example, by giving the United States intelligence findings on ISIS volunteers in the regionits closer involvement with the alliance would streamline the process for all 28 members, the diplomat said. "It means that it (Israeli input) is easier to share through the NATO command structure, if we have that framework," said the diplomat, who cautioned, however, that this framework required Israel and Turkey finalize their reconciliation deal. Both sides have said the deal could be imminent, though it remains unclear how they might reach terms on Turkey's long-standing demand that Israel remove its naval blockade on Gaza. Israel says the measure is required to prevent arms smuggling by Palestinian militants "There are creative solutions to be found, and I think that both sides have the political will to find a solution," a Turkish official told Reuters, describing an agreement with Israel as "very close". Israel's role in the NATO-sponsored Mediterranean Dialogue has allowed it to hold security contacts with several Arab countries with which it does not have formal bilateral relationsa boost to Netanyahu's vision of outflanking arch-enemy Iran through regional cooperation. "In the Middle East, terrorist groups spread chaos and violence, posing a threat to our security and our way of life," Danish Ambassador to Israel Jesper Vahr, the point-man for NATO envoys in Israel, said in public remarks. Editors Note: Today is the second in a two part series on downtown Fremont revitalization. Creative collisions Early on a recent Saturday morning a flurry of creative commotion congregated in the lot behind the historic May Brothers building. Raising poles and securing awnings a group of local artisans assembled their arrangements of up-cycled artwork and fashioned crafts, all with a unique and local twist derived from the culture of Greater Fremont. The crews hurried their preparations for the second Fremont Artisan Market of the summer, a market born from the Fremont nonprofit known as the Creative Collective, dedicated to the support and cultivation of creative spirit within a community of entrepreneurship. On the edge of the Agricultural Frontier, far removed the culture and activity spurred by metropolitans like Omaha and Lincoln, one might not expect to find such a unique and locally inspired setting in Fremont. However, thanks to the rising efforts of creative individuals assembled behind a sense of innovative core values along with the economic muscle to lend support, the revitalization of downtown Fremont continues to sail along those endless prairie winds into the future. For one Fremont innovator, such endeavors flourish from providing a place and community that increases foot traffic and creates collisions of ideas and people. In an effort to kindle that identity of pioneering entrepreneurship combined with the uniqueness of the Fremont area, Glen Ellis, founder of Sycamore Education, purchased the historic May Brothers building in the downtown area in 2014. Currently under comprehensive renovation, Ellis hopes that one day the building will serve as a creative space where people, their ideas and their imaginations intermingle and network in a way that sparks a catalyst for something unique in downtown Fremont. We decided that what they had available in Lincoln and Omaha (the Haymarket and the Old Market) we can create here, Ellis said referring to several aspect of his vision for the downtown area. That vision includes a building with an appealing space to attract both entrepreneurs and Fremont residents. Ellis explained the three-story building will provide office space for startups and tech people as well as an environment where Fremont residents and visitors of downtown can congregate and foster their creative juices by relaxing with a cup of coffee and enjoying free Wi-Fi. Ellis also envisions an open-air green space behind the building that works as an extension to that environment of innovation and leisure. If youre going to have creative people in the building, you need a creative space to generate thought, Ellis said. That idea of creative space blends well with the notion of downtown synergy suggested by Shannon Mullen, executive director at Main Street of Fremont. I think everybody wants to see these small businesses excel and survive its a hard business world to be in, Mullen said, referencing online shopping sites like Amazon. ROOTS OF ECONOMIC MUSCLE Many of downtowns current revitalization efforts and results can be traced back to the origin of the Downtown Improvement District (DID) established in 1970, according to Bob Missel, DID board chairman and owner of Fremonts historic Sampters clothing store. Missel explained that in the early 1970s a group of downtown Fremont merchants came together and instituted a tax called the invitee space on business owners within in a certain radius of the downtown area. The revenue from that tax provided dollars for business promotions, MainStreet of Fremont, streetscapes, Christmas decorations and for the general benefit of the down town district. One of the great accomplishments of that tax are all the free parking lots that people can use today in downtown Fremont, Missel pointed out, which is not the case in many other metropolitan areas. Today, the DID no longer achieves the budgetary needs of the business district. For that reason a continuation of the DID called the Business Improvement District (BID) is currently under development. The BID, when approved, will generate its tax on property owners (based on valuations) of the downtown business district. The revenue raised will continue to support many of the same activities and developments that assist Fremont in growing a vibrant and dynamic downtown borough. As a testament to the achievements of those business leaders and their active promotion and financing of downtown revitalization efforts Missel proffered some anecdotal evidence. He said that through his work he frequently interacts with traveling salesmen moving through Fremont. After witnessing the vibrant atmosphere of Fremonts business district they have often asked Missel, What do you guys know that these other (small) downtowns dont know? In a town of our size, with (its) amount of downtown business, we truly are an unusual town, Missel said. Mullen also emphasized the importance of several opportunities that have assisted in sprucing up Fremont. The City of Fremont invests in the Local Option Economic Development Plan funds (LB 840) to help draw new business and retain or expand existing businesses. Funds are provided through low or 0% interest loans and grants. The city also offers tax incremental financing and the Film Incentive program. All program and applications can be found at the citys website (www.fremontne.gov) under the business tab. Another option for assistance utilized by several downtown businesses is called the Downtown Revitalization Building Improvement program. The program, administered by the City of Fremont and the Northeast Nebraska Economic Development District, is financed through the Community Development Block Grant Downtown Revitalization (CDBG) funds. Jean Kaup Van Iperen, former office services associate for the City of Fremont, detailed the CDBG. The grant helps with business facade improvements, expansions and safety code issues. Fremont was one of several cities in Nebraska to share in the $1,834,000 in CDBG funding for wide-ranging revitalization projects. Iperen articulated that assistance for economic development allows a city like Fremont to keep the momentum going. I think its important for Fremont to apply for those types of grants, Iperen said. They make it more palatable for a lot of businesses to make the improvements they need to their buildings Its good to come here and actually see a community that embraces their downtown. Ellis underscored Iperens sentiment about embracing downtown and working to make it better. After receiving CDBG funds for his renovations in the May Brothers building, Ellis appreciates the value and incentive that such financial assistance instills for businesses that wants to establish a unique foothold in Fremonts historic downtown. Were on to something here I love the idea that the city has gone out and acquired this money and is putting it to good use, he said. We need to look at all the possibilities in using those funds to help startups. To continue nurturing those creative collisions, Ellis said Fremont needs a concerted effort to make downtown (revitalization) happen. Lets not hope. Lets do, Ellis added. PROVIDENCE, RI - America's oldest Jewish congregation says it plans to appeal a decision that removed it as trustee of the nation's oldest synagogue. Congregation Shearith Israel in New York filed a notice Tuesday saying it would appeal to the 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals. A federal judge in Providence, Rhode Island, last month ruled in favor of the congregation that worships at Newport's Touro Synagogue in a dispute over who should control the 250-year-old synagogue and who owns a set of ceremonial bells worth millions. A lawyer for the Newport congregation says there's no merit to any appeal. At the beginning of the 16th Herzliya Conference, President Reuven Rivlin alluded to his "Four Tribes" address that he delivered from the same lectern last year, wherein he spoke about the fissures in Israeli society. He said, "Academia and the workforce today are suitable for two tribes (the religious and secular), but there are two other tribesthe Haredim and Arabswho have remained behind." Rivlin warned that excluding the two other tribes is leading to an economic downfall. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Rivlin highlighted the forces of change that he believes can bring hope to Israel: "The first such (force) is that of public and civil serviceparticularly in government offices. This is a system which has the role and the power to ensure essential equality between the citizens of Israel, from all the sectors, and to strengthen their faith in the states institutions." He then argued that the second force of change lies within academia: "If in the past the IDF was the main meeting place of Israeli society, in the new Israeli agenda, whether we like it or not, academia has become the first place in which Israeli society meets itself and one another. Academia and the labor market are the gates to fulfilling the Israeli dream. They are our admission ticket to the centers of influence in the economy, wherein was first created a common space to forge a common language and goals, where the sense of belonging and social status is formed. President Reuven Rivlin addresses Herzliya Conference "Let's not fool ourselvesthe change of the elites takes a toll, as by nature the elite want to perpetuate their status. The change will come only when the professional environment will become sensitive and responsive to all the sectors that operate within it, and recognize its responsibility to create a meeting which is positive and significant for all those arriving at its gates. This change in the academic sphere and the labor market is not only a moral imperative for the youth of this country and our image as a society, it is also an economic necessity. Making the most of Israeli personnel and talent, In particular from ultra-Orthodox and Arab communities, is the most important engine for growth at our disposal, and keeps us from a predetermined path of economic collapse." Following his speech, Rivlin addressed a question about Israeli identity in 2016, referencing a meeting he had with a young Arab girl who brought up the Israeli national anthem's line, "As long as a Jewish soul yearns": "Around two weeks ago, I visited a religious Jewish high school in Jerusalem. I participated in a meeting there between the religious, secular, and Arab students. In the meeting, one Arab student said to me, 'I am a citizen of the State of Israel, and I want to identify with the state in which I live, but between the flag, and the festivals, and the anthem which I respect, what can I do, my soul yearns, but it is not Jewish. "'I just want to understand from you, Mr. President, what is my place?" This is what she asked me. Personally, I am moved each time I see the Israeli flag raised, and at the same time, I understood and was pained by her question. And she is not alone. Not all the Jews sing the national anthem, there are Jews who are not Zionistsdo they have no right to be Israeli? Is anyone who deals with the issue of Israeli identity a post-Zionist? "It is evident from the briefest of looks at the city of Jerusalemthe largest Arab city in the country, the largest ultra-Orthodox city in the country, the largest Modern Orthodox city in the country, and the second largest secular city in the country; the city so beloved, but also so poor, torn, and strained that market forces alone, and exchanges of good-will alone, between individuals and organizations as moral as they may be, cannot deal with such a great challenge." Chief Military Advocate General (MAG) Sharon Afek has recommended censuring the battalion commander who approved the shelling of a clinic in the Gaza Strip during Operation Protective Edge in retaliation for the killing of an officer. Afek recommended on Tuesday that IDF Deputy Chief of Staff Yair Golan conduct a disciplinary proceeding for Lt. Col. Neria Yeshurun. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Yeshurun was serving as the commander of the armored battalion two years ago that he ordered shell the clinic in what he described over the radio as an "honor salvo and salute" in memory of Capt. Dima Levitas, who had been killed the previous day by a sniper firing from the same building. The case was investigated by the Military Police, which did not uncover any evidence that showed a lack of military justification for the shelling. In addition, it became clear that nobody had been injured in the clinic. However, a statement from the IDF Spokesperson said that Afek found Yeshurun's statement to those in his commandthat his firing as an honor salvo or an act of revenge would be legitimateunacceptable. Yeshurun at a memorial service for Levitas (Photo: Lior Paz) "Such a message could blur the boundaries between the permissible and the forbidden and trip up soldiers and commanders who were exposed to it, especially during combat," explained Afek. "It is not compatible with the values of the IDF, and his statement constitutes a command failure." The chief MAG also recommended that the results of disciplinary procedure be taken into account in future decisions regarding Yeshurun, including possible promotions. Levitas's commanders and soldiers did not attend his funeral; they continued their operational duties. Yeshurun could thus not pay his respects to the man who died under his command, so called his soldiers over the radio and eulogized the beloved company commander. "We will join all the people that are escorting Dima on his final journey, and we will shoot a salvo of honor and salute to this officer at the place from where the bastards shot at his tank and ended his life," said Yeshurun at the time. Dima Levitas "Yesterday, here at this very spot, we lost Dima," said the battalion commander to his troops. "Dima, who hadn't been a company commander for very long, managed in a short time to show himself to be a serious, quality, and motivated officer. In a very short time, he came into the company, took it on his soldiers and led it even during this operation that we are all participating in to rescue the residents of the Negev and Israel in general." Yeshurun explained to his troops the righteousness of their fighting in Gaza: "Look at the difference between us and them. While we're entering here and endangering ourselves to defend the citizens of the south from rocket fire, they're going into mosques, into clinics, hospitals and schools and firing at us from there. It's precisely the essential difference between us and them. Dima understand that difference extremely well and gave up his soul in a dignified manner worthy of praise and admiration." In recent months, the possibility of chicken litter (manure) under underfoot, in the fields on area Nebraska farms, fueled a large portion of the controversy surrounding a significant corporate proposal rocking opinions in the City of Fremont. It has led many area residents to step with trepidation in their approach to a final opinion (yay or nay) on the viable future of Costco Wholesale and Lincoln Premium Poultrys large-scale poultry processing operation. The Fremont Tribune sifted through some of the sludge and slurry of the poultry manure question, tilling through the issues of the manures environmental influences and question of its health risks. The bottom line: poultry litter adds essential nutrients and helps generate environmental benefits necessary for crop production. With proper fertilizer application management plans, supplemented by advanced GPS and sensing technologies as well as monitoring and regulatory oversight, poultry litter produced through the Costco operation could potentially benefit farmers two-fold: first as good fertilizer and second, as a source of income. Project documents released by the Greater Fremont Development Council suggest that the chicken litter could bring an addition $40 thousand per year in additional income farmers. But opposition groups like Nebraska Communities United, question chicken litters affects on the natural environmental due to the considerable increase in production of poultry litter that will come with Costcos facility. POULTRY LITTER AND ITS ISSUES Many farmers, research papers, state and private agricultural organizations and agronomists, like Nathan Mueller, a cropping systems extension educator at the University of Nebraska-Extension in Fremont, explain that poultry litter is excellent source of organic fertilizer that replenishes soil with vital plant nutrients and also adding other environmental benefits. Opposition disagrees. On their website, and at meeting discussing Costcos project, Nebraska Communities maintained that chicken litter poses environmental and health risks resulting from the high nutrient concentration such as nitrogen and phosphorus. According to 2015 Nebraska Water Monitoring Programs Report, under the right conditions (e.g. air temperatures, drought condition, sunlight exposure) excess nitrogen and phosphorus can lead to algae blooms in lakes, streams and reservoirs. That same report cites nitrogen as a continuing problem in Nebraska waterways. In addition the opposition groups have also cited issues with excessive microbial activity and the heavy metal such as zinc, copper and manganese that occur in livestock manure. Composting can eliminate much, though not all of the harmful bacteria. A 2013 report on livestock and poultry manure by the Environmental Protection Agency posted to Nebraska Communities website lends some support to the groups concerns. However, that same document also addresses the valuable organic resources and environmental benefits that chicken litter and other manures provide soils and plants. The document states: Manure can be a valuable resource as a natural fertilizer. However, if not managed properly, manure can degrade environmental quality, particularly surface water and ground water resources. Good manure management practices, which include the beneficial use of treated manure, linked to sound nutrient management, can help to minimize many problems related to other contaminants. In the case of Nebraska, Mueller highlighted one notable and long running program of sound management systems showing direct benefits in the reduction of nitrogen. The Nitrogen and Irrigation Management Demonstration Project in the Central Platte Natural Resource District worked with farmers to employ sound technologies and nutrient management plans with regards to fertilizers. The project showed significant reductions in ground water nitrate levels from their 1984 levels when the program began. THE ENLIGHTENED NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT PLAN Poultry litter is a good thing. It just needs to be managed correctly, Mueller said. He explained that farmers must incorporate two primary components soil nutrient management prior to planting crops. The first is the mineral content already present in the soil. The second is nutrient content of the fertilizer. The trick is to complement the soil with the right fertilizer. Mueller highlighted 14 essential (required) nutrients that exist for crops. Nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, sulfur, zinc, boron and manganese, are all necessary for plant survival. If any one of those (essential nutrients) is missing, a plant cannot complete its life cycle, meaning it cannot produce seed, Mueller stressed. Knowing soil mineral content allows the farmer to supplement with the precise amount of fertilizer, preventing over fertilization. Companies like Soil Analytics Inc. specialize in the software and technology that help farmers sample soil and then obtain detailed maps of a fields nutrient concentration. Knowing the nutrients present in the fertilizer represents the second primary component of an efficient management plan. With commercial fertilizers, Mueller said scrutinizing nutrient content is as easy as reading ingredients. You know what youre getting when you buy commercial fertilizer. It has a grade its required in the industry, Mueller said. But organic fertilizers (manure) need analysis. When we deal with livestock manure (poultry, hog, cattle) theres some variability in that product meaning the nutrient content could change a little over the course of the year depending on how those animals (that produce the manure) are managed, Mueller said. After analysis, fertilizer can be matched to soil and applied at variable, precise rates across a field. Mueller continued, whether a fertilizer comes as crystals in a bag or as composted chicken manure, the way in which those fertilizers break down through soil microbial and chemical processes facilitating plant uptake the end products are fundamentally identical: used by plants in the same way. Mueller highlighted one key environmental benefit organic manure holds over a commercial fertilizer. Manure is rich in organic matter the chemical compounds resulting from the breakdown of dead organisms (decomposition), as well as the waste products from living organisms. Healthy soils are rich in organic matter. And such organic compounds impart various benefits that include increasing a soils capacity to hold water; increasing the diversity of good microorganisms in the soil; facilitating soils ability to sequester carbon from the atmosphere for use by living organisms to grow and reproduce. Mueller explained organic matter also helps to retain excess nitrogen in the soil, releasing it slowly over time as the plant needs it. It can prevent unutilized nitrogen from washing away or leaching into ground water. Commercial fertilizers, like the ones people sprinkle on their yards dont offer that advantage. With heavy rains, water runoff carries it into natural waterways. Livestock manure (chicken litter) is traditionally a key fertilizer in organic and sustainable soil management, Mueller said. Properly managed, (its) application recycles nutrients back into crops, improves soil quality and protects water quality. Opening up a business in todays regulatory climate can be very difficult. Knowing all the federal, state, county and city regulations and building codes may be overwhelming for a new entrepreneur and surprising even to those in business for many years. A large portion of employment opportunities are found in small businesses, which is why removing unnecessary obstacles, or preventing new burdens from being placed on the small businesses helps Nebraska economically compete with our neighboring states. This is why I was concerned when I was contacted recently regarding potential abuse of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) by a group of attorneys targeting mom-and-pop stores and other small businesses in Omaha area. The business owner who contacted me shared media reports on a rash of ADA lawsuits in the Omaha area filed against dozens of small businesses, many in the same neighborhood. As I looked into the story it seemed that this might be the same type of scheme that even a state like California had to counter with legislation to protect businesses from frivolous ADA lawsuits designed as a money making scheme for unscrupulous lawyers. A few years ago, in New York City, a federal judge had to severely rebuke a handful of attorneys from New York and Florida who were using the ADA to take advantage of New Yorks higher monetary rewards for plaintiffs. The judge had personally taken the unusual step of visiting the businesses in question and found most of the claims that had been lodged against the businesses to be frivolous, if not completely fictitious. The report out of Omaha describes that dozens of businesses were caught off guard by the ADA lawsuits. One long standing business owner who was targeted as having an unaccessible building, said her restaurant has always had a wheelchair ramp and disabled parking space, and has never had anyone comment that they couldnt eat at her restaurant because of wheelchair accessibility. One attorney reportedly recently filed 15 ADA lawsuits. Five of those cases were filed on behalf of a relative. Six other attorneys had filed multiple ADA claims. Suspicions of these suits potentially being frivolous were expressed in the report even by the Assistant Omaha Planning Director, Jay Davis, who was quoted as saying, the way (these lawsuits) have blanketed entire neighborhoods or business districts is of concern to us. From the report, and what I have researched so far, is that federal law doesnt allow disabled customers filing suit against a business to collect monetary rewards, but the law does allow attorneys to collect fees to pay expert witnesses and themselves. This is where there might be a potential motivation to abuse the intent of the ADA law. In other states this has been the case, and action by the state or judicial system had to be taken to stop unscrupulous lawyers from scamming the system. Businesses may view paying thousands of dollars to settle a lawsuit as a better option than taking the chance and expense of losing in court on a technicality in the law and having to spend even more money on attorney fees. This is the racket, which doesnt necessarily fix any of the perceived or actual ADA violations, but it can make some fairly quick money, for very little effort, for unscrupulous attorneys. In fact, this was the case in the New York City lawsuits. So, what can be done to protect businesses? If you feel you have already been unfairly targeted for a frivolous ADA violation, you might want to contact the Attorney Generals office and the Nebraska State Bar Association regarding what your options are for filing complaints regarding an attorney who has allegedly filed frivolous ADA lawsuits. What I plan to do is research the issue further to see if Nebraska can take any legislative action to protect businesses from these type of frivolous lawsuits. The legal balance should always focus on reasonable and feasible solutions for real accessibility issues. The intent of the ADA was to make public facilities and businesses that are open to the public accessible to those with disabilities. The ADA was never meant to be a money-making law for lawyers. Running a small business in Nebraska shouldnt entail the running of a gauntlet of unnecessary regulation nor should there be loopholes in the law where unethical attorneys can make a living extorting businesses that have done nothing wrong. As always, I really appreciate hearing from you on important matters. Please do not hesitate to contact me or my staff for information on legislative bills or if I may be of assistance. Please reach me at: Senator Bill Kintner, 1000 State Capitol, Lincoln, NE 68509 (402-471-2613), or at my email: bkintner@leg.ne.gov. With a number of markets enjoying a long weekend, CoreLogics figures show just 1,053 auctions were held in Australias capital cities last week, significantly down on the previous weeks 2,008 auctions. Early results from last week show the preliminary national clearance rate currently sits at 67.2%, down slightly from the previous weeks result of 68.2%. Sydney was the busiest auction market last week, with it holding 427 auctions and returning a preliminary clearance rate of 76.3%. That mark is an increase on the previous weeks result of 72.9%, however that results came from a 692 auctions. The Northern Beaches (95.5%) was Sydneys strongest sub-region last week, followed by the Eastern Suburbs (86.1%) and City and Inner North (86%). Melbourne, which has dominated in terms of auction numbers for much of this year, held just 337 auctions last week and recorded a preliminary clearance rate of 66.9%. That mark is down from the previous weeks result of 71.1% and if there no is no further upward revision will be the first time in four weeks the Victorian capital has recorded a clearance rate below 70%. With no public holiday in Queensland, Brisbanes auction volumes remained relatively steady, with the city holding 139 auctions last week, compared with 130 the previous week. The Queensland capital did see a slight dip in its clearance rate however, with its preliminary rate sitting at 46.5% compared to the previous weeks 48.2%. In Adelaide, auction volumes fell over the week from 98 to 73, however the city did record the highest clearance rate of any market over the week with a preliminary result of 78.3%. That mark is also the highest clearance rate recorded in Adelaide during 2016. In Perth, the preliminary clearance rate currently sits at 30.8%, up from the previous weeks mark of just 13%. Canberras preliminary result sits at 66.7%, up from 52.4% the week prior. The Great Plains Society of Military Historians will have a display honoring Vietnam veterans on July 9 during the John C. Fremont Days Festival. The display, which will include uniforms and equipment, will be in Clemmons Park in Fremont. The exhibit also will include several action dolls. A demonstration will feature firing (using blanks) of weapons from the Indian wars to Vietnam. World War II vehicles also will be on display. The public is invited to view the displays. News Washington, DC - Naval Support Activity Annapolis (NSAA) hosted the Association of Energy Engineers/National Capital Chapter for a presentation and tour of energy conservation initiatives in support of the Secretary of the Navy's Great Green Fleet (GGF) initiative, June 10. 50 members of the chapter attended a presentation describing the energy conservation measures completed at the U.S. Naval Academy and NSAA. "We are trying to showcase what the Navy has done with its efforts to conserve energy here at NSA Annapolis to meet the Secretary of the Navy's executive order," said Chi Chiu, NSAA Public Works mechanical engineer. After the presentation, the guests took a tour of the recently completed water treatment plant, central heating plant and the chill water plant. These facilities went through major updates to make them energy efficient and environmentally friendly. "I think this is a great example; the Navy has always been in front of the country leading the way as far as conserving energy, in my opinion," said John Lord, president of the Association of Energy Engineers/National Capital Chapter. "I think what the installation has been able to do is been really fantastic; the payback on these projects are great, the return on the investment for the U.S. taxpayer has been great. I think we're using energy efficiency as our first line of defense to keep from having a reliance on foreign sources, and that's what this country is all about; that's what energy management is supposed to be doing." The water treatment plant project alone will reduce the water treatment plant's water draw by nearly one-third or about 125 million gallons annually, translating into over $1.5 million in annual savings. Chiu explained that in the six months the water plant has been active it has saved the Navy more than $200,000. Naval District Washington and Naval Facilities Engineering Command are focusing on efficient use of energy resources to ensure optimal mission readiness, while building energy teams throughout all supported and tenant commands, and raising awareness and the commitment to energy excellence. "All three of these projects are very well planned and very well financed; I think that the connection between the individual who acts as the operator at the units and engineering teams and the independent contractors is running smoothly," said Lord. "This is a textbook example of what the best practices for energy engineering are. It's been great to be able to tour these facilities today." GGF is a yearlong, Department of the Navy initiative which demonstrates the sea service's efforts to transform its energy use. As one of the Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus' key energy goals, the purpose of the GGF is to make our Sailors and Marines better warfighters -- able to go farther, stay longer and deliver more firepower. Mabus chose the name Great Green Fleet to honor President Theodore Roosevelt's Great White Fleet, which helped usher in America as a global power on the world stage at the beginning of the 20th Century. The GGF will usher in the next era of Department of Navy energy innovation. Lord added he was pleased with the experience of touring the facilities at the Naval Academy and that it was also a learning experience. "I'm going to have a renewed faith in the professionalism of engineers and the staff who run equipment, and if you show the kind of dedication that the NSA Annapolis team has shown and you have the kind of leadership that Capt. Jones (NSAA commanding officer) [and that the Navy] has put behind the Great Green Fleet you really can do great things," said Lord. "You just have to be dedicated to overcome the little obstacles that get on your way." Latest News Washington, DC - On June 10, 2016, under the leadership of the United States and the Republic of the Philippines, the Migrants in Countries in Crisis (MICIC) Initiative published the Global Guidelines to Protect Migrants in Countries Experiencing Conflict or Natural Disaster. The initiative was co-led by the United States and the Republic of the Philippines and, recognizing that no country is immune to conflict or natural disaster, publication of the guidelines follows two years of consultations with governments in all regions of the world and with a wide range of private sector employers, civil society, diaspora and migrant organizations. Expert input and promising practices were incorporated into this set of Guidelines that promote the principles of saving lives, call for migrants to get assistance in emergencies without discrimination, and foster respect for the human rights of migrants, regardless of immigration status. The United States and the Republic of the Philippines will formally launch the Guidelines at the United Nations (UN) in New York on June 15 and in Geneva on June 28. The MICIC Initiative is supported by a working group of representatives. In addition to the United States and the Philippines, other group members represented Australia, Bangladesh, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, the European Commission, the International Organization for Migration, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the Office of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for International Migration, the International Center for Migration Policy Development, and Georgetown Universitys Institute for the Study of International Migration. Yuma News Yuma, Arizona - Today at 2:19 p.m., the Yuma Police Department responded to an injury accident on 8th St. at the intersection with 8th Ave. The initial investigation revealed a 14 year old girl was riding her bicycle across 8th St., southbound, when she was struck by a 1998 Mercury Grand marquis which was traveling east bound on 8th St. The 14 year old girl was transported to Yuma Regional Medical Center in serious condition. The 73 year old female driver of the Mercury was not injured. The Yuma Police Department encourages anyone with any information about this case to please call the Yuma Police Department at (928) 373-4700 or 78-Crime at (928) 782-7463 to remain anonymous. Our directory features more than 18 million business listings from across the entire US. However, if we're missing your business, add your business by clicking on Add Your Business. Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Effects from the release of the Panama Papers Background On May 9, 2016, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) released a searchable database of the over 2.6 terabytes of internal data files (consisting of more than 11.5 million records dating back nearly 40 years) from Panama-headquartered law firm Mossack Fonseca (MF). The data files were leaked to a German newspaper and shared via the ICIJ. These records (collectively referred to as the Panama Papers) are reported to contain confidential information on over 210,000 offshore companies allegedly formed with the assistance from MF, as well as hundreds of associated corporations (including banks and law firms) and high-profile individuals (including political figures, athletes, and celebrities). Aside from the data security-related implications of the release of the Panama Papers, these events could raise corruption, fraud, money laundering, and sanctions compliance concerns and risks for individuals and commercial entities. They could also require attention from various corporate units, including compliance, legal, and internal audit, as well as the business. While there may be legitimate reasons for establishing offshore companies and subsidiaries, and the release of the documents alone does not establish wrongdoing on the part of any of the named individuals or entities, the Panama Papers have: Highlighted the corruption and fraud-related risks associated with conducting business with foreign offshore holding companies, as well as payments in and out of offshore locations such as Panama, British Virgin Islands, and the Bahamas, potentially placing companies on notice to review their own books and records for indicators of such concerns and risks Increased the importance of having visibility into the ultimate corporate ownership structure of customers, vendors, and other third-party business partners Highlighted potential money laundering and sanctions-related risks, as the leaked documents contain information that may help regulators broaden sanctions designations and expand restricted/prohibited entities lists1 Such risks are not new by any means. In fact, investigations into offshore entities and shell companies have become more common at US authorities such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Department of Justice (DOJ)as evidenced by the DOJs Offshore Compliance Initiative and Swiss Bank Program. In late 2015, executives at a US-based global logistics company pled guilty to Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and money laundering-related charges after the DOJ alleged the company had made over $2 million in bribe payments to Russian government officials through offshore bank accounts in Cyprus, Latvia, and Switzerland.2 In another case, the SEC charged a US-based pharmaceutical company with FCPA-related violations for a scheme in which the company allegedly funneled payments to government officials and other third parties through various offshore marketing companies. In its complaint, the SEC specifically noted that transactions with offshore or government- affiliated entities did not receive specialized or closer review for possible FCPA violations, and that little was done to assess whether the terms or circumstances surrounding a transaction suggested the possibility of foreign bribery.3 Regulatory scrutiny and enforcement around the use of offshore entities is not unique to the United States. Over the past several years, numerous authorities around the world (including Latin America and Europe) have brought allegations of bribery, corruption, and money laundering against a multinational energy corporation, as well as numerous related individuals and entities. Specifically, authorities are investigating allegations that, for almost a decade, potentially billions of dollars of bribes and kickbacks were provided to government officials and other individuals. Authorities have alleged most of these funds flowed through a vast network of offshore entities and shell companies located in jurisdictions such as Panama, Switzerland, Austria, and the British Virgin Islands.4 These enforcement trends, coupled with the high publicity and wealth of information obtained through the Panama Papers leak, make it clear that interactions and payments with offshore entities may continue to be a focus for both US and global regulators. A Fremont man pleaded guilty in reference to a string of local burglaries Monday morning in Dodge County District Court. Aaron Schlieker, 23, faces a maximum prison sentence of 20 years, with a minimum sentence under Nebraska state law being less than the maximum sentence 19 years or fewer. The defendant could also be eligible for probation, Dodge County Attorney Oliver Glass said. Should Schlieker receive the privilege of probation, Glass said that the state would seek restitution. Schlieker was arrested after playing a lead role in burglarizing three local businesses in the early hours of April 14, all of which he admitted to after being read his Miranda Rights, Glass said. Cash registers and tender was taken from all businesses, one of which was Habitat for Humanity, the sole business Schlieker is charged with burglarizing, resulting in the Class IIA felony. In addition to cash, a parked truck was taken from Habitat for Humanity, which was later located and returned to its rightful owner. During the reading of the factual basis of the case, Glass said that there was an additional juvenile accomplice in the case whose name was not mentioned. During a bond review, Schliekers bond was reduced to $10,000 with a 10-percent option. He was required to sign a waiver of extradition as a show of good faith that he will not leave Dodge County should his bail be posted. When Judge Geoffrey Hall questioned the defendants motives in relation to the robberies, it became clear that drug use was a factor. When Hall addressed the matter, Schlieker said that he was using around the time of the robberies. Yes I was, your honor, he said. Hall ordered a pre-sentence investigation and sentencing is scheduled for 9 a.m. July 25. In other District Court news: *Charles B. Kendall, 50, of Fremont pleaded guilty to dealing a controlled substance morphine, a Class III felony. The defendant faces a maximum prison sentence of 20 years, a $25,000 fine or both. He faces a minimum sentence of one year in prison or probation. Kendall said that he plans on applying for drug court. Kendall was arrested June 11, 2015 when a criminal informant working with the III CORPS Drug Task Force informed law enforcement that he was in the process of brokering a drug deal. The informant was given $40 from the Task Force and he met with Kendall at his residence before driving to another location to secure the narcotics. The criminal informant, who was wearing a wire, received two morphine pills from Kendall, who was subsequently arrested. Kendall faces sentencing at 9 a.m. July 25. *A Snyder man accused of sexually assaulting a long-time acquaintance was denied a bond reduction by Judge Hall. Jesse Prusia, 27, has a bond set at $100,000 with a 10-percent option. His defense attorney made the argument that Prusia is a new father and wants to bond with his child before facing his trial, a result of pleading not guilty to three charges March 28. The bond reduction was denied after Glass addressed Hall explaining the severity of Prusias alleged crimes. This is a case of sexual assault in its rawest form, Glass said to Hall and all present in the court room. Its an aggravated rape. Court records show that Prusia was arrested Jan. 6 after he allegedly sexually assaulted a woman he lured to his house by asking her for help with interior decorating. Prusia pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree sexual assault, felony first-degree false imprisonment and third-degree assault. The alleged victim was taken to Fremont Health Medical Center for examination shortly after the said incident. The case is set for further hearing at 9 a.m. Aug. 16. My sole motivation behind letting myself into that abominable prison house called school was the little white stick that my mother allowed me to grab and lick after the classes were over. I used to look with wishful eyes the attractive white box of ice cream walla who also had other varieties-the red tangy one that came in twenty five paisa, the slightly yellow one that came in fifty paisa and the expensive white creamy one that came in full one rupee. My mother had warned me against eating the orange one as she said it contained worms that came out if you sprinkled salt on it! So my childhood remained deprived of that one single taste that so often contented the appetite of my not-so-affluent friends.Gretchen Kalwinski
Six weeks after adopting my dog Cody, I quit my job. At the time, I cited work burnout and a desire to freelance. But I can now admit that what I really wanted was more quality time with my new, beloved pooch. In other words, I took a "pawternity" - a version of maternity or paternity leave designed for new furry family members that's catching on in the U.K., and offered to about 1 in 20 new pet owners there. So, I decided to try it: I left my full-time job in Chicago to spend more time with Cody - and I have no regrets. Cody and me | Gretchen Kalwinski "I went years sans pet, waiting to be in the right life stage" I'd wanted my own dog ever since I left my family's beagle-mutt Yoda behind when I left for college. But I knew how much attention and care dogs required, so I went years sans pet, waiting to be in the right life stage. Fearing cubicle boredom after I graduated, I worked at independent bookstores; later, my husband and I lived in a series of "no dog" apartments while pursuing busy careers. With Yoda, my family's dog | Gretchen Kalwinski I worked as an arts and culture writer until I was, inevitably, laid off post-2008 financial crash. During the year that followed, I freelanced and dog-sat for friends - pooches weren't technically allowed in my building, but a few days at a time flew under the radar with my landlord. At the same time I began an MFA program, I started a day job in marketing. At first, the job was pleasantly boring and stable. Since the company paid for my tuition, I tried to put aside my lifelong hatred of cubicles and office attire. My husband tried to help me cope by creating a cute animal blog curated with an intended audience of only me, to help lift my mood during work hours. It worked somewhat. An image that my husband posted on a blog meant only for me - to make me laugh | Twitter/CuteEmergency Then, one year in, everything changed. My company was bought out and my work environment quickly changed from a sleepy one in which I could do coursework during lunch, to a toxic, intense one. It became common to see managers' doors slam, and hear them yell specific names of staffers seated just outside. Layoff rumors abounded. It was chaotic and crazy-making but I couldn't quit because if I left before graduating, I'd have to pay the tuition money back. Dodo Shows Comeback Kids Family Stops At Nothing To Help Their Great Dane Run While I was stressing, Cody was waiting to be adopted. | Gretchen Kalwinski "Anything to get me through the day" Eventually, I developed carpal tunnel, tendinitis and such extreme anxiety that Xanax became necessary to sleep. I'd often retreat to the company bathroom to try meditation, "tapping," soothing mantras - anything to get me through the day without bursting into tears and rage-fits. True to my type-A, Midwestern work ethic, I tried coping with my ailments by doing more: more physical therapy, more yoga, more meditation, more ergonomic objects at my workstation. Nothing worked; I felt awful, inside and out. Somehow, I finished my thesis and completed my MFA, shifting to a new marketing job soon after. My degree didn't feel triumphant; I limped over the finish line, in pain and miserable. But once I finished, I knew we were finally ready to adopt a dog. Katie Gavaldon Three days later, we rescued Cody, a golden retriever mutt. He had a sweet, gentle Buddha-like demeanor - but like me, he was needy and anxious, shredding books and papers, and eating pillows after we left for work. Gretchen Kalwinski Over several weeks, we figured out dog-proofing, bought chew toys and arranged a four-walks-per-day schedule with a dog walker while we were at work. Then one day, he got very sick from eating an entire bottle of multivitamins. When I asked to work from home, my boss refused - the whole team needed to be on-site, my higher-ups said. That was the moment that I thought, "That's unacceptable." I could say it for Cody's sake, if not for my own. Taken a few weeks after we instituted the "no dog in bed" rule | Gretchen Kalwinski I realized I desperately needed a "break" - more quiet moments with my beloved new dog and my frazzled mind. Instead of more, I felt a strong need to do less, to slow down. My peaceful moments of Cody-bonding - rubbing his belly, brushing his long fur, taking walks in the park and couch cuddling - sparked a growing feeling that these were the things that would heal me and what I needed more of, in order to feel human again. Gretchen Kalwinski This is perhaps unsurprising, with canines being increasingly used to comfort people in crises ranging from PTSD to surgery to disaster survivors. Pets are also known to lower blood pressure, decrease cortisol levels and raise levels of feel-good brain chemical dopamine. "Owning a pet gives you a sense of purpose and belonging that can increase feelings of positivity and lower stress levels, all of which translates to health benefits," says Allen McConnell, Ph.D., a psychology professor at Miami University who studies human-pet interaction. "I started to calm down and refocus" I decided to quit and embark on the freelance life, with Cody as the driving force; I told myself my dog needed me at home. Looking back, my "going freelance" plan wasn't great, and could be considered irresponsible. I had only a small savings and had lined up just a few gigs. Health insurance was covered on my husband's plan, but otherwise, I needed income to cover my share of bills - and fast. I hustled for any kind of paid work (including working as my parents' tech-guru/house painter/yard caretaker for a few weeks) to make ends meet. My husband with Cody | Gretchen Kalwinski But without the job pressure, and at home by Cody's side, I started to calm down and refocus. Cody became my mentor for how to be in the moment. He taught me how to take calm walks, play with abandon and sit quietly without constantly worrying about the next task or emergency. Sunday morning in the backyard | Gretchen Kalwinski I used that calmer state of mind to start scrapping together work - novel editing, travel stories, copywriting. Building my business wasn't easy, but it was a self-directed chaos I could manage. Cody letting me know it's time for a work break | Gretchen Kalwinski It helps that Cody is an incredibly good-natured animal and honest-to-goodness guru material. He exudes a peaceful grace. If another dog barks at him, he just turns away. When toddlers stick their hands in his mouth or accidentally poke near his eyeballs, he just smiles and pants, soaking up the attention and nuzzling them. Gretchen Kalwinski That's not to say he's angelic. I've known angelic dogs. Bella at the dog park, who lies down on everyone's feet and cuddles chew toys instead of destroying them. Or my friend's border collie, Mavis, who licks your face when you're sad. Or Kenya, a friend's now-departed chow-chow who lap-cuddled for hours at a time. Gretchen Kalwinski Cody is gentle but also has an independent, mischievous streak. He remains a blackbelt-level counter surfer and still occasionally finds plastic bags to shred when we're away. But his free-spirited personality only makes me love him more. Gretchen Kalwinski "I try to give him adventures" When I consider dogs' healing power, I always think about this quote by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, author of "Dogs Never Lie About Love": "Perhaps one central reason for loving dogs is that they take us away from this obsession with ourselves. When our thoughts start to go in circles, and we seem unable to break away, wondering what horrible event the future holds for us, the dog opens a window into the delight of the moment." Gretchen Kalwinski Cody teaches me so much on a moment-to-moment basis that I barely feel qualified to "own" him. I believe my role as his caregiver is to help him feel as free as any domesticated animal can. I try to give him adventures and am always on the lookout for dog-friendly places to bring him (patio restaurants, hardware stores, corner bars, the dry cleaner). I mostly let him choose the direction and pace of our walks, and let him lead me onto new paths, new scents. Gretchen Kalwinski I left that marketing job two years ago. Since then, I've gotten freelance traction and made my small-business lifestyle work pretty well. It's not easy: I keep even more spreadsheets that I did when I was on a company's payroll. I make copious to-do lists. I chase down invoices and court new clients. It's a hustle but I love it and Cody is interwoven with every part of my day. It helps that his default mode is one of total joy. He wakes us up by jumping in bed for a loving nuzzle. He and I take a walk, eat breakfast and play in the yard, and then I sit down to work. Gretchen Kalwinski We do a noon walk and a game of chase, and I return to my desk until dinnertime. But my day is happily peppered with belly rubs, games of tug-of-war, cuddles and the occasional co-nap with my coworker. Gretchen Kalwinski "I believe my pawternity saved my life" I'm pretty risk-averse, so when I think back on that "rash" decision I made to quit my day job, it still makes me shudder. But all I know is, if I hadn't made a choice that others might have considered irresponsible, there's no doubt that my chronic illnesses and anxiety would have taken me down a rabbit hole of misery. I believe my pawternity saved my life. Gretchen Kalwinski And the Cody-lessons continue. His latest thing is begging to go out for a walk; then, once outside, promptly plopping down on the cool grass to roll on his back and refusing to move. The old me might have been irritated or anxious by this delay in my schedule. These days, I just look into his animated face and at his wriggling, exposed belly and laugh. Then, I plop down to join him. The work on my desk will still be there in 10 minutes. This hilarious and delicious moment with my fur ball is only here and now. The lip service paid to diversity by many large U.S. companies has done little for actual progress toward putting women on their boards, a new study shows. Women were named to about 27 per cent of open board seats at companies in the Standard & Poors 500 Index in 2015, according to a report by Catalyst, an organization that advocates for workplace inclusion for women. That leaves women with 19.9 per cent of board seats at S&P 500 companies, inching up from 19.2 per cent in 2014. Companies have been espousing equality for a long time, but women didnt even increase their representation on boards by 1 percentage point, said Jan Combopiano, Catalysts senior vice president for research. That feels like a big disconnect to us. Groups including the 30 Percent Club and the 30 Percent Coalition which count many big U.S. companies among their members are fighting to increase the representation of women on corporate boards. Theyve been spurred by research showing that diversity improves the bottom line. In February, a report from EY and the Peterson Institute for International Economics found that companies with at least 30 per cent women in leadership may boost profit margins by 15 per cent. About 10 per cent of roughly 5,000 S&P 500 board seats typically turn over each year, Combopiano said. With a few more new seats going to women than they currently hold, at least the numbers are moving in the right direction, she said. Only about 14 per cent of companies had 30 per cent or more female directors. Even less progress has been made in the pipeline for women officers and directors, Catalyst chief executive officer Deborah Gillis said in the report, which was just the latest to detail the glacial progress women are making towards equality in business. The study examined 2015 proxy data compiled by EY. Women held a quarter of executive and senior level positions in the S&P firms, 36 per cent of first and mid-level manager positions, and make up 44 per cent of all employees, the study showed. Women hold just 4.2 per cent of CEO positions in the S&P 500 a number that will shrink when Xeroxs Ursula Burns, the only African-American CEO, steps down this year. A study released Monday that analyzed 381 companies showed a similar trend for women in financial services. Women make up 20 per cent of those companies boards and 16 per cent of their executive committees, up slightly from a year earlier, said Oliver Wyman, a London-based management consulting firm. The United States was above average, with 20 per cent women on the executive committees. But progress has been so slow that women will not reach 30 per cent of executive committee representation globally until 2048, Oliver Wyman said. In April, a PricewaterhouseCoopers study of 2,500 global public companies showed that women gained less than 3 per cent of new CEO positions. In the U.S. and Canada, less than 1 per cent of new CEOs were female. And in January, the Government Accountability Office estimated it would take another 40 years before women reach parity in board seats among the S&P 500, even if they filled seats at twice the current rate. SHARE: Anthony Molinaro has a problem most people his age would envy. Hes 20, a full-time student and also working a full-time job that pays him $50,000 a year. The problem? What to do with the cash. At a time when young people find it hard to pay for their education and find work, Anthony is a good example of how both can be done. Its a hard going for sure, but the effort is paying off handsomely and giving him a head start on his work life. Its a lot, really a lot, but I make it work, says Molinaro of his 80-hour plus weeks. Im completely exhausted by the end of the week, but it all gets done. Anthony is taking the summer off from his undergraduate business program at University of Guelph-Humber. But during the school year, along with a full load of courses, he puts in a 40-hour paid week. He drives a forklift at the Pepsi Bottling Group plant in Mississauga. It makes for long days 4 p.m.-to-midnight at Pepsi, home to Brampton by 1 a.m. where he lives with his parents. Try to unwind. Fall asleep by 2 a.m. Up by 6 a.m. a few days a week. Half-hour drive without traffic from Brampton to the university campus near Hwy. 427 and Finch Ave. His mother Karen, a teacher and guidance counsellor with the Peel District School Board, worried it might not work. Both she and her husband Carmen thought school should be the focus. But Anthony is pretty independent-minded and likes to manage on his own, she says. So they got behind him. There are still pressure points, but hes done very, very well and were proud of him, she says. Its one of those revealing moments when many things come together. Anthony has finished his second year and has two more to go. He lives rent-free and figures he can save $80,000 over the next two years. His expenses are car insurance on his recent purchase of a 2005 Ford Focus, gas money, phone bills and a gym membership. He thinks he might buy a house or condo in a couple of years and also wants to get into the habit of saving for retirement. Im making a lot of money and I want to make solid financial decisions, he says. Anthony always had jobs, including a paper route, and last year he landed a summer job at Pepsi, where his brother Michael works. Anthony was called back over Christmas and when a full-time job opened up, he jumped. I couldnt ignore it, he says of the $27.65 hourly rate. Most of my friends are making minimum wage. His boss at Pepsi was as skeptical as his parents, arguing that school should be his priority. He told Anthony if he took the job it was a commitment he had to keep. He gave me a chance, Anthony says. Anthony took five classes in the winter semester, managing to schedule four of them in the mornings. The fifth was online. He did assignments on days when there were no classes. Anthonys second-year average was in the mid-70s, something he admits hed like to move higher. He works out regularly to keep a good mind-body balance and weekends are kept free to spend time with his girlfriend and other friends. So where does all this drive come from? I like to think it comes from parents who taught him good habits, says Carmen, who is retired. Hi mother adds: Hes seen his parents trying very hard and being focused on moving the family forward, balancing personal and family goals. Anthony approached the Star for advice on how to handle his savings. I dont want to blow it, he says of the $80,000 he hopes to put toward the down payment along with a modest start on retirement savings. A little advice We asked two experts for help. One was Dan Hallett, a financial planner with the HighView Financial Group in Oakville. The other was Chris Buttigieg, a senior manager with BMO Wealth Management. Both were impressed with Anthonys discipline and work ethic. Both agreed he should not lock up the money because, at his age, priorities change. Hallett questioned Anthonys rush to buy property. On top of the down payment, he will also have a mortgage and bills that include such things as heat and hydro, maintenance and property taxes. Why not rent instead? The savings can grow in a balanced, low-risk mutual fund, or a high-interest savings account. But if Anthony is set on real estate, it may be prudent to delay saving for retirement. If so, a high-interest savings account at a discount bank is the way to go, Hallett says. The accounts dont offer very high rates, but they fit the safe and accessible requirements. For a young man with two full-time commitments, convenience should be a serious consideration. Also read:A closer look at discount banks Hallet says if Anthony banks at PC Financial, for example, he can avoid most fees, get more interest than is offered by a big bank and, in this case, get access to CIBC Index mutual funds such as a Balanced Index Fund at a slight discount. This is because CIBC manages PC Financials systems and PC customers have access to CIBC funds. BMOs Buttigieg advises Anthony to pay off debts and then set up a monthly plan that sends money to a Tax Free Savings Account (TFSA). He agrees Anthony should make sure the money is accessible. Buttigieg says Anthony can combine his goals of home ownership and retirement savings by opening a Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP). Related:How to tap your RRSP for a down payment He gets a tax refund from any money he puts into an RRSP, but can also use the money inside the RRSP to take advantage of Ottawas First Time Homebuyers Plan. Buttigieg says Anthony has to remember that the amount withdrawn must be repaid over 15 years. Buttigieg suggests Anthony get professional advice for the choice of specific investments. Whatever he does with the money, Anthony figures hes learning a lot about himself and what hes capable of managing. A lot of it comes down to determination. How do I do it? I just buckle down because I have to, he says. More columns by Adam Mayers END Adam Mayers writes about investing and personal finance on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Have a question? Reach him at amayers@thestar.ca SHARE: MONTREALMere hours after the Orlando mass shooting it was already clear that its political fallout in the United States would be both divisive and significant. The tragedy is inflaming an already polarized presidential contest. It may yet turn out to be a watershed moment in the campaign. The echo effect of this tremor, if any, on the Canadian political landscape will be mild. It is not that Canada is immune from hate crimes or from terrorism. Parliament Hill was the scene of a shooting less than two years ago. An Orlando-style tragedy could happen here. In fact, it did. I am writing this column in the city that was the site, 26 years ago, of a shooting that cost 14 young women their lives at Montreals Polytechnique. Like the patrons of the Orlando gay club, they too had not been chosen at random. Haters did not start to turn into killers with the advent of Daesh terrorism. Nor are Daesh (also known as ISIS or ISIL) propagandists the first to glorify unspeakable acts of violence or to recuperate them for their own benefit. But while the Orlando episode has struck a multitude of politically raw nerves in the U.S., it has mostly highlighted the fundamentally consensual nature of Canadian politics. Take the issue of gay rights. Almost two dozens American states are currently attempting to pass legislation to restrict them. Parsing through presidential hopeful Donald Trumps early comments on the Orlando mass shootings, one would be hard-pressed to find more than a passing acknowledgement of the fact that the victims of this weekends massacre were members of the LGBTQ community. Just last month in this country, Canadas Conservatives voted by a margin of two to one to strike the heterosexual definition of marriage from their policy book. The would-be and declared candidates for Stephen Harpers succession all came out in support of accepting if only implicitly the decade-old marriage rights of same-sex couples. South of the border, a similar move by the Republican Party would be seen as a hugely bold step. In Canada, it was considered an overdue move. The federal Conservative party may have been last mainstream political organization to jettison the notion that access to marriage should be restricted to heterosexual couples. The current consensus on gay rights in Canada did not emerge overnight, nor did it come easily. When Jean Chretien set out to ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in 1996, a pitched battle ensued in the House of Commons. So divided were his own MPs that Chretien had to allow a free vote to avoid a rebellion of the social conservatives within his caucus. In hindsight, it is hard to believe that 53 MPs voted against protecting Canadas LGBTQ community from discrimination or that about the same number believed the risks to freedom of speech offset the need to protect gay Canadians as a group from hate speech. At second reading of the bill, more than one Reform MP brought forth a riding poll to illustrate how overwhelmingly voters opposed the legislation. There were dire warnings that Chretiens move would eventually lead to granting marriage rights to same-sex couples with attending damage to the institution. (A majority in the House subsequently voted to affirm the man-woman definition of marriage. That stance was only overturned after the courts found it to breach the charter of rights and freedoms.) No one in 1996 imagined that the issue of gay rights would one day soon come up in the context of a global war against Islamic fanatics. As it happens, the steps taken over the past two decades in Canada are making for a sturdier social fabric today. In the U.S., Trump has been using the Orlando shooting to bolster his anti-Muslim, anti-immigration rhetoric. In Canada, in the wake of the Orlando shootings on Sunday, Don Valley West Liberal MP Rob Oliphant tweeted: Needs to be shared: I am an openly gay MP elected by the largest Muslim community in Canada. By coincidence, two reports urging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to issue an official apology for the discrimination long endured by Canadas LGBTQ community have just landed on the governments desk. Post-Orlando, it may be hard to ignore those calls. Chantal Hebert is a national affairs writer. Her column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. SHARE: CAMROSE, ALTA.A fatality inquiry into the death of a mental health worker who was killed in a clients home in 2011 has been told that the client had a long history of aggressive, violent incidents with caregivers. Valerie Wolski, 41, was alone and providing care to Terrence Wade Saddleback in February 2011 when she was strangled in Camrose, Alta. Saddleback was charged with manslaughter but was found mentally unfit to stand trial. Marilyn Conner, executive director of a Wetaskiwin-area community organization that cared for Saddleback for 19 years, described hundreds of incidents where he pulled hair and was volatile and explosive. Conner said his actions sometimes did not seem to be provoked by anything, adding he could be fine one moment and lunge at someone the next. Conner told the inquiry it was really scary walking into a room with the man, who was six-foot-five. For me, I felt there was something else going on with him that was beyond our capacity, she testified. In 2009, a staff member was working with a client when Saddleback picked her up by the hair and threw her onto a table. Conner said eventually, all but two staff members refused to work with him. The organization told the province it could no longer care for Saddleback because he was too dangerous and staff were afraid of him. Staff members offered to share their experiences and knowledge of working with Saddleback with whoever took over his care, but Conner said that meeting never happened. Graham Jones, Saddlebacks legal guardian, previously said he warned the Canadian Mental Health Association they needed to be careful with him, but his concerns were shrugged off. A preliminary report released prior to the inquiry by Occupational Health and Safety said the provinces Persons With Developmental Disabilities Board failed to warn Wolski or her employer that Saddleback was violent and dangerous. A Camrose police officer testified about walking into the crime scene in 2011 and seeing Wolski lying on the ground by the couch. Saddleback was sitting on the couch and clumps of Wolskis hair were spread around the home. The officer described interviewing Saddleback later, who said: dont punch Val, dont hit Val, dont pull her hair. Read more about: SHARE: The son of a decorated 94-year-old war veteran says hes shocked after receiving word that Petter Blindheim has been rejected once again in his bid to stay in one of 13 beds available at the federally funded Camp Hill Veterans Memorial hospital in Halifax. Peter Blendheim, whose first and last names are spelled differently from his fathers, said Mondays decision leaves him wondering how to provide safe care for the frail veteran of the Norwegian Royal Navy, who is set to receive Norways Commemorative Medal in a ceremony on Thursday. The sad end to this might be that he does break his hip . . . Its ridiculous, he said. The family has conducted a lengthy public battle to gain entry to the hospital for the former merchant mariner, who has recently sustained a series of falls and has a broken arm. Family members say Blindheim was initially rejected because Ottawa said it didnt admit people who served in resistance forces, but Veterans Affairs officials later retreated from that position and told the son that the Norwegian veterans qualified as full allied veterans. The son says he was then informed Blindheim had to show he required specialized care that couldnt be provided by a provincially operated nursing home. Blendheim says he was told Monday his father failed to meet that standard. Instead, the family is being told to apply to enter a provincial long term care facility, with Ottawa reimbursing the province for the daily costs. A spokesman for the Nova Scotia Health Authority said the current median wait for a nursing home bed in the Halifax area is 285 days. A spokesman for the provincial Health Department said Nova Scotia wants Ottawa to reconsider. Mr. Blindheim wants to be in Camp Hill with other veterans. We understand there are about a dozen vacancies at Camp Hill and encourage Veterans Affairs Canada to take another look at Mr. Blindheims situation, said the emailed statement from spokesman Tony Kiritsis. Blendheim worries now that his father may fall or hurt himself at night as hes waiting for approval for a bed and begins an appeal process to enter Camp Hill that could take months. He also says the family believes the allied veterans deserve the same quality of care as the disabled Canadian veterans who can gain admission to Camp Hill, especially as their overall numbers dwindle rapidly. The Nova Scotia Health Authority says the beds at the highly regarded Camp Hill hospital are subsidized to a level of about $400 per day, while the average provincial bed costs $250 daily. Lets look after the last allied veterans. Weve made awful restrictions for them to get in. Weve made it almost impossible . . . but lets ease it up because now theres room. Now we dont have hundreds of Canadian veterans going there, said Blendheim. The regulation has not adapted to our current situation. Meanwhile, the NDP went after the Liberal government during question period in the House of Commons on Tuesday, asking why Blindheim was being refused entry to the hospital based on a technicality. Thomas Mulcair accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of breaking his governments election promises to treat veterans more fairly, citing the Halifax case. Trudeau said the Liberals will respect a solemn obligation to help veterans when they face difficulties. That is what we are working on very hard. Our minister of Veteran Affairs is collaborating with veterans groups to make sure we deliver the services they deserve, he said. Veteran Affairs minister Kent Hehr said in a telephone interview that he cant comment on the Blindheim case. Asked if he could provide a rationale on why allied veterans had to overcome the added requirements of showing a need for care not available in provincial facilities, he said the policy has worked well in the past. This policy has existed for decades and in the vast majority of cases has worked very well for veterans and their families who are getting access to more care in more cases across Canada, he said. We cant always accommodate a veterans specific request but we do pay for any level of care they need in a provincially run and mandated facility. Hehr also said in a statement that as a cabinet minister, he has to deliver programs within the legal authorities granted by Parliament. In the case of Long Term Care, I have no ministerial authority to work outside of those parameters, says the statement. Blendheim says he feels his father should have access to the same higher-quality care that other veterans receive at Camp Hill. The Nova Scotia Health Authority says that it receives $400 per day from Ottawa for care at Camp Hill, while provincial long term care bills paid by Ottawa would be an average of $250 per day. Petter Blindheim was commended by the Royal Norwegian Navy for his courage when a torpedo sank a vessel he was serving on in November 1942. After torpedoes struck the Montbretia, Blindheim ran to the deck and removed a primer from the depth charges he oversaw to help ensure they wouldnt go off and kill sailors in the water as the ship sank. After the war, he emigrated to Canada. SHARE: OTTAWAIn another demonstration of senators flexing their law-making muscle, a Senate committee voted Tuesday to significantly amend an RCMP unionization bill. Members of the Senates national security and defence committee voted unanimously to amend Bill C-7 in several ways to broaden the scope of bargaining talks, to allow a broader range of grievances to go before an arbitrator or a public service labour relations board, and to ensure a secret ballot whenever a bargaining agent finally stands up to be certified. It came the day after the RCMPs top cop, Comm. Bob Paulson, was grilled over his proposal to strip Mounties of the right to bargain for essential working conditions as they form the first ever RCMP union. Paulson admitted it was senior RCMP managers who proposed listing a number of areas to be excluded from the bargaining table in order to be transparent because we thought in this very acrimonious season of an RCMP union drive there would be criticism that we were trying to pull a fast one. Bill C-7 originally excluded any negotiation over law enforcement techniques, transfers and appointments, performance appraisals, discharges or demotions, conduct including harassment, probation, basic requirements for carrying out a Mounties or reservists duties, and the uniform or equipment provided to RCMP. Those vying to certify as bargaining agents for the RCMP opposed the provisions as handcuffing their ability to negotiate meaningful protections for RCMP workers from the get-go. Several senators agreed. Sen. Colin Kenny, a former chair of the committee, moved an amendment to delete the clause to provide for a more robust communication between the union that is to come and management. Weve taken a look at a range of other police services that do not have exclusions listed precisely like this, Kenny said. He said Paulson made a point of telling us that these exclusions are superfluous, that he feels theyre covered elsewhere. If thats the case, I dont see any reason to keep them here in the bill other than they would severely inhibit a union in arbitration or in its normal course of operation. At the same time, the Senate committee amended the bill to expressly recognize that the commissioner has management rights to direct the national police force. Sen. Claude Carignan moved amendments that were also unanimously carried: to expressly provide for a secret ballot at a representation vote and to widen the bills limited right to grieve, to allow an arbitrator to interpret the RCMP Act and its powers, not just the provisions of a collective agreement. The original Liberal bill proposed to limit grievances to a provision of a collective agreement or arbitral award. But now the bill would widen the right to grieve to include the interpretation of a provision of a statute or regulation or of a direction or other instrument made or issued by the employer that deals with terms and conditions of employment. In theory, it could weaken the boosted powers that the RCMP commissioner received two years ago, under previous changes to the RCMP Act in Bill C-42, to be the decision-maker in harassment and other misconduct cases. Carignan said it is important that an arbitrator have the power to interpret statutes, and not be simply limited to interpreting the collective agreement. The bill is the Liberal governments legislative response to a 2015 ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada that said RCMP members have a right to an independent and meaningful collective bargaining process, including the right to form an association to represent them that is independent of management. The decision led the RCMP to disband its in-house Staff Relations Representatives program. I think the senate recognized the importance of the Supreme Court of Canada decision in relation to this bill, said Sen. Vern White, a former RCMP assistant commissioner and former Ottawa and Durham police chief. The Supreme Court of Canada talked about a fair process between management and the bargaining agent. It was not felt with the exclusions in place there would be fair negotiations, he said in an interview. Sen. Larry Campbell, the independent senator and former Vancouver RCMP officer who sponsored the bill in the Senate, said, Were not taking anything away from the management and I believe we are effectively negating the need for another constitutional challenge on this. In fact, the senate changes are a second big win for rank-and-file Mounties. The Commons public safety committee had already amended the bill to drop another contentious proposal to direct Mounties workplace injuries to provincial compensation boards a move the government said was simply about handing over claims to independent expert bodies, and not about saving money. However, the National Police Federation, founded out of the ashes of the now-defunct staff relations representative program, argued the move created a patchwork of care and benefits for a group of federal employees who deserved better. Brian Sauve, a co-founder of the National Police Federation, which is one of two groups seeking to certify as the national forces bargaining agent, said in an interview Tuesdays amendments were another big victory. Its a win for the membership because now we are free and clear to negotiate terms and conditions of employment that are of concern to our membership. Were not limited to what the commissioner wanted to discuss and what Treasury Board wanted to discuss, which was just pay and benefits. Thats the result of having the employee engagement after the fact instead of having employees involved in the drafting of the legislation. As the commissioner said yesterday (Monday), it was his senior management team, Treasury Board and public safety who put together this bill without any input from the employees. Sauve said the bill still allows the RCMP commissioner the authority to manage the force as per the RCMP Act. Were fine with that. He said now, however, it will be possible to insert language into a collective agreement that will provide for joint management-employee consultation committees and it will force the organization to have those committees and participate in those committees. Should they decide not to, then obviously its a violation of the collective and could be subject to a grievance and go through a labour board. And then you would have an arbitrator return a decision forcing the organization to give meaningful consultation to any of those issues. Paulson said Monday he was open to consultation, but Sauve said, I think that what you have to look at is the track record. From what weve seen from the get-go, Bill C-7 was not drafted in good faith, it was not drafted with the membership in mind. It was not drafted with any employee engagement or consultation. He said the battle will soon move back to the Commons, after the Senate votes on its final, third reading, of the amended bill expected as soon as Wednesday. We hope we can encourage the MPs of the day to see the light and see the bill is better today than it was a week ago. SHARE: Hey guys, you may want to think twice before you reach for that bottle of beer, the hamburger and French fries and an after-dinner smoke. Its not only bad for your health, but also your wallet. Smoking, drinking and being overweight could cost a very unhealthy guy more than $8.6 million over his lifetime if you take into account the cost of alcohol and cigarettes and high life insurance premiums for drinkers and smokers. Thats according to a study commissioned by the Canadian Mens Health Foundation, a B.C. non-profit dedicated to raising awareness of mens health. This is eye-opening news for guys who might not consider the true costs of their habits, said foundation president Wayne Hartrick. The good news is that by making small lifestyle changes, your body and wallet will thank you. We want to start a mens health movement in Canada by making men aware of all the good reasons they should be more proactive about their health, including how it impacts their wallets, said Dr. Larry Goldenberg, founder of the foundation. Its important for men to know about preventive strategies, nutrition and how to listen to ones body. The study, conducted by Vancouver-based H. Krueger & Associates, did some population data number-crunching, factoring in the price of alcohol, cigarettes and insurance premiums, and considered three prototype men, who drank, smoked and were overweight. Low-Risk Joe, the first prototype, smokes five cigarettes a day, drinks one alcoholic drink per day and is 6 feet tall and 258 pounds, with a body mass or BMI of 35. The second is Medium-Risk Joe, who smokes 20 cigarettes a day, consumes three alcoholic drinks per day, and is 6 feet tall and 295 pounds with a BMI of 40. The third prototype is High-Risk Joe, who smokes 40 cigarettes a day; consumes five alcoholic drinks daily, and is 6 feet tall, weighing 331 pounds, with a BMI of 45. What they found wasnt surprising, but it is worth noting. The first prototype, Low-Risk Joe, could save $275,000 over his lifetime if he stopped smoking and drinking and avoided the high life insurance premiums associated with those behaviours, according to the study. The lost investment potential of that money if he had invested it, between the ages of 30 and 75, is $1.7 million, the study suggests. Both costs and lost investment potential grow the more you drink, eat and smoke. Medium-Risk Joe could save $628,000 over his lifetime, money that could grow to $3.2 million if invested. High-Risk Joe could save $1.1 million over his lifetime, with an investment potential of an astounding $8.6 million. The study also points out that smoking, alcohol use and excess weight in middle-aged men cost the Canadian economy $20.3 billion in treatment costs, disability and premature mortality. Smoking cigarettes cost men an average of 10 years of their life, while being obese costs 5.8 years of life, and alcohol costs 7.9 years of life. SHARE: OTTAWAThe Conservatives were hoping to embarrass the Liberal government on Tuesday by forcing them to spend hours debating pricey office renovations.thousand-fold The official Opposition had a field day last month when they discovered the government had spent more than $835,000 on furniture and renovations for the office of Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi and his deputy minister. Tonight, the Conservatives plan to use parliamentary procedure to officially oppose that line item in the governments estimates, triggering an hours-long debate that will require Liberal MPs to stand up and defend it. Conservative House leader Andrew Scheer said the parliamentary tool is often used to highlight something that has been in the news or a particular point of contention. We see a disturbing trend about Liberal spending and a return to entitled-to-entitlement ways, said Scheer a reference to an infamous turn of phrase once used by ex-Liberal MP and former Royal Canadian Mint CEO David Dingwall. This particular expenditure in the ministers office seems quite excessive, so we wanted to highlight it. Sohi has said the expense was necessary because he had to set up an entirely new department, including space for political staff, a deputy minister and public servants. Under the previous government, the infrastructure portfolio was part of the transport ministry. Our commitments require a dedicated minister, a dedicated ministry, and a dedicated (deputy minister) in order to deliver on the expectations of Canadians, Sohi told the House of Commons last month when questioned about the expense. We needed new spaces for our staff and new spaces for our (deputy minister) and his staff, and that is what the investment is for. Kate Monfette, a spokeswoman for Sohi, said the minister was planning to be in the House of Commons for the evening debate in order to defend the spending. The sums first came to light when the government responded to an order paper question much like an access-to-information request for MPs on how much each department had spent on renovating, redesigning and refurnishing ministerial offices after the Liberals came to power. The response revealed that $450,734 was spent on Sohis office, including about $243,000 on furniture. Another $384,518 went to the deputy ministers office. Scheer said the Conservative caucus objects to the Liberal governments 2016 budget for all sorts of reasons, but shining a spotlight on the office renovations is a way to get the issue to resonate more strongly with average Canadians. Sometimes its these types of expenditures that people compare to their own small business, or their own home, Scheer said. And it can resonate a little bit more when they think, Jeez, $835,000 in office furniture, in renovations, thats a considerable amount of money. You can buy a couple of nice houses in a lot of cities for that kind of money. Follow @smithjoanna on Twitter Read more about: SHARE: Police are aware of a possible threat from Daesh supporters against the Toronto Pride parade circulating online, but organizers said the event will continue as planned. Dalhousie University professor Amarnath Amarasingam tweeted a post Tuesday, discovered on an online jihadi channel, depicting a gun, information about the parades time and location, and a note saying: The Toronto Gay Pride Parade is an excellent target. Plenty of kafir sodomites to kill. Amarasingam told the Star the post was found on a German-language ISIS fanboy channel and that no chatter about the parade has yet been found anywhere else online. The post was also discovered by the Washington-based Middle East Media Research Institute. Unfortunately, these kinds of threats are all too common, said Bruce Riedel, of the Brookings Institution, who previously worked at the CIA and served as a senior advisor in the National Security Council at the White House. Almost all are bogus, but the security services have to check each one. The RCMP deferred comment to Toronto police, where spokesman Mark Pugash said they are aware the post. We monitor threats 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We take all threats very seriously. We always err on the side of caution when it comes to public safety. We review our security plans regularly, making whatever adjustments are necessary, he said, declining to comment further. Pride Toronto, which had already promised safe and secure festivities this week after a man shot and killed 49 people in an Orlando gay club early Sunday, also said it was made aware of the post. We trust that the security measures in place will create a safe and welcoming environment for our community. The Pride Parade will proceed as planned, the statement said. Our partners in law enforcement continue to monitor any new developments and we are working very closely with them to ensure the safety of attendees and participants. Pride Toronto will not contribute to a culture of fear by responding to threats. Instead, we will continue to focus on creating a safe space for our community and city to enjoy the remainder of Pride Month. After last weekends massacre in Florida, Pride Torontos executive director told reporters on Monday that organizers were shocked, but undeterred. We will march, we will rally, we will talk about human rights. We will have the biggest parade ever. We will dance in the streets and we will dance in the clubs, Mathieu Chantelois said. Pride organizers met representatives of the RCMP, city police and the prime ministers office on Monday to discuss security concerns. RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson said the shooting in Orlando demonstrates the vulnerability of a democratic society to lone-wolf actors and those inspired by the Daesh message. With files from The Canadian Press Read more about: SHARE: One woman is dead and her sister has minor injuries after a SUV mounted the sidewalk near the Rogers Centre Tuesday afternoon. Toronto police were called to Bremner Blvd. near Spadina Ave., just west of the Rogers Centre, around 2:18 p.m. Tuesday. A black SUV mounted the curb and hit the two women at a small outdoor market, Const. Hugh Smith said. A 38-year-old woman was pronounced dead on scene and a 35-year-old woman was taken to hospital with minor injuries. Police confirmed the victims are sisters. The driver of the SUV, a 48-year-old woman, went into shock and was also taken to hospital. I am deeply saddened by the death of a 38-year-old woman today, said John Tory in a press release Tuesday evening. As Mayor, I am committed to ensuring that all those who use our roads pedestrians, cyclists and drivers are safe, Tory said. We are working towards zero deaths and serious injuries and this tragic incident strengthens my resolve to get there. Those who use the roads have a responsibility too. I urge drivers to slow down, stop aggressive behaviours and store their mobile devices. I would also ask cyclists and pedestrians to obey the rules of the road. Tory also stated he will be asking the provincial government once again to increase penalties for those who kill or injure while driving, and ask that Toronto police step up their enforcement of distracted and dangerous driving. As a city, we will do more to prevent these tragedies and keep each other safe, Tory said. Bremner Blvd. was closed both ways between Spadina Ave. and Navy Wharf Ct. but has since reopened. Correction - June 14, 2016: This developing story has been changed from a previous version that misstated the ages of the deceased woman and the woman who suffered minor injuries after corrected information was provided by Toronto Police Services. SHARE: MINNEAPOLISA federal appeals court on Monday threw out a $1.8 million (U.S.) judgment awarded to former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura, who says he was defamed in the late author Chris Kyles bestselling book American Sniper. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the jurys 2014 award of $500,000 for defamation and $1.3 million for unjust enrichment against Kyles estate. Kyle, a former SEAL who was the deadliest sniper in U.S. military history with 160 confirmed kills, died in 2013. The majority of the three-judge panel reversed the unjust-enrichment award, saying it fails as a matter of law. The majority also vacated the defamation award, but sent that portion of the case back to court for a new trial. Messages left with Venturas publicist and attorney were not immediately returned Monday. A message left with an attorney for Kyles estate also did not immediately return a message seeking comment. Kyle claimed in a subchapter called Punching Out Scruff Face, to have decked a man, whom he later identified as Ventura, during a fallen SEALs wake at a California bar in 2006. He wrote that Scruff Face had made offensive comments about the elite force, including a remark that the SEALs deserve to lose a few in Iraq. Ventura, a former Underwater Demolition Teams/SEAL member and ex-pro wrestler, testified at trial that Kyles story was a fabrication. Ventura said he never made the comments and that the altercation never happened. He said the book ruined his reputation in the tight-knit SEAL community. The hit movie based on the book did not depict the alleged incident. Kyle, who was killed on a shooting range in 2013 by a troubled fellow veteran, gave sworn videotaped testimony before his death that his story was true. Kyles widow, Taya Kyle, appealed the $1.8 million judgment, asking the appeals court to throw out the verdict or at least order a new trial on First Amendment and other grounds. Venturas lawyers, however, argued that jury got the verdict right, and that the judge properly applied the law and correctly instructed the jury. A key issue in the appeal was whether Kyle acted with actual malice, a demanding legal standard laid down by the U.S. Supreme Court in the landmark Times v. Sullivan case in 1964. It means a plaintiff whos a public figure must prove that a defendant knew that the statement in question was false or made it with reckless disregard for whether it was false. Kyles estate argued that the judge gave the jury faulty instructions on that point. A separate issue was the $1.3 million award for unjust enrichment. Venturas attorneys argued that American Sniper shot to the top of the bestseller lists only because Kyles statements about Ventura thrust him into the national spotlight. The Kyle estate argued that no other court had awarded damages for unjust enrichment for allegedly defamatory speech. The Kyle estate also said the judge improperly let the jury hear that publisher HarperCollins had an insurance policy to cover a defamation award and attorney fees. Courts are typically reluctant to permit such testimony out of concerns that it could taint a jurys decision. SHARE: MOSCOWThe Russian Orthodox Church said on Monday it would not go to a historic meeting of all of the worlds Orthodox churches because other churches have walked out. The meeting on the Greek island of Crete due to start on Sunday would be the first in more than a millennium. Hilarion, a bishop who heads the Moscow Patriarchates department of external church relations, said in a televised statement that Russia would not take part if others are walking out, and suggested the meeting be postponed. We have made a decision that we will not be able to take part in the all-Orthodox Synod if other churches do not go, Hilarion said. The announcement of the Russian Orthodox Church with an estimated 100 million flock is a heavy blow to the plans by Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I who hoped the gathering of leaders from 14 independent Orthodox churches later this month could promote unity among the worlds 300 million Orthodox Christians. Bartholomew I ranks as the first among equals in the Orthodox world. Bulgarias Orthodox Church put the plans in jeopardy last week saying it would not attend, citing differences over the agenda. Unlike the Roman Catholics, the Orthodox churches are independent and have their own leadership. Hilarion said the Russian church will reach out to Bartholomew I to suggest postponing the meeting until the differences are resolved and all the churches agree to come. Russia will have to give the Crete gathering a miss if Bartholomew does not agree to reschedule, the Russian church said in a statement at the end of an extraordinary meeting in Moscow. All churches should take part in the all-Orthodox Synod and only in this case the decisions of this assembly will be legitimate, Hilarion said. Orthodox church leaders havent held such a meeting since the year 787, when the last of the seven councils recognized by both Orthodox and Catholics, was held. The great schism that divided the Roman Catholics and the Orthodox followed in 1054 amid disputes over the Vaticans power. The Holy and Great Council has been 55 years in the preparation. Since the great schism there have been about a dozen smaller Orthodox councils over the centuries to discuss theological or doctrinal issues, but there has never been a meeting on the scale of the Holy and Great Council. The Crete council will discuss the mission and role of the Orthodox Church and its global flock, issues relating to the function of the churches and its relations with other Christian faiths. Unity of the Orthodox churches is considered a key prerequisite to any reconciliation with the Vatican. Read more about: SHARE: Vigils, rallies and marches were held around the country Monday for the victims of the deadly attack at a gay nightclub in Orlando. Police in many areas have promised heightened security for the events, which are expected to continue through the week, as festivities for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month continue. Some of the events: NEW YORK Thousands crowded the streets around the Stonewall Inn in Manhattan where large-scale gay rights activism got its start in 1969. Under banners heralding the upcoming Pride Week event, people held hands and hugged. Some waved rainbow flags and others carried signs showing support for Orlando as they listened to a slew of elected officials, including New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio. Spectators watched from fire escapes and windows of nearby apartment buildings as chants of love beats hate rang from the crowd. At the end of the vigil, attendees held candles and some sobbed as the names of the victims were recited. Each name was met with the Spanish cry of Presente! from the crowd. Thomas Dougherty, 23, of Manhattan, said he came to the rally to feel united and connected. He said he had friends in Orlando who ordinarily could have been at Pulse and he spent a frantic Sunday tracking them down to make sure they were all OK. Seeing everyone here makes me feel at home, makes me feel safe, he said. FLORIDA In the city where the shooting happened, thousands of people gathered Monday evening for a vigil to support victims and survivors. Many in the crowd in downtown Orlando said they were inspired to attend because the Pulse nightclub, where the massacre occurred, played a huge role in their lives as gays and lesbians. Pulse gave me confidence, made me realize I was normal and so much like everyone else, said Cathleen Daus, a former employee at the club. The vigil was held on the lawn of the Dr. Phillips Center, the areas main performing arts venue. Its also the location of a makeshift memorial, where people have been leaving flowers, candles and notes for the victims. Several other Florida communities large and small also have events planned. In Miami, a gay community centre offered grief counselling through Monday afternoon, with a prayer gathering and a town hall-style meeting planned for the evening. CALIFORNIA The rainbow colours of the gay pride flag flew Monday on the side of the California Capitol and on the floor of the Senate a first for the Senate, according to President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, a Democrat. In Southern California, the Los Angeles LGBT Center has organized a rally and vigil outside City Hall on Monday evening, one of a number of events around the state. In San Francisco, home to one of the nations largest gay communities, police said more officers would be patrolling popular LGBT venues and local mosques in the weeks ahead. The citys gay pride celebration and parade are set for June 25 and 26. Scott Wiener, who represents the Castro District on the city Board of Supervisors, said he intends to host a meeting this week to involve owners of gay nightclubs, bars and restaurants in planning discussions with police. Tim Eicher, who co-owns four bars in the Castro, said he and the owners of other LGBT venues are doing everything possible to ensure that we keep our employees and customers safe. VERMONT Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Monday marched with hundreds of people during an event in Vermont honouring victims of the Orlando mass shooting. Sanders and his wife, Jane, participated in the march in downtown Burlington that ended at City Hall Park. Sanders spoke briefly, encouraging the crowd to help create the kind of nation based on love that we all know we can become. The Pride Center of Vermont organized the march and vigil. RHODE ISLAND A candlelight vigil is planned Monday night outside a gay nightclub in Providence, followed by a march to the Statehouse steps. With other vigils and memorials also scheduled around the state Monday and Tuesday and the Rhode Island Pride Festival expected to draw 40,000 people Saturday in Providence police are planning to provide more officers, dogs and other security measures for the events. The head of the state police and members of the Providence Police Department met Monday with Pride Festival organizers and the owners of several gay bars. They are nervous, like any other community that was targeted for violence, State Police Superintendent Col. Steven ODonnell said. ALASKA The Alaska House of Representatives stood for a moment of silence Monday to honour the Orlando victims, at the request of Rep. Matt Claman, a Democrat. The Senate doesnt have a floor session scheduled until Thursday. COLORADO Vigils are planned around the state Monday, with one of the biggest in Denvers Cheesman Park. Meanwhile, organizers of Denvers PrideFest say next weekends festival will go ahead with tight security, including metal detectors and fences. GEORGIA More than two dozen human rights organizations have announced plans for a vigil and community gathering Tuesday night at Atlantas Center for Civil and Human Rights. The groups include gay rights organizations, the Islamic Speakers Bureau of Atlanta and the Anti-Defamation League. IDAHO A vigil is planned Monday evening in Sandpoint, a small lakefront town in the north of the state, among other events this week. Chelsea Gaona Lincoln, an LGBT-rights activist who helped organize the vigils, urged the public to help protect the rights of Idahos gay community. Organizers of the ongoing Boise Pridefest, Idahos largest LGBT pride event, met with police Monday to talk security details and shift the route of the events upcoming parade away from the heart of downtown, for safetys sake. On Sunday, just hours after learning of the Florida shooting, Pridefest organizers fielded an intimidating comment on the events Facebook page, director Rodney Busbee said. Organizers immediately reported the remark to authorities, Busbee said. In the past, Ive had people text me or post that that they were going to kill me, Busbee said. But that became a reality over the weekend. LOUISIANA Gov. John Bel Edwards described the Orlando shooting victims as our brothers and sisters during a vigil Monday with Louisianas legislative leaders at the state capitol in Baton Rouge. The Democratic governor and dozens of other politicians sang Amazing Grace together, and Edwards read a Bible passage. There is no room for terror and hate, he said. In New Orleans, dozens gathered Monday at a church near the French Quarter to pray for the families and victims of the Orlando shooting. Clergy from a variety of faiths Episcopal, Catholic, Jewish, Sikh, Methodist and Muslim read a passage of scripture or recited a prayer to help begin the healing from the effects of the weekend massacre. Stephanie Oshrin, 26, of New Orleans, quietly sat in a pew before the program started. In a time like this, community is real important to me, she said when asked why she decided to show up for the vigil. Im part of a community where there are not a lot of safe places and theres a real sadness that comes when one of those places you think are safe is violated. MAINE At least nine Maine communities are holding vigils to honour victims in the attack on a nightclub in Florida. Matt Moonen, executive director of EqualityMaine, said the events Monday evening will enable us to come together to mourn those lost in Orlando. Vigils were planned in Portland, Bangor, Auburn, Bar Harbor, Damariscotta, Hallowell, Farmington, Ellsworth and Machias. More are scheduled for later in the week. MARYLAND Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake urged people at a vigil in the city Monday to stand together against hatred. There are times like this when words seem insufficient because of the measure of hate it would take to have to do what they did to innocent people, she said. And then, I think the only way to combat that hate is not a ministry of words, but of presence. Just being here is speaking volumes about who we are as Baltimoreans. We stand together, she said. We are hoping this ministry reaches our brothers and sisters in Orlando so they know that they are not alone. As the sun set over Baltimore, the crowd swelled well beyond the confines of a grassy lot where the vigil was held. People dressed in bright colours clutching rainbow flags and signs of support spilled into the intersection, choking the streets and the sidewalk. MASSACHUSETTS Hundreds of people gathered Monday night in Boston to pay tribute to the victims of the mass shooting. Many of them carried rainbow-colored flags and signs calling for peace. At times they held and comforted each other. Speakers addressed the crowd in both English and Spanish. Boston Mayor Martin Walsh and Gov. Charlie Baker attended the candlelight vigil at City Hall Plaza, which was organized by Walshs office. NEVADA Advocacy groups were organizing a vigil Monday evening at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The organizations included advocates for immigrant students, LGBT people and survivors of sexual assault or domestic violence. NEW MEXICO Santa Fe Mayor Javier Gonzales announced plans for a public event honouring the shooting victims Monday on the Santa Fe Plaza, the landmark square that has served as the capital citys central gathering spot for hundreds of years. A vigil also is planned in a park in Farmington, a mid-sized city near the Colorado border. OHIO Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley plans to attend a Monday night vigil at a downtown nightclub. Cranley, a Democrat, says hes proud to stand in solidarity with LGBT people and to let the world know that Cincinnati is an inclusive and welcoming city. OREGON The Morrison Bridge in downtown Portland was being illuminated in rainbow colours Monday night. The bridge featured a similar display last year after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favour of same-sex marriage. The rainbow colours had already been slated to return for the citys annual Pride weekend, which starts Friday. PENNSYLVANIA Philadelphias LGBT community is organizing an early evening vigil Monday outside City Hall in what organizers describe as an outpouring of grief, love and solidarity for the victims in Orlando. An evening march also is planned in the state capital, Harrisburg. A Wednesday night vigil is planned in front of the Delaware County Courthouse in Media, organized by a local Unitarian Universalist church and a group pushing gun regulations. WASHINGTON, D.C. A Muslim-American womens group is planning a candlelight vigil Monday night in Dupont Circle, the hub of a neighbourhood near downtown. Organizers say the goal is to stand together against anti-gay, anti-transgender and anti-Muslim bias. More on thestar.com: Pall of dread hangs over Orlando as families mourn: Paul Wells Orlando gunman had used gay dating app, visited nightclub, witnesses say Donald Trump raises anti-Muslim rhetoric after Orlando mass shooting SHARE: CANBERRA, AUSTRALIAAustralia is considering cancelling the visa of an Islamic cleric who has reportedly preached against homosexuality, the government said on Tuesday. British-born Farrokh Sekaleshfar arrived in Sydney a week ago as a guest speaker of the Imam Husain Islamic Center, The Australian newspaper reported. Asked about homosexuality at a lecture at the University of Michigan in 2013, Sekaleshfar said: Death is the sentence, the newspaper reported. Out of compassion, lets get rid of them now, he reportedly added. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the Department of Immigration and Border Protection was reviewing Sekaleshfars visa. We have zero tolerance for people to come to Australia who preach hatred. Zero tolerance, Turnbull told reporters. Minister for Immigration and Border Protection Peter Dutton said he had ordered the visa review after becoming aware on Monday of the clerics presence in Australia. Sekaleshfar did not immediately return the APs call on Tuesday. A gun attack on a gay nightclub in Florida that left 49 dead has focused Australias current election campaign on the threat of Islamic fundamentalism. Australians go to the polls on July 2. Turnbull said that if his conservative coalition were re-elected, he would legislate to ensure that people convicted of terrorism offences could remain in prison after serving their sentences if a court ruled that they continued to pose a threat to society. Opposition leader Bill Shorten welcomed the review of Sekaleshfars visa. I do not know how this fellow got a visa, Shorten told reporters. I think the government needs to get on to it quick-smart and this person, in my opinion, is not welcome in Australia, holding those abhorrent views. SHARE: MIAMIEight dolphins that have spent their lives swimming in tanks will be retired from the National Aquarium in Baltimore into a seaside sanctuary. By announcing plans to move its dolphins into the ocean enclosure by the end of 2020, the aquarium sails into uncharted waters for the marine mammal industry. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals welcomed the news and the CEO of the Humane Society of the United States blogged that his counterpart at the aquarium has done something terribly important. Theres no model anywhere that were aware of for this, aquarium CEO John Racanelli told The Associated Press before Tuesdays announcement. Were pioneering here and we know its neither the easiest nor the cheapest option. The SeaWorld chain of theme parks, which announced a partnership with the Humane Society after ending its orca breeding program, staunchly rejected calls to release its whales and dolphins. The Baltimore aquariums Atlantic bottlenose dolphins wont simply be released into open seas. Officials havent said how large the enclosed sanctuary will be, but Racanelli said it would be measured in acres, not square feet. Potential sites in the Florida Keys and the Caribbean have been explored. The sanctuary would have a full-time staff, excellent water quality in a temperate climate, isolation pools for medical care or temporary refuge from harmful conditions and barriers to stop breeding among the dolphins or mingling with wild dolphins, Racanelli said. Only the oldest dolphin in the group has ever swum in ocean water: a female captured in 1972. Six were born at the aquarium and one was born at SeaWorld in Orlando, Fla. Ranging in age from 7 to 44, they stopped performing scheduled shows in 2012 but remain on display in 25-year-old facilities. Weve learned a lot, obviously, about how to take care of them, about how to ensure that they thrive, Racanelli said. As that learning evolution has continued, its become clear to us we can go even further in terms of their health and welfare by taking this kind of step. The aquarium has considered new options for its dolphins, including moving them to other institutions or renovating their tanks, for several years amid growing public distaste for live animal shows. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus sped up the retirement of its touring elephants to a Florida refuge under increasing scrutiny prompted by concerns over animal cruelty. SeaWorlds decision to phase out its signature animal followed years of declining attendance, cancellations by entertainers, the loss of a marketing partnership with Southwest Airlines and protests that continued through now-abandoned plans to build larger tanks for its orcas. Three animal advocacy groups, including the leader of campaigns to make commercial tuna fishing dolphin safe and to release the whale that starred in Free Willy, have announced intentions to jointly create a seaside sanctuary for captive orcas, belugas and dolphins. Until the Baltimore aquariums announcement Tuesday, institutions keeping marine mammals have argued against such proposals. Critics of sea pens or other sanctuaries say such efforts fail and have harmed the animals, including Keiko from Free Willy and two dolphins set free off Key West in 1996 by the activist featured in the documentary The Cove. SHARE: Following the deadliest shooting in U.S. history, a Baptist preacher stood at his pulpit Sunday night in Northern California and delivered an impassioned sermon praising the brutal massacre at a gay nightclub in Florida. Pastor Roger Jimenez from Verity Baptist Church in Sacramento told his congregation that Christians shouldnt be mourning the death of 50 sodomites. People say, like: Well, arent you sad that 50 sodomites died? Jimenez said, referencing the initial death toll in Orlando, which authorities later clarified included 49 victims plus the gunman. Heres the problem with that. Its like the equivalent of asking me what if you asked me: Hey, are you sad that 50 pedophiles were killed today? Um, no, I think thats great. I think that helps society. You know, I think Orlando, Fla., is a little safer tonight. He added: The tragedy is that more of them didnt die. The tragedy is - Im kind of upset that he didnt finish the job! The sermon has drawn scorn from community leaders and others who have called it hateful propaganda and bigotry. Jay Brown, spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, said there is nothing whatsoever Christian in the pastors sermon. Hes preaching hate from the pulpit, Brown said in a statement to The Washington Post. His words offer no comfort to the survivors of the attack, to the family and friends whose loved ones theyll never see again. And to think of the LGBTQ youth in his own church, its simply heartbreaking. Members of the LGBT community are not allowed to join Verity Baptist or attend its services, according to the churchs What We Believe page. It states the church believes sodomy referring to homosexuality is a sin and an abomination before God which God punishes with the death penalty. I wish the government would round them all up, put them up against a firing wall, put a firing squad in front of them, and blow their brains out, Jimenez said during his Sunday sermon, which Verity Baptist posted on its website under the title the Christian response to the Orlando murders. The church did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Jimenez declined to comment Monday when a CBS Sacramento camera crew showed up at his home. Video of the sermon, uploaded to the churchs YouTube channel, was removed late Monday or early Tuesday for violating YouTubes policy on hate speech. A copy of the video was later uploaded by a different YouTube user. The sermon runs for 45 minutes and focuses on the Bible, homosexuality and the deadly rampage at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando. Hours after a lone gunman went into the club and shot and killed 49 people, Jimenez suggested that their deaths were well-deserved. As Christians, we should not be taking a sympathetic approach to these types of news and saying: This was a tragedy, this is something that were sad about, we should be mourning these people, he said. The Bible teaches that theyre all predators. Thats all the Bible says about them: Theyre wicked, theyre vile, theyre predators. And God says that they deserve the death penalty for what they do . . . Im not saying that we should be doing that. But in Gods government, where God set up the laws and God set up the rules and God set up the people in charge, God said: When you find a sodomite, put them to death. He continued: Let me say this: As Christians, we shouldnt be advocating the killing of sodomites. Im not standing up here tonight and saying: Lets go get some guns, and lets go get em. Thats not what Im saying at all. People will sometimes hear people like me preach, or other pastors, and say: You guys are advocating violence. Were not advocating violence. Were not saying we should go do this. But were just saying this: If we lived in a righteous nation, with a righteous government, then the government should be taking them. Theres no tragedy. I wish the government would round them all up, put them up against a firing wall, put a firing squad in front of them, and blow their brains out. If we lived in a righteous government that loved God and loved children and wanted to protect them, thats what wed do. Im not saying we should do it. Im not saying we should go, you know, blow up Planned Parenthood. Im not saying that at all. All Im saying is this: If God has his way, thats what hed do. And by the way, in the millennium, thats what will be done. Gods laws will be re-established. The pastors sermon drew a strong rebuke from Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson who tweeted: The hateful comments made by a preacher in Sacramento do not reflect Christian values and have no place in our society. Austin Webster, communications director for California Community Colleges, said that he was absolutely disgusted by the message of hate. And angry commenters flooded the churchs Facebook page. Pastor Roger Jimenez, one wrote, I pray that God has more mercy on your soul than you have shown for those who were injured and murdered in Orlando this past weekend. The God I believe in, have studied and learnt about, and love dearly, would disagree strongly with what you have said, and how you have said it. I would like to strongly suggest you stand down as the Pastor at Verity Baptist Church, and go back to Bible College, spend many hours reading Gods Word, and many more hours examining your heart and soul, and praying for your Saviours forgiveness. I pray that God will lead you to His light and bless you. Sandre Nelson of the Davis Phoenix coalition, a nonprofit group that works to prevent hate-motivated violence in the Sacramento Valley, told CBS Sacramento that he was stunned by the pastors sermon. Hes not a man of God, Nelson told the news station. Hes not a man teaching a true religion. Nelson said the sort of speech featured in Jimenezs sermon can be devastating. It can definitely cause more harm to our LGBT youth and those still living in the closet that are older, he told CBS Sacramento. It causes our suicide rates to go up, it causes kids to feel like theyre worthless. Even as Jimenez was praising the deaths in Orlando, another Christian leader was calling on the faithful to stop singling out people for victimization because of their religion, their sexual orientation, their nationality. Sadly it is religion, including our own, that targets, mostly verbally, and often breeds contempt for gays, lesbians and transgender people, Robert Lynch, a Catholic bishop in central Florida, wrote on his blog. Attacks today on LGBT men and women often plant the seed of contempt, then hatred, which can ultimately lead to violence. Those women and men who were mowed down Sunday were all made in the image and likeness of God. We teach that. We should believe that. We must stand for that. SHARE: ORLANDO, FLA.A man who survived the nightclub shooting in Orlando says he thought Im next. Im dead as the gunman, Omar Mateen, fired toward his head. Angel Colon described the horrific night during a news conference with survivors of the shooting on Tuesday at the hospital. Appearing in a wheelchair with the doctors and nurses who treated him nearby, Colon said he was knocked to the floor by a gunblast early Sunday at the Pulse nightclub. I tried to get back up, but everyone started running everywhere, Colon said. I got trampled over. One gun blast followed another as people screamed and yelled for help, Colon said. Hes shooting everyone on the floor, Colon said. Making sure they were dead. He says the gunman shot a girl next to him. Im thinking, Im next. Im dead, Colon said. He shoots towards my head and hits my hand. The gunmans next shot hit his hip and Colon said he pretended to be dead as the gunman kept firing. Colon says, at times, the gunman was shooting people who, it appeared, he had already killed. He thanked the hospital staff and said I will love you guys forever. Colon said it had been a wonderful night until the gunman arrived. We were having a great night, Colon said. No drama. Just smiles. Just laughter. The trauma centre, to which casualties were taken, is used to handling four or five people each shift. A total of 44 patients arrived that night, with all manner of bullet wounds, broken bones and other injuries. Nine of them were too far gone to be saved, said Dr. Michael Cheatham, a critical care surgeon at Orlando Regional Medical Center. Of the rest, 27 remained hospitalized Tuesday, including six in intensive care, including one who was shot in the head. Two of patients in the ICU may be permanently disabled, but no patient has succumbed since the nine who were pronounced dead on arrival, he said. Doctors said 12 victims were treated and six remain hospitalized at Florida Hospital Orlando, including Angel Santiago, who was shot in the left foot and right knee as he huddled in one of the nightclubs bathrooms. He got two units of blood, and expressed deep gratitude to the staff. I dont even know how Im alive today, Santiago said. The numbers are very fluid, with some victims still coming in to hospitals for treatment, Cheatham said. Patience Carter was trapped in a bathroom during the shooting spree, and was shot in the leg. The twenty-year-old New York University student had been in Orlando on vacation. She said Mateen came into the bathroom and told people that he was there to get the U.S. to stop bombing his home country. I dont hate black people, the shooter told Carter, who is black. The motive was very clear to us who were laying in our blood, in each others blood, she said. Shortly before being shot by police, Mateen shot two people in the bathroom, she said. One of the people jumped in front of her, saving her life, she said. If it wasnt for that person who shielded me, I wouldnt be sitting here today, she said. Angel Santiago, who is openly gay, said gay bars such as Pulse provide him a place where he can be who he is without being judged. You cant go to any old bar and be who you are, because theres hate everywhere, he said. Pulse was his safe zone, he said, until Mateen opened fire and he was shot many times in the legs. There were times during the massacre when he thought he was going to die. It puts things into perspective, whats important and whats not important, he said. Doctors at the Orlando hospital that treated nightclub massacre victims are describing a chaotic night of patient after patient arriving for trauma treatment. At the news conference at Orlando Regional Medical Center, doctors described truckloads and ambulance-loads of patients. Dr. Kathryn Bondani says the first patient that arrived was relatively stable, and the staff hoped that others would be in a similar condition. But the doctors soon got about five patients in much worse shape. Cheatham of says hospital and trauma centres prepare for disasters, but you can never prepare adequately. Cheatham says the facility escalated from two operating rooms to six within 30 to 60 minutes to care for the flood of patients. Dr. Chadwick Smith choked up a bit talking about the night. He described calling in additional staff and telling them, This is not a drill. This is not a joke. He says everyone answered Ill be right there, and dozens of doctors and nurses showed up to help. With files from Robin Levinson King More at thestar.com Obama to visit Orlando in wake of nightclub shooting, blasts Trump for anti-Muslim rhetoric Pall of dread hangs over Orlando as families mourn: Paul Wells Photos: Aftermath of the Florida massacre, deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history In wake of Orlando shooting, reflect on Canadas history with LGBTQ rights: Hebert SHARE: ORLANDO, FLA.President Barack Obama will visit Orlando on Thursday to pay his respects to the victims and stand in solidarity with the community there, the White House said. Obama said anti-Muslim rhetoric from presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is not the America we want. Obama is arguing that treating Muslim-Americans differently wont make the U.S. safer. He says it will make the country less safe by fuelling the notion among followers of Daesh, also known as the Islamic State group, that the West hates Muslims. Obama lashed out a day after presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump doubled down on his proposal to temporarily ban foreign Muslims from entering the U.S. Obama says the U.S. was founded on freedom of religion and that there are no religious tests in America. He says such talk makes Muslim-Americans feel like their government is betraying them. Obama commented after meeting with his national security advisers on the threat posed by Daesh. He also was briefed on the investigation into the Orlando nightclub shooting. The FBI is investigating reports that Orlando gunman Omar Mateen had been a regular at the gay nightclub he attacked and had used gay dating apps, a U.S. official briefed on the case said Tuesday. A number of possible explanations and motives for the bloodbath that left 49 victims dead have emerged, with Mateen professing allegiance to the Islamic State, his ex-wife saying he was mentally ill, and his father suggesting he was driven by hatred of gays. The picture grew more complex as patrons of the Pulse came forward to say that they had seen the 29-year-old American-born Muslim there a number of times or that he had been using gay dating apps. Some psychologists raised the possibility that Mateen was sexually conflicted and that those feelings might have contributed to his lashing out against gays. Jim Van Horn, 71, said Mateen was a regular at the club. He was trying to pick up people. Men, Van Horn told The Associated Press. While acknowledging he didnt know Mateen well, Van Horn said: I think its possible that he was trying to deal with his inner demons, of trying to get rid of his anger of homosexuality. The official who said the FBI is looking into those reports was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. Wielding an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and a handgun, Mateen opened fire at the club early Sunday in a three-hour shooting rampage and hostage siege that ended with a SWAT team killing him. It was the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. During the attack, he called 911 to profess allegiance to Daesh. Six of the more than 50 wounded were listed in critical condition Tuesday and five others were in guarded condition, Dr. Michael Cheatham of Orlando Regional Medical Center said at a hospital news conference in which doctors recalled victims arriving in truckloads and ambulance-loads the night of the rampage. A choked-up Dr. Chadwick Smith described calling in additional staff members and telling them, This is not a drill, this is not a joke. He said everyone answered: Ill be right there. The Orlando Sentinel and other news organizations quoted other regulars from Pulse as saying they, too, had seen Mateen at the club repeatedly. Sometimes he would go over in the corner and sit and drink by himself, and other times he would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent, Ty Smith told the Sentinel. He said he saw Mateen inside at least a dozen times. Gay dating app Jackd did not immediately return a call for comment. Grindr officials said they will continue to co-operate with the authorities and do not comment on ongoing investigations, and Adam4Adam spokesman David Lesage said the company is looking at conversations and profiles in the Orlando area for any activity by Mateen, but hasnt found anything yet. On Monday, the White House and the FBI said Mateen appears to be a homegrown extremist who had expressed support not just for Daesh, but for other radical groups that are its enemies. So far, we see no indication that this was a plot directed from outside the United States, and we see no indication that he was part of any kind of network, FBI Director James Comey said Monday. He said Mateen was clearly radicalized, at least in part via the Internet. On Monday night, about a mile from Pulse in downtown Orlando, thousands gathered for a vigil to support the victims and survivors. The names of the dead were read aloud. It was held on the lawn of Orlandos main performing arts venue, where mourners created a memorial of flowers, candles and notes for the victims. Many said they felt compelled to attend because of the role Pulse played in their lives. It was a place that a young 20-year-old who wasnt openly gay felt safe for the first time, said Cathleen Daus, now 36, who worked at Pulse in her 20s. Pulse gave me confidence, made me realize I was normal and so much like everyone else. Some, including Jason Primar, who lost two friends in the massacre, released balloons that floated high above the downtown skyscrapers. Primar went to Pulse at 2 a.m. Sunday, hoping for a good time with friends. When gunfire erupted, I felt like I was over in Iraq, he said. He called his two friends inside; they never answered. He later discovered they died. Comey said the FBI also was trying to determine whether Mateen had recently scouted Disney World as a potential target, as reported by People.com, which cited an unidentified federal law enforcement source. Were still working through that, Comey said. He defended the bureaus handling of Mateen during two previous investigations in 2013 and 2014 into possible terrorist ties. As for whether there was anything the FBI should have done differently, so far, the honest answer is, I dont think so, Comey said. Mateen was added to a terror watch list in 2013 when he was investigated, but was taken off it soon after the matter was closed, according to Comey. People who are in that database are not automatically barred from buying guns. Mateen purchased his weapons in June, long after his removal from the list. More details of the massacre emerged on Monday, with Orlando Police Chief John Mina saying Mateen was cool and calm during phone calls with negotiators. But Mina said he decided to send the SWAT team in and bash through a wall after Mateen holed up with hostages in a bathroom and talked about bombs and an explosive vest. We knew there would be an imminent loss of life, Mina said. As it turned out, Mateen had no explosives with him. More at thestar.com Im next, Im dead, Orlando nightclub shooting survivor relives terror as gunman fired at him Pall of dread hangs over Orlando as families mourn: Paul Wells Photos: Aftermath of the Florida massacre, deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history In wake of Orlando shooting, reflect on Canadas history with LGBTQ rights: Hebert SHARE: A homophobic who hung around the gay nightclub he would later spray with gunfire, murdering half a hundred innocents. Was Omar Mateen casing the joint, in his previous visits, as regulars of Pulse insist theyd seen him on the premises before his homophobic rampage in the early Sunday morning hours? Filling his damning eyes with the sight of men loving men, and women loving women, and everyone else just having fun in a cheery environment; nurturing his malevolence? Or, as with those who condemn in others the very thing they hate about themselves, was Mateen a closeted homosexual living a lie, like those odious Bible-thumpers caught trolling for furtive gay sex in public washrooms and parks after dark? Motivation matters, after the fact. But not as much as many would claim as they strive to pull out the strands of the mass killing in Orlando that best serve their own agenda: Americas gun scourge, demonizing of Muslims, homegrown terrorism, imported radicalization, the divide-and-sunder of polarizing politics in a bitterly rhetorical election year. These victims were mostly gay and, in considerable numbers, Latino. Which hasnt stopped the execrable Donald Trump from beating his own drum shamelessly, whistling past his own repugnant sewage tank of anti-Hispanic bombast. Learn more about the victims We are learning more details about the shooter, none of them good: Wife-beater, Islamist terror cheerleader, hate-monger, New York-born son of an Afghan father who sounds and appears, on his Facebook page exceedingly unhinged himself. Amid the shock and grief, as families of the victims were still identifying their kin, forlornly hoping that evil had somehow sidestepped their loved ones, Seddique Mir Mateen said the exact wrong thing, rebuking his son only mildly: God will punish those involved in homosexuality. Not for the servants of God, he added, to take judgment into their own hands. Repellent though words may have been, the father clarified the loathing at the core of the worst domestic-wrought massacre on American soil in modern times. Even in the liberal West, there are far too many who subscribe to Omar Mateens vilifying of gays. Even in 2016, its not all rainbow flags and Gay Pride parades. Weve seen the old bigotry bubble to the surface most recently in the fear-pitching opposition to gender-neutral public bathrooms and change rooms as the revulsion now fixates on transgender civil rights. What Seddique Mir Mateen professes so blandly, what his son substantiated in the worst possible way imaginable, can be heard from Christian pulpits and in Muslim mosques any day of the week. But this killer was Muslim and the doctrine he embraced cannot be given a pass out of a reluctance to provoke. There are 10 countries worldwide where homosexuality is punishable by death. Eight of them are overwhelmingly Muslim. There are 77 countries where homosexuality remains illegal, most of them in Asia and Africa, where Islam and fundamentalist Christianity are religiously paramount. Millions of gays, bisexuals and transsexuals are denied their essential sexual dignity, fearing for their lives and their liberty under rigid anti-gay laws. Because the world is not just Europe and the Americas. Theyre beheaded, stoned, flung from rooftops. In some countries where homosexuality does not formally carry a death penalty, sharia law nevertheless gives judges and avenging militant groups such as Daesh, also known as ISIS and ISIL, the moral imperative to execute. The same Sharia law that almost got a foothold in Ontario a few years back, advocated for family law application as a benign conflict resolution process. Promoted, particularly, by an ultra-activist and brain-addled faction of the left. It should not be forgotten that anti-sodomy laws were ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court only in 2003, though they remain on the books in 13 states, according to the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association in a survey published this month. Sunday morning at Pulse was the worst, ugliest episode of violence directed against gays anywhere in the world, in one brutal assault, but the discrimination in its myriad forms remains all too prevalent. A report on discrimination and violence against LGBTQ people by the UN Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights noted hundreds of people have been killed and thousands more injured in brutal, violent attacks, in all parts of the world. Other documented violations include torture, arbitrary detention, denial of rights to assembly and expression, and discrimination in health care, education, employment and housing. Mere hours after the Pulse rampage, Texas Lt.-Gov. Dan Patrick tweeted this: Dont be deceived. God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. He subsequently deleted it. A British preacher recently spoke out against homosexuality at a mosque in Florida. Three years earlier, he gave a sermon at the University of Michigan, as reported by the Telegraph, in which he claimed that execution of homosexuals was permissible under certain tenets of Islamic religious codes. If a gay person has intercourse in public and more than four people witnessed it, then death is the sentence. Adding: Theres nothing to be embarrassed about this. Death is the sentence. It does no good is profoundly specious to pretend that homophobia and Islamic extremism were not toxically yoked in what unfolded in Orlando, though the U.S. president would not string all those words together. We dont need to be reminded, in a condescending manner, that most Muslims are law-abiding and abhor the violence thats become attached to their faith. But thats not-of-mind right now; shouldnt be. On a planet reeling under the social and economic pressures of mass migration and displacement caused by radical Islamic groups in Central Asia and the Horn of Africa, five million foreigners were granted citizenship in the EU in the last six years. More than a million migrants and refugees crossed into Europe in 2015, compared to 280,000 the year before. Most are seeking lives of peace and a better future for their children. But some clearly bring their prejudices and religious dogma with them or their offspring adopt rigid beliefs out of a sense of exclusion and grievance and perceived persecution and outrage over Western-led wars in Muslim nations. Theyve harassed and assaulted women. They are soft targets for terrorist procurement. Stepping delicately around these realities, refusing to speak truth to malice out of misplaced cultural prudence, affords fertile soil for the fringe exploiters of anxiety and alarm. And a bigoted piece of offal like Trump can become president of the United States. More on thestar.com: Im next, Im dead, Orlando nightclub shooting survivor relives terror as gunman fired at him GOP tries to distance itself from Trumps Orlando shooting remarks Baptist pastor criticized for saying Orlando victims should not be mourned SHARE: The nightclub was hopping when Laura stepped away from her drink to dance. The 22-year-old Dutch tourist had come to Qatar on vacation with a friend. Now she was partying at one of the few places to drink alcohol in the country: the Crystal Lounge at the W Doha Hotel. As she danced between a mirrored floor and swirling disco balls, however, Laura suddenly began to feel sick and blacked out, according to her attorney. When she regained consciousness, she was in a strangers apartment building. Her clothes were torn. Laura realizes from that moment that she was drugged and raped, Brian Lokollo, her attorney, told the Telegraaf. She suspects that someone in an unguarded moment threw something into her drink. When Laura went to Qatari police to file a report, the man she accused of raping her was quickly arrested. But so was she for reporting her own alleged rape. Laura has spent the past three months in a Doha jail cell on a charge of adultery, according to The Associated Press. In Qatar, it is illegal to have sex out of wedlock. On Monday, Laura was convicted by a Qatari court. She received a one-year suspended prison sentence and will likely be deported back to the Netherlands later this week, Yvette Van Eechoud, the Dutch Ambassador to Qatar, told Al Jazeera after the hearing. The man Laura accused was also arrested, but on adultery and public drunkenness charges, not rape. He has been identified by Al Jazeera as Omar Abdullah al-Hasan, a Syrian citizen. Hasan claimed the sex was consensual and that Laura had only gone to police after demanding money and trying to steal his watch and cellphone, according to the Guardian. After Marian went public with her daughters ordeal, supporters launched a #FreeLaura campaign online. The Washington Post generally does not identify victims of sexual assault. In this case, however, Lauras mother and attorney used her first name and photo and launched a social media campaign also using her first name all in an attempt to pressure Qatari officials to release the young woman. The Post is not publishing her photo for privacy reasons. Laura was released Monday into the care of the Dutch Embassy, according to The Associated Press. Glad that #Laura can soon come home, Bert Koenders, the Dutch Foreign Minister, said in a tweet after the decision. Relieved. Lauras mother was also happy to have her daughter coming home. Im shaking in my legs. I cant believe it, she told Dutch news program EenVandaag, according to Al Jazeera. She has been sentenced. I dont know for what but I dont care. This is the best I could have wished for. Lokollo noted, however, that Laura had been fined roughly $845 (U.S.) for reporting her own alleged rape. The young womans imminent deportation follows a sudden flurry of attention on the case after nearly three months of secrecy and silence. But it will likely bring little comfort to the accuser, who is at least the third woman in recent years to be arrested in the region after reporting an alleged rape. In 2008, an Australian woman was jailed for eight months after reporting she was gang-raped at a hotel in the United Arab Emirates, according to The Associated Press. Three years ago, a Norwegian woman reported being raped in Dubai only to be arrested for adultery and sentenced to 16 months in prison. She was ultimately pardoned and allowed to leave Qatar. SHARE: WASHINGTONDefying a White House veto threat, the Senate voted decisively Tuesday to approve a defence policy bill that authorizes $602 billion (U.S.) in military spending, bars shuttering the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and denies the Pentagons bid to start a new round of military base closings. The GOP-led Senates version of the National Defence Authorization Act passed 85 to 13, with all but seven members of the Democratic caucus backing the legislation. Six Republicans voted against the bill. The legislation mandates for the first time in history that young women sign up for a potential military draft. The requirement has angered social conservatives, who fear the move is another step toward the blurring of gender lines akin to allowing transgender people to use public lavatories and locker rooms. A heated dispute over amendments to the bill left in doubt the future of a program that allows Afghan civilians in danger of being harmed or killed by the Taliban to receive visas and resettle in the United States. The Republican-led House passed its version of the defence bill last month and lawmakers from both chambers must meet in a conference to resolve differences. The House, for example, excludes the female draft requirement and seeks $18 billion more in spending than the Senate to pay for troops and weapons the Pentagon didnt request. The defence bills authorize military spending for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. But there is agreement in both chambers on key policy provisions such as keeping Guantanamo open that puts Congress on a collision course with President Barack Obama. During his first campaign for president, Obama promised to close the detention facility at Guantanamo, which he has called a recruiting tool for extremist groups. But Republicans and a number of Democrats have repeatedly thwarted his goal, arguing the prison is critically needed for housing suspected terrorists. The ban on closing the prison also includes a prohibition on moving detainees at Guantanamo to secure facilities in the United States. The House and Senate also have agreed not to allow military bases to be closed. The Pentagon says the services have vastly more space for training and basing troops than they need, and trimming the surplus would save money better used to strengthen the military. But Congress wont go along. Military bases are prized assets in local economies and shutting them can cost votes in the next election. Besides, several lawmakers have argued that the Pentagon has cooked the books to justify its conclusions or at least didnt do the math completely. The White House also opposes provisions in the House and Senate bills that would limit the size of the presidents National Security Council staff. According to Republicans, the staff has been micromanaging military operations even though they are supposed to only co-ordinate policy and advise the president. Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, the House Armed Services Committee chairman, said he has personally heard from troops in combat who have received intimidating calls from junior White House staffers. The Senate bill caps the number of National Security Council staff at 150, while the House would require Senate confirmation of the presidents national security adviser if the size of the staff exceeds 100 employees. The White House has called the limits arbitrary and said curbing number of staff number undercuts its ability to assist the president in an increasingly complicated world, according to the veto message. Hundreds of potential amendments to the bill werent considered due to procedural disputes that resulted in gridlock. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, said the stalemate was caused by a few senators who didnt get votes on their amendments and responded by refusing to allow votes on any others. Too often throughout this process, a single senator was able to bring the Senates work on our national defence to a halt, McCain said Tuesday. This was a breakdown in the decorum of the Senate, and one that will have serious consequences. The dispute effectively shut down debate on all amendments, leading McCain and other senators to warn of life-or-death consequences if the Senate failed to take up the Afghan visa program. The Afghans worked for the coalition as interpreters, firefighters and construction labourers. Without the option to leave Afghanistan, they and their families risk being harmed or killed by militants who consider them traitors, the top American commander in Afghanistan has warned. An amendment authored by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., would extend the so-called special immigrant visa program through 2017 and authorize an additional 2,500 visas for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 to meet the growing demand. In the House version of the defence bill, lawmakers refused to provide additional visas. The House extended the program for a year, but also narrowly restricted eligibility to Afghans whose jobs took them outside of a military base or secured facility. SHARE: As the U.K. prepares to vote on whether to leave the European Union, Britain scored a victory at the blocs top court in its fight to restrict the access to welfare benefits for migrant workers. The U.K. can require recipients of child benefit and child tax credit to have a right to reside in the U.K., the Luxembourg-based EU Court of Justice ruled Tuesday. The decision comes days before U.K. nationals will vote on the countrys EU membership. How the bloc deals with asylum seekers and migrant workers has become one of the most contentious points of the Brexit campaign. The biggest influx of refugees to Europe since World War II has put the regions migration system under severe pressure. The European Commission, the EUs executive authority, brought the challenge against the U.K. in 2014, arguing that the conditions imposed on foreigners to get access to family benefits were discriminatory and in breach of the blocs rules. Welcome Clarification The courts decision is an important and welcome clarification of the rights that EU citizens have to social security benefits, commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas told reporters in Brussels Tuesday. The case was brought by the previous commission, under then-President Jose Barroso, when it was considered there was a legal uncertainty as to whether EU law allows member states to impose limits based on residence, said Schinas. The ruling vindicates the current commissions approach, he said. A defeat for the U.K. government could have been a shot in the arm for the Leave campaign ahead of the June 23 vote. But Professor John Curtice at Strathclyde University, one of the U.K.s leading experts on polling, said ahead of the ruling that a victory for the British government may not be something the Remain camp will want to shout from the rooftops. Pound Plunge I would be surprised if the Remain side would particularly want to use it, Curtice said ahead of the ruling. It doesnt want to remind people that there is the European Court of Justice in the first place. The pound and European stocks plunged on Tuesday with just nine days of campaigning left before the referendum. After a series of new polls on Monday put Leave ahead, the days final blow came when the Sun, Britains biggest-selling newspaper, backed a so-called Brexit on its front page. Its absurd that we have to run every nut and bolt of domestic policy past Luxembourg, and then engage in lengthy and expensive court battles if they decide they dont like what our democratically elected government is doing, Iain Duncan Smith, former secretary of state for work and pensions, said for the Leave campaign in a statement. Anthea McIntyre, a British conservative member in the European Parliament, said the decision is a victory for the U.K. and for common sense. Numerous Complaints The court challenge was based on numerous complaints the commission had received from non-U.K. citizens residing in the country. Britain argued that imposing a condition such as the right to lawfully reside in the country was in line with EU rules, even if it meant that this made it harder for non-U.K. nationals to get access to such benefits. While this created a situation of unequal treatment, this difference in treatment can be justified by a legitimate objective such as the need to protect the finances of the host country, a five-judge panel at the EU court ruled. Tuesdays ruling, which cant be appealed, follows a decision at the top court on the legal rights for asylum seekers who are sent against their will to another EU nation. It shows that the EUs free movement rules do not prevent member states from taking action to block access to benefits for migrants who have been in the U.K. for less than five years, according to the Institute for Public Policy Research, a London-based think tank. But it is likely to also remind voters that aspects of the U.K.s welfare system are subject to EU law, the IPPR said. Read more about: SHARE: STOCKHOLMA court has ordered a Swedish college to refund tuition fees to an American student for giving her a poor economics education. The Vastmanland court ruled Tuesday the Malardalen Universitys two-year program Analytical Finance that Connie Askenback attended from 2011 to 2013 had no practical value. The court noted Swedens Higher Education Authority in 2013 had expressed criticism of the program, and ordered the college to pay her back her tuition fees of 170,182 kronor ($20,544 U.S.) plus interest. In a statement, Askenback called it an important vindication. Marie Eriksson, head of the central Sweden college, said administrators now will consider the implications of this verdict. The 14,000-student college said on its website that Analytical Finance graduates would get competitive qualifications for obtaining an attractive position in the business world. SHARE: Never has there been a crasser distillation of Ottawas skewed sense of its moral duty to those who have fought, and been injured, for this country than an argument put forward by government lawyers in 2012. In an effort to block a class-action lawsuit by six injured Afghan war veterans, the attorneys argued that the federal government has no sacred obligation to ex-soldiers, that Parliament is in no way constitutionally constrained in its judgment of how much, or how little, compensation they deserve. The Conservatives continued in this dubious legal fight for years, costing Ottawa some $700,000 in the process, until political circumstances forced them to change tack. In the lead-up to last years federal election, beset by critics, the Harper government finally delivered an overdue boost to Ottawas grossly inadequate veterans benefits. It even tabled a bill, which eventually passed, recognizing the governments sacred obligation to Canadas men and women in uniform. The plaintiffs agreed to stay proceedings until May 2016, at which point they would determine whether sufficient progress had been made to drop the action altogether. When the Liberals won the election, the case appeared destined for amicable settlement. In opposition, Justin Trudeau had called for the government to live up to our sacred obligation, end this court battle, and start giving our veterans the help they deserve. As prime minister, Trudeau reiterated this sentiment in his mandate letter to Veterans Affairs Minister Kent Hehr, calling on him to ensure that the government lives up to our sacred obligation to veterans. Strange, then, if not utterly bewildering, that government lawyers will reportedly resume their appeal this week on the grounds that Ottawa has no sacred obligation to veterans. Yes, believe it or not, the Trudeau government wants the court to acknowledge that Ottawa does not have a duty it has argued repeatedly and persuasively that it has. The truce came undone over a Liberal campaign promise, restated in Hehrs mandate letter, to re-establish lifelong pensions as an option for our injured veterans. The controversial 2006 New Veterans Charter mostly replaced pensions with lump-sum payments. But many have argued this unfairly disadvantages ex-soldiers who live longer, and that veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder are ill-equipped to manage the large one-time payouts. Despite the Liberal commitment, there was no mention of veterans pensions in the federal budget. As the deadline for deciding the fate of the lawsuit approached, the plaintiffs asked the government to commit to a timeline for implementing its promises. But lawyers representing the injured ex-soldiers say Hehr refused, giving them no choice but to continue with the action. For his part, Hehr says the Liberals merely inherited this lawsuit. I find it deeply regrettable that, under the former government, veterans had to take this step to ensure their well-being, he told the Globe and Mail on Monday. No mention of why his government refuses to lay out a timetable for delivering on its commitments. Or why it appears to have permitted its lawyers to pursue a line of argument in direct contradiction of its long-held, proudly touted position. The costs of the best possible care for our veterans should be built into any decision that puts soldiers in harms way. Thats the duty Trudeau invoked when he called on the Harper government to end this court battle, and start giving our veterans the help they deserve. Whether Ottawa finally fulfils that obligation, or continues its shameful history of dereliction, is now his to decide. Read more about: SHARE: Re: Ottawa must protect access to justice, Editorial June 6 Ottawa must protect access to justice, Editorial June 6 We agree with the premise of your editorial: there is a considerable gap between the threshold for legal aid eligibility and the low-income measure. Furthermore, that gap is felt by many Ontarians who are denied access to justice through legal aid. However, the situation is improving. Under the funding increases by the provincial government and recent increases by the federal government, 400,000 more Ontarians are eligible for Legal Aid than were able to be 18 months ago. The provincial government has also made a long-term commitment to improving financial eligibility with a goal of reaching the low income measure over a ten year period. Legal Aid Ontario has increased lawyers pay rates by 41 per cent since 2010. The Stars editorial claims that this is lower than what a paralegal or law clerk at a big Bay Street firm but such comparisons are difficult as those firms dont take on the same cases as legal aid lawyers. Furthermore, far from (driving) experienced lawyers out of the system, we have kept roughly the same number of lawyers the past several years 3,432 in 2013-14 and 3,299 in 2014-15 with no shortages. Furthermore, legal aid lawyers across the province are dedicated to offering their clients the best possible advocacy. Sometimes the best outcome for a clients liberty or a clean record means going to trial; sometimes it means other options. There is no evidence to suggest that our lawyers opt for plea bargaining because of the amount of hours on a legal aid certificate. The editorial cites a statistic of 150,000 applications for legal aid being denied in 2013-14. Our own statistics for that year show that over 105,000 people received legal aid for all areas of law criminal, family, civil and immigration. Only 19,000 applications, about 20 per cent, were denied or abandoned by the client. We would agree, however, that these corrected numbers are still sobering. They highlight that the problem isnt with the legal aid system; its that the demand for legal aid is continues to be high. The real question here is how we can increase access to justice for low-income Ontarians with high demand and limited resources. For Legal Aid Ontario this is a difficult determination, but it is one that goes beyond just criminal law as we provide services for more than just the accused in criminal trials. In 2014-15, over 800,000 people were assisted by duty counsel in courthouses across on Ontario on a variety of legal matters, up to and including trial, with higher eligibility thresholds. Additionally, we assist people with mental illness, families, refugees and victims of domestic violenceoften with no income eligibility requirement. Ultimately, we agree that everyone deserves access to justice. Determining the best means to ensure this is an important conversation we need to have at this time. David Field, President and CEO, Legal Aid Ontario SHARE: Walmart (WMT) announced last week that its Walmart Canada segment will no longer accept Visa (V) credit cards. The change will be effective July 18 at Ontario locations and will spread across the country thereafter. This seems like a drastic step -- there are about 50.6 million Visa cards in circulation in Canada. However, Walmart says the decision will save the company $78.27 million (C$100 million) in transaction fees. But the decision may be part of a trend and underscores a changing environment in retail. A few years ago, it would have been unimaginable for a popular retailer to refuse payment via a major credit card. However, as brick-and-mortar stores look to trim costs and even launch their own mobile payment systems, they are considering new measures. Last year, Costco and American Express announced that they were parting their branded credit card relationship. The developments could create bigger opportunities for profits and benefit investors. Both companies finished down slightly in Monday trading. Walmart Canada and Visa have been unable to work out a deal for several years. Walmart has complained of high transaction fees from the payment company. "To ensure we are taking care of our customers' best interests and delivering on our promise of saving customers money, we constantly work to reduce our operating costs, including credit card fees," Walmart Canada said in a statement. In statement appearing in a story by one of Canada's leading news outlets, Visa said that the company "regrets" Walmart's decision, and that it will have a "negative impact" on Walmart's shoppers. Costco will be partnering with Visa to co-brand a new credit card. The move has cost the retailer an estimated $11 million in profits during the last quarter due to no new credit card signups. However, the company expects its transaction fees to drop significantly with the transition. The retailer will start taking the new Visa cards later this month. But aside from transaction fees, limiting third-party payment options could open massive possibilities for mobile payment services. PayPal and Apple have long dominated this sphere, where high tech meets finance, but retailers are gradually coming onboard. Walmart has been one of the most notorious holdouts against Apple Pay. Together with a consortium of other brick-and-mortar retailers, including Target and CVS, the company created an alternative method called CurrentC. This has been a disaster, with many consortium members either breaking down and accepting Apple Pay or opening up their own e-wallet service. Costco, Apple and Target are holdings in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS Charitable Trust Portfolio. See how Cramer rates the stock here. Want to be alerted before Cramer buys or sells COST, AAPL or TGT? Learn more now. Walmart unveiled Walmart Pay in the spring, shortly after disclosing it was filing a lawsuit against Visa for what it considers poor security practices. And although the service is available only in limited markets, it's due to roll out through the rest of the U.S. "very soon." Walmart doesn't yet have an e-payments service in Canada, but it will be interesting to see how this latest strike against Visa plays out. There are massive profits to be made in the e-payments industry. Aside from trimming costs, Walmart Canada's Visa refusal may lead to bigger things for Walmart Pay, as well as bigger opportunities for investors. --- 85% Accurate Trader gives his Personal Guarantee: "Give Me 9 Minutes a Week and I Guarantee You $67,548 a Year." As you can see, Walmart is still a great stock to own. But what if I told you there is a way to make $67,548 per year - or more - without stocks, just by following this simple step-by-step process? The trader who is sharing this secret has been right more than 8 out of 10 times, turning $5,000 into more than $5 million for himself. Click here to see how easy it is to follow his lead and collect thousands of dollars in "Free Money" every month. This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned. NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Southwest Airlines (LUV) finished the day in the red, having traded lower by 3.37% to $42.16 on Monday, as the airline sector was pressured by concerns over traveler safety. On Sunday a gunman opened fire on patrons at an LGBT nightclub in Orlando, FL, killing almost 50 people and wounding another 53 in the attack. The shooter, identified as Omar Mateen, was armed with an assault rifle and a pistol. Mateen was also killed on Sunday. The shooter is said to have dialed 911 while inside the club in order to pledge his loyalty to the Islamic State. Airline stocks will sometimes struggle in the wake of terrorist acts due to concern that people will become less likely to travel as fears over safety mount. Additionally, airline stocks were being impacted today by an explosion at an airport In Shanghai that left five people injured. Police are saying the bombing was carried out by a migrant factory worker with online gambling debts, who had apparently issued a warning to friends that he was on a suicide mission, the Wall Street Journal reports. Separately, TheStreet Ratings has set a "buy" rating and a score of B+ on Southwest Airlines. This is driven by a number of strengths, which TheStreet Ratings believes should have a greater impact than any weaknesses, and should give investors a better performance opportunity than most stocks it covers. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, impressive record of earnings per share growth, increase in net income, expanding profit margins and good cash flow from operations. TheStreet Ratings feels its strengths outweigh the fact that the company is trading at a premium valuation based on our review of its current price compared to such things as earnings and book value. TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author. You can view the full analysis from the report here: LUV Although financing arrangements are not complete, the agreement would likely cover deliveries and services over nearly a decade at a cost of more than $17 billion. ( Jim Young / Reuters/Reuters) Iran is set to unveil terms of a multibillion-dollar deal to purchase about 100 commercial passenger planes from Boeing in what would be the biggest sale of U.S. goods to Iran since the easing of economic sanctions last October, a person familiar with the deal said. Although financing arrangements are not complete, the historic agreement is likely to cover deliveries and services over nearly a decade at a cost of more than $17 billion. Word of an agreement emerged first from Irans state news agency, which reported that Irans minister of roads and urban planning, Abbas Ahmad Akhundi, told reporters that the purchase would be similar in scope to a $27 billion accord to buy 118 planes from France-based Airbus Group. He said the government would provide details within upcoming days. A Boeing executive said in an email reviewed by The Washington Post that a deal would be finalized shortly and a formal announcement was likely tomorrow, meaning Wednesday. Boeing still needs approval and a license from the Treasury Department. But the sale would not have been possible before the easing of sanctions that took place under what is known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), adopted after an accord limiting Irans nuclear program. This would be the first time a U.S. aviation company was having a discussion with Iranian purchasers of civilian airliners since the early 70s, said Richard Nephew, a sanctions expert who was on the State Department team negotiating with Iran and who now works at Columbia Universitys Center on Global Energy Policy. Based on my experiences in negotiations, the Iranians were clear that they liked Boeings and liked Airbuses and wanted a bit of both. Financing negotiations are expected to continue over conventional terms as well as unusual political risks and disputes, including possible Iranian violations of the nuclear accord or a snapback of sanctions by the United States and its allies. The anti-American rhetoric common in Tehran and election-year politics in the United States make this a sensitive time for this type of business deal. Neither Boeing, which held an early round of talks with Iranian airline officials during a visit to Iran in April, nor the Obama administration would confirm the specifics. People familiar with the terms spoke on the condition of anonymity because the deal has not been formally announced. We have been engaged in discussions with Iranian airlines approved by the [U.S. government] about potential purchases of Boeing commercial passenger airplanes and services, the company said in an email. We do not discuss details of ongoing conversations we are having with customers, and our standard practice is to let customers announce any agreements that are reached. A White House official said that we are not going to stand in the way of permissible business under the JCPOA, and we will continue to meet our commitments, as long as Iran continues to meet their nuclear-related commitments. Akhundi said that Iran hoped to become a major hub in the Middle East, adding that Irans fleet of passenger jets should include 400 mid-range and 100 short-range planes, requiring an investment of about $50 billion, according to the Mehr News Agency, an Iranian organization. In the months since striking the nuclear deal, Iran has had trouble sealing deals with international companies, which have been wary of political instability, tensions over Syria, and tough commercial terms offered by prospective Iranian partners. Iran has complained that the U.S. government is slowing down trade agreements. The U.S. has effectively removed sanctions only on paper, and the European companies would fear any opening of trade with Iran lest the U.S. would punish them in the name of violating sanctions, Irans foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said at a news conference in Oslo on Tuesday. He said that the Iranian people await to see the impacts of removal of sanctions in practice. Zarif added that he planned to talk to Secretary of State John F. Kerry. Opponents of the Iran nuclear deal were critical. Mark Dubowitz, executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said that if Boeing concluded a sale to Iran it would pose a massive sanctions, money-laundering and corruption risk for Boeing and the banks doing the deal because of ongoing concerns that the American equipment will be used to ferry Revolutionary Guard troops, weapons and money to the Assad government as well as to other terrorist groups. He was referring to the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad. Others suggested the agreement could open the door to more deals. The Boeing deal, if it goes through, will embolden other American businesses to seek commercial ties with Iran, said Karim Sadjadpour, senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. If Boeing can sell airplanes to Iran, which could be used to transport arms to bad actors like Bashar Assad and Hezbollah, why shouldnt Procter & Gamble be allowed to sell detergent to Iranians, or Nike be allowed to sell sneakers? Many American businesses are watching to see what happens. But Nephew said the Boeing deal was just the sort of thing American negotiators had in mind. This deal would be in line with what we expected when we negotiated the deal, he said, and it is what the Iranians were expecting when they paid in nuclear dollars for the sanctions relief they got. Dear Amy: I am the proud big sister of my 18-year-old brother, Baxter. His last day of high school was yesterday, and he is set to graduate in a few weeks. He earned a 4.0 throughout high school and has worked really hard for four years. He called me yesterday (I live out of state) and told me about his last day at school. Then he dropped a bombshell on me, when he said, Dont tell mom, but I smoked a lot of weed today! Amy, I was shocked! We grew up in a no alcohol, no smoking household. Now I dont know what to do. Do I keep his secret? Do I spill to our mom? I know hes worked so hard, so I think he was celebrating and maybe rebelling a little bit, since he was the perfect student for so long. I dont want this to be a stepping stone to more bad decisions for him. What should I do? Worried in Wisconsin Dear Worried: This is not necessarily a binary choice between either telling or not telling. You can choose to stay quiet now but change your mind later. It might be best for you to communicate your next thoughts in text form, versus talking to him about this. You can write: First, I want you to know that I appreciate your honesty. Second, please dont ever ask me to keep a secret from our parents. Thats not fair to me or them and I will make my own choice about what to do regarding your decision to get toasted on the last day of classes. I am naturally very protective of you. I want you to know that there are extreme risks to what you are doing. You risk not graduating (if you are caught), but you also risk many other things you have worked very hard for. Soon you will be on your own, and I hope you will make healthier choices. Your high school record shows how smart you are. I hope your future behavior will demonstrate that you are wise, too. After communicating directly with him, leave it alone. If this is the worst thing this young man ever does, hell be okay. Dear Amy: I am currently seeing a man who has two jobs, one as an everyday civilian and one in the National Guard. He has been a guardsman for several years. We have been seeing each other for about seven months. I just learned that he may face a deployment within the next year (hes been through three already). I am very proud of him. I love him, and he loves me. I dont know how to communicate how I feel and how scared I am; for him, for me, for us and for my child, who has grown attached to him. My anxiety levels have risen in the past few weeks because of this. He has noticed a change in me. I fell in love with this man without a second thought of what that would mean. I dont want to leave him over this because he is serving his country. However, I do not know how to live the life that is approaching. I need advice and guidance. Can you help? Worried Dear Worried: The most important thing you can do is to communicate with your guy about what might be in store for all of you if he deploys. The National Guard offers helpful support and information to help you start this conversation. You should also seek friendship and advice from experienced people on this side of deployment. Check Jointservicesupport.org. Dear Amy: I think you let Older but not Wiser, (the aunt who falsely accused her niece of theft) off too lightly. On the stated facts, she should expect a defamation suit by her niece, and she should expect to lose it. She cant duck the liability, but she might reduce the amount of the judgment if she apologized to her niece through the same media, as broadly and as loudly as she defamed her in the first place. This is one instance where the common law, common decency and common sense all point in the same direction. But she would have to accept responsibility for the consequences of her misbehavior, which she seems unwilling to do. H.C. Macgill, dean emeritus, University of Connecticut School of Law H.C. Magill: Like many readers, I was absolutely appalled by this aunts behavior. Thank you for weighing in on the legality of this situation. Amys column appears seven days a week at washingtonpost.com/advice. Write to Amy Dickinson at askamy@tribpub.com or Ask Amy, Chicago Tribune, TT500, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60611. The Wall Street Journals editorial pages may be the beating heart of climate-change skepticism, but the newspaper apparently was willing to entertain an alternative view for a price. The leading business newspaper is letting an obscure environmental group challenge the Journal editorial pages orthodoxy on the issue, although it will cost the group thousands of extra dollars to run its kickoff ad on the page. The Partnership for Responsible Growth, based in Washington, approached the Journal last month with plans to run 12 ads, in print and digital form, promoting a proposed fee on carbon-fuel producers. It sought to place its print ads on the newspapers op-ed page, where columns blasting environmentalists in general and climate-change activism in particular are standard fare. The groups first ad, however, seemed to have hit a little too close to home. Exxons CEO says fossil fuels are raising temperatures and sea levels, its headline reads. Why wont the Wall Street Journal? The Partnership for Responsible Growth says this ad was initially rejected by the Wall Street Journal, although the paper denied this. (-----/Partnership For Responsible Growth ) The ad goes on to call out the Journals editorial position long held and staunchly defended that climate change is complex and the science surrounding it is still uncertain: If the CEO of the worlds largest company accepts the basic physics that humans are heating the climate with excess C02, why wont the editorial board of this newspaper? the copy says. Isnt it about time? No dice, said the Journals advertising department, according to the environmental group. The newspaper owned by News Corp., one of two companies controlled by Rupert Murdoch initially rejected the first ad but accepted 11 subsequent ads, none of which mention the Journal. According to internal documents supplied by the environmental organization, the newspaper is charging the group $36,528 for the Journal-bashing ad while charging $27,309 each for the eight ads that follow it (the last three in the series are freebies, known as bonus ads). Journal spokeswoman Colleen Schwartz denied that the paper initially rejected the first ad. We do welcome the debate, she said. And that premium price? Its actually not a premium, Schwartz said, but the standard, non-discounted rate. Any advertiser that challenges something in the paper can expect to pay this rate, she said. All other ads are subject to negotiation and discounts. And thats what happened here: The partnership paid the standard rate for the first ad and received discounted prices for the rest of the series, she said. Bottom line: The Journal published the Journal-bashing ad in Tuesdays edition. Money aside, the message is as important as the medium, said George Frampton, the co-founder and chief executive of the partnership. Were not really trying to convert or attack the paper, he said. Were trying to reach out to a business audience in a medium that never tells them the the science is basically settled and that this is a national-security and economic problem . . . Id say if the Journal wont cover it, well pay to have them cover it. Several studies, including one by the partnership itself, indicate that the Journals editorial pages have tipped strongly toward climate-change denial for years. The partnership found that none of the papers 201 editorials on the topic since 1997 acknowledged that fossil fuels were a cause of climate change, and only 14 percent of 279 guest editorials published since 1995 reflected mainstream climate science. The Partnership for Responsible Growth, which says it is bipartisan, calls the proposed fee on carbon-fuel producers a revenue-neutral, pro-growth, free-market response to climate change. The group was co-founded by Frampton, a lawyer and former president of the Wilderness Society; Walter Minnick, a former Democratic congressman from Idaho; and William Eacho, a businessman and former ambassador to Austria. The group also plans to buy two TV ads on Fox News also owned by a Murdoch-controlled company during the Republican National Convention in July featuring Republicans speaking about the need to address climate change. Bryan Pagliano, a former State Department employee who helped set up and maintain a private email server used by Hillary Rodham Clinton. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen) (Cliff Owen/AP) A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the deposition of a former State Department staffer who helped set up Hillary Clintons private email server to go forward and to be videotaped. U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan denied a request by attorneys for technology specialist Bryan Pagliano to bar the recording of the deposition before lawyers with the conservative legal advocacy group Judicial Watch. The group is seeking to have Pagliano answer questions under oath as part of its civil lawsuit looking into whether Clintons email arrangement when she was secretary of state from 2009 to 2013 thwarted the Freedom of Information Act and the release of public records. In his brief order, Sullivan said Paglianos videotaped deposition would be sealed consistent with other interviews. He asked the parties to pick a mutually agreed upon date before the end of June for the deposition, which originally was planned for June 6. Were pleased that its going forward and that the record is going to be complete. We thought it was important for the court to be able to judge the demeanor of the witness, said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. (Kena Betancur/AFP/Getty Images) Paglianos attorneys argued against a video recording, saying it would subject Paglianos constitutionally protected statements to the risk of being manipulated into sound bites for political attacks. Pagliano is one of a half-dozen former State Department and Clinton aides ordered by Sullivan to give sworn testimony in a lawsuit concerning Judicial Watchs 2013 records request for information about Clinton aide Huma C. Abedins employment arrangement. Pagliano, who worked on Clintons 2008 presidential campaign before setting up the server in her New York home in 2009, stated his intention to the court in early June to appear before Judicial Watch attorneys but to not answer any questions, asserting his Fifth Amendment rights and claiming a reasonable fear of prosecution. [Clinton staffer who set up private server invokes 5th Amendment in civil case] Pressed by Sullivan, Paglianos attorneys have said he was granted limited immunity by federal prosecutors in an ongoing Justice Department investigation into Clintons email setup. They asked to disclose details of the limited immunity in a sealed filing to the judge alone. The Washington Post reported in March that Pagliano reached the agreement in an ongoing FBI criminal investigation into the possible mishandling of classified information. The FBI has said it was responding to a referral from the inspectors general of the intelligence community and the State Department. [Officials: Scant evidence that Clinton had malicious intent in handling of emails] The Inspector General's office said on May 25 that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use of a personal email account was not an appropriate method for preserving those emails. (Peter Stevenson,Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post) On Friday, Justice Department attorneys weighed in supporting Pagliano, writing to the court that releasing Mr. Paglianos agreements with the United States could prematurely reveal the scope and focus of the pending investigation. Sullivan granted his request to file the agreements under seal. Sullivan said the privacy interests at stake are high because the governments criminal investigation is ongoing and confidential. Judicial Watch had asked Sullivan to make Paglianos immunity agreement public like other court filings, or at least to let its lawyers review it so they could narrowly tailor questions that would avoid the risk of criminal prosecution. Former D.C. mayor Vincent Gray departs after casting his ballot at Precinct 113 in Ward 7 in Washington on Tuesday. (J. Lawler Duggan/For The Washington Post) At the River Terrace Elementary School Tuesday afternoon, Deborah Best, a 63-year-old cashier and foster grandmother, cast a ballot for former D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray and for second chances. They had nothing, said Best, referring to federal prosecutors whose investigation into illegal financing of Grays 2010 mayoral campaign plunged the politician in scandal and doomed his 2014 re-election bid. Ill give him another chance. Gray is seeking a political comeback in the citys Democratic primary as he challenges incumbent Yvette M. Alexander for the D.C. Council seat for Ward 7. Six of Grays friends and associates pleaded guilty in the campaign finance scandal; he was never charged. In the early evening, Gray stopped by River Terrace Elementary to greet voters as they trickled in after work. I feel wonderful, he said. Asked if he planned to run again for mayor, he said it is not my intent but it would be foolish for me to rule anything out...I dont know; well see what happens. In addition to the Ward 7 seat, D.C. Democrats will decide three other council races and vote in the last Democratic presidential primary in the nation, between Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont although that seems a futile effort, as Clinton has already amassed enough delegates to be the partys nominee. [Dead last again D.C. voters chafe at a trivial vote] As of 5 p.m., turnout was extremely light - about 16 percent of registered voters eligible to cast ballots in party primaries. Voters reported multiple problems in casting ballots Tuesday, raising the possibility that technical issues could mar the election. An unknown number of voters said that when they showed up at polling sites on Tuesday, they discovered their party affiliation had been switched without their knowledge in city records -- often from Democrat to N-P, or no party, preventing them from casting regular Democratic Party ballots. The D.C. Board of Elections acknowledged Tuesday afternoon that a technical error was likely at fault. The board said the problem appeared to be rooted in its new Web app and that some voters who updated their registration information through the mobile app may have experienced an unintentional change in their party affiliation. Michelle Kuchinsky, 26, who work for a labor union, said her party affiliation was changed without her knowledge but she never used the app. I dont think this has anything to do with the app, said Kuchinsky, who got a notification that her party registration had changed from Democrat to Statehood Green Party a few months ago, and was able to reverse it then in order to vote as a Democrat on Tuesday. Council member David Grosso (I-At large) said his wife observed a similar problem that a voter in line in front of her experienced Tuesday, having the wrong party affiliation. He said the voter was allowed to change his registration on the spot. Im worried this could be widespread, Grosso said in an interview. And its something that people wouldnt be looking for, why would you ever check to make sure your party hadnt changed on you? A spokesman for the board of elections said any voter who was registered under the wrong party affiliation was permitted to vote with a special ballot. The board will not count special ballots until Friday, the spokesman said. As Gray left his polling place, Alexander voter Brian Boger challenged him to account for the Walmart the former mayor promised to build in Ward 7. Wheres our Walmart? Boger asked as Gray walked to the car. If we had a Walmart, there would be jobs. Boger, 55, volunteered for Grays mayoral campaign but lost trust in him after the campaign-finance controversy. Any vote for Gray is a vote for corruption and scandal, said Boger, the owner of a landscaping and home-improvement business. Alexander made positive changes in the neighborhood where Boger has lived his entire life, he said. To him, she represents opportunity, while Gray reflects only a tarnished history. Shes clean, he said, referring to Alexander. She honors the neighborhood. For Robin Cook, 55, the former mayors connection to an illegal campaign-financing scheme was just a distraction. Should he run for mayor again, she said she would support him. To me, everybody has some skeleton in their closet, said the University of the District of Columbia professor. Gray was an active community leader in Ward 7 as a council member and mayor and visited Cooks church multiple times, she said. He genuinely cared about the wards residents, she said, and seemed to be doing good for us. Alexander, in contrast, was invisible, Cook said. I havent seen her except when its time to vote. I havent seen anything shes done. At the Pennsylvania Avenue Baptist Church in Southeast, Gladys Dorn-Hall cast a vote for Gray, her third time voting for the candidate Dorn-Hall, 80, doesnt care about the politics. She doesnt care about the investigation into Grays campaign financing. She cares that he cares, and thats good enough for her. I just believe that he really loves D.C., the retiree said. Its important to love your home, even if people think its shabby. Dorn-Hall took a similar approach to the presidential primary, disregarding scandal to vote for Clinton because shes the smartest one out there. [For Vincent Gray, Tuesday is a referendum on his past] Across the city, Evan Sims, a 79-year-old federal government employee and Ward 4 resident, felt frustrated that his vote for Clinton came after she had already secured enough support to win the Democratic nomination. I thought about that: Why vote for someone who already won? said Sims, who cast his ballot at a Brightwood police station. We are always way behind everyone else, and I dont think thats right. Outside the Fort Stevens Recreation Center in Northwest, Rosa Lee said she supported Sanders because she felt Clinton hadnt been forthcoming about mistakes she made in handling a private email server, among other things. Lee plans to vote for a third party candidate in the general election. Its sad the choices we have in the elections this year: one thats a complete nut and the other who is dishonest, said Lee, a 68-year-old retiree, referring to Republican front-runner Donald J. Trump and Clinton. Anna Roblin showed up to vote at Shepherd Elementary School wearing a hand-drawn sign pinned to the back of her sweater that said Bernie Cares Sanders 2016 and three campaign buttons. Hes always stuck up for the environment and stuck up for poor people, and Hillary has not, said Roblin, a 53-year-old substitute teacher who is holding out hope that superdelegates to the nominating convention will switch their votes from Clinton to Sanders. She lies like a rug, and everything she says is for political expediency. Because 3 out of 4 voters in the District are registered Democrats, the primary election is tantamount to the general election. Polls in the city opened at 7 a.m. and will close at 8 p.m It is a closed primary; only voters registered as Democrats, Republicans and D.C. Statehood Green party members can participate. The only contested races are among Democrats. [The D.C. Board of Elections just made it possible to snoop on your neighbors voting record] In Ward 8, voters face a rematch between incumbent LaRuby May and challenger Trayon White in what could be the closest contest Tuesday. In the crowded special election in April, May topped White by 79 votes. Ward 8 voters said they judged candidates based on how much attention they give to fixing the schools and how much they embrace major commercial developers who might upgrade residential home values, but at the cost of displacing longtime residents. I voted for LaRuby last time. I had a lot of hope for her, but she didnt really come through other than her web site sending out job openings, said Danielle Cotten, 32, a federal government contracting officer, who emerged from Anacostia Senior High School after voting for White. Trayon is from this area. He knows the peoples needs. Hes been involved in neighborhood associations. He is more for the peoples needs, before major corporations [that might bring commercial development to Ward 8]. And hes more geared to help fix real issues here -- homelessness, drugs, school retention and graduation rates. David Brown, a retired carpenter who runs a local education non-profit, said he, too, voted for White because he seemed to care more about public schools than the other candidates. I dont know a thing about May, he said. I know shes not from here. There was a surprising turnout for a third, lesser-known candidate, Aaron Holmes. Last month, in a straw poll of Ward 8 voters, White nabbed 135 votes, May got 50 and Holmes only earned 8. Still, far more voters who spoke to the Post on late Tuesday afternoon said they went with Holmes over May. Emil and Nina Ashford, husband and wife, said they were a house divided: he voted for Holmes, she for May. Ive never seen her around here much and we both go to many [Advisory Neighborhood Commission] meetings, Emil said. And Ive seen Holmes around much more. In Ward 4, council member Brandon T. Todd, a former campaign-finance chairman for Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D), faces his biggest threat from Leon Andrews, who has questioned Todds support for the Pepco-Exelon merger and close backing of other Bowser policies. Outside a Petworth polling station Tuesday morning, Lauren Wingo said she voted for Andrews, who she saw as a fixture at community events. Although she is content with Bowsers tenure so far, she thought Todd was too closely aligned with the mayor. Balancing opinions is always useful, said Wingo, a 27-year-old engineer. But Charletta Lewis said she voted for Todd precisely because of his good working relationship with the mayor. Hes able to take our concerns straight to Mayor Bowser, and they have a great connection and relationship, said Lewis, a 37-year-old mental health specialist who voted at Shepherd Elementary School. In the at-large race, Vincent B. Orange, who has served a dozen years on the council, is facing challengers Robert White and David Garber. Tillman Peck, a Ward 4 resident since 1974, said he sees no reason to vote out incumbents unless they have done something wrong. And he had not heard any reasons to kick out any council member, but he did recall meeting energetic volunteers for White. Perhaps if he surfaced a month or two earlier, I might have looked into him, but I dont think hes a household name going back 10 years, said Peck, a 73-year-old federal employee who voted for Orange. In Virginia, there are contested primaries in three of the states 11 congressional districts, some of which were turned upside down by a recent court ruling about redrawing the congressional-district map. Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. U.S. Rep. J. Randy Forbes (R-Va.) opted against running for reelection in his Richmond-area 4th District and is instead trying for a win in the 2nd District, anchored by Virginia Beach. He faces a challenge from Del. Scott W. Taylor (R-Virginia Beach), a former Navy SEAL, and attorney Pat Cardwell. Democrats think they have a good chance of turning Forbess old district blue. Under the new boundaries, the district gained African American voters who reliably vote for Democrats, according to exit polls. In that district, state Sen. A. Donald McEachin (D-Henrico) is taking on Ella Ward, a council member in Chesapeake City; both candidates are black. In addition to a contested Republican primary in the 4th District, Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) will face a lesser-known challenger, Harry Griego, in the 6th District, which includes Roanoke and Lynchburg. Locally, there is also an unusual Democratic primary, with the Arlington County Board chair facing a primary challenge for the first time in 14 years. Libby Garvey, a first-term incumbent, aggravated party activists two years ago when she supported a Republican who was running as an independent against another Democrat in a County Board race. Newcomer Erik Gutshall has been hammering away at Garveys record on the board. Aaron C. Davis, Elise Schmelzer, Patricia Sullivan and Jenna Portnoy contributed to this report. Hannah Shraim, a recent graduate of Northwest High School in Montgomery County, Md., seen as a at the school where was class president and Muslim Student Association member. She said she felt discrimination for being a Muslim during her high school years. (Amanda Voisard/For The Washington Post) As her high school debate competition ended, Hannah Shraim extended a hand to her opponents. Then she waited. They were avoiding my hand at all costs, said Shraim, a Muslim student from suburban Maryland who has worn a hijab since she was 15, describing her first brush with discrimination at school. I could tell it was my religious orientation because they were very kind to my partner and they shook her hand. That moment of apparent rejection for the recent Northwest High School graduate is not unlike what many Maryland Muslim students reported in surveys this school year in the aftermath of terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif., and at a time when a U.S. presidential candidate has proposed banning Muslims from entering the country. [Donald Trump calls for total ban on Muslims entering United States] Hannah Shraim, seen as a senior June 8, 2016, on the verge of graduating from Northwest High School. (Amanda Voisard/For The Washington Post) With the weekends mass shooting in Orlando which left 49 people dead and dozens of others wounded many worry about increased backlash, including for Muslim children in the nations schools. The gunman, Afghan American Omar Mateen, had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State while holding hostages after his initial shooting rampage. The attack by Mateen was the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. The fallout, were just very, very concerned, said the Rev. Mansfield Kaseman, the interfaith community liaison in Montgomery County, Md., who collaborated with Muslim leaders on recent surveys and brought them together with county school officials to discuss the results. This can trigger bullying and taunting and criticism. There are no firm estimates showing how many students in U.S. schools are Muslim, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations and there are no exact numbers for Montgomery County but Muslim leaders there say their community is growing. According to the Pew Research Center, about 3.3 million Muslims of all ages lived in the United States in 2015, representing about 1 percent of the U.S. population. Pew estimates that the percentage will double by 2050. Two recent surveys of Muslim students in the Washington region, mostly in Montgomery County, show how the turmoil of national and international events can ripple into schools. Both surveys were small involving a total of 300 youths but their findings have rung true to many students, educators, advocates and community leaders. In one survey, nearly one-third of Muslim students in grades three through 12 said they had experienced insults or abuse at least once because of their faith. The survey, by the Muslim Community Center in Silver Spring, also found that more than 1 in 10 said they were physically harmed or harassed at least once because of their religion. A second survey from the International Cultural Center (ICC), in Montgomery Village, Md. showed that many Muslim students have felt harassed, humiliated, bullied or abused by classmates during the past six months because of their Islamic faith; 10 percent felt a teacher or administrator had treated them unfairly during the past six months. The results are reflective of the political climate were in right now, said Mehreen Farooq, senior fellow at the World Organization for Resource Development and Education, which runs the ICC. It shows there needs to be more youth-oriented programs to provide them with coping skills so they can respond positively. Behind the numbers, she and others say, are stories of boys being called terrorists and girls having their hijabs torn off. During a year of high tension, family dinner-table conversations have touched on fears of violence and even the prospect of internment camps, said Nouf Bazaz, director of the ICCs Crossroads program. [The Citadel rejected her hijab, but another military school embraces Muslim students request] Montgomery County is one of the most diverse counties in the country, and so the fact that its happening here . . . I would imagine in other parts of the country it would be similar or even potentially worse, Bazaz said. Montgomery school officials say the survey results are dismaying but raise awareness. Principals focus on such issues school by school, and training efforts are underway; the Montgomery school district also invests in cultural proficiency, officials said. Any time a student feels marginalized, thats a concern, said Donna Hollingshead, associate superintendent for school administration. On Monday, a teenager at Walter Johnson High School in Bethesda who wears a hijab was so distressed by the Orlando shooting she did not want to attend school, said social studies teacher Chris Murray. The teen started the day in tears, upset by what she felt were hard looks from people she encountered. Ive never seen her that way before, said Murray, who is teaching a 45-hour summer course to help improve religious literacy among teachers so that they can better support students. Hafsa Shahzad, 15, a sophomore at Wootton High School, said the Orlando massacre felt like a major setback after the recent death of Muhammad Ali cast a positive glow on Islam. Im scared Islamophobia will be on the rise again, she said. Muslim students at several Montgomery schools said the survey results resonated, even as many said they found their own schools welcoming. Rahma Abd el-Shafy, 17, recalled that she was surprised one day in class when a popular teacher at Wootton High described a reckless driver by mentioning she was Muslim and pointing to Abd el-Shafys hijab to indicate the driver was wearing one. The teenager says she felt that all eyes were on her, associating that behavior with Islam and with her. She recalled a classmates adding a chilling remark about those who wear hijabs: You never know what they have under there. Abd el-Shafy says she eventually worked up the nerve to talk to the teacher, and says she is glad they talked it out. She was really understanding, she said. Concerned about perceptions, she and others with the Muslim Student Association at Wootton conducted a survey in April of 300 classmates of all faiths. They found that 10 percent reported a belief that Islam promotes violence, and 5 percent said they did not trust Muslims, results they said were better than they had imagined. We were encouraged that there seem to be large numbers of students who seem to have positive perceptions, said teacher Amani Elkassabany, the groups sponsor. Other Muslim students spoke about the responsibility they feel to be stellar examples of good citizenship and to speak up after terrorist attacks that involve people professing to be Muslims so that there is no mistake about where they stand. Sometimes you feel like everybody is waiting for your explanation, said Alaa Muhtaseb, 18, who graduated last week from Clarksburg High School. If I did not explain, they would think I agree with it. But she questions why she needs to explain: They should know this isnt Islam. At Northwest High School, Shraim says it has helped to be part of her schools Muslim Student Association. Shraim senior class president before graduating last week said she is comfortable standing up to bias. The day two years ago when she encountered students who did not want to shake her hand after the debate, Shraim kept her hand outstretched. Finally, she said, one of her opponents brushed a hand lightly against hers. So did the other. When I go through stuff like that, it just makes me want to push harder and prove that the types of things they are thinking about Muslims are false, she said, and they should look at it in a positive way and look at us as peaceful people. Emma Brown contributed to this report. Members of the LGBT and Muslim communities hold a vigil outside the U.S. Capitol for the victims of Sundays mass shooting in Orlando, Fla. (Christian K. Lee/The Washington Post) On the steps of the U.S. Capitol, around the fountain at Dupont Circle and in the suburbs, Washington gathered Monday by the hundreds to mourn the Orlando dead and to signal opposition to fear, hate and violence. The assemblies in the Washington area of which Muslim groups were principal sponsors drew members of Congress, congressional staffers, local officials and other citizens who voiced support for the LGBT community and for their friends, neighbors and colleagues of the Islamic faith as well. It was the second day that such gatherings -- some spur of the moment, some planned were held around the country and around the world to demonstrate solidarity with the victims of extremist acts. In one of the most striking moments of the day, many of those gathered at Dupont Circle emitted a collective scream. A participant, Joshua Rebollozo, 23, of the Districts Columbia Heights neighborhood, said the gesture was a way to put emotion into a sound. Rebollozo, a federal worker, spoke of the happiness and optimism in the community. Others also said they wished to emphasize love over hostility. Rebollozo said it was a vibe that could grow and overcome any tragedy. A banner at Dupont Circle in the District collects expressions of sympathy for the victims of the massacre in Orlando, their relatives and friends. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post) Another participant, Eric Tobin, 51, of Northwest Washington, indicated his belief that the time had come to finally deal effectively with gun violence. Its enough already, he said. Nobody needs these guns. Yet amid the expressions of solidarity at the circle, fear could not be banished. I was scanning the crowd to see if there was a nut job, said Tobin, who is an interior designer. I was raised to be aware of my surroundings, but now Im super-vigilant. The organizer of the Dupont event, the Muslim American Womens Policy Forum, said it was a chance to mourn the lives of people killed and wounded in Orlando as a result of homophobic and transphobic violence. The group said it was also to express opposition to fear of Islam. Earlier, at least 300 people gathered on the Capitol steps on the House side, to observe a moment of silence to honor the victims of the mass killing. Several members of Congress took part, including Rep. Andre Carson (D-Ind.). A member of the Muslim faith, Carson had issued a news release denouncing what he described as a heartless and brutal attack not only on the LGBT community but also on everyone who values freedom and equality. Although all details were not known, he said, the killings were clearly an act of hate. While the country struggled to absorb the tragedy, he said, we must not and will not succumb to fear. The event was sponsored by the LGBT Congressional Staffers Association and an organization of Muslim congressional staff members. In Montgomery County, about 150 people assembled Monday night at offices in the Montgomery Village area and heard Hamza Khan, who heads the countys Muslim Democratic Club, express profound sorrow on behalf of the members of his faith. The Muslim community is heartbroken, Khan said, adding: To say I feel angry is not enough. To say I am heartbroken is not enough. In expressing solidarity with the LGBT community, he told of gay teachers and mentors who supported him and his familyat difficult times such as after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, when many Muslims felt isolated. As elsewhere, speakers voiced opposition to what they suggested was an increase in intolerance and attempts to marginalize minorities. We will not be scared back into our closets, said Patrick Paschall, executive director of Free State Legal, an advocacy group for low-income LGBT residents. He called the attack the result of the political climate we allow to exist today. Rabbi Charles Arian of Kehilat Shalom in Gaithersburg said: There is a wave of hatred in this country that is consuming lives, and we are here to say enough. Elected officials in the audience included Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh, state Sen. Richard S. Madaleno Jr. (D-Montgomery) and Montgomery County Council members George L. Leventhal (D-At Large) and Sidney Katz (D-Gaithersburg-Rockville). At the end came what seemed almost like nostalgia for the hours before the shooting, a time, according to Khan, when members of the LGBTQ community, among other groups joined Muslims Saturday night in breaking the daily fast that characterizes the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. It was a hopeful moment, a moment of brotherhood, and it was a first-of-its-kind moment that Khan said he had hoped would be repeated. The sudden descent into tragedy was one of the saddest ironies Ive ever encountered, Khan said. THE DISTRICT Man is sentenced in New Years crash A 25-year-old man was sentenced Monday to 42 months in prison for a New Years Day car crash that injured more than a dozen people on a sidewalk outside a downtown Washington nightclub near Farragut North. Malik Marvin Lloyd, of Northeast, pleaded guilty in D.C. Superior Court in March to three counts of assault with significant bodily injury, one count of destruction of property and driving under the influence of alcohol. In a separate case, Lloyd was sentenced to 36 months in prison after pleading guilty to unlawful possession of a firearm and possession with intent to distribute cocaine. That sentence will be served concurrently with the sentence in the crash. The nightclub incident occurred about 1:30 a.m. at Barcode in the 1600 block of L Street NW. Lloyd was driving north on 17th Street NW when he struck a Honda CRV. Lloyd drove away, and onto the sidewalk. Prosecutors said the car hit a tree box, a tree and several people who were standing or sitting at an outdoor section of the bar. The car then struck a light pole. Most of the 13 people were slightly injured. Three people were seriously injured. Peter Hermann Man is slain in Columbia Heights A man was shot and killed Tuesday inside a residence in Northwest Washingtons Columbia Heights neighborhood, according to D.C. police. The shooting occurred about 6:30 a.m. in the 2900 block of 14th Street NW. Police said the man was pronounced dead at the scene. Police identified the victim as Devonte Crawford, 20, of Northwest. Five other people were wounded in four shooting incidents in the District during a 121 / 2-hour period beginning late Monday. Police said two people, including a juvenile, were shot about 10:45 p.m. Tuesday in the 100 block of Upsal Street SE. A spokeswoman said both victims were conscious. The juveniles age was not released. Police said there is no indication that any of the shootings were related. MARYLAND First -in-state high school program Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) on Tuesday named two high schools in Baltimore that will be the first in the state to launch a six-year program that combines high school, college courses and work experience. Starting this fall, Carver-Vocational Technical High School and Dunbar High School will be the sites of the new Pathways in Technology Early College High Schools, a program where students spend six years navigating both a high school and college curriculum that prepares them for fields in health and technology. Maryland is partnering with IBM, Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland-Baltimore for the program. By the end of the six years, students will have earned an associates degree and have work experience in sought-after fields. --Ovetta Wiggins VIRGINIA Police arrest alleged bank robber A bank robber dubbed the Forever Loyal Bandit, who authorities say carried out a string of heists in Northern Virginia, has been captured, police said. Amin Huie, 42, of Arlington was arrested after a robbery at a Capital One Bank in Falls Church around 3 p.m. Friday, police said. Police broadcast a lookout for the suspect after he left the bank in the 1100 block of West Broad Street and Falls Church, and police found him a short time later. Following an investigation, police think Huie carried out six bank robberies and one attempted robbery in Arlington and Fairfax County beginning in June 2014. Huie was called the Forever Loyal Bandit because he wore a T-shirt with the words Forever Loyal during two robberies. He is facing additional charges in the other cases. Justin Jouvenal Beach goers frolic in the surf at Ocean City on the first day of summer on June 21, 2011 in Ocean City, Md (Photo by Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post) (Jonathan Newton/WASHINGTON POST) The longtime head of the beach patrol in Ocean City, Md., faces disciplinary action after sending an email about locker rooms that appeared to mock Targets policy allowing transgender customers to use the bathroom of the sex with which they identify. Capt. Butch Arbin, a lifeguard for more than 40 years, was responding to complaints by female employees about men who are not transgender using their changing facilities apparently out of convenience. [Some embrace Obamas transgender directive, others vow to fight] WE are NOT Target, Arbin wrote in an email to employees on Sunday. USE the locker room that corresponds to your DNA. . . . If youre NOT SURE go to Target. LGBT advocates say such comments send a signal that transgender people are not welcome and run afoul of Marylands anti-discrimination law, which bars employers from treating workers differently because of their gender identity. Capt. Butch Arbin, Ocean City's chief lifeguard. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post) Ocean City spokeswoman Jessica Waters said Arbins email was completely inappropriate and did not match official city policy. She said Arbin who has worked on the beach patrol since 1972, when he was a teenager will be sanctioned in some way. He just stepped way out of line, Waters said. Its not a reflection of Ocean City in any way, and we welcome people of all types. [Meet Capt. Arbin, a summer lifeguard in Ocean City since 1972] Ocean City is a major summer tourist destination, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors to the beaches and the boardwalk. Arbin sent a follow-up email to employees saying he did not mean to offend anyone and pointing out that his message, unlike the Target policy that has drawn national attention, did not have anything to do with transgender individuals. I used humor to make the point. However, this is not the same issue that has been in the news, Arbin said. I was ONLY looking out for the women of the patrol and was not attempting to put down any group or individual, only maintain a nice facility for the women who choose to use a gender specific facility. Arbin declined to comment, but he emailed employees again on Wednesday to offer an apology. My careless attempt at humor was inappropriate and in poor taste, he wrote. I hope you will accept this hearfelt apology and allow us to move forward, with a positive and more tolerant attitude for each other, our colleagues, our residents and out guests. [Remembering the lives lost in Orlando] Patrick Paschall, executive director of FreeState Legal and Equality Maryland, said Arbins remarks were the latest from public officials to demean transgender people. Its nothing short of making fun of transgender people, and its absolutely unacceptable for a city employee or a public employee to make fun of transgender people at all, Paschall said. No one should be surprised when the increased drumbeat of harassment increases to discrimination and even violence against LGBTQ people. The ability of transgender people to use bathrooms and other gender-segregated facilities of their choice is the latest flash point in the nations culture wars, sparking political battles across the country. [Transgender at 9: Why Tyler uses the boys bathroom] The Obama administration has instructed schools to allow transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms matching their gender identity, while North Carolina passed a law requiring people to use bathrooms matching the sex on their birth certificates. Marylands anti-discrimination law stops short of mandating that transgender people be able to use the public locker rooms of their choice. But it does require that business establishments with sex-segregated public locker rooms either do that or provide transgender people with a functionally equivalent and private space to change, shower and use the restroom. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) continued to try to distance himself from his partys presumptive presidential nominee on Tuesday, saying he was not aware of Donald Trumps recent statements on barring Muslim immigrants in the wake of Sundays mass shooting in Orlando. I dont know what his position is, Hogan said, when asked about Trumps stance. I dont care about Donald Trump. I dont listen to Donald Trump. Hogan, a first-term governor in a deeply blue state, has repeatedly tried to deflect questions about Trump and his candidacy. Last week, he declined to say whether the outspoken billionaire was fit to be president. [Hogan: Im not going to talk about Donald Trump any more] In response to the Orlando mass shooting, Trump on Monday expanded his call for a temporary ban of Muslim immigrants and vowed, if elected, to shut down immigration from countries where there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States. Republicans lawmakers on Capitol Hill rejected the idea. House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) said a ban was not in our countrys best interest, and called for a security test, not a religious test for immigrants. Meanwhile, Hogan on Tuesday repeated his concerns about resettling Syrian refugees in Maryland, calling his request last fall to halt the flow of refugees a very reasonable and a very moderate one. I said that we wanted to make sure that proper vetting was done and that background checks were done before refugees came in, and the FBI said at that time that they werent able to do it, Hogan said. We asked the federal government for assurances, and we never got it, and nothings happened since then. Sihyun Chae of Centreville heads a virtual company. His high school physics teacher calls him the most creative person, as far as with ideas, that Ive ever run into in my 20 years of teaching. (John Kelly/The Washington Post) Last year, fliers started appearing on the campuses of Georgetown, George Mason and American universities. A technology start-up in Northern Virginia called Oluha was looking for student collaborators. For months before that, college professors all over the country engineers, programmers, medical researchers had been receiving emails from the CEO of that start-up, Sihyun Chae. He praised their work, then peppered them with questions about the feasibility of various inventions: a device for diagnosing a cars faults from the sound of its engine, a system that would warn blind people about the edges of subway platforms, a capsule that would enshroud an artificial kidney and prevent rejection. The CEO received many responses, including one from a University of California professor who volunteered to fly east for a quick visit. The CEO said that wasnt possible. I was afraid that he would find out my real age, said Chae, who was 19 at the time. I couldnt invite him. But I still shared with him all my ideas. Chae is now 20. He lives with his parents in Centreville, Va., and hopes to become the next Thomas Edison. Last month he released his first product, a free smartwatch app called DriveAlert that monitors variations in heart rate and steering-wheel angle to detect drowsy drivers and awaken them with a loud beep. He created it with a team of people hes never met in person, a half dozen programmers scattered from Brazil to Japan who kick around ideas in a virtual space called GitHub, sharing code and algorithms. Among them is Joseph Picone, Oluhas chief technology officer and a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Temple University in Philadelphia. Hes a very interesting guy, Picone said of Chae. Very creative, very entrepreneurial. . . . I think another good thing about the collaboration is hes young and Im old. I balance some of his enthusiasm with experience. Chae said his ideas come like popcorn: Something just pops up, he said. He has somewhere in the neighborhood of 800 ideas: an anti-bacterial pad that sits by the front door and cleans the paws of pets as they come in from outside; a system that would use forced air to keep rain off a windshield, eliminating the need for wipers; an app thats like Uber for home-cooked food. I have an idea every day, he said. None have received patents. Chae credits his Westfield High School physics teacher, Christopher Lyndon, with inspiring him. Hes the one that motivated me to make inventions, he said. If Im a success, Im going to buy a vehicle for him. Joked Lyndon when we spoke on the phone: Id like an airplane. Chae, he said, is the most creative person, as far as with ideas, that Ive ever run into in my 20 years of teaching. Still, Lyndon wishes his student had the firmer grounding in basic science that comes from going to college. Chae always thought he would go to college. After all, it was to provide him with a better education that his parents immigrated to the United States from South Korea when he was in the seventh grade. In Korea, Chae said, the teachers would beat him when he did poorly on a test. Thats why I was shocked in the United States, because its very free, he said. Here, a kid can scour the Internet for information, take free online classes, become a CEO. When Chae was in the ninth grade, his mother developed bacterial meningitis. She was in a coma for 10 days. Chae, an only child, slept in the hall outside her hospital room. When his mother awoke from the coma, her kidneys were ravaged and she was blind. Suddenly college didnt seem so important. Chae knew his mother would need his help. He took a four-week training course to learn how to administer peritoneal dialysis. Every night, Chae dons a mask and gloves, sterilizes his work area, gathers bags of dialysis solution and attaches them to a catheter in his mothers abdomen. During the day he earns money designing websites for small businesses, augmenting the money his father makes repairing shoes. His mothers disability motivates Chae. When he saw that she couldnt tell where a stairway ended, he thought banisters should have a message in Braille at each end. It was one of his first inventions. He is excited about his DriveAlert app. In April he presented it to a team at MetLife insurance in Rhode Island, traveling 10 hours by bus to get there. He confesses that he is not a very good driver. It remains to be seen whether any of Chaes inventions will make him money or if they would even work. That doesnt bother Chae, who quotes Edison: I have not failed. Ive just found 10,000 ways that wont work. Twitter: @johnkelly For previous columns, visit washingtonpost.com/johnkelly. Gregory Rabassa, whose masterly English-language translations of the works of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Mario Vargas Llosa and other writers helped propel the Latin American literary boom of the 1960s and 1970s into an international phenomenon, died June 13 at a hospice facility in Branford, Conn. He was 94. A daughter, Kate Rabassa Wallen, confirmed the death to the Associated Press. The cause was not disclosed. Dr. Rabassa was teaching Spanish and Portuguese literature in New York when he was asked by a publisher to translate a 1963 novel by the Argentine writer Julio Cortazar. In 1966, Cortazars Rayuela was published in English as Hopscotch, and worldwide interest in Latin American fiction began to spread. Cortazar recommended Dr. Rabassa to a friend, Garcia Marquez, whose One Hundred Years of Solitude had been published in Spanish in 1967. Three years later, Dr. Rabassa produced an English-language version so skillful that Garcia Marquez said he preferred it to the original. The novel, which takes place near the authors birthplace on the Caribbean coast of Colombia, helped define a style of writing called magic realism and became recognized as a towering masterpiece of 20th-century literature, selling more than 50 million copies. Gregory Rabassa in 2007. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg News) The tone of One Hundred Years of Solitude blending the mythic and the mundane was established in its opening sentence: Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice. In a 2005 memoir, If This Be Treason: Translation and Its Dyscontents, Dr. Rabassa described the nuanced choices that make up the translators art. He used remember instead of recall in the opening sentence, he wrote, because I feel that it conveys a deeper memory. He described the afternoon as distant instead of remote because he didnt want to conjure such inappropriate things as remote control and robots. Also, I like distant when used with time. I think Dr. Einstein would have approved. But the thorniest problem in the first sentence, Dr. Rabassa wrote, came in the phrase to discover ice. The Spanish verb conocer means to know and just wont do in English. It implies, How do you do, ice? It could be to experience ice. The first is foolish, the second is silly. When you get to know something for the first time, youve discovered it. Garcia Marquez, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1982, called Dr. Rabassa the best Latin American writer in the English language. Dr. Rabassa translated five other books by Garcia Marquez, including Autumn of the Patriarch and Chronicle of a Death Foretold. Over the course of his career, Dr. Rabassa translated about 60 literary works from Spanish and Portuguese, including books by Brazilian authors Jorge Amado and Clarice Lispector and by four Spanish-language Nobel laureates: Garcia Marquez, Vargas Llosa from Peru, Octavio Paz from Mexico and Miguel Angel Asturias from Guatemala. When translating a book, Dr. Rabassa seldom read it in advance: He simply turned to Page 1 and began to compose the English-language version, without knowing how the plot would turn out. I used the excuse that it gave the translation the freshness that a first reading would have, he wrote in his memoir. I have put forth this explanation so many times that I have come to believe it, loath as I am to confess that I was just too lazy to read the book twice. Gregory Rabassa was born March 9, 1922, in Yonkers, N.Y. His father was a Cuban-born sugar broker, and his mother a New Yorker of English and Scottish ancestry. After his fathers business failed, the family moved to a farm near Hanover, N.H., and operated a country inn. Except for the occasional curse, Dr. Rabassa later said, the old man didnt speak much Spanish around the house. After studying French and Latin in high school, Dr. Rabassa went to Dartmouth College, where he said he began collecting languages, including Portuguese, Spanish, Russian and German. During World War II, he joined the Army and was assigned to the Office of Strategic Services, the wartime precursor of the CIA, as a cryptographer. He was stationed in North Africa and Italy, where he learned Italian. He received his bachelors degree from Dartmouth in 1945, while serving in the OSS. At Columbia University, he received a masters degree in Spanish in 1947 and a doctorate in Portuguese language and literature in 1954. He taught at Columbia from 1948 to 1969, when he joined the faculty of Queens College and the graduate school of the City University of New York. He taught courses on Latin American literature until his late 80s. In 1967, Dr. Rabassa received a National Book Award for his translation of Hopscotch. He was awarded the National Medal of Arts at a White House ceremony in 2006. His first marriage, to Roney Edelstein, ended in divorce. Survivors include his wife of 50 years, the former Clementine Christos; one daughter from each marriage; and two granddaughters. The primary aim of any translator, Dr. Rabassa believed, was to convey the authors personality and to capture the imagination and energy of the writing, while making it sound natural and idiomatic to the second language. Thats what a good translation is, he told the New York Times in 2004. You have to think if Garcia Marquez had been born speaking English, thats how a translation should sound. D.C. residents are bound to see more off-road vehicles such as ATVs this summer. Here's why the trend is a problem. (Claritza Jimenez/The Washington Post) D.C. residents are bound to see more off-road vehicles such as ATVs this summer. Here's why the trend is a problem. (Claritza Jimenez/The Washington Post) D.C. police said they have arrested at least 27 people for operating illegal dirt bikes in the District since a crackdown began in early April. In addition, police said they have seized more than 30 of the off-road vehicles. The statistics were announced Tuesday as police described an arrest made after a recent collision of two all-terrain vehicles on Minnesota Avenue SE. They said the driver of one vehicle noticed a police car, tried to flee and drove into the other vehicle. One ATV was confiscated, police said, and the operator was charged with illegally operating a dirt bike; the other driver fled. Police in the District, Baltimore and area suburbs have long battled what they call a scourge of out-of-control operators of all-terrain vehicles and dirt bikes who take over roads, ignore traffic controls and scare and sometimes harm residents. [D.C. police crack down on dirt bike riders] On Friday in Baltimore, police said an 18-year-old from Fairfax County walking to a Beyonce concert was struck by an ATV as a pack of riders raced along Pratt Street at the citys Inner Harbor, which is popular with tourists. Police said that none of the riders stopped and that they were being sought. [D.C. police publish 245 images of dirt bike, ATV riders] The teen suffered a fractured skull, her father said, and will miss her graduation on Saturday from W.T. Woodson High School as she recovers in a hospital. It sounds like they were out of control, said the young womans father, Tim Coffman, 58. They didnt care whether she was injured or not. That same evening in a different part of Baltimore, police said a motorist accidentally struck a dirt-bike rider and was beaten by the riders friend. Nearly all police jurisdictions in the Washington and Baltimore areas forbid officers to pursue illegal dirt bikes and ATVs, saying it is too dangerous. Several jurisdictions, including the District, offer rewards to people who help locate off-road vehicles and identify operators. In April, D.C. police published photographs of 245 riders from the District, Maryland and Virginia, and urged the public to help to identify them. The arrests and confiscations announced Tuesday in the District are a result of that initiative. The vehicles are extremely dangerous to pedestrians and other motorists, Capt. Michael Pavlik of the D.C. police said in a statement. Coffman, the father of the teen injured in Baltimore, said his daughter had just eaten dinner with friends and was headed to the concert at the nearby M&T Bank Stadium, home of the Baltimore Ravens. She was struck on a street that runs by the harbor and is typically crowded with pedestrians and vehicles. Coffman, a juvenile probation officer in Arlington County, praised Baltimore police for helping his daughter, who never made the concert, but he said he would not recommend returning. I think the city needs to understand they have a crisis, he said, referring to the dirt bikes. They invite people into their city to a concert, and people need to feel safe. Ill never feel safe there. . . . How is this allowed to happen? There are laws were expected to follow, and it seems like these guys are operating outside the law, putting people in jeopardy. He didnt want his daughters name published, but said she remains at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore. He said it appears she will make a full recovery. During a news conference on June 14, U.S. Park Police Sergeant Anna Rose said more than a dozen good samaritans helped upright a tour bus that collided with a car on George Washington Memorial Parkway near Mount Vernon, killing a bus passenger. (Storyful) During a news conference on June 14, U.S. Park Police Sergeant Anna Rose said more than a dozen good samaritans helped upright a tour bus that collided with a car on George Washington Memorial Parkway near Mount Vernon, killing a bus passenger. (Storyful) One person died and 15 were sent to a hospital after a shuttle-size tour bus collided with a car Tuesday on the George Washington Parkway near Mount Vernon. Three of the injured were in critical condition, officials said. The bus, which seats about two dozen, rolled onto its left side, but passersby managed to right it and free those passengers who were trapped. Witnesses described the actions of the passersby to U.S. Park Police, but those who helped could not be identified immediately. The crash occurred about 5 p.m. near Stratford Lane, about a mile northeast of Mount Vernon. It shut down the parkway for hours. The person who was killed and 13 of those injured had been aboard the bus, authorities said. All bus passengers were visiting from China, said Sgt. Anna Rose, a Park police spokeswoman. She said the driver of the car and a passenger were among the 15 injured. Rose said the car was headed south and the bus was going north, but exactly what led to the crash was not clear. It was to be investigated, police said. After the crash, both vehicles left the road, the bus to the east, and the car to the west. The car went into woods, and its front end was damaged, police said. Rose had high praise for the passersby, many of them apparently motorists, who righted the bus. These great citizens stepped up to help people in their time of need, she said. One person is dead and multiple people are in the hospital after a bus crash on the George Washington Parkway. (David Bruns/The Washington Post) Mary Horning, of Alexandria, said she was headed home from her job in the District when she drove by the scene. If I had been there 10 minutes earlier, I would have been involved myself, she said. . . . I feel terrible for the folks involved. It was not clear where those in the bus had been, but officials at the scene suggested that the proximity of the crash site to Mount Vernon, suggested that they had been there. Mount Vernon was the home of George Washington, the first U.S. president, and is a popular destination for visitors from the United States and overseas. The parkway is one of the most scenic roads in the metropolitan area and is heavily used by commuters as well. Justin Jouvenal and Martin Weil contributed to this report. A Fairfax County jury began deliberating Monday in the trial of a Virginia lawyer accused of taking a law firm partner and his wife hostage in their McLean home in 2014 and then brutally attacking them in a bizarre three-hour ordeal that a prosecutor described as pure depravity. Prosecutors and defense attorneys offered starkly different portraits of 32-year-old Andrew Schmuhl in their closing arguments, following a four-week trial that featured and unusual defense as well as graphic and gripping testimony by victims who recounted how their necks had been cut. If found guilty on all charges, Schmuhl could spend the rest of his life behind bars. In his closing argument, Fairfax County Deputy Commonwealths Attorney Casey Lingan urged the jury to find Schmuhl, of Springfield, guilty of conspiring with his wife, also a lawyer, to exact revenge on Leo Fisher. Fisher had fired Alecia Schmuhl from his prominent Arlington law firm two weeks before the attack on him and his wife, Susan Duncan. Lingan said that Alecia Schmuhl was the familys only breadwinner and that Andrew Schmuhl had recently learned he would owe $24,000 in the next 30 days. They needed money and hoped to extract something of value from Fisher. Lingan said their motivations were twin: hate and greed. It would have been the perfect crime except for an alarm and the will of Sue and Leo to survive, Lingan said. Defense attorney Bradley R. Haywood admitted in his closing argument that Schmuhl carried out the attack but offered a defense that was, by his own description, exotic: involuntary intoxication. In essence, he argued, Andrew Schmuhl was so intoxicated on a cocktail of drugs that he could not understand what he was doing or distinguish between right and wrong. [Alleged home invader doesnt deny crimes, but says he doesnt remember] Haywood also said that Alecia Schmuhl may have intentionally applied an extra patch of the powerful opiate Fentanyl to her husband to put him in a stupor before they went to Fishers home. He said that Andrew suffered a painful back injury in 2010 and that Alecia Schmuhl had taken over many aspects of running his life. He was on an array of pain medications for the problem. You had Andrew as the human pincushion, Haywood told the jury. You had Alecia Schmuhl, his wife, holding the pins. The motive was her motive. The plan was her plan. Lingan rejected that idea, saying the couple assembled an abduction kit, went to an arms store to purchase a Taser together and both bought cellphones that could not easily be traced. The day of horror would begin with the ringing of a doorbell on the evening of Nov. 9, 2014. Fisher told the jury during testimony that Andrew Schmuhl pushed open his front door and then Tasered him and handcuffed him with zip ties as he writhed on the ground. Schmuhl quickly overpowered Duncan and bound her as well. Fisher testified that Schmuhl wore a wide-brimmed hat and later identified himself as from the Virginia SEC. At one point, he flashed a fake badge. Prosecutors said Alecia Schmuhl was outside the home and the couple communicated via cellphone. Things would get much worse in the coming hours. Fisher testified that Schmuhl forced him to go through his work email and claimed that Fisher had ordered a hit on someone using a Mexican cartel. Prosecutors also said Schmuhl muttered about snipers outside the windows and made other bizarre statements that did not make sense. Schmuhl asked where Fisher had cash and gold. While he sat on a bed in the bedroom, Fisher testified, he offered to take Schmuhl to the bank. Schmuhl paused and then pounced on Fisher. Fisher testified Schmuhl placed a pillow over his head, slit his throat with a knife and then stabbed him near the shoulder. Fisher testified he yelled out to his wife using her nickname: Muffy, hes murdering me. Fisher said Schmuhl mocked him and said, What is this, the Muppets? Prosecutors said Duncan ran into the room and Schmuhl pulled out a gun and shot at her. The bullet grazed the side of her head and lodged in the ceiling. Duncan testified that she then desperately tried to reach a phone in the bedroom, but Schmuhl sat on her, slit her throat and stabbed her until she acted as though she were dead. As Schmuhl was leaving, Lingan said, he kicked Fisher in the head and told him: You are going to die. But Duncan was able to activate a panic alarm and the couple called 911. As the pair fought for their lives, Fisher would indicate to police who arrived at the home that Andrew Schmuhl was the perpetrator. Police would catch up with the couple about 30 minutes later, finding Andrew Schmuhl wearing nothing but a diaper in the couples car. Alecia Schmuhl is scheduled to stand trial in September. There is no question, no doubt, the intent was to end Leo and Sues lives, Lingan said. A Virginia lawyer was convicted Tuesday of taking a law firm partner and his wife hostage in their upscale McLean home in 2014 and then slashing both of their throats as part of a revenge plot. A Fairfax County jury deliberated for more than seven hours before returning guilty verdicts on all charges against Andrew Schmuhl, 33, of Springfield. The jury will begin deliberating on a sentence on Thursday, but the maximum penalty could put Schmuhl in prison for the rest of his life. Schmuhl was convicted of two counts each of aggravated malicious wounding, abduction with pecuniary benefit and using a firearm during a felony, plus a single count of burglary. The verdict follows a dramatic four-week trial during which Leo Fisher and his wife, Susan Duncan, both testified about the bizarre and harrowing three-hour ordeal that nearly left them dead. Prosecutors said the couple only survived the pure depravity of the Nov. 9, 2014, attack because of their will to live and Duncan managing to punch a panic button inside the home with a bloody hand. Schmuhl looked straight ahead as the verdict was read and displayed no emotion. Leo Fisher hugged members of his family after the hearing ended. His wife was not in the courtroom. Prosecutors said Schmuhl and his wife, Alecia Schmuhl, hatched a plan to get even with Fisher, because he had fired Alecia Schmuhl two weeks earlier from his Arlington law firm Bean, Kinney & Korman. Andrew Schmuhl also discovered shortly before the attack he would soon owe tens of thousands of dollars and prosecutors contended he hoped to get money, gold or something else of value from Fisher. Fairfax County Deputy Commonwealths Attorney Casey Lingan told the jury hate and greed fueled the plot. How more cruel could you get? Lingan asked the jury. Taking this couple who had been married for 40 years and making sure you know their lives are being held in your hands and then carving them up like a piece of meat. Schmuhls attorneys countered with a defense that was by their own description exotic. They did not refute their client committed the attack but argued Schmuhl was so intoxicated on painkillers and other drugs he could not be held responsible for his actions or judge right from wrong. After Schmuhl fled the home, police found him in the getaway car wearing nothing but a diaper. He muttered in German as police transported him to jail. The attorneys told the jury Alecia Schmuhl may have administered an extra patch of the powerful opiate fentanyl to her husband in an effort to manipulate him. We know Andrew was under the immense influence of drugs, said attorney Bradley Haywood. She drove her husband to the door and let happen whatever happened. Alecia Schmuhl faces a separate trial in September. Prosecutors said she communicated with her husband during the attack using a cellphone outside the house. Andrew Schmuhls trial opened with the testimony of Duncan, who calmly recalled the horrific events of that fall day. It was a quiet Sunday evening when the doorbell rang. Fisher answered, and Duncan said she heard a commotion and went to the front hall to find out what happened. Duncan testified she found her husband lying on the floor with his hands and legs bound. Prosecutors said Schmuhl had forced his way inside the home and Tasered Fisher. Duncan told the jury Schmuhl was wearing a jacket and a fedora. He identified himself as from the Virginia SEC. Duncan testified Schmuhl quickly subdued and bound her, too. The couple would remain his prisoners for the next three hours. Schmuhl moved them to the master bedroom, where he interrogated Fisher about his ties to a supposed murder-for-hire plot involving a Mexican drug cartel. Schmuhl said he feared there might be snipers outside the home. He moved the couple around the house and forced Fisher to log into his work email to search for something. Schmuhl asked Fisher where he kept cash and gold. Eventually, back in the master bedroom, Fisher offered to take him to the bank. Fisher testified Schmuhl paused and then jumped on him and smothered him with a pillow. Schmuhl began slicing Fishers neck and stabbing him. Fisher testified he yelled to his wife: Muffy, hes murdering me. Duncan, who Schmuhl had moved to a bathroom, charged back into the bedroom. Schmuhl fired a shot at her that grazed off her head and lodged in the ceiling. She tried to grab a phone, but Schmuhl set on her and began cutting her and slicing her neck until she played dead. Eventually, Duncan managed to get to an alarm and pushed it twice, sending Schmuhl fleeing from the home. The police arrived, and Fisher was able to tell them the perpetrator was Andrew Schmuhl. Police said they believed the Schmuhls fled the scene in a car. They were stopped about 30 minutes later in Springfield. Schmuhl was in the diaper, and items used in the attack were found in the car. The couple were arrested. The crime marked a fall for Andrew Schmuhl, who was a former Army judge advocate and military magistrate. He left the military in 2012 after suffering a back injury two years earlier. The injury left him unable to work, and he used narcotics and other drugs to combat his pain. Prosecutors said Alecia and Andrew Schmuhl carefully planned the attack on Fisher and his wife, creating an abduction kit, buying cellphones that could not easily be traced and purchasing a Taser in the days before the incident. Schmuhls attorneys said they were disappointed with the outcome of the case. The medical conditions and the things we talked about in court are real, attorney Andy Elders said after the trial. What happened in that house was not who he is. Schmuhl testified in his own defense during the trial, saying he could not recall the attack or how he was found by police. I dont really remember wearing a diaper, he told the jury. Honestly, I could have been wearing a dress and not realized it. A 25-year-old man was sentenced Monday to 42 months in prison for a New Years Day car crash that injured more than a dozen people on a sidewalk outside a downtown Washington nightclub near Farragut North. Malik Marvin Lloyd, of Northeast, pleaded guilty in D.C. Superior Court in March to three counts of assault with significant bodily injury, one count of destruction of property and driving under the influence of alcohol. [Several injured when car crashes into outside bar in downtown Washington] In a separate case, Lloyd was sentenced to 36 months in prison after pleading guilty to unlawful possession of a firearm and possession with intent to distribute cocaine. That sentence will be served concurrently with the sentence in the crash. The nightclub incident occurred about 1:30 a.m. at Barcode in the 1600 block of L Street NW. Lloyd was driving a Chrysler 200 north on 17th Street NW when he struck a Honda CRV. Lloyd drove away, turning right onto L Street, and onto the sidewalk. Prosecutors said the car hit a tree box, a tree and several people who were standing or sitting at an outdoor section of the bar. The car then struck a light pole. Most of the 13 people were slightly injured either by the car or debris. Three people, including Barcodes bouncer, were seriously injured. [Man pleads guilty to crashing car into sidewalk bar in Northwest] Lloyd told D.C. police that he had two glasses of champagne earlier in the evening. But prosecutors said that while being treated at Howard University Hospital, Lloyd admitted to having smoked marijuana, and his blood alcohol content measured .20, well beyond the Districts legal limit. The drug and gun charges Lloyd face stem from a search that police executed at his home in Northeast Washington in October 2014. Police said they found PCP and crack cocaine, packing material and two semiautomatic handguns in his bedroom. A bank robber dubbed the Forever Loyal Bandit, who authorities say carried out a string of heists in Northern Virginia, has been captured, police said. Amin Huie, 42, of Arlington was arrested after a robbery at a Capital One Bank in Falls Church around 3 p.m. Friday, police said. Police broadcast a lookout for the suspect after he left the bank in the 1100 block of West Broad Street and Falls Church, and police found him a short time later. Following an investigation, police now think Huie carried out a series of six bank robberies and one attempted robbery in Arlington and Fairfax County beginning in June 2014. Huie was dubbed the Forever Loyal Bandit because he wore a T-shirt with the words Forever Loyal during two of the robberies. He is facing additional charges in the other cases. Commuters push onto a crowded train after longer than expected delays on the Orange Line on Monday, June 6, 2016. Overcrowding on platforms and extended delays are expected to continue due to Metros SafeTrack project. (Amanda Voisard/For the Washington Post) Prince Georges County officials on Monday outlined their plans for dealing with the second phase of Metros SafeTrack rebuilding plan, which will cut off access between the county and downtown D.C. via the Orange, Blue and Silver lines for 16 days beginning Saturday. The plan calls for additional buses and free bus service between end-of-the-line Metro stations and additional capacity on MARC trains. In addition, the county will embark on an aggressive communications effort to encourage residents to seek alternatives. This second surge of Metros massive year-long maintenance program is the first that includes the partial shutdown of lines. Starting Saturday, Orange, Blue and Silver line service will be shut down between the Eastern Market and Minnesota Avenue and Benning Road stations. In addition, there will be no Blue Line service between Arlington Cemetery and Rosslyn in Northern Virginia. [Brace yourselves, commuters: Metros year-long maintenance blitz is set to begin] The surge is expected to affect thousands of trips; through July 3, 45 percent to 60 percent fewer Metro trains will travel across the county line during the morning rush hour. Having trouble maneuvering around Metro's 10-month maintenance overhaul? Well here is a guide to help riders find the perfect alternative. (Ashleigh Joplin/The Washington Post) Malcolm Augustine, the countys representative on the Metro board, urged residents to seek alternatives, rather than relying on Metro to get to work. When we dont have the ability to get through Potomac Avenue and Stadium-Armory, and we have 25,000 Prince Georgians who get on at the stations, and youre only going to be able to put 2,000 through on that bus bridge thats a shutdown as far as Im concerned, Augustine said Monday at a briefing before the County Council. If weve got a bus bridge with 20 buses even 40 buses the numbers simply dont add up. Metro General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld echoed Augustines concerns about capacity. Its a math problem, Wiedefeld said. Theres never going to be enough buses to match the trains. One of the goals here is that people who have no options still have a transit option. [With Metros big rebuild project looming, some in Washington are still in denial] Plans include deploying more buses to depart every 20 minutes from New Carrollton to Greenbelt, offering free service on the countys TheBus route 15X, which connects the two stations, and placing additional buses on stand-by to support Metros shuttle buses. New Carrollton is the eastern endpoint of the Orange Line, while Greenbelt is the northern terminus for the Green and Yellow lines. Prince Georges was initially criticized for its slow response to SafeTrack and a lack of concrete plans to address the surges. Much of its initial messaging focused on getting the word out to commuters and encouraging them to find alternatives. Transit advocates noted that the District, Arlington and Fairfax County acted more quickly to announce efforts such as expanding rush-hour parking restrictions, adjusting signal timing and ramping up bike-sharing access. Late last month, when asked why it wasnt doing so, the countys Department of Public Works and Transportation said TheBus was operating at capacity. If there are emergency situations, we will do our best to assist, the county said in a statement then. However, we are at operational capacity and do not have additional resources, in terms of buses or drivers to operate them, to support an expansion of services to supplement SafeTrack activities. [These Metro lines and stations will be disrupted in the next year] But on Monday, Augustine and County Council Chairman Derrick L. Davis (D) said projections about the number of affected commutes made it necessary to devise its own alternatives. The reality for us is while we make Metro as safe as possible, there will be inconveniences for all of us that we all must bear, Davis said. But we do not want to have another tragedy because we were penny-wise and pound-foolish. The plan encourages commuters to consider alternatives such as carpooling, vanpooling and sharing rides using any of 11 free park- and -ride facilities in addition to laying out plans for additional capacity. The county also plans to adjust signal timing on major roads leading into the District, push out messages to drivers using overhead signs and encourage increased state police enforcement of HOV rules. [Metro releases significantly revised SafeTrack plan that addresses FTA concerns] While SafeTrack is expected to slow traffic across the region, the county warns that impacts will be worst during partial shutdowns and nearly a month of single-tracking on the Green and Yellow Lines between College Park-University of Maryland and Greenbelt later this year. For that surge, Nov. 12 to Dec. 6, which will result in 67 percent fewer trains between Greenbelt and College Park, the county will deploy up to 10 more buses than usual between the two Metro stations during rush hours. Augustine said he was very concerned about the impact SafeTrack could have on county roads especially if residents dont telework or adopt flexible working hours. As for the countys initial reluctance to adopt SafeTrack alternatives, he said, it came down to uncertainties about the plans timeline and impacts. The line segment shutdown at Eastern Market had initially been scheduled for later this summer. In sharing more of the information the reality of what the throughput would be it increased the need for mitigation and the understanding for mitigation, Augustine said. Once we started having that conversation, bringing the stakeholders together, it became fully clear that we really did need to come up with some alternatives. Libby Garvey, chair of the Arlington County Board, greets voter Laurie Siegel, right, while canvassing for reelection. (Astrid Riecken/For The Washington Post) Arlington County Board chair Libby Garvey on Tuesday easily won the Democratic nomination for a second term on the County Board, rebuffing the efforts of party activists who staged a rare challenge to her reelection. Voters rejected efforts by the Democratic establishment to punish Garvey for her support of Republican-turned-independent John Vihstadt, whose election in 2014 ended 15 years of an all-Democratic board. Garvey received 8,362 votes, and Erik Gutshall had 6,878, according to unofficial returns. We had a strategy from the beginning and we stuck to it, Garvey said, describing herself as relieved and tired after a long and at times heated campaign. She said she relied on voters knowing her from almost 20 years in office, including 15 years on the county School Board. [In final days, Garvey had far more cash on hand] Arlington County Board candidate Erik Gutshall talks with Kathleen Murray in the Ashton Heights neighborhood. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post) Over and over, voters in the low-turnout primary said they respected Garvey, 65, because she stood up against the rest of the board on Vihstadts election, her opposition to a streetcar and other issues. I thought she made a very courageous stand and that should be encouraged, not discouraged, said Jim Schroeder, who voted at Barcroft Elementary School. But it was also the fact that her opponent said she wasnt a true Democrat this guy whos been around for two minutes. And his ads were way over the top. The only opposition Garvey will face in November comes from independent Audrey Clement, a perennial candidate who has largely self-funded her campaign. No Republicans had filed for the seat by the Tuesday night deadline. Gutshall conceded about 8 p.m. and pledged to support Garvey in November. Turnout was 11 percent, said Linda Lindberg, the county voter registrar. There were nearly twice as many absentee ballots as there were last June, when six Democrats sought nomination to two open County Board seats. Throughout the primary season, Garvey sought to turn her political independence into an asset, promising to put the community before the party and urging more flexibility in the application of planning and zoning rules. [Arlington board chair faces opposition from within her own party] Jamie Usrey, 68, voting Tuesday morning at Williamsburg Middle School, said Garvey seemed best suited to deal with overcrowded schools and other pressing concerns. I like the way that she stands up for what she believes, even if the party doesnt agree with her, Usrey said. Gutshall, 46, owner of a small home-improvement business, accused Garvey of lacking leadership, sowing divisive politics and not doing the work necessary to find solutions. He was backed by multiple current and former elected officials in Arlington, including one current board member. Arlington is beginning to turn to the right, and I think Libby Garvey is a turn to the right, said Karen Tripp, 52, a former Fairfax County teacher who is studying to be a librarian and who voted for Gutshall. Theres an increased sense in supporting business interests over the interests of the working poor. It has been 14 years since a sitting member of the county board has been challenged in a primary or party caucus. Because Virginia does not register voters by party, any registered voter in Arlington was eligible to cast a ballot in Tuesdays primary. Gutshall voters openly worried about Garvey and her supporters attracting Republicans to the polls. [In Arlington, liberal challenger against maverick incumbent] Garvey said Tuesday night that we certainly drew some of those independent and Republican voters and I think its a good thing, especially compared to whats happening on the national scene. This is an extremely Democratic county, and I won pretty decisively. During the campaign, Gutshall accused Garvey of not planning for the predicted enrollment crisis that caused overcrowding in many Arlington schools. But Garvey countered that while she was on the School Board, nearly two dozen schools were built or rebuilt. Joe Delogu, 49, who voted for Gutshall at Williamsburg Middle School, said he holds Garvey responsible for the overcrowded classrooms at his three daughters schools. School capacity planning has been particularly poor, Delogu said. The teachers do a good job, but its overwhelming when you have the volumes of children in the buildings that they have to deal with. Amanda Brooks, a mother of two who voted at Walter Reed Community Center, said she voted for Garvey because of her strong support for traffic safety in Brookss neighborhood just off Columbia Pike. Its very easy to be negative and say all the things wrong with a situation especially when youre not part of the actual process, Brooks said. Ive seen amazing things Libby has done without any attention shes tireless. Antonio Olivo contributed to this report. U.S. Rep. Randy Forbes thanks supporters Tuesday after losing his bid for the Republican nomination for the 2nd Congressional District. (Stephen M. Katz/The Virginian-Pilot via AP) U.S. Rep. J. Randy Forbes was unseated in a Republican primary Tuesday by a state delegate in a newly drawn Virginia Beach district a blow to the congressman who switched districts in an effort to remain in Congress. A court-imposed election map increased the number of Democratic voters in Forbess current district, the 4th, making it difficult for him to hold on to the seat. Rather than risk losing to a Democrat, he opted to run in the coastal 2nd District. But state Del. Scott W. Taylor (Virginia Beach), a 36-year-old former Navy SEAL, successfully painted Forbes as a carpetbagger and capitalized in the primary campaign on the same national hunger for an insurgent candidate that helped propel Donald Trump to the GOP presidential nomination. The district heavily favored the celebrity billionaire in the March 1 primary and will be key to the presidential hopefuls Virginia campaign. Theres a mood in the 2nd District and in the country that Washington is broken, Taylor said from a packed victory party. We want something different. We want Washington to work for our veterans, for our families. Virginia State Senator and congressional candidate A. Donald McEachin (D-Henrico) speaks during a General Assembly debate in Richmond. (Steve Helber/AP) Forbess loss concludes a 26-year career in public service, starting with the Virginia General Assembly. Forbes, 64, said representing members of the military has been a high privilege. To each who have stood by us and partnered with us, I am blessed by your friendship and encouragement, he said in a statement. We have had a vision for this region, for rebuilding our military, and for defending religious liberty, and while perhaps not embraced by voters tonight, we hope nonetheless [it] will be the path forward for our nation and our region. Taylor won about 53 percent of the vote to Forbess 41 percent, with all precincts reporting, according to unofficial results. A third Republican, lawyer Pat Cardwell, picked up 7 percent. The coming retirement of Rep. Scott Rigell (R) of the 2nd District and the new congressional map opened the door for Forbes, who adopted the risky strategy of running negative ads against Taylor. Forbes is the ultimate outsider running as the ultimate insider, said Quentin Kidd, a political science professor at Christopher Newport University in Newport News. Chairman of the House Armed Services seapower and projection forces subcommittee, Forbes argued that his influence could protect and increase federal spending in the region. His $1 million war chest dwarfed Taylors fundraising. The new districts also turned the political landscape upside down in the Richmond area, making it possible for two African American Democrats to represent Virginia in Congress for the first time since Reconstruction. Last year, a three-judge panel decided that the GOP legislature had packed African American voters into the Hampton Roads-based 3rd Congressional District, which is represented by the states lone black congressman, Rep. Robert C. Bobby Scott. After the General Assembly missed a deadline for redrawing the map, the court imposed one that unified all of liberal Richmond City into the 4th District, paving the way for a Democrat. State Sen. Donald A. McEachin (Henrico) defeated Ella Ward, a council member in Chesapeake City, for the Democratic nomination, according to unofficial results. McEachin said he gained voters trust over nearly 20 years in the General Assembly by focusing on the environment, poverty, rural broadband access and infrastructure needs. There was a certain comfort and trust level that I could do the same in Washington, he said. As for the Republican primary in the 4th District, Henrico Sheriff Mike Wade, an ally of former House majority leader Eric Cantors, defeated Jackee Gonzalez for the nomination. In the sprawling 6th District, which includes Roanoke and Lynchburg, Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) easily overcame a rare challenge from a fellow Republican, Harry Griego. Turnout across the state was low as voters trickled into polling places to cast ballots for congressional races that garner far less attention than statewide or presidential contests. In Richmond polling places, the new map generated excitement among Democrats who hoped a win by McEachin or Ward could help turn the U.S. House blue in November. Several said they hoped for a Democratic wave in response to Trumps candidacy. Democrats do have a chance at making some gains in both the House and Senate, and this is a good way to make sure were there, said Bruce Gould. The Trump thing is just going to spin apart. Others pointed to the historic nature of a possible win by an African American in a majority-majority district, where most voters are white in a city once known as the capital of the Confederacy. [At Confederate convention, removal of flag is a battle cry, rather than a defeat] McEachin said the new map rectified an injustice, but he played down the racial implications of the election.I think thats a footnote, he said. A lawyer and chair of the Democratic caucus in the state Senate, he outraised Ward by about 10-1, according to to data compiled by the Virginia Public Access Project. In Richmonds Jackson Ward neighborhood, once known as the Harlem of the South, the struggles of civil rights pioneers weighed on residents who said they vote in every election. My parents were in the civil rights movement. You vote, or you get out of the way, said Yasmin Crawley, a cardiac telemetry technician. Asked about the chance of increasing the Virginia delegations African American representation, she smiled broadly but quickly turned serious. At a time of police violence against black youths, student loan debt and poverty, we need heavy hitters, she said. We dont need anybody to be meek and mild or go with the status quo. The names of the dead paint an unmistakable picture: Sotomayor, Velazquez, Guerrero, Rivera, Martinez, Perez. Sundays massacre at the Pulse nightclub, the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, carved deep wounds into the heart of Floridas Latino community. We are devastated, said Sami Haiman-Marrero, an Orlando businesswoman who is an activist for Latinos. We are heartbroken. It remains unclear whether the gunman in Sundays rampage which killed 49 people enjoying Latin Night at a popular gay nightclub was targeting gays, Latinos, Americans or any specific group. Regardless of his intent, the effect was a devastating strike on a fast-growing community that makes up nearly 30 percent of the population of Orange County, where Orlando is located. More than 90 percent of the victims are Latino, so we are really trying to come together for them, said Haiman-Marrero, who has helped organize Somos Orlando, an umbrella group of nearly two dozen Latino organizations formed within hours of the massacre to help provide bilingual grief counseling, housing and other support for affected families. Florida has the third-largest Hispanic population in the country: While Hispanics make up 17 percent of the national population, its 24 percent in Florida, and rising fast, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. So an attack on Latinos here ripples into every corner of the local economy and culture. Geoffrey Brooks, 12, of Orlando, holds a sign that reads Somos Orlando, or We are Orlando. (Melissa Lyttle/For The Washington Post) This was a call of action on our part to show we are a growing force in this community, Zoe Colon, director of the Florida chapter of the Hispanic Federation, said at a news conference Monday attended by more than 20 Latino leaders. Weve never really been, at least in recent history, the target of a terrorist attack, she said. Not to speculate that this was an attack on the Latino community, but to have been impacted to this magnitude, I dont think weve ever seen that. Colon, like some other Latino leaders, complained that the media has so far largely painted the shootings as an attack on the gay community. Although . . . the overwhelming majority of the victims were Hispanic, thats been largely omitted from the narrative, Colon said. Yes, we stand in solidarity with the LGBT community and are not here to point fingers. But the fact that its not stressed and not emphasized in central Florida . . . its really difficult. Nancy Rosado, vice president of the nonprofit group Mision Boricua, is a gay Latina. She said the devastating impact on the Latino community should not be omitted when the story of the Orlando massacre is told. Carlos Guillermo Smith, a public policy specialist with Equality Florida, which advocates for the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, agreed. The first thing that stood out to me is that these were mostly young Latino men, and thats so tragic because of how close our community is and how inclusive a community Orlando is, Guillermo Smith said. We are proud that we can go to places like Pulse and let our hair down and have a good time with our friends and dance to salsa music and just be free. Smith added, his voice breaking: Its personal to me because Im Latino and gay. When I look at moms and dads and family members hugging their loved ones on TV and they are dealing with this crisis, they look like me. At least some of the victims appeared to be Puerto Ricans, who make up the largest segment of the Latino population here. The Puerto Rican community has been booming, due in part to an economic crisis that has spawned the greatest exodus of people from Puerto Rico in 50 years. The Pew Research Center calculates that the islands population dropped by 11,000 people a year in the 1990s. Annual departures more than quadrupled, to 48,000, between 2010 and 2013, with many of those people moving to central Florida. Because residents of Puerto Rico are U.S. citizens, movement to the U.S. mainland is easy. And Orlando is a powerful lure for young, unemployed Puerto Ricans: It has an abundance of entry-level jobs at Disney World and other parts of its bustling tourist industry. And the area feels welcoming because so many Puerto Ricans are already here, working as established professionals and business leaders. Puerto Rican flags, music and food are easy to find. Here, when someone mentions the island, everyone knows which island theyre talking about. Zoraida Rios-Andino, a longtime community and political activist, speculated that many of the young people killed in Sundays slaying were either recent arrivals or had not been living long in Florida. At least one victim was a Mexican national. Colon, of the Hispanic Federation, said a few victims may have been undocumented immigrants. Knowing this is a relatively new Latino community, Colon said, we should be talking about the special needs of that community. In response, the Hispanic Federation helped organize a news conference Monday afternoon, gathering more than two dozen Latino-led organizations for a show of solidarity. Rosado, of Mision Boricua, said she thinks the massacre could be a catalyst to increased civic engagement and involvement in local politics. The presumptive Republican nominee for president, Donald Trump, has pledged to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and to ban all Muslims from entering the United States, rhetoric that has angered many Latinos here. Haiman-Marrero said local leaders were planning an event to demonstrate solidarity between central Floridas Latino and Muslim communities. The fact that the killer was a Muslim and that most of his victims were Latino, she said, should not cause a rift between the two cultures. Were not pointing fingers. We cant point fingers. This needs to stop, Haiman-Marrero said. I could not care less what Trump has to say. We are stopping the cycle of intolerance. We will not judge the character of a community based on the actions of one individual. A board member at the Islamic Center of Fort Pierce in Florida talks about Orlando shooter Omar Mateens attendance and demeanor. (Lee Powell/The Washington Post) A board member at the Islamic Center of Fort Pierce in Florida talks about Orlando shooter Omar Mateens attendance and demeanor. (Lee Powell/The Washington Post) Kevin West said he was in the parking lot at the Pulse nightclub at 1 a.m. Sunday when he recognized Omar Mateen walking in. The men had met more than a year ago when Mateen reached out to West on Jackd, a dating app for men. They then lost touch until three months ago, when Mateen made contact again, mentioned that he would be in Orlando soon and suggested meeting for a drink. West had also seen Mateen at Pulse multiple times before. I remember details, said West, a 37-year-old Navy veteran. I never forget a face. Later that night, Mateen would kill 49 people inside the gay nightclub in Orlando in the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. Mateens apparent presence on gay dating apps and his previous visits to Pulse, according to West and another witness, added another dimension to the portrait emerging Monday of the man behind the violent rampage. The gunman who killed at least 49 people in a shooting rampage at an Orlando nightclub has been identified as 29-year-old Omar Mateen. Here is what we know about him so far. (Deirdra O'Regan/The Washington Post) Cord Cedeno said he had also seen Mateen inside Pulse before, standing at the bar with a drink. He was open with his picture on the sites; he was easy to recognize, said Cedeno, 23, of Orlando, who said he was also contacted by Mateen at least a year ago on a dating app. Mateen and his family had the typical profile of striving immigrants in this country. But there were also hints of darkness in Mateens life, according to interviews with relatives, friends, ex-classmates, former co-workers and acquaintances: Being Afghan American meant he stood out in a small South Florida town and was bullied in school. He switched jobs constantly and became increasingly frustrated, unpredictable, sporadically religious and prone to anger. Some of Mateens high school classmates pinpointed a particularly strange moment on Sept. 11, 2001, when they were watching the attack on the World Trade Center unfold on live TV. [These are the victims of the Orlando shooting] Four classmates said Mateen cheered and made mocking comments, which got him pulled from class and may have led to his departure from the school. His unusual behavior that day was also corroborated by other classmates in public posts on Facebook. The Martin County School District referred all questions about Mateens time as a student to the FBI. Robert Zirkle, then a freshman in the Martin school district, said that after 9/11, he saw Mateen excited and making fun of how America was attacked. He was making plane noises on the bus, acting like he was running into a building, Zirkle recalled. I dont really know if he was doing it because he was being taught some stuff at home or just doing it for attention because he didnt have a lot of friends. 1 of 25 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad What the investigation into the Orlando mass shooting looks like View Photos Officials are scouring the site and others in the area for information about the June 12 massacre. Caption Officials are scouring the site and others in the area for information about the June 12 massacre. June 15, 2016 Law enforcement officials gather outside Pulse nightclub in Orlando during the shooting investigation. David Goldman/AP Wait 1 second to continue. We all rode the same bus. We werent really close friends, but friends at least a little, he said. After 9/11 happened, he started changing and acting different. At the time, Mateen was attending the Spectrum alternative school, a campus in Stuart, Fla., for students with behavioral issues. One former student who was sitting in the same class as Mateen said he remembers the morning of 9/11 clearly: Teachers said, Turn on the TV. We see the one plane hit. And then see the second plane hit. . . . He was smiling. It was almost like surreal how happy he was about what had happened to us. The former student said Mateen stood up after the second tower was hit and claimed that Osama bin Laden was his uncle. Back then, we didnt even really know who Osama bin Laden was, the classmate said. But he talked about shooting AK-47s. . . . He said he shot them and his uncle taught him how to shoot them. The ex-classmate spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear that business clients would find out that he attended a school for poorly behaving students. He recalled others in the class growing angry. The teacher could tell we wanted to hurt him. So the teacher grabbed him, he said, and sent him to the deans office. In a Facebook post, another student similarly described Mateens standing up and cheering on 9/11. A third classmate said he distinctly remembers Mateens actions that day because both of them were sent to the deans office at the same time for acting out when the towers were hit. That third student spoke on the condition of anonymity because he feared being bombarded by media requests. I was sleeping in class and woke up to see people jumping off buildings, so I started swearing and they sent me up, the former student said. When he arrived at the deans office, Mateen was also there, apparently for saying rude things about Americans deserving to be attacked, said this student, who was not in the classroom to witness the comments. The first former classmate who was in the classroom vividly recalled Mateens father picking him up after he got in trouble. I remember his dad walking up, he said. And in the courtyard in front of everyone, the dad slapped him right across the face. After that day, Zirkle said, he kept doing it and saying crazy things. Its weird. He was totally cool before 9/11, and then something changed. Zirkle and others think Mateen was suspended or expelled from the school shortly afterward. But such memories dont fit with those of Kenneth Winstanley, a friend of Mateens in junior high and high school, who said he did not recall Mateen celebrating the Sept. 11 attacks and doubted his friend would have done that. Winstanley was not in the same room as Mateen that day. I never heard about him doing anything like that, said Winstanley, who attended school with Mateen from grades six through 10. Someone would have said something. We were friends. If he was caught celebrating something like that, he would have gotten beaten up. Winstanley said he never saw signs of radicalization in Mateen in high school, adding, I know Omar liked America. He said the two once had a conversation about Mateens Muslim faith. Omar explained the Muslim religion to me, Winstanley said. He didnt go crazy into it. It was just some of the things his culture does, the food they eat. Nothing radical Islam at all. Sarah Zaidi, who was best friends with one of Mateens three sisters, described the Mateens as an all-American family. His mom worked for a while at a day-care center. His dad did stuff with stocks and investment, Zaidi said. They were pretty moderate as Muslims. None of the sisters or mom even wore a headscarf like some Muslims do. Two of Mateens sisters are now married and have kids in the same area, Zaidi said. A third is a hairdresser and cosmetologist. But as the only son, Mateen seemed to have fewer friends than his sisters. He was brutally bullied, said Justin Delancy, who rode the bus with Mateen for several years. He was a chubby kid and got bullied about his weight. He was probably one of the only kids of [Afghan] descent. That made him stand out a bit as well. On some mornings, kids wouldnt let Mateen sit beside them. On others, hed get slapped on the back of his head, Delancy said. Hed try to joke and laugh and make fun of himself to get the attention off of himself. But it didnt work. Court records released Monday depict a meandering life for Mateen after he left the alternative school. He graduated in 2006 from Martin Countys adult vocational school, where struggling students go to get GEDs. He earned an associates degree from Indian River State College in 2006. In the court documents, Mateen disclosed his work history, a string of jobs from 2002 to 2006 at GNC, Hollister, Golds Gym, Nutrition World, Walgreens, Chick-fil-A, Circuit City and Publix. In 2009, Mateen married Sitora Yusufiy, who has said in interviews that Mateen beat her severely. They separated about nine months later. A judge ruled in 2011 that their marriage was irretrievably broken. After he married a second time, his current wife, Noor Z. Salman, also left him to return to her childhood home in Rodeo, Calif., with their 3-year-old son, acquaintances said. Friends and co-workers gave conflicting reports about Mateens religiosity and personality. To some, he was extremely pious and serious. But others described him chasing girls, going to parties and drinking. He was fun, said Ryan Jones, 27, who said he often went out with Mateen. Former classmate Samuel King and his friends also hung out with Mateen at the mall, where Mateen worked at the GNC store after high school and King at Ruby Tuesday. Half the workers at the restaurant were openly gay, King said, including himself. He had to know it, but I never got any sense of homophobia or aggression from him. Over the past two days, King and others have revisited their interactions with Mateen, trying to find signs of how he turned into someone capable of such violence. On Tuesday, Mateens father, Seddique Mateen, strongly discounted the possibility that his son was gay. I dont believe he was a whatever you call it, the elder Mateen told reporters gathered outside his home in Port St. Lucie, Fla. On Monday, he insisted that his son was not motivated by Islamist radical ideology, describing the 29-year-old as a good son who did not appear agitated or angry in the days before the shooting. In an interview at his home, the father offered no hints about what could have driven his son. When asked about Mateens 911 call pledging loyalty to the Islamic State, his father said he did not believe it was genuine. I think he just wanted to boast of himself, he said. No radicalism, no. He doesnt have a beard even. . . . I dont think religion or Islam had anything to do with this. His father also glossed over the anger and homophobia that, a day earlier, he recounted witnessing in Mateen after his son saw a gay couple being affectionate in Miami. He was surprised about it. That was it. Though he declined to give any information about the location of his sons wife, Noor Mateen, he mentioned he had seen his grandson earlier today. He did not respond to inquiries as to whether she hired a lawyer or if he believed she had advance knowledge of the Orlando massacre. Well wait for the law enforcement, he said. In a video posted to Facebook early Monday, the father said: God himself will punish those involved in homosexuality. This is not for the servants of God. Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, government officials were also trying to piece together the familys background for clues. They said they do not know when Mateens father left the country but noted that millions fled after the Soviet Unions invasion in 1979. Mateens father, however, maintained a strong affiliation with Afghanistan, hosting a television show broadcast from California that weighed in on the countrys political affairs. He also filmed dozens of sparsely viewed, rambling YouTube videos portraying himself as an important Afghan analyst and leader. The most recent video on the fathers YouTube channel shows him declaring his candidacy for the Afghan presidency. But the timing is strange, coming a year after presidential elections were held in Afghanistan. And the elder Mateen appears incoherent at times in the video, jumping abruptly from topic to topic. Sitting on his living-room couch, the father said he saw no warning signs up to the day before the shootings when he last saw his son. He was well behaved. His appearance was perfect, he said. I didnt see any sign of worrying or being upset or nervous. Hull reported from Orlando. Arelis R. Hernandez in Orlando; Lee Powell and Zachary Fagenson in Fort Pierce; Tim Craig in Afghanistan; and Julie Tate, Alice Crites, Amy Brittain, Jerry Markon, Brian Murphy and Max Bearak in Washington contributed to this report. ENVIRONMENT High court leaves intact standards for mercury The Supreme Court on Monday left intact a key Obama administration environmental regulation, refusing to hear an appeal from 20 states seeking to block rules that limit the emissions of mercury and other toxic pollutants from the nations power plants. That leaves in place a lower-court decision allowing the regulation to remain in effect while the Environmental Protection Agency revised the way it had calculated industrys potential compliance costs. The EPA finalized its costs analysis in April. In a statement Monday, the EPA praised the courts decision not to review the case, saying the mercury standards are an important part of a broader effort to ensure clean air for Americans. It noted that power plants are the countrys largest source of mercury, a neurotoxin. Brady Dennis MINNESOTA Court rejects damages awarded to Ventura A federal appeals court on Monday threw out $1.8 million in damages awarded to former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura, who said he was defamed by the late author Chris Kyle in the bestselling book American Sniper. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit also sent a portion of the case Venturas defamation claim back to the district court for a new trial, saying Venturas attorneys made improper remarks and the trial court clearly abused its discretion in denying a new trial. Kyle is a former SEAL regarded as the deadliest sniper in U.S. military history with 160 confirmed kills. In his book American Sniper, he wrote a subchapter called Punching Out Scruff Face in which he describes decking Ventura at a California bar in 2006 after Ventura made offensive comments about SEALs, including that the SEALs deserve to lose a few in Iraq. Ventura, a former Underwater Demolition Teams/SEAL member and ex-pro wrestler, sued. He testified at trial that he never made the statements and that the confrontation never happened. Kyle, who was killed on a shooting range in 2013 by a troubled military veteran, gave sworn videotaped testimony before his death that his story was true. The case proceeded against his estate. In 2014, a jury awarded Ventura $500,000 for defamation and $1.3 million for unjust enrichment. Kyles widow, Taya Kyle, appealed. In Mondays ruling, a three-judge appellate panel reversed the unjust-enrichment award, saying the theory of unjust-enrichment enjoys no legal support under Minnesota law. Associated Press SOUTH CAROLINA Suspect in church shooting to face jury A jury, not a judge, will consider hate crimes and other federal charges against the man charged in the shooting deaths of nine parishioners at a South Carolina church. U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel ruled Monday that jurors will determine the guilt or innocence of Dylann Roof in his federal trial. If hes convicted, a jury will also hear arguments on a possible death sentence. Roofs lawyers had requested a bench trial. Earlier Monday, prosecutors filed papers opposing a bench trial. Roof, 22, faces the charges in connection to the June 17 shootings at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston. The trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 7. His trial on nine counts of murder in state court is set for January. CALIFORNIA Man charged with 3 weapons violations An Indiana man was charged Tuesday with three felony weapons violations after authorities say they found three assault rifles and explosive chemicals in his car before a major Los Angeles gay pride parade. James Wesley Howell, 20, was charged in Los Angeles County Superior Court with possessing an assault weapon, possessing a destructive device on a public street, and importing or manufacturing a large magazine. He was also charged with a misdemeanor count of possessing a loaded firearm in a vehicle. If convicted of all the charges, prosecutors say Howell could face up to nine years and eight months in prison. Police say Howell was arrested early Sunday in Santa Monica with the weapons and explosives in a car he apparently drove from Indiana. He told police he was headed to a gay pride event in West Hollywood that attracts hundreds of thousands of people. Its unclear whether Howell intended any violence at the LA Pride event, but the timing of the arrest hours after the massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida put police and event organizers on heightened alert. Federal agents searched Howells Jefferson, Ind., home on Monday, authorities said. Howell was not allowed to have weapons or leave Indiana because he was serving a year of probation following an April conviction on a misdemeanor intimidation charge. Associated Press TEXAS Charge against activist dropped; more pending A misdemeanor charge accusing an antiabortion activist of trying to buy human organs while making an undercover video looking into Planned Parenthood practices has been dismissed, and his lawyers said they are working to have a felony count the activist faces thrown out as well. David Daleiden, 27, and fellow activist Sandra Merritt, 63, were each indicted in January on a felony charge of tampering with a governmental record for allegedly using fake drivers licenses to conceal their identities while dealing with Planned Parenthood at a Houston clinic. Daleiden was also indicted on the misdemeanor count related to purchasing human organs. Video footage from the activists showed them posing as company representatives for BioMax, which purportedly procured fetal tissue for research. Planned Parenthood has said the fake company offered to pay the astronomical amount of $1,600 for organs from a fetus. The clinic said it never agreed to the offer. But Harris County Criminal Court at Law Judge Diane Bull on Monday dismissed the misdemeanor count, ruling the indictment was flawed because prosecutors had failed to make reference within the indictment to any exceptions to the law prohibiting the purchase or sale of human organs. Associated Press Police kill man who took 2 hostage at Walmart: An armed man who held two people hostage in an Amarillo, Tex., Walmart store was shot and killed by officers, while the hostages in the incident were unharmed, police said. Amarillo police described the case as workplace-related violence and said the suspect was shot by its SWAT unit. The man fired a shot when he entered the store and took two people hostage. The suspect was not immediately identified. Man held over shooting scare at Albuquerque City Hall: A man has been arrested in connection with a scare at Albuquerque City Hall about a possible shooter and hostage situation that police now believe was a hoax. Police said Daniel Olguin, 28, was charged with breaking and entering and false imprisonment after a floor-by-floor search of City Hall. Police in tactical gear surrounded City Hall on Monday and closed part of downtown Albuquerque after receiving reports of a possible shooter. 80-year-old man suspected in shooting death of 81-year-old: An 80-year-old man killed an 81-year-old man in a Rhode Island cemetery, then led police on a car chase before officers fatally shot him, authorities said. John Cloud, of Kingston, Mass., and Edward Acquisto, of Tiverton, R.I., arranged to meet Monday evening in a Tiverton cemetery, where Acquisto was known to go to read his Bible, police said. Acquisto then shot Cloud to death. Acquisto had a criminal history, including pleading no contest to manslaughter in 1982 and pleading guilty to sexual assault in 1981. From news services FRANCE Senior police official slain outside his home A knife-wielding attacker stabbed a senior police officer to death Monday outside his home in a distant suburb of Paris, officials said. The attacker and a female companion of the police commander were later found dead after police commandos stormed the home and rescued the couples 3-year-old son. The Islamic States Amaq news agency cited an unnamed source as saying an Islamic State fighter carried out the attack, but the extremist group had not officially asserted responsibility for the attack. The police commander was stabbed to death outside his home in Magnanville, about 35 miles west of Paris, Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet told reporters at the scene. The attacker then retreated indoors, and elite police commandos laid siege to the residence, eventually storming it after a roughly three-hour standoff. The woman and the attacker were found dead; the 3-year-old was found safe. French prosecutor Vincent Lesclous, who said he knew the slain police commander, said the assailants identity was unknown. Although officials said the attacker was killed by police when they stormed the residence, it was unclear how the woman, also a police worker, was killed. French President Francois Hollande condemned the attack as an odious act. Associated Press EAST AFRICA Ethiopia, Eritrea trade blame in border ght Ethiopia and Eritrea traded accusations over an incident in a disputed border area, with Ethiopia on Monday confirming that its military had taken proportional measures against Eritrea in response to an attempted attack in the Tsorona area the day before. In a statement late Sunday, Eritreas Information Ministry accused Ethiopian troops of attacks against Eritrean positions in the Tsorona Central Front. The two countries have been in a stalemate since the end in 2000 of a border war in which tens of thousands were killed. The countries do not have diplomatic relations and have accused each other of training and deploying banned armed groups. Charlotte King, an analyst with the Economist Intelligence Unit, said accusations of direct attacks by the two nations are rare. It is also unusual for the Eritrean government to comment on violent outbreaks, she said, adding that Eritrea may be trying to divert attention from a U.N. report last week that accused the government of widespread crimes against humanity. Associated Press SOUTH AFRICA Defense seeks leniency in Pistorius sentencing Oscar Pistorius is a broken man whose mental state has deteriorated and who should be hospitalized, not jailed, a psychologist called by his defense testified Monday at the start of a new sentencing hearing in Pretoria, South Africa. Prosecutors are seeking a long prison term for the double-amputee Olympic runner after his conviction in the killing of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp was changed to murder. Pistorius is living under house arrest after initially serving one year of a five-year prison sentence for manslaughter for shooting Steenkamp in 2013. That manslaughter conviction was overturned last year by the Supreme Court, which convicted Pistorius of the more-serious charge of murder. His new sentencing hearing is scheduled to run through Friday. South Africa has a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison for murder, although a judge can reduce that in some circumstances. Clinical psychologist Jonathan Scholtz said Pistorius was quite ill and struggled with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Scholtz evaluated Pistorius in 2014, during his murder trial, and again last month. Prosecutors had depicted Pistorius as an arrogant figure with a sense of entitlement and a love of guns. Steenkamp was shot multiple times through a toilet door. Pistorius has said that he had mistaken her for an intruder. Associated Press YEMEN 3 killed in suspected U.S. strike on al-Qaeda A suspected U.S. drone killed three alleged al-Qaeda fighters in an airstrike in Yemens central province of Shabwa, Yemeni security officials said Monday. The officials said the overnight attack hit the mens vehicle as they were traveling near the town of Haban. The officials also said that in the onetime al-Qaeda stronghold of Mukalla, on the southern coast, troops from the United Arab Emirates and others in a Saudi-led coalition primarily fighting Yemens anti-government Shiite rebels conducted raids on homes seeking al-Qaeda operatives. They said about 150 suspects were detained. Also Monday, the UAE said a pilot and co-pilot were killed in a military helicopter crash, after a similar crash the day before also killed two Emirati pilots. The statement said the two UAE pilots had been taking part in the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen. Associated Press 5 Kurdish separatists reportedly killed in Iran: A firefight between Irans powerful Revolutionary Guard Corps and Kurdish militants in western Iran killed five militants, state TV reported. They were members of the Iranian wing of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, in Turkey. Separately, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported a clash in Sistan-Baluchistan province near the border with Pakistan, saying security forces killed five members of the Jaish al-Adl terrorist group. Bahrain detains prominent activist: Bahraini police detained prominent activist Nabeel Rajab in a raid on his home, rights groups and his family said, part of a wide crackdown on dissent more than five years after the Arab Spring. Rajab, president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, had helped lead protests in 2011 as the islands majority-Shiite population and others demanded more political freedoms from its Sunni rulers. Bahrain crushed the protests. From news services Dont let a barbecue get the best of your bank account: Chicken drumsticks and one or more of these simple marinades will satisfy your crowd without blowing your budget. Each marinade makes enough for 20 to 24 chicken legs (10 to 12 servings). Once youve made the marinade of your choice, pour it over the chicken in a zip-top bag and refrigerate at least 1 hour. Remove chicken from marinade and grill until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part registers 165 degrees F. IT HAD not seemed possible, but Donald Trump descended this week to a new low of bigotry, fear-mongering and conspiracy-peddling. Republican leaders who said last week that they expected a change in tone after Mr. Trumps racist attacks on a California judge quickly received their answer. What can House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) or Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) possibly say now? As the country mourned the wanton slaughter of 49 people early Sunday, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee took a victory lap, hinted darkly that President Obama is an enemy of the nation, libeled American Muslims and, in grotesque punctuation, finished up with a vindictive attack on the media . Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism, he tweeted. I dont want congrats, he continued, as though that were not exactly what he wanted, I want toughness & vigilance. Mr. Trump may have calculated that a suddenly anxious electorate would be more receptive to his campaign of fear and prejudice, emotions he immediately attempted to inflame. In a Monday speech, Mr. Trump painted a false picture of a nation infiltrated by waves of unscreened Muslim refugees and immigrants, who, abetted by Democrats, are destroying American values and threatening the public. Among other things, he chillingly accused Muslim Americans of complicity with terrorists: The Muslims have to work with us, he said. They know whats going on. They know that [the Orlando shooter] was bad. They knew the people in San Bernardino were bad. But you know what? They didnt turn them in. And you know what? We had death, and destruction. The following shouldnt have to be repeated, but Mr. Trump makes it necessary. Most American Muslims are as patriotic and law-abiding as most American Christians, Jews and Hindus. Many have fought for and are fighting for the United States in dangerous theaters far away. To generalize as Mr. Trump does about the Muslims is to set the nation down a dangerous road it has trod, to its eventual regret, in the past: banning Chinese immigrants a century ago, rounding up U.S. citizens and noncitizens of Japanese descent in the 1940s, expelling wetbacks a decade later. Speaking in Manchester, N.H. June 13, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump vowed to shut down immigration from countries "where there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States." Here are key moments from that speech. (Associated Press/Reuters) Mr. Trump also raised suspicion in television interviews that Mr. Obama wants terrorists to strike the United States, or at least looks the other way as they scheme. Were led by a man that either is not tough, not smart or has something else in mind. And the something else in mind people cant believe it. People cannot believe that President Obama is acting the way he acts and cant even mention the words radical Islamic terrorism. Theres something going on. He invited poisonous speculations about his Democratic opponents motives, as well: Hillary Clinton wants to allow radical Islamic terrorists to pour into our country, he said. Informal Trump adviser Roger Stone, meanwhile, claimed that Huma Abedin, a top Clinton aide, might be a terrorist agent. Mr. Trump capped a day of assaulting fundamental liberal democratic values by announcing he would ban Post reporters from covering his campaign events. If this is his inclination now, imagine how he might wield the powers of the presidency. Before the Orlando shooting, Beltway analysts speculated about how a terrorist attack might affect the presidential election. Now we know at least part of the answer: Mr. Trump would reveal himself more clearly than ever as a man unfit to lead. A makeshift vigil Monday in San Francisco for those killed in the terrorist attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando on Sunday. (Andrew Burton/Getty Images) The only reasonable response to the massacre in Orlando is to ban the sale of military-style assault weapons. All else, Im afraid, is just noise. If this ensconces me in an ideological corner, Im fine with that. If it insults the Constitution, so be it any other response would do far greater harm to our freedoms. Or we could argue for a while and then do nothing. Weve tried that course of action many times, and it doesnt work. An Islamic State sympathizer was able to go into a gun store days or weeks ago and buy both a pistol and an AR-15-style semiautomatic assault rifle, which he used to kill 49 men and women at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. Had he been armed with the pistol alone, he still would have killed people but not so many. Keeping military-grade combat weapons out of the hands of maniacs should not be a controversial idea. The Second Amendment enshrines the right to keep and bear arms, and the Supreme Court has ruled that this is an individual right, not a collective one. The court has made clear, however, that this does not preclude reasonable gun control measures. Not all weapons must be considered suitable for private hands. When the framers wrote of arms, they were thinking about muskets and single-shot pistols. They could not have foreseen modern rifles or high-capacity magazines. They lived at a time when it was impossible to imagine one man barging into a crowded room and killing more than one or two people before having to reload and surely being subdued. Today it is not only imaginable but also tragically commonplace. Orlando shooter Omar Mateen used an AR-15 style rifle to kill at least 49 people, officials say. Heres what you need to know about the gun some are calling the gold standard for mass murder. (Gillian Brockell/The Washington Post) No hunter needs an AR-15 to bring down a deer. None of us needs such a weapon to defend our families against intruders. And for those who believe assault rifles offer protection against a hypothetical tyrannical government or who perhaps consider the present government tyrannical I have sobering news: If and when the black helicopters come, they will be accompanied by tanks. Why focus exclusively on the guns? Because other proposed solutions would violate the letter and spirit of the Constitution and surely wouldnt work anyway. One of the presidential candidates I dont want to sully this column with his name has suggested a ban on Muslim immigration. The idea would be laughable if it were not so dangerously un-American. First, it would be useless. The Orlando murderer I dont want to use his name, either was born not overseas but in New York, just like the presidential candidate in question. And in the San Bernardino, Calif., killing spree, also inspired by the Islamic State, the wife was an immigrant but the husband was born in the United States. The self-radicalization of American citizens is not going to be solved by banning all believers in Islam from entry. Which would be impossible, of course. I suppose immigration officers could ask every foreign visitor whether he or she is a Muslim, but then what? If the answer is no, wave them through? Stop them for further questioning if they look Muslim, whatever that means? Dont you think Islamic State operatives might be smart enough to have Bibles in their carry-ons rather than Korans? Attempting such a prohibition would also be obscene in a nation that enshrines religious freedom in the First Amendment. Enough said about this loathsome idea. Another possible response would involve more vigilant surveillance. The Orlando shooter had been interviewed by the FBI at least twice because of alleged extremist leanings or connections. He was apparently on a terrorism watch list for a time but was removed after authorities decided there was no need to keep him under suspicion. By all means, Congress should immediately ban gun sales to anyone on such a watch list. But that wouldnt have helped in Orlando. No level of surveillance remotely permissible under the Constitution would allow authorities to detect all instances of self-radicalization and act on them. We put people in jail for what they do, not what they think. Should there be universal background checks for gun purchases? Yes, of course. But the Orlando killer passed a background check. It is not possible to have a free society without the presumption of innocence. Freedom is possible, however, without the right to buy military weapons designed for killing sprees. Banning them would not end mass killings, but it would mean fewer deaths. If we do not act, the blood of future victims will be on all of our hands. Read more from Eugene Robinsons archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. You can also join him Tuesdays at 1 p.m. for a live Q&A. One of the manifold tragedies of the Orlando mass murder is how difficult it is for us to experience it and mourn it together. This killing lies at the intersection of so many deep emotions and personal equities: the war against terrorism. Resentment against Islam. Gay rights and pride. Gun control. Many Americans immediately claimed that the shooting justifies their preexisting beliefs, not just about the threats to America, but about the nature of evil. It is totalitarian ideology. Or someone elses religion. Or religion itself. Or homophobia. Or gun lovers and their political defenders. How can we possibly learn anything under these circumstances? But learning is needed. A friend refers to this type of attack as the price of living in a free society, comparing it to the situation in London during the years of Irish Republican Army terrorist bombings. And there is truth to this. The United States free and vast is a massive soft target. But conceding that future attacks are likely is very different from viewing them as normal. In Orlando, we saw the horrifying failure of a valid expectation of security. We should fight this. But everyone, it seems, has chosen different battlefields. It is as if, following Pearl Harbor, some had urged a campaign against Japan, others against Canada, still others against Paraguay. How can any society as polarized and politicized as our own diagnose and oppose a common threat? This was once the role of political rhetoric to find shared lessons and common purpose following the shattering of the peace. But it is difficult, at least in this case, to imagine the unity of Dec. 8, 1941, or even Sept. 12, 2001. President Obamas speech following the Orlando attack asserted a unity in grief, in outrage and in resolve but also touched on gun control themes that immediately angered many in the redder portion of his audience. The presumptive Republican nominee felt obliged to provide his own version of public grief. It was utterly typical for Donald Trump to seek shameless political advantage during a tragedy and to take shameful credit for past anti-Muslim sentiments. But this involves more than Trumps classlessness. A significant portion of Americans now expect the equivalent of a rebuttal at a funeral. President Obama made a statement on the shooting in Orlando from the White House briefing room. (AP) In some ways, Russell Moore of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission told me, tragedies now have less the feel of the JFK assassination and more of the feel of the George Wallace attempted assassination in 1972. Nixons first response is to plant McGovern literature in Arthur Bremers apartment. We are all Nixon now, seeking to plant ideologies in the place of horror, for our political benefit. At a time when we need to listen to and learn from others, our strong tendency is to employ events to reaffirm our convictions. I suspect I am as susceptible to it as others are. How do we remain open to listening, really listening, to people who have a different angle of vision? Isnt it possible for a single event to prove various points about law enforcement, national security and the terrible harvest of hatred against our LGBT neighbors and family members? Our political leadership has lost the ability to focus on shared tasks and express moral stakes. The president, it seems, is just one more voice in a chorus where everyone is singing a different piece of music. What Franklin Roosevelt called the warm courage of national unity seems remote. Maybe silence is the best tribute or the only one we can manage to offer together. But I hope we do not give up on language so easily. The Orlando slaughter caught in a horrible lightning flash of violence the human reality of death and loss. The answer, the alternative, is simple and difficult: empathy, even across the widest differences. When you visualized a man or woman carefully, concludes the Whiskey Priest in Graham Greenes The Power and the Glory, you could always begin to feel pity that was a quality Gods image carried with it. When you saw the lines at the corners of the eyes, the shape of the mouth, how the hair grew, it was impossible to hate. Hate was just a failure of imagination. We are called to imagine both the last, terrible moments of unjustly shortened lives, and the pain sudden, unearned, unending of those they left behind. And to hope, not only in this life but also beyond it, against all the evidence of our grief, that love wins. Read more from Michael Gersons archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook . Just because Joseph A. Mussomeli correctly eviscerated the neoconservatives for a lack of humility and inability to learn from their mistakes does not mean that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trumps approach to foreign policy is level-headed [Trumps foreign policy wisdom, Washington Forum, June 10]. Mr. Trump has come to his foreign policy positions as he has the rest of his so-called policies: by winging it. He has neither substantive knowledge of nor experience in foreign affairs. His statements represent his instinct du jour, rather than any coherent whole. Mr. Trump cites himself as his main foreign policy adviser. He is volatile, thin-skinned and so taken with violent rhetoric that there is no telling what he would do as president. I share the writers concern about Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clintons affinity with the neocons; however, there is little doubt that she would conduct U.S. foreign policy with far more grounding in reality than Mr. Trump possibly could. Keith Berner, Takoma Park On Monday, a man and a woman embrace each other as they stand next to a memorial created in solidarity at Manhattan's historic Stonewall Inn to express their support for the victims killed at Pulse nightclub in Orlando on Sunday. (Kena Betancur/Agence France-Presse via Getty Images) The Orlando massacre will haunt us for a long time. The worst mass shooting in U.S. history 49 dead and 53 wounded took place at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, during Pride Month. The perpetrator, Omar Mateen, was an American, born in New York to Afghan parents. A security guard, he was, according to his ex-wife, an angry and sometimes violent man. He bizarrely called 911 in the midst of his rampage to announce his allegiance to the Islamic State, yet his father said, This had nothing to do with religion, saying that his son was outraged by the sight of gay men kissing on the street. It was, as President Obama stated, an act of terror and an act of hate. In his address to the country, the president captured what was under attack. This is a sobering reminder, he said, that attacks on any American regardless of race, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation is an attack on all of us and on the fundamental values of equality and dignity that define us as a country. Members of the LGBTQ community, only now moving toward equal rights, find themselves once more as casualties of extreme hatred. Across the country, vigils showed expressions of solidarity. Across the country, Muslim organizations and leaders condemned the massacre, which has no religious justification or precedent in Islam, just as it has none in U.S. law. In a moving statement, the Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity called on all Americans to resist forces of division and hatred, and to stand against homophobia and transphobia, as well as against Islamophobia and anti-Muslim bigotry. Tragedies often lead people to seek someone or something to blame, but we ask our friends to resist this temptation. Let us instead recommit ourselves to working toward a world without hatred and prejudice. Yet members of the Muslim community Shiite, Sunni, Christian and agnostic once more face even greater suspicion, surveillance and the threat of violence. The victims were not yet buried before the horror became grist for our poisonous and polarized politics. Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, called on Obama to resign and Hillary Clinton to withdraw from the race because they didnt use the catchphrase radical Islamic terrorism. He vowed to double down on his ban on all Muslim immigration. Republicans such as Sen. Marco Rubio immediately called for escalating the attack on the Islamic State abroad and surveillance of Muslims at home. Obama, Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders directed remarks to the easy access to guns and the need for sensible gun law reform. All vowed to double down on attacking terrorists abroad and redoubling security at home. We need more wisdom and less posturing about the underlying factors hate, guns and terrorism rooted in this horror. The United States is a large, diverse country. Diversity is a strength, but also a source of division. The struggle for equal opportunity across race, religion, gender and sexual orientation has always generated harsh reaction, often with cynical politicians mining the lodes of anger and hate. A few, often isolated and unstable, strike out from that anger. We saw that in the mass murder at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C.; we witnessed it in the slaughter at Pulse. We must actively challenge the purveyors of division and hate, and resist the temptation to blame the other, even while knowing that some of the haters may never be reached. Editor Billy Manes and his small team of reporters at Watermark, a bi-weekly LGBT newspaper, prepares their commemorative issue as the community mourns those killed in the Pulse Nightclub shooting. (Whitney Leaming/The Washington Post) The United States has about as many guns as people. The easy access to assault weapons weapons of war designed to kill in large numbers, just like grenades or artillery shells is preposterous. Reinstating the ban on assault weapons that lapsed under George W. Bush should not be a partisan issue. Similarly, it is shameful that Republicans bowed to the gun lobby to block legislation that would ban those on the terrorist watch list from purchasing guns. The presidents frustration at the failure to do the sensible was apparent in his statement on the Orlando tragedy: This massacre is therefore a further reminder of how easy it is for someone to get their hands on a weapon that lets them shoot people in a school, or in a house of worship, or a movie theater, or in a nightclub. And we have to decide if thats the kind of country we want to be. And to actively do nothing is a decision as well. Yet even sensible gun reforms can succeed only in making it harder, but not impossible, for a terrorist homegrown or foreign to get guns. Mateen bought the guns used in the massacre legally. A clear majority of Americans favor strong gun reforms, and fewer and fewer own guns in their homes. But we have a long way to go before we end the easy access to weapons of mass murder. Furthermore, the Orlando massacre has already generated calls for greater escalation to take out the Islamic State, just as we took out Saddam Hussein and decimated al-Qaeda. But often thesevictories have led only to more wars, more terrorists, more interventions. In the wake of Orlando, politicians will compete once more to appear tough. But surely, at some point, we must reassess our strategy in the Middle East and seek a new course that does not generate more terrorists than it eliminates. The Orlando massacre generates fear, rage and frustration. Rather than simply striking out and cracking down, we need to come together. Surely we should ban weapons of war from our communities, even while knowing that will not end the threat. Surely wed be wise to reassess our course in the Middle East, to bring the endless wars without victory to an end, even while knowing that terrorists both homegrown and foreign will not suddenly disappear. Read more from Katrina vanden Heuvels archive or follow her on Twitter. A man walks into a nightclub with an AR-15-style rifle. It is similar to the weapon I was trained on in the Army. It was designed for combat, to kill as many of the enemy as possible in the shortest amount of time. I was pretty good with it, even earned a marksmanship badge, but when the training was over and we returned to the barracks, our weapons were placed in their racks and all bullets were taken from us. Once, a somewhat goofy member of my platoon slipped a round into his pocket. We all felt unnerved. What did he have in mind? Now, an even more lethal version of that weapon is readily available on the market. If you told me back in my Army days that I could have bought the same weapon that I had been using in training, I would not have believed it. You might as well have mentioned a tank or a bazooka or a Bangalore torpedo, a handy bit of explosive useful for shredding barbed wire. And yet, this is what I get when I Google AR-15: Not sure what type of AR you want to build? Look through our AR-15, AR-10 and other AR rifles available, all at great prices at Grab A Gun. Buy Today. One is available for $483.18. Maybe you get it for less if you buy two. But it only took one plus a handgun to kill 49 people at the Pulse club in Orlando. The shooter was mentally deranged. He was Muslim. He was born in New York. He had been married and he hated gays and he saw them kissing and he was nauseated by the sight. . . . The details intrigue and overwhelm and make this atrocity seem different from the previous ones, of which there are now so many. But it is always the same. It is always about guns. Orlando shooter Omar Mateen used an AR-15 style rifle to kill at least 49 people, officials say. Heres what you need to know about the gun some are calling the gold standard for mass murder. (Gillian Brockell/The Washington Post) At moments like this, two people pop into my head. The first is Wayne LaPierre, the executive vice president of the National Rifle Association. He has said that Americans need assault weapons, lest jack-booted government thugs . . . break in our doors, seize our guns, destroy our property and even injure or kill us. How he left out the rape of our virgin women, I shall never know probably an oversight. The NRA has led the way in the mainstreaming of a demented gun ideology. It has been aided by a severe reading of the Second Amendment, which represents the thinking of 18th-century men and their desire for a militia. They were not infallible. They countenanced slavery (some of them were slave owners) and the disenfranchisement of women, and they created that undemocratic concoction called the Electoral College by which a one-vote margin is tantamount to a landslide. My second person is Ralph Nader. He is much vilified now for his 2000 presidential run, which may have cost Al Gore the presidency, but before that he took the American automobile industry to task for the cars it made. He argued that you could hector people to drive safely until the cows came home, but accidents would happen anyway. Some people would speed. Some would run lights. Some would drink, and now they would text. So you had to design a car to withstand a crash. You have to save people from themselves. It is the same with guns. Some politician will say we have to do something about mental health. (Hah! We cant even keep nuts from running for president.) The one thing we can do something about is guns. Leaving aside handguns and hunting weapons, whats the justification for possessing an AR-15-style weapon? Whats the justification for a semiautomatic weapon with a magazine of 30 rounds? A shooter can get off 30 rounds in about half a minute. Pop in another magazine and thats another 30 rounds. In a crowded space, it can take less than a minute to shoot 50 people. So, lets go back to that rifle range at Fort Dix, N.J. I have just earned my marksmanship badge and, accordingly, I get a weekend pass. I rush back to the barracks, shower and change into civilian clothes. As I bolt out the door, my platoon sergeant, the thoroughly intimidating Peter Grande, by actual name, hands me my rifle and says I can take it with me for the weekend. Absurd, you say. Not as absurd as this: Nowadays I could say, Thanks, Sarge, but I already have one at home. Read more from Richard Cohens archive. In this Aug. 15, 2012 file photo, three variations of the AR-15 assault rifle are displayed. A gunman used an AR-15-type weapon to kill 49 people in an Orlando club early Sunday. (Rich Pedroncelli/Associated Press) IT IS no coincidence that the same type of weapon was used to massacre schoolchildren in Connecticut, moviegoers in Colorado, office workers in California and, on Sunday, revelers at a nightclub in Florida. The killers knew the best way to achieve their sick goal of dispatching as many people as possible: Use assault-style weapons capable of firing dozens of rounds in seconds. The people were talking about, once they get into I want to kill a lot of people, its not a leap for them to see that these guns are made and designed for war, Tom Diaz of the Violence Policy Center told the New York Times after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012. Nor should it be a leap for a civilized country to prohibit the sale and ownership of weapons designed for war. After the countrys worst mass shooting, and before another American venue is turned into a slaughterhouse, Congress should reinstate the ban on assault-style weapons and the high-capacity ammunition magazines that make them even more lethal. Authorities said that the gunman responsible for Sundays carnage at Orlandos Pulse nightclub, in which 49 people were killed and 53 others wounded, was armed with an AR-15-type assault rifle he had recently purchased legally. It is the kind of weapon that has been used with horrifying frequency. According to a database compiled by Mother Jones magazine, 7 of 8 high-profile public mass shootings since July of last year involved assault-style weapons. A lawyer representing the families of those killed and injured in the Sandy Hook school shooting, in a lawsuit against the manufacturer and distributor of the gun used to kill 26 children and adults, characterized assault weapons as the gold standard for mass murder of innocent civilians. A ban on assault weapons was in effect from 1994 to 2004. There were some imperfections in the law, but rather than fix those Congress bent to pressure from the national gun lobby and let the law lapse. Even more grotesque was Congresss failure to implement a ban on assault weapons and other common sense gun reforms proposed by President Obama in the wake of 6-year-olds being slaughtered in their classrooms in Connecticut. We have no illusions that the horror of Orlando will cause Congress to jump up and take action. But for the first time in a long time, gun control is being talked about as part of the campaign for president. Before Sundays events, Hillary Clinton had made gun law reform a centerpiece of her campaign, and on Monday she called for reinstating the ban on assault weapons. Weapons of war belong in the armed forces, not in gun shops that cheerfully furnish them to those with one goal only: killing as many innocents as possible, as quickly as possible. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump often repeats controversial theories and conspiracies, but distances himself from blame with a few key phrases. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post) Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump often repeats controversial theories and conspiracies, but distances himself from blame with a few key phrases. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post) Following the countrys most deadly mass shooting, Donald Trump was asked to explain what he meant when he said President Obama either does not understand radicalized Muslim terrorists or he gets it better than anybody understands. Well, Trump said on the Today Show Monday morning, there are a lot of people that think maybe he doesnt want to get it. A lot of people think maybe he doesnt want to know about it. I happen to think that he just doesnt know what hes doing, but there are many people that think maybe he doesnt want to get it. He doesnt want to see whats really happening. And that could be. In other words, Trump was not directly saying that he believes the president sympathizes with the terrorist who killed at least 49 people in an Orlando nightclub. He was implying that a lot of people are saying that. Trump frequently couches his most controversial comments this way, which allows him to share a controversial idea, piece of tabloid gossip or conspiracy theory without technically embracing it. If the comment turns out to be popular, Trump will often drop the distancing qualifier people think or some say. If the opposite happens, Trump can claim that he never said the thing he is accused of saying, equating it to retweeting someone elses thoughts on Twitter. This is particularly true when it comes to Trumps comments on Islam. For months, the candidate has portrayed Muslims as the leading threat working against the United States and has routinely suggested in a wink-wink fashion that the president might secretly be a follower. The day after the Orlando shooting, GOP candidate Donald Trump railed against the president and warned Muslims should be banned from entering the U.S., while Democratic rival Hillary Clinton called for changes to gun laws. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post) At a rally in New Hampshire in September, a man in the audience loudly declared President Obama a Muslim and not even an American, then asked Trump to get rid of Muslim training camps. You know, a lot of people are saying that, and a lot of people are saying that bad things are happening out there, Trump responded. Were going to look at that and plenty of other things. [Donald Trump seems to connect President Obama to Orlando shooting] Later that month, Trump announced that as president he would kick all Syrian refugees out of the country and not allow any others to enter because they could be a secret terrorist army. This could be the ultimate probably not, but it could be the ultimate Trojan horse, Trump said on Fox News in early November, floating the idea without embracing it. (On Fox News Monday, Trump said that he used to make this suggestion with a smile but he is now starting to think that it can happen because our politicians are so inept and so incapable.) When it comes to the Iran nuclear deal, Trump has floated a variety of theories as to why the United States got what he views as such a raw deal. During a campaign rally in South Carolina in December, Trump seemed to accuse the U.S. negotiators of not having the countrys best interests in mind. Some people say its worse than stupidity. Theres something going on that we dont know about, Trump said in Hilton Head. And you almost think Im not saying that, and Im not a conspiracy person. . . . Half the people in this room are saying it. Im trying to be you know, Im just hoping theyre just stupid people, okay? Trumps they-said-it-not-me tactic is also often used when hes attacking his rivals or their relatives. In early January, Trump said that he was not concerned that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) was born in Canada but that he had heard from many Republicans who were. Id hate to see something like that get in his way, but a lot of people are talking about it, and I know that even some states are looking at it very strongly, the fact that he was born in Canada and he has had a double passport, Trump said in an interview with The Washington Post at the time. [The Fix: Donald Trumps defiant double down on, well, everything] As this attack on Cruz stuck and was echoed by other Republicans Trump stopped pinning the concern on others and embraced it as his own, even threatening to sue Cruz over his eligibility in mid-February. In attacking Hillary and Bill Clinton, Trump indirectly raised questions about one of their close friends, Vince Foster, whose suicide in 1993 has long been a focus of far-right conspiracy theorists who allege Clinton involvement. I dont bring [Fosters death] up because I dont know enough to really discuss it, Trump said in an interview with The Post in May. I will say there are people who continue to bring it up because they think it was absolutely a murder. I dont do that because I dont think its fair. Still, the fact that Trump even chose to comment on the topic outraged many including Fosters sister, who accused Trump of cynically, crassly and recklessly insinuating that her brother had been murdered to further his own candidacy. When asked about Foster during a news conference in North Dakota soon after, Trump continued to distance himself by attributing the concern to a lot of people. Somebody asked me the question the other day, and I said that a lot of people are very skeptical as to what happened and how he died, Trump said. I know nothing about it. I dont think its something that, frankly, really, unless some evidence to the contrary of what I have seen comes up, I dont think that its something that should be part of the campaign. In some cases, Trumps commenting-while-not-commenting is delivered with a clear wink to the crowd. He will tell his audience that hes not going to talk about something he shouldnt talk about and then continue to comment. Im not going to say it, because Im not allowed to say it, because I want to be politically correct, Trump said in discussing the sound of Clintons voice at a rally in Fresno, Calif., last month. So I refuse to say that I cannot stand her screaming into the microphone all the time. On Twitter recently, he took a swipe at Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.): I find it offensive that goofy Elizabeth Warren, sometimes referred to as Pocahontas, pretended to be Native American to get in Harvard. He did not note that he was the one who coined the nickname. Trump has explained his approach by comparing it to a retweet. During a rally in New Hampshire in February, a woman in the crowd called Cruz a vulgar word, and Trump repeated it for the rest of the audience to hear. It was like a retweet, Trump said in a television interview the next day. I would never say a word like that by the way, can I tell you what? The audience went crazy. Standing ovation. Five thousand people went nuts, they loved it. Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event at Trump Doral golf course in Miami. Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event at Trump Doral golf course in Miami. Carlo Allegri/Reuters Businessman Donald Trump officially became the Republican nominee at the partys convention in Cleveland. Donald Trumps behavior in the aftermath of the largest mass shooting in U.S. history has erased all doubts, if there were any left, that he is determined to leave all the norms of American politics in the dust. The country had barely woken up to the news from Orlando Sunday, and other leaders were confining their comments to condolences, when Trump took a bow on Twitter for being right on radical Islamic terrorism. An hour later, the presumptive Republican nominee tweeted that President Obama should resign in disgrace if he is unwilling to label the carnage radical Islamic terrorism. By Monday morning, Trump was on Fox News, appearing to question the commander-in-chiefs loyalties, saying Obama is not tough, not smart, or hes got something else in mind. This is Trumpism. After the deadly shooting in an Orlando nightclub on June 12, some in politics pushed for stricter gun control while others asked for prayers. GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump ignited controversy with his tweets. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post) When the celebrity real estate mogul declared his candidacy for president, a year ago this week, his declarations and discredited theories, conveyed in a seeming constant stream of tweets and media interviews, still had the capacity to shock. His characterization of some Mexican immigrants as murderers and rapists caused a sensation. But now the kinds of outbursts that might have been disqualifying for any other politician, or at any other time, almost seem like standard fare which is itself a testament to how Trump has reoriented the axis of politics and discourse. And everyone else is forced to adjust, from lawmakers in Trumps own party to his likely Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. We havent ever seen anybody have this sort of dialogue with the electorate, said GOP pollster David Winston. In a tacit acknowledgement of the Trump effect, Clinton on Monday used the term radical Islam, which she had previously rejected. She isnt going to let us be distracted with semantic games, a Clinton aide explained. Trumpism is not defined by any set of policies, or an ideology. It is not handcuffed to coherence or consistency, except in its disregard for what its adherents deem to be political correctness. Trumpism is a personality- fueled movement that has proven, against the smart moneys predictions, to be in tune with the frustrations of a significant slice of the electorate. Having drawn record numbers of voters to the polls during a Republican primary in which he vanquished a slew of conventional candidates, Trump is betting that his brand of politics will be just as compelling in a general election against the ultimate Democratic establishment figure. 1 of 14 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad These Republicans refuse to vote for Donald Trump View Photos And theyll tell you why. Caption And theyll tell you why. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell General Powell said at a meeting of the Long Island Association that he would be voting for Hillary Clinton, a spokeswoman confirmed Oct. 25. Powell added in an interview that he picked Clinton because I think shes qualified, and the other gentleman is not qualified. Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue. Hes not playing for a team. Its just him making the calls, said Robert Jeffress, a Dallas pastor who has grown close to Trump during the campaign. Hes somebody who thinks its worth asking questions about whatever is going on, and not worrying about whether he should keep his curiosity to himself. Trumpism resonates in an anxious era, and with a segment of voters who have given up on Washington. People out there are worried about their jobs and their security and about allowing all of these people to come to America, said Rep. Lou Barletta (R-Pa.), a Trump supporter and hard-line voice on immigration policy. They dont want talking points as a solution to their frustration. They also believe that Trump cannot be pushed around by a system to which he is not beholden. Trump is someone who comes in and hasnt been in the bubble of Washington, Barletta said. Hes not part of the system that people see as corrupted, so when he goes with his gut, hes trusted. Although it is not entirely like anything the country has seen before, Trumpism has echoes in the kind of populism associated with earlier figures such as Democrat Huey Long, the Depression-era governor of Louisiana. William Galston, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who has advised Democratic presidential campaigns, ticked off the characteristics: intensely nativistic, ethno-centric, exclusionary, angry, fearful. At the bottom of the barrel is the rottenest thing of all, which is conspiratorial thinking, which is guaranteed to pollute every single issue and every single argument, Galston said. Conspiratorial thinking is the cesspool of conservative populism. It has analogs on the left, but it is a distinctive phenomenon. Trump, who became a hero to some Obama haters when he led the discredited movement questioning whether the president had been born in this country, routinely passes along unfounded theories and accusations about his adversaries on social media, shrugging it off when their veracity is questioned. Those around him amplify those darker themes of Trumpism. Roger Stone, who last year parted ways with Trumps campaign but remains close to the candidate, on Monday accused top Clinton aide Huma Abedin, a Muslim, of being a Saudi spy or a terrorist agent. In an article on Breitbarts website, Stone wrote of his theories about Abedin: Its time America got some answers. Former Mitt Romney adviser Kevin Madden said Trumps tactics are a problem for the party in how they force other Republicans down ballot to have to either defend, agree with or condemn what he said. At the same time, Trump can sound open and inclusive on some issues. He blends a modern Manhattan sensibility with his old-school Queens demeanor. In a speech on Monday, he doubled down on his controversial call for a temporary ban on all Muslims entering the United States, but he also made a full-throated denunciation of bigotry against gays, lesbians and transgender people. The attack on a gay nightclub was a strike at the heart and soul of who we are as a nation. Its an assault on the ability of free people to live their lives, love who they want, and express their identity, Trump said. Part of what propels him is his comfort level with 21st-century communication, as evidenced by his constant presence on Twitter. Clinton has begun to borrow some of this techniques for instance, frequently phoning into television news shows lately. Kellyanne Conway, a veteran GOP strategist, said there are limits to how far the force of Trumps personality can carry him as the general-election campaign unfolds. While Trump can overwhelm a news cycle, she added, fundamentals on the ground and air still matter. Clinton has a massive advantage in organization and money, Conway said. He doesnt need to meet her dollar for dollar, employee for employee, but the gulf shouldnt be that steep. Super PACs and others are going to have to help him to sustain what he has, which I think they will. What the former star of NBCs The Apprentice has done in some ways, Conway said, is to introduce the reality-show zeitgeist to politics. He knows that the culture is everything, and to attract people, you need to be in the culture. He has tracked ratings and his audiences for years and understands how public opinion works, Conway said. He studies the polls, and his crowds are his focus groups. And in the end, the only instincts that Donald Trump truly trusts are his own. Abby Phillip contributed to this report. Visitors at a makeshift memorial in downtown Orlando mourn the victims of the Pulse massacre. June 18, 2016 Visitors at a makeshift memorial in downtown Orlando mourn the victims of the Pulse massacre. Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel via Associated Press National and international responses to the mass shooting at a nightclub in Orlando. National and international reaction to the mass shooting at a nightclub in Orlando. National and international reaction to the mass shooting at a nightclub in Orlando. How people are reacting to the shootings in Orlando How people are reacting to the shootings in Orlando Jeannette McCoy was in a funk after a bad breakup and wanted to cheer herself up with a night out. So she rounded up a group of friends, put on a crop top and heels and headed to Pulse, a gay nightclub here, where an evening intended to return her to good spirits instead ended in horror. I just wanted to smile, the 37-year-old said of her plans to go to the club. McCoy, a personal trainer, sipped on a cherry vodka and soda her bodybuilding coach gave her permission to have a drink and spent most of the night dancing to Latin music. The club announced last call and her friend Yvens Carrenard was ready to wind down the night. McCoy had just finished dancing with a close friend, Angel Colon. Then they all heard the sound of gunshots. Boom, boom, boom, boom, she said. A surgeon at the hospital treating most victims said Tuesday that the death toll of 49 could still rise. Six patients were critically ill, while another five were in guarded condition, said Michael L. Cheatham, the chief surgical quality officer at Orlando Regional Medical Center. During a news conference, doctors recounted patients arriving by the truckload. They described seeing people riddled with bullets and injuries, victims with gunshot wounds on their chests, abdomen and pelvic areas. McCoy was hit by debris. Her back was toward the entrance where Omar Mateen walked into the club, firing a gun. Bullets were whizzing past her. She crouched and tried to turn around, viewing the carnage. Im seeing people getting hit, being killed in front of me, she said. I see the barrel, I see the gun, and youre seeing the flicker of the bullets coming out. Mateen, she said, was silent and methodical. He didnt say anything. He was just shooting. . . . He came in with the intent of evil, she said. It was him trying to kill every single person in that club. Debris continued to pelt her. People were stumbling and falling and all she heard were screams and gunshots. She wanted to find her friends. Nobody was being spared, she said. [Obama calls Orlando massacre homegrown extremism] McCoy said she immediately knew that the gunman was targeting gay men and women. You knew it was some kind of hate crime. You had a sense that this man was in there trying to kill every single one of us, she said. Carrenard, who was leaning against a wall when the shooting started, bolted toward a small door by the bar. He and five other people crouched inside, including a man who was shot in the leg. McCoy, on the dance floor, saw Mateen walking toward her, getting close to where she and her friends had been standing in a circle. The people around me were getting shot. In my mind I kept thinking, Im going to get shot, but regardless of whether I get shot, I have to get out, she said. McCoy ducked and ran, jumping over or moving past about 20 people who were lying on the floor of the club. She made it outside to the patio. She wasnt sure whether she had been shot but quickly realized she hadnt. She saw that a man had been shot in the leg. She ripped off her top and used it as a tourniquet. A woman who had been shot in the arm was clearly in shock. McCoy applied pressure to the wound and told the woman that the bullet didnt hit any organs. Phones were ringing and text message notifications were chiming from people trying to find friends or reassure loved ones that they were all right. Patrons tore down a wooden wall that enclosed the patio so that people could escape. McCoy learned that Colon had been hit. He was standing directly in front of her when the shooting started. The only reason Im not dead is because the bullet he took in his back probably would have been in my back, she said. Kyle Moore went into the club to pay his tab and escaped to the patio, where his friend Dorian Wayne was standing. The men said they heard two sets of shots, and people started running between them. The men said that police arrived within minutes, and that the shooting lasted about an hour. Authorities said Mateen called 911 and the scene turned into a hostage negotiation. As McCoy waited for word of her friends outside, she grew furious at the Orlando police. I was flipping out on the cops, she said, telling them to go inside and rescue people who had been shot. [Hes coming ... Im gonna die. Heartbreaking final texts from Orlando victim to his mom] Carrenard and Colon remained inside the club. Carrenard and the others climbed up a ladder inside a small room and hid there. He was thinking: I cant die tonight. Not like this. He called 911 and told the dispatcher where they were hiding. The shooting continued. I could hear people screaming for help. I could hear people moaning, Carrenard said. He said Mateen returned and resumed firing. He came back around to shoot people again, and then you didnt hear people anymore, he said. Colon had been shot three times in the initial flurry of gunfire. Mateen later shot him twice more as he lay on the floor of the club, McCoy said, and one of Colons legs was broken in a stampede of people trying to escape. Outside, Wayne and Moore stood on a sidewalk and texted with a friend who was trapped in a bathroom. Our friend in the bathroom said Mateen had a racial thing, Moore said. He was saying, I dont have a problem with black people. Their friend said one woman in the bathroom initially escaped being shot by saying, Im black! Dont shoot me. The mother of a man who was trapped in the bathroom came to the scene and was texting with her son. Sometime between 4:30 and 5 a.m., Moore and Waynes friend said Mateen heard the police tell hostages to back away from the wall, because they were going to breach it. The friend texted and asked the men to tell police to hurry up, because Mateen returned to the bathroom to kill more people including the woman hed spared earlier after hearing the police would be there soon. The men heard the controlled explosion go off. They said its timing was the only thing that saved their friend. He made it out. Carrenard heard the police yell SWAT team and order people to come out with their hands up. The group slowly opened the door, saw the police and put their hands up. I was looking at the bodies when I was walking out because I didnt want any of the bodies to be my friends, he said. All of McCoys friends survived. I told Angel, I said, Youre my Angel because in my mind I was going to get shot, she said through tears. He remains in the hospital. [I told her it was okay to cry. Shattered families gather at Orlando hotel for news] McCoy said she was supposed to get her concealed-weapons permit on Saturday. She is not sure whether she could have brought a gun into the club but said that if she had had it, she would have tried to shoot Mateen. The days since the shooting have been a nightmare for McCoy. Never one to be afraid, she made sure all the doors and windows in her house were locked Sunday night. She couldnt sleep. On Monday night, a group of friends came to her home to keep her company. She has her handgun in a safe but doesnt have any bullets for it. McCoys car is still at the clubs valet. She almost walked home Sunday morning but found a ride. She was wearing only a bra and a pair of pants. She arrived home about 6 a.m., exhausted, and took a shower. Im looking at blood on me and its not my blood. Its the blood of victims. To see that it took me a minute just to clean it off because I was thinking, Whose could it be? Are they alive? she said through tears. You have somebody elses blood on you and you just stare at the blood. You just stare at it. This is someone elses blood. Its not mine. Why isnt it mine? How did I walk away alive? Angel Colon said at the hospital news conference Tuesday that he was unable to run because he had been shot and then, on the ground, was trampled by other people trying to escape, breaking bones in his left leg. Hes shooting everyone thats already dead on the floor, making sure theyre dead, Colon said. I was able to peek over, and I could just see him shooting at everyone. Colon said he watched as the gunman shot the girl next to him on the floor. Im thinking, Im next, Im dead, he recalled. The gunman fired twice, hitting Colons hand and hip. Colon said he did not react, trying to lay down and play dead, remaining that way as the gunman kept firing for another 5, 10 minutes, shooting all over the place. Eventually, Colon said he believes the shooter made his way to the front of the club and began a gun battle with police. A police officer soon appeared and grabbed Colons hand. This is the only way I can take you out, the officer said, according to Colon. But Colon told the officer he could not walk, so the man began to drag Colon out. Im grateful for him, but the floor is just covered in glass, so hes dragging me out while Im just getting cut, Colon said. I dont feel pain, but I just feel all this blood on me, from myself, from other people. Eventually, the officer got Colon across the street. I look over and theres bodies everywhere, and were all in pain, Colon said. Hayley Tsukayama in Orlando and Jennifer Jenkins and Mark Berman in Washington contributed to this report. Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, met behind closed doors for more than 90 minutes Tuesday night with her primary rival Bernie Sanders, who signaled earlier in the day that he was not ready to endorse her. The meeting which both campaigns characterized as positive in statements issued afterward came on the heels of the final Democratic primary in the District. Clinton easily defeated Sanders. With all precincts reporting, she led the senator from Vermont by more than 3 to 1. Clintons campaign said the meeting with Sanders focused on a variety of progressive issues where they share common goals and said the two agreed to continue working on their shared agenda. Shortly before 10:30 p.m., both Clinton and Sanders left the meeting at the Capital Hilton, not far from the White House, without speaking to reporters. The meeting took place just a few hours after a news conference in Washington at which Sanders declined to endorse Clinton and said that he would continue to push for a fundamental transformation of the Democratic Party up until its convention next month in Philadelphia. Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks at a rally on Thursday in Washington. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post) The American people are hurting, and they are hurting badly, Sanders said outside his Washington campaign office near Capitol Hill. They want real change, not the same old, same old. In his news conference, Sanders ticked off several policy priorities and political changes he would like to see, including new leadership at the Democratic National Committee, which he said has not focused enough on bringing new voters into the party. Both campaigns indicated that several of the policy issues important to Sanders came up in Tuesday nights meeting. Though Sanders has not officially bowed out of the race, his focus in recent days has shifted from pursuing a long-shot strategy to wrest the nomination from Clinton to finding ways to advance the agenda he has championed. Sanders has made clear that he wants to leverage his unexpectedly strong showing in the primaries to advance his priorities in the Democratic platform and in the partys future legislative agenda. Sanders has staked out positions to the left of Clinton on a series of issues, including his stances on providing universal health care, raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour and offering tuition-free college. At his news conference, Sanders called for the most progressive platform ever passed by the Democratic Party. Were going to be bringing somewhere between 1,900 and 2,000 delegates to Philadelphia, and let me tell you what they want, Sanders said. They want to see the Democratic Party transformed. They want to see the Democratic Party stand up to the wealthy and powerful, and stand up for people who are hurting. His campaign also announced that he will host a live nationwide video address Thursday to talk about how his political revolution continues presumably after he is no longer a candidate. When we started this campaign, I told you that I was running not to oppose any man or woman, but to propose new and far-reaching policies to deal with the crises of our time, Sanders said in an email Tuesday. This weekend, more than 2,500 progressive activists, many of whom supported Sanderss campaign, are planning to convene in Chicago to talk about many of the same issues Sanders championed. Absent from his rhetoric of late is a vow to stay in the race to make a last-ditch attempt to win the nomination by flipping the allegiances of hundreds of superdelegates who have announced their support for Clinton. Sanders has said little about that strategy in recent days, and there has been no evidence that he is actively pursuing it. Clinton, a former secretary of state, had been expected to prevail in the Democratic primary in the District, where 20 delegates are at stake not enough to have any significant effect on the overall race. At his news conference, Sanders reiterated his call for DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.) to be replaced by someone who could reform the party on his terms, with more outreach to young voters and independents, and less of a focus on fundraising. I know political parties need money, but it is more important that we have energy, he said. During an interview on MSNBC Tuesday afternoon, Wasserman Schultz said she does not think her job is at risk and has no plans of stepping down before the November election. She said she is singularly focused on building the Democratic Party. Asked if his refusal to concede the race to Clinton was helping Trump, Sanders laughed. Let me make it very clear if I havent done so 10,000 times previously, Sanders said. I think Donald Trump is totally unfit to be president of the United States. [Hillary Clinton calls for unity, resolve to combat terrorism] Also Tuesday, Sanders addressed a lunch meeting of the Senate Democratic caucus and planned to attend a picnic hosted by President Obama at the White House for members of Congress. He was scheduled to return to his home in Burlington, Vt., later in the evening. Several of Sanderss Democratic Senate colleagues indicated Tuesday that they are comfortable giving him the time he needs to wind down his campaign before coming fully on board with Clinton. In his first visit to the weekly luncheon since spring, he got three standing ovations. I have total confidence that Bernies going to be on board, doing the right thing, saying the right thing, putting all of himself into this campaign, said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). Of course, everybody wants him to do it sooner, rather than later, but the timetables up to him. Im giving no advice, nor judging him, for how he decides. But Sanderss refusal to fold before the convention frustrated some of his peers, who noted his status as the longest-serving independent in Congress. Bernies not a Democrat! Can people not get that through their heads? asked Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), an early Clinton supporter. I think his mission right now is whatever he can to move the platform further left, from his socialistic ideas. I like Bernie. He identifies the problems, but his solutions dont work. Clintons meeting with Sanders comes as her pivot to the general election has been complicated by the massacre in Orlando. On Monday, she changed the focus of a campaign stop in Cleveland from the economy to national-security issues and terrorism after the shooting at the Pulse nightclub. As part of a pared-back schedule, she campaigned in Pittsburgh on Tuesday before traveling to Washington for a fundraising event and the meeting with Sanders. [Clinton rips Donald Trump over response to Orlando massacre] As of Tuesday morning, Clinton had accumulated 2,784 delegates, including superdelegates, exceeding the number needed to clinch the nomination by more than 400, according to the latest Associated Press tally, which put Sanderss total at 1,877. To have a shot at wresting the nomination from Clinton, Sanders would need to flip the allegiances of at least 400 of the 581 superdelegates who have announced their support for Clinton about 70 percent of them. Donald Trump called Monday for outlawing immigrants from areas of the world with a history of terrorism as part of his proposed temporary ban on all Muslims entering the United States a radical rewriting of U.S. counterterrorism policy that he argued was essential to protect the peace and security of women and gays in particular. The Republican Partys presumptive presidential nominee escalated his already controversial rhetoric about immigrants in the wake of Sundays massacre at a gay nightclub, even though the shooter was born in New York. Trump accused American Muslims of harboring terrorists and blamed them for the Orlando attack as well as for last Decembers shooting in San Bernardino, Calif. The Muslims have to work with us, Trump said in a speech Monday afternoon in New Hampshire. They know whats going on. They know that [Orlando gunman Omar Mateen] was bad. They knew the people in San Bernardino were bad. But you know what? They didnt turn them in. And you know what? We had death and destruction. In a speech laden with falsehoods and exaggeration, Trump was antagonistic and pugnacious, in stark contrast with his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, who also spoke Monday about combating terrorism. Trump denounced President Obama and Clinton for deadly ignorance and warned that they were endangering lives with weakness and indecision. We need to tell the truth also about how radical Islam is coming to our shores, Trump said. He added: We need a new leader. We need a new leader fast. . . . They have put political correctness above common sense, above your safety and above all else. I refuse to be politically correct. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton gives a national security speech Monday in Cleveland. (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post) While Trump was fiery and combative, Clinton was cool and collected. Trump outlined a racially charged overhaul of the nations immigration laws and a nationalistic, defensive posture in fighting terrorism, while Clinton advocated continuing and in some cases enhancing existing policies from the Obama administration in which she served. The former secretary of state said Monday that the terrorist threat is metastasizing and vowed to root out lone wolves who might carry out attacks and to ramp up the air campaign targeting Islamic State forces in Iraq and Syria. She declared that inflammatory anti-Muslim rhetoric alienates peace-loving Muslims and inhibits U.S. efforts to combat terrorism. Clinton stressed the importance of alliances in the Middle East while also calling out some regional partners by name Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia for supporting radical schools and mosques that have given birth to extremism and for allowing their citizens to fund extremist organizations. Trump mentioned Clinton 19 times in his speech, tearing into her with so much gusto that one Clinton ally, Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) tweeted: Donald, you need to shut up. Give the American people time to grieve. Clinton, meanwhile, deliberately refrained from mentioning Trump by name although her entire speech served as a rebuttal to his candidacy. In lieu of the sharp personal attacks she leveled at Trump this month in San Diego, Clinton on Monday argued forcefully for national unity. This has always been a country of we, not me, Clinton said in a speech in Cleveland. We stand together because we are stronger together. E pluribus unum out of many, one has seen us through the darkest chapters of our history. 1 of 25 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad What the investigation into the Orlando mass shooting looks like View Photos Officials are scouring the site and others in the area for information about the June 12 massacre. Caption Officials are scouring the site and others in the area for information about the June 12 massacre. June 15, 2016 Law enforcement officials gather outside Pulse nightclub in Orlando during the shooting investigation. David Goldman/AP Wait 1 second to continue. Trump, however, argued that this is exactly the kind of politically correct leadership style that has made the United States susceptible to attacks from radical jihadists. The current politically correct response cripples our ability to talk and to think and act clearly, he said. Were not acting clearly, were not talking clearly, weve got problems. If we dont get tough, and if we dont get smart, and fast, were not going to have our country anymore. There will be nothing absolutely nothing left. Trumps address contained a number of inaccuracies and overstatements. Among other things, he wrongly claimed that Clinton wanted to abolish the Second Amendment; said the United States is not screening refugees, who undergo a rigorous vetting program that can take two years or more; and said the New York-born shooter was born an Afghan, of Afghan parents who immigrated to the United States. Trumps accusations about Muslims and call to ban followers of the worlds fastest-growing religion from entering the country first outlined in December in the wake of the San Bernardino shooting galvanized Republican primary voters, who saw in him a strong and decisive leader who would protect the country and take the fight to the enemy. Peter Wehner, a former adviser to President George W. Bush, said Trump relies on appeals to ethnic nationalism because he is ignorant about the nuances of counterterrorism policy. He said racial resentment is the basis of Trumps appeal to voters. He relishes this kind of stuff, Wehner said. He takes a horrific incident like what happened in Orlando, and he attempts to inflame the situation. Unfortunately, this tragedy is going to help him rather than hurt him. Just as they did in December, Trumps ideas and rhetoric drew swift and stern condemnations Monday. Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American- Islamic relations, called Trumps comments truly disturbing. Its designed to demonize and stigmatize a religious minority, Hooper said. And why he thinks this is the way to go is really beyond belief. Obviously, he thinks hes going to get some cheap political advantage out of this kind of bigoted rhetoric. Farhana Khera, executive director of Muslim Advocates, a national legal advocacy and educational organization, said Trumps comments could spur an increase in hate crimes targeting American Muslims. These kinds of comments give a green light to the American people, and unfortunately some people who might be feeling particularly emotional or other unstable people, to engage in acts of hate, Khera said. In the midst of the Ramadan holiday, she added, the Muslim community is feeling especially vulnerable. Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), an Air Force veteran who flew missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, said it would be detrimental to demonize an entire religion as Trump is doing. To just simply say ban them all I think frankly does more harm, Kinzinger said on The Big John Howell Show on WLS AM890. It may work for a political season and it does, maybe its a popular sound bite, but it is very detrimental to our long-term ability to actually win this war. In his speech Monday, delivered with the aid of teleprompters at St. Anselm Colleges New Hampshire Institute of Politics, Trump appeared to expand his policy. If elected, he said, he would suspend immigration from areas of the world where theres a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe or our allies until we fully understand how to end these threats. Katrina Pierson, a national spokeswoman for the Trump campaign, said this is an evolution of his previous Muslim prohibition and not a ban on a new class of people. What he was doing was reiterating that the terrorists were dealing with are Muslim and mostly come from Muslim nations, Pierson said. The language may have been a little different, but it was a reiteration of what hes been saying for months. Trump described his proposal as a responsible immigration policy. We cannot continue to allow thousands upon thousands of people to pour into our country, many of whom have the same thought process as this savage killer, Trump said, a reference to the Orlando shooter who killed 49 people early Sunday. Many of the principles of radical Islam are incompatible with Western values and institutions. Trump also faulted Clinton and Obama on the issue of guns, a subject that already has become an emotional fault line in the campaign. The Democrats want to restrict access to semi-automatic weapons, such as the AR-15, used in both the Orlando and San Bernardino shootings, but Trump said this amounts to letting terrorists have all the fun they want. Trump who previously had supported gun restrictions and spoke favorably last fall of banning gun sales to those on terror watch lists advocated expanding access to firearms Monday. He said he would be meeting with officials of the National Rifle Association, which endorsed him last month, to discuss how to ensure Americans have the means to protect themselves in this age of terror. Like the president, Clinton has advocated tougher restrictions on gun purchases, including universal background checks. Weapons of war have no place on our streets, she said Monday. If the FBI is watching you for a suspected terrorist link, you shouldnt be able to just go buy a gun with no questions asked. Clinton acknowledged that gun control may not stop every shooting or terrorist attack but said that it will stop some and it will save lives and it will protect our first responders. DelReal reported from Manchester, N.H. Robert Costa in Washington and Abby Phillip in Cleveland contributed to this report. Afghan Muslims distribute food as others break fast during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan at the Wazir Akbar Khan Mosque in Kabul on Monday. (Wakil Kohsar/Agence France-Presse for Getty Images) Still traumatized and broken by the fallout of another major terrorist attack on the United States 15 years ago, Afghans said Monday they werent about to get worked up about the latest one. They have enough to worry about, they said, even though Sundays deadly rampage at a Florida nightclub has once again pushed their country back into the global headlines, perhaps unfairly. Omar Mateen, the gunman who killed 49 people in Orlandos Pulse nightclub, was born to Afghan immigrants. Mateens father, Seddique, is believed to have resettled in the United States about three decades ago but has tried to remain active in Afghanistans political affairs. But the reaction of many Afghans to the shooting was relatively muted and accompanied by a widespread sense that they are not about to take the fall for this one. Fifteen years ago, after al-Qaeda attacked New York and Washington on 9/11, scared Afghan families huddled at night awaiting the U.S. response to the then-Taliban governments refusal to hand over Osama bin Laden. This time, as President Obama acknowledged Monday by attributing the attack to homegrown extremism, Afghans said they viewed Omar Mateen as the United States problem. He was born there, and raised there, and married there, Jamshid Sardarzai, 26, said Monday night in Kabul, shortly after residents here broke their fast for the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Its a completely individual act. For much of Monday, as lucky Afghans slept through their daylight hunger and thirst while the unlucky ones reported for work, there appeared to be little discussion here of the massacre in Florida. Afghan news stations aired only sporadic reports, and government officials largely avoided questions about the Mateen familys past. But as evening approached, Afghans began taking stock of the latest act of terrorism and what it meant for them and their Islamic faith. Afghan and Western officials said they had uncovered no record that Omar Mateen had ever traveled to Afghanistan, despite his familys heritage. His fathers travel history was less certain, but Afghan government officials said he did not appear to be a frequent visitor. Omar Mateens father, Seddique, says he last saw his son a day before the Orlando nightclub shooting. And nothing seemed amiss. (Lee Powell/The Washington Post) Officials said they did not know when Seddique Mateen left the country for the United States, but noted that millions of Afghans fled after the Soviet invasion in 1979. Seddique Mateen appeared to maintain a strong affiliation to Afghanistan, hosting a television show broadcast from California that weighed in on the countrys political affairs. He also filmed dozens of sparsely viewed, rambling YouTube videos portraying himself as an important Afghan analyst and leader. Mohammad Haroon Chakhansuri, a spokesman for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, said many Afghan leaders first became aware of Seddique Mateen several months ago when he posted a video in which he declared himself the countrys president in exile. People would make jokes about this guy, Chakhansuri said. He looked very serious, but no one could tell what he was talking about. Chakhansuri noted that Seddique Mateen posted a YouTube video in 2014 that included an interview with Ghani while he was running for president. Late Monday, however, Afghan officials determined that Seddique Mateen actually conducted the interview four years earlier when Ghani was on a visit to Washington. The president didnt even recall encountering the man, Chakhansuri said. On the streets of Kabul, some Afghans who acknowledged that they had heard about the massacre appeared personally offended when asked to comment on it. We very much expect and hope our American friends do not link the deed of a man to a nation, tribe, religion or country, said Mohammad Musa, an engineer. Such sentiment is driven by a widespread belief here that Afghanistans chronic suffering including a record number of civilian and military causalities last year can be partially traced to poor U.S. execution of the war. With 64 percent of Afghans under the age of 25, many here struggle to even remember why U.S. forces landed in the country in the first place. That has fueled lots of conspiracy theories. Some Afghans believe the United States secretly supports the Taliban. So its not surprising that the Orlando shooting is already spawning a number of equally wild theories. Its a conspiracy plot against Muslims to apply even more restrictions on Muslims, not only in the United States but around the world, Omid Shah, 25, said as he broke his fast while sitting on a sidewalk in Kabuls Shar-E-Now neighborhood. But other Afghans appeared mindful that the possible reaction in the West to the shootings could have far-reaching implications on what they consider to be an already tough, unfair life. More than 150,000 Afghans sought asylum in Europe last year, and there is mounting concern that Sundays massacre could expedite calls in European capitals for them to be deported. Refugees from Syria and Iraq are widely expected to be granted political asylum. Many Afghans also worry about the future of a program to resettle translators and others who helped U.S. forces. Abbulahad Sohrabi, 38, an Afghan government employee, said he expects Americans will not abandon the principle of respect as they sift through their emotions. This was an act against humanity, said Sohrabi, 38. But we do not think of all animals as the same like lions, tigers and frogs are all different so we expect and hope the U.S. will not think of all Afghans as the same. Mohammad Sharif and Sayed Salahuddin contributed to this report. Read more: Shooters father says hes saddened by massacre, calls gunman a good son Osama bin Laden killed in CIA operation Orlando gunman was homegrown extremist radicalized online, Obama says Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world A man prays at a mosque in Kabul. Many in Afghanistan think that homosexuality is 100 percent against Islam. (Omar Sobhani / Reuters/REUTERS) If there is anywhere in Afghanistan where one might look for signs that the country is becoming more accepting of gay men and lesbians, the fine arts department at Kabul University would seem like a good place to start. Paintings and sculptures line the hallways, and Kabuls creative class uses Internet-connected smartphones to keep up with homework and the future that awaits some of them beyond Afghanistans borders. But when asked about his views on homosexuality, cinema student Mirwais Osmani cringed while saying there are not any gays in Afghanistan. Its 100 percent against Islam, said Osmani, 21, who grew up in Kabul, a city where younger residents now watch Hollywood movies, listen to rap music and spend hours surfing YouTube. Afghans have no tolerance toward the gay people. [How Afghanistans mixed messages on homosexuality play into the Orlando shooting debate] 1 of 25 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad What the investigation into the Orlando mass shooting looks like View Photos Officials are scouring the site and others in the area for information about the June 12 massacre. Caption Officials are scouring the site and others in the area for information about the June 12 massacre. June 15, 2016 Law enforcement officials gather outside Pulse nightclub in Orlando during the shooting investigation. David Goldman/AP Wait 1 second to continue. Indeed, despite being heavily subsidized by U.S. taxpayers, Afghanistan remains one of the worlds most hostile countries for gay men and lesbians, according to human rights groups. Even in areas under the control of the Afghan government, gay sex remains a crime, and thousands of men are currently imprisoned for sodomy, according to Afghanistans Supreme Court. In recent days, the taboo nature of homosexuality within Afghanistan, and the Islamic faith, has been thrust into the U.S. political debate after Omar Mateen killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Florida. Mateen, who was killed by police after his rampage at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, was the son of Afghan immigrants to the United States. The attackers father, Seddique Mateen, has said his son might have been homophobic and was angered after he recently saw two men kissing in Miami. But according to media reports, Omar Mateen was seen visiting gay bars and using gay dating apps. In a speech Monday, GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump argued that Americas gay community needs to be wary of Muslim immigrants because they may bring anti-gay beliefs into the United States. Similar concerns are creeping into the immigration debate in Europe. In many Islamic countries, as in the rest of the world, younger residents in urbanized areas are gradually showing more acceptance toward homosexuality. Afghanistan, however, will probably remain decades behind that trend, according to analysts. 1 of 16 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad How the world is honoring the Orlando shooting victims View Photos Buildings in cities across the globe displayed the colors of the rainbow. Caption Buildings in cities across the globe displayed the colors of the rainbow. BERLIN, GERMANY - JUNE 18: The Brandenburg Gate is seen with a rainbow flag projected onto it during a vigil for victims of a shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida nearly a week earlier, in front of the United States embassy on June 18, 2016 in Berlin, Germany. Fifty people were killed and at least as many injured during a Latin music event at the Pulse club in the worst terror attack in the U.S. since 9/11. The American-born gunman had pledged allegiance to ISIS, though officials have yet to find conclusive evidence of his having any direct connection with foreign extremists. The incident has added fuel to the ongoing debate about gun control in the country. (Photo by Adam Berry/Getty Images) Adam Berry/Getty Images Wait 1 second to continue. Although many Afghans said they are repulsed by Omar Mateens actions, The Washington Post didnt have to look far to find sympathy for him. If he entered a gay club, he should have killed 2,000 of them, Shakir Wahid, 25, said as he sat on a sidewalk in Kabuls central Shar-E-Now neighborhood. Mateen has done the right thing, added Kochai Sangar, a 19-year-old tailor. Its a kind of jihad. How is it possible for men to be with men? But history offers plenty of evidence to suggest that physical attraction among members of the same sex does exist in Afghanistan, including the countrys struggle to combat rampant sexual abuse of minors. Yet in a country where 99 percent of Afghans practice Islam, both religion and culture are causing Afghans to disavow the word gay, said Abdul Waheed Wafa, executive director of the Afghanistan Center, which studies local culture. As long as religion rules, this will not change, said Wafa, adding that it took 200 years of secularism for the U.S. Supreme Court to legalize same-sex marriage last year. Wafa noted that the only Afghan known to have come out as gay while living here, Nemat Sadat, was forced to flee the country in 2013 because of death threats. In an interview Monday with CNNs Christiane Amanpour, Sadat called on the international community to pressure Afghan President Ashraf Ghani into decriminalizing hate in Afghanistan, where the criminal code calls for long imprisonment for same-sex relationships. The U.S. State Department declined to comment, citing safety concerns, but said it is committed to supporting LGBTI rights and integrating LGBTI programming into its global development portfolio. Those steps, however, would probably be met with considerable resistance here in Afghanistan. Thank God, we are Muslims and a Muslim nation and do not accept gay people, Nasir Sulimanzada said while sitting in a Kabul barbershop with five friends, who shouted No, no, no when asked if Afghanistan has any gay residents. There are some Afghans especially those who travel frequently or go abroad for education who say they see some signs the homophobia is starting to wane, at least in Kabul. Since 2001, more people understand about privacy, said Hasseeb Aria, 24, who works as a flight attendant for Afghanistans Safi Airlines. But of course, education is needed first, because if people do not understand their rights, they wont understand privacy. Most Afghans, once they go out of this country, they will get knowledge and know about this, added Jawad Ahmad Khushal, 27, also a flight attendant. At Kabul University, groups of young men sprawl on campus grounds under towering pine trees their heads and feet resting on each other. Reaction to homosexuality, however, was often visceral. Muslims have only two options: Either be gay or a Muslim, because you cant be both, said Enayatullah Yaser, an agriculture student. He and other students justified their opposition to homosexuality by expressing confusion over how same-sex marriages in the United States involve equal power, suggesting their belief that one partner in a marriage has to be dominant. That same reasoning causes Afghan men who have sex with men to disavow their sexuality by arguing they were dominant in the relationship, said Kevin Schumacher, Middle East and North Africa program coordinator for OutRight Action International, a global advocacy group. Before there can be gay rights in Afghanistan, he added, there needs to be talk about straight rights, including women forced into arranged and abusive marriages. It wont be easy. Asked whether he thinks someone can be born gay, Abdullah Danish, an assistant physics professor from southern Afghanistan, responded, There might be people who are natural gays. But thank God, we have Islam to tell us what is right and what is wrong, he added. Mohammad Sharif and Sayed Salahuddin contributed to this report. Read more: Years after invasion, the U.S. leaves a cultural imprint on Afghanistan Why disaffected young Afghans are warming to a Taliban comeback Shooter Omar Mateens father says hes saddened by massacre, calls gunman a good son Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world A man using his mobile device passes a portrait of Mao Zedong in Beijing. Mobile device usage and e-commerce are in wide use in the Chinese capital despite serious restrictions on Internet access. (Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post) He first started circumventing the Great Firewall to access pornography. Back in 2003, when he was in college, it was pretty easy: Access some proxy servers, and away you go. More than a decade later, he has become an IT professional and, in his spare time, a coder, one of a small group of developers who work undercover in China to design systems to circumvent the largest, most sophisticated system of online censorship anywhere in the world. The government is probably monitoring him, he says, but has yet to take any action. His experience illustrates how Chinas government allows a few cracks in the Great Firewall, but also how the power of this massive system of online censorship lies in the fact that no one knows exactly where the lines are drawn. [Chinas scary lesson to the world: Censoring the Internet works] Although tens of thousands of websites are blocked, the Chinese government appears to tolerate having a small number of people able to vault the Wall and access the outside world. Yet for those who design systems to help netizens do just that, a knock on the door and a visit by the authorities remains a constant threat. Id be lying if I said I wasnt concerned about the risks, the IT professional said in an interview. He spoke on the condition that his real name, his Internet alias and the name of his project be concealed. But life is a constant adventure. I try to guess where the bottom line is for the government, weigh the risks and steer clear of the line. I wont stop what I am doing just because it is risky. [China sentences man to 7 years in jail for watching a film] Blocked by Chinas censors: Facebook, YouTube, Google, Twitter and Instagram, as well as the websites of many major news organizations. Yet a small minority of people, perhaps a few million in an online population of around 700 million, do get around the controls. The partys limited tolerance is, experts say, partly a social safety valve, partly an effort to keep the countrys globally mobile elite happy, but perhaps mainly just recognition that a North Korean-style effort to wall off the Internet entirely would be immensely damaging for business and the economy. [Excitement in China as Google, Instagram jump Great Firewall for just two hours] To stay on the right side of that vaguely drawn line, the IT professional has a simple rule: He doesnt actively promote the tool he has developed to circumvent the Wall, nor does he offer non-technical support for users. For now, the government is allowing some space for circumvention technology developers, as long as they are not working for political or financial purposes, he said. Others, though, have found themselves suddenly on the wrong side of that line. A leading coder who went by the alias clowwindy was one of them. He had been developing a popular system called Shadowsocks that allowed users not only to circumvent the Great Firewall but also to conceal from the authorities that they were doing so. That is something the Communist Party clearly felt to be a threat. [China says its propaganda just isnt strong enough] Two days ago, the police came to me and wanted me to stop working on this, clowwindy posted on Github, a website dedicated to hosting open-source software projects, on Aug. 22. Today, they asked me to delete all the code from Github. I have no choice but to obey. Clowwindy ended his last post with an impassioned plea. I hope one day Ill live in a country where I have the freedom to write any code I like without fearing. Three days later, on Aug. 25, another developer was forced to remove code on Github for GoAgent, another popular free circumvention tool in China. Everything that has a beginning also has an end, its developer, nicknamed phuslu, posted. Experts said it has become harder to get around the Great Firewall during the past two years, while the list of banned foreign news websites has expanded. But in this cat-and-mouse game, the cat doesnt always win. (Washington Post illustration; iStock) Clowwindy, who did not respond to an emailed request for comment, became an instant hero to the coding community after his withdrawal: Since then, other developers have preserved and have continued to update the coding on which Shadowsocks is based. One clowwindy down! Thousands of clowwindys stand up! one user posted on Github. Around the world, many other developers are dedicated to combating online surveillance and censorship and not just by the Chinese government. Commercial virtual private network (VPN) suppliers form a fast-growing business and are popular here. They offer a tool that allows users in China to tunnel into the Internet via a different country circumventing censorship and experiencing the Web as if they were in the United States, for example, albeit at a cost in terms of browsing speed. But they, too, face a constant battle to stay ahead of the Chinese censors, who clamp down during sensitive political anniversaries or major events like the annual National Peoples Congress gathering in Beijing. [Grumbling mounts in China, even in the party. Is President Xi losing his grip?] The Chinese firewall is constantly adapting, but not in a predictable or consistent manner, said David Lang at Express VPN in the British Virgin Islands. A VPN setting that works for a user in Shanghai may not work for a user in Beijing. A solution that works today may not be working tomorrow. Free systems such as Lantern, Psiphon, Ultrasurf, Tor and Streisand secure servers are inspired by the idea that information should be able to flow both freely and confidentially over the Web. Lantern started out with the idea that users in countries with free Internet access could share their bandwidth with those in censored countries. It saw its service partly blocked in China in late 2013 after it started to gain popularity, but it has since been relaunched and seems to be working well again. Tors Nathan Freitas has been inspired by the Tibetan freedom and rights movement; Joshua Lund developed Streisand servers in reaction to Turkeys censorship of social media and the Internet in 2014. The State Department and the Broadcasting Board of Governors have helped fund several projects, although some in Congress and in the industry argue that the U.S. government could help tear down Chinas Firewall if it spent only a few tens of millions of dollars a year on battle-tested circumvention systems, so that those work-around systems could afford to expand their user bases. GreatFire.org is another group dedicated specifically to taking down the Firewall, and it offers a free browser on Android that allows users in China to access any website they wish to visit. It uses a technique known as collateral freedom, relying on cloud- hosting services used extensively by Chinese businesses. There is no way to block the information without blocking the entire cloud service, something that would inflict considerable collateral damage on the Chinese economy. To be honest, admitted GreatFires Charlie Smith, users mainly seem to be interested in Facebook and YouTube. [China censors: Hey, stop picking on Facebook billionaire Mark Zuckerberg] However, a start page in the app offers Chinese-language news from blocked sites, he adds. That has proved increasingly popular, and we sent 839,000 visits to blocked news stories between late April and late May alone, he said. Smith, who uses a pseudonym to evade detection, says the harder the Chinese clamp down, the more likely it is that the Chinese people will fight back. Censoring foreign news about corrupt party officials might not come as a surprise, but blocking news about last years stock market crash really upset people, he said. Jeff South, an associate professor at Virginia Commonwealth University who has been spending part of the year teaching in China, says the majority of his students wanted Internet freedom. Yet when they jump the Wall, he says, they use that freedom in ways most young Americans do to muse on everyday life or comment on pop culture or watch music videos. The students didnt use it to seek out prohibited political content about Tiananmen Square, Chinas leaders, the Cultural Revolution or other sensitive topics, he said. It is an open question whether thats because they dont know what to look for, whether they self-censor, or whether they are simply proud of their country and dont want certain beliefs challenged, South said. These days, the IT professional believes that the Great Firewall is damaging his country by not allowing information in, as well as by preventing Chinas dirty laundry from being aired. The youngest generation in China has a limited perspective, because they never get the chance to meet people outside China. People outside China have a lot of misunderstandings about China because they dont get to interact with people behind the Wall, he said. The Firewall splits the world apart. There are now two worlds in cyberspace: Theres the world, and theres China. Read more: Is this North Korea? Chinese netizens squirm as party tightens grip on Internet. Chinese companies face culture shock in countries that arent like China Chinese media to British media: Learn some manners, you narcissistic barbarians Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world Xu Yangjingjing contributed to this report. In Sight Uprooted by conflict in Ukraine, one middle-class familys isolating struggle Gift Article Share Its been more than two years since Sasha, 41 and Marina, 38, gathered their two children, Kostya and Artyom, packed their car with the TV and some clothes and left home, joining the estimated 1.4 million people who have been displaced by Ukraines ongoing war in the east. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight We never guessed we would be where we are now, said Sasha. Two years ago I could not have predicted our community would fall apart. Following the Euromaidan revolution that rocked Ukraines capital and deposed President Viktor Yanukovych, counter-demonstrations by separatist and pro-Russian groups roiled throughout eastern and southern Ukraine. By late February 2014 the protests had fomented an insurgency in Ukraines eastern Donetsk and Luhansk provinces. The Ukrainian government responded quickly, deploying its military and engaging in an all out war, but by spring rebels had established the self-proclaimed Donetsk Peoples Republic (DPR) in Ukraines far east, and Russia had annexed Ukraines southern peninsula, Crimea. The fighting has continued off and on since then, killing at least 9,115 and costing more than one million jobs, according to the UN Development Program. The fighting had become so bad, Sasha said, recalling the summer in 2014 when shelling and gunfire rumbled just a few kilometers from their home in the small town of Charcizk in Donetsk province. We hated what was happening, but we had our home and jobs in Charciz. My mother is there and all our friends. Advertisement But by the end of summer 2014, it had become clear the conflict between the Ukrainian government and the DPR was still far off being resolved and life in the occupied territory was bound to become more complicated. Our doctor told us that medical supplies from the Ukrainian government would probably be cut in the next year, Marina recalled. He said that the border [between DPR and Ukraine] might close as well. So the decision to stay or leave was made for them. Their two sons Kostya, 16, and Artyom, 10, are diabetic and the prospect of a shortage of insulin was untenable. They were soon driving northwest to the town of Kramatorsk in northern Donetsk. By many standards the family has been lucky they have a small apartment with running water and heat, both Sasha and Marina have been able to find work, and there is warm food on the table at the end of the day. Their kids are in good physical health. And yet the trauma of leaving the life they knew and the loneliness they face day-to-day are constants. While Kramatorsk sits only 70 miles from Charcizk, the family feels a world away. Its not the physical isolation or being in a small apartment, says Sasha. The hardest part has been the emotional isolation. We have this powerful feeling of loneliness. The last time we saw our friends, it ended in yelling and crying, she said. Since then we havent talked with them about the war. We cant. We want to try and maintain our relationships for when this ends. Sasha and his family never supported the rebel occupation, but some of their friends have, and since theyve been gone the community and home they knew has changed into something they have neither approved of nor been a part of. Uncertain about the future, they have yet to invest in building a new community in Kramatorsk, but feel increasingly out of touch with their old lives. The future for Kostya and Artyom weighs most heavily on their minds. We worry about the ways the fear and uncertainty has affected them, said Marina, We worry the sadness of losing their home and friends will make them more isolated. Advertisement Especially Kostya, chimed in Sasha. He has become more closed. We want them to have ordinary lives with their own friends and family Marina said. Im not very active now in finding new people to get to know, said Kostya. I dont know what will happen, he said of the conflict and his plans. I live day by day. I dont look into the future because your plans usually dont come true. One recent evening, Sasha sat alone in the bedroom, lost in thought with his laptop resting beside him on the bed when Marina walked in from the kitchen, her hands still damp from washing dishes. After a moment, he took the laptop onto his knees and pulled up a song by the late Viktor Tsoi, the revolutionary Soviet rocker and Sasha and Marinas favorite. The song, called Pachka Sigaret A Pack of Cigarettes faded in with a slow and winding guitar riff, its bending notes as nostalgic as the lyrics that soon filled the room. Advertisement I sit down and look out anothers window at another strange sky And I dont even see one familiar star, Ive travelled along all the roads, Ive been here and Ive been there, And when I turned back, my own footprints were gone Sasha wrapped his arm around Marinas back and she rested her head against him, a faint smile slowly forming across her face. . But if Ive got a pack of cigarettes in my pocket, Then today wont be so bad after all, And a ticket for the plane with silver wings, Which flies away, leaving only a shadow on the ground Sasha and Marina soon climbed into the bed that belonged to the owners of the apartment who had fled when fighting erupted and slept until daybreak. GiftOutline Gift Article The Iraqi army wrested control of a village held by the Islamic State south of Mosul on Tuesday, nearly three months after launching an offensive to retake it. The Iraqi military said forces from the 71st Brigade of the armys 15th Division, which has closely trained with the U.S.-led coalition in the country, led the operation to secure Nasr, 35 miles south of Mosul, after a renewed push. However, the head of the brigade, Brig. Gen. Badr Ahmed al-Luhaibi, was killed. [After more than $1.6 billion in U.S. aid, Iraqs army still struggles] The delay in recapturing the village had proved to be an embarrassment for the Iraqi army and the coalition, with the operation having been touted as the first real test of freshly trained Iraqi units. The United States spent more than $1.6 billion training and equipping the Iraqi army last year, an effort largely centered on troops designated for the operation to recapture Mosul, the largest Iraqi city under the control of the Islamic State. Iraqi forces are still a long way from being able to begin an offensive targeting the northern city itself, which President Obama had said he envisaged by the end of the year. In addition to military preparation, such an operation requires political coordination between Baghdad and the semiautonomous Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq, and those relations are strained. [The Islamic State has lost this much territory in Iraq and Syria this year] A drawn-out and bloody battle for Fallujah, the city west of Baghdad that was the first in the country to fall to the Islamic State, also could further delay preparations, with units needed for Mosul tied up in fighting there. Still, some long-awaited reinforcements finally arrived south of Mosul over the weekend, including tanks. Maj. Gen. Najim al-Jabouri, commander of the Mosul operation, had complained that the lack of armored support was hampering progress. [American troops edge closer to the front lines in Iraq] In only three hours, we liberated the village and crushed the resistance, said Lt. Col. Helan Mahmood, the head of an army commando unit that fought in Nasr. He said the recently arrived armored units had played a major role. Iraqi army units also retook the nearby village of Hajj Ali on Monday evening, he added. Iraqi forces briefly entered Nasr in late March, declaring it under their control before withdrawing again. The head of the brigade was dismissed after the failed operation and replaced with Luhaibi. Read more: Under strain, Islamic State takes its battle to the streets of Baghdad Iraq is broke. Add that to its list of worries. A tale of two cities in Aleppo Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world The CIA released dozens of previously classified documents Tuesday that expose disturbing new details of the agencys treatment of terrorism suspects after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, including one who died in Afghanistan in 2002 after being doused with water and chained to a concrete floor as temperatures plunged below freezing. The files include granular descriptions of the inner workings of the CIAs black site prisons, messages sent to CIA headquarters from field officers who expressed deep misgivings with how detainees were being treated and secret memos raising objections to the roles played by doctors and psychologists in the administration of treatment later condemned as torture. But the collection also includes documents that were drafted by senior CIA officials to defend the interrogation program as it came under growing scrutiny, including a lengthy memo asserting that the use of often brutal methods had saved thousands of civilian lives. The 50 documents included in the release were all drawn from records turned over to the Senate Intelligence Committee as part of its multi-year probe of the interrogation program. But while the panels 2014 final report includes passages from many of the newly released files, some of the material they contain had not been available to the public until now. In a press statement, the CIA said it was releasing the files in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. The request, for all documents referred to in the Senate report, was first filed by the ACLU, which said the records underscore the cruelty of the methods used in its secret, overseas black sites. The contents were first disclosed in a story on the Vice News website by Jason Leopold. The disclosures do not fundamentally alter the public understanding of a CIA program that already has been examined in hundreds of news accounts and television documentaries as well as a lengthy executive summary of the full Senate report. Instead, the new releases add to a small but growing library of publicly available records on a covert program that was among the most controversial in CIA history before it was shut down in 2009. That controversy was revived last year when GOP Presidential candidate Donald Trump declared that if elected he would order the CIA to resume its use of waterboarding and other harsh interrogation measures a vow that was denounced by many current and former agency officials. Among the more unsettling of the newly released files is a detailed internal investigation of the interrogation and death of Gul Rahman, a militant suspected of ties to al-Qaeda who collapsed after being left overnight in a freezing cell at a CIA prison in Afghanistan known as the Salt Pit. The 35-page file retraces previously reported aspects of the case, including the fact that he had been doused with water and left in a cage with no blankets or heat as temperatures tumbled below 32 degrees. But the declassified chronology exposes the extent to which agency negligence and dysfunction rendered the outcome almost inevitable. The report describes confusion over who was responsible for medical care of detainees at the Salt Pit and reveals that prisoners were routinely kept in diapers and then stripped of even those when they failed to cooperate. Rahman was showing early signs of hypothermia within days of arrival at the site, according to the report, but was regarded as a defiant adversary who was unlikely to break unless subjected to increasingly severe measures. After an afternoon meal in November 2002, Rahman threw his plate, water bottle and waste bucket at the guards, prompting a final and fatal crackdown. He was shackled in a sitting position on bare concrete while nude from the waist down, the report said. Patrols noticed him shaking the next morning but didnt intervene. Two hours later he was found lying motionless on his right side . . . a small amount of blood coming from his nose and mouth. An autopsy concluded that Rahman had likely died of hypothermia because of exposure to the severe cold. Even so, the report found ways to blame Rahman, saying that his actions contributed to his own death. By throwing his last meal he was unable to provide his body with a source of fuel to keep him warm. Other documents expose objections raised by CIA employees to how detainees were handled and whether they ever should have been detained. The CIA has acknowledged the mistaken arrest in 2004 of Khalid al-Masri, a German citizen who was abducted by police in Macedonia and handed over to the agency. He was transferred by the CIA to the Salt Pit, where interrogators quickly concluded he was not a terrorist and had no al-Qaeda connections. The two Agency officers primarily involved in al-Masris rendition justified . . . his continued detention, despite the diminishing rationale, by insisting they knew he was bad, the report said. Once the mistake was acknowledged, internal arguments, apparently aimed at avoiding embarrassment, delayed his release for months. Like the al-Masri case, many of the documents contain familiar outlines of alleged mistreatment, denied and ultimately dismissed by the CIA and law enforcement. Reports on the cases of detainees Abu Hazim al-Libi and Mustafa al-Hawsawi concluded that their alleged waterboarding had instead been only water dousing, a procedure that places a detainee on the floor and pours water over his body. In the Hawsawi case, officials warned that putting him on a board, even if water was not poured on his face, is just too close to the water board, and if it is continued may lead to problems for us. Several of the documents reflect concerns by both CIA and medical officials that they may be held responsible for human rights violations, despite Justice Department opinions saying that certain enhanced interrogation techniques are legal. In a May 2005 memo to the CIA Director, Inspector General John L. Helgerson warns that the opinions are carefully circumscribed and limited to that federal criminal statute prohibiting torture and to the particular circumstances of interrogation as defined by the agency. The opinions, he noted, do not address the possible application of the international Convention Against Torture, which prohibits cruel and degrading techniques. By any common understanding of the term, for example, use of the waterboard may well be cruel. Extended detention with no clothing would be considered degrading in most cultures, particularly Muslim. Helgerson urged the director to seek further legal guidance from Justice. In addition, he wrote, I strongly urge you to restrict, in writing, the current use of interrogation techniques to the specific terms of conditions found to be lawful in the two [Justice] opinions issued that month, including restrictions of such techniques to 30 days. A number of the documents in the release are mostly or entirely redacted, including one titled Anticipated Foreign Reactions to the Public Announcement of the U.S. Secret Terrorist Detention Program In a memo recounting a Nov. 8, 2006 meeting with the International Committee of the Red Cross, then CIA General Counsel John A. Rizzo notes that As described to us, albeit in summary form, what the detainees allege actually does not sound that far removed from reality. The rest of the 9-page document is redacted. In one memo, field officers raise serious reservations with the continued use of enhanced techniques on Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a suspected al-Qaeda operative still in custody at Guantanamo Bay. The detainee has been mainly truthful, the memo said, arguing that continued use of waterboarding and other methods would push subject over the edge psychologically. Despite such concerns among agency operatives, top officials at headquarters defended the program as effective. A 2004 memo to the CIAs inspector general by James L. Pavitt, who at that time was deputy director for operations, said he welcomed an internal probe because he was convinced it would confirm the agencys fundamental respect for human values. Pavitt urged the inspector to be aggressive in his inquiry and not shy away from the conclusion that our efforts have thwarted attacks and saved lives. Enhanced techniques including the water board have been indispensable to our successes. . Read more: Two days before Omar Mateen shot a hundred people, killing 49, he knelt for over an hour on the green carpet of the Fort Pierce mosque, praying with his young son last Friday evening. The first American to carry out a suicide bombing in Syria, Moner Mohammad Abusalha, also occasionally worshiped here before he left his car outside the mosque in 2014, flew to Syria, burned his U.S. passport and blew himself up in an operation for an al-Qaeda affiliate. The FBI looked for a potential connection between Mateen and Abusalha in 2014 and did not find ties of any consequence, aside from the two men knowing each other casually from attending the same mosque, said the bureaus director, James B. Comey, on Monday. But in the wake of Sundays attack in Orlando, there is a new focus on this small working-class town in South Florida and the mosque atttended by two of the most infamous Muslim extremists with U.S. roots. We are a low-key small town and we are hearing that we have two radicalized Muslims, said Dennis Gaskin, a retiree who worked at the Tropicana plant here that squeezes oranges into juice. Hindus are more noticeable here. You almost never see a Muslim. Perhaps, he said, this small town has gotten too big too fast. The Islamic Center of Fort Pierce, Fla., once a Christian church, is where Omar Mateen, the gunman who killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, worshiped. (Ben Fox/AP) People in Fort Pierce said the last time anyone paid this much attention to the mosque was in the 1990s, when it first opened, taking over a building that had been a Christian church and removing the cross on the roof. Inside the mosque which looks likes a church except for the missing cross Adel Nefzi said he and many of those who worshiped last Friday with Mateen are trying to collect money and give blood to the victims of the Orlando massacre. Nefzi, a chemistry professor and a member of the mosques board, said he never saw Mateen interact with Albusalha, the suicide bomber who went to Syria. He said he does not believe there is any link between the two. Its our bad luck, he said, that both violent men had connections to this little mosque, one of the oldest in this part of Florida. The Fort Pierce mosque has drawn people from other parts of central Florida, including Abusalha, who had lived farther north, in Vero Beach, before leaving for Syria. We are frustrated and horrified by the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando that had drawn worldwide attention and more local scrutiny, Nefzi said. He said Mateen has not done this because he is a Muslim but because he has a psychological problem. We dont teach anything against homosexuality in the mosque meetings, he said. Asked what he personally believed about the lifestyle of gay people, he said, Its the wrong thing, but for sure we have no right to judge people. . . . We are in shock, horrified. Nefzi sat under whirring fans in the green and white room where he saw Mateen for the last time on Friday. He said between 100 and 150 others were there for evening prayers, and Mateen had his young son with him. Mateen didnt mingle but left as soon as prayers were finished, Nefzi said, adding, He was not very religious. Another Muslim who worshiped at the Islamic Center here and who didnt want to be named said he heard Mateen talk of immorality in the United States and specifically mentioned a recent Texas case of a female teacher having sex with an eighth-grade student without objections by the boys parents. I dont think this is an ISIS-condoned attack, I think its a hate crime, said the man. Either way, people in Fort Pierce are shocked. This has taken us aback, said Linda Hudson, the mayor of Fort Pierce. This could be Anywhere U.S.A. This is little Fort Pierce! said Donna Lages, 39, a waitress at the Golden Bear restaurant, which serves a $4 breakfast special. She said the place prides itself on its blend of races and religions, and people in Fort Pierce see it as a strength that everyone is from somewhere else. At a drugstore near the mosque, a middle-aged cashier was shaken by the harsh talk about Muslims she has heard since the shooting. One guy came in and said maybe we should start killing them if they are killing us, said the woman, who like many in the town did not want to be quoted by name because of the sensitivity of the issue. Too much hate, she said, blaming some of it on presidential candidate Donald Trump. I know people are saying Trump will be tougher on Muslims, but I think he is causing a lot of this, she said. Debbie Kepler, the organist at the Midway Baptist Church, which is on the same street as the mosque, remembered when it still had a cross and Christians. Now, she said, the Christians and Muslims dont mix much. We dont go over there and they dont come over here, she said. She blamed the violence on a disturbed person, not on his religion, and said it was unnerving to wonder why he drove two hours north to Orlando when there are people closer to home he might have wanted to kill. Adam Goldman and Alice Crites contributed to this report from Washington. CEDAR RAPIDS News that President Barack Obama signed legislation naming the downtown Cedar Rapids Post Office for her son who was killed in Afghanistan nearly five years ago was kind of overwhelming, Mary Pasker said Monday afternoon. He really gave himself, I would say, for protecting our country and our family, and we couldnt be more proud of him, Pasker said about her son, Terryl, a Cedar Rapids carpenter who was killed while serving with the Iowa Army National Guard in Afghanistan. Were very proud of what he did, she said, because her son voluntarily extended his second tour of duty in Afghanistan for an extra year. He was killed July 9, 2011, just days before his combat tour was scheduled to end. As a result of the legislation sponsored by Rep. Rod Blum, who represents the 1st District that includes Cedar Rapids, and Sen. Joni Ernst, the post office will be designated the Sergeant First Class Terryl L. Pasker Post Office Building later this summer. Renaming this postal facility after Sgt. Pasker will serve as a permanent reminder of the sacrifice he made on behalf of our country, as well as honoring all those who have served the United States in the armed forces, Blum said. He and Ernst were joined by Sen. Chuck Grassley and Reps. Dave Loebsack, David Young and Steve King as co-sponsors. Blum anticipates a naming ceremony this summer at which time a plaque that honors the life of Sgt. Pasker and the sacrifices made by the entire Pasker family will be placed in the post office lobby, Blum said. Ernst, who also served in the Iowa Army National Guard, said Pasker made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our freedoms. While we can never thank him and his family enough for his service, I am proud that our community will be able to recognize his heroism with this tribute to him, Ernst said, adding her appreciation that Obama signed the bill. Naming the building for Pasker will ensure Sgt. 1st Class Pasker and his family receives the recognition he deserves, Ernst said. Pasker, an Anamosa native, enlisted in the Army in 1990 and joined the National Guard in 1995. He was first deployed to Afghanistan from 2004-05 and chose to return in 2011 with the 334th Brigade Support Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division. Pasker, who was 39 at the time, was going through a routine security checkpoint in Panjshir Province, Afghanistan, in an armored vehicle when an Afghan National Directorate security officer attacked with small-arms fire, according the Iowa National Guard. Pasker and an American civilian law enforcement contractor who was with him in the vehicle were killed. Paskers father, David, called the post office naming appropriate because Terry dedicated his life to the defense of his country and to serving his Lord Jesus. Because of those two dedications, God has seen fit to honor Terry in this physical Earth in this way, Pasker, who had a contracting business in Cedar Rapids, is survived by his wife, Erica; parents, Mary and David of Blairstown; a brother, Andrew; and two sisters, Christine and Rebecca. Russian goverment hackers penetrated the Democratic National Committee and had access to the DNC network for about a year, but all were expelled earlier in June. (Jhaan Elker/The Washington Post) Russian goverment hackers penetrated the Democratic National Committee and had access to the DNC network for about a year, but all were expelled earlier in June. (Jhaan Elker/The Washington Post) Russian government hackers penetrated the computer network of the Democratic National Committee and gained access to the entire database of opposition research on GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, according to committee officials and security experts who responded to the breach. The intruders so thoroughly compromised the DNCs system that they also were able to read all email and chat traffic, said DNC officials and the security experts. The intrusion into the DNC was one of several targeting American political organizations. The networks of presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were also targeted by Russian spies, as were the computers of some Republican political action committees, U.S. officials said. But details on those cases were not available. [Russia denies DNC hack and says maybe someone forgot the password] I completely rule out a possibility that the [Russian] government or the government bodies have been involved in this, Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlins spokesman, told the Reuters news agency in Moscow. 1 of 45 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad Trump captures the nations attention on the campaign trail View Photos The Republican candidate continues to dominate the presidential contest. Caption Businessman Donald Trump officially became the Republican nominee at the partys convention in Cleveland. Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event at Trump Doral golf course in Miami. Carlo Allegri/Reuters Wait 1 second to continue. Some of the hackers had access to the DNC network for about a year, but all were expelled over the past weekend in a major computer cleanup campaign, the committee officials and experts said. The DNC said that no financial, donor or personal information appears to have been accessed or taken, suggesting that the breach was traditional espionage, not the work of criminal hackers. The intrusions are an example of Russias interest in the U.S. political system and its desire to understand the policies, strengths and weaknesses of a potential future president much as American spies gather similar information on foreign candidates and leaders. The depth of the penetration reflects the skill and determination of the United States top cyber-adversary as Russia goes after strategic targets, from the White House and State Department to political campaign organizations. [Russian hackers breach some White House computers] Its the job of every foreign intelligence service to collect intelligence against their adversaries, said Shawn Henry, president of CrowdStrike, the cyber firm called in to handle the DNC breach and a former head of the FBIs cyber division. He noted that it is extremely difficult for a civilian organization to protect itself from a skilled and determined state such as Russia. Donald Trump has repeatedly called Vladimir Putin a "strong" leader, but toes a fine line on praising the Russian president. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post) Were perceived as an adversary of Russia, he said. Their job when they wake up every day is to gather intelligence against the policies, practices and strategies of the U.S. government. There are a variety of ways. [Hacking] is one of the more valuable because it gives you a treasure trove of information. Russian President Vladimir Putin has spoken favorably about Trump, who has called for better relations with Russia and expressed skepticism about NATO. But unlike Clinton, whom the Russians probably have long had in their spy sights, Trump has not been a politician for very long, so foreign agencies are playing catch-up, analysts say. The purpose of such intelligence gathering is to understand the targets proclivities, said Robert Deitz, former senior councillor to the CIA director and a former general counsel at the National Security Agency. Trumps foreign investments, for example, would be relevant to understanding how he would deal with countries where he has those investments should he be elected, Deitz said. They may provide tips for understanding his style of negotiating. In short, this sort of intelligence could be used by Russia, for example, to indicate where it can get away with foreign adventurism. [The not-completely-crazy theory that Russia leaked the Panama Papers] Other analysts noted that any dirt dug up in opposition research is likely to be made public anyway. Nonetheless, DNC leadership acted quickly after the intrusions discovery to contain the damage. The security of our system is critical to our operation and to the confidence of the campaigns and state parties we work with, said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.), the DNC chairwoman. When we discovered the intrusion, we treated this like the serious incident it is and reached out to CrowdStrike immediately. Our team moved as quickly as possible to kick out the intruders and secure our network. [Debbie Wasserman Schultzs Worst Week in Washington] Clinton called the intrusion troubling in an interview with Telemundo. She also said, So far as we know, my campaign has not been hacked into, and added that cybersecurity is an issue that she will be absolutely focused on if she becomes president. Because whether its Russia, or China, Iran or North Korea, more and more countries are using hacking to steal our information, to use it to their advantage, she said. A spokeswoman for the Trump campaign referred questions to the Secret Service. DNC leaders were tipped to the hack in late April. Chief executive Amy Dacey got a call from her operations chief saying that their information technology team had noticed some unusual network activity. Its never a call any executive wants to get, but the IT team knew something was awry, Dacey said. And they knew it was serious enough that they wanted experts to investigate. That evening, she spoke with Michael Sussmann, a DNC lawyer who is a partner with Perkins Coie in Washington. Soon after, Sussmann, a former federal prosecutor who handled computer crime cases, called Henry, whom he has known for many years. Within 24 hours, CrowdStrike had installed software on the DNCs computers so that it could analyze data that could indicate who had gained access, when and how. The firm identified two separate hacker groups, both working for the Russian government, that had infiltrated the network, said Dmitri Alperovitch, CrowdStrike co-founder and chief technology officer. The firm had analyzed other breaches by both groups over the past two years. [U.S. suspects Russia in hack of Pentagon computer network] One group, which CrowdStrike had dubbed Cozy Bear, had gained access last summer and was monitoring the DNCs email and chat communications, Alperovitch said. The other, which the firm had named Fancy Bear, broke into the network in late April and targeted the opposition research files. It was this breach that set off the alarm. The hackers stole two files, Henry said. And they had access to the computers of the entire research staff an average of about several dozen on any given day. The computers contained research going back years on Trump. Its a huge job to dig into the dealings of somebody who has never run for office before, Dacey said. CrowdStrike is not sure how the hackers got in. The firm suspects they may have targeted DNC employees with spearphishing emails. These are communications that appear legitimate often made to look like they came from a colleague or someone trusted but that contain links or attachments that when clicked on deploy malicious software that enables a hacker to gain access to a computer. But we dont have hard evidence, Alperovitch said. The two groups did not appear to be working together, Alperovitch said. Fancy Bear is believed to work for the GRU, or Russias military intelligence service, he said. CrowdStrike is less sure of whom Cozy Bear works for but thinks it might be the Federal Security Service, or FSB, the countrys powerful security agency, which was once headed by Putin. [How Russian special forces are shaping the fight in Syria] The lack of coordination is not unusual, he said. Theres an amazing adversarial relationship among the Russian intelligence agencies, Alperovitch said. We have seen them steal assets from one another, refuse to collaborate. Theyre all vying for power, to sell Putin on how good they are. The two crews have superb operational tradecraft, he said. They often use previously unknown software bugs known as zero-day vulnerabilities to compromise applications. In the DNCs case, the hackers constantly switched tactics to maintain a stealthy presence inside the network and used built-in Windows tools so that they didnt have to resort to malicious code that might trigger alerts. They flew under the radar, Alperovitch said. The two groups have hacked government agencies, tech companies, defense contractors, energy and manufacturing firms, and universities in the United States, Canada and Europe as well as in Asia, he said. Cozy Bear, for instance, compromised the unclassified email systems of the White House, State Department and Joint Chiefs of Staff in 2014, Alperovitch said. This is a sophisticated foreign intelligence service with a lot of time, a lot of resources, and is interested in targeting the U.S. political system, Henry said. He said the DNC was not engaged in a fair fight. Youve got ordinary citizens who are doing hand-to-hand combat with trained military officers, he said. And thats an untenable situation. Russia has always been a formidable foe in cyberspace, but in the past two years, theres been a thousand-fold increase in its espionage campaign against the West, said Alperovitch, who is also a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. They feel under siege. Western sanctions, imposed after Russias annexation of Crimea in Ukraine, have hurt the economy and led the government to increase its theft of intellectual property to limit the impact of import restrictions, he said. And Russias growing isolation has increased the need for intelligence to understand and influence political decisions in other countries, he added. CrowdStrike is continuing the forensic investigation, said Sussmann, the DNC lawyer. But at this time, it appears that no financial information or sensitive employee, donor or voter information was accessed by the Russian attackers, he said. The firm has installed special software on every computer and server in the network to detect any efforts by the Russian cyberspies to break in again. When they get kicked out of the system, Henry predicted, theyre going to try to come back in. Tom Hamburger contributed to this report. Read more: Pentagon unveils budget priority for next year: Countering Russia and China The Putin-Trump kiss being shared around the world Pentagon: U.S. has told Russia where U.S. special forces are in Syria FBI wants access to Internet browser history without a warrant in terrorism and spy cases An undated photo of Mohammed al-Qahtani. He is suspected of planning to participate in the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, as the so-called 20th hijacker and is now seeking release from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Long before Mohammed al-Qahtani was suspected of planning to participate in the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, as the 20th hijacker, Saudi police found him naked in a garbage dumpster in Riyadh. In another psychotic episode that took place in Mecca in 2000, Qahtani was involuntarily committed to a hospital after trying to hurl himself into the street. Doctors at the time said he was delusional and suicidal, according to medical and psychiatric records that were obtained by The Washington Post. Qahtani tried to enter the United States a month before the 9/11 attacks but was denied entry at Orlando International Airport. He was captured by the Pakistani army at the Afghanistan-Pakistan border in the fall of 2001 and transferred to U.S. custody, arriving at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in January 2002, according to military records. In 2009, Susan J. Crawford, a senior Pentagon legal official and retired judge, told The Post, We tortured Qahtani. His treatment met the legal definition of torture. And thats why I did not refer the case for prosecution at a military commission. [Guantanamo Bay detainee was tortured, says official overseeing military trials] Qahtanis attorneys will argue Thursday at a military-style parole board hearing that their clients preexisting mental illness and the abuse he experienced at Guantanamo Bay should favor his release, as the prison is unable to provide adequate medical and psychiatric care. Saudi Arabia has agreed to resettle him, according to a Saudi Interior Ministry document provided to The Post. President Obama is attempting to close the U.S. military prison and transfer out as many of the 80 detainees remaining as possible. But the Qahtani case is among the most complex facing the administration because the military thinks he was linked to the 9/11 conspiracy but his ill-treatment and medical issues make a trial all but impossible. Mohammed was already mentally ill long before the time when he was alleged to have attempted anything. That fact calls into serious question the fairness of holding him responsible for any actions during that period of his life, said Ramzi Kassem, a law professor at the City University of New York whose legal clinic represents Qahtani along with Shayana Kadidal, a lawyer with the Center for Constitutional Rights. [Obama asks lawmakers to lift obstacles to closing prison at Guantanamo Bay] Qahtani, 39, is one of the most controversial figures at Guantanamo Bay. Over a 50-day period, he was subjected to constant interrogations marked by extreme sleep deprivation, low temperatures, stress positions and forced nudity as well as being threatened with a military dog. He had to be hospitalized twice with a dangerously low heart rate. He has schizophrenia, major depression and persistent skin lesions, said Emily Keram, a psychiatrist who recently examined him. In her assessment, she wrote that he will likely require lifelong mental health care. Qahtani cannot receive effective treatment for his current mental health conditions while he remains in U.S. custody, Keram concluded in an evaluation that The Post obtained. Keram and an interpreter met with Qahtani for 39 hours in May. He revealed that he had suffered a head injury after being ejected from a car when he was 8 and was injured twice more in car accidents. [Read: Prepared statement by Qahtanis lawyers to military board] According to Kerams medical evaluation, Qahtani developed psychotic symptoms in childhood that worsened as he grew older. His family said he once tossed his cellphone out of a car because it was making him tired. In Mecca, he was admitted to the psychiatric unit of the King Adbul Aziz Hospital and treated with antipsychotic medication and a sedative. He told doctors that he wanted to kill himself and that he was delusional, the records show. Qahtani first traveled to Afghanistan in 2000, where he received training at an al-Qaeda camp before meeting and swearing loyalty to Osama bin Laden, according to military records. The al-Qaeda leader singled him out to participate in the 9/11 attacks, according to the records. Qahtanis psychological and cognitive deficits made him vulnerable to manipulation and coercion, said Keram, who has previously examined other Guantanamo Bay prisoners. During the period when he was interrogated in 2002 and 2003, Qahtani thought he was dead and believed that he saw ghosts but that an imaginary bird reassured him he was still alive, Keram reported. My interview of him was extremely disruptive to his sense of identity and induced deep feelings of anxiety and shame, she wrote. He often wept. Over the days of our interview he reported experiencing increase in the intensity of frequency of PTSD symptoms. He told Keram that he had two options when he was being tortured: compliance or suicide. Because he couldnt kill himself, he told his interrogators what they wanted to hear. She said those statements were neither reliable nor credible. In 2008, military officials wrote that Qahtani was in good health and although publicly released records allege detainee was subject to harsh interrogation techniques in the early stages of detention, detainees admission of involvement in UBLs special mission to the US appear to be true and are corroborated in reporting from other sources. That same year, Qahtani told an administrative review board at the prison that he was a different person now than he was in the summer of 2001. The detainee stated he would not have participated in a mission that involved killing women and children. Read more: Philippine officials said Tuesday that Abu Sayyaf extremists beheaded a Canadian man, the second Canadian hostage to be killed by militants from the group in two months after their demands for a large ransom were not met. The hostage, Robert Hall, was abducted from a marina in September along with another Canadian, a Norwegian and a Filipino. The other Canadian, former mining executive John Ridsdel, was beheaded in April. Police Superintendent Junpikar Sitin said troops found the head late Monday in a plastic bag on a street in the town of Jolo in Sulu province. In Ottawa, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said earlier that there is compelling reason to believe that Hall was killed and that his government is working with Philippine authorities to confirm his death. We have every reason to believe that the reports are, unfortunately, true, Trudeau said in the foyer of Parliament. He said he was horrified by the killings and reaffirmed Canadas refusal to pay ransoms. The government of Canada will not and cannot pay ransoms for hostages to terrorist groups, as doing so would endanger the lives of more Canadians, Trudeau said in a statement. After being abducted from the marina on southern Samal Island on Sept. 21, the hostages were taken by boat to Sulu, where the Abu Sayyaf group has held hostages for years in jungle camps. Ridsdel was beheaded April 25 after a ransom demand of 300 million pesos ($6.3 million) was not paid. In an Abu Sayyaf video posted on YouTube last month, Hall and the two other hostages pleaded with Canadian and Philippine officials to negotiate their release. We live like this every day, go to bed like this, Hall said, raising his arms to show that he was handcuffed. We have a hundred people heavily armed around us all the time that dictate to us and talk to us like children. Weve been humiliated in every way possible. One of us has already been murdered. I would also like to thank my family for the effort they put in my family and friends for the effort they put in to get me out of here, he said. The United States and the Philippines have listed Abu Sayyaf as a terrorist organization. The group emerged in the early 1990s as an offshoot of a decades-long Muslim separatist rebellion. The United States and Venezuela will work to improve their strained relations, Secretary of State John F. Kerry said Tuesday after meeting with his counterpart from Caracas, who hours earlier had accused Washington of helping foment a coup against Venezuelas socialist government. On a day that started with Kerry backing calls for a referendum to recall President Nicolas Maduro, as well as Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez saying Washington was bullying her country, Kerry and Rodriguez spoke privately for about half an hour. Initially they avoided eye contact when posing for photos and exchanged an awkward handshake, but Kerry later described their conversation as very congenial and very respectful. Kerry said the United States does not support suspending Venezuela from the Organization of American States, one possible outcome of a push by OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro, who has accused the Maduro government of failing to live up to the groups Democratic Charter. Rather, Washington supports mediated talks with the Maduro governments opponents as Venezuela continues to be roiled by food and medical shortages, high inflation and anti-government protests. That wouldnt be constructive, Kerry said of a suspension. Its more constructive to have the dialogue than to isolate. Kerry said he would dispatch Thomas A. Shannon Jr., the undersecretary for political affairs, to Caracas immediately for talks. He also suggested that improved relations between the two countries depend on whether Maduro acquiesces to opposition calls for a recall referendum. We are supporting it in the context of a constitutional prerogative that is available to the opposition, which they have chosen to exercise and have been frustrated in the exercise, Kerry said. Asked whether Maduro would be open to dialogue with the opposition, Kerry said that he had talked it over with Rodriguez and that she indicated that he wants to proceed in this direction, and we will explore that. Im committed to see if this can work, so lets see if we can improve the relationship, he said. Kerrys soothing words appeared to be an attempt to tone down a fiery start to the OAS General Assembly meeting here. Kerry opened the session decrying the deeply troubling situation in Venezuela, citing reports of people dying while queuing in long lines for food and medical care. Like all people of the Americas, Venezuelans have the right to use constitutional mechanisms to express their will in a peaceful and democratic manner, Kerry said. He then called on the Venezuelan government to release political prisoners, respect freedom of expression and assembly, and honor petitions for a recall referendum. [In Venezuela, life is undervalued, and death is overpriced] Moments later, Rodriguez responded with harsh words against both Washington and the OAS secretary general over his proposal to suspend Venezuela from the 34-state organization. Calling Almagro biased in favor of her countrys political opposition, Rodriguez said the secretary generals efforts prove he is intervening in the countrys domestic politics. I see now this is ordered by Washington, she said, adding of the OAS, I know they are on Washingtons payroll to meddle in the domestic affairs of Venezuela. Rodriguez trained her anger further on the United States, which she said has shattered the Middle East and Africa. Today, Venezuela is the victim of international bullying from the right, she said, blaming nations that seek to overthrow progressive left-wing governments in our region. [Photo gallery: Harrowing scenes of Venezuela on the brink of collapse] Venezuela is spiraling toward chaos. Low prices for oil, the financial bedrock of Venezuelas socialist domestic programs and its regional political power, have hurt the countrys ability to import goods, causing shortages of food, medicine and other products. Electrical blackouts are so severe that Maduro has urged women to stop blow-drying their hair. Maduro has responded with what critics call growing authoritarianism. He declared a state of emergency that has allowed him to throw critics in jail, undercut the independent press and suppress the opposition in the National Assembly. Anti-government protesters have been repelled by security forces in Caracas. [There has never been a country that should have been so rich but ended up this poor] A June 23 meeting of the OAS has been called to discuss a 132-page report that Almagro released last month and that reads like an indictment of Maduros government. Almagro needs a majority, or 18 votes, to agree with him that there is an alternation in the [Venezuelan] constitutional order that seriously affects the democratic order. The United States supports Almagros efforts, which Kerry said will open a much-needed discussion about Venezuela that could ultimately help ease the pressures that have led as much as a third of Venezuelas 30 million residents to say they want to leave their country. Since Almagro became head of the OAS last year, he has increased the organizations focus on democracy and human rights. Washington pays 60 percent of the OAS budget and is home to its headquarters. Although the crisis in Venezuela is not officially on the agenda of the General Assembly, it is dominating many of the private discussions. [U.S. intelligence officials: Venezuela could be headed for collapse] According to diplomats at the assembly, the United States is floating a draft statement seeking support for the measures Kerry outlined in his speech. Washington can expect support from Canada, Mexico, Chile, Uruguay and Brazil. In return, Venezuela is circulating a draft that calls for the United States to apologize for its 1965 invasion of the Dominican Republic. That year, President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered 22,000 U.S. troops into the country to prevent what he called the establishment of a communist dictatorship. Caracas has its own list of allies, including Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, El Salvador and several small Caribbean countries that receive heavily discounted oil from Venezuela. The fracas at the OAS over Venezuela has grown intensely acrimonious in recent weeks. Maduro has accused Almagro of being a CIA agent, and told him to roll up the OAS Democratic Charter in a vial and stuff it. Almagro has accused Maduro of being a traitor to his people and being on the path to becoming a petty dictator. In his morning remarks, Kerry expressed disappointment that the Dominican government had barred representatives of civil organizations from attending the General Assembly. Transparency and citizen participation are not optional, and they are not prerogatives of the host government, he said. Read more Harrowing scenes of life in Venezuela Venezuela declares a 2-day work week because of energy shortages Collapsed price of oil is the only number that matters in Venezuela Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is sending 4,000 additional troops to Eastern Europe in the name of reassuring Poland and the Baltic states, the alliances Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg confirmed on Monday. We will agree to deploy by rotation four robust multi-national battalions in the Baltic states and Poland, Stoltenberg told NATO officials. The US, Germany and Britain will each contribute 1,000 soldiers, with Canada expected to confirm its own contingent of 1,000. The deployments are among the most provocative actions taken by the NATO high command in the course of its anti-Russian buildup, now well into its second year. With ever greater recklessness, the US and European ruling elites are sowing the seeds of war across the width and breadth of the Eurasian landmass. The announcement of new troop deployments comes in the midst of Operation Anaconda 2016, involving more than 30,000 NATO forces in the biggest war drill held in Poland since the end of the Second World War. Some 12,500 of the 30,000 soldiers are American. In Eastern Europe, under the guise of rotational deployments, NATO has established a permanent military force. Put forth for public consumption as a response to Russian meddling in Ukraine and alleged provocations by Russias military along the frontiers of NATOs eastern member states, the real purpose of NATOs spearhead force is to prepare for a ground invasion across Russias western border. Beginning with the February 2014 coup detat in Kiev, the US-dominated imperialist alliance has relentlessly stoked confrontation with Moscow and laid the foundations for a continental-scale war aimed at breaking up and conquering the Russian Federation. The continued massing of Western troops along Russias border makes good on US President Barack Obamas September 2014 promise that the US and NATO powers would provide eternal military assistance to the Baltic states. In effect, Obama committed the most powerful military alliance in the world to waging all-out war against Russia should one of the tiny Baltic states claim to be under attack from Moscow. Such a war, which would immediately raise the prospect of a showdown between the worlds two biggest nuclear powers, would ostensibly be launched to defend some of the smallest and least populated countries in Europe, which are ruled by far-right and rabidly anti-Russian regimes. The Baltic governments are actively encouraging the deployments and calling for still more NATO military hardware over and above the vast stocks of tanks, artillery and heavy weapons pre-positioned throughout Eastern Europe by NATO since 2014. Backed by the Western alliance, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are placing their societies on a war footing. They are putting their armed forces on high alert and awaiting the call for mobilization against Russia. On Monday, Lithuanian defense official Juozas Olekas told the UKs Daily Express that Russia might exercise on the borders and then switch to invasion in hours. At stake in Lithuania is the credibility of the whole alliance, said Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius. NATO defense of Estonias air space must be first and foremost on the alliances agenda, Estonias military chief said, before demanding a permanent presence of NATO troops in Estonia. These forces are in Estonia to send a clear and unequivocal message to the adversary: do not quarrel with NATO, he said. The charge of Russian aggression against Europe is among the central lies employed by present-day imperialism. Seizing on the secession of Crimea from post-coup Ukraine and the enclaves integration into the Russian Federation, the NATO establishment has sought to justify its war preparations as a defensive precaution in the face of a Putin government supposedly primed to invade Central Europe. While Russias military saber-rattling, which alternates with attempts at compromise with the West, only adds to the war danger, it is essentially of a defensive character. On Monday, citing unnamed NATO sources, British media accused Russia of circumventing the Vienna accord and building up troop numbers in sensitive locations on Europes doorstep. Announcing plans to boost military expenditures by $3 billion annually, NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg declared: This will send a clear signal that NATO stands ready to defend any ally. US and European imperialism are committed to defend the Baltics because it supplies them with a pretext and a staging area for covert and military operations along Russias flanks. In Washington and some European capitals, powerful elements within the imperialist bourgeoisie are actively conspiring to engineer further provocations and destabilization operations against Russia. The integration of former Soviet republic Georgia into NATO is slated to be a core issue at next months NATO summit in Warsaw. Russia and the pro-Western government of Georgia fought a brief war in 2008, and Moscow has vociferously opposed the countrys joining the US-dominated military alliance. The integration of Georgia would greatly facilitate the projection of US and NATO power against Russias southern flank in the Caucasus and Caspian Sea Basin. Last weeks announcement of intensified US military operations in Afghanistan is bound up with preparations to use that country as well to strike against Russias soft underbelly in Central Asia, in particular against Russian interests in Kazakhstan. The NATO buildup in Eastern Europe is producing levels of militarist frenzy not seen in Europe since the 1930s. During war drills in Lithuania this week, as the German and Danish militaries rehearsed marching on the Russian border, Danish Colonel Jakob Larsen told the media, You see it differently when you live here. We need to learn to fight total war again. Heavily-armed police in the Papua New Guinea capital of Port Moresby last Wednesday opened fire on hundreds of protesting university students with live ammunition, injuring nearly 40, several seriously. Initial reports of four dead proved incorrect. The police crackdown followed weeks of student protests, including widespread class boycotts, at the University of Papua New Guinea that were joined by students in other parts of the country. The students were preparing to march to the PNG parliament to support plans by the official opposition to move a no-confidence vote in Prime Minister Peter ONeill and his government. The police shooting, which was undoubtedly given the green light at the top level of the state apparatus, was aimed at not only suppressing the student protests but intimidating layers of working people impacted by the governments harsh austerity measures. The parliamentary opposition headed by Don Polye has sought on several occasions to bring down the government on the issue of corruption. ONeill has engaged in a series of manoeuvres since 2014 to avoid being arrested and tried over allegations that he gave instructions for payments worth about $US22 million to a legal firm for unauthorised invoices. Despite repeated opposition demands, ONeill has refused to stand aside. Like the opposition, key student leaders have sought to narrowly focus on ONeills alleged corruption and supported no confidence motions to the exclusion of broader issues. PNG, which depends heavily on energy and mineral exports, has been hard hit by falling commodities prices, forcing the government to seek loans and slash social spending. Many public servants have not been paid. Deep cutbacks have been made to public health and education, which were already grossly underfunded. By making corruption the central issue, Polye is seeking to cover up his own record, as ONeills treasurer until 2014, in imposing the burden of the worsening economic crisis onto the backs of workers and the rural poor. As the financial turmoil has deepened, he has criticised the government for failing to take urgent belt-tightening measures. Corruption scandals are invariably an expression of deep divisions within the ruling elite over more fundamental issues. In PNGs case, there has been an ongoing fracturing of the political establishment in the four decades since the end of Australian colonial rule in 1975. PNG politics is dominated by political formations based on regional, local and linguistic divisions that have no policies other than to benefit the tiny competing elites they represent. PNG, like other countries throughout the Asia Pacific, has been caught up in the sharpening geo-political tensions fuelled by the Obama administrations pivot to Asia and military preparations for war with China. As Obama was formally announcing the pivot in the Australian parliament in November 2011, an extraordinary constitutional crisis was unfolding in PNG following the ouster of Michael Somare as prime minister and installation of ONeill. Somares look north orientation to seek aid and investment from China had raised growing concerns in Canberra and Washington. His government gave the go-ahead for the $1.5 billion Chinese-owned Ramu nickel-copper mine. He further angered the Australian government by refusing to accept Australian Federal Police (AFP) advisers in strategic positions within the PNG police force as well as other Australian officials in senior legal, economic and other sensitive posts. When the Supreme Court ruled in December 2011 that ONeills installation was unconstitutional and that Somare remained prime minister, ONeill ignored the countrys top court. The standoff between Somare and ONeill threatened to tear the state apparatus apart as the two men appointed their own officials, including police commissioners and defence force commanders. The crisis only ended after ONeill agreed to call fresh elections, out of which his party emerged as the largest and formed government. ONeill signalled his reorientation away from Beijing and toward Canberra and Washington when he first took office in August 2011. He agreed to allow AFP and Australian military personnel into PNG in advisory roles. He also reached a deal with the then Labor government in Canberra to reopen the Manus Island detention centre to imprison refugees trying to reach Australia, in return for an increase in Australian foreign aid. On paper, ONeill has a commanding parliamentary majority of about 100 in the countrys 111-seat parliament. His coalition, however, is highly unstable and based on various inducements, such as the allocation of constituency funds. While he has managed to inflate the size of his own Peoples National Congress Party from 27 to about 50 seats by enticing defections from other parties, the ruling coalition involves key rivals, including Somares National Alliance Party. Somare, even though nominally aligned with the government, criticised the police shootings last week as inexcusable and indicated his support for the students. But neither Somares National Alliance Party nor other government allies have indicated that they intend to desert the ruling coalition. Last weeks attempt to pass a vote of no confidence failed. Behind the scenes, manoeuvring has begun for elections scheduled for next year. Frictions have developed between ONeill and Canberra over a series of issues, including his decision to direct some Australian advisers to leave last December. Nevertheless, his government has retained Canberras backing throughout the current crisis. In response to last weeks shootings, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop called for calm. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull rang ONeill to offer assistance, but was politely declined. It is not difficult to imagine a completely different scenario if ONeill no longer enjoyed Canberras support. Not only would the corruption allegations be used to paint a picture of a dysfunctional government, but the shooting of unarmed student protesters would be seized upon to denounce ONeill in the blackest of terms, paving the way for his removal. Canberras attitude is summed up in a short comment by former long-time Australian Broadcasting Corporation correspondent in PNG, Sean Dorney, in the Lowy Institutes Interpreter. The headline said it all: PNG shootings are not a Tiananmen moment. In other words, given that initial reports of four students being shot dead were incorrect, the police brutality and blatant abrogation of democratic rights was nothing to get worked up about. The Australian government is clearly concerned at the ongoing political instability in PNG, which is the largest of the Pacific island states and is strategically placed just to the north of Australia. Canberra has previously indicated that it would intervene, including militarily, in the event of a crisis in PNG and may well be attempting to manipulate events behind the scenes at present. An obvious question needs to be asked: what were the AFPs embedded advisers doing last Wednesday as PNG police shot at protesting students? The latest crisis in PNG is a harbinger of the worsening social and economic crisis and sharpening geo-political tensions wracking countries throughout the region, particularly the small, vulnerable island states of the South West Pacific. The police shootings are a warning of the draconian measures that will be used by the local ruling elites to suppress any resistance to their agenda. Photo: Getty Images Can you help me? a man, bleeding from three gunshot wounds, pleaded on the street outside the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla. Dont worry, I got you, club-goer Josh McGill, himself escaping the scene of violence inside, replied before peeling off his shirt to stop the rush of blood, engulfing the wounded man in a bear hug, and keeping him conscious as they drove to the nearest ER, according to the LA Times. The man, Rodney Sumter Jr., is now recovering, largely in part to McGills brave efforts. Josh McGill describes his life-saving actions in the aftermath of the shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando. (Video: CBS) The country awoke on Sunday, June 12, to news of the most devastating mass shooting in American history, with 49 dead and 53 wounded. Painful details of what happened during the massacre at Pulse are still emerging, yet so are stories of kindness, bravery, and selflessness. Another man packed a cooler, jumped in his car and drove for nearly four hours from Tallahassee to Orlando to pass out free drinks to the reeling community. Miami television station WSVN-TV Channel 7 captured the unidentified man, standing over his half-empty cooler, in a Facebook post, Photo: Facebook Gracie the Comfort Dog, a Chicago pup who brings comfort and compassion to the suffering, was immediately put on a flight to Orlando on Sunday morning. Gracie is no stranger to national tragedies; she deployed to Newtown, Conn., in 2012 to comfort members of the community after 26 were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Photo: Facebook By Monday afternoon, just over a day after the shooting, $2.1 million had been raised to help victims and their families through the GoFundMe platform. Some 600 people at a time have lined up to donate blood in Orlando. Counselors have offered their services pro bono, even via phone or Skype. People across the nation lined up in droves to donate blood after the shooting at Pulse. (Video: ABC) Story continues Humans are hardwired to create actions that lead to our own preservation, says Karla Ivankovich, PhD, a professor of psychology at the University of Illinois, Springfield. Emotions spur these acts, she tells Yahoo Beauty. Whether the initial emotion is hope or hopelessness, we attempt to be proactive in good times and reactive in difficult times. Ivankovich says traumas often cause us to imagine what it would be like to be faced with the difficulties of the victims. Helpers frequently react in ways theyd hope others would if the tables were turned and they were in dire straits. We feel an intense kinship and desire to protect others, especially because, at some point, you realize that this could have been you, your family, one of your friends, and the hurt and loss settle in, she explains. Related: 7 Things Kind People Do That Make Us Love Them The effects of tragedy also cut a layer deeper. According to Art Markman, PhD, a professor of psychology at the University of Texas, Austin, there is another reason we see so many random acts of kindness in the wake of extreme tragedy. There is a lot of work in psychology on what is called terror management theory, he tells Yahoo Beauty. The idea is that humans are probably the only animals on the planet that can contemplate their own mortality. As a result, humans have to deal with the fear that someday we will die. Markman says that when confronted with our mortality, we engage with this fact in ways that help us cope with that existential fear. One in particular is to bind ourselves more closely to other members of our broader social group, he explains. The idea is that our culture, our people, will live on beyond us, and so we increase our affiliation with our social groups. These random acts of kindness are a way to feel closer to other members of society in times of crisis. In certain ways, tragedies help erase the boundary lines that divide us all, Markman says. We often define our social group more broadly in times of crisis than in normal times, he says. Ordinarily, people in California, Texas, or New York might think of Floridians as being socially distant from them. Similarly, members of the straight community might feel social distance from the LGBT community. But, following a crisis like the one in Florida, people across the country were thinking of themselves as Americans a group that is inclusive rather than maintaining this social distance. Markman says feelings stirred after Orlando are similar to ones many Americans felt for the people of France in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo shootings. Instead of defining ourselves in a million unique and different ways, in times of crisis, tragedy simply makes us human. And small moments of humanity and kindness restore our faith in the people around us. This is is an instinctual response, says Ivankovich, which provides a sense of balance amid horrific catastrophe. There is so much death and mayhem that people are searching for hope and that means we have to be a part of the solution, not the problem, Ivankovich says. Thats why people do random, wonderful things. Nothing can erase the pain of 50 lost lives and 53 wounded on Sunday, but small, amazing acts of kindness are an instinctual bonding mechanism of the human race. Lets keep in touch! Follow Yahoo Beauty on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. Police were sent to Johnny Depp and Amber Heards downtown Los Angeles home on Monday, with LAPD confirming to ET that Heards attorney is the one who placed the call. NEWS: Johnny Depp Auctioning Off Valuable Art Collection Ahead of Divorce Proceedings While Depp, 53, is currently believed to be in the Bahamas, Heards team is reportedly claiming that the actor is in violation of the temporary restraining order that Heard was granted against her estranged husband last month, by sending his people to collect items from the house. The court order requires that Depp remains at least 100 yards from their home, but includes a move-out order, allowing him to collect clothing and personal items needed before Fridays hearing. WATCH: Amber Heards Ex-Girlfriend Speaks Out on Domestic Violence Arrest in 2009 TMZ reports that Depps people are removing things from the walls and taking furniture out of the home, and that 30-year-old Heards team views this as overreaching. Two officers told ET there was nothing to report as they left the building. ET reached out to reps for both Heard and Depp, who have yet to respond. Related Articles The U.S. News Short List, separate from our overall rankings, is a regular series that magnifies individual data points in hopes of providing students and parents a way to find which undergraduate or graduate programs excel or have room to grow in specific areas. Be sure to explore The Short List: College, The Short List: Grad School and The Short List: Online Programs to find data that matter to you in your college or graduate school search. Graduating in four years was once the norm for college students, but now more than a third of full-time students at four-year schools take more time to finish. For first-time, full-time undergraduates who started in 2007, 59 percent graduated within six years, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. At 72 historically black colleges, however, the average six-year graduation was 36 percent for full-time, first-time students who started school in fall of 2008, according to U.S. News data. Switching majors, transferring schools and lacking money for school can affect how long it takes students to graduate. [Decide if a historically black college is a good fit.] Hundreds of students at many historically black colleges and universities, much like those at National Universities and National Liberal Arts Colleges, graduate in the traditional four years, saving them time and money that would be spent on additional tuition and fees. At Spelman College in Atlanta, 67 percent of first-time, full-time students who started in fall 2008 graduated in four years. It had the highest four-year graduation rate among the 54 ranked historically black schools that submitted these data to U.S. News in an annual survey. Spelman is also the highest-ranked historically black institution. It's one of three historically black schools with a four-year graduation rate above 40 percent. The other schools are Howard University in the District of Columbia and Hampton University in Virginia. [Explore resources that prep minorities for college.] The average four-year graduation rate among the top 10 schools was 36 percent; among all 54 ranked historically black schools that reported data, the average was 17.7 percent. Story continues All but two of the 10 schools -- Johnson C. Smith University and Xavier University of Louisiana -- also had the highest six-year graduation rates among historically black schools. The six-year rate at Johnson C. Smith was 44 percent, and it was 43 percent at Xavier. Below are the 10 historically black colleges and universities with the highest four-year graduation rates among first-time, full-time students who started in fall 2008. Unranked schools, which did not meet certain criteria required by U.S. News to be numerically ranked, were not considered for this report. Don't see your school in the top 10? Access the U.S. News College Compass to find graduation rate data, complete rankings and much more. School officials can access historical data and rankings, including of peer institutions, via U.S. News Academic Insights. U.S. News surveyed nearly 1,800 colleges and universities for our 2015 survey of undergraduate programs. Schools self-reported myriad data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News' data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While U.S. News uses much of this survey data to rank schools for our annual Best Colleges rankings, the data can also be useful when examined on a smaller scale. U.S. News will now produce lists of data, separate from the overall rankings, meant to provide students and parents a means to find which schools excel, or have room to grow, in specific areas that are important to them. While the data come from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News' rankings of Best Colleges, Best Graduate Schools or Best Online Programs. The graduation rate data above are correct as of June 14, 2016. Delece Smith-Barrow is an education reporter at U.S. News, covering graduate schools. You can follow her on Twitter or email her at dsmithbarrow@usnews.com. DOWS | Arleta M. Evans, 96, of Iowa Falls and Dows, died Saturday, June 11, 2016, at Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines. Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at the First Lutheran Church in Dows with Pastor Grant Woodley officiating. Burial will be in the Otis Grove Cemetery. Visitation will be held from 9:30 to 11 a.m. Friday at the First Lutheran Church in Dows. The family requests memorials be made in Arleta Evans name to Hospice Compassus or First Lutheran Church in Dows. Dugger Funeral Home, Dows, is in charge of arrangements. From Cosmopolitan Last night, outside New York City's Stonewall Inn - a gay club that saw the beginnings of the gay liberation movement in 1969 - a crowd of thousands gathered in the streets to mourn the 49 victims who were killed at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando early Sunday morning. An impromptu vigil took place at Stonewall on Sunday, but on Monday evening, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Mayor Bill DeBlasio, and first lady Chirlane McCray, among other city and state officials, gave brief speeches and read each victim's name aloud to the crowd. Before the vigil started, people in the streets waved flags, chanted "say their names," and sang verses of "Singing for Our Lives," a folk song written after Harvey Milk was assassinated for being gay in 1978. Since the shooting, vigils like the one at Stonewall last night have been held in cities all around the world. Cosmopolitan.com spoke with people at the Stonewall vigil last night about why they felt it was personally important to mourn in solidarity outside a gay club that gave rise to the gay rights movement several decades ago. 1. "I was a victim of violence myself, five years ago from my own family. Seven people jumped me to the point that I was almost dead. It just can't go on no more. I'm hurting to this day. Still, it pains me. This is healing me. I'm here because it's healing me, and it's giving me a voice in my attack and in my situation. It's also giving a voice to them, that might've got attacked because of who they are. They can't speak no more, but I can speak for them. That's why I'm here." -Lucien 2. "Because it could've been me. That night at a gay club during Pride in Florida, that could've been me a million times over. A lot of people talk a lot about rhetoric and at this point, I don't care about the rhetoric. There's 50 people that are dead, there's 50 mothers without a son or daughter. It could've easily been me." -Carlos Story continues 3. "We do it to show solidarity. We're not gonna be afraid to go out and live our lives. Clearly, this is an attack on our community. We are brothers and sisters in one community, and we will support each other. It's numbing and nerve-racking, and we just want to stand with people that are basically your second family. It's just important for us to be here and know that, throughout the country and throughout the world, we won't let this happen again." -Marco 4. "My queer sister asked me to be here, and it was important to be here for her and give family support. I don't know why I wouldn't be here. A senseless killing happened by one man and one gun, and that was totally undeserved. As soon as I learned that there was gonna be support, why wouldn't I come here?" -Tennille 5. "Oppressed populations and their allies, in times like this, it behooves all of us to stand together. Hatred and fear just only breed more hatred and fear, and violence on top of that. Hatred cannot be tolerated." -Jason 6. "We weren't directly affected, but as an LGBT community, we're all affected. We're just trying to show support." -Rod 7. "I've danced at the Stonewall before when I was visiting, and it's like, it could happen anywhere. The LGBT community is still looked down upon. We might not know the victims personally, but we're all a community that is fighting to be equal to everybody else. We live in a society now where you have to be on your guard at all times, but we can't live in fear because then we won't be able to live our lives. The feeling of needing to be here is the energy you get in your body." -Stoph 8. "It's one of those atrocities that you can't picture, you can't feel the gravity of. I thought the best way I could try to commemorate what happened, and not just pass it off as another thing that happened in the news, is come down and be here, where people are grieving together." -Jordan 9. "It's pretty amazing that it's at Stonewall, knowing the movements that have come before on this very square. Being able to stand in solidarity with the people of Orlando in this really historic place was really wonderful and touching and moving." -Sarah 10. "I'm here because this is my community. I'm queer, I'm Puerto Rican, and those are the people that were targeted mostly at that club. This is my community and I feel a terrible loss, but I also need to be with my people right now. And that's why I'm here." -Christine Follow Hannah on Twitter. From Cosmopolitan The night before the Orlando shootings, my 9- and 10-year-old daughters were celebrating the beginning of hot summer nights by dragging me out to the local ramen place they love. While there, they made friends with the most adorable preschooler who had been sitting across us. Despite their age differences, they bonded over rainbows and twirling to make your skirt spin and a love of udon noodles. And then we waved good-bye as their new little friend skipped out the door, holding hands with her two dads. The only observation my kids made was that they liked her haircut. For children, each one born without the crushing influence of cultural norms and prejudices, love is arguably the world's easiest concept to understand. Any kind of love. I remember explaining to my girls years ago in the most basic terms, that some women love men - like I do - and some women love other women and some men love other men, then pointed to adults in our lives as examples. "OK," they shrugged, and went back to building LEGO fortresses or having tea parties. What's been inordinately harder for me as a parent through the years is explaining hate. And yet Sunday morning, I found myself for what felt like the zillionth freaking time, needing to describe why Mom was crying at her computer. Would it be easier today? Only because it wasn't the first time. That dubious honor goes to the Sandy Hook shooting. My children were in first and third grades when 20 children around their own ages were executed in their elementary school. I cannot forget the nearly impossible task of collecting myself, and trying to describe as calmly and in as plain terms as possible what had happened. I could only hold my tears until my oldest, then 8, looked up at me unblinkingly, like a little Whoville Who, and asked, "But why?" The "why" gets me every time. Is there ever a good answer? One they can comprehend? Later it was the Charleston church. The Aurora theater. The Lafayette theater. The clinic in Colorado Springs. Boston. San Bernadino. Brussels. Paris. Beirut. Story continues "But why?" And so it was with the horrific Orlando Pulse Nightclub shooting, Sunday morning. My website's readers have asked (all too frequently) for tips on how to talk to children about tragedies like mass shootings, and so we've provided plenty of advice and resources that have helped me with my own kids too. First, figure out what your children are ready to hear based on their age and maturity; you know your own child best. Consider asking them questions first, or starting the conversation with, "What do you know?" When they do ask, don't be afraid to look up the answers or to say, "I just don't know." Know that it's OK for them to see you cry; demonstrating emotion in response to human tragedy does not mean you are not also strong. Seek out resources like the National Child Traumatic Stress Network if your child is having extreme difficulty processing the information. And most important, reassure your children that they are safe right now, that a lot of people are out there fighting to make sure these situations become more rare, and that you personally will do everything in your power to make sure they stay safe - that is our no. 1 job as parents. After we talk, I always ask my kids what they want to do to help. I find it gives them some degree of empowerment and control that they need. So after Sandy Hook, my daughters (along with thousands of other kids) sent off paper snowflakes. After other global tragedies, they held bake sales with friends to raise money for relief organizations. This time, we made a GoFundMe donation to the Pulse Victims Fund. Then, I asked my girls to help me find some artwork I could post on Instagram, specifically a broken rainbow heart. ("Yes, we know what a rainbow heart means. It means pride and that you can love anyone duh, Mom.") Wouldn't you know it - we could find none. Maybe that's a good thing? And so my oldest daughter, Thalia, who usually prefers drawing anime renditions of her friends, volunteered to draw a broken rainbow heart for me. It turned out perfect in its imperfections, all fat and puffy, with vividly colorful crayon stripes in stark contrast to the single black crack she drew down the center. It was both hopeful and heartbreaking. Now admittedly, when I gave birth, I acquired that universal parental perception that every single one of our own children's art projects are each exquisite masterpieces, created by gifted hands and destined for hanging on the walls of The Met. I accept my bias. Which is why I never imagined, after uploading it to Instagram and my Facebook page, just how many individuals her drawing would touch. It was a small gesture of hope, unity, healing - quite literally the least we could do in response. And yet I was seeing likes and comments and tweets from people around the globe - Europe, South America, Australia, Asia, the Middle East. People whose names I can't pronounce, often in languages I can't identify. The outpouring of love I've seen in just 24 hours has given me even more hope, as I wrote on my original post, that our kids will do a far better job creating a world that respects all lives, all love. "I think kids should know more about this issue," Thalia said, "because then we can make things better than how our parents did." Then she added with a smile, "No offense, Mom." "No problem," I told her. "That's our job as parents." Liz is a Brooklyn mom of two, a writer, and the co-publisher and editor-in-chief of CoolMomPicks.com. Follow her on Twitter here and here and on Instagram here and here. Satya Nadella Jeff Weiner LinkedIn Microsoft Good morning. Here's everything you need to know in the world of advertising today. 1. Microsoft is planning to buy LinkedIn for $26.2 billion, giving it access to the business networking site's reams of data about professionals. Microsoft will pay $196 per share for the company. 2. Apple announced big updates to all four of its platforms at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). Updates include Apple Pay and Siri for desktop Macs, as well as a revamp to Apple Music. 3. Snapchat released its long-awaited API. It means marketers can now purchase Snapchat ads through third-party partners, Campaign reported. Snapchat is also going to introduce ads between Stories. 4. Analysts are predicting who might buy Twitter following the sale of LinkedIn to Microsoft. Contenders include Google, Comcast, and News Corp. 5. London's mayor wants to completely ban body-shaming ads. Sadiq Khan said in a statement: "Nobody should feel pressurized, while they travel on the tube or bus, into unrealistic expectations surrounding their bodies and I want to send a clear message to the advertising industry about this." 6. Macy's has a new plan to fix its biggest problem. The company is revamping a location in Ohio, which will have lifestyle sections, mini-stores, and less of a focus on discounts. 7. Meet the top 100 business visionaries creating value for the world. Our ranking includes BuzzFeed's Jonah Peretti, Spotify's cofounders, Mark Zuckerberg, and the cofounders of Google. 8. These are the first 21 people you need to follow when you download Snapchat. From self-made Snapchat stars, to tech execs, and big celebrities. 9. Volkswagen appointed PHD to handle its $3 billion global media account, Adweek reported. The automaker is ending a near two decade relationship with WPP's MediaCom. 10. Publicis Groupe has confirmed it will not invest in Samsung. It had been in talks to buy Samsung's advertising agency Cheil Worldwide. Story continues NOW WATCH: LG pulled off its craziest marketing stunt yet to promote its latest vacuum cleaner More From Business Insider A skull infection has derailed the recovery of 14-year-old Abbie Kopf, who survived being shot in the head by a gunman who went on a rampage in Kalamazoo, Michigan. "We are back to square one," the girl's family wrote on her Facebook recovery page. Read: Alleged Kalamazoo Shooter Was Uber Driver Who Picked Up Fares After Rampage: Report One of the incisions on her head became infected, according to the post, and it spread down to the three-dimensional plate in her head that replaced brain and bone blown away by an attacker's bullet. Read: Alleged Kalamazoo Shooter Was Uber Driver Who Picked Up Fares After Rampage: Report She will have to have the plate removed, and will be without it for six to 12 weeks, her family said. Less than two months ago, she had walked out of Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital, holding the hand of her mother, Vickie. "We don't need that stinkin' wheelchair, do we?" her mother asked. "No," said a smiling Abbie. She was one of only two survivors after Uber driver Jason Brian Dalton allegedly killed six people across town. Tiana Carruthers, 25, was shot four times and suffered two broken legs and a broken arm. She was trying to shield children in a playground when the gunman opened fire. He has pleaded not guilty to murder and other charges and remains jailed without bail. Abbie's family declined an interview from InsideEdition.com. On Abbie's recovery page, they wrote, "We regret to say that we lack the time to answer individual private messages asking how she is doing. We will be happy to post her status on this page or her Twitter feed. Please stay tuned to either of these sources for developments." Read: Girl, 14, Shot in Kalamazoo is Now Breathing On Her Own: Our Hearts Are Full Of Joy' Abbie has faced a Job-like series of traumas beginning with being shot in the head outside a Cracker Barrel restaurant in January. She was with a group of older women who had taken her to a live performance. Story continues They had stopped for a late dinner. Emergency room doctors told the Kopfs their daughter wouldn't make it. But as they discussed organ donation and Vickie begged Abbie for some kind of sign that she was still there, Abbie squeezed her mother's hand. From that day forward, Abbie made amazing progress. She walked again. She talked again. It was far from easy and required great stamina and sheer force of will. But she did it. Being set back by an infection is "disheartening," her parents wrote. Another heartbreak has occurred Abbie beloved pet pig, Hamlet, must be put down because "his old, bad legs in the front are no longer working and causing intense pain," her parents wrote on Facebook. "When it rains, it pours," they concluded. Dozens have posted encouragement on Abbie's site. "Hang in there, Abbie!!!! You're a STRONG young lady, I know you can do it! Don't ever give up!!!" wrote one well-wisher. Another posted "Abbie, while things are tough now, you have shown great strength in enduring more in the past 4 months than many of us have in our entire lives. You will get through this setback." Watch: Youngest Kalamazoo Shooting Victim Finally Leaves Hospital Related Articles: A day of national strikes hit the city of Paris on Tuesday as long-simmering tensions over proposed changes to labor laws turned into violence, resulting in 58 arrests, 24 injuries among police and 17 wounded protesters, reported Reuters. Law enforcement used tear gas and water cannons to beat back crowds of demonstrators who in turn threw projectiles, with Reuters reporting police estimates of turnout stan ding at 75,000-80,000 people in Paris alone, according to the news agency, labor unions struck the tally at "up to 1.3 million." Unions including the "hardline" CGT joined with employees of state-owned SNCF railway company and a multitude of youths joined the protests. The proposed reforms "would no longer see the state as the one responsible for labor law and for regulating work hours; rather and that's really a reform the company itself would be, specifically the social partners within the company," researcher Isabelle Bourgeois told Deustche Welle. "Underneath the surface, this is about the end of the 35-hour-work week, even if no one has said that ... The striking trade unions are Communist and Trotskyist. They work for the power plants, in garbage collection, at the docks, the oil refineries, and in transport. And then there are the professional unions like that of the pilots." Manifestation 13 interpellations a cette heure pour violences et degradations commises par des individus masquespic.twitter.com/ag2NFxa4an https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ck6idXaWEAAvpCB.jpg:large "This is about many differing individual struggles that are all being lumped together under the general heading of 'protest against labor market reform," she added. According to the International Business Times, proponents of the changes say they are necessary to increase flexibility and reducing France's high unemployment rate which "currently stands at 10 percent and more than doubles to 24 percent for young people," reported reported D. Story continues Here's the chaotic scene that ensured in Paris on Tuesday, from crowds of marchers with banners and flags to the heavily armed riot police who came to disperse them. Source: Claude Paris/AP Source: Claude Paris/AP Source: Francois Mori/AP Source: Francois Mori/AP Source: Francois Mori/AP Source: Thibault Camus/AP Source: Thibault Camus/AP Source: Francois Mori/AP Source: Dominique Faget/Getty Images Source: Francois Mori/AP Source: Dominique Faget/Getty Images Source: Dominique Faget/Getty Images Source: Alain Jocard/Getty Images Source: Dominique Faget/Getty Images Are you a trendy chick who loves to keep up-to-date with the latest style trends? 6 months have passed since our last update on Singapores hair colour trends and we have once again rounded up the hottest hair trends of 2016. Whats new? Read on to find out! 1. Rose Gold is the HOTTEST new colour of 2016 So far, the number one hair colour we hear customers requesting the most is ROSE GOLD. A flawless blend of red and pink, rose gold is the perfect shade for those of you looking for that soft, subtle and pretty look without having to commit to a drastic change. We first saw it at Plan B Hair Studio @ Far East Plaza and were amazed at how this colour is achieved WITHOUT bleaching. John from Salon Vim @ 313 Somerset does it just as well. We really love the coral pink colur by Benjamin from Salon Vim @ 313 Somerset. If you are not keen to have ugly roots when your hair grows out, we would recommend this colour melting design that incorporates rose gold babylights with strawberry balayage by Chez Vous Hair Salon for a more natural look even when your dark hair roots grow out. Note however, that this colour may not be ideal for everyone. Women with sensitive reddish skin may find that colours such as rose gold, lavender ash and strawberry red actually makes the reddishness appear more obvious. Instead, opt for cool colours such as olive, which can neutralise the red undertone and is also a trending shade. 2. Greys are becoming mainstream Granny Grey was all the rage last year with grey ombre being spotted EVERYWHERE on Instagram. Grey ombre for Charlotte Lum by Devonshire Selected Beauty Salons This year, were seeing it EVERYWHERE on the streets in different tones and combinations.Theres the bright, almost see-through silver ash by Kenaris Hair Salon. Metallic Grey Tone by Artica Hair Studio Matte greys like this one by Picasso Hair Studio. Or purple greys like this from Artica Hair Studio. And then theres some darker grey ombres. Grey ombre by Vast Hair Salon @ Clementi Story continues and the lighter grey ash ombre by CLEO Hair & Make @ The Central! Some stylists also mix it up with purple highlights like this Purple Ash Highlights by Vast Hair Salon @ Clementi Central. But frankly, this colour design incorporating grey, ash brown and ash blue by Salon Vim @ 313 Somerset was the combination that stole our hearts earlier this year. 3. Pastel colours are trending It may be a little too bright for most but for those willing to go all the way, pastel colours will really make you stand out! This season, were seeing quite a bit of pastel blues and purples mixed with the greys like this super gorgeous mix from Salon Vim @ 313 Somerset! Pastel Blue and Grey by Salon Vim @ 313 Somerset This holographic hair by Preston from The Cottage by Devonshire Selected Beauty Salons will also make an impact on all who dare to sport this colour. The traditional ombre from pastel blue to purple by 99 Percent Hair Studio also works really well! If you want something different from the usual pastel blues and lavender, this mix of ocean blue, turquoise and green by Picasso Hair Studio can help you stand out as well. You can also incorporate similar colours into a pastel peek-a-boo colour design for a rainbow beneath your pastel blue. Pastel Peek-a-boo Rainbow by CLEO Hair & Make The issue with pastel colours are that they require lots of bleaching to achieve the light pastel colours. The roots may therefore turn out to be a little unsightly. Ombre Purple Pastel by Picasso Hair Studio @ Bugis Haji Lane Incorporating it with your natural hair colour via ombre can make the transition period look better even when the colour fades. 4. Galaxy colours are on the downtrend Maybe because its a tad too attention-seeking for most people or perhaps because it requires too much maintenance, we arent seeing as many Galaxy Colours as we did in 2015. Still, because they are so spectacular, we love to see them once in a while! Just look at this Undercut + Rainbow blend from J7Image @ Far East Plaza to know what we mean. We may not go for this hair design but its still fascinating to look at! Galaxy Colour by Salon Vim You can have the colours of the universe in your hair! Galaxy colour with Braided Hair by Chez Vous Hair Salon The compounded galaxy colours are especially obvious if you braid it up! Galaxy pink and purple by COVO Japanese Hair Salon If you are more fond of pink and purple, why not consider this pink and purple galaxy design? 5. Work-friendly peek-a-boo colours remain popular The number of trendy peeps sporting crazy colours on the street are less than what we saw earlier this year. This is not surprising as there isnt any major festive occasion since Chinese New Year, and most people need to get back to work. Most vibrant colours we see tend to be the peek-a-boo hair colours like this Inner galaxy hair colour by Bump Hair Design. Or this asymmetrical peek-a-boo colour by Plan B Hair Studio @ Far East Plaza. And the Accented Pink and Blue Colour by Vast Hair Salon Its not a coincidence that pink, blues and purples are the colours of choice for peek-a-boo colours. These colours are usually difficult to pull off for the whole head and requires multiple bleaching. Having it only at specific sections of your hair help to minimize the damage and makes it easier on the eye! You can incorporate other colours like the trending pastel shades we saw earlier for a different look. 6. Browns are making a comeback Although vibrant colours are pretty, many of us still find it uncomfortable to wear it for work. If you are one of those, there is good news for you. Browns are making a comeback in a big way as we see more and more stylists mixing up different colours to create a brown that is customized just for you. So yes, youre getting a brown but not the typical type of brown you are thinking about. Sheer grey hair colour by Art Noise Japanese Hair Salon Were especially impressed by the sheer grey hair colour by Art Noise Japanese Hair Salon. This photo doesnt do it justice but the addition of grey makes the hair colour looks rather see-through in person simply gorgeous! It seems like ashy-browns are the latest trend in Japanese salons lately with Branche Hair Salon @ Capitol Piazza also sporting their very own mix of ash brown. Ash aside, this pinkish brown by AVENTA Hair Salon may just be the shade of warmth that youre looking for. For those of you with slightly reddish skin, this Olive Ash by Chez Vous Hair Salon is perfect for toning down your overall reddishness, and as a bonus, gives you an interesting ash colour you wont see elsewhere! Sunkissed highlights by Izumi Hair Salon Of course, you can always stick to the usual browns and give it some sunkissed highlights to make your hair colour pop - just what you need if youre a sunny type of girl. Best of all, Izumis highlights deal only minimal damage to your hair as she uses high quality bleach to pre-lighten your highlights for only 15 minutes, making it almost damage-free. 7. Balayage is evolving with babylights, ecaille and sponge Other than creating new shades of browns, we see many stylists innovating in different colour application techniques to bring about a unique 3D feel to your hair colour. By incorporating babylights, balayage, ecaille and building on top of the original balayage, were seeing a burst of beautiful browns that make you look fashion-forward and professional at the same time! Babylights infused balayage by Chez Vous Hair Salon The folks down at Chez Vous Hair Salon have combined two hair colouring technique trends that consist of babylights infused with balayage. Babylights are micro highlights created using a very fine hair colour technique to mimic the subtle, dimensional hair colour seen on childrens hair. Different from traditional highlights, babylights are more blended, softer and less harsh, creating the subtle, almost there but not there effect. Ecaille Balayage by Picasso Hair Studio For a more glamorous Hollywood-style hair colour, check out Ecaille Balayage. Inspired by the colours on the tortoiseshell, the crown of the hair starts off with a dark shade that slowly transits to various shades of warm brown (caramel, chocolate, mocha). The fringe is distinguished by two distinct highlights, similar to the outline of the tortoise shell. We first saw it at Picasso Hair Studio and loved the colour immediately! Sponge balayage by Picasso Hair Studio If you are looking for something that creates a softer and more blended effect, Picasso Hair Studio has also created the new sponge balayage which uses a sponge to create the balayage effect. Colour melting by Lilian from Salon Vim @ 313 Somerset This isnt balayage but we love how the browns mesh together to form this colour melting piece. 8. Ashy NUDES should be the next big trend for working professionals Whether it is ecaille, balayage, babylights, many working professionals still cant tell the difference between one technique vs another. Instead, what we want is a unique colour blend that is low-key yet dramatic at the same time. We think this nude hair colour design by Chez Vous Hair Salon more than fits the bill with its balance between warm and cool nude tones! Dont you think the blend is just WOW? Nude colour by Gary from Salon Vim @ 313 Somerset You can also opt for a simpler sandy balayage nude colour which is easier to maintain and just as stylish! We also love how this hand pressed design by Picasso Hair Studio tones down the lavender with ash brown for an exceptional colour design suitable for work. 9. NEON may not be going mainstream, but we suppose thats part of its charm? We are not really the type to go for NEON, but this might appeal to some of you out there. Which of these hair trends will you be rocking this season? Visit beautyundercover.sg for hair and beauty tips! With the excellent new XE sedan establishing Jaguars claim in the entry-luxury sedan class and the equally excellent new F-Pace giving the brand its own crossover, Jaguar has most of the basic luxury-brand bases covered. (Sister company Land Rover covers the rest.) Now all it needs is customers, so Jaguar is seeking visibility the way one does in America: celebrity tie-ups. In just over two weeks this past spring, Jaguar announced collaborations with Prince Harry, WWE superstar John Cena, and Fast and Furious actress Michelle Rodriguez. The trio is an apt summation of the new range-topping, 575-hp F-type SVR: prestige, muscle, and beauty. As a Jaguara beautiful one, available in either sultry convertible or sexpot coupe body stylesthe SVR carries a powerful monarchical prestige that affects people in peculiar ways. A personal anecdote: Once, as your author was driving home in our long-term F-type, I was stopped at a red light when a car pulled up next to me. The passenger opened her window to ask what the car was. I must have been pondering what the exhaust systems delightfully improper pops and cracks would sound like with a British accent, because my answer came out, Its a Jag-you-are F-type. The proper syllabification surprised me as much as it did the inquirer, to the point that my brow furrowed and my face contorted in revulsion as I spoke, and my sentence ended in a question mark. Confused and embarrassed, I turned back to face the light and sped away in relief when it turned green seconds later. Cena Evil Its the muscle that makes this F-type an SVR. Its the first Jaguar to wear the SVR badge, in fact, following only the Land Rover Range Rover Sport SVR in the rollout of products from the firms Special Vehicle Operations office. This one borrows the engine calibration from the limited-edition Project 7, its 5.0-liter supercharged V-8 cranking out 575 horsepower at 6500 rpm and making 516 lb-ft of torque at 3500, increases of 25 hp and 14 lb-ft over the F-type R. We clocked an F-type R from zero to 60 mph in just 3.4 seconds; figure on this one doing the deed in 3.3 or so with the extra ponies making a bigger difference in the quarter-mile. It uses the same eight-speed automatic transmission and all-wheel-drive powertrain as the R. (If you want a clutch pedal in your U.S.market F-type, youre looking at the 380-hp V-6 and rear-wheel drive.) An Inconel and titanium exhaust system shaves 35 of the 55 pounds Jaguar claims to have pared from the all-wheel-drive F-type Rs curb weight. For those willing to spend more to get less mass, optional carbon-ceramic brake rotors, a carbon-fiber roof panel, and a carbon-fiber trim package can bring that total weight loss to 110 pounds. Through the new exhaust, the F-types signature scream develops a slightly sharper edge. Its not as dramatic a change as was suggested by Jaguars stunt of having us drive an SVR through a New York tunnel, but it does sound like an angry King Kong thumping his chest at several thousand beats per minute. Its an appropriate soundtrack for Jaguars fastest-ever production car. The company claims a top speed of 200 mph for the SVR coupe and 195 for the convertible, the former of which it validated with Ms. Rodriguez at the wheel. (She reached an indicated 201, which, due to wind, speedometer error, and a favorable celebrity-to-horsepower conversion, could be inaccurate by one mph. Or two.) Helping the SVR stick to the ground at that speed is a new front fascia, a narrow rear diffuser, and a large rear wing. The fascia is wider at the bottom to mask more of the tires, and it incorporates larger intakes to aid in cooling (the vents in the hood also help). Openings in the wheel wells direct air through the pronounced fender vents, reducing front-axle lift. The diffuser cuts rear lift, aided by the wing. The latter is fixed in the sense that it cant be retracted into the bodywork, but it does rise and extend rearward. This happens at 60 mph in the convertible and 70 mph in the coupe, or any time the driver engages the cars Dynamic mode. When its down, Jaguar says, the wing works with the other aero measures to reduce drag by a combined 7.5 percent and to cut lift by 15 percent. With it extended, theres still 2.5 percent less drag than in the F-type R and a big 45 percent reduction in lift. All-Wheel Drifter High-performance chassis bits include a sturdier rear-suspension wheel-hub carrier, a thinner front anti-roll bar, a thicker rear anti-roll bar, and revised valving for the adaptive dampers. Pirelli P Zero tires, sized 265/35R-20 in front and 305/30R-20 in the rear, are 20 millimeters wider than the Rs and tweaked by Pirelli exclusively for the F-type. The result is an F-type that turns in more quickly than the one-step-down R, while the all-wheel-drive system and the electronically controlled rear differential make it far more stable than the rear-drive V-8 F-type was initially. In spite of all four wheels being driven, this much power means it remains possible to steer the F-type with the throttleits just less frightening and more stable while doing so. Goose it, and the tail still flicks out, but as the driver countersteers and holds the throttle, torque that the rear tires cant use gets shuttled to the front axle, pulling the car back into line. Its predictable and fun, if less lurid. The standard brakes are the same as the F-type Rs, with 15.0-inch rotors up front and 14.8-inch units in the rear, while optional ($12,000) carbon-ceramic discs measure 15.7 and 15.0 inches. All of the cars Jaguar provided at its press launch had these carbon brakes, the better to manage heat from repeated 170-plus-mph braking events on Spains Motorland Aragon racetrack. They held up to this abuse, but after a few laps the pedal started to soften, which is awfully unnerving at such speeds. The ultraquick steering demands a deliberate steady hand for smoothness. It also feels rather light; we wished for more weight to help stabilize the car. In regular driving, the ride is firm but controlled, although large bumps toss occupants enough that once, our (admittedly oversize) driver smacked his head on the headliner. Hard. Inside, things are largely the same as they are in lesser F-types, which is to say theyre lovely, if a little snug. (See heads and headliners, above.) The SVRs seats are the same as those in the R but finished with SVR-specific lozenge stitching and piping, and the shift paddles are larger than on other F-types and now are made of aluminum. Perhaps we could resist the embarrassment of saying al-you-mini-um if a bystander asked. Perhaps. An English accent turns out to be a less costly affectation than a German one, at least at time of purchase. A similarly powerful Porsche 911 Turbo S (580 horsepower) stickers for $189,150, and we expect the amped-up Mercedes-AMG GT R will command an even higher price. The F-type SVR offers wild styling, unparalleled vocals, and everyday comfort at $126,945 for a coupe or $129,795 for a convertible. We dont need John Cena to bully us into seeing that for what it is: something of a bargain. Specifications > VEHICLE TYPE: front-engine, 4-wheel-drive, 2-passenger, 2-door coupe or convertible BASE PRICE: coupe, $126,945; convertible, $129,795 ENGINE TYPE: supercharged and intercooled DOHC 32-valve V-8, aluminum block and heads, direct fuel injection Displacement: 305 cu in, 5000 cc Power: 575 hp @ 6500 rpm Torque: 516 lb-ft @ 3500 rpm TRANSMISSION: 8-speed automatic with manual shifting mode DIMENSIONS: Wheelbase: 103.2 in Length: 176.2 in Width: 75.7 in Height: 51.551.6 in Passenger volume: 52 cu ft Cargo volume: 714 cu ft Curb weight (C/D est): 39504000 lb PERFORMANCE (C/D EST): Zero to 60 mph: 3.4 sec Zero to 100 mph: 7.9 sec Standing -mile: 11.6 sec Top speed: 195200 mph FUEL ECONOMY (C/D EST): EPA city/highway driving: 15/23 mpg While Yemeni national Ahlam Mothanna was pursuing her master's in public health at American University of Beirut, she kept a notebook called "Ideas for Yemen" close to her. She filled the notebook with ideas she captured from university lectures, seminars, conferences and workshops. Having left her country after the youth revolution in 2011, she says she never swayed from her plan and was "always enthusiastic to go back and work in Yemen." Mothanna is among the many Arab international students who chose nearby Arab region universities to study and develop their career objectives, sometimes leading the students to previously unexplored and promising career paths. She graduated from AUB with her master's in 2014. "The M.P.H. degree has enlightened my thinking, making me recognize problems, think of solutions and the power to produce change irrespective of the number of challenges," says Mothanna, who has a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery from Taiz University in Yemen and previously worked in dermatology. "I learned from this program how to open my eyes and ears to communities whose needs are really overlooked in Yemen due to political conflicts." [Learn how public health degrees can open doors for Arab region students.] Mothanna now works in Yemen as a public health promotion supervisor for Oxfam GB, a global humanitarian organization. She helps internally displaced communities as well as communities affected by the ongoing conflict in Taiz province. "We work in providing humanitarian assistance linked to the WASH program, where we work to provide water, sanitation and hygiene services to affected communities. From my post, I can help thousands of people and families," says Mothanna. Sometimes a student's academic journey can take them to places they never imagined. Jordanian national Dana Qarout says her original plan to study in the U.S. as a then 17-year-old didn't sit well with her parents. But Qarout had alternatives with branch campuses in the Arab region. Story continues Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar turned out to be a good choice for Qarout, who graduated with a bachelor's in culture and politics in 2015. "Georgetown University has a very good reputation, and the fact that it opened a branch campus in Qatar, so close to home, made it much more marketable to my parents," says Qarout. "Georgetown's curriculum was so much more appealing to me, and the diversity made Qatar a more adventurous option for me." [Find out the factors to consider when choosing a university in the Arab region.] Qarout now works as a research and program development coordinator for the Queen Rania Foundation for Education and Development, a nonprofit organization in Amman, Jordan, that focuses on education research and policies. Although she had already been accepted to the London School of Economics for graduate studies, she says this job opportunity in education policy was one she could not pass up. In her position, she focuses on teacher development and recognition and is responsible for several studies related to teacher education reform. Part of Qarout's job is working closely with politicians, something she says her studies at Georgetown prepared her well for. She says she understands the way politicians typically conduct themselves; without that knowledge, she would have "easily been swept along with the wave of manipulation and popular propaganda that aims to keep citizens disempowered and civil society more inactive." Studying abroad in the Arab region can benefit students in many ways. Hala Dimechkie, director at the Office of International Programs at American University of Beirut, says studying abroad is "an excellent opportunity for students to expand their horizons, create a new network of friends and peers, and learn different perspectives." That was the experience for Palestinian Yasser Khaldi while a student at American University in Cairo. Khaldi graduated in early June with a Bachelor of Science in construction engineering with a concentration in construction management and technology. He says he chose the school for its "world-class teaching" and preparation of students for the global workforce. "This degree allowed me to integrate various designs, economic and management aspects of engineering to plan for construction operations, to communicate effectively, to work independently and in teams," says Khaldi. During his program, he was exposed to various fields like urban planning, architecture, writing, photography and graphic design, among others. [Read about how industry demands in the Arab region are encouraging engineering students.] Khaldi did not wait until after graduation, though, to start his career. He authored photographic books about three cities that highlight and document the lives of everyday Palestinians, their culture and historical sites. His books were exhibited in Paris at the 2014 UNESCO International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People and at the 2015 Cairo International Book Fair. He also designed the architectural features of the King Abdullah II Square, a major square located by the cultural palace in his hometown of Ramallah, Palestine. "Without AUC academic facilities and online resources, I wouldn't have done this," says Khaldi. He says AUC courses and free membership to sites like Lynda.com gave him access to software that allowed him to create engineering and 3-D projects. These resources helped him design the square and other projects. "Studying abroad stimulates ideas that could not be generated when studying in your home country," says Khaldi. Khaldi, who attended the Harvard Graduate School of Design summer program in 2015, plans to pursue his master's in urban strategies and design in the United Kingdom. Ultimately, he plans to use all of his knowledge, skills and experience in his Palestinian homeland. He says he wants to build a "new sustainable Palestinian urban core" by bringing together people of diverse backgrounds -- from engineers to economists to anthropologists -- to work on projects that enhance the surrounding environment. He says urban planning uses powerful tools to solve problems. "Causing an impact is constantly occupying my mind," says Khaldi. See the complete rankings of the Best Arab Region Universities. Anayat Durrani is a Los Angeles-based freelance education reporter for U.S. News, covering Arab region universities. MASON CITY Iowa has laws making most communications by government officials open to the public, but the use of personal email accounts and whether to preserve those emails isnt covered, according to state experts. School districts are required to publish contact information for board members on their website, but, said Tammy Votava, the law doesnt restrict communication methods like personal email accounts. We found school board members vary across the state about what (email) they use, said Votava, who is the communications director for the Iowa Association of School Boards (IASB). Although Mason City School Board members are given district email addresses and recommended to use them for school-related communications, some members began listing personal email addresses on the schools website during budget cuts in spring 2014. The Globe Gazette requested copies of email and other communications between board members and staff relating to the School Boards decision in May to buy out the second year of Superintendent Anita Micichs contract and end her employment with the district. In the 1,244 emails the Globe Gazette received in its open records request to the district, Mason City board members used a mix of email addresses mostly personal, some work for communication. In some cases, board members used multiple accounts. Regardless of circumstances, Votava said board members are charged with operating in a transparent manner, complying with state and federal law as they make decisions. ASSUME OPENNESS Iowa law says the assumption is government records are open unless specifically allowed otherwise. The Iowa Supreme Court has ruled that most records should be open to public inspection, even though such examination may cause inconvenience or embarrassment to public officials or others. Votava said the IASB does not currently provide a sample email retention policy, but school board members are to comply with district policy and legal requirements. The Mason City School District does not have a policy dictating or restricting board member communication methods or practices, board secretary John Berg said via email June 9. In a letter to the Globe Gazette June 1, school district attorney Jim Hanks said board member Doug Campbell, who uses a personal email account, deletes his messages on a regular basis. Thus, Mr. Campbell had no emails to provide to me in a response to your request, Hanks wrote, noting emails Campbell sent to other board members would be released. Campbell said Monday he continues to delete board-related messages daily, just like he does for personal or business emails. Its like getting a letter, he said. I read it and discard it. I just dont save any of them. Campbell said hes very aware of what I say and to whom I say it. Its not that I hide anything, he said, noting hes read the Iowa Code to ensure hes in compliance. PRESERVING EMAIL Chapter 22 of the Iowa Code commonly known as the states open records laws doesnt speak to email retention. Margaret Johnson, deputy director of the Iowa Public Information Board (IPIB), said shed like to see retention standards added to the law. She noted the Legislature had a hearing on email retention several years ago but nothing further happened. In addition to offering training to government bodies on open records and open meetings stipulations, IPIB is authorized to receive and investigate subsequent complaints. It assisted the Globe Gazette in its open records request to Mason City Schools. Johnson said the organization offers a best practices on using personal email for governmental business. Advise your staff that email communications are subject to review and disclosure, even if written, drafted, communicated and/or stored on the staff members privately purchased or owned electronic device or email service. Use of a dedicated folder or flash drive should be considered. Mason City School Board members were reminded during a Sept. 21, 2015, meeting that any emails relating to school business were subject to public scrutiny and open records requests. SELF-REVIEW When Mason City Schools received the open records request from the Globe Gazette, Berg said via email the districts information technology department reviewed school email accounts. Board members were also asked to go through their own personal email accounts. The Globe Gazette had previously asked the districts law firm for a third-party review of personal accounts. Globe Gazette Editor David Mayberry said no government officials should be tasked with reviewing their own private devices for an open records request. If they use a personal device for public work, they should understand that a third party within that organization could be needed to review emails and other communication, and public leaders should demand that, Mayberry said. Its a modern-day check-and-balance that, if not utilized, only fosters mistrust in those officials, he said. Its certainly not a way to operate an open and transparent school district. However, Mayberry commended the School Board and its counsel for its prompt response to the Globe Gazettes large open records request. We felt forced into that action because of the ambiguity surrounding the end of Anita Micichs tenure, he said. The public deserved a better explanation for such an important decision. We feel we have some of that explanation. OMITTED RECORDS After the Globe Gazette received requested records, the newspaper obtained a number of emails and documents the districts law firm had omitted. Mayberry said that was concerning, since there was no catalogue of each email, no indication how many were cited for exemption and no details on which portion of Iowa Code was being cited for each withheld email. Those concerns were validated when we obtained emails that should have been released, he said. Attorneys said the Globe Gazettes request covered more than 2,400 pieces of communication, and they determined which pieces were exempt under Iowa open records laws. They issued a broad statement of why half of requested emails about 1,200 were excluded from release, citing Iowa Code 22.7, specifically privileged communication and personnel records. Iowa Code 22.7 shields things like student and personnel records from public release. Emerging market bond ETFs are getting a lot of attention amid renewed concerns over global economic growth, potential Brexit from the European Union and a roller-coaster ride of oil prices (read: Growing Brexit Debate Brings ETFs in Focus). Given the turmoil in the global markets and low yield all over the world, income-starved investors are chasing better returns. On Friday (June 10, 2016), 10-year note yields dropped to 1.639%, the lowest level in the last three years. Meanwhile, government bond yields in Japan, Germany and the U.K. also touched record lows as of June 10, 2016. In such a situation, investors craving for a steady current income is not surprising. One space that offers solace is emerging market bonds because of its solid yield. Fading hope of frequent Fed hikes this year has injected fresh optimism into the emerging markets. Although the Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen stated earlier this month that the U.S. economy was making progress, she remained silent on the timing of the impending interest-rate hike. This coupled with shockingly downbeat job data for the month of May has led to speculations that a June rate hike is in all possibility off the table (read: Yellen Upbeat on Economy: Wining Sector ETFs). Emerging market bond ETFs offer compelling yields. Additionally, these funds look more attractive thanks to the recent struggles encountered in the U.S. and other developed nations. Also, emerging market bonds and their related ETFs provide investors greater protection to capital gains than emerging market equities. Keeping this in mind, we highlight four emerging market bond ETFs that often offer high yields (see all emerging market bond ETFs here). iShares JPMorgan USD Emerging Markets Bond EMB This ETF tracks the performance of J.P. Morgan EMBI Global Core Index. It currently holds 310 securities with average years to maturity of 11.10 and an effective duration of 7.08 years. Mexico, Russia and Indonesia are the top three countries. About 56% of the bonds are rated BBB or higher. The fund has amassed $6.9 billion in its asset base and charges 40 bps in fees per year. It trades in a good volume of more than 1.3 million shares a day on average and has a good yield of 4.34% in annual dividend. The ETF has gained about 1.6% in the last 10 days (as of June10, 2016). PowerShares Emerging Markets Sovereign Debt ETF PCY This 88-securitiy ETF includes bonds issued in approximately 22 emerging-market countries and tracks the DB Emerging Market USD Liquid Balanced Index. The fund has an asset base of $3.2 billion and charges 50 bps in fees. The funds effective duration is 8.67 years while its years to maturity are 14.55. Around half of the bonds are rated BBB or higher. The product yields 5.26% annually and has added 1.9% in the last 10 days (as of June 10, 2016). Market Vectors Emerging Markets Local Currency Bond ETF EMLC This fund tracks the J.P. Morgan GBI-EMG Core Index. It holds 222 securities in its basket with a modified duration of 4.92 years and average years to maturity of 7.22. In terms of country exposure, Poland (9.5%), Mexico (8.7%) and Brazil (8.5%) occupy the top three spots. About 72% of the portfolio is focused on investment grade bonds with BBB or higher ratings. EMLC is a popular ETF in the local currency emerging bond space with AUM of over $1.5 billion and average daily volume of 777,000 shares. It charges 47 bps in annual fees and has gained 2.2% in last 10 days (as of June 10, 2016). Additionally, the product has an excellent dividend yield of 5.52% per annum (read: Enjoy High Yield with These Low Beta EM Local Currency Bond ETFs). SPDR Barclays Capital Emerging Market Local Bond ETF EBND This product tracks the Barclays EM Local Currency Government Diversified Index. In total, the fund holds 298 securities with an average maturity of 7.40 years and modified adjusted duration of 5.36 years. In terms of credit quality, it focuses on bonds having Baa or higher ratings with almost 85% weight. South Korea (12.6%) and Brazil (11.9%) take the top two spots. EBND has AUM of $177.8 million and average daily volume of 65,000 shares. Expense ratio comes in at 0.50%. The fund is up over 1.8% in the last 10 days (as of June 10, 2016) and has a 4.38% 30-Day SEC yield. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report VANECK-JPM EM (EMLC): ETF Research Reports ISHARS-JPM EM B (EMB): ETF Research Reports SPDR-BC EM LB (EBND): ETF Research Reports PWRSH-EM SVN DP (PCY): ETF Research Reports To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report The technology sector is in the spotlight as the world's largest software maker Microsoft MSFT has agreed to acquire the professional social networking firm LinkedIn LNKD in all-cash deal worth $26.2 million. This would be one of the largest acquisitions in the history of the technology industry and the biggest ever by Microsoft. The move came as part of Microsoft CEO Satya Nadellas efforts to push the company into the mobile and cloud computing world from the traditional software space. Microsoft-LinkedIn Deal in Detail As per the terms of the deal, Microsoft will pay $196 per share in cash, reflecting a 49.5% premium to the LinkedIn stock price of $131.08 per share at the close on June 10. The transaction expected to be completed by the end of the year has already been approved by the board of directors of both companies and is seeking approvals from LinkedIn shareholders and regulators (read: Will Microsoft Earnings Cast a Cloud Over These ETFs). As per Nadella, the combination of Microsofts Internet services and the worlds leading professional network could create magic. It should take Microsoft offerings beyond the software platform and add a new revenue stream in the field of social networking services and professional content. The proposed acquisition will enlarge the potential market size of Microsoft's productivity and business-process segment to $315 billion, up from $200 billion currently. While the transaction is expected to dilute Microsofts non-GAAP earnings per share by a minimal 1% for the remainder of fiscal 2017 and fiscal 2018, it would be accretive to non-GAAP earnings per share in fiscal year 2019 or less than two years after closing. Investors should note that the deal could pave the way for other technology companies like Twitter TWTR to become acquirees (see: all the Technology ETFs here). Market Impact Following the announcement of the deal, shares of LinkedIn jumped 46.6%% on the day and the stock crushed its average volume as nearly 26.5 million shares moved hands compared with 2.7 million on average. On the other hand, MSFT shares dropped 2.6% at the close on the day on elevated volumes of 83.2 million compared with 28.8 million on average. The news has put the spotlight on a number of ETFs that have the largest allocation going to the target firm LinkedIn. Investors should keep a close eye on the movement of these ETFs over the coming weeks: Global X Social Media Index ETF SOCL This fund is the pure play in the global social media space and has amassed $60.8 million in its asset base. It charges 0.65% in fees and expenses, and sees moderate trading volumes of roughly 45,000 shares a day. The product tracks the Solactive Social Media Total Return Index, holding 31 securities in the basket. Of these firms, LinkedIn takes the top spot, making up roughly 15.3% of assets. In terms of country exposure, U.S. firms take half of the portfolio, closely followed by China (24%), Russia (8%) and Japan (7%). The fund climbed about 4% on the day following the merger announcement and has a Zacks ETF Rank of 2 or Buy rating with a High risk outlook (read: Follow Social Media ETF on Strong Earnings). VanEck Vectors Morningstar Wide Moat ETF MOAT This fund provides an equal weighted exposure to the 21 most attractively valued securities having sustainable competitive advantage by tracking the Morningstar Wide Moat Focus Index. Here, LNKD takes the third spot at 5.2%. The product is skewed toward healthcare sector at 39.7% while financials and technology round off the next two spots with a double-digit exposure each. The fund has amassed $673 million in its asset base while trades in good volume of around 108,000 shares. It charges 49 bps in annual fees and added 1.6% on the day. ARK Web x.0 ETF ARKW This is an actively managed fund focusing on companies that are expected to benefit from the shift in technology infrastructure from hardware and software to cloud. The fund holds 35 stocks in its basket with LinkedIn taking the eight position with a 4% share. From a sector look, Internet & mobile applications as well as software & programming collectively make up for nearly half of the portfolio while Internet & catalogue retail and semiconductors round off the next two spots with a double-digit exposure each. The ETF has amassed $13.1 million in its asset base and trades in a paltry average daily volume of 2,000 shares. The expense ratio comes in at 0.75% and the ETF gained 3.1% on the day of the merger news (read: Forget Big Tech, Focus on These ETFs Instead). ARK Industrial Innovation ETF ARKQ This is also an actively managed ETF seeking long-term capital appreciation by investing in companies that benefit from the development of new products or services, technological improvement and advancements in scientific research related to robotics, energy storage, innovative materials, alternative energy sources, infrastructure development, space exploration, autonomous vehicles and 3D printing. This approach results in a basket of 37 stocks, with LNKD occupying the fifth spot at 4%. The product has accumulated $14.3 million in its asset base and charges 75 bps in fees per year. It has a paltry daily volume of about 1,000 shares and added 0.5% on the day. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report MICROSOFT CORP (MSFT): Free Stock Analysis Report LINKEDIN CORP-A (LNKD): Free Stock Analysis Report TWITTER INC (TWTR): Free Stock Analysis Report GLBL-X SOCL MDA (SOCL): ETF Research Reports ARK- WEB XO ETF (ARKW): ETF Research Reports VANECK-MS WD MT (MOAT): ETF Research Reports ARK-INDUS INNOV (ARKQ): ETF Research Reports To read this article on Zacks.com click here. As Jun 23 approaches, more and more of Britains citizens seem to be in favor of leaving the European Union. This is what the latest polls say and, unlike earlier surveys, the gap between those in favor of a Brexit and those against seems to be widening. Industry and market watchers are also split over the pros and cons of such a move. However, some patterns seem to be emerging with economists of the opinion that the gains of exiting the EU seem to be unclear. On the other hand, British industry seems to be split down the middle. Fresh Polls Say Brexit Chances Higher Earlier polls were unclear about the final outcome. At that point, some polls showed that those in favor of leaving the EU maintained a lead over those in favor of staying within the economic bloc (read: Growing Brexit Debate Brings ETFs in Focus). In contrast, last Mondays The Times/YouGov poll showed that those in favor of staying within the EU were 1% ahead of those in favor of exiting. However, fresh results from the same poll released this Monday revealed a completely different picture. The new YouGov poll for the Times showed that those in favor of a Brexit had grown to 46% while those against such a move had fallen to 39%. Those undecided accounted for 11% of the sample population while 4% had decided not to vote. The argument in favor of such a move has increasingly become political, tied to a desire for sovereignty and driven by the impact of higher levels of migration (read: 7 Ways to Trade the Brexit Vote). Meanwhile, those against such a move highlight the fear of uncertain times for the economy following such a decision. President Obama had gone so far as to say that the United Kingdom would have to return to the back of the queue to seal fresh trade pacts with the U.S. Several Small Companies Favor Brexit Government data has indicated time and again that small and midsized businesses constitute the lions share of the British industry. Nearly 99% of all the countrys businesses are small or midsized going by the definition that they should employ 250 or lesser individuals. In effect, they provide employment in excess of half of the private sector workforce. Story continues A survey by the British Chambers of Commerce has shown that most of these companies were in favor of exiting the EU. Divisions still exist, but a feeling has emerged that smaller businesses incur heavy costs in order to conform to EU regulations. A study by Open Europe has indicated that several regulations specific to EU membership had cost the British economy $64 billion a year per 2014 prices. There is anticipation about the possible gains from an exit, but several economists and market watchers believe that small and midsized companies could absorb the impact of higher tariffs in the event of a Brexit. Larger Companies in Favor of Staying with the EU Larger businesses, on the other hand, are firmly against the idea of a Brexit. The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has released a paper which states that the cost of exiting the EU will result in the loss of a million jobs as well as national income amounting to 100 billion pounds by 2020. The arguments placed in favor of a Brexit are based primarily on the uncertainty and risks it poses. For instance, nearly 50% of Britains exports go to the EU while imports from the economic zone exceed exports. This raises serious questions about the value of a weaker pound in the event of leaving the EU (read: 4 European Funds in Focus on Brexit Possibility). Several large companies have gone so far as to campaign against a Brexit. For instance, BT Group plcs BT chairman Sir Michael Rake has written a letter stressing the importance of remaining within the EU to all employees. Ryanair Holdings plc RYAAY has sent its customers email campaigning against a possible pro-Brexit vote. 5 British Stocks in Focus In this event it is crucial to watch larger companies, which conduct a significant part of their business outside Britain. Many of them may opt to shift their offices and in some cases there operations from Britain. BP plc BP is one of the world's major energy companies that provides its customers fuel for transportation, energy for heat and light, retail services and petrochemical products. The stock has lost 0.6% over the last one month and gained 6.4% over the last three months. British American Tobacco plc BTI is a major producer and seller of tobacco products. The stock has lost 3.3% over the last one month and gained 7.9% over the last three months. Unilever PLC UL is engaged in manufacturing branded and packaged consumer goods, including food, detergents and personal care products. The stock has lost 2.8% over the last one month and 0.1% over the last three months. HSBC Holdings plc HSBC is a major global banking and financial services firm, with approximately $2.6 trillion in assets as of Mar 31, 2016. The stock has lost 1.5% over the last one month and 5.4% over the last three months. Vodafone Group Plc VOD is a major wireless communications operator and the second largest (behind China Mobile) carrier based on subscriber count. The stock has lost 6.4% over the last one month and 2.9% over the last three months. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report RYANAIR HLDGS (RYAAY): Free Stock Analysis Report BT GRP PLC-ADR (BT): Free Stock Analysis Report UNILEVER PLC (UL): Free Stock Analysis Report BP PLC (BP): Free Stock Analysis Report VODAFONE GP PLC (VOD): Free Stock Analysis Report BRITISH AM TOB (BTI): Free Stock Analysis Report HSBC HOLDINGS (HSBC): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research The mattress industry is rife come-ons and gimmicks aimed at unsavvy consumers. For instance, we recently heard about the so-called Smarttress, whose "Lover Detection System" is supposed to help you catch a cheating partner. Here are five things to know about mattress shopping that will increase your odds of getting a bed that delivers a good night's sleep. Bargain in a Box Because mattress models are specific to retailers, it's nearly impossible to comparison-shop at department stores and mattress retailers. This and other tricks have spawned a host of online mattress sellers. These beds in a box, which are shipped compressed, are delivered by FedEx or UPS. Hassle-free returns after months-long trial periods mean you can try out the beds for more than the 10 to 15 minutes we recommend you lie on a bed when mattress shopping in a store. A few of these foam beds from Casper, Leesa, and Tuft & Needle have done well in Consumer Reports' tests. The growing competition has apparently awoken the bigger playersSealy, Sleepys, and Mattress Firm (which owns Sleepys) have come out with their own bed-in-a-box foam mattresses. Considering one? Check out mattress return policies, including who pays for shipping, and expect to dispose of the old mattress yourself. Stepstool Not Included Thicker mattresses and box springs are the new norm. So you might need to climb up just to sit down on the bed. If your mattress is more than 14 deep, you might also need to replace your sheets with ones designed with deep pockets to accommodate the new mattress. But the box spring itself doesnt need to be tall to be supportive. Many manufacturers sell low-profile foundationsas low as 4 inches. European-style mattresses, which combine bed and box spring into one and are lower, are another option. (Consumer Reports hasn't yet tested any of those beds.) Have It Your Way Adjustable-air beds such as Sleep Numbers let you set the firmness of individual sides of the bed. Bobs Discount Furniture is among retailers with foam beds you can order firm on one side, soft on the other. And the $7,595 Duxiana Dux 515 has three compartments per side into which you place the included firm, medium, and soft spring "cassettes" in any order you like. (Regardless of the arrangement, we judged the mattress soft.) Story continues But Helix Sleep is the latest, most extreme example. Helix says it will sell you the perfect mattress, but the ordering process takes some time as you have to fill out a questionnaire covering your age, height, weight, body shape, firmness preferences, and other criteria for both you and a sleep partner. You can buy one mattress ($900 for a queen) that blends both partners specs or, for $100 more, get a mattress with customized halves. Were testing a Helix Sleep mattress and will report our findings. Retail Prices Are Bogus Especially on holiday weekends, you can count on mattress sellers offering "sales" of 50 percent off the usual price. But paying $1,500 for a $3,000 mattress might be no bargain, because prices are overinflated to begin with. Most people pay $800 to $1,200 for a mattress, and paying more doesn't necessarily buy better support. So haggle: Dont feel shy about asking for 50 percent off the price even when theres no sale. And ask for free delivery for your new bed and haul-away of your old mattress. More Green Buys Green The more stringent the standard, the more youre likely to pay. Queen-size mattresses with green claims typically cost $2,000 or more. But keep in mind that not all green mattress labels are meaningful. The Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) and, for mattresses made with latex, the Global Organic Latex Standard (GOLS) require 95 percent of the mattress to be certified organic, with restrictions on the other 5 percent. Also meaningful is the Oeko-Tex Standard 100, which sets limits of harmful emissions and also bans the use of certain chemicals. But CertiPUR-US, Greenguard and Greenguard Gold, Organic Content Standard 100, and even the descriptor organic are only somewhat meaningful, and none address the sourcing of raw materials. Need a New Mattress? If you're mattress shopping right now, consider the Denver Mattress Doctor's Choice, $500, the only tested innerspring to offer impressive support for both back and side sleepers. (All prices noted are for queen-size beds.) Among foam beds, that distinction goes to the Novaform 14" Serafina Pearl Gel, $800 at Costco, and The Casper, $850 from Casper. The two adjustable-air beds in our Ratings, the $3,000 Sleep Number i8 Bed and $800 Sleep Number c2 Bed, were fine for both back and side support. More from Consumer Reports: Top pick tires for 2016 Best used cars for $25,000 and less 7 best mattresses for couples Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright 2006-2016 Consumers Union of U.S. It was obvious even before the extent of the horror in Orlando was fully known that presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump had decided to make the massacre a major element of his general election campaign. He was on Twitter Sunday, just hours after the attack, claiming credit for having predicted more terror attacks by radical jihadis and calling for President Obamas resignation. On Monday, Trump went much, much further. He suggested, among other things, that Obama was somehow complicit in the attack. Trump also said that his likely Democratic opponent in the November election, Hillary Clinton, is expressly in favor of allowing terrorists into the country to kill Americans. Related: Trump Says Thousands of Shooters Like Orlando Terrorist Are in US Already Given Trumps remarkable series of pronouncements over the past 48 hours, it seems more than legitimate -- even necessary, in fact -- to ask members of the Republican Party who continue to insist that he is the best available presidential candidate whether they agree with the positions of their partys de facto leader. Here are six questions that any reporter who gets within shouting distance of a Republican lawmaker who has endorsed the billionaire former reality television star ought to be asking. 1. Do you believe that President Obama is willfully ignoring the threat of terrorism committed on U.S. soil? If so, what do you think his motivations are? Trump, in multiple interviews Monday, implied very clearly that he thinks President Obama might be willfully ignoring the threat of terrorism from Islamic radicals, for reasons he left unclear. This is no small charge. He doesnt get it or he gets it better than anybody understands its one or the other and either one is unacceptable, Trump said. Related: Clinton Slams Trumps Anti-Muslim Rhetoric in Wake of Orlando Attack Later, he added, Look, were led by a man that either is not tough, not smart, or hes got something else in mind. And the something else in mind you know, people cant believe it. People cannot, they cannot believe that President Obama is acting the way he acts and cant even mention the words radical Islamic terrorism. Theres something going on. Its inconceivable. Theres something going on. Story continues 2. Do you believe that Hillary Clinton wants to allow radical Islamic terrorists into the country? Trump was pretty clear on this one. In a televised address on Monday afternoon, he said, Clinton wants to allow radical Islamic terrorists to pour into our country they enslave women, and murder gays. Republicans who worked with Clinton in the Senate, and the dozens who voted to confirm her appointment as secretary of state, should probably be asked what they know about Clintons apparent plan to facilitate terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. 3. Do you believe that American Muslims are routinely sheltering terrorists? Again, it would be difficult to read Trumps comments on Monday as anything other than a claim that Muslim communities in the U.S. are sheltering terrorists who plan to launch attacks here. Related: For Trump, Orlando Terror Attack Is an Opportunity There are many, many people out there with worse intentions than this guy had -- worse, Trump said Monday morning. And people in his community in their community, they know who the people are. In some cases, theyre married to them. They know who these people are. Almost in every case they know who they are. They brag about it; they talk about it. People knew that this guy was going to create a bad act. 4. Do you believe that there are thousands of terrorists like Orlando shooter Omar Mateen already in the U.S.? In the same interview, the billionaire former reality television star claimed that the U.S. Muslim community is already sheltering not just a few potential terrorists, but thousands of them. You have thousands of shooters like this out there with the same mentality in this country, he said in a lengthy interview with Fox News. 5. Do you believe it is possible to perfectly screen immigrants in a way that would prevent terrorists -- or the parents of potential terrorists -- from entering the country? The United States is, by and large, one of the most open and diverse countries in the world. People of all racial, ethnic and geographic backgrounds travel in and out of the U.S. every day. In a speech delivered in New Hampshire Monday, Trump promised to institute a ban on non-citizen Muslims entering the country that would stay in place until we as a nation are in a position to properly and perfectly screen those people coming into our country. They are pouring in and we dont know what were doing. Related: Ryan Battered Within His Own Party for Reluctantly Backing Trump He also seemed to suggest that, because the Orlando shooter was the child of Afghan immigrants, that the government ought to take steps to secure the country not just against immigrants themselves, but against the possibility that their children might grow up to be terrorists. A presidential candidate promising perfect protection from terror is either a liar or someone willing to implement measures never before seen in this country. Trumps supporters should be asked which one they believe he is. 6. Do you believe that there is in fact no current system for checking the background of refugees and other people who want to come to the United States? Trump spent much of Monday reiterating his claim that the U.S. is regularly allowing tens of thousands of immigrants from around the world -- and particularly, given his concerns, from Muslim regions -- into the country with no scrutiny of their background or intentions. In fact, refugees from countries like Syria, which Trump has targeted for particular concern, face a vetting process that takes more than a year, and in many cases longer. This is not secret information. Its widely available. If elected GOP leaders are going to continue claiming that Trump ought to be the next president of the United States, they really ought to be required to stand behind his claims. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: It was a big night for this 90-year-old Pennsylvania man, who has finally received his high school diploma after dropping out as a teenager to serve in World War II. Read: 90-Year-Old Veteran Receives Honorary Diploma After Dropping Out To Fight in World War II Ronald Gilroy, 90, joined Carbondale Area High School's class of 2016 Wednesday night, walking across the stage to commemorate the achievement. "I hearby present you with this diploma in gratitude for your service to this country, and also to our community," principal Joseph Farrell said as he handed Gilroy his high school diploma. The diploma is more than 70 years overdue. According to WNEP, Gilroy dropped out of the school in 1943 to fight in World War II. Back then, it was still named Benjamin Franklin High School. "When Ron was 17, he quit school and joined the U.S. Army," Farrell said. For 10 years after the war ended, he continued to serve with the army, later going on to get married and have kids. "He always worked to make sure that we had everything that we had," his daughter, who attended the graduation, told WNEP. "And he put us through school and through college, so we thought it would be good to do something for him." Read: 3-Year-Old Boy Battling Terminal Cancer Sworn In as Honorary FDNY Firefighter Though he didn't quite appear in full cap and gown attire, his granddaughter said Gilroy was just as nervous accepting his diploma on stage, in a suit. Watch: Once-Homeless Man Graduates College With 3.2 GPA, Now Wants to Help Others Related Articles: Abbott Laboratories ABT announced positive results from the IMPACT trial on FreeStyle Libre. Data were presented at the American Diabetes Association's 76th Scientific Sessions. The randomized, controlled six-month trial was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the FreeStyle Libre system in the improvement of glycemic control for self-management of type 1 diabetes as compared to self-monitoring of blood glucose. The study showed that FreeStyle Libre met the primary endpoint of a reduction in time spent in hypoglycemia (low glucose levels, defined as 1) by patients with type 1 diabetes. Data also showed that patients using FreeStyle Libre sensor and reader system spent 38% less time in hypoglycemia, as compared to people who managed glucose with traditional self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) systems such as finger pricking. The study revealed that FreeStyle Libre was effective in reducing all measures of hypoglycemia without increasing HbA1c compared to SMBG. This means that FreeStyle Libre can safely and successfully replace the need for routine finger sticks as a tool for managing diabetes. ABBOTT LABS Price ABBOTT LABS Price | ABBOTT LABS Quote We remind investors that Abbott Labs launched the FreeStyle Libre system in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and UK in 2014. Moreover, Abbott Labs received European approval for the use of FreeStyle Libre Flash Glucose Monitoring System in children in the first quarter of 2016. Successful uptake of FreeStyle Libre should boost sales of Abbott Labs Diabetes Care franchise, which has been facing challenging conditions of late. Abbott Laboratories currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Other favorably placed stocks in the healthcare sector include Pfizer Inc. PFE, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. BMY and ANI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ANIP. All three stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report BRISTOL-MYERS (BMY): Free Stock Analysis Report PFIZER INC (PFE): Free Stock Analysis Report ABBOTT LABS (ABT): Free Stock Analysis Report ANI PHARMACEUT (ANIP): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Acappan says he was only at the surau to break fast with his friends. 14 Jun Veteran comedian-actor Acappan has denied rumours that he had converted to Islam and is asking people to stop spreading the false news around. "I am not ready to embrace Islam. If I am, I would surely tell everyone about it." "I admit that I have been learning about Islam since I first started acting. I love to learn about the religion and my close friends are also Islam," he was quoted as saying to mStar. According to Acappan, or his real name Samynathan Rethinan, the photos of him that had first sparked the news was taken during a breaking fast session at a surau (prayer house) in Salak Tinggi. Added the "Mamak Cupcake" actor, apart from being invited for the feast he was also introduced to an Islamic scholar to discuss about the religion. The status and photo which was uploaded by Maulana Helmi on his Facebook page that went viral. Yesterday, several news outlets had reported that Accapan had converted to Islam. The news was spread when Maulana Helmi uploaded a photo and status on his Facebook page to announce that the actor had converted and chosen the name Muhammad Ramadan. The post was then taken down and an apology was issued. (Photo Source: Maulana Helmi Facebook) This year, the 26th of June will mark the 100th Anniversary of the running of the Broadmoor Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. But it will also mark the North American racing debut of the only supercar currently built in the United States, the Acura NSX. Acura will be entering an NSX into the Time Attack 1 and 2 classes, and the cars will be driven by brothers James and Nick Robinson. Both men work on Acuras North American engineering team, so both have intimate knowledge of what makes the NSX well suited for this type of competition. James is on the powertrain development group, and drove a first generation NSX at the hill climb from 2012 to 2015. While Nick is an engineer who worked on dialing in the dynamic performance capabilities of the new NSX during development. Nick also holds the PP250 motorcycle title from the 2015 Pike Peak Hill Climb, so you know hes not one to hold back. Modifications to the Time Attack 1 car include chassis lightening and a bespoke high-flow racing exhaust, while modifications to the Time Attack 2 car were minimized to adding the safety equipment required for competition to a production model NSX. The stock NSX powertrain setup of a twin-turbo hybrid V6, a 9-speed dual clutch transmission, and an advanced SH-AWD system should be more than suited for the Run to the Clouds. RELATED: See More of the 2016 Acura NSX Supercar Acura NSX Time Attack 1 and 2 Vehicles On top of the two time attack NSX supercars, Acura will have a third entry in the field in the form of an NSX-inspired prototype vehicle. Competing in the Electric Modified Class, and driven by Tetsuya Yamano, the EV Concept features technology that enables four-wheel independent torque allocation, a worlds first. The Electric SH-AWD powertrain is an evolution of the powertrain found in last years CR-Z prototype entry, and produces three times the total system output in this new application. Acura is also the official pace car sponsor at this years race, so an NSX, MDX, and TLX will lead the field of 100 entrants to the top of the 14,115-foot Colorado peak. The cars will be driven by Polyphony Digital President and producer of the legendary Gran Turismo video game series Kazunori Yamaguci, and Pikes Peak legends Randy Schranz and Leonard Vahsholtz. Story continues No word on who will be driving what, but one would think Yamaguci is going to get the NSX given the connection between the company and the series. Besides, if an MDX and TLX are going up Pikes Peak, probably best to have them in the hands of some veteran drivers whove raced there. RELATED: The Acura NSX is the Supercar of the Future MASON CITY Cerro Gordo County supervisors tweaked the countys social host ordinance Tuesday to eliminate what has become an obstacle in court cases. The ordinance, passed in 2009 and amended once since then, holds adults accountable if underage drinking occurs on their property. Sheriff Kevin Pals asked supervisors to eliminate a phrase in the ordinance that deals with municipalities that dont have social host ordinances. The amended language says simply, The provisions of this ordinance shall apply throughout Cerro Gordo County Iowa. Pals said the ordinance was approved seven years ago when Cerro Gordo County had one of the higher rates of underage drinking in the state. But he said magistrate judges have dismissed cases because of a misinterpretation of some of the language in the law. Purpose of the new amendment approved Tuesday cleaning up the language, as Supervisors Chairman Casey Callanan put it is to clear up any confusion in the law. In other business Tuesday, supervisors: Canvassed the results of the June 7 primary election. Approved a resolution for the North Iowa Touring Club to use county roads in its upcoming bicycle races. Approved a fireworks permit for Lon Etnier of Sheffield. Criteo president and COO Eric Eichmann Criteo, the France-based ad tech company, filed a lawsuit on Monday that alleges rival firm SteelHouse ran a "counterfeit click fraud scheme" that led to "substantial injury and damage" to its business and reputation. US-based SteelHouse and Criteo directly compete in the online advertising space. Criteo is a huge public ad tech company that crossed $1 billion in revenue in 2015, while SteelHouse is a private firm that is far smaller than Criteo in terms of top website market share. SteelHouse has raised $63.55 million in funding, according to CrunchBase. Both companies place ads by "retargeting" dropping a cookie on a user's browser when they have visited a website usually an ecommerce website. When the web user visits other websites, the publisher can offer that ecommerce company the chance to purchase ad space targeting that user, which will hopefully result in that person returning to the ecommerce site and making a purchase. Both Criteo and SteelHouse use a pay-per-click pricing model, which means they only generate revenue when users click on the ads they have served. The amount they can charge advertisers depends on their conversion rates (how many people who saw the ad clicked on it) and by measuring whether the ads served resulted in sales. Criteo alleges in the suit that SteelHouse "counterfeited clicks to trick e-tailers into attributing sales to SteelHouse that should have been attributed to Criteo, other competitors and partners, or direct traffic." The suit also claims SteelHouse used the scheme to falsely advertise to customers that it "consistently outperformed" Criteo in head-to-head comparisons, which led to Criteo losing important business. The suit says: "SteelHouses or, more accurately, StealHouses counterfeit click fraud has irreparably harmed and continues to irreparably harm both Criteo and the online advertising industry as a whole." Story continues Criteo is seeking "millions of dollars" in damages and legal fees. Criteo also wants injunctions to be placed on SteelHouse that will prohibit it from conducting in behavior it believes is in violation of laws related to false and misleading advertising, fraud, intentional interference with prospective economic advantage, libel, and unfair competition. SteelHouse sent Business Insider this statement on Wednesday: "It is disappointing that Criteo has chosen to publicly accuse and attack SteelHouse, particularly on a topic for which Criteo repeatedly has found itself in the hot seat. Criteos response to SteelHouses market success is an attempt to bully a smaller company in the courtroom and make disparaging statements and allegations that are counterproductive to the industry and the advertising community." SteelHouse also released a longer statement on its blog. Criteo sent Business Insider this statement on Tuesday: "On Monday 13th June 2016, Criteo (CRTO) filed a publicly available complaint against SteelHouse in the Central District of California. In line with Criteos Corporate Communications Policy, we do not comment on ongoing legal investigations and as such will be making no further comment on this matter." How Criteo uncovered SteelHouse's alleged "counterfeit click fraud" scheme In late spring/early summer, Criteo said it lost its client TOMS after SteelHouse made the shoe retailer perform a head-to-head comparison between the two ad tech vendors' products. The analysis showed SteelHouse as the victor, the suit says. Criteo made TOMS perform the test again between November 2015 and January 2016 and SteelHouse won again, according to the suit. mark douglas So Criteo conducted a "detailed and costly data log analysis" to assess how it could improve its performance. It was then that the company found something amiss, the suit claims: Criteos analysis revealed that during the head-to-head comparison a large number of clicks attributed to SteelHouse landed within seconds after clicks attributed to Criteo. These clicks appeared to be fraudulent because it is highly unlikely that an internet shopper could click on an advertisement, be taken to an e-tailers website, go to a different publishers website, see a different advertisement for the same e-tailer placed by a different marketing vendor, and click on the second advertisement within seconds of having clicked on the first advertisement. Criteo continued to monitor the situation using web traffic analysis software Telerik FiddlerTM. The suit says Criteo learned SteelHouse was using a code to counterfeit clicks (you can read the full, technical explanation in the full suit here: Download PDF) which made it look as though it was responsible for bringing shoppers to e-tailers websites. In essence, SteelHouse loads an invisible, short-lived web page underneath its clients' web pages that falsely recognizes clicks for SteelHouse, Criteo alleges. The invisible page then quickly closes before anyone can see it, Criteo claims. A lot of advertisers measure performance using a method called "last click attribution," which gives credit to whichever company served the last ad a user clicked on before landing at a website. Criteo alleges in the suit that SteelHouse's scheme worked by ensuring its "counterfeit" clicks occured after the valid clicks. The suit claims SteelHouse informed Criteo the method had stopped when it hadn't. After monitoring the situation and losing another large client and ad spend to SteelHouse, in April, Criteo sent an email to SteelHouse stating its findings and saying that it was open to hearing what [SteelHouses] CEO intends to do to immediately remedy this situation," the suit says. Mollie spilman Later that month, Criteo's chief revenue officer, Mollie Spilman, then met with SteelHouse's chief marketing officer, Patrizio Spagnoletto, in Criteo's New York office, according to the suit. Shortly after that meeting, SteelHouse's chief monetization officer, Chris Innes, sent Criteo an email reading: "Thanks for sending the logs as well as the detailed breakout below. We are acting on the data below over the next couple of days to remove the behavior," the suit says. In May, SteelHouse said it was implementing "global" code changes that would fix the issue, but Criteo said it subsequently learned that SteelHouse was making "false statements to e-tailers in an attempt to minimize its misconduct." The suit claims SteelHouse emailed clients saying the issue was limited to "less than 4% of click-based conversions" a claim Criteo protests and that a "discrepancy minimizer tool" was the source of the issue, rather than, as Criteo claims, that it deliberately counterfeited clicks. Later on that month, Criteo noticed SteelHouse "was still utilizing counterfeit clicks" but was using a different method that made the behavior more difficult to detect, the suit alleges. On May 23, Criteo sent a cease and desist letter to SteelHouse, calling on the company to stop the scheme. But in June despite SteelHouse's claims it had stopped the suit says Criteo discovered SteelHouse was still "counterfeiting clicks," which caused it to file its legal complaint. Criteo is seeking a jury trial. NOW WATCH: Yes, this is a giant baby stroller for adults here's the next time you can see it live More From Business Insider AECOM ACM is collaborating with Trimble Navigation Limited TRMB, to apply Microsoft Corporations MSFT HoloLens mixed-reality technology in engineering and construction projects. Aecom stated that this project will be the first commercial implementation of the HoloLens technology in the engineering and construction industries. AECOM and Trimble have launched a pilot program under which they will use Microsoft HoloLens augmented reality headsets in projects across three continents. The technology aims to advance 3D modeling to the next level, by allowing designers and engineers to explore the complex construction projects as if they were 3D models placed on a table. Trimbles pioneering mixed-reality solutions will help AECOM to supply 3D engineering models into the HoloLens world. Using a lightweight headset, the HoloLens will enable users to interact with virtual objects by inserting holograms of 3D objects into the users view. The ability to study complex structures in this kind of mixed-reality environment has huge implications for the field and can accelerate the engineering design process to a great extent. In fact, the technology offers higher clarity in the design review process as well, and allows team members in different locations to simultaneously explore the same holographic projections, thus improving efficiency and enabling effective collaboration during the design process. As part of the Pilot Program, Aecom will deploy HoloLens devices in London, Denver and Hong Kong. The technology will enable engineers and architects in these different locations to access the same holographic models at once, by linking their interactions through the Internet provided by Trimble solutions. AECOM and Trimble have applied this revolutionary technology to the built environment at the Serpentine Galleries. AECOM currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A better-ranked stock in the same space is Willdan Group, Inc. WLDN, carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report MICROSOFT CORP (MSFT): Free Stock Analysis Report TRIMBLE NAVIGAT (TRMB): Free Stock Analysis Report AECOM TECH CORP (ACM): Free Stock Analysis Report WILLDAN GROUP (WLDN): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research HONG KONG (Reuters) - Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd said it expects to nearly double its transaction volumes by 2020, even as it signaled its intention of shifting away from that measurement as it faces an investigation into its accounting. At an investor conference at its headquarters in Hangzhou, China, Alibaba said it expects to record 6 trillion yuan (643.30 billion pounds)in gross merchandise volume (GMV) in fiscal 2020, nearly double 3.09 trillion yuan in fiscal 2016. From now on it would report GMV only on an annual basis, rather than quarterly, Chief Financial Officer Maggie Wu said. Alibaba's astronomical GMV -- the value of goods sold on its platforms -- has wowed some observers and raised suspicion among others because of the way it is calculated. By comparison, China's total retail sales of consumer goods in 2015 was 30.1 trillion yuan, according to government statistics. "GMV is still a very important metric," Wu said. But earlier, Executive Chairman Jack Ma noted that it was not "the only metric". Last month, Alibaba announced that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had launched a probe into its accounting practices to determine whether they violated federal laws. Questions about Alibaba's growth rate and its relations with affiliated companies have dogged the firm for years. Mentioning the investigation, Wu said the company wanted to be cooperative and transparent. One of the issues the SEC is probing is the accounting for Cainiao, a logistics data company that is around 47 percent-owned by Alibaba and run by Judy Tong, an Alibaba partner. Cainiao, started jointly in 2013 by Alibaba, Yintai Holdings, Fosun Group, Forchn Holdings and five major delivery companies, has in the past been unconsolidated in Alibaba's financial statements, raising questions among some investors and analysts. Wu said it was not up to Alibaba to decide whether or not to consolidate Cainiao, but rather was a matter of complying with GAAP accounting rules. Story continues Ma said Alibaba expects to have 2 billion consumers on its books by 2036, up from 423 million active buyers in 2016. Addressing concerns about the company's efforts to remove counterfeit items from its online platforms, Ma said Alibaba will do "anything to stop the fake products". The company has been dogged for years by accusations that its shopping platforms were conduits for counterfeiters. "I promise you guys that counterfeits, fake products, and intellectual property theft - we are more and more confident than ever that we can solve the problem," Ma said. (Reporting by Yimou Lee and John Ruwitch; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell and Keith Weir) * Volume seen surging from 2016's 3.09 trillion yuan * Jack Ma sees 2 bln consumers on Alibaba books by 2036 * Ma pledges Alibaba will do "anything to stop fakes" (Adds context, detail) HONG KONG, June 14 (Reuters) - Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd said it expects to nearly double its transaction volumes by 2020, even as it signalled its intention of shifting away from that measurement as it faces an investigation into its accounting. At an investor conference at its headquarters in Hangzhou, China, Alibaba said it expects to record 6 trillion yuan ($912 billion) in gross merchandise volume (GMV) in fiscal 2020, nearly double 3.09 trillion yuan in fiscal 2016. From now on it would report GMV only on an annual basis, rather than quarterly, Chief Financial Officer Maggie Wu said. Alibaba's astronomical GMV -- the value of goods sold on its platforms -- has wowed some observers and raised suspicion among others because of the way it is calculated. By comparison, China's total retail sales of consumer goods in 2015 was 30.1 trillion yuan, according to government statistics. "GMV is still a very important metric," Wu said. But earlier, Executive Chairman Jack Ma noted that it was not "the only metric". Last month, Alibaba announced that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had launched a probe into its accounting practices to determine whether they violated federal laws. Questions about Alibaba's growth rate and its relations with affiliated companies have dogged the firm for years. Mentioning the investigation, Wu said the company wanted to be cooperative and transparent. One of the issues the SEC is probing is the accounting for Cainiao, a logistics data company that is around 47 percent-owned by Alibaba and run by Judy Tong, an Alibaba partner. Cainiao, started jointly in 2013 by Alibaba, Yintai Holdings, Fosun Group, Forchn Holdings and five major delivery companies, has in the past been unconsolidated in Alibaba's financial statements, raising questions among some investors and analysts. Story continues Wu said it was not up to Alibaba to decide whether or not to consolidate Cainiao, but rather was a matter of complying with GAAP accounting rules. Ma said Alibaba expects to have 2 billion consumers on its books by 2036, up from 423 million active buyers in 2016. Addressing concerns about the company's efforts to remove counterfeit items from its online platforms, Ma said Alibaba will do "anything to stop the fake products". The company has been dogged for years by accusations that its shopping platforms were conduits for counterfeiters. "I promise you guys that counterfeits, fake products, and intellectual property theft - we are more and more confident than ever that we can solve the problem," Ma said. ($1 = 6.5823 Chinese yuan) (Reporting by Yimou Lee and John Ruwitch; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell and Keith Weir) * Allianz, Nephila run pilot of blockchain technology * Test blockchain in natural catastrophe swap * Blockchain to speed, simplify cat bond payments By Jonathan Gould FRANKFURT, June 15 (Reuters) - German insurer Allianz expects the technology underpinning virtual currency bitcoin to encourage trading in catastrophe bonds, which transfer the risk of natural disasters such as hurricances to investors. "Cat bond" payments between insurers and investors can take weeks or even months after a storm hits, but the use of "smart contracts" -- agreements that are automatically executed via the blockchain when a set of predetermined conditions are met -- could cut this down to hours or a few days, Allianz said. Allianz, Europe's biggest insurer, worked with Bermuda-based investment manager Nephila Capital to test blockchain, or distributed ledger technology as many financial institutions prefer to call it, in a natural catastrophe swap transaction. Cat bonds and swaps allow investors to earn an attractive return, but they risk losing their capital if a hurricane or other natural disaster hits. Allianz and Nephila Capital said in a statement on Wednesday that a test run showed that processing and settlement of payments between insurers and investors could be significantly accelerated and simplified by blockchain-based contracts. Blockchain works as a tamper-proof ledger that is able to facilitate and process transactions, as well as other transfers of data, with no need for third-party verification. Because it does not require manual processing, nor authentication through intermediaries, it can make payments more reliable and more easily audited. "Delays and the risks of human error are completely removed," Allianz underwriting officer Richard Boyd said. Blockchain also makes sure that the digital contract ownership cannot be duplicated or forged, which would boost public trading of catastrophe bonds, Allianz said, adding that it would now develop a more detailed business case and involve other financial partners. Story continues Blockchain's proponents say it has the potential to disrupt financial markets by making payments and the settling of securities transactions cheaper. Financial regulators are still trying to assess the implications of blockchain, and whether it could meet technical, governance, legal and regulatory requirements. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) said this month it was too early to form a definite opinion of the technology and that firms planning to use blockchain should keep the existing regulatory framework in mind. Allianz said there was a need to start discussions with regulators on how to manage the technology to benefit customers. (Additional reporting by Jemima Kelly; Editing by Alexander Smith) american airlines American, Delta, and United have all recently reported record profits after decades of struggle. Last year, American Airlines saw its profits surge 50% to $6.3 billion. According to Skift's Brian Sumers, one major airline CEO believes the industry has solved its profitability problem for good. "My personal view is that you wont see losses in the industry at all," American Airlines CEO Doug Parker said at the airline's annual meeting last week. "We have gotten to the point where we like other businesses will have good years and bad years, but the bad years will not be cataclysmic. They will just be less good than the good years." Although revenue growth across the board slowed down in the first quarter of the year, the airline industry is still going strong. Even though Parker, as noted by Sumers, has long been an optimist in the strength of the airline business, his optimism is not unwarranted. The airline industry has traditionally been a very volatile business with thin margins and high capital requirements. That's means the room for error is very narrow. As a result, in decades past, airlines have often teetered near bankruptcy. Over the past few years, there's been a fundamental change in the way major US airlines are run. After the latest round of bankruptcies and consolidation that saw American merge with US Airways, Delta with Northwest, and United with Continental, it seems airline management has become more focused and efficient. Airlines have been careful to exercises discipline in expanding capacity and routes. They have also keyed in on the areas that deserve the most investment and what customers can do without. Although cheap crude prices over the past 24 months have certainly boosted airlines' financial performance, it would be unfair to attribute it solely to lower fuel expenditures. Last month at Delta's media day, CEO Ed Bastian noted that current oil prices are nearly identical to that in 2005. That year, both Delta and future merger partner Northwest filed for bankruptcy. In 2015, Delta reported $4.5 billion profits while returning $1.5 billion in profit-sharing to employees. Story continues NOW WATCH: The most important question you should ask before hiring a financial adviser More From Business Insider Los Angeles (AFP) - The deadliest mass shooting in US history has once again unleashed gun control advocates clamoring for curbs on weapons sales. But the Florida carnage also shows the scale of their challenge in a country where a 29-year-old once flagged on an FBI watchlist was able to commit mass murder with a legally-bought assault rifle. As has become a somber ritual after each of the mass shootings that regularly stun the United States, President Barack Obama came forward to plead for stricter gun laws. "This massacre is... a further reminder of how easy it is for someone to get their hands on a weapon that lets them shoot people in a school, or in a house of worship, or a movie theater, or in a nightclub," Obama said. "And we have to decide if that's the kind of country we want to be." It was a powerful appeal. And a familiar one. A veteran US reporter estimated on Twitter it was the 20th time he had seen Obama take the podium to deliver the exact same message. The US president has been stifled in his bid to curb gun violence since taking power in 2008, by a Republican-led congress and the powerful gun lobby that reject any moves to rein in gun ownership in the name of the Constitution's Second Amendment. On Monday the White House demanded that Congress pass legislation blocking extremists from obtaining assault weapons. But experts say the deadlock is unlikely to end anytime soon, with gun control a hot-button election issue for both Republicans and Democrats. "The Republicans that control Congress are adamantly opposed to gun legislation and they will not give Obama this victory in an election year," Adam Winkler, a law professor at the University of California Los Angeles, told AFP. - 'Weapons of war' - Omar Mateen, an American of Afghan descent who the FBI believes was radicalized online and who was probed in recent years for suspected extremism, burst into the Pulse nightclub in Orlando early Sunday armed with an AR-15 assault rifle and a handgun. Story continues By the time his shooting rampage ended, 49 people were dead and 53 others injured. Mateen was killed in an exchange of gunfire with police. The AR-15 assault rifle is the same type used in the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school massacre, the 2012 movie-theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado and the San Bernardino attack last December. No sooner had news of the carnage hit headlines than politicians jumped into the fray, with Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic White House nominee, training her fire on the ready availability of assault weapons. "I believe weapons of war have no place on our streets," she told supporters in Cleveland, saying the fact Mateen was at one point on an FBI watchlist should have barred him from purchasing weapons. "We may have our disagreements about gun safety regulations, but we should all be able to agree on a few essential things," Clinton said. "If the FBI is watching you for suspected terrorist links, you shouldn't be able to just go buy a gun with no questions asked." According to Gun Violence Archive, which tracks gun-related deaths in America, 13,429 people were shot dead in 2015 and 5,962 so far this year. Firearm deaths including suicides stand at around 30,000 per year. The fact-checking site Politifact said more Americans have been killed by guns in the United States since 1968 than in all wars in the country's history. And yet, the paradox: with each new massacre, gun sales spike as enthusiasts rush to stock up fearing a clampdown -- with the right to bear arms cherished as fundamental by many in the country. - 'Make it harder for criminals' - According to surveys by Quinnipiac University, between 88 and 93 percent of Americans support universal gun background checks and more than half back a ban on assault weapons. While the gun debate is at a standstill at federal level, some headway is being made at the local and state level, says Laura Cutilleta, a senior staff attorney at the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. Since the Sandy Hook school massacre, a number of US states have made it harder for people suffering from mental illness or with a history of domestic violence to acquire weapons, she says. But Winkler believes legislation can only go so far in stopping would-be attackers. "I'm not sure if any new law would have prevented the Orlando shooting," he said. "All you can do is make these incidents harder for the criminals." Three million semi-automatic weapons are estimated to be in circulation in the United States. But even banning them would not necessarily solve the problem, Winkler said, noting that a simple handgun can do tremendous damage too. Cutilleta meanwhile points to Florida as an example of the dysfunction of the current system. "In Florida, there is no background check if you don't buy a gun through a licensed seller," Cutilleta said. "So if you're selling at a gun show, you don't have to conduct a background check." And even with checks in place, that was not enough to stop Mateen. The owner of the Florida store where he bought his rifle, Ed Henson, told CNN he passed the required background check. "An evil person came in here and legally purchased a firearm from us," Henson said. "If he hadn't gotten them from us, he would have gotten them from other places." Amgen Inc. AMGN announced that the FDAs Arthritis Advisory Committee will review data supporting the company's biologics license application for ABP 501, a biosimilar version of AbbVie Inc.s ABBV best-selling drug, Humira. A final decision regarding the approval status of ABP 501 is expected by Sep 25, 2016. It is also under review in the EU. Humira, an anti-TNF- monoclonal antibody, is approved in many countries for the treatment of a wide range of inflammatory diseases. The drug recorded worldwide sales of $14 billion in 2015 and was one of the top-selling products in the U.S. in 2014. Currently, Amgen has nine biosimilar candidates in its portfolio representing annual revenues of more than $3 billion. The company plans to launch its first biosimilar in 2017 followed by four others through 2019, subject to approval. We note that Amgen itself is facing biosimilar competition in the U.S. Zarxio, the first FDA-approved biosimilar, was launched by Novartis AGs NVS generic arm, Sandoz, in Sep 2015. Zarxio is the biosimilar version of Amgens blockbuster drug, Neupogen. A couple of key drugs from Amgens portfolio Neulasta and Enbrel could also start facing biosimilar competition soon. Notably, Sandozs biosimilar version of Enbrel is expected to come up before the FDAs Arthritis Advisory Committee next month. Considering that the market for biosimilars is highly lucrative, competition in this space is intensifying with pharmaceutical and biotech companies racing to develop the same. Amgen is a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock. Bristol-Myers Squibb Company BMY is a better-ranked stock in the health care sector, carrying a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report BRISTOL-MYERS (BMY): Free Stock Analysis Report NOVARTIS AG-ADR (NVS): Free Stock Analysis Report AMGEN INC (AMGN): Free Stock Analysis Report ABBVIE INC (ABBV): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research CNN's Anderson Cooper on Tuesday grilled Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi over her past legal battles with same-sex couples over the state's ban on gay marriage, two days after a mass shooting at an LGBT club in Orlando on Sunday. In the wake of the attack, which left 49 dead and dozens wounded, Bondi had said her heart goes "out to all of the LGBT community, to those who have lost their lives and those that were injured." "Anyone who attacks our LGBT community, anyone who attacks anyone in our state, will be gone after to the fullest extent of the law," Bondi told reporters Sunday. VIDEO of @AndersonCooper grilling @PamBondi. "Do you really think you're a champion of the gay community?" https://t.co/DOFTxJOPuh Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) June 14, 2016 In an interview Tuesday afternoon, Cooper pressed Bondi to explain whether she saw herself as a champion for LGBT individuals despite a yearslong legal battle with couples seeking to overturn the state's ban on gay marriage. "You've said in court that gay people, simply by fighting for marriage equality, were trying to do harm to the people of Florida," Cooper said. "Do you really think that you're a champion of the gay community?" He later added: "I have never seen you talk about gays and lesbians in a positive way until now." Bondi argued that she was obligated to defend the same-sex marriage ban since Florida voters used a ballot initiative to add it to the state constitution in 2008. "When I was sworn in as attorney general, I put my hand on a Bible and was sworn to uphold the constitution of the state of Florida. That's not a law. That was voted into our state constitution by the state of Florida," Bondi said. "I've never said I don't like gay people. That's ridiculous." Bondi denied that she argued that same-sex marriage would do harm to Florida, saying that if there were a constitutional amendment legalizing medical marijuana, she would defend those laws. Cooper continued to press Bondi over her attempt to uphold the state's gay marriage ban, pointing out that if same-sex marriage hadn't been legalized by the Supreme Court in 2015, many of the Orlando victims' partners and family members would not have been able to visit them in the hospital. Story continues "Had there been no same-sex marriage, you do realize that boyfriends and girlfriends of the dead wouldn't be able to get information, and would not be able to visit in the hospital. Isn't there a sick irony in that?" Cooper asked. Bondi repeatedly denied that she was personally invested in the case, telling the CNN anchor that she "rushed the case to the Supreme Court" in order to seek finality. "Moving forward, do you see yourself as being a vocal champion for gay and lesbian citizens in this state?" Cooper asked. "They are citizens just like anyone else, of course," Bondi said. She added: "We're human beings, and that's what this is about." Though its appeal of a judge's ruling on Florida's gay-marriage ban was dropped after the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage, Bondi's office has still drawn criticism from LGBT advocates. The attorney general balked at covering the legal fees for couples who challenged Florida's ban, saying the state does not have to pay them since it voluntarily dropped its appeal. NOW WATCH: Watch the Secret Service jump to protect Sanders after 5 protesters rushed the stage More From Business Insider CNNs Anderson Cooper was visibly affected Monday night while reading the names of victims of Sundays shooting in Orlando, Fla. Theyre more than a list of names. They were people who loved, and were loved. They were people who had families and friends and dreams, he said, broadcasting live from near Pulse, a gay nightclub where a gunman killed 49 people and wounded many more. And the truth is, we dont know much about some of them. We want you to hear their names and a little bit about who they were. RELATEDThe Last Ships Sunday Premiere Pulled in Wake of Orlando Mass Shooting The anchor, who was clearly affected by the stories of those who had lost their lives, started to falter while relating details about Edward Sotomayor Jr., a 34-year-old travel agent and the first on the list of victims Cooper read. When CNN did not have a photo or biographical information on a victim, Cooper simply said the persons name and age. We think its important that you hear their names, he said, crying. Press PLAY on the video above to watch the emotional tribute. Related stories White House Correspondents' Video: Watch President Obama's 10 Best Jokes Poppy Harlow Passes Out During Live CNN Broadcast -- Watch Video Ratings: Democratic Presidential Debate Draws a Record 15.3 Million A day after fighting back tears while reading the names of the 49 victims of the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, CNNs Anderson Cooper challenged the states attorney general over her record on LGBT rights. In the wake of Sundays massacre, Pam Bondi, Floridas attorney general, vowed that anyone who attacks our LGBT community would be gone after to the fullest extent of the law. On Tuesday, Cooper asked Bondi if such a statement was hypocritical, given her opposition to same-sex marriage before it became legal. The conversation soon became uncomfortable, as Cooper pressed her on the topic. Youve basically gone after gay people, Cooper said, said that in court: That gay people, simply by fighting for marriage equality, were trying to do harm to the people of Florida. To induce public harm, I believe, was the term you used in court. Do you really think youre a champion of the gay community? Bondi said she was merely defending the laws that were on the books in the Sunshine State. When I was sworn in as attorney general, I put my hand on the Bible and was sworn to uphold the constitution of the state of Florida, Bondi said. Thats what I was defending. Had nothing to do Ive never said I dont like gay people. Thats ridiculous. Anderson Cooper chokes up while reading names of victims of the Pulse Orlando mass shooting: https://t.co/wDwgodbWlQ https://t.co/xQ0LT2lxnz Dylan Stableford (@stableford) June 14, 2016 Cooper, who came out publicly in 2012, pressed Bondi, saying that she had argued in court that gay marriage would impose significant public harm. Anderson, I dont believe gay people could do harm to the state of Florida, Bondi said. My lawyer argued a case defending what the Supreme Court allowed the voters to put in our state constitution. Story continues She compared her opposition to same-sex marriage to the debate over medical marijuana. What we argued was: It was in the constitution of the state of Florida, Bondi said. Let me give you an example: medical marijuana. A 12-year-old could get it if it passed. We took that to the Supreme Court because of that language. A proposed amendment to allow medical use of marijuana, which was on the Florida ballot in 2014, narrowly failed. But if that passed, I would defend that as well, because its my job to defend whats in the constitution of the state of Florida, Bondi said. Thats what it was about. Related: Anderson Cooper chokes up while reading names of victims Cooper then pressed Bondi on the hotline that state officials have been directing victims family members and spouses to call to get information. Had there been no gay marriage, had there been no same-sex marriage, you do realize that spouses there would be no spouses that boyfriends and girlfriends of the dead would not be able to get information and would not be able probably even to visit in the hospital here, Cooper said. Isnt there a sick irony in that? Bondi insisted there was not. You know what today is about? Human beings. Todays about victims, Bondi said. Its about gay and lesbian victims, Cooper interjected. It sure is, she replied. LGBT victims. Also read: Orlando gay community reels: We are really suffering right now Cooper asked if it was hypocritical for Bondi to portray herself as a champion of the gay community when a lot of gay people have told me they dont see you as that. Anderson, Im not portraying myself as anything but trying to help human beings who have lost their lives, who are behind us, right now, in hospital beds, who have family members who arent getting the services they need, Bondi responded. This morning, you know what Ive been doing? Trying to fight with a funeral home for overcharging family members to bury their loved ones. Im not championing anything other than Floridians. Thats what this is about. We are about human beings. The flaxen-haired newsman ended the interview by pointing out that he had not heard or seen her support for the LGBT community before Sundays attack. I read your Twitter history for the last year and I saw you tweeting about, you know, National Dog Month and National Shelter Dog Appreciation Day or Adopt a Shelter Dog Month,' Cooper said. It is Gay Pride Month. You never even tweeted about Gay Pride Month. Well, actually, if you look at my website now, we have hands clasped together, all different-colored, rainbow hands, Bondi said. So you just put that up now? Cooper asked. Yeah I did, just after this horrible tragedy, absolutely, Bondi replied. HOUSTON, TX / ACCESSWIRE / June 14, 2016 / ANGO World Holdings, Inc. (AWHI) announced that it has completed a debt facility transaction for Legend Advance Funding II, LLC ("Legend"), a privately owned New York City-based specialty finance company. ANGO, a publicly traded investment banking firm with a focus on business development activities. Legend's business is providing working capital financing to small and medium-sized businesses in the U.S. and Canada by means of merchant cash advance financings. The capital provided in the transaction with ANGO will be used by Legend to support the expansion of its current merchant cash advance business. ANGO acting as principal of the transaction structured and funded the $3 million secured debt facility for Legend. The transaction agreement also provides equity ownership to ANGO and a seat on the Board of Directors. No other terms of the transaction were announced. Commenting on the transaction with ANGO, Michael Petrycki, Managing Partner of Legend stated, "We are extremely pleased to partner with an investor of ANGO's caliber and we look forward to a mutually rewarding and expanding relationship for years to come." Ango CEO John Carson stated, "We are looking forward to working with Legend as they grow their business. The merchant cash advance industry is experiencing exciting growth and we felt that the legend management team are strongly positioned to take advance of this opportunity." About Legend Advance Funding II, LLC Legend is a privately owned specialty finance company providing Merchant Cash Advance services through its FinTech platform with integrated marketing, sales, underwriting and client servicing capabilities. The company's headquarters are located in New York City. About ANGO World Holdings, Inc. ANGO is a publicly traded investment banking firm with a focus on business development trading under the symbol "AWHI" on the OTC. The company is headquartered in Houston, Texas with executive offices in Boca Raton, FL, and has regional offices in New York, NY and Lugano, Switzerland. Story continues (www.awholdingsinc.com) Current inquires may be sent to investor@awholdimgsinc.com or calling 1-866-372-1767. Safe Harbor Statement Our press release may include predictions, estimates or other information that might be considered forward-looking within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. While these forward-looking statements represent our current judgment on what the future holds, they are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which reflect our opinions only as of the date of this presentation. We are not obligating ourselves to revise or publicly release the results of any revision to these forward-looking statements in light of new information or future events. SOURCE: ANGO World Holdings, Inc. Although Sen. Rand Paul ended his presidential bid four months ago, a pro-Paul super PAC sounds particularly presidential in a new TV ad this time, in slamming likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. The ad, sponsored by Americas Liberty PAC, borrows from Donald Trumps playbook in calling Clinton crooked Hillary and linking her to Kentucky Democrat Jim Gray, who is challenging Paul for his U.S. Senate seat. (Paul is seeking re-election.) Crooked Hillary isnt alone, the ads narrator says. Jim Gray backs Hillary because theyre the same kind of liberal, big government, coal-hating politicians. The ad is airing throughout Kentucky. It is the first significant TV ad buy of the election that features a presidential candidate and is designed to influence a congressional race. The ads sponsor Americas Liberty PAC formed in 2012. The super PAC initially sponsored an ad campaign attacking Democrat Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri. Then, in 2014, it attempted to boost the ultimately doomed U.S. Senate bid of North Carolina Republican Greg Bannon. In 2015, Americas Liberty PAC came out full force to support the presidential campaign of Paul, who consistently trailed in polls and primary elections. He dropped out of the race in February, only picking up a lone delegate during the primaries. Related video: America's Liberty PAC ad: 'Gray and Clinton' This story is part of Source Check. Click here to read more stories in this series. Don't miss another Politics investigation: Sign up for the Center for Public Integrity's Watchdog email. As a super PAC, Americas Liberty PAC can raise and spend money in unlimited amounts. But unlike the moneyed super PACs supporting other Republican presidential candidates, Americas Liberty PAC collected a modest $4.6 million during Pauls presidential run. For comparison: Super PAC behemoth Right to Rise USA, the pro-Jeb Bush operation, boasted a $121 million fundraising haul before Bush himself flamed out. Story continues Whos behind it? The mastermind behind Americas Liberty PAC is John Tate, a longtime adviser to Paul. Tate managed the 2012 presidential campaign of then Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, Rand Pauls father. A federal jury in May found Tate guilty of public corruption, including falsifying campaign expenditure reports and making false statements. The case stems from 2012, when Tate and other members of Ron Pauls campaign team allegedly paid an Iowa state legislator $73,000 to endorse Ron Paul for president, and then concealed the transactions from the Federal Election Commission. Ron Paul campaign manager Dimitri Kesari and campaign chairman Jesse Benton were also convicted. Benton now helps lead Great America PAC, a super PAC supporting Trump. Money in During Pauls presidential run, his anti-Wall Street rhetoric likely scared off some prominent conservative donors who could have helped Americas Liberty PAC raise more than the $4.6 million it did. We will not cut one penny from the safety net until weve cut every penny from corporate welfare, Paul said in January 2015 in response to President Barack Obamas State of the Union address. Still, Pauls super PAC benefitted from numerous big-time donors, including investors, CEOs and venture capitalists. The top donor to Americas Liberty PAC was Jeff Yass, a managing director of global investment firm Susquehanna International Group. Yass contributed about $1.6 million to Americas Liberty PAC. He also split $1.5 million between two other pro-Paul super PACs: Concerned American Voters and Purple PAC. In September, Yass also gave $100,000 to anti-tax Club for Growths super PAC, which has spent more than $9.7 million on ads attacking Trump, according to federal campaign finance filings. John Mackey, co-founder of grocery store Whole Foods, is also a Paul supporter and donor. A self-described ethical vegan, Mackey donated $50,000 to Americas Liberty PAC and another $232,000 to Concerned American Voters. I reject the premise that liberal and libertarian values are necessarily in conflict, Mackey told Mother Jones in 2013. Money out Americas Liberty PAC spent about $1.7 million directly advocating for a Paul presidency, according to federal campaign finance filings. A portion of that was spent on TV advertising, with the group airing roughly 340 TV ads targeting voters in Iowa and New Hampshire, according to according to a Center for Public Integrity review of data from Kantar Media/CMAG. Americas Liberty PAC ad campaign in those two states began in August 2015 six months before voters there took to the polls. Don't miss another Politics investigation: Sign up for the Center for Public Integrity's Watchdog email. Americas Liberty PAC also paid Tate, president of the super PAC, more than $195,000. The super PAC has about $400,000 remaining in its account as of March 31, according to federal disclosures. It is scheduled to next disclose its finances in mid-July. Why it matters Americas Liberty PAC will certainly not be the only presidential super PAC shifting its focus to down-ballot races. Mainstream Republican support for Trump as the presumptive GOP nominee is tenuous, at best. Take Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan, who offered Trump a lukewarm endorsement only to days later call Trumps comments about a Mexican-American judge the textbook definition of a racist comment. Some Republican operatives are instead scrambling to maintain control of both the U.S. Senate and U.S. House. Consider: Groups tied to billionaires Charles and David Koch have begun reserving $30 million in advertising in key U.S. Senate races. The Kochs political network has effectively ignored Trump and has not yet played a meaningful role in the presidential race. Our Principles PAC, a conservative super PAC dedicated to attacking Trump, has also indicated that it will support down-ballot candidates who its organizers believe are endangered by Trumps presidential bid. This story is part of Source Check. Click here to read more stories in this series. Related stories Copyright 2016 The Center for Public Integrity. This story was published by The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C. Anti-labour reform protesters set fire to a vehicle belonging to the French public transport company RATP in Paris Place de la Republique on Tuesday evening, June 14. As many as 300 protesters moved through the central square, setting fire to two other cars and looting a supermarket, Le Figaro reported. A few hours earlier, hundreds of protesters confronted riot police around Boulevard de Montparnasse and near Hospital Necker, leading to dozens of arrests. According to France 24, 40 people were injured, many of them police officers. Credit: Twitter/@Noisette_R The French fashion house has pulled out all the stops for its autumn/winter 2016-2017 campaign, bagging not one but four internationally renowned faces to front the campaign. A$AP Rocky, Larry Clark, Rod Paradot and Dylan Roques have been signed up as ambassadors from very different backgrounds to capture the spirit of the new Dior Homme seasonal collection. Dior unveiled a five-star cast for its latest campaign, Tuesday, June 14, with stars from the worlds of music, movies, fashion and photography lined up to showcase its autumn/winter 2016 menswear collection. Each of the four artists reflects a different side of the new Dior Homme collection, and each has a precise role to play in the campaign. American rapper A$AP Rocky stars as a modern-day urban dandy, while filmmaker and photographer Larry Clark embodies the dark elegance of the new menswear line. French actor Rod Paradot reflects its natural charm and model Dylan Roques channels the punk chic touch. Kris Van Assche, creative director of Dior Homme, oversaw this new campaign, shot by photographer Willy Vanderperre and styled by Olivier Rizzo. The first images unveiled by Dior take the form of diptychs, with one portrait image alongside one near full-length shot of each ambassador. The collection is captured in black and white with touches of red. The new Dior Homme collection channels a free, rebellious spirit, borrowing codes from the world of skateboarding. Whether urban, chic, sophisticated or streetwear inspired, the pieces reflect the multiple facets of the Dior Homme clothing line. The Dior Homme Stranger in a Room spring/summer 2016 campaign starred Rinus van de Velde, Alain-Fabien Delon and Victor Nylander, and was shot by Willy Vanderperre under the creative direction of Kris Van Assche. A federal appellate court overturned a $1.8 million ruling in favor of former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura in his defamation lawsuit against the estate of Chris Kyle, the author of American Sniper. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals set aside a jurys $500,000 award to Ventura for defamation and ordered a new trial. They also threw out a jurys award of an additional $1.35 million to Ventura for unjust enrichment, concluding that it enjoys no legal support under Minnesota law. Ventura challenged a chapter in the book that described a confrontation Kyle had with an unnamed celebrity at a California bar in 2006. In the chapter, Kyle describes the confrontation, in which the celebrity disparaged the Navy SEALs, telling him, You deserve to lose a few, and that Kyle ended up punching the man out; Kyle later identified that figure as Ventura. Kyle was shot and killed at a shooting range in Texas in 2013. Ventura sued, and a jury awarded him the damages after a lengthy trial in 2014. But the appellate court found Kyles estate did not receive a fair defamation trial because Venturas attorney, in a closing argument, suggested that Kyles estate would be covered by insurance via his publisher, HarperCollins. The judges said that it was difficult to see how Venturas counsels comments were anything other than a deliberate strategic choice to try to influence and enhance damages by referencing an impersonal deep-pocket insurer. The MPAA and 32 media companies and organizations urged the court to overturn the verdict in an amicus brief. Judge Lavenski Smith dissented on the decision to throw out the defamation award but concurred on the decision to dismiss the unjust enrichment claim. Related stories California Expanded Tax Credit Program Draws 254 Film Applicants 'American Sniper' Writer Jason Hall in Talks to Direct 'Thank You for Your Service' 'American Sniper' Shoots Back Up to No. 1 on Home-Video Sales Charts On Tuesday, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals enjoyed much deserved headlines for upholding the FCC's net neutrality rules, but that same appellate circuit exercised agency deference in another case impacting Hollywood. Last year, following Congress' passage of the JOBS Act, the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted changes to what's known as Regulation A of the Securities Act of 1933. The amendments boosted the prospects of crowdfunding by raising the cap on certain offerings from $5 million to $20 million, and in some cases $50 million, to both accredited and non-accredited investors. Read more details here. The changes drew a petition from the chief securities regulators for Massachusetts and Montana, who argued that the SEC had failed to adequately protect investors. Specifically, states are preempted from regulating securities sold to "qualified purchasers," defined by the SEC in its Reg. A amendments as accredited investors or anyone else who limits their purchase to 10 percent of their annual income or net worth. The petitioners argued that purchasers had to be more broadly limited to those with enough financial wealth or sophistication to invest without state-law safeguards. On Tuesday, the DC Circuit Court intervenes for anyone who might want to, say, buy a piece of Zach Braff's next film if he issued an offering. Judge Karen Henderson first looks at Congress' intent, writing that lawmakers "intended the SEC to enjoy broad discretion to decide who may purchase which securities without the encumbrance of state registration and qualification requirements" and properly exercised its discretion to protect the public via a purchase cap and reporting requirements. Henderson states other reasons to bow to the SEC, shrugs off semantic arguments about how "qualified" has typically been construed under federal securities law, and finally, accepts the SEC's explanation on why and how it changed its qualified-purchaser definition. Here's the full opinion. On Tuesday, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals denied a petition brought by telecoms challenging the FCC's recently enacted net neutrality rules. The decision was eagerly awaited for its potential to shape the way that consumers access content on the internet. Without strong net neutrality rules, content providers like Netflix, Facebook and Twitter fear that telecoms would charge for "fast lanes" resulting in high prices while many in the creative community worry it would propagate a cable television-like power structure. Big broadband providers like Verizon on the other hand argue they need latitude to make investments in infrastructure and capacity. Hollywood studios have been careful on taking a position on this controversial topic that generated more than four million comments before the FCC voted to adopt its rules. At issue in the case was the FCC's authority. The regulatory agency has twice before promulgated "open internet" rules only to have an appeals court sympathize with the goals but express the opinion that the FCC overstepped its boundaries. After the DC Circuit last ruled in early 2014, the FCC chose to move forward with bans on paid prioritization, blocking and throttling by reclassifying internet service as a utility rather than an information service under Title II of the Telecommunications Act. On appeal, various telecoms again asserted the FCC exceeded its authority, provided insufficient rationale for the new rules and violated First Amendment rights. The opinion of the DC Court was written by Judge David Tatel and Sri Srinivasan. "Petitioners assert numerous challenges to the Commission's decision to reclassify broadband," they write in a lengthy opinion. "Finding that none has merit, we uphold the classification." They also state that "nothing in the Telecommunications Act suggests that Congress intended to freeze in place the Commission's existing classifications of various services" and that "the Supreme Court expressly recognized that Congress, by leaving a statutory ambiguity, had delegated to the Commission the power to regulate broadband service." Story continues The majority opinion also rejects the argument that because many broadband providers offer information services such as email, this makes internet service outside regulation as a utility. They also dismiss the contention that the FCC failed to adequately explain why it was changing its classification and that the changes would undermine investment in broadband. The judges write, "In any event, the Commission found that the virtuous cycle - spurred by the open internet rules - provides an ample counterweight, in that any harmful effects on broadband investment 'are far outweighed by positive effects on innovation and investment in other areas of the ecosystem that [its] core broadband polices will promote.'" A partial dissent from Judge Stephen Williams disagreed with the conclusion that the FCC had good reasons to reclassify and that the media regulatory agency failed to seriously assess the impact of broadband providers relying on the now-abandoned classification. But its proponents of net neutrality who today prevail as the DC Circuit upholds the FCC's classification of both fixed and mobile broadband services as a utility beholden to the sorts of regulations imposed on telephone companies, railroads and postal services. Tatel and Srinivasan reject the constitutional arguments against the blocking and throttling rules, writing, "Nothing about affording indiscriminate access to internet content suggests that the broadband provider agrees with the content an end user happens to access. Because a broadband provider does not - and is not understood by users to - 'speak' when providing neutral access to internet content as common carriage, the First Amendment poses no bar to the open internet rules." Here's all 184 pages of the majority opinion and dissent. Tuesday's decision will likely trigger an attempt for a rehearing before a fuller panel at the DC Circuit, which will likely be closely divided thanks in part to the absence of Merrick Garland, who has been inclined to defer to agency authority and awaits a confirmation hearing at the U.S. Supreme Court. The case could ultimately be brought to the high court, though the potential for legislation exists depending on the outcome of an election where many Republicans have voiced regulatory doubts while Democrats led by President Barack Obama have largely rallied behind net neutrality. As the latest decision comes, the European Union is itself set to introduce its own net neutrality rules. In reaction to Tuesday's ruling, FCC chairman Tom Wheeler said, "Today's ruling is a victory for consumers and innovators who deserve unfettered access to the entire web, and it ensures the internet remains a platform for unparalleled innovation, free expression and economic growth. After a decade of debate and legal battles, today's ruling affirms the Commission's ability to enforce the strongest possible internet protections - both on fixed and mobile networks - that will ensure the internet remains open, now and in the future." By Julia Love (Reuters) - Apple unveiled a series of improvements to its Siri digital assistant on Thursday, but the tech giant still trails rivals such as Google and Amazon in the red-hot field of artificial intelligence, experts say. Apple's biggest move was to open up the talking iPhone assistant to third-party developers for inclusion in their apps, paving the way for users to hail a ride from Uber or send a message with Tencent's WeChat using voice commands. Experts in artificial intelligence applauded the move as an important step forward, in part because the more people use an artificial intelligence system, the better it becomes. But some wondered why Apple had not made Siri an open platform much sooner, noting that competing products including Amazon.com's Alexa, Microsoft's Cortana and the Google app are already open to developers. Is it too little too late? asked Oren Etzioni, who is CEO of the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence and a professor at the University of Washington. Siri is five years old and still trying to learn how to play well with others. Artificial intelligence involves giving computers the ability to perform functions normally done by people such as speech recognition. Voice-powered digital assistants could eventually perform many tasks that currently require a smartphone app or a keyboard and a mouse, and thus they are considered a key strategic battleground for all the major tech companies. The winner of the assistant wars might able to take a cut of purchases made on its platform and also steer users towards its products and those of its allies. This is a new platform war with huge stakes, said Gary Morgenthaler, a venture capitalist who invested in Siri when it was a startup. It ultimately challenges search and the market capitalisation of Google. Apple may have squandered some of its momentum. The tech giant essentially created the category by purchasing Siri, the startup behind the eponymous digital assistant, which quickly became a cultural touchstone after its release on the iPhone. Story continues As a startup, Siri worked with a variety of popular apps, but Apple cut off third-party access to the service shortly after the acquisition. Apples move on Monday brings the assistant closer to the original vision for it, said Morgenthaler. Its pretty sad for those of us who were part of the original team, he said. The rate of innovation has been less than what we would have imagined. Technology experts have other concerns about Apples aptitude for artificial intelligence: The company was slow to recruit talent relative to peers such as Google and Amazon, and its strict privacy stance limits data collection, which is critical for making assistants smarter. Mondays announcement did little to allay those fears, Etzioni said. We see some policy shifts, we see some small changes, but there was no explosive announcement, he said. But Apple took other steps to weave artificial intelligence more tightly into its operating system. The Photos app will soon study users images to help them organise shots of favourite trips and occasions. The company said it has also made progress in determining the context of a message, helping it serve up better replies for users. Apple is in the hunt, working hard on this, Morgenthaler said. They are maybe a step behind Google, but I would say they are close enough that Google is not going to leave them in the dust. (Reporting by Julia Love; Editing by Jonathan Weber and Cynthia Osterman) By Maximiliano Rizzi BUENOS AIRES, June 13 (Reuters) - Argentina's government is close to striking a deal with Monsanto Co over the inspection of shipments of genetically modified soybeans, an agriculture ministry official said on Monday. Monsanto and President Mauricio Macri's government have been at loggerheads since March over the company's request to have exporting companies inspect soybean shipments to make sure farmers paid royalties on soybean seed technology. Monsanto, the world's largest seed company, threatened to suspend launches of future soybean technologies in Argentina, a move that could limit output of the country's main cash crop. Argentina, the world's No. 1 exporter of soymeal livestock feed, relies heavily on Monsanto's genetic technology to produce soybeans. The government is now analyzing Monsanto's proposed method of inspection, said Guillermo Bernaudo, chief of Argentina's Ministry of Agri-industry. "It's basically impossible not to have a deal. It's a matter of days," he told Reuters. A Buenos Aires-based Monsanto spokeswoman said talks were ongoing but no deal was finalized. The conflict is playing out just over six months into Macri's term, after he won the presidency on promises of freeing Argentina's economy from years of heavy-handed trade and currency controls. Farmers have urged the government to make a deal with the company though they object to private exporters playing an enforcement role. Monsanto struck deals with individual exporting companies to police royalty collection in neighboring Brazil. (Additional reporting by Jorge Otaola; Writing by Caroline Stauffer; Editing by Cynthia Osterman) Southeast Asian countries have reversed course on a statement that expressed deep concern over events in the South China Sea, where Beijing is embroiled in territorial rows, Malaysia said Tuesday, adding that "urgent amendments" would be made. In a strongly-worded statement released to AFP by the Malaysian foreign ministry, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) had earlier warned that recent actions in the disputed waterway -- where Beijing has been building militarised artificial islands -- had "the potential to undermine peace". The statement came after what was characterised as "a candid exchange" - language that hinted at a diplomatic set-to -- between the bloc's foreign ministers and their Chinese counterpart in the Chinese city of Kunming. But just hours later, Malaysia said the ASEAN secretariat had issued a recall. "We have to retract the media statement by the ASEAN foreign ministers... as there are urgent amendments to be made," a Malaysian foreign ministry spokeswoman said. She said the Secretariat had approved the release of the statement, then later informed the ministry it was being rescinded. The Chinese foreign ministry expressed puzzlement over the diplomatic dance, and denied any official document had been issued. "We have checked with the ASEAN side, and the so-called statement reported by AFP is not an official ASEAN document," spokesman Lu Kang said. China claims nearly all of the South China Sea -- a vast tract of water through which a huge chunk of global shipping passes. It has bolstered its claim by building artificial islands including airstrips in the area, some of which are suitable for military use. The Philippines, Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam have competing claims to parts of the sea, which is believed to harbour significant oil and gas deposits. - Arbitration - The episode comes as the region braces for a ruling by a UN tribunal on a claim brought by the Philippines against China. Story continues China does not recognise the arbitration and has reacted angrily to Manila's legal efforts over the Beijing-controlled Scarborough Shoal, off the main Philippine island of Luzon. ASEAN has frequently struggled to reach consensus on issues involving China, which prefers to negotiate with individual countries, rather than the bloc. Critics say this allows it to use its economic leverage on poorer members to water down criticism of its actions. But the region appeared earlier Tuesday to be rallying around one of its chief democracies. "We expressed our serious concerns over recent and ongoing developments, which have eroded trust and confidence, increased tensions and which may have the potential to undermine peace, security and stability in the South China Sea," the original statement said, without mentioning China by name. "We emphasised the importance of non-militarisation and self-restraint in the conduct of all activities, including land reclamation, which may raise tensions in the South China Sea," it said. "We articulated ASEANs commitment to maintaining and promoting peace, security and stability in the region, as well as to the peaceful resolution of disputes," the statement said. This includes "full respect for legal and diplomatic processes, without resorting to the threat or use of force, in accordance with universally recognised principles of international law, including the UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) and the UN Charter". Manila's case is being heard at The Hague under the provisions of UNCLOS. China has been roundly criticised in the international community for its strong-arm tactics in the South China Sea. Washington has repeatedly cautioned Beijing to exercise restraint in the region, and has sent warships through the waters on designated "Freedom of Navigation" missions. It has also chided the Asian giant in recent weeks over what it says are "unsafe" intercepts of US spyplanes by Chinese fighter jets. Beijing, which claims almost all of the South China Sea on the basis of a "Nine Dash Line" found on Chinese maps dating to the 1940s, says it will not budge. China's stance on the sea is "in line with international law", its top diplomat Yang Jiechi said last month, insisting his country's position "will not change". A French police couple were stabbed to death Monday evening at their home outside Paris, and authorities have branded the murders an act of terrorism. Prosecutor Francois Molins said attacker Larossi Abballa pledged allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi during the three-hour standoff with authorities, reports the Associated Press. Molins said Abballa killed Jean-Baptiste Salvaing, 42, a police commander in the Paris suburb of Les Mureaux, outside his home late Monday. Afterwards, he went inside and held Salvaing's female partner, a police administrator in another Paris suburb, and their 3-year-old son hostage. The woman was killed, but the boy was left unharmed. The 3-year-old was rescued by anti-terrorist units and the terrorist killed. The killer posted Salvaing's murder on Facebook live, the Associated Press also reports. He later recorded inside the home, and an official told the news outlet that at one point in the video he showed confusion about what to do with the child. ISIS' Amaq news agency released a video later Tuesday that appears to show footage from inside the home, per AP. "I just killed a police officer and his wife," Abballa reportedly said in the video that was edited and does not show the victims or the boy. Multiple outlets identify Abballa as a 25-year-old ex-soldier sentenced in 2013 for involvement with a jihadist organization. Witnesses reportedly describe hearing him shout, "Allah Akbar" Arabic for "God is Great" during the attacks. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter. Following prolonged police negotiations, a series of explosions were heard live on television. "Negotiations were opened," Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henri Brandet explained to reporters on site afterwards, "but it became clear they wouldn't succeed and police raided the home. There, they found the woman's body." "The two members of the police were cowardly murdered by a terrorist," French President Franois Hollande said after holding an emergency meeting about the killings, the Wall Street Journal reports. Authorities have reportedly detained three of the killer's associates. They've also stated the existence of a list of other potential targets that included rappers and journalists. The individuals on that list have been notified. The Manganville murders which ISIS reportedly claimed through the same news agency it used to claim the Orlando killings was described an "abject act of terrorism" by French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve on Tuesday morning. The attack represents the first terrorist killings in France since the November 13 Paris attacks, which took 130 lives. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said the federal government would bring all resources to bear in the ongoing investigation into the terrorist attack at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, which left 49 dead and 53 wounded. But though her focus as the head of the Department of Justice will be on the investigation, Lynch encouraged the crowd at the United State of Women Summit not to lose sight of the victims. As President Obama has said, this was an act of terror and it was an act of hate, Lynch said Tuesday in her first public remarks on the attack. It targeted a gay club during a Latin night and the individuals who were injured and killed were members and friends of the LGBT community many of them Latino. Lynch, like many of those analyzing Sundays events, called it an attack on a safe space, something she said likely resonated with the 5,000 women gathered at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in downtown D.C. for the summit. She said: This gathering itself is a safe place for collaboration and growth among women, where we can speak with and learn from each other in a supportive atmosphere. For our friends and family in the LGBT community, places that offer safety, inclusion and acceptance have historically been few and far between even as they remain profoundly necessary particularly because a gay persons home isnt always a place where he or she feels safe from judgment or violence. And so bars and clubs have, at times, provided a haven from judgment, a respite from intolerance, a source of comfort and community. Indeed, they have provided sanctuary. TIMEs Daniel DAddario declared the gay bar as a safe space had been shattered as a result of Sundays attack, writing Sunday mornings attack didnt just cut short dozens of lives; it also tore a hole in the very fragile sense of security for gay people in America. What does one do when the place meant as a haven from the worlds attacks is, instead, a target? Attorney General Lynch on Tuesday encouraged those tuning in both in the audience and via livestream to stand with the LGBT community in the wake of the attack and noted the progress the community has experienced in spite of the devastation brought on by Sundays shooting. I want us to remember that the victims of this attack were living in an America that had newly recognized their fundamental right to marry; that had draped the White House in a rainbow flag; that had declared in one voice from our highest court that love is love,' Lynch said. We are still that country. Far from dividing us as terrorism aims to do, this attack has brought us together in support, in solidarity and in love. The Main Gold Target Is the Largely Untested Northwestern Section of the Porphyry Zone; the Southern Portion of Which Contains Lower Grade Mineral Resources Estimates* Of 55.1 Million Tonnes at 1 G/T (At A 0.5 G/T Cut-Off) In the Inferred Category Overall Potential of the Northwestern Section of the Porphyry Is Significant, Additional Drilling Could Potentially Add To the Current Mineral Resource Estimates* Priority Targeting Program Planned With Airborne Geophysical Survey, Core Re-Logging and Eventual Drilling MONTREAL, QC / ACCESSWIRE / June 14, 2016 / Aurvista Gold Corporation (TSXV: AVA) (OTC: ARVSF) (FSE: AV2) ("Aurvista" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that following the closing of a C$1.1 million financing (refer to the Company news releases dated May 3 and May 30, 2016), the Company plans a two-staged exploration program on the Douay Gold Project (the "Project") for the period June to September 2016 with the prime objective of determining the best of the 25 defined targets (as outlined in the Company news releases dated December 17, 2014, and April 8, 2015) with a view of significantly increasing the current Mineral Resource estimates*. The first stage work will complete the Priority Targeting Program in two areas where management is confident additional gold mineralization will be uncovered. The areas include the: (1) 10 km by 3 km wide (at its longest and widest points) SE-tilted parallelogram-shaped Douay-Style Mineralization ("DSM") containing all the known gold zones ("Douay West", "10", "20", "531", "Central", "Main", "NW", "Porphyry" and the "South Porphyry") and current Mineral Resource estimates*; and the (2) 6 km by 1 km wide cluster of EM INPUT(TM) anomalies or conductors running along the southeast boundary of the DSM that have affinities to Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide or VMS mineralization associated with gold. The second stage will consist of a 4,000 meters of drilling to delineate additional gold and/or copper-gold mineralization on the best targets. Story continues Priority Targeting Program Now with funding in place, the Company intends on completing the Priority Targeting Program. This will involve: Completing an airborne geophysical Magnetic, Electromagnetic and Radiometric survey of the central portion of the Douay Project to define key contacts, faults and porphyry linked to the gold and any potential base metal bearing massive sulphide lenses within the 6 km by 1 km Copper-Gold corridor to a depth of -150 metres; Re-logging selective previous and historical drill core for litho-geochemical and thin section work along key gold mineralized and non-mineralized sections across the Douay Project, all to define the chemical signatures and alteration mineralogy of the known gold and/or base metal mineralization, helping with the airborne geophysical survey in the vectoring towards additional mineralization; and Drilling of the best priority targets that could potentially lead to the expansion of, and better quality, mineral resources. The main gold target at this time is the Porphyry Target that extends some 8 km in length, of which 3 km to the NW of the Adam Porphyry Zone, bordered by the Douay West Zone and the NW Zone, is largely untested. The Porphyry Target, encompassing the Adams Porphyry contains lower grade Mineral Resources estimates* of 55.1 million tonnes at 1 g/t (at a 0.5 g/t cut-off) in the Inferred category; whereas the NW Zone contains one million tonnes grading 2.71 g/t (at a 0.5 g/t cut-off) in the Inferred category. The overall gold potential of the Porphyry Target is significant and Aurvista is committed to drilling this sector potentially adding to the current Mineral Resource estimates*. Drilling success could potentially increase the size and quality of the Mineral Resources and subsequently the new DWGP production profile, this could result in a higher Net Present Value and extended mine life. The Douay Gold Project Mineral Claims and Location Aurvista's only asset is the Douay Gold Project ("Douay" or the "Project"), consisting of a 100% owned interest in 250 contiguous claims totaling 13,310 hectares or 133.1 km, plus a 90% interest in 5 contiguous claims totaling 23 hectares or 0.2 km(2) and a 75% interest in 32 contiguous claims totaling 1,194 hectares or 11.9 km(2). In total there are 287 claims covering 14,527 hectares or 145.3 km(2) located along a 20 km segment of the Casa Berardi Deformation Zone ("CBDZ") in the prolific Abitibi Greenstone Belt of northern Quebec. The 32 joint venture claims are with SOQUEM and occupy the central northern portion of Douay. Such ownership is subject to Aurvista completing a further $175,000 of approved work with no time limitation on this work. Douay is located approximately 40 km SW of Matagami and 110 km N of Amos, Quebec. It is accessible by paved Provincial Highway #109, which is the major N-S regional road linking the towns of Amos (Val-d'Or) and Matagami (James Bay). Access to the Project is via the public road network that extends to the Douay West Zone. This network could be used to haul mineralized material off-site to nearby toll processing facilities. Utilities are available on site including electricity provided directly from Hydro-Quebec's power grid to the Company's on-site substation. The Host Abitibi Greenstone Belt - the Land of Large Gold Deposits Gold mines of the Abitibi Greenstone Belt have already produced close to 200 million ounces of gold (6,000 tonnes of gold) since the early 1900's. The more recently developed gold mines include Yamana's and Agnico-Eagle's Malartic Gold Mine estimated at 11.1 million ounces of reserves, is located 155 km S of the Project, and Detour Gold's Detour Lake Gold Mine with an estimated 15 million ounces of gold in reserves is located 120 km NW of the Project. Hecla Mining's Casa Berardi Mine (4 million ounces of combined production, reserves and resources) sits on the same CBDZ as Douay, 70 km to the NW. The Douay Gold Project Current Mineral Resources* In August, 2012, independent consultant Cliff Duke, P. Eng., of Riverbend Geological Services, completed a NI 43-101 technical report on Mineral Resources estimates for Douay. The updated Mineral Resources estimates* included all drilling completed to the end of March 2012, and comprised results from 657 holes in more than 185,000 metres drilled on Douay since its discovery (refer to the Company news release dated July 3, 2012, and the filing of the Company's technical report dated August 16, 2012, on www.sedar.com). Riverbend estimated that 8 gold zones on Douay contained Mineral Resources estimates* of 2.7 million tonnes of Indicated Resources at 2.76 g/t gold for 238,000 ounces (above a 0.3 g/t gold cut-off grade) or 3,458,000 tonnes grading 2.98 g/t gold (at a 0.5 g/t gold cut-off grade) for 235,500 ounces. There were additional Inferred Resources of 115 million tonnes at 0.75 g/t gold for 2.75 million ounces (above a 0.3 g/t gold cut-off grade) or 62 million tonnes grading 1.06 g/t gold for 2.1 million ounces (above a 0.5 g/t cut-off grade). The bulk of the lower grade gold mineralization is contained in the Main Porphyry area encompassing the Adam-Porphyry zone containing Mineral Resources estimates* of 55.1 million tonnes at 1 g/t (at a 0.5 g/t cut-off) in the Inferred category. Whereas at the 3 g/t gold cut-off, Douay contained an estimated 855,000 tonnes at 5.82 g/t gold of Indicated Resources for 160,000 ounces, and additional 1,317,000 tonnes at 10.55 g/t gold for 446,700 ounces, really demonstrating once and for all the presence of both higher grade and lower gold zones at Douay, unlike the other bulk gold deposits in the Abitibi Greenstone Belt, such as the Dome, Canadian-Malartic and Detour Lake mines, which dealt and have to deal exclusively with lower grade gold closer to 1 g/t gold since all the higher grade gold zones were historically mined out via underground mining. There has never been any underground mining at Douay and hence the Company jewelry box of higher grade gold lenses remains intact. The Higher Grade Douay West Gold Zone and the New Douay West Gold Project According to a 2014 NI 43-101 technical report on a Preliminary Economic Assessment (the "PEA") of the Douay West Zone (refer to the Company news release dated December 14, 2014, and the filing of the Company's technical report dated January 22, 2015, on www.sedar.com) by P&E Mining Consultants, both open pit and underground production options were used for a production profile of the Douay West Zone. Both options were considered viable. Some 419,000 tonnes of mineralized material would be mined from the open pit at an average grade of 3.16 g/t gold (using a cut-off of 1.17 g/t gold), mineralized material is contained within the mineral resources estimated to be hosted on the Project. The PEA economics showed a pre-tax Net Present Value ("NPV") of C$ 25 million at a discount rate of 5% and post-tax NPV (5%) of C$16.6 million using an approximate two-year average gold price of US$ 1,350 per ounce (as of the date of this news release the gold price is US$ 1,260 per ounce) at an exchange rate of $C 1 = US$ 0.95 or a Canadian equivalent of $C 1,421 (the current exchange rate is $C1 = US$ 0.7840, for an equivalent Canadian gold price of $C 1,607). The pre-tax internal rate of return ("IRR") for the project is 55%. The initial preproduction expenditures were estimated at C$ 12.2 million to achieve first production from the open pit. The project life was 3.7 years, after approximately one-year of open pit pre-stripping. The Life of Mine ("LOM") cash operating cost was estimated at C$ 800 per ounce of gold, and the LOM all-in sustaining cost is C$ 1,195 per ounce of gold. In 2014-2105, Aurvista recognized the possibility of combining two higher grade gold zones, the Douay West and Adam-Porphyry zones (the "new DWGP"), situated along the same geologic corridor over 1.5 km length (refer to the Company news release dated June 17, 2015). The net effect of combining both zones into the new DWGP could potentially have a positive impact on the economics of a potential mining project due to the higher grades of the Adam-Porphyry Zone. The combined new DWGP has current Mineral Resource estimates* of 828,000 tonnes @ 5.78 g/t gold for 153,890 ounces in the Indicated category, with an additional 564,000 tonnes @ 16.69 g/t gold for 302,620 ounces in the Inferred category, all at a 3 g/t cut-off (refer to the Company news release dated August 16, 2012). The mineralization is open at depth beyond -300 meters vertical at Douay West and -400 meters vertical at the Adam-Porphyry. Combining both zones offers an immediate upside by demonstrating a larger higher grade mineral resource base for any future underground selective and/or bulk open pit mining scenarios. The technical contents in this news release have approved by Mr. Jean Lafleur, M. Sc., P. Geo., President and CEO for Aurvista Gold Corporation, a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101. * Mineral Resource estimates reported in this news release were previously estimated in accordance with the definitions contained in the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) Standards on Mineral Resources and Reserves Definitions and Guidelines that were prepared by the CIM Standing Committee on Reserve Definitions and adopted by the CIM Council on November 27, 2010. Of note, tonnes and ounces have been rounded as per NI 43-101 standards. About Aurvista Gold Corp. Aurvista Gold Corporation is a junior gold exploration and development company with 85,689,121 shares shares outstanding trading on the TSX Venture Exchange in Canada, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and OTC Pink Sheets in the U.S. Aurvista's only asset is the Douay Gold Project totaling 287 claims for 145.3 km2. The project is located along the gold-bearing Casa Berardi Deformation Zone in northern Quebec. Details can be viewed on the Company's website at www.aurvistagold.com. For further information please contact : Mr. Jean Lafleur, P. Geo. President and CEO, Director Cell +1 514 927 3633 Mr. Bryan Keeler Chief Financial Officer +1 416 504 4126 NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS PRESS RELEASE. Forward-Looking Statements This news release may contain forward-looking statements based on assumptions, uncertainties and management's best estimate of future events. Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company's expectations and projections. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. When used herein, words such as "anticipate", "will", "intend" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. For a more detailed discussion of such risks and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, refer to Aurvista Gold Corporation's filings with Canadian securities regulators available on www.sedar.com or the Company's website at www.aurvistagold.com. SOURCE: Aurvista Gold Corporation Climate change appears to have driven to extinction an Australian Great Barrier Reef rodent, according to a new study, which suggests the species may be the first mammal lost to the global phenomenon. Extensive searches for the Bramble Cay melomys, a small rat-like animal, have failed to find a single specimen from its only known habitat on a sandy island in far northern Australia. Researchers said the key factor behind the extinction was "almost certainly" ocean inundation of the low-lying cay, likely on several occasions, over the last decade which resulted in dramatic habitat loss. Available data on sea-level rise and weather events in the Torres Strait region "point to human-induced climate change being the root cause of the loss of the Bramble Cay melomys", added the Queensland state government and University of Queensland study. The Melomys rubicola, considered the Great Barrier Reef's only endemic (found nowhere else) mammal species, was first discovered on the cay in 1845 by Europeans who shot the "large rats" for sport. But the last known sighting, by a professional fisherman, was in 2009. When a 2014 study found no sign of the species, researchers decided to conduct the most extensive survey possible in the hope of conserving the species. That survey -- using traps, cameras and searches -- "produced no records of the species, confirming that the only known population of this rodent is now extinct", said the report. The 2015 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species implicated climate change in the extinction of another mammal, the Little Swan Island hutia (Geocapromys thoracatus), a rodent previously found on a coral atoll in Honduras. But it found the main driver of its demise was an introduced cat, the report said. "Consequently, the conclusion here that the extirpation of the Bramble Cay melomys from Bramble Cay occurred because of rising sea levels and an increased incidence of extreme weather events over preceding years is significant in that it probably represents the first documented mammalian extinction due solely (or primarily) to anthropogenic climate change," it said. Story continues The study added that the main hope for the species was that another population existed in neighbouring Papua New Guinea. "Consequently, at this stage, it may be premature to declare the Bramble Cay melomys extinct on a global scale," it added. Environment group WWF-Australia said the fate of the species was a sad reminder of the nation's extinction crisis. "Australia officially has the worst rate of mammal extinction in the world," said spokesperson Darren Grover. Unless governments commit significant funding towards protecting Australia's threatened species, "we can expect to see more native critters go extinct on our watch", he added. First of an initial 18 planned 365 concept stores to open Opening event with Daybreaker in LA highlighted Bucha Live Kombucha TORRANCE, CA / ACCESSWIRE / June 14, 2016 / Bucha, Inc. (formerly American Brewing) (ABRW), the California-based owner of the Bucha Live Kombucha brand, today announced that it has been selected by Whole Foods Markets to be sold in their new 365 Concept stores. The first 365 by Whole Foods store had its grand opening on May 25th commemorated by a Yoga Daybreaker celebration held last week that prominently featured Bucha Live Kombucha. The Yoga Daybreaker celebration took place on June 7th at the Los Angeles, California opening of the first 365 by Whole Foods Market stores. Daybreaker brings together a global community of millennials who actively seek new experiences. Daybreaker produces monthly events around the globe that merge the worlds of nightlife and festivals with a lifestyle committed to health and wellness. The group selectively partners with brands and companies aligned with their values to spread the word and enhance each experience while consciously building communities, and has almost 200,000 community members in 14 major metropolitan cities all over the world. The Bucha Live Kombucha brand has recently been expanding distribution nationally with natural and health food outlets and has also recently become available at select major mainstream retailers. The selection from 365 by Whole Foods Market to distribute in all their new concept stores, of which 18 are currently envisioned, is a testament to the Bucha Live Kombucha brand's retail throughput and mainstream appeal with consumers. Bucha was recently ranked as the preferred flavor by 43% of major competitors in the Kombucha category. Bucha Inc. recently signed a definitive agreement to purchase the $50 million New Age Beverages Group, including their XingTea brand in the RTD Tea category, the new XingEnergy in Energy Drinks, and Aspen Pure in Functional Waters. The transaction is expected to close on or about June 30th, and brings more than $7.5MM in cost and revenue synergies. Brent Willis, Chief Executive of Bucha Inc. commented, "Whole Foods has been and continues to be a great retailer partner. We are fortunate to be able to work with them. Bucha Live Kombucha being selected to be sold in their new 365 stores is an honor and we expect to drive outstanding sales for them. We were happy to participate in the LA store-opening event. It was unique and great statement and connection between Daybreaker, Whole Foods, and Bucha for health conscious active consumers." Story continues About Bucha, Inc. (ABRW) Based in Torrance, California, Bucha, Inc. was created in May 2016. It was originally founded as two separate companies in 2010, American Brewing and B&R Liquid Adventure. In 2014 American Brewing became a public company trading under the symbol ABRW, and in 2015, the Company acquired 100% of the assets of Bucha Live Kombucha from B&R. American Brewing then sold their brewing assets to focus on the new business. The Company is the owner of the Bucha Live Kombucha brand, one of the fastest growing and leading brands in the rapidly growing Kombucha (fermented tea) category. The Company's website is www.mybucha.com. Safe Harbor Disclosure This press release contains forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements are any statement reflecting management's current expectations regarding future results of operations, economic performance, financial condition and achievements of the Company including statements regarding American Brewing's expectation to see continued growth. The forward-looking statements are based on the assumption that operating performance and results will continue in line with historical results. Management believes these assumptions to be reasonable but there is no assurance that they will prove to be accurate. Forward-looking statements, specifically those concerning future performance are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially. American Brewing competes in a rapidly growing and transforming industry, and other factors disclosed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission might affect the Company's operations. Unless required by applicable law, ABRW undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements. For investor inquiries please contact: Name: Julie Anderson Phone: (408) 605-9449 Email: Julie@mybucha.com Website: www.mybucha.com SOURCE: Bucha, Inc. For centuries many have pondered what lies behind the Mona Lisa's enigmatic smile, but it was more of a rhetorical question. Now art lovers can literally discover what the back of Da Vinci's masterpiece looks like. In a unique and quirky Dutch exhibition, Brazilian artist Vik Muniz displays about 15 painstakingly recreated exact reproductions of the backs of some of the world's most famous paintings. There's Vincent Van Gogh's "Starry Night" leaning facing the wall across the room from Vermeer's "The Girl with a Pearl Earring". A massive, almost bare, wooden frame is the stark reverse side of Rembrandt's haunting "The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp". The paintings looking shockingly exposed, their backs bared, and visitors to the exhibition at the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague could be forgiven for thinking they have accidentally wandered into a storage room. But a closer look reveals a fascinating trip into the history of each painting, who owned it and where it travelled, as well as changing tastes in art conservation. On his first museum visit as a schoolboy, Muniz was instantly intrigued not by the artworks, but by the mechanics and artistry of their backs. The Museum of Art of Sao Paulo had displayed the paintings on glass easels and exiting the building the backs were boldly on display for all to see. As "an eight-year-old I wasn't very interested in paintings. I was very fascinated that all the paintings from the back, they looked like machines, contraptions. They looked like things that did things," Muniz told AFP. "And in fact they do. They serve a purpose. They are instruments for preserving history." - Seeing a painting 'naked' - His curiosity was later revived in a startling moment when as an adult on a visit to the Guggenheim in New York, he was given a look at the back of Picasso's "Ironing Woman". "It was like looking at a naked person," he recalled. An interest was reborn, and when photographing the backs of paintings failed to satisfy his creative spirit, he conceived the idea of actually copying the backs of some of the world's best-loved masterpieces. Story continues It was not always simple. It took six years of negotiations with the Louvre in Paris to be able to study the back of "The Mona Lisa." The "Vik Muniz: Verso" exhibition, which opened on Thursday in The Hague until September 4, is now the first full show of these works. It is extraordinarily intimate, drawing the visitor back through the centuries, forcing them to peer closely at what are more usually neglected parts of an artwork. "Joconde" is scrawled in a faded black flourish on the back of "The Mona Lisa", close to arrows pointing up to show which is the top. A small red triangle painted on the backs of the Dutch masters is a sign that in war time they are part of a priceless cultural heritage which must be saved first. A bevvy of stickers from the world's top museums, The Tate Gallery, the Centre Georges Pompidou and the Guggenheim, traces the exhibitions which "The Smokers" by Fernand Leger painted in 1911-1912 has been part of. - Mapping history - "The front of the painting tells of the intention of preserving a moment forever," Muniz said. "The image is supposed to last exactly the way it is for millennia to come." "The back of the painting tells the story of changing. It's where the painting has been." The Mauritshuis gave Muniz -- renowned for his eclectic art works often in unusual medium such as chocolate, rubbish or sugar -- unparallelled access to its most iconic works from the Dutch Golden Age and he and his team have created five new reproductions. Joining "Pearl Earring" and "The Anatomy Lesson", are Vermeer's "View of Delft" and "The Goldfinch" by Carel Fabritius, as well as Frans Post's "View of Itamarca Island in Brazil". For future projects, Muniz is already eyeing Gustav Klimt's "The Kiss" hanging in Vienna, and Edvard Munch's "The Scream" -- which in an added challenge has another painting on its back. For Mauritshuis paintings conservator Abbie Vandivere it was an exciting moment when "Pearl Earring" came off the wall -- something which doesn't happen often. "But you can't tell from the back that there's this very famous painting on the front," she laughed. jkb/mbr/ns VINCI Dubai (AFP) - Bahrain suspended all activities by the main Shiite opposition group Tuesday as part of a crackdown in the Sunni-ruled kingdom that has raised concerns among rights defenders and in Washington. A court suspended the Al-Wefaq group pending a verdict on dissolving it altogether, the justice ministry said, accusing the bloc of breaking the law. The decision came a day after security forces rearrested leading human rights activist Nabeel Rajab, drawing a complaint from the United States. The court also ordered Al-Wefaq offices closed and its funds frozen, said a justice ministry statement published by the official Bahrain News Agency (BNA). Al-Wefaq draws most of its support from the Shiite majority in the small kingdom across the Gulf from Shiite Iran. The bloc's chief, Shiite cleric Ali Salman, is currently serving a nine-year jail term for inciting violence after a court last month more than doubled his original sentence. Salman's arrest in December 2014 sparked protests in a country already rocked by a Shiite-led uprising that erupted in February 2011. Tuesday's ruling followed a justice ministry request for Al-Wefaq to be dissolved for alleged illegal activity. The bloc was accused of offering a haven for "terrorism, radicalisation, and violence" and opening the way for "foreign interference" in the kingdom's affairs, the ministry said. This was a reference to Iran, which Bahrain accuses of fomenting unrest on its soil by backing the Shiite opposition. Al-Wefaq will be unable to operate until a verdict is issued on dissolving it, BNA reported. A judicial source told AFP that a court will convene on October 6 to investigate the case. The justice ministry said its move against Al-Wefaq was part of a drive to "combat extremism... and protect society". In October 2014, the administrative court banned Al-Wefaq for three months for violating the law on associations. Political parties are banned in Bahrain, as in other Gulf Arab monarchies, so Al-Wefaq has the status of an association. Story continues - 'Alarming new crackdown' - The United States called on Bahrain to reconsider the decision to dissolve Al-Wefaq, which it called "alarming". "We are concerned this action against Al-Wefaq, as well as other recent decisions, including the detention yesterday of prominent human rights activist Nabeel Rajab and resentencing of Al-Wefaq chairman Sheikh Ali Salman, will restrict freedom of expression," the State Department said. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also expressed concern about the move. Ban stressed "the right to the peaceful exercise of their freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly and association in Bahrain and everywhere", according to his spokesman. The Washington-based group Human Rights First in a statement on Tuesday called Al-Wefaq's suspension "part of an alarming new crackdown by the government, designed to eliminate all remaining opposition in the country". "The Bahraini government seems determined to kill all avenues of peaceful dissent. This is a dangerous course, and is likely to fuel extremism and deepen political instability," said the group's Brian Dooley. "Bahrain has targeted leading human rights figures and opposition leaders in recent weeks; today's move is a major statement of intent by the regime that any prospect of reform is over." After activist Rajab was taken back into custody, his lawyer said on Twitter Tuesday his case has been referred to the public prosecution service. Rajab is being held for one week pending investigation on charges of "spreading false information", Mohammed al-Jishi said. The 51-year-old was detained in 2014 for tweets deemed insulting to the authorities before his release on health grounds. Rajab heads the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights and has led anti-government marches. He previously served two years in jail for taking part in unauthorised protests. His rearrest comes a week after another leading opposition activist, Zeinab al-Khawaja, fled the country following her release from jail on "humanitarian grounds". Bahrain, home to the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, has been shaken by unrest since security forces crushed the 2011 protests demanding a constitutional monarchy and an elected prime minister.bur-dv/srm Beijing-based Internet search company, Baidu, Inc. BIDU lowered its revenue guidance for the second quarter of 2016. Following the news, the companys shares fell more than 5% in after-hours trading to $163.55. The Internet giant now expects second-quarter sales in the range of RMB18.100 billion ($2.807 billion) to RMB18.200 billion ($2.823 billion), down from its earlier view of RMB20.110 billion ($3.119 billion) to RMB20.580 billion ($3.192 billion). Reasons Cited for Revenue Decline Management said that the guidance cut was on account of two reasons. First, increased scrutiny into healthcare and related ads by regulatory authorities has led to a reduction or delay in spend from a large number of Baidus medical customers. This will likely impact its sales in the near term. Baidu said, "Regulatory authorities continue to review the online marketing practices of medical, pharmaceutical, healthcare and other similar businesses, and have also implemented stricter advertising regulations for medical organizations." However, the company expects these new regulations to bring in more transparency and build trust among Baidu users, thus increasing profits in the long run. Second, Baidu has reduced the number of sponsored links across the platform, which will definitely hurt its advertising revenue and thereby impact total revenue over the short term. However, better standards related to customer requirements and sponsored links will enhance user experience and benefit Baidu going forward. BAIDU INC Price BAIDU INC Price | BAIDU INC Quote Earnings Numbers In the first quarter, Baidus earnings of 91 cents per share exceeded the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 78 cents, supported by higher revenues. Revenues of $2.42 billion increased 17.8% year over year and beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.05 billion. Mobile revenues accounted for 60% of Baidus revenues against 50% in the year-ago quarter. The company is slated to report second-quarter 2016 earnings on Jun 13. Bottom Line Baidu provides Internet search services in China. It also offers a Chinese language search platform for businesses to reach their customers. Baidus increasing presence in the healthcare space, online video and mobile search markets will improve its competitive position. Though China's aging population, the increase of age-related illness and a growing Internet user base will drive the companys health-related search revenue, new regulations on online marketing by health-care companies will definitely impact Baidus sales in the near term. At present, Baidu has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). Some well-placed stocks in the technology space are Facebook FB, DST Systems Inc. YRD and Manhattan Associates, Inc. MANH, each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days.Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report BAIDU INC (BIDU): Free Stock Analysis Report MANHATTAN ASOC (MANH): Free Stock Analysis Report FACEBOOK INC-A (FB): Free Stock Analysis Report YIRENDAI LTD (YRD): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Thousands of people gathered outside the historic Stonewall Inn in New York City on Monday, June 13, to remember the victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was on hand for the gathering, saying there needed to be more gun control and urged the LGBT community to throw the biggest pride parade in history this year. The New York City Pride parade is scheduled for June 26. A gunman walked into Pulse, an Orlando gay nightclub, early Sunday morning, shooting and killing 49 people. Another 53 people were injured. Police killed the gunman in a shootout before dawn. An impromptu vigil was held outside Stonewall on Sunday night. A riot after a police raid at Stonewall in 1969 is considered the start of the gay rights movement. Credit: Instagram/randypolumbo Bangladeshi clerics said Monday they have issued a fatwa against the killings of minorities and secular campaigners in the mainly Muslim country, where police have arrested over 10,000 people in a crackdown on militancy. Nearly 50 people have been killed over the last three years in a wave of gruesome attacks by Islamist militants targeting Hindus, Christians, Sufi Muslims, activists and foreigners. Many were hacked to death with machetes. Farid Uddin Masuod, who heads the Council of Bangladesh Clerics, said over 100,000 clerics had signed the fatwa, or religious edict, which will be made public on June 18. "The fatwa unequivocally said these killings of non-Muslims, minorities and secular activists are forbidden in Islam," he told AFP. "We've said these killings are illegal and are crimes against humanity," Masuod added. Last week an elderly Hindu priest was found nearly decapitated in a rice field and a Hindu monastery worker was hacked to death, while a Christian grocer was murdered near a church. Other victims have included liberal activists and secular bloggers along with two foreigners and two gay rights activists. The Islamic State (IS) group and a South Asian branch of Al-Qaeda have claimed responsibilities for many of the murders. But the police and the government say they have no presence in the country. The fatwa announcement came as police said they had detained 3,115 people on the fourth day of a nationwide anti-militant drive aimed at stopping the killings, taking the total number to 11,307. Bangladeshi authorities had faced criticism for failing to tackle the violence, but Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina vowed at the weekend to catch "each and every killer". She has accused the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its Islamist party ally, Jamaat-e-Islami, of orchestrating the killings to destabilise the country. - 'Acts of terrorism' - However, the BNP says 2,100 of its activists have been arrested and accuses the government of using the crackdown to suppress political dissent. Story continues Most of those arrested are wanted for criminal offences unconnected with militancy. Deputy inspector general of Bangladesh police A.K.M Shahidur Rahman told AFP just 145 of those arrested were members of Islamist militant groups. Police said they had detained two local leaders of the Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) on the outskirts of the capital with a meat cleaver and some Jihadi books in their possession. Police have blamed the ABT and another homegrown militant group, Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), for most of the murders. Many of the ABT's leaders are highly educated and the group has a reputation for sophistication. The crackdown comes after five suspected Islamist militants were shot dead in gunbattles with police in recent days. It is thought to have been triggered by the murder this month of Mahmuda Begum, wife of a top anti-terror police officer. The officer had led several high-profile operations against the JMB, scores of whose members were among those arrested in the latest sweep. Masuod said the police crackdown was important, but the clerics' fatwa would discredit any Islamist groups that tried to defend the killings. "The fatwa clearly says these killings are not a just part of Jihad, but mere acts of terrorism," he said. * Bank lobby warns rules could lead to fresh capital needs * G20 ministers had said there should be no overall rise * Further capital increases would damage economy EBF warns (Adds European Commission, Basel Committee comments) By Maya Nikolaeva PARIS, June 14 (Reuters) - New international rules could require European banks to raise hundreds of billions of euros in fresh capital, contrary to assurances from G20 finance ministers earlier this year, the European Banking Federation has warned. The ministers had said there should be no overall significant increase in capital on top of the Basel III requirements introduced after the financial crisis, the EBF said. Governments had to spend billions of dollars of taxpayer money to rescue banks that ran into trouble and could have threatened the global financial system if allowed to go under during the 2007-2009 financial meltdown. Since then, regulators from the Group of 20 economies have been trying to find ways to prevent this happening again. However EBF president Frederic Oudea, who is also Societe Generale's CEO, warned in a letter to Slovakia's Finance Minister Peter Kazimir, who will chair EU finance ministers' meetings from July, of the danger of going too far. "European banks...are deeply troubled that an overly conservative calibration of the final rules will inevitably result in further increases in capital requirements," he wrote in the letter seen by Reuters and first reported by Les Echos. "Although exact figures at present are not available in the absence of final rules, there is nevertheless a sense across the sector that the fresh capital required would amount into the hundreds of billion euros". Financial Services Commissioner Jonathan Hill said in reference to decisions made or to be made by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision that "some approaches taken in international fora are shaped for the interests in different jurisdictions". "We have to think about the specificities of the European economy and the European banking sector," he said at a European Parliament hearing on Tuesday. Story continues Banks are concerned about rules the Basel Committee, which establishes global standards for banks, sets for their models for assessing risks, which are likely to be standardized rather than based on internal models as before. Further increases in capital requirements could only harm banks' capacity to finance the economy, the letter said, urging EU finance ministers to "consider the ramifications" of the new rules for Europe at a meeting in July. Banks would have to adjust to the new rules by either raising capital or further deleveraging, further stressing many banks already struggling with a return on equity already below their cost of funding. The Basel Committee declined to comment. However Stefan Ingves, chairman of the group, told the Reuters Regulation Summit in May there would be no substantial capital increase in the banking system as a whole once the rules have been completed by year-end. (Additional reporting by Francesco Guarascio in Brussels; Editing by Leigh Thomas and Alexander Smith) A Baptist pastor in California has caused a heated controversy after he applauded the attack on an Orlando gay nightspot on Sunday. Pastor Roger Jimenez of the Verity Baptist Church is seen a YouTube video of his recent sermon calling the clubgoers who were killed at the Pulse nightclub "pedophiles." "Are you sad that 50 pedophiles were killed today?" he asked his Sacramento congregation in the sermon. "Um no I think that's great! I think that helps society. I think Orlando, Florida, is a little safer tonight." Read: Stories Emerge of Heroes Who Died Shielding Loved Ones in Orlando Massacre Jimenez was delivering his sermon just hours after authorities say Omar Mateen walked into the popular gay destination and opened fire, killing 49 people. Police shot him dead hours later. After celebrating Mateen's heinous deed, Jimenez repeated his shocking statement. "We don't need to do anything to help. As far as I'm concerned, Orlando is a little bit safer tonight," he said. Jimenez also suggested that, if our society followed God's will, we should shoot all of America's homosexuals. "If we lived in a righteous government, they should round them all up and put them up against a firing wall, and blow their brains out," Jimenez said. Outrage from the city's LBGT and larger communties was swift. Read: Hospitalized Victim Describes Orlando Attack: 'I Could Hear The Shots Getting Closer' Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson tweeted, "The hateful comments made by a preacher in Sacramento do not reflect Christian values and have no place in our society.#standwithorlando" The Sacramento LGBT Community Center wrote on Facebook: "The local face of hate: Sacramento Baptist preacher's sermon praises Orlando attack, calls for government execution of all LGBT. Bigotry wrapped in prayer is still bigotry. A number for Verity Church listed on its website was disconnected on Tuesday afternoon. An email message sent to the church was not immediately returned. Story continues Watch: Lady Gaga and Anderson Cooper Break Down Reading Names of Orlando Victims Related Articles: ProFootball Talk on NBC Sports Sam Ehlinger officially becomes the starting quarterback of the Colts. If he fails or gets injured, Nick Foles will take over. And if Foles gets injured, the quarterback will be anyone but Matt Ryan. Ryan is done. Hes out. He wont play again, for reasons rooted in his contract. Put simply, once the team decided [more] The cultural spotlight is about to shine on Liverpool, with Europes biggest free music event, LIMF (21-24 July), and the Biennal festival of contemporary art (9 July 16 October) just around the corner. In a city where it feels like any pub you happen to stumble upon has a gig happening that night, and 2 pints actually exist, youre somewhat spoilt for choice when it comes to going out. But heres how to avoid ending up in a student bar hell-hole where the floors are slick with WKD (at least you hope thats what it is) or trapped in The Cavern Club, where ageing rockers perform "Love Me Do" for the 50th time. From secret speakeasies to 19th-century smugglers inns, heres our guide to the best bars in Liverpool Camp and Furnace Covering a whole block of the Baltic Triangle, Camp and Furnace was once an industrial blade-making factory (insert jokes about looking sharp here). The cavernous space has now been decked out with fairy lights, VW camper vans and picnic tables, and every Saturday they host a Food Slam of local street food stalls. Make sure you sample their own brand of bottled beer Brown Bear - made from malted wheat and Wirral honey. 67 Greenland Street, Liverpool. +44 151 708 2890 Photo: @charnixonn Constellations Housed in a former recycling yard, this Baltic Triangle venue takes beer garden to the next level. As well as ping pong tables, regular BBQs and vast greenery, all year round they host events and workshops as diverse as morning raves, martial arts and a Mardi Gras. Like being at a festival without all the camping and crap toilets and stuff. 37-39 Greenland Street, Liverpool. +44 151 345 6302 Photo: Constellations The Baltic Fleet The Baltic Triangle may now be Liverpools answer to Hackney Wick with hipster coffee shops, warehouse clubs and co-working spaces but it was once the centre of the citys shipping trade. Traditional boozer The Baltic Fleet dates back to the 1850s, and you can just imagine sailors rolling off the docks to prop up the mahogany bar, tell tales by the open fire and then hit up the microbrewery housed in the old smugglers tunnels in the cellar. Well, the first two at least. 33, Wapping, Liverpool. +44 151 709 3116 Photo: @francescamuller Ex-Directory Inspired by famous New York bar Please Dont Tell, this secret bar somewhere in the city centre can only be accessed through a red phone-box. Booking in advance is essential, and once ensconced in the booths inside youre treated to experimental cocktails that even Heston might be baffled by. Two Little Ducks contains gin, violet and lavender bath bubbles, all served in a tiny bath tub (complete with miniature rubber ducks). Somewhere in Liverpool. 0151 233 2008 Photo: @ex_directory Motel The walls are pasted with graphic novels, neon signs hang above the bar, a TV screen is showing True Romance and the jukebox is full of punk, rock and hip hop. Motel might look like an American dive bar but they make surprisingly serious cocktails. And they serve fried chicken to soak up all that booze. 5-7 Fleet Street, Liverpool. No phone Photo: Motel Bar / Facebook The Philharmonic Dining Rooms No list of Liverpools best boozers would be complete without this 19th-century gem. Taking its name from the concert hall opposite, and known locally as The Phil, it features the only Grade I-listed toilets in the country. Only the gents mind, the ladies are bog standard (literally), so just sneak in if youre feeling brave. 36 Hope Street, Liverpool. 0151 707 2837 Photo: @ellieharris04 Some Place Banned for a century for inspiring madness, murder and permanent blindness, absinthe gets a bad rep. But follow the green light on this Seel Street staircase and youll reach the speakeasy-style absinthe bar Some Place, where even Green Fairy virgins will find that absinthe makes the heart grow fonder. Have a few Absinthe Sours and that joke might actually be funny. 43, Seel Street, Liverpool. No phone. Photo: @someplace_absinthe Jennys Entering a bar through a fish restaurant doesnt seem like an auspicious start to the night. But Jennys is a dirty disco den serving Pina Coladas and other retro cocktails that involve a paper umbrella or four. The music is loud, the decor is pure Abigails Party, and they even have a bottle keep on the wall so you can buy your own spirits and ask the bartender to mix them up for you. You dont get that at J.Sheekeys. The Old Ropery, Fenwick Street, Liverpool. 0151 236 0332 Photo: @jennys_bar Peter Kavanaghs Something of a Liverpool institution, the mosaic floors, stained-glass windows and mural-painted walls of this pub in the Georgian Quarter have remained unchanged since 1929. Peter Kavanagh was the landlord who gave the place its eclectic refit and he was also an inventor, city councillor and painter, as well as something of a hoarder random bric-a-brac covers every inch of wall space, including urns containing the ashes of regulars. Eccentric in all the best ways. Egerton Street Liverpool. 0151 709 3443 Photo: @dominicdutton Berry & Rye Order a Sazerac in this underground blues cave, lit by candles and vintage railway lamps, and you could be in New Orleans not Liverpool. Staff who know their stuff, attentive table service and a staggering whiskey collection mean one could easily lose a couple of days of their life down here. In a good way. 48, Berry Street, Liverpool. No phone. Photo: @liamomalley13 Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here? 7 Easy And Creative Gin & Tonic Recipes This 4.37 Wine Just Got Voted Best In The World We're Completely Obsessed With This Summer Cooking Hack When Guy Savoy moved from his original Right Bank location in Paris into magnificent quarters overlooking the Seine, he also created a pulse-racing selection of new dishes to complement his Michelin three-star classics. His playful spirit is on display from the provocative miniature hors doeuvres through the delightful desserts. None of the many temples to haute cuisine in Paris can compete. Savoy, one of the worlds best-loved chefs, is now also one of its most glamorous. A feast for the eyes Guy Savoy, an enthusiast of art, has filled his new restaurant with superb artwork and decorative objects. The selection includes a striking 1950s Stilnovo chandelier by Gino Sarfatti and a ceiling painting by Fabrice Hyber that was inspired by the gossip of the diners below. Art comes to the table, too: The custom Bernardaud dinnerware was designed by Bruno Moretti, while smiling faces decorate plates by Virginia Mo. Guy Savoy is in the Monnaie de Paris (the Paris Mint), a grand neoclassical building just outside Saint-Germain-des-Pres. The intimate restaurant seats only 60; Savoy directs a brigade of 30 chefs in the kitchen. Signature dishes include Sea Bass from Head to Toe (a filet, rice cooked with sea-bass fumet and goose barnacles, and the grilled head) and a rhubarb dessert (a pink pod made with ribbons of rhubarb holding a sphere of rhubarb sorbet). At one table each day, the restaurant offers lunch for $125 a person, if it is booked for precisely at noon on the website. Restaurant Guy Savoy, guysavoy.com (12- and 18-course menus, $475 and $555; an a la carte menu is also available) More From Robbreport.com Rare Racecars Return to Le Mans for Artcurial Auction Billy Joels Oceanfront Florida Estate Can Be Yours for $27 Million Explore the Mediterranean This Summer on a 282-Foot Sailing Superyacht Jaeger-LeCoultre Dazzles with a New Diamond-Accented Womens Reverso Paula Deens $12.5 Million Compound Is the Most-Expensive Listing in Savannah The Innovative Black Swan Yacht Concept Is a Dramatic Black Beauty Investors have looked to emerging market exchange traded funds to access potential growth opportunities in a low return environment and diversify an investment portfolio. On the recent webcast, Define Your Emerging Market Smart Beta Strategy, Mike LaBella, Portfolio Manager at QS Investors, pointed out that the developing economies are projected to expand 4.1% this year and 4.6% in 2017, whereas developed economies are expected to grow 1.9% in 2016 and 2.0% in 2017. In a survey of advisors on the webcast, the majority of respondents see the emerging markets accounting for a much larger percentage of global gross domestic product. Moreover, most advisors point to China as the dominant force in major indices and believe the Asian market could make up a larger slice of emerging portfolios as major indices include China A-shares. Related: Emerging Market ETFs Are Turning Around However, LaBella warned that the growth story is not shared equally. For example, Peru has been the best performing emerging market year-to-date, surging 44.2%, while Brazil jumped 42.0%. Meanwhile, China dipped 4.9% and Greece fell 14.1% this year. Average spread between best and worst countries in emerging markets is 97%, LaBella said. Therefore it is important to invest across the broad opportunity set. Consequently, traditional capitalization-weighted indices may overexpose investors to emerging market risks. For instance, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index includes a 24% tilt toward China, and over half of its country weights are concentrated in China, Korea and Taiwan. Additionally, financials, technology, energy and materials sectors account for 62% of the index. To diminish these contraction risks, LaBella advises investors to consider alternative indexing methodologies. An alternative, smarter allocation seeks to fully take advantage of opportunities within emerging markets and manage risks, LaBella said. For instance, the Legg Mason Emerging Markets Diversified Core ETF (EDBI) through a partnership with QS Investors breaks down the universe of securities into investment categories based on sectors and countries. The five-year return patterns of the countries and sectors are taken to uncover relationships areas that behave alike or differently. The underlying index then combines investment categories with more highly correlated historical performance into smaller number of so-called clusters, which are categorized based on tendency to behave similarly, or show various correlations. Each of these clusters are then equally weighted individually and also equally weighted across the portfolio to produce a diversified investment strategy. Story continues Trending on ETF Trends Attractive Fundamentals Could Further Support Precious Metals ETFs Is Your ETF Portfolio Ready for the Fed? Tactical ETF Strategy in a Fund Package Mutual Funds Adopt ETFs to Create Tactical Investment Strategies A Fallen Angel Bond ETF for Fixed-Income Portfolios The result is an emerging market ETF with a more balanced allocation across macro drivers. Specifically, among its top country weights, EDBI only includes a 13.4% tilt toward China, followed by Malaysia 9.3%, India 8.9%, Turkey 7.8% and South Africa 7.1%. Additionally, while financials are still a major component, the financials sector only makes up 15.9% of EDBIs portfolio. Related: Did Emerging Markets Just Deliver Another Head Fake? The indexing methodology has proven effective this year, with EDBI up 5.5% year-to-date while the MSCI Emerging Markets Index gained 2.7%. Potential investors should be aware that the fund is still relatively new and has accumulated $6.6 million in assets under management. Nevertheless, Brandon Clark, Director & Product Manager at Legg Mason Global Asset Management, reminded financial advisors that executing large trade orders in EDBI can still be done effectively. ETF liquidity is different than stock liquidity, so the traditional rules do not apply, Clark said. The underlying basket is always the base of an ETFs liquidity. The average daily volume in lower volume ETFs is less informative of real liquidity. Clark explained that financial advisors can work large orders through a block desk. Traders would work directly with market makers who have various ways to source liquidity. Additionally, investors should consider using limit orders and marketable limit orders to better control trades. Financial advisors who are interested in learning more about the emerging markets can watch the webcast here on demand. Bill Cosbys attorneys want a judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by model Chloe Goins, arguing that she is being evasive about how old she was on the night she says Cosby assaulted her in order to extend the statute of limitations in the case. The model, who in the past has accused Cosby of being a serial rapist, claims that Cosby gave her a drink at the Playboy mansion that made her immediately feel dizzy. When she awoke after losing consciousness, she claims, she was naked with saliva on her chest, and Cosby was biting her toe. Also Read: Bill Cosby Ordered to Stand Trial in Criminal Assault Case Cosby has denied the allegations, and all of the rape and sexual assault allegations against him, in some cases suing his accusers. In a motion filed Monday, Cosbys lawyers asked a judge to toss the case, claiming that Goins claims are barred by the statute of limitations. Goins had previously sued Cosby, but dropped the suit in February. In May, Goins filed another complaint, this time also naming Playboy boss Hugh Hefner as a defendant. The comedians attorneys note that Goins initially claimed that the incident took place in 2008 when she was 18, and her claims would have had statutes of limitations of no more than three years. In her new lawsuit, Cosbys lawyers suggest, Goins is attempting to extend the statute of limitations by suggesting that she was possibly a minor when the incident occurred. Mondays papers insist that Goins hasnt proven that she was under 18 in the summer of 2008, when she alleges the rape took place. Also Read: Hugh Hefner Deposed in Bill Cosby Lawsuit In an effort to save her stale claims, Plaintiff appears to rely on the extended limitations periods for childhood sexual abuse, the papers read. However, the Complainant is completely lacking the basic factual predicate necessary to invoke these limitations periods: that the plaintiff was a child, i.e., under 18 years old, when the alleged incident occurred. Story continues According to the papers filed Monday, Goins initially claimed that the incident took place at the Playboy mansions Midsummer Nights Dream party on August 9, 2008, but changed the time frame to sometime in the summer of 2008 when Cosbys lawyers proved he was on the other side of the country on the day of the party. Cosbys lawyers added, Plaintiffs hazy recollections of when events happened is a tactical ploy to evade her admissions of her age at the time the events had allegedly happened. Also Read: Bill Cosby Sexual Assault Allegations to Be Included in Smithsonian Exhibit Cosby has been accused of rape or sexual assault by dozens of women, many of whom claim he drugged them beforehand. The comedian has been hit with multiple lawsuits over the allegations, and faces criminal charges in Pennsylvania. Pamela Chelin contributed to this report. Related stories from TheWrap: Bill Cosby Ordered to Stand Trial in Criminal Assault Case Hugh Hefner Deposed in Bill Cosby Lawsuit Bill Cosby Sexual Assault Allegations to Be Included in Smithsonian Exhibit Much of tonights late night offerings have featured discussion about the horrifying attack in Orlando, some venturing into angry territory. Stephen Colbert actually featured a mixture of both and provided a different perspective on the events in Florida, all thanks to Fox News mainstay Bill OReilly. Colbert noted that the show had invited OReilly on months ago to promote his new book and Fox News series Legends And Lies something he still got to promote a bit in this interview and just happened to be the guest following this latest tragedy. It was a prime moment for Colbert to shine a bit following his apparent rough week and it worked. There were genuine moments where Colbert and OReilly were having a pure debate like in the old days of television. Its not at the level of Gore Vidal and William Buckley, but it was compelling television that sometimes managed to infuriate from time to time. OReilly is clearly on the side that this is a terrorist act and declaring war on all terrorist groups is the solution. All the while, you can tell Colbert doesnt agree fully and really wants to let out his feelings by steering OReilly back in the interview. It does not sit right when a guest on a late night brings up Japanese internment camps in reference to what the government should do about terrorism, though. Also no mention about this being a multi-layered issue that doesnt have a one size fits all solution and doesnt just cover one area of world affairs. Colbert does his best to inject that in there, which is more than you could expect from the flagship CBS late night program. Yuri Milner Some of the world's wealthy elite choose to donate to charity. Billionaire tech investor Yuri Milner, however, is spending $100 million over 10 years on space exploration to fund the search for extraterrestrial life. His plan is to send a probe to travel to the next star system, Alpha Centauri, which is 25 trillion miles away. Milner explained why he believes that's a worthy cause at the Bloomberg Technology Conference 2016 in San Francisco on Monday. In particular, he explained why he chose to do this despite the fact that it's very unlikely he'll live to see it play out. "Yes, it is about 50 years away," Milner said in an interview with Bloomberg TV's Erik Schatzker. "But I think that a few hundred years ago, people did not really think about 50 years as being long-term." He continued: Marco Polo took 25 years to travel around the world as we knew it at that time. And when people starting building cathedrals, they knew that it would take 200 years to build. And yet they were planning for it, and then they were slowly building it, and they were improving technology and so on and so forth. I think that as we accelerate further and further, we probably are not so used to thinking 50 years out, but we only need to go back a few hundred years to find people who were. As for why he chose to spend his money on science rather than a more traditional philanthropic cause, Milner said he believes that 95% of all nonprofits should be aiming to "equalize the equation" in terms of socioeconomic issues. But, he said, a small fraction of resources should be spent trying to resolve existential problems and "reach the next frontier." "Sometimes we are not thinking big enough and sometimes we are not devoting enough resources to very long-term projects," Milner said. NOW WATCH: Heres the best and worst months to rent an apartment in major US cities More From Business Insider Larry Fink This week, Business Insider published the inaugural edition of Business Insider 100: The Creators, celebrating leaders who embody the notion that capitalism can and should be a force for good. You can check out the whole Creators series here. We have also launched a series in partnership with public radio's Marketplace, exploring everything from the history of shareholder value to Wall Street's impact on companies like Sears and IBM. We are not alone in being interested in these topics: Many big investors and company chief executives have discussed these issues. In February, Larry Fink, the chief executive at BlackRock, the world's biggest investor with $4.6 trillion, sent a letter to CEOs at S&P 500 companies and large European corporations. Fink, incidentally, appeared at No. 23 on the Business Insider 100: The Creators list. The letter focuses on short-termism in corporate America and Europe but also in politics, and asks CEOs to better articulate their plans for the future. Business Insider managed to get a hold of the letter and published it at the time. Given our ongoing work on this topic, we're publishing it in full again below (emphasis added): Over the past several years, I have written to the CEOs of leading companies urging resistance to the powerful forces of short-termism afflicting corporate behavior. Reducing these pressures and working instead to invest in long-term growth remains an issue of paramount importance for BlackRocks clients, most of whom are saving for retirement and other long-term goals, as well as for the entire global economy. While weve heard strong support from corporate leaders for taking such a long-term view, many companies continue to engage in practices that may undermine their ability to invest for the future. Dividends paid out by S&P 500 companies in 2015 amounted to the highest proportion of their earnings since 2009. As of the end of the third quarter of 2015, buybacks were up 27% over 12 months. We certainly support returning excess cash to shareholders, but not at the expense of value-creating investment. We continue to urge companies to adopt balanced capital plans, appropriate for their respective industries, that support strategies for long-term growth. Story continues We also believe that companies have an obligation to be open and transparent about their growth plans so that shareholders can evaluate them and companies progress in executing on those plans. We are asking that every CEO lay out for shareholders each year a strategic framework for long-term value creation. Additionally, because boards have a critical role to play in strategic planning, we believe CEOs should explicitly affirm that their boards have reviewed those plans. BlackRocks corporate governance team, in their engagement with companies, will be looking for this framework and board review. Annual shareholder letters and other communications to shareholders are too often backwards-looking and dont do enough to articulate managements vision and plans for the future. This perspective on the future, however, is what investors and all stakeholders truly need, including, for example, how the company is navigating the competitive landscape, how it is innovating, how it is adapting to technological disruption or geopolitical events, where it is investing and how it is developing its talent. As part of this effort, companies should work to develop financial metrics, suitable for each company and industry, that support a framework for long-term growth. Components of long-term compensation should be linked to these metrics. We recognize that companies operate in fluid environments and face a challenging mix of external dynamics. Given the right context, long-term shareholders will understand, and even expect, that you will need to pivot in response to the changing environments you are navigating. But one reason for investors short-term horizons is that companies have not sufficiently educated them about the ecosystems they are operating in, what their competitive threats are and how technology and other innovations are impacting their businesses. Without clearly articulated plans, companies risk losing the faith of long-term investors. Companies also expose themselves to the pressures of investors focused on maximizing near-term profit at the expense of long-term value. Indeed, some short-term investors (and analysts) offer more compelling visions for companies than the companies themselves, allowing these perspectives to fill the void and build support for potentially destabilizing actions. Those activists who focus on long-term value creation sometimes do offer better strategies than management. In those cases, BlackRocks corporate governance team will support activist plans. During the 2015 proxy season, in the 18 largest U.S. proxy contests (as measured by market cap), BlackRock voted with activists 39% of the time. Nonetheless, we believe that companies are usually better served when ideas for value creation are part of an overall framework developed and driven by the company, rather than forced upon them in a proxy fight. With a better understanding of your long-term strategy, the process by which it is determined, and the external factors affecting your business, shareholders can put your annual financial results in the proper context. Over time, as companies do a better job laying out their long-term growth frameworks, the need diminishes for quarterly EPS guidance, and we would urge companies to move away from providing it. Todays culture of quarterly earnings hysteria is totally contrary to the long-term approach we need. To be clear, we do believe companies should still report quarterly results long-termism should not be a substitute for transparency but CEOs should be more focused in these reports on demonstrating progress against their strategic plans than a one-penny deviation from their EPS targets or analyst consensus estimates. With clearly communicated and understood long-term plans in place, quarterly earnings reports would be transformed from an instrument of incessant short-termism into a building block of long-term behavior. They would serve as a useful electrocardiogram for companies, providing information on how companies are performing against the baseline EKG of their long-term plan for value creation. We also are proposing that companies explicitly affirm to shareholders that their boards have reviewed their strategic plans. This review should be a rigorous process that provides the board the necessary context and allows for a robust debate. Boards have an obligation to review, understand, discuss and challenge a companys strategy. Generating sustainable returns over time requires a sharper focus not only on governance, but also on environmental and social factors facing companies today. These issues offer both risks and opportunities, but for too long, companies have not considered them core to their business even when the worlds political leaders are increasingly focused on them, as demonstrated by the Paris Climate Accord. Over the long-term, environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues ranging from climate change to diversity to board effectiveness have real and quantifiable financial impacts. At companies where ESG issues are handled well, they are often a signal of operational excellence. BlackRock has been undertaking a multi-year effort to integrate ESG considerations into our investment processes, and we expect companies to have strategies to manage these issues. Recent action from the U.S. Department of Labor makes clear that pension fund fiduciaries can include ESG factors in their decision making as well. We recognize that the culture of short-term results is not something that can be solved by CEOs and their boards alone. Investors, the media and public officials all have a role to play. In Washington (and other capitals), long-term is often defined as simply the next election cycle, an attitude that is eroding the economic foundations of our country. Public officials must adopt policies that will support long-term value creation. Companies, for their part, must recognize that while advocating for more infrastructure or comprehensive tax reform may not bear fruit in the next quarter or two, the absence of effective long-term policies in these areas undermines the economic ecosystem in which companies function and with it, their chances for long-term growth. We note two areas, in particular, where policymakers taking a longer-term perspective could help support the growth of companies and the entire economy: First, tax policy too often lacks proper incentives for long-term behavior. With capital gains, for example, one year shouldnt qualify as a long-term holding period. As I wrote last year, we need a capital gains regime that rewards long-term investment with long-term treatment only after three years, and a decreasing tax rate for each year of ownership beyond that (potentially dropping to zero after 10 years). Second, chronic underinvestment in infrastructure in the U.S. from roads to sewers to the power grid will not only cost businesses and consumers $1.8 trillion over the next five years, but clearly represents a threat to the ability of companies to grow. At a time of massive global inequality, investment in infrastructure and all its benefits, including job creation is also critical for growth in most emerging markets around the world. Companies and investors must advocate for action to fill the gaping chasm between our massive infrastructure needs and squeezed government funding, including strategies for developing private-sector financing mechanisms. Over the past few years, weve seen more and more discussion around how to foster a long-term mindset. While these discussions are encouraging, we will only achieve our goal by changing practices and policies, and CEOs of Americas leading companies have a vital role to play in that debate. Corporate leaders have historically been a source of optimism about the future of our economy. At a time when there is so much anxiety and uncertainty in the capital markets, in our political discourse and across our society more broadly, it is critical that investors in particular hear a forward-looking vision about your own companys prospects and the public policy you need to achieve consistent, sustainable growth. The solutions to these challenges are in our hands, and I ask that you join me in helping to answer them. Sincerely, Laurence D. Fink "The Price of Profits," our series with Marketplace, looks at what happens when profits become a company's product. For more, visit PriceOfProfits.org. NOW WATCH: 2 Million Fast Food Workers In The US Aren't Making A Living Wage Here's Where They Live More From Business Insider The Blackstone Group L.P. BX, through Blackstone Energy Partners and affiliated private equity funds has agreed to divest its 80% stake in WindMW GmbH, an offshore wind farm to China Three Gorges Corporation. Notably, the terms of the transaction were not disclosed. However, according to the sources familiar with the matter, the transaction values WindMW at 1.7 billion Euros, including debt. The deal was signed in the presence of Li Keqiang, the Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China and Angela Merkel, the Federal Chancellor of Germany. According to the sources, China Three Gorges was competing with China Guodian Corporation to acquire a controlling stake in WindMW. Other interested parties in the deal were Borealis Infrastructure and Munich Ergo Asset Management. About WindMW WindMW, a Bremerhaven joint venture between Blackstone (80%) and Windland Energieerzeugungs GmbH (20%), is the owner of the Germanys largest offshore wind farms Meerwind. In order to contribute to the Germanys clean power efforts together with Blackstone, WindMW had designed, planned and constructed an 80-turbine, 288 megawatt German offshore wind farm, Meerwind, in the North Sea. It was fully commissioned in Feb 2015. The capacity to produce enough clean energy enables Meerwind to meet the annual power needs of about 360,000 households. It is the first offshore wind farm to be fully financed by private investors and also the first one in Europe to be financed by a project bond. Forward Look Blackstone consistently looks for transformative projects that are challenging and can improve its status quo and the divestiture of Meerwind will help to exemplify that effort. Moreover, the company believes that the WindMW team will continue its impactful work under the new ownership of China Three Gorges Corporation. Currently, Blackstone has Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better ranked investment management stocks include Eagle Point Credit Company Inc. ECC, Manning & Napier Inc. MN and OM Asset Management plc OMAM, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report BLACKSTONE GRP (BX): Free Stock Analysis Report OM ASSET MGMT (OMAM): Free Stock Analysis Report EAGLE POINT CRD (ECC): Free Stock Analysis Report MANNING&NAPIER (MN): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Britain has a "fixation" with next week's vote on whether the U.K. should exit the European Union trading block, Blackstone (NYSE: BX) Chairman and CEO Steve Schwarzman said Tuesday The prospects for leaving the EU, which has been gaining momentum, creates economic uncertainty and does not help global growth in the near to medium term, the private equity billionaire told CNBC's " Squawk Box " in an interview from London. "It's the first conversation you have with almost everyone here. They just bring it up," Schwarzman said. "The issues are sort of a bit subtle and unknowable. One of the major issues is what happens to the EU?" He also wondered whether other countries would also leave. "If the EU stays together, there will be a period of adjustment," the Blackstone co-founder continued. "This doesn't happen in a day. It's years to negotiate some kind of exit if you were to have one between the U.K. and the EU." Concerns over the possible implications of a Brexit pushed the yield on the 10-year benchmark German bund into negative territory for the first time ever Tuesday. In U.S. politics, the unorthodox presidential campaign is making Europeans "unsettled" about America, the longtime Republican Schwarzman said. "People are a bit curious and uncertain how the U.S. whole election process got to be so odd," he said, "whether it's a socialist [ Bernie Sanders ] winning 23 states ... or someone who has no political experience on other side [ Donald Trump ] ... becoming visible." Schwarzman, who didn't really answer the question Tuesday on whether he's still supporting Trump, told CNBC in January he would pick Trump over then GOP presidential challenger Ted Cruz. More From CNBC A sneeze tickles your nose. You let out a round of rapid-fire sneezes, one after the other. This is the handiwork of the devil. Ancient lore says that a sneeze summons dastardly demons, and a curt bless you will dispel all the bad mojo in one fell swoop. We say: Spare the stock phrases and holy water. Its just a sneeze a dribble of spit and snot, now splattered on the floor and all over your colleagues shirt. Old wives tales notwithstanding, we suspect no demons would be especially keen on running up your filthy nostrils. Its time we take a page from East Asia, where collectivist cultures consider it downright rude to bring attention to someones slimy sneeze. So, lets not waste our breath on those hollow, halfhearted words that we say in the United States (God bless you), Brazil (saude), Germany (Gesundheit) and just about everywhere else to the moon and back. In Japan, Korea and China, no one can hear you sneeze. Or at least, no one seems to hear. Everyone just ambles on idly by and politely ignores it. No etiquette police here; no heartbreak over the unacknowledged sneeze. After all, theres no need for niceties when a friend or stranger has just unleashed a volley of germs on you. Todd Jay Leonard, an American-born professor at the University of Teacher Education Fukuoka with a Midwestern twang, learned that lesson the hard way. Leonard first stepped foot in Japan about 27 years ago, where people would sneer, snicker or be amused when he responded with a knee-jerk pardon me after he sneezed or a gentle bless you when someone else did. I felt self-conscious when I sneezed when I first arrived in Japan because no one acknowledged my sneezes, he says. Now a convert, Leonard predicts that the phrase might naturally just run its course for nonEast Asians in the future. No one is crystal clear on why we say bless you its an old custom with unconfirmed theories and urban legends as to its origins. Some say it draws from superstitions: A sneeze is believed to stop your heart for a moment, so an incantation like bless you is a congrats for surviving near death. Others point to religion: God bless you will help release you from Satans grip when your soul supposedly separates from your body during a sneeze. However, it can be hard to break from tradition. For many, uttering a quick bless you is a deeply ingrained habit, says Jack Brown, a body language expert, plus an opportunity to show kindness to a stranger whom we otherwise wouldnt talk to. You cant just be looking out for No. 1. Story continues Yet whether it is rooted in religious traditions, folk superstitions or merely social customs, were conditioned to say something when someone sneezes, and nothing when we cough, hiccup, belch or fart. In many ways, the rules of civil sneeze etiquette just dont add up. Silence is golden. At least, more golden than your violent ejection of snot. Related Articles On Jun 13, 2016, we issued an updated research report on leading medical devices company, Boston Scientific Corporation BSX. The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Shares of Boston Scientific hit a 10-year high last week following the announcement of its global restructuring plan, the execution of which will result in the fulfillment of its margin leverage goals and help produce low-to-mid-teens EPS growth, ahead of the industry average. Without revealing much detail, the company noted that the program will focus on developing global commercialization, technology and manufacturing capabilities in key growth markets, continuing implementation of its Plant Network Optimization (PNO) strategy, and expanding operational efficiencies to support its operating income margin goals. Management has chalked out several key activities under the program, which include strengthening global infrastructure through evolving global real estate and workplaces, developing global commercial and technical competencies, enhancing manufacturing and distribution expertise in certain regions, and continuing implementation of the company's ongoing PNO strategy. This strategy is intended to simplify Boston Scientific's manufacturing plant structure by transferring certain production lines among facilities. These activities are expected to be initiated in the second quarter of 2016 and substantially completed by year-end 2018. We note that despite challenging economic conditions, a competitive environment and severe currency headwinds, Boston Scientific managed to post a better-than-expected first-quarter 2016, with respect to both earnings and revenues. The company continues to strengthen its core businesses and invest in new technologies and global markets, which accounted for the sales upside across most of its businesses and regions in the reported quarter. According to Boston Scientific, its PNO strategy has simplified its manufacturing plant structure by shifting certain production lines among facilities. The full benefit of PNO, which has been completed lately, should start to reflect in the companys Rhythm Management adjusted operating margin through the second half of 2016. Story continues An important aspect of the companys growth strategy is to continue pursuing development opportunities outside the U.S. by expanding global presence, inclusive of the emerging markets. In the first quarter of 2016, business from the emerging markets registered a robust 21% organic growth rate, ahead of the companys target of reaching 15% of sales by 2017 from 8% in 2013. Boston Scientific hopes to sustain its strong overall international performance taking into consideration several key new product launches that are in the early stages of their rollout. The company is also optimistic about its core cardiology segment which is gradually stabilizing, with growth witnessed in the BRIC nations. Meanwhile, sluggish CRM sales over the recent past continue to weigh on the stock. Although Boston Scientific currently expects a rebound in its CRM performance in the second quarter and second-half 2016, we remain on the sidelines based on the challenges still being faced in this business, especially in the U.S. Nevertheless, Boston Scientific has a strong pipeline of products under development, the launch of which should drive the top line, going ahead. Key Picks in the Sector Some other well-ranked medical product stocks that warrant a look include Baxter International Inc. BAX, LeMaitre Vascular, Inc. LMAT and ICU Medical, Inc. ICUI. All three stocks hold the same Zacks Rank as Boston Scientific. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report BOSTON SCIENTIF (BSX): Free Stock Analysis Report BAXTER INTL (BAX): Free Stock Analysis Report LEMAITRE VASCLR (LMAT): Free Stock Analysis Report ICU MEDICAL INC (ICUI): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research GABORONE (Reuters) - Botswana is looking to add up to 820MW of power into the national grid from both coal and solar powered plants by 2020, leaving it a surplus for exports, Minerals and Energy Minister Kitso Mokaila said on Tuesday. Independent power producers were expected to develop two 300MW stations while refurbishment of a 120MW coal-fuelled power plant was expected to be complete by end of 2017, Mokaila told a mining conference. A tender for a 100MW solar power station was also expected to be out soon, with the plant due to be running by 2018. "In four years time we see ourselves as not only self sufficient but we hope to have extra capacity to be exporting into the region," Mokaila said. Earlier this year, Botswana awarded a tender for a 300MW power plant to a joint venture between South Koreas Posco and Japans Marubeni. The southern African country also intends to order a 300 MW power plant from a joint venture between South Korea's Daewoo and Kepco. Mokaila said the government would put out a 100MW solar power tender in the next two months, aiming to have it in operation by 2018. Botswana's current power demand stands at an average 600MW. Its sole power station, Morupule B, produces about half of that, with the remainder coming from imports and diesel generators. Since it was commissioned in 2012, the Chinese-built 600mw Morupule B power plant has not produced at full capacity due to boiler failures and tube leaks. "We are also refurbishing Morupule B and negotiations to sell it and have it operate as an independent power producer have begun, said Mokaila. (Writing by Stella Mapenzauswa; Editing by Alexandra Hudson) You might think youre losing your mind in this crazy-crowded political season. To go by the events in BrainDead, CBS new comic thriller series, youve got plenty of company. The show, from Robert and Michelle King, creators of CBS The Good Wife, skewers Washington with a charmingly twisted commentary on this election year in particular, and politics in general, balancing humor and dread. The pilots script bears a devious brilliance. A meteor crash lands in Russia (which actually happened in February 2013, as documented in videos seen around the world). It is shipped to Washington for further study. Also Read: 'The Good Wife' Spinoff Officially Goes to CBS All Access Mary Elizabeth Winstead (10 Cloverfield Lane) is stranger-in-a-strange city Laurel Healy, an L.A.-based documentary filmmaker. Her father, a power broker in the Democratic party, dragoons her into taking a staffers job on Capitol Hill, working with her brother Luke (Danny Pino), an ethically challenged junior senator. When the government is shut down by way of interparty wrangling for which Luke is partly responsible the meteor is left open and exposed in a government lab. Soon, swarms of ant-like alien creatures are loose in the nations capital. Laurels an apt pupil learning the Machiavellian ins and outs of life in D.C., courtesy of her brother and his aides as well as Republican Sen. Red Wheatus (Tony Shalhoub) and Wheatus aide Gareth Ritter (Aaron Tveit). But the journalist in her gradually comes to suspect, and then confirm, that an alien infestation is eating into the brains of lawmakers and staffers on Capitol Hill. Also Read: 'The Good Wife' Creators Explain That Slap in Series Finale (Video) If their heads dont literally explode, theyre turned into the creeping dead. They are outwardly functional but slaves to an otherworldly occupation. (Its presence is announced through a fondness for You Might Think, a 1984 song by The Cars). It gets hard to separate the political machinations of partisans from the motivations of the extraterrestrials one is about as alien as the other. Story continues The first three episodes set the table for the show to go in different directions. Youd have to be, well, brain dead, not to see the romantic relationship emerging between Laurel and Gareth or the possible one between Laurel and Anthony Onofrio (Charlie Semine), the FBI agent investigating some of the unexplained deaths. Healy joins forces with Rochelle Daudier (Good Wife alum Nikki M. James), the daughter of the scientist who first examined the meteor and later died; and a brilliant eccentric, Gustav Triplett (Johnny Ray Gill). Also Read: Here's the Full Fall TV Schedule for ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and CW Sometimes the shows cynicism is too rote by half, as when Wheatus tells a colleague, What is a Democrat these days? What is a Republican? A brand. You ate Cheerios this morning, you eat Wheat Chex tomorrow. The pacing in the early episodes can be uneven, and some plot points you see coming from a long way off. But BrainDead is promisingly original, a deft combination of the tropes of a horror movie, the pace of a forensic drama and the barbs of a political satire thats thoroughly of the moment. While they wait for the spinoff of The Good Wife, fans of the Kings smart, funny storytelling are in for a treat. With our presumptively surreal political campaign underway, it takes a real stroke of genius or madness, or a little of both to come up with a fresh view of the circus of our national politics. Even as shows like ABCs Scandal and HBOs Veep have made the pivot to this years model of presidential politics, BrainDead cleverly ratchets up their level of absurdity. Its very over-the-topness is what makes it so topical. Given the real events of 2016, how over the top can BrainDead be? BrainDead premieres tonight at 10/9c on CBS. Related stories from TheWrap: CBS Orders Comic Thriller Series 'BrainDead' from 'The Good Wife' Creators 11 Summer TV Shows We Cannot Wait to See (Photos) (Adds details of suit) BRASILIA, June 13 (Reuters) - Brazilian iron ore miner Vale SA said on Monday that a 20 billion reais ($5.7 billion) civil lawsuit seeking environmental and property damages for last year's deadly Samarco mine disaster has been dismissed. The mine is operated by Samarco Mineracao SA, a joint venture between Vale and the world's largest mining company, BHP Billiton Ltd. Vale said the judge did not rule on the merits of the case. A tailings dam burst at the mine in November and unleashed 60 million cubic meters of mud and mine waste that devastated a village, killed at least 13 people and polluted a major river valley. The National Humanitarian Society (Sohumana) filed the lawsuit before a federal judge in Rio de Janeiro in December. Brazil's federal and state governments also threatened to sue Samarco and its owners for 20 billion reais in compensation for the disaster and a settlement was reached in March to cover the damages. Under the agreement, Samarco, BHP and Vale will pay the 20 billion reais over 15 years to cover and repair damages. Vale, however, has outlined it expects to pay less than that due to the way the deal is structured, calculating future payments depending on how much work remains to be done. The settlement was approved by a Brazilian judge in May, which potentially reduced the threat of a separate $44 billion lawsuit filed by federal prosecutors in the states of Minas Gerais, where the mine is located, and neighboring Espirito Santo, who based their claim on the clean-up costs of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. ($1 = 3.4814 Brazilian reais) (Reporting by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Chris Reese and Cynthia Osterman) BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazilian iron ore miner Vale SA said on Monday that a 20 billion reais ($5.7 billion) civil lawsuit seeking environmental and property damages for last year's deadly Samarco mine disaster has been dismissed. The mine is operated by Samarco Mineracao SA, a joint venture between Vale and the world's largest mining company, BHP Billiton Ltd. Vale said the judge did not rule on the merits of the case. A tailings dam burst at the mine in November and unleashed 60 million cubic meters of mud and mine waste that devastated a village, killed at least 13 people and polluted a major river valley. The National Humanitarian Society (Sohumana) filed the lawsuit before a federal judge in Rio de Janeiro in December. Brazil's federal and state governments also threatened to sue Samarco and its owners for 20 billion reais in compensation for the disaster and a settlement was reached in March to cover the damages. Under the agreement, Samarco, BHP and Vale will pay the 20 billion reais over 15 years to cover and repair damages. Vale, however, has outlined it expects to pay less than that due to the way the deal is structured, calculating future payments depending on how much work remains to be done. The settlement was approved by a Brazilian judge in May, which potentially reduced the threat of a separate $44 billion lawsuit filed by federal prosecutors in the states of Minas Gerais, where the mine is located, and neighboring Espirito Santo, who based their claim on the clean-up costs of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. (Reporting by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Chris Reese and Cynthia Osterman) 'Breaking Bad' actor Steven Michael Quezada who has entered the political arena running for the county commissioner seat in Bernalillo County, New Mexico, weighs in on the mass shooting in Orlando and the 2016 presidential race. In the aftermath of the Orlando shooting Quezada called for more of a focus to be put on mental health care. Its a big tragedy, thats one of the reasons why Im running for office here in New Mexico, because I also believe that a big piece that were not looking at is the behavioral health piece, Quezada continued, A lot of people are falling through the cracks. Quezada also weighed in on why he is supporting Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race. Were going to support our Democratic president because we want to continue to keep doing the great things that Obama has been doing here in this country. And it looks like right now it will be Hillary Clinton, Quezada told the FOX Business Networks Sandra Smith. Quezada then explained why health care reform was one of President Obamas achievements that was of particular importance to him. I think that health care is a big issue for this country. Me being an artist, I wasnt always this big giant actor from Breaking Bad. I was always just a regular struggling artist, like we have many of them in this country, and we were never having the opportunity to have health care or anything like that. So those things are big for people like me, Quezada said. Quezada took on Trumps push for a wall along the Mexican border and why making many of the illegal immigrants American citizens could be an economic boost for the state of New Mexico. I think theres other ways besides building a wall, I think we should be building bridges and not walls and figure out how we can resolve this issue without having to try to get people to go back to Mexico but make them citizens of the United States, make them taxpayers, use that money, thats important to a state like New Mexico where we need to build our tax base and this is a great opportunity for us to do that, said Quezada. Related Articles LONDON (Reuters) - British support for leaving the European Union now has a seven point lead, according to a TNS online poll published on Tuesday, adding to a string of surveys that put the Brexit campaign in the lead ahead of next week's referendum. Some 47 percent of likely voters said they will opt to leave the EU, compared to 40 percent who want to stay, according to the poll of 2,497 people. Market research company TNS said 13 percent were undecided or would not vote. A TNS poll published last week gave the "Leave" campaign a two-point lead, on 43 percent. (Reporting by Andy Bruce; editing by Stephen Addison) BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Britain's departure from the European Union would weaken Western security, the country's defence minister said at NATO on Tuesday, warning of a "dangerous moment" as polls indicated growing momentum for those wanting to leave the bloc. "This is a dangerous moment," Britain's Secretary of State for Defence Michael Fallon told reporters when asked about the Leave campaign and defence. "No country has ever left either NATO or the European Union and that would clearly weaken the security of Western Europe. Those are the twin pillars of our security," he said as he arrived for a NATO defence ministers meeting. He also dismissed reports that the European Union was planning an EU army, saying Britain would anyway veto such an idea. (Reporting by Robin Emmott; Editing Alissa de Carbonnel) LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's opposition Labour leader, widely accused of only lukewarm backing for his party's "Remain" stance, will urge supporters on Tuesday to vote to stay in the European Union at a June 23 referendum. With polls showing Britons still evenly divided over how to vote, the "Remain" campaign has switched its focus to Labour voters, who it fears have been turned off by a debate dominated by splits within Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservatives. They are seen as crucial to winning a vote to stay in the bloc. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who has rejected criticism he has not done enough to campaign for an "In" vote, will hold an event with his senior team and trade union leaders on Tuesday to make what he will describe as "Labour's case" to remain. "Today I am issuing a call to the whole Labour movement, to persuade people to back Remain to protect jobs and rights at work," he will say, according to advance extracts of his speech. "We have just nine days to go to convince Labour supporters to vote Remain." A YouGov poll late last month showed nearly half of Labour supporters did not know the party backed staying in the EU. Tuesday's event, part of what the "In" camp has dubbed the "Labour fight-back", follows a speech by former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown on Monday in which he said Britain should be "leading not leaving" the bloc. (Reporting by Kylie MacLellan; Editing by Louise Ireland) By Nina Chestney (Reuters) - Britain's largest shale gas developer IGas (IGAS.L) said on Tuesday it is in talks with a number of potential investors to strengthen its balance sheet. IGas has been cutting its debt over the last 14 months amid oil price volatility through bond buybacks and the amortisation of secured bonds, it said in a company update. It has been also been in discussions with bondholders about extending debt maturity, deferring certain interest payments and waivering some financial obligations on the expectation that further finance is generated for the business. "In relation to these financing requirements, the company is in discussions with a number of potential investors and continues to evaluate options for cash and earnings accretive transactions including farm-outs and other asset portfolio management opportunities," IGas said in a statement. IGas shares fell by almost 10.5 percent to 15.40 pence by 0853 GMT. More capital could enable the firm to potentially increase production by around 700 barrel of oil equivalent per day (beopd), net of decline, by Jan. 2018, the firm said. It maintained its production guidance for the full year at between 2,500 and 2,700 boepd. As the oil price has improved to around $50 a barrel since a low of around $27 a barrel in January this year, IGas expects its operating costs for this year to be around $30 per barrel of oil equivalent. IGas added that it is making good progress on its five-year shale development plan, aiming to start drilling at two wells in the first half of 2017, subject to planning and permitting. (Reporting by Nina Chestney, editing by Louise Heavens) (photo: David Becker/Getty Images) Britney Spears has spoken up following Sundays massacre in Orlando that left 47 dead and 53 injured at a popular gay nightclub. Sam Smith Breaks Social Media Silence to Address Orlando Shooting At 2 a.m. on Sunday a heavily armed gunman opened fire and began taking hostages at the popular central Florida gay bar Pulse, marking the deadliest mass shooting in American history. The pop star posted to Instagram and Facebook on Monday (June 12) that she has been searching for words since then and that this is an attack on all of us. I have not been able to find words to express how I feel about what happened in Orlando. Music and dance take me to a wonderful, happy, safe place and for this to happen in a place where people enjoy those things makes me so sad, she wrote. This has to stop. We need to accept and love people for who they are. This is truly an attack against all of us, and Im praying that we can join together and find a solution. From Cosmopolitan After Brock Turner was found guilty on three counts of sexual assault, dozens of family members and friends wrote statements to the judge defending his character. These letters may have contributed to him receiving such a short sentence that it caused an uproar online. Leslie Rasmussen, a childhood friend, was one of those friends who wrote a letter. "I don't think it's fair to base the fate of the next ten + years of his life on the decision of a girl who doesn't remember anything but the amount she drank to press charges against him," she wrote. "I am not blaming her directly for this, because that isn't right. But where do we draw the line and stop worrying about being politically correct every second of the day and see that rape on campuses isn't always because people are rapists?" That letter caused a controversy of its own, and it led to her band, Good English, being dropped from multiple music festivals. At first, she wrote a post on Facebook defending her decision, saying she wanted to highlight how "Brock's character was seriously affected by the alcohol he consumed," and how binge drinking can contribute to horrible behavior. But now, Rasmussen has apologized for making the statement in the first place. "I did not acknowledge strongly enough the severity of Brock's crime and the suffering and pain that his victim endured, and for that lack of acknowledgement, I am deeply sorry," she wrote on Facebook. "I fully understand the outrage over Brock's sentencing and my statement. I can only say that I am committed to learning from this mistake. I am 20 years old, and it has never been more clear to me that I still have much to learn." You can read her full statement below: According to the Dayton Daily News, Turner's high school guidance counselor, Kelly Owens, has also apologized for supporting him during the trial. "I made a mistake. Of course he should be held accountable," she said in an official apology to her school district. "I pray for the victim, her family and all those affected by this horrible event. I am truly sorry for the additional pain my statement has caused. I tell my students they have to be accountable, and Brock is no exception." Follow Megan on Twitter. By Jonathan Stempel June 14 (Reuters) - Warren Buffett on Tuesday said the anonymous bidder who agreed last week at an annual charity auction to pay $3,456,789 to have lunch with him, matching the previous record high, is a woman. "The one thing I will tell you, because we're in this crowd: It's a woman," Buffett, the billionaire chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc, said at a United State of Women conference in Washington. The winner and up to seven friends can dine with Buffett at the Smith & Wollensky steakhouse in midtown Manhattan. An anonymous bidder also paid $3,456,789 to win the 2012 auction. Proceeds go to Glide, a San Francisco charity that provides food, healthcare and other services to people who are homeless, poor or struggling with substance abuse. Buffett has raised roughly $23.6 million for Glide in 17 auctions dating to 2000. At least one prior winner was a woman. In 2009, Courtenay Wolfe of Canada's Salida Capital prevailed with a $1,680,300 bid. Buffett called Glide, led by the Rev. Cecil Williams and his wife Janice Mirikitani, a "remarkable social organization," and encouraged higher bids in 2017. "If you'd like to buy it next year, $3.5 million is just a suggested price," he told the audience. "Plus tip, of course, for the lunch." A webcast of Buffett's comments was available on YouTube. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York, editing by G Crosse) By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) - Warren Buffett on Tuesday said the anonymous bidder who agreed last week at an annual charity auction to pay $3,456,789 to have lunch with him, matching the previous record high, is a woman. "The one thing I will tell you, because we're in this crowd: It's a woman," Buffett, the billionaire chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc, said at a United State of Women conference in Washington. The winner and up to seven friends can dine with Buffett at the Smith & Wollensky steakhouse in midtown Manhattan. An anonymous bidder also paid $3,456,789 to win the 2012 auction. Proceeds go to Glide, a San Francisco charity that provides food, healthcare and other services to people who are homeless, poor or struggling with substance abuse. Buffett has raised roughly $23.6 million for Glide in 17 auctions dating to 2000. At least one prior winner was a woman. In 2009, Courtenay Wolfe of Canada's Salida Capital prevailed with a $1,680,300 bid. Buffett called Glide, led by the Rev. Cecil Williams and his wife Janice Mirikitani, a "remarkable social organization," and encouraged higher bids in 2017. "If you'd like to buy it next year, $3.5 million is just a suggested price," he told the audience. "Plus tip, of course, for the lunch." A webcast of Buffett's comments was available on YouTube. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York, editing by G Crosse) Last year, more than 14,700 new yoga teachers registered with Yoga Alliance, the nation's largest registry of yoga teachers, according to The Wall Street Journal. That means the number of new teachers now exceeds the number of new students at yoga studios. If you want to be successful in this oversaturated market, you need to stand out -- or risk getting lost in the vast sea of yoga teachers. To do that, you first need to identify as an entrepreneur and develop your personal brand. That will set you apart and give you a clear direction to build your business. When teachers do not brand themselves, they either burn out, become resentful of their peers who are successful or even feel depressed because they feel a lack of self-worth. [See: How to Cope With Depression at Work.] Many yoga teachers resist branding themselves because they have an outdated belief that business is an ugly, competitive practice. A more progressive outlook on business suggests that by working on your brand, you will help more people and make a bigger impact while providing quality services. Another misconception about having a niche brand is that you will limit yourself. But if you don't have a focus, you will get lost in the crowd. You need a specialty for people to find you, and if it's genuine, you can help and connect with more people than you ever imagined possible. Developing a brand also allows you to do in-depth work with clients. My guys-only yoga classes, for example, have attracted the same core group of 10 men for over two years. Because they are so consistent and similar to one another, they have progressed quickly, which allows me to teach more intricate poses and subtle alignment techniques. When you teach your most advanced practices, it keeps you interested while also facilitating a profound shift in someone else's life. But building a successful brand as a yoga teacher doesn't happen overnight. Here's how to get started: Story continues 1. Find a specialty. Every teacher has a specific interest. One way to find yours is to remember what yoga helped you overcome. Maybe it was anxiety, muscle weakness or a weight problem. For me -- a stronger, tighter guy -- yoga (eventually) helped me open my body. I had to modify poses, use props and approach the practice differently as a man, which took me years to learn. Now, I deliver that experience to my male clients in a way that takes them through that process more efficiently. Once you are comfortable infusing your personal perspective into your classes, you'll start to attract a particular, authentic audience. When it's clear what you stand for, your brand becomes magnetic. Your ideal students will find you, and you fill your schedule with those who love to work with you and with whom you love to work. 2. Become an expert. The clearer you are with your specialty, the better you can serve your students. If you are being yourself, and only speaking on topics you're knowledgeable about, you'll build a rapport with students. You can also create useful content outside of the classroom, whether it's through blogs, podcasts, pictures or videos. For example, if a yoga teacher decided to focus on "yoga for rock climbers," she might create a series of blog posts or videos on the proper yoga poses to improve range of motion while rock climbing. If she does this consistently for a couple months, and distributes it to rock climbing gyms and her climbing friends, the news will spread quickly. Eventually, she can become the go-to yoga source for rock climbers. [See: 5 People Who Are Changing the Face of Yoga.] 3. Turn your brand into a source of revenue. Most yoga teachers struggle to make money because they teach generic studio classes at a price-point that is inconsistent and often below minimum wage. Even if they book their scheduleswith classes, between the money they spend on trainings, music, gas and food on the go, they usually have close to nothing left financially. But a brand that provides students a huge value can change that. My male students, for example, are relieved of pain, avoid health crises and take their health to a whole new level. Before raising your prices, look at the overall benefit you provide your students. If you create a yoga program that helps students avoid back surgery, for instance, you save them thousands of dollars -- and often a lifetime of pain. That's more valuable than what they would get in a standard class. As your brand becomes more established, you can start to charge a premium for your services. 4. Work on your business -- not only in it. Business should be like a yoga practice. You need to schedule a time to work on it weekly. It is easy for teachers to get caught in the rat race of running from class to class, and to only end up spending 20 minutes on their actual business each week. Between the time it takes to plan the class, commute, set up the room and close the space down, you invest at least three hours on one class. As you build your brand, however, you can shape your schedule to fit the lifestyle you want. You can attract more clients who are thrilled to work with you and you can let go of the jobs you no longer want. Teachers often work on the weekends, which means missing out on family events and valuable time to relax. As you develop a personal brand, you can spend more time developing your business -- and with those you love. [See: 8 Ways to Relax -- Now.] 5. Develop a career -- not just a job. See the big picture. It is far more rewarding to establish a personal brand, improve your livelihood and thrive than it is to just survive. Start noticing who you attract to your classes. Ask your students why they enjoy your class and what they think sets you apart. Be self-aware and notice your character; who you are. Finally, just take the leap. Yoga teachers have so much to offer and, if they approach it correctly, they can live up to their full potential. Some bungling boating by a group of landlubber drug smugglers led to New Zealand's largest ever haul of methamphetamine, commonly known as 'ice', with their fumbling efforts arousing the suspicion of locals, police said on Tuesday. The 494 kilogram (1,090 pound) haul, with a street value of US$347 million, is the largest ever in New Zealand, eclipsing in a single swoop the entire amount of ice seized in the South Pacific nation last year (334 kilograms). Police said locals found an abandoned boat at remote 90 Mile Beach on Sunday and also reported a group of men had been acting suspiciously in the area in recent weeks. They said the men, whose nationalities were not given, had been unsuccessfully trying to launch boats off the beach, then offering locals large amounts of cash to help them. When police went to recover the boat, a vehicle used by the group drove past and was stopped after a brief chase. Two men, aged 26 and 31, were arrested. A short time later, a campervan driven by a third man, aged 19, was stopped and a search found multiple suitcases containing zip-lock bags full of drugs totalling 448kg. Police also found a handheld GPS device in the first vehicle which had coordinates leading to some sand dunes, where officers on Monday dug up a further 46kg of drugs. "What is so great about this is that it's not only the result of hard work by the Northland police, but it's the result of information we got from the community," Superintendent Russell Le Prou said in a statement. "We received notification of several cases of suspicious behaviour in the past few weeks, and that has allowed us to get to this point." Police said they were working with customs to determine where the methamphetamine came from. Many of the bags showed signs of salt water. The three men appeared in court on Tuesday charged with importing and possessing class A drugs for supply. The famous Burning Man Festival is heading to Amsterdam in 2017, according to the Dutch edition of Esquire. Burning Man will reportedly make its European debut next year with an event titled "Where The Sheep Sleep" that lasts from July 29 to July 31. Tickets will only be available for those who are registered in the Burning Man Netherlands Facebook group. Burning Man Festival Purchases New Land With Potential to 'Amplify Cultural Impact A representative for Burning Man was not immediately available for comment. Earlier this week, Burning Man announced the purchase of a 3,800-acre property in Washoe County, Nevada. "In 2012 we became a nonprofit with the intention of amplifying and extending Burning Man culture," the festival explained in a statement. "So here we are, taking a big step in that direction. As a year-round site, Fly Ranch has the potential to expand Burning Man Project's activities and existing programs, as well as amplify Burning Man's cultural impact into the wider world beyond Black Rock City." Traders are looking for AstraZeneca to gain in coming weeks. optionMONSTER's monitoring system detected the purchase of 3,200 July 27.50 calls for $0.75 to $0.91 today. This represents fresh buying, as volume far surpassed the strike's open interest of 268 contracts. Long calls lock in the price where investors can buy stock, allowing them to profit from a rally with limited capital at risk. Their cheap cost can also generate significant leverage on a percentage basis if shares move in the right direction. (See our Education section) AZN is off 1.85 percent to $27.26 in afternoon trading and is down 8 percent in the last week. The U.K.-based drug developer is scheduled to announce its next quarterly results before the market opens on July 28. Overall option volume is 5 times greater than average so far today. Calls outnumber puts by a bullish 3-to-1 ratio. More From optionMONSTER By Prak Chan Thul PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Cambodia has arrested 27 Chinese and Taiwanese nationals on suspicion of operating a telecoms extortion ring to defraud victims in China, officials said on Tuesday. Cambodia has deported more than 200 Chinese nationals since November in a crackdown on internet and telecoms scams. Beijing is battling a fast growing industry in telecoms fraud that has cost billions of dollars in financial losses and driven some victims to suicide. Chinese and Cambodian authorities have coordinated to uncover scams orchestrated from Cambodia. Cambodian police said people in Cambodia would call up people in China asking for money to free relatives allegedly held captive or for other fictitious reasons. "We are questioning them and if we find them guilty of the crimes, we will deport them," Uk Heisela, chief of investigations at Cambodia's immigration department, told Reuters on Tuesday after the latest arrests. "Their alleged crimes were all the same, they extorted money via phone from victims in China." The 15 Chinese and 12 Taiwanese men and women were arrested in a raid at their villa in the capital Phnom Penh on Monday, Heisela said. Since 2011, Taiwan and China have cooperated in investigating telecoms fraud in Indonesia, Cambodia, Philippines and other countries, arresting more than 7,700 suspects, including 4,600 from Taiwan, according to China's official news agency, Xinhua. "This is happening all over the world," said Khun Sambor, Cambodia's deputy director of immigration. "Cambodia is just a small percentage of it." Sambor said he was unaware why Cambodia had become a base for some of those involved. Chinese authorities say criminal gangs based in diplomatic rival Taiwan are behind many of the scams and according to Xinhua, on average more than 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) is swindled out of the mainland to Taiwan by telephone scammers every year. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said on Tuesday that he did not know the details of the case. Kenya deported 45 Taiwan suspects in another telecoms fraud case to China in April, angering Taipei who accused China of kidnapping its citizens. Cambodia needed to be transparent about the process and those arrested allowed to contest deportation to China in a fair and impartial hearing, said Phil Robertson, deputy director for Human Rights Watch in Asia "No matter how much pressure Phnom Penh faces from Beijing, Cambodia must not cut corners on the due process rights of this group," Robertson said. (Reporting by Prak Chan Thul in Phnom Penh and Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Editing by Simon Webb and Nick Macfie) TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian online gambling company Amaya Inc said on Tuesday that proposed board nominee Paul McFeeters was unable to serve due to personal reasons. McFeeters cited reasons unrelated to the company, Amaya said in a press release. The company's plan is for media and broadcast industry consultant David Lazzarato to fill the role. Amaya, which owns the gambling website PokerStars, is weighing its future after its former chief executive offered to take the company private. McFeeters' name will remain on the ballot because Amaya already sent the management circular detailing the board election process to shareholders. The meeting is scheduled for June 28. Investors will be expecting an update from Amaya on the proposal from former Chief Executive Officer David Baazov, who took an indefinite leave of absence in March to defend himself against insider trading charges filed in Quebec. (Reporting by Alastair Sharp; Editing by Tom Brown; Editing by Tom Brown) By David Milliken LONDON (Reuters) - Canada's finance minister urged Britons on Tuesday to vote to stay in the European Union in next week's referendum and warned them that jobs with Canadian firms based in Britain could be at risk if the country left the bloc. Finance Minister Bill Morneau - who was in London for meetings at the British finance ministry - said Britons who want to leave the EU, and would prefer something similar to Canada's more limited trade relationship with the bloc, were mistaken. "The UK already has a better agreement with the European Union today," he told Reuters in a room in Canada's embassy overlooking London's Trafalgar Square. "We see ... Great Britain staying in the European Union as the best outcome - the best outcome for Canada, the best outcome for the United Kingdom and the best outcome for the world economy," he said. When he last visited London in April, Morneau declined to comment on the June 23 vote on EU membership, but since then other foreign leaders including U.S. President Barack Obama have urged Britain to stay in and in recent days opinion polls have put the "Out" campaign in the lead. A trade deal between Canada and the EU is due to take effect next year. Morneau said it would be weaker without Britain and that many Canadian businesses had invested in Britain to obtain direct access to markets across the 28-nation bloc. "For those tens of thousands of employees in those businesses, we can only say that (leaving the EU) puts them in a more vulnerable position." Morneau did not mention by name any Canadian companies with investments in Britain but they include firms such as engineering group Bombardier and banks such as RBC and Scotiabank. Supporters of a Brexit, as British exit from the EU is known, say Britain would remain an attractive investment destination outside the EU and that it would be in Europe's interest to maintain strong trade ties after it left the bloc. Former London mayor Boris Johnson, a leading "Out" campaigner, has said the Canada-EU agreement could serve as a model for a future EU-UK deal. Morneau said Canada's experience was that good trade deals could take almost 10 years to negotiate and implement. He also stressed the historic ties between Britain and Canada, which share Queen Elizabeth as head of state. "We have been side by side with Great Britain from the First World War to the Second World War. We have been partners, allies, friends and family - and family tells each other what is in their best interests." (Editing by Gareth Jones) (MANILA, Philippines) Philippine officials confirmed Tuesday that Abu Sayyaf militants beheaded a Canadian man, the second Canadian hostage to be killed in two months after their demands for a large ransom were not met. The hostage, Robert Hall, was abducted from a marina last September along with another Canadian, a Norwegian and a Filipino. The other Canadian, former mining executive John Ridsdel, was beheaded in April. Presidential spokesman Herminio Coloma condemned the brutal and senseless murder of Hall. He had been held by the Abu Sayyaf in the jungles of southern Sulu province for nine months. This latest heinous crime serves to strengthen our governments resolve to put an end to this reign of terror and banditry, he said in a statement. A militant video obtained by Philippine police officials and seen by The Associated Press showed Hall in an orange shirt and kneeling in front of a black Islamic State-style flag before he was killed in a jungle area. Read More: Sun, Sea and ISIS: How Radical Insurgents Have Made the Southern Philippines a No-Go Zone An Abu Sayyaf deadline for the payment of a large ransom lapsed Monday and police later found a severed head of a Caucasian man outside a Roman Catholic cathedral in Sulu provinces main Jolo town. In Ottawa, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there was compelling reason to believe that Hall had been killed by his captors, and that the Canadian government was working with Philippine authorities to confirm his death. We have every reason to believe that the reports are unfortunately true, Trudeau said. He said he was horrified by the killings and reaffirmed Canadas refusal to pay ransoms. The government of Canada will not and cannot pay ransoms for hostages to terrorist groups, as doing so would endanger the lives of more Canadians, Trudeau said in a statement. Story continues Read More: ISIS Is Making Inroads in the Southern Philippines and the Implications for Asia Are Alarming We are more committed than ever to working with the government of the Philippines and international partners to pursue those responsible for these heinous acts and bring them to justice, however long it takes. Trudeau recently urged leaders of other members of the Group of Seven rich nations to reiterate their opposition to paying ransoms. After being abducted from the marina on southern Samal Island last September, the hostages were taken by boat to Sulu, where the Abu Sayyaf has held hostages for years in mountainous jungle camps. Ridsdel was beheaded on April 25 after a ransom demand of 300 million pesos ($6.3 million) was not paid. In an Abu Sayyaf video posted on YouTube after Ridsdels death, Hall and the two other hostages, Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad and Filipino woman Marites Flor, pleaded to Canadian and Philippine officials to negotiate their release. We live like this every day, go to bed like this, Hall said, raising his arms to show that he was handcuffed. We have a hundred people heavily armed around us all the time that dictate to us and talk to us like children. Weve been humiliated in every way possible. One of us has already been murdered. Hall spoke later in the video for a second time, sounding resigned to a tragic fate. I would also like to thank my family for the effort they put in my family and friends for the effort they put in to get me out of here. I know you did everything you can, and I truly appreciate it. Im sorry I got you in this mess, he said. Trudeau extended his heartfelt condolences to Halls relatives and friends. The United States and the Philippines have both listed the Abu Sayyaf as a terrorist organization for kidnappings, beheadings and bombings. The group emerged in the early 1990s as an extremist offshoot of a decades-long Muslim separatist rebellion in the countrys south. __ Gillies reported from Toronto. Colorado Has Seen Some Tremendous Economic Gains since Legalizing Marijuana in 2012; a Stable Housing Market Combined With Record Breaking Job Growth Puts Colorado on the Path to Sustainable Wealth COLORADO SPRINGS, CO / ACCESSWIRE / June 14, 2016 / While most of the US economy is still struggling to recover from the 2008 housing market crash and recession, one state in particular is seeing record breaking job growth, and is generating more payroll jobs per month than any other state in the nation. That state is Colorado. Colorado legalized recreational marijuana back in 2012, and implemented a 2.9% medical, 10% recreational sales tax on the herb as a fiscal weapon that would bring in truckloads of new tax dollars for the state, propelling it to one of the wealthiest, most economically stable states in the country. Colorado collected a total of 61 million dollars of tax revenue in 2014, a figure which skyrocketed in 2015 to a whopping 97 million dollars! State officials have used this money to help the homeless, with the city of Aurora leading the charge by generously allocating 1.5 million dollars towards the effort, with $200,000 of it going to the Colfax Network, a non-profit organization whose primary objective is supporting families that are living in motels. But that's not all. The state has also used some of the surplus tax revenue collected from legal pot sales to strengthen their education system, increase behavioral health services, and even to help fund programs for substance abuse prevention. This healthy economy has attracted a variety of entrepreneurs and new business owners who created a record breaking 100,000 + new businesses in 2015, one of the highest rates in the entire country. This growth was seen not only in the marijuana related sector, but also overflowed into the Colorado housing market, which has seen a steady incline in median sales price since the legalization first went into effect in late 2012. Since legalization, the Colorado housing market has had a strong economic upturn with very low inventory, leading to an extremely high demand for homes, driving the sales and rental prices through the roof. Aurora is currently the city in Colorado with the highest average rent, breaking the $1,300 per month mark. Other Colorado cities such as Pueblo and Colorado Springs will likely continue to follow this trend, although there is some fluctuation once you get outside of the Denver metro area, which shows the strongest numbers by far out of the entire state. Story continues This explosion of the Colorado housing market has led to a large influx of real estate investors who advertise "We Buy Ugly Houses Colorado Springs" in order to attract clients with distressed properties who may be looking to sell their homes quickly for cash. These investors will typically buy a distressed property at a discounted, wholesale price, then fix up the property to full market value and then rent it out to a local tenant or resell it on the open market. These "fix and flips" can usually net an investor anywhere from $5,000 to $60,000 depending on the purchase price, condition of the property, and after repair value, which is calculated by running a "comparative market analysis" on similar homes that were recently sold in the same market. Overall, Colorado has seen some truly amazing economic benefits post-legalization, that continue to expand in the 2016 fiscal year. It will be interesting to compare the numbers from this year with previous years, and see how much growth was experienced in 2016 compared with 2014 and 13. With this stable economic growth and increased demand for housing, Colorado and all of its major cities are on the fast track to sustainable wealth, with Denver and Colorado Springs rated as two of the most desirable places to live in the entire country. For more information about us, please visit http://www.hbrcolorado.com Contact Info: Name: Brian Rudderow Email: rapidhomeliquidation@gmail.com Organization: HBR Colorado Address: 3094 1/2 W. Colorado Ave. Phone: 7192860053 SOURCE: HBR Colorado Number 9 Films, behind the recent Cate Blanchett- and Rooney Mara-starring indie hit Carol, has revealed its first TV project. Elizabeth Karlsen and Stephen Woolley's London-based outfit is teaming up with long-established TV banner Red Production Company, producers of the acclaimed Happy Valley series, on an adaptation of Henry James' 1881 novel Portrait of a Lady. Karlsen and Woolley will exec produce alongside Red's founder, Nicola Shindler. StudioCanal, which owns a controlling stake in Red, will handle worldwide distribution. The noted coming-of age-romance centers on Isabel Archer, who, after leaving America for Old World Europe, finds herself rejecting marriage proposals in favor of a life of independence. But when she inherits an unexpected fortune, Archer falls prey to two Machiavellian schemers and is lured into a marriage with unfortunate consequences. It was first published as a serial in The Atlantic Monthly and Macmillan's Magazine. "We believe we share a sensibility with Nicola of being drawn towards material with complex and compelling female lead characters, which is one of the defining elements of Portrait of a Lady," said Karlsen, adding that she and Woolley had "long been admirers" of Shindler's groundbreaking TV work. "Elizabeth and Stephen have produced some of the most acclaimed and engaging feature films of recent years, and I am delighted to be working with them on their first television project," added Shindler, named in THR's list of the most powerful women in global TV. "Having been originally published as a monthly serial, and addressing themes of personal freedom, betrayal and modernization, Henry James' Portrait of a Lady lends itself perfectly to the long-form storytelling that only TV can offer." Read More: 'Happy Valley' Producer: TV Opening up to "Less Posh British Drama" * Prague stocks at 7-year low, Hungarian at 3-month low * Zloty sets 3-week low vs euro * Polish bond yields near highest since late Jan * Pressure might ease if Fed comments are dovish (Recasts, adding new comments, volatilities, CDSs) By Sandor Peto and Bartosz Lada BUDAPEST/WARSAW, June 14 (Reuters) - Poland led further declines in Central European assets on Tuesday due to worries of slower economic growth if Britain decides to leave the European Union in a June 23 referendum. "Investors are getting really nervous (over the British vote)," said Marcin Turkiewicz, head of mBank currency dealers in Warsaw. Regional equities and government bonds eased in line with euro zone peers. The region's main currencies weakened, including the Czech crown which shed 0.1 percent against the euro to 27.05 by 1305 GMT even though it almost always sticks to levels closer to 27, the central bank's cap which serves to prevent a firming. The zloty, after hitting a 3-week low of 4.4435, rebounded to 4.4281, but was still down 0.3 percent from Monday, while the forint and the leu each shed 0.2 percent. The cost of insuring exposure to debt from some countries in the region, including Poland, rose to multi-week highs. The implied volatility of the zloty, a gauge of expected swings against the euro, surged to a 4-year high and that of the forint was at an 8-month high. Investors in Poland are worried both by the risk of a British exit from the EU and by the Warsaw government's policies for the banking sector and the rule of law. "If the (British) polls favour the 'Leave' camp, we could reach January's lows at around 4.50," said BNP Paribas dealer Sebastian Cichy. Polish central banker Jerzy Kropiwnicki said late on Monday the zloty's recent weakening had been caused by uncertainty over the British referendum, but there would be no reason to consider market intervention as long as the zloty did not approach 5 against the euro. "Kropiwnicki essentially gave speculators a green light to bet against the Polish zloty should Brexit materialise," said Rabobank in a note. Story continues Polish rate setter Lukasz Hardt said the central bank should not fight against currency markets through interventions. Poland led a fall in government bond prices in the region. The yield on 10-year paper surged by 10 basis points to 3.265, near its highest level since late January. Dovish comments from the U.S. Federal Reserve, which will start a two-day meeting on Tuesday, could give some support to Central European assets, analysts said. Warsaw's bluechip index fell 1.5 percent, led lower by energy and financial shares, stopping just short of 4-month lows. Budapest's main index touched a 3-month low and Prague set a new 7-year low. CEE SNAP AT 1505 MARKETS SHOT CET CURRENCIES Late Prev Dail Chan st ious y ge bid clos chan in e ge 2016 Czech 500 260 9% 9% Hungary 9000 2250 2% % Polish 81 63 7% 4% Romanian 50 48 3% 3% Croatian 30 61 04% % Serbian 3700 4500 06% 4% Note: calcula prev clos 1800 daily ted ious e at CET change from STOC KS Late Prev Dail Chan st ious y ge clos chan in e ge 2016 Prague 811. 818. -0.8 -15. 16 38 8% 18% Budapest 2567 2583 -0.6 +7. Like everyone else, I woke up to tragedy Sunday morning. We use that word reflexively when something involving guns and innocent people and specific phobias are involved. Theres no other word, although the media might call it breaking news and ratings bonanza. Five minutes into my bleary-eyed view of the CNN reports, I already saw how this would go. First, there would be a wringing of hands about guns. Then, or perhaps even simultaneously, there would be attempts to identify a motive. If a Muslim was somehow involved, a search for motives would cease. There would be moving disavowals of violence from Muslim-American leaders, and Facebook or Twitter would fill up with comments about how they never do enough to disavow violence. Even while they were doing it. There would be gun-control advocates wondering why a civilian could get his hands on a military-style automatic weapon, and others whod respond that the carnage could have been avoided if there were other civilians with military-style weapons allowed in that presumably gun-free zone. There would be the obligatory attack on President Barack Obama if he didnt use the right words to describe the carnage, meaning that he didnt call it an attack of Islamic terror. When it came out that the target was a gay club, people who have a thing against Christianity would be bummed because, darn it, they couldnt blame evangelical or Catholic haters for the violence. Theyd like to blame Islam, but they wouldnt want to offend the wrong people. And, this being an election year, the candidates would try to figure out a way to pick up electoral support, all the while pretending not to care about the polls. My parents should have named me Cassandra, not Christine. All of this came to pass. Not that it makes me happy to have the playbook for these tragedies imprinted on my mind. When something like this happens, there is always the hope that something new will emerge, something better. One prays (in the secular sense) that cooler heads and voices will prevail. One prays (in the real sense) that this will be the last time anything similar happens (except for the media, who exist for just such moments). But there is always disappointment because we are human beings and we want to blame the other. That other could be a responsible gun owner, if you think gun access is too easy and gun-control laws are too lax. That other could be a native-born U.S. citizen whose parents immigrated from Pakistan, and you think all refugees fleeing ISIS are actually jihadists in sheeps clothing. That other could be someone who opposes same-sex marriage if you think any criticism of gays amounts to bigotry (just ask me, Im an expert on that one). Ive been to this dance too many times to believe were capable of change. We are so hard-wired to believe that the other is a threat that we dont want to listen to other views. I once thought that trying to use humor and sarcasm to make a point would at least open dialogue, but Ive come to realize that humor is lost on in those whose opinions are steeped in absolutism and formed in anger. Gun-control advocates think those who defend gun ownership are natural enemies. They hate the NRA and blame all carnage on people who arm themselves, whether legally or not. Conversely, NRA members resent gun-control advocates for trying to eliminate their constitutional rights. They speak different languages, when they engage in conversation. Which is rare. People who think a wall should be built blame jihad (or Mexicans) for mass murder, even when presented with the fact that killers are native born and bred. People who think any discussion of the intersection between violence and ethnicity or nationality is racist feel superior to those knuckle-dragging bigots and discount their concerns. And people who, like Hillary Clinton recently noted, think we should be able to love who we love and think that anyone who defends their religious freedom to dissent is at best spouting hate speech and at worst, apologists for mass murder. Im sick of them all. What happened to the days when deaths were mourned and fingers pointed afterward when the heat of anger and despair had cooled to the equally painful but more manageable state of sad clarity? I think social media, including Facebook, Twitter and iPhones, erased that possibility forever. We are pathetic, my friends, because we are predictable in the roles we play. Its not a Greek tragedy, but a reality Cassandra would recognize. This Donald Trump emoji will really help you get your point across. (Illustration: Imma Almourzaeva) Whether hes yelling furiously, grinning mischievously, or revving up his many supporters, presumed Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is a man of many emotions. Voters will likely see a range of them on Tuesday, June 14, as Trump turns 70 on the same day that the nation holds its final presidential primary for the 2016 election in Washington, D.C. To mark the occasion, weve created some handy Donald Trump-inspired emojis to help with getting your digital messages across. For instance, if youre truly adamant about something, the Trump above is for you! Theres also a version of The Donald thats a little less passionate, perhaps more appropriate for the Celebrity Apprentice boardroom than a presidential debate. The calm and reasonable Trump emoji. (Illustration: Imma Almourzaeva) This Trump emoji can be used to express a number of feelings: Im listening; I dont believe you; Im disgusted. This Trump emoji fits many moods. (Illustration: Imma Almourzaeva) Then theres a version of Trump shooting his mouth off with his famous squint, which is perfect to use when youre not getting your way. The frustrated Trump emoji. (Illustration: Imma Almourzaeva) And, because its only fair, supporters of the presumed Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton can have their own fun, with a few emojis made just for the former secretary of state. We have one that is ideal for people who want to say theyre busy at the moment, reading through emails while waiting for a plane to depart. This Hillary Clinton emoji means business. (Illustration: Imma Almourzaeva) But Clinton isnt always serious. The smiling Clinton emoji below is perfect for those times when you want to show youre in a good mood and loving life! The happy Clinton emoji. (Illustration: Imma Almourzaeva) The final Clinton emoji captures her laughing, which you can use as you see fit. Perhaps you find something particularly hilarious. Perhaps you feel like you are going crazy and losing your mind. Story continues Weve also taken Sen. Bernie Sanders, the other remaining Democratic presidential candidate, along with his tiny, winged friend, and turned him into an emoji that shows his whimsical fashion sense. It seems to say, I have no plans to leave anytime soon. This Bernie Sanders emoji is still feeling the Bern. (Illustration: Imma Almourzaeva) Happy texting! Photo: Instagram In the wake of a tragedy like the shooting that took place at Pulse nightclub in Orlando over the weekend, people often feel helpless to enact any real changebut if youre a celebrity, your microphone is just a bit bigger than others. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that many famous faces have banded together to mourn the loss of 49 souls and reflect on the numerous factors that allowed that to happen. On Monday, June 13, a large crowd gathered in front of New York Citys iconic Stonewall Inn (the site of a 1969 police raid often credited as the start of large-scale gay rights activism in the United States) in honor of the Orlando victims. In addition to politicians including New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio, stars Titus Burgess, Nick Jonas, and Andy Cohen all lent their support to the shooting victims, their families and the LGBT community. Burgess was clearly emotional as he looked out at the hundreds who showed up for the event. I have to tell you, being here and seeing all of your faces has comforted me in a way that I did not expect coming down here, he said. I am indeed Orlando, and in times like this, I find myself at a loss for what to do. Being at a loss for words, the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt star opted to do something else: He sangor, to be specific, he sang Somewhere from West Side Story.I love you guys, he said as he exited the stage. Shortly after, pop star Nick Jonas took the mic. More than anything, I just want to speak from the heart and say I woke up yesterday to the news, like all of you, and my heart broke, he explained. I grew up here in New York City and New Jersey, performing on Broadway shows, surrounded by some of my closest friends from the LGBT community. My father, a minister from New Jersey, shaped my view that love is love, that we are all equal. That no matter who you are, or where youre from, or where youre going in life, you have the right to love and be loved. So yesterday, thinking about the families of the victims and the lives lost, I just thought that could be my friend. That could be my people. Story continues For his part, Bravo mastermind Andy Cohen took to Instagram to share a snap of the rally in real time. Rally at Stonewall with thousands of my LGBT brothers, sisters, and allies to #PrayForOrlando, he captioned the shot. #PrayForOrlando A photo posted by Andy Cohen (@bravoandy) on Jun 13, 2016 at 7:09pm PDT On the other side of the country that same night, Lady Gaga stopped by a rally at Los Angeles City Hall. Clad in a plain black ensemble with little makeup or fanfare, the pop icon read from a small notecard to the thousands who had gathered together. Orlando, we are united with you, she began. She went on to call the massacre an attack on humanity itself and joined with other speakers in reading a list of the names and ages of all of those who were killed in the attack. Like Cohen, Gaga also took to Instagram to share her thoughts.We can always count on one anothers pain to remind us what strength is all about, she wrote beside a photo of herself with her fist raised in determination and tears running down her face. #UnitedAsHumans #UnitedAsFriends." We can always count on one anothers pain to remind us what strength is all about. #UnitedAsHumans #UnitedAsFriends A photo posted by Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) on Jun 13, 2016 at 11:09pm PDT Next to another shot of herself speaking to the crowd, Gaga reflected on her experience. "I saw fear and sadness in the faces of so many, but I felt comfort knowing there are millions all over the world who are not only part of the LGBT community, but are part of the straight community and are so impassioned by this tragedy. You are not alone. No doubt many feel comforted by the honest, emotional support of stars such as these. In the wake of the heart-wrenching tragedy in Orlando, many tales of support, solidarity and love have emerged. At a time when hatred and anger can so easily dominate, it's important cling to the stories that fight back with human decency. Following the shooting, thousands of people lined up Sunday to donate blood in response, and Chick-fil-A staff handed out sandwiches and iced tea to those waiting in line, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Chick-fil-A's support comes as a (welcome) surprise, considering the chain's turbulent history with LGBTQ communities. In 2012, current CEO Dan Cathy, then the COO, made a number of comments opposing gay marriage on a national radio show. This was shortly after Chick-fil-A came under fire for donating millions of dollars to organizations that are considered hostile toward LGBTQ rights. Chick-fil-A is famously closed on Sundays. Founder Truett Cathy believed that employees should spend Sundays with family and friends and worship ("if they choose to do so"), Chick-fil-A explained on its website. So on this particular Sunday, employees extended store hours and opened up shop to help feed those waiting in line to give blood. Chick-fil-A, demonized by big city mayors, steps up to assist blood drive after Orlando... http://dlvr.it/LYSLVM pic.twitter.com/JxuBv4UFOr https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ck4CkIDVAAIoXNx.jpg:large "Our restaurant, along with a couple of others in the area, simply responded just like numerous other Orlando businesses and residents have done," Chick-fil-A of University Blvd. at Rouse Road wrote on its Facebook page. "We came together as a community to lift those in need." A number of local restaurants have offered their support in this time of crisis, some donating portions of their sales to the victims and their families and offering snacks to those waiting in the huge blood bank lines, the Orlando Sentinel reported. "Food comforts people," Gary Appelsies, the director of healthy eating for the Central Florida YMCA, told the paper. "Food is emotional support. Food feels good. It brings people together." Appelsies created a Facebook group that coordinates food deliveries of items like pizzas, salads and soft drinks from various local chefs, restaurants and caterers to the GLBT Community Center of Central Florida, as well as to the blood bank and first responders. A local outpost of Red Lobster also donated 400 cheddar bay biscuits to blood donors. Joshua Call, the founder of The Vegan Hot Dog Cart, personally handed out food at the blood bank. He watched people drop off water and snacks the "entire time" he was there. "We're one Orlando community," he told the Sentinel. GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - China's Sinohydro and China Railway Group will finance a $660 million hydroelectric plant in southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo which is being built to reduce the copper-mining region's power deficit. Congo is Africa's largest miner of copper and the 240 megawatt dam in the town of Busanga will power Sicomines, a nearby copper and cobalt mining joint venture between the Chinese companies and Congolese state miner Gecamines. Sicomines is the mining side of a $6 billion minerals-for-infrastructure deal signed in 2007, under which Sinohydro and China Railway Group pledged to build $3 billion worth of infrastructure in return for a 68 percent stake in the mine. Moise Ekanga, executive secretary of the Congolese government office charged with overseeing the deal, said on Tuesday that Sicomines would require 170 MW from the Busanga dam to run at full capacity, while the remaining 70 MW would feed the national grid. Congo's southeastern mining region has an electricity deficit of about 900 MW, the statement said. "This agreement will help jumpstart energy development in the DRC after the recent slowdown due to falling commodity prices," Ekanga said, adding Mauritian firm Mag Energy International will also be a partner in the project. The statement did not say how long construction would last. Sicomines officials have previously estimated that it would take four to five years. It also did not say whether the Chinese firms' funding would be counted toward their infrastructure or mining obligations under the original contract. Campaign groups have expressed concerns that the money will be considered as infrastructure investments, reducing the amount available for roads, schools and hospitals. Sicomines, which began operations last November, is already Congo's third largest producer of copper, according to the country's chamber of mines. (Reporting by Aaron Ross; Editing by Alexander Smith) A leading dissident lawyer in China is prepared to face the consequences over his new book predicting the possible collapse of the ruling Communist Party, his tearful daughter said Tuesday. Gao Zhisheng has been under house arrest since 2014 after serving a three-year prison term on subversion-related charges -- a sentence which sparked an international outcry. Daughter Grace Gao said the 52-year-old was about to publish a book written in custody and was ready to accept the consequences. "He told us we (the family) should be prepared. To him he is physically and mentally prepared," the 23-year-old told a press conference. Gao has indicated he is determined to sacrifice his freedom despite being separated from his family, she said, bursting into tears. "He's determined he is not going to leave China... for things he thinks are right to do," Grace Gao said. "He is putting his family aside... he thinks there are things bigger than ourselves." Gao's wife Geng He fled to the United States in 2009 with Grace and their other child. The wide-ranging book discusses the physical abuse Gao endured under detention, his faith in God and his belief that the Communist Party could collapse next year. It has been brought out by a Taiwanese publisher and will go on sale there this week. But the publisher is still looking for a distributor in Hong Kong, said pro-democracy lawmaker Albert Ho. The dissident lives in an isolated village in Shaanxi province. Ho, a friend of Gao, would not say how the manuscript was delivered to the publisher. Gao fell foul of Chinese authorities by championing the rights of vulnerable people including underground Christians, aggrieved miners and members of the banned Falungong spiritual movement. He was convicted in 2006 of "subversion of state power" and given a three-year suspended prison sentence. State media said in 2011 that he had been ordered to serve the sentence after a Beijing court ruled he had violated the terms of his probation. Story continues The decision was criticised by the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and rights groups such as Amnesty International. Upon his 2014 release, his family said he had suffered abuse in prison and malnutrition that led to severe tooth damage. Grace said her father was still living in "difficult" conditions and not receiving proper care. China imprisons a number of high-profile critics including Liu Xiaobo, the writer and democracy advocate who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010. Shanghai Film Group, one of the largest film production companies in China, and Germanys Studio Babelsberg, which is one of Europes leading film and TV production facilities, have signed a strategic pact. Ren Zhonglun, president of Shanghai Film Group, Wang Xiaojun, VP of Shanghai Film Group, Charlie Woebcken, CEO of Studio Babelsberg, and Christoph Fisser, COO of Studio Babelsberg, unveiled the alliance at the Shanghai Film Festival Tuesday, and signed a memorandum of understanding to seal the pact at a special ceremony. Among the goals of the partnership are the modernization of the Shanghai Film Groups film studio complex in China; the development of a joint production services infrastructure on an international level; the transfer of know-how and training of workers; the development of international business activities; and collaboration on co-productions. Woebcken said: We see a great chance for Studio Babelsberg to embark on international expansion in China. We had already been having talks with the Shanghai Film Group for some time, and have spoken with many potential partners in China. The Shanghai Film Group is the ideal partner for a partnership. The Shanghai Film Group and Studio Babelsberg have a great tradition and many successful references. We want to work together on establishing a joint Production Service unit in Shanghai, which will be able to realize major international film projects in China, according to international standards. In addition, we are looking at international co-productions where a fruitful exchange of know-how can exist on both sides. The Shanghai Film Group has a 7% share of production in China, and oversees more than 1,800 cinema screens. It gathers numerous companies under one roof, including the Shanghai Film Studios, which are one of the countrys longest established film studios. Its core business is in the development, production and exploitation of film and TV formats. Related stories Story continues Studio Babelsberg, Canada Goose Celebrate at Soho House, Berlin Berlin's Studio Babelsberg Invests $13.2 Million in Backlot Set, Starts Construction (EXCLUSIVE) Germany's Studio Babelsberg Celebrates 'Grand Budapest Hotel's' Four Oscar Wins Several Chinese stocks listed on the U.S. stock exchanges are in focus, as Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) decides whether to list mainland Chinese shares on several of its global indices. If it does happen, it will definitely be good news for the Chinese economy, which had a torrid run this year. This is because more money will flow into its sagging economy, eventually putting a ceiling to market volatility and fulfilling its need for foreign investments. Inclusion by MSCI will fuel demand for Chinese companies. Is China Ready for Prime Time? China is a huge part of the global economy, but still a large part of its stock market isnt represented in most of the global indices. Is MSCI, the largest indexing firm in the world, trying to put that right by considering whether to include mainland China stocks on their global indices? This is in spite of the fact that regulatory countdown has pushed local traders away. Chinas so-called A-shares or mainland China stocks had tanked to less than one-third of their value in the countrys two major markets Shanghai and Shenzhen in May from its peak level in Jun 2015. Analysts round the world are debating whether mainland China shares are ready for prime time or not. In this context, Chinese authorities did address specific concerns of the MSCI, which more or less represent the concerns of the global investing community at large. Too many trading halts in the Chinese stock market during the beginning of the year created havoc among foreign investors who had to deal with redemption requests. However, authorities had set a maximum period of stock halts at three months. Questions regarding foreign investors owning Chinese shares have been cleared. Chinese authorities confirmed that they do own such shares even though they are held by local asset managers. Authorities also added that foreign investors will be able to invest adequately depending on the size of the firm and can get their money out without much fuss. Story continues Including China A-shares would be a Game Changer The worlds second largest economy is in desperate need for foreign investments. In order to tame market volatility, institutionalize the onshore market and broaden the investor base, such investments have become essential. With the inclusion, hundreds of billions of U.S. dollars are expected to flow into Chinese stocks. An inclusion of just 5% of A-shares will attract around $17 billion from funds tracking the MSCI Emerging Markets Index alone, as per HSBC Holdings plc HSBC estimates. Moreover, it is anticipated that the inclusion will result in an inflow of an extra $20 billion to $30 billion in Chinese stocks over the next year. MSCI also said that Chinese stocks index weighting could increase to 20% in the future provided Beijing allows foreign investors more access to its markets. Additional capital inflows will be able to offset capital outflows from its citizens. What Lies Ahead? The MSCI China A Index, which tracks A-shares, plummeted almost 46% over the past 12 months after MSCI decided not to include Chinese A-shares last June. However, this time around, MSCI is likely to welcome A-shares. Given the advantages of being listed and the steps taken by the Chinese authorities, MSCI is expected to take a gradual approach in listing all mainland Chinese shares. The MSCI China A index has 420 stocks with a market capitalization of $800 billion. MSCI has already mentioned that the initial inclusion of China A-shares in the Emerging Markets index will be limited to 1.1% of the weight of the index. This proportion will gradually increase with the passage of time. A 1.1% weightage accounts for almost $16 billion that foreign investors need to acquire mostly within the next few months. Also to be noted is the fact that China A-shares with a full weight will be about 15% of the Emerging Market index. Chinese Stocks Draw Attention Chinese stocks had a horrible start to this year. But, if MSCI considers it fit to include China mainland shares in several of its indices then billions of dollars will undoubtedly be pumped into Chinese shares, resulting in a bull run. This means we will expect heavy trading volume in major Chinese stocks listed on the U.S. stock exchanges, including NetEase, Inc. NTES, Ctrip.com International Ltd. CTRP, JD.com, Inc. JD and 58.com Inc. WUBA. While NetEase boasts a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Ctrip.com International, JD.com and 58.com carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). On the other hand, other Chinese behemoths listed on the U.S. stock exchange like Alibaba Group Holding Limited BABA and Baidu, Inc. BIDU dont share the same fate as the above mentioned companies. While Alibaba Group has a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell), Baidu, Inc., Chinas answer to Alphabet Inc. GOOGL, has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report JD.COM INC-ADR (JD): Free Stock Analysis Report NETEASE INC (NTES): Free Stock Analysis Report BAIDU INC (BIDU): Free Stock Analysis Report CTRIP.COM INTL (CTRP): Free Stock Analysis Report ALPHABET INC-A (GOOGL): Free Stock Analysis Report ALIBABA GROUP (BABA): Free Stock Analysis Report HSBC HOLDINGS (HSBC): Free Stock Analysis Report 58.COM INC-ADR (WUBA): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Just this year, China ended its 30-year-long one-child policy, allowing couples to have up to two children. With this change comes an even greater need for an already scant commodity -- sperm. China is entreating men between the ages of 20 and 45 to donate sperm "for the sake of your country," The New York Times reports. Securing sperm from donors is not as easy as it might appear. Almost half of Chinese men who do choose to donate are weeded out due to sexually transmitted diseases or "inadequate semen parameters," a 2011 study said. Further, The New York Times reports that many Chinese men do not donate because Chinese traditional medicine associates semen with vitality. Additionally, many are reluctant to use sperm donors, arguing the practice is not in line with Confucian values. [READ: In China, Confucius is politically correct.] Sperm banks are reportedly trying to combat this with incentives such as a rose-gold iPhone and up to $1,000 in cash. According to the Times, one Beijing sperm bank's ad reads: "Donating sperm and donating blood are the same thing. It's all about giving back to society." You can follow Rachel Dicker on Twitter or reach her at rdicker@usnews.com. Last week the 9th U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that theres no constitutional right to carry a concealed weapon. The court upheld a provision in Californias gun law that requires applicants to present a good cause for wanting a concealed-carry permit. Sensible gun laws are still possible. The politics are difficult, but the fight must not be abandoned. What happened in Orlando Sunday morning and in so many places before Orlando must fuel a righteous outrage. Politicians who refuse to embrace the logic after this atrocity dont deserve to be in office. The 9th Circuit is the most liberal of the 11 U.S. judicial circuits. Its rulings apply only to nine western states, of which only California and Hawaii have good cause provisions in their concealed carry laws. Still, the case of Peruta v. San Diego could go to the U.S. Supreme Court on appeal, which makes the question of who appoints Justice Antonin Scalias successor even more important. In 2008, Scalia wrote the majority opinion in D.C. v. Heller, which sets out the current interpretation of the Second Amendment. Not only do individuals have the right to own guns, Scalia wrote, they can own weapons of the sort in common use, just as people did when the Constitution was written. However, he was vague on dangerous and unusual weapons. Not even Scalia was comfortable with a constitutional right to military-style assault rifles. In 2013, in an interview on The Daily Show, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, former commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, explained: If youve been on the battlefield youve probably carried an M-4 Carbine. It does terrible damage. Its supposed to. I dont want them on our streets. I dont want them in our schools. I think we need to have a very serious look at why we would even consider having guns like that out there. An M-4 is a shorter M-16, the military version of the AR-15. Omar Mateen is believed to have used an AR-15 to kill most of the 49 victims at the Pulse nightclub. AR-15s, made by many manufacturers in multiple calibers, were part of the arsenals used in previous mass shootings in San Bernadino and Santa Monica, California; Roseburg, Oregon; Newtown, Connecticut; and Aurora, Colorado. And more. A bill in Congress, HR 4269, would ban the sale and import of AR-15s and similar weapons as well as handguns that can fire more than 10 rounds. It has been buried in the House Judiciary Committee for more than 18 months. It doesnt have to stay buried, but outraged Americans are going to have to act on that outrage. Such a ban wouldnt solve the problem, but it would help. And America needs help with its gun addiction. By the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, another Lee Enterprises newspaper. BEIJING (Reuters) - China warned the United States on Tuesday to stick by its promises not to support any separatist activities, ahead of a U.S. visit by Taiwan's new president and a possible meeting between the Dalai Lama and U.S. President Barack Obama. The self-ruled, democratic island of Taiwan and the remote mountainous region of Tibet are two of China's most sensitive political and diplomatic issues. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said both issues involved the "one China" policy, a basic diplomatic tenet referring to both Taiwan and Tibet being part of China that Beijing insists foreign governments recognize. "I can responsibly tell you that on this issue the U.S. government has made solemn promises, which is to uphold a one China policy," Lu told a daily news briefing. Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen will transit in Miami on her way to Panama, one of the island's few diplomatic allies, for the expansion ceremony of the Panama Canal and stopover in Los Angeles on her return, Taiwan deputy foreign minister Javier Ching-shan Hou said on Tuesday. Her trip abroad from June 24 to July 2 will also include a state visit to another ally, Paraguay, the government said. Travel abroad is sensitive for Taiwanese leaders who have angered China in the past because it is seen as exerting sovereignty. China is suspicious of Tsai, who assumed office last month, as she is also head of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Lu said the U.S. has said it opposes Taiwan independence. "We demand the U.S. government earnestly stands by its promises, conscientiously handle the relevant issue in accordance with the one China principle and not give any space to any individual or behavior which tries to create two Chinas, one China one Taiwan, or to split China," he added. Taiwan deputy minister Hou gave no details on who Tsai would meet while in the U.S. On the issue of the Dalai Lama, whom Beijing brands a dangerous separatist, Lu said the United States also recognizes that Tibet is an inseparable part of China. "The 14th Dalai Lama often puts up the facade of religion to peddle internationally his political position of splitting China," he said. "We demand no country or government give him any space for such activities and should certainly not do anything the 1.3 billion people of China would resolutely oppose." Asked if he would meet Obama during his three-day visit to Washington, exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama told Reuters on Monday it was "not finalised, but some friends say he may meet me". The Dalai Lama says he simply wants genuine autonomy for Tibet rather than independence. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by J.R. Wu in Taipei) On Jun 14, we issued an updated research report on Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. CMG. The company posted mixed first-quarter 2016 results, wherein loss was narrower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate while revenues missed the mark. This was the companys first quarterly loss since its IPO in 2006. Food-Safety Issues & Other Risks Chipotle has been reeling under negative publicity related to the E. coli and norovirus outburst since end-2015. As a safety measure, the fast casual chain was forced to close several outlets. Although these were reopened later with fresh ingredients and extensive cleaning and sanitizing activities, the incidents dealt a severe blow to Chipotles sales. Thus, given the negative publicity related to these food-borne illnesses, Chipotles popularity among health-conscious diners is likely to decline further. The company thus expects both earnings and revenues to remain under pressure in the near term. Moreover, Chipotle intends to roll out a number of marketing and promotional initiatives to bring back customers to its stores and the costs associated with these will continue to impact profitability. Also, implementation of food safety practices has increased the amount of labor required to prepare and serve food, resulting in higher labor costs which may further continue to keep profits under pressure. Turnaround Efforts Nonetheless, the companys efforts to maintain its market position through expansion plans coupled with various sales and technology driven initiatives bode well. Notably, Chipotle is leaving no stone unturned to lure back customers to its restaurants. The company has undertaken an inclusive assessment of its food safety programs and practices to ensure the quality and safety of food. Chipotle is also focusing on developing new food safety protocols and emphasizing on internal training programs to make sure that its employees are aware of the companys standards for food safety and handling. Meanwhile, the companys aggressive unit expansion strategy is expected to accelerate same-store sales. With the resurgence in consumer confidence, management has accelerated unit openings and expects unit growth in the range of 220 to 235 outlets in 2016. Moreover, offering of free burritos, buy one get one deals and menu innovations should further aid the company in gaining back customers. Stocks to Consider Chipotle currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Better-ranked stocks in this sector include Papa John's International Inc. PZZA, BJ's Restaurants, Inc. BJRI and The Wendy's Company WEN. All the three stocks carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report CHIPOTLE MEXICN (CMG): Free Stock Analysis Report BJ'S RESTAURANT (BJRI): Free Stock Analysis Report WENDYS CO/THE (WEN): Free Stock Analysis Report PAPA JOHNS INTL (PZZA): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research hillary clinton Hillary Clinton laid into Donald Trump's response to the Orlando terrorist shooting that left at least 49 dead on Sunday. In a speech in Pittsburgh on Tuesday, the former secretary of state slammed Trump for his aggressive rhetoric in the wake of the attack at an LGBT nightclub in Florida, and said that Trump was "obsessed with name-calling." "It was one thing when he was a reality TV personality. Raising his arms and yelling 'you're fired.' It's another thing altogether when he's the Republican party's presumptive nominee for president," Clinton said. "Americans, we don't need conspiracy theories and pathological self-congratulations." Clinton criticized Trump's proposal to bar all Muslims from entering the US, pointing out that the shooter was born in Trump's home borough of Queens, New York. She also railed against the presumptive Republican presidential nominee for suggesting that President Barack Obama may be sympathetic to Islamic terror groups. "Just think about that for a second. Even in a time of divided politics, this is way beyond anything that should be said by someone running for president of the United States," Clinton said. Clinton's speech came a day after Trump quickly attempted to cast Clinton and Obama were weak in response to the terror attacks. Speaking on Monday in New Hampshire, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee claimed that the former secretary of state wants to abolish the second amendment and let in refugees without screening. "Her plan is to disarm law-abiding Americans, abolishing the Second Amendment, and leaving only the bad guys and terrorists with guns. No good. Not going to happen, folks. Not going to happen," Trump said. "The bottom line is that Hillary supports policies that bring the threat of radical Islam into America and allow it to grow overseas, and it is growing. Hillary Clinton's catastrophic immigration plan will bring vastly more radical Islamic immigration into this country, threatening not only our society, but our entire way of life." Story continues In Pittsburgh on Tuesday, Clinton refuted the real-estate mogul's assertions. "These are demonstrably lies. But he feels compelled to tell them, because he has to distract us from the fact that he has nothing substantive to say," Clinton said. NOW WATCH: Heres the $5.3 million mansion the Obamas will reportedly live in after the White House More From Business Insider Presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton delivered a scathing rebuke of Donald Trump's response to the terrorist attacks in Orlando, saying her Republican opponent has "nothing substantive" to say about his plan to combat the Islamic State and instead resorts to "bizarre rants and outright lies." Clinton made the speech Tuesday afternoon during a campaign stop in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, one day after Trump doubled down on his plan to ban Muslims from immigrating to the United States following Sunday's massacre which was carried out by a man who pledged allegiance to ISIS. Read more: Donald Trump Embraces Gays and Gives Muslims the Middle Finger in Speech on Orlando She fired back at Trump's attack that she won't utter the words "radical Islamic terrorism," asking "what exactly would it change" if she said the words. "Is Donald Trump suggesting that there are magic words that once uttered will stop terrorists from coming after us?" Clinton said. Hillary Clinton in Pittsburgh, about to rebut Trump on national securitypic.twitter.com/Y9TWBSI9rX https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ck7LaaeXIAQt8yN.jpg:large She added, "If Donald suggests I won't call this threat what it is, he hasn't been listening. But I will not declare war on an entire religion." At the same time, Clinton called out the Republican leaders who have yet to condemn Trump's comment suggesting President Barack Obama is a terrorist sympathizer, after Trump said in an interview with Fox News that, "There's something going on" with Obama's refusal to speak the words "radical Islamic terrorism." "Will responsible Republican leaders stand up to their presumptive nominee?" Clinton asked. "Or will they stand by his accusation of our president?" Story continues Clinton delivered her remarks at the same time Obama spoke from the White House to criticize Trump's doubling down on his Muslim immigration ban following the attack in Orlando. He echoed many of the attacks Clinton spoke during her speech. @POTUS responds to Trump's call to use the phrase "radical Islam":pic.twitter.com/sYBYNl7YjU "This is a country founded on basic freedoms, including freedom of religion. We don't have religious tests here," Obama said. "Our founders, our Constitution, our Bill of Rights are clear about that. And if we ever abandon those values, we would not only make it a lot easier to radicalize people here and around the world, but we would have betrayed the very things we are trying to protect." By Amanda Becker and James Oliphant WASHINGTON - Hours before rivals Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders were to meet on Tuesday when the Democratic presidential nominating contests conclude, Sanders said he would push for "the most progressive platform" ever passed at the party's convention next month and to reform the nominating process. Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, said he was looking forward to his meeting Tuesday night with Clinton, which comes as the self-styled Democratic socialist is facing pressure to formally concede in the fiercely fought Democratic primary and begin working with Clinton to unify the party to take on Republican Donald Trump in November. "The time is long overdue for a fundamental transformation of the Democratic Party," Sanders told reporters at a last-minute press conference he called in Washington, D.C., which on Tuesday is holding the final Democratic nominating contest. Sanders' demands for reforms to the nominating process included same-day voter registration; adequate resources to timely count ballots; elimination of closed nominating contests, in which a voter must be registered as a Democrat or Republican to participate; and doing away with superdelegates, who are unelected but pledge support to a candidate. The meeting between Clinton and Sanders was planned on June 7 when the former secretary of state secured enough delegates to become the presumed Democratic nominee, scoring victories in heavily populated states California and New Jersey. Clinton leads Sanders in both the number of elected pledged delegates and superdelegates "Secretary Clinton and Senator Sanders agreed to meet when she called him last Tuesday night," a Clinton campaign official told Reuters. "She looks forward to the opportunity to discuss how they can advance their shared commitment to a progressive agenda, and work together to stop Donald Trump in the general election," the official added. Sanders has promised supporters that he would remain in the race until every vote was cast, and that he would continue to push his agenda - which focuses on wealth inequality, health, education and the environment - at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in July. Top Democrats took steps last week to begin rallying behind Clinton, however, and ease Sanders out of the race without alienating his supporters. President Barack Obama endorsed Clinton last Thursday, hours after meeting with Sanders at the White House. Sanders also went to Capitol Hill to meet with Senator Harry Reid, the top Democrat in the Senate. Reid said after that meeting that Sanders had accepted Clinton was the Democratic nominee. Clinton also last week secured the endorsement of U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who remained neutral in the primary race until it was clear Clinton would be the nominee. Warren's populist credentials will boost Clinton's ability to court Sanders' voters. (Reporting by Amanda Becker; Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Leslie Adler) Here's an idea: Put convicted ex-Stanford student Brock Turner and his father in a locked, barred room with the parents of college-age daughters who've been raped and let them sort things out. * Beans too small, quality too low for processing * Grinders reducing output or shutting down entirely By Ange Aboa and Kwasi Kpodo ABIDJAN/ACCRA, June 14 (Reuters) - Cocoa grinders in Ivory Coast and Ghana, the world's top two bean producers, have slashed output or suspended operations due to a lack of beans fit for processing, company officials said on Tuesday, heightening to the risk of a supply deficit. Port arrivals in leading grower Ivory Coast are lagging behind last year due to poor weather, while Ghana is set for only a modest recovery from last season's failed crop. Ivory Coast is currently harvesting its mid-crop, which runs from April to September. Ghana has yet to fix a period for marketing its light crop this season and is expected to offer grinders discount on light crop beans, determined by their size. Grinders buy the bulk of mid crop and light crop beans, which are smaller than main crop cocoa, but this season they have been in short supply. "Everyone is reducing grinding capacity to be able to keep working, because it costs more to close and reopen than to reduce output," said the head of one processor in Ivory Coast, which is the world's biggest grinder. Bean size is determined by the number of beans per 100 grammes of cocoa, known as the bean count, with a higher figure reflecting smaller bean size. Smaller beans contain less cocoa butter, the ingredient that gives chocolate its texture. "The bean count is high. We're seeing 140, 150 or even 160," said Ali Lakiss, Chief Executive Officer of Choco-Ivoire, a grinder based in Ivory Coast's second port city San Pedro. "We've stopped grinding, because we don't have enough beans." Other Ivorian processors said they would keep operating but reduce output sharply. However two of them said they would probably have to shut down if the beans did not improve in July and August. Ivory Coast's 12 local grinders have installed processing capacity of 720,000 tonnes annually. Swiss firm Barry Callebaut , Singapore's Olam International, U.S.-based Cargill and France's Cemoi are the largest. Story continues Neighbouring Ghana has a much smaller grinding sector, processing less than 30 percent of its total cocoa output. The government and cocoa regulator Cocobod want to increase capacity and process half the crop domestically. However, its grinders are also facing difficulties this year. "We run our factory based on availability of beans and recently, we have had to cut output, sometimes drastically, based on the stocks available," said one company official. Grinders currently operating in Ghana include U.S-based Cargill, Olam and France's Touton, Barry Callebaut and domestically owned Cocoa Processing Company. One processor told Reuters bean stocks were so far allowing his company to weather a shortage of discounted light crop beans, considered to be cocoa with a count exceeding 120 beans per 100 g, but that was only a short-term solution. "They are not receiving much from us because the beans are not available," said one Cocobod official. "Alternatively, they buy the main crop beans but it's expensive. Unfortunately, it's going to be worse for them." Last season, many Ghana-based grinders imported beans from Ivory Coast to keep factories running. But that's unlikely to be an option this year. "There's a problem of beans over there again, but there's nothing we can do this time," said an Abidjan-based grinder. "To be honest it's not worth it. It's better to grind in Ivory Coast. Electricity and beans are the problem in Ghana." (Writing by Joe Bavier; Editing by Ruth Pitchford) Brazzaville (AFP) - Congo's security services on Tuesday detained General Jean-Marie Michel Mokoko, who ran unsuccessfully against President Denis Sassou Nguesso in a disputed election in March, his lawyer told AFP. The general has been accused of discussing plans to remove Sassou Nguesso from power with a French intelligence agent in a video filmed in 2007. "He has been detained for questioning at the DGST (security services),"Mokoko's lawyer Yvon Eric Ibouanga said. He added that the investigation against Mokoko, who was military chief of the oil-rich African nation from 1987 to 1993, was still at the "preliminary" stage. Witnesses said Mokoko was escorted to DGST offices by several police officers. He had quit as a peace and security advisor to Sassou Nguesso in February in order to challenge the strongman's 32-year grip on power. The general took less than 14 percent in the March 20 election, which returned Sassou Nguesso to the presidency with more than 60 percent of the vote. The opposition charged that the poll was marked by "massive fraud". Mokoko had already been questioned over the video on the eve of the election. He has been living under surveillance at his home in central Brazzaville since the vote. Lyle Denniston, the National Constitution Centers constitutional literacy adviser, looks at the latest legal developments related to assault weapons bans, including one case to be considered by the Supreme Court at its private Conference on Thursday. Authorities have said the weapon used in the deadly shooting at an Orlando, Florida, nightclub was an AR-15-style weapon. Dozens of companies in the U.S. produce versions of the AR, which is the most popular weapon of its kind in the United States. There are as many as 9 million AR-style weapons in the U.S. Prices run from $550 up, and the going price is usually less than $1,000 for a new gun. Excerpt from an online story on June 13 by Raycom News Network. Eight years after the Supreme Court recognized an individuals right under the Second Amendment to have a gun for personal self-defense, the deepest division over what that means now focuses on the issue of access to assault weapons especially, the very popular AR-15, a rapidly firing civilian version of the militarys old standby, the M-16 rifle. A handful of states or cities, citing mass killings in recent years by individuals armed with an assault weapon, have passed laws to flatly ban the possession of such guns. By coincidence, in the wake of the killings early Sunday at a gay nightclub in Orlando by a gunman using an AR-15, the constitutionality of such bans is at issue in a case now awaiting the Supreme Courts attention. The scope of the Second Amendment as it applies to such guns is definitely not settled. Following the shooting of 20 young students and six educators in the Connecticut city of Newtown four years ago, the state legislature in 2015 added new provisions to existing gun control laws, and in the process broadened its ban on semi-automatic guns, which it labeled assault weapons. A total of seven states and a few cities now have similar laws on the books, and so far none of those has been struck down in a final ruling, although a ban enacted in Maryland has been under a constitutional cloud because of a federal appeals courts initial reaction to it. Story continues The Connecticut case, Shew v. Malloy, reached the Supreme Court in February in an appeal by four residents and two organizations, after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the ban, finding it did not violate the Second Amendment. The appeal in that case is scheduled to be considered by the Justices at their private Conference on Thursday, less than a week after the nightclub massacre in Orlando. The Justices surely are aware of the Orlando incident, but will attempt to put that out of their minds as they examine the issue. The state of Maryland also passed such a ban following the Newtown shooting, and that statute has been under review by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. The Maryland law flatly outlaws owning an assault-weapon and bullet magazines holding more than 10 rounds. Last month, 14 judges of the Fourth Circuit Court sat together in Richmond, Virginia to ponder the constitutionality of Marylands Firearm Safety Act. State officials in Maryland had persuaded the full bench of that appeals court to take up the issue after a three-judge panel had ruled. The panel declared that the ban had to be judged by the toughest constitutional test there is for a government action or law strict scrutiny. A law measured by such a standard will seldom be upheld, and gun rights advocates have been pressing the courts to use that test. One of the probable reasons that the full bench was persuaded to review the case (setting aside the panels ruling) is that four other federal appeals courts have ruled differently. Those other courts have used a lower constitutional standard and upheld bans on assault-weapons and, in some of the cases, high-capacity magazines, too. One of those rulings was by the Second Circuit Court in the Connecticut case now on the Supreme Courts docket. In another of those decisions, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld a ban imposed by a local Illinois government in Highland Park, Illinois. A local resident who owned that type of weapon and magazine took his Second Amendment challenge to the Supreme Court, but the Justices refused last December to hear his case. That left the ordinance intact. Justice Clarence Thomas (in a dissenting opinion joined by Justice Antonin Scalia, who has since died) argued then that the Seventh Circuit Court had turned the Second Amendment right to have a gun into a second-class right. (In February, when the Supreme Court held a hearing on a federal law that takes away the right to a gun after conviction for a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence, Justice Thomas for the first time in 10 years broke his customary silence on the bench to ask a government lawyer whether any other constitutional right can be taken away after being found guilty of a minor crime. That has been taken by some observers as an indication that Thomas may say something more broadly about the scope of the Second Amendment when the court decides that case Voisine v. United States between now and the end of June.) Because the Supreme Court did not explain its reasoning in December for turning aside the Highland Park case, its denial did not create any new precedent on assault-weapon laws that would apply outside of the area of the Seventh Circuit Court. That denial, though, has only enhanced the visibility of the new cases reaching, or on their way to, the Supreme Court. As assault weapons cases are examined in lower courts, here are the key issues that have been coming up regularly (none of which has yet been answered by the Supreme Court): First, do assault-weapons and high-volume magazines get any protection under the Second Amendment, or are they outside of it in the same way that a military machine gun would be? Second, is such a flat ban unconstitutional when the weapon involved is highly popular, and thus is recognized as one that is in common use one of the factors that the Supreme Court has said should be considered? Third, is such a flat ban always unconstitutional because it allows no exceptions, and thus puts such a commonly used weapon completely out of the hands of even trustworthy, law-abiding citizens? Fourth, is the fact that the weapon is very much like the one that the military has traditionally used on the battlefield (the M-16) an indication that it should not be allowed for the general public that is, is it too dangerous? Fifth, if the Second Amendment does provide some protection for private possession of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, how rigorous should the constitutional test be? Should it be the tough test of strict scrutiny, or something less demanding? It is apparent that the issue is one that will continue to arise in lower courts, although there is no certainty that the Justices will step in to provide answers to those questions. In the eight years since the Supreme Court opened this constitutional discourse with its initial ruling in District of Columbia v. Heller, the Justices have issued only one ruling on the type of weapons that might qualify for protection under the Second Amendment. In a Massachusetts case, the court in March told a state court to reconsider a ruling that had upheld a ban on stun guns weapons that send an electronic pulse that is capable of disabling or injuring a person. At some point, the Justices may find a need to speak more expansively on the issue. However, with only eight Justices currently on the bench, it is an open question whether the court will be willing to step in, when there could be the prospect of a 4-to-4 split, which would settle nothing. Recent Stories on Constitution Daily The Miranda warning is born 50 years ago today It was 150 years ago today: Congress approved the 14th Amendment Podcast: Hamilton, the man and the musical (Reuters) - A prisoner convicted of killing a 16-year-old girl escaped on Monday in Arkansas while he was working as a member of a prison work crew, a corrections spokesman said. Lloyd Jones, 40, escaped from East Arkansas Regional Unit prison in the small community of Brickeys, about 100 miles east of the state capital, Little Rock, according to a post on the website of the Arkansas Department of Corrections. Jones had been serving a 60-year sentence after pleading guilty to murder in 2012, said Solomon Graves, spokesman Arkansas Department of Corrections. The case stemmed from the murder of a girl Jones met near the Arkansas River and whose body he stuffed in a barrel after killing her, according to media reports at the time. Jones escaped from a work detail about two miles from the main prison on a patch of state property where prisoners where working on a construction site, Graves said. Graves said Jones was under armed guard when he ran away. He could not immediately say how Jones eluded the guard detail. "Our focus right now is bringing the inmate into custody. How he got away will be determined at a later date," Graves said. It is unclear if Jones is still wearing the white inmate uniform he had on when he escaped, according to Graves, who said investigators were trying to determine whether Jones knew anyone in the area. Jones has multiple tattoos, including depictions of a dragon, a wizard and a skull, according to the website for the Department of Corrections. Another inmate at an Arkansas prison had attempted to escape two months ago. That inmate was shot and killed shortly after leaving the secure fence, according to CNN. (Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Editing by Peter Cooney and Nick Macfie) (Reuters) - An inmate convicted of killing a 16-year-old girl escaped on Monday from a prison in Arkansas, corrections authorities said. Lloyd Jones, 40, escaped from East Arkansas Regional Unit prison in the small community of Brickeys, about 100 miles east of the state capital, Little Rock, according to a post on the website of the Arkansas Department of Corrections. A spokesman for the department did not return calls. Jones pleaded guilty in 2012 to charges that he murdered a girl he had met near the Arkansas River and stuffed her body in a barrel, Arkansas television station KFSM reported at the time. On Monday, Jones escaped from a prison work detail and authorities have devoted extensive resources to search for him, Little Rock television station KARK said, citing a prison spokesman. Jones has multiple tattoos, including depictions of a dragon, a wizard and a skull, according to the website for the Department of Corrections. (Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Editing by Peter Cooney) The Southern Poverty Law Center is dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry and seeks justice for the most vulnerable members of our society. As a supporter of the SPLC I was anxious to read of the impact the Donald Trump presidential campaign is having on America's school children by an online survey of teachers by the SPLC Teaching Tolerance group. The rhetoric of hatred, bigotry and insulting language toward immigrants, women, other religious groups and other nationalities by Trump and his supporters has resulted in producing one of the most divisive, unpopular and frightening elections in our history. Teachers across our country have noted an increase in bullying, harassment and intimidation of students of different races, religions and nationalities targeted by some candidates and their supporters. Two-thirds of teachers have reported many students of undocumented immigrants and minorities having expressed fears of what might happen to them and their families after the election. The online survey by the SPLC didn't want the names of candidates, but more than 20 percent who answered mentioned Donald Trump and only 4 percent mentioned Ted Cruz, Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton Trump has spoken of deporting millions of Latino immigrants and building a wall between Mexico and the U.S. A teacher in North Carolina says she has Latino students who carry their birth certificates and Social Security cards to school because they're afraid they will be deported. The hateful language used by candidates and their supporters has led to many black and Hispanic students concerned about their safety because of what they see on TV at Trump rallies. This campaign with its accusatory language has led to a great increase in anti-minority, anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim sentiments against undocumented members who fear their families will be separated. Harold W. Hopp, Mason City BRASILIA, June 13 (Reuters) - The Supreme Court decided on Monday to return a corruption investigation into former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to a crusading anti-corruption judge who is presiding over cases in the sprawling Petrobras graft scandal. Lula, Brazil's most influential politician, who has not ruled out running again in 2018, is under investigation for allegedly benefiting, in the form of payments and a luxury apartment, from the corruption scheme uncovered at the state-run oil company. The Supreme Court took over the Lula investigation from lower court judge Sergio Moro in March after he released a wiretap of a conversation between Lula and then-President Dilma Rousseff as evidence she was appointing him to her Cabinet to shield him from prosecution. But on Monday, Supreme Court Justice Teori Zavascki ruled the recording was inadmissible as evidence because it was taped after the warrant expired and he sent the Lula case back to Moro, exposing Lula to possible arrest and prosecution. If Lula is convicted of any crime, he could not run for president for eight years under Brazil's clean-slate law. Rousseff, his successor and protegee, was suspended last month when the Senate voted to put her on trial for breaking budget laws, ousting Lula's Workers' Party after 13 years in power. The impeachment trial is expected to conclude in August. If she is convicted, interim President Michel Temer, of the PMDB party, will serve out her term through 2018. Brazil's largest-ever corruption investigation has uncovered a massive graft scheme in which local construction and engineering firms colluded to overcharge Petrobras for work and used the excess funds to bribe executives and provide kickbacks to politicians in Rousseff's governing coalition. Elected politicians can only be tried by the Supreme Court. To date, only one has been put on trial there, the suspended speaker of the lower house of Congress, Eduardo Cunha, who is facing several investigations into millions of dollars in bribes and undeclared bank accounts in Switzerland. Story continues A congressional ethics committee will vote on Tuesday on whether to strip Cunha of his seat and his relative immunity as a lawmaker for lying to the chamber about his Swiss accounts. Prosecutors in the Petrobras investigation filed a civil lawsuit against Cunha and his wife on Monday seeking the return to public coffers of $5.7 million in graft money. They called for Cunha to be stripped of his political rights for 10 years. (Reporting by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Peter Cooney) BRASILIA (Reuters) - The Supreme Court decided on Monday to return a corruption investigation into former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to a crusading anti-corruption judge who is presiding over cases in the sprawling Petrobras graft scandal. Lula, Brazil's most influential politician, who has not ruled out running again in 2018, is under investigation for allegedly benefiting, in the form of payments and a luxury apartment, from the corruption scheme uncovered at the state-run oil company. The Supreme Court took over the Lula investigation from lower court judge Sergio Moro in March after he released a wiretap of a conversation between Lula and then-President Dilma Rousseff as evidence she was appointing him to her Cabinet to shield him from prosecution. But on Monday, Supreme Court Justice Teori Zavascki ruled the recording was inadmissible as evidence because it was taped after the warrant expired and he sent the Lula case back to Moro, exposing Lula to possible arrest and prosecution. If Lula is convicted of any crime, he could not run for president for eight years under Brazil's clean-slate law. Rousseff, his successor and protegee, was suspended last month when the Senate voted to put her on trial for breaking budget laws, ousting Lula's Workers' Party after 13 years in power. The impeachment trial is expected to conclude in August. If she is convicted, interim President Michel Temer, of the PMDB party, will serve out her term through 2018. Brazil's largest-ever corruption investigation has uncovered a massive graft scheme in which local construction and engineering firms colluded to overcharge Petrobras for work and used the excess funds to bribe executives and provide kickbacks to politicians in Rousseff's governing coalition. Elected politicians can only be tried by the Supreme Court. To date, only one has been put on trial there, the suspended speaker of the lower house of Congress, Eduardo Cunha, who is facing several investigations into millions of dollars in bribes and undeclared bank accounts in Switzerland. A congressional ethics committee will vote on Tuesday on whether to strip Cunha of his seat and his relative immunity as a lawmaker for lying to the chamber about his Swiss accounts. Prosecutors in the Petrobras investigation filed a civil lawsuit against Cunha and his wife on Monday seeking the return to public coffers of $5.7 million in graft money. They called for Cunha to be stripped of his political rights for 10 years. (Reporting by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Peter Cooney) The criticism of Meg Ryans appearance reveals a bigger issue that is NOT getting better During last nights Tony Awards, Meg Ryan introduced the cast of She Loves Me, the Broadway musical that inspired her 1998 film with Tom Hanks, Youve Got Mail. Not long afterwards, Ryan became a target for Twitter users who were concerned with the 54-year-old actress appearance. News outlets and Twitter users (both men and women) criticized Ryan, saying that, among many other cruel things, she looked drastically different than before. Im old enough to remember when Meg Ryan looked like Meg Ryan. #TonyAwards Alex Nunez (@Noonz) June 13, 2016 Meg Ryan looks a little scary these days. pic.twitter.com/M7dT6UAnsx Weekend Girl (@TBooker27) June 13, 2016 First of all, its been years since she acted in When Harry Met Sally, Youve Got Mail, and Sleepless in Seattle so, NEWSFLASH! She did what every human does: AGE. In a 2015 interview with Net-a-Porter, Ryan had discussed the issue of aging, women, and plastic surgery rumors, saying she didnt pay a lot of attention to the accusations. Theres a lot of hatred in the world today. Its so easy to judge, she said at the time. Imagine being a hater, how stupid. This whole thing with Ryan might feel like deja vu, especially when compared to Renee Zellweger, who was at the center of her own plastic surgery rumors in 2014. All in all, the same people who think its their place to speculate whether or not a woman has had plastic surgery are most likely the same ones who would criticize her for looking older. Women, especially in Hollywood, are under pressure to maintain a youthful appearance more than men. While male actors can age gracefully and become silver foxes, women are expected to retain their looks, and if they decide to get plastic surgery, they will be condemned for that as well. How can anyone win? Whether or not a woman wants to forgo plastic surgery OR use it to alter her appearance, it is nobody elses business but the womans. Unfortunately, there are still people out there who will continue to comment on the appearances of others, but there are also many who recognize that the issue is preposterous and there are more important things we should be focusing on at the moment. Meg Ryans face is a major trending topic the day after a major mass shooting in Orlando. It is truly a sad state of affairs for our nation. Detroit_D (@Detroit_D) June 13, 2016 Meg Ryans face is news today after the violent act our nation suffered yesterday? Go home, media. Youre drunk. #Orlando Amy Hatvany (@AmyHatvany) June 13, 2016 The American Sweetheart is not easy to fulfill (when its managed by public eye). When we accept Meg Ryan for Meg RyanThatll be nice. Jillian Michele (@jillianmichele) June 13, 2016 I love my age, Ryan had said in the same interview. I love my life right now. I love the person Ive become, the one Ive evolved into. We all should take some inspiration from her words. The post The criticism of Meg Ryans appearance reveals a bigger issue that is NOT getting better appeared first on HelloGiggles. 09:27 PM Clare ForanLink John Locher / AP Hillary Clinton has emerged the winner of the Washington, D.C., primary. Though Clinton had already effectively clinched the Democratic nomination, winning the D.C. primary must nevertheless be a sweet victory. The win is a high note for her campaign as the primary season draws to a close. In the days and weeks to come, Clinton will undoubtedly ratchet up her attacks on Donald Trump as the general election begins in earnest. The Clinton win also denies Bernie Sanders one last chance for victory in the final primary of the Democratic presidential race. For now, Sanders remains stubbornly in the race, despite the fact that any path he might have had to the White House effectively evaporated long ago. The Democratic rivals met on Tuesday evening, and despite his lingering presence, the senator no longer appears to pose much of a threat to Democratic unity. Above all else, Sanders seems intent on putting his own stamp on the partys agenda and the electoral process in the run-up to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Later this week, Sanders is poised to lay out the path forward. Sanders will speak to supporters on Thursday evening in a live, online video message from Burlington, Vermont. What exactly Sanders hopes to achieve has increasingly come into focus. The senator laid out a series of demands in a press conference on Tuesday, calling for the Democratic National Convention to approve a progressive platform, the most progressive platform ever passed by the Democratic Party. He asked for reforms to the presidential nominating process, including the elimination of superdelegates, a group of influential party elites who can decide to support whichever candidate they choose. Perhaps the most contentious change Sanders called for was new party leadership, a demand that takes aim at the chair of the Democratic National Committee, Debbie Wasserman Schultz. The request isnt surprising given that Sanders has already decided to support her primary challenger, but the repeated emphasis shows that hes far from ready to give up the fight. Additionally, the senator declined to endorse Clinton at his Tuesday press conference. Story continues It remains to be seen how much negotiating power Sanders actually has with the Democratic Party. For now, however, it is makes sense for him to pursue reforms to the electoral process as well as concessions in the party platform. The platform serves as a blueprint for what the party stands for and hopes to achieve. If Sanders can make it look more like his own agenda, that success could create a foundation for Democrats to enact legislative changes along the same lines. Ultimately, however, the platform is nonbinding and stands as a highly imperfect tool for achieving change. Thats undoubtedly one reason why Sanders is simultaneously pursuing procedural reforms, even if those kinds of changes may seem less sweeping. If Sanders is successful in winning changes to the nominating process, that could help him keep his supporters engaged in the political process beyond the presidential election. Many of the senators supporters believe that the system has been rigged against Sanders throughout the primary, and if nothing is done to reform the process, they may be less likely to remain engaged in the political process. Democrats moved swiftly to close ranks. President Obama, Joe Biden, and Elizabeth Warren endorsed Clinton in quick succession. The list of demands laid out by Sanders shouldnt be viewed as comprehensive. He himself emphasized, Those are just a few of the changes that I think have got to take place and that we will be fighting for in the weeks and months to come. But it is notable that he did not mention reforms to the caucus system, a primary contest that tends to lead to lower voter turnout but has consistently benefited the senators campaign. Ahead of his meeting with Clinton on Tuesday, The New York Times reported that he would try to get assurances from Mrs. Clinton that she will fight for many of his campaign policy proposals, including a $15-an-hour federal minimum wage, a jobs program tied to repairing the countrys infrastructure, and tuition-free public colleges and universities. Efforts by Sanders and Clinton supporters to draft the party platform are already underway. As the fight continues, it no longer seems like Democratic unity is in serious jeopardy. After Clinton claimed victory as the first woman to become the presumptive nominee of a major political party in the United States, high-ranking Democrats moved swiftly to close ranks. President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren endorsed Clinton in quick succession. Significantly, Sanders pledged to work with Clinton to make sure Democrats win the White House. I look forward to meeting with her in the near future to see how we can work together to defeat Donald Trump and create a government, which represents all of us and not just the 1 percent, Sanders said after a meeting with the president last week. Crucially, Sanders thanked the president and vice president for impartiality, a stand likely to make it easier for his supporters to eventually back Clinton if he drops out. In yet another sign that Democrats are increasingly coming back together, Sanders reportedly received several standing ovations from Senate Democrats on Capitol Hill earlier on Tuesday. Senator Jon Tester, a Montana Democrat, indicated to Politico his belief that Sanders will help Democratic candidates running for Senate. While some Democrats might prefer that he exit the race, his colleagues in the Senate seem to be taking care not to apply too much pressure. The time tables up to him, Senator Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat, told The Washington Post. Im giving no advice, nor judging him, for how he decides. 09:18 PM Nora KellyLink Reminder, fair readers, now that the presidential primary season is over: There are just over 100 days until the first general-election debate. You know where well be! 08:50 PM Sacha ZimmermanLink Its official: D.C. is with her. Andrew Harnik / AP 08:46 PM Nora KellyLink Peter Morgan /AP When polls have closed in presidential primaries this year, no one has been more excited than CNN. Its countdown clocks keep time on viewers' TV screens in the hours and minutes beforehand, and Wolf Blitzer can barely contain his enthusiasm at announcing Key Race Alerts. Even when commentators have little to share before actual results roll in, they share what little they have. But as voting ended at 8 p.m. tonight, there was no such pomp and circumstance on CNN, as reporting on the weekend's terror attack trumped coverage of the presidential primary. MSNBC and Fox News, too, focused on the aftermath and the politics involved. This is in part a sign of how little consequence D.C.'s presidential primary has: Hillary Clinton is already the presumptive nominee, and Bernie Sanders is figuring out what's next as the race draws to a close. But it's moreso a reflection of how deeply affected Americans have been by the weekend's mass shooting. The presidential race isn't off the table, but it's so far been noted in the context of the attack. Networks are often criticized for capitalizing on tragic eventsthink CNN's extended (albeit award-winning) coverage of a missing Malaysia Airlines airplane in 2014. But tonight most of the network's coverage seems to track the magnitude of the eventand serve viewers who turned on their TVs to learn more about what happened, not about the Democratic primary race. 08:24 PM Andrew McGillLink Betting markets are 99 percent sure Clinton will win the D.C. primary. Boring! (Real Clear Politics hasnt recorded any D.C. polls, but Clinton has been 14 points ahead of Sanders in the last three national surveys.) So gamblers have now moved on to guessing Clintons margin of victory: a lot, or a lot a lot? Odds are for the latter: Bettors give Clinton a 67 percent chance of beating Sanders by 50 points or more. The market calculates only a 3 percent change of the margin being lower than 30 points. Im guessing it will be a pretty quick call for the networks once the polls close at 8 p.m. 07:47 PM Nora KellyLink A helpful reminder from Mayor Muriel Bowser that D.C. voters dont have much time left to get to the polls: 30 minutes until polls close in DC! Remember, if you are in line by 8pm, you can vote! Find you location at https://t.co/7bRPEJJCzf. @DCBOEE Mayor Muriel Bowser (@MayorBowser) June 14, 2016 Incidentally, Bowser is not up for reelection, though Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, who represents the city in Congress, is on the ballot. And as has already been mentioned, voters weighed in on multiple city council races today, too. 06:31 PM Link Alan Diaz / AP As residents in D.C.s Ward 7 cast their votes, theyll see a familiar face on the Democratic ballot: former Mayor Vincent Gray, who is running for city council and, some say, setting up his political comeback. Elected as mayor in 2010, Gray was immediately dogged by accusations that his campaign paid for a third candidate, Sulaimon Brown, to stay in the race and attack incumbent Mayor Adrian Fenty. (The Gray administration later gave Brown a $110,000-a-year job with the city.) Though Gray was never charged, six of his aides pleaded guilty to crimes in connection with the scheme. Gray subsequently lost his reelection bid to Muriel Bowser. And now hes back! In running for city council so soon after disgrace, Gray is following the lead of the late Marion Barry, a beloved fixture of D.C. politics who was famously caught smoking crack cocaine while serving as the citys mayor. Barry went to federal prison for six months, but just a few weeks after his release, he filed papers to run for his wards council seat. His slogan was He May Not Be Perfect, But Hes Perfect For D.C. And he won. As suspected, Barry ran again for mayor in 1994. He won that, too. He ran for city council again in 2000. Yep, he won. He kept winning until 2014, when the 78-year-old abruptly went into cardiac arrest and died. Barry, nicknamed Mayor for life, was in a class of his own. If Gray wants to stage a similar comeback, hell have to first beat incumbent Yvette M. Alexander, who, last we heard, was heckling the former mayor outside a neighborhood Dennys. Thats D.C. politics for you. 06:24 PM Clare ForanLink Richard Drew / AP It looks like Debbie Wasserman Schultz isnt going anywhere. When asked by Chuck Todd during an interview on MSNBC if she would remain chair of the Democratic National Committee through the general election, despite Bernie Sanderss calls for her to step down, Wasserman Schultz replied: I am planning on continuing to focus all the way through the election, to the end of my term, on making sure we can elect Democrats up and down the ballot, especially, and including the president of the United States. Wasserman Schultz continually pivoted away from questions aimed at whether she would hold her position, seeming to prefer denouncing Donald Trump rather than dwell on the details of Sanderss demands. Were all going to be one team after this primary is over, she stressed. After Todd suggested her answers had left some wiggle room, however, she said: I am going to continue to focus on electing a Democratic president ... Im focused and my team is focused. Democrats will come together as we should. 06:17 PM Nora KellyLink Richard Shotwell / Invision / AP And now for some comic relief: New York magazine published an interview with Louis C.K. this week, and the conversation startedas all conversations do this yearwith the presidential election. The comedian is vehemently anti-Trump and addresses his feelings at length with the interviewerwith brutally frank descriptions. But theres funny in here, too, especially when C.K. addresses the rhetorical styles of the remaining candidates in the race. He uses the example of each contender auditioning to be a pilot and outlines what theyd say. Here are their pitches, per C.K.: Hillary Clinton: Heres my license. Heres all the thousands of flights that Ive flown. Heres planes Ive flown in really difficult situations. Ive had some good flights and some bad flights, but Ive been flying for a very long time, and I know exactly how this plane works. Bernie Sanders: Everyone should get a ride right to their house with this plane. Well, how are you going to do that? [C.K. asks in the voice of the person choosing the pilot, before pivoting back to Sanderss answer.] I just think we should. Its only fair that everyone gets to use the plane equally. Trump: Im going to fly so well. Youre not going to believe how good Im going to fly this plane, and by the way, Hillary never flew a plane in her life. 05:28 PM Nora KellyLink Bernie Sanders is on his way out. But the down-ballot candidates hes endorsed wont necessarily follow. That includes Lucy Flores, a Nevada Democrat running in a competitive congressional primary today. (Thats right, D.C. Democratsyoure not the only ones headed to the polls.) As I wrote this afternoon, Flores is one of dozens of Sanders supporters running for office this year, but she was lucky enough to see an endorsement and fundraising support from the candidate himself. Her primary election today could offer early clues about Sanderss staying power: not that of his candidacy, which is approaching its end, but the staying power of his platform. Political endorsements have questionable value when it comes to swaying voters, but Sanderss campaign raised the prominence of policy issues that resonated with millions of Americans, including many in Nevada. Down-ballot candidates who share his values, regardless of whether he endorsed them, could get more attention from voters for echoing his point of view. If Flores and other congressional endorsees like her win, their success will be evidence that Sanderss progressive platform has political influence up and down the ballotand that his ideas wont just be pushed in the U.S. Senate, where hes expected to have more sway once his campaign formally ends. Floress fate will be sealed soon enough, and her fellow endorsees will face the ballot box in primary elections in the weeks and months to come. 05:05 PM Clare ForanLink The revolution may not be televised, but it might be livestreamed. Bernie Sanderss campaign has announced that the senator plans to speak to supporters in a live, online video message on Thursday at 8:30 pm from Burlington, Vermont. It remains unclear how long Sanders will remain in the race, but what he wants is increasingly coming into focus. Earlier today, Sanders outlined some of the changes he hopes to see from the Democratic party. The list includes getting rid of superdelegates, the pool of influential party leaders and elected officials who can choose to support whichever presidential candidate they want. Changes @BernieSanders wants to Dem party: -New leadership -Elimination of superdelegates -Same day registration for voting -Open primaries Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) June 14, 2016 Sanders is set to meet with his rival Hillary Clinton later today. What will Sanders ask for? For now, he appears to be focused on changes to the nominating process, and winning influence over the party agenda. Citing anonymous sources close to the senator, The New York Times reports that he will try to get assurances from Mrs. Clinton that she will fight for many of his campaign policy proposals, including a $15-an-hour federal minimum wage, a jobs program tied to repairing the countrys infrastructure, and tuition-free public colleges and universities. According to The Washington Post, Sanders vowed that he would continue to push for a 'fundamental transformation' of the party up until its convention next month in a D.C. press conference on Tuesday. Senator Brian Schatz, a Hawaii Democrat, even told the Post that he could see a scenario where [Sanders's] campaign continues all the way to the convention. 03:55 PM Andrew McGillLink Following up on Nora's earlier post on the Morning Consult poll: There's an interesting age gap in who thinks Clinton's all-but-certain nomination is noteworthy. Only 29 percent of people aged 18 to 29 said her victory signals a historic moment. Compare that to voters 65 and older, 52 percent of whom called Clinton's presumed nomination historic. (Oddly enough, they were also the least likely to say Clinton's victory was a step forward for the country, indicating they acknowledge its record-setting nature but aren't very pleased about it.) While women who identify as Democrats were most likely to fall in favor of historic (58 percent), Republican women were actually the least likely to acknowledge the moment (19 percent, one percentage point below Republican men). While the report doesn't break down responses among Democratic women of different ages, it's probably a safe bet there's an enthusiasm gap there, too. For some context, I'd direct you towards this 2015 cover story in National Journal, which examined why young women of all stripes weren't very enthusiastic about a Clinton presidency. TL;DR: To some, Clinton is a corporate feminist, in the business of empowering women who are already powerful. Many of today's young women have a different definition of a historic first female president in mindand Hillary Clinton ain't it. 03:16 PM Vann R. Newkirk IILink Although the outcomes of the primary races are no longer in question, lingering questions of statehood and new voting regulations in D.C.'s primaries make them more than just a symbolic process. As Chris noted, statehood has long been a contentious issue in the nation's capital, especially after recent near misses, but the issue of status for D.C. and American territories has become much more fertile political ground lately. The statehood effort animates much of the local politics that Yoni mentioned, and Council member Todd has been a staunch advocate for it. With presidential candidates also weighing in, this primary can be seen as a bit of a referendum. Here in D.C., the recent trend in statehood movements and the trend in changing the way people vote dovetail. The District is also trying out some new voting procedures and rules. New voting equipment keeps the paper ballots, but introduces more disability-friendly accessibility options and makes tabulation via iPad apps, which should speed up the final tally. Voters can also seek information through new mobile apps. Starting with this election, voters must fill in ballots in their assigned precinct and can no longer fill out special ballots in a different precinct. Status questions could drive turnout even without a presidential nomination in play. Will D.C.'s new voting efforts facilitate or impede that motivation? 02:16 PM Andrew McGillLink There will be no Republican votes counted in the District tonight: The GOP voted in March, about a century ago in terms of this election. D.C. Republicans largely split the vote between former presidential candidates Marco Rubio and John Kasich; Trump, with 14 percent of the vote, narrowly beat Ted Cruz's 12 percent. But turnout was low, with half as many ballots cast than 2012. Local GOP officials blamed the dip on voter apathy and the committee's decision to host the vote in a single downtown polling location. The Democrats won't have that excuse, given that they're using traditional polling places spread throughout the city. But the lack of any big-ticket contested electionoutside the council races Yoni mentioned earliermeans voter participation could be quite low. All the same, the D.C. Democratic Party is doing its best to gin up interest, fielding a robocall to 80,000 homes Monday evening, encouraging residents to make the trip to the voting booth. 01:34 PM Clare ForanLink The Democratic race isnt over yet, but it seems like life is already starting to return to normal for Bernie Sanders. There are reports that the senator is back on Capitol Hill today and meeting with Senate Democrats over lunch. Apparently, hes getting a warm welcome. Senate Democrats greet @BernieSanders with applause. Didn't take questions on the way in to lunch. Niels Lesniewski (@nielslesniewski) June 14, 2016 Its possible that the senator may be planning to give his Capitol Hill colleagues a heads up about what he plans to do later tonight. But whether or not Sanders decides to drop out of the race, the fight over the Democratic agenda is poised to continue. Last week, supporters of both Sanders and Hillary Clinton convened in Washington D.C. to start discussing the way forward for the 2016 party platform. The first day of testimony was a very civil affair. During the second meeting, however, trade policy emerged as a potential fault line. A fight over the platform is likely to continue in the run up to the Democratic National Convention next month. 12:35 PM Russell BermanLink Bernie Sanderss already dim prospects of winning the Democratic nomination disappeared completely last week when Hillary Clinton clinched a majority of delegates. But its understandable why he would want to continue his campaign one more week through the final primary in D.C. After such a long battle, everyone should have a chance to vote. D.C.s demographics, however, make it unlikely Sanders will be able to end his campaign on a high note. Besides being the hub of the Democratic political establishment that has been loyal to the Clintons for nearly 25 years, the District is a majority-minority city, with African Americans making up just about half the population. Clinton has dominated among African Americans throughout the primary. Even if the race hadnt effectively ended a week ago, its unlikely the D.C. primary would be a close contest. 11:53 AM Priscilla AlvarezLink The Districts polling locations will look slightly different this year, thanks to new voting equipment. The new system is expected to improve voters experiences at the polls as well as vote tabulation. According to WTOP: Election workers will check in voters using an electronic poll book access on an iPad. Election workers will be able to scan Department of Motor Vehicles-issued ID cards or voter registration cards to pull up the correct voter instantly. They can also use the manual search option to quickly identify voters. On Election Day, election workers will also be able to direct voters who show up at the wrong polling place to the correct one. The equipment will also allow poll workers to wirelessly transmit election results from precincts to the board once the polls have closed. Voting equipment in Washington D.C. has been a source of concern in the past. In 2008, a glitch in the system led to inaccurate results. And in the last election, in November 2014, the District also faced with technical difficulties. Roughly 15,000 ballots have been cast in early voting, while several others are expected to turn out to the polls. Hopefully, itll all go smoothly. 11:11 AM Chris HaughLink In 1982, Washington, D.C.s statehood convention settled on a name for the 51st state of the Union. If their efforts were successful, D.C. would be known as New Columbia. That May, by a vote of 37 to two, the convention not only chose a name but also approved an 18,000-word constitution. The vote was met with hugs and applause. The document, they hoped, would become the legal basis for the new state. Hurdles remained. First, D.C. voters would have to approve the constitution in a referendum. Then, Congress would have to ratify the draft. In November, D.C. voters proved supportiveif only barely. The referendum passed by just over 7,000 votes. But soon after the movement began to cannibalize itself. Delegates peeled away their support. Some feared the constitutions progressive text would scuttle its chances on Capitol Hill. They wanted to amend it. Others wanted to push ahead. The debate over stratagem was probably moot. Republicans controlled the Senate, while Washington was (and remains) a Democratic stronghold. GOP leadership on the Hill would no doubt look askance on any attempt to add two Democratic senators and a representative to their midst. By the time Mayor Marion Barber sent the petition to Congress in 1983, its chances were slim. Im sure Ill be dead, or a grandmother, before it gets out, one Hill staffer told The Washington Post. And you will be too. The petition languished. But today, the statehood movements fortunes may be shifting once more. Voter support for statehood is at a record high. As recently as April, Mayor Muriel Bowser renewed her promise to pursue it. Even John Oliver has weighed in. D.C. statehood may be approaching. But, until then, New Columbias founding day will simply have to wait. 10:28 AM Nora KellyLink When Hillary Clinton gave her victory speech last Tuesday, after securing the title of presumptive Democratic nominee, she embraced the historic nature of the moment. Clinton had just become the first woman ever in line for a major-party nomination, and her remarks cited the generations of Americans who struggled and sacrificed on behalf of womens rights. In our country, it started right here in New York, a place called Seneca Falls, in 1848. When a small but determined group of women, and men, came together with the idea that women deserved equal rights, and they set it forth in something called the Declaration of Sentiments, and it was the first time in human history that that kind of declaration occurred, Clinton said. So we all owe so much to those who came before, and tonight belongs to all of you. But while Clinton reveled in breaking ground last week, most Americans surveyed in a new Morning Consult poll don't think she made much history at all. Just four in 10 classified Clinton's victory as a historic moment, including 42 percent of women. Those positive respondents fall along a spectrum. Twelve percent say she's the most historic nominee, and 30 percent say her presumptive nomination is one of the most historic. In many voters' eyes, President Obama, the first black man to win a major-party nomination, takes the most historic prize. More than 1,300 voters were polled over two days last week, and the findings have a margin of error of 3 percentage points. Clinton also didn't see positive numbers when it came to Americans' feelings about a female nominee in general; 18 percent were angered by it. In the end, though, Clinton might have the last laugh: The voters surveyed might not see her candidacy the way she does, but her lead over Donald Trump in the firm's polls is nevertheless growing. 09:20 AM Yoni AppelbaumLink Perhaps not all politics is local, but on Tuesday morning, it certainly felt that way in D.C. At Shepherd Park Elementary School, in the citys Northwest quadrant, more than a dozen people milled about in brightly colored t-shirts, handing out flyers backing their favored candidates. But they werent there for the presidential race. The polling place sits in Ward 4, where a Democratic primary pits incumbent city council member Brandon Todd, a longtime aide to Mayor Muriel Bowser who succeeded her in the seat, against three challengers. Inside, poll workers reported a steady stream of voters, but, one said, no surge just yet. By 8 a.m., just over 60 votes had been cast. Theres also an at-large city council seat on the ballot. Bobby White, 56, greeted voters as they approached the school, urging them to vote for his son, Robert. Asked about the other, neglected, race on the ballot, White said he finds Clintons experience dispositive: Its really a no brainer. If there were Donald Trump supporters or Bernie Sanders fans casting their ballots, they declined to identify themselves amid the morning rush. Almost lost amid the large placards touting council candidates, a small Sanders sign was wrapped around a nearby street-sign polea single reminder of the days overshadowed race. Its been just over one week since Hillary Clinton became the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party and shifted Bernie Sanderss campaign into legacy mode. She had won enough delegates to earn the title by the time six states were scheduled to vote last Tuesday, but waited until results came in that night to claim it as her own. President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden finally declared their support, signaling to the Vermont senator that his race was lost. As done as the Democratic contest seems to be, it isnt for Washington, D.C.s Democrats, the last citizens to vote in a presidential primary this election season. They know Clinton has won the race, but many will go vote anywaywhether to stand in solidarity with their preferred presidential candidates, weigh in on local races, or simply fulfill their civic duty. For some, the days unimportance to the presidential election could be dispiriting, but perhaps most of all for Sanders supporters. Not only are they are voting in the nations least consequential primary in a city disenfranchised by law, but they dont even have the small dignity of voting for a winner. Sanders, for his part, does not want his supporters to ignore the Districts election. At a rally last week, he encouraged people to vote in Tuesdays primary, and said the same in an email blast over the weekend. He cited the importance of the Democratic process in changing policy and asked supporters to commit to vote to help move this country in a very different direction. Sanders said as recently as Sunday that hed take his campaign to the July convention, but has not outright dismissed the idea of dropping out beforehand, either. Recommended: What Obama Actually Thinks About Radical Islam Even if the race were actually competitive, Sanders would face obstacles to winning big in D.C., where 20 pledged delegates are up for grabs, but where Clinton has long been favored. The delegates are allocated proportionally. The final pledged delegate counts of this primary season will be determined some time after the polls close at 8 p.m.; locations open Tuesday morning at 7 a.m. As for superdelegates, Clinton has most in her corner. By November, she had already secured commitments from 14 of the Districts 26 superdelegates. By Monday, that number had reportedly increased to 22, including Mayor Muriel Bowser and Eleanor Holmes Norton, who represents D.C. in Congress without voting power. Holmes Nortons primary is Tuesday, too; she has no Democratic opponent. Despite these constraints, Sanderss goal is the same: influencing the direction the Democratic Party. The more delegates he has, possibly including those from D.C., the more leverage he will have at the convention and beyond. Sanders is hoping to lobby Clinton on his core issues in a meeting Tuesday night; he said in a recent interview that he plans to speak with her about the middle class, health care, college tuition, and climate change. After we have that kind of discussion and after we can determine whether or not we are going to have a strong and progressive platform, I will be able to make other decisions, Sanders told NBCs Chuck Todd. He later added that he wants to see Democrats come up not only with the progressive platform, but with an agenda and with the leadership that will transform this country, stand up to the big-money interest, and address the many, many serious problems we face. Recommended: Donald Trump Takes on the NRA The Districts voters, too, want a voice in their partys future. Were always forgotten, one Democrat told The Washington Post last week. Weve had taxation without representation for so longthis election is just another example. Along with a recent push for D.C. statehoodwhich would give residents voting representatives in CongressBowser has stated her support for moving the Democratic presidential primary to an earlier date in 2020, no matter how costly it would likely be. For now, D.C.s more than 300,000 registered Democrats will need to grin and bear their insignificance once more when they take to the polls on Tuesday. Nora Kelly Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. And strong arrivals to help absorb hotel supply. Singapore has achieved self-reliance in water and is building more capacity to meet a projected doubling in demand in the next 45 years, a minister said. The city state, which has a contract to buy from neighboring Malaysia more than half its current daily water requirement of 400 to 420 million imperial gallons, has been able to meet demand even when dry weather reduced the Malaysian supply, Environment and Water Resources Minister Masagos Zulkifli said in an interview last week. Read more here. Singapores central bank said it will step up efforts to combat financial crime by setting up dedicated departments to counter money laundering and to strengthen its enforcement operations. The Monetary Authority of Singapore will create an anti-money laundering unit as well as establishing a new team to carry out onsite supervision of how financial institutions manage money-laundering risks, according to a MAS statement issued Monday. Find out more here. The strong tourist arrivals in Singapore in recent times may help support a bottoming of the RevPAR declines that have plagued Hospitality REITs since 2013, according to a Credit Suisse report released on Monday. In the recent figures from The Singapore Tourism Board (STB), tourist arrivals in the republic increased by 14.4 percent year-on-year to 1.38 million in April, bringing visitor arrivals in January to April to 5.53 million, or up 14.1 percent year-on-year. Read more here. More From Singapore Business Review CLEAR LAKE Creativity + Whats Your Story? the power of storytelling in business and life, will be presented by Julie Wright at 5:30 p.m. at the Clear Lake Arts Center, 17 S. Fourth St., for CreativeSynergy. Free. FOREST CITY Farmers market opens from 3-6 p.m. in the Shopko Hometown parking lot. HAMPTON Tuesdays on the Town is at 5 p.m. with vendors, and dinner available. Dave & Whitney Campbell will perform, followed by the Municipal Band at 8 p.m. MASON CITY Dennys School of Dance will perform at 1:30 p.m. at the Salvation Army Adult Day Care Center. MASON CITY North Iowa farmers market will be 3 to 6 p.m. in the Mills Fleet Farm parking lot, 3200 Fourth St. S.W. MASON CITY There will be a free public forum on the impact of slaughterhouse facilities on communities from 6 to 9 p.m. at The Music Man Square. Presenters are John Ikerd and Don Stoll, moderated by Bennett Smith. Open to the public. We first heard it from eagle-eyed real estate yenta Yolanda Yakketyyak and property records do indeed confirm that veteran film and television producer David Hoberman shelled out $7.5 million for a not-yet-completed contemporary villa in Malibus The Who, a tiny and curiously named gated enclave perched on a low bluff above the Pacific Coast Highway with cinematic ocean and coastline views. Designed by savvy Malibu-based designer and architect Scott Gillen, the low-slung, single-level residence has four en suite bedrooms and a total of 5.5 bathrooms in just over 7,700-square-feet with soaring 13-foot exposed beam ceilings, wide plank white oak floorboards, and custom-crafted black walnut cabinetry. A courtyard entry lined with glass walls leads to a prodigiously proportioned, loft-like main living/dining/entertaining space where an open-concept kitchen will feature ultra-high-end cabinetry imported from Germany. A vast wall of floor-to-ceiling glass sliders will open on a 60-foot-long infinity-edged swimming pool and spa. A basement level will accommodate a media room and gym, and theres also a three-car garage. Hoberman, the creator of acclaimed TV series Monk whose current slate includes a star-studded silver-screen musical adaptation of the classic fairytale Beauty and the Beast previously owned a 1.8-acre estate in the Mandeville Canyon area of Los Angeles with a 9,200-square-foot mansion plus a substantial pool house with a professional-grade screening room. All of that was sold in the fall of 2014 for $17.85 million to film producer Teddy Schwarzman, the 30-something-year-old son of billionaire financier Steven Schwarzman, and the founder of Black Bear Pictures, whose previous projects include the 2014 Oscar-winning film The Imitation Game. listing photos: Coldwell Banker Related stories Chris McGurk Quietly Sells in Beverly Hills (EXCLUSIVE) Annecy Festival Dazzles With Special Events Annecy Animation Film Festival Spotlights Rising Asian Toon Powers Update: HBO announced the return of Curb Your Enthusiasm one day after this article ran. Read the story here. In the world of Curb Your Enthusiasm, news travels fast. Last week, Curb star J.B. Smoove said Larry David was "thinking about coming back" to the HBO series. Smoove said David even asked him: "If I do come back, are you going to be available?" David Mandel, who served as an executive producer on Curb and has kept in touch with David since the show wrapped in 2011, tells The Hollywood Reporter that while he didn't immediately see the news, he quickly heard from friends who all had a common question. "I didn't see it but I got like 10 emails from people going, 'Wait what what what?'" says Mandel. "In the last couple of years, he's always been thinking about it, but at least until I start seeing outlines, I guess I wont believe it. But I'll keep my fingers - I'll keep every finger - crossed that he does more." Read More: Larry David Tells 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' Co-Star He's "Thinking About Coming Back" Since the show - which ran from 2000 to 2011 - has been off the air, HBO has said they are open to more seasons, launching frequent questions from fans and to HBO execs about whether David will return. "I don't think it's out of [Larry's] system," HBO programming chief Michael said during last summer's Television Critics Association press tour. At the time, David was about to start his Broadway run of Fish in the Dark. Mandel, who is now the showrunner and executive producer of HBO's Veep, said he thinks David will return - eventually. "If you want to bet yes or no, I would bet you every dollar I have on 'yes, someday,' I just don't know when that day will be," Mandel told THR while promoting Veep's current season. "One of the things that's really special about Curb: For a long time when Larry was married in his own life, the show was one thing. And then we he got divorced, that led to the divorce season, which was really fascinating. And then the show kind of became something else when he was fully divorced and single, and I think the idea that he'll do more that will reflect what's going on in his own life, it's fantastic and there's nothing else like it on TV. So I hope he does more." Story continues Read More: Comedy Showrunner Roundtable: Reunions Youll Never See (Sorry, 'Friends' Fans!), Diversity and How to Write Sex Scenes If David does decide to return and comes calling, Mandel isn't a free agent - after taking the reins from Veep creator Armando Iannucci last season, Mandel is currently wrapping up the fifth season of the series (airing Sunday nights on HBO) and the Emmy-winning show has been picked up for a sixth. So what would Mandel do? "At the moment, my allegiances lie with Veep," he says. "But I would certainly try and do everything I could to help. It would be as much as I could do, I guess is the honest answer." And David is tuning in to see what Mandel, who also is a former Seinfeld writer, and his Seinfeld star Julia Louis-Dreyfus have been up to this season. "I don't want to put words in his mouth, but he was very complimentary," Mandel says. Follow along with THR's full season coverage of Veep here. LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / June 13, 2016 / Lundin Law PC announces a class action lawsuit has been filed against Daimler AG ("Daimler" or the "Company") (DDAIF) concerning possible violations of federal securities laws between February 22, 2012 and April 21, 2016. Investors who purchased or otherwise acquired shares during the Class Period should contact the Firm in advance of the June 28, 2016, lead plaintiff motion deadline. To participate in this class action lawsuit, please contact Brian Lundin, Esquire, of Lundin Law PC, at 888-713-1033, or via e-mail at brian@lundinlawpc.com. No class has been certified in the above action. Until a class is certified, you are not considered represented by an attorney. You may also choose to do nothing and be an absent class member. According to the complaint, Daimler issued false and misleading statements about the Company's compliance with emissions standards and Daimler's purported eco-friendly BlueTEC diesel engines. The Company also issued misleading statements concerning Daimler's business, operational and compliance policies. Lundin Law PC was created by Brian Lundin, a securities litigator based in Los Angeles. This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions under the applicable law and ethical rules. Contact: Lundin Law PC Brian Lundin, Esq. Telephone: 888-713-1033 Facsimile: 888-713-1125 brian@lundinlaw.com SOURCE: Lundin Law PC Ascot (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Riding legend Frankie Dettori produced a superb ride on English 2000 Guineas winner Galileo Gold to win the feature race on the first day of his favourite meeting Royal Ascot the St James's Palace Stakes on Tuesday. The 45-year-old Italian -- riding his 53rd Royal Ascot winner -- outsmarted rivals Ryan Moore and Chris Hayes on odds on favourite The Gurkha and Awtaad, respectively the winners of the French and Irish 2000 Guineas. It was sweet revenge for the Galileo Gold team -- it was young trainer Hugo Palmer's first Royal Ascot winner to boot -- as they had come off second best to Awtaad in the Irish Guineas. "It went to plan which was to have the first run on the other two," said Dettori in what was the first time in 20 years that all three Guineas winners clashed in the race. "He has redeemed himself." Palmer, for whom Galileo Gold was also his first English classic winner in May, said they had been determined to restore the lustre to the horse's reputation. "This was a tough challenge but he is the English 2000 Guineas winner," said 36-year-old Palmer, who started training in 2010. "We had to hold that up (that accolade) and we did. He's proved himself to be the best three-year-old miler in Europe." Earlier American superstar Tepin produced a stunning effort to add the Group One Queen Anne Stakes to her Breeder's Cup Mile triumph last year and become the first horse from outside Europe to secure the prestigious mile prize. The five-year-old mare -- winning her sixth race on the trot -- hit the front under Frenchman Julien Leparoux over a furlong out and held off a determined effort by favourite Belardo to win in the slowest time in the race since 1988. Leparoux, recording his first win in Europe on his first ride on the continent, punched the air repeatedly in delight. "She's a champion," gushed 32-year-old Leparoux, who moved to the States from France aged 19. Story continues "She had to work hard and the last 100 metres seemed a hell of a long way, but I'm glad she made it! "She is awesome." Owner Robert Masterson praised trainer Mark Casse to the heavens and said his star had proved a point. "People say American horses have to have drugs in them," he said referring to the anti-bleeding drug Lasix which is allowed in the United States but not in European racing. "Well she had no drugs in her. She is fantastic, we just represent her and do the talking!" The King's Stand, the big sprint of the first day, went to Profitable giving trainer Clive Cox his fifth win at the meeting -- his sixth Group One in all -- and making it a doubly special day for jockey Adam Kirby. He couldn't hold back the tears as he rode the winner back to the winners enclosure. "I hope my mum (Anne) is watching, my dad (Maurice) always wanted to see me ride one but he isn't here any more (he died in 2013 a year before the jockey had his first Group One success," said Kirby fighting to get the words out. "However, a special word for my girlfriend (Megan) who gave birth to a baby boy just a few hours ago." Breeder's Cup Sprint winner Mongolian Saturday -- whose connections added sartorial elegance by wearing Mongolian traditional dress amongst the tailcoats and top hats in the paddock -- had looked like making it a memorable day as he led only to be swallowed up by the rest of the field. Aidan O'Brien won a record eighth Coventry Stakes -- a Group Two race for two-year-olds -- as his Caravaggio brushed the opposition aside despite veering across the track. "I feel like I've had to win two races!" grinned jockey Ryan Moore referring to the extra effort he had to expend. From Popular Mechanics The U.S. Marine Corps is reactivating thirty older F/A-18C Hornet fighters sitting in storage and updating them to a new "C+" status. The move is prompted by a half-decade delay in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. Thirty F/A-18C Hornets kept at the U.S. military's aircraft storage facility at Davis-Monathan Air Force Base (also known as "The Boneyard") are being restored to flight condition and upgraded with new avionics, including a modernized radar, likely the AN/APG-73. The planes will temporarily equip two fighter attack squadrons while they await the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The Marines are currently suffering an acute fighter shortage. Under the current force structure, they should have 150 Hornets ready to go. Instead, they have just 87. Budget issues and a high post 9/11 operating tempo, combined with an aging and expensive-to-operate fighter fleet have created a dire readiness problem. Unlike the Navy, the Marines didn't buy F/A-18E and F Super Hornets, wanting to fully invest in their version of the Joint Strike Fighter, the F-35B-and a small number of F-35Cs to operate from Navy carriers. Unfortunately, that exposed them to greater risk if the program was delayed-which it was, repeatedly. The F-35B was supposed to enter service in 2010. Development delays pushed that back to summer 2015, and accompanying delays in production have meant that the AV-8B Harriers and F/A-18 Hornets the F-35B was supposed to replace are having to fly longer than anticipated. Two C+ Hornets have been delivered to the Marines so far, with another four anticipated by September. Via AIOnline, Flightglobal. Amriyat al-Fallujah (Iraq) (AFP) - When Iraqi officials and top brass visited this displacement camp south of jihadist-held Fallujah, distressed residents swarmed around them asking the same question: "Where are our sons?" Mothers pleaded with their palms upturned while elders scribbled on paper the names of some of the hundreds of male relatives whose fates are unknown. "My husband, three sons and three nephews are missing," said Taliaa Diab, who fled the town of Saqlawiya near Fallujah with her family earlier this month. She has heard nothing from them in a week. "We are hearing that they are killing many of them. We want to know what happened," she said. Her family is one of hundreds who have been filling tents at the camp in Amriyat al-Fallujah over the past three weeks. Iraqi forces launched a vast offensive more than three weeks ago to retake Fallujah, which lies only 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of Baghdad and is one of the main bastions of the Islamic State (IS) group. The initial phase of the operation saw forces, including Shiite militias from the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) paramilitary umbrella group, retake areas around Fallujah and tighten the seal around the city. - 'They took my husband' - As the number of displaced civilians who fled IS rule continues to rise, so does the volume of allegations against members of the security forces, mostly militias. "The sectarian mobilisation took my husband," said Marwa Mohammed, using a derogatory nickname for the paramilitary Hashed forces that made the women around giggle. "The militia that took all the men was Ketaeb Hezbollah. That was the one we saw, from their flags and their badges, but there were others too," she said. Fallujah and the areas around it are Sunni Muslim while the Hashed forces fighting alongside the government are dominated by Shiite militias, some of which are supported by Tehran. Their involvement in the operation to retake Fallujah had raised fears the battle would see collective revenge being meted out against Sunni civilians. Story continues "I will pass on this information. We are here to listen and look for a solution", said one official from Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's office visiting the camp in Amriyat al-Fallujah. Interior ministry spokesman Saad Maan said that a total of 6,000 men from the Fallujah area have been held for screening since the start of the operation on May 22-23 to try to identify fleeing jihadists. He said around 1,000 had already been released and that another 4,000 would be soon. Maan said the screening should not exceed seven days. Away from the dust-clouded scrum surrounding the government officials, the men who were lucky enough to be have been released sat in tents and exchanged accounts of torture and abuses by Hashed forces. - 'We should have stayed' - "I saw maybe up to 40 people die in Hashed detention with my own eyes," said a man in a blue tee-shirt who gave his name as Abu Ban. He displayed deep cuts on his wrists. "That's from having my hands cuffed for four days, with nothing to eat or drink." Abu Hussein, another man from the same area of Azraqiyah, said: "They would beat us with sticks. Look at my arm. I saw them burn a man like you would roast a chicken." Many of the men in the camp had similar stories of torture by some militias. They would not give their full names, they said, because they feared reprisals from the Hashed al-Shaabi. All of them told AFP that the militiamen said explicitly that they were motivated by revenge for the Speicher massacre, when up to 1,700 mostly Shiite cadets were rounded up and executed by IS near Tikrit in June 2014. The prime minister's office has said it would investigate allegations of abuses committed by the security forces in the course of the Fallujah operation. "We were fleeing Daesh (IS) to be rescued by the Hashed al-Shaabi and they treated us like we were Daesh," said Abu Abdallah, a 57-year-old teacher. "Our life wasn't that affected by Daesh. We lived a rural life, had our farm to live on and we knew how to survive under siege," he said. "I'm telling you, we should have stayed behind." Camposol Holding Ltd. announces that Mrs. Maria Elena Olmos leaves the Investor Relations Officer position in Camposol Holding Ltd. in order to become CFO of the D&C Group Family Office. Mr. Jossue Yesquen has been promoted to Head of Investors Relations after finishing his transition period. Mrs. Olmos holds a Bachelor's Degree of Science in Business Administration and Economics from University of South Carolina Spartanburg, USA and is currently enrolled in the EMBA Program at Kellogg Northwestern University. She has over 10 years of experience, including positions in the public and private sector in companies and institutions such as Bank of America, Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism, Copeinca and Camposol. She began working with D&C Group in 2007 and ever since has participated in all Debt Capital Markets, Equity Capital Markets, and syndicated transactions. "Maria Elena with her dedication, professionalism and a unique strive for service, has helped to position Camposol and D&C Group in the financial markets, while developing a strong bond with investors and financial institutions, which were key elements to successfully execute important ECM and DCM transactions, including the latest refinancing of Camposol's secured notes due 2017. We would like to thank Maria Elena for all she has accomplished for Camposol and D&C Group, and want to wish her the best in her new role in our Family Office," said Samuel Dyer Coriat, Chairman of the Board. For further information, please contact: CEO, Manuel Salazar Diez Canseco msalazar@camposol.com.pe CFO, Maria Cristina Couturier mcouturier@camposol.com.pe Head of Investor Relations, Jossue Yesquen jyesquen@camposol.com.pe About CAMPOSOL CAMPOSOL is the leading agro industrial company in Peru, the first producer of avocados and soon the first producer of blueberries in the world. It is involved in the harvest, processing and marketing of high quality agricultural products such as avocados, asparagus, blueberries, grapes, mangoes, tangerines and shrimp; which are exported to Europe, the United States of America and Asia. CAMPOSOL is a vertically integrated company located in Peru, offering fresh and frozen products. It is the third largest private employer of the country, with more than 13 thousand workers in high season, and is committed to support sustainable development through social responsibility policies and projects aimed to increase the shared-value for all of its stakeholders. CAMPOSOL was the first Peruvian agro industrial company to present annual audited sustainability reports. CAMPOSOL has achieved the following international certifications: BSCI, Global Gap, IFS, HACCP and BRC among others. To learn more about CAMPOSOL please visit: www.camposol.com.pe An undated photo from a social media account of Omar Mateen, who Orlando Police have identified as the suspect in the mass shooting at a gay nighclub in Orlando, Florida, U.S., June 12, 2016. Omar Mateen via Myspace/Handout via REUTERS Multiple news outlets reported on Monday that the gunman who carried out the Orlando terrorist attack frequented the LGBTQ nightclub where he killed at least 49 people. He also used multiple gay-dating apps, according to several people who had communicated with him on the apps. And one of his former classmates told The Palm Beach Post that he believed Mateen was gay something federal investigators are now reportedly looking into and that Mateen once asked him out romantically. The new developments about 29-year-old Mateen complicate his likely motives and his pledge of allegiance to ISIS aka the Islamic State, ISIL, or Daesh the terrorist group that has been known to throw gay people off of rooftops. But ISIS might have a ready-made justification for claiming Mateen as a "soldier of the caliphate" despite the fact that homosexuality goes against the strict interpretation of Islamic Sharia law the group brutally imposes. "IS' murderous hatred for homosexuals is well-known, so it might be expected that if it turns out that Mateen was a homosexual this would put them in something of a bind, but in fact IS has a rather easy theological get-out clause," Kyle Orton, a Middle East analyst and fellow with the Henry Jackson Society, a UK-based foreign-policy think tank, told Business Insider in an email. He said: IS can situate this squarely within their ideological program of repentance and deliverance. When IS has murdered homosexuals within the caliphate, it has distributed media of its fighters hugging the condemned men, the message being: IS bears no personal animus, it is simply enforcing god's will punishment being a 'corrective' and an act of mercy since it allows atonement. With Mateen, therefore, IS can claim to have wrested him from sin and pulled him into the light. Orton noted that ISIS's "repentance factor" goes back to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the founder of Al Qaeda in Iraq, ISIS's predecessor. The Jordan native had "a fondness for alcohol, drugs, and tattoos" and a criminal background before he started the terrorist group that was so bloodthirsty that it was disowned by Al Qaeda, according to Orton. Story continues Zarqawi "felt that by correcting his own practice of his religion, and forcibly correcting others, he was doing God's work," Orton said. And Sunni tribes that fought against Al Qaeda in Iraq during the US war there were allowed to "repent" to avoid slaughter when ISIS seized territory in Iraq. Orton said: The profile of former petty criminal who gets religion, repents his former life, and joins the caliphate is now so common as to be cliche, especially among the Western foreign fighters. IS can easily assimilate a homosexual regarded by them in any case as something someone does, rather than something someone is who sees the error of his ways and joins their cause. Thomas Joscelyn, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and an expert on terrorist groups, made a similar assessment. He noted that ISIS could possibly hide the news of Mateen patronizing the LGBTQ club and using gay-dating apps from those in its core territory in the Middle East. It still maintains control of the internet in towns it rules. "I don't think it will be a problem in the countries where ISIS mainly operates because the news probably won't get through and ISIS can easily deflect," Joscelyn told Business Insider in an email. "In its propaganda aim at the West, it can also deflect in a number of ways, including saying he redeemed himself from his 'sinful' past." Orlando club shooting Still, the new information about Mateen who was married with a child could complicate ISIS's image as a group of pious ideologues. And Mateen terrorizing a nightclub that he used to frequent suggests underlying motives that have nothing to do with radical Islam. One man told MSNBC that he blocked Mateen on a gay-dating app and described his messages as "creepy." The classmate who told The Palm Beach Post that he thought Mateen was gay also described him as "awkward." "He just wanted to fit in and no one liked him," he told the Post. "He was always socially awkward." Some of the people closest to Mateen have hinted at psychological issues. A woman who was married to him claimed that he abused her, and acquaintances of his remembered him as angry and aggressive. His father has also been criticized for his comments after the shooting, suggesting that it was up to God, not his son, to punish gay people. Experts also have doubts that Mateen was ever in contact with ISIS leadership. Several of the terrorists who carried out the Paris attacks last year and the Brussels attacks earlier this year had trained in Syria and worked with high-level ISIS operatives to formulate their European terrorist cells. Mateen, however, was likely radicalized online, according to US officials. That type of radicalization plays into ISIS's strategy of encouraging supporters in the West to carry out attacks inspired by the group's messaging. But it also carries the risk of claiming attacks before the group knows many details about the people who carried them out. "I don't find it surprising that Mateen may have been gay," Joscelyn said. "If true, I think it does complicate the Islamic State's claim. The organization openly flaunts its hatred for homosexuals." Even so, Joscelyn said that he "wouldn't be shocked if Mateen was both sexually repressed and attracted to jihadi ideas." "Humans, even those attracted to jihadism, are filled with logical contradictions," he said. "There are multiple possibilities here." NOW WATCH: Watch President Obama break down during an emotional speech on gun violence More From Business Insider Die Hard Bruce Willis Fox Author and Death and Taxes editor-in-chief Brian Abrams previously won our hearts with And Now An Oral History of Late Night with David Letterman. His 2015 book Party Like a President is a very fun, informative, and booze-fueled history lesson. This week hes back with a year-long effort to tell the story of how arguably the greatest action movie of the 1980s, if not all-time, was made in Die Hard: An Oral History. It goes without saying that this is a must-read for 80s action junkies and people who simply enjoy stories about how Hollywood works. Abrams interviewed approximately 40 people who were involved with the big screen adaptation of author Roderick Thorps 1979 novel Nothing Lasts Forever, knew Bruce Willis when he was a young bartender, or worked on Die Hard, and there are plenty of revelations to sort through. For example, the protagonist of Nothing Lasts Forever, Joe Leland, a 65-year-old retired cop, and in the end of the original version, he dies. So does his daughter, after Anton Little Tony Gruber drops her from a building. Its hardly the Christmas miracle that John McClane experiences with his wife at Nakatomi Plaza, and thats why it took more than 10 years for a studio to finally take a chance on it. Related Links: Additionally, there was a rumor in the late 70s that Frank Sinatra, who had played Leland in the big-screen adaptation of Thorps The Detective in 1968, was attached to play the hero. Its a lot of fun to imagine a 70-something Ol Blue Eyes shouting, Welcome to the party, pal! And of course theres the story of the Hollywood insiders who had to fight like crazy to prove that Willis could be a leading man. But the aspect of this oral history that really jumps out at me is the struggle of screenwriter Jeb Stuart, who at the time was a quarter-million dollars in debt and in over his head with scripts. As Stuart recalls, the biggest problem with making this film was finding a story that didnt make viewers miserable. After all, no one wants to see the hero die in the end, and we certainly dont want to see the daughter offed in the worst way possible. Thats why the manuscript had been marked with Not recommended at least twice in the 10 years before the film was released. So, Stuart was tasked with making the idea, characters, and ending more appealing to mainstream audiences. And thats when it hit him almost literally. Story continues Die Hard Jeb Stuart 1 Die Hard: An Oral History Its not about a 65-year-old man whose 40-year-old daughter gets dropped off a building, he continues. Its about a 30-year-old guy who should have said hes sorry to his wife, and then bad stuff happens. Enough bad stuff, in fact, that it made Alan Rickmans Hans Gruber one of the all-time great movie villains, and ultimately inspired a film franchise that will never stop, even after John McClane is rebooted as a young New York City beat cop. Also interesting is how the film got its name. Stuart remembers his script being green-lit over a weekend and his answering machine being full when he returned from a family trip. From that point legendary producer Joel Silver became involved and he told Stuart that the films new title would be Die Hard, and that he had this title in my head for years and never found anything that we can call it. Except it was Shane Black who put the title in Silvers head, because that was the original title of The Last Boy Scout, which Black had pitched to Silver, according to stuntman and director Craig R. Baxley, who told Abrams, Trust me. Shane came up with Die Hard. Its all fascinating stuff, covering everything from Willis early days as a bartender to director John McTiernans reluctance to take on the film unless Silver was willing to alter the story even more than Stuart already had, which led to Stuart being replaced by Steven DeSouza. Theres even an appearance from Reginald VelJohnson, who had all but given up on acting before he auditioned for the role of Sgt. Al Powell, and was upset that he didnt get a bigger role in Die Hard 2. Who knew there could be so much drama surrounding an 80s action masterpiece? Donald Trump Bob Corker is discouraged by Donald Trump yet again. The Tennessee senator, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and one-time rumored running mate for Trump, said on Tuesday that he was let down by Trump's immediate reaction to the Orlando terrorist attack the deadliest mass shooting in US history. "It wasn't the kind of response that I would expect when 50 people have perished," Corker said, according to an NBC News reporter. "You know, I think I've offered words of public encouragement in important times and continue to be discouraged by the results." "I continue to be discouraged by the direction of the campaign and the comments that are made," he continued. "And I did not think yesterday's speech was the type of speech that one would give who wants to lead this country through difficult times." Corker joins what is becoming a growing list of leading Republicans who are not pleased with Trump's visceral response to the Orlando tragedy. In the aftermath of the deadly attack, Trump renewed his calls for the barring of Muslim immigrants and even went as far as to suggest that President Barack Obama might be sympathetic toward jihadists. A number of Republicans in Congress have either publicly distanced themselves from such comments, particularly the rhetoric on immigration, or gone a step further and rebuked them. House Speaker Paul Ryan said on Tuesday at the House GOP leadership briefing that Trump's Muslim proposal was not "reflective of our principles, not just as a party, but as a country." "And I think the smarter way to go in all respects is to have a security test, not a religious test," he said. "You don't ban somebody on race [or] religion," House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy echoed at the same event. "I don't see that coming to the floor." Paul Ryan South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham dismissed the plan on Tuesday as well. The South Carolina Republican, who at one time was competing against Trump in the presidential race, also called his suggestion about Obama's allegiances "beyond out of line." Story continues "I've never doubted that he loves his country," Graham told CNN. "I think he has a worldview that I don't agree with, in terms of how to deal with radical Islam. I don't think he's sympathetic to their causes, I think he's just made poor policy choices." Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, who's been increasingly critical of Trump, said that he hopes Trump will change some policy positions, but is "not optimistic," according to an NBC News reporter. Lamar Alexander And, late on Tuesday afternoon, Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander provided perhaps the strongest Republican detachment from Trump. "We don't have a nominee," Alexander told an Associated Press reporter. After being told that Trump is the party's presumptive presidential nominee, the Republican shot back: "That's what you say." Meanwhile, other GOP senators, such as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker, and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott seemingly tired of having to address the presumptive nominee's constant controversies simply avoided discussing Trump's response to the Orlando terrorist attack. Democrats have attempted to seize the moment, with Obama delivering his sharpest rebuke of Trump to date in a Tuesday address. "Where does this stop?" the president rhetorically asked. Obama added: "Are we going to start treating all Muslim Americans differently? Are we going to start subjecting them to special surveillance?" Trump responded to the criticism from the president, contending that while Obama says he "claims to know our enemy," he "continues to prioritize our enemy over our allies, and for that matter, the American people. "[W]hen I am president, it will always be America first." NOW WATCH: TRUMP SPOKESPERSON: Why the Republican party has 'miserably failed' More From Business Insider The Walt Disney Company has donated $1 million to help the victims of the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. On Tuesday, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer announced over social media that Disney donated the money to OneOrlando, the organization created to raise money to help those most affected by the mass shooting, which occurred Sunday morning at a gay nightclub. "We are heartbroken by this tragedy and hope our commitment will help those in the community affected by this senseless act," Bob Chapek, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, said in a statement. "With 74,000 cast members who call Orlando home, we mourn the loss of the victims and offer our condolences to their families, friends and loved ones." In addition to OneOrlando, more than $3.6 million has been raised for victims through a GoFundMe campaign. Forty-nine people were killed and more than 50 others inured Sunday when a 29-year-old gunman opened fire inside the nightclub. The gunman was killed in a shootout with police. Read More: Anderson Cooper Fights Back Tears While Reading Names of Orlando Shooting Victims Thank you @WaltDisneyCo for donating $1 million to #OneOrlando. Support the needs of our community at https://t.co/7sytxd9UhS #OrlandoUnited - Mayor Buddy Dyer (@orlandomayor) June 14, 2016 The Walt Disney Company has donated $1 million to help the victims of the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. On Tuesday (June 14), Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer announced over social media that Disney donated the money to OneOrlando, the organization created to raise money to help those most affected by the mass shooting, which occurred Sunday morning at a gay nightclub. "We are heartbroken by this tragedy and hope our commitment will help those in the community affected by this senseless act," Bob Chapek, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, said in a statement. "With 74,000 cast members who call Orlando home, we mourn the loss of the victims and offer our condolences to their families, friends and loved ones." Janet Jackson Shares Video Tribute to Orlando Victims In addition to OneOrlando, more than $3.6 million has been raised for victims through a GoFundMe campaign. Forty-nine people were killed and more than 50 others inured Sunday when a 29-year-old gunman opened fire inside the nightclub. The gunman was killed in a shootout with police. Thank you @WaltDisneyCo for donating $1 million to #OneOrlando. Support the needs of our community at https://t.co/7sytxd9UhS #OrlandoUnited - Mayor Buddy Dyer (@orlandomayor) June 14, 2016 This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter. By Barbara Liston (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co has raised security at its theme parks, the company said on Monday after the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history in Orlando, Florida, the home of Walt Disney World. "Unfortunately weve all been living in a world of uncertainty, and during this time we have increased our security measures across our properties, adding such visible safeguards as magnetometers, additional canine units, and law enforcement officers on site, as well as less visible systems that employ state-of-the-art security technologies," spokeswoman Jacquee Wahler said in an email statement. New York-born Omar Mateen, 29, killed 49 people in an Orlando, Florida, nightclub on Sunday. Mateen had scouted Walt Disney World as a potential target, People Magazine said on Monday, citing an unnamed federal law enforcement source. Reuters was unable to verify the report. Disney World is the best known tourist destination in Orlando, a Florida city with several theme parks. Outside the Magic Kingdom theme park at Walt Disney World, where a U.S. flag flew at half mast in mourning, vacationers Ernst and Rose Lorentzen on Monday said that they had seen more uniformed security guards, marked vehicles and dog units at resort properties since the shooting. They said they had arrived at Disney World on June 8. Bags of all guests are searched and some are selected for checks with a magnetometer, or metal detector. "They're really doing a lot of random searches. Maybe one out of eight people," Rose said. Their Disney hotel where they are staying also has been more vigilant. They "gave us a look-see and checked our passes at the gate," said Ernst, who is retired and declined to give his age. "Makes me feel like they're more alert," he said. (Additional reporting by Timothy Ahmann in Washington; Writing by Mohammad Zargham and Peter Henderson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Andrew Hay) Los Angeles (AFP) - Security has been stepped up at Disney theme parks following reports that the gunman behind the massacre in Orlando may have scouted Disney World in Florida as a possible target. "Unfortunately, we've all been living in a world of uncertainty, and during this time we have increased our security measures across our properties, adding such visible safeguards as magnetometers, additional canine units and law enforcement officers on site, as well as less visible systems that employ state-of-the-art security technologies," Disney spokeswoman Jacquee Wahler said in a statement. Authorities have said they were trying to confirm whether gunman Omar Mateen had scouted the park in Orlando, Florida, as well as other locations before his rampage at the Pulse nightclub on Sunday that left 49 people dead and 53 wounded. Citing a law enforcement source, People Magazine reported earlier that Mateen's wife -- Noor Zahi Salman -- told investigators that the couple had recently visited Walt Disney World as a potential target. "Salman told federal authorities on Sunday that her husband had more recently been 'scouting Downtown Disney and Pulse for attacks,'" the magazine said. A Disney manager in Florida told AFP that Mateen had visited the park in April. Disney has two theme parks in the United States, one in California and one in Florida. The company in December had announced new security measures at the two parks following the terror attacks in San Bernardino, California, and in Paris. Joined by several other popular theme parks, including Universal Studios, it said at the time that it was banning toy guns, adding metal detectors and bringing in specially trained dogs to patrol key areas. "All epic anthems must measure themselves against 'Stairway to Heaven,'" Rolling Stone wrote of the Led Zeppelin classic on its 500 Greatest Songs list in 2011. Guitarist Jimmy Page said the song "crystallized the essence of the band." And ever since a copyright infringement suit was brought against Zeppelin in 2014, people have questioned whether that essence is fraudulent. Songs on Trial: 10 Landmark Music Copyright Cases Led Zeppelin was sued by Michael Skidmore, administrator of the trust of the late Randy Wolfe (a.k.a. Randy California), who wrote a ghostly instrumental track called "Taurus" in 1968 for his band Spirit. Wolfe died in 1997. The instrumental cut he wrote, Skidmore claimed, is the original Medieval-sounding ascending scale heard in "Stairway," which Led Zeppelin released on its untitled 1971 record. To prove copyright infringement, the plaintiff must show that the defendant had reasonable access to the original work and that the works sound substantially alike. The court found that Page had the Spirit album (the band's self-titled 1968 debut) in his personal collection. Led Zeppelin also covered Spirit's song "Fresh-Garbage," which appears on the same album as "Taurus." The court found that the respective arpeggiated melodies of "Taurus" and "Stairway" sounded enough alike that a jury should weigh in. Similar issues were at play up in 2013's "Blurred Lines" case, which ended with musicians Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke being found guilty of infringing upon Marvin Gaye's song "Got to Give It Up." Defendants were ordered to pay a reduced sum of $5.3 million. The case is now on appeal. Christopher Sprigman, an intellectual-property and copyright-law professor at New York University, believes the "Blurred Lines" case was botched. "They didn't copy the melody or the lyrics," Sprigman told Rolling Stone. "They only copied the bass line, which was absolutely a standard funk walking bass line." Sprigman contends that the jury likely connected the general vibes of the two works the cowbell percussion and funk instrumentation and that's not actionable, he says: "That was a terrible verdict." Story continues The "Stairway" case is a little different than "Blurred Lines." The composition of "Stairway to Heaven" includes the melody and the chord progressions heard in the "Taurus" clip. Led Zeppelin's camp maintains that the song is rooted in musical traditions that go back thousands of years to Celtic folk music. The songs are similar because Spirit shared those musical touchstones, Spirit's lawyers claim. The all-art-comes-from-prior-art stance often leads to a cyclical argument in copyright cases: The Beach Boys ripped off Chuck Berry, the Rolling Stones ripped off Muddy Waters, and so on. "Bob Dylan copied a lot of things from Woody Guthrie, who copied a lot of from Mississippi bluesmen," Sprigman says, but in his view, what Dylan produced was no less new than the works that inspired him. "You don't take what someone else has created and then portray them as being in the wrong when they complain about not getting paid." Richard Busch "I hear all the time from the defense side that all music is based on something else," attorney Richard Busch told RS. "But that is, like most generalizations, wrong." The law doesn't reward best work; the law protects original work. "[Infringement] is easily tested by the introduction of evidence by the defendant of prior art that the court can compare to the plaintiff's work. Either the defendant can produce that or he cannot." Busch, partner at Nashville firm King and Ballow, has argued hundreds of copyright suits. He won the landmark 2004 case where Funkadelic sued N.W.A for sampling a guitar riff. That decision set a legal precedent that all sampled music, however small the sample, must be licensed before use. This month, he argued the other side of copyright law, proving that "Vogue" by Madonna was not guilty of infringement. Busch also represented the Marvin Gaye family estate in the now-infamous "Blurred Lines" case. Creative morality is hugely important in copyright law, he says. "It's easy to make a statement that all art comes from prior art," says Busch. "But people who want to say they're paying tribute if they just steal it, it's disrespectful." As Busch sees it, Pharrell and Robin Thicke intentionally evoked Marvin Gaye's "Got to Give It Up" to make money, but they didn't go through the process of properly licensing the song. "You don't take what someone else has created," he says, "and then portray them as being in the wrong when they complain about not getting paid for it or credited for it." The morality of creative songwriting is significant, says Busch, who is currently representing the songwriters suing Ed Sheeran for copyright infringement. "A lot of these artists and songwriters depend on the royalties and revenue from their work in order to live," he says. For the "Blurred Lines" case, the defense asserted the "prior art" argument that the bass line is a musical standard but ultimately, they couldn't prove it. "They also did not produce evidence of any work remotely close to Gaye's song 'Got to Give It Up,'" Busch said. Will the prior-art argument stand in the Led Zeppelin case? Some would say it doesn't matter. "People don't fault Shakespeare for taking poetry from lesser writers and turning it into Antony and Cleopatra," Sprigman says. "'Taurus' by Spirit is a forgotten song; 'Stairway' is the opposite, in part because Led Zeppelin took something from Spirit and made it so much better. "They weren't just better musicians [than Spirit]," he concludes. "They were better artists." Related Donald Trump Three years before he declared his run for the presidency, Donald Trump had his eyes set on another radically ambitious personal venture the developement of an 800-acre studio in Hampstead, Florida, which "would have been the largest film and TV production campus in America," according to The Hollywood Reporter. The publication details how Trump came to the idea of constructing the studio in April 2012, through his friend Joe Martinez, "a former cop and background actor... who happened to be running for mayor of Miami." Martinez proposed that Trump help him revisit an abandoned 10-year-old plan to convert an airplane hangar in Florida into a small film studio. Trump agreed to look into it under his own conditions. "But Trump, being Trump, thought Martinez should think bigger," THR writes. "Instead of merely turning an old airplane hangar into a rinky-dink studio, Trump envisioned an entire studio city, built on 800 acres of undeveloped, government-owned land in Homestead a rural, economically depressed part of Miami-Dade that still was recovering from Hurricane Andrew two decades earlier." Trump then contracted New York architect John Fotiadis to develop renderings for the enormous Trump World Studios campus, which would have included "15 backlots, multiple sound studios ranging in size from 25,000 to 250,000 square feet (for a total of 1 million square feet of indoor space,) and even a housing complex for employees." (Fotiadis's studio blueprints can be seen in the THR article.) As their plans started to come closer to fruition in the following months, however, Trump and his contractors then hit a series of road blocks. His team reportedly had trouble acquiring the contiguous land necessary to build the whole campus, as some properties were already purchased by other entities or already in use by the US government. Story continues Despite recieving a particularly memorable bit of assurance from director Michael Bay "He told me he could have shot 'Transformers' [at Trump World Studios] if it were available," Martinez said the barriers to progress soon became unassailable. Martinez lost his run for mayor of Miami to a candidate who openly opposed Trump World Studios, and the studio's proposed location happened to be next to a US Air Force Reserve base, where the taking off of military jets would have made for less-than-ideal filming conditions. "I actually said, 'Can you move the Air Force base?'" Trump admitted, according to THR. But by November 2012, the Air Force still held its ground, and Trump's lofty project "was officially dead." NOW WATCH: Marvel just dropped the first full trailer for 'Guardians of the Galaxy 2' and it looks amazing More From Business Insider Donald Trump Delivers Speech In Manchester, New Hamoshire Donald Trump responded to sharp criticism from President Barack Obama on Tuesday, telling The Associated Press that while Obama says he claims to know our enemy he continues to prioritize our enemy over our allies, and for that matter, the American people." Trump added to the AP that when I am president, it will always be America first. In a blistering statement delivered at the Treasury Department on Tuesday, Obama skewered the presumptive Republican nominee for his rhetoric on Muslims, seeming to particularly address a national-security speech Trump delivered Monday in the wake of the Orlando terror attack. "Where does this stop?" Obama rhetorically asked. The president added: "Are we going to start treating all Muslim Americans differently? Are we going to start subjecting them to special surveillance?" Obama also fought back against criticism from Trump for his refusal to use the phrase radical Islam. What exactly would using this label accomplish? What exactly would it change? "Would it make ISIL less committed to try and kill Americans? Would it bring in more allies? Is there a military strategy that is served by this? The answer is none of the above," Obama said. Obama's remarks on Tuesday served as his strongest rebuttal yet against Trump. The New York businessman relentlessly criticizes the president, who typically opts not to directly respond. NOW WATCH: Golf legend Greg Norman reveals the truth behind US President Bill Clinton's late-night 1997 injury More From Business Insider French English IRVINE, CA, and HERSTAL, BELGIUM - June 14, 2016 - MDxHealth SA (Euronext: MDXH.BR), announced today that it has secured the first U.S. reimbursement coverage agreement for its SelectMDx(TM) for Prostate Cancer test with America's Choice Provider Network, Inc. (ACPN). ACPN is a national provider network with over 1,700 payers, including insurance carriers, third party administrators, health and welfare funds, employer groups and self-insured health plans, providing coverage to 24 million American lives and 750,000 international lives. "We are pleased to sign this agreement with ACPN just 3 months after we have launched our SelectMDx test on the U.S. market," said Dr. Jan Groen, CEO of MDxHealth. "Our investment last year into the company's managed care team has already been producing results and we continue to build strong relationships with payors across the country." About America's Choice Provider Network Founded in 2012, ACPN is an independent, multispecialty national provider network. Through its proprietary network and technology, ACPN offers access to providers, payers and patients in all 50 States, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Guam, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. ACPN's products include Individual and Group Health, Workers Compensation, Auto Liability, and Medicare Advantage. Its client base consists of Insurance Carriers, Third Party Administrators, Health and Welfare Funds, Self-Administered Employer Groups, Student Plans, Travel Plans, etc. ACPN's mission is to achieve consistency in healthcare transactions, simplify claims adjudication processes, create reasonable reimbursement arrangements, and establish reliable healthcare access for all parties-providers, payers and patients. About SelectMDx for Prostate Cancer Of the nearly 2 million prostate biopsies performed each year, less than a third find cancer. Most of these men could have avoided a painful and invasive prostate biopsy procedure, with its associated complications and costs. SelectMDx for Prostate Cancer is a proprietary urine-based, molecular diagnostic test that offers a non-invasive 'liquid biopsy' method to assess a man's risk for prostate cancer. SelectMDx helps identify men at increased risk of harbouring aggressive, potentially lethal, prostate cancer who may benefit most from a prostate biopsy and earlier detection. The test delivers a negative predictive value (NPV) of 98% for clinically significant disease, helping to reduce unnecessary MRI procedures and invasive prostate biopsies by approximately 50%, thereby reducing healthcare costs. About MDxHealth MDxHealth is a multinational healthcare company that provides actionable molecular diagnostic information to personalize the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. The company's tests are based on proprietary gene methylation (epigenetic) and other molecular technologies and assist physicians with the diagnosis of cancer, prognosis of recurrence risk, and prediction of response to a specific therapy. For more information, visit mdxhealth.com and follow us on Twitter at: twitter.com/mdxhealth. For more information: Dr. Jan Groen, CEO MDxHealth US: +1 949 812 6979 BE: +32 4 364 20 70 info@mdxhealth.com Amber Fennell, Chris Welsh, Hendrik Thys (PR & IR) Consilium Strategic Communications UK: +44 20 3709 5701 US: +1 917 322 2571 (Rx Communications Group LLC) mdxhealth@consilium-comms.com This press release contains forward-looking statements and estimates with respect to the anticipated future performance of MDxHealth and the market in which it operates. Such statements and estimates are based on assumptions and assessments of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which were deemed reasonable but may not prove to be correct. Actual events are difficult to predict, may depend upon factors that are beyond the company's control, and may turn out to be materially different. MDxHealth expressly disclaims any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements in this release to reflect any change in its expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based unless required by law or regulation. This press release does not constitute an offer or invitation for the sale or purchase of securities or assets of MDxHealth in any jurisdiction. No securities of MDxHealth may be offered or sold within the United States without registration under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or in compliance with an exemption therefrom, and in accordance with any applicable U.S. securities laws. NOTE: The MDxHealth logo, MDxHealth, ConfirmMDx, SelectMDx, AssureMDx and PredictMDx are trademarks or registered trademarks of MDxHealth SA. All other trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners. Today is going to be HUGE for him! Donald Trump is celebrating his 70th birthday on Tuesday, June 14. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee appears to be all business on his birthday, however. On Tuesday, he took to Twitter on a more serious note to address the mass shooting in Orlando. PHOTOS: Celebrities' Political Affiliations "American[s] must now get very tough, very smart and very vigilant. We cannot admit people into our country without extraordinary screening," he wrote to his more than 9 million followers. "Thank you to the LGBT community! I will fight for you while Hillary [Clinton] brings in more people that will threaten your freedoms and beliefs." PHOTOS: First Children Trump received backlash for his previous comments on the matter. On Sunday, he wrote an insensitive tweet suggesting that he was to thank for bringing up the idea that the tragedy stemmed from radical Islamic terrorism. He later apologized during an interview on the Today show. Trump might not be in the celebratory mood (yet), but others are. According to Fox News, the right-wing political group Hindu Sena threw a birthday party in India in his honor. The festivities included decorations, balloons, party hats and a cake. PHOTOS: Bill and Hillary Clinton Through the Years The business mogul will surely be making more headlines long after he turns the big 7-0. The former Celebrity Apprentice host will continue to fight for the presidency against presumptive Democratic nominee and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who made history last week when she became the first woman to clinch the presidential nomination for a major party. To celebrate Trump's birthday, browse through these hilarious memes below: The scripted address, the moment of silence and the gestures of solidarity toward the gay community all seemed to suggest a different Donald Trump might have shown up Monday in New Hampshire. But in the wake of the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, the presumptive Republican nominee instead sharpened the theme that has marked his upstart campaign: the threat of the immigrant lurking among us. Trump decried the inadequate screening and tremendous flow of Syrian refugees. He reiterated his support for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the U.S. even though the suspected shooter was born in America. And he moved to further restrict Islamic immigration by calling for the country to close its borders to nations with a record of exporting terrorism. When I am elected, Trump said in a prepared speech at Saint Anselm College outside Manchester, I will suspend immigration from areas of the world when there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe or our allies, until we fully understand how to end these threats. Read More: Transcript of Trumps Speech on the Orlando Shooting It was a promise that no other major-party nominee in modern history would have made. In the anguished aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, President George W. Bush was careful to delineate the difference between a war against a terrorist sect and a war against Islam. When rally-goers called Barack Obama a terrorist and an Arab in the waning days of the 2008 campaign, John McCain defended his opponents decency. Even as he criticized Obamas approach to combatting terrorism, Mitt Romney described Islam as a religion of peace. This is not Trumps style. Throughout his life, he has often found the seams in the cultural fabric and exploited them for personal gain. And he has brought the tactics of tribal warfare from business into politics. Since the start of his campaign, he has cast nonwhite groups, American citizens or not, as a threat to the nations security and way of life. People coming over the border are bad hombres. Black Lives Matter protesters are bad dudes. Refugees fleeing war-torn Syria could be a better, bigger, more horrible version than the legendary Trojan horse ever was, Trump warned Monday. Story continues The same impulse that prompted Trump to attack an American judge of Mexican heritage was on display in a national-security speech that was supposed to be sober and measured. Trumps is a campaign in which law-abiding citizens are suspect simply because of their background, and entire classes of people become sleeper threats. The facts often dont match the rhetoric. The GOP nominee noted that the suspected killer a Queens, N.Y., native, just like Trump would not have committed the atrocity in Orlando had his Afghan parents been denied entry to the U.S. According to Pew Research, 99% of people in Afghanistan support oppressive Sharia law, Trump said, explaining the roots of his idea to bar immigrants from countries that incubate Islamic fanaticism. Sharia, or Islamic law, is often misconstrued in the West as a system that relies on ghastly retributive justice such as punishing adultery with death by stoning, or cutting off the hand of a thief. But Sharia is a broad term for the set of ethical principles inscribed in the Quran. It means different things to different adherents. People understand Sharia to be rule of law, justice and rights, says Intisar Rabb, director of the Islamic Legal Studies Program at Harvard Law School. Trump, says Rabb, has adopted Sharia as a bogeyman against which he can fight and have a platform to get elected. That strikes me as very irresponsible, and it is false. Demonizing every Muslim by equating Sharia and terrorism is akin to describing every Christian as a radical fundamentalist; the Bible can also be interpreted as requiring brutal punishments for archaic offenses. Meanwhile, the same Pew survey showed that majorities in every Muslim region including the South Asian nations where support for Sharia runs highest say it should apply only to Muslims. Trump often speaks of the violence perpetrated by immigrants. On the campaign trail, he likes to invoke the murders of Kate Steinle and Jamiel Shaw as examples. But studies show that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than the native-born. Or consider the Syrian refugees that Trump has moved to block. Under the [Hillary] Clinton plan, youd be admitting hundreds of thousands of refugees from the Middle East with no system to vet them, he said. In fact, refugees from countries like Syria and Iraq are the single most heavily vetted group of people that enter the country. So far in 2016, the U.S. looks poised to fall short of its modest goal of resettling the 10,000 Syrian refugees it has agreed to accept this year. About half of those entering are children, according to U.S. officials. But in a presidential campaign suffused with fears of terrorism, Trump is seizing a chance to sow suspicion and to frame himself as uniquely positioned to make the country safer. Its us-against-them politics, Roger Stone, a Republican consultant and longtime Trump adviser, told TIME in March. You define yourself by who your enemies are. Thats why Stone suggested without evidence on Monday that Clinton confidant Huma Abedin, who was born in Michigan to South Asian parents, might be a Saudi spy or a terrorist agent. Its why Trump hinted that Obama himself might have unsavory connections that have altered his approach to terrorism. Look, were led by a man that either is not tough, not smart, or hes got something else in mind, Trump said. Theres something going on. Its inconceivable. Theres something going on. Such tactics have served Trump well in a Republican primary thick with aggrieved partisan. But Republican strategists worry Trumps strategy of division wont work in a fall campaign where the electorate is far more diverse. The general election is a business of addition, says veteran GOP strategist Scott Reed. Its not divide-and-conquer. There arent enough people to divide. With reporting by Elizabeth Dias Paris (AFP) - Forty people were hurt and dozens arrested Tuesday as violence between riot police and masked troublemakers gripped huge Paris protests over France's labour reforms. Police fired water cannon in the south of the capital to quell rioters as "several hundred" masked protesters lobbed objects at security forces in bloody scenes in the French capital. As tens of thousands of people took to the streets in nationwide protests against the controversial labour reforms, strikes closed the Eiffel Tower and disrupted transport links. Police said 29 members of the security forces were among those wounded in Paris, while three cars were burned on the city streets. The international spotlight is on France as the host of the Euro 2016 football championships, which have also been marred by violence between fans. Tens of thousands of fans are continuing to pour into the country for Europe's showcase football event. In Paris, several demonstrators stormed a building site and hurled wooden pallets at riot police. Protesters shouting "Paris, rise up" and "everyone hates the police" smashed shop windows and targeted banks in running battles with officers. One man was led away by officers in riot gear with blood dripping from a wound above his eye onto his white T-shirt. The strikes were the latest in months of industrial action that have caused severe disruptions to air and rail transport, hit fuel supplies and led to mountains of rubbish on the streets of Paris. "I've been to all the demos since March because I want to live in dignity, not just survive," said Aurelien Boukelmoune, a 26-year-old technician marching in Paris. "I want the reforms to be withdrawn, pure and simple. Only then will it stop. For the government's sake, they should withdraw the law, otherwise we'll block the economy." Police and organisers gave wildly different figures for the turnout, with unions saying 1.3 million people had turned out across France but police estimating the crowds at 125,000 or more, some 80,000 of them in Paris. Story continues - High alert - With France on high alert over fears of attacks during Euro 2016, overstretched security forces had feared the demonstrations could turn violent and banned 130 known troublemakers from taking part. The terrorism threat was thrust back into the spotlight after a man claiming allegiance to the Islamic State group stabbed to death a police couple at their home in a northwestern Paris suburb late Monday. The latest in a wave of protests that began in March coincides with a French Senate debate on the reforms, which are aimed at making the job market more flexible and reducing high unemployment but which critics see as too pro-business. President Francois Hollande's Socialist government voiced hope the latest day of protest would be a last stand for the movement. But Philippe Martinez, head of the far-left CGT union that spearheaded last month's blockades of fuel depots and an ongoing rail strike, had promised a "very strong mobilisation." In Marseille, organisers said 140,000 turned out, compared with a police estimate of 5,000. Two further protest days are set for later this month. - Tourism hit - At a time when the French capital would normally be reaping the benefits of high-season tourism boosted by the football, the demonstrations have dampened the flow to the world's most-visited city. Several staff at the Eiffel Tower went on strike, leaving insufficient numbers to open the monument safely, according to its operator, SETE. Adding to the climate of discontent, rail workers continued strike action to protest working conditions. They were joined at the weekend by a minority of Air France pilots. The pilots' strike, which affected about one in five flights according to the airline, was set to end Tuesday, while the rolling strike at national rail company SNCF was in its 14th day. The actions have further depressed France's tourism sector, already hit by the November attacks in Paris that left 130 people dead. Hollande, who faces a re-election bid next April, had hoped the signature reform would reverse his approval ratings, which are among the worst of a modern French leader. But his government sparked fury when it pushed the reforms through parliament without a vote, with a little-used political device. While rejecting union demands to withdraw the bill, the government has watered it down, notably by scrapping a cap on severance pay. June 14 (Reuters) - Irish drugmaker Shire Plc said on Tuesday it would buy from Pfizer Inc the rights to an experimental drug, designed to treat moderate-to-severe inflammatory bowel disease. The drug, PF-00547659, has successfully completed mid-stage studies and late-stage trials are expected to begin after consultation with global health authorities, Shire said in a statement Dublin-based Shire did not disclose the financial terms of the deal. Inflammatory bowel disease is a condition that affects either part or all of the digestive tract and the cause of the disease is unknown. (Reporting by Vidya L Nathan in Bengaluru, Editing by Anil D'Silva) The Hague (AFP) - Equatorial Guinea has appealed to the United Nations' highest court to order France to stop legal proceedings against the president's son, claiming they violate international treaties, the tribunal said Tuesday. In a filing on Monday to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, the leaders of the oil-rich African nation also called for Paris to pay as yet unspecified damages for the "prejudice" it has suffered. Teodorin Obiang, one of the country's vice presidents, is accused by French prosecutors of looting state coffers to fund his lavish tastes, including the purchase of pop star Michael Jackson's famous white glove, private jets and sprawling properties in some of the world's most expensive areas. In 2012 prosecutors had already ordered the seizure of the Obiang family's six-storey mansion on Avenue Foch -- one of the poshest addresses in Paris -- as well as several luxury cars, famous works and vintage wines. Now in a twist of the long-running legal saga, Equatorial Guinea has taken its case to the ICJ insisting that despite previous rulings by French courts, Obiang enjoys diplomatic immunity. In its filing to the 70-year-old tribunal in The Hague, Equatorial Guinea said the dispute arose out of cases filed before French courts since 2007 "by associations and private individuals". But the proceedings before the French courts "constitute a violation of the immunity to which (Obiang) is entitled under international law". It also argued that Obiang had sold the Foch Avenue mansion to the state in September 2011 and since then the house "has been used by the diplomatic mission of Equatorial Guinea" and should therefore enjoy "the immunities accorded to official premises by international law." Obiang's father, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has ruled the country with an iron fist since 1979, is Africa's longest-serving leader, and extended his 36-year rule in April when he was re-elected with 93.7 percent of the vote. Equatorial Guinea urged the court to "declare that the French Republic has breached its obligation to respect the principles of the sovereign equality of states." And it called on the ICJ to order France "to take all necessary measures to put an end to any ongoing proceedings" and to recognise the Foch Avenue house as a diplomatic mission and "ensure its protection as required by international law." Paramount has signed Belgian directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah to direct Eddie Murphys Beverly Hills Cop 4 more than two decades after the third film was released. Jerry Bruckheimer is producing as he did on the first two Beverly Hills Cop films, which were released in 1984 and 1987. Beverly Hills Cop III was released in 1994. The three films grossed a combined $735 million worldwide with the first taking in $316 million. The hiring of El Arbi and Fallah directors of the award-winning drama Black comes more than a year after Paramount had pulled the fourth installment of the franchise out of its March 25, 2016, release date. Paramount had announced in May, 2014, that the fourth film was scheduled for a 2016 release. At that point, Brett Ratner had been attached to direct from a script by Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) with a story centering around Murphys Axel Foley character returning to his native Detroit during the coldest winter on record. Black won the Discovery Award at the Toronto Film Festival last year. It centers on a 15-year-old girl in a gang in Brussels who must choose between loyalty and love when she falls for a Moroccan boy from a rival gang. Martha Canga Antonio and Aboubakr Bensaihi starred. Varietys Peter Debruge called Black a powerhouse and said in his review: The first of its kind in Belgian cinema, this easily exportable, minority-driven drama has the potential to launch the careers of its young directors and cast, driving its star-crossed West Side Story formula into the 21st century. El Arbi and Fallah are both of Moroccan heritage who directed the short film Broeders and the feature Image. They are repped by CAA, Management 360 and Belgian agent Ken Lambrechts. The news was first reported by Deadline Hollywood. Related stories Soccer Match-Fixing Movie 'The Big Fix' Set at Fox Eddie Murphy's 'Beverly Hills Cop 4' Pulled From 2016 Release Paramount to Lay Off 110 Employees PARIS (Reuters) - The Eiffel Tower will be lit up in rainbow colors on Monday evening in tribute to the victims of the massacre in a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, the mayor of Paris said. At least 50 people were killed and 53 others were wounded at the Pulse nightclub on Sunday before the gunman, who had pledged loyalty to Islamic State, was shot dead by police. "Paris stands with Orlando," mayor Anne Hidalgo said on her Twitter account. "Tonight @LaTourEiffel will wear the rainbow flag as a tribute to the victims." "We stand together with our American friends #Orlando #LoveIsLove," the French government said on its official Twitter account, featuring a new profile picture with the U.S. and rainbow flags. In March, the Eiffel Tower displayed Belgian colors after twin attacks by Islamists in Brussels killed at least 26 people. Monuments throughout the world were lit in the colors of the French flag in November when 130 people were killed in Islamic State attacks on a concert hall, cafes and a stadium. (Reporting by Geert De Clercq; Editing by Ingrid Melander) DGAP-News: Gerry Weber International AG / Key word(s): Half Year Results GERRY WEBER reports 1st half 2015/16 figures in line with expectations as well as initial progress of realignment programme 14.06.2016 / 07:25 The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Corporate News GERRY WEBER reports 1st half 2015/16 figures in line with expectations as well as initial progress of realignment programme - First half of 2015/16 sees sales rise by 2.5% to EUR 443.6 million - HALLHUBER contributes EUR 91.7 million to consolidated sales in the first half of 2015/16 (+ 22.9%) - Implementation of "FIT4GROWTH" realignment programme progresses as planned: the first 21 stores have been closed; social compensation plan for the Retail and the administrative support functions has been signed (Halle/Westphalia, 14 June 2016) The GERRY WEBER Group's performance in the first half of 2015/16 (November 2015 to April 2016) was in line with expectations. Sales grew by 2.5% year-on-year to EUR 443.6 million. The GERRY WEBER Core brands (GERRY WEBER, TAIFUN and SAMOON) contributed EUR 352.0 million (H1 previous year: EUR 398.9 million) million to consolidated sales revenues; the contribution from Munich-based subsidiary HALLHUBER amounted to EUR 91.7 million. Note that the year-on-year comparison between the two six-month periods is impaired by the fact that HALLHUBER was consolidated only from February 2015. The GERRY WEBER Core Retail segment contributed EUR 206.4 million (H1 previous year: EUR 201.3 million) to consolidated sales revenues in the first six months of 2015/16. The 2.5% year-on-year increase reflects the opening of new sales spaces during the period. Like-for-like sales of the GERRY WEBER Retail operations in H1 2015/16 were down by 6.7% year-on-year. According to an independent panel of fashion trade magazine "Textilwirtschaft", sales across the German clothing retail sector were down on the respective prior year period by approx. 3%. The decrease in like-for-like revenues at the GERRY WEBER Retail segment reflected the negative market trend as well as changes to the merchandise and inventory management systems under the "FIT4GROWTH" realignment programme; these changes effectively improved pricing levels and, consequently, the gross margin of the GERRY WEBER Core segment. Compared to the first half of the prior year, GERRY WEBER Core Wholesale revenues shrank by 26.3% to EUR 145.6 million (H1 previous year: EUR 197.7 million). This decline reflects our Wholesale customers' continuing cautious pre-order behaviour as well as the effects of reclassifying Wholesale spaces as company-managed Retail spaces. Nevertheless, the gross margin for both GERRY WEBER Core segments (Retail and Wholesale) improved from 58.5% to 60.9% as a result of the measures launched. The HALLHUBER subsidiary continued to develop positively as well. HALLHUBER generated sales of EUR 91.7 in the first six months of 2015/16, up 22.9% year on year. Growth was supported not only by new store openings but also by a 6.3% advance in like-for-like sales. Due to the decline in high-margin GERRY WEBER Core sales, continuing high fixed costs and the expansion-related expenses incurred by our HALLHUBER subsidiary, consolidated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the first half of 2015/16 slumped from EUR 52.5 million to EUR 29.9 million; HALLHUBER's contribution to Group EBITDA amounted to EUR 6.6 million. Depreciation/amortisation for the six-month period rose clearly from last year's EUR 16.3 million to EUR 21.5 million this year. This was due both to the inclusion of HALLHUBER (EUR 6.2 million) and to higher depreciation/ amortisation at GERRY WEBER Core (EUR 15.3 million). The higher depreciation/amortisation at GERRY WEBER Core also reflects extraordinary write-downs related to the store closures already completed (EUR 2.3 million) under the "FIT4GROWTH" realignment programme. Accordingly, earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) for the first half of 2015/16 dropped to EUR 8.4 million (H1 previous year: EUR 36.2 million), which was in line with the guidance announced by the company at the end of February 2016. The EBIT margin stood at 1.9%. Ralf Weber, CEO of GERRY WEBER International AG, stated: "The implementation of our "FIT4GROWTH" realignment programme is progressing well and as planned. The first 21 out of the total 103 closures have already been completed, the social compensation plan for the Retail segment and for the administrative support functions in the head office has been signed and our gross margin has started to improve as a result of our optimised merchandise and inventory management system. Even so, we still have numerous tasks and an difficult path ahead of us during this and the next financial year. As we continue to push ahead the realignment, the progress achieved in the past months has strengthened our conviction that we will achieve our objectives." Outlook 2015/16 In view of the business performance in the first half of 2015/16, the company is upholding its full year guidance. The Managing Board expects to report consolidated 2015/16 sales between EUR 890 and 920 million, with HALLHUBER contributing between EUR 180 and 190 million. Group EBIT are anticipated to come in between EUR 10 and 20 million. Key figures of the GERRY WEBER Group:H1 H1 Q2 Q2 2015/16 2014/15 2015/16 2014/15 Sales revenues (in EUR millions) 443.6 432.7 230.0 240.3 EBITDA (in EUR millions) 29.9 52.5 15.4 28.3 EBITDA margin in % 6.7 % 12.1 % 6.7 % 11.8 % EBIT (in EUR millions) 8.4 36.2 4.5 18.8 EBIT margin in % 1.9 % 8.4 % 2.0 7.8 % Net income of the period (in EUR 3.0 21.9 1.7 11.4 millions) Earnings per share (in EUR) 0.06 0.48 0.04 0.25 Equity ratio (in %) 51.4 % 51.9% 51.4 % 51.9 % Headcount (average) 7,150 6,987 7,150 6,987*HALLHUBER consolidated as of Q2 2014/15 GERRY WEBER International AG
Investor Relations Contact: Press Contact: Claudia Kellert Catharina Berndt Head of Investor Relations Head of Corporate Communications Tel: +49 (0)5201 185 8422 Tel: +49 (0)5201 185 320 E-mail: c.kellert@gerryweber.de E-mail: c.berndt@gerryweber.com--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14.06.2016 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases. Archive at www.dgap.de --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Language: English Company: Gerry Weber International AG Neulehenstrae 8 33790 Halle/Westfalen Germany Phone: +49 (0)5201 185-0 Fax: +49 (0)5201 5857 E-mail: c.kellert@gerryweber.de Internet: www.gerryweber-ag.de ISIN: DE0003304101 WKN: 330410 Indices: SDAX Listed: Regulated Market in Dusseldorf, Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Regulated Unofficial Market in Berlin, Stuttgart; Terminborse EUREX End of News DGAP News Service --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 471245 14.06.2016 The Television Academy sent out notices over the weekend via snail mail and today via online to the approximately 18,500 eligible voting members that Your VOTE Counts, and the process of choosing nominees in the 113 or so categories for this years Emmy contest is underway. Polls will close on June 27th with nominations announced on July 14. Clearly by sending out the rare missive via post office, since all voting is now exclusively online, is to underscore to all members that Emmy 2016 is ON. The Academy also wants to make sure username, password, email address and mobile telephone number are all updated, locked and loaded for the fun to begin. Even as voting starts today the campaign continues in high gear. As I noted last week, Netflix alone had sent out 14 pounds of programming in several boxes for members. When I ran into Netflix honcho Ted Sarandos at last Thursdays AFI Life Achievement Award to John Williams, he corrected me saying he was told it was 22 pounds. So in an effort at factual correctness I weighed them all today and came up with 20 pounds of screeners. I know it is a lot but we have a lot of stuff. Right now we havent come up with another way and want to make sure we are competitive, he told me while emphasizing the programming is also available at all times on Netflix anytime and the streamer has provided all members with a card and personal code guaranteeing them free access through the end of the month. The streamers like Netflix, Amazon and Hulu have really ramped up the push for Emmys taking innovative strides to set them apart from the broadcast and cable networks. Netflix is trying all sorts of stunts, including offering valet parking validation tickets with Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt plastered on them at various high end restaurants, hotels and events like Deadlines Emmy Party last week at the Hollywood Roosevelt, and the Beverly Hills Food & Wine Festival. If you go to your dry cleaners during the voting period, you are likely to have your shirts returned in custom Narcos laundry bags that say We Love Laundering. The DEA dogs from the series have also been turning up for photo opps at events as well as including the aforementioned Deadline Emmy party. Netflix has even given over some of their billboard space in a longshot bid to get, not Aziz but his father, Shoukath Ansari, a guest star Emmy nom for his bit in one of the episodes. Several spots also ran on last nights CBS Tony Awards broadcast, with Kimmy Schmidt character Titus Andromedon (comedy supporting hopeful Titus Burgess) auditioning to play Alexander Hamilton in the Broadway smash (even though I cant get tickets and no one has offered them). If you go to Orange Theory workout locations you will be getting free Orange Is The New Black towels. President Obama has even inadvertently helped out this campaign by adamantly proclaiming that Orange (meaning Donald Trump) is definitely NOT The New Black (meaning, well, you get the idea). And bringing another of their shows directly into this Presidential campaign, Netflix has sent out ambassadors to campaign recently in the June 7 primary for their House Of Cards prez Frank Underwood with the slogan FU2016. Not to be outdone though is Hulu, which had perhaps the most unusual FYC event of all on June 7 primary day, when they took insult comic dog Triumph out to the Silverlake Dog Park for the unveiling of his own campaign headquarters in order to promote Triumph The Insult Dogs Election Special for the Variety Special categories. And streamer Amazon, which picked up a couple of Emmys last year for Transparent is doubling down this year with some innovative ideas to keep voters captive while sampling their contenders. In May they partnered with UBER to offer free rides in premium vehicles to Emmy voters who, while traveling to their destinations, were encouraged to watch eligible Amazon series via Kindles wrapped with Transparent, Man In The High Castle, Mozart In The Jungle, and Catastrophe branding. Content was downloaded to the Amazon video app. Uber sent a blast to 300,000 unique users in LA and offered Amazon branded water bottles for the ride along with Consider Amazon gift boxes. Amazon also has an Olive & Thyme Burbank restaurant promotion targeting key Valley studio voters, and last week, prior to the start of voting, sent around a vintage Airstream trailer with FYC messaging parked in front of studios, with teams handing out Kindles to watch programming and food to eat while doing so. Beyond the streamers, campaigns are in full force from a record number of programmers doing a record number of For Your Consideration events. In fact I have counted at least 55 since CBS Studios did a live performance and panel for the CWs Crazy Ex-Girlfriend on March 24, less than a month after the Oscar season ended. It appears that there has not been a single night without one of these FYC events (they are not sanctioned by the Academy, but still facilitated as they mail or email the invites for a price). Despite tonights cancellation of FXs American Horror Story FYC event due to the Orlando shooting tragedy, these live events are still at full speed with a big one coming Wednesday on the Paramount lot with a Grease Live! panel (including stars and Tony winning Hamilton director Thomas Kail among others) and Grease Live! Carnival. TV live musical rival The Wiz did an FYC earlier this month that featured in person musical performances from the cast. THE WIZ LIVE! -- Television Academy Event at The DGA, Los Angeles, June 1, 2016 -- Pictured: (l-r) Holly Robinson Peete, Moderator; Harvey Mason, Jr., Composer; Fatima Robinson, Choregorapher; Amber Riley, David Alan Grier, Kenny Leon, Director; Shanice Williams, Queen Latifah, Craig Zadan, Executive Producer; Neil Meron, Executive Producer; Mary J. Blige, NE-YO, Elijah Kelley, Matthew Diamond, Live TV Director -- (Photo by: Chris Haston/NBC) On the same night on the East Coast, Comedy Central will be trotting out The Daily Show host Trevor Noah to meet and greet NYC Emmy voters at the Paley Center. Game Of Thrones will be presenting its penultimate episode for Emmy voters on Fathers Day at the ACE downtown. Tomorrow Spike TV is promoting its Lip Sync Battle at the new Television Academy Wolf Theatre. NBCs Shades Of Blue FYC panel with Jennifer Lopez, Ray Liotta and cast and creatives was the first of these events to inaugurate the new theatre last Thursday. Some shows opt for a different vibe to attract voters. On Friday night ABC took over Hollywood and Highlands Dave And Busters for food, games and talk with the cast of Black-ish inviting not just members but their entire families, in the spirit of the family sitcom. The long list of shows springing the big bucks to produce these events includes past winners and nominees like Modern Family, Fargo, Homeland, Empire, Silicon Valley, Veep, American Crime, Better Call Saul and Transparent to longer shots like Odd Mom Out, Born This Way, Youre The Worst and Food Networks Diners, Drive-Ins And Dives with Guy Fieri the latter kind of show always a draw at these things since the receptions are aimed at real foodies and translate to long lines in the lobby, if not to actual votes. Not to be left out are Late Late Show With James Corden, UnReal, Power, Mozart In The Jungle, Catastrophe, Fargo, Billions, Marvels Jessica Jones, Narcos, Man In The High Castle, Fresh Off The Boat, Billy On The Street, Mr. Robot, The Leftovers, Casual, The Path, Difficult People, Jim Gaffigan, Masters Of Sex, Documentary Now, Ray Donovan, Younger, The Affair, Underground, Blunt Talk, Jane The Virgin, The Mindy Project and You Me Her. TBS decided to save on money by creating an evening with all their comedy shows from Conan to The Detour to Samantha Bee and did it on both coasts. Prestige shows like FXs The People Vs. O.J. Simpson, Starzs The Dresser and AMCs John LeCarre adaptation The Night Manager brought out a stage full of participants to packed houses. Downton Abbey hosted a tea for its final seasons FYC. Beginning today it is all in the voters hands. Will all this campaigning make a difference, or will it be the same old-same old when the nominees are revealed on the morning of July 14? Time will tell. Related stories 'The Path' Production Designer Russell Barnes Reveals On-Screen Errors And Design Influences Netflix Picks Up Detective Comedy Film 'Handsome', Jeff Garlin Stars & Directs The 'Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt' Cast Re-Team To Reflect On Season 2 TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / June 14, 2016 / EnerDynamic Hybrid Technologies Corp. (EHT.V) ("EHT" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has reached an agreement to settle obligations (the "Shares for Debt Transaction") owed to its creditor in the amount of $547,500.00 through the issuance of 3,650,000 common shares of EHT to such creditor at a deemed price of $0.15 per common share. The Shares for Debt Transaction principally represents a payment for outstanding rent obligations. Completion of the Shares for Debt Transaction will allow EHT to preserve its existing cash balances. All securities issued in connection with the Shares for Debt Transaction will be subject to a statutory hold period of four months plus a day from the date of issuance in accordance with applicable securities law legislation. The Shares for Debt Transaction remains subject to final TSX Venture Exchange approval. About EnerDynamic Hybrid Technologies EHT delivers proprietary, turn-key energy solutions which are intelligent, bankable and sustainable. Most energy products and solutions can be implemented immediately wherever they are needed. EHT stands above its competitors by combining a full suite of solar PV, wind and battery storage solutions, which can deliver energy 24 hours per day in both small-scale and large-scale format. In addition to traditional support to established electrical networks, EHT excels where no electrical grid exists. Through its recent acquisitions and new product developments, the organization now supplies advanced material solutions for various industries in combination with energy saving and energy generation solutions. EHT's core expertise lies in the development of innovative composite material systems with a full integration of smart energy solutions, which are processed through the use of EHT's proprietary production technologies into attractive applications- primarily modular homes, cold storage facilities, modular hospitals, schools, hotels and residential and commercial buildings. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. The statements herein that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking information involves risk, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects, and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, regulatory approval processes. Although EHT believes that the assumptions used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, including that all necessary regulatory approvals will be obtained in a timely manner, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, which only applies as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. EHT disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by applicable securities laws. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: John Gamble Director (289) 488-1699 jgamble@ehthybrid.com Company Website: www.ehthybrid.com Stephanie Thompson Administrative Assistant (289) 488-1699 info@ehthybrid.com Company Website: www.ehthybrid.com SOURCE: EnerDynamic Hybrid Technologies Corp. In the past two years, a flood of crude has pushed down oil prices, battering corporate balance sheets and wreaking havoc with budgets in oil-dependent countries from Russia to Iraq. Thats beginning to change thanks to the double whammy of rising demand and pinched supplies of oil especially unplanned outages and disruptions in places like Canada, Nigeria, and Libya. Expect prices to start rising in response. On Tuesday, the International Energy Agency said it expects the oil market to be balanced for the rest of the year, meaning the world will pump roughly as much oil as it consumes. That should nudge prices higher. Oil is currently trading around $50 a barrel, double the nadir reached earlier this year. If the oil market is getting closer to a normal balance of supply and demand, its no thanks to major producers inside OPEC especially Saudi Arabia that have kept pumping with abandon even as prices plummeted. Rather, the market can thank global disruptions of oil supplies, which in May reached their highest level in five years. The production declines were in large part due to wildfires in Canada that knocked some oil sands production in Alberta offline. Other oil-producing regions have also been reeling: A new generation of militants in the Niger delta in southern Nigeria are targeting crude production facilities there, while Libyas continued political disintegration has kept oil production and exports there at a fraction of prewar levels. Other major oil-producing countries, especially Venezuela, face severe economic and political stresses; plenty of energy experts figure Venezuelan exports could tumble sharply later this year. Altogether, those outages, attacks, and wildfires knocked 3.7 million barrels of oil production a day offline. That helped push oil prices to their yearly high. For the past two years, the world was so awash in oil that the market could afford to shrug off the virtual disappearance of the Libyan oil industry, for example, or watch the return of Nigerian rebels with equanimity. Now, though, outages are set to cause bigger ripples in a tighter market. Story continues We arent yet back to the situation where every potential supply hiccup puts a couple of dollars on the price, but the market is definitely awake to geopolitics again, said Richard Mallinson, an analyst at Energy Aspects, a consultancy in London. While the wildfires in Canada, which at their worst took off more than 1 million barrels a day of production, are winding down, disruptions in Nigeria and Libya are likely to be long lasting, the IEA said. And those outages have done what OPEC chose not to do: Close the spigot a bit. The spate of disruptions have helped put a more solid floor under crude prices and accelerated the rebalancing in global supply and demand, said Robert McNally, founder and president of the Rapidan Group, an energy consultancy. Nigeria is a particular concern because of both the scope of the disruption vandalism and attacks knocked out close to 1 million barrels per day of production in May and because the new generation of militants seems unwilling to negotiate with the government as their predecessors did. Mallinson said Nigeria faces the potential for prolonged disruptions of the type seen in 2006-09, when militants systematically targeted foreign oil companies and their production in Nigeria. Those outages by themselves wouldnt necessarily be cause for concern, or at least they havent been for the past two years. But now that demand for oil is also rebounding thats particularly true in India as well as in the worlds two-biggest oil consumers, China and the United States theres less slack in the system if something goes wrong. And thats especially the case given Saudi Arabias flat-out oil production policy. The kingdom is still pumping oil at near-record levels, producing 10.2 million barrels a day. That means Saudi Arabia has a lot less ability to surge oil production to meet global needs; the more it pumps on a daily basis, the less spare production capacity there is inside OPEC. And since spare capacity is essentially the shock absorber for the global oil market, the world could soon be in for a very bumpy ride. Prices will be jumpier as well, spiking in response to disruptions or the risk of disruptions, given Saudi Arabias very low spare production capacity, McNally said. Photo credit: STRINGER/AFP/Getty By Aaron Maasho ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Eritrea and Ethiopia accused each other of starting clashes on Sunday between their soldiers in a border region, highlighting persistent tension over a boundary dispute that triggered war in 1998-2000. Ethiopia said the situation was calm on Monday, after a resident on the Ethiopian side reported the sound of explosions all day on Sunday and lasting into the early morning of Monday. Eritrea, a Horn of Africa country, won independence from Ethiopia in 1991. About 70,000 people were killed in the border war between the two countries. Eritrea's Information Ministry said in a statement late on Sunday night that the Ethiopian government had "unleashed an attack against Eritrea on the Tsorona Central Front." U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters in New York that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was concerned about the clashes and was reaching out to both sides. "The secretary-general calls on both governments to exercise maximum restraint and work to resolving their differences through peaceful means, including the full implementation of the peace agreement they signed in 2000," he said. The United Nations in 2000 deployed a ceasefire monitoring force on the Eritrean-Ethiopian border but withdrew it in 2008 in response to restrictions imposed on it by Eritrea that the U.N. said at the time made it impossible for the mission to function. Tsorona is a town south of the Eritrean capital Asmara and close to the frontier. The area saw intense fighting during the earlier border war. "The purpose and ramifications of this attack are not clear," the Eritrean statement said. Ethiopia disputed this account, saying Eritrea started the fight. "Their forces were promptly repulsed. They were given a proper response," government spokesman Getachew Reda said, adding that the situation was quiet on Monday. Eritrea and Ethiopia routinely accuse each other of backing rebels trying to destabilise and topple the other's government, a legacy from the earlier war. A resident in the Ethiopian town of Zalambessa, across the border from Tsorona, told Reuters by telephone that he had heard the sound of shelling on Sunday and into the night. "It did not stop until this morning around 9 a.m. (0600 GMT)," he said, asking not to be identified. He added that he had seen Ethiopian military vehicles and troops moving along the central stretch of the militarised border. Eritrean Information Minister Yemane Ghebremeskel had no immediate additional comment when asked about casualties or other details of the attack. Ethiopian government officials also did not say if there were any casualties. Charlotte King, senior Africa analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit, said it was unusual for Eritrea to comment on flare-ups but said the statement may have been prompted by U.N. criticism Eritrea has faced over its prolonged national service. The U.N. accuses Eritrea of rights abuses for indefinite national service, where Eritreans can spend many years in low-paid work under conscription. Asmara says an ongoing threat from Ethiopia makes extended national service essential. Eritrea's "critics will argue that it is trying to divert international attention away from the alleged crimes against humanity, and justifying its need for an enormous military and compulsory conscription," King said in a brief commentary. Eritrea, which is under U.N. sanctions, says world powers have failed to push Ethiopia to accept an international arbitration ruling demarcating the boundary. Ethiopia's government has said it wants talks on implementation. (Additional reporting by Louis Charbonneau in New York; Writing by George Obulutsa and Edmund Blair; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Tom Brown) Russian hackers have breached the computer systems of the Democratic National Committee, enabling them to access research on presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump. One cybersecurity expert says this type of behavior is not uncommon in todays tech world. This isnt the first time the DNCs been hit; Its not going to be the last time, Tim Summers, an ethical hacker and University of Maryland professor, told the FOX Business Networks Charles Payne. Summers said other groups have been using the cyber world to hack into ordinary Americans lives, as well as the political sphere. Groups like ISIS, for example, also use their cyber capabilities to collect information on American civilians, he said. Donald Trump just happens to be an incredibly notable American civilian, but in this case were seeing that hackers are being utilized in the political space and in the terror space. However, Summers said not much can be done to try to curb these types of cyber-attacks because in cyberspace its fair game. He also commented on what the Russia-tied hacking group could do with the information it obtained on Trump. I suspect theyre going to use this to understand Donald Trumps foreign dealings, theyre going to try to understand his negotiating tactics, theyre going to try to understand what kind of a president he would make. Related Articles Addis Ababa (AFP) - Arch-rivals Ethiopia and Eritrea traded blame Tuesday for one of the fiercest border clashes since a 1998-2000 war, with Addis Ababa warning any further conflict is "up to Asmara." The neighbours are bitter enemies, with tens of thousands of troops dug into trenches eyeing each other along the heavily fortified frontier. On Sunday, fighting broke out around the Tsorona area -- reportedly involving heavy artillery -- with each blaming the other for starting the fight and claiming heavy losses suffered by their opponent. Open-ended, compulsory national service makes Eritrea one of the world's most militarised nations, but with just five million citizens it is dwarfed by Ethiopia, Africa's second most populous nation with some 96 million people. "We're capable of waging a full scale war against Eritrea, but we choose not to," Ethiopian government spokesman Getachew Reda said on Tuesday. "I hope they won't repeat the mistake of inviting us to wage a full scale war." The 1998-2000 border war claimed nearly 80,000 lives. No death toll has been given for Sunday's clash but Getachew described the skirmish as "a major engagement". Ethiopia said the fighting was now over, and that it had been a warning message to Asmara. "We don't think they expected the kind of response that we mounted. The measures we have taken in the last two days will send a sufficiently clear message to the regime," Getachew said. Eritrea's Ministry of Information on Tuesday criticised what it said was the "latest act of military aggression" by Ethiopia, and claimed to have repulsed the assault with the Ethiopian troops "sustaining heavy causalities". Thousands of Eritreans risk their lives to flee the hardline regime every month according to the UN, but Asmara said Ethiopia had attacked partly because it was jealous of conditions in Eritrea. "Mounting opposition from popular movements of the Ethiopian people, endemic corruption and associated economic crisis, as well as the desire to stem promising progress in Eritrea are indeed some of the factors prompting the TPLF (Ethiopian) regime to indulge in reckless military adventures," Eritrea said in a statement. Last week the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on human rights in Eritrea said the government of President Isaias Afwerki, in power since 1991, was guilty of systematic enslavement, forcible conscription and other abuses. Eritrea rejected the findings as "laughable." Brussels (AFP) - The EU's top court on Tuesday backed Britain's right to limit child benefits to European migrants, a hot-button issue in Britain's referendum on its future in the European Union next week. The decision comes as a series of opinion polls show a growing lead for the campaign for a "Brexit" despite Prime Minister David Cameron's appeals for people to vote to remain in the 28-nation bloc. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) said it was lawful for Britain to apply a "right-to-reside" rule to EU migrants based on whether they were working or seeking work, and would not be a burden to British taxpayers. The European Commission, the bloc's powerful executive arm, had taken Britain to court arguing that it had breached EU laws rule granting all European citizens the right to live and work wherever they like in the EU. "The UK can require recipients of child benefit and child tax credit to have a right to reside in the UK," the Luxembourg-based court said in its judgement. "Although that condition is considered to amount to indirect indiscrimination, it is justified by the need to protect the finances of the host member state." Britain's right to limit such child benefits was at the heart of a renegotiation deal that Cameron secured at a European Union summit in February to put before voters in the June 23 referendum. The deal -- which will only take effect if Britain votes to stay in the EU -- will also limit the amount of child benefits that EU migrants living in Britain can send back to their home countries. - London welcomes ruling - In London, the British government welcomed the ruling, saying it "supports our view that we are entitled to ensure only EU migrants who have a right to be in the UK can claim our benefits". In Brussels, the European Commission said the judgement was an "important and welcome clarification" on the rights of EU citizens to claim benefits in other European countries. Story continues It stressed the case had been brought by the previous Commission run by Jose Manuel Barroso, who stepped down in 2014, and that current chief Jean-Claude Juncker's views were closer to the court's stance. "The way the court clarifies is very close to what this commission thinks and what we're trying to implement in the UK deal," Margaritis Schinas, spokesman of the EU executive, told a news briefing. The ruling in Britain's favour had been largely expected. The top legal adviser to the ECJ had given a similar opinion in October, and a defeat would have been a major blow to the campaign to stay in the EU. Campaigners for Britain to leave the bloc complain that London's sovereignty is undermined by the EU and particularly by ECJ rulings that overrule national decisions. The European Commission first hauled up Britain on the issue in 2008 but London rejected its complaints. The Commission then took the case to the ECJ in 2014, arguing that Britain's actions were discriminatory and breached the EU's principles of free movement. But in its ruling, the court said that "UK authorities verify whether residence is lawful in accordance with the conditions laid down in the (EU) directive on the free movement of citizens". "It follows that the condition does not go beyond what is necessary to attain the legitimate objective pursued by the UK, namely the need to protect its finances," it added. The British-based IPPR think tank said the decision was "another sign a- on top of other recent ECJ judgments a- that it is becoming more sympathetic to the UK's interpretation of free movement rules." "But there are no guarantees that this will last for ever, and future judgments may go against the UK," research fellow Marley Morris said. OSLO (Reuters) - The European Union is engaging with businesses and banks to encourage them to do business in Iran following the signing of the nuclear deal, the EU's foreign policy chief said on Tuesday. "In the first four months this year trade between the European Union and Iran increased by 22 percent," Federica Mogherini told a news conference in Norway. "We are very actively engaging with the business community and the banks in Europe and elsewhere to encourage engaging in Iran," she said. (Reporting by Stine Jacobsen; Writing by Gwladys Fouche; Editing by Janet Lawrence) Ankara (AFP) - The EU's top diplomat in Turkey has stepped down after a row with Ankara over his criticism of the government's conduct in a landmark migrant deal, his office said on Tuesday. The departure of Hansjoerg Haber is indicative of the increasingly fractious relationship between Ankara and Brussels, even as both sides try and implement an agreement aimed at reducing the flow of migrants to the European Union. "We confirm that the ambassador has resigned," a spokesperson told AFP in a move confirmed by the office of EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini. Haber, a German diplomat who headed the EU delegation to Ankara, had come under fire after comments to the media on May 13 in which he bitterly criticised the Turkish government's conduct in implementing the deal. He had only been in his post since October. The Turkish foreign ministry said at the time his comments caused "indignation". Haber said: "We have a saying 'Start like a Turk and end like a German. But here it is the other way round'," Turkish media reported. His comments appeared to indicate frustration Turkey had begun by negotiating the refugee deal in a professional manner but was resorting to bargaining tactics. The remarks were however viewed as deeply insulting in Turkey, where ambassadors are generally expected to show extreme respect for Turkish culture. Visiting Slovakia, Turkey's EU Affairs Minister Omer Celik said the EU ambassador had violated the fundamental rules of diplomacy. "The essence of diplomacy is respect for the office of the presidency and values of the country (in which diplomats are serving)," he said in televised comments. Volkan Bozkir, the predecessor of Celik who was Turkey's EU affairs minister at the time, said Haber had broken "the first law of diplomacy". "No ambassador has the right to humiliate the people of the country in which he is working or to say something about its president," he was quoted as saying by the Hurriyet daily. Story continues It said the dispute had upset Mogherini who in the end had wanted Haber to resign. Intervention by Germany was not enough to ease the tensions, it added. - 'Visa deal at risk?' - European Commission spokeswoman for foreign policy Maja Kocijancic confirmed the resignation, saying Haber would leave on August 1 and a successor would be swiftly appointed. She declined to give further details, saying only that "we will continue to work with Turkey" as a key partner and a candidate country. Turkey has demanded visa-free travel for its citizens to most of the bloc in return for curbing the refugee flow but the deal is now in limbo as Ankara refuses to meet all the criteria laid down by Brussels. The main sticking point is the EU's demand that Turkey narrow its definition of terror in its anti-terror laws that have been used to justify the arrests of academics and journalists. But Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Tuesday that Ankara had no intention of shifting on this issue, at a time when the military is waging an offensive against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). "In these conditions there cannot be any discussion of changing the laws on the fight against terror... even if this means the visa deal is at stake," Yildirim told his parliamentary party. Tension over the visa deal is just one of many issues causing ructions between Ankara and Brussels, including the fight against the PKK, media freedoms and a law stripping Turkish MPs of immunity. Turkey is also increasingly frustrated at the slow progress in its bid to join the EU, which dates back to 1987. The European Commission is due Wednesday to publish its second report on the implementation of the EU-Turkey agreement, including elements on the progress regarding the fulfilment of the conditions for visa liberalisation. Danish English Allerd, 2016-06-14 07:50 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Matas hosts a capital markets day for investors and analysts today, 14 June 2016, where the company will provide updates on market dynamics and Matas strategy. The company maintains its guidance for full year 2016/17 like-for-like growth of 1-3% and an EBITA margin slightly below 17%. Matas long-term ambition is for sales of DKK 4 billion in 2020/2021. Presentation material from the Capital Markets Day will be available on the Matas investor website, investor.en.matas.dk For further information, please contact: Sren Mlbak Head of Investor Relations Tel. +45 48 1655 48 BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union member states have agreed rules on money market funds, the bloc's financial services commissioner said on Tuesday, ending three years of deadlock with a compromise that will force half the industry to lay off various risks. The trillion-euro money-market funds industry in Europe provides day-to-day funding to thousands of corporate and sovereign borrowers by buying short-term debt, and is blamed for having being one of the causes of the 2007-08 financial crisis. EU regulators had tried to ban the constant net asset value (CNAV) funds, which account for half of the market and whose share price is maintained at a set level regardless of market movements, exposing them to a greater risk of bankruptcy. The deal would give CNAV funds the option of investing in lower-risk products or becoming safer variable net asset value (VNAV) funds within two years of the new rules being adopted, a draft of the proposed regulation, seen by Reuters, said. "The Council reached an agreement on money market funds," EU commissioner Jonathan Hill told the economic affairs committee. An official said that the draft law, prepared by the Netherlands which holds the rotating EU presidency, will be formally adopted by EU envoys on Wednesday and endorsed by finance ministers on June 17 at a regular meeting in Luxembourg. Germany wanted CNAV to be phased out but countries with a strong fund industry presence - such as Ireland, Luxembourg and Britain - opposed that. The deal needs European Parliament approval to become law. (Reporting by Francesco Guarascio; Editing by Louise Ireland) Orange Is The New Black Season 4 Were heading back behind bars on Friday, June 17 when Orange Is The New Black premieres its fourth season. The Jenji Kohanhelmed drama (its officially a drama now, in case you were wondering) has earned all kinds of awards and inspired even more feminist thinkpieces thanks to its brutally honest depiction of our justice system and how it often fails women. As time has gone by, the show which began as the narrative of a privileged white woman who suddenly finds herself labeled a criminal has morphed into a striking commentary on everything from race relations and sexist hierarchies to body positivity and how we view female inmates. Season three alone saw the shows main character Piper (Taylor Schilling) evolve into the uncompromising overlord of an illegal prison panty business; inmate suicide attempts; drug and alcohol abuse; religious cults and conversions; the birth of a baby (behind bars); sci-fi erotica; and the rape of one female prisoner at the hands of her male prison guard. With so much going on thanks to the shows commitment to spotlighting more of its ensemble cast, its easy to forget some of the storylines that were left unresolved when season three came to a close. Weve rounded up some of the biggest questions left unanswered that may play into all of the drama set to take place when season four kicks off. The Fallout From That Season Three Ending? OITNB-Season 3 Netflix Season three had the best ending a show has ever seen. With the fence down, the inmates at Litchfield were given free rein. But instead of escaping prison life, the women decided to frolic in the lake next door. Uplifting and heartbreakingly funny, that final scene sums up everything thats great about OITNB. But going into season four, theres definitely going to be consequences for that tiny moment of freedom. With Warden Joe Caputo (Nick Sandow) already scrambling to cover up that mishap with escaped inmate Angie (Julie Lake), expect him to dole out some punishment to the ladies who decided to get a taste of what life is like on the outside. How Much Trouble Is Piper In This Time? Story continues OITNB-Season4 Netflix Piper is arguably the most disliked character on OITNB. On a series filled with women of color and LGBTQ characters dealing with issues stemming from discrimination, systemic racism, poverty, lack of education and abuse, its hard to feel bad for the rich white girl who landed behind bars after she smuggled drugs for her girlfriend. Still, Schillings been able to work wonders with the short straw shes drawn as evidenced in season three when Chapman, whos slowly morphed from privileged, socialite to a hardened criminal with a deteriorating moral compass, launched her own money scheme a panty-laundering business within the prison. Unfortunately for Pipes, she pissed off a few of her employees by not valuing their work effort and by sending Stella (Ruby Rose) to max. Were not sure if Roses character will be one of the new additions to Litchfield now that the prison facilities have merged but that doesnt mean Pipers line of enemies isnt still a mile long. The Latinas, including Blanca (Laura Gomez) and Maria Ruiz (Jessica Pimentel), have it out for her and no one should ever want them as enemies. Are Alexs Days Numbered? OITNB-Season4 Netflix Most of season three saw Chapmans ex-lover Alex Vause (Laura Prepon) nursing an extreme case of paranoia. She wrongly believed Lolly (Lori Petty) was trying to shank her after she testified against kingpin Kubra in order to secure a get out of jail free card. While Lolly proved to simply be a nut job, Alex wasnt mistaken in thinking her days were numbered after she narced. Season three left off with her facing down Kubras hit man (now a prison guard) in a greenhouse. Since Prepon has been revealing quite a bit about whats in store for her characters relationship with Chapman in season four, its probably safe to assume we wont find her bleeding out on the floor of the plant nursery when OITNB returns, but something certainly went down in there. How Will Litchfield Handle Its Overcrowding Problem? OITNB-Season4 Netflix Season three ended with an already over-crowded, understaffed Litchfield welcoming inmates from the maximum security penitentiary down the road. In season four, well see how our current crop deals with the double-bunking invasion and with the addition of a new order of prison guards who seem intent on pushing punishing them to their limit. Kohan told Variety that this latest season focuses on political agendas, current events and the corporatization of the prison so expect plenty of issues to arise from the growing head count. Heres hoping Natasha Lyonnes Nicky returns and resolves things with Red (Kate Mulgrew) and Judy King (Blair Brown) Pousseys Paula Deen-esque idol stirs things up in the kitchen. Will Sophia Be Stuck In SHU? OITNB-Season4 Netflix Last we saw of Laverne Coxs Sophia, she was sent packing to SHU after an argument with Gloria (Selenis Leyva) caused many of the inmates to target her over her gender identity. With Cox now fronting a new series on CBS, the verdicts still out on how much screen time shes getting in season four. Hopefully this isnt a repeat of what happened last season with Nicky being shipped to max, never to be heard from again. Cox has thrown fans a few crumbs, saying this latest season will highlight the issues transgender inmates face. (As long as we get more vagina diagrams and prison fashion tutorials, were good.) Is More Baby Drama In Store? OITNB-Season4 Netflix Daya (Dascha Polanco) and Bennetts (Matt McGorry) forbidden romance is the stuff juicy fan fiction stories are made of, but that all came crashing down in season three when the likable prison guard ditched Dayas baby crib on the side of the road and got the hell out of Dodge. Since McGorry has obligations elsewhere, it would seem a happily-ever-after for the pair just isnt in the cards at the moment. Instead, Dayas going to be left worrying over the fate of her newborn who is currently a ward of the state after her mothers on-again-off-again lover was arrested. Does A Major Character Die? OITNB-Season4 Netflix Season three of OITNB seemed to accomplish the impossible by making Taryn Mannings Pennsatucky the white supremacist spouting trailer trash nonsense for the past two seasons one of the shows most interesting and compelling characters. Her burgeoning platonic friendship with Boo (Lea DeLaria), her tragic back story and her rape at the hands of a prison guard all contributed to one of the most fascinating character arcs of any inmate on the show, and most of that is thanks to Mannings stellar acting skills, which is what makes rumors of Pennsatuckys imminent demise so sad. After DeLarias ominous tweet about the death of a major character in season four made waves, Mannings chat with Glamour about the fate of her character this season all but confirmed something bad is in store for Tiffany Doggett. A man who killed a French police commander and his partner at their home in the Paris suburb of of Magnanville has been identified by officials as French national Larossi Abballa. The 25-year-old, who swore allegiance to ISIS during the attack, had a previous terrorism conviction for recruiting fighters for jihad in Pakistan and was killed after elite police squads stormed the residence. Here is what we know about attack and the perpetrator so far: What happened? On Monday evening, police commander Jean-Baptiste Salvaing was confronted by Abballa upon returning home. The 42-year-old first managed to escape from the attacker, who had hidden behind a gate, reports the Guardian. Abballa, who was initially named in unconfirmed reports by AFP and the French media, caught up with Salvaing on the pavement and reportedly shouted Allahu Akbar, Arabic for God is Great, as he repeatedly knifed the commander in the stomach killing him. Abballa then barricaded himself in the slain officers home, holding Salvaings 36-year-old partner and their three-year-old son hostage. Elite police squads came to the scene, sealing off the area, cutting off electricity and evacuating neighbours. During the three-hour standoff, Abballa said that he was an ISIS soldier, declared allegiance to ISISs leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and threatened to kill non-believers as he spoke to the police. He also said that he had deliberately targeted police, reports the Guardian. To loud explosions and bangs, the police stormed the house and killed the attacker close to midnight. Officials found the woman, a police administrator Reuters identified as Jessica Schneider, dead with knife wounds to her neck. The managed to rescue the couples son who was in shock but unharmed, says a prosecutor. Abballa had posted a 12-minute video and photos of his attack on . According to French journalist David Thomson, the video allegedly showed the attacker filming inside the house with the child seated behind him on a sofa. In the clip, which was posted on Facebook Live, Abballa had purportedly said: I dont know yet what Im going to do with him. French authorities later confirmed that a video had been posted. Story continues His Facebook account also had videos critical of Saudi Arabia and Israel and has since been deactivated. Thompson says the video is now being examined by the police. Who was he? Abballa comes from the suburb Mantes-la-Jolie, is a French citizen of Moroccan descent, with a prior terrorism conviction. He was initially known to the police in 2011 for crimes including violence and theft. In 2013, Abballa and seven other men were sentenced to three years in prison for recruiting fighters for jihad in Pakistan, reports the Guardian. Speaking to the New York Times, Herve Denis, a lawyer who represented one of the eight men in the case, says: At the trial, Abballa seemed like someone who was not dangerous but was rather stupid. Denis called Aballa a perfect soldier who was very determined. He was released from prison in September 2013 after serving most of his sentence on remand. The state prosecutor said Abballa was under surveillance for two years and was being monitored this year as part of a investigation into a French citizen who had recently left for Syria. Although his phone was tapped, the prosecutor said Abballas line had not given any indication to suggest that he was preparing for a violent act. According to AP, police raids of Abballas home turned up a list of rappers, journalists, police officers and public personalities. A neighbor told AP that he had lived there with his parents and at least one sister. Henriette Yenge, who works at an association on the same street as Abballas apartment building, told AP: He was a neighborhood kid. I was surprised it was him. Its sad to see things like that. Did he have links to ISIS? The Amaq News Agencyusually the first publisher of claims by the group, despite not being linked to ISISs media apparatus announced that an ISIS fighter carried out the Monday attack in Paris. If officially confirmed by ISIS, this will be the first militant attack in France since last November. Speaking to AP, Prosecutors office spokeswoman Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre says there is no reason why French authorities should doubt the claim that an ISIS fighter carried out the attack. The Facebook account that was alleged to have belonged to Abballa had a post announcing his success in killing a police officer at his home, claiming that the brothers in Sham [Isis territories] were in contact with him. I declare loudly and strongly my allegiance to the Emir Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi writes the post, according to the Independent. I have responded to the call of Sheikh Abu Muhammad al-Adnani. It also urges Facebook followers to create a month of calamity for infidels. French President Francois Hollande described the killings as undeniably a terrorist attack, saying that France is confronted by an extremely high terrorist threat. On Monday, shares of G4S, a company that most people have never have heard of, dropped as much as eight percent (nearly $300 million) in trading on the London Stock Exchange. The company, which is the largest private security firm in the world, boasts over 600,000 employees, one of whom was Omar Mateen, the man who murdered 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando on Sunday morning. Mateen had been an employee of the company for nearly nine years, serving most recently as an armed security guard at a gated retirement community in Port St. Lucie, Florida. In the aftermath of the attack, authorities are trying to ascertain how its possible that Mateen cleared four background checks, two with the company and two with the FBI, without raising sufficient alarm. G4S has an unfathomably broad reach. The largest in its industry, it operates across six continents and in hundreds of countries. Mateen was a low-level employee at G4S, but his company has lucrative contracts with countless clients, including the Department of Homeland Security. Profiling its work worldwide for Vanity Fair in 2014, William Langewische noted, In recent years it has become the third-largest private employer in the world, after Walmart and the Taiwanese manufacturing conglomerate Foxconn. The fact that such a huge private entity is a security company is a symptom of our times. G4S often provides its security services where industry needs them and where governments cant or wont. Recommended: Samantha Bee Asks the Right Questions About Orlando Private security firms not only recruit and train guards for small-scale protection, but also provide security (and cybersecurity) infrastructure, investigative services, and military manpower for governments and large industries. Their employees work in prisons and refugee detention centers, as guards at mining sites, nuclear sites, pop shows, and embassy grounds. They also defend airports in conflict zones and fight alongside militias in unstable developing countries. Story continues Not surprisingly, these missions and affiliations open firms up to considerable criticism. GS4, for example, has been denounced in recent years for not training enough security staff for the 2012 London Olympics and for controversial work in Israel and the West Bank, where, according to the Times of Israel, it provided screening and other services to a number of Israeli organizations, including CCTV cameras installed in Tel Aviv, screening equipment used in the prison system, and security for courts. The most notorious private security firm, Blackwater (which no longer exists under that name), was heavily lambasted by those charging that it acted above the law while fulfilling U.S. security contracts in Iraq. Meanwhile, in a recent panel for Ars Technica, the UC Davis law professor Elizabeth Joh highlighted a more contemporary concern about private security forces, whic, have the capacity to collect data about consumers at places like department stores without any regulation. Recommended: Outed in Orlando in the Worst Possible Way Even before the number of people displaced by violence reached its highest level since World War II and before the fear of terrorism recently hit its highest point in a decade, the rise of private security firms was seen as an outgrowth of everything from urbanization, the military-industrial complex, and globalization to the rise of tech and a sense of instability in the post-9/11 world. That unease was kindled anew over the weekend. In a statement on Sunday evening, the North American CEO of G4S emphasized that Mateen was not on duty when he attacked the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. One tragic irony is that Mateen had spent years working in a position where it was his job to project a feeling of security and to make sure nothing like this ever happened. Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. It seems even Andy Cohen hasn't gotten over Teresa Giudice's emotional return from prison. While Giudice's return to Real Housewives of New Jersey was confirmed in February, Andy Cohen is opening up on what viewers can expect ahead of the July 10 premiere of the show's seventh season. The Bravo personality and executive producer sat down with ET's Brad Bessey, revealing Giudice's reunion with her family is featured in the upcoming season's first episode. WATCH: Teresa Giudice Is Back for More 'Real Housewives of New Jersey' in Intense New Trailer "I've seen it three or four times, and I wept every time." Cohen said of the show's first episode in over a year. "It's the realest, most raw moment that I've seen. When you see these four girls jump in her arms, it's like nothing that I've seen." According to Cohen, the upcoming season will document Giudice as she tries to manage her legal troubles and adjusts to her new life at home, after being released in December following an 11-month sentence in federal prison. Giudice's husband, Joe, started his 41-month sentence for fraud in March. "You do see a different Teresa, and you do see how this year away really changed her," Cohen promised of the new season, which will also show Giudice trying to manage relationships with the other housewives. WATCH: Teresa Giudice Is Officially Off House Arrest and 'Feeling So Blessed' "It's interesting to see how the terrain lays out between her and her sister-in-law, who have never gotten along," Cohen teased. "And she and her ex-best friend of 12 years, Jaclyn, those are the two relationships to watch, and you'll be surprised by how they turn out." Cohen also opened up about another Real Housewives cast member, Bethenny Frankel -- telling ET that Frankel was "bleeding profusely" prior to her health scare, which will be featured on the latest season of Real Housewives of New York. Story continues Hear more in the video below. Related Articles A sense of denial permeates the corridors of power in Brussels as the June 23 referendum on British membership of the European Union (EU) nears. Communications staff are rumored to have been banned from using the word Brexit the common neologism for a leave vote. Ask any official about contingency plans for such an outcome, and the answer is unequivocal: there is no Plan B. While it is understandable that officials in the E.Us de-facto capital do not want to consider the political and economic ramifications of a difficult divorce, the reality is that Brexit would at the very least open up a long and difficult negotiating period and years of uncertainty. Here is what we do know: in the event of a leave vote, Britain must promptly notify the E.U. Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty the equivalent of the E.Us constitution allows for a two-year period in which the terms of the leavers exit are negotiated. During this time Britain would no longer be able to take part in any E.U. decision-making, and any exit agreements must be approved by all 27 remaining E.U. nations and the European Parliament. Then after Britains formal exit, fresh negotiations could begin on any new trade deals. And here is what we dont know: how any of this will actually work in practice. It has never happened before so nobody would be able to rely on any precedent, says Chris Bickerton, a lecturer at Britains Cambridge University and author of The European Union: A Citizens Guide. The Treaty of Lisbon was drafted with the idea that [Article 50] would not be used, and to make it pretty hard to exit in a smooth way it simply has not been done before so things will be made up as they go along. In the days after a leave vote, the European Parliament and ministers from other major E.U. powers would probably meet to formulate their response to the biggest blow yet to the union. A summit of E.U. leaders is already scheduled for June 28/29, five days after the vote, and they would be looking to minimize the impact on financial markets and the risk of contagion to other Euroskeptic countries. Story continues A divided British government meanwhile would need to somehow unite on a negotiating position, and decide what sort of relationship they wanted with the E.U. in the future. Would they still want access to the single market? What status would they want for the two million E.U. citizens currently employed in Britain, and the equivalent number of Britons working elsewhere in Europe? What sort of trade deals would they wish to pursue? These proposals would then be put to the other 27 E.U. members who may not be inclined to play ball. I dont think they will be disposed to go out of their way to do Britain any favors, says Richard Corbett, a Member of the European Parliament for the British Labour Party and a Remain campaigner. Why would you go out of your way to help a member who has just walked out slamming the door? Donald Tusk, President of the European Council and one of the most senior E.U. officials, warned this week that after a Brexit it would take at least seven years to try and forge a new relationship between Britain and the E.U. without any guarantee of success. Beyond the practicalities, European leaders are terrified that a leave vote will embolden Euroskeptics and prompt similar moves elsewhere within the bloc. Increasingly popular Euroskeptic parties in The Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and France have called for either a referendum on leaving the E.U. or a renegotiation of their relationship. If the U.K. leaves everyone will be asking who is next, says Bickerton. This referendum is not some uniquely and quixotic British affair it is the tip of an iceberg and the iceberg is growing sentiment that the E.U. is not doing its job and people are unhappy with it. This is where some countries are formulating their Plan B. European diplomats have ruled out a last-minute deal to keep Britain inside the E.U. if its citizens vote to leave. But France and Germany who along with Britain are considered key powers in the union are in talks to try and come up with a unified response to stop the bloc disintegrating. The problem is they themselves are not unified. France traditionally favors greater integration among the E.U. nations, and especially the 19 members of the euro single currency, and bristles against the austerity regime pushed by Germany. Germany, however, would not be eager to bring its neighbors closer together in the aftermath of a departure. Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble made clear in an interview with Der Spiegel magazine that a push for further integration would run counter to the message sent by any vote. This would be crude, he said. Many would be right in asking whether we politicians have still not understood. So the resulting Franco-German plan is likely to be a watered-down pledge on greater cooperation on security and defense which will be unlikely to please the more ardent Euroskeptics, Bickerton says. And while a leave vote would be a disaster for the EU, a remain vote would not be painless. The British Prime Minister David Cameron in February agreed with E.U. leaders on a package of reform, but that still needs to be approved by the European Parliament. And the debate about the future of the E.U. and dwindling public trust will not simply disappear, no matter what the stubborn eurocrats in Brussels want to believe. Whatever the result on June 23, sticking with Plan A may no longer be an option. Manila (AFP) - Facebook has apologised for accidentally declaring the Philippines was in a state of war, in what was meant to be an innocuous flag tribute for Independence Day. The social media giant greeted Filipinos a "Happy Independence Day" on Sunday with a post showing a Philippine flag, but it was upside-down with red rather than blue at the top. In the Philippines this officially means the nation is at war. Facebook, which routinely comes out with greetings to mark holidays around the world, apologised for the blunder. "This was unintentional, and were sorry. We care deeply about the community in the Philippines and in an attempt to connect people on Independence Day, we made a mistake," Facebook said in a statement sent to AFP on Tuesday. The blunder was greeted with a mix of anger and humour in the social media-obsessed country. "Dear @facebook: It's not a happy Independence Day if our flag is like this. Like seriously," said Twitter user @econcepcion. But activist Jonas Bagas jokingly linked the gaffe to president-elect Rodrigo Duterte's controversial planned law-and-crackdown that envisages security forces killing thousands of criminals. "We will soon have shoot-to-kill orders and bounties to eradicate the scums that plague our timelines and our streets... Happy Independence Day, Philippines! What a curious state we are currently in," Bagas said in a Facebook post. A nation of over 100 million, the Philippines has 51 million monthly active Facebook users, according to Facebook. The social network is not the first to cause a stir over an inverted Philippine flag. In 2010, the United States had to apologise for mixing up the red and blue fields of the Philippine flag during a New York meeting between President Barack Obama and Southeast Asian leaders. Filipino-American athletes at last year's Southeast Asian Games had a wardrobe malfunction as they wore their vests with the Philippine flags upside-down. Another sportsman, Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin, committed a similar blunder in 2013 when he carried an inverted Philippine flag before a game to campaign for victims of Typhoon Haiyan. Others were not as well-meaning. In May this year, Philippine authorities detained Chinese crew members on the suspicion of poaching after their vessels flew an inverted Philippine flag as they sailed in waters off northern Philippines. By David Milliken LONDON (Reuters) - Britons have been bombarded in recent weeks with rival claims from both sides ahead of the June 23 referendum on whether the country should remain in the 28-nation European Union. Following is a summary of some of the main claims about economics, the cost of EU membership, migration and security from Britain's government and the Britain Stronger In Europe campaign group, and their opponents from Vote Leave. *ECONOMY "In" campaigners say the average British household would be 4,300 pounds ($6,100) a year worse off in 15 years if Britain left the EU, compared with staying in. This is based on a Treasury estimate that GDP would be 6.2 percent lower than if Britain stayed in the EU. It also assumes a trade deal that offers less access to European markets than Britain has now, and reduced economic productivity as a result. In the short run, the government says leaving the EU would tip the economy into recession, cause more than half a million people to lose their jobs and trigger a fall of more than 10 percent in house prices and the value of sterling. The British parliament's cross-party Treasury Committee criticized the 4,300 pound figure for being unrealistically precise, and for potentially misleading households into thinking their disposable income would fall by 4,300 pounds. But there is a broad consensus among economists in Britain and bodies such as the International Monetary Fund that a Brexit would make Britain noticeably poorer than if it stayed in, even if there is a range of views on the size of the impact. The Treasury Committee said estimates of the impact lean heavily on assumptions about likely post-Brexit trade deals. Vote Leave says it would be in the EU's interests to agree a favorable trade deal with Britain after a Brexit vote, and that Britain would find it easier to do trade deals with non-European countries on its own, rather than as part of the EU. The most detailed estimate of benefits from leaving the EU comes from the campaign group Economists for Brexit. It says GDP would be boosted by 2 percent over the medium term, as consumers would benefit from lower tariffs on imports from outside the EU and British companies could export successfully under the more limited rights available under World Trade Organization rules. Other economists question how Economists for Brexit have modeled tariff changes in particular, as well as their underlying model of the economy, which differs significantly from those most other economists use. *COST OF EU MEMBERSHIP Vote Leave says EU membership dues cost Britain 350 million pounds a week or 19.1 billion pounds a year, and that this money could instead be spent on healthcare or schools. The UK Statistics Authority, an independent public body, described these claims as wrong and misleading because it does not reflect an automatic rebate Britain has received for decades which in 2014 reduced net contributions to 14.7 billion pounds. After further EU transfers to the British public sector and private bodies, for things such as farm subsidies, regional deprivation and scientific research, the net cost fell to an average 7.1 billion pounds, the Statistics Authority said. Vote Leave says the 350 million pound figure is justified because the rebate could be scrapped in future and Britain's government cannot control how the rest of the money is spent. Britain's finance ministry says the economic benefits of EU membership heavily outweigh the annual dues, and that the public sector would have 36 billion pounds less a year to spend in the long run if it left, due to weaker economic growth. *IMMIGRATION Vote Leave says a quarter of a million immigrants come to Britain each year from the EU, and that they put a big strain on public healthcare and education. This figure does not count the number of EU migrants who leave, which reduces the net inflow to 184,000, similar to the number of non-EU migrants Britain chooses to admit. A study by Britain's National Institute of Economic and Social Research last month showed EU immigrants contributed more in taxation than they consumed in public services and welfare, as they were younger than the average Briton and less likely to require medical treatment or be eligible for an old-age pension. Britain's government points to a deal it has agreed with the EU which will limit migrants' rights to benefits for low-paid work. Many firms say migrants are needed for economic growth. NIESR said migration has a small negative impact on low-skilled Britons' wages, and that Bank of England research suggested it had probably reduced pay for semi-skilled workers in the services sector by a total of 1 percent since 2004. *SECURITY Stronger In says the EU can present a common front on sanctions against countries such as Russia, and allows suspects to be speedily extradited from one member state to another. More than 400 suspects have been extradited to Britain under European Arrest Warrants since their introduction in 2004, compared with only a handful of U.S. citizens. Vote Leave says it would be in other EU countries' interests to continue to cooperate with Britain on security after a Brexit, and that EU rules limit Britain's ability to bar or deport dangerous EU citizens. It also says the EU intends to admit Turkey as a member, pushing the bloc's border out to Syria and Iraq. British Prime Minister David Cameron has previously backed Turkish efforts to join the EU, but said this month it would be decades before Turkey met the necessary criteria. (Editing by Catherine Evans) Creates North Americas premier customer communications technology platform Expected to be immediately accretive to GAAP and adjusted earnings LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y., June 14, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:BR) today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the North American Customer Communications (NACC) business of DST Systems, Inc. (NYSE:DST) for $410 million in cash, subject to customary working capital and other closing adjustments. As the largest transactional printer in North America, NACC is a leading provider of customer communication services including print and digital communication solutions, content management, postal optimization, and fulfillment. The NACC business has over 2,300 associates and four production facilities located in El Dorado Hills, CA, South Windsor, CT, Kansas City, MO, and Markham, Ontario, Canada. The NACC business has pioneered innovations to drive operational excellence including best of breed technology to onboard clients and deliver accurate and timely communications to their customers. Its clients include many Fortune 500 companies, primarily in financial services and also in healthcare, telecommunications and utilities. In their fiscal year 2015, the NACC business generated $1.1 billion of total revenue, and $445 million of fee revenue. Senior management, led by Mike Abbaei, Head of DSTs Customer Communications business, will be joining Broadridge as part of this transaction. Upon closing, the NACC business will become part of Broadridges Investor Communication Solutions business, creating North Americas premier customer communications technology platform. This will enhance Broadridges position as a leading provider of multi-channel communications with exceptional scale in print communications and leading offerings for digital communications. The combination will allow clients to engage customers with new, unique capabilities and further enhance Broadridges ability to meet its clients current and future customer communications needs. Broadridge expects to achieve approximately $20 million in annualized cost synergies within 18-30 months of closing. Broadridge anticipates the NACC business will be immediately accretive to its GAAP and adjusted earnings, inclusive of incremental interest expense. Broadridge expects the acquisition to be $0.01 to $0.03 per share accretive on a GAAP basis and $0.11 to $0.14 per share accretive on a non-GAAP adjusted basis in the first year. Broadridge also expects the acquisition to be $0.09 to $0.13 per share accretive on a GAAP basis and $0.16 to $0.21 per share accretive on a non-GAAP adjusted basis in the second year. This is the next step forward in Broadridges journey, and it will create value for clients and shareholders in the near, medium and long term, commented Richard J. Daly, President and Chief Executive Officer, Broadridge. Our goal has always been to be the premier, trusted provider to our clients, offering solutions that allow them to effectively, efficiently and securely communicate with their customers. The addition of NACC, an industry leader, is a natural extension of our communications business and will provide immediate benefits for our clients through enhanced production capabilities and expedited delivery times. This acquisition is consistent with our strategy and adds to our bottom line immediately. It also positions us to be a communications leader across a number of market verticals and a provider of a unique suite of multi-channel communications solutions, empowering Broadridge to accelerate the industrys conversion to digital communications and meet the diverse preferences of our clients customers. Mike Abbaei, Head of DSTs Customer Communications, stated, The management team and I are delighted to join Broadridge, a trusted industry leader in providing critical customer communications. The combined entity will create the industrys largest distributor of critical client content across North America. We share the same focus on client service and are excited by the differentiated solutions across all channels that this acquisition enables. The integration of these capabilities will align our clients to benefit from the industrys best technologies, quality and footprint. It also strategically positions our clients to benefit from the evolution of consumer preferences. Douglas R. DeSchutter, President, Digital Communications, Broadridge, said, This acquisition establishes a best-in-class, integrated technology platform positioned to successfully leverage a rapidly growing digital opportunity. The consumer reach of the combined business exceeds 75% of North Americas mailboxes and will allow Broadridge to greatly expand its role in digitizing critical investor and consumer content and to make every communication more valuable. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in July 2016. Conference Call Broadridges management will host a conference call at 8:30AM EST, today, Tuesday, June 14, 2016. Parties in the United States and Canada can access the call by dialing (877) 211-9887 and callers outside North America may dial (706) 634-1015, conference ID number: 31888816. A live webcast of the call will be available to the public on a listen-only basis. To listen to the webcast and view the slide presentation, go to www.broadridge-ir.com. The presentation will also be available to download and print approximately one hour before the webcast. Broadridges news releases, current financial information, SEC filings and Investor Relations presentations are accessible on the same website. About Broadridge Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:BR) is the leading provider of investor communications and technology-driven solutions for broker-dealers, banks, mutual funds and corporate issuers globally. Broadridge's investor communications, securities processing and managed services solutions help clients reduce their capital investments in operations infrastructure, allowing them to increase their focus on core business activities. With over 50 years of experience, Broadridge's infrastructure underpins proxy voting services for over 90% of public companies and mutual funds in North America, and processes on average $5 trillion in equity and fixed income trades per day. Broadridge employs approximately 7,400 full-time associates in 14 countries. For more information about Broadridge, please visit www.broadridge.com. Forward-Looking Statements This press release and other written or oral statements made from time to time by representatives of Broadridge may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements that are not historical in nature, and which may be identified by the use of words such as expects, assumes, projects, anticipates, estimates, we believe, could be and other words of similar meaning, are forward-looking statements. In particular, information appearing in the Fiscal Year 2016 Financial Guidance section are forward-looking statements. These statements are based on managements expectations and assumptions and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed. These risks and uncertainties include those risk factors discussed in Part I, Item 1A. Risk Factors of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2015 (the 2015 Annual Report), as they may be updated in any future reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release and are expressly qualified in their entirety by reference to the factors discussed in the 2015 Annual Report. These risks include: the success of Broadridge in retaining and selling additional services to its existing clients and in obtaining new clients; Broadridges reliance on a relatively small number of clients, the continued financial health of those clients, and the continued use by such clients of Broadridges services with favorable pricing terms; changes in laws and regulations affecting Broadridges clients or the services provided by Broadridge; declines in participation and activity in the securities markets; any material breach of Broadridge security affecting its clients customer information; the failure of Broadridges outsourced data center services provider to provide the anticipated levels of service; a disaster or other significant slowdown or failure of Broadridges systems or error in the performance of Broadridges services; overall market and economic conditions and their impact on the securities markets; Broadridges failure to keep pace with changes in technology and demands of its clients; Broadridges ability to attract and retain key personnel; the impact of new acquisitions and divestitures; and competitive conditions. Broadridge disclaims any obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances that arise after the date made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, other than as required by law. Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. Reconciliation of Non-GAAP to GAAP Measures Impact of Acquisition of NACC Business on Diluted EPS Projections (Unaudited) Projected Impact of Acquisition on Earnings Per Share(1) Year 1 Estimates Year 2 Estimates Adjusted Diluted earnings per share (Non-GAAP) (1) $0.11 - $0.14 $0.16 - $0.21 Diluted earnings per share (GAAP) $0.01 - $0.03 $0.09 - $0.13 (1) Adjusted Diluted EPS (Non-GAAP) is adjusted to exclude the projected impact of amortization of acquired intangibles and integration costs. Net of tax on a diluted share basis this adjustment is estimated to be $0.11 in Year 1 and $0.08 in Year 2. Numbers may not sum due to rounding. By Lisa Rapaport (Reuters Health) - Many family physicians dont believe lung cancer screening can reduce deaths from these tumors, and some dont offer tests even to longtime smokers, a U.S. survey suggests. Nearly all agreed that early cancer detection is more likely with low-dose computed tomography (CT) than with traditional x-rays. But only 41 percent believe low-dose CT scans in asymptomatic individuals can reduce deaths from lung cancer, the survey found. Even for a 60-year-old patient with a long history of smoking, 12% of family physicians said they would not recommend any screening and another 9% said they would suggest only an x-ray. Study author Jan Eberth, a public health researcher at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, and colleagues note in the journal Cancer that the American Academy of Family Physicians has said there isnt enough evidence yet to recommend or discourage these tests. But the government-backed U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), along with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services and multiple professional societies and organizations, do support the use of CT scans for high-risk patients including some current and former smokers, the authors note. The researchers analyzed data from surveys completed by 101 family physicians in South Carolina in 2015. Most of the doctors were white, male and had graduated from medical school at least a decade ago. When asked about the risks of low-dose CT scans, 88% expressed concern about unnecessary diagnostic procedures, and about half said they worried about exposing patients to stress and anxiety or radiation. About half would screen a 70-year-old former smoker who quit more than 20 years ago a situation when groups like the USPSTF and Medicare recommend against it. In another situation where screening isnt recommended a 50-year-old nonsmoker with 30 years married to a smoker 22% of family physicians said they would offer screening. The survey was started in 2015 before Medicare changed its payment polices to cover CT scans for lung cancer screening and counseling sessions discuss test with patients, Eberth noted. One limitation of the survey was that researchers changed it later in the year to follow up with participants and ask about how Medicare coverage might influence screening decisions, the authors note. Primary care physicians may be overwhelmed with the amount of new information required to understand the data regarding lung cancer screening, potential benefits, and with discussing risks, Dr. Ticiana Leal, a researcher at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health who wasnt involved in the study, said by email. Chest x-rays for screening is a failed strategy, said Dr. Vinay Prasad, a researcher at Oregon Health and Science University who wasnt involved in the study. Low-dose CT screening for lung cancer showed a strong benefit in one randomized trial, though there are a number of caveats and nuances there that may give one pause, Prasad added in an email. At a minimum, the potential benefits and potential limitations should be discussed with appropriate patients as part of shared decision making. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1Uqbn1o Cancer 2016. little palestinian girl refugee school raise hand Valeant Pharmaceuticals had its annual shareholder meeting in Leval, Canada, on Tuesday and, as is custom, after the company's presentation the floor was opened up to questions from shareholders. The shareholders, few though they were, came impressively prepared. They asked tough questions that new CEO Joe Papa was forced to skirt in typical smooth CEO fashion. They asked about why they hadn't heard more about the scandal that brought Valeant's stock careening down 90% since October. They asked questions about the company's accounting and its issues with regulators over its drug-pricing practices. Papa's responses to them were canned at the very best. After platitudes about how Walgreen's had been a "good partner so far" to the company, and after praise for Valeant's product line and a reframed commitment to its research-and-development pipeline, it seemed as if Papa is still a little stumped about what's next for the company. Debt and distribution But first let's talk about the presentation. There were two big takeaways there. The first was that Valeant will try to pay down a ton of debt, and fast. The company plans to use $1.7 billion to do so in 2016. Papa said debt reduction was "important to the future of the company," which jibes with the Bloomberg report that Valeant just contracted Morgan Stanley to help it sell some of its dermatology assets. Papa didn't rule out selling more assets, but he's walking a fine line. The company's projected earnings for 2016 of $4.8 billion to $4.95 billion already put it in danger of falling below threshholds it must meet to comply with creditor agreements. The other big issue in the presentation was Xifaxan. It's a drug used to treat irritable bowel syndrome that Valeant projected would be a $1 billion product this year. Well, now it looks as if it won't be, and Papa is focused on ramping up its sale to the 10% to 15% of American adults who suffer from IBS and other gastro issues. No plan was laid out for doing that, but one thing is for sure: It will cost money. Story continues VRX cashflow Laval, Canada, on a Tuesday morning Now for the questions. There weren't many, but they were of pretty high quality. For example, right out of the gate, the first shareholder asked about how much goodwill Valeant had on its books. Goodwill is a measure of intangible assets that a business collects after making an acquisition. Papa didn't seem to know the answer to this at first, but then a member of his staff said the company had $18.5 billion in goodwill on the books. Valeant has an $8 billion market cap. Makes you wonder exactly what all that goodwill means (or meant) in the first place. The next question from a shareholder is key. He's a dermatologist who sells Valeant products. He said he thought the problem with the Walgreen's deal, which Papa acknowledges is off to a bumpy start, wasn't really Walgreen's but rather the insurers. "We need to address the insurance issue," he said. "I think that's what blocks it and prevents my patients from getting products on a more timely basis." Papa didn't really have answers for that. Part of the issue is that Valeant's scandals frayed the company's relationships with insurers and healthcare providers. S0me severed their relationships with Valeant when it was found that the company was using a now-defunct private pharmacy to trick insurers into paying for Valeant drugs outside their client's offerings. Repairing those relationships will take time, and Valeant needs cash now. valeant payment schedule Hold your breath Papa also got a question about why shareholders didn't know more about what's going on with Valeant's price-hiking problems and the rest of the scandal that took place this fall. Papa didn't answer that. One angry shareholder asked why former CEO Michael Pearson, who presided over Valeant's near-demise, got a $9 million pay package. Papa said it was in his contract but failed to discuss the fact that Valeant is retaining Pearson as a consultant for two years along with perks like paying for his travel, health insurance, and office. Lastly, Papa skirted a question about Valeant's changing business model. A shareholder asked whether Valeant's seemingly newfound focus on research and development was a new business model. Papa said simply that the company didn't focus on how much it spends on R&D, just how productive that R&D is. Plus, let's be real: It doesn't have the cash. It doesn't have the cash (or the ability, thanks to its creditor agreements) to go back to growing through acquisitions either. Eventually (after who knows how many asset sales and legal issues) this will all be over, and Valeant will have to be something the question is what. You can see why Papa is stumped. NOW WATCH: Don't walk into an interview at Goldman Sachs without doing this first More From Business Insider Paris (AFP) - A man who claimed allegiance to the Islamic State group stabbed a French policeman to death on Monday night before he was killed in a dramatic police operation, sources close to the investigation said. A news agency linked to IS said the attack had been carried out by an "Islamic State fighter", days after posting a similar claim following the massacre at a gay club in Orlando, Florida. French prosecutors have launched an anti-terror probe after the policeman and his partner were killed at their home in the Paris suburb of Magnanville. Witnesses told investigators the man may have shouted "Allahu akbar" (God is greatest) as he stabbed the policeman repeatedly outside his home before holing up inside with the woman and the couple's three-year-old son. Loud detonations were heard at the scene as elite RAID police moved in following failed negotiations with the attacker, who claimed allegiance to IS while talking to officers, sources close to the inquiry told AFP. "The anti-terror department of the Paris prosecution service is taking into account at this stage the mode of operation, the target and the comments made during negotiations with the RAID," one source said. The SITE Intelligence Group, a US-based monitor, cited the IS-linked Amaq News Agency as saying on its Telegram channels: "Islamic State fighter kills deputy chief of the police station in the city of Les Mureaux and his wife with blade weapons near #Paris." The killing came after a gunman claiming to be acting in the name of IS shot dead 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida on Sunday in the worst mass shooting in US history. The bloodshed also comes as France hosts the Euro 2016 football tournament under tight security -- still reeling from jihadist attacks in Paris last November that left 130 people dead. The attacker was yet to be identified and neither of the victims was named, but the slain policeman was known to be 42 years old and worked in nearby Les Mureaux. Story continues His partner was a local police official. - Hollande condemns 'odious' attack - President Francois Hollande said in a statement that he "strongly condemned this odious act". "A police commander and his partner, a civil servant at the interior ministry, were shamefully murdered this evening," Hollande said. "All light will be shed on the circumstances of this terrible tragedy," he added, announcing a meeting of top officials at the presidential palace early Tuesday. Officers found the woman's body when they stormed the house, and the attacker was killed during the assault, interior ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said. The couple's toddler son was "in shock but unharmed," a prosecutor added, saying the boy was receiving medical attention. Police sources had told AFP earlier in the evening that the attacker had taken the policeman's partner and son hostage after stabbing the officer to death as he returned home around 9:00 pm (1900 GMT). Residents were quickly evacuated from the neighbourhood as police moved in and blocked off roads, an AFP journalist said. RAID officers "arrived rapidly on the scene. Negotiations were launched and an assault plan was put in place," said Brandet. But the negotiations were "unsuccessful" and authorities decided to launch an assault around midnight, he added. A helicopter was on the ground a few hundred metres away from the scene of the attack, while several fire trucks and ambulances were seen leaving the security perimeter. Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve expressed his "infinite sadness" at the death of the policeman and his partner, but praised the "great composure and great professionalism" of the elite officers. Fiona Xie might have set the hearts of many of her male fans fluttering on Tuesday (14 June) when the local television darling revealed that she is single. At a press conference to announce her comeback role in the Channel 5 drama Left Behind, the 34-year-old Xie dropped a bombshell by saying that she was previously engaged. For the very first time, I am actually single But not looking, Xie said at her first conference since announcing her retirement from acting seven years ago. Xie, who was previously reported to be dating an Australian-American, said, You can never be with someone else until youre a complete whole. And I am enjoying all the time I have, loving the things that I love, doing the things that I wanted to do. I think I have standards, so Im not going to settle. During her retirement, Xie immersed herself in the art world as a curator in Shanghai, Hong Kong, New York and most recently, Tokyo, where she will be returning to complete an art project once her shoot for Left Behind is finished. On her role as a psychiatrist in Left Behind, Xie said that the director of the drama had shown her a clip of a Malay boy who was trying to cope with being gay by turning to music. With the boy in mind, Xie hoped that her performance in the drama would give a voice to Singaporeans who are struggling in life. The star, who shot to fame in the Channel 8 sitcom My Genie in 2001, was widely remembered by her fans for a scene in the 2004 drama The Champion, where she ran down Orchard Road wearing only a bikini alongside fellow actresses Jeanette Aw, Felicia Chin and Joyce Chao. Xie confessed that she felt nostalgic about Singapore while she was away. She became teary-eyed at the conference when she revealed that her return was tinged with sadness, as one of her cousins has fallen ill. Without disclosing details, she said, My cousin gave me the courage to say that Hey, you know, if you have every breath to live, just live it. Whatever comes, comes. I dedicate the show (Left Behind) to him. Story continues Left Behind is scheduled to air in August. Watch the full interview via our Facebook Live video: Albany, NY, June 14, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A new study on the global DevOps platform market has been recently added to the vast repository of MarketResearchReports.biz. The report, titled Global DevOps Platform Market 2016-2020, presents a comprehensive evaluation of this market on the basis of various significant factors. According to the research study, the global DevOps platform market is projected to rise at an exponential CAGR of 19.42% between 2016 and 2020. The increasing demand for standardized platform required for continued delivery of software is likely to boost the DevOps platform market across the world significantly during the forecast period. The research report has examined the global market for DevOps platforms on the basis of the end user and the regional distribution of this market. The IT, telecom, BFSI, and retail sectors have been identified as the key end users of DevOps platforms in this study. In 2015, the IT sector emerged as the biggest consumer of DevOps platforms, holding a share of approximately 35% of the total demand. View Press Release at http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/pressrelease/1759 The IT sector utilizes DevOps tools to develop software faster in order to release several software modules within a short span. The superior software quality and the improved customer service provided by DevOps platforms are fuelling their demand in the IT sector, which is expected to remain the leading consumer of this platform over the forecast period, notes the study. Regionally, the research report segments the global DevOps platform market into the Americas, Asia Pacific (APAC), and Europe and the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). In 2015, the global DevOps platform market was led by the Americas with a share of around 57%. The high rate of the adoption of DevOps platforms across various industries, specifically BFSI, has driven this market in the America significantly over the last few years. For Sample Copy, click here: http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/711544 On account of the assistance DevOps solutions provide in improving the operational efficacy and enhancing the customer service of financial institutions, this regional market is likely to witness a remarkable surge in the demand for this platform during the forecast period, states the research report. The report has also studied the competitive landscape prevailing in the worldwide DevOps platform market. As per the study, CA Technologies, Rackspace Inc., Red Hat Inc., Puppet Inc., and IBM Corp. are leading the global market for DevOps platforms. Other major participants operating in this market are Chef, CollabNet, Microsoft, HP, Clarive, VersionOne, Inedo, Cisco, Infosys, CFEngine, VMware, DBmaestro, Docker, SaltStack, and Dell. The market is likely to witness intense competition among operators in the coming years. Mergers, acquisitions, and alliances are also expected to be more frequent with the maturation of the market, reports the research study. Related Reports Global Hadoop Market 2016-2020: http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/analysis/724251 Hadoop played a pivotal role for enterprises over the past 4-5 years in handling the increase of data. Apache Hadoop is a framework that works on a clustered file system that can share multiple servers simultaneously. It is an open-source software platform that uses MapReduce technology, which is a programming model that allows for processing and generating large data sets with a distributed algorithm on a cluster. Global Network Analytics 2016-2020: http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/analysis/729310 Network analytics solutions enable network supervisors to understand, visualize, and record activities occurring on the networks. These solutions focus on network and equipment behavior. Network analytics solutions help mobile network operators identify network problems ahead of time. Network operators can also improve their customer strategies and experience with the help of network analytics solutions. About MarketResearchReports.biz Marketresearchreports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports, supporting clients' market intelligence needs with over 100,000 market research reports, company profiles, data books, and regional market profits in its repository. We also offer consulting support for custom market research needs. Condola Rashad, whose shimmering stage performances in Ruined, Stick Fly, Romeo and Juliet and The Trip To Bountiful made the daughter of Phylicia Rashad one of the most sought-after young actors in the business, has just wrapped Gotham filming of Bikini for producers Anja Wedell and Munire Armstrong. Helmed by Oscar nominee Milcho Manchevski, Bikini tells the story of a documentary filmmaker and his girlfriend who take a charismatic but troubled woman (the title role, played by Rashad) into their home, turning their lives upside down. Manchevski also wrote the script, based on his story, together with W. P. Rosenthal. Czar Film, Germany, is spearheading production in association with Milkman Productions in New York and YN Films in Canada. His 1994 film, Before the Rain, won the Golden Lion at Venice Film Festival, FIPRESCI and Independent Spirit awards, and was an Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Language Film. He has also directed HBOs The Wire and won an MTV Award. Rashad pays Kate Sacher in Showtimes Billions and can be seen in Jodie Fosters Money Monster, with George Clooney and Julia Roberts. She recently appeared in Joshua Marstons film Complete Unknown with Michael Shannon and Rachel Weisz, which premiered at Sundance and was acquired by Amazon Studios. Bikini also stars Will Janowitz (HBOs The Night Of), Sarah Goldberg (HBOs upcoming series Barry directed by Bill Hader) and newcomer Sathya Sridharan. Related stories 'Billions' & Broadway Star Condola Rashad Lands Title Role In Indie 'Bikini Sunshine' Stage Star Condola Rashad Segues To Hollywood Condola Rashad Joins Showtime Pilot 'Billions'; Edward James Olmos In 'Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.' SoulCycle The fitness world is experiencing huge shifts, and it's making it an incredibly profitable business. From SoulCycle to CrossFit boxes to the popularity of Tough Mudders, people are spending more money on fitness. SoulCycle even filed for an initial public offering last summer. All of this comes at a time when people are spending less on clothing. The only brands that are thriving, unsurprisingly, are activewear brands like Nike, Under Armour, and Lululemon. Oddly, fitness can be a pretty pricey endeavor so why are people forking over money to fancy classes? It might be because it falls under the category that we know millennials love: experiences. "One of the megatrends is this shift toward spending on experiences rather than things," Jason Kelly, New York Bureau Chief of Bloomberg and author of "Sweat Equity," told Business Insider in a phone interview. "I do think that that is a big element ... in how millennials especially are directing their disposable income. [There's] a lot more emphasis placed on what youre doing rather than what youre getting." Some of the trendiest fitness experiences have to do with community and experiences, Kelly said. "And I think one of the important elements tied to that is how social fitness has become. Fitness for a long time was a relatively solitary endeavor, whether it was people going for a run or a bike ride or even on their stationary bike in their basement and candidly, even going to the gym and ... being one in a line of specially in New York City one in a line of 50 treadmills," he said. "And now, much more group fitness in a SoulCycle class or a Flywheel class youre much more engaged with the people around you, and theres a real sense of community." tough mudder The social aspect is huge. Kelly points to the notion of sharing what you're doing on Twitter and Facebook, but perhaps more notable is the idea of having a community. It's true that fostering a community is a way to build a strong and perhaps cultlike brand. Story continues "What seems consistent is building and I say this word with some trepidation kind of these authentic, community-driven brands seems to be the big lesson here," he said. That people do react in a lot of ways to something that they feel they want to be a part of, that their friends are a part of, and that's a brand that really understands them and caters to them, and people like them." pure barre class And, crucially, experiences are what define people, rather than just apparel which could be another reason why fitness is seeing a huge boost. "In past times, it was wearing a polo shirt or wearing a certain kind of shoe or a certain type of clothes sort of helped identify [you] as a part of a tribe, and now it's something you do," he said. All of that means someone would rather be defined by spending their money on SoulCycle classes and riding with the pack versus throwing money down on a J.Crew shirt. And besides, if they document it on Instagram, that experience could live longer than that shirt would have, anyway. NOW WATCH: This stationary bike might be a SoulCycle killer More From Business Insider 49 Dead In Mass Shooting At Gay Nightclub In Orlando Florida Gov. Rick Scott said on Tuesday that President Barack Obama has not called him after the worst terrorist attack on US soil which took place in Scott's home state since September 11, 2001. "No. He has not called," the Republican governor told "Fox & Friends." Scott noted that a "staffer has called," but reiterated that Obama has "not called." A lone gunman who pledged allegiance to ISIS carried out the deadliest mass shooting in US history early on Sunday morning when he opened fire at the Pulse nightclub. At least 49 people were killed in the attack. It's typically commonplace for the president to call the governor of a state after such catastrophic events. Scott said that he received a call from former President George W. Bush, who said that he and former first lady Laura Bush "were praying for us." Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, also phoned him, Scott said. "He called. He called to just ask how I was doing, say, you know, like everybody else is praying for us," Scott said. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday afternoon from Business Insider. NOW WATCH: 'Hamilton' creator Lin-Manuel Miranda paid tribute to the Orlando shooting victims with a stirring speech More From Business Insider Buddy Dyer, the mayor of Orlando, and Rick Scott, the governor of Florida, spoke about the strength of their community after the horrible shooting at Pulse, an Orlando LGBTQ nightclub. Dyer and Scott expressed gratitude and pride in both the support given by the people of Florida to the friends and family of the victims, as well as the heroic acts of the Orlando police.Read more here: http://on.mash.to/1S2HxtP By Stephen Kalin and Isabel Coles BAGHDAD/ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - About 40,000 residents of Falluja, Islamic State's besieged stronghold near Baghdad, have fled in the last three weeks, but a similar number are trapped despite the Iraqi army's attempts to secure escape routes for them, officials said on Tuesday. Officials in Anbar province, where Falluja is located, said Islamic State was tightening control over civilian movement in the center where the United Nations and a provincial official estimate around 40,000 civilians are stuck with little food or water. The group has used residents as human shields to slow the troops' advance and thwart the air campaign backing them. By midday on Tuesday fewer than 1,000 people had fled Falluja through a southwestern route secured by the military on Sunday at al-Salam Junction, a Norwegian aid group said, down from 4,000 and 3,300 on each of the previous two days. The United Nations recently put the total population at 90,000 people, a fraction of its size before IS took over. The army, counter-terrorism forces and Shi'ite Muslim paramilitary fighters backed by air strikes from a U.S.-led coalition launched a major operation last month to retake the mainly Sunni city, an hour's drive from Baghdad. But Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi slowed the advance to protect civilians amid fears of sectarian violence, and Iraqi forces have made only piecemeal gains in recent days as they try to reach the city center. Most of those displaced on Tuesday came from the outskirts, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), which is providing aid to escapees at nearby camps who join around four million others displaced across the country. Islamic State has alternately attacked civilians trying to leave and forced them to pay an exit tax of more than $100 per person, said Karl Schembri, an NRC spokesman. "The journey is still full of risks and extremely unsafe," he said in an email. "IN TERRIBLE TROUBLE" Falih al-Essawi, deputy head of the Anbar provincial council, said the militants had threatened to shoot fleeing families. Aid groups providing food, water and other supplies to escapees do not have access to the city itself, which was besieged by government forces for around six months before the current advance began, prompting the United Nations and rights groups to warn about an imminent humanitarian crisis. "The fighting has now gone on for nearly three weeks. Those people were in trouble before the operation began and we have to now assume that they are in terrible trouble," Lise Grande, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, said in a telephone interview. Iraq said on Monday it had made arrests as it investigates allegations that Shi'ite militiamen helping the army retake Falluja had executed dozens of Sunni Muslim men fleeing the city held by Islamic State. The participation of militias in the battle of Falluja, just west of Baghdad, alongside the Iraqi army had already raised fears of sectarian killings. Falluja is a historic bastion of the Sunni insurgency against U.S. forces that toppled Saddam Hussein, a Sunni, in 2003, and the Shi'ite-led governments that followed. The push on Falluja comes at the same time as other enemies of Islamic State launched major offensives on other fronts, including a push by U.S.-backed forces against the city of Manbij in northern Syria. They amount to the most sustained pressure on the militants since they proclaimed their caliphate in 2014. NORTHERN OFFENSIVE While it kept focus on Falluja, the Iraqi army also pressed on with an advance south of Mosul, Islamic State's de facto capital seized in 2014 along with a third of Iraq's territory. Backed by coalition airstrikes and artillery, Iraqi forces retook the hilltop village of Nasr on the eastern bank of the river Tigris, about 275 kilometers (170 miles) north of Baghdad, a military statement said. The army had recaptured Nasr two months ago but retreated a day later, drawing criticisms that it was unprepared. The army was still pushing to retake another village in the Haj Ali area, which it pushed into at the weekend. Across the river is the Islamic State hub of Qayara, where there is an airfield that could serve as a staging ground for the future offensive on Mosul, about 60 kilometers further north. "The bridges are ready," said an Iraqi officer involved in the operation. "When we occupy the Qayara base, Mosul will be within reach". The officer said Islamic State had not mounted a strong defense of Haj Ali, and that more than 20 fighters had been killed, while others fled across the river. "Our intelligence says that they are collapsing," he said. Elite Iraqi forces are also preparing to advance up the Tigris river valley towards Qayara from the south, military officials said on Tuesday. If successful, the move would isolate the militant-held districts of Hawija and Shirqat from the rest of the territory Islamic State controls to the west. (Additional reporting by Ahmed Rasheed and Saif Hameed, editing by Peter Millership) (Adds statement from finance professor, updates throughout) By Tom Polansek CHICAGO, June 13 (Reuters) - CME Group on Monday banned a former Delta Air Lines fuel trading executive for using his wife's accounts to "front-run" the airline's hedging positions - trades that netted him a profit of more than $3 million. Jon Ruggles was banned by the financial exchange operator, along with his wife, Ivonne for the front running, a practice in which an order is executed for personal gain using advance knowledge of pending orders from a company or clients. The two could not immediately be reached for comment. In addition to the lifetime bans, the CME ordered Jon Ruggles to give up profits of $2.8 million, which covered a period from August to December of 2012. Ruggles, who worked for Delta for less than two years, was also ordered to pay a $300,000 fine, the exchange said. The official action in this unusual case sheds some light on the opaque world of commodities futures markets, where producers and end users have a strong presence. Jon Ruggles worked for Delta, the No. 2 U.S. airline by passenger traffic, from early 2011 to December 2012, according to the airline. It said he was a vice president of fuel management. CME, in a disciplinary notice, said he "repeatedly abused his trading discretion given to him by his employer for personal gain" from April 2012 to December 2012. What is unusual about the violations, according to Craig Pirrong, a professor of finance at the University of Houston's Bauer College of Business, is that Jon Ruggles' activity was in direct opposition to Delta's trades. "It's usually a broker that does this. I really can't recall any cases where someone trading on behalf of the firm would do that against the interest of his firm," he said. During that time, Jon Ruggles intentionally traded his employer's account opposite two personal accounts owned by his wife "to obtain a favorable execution price for Ivonne's orders in blatant violation of exchange rules," according to the notice. Story continues "This is an egregious kind of violation," said Pirrong. CME rules prohibit traders from executing an order for their own benefit while in possession of an order from someone else for a transaction in the same market. The company also bars traders from disclosing other people's orders to anyone aside from designated regulatory officials. According to the disciplinary notice, the chief financial officer of Jon Ruggles' employer said in an affidavit that he violated company policies prohibiting employees from using information on its commodity trades to benefit anyone other than the company. The company considers such information to be confidential and proprietary, the notice said. "Delta has the highest standards of ethics and expects all of its employees to maintain those standards," company spokesman Trebor Banstetter said. CME, which owns the New York Mercantile Exchange and other markets, said it requested that the couple appear for interviews and both declined through legal counsel. (Reporting by Tom Polansek; Additional reporting by Liz Hampton in Houston; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli and Andrew Hay) HONG KONG (Reuters) - A Hong Kong man linked to a bookshop that published books critical of China's leaders has returned to the financial hub after going missing more than six months ago, Hong Kong police said on Tuesday. Five booksellers linked to the shop Causeway Bay Books went missing, beginning late last year. All of them later surfaced in China in police custody. Many people in free-wheeling Hong Kong and some foreign diplomats believe mainland agents illegally captured several of the men, sparking fears Chinese authorities were overriding a "one country, two systems" formula protecting Hong Kong's freedoms since its return to China from British rule in 1997. Chinese authorities have declined to clarify key details of the disappearances but said law enforcement officials would never do anything illegal. Lam Wing-kee was the fourth of the five to return to Hong Kong, and did so early on Tuesday, city police said. He had asked Hong Kong police to cancel his missing person case and said he did not need any assistance from the government, police said in a statement. He "refused to disclose other details" regarding his absence from Hong Kong, the police said. Lam was not available for comment. Only one of the five, Gui Minhai, remains in detention in China for "illegal trading" of banned books in mainland China. Gui, a Swedish passport holder, disappeared in Thailand in October and was shown on Chinese state television in January saying he had voluntarily turned himself in to Chinese authorities. (Reporting by James Pomfret; Editing by Robert Birsel) Negotiations between SAS and the Swedish pilot union SPF are now concluded. The parties have agreed on a new collective bargaining agreement and all flights in Sweden will resume as soon as possible. SAS has been in negotiations with the Swedish pilot union (SPF) since the middle of April. After a pilot strike that commenced on Friday, the parties today reached an agreement and the strike is called off. The pilots will resume work and the air traffic is expected to normalize during the next days. - It has been a difficult process and we are relieved that the strike is called off and that our customers can take their flights as planned. I deeply regret that so many customers have been affected by this strike, says Rickard Gustafson, President and CEO of SAS. The strike has until today resulted in about 1,000 cancelled flights and a total of 100,000 passengers affected by the disrupted traffic. The financial effects from the strike are yet too early to quantify. The new agreement between SAS and SPF are affective from 1 April 2016 and is valid for one year. SAS has also reached new agreements with the Norwegian pilots unions and consequently, this years negotiations with pilot unions are concluded. On Tuesday, Fox News host Gretchen Carlson did something surprising. Following news that a gunman in Orlando, Florida massacred at least 49 others and wounded at least 50 more at gay nightclub Pulse before dying in a gunfight with authorities, Carlson used a segment of her daily show to come out in favor of reinstating the Federal Assault Weapons Ban of 1994. The law, which lapsed in 2004, prohibited the manufacturing, for civilian use, of semi-automatic weaponry with certain characteristics, as well as high-capacity ammunition magazines. "There's no doubt Omar Mateen was able to kill so many people because he was firing an AR-15," Carlson told the audience of her show, The Real Story With Gretchen Carlson. "A military-style assault weapon, a weapon easier to buy in the state of Florida than buying a handgun. Florida sets a three day waiting period for purchasing handguns, but the state mandates no waiting period for any gun that requires two hands to hold." "Do we need AR-15s to hunt and kill deer? Do we need them to protect our families?" she continued. "I'm in favor of people being able to carry. I think some of these mass shooting would have been less deadly if that were the case." "But I'm also with the majority today, taking a stand," the host concluded. "Can't we hold true the sanctity of the Second Amendment while still having common sense? ... I know a lot of you aren't going to agree with me today. That's fine. That's what makes America great." It didn't go over well with some of her conservative fans on Twitter: @GretchenCarlson Wrong question. Should ask "Did ban do anything to lower homicides?" FBI statistics answer: No. #therealstory @GretchenCarlson There is no difference between AR-15 and 223 hunting rifle. It is just made to look like military rifle. Just aesthetics Fox News' Gretchen Carlson says she supports ban on all military style weapons in response to terror attack. Typical squishy retard weakling @GretchenCarlson ur falling 4 the liberal optics trick. An AR-15 is just a 'barrel' that screws into a 'receiver'; has a 'operati?@fxlozano The term 'Assault Weapon' is framed by Gunophobes to draw maximum fear and loathing from dimwits. @GretchenCarlson #therealstory However, Carlson is right that she stands with the majority, in that a recent Quinnipiac poll demonstrated 58% of Americans support a ban on assault weapons sales including 45% of gun owners. Pew Research Center polls have shown support for such a ban has held steady since at least 2013. Story continues It's a definite change of pace for Carlson, who once suggested Obama's executive actions on gun control were counterproductive, and as recently as October 2015, denounced talk of more gun laws as political nonsense. "Instead of immediately jumping to political talk like 'we need more gun control' to 'we already have enough laws on the books' to 'we need to protect individual gun ownership rights' to ' we need to make it more difficult for people to obtain weapons,'" Carlson said following a mass shooting at Umpqua Community College in October, "... we need a solution, a multi-tiered approach, and not just political talk." In December, she also criticized the president for bringing up gun control in the wake of mass shootings linked to Islamic extremists in Paris and San Bernardino, California, posting to Twitter "what about all the bombs they had 2blow us up?" [sic]. Pres Obama: Now gun control-we must make it harder 4terrorists to kill-what about all the bombs they had 2blow us up? @FoxNews #ObamaSpeech However, for many supporters of further restrictions on firearms in the wake of the shooting, Carlson's support must be a breath of fresh air. Read more: The Latest Update on the 53 Wounded From Mass Shooting in Orlando Gay Nightclub This Pastor Celebrated the Orlando Shootings, Called Anti-LGBT Christians the Real Victims I'm Angry as Hell About the Orlando Shooting. What Can I Do About It? Santa Ponca (Spain) (AFP) - Fresh from winning the French Open and climbing to second place in the world rankings, Spain's Garbine Muguruza was shocked 6-3, 6-4 by Belgium's Kirsten Flipkens at the WTA Mallorca Open on Tuesday. The match was top seed Muguruza's first since lifting the Roland Garros title for her first Grand Slam by beating her idol Serena Williams in the final in Paris two weeks ago. "I wanted to play Mallorca so much and I tried, but then I went to the court. But I couldn't find my rhythm and Flipken's game matches grass very well," said the Venezuelan-born 22-year-old at the inaugural Santa Ponca event. "I barely had time to actually practise and enjoy the tournament." With the contest poised at 3-3 in the first set, Muguruza blew a string of break points before the Belgian held and then broke herself before serving out the first set. The Spaniard seemed to wilt thereafter. "I had so many opportunities coming to me that I couldn't take, and she played really well during those big moments," said Muguruza. "So the match started slipping away from me little by little." Flipkens will now meet Monica Puig, who beat Germany's Julia Gorges, in the second round. Second seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia beat Croatia's Ana Konjuh 7-5, 6-3 while another Serb, third seed Ana Ivanovic, beat Pauline Parmentier of France 6-4, 6-4. "I wasn't really able to play my game but slowly, little by little, I started to get in my rhythm. I felt more comfortable on the court and I think she just couldn't follow," Jankovic said. Canada's Eugenie Bouchard, the beaten 2014 Wimbledon finalist and eighth seed in Mallorca, beat Montenegran Danka Kovinic 6-3, 7-5 before saying the heat in Spain had taken its toll on her. "It's hot over here, we're not used to that when we play on grass, it's usually cold, rainy countries," said the 22-year-old. French police commander killed by jihadi recruiter Police man a roadblock at the scene where a French police commander was stabbed to death in front of his home in the Paris suburb of Magnanville, June 14, 2016. (Reuters/Christian Hartmann) A Frenchman once convicted of recruiting jihadi fighters stabbed a police commander to death outside his suburban Paris home, recorded the attack and posted it on Facebook Live, French officials said Tuesday. The commanders partner and the attacker were found dead inside the home after a three-hour standoff with police. The couples 3-year-old was in the house in Magnanville, about 35 miles west of Paris, but was unharmed. A police official said that at one point in the video, the attacker puzzled over what to do with the child. The Islamic State groups Amaq news agency cited an unnamed source as saying an ISIS fighter carried out the attack late Monday. While the extremist group has not officially claimed responsibility, French President Francois Hollande said it was incontestably a terrorist act and that France faces a threat of a very large scale. Two people close to the attacker were detained, authorities said. They gave no details about them. (AP) Find more news-related photo galleries on the Yahoo News Photo Tumblr! PARIS (Reuters) - A 42-year-old police commander was stabbed to death in front of his home on Monday night in the Paris suburb of Magnanville and his assailant, who had barricaded himself in the policeman's house, was later shot dead by members of an elite police unit, officials said. Policemen also found the body of a dead woman in the house and a surviving 3-year-old boy, the spokesman for the Interior Ministry, Pierre-Henry Brandet, said on BFM TV minutes after the elite RAID unit stormed the house. The woman was "most probably the wife" of the commander, prosecutor Vincent Lesclous told reporters. "We have no certainty about the motivations" of the assailant, Lesclous added. (Reporting by Mathieu Rosemain, editing by G Crosse) PARIS (Reuters) - French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve described the killing late Monday of a French police commander and his partner at their home outside Paris as an "abject act of terrorism". Speaking after an emergency meeting with President Francois Hollander, Cazeneuve said on Tuesday: "An abject of act of terrorism was committed yesterday". He added that the government was fully mobilized against the threat of terrorism and had made more 100 arrests since the start of the year. (Reporting by Leigh Thomas; Editing by Ingrid Melander) Paris (AFP) - French media mocked President Francois Hollande on Tuesday after he described sexual orientation as "a choice", in his reaction to the Orlando gay nightclub massacre, comments that had provoked outrage on social media. In Orlando, "it is America that has been hit but it is also freedom, the freedom to choose one's sexual orientation and to determine one's style of life", Hollande said in condemning "the appalling homophobic killing in Orlando." Hollande was speaking as he left the US embassy in Paris on Monday, where he had expressed France's condolences over the shooting in Orlando at the weekend that left 50 people dead including the gunman. The comments, in front of television cameras and released later on the president's Twitter account, immediately sparked a storm on social media, with many pointing out that sexual orientation is innate and not a lifestyle choice. "Francois Hollande tweets that homosexuality is a choice! No, what country are we living in?" said one tweet. "Hollande talks about 'the freedom to choose one's sexual orientation.' Can someone explain it to him?" said another. The president's office quickly replaced the offending phrase with "freedom to live your sexual orientation and choose your style of life." But the French press was virtually unanimous on Tuesday in accusing Hollande of committing a "gaffe". "Francois Hollande learns that one can choose one's words but not one's sexual orientation," quipped the newspaper Le Monde. Europe1 radio station described his comment as "a huge blunder." In his first reaction to the killings on Sunday Hollande had condemned the "horrific" attack in Orlando, without mentioning that it was homosexuals who were targeted. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said later on Twitter that "by hitting the gay community, the terrible attack in Orlando touches all of us." Gunman Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old US citizen of Afghan descent, killed 49 people and wounded another 53 before he was killed when police stormed the Pulse, one of Orlando's most prominent gay venues, early Sunday. The Islamic State jihadist group said the attack was carried out by an IS "soldier". PARIS (Reuters) - Paris prosecutors said on Tuesday they have begun an involuntary manslaughter investigation into a failed drug trial that left one dead and five hospitalized in January. The prosecutors' office said the investigation had been opened to determine whether there was a criminal element in any mistakes made or whether it was simply the result of clinical risks involved. France's Health Ministry said last month that Portuguese drugmaker Bial and French laboratory Biotrial were at fault "on several counts" for the drug trial. Participants in the phase I trial were given the experimental drug made by Bial at a private facility in the city of Rennes run by France's Biotrial. All trials of the drug, designed to treat mood and anxiety issues as well as coordination disorders linked to neurological issues, have been suspended. (Reporting by Leigh Thomas; Editing by Hugh Lawson) DOYLESTOWN, Pa., June 14, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- From higher property value for homeowners to improved social status in the community, there is no doubt that owning a backyard swimming pool has its advantages. Yet more often than not, potential buyers overlook one of the most practical reasons to seriously consider pool ownershipit can improve your health. A growing body of evidence suggests that having a pool at home can work wonders for your physical and mental wellbeing by providing an accessible, hygienic location to exercise and socialize with family and friends. Research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention attests that swimming and other aquatic exercises provide a safe, low-impact way to keep fit. This is particularly important for demographics that may struggle to exercise, such as the elderly, the overweight, pregnant women and those suffering from chronic illnesses. The accessibility and ease-of-use of a backyard swimming pool is a crucial aspect in making frequent exercising a vital component of your lifestyle in the midst of a hectic schedule. Pool ownership also affords a high level of control over sanitary conditions, which can range greatly depending on factors such as pool traffic, maintenance standards and swimmers adherence to codes of hygiene. Owning a backyard pool puts many of the decisions about maintenance and sanitation directly in your hands. Even small steps such as choosing your preferred water treatment methods can make a big difference. With a pool at home, you can rest easy while your friends and family swim. Increased physical activity and improved hygiene levels are not the only aspects of health that improve with pool ownership. The relaxing environment created by an outdoor pool, and related opportunities to spend time with family and friends, can have positive impacts on mental health. Pool ownership not only transforms a homeowners property, but also drastically improves their health and wellbeing, said Mark Koide, CEO of Anthony & Sylvan Pools, the countrys premier in-ground pool and spa builder that is celebrating its 70th Anniversary this year. When viewed in perspective, owning a pool is an outstanding way to ensure a healthy lifestyle for you and your family. About Anthony & Sylvan Pools Since 1946, families have been trusting Anthony & Sylvan to design and build their dream in-ground swimming pools. Our team of designers and craftsmen have created thousands of backyard retreats. We constantly strive for complete customer satisfaction, use the best materials for the job and uphold rigorous standards. With pools built for over 370,000 families, we must be doing something right. Our companys products and services have expanded to include Retail and Online stores offering the finest chemicals, equipment and other pool supplies and pool opening, closing and maintenance services, as well as Renovations and Modernizations services, which restore and upgrade pools and a Backyard Products Division which offers fences, covers and other finishing products. By Jessica DiNapoli NEW YORK (Reuters) - Gawker Media LLC asked a U.S. bankruptcy court judge on Monday for permission to borrow up to $22 million from an affiliate of buyout firm Cerberus Capital Management LP to help it through its sale process, according to a court filing. The online publishing pioneer filed for bankruptcy last week after it failed to secure a postponement on paying $140 million to Hulk Hogan after it lost a lawsuit involving the publication of excerpts from a sex tape of the former pro wrestler. Media company Ziff Davis LLC has entered into an agreement to buy Gawker for $90 million, setting the floor for an opening bid in a court-supervised auction expected to take place at the end of July. The loan from Cerberus, which often invests in companies in financial distress, will help Gawker continue to operate through bankruptcy. Gawker and its bankers reached out to 37 different potential investors in May to see if they had an interest in backing the loan, according to the filing. Gawker is known for running salacious stories, and Cerberus has a history of controversial investments. One of its investments, Freedom Group Inc, is the maker of the Bushmaster rifle that was used by Adam Lanza when he killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012. The families of the victims subsequently sued Freedom Group. Cerberus declined to comment. Billionaire investor Peter Thiel, an early backer of Facebook Inc (FB.O) and PayPal Holdings Inc (PYPL.O), bankrolled Hogan's lawsuit. Gawker had posted a 2007 article about Thiel entitled "Peter Thiel is totally gay, people." (Reporting by Jessica DiNapoli in New York; Editing by Cynthia Osterman) One year after Love Wins became the hashtag of the land following the Supreme Courts landmark decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, a combustible mix of ancient hatred, modern weapons and personal instability led to the deadliest civilian gun massacre in U.S. history. As Obama said Monday of the Orlando attack that took place in the early hours of Sunday morning, The fact that it took place at a club frequented by the LGBT community I think is also relevant. Its relevant especially within that community, where the shooting has dredged up bad memories of a less friendly America and raised questions about just how far LGBT people have really come. These questions were only deepened late Monday by reports that the shooter, who died along with 49 other people in the attack, had used gay dating apps and had visited the nightclub Pulse multiple times. Omar Mateen was married to a woman his second heterosexual marriage and had a small child; news reports that he was attracted to or sought hookups with men raised questions about the extent to which self-loathing as well as broader animus might have played a role in actions politicians were quick to describe Sunday as a hate crime. As investigators continued to gather evidence, take interviews and piece together the puzzle of what led Mateen to lash out, gay writers and leaders reeled, cast back into memories they would sooner forget. It was a punch in the gut, a flashback to those days of being hated and afraid, E.J. Graf, author of What Is Marriage For?, wrote in Vice about the attack. How we scarcely dared mention our roommates at work, how teenagers spat on us on the street, threatening us and calling us vile names. Back then, if you went to the womens bar (in my day, we didnt say gay) and left by yourself, the big butch bouncer would walk you out the door and watch as you headed for your car just in case some homo-hater was lurking there, looking to assault a queer girl or two. On Sunday, thousands of us remembered that theres always someone who wants to murder you just for being gay or even worse, wants to murder the young ones just coming up. Story continues The timing during Gay Pride month made the attack especially painful. People take part in a candlelight memorial service on Monday night, the day after a mass shooting at the gay nightclub Pulse in Orlando. (Photo: Carlo Allegri/Reuters) We are really suffering right now, Aisha Moodie-Mills, president and CEO of the Victory Fund, which seeks to increase the number of openly gay officeholders, told Yahoo News. Were in the middle of celebrating LGBT pride, the most joyous we are any time of year, literally celebrating being alive. And to have this kind of vicious attack on our community has literally been devastating. This could have been any of us. I came out at a gay club. I met my wife at a gay club. The community is really suffering a tragic loss, she said. The attack was a reminder that even as we are coming up on a year of celebrating marriage equality weve still got a lot of work to do to stomp out that hate. Amid the tears was a determination to remember that the fight for gay rights is far from over, despite recent court decisions and executive actions. On Saturday I thought about last years marriage decision, and how hard it is to keep the LGBT agenda focused on the real political needs of our community, wrote Miriam Zoila Perez, a former editor of Feministing.com, in Colorlines. But now we are reminded. We are reminded that we are not that far from our violent history of rejection, policing, hostility. We are reminded that the first Pride was a riot, one led by queer and trans women of color, who were fighting back against the violence they faced at the hands of the police. And we will have to continue to remember that this violence will not be solved by increased violence against the Muslim community or calls for the war on terror. David Mixner, a longtime gay rights advocate, took to the gay news blog Towleroad to consider how the broader political environment could have contributed to the attack. There are precincts of American politics filled with rhetoric against our community, our rights, our very being. Pastors advocate hate from their pulpits and legislation is submitted and enacted to demean us and sanction anti-LGBT discrimination. There are states passing laws to permit our fellow citizens to deny us a meal in a restaurant, a place to sleep at night, or even access to a restroom, he wrote. People hold up candles against a rainbow-lit backdrop during a vigil on Monday for those killed in a mass shooting at the nightclub Pulse in Orlando. (Photo: David Goldman/AP) Do these agents of bigotry really believe their cynical fear-mongering and attempts to write hate into the stature books did not contribute to the massacre at Pulse? Mixner continued. For years to come and without question we will have to continue fighting our oppressors in the streets and at the ballot box. We cannot rest until every hate-filled law is overturned. The best memorial to the dead of Orlando is a new birth of freedom, he wrote. Rachel Tiven, the incoming CEO of Lambda Legal, the nations oldest LBGT legal organization, also told Yahoo News that it was time for those who advocate against new or expanded protections for gays to take responsibility for the effect of their actions and their words. Their attitudes, everything from, I dont want to wash my hands in the sink next to you to I dont want to sell you a cupcake because you make me uncomfortable contribute to an acceptance of ostracization that is incredibly dangerous, she said. And when you mix that with easy access to heavy weapons, why are people surprised that this is the outcome? The attack will only cause gay rights groups to redouble their efforts to press for full equality under the law, she predicted. In a sad way I think it will invigorate people, she said. And one thing was clear: Whatever happened, hate would not be met with hate. I think whats notable is that we have always turned toward life and turned toward living and taking the anger and the frustration and turning it into love and pride, said Tiven. That is the source of our success and why we will continue to thrive that we respond not in a vengeful way, but with pride and love. Related slideshows: Slideshow: Victims of the Florida nightclub shooting >>> Slideshow: Front-page coverage of the Orlando mass shooting >>> Slideshow: World reacts to Orlando mass shooting >>> Slideshow: Shooting rampage at Florida nightclub >>> Last October, a man surnamed Yu planned to get a divorce from his wife of 10 years. Given Chinas burgeoning divorce rate, the split wasnt unusual. But on the the day the 37-year-old planned to sign his divorce papers, he was taken by his wife and family to a mental hospital to undergo so-called conversion therapy for a sexual preference disorder. Earlier, he had admitted to his family that he is gay. For 19 days, Yu alleges, medical staff lashed him to a bed and force-fed him drugs. Nurses, he says, beat him. Now, Yu is suing the Zhumadian No. 2 Peoples Hospital in Chinas central Henan province for limiting his personal liberty and inflicting emotional distress. He wants 10,000 yuan, or roughly $1,550, in compensation and a written apology from the hospital. On June 13, Yus case was accepted by a local court in Zhumadian city. He suffered a lot in the mental hospital, physically and mentally, Yus lawyer Huang Rui tells TIME. He told me that several men took off all his clothes and laughed, we heard you are gay, lets see whether you are a man or a woman. A doctor who answered the phone at the No. 2 Peoples Hospital told TIME she knew nothing about the case and refused to answer further questions. Yu was rescued from the hospital by his long-term boyfriend, surnamed Li, who had contacted LGBT groups and the local police for advice. After receiving a rushed phone call from Yu on Oct. 8 saying he was being forcibly admitted to a mental hospital, Li canvassed dozens of local clinics trying to find Yu. When Li finally located the right hospital, he says a doctor told him no one could visit Yu except for his wife. His wife couldnt accept the truth [about his sexual preference], Li tells TIME. They had two kids. Until 2001, homosexuality was officially classified as a mental illness in China. Chinese clinics still offer electric-shock and hypnotherapy cures as a way to compel LGBT Chinese to take on heterosexual lifestyles despite such traumatic treatments having no basis in scientific fact. Same-sex couples cannot legally wed in China, and one gay couples effort to challenge the marriage ban was rebuffed in April by a court in the central Chinese city of Changsha. Earlier this year, PFLAG China, a local LGBT group, started a social-media campaign encouraging gay Chinese not to enter into sham heterosexual marriages to please their families. Such unions still common in a country where homophobia prevails. On June 13, 109 Chinese LGBT groups issued a joint statement expressing solidarity with the victims of the Orlando gay nightclub massacre. Chinese state media wrote articles about the groups statement of sympathy which included a reference to widespread discrimination against LGBT individuals in China, including conversion therapy. Yet these same LGBT organizations are often subjected to official harassment. And Chinese mental hospitals have long served as dumping grounds for everyone from gay youth to political dissidents even if such forced stays are against the law. The personal freedom of Chinese citizens is protected by law and cannot be infringed upon by hospitals or ones family members, says Yus lawyer Huang, who notes that several defendants have in recent years won cases connected to their illegal detentions in mental hospitals. Yus case is not the first filed against a Chinese hospital for purporting that controversial treatments will somehow cure homosexuality. In 2014, a Chinese man sued a clinic that offered conversion therapy for false advertising. But that defendant, who was eventually awarded around $550 in compensation by a Beijing court, had voluntarily submitted to the clinics recommendations, which included an expensive round of electric shocks. Yu, by contrast, says he was kidnapped and treated against his will. He and his boyfriend have since fled to elsewhere in China, for fear that Yu might get thrown again in a mental hospital if they stay in Zhumadian. Despite being far from home, he suffers nightmares. And Yu and his wife are still officially married. He never got to sign those divorce papers. With reporting by Yang Siqi/Beijing BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany is preparing for increased market volatility if Britain votes to leave the European Union next week, a senior finance ministry official said on Tuesday. If that happened it would also be critical for Germany and other EU countries to demonstrate their determination to continue as a bloc, Jens Spahn, parliamentary state secretary in the ministry, told German broadcaster ARD. Financial markets were already anxious about the possibility of Brexit, but the reaction to a "Leave" vote in the referendum on June 23 could trigger far greater volatility. "It will be important to demonstrate stability," Spahn said, adding that a British exit would be a huge loss. He said the ministry was preparing responses to several scenarios and differing market reactions, but declined to give details. A finance ministry spokeswoman also declined to elaborate. A British exit would be a huge loss, Spahn said, and would mean Britain would have to renegotiate trade agreements with the rest of Europe, probably on less favourable terms. "It has to make a difference if you're part of the family or just a neighbour," Spahn told ARD. Spahn said the bloc needed to reassess its overall status regardless of how the vote turned out, given the depth of the problems it was facing. But the need to cooperate on issues such as terrorism and the migrant crisis demonstrated the benefits of acting as a larger European community, he said. Joerg Rocholl, president of the ESMT Berlin business school and a member of the finance ministry's academic advisory board, said Britain's departure from the EU would also raise serious questions about London's role as the financial capital of Europe. European markets could drop dramatically if Britain left, he said, with only the European Central Bank and national central banks in a position to offset the losses through massive intervention and asset purchases, Rocholl said. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal and Gernot Heller; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore and John Stonestreet) (Reuters) - Drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline Plc said Moncef Slaoui, chairman of its vaccines business, would retire next year. Slaoui, who has been with the company for more than 25 years in various roles, will stay until June 30, 2017. He was also overseeing GlaxoSmithKline's venture capital fund, which invests in biotech companies. The company's vaccines unit has 15 products in development, including one for Ebola. (Reporting by Vidya L Nathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva) Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f115479%2f13391508_1745767075695136_6324446090914992963_o__1_ While it might just look like an adorable ball of fur, a sighting of this animal only occurs a few times in a decade. It is a marsupial mole, a.k.a. a karrkaratul, a rarely-seen burrowing mammal found lurking in the central deserts of Australia. This one was spotted by rangers in the Kiwirrkurra Indigenous Protected Area (IPA) in Western Australia, while they were documenting stories about bush foods in the area. SEE ALSO: Cute capybara gives birth to even cuter capybara pups "We were driving along a bush track on our way home when this little golden creature ran across the road in front of us," Kate Crossing, a coordinator at Kiwirrkurra IPA, wrote in a post on the Tjamu Tjamu Aboriginal Corporation - Kiwirrkurra Facebook page on Saturday. One of the passengers in the car yelled out "karrkaratul" when it was spotted, before the driver stopped the vehicle to take a peek at the rare creature. Some of the rangers said they had never seen one, while one person said they had witnessed one years ago. "We all crowded round as Yalti held this beautiful creature carefully in her hands, its powerful front feet trying to dig to safety," Crossing wrote. Mark Eldridge, Principal Research Scientist in the mammalogy section at the Australian Museum, told Mashable Australia that such a sight is so uncommon that very little is actually known about the marsupial mole. "They're just so rarely encountered that we don't know how rare or common they are. They live most of their lives underground, and rarely come to the surface," he said. Marsupial moles are spotted on the surface usually after rain, Eldridge said, running along the surface before burrowing back down into the desert. So blink, and you'll likely miss it. "There are so few people in the areas where it occurs ... Certainly sightings of them only occur a couple of times a decade," he said. mole Image: TJAMU TJAMU ABORIGINAL CORPORATION - KIWIRRKURRA/FACEBOOK Story continues Found in the sandy deserts of Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory, people often spot the marsupial mole's tracks due to their spade-like forelimbs, used primarily for digging. They also have no eyes and no external ears; but still has functional hearing from inside its body, with presumably a good sense of smell. It also has no known relatives, despite resembling other animals. "The remarkable thing is it looks like some of the completely unrelated moles from places like South Africa, but ended up looking similar because of their lifestyles," Eldridge said. As for Crossing and the Kiwirrkurra rangers, they let the creature go where it dug its way back underground shortly after and disappeared. See you in a few years, little guy. [h/t ABC News] SPRINGDALE, Ark., June 14, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE:TSN) will webcast its presentation at the Jefferies 2016 Consumer Conference on Tuesday, June 21, at 4:30 p.m. ET. Representing Tyson Foods will be Tom Hayes, president, and Noel White, president, poultry. The webcast will be available at the companys investor relations website http://ir.tyson.com, on the Tyson IR App or by direct link at http://wsw.com/webcast/jeff98/tsn. About Tyson Foods Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE:TSN), with headquarters in Springdale, Arkansas, is one of the world's largest food companies with leading brands such as Tyson, Jimmy Dean, Hillshire Farm, Sara Lee, Ball Park, Wright, Aidells and State Fair. Its a recognized market leader in chicken, beef and pork as well as prepared foods, including bacon, breakfast sausage, turkey, lunchmeat, hot dogs, pizza crusts and toppings, tortillas and desserts. The company supplies retail and foodservice customers throughout the United States and approximately 130 countries. Tyson Foods was founded in 1935 by John W. Tyson, whose family has continued to lead the business with his son, Don Tyson, guiding the company for many years and grandson, John H. Tyson, serving as the current chairman of the board of directors. The company currently has approximately 113,000 Team Members employed at more than 400 facilities and offices in the United States and around the world. Through its Core Values, Code of Conduct and Team Member Bill of Rights, Tyson Foods strives to operate with integrity and trust and is committed to creating value for its shareholders, customers and Team Members. The company also strives to be faith-friendly, provide a safe work environment and serve as stewards of the animals, land and environment entrusted to it. To download Tyson Foods free investor relations app, which offers access to SEC filings, news releases, transcripts, webcasts and presentations, please visit the App Store for iPhone and iPad or Google Play for Android mobile devices. By Claire Milhench LONDON (Reuters) - A Goldman Sachs executive footed the bill for prostitutes and the bank paid for a lavish trip to Dubai for the brother of a decision-maker at Libya's sovereign wealth fund, a lawyer for the fund alleged on Monday, in a case it has brought against Goldman in London's High Court. The Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) is attempting to claw back $1.2 billion from nine trades it carried out with Goldman Sachs in 2008. In the suit, the $67 billion fund argues that the U.S. investment bank took advantage of its financial naivety by first gaining its trust, then encouraging it to make risky and ultimately worthless investments in equity derivatives. Goldman Sachs denies all the allegations. "The claims are without merit and we will continue to defend them vigorously," the bank said in an emailed statement to Reuters on Friday. The LIA's claim hinges in part on its allegations that the trades were procured under "undue influence". It specifically cites an internship that Goldman Sachs provided for Haitem Zarti, the brother of Mustafa Zarti, the LIA's former deputy chief and a key decision-maker at the fund. The LIA alleges that Mustafa Zarti's willingness to do business with Goldman was influenced by the favourable treatment it was conferring on his brother in providing an internship. Neither side disputes that the internship took place. In his opening statement on Monday for the LIA, lawyer Roger Masefield said that in February 2008 Goldman Sachs sales team executive Youssef Kabbaj had flown Haitem Zarti from Morocco to Dubai at Goldman Sachs' expense. According to the LIA's claim, accommodation at the five-star Ritz Carlton was also paid for by Goldman, whilst Kabbaj arranged for two prostitutes to spend the evening with them at a cost of $600, Masefield said. The bank does not deny that it paid for some flights and hotels, but Kabbaj did not seek to expense the cost of the prostitutes to Goldman, and the bank did not know about it at the time, a source familiar with the bank's position said. Reuters was unable to reach Kabbaj for comment. Story continues Neither Zarti is connected with the fund now. Reuters could not reach either of the brothers for comment. Legal representatives for Goldman Sachs have not yet had a chance to make their opening statement setting out the bank's defence. But in the bank's court filings outlining its defence, Goldman Sachs argues that it was always clear the relationship was one in which the LIA and the bank were dealing with each other as commercial counterparties, and from which each side would seek to profit financially. Goldman Sachs maintains that its relationship with the LIA was at all "material times an arm's length one" between banker and client, and that the trades in question "were not hard for the LIA to understand". In its court filings, the bank also rebuts the suggestion that the LIA's employees were naive or unsophisticated. "The LIA's plea that it was 'financially illiterate' is as unfounded as it is extreme," the bank argues. The LIA is also pursuing the French investment bank Societe Generale (SOGN.PA) for some $2.1 billion in relation to another set of trades entered into between 2007 and 2009. SocGen is contesting the case, which is only expected to come to trial in January 2017. The Goldman Sachs case is scheduled to run for seven weeks. (Reporting by Claire Milhench; Editing by Kevin Liffey) In the much anticipated trial which began on Monday at London's High Court, The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. GS was accused by the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) of exploiting its close relationship with the fund and influencing the LIA officials who lacked financial expertise, to make risky and worthless derivative trades. In Brief The case relates to a series of derivatives transactions entered by the LIA between Jan and Apr 2008, with Goldman. The sovereign funds ties with Goldman have been strained after those transactions soured and ultimately lost $1.2 billion at maturity in 2011. In the trial, Roger Masefield a lawyer for the fund said that in order to convince LIA to engage in the investments, Goldman organized training programs for LIA staff, showered gifts and took members of the fund on trips to Dubai, London and Morocco. According to the claims of LIA, a former banker at Goldman, Youssef Kabbaj was quickly embedded within the nascent institution. In 2008, he aided in arranging an internship for Haitem Zarti, the younger brother of Mustafa Zarti who served as the LIA's deputy chief. Allegedly, during a visit to Dubai in 2008 with Haitem Zarti, Kabbaj paid for a pair of prostitutes to entertain them both. One of the emails disclosed in the case revealed that a Goldman partner referred LIA as very unsophisticated. In another mail, a Goldman executive wrote to a colleague, you just delivered a pitch on structured leveraged loans to someone who lives in the middle of the desert with his camels. LIA which was established in 2006 to invest in Libyas oil fields accused Goldman of abusing a relationship of trust and confidence and exerting undue influence over the LIA to earn more than $200 million. The fund, whose assets were valued at around $67 billion in 2012, is seeking recoupment for the losses incurred from the trades. Notably, the trial is expected to last around seven weeks. Goldmans Response Goldman denies any wrongdoing in the dispute and its lawyers stated that the claims of LIA are without merit and we will continue to defend them vigorously. The lawyers also said, The credit crisis and its impact on global markets turned out to be far more prolonged than the LIA and the great majority of market participants had anticipated." They added, The LIA was the victim of an unforeseen financial depression, not of any wrongdoing by Goldman. Bottom Line While the outcome of the case is not clear, Goldman remains susceptible to any potential penalties which might hurt the companys financials. Apart from its concerns related to the crisis period, Goldman faces tough macroeconomic challenges that continue to drag revenue growth. Currently, Goldman carries a Zack Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the finance space include LPL Financial Holdings Inc. LPLA, Cathay General Bancorp CATYand First Bancorp FBP, each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report FIRST BNCRP P R (FBP): Free Stock Analysis Report CATHAY GENL BCP (CATY): Free Stock Analysis Report GOLDMAN SACHS (GS): Free Stock Analysis Report LPL FINL HLDGS (LPLA): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Tel Aviv (AFP) - A top Google official on Tuesday hailed Israel's tech sector, saying it trailed only Silicon Valley in the United States when it comes to "initiatives". Eric Schmidt, formerly Google chief executive and now executive chairman of its parent company Alphabet, said Israel, a country of only around eight million people, was punching far above its weight in technology. "For a relatively small country, Israel has a super role in technological innovation," he told an audience at Google's offices in the commercial capital Tel Aviv. "I can't think of a place where you could see this diversity and the collection of initiatives aside from Silicon Valley," he added. "That is a pretty strong statement." Israel has long self-styled itself as the "start-up nation", encouraging entrepreneurship - especially in the technological sector. However, companies have often been sold to larger investors in the United States, rather than remaining in the Middle Eastern country. Schmidt said he had seen a "maturation" of the "start-up nation" in recent years. "(Previously) it seemed like many of the initiatives were not fully thought out," he said. "But now I am beginning to see companies that are on their way to being worth a billion dollars." Google acquired Waze, an Israeli real-time traffic application, for more than $1 billion in 2013 and has also bought other smaller Israeli firms. The company develops many of its technologies in research and development centres in Tel Aviv and Haifa. Schmidt said the small population and therefore limited local market was one of the main factors constraining Israel's tech sector. SundarPichai2016 While Google Apps is making some big strides in selling to business customers, Microsoft Office is still the de facto standard in software for getting work done. But there's one thing that Google is, and has always been, better at than its rivals at Microsoft: Search. In fact, Google boasts, it's been providing search solutions to businesses for the last 15 years. "We're not new players by any means," says Google Director of Product Management Ryan Tabone. On Monday, Google is turning that expertise into a nifty new product with Springboard, a tool for its Google Apps for Works customers, that lets you search all your data across the whole suite of Google productivity tools. Springboard is only open to a few customers today, but Google is planning for a wider release down the line. It's a good time for Springboard, says Tabone, because people are generating more data than ever before. We already had a lot of emails and documents to sort through on our PCs. With phones and tablets making it easier than ever to make more documents, it's getting to be a critical mass. google springboard Enter Springboard, which not only helps you search, but also automatically suggests files for you, either based on the last things you were working on, or using Google's artificial intelligence acumen to guess what file you need at any moment. "The idea is you shouldn't have to think about it, it should just work," Tabone says. Along similar lines, Google also unveiled today a new and souped-up Google Sites website building tool for the business, also in early preview. Where the original Google Sites "is tailored to power users," Tabone says, the new one is really meant to help anyone quickly and easily build a website. Part of that is a tool that uses machine learning to automatically suggest graphic design elements for your site. For instance, if you change the background image on a site to something dark, it'll automatically make your text brighter and bolder so it remains legible, while tweaking the overall color scheme so it's all complementary. Story continues google sites editor "These things are possible because of our lead in machine learning," says Tabone. Microsoft, too, is investing in machine learning, with AI-powered features coming to Office. But Tabone is confident that Google's expertise at search in general and artificial intelligence in particular sets the company apart. In fact, Tabone says that it's kind of flattering that Microsoft is using artificial intelligence. "It's nice to know we're thinking about the problem in the same way," Tabone says. NOW WATCH: These are the best, highest-paying companies in America More From Business Insider A Tennessee lawmaker will give away two AR-15 assault rifles as door prizes to attendees of an upcoming fundraiser the same style of gun a man used in a shooting that left 50 dead and more than 50 others injured on Latin night in a gay nightclub in Orlando early Sunday morning. Calls to ban assault weapons, such as the AR-15s state Rep. Andy Holt is giving away, have increased since the massacre. Presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton said Monday that " like the AR-15 have "no place on our streets." But Holt who announced the giveaway last week, prior to the shooting said he has no plans to change the door prize in the wake of the attack, according to the Commercial Appeal, a local newspaper. Giving away two AR15s now. See you all there!https://twitter.com/foxnashville/status/742430729896923137 ... https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ck2kz1qWgAEgdBX.jpg:large Holt is also encouraging attendees of his June 25 "Hog Fest and Turkey Shoot" fundraiser to bring their own rifles and ammo. In a Facebook post late Monday night, Holt said he's gotten death threats after news of his giveaway went viral. A stalwart supporter of gun rights, Holt was a sponsor of a recently passed law in Tennessee that allows full-time employees to carry guns on the campuses of the state's public colleges and universities. He told the Commercial Appeal that he does not believe a ban on assault weapons, such as the AR-15, would do any thing to mitigate mass shooting incidents, such as the one in Orlando. "It has nothing to do with the style of weapon. It has everything to do with who's behind the weapon," Holt told the newspaper, adding that the AR-15 gets a bad name because, "it's black and it looks real scary." Holt is also against stricter background checks for those seeking to purchase guns, and said the carnage at the Orlando nightclub would've been mitigated if patrons had the ability to carry a concealed weapon. "When we deprive people of their opportunity to defend themselves, this is what happens," Holt told the Commercial Appeal. "Innocent individuals are sitting ducks." Author and columnist Owen Jones stormed off the set of British series Sky News after he clashed with host Mark Longhurtst over the importance of the LGBT aspect in Sunday's mass shooting at a gay club in Orlando. In a video from the broadcast, The Guardian, Jones first argues with Longhurst about the significance of homosexuality in the tragic massacre, telling the host that the incident has "to be called out for what it is an intentional attack on LGBT people." Longhurst then chimes in, telling Jones that the shooting is actually an "attack on the freedom of all people to try and enjoy themselves." Jones, however, disagrees, saying that Longhurst lacks understanding because he is not a part of the LGBT community. Longhurst then denies the claim, adding that his sexual orientation doesn't matter in regards to his reaction to the incident that killed 49 and injured 53 others. Meanwhile, fellow guest Julia Hartley-Brewer tries to mitigate the situation by telling Jones that she doesn't believe he has "ownership" over the crime just because he's gay, as everyone is "upset and angry" about it. On Sky News last night, I realised how far some will go to ignore homophobia https://t.co/rJ9mD6fuyV a Owen Jones (@OwenJones84) June 13, 2016 Jones responds by storming off the set. On Monday, he addressed the television incident in a tweet. "On Sky News last night, I realised (sic) how far dome will go to ignore homophobia," he tweeted. Longhurst also addressed Jones' walking out in a statement obtained by Huffington Post UK, in which he expressed "regret" over the segment. "As the presenter responsible for chairing the conversation, I regret that the segment ended as it did," he reportedly said. "I absolutely accept the atrocity was, of course, an attack on LGBT people, but I was also trying to reflect what was on the newspaper front pages. It was never my intention to offend Owen Jones and I very much look forward to working with him again in future." Julia Hartley-Brewer made a less apologetic statement on what happened, saying on her Talk Radio show that she and Longhurst "repeatedly" acknowledged that the shooting was a homophobic attack, but still received tons of "abuse" on Twitter. "This is a free country. I as a straight woman am as entitled to talk about the horrific massacre of my fellow human beings whether they are men, straight, American, British, black, white or anything," she said. "I will continue to say whatever I darn well want to say and what I believe as long as I have breath in my bones. "I'm not gonna be told by anybody that I'm not allowed to say what I want to say because I'm the wrong sexuality, the wrong sex, the wrong color or whatever. I will not check my white straight privilege at the door." In the wake of the Orlando mass shooting and surging gun sales, gun rights are again at the forefront of the political discussion. The Gun Cave indoor firing range owner Jan Morgan weighed in on the rise in gun sales. Well of course theyre on the rise, theyre going to continue to be on the rise until we do something about ISIS in this country, Morgan told the FOX Business Networks Sandra Smith. But President Obama and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton both used the Orlando shooting to renew calls for further gun control measures, and in particular, an assault weapons ban. We make it very easy for individuals who are troubled, or disturbed, or want to engage in violent acts to get very powerful weapons very quickly, said the president. Clinton added in a speech in Cleveland on Monday, It is essential that we stop terrorists from getting the tools they need to carry out the attacks. And that is especially true when it comes to assault weapons like those used in Orlando and San Bernardino. (moved this graf up) Morgan said much of the surging sales are based on Americans concerns that the government isnt doing enough to ensure their safety. People are afraid, they do not trust this administration to protect them, and who blames them? What kind of government is more concerned about appeasing Islamic terrorists than they are protecting the constitutional rights of the American citizen? Morgan then explained an interesting trend in gun sales. The largest group of people buying guns right now in America is women. Women are buying guns; Ive trained over 8,000 people across the United States over the past year as a state police certified firearms instructor and a majority of those people taking those classes are women. And interestingly enough, theyre also seeking concealed handgun permits. According to Morgan, the solution to stopping attacks such as the ones in Orlando and San Bernardino is more law-abiding citizens with guns. Story continues The answer to eliminating mass murder in this country and defending life is not less guns, its more guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens. And of course a majority of the law-abiding citizens want to buy guns from registered federal firearms licensed facilities. Related Articles enigma123 wrote: (1) The range of ages of the participants is 22 to 30, inclusive (2) Participants represent 10 business schools. For me its clearcut A. Can someone please let me know if you think it not correct? OA is not provided unfortunately. At a business school conference with 100 attendees, are there any students of the same age (rounded to the nearest year) who attend the same school?(1) The range of ages of the participants is 22 to 30, inclusive(2) Participants represent 10 business schools.For me its clearcut A. Can someone please let me know if you think it not correct? OA is not provided unfortunately. Contact me for online GMAT math tutoring, or about my higher-level GMAT Quant books and problem sets, at ianstewartgmat at gmail.com ianstewartgmat.com GMAT Tutor in MontrealContact me for online GMAT math tutoring, or about my higher-level GMAT Quant books and problem sets, at ianstewartgmat at gmail.com Signature Read More It's not A, because you don't know how many schools are represented. It might be that each of the 100 students if from a different school, in which case the answer is 'no', or they may all be from the same school, in which case the answer is 'yes'. Similarly Statement 2 is not sufficient, because we don't know how many ages are represented.Using both Statements, we know that there are only 10 schools at the conference, and only 9 different ages (from 22 to 30 inclusive). Certainly it's possible that there are two, say, 28 year-olds from the same school, so the answer can be 'yes'. Can the answer be 'no'? Then we'd need every person of the same age to attend a different school. That means we could have at most ten 22 year olds, at most ten 23 year olds, and so on, and so at most 9*10 = 90 people. But we have 100 people, so it's impossible that the answer is 'no', and there must be at least two people of the same age at the same school, and the answer is C._________________ As of Monday morning, the death toll of Sundays massacre at an Orlando nightclub stood at 50 including the assailant, making the attack not only the worst mass shooting in U.S. history, but also the deadliest terrorist attack in the United States since September 11, 2001. The toll was more than triple that of the next-deadliest terrorist attack in the United States since 9/11, the San Bernardino shooting of December 2015, in which 14 people were killed. And the weapons used in Orlando, as in San Bernardino, were guns. Firearms have a long but not straightforward history in terrorist attacks in the United States and around the world. In 2012, The New Yorkers Jill Lepore reported that The United States is the country with the highest rate of civilian gun ownership in the world, with Yemen ranking a distant second. Yet according to an analysis of the University of Marylands Global Terrorism Database (GTD), a comprehensive dataset on more than 140,000 terrorist attacks worldwide since 1970, guns appear less frequently as the primary weapon in terrorist attacks in the United States than in those committed elsewhere in the world. Weapons Used in Terrorist Attacks in the United States, 1970-2014 Recommended: What ISIS Really Wants Weapons Used in Terrorist Attacks Outside the United States, 1970-2014 They have, however, been the weapon of choice in more than two-thirds of fatal terrorist attacks in America; for the rest of the world, they were the primary weapon in about half. Proportion of Fatal Terrorist Attacks in the United States Involving Firearms, 1970-2014 Proportion of Fatal Terrorist Attacks Outside the United States Involving Firearms, 1970-2014 Current patterns of terrorism around the world help explain why this is the case. The overwhelming majority of deaths from terrorist attacks occurred in just five countries in 2014, the last year for which the GTD has dataIraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Syria accounted for nearly 60 percent of all terrorist attacks, and 80 percent of terrorism fatalities, worldwide that year. These are countries in which bombings, including suicide bombings and attacks using improvised-explosive devices, regularly claim dozens of lives at a time. Such weapons are extremely difficult to assemble in the United States, as FiveThirtyEights Carl Bialik pointed out on Sunday: [S]ince Sept. 11, the federal government has monitored the use of explosives and the trade of materials that can be turned into explosives. Story continues In terms of fatalities, the Orlando shooting is the third-deadliest terrorist attack in U.S. history. The two deadliestthe September 11 attacks of 2001, which killed some 3,000 people, and the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, which killed 168together accounted for 90 percent of terrorism-related fatalities in the United States as of 2014, and did not involve firearms. In general, though, as the GTDs program manager Erin Miller pointed out last summer, [d]espite the potential for attacks involving explosives to cause exceptionally high numbers of casualties, most such attacks in the United States have resulted in no fatalities at all, either because they were intended to destroy property rather than lives, or through simple failure to cause intended casualties. In the United States, she wrote in a report on the use of guns in terrorism, attacks involving firearms are more likely to be lethal. Recommended: Outed in Orlando in the Worst Possible Way Miller noted that of more than 2,600 incidents of terrorism in the United States between 1970 and 2014, a little over 340, or 13 percent, involved firearms as the primary weapon. (The numbers do not yet reflect last years terrorist shootings in San Bernardino and Charleston, nor Sundays attack.) Terrorists including ISIS sympathizers may well be able to exploit the ease of obtaining a gun in the United States, but guns use in terrorism in America, Miller wrote, is approximately one-third as common as firearm usage in terrorist attacks in the rest of the world, where 37 percent of attacks involved firearms as the primary weapon. That proportion fluctuates from year to year, however, and in 2014 the proportion of terrorist attacks in America that involved guns spiked, with the U.S. far surpassing the rest of the world in percentage of terrorist attacks involving firearms. Its worth noting that the number of attacks in the U.S. was low overall that year; of 19 terrorist attacks in the U.S. that year, guns were involved in 14. Proportion of Terrorist Attacks Involving Firearms, 1970-2014 It's not yet clear whether this departure from the historical pattern will prove a lasting trend. There are reasons to suspect it could: As security measures put in place following September 11 have made it increasingly difficult to organize terrorist conspiracies on U.S. soil, America has confronted the threat of self-directed lone wolves, inspired by but not necessarily connected to larger terrorist organizations like ISIS. Islamic State leaders, like al-Qaeda leaders before them, have purposefully encouraged such attacks, which are difficult to stop, in contrast to complex coordinated attacks, which require the involvement of multiple actors and create more opportunities to draw the attention of law enforcement. Firearms, being simpler to acquire and use independently than the kinds of explosives that can cause mass casualties, seem to fit the tactic. And while theres a limit to how much damage one individual can cause, America saw on Sunday that the limit is horrifyingly high. Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. Following Hamilton's 11 Tony Award wins on Sunday, the musical's original Broadway cast recording is heading for the top 10 of the Billboard 200 albums chart for the first time. Industry forecasters suggest the set could earn upward of 35,000 equivalent album units in the week ending June 16. (In the week ending June 9, it tallied 28,000 -- a gain of 29 percent -- and jumped 18-13 on the Billboard 200 chart dated June 25.) Tony Awards 2016: See the Full List of Winners If Hamilton reaches the top 10, it will be the first cast recording to reach the top 10 since The Book of Mormon in 2011. The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption, which includes traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). The new July 2-dated chart (where Hamilton may reach the top 10) is schedule to have its top 10 announced on Sunday, June 19. The original Broadway cast recording of Hamilton has sold a total of 445,000 copies in the U.S., through the week ending June 9, according to Nielsen Music. 'Hamilton'-Heavy Tonys Are Most-Watched in 15 Years The set, which was released on Sept. 25, 2015, is already among the top 20 best-selling cast albums of the last 25 years, and is the biggest selling cast album released in more than 10 years. The last cast recording released with greater sales is the original Broadway cast recording of Jersey Boys, which bowed on Nov. 1, 2005 and has sold 1.4 million to date. Since the Hamilton album debuted 37 weeks ago at No. 12 on the Billboard 200 (the highest debut for a cast album since 1961), the set has yet to depart the list, and has spent the last 13 weeks in the top 20. It recently hit a new peak, climbing to No. 11 on the May 28-dated list. Thus far, it is the highest charting cast recording since 2011, when The Book of Mormon reached the top 10, peaking at No. 3 in the wake of its multiple Tony Award wins (and a temporary discount price of $1.99 in the Amazon MP3 store). Hanesbrands Inc.s HBI shares tumbled almost 3% as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Richard A. Noll has decided to step down from his current role to focus on his role as the executive Chairman of the company. Noll has been replaced by Gerald W. Evans Jr. who has also been appointed to the companys board of directors. Evans will function as a member of Board of Directors effective immediately. Evans has served the company since 1983 and has successfully led Hanesbrands in fields of marketing, sales and supply chain. He assumed his current role of chief operating officer in 2013. Notably, both Noll and Evans have spent 30 long years in Hanesbrands and have steered the company to become a leading apparel retailer with its flagship Innovate to Elevate strategy. In fact, under Nolls leadership, Hanesbrands increased its annual sales from $4 billion to $6 billion and shareholder value from $2 billion to $10 billion. HANESBRANDS INC Price | HANESBRANDS INC Quote The companys Innovate-to-Elevate strategy (which focuses on value-added, higher-priced and high-margin items that can be supplied at lower costs) continues to help the company to increase its adjusted operating profit margin and generate significant cumulative cash from operations. Hanesbrands plans to apply this strategy to its core products to boost volume. Further, the company plans to extend its innovation to the new line of apparels X-temp launched during late 2016. These initiatives are expected to drive sales and volume, going ahead. Zacks Rank & Other Stocks to Consider Hanesbrands has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Better-ranked stocks in the broader consumer discretionary sector include Capella Education Co. CPLA, Delta Apparel Inc. DLA and Perry Ellis International Inc. PERY. While Delta Apparel and Capella education sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Perry Ellis carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report CAPELLA EDUCATN (CPLA): Free Stock Analysis Report HANESBRANDS INC (HBI): Free Stock Analysis Report PERRY ELLIS INT (PERY): Free Stock Analysis Report DELTA APPAREL (DLA): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Harry Reid Harry Reid went after Donald Trump on the Senate floor Tuesday, calling the presumptive Republican nominee "hateful" and "vicious" after he gave a lengthy speech Monday in the aftermath of the Orlando massacre. "One day after the worst mass shooting in modern American history Trump delivered one of the most un-American speeches ever from a major partys nominee," the Senate minority leader said. "Trump was hateful. He was vicious. He was Donald Trump everything that Republicans knew him to be when they made him their partys nominee." During his Monday speech, Trump called for the release of the "complete immigration histories" of anyone in the US tied to terrorism post-9/11. He also returned to advocating for his plan to bar Muslims from immigrating to the US, saying our current screening system doesn't "permit us to know who we allow into our country." "The only reason the killer was in America in the first place is because we allowed his parents to come here," Trump said. "That is a fact, and it's a fact we need to talk about." The gunman in the Orlando shooting was a US citizen born in New York whose parents were from Afghanistan. "It is incomprehensible that any presidential nominee would foster and promote systemic bigotry, as Trump often does," Reid said Tuesday. "It is reprehensible and un-American for the nominee of a major party or any party to declare millions of Americans guilty until proven innocent, purely by virtue of their religion." He added: "These are frightening times, and Trumps fear and paranoia are making us feel less safe. Trump is fanning the flames of violence and menace. Already, there have been reports of threats and obscenities being yelled at Muslims in Florida. In Chicago and Seattle, mosques have been threatened. Donald Trumps rhetoric is encouraging this scary behavior." The Nevada Democrat said Trump's response to the mass shooting the deadliest in US history proved "he is a terrible a leader, just as he is a terrible businessman." Story continues "Trump proved that he is not the person to lead our nation through difficult times, or in fact any time," Reid said. "Trump failed the most important of tests for a presidential candidate how to respond in a crisis when our citizens are under attack." NOW WATCH: MICHAEL MOORE: 'I think theres an excellent chance' Trump will be president More From Business Insider The U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson said Tuesday that banning people from entering the country because of their religion would be "counterproductive" and "will not work," according to ABC News. Johnson did not mention Donald Trump by name during his interview with George Stephanopoulos. But his statement seemed clearly aimed at the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, who in December and then again this week called for a ban on Muslims entering the country. Source: Mic/ABC News "Overly simplistic suggestions that we ban people from entering this country, based on religion, or ban people from an entire region of the world is counterproductive," Johnson said. "It will not work. We need to build bridges to communities, to American-Muslim communities right now, to encourage them to help us in our homeland security efforts." Donald Trump Johnson also cautioned that public vigilance was key to preventing future terror attacks, not demonizing entire segments of the population. "We're in an environment now of self-radicalization," Johnson explained. "It is almost always the case that when someone self-radicalizes, someone close to them sees the sign, which is why we continue to encourage public awareness, public vigilance." This last point is especially relevant two days after 29-year-old Omar Mateen opened fire on the partygoers of Pulse a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida and killed at least 49 people Sunday morning. Mateen had reportedly espoused loyalty to various and often contradictory radical groups, including the Islamic State, or ISIS. Mateen was also born in New York, and resided in Port St. Lucie, Florida so an immigration ban would not have stopped him from entering the country that birthed him. From Seventeen When Hallee Sorenson turned 18 last year, the Maine teen was so excited to celebrate with her classmates from school. She sent out invitations for a party at a bowling alley, complete with cake and ice cream. On the big day, she waited at the bowling alley for people to arrive... but no one showed up. To prevent the same crushing moment from happening again on Hallee's 19th birthday, her cousin Rebecca Guildford posted a note on Facebook. "First off, she is a beautiful young woman-both inside and out," Rebecca wrote. "She lights up a room with her smile. Hallee is funny, sweet, caring, smart, an athlete, a jigsaw puzzle champion, a wonderful student, and a best friend to all. Hallee is an amazing person - a person I am proud to be related to. She is also a person who just happens to have Autism. She has never let that small detail define who she is as a person - which is why I refuse to use it as something to describe her." Rebecca explained the impact that last year's party had on Hallee, writing, "My cousin is a beautiful young woman who will always have the mind of a child...so as you can imagine, she was heartbroken and beyond sad." This year, Rebecca wants to make Hallee's birthday unforgettable for all the right reasons. She's asking the Internet to write Hallee a birthday card. Imagine how incredible it would be for Hallee to receive cards from all over the world, right? It would certainly help wipe out last year's disappointment. "Hal loves getting mail - this would be the best birthday gift she could ask for," Rebecca wrote. "If you could find it in your heart to take a few mins out of your day and send her a card, I would be forever greatful [sic]." Since Rebecca posted the note last week, it's been shared more than 225,000 times! Hallee turns 19 on July 2. If you'd like to send her a note, her address is: Hallee Sorenson 34 Wellesley Way Bangor, ME 04401 Zenefits COO David Sacks Troubled startup Zenefits announced another layoff on Tuesday as it works to turn itself around under new CEO David Sacks. It's cutting about another 106 people, about 9% of its salesforce, Sacks said in an email, and it is shutting down its Arizona sales office, though it is not pulling out of Arizona altogether. The company's chief strategy officer, former McKinsey consultant Abhijeet Dwivedi, also sent an email to the troops detailing the changes. Here's the email Sacks sent: I want to give you an update on the status of our turnaround, let you know about some organizational changes that are happening today, and describe where we are going next. Weve made huge progress over the past 4 months. In that time, weve admitted and self-reported our mistakes, fixed our licensing issues, changed our leadership and governance, transformed our culture and values, and articulated our mission. Weve refocused on our core small business market, sharpened our product roadmap, eliminated extraneous products, and improved the performance and reliability of our infrastructure. As a result of our focus on transparency and remediation, we have reset our relationships with our key stakeholders. We will see the results of this hard work pay off soon, as we achieve a resolution to our historical issues and leave them firmly in the past. Meanwhile, our 20,000+ customers have stuck by us, a testament to the value our product delivers to small businesses. Our revenue has not decreased -- ARR remains over $60 million -- even though we declared our intention to exit large Enterprise. Beneath the surface of this headline number is a favorable mix shift: SMB continues to grow, offsetting the decline in Enterprise. Now it is time to look to the future. At our last all-hands meeting, we reviewed plans for version 2 of Zenefits, which weve dubbed Z2. As you know, this is a total redesign of Zenefits that takes the All-in-One promise of Zenefits to a new level. We will be debuting this at our first user conference on October 18 at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. Story continues Z2 will extend our market leadership in the category we pioneered: a unified solution for all of a small business HR, benefits, and payroll needs. Zenefits makes life easier for small businesses and makes entrepreneurship more accessible to anyone who wants to start a business. This is an important mission. In order to get to Z2, we need to be structured correctly as an organization and all moving in the same direction, with the same level of motivation. To that end, we are announcing three changes today: First, we are reorganizing Operations to be simpler and less siloed, to serve customers better, and to create a more holistic and fulfilling experience for employees. These changes are about working smarter, not just more efficiently. Please see Abhijeets email for more details Im excited about this change. Second, we are closing our sales office in Arizona in order to locate all of our sales & marketing efforts in San Francisco. We can iterate a lot faster on our growth initiatives and manage our sales effectiveness and training more easily when all of sales and marketing is located together in the same office. This is a painful decision because we have a lot of great salespeople in Arizona and talented people in the Ops organization who will no longer be with us. But it is the right thing to do. Together, these changes will result in 106 job eliminations, which is about 9% of headcount. As we did previously, we want to provide generous support to our departing employees during this transition so we will offer 3 months of severance, 6 months of COBRA, and transition assistance. That brings me to the final announcement. I believe that Zenefits has turned an important corner. We have done the hard work of remediation. We have reorganized the team to succeed moving forward. Now we need to focus on Z2. I believe that the launch of Z2 will reassert our market leadership and re-accelerate growth. We need everyone to be all-in on Z2. However, I recognize that the new Zenefits may be a very different company than the one many of you joined. I want to be respectful and realistic of that fact. And if you are not motivated by our mission to make entrepreneurship easier, or if you do not agree with the new company values, or if your role has changed in ways that you cannot support, then you can take The Offer. The Offer is a voluntary separation package consisting of 2 months severance and 4 months of COBRA. Every employee who joined before Day One (February 8, 2016) is eligible and has until noon on Thursday to consider it. If you would like to accept, please send an email to hr@zenefits.com and copy your manager. If you accept, the HR team will work with you and your manager to determine the best end date to ensure a smooth transition of your work. As you consider your options over the next two days, please know that the company isnt making The Offer because we dont want you. We do want you, but we want the best of you. We want you winning core value awards. We want you prototyping a great idea at Hackday. We want you staying late to help out on a project. We want you busting ass on Z2. The next few months are going to be an exciting time at Zenefits and we want everyone participating in that. But if you cant get excited about that, then frankly we need you to make space for someone who will. Because Zenefits is at a point where will matters as much as skill, and we need everyone committed and contributing to the push ahead. I have no idea how many people will take the Offer, but Im certain that I want to work with people who want to be here and who are unified in the purpose of what were trying to achieve. I'm excited about The Offer for that reason. But Im more excited about Z2 and what we do next. Im happy to answer questions about any of this at a special all-hands later today. David NOW WATCH: We did a blind taste test of wings from Pizza Hut, Domino's, Papa John's, and Buffalo Wild Wings the winner was clear More From Business Insider Hi Berlin77,I'm sorry to hear about your test day experience. Given your health issues on the day of the test, its impressive that you scored a 600. Don't give up; you can make this happen.With that said, I think there is still more preparation needed for you to achieve a 700+ GMAT score. With hard work and dedication I'm confident you can hit that score goal.I see that for your initial GMAT you studied primarily by using . Did you use any other resources? While is a great book because it has official questions from past GMATs, it has limited instruction and does not provide full exposure to all GMAT topics. Thus, for your retake, you may consider seeking out some robust prep materials that provide sufficient practice for you to discover and fix your weak areas. Whatever prep resource you select, ensure that it allows you to do focused learning and practice of one topic at a time: e.g, sentence structure or good reasoning practices for verbal; number properties or rate problems for quant. By learning one topic at a time, and practicing a topic until it sticks, you should be able to improve your knowledge of both quant and verbal. You really want to strive to master the content and skills that the test rewards.Do you plan to take another CAT? It would be great to see a new score from an MBA.com practice test. One tip: when taking your practice exams try to replicate the test day experience as much as possible. Take your exam in a quiet location, preferably at the same time and day that you will take the scheduled exam. For example, if your GMAT is scheduled for 11am on a Saturday morning, take your practice exams at 11am on Saturdays so that by the time your test rolls around, you will be mentally prepared for an exam given then. Of course, take all sections of the exam, including IR.Also, given your quant/verbal practice exam score breakdowns, consider a quant to verbal study ratio of about 35 to 65. With that ratio you can focus on improving your verbal score, while also getting a few more points in quant.If you need further advice, feel free to reach out and Id be happy to help. Reach back out after you take the practice test.Best Regards,Scott_________________ traders Via Dave Lutz at JonesTrading, here's a super-quick guide to what traders are talking about right now: Good Morning! US Futures remain in retreat, losing 25bp as European stocks plunge to three-month low on ramping Brexit angst with UKs biggest paper coming out in favor of leave and polls showing more momentum against staying. The DAX is off 90bp with every sector in the red but the epicenter of weakness remains in the Financials as banks get hit, and Energy as Oil retreats from $50. The FTSE is off 1.3% as Londons losses are led by energy and financial stocks. Volumes across the continent are heavy, with most markets trading nearly 50% heavier than normal trends. In Asia, China stocks bounced small ahead of MSCI decision, Nikkei lost 1%, adding to its worst loss since February, and Aussie got whacked for 2% as they returned from Holiday. Some Emerging Markets in Asia managed a small bounce on the weaker $ yesterday. US 10Y Treasuries broke downside 1.6% as Germanys 10YY dives negative and 10Y Gilts and JGBs hit a record low overnight. The DXY is seeing haven flows, with the British Pound getting whacked on Sun Newspapers Leave endorsement and YouGov polls showing a huge ramp towards the exit. The dive for safety lifted the Swiss franc to a three-month high, and reversing Carry Trade bets have the $/Y nearing Mays multi-year low. The Flush to $ is hitting Gold, while every metal is firmly in the red. The Oil complex is off 1.3% Despite IEA saying Oil markers are moving close to balance as the greenback weighs, while Natty remains near unchanged, confounding the shorts. Every one of the Softs is reversing yesterday's strength early. Ahead of us today, we get US Advance Retail Sales for May at 8:30, ahead of the Business Inventories data at 10. At 12 ECB Board Member Mersch Speaks, then we go quiet into the API data for Crude at 4:30 tonight. The MSCI China decision is expected sometime after the market closes. Brexit watchers will be waiting for the release of the latest Ipsos-Mori poll at some point in the next day. Story continues NOW WATCH: TRUMP: Radical Islam is coming to our shores More From Business Insider Newbuild demand has simply vanished. Some shipbuilders in Singapore are hoping that constructing oil production-related assets will help them keep their heads above water in the current downturn, but analysts have little hope that this strategy will pay off in the near term. A report by UOB Kay Hian warns that a shift to production assets provides no shelter for beleaguered rigbuilders, as demand for floating production systems has also been hit by the oil price crash. "Reduced project spending and the favouring of subsea tiebacks to existing production assets versus construction of new platforms have impacted demand for these assets," the report noted. The report highlighted that only 3 new orders for floating production systems have been placed so far this year, compared to 33 prior to the price collapse in 2014. While opportunities exist in 2H16 (BPs Mad Dog 2 production-semi, Shells Penguin FPSO, ConocoPhillips Caldita-Barossa FPSO, etc), these will be keenly contested among the Chinese, Korean and Singapore yards. More From Singapore Business Review On Tuesday, shares of organic grocery chain Whole Foods Market WFM are sliding, down just over 2% in midday trading after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning letter citing serious violations of regulations for manufacturing, packaging, and storing food at a Massachusetts plant. During many inspections in February, the FDA found listeria and other severe food-safety violations. The agency said it saw ready-to-eat pesto pasta and ready-to-eat mushroom quesadillas being mixed and prepared in an area of an assembly room where condensate from ceiling joints was dripping onto surfaces below. An employee was observed spraying ammonium sanitizer near an open colander of salad, while another workers upper sleeves were frequently touching leafy greens that were being packaged. The FDA also saw one employee packing quinoa cakes without washing their hands or changing gloves. "The FDA has serious concerns that our investigators found your firm operating under these conditions," the agency wrote in the letter, which was dated June 8. The FDA gave Whole Foods 15 working days to provide specifics on a plan to address the food-safety concerns. The plant, which is based in Everett, Massachusetts, supplies prepared foods and other products to dozens of Whole Foods stores across the Northeast. Currently, Whole Foods Market holds a #4 (Sell) on the Zacks Rank. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report WHOLE FOODS MKT (WFM): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Doctor Who's spinoff series, Class, has been kept under wraps by show creator Patrick Ness a good thing for fans who want to avoid spoilers. But in the aftermath of the shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, that left at least 49 people dead and 53 injured the deadliest in modern U.S. history Ness was compelled to let one secret slip. After attending a vigil for the Orlando shooting victims in Cardiff, Wales, the out gay writer decided it was the right time to reveal via Twitter that Class will feature a male character in a romantic on-screen relationship with a boyfriend. Been asked if Class will have LGBT representation in it. Will a lead character with a boyfriend who he kisses & sleeps with & loves do? We were keeping that secret, but today that secret doesn't seem very important. #lovewins It's unclear which character in the upcoming spinoff Nass is referring to, but it's safe to presume it will be at least one of its confirmed male leads played by Greg Austin and Fady Elsayed. Class, which will premiere on BBC America sometime in the fall, will be set in the fictitious Coal Hill School. The school has been a staple on Doctor Who since the beginning of the series, and most recently, has been the place of employment for the Doctor's former companion Clara Oswald. But Class will instead focus on the students in the school, and has been described by its producers as a coming-of-age story (the kind with aliens thrown into the mix). "Class is dark and sexy and right now," Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat said. "I've always wondered if there could be a British Buffy it's taken the brilliant Patrick Ness to figure out how to make it happen." The news also comes at an important time for LGBT representation in television, a sphere that has been mired in controversy after the recent slew of LGBT characters' deaths. Story continues Perhaps, Class will school the world on how to tell these stories the right way. There's way more than one character on the show, of course; lots of stories to be told. WITH ALIENS & TERROR & EMOTIONS & STUFF!!! EXCLUSIVE: California and Hollywood have been very good to Hillary Clinton and her run for the White House this year which is why the former First Lady is coming back to L.A. for another deep pocket fundraiser. The presumptive Democratic nominee will be feted at Sean Parker and wife Alexandras home on June 28, Ive learned. At $2,700 a ticket as the base price, news of the shindig come just a week after the ex-Secretary of State clinched becoming the first woman to be the Presidential standard barrier for a major American political party with wins in the New Jersey and Golden State primaries over rival Sen. Bernie Sanders. The Parkers will be co-hosting with other Hollywood heavyweights expected to sign up and be in attendance. Jeffrey Katzenbergs political consigliere Andy Spahn is helping out with the end of June event in his capacity as a National Finance Committee member for HRC. Sean Parker A longtime and repeatedly big Clinton donor, Facebook billionaire Parker has been almost as high profile in his support of her campaign as he has been of the potential industry disruptor The Screening Room, of which he is a co-partner with Prem Akkaraju. While some of Clintons other numerous industry backers like Avatar director James Cameron might balk, The Screening Room aims to provide day-and-date releases of first-run films at home at $50 a pop. Cameron was among those at a private event Katzenberg held at his home before the mega-fundraiser George Clooney and his wife Amal had in L.A. on April 16. That event plus one the night before in San Francisco raised around $15 million for Clinton and the Democrats, as Deadline exclusively reported. RelatedJames Cameron Expands Avatar Sequels To Four, Slams Screening Room & Gets Cheers From Exhibs- CinemaCon While racing around California ahead of last weeks primary, Clintons last Hollywood fundraiser was on May 23 at the home of CAA super agent Bryan Lourd and his partner Bruce Bozzi. That was Clintons 12th visit to L.A. since she announced her Presidential bid in 2015 the former NY Senator had held 26 fundraisers over those visits. Story continues With 2,203 pledged delegates and 581 superdelegates, Clinton is far ahead of Sanders, who has 1,828 delegates and 49 superdelegates. The two face off today in the Washington D.C. primary though behind the scenes the two campaigns are talking about the Vermont senator throwing his support to Clinton in the coming weeks before the partys convention. The Democrats are set to gather in Philadelphia from July 25 28. Related stories Hillary Clinton Projected Winner In Barely Covered D.C. Primary Donald Trump And Hillary Clinton Exchange Made-For-TV Blows One Day After Orlando Attacks Jennifer Griffin To Cover Clinton Campaign For Fox News In the bright lights of the political revolution, Bernie Sanders does not sound like a candidate who is about to give up. Here we are in mid-June, and were still standing! he said on Thursday to a crowd at a stadium in Washington, D.C., where he will compete at the bitter end of a long Democratic primary, delegate counts damned. But even as Sanders vows to fight on, he and presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton are making a truce. The two friends-turned-opponents plan to meet face-to-face on Tuesday night for the first time in months after the polls close for the D.C. primary. They will begin to sort out their differences: Sanders will lay out what he wants from the party; Clinton will ask for Sanders support. Meanwhile, top aides for the two campaigns have been in frequent contact in recent days. Sanders allies and Clintons are cordially working together to hash out a platform for the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. Sanders plan to pick off superdelegates from Clinton has lost momentum, Democrats say, and his allies are focused on winning platform concessions at the Democratic convention. Clinton sounds optimistic that they will make peace. Im looking forward to working with [Sanders] to achieve our common goal, which is to defeat Donald Trump, she said last week on CNN. And Senator Sanders has said hell work every day, every week to see that happen. How and when Sanders and Clinton peaceably wind down the primary campaign over the next few days and weeks will be crucial for unifying the Democratic Party. Sanders would be a major aid to Democrats and to Clinton in the fall if he were to write to his email list and bring his supporters on board. Sanders has attracted a cohort of younger and independent voters that Clinton and the Democratic Party desperately hope to adopt. Bernies going to be very good for the party, said Senator Harry Reid, who has been in discussions with Sanders. Story continues It is a delicate balance: Clinton wants to win Sanders support quickly and enlist him to defeat Trump, but she is wary of pushing him too quickly and asking too much of the famously cantankerous contrarian. So far, much of the outreach has come from Clintons camp. It was Clinton who phoned Sanders last Tuesday after his crushing loss in California, reversing the usual custom of the loser calling the victor. Clinton aides are playing at appeasement, hoping not to aggravate the Vermont Senator before the convention. Robby Mook, the Clinton campaign manager, and Jeff Weaver, Sanders campaign manager, have spoken multiple times over the past week. The Clinton campaigns Charlie Baker and Sanders Mark Longabaugh, both of whom negotiated a contentious debate schedule, have also been in regular contact. Mook has been a key player in thawing relationships between the two campaigns, sources close to the discussions say, serving as a conduit between Sanders aides and Clinton. Mook is the closest person to Clinton who is communicating regularly with Sanders campaign, and Sanders aides respect and trust him. Clintons charm offensive is public too. During her victory speech last Tuesday in Brooklyn, Clinton openly backslapped Sanders. Senator Sanders, his campaign, and the vigorous debate that weve had about how to raise incomes, reduce inequality, increase upward mobility have been very good for the Democratic Party and for America, she said. When Mark Ruffalo, the actor and Sanders surrogate, wrote on Twitter, Chin up @BernieSanders supporters. we are doing impossible things together. We too have won historically and are just getting started! communications maven for the Clinton campaign Jennifer Palmieri chimed in. Truth, she wrote. There have been some tense moments, however. At a Democratic Party hearing last week held by the 15-person committee drafting the partys platform, Sanders surrogate and activist Dr. Cornel West had a heated exchange with Clinton surrogate Robert Wexler, a former Florida Congressman, over the partys stance toward Israel. A commitment to security for our precious Jewish brothers and sisters in Israel can never be predicated on an occupation of precious Palestinians, West said. I would oppose the use of the word occupation for the very reason it undermines our common objective, Wexler argued back. At another point, West challenged President Obamas former attorney general, Eric Holder, asking him why more executives in the finance industry were not prosecuted after the 2008 meltdown. Sanders and his top allies met at his home in Burlington on Sunday to discuss a plan going forward. West, environmental activist Bill McKibben, Arizona Representative Raul Grijalva, Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley, former NAACP president Ben Jealous, and Hawaii Representative Tulsi Gabbard and others are expected to attend. Some Clinton aides have felt impatient to move on. They have said publicly for months that Sanders would be soundly beaten. Now armed with endorsements from President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrats with prestige in the partys progressive wing, Clinton and her staff believe party unity is at hand. There is an understanding, however, in all their interactions with the Sanders campaign that they have to be patient. Sanders aides are encouraging Clinton to give Sanders time, saying that the Senator needs to be wooed and enticed, not forced. Clinton looks forward to the opportunity to discuss how they can advance their shared commitment to a progressive agenda, and work together to stop Donald Trump in the general election, said a campaign official. Clinton is more popular in her party than Obama was eight years ago after winning the primary: her favorable-unfavorable rating among Democrats is 77-21, according to a YouGov/Economist poll, compared with 59-21 for Obama at this point in 2008, a CBS/New York Times poll showed. Even as Sanders last Thursday at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington continued to preach a gospel of political revolution, he did not attack Clinton head-on. And while many of Sanders supporters in the audience hoped he would fight for $15 minimum wage, single-payer health care and free college at the convention, they knew he would eventually throw in the towel. Its going to be a general-election matchup between her and Donald Trump, so I think the best thing that Bernie and his camp and all his supporters here can do is try to really push for these issues on the Democratic platform, said Daniel Riley, a 28-year-old Sanders supporter. Im here as a Bernie supporter and someone that likes his message, but Im realistic to the fact that the party has already picked Hillary. With reporting by Julissa Higgins hillary clinton Hillary Clinton grew her lead over Republican rival Donald Trump in recent days, according to a tracking poll published Tuesday. An NBC/SurveyMonkey online national online poll of 10,604 adults showed Clinton with a 7 point lead over Trump, capturing 49% support. That's notably higher than the former secretary of state's lead over her Republican presidential rival last month, when she led him by just 3 points. The survey was conducted online June 6 to 12 and had a sample of error of 1.4 percent. Clinton's slight bump in the polls isn't a huge shock to some observers. Candidates typically receive a boost in their poll numbers after securing their party's nomination, as Trump experienced after his remaining Republican rivals dropped out following the Indiana primary. According to Tuesday's poll, Clinton improved most among white voters and male voters, both groups that broke for Sen. Bernie Sanders during the Democratic presidential primary. Trump now leads Clinton by 9 points among white voters, down from 13 points last week, and 9 points about male voters, down from 14 points last week. Many experts note that there's often volatility in early national polls after the primaries wrap up. Indeed, Tuesday's poll was conducted before a horrific terrorist attack at an LGBT club in Orlando left at least 49 people dead. As 538 pointed out, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee tends to benefit in the polls following terrorist attacks. After suggesting that the US should bar all Muslims from entering the US in the wake of a terrorist attack in San Bernardino, California, Trump experienced a mini-surge, overtaking then-rivals like retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson. Still, a top Clinton campaign advisor told Business Insider that while national polls provide a snapshot of the race, Clinton's team remains focused on polls of battleground state voters. Trump has asserted that his presidential victory will cut a new path through Rust Belt states like Wisconsin, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, which Republican presidential candidates haven't won in several cycles. Story continues But many experts remain skeptical. Princeton polling expert Sam Wang told Business Insider in an email in late May that at this stage, the general election race looks almost identical to past contests. "Polls so far show almost every state in the same 'rank order' i.e. Republicans stronger in Georgia than North Carolina, stronger in North Carolina than Pennsylvania, the same order as in 2000-2012," Wang wrote. "All will be lifted together by the same tide, or fall together." NOW WATCH: Golf legend Greg Norman reveals the truth behind US President Bill Clinton's late-night 1997 injury More From Business Insider Two days after the Orlando massacre and one day after Donald Trump blamed American Muslims for complicity in the attack, Hillary Clinton delivered a rebuttal to the presumptive Republican nominee marked by disbelief and outrage. Speaking in measured tones at a rally in Pittsburgh, Clinton rebuffed her opponent, calling Trump temperamentally unfit and totally unqualified to serve as president, and said he is divisive, mean-spirited and clueless about how to fight terrorism. We dont need conspiracy theories and pathological self-congratulations, said Clinton. We need leadership, common sense and concrete plans, because we are facing a brutal enemy. Trump in the aftermath of the Orlando terrorist attack on Monday repeated his call for a ban on Muslim immigration to the United States, although the shooter in Orlando was a U.S. citizen born in Queens a few miles from Trumps own birthplace. He also said that American Muslims know whats going on though law enforcement have found no evidence of this, and he suggested in television interviews that President Obama himself may have been involved with the attacks. Look, were led by a man that either is not tough, not smart, or hes got something else in mind, Trump said in a long Fox News Monday morning. And the something else in mindyou know, people cant believe it. Clinton shot back: Just one day after the massacre, he went on TV and suggested that President Obama is on the side of the terrorists, she said. Just think about that for a second. Even in a time of divided politics, that is way beyond anything that should be said by someone running for president of the United States. During her speech, Clinton also said Trump does not have an understanding of terrorism or national security. He says he knows more about ISIS than the generals do, Clinton said. Its almost hard to even think aboutwhat to say to that claim. Clinton, by contrast suggested at her own experience in foreign policy, referring to the night when President Obama ordered the strike in Pakistan that killed Osama bin Laden; Clinton was one of the leading voices arguing in favor of carrying out the attack. Story continues Trump as usual is obsessed with name-calling, Clinton said. In the end it doesnt matter what we called bin Laden. It matters that we got bin Laden. She lambasted Trump for doubling down on his call to ban Muslims from immigrating to the United States. The terrorist who carried out this attack wasnt born in Afghanistan as Donald Trump said yesterday. He was born in Queens New York, just like Donald was himself, Clinton said. Trumps Muslim ban would not have saved a single life in Orlando. And she said that Trumps platform would violate core American principles of pluralism. It goes against everything we stand for as a nation founded on religious liberty, Clinton said. Hes turned Americans against Americans, which is exactly what ISIS wants. Clintons criticism of Trump comes as she transitions from the Democratic primary to the general election and prepares for an extended campaign against Trump. She has sought to define Trump as feckless and divisive before he even gets to the Republican convention. Trump continues to face widespread dislike from Republicans who have called his statements about an Indiana judge bigoted and wrong. President Obama, who had planned until the Orlando shooting to join Clinton on the campaign trail in Wisconsin on Wednesday, also blasted Trumps comments about Muslims, saying he is doing the terrorists work for them. Trump, who boasts about his dead-aim when he shoots from the hip, will have to figure out how to campaign against a cautious, thoughtful opponent. It is unclear how their polar opposite styles will ultimately appeal to voters in the fall. For now, Clinton consistently leads in polls. It was one thing when he was a reality TV personality, raising his arms, yelling Youre fired,' Clinton said. It is another thing altogether when he is the Republican presumptive nominee for president. Acting on the recommendation of a British government committee investigating the high incidence in white lead factories of illness among employees, most of who were women, the Home Secretary proposed in 1895 that Parliament enact legislation that would prohibit women from holding most jobs in white lead factories. Although the Women's Industrial Defense Committee (WIDC), formed in 1892 in response to earlier legislative attempts to restrict women's labor, did not discount the white lead trade's potential health dangers, it opposed the proposal, viewing it as yet another instance of limiting women's work opportunities. Also opposing the proposal was the Society for Promoting the Employment of Women (SPEW), which attempted to challenge it by investigating the causes of illness in white lead factories. SPEW contended, and WIDC concurred, that controllable conditions in such factories were responsible for the development of lead poisoning . SPEW provided convincing evidence that lead poisoning could be avoided if workers were careful and clean and if already extant workplace safety regulations were stringently enforced. However, the Women's Trade Union League (WTUL), which had ceased in the late 1880s to oppose restrictions on women's labor, supported the eventually enacted proposal, in part because safety regulations were generally not being enforced in white lead factories, where there were no unions (and little prospect of any) to pressure employers to comply with safety regulations. Show Spoiler E 1. The passage suggests that WIDC differed from WTUL in which of the following ways? Show Spoiler A 2. Which of the following, if true, would most clearly support the contention attributed to SPEW in highlighted text? Show Spoiler B 3. The passage is primarily concerned with Show Spoiler C 4. According to the passage, the WIDC believed that the proposed legislation resembled earlier legislation concerning womens labor in that it (A) WIDC believed that the existing safety regulations were adequate to protect women's health, whereas WTUL believed that such regulations needed to be strengthened.(B) WIDC believed that unions could not succeed in pressuring employers to comply with such regulations, whereas WTUL believed that unions could succeed in doing so.(C) WIDC believed that lead poisoning in white lead factories could be avoided by controlling conditions there, whereas WTUL believed that lead poisoning in such factories could not be avoided no matter how stringently safety regulations were enforced.(D) At the time that the legislation concerning white lead factories was proposed, WIDC was primarily concerned with addressing health conditions in white lead factories, whereas WTUL was concerned with improving working conditions in all types of factories.(E) At the time that WIDC was opposing legislative attempts to restrict women's labor, WTUL had already ceased to do so.(A) Those white lead factories that most strongly enforced regulations concerning worker safety and hygiene had the lowest incidences of lead poisoning among employees.(B) The incidence of lead poisoning was much higher among women who worked in white lead factories than among women who worked in other types of factories.(C) There were many household sources of lead that could have contributed to the incidence of lead poisoning among women who also worked outside the home in the late nineteenth century.(D) White lead factories were more stringent than were certain other types of factories in their enforcement of workplace safety regulations.(E) Even brief exposure to the conditions typically found in white lead factories could cause lead poisoning among factory workers.(A) presenting various groups' views of the motives of those proposing certain legislation(B) contrasting the reasoning of various groups concerning their positions on certain proposed legislation(C) tracing the process whereby certain proposed legislation was eventually enacted(D) assessing the success of tactics adopted by various groups with respect to certain proposed legislation(E) evaluating the arguments of various groups concerning certain proposed legislation(A) caused divisiveness among womens organizations(B) sought to protect womens health(C) limited womens occupational opportunities(D) failed to bolster workplace safety regulations(E) failed to make distinctions among types of factory work H&H Hillary Clinton thinks corporate America has become enamored with what she calls "quarterly capitalism." This idea broadly argues that American corporate executives have become more focused on seeking short-term gains in exchange for longer-term investments that will more broadly help the economy, but might not show the kind of immediate return to shareholders some investors now demand. Said another way: American companies are no longer allowed by investors to look past their next quarterly earnings. "I am deeply distressed about quarterly capitalism because I think it is causing businesses to make decisions that are not helping the long-term profitability of American corporations or the success of our economy," Clinton said. "And I'm on record for that going back to the time when I was a senator. So I hear that, but the facts don't bear it out." Clinton shared with Business Insider an anecdote from her recent economic-policy speeches: The story goes that, in one survey, corporate executives were asked if they would invest in a five- to 10-year plan that would increase the profitability of their business in exchange for "a penny" off of their share price. None of these executives said they'd do it, with Clinton adding that one exec told her they couldn't trade long-term gains for shorter-term pain because the market wouldn't allow it. "The answer was, 'I'd be killed,'" this exec told Clinton. "'The market would kill me. Activist shareholders would kill me. So I would be spending all my time fending off this attack on me and the company I wouldn't even get to doing the work that we want to do.'" "That's crazy," Clinton said. "That to me is not wealth creation for the long term." And according to Clinton, the fix lies in the law and what acting in the best interests of shareholders really entails. "So I think we've got to look at corporate law," Clinton said. She said: Back in the day when I studied it there were different constituencies that were to be served, and I think there was a real wrong turn about 20 to 25 years ago when the theory began to be promoted that your highest duty, in fact some would argue, your only duty is to maximize shareholder return. I just don't buy it. Story continues In letters to CEOs of the S&P 500 the benchmark stock index which houses America's 500 largest publicly traded companies over the last two years, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has argued that the best path forward for their companies, the US economy, and the financial markets is to stop worrying about meeting short-term financial goals. Fink's most recent letter called for each CEO to "lay out for shareholders each year a strategic framework for long-term value creation" as a way to attract investors and fend off the activist investors Clinton thinks pressure companies into making decisions that ultimately hurt shareholders and the broader economy. Or as Clinton said to Business Insider: I think there's a lot we could do that maybe would give a little more decision space to CEOs, to shareholders who want to hold for the long-term, to investors who want to be part of the long-term, that they would maybe have a little more room to withstand the pressure that is otherwise coming down on them. More From Business Insider Hillary Clinton was already set to host a rally in Cleveland on Monday. But after this weekends massacre in Orlandowhich claimed the lives of 50 people, including the gunmanshe took the stage without any background music or other festivities typical of this kind of event. In contrast to Donald Trumps appearances early in the day, Clinton appeared calm and resolute. As she addressed everything from national security to LGBT rights, she seemed like she was stepping into a role. She seemed presidential. Today is not a day for politics, Clinton began. On Sunday, Americans woke up to a nightmare thats become mind numbingly familiaranother act of terrorism in a place no one expected. The attack was the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. While the investigation is still ongoing, Clinton laid out an approach to defeat ISIS, called for tighter gun restrictions, and offered solidarity to the LGBT community. Shortly before Clintons speech, President Obama said the Orlando shooter, who pledged allegiance to ISIS, appeared to be inspired by extremist information online. There is no indication the attack was part of a larger plot, he added. In her remarks, Clinton said identifying and stopping lone wolves a top priority, along with working in partnership with other countries. The Orlando terrorist may be dead, but the virus that poisoned his mind remains very much alive, she said. Clinton went on to reiterate the need for tighter gun-control measures. Its essential that we stop terrorists from getting the tools they need to carry out the attacks, and that is especially true when it comes to assault weapons like those used in Orlando and San Bernardino, she said. Recommended: Donald Trump and the Future of the Republican Party The presumptive Democratic nominee had called for the reinstatement of the assault-weapon ban earlier in the day. Authorities say the gunman had an assault rifle and a handgun, both of which were legally purchased. In 1994, former President Bill Clinton signed legislation that prohibited manufacturers from making assault weapons for consumer use, among other restrictions, but the law expired in 2004. Story continues Gun-control has come up repeatedly throughout the election cycle. In October, Clinton pledged to stand up against the National Rifle Association in light of the shooting at a community college in Oregon. In November, she reiterated the need to take action against gun violence after a shooting in San Bernardino. On Monday, Clinton linked gun control and terrorism, arguing that if someone is on the FBIs watch list, they should not be able to buy a gun. She also paid tribute to the LGBT community, which was targeted in the attack on Pulse, a gay night club. I want to say this to all the LGBT people grieving today in Florida and across our country, you have millions of allies who will always have your back. I am one of them, she said. Much of Clintons speech appeared to be in tune with Obamas comments earlier in the day, but she diverged from the president in pinning the attack on radical Islama term regularly used by Republicans and, most recently, Donald Trump. Obama has consistently refrained from using the language, which has become a contentious point between Democrats and Republicans. In an earlier interview on Monday, Clinton dismissed Trumps criticism, saying: To me, radical jihadism, radical Islamism, I think they mean the same thing. Im happy to say either, but thats not the point. All this talk and demagoguery and rhetoric is not going to solve the problem. Recommended: Why Hillary Has Never Apologized for Welfare Reform Clinton concluded the speech by recalling 9/11, when she was a New York senator and there was a Republican president, governor, and mayor: We did not attack each other, she said. That has not been the case this time: Even with her high-minded rhetoric, Clinton directed attacks at Donald Trump, though she never mentioned him by name. Inflammatory, anti-Muslim rhetoricand threatening to ban the families and friends of Muslim Americas as well as millions of Muslim business people and tourists from entering our countryhurts the vast majority of Muslims who love freedom and hate terror, she said, referring to Trumps proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States. On Sunday, Trump had criticized Clintons use of language to talk about Islam. As Clinton said, this may not be a time for politics. But for the two presidential candidates, that doesnt seem to be the reality. Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. Venkat Desirazu Honda India has exported prototype test vehicles of the 2FM from India. This is expected to be the Jazz-based crossover and will make its debut in markets like India and Brazil next year. Over the last few months Honda had been importing components for the same from various locations. The export of completed prototypes indicates that the cars are destined for a final sign off from Tokyo before hitting the production lines. The cars that have been exported are powered by the 1.5-litre i-DTEC diesel engine and are in the S, V and VX trim levels. However, we believe that Honda will also offer the car with the 1.2-litre i-VTEC petrol engine. Speculative renderings and pictures of the test cars indicate that Honda will go with the standard formula of hatchback-based crossovers. This includes adding a cladding to the exterior of the vehicle, fitting it with taller wheels and probably a different rear end to differentiate it from the standard Jazz. This vehicle will rival the likes of the Hyundai i20 Active, Fiat Avventura and the Volkswagen Cross Polo. Picture source For more news,reviews,videos and information about cars, visit CarWale.com. Check On-Road Prices | Find New Cars | Upcoming Cars | Compare Cars | Dealer Locator Hundreds of people gathered in Londons Old Compton Street on Monday, June 13, to remember the victims of the gay nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida. People observed a two minutes of silence, which ended with a round of applause. London Mayor Sadiq Khan can be seen at around 1:51 of this video, while Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn appeared at around 1:28. Gunman Omar Mateen opened fire at gay nightclub Pulse in Orlando, Florida, early Sunday and killed at least 49 people while injuring 53 others. Police killed 29-year-old Mateen in a shootout before dawn. A homophobic attack killed three people at the Admiral Duncan pub on Old Compton Street, Soho, London, in 1999. The area is seen as the centre of Londons LGBT community. Credit: Paolo Zeriali By Amanda Cooper LONDON (Reuters) - The oil market is now in balance thanks to unplanned outages and robust demand, particularly from emerging economies, but this equilibrium will tilt into surplus again early next year, the International Energy Agency said on Tuesday. The agency said in its monthly report that demand growth in 2017 is likely to reach 1.3 million barrels per day (bpd), the same level at which it estimates growth for this year, having revised up its May 2016 forecast of 1.2 million bpd. "Again, on the planning assumption that OPEC oil production grows modestly in 2017, we expect to see global oil stocks build slightly in the first half of 2017 before falling slightly more in the second half of 2017. For the year as a whole, there will be a very small stock draw of 0.1 million bpd," the IEA said. "At halfway in 2016, the oil market looks to be balancing; but we must not forget that there are large volumes of shut-in production, mainly in Nigeria and Libya, that could return to the market, and the strong start for oil demand growth seen this year might not be maintained," the Paris-based agency said. Most of the anticipated demand growth this year and in 2017 is expected to come from nations that are not part of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the agency said. "We must stress that this is our first look at 2017 and the huge number of moving parts will see us amend our numbers accordingly. However ... the direction of travel seems to be clear," the IEA said. The IEA's latest demand estimate for the first three months of this year shows global oil deliveries rising by 1.6 million bpd to 95.2 million bpd, with nine out of every 10 extra barrels going to a non-OECD economy. On the supply side, the IEA said output fell by 590,000 bpd year-on-year to 95.4 million bpd in May, the first major decline since the start of 2013, as spending cuts and outages reduced non-OPEC production by 1.3 million bpd from a year earlier. Story continues Having fallen by 900,000 bpd in 2016, non-OPEC supply growth is expected to rise by 200,000 bpd in 2017, lifting output to 57 million bpd, the IEA said. Crude output from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries fell by 100,000 bpd in May to 32.61 million bpd, after a spate of attacks on oil infrastructure in Nigeria offset higher output from the Middle East. Production was still 500,000 bpd higher than in May last year, however. "Iran has clearly emerged as OPEC's fastest source of supply growth this year, with an anticipated annual gain of nearly 700,000 bpd," the IEA said. "The only other substantial increase from OPEC in 2017 could be from Nigeria, should security issues in the Niger Delta be resolved." (Reporting by Amanda Cooper; Editing by Dale Hudson) The news was so terrible, so sickening, that at first I couldn't believe it: In the early hours of June 12, Omar Mateen used an assault weapon to kill at least 49 people and injure dozens more at Pulse a gay nightclub in Orlando. Two days later, the initial shock has transformed into another intense emotion: rage. It's a fire licking my insides, and I don't know how to tame it. What do I do with this fury? How do I channel it into something more positive and productive than a fist-shaped hole in the wall? If you're feeling the way I am, it's normal. "I think we go through those different stages of grief, and anger is one of those," Terry Stone, executive director at CenterLink, told me over the phone this morning. Anger is a normal reaction to the Orlando shooting. It may be tempting to internalize your anger over the shooting. Instead, it's important to deal with those feelings, Stone said. There are even ways to do it that benefit LGBTQ folks and victims of gun violence. "I would urge people to continue to support our LGBTQ community, whether it's by making a donation, volunteering, or attending an event," Sharen Duke, executive director of AIDS Service Center NYC, said in an emailed statement. Mourners at an Orlando shooting memorial Here are some meaningful ways we can channel our anger. Write a letter To cope with his anger, Stone is putting things down on paper namely, letters to politicians and religious leaders asking them to stop using hate speech. "It's one of the things I want to call folks out on," Stone said, adding that hate speech "does harm to individuals, and causes people to act out." Send donations In the wake of the shooting, Equity Florida set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for victims and their families. It's raised $3.5 million since June 12. "At this time, it's most important to support the families of the victims and those who are recovering from this heartbreaking tragedy," Duke said. "I encourage anyone who can to make a contribution to the Pulse Victims Fund established by Equality Florida." Story continues Meanwhile, Valentina Monte, a digital marketer at HBO, told me she's "donating more than usual" to the gun safety movement Everytown among other coping techniques. @jordynhtaylor donating more than usual to @Everytown & going to see Bway musicals. Musicals were my therapy after Paris last fall, too. Sign a petition When petitions on Whitehouse.gov accumulate 100,000 signatures, the White House reviews and responds to them within 60 days. This petition asks the federal government to call on Congress to ban the AR-15 from civilian ownership, and has amassed more than 115,000 signatures since June 12. This one, created on June 13, has almost 6,000 signatures. This petition, created June 12, calls on the federal government to lift the blood donation ban on gay and bisexual men. Getting a response from the White House doesn't guarantee a change in national policy. But as Stone pointed out, "I think your ability to put your name to something like that releases some of that anger." An NYC vigil for Orlando shooting victims Fight for LGBTQ protections One Twitter user, ecologist Nelson Stauffer, said he's using his anger to make the bathrooms at his workplace more inclusive. @jordynhtaylor Trying to figure out how to get gender neutral/non-binary bathrooms set up on the state university campus where I work. At first, Stauffer said he'd been meeting "dead ends and silence." But later in the day, he tweeted me an exciting update: @jordynhtaylor I heard back and it turns out that there's an ongoing effort already in place, they just hadn't updated public info! Serve your community Stone also encourages people to volunteer perhaps at an LGBTQ community center, HIV organization or food pantry. "When you get out there and do something good for somebody else, some of that anger's going to drain away, and it's going to be replaced with good feelings we all need to feel," he said. Anger after the Orlando shooting And if we feel hopelessness or despair? Keep fighting. "Together through grief, sorrow, love, and determination we can and will rebuild our caring community as a sanctuary," Duke said. "No matter how much we accomplish and how far we go, we're always going to have some struggles," Stone said. "We've got to find the guts to stand up and say, 'I'm going to stand up for myself, my community and those I love at every turn.'" Stone has seen successes firsthand. Now in his 60s, he's witnessed massive strides in marriage equality and the status of HIV issues that may have once seemed insurmountable. "Life isn't fair, unfortunately," he said, "but we can make it as good as we possibly can." Correction: June 14, 2016 A previous version of this article misidentified one of the weapons carried by the shooter. It was an AR-15-style assault weapon. Orlando (AFP) - Lying wounded on the floor of Pulse nightclub, with a gunman continuing to fire bullets into the motionless bodies of patrons all around him, Angel Colon thought it was his turn to die. With three bullets in his leg, which was shattered as desperate clubgoers trampled him, he was unable to run to safety. And Omar Mateen, who had sprayed the popular nightclub in Orlando with bullets before briefly moving to another part of the venue, was heading back in his direction. "All I could do was just lay down there while everyone was just running on top of me trying to get to where they had to be," Colon recounted Tuesday, alongside the emergency medical personnel he credited with saving his life. "And all I could hear was the shots going one after another, and people screaming, people yelling for help," he told reporters. Two days after 49 people were killed and dozens of others grievously injured in America's deadliest mass shooting, Colon, his voice quivering, recalled how a festive evening out with friends turned into unfathomable horror early Sunday. He spoke at the Orlando Regional Medical Center, where survivors recounted the terror and tragedy of the shooting at Pulse, one of the city's top gay clubs, as well as the heroism of the medical staff that struggled to cope early Sunday with the sudden flood of gunshot victims. "We were just having a great time. We were all just there having a drink. It was shortly after two o'clock. We were saying our good-byes. I'm hugging everyone. It was a great night," Colon recounted. "No drama, just smiles, just laughter." - 'Shooting everyone' - A short time before the club was due to close, the shooting started. Colon was hit in the leg. "I was shot about three times in my leg, so I had fallen down. I tried to get back up, but everyone started running anywhere. I got trampled over, and I shattered and broke my bones on my left leg. So by this time I couldn't walk at all," he said. Story continues He briefly thought he had escaped death, when the shooter turned his weapons on victims in another part of the club. "He goes into the other room, and I can just hear more shots going on. I thought I was a little safe at this time because, you know, it's giving everyone time to tackle him down or get him down," he said. "Unfortunately, I hear him come back, and he's shooting everyone that's already dead on the floor. Making sure they're dead," Colon said. "I can hear the (gunshots) closer, and I look over and he shoots the girl next to me. And I'm just there laying down. I'm thinking, 'I'm next. I'm dead.'" The gunman shoots the already wounded Colon twice more, but somehow, the survivor said, "by the glory of God, he shoots towards my head but it hits my hand. "Then he shoots me again and it hits the side of my hip," he recalled. Colon was careful not to give away the fact that, despite having a half-dozen bullets lodged in his body, he was not dead. "I had no reaction. I was just prepared to just stay there laying down so he won't know that I'm alive," he said. "And he's just doing this for another five, ten minutes. He's just shooting all over the place." - 'All this blood on me' - The shooting continued, Colon said, until police who burst into the building traded fire with the gunman and rescued the survivors, three hours after the start of the ordeal. Colon said a police officer dragged him to safety -- through broken glass. "The floor is just covered in glass. So he's dragging me out while I'm just getting cut -- my behind, my back, my legs," Colon said. "I don't feel pain, but I just feel all this blood on me from myself, from my other people." President Barack Obama asserted Tuesday that proposals from presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump would strengthen Islam-inspired terrorist groups, but he emphasized that he will "not let that happen." Obama warned that proposals from politicians like Trump seeking to increase surveillance of American Muslims or create a religious test for who can enter the country are antithetical to America's core principles, and could actually make the country less safe. "If we ever abandon those values, we would not only make it a lot easier to radicalize people here and around the world, but we would have betrayed the very things we are trying to protect: the pluralism and the openness, our rule of law, our civil liberties, the very things that make our country great, the very things that make us exceptional," Obama said from the Treasury. "And then the terrorists would have won, and we cannot let that happen. I will not let that happen." The president warned that terrorist groups like the Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL) want to push the notion that "the West hates Muslims" as propaganda for recruitment. So, he argued, any U.S. actions that legitimize that notion are playing right into those groups' hands. Later in the day, Trump told the Associated Press in an email that the president "claims to know our enemy, and yet he continues to prioritize our enemy over our allies, and for that matter, the American people." He added that "when I am president, it will always be America first." Among the many responses to the attack during which a man armed with an assault rifle and pledging loyalty to the Islamic State group killed at least 49 people when he attacked a gay nightclub in Orlando , Florida Trump renewed his call for immigration bans. "The immigration laws of the United States give the president powers to suspend entry into the country of any class of persons," Trump said Monday. "I would use this power to protect the American people. When I'm elected, I will suspend immigration from areas of the world where there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe or our allies, until we fully understand how to end these threats." Story continues "We cannot continue to allow thousands upon thousands of people to pour into our country, many of whom have the same thought process as this savage killer," he said, adding that "many of the principles of radical Islam are incompatible with Western values and institutions." Obama said the flaw with Trump's proposal is that many recent mass murders including the Orlando killer, one of the San Bernardino killers and the Fort Hood killer were U.S. citizens. "Are we going to start treating all Muslim-Americans differently? Are we going to start subjecting them to special surveillance? Are we going to start discriminating against them because of their faith?" Obama asked. "We've heard these suggestions during the course of this campaign. Do Republican officials actually agree with this?" Responding to the proposals from his party's presumptive nominee, Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan said earlier Tuesday that he did not believe a ban on Muslims entering the United States would be in the country's best interest . Obama took that sentiment a step further, saying that Trump's proposals would make "Muslim-Americans feel like their government is betraying them," and betray "the very values America stands for." As for measures that Obama thinks would actually make America safer, the president renewed his calls for stricter gun regulations especially for those already on the so-called "no fly" list. "Enough talking about being tough on terrorism: Actually be tough on terrorism and stop making it as easy as possible for terrorists to buy assault weapons," Obama said. The Associated Press contributed to this report. More From CNBC (Adds minister quotes, details) By Promit Mukherjee MUMBAI, June 14 (Reuters) - Energy-hungry India has restarted talks on a liquefied natural gas (LNG) purchasing alliance with Japan and South Korea and may also include China as Asian demand for the fuel grows. "For the next two to three decades, gas is going to be a major part of the energy basket for Asian energy consumers," Dharmendra Pradhan, Indian minister of petroleum and natural gas told reporters in Mumbai on Tuesday. "We want to bring together the countries and form a network which can together source reasonable, rational and affordable LNG," he said, adding that talks with Japan and South Korea have begun and China may also come onboard as a partner. State-owned GAIL Ltd is spearheading the talks, which follow a similar attempt in 2013, on India's behalf.[http://reut.rs/1XUKy8C ] Natural gas currently accounts for about 8 percent of India's overall energy mix. In the last decade, while India's domestic natural gas production has grown by 10 percent, imports of LNG have risen by 335 percent. This is likely to grow further as India gradually shifts to an oil-based economy, the minister told Reuters in a recent interview. India's gas demand stands at 120 million standard cubic meters per day (mscmd) whereas domestic supply is 80 mscmd, making imports imperative, government data showed. (Editing by Alison Williams and Alexander Smith) NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A Hindu fringe group celebrated the 70th birthday of Donald Trump in the Indian capital on Tuesday, calling the U.S. presidential contender the "savior of humanity" who could end the global threat posed by Islamist militants. About 20 members of the far-right Hindu Sena, or Hindu Army, held the festivities as Americans grieved over the deaths of 49 people in the country's worst-ever mass shooting, perpetrated by a gunman claiming allegiance to Islamic State. "Trump has said Muslims should be banned from entering America. Everyone should support that," said Hindu Sena leader Vishnu Gupta, whose group is known more for its publicity stunts than for having any meaningful support. Donning red and blue paper hats, activists gathered at a stall on a Delhi road to pledge their allegiance to the presumptive Republican nominee, saying they counted on Trump to contain India's neighbor Pakistan. They observed a minute's silence for the victims of last weekend's shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, before a large birthday cake was cut to shouts of "Long Live Donald Trump". "Trump is about to become the king of the world," Gupta said. "How will we attack Pakistan without his support?" India accuses Muslim Pakistan of responsibility for a commando-style militant raid on the financial capital Mumbai in 2008 that killed 166 people, and an attack on an air base this year. The nuclear-armed neighbors have fought three wars since independence and partition in 1947. (Reporting by Sankalp Phartiyal; Editing by Douglas Busvine) By Rajendra Jadhav MUMBAI (Reuters) - Cotton planting in India, the world's biggest producer, is likely to fall to the lowest in seven years in the 2016/2017 marketing season as farmers switch to other crops, potentially cutting production and exports of the fibre. A pest attack in key cotton growing states and forecasts of good monsoon rains are also prompting farmers to plant other crops such as sugarcane, peanut and pulses. Lower cotton shipments from India could support global prices, now trading near their strongest level since August 2015, and boost exports from rivals like Brazil, Australia and United States. "We are expecting around 7 percent drop in area," Dhiren Sheth, president of the Cotton Association of India told Reuters. He said farmers would likely opt to plant pulses and peanuts, also known as ground nuts. A 7 percent reduction would cut the country's cotton planting area to around 11 million hectares in the next marketing year that starts on Oct. 1, the lowest since 2009/10. That compares to 11.9 million hectares in the current marketing year. An attack of whitefly pest in two northern states and lower prices during harvest is also prompting farmers to switch to other crops, said Paresh Valia, an exporter based in Bhavnagar district in western Gujarat, the top cotton producing state. Most Indian farmers start planting cotton with the onset of monsoon rains in June, although some with irrigation facilities can start as early as May. The India Meteorological Department had forecast above average rainfall during the June-September monsoon season, after two straight years of drought that ravaged crops. [nL3N17F36M] Good monsoon rains could push farmers in Maharashtra, the second-biggest cotton producer, to instead plant sugarcane, which needs more water, said Chirag Patel, chief executive officer at Jaydeep Cotton Fibers Pvt Ltd, a leading exporter. Patel expects India's cotton output to fall 7.3 percent to 32 million bales in 2016/17. Story continues Lower production could lift domestic prices as the state-run Cotton Advisory Board estimates opening stocks for the next marketing season to fall by a third to 3.5 million bales. India's cotton exports nearly halted in recent weeks as local prices rallied on tight supplies. (1 Indian bale = 170 kg) (Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav; Editing by Manolo Serapio Jr.) It's a great time to be vegan in NYC and it's always been a great time to love pizza in NYC, so disciples of both will be pleased to hear there's a new spot to get a 'za fix without a single iota of animal. Champs Jr., the Greenpoint outpost of the popular East Williamsburg vegan diner, has been reborn as Screamers Pizzeria, the borough's first completely vegan slice joint. The pizzeria, which officially opened yesterday, is a collaboration between the Champs folks and a contingent from Blackbird Pizzeria, a vegan spot in Philly. "Theres a pretty noticeable lack of authentic New York style pizza, done vegan and done well, here in NYC," a rep for Champs said to Brokelyn, a nice jab to nearby Vinnie's Pizzeria, who are known for their vegan offerings. Co-owner Brad Baker acknowledged the competition to Brooklyn Magazine, offering that "there is no place that is just a vegan pizza by the slice." The smallish spot will turn out classic cheese pies; a white pie with garlic oil, vegan cheese, broccoli rabe, caramelized onions and homemade almond ricotta; and their namesake "The Screamer" with garlic oil, vegan cheese, cremini and oyster mushrooms and parsley, topped with homemade almond parm, among others. Baker says the name is a "pizza slang term" for mushrooms, because "when canned mushrooms hit the stove, all the water evaporates so they scream." Mmhm, that's definitely it. 620 Manhattan Avenue, website. Open 11 a.m. to midnight. JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia plans to execute 16 prisoners after the Muslim Eid al Fitr holidays next month, and more than double that number next year, a spokesman for the attorney general's office said on Tuesday. M. Rum told reporters there are 152 people on death row in the country, but that drug traffickers would be prioritised. "In accordance with the budget we have, we plan (to execute) 16 this year and 30 next year," Rum said. "President Joko Widodo has said the country is facing a narcotics emergency and this is to...save our future generations," he added. He declined to give details on who would face the firing squad next month. Indonesia has harsh penalties for drug-related crimes, but temporarily halted executions after facing intense international criticism last year when it executed 14 people, mostly foreign drug traffickers. President Joko Widodo's refusal to pardon the prisoners, despite repeated pleas for mercy, sparked diplomatic tensions, most notably with Australia, which recalled its ambassador in protest at the execution of two of its citizens last April. Attorney general spokesman Rum said drug-related cases involved "many" foreigners, but declined to comment on whether any would face execution this year. A 59-year-old British women, Lindsay Sandiford, was sentenced to death after being convicted in 2013 of trying to smuggle cocaine worth $2.5 million into the country. A Philippine maid, Mary Jane Veloso, got a last-minute reprieve last year in response to a request from Manila after an employment recruiter, whom Veloso had accused of planting drugs in her luggage, gave herself up to police in the Philippines. (Reporting by Agustinus Beo Da Costa; Writing by Kanupriya Kapoor; Editing by Michael Perry) JAKARTA, June 14 (Reuters) - Indonesia has rejected a proposal to increase crude output from the Cepu block operated by U.S. oil and gas giant Exxon Mobil to up to 200,000 barrels per day, the country's upstream oil and gas regulator (SKKMigas) told parliament on Tuesday. SKKMigas disagrees with Exxon's analysis of the potential for the project based on environmental and subsurface considerations, SKKMigas chief Amien Sunaryadi said. Exxon proposed the increase to 200,000 bpd last month noting potential in the project's reservoirs but said the decision was in the government's hands. (Reporting by Wilda Asmarini; Writing by Fergus Jensen; Editing by Tom Hogue) (Adds Exxon comment) JAKARTA, June 14 (Reuters) - Indonesia has rejected a proposal to increase crude output from the Cepu block operated by U.S. oil and gas giant Exxon Mobil to up to 200,000 barrels per day, the country's upstream oil and gas regulator (SKKMigas) told parliament on Tuesday. SKKMigas disagrees with Exxon's analysis of the potential for the project based on environmental and subsurface considerations, SKKMigas chief Amien Sunaryadi said. Exxon proposed the increase to 200,000 bpd last month noting potential in the project's reservoirs, but said the decision was in the government's hands. An Exxon spokesman declined to comment on the regulator's decision and said the Cepu block was currently producing more than 165,000 bpd. Output from the Banyu Urip project in the Cepu block in East Java province is crucial to Indonesia's long-term efforts to meet rising domestic oil demand as production declines at other ageing fields. (Reporting by Wilda Asmarini; Writing by Fergus Jensen; Editing by Tom Hogue and Manolo Serapio Jr.) OSLO (Reuters) - The United States must do more to encourage banks to do business with Iran following the lifting of sanctions, Iran's foreign minister said on Tuesday. The United States and Europe lifted sanctions on Tehran in January under a deal which also agreed to curbs on Iran's nuclear programme. However some restrictions remain, including on financial transactions, slowing Iranian hopes to reintegrate with world markets. "I believe the United States on paper has removed all the sanctions," Mohammad Javad Zarif said, but Washington needs to do more to removed the "psychological remnants" of measures which had been in place for decades. "On the banks, I believe it is important for everybody to realise that an agreement will be sustainable if everybody feels they are making gains from the agreement," he told a news conference in Norway with European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini. "Its implementation must also be a win-win implementation so that everybody feels there are benefits, there are dividends," Zarif said. Mogherini said the European Union was engaging with businesses and banks to encourage them to do business in Iran following the signing of the nuclear deal, but cautioned that progress would take time. "In the first four months this year trade between the European Union and Iran increased by 22 percent," she said. "We are very actively engaging with the business community and the banks in Europe and elsewhere to encourage engaging in Iran." Although challenges remain, developments were heading "in the right direction", she said. "Europe is committed to ensure that the Iranian citizens can benefit from the lifting of the sanctions," Mogherini said. (Reporting by Stine Jacobsen, writing by Terje Solsvik; Editing by Dominic Evans) BEIRUT (Reuters) - Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, threatened on Tuesday to "set fire" to the nuclear deal sealed with world powers if U.S. presidential candidates reneged on the agreement. Presumptive Republican candidate Donald Trump said last August it would be hard to "rip up" the deal, but if elected president he would "police that contract so tough they don't have a chance". Iran can expect a shift in relations with the United States to a more aggressive posture under a Republic president, a reversal of the warming trend nurtured by Democratic President Barack Obama. "The Islamic Republic won't be the first to violate the nuclear deal. Staying faithful to a promise is a Koranic order," Khamenei said, according to state media. "But if the threat from the American presidential candidates to tear up the deal becomes operational then the Islamic Republic will set fire to the deal." He did not identify any candidate and said he did not see a difference between Democrats and Republicans in the comments that state media said he made in a meeting with senior officials including President Hassan Rouhani, who championed the agreement. Hillary Clinton, who Obama has endorsed to succeed him in the Nov. 8 election, said in March in a speech to a pro-Israel lobby group in Washington that Iran still posed a threat to Israel and needed to be closely watched. She was secretary of state under Obama during his first term. The United States and Europe lifted sanctions on Tehran in January under the deal that curbed Iran's nuclear program. However, some restrictions remain, including on financial transactions, slowing Iranian hopes to reintegrate with world markets. Khamenei noted that sanctions had not been completely lifted, issues with Iranian banks had not been resolved and that Iranian money that was being kept in other countries had not been returned. "The nuclear deal has holes which, if they were closed, would reduce or cancel its disadvantages," he said. He added: "Some think that we can get along with the Americans and solve our problems. This is an incorrect idea and a delusion." The Supreme Leader also told the officials, who had gathered for a meeting to commemorate the holy month of Ramadan, that the issue of insurance for oil tankers had not been resolved. Khamenei said Iran had met its obligations by halting the enrichment of uranium at 20 percent and shutting down nuclear facilities in Fordow and Arak. Earlier, Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, urged the United States to do more to encourage banks to do business with Iran. (Reporting by Babak Dehghanpisheh; Editing by Alison Williams) This video effortlessly depicts the spirit of human kindness among the Irish fans at Euro 2016. Recently married Jay was in tears because he lost his ticket to the Ireland vs Sweden match that his wife had bought him as a gift. Brian Kerrigan and his pals were walking by when they seen an upset Jay, so 4 of them pitched in to buy him a replacement ticket. Credit: Facebook/Brian Kerrigan Despite territorial losses last year and declining oil revenues, ISIS remains financially strong, primarily because it has borrowed a page from the Mafia and stepped up one of its money-makers: extortion. A new report on ISIS finances from a European think tank, the Center for the Analysis of Terrorism (CAT), says extortion is now the primary revenue generator for what it calls one of the most powerful groups in the recent history of terrorism, with some 8 million people under its control in Syria and Iraq. Related: ISIS Terrorists Get a Big Pay Cut ISIS exerts its authority over a wide range of industrial and commercial activities, natural resources and raw materials, from oil to agricultural products, including minerals, the report says. While the exploitation of these natural reserves constitutes one of its primary sources of financing, the majority of its funds currently comes from widespread extortion from the population under its control, mainly in the form of taxes, confiscations and fees. CAT says that the radical Islamic terror group uses these resources to finance its military efforts and fund its expansion, especially into Libya, while remaining self-sufficient. Like the mob groups Camorra and Ndarangheta in Italy and drug cartels in Mexico, ISIS relies on a diversified set of criminal activities, but extortion has become all-important to its survival. What ISIS calls taxes and fees go beyond normal government levies. In addition to a tax on all economic activity and revenues and zakat, a tax on income and wealth observant Muslims must pay, ISIS raises funds with other levies. They include: a tax of from 10 percent to 50 percent on the salaries of Syrian or Iraqi government employees living in areas controlled by the Islamic State; a tax for protecting religious minorities; multiples taxes on agricultural products at various points in the value chain; custom duties on trucks crossing into ISIS-controlled territory; and fees for water, electricity and phones. Homes of dignitaries and people fleeing are confiscated and looted, the report says.[CS1] Story continues ISIS also uses its strict interpretation of sharia law to squeeze the populace it controls through fines and penalties for transgressions, according to CAT.[CS2] ISIS Revenue CAT estimates that ISIS oil revenue for 2015 was about $600 million, compared with more than $1 billion in 2014. It attributed the drop to air strikes by coalition and Russian forces on refining, storage and transport facilities. To compensate for that loss, ISIS has stepped up extortion, earning about $800 million in 2015, compared to $360 million in 2014, the CAT report says. Related: The Cost of the War Against ISIS: $7 Billion and Counting Including money made from other criminal behavior such as kidnapping and ransoms and trafficking in antiquities and humans, CAT estimates that the total revenues of the Islamic State dropped from $2.9 billion in 2014 to $2.4 billion in 2015. Despite setbacks, it said the economic collapse of ISIS is far off and its military defeat is not imminent. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: Two people died and two more, including an 8-year-old girl, were injured on a windy kayak/paddle board excursion in the Long Island Sound on Sunday. The Times reports that Abdias Ventura, 30, and Ferdinand Lagos, 39, went out into the water off the coast of Hammonasset Beach State Park in Connecticut at around 6 p.m. on Sunday, along with Ventura's girlfriend Damaris Reynoso and her young daughter Delfina. Reynoso, Delfina and Ventura were in a kayak while Lagos was on a paddle board. Soon after getting out in the water, "they get caught up in the tide and the wind, and they start getting drawn out," police told the paper. They are paddling furiously and cant get back into Connecticut." Though all four were wearing lifejackets, the choppy waters were still too much for them. Lagos apparently tried to swim ashore, and his body was found on Monday afternoon. Ventura, who hung onto the kayak until around midnight, got swept away, and his body was found on a private beach about a quarter mile west of Mulford Point. Reynoso and Delfina were found alive at around 4 a.m. at Mulford Point. They were taken to Eastern Long Island Hospital and treated for hypothermia. Coast Guard Lt. Matthew Richards told the Associated Press the group got blown 14 miles across the Sound. "They were just doing a day trip around Hammonasset," he said. "But they were overcome by the gale-force winds. At one point it capsized the kayak." Rescuers are also looking for a paddle boarder who had been boarding near Ocean Boulevard off Atlantic Beach on Long Island's south shore over the weekend. The boarder, 41-year-old Gary Turkel, hails from the Upper West Side; he was reported missing on Sunday at around 6:15 p.m., and a lifeguard told the Coast Guard they saw him paddle boarding without a life jacket earlier in the day. Speaking after appreciating the congrats on the Orlando shootings, Donald Trump again insisted that what mowed people down at Pulse was not an assault rifle but radical Islam, because in Trump Tower, it cannot be both. Trumps world is binary. It is zero-sum: Either guns kill people or radical Islam kills people. In that world, only one religion can be bad, and so Christianity is good and Islam is bad. Christianity is peaceful and Islam violent. Christianity is tolerant and Islam intolerant. Both are inherently one thing or the other, immutable blueprints etched in stone for the behavior of their respective adherents. This is a worldview that is shared by people who are Trump supporters and not Trump supporters. In the secular vernacular, we might call this view Manichean, that is, a binary between light and darkness, good and evil. But its worth noting that Manichean was originally used to describe a religion that spread from Persia to the eastern and northern African parts of the Roman Empire in the third century, one that influenced many early Christians. If the word Manichean has negative connotations today, it might be because it was deemed a heresy by the early Catholic Church, one that needed to be ruthlessly rooted out of the Christian universe. And I mean ruthlessly: Adherents of a Manichean-tinged Christianity had their goods confiscated and were put to death, even if they converted to proper Christianity but still kept in touch with their Manichean contacts. Even St. Augustine called for their energetic persecution. The reason I bring up the Manicheans is because I am tired of hearing, from Bill Maher and from Donald Trump, that Islam is inherently violent. I am even more tired of hearing that Christianity is inherently peaceful. I have witnessed this debate play out many times over, including at one dinner party when Laura Ingraham turned to the other guests and took a poll: Raise your hands if you think Islam is a death cult. Most of the (politically conservative) guests raised their hands and then took pains to explain to me how, unlike Islam, Christianity is inherently a religion of love. With all due respect to my many Christian friends, I seriously beg to differ. Conservatives roll their eyes when you mention the Crusades oh, that old thing? and Im sure they will when they see the reference to the Manicheans, but they both matter, especially if youre trying to argue that religions have inherent characteristics. If that was a perversion of Christianity, as many argue, or a fluke, then why can we not extend the same thinking toward, say, the Muslim conquests of the Middle East, or, dare I say it, the Islamic State? You cannot argue that one religion is inherently violent because of the following historical examples, and then wave away the violent history of Christianity and say the exception proves the rule. The Crusades are still a sore subject in the Muslim world, but its easy to forget the havoc they wreaked on the Jews of Europe. Time after time, as Crusaders slogged southeast on their umpteenth trip to the Holy Land, they slaughtered the Jews in their path. They herded them into synagogues and set the buildings alight. The Crusaders killed so many Jews in the name of their Christian faith that it was the most stunning demographic blow to European Jewry until the Holocaust. Which, just a friendly reminder, happened in Christian, civilized Europe only 70-some years ago. And if you dont believe me about the brutal repression of Manichean Christians, you can read about it here in the Catholic Encyclopedia (a publication that chronicles what Catholic artists, educators, poets, scientists and men of action have achieved in their several provinces). The Christian Church was ruthless with people whose faith was in any way a deviation from the canon, torturing and burning heretics at the stake. After Martin Luther pinned his theses to a church door, unintentionally spawning a new wing of Christianity, it led to hundreds of years of on-and-off religious warfare between Christians, spilling each others blood in the fervent belief that their vision of Christ was the truest. And its not ancient history: Violence between Protestants and Catholics continued in Christian Ireland until the very end of the 20th century. Radical Islam is anti-woman, anti-gay, and anti-American, Donald Trump said on Monday. I refuse to allow America to become a place where gay people, Christian people, and Jewish people are the targets of persecution and intimidation by radical Islamic preachers of hate and violence. The point he was trying to make was that the adherents of radical Islam (whatever that is) are so uncomfortable with those who dont share their beliefs that they cant help but turn violent against them. Radical Islam may be all those things and more, but Christianitys record isnt much better. Lets take Trumps concern for Jewish people being the targets of persecution and intimidation. It is a wonderful sentiment, but, for the past 2,000 years, until Muslim countries expelled their Jewish populations in 1948, Jews have been targets of persecution and intimidation to put it mildly at the hands of Christians. Jewish life in Muslim countries, though still saddled with all kinds of restrictions and orders to wear funny clothing and sporadic violence, was far less bloody than in the civilized Christian West. There are so many historical examples I could mention Christians killing Jews because they blamed them for the plague; the fact that the word ghetto comes from the enclosures in which Jews were forced to live in medieval Venice; the pogroms in which the Russian Orthodox Church encouraged their flocks to kill the non-believing Jews. If thats too far back in time for you, consider July 1988, the thousandth anniversary of the baptism of Russia: Rumors flew in Moscow that there would be a pogrom to celebrate the day Christianity came to Russia, and that the police were handing out addresses of Jews to the public. (Thats when my family decided to flee Holy Rus.) And if you want to get a list of Christian countries that expelled the Jews but are daunted by the historical dust, look no further than the Trump supporters who regularly tweet those lists at me as proof that Jews deserve the violence theyve gotten over the years. Then theres the very modern phenomenon that is the Trump troll, frequently blasting me as a Christ killer who deserves anti-Semitism for mocking the Gospel. All this punctuated by exhortations to get back in the oven and people thoughtfully ordering coffins on my behalf. And though Trumps concern is for Jewish people being the subjects of persecution by radical Islamic preachers, it is not the radical Muslims Im worried about as a Jew living in America. Theres plenty of hatred and anti-Semitism in the Muslim world, but the kind I receive around the clock doesnt come from Muslims. It comes from Trumps white, Christian supporters. I would much rather he address the persecution of Jewish journalists by his own followers, some of whom freely interweave Christian symbols, white power references, and violent threats in their communications. But Trump doesnt address them and he certainly doesnt disavow them. He said he has no message for them. Just for the radical Muslims. Watching Trump and the Christian right go after Islam for being homophobic is, frankly, jaw-dropping. If any community in this country has shown itself to be anti-gay, it is conservative Christians and their decades of peddling hatred for gay people, comparing homosexuality to pedophilia and bestiality, claiming AIDS is divine punishment, pushing cures for homosexuality, and blocking laws that prevent gays not just from marrying but from being discriminated against. A Christian pastor, who has enjoyed the company of Bobby Jindal, Mike Huckabee, and Ted Cruz, recently said that, according to the Bible, homosexuals deserve the death penalty. Now the very same people who, just last month, were comparing trans people to predators who would use the wrong bathroom to hunt for child victims are suddenly lining up to defend gays from radical Islam. And yet, in the wake of the Orlando shooting, some Christians came out to say what they really thought of those gays in that club. One Christian preacher posted a video sermon in which he praised the Orlando shootings, saying, The good news is that theres 50 less pedophiles in this world, because, you know, these homosexuals are a bunch of disgusting perverts and pedophiles. And then there are the ardent American Christians who explicitly link Christianity and guns, who buy up weapons like theres no tomorrow, but who nonetheless marvel at the warlike Saracens. In fact, the unbelievable vitriol with which conservative Christians have insisted on maligning not just radicals but an entire religion looks a lot like the kind of violence and intolerance of which they accuse Muslims. Friday will mark the one-year anniversary of Dylann Roof killing nine people in the middle of a Bible study in Charleston, S.C. Before his rampage, he wrote a manifesto declaring his allegiance to the white supremacist cause and pointing to the Council of Conservative Citizens, which claims to adhere to Christian beliefs and values, as a major source of information and inspiration. By some accounts, Roof came from a church-going family and attended Christian summer camp. Did Roof kill his fellow Christians because he was deranged or because Christianity is violent? The answer is neither. They are not exceptions, nor do they speak to a violence inherent in Christianity. Because my point is not that Christianity is evil. It isnt. But neither is it inherently peaceful and loving. And neither is Islam. Nor Judaism nor Hinduism nor Buddhism. No religion is inherently peaceful or violent, nor is it inherently anything other than what its followers make it out to be. People are violent, and people can dress their violence up in any number of justifying causes that seek to relieve people of their personal responsibility because the cause or religion, be it Communism or Catholicism or Islam, is simply bigger than themselves. Its very convenient for both the perpetrator of violence and his accuser, and yet totally useless: Something can be done with a person who has transgressed, but what can you do with an amorphous concept? Christianity, as I have seen it practiced by my friends or by Christians who saved Jews during the Holocaust, can be beautiful and peaceful and loving. Islam, as it was practiced in medieval Spain, was beautiful and peaceful, too. It can also be hideous and violent, as weve seen in many parts of the Middle East, in Europe, and in America in recent decades. Judaism, which people either equate with consumptive erudition or insularity, can wax violent, too. Hanukkah, every secular Jews favorite holiday, celebrates in part the victory of the radical, purist Jews over their assimilated, Hellenized brethren. And for my co-religionists piling onto Muslims for their homophobia, lets remember Yishai Schlissel, who stabbed six at a gay pride parade in Jerusalem and that was his second attack on the LGBT event. And, heck, lets throw in Baruch Goldstein, too. Remember him, the guy who killed 29 Muslims as they prayed? Is he an exception, or does his act define Judaisms inherent characteristics? Even Buddhism, which many imagine to be the very definition of peace, can be bloody. Just look at Sri Lanka, where a Buddhist majority fought a vicious civil war against the Hindu north, or Myanmar, where Buddhists have violently persecuted the Muslim Rohingya. No religion is inherently violent. No religion is inherently peaceful. Religion, any religion, is a matter of interpretation, and it is often in that interpretation that we see either beauty or ugliness or, more often, if we are mature enough to think nuanced thoughts, something in between. Photo credit: ERIC ANTHONY JOHNSON/Getty Images Jerusalem (AFP) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israel was ready to share intelligence with NATO to help fight extremist violence, as he met with ambassadors from alliance nations ahead of a summit. Netanyahu condemned the weekend massacre in Orlando in the United States, last week's assault by Palestinian gunmen in Tel Aviv that killed four Israelis and a list of other attacks as resulting from "the same evil". "Terror knows no bounds, and that is why our cooperation in the battle against terrorism must know no bounds as well," Netanyahu said in an address to the ambassadors before a closed-door meeting. "One day ISIS kills gays, the next day Yazidis, and then Jews, Muslims and Christians," he said, using an alternative name for the Islamic State jihadist group. Netanyahu said "we stand ready to help NATO in this collective struggle. We are prepared to share our intelligence and our experience to help in this common effort." NATO will hold a summit in Warsaw on July 8-9 and Tuesday's meeting in Jerusalem was meant to discuss issues related to the meeting. Israel said last month it would upgrade its ties with the 28-member military alliance by opening a permanent mission to its Brussels headquarters. Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israel was working to open the office as soon as possible. Israel already participates in military exercises with NATO members other than Turkey, notably the United States. US ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro told journalists on the sidelines of Tuesday's meeting that ongoing joint training and intelligence sharing from Israel was "certainly relevant to the threats that come out of this region." "We're quite encouraged by what's possible between Israel and NATO in the months ahead," Shapiro said. With IS and other jihadist organisations operating in neighbouring Syria, the fight against extremist violence represents a key area of cooperation for Israel and Western nations. A number of those countries have however also criticised Netanyahu's rightwing government over Jewish settlement building in the occupied West Bank and the lack of progress in peace efforts with the Palestinians. Many analysts say such factors have helped feed a wave of Palestinian knife, gun and car-ramming attacks that began in October. J.K. Rowlings tweet shows how Orlando shooting victims are being remembered by the Cursed Child J.K. Rowlings tweet shows how Orlando shooting victims are being remembered by the Cursed Child In the aftermath of the tragic and senseless shooting in Orlando, the world has been grieving for not only the victims, but the LGBTQ community as a whole. Celebrities like Lady Gaga have also been sharing their condolences and grief, including J.K. Rowling, who learned that victim Luis Vielma worked at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Yesterday, she also took the time to tweet remembrance of the victims from the Cursed Child venue in London. Just last week, a select audience was spellbound after previewing Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which is officially open to the public on July 31st. Though its been a busy time for the cast and crew of the play, they chose to remember the victims of the Orlando shooting in a special way by displaying the rainbow pride flag in front of the Palace Theater. J.K. tweeted a picture of the venues new addition, hashtagging the tweet with #LoveIsLove and #OrlandoLove. Yesterday J.K. also tweeted a picture of Luis Vielma, who operated the Forbidden Journey ride. He was 22 years old, J.K. wrote in her now-pinned tweet. I cant stop crying. Our hearts are broken over this senseless act of violence, and we all stand with the Orlando victims friends and families during this time of grief. Thank you, J.K. Rowling, for using your platform to reach out to the loved ones who are mourning and hurting. The post J.K. Rowlings tweet shows how Orlando shooting victims are being remembered by the Cursed Child appeared first on HelloGiggles. Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fstory%2fthumbnail%2f11606%2fsddefault A few months ago, Jackie Chan was spotted shooting a Bollywood dance sequence for his latest film Kung Fu Yoga in India. The actor recently demonstrated his newly-acquired dance skills with an impromptu dance-off during the premiere of the film at the Shanghai International Film Festival. SEE ALSO: Jackie Chan shoots a few Bollywood dance moves for his next film Chan was accompanied by his Indian co-star Sonu Sood, with the two grooving to the popular fast-paced bhangra number, "Tunak Tunak Tun". After a hesitant beginning, Chan soon began performing the steps with ease. Sood also tweeted the video later, calling Chan his "brother". An Indo-Chinese production, Kung Fu Yoga has been shot in Beijing, Dubai and India. The film will have dialogues in English, Mandarin and Hindi, and is scheduled to be released on January 28, 2017. Red Hot Chili Peppers' Carpool Karaoke somehow ends in wrestling and nudity London Gay Men's Chorus' tribute to Orlando will send shivers down your spine The revamped 'God of War' will be filled with Vikings Spider-Man swings into Sony's E3 with an action-packed trailer By Sujoy Dhar KOLKATA, India (Reuters) - For India's Finance Minister Arun Jaitley a nationwide goods services tax (GST) is a transformative idea that cannot wait any longer. But he will have to do some more spadework to get states on board if he is to introduce it next April. While support has broadened among states for the sales tax, differences persist on key details, in particular pitching the tax at the right level to offset possible revenue losses. A government-appointed panel has suggested a standard GST rate of 17-18 percent. But India's states are reluctant to accept it. On Tuesday, Jaitley met his state counterparts in a renewed attempt to forge a compromise. The meeting, however, failed to achieve a breakthrough. "There is no consensus on the rate," said Parminder Singh Dhindsa, finance minister of the state of Punjab. "We want a detailed study to ensure there are no revenue losses." State finance ministers will meet again in the second week of July to break the deadlock on the measure that, two years into Prime Minister Narendra Modi's term, remains blocked in the upper house of parliament. Jaitley has threatened to take the GST to a vote in July's monsoon session of parliament. SILVER BULLET Investors have billed the GST as a "silver bullet" for Asia's third-largest economy that would supplant multiple federal and state levies - a chaotic structure that inflates costs for businesses. Jaitley calls it the biggest reform since 1947 that would for the first time create a single market for one-sixth of the world's population and could boost the rate of growth by 2 percentage points. For the measure to become a reality, Jaitley needs not only the backing of states but also of the opposition Congress party to secure the required two-thirds majority needed to pass a key constitutional enabling amendment in parliament's upper house. But pleasing one runs the risk of antagonising the other. For example, the GST is globally known as a consumption-based tax, but Jaitley has agreed to allow states to impose a 1 percent additional levy on the cross-border transport of goods. This proposal is anathema to the Congress party. Story continues The Congress, the original author of the tax reform, wants the proposed levy to be scrapped - a position the government-appointed panel has also backed. States are ready to forgo the tax, provided Jaitley offers higher compensation from the national budget. The principal opposition party has also asked for capping the GST at 18 percent and setting up an independent mechanism to resolve disputes on revenue sharing between states. "GST is not like magic," said West Bengal finance minister Amit Mitra, who has been tasked with building a consensus among 29 states. "Step by step it progresses." (Writing by Rajesh Kumar Singh; Editing by Robert Birsel) Lender's bagels at Gothamist HQ. (Jen Carlson/Gothamist) When Steve Martin, making a cameo appearance as Gavin Volure on 30 Rock, asks his dinner guests for a good place to get cupcakes in New York City, Liz Lemon drops some knowledge: "77th and Amsterdam, 68th and Columbus, 125th and President Clinton Blvd, also, don't overthink it: Sara Lee, frozen, unbelievable." What if we said the same thing about Lender's bagels? The frozen bagel is sacrilege in New York City, a city where fresh, delicious bagels can be found just around the corner, any corner. A city where the bagels are so good, that lesser cities try to recreate them by using our water. A city where the topic of bagels is so serious, that they stir up a vibrant debate whenever their name is mentioned. A city where, really, we don't need Lender's. And yet they are here, in our stores (6 for $1.99!), and their packaging even features the Statue of Liberty and our skyline. At one time, Lender's even went by the name: "New York Bagel Bakery." Lender's bagels are not, nor were they ever, from New Yorkthey are from New Haven, CT. But if New Haven can deliver some of the best pizza, maybe they can deliver some damn fine bagels, too? While they are not "America's Favorite Bagel," as stated on their packaging, they are probably America's favorite frozen bagel. Let's give them thatshould you find yourself with only the option for a frozen bagel, Lender's is the way to go. They are smalllike a bagel hors d'oeuvrea little sweet, airy on the inside, and their secret weapon is that there is always a perfect, thin layer of crisp on the outside. Toast one up and give it a try with some cream cheesewe did this recently at Gothamist HQ and 4 out of 4 people who tried them enjoyed them. (Note: Two of these people are originally from Connecticut, and nostalgia is a hell of a drug.) On the other hand, only 4 people were willing to try them. So, how did they come to adopt such NYC branding? The Lender family is originally from Poland, and in the 1920s Harry Lender began working in a bagel bakery in Passaic, New Jersey. He relocated to New Haven when he heard a man there was selling his bagel operation. Harry purchased it for $600, and the rest of his family joined him, coming to the U.S. via Pier 42 in NYC. That's just about where the NYC ties begin and end for the Lendersyet when he opened up shop, he called it the "New York Bagel Bakery." Presumably he called it this despite it actually being "one of the first bagel bakeries in the United States to be established outside of New York City." Harry Lender knew the importance of branding, even if at the time he was hand-rolling just a few dozen a day, running an operation that only reached a few local grocers. Eventually he was rolling more, and it was Harry who purchased a giant freezer in the 1950s, hoping to keep his goods from going stale too fast. This helped him distribute his bagels to more places in Connecticutif he baked 600 dozen, he'd distribute 400 dozen, and freeze the rest for later distribution. If Harry knew about branding, he also knew about optics, and he knew that people did NOT want frozen bagelsaccording to a pretty extensive history on the family from the New Haven Independent, the freezing was at first a family secret. Mom Lender dedicating a freezer in West Haven, 1967. (Courtesy Carl Lender) The freezer changed the bakery dramatically. Quickly, Harry refined the system so the bakery had a steady, six-night work week: instead of the grueling pre-Sunday rush, Saturday night was now the easiest time of the weekthe Lenders just defrosted the bagels and delivered them fresh in the morning. Within two years, the Lenders perfected the workflow so that they only had to bake four or five nights a week. The new system eased life for the Lenders but it was, in the words of one observer, a perilous experiment. It was also, at first, a family secret. No one was allowed to know that these bagels were frozen! Harrys niece Esther remembered. Though evidently customers could not taste the difference, everyone wanted fresh bagels. The Lenders managed to keep their innovation quiet for almost two years. Then, one Sunday, somehow, somebody neglected to thaw the bagels, and the driver delivered them all frozen. The customers were furious, Murray recalled. Get this junk out of here was the typical reaction. Murray ultimately assuaged the bakeries concernsafter all, they had been selling frozen bagels for nearly two years without complaint. Lender's loves Philly cream cheese When he died in 1960, Harry's sons purchased a plant in West Haven, and their bagel business grew even bigger. They sent out their preservative-free product in plastic bags to around 30 states, according to the NY Times obituary for Harry's son, Murray. But it wasn't until the 1970s that they saw a big boomaccording to the Smithsonian, that's when America started embracing these bagel things. In the United States, bagels arrived with the Eastern European immigrants of the late 19th-century, but didn't emerge from their mostly Jewish niche markets into the mainstream until the 1970s. That was the era when "ethnic food" became trendy, and it was also when an enterprising family named the Lenders began marketing their brand of frozen bagels"the Jewish English muffin," they called itto the masses through witty television ads. Murray brought Lender's to another levelaccording to that same New Haven Independent profile, he "put posters in New York City subways with a half-nude Italian guy with a shpalette (a hero or sub sandwich) [that] said, Would it hurt to have a bagel for a change?' Murray concocted green bagels for Saint Patricks Day, and an oval bagel for President Lyndon Johnson to eat, in front of television cameras, in the Oval Office. Murray appeared on the Late Show with Johnny Carson [sic]. Murray became the public image of Lenders Bagels, his antics synonymous with the brand." The antics paid off, and Lender's sold to Kraft in 1984it was a marketing marriage made in heaven, as Kraft also owned Philadelphia cream cheese. At some point during the Kraft takeover, the New York City skyline was added to the packaging, and the Lender's New York City lie lives on to this day. Murray Lender. (Courtesy Carl Lender) While bagel preferences may differ, we can all agree that a frozen bagel is not the platonic ideal. And as for whether or not a person in the 5 boroughs should ever reach for a Lender's, we Asked A Native New Yorker, Jake Dobkin, who says, "Only when the alternative is starvation." The frozen bagel has been stigmatizedrecently I was at a press conference, and when I dared voice my opinion that Absolute bagels from the Upper West Side weren't THAT good, I was met quickly with: "Yeah, I bet you like Lender's bagels." This was not meant as a compliment. So even if you are literally starving, eat that Lender's in a private, safe space, and never speak of it again. By Tetsushi Kajimoto TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso issued a fresh warning against renewed strength in the yen, saying that he would "firmly respond" if rapid and speculative moves persisted in the foreign exchange market. Aso also said he would closely watch Britain's referendum next week on exiting the European Union, given its potential to disrupt global financial markets. The yen hovered near Monday's six-week high of 105.735 against the U.S. currency (JPY=) on worries Britain may vote to leave the European Union in the June 23 referendum. Japanese officials are worried about a potential spike in the yen, which is perceived as a safe-haven currency during times of heightened risk aversion, in the event of "Brexit". Asked about a rising yen, Aso said rapid moves are undesirable and stability in the currency is of the utmost importance. He declined to comment on currency levels, but added currency market moves had at one point recently been rapid and speculative. "We must keep close watch with a sense of urgency in order to prevent speculative moves from persisting," Aso told reporters after a cabinet meeting. "If necessary we will firmly respond (to the market moves) in accordance with the G7 and G20 agreement," he added. G7 leaders reaffirmed last month their stance against competitive currency devaluation, while warning against excess volatility and disorderly moves in the exchange market. However, U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew earlier this month shrugged off Japan's concerns over the yen's strength, describing the recent market moves as "orderly". "There are various arguments as to what would correspond to excessive and disorderly currency movements, but I won't make specific comment on this," Aso said. (Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by Chris Gallagher amd Sam Holmes) Jeff Daniels is set to join the Netflix limited period drama series "Godless" reports Deadline. Daniels will join previously confirmed Jack O'Connell, with Merritt Wever ("Nurse Jackie"), Jeremy Bobb ("The Knick") and Thomas Brodie-Sangster ("The Maze Runner") also set to join the show. Set in a 1800s New Mexico mining town, "Godless" will follow the story of Frank Griffin, played by Daniels, the leader of a notorious gang searching for the man, played by O'Connell, who was once like a son to him but is now his mortal enemy. "Godless" will be written, directed and executive produced by Scott Frank, who has recently also been working on the upcoming big-screen adaptation of video game "Assassin's Creed." TOKYO, June 14 (Reuters) - Japanese government bond yields dropped to new record lows on Tuesday as fears that Britain will vote to leave the European Union hurt equities and sent investors scurrying into safe-haven debt. The benchmark 10-year JGB yield fell as low as minus 0.170 percent, before edging back to minus 0.165 percent. The 20-year yield was down half a basis point at 0.165 percent after touching 0.155 percent, also a fresh record low. JGB yields pulled back slightly from record lows after the Bank of Japan did not conduct a regular debt-buying operation on Tuesday as some in the market had expected. JGBs were bound in tight range as a wait-and-see mood prevailed ahead of the Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting starting later on Tuesday. Investors are also looking to the Bank of Japan's policy decision on Thursday. Most economists polled by Reuters expect the BOJ to keep settings unchanged this month but ease again at its meeting in late July. Japan's Nikkei fell 1.3 percent to a two-month low. (Reporting by the Tokyo markets team; Editing by Kim Coghill) Jimmy Fallon paid an emotional tribute to the victims of the Orlando nightclub shootings on Monday's episode of The Tonight Show. "As you know, early Sunday morning there was another senseless shooting, this time at a dance club in Orlando, Florida. A dance club," said Fallon, 41, during his opening monologue. "It left 49 people dead, which is the largest loss of life due to a terrorist attack on U.S. soil since 9/11." "This country was built on the idea that we do not all agree on everything. That we are a tolerant, free nation that encourages debate, free thinking, believing or not in what you choose," he continued. Fallon went on to address his concerns as a father of two young daughters, Winnie Rose, 2, and Frances Cole, 1. "I, as a new father, am thinking: What do I tell my kids? What do I tell them about this? What can we learn from this?" he said. "What if my kids are gay? What do I tell them?" "Maybe there's a lesson from all this. A lesson in tolerance," he continued. "We need to support each other's differences and worry less about our own opinions. Get back to debate and away from believing or supporting the idea that if someone doesn't live the way you want them to live, you just buy a gun and kill them. Bomb them up. That is not okay." RELATED VIDEO: President Of GLAAD Sarah Kate Ellis Vows That Gay Pride Month will Go on Despite Tragedy "We need to get back to being brave enough to accept that we have different opinions, and that's okay," he said. "Because that's what America is built on. The idea that we can stand up and speak our minds and live our lives and not be punished for that, or mocked on the internet. Or killed by someone you don't know." Fallon ended his monologue on an uplifting note. "This was just one bad guy here. Forty-nine good people, and one bad guy. There will always be more good than evil," he said. "So keep loving each other, keep respecting each other and keep on dancing." The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon airs weeknights (11:35 p.m. ET) on NBC. John Oliver took time at the beginning of Sunday's Last Week Tonight to address the mass shooting that took place earlier that day at a gay nightclub in Orlando. "Right now this just hurts," he said. "The worst thing is the pain is so familiar." He spoke about the attacks at Charlie Hebdo targeting culture in Paris and said that similarly, the Orlando shooting targeted a place that symbolized the culture of America. "For the record, I will happily embrace Latin night at a gay club in the theme park capital of the world as the ultimate symbol of what is truly wonderful about America," he added. John Oliver Goes on Epic, Profane Rant Over Paris Attackers: 'F-- These Assholes' Oliver said he would continue his show as usual, but first he highlighted a video of hundreds of people in Florida lining up and waiting to donate blood. "It kind of reminds you that that terrorist dipshit is vastly outnumbered," he said. This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter. Surviving the Orlando Shooting: A Pulse Bartender Shares His Experience | Conan, Samantha Bee, Seth Meyers, Trevor Noah & More Share Grief, Anger Over Orlando Shooting | Orlando Gay Nightclub Shooting Casts a Shadow on Tony Awards | Producer Sebastian Krys on Orlando Massacre: 'Music Will Always Be Stronger Than a Gun' Its a boy! Jordana Brewster and her husband, Andrew Form, have welcomed their second child, her rep confirms to Us Weekly. PHOTOS: Celebrity Babies 2016 The Fast and Furious actress baby boy, Rowan Brewster-Form, was born via gestational surrogate on Thursday, June 9. The actress, 36, and Form, 44, are already parents to son Julian, 2, who was also born via surrogate. Brewster opened up to Yahoo! Parenting in October 2015 about choosing gestational surrogacy. I didnt really have a choice about being open, since it was obvious I wasnt pregnant. For me it wasnt a choice; I needed to use a surrogate. But I didnt feel judged. Its more like I felt awkward, she explained while chatting about her first-born. Sometimes I feel a little left out when other moms talk about what their birth experience was like, and I feel the loss of not having carried or having been able to carry. PHOTOS: Famous Celebrity Pregnancies: Baby Bump Hall of Fame In many ways, I feel lucky that I was able to be open, the People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story actress continued. There are so many women who are young and have to go through IVF and feel like they cant talk about it, and thats really unfortunate. I think about all the time I spent worrying, and that was all time wasted, Brewster offered as advice for new parents. So its cliche, but just relish it, because it passes so quickly. Brewster and the producer married in a Caribbean wedding in 2007 after meeting in 2005 on the set of Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning. Jesse_Wants_the_Truth_About_911__Jesse_Ventura_Off_The_Grid__Ora_TV__169559 ora tv In 2014, former Minnesota governor and professional wrestler Jesse Ventura won a defamation lawsuit against Chris Kyle, the Navy SEAL sniper that wrote a book that became a movie that allowed Bradley Cooper to say baby about 100 times. Ventura was awarded $1.8 million in damages from Kyles estate and Harper Collins, the publisher of the American Sniper book. Ventura was pleased and happy to brag about the victory, but it looks like he may have gotten ahead of himself. Related Links: An appeals court overturned the ruling Monday. Harper Collins and Kyles estate would not have to pay Ventura $500,000 and $1.3 million, respectively. Kyle died in 2013. Kyle claimed in a subchapter called Punching Out Scruff Face, to have decked a man, whom he later identified as Ventura, during a fallen SEALs wake at a California bar in 2006. He wrote that Scruff Face had made offensive comments about the elite force, including a remark that the SEALs deserve to lose a few in Iraq. Ventura, a former Underwater Demolition Teams/SEAL member and ex-pro wrestler, testified at trial that Kyles story was a fabrication. Ventura said he never made the comments and that the altercation never happened. He said the book ruined his reputation in the tight-knit SEAL community. The appeals court sent the defamation case back to the lower court for a new trial. Its possible Kyle invented that story, as he invented other things in his book that became a movie that was about 40 minutes too long. Last month, documents showed the number of medals Kyle received for his military service is different from what he indicated in his best-selling memoir. Navy documents show Kyle earned one Silver Star and three Bronze Stars with valor, instead of the two Silver Stars and five Bronze Stars his book says he received. There are no real winners here, except the people that havent seen the movie. If youd like more background into this lawsuit, weve got you covered. (CBS News) We rely on your support to make local news available to all Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2022. Donate today The judge who will decide if Led Zeppelin copied a guitar riff when writing "Stairway to Heaven" will hear from the band's musicologist at trial - despite a last-ditch effort to have him tossed for a conflict of interest. Trial is set to begin Tuesday morning to put to rest a dispute about whether "Stairway" infringes on a 1968 instrumental song called "Taurus" by the band Spirit. Michael Skidmore, who manages songwriter Randy Wolfe's trust, sued the band in 2014. Over the weekend, Skidmore's attorney, Francis Malofiy, filed a motion to exclude noted musicologist Lawrence Ferrara from testifying, claiming the expert had previously been hired by the plaintiff's publisher to evaluate the similarities between the two songs. Zeppelin's attorney Peter Anderson, in his opposition to the filing, called the motion a baseless and desperate attempt interfere with their defense. "Defendants' counsel did exactly what was appropriate when they learned that Dr. Ferrara had been consulted by Universal and Rondor: they obtained Universal and Rondor's consent to defendants' retention of Dr. Ferrara," Anderson writes. Malofiy also asked the court to reconsider a summary judgment order which reduces any recoverable damages by 50 percent. U.S. District Court judge R. Gary Klausner on Monday ordered both the motions to be stricken because "hearing information is missing, incorrect, or not timely" and one of the filings exceeded the court's 20-page limit. In short: too much, too late. In a rather amusing Monday filling, Anderson also opposed Skidmore's request to use two electric guitars for demonstrative purposes. Though it's a trial about a guitar riff, Anderson points out that Skidmore's musicologist testified that he doesn't play guitar. Anderson previously asked the court to exclude three other experts, who do play guitar, and Klausner tentatively agreed. Story continues So, whom would that leave to play these guitars? Anderson suspects it's Malofiy and says that would be inappropriate. "Skidmore's enigmatic assertion that the guitars he seeks permission to bring into the courtroom 'would include use by Plaintiff's experts' ... suggests that Skidmore's counsel may seek to play a guitar at trial," Anderson writes. "To permit him to do so would not only make his counsel a witness at trial, but effectively give Skidmore a new, previously undisclosed 'expert.'" Klausner has yet to rule on that motion. Read More: Here's the Lawsuit Claiming Led Zeppelin Stole 'Stairway to Heaven' Vatican City (AFP) - Final hearings in the Vatican's controversial leaks trial of journalists and others will be held next month in a finale to over nine months of courtroom drama that has embarrassed the Holy See. Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said Tuesday that final arguments and sentencing requests would be made July 4-6. A panel of judges will then have to decide if any of the five defendants should face prison sentences for their role in exposing waste and financial mismanagement at the top of the Church based on leaked classified documents. The Vatican also announced that Spanish monsignor Lucio Vallejo Balda, who has been held in a police cell for much of the trial, had been released from custody on Saturday and was now in a state of "semi-liberty." Balda admitted earlier in the trial to leaking classified documents to journalists but claimed he did so under pressure from a female former colleague after she made advances to him culminating in a "compromising" encounter in a hotel room. The colleague, Francesca Chaouqui, has dismissed the suggestion as unfounded and depicted her onetime friend Balda as a delusional homosexual. The lurid nature of much of the evidence has led some Vatican insiders to question the wisdom of having pursued the leaks prosecution under draconian legislation rushed onto the Holy See statute book after the first Vatileaks scandal, which centred on revelations by former pope Benedict XVI's butler. Pope Francis has come under fire from press freedom groups for giving his blessing to the prosecution of two Italian investigative journalists, Gianluigi Nuzzi and Emiliano Fittipaldi, who both published books based on leaked documents. The spectacle of Chaouqui giving evidence while heavily pregnant has also been seen as damaging. By coincidence, she gave birth to a baby boy on Tuesday, prompting the Vatican's Lombardi to send "best wishes to him and his parents." Story continues In theory, all five defendants could be sentenced to jail terms but in practice only Balda seems at risk of ending up behind bars. The two journalists, Chaouqui and and Balda's assistant Nicola Maio are all Italian citizens and guilty verdicts will, at most, only signal the start of complex extradition procedures. Legal experts say it is unlikely Italy could extradite either of the journalists given the country's constitutional protection of press freedom. (Reuters) - A juror in the Stanford University sexual assault case wrote to the judge expressing his disappointment over what was seen by many as a very lenient sentence handed down to former student-athlete Brock Turner. Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky is facing a recall campaign following public anger over his decision to sentence Turner, 20, to six months in jail for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman after a party. The juror, who requested to remain anonymous, said he was disappointed and "vehemently" disagreed with the June 2 sentence, according to the letter, which was posted online late on Monday by the Palo Alto Weekly newspaper. Prosecutors had sought a six-year prison term for Turner after he was convicted on three felony counts of sexual assault for the January 2015 attack. "Justice has not been served," the juror wrote to the judge. "I expected that this case would serve as a very strong deterrent to on-campus assaults but with the ridiculously lenient sentence, I am afraid that it makes a mockery of the whole trial." He concluded the letter to Persky with "shame on you." The Palo Alto Weekly said it met with the juror on Sunday and confirmed his identity. The juror wrote that Turner's conviction had been disregarded in an effort to spare the former member of the university's swimming team a "hardship," while the court's concern should instead have been for the victim. The juror said he recently became a U.S. citizen after 30 years of living in the United States and that the case was the first time he had served on a jury. He is the only one of 12 jurors to make a public statement about the case. Turner's sentencing drew criticism after the publication of a letter the victim read in court, detailing the devastation she felt from the assault by him. A Stanford law professor is leading a drive on the California campus to gather signatures for a petition to remove Persky. Story continues Some graduating students carried signs at their commencement on Sunday, decrying the sentence handed to Turner. Persky is prohibited from commenting on the case because Turner is appealing his conviction, a spokesman for Santa Clara County Superior Court has said. (Reporting by Laila Kearney in New York; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Bill Trott) The trial that could rewrite rock 'n' roll history is underway, and the eight jurors who will decide if Led Zeppelin impermissibly copied the famous guitar riff in "Stairway to Heaven" from Spirit's "Taurus" have been chosen. Led Zeppelin bandmembers Robert Plant and Jimmy Page sat in the courtroom, facing the potential jurors, during selection. Seven of the first 14 were dismissed, including a Led Zeppelin fan whose "love for these two guys" is "very strong." Attorneys Francis Malofiy, representing the Trustee who manages the estate of Spirit's Randy Wolfe, and Peter Anderson, representing Led Zeppelin, were pleased with the next set, and a final group of four men and four women was sworn in. Before jury selection, U.S. District Court Judge R. Gary Klausner explained his no-nonsense approach to anything that might disrupt the many pre-trial rulings he made. On the eve of the trial, Malofiy was still submitting motions about what evidence could be heard. "I'm not going to do something spontaneous up here," Klausner quipped, after directing Malofiy to put any requests in writing. It's a trial that's literally decades in the making. Before he died, Wolfe was asked many times about the similarities between "Stairway to Heaven" and "Taurus" and was ambivalent about suing. After he passed away, the "Taurus" copyright allegedly went to the Trust, which got some luck in 2014 when the Supreme Court rejected a prejudicial delay as a reason to stop a copyright lawsuit. Nevertheless, the plaintiff has hurdles to climb before prevailing including showing Plant and Page accessed "Spirit." Now underway, the trial will allow each side 10 hours to present their arguments and witnesses. In total, Klausner says he expects the trial to last four to five days. The day started roughly for journalists in the room after court staff informed the media that not only are laptops and cellphones banned, but so are pens. After a furious search for enough pencils to go around, the judge decided to allow the use of any pen that doesn't have an audio recording device or the ability to take photos. Bailiffs are taking the no-phones rule seriously. The first day is only half done and two people have already been kicked out. They've also warned that anyone caught taking photos inside the building will be removed from the premises. Heres how Justin Bieber tearfully paid tribute to Christina Grimmie Heres how Justin Bieber tearfully paid tribute to Christina Grimmie On Friday, June 10th, the world lost a talented and beautiful soul after Christina Grimmie was shot and killed during an autograph signing in Orlando, Florida. Fans have been mourning the loss of Christina, and celebrities have also been taking the time to celebrate her life; Adam Levine offered to pay for her funeral, while Selena Gomez dedicated a song to her at her recent concert. Fellow YouTubers have been showing their support on social media, and Selenas stepfather, Brian Teefey, started a GoFundMe campaign for her family. This weekend, Justin Bieber also took a moment to remember his friend, Christina. On June 11th, during his Purpose tour stop in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Justin dedicated the song Purpose to 22-year-old Christina, whom he met years ago when she toured with his then-girlfriend, Selena. The post Heres how Justin Bieber tearfully paid tribute to Christina Grimmie appeared first on HelloGiggles. Paris (AFP) - The Bombay night frog, scientists revealed Tuesday, favours a mating position previously unknown among the amphibian group's 7,000 species, only the seventh catalogued in what might be called the Kamasutra for frogs. Dubbed the "dorsal straddle," the new nuptial is an evolutionary case study in how sexual selection always finds a way -- no matter how contorted or acrobatic -- for sperm and egg to hook up. Scientists led by SD Biju, a professor at the University of Delhi, staked out a dense forest near Humbarli village in the state of Maharashtra, western India, for 40 nights to catch their tiny quarry, Nyctibatrachus humayuni, in flagrante delicto. Shorn of its context, their description of the exotic act could have been lifted from a 1970s sex manual. "The male does not embrace the female, but straddles over her back with his hands holding, or resting, on a leaf, branch or tree," they write, setting the scene. At this point, the female -- preparing for the next move -- releases her eggs onto the leaf upon which the couple is perched. Things get pretty kinky from there. "The male ejaculates on the female's dorsum and the sperm subsequently runs from her back and hind legs, before fertilising the eggs," the researchers explain in a study, published in the scientific journal PeerJ. - Missionary position - The frogs are millimetres apart during all this, but in most cases never touch -- a sort of Tantric sex for croakers. Having discreetly moved aside during the last phase of this ritual coupling, the male puffs out his cheeks and hovers over the eggs. It might be to protect the future frogs from snakes, which -- in another first, scientists say -- sometimes snack on them. Assuming they have escaped that fate, the eggs eventually dribble off the leaf and fall into a stream below, where they develop into tadpoles. "This is a remarkable frog with unprecedented reproductive behaviour," Biju said in a statement. Story continues "This discovery is fundamental for understanding the evolutionary ecology and behaviour in anuran amphibians," he added, using the scientific name for frogs. The uniqueness of the N. humayuni doesn't end there. All male frogs call to attract mates. But in this species the female does as well, though scientists are not sure what evolutionary purpose it might serve. Indian night frogs split off from other frogs some 70 to 80 million years ago, making them a very ancient group. In another, more common, sexual embrace among these amphibians -- called inguinal amplexus -- the male "clasps the female around her waist." This is considered to be "the ancestral state," the researchers explain. Something akin, perhaps, to the missionary position. Honoring those lost. Kate Middleton and Prince William made a special trip to the U.S. Embassy in London on Tuesday to sign a book of condolences for the 49 victims of the Orlando, Florida, shooting from over the weekend. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge signed their special messages in front of a commemorative flag presented to the former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by the LGBT organization Kaleidoscope Trust. The Duke and Duchess offering their condolences for the victims of the terrible attack on Orlando's Pulse nightclub pic.twitter.com/ILA4uJU2mr Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) June 14, 2016 WATCH: LGBT Groups, Celebs and Public Figures Pay Tribute After 49 Victims Killed in Orlando Nightclub Shooting Prince William's father, Prince Charles, and his wife, Camilla, also signed the book, and the Clarence House Twitter account posted their message online. Their Royal Highnesses have signed the virtual book of condolence for victims of the Orlando shooting #OrlandoUnited pic.twitter.com/Cfh2OJ5hYW Clarence House (@ClarenceHouse) June 14, 2016 "Our hearts go out to all of those who have lost loved ones and to those who have been injured in this unspeakably barbaric attack. You are in our special prayers," the royals wrote to the victims' families. After they signed, William and Kate spoke with representatives from the embassy's LGBT network GLIFAA. After signing the condolence book TRH spoke to reps from the US embassy's LGBT network GLIFAA pic.twitter.com/8ZSIQJ9p8J Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) June 14, 2016 Following the news of the mass casualties from Orlando, Queen Elizabeth, who is currently in the middle of her 90th birthday celebrations released a statement. Story continues "Prince Philip and I have been shocked by the events in Orlando," the Royal Family's Twitter account posted. "Our thoughts and prayers are with those who have been affected." Getty Images WATCH: Kate Middleton Stuns in a Color-Block Dress for Queen Elizabeth's Outdoor Birthday Party Over the last few days, the royals have attended Elizabeth's Trooping the Colour ceremony on Saturday and an outdoor birthday party on Sunday. The next day they attended the Order of the Garter Service at Windsor Castle, which honors knights. Kate stood out at the event in a cherry red dress, coat, and hat after sporting a cream getup for the Trooping the Colour. Sadly her two adorable children, George and Charlotte, were not in attendance at Monday's festivities despite making a precious cameo over the weekend. Related Articles Santo Domingo (AFP) - US Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday urged the Venezuelan authorities to allow a referendum on removing President Nicolas Maduro from office, prompting angry accusations of meddling from Caracas. Kerry called on Maduro's government "to release political prisoners, to respect freedom of expression and assembly, (and) alleviate shortages of food and medicine" in the South American country. It should also "honor its own constitutional mechanisms, including a fair and timely recall referendum that is part of that constitutional process," he added. He spoke in an address to the general assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) in the Dominican Republic. Maduro's opponents blame him for the economic crisis gripping the country. He is resisting their efforts to hold a recall referendum. Under Venezuelan law, that must happen this year in order to trigger new elections. Oil-rich Venezuela has slid into crisis as crude prices have crashed over the past two years. The chaos threatens Maduro and the socialist economic model he inherited from his late predecessor, Hugo Chavez. Short on cash, the import-dependent country is facing dire shortages of food, medicine and basic goods. The hardship has fueled growing protests, violence and looting. The opposition also accuses the authorities of jailing dozens of its leaders and activists for political reasons, a charge the government denies. - Venezuela 'intervention' - The top US diplomat's remarks came a day after Maduro's allies challenged the recall process before the Supreme Court, accusing the opposition of "fraud." Kerry said the US supported a "national dialogue" to resolve the crisis in Venezuela. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez said he should stay out of Venezuela's business. "Venezuela's internal matters will be settled by Venezuelans," she fired back in unscheduled remarks after his speech. Story continues She also repeated her government's allegation that the United States was plotting a military intervention in Venezuela. She referred to comments made last year by the then-head of the US military's Southern Command, John Kelly. In a television interview with CNN's Spanish-language channel, Kelly said the US military would react if asked to in the event of a grave humanitarian crisis in Venezuela. "We are seeing a matrix of planned military intervention in Venezuela," Rodriguez said. Rodriguez met with Kerry later, the US State Department said. Details of the meeting had yet to emerge. She also accused the secretary general of the OAS, Luis Almagro of Uruguay, of having an "interventionist" approach to Venezuela. "You are in the pay of Washington to intervene in Venezuela's internal affairs," she told him in an address. Maduro has tense relations with the United States and the Washington-based OAS, which he accuses of conspiring against his government. The leftist leader blames Venezuela's economic crisis on an "economic war" waged by the Venezuelan business elite. He accuses them of plotting with the United States to destabilize the country. The OAS permanent council is due to discuss the crisis in Venezuela on June 23 in Washington. It was not on the official agenda for the current meeting. Scandal's Kerry Washington has been passionate about women's empowerment and domestic violence issues for years, and now for the third year, Washington has signed on to be an ambassador for the Allstate Foundation Purple Purse campaign, which benefits victims and survivors of domestic and financial abuse. "For me, it's just such an ideal partnership, because selfishly I just participate and work in areas that are very important to me, meaning both fashion and supporting women's empowerment," Washington, 39, tells PEOPLE. She adds: "To be an ambassador for the Allstate Foundation and for Purple Purse is an honor for me, because I love being able to be a part of real, long-term solutions for giving security, and wisdom, and knowledge and empowerment for domestic violence victims and survivors." This year, the Purple Purse 2016 Domestic Violence campaign from the Allstate Foundation launches the #FreetoWalk campaign, which calls "attention to the barriers that keep women trapped in abusive relationships," according to the foundation. Kerry Washington Campaigns to End Domestic Violence: 'It Matters So Much to Be Able to Do Something'| People Picks, TV News, Kerry Washington The above online film, " America's Largest Prison Break," kicks off #FreetoWalk and was inspired by the true story of a financial abuse survivor, a Michigan mother named Lori, and her journey to freedom. "Financial abuse is such an invisible weapon," says Washington. "It's not something we think of." She continues: "We can see black eyes and we can see bruising and I think, we think a lot about the emotional abuse, and all of those things are valid, but to know that financial abuse is the number one reason why women stay and why they can't walk away it matters so much to be able to do something about that because it unlocks the solutions in the other areas as well." And for the last two years, Washington has teamed up with the foundation to design a bag, which benefits the Purple Purse campaign. But as she gears up to launch another bag in the fall, Washington says that the "goal is to not have to design them anymore." "The goal is to really end the cycle of abuse so that a the choice to have a Purple Purse is solely esthetic and not about making a difference and changing lives through fashion," she says. For more information on the Purple Purse, visitpurplepurse.com. Kerry Washington has never been shy about speaking out about issues relating to women's rights. Now, she's doing so in an official capacity as an ambassador for the Allstate Foundation Purple Purse campaign, a movement to fight against domestic violence in all of its insidious forms including financial abuse. "We can see black eyes and we can see bruising...[but] financial abuse is the number one reason why women stay and why they can't walk away," Washington told People magazine. Source: Getty/Mic According to The National Network for Ending Domestic Violence, 98% of domestic violence cases also involve some type of financial abuse, which is defined as one partner using money as a weapon to control the other. Perpetrators of domestic violence often use financial abuse to isolate victims, chip away at their independence and discourage them from reporting mistreatment. One survey of women who left abusive relationships found up to 77% of survivors were unable to leave their relationships because they were financially dependent on their partners. This is the third year in a row that Washington has served as the ambassador for the Purple Purse campaign, which aims to "bring financial abuse out of the shadows so victims can get the healing and support they deserve," according to the campaign's website. As in previous years, Washington will debut a new trademark and spearhead a new social media campaign to raise awareness, featuring the hashtag #freetowalk. The campaign's kick-off video, "America's Largest Prison," was inspired by the true story of a Michigan mother who managed to break free of an abusive relationship. Story continues In the United States alone, one in every three women and one in four men will or have experienced physical violence from an intimate partner, according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Although victims of financial abuse are not subject to physical , Washington wants people to know that it can be just as traumatizing as physical abuse. "Financial abuse is such an invisible weapon," Washington told People magazine. "...It matters so much to be able to do something about that because it unlocks the solutions in the other areas as well." Dozens of Upper West Side parents gathered in a stuffy school auditorium on West 77th Street on Monday night to testify against a new proposal to transplant their children's cramped elementary school, PS 452, sixteen blocks south to a larger campus adjacent to public housing. Many said that they had purchased homes in the West 70s so that their children could walk to a high-performing neighborhood school, and described the proposal as an insurmountable inconvenience and an affront to their investment. "You vastly underestimated the massive life and financial choices we made to attend this school," parent Jessica Weinberg told Department of Education officials, adding that she felt "blindsided." "We almost never have to leave [the West 70s], nor do we want to," added the parent of a prospective kindergartener, who asked that his name be withheld for professional reasons. "It's full of young families and playgrounds and kid-friendly restaurants. It's one of the few parts of the city that feels like a good place to raise kids." "Many of our friends and peers leave when they have kids," he added. "They bail on the city. We felt like we were in a place where we were safe." The current PS 452 campus is within walking distance of Central Park and the Museum of Natural History. It is also less racially and socioeconomically diverse than the rest of the city64% of the current student body is white, and only 11% of students qualify for free lunch. The larger campus, currently home to PS 191, stands across the street from the NYCHA-run Amsterdam Houses on 61st Street. (Under the plan, PS 191 may relocate to a new school within a luxury residential high-rise in the 60s called the Riverside Center; PS 191 parents did not attend last night's meeting, but principal Lauren Keville endorsed the plan to the NY Times, citing "exciting new technology and expansive resources.") The city's Office of District Planning (ODP) argued on Monday that rezoning is inevitable, due to an influx of high-rise development in the southern portion of Manhattan's District 3. PS 452 opened in 2010 to take pressure off nearby PS 87 and PS 199, among the city's most coveted public schools. It currently shares facilities with two middle schools, and has no dedicated auditorium, library, cafeteria or courtyard. As more students come into the zone, the art and music rooms will likely be converted into classrooms. The move downtownwhich wouldn't go into effect until 2018has the full support of PS 452 Principal David Parker and his teachers, who say they feel cramped and harried on 77th Street. At the larger school, they'd be able to dedicate bathrooms to the youngest students; gym class wouldn't be shoved into a corner. "We would never participate in a process where we thought harm would happen to children," Parker said on Monday. But some parents countered that the DOE is using them to appease PS 199 families who recently squashed a proposal that would have moved some PS 199 students to PS 191. "It feels like 199 successfully resisted change, so now they [the DOE] are going to try to do an end-run," said the prospective kindergarten parent. "Asking 452 to rezone and re-site is asking our parents to shoulder the burden of the entire district," said parent Michael McCarthy, to a round of applause. "Do not make us the district sacrificial lamb." Most parents wore purple buttons announcing their opposition to the plan (Emma Whitford/Gothamist). "We would have a more diverse population [if we moved]," said a kindergarten and fourth grade parent, one of a handful to support the move on Monday. "This is especially important in a city that is less than 50% white." On the heels of a similarly-contentious rezoning decision in downtown Brooklyn, others stumbled on the subject of integration, broaching it only with the assurance of anonymity. "You know we're primarily a white school," one parent said, before backpedaling. "I don't know if I would use that word exactly." "There aren't a lot of African Americans who live on the Upper West Side," added another parent, who asked that her name be withheld because she was an attorney who works with the city. "We were sad to learn that, you know? I would like more diversity, but we chose to move to this place because we put the quality of the education at a higher value." "We didn't say, 'Oh we want to go to a white school.' That's a stupid statement," scoffed parent Robin Krugman, who is white. "If I needed to just have this," she added, gesturing to her face, "then I'd move to, I don't know, Iowa or Oklahoma." Still, Krugman expressed concern that PS 191 was recently designated as a "persistently dangerous" schoola label its parents and teachers have contested. "I know a parent wrote a question tonight that I promise they're not going to read: 'What about the sex offenders, the bunch of sex offenders, the registered sex offenders that are living across the street?'" Krugman said, before conceding that she had not perused the registry herself. "Now I'm like, 'Oh I need to look at that,'" she added. As an alternative, several parents suggested that the DOE build a new school in the 60s to accommodate all of the new high-rises, or help reverse segregation by bringing minority children into PS 452subjecting families to the same out-of-zone commute that they themselves won't stomach. "If they are trying to spread kids from the Amsterdam Houses to other schools, be explicit," said the prospective kindergarten parent. "Send them to different schools." "Anyone who thinks it's about race or about class is just wrong," the attorney parent argued. "For most of us, I mean. I have no problem if they want to make the school bigger, but do it here." A fourth-grade parent who lives on 103rd Street dismissed concerns about the lengthy commute. "Listening to so much disturbance about family life because of this 15 minutes added [to the commute] is a little bit pathetic," she said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "It's totally idyllic to walk 5 minutes [to school] if you are lucky, but I think the benefits of the new space outweigh all these inconveniences." But most parents maintained that the move would be too much of a blow. "I think a lot of parents would put their children in private school," predicted Bennett. "You take the school away, then what? Then you think maybe it really isn't worth living here anymore," Krugman added. "If we don't want to go to 61st street, what happens to us?" The DOE is expected to present formal proposals for school swapping and rezoning within District 3 this fall. Next Monday, a second meeting on the PS 452 swap will take place at PS 191. Update: A quote above from Robin Krugman has been expanded to include her statement that the concern about sex offenders was in reference to an anonymous question submitted at Monday's meeting by another parent. Google and Apple Maps 6 A couple of months ago, Justin O'Beirne, the former head of cartography for Apple, was using Google Maps when he noticed something different: Google had dramatically reduced the number of readily visible cities on its maps, opting instead to prioritize highways and other means of transportation. Given the sharp reduction, O'Beirne said in an email to Business Insider, he wanted to compare his findings with Apple Maps. O'Beirne found that not only did Apple show three to four times as many cities on its program, but the two maps diverged in several other key areas as well. After studying how the two maps represented three major cities: London, New York, and San Francisco, O'Beirne found that Google Maps heavily labeled transit, while Apple Maps prioritized landmarks, ultimately presenting two different worldviews. In the first installment of a four-part blog series about the difference between the two maps, O'Beirne provided these side-by-side screenshots of Manhattan as shown in Google Maps and Apple Maps at varying degrees of zoom: Google and Apple Maps 7 Google and Apple Maps 8 Google and Apple Maps 9 Even though each map shows a similar number of points of interest, the overlap was only about 15%. In particular, O'Bierne found that Apple showed twice as many restaurants and shops as Google. He noted that Google's design emphasizes utility, while Apple emphasizes a tourist-friendly experience. "Both maps have strengths and weaknesses, and it's hard to say which is better," O'Beirne said. "It's kind of similar to driving in a foreign country: driving on the other side of the road isn't necessarily better ... it's just different." He believes we are rapidly approaching the day when most of the world's population uses the same map, a so-called universal map. "I think the Universal Map is significant because there's nothing else like it in history," O'Beirne said. "If we think of the map as a 'document' (as we would with a traditional paper map), Google Maps has to be one of the most widely read documents in history." Story continues O'Beirne said the company that achieves the status of universal map stood to gain a lot, as its map design has the power to create our shared picture of the world. "Looking at the differences also helped me understand each map's weaknesses and I'm very interested in making something that tops both," O'Beirne said. NOW WATCH: This 14-year-old makes up to $1,500 a night eating dinner in front of a webcam in South Korea More From Business Insider Major stock index firm MSCI said Tuesday it would delay inclusion of the mainland-traded Chinese A shares in its key emerging market index given lingering concerns about market accessibility. "This could be a good thing, because it gives China incentive to push reforms through further rather than give them the benefit of the doubt," said Lucy Qiu, emerging market strategist at UBS Wealth Management. Among issues that must be addressed, MSCI said in a release the 20 percent monthly repatriation limit remained a "significant hurdle" for investors. "Chinese authorities have been trying to attract capital in, but restricting outflows, and this (repatriation limit) is capital restriction out. That does deter a lot of foreign investors," Qiu said, noting that "if the global environment remains benign and the currency depreciation remains gradual, they could actually consider relaxing it." MSCI said it would retain the China A shares inclusion proposal as part of the 2017 review and did not rule out a potential off-cycle announcement "should further significant positive developments occur ahead of June 2017." "International institutional investors clearly indicated that they would like to see further improvements in the accessibility of the China A shares market before its inclusion in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index," Remy Briand, managing director and global head of research at MSCI, said in the release. "In keeping with its standard practice, MSCI will monitor the implementation of the recently announced policy changes and will seek feedback from market participants." The release also said investors needed more time to assess the effectiveness of the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor program (QFII) investment quota allocation, capital mobility policy changes and the effectiveness of the new trading suspension policies. "It appears the changes, while they have occurred, are too recent," said Chris Johnson, vice president of ETF sales and strategy at Macquarie in New York. Story continues Last year, MSCI rejected the Chinese shares given concerns about market accessibility, liquidity and share ownership. The mainland Chinese stocks have had high volatility since then, including stock suspensions last summer and a circuit breaker fiasco in January. The Shanghai composite is down more than 40 percent over the last 12 months. Chinese regulators in the last few months stepped up efforts to address many of those concerns, including a late May announcement by the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges of revised rules to limit stock suspensions. Analysts from firms such as Goldman Sachs recently increased their expectations that MSCI would have a favorable decision Tuesday. MSCI did note Tuesday Chinese authorities have made "significant improvements" in accessibility for global investors. "It's basically painted a fairly positive picture on the Chinese market, but it's not quite there for broad foreign investment," Johnson said. The Deutsche X-trackers Harvest CSI 300 China A-Shares ETF (ASHR) (NYSE Arca: ASHR) traded more than 2 percent lower in after-hours trade. The iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM) (NYSE Arca: EEM) was unchanged. Without the A shares, the Chinese stocks listed in MSCI's emerging market index are all traded in either Hong Kong or the United States. That means the world's second-largest economy makes up only about one-fourth of the benchmark index, while projected full inclusion of A shares would bring that ratio to more than one third. With about $1.5 trillion in assets under management tracking the index, China is keen to tap those funds as foreign investors search for returns outside their home markets. To be sure, MSCI has said any inclusion would not be implemented immediately, and initial weighting of China A shares would be just 1.1 percent of the emerging market index. "My hope was the MSCI decision would almost require asset managers and money managers to garner a better understanding of what's taking place in China," said Brendan Ahern, chief investment officer at China ETF provider KraneShares. "It's always a question of when and not if. It's just disappointing some of those misperceptions might persist until MSCI requires investors to ... do the due diligence that's required to invest." More From CNBC Kinross Gold Corporation KGC said that the strike at its Tasiast mine in Mauritania has ended. The strike commenced on May 24, 2016 and the striking employees started to return to work on June 11. Negotiations with the staff delegates on a new collective labor deal are expected to restart within 10 days. Employees hold the right to strike during negotiations, subject to Mauritanian labor laws. The strike is not expected to impact Kinross's annual regional guidance and did not affect the development of the Phase One expansion at the mine. Kinross, during its first-quarter 2016 earnings release, stated that the Tasiast Phase One expansion is underway. The development will nearly double production levels and halve the cost of sales. The company reported a net loss of $13.9 million for the first quarter of 2016, much wider than a net loss of $6.7 million in the year-ago quarter. Loss widened particularly due to lower gold prices. The figure includes one-time items including foreign exchange losses of $2.8 million, and acquisition-related costs of $7.6 million. Adjusted earnings (excluding one-time items) were $1.4 million or a breakeven, compared with adjusted earnings of $15.3 million or a penny per share recorded in the year-ago quarter. Analysts polled by Zacks were expecting a loss of a penny per share on an average. Revenues of $782.6 million were almost in line with the year-ago quarter as higher gold sales were partly offset by lower average realized gold prices. Revenues, however, missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $796 million. Kinross currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked mining companies are B2Gold Corp. BTG, Golden Star Resources, Ltd. GSS and Pretium Resources Inc. PVG, all sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report PRETIUM RES INC (PVG): Free Stock Analysis Report KINROSS GOLD (KGC): Free Stock Analysis Report GOLDEN STAR RES (GSS): Free Stock Analysis Report B2GOLD CORP (BTG): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research decathlon Finance Insider is Business Insider's summary of the top stories of the past 24 hours. To sign up, scroll to the bottom of this page and click "Get updates in your inbox," or click here. The American corporation has been transformed by globalization and new technology. But equally powerful is the belief on Wall Street and in boardrooms that the sole responsibility of a corporation is to maximize profits for shareholders. As part of our ongoing series "The Price of Profits," we took a look at IBM, a company that for years refused to lay off workers, and then had to rethink its corporate strategy. Monday evening marked the most important moment so far in the run-up to the June 23 referendum on whether Britain will leave the European Union, with new polling showing a lead for the "Leave" campaign and the widely read newspaper The Sun endorsing that campaign. The probability of a so-called Brexit an event that "would open Pandora's box" in Europe is the largest it has ever been. Brevan Howard, one of the world's biggest hedge funds, is said to be preparing itself in case more investors withdraw funds. A rule has been broken on Wall Street, and 'any banker with a brain' is now looking for an exit. Investors are sending a strong signal that they're tired of takeovers. Someone just lost a ton of money on LinkedIn, and the SEC probably has questions. A hedge fund manager made a killing on Microsoft-LinkedIn here's what he thinks about the takeover. And here are the bankers who worked on the massive deal. A few random shareholders just made the Valeant CEO sound stumped in less than 20 minutes. And welcome to Wall Street's "Valley of Death." Here are the top Wall Street headlines at midday: Incremental: What Wall Street is saying about Apples underwhelming big event The general sentiment on Wall Street is that Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference event in San Francisco on Monday was not groundbreaking. Story continues Goldman Sachs has been accused of hiring prostitutes to win business in Libya Goldman Sachs hired prostitutes to win business from Libya's sovereign wealth fund, established by late-dictator Muammar Gaddafi, a UK court has been told. Here's what private-equity billionaire Henry Kravis learned from losing a deal to Warren Buffett Kravis has learned a thing or two from Warren Buffett. Deutsche Bank's Asia chief is leaving Deutsche Bank's Asia Pacific chief executive officer Gunit Chadha has decided to step down from his role at the German lender, effective July 17. Investors haven't hoarded cash like this in 15 years There's a lot to be nervous about in the investing world right now. Here's the bizarre reason Fed statements became a whole lot easier to read in 2002 Occasionally, a seemingly bizarre question has a simple answer. Inflation is getting out of control in Africa's largest economy Africa's largest economy is failing to keep inflation under control. Here are some mind-blowing facts about the ads in Times Square The ads in Times Square are known as an attraction for the millions of tourists who visit New York City each year. Inside the intense event that decides 'Wall Streets Best Athlete' The fittest men and women on Wall Street competed for the crown of "Wall Street's Best Athlete' on Sunday June 12. More From Business Insider SHANGHAI, June 14 (Reuters) - China-based labour groups have criticised Walt Disney Co over conditions at a small number of its local suppliers, highlighting issues such as low wages, high rates of injury and health risks from exposure to chemicals and dust. Disney, set to open a $5.5 billion theme park in mainland China on Thursday, said it took any violation of labour regulations "seriously" and that it would investigate any allegations against its suppliers. A report from Hong-Kong based advocacy group Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour (SACOM) said some workers at eight Disney suppliers it had investigated were forced to work long hours and paid wages below the minimum legally allowed. Injury levels were also high because of old machinery and a lack of training or protective equipment. In a separate report, China Labour Watch cited issues at two other factories, including low wages, exposure to chemicals and ineffective audits of working conditions by clients. A Disney spokeswoman said in emailed comments that the firm takes "seriously claims of labour standards violations against the independent facilities producing Disney-branded products". "It is our practice to thoroughly investigate those allegations and assist facilities in remediation efforts and comply with local regulations." Disney is not the first global name to come be criticised for worker conditions in China: iPhone maker Apple Inc has been singled out on several occasions over supplier issues in the country. Both SACOM and China Labour Watch pointed out their investigations, which involved working undercover at the factories, had only covered a fraction of suppliers to Disney, which raked in $52.5 billion last year worldwide, including $4.5 billion from consumer products. SACOM said it has found that the supplier companies withheld full overtime payments, fined workers for taking leave, and often employed staff without an official contract, which it said was a "breach of law". Story continues The group also criticised Disney for lax oversight of the supplier factories and for third-party inspections being flagged in advance. The factories made products such as branded bags, hair clips and mugs. "Knowing the time and subject of the audit, the factories were able to hide things in advance, and the genuine labour conditions could not be uncovered," SACOM said. Disney is making a big bet on China with its Shanghai park, its first in mainland China, and already contends with challenges from popular local cartoons to a sometimes hostile reception from Chinese business rivals and state media. (Reporting by Adam Jourdan; Editing by Christopher Cushing) On Monday night, millions of people around the globe came together to mourn the lives lost in Orlando this weekend. One such vigil was held in Los Angeles, where LGBT activist Lady Gaga gave a heartbreaking tribute to the victims of the worst mass shooting in United States history. I cant help but feel that this level of hatred, like all prejudicial crimes, this is an attack on humanity itself, she said. This is an attack on everyone. With tears in her eyes, Gaga, who called speaking at the 2009 National Equality March Rally the most important moment of her career, continued. We mourn the tragic loss of these innocent, beautiful people. Lets all today pledge an allegiance of love to them and to their families who are suffering so deeply. They are sons and daughters. They were fathers and mothers. They are all our brothers and our sisters. But, tonight I will not allow my anger and outrage over this attack to overshadow our need to honor those who are grieving truly for their lost ones; lost members of the LGBT community. I hope you know that myself and so many are your allies. Not only me, but everyone here. We represent the compassion and the loyalty of millions of people around the world that believe in you. You are not alone, you are not alone. (Via) She concluded, Tomorrow I hope that we all race thoughtfully and loudly towards solutions. But tonight, and right now, Orlando, we are united with you. And we are here to remember. (Via Entertainment Weekly) KELOWNA, BC / ACCESSWIRE / June 14, 2016 / Laguna Blends Inc. (CSE:LAG) (OTC:LAGBF) (Frankfurt: LB6A.F) (the "Company" or "Laguna") is pleased to announce that, following commencement of operations on March 7, 2016, the Company generated unaudited sales of $105,000 for the eleven-week period ended May 31, 2016. Sales are calculated based on the total product orders purchased from the existing Laguna affiliates located in the USA and Canada during this period. Hundreds of independent affiliates placed one or more sales orders during this period. Laguna recently launched sales on March 7, 2016. Ray Grimm Jr., President of Laguna Blends Inc. said, "Laguna's first eleven weeks of pre-launch shows a great deal of promise in respect to Laguna Blends' long term business potential. There has been an impressive reaction to the Affiliate business opportunity and the products. It's important to understand that comparing sales data between traditional retail and Network marketing is sort of like comparing an apple to an orange. Network Marketing is based upon the concept of geometric growth, that can have a multiplication effect, month over month." Ray Grimm Jr. went on to say, "Laguna has exceeded its internal sales goals. This indicates that Laguna is on track with its long term sales growth strategy. In addition, there were a lot of product re-orders from March to May from the existing affiliates which is very encouraging. Seeing a high re-order rate further indicates Affiliates and customers are having a positive product experience and that there is a strong demand for the Laguna products." About Laguna Blends Inc. Laguna is a network marketing company that generates retail sales through independent affiliates. Affiliates utilize tools and technology that enable them to build an international business from their own home or anywhere else in the world. This technology replaces the need for expensive travel and hotel meetings. The Company is currently focused on the nutritional health benefits derived from hemp. Laguna's first product category as an entry to market are functional beverage products that contain hemp and other efficacious ingredients. Laguna's initial products to market are the following: Story continues "Caffe" is an instant, "just add water" hot coffee beverage that is infused with both whey and hemp protein. With 2 grams of protein in every serving, our proprietary product packs a powerful protein punch. Caffe, contains Instant coffee, whey protein hydrolysate, hemp protein, natural flavors. "Pro369" is a single serving, "on-the-go," plant based, instant, hemp protein that is served cold and comes in 4 delicious flavors. Pro369 is water soluble and can be directly mixed in water, added to milk, almond milk or coconut milk. Pro369 can also be blended in a shake or smoothie. Pro369 is also a source of Omegas, 3, 6 and 9 and contains ginseng. Laguna Blends has been granted approval from Health Canada for four powdered Pro369 flavours: Chocolate Banana, Mixed Berry and Vanilla Caramel and Tropical Powder. Pro369 contains Hemp protein, natural flavors, stevia, and American ginseng. The Minister of Health from Health Canada has granted Laguna a product license along with a Natural Product Number ("NPN") for all four of the Pro369 Flavours. They are all listed under the same NPN. i. A source of protein that helps build and repair body tissues. ii. Source of amino acids involved in muscle protein synthesis. iii. Assists in the building of lean muscle. iv. An adaptogen to help maintain a healthy immune system. v. Supportive therapy for the promotion of healthy glucose levels. Hemp has long been recognized by the health and nutrition industry as a super food, cited in many publications as a balanced source of all ingredients required to achieve health and wellness. HempOmega HempOmega is an environmentally sustainable, vegetarian source of Omegas 3 and 6 that boasts a superior nutrient profile. A water soluble, homogenous, powdered ingredient, it can be easily integrated and/or manipulated, with no unpleasant taste or chemical contamination - opening up entirely new product formulation opportunities. Hemp Omega's greater ability to endure the digestive process delivers unmatched bioavailability, thereby maximizing its potential health benefits. The Company sells its products through its independent affiliates in the USA and Canada. HempOmega is a Trademark owned by Naturally Splendid Enterprises, Ltd. and is used under license by Laguna Blends Inc. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD "Stuart Gray" Chief Executive Officer FOR INVESTOR RELATIONS INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: QualityStocks Scottsdale, Arizona www.QualityStocks.com 480.374.1336 Office ir@lagunablends.com www.lagunablends.com www.lagunaworld.com Join Us On Face Book: https://www.facebook.com/LagunaBlends/ Twitter: @LagunaBlends Forward-Looking Information: This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws relating to statements regarding the Company's business, products and future plans including, without limitation, statements regarding Laguna's long term potential and that there is strong demand for its products. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward looking information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct and makes no reference to profitability based on sales reported. Readers are cautioned to not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Such forward looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance and developments to differ materially from those contemplated by these statements depending on, among other things, the risks that the Company's sales for the quarters ended March 31st and ending June 30th may be materially different that reported herein and the Company may not be able to carry out its business plans as expected. Except as required by law, the Company expressly disclaims any obligation, and does not intend, to update any forward looking statements or forward-looking information in this news release. The statements in this news release are made as of the date of this release. SOURCE: Laguna Blends Inc. The principal selected to lead one of the city's top public high schools after an embarrassing cheating scandal is stepping down after four years. Stuyvesant High School principal Jie Zhang wrote in an email to the school community: "After being an educator for over 30 years, I have decided to retire from the New York City Department of Education, effective July 21, 2016. This difficult decision was made following an offer to serve as the superintendent of the New York Military Academy, a private boarding school in Upstate New York." Zhang took over after longtime Stuyvesant principal Stanley Teitel retired in August 2012. Earlier that summer, it turned out students had been cheating for Regents exams by trading texts. The cheating ring rocked the school, though graduates have said that cheating was pretty commonplace. Zhang said at the time of her appointment, "My top priority is to create a positive school culture that ensures integrity and zero tolerance for cheating." However, some teachers have had their issues with her, complaining about her hiring allegedly unqualified friends to take over administrative positions and inadequately staffing classes, forcing teachers to take on extra classes. Alumni have questioned her handling of alumni relations. And last year, the number of students who were semi-finalists at the Intel Science Search dropped to just two, after 11 in 2014. The New York Military Academy, which Donald Trump attended (along with Stephen Sondheim and John A. Gotti Jr.), has had financial problems in the past few years. The NY Times reports: Grappling with bankruptcy, the military academy was bought at auction in September for $16 million by a nonprofit conservation group run by Vincent Tianquan Mo, a real estate entrepreneur based in China and Great Neck, N.Y. The school, which once had an enrollment of 500, had just 10 students this past semester and expects 100 this coming fall. By contrast, Stuyvesant has 3,000 students. Jin Xu, secretary of the academys board of trustees, said the school had hired Ms. Zhang because it felt she could recruit a top-flight staff that would in turn bring in first-rate students, half of them foreign and half local. This is a chance to turn this school into one of the best schools in the country, Mr. Xu said. Shes a world-class educator. Zhang told the Times that "at 56 she was eligible to retire with a sizable pension that she could add to her salary at the academy, which she said was comparable to her current Stuyvesant salary of $157,000." Also, since the owner is from China and the expected student body will likely include Chinese students, she said, "I always dreamed for years of doing something that combined the two cultures. For the first time my cultural background and language will be part of my job." Zhang's email to the Stuy community noted her heritage, "My journey in the United States began on July 21, 1985, when I landed at JFK for the first time to pursue my American dream. This date is so significant to me that I have chosen it to close the book on one chapter of my career and begin another. As a 'red scarf girl' who spoke no English at the age of 25, I could never have imagined my first job as a teacher at Rikers Island or, especially, that I would one day be the principal of Stuyvesant High School. I want to thank everyone who has supported me over the years, especially the Stuyvesant family for helping me through the past four years as your principal. This has been one of the most challenging, yet most rewarding experiences, and I will always look back at Stuyvesant with a smile." Stuyvesant's graduation is June 22; the final day of classes is June 28. The Pledge of Allegiance to the United States flag has been part of American life for generations, but not without some constitutional controversy. The pledge has existed in some form since September 1892 when it appeared in a magazine article that commemorated the 400th anniversary of Columbus arrival in the New World. Francis Bellamy, an ordained minister, had taken the writing assignment to create a pledge that would be taken on Columbus Day by millions of school children. Under the pressure of a deadline, Bellamy created the following pledge, which didnt mention the words under God: I pledge allegiance to my flag and the Republic for which it standsone Nation indivisiblewith liberty and justice for all. Bellamy added an extra word, to, before the Republic, but other school officials modified the pledge over the years. Two historical groups added to the flag of the United States of America. In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a Flag Code law passed by Congress that included the Pledge. The Supreme Court then took the unusual step of ruling against the Jehovahs Witnesses in a legal fight against the Pledge and reversing its own ruling within three years. First in 1940 in the case of Minersville v. Gobitis, the Court said that a public school could force students who were Jehovahs Witnesses to salute the flag and say the pledge. Justice Felix Frankfurter said in the majority opinion that conscientious scruples have not, in the course of the long struggle for religious toleration, relieved the individual from obedience to a general law not aimed at the promotion or restriction of religious beliefs. However, in 1943, the Court changed its course in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, where the majority said that the Free Speech clause of the First Amendment prohibits public schools from forcing students to salute the American flag and say the Pledge of Allegiance. If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. If there are any circumstances which permit an exception, they do not now occur to us, said Justice Robert Jackson in his opinion. Story continues Justice Frankfurter said in his dissent that, The very purpose of a Bill of Rights was to withdraw certain subjects from the vicissitudes of political controversy, to place them beyond the reach of majorities and officials and to establish them as legal principles to be applied by the courts. Later in the decade, some local groups added the words under God to the Pledge and in 1954, President Dwight Eisenhower signed a bill passed by Congress that put the words under God within the phrase one nation indivisible. Over the following decades, there have been legal challenges to the Pledge and the use of the two words in the Pledge. Most notably, in 2004 the Supreme Court ruled in a case from an atheist who said a California schools pledge requirement violated his daughters rights under the First Amendments Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses. The Supreme Court decided in Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow the Justices didnt rule on the legality of the words under God violating the First Amendment. Instead, Justice John Paul Stevens said Newdow didnt have standing to bring suit because he lacked sufficient custody over his daughter. But Chief Justice William Renquist and Justices Sandra Day OConnor and Clarence Thomas wrote separate concurrences, stating that requiring teachers to lead the Pledge was constitutional. A similar challenge to the pledge was denied by two federal appeals courts in 2010, which ruled that that the Pledge of Allegiance does not violate the Establishment Clause because Congress ostensible and predominant purpose was to inspire patriotism and both the choice to engage in the recitation of the Pledge and the choice not to do so are entirely voluntary. Two recent legal challenges also targeted state constitutions, and not the U.S. Constitution, for guidance about using the words under God. Back in 2014 in Massachusetts, the case of Jane Doe Vs. Acton-Boxborough Regional School District involved a group of parents, teachers and the American Humanist Association in an action against a school district. The group claimed the Pledge requirement, including the use of the words under God, violates the equal protection clause of the states constitution. The state Supreme Court didnt agree. Also in 2014, a New Jersey family and the American Humanist Association filed a similar lawsuit against the Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District, seeking to eliminate the use of the words under God from Pledges taken at public schools. The school district said that it is just following a New Jersey state law that requires schools to have a daily recitation of the pledge, and that individual students arent forced to take part. In February 2015, a judge ruled in favor of the school district. Recent Stories on Constitution Daily Inside the Supreme Courts flag burning decision How much do you know about the American flag? From 2011: Justice Scalia rails again about flag-burning weirdoes Legendary Pictures and Universal have pulled Spectral from the August release calendar. The movie, described as a supernatural Black Hawk Down, had been set to open Aug. 12. No new date has been announced. Spectral has been completed for more than a year. The sci-fi thriller was one of the projects already underway at Legendary when the financing and production company left Warner Bros. and struck a new deal with Universal that commenced in 2014. Universal is only a distributor on the film. Both the studio and Legendary declined comment beyond confirming Spectral won't hit theaters in August. Insiders say the decision was made at least a month ago, although the film is still listed as having an Aug. 12 release date on comScore, the industry clearinghouse. However, BoxOfficeMojo.com shows the change being recorded on Monday. Directed by commercials helmer Nic Mathieu, Spectral stars James Badge Dale, Max Martini, Emily Mortimer and Bruce Greenwood and revolves around a special ops team who battle supernatural entities taking over a European city. News about Spectral comes only days after Universal and Legendary released Warcraft, the big-budget video game adaptation that boasted a record opening in China but bombed in North America. Warcraft will likely need to earn at least $450 million globally to break even for Legendary and parent company Dalian Wanda, the Chinese conglomerate and world's largest theater-chain owner, along with Universal and a raft of Chinese investors. All eyes will be on how well Warcraft holds, or doesn't, in its second weekend of play in China, where Wanda - which is considering an IPO - and Legendary are handling the movie's release directly. Universal has distribution duties in the rest of the world. Read More: Can Legendary Entertainment Bypass China's Film Quota System? Her voice cracking, self-described Latina butch dyke Lisbeth Melendez Rivera told a Washington vigil that she had known some of the victims of last weekends shooting massacre at an Orlando gay Latin dance night, where a gunman declared allegiance to the Islamic State before killing 49 people. Then she invited her wife, whom she said was half-Muslim, to stand with her. The conversation in my house this weekend was about what it is to be Muslim, what it is to be Catholic; to live at the intersections of all of who we are, Melendez Rivera told the crowd that gathered at Washingtons Dupont Circle on Monday night. She closed by saying a prayer in Spanish. The vigils attendees stood at a complex crossroads of the LGBT community, Muslims, and people of color who all face discrimination and hate crimes in the United States. Reeling with anxiety that it easily have been them who were gunned down, they expressed frustration about political portrayals of the attack. The vigil was organized by the Muslim American Womens Policy Forum. On the Dupont Circle fountain, signs with the victims names were adorned with flowers and candles and a makeshift altar held a rainbow flag and signs decrying hatred and violence. Sahar Shafqat, a co-founder of Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity, told Foreign Policy she was compelled to help organize the vigil by tremendous grief and anxiety about backlash and being demonized. Hours earlier, Shafqat watched dueling speeches by presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump with dismay. She said both demonized Muslims and that both politicians have not been exactly champions of the LGBT community. If Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton would understand that there are queer Muslims, that there are queer Latinos, I think their heads would explode, Shafqat said, adding that the election season had targeted both Muslim and transgender people. A moment of hope, however, came in seeing straight Muslims standing up for LGBT people, Shafqat said. I dont want [the Orlando shootings] to be used as a justification for violence overseas, violence against people in the U.S., or for racial profiling, she said. Story continues During the vigil, prayers were offered in Hindi, Spanish, English, and Arabic. One was delivered by Sister Sedusa, a member of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a drag performance group, whose face was covered with white pancake makeup and painted-on blue tears. Many speakers including those who identified themselves only by their first names pointed out that most of the shooting victims were LGBT Latinos and Latinas. Speakers urged the crowd to understand the shootings as a homophobic hate crime made possible by easy access to assault rifles, rather than any ties to the Islamic State. Im a felon. I cant vote, said Daniel, a man who was visiting D.C. from Florida. But I can buy an assault rifle in Orlando. The final speaker, a middle-aged man named Frank, was met with cheers when he described himself as a big old fairy faggoty fag. We are here, we are alive, and we are breathing, he said. He invited the audience to take their grief and turn it into a sound. The crowd roared. He then asked that everyone turn the love they felt into a sound as well. Hundreds of people hummed and sang. Carry that sound with you, he said. Photo credit: MEGAN ALPERT/Foreign Policy Correction, June 14, 2016: The speaker who identified as a Latina butch dyke is Lisbeth Melendez Rivera, not Rosa Menendez Rivera as a previous version of this article stated. Tripoli (AFP) - The head of Libya's unity government urged Libyans to rally behind the battle against jihadists in Sirte, as the UN approved an operation to stop the flood of weapons into the country. Pro-government forces are fighting to oust the Islamic State group from Sirte, whose fall would be a major setback for the extremists who have also lost territory in Syria and Iraq. The UN Security Council unanimously authorised a European Union naval mission to enforce an arms embargo on the country and expand Operation Sophia which has been combating migrant-smuggling. Diplomats hope the move will shore up the UN-backed administration led by prime minister-designate Fayez al-Sarraj, who on Tuesday said advances by pro-government fighters in Sirte should be a model for "a national initiative to fight terrorism". Forces allied with his Government of National Accord have been fighting since mid-May to oust IS from Sirte, 450 kilometres (280 miles) east of the capital Tripoli. "We bless the victories of our sons on the front lines... in the fight to liberate Sirte and cleanse it" of IS, he said in a televised statement released on the Facebook page of the GNA. Pro-government troops -- a mix of militias and army units -- have taken control of Sirte's port and airport. But their advance slowed at the end of last week as they reached central and northern parts of the city where IS fighters are holed up in residential areas. - IS attack repelled - "This morning at dawn our forces repelled a new attack by Islamic State in which it attempted to capture the port," Reda Issa, a spokesman for the unity government's forces, told AFP on Tuesday. Later the GNA forces said they lost two fighters and 14 wounded in clashes with IS in Sirte, which they claimed to have advanced on. The fighting has left 140 pro-GNA fighters dead and 500 injured, according to medical officials. Established in Tripoli more than two months ago, Libya's unity government has been struggling to unify violence-ridden Libya and exert its control over the entire North African country. Story continues Its task is complicated by the presence of a parallel government operating out of eastern Libya, backed by local militias and units of the national army loyal to a controversial general, Khalifa Haftar. Haftar refuses to recognise the GNA, and considers its forces "militias outside the law". "We are following the battle in Sirte... we are watching, and we will see what happens," Colonel Ahmad al-Mesmari, a spokesman for forces loyal to Haftar, told AFP. Haftar's forces have been fighting Islamist and jihadist militias -- including IS -- for two years in Benghazi, 350 kilometres (220 miles) east of Sirte. Haftar's "Libyan Arab armed forces" -- equipped with fighter jets, tanks and rocket launchers -- have appealed for a lifting of the arms embargo to help his forces fight extremists. The operation against IS in Sirte enjoys wide support in western Libya, where many welcomed the GNA's installation in the capital Tripoli on March 30. - Awash with weapons - Haftar has faced growing opposition in Benghazi since the GNA's installation in Tripoli, said Mohamed Eljarh, a Libya expert at the Rafik Hariri Centre for the Middle East. He said Haftar's position is particularly hard "given that forces loyal to the GNA, his main rival, are on the point of liberating the city of Sirte from the clutches of IS". Jihadist groups took root in Libya in late 2014, taking advantage of the chaos and power struggles that followed the fall of Moamer Kadhafi's regime in 2011. The country is awash with weapons -- 20 million pieces of weaponry in a land of six million people, UN envoy Martin Kobler told the Security Council last week. An arms embargo imposed on Libya in 2011 during the uprising against Kadhafi remains in force. The resolution adopted at the UN allows EU vessels to "inspect... vessels bound to, or from Libya which they have reasonable grounds to believe are carrying arms or related material to or from Libya." Stronger enforcement of the embargo would limit weapons falling into the hands of IS and other anti-government forces, and could pave the way for an exemption allowing for arms deliveries to the GNA. According to American officials, there are around 5,000 IS jihadists in Libya. The vast majority, including many foreigners, are in Sirte, which the group seized in 2015. Lil Wayne was hospitalized in Omaha, NE after his private plane made two emergency landings, according to Buzzfeed. Local station KETV reports the rapper suffered a seizure in the air while traveling from Milwaukee to California, causing his plane to divert to Omaha. The rapper, whose real name is Dwayne Carter, will spend at least one night in a local hospital. Lil Wayne Talks On-the-Fly Guitar Lesson From Willie Nelson Omaha fire department officials entered the rappers plane at approximately 3 p.m. local time, though the rapper initially refused any medical treatment. The plane then took off and subsequently made contact with officials saying that the rapper continued to have medical issues. According to KETV, the plane circled back and returned to the airport, where Carter was taken to the emergency room of CHI Health Creighton University Medical Center. The news was first reported by TMZ. A rep for Lil Wayne did not immediately reply to a request for comment. (Editors Note: On June 13, a rep for Lil Wayne told Billboard that the rapper is stable and in good spirits after suffering a minor seizure.) In 2012, Carter was hospitalized after suffering a seizure, forcing his private jet to make an emergency landing in Texas. "Lil Wayne was successfully released from the hospital after being treated for a severe migraine and dehydration, his rep said at the time. "He is at home on doctor-mandated rest and will return to work soon. Five months later, the rapper suffered additional seizures while on the set of a music video and was hospitalized overnight. Two weeks later, he revealed that he had epilepsy. Im prone to seizures, Wayne told Los Angeles radio station Power 106. This isnt my first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh seizure. Ive had a bunch of seizures, y'all just never hear about them. But this time it got real bad 'cause I had three of them in a row and on the third one, my heart rate went down to like 30 percent. Basically, I couldve died, so that is why it was so serious. But the reason being for the seizures is just plain stress, no rest, overworking myself." Story continues The rapper is scheduled to appear with 2 Chainz at Kansas City, MOs Sprint Center this Saturday, though it is unclear if the show will continue as scheduled. Related Lil Wayne Rapper Lil Wayne, 33, was hospitalized Monday after suffering two seizures, forcing his California-bound flight to make two emergency landings in Omaha, Nebraska. The rapper, whose real name is Dwayne Carter, was traveling from Milwaukee to California when he suffered his first seizure. TMZ reported that Carter lost consciousness mid-flight and subsequently refused treatment when paramedics arrived at his plane around 3 p.m. local time. According to local station KETV, the plane then took off but soon circled back to the Omaha airport after Carter suffered his second seizure. The rapper was then taken to CHI Health Creighton University Medical Center, where he reportedly spent the night in the emergency room. A representative for the rapper has confirmed to The Fader that Carter is now "in stable condition and good spirits," following the hospital stay. In 2012, Carter suffered a string of seizures, one of which similarly forced his private jet to make an emergency landing in Texas. In March 2013, after several seizures, he was hospitalized and placed in a medically induced coma. Later that month, the rapper revealed that he suffers from epilepsy, which he said causes "recurring seizures." NOW WATCH: 4 important things you probably missed on this week's 'Game of Thrones' More From Business Insider From Woman's Day Adoptions are inherently happy stories, but this one is truly a fairytale ending. Surrounded by princesses and wearing a tiara, 5-year-old Danielle was adopted by her foster family in a princess-themed adoption hearing in Grand Rapids, Michigan, according to ABC News. It all started when Kristina Grey, Danielle's caseworker from Samaritas foster care services, wanted to plan the perfect surprise for her. "She simply asked a fellow caseworker named Taylor if she wouldn't mind dressing up as Cinderella, who is Danielle's favorite princess," Trina Kent, the family development specialist at Samaritas, told Buzzfeed. When the office found out what Kristina was planning, several caseworkers wanted to get involved too. Nine princesses and one prince came to Danielle's adoption hearing. The judge dressed up as Snow White for the occasion too! Danielle's mom, Sarah Koning, said Danielle was shocked when she saw the princesses arrive: "The look on her face was priceless." The Konings have been fostering Danielle since 2014 and also adopted another girl, 1-year-old Neveah, the same day. "It's obviously a very meaningful day, a joyous occasion," said Laura Mitchell, the executive director of Samaritas. "The hearing is definitely a celebration that the kids now have forever families. And it shows the love and compassion that our case workers have." Congratulations to Princess Danielle and her family! You can see all of Danielle's "Princess Adoption Day," in this video from Samaritas: Londons new mayor is calling for a ban on body-shaming adverts like this one from Protein World [Photo: Rex Features] Are you beach body ready? the tagline asked alongside a super skinny image of a model in a bikini. People were outraged by the Protein World ad, claiming it was demeaning and heaped on the body perfect pressure. To be beach body ready, you just need to head to the beach, right? But it seems newly appointed London Mayor, Sadiq Khan agrees with the 70,000 who signed a petition to get the weight loss product ad banned. And top of his to-do list since being elected in May is calling for an end to body-shaming adverts on the Transport for London (TfL) public transport network. On the back of the controversy surrounding the Protein World ad last April, Khan has made it his duty to put the stoppers on all media which is demeaning, particularly to women. Yet, though the advert received 378 complaints from the public and sparked a huge online backlash which involved a protest in Hyde Park, complaints made to watchdog ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) were ignored by the company as they deemed the advert was not offensive. Women taking a stand against Protein Worlds advert at the Taking Back The Beach protest in Hyde Park [Photo: Rex Features] So Khan has decided to take matters into his own hands after revealing in a recent statement that the issue is something very close to his heart. As the father of two teenage girls, I am extremely concerned about this kind of advertising which can demean people, particularly women, and make them ashamed of their bodies. It is high time it came to an end. Nobody should feel pressurised, while they travel on the Tube or bus, into unrealistic expectations surrounding their bodies and I want to send a clear message to the advertising industry about this. This isnt the first time the UK has taken a stand in the body positivity/advertisement debate. Last year, the Advertising Standards Authority banned a YSL ad for featuring a unhealthily underweight model. And earlier this year the ASA also banned a Gucci ad for similar reasons. Story continues Do you think body-shaming adverts should be banned? Let us know @YahooStyleUK Gym Ad Slammed For Fat-Shaming Instagram Forced To Apologise To Plus Size Blogger For Removing Her Bikini Selfie Isabelle Hupperts return to the London stage is welcome, but it comes in an impenetrable indulgence by Polish director Krystof Warlikowski. First seen at the Odeon Theatre de lEurope in Paris, and now playing at the Barbican Centre and headlining the London International Festival of Theatre, Phaedra(s) strings together a triptych of takes, direct and indirect, on the ill-fated Ancient Greek queen. For each, Huppert shapeshifts entirely a hydra of Phaedras but to little cumulative effect. Too little, certainly, for almost four hours of static inaction. Rather than a dramaturgical smash-and-grab, welding elements of each version into a mash-up of the myth, Warlikowski lines up three versions of the Phaedra myth in a row: Wajdi Mouawads kaleidoscopic reflection, Sarah Kanes scatological revision and, loosest by far, J.M. Coetzees novella Elizabeth Costello. Played back to back, theyre neither varied enough to make a comprehensive character study, nor connected enough to make a particular case. On a gold-gilt stage, tiled like a luxury shower room and shimmering like a sarcophagus, Warlikowski plays out a theatrical experiment. Metal swinging doors suggest an institution; huge glass windows, an observation chamber. At one level, the trio testifies simply to the malleability of myths. At another, they add up to an examination of older women Phaedra in relation to her younger stepson and lover Hippolytus. Another still says something indistinct about the godliness of humanity. Mouawad spins Euripedes and Seneca through a process of fractional distillation, splitting the story of Aphrodites embodiment as Phaedra into different traits the beauty of Phaedras femininity; the cruelty of her killing a dog; the purity, even innocence, of her sexual relationship with her stepson; the reality that follows. Kanes is baser, grossly human, as a frail Phaedra, abandoned by her husband, lusts over her slob of a stepson as the Psycho shower scene recurs on loop. He, meanwhile, prefers his skinny supermodel-esque half-sister, Strophe as does his returning father Theseus. Story continues Finally, Coetzees academic, Elizabeth Costello, completes the set: framed as a kind of Phaedra, perhaps an older woman belittled. In a chatty lecture discussion format, she rattles through ideas about why gods might copulate with humans in literature, about our own godliness and our own humanity, all the while patronized and flirted at by the male chair. Between each section, a young woman in a spangled two-piece dances herself into a hypnotic frenzy, stopping the action and holding the attention absolutely. For each, Huppert completely reinvents herself, disappearing into character while the dancer stands present as herself, in her own body. Hupperts blonde earth-mama gives way to an auburn-haired trophy wife, spindle thin beneath enormous sunglasses, and then again to a bedraggled brunette academic, outwardly plain but whip-sharp. Its a fine display of shapeshifting, each Phaedra quite unrecognizable as the same woman, though, until the Coetzee, her delivery tends to the emphatic. Yet its never remotely clear what Warlikowskis up to why Phaedra merits our attention in the modern world, let alone why these three Phaedras should be studied. Rather than add up, the pieces cancel each other out. Sandwiched between two reflective pieces, Kanes punkish revision looks like so much juvenilia, while its partners seem hazy and pretentious. The pace is interminable, the length inordinate and the insights are insignificant by comparison. Phaedra, singular, would have been plenty. Related stories Cannes Film Review: 'Elle' London Theater Review: Ivo van Hove Directs Shakespeare in 'Kings of War' Berlin: Isabelle Huppert's 'Things to Come' Bought by Sundance Selects The Newly-Posted Article Discusses How a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy will Impact a Person's Financial Life LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / June 14, 2016 / MyBKHelp.com, a website that was launched by bankruptcy attorneys, has just posted a new article that answers the important question: How Long Does Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Stay on Credit Report? As the new blog notes, in the United States, a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy will stay on a credit report for seven years, which is definitely a long time. People who are considering filing this type of bankruptcy, the article says, should think long and hard about how it may impact their financial future. One of the ways that Chapter 7 Bankruptcy can negatively affect a person is in their ability to qualify for a loan. By filing, the person's individual credit score will be negatively impacted and it can often become impossible to apply for a new debt. "Your current debts are canceled and forgotten, but a bad credit rating and ban on getting a loan will go on staying with you," the new blog noted, adding that the law requires that people are honest and equitable with every part of filing Chapter 7 Bankruptcy. "A person has a chance to return his credit rating and not to be punished by law." Although it will be challenging to live with a Chapter 7 bankruptcy record, the new blog notes that they may still be able to qualify for major loans like a mortgage. If their financial status is good, creditors might still approve them to purchase a home. "The negative stamp on a person's credit record may cause the interest tariff to be higher and reduce the limit of the loan. Nevertheless, you may get a permit to get a new debt," the blog said, adding that despite filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy, thousands of post-crash persons receive suggestions on obtaining a new trust card and a lot of loan providers ignore bankruptcy on a person's record. Anybody who would like to learn more about Chapter 7 bankruptcy and how it will impact their financial future may visit the MyBKHelp.com website at any time; there, they can read the article in its entirety. Story continues About MyBKHelp.com: MyBKHelp is a website created by Bankruptcy Attorneys who offer fast consultations that are free and confidential. They pride themselves on providing quality bankruptcy advice. For more information, please visit http://mybkhelp.com/blog/chapter7bankruptcy/chapter-7-bankruptcy-stay-on-credit-report/. Contact: Eddie Henderson admin@rocketfactor.com (949) 555-2861 SOURCE: MyBKHelp.com COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Maersk Line (MAERSKb.CO), the world's largest container shipping company, told its clients on Tuesday it will set the freight rate from Far East Asia to Europe at $1,450 (1,027.42 pounds) per 20-foot container (TEU) as of July 1. The announced increase, which applies to all kinds of freight, will not necessarily go through as the shipper is often forced to accept far lower rates because there are too many vessels available to ship goods. Earlier this month, data from the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index showed rates for transporting containers from ports in Asia to Northern Europe had risen to $761 per TEU. (Reporting by Teis Jensen and Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen; editing by David Clarke) Kuala Lumpur (AFP) - Malaysia's troubled national automaker Proton can no longer rely on a "blank cheque" from the government, Prime Minister Najib Razak warned Tuesday, saying it must address serious flaws in its business model. Najib also took a swipe at his political rival, former premier Mahathir Mohamad -- declaring that "Mahathir's era of political interference (in Proton) has come to an end". In April the government approved a bailout package of 1.5 billion ringgit ($384 million) to help the struggling state-owned company with its debts. "The loan was not a blank cheque," Najib said in a statement after launching a new Proton model. The package was conditional on the firm drawing up comprehensive plans to reverse falling sales. Najib said the government had provided Proton with 14 billion ringgit over three decades but its share of the domestic automotive market had plunged to 15 percent now from 74 percent in 1993. He said two factories were built, capable of producing 400,000 units a year, but Proton managed to sell only 102,000 cars last year. "Proton is not currently in the position that it should be," the premier said. The urgent need for the cash injection exposed serious structural flaws and the need to end political meddling, he said, while pledging continued support for the manufacturer. Najib also announced the formation of a task force to help Proton find a foreign partner to ensure it remains viable. "There has been too much political interference in Proton's strategy, management -- including of personnel -- and business model," he said, singling out Mahathir. Mahathir, 90, who has launched a political campaign to oust Najib over alleged corruption involving a scandal-laden state fund, resigned as chairman of Proton in March. He had founded the company in 1983 as part of an ambitious national industrialisation plan, but it has earned a reputation for unimaginative models and poor quality. This piece is part of an ongoing series on the unsung women of history. Read more here. From an early age, nuclear physicist Chien-Shiung Wu had to travel in order to learn: first 50 miles, then 150and eventually, to the other side of the world. She was born in 1912 in a small town in Jiangsu province, in eastern China, to parents who, unusually for the time, believed in educating girls. Even more unusually, they set up a school to do so. By the time she was 11, their daughter had outgrown what they could teach, and so they sent her out on her first journey: to a girls boarding school in Suzhou, 50 miles away. When it became clear that Wu was an exceptional student, she kept going further in order to learn: first to National Central University in Nanjing, and then on to the prestigious Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, where she began postgraduate work in physics. In 1936, when she was 24, Wu sailed from China to America to continue her studies. The following summer, years of Japanese intrusion into China erupted into war, a conflict that would soon bleed into World War II. Wu was cut off from news of her family. The reports that arrived from her home province were horrific, but there was nothing for Wu to do but work and wait. In the end, although her family would survive the war, the arrival of Communist rule in 1949 made it impossible for Wu to travel home, and she never saw her parents alive again. When Wus ship docked in San Francisco, she had been planning to travel on to Michigan for her PhD. But at nearby Berkeley, the pioneering nuclear physicist Ernest Lawrence had just built a new kind of particle accelerator. He and his fellow researchers, including Robert Oppenheimer, were turning the California campus into the epicenter of atomic research. Wu had been in town just a few days before she met and impressed both Lawrence and another Berkeley physics student, Luke Yuan, who would become her husband. She threw over Michigan and stayed in Berkeley, where she quickly established herself as an expert in the emerging field of nuclear physics. Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter But the world she graduated into, on the eve of the Pearl Harbor attacks, was rife with sexism and anti-Asian racism, and Wu found it hard to find a good academic position. She married Yuan and moved to the East Coast, where she took up a teaching job at Smith College although her heart was in research and experimentation. She moved on to Princeton, where she was able to continue her groundbreaking study of beta decaythe then-unexplained process by which a particle changes form inside the nucleus of an atom. As the Second World War progressed, Wu was recruited into the Manhattan Project to work on the crucial process of uranium enrichment, and in 1945, she witnessed the devastating outcome of that work on Chinas old enemy, Japan. The end of the war brought some personal relief: after eight years of silence, Wu heard that her family in China had survived the conflict. Wu went on to work at Columbia University, her professional home for the rest of her working life. Her most significant contribution to modern physics was a series of experiments she devised to test the law known as conservation of parity, which held that there was a fundamental symmetry in the behavior of everything in nature, including atomic particles. In 1957, Wus male colleagues, who had come up with the theorybut not Wu, who had tested itwere awarded won the Nobel Prize. Neither Yang nor Lee is an experimental man, reported TIME in January that year. When two experimental proofs came through early this year, parity was dead, and the Nobel Prize was practically in the bag. Wus contribution remained typically anonymous. It wasnt until diplomatic relations between the U.S. and China thawed in the early 1970s that Wu was finally able to travel home and visit the graves of her parents, prominent intellectuals whose tombs had been desecrated during the Cultural Revolution. She received a personal apology from the Chinese prime minister for the destruction of the tombs, and afterwards visited China regularly, becoming a vocal critic of the governments repressions and reprisalsparticularly the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989. In the United States, she campaigned for gender equality in her profession and beyond, correcting anyone who called her by her husbands name and insisting on being paid the same as her male colleagues at Columbia. Having overturned the theory of parity in physics, she was determined to uphold it in society. After her death in 1997, at age 84, Chien-Shiung Wu made one final journey. At her request, her ashes were spread at the spot where her education began: in her parents schoolyard. Long-time Sumner Redstone companion Manuela Herzer has made good on her promise to appeal a Los Angeles judges decision to deny her bid to be re-installed as the media magnates ultimate health care overseer. Comparing Redstone to King Lear and herself to the loving and wronged daughter Cordelia, Herzer asked Judge David J. Cowan to reverse his earlier rejection of her case and to grant her a new trial. Herzers motion Monday said that new evidence has emerged to buttress her contention that Redstones daughter, Shari, manipulated her father to throw Herzer out of his home, as part of the younger Redstones alleged plot to take over his business empire. Herzers accusations mirror those of Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman, who has gone to a Massachusetts court to fight his removal from the holding company that controls both Viacom and CBS Corp. Sumner Redstone is the controlling shareholder in both conglomerates. With her filing Monday, the one-time Redstone girlfriend renewed her contention that she should not have been removed last October as the individual entitled to make decisions about Redstones care, because the billionaire was mentally incapacitated and unduly influenced. If a new trial is granted, Herzer attorney Pierce ODonnell said he would present evidence that Shari Redstone has seized total control of her fathers household, life, health care, and business and legal affairs. Among the examples of this, ODonnell said, is the exclusion of granddaughter Keryn Redstone from visits with the 93-year-old Redstone and the isolation of Redstone from his closest friends and business colleagues, including Dauman and George Abrams, who served for decades as Redstones lawyer. ODonnell also would point to moves made by Redstone (allegedly pushed by his daughter) to prepare for a possible change in leadership at Viacom and to block the sale of a stake in Paramount Pictures, the beloved baby that Redstones camp has said he is loathe to see carved up, without a better justification from the corporations leaders. The corporate moves demonstrate that Herzer was right all along about Sharis thirst for power actuating her machinations. Story continues Shari Redstones representatives were not immediately available for comment. But they previously have depicted her as the aggrieved party, at the hands of Herzer and another one of her fathers former girlfriends, Sydney Holland. The two women long held sway over the frail and elderly Redstone and prevented him from seeing Shari and other family members, Sharis representatives have said. It was only late last year that Redstone came to realize that Herzer had kept him from seeing his family and another female companion. When he found out about those betrayals, he tossed Herzer out of his home. He also removed her as the person named in his advance health care directive in charge of making medical decisions if the magnate was ever ruled mentally incapacitated. And Herzer was taken out of Redstones estate plan costing her a future $50 million bequest and title to his mansion, valued at $20 million. Herzers bid to be re-instated as health care agent came to trial in May. But Judge Cowan cut the trial short after watching videotaped testimony from Sumner Redstone. He repeatedly used an expletive to describe his ex-girlfriend and accused her of lying. Although his testimony was garbled by a speech impediment and the nonagenarian could not answer some basic questions, Cowan felt that he was clear enough about who he wanted overseeing his health care Shari, not Herzer. Cowan called Redstone alert and composed in his testimony and concluded: There are no legal grounds not to follow his stated wishes. The judge reached his conclusion without making a finding on Redstones mental capacity. The appeal is only one action in the convoluted dispute. Herzer has also filed a lawsuit accusing Shari Redstone, her two sons and the household staff of conspiring to exclude her from Redstones life. She is seeking more than $100 million in damages in that case. And Sumner Redstones attorneys have countered by saying they would sue to recover some $150 million they claim Herzer and Holland received from Redstone over a five-year period. Herzers motion for a new trial invokes Shakespeare, saying Judge Cowan previously cut short a story that greatly resembled Lear, with Shari Redstone as a composite of the conniving daughters, Goneril and Reagan. Manuela Herzer was the wronged Cordelia who truly loved and cared about Lear, the motion says, and Redstone was Lear, blind to his daughters lies about Manuela. Related stories Viacom Flags 'Purported Bylaw Amendments' as Obstacles to Paramount Sale Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman: Paramount Sale Moving Forward Nickelodeon President Russell Hicks Stepping Down After 18 Years at Network The start of this week has been chaotic for the global stock market with volatility levels skyrocketing. While meetings at central banks like the Fed or BoJ are leading to fluctuations in the market, it is the Brexit referendum scheduled for June 23 that is upsetting stock movement most of all. The latest opinion polls that pointed to higher chances of Britain leaving the European Union (EU) unnerved the investing world. The most recent opinion polls revealed a 7-point lead of Leave over Remain as per Reuters. Brexit fears are sure to unsettle the market momentum as it has sweeping impacts on the global economy (read: High Quality Dividend Stocks & ETFs for Uncertain Markets). Brexit: Pros and Cons Post Brexit, Britain will be able to set its own trade agreements with the rest of the world, but will lose the benefits of free trade within the EU countries. Since the EU shares an intense trade relation with Britain, the levy of new trade barriers may hurt the countrys economy. Post break-up, Britain will get rid of the sensitive immigrant issue. At the current level, the UK has no control over accepting migrants as citizens of EU members have the permission to reside in any member country. Britain is incurring a net 3 million in cost every day due to surging EU migration. However, there is a report which says that EU immigrants added more to the UK economy in the form of tax payments than they received in public benefits. Britain will save a considerable amount that it shells out as membership fee if it cuts ties with the EU. Also, Britain will no longer have to bear the brunt of EUs debt crisis related hazards (read: British ETFs in Focus as Brexit Debate Flares Up). Then again, some are of the view that Brexit would hit the low-income strata as lower national income would result in reduction of the welfare budget. Also, waning trade relations with the EU will hurt the countrys job market. Story continues Moreover, Euro zone economies will be hit hard if it is a Yes in the Brexit vote. So, present developments across the pond are keeping investors edgy right now, shooting the levels of volatility higher (read: Safe Haven ETFs Surge on Brexit Fears). Volatility Index Flying High As the market faltered, exchange-traded products designed to track market volatility received a shot in the arm. Volatility level is best represented by the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), which tracks the implied volatility of the S&P 500 stock index. This fear gauge measures investors perception of market risk and tends to rise during a downtrendor when investor panic starts to set in. Investors should note that the volatility index climbed over 23% on June 13 itself. The index is now at its three-month high and registered the sixth successive increase on June 13 a situation not experienced since the China-led market crash last August, as per CNBC. Opportune Moment for Volatility Exchange-Traded Products? The present situation suggests that risks are rising and are here to say for some more days. Investors could definitely benefit from this trend. There are several ETF/ETN options available in the market that can provide some exposure to volatility. These products have proven themselves as short-time winners in chaotic times. Below we have highlighted short-term volatility products that will likely take advantage of the ongoing Brexit debate. As a caveat, investors should note that these products are meant only for short-term trading (see: all the Volatility ETFs here): A popular ETN option providing exposure to volatility is iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN VXX. There are other products like ProShares VIX Short-Term Futures ETF VIXY and VelocityShares Daily Long VIX Short-Term ETN (VIIX). VXX, VIXY and VIIX were up 32.8%, 32.9% and 31.2% in the last five trading sessions (as of June 13, 2016). Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report PRO-VIX ST FUT (VIXY): ETF Research Reports IPATH-SP5 VX ST (VXX): ETF Research Reports VEL-VIX ST (VIIX): ETF Research Reports To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report From Esquire It's hard to think of a better time for CBS to air BrainDead. The new comedic thriller from The Good Wife creators Robert and Michelle King, which premieres tonight at 10 p.m., is about what's happening to the brains in Washington. No, really-it's literally about alien insects snacking on the cerebrums of DC politicos. What's even more upsetting about the plot of BrainDead is that, if it weren't for outsiders, no one would even notice. The Returned and Scott Pilgrim star Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays one of those observers as Laurel Healey, a scion of a famous D.C. dynasty who high-tailed it to Los Angeles in the hopes of becoming a famous documentarian. She's back in town to support her brother, Luke (Danny Pino), and winds up getting sucked back into the family business just as the city gets its latest infestation. I spoke to the actress about finding the humor in politics, comparisons to other famous politicians' daughters, and the earworm of a song that was chosen to surely leave a lasting impression on the minds of fans. ESQ: This is a departure from your other TV work. Why did you want to do it? Mary Elizabeth Winstead: I think that's the main reason. I'd come off of doing a couple shows where it was very dramatic and a lot of emotion and a lot of crying-just very serious stuff everyday. I was really ready to just have fun and to show that side of myself. I enjoy being silly and being more than just that emotional side. When the script came, it was hard to say no to because it checked off every box of what I was looking to do at that moment. It's very funny, but also makes a statement about politics. I think, ultimately, what drew me to it was that it allowed me to be fun and be silly, but it was also saying something substantial at the end of the day. I think it would be hard for me to attach myself to a show long-term that didn't have any heart or intellect at the center of it. This is really smart and has so many ideas and opinions about things that actually matter. Story continues Your character, Laurel, is from a Democrat family dynasty. Aside from that obvious difference, she reminds me of Meghan McCain. She's following a different path from the rest of her family, and she's very outspoken. We didn't talk about specifically the people who exist in reality. There are lots of people you can think of, like Kristin Gore or Chelsea Clinton or other people who come from those political families but have done something else with those careers. I wanted to bring myself to her as much as possible and not get boxed into the idea that she's based on any other person. I really relate to Laurel, in terms of how she feels about politics. I have issues that I'm really passionate about, but in terms of the imaginations of the political world, I find it overwhelming and stressful. It's not something I'm following that closely because it's too frustrating and nothing ever gets done. I can definitely understand her point of view. And it also helps that in the first couple episodes she's such a fish out of water and she has no idea what she's doing or what she's gotten herself into. Laurel notices something's up almost immediately. Do you think that's because she's an outsider? I think so. I think she also has this innate sense about her wherein she wants to get to the truth. That's why she went off and tried to be a documentary filmmaker. She wants to surround herself with what she believes to be truthful and authentic things in her life. And when she gets to DC, it's clear something is off and the truth is being hidden in some way. She has this need to scratch at the surface in some way. She wants to be good at her job and she wants to learn why it's impossible to get things done in Washington. The Cars song "You Might Think" is repeatedly used in the series. Do you know much about the choice behind that? I know that the Kings have a good eye and ear for detail. There's something about the '80s and Gordon Gekko and that whole world that they're tapping into for this show. There's all these '80s tunes popping up in this show in different ways. It just hits the head on that kind of melody that sticks in your brain in the most annoying and likeable way. I think they just knew it was the right one to go for. It's fun enough and just borderline annoying. It takes a lot before you're sick of that song and once you're sick of it, you want it gone. What do you think about the fact that it's premiering in such a hot election year? It's crazy. I know the Kings had this idea for the show a couple years ago. But as this race took the turn to where it is now, I think they couldn't help but be inspired moment-to-moment by what's happening. The show became about that and what's happening right now and in the race. Even though they're not the main characters in our show, they're certainly in the backdrop. Our show takes place in the current political climate. Things are happening everyday in the news and, when I look at the scripts, it's almost like the Kings are predicting the future. I think they have their fingers in the pulse in what's happening in politics and culture everyday. It seems like a great summer series. And a different choice for CBS. Exactly. That's what I thought when I first read it. Really? CBS is taking a big risk with this one. I love it. These people are adventurous. You said you've been politically active before. How has this changed that? In a lot of ways, it's kind of solidified what I already felt. It's such a frustrating thing dealing with government as it is and how it stands now. This character is so idealistic and hopeful about her party and once she gets there she thinks maybe I can do some good. On the one hand, it solidified that frustration and agitation in my part. On the other hand, I think the show has some hopefulness to it that maybe there are people out there who want to do some good we can get this together. Do you think that's true of how most young voters are feeling right now? I think so. I think there's a real groundswell in terms of people coming together to change things. But at the same time, there's a lot of vitriol on both sides. I think our show is taking more about that and how people are united in their hatred of one another. There's a lot of screaming together across the aisle instead of talking to each other. rtr2ipf9 I'm going to say this in English first. China's government really wanted the country's stock market the A-share market to be included in a very special club (an index, really) and it thought that that was going to happen on Thursday. In fact, it was so excited that the country's normally quiet officials were coming right out and saying that China's inclusion was a "historical certainty." But that's not what happened, and you can expect an angry government, and possibly some very angry state media decrying this tomorrow. Now I'll talk about the details. China was very close to joining a special club, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. It includes a basket of stocks from emerging market economies with stock markets deemed stable enough for investors around the globe. Investors put money into funds that follow that index, which means that inclusion can help bolster demand for stocks. So you can see how inclusion would be a matter of respect to China or, as China watchers would put it, a matter of "face." And you can see how a delayed inclusion would be a slap in that face. Remy Briand, global head of research at MSCI, said that China had taken significant steps in "addressing the remaining accessibility issues," but investors polled by MSCI clearly didn't think that the Chinese government had done enough. "In keeping with its standard practice, MSCI will monitor the implementation of the recently announced policy changes and will seek feedback from market participants," he added. China will have another chance to join in 2017. Well, why not? The bottom line here, through all the mumbo jumbo about "capital mobility policy changes" and "trading suspension policies," is this. First, investors don't think that China's A-share market is stable enough. Second, they don't know whether they can get their money in or, more importantly, out fast enough. Part of this is likely because of what happened last summer and then again in February. In both instances, a deteriorating Chinese economy prompted three separate multiday death drops at stock exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen. Story continues a year in china's stock market shangahai composite China is trying to pull off a difficult transition from an investment-based economy to one based on domestic consumption. That means that old companies in declining industries like steel and coal have to shrink (or die) and new ones in service spaces (like tech and finance) must rise. The problem is that these old Chinese companies have a ton of debt and employ a bunch of people, and many are partly state-owned and the government is having trouble winding them down. The economy is slowing much more dramatically than analysts thought, and government stimulus is doing less to mitigate the pain of this slowdown. China loves a club So you can see why investors might be a little concerned about the companies that make up China's stock market. After two crashes last summer, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein called China's management of the situation "ham-handed." "They don't have a lot of experience at this market stuff," he told Bloomberg TV. Another reason why they could be concerned is that the Chinese government is just getting the party started again after its latest turmoil. The investors that the government told to get out are being coaxed back in ever so slowly. China's huge pension system started buying again at the end of March, and the country's brokerages have started providing margin loans to investors again. But rules China implemented to satisfy global investors are untested at this point. To put this in perspective, Pakistan which is not the world's second-largest economy was included in the MSCI this go-round and China was not. And so China will wait, but probably very angrily. NOW WATCH: What the Chinese saying 'The ugly wife is a treasure at home' actually means More From Business Insider ORLANDO A transgender woman described Orlando nightclub shooter Omar Mateen as being curious, searching, and uncomfortable when they met at a popular gay club late last year. Daniele Tashner, 60, said she immediately recognized Mateen when he was identified as the gunman who killed 49 people and injured dozens more at the Pulse dance club in Orlando early Sunday morning. When they showed this guy on the news, my heart cringed and I almost broke out in tears. I saw this person about eight months ago. I actually realized that I spoke to this person for about 15 minutes sitting in a gazebo at the back of Parliament House, she said in an interview with Yahoo News. Parliament House is another popular gay club in Orlando that is about a 10-minute drive northwest of Pulse. People hold up candles to honor the Pulse shooting victims with the First United Methodist Church in the background, in downtown Orlando on June 13, 2016. (Photo: Michael Walsh/Yahoo News) Yahoo News spoke to Tashner during a Monday night vigil, which attracted thousands of people, outside the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Orlando. Tashner is not an employee at Parliament House, but said she takes care of plants at the club and that customers often feel comfortable talking to her. According to Tashner, Mateen, 29, arrived at Parliament House with a friend and introduced himself but then kept to himself and observed people in conversation. When he spoke up, she said, he had questions and was, reaching out. Slideshow: Victims of the Florida nightclub shooting >>> He was really searching. He wanted to talk. He was curious and everything. But he was real uncomfortable, she said. The interview about her chance encounter with Mateen comes amid reports from several outlets that the gunman had frequented Pulse and may have used gay dating apps. CNN reports that the FBI is investigating the possibility that he made surveillance trips to Pulse and Walt Disney World to stake them out as possible attack targets. NBC published a similar report saying he tried to communicate with Pulse customers on the Grindr dating app before the massacre. Story continues A candlelight vigil was held on June 13, 2016, outside the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Orlando for victims of the Pulse shooting. (Photo: Michael Walsh/Yahoo News) Tashner said she is of Cherokee descent and identifies as two-spirited, which is a general term for gender nonconformists within Native American communities. Tashner was biologically male at birth but identified strongly with femininity and embraced this side of her gender identity as she grew older. She said she has known her gender identity since she was 10, but did not fully come out of the closet until age 47. Since then, she has lived this way 24/7. Slideshow: World reacts to Orlando mass shooting >>> You need to know both of your spirits. Who is inside of you. What you are. I counsel too many people that are afraid of themselves, she said. Tashner said she thinks misunderstanding and ignorance too often lead to violence because anger is a natural reaction to fear and said she now wishes she could have helped educate Mateen in hopes that he might not have resorted to violence. Candles and posters are placed in honor of the Pulse shooting victims during a vigil outside the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Orlando on June 13, 2016. (Photo: Michael Walsh/Yahoo News) I tried talking to him and I tried sharing with him. I probably didnt get enough time to probably get the right questions that he wanted answered, she said. A worker at Parliament House named Christian, who asked to have his last name withheld, told Yahoo News that the Orlando LGBT community is close-knit and that many Parliament House employees and patrons are deeply hurt after Sundays loss of life. All I can say is its horrible what happened, he said. There are a lot of people that work here that have friends who were there. Slideshow: Shooting rampage at Florida nightclub >>> Keeping with its efforts to transform itself in a contemporary burger company, McDonald's Corp. MCD has decided to relocate its headquarters to downtown Chicago by the spring of 2018. Notably, the company is currently based in the Chicago suburb of Oak Brook, IL. Details Notably, the company has signed a lease at 1045 W. Randolph St in Chicago's West Loop, with plans to alter the space into a modern site that will promote group effort and connectivity. Apart from the home office, the new headquarters will also house McDonalds training center, Hamburger University. Interestingly, this marks the companys homecoming to Chicago as McDonalds was previously headquartered there from 1955 to 1971. Rationale Behind Of late, there has been a trend among several high-status U.S. corporations of moving out from their expansive suburban headquarters into urban centers in a bid to appeal to the younger, metropolitan workforce. In Jan 2016, General Electric Company GE announced its plan to shift its headquarters from Fairfield, CT, to Boston. In recent years, Chicago has become an attractive hub for businesses. Notably, ConAgra Foods, Inc. CAG and Motorola Solutions, Inc. MSI are two of the many companies who have lately revealed plans of moving operations to the city. Thus, with its latest move of relocating headquarters, McDonalds CEO Steve Easterbrook is aiming to draw in new and younger professionals. We note that last May, Steve Easterbrook announced a turnaround plan related to restructuring of the companys worldwide operations and certain other financial updates. Thus, since the announcement of this plan, the company has been engaged in a series of buyouts and layoffs in order to streamline operations and increase efficiency. The company has thus invigorated sales and profits by trimming costs, simplifying menus, offering value meals and rolling out all-day breakfast in the U.S. At a time when the company is focusing on overhauling its operational structure, the shift of headquarters to an urban locale should bode well. McDonald's currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report GENL ELECTRIC (GE): Free Stock Analysis Report CONAGRA FOODS (CAG): Free Stock Analysis Report MCDONALDS CORP (MCD): Free Stock Analysis Report MOTOROLA SOLUTN (MSI): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Long before most Republican insiders realized that Donald Trump was for real, Alex Castellanos was sounding alarms about the businessmans upstart campaign. A veteran GOP strategist, Castellanos was an early and searing critic of Trumps. Last August, he wrote an op-ed for CNN decrying Trump as a strongman who was not a Republican or a conservative. If we want to keep our future in our hands, we shouldnt put it in his. A few months later, Castellanos visited a handful of the partys biggest donors, pitching a plan to kneecap Trumps ascendant campaign. According to the New York Times, which first reported on the shelved proposal to create a group called ProtectUS, Castellanos went as far as to produce sample ads casting Trump as a danger to the country. So some fellow conservatives were surprised when they learned that Castellanos had recently agreed to work for Rebuilding America Now, a new super PAC dedicated to electing Trump as President. Its pathetic, says a senior GOP strategist who requested anonymity to preserve professional relationships. How does he look in the mirror? (Castellanos didnt respond to an attempt to reach him for comment, but he told the New York Times that the decisive factor was Hillary Clinton. My choice is now binary, he said. Either I support her, or I support him.) And he is hardly alone. As the campaign progresses, a growing number of erstwhile Trump critics are cashing in as paid boosters for his campaign and its outside allies. And the trend has Republicans who remain bitterly opposed to the billionaire developer fuming. The tide of anti-Trump turncoats began with Sam Clovis, an evangelical college professor known as a kingmaker in the conservative precincts of Western Iowa. Clovis began the 2016 race as the Iowa state director for Rick Perry. In that role, he regularly savaged Trump, calling him a cancer on conservatism, questioning his integrity and criticizing comments that Clovis said reveal no foundation in Christ, which is a big deal. Story continues But when Perrys campaign fizzled, Clovis leapt at the chance to become Trumps national co-chair, serving as a critical bridge to evangelicals in the first-in-the-nation caucus state. Hes a person of deep faith, Clovis effused. And he has been handsomely rewarded for this reassessment: in just the first six months after joining the campaign in late August 2015, Clovis was paid more than $98,000 plus some expenses, according to federal filings. Its not uncommon in the course of a presidential election cycle for operatives to join up with a campaign they once bashed when their first horse drops out of the race. And Trumpwho for months subsisted on a staff that could practically all fit inside his gold-plated Cessnahas been steadily snapping up strategists who once counseled his primary opponents. Two of Trumps senior advisers, Ed Brookover and Barry Bennett, formerly filled top roles for Ben Carson. Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio slid over from the offices of vanquished rival Rand Paul, where he had mocked Trump as the beneficiary of his fathers largesse. Senior adviser Ken McKay used to manage New Jersey Gov. Chris Christies campaign. Rick Wiley, who served as Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walkers campaign manager, did a brief stint as Trumps political director but was quickly fired. Former Trump critics have also found roles to promote him outside the campaign. In early June, the Republican National Commitee hired Helen Ferre, a veteran Hispanic journalist and former adviser to Jeb Bush, for a key post handling Latino outreach. The job opened up when Ferres predecessor quit, reportedly due to discomfort about promoting a candidate who supports a border wall and says an American judge with Mexican parents should be barred from presiding over a class-action lawsuit against Trump. Ferre once had similar reservations: she declared Trumps immigration position absurd, called him crazy on Twitter and accused him of instigating violence. Castellanos isnt the only onetime Trump skeptic now ensconced at a super PAC promoting the candidate. Ed Rollins, another longtime Republican strategist, copped to being a cynic at first about the unlikely Republican nominee. Hes questioned Trumps skeletal campaign apparatus, questioned his decision to feud with Pope Francis and rapped him for repeatedly breaking the GOPs 11th commandment: thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican. Ronald Reagan would be appalled by the tone of this campaign, he told students at Eureka College, Reagans alma mater, during a visit in February. Now Rollins is raising millions for Great America PAC, a big-money group that bills itself (incorrectly) as the official Super PAC supporting the election of Donald Trump. By Busani Bafana OUATTARADOUGOU, Ivory Coast (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Abou Ouattara has grown cocoa for the last 17 years, but luckily the 52-year-old does not have a sweet tooth. I grow cocoa to provide for my family and only eat chocolate to have a taste, said Ouattara, walking around his farm in Ouattaradougou village, around 30 km (18.6 miles) east of Ivory Coast's commercial capital, Abidjan. I cannot afford to buy a lot of chocolate because I have a big family and that comes first, he added, noting a small box of chocolate can cost up to 800 CFA francs ($1.39). Cocoa production is a key source of income for many smallholder farmers in Ivory Coast, who plant on average 1 to 3 hectares (2.5 to 7.4 acres). But production has slumped over the years as a result of poor yields blamed on extreme weather, weak global prices and low-quality cocoa. A 2011 study by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) predicted cocoa farming will be hit as climate change alters growing conditions, leading to a fall in production by 2030. But the researchers also said rising temperatures offer an opportunity to boost production if farmers adapt their practices. It recommended better shading for cocoa trees and the use of improved varieties. Cocoa farmers in Ivory Coast are now trying to turn the tide by planting varieties that are hardier and faster-maturing than those grown since cocoa was introduced to Africa centuries ago. The first cocoa trees Ouattara and his brother planted on the 8-hectare farm they acquired in 1999 were old varieties that take up to five years to mature. But after Ivorian researchers released a quick-growing, more resilient variety five years ago, the farmers switched to the aptly named cacao Mercedes. They are now selling more and better-quality beans, boosting their income. In the last five years, Ouattara has harvested up to 7 tonnes of cocoa beans annually. But this year he is expecting as much as 9 tonnes. Over the years bad weather has affected the crop, he said. But the Mercedes variety is reliable even when the weather misbehaves, he added. It has made a big difference for me, he said, picking a ripe yellow pod from a cluster of green ones on a tree. This season, many Ivorian cocoa farmers have been harvesting small beans with a high acid content due to a prolonged dry season and harsh desert winds. Now some are also struggling to dry beans because of recent heavy rains. QUALITY BOOST Ivory Coast, which produced over 1.8 million tonnes of cocoa beans in 2015, is the world's largest producer and exporter of cocoa, contributing around 45 percent of global production, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. But the country lost an estimated 150 billion CFA francs ($261 million) in trade revenue in the last five years because of a poor-quality crop, according to its Coffee and Cocoa Council (Le Conseil du Cafe-Cacao). In response, the council has embarked on a national campaign to improve quality, targeting some 1 million small-scale cocoa farmers. Franck Wohe, a quality control expert with the state agency, said it has instituted quality checks at the farm gate, as well as in the processing and export of cocoa beans. The council is working with the agriculture extension service to train farmers, providing them with phytosanitary products, including insecticides and bags for storing dried beans to avoid contamination. It has also provided the Mercedes variety to small producers under a national policy enacted in 2011 to boost quality and promote value addition. We started distributing the high-yielding drought-resistant Mercedes variety to help farmers get production fast within 18 months, said Wohe. The variety has a rich aroma and a high-fat content loved by chocolate makers, he added. Massandje Toure-Litse, director-general of the council, is pushing for a sustainable cocoa industry that can increase the productivity of smallholder farmers. With partners, she mobilized 11 billion CFA francs ($19 million) in 2015 to improve farmers livelihoods through training to boost quality coffee and cocoa production. The council is also running a national campaign to get more Ivorians to consume local cocoa and coffee products, through activities like tastings and awareness talks. The World Cocoa Foundation says cocoa produced by over 5 million smallholder farmers around the world supports the livelihoods of more than 50 million people. Demand for the beans, driven by rising incomes in emerging markets, is projected to reach 4.5 million tonnes a year by 2020, up from an average of 3.5 million tonnes now. Ouattara may be no chocolate connoisseur but he plays his small part in feeding a global indulgence estimated to be worth nearly $99 billion this year. Cocoa needs to be tendered like a baby until it flowers and matures - after that, you never go for a day without getting something from your cocoa tree, said the farmer. (Reporting by Busani Bafana; editing by Megan Rowling. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org) Merck & Co. Inc. MRK announced encouraging data from two phase III studies on its insulin glargine candidate, MK-1293, for the treatment of type I and type II diabetes. The two randomized, active-controlled, open-label studies evaluated the safety and efficacy of MK-1293, in comparison to Sanofis SNY Lantus (insulin glargine). Data from the studies revealed that MK-1293 demonstrated non-inferiority in change from baseline A1C (average blood glucose) and had a similar safety profile as Lantus after 24 weeks in patients with type I and type II diabetes, thereby achieving the primary endpoint. In addition, the studies met the pre-specified secondary efficacy endpoints of statistical A1C equivalence to Lantus, thereby establishing that the investigational treatment was similar, within a certain range, to the current therapy. Results were presented at the Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association. Merck is developing MK-1293 in collaboration with Samsung Bioepis. Under the agreement terms, Merck is responsible for clinical development, manufacturing and commercialization while Bioepis is partially funding development. Currently, an application for regulatory approval of MK-1293 for the treatment of patients with type I and type II diabetes is under review in the EU. The company expects to submit a regulatory filing for the candidate in the U.S. this year. We note that the diabetes market is heavily crowded and several companies are working on bringing new and improved treatments to market. We remind investors that Eli Lilly and Company LLY is already marketing a biosimilar version of Lantus in the EU, which is expected to hit U.S. markets after Dec 15, 2016. Merck currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. BMY, with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), is a better-ranked stocks in the health care sector. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report SANOFI-AVENTIS (SNY): Free Stock Analysis Report BRISTOL-MYERS (BMY): Free Stock Analysis Report LILLY ELI & CO (LLY): Free Stock Analysis Report MERCK & CO INC (MRK): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research MEXICO CITY, June 14 (Reuters) - Mexico does not rule out another discretionary foreign exchange market intervention, the country's deputy finance minister said on Tuesday, adding that global volatility is set to continue in upcoming days over Brexit and U.S. Federal Reserve fears. The Mexican peso fell to over four-months lows on Tuesday, weaker than levels that caused Mexico's central bank to intervene in February by hiking rates and selling dollars to banks. Deputy Finance Minister Fernando Aportela said Mexico was facing a period of elevated volatility due to risk aversion, amid concerns Britain may vote next week to leave the European Union, in a referendum known as Brexit. A Fed meeting this week is also fanning concerns, he said. (Reporting by Luis Rojas) By Melissa Fares (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp's (MSFT.O) $26.2 billion purchase of LinkedIn Corp (LNKD.N) on Monday invoked scorn from the professional network's loyal users and shocked traders who expressed surprise on other sites. "Oh-oh, What will Microsoft Do to LinkedIn?" Saul Marcus, a business analyst at Commonwealth of Massachusetts posted on LinkedIn, an online network of 433 million professionals. Marcus' post was one of thousands about the deal made in the hours after the announcement. One LinkedIn user, Phil Thomson, said he would no longer use the networking site. "I regret to inform all my connections that I will no longer be accepting invitations or messages on LinkedIn, due to its sale to Microsoft," wrote Thomson. "It was a pretty shocking way to kick off a summer Monday," said a social media manager at StockTwits.com, an online site where users message almost exclusively about stocks. He said that most of the posts he'd witnessed were from surprised traders. "I thought LinkedIn was a decent company. Buyout by $MSFT indicates that it no longer is," posted David Trentham, who identified himself as an investor. Microsoft has had a rough track record in making big acquisitions pay off, and in the last three years, it has had to write off about $14 billion related to its earlier takeovers of Nokia in 2014 and digital ad agency aQuantive in 2007. In May 2011, the company signed a deal to buy online video chat company Skype for $8.5 billion, a price analysts considered high at the time. It's unclear if the investment had paid off as the company has not divulged financials of the service. The same can be said of its $2.5 billion investment in the Swedish game developer behind the wildly popular video game Minecraft, which also trended on social media Monday when it opened up cross-platform gaming for the first time. (Reporting by Melissa Fares) FRANKFURT (Reuters) - China's Midea Group Co Ltd is preparing to publish its previously announced takeover bid for German factory robot maker Kuka on Thursday, two people familiar with the plans told Reuters on Tuesday. Midea has said it wants a stake of at least 30 percent in Kuka in a planned offer that would value the target at 4.5 billion euros ($5.0 billion). Achieving that will oblige it, under German takeover law, to make a takeover offer for all of the shares. Earlier on Tuesday, German government coalition sources told Reuters Midea wanted a stake of no more than 49 percent and would resell any shares it acquires beyond that threshold. But Midea will for now not include a pledge for an upper limit in the bid documents to be published on Thursday, the sources familiar with the publication plans said. Midea declined to comment. (Reporting by Alexander Huebner; Writing by Ludwig Burger. Editing by Jane Merriman) The Matterhorn in Zermatt, Switzerland This one is Sliders favorite. It was a semicloudy day, and we were convinced it wasnt going to happen, he says. But we got 15 minutes of sunlight and Ive never seen Tessa throw on a dress so fast! The picture is so unreal it looks photoshopped. (Photo: Courtesy of Travel Where to Next) For Tessa Torrente and Matt Slider, travel has played a powerful role in their story. The first time Slider said I love you, the couple were making a pit stop in Washington, D.C., on a road trip. Torrente realized that their relationship was the real deal when they spent six weeks backpacking through Western Europe. Then when it was time for Torrente and Slider to plan their wedding, they knew they wanted pictures that were really representative of their personalities. So Slider, at a lunch date over sushi, suggested that they stage a photo shoot at different locales on a vacation around the world. Torrente bought an off-the-rack wedding dress and Slider purchased a cheap suit, and the pair changed into their nuptial-ready outfits at some of the most picturesque places around the world months before they actually exchanged vows. They kissed and kept each other warm in Norway, hugged on top of the Matterhorn in Zermatt, Switzerland, strolled in front of the Parthenon in Athens, Greece, braved high winds in Ireland, and more. Although the finished collection of pictures is truly stunning and uniquely the couple, capturing the photos wasnt easy or glamorous. In Rothenburg, Germany, a cat kept attacking Torrentes dress and even threw up on the tulle. In Seville, Spain, they woke up at dawn to capture images at the Plaza de Espana and the camera died. Because of that, one of my favorite shots was actually taken on an iPhone 6, Torrente says. And while seeing the northern lights, they had to run inside a cabin for warmth in between shots. It was 2 a.m. and negative 26 degrees Celsius outside. Matt definitely wanted to give up, but I was really stubborn, she says. It ended up being one of my favorite pictures. Torrente and Slider tied the knot just last week, nearly a year after their epic trip. Unfortunately, the gown didnt survive the journey. I wore a different one, she says. By the end of our trip, that dress had rain, sand, dirt and cat vomit all over it. But her now-husband is quick to point out that the dress on the wedding day was completely different and way more beautiful. Whats next for the couple who maintain a blog, Travel Where to Next, and Instagram, travel_wheretonext is just as youd expect. For the honeymoon, theyre starting in South Florida and heading to Alaska, Thailand, India and Russia, and ending in their new home, New York City. I want to bring the dress, Torrente says. But I would probably have to convince Matt. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - At least 60,000 migrants have died making their way to new countries over the last 20 years, and their families rarely learned of their fate, the International Organization of Migration (IOM) said on Tuesday. In a report entitled "Fatal Journeys", the agency called on authorities to ensure the missing are identified and their families traced. The estimated toll includes a record 5,400 migrants believed to have died in 2015 trying to cross borders, and a further 3,400 who have perished already this year, the IOM said. Of last year's deaths, 3,770 occurred in the Mediterranean where boats capsized en route to Europe. Others died in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea, the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea and along the U.S.-Mexico border, it said. "Something in the region of 60,000 migrants across the world have died over the last 20 years," Frank Laczko, director of IOM's global migration data analysis centre, told a Geneva news briefing by telephone from Berlin. The death rate is particularly high in southeastern Asia, where migrants are trying to reach Thailand and Malaysia. "The volume of people making those crossings is perhaps lower but the death rate is similar to the Mediterranean death rate," he said, noting it was one in 23 along the central Mediterranean route this year. However, a separate IOM report said the Central Mediterranean route is probably much more deadly than thought, because "reports of large numbers of bodies being washed up on the shores of North Africa indicate that shipwrecks occur without leaving any traces." Families are left wondering if their relatives are alive or dead, the IOM said. Without legal proof of death, it may be difficult for spouses to remarry or for families to inherit property. Fewer than half of the 387 migrants who died when their boats capsized off the Italian island of Lampedusa in October 2013 have been officially identified, it said. In the United States, a cemetery in Arizona contains the remains of at least 800 unidentified individuals believed to be migrants. "Missing migrants tend to be a low priority for many authorities around the world, because they are often an irregular situation, they may be undocumented and difficult to identify," Laczko said. Little is known either about the deaths of migrants travelling north overland from sub-Saharan Africa. At present there is no established common practice for collecting information on migrant deaths between states, or even sometimes between different jurisdictions in the same country, the report said. "Above all, international and regional databases are needed, in which data that is collected nationally can be stored securely and accessed transnationally," it said. (Additional reporting by Tom Miles; Editing by John Stonestreet and Hugh Lawson) A Hong Kong bookseller who went missing in mainland China and re-emerged under detention returned to his home city Tuesday and asked police to drop their investigation into his initial disappearance. Lam Wing-kee is one of five Hong Kong-based booksellers who published salacious titles critical of Beijing and disappeared at the end of last year, a case which fuelled growing fears Beijing was tightening its grip on the semi-autonomous Chinese city. It later emerged that all had been detained in China, where four of them -- including Lam -- are under official investigation over the import of banned books from Hong Kong to the mainland. Lam is the latest to return to Hong Kong -- three of the other booksellers have also made short trips but have quickly gone back over the border. Hong Kong police said they met Lam Tuesday morning. Like the others who have come back, he requested the cancellation of his missing person case and said he did not need official help, police said. Critics have said the retractions were made under pressure from Beijing. Hong Kong police have said they are continuing to investigate the booksellers' cases. Lam was one of three who went missing from southern mainland China in October. Another went missing from Thailand and the fifth, Lee Bo, from Hong Kong. Lee's disappearance led to accusations that mainland law enforcement agents were operating illegally in the city. Lam's colleagues Cheung Chi-ping and Lui Por returned to Hong Kong in March on bail, but are reported to have quickly gone back to the mainland. Lam is also on bail. Lee resurfaced in the city the same month, only to cross back across the border less than 24 hours later. He insists he is a free man and is just assisting mainland authorities. The men all worked for the Mighty Current publishing house, which produced books about political intrigue and love affairs at the highest levels of Chinese politics. Bookseller Gui Minhai, a Swedish citizen, confessed to trying to smuggle illegal books into China in a television interview in February. Lam, Cheung and Lui blamed the company's illegal book trade on Gui. Hong Kong was returned to China by Britain in 1997 and enjoys far greater liberties than in mainland China, but there are fears these are being eroded. In a previous era, advertising agencies and their clients were joined at the hip. Now, some of the most powerful entities on Madison Avenue are grappling with serious fractures. A damning report issued last week by one of the ad industrys most influential trade organizations alleged that many of the firms that allocate billions of dollars on behalf of blue-chip marketers like Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, and Apple are being influenced in how they spend that ad cash and not always by the interests of their clients. A seven-month probe by the Assn. of National Advertisers found what the group called pervasive evidence that media buying firms the companies that negotiate the placement of commercials everywhere from ABC to YouTube are getting kickbacks in the form of cash or advertising inventory in exchange for earmarking more of their clients money for a particular media outlet. Bob Liodice, chief executive of the organization, says it got a lot of support after the release of the report. I would say more than I expected, he notes. The ANA plans to release a new template for contracts by the end of June that would eliminate the potential for such kickbacks. Advertising dollars fuel much of Hollywoods engine, and if the report puts the media industry on edge, its because there may be less lucre to go around. Marketers and agencies could start to spend time and budgets on auditing activity, which could strangle the flow of advertising funds. Auditing doesnt come free, notes Larry Chiagouris, a professor of marketing at Pace University in New York. The agencies are going to have to increase their fees to cover the costs associated with putting in additional checks and balances, and everything is going to be more expensive. Media buyers were once relegated to the metaphorical basement of the ad agency, while the creative geniuses who came up with snappy slogans and catchy jingles lapped up the lions share of attention. That pecking order was a throwback to a different epoch, when commercials were largely distributed among three big TV networks and a handful of national magazines and newspapers. But the rise of mobile devices, social media, and streaming video means advertisers need help to sprinkle their commercials around, and the ad-buying firms, which analyze audience behavior and negotiate ad prices, have in many cases moved to the top floor. Story continues Now they are facing scrutiny. Relying on interviews with 150 people conducted by K2, an investigations firm, the ANA found that media owners paid rebates to agencies in amounts ranging from 1.67% to approximately 20% of aggregate media spending, depending upon the deal. In some cases, the percentage of the rebate owed increased along with agency spend, the companys report stated. The organization found instances in which media agencies could purchase advertising inventory from a supplier, then mark up the price as much as 30% to 90% before passing it along to a client. Evidence suggested that a media agencys owner, typically one of five or six global holding companies, may have pressured individual buyers to direct a clients ad money to areas where a markup might be possible, the report stated. These sorts of arrangements are common in Europe and Latin America but have long been viewed skeptically in the U.S. Some executives suspect that the onset of new ways of doing business in the post-dot-com economy has opened wormholes. Advertisers are fascinated by so-called programmatic inventory, which is purchased according to a predefined set of data put in place through software that automates the process. They also are intrigued by private ad-inventory exchanges, which reduce the transparency around the purchase. And they have been wooed by digital-ad players who are only too happy to structure advantageous deals. Many of the agencies thundered against the allegations, specifically because the ANA released them without naming the rule-breakers. The 4As, a trade group that represents ad agencies, called the ANA report anonymous, inconclusive, and one-sided and urged the organization to make available details of agencies potentially deceiving clients. The worlds biggest ad conglomerates, each of which operates media-buying units, also took issue with the report. Omnicom Group, Publicis Groupe, WPPs GroupM, and Dentsu Aegis Network were among the companies deriding the effort. Others have tried to eliminate the problem: Interpublic Group in 2005 scoured thousands of contracts in 40 countries and set aside millions of dollars to restore to clients any cash its overseas agencies may have received. How did it come to this? For decades, ad agencies acted as if they were their clients most trusted partners. Indeed, BBDO, an Omnicom ad agency that had a decades-long relationship with Pepsi, was known for banning Coca-Cola products from its offices. Now, observers agree, the schism is a sign of the times: Advertisers and agencies are treading different paths. In the industrys earliest days, many agencies were independent operators and hewed close to the spirit of their entrepreneurial founders. Compensation was easier to draw and was often guaranteed. An agency typically received a commission that represented a healthy percentage of the money that the client spent on advertising overall. These days, most agencies get a fee that big corporations try to winnow down by having their procurement departments monitor it. Clients are constantly looking to pay their agencies less, says Russel Wohlwerth, a principal at External View Consulting Group, a company that helps advertisers structure ties to agencies. The bottom line is that this business has never been more complex to serve. Relationships have become more fleeting. As TVs 2015 upfront market got under way, a pack of Madison Avenues biggest names put their media-buying accounts in review. Among the marketers: Procter & Gamble, General Mills, Fox, LOreal USA, Johnson & Johnson, Coca-Cola, Citibank, Sony, and Volkswagen. Just last week, AT&T announced that it would review its agency accounts, which are split between Omnicom and WPP. Most of the industrys biggest agencies, meanwhile, may work for a soda-maker or smartphone manufacturer, but they must also report to a higher authority: a publicly traded entity that needs to achieve quarterly milestones. All of the ad companies say they maintain policies against rebates and kickbacks, but in a world where advertisers are bidding for inventory in multiple ways, theres impetus to mine those methods for new revenue. Both sides would no doubt like to mend the tears in the relationship. For advertisers, that may have to come with a firmer oversight of the revenue stream. The agency community has not accepted the facts. Theyve just blown them off, says Liodice. If were going to heal, I think we have to begin by accepting the reports conclusions, and build from there. Related stories Fox Bids to Push Super Bowl Ad Prices Past $5 Million (EXCLUSIVE) In 2017, Digital Advertising To Trump TV, China Box Office To Eclipse U.S. - Report Wall Street Wrings Hands Over Alleged Madison Avenue Kickbacks Mixed martial artist Ivan Cole was found dead on Saturday in a Dallas apartment. The 25-year-old reportedly died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. According to a report on CBS DFW's Facebook page, Cole allegedly lost his life playing Russian Roulette. Dallas Police Department confirmed that Ivan Robert-Earnest Cole was found dead via their website. Officers responded to shooting at the 13700 block of Montfort Drive at approximately 7:21 a.m. local time and discovered the fighter's body. The death of Mr. Cole will be classified as an unexplained death pending the results of the autopsy, read a statement by the Dallas Police Department. Cole made his professional MMA debut in 2012 and compiled a record of 2-3. He fought once for Legacy FC and once for Bellator MMA. He last competed on March 27, 2015, losing by submission to George Pacurariu. Follow MMAWeekly.com on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram By Magdalena Mis LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Social media has emerged as a leading source of news among online users who increasingly access it on their smartphones, a thinktank said on Wednesday, warning that the embrace of free news was becoming a challenge for publishers of quality news. More than half of online users get their news from Facebook and other social media platforms, refusing to pay for news and using ad-blocking, which hurts publishers' revenue, the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ) said. But although free news distributed through social platforms creates an opportunity to reach more readers, it also makes it more difficult for publishers to get recognized and connect with their audience, the RISJ said in its annual Digital News Report. "These things are happening because of us," Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, Reuters Institute director of research, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a phone interview. "We prefer news in the digital form because it's convenient but you get what you pay for. It takes money to do professional journalism." Facebook is playing an increasingly significant role in the distribution of online news, with 44 percent of people using it as their source of news, followed by 19 percent of people using YouTube and 10 percent using Twitter, the report said. Nielsen said that in developing countries, where access to independent and reliable news was limited, there were even more people who relied on social media for news. "Many people in Asian and African countries are using mobile phones to get their online news and in those regions social media is even more important as source of news," he said. Thirty-six percent of people preferred news to be selected for them by algorithms compared with 30 percent who relied on editors or journalists, although some feared missing key information or challenging viewpoints, the report said. For the first time social media has overtaken television as the main source of news for 18 to 24-year-olds, with 28 percent of them citing social media as their main source of news compared with 24 percent who said they watched news on television. Story continues More than half of the respondents said they were using smartphones to access news, with highest levels in Sweden (69 percent), Korea (66 percent) and Switzerland (61 percent), the study said. In Britain and the United States the use of smartphones to access the news has for the first time overtaken computers and laptops. The survey was carried out online in 26 countries in Europe, Asia, North America and South America. (Reporting by Magdalena Mis; Editing by Katie Nguyen; Please credit Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, womens rights, corruption and climate change. Visit news.trust.org) With the Brexit vote looming closer, the major Wall Street banks are getting worried and contemplating moving out of London and setting up operations in other European Union (EU) countries. Several banks and financial firms have already started making contingency plans. The recent bank to join the queue is Morgan Stanley MS, which is set to relocate around 1,000 workers from Britain to the continent over the coming years, if the nation votes on Jun 23 to leave the EU. The news was first reported by The Sunday Times. Morgan Stanley has around 5,000 employees in London along with additional workers in other parts of the U.K., according to a Bloomberg report. Also, it employs over 3,000 workers in European cities of Glasgow, Paris, Zurich and Frankfurt. With the company planning on contingencies to shift at least a sixth of its U.K. staff gradually in the event of Brexit, the relocation is mostly expected to be in Frankfurt, which is Europes top financial hub and a major threat to London. The EU rules prohibit selling of financial products in the union if the companys European headquarter is based outside member states. Hence, many big banks with London as the center of their operations in Europe will be forced to move to cities outside the U.K. For continued access to European markets, the big banks will have to relocate thousands of employees and trading operations out of London. Other major banks such as JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM, Citigroup Inc. C and The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. GS have also been issuing similar warnings as Morgan Stanley. These banks cautioned against potential layoffs in U.K. in case of the nations exit from the EU. Earlier this month, JPMorgans Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said the exit of U.K. from the EU may result in fewer JPMorgan jobs in the U.K. and more jobs in Europe. The company projects elimination of around 4,000 U.K. positions as well as reorganization of its U.K. business following Brexit. Citigroup, which has about 9,000 workers in the U.K. and around 22,000 employees in the EU, also has a similar contingency plan ahead of the referendum. The company talked about rebalancing operations in event of Brexit in an internal memorandum. Similarly, Goldman has been vocal about spreading across the EU by retreating tracks from Britain in case of Brexit. Notably, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and Goldman have all donated to the campaign for Britain to remain a part of the EU. Currently, Morgan Stanley carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report JPMORGAN CHASE (JPM): Free Stock Analysis Report CITIGROUP INC (C): Free Stock Analysis Report MORGAN STANLEY (MS): Free Stock Analysis Report GOLDMAN SACHS (GS): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research From Cosmopolitan Once again, another horrifically tragic mass shooting has taken over the American news cycle and thrust the issue of gun violence back into the country's consciousness. But the truth is it's never left the national consciousness. It just hasn't been meaningfully addressed by national politicians. This time, we're at a tipping point. This time, our leaders will make it better, and if they don't, the November elections will be their downfall. In the coming days, I'm sure we'll hear a lot of people having a "national discussion" on the role of guns in American life. We'll read and watch faith services and vigils. We'll be confronted with harrowing images of the family members whose loved ones have been savagely massacred. All these things are a necessary part of any mourning process. But I've seen this before. Too many times. Indeed, I've experienced it in as intensely personal a manner as one can. Three and a half years ago, my mother and 25 others were killed at an elementary school in Connecticut. And I refuse to experience it again. Educators feel the same way. Parents feel the same way. Communities of faith feel the same way. I'm hopeful that the LGBTQ community will join this fight with new urgency as well. After my mother, several of her colleagues, and 20 first graders were killed, political leaders vowed to act as well. Ultimately their efforts were narrowly defeated three months later when attempts at bringing about commonsense background checks on all gun sales were defeated in the Senate. This time will be different. There is no alternative. This time, our anger and our intensity and our passion will overcome the callow, spineless forces on the other side. This time, groups like the one I work with, Everytown for Gun Safety, are prepared to defeat those who have allowed tragedies like Sunday's to become the status quo. This time will be different because in the last few years, we have built a broad and powerful movement of Americans who understand the connection between lax gun laws and increased death tolls. There are now meaningful numbers of gun-sense voters - people who vote with this issue in mind. We now finally have a major party's presidential nominee tackling this issue head-on. This time will be different because the contrast between those who stand on the side of common decency and those who accept the carnage is clear for all to see. Story continues In the years since my mother's death, I've channeled my grief and my rage into action, and I believe now that we have reached a definitive precipice in the fight for saner gun laws. We must not let the events in Orlando culminate in more inaction. We must once again demand that our leaders put forward policies that lead to a real reduction in this senseless carnage. Wake up, America. A reckless gun lobby has convinced politicians that standing on the side of public safety will lead to their political downfall. But the national mood has changed and now we will prove it. When our collective grief recedes, we will channel it into collective action. There cannot be any more Sandy Hooks. There cannot be any more San Bernardinos. There cannot be any more Columbines. Virginia Techs. Auroras. Charlestons. Umpquas. Orlandos. We are better than this. And we are too enraged to let it go. So when the vigils and memorial services end, we must take to the halls of Congress and to state legislatures throughout the country and demand better from our elected officials. Because while evil will always exist, we don't have to willfully enable it by completely disregarding the issue of gun safety. We can do more. We must do more. Erica is the survivor engagement manager for Everytown for Gun Safety. Follow Erica on Twitter. In honor of Flag Day, here are 10 fascinating facts about Stars and Stripes that may surprise you! Francis Scott Key wrote his poem about the British bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore on September 13, 1814. Within days, the poem became very popular and it was eventually set to music. In 1931, the Star-Spangled Banner became the first official national anthem for the United States. 1. The flag predates the Constitution. The flag was authorized by the Continental Congress on June 14, 1777. The motion read, Resolved that the flag of the thirteen United States be 13 stripes alternate red and white: that the union be 13 stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation. The Constitution was written 10 years after that and ratified in 1789. 2. Whats the deal with Betsy Ross? Historians are still debating Betsys role in designing the first flag, but she recounted that she was asked to sew the flag by her fellow churchgoer, George Washington. Ross had also done some seamstress work for Washington. You can read the debates online, but heres what the historic marker in front of her house says: Credited with making the first stars and stripes flag, Ross was a successful upholsterer. She produced flags for the government for over 50 years. As a skilled artisan, Ross represents the many women who supported their families during the Revolution and early Republic. 3. What exactly is a vexillologist? A vexillologist is a flag expert. Its a relatively new word, coming into use in 1959. According to the North American Vexillological Association, there are currently no degrees offered on the subject. 4. Who approves design changes in the flag? Congress and the president have ordered design changes in the past to accommodate the addition of new states. President James Monroe and Congress agreed in 1818 that there should be 13 stripes as well as one star for each state in the Union. 5. Who decides the rules for flag etiquette? Its in the federal code as Chapter 1 of Title 4. The law also includes the approved text of the Pledge of Allegiance. Story continues 6. Where outside the United States can you see the flag continuously 24 hours a day? There are five American flags flying on the moon, thanks to the Apollo astronauts. You may not be able to see markings on them, though; they have mostly likely turned white over the years. 7. Which flag had the snake on it? Youve probably seen the yellow flag with a coiled rattlesnake and the motto Dont Tread On Me. This is the Gadsden flag, named after its designer, General Christopher Gadsden. The flag was used in the Revolutionary War. There are other variations of the flag with rattlesnakes and versions of the motto. Benjamin Franklin was one of the originators of the snake as an American political symbol, in a famous 1754 political cartoon. 8. Where was the first flag flown outside the U.S. in a military action? It was first flown over the shores of Tripoli. The Marines were involved in military actions against the Barbary pirates and after they hit the shore, they raised the Stars and Stripes. After the Battle of Derne in 1805, the flag was raised on foreign soil for the first time after a battle. 9. What is Francis Scott Keys flag connection? Key witnessed the American flag flying after a British attack on Fort McHenry in Baltimore in 1814, while he was a guest on a British ship as he negotiated for the return of American prisoners. His experience inspired him to write a poem, Defence of Fort McHenry. After it was published, Key matched it up with music from a popular British tune, which eventually became The Star-Spangled Banner, our national anthem. By the way, if vexillology wasnt enough fun, heres another one: the act of adding new lyrics to an existing song is called contrafactum. 10. Whats the biggest American flag? Its so big you cant fly it, but the Superflag conceived of by the late Thomas Demski measures 505 by 225 feet and weighs 3,000 pounds. It takes 600 people to unfurl. Each star is 17 feet high. Bonus fact: The National Constitution Center in Philadelphia has its own giant American flag on display in its Grand Hall Overlook, surrounded by the flags of all the U.S. states and territories and with the iconic Independence Hall in the background. The flag has flown over the capitals of all 50 states and was hung by Muhammad Ali in a special Flag Day ceremony on June 14, 2003, when the museum opened. Recent Stories on Constitution Daily Inside the Supreme Courts flag burning decision Can states really ban the burning of the Confederate flag? Can In God We Trust be displayed on police cars? Cairo (AFP) - A council of high-profile Islamic clerics on Tuesday denounced "the terrorist attack" in Orlando, Florida by a Muslim who killed 49 people in a shooting rampage at a gay nightclub. The Abu Dhabi-based Council of Muslim Elders, headed by Grand Imam Ahmed al-Tayeb of Al-Azhar in Cairo, said in a statement it completely rejected "these repugnant terrorist acts which contradict the docile teachings of Islam". Council secretary general Ali al-Nuaimi at the same time "criticised taking advantage of such attacks for incitement against Muslims in the West and to spread Islamophobia", the statement said. The statement by the Muslim Council of Elders did not refer to its views on homosexuals, and avoided using the term or referring to the specifics of the attack. Omar Mateen, 29, an American of Afghan descent, opened fire at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando early on Sunday, killing 49 people and wounding 53. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the shooting. The FBI said Mateen pledged allegiance to the IS leader in 911 calls made during his killing spree, the worst mass shooting in US history. Witnesses said Mateen, who was killed by police, had frequented the popular nightspot and had used gay dating apps. By Kristina Cooke and Idrees Ali (Reuters) - On Sunday, June 5, hundreds crowded into a Louisville, Kentucky mosque to celebrate the life of boxer Muhammad Ali in an interfaith service. Dr. Muhammad Babar began the service with a poem: You were the true face of faith, he read. The vibe, he said, was one of peace and compassion. A week later, Babar, a local physician and community leader, attended a vigil for fifty people killed in a gay nightclub in Florida by a 29-year old American of Afghan descent. Its like somebody has punched us in the gut, he said. Last week, we thought, finally this monkey is off our back, but now it seems the burden is back on us to prove our innocence for something a criminal who claims to be Muslim has done. Across the country, Muslim Americans were quick to condemn the attack, and some mosques took extra security measures to protect against backlash. On the presidential campaign trail, presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump called for a ban on immigration from countries with a "history of terrorism. We've got to get smart, and tough, and vigilant, and we've got to do it now, because later is too late, Trump said in a New Hampshire speech on Monday. In her response to the massacre, the presumptive Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, warned against inflammatory anti-Muslim rhetoric and said she would make identifying and stopping lone wolves a top priority. In Louisville, mosque officials contacted a police officer to provide security at their Ramadan dinners, held every Friday, Saturday and Sunday during the Muslim holy month. After anti-Muslim messages were spray-painted in red on the Louisville Islamic Centers walls in September, it upgraded security technology, including wirelessly controlled locks, and arranged for an off duty police officer to keep watch during Friday prayers. On Sunday, the Islamic Center of Long Island, New York contacted their local precinct chief to arrange police presence at the mosque during the evening prayer service. Weve had backlash before, especially with irresponsible rhetoric from politicians, said Isma Chaudhry, president of the Islamic Center of Long Island. After the San Bernardino shooting in December, the community was harassed, she said, with obscenities yelled at students and cars trying to run people over who were crossing the road, she said. Were hoping this time will be calmer, she said. The Islamic Center of Orlando on Sunday told congregants to avoid praying outside a practice that is common during Ramadan, when mosques are often over capacity for evening prayers. Local law enforcement is sending patrols to the neighborhood, and the mosque is hiring extra security at night, according to Fatima Rami, an administrator. The center has called on local congregants to donate blood to victims of the shooting, even if it means breaking their Ramadan fasting for a day. A broken fast can be made up, a life lost is gone forever, it posted on its website. Some mosques have been working with federal authorities on assessments to increase their preparedness for attacks, and said they would maintain already higher levels of security implemented after the San Bernardino shootings in December. The Islamic Community Center of Phoenix has received multiple hate emails since the Orlando shooting, its chairman Usama Shami said, and had already been working with local law enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security. One email, from CJ, said: Do you also refute the Quran when it tells you to lie to the infidel and pretend to be his friend, so that you can betray him. The All Dulles Area Muslim Society in Virginia, which Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson visited in December, had carried out multiple security assessments with national and federal law enforcement agencies in the past few months on how to improve security around the community center. The sad thing is, were almost used to it now, said Rizwan Jaka, chairman of the organization. In Louisville, the LGBT community has been supportive of the Muslim community in its fight against Islamophobia, Babar said. In March, when Donald Trump held a rally in Louisville, LGBT activists and the Muslim community stood together in protest against the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, who has proposed a ban on Muslim immigration. Racism and bigotry is the same, whether its against one group or another, Babar said. We hope our fellow citizens will see us through the lens of Muhammad Ali, rather than this deranged soul, though our hopes are dampened by this senseless tragedy. (Reporting By Kristina Cooke and Idrees Ali; additional reporting by Yara Bayoumy in Fort Pierce; editing by Brian Thevenot) By Kristina Cooke and Idrees Ali (Reuters) - On Sunday, June 5, hundreds crowded into a Louisville, Kentucky mosque to celebrate the life of boxer Muhammad Ali in an interfaith service. Dr. Muhammad Babar began the service with a poem: You were the true face of faith, he read. The vibe, he said, was one of peace and compassion. A week later, Babar, a local physician and community leader, attended a vigil for fifty people killed in a gay nightclub in Florida by a 29-year old American of Afghan descent. Its like somebody has punched us in the gut, he said. Last week, we thought, finally this monkey is off our back, but now it seems the burden is back on us to prove our innocence for something a criminal who claims to be Muslim has done. Across the country, Muslim Americans were quick to condemn the attack, and some mosques took extra security measures to protect against backlash. On the presidential campaign trail, presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump called for a ban on immigration from countries with a "history of terrorism. We've got to get smart, and tough, and vigilant, and we've got to do it now, because later is too late, Trump said in a New Hampshire speech on Monday. In her response to the massacre, the presumptive Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, warned against inflammatory anti-Muslim rhetoric and said she would make identifying and stopping lone wolves a top priority. In Louisville, mosque officials contacted a police officer to provide security at their Ramadan dinners, held every Friday, Saturday and Sunday during the Muslim holy month. After anti-Muslim messages were spray-painted in red on the Louisville Islamic Centers walls in September, it upgraded security technology, including wirelessly controlled locks, and arranged for an off duty police officer to keep watch during Friday prayers. On Sunday, the Islamic Center of Long Island, New York contacted their local precinct chief to arrange police presence at the mosque during the evening prayer service. Story continues Weve had backlash before, especially with irresponsible rhetoric from politicians, said Isma Chaudhry, president of the Islamic Center of Long Island. After the San Bernardino shooting in December, the community was harassed, she said, with obscenities yelled at students and cars trying to run people over who were crossing the road, she said. Were hoping this time will be calmer, she said. The Islamic Center of Orlando on Sunday told congregants to avoid praying outside a practice that is common during Ramadan, when mosques are often over capacity for evening prayers. Local law enforcement is sending patrols to the neighborhood, and the mosque is hiring extra security at night, according to Fatima Rami, an administrator. The center has called on local congregants to donate blood to victims of the shooting, even if it means breaking their Ramadan fasting for a day. A broken fast can be made up, a life lost is gone forever, it posted on its website. Some mosques have been working with federal authorities on assessments to increase their preparedness for attacks, and said they would maintain already higher levels of security implemented after the San Bernardino shootings in December. The Islamic Community Center of Phoenix has received multiple hate emails since the Orlando shooting, its chairman Usama Shami said, and had already been working with local law enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security. One email, from CJ, said: Do you also refute the Quran when it tells you to lie to the infidel and pretend to be his friend, so that you can betray him. The All Dulles Area Muslim Society in Virginia, which Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson visited in December, had carried out multiple security assessments with national and federal law enforcement agencies in the past few months on how to improve security around the community center. The sad thing is, were almost used to it now, said Rizwan Jaka, chairman of the organization. In Louisville, the LGBT community has been supportive of the Muslim community in its fight against Islamophobia, Babar said. In March, when Donald Trump held a rally in Louisville, LGBT activists and the Muslim community stood together in protest against the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, who has proposed a ban on Muslim immigration. Racism and bigotry is the same, whether its against one group or another, Babar said. We hope our fellow citizens will see us through the lens of Muhammad Ali, rather than this deranged soul, though our hopes are dampened by this senseless tragedy. (Reporting By Kristina Cooke and Idrees Ali; additional reporting by Yara Bayoumy in Fort Pierce; editing by Brian Thevenot) " " Ciprofloxacin is a common broad-spectrum antibiotic. Cultura/GIPhotoStock/Getty Images Sometimes when you're sick, your doctor takes one look at you and knows exactly what's wrong and what medicine to prescribe. But other times, you may have symptoms that could be caused by several different bacterial infections, and it may be tough to tell the difference between them. Fortunately, there are options in those situations. Instead of prescribing an antibiotic that works only against a select group of bacteria, your doctor can treat you with a course of a broad-spectrum antibiotic, which is effective against a wide range of infectious agents [source: Tufts]. Instead of narrow-spectrum medications such as penicillin or rifamycin, for example, your physician can turn to a broad-spectrum antibiotic such as chloramphenicol, one of the tetracyclines or the third-generation fluoroquinolones [sources: MSU, Chopra and Roberts]. Advertisement Broad-spectrum antibiotics are particularly useful when a patient shows up at a hospital emergency room in dire distress, and doctors have to move quickly [source: Williams]. And they can be just as effective as narrow-spectrum antibiotics in treating disease. In a study published in 2005 in the medical journal Thorax, for example, researchers reported that patients with a type of pneumonia who took broad-spectrum antibiotics had the same results as those who were treated with a narrow-spectrum antibiotic that was specific to the disease, though they did experience more side effects [source: van der Eerden et al.]. In some ways, broad-spectrum antibiotics are the Swiss army knives of medical care. A study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2014 found that broad-spectrum antibiotics are the most commonly used antibiotics in hospitals throughout the U.S. But that comes with a significant downside. Because they kill microbes indiscriminately in a scorched-earth sort of attack, they wipe out beneficial ones, as well. To make matters worse, broad-spectrum antibiotics also increase the possibility that some microbes will develop antibiotic resistance, health experts worry [source: HealthDay News]. For that reason, doctors generally try to quickly "de-escalate" broad-spectrum treatment and switch to a narrow-spectrum antibiotic as fast as they can [source: Williams]. In the future, they're hoping that better diagnostic tests will allow them to pinpoint a precise treatment more quickly [source: HealthDay News]. By Timothy Mclaughlin YANGON (Reuters) - Disabled and collecting fees to use a public toilet in a busy Yangon market was not how Kyaw Kyaw Oo imagined the life of a soldier when he lied about his age to join the Myanmar army at 16. Four years later, a landmine blast tore through his legs during fighting in the country's east. He nearly died from an infection after an eight-day journey to hospital and lost both his legs. Discharged in 1999, he was unemployed and living at home, relying on his aging parents for support. In 2008 he moved to Yangon, the country's largest city, where an official "had pity" on him and helped him get a job at the market. For some 60 years, Myanmar has been in a state of perpetual civil war, with multiple ethnic armed groups killing and maiming unknown thousands of soldiers. With military casualties a closely guarded secret, wounded veterans were kept largely out of public view. "If we didn't have someone to depend on, like parents, things would have been very bad for us," said Kyaw Kyaw Oo. Now, amid rapid economic and social reforms that began in 2011, the cost of years of fighting is slowly being revealed. Wounded former soldiers, with few job opportunities, are reliant on a veterans' assistance scheme that offers minimal medical care or financial support. A new government led by Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) knows it must work with former foes from the military high command, who remain powerful under a constitution written by the armed forces. But rank-and-file veterans of Myanmar's long-running conflicts fear being left on the margins of the transformation taking place around them. ARMY RULE Myanmar's military ran the country from a coup in 1962 until it relinquished direct control in 2011. Many top junta members amassed great wealth, visible now in high-end enclaves of Yangon, where mansions rise behind barbed-wire topped walls, and the sprawling compounds in the capital Naypyitaw. Aung Gyi, 56, who also lost both of his legs to a landmine in 1979 battling communists, lives a drastically different life. Like Kyaw Kyaw Oo and around 50 other wounded soldiers, he was given his home a 45-minute drive outside Yangon in 2012. The neighborhood, bureaucratically titled, "Ward-6, Agriculture and Livestock-1", has provided the wounded veterans who live there with a sense of community, residents said. On a recent day, a barber with an aging artificial leg visible beneath his longyi - a traditional sarong worn by men - sat outside his shop chatting with friends. Another man limped behind a toddler running down the road. But the single room homes lack indoor toilets and have no special features to accommodate the residents' disabilities. Aung Gyi, who shares his with five family members, receives 40,000 kyat ($34) per month from the military. He recognizes, nonetheless, that he is more fortunate than most. "There are many wounded veterans who still don't have a place to live," he said. FUNDING SCARCE The NLD, which faces sky-high expectations that it can rapidly transform a country impoverished by decades of junta rule, is unlikely to find much extra cash for veterans. "We don't have any special plan giving any assistance to the disabled veterans, we only help former political prisoners," Han Tha Myint, an NLD central executive committee member, told Reuters. "We can't afford to do much." An official from the Myanmar War Veterans Organization in Naypyitaw, which oversees veterans' affairs, said there were currently 250,000 veterans registered with the group. Around 10,000 were wounded in combat, said the official, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media, adding that funding remained a "major problem". The MWVO had tried to stop some homeless veterans begging or selling used book on the streets in Yangon, the official said. "We invite them to join our organization so that we can help with whatever assistance we can afford," said the official. Kyaw Kyaw Oo lost his job at the market in 2013, when the officer who helped to get him hired left. He began selling lottery tickets from his homemade wheelchair, but struggles to travel between downtown Yangon and his home outside the city. "I think we deserve more assistance from the state," said Kyaw Kyaw Oo, who had followed his father and two uncles into the army. "I believe my family and I sacrificed a lot for the country." (Additional reporting by Aung Hla Tun, Soe Zeya Tun and Hnin Yadana Zaw; Editing by Alex Richardson) Carved into desert cliffs, the towering, ancient city of Petra can trace its origins back at least 2,000 years. It lies about 115 miles (185 kilometers) southwest of Amman, Jordan, and holds the remains of what was once a bustling metropolis, including houses, forts, temples, tombs and cisterns. For two centuries, archaeologists have extensively studied what is left of Petra, but they continue to make new discoveries. Recently, scientists discovered an enormous structure that had previously eluded detection. By combining data gathered by Google Earth and satellite sensors, they observed the shape of what may have once been a giant stoneplatform, located about 0.6 miles (900 m) outside Petra's city center. [In Photos: Mysterious, Giant Platform at Petra 'Hidden' in Plain Sight] By analyzing satellite imagery taken in 2010, the researchers began their work by investigating a question: How did Petra's inhabitants the Nabateans (also spelled Nabataeans) change the landscape around their city? Then, the researchers looked for features that prior excavations or surveys might have missed. Uncovering Petra's secrets Sarah Parcak, an archaeologist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, described the sizable structure in an article co-authored by Christopher Tuttle, an archaeologist at Brown University. They published their findings online in the May issue of the journal Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research. Image sharpening applied to the satellite views of the site revealed four areas with unusual features that could represent human-made structures, the researchers reported. Located on a plateau within one of those areas was their most significant find a giant platform measuring about 184 feet by 161 feet (56 by 49 m), topped with a smaller platform that was fronted with columns and crossed by a stairway. Terrace walls supported the large platform's western side. "This monumental platform has no parallels at Petra or in its hinterlands at present," the authors wrote. Story continues The researchers selected the article's title "Hiding in Plain Sight" because despite the structure's impressive size and its proximity to the city center, it had remained undetected by earlier surveys, Parcak told Live Science in an email. And according to Parcak, improvements in remote-sensing technologies are what made this discovery possible. "This feature was not visible fully on Google Earth in 2012, when we began this study, due to poor imagery coverage it is partly visible now," Parcak said. "Only with processing the high-resolution imagery did its rectangular form become more apparent." From the sky to the ground Once satellites had detected the structure, it was time for the legwork. The archaeologists transferred GPS points from the images to maps, and then walked the site to make more detailed observations of the structures and artifacts in the surrounding area, photographing what they saw but not disturbing anything. Drones captured high-resolution overhead images, and the archaeologists overlaid these photos onto the satellite images, using them as references for later fieldwork. The structure was built by the Nabateans when Petra was at its peak, Parcak said, but how the people might have used it is unclear, and the platform's purpose might have changed over millennia. "It probably functioned for some type of public display activity," Parcak said. "This could be cultic, political or otherwise." Many questions remain about this unusual platform and the role it may have played in everyday Nabatean life. And according to Parcak, it's important to remember that even in archaeological sites like Petra that have been examined extensively, there is still a great deal to discover, and new technologies can reveal still-hidden mysteries. "So much is left to find," Parcak told Live Science. "We have truly just begun the age of discovery in archaeology, which is possible primarily through the use of new technologies like satellites. We simply cannot take anything for granted." Original article on Live Science. Editor's Recommendations Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. When some folks are bored they read a book or watch an entire season of Grace & Frankie on Netflix. Others, like Cristine Rotenberg, nail art blogger behind Simply Nailogical, spend over 15 hours painting coats of nail polish onto their nails 116 to be exact. Because, well, why not? Rotenberg posted a video, which has since watched over eight million times, of her building a "polish mountain" on her nails. One by one she painted a different color onto her nails, waited for it to dry and repeated this 115 more times. "I decided to do this after many people online challenged me to see how many coats of nail polish I could put on my nails," she said in an interview. "Had no idea it would take this long, but at least people now know they probably don't want to do this themselves?" Source: YouTube Source: YouTube Source: YouTube This was the result: Source: YouTube Have an extra few hours? You might as well see how many layers of nail polish you can paint on. Rotenberg, who has over 400,000 followers on Instagram, recommends tagging #PolishMountain on social media if you do. And believe it or not, people are jumping on the bizarre bandwagon. A photo posted by Nail Art (@polishedbyemily) on Jun 9, 2016 at 3:46pm PDT A photo posted by harley (@harleys_designs) on Jun 7, 2016 at 4:48pm PDT A photo posted by Preet (@manpreet9521) on Jun 12, 2016 at 7:11am PDT A video posted by Lissa (@nailsbyastone) on Jun 13, 2016 at 5:48am PDT At least #PolishMountain nails are safer than the bubble nail trend that popped up earlier this year, right? By Robin Emmott and Phil Stewart BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Britain, Germany and the United States advanced plans on Tuesday to spearhead a new NATO force on Russia's border from next year, and Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered snap checks on combat readiness across his armed forces. Weeks before a critical NATO summit in Warsaw, three of NATO's biggest military powers said they would each command a battalion across the eastern flank to help deter any show of force such as that deployed by Moscow in Crimea in 2014. "Britain will lead one of the battalions," British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon said at a meeting of NATO defense ministers, adding London will send up to 700 troops to the Baltics and Poland. "That should send a very strong signal of our determination to defend the Baltic states and Poland in the face of continued Russian aggression," he said. In a reminder of Russia's efforts to bolster its military readiness, its armed forces started carrying out spot checks on its units, as well of weapon and equipment depots. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the goal of the June 14-22 drill was to ensure the ability of his military to "carry out planned activities, including mobilization." NATO's battalions are part of a wider deterrent to be approved at the Warsaw summit on July 8. It will involve troops on rotation, warehoused equipment and a highly mobile force backed by NATO's 40,000-strong rapid reaction unit. NATO hopes the complex plan can discourage Russia from orchestrating the kind of campaign used to annex Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in February 2014 and which has left eastern allies nervous of their former Soviet overlord. Berlin and Washington also said that they would send troops to the new force, which is expected to total about 4,000 soldiers, with contributions from other allies. France is sending a company of about 250 troops to Britain's battalion. Germany is likely to deploy to Lithuania, the United States to Poland and Britain to Estonia, on a six- to nine-month rotating basis. Other NATO nations will eventually take command responsibilities, diplomats told Reuters. CANADA ANNOUNCEMENT SOON? Western officials also acknowledged discussions in Canada to lead a fourth battalion, with a British official saying a decision could come as early as Wednesday. Reuters first reported on Canada's possible role last week. Canada's battalion was expected to be based in Latvia, diplomats say, although Ottawa has yet to comment publicly. The new deployments are apart from U.S. plans to provide an armored brigade, typically around 5,000 troops, plus extra equipment in Europe. "There will be a continually present armored brigade combat team, which will bring in its own equipment with each rotation," said U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter. He said that on top of that, the United States would bring "a pre-positioned set of equipment for yet an additional armored brigade combat team which troops could fall in upon in a crisis." While eastern allies welcome the deployments in NATO's biggest military build-up since the end of the Cold War, they want more support to defend against Russia's powerful arsenal. With a warning last week from a senior U.S. commander that the alliance would have only 72 hours notice of a missile or ground attack, Baltic nations and Poland want a sophisticated anti-missile shield to deter Russia from gaining the upper hand. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said NATO was also considering a Romanian offer to command a multinational brigade which could coordinate alliance training and possibly play a deterrent role. Russia sees NATO's deterrence plans as hostile. Moscow's envoy to the alliance has warned they threaten peace in central Europe. The Kremlin also says a U.S. ballistic missile shield, which Washington says is directed at protecting the alliance from Iran, is also escalating tensions. The United States denies that. NATO says it is respecting a 1997 agreement with Moscow not to deploy substantial combat forces on Russia's borders. "You don't invade with a few battalions, okay?" the U.S. envoy to NATO, Douglas Lute, told reporters. "But you can deter, and you can affect a potential aggressor's calculus in terms of cost, benefit and risks." (Additional reporting by Lidia Kelly in Moscow, editing by Richard Balmforth and Mark Heinrich) Neil Patrick Harris and David Burkta's adorable twins, Harper and Gideon, are ready for elementary school! The Insta-famous twins are always blowing up NPH's account and this time it's because they are preschool graduates. On Saturday, the 42-year-old actor posted a sweet and goofy pic of the 5-year-old siblings on their first day of summer to celebrate the fact that they are heading to Kindergarten in the fall. WATCH: Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka Win Halloween With Epic Costumes "Harper and Gideon graduated from the amazing Weekday School on Friday," Harrris wrote on the silly photo. "Now they're just monkeying around. #nextstopkindergarten." Harper and Gideon were preschoolers as of last week, but that doesn't mean they were just painting pictures and having nap time (although they probably did that as well). The precious pair are already really hard workers who know how to earn some money, with the help of their parents of course. On Thursday, just one day before the twins took the next step into higher education, David gushed about his children's amazing entrepreneurial skills. RELATED: Neil Patrick Harris Shares Adorable Pic of His Twins and Teases Secret Project "The kids made $40 selling popcorn, cookies and lemonade. Super proud of them," David wrote on yet another sweet picture of the couple's twins. "We are sending it to the @aspca Neil [and] I said we triple the amount to help poor animals in need. They deserve a small present right?" he added. On Sunday, the happy fathers took a break from their kids and had a parents' night out, attending the 70th Annual Tony Awards in New York. When the duo hit the red carpet, however, Neil was NOT his usual self. The How I Met Your Mother star donned a whole new 'do and it was definitely a showstopper. The actor revealed his dramatic new look, a completely shaved head, to the media after weeks of covering his head with a hat while out in public. Story continues Take a peek at his new style below. Related Articles Jerusalem (AFP) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said a long-dormant Arab peace initiative with the Palestinians that he has spoken of reviving must be changed before Israel can support it. Netanyahu made the comments on Monday night to members of his Likud party, Israeli media reported, after facing pressure from rightwing members of his cabinet over his recent comments on the Arab initiative. Members of the religious nationalist Jewish Home party who hold key positions in Netanyahu's cabinet oppose a Palestinian state. "If the Arab nations grasp the fact that they need to revise the Arab League proposal according to the changes Israel demands, then we can talk," Netanyahu said, according to the Haaretz newspaper, which cited two sources at the meeting. "But if they bring the proposal from 2002 and define it as 'take it or leave it' - we'll choose to leave it." Late last month, Netanyahu spoke of the Arab League-endorsed proposal that dates to 2002, saying it "includes positive elements that can help revive constructive negotiations with the Palestinians." But some analysts questioned whether his comments were a bid to fend off international critics over his appointment of hardline Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman and his strong opposition to a French peace initiative now taking shape. The Arab proposal essentially calls for Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories and resolve the issue of refugees with the Palestinians, leading to the creation of a Palestinian state, in exchange for normalised relations with Arab countries. According to Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom, Netanyahu also told fellow Likud members that "the Arab initiative includes positive elements." "But it is clear that it must be updated in order to take account of changes that have occurred in the region in recent years," he said. Haaretz reported that Netanyahu said the plan's "negative elements" included what he described as the return of Palestinian refugees and the demand that Israel retreat from of all lands occupied in the 1967 Six Day War. Story continues Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi dismissed Netanyahu's comments and said Israel cannot seek the benefits of the proposal before making concessions. "Those comments are completely rejected because the Arab initiative has a precise philosophy and a specific order," he told journalists in Egypt. "Some suggest that the Arabs should first meet their obligations so that Israel can consider fulfilling its commitments, which is unacceptable." First Shipment, Minimum 2,000 Tonnes, Scheduled for July-August 2016 NEW YORK, NY and WINDHOEK, REPUBLIC OF NAMIBIA / ACCESSWIRE / June 14, 2016 / Next Graphite, Inc. (OTC PINK: GPNE) ("Next Graphite," "GPNE" or the "Company"), a graphite exploration/development stage company in the African Republic of Namibia, is pleased to announce favorable results of assays overseen by our joint venture partner on approximately 160 kilograms of samples sent to TEA-Lab (previously Lilof Enterprises) of Swakopmund, Namibia. The average grade of 59.40% Cg (Carbon as graphite) for initial samples resulted from screening material taken from the Aukam dumps. Average grades of flake graphite deposits typically range from 1.5% to 25% Cg. Assay Results Total assay results of seven samples weighing between 20 and 30 kg were in a range of 55.64% to 63.87% Cg (carbon as graphite), averaging 59.40% Cg (results below). While these samples were selected from a larger 1.6 tonne sample, they are not considered representative of the mineralization on the Aukam dumps property as a whole. Sample Number Carbon as Graphite Cg % 1975 57.50 1980 63.87 2015 55.64 2075 58.66 2080 58.75 2225 60.86 2345 60.49 Average 59.40 The above seven samples were taken from the 1.6 tonnes shipped as part of our commitment under a Letter of Intent with a vertically integrated graphite producer (previous news release dated March 24, 2016) and are believed to be representative of that larger sample. "The grade of these samples exceeds expectations based on previous assays of screened bulk samples from the Aukam dumps which averaged 42% Cg," said Cliff Bream, CEO of Next Graphite. "We expect the balance of our 1.6 tonne sample will respond well to processing and look forward to the results of those tests. These initial tests were made in preparing for initial Purchase Order shipments scheduled to begin in July or August of 2016." Story continues Assays were performed at TEA-Lab of Swakopmund. Samples were crushed by hammer and jaw crusher to < 5 mm and split before milling sub-samples to < 200 microns followed by thermo-gravimetric analysis. About Next Graphite, Inc.: Next Graphite, Inc. is an exploration / development stage company targeting the growing global graphite production industry with the Company's Africa-based Aukam Graphite Project. The Aukam Graphite Mine was established in 1940 in the current Republic of Namibia and produced USD $30 million of graphite at today's prices. The site is located on 34,082 hectares in southern Namibia close to the port city of Luderitz and is estimated to contain a significant amount of high grade, vein type graphitic material. The property hosts three underground adits that were mined periodically between 1940 and 1974. Five dumps from the historical mining occur on the property and 73 samples from the lower three dumps were assayed and averaged 42% Cg. Next Graphite's joint venture is planning a bulk-sampling program at Aukam, and has a letter of intent to sell the graphitic material produced during the program. Next also intends to put the historical mine back into production and is working on an application for a mining license. The Company maintains high safety and environmental standards and has a comprehensive strategy of social engagement. For more information, please visit: www.nextgraphite.com. Safe Harbor Statement: This press release contains forward-looking statements made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward looking statements are based upon the current plans, estimates and projections of Next Graphite Inc.'s management and are subject to risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from the forward looking statements. Such statements include, among others, those concerning market and industry segment growth and demand and acceptance of new and existing products; any projections of sales, earnings, revenue, margins or other financial items; any statements of the plans, strategies and objectives of management for future operations; any statements regarding future economic conditions or performance; uncertainties related to conducting business in Africa, as well as all assumptions, expectations, predictions, intentions or beliefs about future events. Therefore, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. Among others, could cause actual results to differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements: business conditions in Africa, general economic conditions; geopolitical events and regulatory changes, availability of capital, the Company's ability to maintain its competitive position and dependence on key management. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any security and shall not constitute an offer, solicitation or sale of any securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of such jurisdiction. CONTACT: Steve Nichols (210) 260-3125 SOURCE: Next Graphite, Inc. Powerhouse casting director Jina Jay cannot get enough of John le Carre, the prolific British author known for his tales of espionage and politically-motivated violence. Returning to cast spy thriller series The Night Manager, the first le Carre adaptation for television in twenty years, after casting several of the authors critically lauded film adaptations (A Most Wanted Man, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) in recent years, Jay can see the common thread that keeps her coming back for more. Perhaps the common thread is that his lead characters demand the greatest leading character actors, Jay says. I have always been drawn to character actors; on screen, they often challenge and hurt me. With a hand in the upcoming Star Wars spin-off Rogue One and the Michael Fassbender video game adaptation Assassins Creed, the A-lister saw in the prose of le Carre and David Farr characters who demanded to appear on screen. In The Night Manager, you have the worst man in the world, Richard Roper (Laurie), an international arms dealer of terrifying prowess, and Jonathan Pine (Hiddleston), the former military man turned hotelier who strives to bring him down. How does it feel to see the end resultto witness two of the industrys leading British actors, Hugh Laurie and Tom Hiddleston, going toe to toe at the top of their game? Its bloody damn marvelous, says Jay. Even with the caliber of these two pedigreed actors, though, Jay admits in earnest, the success of this pairing was never guaranteed. Its hard to pre-judge chemistry, she says. But with massive viewership in its UK debut, the breaking of ratings records and critics adulation across the board, its clear as can be that something went right with The Night Manager. Jay had previously cast Hiddleston in Steven Spielbergs Oscar-nominated War Horse; and in Roper, Laurie found what is arguably his most exciting role since the time of Doctor Gregory House. In looking at the shows critical success, Jay cant take all of the credit. Hugh and Toms agent Christian Hodell needs to be applauded for his instinct here, and his dogged determination that they should appear together on screen, she says. Hugh felt like he was born to inhabit this role, and with Susanne [Bier] part of the equation, this felt like something potentially magical. Story continues When it came to casting the shows leading ladiesamong them, Elizabeth Debicki, in the role of Ropers partner, Jed Marshallprior relationships in casting proved beneficial. Jay recalls her initial encounter with Debicki, during the post-production phase of Baz Luhrmanns The Great Gatsby. I liked her focus and energy; plus she has buckets of charm and wit, and beautiful physicality, she recalls. No stranger to high profile projects, Debicki nonetheless found in The Night Manager a breakthrough role. One of her readings was substantial and unnerving, the casting director adds. She did an amazing reading which nailed the heart and essence of Jed, and Susanne was smitten. Related stories 'The Path' Production Designer Russell Barnes Reveals On-Screen Errors And Design Influences Emmy Balloting Begins As Streamers Try To Outsmart Nets And Cablers With Direct Voter Appeals And Gimmicks 'Mozart In The Jungle' Star Gael Garcia Bernal On Music And Mexico City Everybody has to have home insurancebut understanding the obtuse legalese buried in your policy? Were not wizards. Insurance agents and brokers (generally, an agent works for a specific company; a broker is independent) exist to help you comprehend the various clauses and requirements of your insurance policy. But you need to help them, tooby being proactive, willing to listen, and inquisitive. Here are seven things that smart homeowners need to understandstraight from expert home insurance agents and brokers themselves. 1. Insurers look at replacement cost, not market value In the event that your home and/or possessions are damaged, dont be surprised if your insurance company offers less than market value. Its looking at replacement valuethe amount of money necessary to repair or replace damaged property, says Kevin Foley, owner of PFT&K Insurance Brokers in Milltown, NJ. It doesnt care about what your home might go for if you listed itit cares only about what it costs to repair the home. Bought your home for $500,000? That price includes land (which isnt insured) and other factors such as the excellent schools nearby. If the house burns to the ground, you will only get what it costs to rebuild, Foley says. 2. You should never, ever ignore flood risk Planning to skip flood coverage because youre in the middle of the high plains? Think again. Lakes, rivers, and oceans arent your only watery concerns. Forgetting about your sump pump or sewer can be a catastrophic mistake. Patti Clement, a senior vice president at HUB International, recommends purchasing an all risk policy. If there is a power failure and it causes the pumps to fail and you have flooding in the basement, it is a way for the loss to be covered, she says. 3. Dont use insurance for maintenance issues Making a claim on your insurance will likely cause your premium to rise. Thats no fun for anyone, especially your agent, who might get an earful when you receive your next bill. Story continues Plus, too many claims could result in cancellation of your policy. So keep your claim activity to a minimum. Insurance should only be used for larger claims or catastrophic incidents, says Jennifer Gregorski, a Farmers Insurance agent near Philadelphia. Its not intended to reimburse you for maintenance issues that arise from daily wear and tear. To put in multiple small claims will cause the homeowners premium to increase and make it difficult to move your insurance when you choose to shop. Not sure if you should make a claim? Foley offers a good rule: When you use your insurance, it should be with a sense of Thank God I have insurance. 4. Tell them before remodeling your home On the to-do list before a major renovation, giving a heads up to your insurance company may fall to the wayside. Dont let it, otherwise you might find yourself paying some big bucks. Not only do you want to ensure any possible mishaps are covered under your policy, but your insurer likely will need to reassess your property, especially if renovations affect the value of your house. Some renovationslike a new roofcan lower your premiums. But others, like putting in a pool or, God forbid, an in-ground trampoline, can cause your premiums to skyrocket. Double-check with your agent before finalizing construction plans. 5. Buying insurance isnt like shopping for gas Understanding the intricacies of your policy can be immensely overwhelming, tempting many homeowners to shop exclusively for the lowest price. But being more methodical can make a huge difference. Dont view buying insurance like shopping for gas, says Kurt Ostergaard, a CFA with Stirling Insurance Services in New York City. Youre buying protection for the most expensive things you own. The language in a policy needs context and explanation that reading it straightaway will not give you. Go through your policy with your broker or agent, asking questions whenever youre confusedand dont feel bad if your list of queries runs long. Insurance scares the crap out of a lot of people, Ostergaard says. It starts with a river of forms and ends with a big check and a document written in legalese by lawyers for lawyers. 6. Theres no conspiracy. Seriously. Believe it or not, your insurance company doesnt set out to smash your dreams of reimbursement with an iron hammer. One area that makes things very difficult as an agent are people who think the insurance companies are out to deny every possible legitimate claim, Gregorski says. There is not a vast conspiracy against the clients. Insurance companies do want to keep you happy. And sure, they want to protect their bottom line as wellbut instead of being combative, work with them to determine the best outcome that you both can be comfortable with. 7. Dont yell at the agents Your agent or broker should be your ally. Remember: Theyre not the ones setting the rates or raising your premiums. You might be upset, but give them a break. The customer service person or agent in the office is not the insurance company, Gregorski says. We understand that increases are difficult on the insured, but yelling or harassing the staff is not going to help your situation. If you have an issue with your coverage or rate, try to remain calm during discussions. Keeping a respectful tone will get you much further to figuring out a solution to the issue than brute force, she says. Watch: What Your Mortgage Broker Wishes You Knew The post Theres No Conspiracy, and 6 Other Things Your Home Insurance Agent Wishes You Knew appeared first on Real Estate News and Advice - realtor.com. Related Articles Image via Shutterstock In what may be a first-of-its-kind ruling in the US, an Oregon court ruled Friday that Portland resident Jamie Shupe is officially and legally neither male nor female but non-binary, Jezebel reports. According to the Oregonian, the 52-year-old Army veteran was assigned the male gender at birth but never felt that fit. Neither did female, though Shupe began transitioning in 2013. My gender identity has never been male, but I feel like I have to own up to my male biology, Shupe says. Being non-binary allows me to do that. Im a mixture of both. I consider myself as a third sex." Related: How My Daughter Became My Son Shupes attorney tells CNN Oregon law allows people to have their gender legally changed if they can provide proof of treatment in connection with a transition, but doesnt specify gender has to be changed to either male or female. Related: Orlando Shooters Father: Gay Kiss Angered Him The Daily Dot calls Fridays ruling "historic, and the co-executive director of Basic Rights Oregon says its a momentous day for genderqueer Oregonians. Shupe, who avoids gender pronouns in favor of just being called Jamie, was literally tearful when the ruling was made. I hope the impact will be that it opened the legal doorway for others, Shupe tells the Daily Dot. We dont deserve to be classified improperly against our will." Related: Worlds Biggest Lesbian Gathering Is a Giant Desert Party While the ruling could be a step toward changing federal policy, the next step for Shupe is working with the DMV to get a drivers license that specifies "non-binary. Nepal, Australia, Denmark, and other countries already officially acknowledge non-binary genders; Germany now offers this option at birth. By Michael Harthorne More From Newser: Woman Convicted of Adultery in Qatar After Reporting Rape Cops: Armed Man Planned to Attack LA Pride Parade This article originally appeared on Newser: 'Non-Binary Is Now a Legal Gender in Oregon North Korea has closed a multi-million dollar model village in Pyongyang because it reminds leader Kim Jong-Un of his executed uncle who managed the project, media reports said on Tuesday. Pyongyang Folk Village, which features miniature versions of the capital's buildings, was completed in 2012, with Kim describing it as the brainchild of his deceased father Kim Jong-Il. Its construction was overseen by Jang Song-Thaek, once the second most powerful man in North Korea who was convicted of treason and executed in late 2013. Jang was described as a "traitor" to the nation and derided as "despicable human scum... worse than a dog" in the announcement of his death by the official KCNA news agency. South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted sources as saying that Kim ordered "Mini Pyongyang" to be dismantled as it reminded him of Jang. "Whenever Kim passed by Pyongyang Folk Village, he often complained it brought Jang back to his mind," one source was quoted as saying. A second source said the ruling communist party had withdrawn and shredded brochures promoting the village. Nick Bonner, Director of Koryo Tours, a China-based travel agency that specialises in tours to North Korea, said the country's tourism authority told the company the closure was temporary. "We were told last week it's closed for renovation," he told AFP. Tourist trips to the site are rare, he said, adding that visitors prefer to see the real Pyongyang rather than its model replica. The 200-hectare (500-acre) model village features scaled versions of propaganda monuments and buildings in Pyongyang, including the Juche (self-independence) tower topped with the torch of revolution. It also contains replicas of palaces that existed at the time of the Koryo dynasty, which ruled from the 10th to the 14th centuries. According to estimates in South Korean media, the village cost millions of dollars to build. Well, this is the pits. A warm-weather spell in February followed by two brutal cold snaps have led to a historic peach shortage in the Northeast, Modern Farmer reported. According to the magazine, the 50-degree-Fahrenheit days tricked the stone fruit trees into thinking spring had arrived. Things like peaches, apricots, they start to come out pretty quick as soon as it gets warm out, Steven Clarke, of Prospect Hill Orchards in Milton, New York, told Modern Farmer. But then the cold spells in April "froze and damaged nearly every single bud. PHOTOS: Celebs' Fave Healthy Snacks Fruit tree specialists estimate that New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts have lost 90 percent or more of the peach crop, while New Jersey the fourth-largest peach-producing state lost about 40 percent of its peach crop, Boston.com reported. Nectarines, apricots, plums and cherries were also affected by the weather. Weve never had anything like this, as long as I can remember, Rick Lawrence, of Lawrence Farms Orchards, in Newburgh, New York, told Modern Farmer. Im 60 years old and I cant remember anything like this. PHOTOS: Celebs Stuffing Their Faces At the Beach John Rogers, who owns Rogers Orchards in Southington, Connecticut, lost all 30 acres of his peach crop. He said he will likely have to purchase the fruit from the South and California to sell. Peaches are going to be more expensive, he told Boston.com. Growers in the other regions know theres going to be a shortage. Its supply and demand. * Victoza cuts heart complications and deaths in study * Second diabetes drug to help heart after Jardiance * Some investors had been hoping for bigger benefit (Adds reaction from executive and analyst) By Ben Hirschler June 14 (Reuters) - Novo Nordisk's top-selling diabetes drug Victoza cut the risk of heart attack, stroke and cardiovascular death by 13 percent in a closely watched study that may encourage wider use of the blockbuster injectable medicine. Victoza is only the second diabetes drug to show such heart benefits, after Eli Lilly and Boehringer Ingelheim's pill Jardiance. Victoza's effect was evident in all areas. "To me, the impressive thing about this trial is the consistency across clinical endpoints and its robustness," said John Buse, professor of medicine at the UNC School of Medicine, who worked on the study. He believes doctors' approach to type 2 diabetes treatment will now start to shift to a greater focus on minimising overall risks, rather than simply cutting blood sugar levels. Because about half of deaths in people with diabetes are caused by heart disease, reducing heart risk is considered essential to their care. But some investors had been hoping for a bigger effect. Jefferies analyst Jeffrey Holford said market expectations had for a mid- to high teens percent reduction in complications. Novo, the world's biggest diabetes company, had said in March that Victoza cut heart risks "significantly" in the study but the scale of the benefit was only disclosed on Monday. Researchers told the American Diabetes Association's (ADA) annual meeting that 13.0 percent of patients on Victoza died from cardiovascular causes or suffered non-fatal heart attacks or strokes, against 14.9 percent of those on placebo. Deaths from heart disease were 22 percent lower in the Victoza group. The Jardiance trial last year showed a similar 14 percent overall relative risk reduction and a 38 percent reduction in cardiovascular deaths. Story continues The Victoza trial, known as Leader, had been designed to show Novo's drug did not increase heart risk, so its superiority is welcome news for the company, especially as Sanofi's rival Lyxumia failed to show heart benefits in an earlier test. Victoza, which had sales of $2.7 billion last year, is the biggest seller in a class of drugs known as GLP-1 analogues that stimulate insulin production. "I think physicians will look to GLP-1s with greater enthusiasm," Buse said in an interview. Once-daily Victoza is typically prescribed as a third or fourth option after patients have first tried various oral medicines. "The significance of this is that now we can start to change the conversation around diabetes management from one of 'let's manage your blood sugar' to one of 'let's manage your risk of complications'," Buse said. Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen, Novo's chief science officer, said the results should encourage doctors to use Victoza earlier, since they could now see it offered "life-expanding" treatment. The findings, which involved following 9,340 patients for a median 3.8 years, were also published online in the New England Journal of Medicine. Gastrointestinal upset was the biggest side effect with Victoza. There were fewer cases of pancreatitis, which has been viewed as a potential problem, but more cases of pancreatic cancer, although the difference was not statistically significant. Since 2008, U.S. regulators have demanded studies for new diabetes medicines to show there is no increase in heart risk, opening a new battleground between different treatments. Lilly is conducting a similar large study to try and prove the heart benefits of its once-weekly GLP-1 drug Trulicity. The Leader study was funded by Novo and the U.S. National Institutes of Health. (Editing by David Clarke and Jason Neely) Gun control is once again a topic of fierce debate, after a man in Orlando went on a shooting rampage that left 50 dead and more than 50 others injured at a gay club early Sunday morning. But as Democrats, including presumptive presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, call for to America's gun laws in the wake of the massacre, the National Rifle Association broke its silence Monday night to protest any laws that would restrict the right to buy or possess weapons. In a late-night tweet storm, Chris W. Cox, executive director of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action, blamed the shooting on terrorism, as the shooter was a Muslim American who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State before going on his rampage. And Cox said any restrictions to gun ownership would only provide Americans with a sense of "false security," rather than actually keep Americans safe. @POTUS & @HillaryClinton have responded to a terrorist attack...by calling for more #guncontrol - @NRAILA Exec. Dir. Chris W. Cox Cox said the focus on gun control after the attack was "an illusion" by politicians to make it seem like "they're doing SOMETHING to protect us." They are desperate to create the illusion that they're doing SOMETHING to protect us- even though their policies won't keep us safe - C.C. He added that the focus on gun control after the shooting is a "head-fake" that "will do nothing to prevent the a future attack." Their transparent head-fakes should scare every American because it will do nothing to prevent the a future attack. - C.C. Cox also said gun owners are "done with being blamed for the acts of madmen and terrorists." Story continues Law-abiding gun owners are done with being blamed for the acts of madmen and terrorists. - C.C. It's in the NRA's interest to prevent any limitations to gun ownership. To suggest that all we need is a new ban on "assault weapons" provides nothing but a dangerous sense of false security. - C.C. A number of their members include gun retailers and manufacturers, who make a living off of gun sales. And those members' profits would almost certainly suffer if laws made it harder, or even illegal, for Americans to purchase certain types of weapons. We must defeat radical terrorists, but not resort to destroying the rights of law-abiding Americans to defend themselves. -C.C. Each year, the NRA spends millions to get pro-gun politicians elected and in office. Their efforts have helped kill a number of pieces of legislation in Congress, including a stricter background check bill introduced following the attack on an elementary school in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, as well as a recent bill that would have banned people on the FBI's "no-fly" list from purchasing a gun. The mass shooting at an Orlando gay nightclub in the early hours of Sunday (June 12) that left 49 people dead and 53 injured has venue and nightclub owners reviewing security measures at events and parties moving forward. It's also having an immediate effect on the LGBT nightclub and party scene in New York City as the community gears up for its annual Pride week, which starts June 19 and culminates in the long-running Pride Parade and the 30th annual Dance on the Pier party on June 26. Patrons on Orlando's Pulse Before the Tragedy: 'We Could Be Our Authentic Selves' Historically, gay clubs and parties have served as safe havens for a community that has endured more than its share of hate over the years. But in the immediate aftermath of the shooting at Pulse, several promoters and nightclub owners are turning to increased security measures to reassure attendees and attempt to ensure the safety of their guests. Security Experts On The 'New Normal': Challenges And Logistics Of Concert Safety In The Wake Of Orlando Shootings "We do take the incident in Orlando very seriously," says Jason Kaciupski, events manager at Addison Group NYC, owner of high-end clubs such as the Monarch atop the Marriott Courtyard in Manhattan's Herald Square, which hosts an LGBT-friendly day party called Fly Sundays throughout the summer. "We will be adding additional security check points for our guest's safety." Others such as Brandon Voss -- longtime promoter and owner of Voss Events and Productions which produces several weekly events in Manhattan, Miami, Las Vegas and Fire Island and is putting together three events at Pride this year -- tell Billboard there are plans to increase security, without getting into specifics. Orlando's LGBT Community 'Will Survive' After Pulse Massacre "We work closely with the NYPD," says Tom Johnson, owner and manager of popular nightclub Therapy in Manhattan, in an email. "I am confident and have been assured by members of the force that they will be providing the city with stepped up patrols at LGBTQ gathering places." The NYPD, which said in a statement they "are closely monitoring developments in the investigation" of the shooting in Orlando, was "out in full force" at the vigil for victims of the attack at the iconic gay bar Stonewall Inn last night (June 13), in addition to showing a strong presence at Manhattan's LGBT Center and the block outside Therapy, Johnson added. Story continues Accordingly, the co-chairs of NYC Pride released a statement this week saying that all events associated with the festival would go on as scheduled, and that organizers were working with both the NYPD and their private security team to "adjust our existing security protocols," with more information to be released in the coming days. "For decades, we have worked closely with the NYPD and a number of other city agencies to ensure the safety of every guest," co-chairs Maryanne Roberto Fine and David Studinski wrote. "We also deploy a team of hundreds of professional security guards throughout our events, in addition to security measures that most guests never see." Orlando Pride Radio Host Talks Pulse's Place in LGBT Community, Why It's Hard Not to Be Scared However, several venue owners and promoters contacted by Billboard are adamant that the spirit of their events remain intact, and that while additional security may be required, it should not distract from the messages of freedom, positivity and love that have become a rallying cry for the LGBT community. "We hope for a strong Pride turnout, where we can live out our LGBTQ lives without hate, fear and persecution propagated by our domestic politicians and religious leaders," Johnson wrote to Billboard. "Blocking our establishment's access with additional layers of armed security is not the answer, love is." "I'm a firm believer that when something happens, even something as horrible as this, it's not a sign that it's going to happen all the time, or even again in my lifetime," says Daniel Nardicio, a longtime gay party promoter, producer and leader in the scene for over a decade, noting that he has received emails from other venues and promoters assuring customers that they are reviewing security guidelines. "I don't think because of a one-time thing that we should change the way we've been doing things successfully for a long time; that's reactive. I think clubs will pretend to do it, but they're not going to keep up that expense forever." Surviving the Orlando Shooting: A Pulse Bartender Shares His Experience Pride is particularly under the microscope, not just for its importance within the community but also because its events -- like Dance on the Pier, which will be headlined by Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas, Teaze, and DJ'd by Samantha Ronson -- are large-scale, public gatherings that attract thousands. James Fallorino, media director for NYC Pride, says that metal detectors, security checkpoints and other measures are all being considered, but that organizers are still finalizing details. "The most important message for us to get out right now is that all the events are taking place, nothing is canceled," he says. Unfortunately, however, increased security has become "the new reality," music industry attorney Ed McPherson told Billboard earlier this week, particularly after shootings at the Bataclan in Paris, Irving Plaza in New York and the murder of Christina Grimmie after a performance at a separate Orlando venue the night before the massacre at Pulse, all coming within the past seven months. But despite heightened anxiety in the LGBT community in the hours following the worst mass shooting in U.S. history, Fallorino says the tone has "definitely changed." "People understand that this may be one of the most important Prides that they ever attend, that Pride is very important this year," he stresses. "I think the community is really starting to recognize that if we don't come out, if we don't show our pride and be out and be who we are, that's letting those who wish to silence us win." Shooting At Orlando Nightclub Leaves 50 Dead in Largest Mass Shooting in U.S. History | Patrons on Orlando's Pulse Before the Tragedy: 'We Could Be Our Authentic Selves' | President Obama Calls Orlando Nightclub Mass Shooting Act of Terror and Hate | Orlando Gay Nightclub Shooting Casts a Shadow on Tony Awards | Orlando Shooting: Trump Sees Backlash Over 'Congrats' Tweet; Clinton Calls Attack an 'Act of Terror' | Orlando Nightclub Mass Shooting: Hollywood Reacts | 'This Is the New Reality': Artists & Concert Execs Weigh In on Security Challenges After Orlando | Skrillex, Chainsmokers & More Dance Music Stars React to Orlando Nightclub Massacre | Orlando Pride Radio Host Talks Pulse's Place in LGBT Community, Why It's Hard Not to Be Scared | James Corden Gives Touching Orlando Speech at 2016 Tony Awards: 'Hate Will Never Win' The mass shooting at an Orlando gay nightclub in the early hours of Sunday that left 49 people dead and 53 injured has venue and nightclub owners reviewing security measures at events and parties moving forward. It's also having an immediate effect on the LGBT nightclub and party scene in New York City as the community gears up for its annual Pride week, which starts June 19 and culminates in the long-running Pride Parade and the 30th annual Dance on the Pier party on June 26. Historically, gay clubs and parties have served as safe havens for a community that has endured more than its share of hate over the years. But in the immediate aftermath of the shooting at Pulse, several promoters and nightclub owners are turning to increased security measures to reassure attendees and attempt to ensure the safety of their guests. Read More: Security Experts Talk Concert Safety Challenges, Logistics After Orlando Shootings "We do take the incident in Orlando very seriously," says Jason Kaciupski, events manager at Addison Group NYC, owner of high-end clubs such as the Monarch atop the Marriott Courtyard in Manhattan's Herald Square, which hosts an LGBT-friendly day party called Fly Sundays throughout the summer. "We will be adding additional security check points for our guest's safety." Others such as Brandon Voss - longtime promoter and owner of Voss Events and Productions which produces several weekly events in Manhattan, Miami, Las Vegas and Fire Island and is putting together three events at Pride this year - tell Billboard there are plans to increase security, without getting into specifics. "We work closely with the NYPD," says Tom Johnson, owner and manager of popular nightclub Therapy in Manhattan, in an email. "I am confident and have been assured by members of the force that they will be providing the city with stepped up patrols at LGBTQ gathering places." The NYPD, which said in a statement they "are closely monitoring developments in the investigation" of the shooting in Orlando, was "out in full force" at the vigil for victims of the attack at the iconic gay bar Stonewall Inn on Monday, in addition to showing a strong presence at Manhattan's LGBT Center and the block outside Therapy, Johnson added. Story continues Read More: NYC Deploys More Than 500 Anti-Terrorism Officers as a Precaution After Orlando Shooting Accordingly, the co-chairs of NYC Pride released a statement this week saying that all events associated with the festival would go on as scheduled, and that organizers were working with both the NYPD and their private security team to "adjust our existing security protocols," with more information to be released in the coming days. "For decades, we have worked closely with the NYPD and a number of other city agencies to ensure the safety of every guest," co-chairs Maryanne Roberto Fine and David Studinski wrote. "We also deploy a team of hundreds of professional security guards throughout our events, in addition to security measures that most guests never see." However, several venue owners and promoters contacted by Billboard are adamant that the spirit of their events remain intact, and that while additional security may be required, it should not distract from the messages of freedom, positivity and love that have become a rallying cry for the LGBT community. "We hope for a strong Pride turnout, where we can live out our LGBTQ lives without hate, fear and persecution propagated by our domestic politicians and religious leaders," Johnson wrote to Billboard. "Blocking our establishment's access with additional layers of armed security is not the answer, love is." "I'm a firm believer that when something happens, even something as horrible as this, it's not a sign that it's going to happen all the time, or even again in my lifetime," says Daniel Nardicio, a longtime gay party promoter, producer and leader in the scene for over a decade, noting that he has received emails from other venues and promoters assuring customers that they are reviewing security guidelines. "I don't think because of a one-time thing that we should change the way we've been doing things successfully for a long time; that's reactive. I think clubs will pretend to do it, but they're not going to keep up that expense forever." Read More: Surviving the Orlando Shooting: Pulse Bartender Shares His Experience Pride is particularly under the microscope, not just for its importance within the community but also because its events - like Dance on the Pier, which will be headlined by Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas, Teaze, and DJ'd by Samantha Ronson - are large-scale, public gatherings that attract thousands. James Fallorino, media director for NYC Pride, says that metal detectors, security checkpoints and other measures are all being considered, but that organizers are still finalizing details. "The most important message for us to get out right now is that all the events are taking place, nothing is canceled," he says. Unfortunately, however, increased security has become "the new reality," music industry attorney Ed McPherson told Billboard earlier this week, particularly after shootings at the Bataclan in Paris, Irving Plaza in New York and the murder of Christina Grimmie after a performance at a separate Orlando venue the night before the massacre at Pulse, all coming within the past seven months. But despite heightened anxiety in the LGBT community in the hours following the worst mass shooting in U.S. history, Fallorino says the tone has "definitely changed." "People understand that this may be one of the most important Prides that they ever attend, that Pride is very important this year," he stresses. "I think the community is really starting to recognize that if we don't come out, if we don't show our pride and be out and be who we are, that's letting those who wish to silence us win." Read More: Anderson Cooper Fights Back Tears While Reading Names of Orlando Shooting Victims This article originally appeared on Billboard.com. In an impassioned speech on Sunday's mass shooting in Orlando, President Obama condemned Donald Trump and other Republicans who have criticized the president's refusal to speak the words "radical Islam" as the cause of that attack and others. Obama dubbed the debate over the controversial phrase a "political distraction," and in an apparent reference to Trump, dismissed the "yapping" from "politicians who tweet." "What exactly would using this language accomplish? What exactly would it change?" Obama said Tuesday during remarks at the Treasury Department. "Would it make ISIL less committed to try and kill Americans?" "Would it bring in more allies? Is there a military strategy that is served by this? The answer is none of the above. Calling a threat by a different name does not make it go away." "The men and women who put their lives at risk and the Special Forces I ordered to get bin Laden and are now on the ground in Iraq and in Syria they know full well who the enemy is," the president continued. "So do the intelligence and law enforcement officers who spent countless hours disrupting plots. And protecting all Americans, including politicians who tweet, and appear on cable news shows. They know what the nature of the enemy is. So there's no magic to the phrase 'radical Islam.' It's a political talking point." Though he didn't mention Trump by name, Obama referred to the presumptive Republican nominee's call to ban all Muslims from entering the U.S., saying that "we are now seeing how dangerous this kind of mindset and thinking can be." "We are starting to see this kind of rhetoric and loose talk and sloppiness about who we are fighting, where this can lead us," Obama said. "If we fall into the trap of painting all Muslims with a broad brush, and implying that we are going to war with an entire religion, then we are doing the terrorists' work for them," he continued. "We don't have religious tests here. If we even abandon those values we will not only make it easier to radicalize people around the world, we will betray ... the very things that make us great. We can not let that happen. I will not let that happen." "Where does it stop? The Orlando killer, or the San Bernardino killers, the Fort Hood killer they were all U.S. citizens. Are we going to start treating all Muslim Americans differently? Place them under special surveillance? Discriminate against them because of their faith? Do Republican officials actually agree with this? Because that's not the America we want. It doesn't reflect our ideals. It makes Muslim Americans feel like their government has betrayed them." Obama noted that there is no "information to indicate that a foreign terrorist group directed the attack in Orlando" and added that it is "increasingly clear" that the shooter, who killed 49 people at a popular gay nightclub on Sunday, was an "extremist" who "took in propaganda over the Internet." "He appears to have been an angry, disturbed, unstable young man who became radicalized." The president also repeated his call for "common-sense" gun measures and urged Congress to renew the assault weapons ban. "We have to make it harder for people who want to kill Americans to get their hands on weapons of war that let them kill dozens of innocents," Obama said. "Enough talking about being tough on terrorism. Actually be tough on terrorism." In angry and passionate remarks delivered at the end of an otherwise dry recitation of the military progress being made against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, President Obama asked the key question that will define the remainder of an election season dominated by presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Do Republican officials actually agree with this? Obama demanded. Related: Six Questions Donald Trumps Supporters Need to Answer Right Now He was referring to Trumps controversial comments about Muslim Americans in the wake of the Orlando nightclub shooting on Sunday morning. But the question is really a larger one -- one that Obama and Democrats up and down the ballot in November will be demanding of their Republican counterparts: Do they support the positions of the man they have endorsed for the presidency? Obamas remarks came the day after Trump, in interviews with multiple media outlets and in a speech delivered in New Hampshire, suggested that Muslim Americans are actively harboring terrorists in the U.S., whose numbers he said rise to the level of thousands of shooters, ready to carry out additional attacks like the nightclub massacre by a man who claimed that he was allied with ISIS. He reiterated his call to ban Muslim immigrants and for increased surveillance focused on mosques. Where does this stop? Obama demanded. The Orlando killer, one of the San Bernardino killers, the Fort Hood killer -- they were all U.S. citizens. Are we going to start treating all Muslim-Americans differently? Are we going to start subjecting them to special surveillance? Are we going to start to discriminate against them, because of their faith? He added, We heard these suggestions during the course of this campaign. Do Republican officials actually agree with this? Related: Trump Says Thousands of Shooters Like Orlando Terrorist Are in US Already Its a question that Republican leaders are being forced, more and more, to confront. House Speaker Paul Ryan was asked about Trumps speech in a press conference Tuesday morning and sought to narrow the focus to just Trumps demand that Muslims from abroad should be denied entry into the United States indefinitely. Story continues I do not think a Muslim ban is in our country's interest, said Ryan, who has endorsed Trump. I do not think it is reflective of our principles, not just as a party, but as a country. Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said that Trumps speech in New Hampshire wasn't the type of speech one would expect from a presidential nominee. In an effort to be constructive, I have offered public encouragement at important times, but I must admit that I am personally discouraged by the results, Corker said in a statement to USA Today. Related: Top Advisor Says Trump Might Support New Gun Restrictions Near the end of his remarks Tuesday afternoon, President Obama forcefully defended the United States tradition of pluralism and openness, vowing to defend it himself and exhorting others to live up to our Democratic ideals. Demonizing Muslims, he said won't make us more safe, it will make us less safe, fueling ISIL's notion that the West hates Muslims, making Muslims in this country and around the world feel like, no matter what they do, they're going to be under suspicion and under attack. It makes Muslim-Americans feel like their government is betraying them. It betrays the very values America stands for. In a section of his remarks worth quoting at length, the president warned against lashing out at a minority group out of fear. We have gone through moments in our history before when we acted out of fear, and we came to regret it, he said. We have seen our government mistreat our fellow citizens, and it has been a shameful part of our history. Related: Clinton Slams Trumps Anti-Muslim Rhetoric in Wake of Orlando Attack This is a country founded on basic freedoms, including freedom of religion. We don't have religious tests here. Our founders, our Constitution, our Bill of Rights, are clear about that. And if we ever abandon those values, we would not only make it a lot easier to radicalize people here and around the world, but we would have betrayed the very things we are trying to protect. The pluralism and the openness, our rule of law, our civil liberties, the very things that make this country great. The very things that make us exceptional. And then the terrorists would have won. And we cannot let that happen. I will not let that happen. While sitting presidents in the modern era have not typically used the full power of the bully pulpit to attack the rival partys presidential nominee in a general election, todays appearance marks the third time in as many weeks that President Obama has gone directly after Trump in a high-profile setting. Since he entered the race, many commentators have said that Trump has thrown out the traditional campaign rulebook. Its becoming clear that President Obama is prepared to do the same thing in order to keep Trump out of the Oval Office. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Tuesday lawmakers could help prevent attacks like the one that killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Florida by making it harder for people who want to kill Americans to get their hands on assault weapons. Speaking after a briefing from top national security officials, Obama said the United States is doing everything it can to prevent attacks against the U.S. homeland but lawmakers could help by reinstating the ban on assault weapons. "If we really want to help law enforcement protect Americans from home-grown extremists, the kind of tragedies that occurred at San Bernardino and now have occurred in Orlando, there is a meaningful way to do that," Obama said. "We have to make it harder for people who want to kill Americans to get their hands on weapons of war that let them kill dozens of innocents. "People with possible ties to terrorism who aren't allowed on a plane shouldn't be allowed to buy a gun," Obama added. "Reinstate the assault weapons ban. Make it harder for terrorists to use these weapons to kill us." The United States passed a ban on semi-automatic firearms in 1994, but it expired in 2004 and has not been renewed following several challenges that were rejected by the courts. Obama said the United States was taking the fight to Islamic State, killing more than 120 of the group's leaders. Islamic State has lost nearly half of the territory it once held in Iraq and has been cut off from the international financial system. "These are not religious warriors. They are thugs and they are thieves," Obama told reporters after meeting with his National Security Council on U.S. efforts to fight Islamic State. Obama was briefed by his top national security officials, including FBI Director James Comey, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton and Susan Heavey; Writing by David Alexander; Editing by Doina Chiacu) Washington (AFP) - US President Barack Obama on Tuesday said the Islamic State group was losing ground in Iraq and Syria, and that the number of foreign fighters joining the extremists was plummeting. "ISIL lost nearly half of the populated territory it had in Iraq and it will lose more. ISIL continues to lose ground in Syria as well," Obama said after a meeting of the National Security Council on the fight against the jihadist group. "In short, our coalition continues to be on offense. ISIL is on defense," Obama said, using an alternate acronym for the group. President Barack Obama delivered a forceful rebuttal to presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Tuesday, declaring that there's "no magic" in using the phrase "radical Islam" following Sunday's attack by an Islamic State-inspired terrorist on a gay nightclub in Orlando. In his sharpest language to date, Obama said that using the language would play directly into terrorists' hands, and implored his critics to pinpoint how his failure to use the phrase has adversely impacted the United States' fight against terrorism. Read more: Donald Trump Embraces Gays and Gives Muslims the Middle Finger in Speech on Orlando "For a while now, the main contribution of some of my friends on the other side of the aisle have made in the fight against ISIL is to criticize this administration and me for not using the phrase 'radical Islam'," Obama said, using an alternative acronym for the Islamic State, also known as ISIS. "That's the key, they tell us. We can't beat ISIL unless we call them radical Islamists." But using the phrase which conservative critics argue is essential to properly identifying and defeating the enemy would change nothing, Obama said, speaking from the Treasury Department following a meeting of his National Security Council. "What exactly would it change? Would it make ISIL less committed to trying to kill Americans? Would it bring in more allies?" he asked. "Is there a military strategy that is served by this? The answer is none of the above. Calling a threat by a different name does not make it go away. This is a political distraction." Source: Mic/White House The country's military and intelligence apparatus "know full well who the enemy is," Obama said, adding that they work every day to protect "all Americans including politicians who tweet," a not-so-subtle jab at Trump. Moreover, Obama asserted, uttering the words "radical Islam" suggests that the U.S. is waging a struggle against an entire faith thereby alienating would-be allies. Story continues @POTUS: "painting Muslims with a broad brush" would be doing the terrorist's work for them:pic.twitter.com/tDOcGkFLAK In a statement to the Associated Press on Tuesday afternoon, Trump hit back at the president, saying he "continues to prioritize our enemy over our allies." Trump responds to Obama in statement to the @AP http://elections.ap.org/content/latest-trump-says-obama-puts-enemies-ahead-allies ...pic.twitter.com/IqDjrp5pB7 https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ck7pffEWsAAkOTi.jpg:large Political fireworks: On Sunday, Trump d Obama's resignation after the president didn't mention "radical Islam" in his remarks on the Orlando massacre, in which gunman Omar Mateen killed 49 and injured at least 53. Presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, who had avoided the phrase herself, reversed course on Monday and told CNN she was "happy" to use it a turnabout for which Trump promptly took credit. Meanwhile, the president minced no words in going after the GOP standard-bearer on Tuesday. "We now have proposals from the presumptive Republican nominee for president of the United States to bar all Muslims from immigrating to America language that singles out immigrants and suggests entire religious communities are complicit in violence," he said, one day after Trump doubled down on his proposed Muslim ban in a New Hampshire speech. "Where does this stop?" Obama asked, noting that Mateen and other Islamist terrorists have been U.S. citizens. "Are we going to start treating all Muslim Americans differently? Are we going to start subjecting them to special surveillance? Are we going to start discriminating them because of their faith?" Trump's comments pose a test for his party, the president said. "Do Republican officials actually agree with this? Because that's not the America we want," he said. House Speaker Paul Ryan, the highest-ranking elected Republican in the country, reiterated his opposition to Trump's Muslim ban on Tuesday, saying the proposal is not "in our country's interests." 2:55 p.m.: This story has been updated. Washington (AFP) - US President Barack Obama on Tuesday voiced solidarity with the LGBT community after the deadly mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, calling the gunman an "angry, disturbed, unstable young man who became radicalized." "You are not alone. The American people and our allies and friends all over the world stand with you," Obama said after a meeting of his National Security Council, called before the Orlando attack to discuss the US-led campaign against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria. The IS group claimed responsibility for the shooting in Orlando early Sunday. The gunman, Omar Mateen, pledged allegiance to the IS leader in 911 calls made during the attack, the FBI said. By turns mocking, frustrated and angry, President Obama on Tuesday unleashed a blistering denunciation of Donald Trump, arguing that the presumptive Republican nominees rhetoric about Muslims betrays American values and risks helping al-Qaida and the so-called Islamic State. Obamas remarks came a day after Trump charged that the presidents refusal to blame attacks like the mass shooting in Orlando on radical Islam proved he placed political correctness above the need to keep Americans safe. The president dismissed Trumps argument as partisan yapping, a political talking point and loose talk and sloppiness that shows ignorance about how to fight the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. There has not been a moment in my seven and a half years as president where we have not been able to pursue a strategy because we didnt use the label radical Islam. Not once has an adviser of mine said, Man, if we use that phrase, we are going to turn this whole thing around. Not once, Obama said. Calling a threat by a different name does not make it go away. This is a political distraction. Obama, who emphasized that he has previously detailed how extremist groups have perverted Islam to justify terrorism, said language like Trumps would reinforce the claim that terrorists speak for the worlds 1.7 billion Muslims. Thats their propaganda; thats how they recruit. And if we fall into the trap of painting all Muslims with a broad brush, and imply that we are at war with an entire religion, then we are doing the terrorists work for them, Obama scolded. The president has faced criticism of his handling of the undeclared but escalating war against ISIS. Top Republicans have accused Obama of neglecting the threat as it flared up and responding too slowly and too meekly. And last weekends atrocity in Orlando, now the worst mass shooting in U.S. history, raises fresh questions about the governments approach to defusing homegrown threats. Story continues And a February 2016 poll by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center found that 65 percent of Republicans and independents who lean toward the GOP want the next president to speak bluntly even if critical of Islam as a whole. For Democrats and independents who lean left, it was just 22 percent. The president highlighted Trumps call for banning Muslim immigration to the United States and his suggestion that some Americans who follow Islam were complicit in the attacks in Orlando and in San Bernardino, Calif. Where does this stop? Obama asked. Are we going to start treating all Muslim Americans differently? Are we going to start subjecting them to special surveillance? Are we going to start discriminating against them because of their faith? The president went on: Thats not the America we want. It doesnt reflect our Democratic ideals. It wont make us more safe, it will make us less safe, fueling ISILs notion that the West hates Muslims, making young Muslims in this country and around the world feel like, no matter what they do, theyre going to be under suspicion and under attack. It betrays the very values America stands for, Obama said. Do Republican officials actually agree with this? Before Obama spoke, Republican House Speaker Paul D. Ryan explicitly rejected Trumps Muslim immigration ban. I do not think a Muslim ban is in our countrys interest, Ryan told reporters, repeating a point hes made before. I do not think it is reflective of our principles not just as a party, but as a country. And I think the smarter way to go in all respects is to have a security test and not a religious test. In his remarks on Monday, Trump renewed his call for a Muslim ban, which would include both immigrants and tourists, but he added another layer. Trump said he would suspend immigration from areas of the world where theres a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe or our allies. Obama said religious tests have no place in American policy as envisioned by the Constitution and would betray the very things that make us exceptional. And then the terrorists would have won, and we cannot let that happen, he said. I will not let that happen. If Republicans finally make good on their vow to repeal the Affordable Care Act -- but without adopting a suitable replacement -- 24 million Americans would be removed from the health care insurance rolls in 2021. And federal spending on health care would decline by $927 billion over the next decade, according to a provocative new study by the Urban Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, has vowed to repeal Obamacare as one of his first acts, although neither Trump nor Republican congressional leaders are anywhere close to a consensus on replacement legislation that wouldnt leave millions of Americans in the lurch. House Republicans are planning to release the outline of a plan later this month. Related: Get Ready for Huge Obamacare Premium Hikes in 2017 Projecting the impact of the repeal of Obamacare is not idle speculation. Last January, the GOP controlled House and Senate finally approved a measure to end the ACA, but without including an alternative approach. President Obama vetoed the legislation. But if Trump is sitting in the White House next January and the Republicans manage to retain control of the House and Senate, then Obamacare could go by the boards. If that were to happen, 14.5 million fewer low-income people would lose Medicaid coverage while 9.4 million people would lose federal tax credits to purchase private health insurance on Obamacare exchanges, according to the new report. More than eight in ten of those losing coverage would be members of working families; 63 percent would have incomes below 200 percent of the poverty level and 40 percent would be young adults. While on the surface, at least, the federal government would save nearly $1 trillion over the coming decade, state governments, hospitals and other medical providers would take a severe economic beating, as sharp reductions in federal spending for expanded Medicaid coverage for the poor would likely be offset by state spending increases of $68.5 billion between 2017 and 2026. Story continues Thirty-two of the 50 states agreed to expand their Medicaid coverage for poor adults as part of the Affordable Care Act, with the federal government initially picking up the entire cost and the states eventually kicking in 10 percent. But if the Republicans succeeded in repealing Obamacare, most of those states would have to absorb massive losses in Medicaid, the Childrens Health Insurance Program and other benefits. Related: More Bad News for the Remaining Obamacare Co-ops Although the fiscal implications of a repeal of President Obamas signature health insurance program has received scant attention to now, GOP leaders in Washington could end up feeling the heat from Republican as well as Democratic governors in state legislatures as well as hospital and physician groups if they try to pull the plug on Obamacare. Modest- and low-income families would forgo health care because of cost and lack of coverage, and health care providers would end up paying for more uncompensated care, the report states.. Matt Buettgens, a senior research associate in the Urban Leagues health policy center and a lead author of the report, said in an interview Monday that repeal of Obamacare and its support of expanded Medicaid could lead to state budget shortfalls. Huge new budgetary burdens on hospitals, doctors and other care providers would be forced to absorb the cost of treatment of indigent patients who turn to them for help. Some states, including New York, Minnesota and Vermont that expanded Medicaid coverage on their own before the Affordable Care Act was enacted six years ago, would likely continue to provide the coverage even without the federal support. But other states that expanded Medicaid with the promise of full funding by the federal government would likely pull back, leaving health care providers, state prison systems and others holding the bag. Related: How Small Ideas Are Helping to Bend the Health Care Cost Curve The uncompensated care issue would hit the states and health care providers very hard, Buettgens said. The loss of Medicaid expansion would also have an adverse impact on employment in many states where state hospitals are major employers and might have to cut back on personnel to meet the added cost of care for the indigent. Moreover, many states have reported net budget savings because of expanding Medicaid, the report says, especially in the treatment of patients incarcerated in state prison. Without Obamacare, those facilities would suffer budget shortfalls. If the ACA were repealed with no replacement, the federal government would spend $90.9 billion less on health care for the non-elderly in 2021 than otherwise, according to the study. That includes $78.1 billion less in Medicaid and CHIP and $39.3 billion less in Obamacare premium tax credits and cost sharing. However, those decreases would be partially offset by about $26.5 billion of additional federal spending on uncompensated care for the uninsured. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: Living on Helenas Upper East Side, Doris Davis and Mary Kelley look to the South Hills and realize the idyllic backdrop could one day pose a threat to them and their neighbors. Wildfire models show that Helena is not immune from the type of blaze that burns quickly from the wooded hills and into neighborhoods, torching homes and potentially costing lives. With that information in mind, the duo spearheaded a day-long wildfire event in March, bringing in fire officials to talk about preparation and mitigation and what families can and should be doing in advance. On Saturday June 18, Davis and Kelley are facilitating a wildfire simulation they hope will resonate with the public about a threat that must be taken seriously. We learned about the good work of Tri-County (FireSafe Working Group), and we didnt know what we could do but we volunteered at different times and places, Davis said. Since October weve been putting our heads together because we have different ways of doing things but its worked very well. Saturdays program features One-Third Mile to Safety: A Familys Story (see companion story for more information), the devastating tale of a southern California wildfire trapping residents with only one-third of a mile to travel to the local fire station. Attendees will walk a one-third mile staff ride featuring simulations of the actual events in which experts will talk about the overwhelming conditions and what may have been done better. Were just trying to make it real the community at large needs to realize this is a very real danger and were not cry wolf, we just want people to be prepared and do everything they can to save their homes, save their lives and save their childrens lives, Davis said. Kelley believes the duo brings a sensitive and insightful message that resonates with both men and women. She often sees men thinking about the outside of the home and mitigation possibilities while women are focused on inventorying assets both are extremely important, she says. It comes down to neighborhoods and communities sharing responsibilities because while firefighters go above and beyond to save people and property, they cant be put in harms way if residents do not properly prepare their homes, Kelley said. Communities arent the same as they used to be when we were growing up, she said. People dont talk to each other in the neighborhood anymore and its harder to get neighborhoods working on a project together. Weve tried to get the word out publically not just in our own neighborhoods but in the city because everyone needs to be prepared. Kelley and Davis credit the foundation set by fire officials on the working group and the valuable information and resources available to the public. The hope more area residents will listen. We all have something in common that we live here in this beautiful state and this beautiful community and were all in jeopardy should a fire decide to rear its ugly head, Davis said. It was a week where oil prices climbed to an 11-month high and natural gas futures soared to their best level since late September. On the news front, Royal Dutch Shell plc RDS.A unveiled a strategy to reshape the company through steeper cost cuts, while BP plc BP has agreed to spin off Its local business in Norway. Overall, it was a good week for the sector. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 0.9% to close at $49.07 per barrel, while natural gas prices jumped 6.6% to $2.556 per million Btu (MMBtu). (See the last Oil & Gas Stock Roundup here: Devon Energy Unloads $1B in Assets, Schlumberger Buys Omron Unit.) Oil prices moved north for the eighth time in 10 weeks on continued supply disruptions in Nigeria. Things were further helped by the U.S. Energy Department's weekly inventory release that showed a large drop in crude stockpiles. However, most of the gains were erased after the Baker Hughes report revealed a rise in the U.S. oil rig count for the second straight week indicating resurgence in shale drilling activities. Natural gas surged big time following a bullish inventory report and predictions of strong cooling demand with forecasts of warmer temperature across the country over the next few days. Oils-Energy Sector Price Index Oils-Energy Sector Price Index Recap of the Weeks Most Important Stories 1. Europes largest energy producer Royal Dutch Shell plc reiterated plans to further cut costs and confirmed that the 3-year $30 billion asset sale program was well on track. In its new mid-term strategy, the company announced several steps to cope with the lower for longer oil and pay down its ballooning debt following the $54 billion BG Group acquisition. According to Shell management, these policies will help reassure investors about the companys ability to cover the all-important dividend payment. This has assumed significance after Shell had to dig into reserves for shareholder payouts during the first quarter when cash flow fell below the dividend bill. Story continues The groups Chief Executive hopes the new strategy will lift stock price, improve shareholder returns to about 10% by the end of the decade and eventually catapult Shell to its glory days by making it the best oil investment. (See More: Royal Dutch Shell Unveils New Plans, Eyes No. 1 Spot.) 2. Oil giant BP plc and Det norske oljeselskap, along with the latters shareholder Aker ASA, will form the largest Norwegian independent oil and gas producer. The new entity, to be renamed Aker BP ASA, will combine the assets as well as expertise of both the companies Norwegian exploration and production operations. Per the terms of the proposed transaction, Aker BP will be operated independently. It will also be listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. Shareholders of Aker BP will be current Det norske stakeholder Aker, other Det norske shareholders and BP, with 40%, 30% and 30%, respectively. BP is also entitled to collect a cash payment of $140 million and positive working capital adjustments as part of the transaction. (See More: BP, Det norske to Jointly Form Largest Norwegian Producer.) 3. Independent natural gas operator Southwestern Energy Co. SWN announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with energy explorer Antero Resources Corp. Per the agreement, Southwestern Energy will sell approximately 55,000 net acres in West Virginia for $450 million. The cash proceeds from the transaction expected to close in the third quarter of 2016 are earmarked to reduce the principal balance of the company's $750 million term loan due in Nov 2018. The properties to be disposed are located in Doddridge, Harrison, Marion, Monongalia, Pleasants, Ritchie, Tyler and Wetzel Counties and are currently producing from the Marcellus Shale. Net production from this acreage is approximately 14 million cubic feet of gas equivalent per day, primarily from non-operated wells. Proved reserves were 11 billion cubic feet equivalent (Bcfe) as of Dec 31, 2015. The company had no plan to drill on these properties before 2023. (See More: Southwestern Energy to Sell Southwest Appalachia Acreage.) 4. Pipeline giant Williams Companies Inc. WMB and Energy Transfer Equity L.P.s ETE merger was recently approved by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, subject to certain conditions. The approval is contingent on the combined entity agreeing to sell Williams' 50% stake in an interstate natural gas pipeline that serves Florida - its electric power companies in particular. The antitrust approval was the last regulatory hurdle for the closure of this $20 billion deal. Notably, Williams shareholders will vote for the pending merger on Jun 27. Under the current terms, the merger will fall though if it is not closed by Jun 28, 2016. (See More: Williams-Energy Transfer Receives Merger Approval with Conditions.) 5. Norwegian energy giant Statoil ASA STO announced that it has completed the drilling of wildcat well 30/11-13. The wells proven gas/condensate and is located in the North Sea. The well encountered gas columns at two levels in the top part of the Tarbert formation, at a total of 16 feet and 101 feet, respectively, of which 13 and 72 feet had good-to-moderate reservoir properties. The preliminary estimation of the size of the discovery is 35105 million standard cubic feet of recoverable oil equivalents. Well 30/11-13 was drilled to a vertical depth of 10,869 feet below the sea surface and was terminated in the Ness formation. It is the fourth exploration well in production license 272. Well 30/11-13 was drilled by the Songa Delta drilling facility, which will continue the drilling campaign by drilling wildcat well 30/11-14 in the same production license operated by Statoil. (See More: Statoil Strikes Gas at Wildcat Well 30/11-13 in North Sea.) Price Performance The following table shows the price movement of the major oil and gas players over the past week and during the last 6 months. Company Last Week Last 6 Months XOM +2.51% +19.15% CVX +0.53% +14.30% COP -2.05% -11.41% OXY +0.23% +12.90% SLB +4.23% +10.88% RIG +17.64% -13.21% VLO -2.34% -24.47% TSO -1.67% -27.10% Over the course of last week, The Energy Select Sector SPDR edged up 0.07% on lingering supply disruptions. Consequently, investors witnessed buying in some large companies. The best performer was offshore drilling giant Transocean Ltd. RIG that added 17.64% to its stock price. Longer-term, over the last 6 months, the sector tracker is up 10.56%. The worlds largest publicly traded oil company Exxon Mobil Corp. was the main beneficiary during this period, experiencing a 19.15% price increase. Whats Next in the Energy World? As usual, market participants will be closely tracking the regular weekly releases i.e. the U.S. government data on oil and natural gas. Moreover, oil prices will again guide market proceedings to a significant extent. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report SOUTHWESTRN ENE (SWN): Free Stock Analysis Report ENERGY TRAN EQT (ETE): Free Stock Analysis Report BP PLC (BP): Free Stock Analysis Report ROYAL DTCH SH-A (RDS.A): Free Stock Analysis Report STATOIL ASA-ADR (STO): Free Stock Analysis Report TRANSOCEAN LTD (RIG): Free Stock Analysis Report WILLIAMS COS (WMB): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research RTR2SUR8 Shareholder activism is an expensive venture. True, sending a tweet that you're buying Apple shares, like Carl Icahn does, costs very little. But if you wind up in a full-blown fight for shareholder support, that can cost a bundle. After Nelson Peltz lost this kind of fight with DuPont a few years ago, he said he spent $8 million on the campaign. So why are activists so willing to take on these costly fights? One reason is that the Securities and Exchange Commission has made them so much easier for them, said Lynn Stout, professor of corporate and business law at Cornell Law School and the author of The Shareholder Value Myth. St The price of profits description out was speaking with Marketplace's Lizzie O'Leary in an interview. The SEC's changes to rules governing proxy's specifically, "were quite deliberately intended to empower institutional investors, and...have been grabbed onto and used by activist hedge funds." She explains in her book that a change in 1992, for example, makes it easier for investors to work together to challenge boards. The SEC has tried to make other changes that didn't stick. For example in 2010 the regulator said companies would have to include a shareholder's nominees for the board when it mailed out its proxy materials the documents that investors use to vote at a company's annual meeting. The idea was to make it easier for an investor wanting to nominate a minority slate of director candidates for election on corporate boards inexpensively. But that decision was vacated by a court ruling. The activist investors, who buy small stakes in companies and agitate for investor-friendly changes, have had a tremendous run in the last few years. They ended 2015 with a whopping $174 billion under management, according to Activist Insight. That's up from just $56 billion in 2010. There's been a record number of campaigns by activists. This is worrying for corporations and their impact on the economy, Stout says. Story continues "The purpose of corporations used to be to innovate, creating universities, building railroads, designing self-driving cars and looking into commercial space transport," explains Stout. "These are really big, long-term projects ... and what corporations are supposed to do." Activist Campaigns It's not just the SEC that's fueling this. Federal changes in the tax code require companies to tie executive pay to metrics like share price. This drives CEOs to make money now rather than thinking of the future of the company or its long-term contribution to society. Changes in the SEC proxy rules described above also mean that companies are increasingly influenced by activist hedge funds whose aim is to make changes and generate high returns in the short term rather than invest in the company's long term future. *This post has been corrected to clarify that the 2010 SEC decision was vacated by a court and never took effect. "The Price of Profits," our series with Marketplace, looks at what happens when profits become a company's product. For more, visit priceofprofits.org. NOW WATCH: The most important question you should ask before hiring a financial adviser More From Business Insider Alison Pincus Bed Bath & Beyond has bought One Kings Lane, a home-goods website that, at its peak, was valued at more than $900 million. The acquisition price of Tuesday's purchase of the company was not disclosed. Bed Bath & Beyond, which generated $12 billion in net sales in its most recent fiscal year, said that the purchase price was "not material." One Kings Lane was once a fast-growing flash-sale site for home goods and had the valuation to match it. The company, founded by Alison Pincus, raised more than $225 million in venture capital from top-tier investors, including Kleiner Perkins and IVP, at a reported $900 million valuation. But a report from Recode in January 2016 said that the company was looking to be sold for a quarter of that valuation. The site rose to prominence at a time when flash sales, like those from Fab and Gilt Groupe, seemed like the next wave of e-commerce. But neither were a resounding success. Gilt Groupe, a startup that was once worth billions, recently got bought for a mere $250 million. Fab, another near-billion-dollar startup that was like an online-only Ikea, sold its remains for about $20 million. Bed Bath & Beyond CEO Steven Temares said in the acquisition announcement that the furniture site would become "a cornerstone for Bed Bath & Beyond's growing offerings in furniture and home decor." Shares of Bed Bath & Beyond were roughly unchanged in after-hours trading on Tuesday. NOW WATCH: This startup uses cremated human remains to grow trees More From Business Insider low tide water liquidity drought boats Brevan Howard, one of the world's biggest hedge funds, is said to be preparing for more investors to withdraw funds. The move comes as the firm's performance stagnates and two of its star traders have left to start competing firms. The details of the plans were shared by three people with knowledge of the matter who declined to be named. The firm cut staff numbers and closed several of its funds last year, and the planning is now said to be in preparation for a "worst-case scenario" in case a significant number of investors ask for redemptions, according to one of the people. Brevan's contingency planning, which is aimed at ensuring that it can withstand outflows, includes a scenario in which assets fall by as much as 40%, two of the people said. There's no indication that the firm will lose that amount, and contingency planning by funds that would have to unwind investments in case of redemptions isn't unusual. Brevan Howard, best known for its flagship fund, posted a loss of 2% last year and was down 1.8% through April this year, according to a fourth person familiar with the returns. The fund hasn't reported a year of gains since 2013, the Financial Times reported in May. The firm manages about $20 billion, another person said. That's down by about $3.7 billion from the assets reported by the Hedge Fund Intelligence Global Billion Dollar Club at the start of the year. One of the people said the firm's assets had fallen further. Brevan was the 19th-biggest hedge fund in the world at the start of the year, according to the ranking. The drop in assets is coming mostly from investors who are pulling their money, upset with the firm's performance and high fees, according to the people. A representative at Peregrine Communications, which represents Brevan Howard, said the firm has no contingency plan. Large funds often plan ahead of time how they will unwind assets if need be, especially in cases in which other investors may sell those same assets first, further depressing the price. Story continues London Big Ben Still, the preparation for such a decline represents a changing tide for Brevan, a titan in the industry that as recently as 2013 managed about $40 billion. Brevan isn't the only large hedge fund to face outflows or investor concern following underperformance, but its prominence as one of the preeminent "macro" hedge funds in Europe signals the challenges the industry is facing at large. Macro funds, which bet on economic events, lost 3.2% last year and are up 0.6% this year through May, according to eVestment. Brevan Howard has opened up retail "alternative" mutual funds in Europe that could help shore up the investor base. But the firm is increasingly facing headwinds. One of its star traders, Ben Melkman, recently left to start his own macro hedge fund in New York and is expected to take investors with him for his new fund, which is targeting $400 million at its initial launch. Another one-time Brevan star, Chris Rokos, started his own firm last year and has already raised at least $3.5 billion. Note: This article has been updated to add a comment from Brevan Howard's public-relations firm. NOW WATCH: The most important question you should ask before hiring a financial adviser More From Business Insider Strong waves forced the suspension of an operation to lift a South Korean ferry that sank in 2014 in a disaster that shocked and enraged the country, a spokesman said on Tuesday. The Sewol was carrying 476 people when it sank off the southwestern island of Jindo in April 2014, with the loss of 304 lives -- most of them schoolchildren. Attempts to raise the bow of the vessel that began on Sunday afternoon marked the start of a long and difficult process to bring the wreckage to the surface, a key demand of victims' families who hope nine bodies still unaccounted for may yet be recovered. But high waves and strong winds compelled a salvage company to put off the operation Monday after lifting the bow slightly, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said. "The operation will resume late this month when weather improves and tides are weak, a ministry spokesman told AFP. The bow of the ship was lifted by two-point-two degrees or about four metres (13 feet) during the operation but lifting wires sawed into the wreck because of jolts from the waves, forcing the company to suspend the work, he said. Once the bow is lifted, lifting beams will be put underneath, and work will follow in the same way on the stern section. Buoys will then be placed underneath the wreck to reduce gravity before giant floating cranes start pulling up cables. "It's difficult to predict exactly when the ship will be brought to the surface but we now hope to do so sometime in August", he added. Seoul last year announced plans to salvage the 6,825-tonne ship and selected a Chinese consortium led by state-run Shanghai Salvage Co. to spearhead the $72 million project. The Sewol lies more than 40 metres (130 feet) beneath the surface, and officials say lifting the 145-metre-long vessel from the seabed without causing it to break up will be the main challenge. A naval architect involved in the project put the success rate at 80 percent at a press briefing in April, saying lifting a wreck in one piece from such a depth had never been done before. The disaster was mainly due to human error -- an illegal redesign of the ship, an overloaded cargo bay, inexperienced crew and a questionable relationship between the ship operators and state regulators. Captain Lee Jun-Seok was sentenced to life in prison for "murder through wilful negligence" and sentences ranging from two to 12 years were handed down to 14 other crew members. PARIS (Reuters) - French number one telecoms operator Orange (ORAN.PA) is open to merger moves in Europe with the aim to become one of the two biggest regional companies in the sector, Chief Executive Officer Stephane Richard said on Tuesday. "We consider Orange as a major European actor," Richard said at a hearing held by the National Assembly's committee of economic affairs. "If there remains only one or two (operators), Orange will be one of them. It can lead us to make moves in the European arena." Asked about the presence of the French state in the company's capital, Richard said Orange was an exception in Europe, compared to other former state monopolies like Telefonica (TEF.MC). "Orange could perfectly live on without having the state in its capital," Richard said. "We don't need the state in the capital." The French government controls 23 percent of the shares of Orange. President Francois Hollande said last week that the French state intended to remain a major shareholder in the telecoms operator. (Reporting by Mathieu Rosemain and Gwenaelle Barzic; Editing by Maya Nikolaeva) The GoFundMe campaign that was established to support the Orlando shooting victims and their families has officially set a new record for the crowdfunding site. Equality Florida, the states largest LGBT advocacy group, started the fundraiser on Sunday, June 12, hours after a gunman killed 49 people and injured dozens more at Pulse, a popular gay nightclub, in the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. The campaign has since raised more than $3.5 million, with contributions from nearly 80,000 people, in just two days. PHOTOS: Celebrity LGBT Allies GoFundMes vice president of communications and policy, Dan Pfeiffer, confirmed on Tuesday, June 14, that the campaign broke the websites record. The @gofundme campaign for the victims of the #PulseNightClubShooting has raised $3M and is now $1M more than the 2nd largest campaign ever, he wrote via Twitter. Earlier on Tuesday, Equality Florida posted an update on the page, writing, We are beyond moved by the support from all corners of the world and all walks of life. We do not know the total costs for the victims of this horrific hate crime, therefore are working to raise as much as possible and disperse the funds as fast as possible. PHOTOS: Celebrity Activists! The LGBT organization also thanked GoFundMe for contributing $100,000, which essentially covered the sites transaction fee, ensuring that every single penny donated will go towards supporting the victims and their families. A separate donation fund, known as the OneOrlando Fund, was set up by Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer on Tuesday. The Walt Disney Company donated $1 million to the fund. PHOTOS: These Are the Victims Whove Been Identified in the Orlando Nightclub Shooting We are heartbroken by this tragedy and hope our commitment will help those in the community affected by this senseless act, Bob Chapek, the chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, said in a statement. With 74,000 cast members who call Orlando home, we mourn the loss of the victims and offer our condolences to their families, friends and loved ones. Story continues The Walt Disney Company will also match eligible donations from Disney employees. One of the Orlando shooting victims, Jerald Arthur Wright, 31, worked as a seasonal employee at Walt Disney World. The city of Helena is in a $1.3 million dispute with a federal agency that is funding the reconstruction of 6.25 miles of Rimini Road, a project valued at nearly $11 million. At issue is damage to the citys roughly 90-year-old, 18-inch unreinforced concrete water main that feeds Ten Mile Creek water into the citys water treatment plant. The city is evaluating its options, city commissioners were advised during a recent administrative meeting, and a series of conversations is continuing, Doug Hecox, a Federal Highway Administration spokesman in Washington, D.C., said Thursday in a telephone interview. While discussions continue, the city may have to fund the repairs before the roadwork is completed this year. I dont think we can wait to have it settled, City Manager Ron Alles advised city commissioners. The city has some $3.2 million in its water fund reserves for capital projects, it was noted before Randall Camp, the citys public works director, said this is probably the highest priority right now to get this fixed. City staff say the ongoing Rimini Road work damaged or compromised the water main within the roadwork area. An April 26 letter from the city to the divisions Vancouver, Washington, office noted the damage was documented with a camera used to inspect the interior of the pipe. The City of Helena believes that the entire pipeline within the project limits is likely to be compromised by construction activities by the time the road project is complete. The City of Helena believes the damage sustained to the pipe is a direct result of the construction activities on Rimini road, the letter stated. Hecox said the Western Federal Lands division was not made aware of any extensive damage as noted in the April 26 letter until Camp forwarded it by email on June 6. The federal divisions Vancouver office had never received the letter previously by either mail or email, Hecox said. An official, signed copy of the letter was received on June 9 by email, Hecox wrote in a June 10 email, although the project, which concludes this year, has not been changed. Evaluation of the letter and the camera survey of the waterline continues, he added. Well be communicating with the city of Helena as we try to evaluate the situation, Hecox wrote. In an emailed response to questions, Hecox wrote that June 6 unofficial emailed letter from Camp included photos of damage that appeared unrelated to the Rimini Road project. While noting that the contractor struck and damaged the water main in two locations during 2015, Hecox attributed it to inaccuracies in the elevation survey of the main. The April 26 letter to the federal division noted that significant time and expense by the city and Lewis and Clark County went to survey and locate the water main prior to the roadwork. Damage in 2015 to the pipe in two places was temporarily repaired and is slated for permanent repair this summer, Hecox wrote. Planning had been ongoing between the city and the Western Federal Lands division until recently to split the cost of repairing or replacing the damaged water pipe with the city to pay 40 percent of the cost. The federal division was to have paid 50 percent of the cost and Lewis and Clark County the remaining 10 percent, Camp said. However, those talks have been set aside, Camp advised the city commission in early June. His update came after a May 4 session with the commission where city staff reported talks between the federal division and the city were moving toward an agreement. We think itd be money well spent, Camp said at that time of contributing toward the pipes repair before adding, The do-nothing option, thats a prescription for failure. After the commission considered the proposal, Mayor Jim Smith said he heard no objection even though the expense was unanticipated by the city. Talks between the federal division and the city ended, Hecox explained in his email, as we have not witnessed damage, and have not been provided information regarding extensive damage prior to the emailed letter on June 6. (Western Federal Lands Highway Division) ultimately determined that spending money on the waterline upgrade was not consistent with the scope of improvements allowed under the Federal Lands Access Program (FLAP), at which point we abandoned the plan to relocate the waterline, and returned to our original plan of repairing the two isolated damage sections from 2015, Hecox wrote. Camp told the city commission that he wasnt in favor of patching the damage and said staffs concern is that failures may manifest over time. He characterized the damage to the water main as a significant threat to the city and explained, If we lose that pipeline, weve lost the Ten Mile treatment plant. The Ten Mile treatment plant is the citys preferred source of drinking water and comes from the mountains west of Helena. The water requires less treatment and has a better taste than water from the Missouri River that supplements what the city uses during the summer months when demand exceeds the 8 million to 9 million gallons a day the city draws from the creek. What will happen to the citys water main beneath and adjacent to the Rimini Road is a developing situation, Camp has said, adding he was surprised to see the water mains cost-sharing proposal be set aside. We were actually working with them to design the project, Camp continued, generating numbers and they were generating drawings. With the cause of the water mains damage in dispute, disagreement also exists on whether the federal division is adhering to the contract language and whether the project changed from how it was initially proposed. City officials say both the contract isnt being adhered to and the project changed from what was proposed. Assurances that the water main wouldn't be in danger failed to be implemented. Hecox disagreed. He said he spoke with those involved in the project and there were no changes in the work over the waterline nor was the design changed after city and county representatives signed the agreement in June 2013. Other unresolved questions city staff noted are whether the survey and location of the water main was accurate and whether the contractor accurately used the data provided by the engineering company. While who funds the repairs hinges on the outcome of the dispute, so does the future of the new road. The citys letter said it believed spot repairs to the water main in the next 10 to 20 years will require excavations in the new road. The federal division is concerned for the road because of the potential for a release of water from the main because of its age and that it was constructed prior to modern methods, Hecox noted. Orlando gunman Omar Mateen jumped up and down and cheered as the Twin Towers fell on 9/11, former classmates have revealed. Mateen, who slaughtered 49 people at the Pulse nightclub Sunday morning, was a sophomore in Stuart, Florida, when the terror attack unfolded in 2001. Read: Orlando Shooter Had Visited Pulse Nightclub Several Times, Used Gay Chat Apps: Witnesses One classmate told the Washington Post that after the attacks, Mateen seemed to make fun of how America was targeted. He was making plane noises on the bus, acting like he was running into a building, Robert Zirkle told the newspaper. After 9/11 happened, he started changing and acting different." Another student reportedly remembered Mateen smiling and said he claimed Osama bin Laden was his uncle. One of Mateen's former colleagues, Dan Gilroy, said he was also troubled by the gunman. "I felt that he had the propensity for violence, absolutely," Gilroy told Inside Edition. "He spend most of the time complaining and railing and insulting and threatening to murder women and blacks." Read: Hospitalized Victim Describes Orlando Attack: 'He Shot Everyone Who Was Dead on the Floor' He said he also heard Mateen make derogatory comments about homosexual and Jewish people. Officials say Mateen pledged allegiance to ISIS in a phone call to 911 during Sunday's attack, which left 49 dead and 53 injured. Watch: See Inside Orlando Gunman's Suburban Florida Home Related Articles: From Cosmopolitan A federal law enforcement source told PEOPLE Omar Mateen recently scouted Orlando's Disney World as a potential target before he attacked Pulse on Sunday morning, killing at least fifty people in what turned out to be the deadliest mass shooting in American history. According to the source, Mateen and his wife Noor Zahi Salman visited Disney in April, but Salman told authorities more recently than that, Mateen was "scouting" Downtown Disney and Pulse specifically as targets. PEOPLE notes that unlike the other four Disney theme parks, Downtown Disney doesn't have metal detectors, a bag check, or security upon arrival. In late 2015, all Disney World and Disneyland theme parks installed metal detectors at their entrances to enhance security. Disney also halted sales of all toy guns (including bubble guns) in each one of their parks. Information about the massacre victims continues to emerge, but J.K. Rowling tweeted that one of them, 22-year-old Luis Vielma, worked the Harry Potter ride at Universal Studios, which is also in Orlando. Police told the Orlando Sentinel there will be an increase in law enforcement at all Orlando theme parks and that deputies are being "extra cautious and vigilant in the park areas" since Sunday morning. Still, they expect theme park attendance to drop over the next few days. Follow Tess on Twitter. Orlando (AFP) - US President Barack Obama voiced solidarity with the LGBT community after the shooting rampage at an Orlando gay nightclub, calling the gunman an "angry, disturbed, unstable young man who became radicalized." Investigators were working to untangle the motive of Omar Mateen, as witnesses said the 29-year-old American of Afghan descent -- who was married with a child -- frequented the popular nightspot and used gay dating apps. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the shooting early Sunday. The FBI said Mateen pledged allegiance to the IS leader in 911 calls made during the killing spree -- the worst mass shooting in US history. Forty-nine people were killed and 53 wounded after Mateen opened fire at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, a resort city in central Florida best known as the home of Walt Disney World. After a meeting of his National Security Council, Obama said the country's thoughts were with survivors and relatives of the dead, as well as the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community "who were targeted." "You are not alone. The American people and our allies and friends all over the world stand with you," Obama said. He reiterated the official belief that Mateen -- a practicing Muslim -- had absorbed extremist propaganda online, noting: "He appears to have been an angry, disturbed, unstable young man who became radicalized." Obama will travel to Orlando on Thursday. The president spoke by phone Tuesday with French President Francois Hollande, who expressed his condolences. Both leaders reaffirmed their commitment to destroying IS, the White House said. - What his wife knew - MSNBC and ABC News, citing unnamed law enforcement officials, reported that Mateen's wife may have had prior knowledge of her husband's plan and could face criminal charges. Noor Mateen, 30, was cooperating with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and claims she tried to convince her husband not to go through with the shooting, the networks said. Story continues An FBI spokeswoman declined to confirm the reports to AFP. Security has been stepped up at Disney theme parks amid reports -- based on his wife's statements to investigators -- that Mateen may have scouted Disney World as a possible target. - Club regular - The probe took a new turn after witnesses said Mateen -- who was killed in a shootout with police when they stormed the venue -- had been a regular at Pulse. "Sometimes he would go over in the corner and sit and drink by himself, and other times he would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent," Ty Smith told the Orlando Sentinel. Another Pulse regular, Kevin West, told the Los Angeles Times that Mateen messaged him on and off for a year using a gay chat app. Clubgoers told local media and MSNBC that Mateen had been using multiple gay apps, including the "hook up" app Grindr. And a man who attended law enforcement training classes with Mateen in 2006 told the Palm Beach Post that the gunman had once asked him out on a date. Mateen's ex-wife, Sitora Yusufiy, who has said he beat her, told CNN he "confessed to me... that he very much enjoyed going to clubs and the nightlife." "I feel like it's a side of him or a part of him that he lived but probably didn't want everybody to know about." - 'I'm next. I'm dead' - Authorities have identified all 49 victims, who ranged in age from 18 to 50. Of the 53 wounded, 27 remained hospitalized Tuesday, with six in critical condition, doctors at Orlando Regional Medical Center said. Angel Colon suffered three bullet wounds to his leg -- which was shattered as people trampled him to escape Pulse -- and offered a harrowing account of the carnage. "I can hear the (gunshots) closer, and I look over and he shoots the girl next to me. And I'm just there laying down. I'm thinking, 'I'm next. I'm dead,'" Colon told reporters. "Everybody could hear him talking to 911, saying that the reason why he is doing this is because he wants America to stop bombing his country," recounted another survivor, Patience Carter. She told of a chilling moment when the gunman asked if there were any African Americans present -- before telling them: "You know I don't have a problem with black people, this is about my country." The shooting hit Orlando's Latino community hard -- the club was hosting a Latin-themed party that night. Thousands joined a vigil late Monday. Still, the response was not all supportive. A Baptist preacher in California sparked uproar after praising the massacre as "great," saying he wasn't sad that "50 sodomites died." "It's like the equivalent of asking me... 'Hey, are you sad that 50 pedophiles were killed today?'" pastor Roger Jimenez of the Verity Baptist Church said in his sermon just hours after the carnage. "Um, no, I think that's great... I think Orlando, Florida is a little safer tonight." His comments, posted on YouTube before being taken down, were denounced by LGBT activists and local officials. Jimenez said his remarks were taken out of context. - 'Where does this stop?' - The slaughter has raised questions about US counterterror strategy -- the FBI said it had investigated Mateen but cleared him of extremist ties. But a fiery Obama lashed out at Republicans, especially presidential hopeful Donald Trump, for anti-Muslim rhetoric that he said was counterproductive to the fight on extremism. "Where does this stop?" he said. "Are we going to start treating all Muslim Americans differently? Are we going to start subjecting them to special surveillance? Are we going to start discriminating against them because of their faith?" The rampage has also raised questions about gun laws. Mateen legally bought the assault rifle and handgun used in the attack. Obama has demanded that the Republican-controlled Congress pass legislation to curb the sale of assault-type weapons -- a measure that conservatives say violates their constitutional right to bear arms. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The wife of the gunman who killed 49 people at a Florida nightclub over the weekend tried to talk him out of the attack, MSNBC reported on Tuesday, citing officials familiar with her comments to the FBI. The wife of the 29-year-old gunman, Omar Mateen, is cooperating with federal investigators, MSNBC reported. (Reporting by Washington newsroom) Washington (AFP) - The massacre at a gay nightclub in Florida comes at a difficult time for the LGBT community in the United States, which is still facing violent bigotry even as their civil rights have been significantly reinforced. A hardening of attitudes towards lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people has heated up since the US Supreme Court legalized gay marriage a year ago -- a historic decision that outraged many socially conservative Americans. Flying the flag of religious liberty, a tactic used in the battle against abortion rights, these conservatives used new local laws to curb gay rights. Mississippi allowed churches and private businesses to decline services to gays and others if doing so would violate their religious beliefs. Another law in North Carolina specifically jeopardized transgender rights. For gay rights activist Michelangelo Signorile, the Orlando tragedy is "a reminder of the animus against LGBT people that still exists, and the ever present danger with which we still live." "Even in 2016, our mere existence can still be considered a threat," another LGBT rights advocate, Gabe Ortiz, wrote in The Washington Post on Monday, one day after the shooting rampage that left 49 people dead and 53 others wounded. - Gunman had voiced anti-gay rage - Many questions remain about the early Sunday massacre at the Pulse club in Orlando, the deadliest mass shooting in American history. But relatives and acquaintances have painted a picture of the slain shooter Omar Mateen, an American of Afghan descent, as a violent and unstable young man who had beat his ex-wife and expressed homophobic views. Mateen's father told NBC television that his son was infuriated by recently seeing two men kissing, in front of his wife and son. "He got very angry," Seddique Mateen said. A colleague of the 29-year-old Mateen, who worked as a security guard, also said he made homophobic comments. "I quit because everything he said was toxic and the company wouldn't do anything," Daniel Gilroy told local media. Story continues Chad Griffin, the head of the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBT rights advocacy group, told MSNBC that a "toxic mix" of hatred and access to guns had made Sunday's carnage possible. - Twitter storm - On Sunday, some Republican lawmakers seemed to sideline homophobia as a possible motive, instead focusing on Mateen's proclamation of allegiance to the Islamic State group during the attack. The lieutenant governor of Texas, Dan Patrick, went one step farther. After the attack, Patrick tweeted a Bible verse from Galatians 6:7: "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows." Widespread outrage quickly erupted over the tweet, which was immediately interpreted as blaming gays for the attack in Orlando. Patrick quickly deleted it. The attack was hardly the first against the gay community. Eric Rudolph, who was behind the Atlanta Olympics bombing in 1996, had earlier planted a bomb at a lesbian bar where five people were wounded. According to an analysis of FBI crime statistics from 2011 by the Southern Poverty Law Center, LGBT people were more than twice as likely to be the victims of a violent hate crime than Jews or blacks in the United States. "We've made bigotry a matter of public policy. It shouldn't be a shock then that bigotry has trickled down into our lives in so many deadly ways as a result," Ortiz said, referring to legislation like the Mississippi law. "This act of hate was meant to cause fear... But we cannot be afraid. That's what homophobia and transphobia feed off, and we have come too far to be forced back into a closet." A gay pride flag and a Florida state flag wave at a vigil outside the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Orlando on Monday. (Photo: Michael Walsh/Yahoo News) ORLANDO The voices of Orlando are talking. Will we listen? A massive candlelight vigil in downtown Orlando came and went Monday night. Thousands of mourners gathered to pay respects to the victims of Sundays shooting, but they dont want the story of the tragedy to stop there. Participants spoke to Yahoo News about the importance of the vigil for the local LGBT community and Orlandos response to the tragic shooting. The wounds from the massacre at Pulse, the gay dance club where 49 people were murdered and dozens more were injured, were still fresh as friends of the victims and total strangers consoled each other and discussed gun control, LGBT rights and city unity. Heres what they had to say: Rafael and Christiani Rafael Martins, left, and Christiani Pitts attend a vigil outside the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Orlando on Monday. (Photo: Michael Walsh/Yahoo News) Rafael Martins, 28, who has lived in Orlando for 12 years, said the tragedy hits close to home as a gay man and a personal friend of several people who were murdered. This is very close to me. The whole gay community is a very strong community and a very small community, so I know a lot of people that died, he said, as his voice trembled. Im very sad and heartbroken about the whole story. I had to be here. Martins hope for the future is that there will be increased gun control to prevent further bloodshed. I dont think anybody should be able to buy an assault rifle and just go ahead and kill 49 people, he said. Thats just insane. Im just very ashamed that this happened, but this is a very strong community, and were going to go through it and were going to get past this. Martins friend, Christiani Pitts, 27, is a straight ally who came out to support her friends and the city she loves. In the tragedys aftermath, she said she hopes the city will come together and recognize the importance of LGBT rights. I never thought something like that would happen in my hometown, Pitts said. To be honest with you, I still dont know what to think. I dont know if its going to get worse or stop. I just think we got to stay strong and united. Story continues Stephanie and Jackie Stephanie Soto, left, kisses her fiancee, Jackie McNeill, during a vigil outside the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Orlando on Monday. (Photo: Michael Walsh/Yahoo News) Stephanie Soto, 27, and Jackie McNeill, 24, got engaged last Fourth of July and scheduled their wedding for July 7, 2017. They live about 20 miles north of Orlando in Lake Mary. The couple had been to Pulse many times and knew some of the victims personally. Soto grew up in Orlando and graduated from high school with several of them. Its just horrific to see something like this happen in our own community. I cant believe it, Soto said. Ive grown up with these people. To just see their lives taken like this I was breaking down. The young women, who are assistant managers at a Target store, recalled texting friends to see if people they knew survived. They said they love the people, environment and shows at Pulse. Slideshow: Victims of the Florida nightclub shooting >>> If it was a week ago, we would have been right there. Its just crazy, McNeill said. When asked if she had a message for the U.S. beyond the LGBT community, Soto replied, We are all equal. On the inside, we all have the same things. No matter if youre Muslim, Hispanic, gay, black, white, we all are people. We all have love. We dont need this hate. We need love, and we have love. Right here, right here, McNeill added. We have love. Soto said people should unite to fight against hate: We cant give up. We got to be strong for everybody. Fernando Fernando Uribe-Romo campaigns for stricter gun control during the vigil in downtown Orlando on Monday. (Photo: Michael Walsh/Yahoo News) Fernando Uribe-Romo, 33, a chemistry professor at the University of Central Florida, was walking through the vigil holding up a sign calling for a ban on assault rifles. He has grown frustrated by politicians who offer their thoughts and prayers in the aftermath of mass shootings but then take no steps to prevent future tragedies. A friend of mine was one of the victims. He and his boyfriend didnt make it out of the club, he told Yahoo News. Im here holding this sign because its time for us to stop praying and to demand our lawmakers our senators and our congressmen to change the law and to stop the disease, which is mass killing. Uribe-Romo said the epidemic of mass killing is a public safety issue and should be treated as such. He applauded President Obamas argument that our collective inaction to limit access to firearms in the face of gun violence is a political decision not a neutral stance. Obama is a great human being, he said. He is one of the most respected persons that Ive never met, but I hope I do. Hes right. Youre either for or against. You cannot be neutral. Amanda and Lorena Lorena Lotito, left, and her wife, Amanda Fromm, hold up signs during the vigil outside the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Orlando on Monday. (Photo: Michael Walsh/Yahoo News) Amanda Fromm, 28, from upstate New York, and her wife, Lorena Lotito, 24, from Venezuela, live in Orlando and go to Pulse regularly. They just tied the knot last January. Pulse was hosting Latin night when the terrorist attack occurred, making the tragedy even more personal for the newlyweds. We are patrons of Pulse. We have friends there. Were married. Lorena is a part of the Latina community. And so it was very close to home for us, Fromm said. A lot of people that we know or dont know but recognize. The attack is very personal. Were just dumbfounded. Our hearts are broken. Lotito considers the shooting an attack on the rights of people in the LGBT community. We feel like this totally affects the LGBT community in Orlando, Lotito said, And also, I feel like this was a very direct attack against our rights to love the person we want to love. We are here to stand for our rights. Giovanni and Casey Giovanni Ramirez, center-right, and Casey Cividanes, right, offer free hugs with their friends at the vigil on Monday in downtown Orlando. (Photo: Michael Walsh/Yahoo News) Giovanni Ramirez, 29, lives only a few minutes away from Pulse and less than a mile from the Dr. Phillips Center. He has been moved by the outpouring of love and compassion that the citys residents have shown for one another after the shooting. And he does not want that feeling of unity to dissipate as the city recovers. Like the saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child. Some of us dont have children, but hey, its still the same concept that we unite. We are one, Ramirez said. It sucks that it takes something so tragic to actually get the community involved. He has no doubt that Orlando will bounce back from this: Like a friend of mine said, This is a city beautiful. We are not beaten. Ramirezs friend, Casey Cividanes, was born and raised in nearby Kissimmee, Fla., and has spent a lot of time in downtown Orlando. One of the reasons the news hit hard for locals, he said, is because everyone knows someone affected by the mass shooting. Everybody knows someone around here in the first degree rather than the sixth degree. Were all just trying to help each other out here, Cividanes said. Community is so important. I think for us to come out, its a nice, polite way to show our grieving. Earlier Monday, there were just a handful of flowers and several posters outside the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts honoring the victims of Sundays tragedy. By nightfall, that small makeshift memorial had blossomed into a sea of people paying their respects. It was a huge rally for equality and unity. On Tuesday, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer announced the OneOrlando Fund to help locals affected by the tragedy, to address the shootings underlying causes and to deal with other needs as they arise. We will not be defined by the act of a cowardly hater, Dyer said in a statement. We will be defined by how we respond, how we treat each other. Contributions can be made at OneOrlando.org. The family emergency hotline is 407-246-4357. By Timothy Gardner and Alana Wise WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama said on Monday there was no clear evidence that the shooter in Sunday's massacre in Orlando, Florida, was directed by a larger terrorist network. "It appears that the shooter was inspired by various extremist information that was disseminated over the internet," the president told reporters in the Oval Office after a briefing by senior officials including Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey. "As far as we can tell right now, this is certainly an example of the kind of homegrown extremism that all of us have been so concerned about for a very long time," Obama said. The shooter, Omar Mateen, expressed allegiance to the radical group Islamic State, also known as ISIL and ISIS, in a call to the city's 911 emergency telephone line during a standoff with police while holding hostages in a gay nightclub called Pulse. Obama said there was no evidence that Mateen, who killed 49 people at the club before he was shot dead by police, was part of a wider plot. Administration officials were examining various internet sites that had been visited by the shooter, Obama said. He said the United States had to think about the risks of firearms laws that allow easy access to guns. Police have said the gunman was armed with an assault-rifle-type weapon and a handgun that were purchased legally. The president said he was concerned that the response to the massacre would turn into a debate over whether to toughen gun laws or pursue extremist groups like Islamic State. "We have to go after these terrorist organizations and hit them hard," Obama said. "But we also have to make sure that it is not easy for somebody who decides they want to harm people in this country to be able to obtain weapons." (Reporting by Timothy Gardner and Alana Wise; Editing by Toni Reinhold) YouTube videos posted by the father of the Orlando shooter over the last several years show him devolving from amateur pundit on Afghan politics to a man who appears to be suffering from delusions of grandeur. A naturalized American who came to the U.S. from Afghanistan in 1986, Siddique Mateen has a following of more than 10,000 and has been airing an amateur interview show on YouTube called the Durand Jirga Show. He told TIME that he is founder and CEO of an organization called Durand Jirga, a religious nonprofit devoted to resolving the dispute over Afghanistans border with Pakistan. Mateen started the recordings in 2011, and they became more preposterous since, with him wearing Army fatigues at points, several Afghanistan observers say. In an interview, Mateen first said he wore the fatigues in the video because those are the clothes I wear, then said he bought them for Halloween. He said he paid about $100 for them. In several videos translated for TIME, Mateen announces himself as the new president of the country and asks all government employees in Afghanistan to obey his orders and no one elses. He subsequently orders the arrest of the real Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, as well as several other senior officials, whom he refers to as traitors. He even encourages his supporters to strike Ghani, if not worse. We want to find a hero to take the turban off Ashraf Ghani and slap him a few times and very hard, Mateen said. Read More: Orlando Shooter Omar Mateens Father: I Dont Forgive Him In an interview at his home on Tuesday, Mateen said he called for the arrests for his own protection. I wanted to go to Afghanistan, and they plan if that if I go to Afghanistan, they will eliminate me, he said. He said the last time he had been to his home country was in 2014. From my popularity, they feel in danger, he said. Mateen boasts that he has 20 million followers in Afghanistan, and that some of his videos have gotten up to 20,000 views. Story continues Some of Mateens videos are aimed as getting Pashtuns, who live in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, to unite against other rivals. In some videos he criticizes the Taliban, and in others he credits them for bringing Pashtuns together. Our brothers in Waziristan, our fighting brothers in the Taliban movement and national Afghan Taliban are rising up, he says in one video. On Tuesday, days after his son Omar Mateen killed 49 people in an Orlando nightclub in what is now considered the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil since September 11, the elder Mateen condemned the Taliban. When asked about the apparent support he voiced in his videos, he said, Those are the killers. They kill the people of Afghanistan. You think I support the killers? and added, I wanted to bring the peace, and the Taliban is the main problem. When pressed further, he said the translation must be wrong. The videos show an obsession with the Durand Line, the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan that was demarcated in the late 19th century in an agreement between a British diplomat, Sir Mortimer Durand, and an Afghan king, Abdur Rahman Khan. The division left the Pashtun ethic group on both sides of the border and is viewed by some in the region as an unnatural place for dividing people. Indeed, there are tensions over this border to this day. But that doesnt mean Mateen is a considered a legitimate voice on the issue, says Barnett Rubin, a renowned expert on Afghanistan and South Asia. A few years back, Siddique Mateen popped up out of the blue and starting sloganeering on the Durand issue, Rubin, the Senior Fellow and Director at the Center on International Cooperation at New York University, told TIME. Hes a megalomaniac. And according to all of my Pashtun contacts, hes totally unknown and totally irrelevant, Rubin says. Rather, Mateens longing for his homeland may have one awry. In any long-time exile community, you have people who develop an idee fixe about an issue, and hes an example of that. It seems to me that he has a personality disorder, Rubin adds. And if you think like that, your son might have a problem as well. As he smiled calmly for a portrait photograph on Tuesday, Mateen said matter-of-factly, I am the President of the provisional government of Afghanistan, when asked about why he made the videos. Mateen also rails against the evils of Pakistan, ISIS and a variety of other prominent figures involved in U.S. policy in Afghanistan, such as Zalmay Khalilzad, who served as Washingtons ambassador to Kabul. In all of the videos he is focused on a fiercely specific, nationalist view of Afghanistan. But in none of them does he espouse violence against Westerners, non-Muslims or homosexuals. However, on Monday, he posted a video on Facebook in which he said God himself will punish those involved in homosexuality, according to a Washington Post translation. The video has since been removed. In many of Mateens most recent videos posted on his Facebook page, he is wearing fatigues, as if serving as commander in chief. And particularly chilling, just 12 hours after news of his sons massacre broke, Mateen added a new picture to his page. It features his own image, looking presidential in suit and tie, emblazoned on a green t-shirt with his would-be title, looking as if he were running for office. He explained Tuesday that he posted the photo because his followers sent it to him. My followers sent it to me and said put that, we want this picture of you,' he said. That shows our popularity. When asked why he posted it so soon after news of the killings, he said, dont relate that to anything. I was here, he says, raising his arm in the air,and now he brought me down to there, he points to the floor. This stupid boy. Mateen says he will not resign his self-described role in the Afghan provisional government because of his sons attack. My son did this and I dishonor him, why should I resign? he says. Now my fight against terrorism is doubled, stronger. When pressed, Mateen gave an answer that is becoming something of a familiar refrain. Its not about politics, he said. Its a very sad day. On M , a day after the attack in an Orlando gay nightclub that left 50 dead and 53 more wounded, rumors surfaced that Omar Mateen, 29, , was a regular at the club and had profiles on gay dating apps. The Orlando Sentinel reported on that Mateen was a regular-enough patron of Pulse that several customers recognized him. "It was definitely him," Pulse customer Cord Cedeno told the Sentinel. "He'd come in for years, and people knew him." C t host Chris Hayes that he had seen Mateen on "one of the [gay dating] apps" and said "I recognize him off Grindr." He also told Mateen that "one of my friends ... he used to talk to him on the Adam4Adam app." Orlando man tells @chrislhayes he recognized Pulse nightclub gunman from gay dating apps #innershttp://nbcnews.to/1U5Wtd7 So far, there's been no official confirmation that Mateen had profiles on gay dating apps, and no proof that Mateen ever had sex with other men but, even if Mateen was gay, many of the facts of the attack remain exactly the same. Despite a history of domestic abuse and Mateen having been previously investigated by the FBI, he was able to legally purchase a deadly military-style rifle, the same weapon used by the shooters in Newtown, Connecticut, Roseburg, Oregon, and San Bernardino, California. Mateen's attack on the Pulse nightclub was not only the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, it was also a pointed attack on the LGBTQ community. And whether the attack was motivated by homophobia or self-loathing shouldn't be the point on which this entire story hinges to do so is to shift the blame off of a culture that made both hate and weapons easily attainable for a man born and raised right in the U.S. BILLINGS -- Congress will be hard pressed to approve money for a Zika response by month's end, said U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., who has been appointed to a committee tasked with ironing out differences between House and Senate proposals. The virus, which has now infected 691 people in the United States and causes birth defects including microcephaly babies born with small heads and small brains hasnt received the emergency response its deserved from the House and Senate, Tester said. Theres not a lot of urgency around here when it comes to Zika, Tester told The Billings Gazette. Were well into mosquito season and we havent done anything. Two million pregnant women are at risk. The estimate of 2 million pregnant women at risk for the Zika comes from the Center For American Progress. The Centers of Disease Control knows of 206 women in the United States with laboratory evidence of Zika infection as of June 2. The virus is transmitted by mosquitos and through sex. There is one case of travel-related Zika in Montana. Only eight states in the continental U.S., including Montana, dont have at least one of the two types mosquitoes that can carry Zika, according to CDC. Those mosquitoes are now in the Southern United States. Opinions are far apart in Congress over how much money should be spent fighting Zika, which first materialized in South America. The Obama administration has asked for $1.9 billion to fight Zika. The Senate approved $1.1 billion in emergency funding in May before its weeklong Memorial Day break. The House approved $622 million for Zika, mostly by taking money previously committed to Ebola virus research. Tester said his objective on the conference committee to reconcile Zika funding differences between the Senate and House is to get the amount closer to the $1.1 billion approved by the Senate. If that means cutting the funds from existing programs as the House prefers, so be it, Tester said. The CDC and federal disease research agencies first requested money for Zika in February. Time is running out, he said. It needs to be reasonably robust because this is a serious threat, Tester said. Every one of those children born with microcephaly is $10 million bucks and that doesnt include the heartache that happens. The Senate is in session 13 more days this month and eight days in July, before leaving for the entire month of August. The 2016 schedule is the shortest Senate schedule in 60 years, Tester said. Earlier this month, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which conducts Zika research at Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, told The Gazette it will run out of funding later this summer if Congress does nothing. In the wake of an attack that left 49 people dead at a popular gay nightclub, reports have emerged that suggest the shooter may have been gay himself. Witnesses at Pulse have told the Orlando Sentinel they'd occasionally seen Omar Mateen, who police identified as the shooter, inside the bar. At least four patrons say they'd seen the 29-year-old during about a dozen visits he made to the bar. Read: Orlando Nighclub Massacre Is Country's Latest Mass Shooting in a Series of Deadly Attacks What's more, one Pulse customer reportedly showed authorities a photo of Mateen on a gay chat app. Pulse regular Kevin West told the LA Times that he chatted with Mateen off and on using the app Jack'd over the course of a year, but said they never met in person. A message left with the parent company of Jack'd was not immediately returned. A man who calls himself a former community college classmate of Mateen's has also weighed in on the debate about the shooter's homosexuality. The unnamed man told the Palm Beach Post that he went out to gay bars with Mateen and others and that Mateen once even asked him out romantically. The man said he was not out at the time and turned down Mateen's offer. Read: Orlando Shooting Suspect Omar Mateen Ex-Wife Says He Was Violent and Unstable Asked if she believed he was gay, Mateen's ex-wife, Sitora Yusufiy, said she did not know. However, she told CNN Mateen always had "very strong feelings" about homosexuality. Mateen was killed Sunday following a three hour standoff with authorities. Police say he took an AR-15 style weapon into Pulse, where he killed 49 people at about 2 a.m. Fifty-three people were taken to the hospital with injuries, at least five of them categorized as "grave." Watch: Son Who Texted Mom From Bathroom During Orlando Shooting Is Among The Victims Related Articles: Orlando nightclub shooter Omar Mateen made inflammatory comments when he worked a security detail at a Florida county courthouse, which gained the FBIs attention, authorities said Tuesday. St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken Mascara said the remarks the substance of which was not disclosed prompted the FBI in early 2013 to investigate him for the first time. The comments also led to his permanent transfer out of the courthouse. Our staff was made aware of inflammatory comments made by Mateen, Mascara said in a statement. Our courthouse supervisor first requested that G4S management transfer him out of the courthouse rotation permanently. That was immediately granted. Our agency then made the appropriate notifications to inform our federal partners, he added. It was at this time that the FBI began an investigation into Mateen. The FBI questioned Mateen twice after being alerted to him speaking of possible terrorist ties in 2013, but officials were unable to verify the substance of his comments, FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge Ron Hopper said. That investigation was deemed inconclusive and was closed. Mateen made it back on the FBIs radar the year after over possible ties to an American suicide bomber, Hopper said. The FBI closed that investigation after authorities determined that Mateen did not pose as a threat at that time. Mateen had worked for a security company called G4S since 2007, according to spokeswoman Monica Lewman-Garcia. He most recently was stationed at a gated retirement community in South Florida, she said. Mateens former co-worker, Daniel Gilroy, told the New York Times that Mateen was unstable and at times displayed frightening behavior during the year they worked together. He was very racist, very sexist, anti-Jew, antihomosexual, Gilroy said. And he made it known by derogatory statements as much as he could. G4S on Tuesday confirmed that Mateen was transferred out of the courthouse in October 2013. A month later, the company investigated workplace harassment claims Mateen made, a spokesperson said. Mateen had passed a full background investigation, which looked into his criminal and medical histories, when he was hired. He also passed another check in 2013. The fact that a law enforcement agency interviews an employee is not grounds for disciplinary action, a G4S spokesperson said. Anyone who would deliberately kill 49 fellow humans was plainly evil. But Omar Mateen also was apparently conflicted. Just how much Mateens mind was cloudedboth about those he killed, and in whose name he did the killingis slowly becoming clear. People who commit acts like this are mostly confused, says Dr. Stephen Xenakis, a one-time Army general and psychiatrist who has testified in criminal cases. Theres a level of distress: how disorganized are they, psychologically, how anxious and impulsive are they, and is there anything we can gather from their history that indicates that in this state of mind they might act violentlyand he fits that clinical picture. Married to a woman for less than a year in 2009, Mateen also appears to have had a second, later marriage (the couple may have had a son). Yet Mateen frequented gay clubs, and utilized same-sex dating apps, for years both before and after his marriages. Sitora Yusufiy, Mateens first wife, told a Brazilian television station through her fiance on Monday that she believed her former husband had gay tendencies, and that his father had called him gay in front of her. Mateen had visited the Pulse nightclub several times before he carried out his massacre there. We didnt really talk to him a lot, but I remember him saying things about his dad at times, one Pulse regular told the Los Angeles Times. He told us he had a wife and child. The Palm Beach Post interviewed a fellow student of Mateens in police training in 2006, three years before he married. We went to a few gay bars with him, he said. He just wanted to fit in and no one liked him. Mateen would become really, really drunk, Ty Smith told the Canadian Press of Mateens visits to Pulse. He couldnt drink when he was at homearound his wife, or family. His father was really strict he used to bitch about it. Story continues Mateens father, Seddique Mateen, disputed any notion that his son was gay. If he was gay, he asked the Post, why would he do something like this? But Mateens ideology was also in flux. Mateen told a 911 dispatcher amid Sundays slaughter that he was pledging fealty to the Islamic State, part of Islams Sunni branch. But he had known suicide bomber Moner Mohammad Abusalha, who he met at their local mosque in Fort Pierce, Fla. Abusalha was loyal to al Qaedas Syrian affiliate known as the Nusra Front, also a Sunni groupand the Islamic States key rebel rival vying for power inside that country. Mateens father, from Afghanistan, is a Pashtun, an overwhelmingly Sunni sect. But his son had also voiced support for the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah organization, which unlike the two Sunni groups, supports Syrian President Bashar Assad. The two main branches of Islam have been at war with one another for generations. While investigators focus on whether religious zealotry or homophobia (self-hating or otherwise) drove Mateen to kill, its likely that some of each played a role. Noor Mateen, the wife of Orlando shooting suspect Omar Mateen, is being considered for possible criminal charges, according to several reports. A law enforcement official told ABC News that the 30-year-old may have known about her husbands plans in advance, but claims she tried to talk him out of the attack the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history and the deadliest terror attack on American soil since 9/11. According to NBC News, Noor Matee told the FBI she was with her husband when he bought ammunition and a holster. She also told them that she drove him to Pulse nightclub at least once to scope it out. It was also annouced on Tuesday that the gunman didnt use an AR-15 rifle to carry out the attack, but a Sig Sauer MCX carbine. Although no decision has been made yet, authorities are reportedly considering filing charges against Noor for failing to tell them what she knew before the brutal attack. Omar Mateen died in a shootout with police early Sunday morning after opening fire at Pulse, leaving 49 dead and 53 injured. Noor Mateen is Omar Mateens second wife; the two share a son. His first wife, Sitora Yusufiy, who divorced him in 2011, has accused him of being physically abusive. President Barack Obama addressed the nation about the Orlando shooting for the third time on Tuesday, saying these lone actors or small cells of terrorists are very hard to detect and very hard to prevent. Obama also addressed the backlashed hes recedived for not using the phrase radical Islam in his speech following the shooting. Omar Mateen pledged allegiance to ISIS before executing the attack. Calling a threat by a different name does not make it go away. What exactly would using this language accomplish? What exactly would it change? Obama asked during remarks at the Treasury Department. Would it make ISIL less committed to try and kill Americans? Would it bring in more allies? Is there a military strategy that is served by this? The answer is none of the above, he continued. Calling a threat by a different name does not make it go away. Story continues He also slammed Donald Trump and his proposal for a ban on Muslims entering the country. The men and women who put their lives at risk and the Special Forces I ordered to get bin Laden and are now on the ground in Iraq and in Syria they know full well who the enemy is, Obama said. So do the intelligence and law enforcement officers who spent countless hours disrupting plots. And protecting all Americans, including politicians who tweet, and appear on cable news shows. They know what the nature of the enemy is. So theres no magic to the phrase radical Islam. Its a political talking point. Related stories John Oliver on Orlando Shooting: 'This Pain Is So Familiar' President Obama Says Orlando Attack Was 'Homegrown Extremism' Tony Awards: Winner Frank Langella Gives Impassioned Speech on Orlando Attack The father of Omar Mateen is questioning why security at the Orlando gay nightclub Pulse was unable to stop his son before he killed 49 people early Sunday morning. That club should have had good security, Seddique Mateen told Sky News. The club, [with] 300 or 400 people coming they should have good security. If there was good security, he wouldnt have had this opportunity. Seddique Mateens comments reveal a larger question that has apparently gone unanswered during the investigation into the deadliest shooting in US history: How was Omar Mateen able to enter a nightclub while carrying a handgun and an AR-15 assault rifle? On Saturday, as on all nights, there was a security guard posted at the front entrance. It was unclear whether Mr. Mateen shot his way into the club or smuggled in his weapons which included an assault rifle, handgun and lots of ammunition and then opened fire, The New York Times reported. It is possible to modify and hide an AR-15, as Business Insiders Alex Lockie explained: An AR-15 fitted with a short barrel and a shortened buttstock, both easily possible, results in a deadly assault rifle that is less than 2 feet long, easily concealable in a heavy coat, and its extremely easy to get. There is no indication, though, that Mateen was using a modified rifle or wearing a coat that would have been able to hide the gun. According to law enforcement descriptions, Mateen first began shooting inside the club a little after 2 a.m. He was quickly engaged in a gun battle with an armed security guard, who was an off-duty police officer. Other officers soon join the gunfight, forcing Mateen to retreat with hostages. Mateen had also worked as a security guard and had a Florida firearms license allowing him to carry concealed weapons. New reports and witness accounts have suggested Mateen was familiar with Pulse and had visited the nightclub at least a dozen times before carrying out his attack, according to the Orlando Sentinel. Story continues The Orlando Police Department and the FBI satellite office in Orlando did not immediately respond to requests for comment. NOW WATCH: Heres the $5.3 million mansion the Obamas will reportedly live in after the White House More From Business Insider The wife of Orlando shooter Omar Mateen has told FBI agents she tried to talk her husband out of his murderous rampage, according to a report. Noor Zahi Salman was with Mateen when he bought a holster and ammunition, she told federal investigators, according to NBC News, which cited officials familiar with the case. Read: Veteran Hailed A Hero for Guiding Dozens to Safety During Orlando Massacre: 'I Wish I Could Have Saved More' She also said she had once driven him to the gay nightclub Pulse where he opened fire on patrons Sunday, killing 49 of them because he wanted to scope out the venue, according to the network. Of the 53 injured, six were in critical condition Tuesday and doctors said the number of fatalities may increase. She also said she had accompanied her husband to Disney World, in what she described as a family trip, but officials believe Mateen may have considered the amusement park as a target. Federal authorities are mulling whether to press charges against the woman, who has a 3-year-old son with Mateen. She is cooperating with investigators, the report said. Read: A Rainbow Across The World As Mourners, Monuments Pay Tribute to Orlando Shooting Victims Her alleged knowledge of the attack came Tuesday as survivors began to publicly tell of the horrors they experienced as Mateen fired round after round for three hours inside the packed nightclub. Patience Carter, 20, a Philadelphia student on vacation, said she took cover in a bloody bathroom with several others as the gunman stalked the club. She saw a pile of bodies slumped over a toilet and bloodied handprints on the wall, she said. I made peace with God, Carter told reporters. I was just begging God to take me. She was shot twice in the legs. I didnt want to feel any more pain. I didnt want to feel any more shots. Watch: Orlando Gunman Omar Mateen Frequented Pulse Nightclub, Used Gay Dating Apps: Reports Story continues Related Articles: Robert Lynch, a Catholic bishop in St. Petersburg, Florida, has said Catholicism is as much to blame for homophobia as Islam. His comments came from his blog post Monday, remarking on the alleged religious motivation of the shooter, Omar Mateen, who opened fire in Pulse, an Orlando-based gay nightclub, killing at least 50 and injuring 53 in the early hours of Sunday. It was the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. "Sadly it is religion, including our own, which targets, mostly verbally, and also often breeds contempt for gays, lesbians and transgender people," Lynch wrote. "Attacks today on LGBT men and women often plant the seed of contempt, then hatred, which can ultimately lead to violence." The remarks are a departure for representatives of the Catholic church, which is well-reputed for regarding homosexual acts as "grave sins," per the Vatican's . It distinguishes between "homosexual tendencies" and "homosexual acts," maintaining that acting on such tendencies is "intrinsically immoral and contrary to the natural law." Bishop Robert N. Lynch (center, right) leads a mass in Indonesia after parts of the country were devastated by a tsunami in 2005. Adding to the controversy, Lynch took a strong stand on gun control, arguing that assault weapons should not be available to the general public and reserved exclusively for the military: "Our founding parents had no knowledge of assault rifles which are intended to be weapons of mass destruction. In crafting the second amendment to the Constitution which I affirm, they thought only of the most awkward of pistols and heavy shotguns. I suspect they are turning in their graves if they can but glimpse at what their words now protect. It is long past time to ban the sale of all assault weapons whose use should be available only to the armed forces. If one is truly pro-life, then embrace this issue also and work for the elimination of sales to those who would turn them on innocents." Furthermore, Lynch encouraged people not to target Islam, or any religion, in the tragedy's ensuing discourse because "deranged people do senseless things." "Those women and men who were mowed down early yesterday morning were all made in the image and likeness of God," he wrote. "May the souls of those faithful departed who met their God early Sunday morning rest in peace, and those recovering from deep wounds heal, help and hope." Paris. San Bernardino. Brussels. And now, Orlando. After each terrorist attack, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton now the presumptive nominees of their respective parties have followed a loose pattern. Trump, the Republican real estate magnate, blames and attacks his political opponents, then uses tough talk to project strength and propose controversial policies. Clinton, the Democratic former secretary of state, outlines more measured blueprints to step up the fight against the Islamic State, urge unity, and project calm resolve. Yet the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, early Sunday that left at least 50 dead and as many wounded carries a bloody distinction: Its the worst shooting in U.S. history and deadliest terrorist attack on American soil since 9/11. It marks a pivotal moment for Clinton and Trump as they enter the general election phase of the campaign, a high-stakes stage from which to display presidential resolve and gain credibility as a potential commander in chief. But as their dueling speeches Monday underscored, the political fallout from the attack also carries potential pitfalls for both, particularly with moderate, independent, and undecided voters who may provide the deciding edge for either candidate in November. A Washington Post/ABC news poll last month showed slightly more American voters trust Clinton to handle national security issues than Trump, but independents lean more toward the Republican, with 50 percent saying hed make the country safer compared with 39 percent who say Clinton would. Still, some 60 percent of registered voters say Trump has a very poor temperament, according to a June NBC/WSJ poll. In New Hampshire, Trump initially intended to focus his speech on Clinton and all of the bad things and we all know whats going on, and especially how poor shed do as president in these very, very troubled times of radical Islamic terrorism, he said. But, in the wake of the Orlando attack, he took aim at immigration and alleged political correctness, as well as at Clinton. Story continues With 50 people dead and perhaps more ultimately and dozens more wounded, we cannot afford to talk around issues anymore, Trump said, mostly reading from a teleprompter. The days of deadly ignorance will end, and they will end soon if Im elected. Clinton spoke just a short while earlier in Columbus, Ohio, and started out by saying, Today is not a day for politics. Still, she pledged to ramp up the U.S.-led air campaign against the Islamic State, spoke of solidarity with the LGBT community, and promised to strengthen gun control all implicit rebukes of Trump. We are heading into a general election that could be the most consequential of our lifetimes, Clinton said. The Orlando terrorist may be dead, but the virus that poisoned his mind remains very much alive. As he defeated his GOP opponents in bitter primary elections, Trump gained ground by tapping into heightened anxiety reaching levels not seen since 9/11 among Americans following the Islamic States rise in 2014 in Iraq and Syria. But hes now under intense scrutiny as Clinton seeks to paint him as a national security liability. And with his continued prescriptions for contradictory policy including again on Monday by renewing his pledge to ban Muslim immigrants to the United States Trump risks revealing theres little substance behind his rhetoric. In his speech, Trump repeatedly predicted thousands upon thousands of people from the Middle East would pour into the United States with no security screening or monitoring, under policies either already enacted by President Barack Obama or soon to be embraced by Clinton. He said many of the Middle Eastern immigrants have the same thought process as this savage killer. Obama has raised the cap on the total number of refugees across the globe, not just from the Middle East, from 70,000 to 100,000 by 2017, and the United States has let in only a little more than 2,500 Syrian refugees of the some 12 million displaced. During a Monday morning interview on Fox and Friends, Trump was asked what should be done to respond to the Orlando attack. At first he said the United States should step up airstrikes. Asked where, he vaguely added the strikes should target the oil. He also seemed to suggest that Obama was somehow complicit in Islamist extremism that inspired the nightclub massacre. Look, were led by a man that either is not tough, not smart, or hes got something else in mind, Trump said during the Fox interview. And the something else in mind you know, people cant believe it. Theres something going on. He did not elaborate or explain what he meant. Such comments will probably bolster Trump with his already-fervent base of support, but theyre unlikely to win him the new converts he needs for November. And yet Clinton has her own uphill climb on security and diplomacy issues, despite her years of experience. Having crafted or at least touted policies during an Obama administration that saw an unleashed extremist threat and war break out across much of the Mideast and parts of Africa, she must now convince Americans her decisions can keep them safe. On Monday, she again enumerated her national security strategy. In many ways, however, it represented more of what the Obama administration is already doing against the Islamic State, including more airstrikes, bolstered regional help, and an intelligence surge to disrupt foreign fighters networks and stanch their funding. She also singled out the identification and deterrence of so-called lone wolf extremists as a top priority. In the years since 9/11, security officials and experts tried to moderate fears of another large-scale terrorist attack on U.S. soil. But they acknowledge more violence is inevitable, and the threat from so-called homegrown extremists has grown as ideology spreads across the internet. Clinton also acknowledged frustrations that suspected Orlando shooter Omar Mateen had been on the FBIs radar before he opened fire on the nightclub, but the probes were dismissed. If there are things that can and should be done to improve our ability to prevent, we must do them, she said. She also took one of several if oblique unnamed swipes at Trump, citing what she called inflammatory anti-Muslim rhetoric and threatening to ban the families and friends of Muslim Americans. Such actions, she said, play right into the terrorists hands. Photo credit: DARREN McCOLLESTER By Mehreen Zahra-Malik ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan is looking to hire lobbying firms in Washington after a gap of nearly eight years, seeking to refurbish its image in the United States at a time of deteriorating relations between the allies, two government officials told Reuters on Tuesday. Ties have been particularly strained following a U.S. unmanned aircraft strike that killed top Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour in western Pakistan last month, which Islamabad protested was a violation of its sovereignty. Relations have also been tense since a plan to buy eight F-16 fighter jets from the United States fell through this May after the U.S. Congress refused to approve the deal. The deal, valued at $699 million, came unstuck after Congress refused to authorize the use of U.S. government funds to pay for the aircraft under the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program. "Pakistan used to have lobbyists in Washington ... Now we want to relaunch the effort," said a senior government official, who asked not to be identified, as he was not authorized to speak to the media on the record. Islamabad dropped its official lobbying efforts during the 1999-2008 military rule of General Pervez Musharraf, the official said, adding that the government had now decided it needed help selling its image. "Look at India and other countries, and how aggressive their public relations is," the official added. "In light of this, and most recently, of course, the whole episode with the F-16s, Pakistan has decided that it has to step up its lobbying efforts in D.C." A second government official in the prime minister's media team confirmed the decision, saying it aimed at stepping up efforts to "sell Pakistani interests and improve its image in the United States". The official added, "We are fighting this war on terror at great cost to lives and our economy. Yet we keep hearing that we have to do more. Clearly there is a public relations gap." Neither official would name the lobbying firms Pakistani officials are talking to. Pakistan was shortlisting prospective lobbying firms, foreign policy chief Sartaj Aziz on Monday told a Senate meeting on defense and foreign affairs, the Dawn newspaper reported. Some jets in Pakistan's fleet of F-16s are due to be decommissioned in the next few years and the government says it needs the aircraft to fight Islamist militants in remote mountains near neighboring Afghanistan. It is now considering buying used F-16 fighter jets from Jordan. (Writing by Mehreen Zahra-Malik; Editing by Clarence Fernandez) ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan is considering buying used F-16 fighter jets from Jordan, media reported on Tuesday, after a plan to buy eight of the aircraft from the United States fell through because of the refusal of the U.S. Congress to finance the deal. Some of Pakistan's fleet of F-16 jets are due to be decommissioned in the next few years and the government says it needs the aircraft to fight Islamist militants in remote mountains near Afghanistan. The military also sees the aircraft as vital in case of war against old rival India. The nuclear-armed neighbors have fought three wars since they gained independence from Britain in 1947. "We are now going for a third-party transfer of F-16s and have an offer from Jordan," Defense Secretary Alam Khattak told a joint sitting of the Senate defense and foreign affairs committees on Monday, newspapers reported. An air force spokesman declined to say how many F-16s Pakistan has but the number of the aircraft in service is believed to be about 70. Jordan had offered to sell Pakistan 16 used F-16s of the Block-30 variant, an older version than the Block-52s that Pakistan would have obtained from the United States, the Dawn newspaper reported. The U.S. deal, valued at $699 million, came unstuck after the U.S. Congress refused to authorize the use of U.S. government funds to pay for the aircraft under the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program. Members of the U.S. Congress, led by Republican Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Bob Corker, demanded that Pakistan stop harboring militant groups like the Afghan Taliban and Haqqani Network, which are leading an insurgency against a U.S.-backed government in Kabul. Pakistan say it is acting against the militants, citing military operations in lawless ethnic Pashtun lands that border Afghanistan. Pakistan says the F-16s, with their precision strike ability and night-flying capability, are essential for that fight. The difficulty over the F-16 deal was the latest sign of increasingly frayed ties between Pakistan and the United States. Last month, a U.S. drone killed Mullah Akhtar Mansour, then chief of the Afghan Taliban, on Pakistani soil. Pakistan condemned the strike as a violation of its sovereignty, and as not being conducive towards encouraging the Taliban to enter talks with the Afghan government. Pakistan has bought Jordanian F-16s before, procuring 13 of them in 2014, Dawn reported. The current batch on offer were manufactured between 1988 and 1990, and were upgraded in 2001/02, Dawn said. (Writing by Asad Hashim; Editing by Drazen Jorgic, Robert Birsel) VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / June 14, 2016 / ParcelPal Technology Inc. ("ParcelPal" or the "Company"), (CSE: PKG) - ParcelPal is an on-demand delivery service that makes sending packages easy. ParcelPal software instantly connects businesses to their network where items are quickly and affordably delivered locally though crowd-sourced couriers. Following the Company's previous announcement on April 7, 2016 regarding the successful launch of ParcelPal courier service in Vancouver for the beta program, the Company has made both Android and iOS versions applications readily available to the public for download on iTunes and the Playstore. Potential couriers will undergo rigorous background checks, along with an in-person training session before access to the ParcelPal application is granted. The launch of the iPhone and Android App will likely add hundreds of new delivery people in the coming months after its release, making ParcelPal the largest local courier service in British Columbia. The Company has increased marketing efforts locally and has acquired several new clients in June on top of its already existing beta clients. As many technology enhancements have been pushed live, the Company plans further expenditure on marketing efforts to attract and retain new clientele. Proceeds of future marketing efforts will be to engage eCommerce merchants, which have already shown interest in the Company's plug-in that is set for release in the coming weeks. The Company has already begun integrating with one popular eCommerce merchant locally in Vancouver. Overall recurring usage and satisfaction rates among registered businesses has been high as all clients have reported "highly satisfied" within recent surveys conducted by the Company. Several companies have given positive feedback, such as General Manager James Hay from Mayer's Packaging - "It's unbelievable that ParcelPal can get my products to my customers in the city in less than an hour. Local shipping used to be such a pain point for our business, now it's super easy with ParcelPal. We just log onto the website and request a courier, 15 minutes later a courier has already arrived and our package is out the door. I will never go back to a traditional courier service." Christopher Anderson, President of Great Atlantic Resources Corporation also stated how pleased he was with the service, "I can send a ParcelPal courier to pick up my documents that need to be signed and have them returned to me or delivered directly to my clients in the hour within the city. I have also used them to pick up personal items as well, which makes the service that much more unique." President and CEO Jason Moreau states, "We have taken strides in our technology and our customers are noticing. Since our beta test in April, we have approved several new couriers as we have seen upward trending growth in demand for our services. I am happy to report overall customer satisfaction is high and our weekly average deliveries are continuously growing. We are excited to be past the pre-revenue stage in our business and our next step is to integrate directly into eCommerce platforms, such as Shopify and Magento, to be a same-day shipping option." About ParcelPal Technology Inc. ParcelPal is an iPhone, Android and desktop computer service enabling businesses and individuals to quickly and affordably have items delivered locally though crowd-sourced couriers. The Company offers same-day delivery of merchandise for leading retailers in Vancouver and soon in major cities Canada-wide. ParcelPal: www.parcelpal.com The Canadian Securities Exchange ("CSE") or any other securities regulatory authority has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release that has been prepared by management. CSE - Symbol: PKG Shares issued: 25,401,511 Contact: Jason Moreau, President ParcelPal Technology, Inc. 604-401-8700 Forward Looking Information This news release contains forward looking statements relating to the Proposed Transaction, and the future potential of ParcelPal. Forward looking statements are often identified by terms such as "will," "may," "should," "intends," "anticipates," "expects," "plans" and similar expressions. All statements other than statements of historical fact, included in this release are forward looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, the risk that the Proposed Transaction will not be completed due to, among other things, failure to execute definitive documentation, failure to complete satisfactory due diligence, failure to receive the approval of the CSE and the risk that ParcelPal will not be successful due to, among other things, general risks relating to the mobile application industry, failure of ParcelPal to gain market acceptance and potential challenges to the intellectual property utilized in ParcelPal. There can be no assurance that any forward looking statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The Company cannot guarantee that any forward looking statement will materialize and the reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward looking information. Such information, although considered reasonable by management at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated. Forward looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. The forward looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release and the Company will only update or revise publicly any of the included forward looking statements as expressly required by Canadian securities laws. SOURCE: ParcelPal Technology Inc. Paris (AFP) - The jihadist killing of two police officials outside Paris is the latest targeted attack by an individual responding to Islamic State group propaganda, terrorism experts say. In a video of Monday's attack reportedly live-streamed on Facebook, 25-year-old Larossi Abballa referenced Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, an IS spokesman dubbed the group's "attacks minister" by Western intelligence. In an audio message released on May 21, Adnani called for attacks on Europe and the United States during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began on June 6. He also made a similar appeal at the same time last year, urging supporters to seek "martyrdom". "Today we are seeing the return of targeted attacks... by individuals who have pledged allegiance to IS and act as outside agents," said terrorism expert Mathieu Guidere. While the jihadist rampage that killed 130 ordinary Parisians in November was "indiscriminate", Abballa deliberately targeted police. And a weekend bloodbath which killed 49 at a Florida nightclub -- also carried out by an IS-inspired attacker -- targeted the gay community, Guidere told France Inter radio. - 'Kill police, journalists, rappers' - The fact that IS claimed responsibility for the attack so soon afterwards reflects a well-honed strategy of "asking the individual to provide proof that he has carried out the act," said Guidere, a professor at the University of Paris. "We are facing individuals who are serving as active external forces," he said. In his Facebook video, Abballa urged Muslims to kill "police, journalists, public figures, prison guards and rappers," listing around a dozen well-known figures by name, according to David Thomson, a terrorism expert for French radio RFI who watched the video before it was taken down. Paris prosecutor Francois Molins confirmed Abballa had a "hit list" of names of VIPs, police and rappers. Story continues In September 2014, Adnani released an audio track now accessible on thousands of jihadist websites in which he urged supporters to attack "the tyrants' soldiers, their police and security forces, their intelligence (forces) and collaborators." - 'Their blood is permitted' - "If you are able to kill an American or European infidel -- particularly any of the hostile, impure Frenchmen... kill him by any way or means." Al-Adnani has become a key IS figure, seen as both a motivator and supervisor of terror attacks in the West. A Syrian from the northern Idlib region, he is a veteran of anti-American jihad in Iraq going back to the US-led invasion in 2003. Adnani urged jihadists to use whatever weapon comes to hand -- in Abballa's case, a knife. "If you cannot (detonate) a bomb or (fire) a bullet, arrange to meet alone with a French or an American infidel and bash his skull in with a rock, slaughter him with a knife, run him over with your car, throw him off a cliff, strangle him, or inject him with poison," he says. Al-Adnani says there is no need to "consult anyone" as all unbelievers are fair game: "It is immaterial if the infidel is a combatant or a civilian... They are both enemies. The blood of both is permitted." French soldiers have been repeatedly targeted by jihadists largely acting on their own since March 2012 when Islamist gunman Mohamed Merah killed three soldiers and three Jewish children and their teacher in the southwestern city of Toulouse. In December 2014, a young man armed with a knife attacked three police officers in the central town of Joue-les-Tours while shouting "Allahu Akbar" -- Arabic for "God is greatest". The following month, three police officers were among the 17 people killed during a wave of attacks in and around Paris that included the Charlie Hebdo massacre. A year later, on the anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo attack, a young Tunisian armed with a butcher's knife and wearing a fake suicide vest tried to attack a Paris police station but was gunned down. I moved YouTube video, Arizona pastor Steven L. Anderson, known for his homophobic rants, called Sunday's Orlando, Florida massacre at Pulse nightclub "good news." " that there's 50 less pedophiles i said Anderson, whose Faithful Word Baptist Church has in the past been called a "hate group" Anderson argued that the media attention surrounding the shooting would turn public opinion against Christians who denounce the gay community. "So Bible-believing Christian preachers who preach what the Bible actually says about homosexuality that it's vile, that it's disgusting, that they're reprobates you know, we're gonna be blamed, If you've ever heard the elegant solo on the Wings song "My Love" or the reggae-like riffs of "Live and Let Die," then you are familiar with the work of Henry McCullough. The former member of Paul McCartney's post-Beatles band Wings and veteran session musician died Tuesday (June 14) at age 72 after a long illness, his longtime agent Nigel Martyn told the Belfast Telegraph. Born in Portstewart, Ireland in 1943, McCullough spent years playing blues, rock, pop and psychedelic bands in London -- touring in support of Jimi Hendrix and playing on Joe Cocker's breakthrough 1969 album With a Little Help From My Friends -- before getting tapped to join Wings for 1973's Red Rose Speedway. During sessions for that album he also made his way onto a Pink Floyd album when he waltzed to an adjacent studio and contributed a spoken word bit ("I don't know, I was really drunk at the time") to the Dark Side of the Moon track "Money." Though McCullough only lasted one album with Wings, McCartney paid tribute to his former bandmate with a heartfelt note on Tuesday. "I was very sad to hear that Henry McCullough, our great Wings guitarist, passed away today," McCartney wrote in a blog post. "He was a pleasure to work with, a super-talented musician with a lovely sense of humour. The solo he played on 'My Love' was a classic that he made up on the spot in front of a live orchestra. Our deepest sympathies from my family to his." After leaving Wings, McCullough enjoyed a long and fruitful career as a session musician over the next two decades, sitting in with Roy Harper, Ronnie Lane, Eric Burdon, Marianne Faithfull and Spooky Tooth. S of the House Paul Ryan, perhaps the most important Republican in the legislative branch of the federal government, issued forceful comments in response to GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump's renewed calls for a ban on Muslim entry to the U.S. Ryan also took the time to implicitly r on the many colleagues in his party who have downplayed or avoided entirely the LGBTQ identity of the victims of a mass shooting in Orlando, Florida, on Sunday which killed at least 50 people, including the gunman, and wounded at least 50 others. "This was another act of war against America by radical Islam," R at a press conference. "At the same time, let's also be clear that members of the LGBT community were the targets. They were simply attacked for who they are. This is an ideology that who we are as a country: open, tolerant, free." "This is a threat that knows no borders and cannot be contained. This is a threat that simply must be defeated." "This is a threat that knows no borders," Ryan continued. "This is a threat that cannot be contained. This is a threat that simply must be defeated." Ryan subsequently made the connection to Trump's plan more clear, reported NBC News' Frank Thorp V: Just now: @SpeakerRyan: "I do not think a Muslim ban is in our country's interests. I do not think it's reflective of our principles." However, Ryan dodged a question on whether a theoretical President Trump could simply enact the ban without congressional approval. Paul Ryan dodges question about whether he thinks Trump has the authority to enact a Muslim ban unilaterally Ryan's apparent rebuke may be more tactical than ideological following widespread dismay over Trump's reaction to the Orlando massacre. In addition to renewing his calls for a ban on Muslim entry to the U.S., Trump congratulated himself on Twitter for being right about terrorism, insinuated immigrants were broadly responsible for such violence and suggested President Barack Obama has a secret alternate agenda preventing him from fighting Islamic terrorism. The series of remarks did little to help Trump's favor within elite Republican political circles. However, in November 2015, then-newly minted Speaker Ryan called for a halt to a U.S. program to accept refugees fleeing the Syrian civil war. According to NBC News, at that time Ryan told a press conference "This is a moment where it is better to be safe than to be sorry so we think the prudent, responsible thing is to take a pause in this particular aspect of this refugee program in order to verify that terrorists are not trying to infiltrate the refugee population" a similar, but less crudely worded, rationale as the one Trump put forward for his ban on all Muslims. No wonder the neighborhood stank. Florida public works employees responding to complaints about a nauseating smell came face-to-snout with a humongous, but very dead, alligator. Read: A Seven-Foot Gator Gets Stuck Behind the Wheel of Gator Wrangler's SUV The fat, 11-foot gator was stuck in an outdoor drain, causing water to back up and creating a horrid odor. "The drainage system in this Fort Meyers neighborhood was backed up so someone called our Public Works Department to investigate. Here's what our guys found. Eleven feet long," wrote Lee County Manager Roger Desjarlais on his Facebook page. Read: Police Pull Body From Lake After Alligator Was Seen With Human Remains In Its Mouth He also posted a photo of the astronomical alligator being hauled out of the drain by a rope, with its massive jaws agape as a worker wearing a particle mask stands with arms outstretched, as if to say "Hail the gargantuan gator!" Lee County spokeswoman Betsy Clayton told InsideEdition.com the dead reptile was hauled to a dump for highway debris. "Basically, it got buried," she said. Gator cadavers stuck in catch basins are not uncommon sights, she said. Typically, one or two alligators a year have to be removed from clogged drainage systems. Watch: Large Alligator Discovered Feasting On Human Body In Lake Related Articles: 17 Cook Out A legendary fast-food chain is in hot water after refusing to serve Donald Trump supporters. Shannon Riggs and her cousins were turned away from a Cook Out in Colonial Heights, Virginia, on Friday night, when they showed up in Donald Trump shirts and hats, WTVR reports. Apparently, when Riggs attempted to order from the window, decked out in Trump apparel, an employee yelled "Hell no! I'm not serving them." The family's orders were eventually taken, but they say that they never received their food. Eventually Riggs said she canceled her order and the family had their money refunded but they were not satisfied with the situation. "Once you witness [discrimination] firsthand, it's a totally different experience," Lauren Wolfrey, one family member, told WTVR. "I was in a state of shock." Other Donald Trump supporters are similarly displeased with the chain, with some on social media calling for a boycott of the brand. RETWEET THIS: Never eat at @CookOut_ again. They refuse to serve Trump supporters: https://t.co/yEWtAUtL0Y The Kincannon Show (@kincannon_show) June 14, 2016 No more "Cook Out" Restaurant for me. They denied the people for Trump food. Joycee_NH (@joycee_NH) June 14, 2016 Back of The Bus Policy: Cook Out Restaurant Employees Refuse to Serve Trump Supporters https://t.co/QeW0zrcmPr The bigoted Left#CNN GOP Michael (@Canine_Rights) June 14, 2016 "I could overlook your mediocre food but not your discriminatory practices," reads one comment on Cook Out's Facebook page. "Your employees are obviously ignorant when they engage in such behavior and face little to no consequences from corporate. Keep your lousy food, your piss-poor corporate practices, and your political activism." Story continues Cook Out, a chain based in North Carolina best known for its traditional fast-food fare and milkshakes, did not immediate respond to Business Insider's request for comment, but, in a statement to WTVR, the company said it is a "politically neutral company." "We welcome all customers regardless of political affiliation," the company said in a statement. "Regarding the refusal of service at our Colonial Heights location, the situation has been resolved and was resolved that night per Cook Out policy." NOW WATCH: These are America's 2 most hated fast-food restaurants More From Business Insider - By James Li In early June, the Peter Lynch screen featured two airline companies, Allegiant Travel Co. (ALGT) and Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV), as two of the most undervalued companies based on their earnings lines. Due to potential upside in the airline industry, many gurus are increasing their positions in airline stocks. Peter Lynch and his winning strategy A successful investor during the 1980s, Peter Lynch managed the Fidelity Magellan Fund that made an average return of 29% in a 13-year period. According to the June 2015 webinar on investing the Peter Lynch way, the growth-investor devised a strategy for six different stock categories. To determine which stocks are undervalued, Peter Lynch introduced the aearnings line,a a line depicting the expected price of a stock based on a P/E ratio of 15. Based on its Peter Lynch chart, Allegiant Travelas stock price sharply declined during the second half of 2015 and dropped below its earnings line near the end of 2015. This suggests that Allegiant Travel is currently undervalued and is a good company in which to invest, according to Peter Lynchas strategy. The Peter Lynch screen (feature announcement) implements the investoras winning strategy by listing the stocks that are undervalued based on their P/E ratios. The Default View lists the earnings yield, ROC, five-year and 10-year EBITDA growth rates, P/E and yield. One of the most useful views is the Charts Views: this view allows users to view the Peter Lynch charts for each of the stocks listed on the screener. Additionally, users can also look at charts showing median P/E, historical P/E ratios and other valuation ratios. Airline industry among undervalued industries Last year, GuruFocus introduced the Industry Overview (screener, announcement), a screener that lists industries that have the lowest P/E ratio, the highest dividend yield, the highest profit margins and the highest EBITDA growth. As of this month, the airline industry has the lowest median P/E, the third-highest median five-year dividend growth and the fourth-highest five-year EBITDA growth. This suggests that the airline industry is undervalued compared to other industries and features some hot company stocks. Story continues Allegiant Travel: an undervalued predictable company Founded and incorporated in Nevada, Allegiant Travel provides transportation services to customers engaging in leisure travel. As of this month, the company has a 4.5-star predictability rank, a financial strength rating of 6 out of 10 and a profitability rank of 9 out of 10. With a margin of safety of 62% based on its discounted earnings valuation, Allegiant Travel is currently one of the most undervalued predictable companies in the U.S. As mentioned in an earlier article, the discounted earnings valuation more accurately calculates the companyas fair value than does the DCF valuation since EPS has a higher correlation with the stock price than free cash flow does. With several good signs, the Nevada-based airline company has a very strong financial outlook, suggesting very high growth potential. Allegiant Travel has experienced expanding operating margins since 2003, and its current operating margin of 30.02% is higher than 96% of stocks in the global airlines industry. Additionally, the company had consistent per share revenue growth: according to the companyas recent 10-K, Allegiant Travel had increasing total operating revenue during the past three years. Operating expenses decreased in 2015, further increasing net income and return on equity. 1961426504.png Currently, Allegiant Travel has valuation ratios near all-time lows: The company has a P/E ratio close to a five-year low and a P/S ratio close to a two-year low. The current P/S ratio is lower than 87% of companies in the global airlines industry. Due to the cyclical nature of airline industries, the regular P/E ratio can be artificially low during peak times, according to Peter Lynch. Therefore, the P/S ratio and the Shiller P/E ratio more accurately values cyclical companies. Although Allegiant Travelas Shiller P/E ratio is greater than its regular P/E ratio, the companyas current Shiller P/E is lower than 71% in the global airlines industry. Based on his fair value method, Peter Lynch currently values Allegiant Air at $336.25. Historically, the Nevada-based airline company has been increasing Peter Lynch fair values since December 2010, suggesting that the company has been undervalued in the past few years. Additionally, the current price to Peter Lynch fair value of 0.45 is near a 10-year low. Peter Lynch LUVs Southwest Airlines as well Like Allegiant Travel, Southwest Airlines has been featured on the Peter Lynch screen in early June. Incorporated in March 1967, the passenger airline company experienced a sharp price decline in early 2016. Based on analyst expectations, Southwestas stock price is expected to increase steadily in the next two years. This suggests that Southwest Airlines is currently at a discount and a good stock to buy. 2138606832.png In his best-seller, "Beating the Street," Peter Lynch listed several of Southwestas competitive advantages that allowed the Texas-based company to survive the airline industry meltdown of the 1980s. As Peter Lynch mentioned in his book, Southwest made a a10-bagger,a i.e., increased its price tenfold, while many other airlines went bankrupt. The companyas top two competitive advantages are point-to-point flights and low cost per available seat mile (CASM) values. With a financial strength rating of 8 out of 10, Southwest has a stronger financial outlook than Allegiant Travel does. Although Southwest has slightly more volatile Piotroski F-scores, the Texas-based airline companyas F-score has been higher than Allegiant Travelas F-score during the past three years. This suggests that Southwest is less likely to experience bankruptcy in the short term. 523521147.png Unlike Allegiant Travel, Southwest is not issuing new long-term debt. Consequently, Southwest has significantly higher interest coverage than Allegiant Travel does. Southwestas current interest coverage of 50.95 is higher than 76% of global airline companies. Furthermore, the Texas airline company has higher cash to debt and equity to asset ratios than does Allegiant Travel. Gurus increase their positions in hot airline stocks As the financial outlooks of Southwest and Allegiant Travel strengthen, many gurus are increasing their positions in these stocks. During the first quarter, David Dreman (Trades, Portfolio) bought 50 shares of Allegiant Travel and Ronald Muhlenkamp (Trades, Portfolio) increased his Allegiant Travel stake by 18 basis points (0.18%). Additionally, high-performing guru David Tepper (Trades, Portfolio) added 1.60% to his Southwest Airlines position. See also GuruFocus users can implement the All-in-One Guru Screener to find other good airline companies to invest in. In addition to his earnings line, Peter Lynch developed a fast-grower screen with the following criteria: market cap less than $5 billion, debt-to-equity (D/E) ratio less than 0.4, predictability rank higher than 4-stars, five-year EBITDA growth of 20-35%, 10-year EBITDA growth greater than 15% and PEG ratio less than 1. With a D/E ratio of 1.8, Allegiant Travel meets all of the above criteria except for the D/E ratio criterion. Start a free seven-day trial of Premium Membership to GuruFocus. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. On Jun 10, 2016, Zacks Investment Research upgraded PetroChina Co. Ltd. PTR to a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). Going by the Zacks model, companies holding a Zacks Rank #1 have strong chances of outperforming the broader market over the next few quarters. Why the Upgrade? Incorporated in 1999, PetroChina is headquartered in Beijing. The company is one of the leading integrated oil companies in the Peoples Republic of China and is involved in the production and distribution of oil and gas. The company boasts a strong balance sheet and robust portfolio of assets. This makes it better suited to handle volatile market conditions than most of its peers. The growth prospects of the company are particularly attractive in the downstream sectors. Strong growth in Chinas middle class and in automobile ownership is expected to fuel consumption of refined petroleum products. Also, the companys natural gas business offers lucrative growth prospects in the coming years as China moves from coal to natural gas. Moreover, PetroChinas strategic initiatives will provide it with global resource and an expanded market base, thereby making it a leading international energy player. The companys investment in a joint venture with Canada's Encana Corp. (ECA) in Alberta to develop natural gas/condensates assets and the purchase of BHP Billiton Ltd.'s BHP interests in the proposed Western Australian Browse liquefied natural gas (LNG) project. Additionally, these ventures will hedge the company against uncertain Chinese product pricing policies. PETROCHINA ADR Price and Consensus PETROCHINA ADR Price and Consensus | PETROCHINA ADR Quote Other Stocks to Consider Other favorably placed stocks from the broader energy sector are Braskem S.A. BAK, and Sasol Ltd. SSL. Both these stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report BHP BILLITN LTD (BHP): Free Stock Analysis Report PETROCHINA ADR (PTR): Free Stock Analysis Report SASOL LTD -ADR (SSL): Free Stock Analysis Report BRASKEM SA (BAK): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research LONDON (Reuters) - British retail tycoon Philip Green said on Tuesday he will attend a parliamentary hearing on the demise of department store chain BHS, which he used to own, on Wednesday. The billionaire had last week threatened to pull out of his scheduled appearance in front of a joint session of the Business and Work and Pensions select committees investigating BHS, saying the chair of the latter committee, Labour lawmaker Frank Field, was biased against him. "Having given long and hard thought to the matter however, I have decided I will attend tomorrow morning, hoping and trusting that the committee will give me a fair hearing," he said. "This will be the first and only opportunity I have had to tell my side of the very sad BHS story and I will do my best to answer all the questions put to me in an honest and open way." (Reporting by James Davey, Editing by Paul Sandle) Photo Finish Records and Caroline today announced a new partnership whereby Caroline will distribute the New York-based indie label's releases including upcoming albums by The Mowgli's and Handsome Ghost as well as recordings by the label's newest signing SHAED. "I'm really looking very forward to working with [Capitol Music Group COO] Michelle Jubelirer, [Caroline and Harvest Records co-heads] Jaqueline Saturn and Piero Giramonti. "I've heard amazing things about their team and am excited to have them in our corner," says Photo Finish co-founder Matt Galle, 38, who has twice been named to Billboard's 40 Under 40 power players list and somehow has the time to work as a senior agent at the Paradigm Talent Agency overseeing acts like Halsey and Shawn Mendes in addition to managing producer/songwriter Matt Squire and co-founding the Bamboozle Festival. Photo Finish Records' Matt Galle Moves His Label From Atlantic to Island Def Jam "Jacqueline and I both know [Photo Finish co-founders] Matt Galle and Mike Marquis from past experiences," says Giramonti. "We got super excited about the deal very early on and are fans of the label and the guys that run it, they are extremely accomplished and have a great track record." According to Galle, over the past ten years Photo Finish has sold over a million albums and more than 15 million singles including the hit "Don't Trust Me" by the the label's best-selling artists 3OH!3 which went to No. 1 on the Billboard's Pop Songs chart in July of 2009. The Caroline agreement follows past Photo Finish deals with Universal Music Group and Atlantic Records and establishes the label as an entirely independent entity. "At this point now we're controlling our own destiny, we're owning everything and we'll make all the decisions. We operate as an indie but we swing for the fences and have a lot of resources," says Galle, who now has six people working at the label. He also notes he'll continue working exclusively with the Universal Music synch team, which had successful placements for Photo Finish artists Marian Hill and The Mowgli's and will use Caroline's radio promotion services for certain artists. Story continues Caroline Names New General Managers "Every deal is different," says Giramonti as Caroline, which operates under the Capitol Music Group umbrella and offers distribution and an array of label services, including radio promotion, marketing, synch/branding/licensing, and digital marketing. "One of the structural changes we've made is that Matt Sawin, who is essentially our right hand, now oversees the commercial and marketing area. But every deal depends on the label and what resources they have and how they're structured. Some rely on us for everything and some like Photo Finish cherry pick. But every deal goes through our commercial department which is not just distribution, but also working with DSPs [digital service providers] and promoting artists across those platforms." Since being named co-general managers of Caroline in December, Giramonti and Saturn have relocated the core of the company from New York to L.A and made several key executive appointments including most recently naming Marni Halpern as head of promotions while they are in the midst of working albums by artists like Ben Rector (whose new release Brand New went top ten on the Billboard 200 chart) and setting up new releases. "We are extremely excited about the Q3 and Q4 release schedules where a lot of the stuff we've been focusing and developing is going to be coming out," Giramonti says. This includes new albums by Banks and Glass Animals, both on Harvest; the long-awaited Avalanches album on Astralwerks; a new Alter Bridge release and an a recording by a new ATO signing named Joseph, among others. Giramonti, also mentions signing Irish artist James Vincent McMorrow for the U.S. "We have a lot of things in the hopper and are making deals," he says. Pretoria (AFP) - Reeva Steenkamp's father broke down in court on Tuesday as he told a dramatic sentencing hearing that Oscar Pistorius must "pay for his crime" of murdering his daughter three years ago. It was the first time that 73-year-old Barry Steenkamp testified in court and directly addressed Pistorius. The Paralympic athlete killed Reeva Steenkamp in the early hours of Valentine's Day in 2013, saying he mistook her for a burglar when he fired four times through the door of his bedroom toilet. In March, Pistorius's lawyers lost an appeal judgement that upgraded his original conviction from culpable homicide -- the equivalent of manslaughter -- to murder. "It has been very difficult for me to forgive... I feel that Oscar has to pay for what he did. He has to pay for his crime," Barry Steenkamp said, tears streaming down his face. Reliving how his daughter, 29, died, Steenkamp said: "What she must have gone through in those split seconds -- she must have been in so much fear and pain. That is what I think of, all the time." "It must have been absolutely awful." He also said that he believed the couple had argued on the night of the murder -- disputing Pistorius's claims. Pistorius held his head in his hands, sobbing during the testimony at the High Court in the South African capital Pretoria. Barry Steenkamp, a former racehorse trainer, described the chaos and panic when his wife June rang him at work early in the morning after Reeva, a model and law graduate, was shot. "June grieves like I do, all the time. I hear her at night, I hear her crying, I hear her talking to Reeva," he added, saying that June had tried to forgive Pistorius to help her cope with the loss of her daughter. "You must still understand that he must pay for that, although June has forgiven," he said. - Murder term - The original trial judge Thokozile Masipa is due to hand down a new sentence for murder after arguments from both prosecution and defence. Story continues The hearing -- held in the same courtroom as the original trial -- was adjourned until Wednesday morning. It is scheduled to last until Friday. Pistorius faces a minimum 15-year jail term for murder, but his sentence could be reduced due to time already spent in prison and mitigating factors, including his disability. He was released from jail last October to live under house arrest at his uncle's mansion in Pretoria after serving one year of his five-year sentence for culpable homicide. Earlier Tuesday, the mother of a disabled child and Pistorius's pastor gave evidence as character witnesses for his defence. Ebba Gudmundsdottir, from Iceland, told how Pistorius had befriended her family when she was pregnant with a child who would be born without legs. "He gave us his phone number for us to ask him or consult with him anytime we needed it, which we did and that was lovely," she told the court. Gudmundsdottir said Pistorius has been an "inspiration" to her son, and they had gone to see him compete three times in the Paralympics. Pistorius once gave her son a gold medal and said "This is for you champion". Marius Nel, Pistorius's pastor, told the court that Pistorius was "very excited and positive" about becoming involved in the church's education projects. Another witness, prison nurse Charlotte Mashabane, alleged that Pistorius had been a difficult inmate and had argued with officials, shouting and banging her desk in a dispute over medication. Barry Roux, defence lawyer, accused her of giving contradictory evidence and exaggerating Pistorius's behaviour due to a personality clash. Pistorius has always denied killing Steenkamp in a rage and, during his seven-month trial in 2014, vomited in the dock as details of his lover's death were examined in excruciating detail. The year before he killed Steenkamp, Pistorius became the first double-amputee to race at Olympic level when he appeared at the London 2012 games. By TJ Strydom and Tanisha Heiberg PRETORIA (Reuters) - Oscar Pistorius must pay for the crime of murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, which has devastated her family, her father told a South African court on Tuesday. The 29-year-old Paralympian gold medalist faces a minimum 15-year jail term after his manslaughter conviction for the 2013 killing, for which he originally received a five-year sentence, was upgraded on appeal. Called to testify by the lead state prosecutor in Pistorius's sentencing hearing, a tearful and trembling Barry Steenkamp said forgiving the runner was very hard. "It just devastated us, I ended up having a stroke... I just don't wish that to anybody in this world," the 73-year-old said. "He has to pay for his crime." Steenkamp said he and wife June had relied financially on their daughter, and he had hurt himself to try to relive the pain that his daughter went through: "I jabbed myself with needles." He asked the court to allow pictures of his daughter to be shown to the world as a deterrent to would-be killers. Jonathan Scholtz, a psychologist called by Pistorius' lawyer, told the court on Monday -- the first day of the hearing -- that the athlete was "a broken man" on medication for depression, anxiety and insomnia who should be hospitalized and not jailed. But prosecutor Gerrie Nel said Pistorius has shown no remorse for shooting and killing Steenkamp when he fired four shots through a locked toilet door in his Pretoria home. Nel also said he had had temper tantrums while serving his sentence. 'TANTRUMS' The case has prompted a fierce debate in a country beset by high levels of violent crime against women. Some rights groups have said the white athlete has received preferential treatment. Charlotte Mashabane, an assistant health manager at the prison where Pistorius was held for a year, told the court on Tuesday he "threw tantrums" while in prison and she felt threatened by him. Mashabane said Pistorius became angry when she declined to change his approved medication for medication supplied by his family, and that he had thrown some medicine on her table. Mashabane also said there was no report of Pistorius being assaulted while in prison, as Scholtz had asserted. Pistorius lawyer Barry Roux disputed Mashabane's testimony, saying she was changing it to cast his client in a bad light. Earlier on Tuesday Ebba Gudny Gudmundsdottir, from Iceland, described the runner as an inspiration to her 11-year-old son, who has a similar disability to Pistorius. The lower part of the athlete's legs were amputated when he was a baby, and he is known as "Blade Runner" for the carbon-fibre prosthetics he wore when racing. Pistorius reached the pinnacle of his fame in London 2012 when he became the first double amputee to run in the Olympics, reaching the 400 meters semi-finals. Gudmundsdottir told the court Pistorius often visited her family in Iceland and her family traveled to Manchester to see Pistorius race. "It was an inspiration for him (her son) to see Oscar and the others run," she said. Marius Nel, a pastor, said Pistorius had worked at his church's charity, training school children in athletics. "Feedback from the schools was very positive," he said. At his original trial, Pistorius had argued he mistook Reeva Steenkamp for an intruder. His manslaughter conviction was upgraded to murder after an appeal heard by the Supreme Court, which ruled in March that Pistorius had exhausted all his legal options. The original trial judge, Thokozile Masipa, is also presiding at the sentencing hearing, at Pretoria High Court. (Writing by James Macharia; editing by John Stonestreet) By TJ Strydom and Tanisha Heiberg PRETORIA (Reuters) - Oscar Pistorius must pay for the crime of murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, which has devastated her family, her father told a South African court on Tuesday. The 29-year-old Paralympian gold medallist faces a minimum 15-year jail term after his manslaughter conviction for the 2013 killing, for which he originally received a five-year sentence, was upgraded on appeal. Called to testify by the lead state prosecutor in Pistorius's sentencing hearing, a tearful and trembling Barry Steenkamp said forgiving the runner was very hard. "It just devastated us, I ended up having a stroke... I just don't wish that to anybody in this world," the 73-year-old said. "He has to pay for his crime." Steenkamp said he and wife June had relied financially on their daughter, and he had hurt himself to try to relive the pain that his daughter went through: "I jabbed myself with needles." He asked the court to allow pictures of his daughter to be shown to the world as a deterrent to would-be killers. Jonathan Scholtz, a psychologist called by Pistorius' lawyer, told the court on Monday -- the first day of the hearing -- that the athlete was "a broken man" on medication for depression, anxiety and insomnia who should be hospitalised and not jailed. But prosecutor Gerrie Nel said Pistorius has shown no remorse for shooting and killing Steenkamp when he fired four shots through a locked toilet door in his Pretoria home. Nel also said he had had temper tantrums while serving his sentence. 'TANTRUMS' The case has prompted a fierce debate in a country beset by high levels of violent crime against women. Some rights groups have said the white athlete has received preferential treatment. Charlotte Mashabane, an assistant health manager at the prison where Pistorius was held for a year, told the court on Tuesday he "threw tantrums" while in prison and she felt threatened by him. Mashabane said Pistorius became angry when she declined to change his approved medication for medication supplied by his family, and that he had thrown some medicine on her table. Mashabane also said there was no report of Pistorius being assaulted while in prison, as Scholtz had asserted. Pistorius lawyer Barry Roux disputed Mashabane's testimony, saying she was changing it to cast his client in a bad light. Earlier on Tuesday Ebba Gudny Gudmundsdottir, from Iceland, described the runner as an inspiration to her 11-year-old son, who has a similar disability to Pistorius. The lower part of the athlete's legs were amputated when he was a baby, and he is known as "Blade Runner" for the carbon-fibre prosthetics he wore when racing. Pistorius reached the pinnacle of his fame in London 2012 when he became the first double amputee to run in the Olympics, reaching the 400 metres semi-finals. Gudmundsdottir told the court Pistorius often visited her family in Iceland and her family travelled to Manchester to see Pistorius race. "It was an inspiration for him (her son) to see Oscar and the others run," she said. Marius Nel, a pastor, said Pistorius had worked at his church's charity, training school children in athletics. "Feedback from the schools was very positive," he said. At his original trial, Pistorius had argued he mistook Reeva Steenkamp for an intruder. His manslaughter conviction was upgraded to murder after an appeal heard by the Supreme Court, which ruled in March that Pistorius had exhausted all his legal options. The original trial judge, Thokozile Masipa, is also presiding at the sentencing hearing, at Pretoria High Court. (Writing by James Macharia; editing by John Stonestreet) By Lawrence Delevingne NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. hedge fund Platinum Partners is returning the majority of its assets to clients following the arrest of a longtime associate on allegations he orchestrated a $60,000 cash bribe to secure an investment from a New York city union. New York-based Platinum told investors on a conference call on Tuesday that recent negative media attention and requests for the return of capital had forced it to begin the liquidation of its more than $700 million Platinum Partners Value Arbitrage Fund, according to a person familiar with the situation who requested anonymity because the information is private. The firm is also considering shutting its Platinum Partners Credit Opportunities Fund, the person said. That strategy recently controlled more than $500 million, the balance of Platinums about $1.35 billion in overall assets as of April. The development comes after the arrest last week of Murray Huberfeld, who was accused of bribing Norman Seabrook, the president of the New York City prison officers' union. Huberfeld is a longtime associate of Platinum head Mark Nordlicht. He was an early backer of Platinum and remains an investor in the firm. The Centurion Credit Management hedge funds he ran were also taken over by Nordlicht and Platinum in 2011. According to a U.S. Department of Justice complaint against Huberfeld and Seabrook, an intermediary gave Seabrook a Salvatore Ferragamo bag filled with $60,000 in cash as the first of what was intended to be several kickbacks for ultimately steering $20 million of union money into Platinum's coffers. Nordlicht said on the conference call that the charges against Huberfeld were unfounded, the person said. Huberfeld, through an attorney, declined to comment on the charges against him and the Platinum news. An external spokesman for Platinum did not respond to requests for comment. News of the liquidation was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. Founded in 2003, Platinum has racked up profits that are the envy of the hedge fund industry. But its winning strategy of lending to troubled companies carries risks that many institutional investors would just as soon not take, according to a Reuters investigation earlier this year. Story continues The soon-to-shut Value Arbitrage fund gained nearly 8 percent in 2016 through April, according to a private HSBC Alternative Investment Group report seen by Reuters. The fund produced average annual returns of more than 17 percent since inception in 2003 with no negative years. The still-open credit fund has also never lost over a calendar year since inception in 2005. It has averaged annual returns of more than 13 percent, according to the private fund data seen by Reuters. Nordlicht told investors on the call Tuesday that a decision on whether to shut the credit fund would come in a matter of weeks, the source said. For Reuters Special Report on Platinum, click http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-hedgefunds-platinum/ (PARIS) A knife-wielding attacker stabbed a senior police officer to death Monday evening outside his home in a distant suburb of Paris, officials said. The attacker and a female companion of the police commander were later found dead after police commandos stormed the home and rescued the couples three-year-old son. French officials said anti-terrorism prosecutors were investigating the attack. The Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syrias (ISIS) Amaq news agency cited an unnamed source as saying an ISIS fighter carried out the attack, but the extremist jihadist group has not officially claimed responsibility. The off-duty police commander was attacked outside his home in Magnanville, about 35 miles (55 kilometers) west of Paris, interior minister spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet told reporters at the scene. The attacker then retreated indoors and elite police commandos laid siege to the residence, eventually storming it after a roughly three-hour standoff. Brandet said the woman, the commanders companion and a fellow police worker, was found dead, as was the attacker. The police couples son was unharmed. Although officials said the attacker was killed by police when they stormed the residence, it was unclear how the woman was killed. The toll is a heavy one, Brandet told reporters, his voice heavy with emotion. This commander, this police officer was killed by the individual (and) we discovered the body of a woman. The assailant, the criminal was killed. Thankfully, a little boy was saved. He was in the house. Hes safe and sound. He was saved by police officers. The Paris prosecutors office said early Tuesday that anti-terrorism investigators had been brought in to the case given the target, the method behind the attack, and what the attacker said to police during the ensuing standoff. The office did not elaborate, but French media, some of them citing unnamed neighbors, reported that the attacker was heard shouting Allahu Akbar Arabic for God is Great during the attack. Story continues French prosecutor Vincent Lesclous who said he knew the slain police commander told reporters that the boy was found shocked but unharmed. He said the assailants identity was unknown. If the crime was in fact organized or inspired by ISIS, it would fit in with a long-established pattern of jihadist violence. France, like other countries in Europe, has seen a series of stabbings aimed at police officers or soldiers and carried out by Muslim radicals. IS has encouraged its supporters to stage such attacks. Tensions have been particularly high since ISIS extremists claimed responsibility for the Nov. 13 Paris attacks that killed 130 people. In Paris, the Eiffel Tower was lit up Monday night in the colors of a rainbow to honor victims of Saturdays mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, that killed at least 49 people. The gunman declared his allegiance to IS in phone calls to police, but his motives remain unclear. French President Francois Hollande condemned what he described as an odious act, saying that he would hold a meeting at his Elysee Palace office on Tuesday. Light will be shed on the circumstances of this abominable drama whose investigation, under the authority of justice, will determine the exact nature, Hollande said in a statement. Texas police fatally shot a gunman who held people hostage in an Amarillo Walmart Tuesday, police announced. Officers responded to reports of gunfire around 11:30 a.m. and arrived at the Walmart on I-27 and Georgia where a gunman had taken at least one hostage in the building, police said. Less than two hours later, the gunman had been shot by SWAT officials and the hostages had been freed, according to a statement from the Amarillo Police Department. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter. Suspect has been shot by APD SWAT and is apparently dead. Hostages inside are safe https://t.co/gY8nVkbTml a Amarillo Police Dept (@AmarilloPD) June 14, 2016 Police noted in the statement that the suspect is "apparently dead" and no one else was injured. Authorities confirmed the death to ABC 7 News. In an earlier statement, police called the incident a "workplace violence type event." Just before the situation came to a close, a law enforcement official on the scene said the gunman was "barricaded" inside. Authorities are currently interviewing employees of the Walmart. WARSAW (Reuters) - Polish freight and cargo company OT Logistics (OTSL.WA) plans to debut on the London bourse (LSE.L) to tap foreign investors, its deputy chief executive was quoted as saying on Tuesday. Three years after its Warsaw (GPW.WA) listing the European transportation, shipping and logistics company wants shareholders to vote on the dual-listing plan on June 30. "Placing our shares on the LSE is to allow foreign investors easier access to our shares," Piotr Ambrozowicz told daily newspaper Parkiet. "We believe that with time our presence on the London bourse will allow us also to gain capital." OT Logistics, which made a net profit of 15.5 million zlotys ($3.96 million) on sales of 752.3 million in 2015, also wants investors to vote on a 1-to-8 share split and a new share issue in Warsaw. The company, which competes with state-run PKP Cargo (PKPP.WA) and Deutsche Bahn's [DBN.UL] DB Schenker around Europe, would be the second Polish company to double-list in London after staffing firm Work Service (WSEP.WA) (WSE.L). Polish companies are seeking more liquid markets and access to new investors as trading on the Warsaw bourse stagnates. (Reporting by Adrian Krajewski, editing by Louise Heavens) DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's powerful deputy crown prince flew to the United States on Monday for meetings with U.S. President Barack Obama and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Saudi media reported. The visit of Mohammed bin Salman, whose powers include his role as defense minister, comes amid a diplomatic row with the United Nations and policy differences with the United States over the war in Syria and relations with Iran. Prince Mohammed, spearheading an ambitious plan to revamp the economy of the world's top oil exporter, will also travel to California where he is expected to meet company executives in Silicon Valley, the Saudi-owned Asharq al-Awsat newspaper said. The royal court said in a statement late on Sunday that the prince would discuss ways of strengthening relations with the United States, which have cooled under Obama's presidency. Saudi Arabia, a leading supporter of Syrian rebels fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad, has been critical of what it sees as foot-dragging by Washington over efforts to end the conflict. It has also urged Obama to take a tougher stand on what Riyadh sees as Iranian meddling in the affairs of Arab states. Iran denies such interference. Asharq al-Awsat quoted Saudi sources as saying that Prince Mohammed, a son of King Salman, would start his visit in New York where he was expected to meet the U.N. chief on Monday. Ban said last week that Saudi Arabia had exerted "unacceptable" pressure on the world body after a U.N. report blacklisted a Saudi-led military coalition for killing children in Yemen, a charge denied by the kingdom. The United Nations removed the coalition from the list after Riyadh threatened to cut its funding of U.N. programs, diplomatic sources said. The prince would then meet Obama as well as Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Ash Carter in Washington, the newspaper said. State news agency SPA said that a number of senior officials, including Finance Minister Ibrahim Alassaf and Commerce and Investment Minister Majid al-Qusaibi were part of a delegation accompanying Prince Mohammed, but it did not specify who he would meet during the three-day visit. Under broad economic reforms announced last week, which aim to free Saudi Arabia of its dependence on oil exports, the kingdom is seeking a big increase in foreign investment and tie-ups with foreign companies in non-oil industries including the technology sector. (Writing by Sami Aboudi, editing by Dominic Evans) June 14 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories from selected Canadian newspapers. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. THE GLOBE AND MAIL ** Senators have rejected a proposal to further expand the Liberal government's doctor-assisted dying bill to include advance directives for patients with conditions such as dementia. (http://bit.ly/1Yo6qax) ** Thousands of people gathered in downtown Orlando to mourn the 49 men and women killed in a hail of gunfire on Sunday, vowing to counter hate and violence with love and solidarity. (http://bit.ly/25ZWO8J) ** The International Monetary Fund is warning policy makers they may have to take action that would cool Canada's hot housing markets and ease the consumer debt binge. (http://bit.ly/1XU6VuF) NATIONAL POST ** Justin Trudeau looked as pensive as Canadians have yet seen him, as he announced that a second hostage, Robert Hall, had been killed by his captors in the Philippines. The prime minister and many of his staff were working on only a few hours of sleep and, in the words of one senior staffer, were "emotionally devastated" by the outcome. (http://bit.ly/1WMvNUg) ** The new CEO of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc is taking the company into a literal turnaround. Once known for it's growth-by-serial-acquisition, the drugmaker will now be focused on paying down its $30 billion debt, which will mean selling assets instead of buying them. (http://bit.ly/1to7IGS) ** Andrew Charles, chief executive of Canada Guaranty, whose owners include the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, says a full roll out of the minimum down payment for government-backed insured mortgages to 10 per cent from five per cent will heavily impact first-time buyers while failing to alleviate some of the price stresses in the Vancouver and Toronto housing markets. (http://bit.ly/236CzUU) (Compiled by Aurindom Mukherjee) MISSOULA -- The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a request to take up the case of a Kalispell woman who killed her husband by pushing him off a cliff in Glacier National Park in 2013. Jordan Linn Grahams federal defender Michael Donahoe had filed an appeal to the high court in early May, asking it to review her conviction. In an order issued Monday, the Supreme Court denied the petition. On July 7, 2013, Graham pushed her husband, Cody Johnson, whom she had married eight days earlier, off a cliff near the Loop trail on the Going-to-the-Sun Road after the couple had a scuffle. Graham had then returned home to Kalispell. Days later, after telling law enforcement Johnson had driven away from their house with some friends, she led a search party to his body. A week after that, she confessed to murdering him. Just before the conclusion of her December 2013 trial in U.S. District Court in Missoula, Graham pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in a deal with prosecutors, who dismissed a first-degree murder charge, as well as another for making false statements to law enforcement. She was subsequently sentenced to 365 months, or more than 30 years, in prison, and is being held in federal prison in Aliceville, Alabama. During an appeal of her conviction, Donahoe said prosecutors claimed during her sentencing that the murder was premeditated, which he said shouldnt have been allowed after the first-degree murder charge was dismissed. Last November, a panel of judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit upheld Graham's sentence. In February, the 9th Circuit denied a petition to rehear the appeal. June 14 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories in the Financial Times. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. Headlines * TransCanada, Sempra to build Mexico gas pipeline (http://bit.ly/25YMygJ) * Berenberg looks to double U.S. headcount (http://bit.ly/25YNba7) * NXP to sell Standard Products for $2.8 bln (http://bit.ly/25YOgie) * Airbus to assemble helicopters in China (http://bit.ly/25YNWjs) Overview * TransCanada and IEnova consortium have won a tender to build an 800-km sub-sea pipe from southern Texas to the Gulf of Mexico. The pipeline is expected to commence operations by October 2018. * Privately owned bank Berenberg is looking to double its employees in the United States by the end of 2017. The bank opened an equity-trading desk in New York last year. * JIC Group and Wise Road Capital are buying Standard Products, a unit of NXP Semiconductors for about $2.8 billion. * Airbus said it would use China-based manufacturers to assemble its helicopters as a part of a deal to supply 100 helicopters for 700 million euros ($790.16 million). ($1 = 0.8859 euros) (Compiled by Sangameswaran S in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Cooney) June 14 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories in the Wall Street Journal. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. - Microsoft agreed to buy LinkedIn for $26.2 billion, marking the largest deal in the software giant's history, in a bet the professional social network will give a jolt to its widely used Office portfolio of productivity applications. (http://on.wsj.com/1Pqnaa8) - The U.S. Supreme court struck down Puerto Rico's effort to restructure its public utility debts, ruling Congress precluded the territory from enacting its own bankruptcy law. (http://on.wsj.com/1PqltcT) - Libya's sovereign-wealth fund, in a long-awaited trial that started Monday, alleged Goldman Sachs took advantage of its lack of financial sophistication to draw it into losing trades. (http://on.wsj.com/1PqlRZ1) (Compiled by Parikshit Mishra in Bengaluru) A protester suffered a leg injury when he was arrested by New York City police during a solidarity march on Sunday, June 12, for victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting, according to reports. Three others also were arrested at the march, which broke off from a vigil held in Greenwich Village. DNAInfo reported Dariel Ali was taken to an area hospital for evaluation before being released into police custody. The police ordered protesters onto the sidewalk at 8th Avenue and 42nd Street and then corralled them with horses, according to the report. This video shows Alis arrest at the intersection and the group of people there, including the videographer, reacting to Alis injury. Three of the four protesters were released on Monday, 24 hours after the incident, and Ali was held on bail in order to compel him to appear in court in the Bronx on an outstanding warrant, according to DNAInfo. Credit: YouTube/Moe Saleh IONE, CA / ACCESSWIRE / June14, 2016 / Purebase Corporation (PUBC), a company focused on delivering high quality organic mineral products for the agricultural sector, is pleased to announce the formation of Purebase Networks, an AgTech startup that will focus on combining Internet of Things ("IoT") agricultural sensors, wireless networking, and cloud technologies to deliver the industry's first vertically integrated agricultural supply chain. Purebase Networks will accomplish this by blending its own proprietary technology with products from leading agricultural and mining companies to revolutionize how farmers manage farming operations and improve crop yields. Purebase Networks will partner with Purebase Corporation to deliver proprietary, organic soil amendments for farmers that will maximize crop yields for a wide range of soil conditions and crops. Purebase Networks will also provide farmers with access to Purebase Networks' proprietary "Big Data" analytics to deliver more visibility into crop and soil performance. Included is a digital dashboard to provide farmers with advice on how to increase crop yields. Purebase is pleased to announce that Purebase Networks will be led by John Wharton, who will assume the position of President. John has spent his entire career in the tech sector and brings a wealth of experience leading IT and finance related projects on a global scale. Prior to joining Purebase Networks, John was with Cisco Systems, Barclay's Capital and EXO U, Inc. as Vice President, Corporate Business Development. He has considerable experience working with Fortune 50 clients as well as start-ups. Purebase Networks Adds Steve Ridder of Cisco Systems to Board of Directors Purebase Networks is pleased to announce that Steve Ridder, Practice Advisor, Business Transformation Group of Cisco Systems, has been appointed to the Board of Directors. Steve brings a wealth of technology and business experience to Purebase Networks, having developed mission-critical technology solutions to many of the largest companies in the world across Financial Services, Technology, Retail, and Manufacturing while at Cisco. Steve said the following: "I am excited to help Purebase Networks and its customers innovate collaboratively with leading technology companies like Cisco and others to build solutions that will enable farmers to better predict weather, utilize precious resources like water more effectively, and deliver optimal crop yields and profits for customers. I am a big believer that the Internet of Things, 'Big Data', sensors, drones, cloud software and other emerging AgTech technologies will impact crop yields and improve business outcomes for the farming community to achieve the best results. The Internet of Things Opportunity in Agriculture The Internet of Things (IoT), which connects cars, homes, wearables, and everyday objects to the cloud, is disrupting industries across the globe. According to networking giant Cisco Systems, the number of connected objects worldwide will grow to over 50 billion devices by 2020(1). These devices will include tractors, railcars, heavy equipment, and crop sensors for agriculture. Accenture estimates that the global market for precision agriculture and IoT is expected to reach more than $4.5 billion by 2020(2). General Electric ("GE") has stated that it is focused on building the "Industrial Internet" of the future, which refers to the connections of industrial machinery and equipment to the Internet. GE estimates that the Industrial Internet will add $10 to $15 trillion to global GDP over the next 20 years. GE has stated publicly to its shareholders that its goal is to become a Top 10 software company by 2020.(3) Purebase will look to partner with leading vendors across the agricultural supply chain to deliver solutions that improve business outcomes for its customers. Scott Dockter, Purebase's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said, "With the formation of Purebase Networks and our new relationship we believe together we will bring new products and technologies to the agricultural market that will add tremendous value for our customers. Leveraging the latest precision farming techniques and AgTech innovations, and combining those with our current Purebase Advantage product offerings, we believe this will be a natural fit for Purebase and highly complementary to our existing business." Sources: (1) Cisco Systems Visual Networking Index (February 2016) (2) Accenture Digital Agriculture: Improving Profitability (2015) (3) General Electric Annual Shareholder's Report (February 2016) About Purebase (PUBC) Purebase is a diversified, natural and industrial mineral resource company providing solutions to the agriculture industry, Purebase acquires, develops, and commercializes industrial and natural mineral deposits to service the agriculture industry, both domestically and internationally. Within the agriculture industry Purebase provides soil amendments that will be used within the agriculture industry. For additional information, please visit www.purebase.com. Safe Harbor This press release contains statements, which may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Those statements include statements regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of Purebase Corporation and members of its management team as well as the assumptions on which such statements are based. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, and that actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements. Important factors currently known to management that may cause actual results to differ from those anticipated are discussed throughout the Company's Form 10-K filed March 14, 2016 and 10-Q filed April 19, 2016, as well as other reports filed with Securities and Exchange Commission which are available at http://www.sec.gov/ as well as the Company's web site at http://www.purebase.com/. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events or changes to future operating results. SOURCE: Purebase Corporation (Adds comments from Brussels, detail) By Denis Dyomkin and Gabriela Baczynska MOSCOW/BRUSSELS, June 14 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker will talk about sanctions and energy projects when they meet in St Petersburg this week, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters. Junker's' trip to Russia - his first as the head of the European Union's executive - comes at a time when the bloc is starting to look to engage more with Moscow after two years of sanctions over the Kremlin's role in the conflict in Ukraine. "The subject of sanctions will be raised, without doubt ... Probably Juncker will say something on that subject. Although we ourselves are not raising the subject of lifting of sanctions since it was not us that introduced them ... When they are ready do that we will welcome that, without doubt and will respond by lifting (our counter-sanctions)," Ushakov said. "We expect there will be discussion about Nord Stream-2, the prospects for renewing our energy dialogue with the EU, that's natural," he told reporters. The 28-strong EU is next week expected to extend its energy, financial and defence sanctions on Russia until the end of the year. Diplomats say, however, a review of the EU policy on the conflict in Ukraine - including the sanctions - is looming in the second half of the year. Juncker will meet Putin on June 16 at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum. An official in Brussels said Juncker would highlight areas in which the bloc thinks Russia is "misbehaving", but that his trip was meant to show the EU could engage more with Moscow should the Kremlin change its game on issues from the conflict in Ukraine - where more than 9,000 people were killed - to what the West sees as the Kremlin's propaganda war against it. Juncker's visit would be the latest in an increasing number of high-level contacts between the West and Russia after a period of relative isolation over Ukraine. Story continues "It's all aimed at getting them into the mode of 'Let's do something together'," the EU official said. EU first imposed sanctions on Russia after the Kremlin annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in March 2014, and then stepped them up as pro-Russian rebels took up arms against Kiev troops in eastern part of the country. Moscow backs the rebels but denies driving the revolt, which is still simmering, arming the militias in east Ukraine or providing them with money. The West says multiple Russian operatives, weapons and advisers have been active in the conflict. A peace plan for east Ukraine, brokered by Germany and France, has all but stalled, with Kiev and Moscow trading blame for failing to deliver on their commitments. Under the plan, Kiev should organise local elections in the eastern Ukraine region of Donbass, Moscow should help Ukraine regain control over its border with Russia and all sides of the conflict should withdraw heavy arms from the area. (Additional reporting by Paul Taylor in Brussels, Writing by Christian Lowe and Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Alison Williams) A Dutch tourist, convicted by a Qatari court of having extramarital sex after she reported being drugged and raped in Doha, is to be deported to the Netherlands. The 22-year-old woman, who was on vacation in the Gulf state, has spent the past three months in custody after first notifying local police of the alleged attack in March, the Guardian reports. After a court found her guilty of adultery Monday, the woman was given a one-year suspended prison sentence and fined 3,000 riyal ($825). Her alleged attacker, a Syrian man, was convicted of extramarital sex and drinking alcohol and sentenced to 144 lashes. The woman told police that she had been drugged and assaulted following a night out at the Crystal Lounge in the W Doha Hotel, according to the Guardian. Her accused attacker admitted to having sex with her, but claimed it was consensual, and that she had gone to police following a row. This is the news I have been waiting for for days, the womans mother told Dutch national broadcaster NOS. I havent slept for nights, but Im very happy. The Dutch ambassador to Qatar, Yvette Burghgraef-van Eechoud, said they would do everything to get her out of the country as soon as possible. [Guardian] Like many travelers making vacation plans for the summer, Rohan Gilkes, a black, 40-year-old tech entrepreneur from Tampa, Florida, in May turned to Airbnb to find a place to stay. Yet Gilkes was confused when his request for an Airbnb rental in Idaho for five days in July was denied multiple times by the same host, who eventually stopped responding altogether. Gilkes confusion turned to shock when his white friend was immediately approved for the same request. Gilkes soon found that his experience isnt unusual for people from diverse backgrounds. If you want to book an Airbnb and you are black, you are gay, you are trans, you have a name that is Muslim-soundingif you fit into these groups and other ones, you have to hide who you are in some way to feel like you have a good chance of booking that place, Gilkes told TakePart. RELATED: Airbnb Releases Host Data, but Activists Say It Doesnt Add Up Now Gilkes has become one of a handful of savvy technologists and entrepreneurs who are starting alternatives to Airbnb geared toward providing a safe space for diverse travelers. Gilkes teamed up with Zakiyyah Myers, a black, 40-year-old business strategist, to form Noirebnb, a travel-lodging service modeled after Airbnb. Noirebnb, said Gilkes, is open to everyone and aims to decrease discrimination against guests who are more likely to be refused service because of their racial, ethnic, or sexual identities. Gilkes experience isnt an isolated one. In a study released in December, researchers from Harvard University found that hosts denied requests from potential guests with black-sounding names 16 percent more frequently than they rejected their counterparts with distinctly white names. Things dont always run smoothly for diverse travelers, even when their Airbnb requests are accepted. Thats why Stefan Grant, a 27-year-old musician and producer from Washington, D.C, and Ronnia Cherry, a 30-year-old producer and designer, formed Noirbnb last October. Neighbors called the police on Grant and Cherry while they were staying in an Airbnb rental home earlier that month during their performance at the A3C music festival in Atlanta. Story continues Grant told TakePart he thinks the neighbors assumed they were breaking into the house. However, when the police arrived, Grant and Cherry clarified the situation, and they took photos with the officers. The photos were shared widely across the internet, and Airbnb representatives reached out to them immediately. Originally they offered us some vouchers for future bookings, but we kind of knew that wouldnt really solve the issue, so thats when we conceptualized Noirbnb, Grant said. He and Cherry were inspired to take action when they realized other people had been facing similar situations but couldnt find ways to fix them. Airbnb did not return TakeParts request for comment. "We can't control all the biases of all of our users but we want to make clear that discrimination is against everything we stand for," Airbnb said in a statement to The Washington Post in early June. Gilkes told TakePart that when he reported the incident about the rental in Idaho, Airbnb representatives told him hed be contacted by an appropriate department. After two weeks of silence, he turned to social media and found others sharing similar experiences using the hashtag #AirbnbWhileBlack. He subsequently posted his story on Medium and received widespread support. Gilkes said Airbnb reached out to him the next day. It was a very nice conversation the second time, Gilkes said. They were apologetic, they offered me a free stay, and they asked for my input on what they could do better. I just felt that it was a little bit too little, too late, and I decided to do what Im doing now. For Noirebnb, Gilkes and Myers are cultivating hosts who want to offer their residences to people with diverse backgrounds. So far, about 25,000 participantstravelers and hostshave registered with Noirebnb, said Gilkes. He and Myers plan to launch the company later this summer in a few cities on the East Coast and will expand as more hosts sign up in different cities around the world. He said people who want to be hosts are contacting him daily to offer their homes to travelers from diverse backgrounds. RELATED: Why Black Women Are the Real Unicorns of the Start-up World Youll see that there is a movement of frustrated people, and many of them are telling the same story, Gilkes said. He believes its become harder for large companies to sweep discrimination under the rug because social media allows victims to share their stories publicly. Its very difficult to police intention and things like that, so I understand its a difficult problem, Gilkes said. I do feel though that the part of this that is 100 percent within Airbnbs control is how they react to incidents that are reported to them. Gilkes said he initially hoped to partner with Airbnb to solve the recurring cases of alleged discrimination but wanted to see changes to the service sooner than the company could make them happen. Thats when he decided to develop his own platform. Instead of begging for change, waiting for change, and just being passive, at some point, you have to take action and make the change that you want to see happen, Gilkes said. RELATED: Worried About Race Relations? Youre Answering the Wrong Question Grant said that in late 2015, Airbnb flew him and Cherry out to its headquarters in San Francisco to discuss how to prevent similar incidents in the company, but their ideas werent implemented to the degree they hoped. By that time, it was a couple of weeks later, and I guess things had kind of died down in the media a bit, and I guess they were thinking it would just kind of go away on its own. But we told them our main thing was making sure that what happened to us didnt happen to anybody else, Grant said. We kind of foresaw future issues happening with discrimination, and we told them that our situation wasnt really an isolated case. Im not sure if they didnt believe us or just didnt want to take it seriously. Grant and Cherry said they have not decided on a launch date for Noirbnb yet. The founders of both companies told TakePart that theyre interested in merging their businesses, but if they dont end up collaborating, one company will have to change its name to avoid confusion, they said. Youve got to solve problems head-on and solve them directly, Grant said. Thats kind of why we just decided to do it on our own. Take the Pledge: Dont Be Silent: Take the Pledge to Be an Ally for Racial Justice Related stories on TakePart: Good Luck Getting a Therapist If You're Black or Working Class College Students Are Making It Tougher to Ignore Racism on Campus Stephen Colbert and Killer Mike Get Real About Race in America Original article from TakePart U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump waves as he walks offstage after delivering a campaign speech about national security in Manchester, New Hampshire, U.S. June 13, 2016 in response to the mass shooting at Orlando's Pulse nightclub. REUTERS/Brian Snyder A top Google employee posted a lengthy response online late last week after Donald Trump chastised the internet giant over a viral video that accused the company of manipulating its autocomplete search results to favor Hillary Clinton. "The autocomplete algorithm is designed to avoid completing a search for a persons name with terms that are offensive or disparaging," Tamar Yehoshua, Google's vice president of product management for search, wrote. "We made this change a while ago following feedback that Autocomplete too often predicted offensive, hurtful or inappropriate queries about people. "This filter operates according to the same rules no matter who the person is," she continued. "Autocomplete isnt an exact science, and the output of the prediction algorithms changes frequently. Predictions are produced based on a number of factors including the popularity and freshness of search terms." Yehoshua added that Autocomplete predictions "aren't search results and don't limit what you can search for." "Its a shortcut for those who are interested. You can still perform whatever search you want to, and of course, regardless of what you search for," she wrote. Trump took aim at Google last week after being made aware of a viral video that showed multiple autocomplete search results for "Hillary Clinton" it claimed proved that Google "has been actively altering search recommendations in favor of Hillary Clinton's campaign." The video had been viewed more than 14 million times on Facebook within 24 hours of it being posted on Thursday. "If this is true, it is a disgrace that Google would do that," Trump wrote in a statement sent to Business Insider by his campaign. "Very, very dishonest." He added: "They should let it float and allow people [to] see how crooked she really is." Business Insider replicated the viral video's experiment and found similar results. But, such results were also found for other politicians. Business Insider also found that autocomplete searches using "hillary" instead of "hillary clinton" showed results that included "indictment" and "criminal," searches that the latter did not when "indi" or "crim" were typed into the search bar. Story continues "Google Autocomplete does not favor any candidate or cause," a Google spokesperson wrote in a statement. "Claims to the contrary simply misunderstand how Autocomplete works." "Our Autocomplete algorithm will not show a predicted query that is offensive or disparaging when displayed in conjunction with a person's name," the statement continued. "More generally, our autocomplete predictions are produced based on a number of factors including the popularity of search terms." A representative for the Clinton campaign did not respond to a request for comment. NOW WATCH: MICHAEL MOORE: 'I think theres an excellent chance' Trump will be president More From Business Insider On Jun 14, Zacks Investment Research updated the research report on industrial goods manufacturer Regal Beloit Corporation RBC. Headquartered in Beloit, WI, Regal Beloit is a leading manufacturer of electrical and mechanical motion control products. The company offers a wide array of stock model and customized electric motors, blowers, electric generators, transfer switches, switchgear, valves, gearboxes, power generation components and controls. Regal Beloit has manufacturing, sales and service facilities throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Europe and Asia and markets its products to a diversified customer base across the globe including OEMs, distributors and end users. Macroeconomic Headwinds Regal Beloit reported lackluster first-quarter 2016 results with a significant year-over-year decline in net sales and adjusted earnings owing to macroeconomic woes. Adjusted earnings for first-quarter 2016 were 95 cents per share compared with $1.21 in the year-ago quarter and well behind the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.09. Net sales fell to $818.2 million from $911.7 million in the year-earlier quarter owing to adverse foreign currency translation, soft oil & gas markets and a depressed Chinese economy. Quarterly revenues also missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $855 million. REGAL BELOIT Price and Consensus REGAL BELOIT Price and Consensus | REGAL BELOIT Quote Note that the electric motor manufacturing is a highly competitive and fragmented industry. With intensifying competition, Regal Beloit is witnessing a decline in its product prices, which is denting its overall margin. Moreover, the company has to continually invest heavily in R&D to introduce newer value-added products that cushion it against competition. All these limit the companys profitability to some extent. Regal Beloit also faces increased concentration risks as a significant amount of its revenue is obtained from a handful of customers. Loss of any of these customers could adversely impact the companys top line. Nevertheless, Regal Beloit continues to focus on prudent investment decisions for disciplined capital allocation, strong and flexible balance sheet position and cash flow enhancement to support dividend growth. We believe that such moves along with its robust operating platform and an efficient management team will help in the execution of its strategic priorities and drive net asset value and dividend growth in the future. Stocks to Consider Regal Beloit currently carries a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell). Stocks that look promising in the industry include Eaton Corporation plc ETN, EnerSys ENS and ESCO Technologies Inc. ESE, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days.Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report ESCO TECH INC (ESE): Free Stock Analysis Report EATON CORP PLC (ETN): Free Stock Analysis Report REGAL BELOIT (RBC): Free Stock Analysis Report ENERSYS INC (ENS): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Hollywood action director, Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger) has launched a production company in Beijing, China where he has decided to now base himself permanently. The company, which carries the same name as his Midnight Sun Pictures label in Los Angeles, has the aim to nurture new Chinese talent. Its remit covers development and production, with output being Chinese titles or Chinese-foreign co-productions. The company has several stories in development and a couple of scripts at advanced stages. Development staff are now in the process of being hired. Chinese-centric horror stories and thrillers for local directors will be prioritized. Financial backing for the company comes from Jiabo Culture Group, a Beijing-based creative consortium. Distribution of the finished productions will be decided on a case by case. The launch of Midnight Sun in China is separate to Harlins recent agreement to make Legend of the Ancient Sword, a Chinese fantasy film backed by Chinas Alibaba Pictures Group, as his next directing assignment. Harlin recently completed Jackie Chan-starring Skiptrace, which releases next month in China, and says he fell in love with the place. He has been living in Beijing for the past two years. As an American who originally comes from Finland, I dont expect the rest of the world to be like the U.S., so I found China very easy to fit in, Harlin told Variety. For film makers, nothing is impossible in China. Everything can be improvised. I think I can bring certain Hollywood ingredients, such as the three act structure or making Chinese fantasy films more acceptable to international audiences. A number of other Western film makers including the Russo brothers and Rob Minkoff are active in China, but Harlin points out his uniqueness. Im the only director from Hollywood who calls China home, he said. Ive now got a dog in Beijing. Related stories China Video Platform iQIYI Reaches 20 Million Subscribers Story continues Renny Harlin to Shoot 'Legend of the Ancient Sword' for Alibaba China Box Office: 'Warcraft' Dominates Unusual Holiday Weekend Donald Trump Russian hackers breached the Democratic National Committee's computer network and stole the entire file of opposition research on presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, according to a Tuesday report in The Washington Post. According to The Post, some Russian hackers had access to the DNC for over a year, and had access to chats and emails between staffers. CEO Amy Dacey said that IT noticed strange network activity in April, and expelled hackers over the weekend. Crowdstrike, an IT security organization which identified hack, noted on its blog on Tuesday that there were two separate breaches by Russian hackers which have been responsible for a series of past high-profile hacks. Crowdstrike noted that the hackers didn't appear to be working together, or even aware that the other had also breached the DNC. The Post reported that the hackers avoidance of donor information indicates that the breach was likely the work of "traditional espionage." Political organizations like the DNC and its counterpart the Republican National Committee often spend months building out opposition research files for opposing candidates, which are typically culled from past public statements and actions. This isn't the first time the DNC has been hacked this election cycle. In December, several staffers working on Sen. Bernie Sanders' campaign accessed presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's voter file information, which was built onto existing DNC voter file data. Though people close to the DNC expressed dismay at the second major high-profile breach this election cycle, others attempted to put a more humorous spin on the hack. "This just proves what we already knew: that DNC Research Director Lauren Dillon and her team's opposition research is the envy of the world," former DNC spokesperson Holly Shulman told Business Insider. Both the DNC and the Trump campaign did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment. Story continues NOW WATCH: MICHAEL MOORE: 'I think theres an excellent chance' Trump will be president More From Business Insider All 276 dogs have been adopted after a disturbing case of animal hoarding, where canines were stuffed on bookshelves and in the walls of a New Jersey home. Four newborn puppies will also be available for adoption in the next 8 to 10 weeks. Read: Melancholy Rescue Dog Learns to Trust After Spending Weeks Staring at Wall, Unresponsive Following a massive rescue operation earlier this month, the dogs were brought to the St. Huberts Animal Welfare Center where they received several vaccinations, spaying or neutering services, as well as treatment for skin infections. The troubling case began June 6 when animal control was called about a dog that had gotten loose from a home. Additionally, the Monmouth County SPCA received a call from a home in Howell, where they suspected 60 to 80 dogs were cramped inside the living space. The St. Huberts Animal Welfare Center, along with other partner shelters, assisted with the rescue and found more than 200 dogs living within walls and bookshelves. Ross Licitra, chief of law enforcement for the SPCA, described the situation as one of the worst cases of dog hoarding hes ever seen. Read: Baby Born With Zika-Related Birth Defects in New Jersey Hospital The dogs were suffering from skin burns and most of them were still covered in urine. Heather Cammisa, president and CEO of St. Huberts Animal Welfare Center, told InsideEdition.com. The animal cruelty allegations were discussed in a meeting at the prosecutors office on Monday. The case is currently still under investigation. Although most of the dogs have been adopted, St. Huberts is still in need of donations and families for the newborns. Any little bit counts, said Cammisa. But we are truly grateful for all the tremendous help we have received. Story continues Watch: Dog Thrives Even After Having Three Legs Crushed By Train Related Articles: Hank (Ed O'Neill) and Dory (Ellen DeGeneres) in Finding Dory. (The Walt Disney Company) Marcus Goh is a Singapore television scriptwriter. Hes also a Transformers enthusiast and avid pop culture scholar. He Tweets/Instagrams at Optimarcus and writes at marcusgohmarcusgoh.com. The views expressed are his own. Secret ending? Yes! Running time: 103 minutes (~1.75 hours) Finding Dory is a 3D-animated comedy thats the sequel to 2003s Finding Nemo. It focuses on Dorys search for her parents. It features the voice talents of Ellen DeGeneres (Dory), Albert Brooks (Marlin), Hayden Rolence (Nemo), Ed O'Neill (Hank), Destiny (Kaitlin Olson), Ty Burrell (Bailey), Diane Keaton (Jenny), Eugene Levy (Charlie), Idris Elba (Fluke), Dominic West (Rudder), with amusing cameos by Sigourney Weaver. Finding Dory may seem like its all just laughs and action, but dont be fooled therell be segments that make you cry (unless youre a stone-hearted fiend like my viewing partner). It takes the brightest and most colourful aspects of Finding Nemo and strengthens the family element of the story, giving you a film that not only entertains, but reminds you about whats important in life to fishes and humans alike. Destiny (Kaitlin Olson) and Bailey (Ty Burrell) in Finding Dory. (The Walt Disney Company) Highlights Fun new characters Lots of interesting characters join the crew that will teach you more about marine life, like Hank (Ed O'Neill) the seven-armed octopus and Bailey (Ty Burrell) the beluga. Theyre a colourful bunch who span the gamut in sizes and species, and their wildly varying personalities all help to aid (or hinder, at times) Dorys quest. In fact, its amazing how theres no one true antagonist in the film every character is loveable, and every character is Dorys friend. Touching In a way, this is the movie where Dory grows up and finally achieves what shes been looking for. Whether she succeeds or not is another matter, but her enthusiasm and single-minded devotion to finding her parents is something that imperceptibly grows on you. And when you find out just how much finding her mother and father means to Dory, itll break your heart in ways you never thought possible. Story continues Young Dory is cute Adolescent Dory is so incredibly adorable! You meet her in her flashback scenes with her parents, and shes even cuter than Nemo. Shes an innocent little girl Pacific regal blue tang who is very altruistic, and its amazing how much of that optimistic world view has continued on into her adult life. True to its name, Finding Dory has you finding the eponymous character in all sorts of unexpected ways. Interesting setting The bulk of the film takes place at a marine-themed amusement park, which includes many innovative set pieces for Marlin and Dorys adventures. Its also a logical and organic way to introduce so many different species of characters in the same area. But most importantly, it showcases the filmmakers creativity in having the story unfold over land and sea. Fluke (Idris Elba) and Rudder (Dominic West) in Finding Dory. (The Walt Disney Company) Letdowns Contrived means of moving outside water Unfortunately, with so much action happening above water, there needs to be ways for Dory, Marlin, and Nemo to get around. Its fine at the beginning, but when you see them plop into yet another transparent container that enables them to get around and view their surroundings, you begin to wonder why they even need to be in the ocean anyway. Its just too much of a coincidence that all these water-filled containers are lying around. Hank drops Dory off in Finding Dory. (The Walt Disney Company) Finding Dory is an excellent sequel to Finding Nemo, and expands on the best parts from the original. Should you watch this at weekend movie ticket prices? Yes. Should you watch this more than once? Nah. Score: 4.0/5 Finding Dory opens in cinemas 16 June, 2016 (Thursday). finding dory disney pixar final Warning: mild spoilers for "Finding Dory" below. It's been 13 years since Pixar introduced us to Marlin, his son Nemo, and their absent-minded friend Dory in "Finding Nemo," an animated hit that felt like it took over the world when it came out. And finally director Andrew Stanton (also of "Wall-E") has given us a sequel. "Finding Dory" takes us back to the bottom of the ocean a year after Marlin (Albert Brooks) went on his adventure to find Nemo and gained a friend in Dory (Ellen DeGeneres). But this time the focus shifts to Dory, who even though she suffers from memory loss has flashes of the past, which have made her realize she has parents and lost them years ago. Pixar, like the Disney of the old days, is never shy to pull the heartstrings, and this movie is no different. Flashbacks of an adorably wide-eyed baby Dory with her parents (Eugene Levy and Diane Keaton) struggling to hold onto her memories, and eventually alone in the open water with no clue of her parents' whereabouts, are heartbreaking. But these memories serve a purpose: motivating Dory to seek out her parents. With the area where she once lived fresh in her mind, she, along with Marlin and Nemo, sets out to find her family. The movie is slow out of the starting gate, but finally takes off after the trio arrives at the Marine Life Institute in California and begins to interact with the sea life there. The appearance of ill-tempered octopus Hank (Ed O'Neill) is a triumph of not just CGI animation, but a well-written character who is the polar opposite of the babbling Dory. finding dory As Dory is split from Marlin and Nemo, we move back and forth from Dory's search for her parents and the clownfish searching for Dory. Funny predicaments occur to both until finally they meet back toward the end, just in time for a satisfying finale. "Finding Dory" certainly doesn't break any new ground in terms of story or subjects tackled. And it certainly doesn't have the magic of "Finding Nemo," which hit a home run with every plot point and character. Story continues There's still a lot to enjoy about "Finding Dory" the near-sighted whale shark Destiny (Kaitlin Olson) and beluga whale Bailey (Ty Burrell) are hysterically fun, and the recurring joke of a celebrity as the voice of the institute never gets old but the overcoming of all odds and fears that made us love "Nemo" doesn't have the same punch in "Dory." Still, it's great to see the gang back together. "Finding Dory" opens on Friday in theaters. NOW WATCH: 'Hamilton' creator Lin-Manuel Miranda paid tribute to the Orlando shooting victims with a stirring speech More From Business Insider London (AFP) - Politicians on rival sides of Britain's referendum on membership of the European Union clashed in a debate broadcast online Tuesday, as expectations of an increasingly likely Brexit roiled global markets. Stock markets extended a global sell-off after polls indicated increasing support for an exit from the 28-member bloc on June 23, while the top-selling Sun tabloid added to a sense of momentum by endorsing "Leave". In a debate live-streamed on YouTube, politicians campaigning for a so-called Brexit dismissed fears of damage to Britain's economy by arguing EU regulations were holding it back. "The whole European project is a machine for generating excessive bureaucracy and red tape," said Boris Johnson, a Conservative former London mayor and leading pro-Brexit campaigner. "It is an economic disaster area." Alex Salmond, the former Scottish National Party leader who is campaigning to remain, countered that the EU brought social and worker protections and allowed Britain access a trade market of 500 million people. The bloc had brought "peace and stability" to Europe, he said. The endorsement by The Sun, owned by Rupert Murdoch, thrilled UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage who brandished a copy of the newspaper while out campaigning. In a front page editorial, the paper urged its 4.5 million readers to "BeLEAVE in Britain", saying: "We must set ourselves free from dictatorial Brussels." It warned that staying in the EU would leave Britain "powerless" to stop the hundreds of thousands of European migrants who come to the country every year, putting "catastrophic pressure" on public services. Investors have responded to the pro-Brexit momentum by selling stocks and putting their money in safe investments, with Europe's main markets down sharply and the euro hitting a 3.5-year low. For the first time, demand for German government bonds viewed as rock-solid investments pushed their yields into negative territory. Story continues - Blunt tactics - The online debate was marked by a tense exchange over immigration, which has been a driving factor behind support for leaving the EU and a hot political issue in Britain for years. Salmond said he was "fed up" with immigrants being portrayed negatively in the campaign, while Johnson insisted that immigration depressed wages. But there were signs that the pro-EU side felt voter concerns had to be addressed as the deputy leader of the pro-remain Labour party, Tom Watson, said the EU's free movement rules might need to be reviewed. "Woe betide politicians that don't listen to what voters tell them," he told the BBC. "I think we have to reassure people that if they vote Remain on Thursday June 23, that isn't the end of the reform package for Europe. You know, I think a future Europe will have to look at things like the free movement of labour rules." Allowing workers to move freely between the EU's member states is a fundamental principle of the bloc. Polls in recent weeks have shown an uptick in support for the pro-Brexit campaign. A YouGov poll for The Times gave the "Leave" camp 46 percent, compared to 39 percent for "Remain" -- the fourth survey since Friday to put them ahead. Only one has put the Brexit camp behind. A compilation of the six latest polls by the WhatUKThinks research project, which excludes undecided voters, puts "Leave" ahead by 51 percent to 49 percent. Matt Singh, a polling expert who runs the Number Cruncher Politics website, told AFP: "In terms of the direction of travel, there's clear evidence of a move towards 'Leave'." But he cautioned that there were still questions about the extent of the move. On Monday, Singh put the probability of a Brexit at 33 percent, its highest-ever level. As the referendum nears, campaigners are pushing for a high turnout -- using increasingly blunt tactics. The "Remain" camp published a letter from 60 health experts warning that Brexit would imperil the state-run National Health Service. Meanwhile Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn announced that workers' rights such as holidays and maternity leave would be at risk in an intervention flanked by party members and trade union leaders. Hollywood actress Keira Knightley, who has previously expressed support for "Remain", made a short film in which she said it took only five seconds for her to practise the "perfect awards face". "And it takes five seconds to mark an X in a ballot box. Five seconds to stop others fucking with your future," said the Briton. Robert De Niro is in negotiations to star the Dimension Films pic The War With Grandpa, sources confirmed to Variety. Tim Hill will direct the film which revolves around a young man who loves his grandfather, but also loves his bedroom. When his grandpas wife dies, he moves in. The young man engages in a series of pranks meant to drive him out, but the old man is pretty resourceful in returning the favor. Phillip Glasser, Marvin Peart and Rose Morris Peart are producing with Jane Rosenthal and Barry Welsh exec producing. Lisa Addario and Joey Syracuse wrote the first draft and Matt Ember and Tom Astle are currently doing a polish on the script. If a deal closes, De Niro would shoot this prior to his mob movie The Irishman, which reteams him with his Goodfellas team of Joe Pesci and Martin Scorsese. De Niro was most recently seen in Hands of Stone, which premiered at Cannes, and also has the Taylor Hackford dramedy The Comedian debuting soon. He is repped by CAA. Hills past credits include the Illumination film Hop and Alvin and the Chipmunks. He is repped by Verve and Principato-Young. The news was first reported by Deadline Hollywood. Related stories NYC Touts Growth of Biz Employment, Push for Diversity with Film Commission's 50th Anniversary Celebration Cannes Film Review: 'Hands of Stone' Robert De Niro, Mariah Carey, Laverne Cox Advocate for LGBT Rights at GLAAD Awards In Woody Guthrie's iconic folk song, "This Land," he sang, "This land was made for you and me." On Flag Day, the question now comes: Does the song belong to you and me? On Tuesday, two members of the New York-based band Satorii filed a putative class action lawsuit in New York federal court seeking a judge's nod that the composition is in the public domain and permanently enjoining defendants The Richmond Organization and Ludlow Music from asserting ownership. The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys at Wolf Haldenstein, the same firm that has been litigating public domain battles over "Happy Birthday" and "We Shall Overcome." According to the complaint, when Guthrie wrote the song in the 1940s, he took the melody of a Baptist gospel hymn called the "Fire Song" and wrote lyrics that were then published in a songbook not registered with the Copyright Office. Nevertheless, the 1945 book contained a copyright notice. The lawsuit asserts that if the 28-year copyright term began then, it was never renewed. The lawsuit also states that the lyrics themselves were published without a copyright notice, which under the law at the time, may mean the copyright was divested. Ludlow applied for a registrations in 1956 and 1958, identified Guthrie as the author, but according to the complaint "failed to disclose the fact that the Song had been previously published." The plaintiffs may thus have a few different routes towards establishing that "This Land" doesn't enjoy copyright status, but before the litigation even gets to this level, the fight could be sidetracked by another element. Every attempt to free a work of authorship from copyright control is a bit different. Whereas the "Happy Birthday" dispute turned on whether the publisher really acquired rights to the lyrics and the "We Shall Overcome" lawsuit is primed to explore whether the version registered with the Copyright Office represents a "distinguishable variation" from possibly public domain versions (more on that in a future post), this newest case might have a thing or two to say about other quirks of copyright law - cover songs and derivatives. Story continues Satorii has created a cover version of "This Land" that is available on iTunes, but also has created a different version that uses Guthrie's lyrics but with a different melody. The compulsory license rules allow musicians to record new versions of copyrighted compositions without "chang[ing] the basic melody or fundamental character of the work," meaning that Satorii's latter version could potentially bring a lawsuit from the copyright owner of "This Land" if it was distributed. That is, if it is deemed to be an impermissible derivative instead of a cover song. Then again, courts are only supposed to wade into matters that are "justiciable," meaning where there's a ripe controversy at hand. In the "Happy Birthday" and "We Shall Overcome" cases, the plaintiffs were denied licenses to feature the songs in films, but in this lawsuit, the controversy is more theoretical. Satorii say they "cannot risk releasing" their version of "This Land" that arguably requires permission and also assert they "cannot produce and release a music video of the Song without purchasing a synchronization license," but on the other hand, they fail to allege that they were denied a license nor cite any explicit threat from Ludlow. The closest they come to suggesting Ludlow's potential to interfere is a 12-year-old dispute upon JibJab's creation of a parody of the 2004 election between John Kerry and George W. Bush set to "This Land" music. There, the publisher asserted rights and the case was brought to court before settling. As such, there may be a real question whether a judge takes jurisdiction to determine whether "This Land" is in the public domain or whether the judge dodges a conclusion similar to the way that a Pennsylvania judge earlier this year refused to tackle a public domain fight over the Buck Rogers character. (Satorii paid $45.50 for a mechanical license for the rights to produce and distribute the cover version. The plaintiffs also are arguing the payment was an "involuntary result of Defendants' assertion of a copyright.") These issues could be addressed soon enough. In the meantime, here's the complaint seeking to free "This Land" as well as collect a return of licensing fees and award restitution. Liverpool (AFP) - Dutchman Ronald Koeman became the new manager of English Premier League club Everton on Tuesday after his previous club Southampton reluctantly agreed to release him a year early from his contract. The 53-year-old -- who guided Southampton to their highest finish in the Premier League of sixth last term and a place in the Europa League -- signed a three-year contract with Everton and replaces Roberto Martinez, who was sacked just before the end of the Premier League campaign. Koeman -- who had said earlier this year he would see out the last season of his three-year contract with the Saints -- has been lured to Everton by the promise by the club's major shareholder, Iranian billionaire Farhad Moshiri, of more than A100 million (125 million euros, $141 million) for new signings. Koeman, who has previously coached the big Dutch league trio of PSV, Feyenoord and Ajax, said it was a proud moment for him to take over the reins despite their disappointing Premier League campaign which saw them finish 11th. "I am very excited to be Everton manager," said Koeman, who was part of the outstanding Dutch side that won the Euro 1988 title. "I believe in the club, in the team, in the fans and in our ability to achieve things in the future. "Everton is a club with a great history and real ambition and it is a proud feeling for me to be part of what we want to go and do, together with the chairman (Bill Kenwright) and Farhad Moshiri. "I am looking forward to meeting everyone at the club and to preparing for a big season in the Premier League." Theatre impressario Kenwright said it was a huge moment for the club, having managed to wrest their top target away from their Premier League rivals. "We are really pleased to have secured the man who was our No.1 target from the moment we set out to appoint a new manager," said Kenwright. "Ronald has such a strong track record in the game, instantly commanding respect for what he achieved as a player and for his qualities and accomplishments as a manager. Story continues "The hopes and aspirations that we all have as Evertonians are with him, as is our total support at board, shareholder and fan level." Koeman, who it is reported will be paid A7 million a year, had appeared keen to remain in charge of Saints when he addressed the media prior to their final game of the season. "Everybody knows I have one year left on my contract and we will sit together and analyse this season and we will talk about the future and that is what the news is today," he said on May 13. "What is good is that the club are happy with the work, together with the technical staff and the players, that we have done," said Koeman. "There is a very good understanding between the manager and the players and that is good because it is important to continue." His dramatic conversion to leaving Southampton drew a withering response from former Saints goalkeeper Artur Boruc, now at south coast rivals Bournemouth. Boruc, who is presently on Euro 2016 duty with Poland, tweeted a Koeman quote from March which criticised a "lack of loyalty" in football. Boruc added: "No words for this one." The bookies favourite to replace Koeman, who will also take his brother and former Dutch international Erwin with him to Everton, is Bournemouth handler Eddie Howe. However, Koeman's former Dutch team-mate Ronald de Boer is also in the frame having left the Ajax post at the end of the season just finished when they missed out on the title. Kiev (AFP) - Russia and Ukraine swapped prisoners for the second time in less than a month Tuesday as relations between the sworn foes showed rare signs of calming in the midst of war. The exchange involved two men that Kiev views as political prisoners and a pair of pro-Russian Ukrainians who were jailed for allegedly promoting the former Soviet republic's eastern separatists' cause. Their release came 19 days after Ukraine's celebrated combat pilot Nadiya Savchenko was traded for two alleged Russian soldiers convicted of fighting alongside pro-Moscow insurgents during the 26-month war in Ukraine's devastated rustbelt. The Kremlin did not explain Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision to pardon Yuriy Soloshenko and Gennady Afanasyev. Both were sent to hospital on their arrival in Kiev for treatment for chronic ailments that required immediate care. The Kremlin also said separately that Kiev in turn had released two Ukrainian reporters -- Yelena Glishchinskaya and Vitaly Didenko -- who were convicted of promoting the pro-Moscow rebels' cause and state media reported they had flown to Russia. RIA Novosti news agency said Glishchinskaya touched down in Moscow with her child. The Kremlin press office told Russian news agencies that their release was "made possible thanks to the active involvement of Viktor Medvedchuk" -- a Ukrainian who has developed a personal friendship with Putin and helps lead periodic prisoner exchange talks. - 'We did it!' - The release of Soloshenko and Afanasyev was greeted with joy in Kiev and the pair were met by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. "My dear boys -- welcome home," Poroshenko told the two men after their arrival in hospital. "We did it!" he added with a broad grin. The Ukrainians' cause was far less globally known than Savchenko's -- a symbol of resistance to Russia who was recently ranked as the country's most trusted politicians by one Kiev research centre poll. Story continues But their fate remained a sensitive subject for the pro-Western leadership whose rise was followed by Russia's March 2014 annexation of Crimea and the outbreak of the eastern revolt. Afanasyev was rounded up in Crimea by Russia's security service in May 2014 along with filmmaker Oleg Sentsov and two others and slapped with terrorism charges. The 25-year-old photographer was jailed for seven years in December 2014. That sentence was reduced after he agreed to cooperate with investigators and pleaded guilty to all charges. He later recanted his confession and claimed it was forced out of him under torture. Details about 73-year-old Yuriy Soloshenko are less clear. Media reports from both Moscow and Kiev suggest the former arms factory director was arrested in August 2014 for allegedly trying to transfer Russian weapons to Ukraine. Soloshenko was accused of espionage and sentenced to six years in prison during a hearing that was closed to the press. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said last month that 174 people were still being illegally held by either the rebels or the Russian authorities. The conflict in eastern Ukraine has killed nearly 9,400 people and tattered Moscow's relations with the West. Russia strongly denies plotting and backing the revolt in reprisal for the February 2014 ouster of Kiev's Moscow-backed leadership and Ukraine's tilt toward the West. But the United States and the European Union both openly accuse Russia of sending active troops and heavy weapons into the Ukrainian war zone. Spies for the Russian government infiltrated the Democratic National Committee's computer network, and in the process obtained the group's entire opposition research database about presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, the Washington Post reported Tuesday. The spies also gained access to computers of "several GOP political action committees" as well as computer networks for the Trump and presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton campaigns, R tweeted. MORE: Russian spies also penetrated computers of several GOP political action committees, networks of Trump and Clinton: report CrowdStrike, a cyber firm the DNC tapped to fix the breach, said two groups working for the Russian government DNC's email and chat system to track communication were involved in the hack, according to the Post's report. Read more: Donald Trump Embraces Gays and Gives Muslims the Middle Finger in Speech on Orlando "The security of our system is critical to our operation and to the confidence of the campaigns and state parties we work with," DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz told the Post. "When we discovered the intrusion, we treated this like the serious incident it is and reached out to CrowdStrike immediately. Our team moved as quickly as possible to kick out the intruders and secure our network." Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed admiration for Trump, saying after Trump's April foreign policy speech that the businessman is, "a brighter person, talented without a doubt," CNN reported. Trump, in return, said he liked Putin. "I like him because he called me a genius," Trump said, according to CNN. "He said Trump is the real leader." Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fstory%2fthumbnail%2f11621%2fsddefault After a mass shooting like Orlando, politicians, TV personalities and almost everyone on social media offer words of comfort and love in the face of tragedy. However, as Samantha Bee says, "love does not win until we start loving each other enough to fix our f*cking problems." SEE ALSO: John Oliver offers a touching message about the Orlando shooting On Full Frontal on Monday, Bee delivered a strong speech, asking everyone to start demanding real, legislative solutions to America's gun violence problem. "We cant constitutionally get rid of all guns, but cant we get semiautomatic assault rifles out of the hands of civilians?" she said. "Sam Bee wants to take your guns away! Yes the ones that mow down a roomful of people in seconds. Yes, I do want to take those guns away." During the segment, Bee mentions where legislation successfully brought down instances of gun violence, such as in Australia, which passed much stricter gun laws and hasn't had a mass shooting since 1996. While Bee noted how words of comfort are somewhat helpful, her segment called for more common sense and action. "Stop thinking and do something to improve our society," she said. Most late night hosts have now returned to the air for the first time since the shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, that left 50 people, including the shooter, dead. The hosts faced the task of addressing the massacre and then somehow segueing into what's typically a comedy show. However, even under the guise of comedy, the sentiments from the hosts were a mixture of rage, sadness and disbelief at the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. Here's how some late night hosts covered the aftermath of the Orlando shooting. Full Frontal Samantha Bee Bee expressed frustration at not only at the massacre itself, but the aimless platitudes that followed suit from politicians. Specifically, she called out Florida Gov. Rick Scott for suggesting that the best response to a mass shooting, like Orlando, is to pray. "Until we as a nation find the political will to reject a mass shooter per day as the price of freedom, I'm just going to pray," Bee said, sarcastically before beginning a faux prayer. "Are you there, God? It's me, Sam. Please, bless the victims and their friends and families in their time of unspeakable pain. Give us the courage to say 'no more.' And while you're at it, please send the NRA a plague of boils. Amen." The Daily Show Trevor Noah As Noah noted, President Barack Obama has had more mass shooting addresses than he's had State Dinners. In response, he had a fitting analogy for America's willingness to stay the course on gun laws, despite the plethora of mass shootings that have occurred. "When I was young I didn't tie my shoelaces," Noah said. I would run around, I would trip on my shoelaces, I would fall down and cry. "Mommy! Mommy! I fell!" And my mother would ask, "Why did you fall?" "Because I tripped." "Why did you trip?" And she goes, "Your shoelaces." ... And we'd realize I fell because of my shoelaces. I'd tie them then move on... I could've said, "Mom why are you bringing shoelaces into this conversation? Why are you blaming the shoelaces for something the sidewalk did to my knees? Who even says there's a connection between anti-shoelaces and falling anyway? You're violating my right to keep my shoelaces untied!" I didn't say that ... I realized after falling, after falling a lot, that there was a connection between my shoelaces being untied and getting hurt. Story continues You can watch Noah's monologue on Orlando here. Conan Conan O'Brien Though Conan rarely shares his personal opinions on his late night show, the comedian took exception on Monday night to address the Orlando shooting. Broadly, his message was simple, but resonant: People in America shouldn't be allowed to purchase guns with an enormous capacity to kill, like the semi-automatic rifle used by shooter Omar Mateen. "These are weapons of war and they have no place in civilian life," he said. I have tried to understand this issue from every side and it all comes down to this: Nobody I know or have ever met in my entire life should have access to a weapon that can kill so many people so quickly. These mass shootings are happening so often now that lamenting them afterwards is becoming a national ritual. I do not know the answer but I wanted to take just a moment here tonight to agree with the rapidly growing sentiment in America that it's time to grow up and figure this out. The Late Show Stephen Colbert Despite being the host of The Late Show for less than a year, Colbert has already addressed a similar situation in the Paris terrorist attacks. On Orlando, he lamented how the process of grieving over these tragedies have become almost routine and scripted for the likes of politicians, the president and even as a late night host because they're so commonplace. "It's as if there's a national script that we've learned, and I think by accepting the script, we tacitly accept that the script will end the same way every time, with nothing changing," he said. "Except for the loved ones and the families of the victims, for whom nothing will ever be the same." The Nightly Show Larry Wilmore The host swiftly criticized Donald Trump in the aftermath of the shooting highlighting the GOP frontrunner's tweet from Sunday in which he gave himself credit for "being right on radical Islamic terrorism." Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism, I don't want congrats, I want toughness & vigilance. We must be smart! "Yes Donald, you were really ahead of the curve on the whole, 'Terrorism is bad' thing," he said. "I mean honestly, who brags about this? It's like your doctor saying, 'Yo dude I totally called it, you do have cancer man.'" You can check out Wilmore's full monologue on the Orlando shooting here. Late Night Seth Meyers Meyers steered the conversation of the Orlando shooting to an issue of gun control, noting that regardless of the shooter's opinions on LGBT people, or his ISIS ties the amount of killing was possible because he had access to a semi-automatic rifle. "This was an attack on LGBT people fueled by bigotry and hatred," Meyers said. "And the shooter was apparently inspired by ISIS. But we're gonna talk about guns, because whether the shooter was a homophobe, mentally ill, a terrorist inspired by ISIS or all three, what allowed him to kill so many people on Sunday was his gun. And that means we're likely about to enter yet another contentious national debate about gun control." At a plaza in San Franciscos Castro neighborhood, a place where LGBT people have rallied and partied and held vigils many times before, a local named Larry Bisagni busily scrawled on the ground with chalk. It took him about a half hour Monday afternoon to write the names and ages of all the people who were killed in Orlando at a gay club the day before, in the deadliest shooting in U.S. history. Though the shooting happened across the country in Florida, San Francisco feels the tragedy and weeps, as one protest sign said. The plaza was named for local hero and LGBT icon Harvey Milk, an openly gay lawmaker who was shot to death and publicly mourned in this same neighborhood nearly 40 years ago. At the bottom of his long list, Bisagni wrote a quote from the namesake: Hope will never be silent. Strangers cried and hugged each other. Friends kissed and held hands. When is this going to stop? said Bisagni, a consultant. These senseless mass shootings. As human beings, we are better than this. Asked why he made the list, he said, I did this because these people deserve to be remembered. To somebody, whether a partner, whether a sibling, whether a child, whether a parent, somebody on this list was everything to someone. You stop and look at how many names are here, he said, looking at 49 of them. It gives you perspective. Bisagnis somber, yet colorful, decorations were not the first on this corner. Streamers in all the colors of the rainbow had been tied to nearby posts, alongside blue pieces of paper with notes scribbled on them. In memory of everyone at Orlando. You will always be loved, read one. Let us love each other. We are all human beings, read another. In a city that has long prided itself as a celebratory haven for LGBT people, the assault on Orlando felt, in part, like an assault on people here. Many residents of the Castro feel broken. Some are struggling not to let anger take them over as the facts still come in whether anger at the shooter, at homophobia, at ISIS, at the FBI who interviewed the shooter and let him go, or at the failure of progressive politicians to pass stricter gun control laws. Story continues I cant let the anger take hold of me, said Jim Martinez, a limo driver who lives in the neighborhood. We cant let violence get in the way of our way of life. Dressed in a T-shirt bearing Harvey Milks face, Martinez had been embracing another tearful onlooker, though theyd never met before: Devin Apola, a young man who works in his parents jewelry store in nearby Pacifica, Calif. Apola said his first thoughts on hearing about the shooting were of young, closeted people who were already too scared to come out. The simplest, most powerful form of protest is just to be who you are, he said. Thousands of locals including many local politicians appeared in the neighborhood Sunday night for speeches and a vigil. For about a mile, nearly every lamppost leading to the spot where they spoke had been decorated with a rainbow flag (because it is LGBT Pride Month). But for the first time in years, the grand flag that sits at the top of Castro Street had been lowered to half mast. Down the block from Harvey Milks plaza, outside the local Bank of America, was a growing memorial piled with signs, candles and flowers. The same space has been used before to remember those who died of AIDS, and on Monday onlookers remembered other tragedies that had brought them to this spot. Signs showed the states of California and Florida decorated with defiant messages of solidarity like, You only made us stronger. Others mentioned Sandy Hook, the elementary school in Connecticut where 20 children were killed in a 2012 mass shooting. A young mother who lives a few blocks from the memorial was one of several dozen people gathered in silence, which was occasionally broken by a hug or a smile. She brought her 14-month-old son, Diego, and dressed him in rainbow stockings, under American flag shorts. Its not just the queer community. Its all of us, said Melissa Porras. I just dont understand it. I see it as a hate crime whether its within the U.S. or without. People must embrace each other, she says, instead of lashing out. In the wake of Sunday's tragic mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, the mother of a child slain in the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School posted a gut-wrenching open letter on Facebook addressed to the families and friends of those who were murdered at Pulse. "I am sorry that our tragedy here in Sandy Hook wasn't enough to save your loved ones," Nelba Marquez-Greene, the mother of Sandy Hook victim Ana Marquez Green, wrote. "I tried and I won't stop trying. Don't you dare even listen to even one person who may insinuate that somehow this is your loved ones' fault because they were gay or any other reason. Nor is it God's wrath." In the letter, Marquez-Greene offered candid advice on enduring the hardships of such a loss and talked about how the Sandy Hook and Orlando shootings will serve as somber lessons of gun violence. The message she wishes to share with those grieving the deaths of the Orlando victims is a simple one: "Love wins." "My son will learn about your loved ones," she wrote. "And we will not forget. We will say their names out loud. We will remember your children. As you remembered and learned about ours." She told the Orlando shooting victims' families that they will encounter hate and prejudice and offered some simple advice: "Delete. Ignore. Let it go." Marquez-Greene also warned those who wish to donate to make sure the money goes directly to the victims' families, because in her case, most of it did not. "And victims of gun violence will have a lifetime of need," she wrote. Marquez-Greene lost her daughter Ana Marquez-Greene in the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting, in which 20 students and six teachers were shot and killed before the gunman killed himself. The world's most disruptive entrepreneur doesn't live in Silicon Valley. He visits Washington and New York this week amidst growing friction with his Middle East homeland's longtime ally the United States. Meet Saudi Arabia's Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, favored son of 80 year old Saudi King Salman. No 30 year old anywhere is a bigger threat to the world's status quo. He controls more assets than any entrepreneur on the planet (think trillions of dollars), but he's plagued by a burgeoning financial strain which is likely making it hard to put on a great face. His swift accumulation of power has earned him the behind-the-back moniker "Mr. Everything". Despite legions of detractors he is on a mission to transform his nation. As a part of his quixotic vision he is solidifying relationships with diverse world leaders from President Obama, to France's President Hollande, to Russia's Vladimir Putin. Mohammed bin Salman is the world's youngest Minister of Defense. He has already taken the Kingdom to the number three nation globally in defense spending. But his portfolio vastly exceeds the military, everything and everyone oil related in the country reports to him. As oil prices plummeted from the record $100+ level in 2014 all of OPEC expected him to reduce supply and support prices. Instead he broke with Saudi tradition and opted for greater market share. The prince continued to pump record amounts leaving oil nations groaning as prices collapsed to $27 a barrel earlier this year. As disruptor-in-chief the prince plans to end the Saudi economy's dependence on oil. This activist investor speaks staccato statistics supporting his "Vision 2030". He's exploring taking the state oil company Aramco public--probable valuation approaching $3 trillion--making it the most valuable corporation in the world. Armed with a massive $2.5 trillion war chest his vision is to invest in technology and industrial opportunities everywhere. Hes just getting started with the recent $3.5 billion bet on Uber announced in early June. Story continues Harsh realities confront the prince's bold ideas. In bordering Yemen the Prince's forces fight Houthi rebels backed by Iran. Steadily an arc of Shiite dominated nations-- Iran, Iraq and Syria coalesce against Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia. Iran has staged an extraordinary oil production comeback to 3.5 million barrels per day since America lifted the sanctions with the nuclear accord. Saudi Arabia's record production as prices plummet has caused enormous local pain. Last year the Kingdom posted a $100 billion budget deficit. Credit watcher Moody's cut Saudi's ratings and the Kingdom considers IOU's for more than $40 billion in unpaid obligations to contractors. 70% of Saudi's are under 30, most are under-employed and unemployed. In December King Salman unveiled an austerity program involving $10 billion of budget cuts. Fuel and utility subsidies have been slashed and there is a proposal to reduce public sector wages. And OPEC faces more dysfunction, Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed to cap production as long as others followed. Incensed, Iran skipped OPEC's Doha meeting altogether. Recent sessions in Vienna proved no more fruitful. But to the prince's good fortune, oil prices lifted anyway because disruptions elsewhere caused world production to drop by millions of barrels a day. On cue prices jumped 90% in 90 days and continue to hover near the $50 per barrel level. But many oil producing nations are addicted to oil revenues--and even at lower prices Iran, Iraq, Russia, Venezuela and others intend to pump, pump, pump. So being prince of Saudi oil hardly gives you the last word. And it can't be lost on our disruptive visionary that the US Senate just unanimously passed a bill to hold the Kingdom accountable if it's found complicit in the 9/11 attacks. It could be a long pressured filled week for Mr. Everything as he makes the rounds in America. Peter D. Kiernan is an award winning New York Times bestselling author who is also an entrepreneur, venture capitalist and philanthropist following a multi decade career on Wall Street. Today he spends much of his time fighting poverty as a 26 year member and former Chair of the board of the Robin Hood Foundation. He is a regular contributor to the FOX Business Network and appears frequently on national TV and radio talk shows, as well as many different public forums. Related Articles United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen has invited a UN team to visit its headquarters in Riyadh for talks on a UN report that blamed the military alliance for the deaths of hundreds of children in Yemen. Saudi Ambassador Abdullah al-Mouallimi extended the invitation in a letter sent to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon last week, but UN officials say they would rather hold talks in New York. "We're studying it," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Tuesday. "We obviously remain interested in what information the Saudi-led coalition could provide us." He added that "our preference" would be to hold meetings at UN headquarters in New York. The United Nations had blacklisted the coalition after concluding in a report that it was responsible for 60 percent of the 785 deaths of children in Yemen last year. But the world body later reversed its stance and removed the coalition from the list of shame pending a joint review with the Saudi-led alliance. Ban last week admitted that he had succumbed to "undue pressure" from Saudi Arabia and its allies who had threatened to cut off funding to UN aid programs over the blacklisting. The coalition launched an air campaign in support of Yemen's President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi in March 2015 to push back Huthi rebels after they seized the capital Sanaa and many parts of the country. The war has killed some 6,400 people and exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in the impoverished country, according to the United Nations. In his letter, Mouallimi said "the coalition invites a team of experts to visit the coalition headquarters in Riyadh, with advance notice, and jointly review the cases and number in the report to ensure objectivity and accuracy." "The coalition was created precisely to protect civilians, including children, in the aftermath of the military escalation by the Huthis and forces loyal to former president Ali Saleh," he wrote. Story continues The Saudi ambassador requested "a detailed overview of the methodology and modality that were used to create the number in the report and the sources relied on for said numbers." Mouallimi has denied threatening to cut off funding to the United Nations and has said that the decision to take the coalition off the list was "final and irreversible". The UN Security Council is set to discuss the blacklist contained in the annual UN report on children and armed conflict during a meeting in August. Dujarric, however, said there had been no senior-level face-to-face meetings on resolving the dispute over the findings. Yemen's Ambassador Khaled Alyemany said his government was ready to send the minister for human rights to the Riyadh meeting. Scientists from Britain and India will release underwater robots into the Bay of Bengal in a bid to more accurately predict the Indian monsoon critical to millions of farmers, they said on Tuesday. Researchers will also fly a plane packed with scientific equipment over the bay to measure the atmosphere as part of the multi-million pound study of the monsoon which hit southern India last week. Better forecasting would improve the livelihoods of India's more than 200 million farmers and agricultural labourers, who are reeling from devastating drought. Scientists from the University of East Anglia (UEA) will release seven underwater robots from an Indian ship next week to study how ocean processes influence monsoon rainfall. At the same time, colleagues from the University of Reading and climate experts in India will use instruments on board the plane flying from the southern city of Bangalore to measure heat and moisture in the air. The robots, which have computers onboard and look like miniature yellow submarines, will spend a month moving through a southern section of the bay, to measure temperature, salinity and currents. "The Indian monsoon is notoriously hard to predict. It is a very complicated weather system and the processes are not understood or recorded in science," lead researcher Adrian Matthews said. "Nobody has ever made observations on this scale during the monsoon season itself so this is a truly groundbreaking project," he said. More than half of India's farms lack irrigation for their crops, meaning they depend almost entirely on the annual rains that fall in intense bursts from June until September. More precise predictions of the monsoon, that sweeps up from the Indian Ocean which extends into the bay, can also help hundreds of millions better prepare for droughts and floods. Beamed backed to scientists via satellite signals, the information will be used to create computer models of the ocean to determine how it affects weather and rainfall over India. Story continues "We should be able to collect an amazing amount of information about how this weather system develops," researcher Ben Webber told AFP. The eight million-pound collaboration is the latest effort to understand the monsoon in India where weather scientists have a patchy record of predicting its start time and intensity. India suffered its worst drought in decades in 2009 despite the meteorological department's predictions of a normal monsoon. In April, researchers in Germany said they had found a way to more accurately predict the start of the monsoon based on an analysis of regional weather data. India's meteorology office is also reportedly spending millions of dollars on a new super computer to predict how the monsoon is likely to develop each year. By Kathryn Doyle (Reuters Health) - Bumping up whole grain intake even slightly may lower the risk of death from heart disease, cancer and other chronic diseases, according to review published Tuesday in The BMJ. The new report echoes a study released Monday in the journal Circulation in which every additional serving of whole grains cut cardiovascular disease-related death risk by 9 percent and cancer death risk by five percent. One serving of whole grains can be a half-cup of cooked brown rice, cooked oatmeal, or cooked 100 percent whole grain pasta, or one slice of 100 percent whole grain bread. The BMJ review covered 45 studies involving more than 700,000 people altogether, and 100,000 deaths during follow-up. Researchers found the biggest difference in risk between people who ate two servings of whole grains per day and those who ate none. People who got two servings per day had lower risks of coronary heart disease, cardiovascular disease, death from stroke, cancer, respiratory disease, infectious disease and diabetes. The current study provides the most comprehensive assessment of whole grain intake and mortality to date and suggests that there are benefits of eating large amounts of whole grains for many different disease and mortality outcomes, including respiratory and infectious diseases which were not assessed in previous reviews, said lead author Dr. Dagfinn Aune of Imperial College London. Most likely the whole package of beneficial components in whole grains is the key, and therefore it is important to eat more whole grain foods rather than increasing intake of single nutrients from supplements, Aune told Reuters Health by email. Breakfast cereals, whole grain breads and bran were associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, he said, but specific grain types havent been studied in as much detail as whole grains in general. The Circulation paper is very similar to the one in BMJ because both especially find lower mortality of cardiovascular disease, said Cecilie Kyro of the Danish Cancer Society Research Center, who coauthored an editorial alongside The BMJ review. Increasing whole grain intake will be beneficial for most people, especially in countries where intake in low, like the U.S. and UK, Kyro told Reuters Health by email. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/1sk4kGq The BMJ, online June 14, 2016. crowded subway As a born-and-raised New Yorker, I'm an expert at ignoring people. Nowhere does that skill come in handier than on a crowded subway, where my limbs are often entangled with those of other riders, our faces close enough for me to smell the latte on their breath. The key, I've learned, is to pretend they don't exist. Seriously don't acknowledge the physical intimacy, don't try to crack a joke about it, and definitely don't use it as an opportunity to ask where they're headed. It's a way for everyone to maintain their sanity and happiness until they de-board. Or is it? I recently spoke with Nicholas Epley, a psychologist, professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and author of the 2014 book "Mindwise." In the book, Epley highlights a study he conducted with Juliana Schroeder, a professor at the Haas School of Business at the University of California Berkeley, which found that people are much happier on their commutes when they engage another passenger in conversation. The study featured a series of experiments, which took place in Chicago trains, buses, and cabs. For the train experiment, researchers recruited about 90 passengers and told them them either to have a conversation with a new person on the train, keep to themselves, or do what they would normally do on their commute. Everyone was asked to complete a survey about how happy and sad they felt after their commute, and how pleasant and productive their commute was compared to usual. Results showed that passengers had a much more positive commute when they talked to a stranger than when they sat alone or did what they usually did. Perhaps surprisingly, those who talked to a stranger didn't report being less productive than usual. Here's where things get really interesting. In another experiment, researchers asked a different group of participants to predict how pleasant and productive their commute would be if they talked to someone, enjoyed their solitude, or went about their usual business. Those participants said they would have a much less positive and productive commute when they interacted with a stranger. Story continues The results of another experiment shed some light on why people feel this way: They generally think that other passengers don't want to talk to them. starbucks customer Those last two findings don't surprise me at all I don't think I've ever taken the initiative to strike up a conversation with a fellow commuter, at least partly because I assume I'd be bothering them. But if these study findings are any indication, I could be doing myself and them a favor. This research doesn't stand in isolation, either. A 2013 study found that customers at Starbucks who had a social interaction with the barista felt more positive than those who had a more efficient transaction. (That particular study didn't measure how the baristas felt about the interactions.) The big takeaway from these studies is that we aren't always the best predictors of what will make us happy. As for me, I'm going to try (keyword: try) to overcome the feeling that other people aren't interested in talking to me, and ask what they think about the sunshine, or compliment their swanky bag. As long as I don't comment on the fact that their armpit is currently resting on my ear, everything should be totally fine. NOW WATCH: How to make your commute less miserable More From Business Insider DECATUR Though Washington School closed for good in 2005, watching it start to fall to demolition was still a sad occasion for those who have memories there. Oh, how sad, said Chris Oyer, who worked there as librarian. I loved that stately old building. I spent 23 wonderful years there in the library, my second home. But the memories of the fantastic family of teachers, staff, students and parents will live on, for it truly was a family. I spent 21 years there, said Susan McBride Moore. A great place to work. Breaks my heart. It was a beautiful building. The Decatur school board made the suggestion to close Washington during the time the Hope VI project was in its planning stages, when Hope Academy had yet to be built. Both Washington and Durfee School's former building at the corner of Jasper and Grand were in need of more expensive repairs than the district could afford, and Washington was not compliant with state health/life/safety codes. The district's business director, the late Martin Getty, said at the time that the cost to bring the building up to codes would exceed the cost of replacing the building. Once Hope was built and ready to open in August 2005, the district redrew boundaries and closed Washington. The new boundaries displaced 42 percent of students in the district, moving them to new buildings, and increased the number of magnet schools, adding Hope and Durfee, which moved to West Grand Avenue. Washington was built in 1925 to replace Jackson and Jasper schools, whose students were assigned to the then-new school. It was dedicated on Feb. 12, 1926, with Principal C.W. Smith at the helm, a teaching staff of 28, and 1,000 students. The building also included three health rooms, for students who need special attention on account of delicate physical condition, as a H&R clipping from the time related. The Parent-Teacher Associations of Jackson and Jasper were dissolved and reformed into a new Washington PTA, and a Liberty bond bought by the mothers of Jasper students was turned over to Washington to pay for a fountain on the new school's grounds. The grounds cost the district, in 1925 dollars, over $22,000, and the fireproof building was $250,828. minus the cost of terrazza floors that were also part of the fireproof design. There was some minor controversy over naming the school Washington, as it's on the grounds of the old Johns family estate, but plans were already underway to build a junior high on those same grounds, and the school board was holding the Johns name in reserve for it. That building is Johns Hill Magnet School today. School board member B.A. Buttz served as principal of Washington for many years and said those years were among the most meaningful of his career. He still encounters students who have fond memories of their years there, too. It is as though a part of my life and family is being torn down and it is sad to see it go, he said. So many wonderful memories are slipping into the past forever. We made an impact on lives and the successes of the Washington students are living testimonials to the dedication and strength of the staff. I am sorry to see this iconic, vintage, historic 1925 school be torn down. The plan was always to tear down the building, said Mike Sotiroff, director of buildings and grounds, but district finances weren't adequate until now. Some of the proceeds of the 1 percent sales tax increase, which is dedicated to capital improvements, made it possible. All the debris will be removed or crushed and covered, so that if a future building project is planned there, the site will be ready. Several plans for the campus that includes Johns Hill are under consideration by the district, but nothing has been decided as yet. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate this month will debate legislation that passed overwhelmingly in the House of Representatives and aims to give Puerto Rico some relief from its $70 billion debt, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday. McConnell's announcement came after some House members briefed fellow Republicans in the Senate on the content of the legislation, which would establish a federal oversight board to restructure Puerto Rican debt. Backers of the House-passed bill are hoping the Senate signs off on the legislation before July 1, when Puerto Rico faces a deadline on a $1.9 billion debt payment. Representative Rob Bishop, who chairs the House Natural Resources Committee, which steered the legislation through that chamber, told reporters that Republican senators peppered him with questions about the makeup of the oversight board and its powers. He added that he assured senators the bill is not a taxpayer bailout of Puerto Rico and that it would not have an impact on U.S. states. Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory and some critics of the bill have expressed concerns that a control board appointed by Washington might not have the Caribbean island's best interests in mind. The legislation also got a boost, albeit a tepid one, on Tuesday when Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch offered qualified support for the House bill. He added that he was considering offering changes to the bill but did not elaborate. Hatch's Finance Committee has oversight of the Puerto Rico debt legislation. Some Senate Democrats also have expressed reservations with the bill and indicated that they could seek amendments, but it was not clear if they actually would. Any changes made by the Senate to the House-passed bill would send it back to the House to accept, reject or make further amendments. Bishop left open the possibility of July 1 arriving with Congress still working on the Puerto Rico bill. "It's not the end of the world," Bishop said of the possibility of Congress putting finishing touches on legislation into July. "Market forces, as long as they realize we're moving forward to a solution and we're close to it, I think that would mitigate against anything that would be negative that would impact the entire market," Bishop added. The Obama administration has voiced its support for the House bill, which passed on a strong, bipartisan vote of 297-127. Puerto Rico, which suffers from a poverty rate of around 45 percent, has been hobbled by its worsening debt problems, with some schools and medical facilities closing and island residents fleeing to the mainland United States where many find jobs, primarily in central Florida. (Reporting By Richard Cowan; Editing by David Gregorio and Dan Grebler) With Udta Punjab finally releasing on June 17, the makers of the film along with the starcast held a press conference to interact with the media today. Yesterday Bombay HC cleared the release of the film with no change in title, A certificate and one cut. Today the lead actors of the film, Shahid Kapoor and Alia Bhatt were all praises for each other at the press con. As Alia received a lot of flak for her portrayal of a Bihari girl in the film, since the promos have been out, Shahid came out in her support and said, Stop judging films on the one-minute promos. Our names and image us at stake. Give credit to this girl who is pretty, lovely and has an amazing body of work but decides to play the character. It is brave. Please see the film before limiting it to one word. On the other hand, Alia too landed heaps of praises on her co-star Shahid and said, Tommy Singhs character is mind blowing. Shahid has gone all out and how. I have seen him since Ishq Vishq and he was tremendous in Haider too. But with this one he has just gone away. Recommended Read: People Were Doubting Our Intentions, Said It Was A Publicity Stunt: Anurag On #Udtapunjab Issue Guess the Sahaandar pair certainly gets along as house on fire! NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / June 14, 2016 / Levi & Korsinsky announces it has commenced an investigation of Enservco Corporation (NYSE MKT: ENSV) concerning possible breaches of fiduciary duty by the board of directors of the company. To obtain additional information, go to: http://zlk.9nl.com/enservco-ensv or contact Joseph E. Levi, Esq. either via email at jlevi@zlk.com or by telephone at (212) 363-7500, toll-free: (877) 363-5972. Levi & Korsinsky is a national firm with offices in New York, New Jersey, California, Connecticut and Washington D.C. The firm's attorneys have extensive expertise in prosecuting securities litigation involving financial fraud, representing investors throughout the nation in securities and shareholder lawsuits. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes. CONTACT: Levi & Korsinsky, LLP Eduard Korsinsky, Esq. 30 Broad Street - 24th Floor New York, NY 10004 Tel: (212) 363-7500 Toll Free: (877) 363-5972 Fax: (212) 363-7171 www.zlk.com SOURCE: Levi & Korsinsky, LLP NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / June 14, 2016 / Levi & Korsinsky announces it has commenced an investigation of Career Education Corp. (CECO) concerning possible breaches of fiduciary duty by the board of directors of the company. To obtain additional information, go to: http://zlk.9nl.com/careereducation or contact Joseph E. Levi, Esq. either via email at jlevi@zlk.com or by telephone at (212) 363-7500, toll-free: (877) 363-5972. Levi & Korsinsky is a national firm with offices in New York, New Jersey, California, Connecticut and Washington D.C. The firm's attorneys have extensive expertise in prosecuting securities litigation involving financial fraud, representing investors throughout the nation in securities and shareholder lawsuits. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes. CONTACT: Levi & Korsinsky, LLP Eduard Korsinsky, Esq. 30 Broad Street - 24th Floor New York, NY 10004 Tel: (212) 363-7500 Toll Free: (877) 363-5972 Fax: (212) 363-7171 www.zlk.com SOURCE: Levi & Korsinsky, LLP Theres a quote from the Quran on the wall of the Fort Pierce Islamic Center, where Omar Mateen and his family came to pray. That ye may know each other, it says, (Not that ye may despise each other.) Every time Mateen removed his shoes and walked to the bathing area where Muslims wash before prayer, he would have passed these words. The Fort Pierce Islamic Center is housed in a building that was once a church, on a street where there are at least five Baptist churches on a 3-mile stretch. The area is heavily Christian, and mostly white, with a significant population of African Americans, but few Muslims. The region is known, literally, as White City, but the Fort Pierce Islamic Center serves worshippers from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Palestine, Jordan and Afghanistan. He let us down, says worshipper Habiba Haque, a mother of two, as she wipes away a tear. We tried so hard, so hard to express ourselves, that we are good people. Read More: Orlando Shooter Omar Mateens Father: I Dont Forgive Him The Islamic center has faced threats and at least one instance of harassment in the days since Mateen killed 49 people at Pulse nightclub in Orlando early Sunday morning in what is now considered the deadliest mass shooting in American history and the worst terrorist attack since 9/11. But when this reporter wanders cautiously into the womens wing of the center as the congregants are sitting down to break their fast for Ramadan the annual holy month during which Muslims eat only before sunrise and after sunset the response is overwhelmingly kind. They offer tea and dates. One insists I take a shrimp fritter. Another woman takes the scarf off her own head to wrap it around my waist, like a sarong, to hide my knees peeking out from under my shorts. They all express complete shock at Mateens actions, and agree they never would have expected such a brutal act of violence from someone in their community. Because the mosque separates men and women, most of the women congregants did not have as regular contact with Mateen himself as they had with his mother and sisters. Still, they say, he seemed just like everyone else. Story continues Marian Alladin, a retired schoolteacher, says that Mateen had paid a condolence call to her husband after he broke his leg in an accident. That kid came to my house, he came with his wife, his son, and he sat with him, she recalled, saying he was very pleasant, very sociable. His mother and sisters are just like the other ladies at the center, multiple women say, gushing over children and grandchildren and comparing beauty and fashion tips. They are well respected in the congregation, and known as good members of the community. He came from a very nice family, Alladin says. A representative for the Center for American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) was at the mosque on Monday to field inquiries from reporters, since the mosques administration was not equipped to manage the deluge of media requests. Our hearts are with the victims, said Wilfredo Ruiz, communications director for CAIR of Florida, adding the shooting was a heinous act that has no excuse. He also said that CAIR is urging all mosques and Islamic community centers to implement a deradicalization program, in which a team of mental-health professionals and lawyers could reach out to troubled individuals precrime, when there is not necessarily evidence of an intent to harm (since its difficult to call the police on something as vague as a shift in mood or a change in personality). If there is a suspicion of actual violence, Ruiz urged all community members to contact the police immediately. Many of the women say they are concerned about anti-Muslim violence in response to the attacks, and they are upset that the actions of one disturbed congregant would reflect poorly on the entire community at the center. Were afraid of backlash, targeting us because he came to this mosque, Alladin says. None of the women interviewed say they could recall any time when anti-gay sentiments were ever expressed at the mosque, and all say that gay Muslims would be welcome to worship there. Read More: Thousands Gather in Orlando for Somber Vigil Most of all, the women expressed a sadness that Mateen had used a religion that teaches peace and kindness as a justification for his act of violence. If he was religious, he would never do these things, Haque says. Killing innocent people is like killing all of humanity. Its in the Quran. Shonda Rhimes hates the word diversity. Participating in a panel that addressed the under-representation of women in the media at the White House summit, Rhimes said the word suggests an other-ness to me. When she gets a suggestion to get a writer who is diverse, she said, her response is, A person is not diverse Color of skin is not what makes people diverse. Content should look to create the actual world, she said simply. And yet, the TV industry still is predisposed to cast white straight males unless otherwise stated, which means spelling out, I want a gay judge or female. In a perfect world, Rhimes said she should be able to tell casting execs I want a judge and get a selection that reflects the real world. Rhimes company Shondaland is behind five drama series on ABC. The recently picked up Romeo & Juliet sequel Still Star-Crossed joins returning series Greys Anatomy and Scandal, which Rhimes created, as well as How To Get Away With Murder and The Catch. This afternoon, she rejected the notion that what she is doing is revolutionary. I have a real problem with that concept of being revolutionary, she said, describing what she does as creating a world that looks like the world looks. I dont understand why thats revolutionary. Content creators, she said, have a responsibility to always be holding the door open behind you. The best thing you can do is to not make someone the only one in the room, she said of her writers rooms. If someone is the only person of color in the room, or the only woman in the room, they run a higher risk of being dismissed as weird and wrong, and that person gets ejected. Thats my solution to really keep that happening. Related stories First Lady, Oprah Discuss "Swagalicious"-ness Of President Obama At White House United State Of Women Summit Story continues Upfronts 2016: The Overachievers Upfronts 2016: Drama Uber Producers Greg Berlanti, Shonda Rhimes & Dick Wolf Take Charge Of the CW, ABC & NBC (Photo: Yahoo Singapore) Bryan Lim, a Singaporean who threatened to open fire in a post on the Facebook group We Are Against Pinkdot in Singapore has written an apology and deleted his Facebook page. In his apology on Monday (13 June), Lim said he was referring to refuting debate against foreign companies meddling in domestic affairs. I apologize for the misunderstanding. My words were strong. I did not mean anyone. I meant Bloomberg and foreign intervention in local matters. This was taken out of context. I hope this clears the air, he wrote. I did not mean physical bullets nor physical death. I mean open fire in debate and remove them from Singapore domestic matters. Lim also deleted his comments in the Facebook group. The Singapore police confirmed that a police report has been lodged and that investigations are ongoing. The police also said Lim is not a Police National Serviceman. Lim, who said he is an NSMan, was responding to the post of the anti-LGBT group on the foreign support for the Pink Dot event. On 4 June, Pink Dot held its eighth rally for the LGBT community, which saw a record number of foreign sponsors for the event. In his reply to the post, Lim said, I am a father. And I swore to protect my nation. Without referring to any individuals or group, he added that he would like to see them die for their causes. Meanwhile, Canon Singapore, Lims employer, said on its Facebook page on Monday (13 June) that it is looking into the matter. The Japanese MNC said that it abides by the philosophy of Kyosei, which it defines as all people, regardless of race, religion, or culture, harmoniously living and working together for the common good. As such, we do not condone violence in any form. Thus, we take this issue seriously and are looking into the matter, Canon added. Last week, the government said that foreign entities should not fund or support events that address domestic issues at the Speakers Corner like Pink Dot. The organisers of Pink Dot said that they have done all they could to ensure Pink Dot SG stays within the law. If there is any issue that could intensify the emotions and raise the stakes in the 2016 presidential election, it's guns. That issue just got cranked up to 11. A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that the Second Amendment does not protect the right to carry a firearm in public. Another appeals court has reached a somewhat different conclusion, and the question is bound eventually to demand the attention of the Supreme Court. On the general topic of gun rights, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump strongly differ. He got the endorsement of the National Rifle Association, and she won the support of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. He calls her "the most anti-gun, anti-Second Amendment candidate ever to run for office." She favors new restrictions she describes as "common-sense gun safety measures consistent with the Second Amendment." What makes the debate so important is that the basic meaning of the amendment is still being figured out. The Supreme Court has found it guarantees an individual right to own a gun for self-defense, as distinct from a collective right to bear arms in a state militia. But the justices have not ruled on the constitutionality of a variety of regulations. One of those is California's policy on carrying concealed guns in public. It allows only those with permits to do so and is stingy in giving them out. Anyone who wants a license has to convince the county sheriff she has "good cause" for it. Among the reasons that don't qualify are "self-protection and protection of family (without credible threats of violence)." A lawsuit challenged the constitutionality of the law. But on Thursday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld it, saying, "There is no Second Amendment right for members of the general public to carry concealed firearms in public." The odd part was its admission that the Constitution may protect the right of citizens to carry guns openly. California doesn't allow that, either, but the open-carry ban, the court said, was not challenged in this case. Its verdict diverges from a 2012 decision by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, which struck down Illinois' near-total ban on concealed carry. "To confine the right to be armed to the home is to divorce the Second Amendment from the right of self-defense" recognized by the Supreme Court, that court concluded. "A right to bear arms thus implies a right to carry a loaded gun outside the home." Sooner or later, the Supreme Court will have to decide who's right. How it would have ruled in Antonin Scalia's day was hardly certain. But its Second Amendment opinions imply that the Second Amendment prerogative to employ a gun for personal protection extends beyond one's front door. In 2008, the court listed various restrictions it considered permissible: "prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms." The list's omission of laws against carrying guns in public was conspicuous. The justices found that many 19th-century courts allowed states to forbid carrying concealed weapons while noting that some struck down laws against carrying guns openly. But the right to "bear arms" doesn't sound as though you are entitled just to sleep with a pistol on your nightstand. If the right to self-defense applies beyond the home, states can hardly forbid law-abiding citizens to venture out in public without the means to protect themselves. A dissenting judge in the California case reached the sensible conclusion: States may ban concealed carry or open carry but not both. The two landmark Second Amendment cases were decided by 5-4 votes, with Scalia in the majority. Without him, the eight remaining justices might be evenly divided on concealed-carry bans. So the next person to join the court could ultimately cast the deciding vote. As a general, practical rule, it may not matter much how the Supreme Court finally rules on this question. Most states enacted permissive concealed-carry laws on their own and would keep them regardless. But it matters in principle, and in some states, like Illinois and California, it matters in practice. To a voting public that includes nearly 13 million people with concealed-carry permits, it will certainly matter on Election Day. This will be among the largest global IP VPNs. Singtel has joined forces with Bharti Airtel to deliver high-speed, secure data network coverage to corporations in Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and the US. The two telcos have combined resources into one network to provide high speed data connectivity to 325 cities across the world. The combined network will have 370 Points of Presence and will form one of the largest Internet Protocol Virtual Private Networks (IP VPN) globally. Under this global network, multinational corporations can maintain line of sight of their operations across different regions by using high-bandwidth business applications such as cloud applications, unified communications, video conferencing and software-defined networking solutions. We believe joining forces this way makes total sense. By tapping on one anothers infrastructure assets we enhance each others capabilities. With its wide coverage of cities in India, this network paves the way for our international customers to enter into one of the worlds most vibrant economies. Conversely, this partnership also opens the door for Indian companies to expand abroad, supported by Singtels high quality IP VPN network in major business cities in Asia, Europe and the US, said Lim Seng Kong, Managing Director of Global Enterprise Business at Singtel Group Enterprise. More From Singapore Business Review Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f115549%2f0983b9a21cd242b88d93ca20ccc4ebbd Don't freak out just yet, Sir Ian McKellen's bromance with Sir Patrick Stewart is far from over. It looks like McKellen was just having a spot of fun when he cheekily posed for a picture holding a sign advertising his personal details and credentials, when he dropped by Shanghai's People's Square infamous Marriage Market on Saturday. Image: British council china/weibo SEE ALSO: 20 Marvel superheroes when they were young and dorky "5'11"; 77 years; Cambridge University; House in London; Still active," was his sales pitch. The People's Square Marriage Market is a popular matchmaking spot where Chinese parents gather at the park on weekends hoping to look for spouses for their single children. The location was also the spotlight for Japanese cosmetic brand, SK-II's "Marriage Market Takeover" video about China's "leftover women" which went viral back in April. Image: BRITISH COUNCIL CHINA/WEIBO While there, McKellen was also photographed holding a placard with a line from Shakespeare's reading: "Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind." The celebrated actor is in China now for the Shanghai International Film Festival and is currently exploring the country with British Council China to promote the cultural organisation's "Shakespeare Lives" programmes. June 13 was the 400th year death anniversary of the famous playwright. Twists in Orlando slaughter. Theres still no clear evidence that Omar Mateens brutal rampage through an Orlando gay club that killed 49 and injured dozens more was directed by any one terrorist group. But an unexpected narrative is building over who Mateen was, and what he believed himself to be. While he pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in a 911 call during the attack, he had previously expressed admiration for both al Qaeda and Hezbollah, extremist groups who share little in common. The contradictions have led FBI Director James Comey to surmise he might not have understood the differences between the groups. More surprising are the growing number of eyewitness accounts placing the shooter at Pulse nightclub over a dozen times over the past several years. Its the same guy, Chris Callen, a performer at the club told the Canadian Press. Hes been going to this bar for at least three years. The Orlando Sentinel reports that other men say he contacted them on gay dating apps. And former classmate told the Palm Beach Post that he and Mateen would go to gay bars and Mateen once asked him out. Radicalized online. But nothing can be ruled out. FPs Elias Groll and Dan De Luce write that law enforcement officials are confident that he was radicalized online, which remains one of the most powerful tools that groups like the Islamic State have for launching attacks outside of its self-declared caliphate. They are part of an imagined community, and being part of a community gives value to their actions, said Marc Sageman, a former CIA operations officer and a senior fellow of the Foreign Policy Research Institute. They are part of this nation the ummah and it lives online. FPs Molly OToole also notes that the worst shooting in U.S. history and deadliest terrorist attack on American soil since 9/11 marks a pivotal moment for the presidential campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump as they enter the general election phase of the campaign. The political fallout from the attack also carries potential pitfalls for both, particularly with moderate, independent, and undecided voters who may provide the deciding edge for either candidate in November. Story continues In the fight. An American Apache helicopter struck a vehicle being used by ISIS fighters near Mosul on Monday, U.S. defense officials confirmed, marking the first time the attack helicopter has been used in Iraq in years. The Pentagon had offered the Iraqis the use of Apaches late last year in the fight to retake Ramadi from the Islamic State, but Baghdad refused. Iraqi forces are currently surrounding Mosul while slowly fighting their way toward the city, which the terrorist group has held for two years. Drones over Yemen stay busy. There are reports of two more U.S. drone strikes in Yemen over the past several days. The first came on Saturday, when a vehicle carrying two suspected al Qaeda members, Gazwan al-Waili and Zubeir al-Sanaani, was struck near Marib. According to local reports, another strike came Sunday near the town of Habban, killing two more suspected al Qaeda members. There have been an estimated 17 American drone strikes in Yemen in 2016, killing over 110 suspected al Qaeda sympathizers, according to a database kept by the New America Foundation. No on Gitmo. There will be no executive order to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, Obama administration officials say, a decision that finally slams the door on any possibility of the prison being closed before President Barack Obama leaves office in January. Republicans in Congress have been solidly opposed to bringing Guantanamo detainees to U.S. prisons, and have also pushed back against transferring others to third countries over concerns that the former prisoners would return to militant activities. A recent report concluded that roughly 12 former Gitmo detainees released under the Bush administration eventually returned to the fight in Afghanistan, and some were later responsible for killing at least a half-dozen Americans. Podcast. Check out FPs latest Podcast exploring the future history of Obamas foreign policy, which asks, in the coming decades, will the outgoing presidents foreign policy ultimately be remembered as a success or will it be overshadowed by what some would call his inability to act? South China Sea, as ever. Its Tuesday, and we have yet to report any drama in the South China Sea. In order to make things right, we point out that a Chinese Coast Guard vessel chased down a group of Philippine nationalists on Sunday, preventing them from planting their flag on the Scarborough Shoal, a contested group of rocks off the Philippine coast that both countries claim. Good morning again from the Sitrep crew, thanks for clicking on through for the summer 2016 edition of SitRep. As always, if you have any thoughts, announcements, tips, or national security-related events to share, please pass them along to SitRep HQ. Best way is to send them to: paul.mcleary@foreignpolicy.com or on Twitter: @paulmcleary or @arawnsley North Korea North Korean hackers stole aircraft component designs from two South Korean companies, the Wall Street Journal reports. The breaches, which began in 2014 and have been traced to an IP address in Pyongyang, yielded plans for the wings of F-15 fighter jets and unmanned aerial vehicles. North Koreas cyber capabilities have been the subject of increasing concern since American intelligence attributed to the 2014 hack of Sony Pictures in apparent retaliation for a parody film depicting dictator Kim Jong-un. France An Islamic State-affiliated news outlet has embraced the murder of two people in France by a knife-wielding man whom French authorities say pledged allegiance to the jihadist group, according to the Daily Telegraph. A release put out by the Amaq News Agency cites an Islamic State source calling the killer a fighter for the group. The language is similar to that used in the Amaq release claiming Orlando attack murderer Omar Mateen, in which Mateen was also described as a fighter for the Islamic State. The stabbing attack in France killed a policeman and his wife. Syria al Qaedas Syrian affiliate, the Nusra Front, just absorbed another jihadist group, the Long War Journal reports. The Army of Muhammad in Syria tweeted that it pledged its loyalty to the Nusra Front after spending years fighting in the Syrian civil war. The group, comprised largely of foreign fighters from North Africa, had previously sworn fealty to al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri and fought with the local Islamist militant coalition Jaish al-Fatah. Afghanistan The U.S. is asking its allies to pass the hat to maintain $5 billion dollars of annual support for Afghan security through 2020, Reuters reports. U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Skip Davis says that NATO allies hes spoken with are convinced of the need to maintain financial support for Afghan security forces. The U.S. will get a better idea of how much allies are willing to cough up in July during a NATO summit in Poland. The U.S. has traditionally paid the bulk of the bill for Afghan security, but Davis says the government there may be expected to kick in a slightly larger percentage for its own defense in the coming years. Hamid Karzai is skeptical that the U.S. military is doing much to bring Afghanistans conflict to a close. The former Afghan president was in the U.S. for Muhammad Alis funeral and spoke with the Washington Post, telling the paper he doesnt think military means will bring us [peace]. Karzai instead suggested the U.S. put diplomatic pressure on Pakistan to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table and continue providing support to Afghan security forces. Karzai had a particularly contentious relationship with Washington over special operations raids and other aspects of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan. NATO NATO countries are coughing up more money for defense, much to the delight of the alliances secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg. Members of the Atlantic alliance notched up their collective defense budgets 0.6 percent in 2015 over the previous year. NATO members are supposed to shell out at or above two percent of their gross domestic product on defense but many often fall short of the goal. Stoltenberg said he expects the spending to increase 1.5 percent again this year as bigger spenders such as the U.S. press member countries to live up to their commitments. Kony The Wall Street Journal reports that the Ugandan military is pulling its forces out of the manhunt to track down Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lords Resistance Army (LRA). Kony and his militia-cum-cult, the LRA, have plagued countries in central Africa for years, kidnapping civilians and children and carrying out attacks on government forces. Ugandan officials cited frustration at what they say is a lack of support from other countries in the hunt taking place in the Central African Republic. The U.S. sent 150 advisers in 2014 to help participate in the search for the militant leader, but contributions from other countries in the region has been lacking. Tech GPS signals dont travel very well deep underwater, so the U.S. Navy is working on an alternative navigational system to guide its undersea robots through the oceans. Manned submarines traditionally use large inertial navigation systems to keep track of their position in the absence of satellite contact, but the size of the old-school systems are a poor fit for the kinds of small robotic sub swarms the Navy would like to deploy one day. To remedy that, BAE is developing the Positioning System for Deep Ocean Navigation, conventionally dubbed POSYDON, which would swap the radio-wave beaming satellites that make up the GPS network for a constellation of sonar buoys pinging acoustic signals to help receivers navigate instead. And finally Doctors in Colombia successfully extracted a live grenade lodged in the head of a soldier after a tense surgery in the parking lot of a military hospital in Bogota. Photo Credit: U.S. Army Can't keep up with what's trending in the social media world? Fret not. Here, a gathering of what the stars have been up to this week on the World Wide Web. Fans Go Nuts for Beyonce's Sneeze Beyonce can do no wrong, according to the Beyhive. During her concert at Citi Field in New York City on Tuesday, the performer proved she was actually human - she sneezed. And her fans went wild, cheering her on and screaming, "Bless you!" Beyonce sneezing last night and the whole stadium yelling "Bless You" in return. #FormationWorldTour #NYC pic.twitter.com/I7rpFZS3sa - BEYONCE REIGNS (@BeyonceReigns) June 8, 2016 Hillary Clinton Has No Time for Trump The road to the White House is getting extra heated, as the presidential candidates battle it out at the polls and on social media. After Donald Trump tweeted, "Obama just endorsed Crooked Hillary. He wants four more years of Obama - but nobody else does," Hillary Clinton retweeted him and wrote: "Delete your account." Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus also joined in the convo, writing, "If anyone knows how to use a delete key, it's you." Shade, much? Delete your account. https://t.co/Oa92sncRQY - Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 9, 2016 .@HillaryClinton If anyone knows how to use a delete key, it's you. - Reince Priebus (@Reince) June 9, 2016 The Queen and The Duke Buckingham Palace released a photo of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip in honor of her 90th and his 95th birthday. The Annie Leibovitz-lensed portrait was accompanied by the following quote: "He has, quite simply, been my strength & stay all these years." D'aww. "He has, quite simply, been my strength & stay all these years" A photo for #Queenat90 & The Duke's 95th birthday pic.twitter.com/7nO4Q98bhH- The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) June 9, 2016 Maisie Williams Rewrites Headline Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams didn't appreciate The Daily Mail's latest headline about her, so she took matters into her own hands - she offered an alternative. Instead of "Unveiled: Game of Thrones actress Maisie Williams goes braless in sheer lace dress and quirky headpiece at charity masquerade ball," the 19-year-old beauty suggested, "Game of Thrones actor, Maisie Williams, helps raise thousands at a Summer Masquerade Ball for @NSPCC." Story continues Alternative Game of Thrones actor, Maisie Williams, helps raise thousands at a Summer Masquerade Ball for @NSPCC pic.twitter.com/tsDgOJTTcy- Maisie Williams (@Maisie_Williams) June 6, 2016 Selena Gomez's New Haircut Selena Gomez debuted a new 'do this week. The pop star got wispy bangs, courtesy of hairstylist Marissa Marino. "Bangin," Marino captioned the look on Instagram. Agreed. Bangin @pantene @makeupbymelissam #revivaltour A photo posted by Marissa Marino (@_marissamarino) on Jun 7, 2016 at 3:21pm PDT Lily-Rose Depp Goes to Prom Lily-Rose Depp made headlines this week when she stepped out in a nude, scale-like gown to attend prom. Not that we'd expect anything less from the fashion-forward teen; she did just attend the Cannes Film Festival in a number of show-stopping ensembles. The daughter of Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis posed for photos with her Yoga Hosers co-star Harley Quinn Smith, who is the daughter of director Kevin Smith. A photo posted by Kevin Smith (@thatkevinsmith) on Jun 5, 2016 at 12:39pm PDT Lady Gaga Is #WithHer On Tuesday's Primary Day, Lady Gaga showed off her figure in an American Flag bikini and expressed her support for presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton. Lounging beside a guitar, the pop icon captioned her Insta shot, "#HILLARY2016 Nothing can keep a strong woman down. VOTE for the first female US president in history. Shake it up America, this country needs a little rock n' roll." A photo posted by Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) on Jun 7, 2016 at 11:57am PDT Hugs for Days It's been quite a week for Beyonce as she received the Fashion Icon Award at Monday night's CFDA Awards. After accepting her award, Queen Bey was greeted with much love (as expected). Case in point: Jourdan Dunn, who starred in the "Yonce" music video, gave the performer a big hug on the red carpet. "When you and your bestie (in your head) haven't seen each other for while," captioned the model. When you and your bestie (in your head) haven't seen each other for while @beyonce #YonceReunion #CFDA A photo posted by Jourdan Dunn (@officialjdunn) on Jun 6, 2016 at 9:25pm PDT Iman Remembers David Bowie On Monday, supermodel Iman took to Instagram to remember her late husband, David Bowie, and what would have been their 24th wedding anniversary. Iman's black-and-white photo was overlaid with the words: "The best thing about me is you." Can someone pass the tissues, please? A photo posted by IMAN (@the_real_iman) on Jun 6, 2016 at 3:41am PDT Kendall Jenner Chops Her Hair Selena Gomez isn't the only one to debut a new haircut this week. Kendall Jenner posted a Snapchat on Friday, showing off a shorter 'do. Yay or nay? By Joyce Lee and Erwin Seba SEOUL/LAKE CHARLES, La (Reuters) - South Korean prosecutors expanded their investigation into Lotte Group on Tuesday with raids on at least ten firms including its biggest listed unit Lotte Chemical , heaping further pressure on the country's fifth-largest conglomerate. The probe, which included raids by a 200-strong team on the group's headquarters and other firms last week, ranks as the largest into a South Korean family-run "chaebol" in terms of the number of investigators mobilised, analysts said. Prosecutors are looking into a possible slush fund as well as breach of trust involving transactions among the group's companies, people familiar with the matter said on Friday. The fallout from the probe has already seen the derailment of a planned initial public offering worth up $4.5 billion for Lotte's hotel and duty free unit, as well as Lotte Chemical bowing out of bidding for a U.S. company. But Lotte Group will revive Hotel Lotte's IPO plans with an aim to list around the end of this year, the group's chairman, Shin Dong-bin, told reporters on Tuesday in Lake Charles, Louisiana, at an event to mark work starting on the construction of a chemical plant. The IPO would potentially have been the world's biggest this year. "I am really sorry to cause everyone concern. I feel accountable, and am telling all companies to cooperate," Shin said, in his first public remarks on the investigation. Analysts said deal-making for Lotte, one of the country's most acquisitive conglomerates, is likely to be on hold for some time. A potential acquisition of a U.S duty free operator worth 1.7 trillion won ($1.5 billion) is in doubt now that the IPO has been pulled, a Lotte Duty Free official told Reuters on Tuesday. The investigation is also expected to hit investor confidence not just towards Lotte, one of the country's more opaque conglomerates, but all chaebol, fund managers said. The probe is "a confirmation of governance problems within Korea Inc," said Park Yoo-kyung, a Hong Kong-based director at Netherlands-based APG Asset Management. Story continues A source at the Seoul Prosecutors' Office with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters the investigation had been underway for some time, and that the raids had been prompted by signs that Lotte officials were attempting to conceal evidence. "We couldn't delay anymore," said the source, who declined to be identified as the investigation was ongoing. Asked to respond to the source's remarks, a Lotte Group spokesman said the conglomerate would cooperate fully with the investigation but declined to comment further. FAMILY FEUD Ordinary business may also take a hit at Lotte firms raided. Three officials at Lotte group firms told Reuters that some operations were severely hampered, with computers and documents needed to conduct business having been removed by investigators. The IPO for Hotel Lotte had been intended to simplify the ownership structure and improve corporate governance at the group after a feud over succession among the founding Shin family last year drew wide public criticism. Shin Dong-bin, the younger son of the group's founder, prevailed over his older brother to head the group. He said he planned to remain in the United States for the near future, and expected to return to South Korea around the end of this month. Named after the heroine of an 18th century Goethe novel, Lotte has grown from its founding in Japan 68 years ago as a maker of chewing gum to a corporate giant with interests ranging from hotels and retail to food and chemicals. The group, which has more than 90 firms, spent 7.6 trillion won ($6.5 billion) to buy 21 businesses in the past five years - the most acquisitions among South Korea's 30 largest conglomerates, according to research firm CEO Score. Shares in Lotte Group firms fell again on Tuesday. Lotte Chemical slipped more than 1 percent while Lotte Confectionery and Lotte Chilsung Beverage Co Ltd , which were also raided, lost 3 percent and 4 percent respectively. The broader market edged 0.4 percent lower. (Reporting by Joyce Lee and Hyunjoo Jin; Additional reporting by Jee Heun Kahng and Se Young Lee; Editing by Tony Munroe and Jane Merriman) SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean software services firm Samsung SDS Co Ltd will consider measures such as buying back its own shares or increasing dividend payments in response to requests from minority shareholders, a company executive said on Tuesday. A Samsung SDS spokesman confirmed remarks by Chief Financial Officer Park Sung-tae who told minority shareholders seeking countermeasures to a recent stock price drop that the firm would consider various requests such as a buyback or bigger payouts. The remarks were reported earlier by online news service Edaily. Samsung SDS shares are down 15 percent this month amid speculation the firm might sell off its logistics outsourcing business and information technology systems services divisions to fellow Samsung Group firms Samsung C&T Corp and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd as part of group-wide restructuring. The stock has rebounded in recent days after both Samsung C&T and Samsung Electronics denied the reports last week. Samsung SDS said last week it was considering spinning off its logistics business. (Reporting by Se Young Lee; Editing by Christopher Cushing) By Lesley Wroughton SANTO DOMINGO (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced high-level talks to ease tensions with Venezuela's socialist government on Tuesday, just hours after he backed calls for a referendum that could force President Nicolas Maduro from office. Kerry said the talks would start immediately in Caracas and be led by Thomas Shannon, a veteran of U.S. diplomacy in the region. Attempts last year at dialogue between the ideological foes were stalled by Venezuela's deepening crisis. The two countries have been embroiled in diplomatic hostilities since the administrations of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and U.S. President George W. Bush. Kerry said the goal was to go beyond "the old rhetoric." "I've committed to see if this can work so let's see if we can improve the relationship," he told reporters, after huddling with his Venezuelan counterpart on the sidelines of an Organization of American States (OAS) meeting in the Dominican Republic. The talks would also be aimed at fostering dialogue between Venezuela's government and opposition, Kerry said. Maduro welcomed the proposed talks and repeated his suggestion that the two sides restore ambassadors in each other's capitals after an eight-year hiatus that began when Chavez expelled the U.S. envoy to Venezuela. "I propose to John Kerry 'let's designate ambassadors', I am ready. They have ambassadors in Beijing, Vietnam and Havana, and they don't have one in Caracas," he said in a speech to teachers. Maduro proposed an ambassador in 2014 but U.S. President Barack Obama has not yet accepted his credentials. FIREWORKS AT ASSEMBLY Once one of Latin America's most prosperous nations, Venezuela has plunged into unrest and a harsh economic slowdown. Long lines for food and medicines have led to protests and opposition calls for a recall referendum to remove Maduro. That measure is allowed under the constitution, a point made by Kerry to reporters after he met Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez. Earlier in the day, in a speech to OAS delegates, Kerry gave his backing to the referendum push and called on Chavez's political heirs to release political prisoners and respect fundamental rights. His comments to the 34 members of the main diplomatic body of the Americas marked the strongest show of support yet from the United States for the disputed referendum process. Venezuelas opposition accuses the election council of stalling the recall at the behest of Maduro by arbitrarily changing criteria for requesting a recall vote. Maduro has said any recall against him would be in 2017 at the earliest, pushing back against opposition pressure. Several opposition politicians are in jail, notably hardline leader Leopoldo Lopez, who has a 14-year sentence for inciting 2014 anti-government protests that spiralled into violence killing more than 40 people. The government denies it holds political prisoners. Kerry's comments drew a furious response from Rodriguez, who accused Washington and OAS chief Luis Almagro of "international bullying." "Every day we have evidence of the secretary general's bias in favour of sectors of the opposition who are seeking a coup in Venezuela," she said. I see now this is ordered by Washington. I know they are on Washingtons payroll to meddle in the domestic affairs of Venezuela, she said, speaking through a translator. Kerry was more conciliatory after his first ever bilateral meeting with Rodriguez, saying the United States did not support a push by Almagro to suspend Venezuela from the OAS for alleged violations of the regional group's "democratic charter." "The United States is not taking that position, we are not pushing for a suspension. I don't think that would be constructive," he said. At Almagro's behest, the OAS will hold a meeting later this month to initiate the process that could end in Venezuela's suspension. But the former Uruguayan foreign minister appears isolated in the group, with even right-wing governments opposed to Maduro in the region balking at throwing Venezuela out. Venezuela and the United States have repeatedly gone through periods of diplomatic fighting followed by generally short-lived eras of reconciliation. Following Washington's 2014 rapprochement with Cuba, Shannon met with a top Venezuelan Socialist Party official to improve ties with Caracas. The good mood soured within months when the United States criticized the sentence handed to opposition leader Lopez. (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Additional reporting by Brian Ellsworth in Caracas and Jorge Pineda in Santo Domingo; Writing by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Tom Brown) By Steve Holland and Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic President Barack Obama lambasted Donald Trumps proposed ban on Muslim immigrants on Tuesday in an angry denunciation of the Republican presidential candidates response to the Orlando nightclub massacre. Obama and Hillary Clinton, the Democrat he has endorsed to succeed him in the Nov. 8 general election, made nearly simultaneous speeches responding to Trump, the New York mogul who is soon to become the Republican Partys presidential nominee. Clearly annoyed, Obama used a speech at the Treasury Department to respond to Trumps proposed suspension of immigration from countries with a history of terrorism in response to the killing of 49 people early on Sunday in Orlando, Florida. The gunman was U.S.-born Omar Mateen, 29, whose parents immigrated from Afghanistan. The president, without mentioning Trump by name, dismissed the Republicans criticism of Obama for not using the term radical Islamic terrorism to describe Islamic State militants. Obama called the phrase a political distraction. What exactly would using this label accomplish, what exactly would it change? Obama said. Someone seriously thinks we dont know who were fighting? Theres no magic to the phrase radical Islam. Its a political talking point. Obama, who canceled a joint appearance with Clinton planned on Wednesday in Wisconsin due to the events in Orlando, appeared to be enjoying his role in the campaign to select his successor. He tangled with Trump in 2011, producing his birth certificate to refute Trumps claim that the president was not born in the United States. We now have proposals from the presumptive Republican nominee for president of the United States to bar all Muslims from immigrating to America. We hear language that singles out immigrants and suggests entire religious communities are complicit in violence, Obama said. Where does this stop? Clinton, Obamas former secretary of state, addressed supporters in Pittsburgh. The candidate said Trumps proposal bolstered her case that he was temperamentally unfit to serve as president, saying the commander in chief is a job that demands a calm, collected and dignified response to events like the Orlando massacre. Story continues Clinton noted that Trump seemed to suggest on Monday in a television interview that Obama might have somehow been responsible for the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, a point that Trump said he did not make. I have to ask: Will responsible Republican leaders stand up to their presumptive nominee or will they stand by his accusation about our president? she said. The biting criticism was likely to increase the discomfort among many establishment Republican leaders about Trump with little more than a month until party figures gather in Cleveland July 18-21 to formally nominate him. House Speaker Paul Ryan, the top U.S. elected Republican who was his partys 2012 vice presidential nominee, on Tuesday distanced himself from the proposed Muslim ban in a further sign of establishment unease with Trumps agenda. Ryan endorsed Trump two weeks ago but subsequently chided him for calling a federal judge biased because of the U.S.-born jurists Mexican heritage. I do not think a Muslim ban is in our countrys interests, said Ryan, who last year criticized Trumps original proposal for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States. Ryan and like-minded establishment Republicans have struggled to reconcile their desire to unify the party before a tough fight against Clinton while at the same time separating themselves from some of the positions and rhetoric of Trump, who defeated 16 rivals to win the presidential nomination battle. U.S. Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, who sources say is among the Republicans that Trump is considering for his vice presidential nominee, said he was discouraged by the way the Trump campaign was going. It wasnt the type of speech one would expect, Corker said of Trumps Monday speech in New Hampshire. Trump was to hold a campaign rally on Tuesday night in Greensboro, North Carolina. Trump has been resolute in demanding tighter immigration policies, and the Orlando attack has prompted him to intensify his rhetoric as he tries to win more support from Americans with deep security fears. Trump noted that Mateens parents were born in Afghanistan. Pointing to specific incidents such as the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, he said threats were posed by people with roots in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Somalia. Trump on Tuesday met at Trump Tower in New York with a host of Republican governors, including Oklahomas Mary Fallin, who a source close to the campaign says is also on Trumps short list to be his vice presidential running mate. A Republican official said others in the meeting included the governors of Mississippi, Arizona, Arkansas, Nebraska and Tennessee, as well as New Jerseys Chris Christie, a close Trump adviser and former presidential rival. Trump was celebrating his 70th birthday on Tuesday. Clinton is 68. (Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell, Amanda Becker, Susan Heavey and David Alexander in Washington and Emily Flitter in New York; Editing by Jonathan Oatis) The Illinois General Assembly is the most ineffective legislative body in the United States, maybe the world. So logic would say that when 158 of the 177 positions are up for election the competition to replace the current inhabitants would be intense. This is Illinois politics. Logic doesnt live here. After the recent deadline for candidates to file for a spot on the November ballot, we know now how the races are shaping up. Its not a pretty picture if youre a fan of representative government. Out of those 158 possible races for the General Assembly, 62 are contested races. Nearly 60 percent of the races in the General Assembly are walk-overs; the candidates dont even have an opponent. In the House, 50 out of a possible 118 races are contested; in the Senate, 12 out of 40 are contested. About half of the contested races are located in Chicago and its suburbs. That means most Illinois residents wont have an opportunity to change the makeup of the General Assembly. There are a lot of reasons to vote in November, but for most Illinois residents impacting state government wont be one of them. There is a tendency in politics to hate the institution, but love the representative. While a lot of people are disgusted with the lack of progress in state government, fewer blame their local representative. Politicians are adept at blaming the institution, rather than take personal responsibility. However, this lack of competitiveness is built into the system. This is a reason why Illinois needs to change the way its political map are drawn. When politicians draw the maps the result is what we currently have in Illinois: a gerrymandered system aimed more at protecting incumbents than representing citizens. The Independent Map Amendment has gathered the signatures necessary to get placed on the November ballot. A court challenge, orchestrated by a friend of House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, is the next hurdle for the amendment. The amendment is important because it would remove the map making process from the politicians. The proposed system would result in fairer political maps and more competitive elections. Thats why the Springfield politicians fear the Independent Map movement. Members of both parties are comfortable with the status quo, which keeps most of them drawing big legislative salaries with little worries about competitive elections. Many legislators will say they voted for redrawing the maps during the last session, which technically may be true. But that was a charade. The two houses considered different re-mapping resolutions; with no intention of the Senate and House working together on the required similar language. The budget impasse, the unfunded pension liability, the inability to properly and effective fund education is a result of the current map drawing process. Illinois residents want a chance to change their dysfunctional government, but that wont happen until the map drawing process is changed. (Reuters) - World number two Jordan Spieth has played down fears that the Zika virus could affect his participation at the 2016 Rio Games, adding that he is looking forward to the "tremendous honour" of representing his country in Brazil. The 22-year-old, who will defend his U.S. Open title at Oakmont this week, had not categorically committed to the event over fears of the mosquito-borne virus, which has been linked to birth defects and developmental problems in babies. With golf returning to the Olympics after a 112-year absence, Spieth said he was satisfied by the information given by the PGA Tour. "Based on what's come to my knowledge at this point, it seems like it's going to be an extremely memorable experience," Spieth told reporters in a press conference on Monday. "I look forward to trying to win a gold for the United States. "Do I think being an Olympian outweighs any significant health threat? No. If I thought that the threat was significant, I certainly would not go." World number one Jason Day also expressed doubt about his participation over fears about the virus earlier this month. U.S. health officials have concluded that Zika infections in pregnant women can cause microcephaly, a birth defect marked by small head size that can lead to severe developmental problems in babies. The World Health Organization has said there is strong scientific consensus that Zika can also cause Guillain-Barre, a rare neurological syndrome that causes temporary paralysis in adults. The connection between Zika and microcephaly first came to light last fall in Brazil, which has now confirmed more than 1,400 cases of microcephaly that it considers to be related to Zika infections in the mothers. The Rio Olympics take place from Aug. 5-21. (Reporting by Nivedita Shankar in Bengaluru, editing by Pritha Sarkar) LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - More than nine out of ten refugee and migrant children arriving in Europe through Italy this year are traveling alone, the U.N. children's agency UNICEF said on Tuesday, warning of "appalling" risks children face while escaping conflict and poverty. In the first five months of 2016, more than 7,000 unaccompanied children made the crossing from North Africa to Italy, following a route that in recent weeks has become the busiest and the deadliest for migrants to Europe, UNICEF said. The children rely on human smugglers, often under a "pay as you go system", making them prone to exploitation and abuse including rape, forced labor, beatings and death, UNICEF said. It said Italian social workers told the agency some boys and girls were sexually assaulted and forced into prostitution in Libya, while some of the girls arriving in Italy were pregnant as a result of rape. "If you try to run they shoot you and you die. If you stop working, they beat you. It was just like the slave trade," 16-year old Aimamo told UNICEF. "Once I was just resting for five minutes, and a man beat me with a cane. After working, they lock you inside," he said, describing conditions on the farm in Libya where he worked for two months with his brother to pay the smugglers. The number of unaccompanied children traveling from North Africa to Italy so far in 2016 was more than double that of the same period in 2015, UNICEF said, adding that it could not pinpoint one reason why the numbers had spiked. Christopher Tidey, a UNICEF spokesman, said girls from Nigeria told him they fled to Europe to escape early marriage, while a boy from Somalia said his family sent him away after militant group al Shabaab threatened to recruit him. "Extreme poverty is a major motivator as well," Tidey told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone from Germany. "I met a number of boys from countries like Gambia who made the trip basically because their families were so poor that the older ones were being sent to Europe effectively to try and earn money to send back home." As calmer summer weather begins, European officials who struck a deal with Turkey to block crossings to Greece have been scrambling for ways to shut down flows on the other major sea route into the EU from Libya. Between Jan. 1 and June 5 this year, more than 2,800 deaths were recorded in the whole of the Mediterranean, the vast majority on the dangerous central Mediterranean route from North Africa, compared with 3,770 in 2015, said UNICEF. It said 235,000 migrants were currently in Libya, tens of thousands of them lone children, many trying to make it to Northern France in hope of eventually reaching Britain. (Reporting by Magdalena Mis; Editing by Ros Russell; Please credit Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, womens rights, corruption and climate change. Visit news.trust.org) The judge who will decide if Led Zeppelin copied a guitar riff when writing "Stairway to Heaven" will hear from the band's musicologist at trial - despite a last-ditch effort to have him tossed for a conflict of interest. Trial is set to begin Tuesday morning to put to rest a dispute about whether "Stairway" infringes on a 1968 instrumental song called "Taurus" by the band Spirit. Michael Skidmore, who manages songwriter Randy Wolfe's trust, sued the band in 2014. Late Filings Seek to Exclude Led Zeppelin's Expert in 'Stairway' Copyright Trial Over the weekend, Skidmore's attorney, Francis Malofiy, filed a motion to exclude noted musicologist Lawrence Ferrara from testifying, claiming the expert had previously been hired by the plaintiff's publisher to evaluate the similarities between the two songs. Zeppelin's attorney Peter Anderson, in his opposition to the filing, called the motion a baseless and desperate attempt to interfere with their defense. "Defendants' counsel did exactly what was appropriate when they learned that Dr. Ferrara had been consulted by Universal and Rondor: They obtained Universal and Rondor's consent to defendants' retention of Dr. Ferrara," Anderson writes. Malofiy also asked the court to reconsider a summary judgment order which reduces any recoverable damages by 50 percent. U.S. District Court Judge R. Gary Klausner on Monday ordered both the motions to be stricken because "hearing information is missing, incorrect, or not timely" and one of the filings exceeded the court's 20-page limit. In short: too much, too late. Led Zeppelin Says 'Stairway to Heaven' Adversary Is Trying to Taint the Jury Pool In a rather amusing Monday filing, Anderson also opposed Skidmore's request to use two electric guitars for demonstrative purposes. Though it's a trial about a guitar riff, Anderson points out that Skidmore's musicologist testified that he doesn't play guitar. Anderson previously asked the court to exclude three other experts, who do play guitar, and Klausner tentatively agreed. Story continues So, whom would that leave to play these guitars? Anderson suspects it's Malofiy and says that would be inappropriate. "Skidmore's enigmatic assertion that the guitars he seeks permission to bring into the courtroom 'would include use by Plaintiff's experts' ... suggests that Skidmore's counsel may seek to play a guitar at trial," Anderson writes. "To permit him to do so would not only make his counsel a witness at trial, but effectively give Skidmore a new, previously undisclosed 'expert.'" Klausner has yet to rule on that motion. This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter LONDON (Reuters) - Standard Chartered said it will stop providing financing to parts of the diamond and jewellery industries as part of a review of its exposure to risky sectors. The business, which comprises around $2 billion in loans to so called midstream diamond and jewellery companies which trade and polish the precious commodities, would be shut down, the bank confirmed on Tuesday. "Continuing to provide financing to the midstream diamond and jewellery segment falls outside of the bank's tightened risk tolerances. We are working with clients to ensure a smooth exit," said a spokesman for the bank. Banks in some of the biggest diamond and jewellery markets such as India have reined in lending in the last two years, fearing defaults amid greater regulatory scrutiny of the sector, which has led to a broad credit crunch. Industry sources told Reuters in January that banks including Standard Chartered, State Bank of India, IDBI Bank Ltd and ABN Amro had become cautious over their exposure to the jewellery sector. (Reporting by Lawrence White; Editing by Alexander Smith) In his first Late Show since a gunman slaughtered 49 people at a nightclub in Orlando using a semi-automatic rifle early Sunday morning, Stephen Colbert and his guest Bill OReilly went toe-to-toe on CBSs The Late Show over the reaction to same by the two presumptive presidential candidates. Colbert especially wanted to know what the Fox News Channel primetime star thought of his pal Trumps Sunday morning tweet on the subject. The two men didnt actually bite each other in the exchange, but when youd said that, youd said about all you could of the conversation: Colbert: What do you think of Trumps response? OReilly: Its a political response. Colbert: It seems fairly self-congratulatory. OReilly: Yes it is. He is a politician. It should not shock you. Colbert: There are other politicians who wouldnt say I appreciate the congrats. I called it! Thats not political behavior. Thats grandstanding. OReilly: He wants to be president. Hes using the terrorism issue to bolster his popularity. Colbert: So hes making a political tool out of a terror attack. OReilly: Thats what he is doing. FYI this is the tweet Colbert referenced: Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism, I don't want congrats, I want toughness & vigilance. We must be smart! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 12, 2016 Anyway, according to video sent to media, the exchange appeared to get more contentious from there, which we wouldnt have thought possible, until we saw it. Colbert, like other-late night hosts tonight, veered from his usual show opening in light of Sundays shooting, which marked this countrys highest fatality count in an attack since 9/11. Stephen opened with his comments on the deadly shooting and how routine this has become: Story continues Naturally we each ask ourselves what can we say in the face of this horror. But then sadly, you realize, you know what to say because its been said too many times before. You have a pretty good idea of what most people are going to say. You know what a president, whoever it is, will probably say. You know what both sides of a political aisle will say. You know what gun manufacturers will say. Even me, with a silly show like this, you have some idea of what I will say. Because even I have talked about this when it has happened before. It as if theres a national script that we have learned. and I think by acceptin the script we tacitly accept that the script will end the same way every time with nothing changing. Except for the loved ones and the families of the victims for whom nothing will ever be the same. Related stories Disney Gives $1M To Orlando Shooting Victims Fund Anderson Cooper Grills Florida AG Over Stance On Gay Community Disney Bolsters Security At Parks & Resorts After Orlando Shooting The Orlando mass shooting led Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon and Trevor Noah to take time out from their respective late-night shows on Monday to speak on what this latest tragedy means to us as a country. Colbert opened The Late Show on CBS by saying that we as a nation have come to except moments like this, and that we pretty much know how it will play out. You know what a president, whoever it is, will probably say. You know what both sides of the political aisle will say, Colbert said. You know what gun manufacturers will say. Even me, with a silly show like this, you have some idea of what I will say. Because even I have talked about this when it has happened before. Its as if theres a national script that we have learned. Also Read: FBI Investigating Claims Orlando Shooter Frequented Pulse Nightclub Before Attack And I think by accepting the script we tacitly accept that the script will end the same way every time he continued. With nothing changing. Except for the loved ones and the families of the victims for whom nothing will ever be the same. Fallon, who hosts The Tonight Show on NBC, offered similar sentiments and also called on Americans to use this as teaching moment for tolerance. Maybe theres a lesson from all this. A lesson in tolerance, Fallon said. We need to support each others differences and worry less about our own opinions. Get back to debate and away from believing or supporting the idea that if someone doesnt live the way you want them to live, you just buy a gun and kill them. Bomb them up. That is not OK. Also Read: Conan O'Brien Calls for Ban on Assault Rifles After Orlando Massacre We need to get back to being brave enough to accept that we have different opinions and thats OK, because that is what America is built on, Fallon continued. The idea that we can stand up and speak our minds and live our lives and not be punished for that, or mocked on the Internet, or killed by someone you dont know. Story continues Noah, a South African comedian who replaced Jon Stewart on The Daily Show, gave the most pointed criticism, in which he described his own take on the tragedy from the perspective of someone recently arrived in this country. I wonder if President Obama ever thought to himself that mass shooting speeches would be such a big part of his job, Noah said. You know, at this point, hes hosted 12 State Dinners, but has had to make 16 mass shooting addresses. The saddest part is every time this happens, it feels like America has already decided, Noah continued. This is exactly the kind of country it wants to be. Because we know how this always plays out: Were shocked, we mourn, we change our profile pics, and we move on. Its become normal. Im sorry. Maybe its because Im new, but its not normal. And it shouldnt be normal. We shouldnt allow this to be normal. Also Read: Orlando Victims GoFundMe Raises Over $2.7 Million on First Day Watch Colbert above Watch Fallon below, followed by a video from The Daily Show. Related stories from TheWrap: 8 Latest Developments in Orlando Shooting (Video) Orlando Shooter Scouted Disney World for Potential Attack (Report) Conservative Blogger Jim Hoft Comes Out As Gay After Orlando Terror Attack Dana Giacchetto, the high-flying money manager known as the stockbroker to the stars for his business associations with Leonardo DiCaprio and other celebrities before he plead guilty to securities fraud, was found dead in his Manhattan apartment Sunday. He was 53. Giacchettos roommate found him face up in bed and foaming at the mouth in their Upper West Side apartment after a weekend of heavy partying, according to the New York Daily News. Giacchetto was seen Friday at a party for the film Legends of Freestyle where he was said to be clearly intoxicated, scuffling with security guards and making a scene outside the club. Among his clients in the 1990s were Cameron Diaz, Michael Ovitz, Tobey Maguire, Ben Affleck, Michael Stipe and Matt Damon. His successful business deals before his arrest included brokering the sale of 49 percent of Sub Pop records to Warner Music Group for $20 million. His colorful life was full of dramatic highs and lows: While awaiting trial in 2000, for example, he was apprehended in Las Vegas carrying large amounts of cash and airline tickets. He claimed he was flying to Rome to propose to his girlfriend, though it seemed more like he had intended to escape his impending jail sentence. In 2001, he was sentenced to the maximum term of nearly four years in prison for stealing $5 million to $10 million from his clients. Clients including Diaz, Alanis Morisette, Tim Roth and Richard LaGravenese ended up paying back a portion of the funds that were diverted to their accounts. Related stories Katy Perry Sings, Leonardo DiCaprio Texts at Cannes amfAR Gala Leonardo DiCaprio Invests in, Joins Advisory Board of Ecuadorian Beverage Company Runa Leonardo DiCaprio: 'Our Planet Cannot Be Saved Unless We Leave Fossil Fuels in the Ground' Los Angeles (AFP) - The ex-companion of media mogul Sumner Redstone has filed an appeal against a judge's decision to dismiss her bid to be re-installed as the 93-year-old billionaire's caretaker, likening her case to a Shakespearean tragedy. "The comparison of waning Sumner Redstone to demented King Lear is apt," Manuela Herzer said in her petition for a new trial filed in Los Angeles Superior Court. Her attorney Pierce O'Donnell argued in the petition that the judge who had dismissed the case in May must reconsider his ruling as there was new evidence proving Redstone's daughter, Shari Redstone, had schemed over a two-year period to get rid of her father's caretaker. Among other things, the petition claims that Shari Redstone had seized control of her father's affairs, isolating him from his closest friends and colleagues as she sought to rule over his $40 billion media empire. "This highly probative evidence demonstrates that Manuela was right all along about Shari's greed and thirst for power motivating her machinations," O'Donnell said in his petition. "All of this material new evidence has only recently been discovered and was unavailable at the time of trial." O'Donnell added that the case should be reopened as Herzer had also not gotten her fair day in court. The high-stakes lawsuit brought by Herzer was dismissed after the judge heard videotaped testimony from Redstone in which he used expletives in referring to her and said he wanted his one-time lover and longtime companion out of his life. "This case is a tragedy reminiscent of Shakespeare's King Lear," O'Donnell said. "Mentally incapacitated Redstone is a demented Lear. "Ailing and easily fooled, Lear, unable to discern false flattery from the truth, is duped into surrendering his power, land and fortune to his two deceitful daughters who ruthlessly implement their scheme to eliminate all opposition to their usurpation of their father's authority." Story continues The petition added another layer to a case that has unfolded like a soap opera, captivating Hollywood and Wall Street as court papers have laid out salacious details about the mogul's private life and his troubled relationship with his daughter. Herzer was removed as his caretaker last October and cut out of his will. She has since been battling to be reinstated as health care agent, arguing that he was mentally incapacitated and unduly influenced. She has also filed a separate lawsuit claiming she was cut out of the mogul's inheritance. Shari Restone's attorneys could not be immediately reached for comment. Last week, Shari Redstone appeared to strengthen her control over Viacom as the company announced that it was changing its bylaws to block the sale of a stake in its valuable film unit Paramount Pictures. Just over a month after the first Sumner Redstone health care trial was dismissed and with legal battles over Viacom and more on many fronts across the nation, the media moguls ex-companion today made a move for another day in court with harsh words for daughter Shari Redstone and Shakespearean overtones galore. The comparison of waning Sumner Redstone to demented King Lear is apt, says a motion for new trial filed Monday by lawyers for Manuela Herzer (read it here), claiming again that the dismissal of Redstones ex as his health care agent last fall was invalid. Ailing and easily fooled, King Lear, unable to discern false flattery from the truth, is duped into surrendering his power, land, and fortune to his two conniving daughters who ruthlessly implement their scheme to eliminate all opposition, the petitioners motion submitted in L.A. Superior Court today by Herzers Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinge legal team. RelatedSumner Redstone Case Judge Says Hell Rule At End Of June On Trial Process Todays paperwork seeks a July 11 hearing on the matter and a proposed order setting a new trial date to ostensibly pick up where the May 9 shuttered trial over who controls the billionaires care when he cant make decisions for himself never got to go. The move was essentially promised by Herzers lead lawyer Pierce ODonnell last month when Judge David Cowan threw out the first trial after a video deposition of Redstone indicated that the ex-Viacom boss wanted Herzer out of his life and his sometimes estranged daughter to be in charge of his care. With flaws in Judge Cowans ruling rife throughout the filing and much fuel to the fire that the mogul lost capacity at least before last fall, Redstones daughter and now health care agent Shari is the object of scorn and suspicion. The crux of that being that new evidence has come to light in recent weeks confirming that the younger Redstone had a three-part plan to take over her fathers life and businesses like Viacom and CBS. All of this material new evidence has only recently been discovered and was unavailable at the time of trial, said ODonnell after todays filing was entered in the court. Story continues Shari waited until the Courts supervision had terminated before she implemented her two year scheme to seize control of Redstones media empire, the ODonnell and Bert Fields led legal team assert today in the motion, with references to the corporate and family trust matters that have arisen since Herzers case was tossed. She then capitalized on her control of her frail, incapacitated father, using her father as an unwitting tool to realize her corporate agenda, the 16-page poetically inclined filing notes. Post-trial developments have verified the truth of Herzers theory in this case, and given new meaning and significance to evidence that she would have presented at trial. Accordingly, a new trial is necessary to alter Herzer present this new evidence and to rectify the refusal to testify and present other material evidence she would have offered at the original trial. Todays petition adds to the $100 million civil suit filed on May 9 against Shari Redstone and seven members of her fathers household medical staff. It also comes to L.A. Superior Court as the Redstones fight in this jurisdiction to affirm the removal of Viacom chair and CEO Philippe Dauman and board member George Abrams from the family trust last month. This is in addition to other court maneuvers in Massachusetts and on the East Coast in what has become a family and corporate civil war. A new trial will reveal why the twilight of Redstones storied life is a tragedy on a scale with Lear: A cunning, thankless child whose convenient reconciliation with her debilitated, defenseless father is a ruse to accomplish what her father had gone to elaborate ends to prevent her seizure of his kingdom, the filing pleads drawing again from William Shakespeare, of whom attorney Fields has written books about. This Courts decision granting the Petition following a new trial can prevent what happened to Lear where machinations, hollowness, treachery, and all ruinous disorders, follow us disquietly to our graves.' Though such retrial requests are usually rejected, the escalating profile of matters Redstone and said new evidence could see this get at least a hearing. Either way, it will not be the stuff as dreams are made on for any concerned and a potential PR nightmare for Shari Redstone Related stories Is Sumner Redstone Planning His Own Paramount Deal? Viacom Says Bylaw Changes To Thwart A Paramount Deal May Be Invalid Viacom Nears A Deal To Sell 49% Of Paramount, Despite Sumner Redstone's Objections, CEO Says The Guadalupe River rises to the steps of Rockin R in Gruene on Oct. 30. London (AFP) - An endorsement from the top-selling Sun tabloid on Tuesday boosted the campaign for Britain to leave the EU in next week's referendum, as the increasing likelihood of a Brexit weighed on global investor confidence. The decision by Rupert Murdoch's paper was no surprise given its eurosceptic coverage, but combined with a recent string of opinion polls which put the "Leave" camp ahead, it contributed to a sense of momentum. Investors have responded by selling stocks and putting their money in safe investments, as concerns grow over the potential economic fall-out from Britain voting to become the first country to leave the 28-member bloc on June 23. In mid-afternoon trading, London's benchmark FTSE 100 index was nearly 1.3 percent down compared with Monday's close, while the Frankfurt and Paris markets also fell. The pound had hit two-month lows against the dollar and European single currency on Monday, and only recovered slightly on Tuesday. Meanwhile, strong demand for German government bonds, viewed as rock-solid investments, pushed their yields into negative territory for the first time ever. A YouGov poll for The Times gave the "Leave" camp 46 percent, compared to 39 percent for "Remain" -- the fourth survey since Friday to put them ahead. Only one has put the Brexit camp behind. A compilation of the six latest polls by the WhatUKThinks research project, which excludes undecided voters, puts "Leave" ahead by 51 percent to 49 percent. Matt Singh, a polling expert who runs the Number Cruncher Politics website, told AFP: "In terms of the direction of travel, there's clear evidence of a move towards 'Leave'." But he cautioned that there were still questions about the extent of the move. On Monday, Singh put the probability of a Brexit at 33 percent, its highest-ever level. - Jobs and immigration - UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage brandished a copy of The Sun while out campaigning, saying he was "absolutely thrilled" by its endorsement. Story continues In a front page editorial, the paper urged its 4.5 million readers to "BeLEAVE in Britain", saying: "We must set ourselves free from dictatorial Brussels." It warned that staying in the EU would leave Britain "powerless" to stop the hundreds of thousands of European migrants who come to the country every year, putting "catastrophic pressure" on public services. The main opposition Labour party, which is backing "Remain", sought to counter this argument by warning that half a million jobs were at risk from a recession that some experts predict could follow a Brexit. At a rally in London, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn also highlighted how the EU protected workers' rights such as longer holidays and maternity leave. "We believe that a 'Leave' vote will put many of those things seriously and immediately at risk," he said, flanked by members of his party and trade union leaders. The "Remain" camp also published a letter from 60 health experts -- former heads of various colleges representing medical staff specialities -- warning of the risks that a Brexit would present to the state-run National Health Service. - Keira speaks out - On Tuesday evening, two of the biggest names on both sides of the campaign will go head-to-head in a debate hosted by the Huffington Post, YouTube and the Daily Telegraph. Former Scottish National Party (SNP) leader Alex Salmond, who is backing "Remain", will debate with lead Brexit campaigner Boris Johnson, the former Conservative mayor of London who is tipped as a future prime minister, in a debate which begins at 1800 GMT. As the poll nears, campaigners are pushing for a high turnout -- using increasingly blunt tactics. Hollywood actress Keira Knightley, who has previously expressed support for "Remain", made a short film in which she said it took only five seconds for her to practise the "perfect awards face". "And it takes five seconds to mark an X in a ballot box." By Eric M. Johnson CALGARY, Alberta, June 14 (Reuters) - Suncor Energy Inc has told employees the massive wildfire that struck northern Alberta in May will cost the company nearly C$1 billion ($777.91 million), two sources at Canada's largest crude producer told Reuters. The wildfire, which caused the evacuation of the Canadian oil sands hub of Fort McMurray, forced Suncor and other major crude producers in the area to halt operations for weeks, at one point cutting Canada's crude output by more than a million barrels a day. One Suncor worker, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak to reporters, said an executive told employees on Monday that the company expects fire-related losses of "just shy" of C$1 billion. A second employee, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said workers were told that direct costs related to the fire and the loss of production would cost nearly C$1 billion. A Suncor spokeswoman declined to comment on wildfire-related losses. Suncor has several oil sands facilities, including the main mining site which has the capacity to produce up to 350,000 barrels per day. Suncor last week said it expected to have its base plant operations back to pre-fire production rates within a week and all operations in the region producing at normal, pre-turnaround rates by the end of June. The sources said they were told that the company's thermal operations were not coming back online as quickly as hoped because of blockages, likely stemming from the shutdown of steam injections that melt the tarry bitumen in reservoirs. But they were also told Suncor had as much as six months' worth of available inventory at its main mining site, more than the typical amount of roughly two months. Suncor spokeswoman Sneh Seetal declined to comment on specifics of operations but said the broader effort to bring production online was on track. "Our return to operations is going as planned," she said. "We are bringing these operations back." ($1 = 1.2855 Canadian dollars) (Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe) Orlando's Pulse nightclub has been part of 28-year-old Michael Belvedere's life for nearly seven years. The LGBT club was one of the places he began developing the drag queen persona Axel Andrews - whose drag mother is RuPaul's Drag Race vet/Orlando fixture Roxxxy Andrews - before joining the staff as a bartender and castmember about four years ago. Belvedere, who recently purchased a house, says he was able to do so "because of the love and opportunities Pulse had given me." At 2 a.m. on Sunday, heavily armed gunman Omar Mateen opened fire and began taking hostages at the popular central Florida gay bar. Hours later, a SWAT team shot and killed Mateen, but not before the gunman declared his allegiance to ISIS and killed 49 people in what is now the deadliest mass shooting in American history. Read More: Tonys: James Corden, Lin-Manuel Miranda Call for Love Over Hate After Orlando Shooting As on most Saturdays, Belvedere was tending bar that night. After several tense, uncertain hours, he made it out alive. On Monday afternoon (June 13), Belvedere spoke to Billboard over the phone about his experience: what he saw, how he survived and helped others escape, and the unexpected kindness a stranger showed him after the tragedy. How long have you been at Pulse? I've been there coming up on seven years. I started off as an entertainer doing their talent shows and developing my character as an entertainer. I was working on and off there for a couple years. About four years ago is when I started bartending there. I became a castmember, hosting a talent show every Thursday, and I would bartend every Wednesday and Saturday. So Saturday you were just bartending? Yes. Were you in drag? No. I started bartending in drag. The owner [Barbara Poma] thought it would be fun to have the entertainers be bartenders, and it started off fun, but it takes hours to get ready. We ended up making the same amount of money either way, so we decided it wasn't lucrative to bartend in drag. Story continues I know it's a smaller-sized venue. What's its role in the Orlando gay scene? In Orlando we consider the Pulse, Parliament House and Southern Nights the Big Three. Those are the clubs that are very stable, they've been there since the beginning. Pulse was about to celebrate 12 years. It was one of the more important nightclubs; it was the one for the younger kids. We used to get a lot of straight people too; I feel like 35-40 percent straight sometimes. It was a bar everyone could go to and feel comfortable at. How many hours had you been working there on Saturday when the shooting started? I'd been there since 10, when my shift starts. The bartender who is normally next to me was out of town, so I was next to a newer bartender. When that happens, I get a lot of my friend's clientele, so I was extremely busy. It was just a normal night, actually a really good night for me making good money. It was just a couple minutes before 2 o'clock when I heard the first gunshots. Read More: Bill OReilly Says Trump's Orlando Tweet Is a "Political Response" to "Bolster His Popularity" Did you realize what was going on right away, or did you think it was music? Everyone thought it was music. Especially the room I work in, it's called the Adonis Lounge; it's a separate room attached to the club. It's darker, there are dancers in there, and we have our own DJ, DJ Flawless. That room is older - I thought maybe the wiring was getting messed with when I heard the loud popping. And a lot of people thought it was the music as well and just continued to go along with the night. When did you realize it wasn't music? Did you see the gunman? I did not see the gunman. To be honest, the noise was so loud, it sounded like it was on top of me. Your first reaction is to get down. It literally felt like the gunman was next to me. The other bartender ran toward me and we were both lying down, but there was still a question if it was fake. Some of us thought it might be fireworks. Even at one point a girl who was hiding with us jumped up and, very drunkenly, was like, "This is fake, this isn't real." She almost made us believe her. Then the gunshots kept going. I remember lying on my back looking at the ceiling. I remember feeling like the gunshots were on top of me but they were getting louder and closer. At that point we all ran for our lives. I ran toward the back of the room. I don't know what made me think there's a back alley and I could have ran to the back alley and out through the parking lot, but I panicked and went into a dressing room. It had a lock on the door you needed a code for. I put the code in quicker than I've ever done it, and by the time I was in there, I noticed there were already people in there - one of them being Angelica Sanchez, our main entertainer at Pulse. She was just out having a good time; I don't think she was working that night. She was terrified. At first it seemed there were only five of us in there, but then it came out there were eight of us; they were just hiding really well. How long were you in the room? We were in there for hours. I don't know what happened, but I got into survival mode. Maybe because I didn't see the gunner, I still kind of doubted it - I was scared - but I tried to think what I'd do if he came in the room. Everyone was hiding, but I stood on a chair beside the door and I picked up the heaviest chair in the room and held it above my head for a while, waiting for him to open the door. I was going to try to hit him with it. I stood there for a while and realized there wasn't much noise for a little bit. Maybe five, 10 minutes, but I'll be honest, my timeframe was totally off - it could have been two minutes or 20. Read More: J.K. Rowling "Can't Stop Crying" Over Wizarding World Employee Killed in Orlando Shooting So you were prepared. Everyone else was hiding. The way I saw it, someone firing off so many shots, he couldn't have been selectively shooting. I figured if he came in, he wouldn't even blink before shooting all of us, so I figured I'd prepare myself and maybe damage him or stop him before he could just pick us off like fish in a barrel. Did he attempt to come into the room? At one point the door opened, very slightly, I don't even think he looked through the crack. I also don't know if it was him. Then it closed. I don't know if he thought it was a storage closet or something, or it could have been someone else looking for a place to stay. But just for a second it was open and then it was closed again. Was it silent in the room, or were you talking to each other? In that room, there are makeup stations. There was a girl lying on the ground under one of the stations. I kneeled next to her near the door, still with the chair in my hand, preparing. I found out deep under the makeup station, where it was really dark, there was another girl hiding. And that girl was throwing up a lot. She'd had a lot to drink that night, that and between her nerves. That was the first noise for a while I heard. Angelica, she was calling all the people she loved and whispering to them, so I heard her. Next to her, there's a toilet in there with a privacy curtain; Angelica was there with three girls and two boys hiding behind the curtain. They would talk to each other and cry a lot. Were you texting anyone? It took me about 20 minutes. People were blowing up my phone, but I didn't think I'd be able to talk. Then I started sending text messages. I didn't want to worry my mom or my family so I sent them a text - maybe they thought I'd been drinking - that I loved them and they're the best family. And I sent a group text message to some of my best friends and people who have been there for me just because if something happened and I never told them. I didn't respond to any messages at first. Then my manager called me and I stayed on the phone with him. The police then guided me, through him, through the rest of the night. When did it end? At first we would hear some ruckus out there. There were times I'd go 10 minutes without hearing anything. And then I remember at one point I heard some reallyblood-curdling screams from some girls who were out there. It sounded like a horror movie, it didn't sound real. I thought someone was playing a joke on us. It wasn't real. The screams were something out of a horror movie. I guess people tried running for it. I heard what I thought was a police officer by the way he was talking to them. He was yelling at them like "get down, motherf - er, put your hands down." To me it was something a cop would say, like, "Put your cell phone down, turn the light off." He kept calling them a motherf - er over and over. So for me, I was relieved because I thought it was the police but it turned out to be the shooter. I wound up shortly after that hearing more gunshots, and then it was silent for a really long time. I kept my ear toward the door, I still had the chair in my hand the whole time. I heard a glass break. Eventually the policethey were just talking to me, I was giving them diagrams of how to find us. And then eventually the police officers got people out in the dressing room across from us. I could hear the door open, get them out, and 30 minutes after that, we gave them a diagram to get to us, and they found a back wall behind us where there was an AC window unit mounted in cement. The police officer pushed it through, we caught it, and we all crawled out through the window. It sounds like you took control of the situation. Well, I tried. Two of the boys in there, they didn't know English, the girls were hysterical, Angelica was praying because she's very spiritual so... When the police officer came, the first thing I worried about was that [the window] was a pretty small space, and my friend Angelica is not a small person. The first thing I thought was, "I'm not going to leave her." I was upset. I was like, "That means I'm not leaving." But we wound up getting Angelica through. I'll be honest: I'm disappointed the two boys went out before the girls. So the two boys went out and I stayed to help the girls go out. Because it was up in the wall, they needed help to stand on things, and then I was the last one to go out. Read More: Orlando Nightclub Mass Shooting: Artists, Concert Execs Weigh In on Security Challenges What did you feel when you were out? Relief. People want to say so many negatives about the cops and stuff, but the first thing - every time I heard a cop, every time I heard a walkie-talkie, or I thought of a cop coming, it was like the presence of an angel. You prayed for that cop. When I crawled out of the window and saw the cops, they caught me - it was like a safety blanket. I felt safe right away. They made us all stand in a line and put our hands on each other's shoulders and walked through the parking lot to the other street. Other people kept coming out, people that were hurt, people that were shot. They would pull up pickup trucks really quick, put someone into the back and drive them over to the hospital, which was just blocks away - that was a good thing. At one point we heard an explosion. We thought it was the bomb that was supposedly on him, but I guess the police officers detonated a bomb for some reason, or it might have been that they were knocking down a wall. I'm unsure of that. But I do know they knocked down a wall to get to hostages in the bathroom. And later on in the night, we heard just cops unloading on something. It was like fireworks, it was so fast, and I think that's when they took the gunman down. Did you feel safe when you were waiting in the street? I just wanted to leave and get as far away as possible. As far as my knowledge, they didn't know who did it or if he was still in there. I was terrified that he was somebody who, after doing it, threw his gun down and pretended to be a hostage. For all I knew they could have been bringing him to us as a hostage. That was something I was worried about. I just wanted to leave. My boyfriend was terrified - he was on the other side of the street waiting for me. I wanted him to leave. For all I knew, the gunman was running around still. A million thoughts were running through my head. Honestly, it sounds like you were a hero in the situation. I wouldn't say that. Maybe because I didn't see it, it didn't seem real to me. I was kind of numb to it. Even right now, I'm pretty numb to it. I get my waves of emotion, but I haven't been hysterical like some people. All of my extremely close friends and co-workers are safe. I keep wondering... There are some acquaintances I knew and cared about that they lost their lives. Have you cried or have you not really processed it? That's something I've been battling with since the instance. I've had a bunch of talks going through my head the whole time. While I was in there, I didn't want to hear anything about deaths. When I was on the phone with my manager and people were behind him talking about actual people dying and being hurt, I told them to walk away. I didn't want it to be real. I told him, "Listen, if anyone is talking about it, I don't want to hear it." I don't want to hear about how many bodies are out there. I told him if I was to walk through it later, I wanted to close my eyes. The main thing for me is you can't un-see something like that. I thought it would have control over my life. So I told them I didn't want to hear about it until I got out or see anything until I got out. I think that I am still pretty numb because I didn't visually witness anything. I have cried. I'm not somebody that cries at realistic things often. I cry at stupid things in movies, but in real life, I'm not much of a crier. Of course when I talked to my mom I cried a little bit. Later that night when I took a shower, I cried a little. But that's pretty much it. Read More: LGBT Clubs in American History: Cultural Centers, Safe Spaces and Targets As you mentioned, some of the people there were drunk. Had you been drinking that night? They'd allow us [bartenders] to drink as long as we're responsible. We're not allowed to over-serve and we're very strict on things like that at Pulse. But it was actually just my birthday a couple weeks ago, so I did a lot of drinking that week. For my birthday, I always have three parties in a row at nightclubs, because I work at all of them. So I decided I'd take a little break from drinking, and I didn't have anything to drink at all [that night]. I was just drinking ginger beer and soda water all night. That was a good thing too, because around 2 o'clock is when I usually use the bathroom if I've been drinking, and that's where a lot of the hostages were kept. Things like that were going through my head. What if I had walked on the dance floor to get change from the bar? I'll be honest, the main thing running through my head is that when I have my birthday party at Pulse, my biological family and my gay family, everybody is out for that. I couldn't stop thinking, "What if he chose that night where all my loved ones were there?" Once you found out about the gunman, what were your thoughts? I honestly at first thought it was a hate crime. I really did not think it was related to any form of terror. I couldn't believe it. Out of all the places, he picked Pulse? It didn't make sense. Why would there be a national terror attack at this small bar? Then I started thinking about it. It was a Latin night. It was a gay bar. Out of all the gay bars, we're the one with a name like Pulse. Like your pulse, blood. We were called "the heartbeat of Orlando." It was kind of an obvious target, I guess, after I started thinking about all that. A lot of people have been taking about gun control after this. What are your thoughts on that? I felt very strongly about gun control. I try to keep my opinions to myself, especially when I don't feel I'm educated enough. But I don't think anybody should be able to purchase a gun that holds a certain number of rounds. I don't think a person should be able to purchase a gun that's more than recreational. There's absolutely no point for anybody to own an automatic rifle. If somebody wants to shoot a gun, there should be ranges and areas if you need to get it out of your system, but you can't walk around with one. To have a handgun for protection or hunting is completely different, but to have a gun that's meant to obliterate something - a person or animal - that's not right. And hunters shouldn't even want a gun like that because to me, that would take the fun out of hunting, if you have an automatic weapon. To me, it logically makes no sense to have a gun like that besides being a toddler with a toy that's too big for them to handle. Do you know if the club will reopen? The club was demolished. They ripped out walls to get people out. Even if it hadn't it breaks my heart [to say] because that's been my home for so long. I built my character there, made my living there. I just purchased a house because of the love and opportunities Pulse had given me. But I don't think they'll be able to reopen. That building, that area, is always going to be remembered as such a tragic thing. I don't know how Pulse can recover from it. I wanted to share one other thing: After I got home, my friends were with me. I took my nap, woke up, and they wanted me to get out of the house and eat. I didn't want to leave, but they convinced me to go, so we went to a Tex-Mex place by the airport called Chuy's. The server wound up being gay, and there were nine of us. I think he knew what was going on, but he didn't want to talk about it, didn't want to make anything personal. But at the end of our meal, he took care of the entire check. He wrote on a blank piece of paper and gave it to us, saying we'd been through a lot and he was happy we were safe. It was one of the kindest things I'd ever experienced. We all started crying. Read More: Orlando Nightclub Mass Shooting: The World Reacts This story originally appeared on Billboard.com. OSLO (Reuters) - The ongoing conflicts in Syria and Iraq can't be resolved through military means alone, Iran's foreign minister told a news conference in Norway on Tuesday. "I think we need to agree that there is no military solutions in any of these cases (Iraq or Syria) although there might be a military component. Even for defeating extremists you need more than a military strategy," Mohammad Javad Zarif said. Zarif is attending a conflict-resolution seminar in Norway. (Reporting by Stine Jacobsen, writing by Terje Solsvik) Al-Hol (Syria) (AFP) - US-backed fighters chased the Islamic State group out of his village last year, but Syrian teenager Bashar Qassem's missing hand is a constant reminder of their cruel rule. A Kurdish-Arab alliance backed by US air strikes recaptured Bashar's village of Al-Hol, near the border with Iraq, from the jihadists in November. When the jihadists fled, they left the bright-eyed 16-year-old behind, cradling a stump wrapped in white cloth instead of a right hand. It all started when "one of the Daesh guys accused me of stealing a mobile phone," Bashar says, using an Arabic acronym for IS. The jihadists declared a "caliphate" across parts of Syria and Iraq in 2014, implementing their extreme version of Islamic law in areas they controlled and committing widespread atrocities. Sitting in his modest home among the hamlet's low concrete houses, Bashar says that after the accusation he was detained by the jihadists. "They hit me so hard that I confessed -- even though I never stole it," says the youth, his thick black hair slicked back and a faint moustache on his upper lip. He was taken to a jail in Shadadi, a town some 80 kilometres (50 miles) southeast of Al-Hol. Bashar was held there with several others, some, he says, no older than 10. Two of these boys had been detained for smuggling tobacco because smoking was forbidden by IS, Bashar says. "They took them and whipped them in front of everybody, then fined them before releasing them." When an investigator came to question a woman in an adjoining cell, "they locked us all up -- closing even the tiny window in the door so we couldn't see". "We could hear her screaming outside." Bashar was kept locked up -- with only half-hour excursions in a courtyard -- for 40 days. - 'Not a whole man' - Finally his captors told him he would be going home. They handcuffed him, covered his eyes and put him in a car. Story continues The blindfold was not removed until he was placed on a chair, sitting at a table surrounded by an unfamiliar crowd. "When I saw all these people around me, I thought they would behead me. They laughed as if this was something normal," Bashar says. Under IS's interpretation of Islamic law, the punishment for theft is amputation of the right hand. "I refused to give them my hand but they hit me and drugged me," he says. "When I woke up I was in the hospital and my hand was missing." Back home, Bashar's mother could not believe what had happened. "For two or three days I was in complete disbelief," she says, her slim face weathered by years of sun and grey hair bound in a black scarf. "When he came to me with his hand amputated I went crazy." Since IS left Al-Hol, the area has slowly returned to life. Inside a tiny convenience store, Bashar waits as a young boy scoops a ball of bright pink ice cream out of a freezer. Cone in his left hand, Bashar eats the frozen treat as he strolls down the street with his brother. In areas freed from IS, many teenagers have returned to studying the national curriculum that was banned under the jihadists. Some even get excited about high school finals. But Bashar isn't one of them. "I don't know how to write with my left hand. What's the point?" he asks. The teenager is also not enthusiastic about returning to work to support his single mother and three of his siblings. "Before I used to work in vegetable, fish or poultry shops. But I can't work without a hand. "I'm not a whole man. I wish they'd cut my head off instead." To what extent did President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clintons approach to the Islamic State threat contribute to the horrific Orlando terrorist attack? Judging from Donald Trumps speech on Monday, the link between Obama/Clinton policies and the Orlando attack is the primary lens through which the presumptive Republican nominee would like the public to view this horrible tragedy. It is not beyond the pale to ask such questions in the midst of a presidential campaign, though it would have been more seemly to wait a bit longer before politicizing the event. To be fair, Trump waited as long as Obama and presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton did before they rushed to link the tragedy to their own partisan wedge issue: gun control. Both linkages are equally plausible, according to what we know so far. On one hand, the killer claimed allegiance to the Islamic State and had shown signs of radicalization, fitting well the profile of homegrown terrorists that the Islamic State has inspired around the world. It is reasonable to ask whether more effective policies against the Islamic State might have forestalled this attack. On the other hand, despite all of these warning signs, the terrorist was evidently able to purchase the kinds of weapons and ammunition that made him especially lethal. It is reasonable to ask whether a different approach to gun control might have blocked him from pulling off the worst gun attack on U.S. soil in modern times. The questions are reasonable, but they have been raised with a speed that is unseemly. In campaign settings, Republicans usually face greater downsides and risks whenever politics and unfolding tragedies mix. The media is primed to see Republican policy talking points as more partisan and political than Democratic policy talking points. Compare the medias treatment of the Mitt Romney campaign in 2012, in the immediate aftermath of the Benghazi terrorist attack, to its treatment of the Obama campaign (a point I made at the time, here and here). However, Trump is an unusual Republican. He has gotten away with political attacks that would likely have sunk any other candidate during the primaries. While that has worked less well for him since his primary opponents dropped out of the race, it hasnt sunk him yet. Maybe Trump is the rare candidate for whom or this is the rare year when there is little political downside to foregoing the decent interval. Story continues Setting aside the issue of unseemliness, what about the underlying question Trump raised? Did Obamas policies contribute to the horrific Orlando terrorist attack? Lets be clear from the outset. The person to blame for the attack is the perpetrator. We may learn in coming days of other accomplices who abetted it in some way if so, they willed this attack and should stand in the moral docket with him. But it would be monstrous to assign culpability to other political figures or entities like Obama, Clinton, or Trump, or the NRA who clearly did not will this attack. Trump in his speech offered a scorched earth critique that danced up to the line of assigning outright culpability to Obama and Clinton, but, I think, stopped just short of doing so. In this respect, Trump is rather like some of his critics, who came uncomfortably close to blaming Trump for the attacks. What Trump did do was say that Obamas policies have failed and have made the terrorism problem worse than it would have been under wiser policies. In functional form, this is essentially the mirror-image of the argument that Trumps opponents have made (a version of which I am making now): that Trumps approach would make the terrorism problem worse than it would be under wiser policies. In other words, one cannot say that Trumps fundamental charge is beyond the pale without also saying that I and other Trump critics are also making a beyond-the-pale critique. However, while Trumps argument is within the bounds of acceptable partisan discourse, that does not mean it stands up to close scrutiny. On the contrary, Trump misfires in two important ways. First, he misstates Obamas mistakes. Second, he prescribes cures that will make the problem worse. In Trumps telling, Obama has mishandled the Islamic State threat because (a) he has been unwilling to name the ideology that inspires the terrorists and (b) he has allowed dangerous people who hate American values to immigrate to the United State unfettered. Obamas reluctance to name the ideology does reveal a certain sloppiness of thinking behind Obamas counter-Islamic State strategy. Obama is right to lean away from rhetoric that would unintentionally fuel the Islamic States own narrative of a war between Islam and other faiths; in this, Obama is following somewhat the wise efforts of the George W. Bush administration, which went to great lengths from the outset to distinguish clearly between the terrorists and the millions of faithful Muslims who reject terrorism. But eventually the Bush administration adopted a balanced approach that named the ideology precisely, yet in a way that did not fuel the terrorist narrative. Obama would be wise to follow even more closely in Bushs steps. But this is a secondary matter and I do not see how Obamas counterterrorism policies would be substantially different if only he adopted the more nuanced language of his predecessor. The immigration critique is a canard. To have blocked the entry of this particular terrorists family, the United States would have had to restrict immigration from Afghanistan back in the 1980s, when the United States was supporting Afghan fighters seeking to repel the Soviet invasion. That is absurd. Moreover, Trump repeatedly exaggerates the immigration policies that Obama and Clinton back, and he is simply wrong when he claims there is no vetting of immigrants. In any case, immigration policies had nothing to do with this attack. This is not to say that Obamas approach to the Islamic State has been optimal. As I have argued before, Obamas approach has been deficient in many ways. Pursuing a wiser set of policies would likely have placed us in a much more advantageous position in the war on terror than the one in which we find ourselves today. The case is pretty conclusive that Obama is bequeathing his successor a security legacy that falls far short of what it could and should be. But the hard truth is that even if the Obama administration had heeded its critics and adopted wiser policies earlier, there is no guarantee that it would have prevented the Orlando attack. The even harder truth is that adopting Trumps approach would likely make the problem worse. Yes, we should not have stood idly by while the Islamic State threat metastasized over 2013 and 2014. Yes, we need to defeat the Islamic State now. But defeating the Islamic State involves both a kinetic element directed at the hardened core and also a war of ideas element directed at the groups global appeal. The war of ideas element requires the active participation of the vast majority of Muslim men and women who share the worlds revulsion at the Islamic States ideology and who are better positioned than anyone else to persuade others to reject it. Trumps bombastic rhetoric does not motivate Muslim voices to partner with the United States in this effort. Quite the contrary: Trumps rhetoric incentivizes such potential allies to stay silent or worse. Trumps rhetoric is even sloppier than Obamas, and with far more deleterious impact on our ability to prosecute the war. Trumps response to the attack, then, is ineffective policy. But it may be effective politics. In the same way that Trump has thus far benefitted from a visceral connection with angry Republican primary voters, the Orlando attacks may provide him with an opening for another visceral connection with angry general election voters. That would compound an already horrible tragedy. Paris twice, Brussels, San Bernardino, and now Orlando; mass casualty terrorist attacks in the West, sadly, have become routine. Sundays Islamic State-inspired carnage proves exceptional in only one respect: It was the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. Beyond the sickening body count, the ingredients of this violent act appear all too familiar. Omar Mateen pledged allegiance to the Islamic State on a 911 call during the attack. His actions provide yet another example of the dangerous new breed of terrorists traumatizing the world today and the challenges counterterrorism officials face trying to detect and disrupt a sea of aggressive, inspired radicals with little to no previous detectable connections to the Islamic State. Americans watched in horror over the past year as the Islamic State brought violence to the streets of European cities. European jihadists returning from Syria blended with inspired hometown recruits. Experience combined with zeal brought unprecedented multi-target attacks to both Paris and Brussels. Then came the San Bernardino attacks in December, in which an extremist husband and wife inspired by both al Qaeda and the Islamic State (and likely encouraged by the success of their fellow attackers in Paris) launched an assault. Now Mateen has brought this carnage to Orlando, continuing a string of Islamic State-claimed violence where one successful attack inspires yet another. The Islamic States recent Western attacks, whether directed or inspired, point to a new generation of terrorists and plots presenting law enforcement and the intelligence community with a unique challenge. The assumptions about terrorism formed in the 2000s when the threat of al Qaeda informed and occupied the minds of counterterrorism professionals no longer hold. In the coming days, the most interesting question of the Orlando investigation will be the degree to which the Islamic State and Mateen were connected and whether the terror group directed the attack in some fashion. It turns out the direct connection to the Islamic State may not matter. Historically, attacks directed by a terrorist group were better planned, resourced, and coordinated thus their violence created the most casualties. With each new lone wolf attack, this maxim proves less true. The Paris and Brussels attacks, two highly successful terrorist plots, were funded and directed at a strategic level by the Islamic State. At a local operational level though, these European Islamic State cells planned, plotted, and executed against targets largely of their choosing, striking targets they knew well. In the United States, Mateen and the San Bernardino shooters show little or no direct connection to Islamic State planning, resourcing, and plotting. While al Qaedas inspired supporters were known for bungled, half-baked failures, the Islamic States acolytes have perpetrated two massacres on U.S. soil in a little over six months. Rather than designing and designating an attack for terrorists in the West to execute, weve entered a new era of operative-generated target selection absent overt command and control from Islamic State headquarters. Attackers pick the time and place where they can best maximize violence, reducing the time to plan, minimizing communications back to terrorist groups, and selecting targets with which they are more familiar. Of course, easy access to weapons and an infinite number of soft targets make even the simplest inspired attack achievable. Terrorisms inspired new breed spells big problems for the United States. Many have no criminal records or history of terrorist sympathies. But even when they do, its very difficult for law enforcement to stop them. Mateen, like Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev, sprung up on the FBIs radar at least two times: first in 2013, when he allegedly demonstrated terrorist sympathies at work and later, in 2014, in connection with Americas first suicide bomber to Syria Florida resident Moner Mohammad Abusalha, a supporter of al Qaedas Nusra Front. But much like Tsarnaev, the FBI faced similar challenges. Two to three years ago before the Islamic State even broke from al Qaeda, Mateen was likely closer to the beginning of his radicalization. With no criminal record, he may not have resolved to commit violence or shown any tendency to act at that time. The FBI has only a brief snapshot to assess suspects among a sea of Islamic State-inspired terrorism leads and cases. As FBI Director James Comey noted, the FBIs caseload has been overwhelmed with Islamic State inquiries. Deciding which cases to focus on, absent strong connections back to jihadist groups, becomes nothing more than guesswork. Until recently, the United States has been lucky to avoid this recent wave of Islamic State terrorism. But today, the number of inspired supporters willing to undertake violence for the group is staggering. Attacks on the homeland were bound to happen; it was never a matter of if, but when. Ultimately, looking backward will prove futile. Moving forward, Orlando and San Bernardino do beg the question of how the United States must improve counterterrorism to effectively confront a new social media-connected, globally inspired breed of terrorists. The United States has invested heavily to harden symbolic targets and transportation hubs. But inspired terrorists greatest successes have come by attacking soft targets anywhere, using weapons almost anyone can buy or build. This points to a second challenge. Aggressive law enforcement investigations, until recently, have consistently picked off emerging plots by employing undercover agents and informants. But todays inspired attacks have shown few conspirators. Attackers have operated largely independently and set off few precursors that would have tipped off law enforcement or the community. Even when they do surface briefly during investigations, todays actors are too many in number to effectively track and provide too little probable cause to justify or legally warrant an extensive investigation. The third challenge comes in the form of countering violent extremism (CVE) staving off the causes of anger, hatred, and radicalization before a terrorist gets to the decision-making moment or planning cycle of an attack on innocent Americans. Washington and the law enforcement community have talked for years about the need for extensive CVE programming to deter homegrown terror. Community policing in vulnerable neighborhoods and connecting with parents and peers have been pushed as pre-emptive measures for identifying and demobilizing extremists. When all was said and done, however, more has been said than done in the CVE arena. Programs are discussed but few are executed. Even where inspired Islamic State extremists have emerged, their recruitment often demonstrates no particular community from which they emerge. Donald Trump says that Muslims must cooperate with law enforcement and turn in the people who they know are bad and they do know where they are. But how would the community have detected the San Bernardino attackers whose mother lived with them and even cared for their child while they were killing co-workers? Likewise, Mateens father claims he knew nothing of his sons plans to attack the nightclub. If those closest to the emerging terrorists cant even see their radicalization, how can we expect to detect them before they undertake violence? Unfortunately, the United States wont have much time to answer these questions on how to stop this new breed of terrorism. The Islamic States network of global supporters has shown before that successful terrorist attacks beget further attempts. Any Islamic State sympathizer debating whether to launch his or her own violent operation will be inspired and mobilized by Mateens success. In the immediate future, the United States, along with the rest of the West, will need to push aggressively on any available lead in hopes of preventing any newly mobilized sympathizer from trying to duplicate the Orlando success. The question is not how many are out there trying. There are many. The challenge is identifying who is next, and finding them before shots are fired. Photo credit: ANDREW RENNEISEN/Getty Images They held burning candles aloft in tearful silence as the single church bell tolled, the pauses between chimes just long enough to dull the anticipation of the next. For nearly five minutes the bell atop Orlandos First United Methodist Church rang 49 times, the echoes reverberating across the plaza across from city hall. Each represented one of the 49 lives lost early Sunday morning when a hate-filled gunman opened fire at the Pulse nightclub one mile away. Nearly 10,000 people filled the square in downtown Orlando in the searing evening heat to mourn those lost and pray for the injured. Local political, law enforcement and faith leaders joined with Latino and LGBT leaders to try to begin the healing process after the worst mass shooting in American history and the largest terrorist attack in the country since 9/11. Tonight we remain a city in pain, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said, flanked by local leaders and Orlando police chief John Mina, credited with ordering the operation that rescued dozens trapped inside the nightclub. We are mourning and we are angry. The vigil marked a somber day of grim accounting in the city, as medical examiners completed the identification of the dead and officials finished the notification of family members of the fallen a task completed just before the vigil began. The Orlando Gay Chorus performed Cyndi Laupers True Colors and the Beatles Let It Be, as hundreds of people held homemade signs, rainbow and American flags and flowers toward a makeshift memorial on the green in front of the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. But through the agony, Dyer predicted the city would emerge stronger from the tragedy. We cant wait to show the world that joy and love conquers hate, he said. Hate will not define us. Hate will not defeat us. Because we are One Orlando. He announced the formation of the One Orlando Fund, a nonprofit to help the victims and their families 53 were injured in the attack, and dozens remain hospitalized which raised more than $700,000 in its first few hours from local businesses. Story continues Imam Muhammad Musri, president of the Islamic Society of Central Florida, joined the Rev. Bryan Fulwider on stage to condemn the atrocity committed by Omar Mateen, a Muslim who officials said was radicalized online and pledged allegiance to ISIS before he was killed in a shootout with police officers. We are deeply hurt, Musri said. Our heart is broken. Our lives are upside down We cannot believe that someone who claims my peaceful faith brought a massacre, an atrocity on our city. Musri called on Muslim leaders across the country to gather on the National Mall in Washington next month to condemn extremism. We call on Muslim leaders around the world to stand up and deal with this cancer once and for all, he said. We are all part of the Latino community. We are all part of the Islamic community here in Orlando, Fulwider said. Neema Bahrami, the manager of the LGBT nightclub, joined more than two dozen Pulse employees past and present to proclaim that the nightclub will rebuild. I want you to know we are not leaving, he said. We are here to stay. We will be bigger and better than you can ever imagine. We will not be defeated. We are here to stay. A formal memorial service was being set for Thursday, with President Obama planning a trip to the city, the White House said late Monday. New York (AFP) - Thousands of people gathered at the birthplace in New York of the gay rights movement Monday to honor the Orlando victims, demand tolerance and call for tighter gun control. The crowd packed the street outside The Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village carrying rainbow pride flags and posters saying "We Stand With Orlando" as a string of LGBT activists addressed the rally. Speakers called for US-wide tolerance of gay, lesbian and transgender rights, a ban on assault weapons, tougher background checks for those who purchase guns and stinging rebuke of Islamophobia in America. Leaders of the gathering, organized by the LGBT community, read out the names and ages of the 49 people who were shot dead at a gay nightclub in Orlando. "When thousands of people come together in love, in support, it is a renunciation of hatred," said Mayor Bill de Blasio, paying tribute to the dead, who included a nursing school student from Brooklyn. He listed the names and ages of the victims on his Twitter feed. New Yorkers would never accept anyone sowing hatred and division, de Blasio said, adding: "that means you Donald Trump," referring to the Republican presumptive White House nominee, a Manhattan billionaire. De Blasio urged Americans from across the country to come to New York to take part in the city's Gay Pride parade on June 26. "Come join us," he said. "It will be safe and we will protect each other and we will send a message to this nation and to this world of what our society should look like." Roads were closed and there was a strong, armed police presence patrolling the crowd in a spot where mourners have been coming for two days to lay flowers and pay tribute to the dead. The Stonewall Inn considers itself the birthplace of the modern gay rights movement where members of the gay community rose up against harassment from police officers on June 28, 1969. New York, America's largest and most diverse city home to 8.55 million people, considers itself a beacon for gay rights across the world. Tlalnepantla (Mexico) (AFP) - Three inmates escaped during a riot and fire at a prison outside Mexico City that left 10 prisoners and seven police officers injured, authorities said Tuesday. Authorities deployed some 1,000 police officers to contain late Monday's unrest at the Barrientos prison in the municipality of Tlalnepantla, a densely populated suburb. "A fight occurred between several inmates" at around 8:00 pm and prisoners set fire to mattresses and other objects, which were extinguished, said Jose Manzur, government secretary of the State of Mexico. Order was restored within three hours, but prison officials realized that three inmates were missing when they did a roll call at around 4:00 am, Manzur said. "We think that as a result of this fight in the prison, three people t ook advantage of it to escape," Manzur said. The fugitives include a murderer, a rapist and a house burglar. Authorities are searching for them and offering a $15,000 reward for their capture. Officials had initially reported that nobody was hurt, but Manzur said seven officers and 10 inmates were injured. One prisoner remained hospitalized while the rest were cleared by doctors. Some 150 relatives of inmates, some in tears, flocked to the prison overnight to get information. Many were still outside the prison on Tuesday morning. "I want to tell the families of the inmates that they have nothing to worry about, (the riot) was controlled with minimal effort," State of Mexico security chief Eduardo Valiente said late Monday after visiting the prison. It is the latest unrest to hit a Mexican prison. In February, 49 inmates were killed in a massive brawl at the Topo Chico prison in the northern city of Monterrey. Three others were murdered earlier this month at the same prison. A report by the National Human Rights Commission found that inmates govern themselves in 71 state prisons, which are also overcrowded. The Barrientos prison has 3,000 inmates, double the normal capacity, Manzur said. Several escapes have also taken place, such as the July 2015 prisonbreak of drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who was recaptured in January. Feel the rumble of real estate! Two earthquake shacks are now on the market in San Franciscos hilly Bernal Heights neighborhood: a two-bedroom, one-bathroom model at 451 Anderson St. for $849,000, and a one-bedroom, one-bathroom model at 164 Bocana St. for $900,000. While these original tiny houses are sought-after properties in a pricey neighborhood, at the time they served as an ingenious, inexpensive, and quick remedy to housing homeless residents after the 1906 earthquake and fire ravaged San Francisco. Over 5,000 refugee cottages, as they were also known, were quickly built as winter approached, and tented communities in the citys parks wouldnt be adequate to house those displaced by the quake. Union carpenters built them in a joint effort with the San Francisco Relief Corp., the San Francisco Parks Commission, and the U.S. Army. Earthquake Shack Hauled to Precita Park (1906) Original Earthquake Shacks Earthquake Shacks in Dolores Park (1906) The one-room cabins replaced the tents, including in Bernal Heights Precita Park, and sheltered some 16,000 locals. To blend in with the surroundings, they were painted park-bench green. Once tenants paid the $50 fee for the cabin, they were required to haul the shacks out of the park and into city neighborhoods. By June 1908, the camps were closed and the cabins had scattered across the city. They were all pre-fab, John Blackburn says. Hes the self-described earthquake shack guy for the Bernal History Project. You had no plumbing, four walls, a roof, galvanized metal pipe with a stove, four windows, a door, and a floor. That was it. In the 1980s, shack activist Jane Cryan lobbied the city to save the shacks. Two that she helped rescue are now on display in San Franciscos Presidio. Blackburns organization has confirmed both of the listings currently on the market are indeed earthquake shacks, now substantially renovated. In the neighborhood, they arent alone. Bernal has the largest concentration of existing shacks in the city, Blackburn says. Of the thousands built at the time, only a handful have to date been identified as earthquake shacks. Story continues The original cabins came in three small sizes and were outfitted with redwood walls, wood floors, and shingled cedar roofs. Kitchens and bathrooms were not included (latrines and community kitchens were provided at the campsites). Both residences on the market are in a popular area conveniently located near lively Cortland Avenue, with restaurants, cafes, and shoppingand the cozy cottages will make great homes for the next buyers. But to Blackburn, they represent something more. We want people to understand the importance of the history of our city. We have an incredible past. It was the best of San Francisco in those days, he says. Heres how the two homes shake out Price: $849,000 Quake shack scoop: The two-bedroom home is actually made up of two original cabins. They were put together side by side, and a 3-foot hallway between them became the entry foyer, says listing agent Carlos Cabarcos. Its a little quirky house but with a lot of history. Renovations over the years have included an upgraded kitchen and bathroom, refinished floors, new carpet and paint, and a decorative brick wall in the bedroom. The kitchen opens out to a deck and a landscaped backyard with a hot tub. 451 Anderson Street Living Room Bedroom with Decorative Brick Wall Kitchen and Back Deck Price: $900,000 Quake shack scoop: This is one cute cabin. Most of these cottages were one room. Almost all of these have been added on over the years, listing agent Vicki Valandra says of the 756-square-foot home. She notes that the original structure was the living room and dining space that now opens to the kitchen. Its a beautiful room, she says, with cathedral ceilings, six skylights, and tons of natural light. The add-ons include the bedroom, bathroom, and small bonus room. This charmer also boasts views off the back deck. Original Cabin Space Bedroom and Sitting Room Outdoor Seating Area 164 Bocana Street The post Tiny Tremors: 2 More Adorable San Francisco Earthquake Shacks Up for Sale appeared first on Real Estate News and Advice - realtor.com. Related Articles Monday evening outside of the Stonewall Inn in New York City, actor Tituss Burgess offered up a West Side Story classic to honor the victims of Sunday's shooting in Orlando, Florida. "At times like this, I find myself at a loss for what to do," he told the crowd of thousands. "You feel helpless. I'm going to give you the one thing I always have readily available." That thing was a song. He immediately burst into a rendition of West Side Story's "Somewhere," while the crowd alternated between in stunned silence and wild cheers when the actor the song's high notes. @TitussBurgess sings "There's a place for us" @ #OrlandoUnited vigilpic.twitter.com/bVohnN20wL Burgess' was a welcome gay voice at Stonewall's podium, which he shared with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Nick Jonas, whose presence and "well-intentioned but incoherent" speech, as Mic's Kevin O'Keeffe described it, confused a large portion of the crowd. The song adds to a host of musical tributes to the 50 confirmed dead in the shooting at Orlando's Pulse nightclub. Gay choirs in New York City, Los Angeles and Orlando all offered songs of their own Sunday and Monday, tapping into a long tradition of such groups offering healing and solace in the wake of homophobic violence. Senate Democrats will face strong resistance from GOP leaders in their drive for legislation to prevent a suspected terrorist from purchasing firearms, but they may receive support from a surprising source: Donald Trump. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee has the endorsement of the National Rifle Association and has repeatedly denounced bans on specific types of weapons, like the AR-15 variant used in Orlando. However, his top policy adviser signaled Tuesday morning that Trump might be willing to support restrictions on gun purchases by people on federal watch lists. Related: 6 Questions Donald Trumps Supporters Need to Answer Right Now Democrats on Monday declared they would press for a vote again as early as this week on a measure to grant the Justice Department authority to bar a known or suspected terrorist from purchasing rifles, guns or explosives if authorities believe the weapon might be used in the commission of a terrorist act or if the purchasers name appears on a federal terrorism watch list or no-fly list. Clinton in a speech Monday embraced the idea, saying that it was essential to preventing terrorists from obtaining weapons. The measure, sponsored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), was rejected 45 to 54 last December. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and other Democratic leaders say it will be far more difficult for Republicans to oppose it this time in light of the mass murder of 49 people in an Orlando gay night club that was the deadliest shooting in U.S. history. In an interview with CNN Tuesday morning, Sam Clovis, Trumps national campaign co-chair and policy director, said that there is certainly some validity to the point that if a person is under a criminal investigation, he or she should be prevented from purchasing a firearm. Claiming that many states, including his home state of Iowa, already have laws on their books preventing people under investigation from purchasing a gun, Clovis said: So I really dont have too much of a problem here with the congressional proposal. Story continues Asked specifically whether Trump would be okay with such legislation, Clovis replied: I think that if a person is under criminal investigation and we have plenty of precedence for this out there at the state level that if youre under criminal investigation, you probably shouldnt be allowed to go into a gun [purchase a gun] because that should show up in a background check. I mean those are the kinds of things that the background check should be there for. If youre on a watch list, if youre under investigation, those things can be tabbed and tagged and I think thats exactly the way the states are doing it across the country. And we dont seem to see much outcry there. Related: Trump Says Thousands of Shooters Like Orlando Terrorist Are in the US Already Trump himself has reserved most of his comment on gun-related legislation in the wake of the Orlando massacre to questions of a ban on weapons like the AR-15, a weapon similar to the U.S. militarys M-16 rifle that is not capable of automatic fire. There are millions of them already out there, millions upon millions, so they're already out there, Trump said in an interview with CBS. People need protection. They have to protect. So the bad guys will have the assault rifles and the people trying to protect themselves will be standing there with a BB gun. He said that Clintons support for a ban on so-called assault weapons proves she doesnt understand the issues. As with many of his policy stances, Trumps position on using lists of people under government surveillance to limit gun purchases is not exactly clear. In November, when he was asked whether people on such lists should be blocked from purchasing firearms, he said, If somebody is on a watch list and an enemy of state and we know it's an enemy of state, I would keep them away, absolutely. However, in the same interview he seemed to suggest that he doesnt believe any new laws are necessary to make that happen. If people are on a watch list or people are sick, you have already this is already covered in the legislation that we already have, he said. Related: Clinton Slams Trumps Anti-Muslim Rhetoric in Wake of Orlando Attack That Trumps position on guns is unclear is not news. The assault weapons ban that he is against today was something he supported in his 2000 book The America We Deserve. I generally oppose gun control, but I support the ban on assault weapons and I support a slightly longer waiting period to purchase a gun, Trump wrote. In 2012, after President Obama called for tighter controls on the sale of firearms following the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Trump tweeted, President Obama spoke for me and every American. More recently, he has kept to a generally hardline stance on most gun-related issues, repeating the false claim that Hillary Clinton wants to repeal the Second Amendment entirely. However, barring a dramatic shift in feeling among Congressional Republicans, the debate over the Democrats proposed ban will remain academic. Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn predicted yesterday that the Democratic plan is not likely to go anywhere, according to Morning Consult, and argued that its far from clear the approach would have stopped the Orlando gunman from obtaining the rifle and gun that he used. This guy had a weapons license, Cornyn told reporters. And he was a security guard. He carries a weapon for a living. So the biggest problem our Democratic friends have is everything they propose is not directed at solving the problem. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: Washington (AFP) - Toughening gun laws will do nothing to deter future terror attacks, the main US gun lobby said Tuesday, urging leaders to focus their fight on Islamic extremism, not Americans' right to bear arms. "Radical Islamic terrorists are not deterred by gun control laws," wrote Chris Cox, executive director of the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action, the NRA's lobbying arm, in an op-ed article responding to Sunday's deadly attack on a gay bar in Orlando. "It's time for us to admit that radical Islam is a hate crime waiting to happen," wrote Cox, whose organization has endorsed the Republican Donald Trump in the White House race, in USA Today. "The only way to defeat them is to destroy them -- not destroy the right of law-abiding Americans to defend ourselves." "The San Bernardino terrorist attack wasn't stopped by California's so-called 'assault weapons' ban. The gun ban in Brussels didn't prevent the terrorist attack there. And France's strict gun control didn't stop the two attacks in Paris, committed with fully-automatic rifles and grenades." Cox charged that "political correctness" on the part of President Barack Obama's administration had prevented the FBI from stopping shooter Omar Mateen -- who had been investigated for suspected radicalism but against whom they were unable to build a case. The NRA lobbyist hit back at both Obama and Democratic White House hopeful Hillary Clinton after she renewed her call for tougher gun controls including a ban on assault weapons. "They are desperate to create the illusion that they're doing something to protect us because their policies cant and won't keep us safe," Cox said. "Law-abiding gun owners are tired of being blamed for the acts of madmen and terrorists." The Orlando mass shooting, which left 49 dead, has once again unleashed gun control advocates clamoring for curbs on weapons sales. But the carnage also shows the scale of their challenge in a country where Mateen, a 29-year-old once flagged on an FBI watchlist, was able to commit mass murder with a legally-bought assault rifle. Obama has been stymied in his bid to curb gun violence since taking power in 2008, by a Republican-led congress and a powerful gun lobby that reject any moves to rein in gun ownership in the name of the Constitution's Second Amendment. As a transgender Muslim man, Izzaddine Mustafa had a lot of mixed emotions Monday night when he attended New York Citys Stonewall Inn vigil in honor of the Orlando shooting victims. When he first read news of the massacre at a gay nightclub, his heart sank as he saw the name of the shooter, who police identified as Omar Mateen. People are going to blame me for what happened, but at the same time, give me condolences as a queer person, he said. Its a complicatedand busytime for queer Muslims, who are in the midst of both Ramadan celebrations and Pride month preparations. Now, they are also mourning the deaths of members of the LGBT community, at a time when the circumstances are bringing an unanticipated spotlight to their identities and activism. Mustafa is a member of the Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity, which works to support, empower and connect LGBT Muslims. I do feel like I have an obligation, as somebody who has the privilege of being out and being fully supported, to speak, he said. Not for the queer Muslim communitybecause we all have very different experiences and backgroundsbut to speak to my experience. I made the choice to come out, and to come out fully to both communities, he added, because I think its important to show that we are here, and we exist, and we are here to bridge that divide. Watch more of his story above. * Yields fall on Brexit fears * Strong retail sales data pares losses * German, British, Japanese 10-year yields hit all-time lows By Dion Rabouin NEW YORK, June 14 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury yields pared their losses on Tuesday after the release of a stronger-than-expected U.S. retail sales report that suggested economic growth was picking up despite the recent a slowdown in job creation. Data on Tuesday also showed the largest increase in four years in U.S. import prices. The import prices and retail sales data showed the U.S. economy may be regaining its footing and reduced demand for safe-haven government bonds. Global bond yields continued to fall, though, as fears grew in early trading about Britain exiting the European Union and sovereign debt yields in developed markets hit all-time lows. German 10-year government bond yields fell below zero for the first time overnight, touching an all-time low of -0.05 percent. British government 10-year yields touched their lowest levels on record, falling to 1.131 percent. Japanese 10-year yield also hit its record low, with yields falling to -0.168 percent. The yield curve flattened with the spread between the two- and 10-year Treasuries yields contracting to its lowest level since November 2007. (Reporting by Dion Rabouin; Editing by Nick Zieminski) * Yields fall on Brexit fears * Strong U.S. retail sales data pare market losses * German, British, Japanese 10-year yields hit record lows (Recasts to show yields flat; updates with U.S. afternoon trading) By Dion Rabouin NEW YORK, June 14 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury yields were little changed on Tuesday, hovering near four-month lows touched in early trading as positive economic data on the U.S. economy was offset by growing fears about Britain leaving the European Union. Recent polls have shown a growing majority of the United Kingdom's citizens favor leaving the European Union in a June 23 referendum. That has sparked selling in riskier assets and boosted prices for safe-haven government bonds, which move in the opposite direction of yields. German 10-year government yields fell below zero for the first time, touching an all-time low of -0.03 percent. British government 10-year yields fell to 1.131 percent and Japanese 10-year yields fell to -0.168 percent, both record lows. U.S. Treasury yields fell to their lowest since Feb. 11 in early trading, close to their lowest since November 2007. But they pared those losses after the release of a stronger-than-expected U.S. retail sales report that suggested economic growth was picking up despite the recent slowdown in job creation. Data on Tuesday also showed the largest increase in four years in U.S. import prices. The contrasting signals pushed yields back near their levels from late Monday as investors squared positions ahead of the Federal Reserve's upcoming policy meeting on Wednesday and the so-called Brexit vote next Thursday. "We had a little bit better data, but the problem is that I just don't think there is a lot being committed right now either way," said John Briggs, head of strategy for the Americas at RBS Securities in Stamford, Connecticut. "I don't want to read too much into a couple basis points here or there when you have the news next week that could move the markets much more greatly." Briggs said investors have ruled out a Federal Reserve rate increase and are unlikely to trade heavily based on the Fed's decision or the tone of its statement because of the potential impact of the U.K. decision next week. Story continues Fed funds futures showed investors see just a 2 percent chance the Fed raises rates next month, according to CME Group's FedWatch. Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury notes rose 1/32 in price to yield 1.613 percent. Yields had earlier fallen to 1.567 percent. The yield curve flattened, with the spread between two- and 10-year Treasury yields contracting to its narrowest since November 2007. (Reporting by Dion Rabouin; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli and Dan Grebler) Telling jokes in the wake of tragedy is the hardest job in television. Going on the air and trying to chat up celebrities, do your pre-planned bits and make us laugh looks like teeth-gritting work in the light of tragedies such as the murders of 49 people at the Pulse nightclub over the weekend. John Oliver on Orlando Shooting: 'Right Now, This Just Hurts' But that's what late night talk show hosts have to do more often than they (or we) would like. So, on Monday night they did just that. From Conan O'Brien to Trevor Noah, Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Fallon and Samantha Bee, our nightly comedians did their shows, but only after expressing their rage, broken-heartedness and love, reminding us that in times like this its okay to remember, mourn, feel sad and laugh as we work through our grief. Here's a look at how they reacted to the shooting spree at the gay club that is being investigated as both a hate crime and possible terrorist attack: One of the most cathartic responses came from Samantha Bee on Full Frontal, where she expressed her frustration at the mind-numbing inability to prevent these kind of gun-related mass killings. "After a massacre, the standard procedure is you stand on a stage and deliver some well-meaning words about how we will get through this together, how love wins, how love conquers hate," she said. "And that is great. That is beautiful, but you know what? F--- it. I am too angry for that. Love does not win unless we start loving each other enough to fix our f---ing problems." Surviving the Orlando Shooting: A Pulse Bartender Shares His Experience In fact, she asked her audience, is it okay if, instead of telling jokes, "I just scream for seven minutes until we go to commercial?," noting that the shooter had allegedly beaten his ex-wife, been reported as homophobic and "unhinged" by a former co-worker and was investigated twice by the FBI over possible ties to radical groups, none of which disqualified him from buying high-powered weapons in the weeks before the massacre. Story continues Skrillex, Chainsmokers & More Dance Music Stars React to Orlando Nightclub Massacre Conan O'Brien opened his show by tackling the horror head on and referring to the semi-automatic assault rifle used by the killer as "weapons of war [that] have no place in civilian life." Not one to typically hit hard news, O'Brien said as a father or two he had to break format and share his opinions in this case. "Our goal, obviously, night after night, is to be funny and silly if you're in the mood for that late at night," he said. "However, sometimes events are so horrifying and bleak that to come out here and tell jokes, it's not really possible. Tonight, sadly, is one of those nights." Instead of a monologue, Seth Meyers did a "Closer Look" segment in an attempt to bring some clarity to what happened. "Usually right now in the show, we would start with the monologue. We would tell you jokes about today's news," he said. "So much, though, of the news right now is dominated by the horrific events in Orlando, the attack on the LGBTQ community there. And so, we decided we would try to address that and, in addressing it, maybe help us all process it a little bit more, because I don't know if we can ever fully understand it." Meyers noted the incredible scenes of compassion that came out of the horror, including mile-long lines for blood donation as well as the mind-numbing inability of Congress to pass new common-sense gun legislation. Patrons on Orlando's Pulse Before the Tragedy: 'We Could Be Our Authentic Selves' Like O'Brien, Jimmy Fallon tends to avoid hard news on The Tonight Show, looking at this latest tragedy as both a confused American and a father struggling to explain such acts to his child. Fallon searched for some answers or a sign in the senseless violence that has once again focused attention on the sometimes deadly divisions in our nation. "This country was built on the idea that we do not all agree on everything. That we are a tolerant, free nation that encourages debate, free-thinking, believing, or not, in what you choose," he said, his voice cracking a bit. "Maybe there's a lesson from all of this, a lesson in tolerance," he continued. "We need to support each other's differences and worry less about our own opinions. Get back to debate and away from believing or supporting the idea that if somebody doesn't live the way you want them to live, you just buy a gun and kill them. Bomb them up. That is not okay." Lady Gaga Reads Names of Orlando Victims During L.A. Vigil Stephen Colbert is expert at delivering the fake news. It's the real news that is sometimes hard to get your arms around, or articulate in a manner both entertaining and truthful. "Naturally, we each ask ourselves, 'What can you say in the face of this horror?'" he said about the spree that also wounded 53 people. "But then sadly you realize you know what to say but it's been said too many times before." You know what a president will say, how our elected leaders will react, what gun manufacturers will offer and even what a "silly" late night host will probably do, The Late Show host suggested. He wondered if by accepting the predictable national script of these scenarios we've learned we also wanly accept that they will always end up the same way, with nothing changing. "It's easy, almost tempting to be paralyzed by such a monstrously hateful act, to despair and say, 'That's just the way the world is now,'" he said. "Well, I don't know what to do. But I do know that despair is a victory for hate. Hate wants us to be too weak to change anything ... Let's remember that 'love' is a verb, and 'to love' means 'to do something.'" Reacting to the day's news with a joke and takedown is Trevor Noah's job on The Daily Show. The genial host summed up what many on Facebook had been saying all day on Monday about the predictable reactions to these too-regular mass shootings. "We shouldn't allow this to be normal," he said. "We shock, we mourn, we change our profile pics and we move on." He also made a brilliantly poignant observation about the different way the nation has reacted to these acts of violence in the past. After 9/11 he noted, the country made attacking planes harder with increased security measures. "What we didn't do was say, 'Oh, this has nothing to do with airplanes." One host who is never afraid to look dead into the camera and name names is The Nightly Show's Larry Wilmore. He ripped presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for what some perceived as his bragging about the nature shooter's sympathies. "When the news broke, the people of this nation were unified in a selfless outpouring of support for the victims and their families. Well, it was selfless except for one person," he said, before cueing up a clip of Trump's first tweet, in which he gave thanks for the "congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism." "Yeah, Donald, you were really ahead of the curve on the whole, 'terrorism is bad' thing," he added. "I mean, honestly, who brags about this?... It's like your doctor saying, 'Yo, dude, I totally called it, you do have cancer.'" "Yeah, Donald, you were really ahead of the curve on the whole, 'terrorism is bad' thing. I mean, honestly, who brags about this?!" Wilmore exclaimed. "It's like your doctor saying, 'Yo, dude, I totally called it, you do have cancer.' What It Is: The Rockettes are gearing up for the opening of the New York Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall on June 15, so we went behind the scenes to see all of the glitz and glam that goes on before they hit the stage and learn a part of the Vogue routine they perform in the show. Who Tried It: Jillian Ruffo, Associate Beauty Editor Why I Did It: When I was little, my ballet and gymnastics instructor was a former Rockette, and all I wanted to do was to follow in her footsteps. But I lacked height (Im only 5-feet-tall) and nimble feet (yeah, theyre flat), so I didnt exactly follow through with that plan. When the opportunity came to spend a day with the dancers themselves, I couldnt pass it up. Level of Difficulty: Um, 10 out of 10! Sure, these ladies make everything look beyond easy but trust me, its far from it. Thats why theyre the pros! Rockettes We Tried It What Really Happened: When I was originally presented with the opportunity to spend a day with the Rockettes, I jumped at it. A day of glam and learning how to kick? Count me in. But as the big day approached, I became more and more nervous. By now, over 10 years have gone by since I last tried to learn a routine of any sort, and the idea of eight-counts with some of the most amazing dancers in N.Y.C was a frightening thought, to say the least. But, alas, I jumped right in. As I made my way up to the Rockettes dressing room at Radio City Music Hall, I couldnt believe what I was about to get myself into. There were six Rockettes waiting for me in their sparkling costumes as soon as I walked through their backstage curtain, and thats when the excitement really kicked in. After meeting each one, it was time to get ready. First things first: a Rockette-worthy makeup lesson. One by one, the ladies taught me all of their secrets for making their makeup last through an entire performance foundation, red lips, lashes and all right in the backstage space they get ready every night for their shows. Story continues Next up: Hair. While I was looking forward to the French twist the Rockettes are known for wearing during their annual Christmas show, I learned that its been swapped out in exchange for a modern, super-slick side bun for the spring show. Thankfully, two of the Rockettes did my hair for me, pulling and twisting it into place. Thirty bobby pins and a ton of hairspray later, I was ready to dance. Just kickin' it with @therockettes ( @sharonclott) A video posted by Jillian Ruffo (@jillianruffo) on May 31, 2016 at 9:05am PDT While I didnt get to sparkle in one of their iconic performance costumes, I did slip into their go-to rehearsal outfit a bedazzled Rockettes tank, a pair of clip-on earrings and silver shoes identical to the ones that they wear to perform. Next we headed to the rehearsal room, which is where the Rockettes actually practice for the show. (Before an opening, they practice up to eight hours a day, six days a week intense!). The second they showed me what Id be learning, I knew I was in for it. What looks like a series of super-easy arm and hand movements actually felt nearly impossible as soon as the music turned on. I was barely able to pick it up, and as the day went on, I grew more and more in awe of their talent. At the end of the dance lesson, they asked me if I wanted to try out their famous high kicks. I was so pumped! The ladies taught me how they hook up, or how they lock arms in unison before a kicking routine. (Fun fact: they never touch each others backs when theyre in line!) I then learned their signature bevel position (when one toe points in front of the other), and how exactly how to kick in unison. And although I was the smallest of the bunch (the shortest Rockette is 5 ft. 6 in.), I felt like I finally fit in even if it was just for a few hours. Watch the video above to see how I did, and go see The Rockettes in the New York Spectacular, which runs from June 15th until August 7th! Jillian Ruffo By Allison Martell and Manuel Mogato TORONTO/MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines confirmed on Tuesday the execution of a Canadian who had been held hostage by the al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf Islamist militant group on a remote southern island with three other people since September 2015. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in Toronto on Monday that it appeared the second execution of a Canadian hostage by Abu Sayyaf in recent months had taken place. That was later confirmed in Manila. "We strongly condemn the brutal and senseless murder of Mr. Robert Hall, a Canadian national, after being held captive by the Abu Sayyaf group in Sulu for the past nine months," outgoing Philippines President Benigno Aquino said in a statement. A Philippines military spokesman said earlier a severed head had been found near a Catholic cathedral on a remote southern island late on Monday. No identification had been made yet. Hall was taken captive by the militants with three others from an upscale resort on Samal island, hundreds of miles east of Jolo. Another Canadian who was held captive, former mining executive John Ridsdel, was executed by the group in April. A Norwegian man and a Filipina are still being held. Trudeau told reporters that "Canada holds the terrorist group who took Mr. Hall hostage fully responsible for this cold-blooded and senseless murder". He said Sunday's attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, and the killing of Hall "serve as devastating reminders for all of us, the vicious acts of hatred and violence cannot be tolerated in any form". Abu Sayyaf, based in the south of the mainly Roman Catholic Philippines, is known for kidnapping, beheadings and extortion. Security is precarious in the southern Philippines despite a 2014 peace pact between the government and the largest Muslim rebel group that ended 45 years of conflict. In Manila, President-elect Rodrigo Duterte's national security adviser said Duterte's new government, which takes charge on June 30, would "take a stronger action against lawlessness in the south". "We cannot allow this situation to continue, this should end once and for all," Duterte's adviser Hermogenes Esperon told Reuters. Abu Sayyaf had initially demanded one billion pesos ($21.7 million) each for the detainees, but it lowered the ransom to 300 million pesos each early this year. Preliminary intelligence reports in the Philippines indicated Hall had been beheaded 10 minutes after a 3 p.m. deadline lapsed in the mountains outside Jolo's Patikul town. Philippine media had already quoted Abu Raami, a spokesman for Abu Sayyaf, confirming the execution. (Reporting by Allison Martell in TORONTO and Manuel Mogato in MANILA; Editing by W Simon and Paul Tait) Love him or hate him presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has struck a chord with American voters. So what is behind his rise to political power? James Surowiecki, columnist for The New Yorker Magazine suggests it has at least something to do with the deep-seated psychology of winning and losing. In his recent column, Surowiecki dove into loss aversion theory. In short, it suggests people hate losing more than they like winning. Seen another way, if you offered someone $50 or a 50/50 chance at $100 or $0, most would take the $50 and be on their way. When you flip the script, however, the opposite occurs. Offer someone the choice between losing $50 or a 50/50 chance at losing $100 or breaking even and theyll try their luck in hopes of losing nothing. This is a popular area of study for stock trading. Do investors hold onto a winning name long enough? Do they hang onto a loser longer than they should hoping for a turnaround? But how does this translate into the 2016 presidential election cycle? Trump emphasizes the word losing a lot, Surowiecki notes. Were losing to the Chinese, were losing to the Mexicans, were losing our country...its all about how bad things are. That, he posits, is part of why people are doubling down on their support of the brusque billionaire. They feel like theyve been losing, especially Republican voters...They are willing to take a risk on a very risky guy because they think it might make them whole again. If loss aversion theory is to be believed it also means Hillary Clinton may need to proceed with caution when offering criticism of Trump as a risky bet. As Surowiecki sees it, the danger is, for those people who really support Trump, when they hear hes risky, you dont know what hes going to do they say well thats better than what weve been living through for the past eight years. There is a glimmer of hope for Clinton supporters however. There is a point at which a candidate can become so risky that even people who are losing are like Im not willing to risk losing more on this. The danger for Trump is that he has to be careful not to appear too out of the box. Surowiecki notes Trumps Tweet after the Orlando massacre as perhaps a bit too outside the box but notes that tragedies like the one in Florida amplify peoples sense of fear and loss and that could be a strength for Trump supporters ready to risk their vote. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump faulted the Muslim community on Monday for not reporting people like the man who carried out the Orlando gay nightclub attack, killing 49 people and wounding 53 others. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, told CNN he thought Orlando nightclub shooter Omar Mateen was known to people in the Muslim community as someone with a potential for violence. "You will find that many people that knew him felt that he was a whack job ... (that) something like this would have happened," Trump told CNN in a phone interview. "People that knew him, the ex-wife, other people. They don't report them. For some reason the Muslim community does not report people like this." Trump said the United States needed better intelligence-gathering to prevent such things from happening. "We have to look at the mosques ... and we have to look at the community," he said. "And believe me, the community knows the people that have the potential to blow up." (Reporting by David Alexander; Editing by Doina Chiacu) Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland and Donald Trump. (Photo illustration: Yahoo News, photos: David Liam Kyle/NBAE via Getty Images, Gerardo Mora/Getty Images) The press likes to write about campaigns as a series of turning points that determine the final outcome on Election Day. Yet, in reality, campaign gaffes, awkward interviews and sundry other gotcha moments that flare from time to time dont in the main have much impact on the final vote. This Julys GOP convention in Cleveland may be the exception to that pattern, however. Assuming Donald Trump is within striking distance of Hillary Clinton in the polls, this convention may go far to determine how united the Republican Party actually is behind Trump, and whether or not Trump can ultimately shed the he-is-an-unhinged-racist-and-too-crazy-to-be-president narrative that is currently taking a firm (and legitimate) grip on American politics. It has gotten so bad for Trump that Mark Kirk, a vulnerable Republican senator from Illinois Trump overwhelmingly carried the state in its primary rescinded his endorsement of Trump last week. Politically more damaging to Trump, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan blasted Trumps comments labeling the Hoosier judge overseeing the Trump University lawsuit as a biased Mexican as racist. And Hewlett Packard Enterprise chief executive and high-profile Republican donor Meg Whitman, who recently likened Trump to Hitler and Mussolini, indicated that she may very well vote for Clinton. The rhetoric from the Quicken Loans Arena stage is going to be minutely picked over and carry more impact politically than is typically the case; in recent decades, conventions have mostly been tightly scripted affairs in which every word uttered by a speaker is vetted, edited and approved by the campaigns loyalists. There hasnt been much drama. But Trump is entering an event that will be strewn with more than the typical share of political landmines. There are opportunities for the bombastic Manhattan mogul, to be sure, but also numerous perils in his path. Answering a reporters question on June 7 in Washington, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan said Donald Trumps remark about an American-born judge of Mexican heritage is the textbook definition of a racist comment. (Photo: J. Scott Applewhite/AP) Trump bills himself as the P.T. Barnum of our time. The master showman has criticized past GOP conventions as boring and has vowed to put his own must-watch stamp on this summers proceedings. Can he pull off such a show, and will the over-the-top theatrics advance or undercut his public standing? More importantly, Trump will be searching for a way to demonstrate that the party that he now leads is actually united behind him and following him into battle. His acceptance speech (Will he dwell on building the wall and his proposed Muslim ban, or will he deliver anodyne, poll-tested sound bites desired by Republican leaders not named Trump?) will draw more than the usual share of coverage for the nominee. Story continues Then there will be those conspicuous absences at Quicken Loans Arena. Both former President Bushes and Mitt Romney have already declined to attend Trumps gala, and Sen. Marco Rubio recently vowed to refuse to endorse Trump from the stage. These, too, are storylines that Trumps campaign should be concerned about. Will Trump manage to persuade vulnerable Republican senators to grace the stage, such as Ohios Rob Portman so that he can bask in the acclaim of a convention held in his home state? Ryan, as convention chair, will be expected to deliver a strong endorsement. But how is he going to be able to do so credibly after having essentially denounced Trumps rhetoric as racist? As the Im with racist New York Daily News cover (subsequently pulled and replaced by one with Hillary Clinton) underscored, getting out from under the impression that the highest-ranking elected Republican is championing Trump after calling his comments racist isnt going to be so easy. Of course, contentious conventions are not necessarily the death knell for presidential campaigns. In 1952, Dwight Eisenhower won the nomination after a contested convention, and he went on to defeat Adlai Stevenson in November. Yet the divisions on display during Barry Goldwaters 1964 nominating convention, Gerald Fords 1976 convention and George H.W. Bushs 1992 convention call to mind how swiftly conventions can unravel before the eyes of millions of viewers. Delegates at the Republican National Convention in 1964 stage a huge demonstration for Sen. Barry Goldwater at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. (Photo: Bettman via Getty Images) During the 1964 brawl at San Franciscos Cow Palace one historian called it the ugliest of Republican conventions since 1912 moderate Republican Gov. Nelson Rockefeller urged the delegates to put a plank in the party platform that decried extremism, and was greeted with a chorus of toy trumpets, horns, cowbells and lusty boos from the pro-Goldwater delegates. In 1976, Ronald Reagan, having lost his surprisingly strong challenge to incumbent Ford in a bitterly divisive nominating contest, was called up to the stage by Ford and delivered an eloquent defense of the idea of freedom that was also noticeably lacking in a robust endorsement of the president himself. In 1992, columnist Pat Buchanan, who had mounted his own bruising primary challenge to incumbent President George H.W. Bush from the right, endorsed Bush. But, in doing so from the convention stage, he also declared a cultural war for the soul of America, ridiculing same-sex marriage and a proposal to assign women to combat Army roles, while endorsing prayer in public schools and depicting Clinton & Clinton as un-American. (His speech also cut into and upstaged Reagans primetime speaking slot.) Those convention moments offer living, cautionary reminders that Trumps campaign heads into Cleveland in a few short weeks with what may be a last-ditch chance to limit some of the internecine warfare roiling his party. Those past convention moments departures from the candidates preferred official script did more to harm their nominees fall chances than actually advance their partys general-election prospects. In all three examples, Republicans lost the White House. Trumps greatest challenge isnt to entertain a big television audience hoping to watch another version of reality TV. Rather, the biggest danger to his candidacy is that Republican officials, his erstwhile supporters, ostensibly speaking on his behalf, will opt not to advance his message and agenda but rather to position themselves to thrive in a still-as-yet-undetermined Republican future. Whether or not Trump can diminish the tension pitting Republicans leaders own political interests and calculations against Trumps racially charged and nationalistic agenda may help shape the partys image this fall and long after Trump has departed the stage. Matthew Dallek, an assistant professor at George Washington Universitys Graduate School of Political Management, is the author of Defenseless Under the Night: The Roosevelt Years and the Origins of Homeland Security. Donald Trump has questioned whether President Obama really wants to defeat ISIS following Sunday morning's massacre in Orlando. Appearing on The OReilly Factor Monday, Trump was asked by the host: "You implied there may be a sinister reason for him not engaging ISIS more aggressively. Do you want to define that further?" Read: See Inside the Messy Apartment Believed to Belong to Orlando Nightclub Gunman "Nobody knows what's going on. Nobody knows why he doesn't have more anger, why he doesn't have more competitive zeal. Why doesnt he have more competitive zeal to knock them out, Bill? This Orlando attack was just absolutely horrendous and yet, he still doesnt' even use the word radical Islamic terror. I mean, he won't even issue the words," Trump answered. Trump had hammered Hillary Clinton in the past with the same criticism. On Monday, Clinton used the phrase she has been reluctant to utter for the first time on CNN. "From my perspective, it matters what we do more than what we say. And it mattered we got bin Laden, not what name we called him. I have clearly said we whether you call it radical jihadism or radical Islamism, Im happy to say either. I think they mean the same thing, she said. Bill OReilly later joined Stephen Colbert on The Late Show following his interview with Trump. "He wants to be president," OReilly said. "Hes using this terrorism issue to bolster his popularity." "So hes making a political tool out of a terror attack," Colbert said. OReilly replied: "Thats what hes doing." At a campaign stop in New Hampshire Monday, Trump renewed his controversial call for a stricter immigration policy. Read: Orlando Gunman Scouted Disney Shopping Center Prior to Gay Nightclub Attack: Report The real estate mogul said: The killer, whose name I will not use, or ever say, was born to Afghan parents who immigrated to the United States. His father published support for the Afghan Taliban, a regime which murders those who dont share its radical views. The father even said he was running for president of that country. The bottom line is that the only reason the killer was in America in the first place was because we allowed his family to come here. That is a fact, and it's a fact we need to talk about." Story continues "We have a dysfunctional immigration system which does not permit us to know who we let into our country, and it does not permit us to protect our citizens, Trump said in a speech at Saint Anselm College." He added: The immigration laws of the United States give the president the power to suspend entry into the country of any class of persons that the President deems detrimental to the interests or security of the United States, as he deems appropriate. Watch: How a Fire Extinguisher Can Help You Survive in the Middle of a Nightclub Shooting Related Articles: From Esquire Donald Trump, the most prominent Republican right now, suggested on national TV on Monday that President Obama is possibly complicit in Sunday's horrific terror attack in Orlando. And maybe, Trump hinted, the president is even somehow involved. On Fox & Friends, the presumptive GOP presidential candidate said, "He doesn't get it or he gets it better than anybody understands-it's one or the other and either one is unacceptable." "Look," he continued, "we're led by a man that either is not tough, not smart, or he's got something else in mind. And the something else in mind-you know, people can't believe it. People cannot, they cannot believe that President Obama is acting the way he acts and can't even mention the words 'radical Islamic terrorism.' There's something going on. It's inconceivable. There's something going on." A little while later, Trump called in to NBC's Today show, where he echoed those remarks: "There are a lot of people who think maybe he doesn't want to get it. A lot of people think maybe he doesn't want to know about it. I happen to think he just doesn't know what he's doing. But there are many people who think he doesn't want to get it, he doesn't want to see what's really happening." Now imagine if on Sept. 12, 2001 the nation's most prominent Democrat went on national TV and suggested President Bush was somehow linked to the attacks. Of course it's inconceivable, but so is pretty much everything that's happened in 2016 so far. Monday's rantings aren't the only conspiracy theories Trump's been floating lately. On the campaign trail, he's suggested the president is holding the threat of prison over Hillary Clinton in exchange for her praise of his foreign policy, particularly the Iran deal. "She doesn't want to go to jail!" He said at a rally in San Jose last month. "That's why folks, that's why." By James Oliphant and Luciana Lopez WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The mass shooting in Orlando, Florida has allowed Donald Trump to seize upon a familiar issue he has used to great advantage -the threat of Islamist militants and his plan to limit Muslim immigration to the United States, offering him what could be a crucial moment to re-boot his sputtering presidential campaign. But while rank-and-file voters might respond positively to Trumps renewed call for a ban on some Muslims entering the country, his reaction to the massacre showed few initial signs of winning over Republican foreign-policy figures who have spurned the New York mogul. "Its a missed opportunity to present a different image, said Peter Feaver, a top National Security Council aide in the George W. Bush White House. He has doubled down on policies I oppose and that arent going to solve the problem. Trump said in a speech Monday in New Hampshire he would suspend immigration from countries where there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States. He said radical Muslim immigrants were "trying to take over our children and convince them how wonderful ISIS (Islamic State) is." After the worst mass murder in modern U.S. history on Sunday left 50 dead, Trumps speech was hastily refashioned from a broad critique of Democratic rival Hillary Clinton to a dire warning of the threat from Islamist militants. Although Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack, U.S. officials have maintained that Omar Mateen's motives were unclear and that he had no known direct links with the Syria-based group. Mateen, they said, was likely radicalized over the Internet. A week ago, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee's bid was taking on water. He was being battered by fellow Republicans for his comments about the Hispanic heritage of a federal judge, and Clinton was pulling away in the polls. A renewed focus on national security could provide Trump with the chance to expand his appeal both to undecided voters and to the Republican foreign-policy establishment. While Trump at times seems to relish being at odds with the establishment, the unhappiness among the partys hawks isnt just a matter of hand-wringing. It means if Trump does reach the White House, he could have a difficult time recruiting talented, experienced advisers. ALARMING THE MAINSTREAM Max Boot, an influential conservative at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the Orlando tragedy could have provided an opening for Trump to rally Republicans against terrorism. But instead, Boot said, Trump has been partisan and petty. Boot criticized Trump for suggesting on Monday that President Barack Obama may sympathize with radicalized Muslims and for reviving the proposed Muslim ban. His performance has been in character, Boot said, which is to say appalling. Trump has alarmed some mainstream Republicans with vows to shred international trade deals, his demands that Mexico pay for a border wall and his questioning of U.S. foreign policy pillars such as its security commitments to NATO and Asian allies. Clinton struck a very different tone in a speech on Monday, urging "statesmanship, not partisanship" and "clear, rational discussion" on how to protect the United States from terrorist threats. Eliot Cohen, a top-ranking State Department official during the Bush administration, called Trumps reaction to the shootings opportunistic and shallow and not what Americans expect from a president. Lanhee Chen, a top aide to Mitt Romney during his 2012 presidential campaign, suggested Trump will not be able to refine his image. While it would be true in most cases a big speech like this could reset the decks, I think the challenge with Donald Trump is always who he is at his core, Chen said. But voters are another matter. Trumps swift rise within the Republican Party was at least partly due to the strident tone he has taken toward immigrants and refugees. When Trump responded to last years terror attacks in Paris and California with a call for banning Muslims from entering the country, he surged in the Reuters/Ipsos poll in the weeks that followed, opening up a 30-point lead over his Republican primary rivals. Republicans continue to be strongly supportive of Trump's approach to handling terrorism. This month, two-thirds of Republicans said they agreed with Trumps proposal to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the country. Overall, 42 percent of Americans said they agreed with a Muslim ban while 50 percent said they disagreed, with another 8 percent not sure, according to another Reuters/Ipsos poll from May 17 to June 6. The poll of more than 6,000 people has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of about 1.5 percentage points. Combating Islamist extremism was on the mind of Texas billionaire Doug Deason, a major Republican donor who told Reuters he will meet with Trump later in the week to discuss his support. Nothing Trump has said since the Orlando shooting has caused him to re-think backing him, Deason said. Peter King, a U.S. congressman from New York, said his party's foreign-policy establishment will eventually have to get on board with Trump. "As one of the two major candidates for president, he will have to get advice or consultation with top national-security people, King said. (Additional reporting by Michelle Conlin and Chris Kahn in New York and Patrica Zengerle in Washington; editing by Caren Bohan and Stuart Grudgings) ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey will not allow cooperation with terrorist organizations in Syria even as it supports the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Tuesday. Ankara and Washington have long been at loggerheads over the role of a U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish militia. Turkey says the fighters are terrorist organization affiliated with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The U.S. sees the Syrian Kurdish fighters as a key partner in the battle against Islamic State. Yildirim made the comment in a speech to his ruling AK Party in parliament that was broadcast live on television. (Reporting by Ercan Gurses and Ece Toksabay; Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Dasha Afanasieva) ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey will never change its anti-terrorism laws, even if it would mean a collapse in a deal with the European Union to secure visa-free travel for Turks to Europe, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Tuesday. Turkey and the EU have been discussing visa liberalization since 2013 and agreed in March to go ahead with it as part of a broader deal to halt illegal immigration from Turkey to the EU. But progress stalled when Brussels insisted that Ankara must also reform its tough anti-terror laws. (Reporting by Ece Toksabay; Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Nick Tattersall) Ankara (AFP) - Turkish police have seized a jewel-encrusted ivory dagger said to have belonged to Libya's late leader Moamer Kadhafi and which was going to be sold for millions of dollars on the black market, Anadolu news agency reported. Acting on a tip-off, the police raided a house of a businessman in the Esenyurt neighbourhood of Istanbul on the European side of the city and confiscated the artefact, the state-run agency said late Monday. The dagger, studded with sapphires, emeralds and diamonds, was looted from Kadhafi's palace during the Libyan revolution, it added. The businessman planned to sell the dagger on the black market to a Saudi businessmen in Istanbul, it said. Anadolu quoted officials as saying the Istanbul businessman paid $4.6 million (4.09 million euros) for the dagger, which was purchased from Libya nearly three months ago. The suspect was detained while trying to sell it to the Saudi businessman for $10 million, it said. Police detained two other accomplices, according to the agency. They were released pending trial. Anadolu published an image of the seized artefact showing the finely-crafted dagger embossed with gold and jewels supported on a stand and flanked by two white lions. Istanbul is a hub for the smuggling of valuable art works and antiques but Turkish police regularly claim success in seizing valuable artefacts that are about to be sold illegally. Since Kadhafi's killing in 2011, Libya has descended into near-anarchy, ruled by rival militias vying for power while the Islamic State group has gained influence in the country. Addiction, police brutality, gender discrimination, and racism are hardly issues that, on their surface, are particularly amusing for those facing them. And yet, some of this years funniest TV comedies are making topical issues exactly that a laughing matter. I really believe that comedy allows a lot of entry points for conversation, says Black-ish creator Kenya Barris, who frequently tackles race and cultural issues on his ABC sitcom. If you get people laughing, you can talk about almost anything. Jill Soloway, creator of Transparent, which continues to explore sexual identity and gender in a changing world, agrees. In fact, mining humor out of uncomfortable situations is something they delve into so frequently in the writers room that Soloway even has a term for it: funcomfortable. To Soloway, whose show is based on her own familys experience of her fathers transition from male to female, being able to address serious, sometimes controversial topics is as important as the story itself. I cant imagine making art any other way, she says. I love comedy and I love filmmaking, but I dont think I would be able to enjoy myself if I didnt feel like I was doing something to change the world. Soloway says she likes using humor in uneasy situations because in her experience, that is usually how life unfolds. The silly and the sad always seem to be wrapped up in each other, she says. There is a space where something deep or sad is happening and it just fills and expands and then finally bursts because of something shared and funny. But it is challenging to try to mine humor out of a controversial topic. Barris was nervous as he set out to write Hope, the episode dealing with police brutality in the aftermath of the Ferguson indictment. I dont think I would be able to enjoy myself if I didnt feel like I was doing something to change the world. Jill Soloway I did not want to trivialize the conversation and the situation, and this aspect of the world that were living in today, he says. At the same time, were doing a comedy, and so I felt like it was really important to make sure there was a balance between the comedy and the seriousness. Story continues To his relief, his script had the desired effect, evoking a range of emotions in his cast and crew. The table read was really heavy and light and cathartic for all of us. People were laughing. People were crying. At the end, people stood up and applauded. I wanted to cry. While some shows look for balance, the writers of Veep rarely hold back when making fun of a broken political system and addressing issues that make some Americans blood boil. Showrunner David Mandel believes one of the reasons they can evoke more laughter than wrath is because Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and her staff arent defined by a particular political party. They are based on the real world, but theyre never the real world, Mandel says. We are an equal- opportunity offender. Mandel has no problem exploring sexism, or centering an entire episode around the worst word one can use to describe a woman. Our job is to find the comedy in these difficult issues, he says. My own personal feeling is theres nothing that shouldnt be laughed at. [The ability to laugh] is the most important thing in the world. Related stories Bold Freshman Dramas Shake Up Emmy Writing Race Limited Series Writers Take Big Risks in Short Runs Chip Rosenbloom Rents Out Malibu Estate (EXCLUSIVE) By Heide Brandes OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - An Oklahoma jury convicted two men of killing four people in a 2009 drug house murder spree whose victims included a former prostitute featured on the HBO reality show "Cathouse," court officials said on Tuesday. Denny Phillips and Russell Hogshooter, who could face the death penalty, are set for sentencing proceedings starting Tuesday by the same jury that convicted them late on Monday. Prosecutors said the two men stabbed, shot and set their victims on fire. The target of the attack was Casey Barrientos, 32. Phillips and Hogshooter also killed three women at the house to prevent them from being witnesses, prosecutors said. Among the victims was Brooke Phillips, 22, no relation to Denny Phillips, who was featured on the cable television reality show about a legal brothel in Nevada called Moonlite BunnyRanch. She was pregnant at the time, as was victim Milagros "Millie" Barrera, 22. Also killed was Jennifer Ermey, 25. Hogshooter and Denny Phillips, who authorities said had planned to rob Barrientos, were found guilty of six counts of murder. Oklahoma law allows for suspects to be charged with murder for the death of the fetuses. Defense attorneys questioned the veracity of two co-defendants who reached plea deals in exchange for testimony for the prosecution. (Reporting by Heide Brandes; Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Bill Trott) On Jun 14, Zacks Investment Research updated the research report on security and protection services provider Tyco International Ltd. TYC. Tyco provides the latest fire protection and security products and services to more than three million customers across the globe. The company has more than 57,000 employees in over 900 locations, serving various end markets, including commercial, institutional, governmental, retail, industrial and energy, residential and small businesses. Growth Drivers Tyco has been actively repositioning its portfolio to build a right mix of businesses and maximize long-term value for its shareholders. The companys acquisition pipeline remains attractive and complements its existing businesses. During second-quarter fiscal 2016, Tyco closed the acquisition of the consumer analytics firm, ShopperTrak for $175 million. This strategic move positions Tyco as a one-stop-solution provider of monitoring systems, data and analytics capabilities to retail clients. During second-quarter fiscal 2016, Tyco also signed a merger deal with the global diversified technology company, Johnson Controls Inc. JCI. Per the deal, Tyco will own 44% equity in the joint company. Post merger, the companies plan to strengthen their building products and technology, integrated solutions and energy storage portfolios. Tyco believes that this transaction will help it to expand its global footprint in the building-technology market, enhance shareholder value and develop innovative solutions. With an improved and enriched product portfolio, the transaction creates immediate opportunities for near-term growth through cross-selling, complementary channel networks, and expanded global reach for established businesses. The new company will enjoy synergistic benefits worth $500 million through mutual sharing of resources over the first three years after the closing of the transaction. These annual cost synergies are expected to be achieved through higher efficiencies, elimination of redundancies, integration of the global branch networks, and leveraging the combined scale of the business platform. In addition, the transaction is expected to create at least $150 million in annual tax synergies. Story continues TYCO INTL PLC Price and Consensus TYCO INTL PLC Price and Consensus | TYCO INTL PLC Quote We are bullish on the companys fortunes based on the relative stability of the global security and fire markets, as well as high and predictable cash generation and limited balance sheet risks. Further, the company has consistently returned significant cash to shareholders through share buybacks and dividends. Tyco also continues to invest in its businesses to strengthen long-term competitive capabilities for both products and services. Other Stocks to Consider Tyco currently has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). A couple of stocks that look promising in the same industry include Alarm.Com Holdings, Inc. ALRM and Ascent Capital Group, Inc. ASCMA, both sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days.Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report JOHNSON CONTROL (JCI): Free Stock Analysis Report TYCO INTL PLC (TYC): Free Stock Analysis Report ASCENT CAP GRP (ASCMA): Free Stock Analysis Report ALARM.COM HLDGS (ALRM): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. WASHINGTON, June 14 (Reuters) - A U.S. appellate court on Tuesday upheld a Securities and Exchange Commission plan that allows small companies to sell stock to big investors without satisfying tough disclosure rules. Qualified investors may buy up to $50 million in securities from certain companies without first seeing detailed financial data that everyday investors would expect in a public offering. Such rules were envisioned in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 as a way to stimulate investment in smaller companies. Officials in Massachusetts and Montana objected, though, saying the SEC standard could harm the public. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Tuesday sided with the SEC and said the agency had "complied with its statutory obligation" to protect investors while meeting the mandate of the JOBS Act. The court ruled that the SEC had a right to tailor registration requirements and that the new standard would supersede state securities rules. The court brushed aside arguments that the federal standard hindered states' ability to protect everyday investors. The SEC may scale back disclosure rules for small companies that are in an early stage of reaching the market but the agency rarely asserted that power, the court noted in its decision. (Reporting by Patrick Rucker; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn) It was billed by Riyadhs state media as a trip for Saudi Arabias powerful deputy crown prince to meet with President Barack Obama and other senior U.S. officials. But now that Prince Mohammed bin Salman has arrived in Washington, its still unclear if the president or any White House officials will meet with him, a spokeswoman said Tuesday. No confirmation at this time for any WH meetings, White House spokesperson Dew Tiantawach told Foreign Policy. The absence of any scheduled meetings with even National Security Adviser Susan Rice is fueling speculation among Gulf experts about a diplomatic snub. It comes amid sharp policy differences between Washington and Riyadh, and unease among U.S. officials about overplaying alliances with the 30-year-old prince, who some view as locked in a power struggle with the older Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef. Very unusual for the Saudis to come out saying he is meeting with Obama and White House not confirming it, said David Ottaway, a Saudi expert at the Wilson Center in Washington. They certainly knew he was coming. If the White House needed a diplomatic excuse to bail on the younger prince, who also holds the title of defense minister, it could easily and understandably claim to be more immediately focused on last weekends deadly shootings in Orlando, where Obama will travel Thursday to express support for the victims. But U.S. officials have remained mum about the scheduling standoff. Were not going to comment on conjecture, said Tiantawach. Prince Mohammed will meet with top State Department and Pentagon officials as he promotes plans to overhaul the Saudi economy, the worlds biggest oil exporter. He will also travel to California for meetings with Silicon Valley executives. The Saudi royal court said in a statement that Prince Mohammed would seek ways of strengthening bilateral relations with Washington, which have taken a sharp downturn in recent years. Riyadh wants the Obama administration to more aggressively confront its archrival, Iran, for what Saudis describe as undermining its Arab neighbors. Story continues Riyadh is also a chief backer of Sunni rebels who are trying to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in that countrys five-year civil war. Saudi Arabia wants the U.S. to provide more sophisticated weapons and support to the Sunni militants. Yet Saudi Arabia faces growing criticism in a larger U.S. debate over ultraconservative forms of Islam, including Wahhabism, that some have linked to violent behavior. After this weeks killing of 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton delivered a speech on Monday calling out a handful of Arab countries including Saudi Arabia. It is long past time for the Saudis to prevent their citizens from funding extremist organizations, she said. And they should stop supporting radical schools and mosques around the world that have set too many young people on a path toward extremism, she added in remarks that also called out the Kuwaitis and Qataris. Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the U.S. Abdullah al-Saud on Monday condemned in the strongest terms the attack on innocent people and expressed his deepest condolences to the families and friends of the victims. Mohammed bin Salman is the son of Saudi King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud Salman. An aggressive publicity hound and inspirational figure for many Saudi youths, the defense minister came to prominence in 2015 as the architect of Riyadhs military campaign against Houthi rebels in Yemen. In a sign of the Obama administrations concerns over the civilian death toll in the Yemen conflict, the White House recently blocked the transfer of cluster bombs to Riyadh, citing reports of their use in civilian areas. Senior U.S. officials, especially at the Central Intelligence Agency, are said to prefer dealing with the older Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, who has decades of experience working on intelligence and counterterrorism issues with the United States. I think they still favor the other Mohammed because of his long experience in security matters, Ottaway said of Mohammed bin Salman, speculating on why the White House wasnt rolling out the red carpet for the deputy prince. Could be Obama doesnt want to be used by Mohammed to promote his grab for power. Simon Henderson, a Gulf expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said he viewed the diplomatic standoff as a scheduling issue with minor games of bluff rather than a snub. The Saudis were wanting POTUS, he said. The White House was suggesting Susan Rice and the secretary of defense with a POTUS drop-by. I dont think anyone in the White House actually likes bin Salman, he added. The secretary of defense certainly doesnt. But you have to deal with him. Whatever the case, officials will have much to discuss with the ongoing wars in Yemen and Syria and the expected release of 28 redacted pages of congressional inquiry into 9/11 that some have said accuse Saudi officials have involvement in those attacks. A Defense Department official told FP Prince Mohammed would meet with senior Pentagon officials this week. The prince met with Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday evening. A source close to the Saudis said the prince will hold meetings with congressional leaders in both parties this week and will also meet with Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. Getty Images There cannot be an absolutist stance against government surveillance of communications, Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, told Wall Street Journal Deputy Editor in Chief Rebecca Blumenstein at WSJs CFO Network Tuesday. There are people who are trying to slaughter all of you, and the people that are trying to protect against that are doing so in good faith, Mr. Bharara said. By Lesley Wroughton SANTO DOMINGO (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced high-level talks to ease tensions with Venezuela's socialist government on Tuesday, just hours after he backed calls for a referendum that could force President Nicolas Maduro from office. Kerry said the talks would start immediately in Caracas and be led by Thomas Shannon, a veteran of U.S. diplomacy in the region. Attempts last year at dialogue between the ideological foes were stalled by Venezuela's deepening crisis. The two countries have been embroiled in diplomatic hostilities since the administrations of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and U.S. President George W. Bush. Kerry said the goal was to go beyond "the old rhetoric." "I've committed to see if this can work so let's see if we can improve the relationship," he told reporters, after huddling with his Venezuelan counterpart on the sidelines of an Organization of American States (OAS) meeting in the Dominican Republic. The talks would also be aimed at fostering dialogue between Venezuela's government and opposition, Kerry said. Maduro welcomed the proposed talks and repeated his suggestion that the two sides restore ambassadors in each other's capitals after an eight-year hiatus that began when Chavez expelled the U.S. envoy to Venezuela. "I propose to John Kerry 'let's designate ambassadors', I am ready. They have ambassadors in Beijing, Vietnam and Havana, and they don't have one in Caracas," he said in a speech to teachers. Maduro proposed an ambassador in 2014 but U.S. President Barack Obama has not yet accepted his credentials. FIREWORKS AT ASSEMBLY Once one of Latin America's most prosperous nations, Venezuela has plunged into unrest and a harsh economic slowdown. Long lines for food and medicines have led to protests and opposition calls for a recall referendum to remove Maduro. That measure is allowed under the constitution, a point made by Kerry to reporters after he met Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez. Earlier in the day, in a speech to OAS delegates, Kerry gave his backing to the referendum push and called on Chavez's political heirs to release political prisoners and respect fundamental rights. His comments to the 34 members of the main diplomatic body of the Americas marked the strongest show of support yet from the United States for the disputed referendum process. Venezuelas opposition accuses the election council of stalling the recall at the behest of Maduro by arbitrarily changing criteria for requesting a recall vote. Maduro has said any recall against him would be in 2017 at the earliest, pushing back against opposition pressure. Several opposition politicians are in jail, notably hardline leader Leopoldo Lopez, who has a 14-year sentence for inciting 2014 anti-government protests that spiraled into violence killing more than 40 people. The government denies it holds political prisoners. Kerry's comments drew a furious response from Rodriguez, who accused Washington and OAS chief Luis Almagro of "international bullying." "Every day we have evidence of the secretary general's bias in favor of sectors of the opposition who are seeking a coup in Venezuela," she said. I see now this is ordered by Washington. I know they are on Washingtons payroll to meddle in the domestic affairs of Venezuela, she said, speaking through a translator. Kerry was more conciliatory after his first ever bilateral meeting with Rodriguez, saying the United States did not support a push by Almagro to suspend Venezuela from the OAS for alleged violations of the regional group's "democratic charter." "The United States is not taking that position, we are not pushing for a suspension. I don't think that would be constructive," he said. At Almagro's behest, the OAS will hold a meeting later this month to initiate the process that could end in Venezuela's suspension. But the former Uruguayan foreign minister appears isolated in the group, with even right-wing governments opposed to Maduro in the region balking at throwing Venezuela out. Venezuela and the United States have repeatedly gone through periods of diplomatic fighting followed by generally short-lived eras of reconciliation. Following Washington's 2014 rapprochement with Cuba, Shannon met with a top Venezuelan Socialist Party official to improve ties with Caracas. The good mood soured within months when the United States criticized the sentence handed to opposition leader Lopez. (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Additional reporting by Brian Ellsworth in Caracas and Jorge Pineda in Santo Domingo; Writing by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Tom Brown) By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court upheld the Obama administration's landmark rules barring internet service providers from obstructing or slowing down consumer access to web content on Tuesday, dealing a blow to big cable and mobile phone companies. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, in a 2-1 decision, backed the Federal Communications Commission's so-called net neutrality rules put in place last year to make internet service providers treat all internet traffic equally. The rules prohibited broadband providers from giving or selling access to speedy internet, essentially a "fast lane" on the web's information superhighway, to certain internet services over others. In siding with the FCC, the court treated the internet like a public utility and opened the door to further government internet regulations. The ruling was a big victory for President Barack Obama, a strong advocate of net neutrality rules. "Today's ruling is a victory for the open, fair and free internet as we know it today - one that remains open to innovation and economic growth, without service providers serving as paid gatekeepers," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. But the fight is not over. The internet service providers that sued to block the regulations said they would appeal either to the full appellate court or to the Supreme Court, and telecommunications industry groups said they would redouble efforts to get Congress to limit the FCC's authority. Netflix Inc (NFLX.O) and Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) were among the companies that praised the ruling, while Google, part of Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O), and others have backed the rules. Presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Democrats in Congress also lauded the ruling. But the U.S. Chamber of Commerce business group said the FCC is "essentially transforming an entire industry, in this case the internet, from an innovative, lightly regulated enterprise that made huge investments into this country, into a public utility subject to the whims of regulators." Story continues South Dakota Republican John Thune, who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, said the decision upholds FCC restrictions "designed for the monopoly-telephone era." He said the Republican-led Congress needs to step in to overturn a decision that results in "a highly political agency micromanaging the internet ecosystem." Net neutrality is a major issue for broadband providers like Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N), Comcast Corp (CMCSA.O) and AT&T (T.N), which fear the rules may make it harder to manage internet traffic and make investment to provide additional capacity less likely. Verizon said it backs an open internet but urged Congress to approve "reasonable, bipartisan legislation that would provide a stable framework for continued investment and innovation." The decision was a victory for content providers like Netflix and Yelp Inc (YELP.N), which have worried that access to customers could be limited without net neutrality. The ruling boosted the FCC in its bid to complete action on major internet privacy rules applying to internet providers before the end of the year. Internet service providers have expressed growing frustration at proposed FCC regulatory mandates, including new privacy rules and a proposal to open up pay-TV set top boxes to new competitors. 'UNFETTERED ACCESS' FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said the "ruling is a victory for consumers and innovators who deserve unfettered access to the entire web, and it ensures the internet remains a platform for unparalleled innovation, free expression and economic growth." The telecommunications industry trade association US Telecom, which led the legal challenge, said the court failed to recognise "the significant legal failings" of the FCC rules that "we believe will replace a consumer-driven internet with a government-run internet, threatening innovation and investment in years to come." The court also rejected legal arguments from opponents that the rules should not apply to mobile phone web use or that they violated the constitutional free-speech rights of internet service providers. Republican FCC commissioner Michael O'Rielly said, "We all will rue the day the commission was confirmed to have nearly unmitigated power over the internet." While the ruling was critical for businesses, consumers likely will not notice any difference because the rules have been in effect since June 2015. The court's ruling was made by two Democratic-appointed judges: David Tatel, named by President Bill Clinton, and Sri Srinivasan, an Obama appointee. They wrote that "over the past two decades, (website) content has transformed nearly every aspect of our lives, from profound actions like choosing a leader, building a career, and falling in love to more quotidian ones like hailing a cab and watching a movie." Judge Stephen Williams, an appointee of Republican President Ronald Reagan, wrote in dissent that "the ultimate irony of the commissions unreasoned patchwork is that, refusing to inquire into competitive conditions, it shunts broadband service onto the legal track suited to natural monopolies." The FCC decided in 2015 to reclassify internet service providers as common carriers under a 1996 law. But unlike how utilities are treated, the FCC decided not to impose rate regulations or require broadband providers to file notice of pricing plans. (Reporting by David Shepardson; Additional reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Will Dunham) By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations Security Council on Tuesday unanimously authorized a crackdown on arms smuggling in the high seas off Libya by allowing the inspection of vessels to seize and dispose of illicit weapons. The European Union proposed the council resolution to expand its naval operation in the Mediterranean, which the 15-member Security Council authorized in October to seize and dispose of boats operated by human traffickers. The council resolution expressed concern that "arms and related materiel are being used by terrorist groups operating in Libya, including ISIL (Islamic State)." French Ambassador Francois Delattre told reporters ahead of the vote that the resolution has "the potential to be a game-changer," since a large quantity of arms is smuggled via ship off the coast of Libya. Libya U.N. envoy Martin Kobler told the Security Council last week that Libya was awash with arms - 20 million pieces of weaponry in the North African state of six million people. "These weapons do not fall from the sky, but come increasingly through illegal shipments by sea and by land. The arms fuel the conflict. These shipments must end if there is any serious hope of bringing peace to Libya," he said. The U.N. Security Council imposed an arms embargo on Libya in 2011 when former leader Muammar Gaddafi's forces cracked down on pro-democracy protesters. U.N. sanctions monitors last year told the Security Council that Libya needed help from an international maritime force to halt the flow of weapons in and out of the country. The fall of Gaddafi in 2011 sparked chaos with two competing governments backed by militias scrambling for control of the oil producing country. A power vacuum has allowed Islamic State militants to gain a foothold. British U.N. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said the existing arms embargo had not stopped the flow of arms and that illicit weapons in Libya were "enabling terrorists to murder, to maim, to bring yet more chaos to the people of Libya and the region." A U.N.-backed unity government formed earlier this year is seen by western states as the best hope for uniting Libya's many political factions. Libya's government is allowed to import arms with approval of the Security Council's sanctions committee. The resolution asks states to "make good-faith efforts to first seek the consent of the vessel's flag state prior to any inspections" and calls upon those flag states to cooperate. (Additional reporting by Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Alan Crosby and Andrew Hay) (In June 10 story, corrects reference to AstraZeneca drug to PD-L1 instead of PD-1, paragraph 10) By Deena Beasley CHICAGO, June 10 (Reuters) - A new type of cancer drug that takes the brakes off the body's immune system has given drugmakers some remarkable wins against the deadly disease, but a top U.S. regulator says too many companies are focused on the same approach. Dr. Richard Pazdur, head of the Food and Drug Administration's office of oncology products, was referring to therapies designed to disable the PD-1 protein that tumors use to evade the immune system. The FDA has approved such treatments from Merck & Co , Bristol-Myers Squibb Co and Roche Holding AG , each of which have list prices of $150,000 per year. At least five other drugmakers are developing similar medicines. "People should ask themselves ... would we be better off spending those resources into looking at more novel drugs?" Pazdur told Reuters during the annual American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting in Chicago this week. Pazdur acknowledged that the success of a few drugmakers in the worldwide $110 billion market for cancer treatments makes it attractive for rivals to continue developing similar therapies rather than invest heavily in unproven approaches. "As with everything in drug development, it is about reduction of risk," he said. But the number of similar drugs in development at the same time is a first in the oncology field, and latecomers to the PD-1 market will likely be relegated to "niche" indications, he added. Drug company executives disputed Pazdur's critique. In interviews with Reuters, they argued that the science around cancer is advancing rapidly, with a focus on how to best combine therapies to attack multiple mechanisms of the disease, determine which patients are most likely to respond to them and how long patients will need to be treated. Bristol-Myers and Merck are widely viewed as leaders in the immunotherapy race, with treatments defying the odds to help patients fight off some of the deadliest cancers. Merck's Keytruda was shown to help a significant number of patients with advanced melanoma live at least three years, while Bristol-Myers' Opdivo prolonged life for some lung cancer patients by two years, according to data presented at the ASCO meeting. Story continues In practice, doctors say, around 20 percent of advanced cancer patients respond to the new drugs and a subset of those patients can have lasting remissions. AstraZeneca PLC's PD-L1 drug, which similarly prevents tumors from evading detection, received "breakthrough" status from the FDA to expedite review for treating a type of bladder cancer. Other companies in earlier stages of development include Pfizer Inc, in partnership with Germany's Merck KGaA, Novartis AG, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc and China's BeiGene. "Our reason to go into PD-1s is not just to have a 'me too' drug," said Israel Lowy, head of translational science and oncology at Regeneron, which has a PD-1 in early-stage trials. "Most people think that the future is in combinations ... Having our own PD-1 that is active and useful gives us enormous flexibility in how we do clinical trials." ENOUGH PROFIT FOR EVERYONE? Industry executives say they are investing in additional, potentially complementary, approaches to PD-1 treatment that can eventually be used against many types and stages of cancer. "We don't look at ourselves as 'latecomers.' We are leading in multiple areas with combination therapies," said Bahija Jallal, executive vice president at AstraZeneca's MedImmune unit, which is testing its PD-1 candidate with a range of other experimental drugs. "The question is, how can we really follow the science," Jallal said. At the ASCO meeting, for example, Pfizer presented early-stage data from a trial showing that its experimental agent 4-1BB, which aims to increase T-cells, was safe when combined with Merck's Keytruda, but only two of 23 patients achieved complete remissions for a year. "Somebody may emerge with a surprise new mechanism," said Leerink Partners pharmaceutical analyst Seamus Fernandez. He said drugs from Bristol-Myers and Merck will most likely become the standard of care for many patients. Pazdur and other experts agreed that the biggest opportunity for cancer immunotherapies will be their use earlier on in treatment. Fernandez said Bristol-Myers could "win the war," if it succeeds with a combination of Opdivo and its other immunotherapy Yervoy as an initial treatment for advanced non-small cell lung cancer. Merck and Roche are testing their PD-1s combined with chemotherapy for the same purpose. In the end, patients may benefit from lower costs if Merck and Bristol-Myers face more rivals in the marketplace. Both Keytruda and Opdivo have a U.S. list price of about $150,000 per year. If combinations of expensive therapies become the norm, drugmakers could theoretically keep prices lower by mixing their own treatments rather than seeking permission from a rival. "The profits on oncology drugs are so high that 'me-too' drugs will be developed," said Joel Hay, professor of pharmaceutical economics and policy at the University of Southern California. "They will ultimately reduce the profits in that class. That's how competition is supposed to work." (Editing by Michele Gershberg and David Gregorio) (Adds details on vote, background on election) By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON, June 14 (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to pass a $602 billion defense authorization bill, despite President Barack Obama's threat to veto the annual policy measure over issues including a ban on closing the Guantanamo Bay military prison. The vote was 85-13, far more than the majority needed to pass the 100-member Senate. Six Republicans and seven members of the Democratic caucus voted against the bill, which authorizes military spending for the fiscal year that begins on Oct. 1. Obama gave a long list of objections to the versions of the bill passed by the Senate and House of Representatives, including provisions making it more difficult to close the detention center at the Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba and the use of funds specially designated for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to allow the military to avoid mandatory spending limits. The Senate's version of the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, now must be reconciled with the one passed by the House last month before it can be sent to Obama. The House bill also faces a veto threat. If the bill is finished before November, when every member of the House and one-third of the Senate is up for re-election, a veto could prove challenging for Democrats. Obama's party is trying to keep the White House, and hopes to regain the Senate majority it lost in 2014, if not control of the House. But Democrats perpetually battle accusations from Republicans that they are soft on defense, a fight that could be more difficult if they block the major Pentagon policy bill. 'DEATH SENTENCE' Republican Senator John McCain, who chairs the Armed Services Committee, said he was disappointed the bill did not include a program that would help Afghans who are in danger because they worked for American troops to move to the United States. "They are the number one target for the Taliban and for ISIS (Islamic State)," McCain said in the Senate after the bill passed without an amendment extending the program to provide Special Immigrant Visas for interpreters and others who worked for U.S. forces. Story continues Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen, who had introduced the amendment, called its omission "unconscionable." In a statement, she said, "For many of them, this could be a death sentence." The bill would also require young women to register for the military draft, as the Department of Defense opens all of the military, including combat roles, to females. A few conservative senators voted against the measure because of that provision. The bill passed with a compromise on the use of Russian RD-180 rocket engines. Lawmakers eased a ban on their use late last year, worried that it could drive United Launch alliance, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co , out of business and leave only privately held SpaceX to transport satellites into space. An amendment from Republican Senator Cory Gardner and Democrat Bill Nelson gives the Pentagon time to develop and test a replacement for the Russian-made engines and limits their use for launches. McCain, a harsh critic of Moscow, had tried to stop the use of the RD-180 to send a message to Russia's President Vladimir Putin. The bill also bars military base closures, despite military leaders saying they have more capacity than they need. Closing bases is a thorny issue for many lawmakers, especially in an election year. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; editing by Lisa Von Ahn, G Crosse) By Diane Bartz WASHINGTON, June 14 (Reuters) - Four U.S. senators - two Democrats and two Republicans - introduced a bill on Tuesday aimed at preventing big pharmaceutical companies from using safety rules to prevent generic drugs from coming to market. Senators Charles Grassley, chair of the Judiciary Committee, and Patrick Leahy, the top Democrat, are sponsors of the bill along with Senators Mike Lee and Amy Klobuchar, the chair of the antitrust subcommittee and top Democrat, respectively. The Food and Drug Administration, which ensures the safety of the country's food and drug supply, has a risk evaluation and mitigation strategy program, called REMS, which is designed to ensure that the riskiest drugs are dispensed safely. But there have been complaints that the program has been misused by brand-name drug companies to prevent generic manufacturers from getting the drug samples needed to market cheaper versions. Generic companies also complain their drugs are not allowed to share a safety protocol, making it difficult to come to market. The bill would allow a generic manufacturer who faces either of these situations to file a lawsuit to force access to a sample or force negotiations for a safety protocol. "Balancing the cost of developing lifesaving medications with the need to make available affordable prescription drugs to consumers has always been a difficult task. It's a consistent topic at my town meetings," Grassley said in a statement. "Unfortunately, we're seeing some brand-name drug companies engage in anti-competitive tactics that delay entry of lower cost generic drugs into the market. This bill takes important steps to ensure that our laws are not frustrated." There is a similar bill in the House of Representatives which addresses the same issue but uses a different strategy. For example, it requires the generic company seeking a REMS drug to get FDA authorization to obtain the sample. In one of the REMS disputes which is public, Mylan Pharmaceuticals filed a lawsuit in 2014 against Celgene Corp , accusing it of using REMS to prevent generic copies of Thalomid and Revlimid to market. Story continues The Senate Judiciary Committee's antitrust panel will hold a hearing on its bill on June 21. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA, which counts major drugmakers among its members, said it had no immediate comment. The Generic Pharmaceutical Association was pleased to see the bill introduced. "It is worth noting and recognizing recent efforts by representatives in the branded industry to highlight the valuable role generic medicines play in driving healthcare system savings," said Chip Davis, GPhA's president. "Continued use of these anticompetitive practices by certain manufacturers drives the exact opposite outcome." (Reporting by Diane Bartz, editing by G Crosse) By Idrees Ali and David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy's Third Fleet will send more ships to East Asia to operate outside its normal theater alongside the Japan-based Seventh Fleet, a U.S. official said on Tuesday, a move that comes at a time of heightened tensions with China. The Third Fleet's Pacific Surface Action Group, which includes the guided-missile destroyers USS Spruance and USS Momsen, was deployed to East Asia in April. More Third Fleet vessels will be deployed in the region in the future, said a U.S. official who requested anonymity. He and a second official said the vessels would conduct a range of operations, but gave no details. China claims most of the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have overlapping claims, as well as close military ties with the United States. China has been angered by what it views as provocative U.S. military patrols close to islands that China controls in the South China Sea. The United States says the patrols are to protect freedom of navigation. The Third Fleet, based in San Diego, California, traditionally has confined its operations to the eastern side of the Pacific Ocean's international dateline. Japan's Nikkei Asian Review quoted the commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, Admiral Scott Swift, as saying on Tuesday that the move came in the "context of uncertainty and angst in the region," an apparent reference to China's behavior. Swift argued that the Navy should utilize the "total combined power" of the 140,000 sailors, over 200 ships and 1,200 aircraft that make up the Pacific Fleet. The Seventh Fleet consists of an aircraft carrier strike group, 80 other vessels and 140 aircraft. The Third Fleet has more than 100 vessels, including four aircraft carriers. Chinese officials have blamed the rising tensions on the United States. "I think before Americans' so-called rebalancing in Asia Pacific, the South China Sea was very quiet, very peaceful," Liu Xiaoming, China's ambassador to Britain, told Reuters in an interview last week. "China was talking to the neighboring countries. We had a Declaration of Conduct. And the Philippines was talking to us. Once the Americans came in, so-called `rebalancing,' things changed dramatically.""They want to find an excuse to have their strong military presence in the South China Sea and in the Asia Pacific. If it is so quiet, what is the reason for them to be there?" he asked. Greg Poling, director of Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, said on Tuesday that the move appears to be part of President Barack Obama's plan to shift 60 percent of U.S. naval assets in Asia as part of his rebalance of resources to the region in the face of China's rise. (Reporting by Idrees Ali and David Brunnstrom; Editing by John Walcott and Leslie Adler) DUBAI/KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Abu Dhabi's state-owned International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC) said on Tuesday it has asked a London court to arbitrate in a dispute with Malaysian state fund 1MDB in which IPIC is claiming about $6.5 billion. The submission to the London Court of International Arbitration alleges that 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and Malaysia's finance ministry (MOF) failed to perform their obligations under a debt restructuring agreement involving the companies last June. "The failure of 1MDB and MOF to perform their obligations, cure their defaults or put forward acceptable proposals has left IPIC in the position where it must pursue its claims in arbitration," IPIC said in a statement. "The total amount claimed by IPIC/Aabar is approximately US$6.5 billion," it added. 1MDB said in response that it would review the request for arbitration once it has been served with a copy. Under a deal signed in June, IPIC agreed to loan $1 billion to 1MDB and assume payments on $3.5 billion of 1MDB debt. It also forgave an undisclosed amount of debt that 1MDB owed to IPIC, in exchange for assets which have not been identified. But IPIC said in April that 1MDB was in default of that agreement, after the Malaysian fund failed to repay the loan. 1MDB subsequently defaulted on interest payments on two bonds, which IPIC had guaranteed. The Malaysian fund said it has sufficient funds to make the interest payments but did not due to its dispute with IPIC. The finance ministry did not immediately comment. IPIC is claiming the $3.5 billion bond plus interest that amounts to $4.8 billion, the $1.2 billion loan plus interest, and about $481 million owed to Aabar -- adding up to $6.5 billion, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. 1MDB, once a pet project of Prime Minister Najib Razak, is the subject of money-laundering investigations in at least six countries. Problems began when the Abu Dhabi fund denied it owned Aabar Investments PJS Ltd, a British Virgin Islands company which received payments of $3.5 billion from 1MDB meant for the IPIC. Story continues These fund transfers are now under the scrutiny of global investigators. Malaysia's finance ministry dissolved 1MDB's board of advisers and took over its remaining assets last month. (Reporting by Andrew Torchia and Stanley Carvalho; Additional reporting by Praveen Menon; Editing by John Stonestreet and Kim Coghill) Oldschool UFC warrior Don Frye finally got the respect he deserved at UFC 199 when the organization announced hed be the latest addition to the UFC Hall of Fame. Frye was one of the first guys to actually mix his martial arts, using a combination of wrestling, judo, and brawling to win the UFC 8 and Ultimate Ultimate 96 tournaments. That was back in the day when fighting three times in one night was the norm, and people still werent convinced that a death wasnt right around the corner at these insane no holds barred events. Our friends at Submission Radio interviewed Frye about his inclusion in the Hall of Fame, and the ever opinionated fighter also offered up his thoughts on Brock Lesnar returning to the UFC. Frye understands what Lesnar is about more than most in addition to being an MMA pioneer, Don also swung between fighting and pro wrestling throughout his career. That doesnt mean hes picking Lesnar out of solidarity. On the contrary, Frye thinks Brock is about to receive a rude awakening at the hands of the heavy hitting Mark Hunt. Oh my God, why? Why?!? Frye said when asked what his reaction to Brocks fight at UFC 200 was. Mark Hunt is going to destroy him. Its going to be such a fun fight to watch Mark kick his head off. So Im looking forward to it. Marks an animal. Yeah hes an animal. I mean, goddamn, hes one of the better fighters walking the planet. You know and hes got the strength and the speed and the skill, and s**t, hes like ten-foot-tall and bullet proof. For clarification, Mark is actually 510, but its an easy mistake to make since the guy carries himself like a Samoan god. I thought they were going to give him some fish, Don continued. Whos that pro wrestler that keeps bailing out of his fight all the time? Yeah, I mean, give him CM Punk (laughs) or somebody worse than that. But jeez, I gotta give it to Lesnar for accepting the fight. First you gotta step into the cage, and then Ill give the guy all the credit in the world just for being man enough to let that door close behind him. Story continues With many fighters including former opponent Frank Mir agreeing with Dons opinion, this is a much different welcome than Brock received during his first appearance in 2008. But Lesnars weakness getting punched really hard in the face was exposed by the end of that run, and it just happens to be exactly what Mark Hunt is good at. On the other side of the coin, Mark has never been great off his back, and Lesnar happens to be one of the greatest amateur wrestlers to step into the Octagon. Its a classic clash of styles, and whoever can implement their gameplan is likely to walk out of the cage with all their brain cells intact. Unless they decide to pull a Don Frye and just swing for the fences til someone drops. How epic would that be? (via Submission Radio, transcript by MixedMartialArts.com) United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The UN Security Council on Tuesday was set to authorize an EU naval force to intercept ships suspected of carrying weapons to Libya, in a measure aimed at weakening the Islamic State group and militias fighting the unity government. The council was to vote on a resolution drafted by Britain and France that would expand the mission of Operation Sophia, which has been combating migrant-smuggling in the Mediterranean. Operation Sophia's enforcement of an arms embargo would help shore up the UN-backed unity government as it struggles to establish its authority over the entire north African country. Militias loyal to the new government of Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj are battling to retake from IS jihadists the key city of Sirte. Libya descended into chaos during the 2011 uprising against Moamer Kadhafi and the new UN-brokered government set up office in Tripoli only two months ago. The arms embargo was imposed on Libya in 2011, but UN sanctions monitors have reported shipments from Egypt, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Sudan to various factions. The draft resolution invokes Chapter 7 of the UN charter, which allows for the use of military force. It would grant a 12-month mandate to EU vessels to "inspect, without undue delay, on the high seas off the coast of Libya, vessels bound to, or from Libya which they have reasonable grounds to believe are carrying arms or related material to or from Libya." Diplomats said they expected broad support for the measure although it remained unclear whether Russia, Egypt and Venezuela would abstain during the vote, scheduled at 3:00 pm (1900 GMT). Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin last week expressed concerns that the measure could create "suspicion" among Libya's many factions and negotiations on the text have focused on Moscow's proposed changes. These include a mention that the EU naval force must "make good-faith efforts" to first seek consent from the ship' flag state before carrying out any inspection. Story continues - Seize and dispose - EU vessels would be authorized to "use all measures commensurate to the specific circumstances to carry out such inspections" of suspected arms-smuggling ships on the high seas, off Libya's coast. The EU force would be authorized to "seize and dispose" of the weapons and divert vessels and their crew to a nearby port. Libya is awash with weapons, with some 20 million pieces of armaments of all types in a country of six million people, according to the United Nations. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini asked the council last week to endorse the naval mission's expanded mandate, saying it would "make the Mediterranean a safer place." Once the council has given its backing, EU foreign ministers are expected to formally task Operation Sophia with combating arms-smuggling when they meet in Luxembourg on Monday. The move to combat weapons-smuggling coincides with a push to grant the Sarraj government an exemption to the arms embargo for purchases of military equipment needed to confront IS and rival militias. That request for an exemption, however, is conditional on receiving assurances from the unity government that it will properly store and keep track of the new weapons to prevent them from falling in the wrong hands. Council members also want Tripoli to provide a clear command structure of the various militias that are now claiming to be fighting on the unity government's behalf. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The UN Security Council on Tuesday authorized an EU naval force to intercept ships suspected of arms smuggling to Libya, moving to shore up Tripoli's unity government as it battles the Islamic State group. The council unanimously adopted a resolution drafted by Britain and France that expands the mission of Operation Sophia, which has been combating migrant-trafficking in the Mediterranean. French Ambassador Francois Delattre, who holds the council's presidency this month, said the measure is a potential "game-changer," by cutting off the arms flow "that feeds the instability" in Libya. Operation Sophia's enforcement of an arms embargo would help the UN-backed unity government as it struggles to establish its authority over the entire north African country. Militias loyal to the new government of Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj are battling to retake from IS jihadists the key city of Sirte. Libya descended into chaos during the 2011 uprising against Moamer Kadhafi and the new UN-brokered government set up office in Tripoli only two months ago. The arms embargo was imposed on Libya in 2011, but UN sanctions monitors have reported shipments from Egypt, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Sudan to various factions. Libya is awash with weapons, with some 20 million pieces of armaments of all types in a country of six million people, according to the United Nations. Following the UN vote, EU foreign ministers were expected to formally task Operation Sophia with combating arms smuggling when they meet in Luxembourg on Monday. -Seize and dispose - The resolution invokes Chapter 7 of the UN charter, which allows for the use of military force. It grants a 12-month mandate to EU vessels to "inspect, without undue delay, on the high seas off the coast of Libya, vessels bound to, or from Libya which they have reasonable grounds to believe are carrying arms or related material to or from Libya." Story continues Weeks of negotiations focused on addressing concerns from Russia and Egypt. These included a mention that the EU naval force must "make good-faith efforts" to first seek consent from the ship's flag state before carrying out any inspection. Under the measure, EU vessels are authorized to "use all measures commensurate to the specific circumstances to carry out such inspections" on the high seas, off Libya's coast. The EU force received UN permission to "seize and dispose" of the weapons and divert vessels and their crew to a nearby port. The adoption of the resolution coincides with a push to grant the Sarraj government an exemption to the arms embargo for purchases of military equipment to confront IS and rival militias. That request for an exemption, however, is conditional on receiving assurances from the unity government that it will properly store and keep track of the new weapons to prevent them from falling in the wrong hands. Council members also want Tripoli to provide a clear command structure of the various militias that are now claiming to be fighting on the unity government's behalf. WGN America and Sony Pictures Television have a unique contender in Misha Green and Joe Pokaskis Underground in that its the first TV series that has been made about the Underground Railroad. In preparing for the project, Green was struck by the slave narratives she researched at the Library of Congress. These people have been voiceless, we havent really given them a voice. Theyre not just whipping posts, and the people whipping them arent just whippers, said the co-creator at a recent Awardsline Underground Emmy screening, Thats where our research turned. Underground follows a group of slaves who try to escape a Georgia Plantation prior to the Civil War. Aldis Hodge plays Noah, one of the slaves who bravely plots his escape options, and in this clip the actor explains the series historical significance to todays times. In regards to forthcoming storylines on Underground, Pokaski says that the staffs research has provided them with seasons and seasons of the Underground Railroad. For example, one intriguing note about the slave escape routes, It was a spy network for the North says the co-creator. When things start getting boring, theres a thing called the Civil War we drop into, adds Pokaski. Related stories PHOTOS: Deadline Emmy Party - Ray Liotta, Rachel Bloom, Dan Bucatinsky, Will Forte, Michael McKean & More Exec Producers Of 'The Affair', 'Power', 'Underground' & 'Superstore' Tackle Art Versus Commerce - Produced By Warner Bros, Safehouse Team On Contemporized 'Count Of Monte Cristo' With William Eubank, Joe Pokaski UTC Aerospace Systems, a division of United Technologies Corp. UTX, was recently chosen by Pilatus Aircraft Ltd (Switzerland) a company which delivers world-class pilot training -- to equip the Australian Defense Force (ADF) PC-21 next generation training aircraft. Per the contract, the company will provide the ADF its terrain referenced navigation (TRN) system, TERPROM. The financial details of the contract have been kept under wraps. The companys TERPROM is a verified navigation solution which is currently in use across 14 nations in over 5,000 aircraft across the world. The TRN function offers accurate, drift-free navigation even when the GPS has been disallowed. The system utilizes on-board sensors and a fully loaded digital map. The TERPROM software provides reliable ground collision prevention and obstruction warning without electronic emissions. Overcoming unfavorable situations like poor visibility, a GPS denied environment or operations at low level, this device increases situational awareness, allowing pilots to effectively manage any mission. The TERPROM software will be installed in all 49 ADF PC-21 aircraft, providing trainee crew with hassle free landing and functioning. UTC Aerospace Systems will also provide Pilatus with its simulator software for the ADF's ground-based training equipment. The installation process is being carried out at UTC Aerospace Systems' Atlantic Inertial Systems Limited business in Plymouth, U.K. UTD TECHS CORP Price UTD TECHS CORP Price | UTD TECHS CORP Quote UTC Aerospace Systems is one of the worlds largest suppliers of aerospace and defense products. The company has more than 6,000 customer service employees across 60 locations worldwide. UTC Aerospace Systems is also engaged in designing, manufacturing and servicing systems and components for various platforms such as commercial, regional, business and military aircraft, and helicopters. The aforesaid contract extension will thus augment the companys goodwill in the market as well as trigger better revenue generation. Story continues UTCs parent company United Technologies currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the industry include Koninklijke KPN N.V. KKPNF, China Merchants Holdings (International) Company Limited CMHHY and ExamWorks Group, Inc. EXAM. All three stocks carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report EXAMWORKS GROUP (EXAM): Free Stock Analysis Report UTD TECHS CORP (UTX): Free Stock Analysis Report CHINA MERCHANTS (CMHHY): Free Stock Analysis Report KONIN KPN NV (KKPNF): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Amid the gloom prevailing following the mass shooting at a nightclub in Orlando, some positive news flowed in for U.S. airlines as the carriers will soon be operating commercial flights to Cuba. The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has authorized six U.S.-based carriers to operate scheduled flights to nine second-tier Cuban cities, thereby taking a step toward restoration of diplomatic ties with the island nation after more than 50 years. Currently, many U.S. carriers offer charter service to Cuba. Following the DOT approval, the carriers can start operating commercial flights to the island this fall itself. A Long-Standing Issue Diplomatic ties between the countries were severed by the U.S. in 1961 after Fidel Castro overthrew the Cuban government to set up a socialist state and in the process started to establish strong relations with the erstwhile Soviet Union. In late 2014, President Obama called for the restoration of diplomatic ties with Cuba. Following a series of talks, a non-legally binding arrangement aimed at restoration of scheduled flights between the nations was inked in February this year. Subsequently, the U.S. DOT received a plethora of applications from U.S. carriers seeking permission to operate commercial flights to Cuba, a favorite tourist spot for Americans prior to the embargo. TRANSPORTATION-AIRLINE Industry Price Index TRANSPORTATION-AIRLINE Industry Price Index The Current Scenario According to Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, the selected U.S. carriers will operate commercial flights from the cities of Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Chicago, Philadelphia and Minneapolis/St. Paul. The nine Cuban cities which will be connected to the U.S. via the commercial flights are Camaguey, Cayo Coco, Cayo Largo, Cienfuegos, Holguin, Manzanillo, Matanzas, Santa Clara and Santiago de Cuba. The U.S. DOT has allowed airline heavyweights like American Airlines Group AAL, Southwest Airlines Co. LUV and JetBlue Airways Corp. JBLU to launch commercial flights to Cuba. The other airlines that have secured a go-ahead for the same are Frontier Airlines, Silver Airways and Sun Country Airlines. Story continues Silver Airways was the only carrier to win permission to fly to all of the nine Cuban destinations. Following the approval, American Airlines will be able to operate two daily flights between Miami and Holguin, Santa Clara and Varadero (a resort town in Matanzas) apart from a single daily flight between Miami and Camaguey and Cienfuegos. The flights are expected to be operational from September this year. The Dallas-based Southwest Airlines will apparently operate flights between Fort Lauderdale, FL, and two Cuban cities. The Long Island City, NY-based low-cost carrier JetBlue Airways intends to operate daily flights connecting the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport to three Cuban cities - Santa Clara, Camaguey and Holguin. Havana Routes Decision Awaited However, airline players like Delta Air Lines DAL and United Continental Holdings UAL are still waiting for the permission to fly to Cuba. This is because the carriers had filed applications to fly to Havana and the DOT is likely to announce its decision on Havana routes later this summer. We remind investors that Delta had applied to operate flights connecting Havana with Atlanta, New York, Miami and Orlando. United Continental had applied for permission to fly to only Havana. In fact, the Havana routes are highly in demand among U.S. carriers which have collectively applied for the approval to operate nearly 60 flights to Havana on a daily basis. The agreement allows for only 20 daily roundtrip flights between the U.S. and the Cuban capital. Naturally, all eyes will be fixed on the DOTs decision on the highly sought after Havana routes. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report SOUTHWEST AIR (LUV): Free Stock Analysis Report JETBLUE AIRWAYS (JBLU): Free Stock Analysis Report DELTA AIR LINES (DAL): Free Stock Analysis Report UNITED CONT HLD (UAL): Free Stock Analysis Report AMER AIRLINES (AAL): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Washington (AFP) - The United States denied Tuesday that it is in a dispute with its ally Saudi Arabia over how to handle the crisis in Syria. US Secretary of State John Kerry was all smiles late Monday when he welcomed deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman to his home in Washington. The influential 30-year-old prince, who serves as defense minister, broke his Ramadan fast at an iftar supper with the top US diplomat. Reports had suggested Riyadh is frustrated with US policy in Syria and would like to step up arms supplies to the rebels fighting Bashar al-Assad's regime. But on Tuesday, Kerry's spokesman John Kirby denied there was any rift. "If you're asking if there's this big philosophical divide between the Saudis and the United States on how to move forward on the ground in Syria, the answer is 'no,'" he told reporters. Kirby recalled that Saudi Arabia had been one of the first countries to join the United States and Russia in forming the International Syria Support Group. This 22-nation group is pushing for a negotiated end to Syria's civil war, and Riyadh was vital in getting skeptical mainly Sunni rebels on board. "If it were not for Saudi leadership, we wouldn't have that first meeting of the Syrian opposition groups back in December in Riyadh," Kirby said. "They have been at this right from the beginning with the United States and with Russia and with Turkey, moving this process forward." Earlier in the process, Saudi officials privately told AFP they favored sending ground-to-air missiles and anti-tank weapons to the rebels. But they have stuck by the US and Russian plan, while continuing to complain that Assad -- backed by Saudi foe Iran -- is breaching a shaky truce. "I'm not going to speak for what they specifically want to do differently," Kirby said. "But I can tell you that on the issues that matter... Saudi Arabia has been with us step-by-step." Story continues - Extremist funding - According to a statement issued after Monday's meeting, Kerry and the prince also discussed joint US-Saudi efforts to counter Islamic extremism. This was a particularly touchy topic in the wake of Sunday's mass shooting by an apparent Islamist sympathizer in a Florida gay nightclub. Kerry's predecessor as secretary of state, US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton seized up the attacks to demand that Saudi citizens stop "funding extremist organizations." "They should stop supporting radical schools and mosques around the world that set too many young people on a path towards extremism," she added. Kirby would not be drawn on whether Kerry had passed a similar message to his Saudi guests. Homosexuality is illegal in Saudi Arabia and under the kingdom's strict interpretation of Islamic law can in some cases be punishable by death. But Riyadh did issue a statement condemning the Orlando shooting. According to Kirby, the prince and the diplomat "discussed this weekend's shooting in Orlando and expressed their shared commitment to continue their cooperation in combating the spread of violent extremism, both regionally and internationally." Jeh Johnson US Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson on Tuesday blasted Donald Trump's proposal to ban Muslims from entering the US in light of the terror attack in Orlando. Johnson told ABC's "Good Morning America" that such a ban would be "counterproductive." "Overly simplistic suggestions that we ban people from entering this country based on religion or ban people from an entire region of the world is counterproductive," Johnson said. "It will not work." Johnson emphasized that the US needs to "build bridges" to Muslim communities. US officials have emphasized in the past that the government should not alienate Muslims because they're often the first line of defense against terror attacks since they can tip off authorities when they suspect someone has become radicalized. "We need to build bridges to communities, to American Muslim communities right now, to encourage them to help us in our homeland security efforts," Johnson said. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, renewed calls for a ban on Muslim immigration during a campaign speech in New Hampshire on Monday. "The only reason the killer was in America in the first place is because we allowed his parents to come here," Trump said. "That is a fact, and it's a fact we need to talk about." The gunman in the Orlando shooting was a US citizen born in New York whose parents were from Afghanistan. He killed 49 people at a LGBTQ nightclub in Orlando early Sunday. Watch Johnson's comments below: DHS Sec. Jeh Johnson tells @GMA: "Overly simplistic" proposals of immigration bans are "counterproductive" https://t.co/OLmLCQK8TM ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) June 14, 2016 NOW WATCH: Golf legend Greg Norman reveals the truth behind US President Bill Clinton's late-night 1997 injury More From Business Insider Los Angeles (AFP) - A California Baptist preacher has sparked uproar for praising as "great" the massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando that left 49 people dead and scores injured. "Today, people say like, well aren't you sad that 50 sodomites died?" pastor Roger Jimenez of the Verity Baptist Church in Sacramento told his congregation during his sermon delivered on Sunday, just hours after the massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Florida. "Here's the problem with that," he added. "It's like the equivalent of asking me... 'Hey, are you sad that 50 pedophiles were killed today? "Um, no, I think that's great. I think that helps society. You know, I think Orlando, Florida is a little safer tonight." His comments, which were posted on the church's YouTube channel before being taken down, were denounced by members of the LGBT community as well as local officials. "The hateful comments made by a preacher in Sacramento do no reflect Christian values and have no place in our society," Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson said in a tweet. Dave Garcia, director of policy at the LGBT center in Los Angeles, told AFP he was not surprised by the comments, which he noted were a sad and familiar refrain for the LGBT community. "While these individuals have not shot or killed members of the community, they are loading the guns with hateful bullets," Garcia said. Jimenez insisted that his remarks had been taken out of context and that the uproar was an attack on freedom of speech and religion. The pastor added that he was simply quoting from the Bible during his sermon and that his comments reflected the opinion of many in America. "The whole point I was making is that if people who God has put a death penalty on die anyway, that's not something that we necessarily need to be mourning," he told reporters. He said he had received many threats after his remarks went public. Church officials could not be immediately reached for comment. * Greater clarity for investors "sorely needed" -analyst * Unclear how Valeant will look in 18 months -former investor * New CEO Papa tackling issues head-on -PR expert By Allison Lampert LAVAL, Quebec, June 14 (Reuters) - The new chief executive of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc, Joe Papa, will appear before investors at the company's annual meeting for the first time on Tuesday, likely facing hard questions after months of bad news torpedoed its stock. Valeant's meeting in Laval, Quebec, comes as its share price trades 90 percent lower than in August 2015, weighed down by concerns over its acquisition binge of recent years, use of a specialty pharmacy and backlash over massive price increases for some drugs. Greater clarity on the company's direction is "sorely needed" for investors, along with evidence that it can generate substantial free cash flow, said Raghuram Selvaraju, analyst at Rodman & Renshaw, a unit of investment bank H.C. Wainwright. "They cut guidance to a point where now if there are any additional disappointments, any further negative surprises, any further reductions in guidance, there's going to be a crisis of confidence in the company regarding whether or not they can continue to meet their debt covenants," he said. Valeant declined to comment. For Papa, a seasoned pharmaceutical industry executive who took the reins in May, there was no honeymoon. The company last week cut its 2016 forecast and said it would consider selling assets to pay down its $31 billion debt. Shares fell nearly 15 percent that day. "I don't think Valeant is in a place right now to know exactly what the company looks like 18 months from here," said Patrick Kaser, portfolio manager at Brandywine Global. "The uncertainty certainly rose meaningfully (last) week. There's more doubt." Valeant's diminished outlook helped convince Brandywine to sell its position in the company last week. Kaser said he and some other investors met Papa after Valeant's quarterly call. Some, he said, wanted to know what the future holds for Valeant's faltering distribution agreement with pharmacy chain Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. Others want to know what assets it will sell, he said. Story continues PAPA'S 'PLAYBOOK' Papa's "playbook" for soothing investors should be simple - outline a turnaround plan and address concerns directly, said Patrick Hillmann, a senior vice-president at public relations firm Levick. "A lot of times, CEOs will try to run from their problems, and I think he has for the most part turned it around and taken some of these issues head-on," said Hillmann, whose firm is not working with Valeant. Billionaire investor Bill Ackman, whose Pershing Square Capital Management is Valeant's biggest shareholder, also will attend the meeting. A spokesman for the New York-based hedge fund declined to comment. In a letter to investors, Ackman called Papa "an ideal choice for Valeant," citing his reputation for integrity and his performance as CEO of Perrigo Company PLC. Privately, Ackman has talked about the effects of Valeant's stock price drop on his own portfolio as has told some clients he expects redemptions to be higher for the second quarter than in past quarters when investors pulled out less money than usual, one investor said. (Additional reporting and writing by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg and Svea Herbst-Bayliss in Boston; Editing by Matthew Lewis) Share your opinion on this topic by sending a letter to the editor to tctvoice@madison.com. Include your full name, hometown and phone number. Your name and town will be published. The phone number is for verification purposes only. Please keep your letter to 250 words or less. (Adds CEO comment on asset sales, shareholder comments) By Allison Lampert LAVAL, Quebec, June 14 (Reuters) - Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc's new chief executive officer left the door open to selling major assets on Tuesday as the company tries to reduce its massive debt load. Joe Papa, who replaced former CEO Mike Pearson in May, said last week that Valeant would take offers for assets other than its key dermatology, consumer products, Bausch + Lomb eyecare and Salix gastrointestinal drug businesses. But Papa told reporters in Laval, Quebec, after his first annual meeting with investors that Valeant might sell more if the price was right. "If there is a significant offer, we would always have to assess any offer that comes in to us," he said. Valeant has faced scrutiny over its acquisition binge of recent years, use of a specialty pharmacy and backlash over massive price increases for some drugs. Last week it cut its 2016 forecast. Papa said he would avoid breaking Valeant up entirely: "I took this job to rebuild this company." He said Valeant would pay off at least $1.7 billion of its $31 billion debt this year, with further payments depending on asset sales. Papa said he already had fielded inquiries for non-core assets and had several bankers working on potential sales. While Papa was expected to face tough questions at the meeting held in the Montreal suburb of Laval, it lasted just 40 minutes, and some shareholders were cordial. "We're glad you're here," said a shareholder who identified himself as a doctor from New Jersey. Billionaire investor Bill Ackman, whose Pershing Square Capital Management is Valeant's biggest shareholder, attended the meeting but declined to comment. Valeant shares, down 90 percent since last August, fell more than 1 percent in Toronto and New York. "Given the past 12 months have been fairly traumatic, I'm rather surprised there wasn't more discussion or explanation of some of the things that have gone on," shareholder Philip Harrison told Papa. Story continues Harrison questioned the compensation paid to former management. Pearson will receive a $9 million severance payment and has a consulting agreement worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Papa said the payment was required under Pearson's contract. He emphasized the company's brands and determination to fix problems. "There are some distractions and other things that have occurred in the business," he said. "I felt the important thing I needed to do here is really focus on the future." (Additional reporting and writing by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg; Editing by Matthew Lewis and Lisa Von Ahn) By Allison Lampert LAVAL, Quebec (Reuters) - Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc's new chief executive officer left the door open to selling major assets on Tuesday as the company tries to reduce its massive debt load. Joe Papa, who replaced former CEO Mike Pearson in May, said last week that Valeant would take offers for assets other than its key dermatology, consumer products, Bausch + Lomb eyecare and Salix gastrointestinal drug businesses. But Papa told reporters in Laval, Quebec, after his first annual meeting with investors that Valeant might sell more if the price was right. "If there is a significant offer, we would always have to assess any offer that comes in to us," he said. Valeant has faced scrutiny over its acquisition binge of recent years, use of a specialty pharmacy and backlash over massive price increases for some drugs. Last week it cut its 2016 forecast. Papa said he would avoid breaking Valeant up entirely: "I took this job to rebuild this company." He said Valeant would pay off at least $1.7 billion of its $31 billion debt this year, with further payments depending on asset sales. Papa said he already had fielded inquiries for non-core assets and had several bankers working on potential sales. While Papa was expected to face tough questions at the meeting held in the Montreal suburb of Laval, it lasted just 40 minutes, and some shareholders were cordial. "We're glad you're here," said a shareholder who identified himself as a doctor from New Jersey. Billionaire investor Bill Ackman, whose Pershing Square Capital Management is Valeant's biggest shareholder, attended the meeting but declined to comment. Valeant shares, down 90 percent since last August, fell more than 1 percent in Toronto and New York. "Given the past 12 months have been fairly traumatic, I'm rather surprised there wasn't more discussion or explanation of some of the things that have gone on," shareholder Philip Harrison told Papa. Harrison questioned the compensation paid to former management. Pearson will receive a $9 million severance payment and has a consulting agreement worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Papa said the payment was required under Pearson's contract. He emphasized the company's brands and determination to fix problems. "There are some distractions and other things that have occurred in the business," he said. "I felt the important thing I needed to do here is really focus on the future." (Additional reporting and writing by Rod Nickel in Winnipeg; Editing by Matthew Lewis and Lisa Von Ahn) CARACAS (Reuters) - A wave of lootings and food riots in crisis-hit Venezuela has left three people dead in the last week, authorities and a rights group said. The state prosecutor's office is investigating the deaths of a 21-year-old man in eastern Sucre state on Saturday, another 21-year-old man in the Caracas slum of Petare on Thursday, and a 42-year-old woman in the western state of Tachira last Monday. All three were shot during chaotic protests and melees outside shops, which have become flashpoints for violence and looting amid scarcities of basics across the South American OPEC member country, according to local rights group Provea. A policeman has been arrested over the Tachira death. And a National Guard sergeant major was arrested for the shooting in Sucre, the prosecutor's office said on Monday. With basics such as flour and rice running short, crowds chanting "We want food!" are thronging supermarkets daily, presenting a major problem for the struggling leftist government of President Nicolas Maduro. More than 10 incidents of looting are occurring daily, according to the Venezuelan Observatory of Violence, a local monitoring group. Venezuela's political opposition is pursuing a recall referendum in an effort to remove Maduro, a socialist, from office. Maduro, 53, who won election to succeed Hugo Chavez in 2013, accuses foes of deliberately stirring up trouble and seeking a coup. (Reporting by Sarah Dagher, Girish Gupta and Diego Ore; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne, G Crosse) Santo Domingo (AFP) - The United States and Venezuela said Tuesday they would launch new high-level talks as the South American country struggles with a growing humanitarian crisis. With the Venezuelan opposition pushing to remove President Nicolas Maduro, the United States urged "constructive" steps to ease the situation in the volatile oil-exporting state. The two nations have had tense relations for years, with Venezuela's socialist leaders accusing Washington of trying to topple them. But the countries' top foreign envoys sat down together Tuesday on the sidelines of a regional gathering. US Secretary of State John Kerry said he discussed the opposition's drive for a recall referendum during the meeting with Venezuela's Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez. Maduro himself said later in televised comments that he agreed to "a new stage of dialogue" between his government and US officials. The two countries withdrew their respective ambassadors in 2010 but Maduro said he was "ready to appoint ambassadors and regularize relations." Kerry told reporters he would send top State Department envoy Thomas Shannon to Venezuela "as soon as possible." Shannon has met with officials in Venezuela before but this time the talks would have a "larger agenda," Kerry said. After drawing charges of US meddling from Rodriguez earlier in the day, Kerry insisted: "We're not taking sides. We're just supporting the constitutional process" in Venezuela. He met with Rodriguez in the Dominican Republic after the general assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS). - Recall referendum - Oil-rich Venezuela has slid into crisis as crude prices have crashed over the past two years. Citizens are suffering shortages of basic goods. The hardship has fueled protests, violence and looting. The opposition also accuses the authorities of jailing dozens of activists for political reasons, a charge the government denies. Story continues Maduro has accused the United States and the Washington-based OAS of conspiring against his government. The regional organization's general secretary Luis Almagro has called a meeting on June 23 to discuss the Venezuelan government's democratic record -- a possible step towards its suspension from the group. Almagro accuses Maduro of trampling on the political opposition. "We're not pushing for a suspension," Kerry said, however. "I think it's more constructive to have the dialogue than to isolate at this point." Kerry earlier drew a sharp response from Rodriguez when he called for Venezuela to allow "a fair and timely recall referendum that is part of that constitutional process." He also called on Maduro's government "to release political prisoners, to respect freedom of expression and assembly, (and) alleviate shortages of food and medicine." Rodriguez fired back: "Venezuela's internal matters will be settled by Venezuelans," in unscheduled comments ahead of her meeting with Kerry. - US 'intervention' - Rodriguez also repeated her government's allegation that the United States was plotting a military intervention in Venezuela. She referred to comments made last year by the then-head of the US military's Southern Command, John Kelly. In a television interview, Kelly said the US military would react if asked to in the event of a grave humanitarian crisis in Venezuela. Maduro blames Venezuela's economic crisis on an "economic war" waged by the Venezuelan business elite. He accuses them of plotting with the United States to destabilize the country. The OAS permanent council is scheduled to discuss the crisis on June 23 in Washington. "On Venezuela, the US has to walk a fine line," Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue, a US-based think tank, told AFP. "In the face of Venezuela's humanitarian crisis, Kerry couldn't remain silent, but he also couldn't go too far and get out in front of other regional governments." A Marine reportedly saved countless lives when he put himself in the line of fire to guide panicked patrons to safety during the massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando Sunday that left 49 people dead. War veteran Imran Yousuf was working as a bouncer at Pulse when Omar Mateen opened fire with an AR-15 assault rifle on the crowded nightclub. As he made his rounds in the club after last call, the 24-year-old Hindu said he immediately recognized the sound of the military-style firearm when Mateen began shooting. The initial one was three or four (shots). That was a shock. Three or four shots go off and you could tell it was a high caliber, he told CBS News. Frightened patrons froze and then rushed into the back hallway, crowding the enclosed space and not moving any further, he said. Yousuf knew a door was beyond the group of panicked people, but it needed to be unlatched. And Im screaming Open the door! Open the door! And no one is moving because they are scared, he recalled. There was only one choice. Either we all stay there and we all die, or I could take the chance, and I jumped over to open that latch and we got everyone that we can out of there. Between 60 and 70 people poured out of the club after the door opened, he said. I wish I could have saved more to be honest, Yousuf said, beginning to cry. There are a lot of people that are dead there are a lot of people that are dead. Read: 'Comfort Dogs' Bring Relief and Hope to Those Left Behind From Orlando Massacre Forty-nine people were fatally shot and 53 others were wounded in the attack. The Marine, who served in Afghanistan, later learned that he also lost friends during the mass shooting, he said in a Facebook post. He shrugged off praise of his actions, saying that his training had simply kicked in at a time when it was needed most. While it might seem that my actions are heroic I decided that the others around me needed to be saved as well and so I just reacted, he wrote on Facebook. Story continues I do appreciate the love and support and thank all of you from the bottom of my heart but please, this is not about me, he continued. We need to show our love and profound efforts to the families and friends who have lost someone and help them cope with what happened and turn our efforts to those who truly need it. Members of the Orlando Police Department are also being lauded for their actions in stopping Mateen. Officer Adam Gruler was working extra duty at Pulse when he headed toward the shots and exchanged gunfire with Mateen to stop him. Lieutenant Scott Smith and Sergeant Jeffrey Backhaus arrived on the scene soon after and the firing continued. The shooting turned into a hostage situation when Mateen went deeper in the club, entering one of the bathrooms where clubgoers were hiding, officials said. Mateen called 911 and pledged allegiance to the Islamic State before crisis negotiators stepped in and tried to talk to him, Orlando Police Chief John Mina said Monday. Read: Terrifying First Shots in Orlando Attack Caught on Snapchat Video That Victim Sent Her Brother After Mateen mentioned explosives and bombs, the SWAT team stormed the club using a controlled explosive and an armored BearCat vehicle to make a hole in the clubs exterior wall so club goers could get out. About 30 hostages were rescued as SWAT team members went after Mateen, authorities said. Officers Timothy Stanley, Kevin Easterling, Andrew Bishop, Ricardo Duenas and Michael Napolitano, Sergeant James Parker, Detective Raul Rivas and Lieutenant Jonathan Bigelow exchanged gunfire with Mateen before shooting and killing him, police said. Napolitano suffered a laceration to his forehead where a bullet hit his Kevlar helmet. Police released a sobering image of the helmet with a bullet hole at its center. (Orlando Police Department) Mina praised the work his officers did Sunday, saying in a touching email: On the darkest day of my 25 years at the Orlando Police Department, I wanted to take a moment to tell all of you how proud I am of the work you have done today and will do over the next days and weeks. We have trained again and again for this type of situation. Its unfortunate that we had to put those skills to use today. But because of that training and your professionalism, we saved dozens of lives this morning I know that you have all been affected today by the tragic actions of a lone terrorist who cut short the lives of so many. Our community, our City, and our Department will be grieving in the days, weeks and months to come. But on a day like today and every day I couldnt be more proud to be your Chief. Watch: How to Use a Fire Extinguisher AS a Weapon During a Nightclub Shooting Related Articles: Dear Sumner: I write to you as your long-time friend, as a director you have elected to the Viacom board 22 times, and as lead independent director of the Company. I am making my letter public in the hope that those around you will read it to you and that you can see the complexity of the issues confronting us. You and I have worked together for decades to create shareholder value and develop shareholder trust. Over that time, many issues and differences have arisen. Working closely with the other members of the Board, we have addressed each of them with thoughtful dialogue and careful calibration across a variety of interests. Strangely, in the last few months, a host of new advisors and spokespeople say they work for you. They claim that strongly held views you have expressed for decades have, in the past few months, completely reversed. They say you no longer trust your friends, your advisors, or your board. They tell us to believe that you have put your daughter Shari in charge of your trust and your board at National Amusements despite your clearly stated wishes and planning over many years that are to the contrary. A new law firm never before associated with you recently delivered a notice claiming you amended Viacoms bylaws, taking away significant responsibilities from your board. They tell us that you are well and getting better every day. Last week they staged a drive for you, with Shari, to the Paramount studio for a brief visit in which you didnt get out of your car. Sumner, we sincerely hope you are doing well. But it is alarming that your representatives refuse us the opportunity to talk with you, express our perspectives, share our friendship, or understand directly from you what your wishes might be and why. Bill Schwartz and I have not been permitted to see you, despite repeated requests. Philippe hasnt been allowed to meet with you since early March. And we are quite concerned that your voice and views are not being heard. When your phone is dialed into our board calls from your home, no one says a word. When we ask for your vote, all we hear is silence. Statements from these people suggest you think we intend to sell Paramount lock, stock, and barrel, or that we would do it in the middle of the night and hide it from you. Nothing could be further from the truth. You may remember that in February, Philippe spoke to you at your home about new opportunities that could strengthen Paramount. He reported that you didnt react, other than to nod when he asked you if you heard him and understood what he said to you. You may recall that a few days later, Philippe spoke about possibilities of a transaction at a special informational telephonic session of all of the members of the board, and you were dialed in. All of the board members except you spoke up, and the board supported exploring the possibilities further without dissent. As of right now, Philippe and his team are busy exploring whether a transaction might be possible and how much value it would bring. Just last week, he said at a public conference that partnering with a new strategic investor could unlock a net after-tax value of approximately $10.00 per share of Viacom. If a transaction can be negotiated that creates value for the shareholders, you can be sure it will be presented to the entire board, including to you and to your daughter, Shari, and you will be given a full briefing and ample time to consider it. In the meantime, it is important for all shareholders that we are able to pursue this investigation without any new obstacles that may cause potential investors to shy away from the process. Sumner, they tell us they wont make you available for fear that such a meeting would become the source of more litigation. In reality, putting up a wall around you ensures more litigation and that is not what we want. We want to understand what is happening with you. And I can assure you that you can count on us to stick up for you and for the many other Viacom shareholders you have served so well for so many years. Fred Congratulations, Donald Trump. Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism, I don't want congrats, I want toughness & vigilance. We must be smart! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 12, 2016 To be clear, congratulations are not in order because youre tough and vigilant. You are late to that party: President George W. Bush declared war on terrorism in 2002 and handed it over to President Barack Obama, who tweaked the rhetoric and strategy but nonetheless kept up the fight. Together, the Bush and Obama regimes have killed tens of thousands of Islamic extremists, along with countless innocents. You were not right on radical Islamic terrorism. But you are doing right by radical Islamic terrorism. You are giving legitimacy to ISISs nefarious interpretation of a peaceful religion. You are helping ISIS recruit terrorists. You are dividing Americans at a time when all Americans most need to be united. So congratulations. What has happened in Orlando is just the beginning. Our leadership is weak and ineffective. I called it and asked for the ban. Must be tough Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 12, 2016 A lot to unpack in that tweet: What happened in Orlando is not the beginning. It is the latest in a series of attacks on U.S. interests that began in the Clinton administration, if not sooner. You didnt call it. You didnt warn that an American man named Omar Mateen, a well-educated security guard investigated by the FBI for suspected ties to terrorism, would legally purchase a weapon made for warfare and use it to slaughter 49 people at a popular gay nightclub. You did demand a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States. But the proposal was so constitutionally suspect and poorly considered that you abandoned total and complete and called the ban temporary. Then you completed the full flip-flop, saying the ban was only a suggestion. Story continues Now, apparently, youre for the ban againdespite the fact that Mateen was a U.S.-born son of Afghan immigrants. Or does the ban now extend to Muslim-Americans? Will ethnic cleansing be a hallmark of your presidency? Is President Obama going to finally mention the words radical Islamic terrorism? If he doesn't he should immediately resign in disgrace! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 12, 2016 Obama wont mention the phrase because he thinks doing so would embolden ISIS and alienate the 3.3 million Muslims in America, a patriotic and largely assimilated community that is a bulwark against domestic terrorism. Obama shouldnt resign, but you should consider a different line of work after suggesting today that the president might somehow be involved in the Orlando massacre. A baseless, disgraceful lie. You could argue that its important to give the enemy a name. OK, lets do that: Islamic extremism. Islamic extremism. Islamic extremism. Radical Islam. Radical Islam. Radical Islam. Wait for it No, ISIS didnt crumble. Youre wrong, Donald Trump. Words dont win wars. But your words do undermine the commander-in-chief. Your words do exploit fears, stir prejudices, and divide Americans. Your words might even win you the election. Which is the point, right? In March, you said talk about terrorist attacks is probably why Im number one in the polls. Forty-nine innocent people dead and you took a victory lap in their blood. Congratulations. Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. Shares of VirnetX Holding Corp. VHC, often labeled a patent troll by those in the technology industry, are soaring over 15% on Tuesday thanks to its latest legal move against Apple AAPL in a lawsuit over Facetime and iMessage technology. Back in February, a Texas court ruled that Apple violated four patents held by VirnetX and awarded the company $625.6 million in damages. As Apple appealed the decision, VirnetX actually requested that the judge increase the payout by an additional $190 million. VirnetX also wants an injunction against FaceTime, iMessage, and other Apple software features. Todays price action seems to be coming from a new filing from VirnetXs lawyers that argues that VirnetXs case should be free from the constraints of previous patent-related decisions and eligibly for a larger payout. Citing other case law, the companys legal team tells the Court that whether and how much damages should be enhanced is to be decided by tak[ing] into account the particular circumstances of each case. The jury saw what we have been saying all along: Apple has been infringing VirnetXs patented technology for years, VirnetXs lawyers said in a statement following the original decision. VirnetX holds about 100 internet security patents around the world. It is often labeled a patent troll, or a company that markets no products or services and instead generates all of its revenue through filing for patents and suing anyone that infringes on them. The call for patent reform to defeat patent trolls as reached all the way to the White House, and even President Obama has called for changes. In 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court made a monumental ruling in Alice Corp. vs. CLS Bank. This ruling took a massive chunk out of what could be considered a legitimate patent, and since the decision there has been a 78% win rate for defendants using the Alice case to challenge a patent. Story continues For whatever reason, East Texas, where the VirnetX case is being decided, has become a haven for patent trolls following the Alice case. Judges and juries in this district have proven to be much more sympathetic to the holders of patents. If VirnetXs case holds up, the company could be in for another massive paycheck from Apple, which could send shares soaring even higher. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report VIRNETX HOLDING (VHC): Free Stock Analysis Report APPLE INC (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research By Andreas Cremer and Jan Schwartz BERLIN/HAMBURG (Reuters) - The company that controls Volkswagen will hold a board meeting on Monday to discuss its strategy for the German carmaker's annual shareholder meeting and decide whether to block its plans to pay a dividend, two people familiar with the matter said. Members of Porsche SE (PSHG_p.DE), a holding company for the Porsche and Piech families which controls 52 percent of Volkswagen's (VW) voting shares, have spoken out against VW's proposal to pay a dividend for 2015 when it is still grappling with the fallout of its emissions test cheating scandal. One of the four family members on VW's (VOWG_p.DE) 20-member supervisory board warned at a board meeting in April that the Porsche-Piech clan would use its voting power at the June 22 shareholder meeting to block a dividend payment, two people familiar with the matter have told Reuters. However, that could put them on collision course with other VW shareholders, which are already facing a much lower dividend for 2015 than in previous years. VW proposed in April a 2015 dividend of 0.11 euros per ordinary share and 0.17 euros per preferred share, down from 4.80 euros and 4.86 euros respectively for 2014. The company is battling to cut costs and conserve cash after admitting in September to cheating U.S. diesel emissions tests. It has already set aside $18 billion to cover the cost of vehicle refits and a settlement with U.S. authorities, and analysts think there could be more fines and legal costs. Porsche SE's supervisory board, whose 12 members include chairman Wolfgang Porsche and his cousin Ferdinand Piech, VW's former chairman and chief executive, is planning to meet on Monday, two days before the VW shareholder meeting, to determine its strategy, the people familiar with the matter said. Porsche SE declined to comment. If VW did not pay a dividend for two years running, it could have potentially far-reaching consequences. Currently, VW's preference shareholders do not have voting rights. But if they were denied a dividend for two successive years, they would - under German market rules - be granted voting rights. Story continues That would not only dilute the power of the Porsche-Piech clan, which has a little leeway before its stake would fall below 50 percent, but it would more immediately weaken the influence of Lower Saxony, VW's home state which some critics have blamed for holding back reforms at the carmaker. Lower Saxony's 20 percent stake currently gives it special minority rights to block management decisions, such as factory closures. If its stake fell below that level, it would lose those rights and potentially open the way for the more radical restructuring of VW championed by some other investors. ($1 = 0.8907 euros) (Editing by Jonathan Gould and Mark Potter) The story of the small Spanish city of Huesca is straight out of a fairytaleit all started this week when a sleepy shepherd dozed off when he was supposed to be minding his flock and the sheep got out, according to the Telegraph. The flock ran wild down Avenida Martinez de Velasco to the towns center, which sadly wasnt documented as part of Googles Sheep View program. When the roving flock hit downtown around 4:30 a.m., concerned citizens called the police, who suddenly had to add sheep herding to their policing duties. It took two police cars and five officers to round up the sheep, find the delinquent shepherd, and return the sheep to their pen. As the video posted to the Huesca polices Facebook page shows, the police also had to make sure the massive flock obeyed the citys traffic rules. It took 45 minutes for the police to get the sheep off the city streets. The shepherd was supposed to herd the flock along an ancient route, which passes through the Pyrenees near the French border. The sheep-walking trails can be traversed by humans, toono shepherding skills necessary. In the aftermath of a mass shooting, particularly one with the horrific scope of the recent shooting at gay nightclub Pulse in Orlando, Florida, that killed at least 49 people and left 53 injured, you might not expect to find the most revelatory insight from a comedian. But Vox dug up a 2014 Netflix comedy special by Australian comedian Jim Jefferies that bears particular resonance in the wake of the Orlando club shooting specifically for his bit on gun contr Jefferies made a callback to his country's substantive reforms on gun control in the wake of a mass shooting from 1996 known as the Port Arthur Massacre. The shooting, which stretched across two days, left 35 people dead and another 18 seriously wounded. The shooter used a bevy of high-caliber firearms, including a semi-automatic rifle not unlike the one used by the Orlando shooter. A memorial cross for the 35 people killed in the Port Arthur Massacre. But it's what happened next in Australia that marks the most glaring difference between it and the U.S.: Not two weeks after the shooting, the legislature passed laws that prohibited the sale and ownership of such weapons. What's more, the movement was supported by both political parties, even with a conservative prime minister in office. Since then, mass shootings and more broadly gun violence in the country are all but nonexistent. So, per Jefferies, how has the U.S. responded to mass shootings instead? Perhaps most indicting is Jefferies' first joke in the gun control segment, where he sarcastically boasted that the Port Arthur Massacre "still hasn't been beaten." Unfortunately, as of Sunday, that particular joke no longer applies. You can watch the segment below: From Town & Country On an evening when all eyes are on Lin Manuel-Miranda, and his musical masterpiece Hamilton, the actor, writer, creator turned his eyes, to Orlando, with a touching tribute to the 50 gay people who lost their lives in a terrifying act of gun violence. Watch him break down reciting his sonnet, here. And read the full poem, below. My wife's the reason anything gets done She nudges me towards promise by degreesShe is a perfect symphony of one, Our son is her most beautiful reprise We chase the melodies that seem to find us Until they're finished songs and start to play When senseless acts of tragedy remind us That nothing here is promised, not one day This show is proof that history remembers We live through times when hate and fear seem stronger We rise and fall and light from dying embers Remembrances that hope and love lasts long And love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love Cannot be killed or swept aside, I sing Vanessa's symphony, Eliza tells her story Now fill the world with music, love, and pride. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt actor Tituss Burgess sang a moving rendition of the West Side Story song "Somewhere" at a rally on Monday in memory of the victims of the mass shooting at the Orlando nightclub Pulse, which also featured an emotional speech from Nick Jonas. .@TitussBurgess sings "There's a place for us" @ #OrlandoUnited vigil pic.twitter.com/bVohnN20wL - Kathleen Culliton (@K_Culliton) June 13, 2016 "I have to tell you, being here and seeing all of your faces has comforted me in a way that I did not expect coming down here," Burgess told the crowd according to EW. "I am indeed Orlando, and in times like this, I find myself at a loss for what to do." His soaring cover moved the crowd, which also heard from Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who joined the hundreds gathered at the rally outside the historic New York LGBT landmark the Stonewall Inn. .@TitussBurgess sings at @StonewallInnNYC rally for Orlando shooting victims. @DNAinfo pic.twitter.com/3oqCnEIthc - Ben Fractenberg (@fractenberg) June 13, 2016 Surviving the Orlando Shooting: A Pulse Bartender Shares His Experience Mayor Bill de Blasio told the crowd that inclusion and acceptance are the only path to peace. .@BilldeBlasio speaks about New York values of inclusion. #PrayForOrlando @DNAinfo pic.twitter.com/xR1veNPkXn - Ben Fractenberg (@fractenberg) June 14, 2016 Jonas also addressed the crowd about his feelings on the attack, which killed 49 and injured 53. "More than anything, I just want to speak from the heart and say I woke up yesterday to the news, like all of you, and my heart broke," Jonas said, according to EW. "I grew up here in New York City and New Jersey, performing on Broadway shows, surrounded by some of my closest friends from the LGBT community," he added. "My father, a minister from New Jersey, shaped my view that love is love, that we are all equal. That no matter who you are, or where you're from, or where you're going in life, you have the right to love and be loved. So yesterday, thinking about the families of the victims and the lives lost, I just thought that could be my friend. That could be my people." Story continues Lady Gaga Reads Names of Orlando Victims During L.A. Vigil Currently at the #WeAreOrlando vigil at stonewall in NYC. #PrayersForOrlando pic.twitter.com/TsYaaOr4Ps - IG danielthomasnyc (@Deshasuxx) June 13, 2016 Surviving the Orlando Shooting: A Pulse Bartender Shares His Experience | Conan, Samantha Bee, Seth Meyers, Trevor Noah & More Share Grief, Anger Over Orlando Shooting | Orlando Gay Nightclub Shooting Casts a Shadow on Tony Awards | Producer Sebastian Krys on Orlando Massacre: 'Music Will Always Be Stronger Than a Gun' At a Stonewall Inn rally and vigil Monday night for the victims of the deadly Orlando gay nightclub shooting, actor Tituss Burgess sang West Side Storys Somewhere for thousands of mourners and LGBTQ allies. The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt actor, who is openly gay, belted the lyrics, Somewhere, well find a new way of living, well find a new way of forgiving. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, pop star Nick Jonas and others spoke out about gun control and LGBT rights at the event to honor the 49 people who were killed when a shooter opened fire early Sunday morning at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando. The attack was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. Being here and seeing all of your faces has comforted me in a way that I did not expect on the way down here, Burgess said at the rally. Im going to give you the one thing that I always had readily available, he added, before breaking into song. Burgess plays Kimmy Schmidts roommate, Titus Andromedon, on the original series. Alina Shamsutdinova throwing her deuces up. (Photo: Facebook) Body-shaming is an international epidemic affecting millions of women (and men) especially those who are plus-size. While some countries celebrate a fuller figure, 23-year-old international student Alina Shamsutdinova experienced a serious case of culture shock when she spent time in South Korea. Among the things I heard was, Its OK to be ugly, but being fat is unforgivable, she told the Korea Herald. Another comment was, Youre really lucky that you have a pretty face. Otherwise you would never be able to have a boyfriend. Critiques like these were beyond hurtful to Shamsutdinova, and she quickly began fasting to lose weight, only to gain it back soon after. Coming from Kazakhstan, she had always felt confident and never struggled with self-image; however, she quickly learned that her body type wasnt as widely accepted in Korean culture as it was in Kazakhstan. I think I just tried to follow what others told me or what the society wants, Shamsutdinova said in reference to her realization that ideal body types differ among cultures. Many shops didnt even carry Shamsutdinovas size, furthering the proof of societys efforts to discourage plus-size people in South Korea. And Shamsutdinova isnt the only one to notice South Koreas stringent views on body type. Won Yoo-ri, an American woman interviewed for the feature story on the subject, said that friends, family, classmates, and even strangers had targeted her for her weight. One restaurant server told her that she should be done with her meal because she had already eaten enough. In the U.S., I felt that my personality was all I needed, and people responded to it, she said. But to come to a country and constantly hear a conversation turn to you should lose weight was heartbreaking. These incidents prove how the ideal body shape varies drastically in different countries, creating societies with vastly opposing views on culturally acceptable body types. With the body-positive movement sweeping through the United States, many plus-size women there are feeling more empowered and accepted, whereas countries such as South Korea and China (as seen in this infographic created by the Huffington Post) still value slender women over plus-size women. Story continues Additionally, in a study conducted by Womens Health, 58 percent of women in the U.K. responded no when asked Do you think youre beautiful? showing that these standards have more of an impact on ones self-confidence than people may think. On the other hand, 92 percent of women from Indonesia responded to the same question with yes. So why the drastic difference? Well, it ultimately stems from society and the media imposing specific standards on the community. These varying degrees of self-perception found in the survey arent just a fluke theyre a reflection of how cultures around the world treat certain body types. As it turns out, where you live has a major effect on whether or not your body is perceived as beautiful. So remember that while one society may look down on your physique, another may celebrate it. Instead, try to focus on being healthy rather than fitting into a mold that society tries to force you into. Read This Next: It Takes Guts to Be a Woman Who Lives by Her Own Rules Lets keep in touch! Follow Yahoo Beauty on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. When you need the morning after pill, the alternative to pissing money away in Boots is the sexual health centre. Yes, that mecca of white paper bags packed with Durex condoms and muted daytime TV. Since picking up microgynon (dont even) as a teenager, through to panic appointments after hooking up with someone who turned out to be the worlds most promiscuous man, sexual health centres have been a fixture of my sex life. They are not, however, so sacred to some people. Analysis of Tory budget cuts to the health sector anticipate a removal of roughly 40million from sexual healthcare services this year. This in turn is expected to impact on already rising rates of STDs and, significantly, long-term contraception measures like the coil, which are speculated to become less accessible in lieu of cheaper alternatives. As our hard-won protection against accidental baby-making wanes, the future for female sexual autonomy appears increasingly bleak. If accessibility is taken away, its women who will suffer the physical, emotional, social and economic consequences. If you get pregnant, youre most likely going to be the one paying over the counter at Boots for the emergency contraceptive. Because how often do men feel their faces prickle as they whisper at the front of the line to someone in a white coat that yes please theyd like to spend 20 on the morning after pill. This extends beyond contraception too government data collected on STDs also reflects higher testing rates in females. And this statistic resonates; I can hardly count the times friends have relayed stories expounding how much emotional stress either through pregnancy scares or STD scares that theyve used up on men who roll on, roll off and go to sleep. Its easy to get angry, quickly; we have been born into an intoxicatingly stale culture which genders reproductive responsibility. Still, beneath those cultural attitudes, there have always been places where discussions about sexual health and gender are being had openly and intelligently. A couple of years ago, I found out about the Margaret Pyke Centre in Kings Cross, the kind of place your mum knows from when it existed in Soho in the '80s an outstanding example of how fantastic sexual healthcare can be delivered quickly, efficiently and informatively. Story continues The centre specialises in research into female contraception, and in my case they were more helpful in 10 minutes than any appointment Ive had with my local GP or heard from others, like the horror stories of women being denied their pill prescriptions because of conflicting opinions over whats healthiest for a female body. In fact, general practitioners go to MPC for training and frequently refer patients to them. I had a pregnancy scare once and headed straight to the MPC, swanning out on to Pentonville Road an hour or so later reassuringly un-pregnant and tested on the alphabet of STDs. Photo: Jessica Nash Last month, however, after 40 years of practice and a recent rating of "outstanding" from the Care Quality Commission, Margaret Pyke lost its funding. The CNWL NHS Foundation Trust (which organises its budget) decided that, in the face of cuts, the simplest response would be to close it down altogether. Supporters have pointed out a concerted lack of effort on the Trusts behalf to consider numerous viable alternatives, also drawing attention to unclear and misleading survey questions and a generally confusing representation of data. Regardless, after months of tension and decades of service, the centre met its match in the Tory Budget of 2015/ 2016. Politicians are stealing our sexual liberty, and getting away with it. Despite the Trusts decision, a brilliantly run campaign to save the MPC did manage to secure many objectives going forward, and their consistent determination is rousing. The presence of groups like Save MPC prove there are people refusing to take so-called austerity measures lying down. Thanks to the efforts of amazingly dedicated service users and staff, many of the employees and research facilities from Kings Cross will be relocated to the Mortimer Road Market Centre in Bloomsbury. Ideological austerity is fucking us, and it too is refusing to pay for the morning after pill. One of those people is Dr Jayne Kavanagh, who led the campaign. She told me she believes the decision to re-locate the centres services definitely signals a trend in the gradual dismantling of systems of support across the country. She firmly agreed that,Sexual and reproductive health services are being downgraded and even disappearing altogether as a direct consequence of central governments cuts to the public health budget. On top of that, the Conservatives are pushing to move sexual health commissioning from the NHS to local authorities, which puts services at the mercy of local government as opposed to informed medical professionals. Ideological austerity is fucking us, and it too is refusing to pay for the morning after pill. As fun as it is to reel off a sentence like that though, the actual consequences of limiting accessibility are not quite so snappy. Not to freak you out (though it should) but diagnoses of gonorrhoea have gone up 100% over the last five years, according The Guardian. Syphilis has seen a slightly less but still notable rise of over 50% and everyones favourite, herpes, is up too. This is frightening because really, what was that lump? On top of those fun statistics is an additional concern that the more expensive, long-term forms of contraception like the coil or the implant wont be so swiftly re-prescribed. Chris Wilkinson, president of the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Health, told The Guardian that he anticipates a rise in unplanned pregnancies as a result. The Save MPC campaign has been quick to remind the public that every 1 spent on contraception saves the NHS 12.50 in the long run, but that kind of forward thinking seems to be of little use to our government. As centres across the country strive to modernise sexual healthcare services to a global standard, where we can wake up to a text message giving us the all clear or walk in to one place for comprehensive testing, the governments lack of support belies an inherent disinterest in the political ramifications of social care and the NHS as a wider institution. Emily Butler, one of the dedicated service users from the Save MPC campaign, who has kept me in the loop since the closure was announced, sees this as the start of many changes to how this country is able to provide sexual healthcare. Having a place of specific expertise in contraception and sexual health doesnt fit in with the governments ideas, she explains, outlining a transformative plan theyre set to release in September which will restructure sexual healthcare clinics into one-stop-shops specialising in everything. While that sounds like what we have already, in terms of research, its not at all. Theyre saying that the research teams [on a newly combined site] can work together and that if you pool the numbers, you have more people, which is surely better. But youre talking about people who are working in completely different areas. This way, youre going to lose expertise that has taken nearly five decades to build up. What were experiencing is a decided attack on our sexual freedom, and specifically in the case of the MPC, an attack on research into female contraception and safety. Even if you ignore the importance of research, the physical loss of centres will add to an increasingly unsafe situation. Across the country, women are already demonstrating a frustration over accessibility, with a growing number buying emergency contraceptives from unreliable sources online (including eBay). Consolidating and limiting centres will only add to the counter culture flourishing around our health service. While brilliant new facilities continue to fight for funding from local councils nationwide, fears that contraception will begin to be prescribed on the basis of financial viability, postcode lottery, and policy directives as The Telegraph put it paint a rather more bleak picture of our prospective sexual liberty. The key point to bear in mind is that the closure of one outstanding sexual health centre in the capital is not accidental, nor is it mourned by the government. The image theyre keen to push is that theyre consolidating services as a way of expanding them deheading a rosebush to make way for more flowers. But there are very few flowers blooming in the future of the NHS, just a bit more freeing up of central London real estate (this is what happened last time the centre was moved.) What were experiencing is a decided attack on our sexual freedom, and specifically in the case of the MPC, an attack on research into female contraception and safety. What do you call a society without free, modern, accessible healthcare for women? Lets never find out. Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here? For These Girls, Running Can Mean "A Better Life" You Might Want To Read This Before Heading To Glastonbury London Shows Solidarity For Orlando Victims Barack Obama President Barack Obama on Tuesday went after Donald Trump and fellow Republicans in his sharpest rebuke yet of some of the policies floated by the presumptive GOP nominee. Obama spoke after a meeting with his national-security council, addressing the nation in the aftermath of the Orlando massacre the deadliest mass shooting in US history. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the shooting, which was carried out by a 29-year-old man who officials have said became radicalized and had sympathies for foreign terror organizations. Obama did not mention Trump by name in the speech, but in an extended riff, he took several shots directed at the "presumptive Republican nominee" and his proposals in the wake of the Orlando attack. And Obama referenced "politicians who tweet" and "appear on cable news shows." The president began by lambasting Republicans for insisting he use the phrase "radical Islam." Trump suggested on Sunday that Obama should "resign" if he didn't use the phrase in an address in the hours after the attacks. "That's the key, they say," Obama said. "We can't defeat them unless we call them radical Islamists. What exactly would using this label accomplish? What exactly would it change? "Would it make ISIL less committed to try and kill Americans? Would it bring in more allies? Is there a military strategy that is served by this? The answer is none of the above," he said. He labeled the constant insistence on using that phrase a "political distraction." Obama added that he has been clear about how extremist organizations have "perverted" Islam. Counterterrorism experts have never said, "Man, if we really used that phrase, we're really going to turn this thing around," Obama said, sarcastically. "If theres anyone out there who thinks were confused about who our enemies are, that would come as a surprise to the thousands of terrorists weve taken off the battlefield," he continued, taking an apparent dig at Trump's remarks from Monday, when the Manhattan businessman suggested Obama might have sympathy toward jihadists. Story continues Obama also suggested Trump's comments were insulting toward intelligence and law enforcement officials who work to defeat plots in order to keep citizens safe. Obama also took aim at some of Trump's policy points, including his proposal to indefinitely bar all Muslims from entering the US. House Speaker Paul Ryan also said on Tuesday that such a ban wasn't "in our country's interests." "Where does this stop?" Obama asked rhetorically, adding that Muslim attackers in past mass shootings on American soil were born in the country. The Orlando shooter was a US citizen born in New York to Afghan parents. "They were all US citizens," Obama said. "Are we going to start treating all Muslim Americans differently? Are we going to start subjecting them to special surveillance? "Do Republican officials actually agree with this?" he added. "Because that's not the America we want." NOW WATCH: 'When does this stop?': Obama slams Trump's Muslim ban More From Business Insider So you know youre supposed to visit the Brooklyn Bridge while visiting New York City. (You do. You really do.) Its an architectural marvel, an easy ramble, and brimming with lovely views. But if youre going to be spending half an hour or more walking over it, youre likely to be peckish at some point. So here are five favoritesfrom cheap eats to fine diningon both ends of the bridge. The Manhattan Side Nom Wah Tea Parlor Youre close to one of New York Citys several excellent Chinatowns, so take advantage of it. Nom Wah, which has been hawking almond cookies, dumplings, and dim sum for almost a century, is popular with tourists and locals alike for good reason. Tuck into a few snacks at one of the sweet red booths, then continue on a dumpling and noodle crawl. Little Park Fancying something...fancier? Little Park, with a locally focused menu from renowned local chef Andrew Carmellini, is a smart stop for a quick bite at the bar or a proper sit-down meal. At breakfast, look for brled grapefruit with ginger and sugar. Come dinner, order a vegetable dish; chef de cuisine Min Kong has a way with veggies, and beet tartare was the highlight of a recent meal. The Dead Rabbit All that walking sure can make a body thirsty. Head to Dead Rabbit, where armchair historian and barkeep Jack McGarry can school you in the history of flips, follies, nogs, and crustasand make you one heck of a drink, to boot. (Pro tip: Go during off hours, and head upstairs; downstairs is nuts when work lets out downtown.) Sheng Wang New Yorks Chinese food is among the best in the nation, so you should try to eat some while youre in town. If noodles are more to your liking than dim sum, head to Sheng Wang, where tender knife-cut noodles spun with bok choy, mutton, spare ribs, or duck and tossed into soup are the thing to order. Prince Street Pizza Housed in the sort of frills-free, stools-only cupboard of a shop so typical of New York pizzerias, Prince Street is easily overlooked. A longer walk from the foot of the bridge, its worth it for the Spicy Springa fat square slice covered with what one pizza aficionado has lauded as crisp little grease-filled chalices of awesome pepperoni. Story continues The Brooklyn Side Jacques Torres Chocolate Theres a lot of good ice cream on this side of the waterfrom an Ample Hills outpost to a roving Blue Marble cartbut were still partial to the spicy chocolate ice cream from Jacques Torres in DUMBO. If youre lucky, the chocolate shop will have it in its (divine) sandwich form. Vinegar Hill House Thoroughly charming, with a sprawling backyard and a sort of urban farmhouse vibe, this is the place to go when youre not ravenousit gets jumpingand could be happy with killer chicken liver mousse, a glass of sparkling wine, or a perfect roast chicken. Shake Shack Good news: Youre close to the Shake Shack and its famous cheeseburger, and its walkable from the foot of the bridge. Better news: Its line is nothing like the Madison Square Park location! The River Caf With floor-to-ceiling windows lining the river side, the River Caf has been a hotspot for ages. Youll need a jacket, gents, and proper footwear, but if you do it right, you can sneak in for a cocktail at the bar on a whim without a reservation. A manager suggests calling first to make sure theres room, and that walk-ins can typically snag a drink around 5:30 or 10 p.m. Henry Street Ale House Its been a long day. Take a load off. An unpretentious tavern tucked away on one of Brooklyn Heightss many pretty streets, this is an ideal place for a pint. With its stamped tin walls and an antique belt-driven ceiling fan, its also an authentic piece of Old Brooklynhard to come by nowadays. Alex Van Buren is a writer living in Brooklyn, New York. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @alexvanburen. Related Articles Some 1,800 years ago, Roman troops used "whistling" sling bullets as a "terror weapon" against their barbarian foes, according to archaeologists who found the cast lead bullets at a site in Scotland. Weighing about 1 ounce (30 grams), each of the bullets had been drilled with a 0.2-inch (5 millimeters) hole that the researchers think was designed to give the soaring bullets a sharp buzzing or whistling noise in flight. The bullets were found recently at Burnswark Hill in southwestern Scotland, where a massive Roman attack against native defenders in a hilltop fort took place in the second century A.D. [See Photos of Roman Battle Site and Sling Bullets] These holes converted the bullets into a "terror weapon," said archaeologist John Reid of the Trimontium Trust, a Scottish historical society directing the first major archaeological investigation in 50 years of the Burnswark Hill site. "You don't just have these silent but deadly bullets flying over; you've got a sound effect coming off them that would keep the defenders' heads down," Reid told Live Science. "Every army likes an edge over its opponents, so this was an ingenious edge on the permutation of sling bullets." The whistling bullets were also smaller than typical sling bullets, and the researchers think the soldiers may have used several of them in their slings made from two long cords held in the throwing hand, attached to a pouch that holds the ammunition so they could hurl multiple bullets at a target with one throw. "You can easily shoot them in groups of three of four, so you get a scattergun effect," Reid said. "We think they're for close-quarter skirmishing, for getting quite close to the enemy." Sling bullets and stones are a common find at Roman army battle sites in Europe. The largest are typically shaped like lemons and weigh up to 2 ounces (60 grams), Reid said. Smaller bullets shaped like acorns a symbol the Romans considered lucky have also been found at Burnswark Hill and other sites in Scotland. Story continues About 20 percent of the lead sling bullets found at Burnswark Hill had been drilled with holes, which represented a significant amount of effort to prepare enough ammunition for an assault, Reid said. "It's a tremendous amount of work to do, to just chuck them away," he said. Sling weapon secrets Whistling sling bullets haven't been found at any other Roman sites, but ceramic sling bullets with holes punched out have been discovered at battle sites in Greece from the second and third centuries B.C, Reid said. [Photos: Ancient Roman Fort Discovered] Many archaeologists had assumed that the holes in the Greek bullets were reservoirs for poison, he said. But in slinging experiments using about 100 replicas of the whistling bullets, Reid found that they would have been little use as poisoned weapons. "The holes are too small, and there's no guarantee that these are going to penetrate skin," Reid said. "And they are ballistically inferior: They don't fly as far, don't fly as fast and don't have the same momentum [as larger sling bullets] so why put poison holes in only the little ones?" Reid's brother, a keen fisherman, offered some insight into their possible purpose when he suggested the bullets were designed to make noise in flight. "I said, 'Don't be stupid; you've no idea what you're talking about. You're not an archaeologist,'" Reid joked. "And he said, 'No, but I'm a fisherman, and when I cast my line with lead weights that have got holes in them like that, they whistle.'" "Suddenly, a light bulb came on in my head that's what they're about. They're for making a noise," Reid said. Deadly in expert hands At the time of the Roman attack on Burnswark Hill, slings were used mainly by specialized units of auxiliary troops ("auxilia") recruited to fight alongside the Roman legions. Among the most feared were slingers from the Balearic Islands, an archipelago near Spain in the western Mediterranean, who fought for the Roman general Julius Caesar in his unsuccessful invasions of Britain in 55 B.C. and 54 B.C. "These guys were expert slingers; they'd been doing this the whole of their lives," Reid said. In the hands of an expert, a heavy sling bullet or stone could reach speeds of up to 100 mph (160 km/h): "The biggest sling stones are very powerful they could literally take off the top of your head," Reid said. Burnswark Hill lies a few miles north of the line of Roman forts and ramparts known as Hadrian's Wall, built during the reign of the emperor Hadrian between A.D. 117 and 138. Reid said the Roman attack on the Burnswark Hill fort was probably part of the military campaign ordered by Hadrian's successor, the emperor Antoninus Pius, to conquer Scotland north of the wall. "We think it was an all-out assault on the hilltop, to demonstrate to the natives what would happen to them if they resisted," Reid said. But the Scottish tribes fought back hard for more than 20 years, and in A.D. 158, the Romans gave up their plans to conquer the north and pulled their legions back to Hadrian's Wall. "Scotland is rather like Afghanistan in many respects," Reid said. "The terrain is pretty inhospitable, certainly the farther north you go, and the isolation and long supply lines would make it difficult for servicing an army that far north." Original article on Live Science. Editor's Recommendations Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. A quick glance at the stock markets biggest movers on Tuesday reveals that the airline industry is getting absolutely hammered. Major carriers like American Airlines AAL, United Holdings UAL, and Southwest Airlines LUV are down more than 4.5%, and regional fliers like Alaska Air ALK and Spirit Airlines SAVE are also showing big dips. A lot of the activity surrounding the airline sector can be attributed to this weekends shooting in Orlando. Fifty people were killed and 53 more were injured in the deadliest mass shooting in American history at a gay nightclub early Sunday morning, and the shooter allegedly called 911 and pledged his allegiance to the Islamic State prior to the attack. While the attackers motives and possible connections to foreign terrorist organizations are still being investigated, acts of terror do tend to have an impact on consumer behavior. Notably, travel-based stocks can dip on the assumption that people are less likely to travel because of safety concerns. On top of the Orlando attack, there was a bombing on Sunday afternoon at the Shanghai Pudong International Airport that left five people injured. That case is being attributed to a frustrated migrant worker with gambling debts, but in the wake of the Orlando shooting, it could be contributing to fears as well. Furthermore, plenty of airline stocks have received analyst downgrades recently. Alaska Air was bounced down to outperform from strong buy at Raymond Jones, and its price target was cut to $88 from $105. Raymond Jones also cut its price target for American Airlines. The firm now has a target of $46 for the airliner, down from its previous $48 mark. AAL is down over 20% on the year. Barclays and Morgan Stanley recently issued equal weight ratings for Southwest. Bottom Line Terrorism attacks tend to send airline stocks into a dip based on the assumption that travelers will opt to stay home instead. Its important to note that this is based on assumptions, and we do not have any data yet that suggests that the Orlando attack has had an effect on travel behavior. Story continues Time will tell, but the investigation and response to the attack may hold the final answer. If no connections to international terror organizations appear clear, perhaps travelers will feel fine going around the world. Consumer behavior is tricky, and the market can sometimes overreact. With that said, major events do have an effect on people. Right now, the airline sector is volatile on this news and may take some time to calm down. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report SOUTHWEST AIR (LUV): Free Stock Analysis Report ALASKA AIR GRP (ALK): Free Stock Analysis Report UNITED CONT HLD (UAL): Free Stock Analysis Report SPIRIT AIRLINES (SAVE): Free Stock Analysis Report AMER AIRLINES (AAL): Free Stock Analysis Report HAWAIIAN HLDGS (HA): Free Stock Analysis Report SKYWEST INC (SKYW): Free Stock Analysis Report ALLEGIANT TRAVL (ALGT): Free Stock Analysis Report VIRGIN AMERICA (VA): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research How do you stop a killer like the one who murdered 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida early Sunday morning? FBI chief Jim Comey said on Monday that the bureau had investigated and interrogated Omar Mateen on three occasions over the last three years on suspicion he might have been a radicalized Islamic terrorist. That has people asking why the feds couldnt see the danger coming and prevent it. The simple answer is that the FBIs primary mission is to investigate crimes and arrest people who commit them. As far as we know, Omar Mateen broke no laws before he committed mass slaughter on Sunday morning. The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution guarantees American citizens like Mateen the right not to be arrested just because someone thinks they might break the law in the future. The harder question, which the FBI has struggled with since 9/11, is what to do about someone who hasnt committed a crime but whom the bureau believes could be a terroristor harder still, could become one. Both the Bush and Obama administrations, and Congress, have pushed the bureau to be more aggressive in investigating and surveilling terrorism suspects, breaking down walls that prevented intelligence sharing, softening civil liberties protections and issuing new guidelines for investigations. The FBI says it is using those powers as aggressively as it can, and current and former officials warn about the erosion of core freedoms in the face of fear, while civil libertarians say the bureau has already gone too far. But some veterans of the FBI say too many restrictions remain. Under the latest investigative guidelines, the FBI has been given more power in theory, says Tim Murphy, who was the FBI deputy director from 2010 to 2011, But its more restrictive in practice. Mateen first came to the FBIs attention in 2013, when he was a security guard and co-workers heard him say he had connections to al Qaeda and Hezbollah, and that he hoped to martyr himself in a confrontation with the law, according to Comey. The FBI opened a preliminary investigation, which allows agents to conduct limited surveillance and searches, but not to use its most aggressive tools (like FISA or Title III warrants). The bureau used that power to run undercover agents against Mateen, search his transactional records, and record his conversations, Comey said. Story continues The FBI has been increasingly aggressive in its undercover operations, posing agents as terrorist instigators and drawing potential radicalized Americans into fake plots. Once the would-be terrorists agree to a plot, or to travel to a foreign country in support of a foreign terrorist organization, they are arrested for breaking the laws against providing material support to terrorists. In 2015, the bureau arrested more than 58 men and women for supporting ISIS. While some terrorism experts praise the efforts, civil libertarians have criticized them as entrapment. Preliminary investigations of terrorist suspects can run for six months in search of evidence the person is a member of a terrorist group or is planning a specific terrorist attack. The agent on the case can get a six-month extension if he or she thinks there might be more to find. And if theres an indication the suspect really is planning an attack, the probe can be converted to a full investigation. In Mateens case, the FBI got one extension of the preliminary investigation, then closed the case after a total of ten months. Two months later, however, Mateens name surfaced again, this time as an associate of an American who had gone to Syria and become a suicide bomber for an al Qaeda affiliate there. According to Comey, the two had known each other because they attended the same mosque, but our investigation turned up no ties of any consequence between the two of them. In the midst of the massacre Sunday morning, Mateen expressed solidarity with the suicide bomber on one of three calls with 911 dispatchers, Comey said. Comey said he saw nothing in the FBIs handling of the Mateen case that should have been done differently. Were going to look hard at our own work to see whether there is something we should have done differently, Comey said Monday, but So far, the honest answer is, I dont think so. I dont see anything, in reviewing our work, that our agents should have done differently. Marc Raimondi, a spokesman for the Department of Justices National Security Division, says, Our country does have limits on police power. Former senior officials disagree about whether the FBI could have done more. Murphy, the FBIs former number two who worked with then-FBI general counsel Valerie Caproni in revising the bureaus investigative guidelines, says they discourage agents from monitoring potential terrorists over the long-term. Those guidelines retained the requirement that any preliminary investigation that did not produce evidence of a crime must be closed after six months. Someone should have been monitoring [Mateens] social media 24/7, Murphy says. but under the guidelines that is not allowed, he says. Murphy says the bureau should also have been alerted when Mateen bought weapons. Other former senior officials warn against giving the FBI constant monitoring powers. People like their freedoms, says one former senior administration official, How would you like it if someone said something bad about you and the FBI took a look, didnt turn up anything, but then decided to keep monitoring you day and night for the rest of your life? Murphy says theres a balance to strike. You need guidelines for the bureau, I believe in checks and balances, he says. But agents say Im not stepping outside of the box. He adds: The guidelines need to evolve and keep pace with the current threat. On Tuesday, shares of ImmunoGen Inc. IMGN are falling, down over 14% in morning trading after the company proposed a $100 million convertible senior note offering due in 2021. The notes will be offered by the initial purchasers to qualified institutional buyers only, and in accordance with Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. ImmunoGen expects the sale to close on June 20, 2016. The company will also grant initial purchasers of the notes an option to buy up to an additional $15 million aggregate principal amount of the notes on the same terms and conditions to cover any over-allotments. This option is exercisable for 30 days. In a press release, ImmunoGen said they intend to use the net proceeds of the offering for its operations, including but not limited to clinical trial expenditures, the manufacture of its experimental therapies, other research and development expenditures, and other corporate purposes, capital expenditures and working capital. ImmunoGen develops pharmaceuticals, primarily for the treatment of cancer. The company's product candidates are called tumor-activated prodrugs and are based on its proprietary immunoconjugate technology platform. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report IMMUNOGEN INC (IMGN): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research By Joseph Ax NEW YORK (Reuters) - If Omar Mateen acted alone in plotting the massacre of 49 people at Orlando's Pulse gay nightclub, he would be the exception rather than the rule in U.S. cases involving suspected Islamic State supporters. Sunday's worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history prompted renewed warnings from officials of "lone wolf" attackers, a term that commonly invokes images of isolated individuals, radicalized online by violent propaganda and plotting alone. But a Reuters review of the approximately 90 Islamic State court cases brought by the Department of Justice since 2014 found that three-quarters of those charged were alleged to be part of a group of anywhere from two to more than 10 co-conspirators who met in person to discuss their plans. Even in those cases that did not involve in-person meetings, defendants were almost always in contact with other sympathizers, whether via text message, email or networking websites, according to court documents. Fewer than 10 cases involved someone accused of acting entirely alone. The "lone wolf" image obscures the extent to which individuals become radicalized through personal association with like-minded people, in what might be termed "wolf dens," experts on radicalization and counter-terrorism say. "We focus so much on the online stuff that we're missing that there's a very human connection going on here," said Karen Greenberg, who runs the Center on National Security at Fordham University in New York. U.S. authorities on Monday were investigating whether Mateen -- who pledged allegiance to Islamic State during the attack -- had any help, but officials stressed they believed there were no other attackers. FBI director James Comey said his exact motives remain unclear, but that there were strong indications he was inspired by foreign terrorist groups and that authorities were "highly confident" he was radicalized in part over the Internet. INFILTRATING GROUPS Law enforcement efforts to combat homegrown extremism have started to focus more on group dynamics. In a December speech at a counterterrorism conference in New York, Comey said investigators need family and friends to help them identify potentially radicalized individuals who may not have a visible online presence. "If they go out and interact with small groups of people, who sees them?" he said. "Community members." In February, the FBI launched a website to educate teenagers about the dangers of extremism and help parents and community leaders decide when to intervene and when to report troubling behavior. The Justice Department has secured convictions in around half the 90 Islamic State-linked cases. Other cases are ongoing, with some of the charges unproven in court and disputed by defendants. The relationships between accused co-conspirators range from casual acquaintances to lifelong friends, from married couples to cousins and from roommates to college buddies. In some cases, the group included several defendants from the same community, such as the sprawling investigation in Minnesota in which 10 Somali-Americans were charged with plotting to aid Islamic State. Three were convicted at trial this month, while six others pleaded guilty in the case. In others, such as the married couple responsible for killing 14 people in December in San Bernardino, California, the relationship was far more intimate. In an increasingly frequent occurrence, the defendant was unwittingly working with an FBI informant posing as a co-conspirator, as federal authorities rely more on human intelligence and less on the comparatively low-hanging fruit of social media to identify potential attackers. Face-to-face interactions can accelerate extremist viewpoints, turning the group to violence, experts said. And it can draw in others who might otherwise not have been susceptible to the lure of jihadism. "The true lone wolf is usually psychotic, and very few jihadists are truly psychotic," said Jytte Klausen, a professor at Brandeis University who specializes in radicalization. Online propaganda is merely stoking the fire rather than igniting it, some experts said. "Imagine if Match.com were set up in such a way that the people could never meet," said Max Abrahms, a professor at Northeastern University who has studied extremist groups. "Clearly there's no replacement for actual socialization in person." "PREYING" ON INSECURITIES One of the cases showing the crucial role of group dynamics involves a cluster of six defendants in the New York area. Nader Saadeh and his friend, a New York City college student named Munther Omar Saleh, had become convinced in 2013 that the end of the world was near, according to prosecutors. The two 20-year-olds decided to create a "small army" of friends, prosecutors said, and eventually recruited four others, including 21-year-old student Samuel Topaz and a 16-year-old friend of Saleh's named Imran Rabbani. The men spent months discussing plans to join Islamic State in Syria or to launch a bomb attack on U.S. soil, according to investigators. Authorities first became aware of the group when Topaz's mother called the FBI in early 2015 after becoming increasingly concerned about his behavior. Topaz, raised by a Catholic mother from the Dominican Republic and a Jewish father from Israel, had dropped out of college and begun spending most of his time with two classmates, Saadeh and his older brother, Alaa. Topaz converted to Islam and had begun talking about traveling overseas, his mother told the FBI, according to court documents. The Saadeh brothers were trying to recruit Topaz by "preying" on his insecurities, she said. In May this year, Alaa Saadeh was sentenced to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty in October to conspiring to provide material support to Islamic State. His brother, Topaz and Rabbani also pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing. Saleh, who is accused of plotting to set off a homemade bomb in New York, was arrested in June 2015 when he and Rabbani attacked a law enforcement surveillance vehicle that had been following them. Saleh and the other defendant, Fareed Mumuni, have pleaded not guilty. At his sentencing, Alaa Saadeh told the judge he had acted in part out of love for his younger brother in the absence of their deported parents. "I could have helped him," he said. "I could have done a lot more." (Reporting by Joseph Ax; Additional reporting by Kristina Cooke; editing by Stuart Grudgings.) After being cured of cancer at a Georgia hospital when she was a baby, a young woman has returned, not as a patient but as a nurse. Read: 3-Year-Old Boy Battling Terminal Cancer Sworn In as Honorary FDNY Firefighter Amelia Ballard, 23, spent the first few years of her life in and out of the hospital, having been diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia when she was only 17 months old. For the next few years, Ballard went through chemotherapy radiation treatments, bone marrow transplants, various scans, and the different side effects that each treatment would cause. "They didn't know how my body would take it, but they were hoping for the best," Ballard told InsideEdition.com. Though she was declared in remission by 4 years old, she spent the rest of her childhood frequenting the Atlanta hospital from her hometown of Aiken, South Carolina, for follow-up tests. "I remember the fun stuff," Ballard said about the early years of her life. She said she could recall things like stickers being handed out, clowns coming by the hospital rooms, and the support of her family. Despite what was an agonizing time for her family, Ballard said she only remembers the positive aspects of her stay at Scottish Rite Childrens Hospital, now known as Childrens Healthcare of Atlanta. "Every picture (my parents) took was on a good day," Ballard said. "They didn't want me to look back on it and have a negative attitude toward it. They kept the whole thing positive even though it wasn't a great situation." Read: Hospital Surprises 12-Year-Old Cancer Patient with Flash Mob Dance on Her Last Day of Treatment Ballard also recalled being inspired by all the female doctors that treated her as a baby. She joked that when a psychiatrist had asked her when she was younger, "if little boys grow up to be men, what do little girls grow up to be?" She responded enthusiastically, "doctors!" Story continues Thanks to the pleasant memory of the oncologists and nurses that treated her as a baby, she had always known she wanted to someday help others at that same hospital. To fulfill her childhood dream, she enrolled in Georgia Southern University's nursing program. Despite having connections with doctors and staff at the Children's Healthcare Atlanta, she said she "didn't want to use cancer as a crutch," and instead took the traditional path of working hard to reach her goals. During her last semester at nursing school, Ballard said she became a patient care tech, where she would assist nurses and paramedics, even though it sometimes required her to spend nights in a hotel after making a 4 hour drive to the hospital from her school's campus. But the hard work paid off. She continued as a patient care tech until she passed her nursing exam in April, and soon graduated to become a novice nurse in the emergency department. Read: Nurses Inspire Bride With Terminal Cancer to Continue Treatment After Throwing Her a Wedding "When I got the job, it was a family celebration," Ballard said, including that her parents cried seeing their daughter go on to work at the very hospital that saved her life. Ballard credits her parents, and her past at the hospital to her success in being a nurse today: "Talking with my parents through everything gives me insight into what every parent is dealing with. No matter how tough it is, my heart goes out to the patients as well as the families." Next, Ballard said she hopes to transfer to the floor that treated her as a baby, and one day go on to become an oncologist to help young girls like her. Watch: Once-Homeless Man Graduates College With 3.2 GPA, Now Wants to Help Others Related Articles: For about $30,000, you can fit your Bugatti Veyron with a fresh set of rubber. Thats pretty damn expensive for something most consumers only pay a few hundred dollars for. But the Veyrons tires are nothing compared to the tires youre looking at right here. Officially certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the Worlds Most Expensive Tires, a pair of these will set you back $600,000. For tires. Naturally, theyre not just any set. The rubber is produced by Dubai-based Z Tyre, and each one comes encrusted in diamonds, decorated by Italian artisan jewelers. The set is then returned to Dubai, where they are coated in gold leaf by the same craftspeople responsible for the presidential palace in Abu Dhabi. RELATED: This Rare Shelby Was Almost the Worlds Most Expensive Mustang For all that work, they truthfully dont look much different than any Goodyear you might see on the street, barring the gold Z logo and checkered pattern. But at least theres a silver gold lining through all of this; all the profits from the sale of these absurdly expensive tires will go to Zenises Foundation, which focuses on improving access to execution across the world, according to the release. No word on what car these tires were made for specifically, but you have to imagine its something with a similar price tag, if not more. RELATED: This Platinum and Diamond Koenigsegg Key Costs More than Your House From the helipad of the Ritz-Carlton, Los Angeles, in downtown, the traffic doesnt look so bad. Fifty-five stories up, our mats are arranged around the outer rim of a red circle marked with the number 15 (noting the weight limit of the padin this case, 15,000 poundsand meant to serve as a target for a chopper as it floats down to the platform). We lean forward into Flying Warrior and gaze out at the horizon, the silent stream of cars flowing peacefully through a matrix of freeways. Starting this month, downtown L.A.s Ritz-Carlton will offer guided 90-minute yoga and meditation sessions on their helipad for a group of up to 10 people for $3,500. Following yoga, participants receive a 50-minute spa treatment and fresh juice; we recommend the aromatherapy Relaxation Massage with peppermint oil to soothe muscles and complement all that sky-high stretching. The Ritz provides mats and bottled water for yoga; but note that sunscreen and a hat are essential, and even a light, long-sleeve shirt for extra sun protection. And be warned, seeing the glimmering downtown skyline upside down during Downward Facing Dog is thrilling, but may cause a degree of giddy dizziness. West of downtown, the Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills can arrange yoga on its 17th-floor helipad for private groups of up to 25 people (pricing available upon request). On a clear day, guests can spy the Hollywood sign and the downtown skyline. (ritzcarlton.com, fourseasons.com) More From Robbreport.com Osteria Francescana Is Named the Worlds Best Restaurant Billy Joels Oceanfront Florida Estate Can Be Yours for $27 Million The Energica Eva All-Electric Motorcycle Delivers Shocking Performance Explore the Mediterranean This Summer on a 282-Foot Sailing Superyacht Learn Everything You Need to Know to Become a Grill Master Nicaraguas Nekupe Sporting Resort and Retreat Offers a Mountain of Amenities Just because you are named the top female chef the in the world doesn't mean your restaurant will also get that honor. This is a lesson that chef Dominique Crenn (of the restaurant Atelier Crenn in San Francisco) learned the hard way on Monday night. Crenn was named the Best Female Chef in the World by the World's 50 Best, a controversial list revealed at a gala in New York City. But her restaurant was nowhere to be found on the list of the world's top 50 restaurants. In fact, it didn't even make it on the list of the world's top 100 restaurants. How exactly does that work? Awkward that @dominiquecrenn is named Best Female Chef IN THE WORLD @TheWorlds50Best -- but not good enough to be on the list. It doesn't. The annual list, which has been published for the past 14 years, has a storied history of being problematic for its lack of diversity and inclusivity. Crenn's award, while notable, still highlights the larger issue: a system that says you may be the best female chef in the world, but there are still 50 male chefs that are better than you. Not only is Crenn non-existent on the list, no restaurants run solely by females are represented, either. In fact, only two females made it into the top 50 this year, and both are co-owners (Pia Leon of Central in Lima, which is ranked number 4 and Elena Arzak who works with her father to run Arzak in Spain, which was listed at 21.) This isn't just a women's issue. There are a number of problems with this preferential list that ignores a host of identities and talents contributing to the food world. Here are three more: Only high-end restaurants make the cut While the list does feature restaurants from around the world, they all fall within an extremely high price point. Eater listed what it would cost to dine at the top restaurants on the list and for dinner at any of the top three, diners must fork over at least $184 dollars (often before tax and tip). Story continues Is it really fair or inclusive to deem the world's best restaurants as ones that solely fall under the fine dining category? Is it fair to exclude cheap hole-in-the-wall restaurants or smaller mom-and-pop eateries? This unstated fine-dining ruling inevitably requires restaurateurs to have the financial resources to fund upscale ingredients like caviar and gold flakes. Skilled chefs who don't have this type of access are immediately disqualified from making the ranks. Voting credentials? What voting credentials? The 1,500 judges that vote on the restaurants are "food writers, chefs and restauranteurs and well traveled gastronomes," . Voters need to have dined at the seven restaurants they cast their votes for in the past 18 months but that's pretty much it as far as credentials go. Unlike the Michelin Guide, voters for the the World's 50 Best can accept free meals from restaurants, so there is no telling whether a free fancy meal swayed certain votes. The top three restaurants for at least the past nine years are run by you guessed it white dudes. Yes, for the past nine years, restaurants run by white men have landed on the list's number one, two and three spots. There are six continents on the planet with thriving restaurant scenes, and yet somehow the top three restaurants are always located in either Europe or America, run by said white guys. This year's winner, chef Massimo Bottura, the owner of Osteria Francescana, is from Modena, Italy. The Roca brothers, who own El Celler de Can Roca, are three men from Spain who came second on the list. Third this year was chef Daniel Humm, who owns Eleven Madison Park in New York City. These three restaurants are surely noteworthy, but the Euro-centric view of the list raises questions. Are Asian and South American and African restaurants getting a fair ? None of this is to say that winner chef Massimo Bottura isn't deserving of the best restaurant title. But making it on to the World's 50 Best list could carry much more weight, and have far greater impact, if the organizers re-evaluated its practices to be more inclusive. For Immediate Release Chicago, IL June 14, 2016 Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include Dean Foods Company (DF), Omega Protein Corp. (OME), Tyson Foods, Inc. ( TSN) and United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI). Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Get #1Stock of the Day pick for free. Here are highlights from Mondays Analyst Blog: 4 Consumer Staples Value Stocks to Survive Brexit Amid a host of factors plaguing the global economy, including the timing of the Fed rate hike, the uncertainty surrounding Brexit raises concerns. The Brexit debate is all about whether the UK will opt to remain or leave the European Union (EU) after voting in a referendum on Jun 23. Recently, several polls showed that though most of the voters are in favor of Brexit, a significant number of them are still unsure. Some of the most important issues include trade, immigration, and the costs associated with being an EU member. (Read: The 3 Largest Issues Surrounding the UK's Potential Brexit ). However, there are also solid counter arguments against Brexit. In any case, it is certain that Brexit will have a rippling effect in the economy. The upcoming EU referendum has the potential to impact securities including stocks, ETFs and mutual funds with significant exposure to the UK. Meanwhile, several leaders from Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain and other EU countries have issued warnings about the economic consequences of Brexit. Apart from that, the Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen has warned that Brexit could have significant economic repercussions for the U.S. Amid the prevailing macroeconomic challenges, we believe investing in the consumer staples stocks is safe because of their defensive nature. So let us look at some companies in the consumer staples sector that are well positioned and have the potential to offer great value to the investors. Story continues Four Consumer Staples Stocks to Bank On With the help of our new style score system, we have identified four consumer staples stocks that have excellent prospects and might prove to be profitable for long-term investors. Our Value Style Score condenses all valuation metrics into one actionable score that helps investors steer clear of value traps and identify stocks that are truly trading at a discount. Our research shows that stocks with Style Scores of A or B when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy) offer the best upside potential. To arrive at the best value picks, we have shortlisted those consumer staple stocks that either have a Zacks Rank #1 or #2 with a Value Style Score of A and finally zeroed in on four stocks that can offer great value to investors. We suggest investing in Dean Foods Company (DF), which carries a Zacks Rank #1 and generates a dividend yield of 2.02%. Dallas, TX-based company processes and distributes milk, and other dairy and dairy case products in the United States; and has posted positive earnings surprise in all the four quarters, delivering an average surprise of 17.81%. Estimates, especially for full year 2016 and 2017, have largely been moving upward since the company reported strong first-quarter 2016 results wherein both the top and bottom lines beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate, and earnings also exceeded managements guidance. Results mainly benefited from lower milk costs and robust execution across all business operations. The company remains impressed with its progress, given its solid operational and financial results, and is optimistic about carrying this momentum forward in the future. The stock looks attractive with a forward P/E multiple of 11.60x, lower than the industry average of 26.50x. Also, it has a long term EPS growth rate of 12.00%. Houston-based Omega Protein Corp. (OME) holds a Zacks Rank #2 and has a long term EPS growth rate of 8.00%. It is one of the nation's leading producers of edible fish oil. It trades at a forward P/E (price-to-earnings) of 11.96x, which is favorable compared with the S&P average of 17.50x. Further, Omega Protein has posted positive earnings surprise in three of the last four quarters, delivering an average positive surprise of 25.04%. Springdale, AR-based Tyson Foods, Inc. (TSN) is also a good value pick. Tyson Foods is the world's largest fully-integrated producer, processor and marketer of chicken and poultry-based food products. Tyson offers a wide array of meat products and enhances its portfolio through innovation and acquisitions. Its sales boosting initiatives and strong international presence are also appealing. The company has delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 5.02% in the four trailing quarters. Estimates for fiscal 2016 and 2017 have been largely moving upward over the last 60 days. The stock also looks attractive with a forward P/E multiple of 13.98x, lower than the industry average of 17.00x and S&P average of 17.50x. With an attractive Zacks Rank #2, dividend yield of 0.99% and a long term EPS growth rate of 11%, this stock is a hot pick for investors. Rhode Island based United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI) can also be considered. The company distributes and retails natural, organic, and specialty foods, as well as non-food products primarily in the United States and Canada. This Zacks Rank #1 company has delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 2.13% in the four trailing quarters and the results were driven by a continuous increase in demand for the companys organic and natural food products and robust acquisitions. Last week, this specialty foods distributor posted better-than-expected earnings in the third quarter of fiscal 2016 and raised its outlook for fiscal 2016. Estimates have also risen sharply over the past 7 days for fiscal 2016 and fiscal 2017 since the company reported solid third quarter results. The stock offers a long term EPS growth rate of 8.73%. Bottom Line We believe investing in these stocks can prove to be valuable additions to investors portfolio. You can use the Zacks Stock Screener to find other stocks with this winning combination. Investors can confidently end their search at stocks with a favorable Zacks Rank of either #1 or #2, which encompasses its strong fundamentals, promises price movement and highlights analysts constructive view on the same via positive estimate revisions. A sturdy portfolio always gives favorable returns. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Today, Zacks is promoting its ''Buy'' stock recommendations. Get #1Stock of the Day pick for free. About Zacks Equity Research Zacks Equity Research provides the best of quantitative and qualitative analysis to help investors know what stocks to buy and which to sell for the long-term. Continuous coverage is provided for a universe of 1,150 publicly traded stocks. Our analysts are organized by industry which gives them keen insights to developments that affect company profits and stock performance. Recommendations and target prices are six-month time horizons. Zacks "Profit from the Pros" e-mail newsletter provides highlights of the latest analysis from Zacks Equity Research. Subscribe to this free newsletter today. About Zacks Zacks.com is a property of Zacks Investment Research, Inc., which was formed in 1978. The later formation of the Zacks Rank, a proprietary stock picking system; continues to outperform the market by nearly a 3 to 1 margin. The best way to unlock the profitable stock recommendations and market insights of Zacks Investment Research is through our free daily email newsletter; Profit from the Pros. In short, it's your steady flow of Profitable ideas GUARANTEED to be worth your time! Register for your free subscription to Profit from the Pros. 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It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report DEAN FOODS CO (DF): Free Stock Analysis Report OMEGA PROTEIN (OME): Free Stock Analysis Report TYSON FOODS A (TSN): Free Stock Analysis Report UTD NATURAL FDS (UNFI): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. LUSAKA (Reuters) - Zambian wildlife authorities said on Tuesday they had suspended the controlled slaughter of up to 2,000 hippos over the next five years following concerns from animal rights activists who described it as trophy hunting. Zambia's Department of National Parks and Wildlife said it started the hippo culling after new research showed that the water levels in Luangwa river were "low and insufficient to support the hippo population, especially in the dry season." Zambia has between 42,000 and 50,000 hippos, a population the Department of National Parks and Wildlife says cannot be supported by the water levels in the Luangwa valley where most of the animals are located. British wildlife charity Born Free said on its web site that the scientific rationale for killing up to 2,000 hippos when their population in the entire southern Africa region stood at 80,000 hippos was questionable. "I urge the authorities to call a halt to the killing with immediate effect," Born Free President and Co-Founder, Will Travers said in a post on the charity's website. Water levels in Zambia's rivers and lakes have dropped following a prolonged drought that threatens crops across the Southern African region where the United Nations has warned that 14 million people face hunger. [nL8N1533AP] (Reporting by Chris Mfula; Editing by James Macharia) By Brendan Pierson NEW YORK, June 14 (Reuters) - Medical device maker Biomet Inc breached a deferred prosecution agreement it reached in 2012 to resolve a foreign corruption investigation, U.S. prosecutors said in a court filing. In a status report filed in federal court in Washington, D.C. on June 6, the U.S. Department of Justice said Biomet breached the agreement through activity in Brazil and Mexico that it disclosed in 2014, and by failing maintain a corporate compliance program. The finding means the company could face criminal prosecution, though the Justice Department said the company had pledged to cooperate and was in "discussions to resolve this matter which would obviate the need for a trial." Indiana-based Biomet, now called Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc after being acquired by Zimmer Holdings last year, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Biomet entered into the deferred prosecution agreement to settle allegations that it paid bribes to state-employed healthcare providers in Argentina, Brazil and China in order to secure business with hospitals, the Justice Department said in 2012. Prosecutors said Biomet disguised those payments in its financial reports as "commissions," "consulting fees," "royalties" and "scientific incentives." The company also agreed to pay a $17.3 million criminal penalty, along with a $5.4 million civil settlement to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and to maintain a compliance program to prevent future misconduct. The Justice Department said Biomet's conduct violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which prohibits bribery of foreign officials. It agreed not to prosecute the company if it abided by the deal for three years. However, the agreement has since been extended for two successive years as prosecutors have continued to investigate Biomet's conduct. The case is USA v. Biomet Inc, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia, No. 12-cr-80. (Reporting By Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by David Gregorio) The humanoid robot will help guide patients and visitors to the right departments Two hospitals in Belgium have employed robots to welcome patients and visitors, in what is reportedly the first use of automata to greet people in a medical setting. The robot, named Pepper, was unveiled Monday at a hospital in the eastern city of Liege, where it will act as a receptionist, Agence France-Presse reports. The cartoon-featured humanoid robot, which costs about 30,000 euros ($33,800), is also being introduced at another facility in Ostend in northwest Belgium where it will perform the extra function of guiding visitors to the hospitals appropriate departments. Pepper the robot is manufactured by Tokyo-based tech firm SoftBank and versions are assembled in France, where they have already been tested out in a few shopping malls. The robot, described by its makers as kindly, endearing and surprising, has a tablet computer mounted on its chest. It interacts with humans using cameras and microphones fitted in its head and touch sensors in its head and hands. [AFP] Apple's iOS 10 brings a host of updates to the iPhone and iPad. Apple took the wraps off of the latest version of its iOS operating system at its big developers conference Monday, and it promises to bring a boatload of new features to your iPhone and iPad. Available later this fall, iOS 10 is one of the largest updates to the operating system to date. The OS has been upgraded from the bottom up, but these are the seven biggest innovations. 1. Messages IOSs Messages has never been a very fun app, but Apple might have just changed that with the most significant update to the software in years. First off, Messages now features intelligent responses through Siri. So if someone asks where you are, Siri will offer up a quick reply that lets you send your current location. The addition of rich links to Messages now means that when you send someone a link to a YouTube video they can watch it within messages. And website links no longer look like a discombobulated string of numbers and letters; they actually appear as site previews. The Messages app in iOS 10 has received some major updates. Emojis have also gotten some love with iOS 10. Not only are they three times larger in your message transcript, but theres also a new predictive emojis feature. Similar to predictive text in your iOS keyboard, predictive emojis will show up in the predictive text line when iOS thinks youll want to add one to your message. When you want to feel like one of the cool kids and send a message littered with emojis, you can type out your missive and tap the emoji button on the keyboard to see which words can be replaced with the tiny symbols. Because words are dumb I guess. You can also adjust the way your recipient gets messages using bubble effects. So if you want someone to know youre speaking softly, you can make the Message bubble super small. Invisible ink, meanwhile, hides your message until your recipient slides over it with their finger. Apple's iOS 10 brings several upgrades to Messages. Apple also added handwritten messages, Digital Touch options like your heartbeat or a sketch and full-screen effects so you can do things like add confetti or fireworks effects to the entire Message screen. Story continues Apple has also opened Messages to developers who can create their own sub-apps for the service such as payment apps, gifs or stickers. 2. Lock screen Apple wants to change the way you interact with your iPhones lock screen by making it far more interactive. Im sure at this point youre asking, Isnt that the antithesis of a lock screen? Well who cares, because Apples doing it anyway. iOS 10 now has a more interactive lock screen. It starts with Apples new Rise to Wake feature, which turns on your iPhones screen whenever you lift it up. Motorolas Moto X offered a similar function that showed you notifications and the time on a black and white screen to help save battery life. Apples solution lights up the entire screen, though so Im not sure how much this could impact your handsets battery. You can also interact with your notifications from the lock screen via 3D Touch as long as you have an iPhone 6s or 6s Plus that is. For example, if you have a text message on the lock screen, you can long-press it using 3D Touch to send a reply without opening the Messages app. Similarly, if you call for an Uber and receive an update, you can long-press the notification to see where your ride is on a map. The new lock screen interface in iOS 10. Swiping up from the lock screen still pulls up the Control Center, but now if you swipe from the right to the left youll open the music player. Swiping in from the right on the lock screen also opens the Camera app, which is a bit easier than swiping on the tiny camera icon in the corner of the iOS 9 lock screen. Swiping in from the left, meanwhile, pulls up your widgets screen. 3. Photos Apple is finally catching up with Google when it comes to its Photos app. In iOS 10 the app can now perform scene and object recognition, so you can search for things like dogs or New York City and the app will pull up photos showing those items. You can already do that in Googles Photos app, but Apple is obviously hoping it can bring back some users that have left for its rivals offering. Apple has updated the Photos app with a new Memories feature. A new Memories tab organizes photos based on where you took them and with whom you took them. At the top of each entry is a premade movie created using all of the photos and videos you took on your trip. Its a pretty neat feature that will inevitably make you wish you were still on your vacation in Aruba and not stuck in your office with your coworker Brian. (No offense, Brian.) 4. Siri Everyones favorite voice assistant, Siri, has also received a bump with iOS 10 in that it is now available to developers. That means youll be able to use Siri to send messages via third-party apps like WeChat, Slack and Whatsapp, which should prove extremely useful when behind the wheel. Siri is now more functional in iOS 10. You can also use Siri to get an Uber or Lyft, perform voice searches for photos, make payments and start and stop workouts. Its nice to see Siri being opened up like this, but the voice assistant still wont prove as useful as something like Amazons Alexa until it breaks free of your smartphone and can be used in a larger device in the home like the Amazon Echo. 5. Apple Music Apple Music also received a major update, with a new interface that looks far easier to navigate with big, bold text. The Now Playing screen is much more attractive and less bland and now includes lyrics. Spotify also includes lyrics, but only on the desktop version. The For You section is also far less convoluted and seems more inviting than its current incarnation. That said, its hard to say whether consumers will want to give Apple Music a try after its rocky start. And pulling people away from Spotify could prove a difficult proposition for Apple Music. Unless, that is, it continues to get songs and albums from the likes of Taylor Swift whose offerings arent available on Spotify. 6. Maps After a rocky start in 2012, Apples Maps is now a solid alternative to Google Maps. And now Apple Maps is getting some improvements that bring it more in line with its rival, though dont outdo it. New proactive features let you see when you do things like when you usually leave for work or upcoming appointments and will provide you with the best route for that time. That said, Google Now can also show you when you normally leave for work and the best route. And it seems to make more sense to get updates like that through something like Google Now. After all, why would you look in your Maps app to check your upcoming appointments? Maps has also gotten some needed tweaks. You can also search for general locations like seafood restaurants using the improved search tool, which actually looks easier to use than Google Maps own search function. Maps navigation feature now gets traffic on route, letting you plan ahead to see what traffic will be like and automatically get alternate routes based on traffic conditions (all of which Google Maps does). Like many of Apples other services, Maps has also been opened to third-party developers. So you can book a restaurant with OpenTable and get an Uber there from within Maps. Google Maps also lets you make a reservation with OpenTable and call and Uber but you have to leave the app to do the latter, which isnt as efficient as Apple Maps. 7. Home Finally, theres Home, Apples new hub for all of your HomeKit-enabled devices. From Home you can see all of your devices no matter what company makes them, as long as they support HomeKit, of course. The apps Scenes feature lets you take control of all of your connected devices at once to fit a specific setting. So if you tap Good night, for example, your blinds will close, the doors will lock and the lights will turn off or dim all at once. Siri can also take control of your Homekit devices. The new iOS 10 Home app. IOS 10s new lock screen notifications also offer home support, so if someone rings your connected doorbell, youll get a notification on your phone that lets you view its associated camera, use the intercom and unlock your door. Heres hoping you never do any of that by accident. Geo-fencing in the Home app can also determine when you arrive at your house, and do things like automatically open the garage door and turn on the lights in your house. I was personally hoping Apple would say Home could make me dinner and fold my laundry, but theres always next year, right? Read more: Apple's big conference will change the way you use your devices The best moments from Apple's huge developers conference Samsung Gear Fit2: Fitness tracker meets smartwatch Email Daniel at dhowley@yahoo-inc.com; follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley. Lisa Weston saw the number of drug incidents in her building tick up each year of her career as a hall director. Weston was director of Coate Hall at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse for four years and now is student services coordinator for residence life. Her experience is backed up by university data that show an increase in the number of drug referrals in the residence halls the past couple of years. Were aware there are illegal drugs in the residence halls, Weston said. We are not so naive as to believe they dont exist. The reasons students are turning to drugs from marijuana to heroin, alcohol to prescription medication are varied but include peer pressure and an attempt to cope with the stresses of college, work and social life. There are resources available to students struggling with substance abuse, but experts argue more can be done and that the community needs to root out the social stigma that can make it hard for people to seek help. No cause has been reported by authorities in the death of 19-year-old Connor Glynn, a UW-L freshman who died in April, but some UW-L officials and student witnesses have stated drugs were involved. When interviewed by police, students said that Glynn had consumed heroin and the prescription anxiety medication alprazolam the night he was taken to the hospital, and both substances were found in his dorm room by investigators. UW-L Campus Police continue to investigate the incident. But the narratives provided by students interviewed that Glynn rebuffed urging to get help for substance use and that he may have struggled to fit in and was facing other stressors fit the pattern counselors, residence hall staff and health workers see. Drug numbers increasing UW-L reports drug referrals and violations as part of its annual security report, which is mandated by federal law. According to data from the 2015 report, alcohol violations in the residence halls have risen the past three years from 543 in 2012 to a high of 690 in 2013 before dropping slightly to 667 in 2014. Drug violations have nearly quadrupled, from 31 in 2012 to 121 in 2014. The data doesnt stipulate whether the violations were for marijuana, prescription drugs or other illegal drugs. Drug-related hospitalizations and emergency room visits are also on the rise. According to data from Gundersen Health System for La Crosse County, the number of these incidents was 323 for those ages 12 to 24 in 2013 and rose to 393 in 2014. This is a significant issue for this age group, said Al Bliss, a La Crosse County health educator and coordinator of the county Heroin and Other Illicit Drug Task Force. Gundersen is seeing an increase in opiate misuse and abuse, among both the college-age population and older adults, emergency room physician and medical director of Gundersen Tri-State Ambulance Dr. Chris Eberlein said. Work by the drug task force to educate and prevent abuse has cut the amount of prescription drugs diverted for illicit use. With the prescription drug supply tightening up, Eberlein said, users are shifting to illegal drugs, including heroin. Addicts looking for alternatives find heroin becoming cheaper than prescription drugs. The cost is huge to society and the community, Eberlein said. It is staggering in what it has done to the community. A coping mechanism When Kate Noelke, UW-Ls wellness coordinator, came to campus in September 2014, her biggest nightmare was another student walking into the water. Alcohol-related drownings had claimed the lives of at least 10 college-aged students between 1997 and 2014, and most of her work on prevention efforts focused on alcohol use and abuse. Booze continues to be the biggest and scariest thing for college administrators, she said, but awareness of drug abuse is also increasing. Her office is paying attention. (Substance abuse) will continue to be an issue on campus, she said. Every day I wake up with really good job security, sadly. The UW-L Counseling and Testing Center is one resource for students with concerns about substance abuse, director Gretchen Reinders said. The counseling center also gives referrals to outside organizations and clinics. When students visit the counseling office, they fill out a questionnaire that includes questions about substance abuse. Students indicated they came in for substance abuse issues about 4 percent of the time in the 2015 academic year, down from 7 percent the year before. But those substance abuse numbers are likely a fraction of the real toll, she said. Not all students seek help, fearing the social stigma associated with drug use, and even when they do they might list a related issue such as mental health or relationship problems. Gundersens Brenda Rooney, chairwoman of the department of community and preventive care services, collects National College Health Assessment Data from the colleges and universities in La Crosse. The surveys show rising marijuana use among college students, as well as very high levels of mental health stressors. More than 86 percent of respondents in 2014 reported feeling overwhelmed, and more than 81 percent reported feeling exhausted. More than half of respondents also reported feeling very sad or having had to deal with overwhelming anxiety. Anecdotally, Noelke said, students her office has worked with for substance abuse problems often are dealing with other issues. Taking drugs or drinking might help them take the edge off the stress of balancing large course loads, homework, a job and a social life. Others might start drinking or taking drugs in order to feel like they fit in or because they feel too depressed to go out and make friends. A significant minority of college-age students abuse prescription drugs, such as Adderal, many in order to get an edge in performance. Prescriptions drugs are very frustrating, Noelke said. Students are getting them illegally and using them illegally and seeing positive results. Prevention and treatment While campus officials, which include resident assistants, police officers and hall directors, are required to enforce university policies on drugs and alcohol, there is also a lot of work that goes into education and prevention. UW-L provides education programming as well as alternative activities for students on campus, Noelke, Weston and others said. The university also attempts to make violations educational experiences, with campus police offering diversion programs for first offenses involving alcohol or marijuana. Along with providing counseling and support for students dealing with drug or alcohol use, UW-L also participates in the Collegiate Recovery Program. Open to any college students at the three campuses in La Crosse, the group provides a support network for students going through recovery by meeting regularly. What students need is sober friends and places they can go to for resources, Reinders said. With groups such as the drug task force and organizations including Coulee Council on Addictions, there are also a number of community organizations aimed at combating drug use and providing resources for students dealing with addiction or substance abuse. But all of this works only if the person wishes to seek treatment. Unless a person gets arrested, if they dont want to go to treatment, you cant make them, Bliss said. But you can encourage people to make that commitment. On Monday, at the opening keynote to Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco, the company introduced significant updates to the operating systems that run its core hardware productsiPhones and iPads, Mac computers, Apple TV, and the Apple Watch. The most significant updates promised to combine the hands-free convenience of a much-enhanced Siri, iPhones popular voice-activated assistant, with the internet sharing across devices enabled by Apples iCloud services. Among the improvements the company plans to roll out in the next few months: The Siri voice interface now found on iPhones, iPads, Apple Watch, and Apple TV will also work on Macs, and will be open to third-party developers to integrate into their apps. Also, a Universal Clipboard will allow users to copy text, images, and video from one Apple device and paste in another. Apple's signature apps have also been improved, especially the Message app, which will allow you to embed a mind-numbing number of links, graphics, and other elements into your threads. All of these enhancements will be available to consumers in the fall, most likely with the anticipated launch of new iPhones in September. Here are the details. iOS 10 Most of the announcements today affect the iPhone and iPad. The newest version of the mobile operating system, iOS 10, will give iPhones many features now found on Android smartphones. But some of these features will only work on Apples latest iPhone 6s and 6s Plus models. Enhanced Screens. Apple says youll be able to wake up your iPhones display by simply picking up the phone. This feature, called Raise to Wake, will allow you see who called you earlier and get other notifications without fumbling for a button. Some Android smartphones from Samsung, LG, and Motorola have had this or similar functions for years. If you have an iPhone 6s model, you can also act on notifications, even behind a locked screen, with a firm press on the 3D Touch display. The Control Center, which you access with a vertical swipe from the bottom of the display, now adds controls for the phone's Music player. Again, this is something Android customers have had for years. In general, the notifications and widgets will show you more information than in the past. Story continues Smarter Siri. Siri now has deeper access to third-party apps, including Slacker, WhatsApp, Uber, Pinterest, Skype, and CarPlay. Not only can you launch and have the apps do things for you by voice command, but you can also use sloppy language. For instance, you can say something like Siri, Skype Jerry and the voice assistant will attempt to set up a Skype call with the person who most likely fits that bill. Quick Type. Siri is even baked into the iPhones keyboard with a feature called Quick Type, a simultaneously creepy and convenient feature that interprets and reacts to things such as the context of what youre typing, where you are, and what youre likely to want to do based on your past actions. For instance, if youre entering a calendar appointment, youll find much of the information may already be autofilled based on what the app knows about your previous behavior during that time of day, your location, and other data points it may have picked up. Messages. Apple says this is the iPhones most-used app. And now you can employ more gimmicks than ever to inform, share, and entertain the people at the other end. For instance, youll be able to embed video and music clips, maps with sharable itineraries, and points of interest. Adding a photo is quicker and easier, too. Just turn on the camera and whats in the viewfinder will appear in the message, ready to be saved as a still image or video clip. There are more emojis than ever, and just as with the upcoming version of Android, you can make them bigger to emphasize your point. As you type, youll see emojis that correspond to the words in your text, and there will often be several emoji options for each word. You can also scribble notes in your own handwriting, even over photos. Other options include animated text treatments called Bubble Effects, including one called Invisible Ink that keeps a message blurry until the person to whom you sent it touches it on their screen. Photos. iOSs Photos app seems to have borrowed a few ideas from Googles Photos app. For example, Apple's Photos will automatically make short movies of what the app determines to be significant events. Like Google's product, Apple's app can make such determinations because the phone tracks your whereabouts via GPS and takes notice if you start taking lots of photos and videos once you arrive at your apparent destination. And the Photos app will make full use of facial and object recognition technology to group your photos, identify your companions, and interpret your activities by recognizing the objects in your photos, such as horses, or Chinese food. Maps. This app will now contain more details of locations, with Google-like suggestions such as when its time to leave for work based on driving conditions. Youll get live traffic data and alternate route suggestions to avoid jams. And Apple says that youll be able to book and pay for Uber rides, buy movie tickets, and make restaurant reservations without leaving the app. Apple Music. The tweaks here are minor, and thats a good thing because it was widely feared that Apple, in its desire to get more subscribers to its new Apple Music streaming service, was going to make it harder for people to access the music they already own. But it appears that the personal music libraries of iTunes customers will remain just as accessible as before. One neat enhancement: The text of lyrics will accompany songs, if they are available. Apple News. Apple says it has more than 2,000 media titles in its fold. To make this info more digestible, the News app will funnel its disparate content into sections like Top Stories, Trending, and Sports, and as well as custom sections based on your interests. Spam-free calls. Apple even promises to protect your ears from spam callers with a feature that it says will ferret them out before you answer. HomeKit. Apple renewed its push of HomeKit, the company's home automation platform. Now Siri will be able to turn on and adjust your lights and appliancesjust like Alexa on Amazons Echo speakers. A number of companies already already have HomeKit-compatible products, and Apple's new Home app will make it easier to control them when it launches with iOS 10. The new app's Control center will take a more coordinated approach between your home and Apple devices to do some pretty nifty things. For example, if someone rings your doorbell, the Control Center could activate a door camera and the person it captures will automatically show up on your iPhone or Apple TV. Or, you can program the system to turn on the living room lights and adjust the thermostat to a more comfortable level by the time your car pulls into the driveway. The system will know its you because it will be tracking the iPhone in your pocket. Apple is obviously interested in becoming a bigger player in the home automation space. We'll be curious to see if the company eventually introduces hardware to compete with Amazon's Echo and Google's upcoming Home device. OS X is dead. Long live macOS Apple has dumped the X in OS X, and, following the naming protocols it uses for its other platforms, inserted the name of the device for which it was designed. Welcome, macOS Sierra. But this compelling computing OS could have been called macOS Siri because Apple's voice assistant will be your go-to agent for getting things done on your Mac, just like it is on the iPhone. Siri's new natural-language processing capability will allow you to give a command such as Show the files I worked on last week, but then get more specific by asking her to fetch the files a particular person sent you. You can also ask Siri to play your favorite song in iTunes, search for photos, and more. Other enhancements involve Continuity, the phrase Apple coined two years ago to describe how devices within its ecosystem can seamlessly share tasks and other activities. Here are a few examples. Auto Unlock. Use your Apple Watch, via NFC authentication, to unlock your computer screen instead of typing a password. Universal Clipboard. Apple says this feature will allow you copy text and other items into temporary memory that can be shared with other devices. Of course, those other devices will have to be Apple products. Optimized Storage. File hoarders beware. Apple says macOS Sierra will automatically delete files it figures youll never use again, like movies youve rented. We predict lots of horror stories with this feature. Apple Pay. Now you can use the iPhone's point-of-sale mobile payment like a credit card to make web purchases from your Mac, iPad, and even your Apple Watch. Watch OS 3 Apple Watch fans seemed a bit concerned back in March when the low-budget iPhone SE was the big news on what was the first anniversary of the Apple Watch. At that event, the Watch received a few new band and face updates. But the updates outlined for Watch OS 3 at WWDC are significantly more exciting. Here are some of them. Faster performance. Apple promised significantly better app performance by keeping apps running in memory so they can be launched 7 times faster than before. Additionally, many apps can now be launched and perform an essential function with just one tap. Fitness. In the spirit of friendly competition, the activity app now allows you to share your performance readings and stats with contacts in your fitness group. Besides comparing performances, you can egg each other on by sending messages via Smart Replay, or even send short voice messages via Smack Talk. Fitness algorithms have also been optimized for wheelchair users, who now have their own settings such as Time to Roll. A new app called Breathe aims to help you relax your mind and body with deep-breathing exercises, enhanced by soothing visuals. SOS feature. If you find yourself in a situation that calls for emergency assistance, you can place a 911 call by holding the Side Button on your Apple Watch. The call can be made either through your iPhone or a WiFi network. You can also set the app up to notify emergency contacts, and to present your medical ID info for emergency responders to see. If you have an emergency while youre in another country, Apple says the app will automatically dial the appropriate emergency number for that region. Handwriting. Finally, with the update you will be able to scribble notes on the Apple Watchs touchscreen using the new a handwriting-recognition featureaptly called Scribble. More from Consumer Reports: Top pick tires for 2016 Best used cars for $25,000 and less 7 best mattresses for couples Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright 2006-2016 Consumers Union of U.S. China's ruling Communist Party oversees a vast censorship system, dubbed the Great Firewall, that aggressively blocks sites or snuffs out Internet content and commentary on topics it considers sensitive (AFP Photo/Ed Jones) (AFP/File) Washington (AFP) - Are you on the Internet or the internet? This debate has been raging for years, but the tide appeared to turn when major US news organizations decided to drop the capitalization of Internet, making it internet. The Associated Press news agency made the lower-case spelling effective June 1, a move quickly followed by The New York Times and Wall Street Journal. In Britain and other locations, media outlets made similar changes over the past few years. "We now spell it lowercase, reflecting a growing trend and a change by our official dictionary, Webster's New World College," the AP said in a statement. "We have also made web lowercase in all instances, and webpage and webfeed one word." AFP's style guide calls for Internet capitalized in English, but lower case in French. But the shift by US media groups could have an impact on usage. Joseph Turow, a University of Pennsylvania communications professor who has been pressing for lower-case usage for over a decade, welcomed the change. "This is part of everyday life and lower-case usage reinforces that idea," Turow told AFP. "Most people see (the Internet) as a faucet that they turn on to get data." English teacher and blogger Mason West wrote that "there was really never a reason to capitalize internet in the first place, and the writing and editorial world is breathing a collective sigh of relief." But the move also stirred passions among those who still view the Internet as a proper noun. Vint Cerf, often described as the "father of the Internet" for inventing the protocols used online, said the change was a mistake, and that the AP editors "fail to understand history and technology." Cerf said in a statement to Politico that there is a difference between the "public" Internet, which he said should be capitalized, and "private internets." The latter, he said, use the same protocols "but do NOT connect to the public Internet. By lowercasing you create confusion between the two and that's a mistake." Story continues The Internet Society, a nonprofit group created by Cerf and Bob Kahn with a mission to help connect people around the world, also said it was keeping its capital "I." "The Internet refers to the globally connected network of networks that enables billions of people and devices around the world to communicate and collaborate," society spokeswoman Allesandra de Santillana said in an email to AFP. "Many other networks of networks -- internets -- use the same technologies but do not connect to the Internet. If we were each using those, we wouldn't be able to email each other." - 'There is just one' - Doc Searls, a journalist and author who has served as a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, also defended the capitalization. "The Internet is like the Universe," Searls said in a blog post. "There is just one of it. There are no other examples. Formalizing the lower-case 'internet,' for whatever reason, dismisses what's transcendent and singular about the Internet we have: a whole that is more, and other, than a sum of parts." Two years earlier, technology analyst Bill Thompson lamented in his BBC column that "those who choose 'internet' over 'Internet' are as wrong as those who would visit london, meet the queen or go for a boat trip down the river thames." The Oxford English Dictionary has kept Internet capitalized while recognizing this has been "passionately debated." Oxford's Katherine Connor Martin said in a blog post that the capitalized form "is slightly more common" at around 54 percent worldwide, even though lower-case internet is more widely used in Britain. "We are now in the midst of stylistic change with respect to the capitalization of Internet, but the process is proceeding in patchwork fashion and is far from complete," Martin wrote. "At Oxford, we will be watching our tracking corpus closely in the coming months, to see if lowercase internet makes new headway against the capitalized form." Microsoft MSFT agreed to acquire LinkedIn yesterday for $26.2 billion, or $196 a share. The company holds most of its cash in short-term investments that it wont be liquidating to finance the acquisition. Instead it will raise necessary debt. The deal was approved by the boards of both companies and awaits regulatory approval in the U.S., EU, Canada and Brazil. LinkedIn will operate as a separate unit for now headed by its current CEO Jeff Weiner who will report to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Microsoft expects to complete integration by 2018 and the acquisition will be slightly dilutive to its 2017 and 2018 fiscal years ending in June. The Future of Cloud Computing Cloud computing requires companies to prefer running their applications in the cloud and users to prefer interacting with data and applications in the cloud. This requires a lot of paradigm shifting because there is a sense of loss of control over data that you could previously capture in a device under your management. Cost, security and privacy make up important parts of the equation and these factors encourage companies to explore the cloud. The other part is getting people to use the resources in the cloud, which only happens when the experience is engaging. The ability to create engaging experiences is what Microsoft appears to be targeting with its LinkedIn buy. MICROSOFT CORP Price MICROSOFT CORP Price | MICROSOFT CORP Quote LINKEDIN CORP-A Price LINKEDIN CORP-A Price | LINKEDIN CORP-A Quote The Future of Enterprise Productivity Through Office 365, Microsoft already has a suite of productivity tools that is as yet unmatched by rivals like Alphabets GOOGL Google and Apple AAPL. It has been bundling more and more into this subscription service much like Amazon AMZN is doing with Prime. Microsoft of course doesnt believe in loss leaders (even Windows 10 comes with caveats) and luckily for it, enterprise customers would rather have a high-quality product that they pay for. Story continues It also has Dynamics CRM to take care of the marketing side of things. LinkedIn brings in human resource (HR) solutions, and because its a network of around 433 million users, it should be able to support CRM functions as well (background checks on people youre doing business with for instance). As Nadella himself said in the internal memo, [W]e can reinvent ways to make professionals more productive while at the same time reinventing selling, marketing and talent management business processes. The secret sauce making all this possible is of course LinkedIns social graph, which will enable Microsoft to really differentiate its offerings and make them compelling for enterprise customers. So signing up for Microsoft cloud through Office 365 could get enterprises pretty much everything they need. And just in case they are interested in further convenience, Microsoft also has Cortana and an army of chatbots its developing to fetch and carry information. Could work in the virtual world get any easier? The Future of BYOD Everyone has been talking about the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) model for quite some time now, but the hype has far exceeded the opportunity thus far. Thats because BYOD goes hand in hand with cloud computing and, essentially, the ability to share necessary resources more easily and securely with employees, customers/clients and business partners. True collaboration also requires the different enterprise tools, employees and customers/clients to network and talk to each other. LinkedIn provides the fabric that can make this possible and has the professional networking brand. The rest depends on Microsofts ability to integrate it into Office 365. The Future of Microsoft Satya Nadella had promised us a tripling of cloud revenue by 2018 and he seems to be doing everything required to get there. He has picked up Microsofts Office suite to make it a central point consolidating enterprise customers. On the consumer side, he is consolidating the user base with free Windows 10 upgrades. Significantly, both these customer aggregators (that seems to be the best description in this context!) have assumed a cross-platform character with Office for iOs and Android and Windows for some traditional Android device makers. The job that remains is to get people to engage with Microsoft products more than competitive offerings. Nadella has more or less wrapped up the hardware business except for Surface and that might actually get bigger with Surface phones (purely conjecture at this point based on the continuum feature in Windows 10). And Finally It seems that Microsoft has recognized the value of choice, so thats what it is offering customers. Its a very bold move with many pieces of the puzzle yet to be fitted together. But making some important software and arrogantly expecting (and receiving!) the world in exchange is no longer a formula for success. Microsoft needed a radical change and thats what Nadella seems to be delivering. So once again, Microsoft wins. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report AMAZON.COM INC (AMZN): Free Stock Analysis Report APPLE INC (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report MICROSOFT CORP (MSFT): Free Stock Analysis Report ALPHABET INC-A (GOOGL): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research A critical court ruling on Tuesday upheld long-contested rules that stop your internet provider from blocking or slowing sites net neutrality, in fewer words. The ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit upholding the Federal Communications Commissions net-neutrality rules is a weighty read, but for Big Telecom it boils down to eight words: You get nothing! You lose! Good day, sir! This means the FCCs regulations stopping your internet provider and wireless carrier from blocking or slowing your access to a legal site, service, or app or charging one for priority delivery live on. The argument over net neutrality does, too. But the odds of winning it got a lot worse for opponents of the FCCs regulations and the general idea of stopping your internet providers from tampering with your connection to the online world. Your ISP can still charge more for faster downloads, impose data caps and maybe even exempt some services from those limits. But first it must give you the internet, the whole internet and nothing but the internet. And on the other end of the connection, some new online startup doesnt have to worry about being asked to pay extra to reach you. Lowell McAdam, Verizon's chief executive officer (CEO), speaks at the closing first day keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas January 8, 2013. REUTERS/Rick Wilking How we got here The conclusion of the 115-page ruling by Judges David S. Tatel and Sri Srinivasan in United States Telecom Association, et al., v. Federal Communications Commission shouldnt have surprised anybody who read the same courts January 2014 opinion that rejected earlier, weaker net-neutrality rules. In that case brought by Verizon (VZ), the court essentially said that if the commission wanted to regulate internet providers as common carriers a legal status thats long governed telephone utilities but also railroads and taxis it had to label them accordingly. Which, in turn, would require the FCC to hit the Undo button on decisions a decade earlier to classify broadband providers as information services, not the simpler definition of telecommunications services that happens to match the usual understanding of what ISPs do connect you to the internet. Story continues After a prolonged public outcry over the possibility of the FCC caving remember comedian John Oliver comparing FCC chair Tom Wheeler to a dingo? the commission took the courts hint. In February of 2015, it put wired and wireless broadband providers back in the utility-esque common-carrier bucket and then adopted net-neutrality rules. Various telecom companies and organizations promptly sued to overturn those rules, and we now have the courts word. (Disclosure: Ive spoken at events hosted by organizations on both sides of this argument; for about a year I wrote for a tech-policy blog, the Disruptive Competition Project, sponsored by the Computer & Communications Industry Association, which filed a brief backing the FCC.) Two words: dumb pipes This 2-1 ruling (Tatel and Srinivasans colleague Judge Stephen F. Williams filed a dissent) focuses on the difference between information and telecommunications services as defined in the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The former most closely describes AOL and other pioneering online services, which bundled not just a connection but software and services. The latter matches todays internet access, where you pay for the connection and then go to other sites like, perhaps, todays Aol, a division of Verizon that runs sites like Engadget and TechCrunch (and tends to a dwindling audience of dial-up users). Internet providers may not appreciate being defined as dumb pipes, but the definition fits. They havent seriously tried to offer something like an information service since the 2001 demise of cable service Excite@Home. How can the FCC make that call? Because, the judges wrote, the Supreme Court said so in a 2005 case. That might not matter had Congress since labeled ISPs as information services but it hasnt. And a 1984 Supreme Court ruling lets regulatory agencies like the FCC make their own reasoned calls in the absence of Congressional direction. Good luck overturning this One party to the just-decided lawsuit, AT&T (T), is already vowing to appeal this case to the Supreme Court, while others have not gone beyond moping about its unfairness. Continuing this strategy of relentless litigation might not be smart. The courts ruling stands on those two Supreme Court precedents and Williams dissent accepts that the FCC worked within the outlines of the Telecommunications Act, while then faulting its logic. Besides, appealing to the highest court in the land would mean a few more years of net-neutrality rules remaining intact. While Congress could technically vote tomorrow to revise the Telecommunications Act, t hasnt been able to do any such rewrite in over 20 years. To be sure, an anti-net-neutrality candidate namely, Donald Trump could win the 2016 presidential election and then appoint FCC commissioners who would axe the net-neutrality rules. But while Trump opposes it he called it a top down power grab in a 2014 tweet hes also widely loathed outside his Republican primary base. Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, applauded the ruling in a tweet that called it a big win for consumers, innovation, and freedom of expression on the internet. But the larger problem here is that fighting net neutrality looks like a political loser. It requires believing promises of future online media services that couldnt survive without paid prioritization over a documented history of large internet providers demanding that real online media services like Netflix pay for the data used by their own customers. (Internet providers may yet all wind up giving up on improving their services because net neutrality eats into their profits, but the evidence for that remains thin.) Net neutrality often comes with a side order of shrill extremism denouncing it as regulating the Internet even though it doesnt limit what you do on the Internet if not outright Marxism. And it not only requires taking the side of giant corporations, it demands standing up for cable and phone companies in particular, some of the less-liked firms in America. Are 2016s candidates ready to nail their colors to the mast for all that? If so, I have two more words: good luck. Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that the Supreme Court decided Chevron USA Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council Inc. in 1977. The error has been corrected. Email Rob at rob@robpegoraro.com; follow him on Twitter at @robpegoraro. Read more: Apple is doing something generous for developers but it may cost you The FCC's 'power grab' on net neutrality still hasn't burned your broadband provider New customer service survey says Comcast is no longer the worst Cable operators are trying to fix the single-biggest problem with their apps Washington (AFP) - Hackers aligned with Russia's government breached US Democratic National Committee computers and stole data including a trove of opposition research on Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump, the Washington Post reported Tuesday. The cyber-attack was so comprehensive, including one access to the DNC network that lasted the course of an entire year, that the intruders were able to read all email and chat traffic on the committee's system, DNC officials and security experts said, according to the daily. A computer cleanup operation this past weekend expelled the hackers from the system, the officials and experts said, and no financial, donor or personal information appeared to have been compromised, the Post said. The security firm that conducted the cleanup, CrowdStrike, said Tuesday on its website that they received a call from the DNC to respond to a suspected breach uncovered in April. The firm said it quickly identified "two sophisticated adversaries on the network" including COZY BEAR, which CrowdStrike said successfully hacked into unclassified networks of the White House and State Department. "Both adversaries engage in extensive political and economic espionage for the benefit of the government of the Russian Federation and are believed to be closely linked to the Russian government's powerful and highly capable intelligence services," the firm said. As a main US adversary, Moscow is undoubtedly interested in obtaining information about potential future American leaders and their policies and weaknesses. Russian hackers have also targeted the campaigns of Trump and his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, as well as some Republican political action committees, the Post reported, citing US officials. "The security of our system is critical to our operation and to the confidence of the campaigns and state parties we work with," House Democrat and DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz said in a statement to the paper. DNC and CrowdStrike teams "moved as quickly as possible to kick out the intruders and secure our network," she said. Tim Cook, chief executive officer of Apple Inc., gestures to attendees as he concludes his keynote during the Apple World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Monday, June 13, 2016. Apple Inc.'s mobile-payment service Apple Pay will now work on websites, a long-awaited feature that will pit the company directly against companies such as PayPal Holdings Inc. *** Local Caption *** Tim Cook The keynote that opened Apples Worldwide Developer Conference Monday unveiled an Apple Stores worth of new software, but its core message was the same as every other WWDC: inevitability. This event and its equivalents at other companies, such as Googles I/O conference last month, aims to sell developers and users on the unstoppable progress of its products and the assured growth of its markets. So its useful to remember that a splashy WWDC debut does not a consumer success make. Witness these earlier stars of Apples stage over the last five years: 2015: Apple Music The rambling introduction of Apples attempted Spotify killer was our first warning of what a mess Apple Music would be. As Yahoos David Pogue wrote in his dismissive review of the services cluttered, confusing interface: It seems Apple has forgotten how to say No. Longtime music critic Bob Lefsetz was a little harsher in a post explaining why he wouldnt pay for Apple Music once its trial ended: How could they get it so wrong? They have public betas of iOS 9 and El Capitan and they throw this half-baked software at the public? Maybe thats why this years Apple Music pitch began with Apples Eddy Cue touting it as all new and redesigned from the ground up. 2014: iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite These updates to Apples mobile operating system and desktop OS renamed in Mondays keynote from OS X to macOS were supposed to reward Apple users who switched from iPad to iPhone to Mac with continuity features to ease that device-to-device handoff. But the bugs in those two releases started with AirDrop file-sharing and kept going, leading such longtime Mac users as Marco Arment and Craig Hockenberry to wonder how Apple could have gone so far astray. Yosemite came with an unwanted bonus feature: the most bossy and annoying auto-correct system I can remember using, which I finally shut off in frustration last year. 2013: iTunes Radio Apples earlier attempt at shipping a Pandora killer was less of a mess than Apple Music but also did little to distinguish itself from its larger, older competitor, as reviewers like USA Todays Jefferson Graham found. Like Pandora, but available only on Apple devices just wasnt a compelling sales pitch. Story continues 2012: Apple Maps Apples would-be Google Maps killer looked sharp in its introduction at 2012s WWDC. But when it shipped that September oof. I personally observed it suggest directions to Dulles International Airport that ended with my walking across an active runway. Six months later, Apple had fixed that but not obsolete navigation data that would have sent me down a long-closed section of freeway in Washington. Apple Maps also launched without transit navigation. Apple didnt announce that feature until last years WWDC; a year later, its availability remains woefully spotty. In five of the 10 most populous US cities US cities, Apples transit advice boils down to rent a car. (Those cities are Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, San Antonio and San Diego, among which youll find two of the five longest light-rail systems in America.) Overseas, it offers no help for the subways of Tokyo and Paris. Todays WWDC news, alas, offered no details of improvements to transit navigation, much less coverage as comprehensive as that of the transit app HopStop Apple bought and then shut down in 2015. 2011: iCloud This cloud synchronization and storage service was supposed to make us forget the MobileMe service that suffered a snakebit launch after its debut at 2008s WWDC. And iCloud succeeded ... in the wrong ways. ICloud spent the first few years of its life handcuffed with bizarre limits on its functions to get a file out of your iCloud storage and onto your desktop required undocumented drag-and-drop maneuvers with file dialogs. But the real problem with iCloud turned out to be weak account security that let hackers remotely wipe tech writer Mat Honans MacBook, iPad and iPhone in the summer of 2012. A year later, an incomplete implementation of two-step verification helped make possible the phishing attacks that led to a rash of account takeovers that ended with the sharing of nude photos of various celebrities. Since then, Apple has gotten a great deal tougher on security and privacy issues the best part of the keynote was CEO Tim Cooks defense of the companys use of end-to-end encryption and on-device intelligence to defend its customers data. So if theres a disappointment lurking in todays WWDC headlines, it will probably emerge somewhere else. Or so we can hope ... Email Rob at rob@robpegoraro.com; follow him on Twitter at @robpegoraro. Read more: Apple is doing something generous for developers but it may cost you The FCC's 'power grab' on net neutrality still hasn't burned your broadband provider New customer service survey says Comcast is no longer the worst Cable operators are trying to fix the single-biggest problem with their apps For their first TV project since the farewell of The Good Wife, co-creators Robert and Michelle King have come up with BrainDead, premiering Monday night on CBS. Its a satire of current government gridlock, a commentary on the inability of Republicans and Democrats to work together, placed within a farcical sci-fi context. The 1984 hit by the Cars, You Might Think runs constantly throughout the series, with an emphasis on its refrain, You might think Im crazy. This is, in other words, a project that is nothing like the courtroom strategies of tequila-tippling Alicia Florrick. Related: Get the Scoop on 17 New Summer Shows In BrainDead, little tiny insects worm their way into peoples ears and eat away at their brain matter, sometimes causing an invaded head to explode like a burst tomato. As in most science fiction stories, we in the audience are hip to the situation sooner than the characters, who cant believe their eyes, and must grope around for rational explanations that elude them. This is the Kings metaphor for the current election season: Extreme events inspire extreme explanations. Soundbites from Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and Bernie Sanders play on TVs in the background of numerous scenes in BrainDead. The rational human were supposed to identify with is Laurel (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), a documentary filmmaker whos working in Washington, D.C., for her congressman brother (Danny Pino) until she can finish funding her latest movie (yodeling and clog-dancing are among her subjects, which were supposed to find sadly yawn-inducing). Related: Get the Scoop on 20 Returning Summer Shows Laurel arrives in D.C. just as the town is entering another governmental shutdown due to intransigence on both sides of the aisle. In many of The Good Wifes political subplots, stubbornness of this sort incurred the barbed irritation of the Kings, who tried their best to be equal-opportunity scolds to both parties. So it is here, except that the political tilts toward the Democrats in a visual cue: the Republicans tend to be crude and boisterous, while the Dems are prettier and more openly anguished about their hypocrisy. A few Good Wife faces pop up, most notably Zach Grenier the gleefully odious attorney David Lee as Laurels father. The tone of BrainDead is one of manic farce with a cutting edge. As creators, the Kings are doing a TV version of the kind of corrosively cynical political satire Stanley Kubrick brought to movies with Stanley Kubricks Dr. Strangelove (1964). But in the three episodes of BrainDead Ive seen, the farce is only fitful the series is too insecure about keeping an audience watching, and so it goes too frequently to the romantic subplot between Laurel and a Republican staffer, Gareth (Gossip Girls Aaron Tveit). Then too, the bug-in-their-ear gimmick is neither clever or frightening enough to qualify as a generator of either giggles or suspense. BrainDead is, overall, a smartly put-together piece of work, but it lacks the sharp sting of political criticism it seems so ardently to want to burrow into your brain. Brain Dead airs Monday nights at 10 p.m. on CBS. Chris Rickert | Wisconsin State Journal Urban affairs, investigations, consumer help ("SOS") Follow Chris Rickert | Wisconsin State Journal Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today Wisconsin, Michigan, South Carolina, Colorado, California, Oregon, Connecticut and, most recently, Florida. Its a cliche, but it has the benefit or in this case, the tragedy of being true: Mass shootings can happen in any one of our United States. Still, if theres anything state lawmakers can do to lessen the likelihood of such shootings, Wisconsins Republicans and their gun-rights allies have had just about all the power they need to do it over the last five years. In the wake of the carnage at an Orlando nightclub early Sunday morning, the ones I heard from on Monday didnt show any signs theyd start doing something different. Second Amendment activists have long rejected the notion that traditional gun control deters mass murder committed with guns and not just because people, not guns, kill people. Instead, they say, government needs to do a better job treating mental illness and keeping better tabs on those with terrorist connections. If anything, absolutists say, mass shootings are a clear sign that whats needed is not fewer people carrying guns, but more. Then the good guy with a gun can shoot an attacker dead before dozens of others die. Jeff Nass, executive director of the National Rifle Association-affiliated Wisconsin Force, noted that Florida law bans people from taking guns into bars, so there wouldnt have been an opportunity for a good guy to shoot the Orlando murderer, Omar Mateen, before hed killed 49 people. By contrast, a 2011 Wisconsin law allows you to bring your concealed gun into a bar as long as you dont drink. Its quite possible that a similar incident in Wisconsin as happened in Florida may have ended with less injury and loss of life as there would have been the opportunity for a law-abiding citizen to stop the terrorist sooner, said state Rep. Bob Gannon, R-Slinger. Possible, if not likely, given that theres been a fair amount of debunking of the good-guy-with-a-gun theory. Rep. Jesse Kremer, R-Kewaskum, pointed to the FBIs past contacts with Mateen and reports that hed been making hateful comments at work, and said, the warning signs were there and we ignored them, and it could have been prevented. Yet Kremer didnt show interest in making it easier for law enforcement to deny people their Second Amendment rights just because theyve been questioned by police or expressed their First Amendment rights in hateful ways. In the absence of anything better, fatalism becomes the fallback position for many gun-rights folks faced with another mass shooting. Its true that if someone bent on killing cant kill with guns, hell kill with a knife or a bomb or a car. Its also irrelevant if tighter government control over guns means fewer options for mass murder. Its hard to know if it does because government has never really tried it. The lawyer for a Madison man charged with trying to join the terrorist group Islamic State wrote to a federal judge Monday that he won't contest a finding that his client is competent to stand trial. Joshua Van Haften, 35, who was charged in April 2015 with attempting to cross from Turkey into Syria to join IS, was found early this year to be competent to stand trial after an evaluation by doctors at a federal facility. But U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephen Crocker had given Van Haften's lawyer, Joseph Bugni, a chance to challenge those findings after consulting with a defense expert. In his letter to Crocker on Monday, Bugni wrote that after consulting with defense doctors and having Van Haften evaluated by them, he will not contest the finding that Van Haften is competent to stand trial. Van Haften remains in the Dane County Jail. He has been in custody since arriving in Chicago on April 9 following his release from Turkey. Four months after a heroin overdose killed a Waupun man whose body was found in a van near Stoughton, the man who police said supplied the heroin is on trial for reckless homicide. Prosecutors said during opening statements Tuesday that on Feb. 10, Christopher T. Jenkins, 36, of Monona, sold the heroin to Wyatt Staff, 20, who divided it between himself and two other men. One of them, Joshua M. Strate, 32, died from a heroin overdose, while David J. Beloungy, 21, also of Waupun, survived an overdose, but had to be revived by police and paramedics. Jenkins is charged with first-degree reckless homicide, delivery of heroin and second-degree reckless endangerment. He also faces three other heroin-related charges. His trial is expected to last through Thursday. Speaking before a jury Tuesday, Assistant District Attorney Adrienne Blais described how Beloungy had moved to Waupun to get away from heroin in the Madison area, and lived there with no phone and no car. But on Feb. 9, Beloungy decided to come to Madison with his neighbor, Strate, to look for heroin. Not knowing any dealers themselves, they called Staff, a friend of Beloungy, who was a heroin addict and knew where to find the drug. They picked up Staff at his parents home in the town of Pleasant Springs, who directed them to the Microtel motel on Madisons Far East Side. Staff went inside with $140 of Strates money to buy a gram of heroin from Jenkins. They immediately split and used it in the van, still parked in the motel parking lot. Strate shot up first, and Staff testified Tuesday that within moments, he had passed out. Beloungy used his heroin next, and also passed out. Staff said he also injected his heroin, but being a habitual user, unlike the other two, he remained conscious. But Staff was scared, he testified, and didnt know what to do. He didnt call 911, he said, because without the call, there would be no evidence tying him to the deal. So he drove the van back to Pleasant Springs and left it on Kong Road, within walking distance of his parents home, and went home. The van was found by a passerby a few hours later. Although Staff saw police at the van that morning, he testified, he didnt learn that Strate was dead until he read it in the newspaper. He said he felt horrible. I knew what to do and I didnt do it, he said. It eats at me every day. But the police quickly learned of Staffs involvement, and Feb. 11 he agreed to make a police-controlled purchase of another half-gram of heroin from Jenkins. The transaction was recorded on a microphone Staff was wearing. On cross-examination, Jenkins lawyer, John Smerlinski, accused Staff of helping police nail the person that police wanted to nail, all so that Staff would get a favorable outcome to criminal charges now pending against him. Staff is also charged with first-degree reckless homicide, second-degree reckless endangerment and delivery of heroin. His trial has not been scheduled. But while Staff acknowledged that he hoped his testimony would help his case, he maintained that there is no deal in place, and that he is telling the truth now and testifying because it is the right thing to do. Janesville firefighters had a busy day on Saturday with fires in two different homes, with one firefighter taken to a hospital for heat-related symptoms. The first fire was at 2525 South Terrace Street, reported at about 6:50 p.m. by a passerby who saw the fire from Highway 51. The occupants of the single-family home were gone at the time, but the family of four was displaced by the fire that caused an estimated $130,000 in damage. The fire remains under investigation. The second fire was reported at about 9:30 p.m. at 115 Clark Street, and was discovered by the homeowner. A fan propped in a window caught fire and filled the home with smoke, with firefighters using an extinguisher to put out the small blaze. There was no structural damage to the single-family house and the family wasn't displaced. Damage was estimated at $10,400. The Town of Beloit Fire Department provided mutual aid to Janesville for the Terrace Street fire. Rejecting recent statements by the Rev. Franklin Graham, a group of Madison religious leaders say they will hold an interfaith gathering at the same time the prominent Christian evangelist is scheduled to rally people at the state Capitol on Wednesday. The alternative service, called Neighbors in Faith, will celebrate religious diversity and the common good, according to organizers, who criticized Graham for comments hes made about Islam, Muslim immigrants, atheists, gay people and others. Were really trying to bear witness to a different vision for America, said the Rev. Jonathan Grieser of Grace Episcopal Church, who called some of Grahams views deeply problematic. Graham, 63, the son of the Rev. Billy Graham, is on a 50-state tour of capitols called Decision America. Madison will be the 28th stop. The rally was planned before a man pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group carried out the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history early Sunday at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. The attack led Franklin Graham to again call for a tightening of the countrys borders, an issue he addresses frequently. His outdoor prayer rally is to begin at noon on Wednesday on the King Street side of the Capitol. The alternative gathering, also set for noon, is to be held indoors at Grace Episcopal Church, which is on the Capitol Square at 116 W. Washington Ave. Additionally, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, based in Madison, has announced plans for a protest during the Graham rally, as have members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. Franklin Graham leads both the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritans Purse, an international Christian relief and evangelism organization. His father, now 97, rose to worldwide fame as a host of huge crusades, as a confidant of presidents, and as a writer of religious books. The premise of the 50-city tour is to recognize and not ignore that this country is in a lot of trouble, said Steve Rhoads, a vice president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Were going to every single state to call together Christians to pray for our country and to pray that God brings an awakening. The threats to the country include a fundamental disregard for basic morality, he said. It manifests itself in a disregard for life and a lack of emphasis on the traditional family, Rhoads said. And I dont mean only same-sex marriage. Its also the brokenness in homes and the number of children being raised in less-than-ideal situations. Franklin Graham does not shy from these issues, voicing opinions that have made him controversial. At the prayer rally in Pierre, South Dakota, last month, he encouraged his followers to run for public office, saying they are needed to combat gays and lesbians who want to take their wicked agenda and force it down our throats. Following the Paris terror attacks last fall, he said, We cannot allow Muslim immigrants to come across our borders unchecked while we are fighting this war on terror. On his Facebook page in March, he wrote, Why does Islam hate so much? Its because the Quran teaches its followers to hate. He does not support transgender issues, and recently said atheists will face an eternity in hell if they have not trusted Christ as their savior. The Rev. Paula Harris, pastor of St. Lukes Episcopal Church in Madison and the moderator for the Neighbors in Faith event, called Grahams views Islamaphobic, xenophobic and homophobic. Thats not the spirit of the faith I practice, she said. I think America is better than that. Harris said people from dozens of congregations are planning to participate in the alternative event, representing Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Alhagie Jallow, imam of Madinah Community Center, a Madison mosque, is among the scheduled speakers, as is Rabbi Jonathan Biatch of Temple Beth El in Madison. I think the people of Madison understand the need for a diverse religious life, rather than an exclusive life celebrating one faith, Biatch said. According to figures provided by Grahams organization, attendance at the first 26 prayer rallies averaged 4,700 and ranged from 1,400 people in Salt Lake City to 8,600 in Nashville. Rhoads said he expects people from churches across Wisconsin to attend the Madison rally. Rhoads said the alternative event planned in Madison is a first for the tour. He expressed surprise. All were doing is gathering people together to pray, he said. How anyone who is a Christian can oppose that is a little confusing. The head of financial planning and analysis at the University of California-Berkeley has been named the vice chancellor for finance and administration at UW-Madison. Laurent Heller will be coming to campus August 15, taking over for interim vice chancellor Michael Lehman, who has served in that capacity since March, when Darrell Bazzell retired. "I am deeply honored to have this opportunity to contribute to what is obviously a special community of dedicated faculty, staff and students at UW-Madison. "I look forward to working with the community to advance the Wisconsin Idea in the years ahead." Heller is originally from Lawrence, Kansas. He attended UC-Berkeley and earned a bachelor's degree in economics. He began his career at Harvard in technolgoy and finance roles for the Civil Rights Project. As assistant vice chancellor for financial planning and analysis in California, he directs a $2.5 billion operating budget and also directs and coordinates the Campus Budget Office. "Laurent emerged from an impressive field of candidates due to his strong analytical skills, commitment to public research universities and experience crafting and implementing innovative budget ideas at Cal-Berkeley," said UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank. "I look forward to having his vision and energy on campus." The Office of the Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration is responsible for the overall supervision of the university's financial and administrative functions, including budget, facilities planning, business services and some student services, the university said in a news release announcing Heller's new job. Four candidates, including two from UW-Madison, are being considered to head the new campus-wide initiative for cultural competency at the state's flagship university. The finalists will show their credentials to the public at four different forums on campus at the Multicultural Student Center Lounge in the Red Gym. The forums are on Wednesday, Thursday, Monday and next Tuesday. The finalists are: Kira Pasquesi, a Ph.D. student in higher education and student affairs at Iowa, presenting at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday. Penny Jo Rosenthal, assistant professor in the Department of Counseling and Student Personnel at Minnesota State, presenting at 10:30 a.m. Thursday. Laura Klunder, social justice educator at the UW-Madison Multicultural Student Center, presenting at 10:15 a.m. on Monday. Ida Balderrama-Trudell, assistant director and academic advisor with the Posse Program at UW-Madison, presenting at 12:45 p.m. on Tuesday, June 21. The successful candidate will oversee the campus-wide initiative to provide inclusion and diversity programs to all new students, including the "Our Wisconsin" program debuting this fall. [Editor's note: The following are the prepared remarks spoken by President Barack Obama Tuesday following a meeting with the National Security Council about combating the so-called Islamic State.] I just met with my National Security Council as part of our regular effort to review and intensify our campaign to destroy the terrorist group ISIL. Our meeting was planned before the terrible attack in Orlando. But obviously that tragedy the awful loss of life shaped much of our work today. In all of our efforts, foremost in our minds is the loss and the grief of the people of Orlando those who died, those who are still recovering, the families who have seen their loved ones harmed, the friends of ours who are lesbian and gay and bisexual and transgender who were targeted. I want to remind them that they are not alone. The American people, and our allies and friends all over the world, stand with you and are thinking about you, and are praying for you. As Director Comey has said, we currently do not have any information to indicate that a foreign terrorist group directed the attack in Orlando. It is increasingly clear, however, that the killer took in extremist information and propaganda over the internet. He appears to have been an angry, disturbed, unstable young man who became radicalized. As we know all too well, terrorist groups like ISIL have called on people around the world and here in the United States to attack innocent civilians. Their propaganda, their videos, their postings are pervasive and more easily accessible than we want. This individual appears to have absorbed some of that. And during his killing spree, the shooter in Orlando pledged allegiance to ISIL. As I've said before, these lone actors or small cells of terrorists are very hard to detect and very hard to prevent. But across our government, at every level federal, state and local, military and civilian we are doing everything in our power to stop these kinds of attacks. We work to succeed a hundred percent of the time. An attacker, as we saw in Orlando, only has to succeed once. Our extraordinary personnel our intelligence, our military, our homeland security, our law enforcement have prevented many attacks and saved many lives. And we can never thank them enough. But we are all sobered by the fact that, despite the extraordinary hard work, something like Orlando can occur. In our meeting today, Director Comey updated us on the investigation in Orlando. Secretary Johnson reviewed the measures we continue to take on behalf of our homeland security. Secretary Carter and Chairman Dunford reviewed the military campaign against ISIL. And I want to thank Secretary Lew and his team here at Treasury for hosting us and for their tireless efforts to cut off the money that ISIL relies on to fund its terror network. At the outset, I want to reiterate our objective in this fight. Our mission is to destroy ISIL. Since I last updated the American people on our campaign two months ago, we've seen that this continues to be a difficult fight but we are making significant progress. Over the past two months, I've authorized a series of steps to ratchet up our fight against ISIL: additional U.S. personnel, including Special Forces, in Syria to assist local forces battling ISIL there; additional advisors to work more closely with Iraqi security forces, and additional assets, including attack helicopters; and additional support for local forces in northern Iraq. Our aircraft continue to launch from the USS Harry Truman, now in the Mediterranean. Our B-52 bombers are hitting ISIL with precision strikes. Targets are being identified and hit even more quickly so far, 13,000 airstrikes. This campaign at this stage is firing on all cylinders. And as a result, ISIL is under more pressure than ever before. ISIL continues to lose key leaders. This includes Salman Abd Shahib, a senior military leader in Mosul; Abu Sa'ad al-Sudani, who plotted external attacks; Shakir Wahayb, ISIL's military leader in Iraq's Anbar province; and Maher al-Bilawi, the top ISIL commander in Fallujah. So far, we've taken out more than 120 top ISIL leaders and commanders. And our message is clear: If you target America and our allies, you will not be safe. You will never be safe. ISIL continues to lose ground in Iraq. In the past two months, local forces in Iraq, with coalition support, have liberated the western town of Rutbah and have also pushed up the Euphrates River Valley, liberating the strategic town of Hit and breaking the ISIL siege of Haditha. Iraqi forces have surrounded Fallujah and begun to move into the city. Meanwhile, in the north, Iraqi forces continue to push up the Tigris River Valley, making gains around Makhmour, and now preparing to tighten the noose around ISIL in Mosul. All told, ISIL has now lost nearly half of the populated territory that it once controlled in Iraq and it will lose more. ISIL continues to lose ground in Syria as well. Assisted by our Special Operations Forces, a coalition of local forces is now pressuring the key town of Manbij, which means the noose is tightening around ISIL in Raqqa as well. In short, our coalition continues to be on offense. ISIL is on defense. And it's now been a full year since ISIL has been able to mount a major successful offensive operation in either Syria or Iraq. As ISIL continues to lose territory, it also continues to lose the money that is its lifeblood. As a result of our strikes against its oil infrastructure and supply lines, we believe that we've cut ISIL's revenue from oil by millions of dollars per month. In destroying the storage sites where they keep their cash, we've deprived ISIL of many millions more. Thanks to the great work of Secretary Lew and many others here today and working with nations and financial institutions around the world ISIL is now effectively cut off from the international financial system. Cutting off ISIL's money may not be as dramatic as military strikes, but it is critically important. And we're seeing the results. ISIL's cash reserves are down. It has had to cut salaries for its fighters. It's resorting to more extortion of those trapped in its grip. And by ISIL's own admission, some of its own leaders have been caught stealing cash and gold. Once again, ISIL's true nature has been revealed: These are not religious warriors, they are thugs and they are thieves. In continuing to push on this front, I want to mention that it is critical for our friends in the Senate to confirm Adam Szubin, my nominee for Under Secretary of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. Adam has served in Democratic and Republican administrations. Everyone agrees he's eminently qualified. He has been working on these kinds of issues for years. It's now been more than a year since I nominated him more than 420 days and he still has not been given a full vote. There is no good reason for it. It is inexcusable. So it's time for the Senate to do its job, put our national security first, and have a vote on Adam Szubin that can lead our financial fight against ISIL and help keep our country safe. ISIL's ranks are shrinking as well. Their morale is sinking. As one defender as one defector said, ISIL "is not bringing Islam to the world, and people need to know that." Thanks to international efforts, the flow of foreign fighters including from America to Syria and Iraq has plummeted. In fact, our intelligence community now assesses that the ranks of ISIL fighters has been reduced to the lowest levels in more than two and half years. Even as we continue to destroy ISIL militarily, we're addressing the larger forces that have allowed these terrorists to gain traction in parts of the world. With regard to Iraq, this means helping Iraqis stabilize liberated communities and promote inclusive governance so ISIL cannot return. With regard to Syria, it means our continued support for the fragile cessation of hostilities there. The cessation of hostilities has not stopped all or even most of the hardship on the Syrian people, the hardship on civilians. And the Assad regime has been the principal culprit in violating the cessation of hostilities. ISIL and al Nusra, which is al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria, also continue to terrorize Syrians. But as fragile and incomplete as the cessation is, it has saved lives and it has allowed the delivery of some lifesaving aid to Syrians who are in desperate need. And as difficult as it is, we will continue to push for a political process that can end the civil war and result in a transition away from Assad. Beyond Syria and Libya beyond Syria and Iraq, ISIL is also losing ground in Libya. Forces of the Libyan unity government are going after ISIL in their stronghold in Sirte. And we'll continue to assist the new Libyan government as it works to secure its country. Lastly, here at home, if we really want to help law enforcement protect Americans from homegrown extremists, the kind of tragedies that occurred at San Bernardino and that now have occurred in Orlando, there is a meaningful way to do that. We have to make it harder for people who want to kill Americans to get their hands on weapons of war that let them kill dozens of innocents. It is absolutely true we cannot prevent every tragedy. But we know that, consistent with the Second Amendment, there are common-sense steps that could reduce gun violence and could reduce the lethality of somebody who intends to do other people harm. We should give ATF the resources they need to enforce the gun laws that we already have. People with possible ties to terrorism who aren't allowed on a plane shouldn't be allowed to buy a gun. Enough talking about being tough on terrorism. Actually be tough on terrorism, and stop making it easy as possible for terrorists to buy assault weapons. Reinstate the assault weapons ban. Make it harder for terrorists to use these weapons to kill us. Otherwise, despite extraordinary efforts across our government by local law enforcement, by our intelligence agencies, by our military, despite all the sacrifices that folks make, these kinds of events are going to keep on happening. And the weapons are only going to get more powerful. And let me make a final point. For a while now, the main contribution of some of my friends on the other side of the aisle have made in the fight against ISIL is to criticize this administration and me for not using the phrase "radical Islam." That's the key, they tell us we can't beat ISIL unless we call them "radical Islamists." What exactly would using this label accomplish? What exactly would it change? Would it make ISIL less committed to trying to kill Americans? Would it bring in more allies? Is there a military strategy that is served by this? The answer is none of the above. Calling a threat by a different name does not make it go away. This is a political distraction. Since before I was President, I've been clear about how extremist groups have perverted Islam to justify terrorism. As President, I have repeatedly called on our Muslim friends and allies at home and around the world to work with us to reject this twisted interpretation of one of the world's great religions. There has not been a moment in my seven and a half years as President where we have not been able to pursue a strategy because we didn't use the label "radical Islam." Not once has an advisor of mine said, man, if we really use that phrase, we're going to turn this whole thing around. Not once. So if someone seriously thinks that we don't know who we're fighting, if there's anyone out there who thinks we're confused about who our enemies are, that would come as a surprise to the thousands of terrorists who we've taken off the battlefield. If the implication is that those of us up here and the thousands of people around the country and around the world who are working to defeat ISIL aren't taking the fight seriously, that would come as a surprise to those who have spent these last seven and a half years dismantling al Qaeda in the FATA, for example including the men and women in uniform who put their lives at risk and the Special Forces that I ordered to get bin Laden and are now on the ground in Iraq and in Syria. They know full well who the enemy is. So do the intelligence and law enforcement officers who spend countless hours disrupting plots and protecting all Americans, including politicians who tweet and appear on cable news shows. They know who the nature of the enemy is. So there's no magic to the phrase "radical Islam." It's a political talking point; it's not a strategy. And the reason I am careful about how I describe this threat has nothing to do with political correctness and everything to do with actually defeating extremism. Groups like ISIL and al Qaeda want to make this war a war between Islam and America, or between Islam and the West. They want to claim that they are the true leaders of over a billion Muslims around the world who reject their crazy notions. They want us to validate them by implying that they speak for those billion-plus people; that they speak for Islam. That's their propaganda. That's how they recruit. And if we fall into the trap of painting all Muslims with a broad brush and imply that we are at war with an entire religion then we're doing the terrorists' work for them. Now, up until this point, this argument about labels has mostly just been partisan rhetoric. And, sadly, we've all become accustomed to that kind of partisanship, even when it involves the fight against these extremist groups. And that kind of yapping has not prevented folks across government from doing their jobs, from sacrificing and working really hard to protect the American people. But we are now seeing how dangerous this kind of mindset and this kind of thinking can be. We're starting to see where this kind of rhetoric and loose talk and sloppiness about who exactly we're fighting, where this can lead us. We now have proposals from the presumptive Republican nominee for President of the United States to bar all Muslims from emigrating to America. We hear language that singles out immigrants and suggests that entire religious communities are complicit in violence. Where does this stop? The Orlando killer, one of the San Bernardino killers, the Fort Hood killer they were all U.S. citizens. Are we going to start treating all Muslim Americans differently? Are we going to start subjecting them to special surveillance? Are we going to start discriminating against them because of their faith? We've heard these suggestions during the course of this campaign. Do Republican officials actually agree with this? Because that's not the America we want. It doesn't reflect our democratic ideals. It won't make us more safe; it will make us less safe fueling ISIL's notion that the West hates Muslims, making young Muslims in this country and around the world feel like no matter what they do, they're going to be under suspicion and under attack. It makes Muslim Americans feel like they're government is betraying them. It betrays the very values America stands for. We've gone through moments in our history before when we acted out of fear and we came to regret it. We've seen our government mistreat our fellow citizens. And it has been a shameful part of our history. This is a country founded on basic freedoms, including freedom of religion. We don't have religious tests here. Our Founders, our Constitution, our Bill of Rights are clear about that. And if we ever abandon those values, we would not only make it a lot easier to radicalize people here and around the world, but we would have betrayed the very things we are trying to protect the pluralism and the openness, our rule of law, our civil liberties the very things that make this country great; the very things that make us exceptional. And then the terrorists would have won. And we cannot let that happen. I will not let that happen. Two weeks ago, I was at the commencement ceremony at the Air Force Academy. And it could not have been more inspiring to see these young people stepping up, dedicated to serve and protect this country. And part of what was inspiring was the incredible diversity of these cadets. We saw cadets, who are straight, applauding classmates who were openly gay. We saw cadets, born here in America, applauding classmates who are immigrants and love this country so much they decided they wanted to be part of our armed forces. We saw cadets and families of all religions applaud cadets who are proud, patriotic Muslim Americans serving their country in uniform, ready to lay their lives on the line to protect you and to protect me. We saw male cadets applauding for female classmates, who can now serve in combat positions. That's the American military. That's America one team, one nation. Those are the values that ISIL is trying to destroy, and we shouldn't help them do it. Our diversity and our respect for one another, our drawing on the talents of everybody in this country, our making sure that we are treating everybody fairly that we're not judging people on the basis of what faith they are or what race they are, or what ethnicity they are, or what their sexual orientation is that's what makes this country great. That's the spirit we see in Orlando. That's the unity and resolve that will allow us to defeat ISIL. That's what will preserve our values and our ideals that define us as Americans. That's how we're going to defend this nation, and that's how we're going to defend our way of life. Thank you very much. The upcoming Mercedes-Benz C-Class Cabriolet has a strong resemblance to the C-Class sedan, but the design is based on the C-Class Coupe. We expect the new Mercedes-Benz C-Class Cabriolet to come for a price of Rs 61 lakh - Rs 66 lakh (ex showroom, New Delhi). By India Today Web Desk: According to our sources, Mercedes-Benz India is planning to introduce the C-Class Cabriolet in India by end of this year. The Mercedes-Benz C-Class Cabriolet will be one among the 12 cars slated for launch this year. The German car-makers had unveiled the new C-Class Cabriolet at the Geneva Motor Show 2016 in March. Mercedes Benz C-Class is the first of the C-Class to come in a convertible version. advertisement ALSO READ: Mercedes-Benz launches Sport Edition of A-Class, CLA and GLA in India The upcoming Mercedes-Benz C-Class Cabriolet has a strong resemblance to the C-Class sedan, but the design is based on the C-Class Coupe. The upcoming Mercedes-Benz C-Class Cabriolet will most likely come with a 2.0-litre, turbocharged, petrol engine churning out maximum power output of 245bhp and maximum torque of 370Nm, mated to a nine-speed dual clutch transmission, reports say. Moreover, the upcoming C-Class Cabriolet will accelerate from 0-100kmph in under 6.2 seconds. ALSO READ: New generation Mercedes-Benz GLE SUV spotted testing The upcoming Mercedes Benz C-Class cabriolet will use a folding fabric roof rather than a hard top seen in the BMW 4 series. The canvas top will stow underneath a body panel behind the passenger seat. Although, the Mercedes-Benz C-Class Cabriolet will not have any direct rivals in the market, it will compete with another German car brand, the Audi A3 cabriolet, which comes for a price of Rs 44.75 lakh (ex showroom, New Delhi). ALSO READ: 2018 Mercedes-Benz A-Class spotted testing However, we expect the new Mercedes-Benz C-Class Cabriolet to come for a price of Rs 61 lakh - Rs 66 lakh (ex showroom, New Delhi). --- ENDS --- The University of Kashmir has declared the results of 1st year B.A, B.Sc, B.Com examinations on June 13. The candidates can now check their results through the official website, egov.uok.edu.in. By India Today Web Desk: The University of Kashmir has declared the results of 1st year B.A, B.Sc, B.Com examinations on June 13. The candidates can now check their results through the official website, egov.uok.edu.in. Steps to check the results: Log on to their official website, egov.uok.edu.in Click on the link B.A, B.Sc, B.Com 1st year Enter your roll number Result will appear on the screen Save the result and take a print out for future reference. advertisement About Kashmir University The University of Kashmir is one of the premier educational institutions in the state of Kashmir, providing higher education to candidates in various disciplines, including arts, commerce and management, science, engineering, medical and other disciplines. Read: Writing with her leg, she dreams to become a Judge Read: UGC ruling: Male students can now file sexual harassment complaints Click here for more education related news. --- ENDS --- After successfully creating several apps for Apple, Indian descent Anvitha who lives in Melbourne has made it to Apple's WWDC event becoming the youngest person to be a part of the event. By India Today Web Desk: Age limit can never be a barrier for true talent and this is proved yet again by nine-year-old Anvitha Vijay. After successfully creating several apps for Apple, Indian descent Anvitha who lives in Melbourne has made it to Apple's WWDC event becoming the youngest person to be a part of the event. Read the inspirational story of this little developer According to Fortune , at a tender age of seven, Anvitha had a dream of building a mobile app. As soon Vijay realised that USD 130 (her lifetime savings in piggy bank) was not enough to hire a developer who could develop an app for her, she spent a year watching free coding tutorials online and learned the basics of programming. "Coding was so challenging," Vijay told Fortune. "But I'm so glad I stuck with it." Inspired by her toddler sister who was learning how to talk and identify animals, Vijay developed an iOS app that helps teach children thousand different animals' names and their sounds using sounds and flashcards. She later developed another similar educational iOS app for kids to help them learn colours At an age of three, the wonder girl also won 'The Student Edge Prize' worth USD 10,000 for her app, 'GoalsHi' app , an interactive app for kids to learn and educate. Under its scholarship program, every year, Apple gives hundreds of free tickets to developers from around the world who are creating apps for its devices. This year, Vijay, along with 119 winners, most of them under the age of 18, have been selected to attend the event held in San Francisco Every year, Apple organises its developer conference, WWDC in California, one of the most important tech conferences held annually. "It's my dream to go to WWDC and meet Tim Cook," said Vijay. advertisement Read: Writing with her leg, she dreams to become a Judge Read: UGC ruling: Male students can now file sexual harassment complaints Click here for more education related news To get more updates on education related news, send in your query by mail to education.intoday@gmail.com. --- ENDS --- By PTI: Kochi, Jun 14 (PTI) Assorted foreign currency equivalent to over Rs 67 lakh was today seized from a passenger who tried to smuggle it by an Emirates flight bound for Dubai at the Cochin International Airport. The passenger, a native of Thrissur, was detained by Customs Air Intelligence officers. Customs said the Air Intelligence Unit officers have been regularly maintaining surveillance at the departure hall over the passengers bound for sensitive places like Dubai, Sri Lanka, Malaysia etc. advertisement "At around 4 AM, after clearing the checked-in baggage and emigration formalities, one passenger was intercepted by Customs Air Intelligence Officer on suspicion that he was carrying contraband," an official release said. "A thorough examination of his checked-in baggage resulted in the recovery of foreign currency equivalent to Rs 67,05,380," it said. Officials said all the bundles of currencies in the checked-in baggage were cleverly concealed in the false cavities of the checked-in-baggage along with a pneumatic wrench. The officers seized the foreign currency under the provisions of Customs Act, 1962 read with Foreign Exchange Management Regulations Act 1999. The seizure was effected by a team of officers led by Jayanth P Narayanan, Assistant Commissioner. PTI TGB BN PVI MAV --- ENDS --- By PTI: Patna, Jun 14 (PTI) Former JD(U) MLA Usha Sinha, wife of controversial Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) Chairman Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh, was today replaced as the Principal of a women college here by a senior Professor. "The University has appointed senior most person Kanchan Chakhaiyar as Principal of the Ganga Devi College on adhoc basis," Vice Chancellor of Magadh University Mohammad Ishtiyaque told PTI. advertisement Sinha had appointed a junior professor Dilip Kumar Verma as Principal of the college before proceeding on leave after her name cropped in the +2 examination muddle in which her husband was allegedly a prime player. The University has cancelled the appointment of Verma and appointed Kanchan Chakhaiyar, the VC said. Sinha, who did not contest the 2015 Assembly elections as her seat Hilsa in Nalanda district had gone to RJD quota, had joined the college. She was made the Principal of the constituent college located in Kankarbagh locality here. Investigation in the merit muddle in Intermediate examination highlighted her role and the police made her a co-accused in the case. Last week, she went underground. The Special Investigation Team, which had arrested a clerk of the Ganga Devi College, today conducted a search again in the institution. The +2 merit muddle was exposed by media by conducting interview of toppers of Arts and Science streams Ruby Rai and Saurabh Shreshta respectively, who gave unconvincing replies to very simple questions. PTI SNS NN SMJ PS --- ENDS --- The fatwa denouncing the clandestine attacks on minorities and secular activists has been endorsed by over 100,000 Muslim scholars and imams. By PTI: Over 100,000 clerics in Bangladesh have signed a fatwa against the brutal attacks by Islamists on minorities and secular writers in the Muslim-majority nation, terming them as "un-Islamic". "The fatwa clearly said what they (Islamists) are doing are anti-Islamic and it will lead them to the path of hell, not divinity...these killings of non-Muslims, minorities and secular activists are forbidden in Islam," Bangladesh Ulema Council chief Maulana Farid Uddin Masuod told PTI describing the essence of the edict. advertisement Bangladeshi student, who wrote against Islam on Facebook, hacked to death The fatwa denouncing the clandestine attacks on minorities and secular activists has been endorsed by over 100,000 Muslim scholars and imams. "The synopsis of the 62-page fatwa is to portray perpetrates of terrorism in the name of Islamic jihad as enemies of Islam, Muslims and humanity," Masuod said. He said the fatwa titled "the edict of peace for wellbeing of humanity" would be formally issued on June 18. Hindu priest hacked to death in Bangladesh He said the process to launch the fatwa began in January this year after the attacks on liberal and secular activists and religious minorities including Hindus and Christian by suspected Islamists sparked an international uproar. Authorities in Bangladesh are under mounting international pressure to halt the violence, which in the past three years has claimed the lives nearly 50 people - Hindus, Christians and secular bloggers - many of them by machete-wielding attackers. ATTACKS CARRIED OUT BY HOMEGROWN OUTFITS? Though most of the attacks were claimed by the Islamic State or its affiliates and other similar extremist groups, the Bangladesh government has repeatedly dismissed the claims and said the attacks were carried out by homegrown outfits linked to the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday told a meeting of her ruling Awami League party that police would stamp out the violence and she vowed to catch "each and every killer". During the past three days over 11,000 criminal suspects have been arrested as part of an intensified crackdown against extremists in the country. Masuod aid the anti-militancy security campaign was important but the motivational campaign by Islamic scholars denouncing the terrorism in the name of Islam was more crucial. "They (militants) believe, their actions will take them to heaven but they are required to be made understand they actually are destined to hell because of their act...the meaning of jihad in Islamic term is entirely different from what they are doing," he said. Also Read: Islamic State planning coordinated attacks on India from Bangladesh, Pakistan Bangladesh arrests over 8,500 during anti-militant crackdown --- ENDS --- advertisement Through the Bill, the AAP government wanted "retrospective" exemption for the parliamentary secretaries from disqualification provisions. By India Today Web Desk: In a big jolt to Delhi's ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday refused to give assent to a legislation that protects 21 party MLAs, who have been appointed Parliamentary Secretaries, and face the prospect of disqualification. Reacting to the development, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took to Twitter and lambasted PM Modi. ???? MLA ?? ?? ???? ???? ????, ??? ?????, ?????- ??? ???? ????? ?? MLA ????? ??? ??? ?? ??? ??? ???? ?? ????- ?? ?? ????, ??? ??? ???? ?????&; Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) June 13, 2016 ?? MLA ?? ????? ?? ??? ??? ??, ?? ?? ???? ??, ?? ?? ????????? ??, ?? ?? ????? ??? ???? ?? ???? ??? - ?? ??? ??????, ?? ???? ??????&; Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) June 13, 2016 ?? MLA ?????? ???? ???? ??????? ????? ???? ????????? ?? ????? ????? ??? ???? ???? ???? ???? ??? ???? ?? ?? ???? ?? ???? ?????&; Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) June 13, 2016 advertisement Petitions have been filed with the President seeking disqualification of these MLAs on the ground that they occupied office of profit violating constitutional provisions. Acting as a quasi judicial body, the Election Commission to whom the President referred the issue, had sought replies of the MLAs. The Delhi Government had sought an amendment to the Delhi Members of Legislative Assembly (Removal of Disqualification) Act, 1997. Through the Bill, the AAP government wanted "retrospective" exemption for the parliamentary secretaries from disqualification provisions. The Bill was forwarded by Lt Governor Najeeb Jung to the Centre, which in turn was sent to the President with its comments. After examining the issue, the President has not given his assent to the Bill, official sources said on Monday. On March 13, 2015, Kejriwal had passed an order appointing the 21 party MLAs as Parliamentary Secretaries. Also Read Exclusive: Modi government wants details of officers from Kejriwal, AAP accuses LG of spying for PMO Tit-for-tat? Kejriwal hits back at Centre, says give details of consultants hired by Modi govt Kejriwal writes to Modi: Allow Delhi govt to function independently --- ENDS --- "Who has seen a nun use social media, make public appearances, go to reality shows and conduct press conferences?" Bigg Boss 7 co-contestant Vivek Mishra blasts Gaia Mother Sofia. By India Today Web Desk: Former Bigg Boss 7 contestant Sofia Hayat recently surprised everyone with her sudden spiritual transformation. The former model now goes by the name Gaia Mother Sofia, calls herself "mother of all", and has given up all worldly desires including sex and makeup. Recently seen on Comedy Nights Live, Sofia is now apparently working for kids and orphans. Her Bigg Boss 7 co-contestant Vivek Mishra is finding this transformation difficult to digest and has thus written an open letter to her. advertisement Also read: Mother Sofia Hayat enjoyed her no-makeup appearance on Comedy Nights Bachao "Dear Ms. Sofia Hayat, Your antics on reality shows were not enough scandalous, your modelling career was dismal, your acting stint crashed even before take-off--I would rather say your struggle to stay in the limelight has now reached the ultimate desperation that you are calling your publicity stunt a "sacred reason". I mean, how low can you get! Your short-lived stardom soon fizzled into oblivion that now you have taken the religious route to attract attention. Who has seen a nun use social media, make public appearances, go to reality shows and laugh her way out and conduct Press Conferences? Now that your sexuality, your outrageous sense of dressing, your pathetic attempts to present yourself as a social activist by posting nude pictures on social media, your affairs with celebrities, isn't working, our so-called Gaia Sofia Mother, has decided to quit the glamorous world and downcast herself even more. Like you proclaimed, "I had an active sex life. I had boyfriends. The change happened in July 2015. I asked myself, Why am I not feeling any more desires? Let me tell you why! People have had enough of your boobs show, your silicone implants that don't justify your sacred gyan, and basically your erotic self that now those same people perceive you as a big bin of thrash. So Ms. Sofia Hayat, if you really want to do something good of your life, I would suggest you to meditate and do some charity. But first, do some charity for you because charity begins at home!" (sic) Also read: Spiritual makeover! Bigg Boss 7 contestant Sofia Hayat is now Mother Sofia Vivek Mishra is a yoga trainer and a model. Before participating in Bigg Boss 7, he represented India at the 2006 Commonwealth Games and 2006 Asian Games, as a gymnast. --- ENDS --- Bihar toppersgate kingpin Bachcha Rai's photographs with Union minister Giriraj Singh, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad have prompted political rivals to take potshots at one another for their alleged proximity to the scamsters. By Giridhar Jha: A 'photo war' has broken out in Bihar with pictures of Bachcha Rai - alleged kingpin of the toppersgate scam - surfacing with top politicians from different parties, including Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. The photos have gone viral on social media. Rai, principal of Vishun Rai College in Vaishali district, who is accused of having run a racket to sell degrees assuring top positions in the school examinations in connivance with the authorities of the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB), had enough photo-ops with top leaders like Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad and Union minister of state Giriraj. These pictures have prompted political rivals to take pot shots at one another for their alleged proximity with the the scamsters. advertisement RAI'S PHOTO WITH NITISH SURFACES Rai's photo with Nitish surfaced on Monday, a day after Bihar's deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav posted Union minister Giriraj Singh's picture with the kingpin on his Twitter handle alleging an unholy nexus between them. In the picture, Rai is seen standing behind Nitish at a function where the then Governor of Bihar D Y Patil was also present. The Janata Dal-United, however, made light of the picture. Party spokesman Sanjay Singh said that the photo was clicked at a social gathering. GIRIRAJ SINGH SLAMS TEJASHWI YADAV But Nitish's picture came in handy for Giriraj who had been at the receiving end of the barbs of Lalu and Tejashwi ever since his picture with Rai started doing the rounds on social media. The BJP's minister for micro, small and medium enterprises, wasted no time to post the pictures of both Nitish and Lalu with Rai to hit back at Tejashwi. "Dear @yadavtejashwi ji..few durlabh tasveer (rare photographs) of ur father Lalu JI & uncle Nitish babu with Baccha Ray..clarification??" he tweeted. Giriraj said that Tejashwi should first post the pictures of Rai with Nitish and Lalu in whose regime such scams were coming to the fore. LALU AND TEJASHWI CRITICISE GIIRAJ Tejashwi, however, rebutted Giiraj's charges, saying had Rai been close to them, their leaders would have been giving away the awards, not Giriraj. In the picture, Giriraj is seen distributing awards to students, apparently at Rai's institution, which had prompted both Lalu and Tejashwi to allege that the Union minister had been in touch with the scamster for long. ALSO READ: Lalu, son Tejaswi attack Giriraj Singh for links with Bihar's toppers scam mastermind Baccha Rai --- ENDS --- The woman, who hails from Kolkata and was married to Asif from Phulwari Sharif in Patna, claimed that her husband's family forced her to live in a madrassa for a month to learn Islam, where she was forced to eat beef. The Patna Police has arrested two men after a woman filed a complaint saying her husband and his family members allegedly forced her to adopt Islam and eat beef. She also accused them of blackmailing her after making a porn video of her. The woman, who hails from Kolkata and was married to Asif from Phulwari Sharif in Patna, claimed that her husband's family forced her to live in a madrassa for a month to learn Islam, where she was forced to eat beef. advertisement Rakhi (name changed) was bowled over by Asif Iqbal's looks when she first saw his photos on Facebook. Soon, phone numbers were exchanged and the two started talking to each other over phone for hours. Soon, Asif started persuading Rakhi to come to Patna from Kolkata. Initially, the girl refused but ultimately she gave in to the consistent demands. ASIF RAPED, BLACKMAILED VICTIM Asif promised Rakhi to marry her. Soon, the girl was in Patna to meet her 'love.' Asif received Rakhi in Patna and made her to stay at a hotel in the Mithapur area. He offered her soft drink laced with sedatives. The accused raped her and made an MMS of the act. Asif started blackmailing Rakhi, who returned to Kolkata but could not gather the courage to report the matter either to the police or her family. VICTIM ASKED TO ACCEPT ISLAM After a few days, Asif called Rakhi and promised to marry her and asked her to come to Patna again. She was sexually assaulted yet again. Rakhi pleaded the guy to marry her but he refused. However, after a few days, Asif took her to meet his parents. Asif's parents asked Rakhi to accept Islam. They took her to a madarsa for conversion. Despite her accepting Islam, they continued to torture her. A case was registered in the Phulwari Sharif women's police station. ALSO READ: Love, sex aur dhokha: TV actor booked for rape after refusing to marry model --- ENDS --- Last week, the BJP MP had released a list of 346 people forced to migrate from Kairana, a Muslim-majority town in western Uttar Pradesh, because of "threats and extortion by criminal elements belonging to a particular community". By India Today Web Desk: BJP MP Hukum Singh, whose allegation of a Hindu exodus from Uttar Pradesh's Kairana area in Shamli district snowballed into a major controversy, today made a U-turn and said the people leaving their homes was not a communal matter. "The list had both Hindu and Muslim names. This is not a Hindu-Muslim situation... This is not a communal matter," Singh told news agency ANI, attacking the Akhilesh Yadav government for communalising the issue. advertisement Singh said the names of "innocent Muslims" are being dragged into the matter while the names of the "real accused" will never be taken. "There is only terror in this region. There is no law and order," he said. Last week, the BJP MP had released a list of 346 people forced to migrate from Kairana, a Muslim-majority town in western Uttar Pradesh, because of "threats and extortion by criminal elements belonging to a particular community". UP GOVERNMENT ORDERS PROBE On Monday, the Uttar Pradesh government ordered a probe in the matter. Shamli District Magistrate has asked the SDM and Circle Officer to probe into the allegations that "jihadi elements" had forced migration of Hindus from there. They have been asked to verify the list of 346 families handed over by the local MP who have allegedly migrated. However, a number of reports have doubted the communal angle in Kairana and have found discrepancies in Hukum Singh's claim, proving that a number of people on the list had either died or migrated nearly a decade ago for better opportunities. AMIT SHAH RAISES KAIRANA AT BJP MEET At the two-day National Executive meet of the BJP in Allahabad which concluded on Monday, party president Amit Shah expressed serious concern over the "migration" from Kairana area in Shamli district, which had witnessed communal riots in 2013. Shah, in his speech, trained his guns at the state's Samajwadi Party government and raised the issue of alleged "migration" of Hindus and the recent Mathura violence. Also Read BJP's high-level team to probe mass exodus of Hindus from UP's Kairana --- ENDS --- By PTI: From Aditi Khanna London, Jun 14 (PTI) Thousands of people took to the streets around the UK to hold vigils in memory of the 49 people killed by an Afghan-origin gunman at a nightclub in Orlando in the deadliest shooting in American history. Events took place in various cities yesterday to show solidarity and support for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) people worldwide. advertisement Soho, the heart of Londons gay district, was packed with people who held a two-minute silence and hundreds also gathered in Glasgows George Square to pay their respects. "Were from Free Pride which is an LGBT community group in Glasgow and we just felt we needed a place where people could come and be around friends, and show solidarity with the people in Orlando as well," Organiser Ciara McGuire told BBC. The London vigil was attended by a number of politicians, including the new London mayor Sadiq Khan, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and UK education secretary Nicky Morgan. US ambassador to the UK Matthew Barzun was also present. Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton paid a visit to the US embassy in London today to sign the book of condolence in memory of the victims. They were greeted by the US Ambassador and also met with a small group of US Embassy staff after paying tribute. As a mark of respect Kate wore a knee-length black and white dress teamed with a cropped black blazer. Queen Elizabeth II had expressed her shock at the massacre in a statement yesterday, "Prince Phillip and I have been shocked by the events in Orlando. Our thoughts and prayers are with all those who have been affected." Prime Minister David Cameron had tweeted his condolences: "Im horrified by reports of the overnight shooting in Orlando. My thoughts are with the victims and their families." Vigils were also held in Birmingham, Manchester, Cardiff, Brighton, Leeds and Nottingham, with more planned in the coming weeks. US authorities have confirmed that gunman Omar Mateen had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group before he went on his rampage at Pulse nightclub in Orlando. British police forces are reviewing its own security for public events following the killings and UK Home Secretary Theresa May told the House of Commons yesterday that police would examine security for the ongoing Gay Pride celebrations but there were no plans for any events to be cancelled. advertisement Scotland Yard said, "On Saturday, 25 June, Pride in London hold their annual parade and related events in central London for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community. "The Metropolitan Police Service has a current robust, visible policing plan in place and are working closely with event organisers to reassure those planning to attend. There are a number of contingencies in place that will be reviewed as we approach the event. "An appropriate number of officers will be deployed and is will remain under review as the event approaches." PTI AK ZH --- ENDS --- Desai, appearing for the NCP leader told the Bombay High Court that despite his vitals not been fine Bhujbal was discharged on April 24 by St George Hospital and sent to the Arthur Road jail. By Vidya : Former Maharashtra minister Chhagan Bhujbal, arrested for alleged money laundering, on Tuesday told the Bombay High Court that he is suffering from a critical heart ailment and sought bail for treatment. Desai, appearing for the NCP leader told the Bombay High Court that despite his vitals not been fine Bhujbal was discharged on April 24 by St George Hospital and sent to the Arthur Road jail. The Bombay High Court had later set up a medical board consisting of nine doctors to examine Bhujbals medical condition and they had submitted a report on May 27 stating that his health was fine. advertisement HEATED ARGUMENTS After almost half an hour of arguments, Desai questioned "Who is the patient whose flow sheet has been made in the pathology lab?". He asked this while stating that Bhujbal's date of birth is October 15, 1947 while the medical paper states another date. He pointed to the court that even the date below the name of Associate professor who has signed report says that it's done on August 8, 2008 at 4.55 am. "I dont know whose blood report they are trying to push in the name of Bhujbal and I am supposed to believe them?" asked Desai. Desai also pointed out to the court that there is a serious apprehension whether the ECG report is of Bhujbal. He said that there was an RTI report taken from jail as to when Bhujbal had left jail for medical examination on May 24. "The RTI said that he had left jail at 9.50 am. However his medical report shows in print 9.43 am for first ECG and 10.47 for second ECG while the hand written note says 2 pm and 3 pm respectively." claimed Desai. The ECG reports only talks about abnormality but does not say whether it is serious or not. LOOPHOLES IN MEDICAL RECORDS He further pointed out that Bhujbal was sent back to jail on May 24 while the blood was collected by a private pathology from JJ hospital only on May 25. "Whose blood was collected? I say that this is not Bhujbal's ECG, his blood report." Desai said. The investigating agency however clarified that this was procedure and blood is collected next day from JJ where it is reserved. He also added that X-ray report of Bhujbal is shown is of May 25 at 11.09 am while he was already lodged back. The stellar of the argument came a little later when desai argued that Bhujbals reports was already signed by nine doctors. "Who was getting tested on 25th may when the doctors have already tested and signed bhujbals papers on May 24?" asked Desai. Public prosecutor Hiten Venegaonkar appearing for the agency argued that if Desai was raising these issues then there should have been an affidavit filed so that the doctors could be questioned on the issue. Desai countered by saying that he was not putting up anything new, these are from the documents of the doctors themselves. Desai told the court that Bhujbal had 30 per cent cardiac bloackages around 13 years ago and it was in the St George Hospital's report that was sent to the Hinduja Hospital for verification. advertisement "My simple query is whether there was any direction of the court, who instructed you to send the report to Hinduja Hospital?" asked Justice PN Deshmukh who was hearing the bail application filed by Bhujbal. Desai replied that there had been no order from court but its Bhujbal and his family's anxiety because of which the second opinion was sought. "At the age of 69, in such condition, a heart attack can be quite lethal with no one really understanding what to do. It's instant" desai reiterated. He added that there is a history and what the jail authorities are not stating is that there is a risk to his life. "They can't take the risk of keeping him in jail just because they want to desperately keep him behind bars by trying to show that his health is stable. He has had a history of cardiac issues and has had pain. They don't say his life is in danger, all they say is that he is clinically stable" argued Desai. He told the court, all that Bhujbal was asking was to be allowed treatment in a private hospital by doctors of "choice" and then return to jail the court orders. He said, "just because Bhujbal is an accused it doesnot mean that he does not have control over his own body, some government doctors can decide about his body and in spite of pain he cannot get secknd opinion and challenge the diagnosis of the government doctors." advertisement Justice PN Deshmukh will continue hearing the arguments on June 16. Bhujbal, along with his son and nephew has been facing charges of money laundering which Enforcement directorate is investigating. Maharashtra ACB which had also registered cases against bhujbals has filed charhesheets against them. --- ENDS --- From enticing offers of iPhones, cash and patriotic advertisements to help fight the country's 'ageing problem', the Chinese government is doing everything possible to get men to donate sperm. By India Today Web Desk: The Chinese government is in need of sperms and has put out a request to all the men between the age group of 20 and 45 to donate sperm 'for the sake of their country,' The New York Times reports. This year, China put a stop to its 30-year-long, one-child policy, allowing couples to have two children. However, the country is facing a critical shortage of sperm banks. advertisement According to a 2011 study, securing sperm from donors is a task in China. Most men who volunteer to donate sperm are screened out because of sexually transmitted diseases or 'inadequate semen parameters'. Many are reluctant to use sperm from sperm donors saying that the practice goes against Confucian values. With the change in the government policy, the situation of sperm shortage is set to get worse. To cope with this crisis, the government is apparently bombarding young men on social media with patriotic advertisements featuring video-game characters and promises of cash rewards. They are also giving away 1000 dollars in cash to some and in many cases the most coveted Rose Gold iPhone. One Beijing sperm bank's ad reads: "Donating sperm and donating blood are the same thing. It's all about giving back to society." --- ENDS --- By PTI: From K J M Varma Beijing, Jun 14 (PTI) Voicing its strong opposition to President Barack Obamas proposed meeting with the Dalai Lama and the upcoming maiden US visit by Taiwans new President Tsai Ing-wen, China today said that America should keep its promise to abide by the One-China policy. "The 14th Dalai Lama often puts up the facade of religion to peddle internationally his political position of splitting China," Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters, replying to a question on the Tibetan spiritual leaders comments that his meeting with US president is likely. advertisement "We demand no country or government give him any space for such activities and should certainly not do anything the 1.3 billion people of China would resolutely oppose," he said. Despite Chinas opposition, Obama had met Dalai Lama in the past. Beijing considers 80-year-old Tibetan monk as a separatist who is attempting to split Tibet from China. On Tsais transit visit to US, Lu said: "the US government has made serious commitments to One-China Policy and against Taiwans independence". "Hope the US will fulfil its commitment and deal with relevant matters in accordance with the One-China policy and do not send wrong signal to those who try to split China," he said. Tsai, who is opposed to reunification of Taiwan with China, is due to transit in Miami on her way to Panama, which still holds diplomatic ties with Taipei despite opposition from Beijing. China considers Taiwan as a rebel province and claims it as part of its mainland. Report said Tsai would also make a stopover in Los Angeles on her return. PTI KJV ZH --- ENDS --- Chitrangda Singh and Babumoshai Bandookbaaz director Kushan Nandy have both gone on record to settle the matter of what went down during the shooting of the film. By India Today Web Desk: The blame-game has hit the roof with actor Chitrangda Singh and director Kushan Nandy slugging it out over the reality of what went down in the Lucknow leg of the Babumoshai Bandookbaaz shoot, following which Chitrangda quit the film. ALSO READ: Chitrangda Singh quits Nawazuddin-starrer over intimate scene ALSO READ: Nawazuddin in new Raman Raghav 2.0 song Behooda will freak you out advertisement According to a report on Spotboye.com, Kushan Nandy and his production partner Kiran Shroff got perturbed when the news of Chitrangda's shocking confession sent Tinsel Town into a tizzy and decided to come on record with their side of the story. To put things in context, Chitrangda claimed that she left the film because of Nandy's remarks during the shoot which she found off-putting. Apparently Nandy said, "Tange ragdo and sex karo," while directing Chitrangda in an intimate scene with Nawazuddin Siddiqui. Kiran Shroff told Spotboye.com that Chitrangda wanted changes in the film's script. Chitrangda apparently said that her changes are non-negotiable. Chitrangda, later told the same website that she "did not demand any changes" but she did have "creative discussions" with the team. Kiran also told the website that Chitrangda also wanted changes in her costume on that fateful day when all hell broke loose. While Kushan wanted Chitrangda to wear only a petticoat and a blouse, Chitrangda insisted that "she wanted to wear a low-cut blouse" and that Nawaz's character should have been "enamoured" by her look in the scene. "She also said that she wanted to tear off one button from her blouse and fix a pin there," Kiran added. Kushan Nandy, director of Babumoshai Bandookbaaz Chitrangda accepted Kiran's claim and defended it by saying that she only wanted to make her character look authentic. "I did say that we should do away with one button in my blouse and use a pin instead, but that was simply because I was playing a very poor woman in the film," said Chitrangda, "I only wanted my attire to look authentic. It was a creative conversation that we were having with each other. I was not doing it to look seductive." Chitrangda also went on record to question the credentials of Kiran Shroff, who supposedly interfered during the shooting and was the one to sit at the monitor and okay all shots during production. The Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi actor also claimed that contrary to reports that Kushan was unhappy with her performance in the intimate scene, he later went and told Nawaz that the scene went "very well". Elaborating on the fracas, Chitrangda said, "We finished the shot and Kushan said that he didn't like it. He wanted me to lie on top of Nawaz. Now let me tell you that I was wearing a petticoat for that scene. I turned around to tell Kushan about my predicament. I told him, 'Ho toh gaya. Kyun kar raha hai aise? Please try to understand that I am wearing a petticoat. But, he was in no mood to listen and we ended up having a big, loud argument." advertisement Kiran, however, had her own spin on the tale, "The worst is her allegation against Kushan that he told her 'Get on top of Nawaz, Tange ragdo'. It was just that Chitrangda wasn't getting the scene right. We have a great script and for Chitrangda's information, we are not making any erotic film as she's imagining. We never made one till date, so why make one now?" Kushan reportedly wanted Chitrangda to re-shoot the scene. However, wearing just a petticoat, she was uncomfortable. But Kushan wanted her to "do it bindaas". "What is a bindaas woman? One who wears a petticoat and jumps on a man?" asked Chitrangda, and added, "Kushan argued that my character in the film is that of a poor woman who goes a tad wild. Does being wild mean that she will start humping her man every time she sees him?" advertisement However, both parties agreed that the Bengal leg of the shooting went well and they had no problem working there. In the middle of all this, the film's star Nawazuddin Siddiqui is left stranded. While Kiran said that Singh is "still texting Nawaz that he should convince Kushan to make some changes in the script", Chitrangda said that it was Nawaz himself who called her while she was headed to the airport, asking her to return to the shoot. Between blaming and counter-blaming, it so appears that the makers of Babumoshai Bandookbaaz have to get a replacement for Chitrangda Singh, which means more expenses, which is not good news for a small, niche film. The film also stars Bengali matinee superstar Prosenjit Chatterjee, Roopa Ganguly (Barfi!), and Mardaani villain Tahir Raj Bhasin. --- ENDS --- 19-year-old Mahalaxmi paid an amount of Rs 1.5 lakh to her boyfirend Satheesh to kill her father. By Pramod Madhav: A businessman from Coimbatore was found dead under a bridge on May 23, 2016. According to police 60-year-old Nagraj was stabbed to death. In its initial investigation, police thought the it to be a business rivalry case and detained four men. However, the twist came when Nagaraj's daughter Mahalaxmi surrendered with her boyfriend in Coimbatore Magistrate court for murdering her father. advertisement MODUS OPRANDI Investigation revealed that 19-year-old Mahalaxmi paid an amount of Rs 1.5 lakh to her boyfriend Satheesh to kill her father. Mahalaxmi swindled money from her father's business account to buy Satheesh a motorbike and when Nagaraj came to know of it, an argument broke out between them. Following which, Mahalaxmi left her home with her mother and went to stay with Satheesh. Mahalaxmi, an Computer science student, fearing that her father would never accept their marriage, decided to kill him and sought Satheesh's help. She paid him Rs 1.5 lakh to kill Nagaraj. On May 23, Nagaraj was on his way to Aavin depot to deliver milk during which 4 men stopped him under the pretext of searching for an address and when they got Nagaraj off guard, they stabbed him to death and left the body under a nearby bridge. Police suspect that Nagaraj's wife Pramila was also involved in the murder as she is absconding. --- ENDS --- N Kirubakaran cited research material as evidence showing increase in tobacco consumption among adolescent children and directed the government to ensure tobacco free area to be set within 100 yards of any school. By Pramod Madhav: Justice Kirubakaran who passed the much appreciated 'compulsory helmet for two wheeler riders' verdict last year has yet again directed the authorities to take action. This time against shops selling tobacco products within a hundred yards of an educational institution, especially schools. SCHOOL STUDENTS > TOBACCO SALES The Justice cited survey and research materials as evidence showing increase in tobacco consumption among adolescent children and directed the Tamil Nadu government to ensure tobacco free area to be set within 100 yards of any school. advertisement He advised the authorities to immediately constitute special teams to conduct surprise raids on shops near schools and if anyone is caught selling tobacco products to an underage kid, severe punishment should be imposed. He even quoted King James' phrase, "Smoking is hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain and hurtful to the lungs'' and said that he was shocked to know school going children are using tobacco products extensively. SOP SMOKING IN PUBLIC Kirubakaran also noted that cigarettes and other tobacco products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 should be used to book people who smoke in public areas. The issue got exposed when an NGO filed a petition on this matter. Though school going kids are not much into smoking cigarettes, they indulge in using other forms of tobacco products like tobacco leaves soaked in chlorine. The State has already brought in many laws banning sale of such things to minors but it is seldom implemented. Justice Kirubakaran concluded the issue by saying that it was time to sensitize parents and children about the ill effects of tobacco. --- ENDS --- In a letter to the Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung, the doctors have highlighted the growing interference of the health department in Maulana Azad Medical College. The faculty from Delhi's MAMC and associated hospitals have approached L-G Najeeb Jung against the health department's move to take over space earmarked for the office of Directorate General of Health Services. By Astha Saxena: Doctors from Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC), one of Delhi's biggest government medical institutions, are strongly against giving up their space - where critical functions are carried out - to officials of the Delhi health department, saying this will compromise patients' safety and quality healthcare. The space earmarked for the office of Directorate General of Health Services houses departments such as the casualty block and skin ward. advertisement The faculty from the medical college and associated hospitals (Lok Nayak, GB Pant and Guru Nanak Eye Centre) have approached Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung against this 'unprecedented act' of the health department, requesting his intervention. Sources said that the doctors have been called by the L-G to discuss the matter on Tuesday. DELHI GOVT DENIES IMPLEMENTING ANY SUCH ORDER However, the Delhi government has denied implementing any such order on the hospital. "Nothing has been finalised as of now. The final decision will be taken after consultation with the doctors and authorities from the Lok Nayak hospital. As of now, nothing like this is being implemented in the hospital. Doctors have not approached us on the issue. We don't have any wrong intentions," a Delhi government spokesperson told Mail Today. The health department currently has its office in Karkardooma and a few of its officials also sit in Delhi Secretariat. As per the new plan, the Emergency and Trauma Centre of the hospital is to be shifted to the orthopaedic block, but doctors have highlighted how this shifting will put the life of many patients at risk as there is no oxygen pipeline available in the new block. Mail Today has accessed the letter dated June 9. "The decision would put the lives of the patients at risk as there is no oxygen pipeline. What would further endanger the lives of many patients is that they will be treated in a place that is without any central gas pipeline,"a senior doctor from MAMC told Mail Today. DOCTORS HIGHLIGHT INTERFERENCE OF HEALTH DEPT In the letter to L-G, the doctors have highlighted the growing interference of the health department in the day-to-day working of medical professionals at MAMC and its related group of institutions. "The final insult comes in the form of the Health minister's decision to illegally and forcibly occupy for himself and his representatives, the heritage medical superintendent's office complex by displacing the institutional head, thereby attempting to decapitate an 80+ year old glorious institution," the letter says. On the other hand, the administrative block of the hospital has already been vacated and the hospital has informed the health department regarding the same. advertisement A letter was written to the health department on June 9 by Lok Nayak hospital wherein thet informed the officials about the changes made in the premises. "Though the CM has not received the letter formally, he has been informed about the letter and the doctors' request. A high-level meeting took place at Delhi Secretariat to discuss the issue," a senior Delhi government official told Mail Today. --- ENDS --- When it is media vs Trump, keeping a score card is quite tough. So we bring to you 5 big fights between the two parties. By India Today Web Desk: Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump has time and again deemed the American press "dishonest" and recently some media companies decided to give it back. Here's a look at the big fights: 1. When Washington Post got banned and couldn't care less Donald Trump criticised US President Barack Obama on Fox & Friends and said, "look, we're led by a man that either is not tough, not smart, or he's got something else in mind". advertisement Washington Post like many other news organisations picked up on the statement and Trump was unhappy with the headline. Screen grab Screen grab So in a Facebook post, the GOP nominee called Washington Post's coverage "incredibly inaccurate coverage" and announced " we are hereby revoking the press credentials of the phony and dishonest Washington Post". And here is how the Post's executive editor Marty Baron responded: "Donald Trump's decision to revoke The Washington Post's press credentials is nothing less than a repudiation of the role of a free and independent press. When coverage doesn't correspond to what the candidate wants it to be, then a news organization is banished. The Post will continue to cover Donald Trump as it has all along - honourably, honestly, accurately, energetically, and unflinchingly. We're proud of our coverage, and we're going to keep at it." 2. BuzzFeed's "SAY NO TO TRUMP" "We don't run cigarette ads because they are hazardous to our health, and we won't accept Trump ads for the exact same reason," announced Buzzfeed's CEO Jonah Peretti. BuzzFeed had made an advertising deal with the Republican National Committee but it recently announced that the media house has terminated the deal. Hence, it will not run any ads for RNC. The reason Jonah Peretti cited was that Trump's campaign policies are "directly opposed to the freedoms of our employees in the United States and around the world." Source: Twitter The ad deal was for a whopping $1.3 million. RNC chief strategist and spokesman Sean Spicer said in a statement to CNN that the RNC "never intended" to use the ad space reserved with BuzzFeed and slammed the media company by adding that "it is ironic that they have not ruled out taking money from a candidate currently under investigation by the FBI." In 2015, BuzzFeed's editor-in-chief Ben Smith informed his staff that it was "entirely fair" to call Donald Trump a "mendacious racist." "BuzzFeed News's reporting is rooted in facts, not opinion; these are facts," Smith wrote. 3. #BannedByTrump Huffington Post welcomed The Washington Post on Twitter using the hashtag #bannedbytrump after Donald Trump revoked the press credentials of the latter. advertisement The Washington Post, an iconic paper that helped break the Watergate scam, is not the only media house banned by the GOP nominee. The list includes BuzzFeed, Politico, The Daily Beast, The Des Moines Register, the Union Leader, Univision and Fusion. 4. Trump called American Broadcasting Company's journalist a 'sleaze' While addressing a press conference about his claims to have raised $6 million for veterans groups, Donald Trump called ABC's Tom Llamas a 'sleaze'. "What I don't want is when I raise millions of dollars, have people say- like this sleazy guy right over here from ABC, he's a sleaze in my book," Trump said. "Why am I a sleaze?" the reporter asked. "You're a sleaze because you know the facts and you know the facts well," Trump responded. Llamas took to twitter and tweeted, "Trump just called me a 'sleaze.' Should be an interesting week". Trump just called me a "sleaze." Should be an interesting week. Tom Llamas (@TomLlamasABC) May 31, 2016 advertisement Trump has also had a running feud with Fox News host Megyn Kelly. He boycotted the second Fox News-sponsored GOP debate because of her, attended the third, and has since continually attempted to tarnish her name both online and on the stump. I refuse to call Megyn Kelly a bimbo, because that would not be politically correct. Instead I will only call her a lightweight reporter! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 27, 2016 They made up later. In fact, this is not the first time that the he attacked a journalist personally. Trump called Bill Kristol, editor of neoconservative magazine The Weekly Standard, a "loser". And just because Kristol tweeted about a possible independent candidate running in the 2016 presidential election. --- ENDS --- Trump's speech in Manchester was in response to the latest mass shooting at an Orlando gay night club on Sunday in which 49 people were killed and 53 were wounded. By Reuters: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Monday he would suspend immigration to the United States from countries "where there is a proven history of terrorism" against the West, his strongest reaction yet to the Orlando nightclub massacre. Trump's speech in Manchester, New Hampshire, was in response to the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history. Forty-nine people were killed and 53 were wounded at the gay nightclub early on Sunday before gunman Omar Mateen was killed by police. advertisement Trump said that, if elected on November 8, he would use the executive authority of the presidency to impose stronger controls on immigration, one of the main themes of his campaign. "I would use this power to protect the American people. When I'm elected, I will suspend immigration from areas of the world where there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe or our allies until we fully understand how to end these threats," the 69-year-old businessman said. He noted that the parents of the gunman, Omar Mateen, 29, were born in Afghanistan. Mateen, who was born in the United States, pledged loyalty to the Islamic State militant jihadist group. Pointing to specific incidents such as the September 11, 2001, attacks, Trump also said threats were posed by people with roots in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Somalia. He stressed that his proposed ban would be temporary and would last until "when as a nation we are in a position to properly screen these people coming into our country. They're pouring in, and we don't know what we're doing." HILLARY CLINTON RESPONDS TO ORLANDO MASS SHOOTING In her response to the massacre, the presumptive Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, warned against demonizing Muslim Americans. Goaded by Trump, Clinton, 68, referred to Islamic State militants as "radical jihadist" after repeatedly refusing to go along with Republicans' description of the threat as "radical Islamic terrorism." "The Orlando terrorist may be dead, but the virus that poisoned his mind remains very strong, and we must attack it," she said in a speech in Cleveland. In proposals for dealing with threats of violence at home and abroad, the former US secretary of state called for increased efforts to remove Islamic State propaganda from the internet, more air strikes in areas held by the group and better coordination with allies in the region. She specifically called out three US allies - Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait - for allowing its citizens to fund mosques and schools that train jihadists. Clinton also proposed stricter gun control laws, reiterating previous calls to prohibit people on terrorism watch lists from buying firearms. She pointed out that while the Federal Bureau of Investigation was aware of Mateen as a possible threat, he was still able to purchase a gun legally. advertisement Clinton has called for a complete ban on assault-style guns. "It's important that we stop the terrorists from getting the tools they need to carry out the attacks, and that is especially true when it comes to assault weapons like those used in Orlando and San Bernardino," California, Clinton said, drawing a standing ovation from the crowd. Clinton called on Americans to come together like they did after the September 11, 2001 attacks. She pointed out that, at the time, she was a Democratic US senator representing New York, while the US president, New York governor and New York City mayor were all Republicans. "Americans from all walks of life rallied together with a sense of common purpose on September 12. ... We had each others' backs. We did not attack each other, we worked with each other to protect our country and rebuild our city," Clinton said. Trump challenged Clinton to explain why she favored letting Syrian civil war refugees into the United States. He said his policies would better protect American women, gays and lesbians, Jews and Christians. Trump's support among women and gay voters lags far behind that of Clinton. advertisement "Radical Islam is anti-woman, anti-gay and anti-American," said Trump. "I refuse to allow America to become a place where gay people, Christian people, and Jewish people are the targets of persecution and intimidation by radical Islamic preachers of hate and violence." "The bottom line is that Hillary supports the policies that bring the threat of radical Islam into America, and allow it to grow overseas," Trump said. TRUMP LASHES AT OBAMA Donald Trump also lashed out at President Barack Obama by questioning his motives for refusing to use the term "radical Islamic terrorism" in describing such attacks. He argued that both the president and Clinton were unfit to lead the nation, and said he would expand US intelligence capabilities. White House spokesman Josh Earnest refused to address Trump's comments directly at a daily news briefing, characterizing Trump's remarks as "small" in the aftermath of the massacre, and as such, neither he nor Obama would focus on them. Also Read Orlando gay club shooting: What we know so far advertisement Islamic State's claim of responsibility for Orlando shooting not confirmed, says Senator 'He's coming, I'm gonna die': Mother received texts from son during Orlando shooting Orlando shooting: 50 dead, 53 injured, gunman identified --- ENDS --- Trump said in a speech that he would suspend immigration from countries "where there is a proven history of terrorism" against the United States. U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump delivers a campaign speech about national security in Manchester, New Hampshire, U.S. June 13, 2016. Photo: Reuters By Reuters: The mass shooting in Orlando, Florida has allowed Donald Trump to seize upon a familiar issue he has used to great advantage - the threat of Islamist militants and his plan to limit Muslim immigration to the United States, offering him what could be a crucial moment to re-boot his sputtering presidential campaign. But while rank-and-file voters might respond positively to Trump's renewed call for a ban on some Muslims entering the country, his reaction to the massacre showed few initial signs of winning over Republican foreign-policy figures who have spurned the New York mogul. advertisement "It's a missed opportunity to present a different image," said Peter Feaver, a top National Security Council aide in the George W. Bush White House. "He has doubled down on policies I oppose and that aren't going to solve the problem." FEAR MONGERING TRUMP Trump said in a speech Monday in New Hampshire he would suspend immigration from countries "where there is a proven history of terrorism" against the United States. He said radical Muslim immigrants were "trying to take over our children and convince them how wonderful ISIS (Islamic State) is." After the worst mass murder in modern U.S. history on Sunday left 50 dead, Trump's speech was hastily refashioned from a broad critique of Democratic rival Hillary Clinton to a dire warning of the threat from Islamist militants. Although Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack, U.S. officials have maintained that Omar Mateen's motives were unclear and that he had no known direct links with the Syria-based group. Mateen, they said, was likely radicalized over the Internet. A week ago, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee's bid was taking on water. He was being battered by fellow Republicans for his comments about the Hispanic heritage of a federal judge, and Clinton was pulling away in the polls. A renewed focus on national security could provide Trump with the chance to expand his appeal both to undecided voters and to the Republican foreign-policy establishment. While Trump at times seems to relish being at odds with the establishment, the unhappiness among the party's hawks isn't just a matter of hand-wringing. It means if Trump does reach the White House, he could have a difficult time recruiting talented, experienced advisers. ALARMING THE MAINSTREAM Max Boot, an influential conservative at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the Orlando tragedy "could have provided an opening for Trump to rally Republicans against terrorism." But instead, Boot said, Trump has been "partisan and petty." Boot criticized Trump for suggesting on Monday that President Barack Obama may sympathize with radicalized Muslims and for reviving the proposed Muslim ban. "His performance has been in character," Boot said, "which is to say appalling." Trump has alarmed some mainstream Republicans with vows to shred international trade deals, his demands that Mexico pay for a border wall and his questioning of U.S. foreign policy pillars such as its security commitments to NATO and Asian allies. advertisement Clinton struck a very different tone in a speech on Monday, urging "statesmanship, not partisanship" and "clear, rational discussion" on how to protect the United States from terrorist threats. Eliot Cohen, a top-ranking State Department official during the Bush administration, called Trump's reaction to the shootings "opportunistic and shallow" and "not what Americans expect from a president." Lanhee Chen, a top aide to Mitt Romney during his 2012 presidential campaign, suggested Trump will not be able to refine his image. "While it would be true in most cases a big speech like this could reset the decks, I think the challenge with Donald Trump is always who he is at his core," Chen said. But voters are another matter. Trump's swift rise within the Republican Party was at least partly due to the strident tone he has taken toward immigrants and refugees. When Trump responded to last year's terror attacks in Paris and California with a call for banning Muslims from entering the country, he surged in the Reuters/Ipsos poll in the weeks that followed, opening up a 30-point lead over his Republican primary rivals. advertisement REPUBLICANS DIVIDED Republicans continue to be strongly supportive of Trump's approach to handling terrorism. This month, two-thirds of Republicans said they agreed with Trump's proposal to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the country. Overall, 42 percent of Americans said they agreed with a Muslim ban while 50 percent said they disagreed, with another 8 percent not sure, according to another Reuters/Ipsos poll from May 17 to June 6. The poll of more than 6,000 people has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of about 1.5 percentage points. Combating Islamist extremism was on the mind of Texas billionaire Doug Deason, a major Republican donor who told Reuters he will meet with Trump later in the week to discuss his support. Nothing Trump has said since the Orlando shooting has caused him to re-think backing him, Deason said. Peter King, a U.S. congressman from New York, said his party's foreign-policy establishment will eventually have to get on board with Trump. "As one of the two major candidates for president, he will have to get advice or consultation with top national-security people," King said. Also read: Orlando shooting: Australia reviews visa of Muslim scholar who preached about death for homosexual acts --- ENDS --- advertisement India Today TV team worked undercover for a deeper insight into the suspected exam-fixing industry operating in Bihar. Sting revealed that test-rigging racket is allegedly run by a mafia of middlemen, schoolteachers as well as principals. A mafia of middlemen, schoolteachers, impostors and possibly state education officials appears to be running a massive test-rigging racket in Bihar to help poor-performing students from across the country con their way into colleges, an India Today TV investigation has found. THE SAGA OF RUBY RAI AND SAURABH SHRESTHA The 10-day investigation into the possible scandal came after India Today TV conducted an on-camera test for the state's cream of the crop. Arts topper Ruby Rai from Bihar's Vaishali district was seen referring to political science 'prodigal science.' While Saurabh Shrestha - who had topped from the Science stream - in his TV interview, couldn't answer a basic chemistry question. advertisement India Today TV team then worked undercover for a deeper insight into the suspected exam-fixing industry operating in the state. And what it discovered from its sting operations of various schools in Bihar, left the comical answers of Rai and Shrestha in the dust. In Vaishali district alone, a network of fixers, touts and impostors guaranteeing high scores in the school-leaving 12th grade are thriving. "Will you get your own scholar to sit for the exam or would you like us to arrange for one?, asked Rajeshwar Rai, a teacher at the Sant Kabir Mahant Ram Dayal Das Mahavidyalaya. The teacher, who is also the brother of the institution's head, was in conversation with India Today TV's undercover crew, posing as agents of a group of Haryana-based students wanting to pass the 12th grade with first division from Bihar. By scholar, Rai meant a professional who would impersonate the original applicant at the exam centre. WALK IN, PAY MONEY, YOU TOP EXAM "We will get the scholar from Patna... you'll get your admission cards after filling the registration forms," he said. "We charge Rs 12,000 for the scholar per applicant. The scholar takes Rs 10,000 from us. We keep Rs 2,000," Rai said, as he offered a break-up of his fee. But the scholar would charge, higher for female candidates - ranging from Rs 18,000 to Rs 20,000 - he informed. And that's because female professional examwriters are difficult to get because of the poor female literacy rate in Bihar, he explained. Rai then quoted additional costs for outstation candidates, subjectwise: For Science stream, it is Rs 5,500 and for Commerce and Humanities, Rs 4,500. After adding on miscellaneous expenses, he fixed the total bill for rigging exams at Rs 25,000 per applicant. He assured that his clients would definitely secure first division without having to sit in the tests. "Of course, there's a guarantee!" Rai insisted. FIXING EXAMS: A LUCRATIVE BUSINESS The special investigation team then walked into another school. The crew met Sunita Singh, manager and principal of Sanjay Singh Plus Two Uchch Madhyamik Vidyalaya at Adalpur in Vaishali. Her services for exam frauds were more expensive than Rai's. She demanded Rs 60,000 for first divison and Rs 50,000 for second division in 12th class. She claimed that potential cheaters would under no circumstances secure the third division. "There won't be any third divisons. We are taking the money to ensure that." advertisement She brazenly acknowledged that fixing exams was a competitive business. "If your candidate comes first, it will boost our reputation as well. We'll have a long-term business relation. But, no one should know about it," she said. The team also found that schools engaged in the fraud had no standard price for facilitating the wrongdoing. It varies from one institution to another. N Kumar, principal of Ram Videshi Singh Mahavidyalaya, Dhanushi, Vaishali, asked for Rs 1 lakh for securing desired results with added discounts if the candidates scored a little less. His method didn't involve arranging impostors but centred around forging answersheets. "The student has to write the test, whether or not there's an opportunity to cheat at the examination centre," Kumar said. The idea is to not leave the answer-sheet blank even if it meant copying down questions. "Write anything, even if it's a song," quipped one of his staff members. advertisement "Keep Rs 300-Rs 500 in between the answer-sheets of every exam. There are five tests. So it comes to around Rs 2,500. That way we'll find out where the papers are going. We'll go there and offer them Rs 50,000 for 10 candidates for results we want," Kumar claimed. In another case, Vasudev Singh Inter-College principal, Chandra Bhushan Sharma, said, "Last year, we bought out an entire (examination) centre so that no one would bother our children there. While cheating, the first page remains the same, the second is changed. So, if there's an uproar, you can be caught. If not, you are free," he said. ALSO READ: Amidst Bihar toppers scam, IPS officer's son cracks IIT, ranks 33rd all India --- ENDS --- The government wants to reduce the power of the censor board chief to order major cuts in films. This is part of the what the government believes is its commitment to freedom of cinematic expression. By Rahul Kanwal: Stung by the Bombay High Court ruling on Udta Punjab, the central government is now toying with the idea of overhauling the country's film-certification system that has drawn flak for what are believed to be its stifling regulations on artistic and creative expressions. The idea is to go in for a total transformation - from censorship to certification, highly-placed sources in the government told India Today. advertisement As part of the process, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry has started expediting the adoption of the Shyam Benegal committee report. CONSENSUS On April 26, the committee submitted its first set of recommendations to I and B Minister Arun Jaitely on film certification. The panel's advice was based on global best-practices in film certification. According to official sources, the committee recommended that the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC)'s role be generally restricted to age-rating films except for some exceptions, such as when content is deemed above the highest-category of viewership. Certification guidelines, the panel noted, should aim at ensuring children and adults are protected from potentially-harmful or unsuitable content. CHECKS AND BALANCES At the same time, audiences, especially parents, should be empowered to make informed viewing decisions, the committee observed. It underscored the need for ensuring artistic expression and creative freedom are not unduly curbed. And CBFC certification, the committee noted, should always be responsive to social change. The government, the sources, will post the first part of the Benegal report online for public comment as it waits for the second portion to arrive. Jaitely is expected to take a final call on the timeline of the adoption of the committee recommendations once he returns from Kolkata, top official sources said. Broadly, the sources say, the government is in agreement with the view there is a need to move with the times. The government wants to reduce the powers of CBFC chiefs to order major cuts in films, they add. Senior government sources tried to dispel the notion that board head Pahlaj Nihalani had been doing the bidding of the Modi government when he advised cuts in Udta Punjab. Nihalani, they pointed out, had in fact sent multiple complaints to the I&B Ministry about the functioning of the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT), a statutory body headed by a former judge. In many cases in the recent past, the FCAT has reversed Nihalani's orders on films. There are checks and balances in the system, say top government sources. Nihalani does not have sweeping powers, they insist. advertisement "Certification only, not censorship," said Jaitley's deputy Rajyavardhan Rathore in a Jun 12 tweet, as he summarised the government's proposed reforms in the CBFC. ALSO READ: Shyam Benegal to head committee to revamp film censor board Shyam Benegal on Udta Punjab: It's a very well-made film --- ENDS --- Holy river Ganga came down to Earth from the heavens on this day, or so is the belief. Taking a dip in the Ganges today is believed to cure people of their illnesses. By Sanjana Agnihotri: Today is an auspicious day for devotees. The belief is that the holy Ganges descended from the heavens this day. According to Hindu mythology, the 10th day of waxing half of the month of Jyestha is celebrated as Ganga Dussehra. Here is what you need to know about Ganga Dussehra and the controversy around it: From heaven to Earth: Holy Ganges's journey advertisement The legend has it that the holy Ganges only flowed in the heaven and was brought down to Earth in the form of a Goddess to purify the ashes of King Bhagiratha's ancestors. King Bhagiratha's 60,000 ancestors were killed due to a curse from the sage Kapila. It so happened that these 60,000 sons of King Sagara, the ruler of Ayodhya, were chasing a horse and they happened to disturb sage Kapila's meditation. Kapila cursed 60,000 sons of King Sagara after which it was ash to ash and dust to dust. Later Bhagiratha, great grandson of Sagara, wanted to perform a ceremony for his ancestors but there was no water available. He prayed to Lord Brahma who asked him to pray to Lord Vishnu to allow the heavenly Ganga to come down to Earth. Vishnu in turn asked Bhagiratha to seek Lord Shiva's help, the third trinity, to allow Ganga to fall on his head before it hit the Earth. Shiva agreed to take the heavy weight, and the holy river then touched the ashes of the 60,000 princes and fertilised the entire region. Since then, Ganga Dusserha is celebrated to commemorate the holy river. Why is it important for devotees? When the river came down to Earth, it brought along 10 rare vedic astrologic calculations namely- Jyeshtha month, Shukla Paksha (bright half), Tenth date, Wednesday, Hasta Nakshatra, Vyatipata yoga, Gar Anand Yog, Moon in Virgo and Sun in Tauras. Now it is said that these ten Yogas absorb all the sins when a devotee takes bath in the holy river on Ganga Dussehra. So it is believed that Hindus who take a dip in the river this day will be able to purify themselves and remedy their physical ills. The spirit of celebration Ganga Dussehra also symbolises the peaking of summer and hence devotees distribute lassi, sharbat, shikanji and rose milk in various places. While the priests and others performing 'puja' of the Yamuna by applying chandan (sandal) and showering rose petals, kite-flying is an important an event. advertisement The largest crowds assemble at Haridwar, Mukteshwar and Varanasi of Uttar Pradesh. Is the holy dip healthy enough? Today, when thousands of devotees come together to celebrate Ganga Dussehra, they have to encounter one similar experience at the ghats in Vrindavan, Mathura and Agra, the highly polluted river. This irked the devotees as it was a hurdle for those who wanted to take a 'holy' dip in the river. "A dip is out of question. It's an invitation to infections," said River Connect Campaign activist Ranjan Sharma as reported by india.com. What happened to Modiji's Ganga cleaning project, is the question that arises! --- ENDS --- By PTI: Panaji, Jun 14 (PTI) Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar today defended his brother-in-laws reinstatement in the government service despite graft charges against him, saying "law is equal for all". "He was suspended from the service, not terminated. The law is equal for all. We have reinstated several officers in the past who were suspended for different reasons. This is one such case," said Parsekar who has come under fire from the Opposition over the issue. advertisement Congress, AAP, NCP and Goa Forward have criticised the CM after his brother-in-law Dilip Malavankar was reinstated in the state-run Goa Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) last week. Last August, the ACB caught Malavankar red-handed while allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs one lakh for allotment of land in Tuem Industrial Estate. Parsekar said he himself had ordered Malavankars immediate suspension. "I dont understand why my name is unnecessarily being dragged into the issue. He is just my relative," the Chief Minister said. Congress and Goa Forward have said they will submit a petition to Governor Mridula Sinha over the issue, while AAP has demanded the Chief Ministers explanation within seven days. PTI RPS KRK DBS BAS --- ENDS --- By PTI: From Lalit K Jha Washington, Jun 14 (PTI) Investing in Afghanistans development and rebuilding the infrastructure is the best way to "gain influence" in the country, a top Afghan diplomat has said in an apparent message to neighbouring Pakistan and endorsing Indias model of assistance. "Those who wish to gain influence in Afghanistan, must by now understand that investing in our development and rebuilding our infrastructure, and in contributing to peace and stability can generate enough goodwill in Afghanistan towards them to last a thousand years," Afghan Ambassador to the US Hamdullah Mohib told a Washington audience. advertisement Regional stability and peace is increasingly every nations need, more than ever before, and that stability begins with Afghanistan, he said in his address to the Hudson Institute ? a top American think-tank. "We have been working with our neighbours to end the distinction between "good" and "bad" terrorists ? as if there is such a thing as a good terrorist," Mohib said in an apparent reference to Pakistans policy of distinction between terrorist groups. "We have been working with our neighbours to play a positive and constructive role in Afghanistan. The Afghans are a strong, resilient and proud people. A people that despite decades of imposed war, have not been beaten," he said. In response to a question, later, the Afghan Ambassador said "Pakistan needs to update its policy". "It may have been sticking in the past. Its 2016 now. Different time and era from the 1970s and perhaps some of the policies are stuck in the era," Mohib said. Praising 10 recent agreement between India, Iran and Afghanistan on the development of the Chabahar port, Mohib said this will create a new transit corridor that for the first time, gives Afghanistan access to a deep water port. "(It is) Giving us an alternative transit route and increasing Afghanistans connectivity to the world. This is massively important for our ability to export our goods and import what we need to advance our economic development," he said. Mohib also mentioned the Afghan-India Friendship Dam which was inaugurated by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Herat last week and described it as "a project 40 years in the making that epitomises the deepening relationship between Afghanistan and India". Afghanistan, he said, has a clear message. "To the Taliban: Standing against peoples demand of peace will take you nowhere, and the only way left for you is to accept and conform to the desires of the Afghan people. "To the international community: Afghanistan is a reliable partner, and the best way to control terrorism is to put more pressure on those who use terrorism for political gains. And, finally, a clear message to our neighbours: You should work with us and be part of the future we are striving so hard to realise," he added. PTI LKJ SAI AKJ SAI --- ENDS --- advertisement By Shuja-ul-Haq : In the month of Ramzan, the valley witnesses a grand and historic event of Kashmiri Hindus. Duashhar, the religious Kumbh of the community, took place at Shadipora after 75 years. With the help of scores of local Muslims, thousands of Kashmir Pandits have thronged this spot in Ganderbal. The sacred place is the confluence of two rivers Jehlum and Sindh. "This is happening after 75 years. We are happy that we have been able to see it happen in our lifetimes", said an excited young devotee Suneeta advertisement UNITY The event comes right in the middle of a raging controversy on settlement of Kashmiri Pandits in the valley. While many outside the valley have been advocating separate townships for Pandits, the idea has met a lot of opposition within valley. Several valley based organisations have said Kashmiri Pandits should settle down in their original home instead of separating the population. However, for the devotees who have come to this Kumbh, all the controversies seem to be manufactured to ensure divisions. "Why is the government talking about separate colonies? We don't need this. As you can see, this Mela has taken place after 75 years. Muslims are shoulder to shoulder here. They are giving us flowers, they are helping us cross this river on their boats. We appeal to everyone to end the hate", says a Kashmiri Pandit Maharaj Krishan Bhat. And these sentiments are echoed by the Muslims helping in this Kumbh. Farooq Ahmad has been fasting all day himself but that hasn't stopped him from helping devotees cross the river. He has ferried scores of the pilgrims to the sacred tree. The sacred tree is a Chinar which stands right in the centre where the two rivers meet and is known as Prayag. "We are helping in many ways. Many people are even staying in our houses for last few days", says Farooq ahmad. The help that locals have extended is finding a clear appreciation among the devotees. Most of them say they want such events to take place more and more. "This has come after 75 years. We are very thankful to the local people here. Even though they are fasting, they are still helping us." Last time Dashhar took place at this spot was on June 4, in 1941 when Maharaja Hari Singh was ruling the undivided J&K State. Besides taking a dip in the holy waters, the devotees perform special pujas for their ancestors. As thousands of people have thronged the spot today, the hope of brotherhood and communal harmony come alive yet again. ALSO READ: Kashmiri Pandits hopeful for return to Kashmir Valley Sainik colony, Kashmiri Pandit resettlement row: Malik, Geelani say do or die situation for Kashmir --- ENDS --- advertisement The Hindu Sena celebrated their saviour, their messiah Donald Trump's birthday at Jantar Mantar today, and had been sharing photos from the event on Twitter. Surprisingly, there has been no outrage on social media on this issue. By India Today Web Desk: Today is Donald Trump's birthday. And as expected, his devout followers from India, the members of Hindu Sena, are celebrating it at Jantar Mantar. A poster released by the Sena said, "You are invited to celebrate the birthday of Mr Donald Trump on (sic) 12 noon 14 June, 2016 at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi. Join us and let's celebrate the birthday of the saviour of humanity, the Republican Presidential Nominee of the Unites States of America." advertisement See this photo, and well, the expressions: Photo: Twitter@hindusena_ The little-known Sena considers Trump a "messiah" against Islamic terror. When the Hindu Sena held a 'havan' last month, at Delhi's Jantar Mantar, to wish their 'saviour' Donald Trump a fabulous victory in the upcoming presidential election in the United States, they not only mocked their collective intellect but also ridiculed Hindus on the whole. Strangely, there has been little outrage on social media on this issue. Here is a photo of the national president of the Hindu Sena offering cake to a lifesize cut-out of Trump... Photo: Twitter@hindusena_ Photo: Twitter@hindusena_ ...praying for his well-being and victory... Photo: Twitter@hindusena_ and just bloody happy! Photo: Twitter@hindusena_ The Hindu Sena forgets the fact that their organisation does not represent the entire Hindu population and are oblivious to the fact that the foreign media has its eyes set on them, referring to them as Islamophobic Hindus. Their argument that Trump takes a stand against Islamic terror stems from their own ideology, one that is filled with hatred towards Muslims and every other religion for that matter. --- ENDS --- By PTI: From Shakoor Rather Beijing, Jun 14 (PTI) India is likely to attain full membership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) within a year, Secretary-General of the six-member political, economic and military alliance led by China and Russia has said. "For almost a year, we held consultations with top representatives from India. To become a full member of the SCO, the applicant states should adopt all the documents in accordance with the procedures in this country," Rashid Alimov, the Secretary-General, said yesterday at the SCO headquarters here. advertisement At the Tashkent summit on June 23-24, India will inch a step closer to obtaining full SCO membership, with the signing of a memorandum on the commitments of applicant states. "We have around 30 documents of this kind. The main document is about long term partnership, cooperation and good neighbourhood. In Tashkent, we are expected to sign the document that will take India to the next stage in the process," he said. He added that India will first have to accept all the documents that have been adopted by the SCO member states in the past 15 years which may take some time. "Keeping all the required documentation in mind, a concrete date cannot be set in this regard. It may take six months or a year," Alimov said. While China may be blocking Indias bid to join the coveted NSG club, the prospect of its neighbour joining the six-member SCO, often touted as a counterweight to Western alliances, seems promising to the Secretary-General. "I think India is a great country, it has great culture and economy. When it joins the SCO as a full member, the organisation will grow more powerful," Alimov said. India, which has observer status, applied in 2014 for SCO membership, that is expected to allow the country greater access to energy resources in Central Asia and more say in key security initiatives in the Asia-Pacific region. The SCO summit held inUfa in Russia last year approved inclusion of India and Pakistan tothe list. (MORE) PTI SAR SAI AKJ SAI --- ENDS --- Earlier on Monday, Iraqi TV channel 'Al-Sumaria' said that Baghdadi had been wounded on Sunday in a coalition air strike on a location 65 kilometers west of the IS-held city of Mosul. By Indo-Asian News Service: The Islamic State (IS) terrorist group's alleged leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed in an air raid in Syria by the US-led coalition, reports said on Monday. Baghdadi died in an air strike on IS's stronghold of Raqqa in northern Syria, Iranian state media and pro-government Turkish daily Yenis Safak said, citing IS-affiliated Arabic news agency al-Amaq. advertisement The statement published by Amaq said IS's 'Caliph' Baghdadi had been killed on Sunday, according to the media reports. "Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed by coalition airstrikes on Raqqa on the fifth day of Ramadan," said the statement. The coalition did not immediately comment on the report. Earlier on Monday, Iraqi TV channel 'Al-Sumaria' said that Baghdadi had been wounded on Sunday in a coalition air strike on a location 65 kilometres west of the IS-held city of Mosul. US TV network CNN on Monday cited US defence officials as saying they received credible intelligence that Baghdadi, who has a $25 million bounty on his head, has moved around within the past six months and had travelled to Mosul. ALSO READ: ISIS chief Baghdadi's ex-wife says he was a 'normal family man' ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi injured in air strike:Reports --- ENDS --- The Islamic State claims responsibility of terror attacks around the world despite being not involved in carrying it out. They do this to instill a sense of fear in people and to turn followers of other religions against Islam. By India Today Web Desk: The recent case of Orlando shooting, where a gunman open fired at a gay nightclub, killing around 50 people and injuring 53 more has once again invoked fear among people around the world. Immediately after the incident, the Islamic State took responsibility for the attack and was quite successful in making headlines. But there are many convincing reports that suggest that the gunman, Omar Mateen, wasn't driven by religious sentiments. There have been no reports that give concrete evidence for his links with the ISIS. advertisement This is not the first time ISIS has taken responsibility for an act of terrorism. On October 31, 2015, a Russian air passenger plane flying over Sinai Penninsula blew up mid air, killing 224 people. After the crash, ISIS claimed responsibility for the strike. As several theories float around, we are still not sure whether it was the Islamic State behind the attack. On December 31, 2015, ISIS claimed responsibility for the bombing of an Egyptian police check post in Giza. But there have been no strong evidence to support the fact. In October 2014, IS released a statement in their official magazine, Dabiq, saying, "It is important that the killing becomes attributed to patrons of the Islamic State who have obeyed its leadership... otherwise, crusader media makes such attacks appear to be random killings." The above statement explains why the terror group wants us to believe they are behind brutal attacks, despite the fact that they are not directly involved in it. Islamic State wants people across the world to fear them, they want followers of Islam to be bullied and ill-treated by others, they want to appear bigger than they actually are. IS does all this in the hope that someday the entire Muslim population will turn to them for refuge. Since they're aware of the fact that a direct combat with any of the military forces in the world will prove disastrous to them, so they engage in proxy wars.They are also aware that if they are directly engaged in a war with a proper army from the west they will be defeated on the battleground. --- ENDS --- By PTI: Mumbai, Jun 14 (PTI) Action superstar Jackie Chan surprised his fans when he showed off his Punjabi dance moves on a 1990s popular track "Tunak Tunak Tun" on-stage at the 17th Shanghai Film Festival. Chan was accompanied by Bollywood actor Sonu Sood in the impromptu jig. The 62-year-old multi-faceted performer looked at ease grooving to the Daler Mehndi-sung number and seemed to be in high spirits matching the steps with Sood, who is a Punjabi. advertisement "Impromptu dance moves with my brother @EyeOfJackieChan #Shanghai #jackiechangallery #kungfuyoga," tweeted Sood. The 42-year-old "Happy New Year" actor and Chan are working together in an upcoming Indo-Chinese project, "Kung Fu Yoga". The action-adventure movie is a part of the three-film agreement signed between India and China during Chinese President Xi Jinpings visit to India. It also stars Bollywood actress Amyra Dastur. The film is set to release this October. PTI PSH NDS --- ENDS --- There are two reasons why the meeting of the AIADMK chief with Modi is significant. One, the BJP is expected to ask Jayalalithaa to join the NDA, second for the passage of GST Bill. By India Today Web Desk: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa flew down to New Delhi today to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, her first visit to the national capital after the AIADMK's stunning victory in the Assembly polls last month. There are two reasons why the meeting of the AIADMK chief with Modi is significant. One, the BJP is expected to ask Jayalalithaa to join the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which governs the country. advertisement In return, Jaya is expected to ask for more central funding for Tamil Nadu. The formation of the Cauvery Management Board and the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee for the implementation of the final order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal and Mullaperiyar Dam issues will be among the water resources-related issues that she is expected to take up with Modi. Continuing arrests of Tamil Nadu fishermen by Sri Lankan navy vis-a-vis protection of their traditional fishing rights and the retrieval of Katchatheevu which was ceded to the Island Nation decades ago by India are also likely to come up for discussion between the two leaders. WIll TAMIL NADU APPROVE GST? Two, the passage of the landmark Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill in Rajya Sabha, where the AIADMK has 13 MPs. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said all the states barring Tamil Nadu have supported the idea of the GST. "Virtually all the states have supported the idea of GST today barring Tamil Nadu which has expressed some reservations. Tamil Nadu has offered a few a suggestions which have been noted by the committee," Jaitley told reporters on the first day of the two-day meet. The bill for a pan-India GST to thoroughly overhaul India's indirect tax regime, first mooted by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance regime at the Centre, has been passed by the Lok Sabha, but is stalled in the Rajya Sabha where the ruling NDA lacks a majority. The government had initially targeted to roll out the nationwide single tax regime from April 1, 2016, but the Constitutional Amendment Bill on GST has been stuck in the Rajya Sabha due to opposition by the Congress party, which enjoyed the majority in the Upper House. --- ENDS --- Ninth class student Arjun Santhosh decided to join his villagers in their protest when their 25-year-old demand for a 700m bridge was not met. 14-year-old Arjun Santosh has been swimming to school daily, demanding a bridge for his village Perumbalam. Arjun Santhosh, a 14-year-old student from Kerala's Alappuzha, leaves home in the morning like any other student, wearing a school dress and carrying a bag. However, unlike other students he has a swimsuit and an eye goggle stuffed inside his bag. DEMANDS A BRIDGE FOR HIS VILLAGE While others wait for a boat to be ferried to school, Arjun jumps into the Vembanaad waters swimming three km to his school in Poothotta. advertisement He has been swimming to his school every day, that too for a cause. The little boy is doing this in protest, demanding a bridge for his village Perumbalam, an island in Kerala's Alappuzha district. "Usually boats are not on time and I get punished at school for being late. Some boats are very small in size and there are too many people. It is indeed a cause for concern," says Arjun. The Perumbalam panchayat houses more than 10,000 people. PERUMBALAM BRIDGE: A 25-YEAR-OLD DEMAND This ninth class student decided to join his villagers in their protest when their 25-year-old demand for a 700m bridge was not met. Arjun's protest had to go on for 10 days for authorities to acknowledge the villagers' concern once again but no real assurance has come their way yet. Instead, the authorities have decided to send the boy a notice asking him to withdraw from the protest. "He is a minor and it is dangerous to swim in this season. If something tragic happens, we would be held responsible for not stopping him. Hence we decided to send him a notice," said R Girija, collector, Alappuzha. Arjun has agreed to stop his protest. But if they fail, he will continue going to school taking the route less travelled. --- ENDS --- This iconic Las Vegas casino was featured in Hollywood movies like The Hangover, Ocean's 11, Diamonds Are Forever and Casino. The Riviera Hotel and Casino was demolished on Tuesday in cinematic style. By India Today Web Desk: The Riviera Hotel and Casino - the Las Vegas Strip's first high-rise that was as famous for its mobster ties as its Hollywood personification of Sin City's mobster past - officially exited the scene early Tuesday with a cinematic implosion, complete with fireworks. Photo: AP The 24-story Monaco Tower was demolished around 2.30 am with a series of explosions, followed by the building crumbling down, kicking up a mountain of dust. advertisement A fireworks display erupted moments before the demolition. Costly Goodbye "The Riv" closed in May 2015 after 60 years on the northern end of the Strip. The shuttered casino's owners, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, spent $42 million to level the 13-building campus. The Riviera's implosion marks the latest kiss goodbye to what's left among the relics to Vegas' mobster past. Links to the Mob When The Riviera opened in 1955, organized crime outfits from across the country had already sunk their teeth into the casinos in a takeover that had started the decade before. Gambling profits were skimmed to send back home to pay for their gangs' illegal enterprises involving illegal betting, drugs, prostitution, murders and everything else. The mobsters were known to have controlled the money-counting at the most famous casinos in their day, including the Dunes, Sands, Desert Inn and Stardust - all of which have already disappeared from the Strip. The casinos were cleaned up in the 1970s and 1980s, courtesy of state and federal crackdowns on organized crime. Hollywood Hangover Three of the most famous movies ever filmed in Las Vegas used the Riviera as a backdrop, including the Rat Pack's original 1960 "Ocean's 11," the 1971 James Bond film "Diamonds Are Forever" and "Casino," the 1995 movie based on real-life Vegas mobsters Frank Rosenthal and Anthony Spilotro during their 1970s heyday at the Stardust. More recently, it was featured in "The Hangover" in 2009. Here's the video. --- ENDS --- By PTI: Mumbai, Jun 14 (PTI) Mahanagar Gas Ltd (MGL), Indias second biggest CNG retailer, today fixed the price band of Rs 380-421 for its initial public offer (IPO) to raise around Rs 1,040 crore. The company, promoted by GAIL and BG Asia Pacific Holdings Pte Ltd, is making an offer for sale of up to 24,694,500 equity shares of Rs 10 each. advertisement The Mumbai-based gas distributor has proposed sale of up to 12,347,250 equity shares by Maharatna public sector undertaking GAIL and up to 12,347,250 equity shares by BG Asia Pacific. The money raised through the IPO would accrue to the promoters who are selling their stake. The IPO will open on June 21 and close on June 23. The IPO is being managed by Kotak Investment Bank and Citigroup. MGL, a major distributor of compressed natural gas (CNG) and piped natural gas (PNG) in Mumbai and adjoining areas, receives gas at its stations located at Wadala, Mahape, Ambernath and Taloja through pipelines owned by GAIL. "We plan to increase penetration in Mumbai and its adjoining areas by reaching out to new customers for CNG, domestic PNG, commercial PNG and industry PNG use. We are also expanding our pipeline network and adding more CNG stations. We have a supply network of over 4,600 kms pipelines," MGL Managing Director Rajeev Mathur told reporters here. The company is now looking at rolling out similar facilities to distribute CNG and PNG in Raigad and other cities across the country, Mathur said. MGL has recently been awarded licence for Raigad district in the fourth round of bidding. The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board has identified several new areas for future bidding, for which MGL would bid in subsequent rounds, he said. Mathur said in the last decade, the demand for natural gas has gone up due to increased availability, development of natural gas transmission and distribution infrastructure and environment-friendly characterristics of natural gas. The government is also encouraging use of green fuel. PTI AP DK JM MKJ --- ENDS --- By PTI: Panaji, Jun 13 (PTI) Monsoon has been delayed by another two days in Goa even as pre-monsoon showers continued to lash the coastal state, the MeT department today said. "The monsoon is yet to arrive in the state. It will set over Goa in another two days," India Meteorological Department Director V K Mini told PTI. The weather department has predicted that moderate to heavy showers will continue in the state for next four days. advertisement Goa has received 301 mm of rainfall for this season till date with temperatures dropping to 28.3 degree Celsius. Meanwhile, the rains continued lashing the state with several areas inundated due to heavy showers. Several places in Panaji city, including the area around the city bus stand, was flooded creating huge traffic jams during the day. PTI RPS GK DIP SDM --- ENDS --- RSS ideologue Devendra Swaroop has already thrown his weight behind Murli Manohar Joshi for the post of the country's next president. By Rakesh Upadhyay: Veteran BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi has launched his bid to the Rashtrapati Bhavan, lobbying the RSS and the BJP leadership vigorously for the party's presidential nomination, insiders told India Today. Elections for the presidency are due next year, when incumbent Pranab Mukherjee's term expires. JOSHI MEETS MODI Joshi recently met PM Narendra Modi, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and several other senior BJP and Sangh leaders, party sources said. On May 22, Modi and Joshi met at 7, RCR over dinner. They discussed various matters, including the presidential candidacy, sources said. advertisement The Sangh's advice will play a key role when the prime minister and BJP chief Amit Shah decide BJP's nominee for the head of state. JOSHI MEETS RSS CHIEF Sources also revealed that in the first week of June, Joshi held a long discussion with Bhagwat at the RSS HQ in Nagpur. He also met several other RSS leaders in Mumbai on June 6-7, they added. SWAROOP SUPPORTS JOSHI RSS ideologue Devendra Swaroop has already thrown his weight behind Joshi for the post of the country's next president. He described Joshi as a leader of "Deendayal Upadhyay's tradition," a reference to the late president of the former Bharatiya Jana Sangh. Ram Bahadur Rai, the new chairman of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, is also supporting the BJP leader. --- ENDS --- The Museum of Broken Relationships is the answer to all your pent-up emotions, post that tasteless heartbreak. By India Today Web Desk: Is your recent break-up taking a toll on your whole being? Do you feel nauseous at the very sight of smitten couples? Is your supposed comfort food not providing you any comfort at all? Well, there might finally be a place where you can nurse all those feelings, sans the fear of being judged. advertisement The recently opened Museum of Broken Relationships in Los Angeles claims to be all that a broken heart needs to sail through a terrible break-up. Well, almost. Also Read: 4 strange museums in India you must visit at least once We clean up nice. Come see for yourself! #brokenships pic.twitter.com/15AA8q3diz Brokenships LA (@brokenshipsLA) June 13, 2016 What is "a culmination of a travelling exhibition on the theme" is the brain child of two Croatian artists--Olinka Vistica and Drazen Grubisic--the museum houses everything from an axe used by a jilted lover to "smash up their ex's furniture" to a wedding dress that is obviously of no use now. According to Metro UK, the reason behind the museum's inception was a mutual decision by Grubisic and Vistica to document an evidence of their break-up, back in 2006. Also Read: Food in Bondage: A Beijing restaurant has brought food and sex together The official website of the museum reads, "If you've wished to unburden the emotional load by erasing everything that reminds you of that painful experience by throwing it all away--don't. Give it to us." It further adds, "Our societies oblige us with our marriages, funerals, and even graduation farewells, but deny us any formal recognition of the demise of a relationship, despite its strong emotional effect." --- ENDS --- The arrest of prime accused, Dr Virendrasingh Tawde, in the Narendra Dabholkar murder case has opened a pandora's box. By Munish Chandra Pandey: Going by CBI's investigations into Narendra Dabholkar's murder case, there are gaping holes in the Madgaon blast case which killed two people. The arrest of prime accused, Dr Virendrasingh Tawde, in the Narendra Dabholkar murder case has opened a pandora's box. Tawde was confronted with the Kolhapur based witness at Belapur CBI officer who was asked by Akolkar to procure bullets, and plan to set up a gun manufacturing unit was discussed. This confrontation lasted for four hours. Sources says they have found many positive leads after the confrontation. advertisement Top CBI sources have told India Today that Tawde was in touch with the absconding accused in the 2009 Madgaon blast, Sarang Akolkar, before and after the blast. TAWDE'S INVOLVEMENT IN GOA BLAST "He made 25 calls to Akolkar which certainly raises suspicion. We have hard evidence to suggest that Tawde may well be involved in the Goa blast," said a senior CBI official. What raises more suspicion is the fact that Akolkar, according to NIA, has been absconding since Goa blast and that a red corner notice was issued against him. But CBI sources say they have managed to track Akolkar to his home in Pune. "Akolkar's Pune neighbour told us that he was home with his sister just two months ago," said the CBI officer. "Had the investigating agencies tracked Tawde soon after the Goa blasts, things could have been different. My father could have been saved," said Hamid Dabholkar, son of Narendra Dabholkar. REVELATIONS FROM TAWDE'S INTERROGATION Meanwhile, what emerges from the interrogation of Tawde is that Dabholkar's advocacy for the anti-superstition bill was the trigger for the murder. The Hindu Jan Jagriti Samiti was upset that Dabholkar had managed to put enough pressure on the government to pass the bill. "Tawde was given the task to kill Dabholkar. The conspiracy dates back to 2008. Tawde also exchanged coded emails with Akolkar regarding the same," said a CBI officer. "Bullets were called chocolates. Tawde had asked one of the witnesses to procure chocolates from Belgaum. They had the intention to raise an army to target those who they believed are anti-Hindus," added the officer. Tawde will be produced before the Pune CBI court on June 16 when his custody comes to an end. --- ENDS --- By PTI: Chandigarh, Jun 14 (PTI) With ruling SAD and AAP attacking Congress over Kamal Naths appointment as the general secretary in-charge of Punjab, PCC chief Amarinder Singh today said the move will not "adversely impact" partys prospects in the Assembly elections next year. The Lok Sabha MP from Amritsar also said it is not a "historic blunder at all" while accusing Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Aam Admi Party (AAP) of playing politics on the matter by raking up the issue of 1984 anti-Sikh riots. advertisement The former Punjab chief minister also dismissed opposition parties allegations against the senior Congress leader, saying he is an "innocent" man. "These (allegations against Nath that he was involved in the 1984 riots) are all politics...it is being played up politically and it is very unfair that they are trying to tarnish his (Naths) image," Amarinder said. "These are lies and total lies. Kamal Nath was not involved in anything," he said. AAP and SAD yesterday criticised Congress for appointing Nath with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal terming it as "the ultimate insult to Sikhs". Hitting out at Congress, H S Phoolka, an advocate fighting for the victims of the 1984 riots, had said by appointing Nath, Congress had tried to rub salt into wounds of the victims. Asked whether Naths appointment will hurt the partys prospects in forthcoming elections, Amarinder asked, "why will it happen." "There will be no effect. Opposition parties are just making noise over this issue," he said. "Everyone makes perception (about any person) because of politics. I do not think when a person who has not having anything to do..will you throw out someone because of some perception...this is no solution, we will have to stand up for what is right and this man is innocent and I believe him he is innocent," Amarinder said. On the opposition calling the appointment as the partys "historic blunder", Amarinder said, "I dont think its a historic blunder at all. He is a nine-time MP and has been sent to look after here." (MORE) PTI CHS VJ DBS ZMN DBS --- ENDS --- By PTI: Mumbai, Jun 14 (PTI) After former Revenue Minister Eknath Khadse, allegations of land grab have surfaced against another BJP leader and state minister Girish Mahajan, with Congress today accusing him of "forcibly" acquiring land in Jalgaon district in 2002 under the pretext of setting up a sugar mill. Congress also alleged that the Water Conservation Minister purposefully kept the "illegal" land deal under wraps and did not disclose it in his electoral affidavits. advertisement The party threatened to approach court against Mahajan, seeking his disqualification as an MLA for "concealing the details of his land ownership from election affidavits in subsequent Assembly elections (after 2002)". Meanwhile, the NCP said Mahajan has "no moral or legal right to continue as minister after a series of misappropriations". Addressing reporters here, MPCC spokesperson Sachin Sawant alleged that "in 2002, Mahajan, along with Khadse, forcibly and illegally acquired around 5 acres of land at Mangaon village in Bhusawal taluka in Jalgaon district under the garb of starting a cooperative sugar mill, which never came up". The Congress leader alleged the land deal was executed without taking permission from the then government. "If he (Mahajan) wanted to start a sugar mill, why was the land transferred in his name? On top of it, this is Mahar vatan land, which cannot be transferred without the governments permission, which in this case was not taken," Sawant alleged. Watan lands are inam (gift from a ruler to a subject) for service. The term is generally used in a wider sense to denote any alienation in land with or without service. NCP MLC Kiran Pawaskar said the Congress should instead move court against Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for "shielding" Mahajan. "This is not the first time Mahajan has been accused of indulging in wrongdoings. Firstly, he has violated his oath that he took before becoming a minister by keeping illegal property in his name. Also, he is a habitual offender. There was no action taken against him when he had once carried a revolver while visiting students in school," he said. Pawaskar said that Mahajan has no right to continue as minister. "Such a person has no right to be a minister. Either the CM takes immediate action against him or the Congress, instead of approaching the court against Mahajan, should instead do so against Fadnavis for shielding and not taking action against his errant minister," Pawaskar said. When contacted for his reaction, Mahajan merely said that he could not recall clearly whether he had purchased any such land. Khadse had resigned recently over allegations of graft and conflict of interest in the purchase of land in Pune district in name of his kin. PTI MM NSK BSA BAS --- ENDS --- advertisement By PTI: From Lalit K Jha Washington, Jun 14 (PTI)Orlando shooter Omar Mateen who gunned down 49 people at a gay club in Orlando was a "lone actor" influenced by the ideologies of Islamic State militant group, US President Barack Obama said today. "Terrorist groups like ISIL have called on people around the world and here in the United States to attack innocent civilians. Their propaganda, their videos, their postings are pervasive and more easily accessible than we want," Obama said at the Treasury Department after his meeting with his national security team. advertisement "This (Orlando shooter) individual appears to have absorbed some of that and during his killing spree, the shooter in Orlando pledged allegiance to ISIL. These lone actors or small cells of terrorists are very hard to detect and very hard to prevent," he said. Mateen killed 49 people and wounded another 53 before he was killed when police stormed the Pulse, one of Orlandos most prominent gay venues, on Sunday. Obama said that the government is doing everything it could to stop these kinds of attacks. "But across our government at every level, federal, state and local, military and civilian, we are doing everything in our power to stop these kinds of attacks. We work to succeed 100 percent of the time. An attacker, as we saw in Orlando, only has to succeed once," he said. Obama said extremist groups have perverted Islam to justify terrorism. "As President, I have called on our Muslim friends and allies at home and around the world to work with us to reject this twisted interpretation of one of the worlds great religions," he said. PTI LKJ UZM --- ENDS --- By India Today Web Desk: Orlando shooter Omar Mateen, who killed 50 people inside a gay nightclub early Sunday morning, was gay and a regular at Pulse nightclub, claims his ex-wife and a former classmate. The classmate said that Mateen and his other friends would hang out together and go to gay nightclubs after classes at the Indian River Community College. He also said that one time, Mateen himself asked him out 'romantically'. advertisement Mateen also reportedly chatted with gay men online. One man, Kevin West, tells the Los Angeles Times he talked with Mateen over the gay dating app Jack'd on and off for about a year. Also Read: Snapchat video captures the moment when gunman opened fire Mateen's ex-wife Sitora Yusufiy, has described him as "bipolar," emotionally disturbed, violent and physically abusive. In an interview with a Brazilian TV, she claimed that Mateen had 'gay tendencies' and also added that his father called him gay many times, reports Gawker. She sought divorce from him in 2011. A neighbor in Mateen's condominium complex described him as "awkward." "With everybody in this building, if you see somebody, and you know each other, you say, 'how are you doing?' - small talk," the neighbor said. "With him, it was just awkward stares." At least four regular customers at the Orlando gay nightclub had seen Omar Mateen there before. Also Read: Orlando nightclub shooting: Gunman's father eyed Afghan presidency, ranted against Pakistan Seddique Mateen, his father said that he was cool and calm just a day before the shooting. "I didn't notice anything wrong," he said in an interview. "He was very slick." He said he met with his son several times a week but had no idea of his plans for violence. The family moved from New York in 1991, when Mateen was five years old. "If I was aware of it," he said, "I would have arrested him myself in a second." --- ENDS --- Farrokh Sekaleshfar, a senior Shi'ite Muslim scholar, earlier said that in an Islamic society, death penalty should be carried out for homosexuals who engaged in sodomy. By Reuters: Australia is urgently reviewing the visa of a British Islamic scholar who toured Orlando earlier this year and had preached in 2013 that "death is the sentence" for homosexual acts. Farrokh Sekaleshfar, a senior Shi'ite Muslim scholar, is currently giving a series of lectures at an Islamic centre in Sydney on the topic of spirituality. DEATH PENALTY FOR HOMOSEXUALS Sekaleshfar said in a lecture in Michigan in 2013 that in an Islamic society, the death penalty should be carried out for homosexuals who engaged in sodomy. advertisement "Out of compassion, let's get rid of him now, because he's contaminating society," he said, according to a recording available online. There is no evidence of any link between his comments and the American Muslim man who killed 49 people in a gay nightclub in Orlando on Sunday, the deadliest mass shooting in the United States. Sekaleshfar told Reuters on Monday that he condemned the Orlando shooting as a "barbaric act of terror that was in no way justified." ZERO TOLERANCE FOR PEOPLE WHO PREACH HATRED: PM Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told reporters on Tuesday he has "zero tolerance for people who come to Australia who preach hatred" and his government was reviewing Sekaleshfar's visa "as we speak." The Immigration Office did not immediately respond to a query about how long that review would take, while Sekaleshfar could not immediately be contacted after Turnbull's comments. Sekaleshfar said his comments in 2013 were made in the context of a lecture on Islamic law and homosexuality and should "not have been interpreted as a call for any Tom, Dick, or Harry to carry out a sentence wherever, whenever they like." 'DEATH IS THE SENTENCE' In his 2013 lecture, Sekaleshfar said: "There is nothing to be embarrassed about this. Death is the sentence." "Islam doesn't accept people's faith to be compromised, to be threatened and it has to be taken seriously," he said. "With homosexuals it is the same." Sekaleshfar gave a different lecture in Orlando in March. --- ENDS --- "Rahul Gandhi is a superior human being. His sense of value is far superior to that of Mr Modi, who has a remarkable ability to twist facts," Ramesh told Rajdeep Sardesai in an exclusive interview. By Rajdeep Sardesai: Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh today said Rahul Gandhi is a "superior human being" with a better "sense of value" than Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He also hoped the Congress vice-president's much-anticipated elevation to party chief will happen soon. "Rahul Gandhi is a superior human being. His sense of value is far superior to that of Mr Modi, who has a remarkable ability to twist facts," Ramesh told Rajdeep Sardesai in an exclusive interview. advertisement "He is our most active and visible leader. I expect his elevation (as Congress president) soon," said Ramesh, who has just come out with his book, 'Old History, New Geography: Bifurcating Andhra Pradesh'. ON 1984 RIOTS The senior Congress leader was asked about the controversial appointment of Kamal Nath as party incharge for Punjab, the state that goes to polls early next year. Nath is an accused in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. "I agree 1984 riots is a blot on the Congress party, but there is no evidence against Kamal Nath," Ramesh said as he rejected the opposition's charges over Nath's appointment. ON CONGRESS'S FUTURE As the Congress tries to find a way out of electoral wilderness, Ramesh agreed that it is one of the lowest points in the history of the 130-year-old party. "We (Congress) are in a crisis situation. We have never touched this low in the Lok Sabha," Ramesh said. The Congress now has 44 MPs in Lok Sabha after one of its parliemantarians joined the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) yesterday. Jairam Ramesh today said Rahul Gandhi's sense of value far superior to Narendra Modi. Ramesh agreed that it is one of the lowest points in the history of the 130-year-old party. --- ENDS --- By PTI: New Delhi, Jun 14 (PTI) Renewable energy business is a high-growth area in India, though falling asset prices and competitive bidding for new power purchase agreements may lead to volatility in returns on investments, S&P Global Ratings said today. "We believe the renewable energy business is a high-growth area in India, given the governments focus on increasing capacities for renewable energy and priority dispatch," it said in a statement. advertisement However, falling asset prices and competitive bidding for new power purchase agreements (PPAs) can expose renewable energy assets to volatility of returns on investments, it said. It added that such assets also face greater volatility of cash flows due to seasonality and inherent uncertainty of wind/hydro/solar patterns, resulting in resource risks. The agency further said that Tata Powers business position is unlikely to materially change after the acquisition of Welspun Renewable Energy. S&P Global Ratings further said that its corporate credit rating on Tata Power Ltd (B+/Stable) is not immediately affected by the companys acquisition of Welspun Renewable Energy for an enterprise value of Rs 92.49 billion. Tata Power indicated that it intends to maintain leverage at the current improved levels post-acquisition through strategic measures. If the acquisition is fully debt funded, Tata Powers debt will increase by about 25 per cent, and its financials and the rating will be pressured. "We believe Tata Power will share further details on its capital structure in due course. "Tata Powers operating performance in the fiscal year ended March 2016 was above our expectations. Cash flows were stronger due to stable earnings from the companys regulated distribution business and lower losses in the unregulated Mundra project," it said. A sharp reduction in coal prices led to lower losses for the Mundra project, where the sale price for the PPA is fixed. "The companys ratio of funds from operations to debt was stronger at about 12 per cent for the fiscal ended March 2016, against our expectation of about 9 per cent," it said. The company will likely emerge as one of the larger renewable energy players in India but overall, renewable energy accounts for less than 30 per cent of the countrys power generation. "We believe Tata Power will need to manage its liquidity appropriately as the planned short-term bridge facility could accentuate the pressure from high short-term debt and continuing covenant breach at the Mundra project. However, Tata Power has satisfactory banking relationships and access to support from its promoters if required," it said. PTI SID ABM --- ENDS --- advertisement By PTI: New Delhi, Jun 14 (PTI) Markets regulator Sebi has refused to lift restrictions it had imposed on Polson Ltd for not complying with the minimum public shareholding (MPS)norms. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) in June 2013, had imposed various curbs on over 100 firms, including Polson, their promoters and directors for not achieving the minimum 25 per cent public holding within the June 3 deadline of the same year. advertisement The regulator had frozen the voting rights and corporate benefits of promoters/directors of these companies and barred them from holding any new position on boards of listed firms, among others. It had also warned the firms of further actions, including levy of monetary penalties, initiation of criminal proceedings and restricting the trading activities of related stocks. As per the last disclosed shareholding pattern of the company for the quarter ended March 31, 2016, the public shareholding stood at 15.67 per cent. "It is clear that the company has not complied with the MPS requirements till date," Sebi said. "...such non-compliance being continuous in nature, it becomes necessary for Sebi, to confirm the directions issued vide the interim order against the company, its directors and promoters/ promoter group," it added. Accordingly, the regulator has confirmed the directions issued vide the interim order dated June 4, 2013 against Polson, its directors and promoters. PTI PRJ ANU --- ENDS --- Twitter is having a good laugh at this war of words between Smriti Irani and Ashok Choudhary, which started over a dig at the HRD ministry and left Irani red faced. By India Today Web Desk: The Union HRD minister had a hard time in a recent twitter battle with Dr Ashok Choudhary, the Bihar Congress president, when she raised a brow at being addressed as 'Dear'. Choudhary, who is also Bihar's education minister, had a lesson ready for Irani and responded by saying professional mails start with 'dear' and that she should pay attention to her ministry instead of hovering over trivial matters. advertisement Smriti Irani was quick to divert the topic by pointing out that Bihar was the only state that hadn't taken part in grass root consultations for education policy. @AshokChoudhaary Bihar is possibly the only state which has not done grass root consultations for the education policy 2/3; Smriti Z Irani (@smritiirani) June 14, 2016 In response, Choudhary took a dig at the Sangh Parivar, claiming the Modi regime was just a bag full of lies and fake promises. The exchange of words didn't end here. The HRD minister used sarcasm to hit back at the Bihar Congress president, saying, @AshokChoudhaary would you rather Sir that I don't consult Bihar, if that is your stand then I shall comply though with a sense of regret.; Smriti Z Irani (@smritiirani) June 14, 2016 Choudhary was not be outdone. He replied that he has shared a link of HRD ministry's report of Bihar's consultation on educational policies. Twitter is having a good laugh at this battle. Smriti Irani has often been involved in tiffs on twitter with critics, rivals and journalists. Social media was quick to ridicule the minister, with many criticising her for overreacting. Oh dear. Still cannot believe this person is in charge of education (or anything, for that matter) https://t.co/tZ859zp4ju; Sumitra (@KhariBiskut) June 14, 2016 Oh dear, grammar (and how to address people politely) is obviously not our dear HRD Minister's strong suit. pic.twitter.com/3rcjfN16aR; Brown Sahiba (@Rajyasree) June 14, 2016 Smriti picks up fights when it's totally unnecessary. Worst Education Minister ever. https://t.co/bqXBFdymlj; Srivatsa (@srivatsayb) June 14, 2016 --- ENDS --- According to assessments made by intelligence agencies, the biggest hurdle in national security and increased radicalisation is the Internet as there is limited domain knowledge on the subject. While there is heightened surveillance of the cyberspace, monitoring the entire gamut of its activities is a daunting challenge. By Abhishek Bhalla : Self-radicalised jihadis drawing inspiration from ISIS by following its activities online could carry out a lone wolf attack similar to the one witnessed in Orlando, intelligence agencies fear. INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES WARN STATES, SECURITY FORCES Central intelligence agencies have warned security forces and states about the possibility of a lone wolf attack in the country. While there is heightened surveillance of the cyberspace to combat the growing threat of digital jihad being practised by ISIS, monitoring the entire gamut of its activities remains a daunting challenge. advertisement "Our biggest concern as of now is a lone wolftype strike. If a person decides to get a weapon and go on a killing spree or plant explosives somewhere without involving others, chances of detection are minimal," said a senior intelligence official. Inspired by ISIS, Omar Mateen killed 50 people in an Orlando club in the US and wounded several others as he went on a shooting rampage on Sunday. INCREASED RADICALISATION WORRIES INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES According to assessments made by intelligence agencies, the biggest hurdle in national security and increased radicalisation is the Internet as there is limited domain knowledge on the subject. While intelligence agencies claim ISIS has not yet established a base in India, several youths have been attracted to it and even made efforts to travel to Syria. "The possibility of piggybacking on terrorist groups operating in India has opened up the possibility of ISISsponsored terrorist action on Indian territory," the Intelligence Bureau had earlier warned all state governments. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has been interacting with state governments drawing up a strategy to tackle the threat of ISIS. The strategy needs to keep pace with the rapidlychanging dynamics of the global jihadi group that has lured thousands of young men and women from across the world including non Muslims. SPECIAL TEAM TO TACKLE THREAT OF DIGITAL JIHAD According to the strategy paper on ISIS, a special team needs to be set up that will work on the challenges of digital jihad. Intelligence agencies have failed to check the growing online radicalisation of the youth who are getting a free flow of ISIS's venomous ideology on the cyberspace. There are close to 200 people being monitored across the country. "Youth between 17 and 25 years of age spend hours on the Internet and this needs intervention with an effective counter-radicalisation plan," the paper on ISIS says. GOVT PLANS 24X7 'SITUATION ROOM' FOR MONITORING CYBERSPACE The government has planned a 24x7 'situation room' exclusively meant for a monitoring the cyberspace to tackle the threat of digital jihad. Earlier in 2015, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) busted ISISinspired terror module called 'Janood-ul-Khalifa-e-Hind' or the Army of Caliph in India carrying out countrywide arrests. advertisement Investigations have also revealed that the group was making efforts to establish a channel to procure explosives and weapons, identify locations to organise terror training camps and motivate new recruits to target police officers, foreigners in India as well as to carry out terrorist activities in various parts of India. NIA claimed that those arrested were found to be in contact with some active members through chatting applications in order to motivate them to join ISIS. ALSO READ: Orlando gunman made calls to 911 before shooting, stated allegiance to Islamic State --- ENDS --- By PTI: New Delhi, Jun 13 (PTI) A professor at DUs prestigious SRCC college today alleged that DUSU president Satender Awana attacked him, a charge denied by the student leader. The professor identified as Vineet Mehta alleged that Awana had come along with a group of students to the swimming pool of the college and had beaten him when he was asked to pay fees for it. advertisement "When asked to pay fee of Rs 200, he argued saying he is student union president and why is he being asked to pay the fees. When I told him that similar rules apply to all students, he attacked me with a rod," he alleged. Mehta, also filed a police complaint against Awana in Maurice Nagar police station. Awana when contacted, rubbished the allegations as baseless and said he had gone to college to seek permission for some other students. "Some students had approached me saying they cannot afford the Rs 200 per day fees for swimming pool. Being DUSU president, I met the principal to request him to allow these students to use the pool at Rs 20 per day, which is the charge for SRCC students," he said. "I was asked to meet the teacher-incharge (Mehta) who did not agree to it and started abusing me. We did have an argument but I did not attack him," he added. Congress affiliated National Students Union of India (NSUI) has called for a protest demonstration tomorrow demanding that the university takes an action against Awana. Senior Police officials could not be contacted for comments despite repeated phone calls. PTI GJS DEY RG --- ENDS --- By PTI: Colombo, Jun 14 (PTI) Sri Lankas future and well-being lie on good international relations with all countries and reconciliation with Tamils based on good governance, President Maithripala Sirisena has said. "I believe strongly that this countrys future lies in reconciliation based on good governance policies," he said here last night in a foreign policy lecture. Sirisena said that he has been able to improve foreign relations in his tenure. advertisement "While there was praise, some of our political opponents have been severely critical of our foreign policy. They charge that I am trying to betray the nation by allowing foreign countries to invade and grab this country," Sirisena said, adding that no government has ever pressurised his government on anything. "There is one common theme in all our interactions and engagements that Sri Lanka must establish internal democracy, human rights civil and media freedoms," Sirisena said. Sirisena, in contrast to his predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa, has followed a policy of close engagement with all nations. The Rajapaksa administration was criticised by the international community for its human rights record with resolutions in the UN Human Rights Council for three successive years since 2012. The Rajapaksa government dubbed the resolutions as interference in Sri Lankas sovereignty. The UN has estimated that 40,000 people died, many of them civilians, during the civil war that lasted nearly three decades. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) battled Sri Lankan forces for a separate Tamil homeland. A brutal military crackdown ended the 37-year conflict in 2009. Rights groups claim government forces killed nearly 40,000 civilians in the final months of the brutal ethnic conflict. PTI CORR CPS AKJ CPS --- ENDS --- By PTI: Colombo, Jun 14 (PTI) Sri Lankas future and well-being lie on good international relations with all countries and reconciliation with Tamils based on good governance, President Maithripala Sirisena has said. "I believe strongly that this countrys future lies in reconciliation based on good governance policies," he said here last night in a foreign policy lecture. Sirisena said that he has been able to improve foreign relations in his tenure. advertisement "While there was praise, some of our political opponents have been severely critical of our foreign policy. They charge that I am trying to betray the nation by allowing foreign countries to invade and grab this country," Sirisena said, adding that no government has ever pressurised his government on anything. "There is one common theme in all our interactions and engagements that Sri Lanka must establish internal democracy, human rights civil and media freedoms," Sirisena said. Sirisena, in contrast to his predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa, has followed a policy of close engagement with all nations. The Rajapaksa administration was criticised by the international community for its human rights record with resolutions in the UN Human Rights Council for three successive years since 2012. The Rajapaksa government dubbed the resolutions as interference in Sri Lankas sovereignty. The UN has estimated that 40,000 people died, many of them civilians, during the civil war that lasted nearly three decades. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) battled Sri Lankan forces for a separate Tamil homeland. A brutal military crackdown ended the 37-year conflict in 2009. Rights groups claim government forces killed nearly 40,000 civilians in the final months of the brutal ethnic conflict. PTI CORR CPS AKJ CPS DK --- ENDS --- The video of Sultan's new song 440 Volt is out and it has Salman Khan doing what he does best: Being Salman Khan. By India Today Web Desk: The new song of Sultan, 440 Volt, is out and it is as zany and crazy as is expected from a Salman Khan dance number. ALSO READ: You cannot miss Salman Khan's version of Jag Ghoomeya for Sultan ALSO READ: Salman-Anushka shoot for Sultan in Budapest, Europe's wrestling capital The song has Salman Khan and Anushka Sharma in outfits reminiscent of the light-bulb jumper Amitabh Bachchan wore in 1981's Yaarana. advertisement Instead of dancing around trees, the leads are now dancing around a modified tractor, that looks like something we have no name for. Take a look yourself: Salman Khan and Anushka Sharma in 440 Volt The fun song has been sung by Mika Singh, known for his rustic voice which lends itself well to this number. Mika has previously sung the hit song Jumme Ki Raat for Salman in 2014's Kick. The lyrics of 440 Volt are by Irshad Kamil and the song has been composed by Vishal-Shekhar, composing for Salman bhai for the first time. As for social media, the song is already the topmost hashtag on Twitter. '#440Volt' has been among the top trends in India all day, thanks to Bhai's innumerable fans. Sultan, which stars Randeep Hooda and Amit Sadh in pivotal roles apart from Salman and Anushka, is slated for a July 6 release this year. --- ENDS --- By India Today Web Desk: Telangana has been a favourite among travellers in the last couple of years, thanks to a fine job done by the state's official tourism board in drawing the regular tourist's attention towards some of the most lesser-known place in the country. Right from the green belt to the lakes to the pilgrimages, Telangana has it all. But it's religious tourism that has grown really big in the last two years. advertisement In fact, in the year 2015, the state has attracted double the number of pilgrims from all parts of the country and the world as compared to that of 2014. According to a report by The Hindu, as many as 1.2 crore tourists visited the state last year, which includes 36 lakh tourists who visited the popular Buddhist, Jain and other religious sites spread across the state's 10 districts. Also read: Love travelling to religious destinations? This new website will help! Formed in June 2014, the Telangana State Tourism Development Corporation (TSTDC) has achieved one of the highest growth rates in the country's tourism sector. A major chunk of the tourist footfall last year owes credit to the Godavari Maha Pushkaram, which is observed once in 12 years and thus observed plenty of pilgrims and travellers alike. The report reveals that about 10 lakh "domestic and international tourists had taken a dip in the Godavari during the Pushkaram. The same number had visited pilgrim sites nearby most Ghats." Besides, the other religious sites that contributed to the boost in religious tourism include Nagarjunakonda, Nagarjuna Sagar, Bijgir Sharif Dargah in Karimnagar, Kazipet Dargah, the three-foot idol cut out of a single jade stone in Kolanupaka and a few other popular Buddhist and Jain destinations spread across the state. As revealed in a report by India Today sometime back, the TSTDC is reconstructing and developing Buddhist sites with foreign aid, and also building the country's first ever Buddhist theme park. Having known this, the state tourism board is expecting that the tourist footfall will remain stable this year as well. --- ENDS --- The Punjab and Haryana High Court has ordered the CBFC, Centre and film producers to arrange for a pre-release screening of Udta Punjab for the representatives of the high court on June 14. By India Today Web Desk: There seems to be no respite for the makers of Udta Punjab. Just a day after the producers won the case against the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), and the Bombay High Court cleared the film with an A certificate and just one cut, the Punjab and Haryana High Court now has ordered the CBFC, Centre and film producers to arrange for a pre-release screening of the film for the representatives of the high court on June 14 in Mumbai. advertisement ALSO READ: Court clears Udta Punjab with 1 cut, says it doesn't defame Punjab or encourage drug addiction ALSO READ: Bombay HC clears Udta Punjab, Twitter gives it to CBFC The representatives will analyse the content of the film and submit a report. And it is only then that it will be decided if the film is deemed fit for public exhibition or not. According to a report in Indian Express, the petitioner is of the opinion that Udta Punjab shows the state in a bad light, especially the youth of Punjab. The petitioner's counsel Karan Bharihoke argued that if the film is released, it will have adverse repercussions all over Punjab. With this new development in the Udta Punjab row, the petitioner's counsel has clarified that though the Shahid Kapoor-starrer has been cleared by the Bombay High Court, his petition challenges the content of the film. Bharihoke said, "Petition before the Bombay High Court relates to a challenge made by the producer against the inaction by the Revisional Committee of the CBFC, whereas the present petition has been filed challenging the content of the film on the ground that it was unfit for exhibition." The case has been adjourned till June 16. The film, which also stars Alia Bhatt, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Diljit Dosanjh, is set to release on June 17. --- ENDS --- By India Today Web Desk: Udta Punjab actors Shahid Kapoor and Alia Bhatt and co-producer Anurag Kashyap on Tuesday (June 14) hailed the 'landmark judgement' by the Bombay High Court. For the uninitiated, Abhishek Chaubey's film Udta Punjab has been embroiled in a controversy for the last week-and-a-half, thanks to the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) refusing to give the film a certificate thanks to its content. advertisement ALSO READ: Bombay High Court clears Udta Punjab, Twitter gives it to CBFC ALSO READ: Bombay High Court clears Udta Punjab with one cut, says film doesn't defame Punjab or encourage drug addiction The last week has seen verbal spats and much name-calling between Udta Punjab producer Anurag Kashyap and CBFC chief Pahlaj Nihalani. The film was finally taken to the Bombay High Court, where a proper courtroom drama played out for more than two days before Justice SC Dharmadhikari gave the verdict. Udta Punjab was to fly. With just one cut out of the 89 suggested by the CBFC and disclaimers. The team of Udta Punjab was at a press conference in Mumbai today. The actors and producer Kashyap took turns to thank the Bombay High Court for restoring their faith in the judiciary. Shahid Kapoor said, "We could not have done it without the relentless efforts of Anurag Kashyap. I have complete respect for the judgement, agree with almost everything the judgement said. We need to allow freedom of expression, we need to allow creative people to say what they want to say." Justice Dharmadhikari had rapped the CBFC, asking the board to justify the cuts it had suggested. Among many other things, the judge asked the CBFC to not act a grandmother. Shahid had taken to Twitter on June 13, shortly after the verdict arrived, to say, "Landmark judgement#UdtaPunjab will fly and so will the voice of freedom and expression. Thank you all for the support. This is your victory (sic)" Landmark judgement#UdtaPunjab will fly and so will the voice of freedom and expression. Thank you all for the support. This is your victory Shahid Kapoor (@shahidkapoor) June 13, 2016 Anurag Kashyap echoed Kapoor at the presser, and added, "The industry always needed to come together, this time it did, stood as one." The case saw an unprecedented show of solidarity from Bollywood filmmakers who addressed the media and said how the film industry did not want Pahlaj Nihalani as the CBFC chief. advertisement While the judgement from the Bombay High Court might have come as some respite for the filmmakers, trouble for Udta Punjab is far from over. The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday heard a fresh petition challenging the content of the film and why it should be fit for public exhibition. The court, in turn, ordered for a pre-release screening of Udta Punjab to be arranged today. Udta Punjab stars Shahid Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Diljit Dosanjh in pivotal roles and is slated for a June 17 release. --- ENDS --- By PTI: Mumbai, Jun 14 (PTI) Beleaguered businessman Vijay Mallya was today declared a proclaimed offender by a special PMLA court here on a plea by the Enforcement Directorate(ED) in connection with its money laundering probe against him in an alleged bank loan default case. "The ED application is allowed and proclamation is issued against Vijay Mallya," ordered Special Judge PR Bhavke. advertisement The agency had moved the court to issue an order under Section 82 CrPC and term the liquor baron a proclaimed offender as he has "multiple" arrest warrants pending against him including a non-bailable warrant (NBW) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). According to the ED, there are multiple arrest warrants pending against Mallya in various cases like that of cheque bounce and he is also wanted in a money laundering case. The agency has told the court about the status of investigations in the case and the need to get Mallya join the probe. A person can be termed a proclaimed offender in a criminal case probe if the court has reasons to believe that the accused against whom a warrant of arrest has been issued by it, has absconded or is concealing himself so that such warrant cannot be executed. As per Section 82 of the CrPC, the court can publish a written proclamation requiring such an accused to appear at a specified place and at a specified time in not less than 30 days from the date of publishing of such a proclamation. Officials said that the agency also has the option to seek action under Section 83 of the CrPC (attachment of property of person absconding) if Mallya does not comply with proceedings initiated under Section 82. ED has been wanting Mallya to join investigations "in person" in its PMLA probe against him and others in the Rs 900 crore alleged loan fraud of IDBI bank and has virtually exhausted all legal remedies like seeking an Interpol arrest warrant and getting his passport revoked. It is also seeking to invoke the India-United Kingdom Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) to extradite Mallya from Britain. Mallya had left India on March 2 using his diplomatic passport. The agency has registered a money laundering case against Mallya and others based on an FIR registered last year by the CBI. ED is also investigating financial structure of Kingfisher Airlines and looking into any payment of kickbacks to secure loans. advertisement On Saturday, the ED had attached assets worth Rs 1,411 crore of Mallya and one of his companies in connection with its money laundering probe in the bank loan case. It is also seeking to invoke the India-United Kingdom Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) to have him extradited from Britain. PTI VI DK GSN GSN --- ENDS --- The government has already cancelled the former Rajya Sabha member's passport and requested Britain to deport him. But London has rejected the demand. By Mustafa Shaikh: A special Mumbai court today declared liquor baron Vijay Mallya, who owes a consortium of Indian banks nearly Rs 9000 crore, a proclamed offender in a Rs 700 crore money laundering case on a petition filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Mallya has been living in London since sneaking out of India on March 2. Mallya has snubbed the ED repeatedly ignoring a series of summons from the central agency to return to the country. advertisement ED had filed an application under section 82 of CrPC to declare Mallya a proclaimed offender as they were not able to execute non-bailable warrant issued against him by PMLA court. Adding to this application, ED on Friday had filed details of steps taken by the agency to arrest Mallya including search of his house in Mumbai and UB Group office in Bangalore. The counsel for ED, Hiten Venegaonkar, made submissions that in Mallya's case two conditions of proclamations is met first there is NBW against him and second he is absconding. "He gave newspaper clippings to court which suggest Mallya has knowledge about the NBW against him and he gave statements to the newspapers rebutting the NBW warrant against him," said Venegaokar. "We can now attach his properties all over the country and it can be auctioned within six months," Venegaonkar added. According to ED's submission, they have only attached properties worth Rs 100 crore. How Vijay Mallya flew to London via Delhi The government has already cancelled the former Rajya Sabha member's passport and requested Britain to deport him. But London has rejected the demand. PROCLAIMED OFFENDER - WHAT DOES IT MEAN According to the law, a person labelled a proclaimed offender is required to appear at a designated place, time in under 30 days from the day of court's order. Mallya had recently called investigations against him "heavily biased" and claimed that he was being labelled a criminal without a trial. PROPERTIES ATTACHED Earlier this week, the Enforcement Directorate attached Mallya's properties worth Rs 1411 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in Kingfisher Airlines-IDBI Bank case. Ferrari, swimming pools, helipad: An exclusive look inside Mallya's Goa villa Mallya's now defunct Kingfisher Airline owes the consortium a whopping Rs 9,000 crores, including compound interest over the remaining combined loans of Rs 7,800 crores borrowed between 2004-12 before it was grounded and shut down subsequently. The properties include two flats in Bengaluru and Mumbai, 4.5 acre of industrial plot in Chennai, coffee plantation land in Coorg, spread across 27 acre, and residential and commercial constructed area at UB CITY and Kingfisher Tower in Bengaluru. advertisement RED CORNER NOTICE Last month, the ED requested the Interpol to issue a Red Corner Notice against Mallya. Sources in the agency said a letter to this effect has already reached the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) headquarters. A Red Corner Notice is an international alert aimed at seeking the location and arrest of a person wanted by a judicial jurisdiction or an international tribunal with a view to his or her extradition. Also Read: Bringing back Mallya: 7 stages of extradition process ED registers money laundering case against Vijay Mallya --- ENDS --- In an interview to Aaj Tak, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said power can be achieved even without knowing the language and the script but then it will be difficult to connect with the masses. By Punya Prasun Bajpai: Not too long back Arvind Kejriwal had made news addressing rallies in Punjab sporting a turban. But the next time he visits the poll-bound state, he may be one delivering speeches in fluent Punjabi. The Delhi chief minister, who is eyeing victory in Punjab polls next year, is learning to speak in Punjabi and read and write in Gurmukhi. advertisement "I have learnt Gurmukhi so that I can feel the pulse of the Punjabi population and get familiar with their cultural heritage and social condition. Power can be achieved even without knowing the language and the script but then it will be difficult to connect with the masses," Kejriwal told Aaj Tak. CM TAKING TUITIONS AND REGULAR TESTS The change has not come overnight. It is a result of rigorous practice over the last two months. The CM is taking tuitions and regular tests to assess progress. "I have been devoting two hours every morning to learn Punjabi. This has been a regular practice for the last two months," Kejriwal said. The AAP leader has been reading newspaper reports and even government-related documents in the Punjabi language to prepare himself for the big fight. While he has been learning to communicate with people in Punjabi tongue, he has been focusing equally on learning Gurmukhi, the language used in Punjab for all official purposes. Kejriwal, who is sparing no effort to repeat the AAP's stupendous Delhi victory in Punjab, says it is crucial to learn the language to make entry into rural Punjab. This assumes significance given the AAP's vote-bank which essentially resides in the rural areas. "I am mentally preparing myself to take up the challenge in Punjab. This will help our party in running the government if we get to power in the state. This will ensure there is no communication gap and all official works are carried out with ease," Kejriwal said. He said that he was always willing to walk the extra mile even as his party was working hard to take on the BJP, Akali Dal and the Congress in the Punjab elections. KEJRIWAL GOVT IN DELHI BOOSTS PUNJABI LANGUAGE The Kejriwal government in Delhi, in order to boost Punjabi language, launched a campaign declaring that Punjabi would be made a compulsory language in all government schools in the Capital. The ad further said every school would have at least one Punjabi teacher and that their salary would be raised. The idea is to strike an emotional chord with the Punjabi people in Delhi who have their roots in the pollbound Punjab. "Without striking an emotional chord, it is difficult to reach out to the rural Punjabi voters," he said. advertisement However, it is not only the language but also the organisational framework in Punjab which the AAP chief is focusing on. The party is trying to reach out to people at the lowest level of governance, the panchayats. It is listening to their issues. Having taken a complete round of the state, Kejriwal said he tried to know the state and now the party was trying to understand the issues concerning Punjab voters. "In the last leg, we will come out with solutions to these problems and subsequently come out with our manifesto," Kejriwal said. On the issue of drug menace in the state, the AAP leader said Punjab's economy would automatically improve if people stop spending on drugs. He listed education and healthcare as the AAP's major planks in the upcoming polls. DELHI CM RANTS UP A STORM ON TWITTER Kejriwal took to the Twitter to express his anger over the President rejecting the Bill to exclude the post of Parliamentary Secretary from the office of profit. He said no MLA was given a single paisa, car or bungalow in their capacity as Parliamentary Secretary and said they were giving services for free. advertisement "Modiji says all of you sit at home. Should not work," he said, adding MLAs were tasked to look after power supply, water supply, functioning of hospitals and schools. "Modiji says neither will work nor will allow to work." ALSO READ: AAP raises eyebrows on Rahul Gandhi's Punjab visit --- ENDS --- Landsteiner may not be a household name but his work that made blood transfusion safer has helped millions of people lead longer, healthier lives. By Indo-Asian News Service: On what would be his 148th birthday, Google has honoured Nobel Laureate Karl Landsteiner, the discoverer of blood groups -- key to successful blood transfusion -- with a Doodle. Landsteiner may not be a household name but his work that made blood transfusion safer has helped millions of people lead longer, healthier lives. "The first fundamental discovery in the history of serology didn't come until 1901, when Karl Landsteiner's identification of blood groups spurred a flurry of additional research and discovery and eventually led to his receiving the 1930 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine," according to the Vienna-born biologist's profile at Rockefeller University in the US. advertisement In the 17th century, the "dangerous" practice of blood transfusions -- used since at least the Middle Ages -- was banned in large parts of Western Europe. In 1900, while working at the University of Vienna, Landsteine made his first observations about agglutination, the clumping of blood cells that can result in the release of lethal toxins in a patient's blood stream. With the discovery of blood groups A, B and C (later renamed "O") later, Landsteiner was able to show that the allergic reaction, agglutination, occur only when blood samples of different types are mixed, not when the same type are mixed. In 1902, two of Landsteiner's colleagues, Alfred von Decastello and Adriano Sturli, discovered the fourth blood group, AB, further elucidating the differences in compatibility among blood types, according to the Rockefeller University profile. Landsteiner was born in Vienna in 1868. With the difficulties faced by researchers in Austria following World War I, Landsteiner moved to The Hague in the Netherlands and later to the US. In 1922, he accepted a post at The Rockefeller Institute. "Landsteiner is also credited with laying the groundwork, together with fellow scientist Erwin Popper, that led to the discovery of the polio virus. This was the first step towards developing a treatment for the disease which affected millions of children worldwide," Google said in a statement on Tuesday. Landsteiner died in 1943 following a heart attack in his laboratory. --- ENDS --- Union members: Subscribe to In These Times, absolutely free for one full year! Every month, In These Times provides news, investigative reports and provocative debates about politics, social movements and cultureas well as the best coverage of the labor movement in the nation. Sign up for 12 free issuesno payment or credit card info required, and no strings attached. This special offer is available to all union members (U.S. only), thanks to a generous grant from the Puffin Foundation, a staunch supporter of workers' rights. Offer ends soonclaim your free 12-issue subscription now: Offer available to U.S. subscribers only It may be that Zanganehs commitment to this estimate was made possible by the change in leadership, which may represent either a compromise between the two competing factions or a victory of one over the other. Based on initial media reports, it was not immediately clear which side would be victorious if this were the case. However, the Wall Street Journal article did specify that the previous head of NIOC, Rokneddin Javadi, had been criticized by parliamentary conservatives in the past. Whats more, those criticisms were related to differences of opinion over economic relations with foreign powers, with Javadi being accused of negotiating prices that were not sufficiently favorable to the Islamic Republic. If Javadis replacement by Ali Kador represents a victory for traditional conservatives and the notion of restrictive contract terms, it will be a setback to the policies set in motion by President Hassan Rouhani and the nuclear agreement that was concluded last July. While staunch critics of the Iranian regime insist that there is no serious ideological difference between Rouhani and hardliners like Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, it is nevertheless true that the presidents policies have been based on the notion of relative compromise at least in the economic sphere. This has in turn contributed to speculation that the Iranians may offer more favorable oil investment contracts to the European Union, thereby helping to develop the sanctions-damaged oil sector and move Iran toward its stated goal of increasing exports to Europe to about 100,000 barrels per day more than its pre-sanctions level of 600,000. The competing faction is presumably willing to allow some of these improvements and expansions to go unclaimed, in order to retain economic distance between Iran and its traditional enemies in the West. After the conclusion of nuclear negotiations, Supreme Leader Khamenei warned Iranians to be on guard against political, cultural, and economic infiltration, which he claimed the US and its allies would use to try to undermine Irans Islamic identity. In the interest of interfering with a plan that they apparently expect would lead to such infiltration, hardliners may be attempting to discredit the Rouhani administration itself. An IranWire report that was published on Monday implies that Rouhanis rivals are pursuing this goal in part by portraying the administration as economically corrupt. Toward that end, hardline media outlets have recently taken to reporting upon the salaries of leading government officials and businessmen. These reports have found monthly compensation exceeding 76,000 dollars in a country where the average monthly income is about 500 dollars. Persons whose salaries have been thus exposed have also been shown to in some cases to have close connections to President Rouhani or his leading officials. Presumably, the desired implication is that these figures could stand to personally benefit from the economic enrichment that would come from economic openings with the West. But naturally, what these hardline reports do not point out is that continued isolation of the Iranian financial system would provide well-known benefits to hardline entities like the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, which allegedly controls a majority of the Iranian GDP through a variety of government agencies and shell companies. Supreme Leader Khamenei has urged an economic plan that differs from Rouhanis by focusing on the resistance economy that emerged under US-led sanctions and led to the development of domestic industries that were overwhelmingly controlled by government authorities linked to the IRGC and Khamenei himself. Such observations arguably lead to the conclusion that there is corruption on both sides of the factional divide, albeit of different kinds. And indeed, the current government has previously benefited by exposing corruption that was predominant under the hardline presidency of Rouhanis predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The efforts to root out instances of government theft and embezzlement have even let to some former affiliates of the Ahmadinejad administration receiving highly publicized death sentences. It is certainly possible that the competition between these two narratives of corruption could lead to the reversal of recent setbacks for Rouhanis economic policies. But as mentioned above, many of those who oppose the regime as a whole are keen to point out that such a victory would almost certainly not equate to a victory for genuine reconciliation between Iran and the West. Rouhanis Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif recently delivered a speech to the Iranian parliament in which he effectively reiterated many of the supreme leaders comments about the impossibility of trusting the United States or working together with the West on anything other than the JCPOA. We never trust the US and the basis of our power is our fight against hegemony, he said, adding, The nuclear agreement doesnt mean that the other sides hostilities have ended since they always consider the Islamic Republic of Iran as an obstacle on their way; also it doesnt mean that they have withdrawn from their stonewalling. Zarif and Khamenei have both blamed the US for the slow pace of Irans reentry into foreign markets, even as hardliners have made clear efforts to make that reentry less desirable for would-be foreign investors. If the change of leadership of the National Iranian Oil Company does indeed represent a victory for the hardline faction, it can be expected to make foreign investors even more uncertain about the potential value of testing the limits of relief from US-led sanctions. Whereas nuclear-related sanctions were lifted under the JCPOA, other sanctions remain in place, related to Irans record of human rights abuses, money laundering, and support for terrorism. Global banking rules require safeguards against these sorts of threats before a country may enter the international system. But Khamenei has disregarded the need for reforms, saying in a speech early this month that the US and its allies are only using terrorism and human rights as pretexts for maintaining constraints on the Iranian economy. [June 13, 2016] With Over 72% Market Share, the Pressure-sensitive Labeling Segment Will Continue to Dominate the Global Pharmaceutical Labeling Market Until 2020, Reports Technavio According to the latest market study released by Technavio, the global pharmaceutical labeling market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.32% during the forecast period. This research report titled 'Global Pharmaceutical Labeling Market 2016-2020' provides an in-depth analysis of the market in terms of revenue and emerging market trends. This market research report also includes up to date analysis and forecasts for various market segments and all geographical regions. Request sample report: http://goo.gl/gVKxh9 Based on label types, the report categorizes the global pharmaceutical labeling market into the following: pressure-sensitive labels, glue-applied labels, sleeve labels, in-mold labels, and other labels. The top three largest revenue generator segments are illustrated below: Pressure-sensitive labels Glue-applied labels Sleeve labels Global pressure-sensitive pharmaceutical labeling market The global pressure-sensitive pharmaceutical labeling market is expected to grow during the forecast period. It is the largest segment and the fastest growing segment in the global pharmaceutical labeling market. Paper, coated paper films, and plastic films are the most commonly used materials in the manufacture of pressure-sensitive labels. The major reason behind the increasing popularity and demand for pressure-sensitive labels is the numerous advantages provided by them. Some of these advantages are that they are convenient to use, have numerous design and graphic options, and are versatile. It is also easy to enhance the pharmaceutical label's visual appeal using the numerous options available. According to Sharan Raj, a lead analyst at Technavio for research on packaging, "Pressure-sensitive labels are of higher quality, can be of numerous shapes, can deliver multi-process imaging, and allow for speedy automatic dispensing, especially for premium labeing applications. So, the global pressure-sensitive pharmaceutical labeling market has high growth prospects during the forecast period." Global glue-applied pharmaceutical labeling market The global glue-applied pharmaceutical labeling market is expected to grow steadily during the forecast period. The market is experiencing the highest growth from APAC. However, many parts of North America like Mexico contribute large shares to the global market. Glue-applied labels are ideally suited for long print runs and do not have complex press requirements compared to pressure-sensitive films. However, pressure-sensitive labels, due to their functional applications in industries, are increasingly replacing them. "Another major reason for the restricted growth of the global glue-applied label market is the increasing popularity of plastic labels over paper labels. Paper labels are largely used for wet-glued labels. Subsequently, the market is expected to grow steadily during the forecast period," says Sharan. Global sleeve pharmaceutical labeling market The global sleeve pharmaceutical labeling market is expected to grow at a steady rate during the forecast period. Sleeve labels are primarily produced in three formats: stretch sleeves, heat-shrink sleeves, and roll-fed shrink sleeves. Stretch sleeves are ready-to-use labels that are required to be stretched in order to be applied to the container without the use of adhesives. Heat-shrink sleeves are labels that have extreme shrinkage properties, which help them suit the shape of products. They are inexpensive and provide high-quality graphics. Owing to these factors, their demand is increasing in countries such as India, China, and the countries of South America. Their tamper-resistance and superior protective properties are also driving the demand among numerous manufacturers. Roll-fed shrink sleeves are roll-fed and are made from single-ply materials used to manufacture sleeve labels. They provide a faster labeling speed than heat-shrink sleeve labels. It is also proving to be a competition for the pressure-sensitive and glue-applied label markets. However, the increasing crude oil prices have increased the price of the polymers used in the production of these labels, which is exerting pricing pressures on the vendors of this market. The top vendors highlighted by Technavio's research analysts in this report are: 3M Avery Dennison Bemis CCL (News - Alert) Industries Essentra LINTEC SATO Holdings Browse Related Reports: Flexible Packaging Market in Europe 2016-2020 Global Flexible Paper Packaging Market 2015-2019 Frozen Food Packaging Market in the US 2015-2019 Purchase these three reports for the price of one by becoming a Technavio subscriber. Subscribing to Technavio's reports allows you to download any three reports per month for the price of one. Contact [email protected] with your requirements and a link to our subscription platform. About Technavio Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies. Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users. If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at [email protected]. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160613005664/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 13, 2016] Chrome River Continues Global Expansion with Asia-Pacific Launch Chrome River, a global leader in expense and invoice automation solutions, announces the launch of Asia-Pacific operations. Chrome River PTY LTD, based in Sydney, will provide dedicated support and implementation services to the company's existing customers across the region, as well as increase its presence with the addition of new customers. Asia-Pacific is a major growth market for both business travel and enterprise software. It is now the largest market for business travel, representing 39 percent of all global spend, according to the Global Business Travel Association. Business travel across the region is forecast to see 7.7 percent annual growth over the next five years, more than double that of the United States.1 In addition, according to Gartner (News - Alert), the mature Asia-Pacific region (Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea) is expected to see its enterprise applications market grow by 53 percent, from US$8.6 billion in 2016, to US$13.2 billion in 2020.2 "We already have a significant number of uers across Australia and Asia-Pacific, and we see a tremendous opportunity to increase our presence with global and local customers and partners across the region," said Alan Rich, CEO of Chrome River. "Not only is there significant growth in business travel across Asia-Pacific, but there are a number of complex, country-specific taxation requirements which drive the need for a sophisticated, robust expense management solution that configures to the needs of companies operating in the region." The company previously established a presence in the United Kingdom in 2014, and now has customers and partners across Europe. 1 GBTA BTI Outlook, July 2015 2 Gartner, Forecast: Enterprise Software Markets, Worldwide, 2013-2020, 1Q16 Update, 17 March 2016, G00294997 About Chrome River Chrome River Technologies, Inc. lets business flow for some of the world's largest and most respected global organisations. Our highly-configurable cloud-based expense reporting and supplier invoice automation solutions deliver an elegant and intuitive user interface, which offer the same high quality experience on a smartphone, tablet or laptop. Our SaaS (News - Alert) products provide a world-class business rules engine and technology infrastructure, combined with a completely agile solution that supports today's changing business climate, and that the CFO, AP and travel managers, and employees will all love. To find out why Chrome River is trusted by more than 1 million users at 500 organisations worldwide, contact us at +61 2 9331 6809 or visit us at www.chromeriver.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160613006522/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 14, 2016] 89 Percent of Retail IT Security Pros Feel Vulnerable to Data Threats, Yet Data Breach Prevention a Low Spending Priority SAN JOSE, Calif., June 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Vormetric, a Thales company, and a leader in enterprise data protection for physical, virtual, big data, and cloud environments, today announced the results of the Retail Edition of the 2016 Vormetric Data Threat Report (DTR). The report is issued in conjunction with analyst firm 451 Research, reporting responses from 1,100 senior IT security executives at large enterprises worldwide, including over 100 in U.S. retail organizations. This edition of the fourth annual report extends earlier findings of the global report, focusing on responses from retail organizations, detailing IT security spending plans, perceptions of threats to data, rates of data breach failures and data security stances. "The good news is that U.S. retailers, are protecting data for the right reasons, and nearly half have a good track record of safeguarding sensitive data. Protecting reputation and brand integrity was the top reason for securing sensitive information at 55 percent, and 44 percent claimed they had never experienced a data breach or failed a compliance audit," said Garrett Bekker, senior analyst, information security, at 451 Research and the author of the 2016 Vormetric Data Threat Report. "But IT security spending plans tell another story. Spending on network defenses (55 percent) and end point and mobile device defenses (48 percent) are increasing faster than on security controls that are more effective at protecting data, data-at-rest defenses (44 percent) and data-in-motion defenses (42 percent)." Spending to protect data is increasing fastest in areas that have been shown to be ineffective at protecting against multi-stage attacks. Network defenses (65 percent) and endpoint and mobile device defenses (58 percent) still see the highest increase in spending, while approaches like data-at-rest defenses that have been proven to be effective at protecting data after perimeter defenses have been bypassed are at the bottom (48 percent)." Other key findings: 89 percent feel vulnerable to data threats 51 percent have already experienced a data breach, with more than one in five (21 percent) indicating a breach in the last year At 55 percent, protecting reputation and brand was the top IT security spending priority, followed closely by meeting compliance requirements at 49 percent Complexity at 61 percent is identified as the top barrier to adoption of better data security A bright spot is that 44 percent are increasing spending on data-at-rest defenses this year Click to Tweet: Retailers in the cross hairs 89% say their data is vulnerable #2016DataThreat http://bit.ly/1Oe1Civ Top external and internal threat actors After years of high profile, well publicized data breaches, retailers already know that they are a primary target for cybercriminals and malicious insiders. Unsurprisingly, the top external threat actors identified were cybercriminals, a top selection for 48 percent of respondents. The top internal threat actors identified were privileged users. Privileged user accounts typically have access to all the resources and systems they manage, unless restrained by additional security controls, and their account credentials are primary targets in cyberattacks. Reputation and brand protection are top data protection drivers for retail, but data breach prevention is at the bottom of the list Retail's IT security spending priorities as measured in the report: Reputation and brand protection (55 percent) Compliance (49 percent) Best practices (37 percent) Executive directive (35 percent) Preventing data breaches (31 percent) With preventing data breaches the lowest priority for IT security spending, the large number of data breaches from retailers over the last few years should be no surprise. But the finding that reputation and brand protection are the top priority is at odds with the low priority of preventing data breaches. When a data breach happens, damage to reputation and brand directly result. Compliance is also still a top driver of IT security spending in retail as well. With adherence to credit card and privacy regulations a requirement of business, it's no surprise that IT security professionals in retail focus on meeting compliance mandates. However, compliance is not enough, as retailers that have met their compliance requirements have frequently been breached over the last two years. Cloud usage and concerns for data are high Retail organizations are worried about their use of sensitive data in cloud environments, with 75 percent citing security breaches at the cloud provider as a concern, but this concern has not stopped sensitive data moving to the cloud. Current levels of sensitive data use within cloud environments: SaaS 69 percent IaaS 58 percent PaaS 58 percent The ability to encrypt data in the cloud was the number one factor that would increase willingness to increase their cloud usage, at 51 percent of responses. Getting more right A number of positive results indicate that retail organizations are taking steps in the right direction to recognize and deal with the problems surrounding their use of sensitive information. 61 percent are increasing spending to protect sensitive data 55 percent are looking to implement data security for brand and reputation protection 44 percent, plan to invest in data-at-rest defenses this year "With frequent, high profile data breaches occurring, it seems a complete miss that preventing them is at the bottom of a retailer's IT security spending priority list," said Tina Stewart, vice president of marketing for Vormetric. "Surprisingly, they are also failing to connect the dots about the best solutions to use. With tremendous sets of detailed customer behavior and personal information in their custody, and with retailers a prime target for hackers, we'd expect to see more investments in data security, than in less than fully effective tools like network and anti-virus security." The research report is available from Vormetric and can be found here. About 451 Research 451 Research is a preeminent information technology research and advisory company. With a core focus on technology innovation and market disruption, we provide essential insight for leaders of the digital economy. More than 100 analysts and consultants deliver that insight via syndicated research, advisory services and live events to over 1,000 client organizations in North America, Europe and around the world. Founded in 2000 and headquartered in New York, 451 Research is a division of The 451 Group. About Vormetric, a Thales company Vormetric's comprehensive high-performance data protection platform helps companies move confidently and quickly. Our seamless and scalable platform is the most effective way to protect data wherever it residesany file, database and application, in any server environment. Advanced transparent encryption, powerful access controls and centralized key management let organizations encrypt everything efficiently, with minimal disruption. Regardless of content, database or applicationwhether physical, virtual or in the cloudVormetric Data Security enables confidence, speed and trust by encrypting the data that builds business. Vormetric Data Security was recently acquired by Thales Group and is now a Thales company. Please visit: www.vormetric.com and find us on Twitter @Vormetric. About Thales Thales is a global technology leader for the Aerospace, Transport, Defence and Security markets. With 62,000 employees in 56 countries, Thales reported sales of 14 billion in 2015. With over 22,000 engineers and researchers, Thales has a unique capability to design and deploy equipment, systems and services to meet the most complex security requirements. Its exceptional international footprint allows it to work closely with its customers all over the world. Positioned as a value-added systems integrator, equipment supplier and service provider, Thales is one of Europe's leading players in the security market. The Group's security teams work with government agencies, local authorities and enterprise customers to develop and deploy integrated, resilient solutions to protect citizens, sensitive data and critical infrastructure. Drawing on its strong cryptographic capabilities, Thales is a global leader in data protection and one of the world leaders in cybersecurity products and solutions for defence, critical infrastructure and telecommunication operators, industrial and financial companies. Covering the entire cybersecurity chain, Thales offers a comprehensive range of services and solutions that includes: cybersecurity consulting and testing, cyber-secured software centric system design / development / integration and certification, provision and through-life management of data protection products and services, secured IT outsourcing and cloud computing solutions, as well as managed security services based on our network of Security Operation Centers in France, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130626/SF38541LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/89-percent-of-retail-it-security-pros-feel-vulnerable-to-data-threats-yet-data-breach-prevention-a-low-spending-priority-300283960.html SOURCE Vormetric [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 14, 2016] GE Expands Industrial Internet Investment to Fuel Digitization of Industry in Europe GE (NYSE:GE) today announced the expansion of its digital presence in Europe and the launch of new products, partnerships and initiatives designed to foster growth of the digital industrial ecosystem across Europe. The company announced the opening of a new digital office in Paris, a Digital Foundry, which will serve as the hub of this ecosystem. "Europe has the talent and infrastructure to lead a productivity revolution and the digitization of industry must be at the core of this mission," said GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt. "GE is committed to helping Europe develop the building blocks for their Industrial Internet that will help the continent's companies turn information into insights and insights into outcomes." The new Digital Foundry will serve European customers and partners and will be located within the historic Le Centorial building in the 2nd arrondissement. It is the first of four foundries planned this year, establishing a global network of centers through which GE Digital will incubate local startups, collaborate with customers to develop new applications and extend the growing community of industrial developers in Europe. This first Digital Foundry will add 250 jobs in Paris, focused on engineering, data science, user experience and design thinking. EXPANDING THE DIGITAL INDUSTRIAL ECOSYSTEM Underpinning this expanding ecosystem is Predix, GE's operating system for the Industrial Internet, and Predix.io, which allows third-party software engineers to leverage the platform's capabilities to build, deploy and scale Industrial Internet applications within a safe, secure developer environment. Opened to customers in February, nearly 11,000 developers around the world are already building on the platform. "The digitization of industry in Europe requires not only leadership and investment from companies such as GE and our partners - but also more collaboration between the private and public sector," said GE Digital CEO Bill Ruh. "We are building an open platform, where GE's 14,000 developers can collaborate with our customers and partners to create new applications." NEW OFFERINGS DRIVE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION Recent studies estimate that the digitization of products and services will add more than 110 billion in annual revenue for industry in Europe over the next five years. To fuel that transformation GE has innovative products to address customer needs. In April, GE Digital announced the release of its Asset Performance Management (APM (News - Alert)) suite, the first set of commercially available applications to run on Predix. Today, it announced two major updates to the GE Digital software set, both of which improve its ability to service major European customers. GE Power released new Digital Power Plant software designed to play a significant role in helping nations meet COP21 greenhouse as emissions goals. The software will help European power customers such as Yildirim improve the efficiency and reduce emissions from coal-powered steam plants. Coal plants generate 40% of the world's electricity. GE Power's new software can reduce CO2 emissions from those plants by 3% and reduce fuel consumption by 67,000 tons of coal per year with the same MW of output. Additionally, GE Digital's Brilliant Manufacturing suite will run on Predix, planned for Q3 2016. Brilliant Manufacturing is able to gather, connect and analyze data from every aspect of production and leverage those insights to help manufacturers meet production targets, while controlling costs and risk. Brilliant Manufacturing is also the technology behind GE's Brilliant Factories, which is currently in use improving GE's own operations. In the U.K., the GE Health Cloud, designed exclusively for the healthcare industry and powered by Predix, is now installed and available. The new cloud ecosystem and its applications connects software, hardware and analytics to speed, efficiency and collaboration across care pathways and multidisciplinary teams - both inside and outside the hospital setting. DRIVING OUTCOMES WITH NEW CUSTOMERS AND PARTNERS Also today, GE Oil & Gas and Technip today signed a Memorandum of Understanding to explore new digital solutions, focused on the design and build of new Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) projects. The two companies will work together to explore the application of Predix and digital solutions to the engineering, construction, commissioning, startup and operation phases for LNG facilities. As part of the Foundry opening, GE also partnered with NUMA, the first startup accelerator in France, and government agencies including Banque Publique d'Investissement (BPI) to identify and grow high-potential ideas and startups in the region. "Having GE's European foundry's headquarter in Paris is a great opportunity, and we will closely work with GE Digital to create and structure an innovation ecosystem around the Industrial Internet. We are confident that we can build a strong community of startups, data scientists, developers and software experts to find solutions to complex industrial challenges," said Marie-Vorgan Le Barzic, CEO, NUMA. Here are several additional European companies using GE's software solutions to transform their businesses: A2A has installed GE's operations optimization software at the Chivasso power plant in Northern Italy to breathe new life into the power plants previously believed to be unsustainable. This technology can deliver enterprise data visibility across A2A power plants, including non-GE equipment and fleet-wide footprints, providing a holistic understanding of the operational decisions that can expand capabilities, lower production costs and improve reliability. has installed GE's operations optimization software at the Chivasso power plant in Northern Italy to breathe new life into the power plants previously believed to be unsustainable. This technology can deliver enterprise data visibility across A2A power plants, including non-GE equipment and fleet-wide footprints, providing a holistic understanding of the operational decisions that can expand capabilities, lower production costs and improve reliability. AkzoNobel uses GE's Industrial Internet solutions to transform its operations. For example, the company has increased capacity by 20%, decreased lead times, and improved traceability at one of its factories in Sweden to better serve its customers. 1 uses GE's Industrial Internet solutions to transform its operations. For example, the company has increased capacity by 20%, decreased lead times, and improved traceability at one of its factories in Sweden to better serve its customers. Capgemini (News - Alert) , as a member of the GE Digital Alliance Program, has trained more than 700 developers on Predix. Capgemini provides a range of services on the Predix platform and is working with Current, powered by GE, to create solutions that help commercial and industrial customers reduce power consumption, generate power onsite, and drive new revenue streams through sensors and networked systems in buildings and cities. Capgemini is also an inaugural systems integrator for GE Health Cloud, leveraging its experience to deliver innovative solutions for healthcare providers and devices. , as a member of the GE Digital Alliance Program, has trained more than 700 developers on Predix. Capgemini provides a range of services on the Predix platform and is working with Current, powered by GE, to create solutions that help commercial and industrial customers reduce power consumption, generate power onsite, and drive new revenue streams through sensors and networked systems in buildings and cities. Capgemini is also an inaugural systems integrator for GE Health Cloud, leveraging its experience to deliver innovative solutions for healthcare providers and devices. Scottish Power Energy Networks selected GE as the supplier of the digital control system for the Future Intelligent NEtwork SubStation (FITNESS) project. FITNESS will pave the way for a smarter electricity grid as part of the U.K.'s energy security initiatives transition to a low carbon economy. GE will provide an intelligent digital substation solution with its DS Agile (News - Alert) control system, integrated with its Grid Stability Package. selected GE as the supplier of the digital control system for the Future Intelligent NEtwork SubStation (FITNESS) project. FITNESS will pave the way for a smarter electricity grid as part of the U.K.'s energy security initiatives transition to a low carbon economy. GE will provide an intelligent digital substation solution with its DS Agile (News - Alert) control system, integrated with its Grid Stability Package. Yara, the world's largest producer of ammonia, nitrates and NPKs, will use GE Digital's Smart Signal solution - part of GE's APM suite - to drive operational excellence and improve asset productivity. Yara's production segment works with GE to further eliminate downtime at its production plants, using the Yara Ferrara Plant site to test best practices in digital transformation. "Since the creation of our GE Digital business and the launch of the Predix operating system, we have nearly 11,000 developers signed up, more than 100 apps and are seeing strong customer adoption," said Immelt. "For GE internally, we know we will drive $500M in productivity. Now is the time for industrials to make the switch and to drive long-term value for their business." ABOUT MINDS + MACHINES Minds + Machines Europe 2016 convenes industrial luminaries, along with university, government and technology leaders from across Europe for a day-long forum focused on the digital transformation of industry and the state of the Industrial Internet. Capgemini is the top sponsor, along with Platinum sponsors EY, Intel (News - Alert), PwC. ABOUT GE GE (NYSE: GE) is the world's Digital Industrial Company, transforming industry with software-defined machines and solutions that are connected, responsive and predictive. GE is organized around a global exchange of knowledge, the "GE Store," through which each business shares and accesses the same technology, markets, structure and intellect. Each invention further fuels innovation and application across our industrial sectors. With people, services, technology and scale, GE delivers better outcomes for customers by speaking the language of industry. www.ge.com 1 Source (News - Alert): AkzoNobel: Connecting People, Plants and Data Around the World View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160613006583/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 14, 2016] Schneider Electric Appoints Annette Clayton to Lead North America Operations ANDOVER, Mass., June 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Schneider Electric, the global specialist in energy management and automation, today announced it has appointed Annette Clayton as President and CEO, North America Operations. Clayton will be based in Schneider Electric's North America headquarters in Andover, Mass. and is responsible for driving business strategy and execution for the region. In addition to her new role as President and CEO of Schneider Electric's largest operating region, Clayton will continue to serve as the Group's Chief Supply Chain Officer leading the Global Supply Chain organization. In her dual capacity, she will remain a member of Schneider Electric's Executive Committee. "Annette has been a transformational leader in our business," said Jean-Pascal Tricoire, Schneider Electric Chairman and CEO. "She has led our supply chain to become one of the most efficient, safe and reliable in the world transforming it into a strategic advantage for our business and our partners. I am excited to see her bring her leadership skills to our largest region, and one of our biggest market opportunities." Industry Veteran Clayton joined Schneider Electric in 2011, after serving as Vice President of Global Operations at Dell for five years. She also spent 23 years at General Motors, in various oles, including President of Saturn Corporation. In her new role at Schneider Electric, she replaces Laurent Vernerey, who has led the North America region for the last three years and concludes a 30-year career at Schneider Electric. "I am excited to take leadership of our North American business," said Clayton. "This market is very dynamic and has evolved as the forerunner in driving innovation across the entire energy value chain. I look forward to driving and supporting this innovation as part of our brand promise, to our customers, partners and employees, as together we lead this new energy landscape." Headquartered in Andover, Massachusetts, the North American Operating Division of Schneider Electric consists of approximately 30,000 employees within 4 business units and a services division, and sales of $7.3 billion (U.S.) in 2015. The North American Operating Division is one of four operating divisions of Schneider Electric, headquartered outside of Paris, France. About Schneider Electric Schneider Electric is the global specialist in energy management and automation. With revenues of ~$30 billion in FY2015, our 160,000+ employees serve customers in over 100 countries, helping them to manage their energy and process in ways that are safe, reliable, efficient and sustainable. From the simplest of switches to complex operational systems, our technology, software and services improve the way our customers manage and automate their operations. Our connected technologies reshape industries, transform cities and enrich lives. At Schneider Electric, we call this Life Is On. www.schneider-electric.com Follow us on: https://twitter.com/SchneiderSftwre https://www.facebook.com/schneiderelectricindustrialsoftware/ http://blog.schneider-electric.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/invensysoperationsmanagement https://plus.google.com/+schneiderelectric https://www.youtube.com/user/invensysVideos http://tv.schneider-electric.com/site/schneidertv/index.cfm Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160613/378724 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/schneider-electric-appoints-annette-clayton-to-lead-north-america-operations-300283989.html SOURCE Schneider Electric [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 14, 2016] Galen College of Nursing Online RN to BSN Program Receives Programmatic Accreditation by CCNE Today, Galen College of Nursing announces the accreditation of its Online RN to BSN program by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). The CCNE is an independent accrediting agency dedicated to verifying the quality of baccalaureate, graduate and residency programs in nursing. "Successfully achieving CCNE accreditation for Galen's RN to BSN program is an external validation of the quality of our online program," said Dean of Online RN to BSN, Kathy Burlingame EdD, MSN. "For students and industry partners, nursing programmatic accreditation has become the standard expected of nursing programs to ensure colleges are providing a quality educational experience." Galen custom-built all courses with a team of faculty, subject matter experts, and expert online instructional designers, to create unique and engaging courses. These comprehensive courses include extensive video, interactive presentations, motion graphics and 3D animation, esuring that information presented to students is reinforced in various forms, for optimal learning. Galen is constantly focused on innovating online courses to assure they are presenting the best online education experience possible. In addition to CCNE accreditation, all core courses have been Quality Matters certified, with new elective courses being submitted for certification as completed. Quality Matters is a nationally recognized, faculty-centered, peer review process designed to certify the quality of online course design and online components. "Galen is proud to offer high quality and engaging online courses, with the flexibility working RNs need to pursue their goal of higher education," said Mark Vogt, CEO of Galen College of Nursing. "Galen's future goals include considering additional higher education nursing programs to continue to help build the nursing workforce for the communities we serve," said Vogt. Due to proactive planning, Galen timed the request for a site visit from CCNE to occur prior to the first graduating class of RN to BSN students. As Burlingame said, "The timing of this visit was critical to our students as the accreditation is retroactive to the date of the site visit. This means that our first graduating class and future graduates will receive their degree from a CCNE accredited program." The CCNE serves the public interest by assessing and identifying programs that engage in effective educational practices. As a voluntary, self-regulatory process, CCNE accreditation supports and encourages continuing self-assessment by nursing programs and supports continuing growth and improvement of collegiate professional education and nurse residency programs. For more information about Galen College of Nursing, visit galencollege.edu. Founded over 20 years ago, Galen College of Nursing is one of the largest private nursing schools in the United States. With a focus solely on nursing education, the College offers practical/vocational nursing (PN/VN), associate and online baccalaureate degree nursing programs to over 3,000 students on its campuses in Louisville, Ky., San Antonio, Texas, Tampa Bay, Fla., Cincinnati, Ohio, along with an Online Campus. Galen is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award associate and baccalaureate degrees. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160614005129/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 14, 2016] NoviFlow and The Poznan Supercomputing and Networking Center (PSNC) Team Up To Demonstrate SDN Based IoT for Smart Cities at TNC2016 NoviFlow Inc., a leading provider of high-performance OpenFlow-based switching solutions, and the Poznan Supercomputing and Networking Center today will demonstrate live at the TNC2016 Conference SDN based auto-provisioning of IoT devices for use in cloud-based Smart-City services. The demonstration features an application developed by PSNC for Smart Cities / Smart Buildings that can dynamically create and manage end-to-end communication channels from IoT devices to the cloud over SDN (software-defined networking) infrastructure. The application orchestrates cloud resources and manages IoT traffic between gateways and the cloud services by leveraging the TCP/UDP (News - Alert) payload matching and handling features of NoviWare for traffic analysis (IoT devices recognition, categorization and policies), making it possible to automatically deploy IoT services over on-demand created LXC light containers for real-time data collection, storage, visualization and analysis. NoviFlow provides high-performance, fully programmable forwarding planes and applications that are unencumbered by te limitations of legacy network equipment and that combine the unique capabilities of SDN with the performance of Network Processors. This approach delivers a flexible, responsive and programmable routing infrastructure far better equipped to manage exploding numbers of connected devices and vastly changed usage patterns. NoviFlow's NoviSwitch products provide a fully programmable, high-performance OpenFlow 1.3/1.4 forwarding plane for use with even the most traffic-intensive gateway applications, and its OpenFlow Experimenter-based enhancements add significant value to SDN solutions, which are of specific interest to the carrier and hyper-scale data center communities. Says Artur Binczewski, Network Technology Division Director of PSNC: "This demonstration clearly shows how SDN can decrease complexity, time and costs in the deployment of IoT devices in metropolitan networks using cloud-based service infrastructure. By providing a way to filter packets and add-in metadata at wire speed, NoviFlow's NoviSwitch provides an agile, scalable forwarding plane for linking huge numbers of IoT devices economically and without disrupting existing infrastructure." According to Dominique Jodoin, President and CEO of NoviFlow: "NoviFlow's cooperation with PSNC in this demonstration is part of our ongoing support of key innovators and researchers in the SDN area. Since its inception, NoviFlow has been a proud participant and contributor to Open Source (News - Alert) SDN initiatives such as the Open Networking Foundation's Atrium project, the ONOS project, and others. We consider demos such as this one critical to realizing the benefits of high-performance SDN solutions and expanding its practical application in carrier networks, hyper-scale data centers and cloud/internet service providers." The solution, which features three NoviFlow NoviSwitch 2128 high-performance OpenFlow switches, will be demonstrated at the TNC2016 conference in Prague until June 16th, 2016. ABOUT NOVIFLOW NoviFlow Inc. provides high-performance OpenFlow-based switching solutions to network carriers, data center operators and enterprises seeking greater control and flexibility over their networks. NoviFlow has offices in Montreal, Sunnyvale and Seattle. For more information, please visit www.noviflow.com. Follow NoviFlow on Twitter (News - Alert) @NoviFlowInc. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160614005989/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [June 14, 2016] Universal "Snap" Packages Launch on Multiple Linux Distros Developers from multiple Linux distributions and companies today announced collaboration on the "snap" universal Linux package format, enabling a single binary package to work perfectly and securely on any Linux desktop, server, cloud or device. This community is working at snapcraft.io to provide a single publication mechanism for any software in any Linux environment. This release quotes Dell, Samsung (News - Alert), the Linux Foundation, The Document Foundation, Krita, Mycroft, Horizon Computing, contributors to Arch, Debian, OpenWrt, Ubuntu, and several of their related distributions. Snaps now work natively on Arch, Debian, Fedora, Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Ubuntu (News - Alert) GNOME, Ubuntu Kylin, Ubuntu MATE, Ubuntu Unity, and Xubuntu. They are currently being validated on CentOS, Elementary, Gentoo, Mint, OpenSUSE, OpenWrt and RHEL, and are easy to enable on other Linux distributions. Together, these distributions represent the vast majority of common Linux usage on the desktop, server and cloud. A snap package is easy to create and offers significant security benefits, greatly simplifying third-party Linux app distribution. ISVs benefit from an efficient way to deliver Linux software everywhere The universal snap format has been welcomed by Linux application vendors. It is a tremendous simplification to publish a snap rather than manage diverse package formats and security update mechanisms across many Linux distributions. "We strive to offer users a great experience and make Firefox available across many platforms, devices and operating systems. With the introduction of snaps, continually optimizing Firefox will become possible, providing Linux users the most up-to-date features," said Nick Nguyen, Vice President of Product, Firefox at Mozilla (News - Alert). "Maintaining .deb packages in a private repository was complex and time consuming, snaps are much easier to maintain, package and distribute. Putting the snap in the store was particularly simple, this is the most streamlined app store I have published software in," said Boudewijn Rempt, project lead at the Krita Foundation. Krita 3.0 has just been released as a snap which will be updated automatically as newer versions become available. IoT gateways and smart edge devices benefit from secure updates Snaps are isolated from one another to guarantee data security, and can be updated or rolled back automatically, making them perfect for connected devices. Multiple vendors have launched snappy IoT devices, enabling a new class of "smart edge" device with IoT app store. Snappy devices receive automatic updates for the base OS, together with updates to the apps installed on the device. "The IoT market is very diverse, it's often complex and expensive for device makers to build their full software stack," said Curtis Sasaki, VP of Ecosystems and IOT General Manager at Samsung Strategy and Innovation Center (SSIC). "That's why developers creating new products based on Samsung ARTIK modules want the ability to leverage an ecosystem of snaps to accelerate their product lifecycle, and why we are excited to have snaps running on ARTIK." "We believe snaps address the security risks and manageability challenges associated with deploying and running multiple third party applications on a single IoT Gateway (News - Alert)," said Jason Shepherd, Director, IoT Strategy and Partnerships, Dell. "This trusted and universal app format is essential for Dell, our IoT Solutions Partners and commercial cusomers to build a scalable, IT-ready, and vibrant ecosystem of IoT applications." "Publishing Mycroft as a snap is a great way to make our technology available across multiple Linux distributions. The ability to update and better secure the software over time is an added bonus. Our decision to snap up Mycroft will reduce the number of package formats we need to support over the long haul, that frees our developers to focus on new features," said Joshua Montgomery CEO Mycroft AI which is using snaps for a voice-controlled smart-home IoT device. Easy desktop integration Snaps are richly integrated through a set of declared interfaces that provide file sharing, device sharing or other services, balancing security with ease of use. "Our FreeCAD snap has full access to OpenGL and other core services from the desktop environment," said Jean-Marie Verdun of Horizon Computing, the leading provider of open hardware consulting and equipment in Europe. "Snap interfaces provide secure and easy integration between apps and the system, an elegant solution to the most common problem with containerised apps." Server and cloud apps Snaps also provide easy distribution for cloud and server applications. Installing Jenkins, for example, becomes a single-command exercise on any distribution with snaps. Many cloud and web applications make daily or weekly releases. Snaps enable vendors to move at the speed of the web, while targeting the stable distributions that are popular with their users. Complementary to existing Linux packages Snaps sit alongside the native packages of the base Linux operating system. Each distribution has its own mechanisms to provide the base OS and its updates. Snaps complement the base OS with universal apps that cannot interfere with the base OS or one another. "Snaps deliver new applications to OpenWRT while leaving the core OS unchanged," said Matteo Croce of OpenWrt. "Snaps are a faster way to deliver a wider range of software to supported OpenWrt access points and routers." Enhanced security for apps and devices Each snap is confined using a range of kernel isolation and security mechanisms, tailored to the snap, ensuring that vulnerabilities in the application are contained to the greatest degree currently possible. A careful review process ensures that snaps only receive the permissions they require to operate. Users do not have to make complex security decisions when installing the snap. "Security is particularly important when running third-party software," said Steve Langasek, a Debian developer. "Snaps meet that challenge with robust confinement, neatly addressing many of the risks of apps in sensitive environments." Simpler and easier to create The snap format is simpler than the native internal package formats of individual Linux distributions, because it is focused purely on applications rather than the core system itself. Snaps are essentially self-contained zip files that can be executed very fast in place, making them easy to create. "Snaps are much easier to create than traditional Linux packages, and allow us to evolve dependencies independent of the base operating system, so we can easily provide the very best and latest Chinese Linux apps to users across all distributions," said Jack Yu, leader of the popular Chinese Kylin team. Automatic updates Updated snaps are delivered automatically, improving the flow of features and fixes as well as the feedback cycle both for commercial applications and for open source applications. Thorsten Behrens, founder and board member of The Document Foundation said: "Our objective is to make LibreOffice easily available to as many users as possible. Snaps enable our users to get the freshest LibreOffice releases across different desktops and distributions quickly, easily and consistently. As a bonus, it should help our release engineers to distribute a more up-to-date LibreOffice that is not based on a bespoke, home-grown and ancient Linux build solution, using a toolchain that is collectively maintained." "Ubuntu MATE is delighted to be participating in the snappy initiative, with a goal of eventually snapping the complete MATE desktop. Collaborating with Ubuntu developers and other community contributors is a great way to share experiences and best practice," said Martin Wimpress project lead of Ubuntu MATE. Stable, candidate, beta and daily versions Stable releases, release candidates, beta versions and daily builds of a snap can all be published at the same time, enabling users to preview upcoming releases with different levels of stability. "Rolling updates are popular in the Arch community," said Tim Jester-Pfadt, an Arch contributor. "One nice feature of snaps is support for edge and beta channels, which allow users to opt-in to the pre-release developer versions of software or stick with the latest stable versions." The beta or edge channels, and the candidate channel, provide a very natural way for developers and their pro users to collaborate on development progress, improving quality and accelerating the pace of releases. A shared app ecosystem "Most vendors target Ubuntu because of its popularity," said Mark Shuttleworth. "Snaps bring those apps to every Linux desktop, server, device or cloud machine, giving users freedom to choose any Linux distribution while retaining access to the best apps." The snap format, designed by Canonical, is handled by snapd, a free software project on Github. Porting snapd to a wide range of Linux distributions has proven straightforward, and the community has grown to include contributors from a wide range of Linux backgrounds. Free software on Github The snapcore team drives development of the project and includes developers with a wide range of interests, from IoT to cloud infrastructure, mobile phone and end-user desktop applications. Snap packages are easily created with the snapcraft tool. The home of the project is snapcraft.io which includes a tour and step-by-step guides to snap creation, along with documentation for users and contributors to the project. Snaps can be built from existing distribution packages, but are more commonly built from source for optimization and size efficiency. About Canonical Canonical is the company behind Ubuntu, the leading OS for container, cloud, scale-out and hyperscale computing. 65% of large-scale OpenStack deployments are on Ubuntu, using both KVM and the pure-container LXD hypervisor for the world's fastest private clouds. Canonical provides enterprise support and services for commercial users of Ubuntu. Canonical leads the development of Juju, the model-driven operations system, and MAAS (Metal-as-a-Service), which creates a physical server cloud and IPAM for amazing data centre operational efficiency. Canonical is a privately held company. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160614006134/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, today (Tuesday, 14 June 2016), in Jerusalem, met with ambassadors from NATO member states and told them at the start of the meeting: "Thank you to all of the ambassadors representing the NATO countries that are here today. I look forward to this opportunity to discuss our common interests, based on our common values. I want to thank NATO for inviting Israel to open an office in your headquarters in Brussels. I called Secretary General Stoltenberg immediately to express my appreciation and I want to inform you that we\re in the process of opening the office as soon as possible. We attach great importance to that. Israel has much to contribute to NATO. I believe NATO has much to contribute to Israel. We\ve already begun that process, but I think we can extend and increase our cooperation. This meeting obviously comes at a difficult time. Two days ago, a terrorist walked into a nightclub in Orlando and murdered nearly 50 innocent people, men and women. These people were doing nothing wrong. They were dancing with friends and enjoying music with loved ones. The terrorist murdered them because he was driven by intolerance to the LGBT community and driven by hatred for freedom and diversity. Now, days before that, a terrorist walked into a cafe in Tel Aviv and murdered four civilians. They too did nothing wrong. They were drinking coffee and enjoying the celebration of birthdays. Paris, Brussels, London, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Bali, Mumbai, New York, San Bernardino and now Orlando and so many other cities have been struck by the same evil. Terror knows no bounds, and that is why our cooperation in the battle against terrorism must know no bounds as well. One day ISIS kills gays, the next day Yazidis and then Jews and Muslims and Christians. They have no bounds. Terror, the indiscriminate, systematic attack on innocent people, must always be confronted and must always be fought, and that doesnt change. In any case, it doesnt depend on the identity of the victims. It depends on the nature of the act. The act is evil and is perpetrated by people with evil designs, and we, the people of the civilized world, have to band together to defeat it. We stand ready to help NATO in this collective struggle. We are prepared to share our intelligence and our experience to help in this common effort. Now, in three weeks you\re going to have an important summit in Warsaw and I believe the combat against global terrorism has to be, should be and probably is already a central part of your agenda. Know that Israel stands ready to advance that agenda, and I have no doubt that if we work together, we can roll back this terror, and I have no doubt that we can defeat ISIS. I think it can be defeated. I think with the right amount of international cooperation across the widest spectrum, this goal can be achieved, and I think that if we work together we\ll achieve it faster and we\ll defeat ISIS and terrorism faster." Danish Ambassador to Israel Jesper Vahr said: "Mr. Prime Minister, It is a great honor for me as NATO Contact Point Israel to welcome you here at the King David. Ambassadors of NATO countries are very grateful that you have given priority to meeting us for discussion of security issues that affect both NATO and Israel. And one of those issues is of course the scourge of terrorism. Again last week it showed its ugly head in Israel robbing four innocent people of their lives and injuring many more. Allow me, Mr. Prime Minister, on behalf of the whole NATO family to again condemn in the strongest terms these acts of terrorism. There is no justification for terrorism. Period. And that is true whether it happens in Paris, which again last night was the scene of a despicable act of terror, in Tel Aviv or in Orlando. And if I may address our US colleague for a moment, we all share your grief and your outrage at the horrific massacre in Orlando. Memorial Day Celebration 2016 Mattoon Illinois I am a resident of Mattoon, IL since 1979. Never went to see the Memorial Day celebration in the past. I saw in the Journal Gazette newspaper that they have a Memorial wall for the fallen Vietnam veterans in the Peterson Park and the veterans from Vietnam will be honored this ear. It will be from 11 to 11:45 a.m. on Memorial Day. I wanted to go see it because I worked for the veterans as their Physician for almost 10 years in the local VA clinic. I got to know them very well. So I thought I will go and pay my respects to the fallen soldiers who fought in Vietnam. I was there at 10:45 all ready. I am not sure what I expected. This is what I saw. I met some of my old patients (since I am retired) from the VA clinic and private practice. That made me feel happy. There were about 50 people; moms with small children and some veterans. I did not see any government officials and no senator or congressmen but there were lots of cops and ambulance I am not sure why. Did they expect a fight or riot? This is election year !!!! Then about 11 a.m. few veterans carrying guns walked over and stood in front of the memorial wall. If I remember correct there were 6 or 8. One of the veterans read names of fallen soldiers in Vietnam, whose name was not on the wall. Then there was gun salute. Them they had the bugle ceremony honoring the fallen soldiers. I was very disappointed no one from the crowd thanked the veterans officially and openly. I would have done a public thanks but I was not sure if I can do that. I checked how the ceremony was done in other communities on the web site after I came home. I found Chicago had a parade. Effingham had one of the officials speaking and thanking the veterans. The whole ceremony lasted about 20 minutes. I think we should do better to honor the veterans, the ones who had fallen and the ones who are still fighting to protect us and the country. Dr. Shantha Monippallil, Mattoon Five companies involved in building a private student housing project in Lincoln face $115,000 in combined fines for safety hazards at the job site. The U.S. Department of Labors Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced the fines Tuesday following a Dec. 18 inspection at Aspen Heights, a three-building complex set to open this fall at 19th and P streets. OSHA inspectors found construction contractors were jeopardizing the safety and health of workers, some of whom were working five stories up, it said in a news release. East Framing Inc. of Grimesland, North Carolina, was fined $65,450 and South Georgia Framers was fined $33,000, each for four violations including employees setting a truss at heights of 12 feet without fall protection, OSHA said. Also fined were America's Best Siding ($9,100) of Fort Collins, Colorado, and ProCon Construction Services ($3,150). Aspen Heights, the project developer based in Austin, Texas, was fined $4,500. Controlling contractors and subcontractors have a responsibility to protect workers on its construction sites from falls which cause four out of 10 workplace fatalities in the construction industry, said Jeff Funke, OSHAs area director in Omaha. "More tragic than that is the reality that these falls are preventable. Each company has 15 business days to respond. In October, OSHA cited a Missouri drilling contractor for three serious safety violations after a worker was fatally injured at the Lincoln Aspen Heights job site on June 24, 2015. The agency proposed a fine of $14,700 for CBS Pilings Solutions Inc. after Michael Snider, 42, of Sedalia, Missouri, was killed by an 80-foot piece of rebar that fell 130 feet and hit him in the head. Joseph Robert (Bob) Quirk, 91, of Lincoln, passed away on Friday, June 10, 2016. Bob was born in Dunlap, Iowa, to Ralph and Luella (Murphy) and attended St. Joseph's Catholic School. He served in the US Navy during WWII and was honorably discharged in 1946. He graduated from Boyles Business College in Omaha over the year's he owned "Bob's Pastime" Bar in Dunlap, Iowa; worked in construction and was also an over the road truck driver for more than 35 years. He was a member of the Western & Central States Union; American Legion; VFW; Armed Guard (Navy); Knights of Columbus (4th Degree); and an usher at Cathedral of the Risen Christ Church where he was very well known for handing out tootsie rolls to children and adults. Bob married Loraine Ruth Hinrichs (the love of his life) in February, 1951. They were happily married for 65 years and raised nine children: Rickie, Joe (deceased), Kate, Jim, Nancy, Tim, Susie, John and Lori. He also had 14 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren; many nieces and nephews and friends. Rosary services will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 14, at the Cathedral of the Risen Christ Church, 3500 Sheridan Blvd. Lincoln. Memorial service will be 10 a.m. Wednesday, June 15, at the church. Inurnment to be in Dunlap, Iowa, on Thursday, June 16. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Cathedral of the Risen Christ in Bob's name. Condolences: lincolnfh.com. While the search continued Tuesday morning for prison escapee Timothy Clausen, state prison officials said staff at the Nebraska Correctional Youth Facility in Omaha stopped an attempted escape by an inmate there. A unit caseworker failed to do a proper head count, which allowed the inmate to hide in a commons area until he was found by another staff member, according to a news release from the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services. "The inmate never left his assigned housing unit, never came close to approaching the facility perimeter and the public was never in any immediate danger," the release said. "Anytime, however, an inmate is not under the positive control of NDCS staff, the potential for danger, to staff or the public, exists and is not acceptable." This comes a day after state Corrections Director Scott Frakes and Gov. Pete Ricketts promised to investigate how Clausen and Armon Dixon escaped from the Lincoln Correctional Center Friday morning. Dixon was caught in Lincoln Saturday afternoon; Clausen is believed to be in the Omaha area. Prison officials would not identify the inmate who was hiding at the maximum, medium and minimum-security Omaha prison for offenders from early adolescence to 21 but said the incident will be investigated. "Our mission is to keep people safe, Frakes said in Tuesday's news release. That starts with following security procedures to the letter and never cutting corners. The responsibility we carry is too great for there to be any other option. "It should not take incidents like the recent LCC escapes and this to remind our employees how important their work is. Failure to adhere to basic security practices will not be tolerated and it will end now. On Monday, Frakes said failure to follow security procedure at LCC allowed Dixon and Clausen to leave the prison near Pioneers Park in the back of a laundry truck. Before he was spotted when he popped out of a manhole cover near 49th and Francis streets Saturday afternoon, Dixon is believed to have attacked a mother and daughter in northeast Lincoln. The mother remained hospitalized Monday. The search for Clausen is still centered on northeast Omaha, according to the Nebraska State Patrol. We are confident Clausen remains in Omaha and continue to pursue any and all leads as we work to take him into custody, Col. Brad Rice, superintendent of the State Patrol, said in a news release. Clausen is considered dangerous and people should remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity or sightings of Clausen to 911. Clausen, 52, is an African-American male, 5-foot-8, 160 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. He has no distinguishing marks or tattoos and could be wearing his hair in cornrows or pulled back. Late Tuesday, the U.S. Marshal's Service offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to his capture. In addition to calling 911, people should call 877-926-8332 or 800-336-0102 to talk with a representative with the Marshal's Service. Omaha Crime Stoppers has offered a $2,500 reward; call 402-444-7876. Call 402-475-3600 in Lincoln or 800-422-1494. Tips or information may be called into the patrol's Highway Helpline at *55 from any cellphone. On Saturday night, police arrested Wanda Minor, 50, in Omaha on suspicion of helping Clausen get from Lincoln to Omaha. The worst mass shooting in U.S. history certainly deserves to be called an act of terror. Shooter Omar Mateen, 29, who killed 49 people at the gay night club Pulse in Orlando, Florida, claimed allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a 911 call to police. The brutal regime has a proven appeal to unstable individuals craving for the feeling of power or searching for a sense of purpose. The massacre in Orlando, however, also shares characteristics of previous massacres in America by unbalanced individuals who had no connection to radical Islam. Before Sunday the deadliest mass shooting, for example, came in 2007 when Seung Hui Cho, who had a history of mental health problems, gunned down 32 students and professors at Virginia Tech University. And the deadliest since then came at the Sandy Hook Elementary School when Adam Lanza, who had mental health issues, shot 20 children ages 6 and 7, and six adults. Mass shootings have become so commonplace in the United States that it takes a new level of horror to touch off an exchange of talking points about gun control. In the wake of the Orlando shooting a new talking point emerged that the National Rifle Association has been so successful in weakening gun laws that it was created a perfect hunting ground for a home-grown, lone wolf terrorist like Mateen. Thanks NRA, the New York Post said in a front page shared widely on social media. Mateen, who was born in New York, had an associate of science degree in criminal justice technology from a college in Florida. A licensed security guard, he bought the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and handgun he used just days before the attack. Mateens first wife, Sitora Yusufiy, said that he beat her and had fits of rage in which he would express hate toward everything. A co-worker at his security firm said Mateen had anger management issues; the things that always set him off were women, race and religion. Mateen apparently targeted Pulse as a symbol of Western decadence. It was heartwarming in the aftermath of the shooting that Americans stepped forward in solidarity with the victims. Equality Florida, the largest LGBT group in the state, collected more than $1 million for the victims within hours. So many people volunteered to give blood for survivors on Sunday that authorities asked them to stop. Thats an appropriate and worthwhile response to the slaughter in Orlando. If Americans can stay united in their commitment to freedom for all in the face of random violence, the terrorists lose. Did everyone attend the Shrine Bowl parade and game on June 4? Oh, I forgot Chris Beutler and his friends got rid of that event in Lincoln. Well, we have the state fair to look forward to in August. Again, I forgot that it was chased out of Lincoln and our mayor and council did not put up a fight to keep it. Well, for darn sure, we have the Holiday parade the first week in December and that is always great and drew 75,000 people. Oh, again, I forgot that we also can't have that anymore because people of Lincoln enjoyed it. Thanks again Chris and council for getting rid of that. What we have is a city that wants to take away things that people have enjoyed for years. Events that brought many tourists to Lincoln who spent money in may local business used to be commonplace but not anymore. Now, they want to close the pools ("Beutler administration defends surveys role in budget process," June 4). Tell me who the hell voted for Beutler and what were you thinking? Be careful, next he will come after one of your favorite things and get rid of it. Roger Yant, Lincoln Gijsbert Hanekroot/RedfernsThe trial to decide whether Led Zeppelin's members partly copied the 1968 Spirit tune "Taurus" when they wrote their classic song "Stairway to Heaven" is scheduled to begin this morning in Los Angeles. Attorneys for late Spirit frontman Randy California's estate will seek to prove that Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page and Robert Plant used elements of "Taurus" in their famous rock anthem without crediting California. A judge on Monday struck down a pair of motions from the plaintiff side to exclude Zeppelin's music expert from testifying and to reconsider a summary judgment order reducing any recoverable damages by 50 percent, according to The Hollywood Reporter. ABC Radio spoke recently with Dr. E. Michael Harrington, an music-copyright expert and chairman of the music business program at Nashville's SAE Institute, who says he doesn't see a whole lotta merit in the suit. "It is a very silly lawsuit, 'cause the judge doesn't know music well, or maybe this hasn't been presented to him well," he maintains. "There shouldn't be a lawsuit in this at all." Harrington says that the similar aspects that exist in the two songs -- including the use of a descending chromatic scale -- have commonly appeared in musical pieces for hundreds of years. He suggests that because of this, "Stairway to Heaven" should not be considered derivative of "Taurus." "[C]opyright law is about original works of authorship and original expression," Harrington points out. "[T]here's nothing original about something that dates back to the [1500s] and 1400s, you know? So, this didn't begin with Spirit." Harrington also maintains that the segment of "Taurus" that is similar to "Stairway to Heaven" still features noteworthy differences. Much of of the harmony involved is different, he stresses, adding, "There's no lyrics, there's nothing here. This is really as stupid as anything." Harrington adds that if Led Zeppelin loses the case, it would continue what he considers an alarming trend that includes the lawsuit that Marvin Gaye's family won against Robin Thicke that involved the pop star's dance hit "Blurred Lines." Copyright 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Law enforcement and social service agencies are preparing a major push to clamp down on human trafficking in Nebraska, but advocates say the state should do more for survivors who are likely to require housing, specialized counseling and medical care. The new approach championed by Attorney General Doug Peterson focuses on helping survivors, stopping traffickers and shrinking the market by going after customers instead of victims who are coerced into working as prostitutes. A state task force is developing a plan, and Peterson is considering legislation next year to increase criminal penalties for traffickers. Advocates are starting with a focus on sex trafficking, where victims usually women and children are forced into prostitution. They eventually plan to expand their efforts into labor trafficking, a form of modern-day slavery in which people are made to work through violence, threats or debt bondage. "It's really important that we get out and start prosecuting these guys and getting services to the young ladies" who are sexually trafficked, Peterson said. "We have to let this industry know that to operate in Nebraska, you're going to place yourself at great risk." Yet Peterson and other advocates acknowledge major changes will take time, largely because Nebraska has a shortage of services that are tailored to sex trafficking victims. The Women's Fund of Omaha conducted a survey last year that found 84 percent of "service providers," including nonprofits and state agencies, did not believe they were adequately meeting the needs of people who have been trafficked. Survivors often need an array of services including housing, education and life skills training and "peer mentoring" from others who have similar experiences, said Meghan Malik, the group's trafficking response coordinator. Many have criminal records because they were forced to participate in illegal activity, making it harder for them to find a job. Without a support system, Malik said, many will return to prostitution because it's a way to make money. "It's the life they know, and they have to put a roof over their heads and feed their children," Malik said. "It's really on us as a community and service providers to ensure we're providing a comprehensive array of services. We're making progress, but we still have a long way to go." Stephen Patrick O'Meara, the human trafficking coordinator for the Nebraska attorney general's office, said the state is working to improve services for survivors. Survivors frequently suffer from mental health and substance abuse problems, as well as developmental disabilities that impair their judgment. Many experience post-traumatic stress disorder, have no place safe to go, and may believe their pimp is caring for them. Some foreign trafficking victims speak no English. O'Meara said authorities will pursue serious charges against traffickers to prevent them from creating new victims, but they also must help victims avoid falling into the same pattern. He said they're also working to dispel the notion that trafficking isn't a state problem. "I'm beginning to see a significant shift in awareness," said O'Meara, a former federal prosecutor who has worked on human trafficking issues since 2007. "But we're not there yet. There are still a lot of people out there who don't believe or don't want to believe that something like this could happen in a good place like Nebraska." The human trafficking task force is building a statewide network of law enforcement, prosecutors, social service agencies, doctors and nurses, and industries that are more likely to encounter prostitutes, such as motels and trucking. The task force now has caseworkers in Omaha, Grand Island and North Platte who are training others to recognize signs of human trafficking, said Alicia Webber, program manager for the Salvation Army's anti-human trafficking initiative. The initiative began in October in partnership with the Nebraska attorney general's office. Nebraska has seen a handful of high-profile human trafficking cases, but tracking specific numbers has proven difficult because many are prosecuted as prostitution or child sexual assault cases, which carry harsher penalties. O'Meara said a recent study found more than 1,850 people in Nebraska who were likely engaging in prostitution between November and May, and he suspects many were sex trafficking victims. In 2014, Adrien Jamaal Cole of Omaha was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for sex trafficking in Nebraska and Iowa. In 2010, authorities disrupted a three-year prostitution ring in Omaha and Council Bluffs that preyed on women and teenage girls. The Nebraska task force's work includes a heavy focus on training. Instead of immediately arresting women who are caught in prostitution stings, law enforcement officers are being taught to look for signs that they are trafficking victims. Minors are automatically treated as trafficking victims. "The picture has completely changed," Peterson said. "A 16-year-old girl typically doesn't get into prostitution by herself. Someone is most likely profiting significantly off of her." Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks of Lincoln is working with the attorney general's office on legislation to increase criminal penalties for human traffickers and customers. This year, the Legislature approved a bill she introduced providing legal immunity to adult sex trafficking victims who are caught working as prostitutes. Nebraska already grants immunity to juvenile victims. Pansing Brooks said most prostitutes have been trafficking victims at some point, and the state is only now starting to treat them differently. "It's a huge sea change," she said. OMAHA Lil Wayne is in stable condition in Omaha after suffering what his publicist described Tuesday as two minor seizures. TMZ has reported that the Grammy-winning rapper's private jet was forced to make two emergency landings at an Omaha airport Monday afternoon and that he was taken to a hospital. Derek Sherron, publicity director of The Chamber Group, said Lil Wayne was under the care of his own doctors and was in good spirits. "He thanks his fans for their everlasting support, prayers and well wishes," Sherron said. Several reports said the 33-year-old New Orleans native was taken to Creighton University Medical Center. A hospital spokeswoman declined to comment Tuesday. In March 2013, Lil Wayne was hospitalized in Los Angeles for seizures. He told a Los Angeles radio station that he's an epileptic. In October 2012, he was hospitalized in New York for what was described as a severe migraine and dehydration. WELLFLEET Authorities say an Oklahoma woman has been killed in a motor home crash in western Nebraska that also injured her husband and two grandsons. The accident occurred Monday on U.S. Highway 83 near the Lincoln County village of Wellfleet. The Nebraska State Patrol said the motor home went out of control and rolled after a front tire blew out. The woman was trapped under the vehicle. She was identified as 64-year-old Brenda Evans, of Choctaw, Oklahoma. Her husband, 65-year-old Ronald Evans, was hospitalized, as were her grandsons, ages 14 and 16. Runners young and old kicked off their Memorial Day weekend participating in Hop, SCIP, Jump and Run, an annual fundraiser benefiting the School Community Intervention & Prevention (SCIP), a program of Lincoln Medical Education Partnership. SCIP works with schools throughout Nebraska by providing tools and resources to address behavioral health issues that impact children, adolescents and their families. This years event, held May 28 at Haymarket Park, included a 1-mile Fun Run and a 5k race. Before and after the fun run and race, participants visited booths from sponsors and local non-profit organizations in order to be entered into a drawing for prizes donated by businesses. Riley Boonstra, who will be a 5th grader at Norris Public Schools this fall, was the winner of the 1-mile fun run. Danielle Simmons, a flight attendant from Georgia on layover in Lincoln, was the winner of the 5k race. A public informational meeting was held June 1 in Ogallala regarding the Lake McConaughy/Lake Ogallala Master Plan, which is being developed. The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission hosted the meeting, which included a short presentation of goals and objectives created by the advisory committee, and a question-and-answer session in which public comment was recorded. The advisory committee overseeing the planning process is made up of Commission parks, fisheries, wildlife and law enforcement personnel, as well as concessionaires operating at McConaughy, landowners, and economic development personnel from the Keith County and the City of Ogallala. The plan will review the operations of Lake McConaughy and Lake Ogallala and look for ways to promote the surrounding area to its 1 million-plus annual visitors. It also will evaluate best management practices for giving visitors a unique, pleasurable experience that will bring them back again. For more information about the plan, contact Craig Wacker, recreation planner for the Commission, at craig.wacker@nebraska.gov or 402-471-5424. BURLINGTON For more than two decades, Alan Babe has been a volunteer firefighter, holding down a full-time, 40-hour-plus-a-week job and keeping the Town of Raymond safe after hours. Now that he will oversee firefighting operations for the City of Burlington, hes understandably excited. Burlington named Babe, a 21-year veteran from the Raymond Fire and Rescue Department, its next full-time fire chief in a release sent out Tuesday morning. The decision came after a two-month search and selection process initiated by embattled former Chief Perry Howards resignation on Dec. 22. Im looking forward to having 40 hours a week to put forth my own ideas and efforts, Babe said. I definitely have a passion for it and its a challenge and opportunity that I welcome. Burlington Police and Fire Commission President Joe Busch said that all six candidates considered had strong qualifications and that Babe tested well in all areas of the job. Hes highly respected in the fire service community, he said. He did well in every facet. Babes extensive experience in Raymonds volunteer department, where he worked his way up to chief from firefighter, made him an especially qualified candidate for Burlington. Burlingtons department has four full-time employees three engineers and a fire inspector and 47 volunteer members. (He has) lots of experience with volunteer departments, which I think is an asset, Busch said. Bridging differences The Burlington Rescue Squad, a separate all-volunteer entity providing emergency medical service to the city and Town of Burlington, has had tensions with the Fire Department as recently as the fall. The tensions heated up after Howard, a former career firefighter in Arlington Heights, Ill., was hired in 2013 as the citys first full-time chief and when fire crews began responding to EMS calls. Burlington Mayor Jeannie Hefty, a member of the rescue squad, said hiring a fire chief who will work well with all of the citys volunteer first responders was paramount. We wanted everything to be right and have this leader now take our city fire to different heights and have everyone working together, she said. Babe, for his part, says he wants to focus on moving the department past previous tensions. I dont want to look backward, he said. I know that Acting Chief Mark Strasser has done an excellent job mending those fences. Babe added that he has the utmost respect for Rescue Squad Chief Brian Zwiebel and Town of Burlington Fire Chief Ed Umnus. Were going to work our very best to provide the very best possible service to the residents of the City of Burlington and the Town of Burlington and our surrounding communities when asked, Babe said. Babe, who will leave his full-time job with automotive paint distributor Single Source Inc., is scheduled to be sworn in at the June 21 City Council meeting. He said his first day on the job will be July 5. This has presented itself as a great opportunity, I feel very fortunate and blessed to be the new fire chief in the city of Burlington, he said. Im eager to get going. WHEATLAND The author of the law at the center of a current sex offender placement controversy says he disagrees with how it was applied, putting him at odds with a state agency and judge involved in the case. State Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, said the intent of Act 156 was to ensure sex offenders remain in their home counties. But the state Department of Health Services has proposed placing Michael L. McGee, a Racine County sex offender, in the Town of Wheatland in western Kenosha County, sparking an outcry from residents and officials there. Judge Allan Pat Torhorst sided with the DHS in ruling that McGee could be placed in Wheatland, a decision that is on hold as Kenosha County appeals. Wanggaard said DHS has not communicated well with local officials and Torhorst let us down because he really didnt look at the spirit of the law. This just didnt make any sense with how this thing happened, Wanggaard said. DHS officials have said that while the law was supposed to make it easier to place sex offenders, that hasnt been the case. Angela Serwa, a supervised release specialist with the department, testified last month that hundreds of homes were searched in Racine and Kenosha County and the DHS has not identified one (housing location) that would allow us to place an individual on supervised release in Racine County. Changes ahead? Act 156, which went into effect March 1, states a sex offenders placement should ensure the offender is in a residence that is not less than 1,500 feet from any school premises, child care facility, public park, place of worship or youth center. It was enacted in large part to provide uniform regulations on where sex offenders can live, instead of a patchwork of local ordinances. State Rep. Tyler August, who represents the Town of Wheatland as well as a small portion of the Town of Burlington, said he would consider changes to the law when legislators come back into session next year, including how adjacent property owners are notified. I know the legislative intent of the bill because I voted for it and I know why I voted for it, and it was to keep things like this from happening, said August, R-Lake Geneva. As far as future legislation goes when it comes to in-county vs. out-of-county, apparently we need to do some clarification because were going to have judges ignoring it, said August. The issue, though, extends well beyond Torhorsts ruling. Officials say about 28 convicted sex offenders are waiting to be released, and in almost every case, the holdup is because suitable housing hasnt been found. McGees attorney has said the confinement of his client after he was granted release is unconstitutional. The challenge of finding suitable housing for sex offenders is not unique to Racine County, a DHS spokeswoman said. In many regions of the state, especially urban and suburban areas, a limited number of residences meet all the legal requirements for a release. And when the state finds a home, it must find someone willing to rent to it, which many view as risky given public outcry and other pressures, DHS spokeswoman Jennifer Miller said. Still, the DHS maintains supervised release is a safer alternative than a direct discharge, Miller said. In that case, sex offenders are essentially homeless, which advocates say puts the public at greater risk. Theyre difficult situations. Clearly, the constitution requires that these guys be released, said Todd Terry, an attorney representing the Town of Wheatland in its efforts to keep McGee out of the community. Asked about changing the law, Terry said legislators could look at altering how DHS reports information and shift more of the responsibility to the courts. I dont necessarily think DHS should be left with the ability to interpret, Terry said. They should report facts to the court ... and let the court interpret and apply the law to the facts, as opposed to DHS just doing it. McGee in limbo McGee was convicted in 1987 of raping a 26-year-old woman during a burglary. He was declared a sexually violent person and committed to Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Center in Mauston in 2004. The Wisconsin Court of Appeals put McGees placement at 32200 Geneva Road (Highway 50) on hold while Kenosha County appeals. The state has until June 15 to respond. RACINE A Racine man who allegedly trashed a beauty salon while apparently intoxicated on liquor and prescription medication faces charges of burglary and criminal damage to property. Brett A. Johnson, 51, of the 3000 block of Washington Ave., appeared in Racine County Circuit Court Monday facing a felony charge of burglary and misdemeanor criminal damage to property. According to the criminal complaint, Johnson apparently broke into Angels Beauty Salon, 2221 Durand Ave., Mount Pleasant, sometime between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. May 24 by kicking in the back door. A security camera system captured Johnson outside and inside the building, the complaint said. Video footage reviewed by Mount Pleasant Police revealed a person later identified as Johnson stumble into the salon, break numerous items, steal more than 20 items, and urinate in the basement, the complaint said. Johnson appeared intoxicated in the footage, the complaint said, and at one point falls over. He also reportedly broke a glass table with the cash register, the complaint said. Police also found beer at the scene, the complaint said. Surveillance footage from a nearby convenient store showed Johnson buying the beer, the complaint said. Police found Johnson at Wheaton Franciscan-All Saints Hospital, where he was being treated for overdosing on vodka and prescription medication, the complaint said. Johnson was in the Racine County Jail Monday, jail records showed. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for June 23, court records indicate. SOMERS The University of Wisconsin-Parkside Department of Continuing Education is offering fun learning opportunities this summer, including camps for young scientists, blossoming artists, technology geeks, avid readers and more. Camps are led by UW-Parkside faculty members and qualified instructors. Camps offered include: Young Rembrandts Pastel Workshop: Ocean Life, 9 a.m.-noon June 20-24 in the Student Center. Students ages 6-12 will explore ocean scenes and discover the creatures of the deep. Each day of class will focus on a different ocean-themed subject while introducing students to the art of working with pastels. The cost to attend is $155. Youth Technology Camps App Camp, 8:30 a.m.-noon July 11-15 in the Student Center. For students entering grades six through eight. Attendees in this camp will design their own mobile apps and discover how science and creativity come together in the process. Cost to attend is $269. Robotics Camp, 1-4:30 p.m. July 11-15 in the Student Center. For students entering grades six through eight. Students will use teamwork, creative thinking, and technological engineering to work on Sphero and Lego Mindstorm robots. While creating high-tech robots, students will implement critical thinking skills. The cost to attend is $269. Environmental Explorers Youth Camp, 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Aug. 8-12 in the Student Center. Students will explore nature, learn how to use scientific tools, and discover the wildlife of southeastern Wisconsin. Students will have the opportunity to learn how to conserve and protect the planet through investigation, examination, quality control, and more. Visit the event website for a detailed list of what attendees should and should not bring to this camp: https://uwp.edu/learn/continuingeducation/youthprograms.cfm. The cost to attend is $299. Youth Mindfulness Camp, 9 a.m.-noon Aug. 15-17 in Tallent Hall Room 201. For students entering grades one through five. Through learning self-regulation skills with exercises such as breathing routines and yoga, students will discover a more blissful, less stressful life. The cost to attend is $149 which includes snacks. MOUNT PLEASANT An ex-village employee took to a public forum Monday to blast Mount Pleasant Village Administrator Kurt Wahlen over a variety of questionable practices, claims Wahlen denied. Jillian Schumacher was employed as a payroll coordinator from April 2015 to May 2016, when she was fired, she said. During Mondays Village Board meeting, Schumacher referred to herself as a whistleblower and charged she was dismissed for pointing out payroll inconsistencies, preferential treatment and benefits for certain employees and an incoherent application of rules and procedures which should be uniform and fair. Wahlen said he could not comment on Schumachers dismissal because it is a personnel matter, but said we emphatically deny all of her claims and that the village has attorneys involved. Wages, other issues raised Among Schumachers claims: that staff pay is arbitrarily negotiated on a personal basis, rather than as a uniform policy; raises are arbitrarily awarded or withheld; some salaried staff are allotted comp time while others must use vacation time; and that at one point $2 million or more sat in the village offices waiting to be deposited. Wahlen, who was not at Mondays meeting, responded Tuesday that some employees were given raises based on a study that showed they were paid below market rate. He denied the $2 million claim, adding that audits have never shown any mishandling of money, and he said salaried staff cannot accumulate comp time like hourly employees. He also denied another of Schumachers claims, that village fees are waived for certain residents and not others. He said he did not know what she was referring to; Schumacher could not be reached for further comment on Tuesday. Responding to a final criticism over paying village employees their regular rate while they work at the polls on Election Day instead of the poll worker rate, which is less than half of their wage Wahlen said it is standard to pay workers their normal wages while performing other duties. The employees were paid the poll worker wage after their normal hours, he said. Schumacher said after bringing the poll worker issue up to Wahlen, he became angry and hostile towards me. He threatened to dock my rate of pay, saying he could do it if he wanted. Schumacher made her comments during the public comment portion of the Village Board meeting Monday at Village Hall, 8811 Campus Drive. I have not come here this evening out of revenge, but to make an offer to this board of a continued dialogue, she said. Village President Jerry Garski said he had been unaware of the issues Schumacher raised until the meeting. Were going to look into that, Garski said. The criticism came as the board has raised questions over Wahlens contract, which expired May 13. Since Aprils municipal election, the board has a new majority in control that has generally been opposed to the current administration. Wahlen on Tuesday declined to comment on his future with the village. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) in Montgomery, AL reports that white supremacist hate groups in the United States grew from 149 in 2008 to a high of 1,360 by 2012. The number of violent acts committed by these groups since Sept. 11, 2001, has been comparable to the number perpetrated by Jihadists, including the attack on our own Sikh temple, nine African Americans gathered in their church for Bible Study in Charleston, and two Arkansas policemen killed by "Sovereign Citizens." SPLC also reports an increase in violence against LGBT persons, especially women, committed primarily by white, right-wing Christians extremists. Many of these incidents do not make the national news. What will Donald Trump do about these violent white American citizens to make us safe? Deport them all? Does his blaming all Muslims for the acts of a few make all white citizens guilty of Sandy Hook, Oklahoma City and Columbine? Here's the question we should be asking why was Omar Mateen or any other person allowed to legally buy military assault weapons? Why don't politicians have the courage to stand up against the National Rifle Association (NRA)? When have these weapons been used by civilians for self defense? They are weapons of aggression and have often been used in mass murders. They need to be banned. Hitler came to power by blaming Germany's problems on Jews. When people woke up, it was too late. Please don't let that happen here. Racist inflammatory language has no place in our White House. Connie Hohlfeld Molbeck Caledonia 14,000 quake-displaced in Dolakha lodge complaints Around 14,000 earthquake survivors in Dolakha district have decided to lodge complaints at the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA), saying that they had been left out of the housing reconstruction aid list complied by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). 7 Chand Maoist cadres held on arson charge Police have arrested seven cadres of the Netra Bikram Chand-led CPN Maoist in connection with the attacks at Ncells base stations in several districts. 8,000 households enrol in govt scheme A total of 800 households, with around 4,000 members, have been enrolled in the government health insurance programme since its implementation a month ago. The scheme was introduced with an aim to protect poor and vulnerable people from any exorbitant healthcare cost. After Florida shooting, Trump hardens stance on Muslims Republican Donald Trump on Monday placed responsibility for a mass shooting in Florida squarely at the feet of radical Muslims, who he said were entering the country amidst a flood of refugees and "trying to take over our children." Agitating parties dismiss govt call to hold dialogue The agitating parties have once again dismissed the government call to resume dialogue to resolve the political deadlock, saying that Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli is not serious about addressing their demands. Anti-graft campaigner files complaint seeking CIAA chiefs property details A complaint has been lodged at National Information Commission on Tuesday seeking information regarding property details of Lokman Singh Karkichief of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA). Apple enhances Siri but still trails in artificial intelligence race Apple unveiled a series of improvements to its Siri digital assistant on Thursday, but the tech giant still trails rivals such as Google and Amazon in the red-hot field of artificial intelligence, experts say. Canadian assistance for Bhutanese refugees The Canadian government has announced a contribution of Canadian dollars 250,000 (Rs 21 million approx) to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Nepal to improve the access of Bhutanese refugees to essential services. Constituency dev grants spent on many projects Parliamentarians from Baitadi have been spending the money received under the Constituency Infrastructure Development Special Programme and the Constituency Development Programme in several activities by creating a single project to get around the minimum investment regulation. Dhartiputra to make US film festival rounds Dhartiputra, a short documentary created by 15-year-old director Aditya Khadka, is slated to be screened at two different international film festivals in the United States. Food security monitoring system handed to govt The European Union and the United Nations World Food Programme have handed over a food security monitoring system to the Nepal government. Gurkhas contribution remembered in Malaysia Warriors Association Malaysia (Persatuan Wira Malaysia) on Monday organised an annual programme to commemorate the sacrifice of Gurkha soldiers during the First Emergency of Malaysia from 1948 to 1960 in Malaysia. Human-induced climate change wipes out first mammal species: Study Human-induced climate change appears to have driven the Great Barrier Reefs only endemic mammal species into the history books, according to a report published in The Guardian. Kantipur Road Show reaches Butwal Kantipur Road Show, Kantipur Publications subscription campaign, on Monday reached Butwal in Rupandehi district. Mobile subscriptions outnumber population The number of mobile subscriptions has outnumbered Nepals population. Nepal condemns US mass shooting The government on Monday condemned the weekend mass shooting in the United States, in which 49 people were killed and scores others were injured. Nepal elected UNGA Vice President in Asia Pacific group The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Tuesday unanimously elected Nepal as one of its four Vice-Presidents from the Asia-Pacific Group of States for the 71st session of UN General Assembly. Orlando shooting: Vigils held around world to honour victims Vigils have been held in Orlando, Florida, and around the world for the victims of Sunday's deadly gun attack on a gay nightclub. PADT to raise Rs 9.2m in rent arrears The Pashupati Area Development Trust has decided to recover Rs 9.2 million in rent arrears from florists and curio sellers on the Pashupati premises who have not paid rent for past 10 years. Prosperity bridge Geographical complexities with China and political complexities with India affect Nepals transit diplomacy Samuels guides West Indies to 4-wicket win over Australia Marlon Samuels scored 92 off 87 balls to guide the West Indies to a four-wicket victory over Australia on Monday in the fifth match of the limited-overs tri-series. Spokesperson responsible for disseminating information: Minister Rai Minister for Information and Communications, Sherdhan Rai, has said a constitution, no matter how beautiful it may be, will not be effective if people cannot use the rights it has stipulated. Still a lot to learn Reducing the disparity between public and private education should be the governments main concern Thapaliya wins national cook-off Uttam Thapaliya, commis chef at the Hyatt Regency, walked away with top honours at the National Culinary Competition organised by Mid-Valley International College. Through Birahis left eye Author Ramesh Birahis anthology of essays, titled Debre Aankha, was discussed amid a programme held at Nepalgunj, on Saturday. Yes, its hard to to tell when one enters the city limits Yes, they will make the city more inviting Maybe ... does it really matter? No, the signs in place are fine No, it would be a waste of taxpayer dollars Vote View Results Kendallville, IN (46755) Today Rain showers this morning with overcast skies during the afternoon hours. High 57F. Winds NW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 70%.. Tonight Mainly clear. Low 32F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph. Many arrested ANGOLA The following were arrested over the weekend by law enforcement officers working in Steuben County and lodged in the Steuben County Jail. Moriah S. Bloom, 24, of the 400 block of Lasselle Street, Fort Wayne, arrested on Toledo Street on a misdemeanor charge of unlicensed driver. Zachary C. Chrisman, 27, of the 300 block of West Oak Street, Butler, arrested on Interstate 69 on a misdemeanor charge of operating while intoxicated. Sal A. Cole, 43, of the 500 block of Williams Street, arrested on North Wayne Street on a misdemeanor charge of public intoxication. Joshua R. Dehaan, 22, of the 800 block of Shawnee Drive, arrested in the 300 block of West Golden Lake Road on misdemeanor charges of operating while intoxicated and reckless driving and a felony charge of resisting law enforcement. Michael R. Dewitt, 29, of the 400 block of East Michael Street, Fremont, arrested at home on a misdemeanor charge of battery. Austin R. Horwitz, 19, of the 8000 block of Arrowwood Court, Terre Haute, arrested on Interstate 69 on a misdemeanor charge of possession of marijuana. Brandon C. Kiser, 22, of the 3800 block of East C.R. 500S, Hamilton, arrested on felony warrants alleging probation violation. Tammy L. Moore, 40, of the 1200 block of West Maumee Street, arrested in the 2000 block of North Wayne Street, on a misdemeanor charge of theft and possession of marijuana and a felony charge of theft. Korey M. Mullins, 26, of the 100 block of East Toledo Street, Fremont, arrested on a warrant alleging felony failure to appear. Kori L. Oliver, 28, of the 500 block of Tamarack Drive, arrested on a fugitive warrant. Jennifer M. Pletcher, 35, of the 200 block of Lane 370 Jimmerson Lake, Fremont, arrested on a warrant alleging felony probation violation. Melissa A. Puckett, 35, of the 500 block of North Martha Street, arrested on a civil warrant alleging contempt of court. Roger W. Raske, 21, of the 4300 block of West U.S. 20, arrested at C.R. 400W and C.R. 500S on a misdemeanor charge of operating while intoxicated, unlicensed driver and driving while suspended. Timothy C. Romine, 41, of the 300 block of Park Avenue, arrested at home on a felony charge of battery in the presence of a child. Sharon K. Schimpf, 38, of the 800 block of West Maumee Street, arrested in the 2000 block of North Wayne Street on a misdemeanor charge of theft and allegation of probation violation. Marissa L. Siegel, 21, of Northcrest Drive, arrested on a warrant alleging felony failure to appear. Toby L. Thompson, 32, of the 1100 block of West S.R. 120, Fremont, arrested on S.R. 127 at C.R. 500N on a misdemeanor charge of operating while intoxicated. Ryan T. Waite. 22, of the 700 block of Edgwood Street, arrested on I-69 on a misdemeanor charge of possession of marijuana. Angel Candelario-Padro, 28, moved to Orlando from Chicago in January to be closer to family. The nurse and National Guard member soon found a new job and a new love. "He was a humble boy, a good student. He liked to work and wasn't too much into partying," his aunt Leticia Padro told Univision. Candelario-Padro's boyfriend, who was shot several times, told her that after hearing several shots he turned to Candelario-Padro and asked if he was OK. "He told him he was OK, but in that instant he fell to the floor," Padro said. Candelario-Padro loved music and had played the clarinet in a band in his hometown of Guanica, Puerto Rico, according to uncle Efrain Padro. "We're waiting for his body to be brought home," he said, "We will welcome him with music." Christopher Joseph Sanfeliz, 24, was always friendly and outgoing, "the most positive guy I've ever known," friend Josh Palange said. They became friends during middle school, and in high school, took honors classes and band together Sanfeliz on trumpet. Though they didn't see each other much after graduating in 2010, "we stayed friends on Facebook," Palange told the Tampa Bay Times. Sanfeliz's family moved there from Cuba in the 1960s, family friend Mike Wallace said. Sanfeliz took business classes at a community college and was hired as a bank teller and worked his way up to become a personal banker, Wallace said. "He (was) a wonderful person and this is such a tragedy," said Wallace. "He was cut down in his prime." DEAR AMY: I am the proud big sister of my 18-year-old brother "Baxter." His last day of high school was yesterday, and he is set to graduate in a few weeks. He earned a 4.0 throughout high school and has worked really hard for four years. He called me yesterday (I live out of state) and told me about his last day at school. Then he dropped a bombshell on me, when he said, "Don't tell mom, but I smoked a lot of weed today!" Amy, I was shocked! We grew up in a no alcohol, no smoking household. Now I don't know what to do. Do I keep his secret? Do I spill to our mom? I know he's worked so hard, so I think he was celebrating and maybe rebelling a little bit, since he was the "perfect" student for so long. I don't want this to be a stepping stone to more bad decisions for him. What should I do? Worried in Wisconsin DEAR WORRIED: This is not necessarily a binary choice between either telling or not telling. You can choose to stay quiet now, but change your mind, later. It might be best for you to communicate your next thoughts in text form, versus talking to him about this. You can write: "First, I want you to know that I appreciate your honesty. Secondly, please don't ever ask me to keep a secret from our parents. That's not fair to me or them and I will make my own choice about what to do regarding your decision to get toasted on the last day of classes. I am naturally very protective of you. I want you to know that there are extreme risks to what you are doing. You risk not graduating (if you are caught), but you also risk many other things you have worked very hard for. Soon you will be on your own and I hope you will make healthier choices. Your high school record shows how smart you are. I hope your future behavior will demonstrate that you are wise, too." After communicating directly with him, leave it alone. If this is the worst thing this young man ever does, he'll be OK. DEAR AMY: I am currently seeing a man who has two jobs, one as an "everyday civilian" and one in the National Guard. He has been a guardsman for several years. We have been seeing each other for about seven months. I just learned that he may face a deployment within the next year (he's been through three already). I am very proud of him. I love him and he loves me. I don't know how to communicate how I feel and how scared I am; for him, for me, for us and for my child that has grown attached to him. My anxiety levels have risen in the past few weeks because of this. He has noticed a change in me. I fell in love with this man without a second thought of what that would mean. I don't want to leave him over this because he is serving his country. However, I do not know how to live the life that is approaching. I need advice and guidance. Can you help? Worried DEAR WORRIED: The most important thing you can do is to communicate with your guy about what might be in store for all of you if he deploys. The National Guard offers helpful support and information to help you start this conversation. You should also seek friendship and advice from experienced people on this side of deployment. Check www.jointservicesupport.org. DEAR AMY: I think you let "Older but not Wiser," (the aunt who falsely accused her niece of theft) off too lightly. On the stated facts, she should expect a defamation suit by her niece, and she should expect to lose it. She can't duck the liability, but she might reduce the amount of the judgment if she apologized to her niece through the same media, as broadly and as loudly as she defamed her in the first place. This is one instance where the common law, common decency and common sense all point in the same direction. But she would have to accept responsibility for the consequences of her misbehavior, which she seems unwilling to do. H.C. Macgill, Dean Emeritus, University of Connecticut School of Law DEAR H.C.: Like many readers, I was absolutely appalled by this aunt's behavior. Thank you for weighing in on the legality of this situation. Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon, 37, barely spoke English when he moved from Puerto Rico to Florida in 2004, but he wasn't deterred by the language barrier. He quickly learned English, got a job and eventually met his partner, Jean Carlos Mendez Perez, 35, who also died. "(Wilson-Leon) walked into the room and all eyes were on him because of his positive energy, just what he radiated ... I'm heartbroken," said his cousin, Laly Santiago-Leon, adding that the couple frequented Pulse and loved Latin Night. Longtime friend Daniel Gmys-Casiano described Wilson-Leon as a protector and confidante. The two grew up in the same small town, and when Gmys-Casiano moved to the U.S., Wilson-Leon gave him a job in a shoe store. "He was my hero," Gmys-Casiano told the Orlando Sentinel. Even though Wilson-Leon had been bullied for his sexuality, Gmys-Casiano said, "he never retaliated with hate. ... He would stand to protect his friends." For La Crosse residents Thommy Sandvick and Marco Tamayo, Sundays shooting in Orlando was like an attack on a sanctuary, Sandvick said. The couple, who wed in 2012 in New York, met while both worked for Walt Disney World and spent many nights at Pulse, the gay nightclub attacked by Omar Mateen, 29, of Port St. Lucie, Fla., early Sunday. You go there to forget about your troubles. Its just music and dancing and fun, Sandvick said. To think of all the people who went there expecting a night of fun and instead found mayhem is horrifying, Tamayo added. I still think this is a nightmare and I need to wake up, Tamayo said. Its hard for me to believe. Tamayo and Sandvick spent Monday afternoon following the list of the dead, dreading seeing familiar names, but also just unable to look away from the faces and the stories attached to them. Some of these people are 18 years old, Tamayo said. The couple were beyond grateful to not have lost any of their friends a bartender they are still in touch with had the night off but were devastated on behalf of the community they are still tangentially a part of. The scary part is it could have been us, Tamayo said. We were there all the time. Sandvick and Tamayo left Orlando in January 2013 with Sandvick, an Aquinas High School grad, returning to the La Crosse area and Tamayo, a Mexico-native, returning to his home country while they waited for Tamayo to receive his permanent residency paperwork. However, the city holds a special place in their hearts, both for its culture of acceptance and its status as the birthplace of their relationship. When they woke up to the news of its tragedy on social media, they cancelled their plans to go canoeing and spent the day trying to reach their Orlando friends. I felt like it was 9/11, Sandvick said. I just felt so much sadness and a connection to the people there. President Barack Obama captured the essence of what it means, Sandvick said, when he spoke Sunday. The shooter targeted a nightclub where people came together to be with friends, to dance and to sing, and to live, Obama said in his remarks at the White House. The place where they were attacked is more than a nightclub it is a place of solidarity and empowerment where people have come together to raise awareness, to speak their minds, and to advocate for their civil rights. Sandvick and Tamayo were grateful for the opportunity to share their feelings with La Crosses LGBT community in another sanctuary at a candlelight vigil held by The Center: Seven Rivers LGBT Connection Sunday night. The event drew 40 to 50 people who know what it means to have a place where they can express themselves and their sexuality without fear. Depending on where you are, that can be one of the only places where you feel like you can be yourself and to lose that is really disheartening, said Alli Berry, a member of The Centers board of directors. Its more than disheartening, said Alesha Schandelmeier, another board member and one of the events organizers. Its horrifying. For so many people, these places are where traditionally people have felt safe to be themselves. Something like this hits that much closer to home when someone has invaded a space like that, Schandelmeier said. Sandvick has been disgusted by the speculation and immediate politicizing of the tragedy. We still dont have all the facts, and we have plenty of pundits flapping their jaws, Sandvick said. Sandvick encouraged people to not let their emotions get the better of them and write to their representatives if they want change in gun policy, rather than arguing with their friends in the immediate wake of a national tragedy. All I know is what were doing isnt working, Sandvick said. Tamayo and Sandvick said they have refused to focus on Mateens Afghani or Muslim heritage or join speculation that it was a religion-fueled crime. I dont generalize against a whole group of people, Tamayo said. Sandvick added, Theres always going to be nutjobs. The couple are visiting Orlando in July to prepare for their move back in October. They say the attack has made them doubly determined to go to the city they consider home. Just dont stop doing what youre doing If you live in fear to do anything, then they win, Sandvick said. MENOMONIE (MCT) A Twin Cities student who was found dead in a driveway near the University of Wisconsin-Stout this spring was extremely intoxicated when he went through the glass of a sign outside a church, authorities said Tuesday. The body of Rickey A. Hible, 22, of Shakopee, was discovered just east of campus on April 16, the morning after he had been out drinking at various spots around town, police said in a detailed statement issued Tuesday. An autopsy determined that he bled to death. Hibles blood alcohol content level was 0.298 percent, or nearly four times the limit to legally drive in Wisconsin, police said. In response to the findings that were released, UW-Stout Chancellor Bob Meyer said in a campuswide note that we have a responsibility to learn what we can from the circumstances surrounding Rickeys death in the hopes of avoiding a similar tragedy in the future. I believe a hard lesson to be learned from this incident is that, even though we have made some progress in our efforts to curb high-risk alcohol consumption, more needs to be accomplished in this critical area. Meyer said that the universitys high-risk drinking prevention plan for the next school year includes university and community leaders visiting the homes of off-campus students to discuss the dangers of excessive alcohol consumption with the residents. The chancellor acknowledged there is no silver bullet in our efforts to prevent tragedies that emanate from high-risk behaviors associated with alcohol consumption, but we still have a responsibility to do everything we can to help our students have a healthy and safe experience while they attend UW-Stout. Police, in their statement, outlined Hibles final hours as the weekend began, based on interviews with witnesses and residents of the neighborhood where the engineering student was found, as well as autopsy results: Hible met friends the previous evening at a cookout, attended a party and visited bars downtown. After the bars closed, Hible and a friend arrived at a home across from Our Saviors Lutheran Church. The friend went inside for about 5 minutes and came back out to find Hible gone. A witness spotted Hible on the ground below the church sign. Hible stood up, yelled and ran across the street. Hible was not seen again until a handyman at a home nearby spotted the students body shortly after 7 a.m. in a driveway about a block away. Blood was found on the broken church sign and leading to where Hible died. Hible suffered cuts to his right wrist, forearm and to an artery near his elbow. It only compounded the horror that the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history called forth talking points that had been composed long before 50 innocents were murdered early Sunday. The immediate reactions on social media to the killings at Pulse Orlando, a popular gay dance club, etched a portrait of our national divisions, our mutual mistrust and our inclination to know what we think even when we lack all the facts. Even before President Obama spoke Sunday afternoon, there were declarations of great certainty that he would attribute the massacre to guns and not Islamism and would therefore feed support for Donald Trump. Trump did not disappoint. At 12:43 p.m., he turned to his communications medium of choice and tweeted: Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism, I dont want congrats, I want toughness & vigilance. We must be smart! It is no day for partisanship, but how could Trump even think of using a moment of national trauma and mourning as an occasion to tout his own genius or to reach sweeping conclusions on the fly? But its entirely true that those of us who have long believed that our scandalously lax national gun laws make sickening slaughters inevitable had predictable reactions of our own. I freely admit that I identified entirely with Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., when he declared: This phenomenon of near constant mass shootings happens only in America nowhere else. Congress has become complicit in these murders by its total, unconscionable deafening silence. Note that phrase near constant. We are far from alone in the world in confronting terrorism. What is different about our nation enragingly, dispiritingly, depressingly different is that from Virginia Tech to Sandy Hook to Orlando, attacks of this sort happen here again and again and again. Why can we never include a reappraisal of our weapons laws as part of democracys arsenal of responses to terrorism and mass violence? Why are those who tout themselves as being the toughest among us in calling out terrorism inspired by Islam so timid as soon as any plausible answer is labeled gun control? Nonetheless, those of us who hold these views must find ways of reaching out to fellow citizens with whom we have been battling for decades. Terrorism terrorizes advocates of gun control and supporters of gun rights alike. And those on both sides of the gun issue will want to know why three FBI interviews with the killer, Omar Mateen, did not raise more alarms in light of evidence of his apparent terrorist sympathies. What we know so far underscores the challenges of fighting terrorism in a free society. When the president did address the nation, his sobriety and restraint reflected the reaction of a man who had been required too often to speak about the unspeakable and whose calls for action have gone unheeded. He gave his critics who despise his views on guns nothing, turning the tables on them by saying simply that failing to act to keep deadly weapons out of the hands of those who would use them against innocent fellow human beings is a decision as well. And it is. He also did something important, showing how futile it is to force an act of evil into the boxes we prefabricate. The Orlando slaughter was, he said, an act of terror and an act of hate. We should despise what happened if our fellow citizens were gunned down by a man who was inspired by foreign terrorists. And we should despise what happened if people had their lives snuffed out because of their sexual orientation. We gain nothing by arguing about which form of moral revulsion is superior or more appropriate. We set ourselves back by responding to an act of violence against Americans who are gay by turning on Americans who are Muslim. The only appropriate response to Orlando is solidarity harnessed to intelligent determination. So far, no body count, however repulsive, has forced us to abandon our ideological cul-de-sacs. The dead on the floor of a night club cry out to us. This goes out to all our area judges. I just read an article about a Texas man who was convicted nine times for driving under the influence. The judge in his case sentenced him to life in prison without parole. He had been to prison four other times for charges related to alcohol. You see, prison does not help; a person gets absolutely no treatment in prison. If people would be required to pay restitution and perform some community service, plus give talks to children about the consequences of drinking and driving, they might get it through their heads. Prison is not the answer for driving under the influence unless a fatality is involved, which changes everything. ABC News(WASHINGTON) -- Russian government hackers were able to breach the Democratic National Committee's computers, stealing opposition research on presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, a Democratic Party official confirmed to ABC News Tuesday. According to the Washington Post, which first reported the news, hackers were able to access all messages and emails sent over the DNC system. DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., said the intrusion was treated like the serious incident it is and has contacted cybersecurity company CrowdStrike to respond to the incident. "The security of our system is critical to our operation and to the confidence of the campaigns and state parties we work with," Wasserman Schultz told ABC News Tuesday. "When we discovered the intrusion, we treated this like the serious incident it is and reached out to CrowdStrike immediately. Our team moved as quickly as possible to kick out the intruders and secure our network." Dmitri Alperovitch, the co-founder of CrowdStrike, told ABC News in an interview Tuesday that the firm knows "definitively" that the DNC was hacked by "two separate Russian intelligence agencies." One, they are confident is the GRU, Russia's military intelligence agency, and the second, they are "less confident in, but have reason to believe" is the Federal Security Service (or FSB), Russias security service, Alperovitch said. A Russian Embassy spokesman told the Washington Post that he had no knowledge of such intrusions. The hackers were "looking for opposition research on Trump and his campaign" and "they did take opposition research on Trump," Alperovitch told ABC News. When asked why, Alperovitch said because "like everyone else in the world, the Russian government is keenly interested in who is Mr. Trump, what his foreign policy will be and what his relationship with Russia would be like. Secondly, anything they can find that they can use against him should he be president would also be of interest. When asked if its likely Russia is trying to hack the Trump campaign directly for their information, Alperovitch said he doesnt know, but that its not out of the realm of possibility. This also shows you espionage has now moved off the just physical realm of recruiting spies and getting information, its now through cyber means. This is a traditional target of Russian intelligence for 100 years but now doing it for cyber, Alperovitch said referring to U.S. candidates and campaigns. I would say this is not surprising at all, this is what intelligence agencies want to get. He said the DNC is absolutely safer now, explaining that CrowdStrike did a full remediation this weekend and kicked out both adversaries. He added that they installed software because they expect for them to come back." "Russian intelligences interest in the U.S. political system will not cease, it will only intensify and there will be ongoing attempts to hack into the network going forward," Alperovitch said. ABC News has also learned that the FBI is investigating this case. Copyright 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. A bipartisan vote by the state Legislature's budget committee to fund a voter ID education campaign was briefly sidetracked by a debate over the law's intent and implications. Lawmakers on the Joint Finance Committee voted Monday to approve a request from the Government Accountability Board for $250,000 to educate voters about Wisconsin's voter ID law before the 2016 presidential election. The agency has proposed two informational campaigns with different combinations of radio, TV and digital advertisements. One option would also include pre-show advertisements at movie theaters, interior bus ads and sponsored Facebook posts. In approving the request, the committee specified that the funding will be provided on a one-time basis. The educational effort will be overseen by the newly created elections commission, which, along with the new ethics commission, will replace the GAB at the end of the month. Under the measure approved by the finance committee, the election commission has the authority to determine how, specifically, the campaign is implemented. The commission would be allowed to identify, contact and assist specific groups of voters who may need help obtaining or renewing a photo ID document that would allow them to vote. Gov. Scott Walker approved the voter ID law, which requires certain forms of photo identification to be shown at the polls in order to vote, in 2011. The measure was in place for the February 2012 primary, but was then blocked by orders from judges in state and federal court. After a series of legal challenges, the measure was put back in place this year for the Feb. 16 spring primary and April 5 presidential primary election. Sen. Lena Taylor, D-Milwaukee, expressed concerns with the on-and-off nature of the law and with the funds being approved on a one-time basis. There will always be a group of voters that needs to be educated, she said. Some Democrats argued $250,000 wouldn't be enough, while some Republicans worried it would amount to wasteful spending. But the measure largely had bipartisan support and passed the committee unanimously. "Today we're actually coming together in a bipartisan matter to promote that every vote should be counted, once, and every person should have the ability to feel that their vote is counted and protected and its not being undermined by somebody else who might feel differently about the process," said JFC co-chair Rep. John Nygren, R-Marinette. Nygren was referring to testimony given in federal court last month by Todd Allbaugh, who served as chief of staff to then-Sen. Dale Schultz, R-Richland Center, when the voter ID law was passed in 2011. Allbaugh testified that several Republican senators pushed for the law because of its potential to discriminate against college students and non-white voters in particular. "I dont ever remember a discussion about how this was an initiative to keep people from voting," said JFC co-chair Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills. Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, said he believes some senators but not the majority of them sought to discriminate with the law. But regardless of intent, he argued, "people have been disenfranchised." "People who could vote years ago cant vote now. So we have to spend money to make sure they understand how theyre able to vote," Erpenbach said. Mrs. Stella H. Ender LA CROSSE Mrs. Stella H. Ender, 98, of La Crosse was called Home to be with her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, June 4, 2016. She was the wife of the late Dr. Carl A. Ender, with whom she has longed to be reunited for the past 20 years. Born Nov. 29, 1917, in Hazleton, Pa., Stella was the daughter of the late Hoyt C. and Margaret (Richebacher) Woodring. She was a graduate of Hazleton High School and continued her education at Hazleton State Hospital, where she earned her nursing degree. She went on to postgraduate O.R. education at University of Pennsylvania Graduate Hospital in Philadelphia. Soon after, as head neurosurgery nurse, she met her beloved Carl, who was completing his internship after University of Wisconsin Medical School. Stella married Carl on July 27, 1942, just before he left to serve overseas as an Army officer/medical doctor during World War II. While he was overseas, Stella served as an O.R. instructor at University of Pennsylvania Graduate Hospital in Philadelphia from 1942-1946. When he returned in 1946, Stella moved with her husband back to his home in Westby. She spent most of her married life in Viroqua, De Soto and La Crosse. Throughout the years, she was a faithful wife, loving mother and wonderful grandmother and great-grandmother, taking much delight in her three daughters, seven grandchildren, and 20 great-grandchildren. As a young wife and mother in Viroqua, she was very involved in her husbands medical practice, Girl Scouts, PTA, Nurses Club, Vernon Memorial Hospital Auxiliary, and her local church. Stella had a servants heart which made her a delightful friend to all who knew her. She and Carl together often assisted those older than themselves with personal care, transportation and much encouragement. Mrs. Ender was a current member of the Bethany Evangelical Free Church in La Crosse, where she has especially enjoyed the Encouragers, a senior fellowship group under the leadership of retired Pastor Ray Miller. Up to the very end, she served in White Cross, which met monthly to make supplies and gifts for missionaries around the world. More significant to Stella than her religious or church affiliation, was her personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Her passion for Him produced a godly character that always revealed itself in her sweet spirit, beautiful smile, servant heart, delightful sense of humor, and exemplary lifestyle. Her family and friends alike are grateful for the gift of her life, and the legacy of faith and love that she leaves with all who knew and loved her. She was preceded in death by her parents; her only brother, Chester; and her beloved husband, Carl, with whom she shared 53 years of marriage before he passed away in 1996; as well as son-in-law, Russell Hermanson in 2015. Russ and her daughter, Marguerite shared their home as care-giving partners for Stella during the last five years of her life. She is survived by her three daughters, Marguerite Hermanson of La Crosse, Carlene (John) Malin of Ames, Iowa, and Rebecca (Tom) Rosenbrook of Onalaska. Her daughters and sons-in-law, counted it a privilege and delight to encourage and assist their precious mother through the years. She is also survived and honored by seven grandchildren, Rachel (Chris) Davis of Loveland, Colo., Josh (Raquel) Malin of Maple Grove, Minn., Ben (Jill) Malin of Maple Grove, Mark (Kate) Hermanson of Colorado Springs, Colo., Andy (Erin) Malin of Bentonville, Ark., Anna (Jimmie) Beheler of Phoenix and Lis (Josh) Holck of Bentonville. Also surviving, 20 great-grandchildren, who have had the privilege of knowing and enjoying their Great Granny. A memorial service will be delayed until July. Friends are invited to join the family in a joyful celebration of Stellas life and legacy at 11 a.m Saturday, July 16, at Bethany Evangelical Free Church, 3936 County Road B, in La Crosse. The family will greet friends from 10 a.m. until time of service. Interment will be private at the Viroqua Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in honor of Stella Ender, may be made to the The Gideons International, P.O. Box 140800, Nashville, TN., 37214-0800; the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, 1 Billy Graham Parkway, Charlotte, N.C., 28201 or billygraham.org; the Bethany Church Missions Fund; and/or the Coulee Region Christian School, 230 W. Garland St., West Salem, WI., 54669. Dickinson Family Funeral Home & Crematory is assisting the family. Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.dickinsonfuneralhomes.com. The students in Westby Middle School participated in a musical on May 31 and June 1. It was the first time a musical has been done at the middle school level since the 1990s. Peter Engh, middle and high school choral director, said the middle school used to do operettas under the direction of music teacher Sarah Nestingen back in the 1980s and early 1990s. Wanting to do something special for Nestingen, who just retired from her position after 28 years, Engh felt the timing was right to bring back a part of the program that Nestingen and so many others enjoyed, but time no longer allowed them to produce. Engh and Nestingen began working with students in the middle of March to perform, Disneys The Lion King Jr. The production was met with enthusiasm from the students and thanks to the volunteer work of so many, the musical filled the high school gymnasium for both performances. The Westby version of the musical was produced by Peter Engh and Sarah Nestingen. Costumes and props were provided by the West Salem School District, who produced the show last year. Special thanks to high school students: Sadie Korn, Dena Schedivy, Vougard Latoja, Hailey Jubera and Martha Haugen, along with Michele Engh. An added thanks to all of the parents and teachers for making the production possible. This was a great experience for the kids. They were not sure what they were getting in to, but in the end they loved it, Engh said. Lion King Jr. Synopsis RAFIKI (Bianca Nelson) gathers the ANIMALS of the Pridelands to welcome the newborn cub of King MUFASA (Joe Roethel) and Queen SARABI (Ella Johnson) As they gathered the cast sang "Circle of Life with Nants' Ingonyama". The king's jealous brother SCAR (Connor Vatland), no longer heir to the throne, skips the ceremony, upsetting Mufasa. Time passes ("Grasslands Chant") and YOUNG SIMBA (Evan Gluch) grows into a curious young lion. Mufasa explains the circle of life and that Young Simba will one day be king of the Pridelands. Young Simba shares this news with Scar, who encourages his nephew to visit the forbidden Elephant Graveyard. Young Simba finds his best friend YOUNG NALA (Abrianna Franks) hunting with SARAFINA (Genevieve Henline) and invites her on his adventure as the and the LIONESSES perform ("The Lioness Hunt"). Once they ditch their overbearing babysitter ZAZU (Cheyanne Nash) and perform ("I Just Can't Wait to Be King"), the cubs encounter the ravenous hyenas SHENZI (Trista Rumppe), BANZAI (Grant McCauley), and ED (Owen Kjos) in the graveyard. Mufasa arrives to save the day and pummels the hyenas, before taking the cubs home. Scar emerges from the darkness to recruit the HYENAS in his murderous plan to become king as they perform "Be Prepared". Back in the Pridelands, Mufasa reprimands Young Simba then shares the guidance of their ancestors who are living up among the stars reminding his curious son that "They Live in You". Enacting his plan, Scar leaves Young Simba alone in the gorge and signals the hyenas to scare a herd of wildebeest ("The Stampede"). Scar alerts Mufasa, who leaps into the stampede to save his son once again. Mufasa rescues Young Simba, but Scar pushes his brother back into the gorge, where he is trampled to death. Scar blames Young Simba for the king's death and tells him to run away and never return. As Sarabi, Young Nala, Rafiki, and the lionesses mourn the loss of Mufasa and Young Simba performing "The Mourning", the evil Scar assumes the throne, uniting lions and hyenas under his dark reign. Lost in the desert, Young Simba meets TIMON (Brandt Aspeslet) and PUMBAA (Jamie Vester), who take him to their "worry-free" jungle home (where happiness reigns) and they perform "Hakuna Matata". Under Scar's reign, the Pridelands are nearly destroyed. Now grown, NALA (Hailey Nelson) decides to leave and seek help and performs "Shadowland". To her delight, she finds a now adult SIMBA (Devin Hanson) alive in the jungle as their feelings for each other resurface "Can You Feel the Love Tonight". Nala urges him to take his rightful place as king, but still ashamed, Simba refuses. Rafiki appears to guide Simba and helps him remember his father to the song "He Lives in You". With newfound courage, Simba agrees to return to the Pridelands. Timon and Pumbaa distract the hyenas ("Luau Hawaiian Treat") while Nala rallies the lionesses. Simba confronts his uncle, and the truth of Mufasa's murder is revealed. This time Scar runs away, pursued by angry hyenas. With peace restored in the Pridelands, Simba takes his place as king and the circle of life continues as the entire cast unites on stage for the "Finale". Remaining Cast And Crew (Lionesses, Hyenas, Grasslands, Animals of the Pridelands, and crew) Eva Augenstein, Kennedy Brueggen, Hallie Fleming, Denali Huebner, Madysan Jensen, Ty Nottestad, Kari Ofte, Daisha Pedretti, Emma Davis, Alana Simonson, Lane Cade, Arissa Grant, Whitney Hanson, Briana Kast, Madalyn Komay, Darik Moilien, Bethany Roethel, Easton Grass, Aubrey Jothen, Hailey Mraz, Ombeni Goss, Jascelyn Hendrickson, Abby Leis, Ella Reetz, Emma Solverson, Jakwon Spears, Emma Meyer, Sylvia Thompson, Emily Collins, Brenda Berg, Natalie Benish, Xaviara Boardman, Jake Collins, Anna Dunnum, Cale Griffin, Genevive Haugen, Grayson Hertel, Ella Krause, Verity Rose Amour Latoja, Hannah Pedretti, Rianna Oliver, Kellen Olson, Prince Preston, Madelyn M. Schlicht, Taylor Thunstedt, Emma Wedwick, Jermaine Jackson, Logan Reschke, Bailey Olson, Levi Hamilton. Editors Comments The entire middle school cast did an outstanding job performing the Lion King Jr. It was difficult to hear at times as actors tried to project their voices to microphones hanging from above, instead of wearing individual units, which Engh said will no longer be an issue once the new auditorium is completed. The facial expressions of some of the cast were remarkable especially TIMON (Brandt Aspeslet) and PUMBAA (Jamie Vester) who easily made the audience laugh. The voice of MUFASA (Joe Roethel) was strong and forceful and once SCAR (Connor Vatland) got further into his role his voice also came through with more clarity. YOUNG SIMBA (Evan Gluch) has natural born actor wrote all over him as did ZAZU (Cheyanne Nash). The solos performed by students showcased the amazing talent of area students and everyone connected with the performance deserves a huge MANGE TAKK! Engh added that the sound quality will be 100 times better once the drama, band, and choir performances for all ages are showcased in the new auditorium, which is expected to be completed in the fall of 2017. On 13 June Colombias constitutional court (CC) struck down a series of resolutions approved by the national government which created strategic mining development areas in 20 of the countrys 32 departments. End of preview - This article contains approximately 474 words. Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article Not a Subscriber? Choose from one of the following options : On 13 June Haiti's interim government led by President Jocelerme Privert imposed an overnight national curfew from 10:00pm to 5:00am. End of preview - This article contains approximately 458 words. Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article Not a Subscriber? Choose from one of the following options On 13 June teachers blocked roads in the states of Oaxaca, Tabasco, and Chiapas as well as the Ciudad de Mexico (CDMX)to protest against the arrest of Ruben Nunez, the secretary general of the militant Seccion 22 branch of Mexicos combative teachers union Coordinadora Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educacion (CNTE). End of preview - This article contains approximately 377 words. Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article Not a Subscriber? Choose from one of the following options President Barack Obama has declared a national period of mourning for the victims of the mass shooting in Orlando, Florida. The president has ordered the U.S. flag lowered at the White House and all public buildings, military bases and navy ships until Thursday. Flags are also being flown at half-staff at all United States embassies and other offices overseas. The move comes as Americans observe Flag Day. Flag Day is celebrated every June 14 across the country. June 14 is not a federal holiday. But it is a chance for people to recognize the importance of the flag and its place in U.S. history. The United States began as 13 British colonies. Each colony had its own flag. But the colonists fought under a common flag during the Revolutionary War against Britain. The flag looked a lot like the U.S. flag does now. It had 13 red and white stripes for the 13 colonies. It had a square blue area in the upper left corner. Inside the blue area were the red cross and white lines of the British flag. In 1776, the Americans declared their independence from Britain. The United States of America was born. The Continental Congress of the new nation approved a new flag on June 14, 1777. The 13 red and white stripes remained. But 13 white stars replaced the British flag in the blue area. In 1818, Congress approved a law that said a new star would be added to the flag for each new state that joined the union. Today, there are 50 states, and 50 white stars in the blue area of the flag. Im Jonathan Evans. VOANews.com reported on this story. Jim Dresbach adapted the report for Learning English. George Grow was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section or visit our Facebook page. _____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story half-staff adj. flying a flag below the middle of a flag pole as a sign of respect or mourning stripes n. a long, narrow line cross n. an object or image in the shape of the letter X The non-profit company that gives the ACT college entrance exam canceled plans to give the test last Saturday in South Korea and Hong Kong. Spokesman Edward Colby said the company canceled the exams on Friday for about 5,500 people at 56 test centers. It did this, he said, after the company received evidence that test materials had been stolen. He said he believes it is the first time that the exam has been cancelled for an entire country. We are extremely concerned about any activities that could (have an effect on) the fairness and integrity of the test, he said. When individuals attempt to profit by stealing test materials and selling them, it can hurt thousands of students who did nothing wrong, as it has in this case. Colby did not discuss how or where the test information was stolen. The students whose tests were cancelled will have their test fees returned, Colby said. However, the test will not be given again until September. In 2013, the College Board, the company that gives the Scholastic Aptitude Test, or SAT, cancelled testing for all students in South Korea. In that case, the College Board also said its testing materials were stolen. The ACT college entrance test competes with the SAT. Im Jill Robbins. VOA News Writer Joshua Fatzick wrote this story from Washington. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted it for Learning English. Mario Ritter was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section, or visit our Facebook page. _____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story entire adj. complete or full; not lacking or leaving out any part integrity n. the quality of being honest and fair Britons are set to vote this month on whether to remain in the European Union. Prime Minister David Cameron called for the vote, set for June 23. Cameron opposes calls for a Brexit -- for Britain to exit or withdraw from the 28-member EU. He says the move would hurt the country economically. On Friday, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble agreed with Cameron. He told Der Spiegel magazine that it would be a miracle if a withdrawal of Britain would come without economic disadvantages.'' However, the vote has brought to light other countries dissatisfaction with the European Union. New research suggests public approval of the EU has fallen sharply across the continent. This has raised concerns in Brussels, the home of the EUs headquarters. Officials there fear a contagion effect in which people in other EU member states demand similar votes. The American-based Pew Research Center contacted 10,000 people across Europe to find out what they thought about being in the EU. Their answers showed that Britain is not alone in having deep concerns about the group. Pew researchers say people in France looked at the EU more critically than their English-speaking neighbors to the north. Only 38 percent of those asked had a positive or good opinion of the EU. That is sharply down from 69 percent in 2004. In Spain, the public approval rate has fallen from 80 percent to 47 percent over the past nine years. Tim Oliver is with the London School of Economics. He says a British decision to leave the EU could lead to demands for similar popular referendums across Europe. He adds, however, that nations will be watching Britain if it does choose to exit the EU. However, whether or not they succeed depends on one, what happens to the UK. If the UK struggles, then that sets quite a powerful message to the rest of the European Union. Oliver thinks that a Brexit would take a long time and could create bitterness. The rest of the European Union is looking to either punish the United Kingdom for withdrawing, so there has to be an economic cost. The UK cant withdraw and not feel any punishment, any costs and so forth, and get a new relationship with the EU, or else that might encourage other member states to do the same thing. Pew researchers say much of the disapproval of the EU is related to how it has dealt with the current refugee crisis. More than one million refugees and migrants arrived in Greece last year. Disapproval of the EUs policies on migrants is highest there, at 94 percent. Oliver says the growing number of new arrivals has pushed the EU to its limits. They havent solved each crisis, theyve just managed to cope and move on, and hope theyll find a solution later on. If several crises align at the same time, that puts the EU in uncharted territory and that is quite dangerous. In Britain, current and former officials are making their case on EU membership to likely voters. Former British Foreign Secretary William Hague spoke to experts at Chatham House in London recently. He warned that a British exit could cause further divisions that would weaken Western nations -- something that ought to be avoided at all costs. However, as disapproval of the EU grows, experts say a British exit could have much wider consequences both inside and outside Europe. Im Mario Ritter. Henry Ridgwell reported this story for VOANews.com. Mario Ritter adapted it with additional material from VOAs Isabela Cocoli. George Grow was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write your thoughts in the comment section below. _____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story disadvantages n. something that causes difficulty contagion n. the spread of something that is passed from one person or group to another bitterness n. painful or unpleasant feelings align v. to put in place, to line up consequences n. results referendum n. a popular vote on legislation usually on one issue exit v. to leave The rebound in ethanol prices has put Abengoas previously shuttered ethanol plants in York and Ravenna, Nebraska, in position to fetch buyers. Meanwhile, Omahas Green Plains Inc. is bidding for two other Midwestern plants of the struggling company. The plants, which will be sold at auction, have attracted bidders as part of Spain-based Abengoas debt-restructuring process in Europe and the United States. The company filed legal papers in bankruptcy court in Missouri on Sunday. Abengoa put its U.S. ethanol plants in bankruptcy this year after a drop in prices for the corn-based motor fuel and other problems, including difficulty repaying $10 billion in corporate debt at the parent company that led to the massive restructuring of obligations. The restructuring includes the prospective sale of the Nebraska plants and others. Documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in St. Louis say an affiliate of Kaapa Ethanol of Minden, Nebraska, bid $115 million in cash for the Ravenna plant, and BioUrja Trading of Houston has offered $35 million in cash for the York plant. Attempts to reach officials with Kaapa were unsuccessful Monday. Omahas Green Plains has bid $200 million for Abengoa plants in Madison, Illinois, and Mt. Vernon, Indiana, Chief Executive Todd Becker told The World-Herald. We continue to look to add to our portfolio, Becker said. Green Plains operates 14 ethanol plants nationwide, producing about one billion gallons of the motor fuel a year. These plants fit well ... as we want to get to two billion gallons a year. The Ravenna and York plants were shuttered last year as ethanol prices reached multi-year lows due to high production and strong inventories. Last week, ethanol prices hit a six-month high on robust exports and low gas prices that coincided with the summer driving season. As ethanol prices have rebounded, Abengoa recently restarted the plants and has been operating them with loans obtained with court permission during the U.S. bankruptcy proceedings. We dont know what the results will be, Becker said of the Illinois and Indiana plants, noting other bidders are sure to show before the August deadline. There are definitely a lot of people looking at these things. The York and Ravenna plants, which Green Plains has not bid upon, are themselves subject to additional bids by others and are still prospects for Green Plains, Becker said. Green Plains had profit of $7 million last year on revenue of $3 billion. It is in a highly cyclical business whose inputs include the price of corn, the main ingredient in U.S. ethanol; the price of gasoline, with which it is blended under federal law; and driving patterns. In 2014, profit was $160 million on $3.2 billion of sales. The company is on Fortune Magazines list of the 1,000 largest in the United States. Shares of Green Plains, which have risen 43 percent in the past four months on higher ethanol margins, fell 3.7 percent, or 70 cents, to close in New York Stock Exchange trading at $18.24 each on Monday. The Northwest school board officially adopted the 2016-17 student handbook, which provides for random drug testing for high school students who are involved in extracurricular activities. Before giving their approval, board members learned about the procedures that would be used to enforce the handbook language. Activities Director Mike Sorensen said a company has been chosen to carry out the drug testing program for the district. He said that twice a month, or about every other week, 19 to 20 students will be randomly chosen to undergo drug test for use of alcohol, tobacco and narcotics. Sorensen said over the course of the school year, that should add up to at least 344 students or about half the students involved in extracurricular activities. Sorensen said it should act as a deterrent for alcohol, tobacco and drug use if students in extracurricular activities know there is a 50-50 chance they will be tested during the school year. He said if the percentage goes much lower than 50 percent, too many students may be willing to "roll the dice" and take a chance that they will not be tested. Sorensen said the district wants to prevent alcohol, tobacco and drug use, which is why a high percentage of students will be tested. Drug testing will be done through a urine sample, which Sorensen said is actually less invasive that a hair sample. He noted many people do not realize how large a hair sample must be taken to do a substance abuse test. The cost per test should be $20. An initial positive test will result in a suspension from extracurricular activities for 15 days. Students will also undergo a substance abuse evaluation and their parents will be notified. A second positive test will result in a 30-day suspension from participation in extracurricular activities. A third positive will result in a 60-day suspension from extracurricular activities, while a fourth positive test will mean the student cannot participate in any extracurricular activities for the remainder of the school year. Any student who tests positive once for banned substances will be automatically retested for alcohol, tobacco and narcotics for the next six months. Assistant Principal Paul Smith said some disciplinary sanctions for misbehavior in school were upgraded to out-of-school suspensions, instead of in-school suspensions. Smith said administrators decided some misbehaviors needed to have stricter sanctions. However, he noted the handbook still leaves administrators the option of talking students and handling each situation on a case-by-case basis, which administrators still could opt for giving a student an in-school suspension. Principal Tim Krupicka said the handbook says students are allowed one college visit per semester their junior and senior year of high school. A parent must call in and inform the school of such visits. This visit will be excused and not count towards attendance records. The handbook also has been changed to give high school students an incentive to do well on the NeSA state tests so seniors who pass all four state curriculum tests will be given open campus privileges during the lunch hour for an entire year. However, that privilege can be revoked if they are tardy more than three times returning from lunch. Another handbook change will give students a chance to retake a test if they are caught cheating because the purpose of education is to see whether students have mastered the course content. However, there will be a penalty because the maximum score for a test taken a second time because of cheating will be 50 percent. In other action, the board: - Adopted the revised Nebraska state standards for math, which were approved by the State Board of Education in September 2015. The standards include math concepts that students are supposed to master for each grade, beginning with kindergarten and continuing through the 12th grade. - Approved a contract with Educational Service Unit 10 to provide deaf education services for students during the 2016-17 school year. The contract is for a 0.1 full-time equivalent staff member. WASHINGTON The reaction in Washington to Sundays mass shooting in Orlando was swift and nearly unanimous, as statements and social media posts offered prayers and condolences for what the president called a horrific massacre flooded the web. While some of the statements hinted at politics, most in the hours after the attack called the most deadly in U.S. history were like President Barack Obamas. He called on the nation to pray for the victims families who are grasping for answers with broken hearts, and to stand with the people of Orlando who have endured a terrible attack on their city. The remarks came in response to the attack early Sunday at a gay nightclub in Orlando that left 49 people dead as of Monday, in addition to the shooter, who claimed in a call with police dispatchers to have been motivated by ISIS. Another 53 were injured, according to the Orlando Police Department. Obama and FBI officials said the motives of the shooter, Florida resident Omar Mateen, were still being investigated but that the case was being handled as a terrorism investigation. Authorities said Mateen, a U.S. citizen, appeared to have legally obtained the handgun and the AR-15 rifle used in the attack. In remarks Sunday and again Monday, Obama said the shooting points out how easy it is to get deadly weapons, even for someone like Mateen who had been investigated by the FBI for terrorist sympathies. Some Senate Democrats on Monday pledged to renew the fight for the Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act. That bill, which would block gun sales to suspected terrorists and those on the no-fly list, has been sitting in committee without a hearing since being introduced in February 2015. Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Tucson, tweeted out Sunday that his heart breaks for those affected by the attacks, but that it was a reminder of the need to take weapons of war off the streets and out of the hands of those with the intent to kill. In a statement Sunday, Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, extended deepest condolences in the attack and called on the nation to do everything to root out terror. By Monday, however, McCain was citing additional information in the investigation to take Obama to task for an indecisive military campaign that has yet to root out ISIS, which he said is the result of the presidents failure to properly assess the nature of the threat. Other Arizona lawmakers steered clear of politics for now with Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Arizona, tweeting out his deep sorrow and Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Phoenix, expressed his sorrow via Twitter. He later posted a picture of a vigil at the Phoenix Pride LGBT Center saying, Our hearts are with Orlando. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Flagstaff, was among the first Arizona lawmakers to respond Sunday morning to the shooting. She offered condolences, then suggested on the question of gun control that there are sensible solutions we can pursue that both respect the Second Amendment and keep our communities safer. Obama on Sunday reminded the nation that attacks on any American, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation is an attack on all of us. A day after the Bombay High Court directed the Central Board of Film Certification to grant Udta Punjab an A certificate (with one cut and two disclaimers), the films team director Abhishek Chaubey, producers Phanton Films Limited (Anurag Kashyap, Madhu Mantena) and Balaji Morion Pictures (Ekta Kapoor) and actors Shahid Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Diljit Dosanjh held a press conference to thank the media for its support during the censorship row. Most of the questions and comments were directed at Anurag who has been the most vociferous voice in the fight to have the film released. Anurag said Udta Punjab may have won the round, but the battle itself is far from over. We need to change the system. But from Arun Jaitley and Rajyavardhan Rathores recent statements, we hope that change is coming soon, Anurag said. Amid calls for CBFC chief Pahlaj Nihalanis removal, Anurag said that it wasnt a solution to the problem of creative censorship. We do have a humongous problem with Mr Nihalani, but even if he is removed, who will come in his place? It is the system that needs an overhaul, he said, adding, No doubt, the Cinematograph Act of 1952 is stale and needs a relook. But both Gangs of Wasseypur and Dev D were released under those same guidelines. I fought for Black Friday too. But that felt like a fair fight. This (Udta Punjab) didnt. This time, it was the world that was telling us your film is banned, there are so many cuts Anurag also admitted that in a fight of this nature, there is a tendency for the issue to get politicised. He said that he deliberately did not let any political party/entity get involved in the matter. When (the row) started, no one from Balaji or Phantom was talking to the media, because we just wanted to get our film released. But there were all these stories about so many cuts etc, and we dont know where they were coming from. I did get some calls (from some political parties), but I very vehemently and clearly told them to stay out of it, he said. Anurag refused to be drawn into a discussion about the quality of Pahlaj Nihalanis own films as a producer, and the hypocrisy of his targeting vulgar content in movies as CBFC chief. I have watched Shola Aur Shabnam and Aankhein in college and I enjoyed them. I love Govinda. So I wont sit in judgment. We need to keep our comments to the issue at hand, not the films Nihalani made in the past. In fact, my question would be: unko abhi kya ho gaya hai? said Anurag, with a laugh. Director Abhishek Chaubey asserted that the fight for Udta Punjab wasnt an us vs them one: We were not against anyone; we were for our film. Madhu Mantena and Ekta Kapoor also expressed their gratitude for all the support the film had received, and shrugged off suggestions that the clout of the production houses was what helped Udta Punjab pull through. I think the judiciary in this country works very well, so it wasnt about the producers, said Madhu, while Ekta added, Any fight needs a certain amount of conviction, and some support. We couldnt have done it without the support of the Film and Television Producers Guild of India, the film fraternity, fans and the media. On a final note, Udta Punjabs lead actor Shahid Kapoor exhorted those present not to make any assumptions about the film without first seeing it. We have to stop judging a film after seeing a one-minute promo. Watch the film first... The purpose of our film is humane, he said. I feel extremely fortunate that were sitting here, three days before the films release, celebrating this verdict. It means we have freedom of expression. Yes, sometimes we have to fight for it. But we still have that freedom. Mumbai: Filmmaker Kabir Khan said on Tuesday that the Bombay High Court's verdict clearing Udta Punjab will encourage directors but feels it is about time the government takes the film industry seriously. "Yesterday's (Monday's) High Court verdict is definitely a big step. We did need some intervention, we were looking for some sort of intervention may be from the I&B (Information and Broadcasting) Ministry, that didn't come but the High Court verdict came in," Kabir said. The Bajrangi Bhaijaan helmer was speaking as part of the panel discussion on Soft Power, Hard Influence along with Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup and Saffronart CEO Hugo Weihe. The HC had on Monday ordered the Central Board of Film Certification to certify movie Udta Punjab within 48 hours with just one cut so that its producers can release the film on 17 June. "It is a big step. It is going to embolden filmmakers to be able to take on subjects with the knowledge that if one certification board chief doesn't agree with you, you still have the course to go to the court and get the film out. We should just continue making films which are important and relevant," he added. Kabir said the film industry often gets the feeling that the government takes them in a "frivolous" way while in fact it is a strong influential source across the world. "We in the industry sometimes get the feeling that the government takes us in a very frivolous manner. That this is all about song and dance and 'tamasha'. They need to realise that Bollywood is a very strong influence across the world. We need to recognise that," the Phantom director added. Kabir, who has directed movies like Kabul Express, New York and Ek Tha Tiger, feels directors in the country should be given the freedom to make movies on any subjects they want to. "Filmmakers should have the freedom to make films on any subject. Till yesterday, there was always a little bit of nervousness about what's going to happen with your film. "Unfortunately, a filmmaker can be brave but sometimes the pressure of financiers begins to dilute his vision because closer to the release you can be soft targets. There is money riding on the movie," he added. Mumbai: Censor Board chief Pahlaj Nihalani on Tuesday welcomed the Bombay High Court's verdict that set aside the cuts Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) had suggested, saying the producers had every right to challenge the decision. Nihalani, who was at the centre of the storm surrounding the censorship on the drug-themed movie, said he has always tried to follow the guidelines of the CBFC. "We welcome the court's decision. I congratulate the producers on their win. We stand by the producers. They will obviously go to a place where they can get relief. It's their right," Nihalani told reporters here. The CBFC chairman, who appeared subdued, said the court's judgement should not be seen as a victory or a defeat. "It's not about anyone's victory or defeat. Be it CBFC or Income Tax or any other department, people can appeal a higher authority against the order. This is a democracy and if people don't even have this right then anything can happen," Nihalani said. Nihalani reiterated that the decision taken by him was as per the guidelines of the Cinematograph Act. "I was performing my duty. I will continue to do that as the rules given to us. I don't watch the films. The file reaches me after examining committee watches it. I pass my judgement on the basis of it, like the court passed the judgement by seeing the script," he said. When asked about the comments on social media against him, Nihalani said he would not want to answer to anything personal. Earlier, "Udta Punjab" co-producer Anurag Kashyap hit out at Nihalani, calling him an "oligarch" and a "dictator" for allegedly trying to sabotage the movie's release. Nihalani, in turn, accused Kashyap of taking money from Aam Aadmi Party. Kashyap, who got the support of several filmmakers including Mahesh Bhatt, Karan Johar and Aamir Khan, later moved court against the board's demands for 89 cuts in the movie. The AAP and Congress had earlier accused Punjab's ruling SAD-BJP alliance of exercising its influence to "censor" the movie, a charge denied by the state government. Kashyap had also tried to avoid the politicisation of the controversy, requesting the political parties to stay away from the issue. Ribhu Dasgupta's Te3n, is officially the remake of the 2013 Korean thriller Montage. The story of the Korean thriller by director Geun-seop Jeong is one of the many crime thrillers devoured by the Korean audience. What sets it apart though, is the sudden plot twists that are reminiscent of a Hitchcock film. The plot follows police detective Cheong-ho (Kim Sang kyung) on a very unpleasant mission: its his job to break the news to a mother (Uhm jung hwa) whose child was kidnapped and murdered 15 years ago. The statute of limitations on the crime will expire and the criminal can walk scot-free. But theres a twist in the plot as another girl is kidnapped with the same modus operandi and Cheong-ho leaps into action to try and redeem himself of his past failure at cracking the earlier case. Both the movies have their pros and cons, but Te3n is visually more appealing. Te3n, along with Amitabh, Nawazuddin and Vidya Balan also guest stars Kolkata. Tushar Kanti Ray's cinematography of Kolkata's tiny by lanes, trams and old royal houses showcased in the movie have their own character. Plot-wise, Montage is stronger; the twists and turns are more believable. However, the cinematography of the Korean masterpiece, while slick, and edited superbly, fails to lend character to the story in the same way Kolkata adds magic to Te3n. This is the reason the Indian remake becomes the winner among the two. While Uhm jhung hwa and Kim Sang Kyung play compelling leads, they cannot top Amitabh's role as a grieving grandfather hell bent on getting justice for his dead grand daughter. This might not be Nawazuddin's best performance yet, but the actor stills shines as an escapist cop who turns to religion in order to redeem himself. Still as storyline goes, Montage is brilliant. It's a great story packaged well with a slick lens and seamless edits. But Te3n distinguishes itself from its original with a brilliant cinematography and a well adopted plot. New Delhi: Rejecting demand for giving penal power to telecom regulator Trai, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has said the authority has enough power to protect the interest of consumers. "It is intimated that Trai is empowered by the Trai Act to lay down the standards of quality of service to be provided by the service providers...so as to protect the interest of the consumers of telecommunication service. "Since Trai has wide ranging powers, the need to change the Trai Act is not felt at this juncture," Prasad said in a letter dated June 9 to MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar. There was no immediate reply to query made to the Telecom Ministry over the matter. Chandrasekhar had written to Prasad over net neutrality which included reference to consumer rights in telecom and internet space like privacy, quality of service norms. When contacted, Chandrasekhar told PTI, "Trai has to have broad power to protect consumers. There is need to for legitimate public debate on this. Entire technology sector has changed since the time Trai Act was made. I believe that the regulator must have more power." To check the call drop menace and improve compliance to its rules, Trai has approached the Department of Telecom (DoT) to amend the Trai Act to empower it to impose fine of Rs 10 crore on operators as well jail term of up to two years to company executives for any violation of regulatory framework. The move came after the Supreme Court on 11 May quashed a Trai order which mandated mobile service providers to compensate Re 1 for every call drop with maximum of Rs 3 a day. Telecom operators are lobbying hard against giving penal power to Trai, and has termed such powers as 'draconian'. Telecom Secretary JS Deepak too has said that giving penal power cannot be "one and final solution" to the call drop menace. "I am not sure penal power will be one and final solution to this. In my personal opinion I do not agree that for every call drop a person has to be sent to jail," he had said after a review meeting with telecom operators last week. Most of the mobile service providers have frequently failed in quarterly sample call drop tests conducted by Trai but telecom operators have contested the results saying that they comply with benchmark set by the regulator. Responding to net-neutrality concern raised by Chandrasekhar, Prasad said, "Regarding net neutrality regulation issue, it is intimated that Trai had initiated public consultation on over-the-top service vide its consultation paper which included specific reference to net neutrality." The DoT has sought Trai's recommendations on net neutrality and the regulators recommendation will be taken into account by the department in arriving at final viewpoint on various aspects of net neutrality, he said. At present, disputes between consumers and telecom operators are not taken up by consumer courts as a Supreme Court judgement of 2009 had barred seeking any such relief under the Consumer Protection Act, saying a special remedy is provided under the Indian Telegraph Act. The National Telecom Policy 2012 envisages to undertake legislative measures to bring disputes between consumers and telecom service providers within the jurisdiction of consumer forums established under the Consumer Protection. The Policy envisages "to review the Trai Act with a view to addressing regulatory inadequacies/ impediments in effective discharge of its functions" but government is yet to execute it. On 20 June, 2016, Sahara India head Subrata Roy will wrap up his nationwide tour with a meeting in Jaipur, highlighting his immediate priority: pushing employees to seek investments from people in cooperative society. In these meetings, held across India to install confidence in his beleaguered staff, Roy has driven a single line diktat: I am back, you too get back to work. The cooperative society plan of Sahara India is now the only one Roy has on plate. Though there have been teething issues as to whether a cooperative can offer deals in more than one state. But that issues still remains unresolved. As a result, cooperative companies offer their products across multiple states. There were demands from within Sahara to push the insurance business - the company has a few products on offer - but Roy, claim company insiders, has shown larger interest towards his cooperative plans. "The company has not driven its insurance products vigorously, many policies stand withdrawn. There has been some teething issues with the regulator, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDA) over some of the Sahara products," claim Sahara insiders. Roy was to look afresh with new hopes. He wants to start earning. The Sahara top man, for a little over two weeks, has been travelling in his renovated private jet across India to share his vision statement (read we need to earn to remain in business), portions of which were earlier conveyed from Tihar Jail through his signature notes and a tome. He was lodged in Delhis maximum security prison for a little over two years. Once out, Roy is back in the political circuit but considerably lowered his once flashy profile of meeting politicians and ministers from all parties. He reportedly backed the Rajya Sabha candidature of former Congress minister Kapil Sibal - also his Man Friday in the Supreme Court - and has spent considerable time with Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav. Also backing him was Amar Singh, the once discarded politician who managed to bounce back in mainline politics with a SP Rajya Sabha ticket. Like his political meetings, Roy is playing well below the radar. His friends have told him not to be flashy like before. Roy himself has told visitors who met his at his palatial Sahara City that he is leading a spartan lifestyle ever since he came out of the prison. Very few visitors greeted him on his birthday on 10 June, 2016, unlike previous occasions when the day was celebrated across India and the world (wherever Sahara had offices) with tremendous fanfare. On his itinerary were cities like Delhi, Patna, Hyderabad, Bhubaneswar, Kolkata, where Sahara India employees put up huge hoardings near airport and railway stations to herald the return of Roy, fondly called Saharashri by his colleagues. Sahara employees called for the meetings were granted entry through specially coded cards, their handsets locked by jammers during the three hour plus two way conversations. Roy told his staffers not to hope for miracles and that the road ahead is tough and full of challenges. Your company, which took care of you for so many years, is going through trouble. Work hard to regain lost glory, said Roy. Many responded with Greek-style across-the-chest Sahara pranam, a specialised way of greeting fashioned by Roy. Those who did not believed the Big Bosss new mission, stayed away from the meeting. Among them were a number of employees of Saharas media business in Noida city close to Delhi. They resented against meeting Roy, arguing they first need their salaries to believe in Roys new dream. Many were asked to leave and argue their case in the courts. Sahara insiders claim there has been a significant drop in the number of employees and agents associated with the company because of unpaid salaries and commissions. Some also left after obtaining VRS. But there were occasions where local authorities informed Roy that his presence could cause trouble. In an indoor stadium in Cuttack, where Roy was to meet his employees and agents, authorities imposed restrictions of Section 144 of the CrPC and pushed everyone out of the venue. Cuttack Police Commissioner YB Khurana was quoted by local newspapers as saying the move followed intelligence inputs that people affected by chit fund scams could have created trouble, leading to law and order problem. Roy eventually addressed staffers in Bhubaneswar to avoid any untoward incident. Roy was sent to Tihar Jail in March 2014 for failing to refund money collected from depositors in schemes deemed illegal by Sebi. The market regulator, meanwhile, will e-auction five properties each on 4 and 7 July at a reserve price of nearly Rs 1,200 crore. Thereafter, Sebi will sell another 16 land parcels of Sahara through e-auction on 13 and 15 July at a reserve price of about Rs 1,900 crore. The auctions will take the total fund raising to a little over Rs 3,000 crore. Thereafter, HDFC Realty has been asked to auction a total of 31 land parcels at Rs 2,400 crore, while SBI Cap has been tasked to auction another 30 land properties with an estimated market value of about Rs 4,100 crore. These residential, agricultural and non-agricultural properties are located in Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand. In the din of Sebi's mad rush to raise cash, a crucial point is lost. Sebis Sahara Refund Account has swelled to Rs 11,727 crore with interest, but it has been able to refund just about Rs 55 crore so far to the investors. Will someone ask the market regulator why it failed to locate the investors? New Delhi: Indian companies have remained the most optimistic globally on hiring plans for the fourth consecutive quarter, while China is placed at the bottom within Asia Pacific region, a ManpowerGroup survey showed today. Releasing its third-quarter global hiring outlook survey, the leading staffing consultancy said, "Indian employers report bright hiring prospects for the next three months. "With 37 percent of employers forecasting an increase in staffing levels, 1 percent anticipating a decrease and 49 percent expecting no change, the resulting Net Employment Outlook is over 36 percent." Globally, India is followed by Japan as the second-most optimistic on hiring outlook, while the US is placed fifth. Brazil fares the worst globally as one of the only three countries with a negative outlook, the other two being France and Italy. Within the Asia Pacific region, China has the least optimistic hiring outlook (5 per cent), ManpowerGroup said, while adding that "for the fourth consecutive quarter, employers in India report the most optimistic regional and global hiring plans". Amid uncertainty, global hiring outlook for the July-September quarter of this year showed continued but slowing hiring intentions. Even employers in India reported the weakest outlook since the first quarter of 2014, and reported a decline of 3 percentage points both quarter-over quarter and year-over-year. "India's prospects remain comparatively positive even amid global economic slowdown. Despite market volatilities, India's macroeconomic fundamentals have improved due to a combination of various initiatives focused on job creation and skill development with a continuing emphasis on ease of doing business, particularly in relation to infrastructure and other large projects," ManpowerGroup India Group Managing Director A G Rao said. The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey for the third quarter 2016 was conducted by interviewing a representative sample of 5,100 employers in India. Of the nearly 59,000 employers interviewed globally, 40 of 43 countries and territories anticipate increasing their staffing levels in the July-September quarter. "Stronger employer hiring intentions in most regions is certainly cause for optimism, though global growth is still below pre-recession levels," said Jonas Prising, Chairman & CEO of ManpowerGroup. "The political uncertainty in Europe and the United States means employers are hesitant to significantly add to their workforce, but they do continue to hire at modest levels, and many are still experiencing difficulty finding in-demand skills. Meanwhile, the economic slowdown in China still casts a shadow over its trading partners and an otherwise mostly stable economic situation." New Delhi: Asset base of equity mutual funds (MFs) surged 14 percent to Rs 3.7 lakh crore at the end of May as retail investors poured money into these schemes. The industry's equity assets under management (AUM) were Rs 3.25 lakh crore in May last year, as per the latest data from Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI). In April, the asset base of equity MFs stood at Rs 3.57 lakh crore. Despite over 4 per cent slump in the benchmark BSE Sensex in the last one year, investors pumped in over Rs 75,000 crore into the equity schemes. Retail participation has shown a remarkable resilience to market volatility last fiscal, experts said. In May, equity and equity-linked saving schemes witnessed an infusion of Rs 4,471 crore, highest in six months. This was the highest net inflow since November, when equity mutual funds saw an inflow of Rs 6,379 crore. Market experts attributed the rise in inflow to investment in systematic investment plans (SIPs) and strong participation from retail investors. SIP is an investment vehicle that allows investors to invest in small amounts periodically instead of lump sums. The frequency of investment is usually weekly, monthly or quarterly. Inflow in equity schemes has helped the 43 mutual funds reach overall total of Rs 13.81 lakh crore in AUM at the end of last month, from Rs 12.03 lakh crore till May 2015. MFs are investment vehicles made up of a pool of funds collected from a large number of investors for the purpose of investing in stocks, bonds and money market instruments among others. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) relaxed guidelines on Monday for lenders restructuring large stressed loans, in a move that could allow banks to more effectively manage bad loans. Indian banks are grappling with about $120 billion in stressed loans, or 11.5 percent of the total, and RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has set a deadline of March 2017 for them to clean up the bad loans on their balance sheets. The central bank said late on Monday that lenders would be allowed to carve up stressed loan accounts into two categories. The first is the sustainable debt portion that banks, or a lending syndicate, deem repayable and that the borrower would continue repaying on existing terms. The second is the remainder that a borrower is deemed unable to repay, which can now be converted into equity or convertible debt, giving lenders a chance to eventually recover funds if and when the borrower is able to turn around its business. "This is a welcome move," said B Sriram, Managing Director corporate banking at the State Bank of India. "It gives us another tool for resolution of stressed assets to clean up our books quickly and efficiently." The RBI said the eased restrictions will only be on loans of over 5 billion Indian rupees ($74 million) from a single bank or a syndicate, and in only those instances where a borrower has its project already in commercial operation. Rajan last year undertook a massive overhaul of Indian banks' stressed assets, asking each bank to provision for all assets which could potentially sour by March 2016. This asset quality review not only forced banks to provide massive capital for such loans, but also led to quarterly losses in March for several state-run banks. The latest guidelines are aimed at helping some troubled borrowers restructure and turn around quickly, by easing the interest burden on them, and in turn also speed up the asset recovery process for banks. Mumbai: Beleaguered businessman Vijay Mallya was today declared a proclaimed offender by a special PMLA court here on a plea by the Enforcement Directorate(ED) in connection with its money laundering probe against him in an alleged bank loan default case. "The ED application is allowed and proclamation is issued against Vijay Mallya," ordered Special Judge PR Bhavke. The agency had moved the court to issue an order under Section 82 CrPC and term the liquor baron a proclaimed offender as he has "multiple" arrest warrants pending against him including a non-bailable warrant (NBW) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). According to the ED, there are multiple arrest warrants pending against Mallya in various cases like that of cheque bounce and he is also wanted in a money laundering case. The agency has told the court about the status of investigations in the case and the need to get Mallya join the probe. A person can be termed a proclaimed offender in a criminal case probe if the court has reasons to believe that the accused against whom a warrant of arrest has been issued by it, has absconded or is concealing himself so that such warrant cannot be executed. As per Section 82 of the CrPC, the court can publish a written proclamation requiring such an accused to appear at a specified place and at a specified time in not less than 30 days from the date of publishing of such a proclamation. Officials said that the agency also has the option to seek action under Section 83 of the CrPC (attachment of property of person absconding) if Mallya does not comply with proceedings initiated under Section 82. ED has been wanting Mallya to join investigations "in person" in its PMLA probe against him and others in the Rs 900 crore alleged loan fraud of IDBI bank and has virtually exhausted all legal remedies like seeking an Interpol arrest warrant and getting his passport revoked. It is also seeking to invoke the India-United Kingdom Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) to extradite Mallya from Britain. Mallya had left India on March 2 using his diplomatic passport. The agency has registered a money laundering case against Mallya and others based on an FIR registered last year by the CBI. ED is also investigating financial structure of Kingfisher Airlines and looking into any payment of kickbacks to secure loans. On Saturday, the ED had attached assets worth Rs 1,411 crore of Mallya and one of his companies in connection with its money laundering probe in the bank loan case. It is also seeking to invoke the India-United Kingdom Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) to have him extradited from Britain. At the annual review meeting of the finance minister with heads of public sector banks on 6 May, Arun Jaitley said the government will protect from scrutiny of investigative agencies banks that enter into "commercially prudent" settlements to clean up bad loans. The fact that PSUs have run up more than Rs 4 lakh crore of non-performing assets (NPAs) is a crying indictment of the fact that banks have been anything but "commercially prudent" in lending to big corporates. The recent snafu by Bank of Baroda in freezing the accounts of Manmohan Singh, a Uttar Pradesh farmer, for being a "guarantor" for Vijay Mallyas loan, goes to prove that the imprudence in lending is matched and compounded by the shoddy, casual approach in recovering the same bad loans. This case was dismissed as a technical error by BoB. Firstpost dug deep to understand how this technical error might have occurred. This series of reports, which attempts to give you a peep into why and how these NPAs are created in the first place, will also demonstrate why the finance ministers offer of constitutional protection for banks from commercially prudent settlements should be extended extremely prudently. On to part 3 of the series: In two earlier reports in this series, we told you what happened when Bank of Baroda woke up from its deep slumber in December 2015 and decided to recover the Rs 550 crore it had lent to Vijay Mallya. It froze the account of Manmohan Singh, a Uttar Pradesh farmer with a total bank balance of Rs 5,200 (in two accounts). It also ordered a freeze on the account of Subhash R Gupta, a security guard living in a Mumbai slum redevelopment building. Gupta had all of Rs 93 in his account. How in the heavens were these two persons linked to a corporate loan of Rs 550 crore was, initially, a matter of mystery and, later, much mirth, highlighted by Firstpost in these reports: BoB mistook farmer, security guard for Kingfisher directors! and BoB freezes a/c with Rs 93 in quest for Rs 550 crore. It later turned out that the bank wanted to freeze the accounts of Manmohan Singh Kapur and Subhash R Gupte, two directors on the board of Kingfisher Airlines. Due the similarity of names it ended up going after the UP farmer and the Mumbai security guard! The bank quickly reversed the order attributing it to a technical error. The technical error did not end there. Even after goofing up on UP farmer and the Mumbai security guard, the bank was not done embarrassing itself. Firstpost has now identified a third person whose account was ordered seized by BoB. And, shockingly, or should we say, expectedly by now, he turns out to be another regular account holder who had nothing to do with Kingfisher or Vijay Mallya. He is as far away from the glitz-and-glamour world of Mallya as the the other two. He is a vegetable vendor, hawking his wares from a temporary stall near Khar station in Mumbai. Subhash Ramdulare Guptas accounts, too, were ordered frozen because his name is also similar to that of Subhash R Gupte! Subhash Ramdulare Gupta, stays with his family 13 persons crammed into a 10 x 10 foot room in this chawl in Jawahar Nagar in Khar East, Mumbai. He operates three accounts two fixed deposits and one savings -- with the Khar branch of BoB. He had no clue that his bank had ordered lien on his life's savings without as much as a notice to him. He is bamboozled by all the information we try to give him. Vijay Mallya, Subhash R Gupte, Kingfisher, Rs 550 crore loan, everything is Greek and Latin to him. He only manages to say that he will visit his bank and get clarity. Of course, the bank reversed these orders when it became clear that it had set itself up for ridicule, confusing directors of an airline with a farmer, a security guard and a vegetable vendor. (Gupta has not suffered any financial loss unlike the UP farmer who defaulted on his loan payments because his account was shut down for nearly five months.) The bank wants us to believe that its a simple technical error and move on. But even if we were to believe the bank -- it does seem like a great mix up -- its impossible to move on, without a clear, transparent answer to one basic question: What caused the mix up? Take the case of Subhash Ramdulare Gupta, the vegetable vendor, for example. In the freeze-list put out by the Nariman Point regional office of BoB, Ramdulares name crops up at three places, item nos 6, 7 & 8 (visual below): His name appears thrice (once as Subhash Ramdulare Gupta and twice as Subhash R Gupta) with three different account numbers, meaning the bank had no clue that all the accounts belonged to the same person. This raises the question of how loosely the know-your-customer norms are enforced. Theres an even more fundamental and troubling question. The bank has said it wanted to seize the accounts of Manmohan Singh Kapur and SubhashR Gupte but due to similarity of names it ended up shuttering the wrong accounts. In the case of Manmohan Singh Kapur only the account of Manmohan Singh the farmer was frozen. But in the case of Subhash R Gupte, the accounts held by two persons Subhash R Gupta, the security guard and Subhash Ramdulare Gupta, the vegetable vendor were ordered frozen. The obvious question that stares you in the face is, why? Freezing the account of one of the Guptas can be explained as a technical error. But once the name of Subhash R Gupta, the vegetable vendor, was put on the freeze-list at items 6, 7 & 8, where was the need to then add another Subhash R Gupta, the security guard, at item no 9? That the bank thought that these two Guptas -- technically four because Ramdulare had three accounts -- were Subhash R Gupte, one of the guarantors to a Rs 550 crore loan, is bad enough. But that the bank did not know that these two Guptas were two different persons is appalling. Its a strange situation where the bank had one "defaulter" (Subhash R Gupte) but four persons to penalize! Theres only one explanation to all this confusion at the bank. It was shooting in the dark. All it knew was it had to freeze the accounts of the guarantors to the Kingfisher loan, but it had no freaking idea who they were or how to go about making them accountable for a Rs 550 crore loan to Vijay Mallya. Thats the scary part of this apparent comic act of BoB. As Paulo Coelho has famously said: When you repeat a mistake, it is not a mistake anymore: it is a decision. And these "mistakes" of BoB take us right back to one decision the bank made. The decision to lend Rs 550 crore to Vijay Mallya and the process and procedure followed. More on that in the fourth part of the series coming up soon. Here are the links to the previous parts of the series: Vijay Mallyas loan: BoB mistook farmer, security guard for Kingfisher directors! Vijay Mallya loan part 2: BoB freezes a/c with Rs 93 in quest for Rs 550 crore! CHENNAI, India (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Tamil Nadu has launched a crackdown on factories violating labour laws after two teenage girls scaled a wall to escape from a spinning mill where they were forced to work 12-hour shifts and subjected to abuse, officials said. A women-led trade union, which represent female garment workers in the state, said the girls were found unconscious on Sunday on a highway near the mill where they scaled a 14-foot wall before falling on to thorny bushes. "But because of excessive bleeding they became unconscious and were found two hours later by residents from nearby villagers," the Tamil Nadu Textile and Common Labour Union said in a report. It said the girls were forced to work overtime, banned from contacting family or studying. They were also pushed and shoved as they worked, the report said. A senior local official said an investigation had been ordered into the incident with the state labour department initiating a drive to check working conditions in mills across western Tamil Nadu, a hub for India's $42 billion-a-year textile and clothing export industry. "The district administration will inspect all mills to ensure that the girls are being paid directly and there is no exploitation," the official from the state labour department, said requesting anonymity. Officials at the spinning mill did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Activists said the incident highlights the poor working conditions of textile workers, particularly those trapped in bonded labour - forced to work for little or no money to pay off loans, advances on their salary or recruitment fees. Mills mainly hire young girls, offering 30,000 rupees to 60,000 rupees ($450 to $900) to their families for three years' work under so-called "Sumangali" schemes with the money paid at the end of the fixed term. But former workers say they often do not receive the full amount because of deductions for their food and lodging. A 2014 study into Tamil Nadu's textile industry found workers were also often subjected to low wages, excessive and sometimes forced overtime requirements, lack of freedom of movement as well as verbal and sexual abuse. "Different studies and numerous documented case studies reveal repeated stories of exploitation of the adolescents in various forms in textile sector," said R Paritha, president of the textile union, said in a statement. S James Victor, advisor with the textile union, criticised a lack of progress over working conditions for textile workers. "Nothing is changing," Victor told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "Last week, six children were rescued from a mill in Coimbatore and produced before the child welfare committee. "These cases are making it to the public domain, many more are not." ($1 = 67.1760 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Anuradha Nagaraj, Editing by Katie Nguyen; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking and climate change. Visit www.trust.org) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Raipur: Three District Reserve Group (DRG) personnel were on Tuesday injured in a fierce gunbattle with Maoists in the dense forests of Chhattisgarh's Narayanpur district, police said. The face-off took place during the wee hours in the forest of Kilam Becha village when a joint squad of the state's DRG and local police was carrying out an anti-Naxal operation in the region, Special Director General of Police, Anti-Maoist operations, DM Awasthi told PTI. While they were cordoning-off the forest in Kilam Becha, a group of armed rebels opened indiscriminate fire on them leaving three DRG jawans injured, he said. However, when the security personnel retaliated heavily, the Naxals fled from the spot. Reinforcement was rushed to the spot and the injured jawans were evacuated from the forest. They are being airlifted to Raipur for treatment, Awasthi said. The injured personnel have been identified as sub-inspector Pushpraj Nagwanshi, assistant sub-inspector Awadh Ram Sahu and constable Vinay Singh, police said. Nagwanshi sustained critical injuries in the incident. Police suspect that some Naxals might have also been injured or killed in the gun battle as blood stains were found at the spot, he said. A combing operation has been launched in the region, the police official said. A joint team of security forces from Narayanpur and Kondagaon districts had launched the anti-Naxal operation yesterday in the bordering areas of the districts, located around 400 kms from Raipur. During the operation, exchange of fire between the security personnel and Naxals took place at various places. Besides, a Maoist camp was also unearthed by the security forces in a separate encounter in the district, Awasthi said. Hyderabad: Rattled by the defection of several of their MLAs to the TRS, Congress Legislature Party leader in Telangana Assembly K Jana Reddy on Tuesday alleged that the ruling party is "inducing" opposition legislators. "The TRS government's behaviour is unethical and undemocratic. This (defections) is being done in the guise of development. People hate this experiment for self interests, selfish politics and for temporary gains," Jana Reddy, who is Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, told reporters here. "The way the TRS government and its chief (K Chandrasekhar Rao) is creating, inducing and encouraging these is deplorable. We strongly condemn this," he said. His criticism came in the wake of several Congress MLAs switching loyalty to the TRS. Congress Lok Sabha member from Nalgonda G Sukhender Reddy also announced his decision to join the TRS yesterday. Raipur: As many as 47 Naxals surrendered in insurgency-hit Bastar district on Tuesday citing disappointment with the "hollow" ideology of the outlawed CPI (Maoist). Most of the Ultras are lower-rung cadres and some of them were carrying rewards of varying amounts on their heads. "The rebels, including 15 women, turned themselves in before senior police and administration officials at Jagdalpur district headquarter," Bastar Additional Superintendent of Police, Vijay Pandey told PTI. Of them, Balku Mandavi, who was an active member of Military Company no. 6 of Maoists, was a prominent cadre of the region, the ASP said, adding that Mandavi was carrying a reward of Rs 8 lakh on his head. Besides, Hidme Podiyami, Hidma Madkami and Rani Kawasi, who headed the local frontal outfits of Maoists in the region, were carrying a reward of Rs 1 lakh each on their heads, he added. Rest of the Naxals belonged to different lower-rank squads of the banned outfit, including Jan Militia, Sangham, and Chetna Natya Manch a cultural wing of the Maoists. They all were active in Katekalyan Area Committee of Maoists under the Darbha division, which has been instrumental in executing several deadly Naxal attacks in south Bastar, including the Jiram valley incident in which a string of Congress leaders were killed, the officer said. With this surrender, Katekalyan Area Committee, grappling with the dearth of cadres, has suffered a big blow, the ASP said, dubbing it as a major success for Bastar police. "In their statement, they all expressed disappointment with the empty ideology of the outlawed naxal movement and violence. Moreover, they were also impressed with the provisions of surrender and rehabilitation policy of the state government which compelled them to join the mainstream," the ASP said. They all will be facilitated as per the surrender and rehabilitation policy, he said. "Notably, a total of 340 Naxals and their supporters have surrendered in Bastar district since December last year," Pandey added. Jammu: A day after a militant attack on a CRPF camp was foiled in Kud area of Udhampur district, security across the region was put on high alert. "It was because of the alertness of the security forces that the nefarious designs of terrorists were foiled yesterday," Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police, Jammu-Samba-Kathua range, Ashkoor Wani said on Tuesday. He said in the wake of recent inputs that militants might try to create disturbance from across the border, security across the region has been put on high alert. On Monday evening, a terrorist had opened fire on security personnel and a nearby CRPF camp when vehicles on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway at Kud were being checked. The militant, who was travelling in a State Road Transport Corporation bus, was killed in retaliatory firing by security forces. A woman travelling in the bus also lost her life. "Security is reviewed every week so as to plug any loopholes or whatsoever," Wani said. He said elaborate security arrangements would be made for the upcoming annual Amarnath yatra which will start on 2 July. "The arrangements for the yatra are being reviewed regularly and the security arrangements would be put in place shortly," the DIG said.He said all the vehicles entering Jammu are being checked and all police stations and police posts near the International Border have been asked to remain alert. Additional deployment has been made on all police checkpoints, while the quick reaction teams of police have been asked to remain on standby, he said. Security has also been beefed up at Katra town, the base camp of the holy cave shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi. "Searching of vehicles is going on at all the checkpoints of Reasi district. District police is on high alert," Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Reasi, Sujit Kumar said. Apprehending militant attacks on defence establishments across Jammu region using sub-conventional ways, the government had yesterday imposed restrictions on airborne activities, including paragliding, in the district. The authorities had placed a blanket ban on any airborne activity within the one km radius of any defence establishment in the district. Jammu: A day after a militant attack on a CRPF camp was foiled in Kud area of Udhampur district, security across the region was put on high alert. "It was because of the alertness of the security forces that the nefarious designs of terrorists were foiled yesterday," Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police, Jammu-Samba-Kathua range, Ashkoor Wani said today. He said in the wake of recent inputs that militants might try to create disturbance from across the border, security across the region has been put on high alert. On Monday evening, a terrorist had opened fire on security personnel and a nearby CRPF camp when vehicles on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway at Kud were being checked. The militant, who was travelling in a State Road Transport Corporation bus, was killed in retaliatory firing by security forces. A woman travelling in the bus also lost her life. "Security is reviewed every week so as to plug any loopholes or whatsoever," Wani said. He said elaborate security arrangements would be made for the upcoming annual Amarnath yatra which will start on July 2. "The arrangements for the yatra are being reviewed regularly and the security arrangements would be put in place shortly," the DIG said. He said all the vehicles entering Jammu are being checked and all police stations and police posts near the International Border have been asked to remain alert. Additional deployment has been made on all police checkpoints, while the quick reaction teams of police have been asked to remain on standby, he said. Security has also been beefed up at Katra town, the base camp of the holy cave shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi. "Searching of vehicles is going on at all the checkpoints of Reasi district. District police is on high alert," Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Reasi, Sujit Kumar said. Apprehending militant attacks on defence establishments across Jammu region using sub-conventional ways, the government had yesterday imposed restrictions on airborne activities, including paragliding, in the district. The authorities had placed a blanket ban on any airborne activity within the one km radius of any defence establishment in the district. By Shishir Tripathi New Delhi: Around 300 students have gathered at the administration block of JNU. According to sources in the Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers' Association (JNUTA), the five accused students Umar Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya, Ashutosh Kumar, Anant Prakash Narayan, Riyazul Haq and Rama Naga who appeared Sunday night in the campus, are most likely to surrender. Two days prior, the Delhi police had issued a lookout notice against the five absconders. Students and teachers supporting these five accused are trying to mobilize as much support as possible. Ajay Patnaik, president, JNUTA, said that he has put four demands before the vice-chancellor. They include first, that at no cost the police would be allowed to enter the campus, second that grave charges like sedition and criminal conspiracy should be dropped against the students, third that the universitys internal mechanism should be activated, and an internal inquiry committee should be reconstituted to probe the allegations. And fourth that it should be ensured by the administration that the atmosphere is conducive in a manner that students can freely tell what actually had happened. However, with the police outside the campus, the atmosphere would certainly not be conducive. Shehla Rashid, vice president, Jawaharlal University Students Union (JNUSU), who has submitted a memorandum with the vice-chancellor demanding that he should act like the vice-chancellor of Jadavpur University who did not allow the police enter the campus. She further added that due to various biased coverage by the media, there are some totally absurd allegations against the students and that sedition and other serious charges should be dropped against them. Meanwhile, Umar Khalid and other four accused have been put under tight security, with security guards forming a human chain, not allowing anyone to interact with them. Though there are a substantial number of students present in support of the five students, the numbers are comparatively quite less to when Kanhaiya was arrested. Asif, a final year PhD student, says that the vice-chancellor is trying to shrug off responsibility. Though the students came here last night but the reason for the delay in further course of action has been because of the vice-chancellor, who has left the decision making to JNUSU. Ideally, he should take responsibility as he is the guardian of all students here, but he is rather trying not to intervene in the current situation. Ashutosh Kumar, one of the five accused, while speaking of his innocence said, The way we were branded anti-national and the kind of media trial that had started, there was no option for us than to leave this space. What happened in Patiala house with Kanhaiya had created an atmosphere of great fear and there was no guarantee of a security. When we saw an alternative voice emerging that kind of supported us, we thought of returning. Speaking to Firstpost, two of the accused students, Anant Prakash Narayan and Rama Naga said that they had in fact been in the campus for the past ten days as the controversy raged on. One of the students said, "We have come out in the open as we felt that now there is a more favourable atmosphere. The fact is that we did not raise the slogans as alleged by the police. The videos on which the allegations are based are doctored." Speaking about the possible reasons behind the action against them, Anant Prakash Narayan said, "I am sure that the V-C and the Registrar have taken this action as they feel suffocated because the atmosphere in the campus does not support their ideology." An important question, however, is that where were these five students for ten days. If some of the students, close to these five accused, are to be believed, they (accused) were in Delhi and most probably in the campus itself. Some students even had a view that they were inside the campus and were waiting for the right time for things to turn in their favour and appear again. Ranchi: RJD president Lalu Prasad and two former MPs appeared before a special CBI court in Ranchi on Monday in connection with a fodder scam case, whose hearing would be taken up again on 29 June. Prasad appeared before the court of Shivpal Singh in connection with 38A/96 case pertaining to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 3.31 crore from Dumka treasury in undivided Bihar during the 1990s. Former MPs Jagdish Sharma and RK Rana were among others who also appeared before the court. The court fixed 29 June as the next date as two of the accused petitioned that they could not attend the court due to illness. The CBI has already produced 208 witnesses and several others are to be produced. Altogether 48 people, including former Bihar chief minister Prasad, were made accused in the Dumka treasury case. Fifteen of them have died and two turned government approvers, while two others were acquitted. Prasad was convicted in the RC 20A-96 case relating to Chaibasa treasury on 30 September, 2013. The four-year sentence led to his losing Lok Sabha membership. New Delhi: Ahead of the International Yoga Day on 21 June, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sought the support of all Union ministers and department heads to make yoga a "mass movement" for better physical and mental well being. In a letter to all the ministers, Modi said the International Day of Yoga was a way of making yoga an integral part of our lives. "The International Day of Yoga is not simply an event. It is a way of making yoga an integral part of our lives. It is a means of popularising yoga among the masses, across social strata, in different age groups so that we can enhance our mental and physical well being. It is towards this end that I solicit your support," he said in the letter. "It has been decided to take forward the momentum generated last year with greater and more active participation of all sections of the society, particularly the youth," the letter said. The national event of mass yoga demonstration will be held in Chandigarh on 21 June. Similar events will also be held across the nation and the world. "All our efforts should be made to make it a people's programme by highlighting the benefits of yoga for better physical and mental health and social harmony," the Prime Minister said in the letter. The Ministry of Ayush has designed a common yoga protocol for this event. Modi also enclosed with this letter, a booklet and a DVD on this protocol. He said that along with the mass yoga demonstration at Chandigarh, the Centre aims to organise similar demonstrations at the state, district, block and panchayat levels and each state has been requested to plan its activities in tandem with the national effort. "The state governments have also been requested to encourage the use of locally made yoga mats and apparel, preferably with locally available raw-material to provide employment oppoprtunities to local artisans and small entrepreneurs. Special effors would be made to involve persons with disabilities in all the celebrations. "I request you to provide your support to make yoga a mass movement so that this great heritage can benefit all of us," Modi said. New Delhi: Calling the opposition Congress to heed to "popular opinion", Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Tuesday said there was no rationale behind the party protesting against the Goods and Services Tax. "There is no logical rationale for any of the opposition raised by Congress. Congress concern is more of a political red herring than real substance," he said. Chandrasekhar, who was also the member of the Select Committee which had scrutinised the GST bill, said the state finance ministers in their meeting on Tuesday have voiced their support for the new indirect tax regime and it was time that Congress listened to the popular opinion. "States want GST, businesses want GST, small businesses want GST. It is not for political formation to block its implementation. There are lots of ways in which the issues raised by Congress can be addressed. I am hopeful it will be passed in the monsoon session," he said. Chandrasekhar said the Congress' demand of 18 percent cap in Constitution Amendment bill "will not find any support anywhere" as no government would want to bring in a higher taxation rate. Congress, which first proposed the constitutional amendment in 2006, is demanding capping the overall rate at 18 percent and scrapping an additional one percent tax designed to compensate manufacturing-heavy states that fear losing revenue once the measure is implemented. On the contentious issue of the Constitutional cap on the GST rate, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said: "There is a complete consensus on that, there should not be any such ceiling as exigencies may arise in future. Now it is left to the GST council." Also the Congress has been demanding doing away with the power to levy one percent additional tax by the manufacturing states and also an independent dispute settlement mechanism. The GST bill -- which will help create a single national sales tax to replace several state and central levies -- has already been approved by the Lok Sabha and is pending in the Rajya Sabha where the government doesn't have a majority. Here at the FP Special Forces headquarters, we are acutely aware that the much-awaited monsoon is still buffering for want of a better word. And so, it is with a great deal of anticipation that we brave the searing heat, the withering humidity and dusty... well, dustiness to seek the comfortable confines of our air-conditioned office. via GIPHY You can well imagine our shock and agony when we realised that our trusty (name withheld to protect identity) air-conditioner was on the fritz. After an incredibly requisite not to mention, appropriate expletive-spewing session, it was time to fix the problem at hand. Time, as our swiftly-moistening brows would bear testimony, was of the essence. A quick call to (name withheld to protect identity) customer services resulted in that disturbingly unsettling pre-recorded message: 'Yeh number maujood nahin hai. Kripya number jaanch karke dobaara koshish kijiye. The number you have dialled does not exist. Please check the number you have dialled and try again'. A quick rummage through the official documents drawer yielded an address for the service centre. Thirty-four uncomfortable minutes later, our special envoy who would probably be considered an intern at other organisations; not at FP Special Forces, mind you returned from a quick Google Maps-aided visit to said service centre. "Sir, the service centre doesn't exist," he said mournfully. Words seemed inadequate to describe the melange of anguish, frustration, rage and trauma that consumed the team, especially FP Special Forces' director of investigation (DoI), who was bristling for a reason beyond the obvious. He set about admonishing the aforementioned special envoy and reminding him that as per the Constitution of India a tome we've considered a holy book long before Prime Minister Narendra Modi dubbed it so and more specifically, Article 18(2), 'No citizen of India shall accept any title from any foreign state'. "As you are well aware, we have turned down each and every invitation that came our way from Buckingham Palace imploring us to accept a knighthood," the DoI proclaimed, glowing with pride. "How many invitations did you receive, S-...?" asked the special envoy hesitantly. "That's irrelevant," the DoI fired back, "Now what about the air-conditioner?" It was then that it was decided that the message to (name withheld to protect identity) expressing our collective disdain would have to be delivered from the pulpit of this publication. The idea was flawless. After all, putting our personal vendetta into a reputable publication would be a fantastic way to not just legitimise it, but to also get instant results. High-fives were exchanged as we recalled the precedent set by Jasleen Kaur. Yes, this idea was going to be more than bulletproof. It would be unbreakable, like a super-reinforced wall! No! It would be like a series of walls, each more impenetrable than the previous. Off to the editor we went. "No, man," he said and quickly looked away. via GIPHY And then came a series of calls (we won't bore you with the details) to corporators, NGOs, MLAs, MPs and even the CRPF's Rapid Action Force. All of which came to naught. The time had come to unleash India's most powerful weapon, the country's answer to the Ghostbusters, the sharpest thorn in the flesh of negligent and abusive employers the world over: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. And besides, she's been known to sort out all sorts of problems. It did cross our mind, albeit briefly, to consult Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh instead. After all, this was more of a home issue than an external one. But that thought was quickly dismissed when we saw this: This guy clearly had the right idea, we reasoned and set about writing crafting a heartfelt tweet that would bring our external affairs minister rushing to our rescue. And that's when our special envoy pointed this out to us: Brother I cannot help you in matters of a Refrigerator. I am very busy with human beings in distress. https://t.co/cpC5cWBPcz Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) June 13, 2016 via GIPHY After that searing burn, we decided to buy a new air-conditioner. Thanks a lot, Madam Minister(!) New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to accord an urgent hearing to a plea seeking release of male and female patients who are fit for discharge from a mental hospital in Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh. A vacation bench of Justices Adarsh Kumar Goel and L Nageswara Rao said there was no urgency and the matter could be taken up after the summer break of the apex court this month end. During the hearing, the bench also asked petitioner advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal why he had not approached the High Court in this regard. Bansal said he had approached the apex court as there were around 60 patients in Mental Hospital, Bareilly, who are normal and fit for discharge, and among them were several who were from different states including Kerala. The bench listed the matter for hearing after summer vacation which ends on 28 June. In his plea, the petitioner said he had filed applications under Right to Information Act in three mental hospitals of Uttar Pradesh seeking information about the patients who are normal and fit for discharge. He claimed to have taken legal interviews of some of the patients admitted in the Bareilly hospital and found these persons to be as normal as other human beings and wished to live free. "That this court in its various judgments had observed that the Right to Life includes 'right to live with dignity' and in the present case the patients who are absolutely normal are forced to live with the mentally ill persons since last many years and hence their fundamental rights are infringed by the Respondents," the plea said. It said that the "inability of the government to provide social security to such persons is also questionable and thus needs urgent intervention from this court." The plea said the living conditions of female and male patients who were absolutely normal, along with the mentally ill patients, was "totally unsatisfactory", "unethical" and "unconstitutional" and infringed the fundamental rights of the individual. It sought direction to the Uttar Pradesh government and the hospitals to make arrangements to shift the patients who are normal and fit for discharge from the hospital to any other secure place like old age homes. New Delhi: Weeding out ghost beneficiaries would help save the exchequer to the tune of Rs 1 lakh crore annually by linking pension, subsidy and scholarship to Jan Dhan Yojna and Aadhar, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday said. "If bogus claims are removed from scholarships, pension, subsidies, ration cards and other schemes and these are linked to Jan Dhan Yojna and Aadhar, it will result in savings of Rs 1 lakh crore to the exchequer," the Road Transport and Highways Minister said at an event. The government is trying to stamp out bogus beneficiaries, given instances of fake claims in scholarships, pension, gas subsidies and other such schemes. He regretted that "cylinders are diverted to restaurants and five-star hotels" under gas subsidy. Bank accounts in Jan Dhan Yojna, according to the minister, have swelled to 21.80 crore, from a meagre 3.5 crore, and these should be linked to all subsidies and benefits. Citing an example, he said the Shipping Ministry recently issued a directive asking for linkage of all pension accounts in ports to Jan Dhan Yojna. Terming the results as "astounding", Gadkari said "only 82 per cent people in Kolkata port took pension and 18 per cent did not turn up. It was found that fake claims were done in the name of people whose ages were shown as 103 years and 104 years. You can imagine what must be happening." In some cases, family members of beneficiaries aged over 110 years were found to be drawing money on their behalf, the minister added. Besides, 4,000 beneficiaries have not been able to submit their "life certificates" to banks. Peshawar: Abandoned by family and mocked by their society, the life of a Pakistani transgender is lonely. It can even be deadly. Alisha was just 23 years old when she was shot five times last month, allegedly by a boyfriend who has since been arrested. She died of her wounds three days later. Her friends say she was neglected by doctors and medical professionals who taunted her, rather than treated her, and that three hours passed before Alisha went into surgery after arriving at the hospital. As she lay bleeding, the hospital's health workers crowded around her, making jokes and ridiculing her, said her friend Paro, herself transgender. "I shouted: 'She is not dancing. She is dying. For God and the Prophet's sake leave her alone, let her breathe," Paro recalled, her voice rising as she remembered pushing the crowd away. Farzana, another friend, said the hospital shuffled Alisha from ward to ward. First they sent her to the male ward, but the other patients and family members ordered her out. She was shunted then to the female ward, but she wasn't welcome there either, said Farzana, who heads an organization devoted to fighting for the rights of transgender people in Pakistan's conservative northwest. As outcasts, Pakistan's transgender people are often forced into begging, dancing and even prostitution to earn money. They also live in fear of attacks, causing most to either change their names or use only one name to give them anonymity in their society. Paro and Farzana have both changed their names, as had Alisha, abandoning their male names with their gender. The Pakistani Supreme Court has designated transgender people as a third gender, which under law should afford them protection but in practice, Kamran Arif, vice president of the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, said transgender people bear the brunt of some of the worst discrimination. They are sexually abused, assaulted and even murdered. He said Pakistan has become increasingly intolerant. He blamed the growing intolerance on a proliferation of madrassas or religious schools that propagate a strict Wahabi sect of Islam, like that practiced in Saudi Arabia. Many of these religious schools get some funding from Saudi Arabia as well. "They have produced an army of young men with very intolerant views," said Arif. Sediqque Mir Mateen, the father of an American of Afghan origin who gunned down 50 people at a Florida gay nightclub Sunday, said his son was enraged after seeing two men kissing, suggesting that might have been why he chose to attack a gay club. Before carrying out the deadly attack, Omar Mateen also announced his allegiance to the Islamic State group, which follows the same strict Wahabi belief that reviles the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Community as abhorrent to Islam, allowing them to justify their attacks. So far this year in northwestern Pakistan alone, there have been five attacks against transgender people. According to members of the community, 45 have been killed in the last two years in the northwest province of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa, of which Peshawar is the capital. "I am very scared about being publicly visible," says Mani, another transgender, who rarely mixes with anyone but close friends who are either supporters or transgender themselves. Mani tells of growing up as a girl in Pakistan's central Punjab province, never feeling in his heart like a girl. He would dress and act as a boy. He avoided family weddings so he wouldn't have to dress in fancy clothes, and strapped his chest, desperate to hide any evidence that he was a girl. One day he saw a program on television about a sex change operation. He was surprised. He never thought it possible and blurted out in front of his family: "I will change my sex too when I have enough money." His mother scolded Mani, telling him that the body assigned by God was unchangeable. He left home. Everyone but his mother has stopped speaking to him "but still she doesn't support my transition," he told The Associated Press. Now 31, Mani is saving money and crowd funding on Facebook to raise $5,000, the cost of a double mastectomy in Pakistan. He has begun the long and potentially dangerous journey to becoming a man the medicines, endless rounds of blood tests, and regular visits to a psychiatrist. Mani freely discusses the emotional road he has travelled since childhood. But he is reluctant to say anything that will identify him fearful, he told the AP, of violent attacks by Islamic militants who revile transgender people as against their version of the tenets of Islam. He uses only the name Mani. "In Pakistan, very few people are aware that there are transgender men as well, not only transgender women, so people consider us like tom-boy girls," said Mani. While that might afford some safety in a child's early years, Mani says a woman trying to live as a man in Pakistani society is vulnerable to violence because "the men of the society will not tolerate a woman who behaves and acts like a man." Sitting in a small cement box of a room at the top of steep gray cement stairs, Paro wipes the sweat from her face, taking with it her carefully applied make-up. Her hair is long and pulled back from her face. The home she lives in with Farzana is protected by a camera that pokes out from over the outside door, which is bolted from within. Located in Peshawar's old city, it is hidden in the back of a sewer lined street. Paro and Farzana mourn Alisha, and seek justice for her death. The hospital has ordered an inquiry; the hospital administrator, a retired army colonel named Dr. Hamid Saeed Haq, promised to punish the culprits, acknowledging in an interview that it seems mistakes were made. But he neither identified the mistakes nor assigned blame. "The whole society was responsible for her death," said Farzana. In recent years and in several areas of the country, transgender people have begun to organize, occasionally demonstrating despite violent responses. Paro and Farzana both want to be recognized as women but say that's not possible in Pakistan. "In the outside world we are called she-men because no one will ever call us female," said Farzana. It is no small matter, she said. "The basic thing that matters," she said, "is our soul." Panaji: Aam Aadmi Party on Tuesday joined the chorus in criticising Goa Chief Minister over reinstatement of his brother-in-law Dilip Malvankar despite graft charges against him, terming the development as "murder of law". Malvankar, a senior officer at state-run Goa Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC), was suspended in August 2015, after the Anti-Corruption Bureau caught him red-handed while accepting bribe. "This is a slap in the face of the people of Goa who voted the BJP on its promise of zero tolerance to corruption. The AAP will not allow this daylight murder of the rule of the law," State AAP unit said in a letter written to Parsekar. Accusing the CM of "protecting" Malvankar, AAP said "We hereby give seven days time to explain why your brother-in-law has not suffered any consequences of his corrupt actions, failing which, please be prepared to suffer the consequence of your actions which are blatantly protecting your relative". Parsekar was not available for comment. The Congress and Goa Forward have already attacked the government for "going back" on its pre-poll promise of adopting zero tolerance for corruption. AAP stated that Malvankar was caught red-handed by ACB while accepting a bribe of Rs one lakh to allot a plot in Tuem Industrial Estate on 19 August, 2015. "....On August 20, you (CM) assured the people of Goa that you would not interfere in the probe and your relatives were also bound by the law. However, on October 30, 2015, you (CM) transferred police inspector Nolasco Raposo, one of the officials involved in the raid on your brother in law. Further, superintendent of police (ACB) Bosco George was also shunted out weeks later," AAP claimed in the letter. The party termed reinstatement of Malvankar as the "most shocking development of all". Congress, NCP and newly-formed Goa Forward had threatened to petition Governor Mridula Sinha seeking her intervention in the matter. A senior officer attached to the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) yesterday said that Parsekar had no role in the reinstatement. "The Chief Minister has already clarified in the past that he was not interfering in the investigation of the case. He was not involved in the reinstatement," he had said. Bhaagsar: Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Tuesday accused Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi of carrying forward his family's "notorious legacy of anti-Punjabism and anti-Sikhism". On the sidelines of his Sangat Darshan programme in Malout Assembly constituency here, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader said, right from late Prime Minister Indira to Rahul, the entire Gandhi family has treated Punjabis in general and Sikhs in particular as their "bitter enemies". Reminding the people of the "hostile attitude" of the Gandhi family and Congress towards Punjab and its people, Badal said, successive Congress governments at the Centre have "tormented the psyche" of Sikhs by unnecessarily meddling in their social, economic, political and even religious affairs. He said no Punjabi could ever forgive Congress for launching an attack on Darbar Sahib and for the "inhuman butchering" of thousands of innocent Sikhs in 1984. The Chief Minister said, the young Gandhi scion was following in the footsteps of his ancestors by defaming hard-working Punjabis as "drug addicts". Badal added that Rahul Gandhi has inherited the "anti-Punjab and anti-Sikh" stance from his family which enjoys the dubious distinction of depriving the state of its capital, legitimate share in river waters and Punjabi-speaking areas. "Punjab has suffered a lot due to the indifferent attitude of the Gandhi family and Rahul is carrying forward the tradition by labelling Punjabis as drug addicts," he said. The Chief Minister took a jibe at the Congress saying that the party has no "magic wand" with which the drug menace could be eliminated, adding that the state government was leaving no stone unturned to make Punjab a drug-free state. Badal claimed that not even an ounce of drugs was produced in the state but it was being defamed simply because it was fighting the nation's war against this evil. He said several other parts of the country also had to deal with the drug problem but, unfortunately, forces inimical to Punjab were "hell bent on defaming it". He reiterated his earlier stance that Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) were "hobnobbing with each other" to snatch the legitimate share of Punjab's water. Badal said while Congress had in the past signed various agreements to deprive the state of its legitimate share of river water, AAP was now trying its level best to ensure that these agreements were implemented at the earliest. The Chief Minister alleged it was a known fact that both these parties were hell bent on turning the state into a desert by depriving it of water. Palakkad: Six BJP workers were arrested on Tuesday in connection with a series of post poll clashes between CPI(M)-BJP activists at Nellayi in Palakkad on Saturday, police said. They said the arrests were made after a raid near Vallapuzha railway gate in Palakkad early on Tuesday morning. Tension has been prevailing in the region for some time between the party workers after results of the 16 May Assembly results were out. The clashes had begun last week when a CPM activist was attacked by a group of BJP workers. A library building was vandalised and several vehicles damaged in the attack, police said, adding a number of minor incidents of clashes had occurred in the region soon after. The clashes had gained media attention after CPIM leader and Shornur MLA PK Sasi publicly admonished a police official over the recurring political violence in the region, kicking up a storm. The MLA had alleged that police was extending support to RSS activists and not showing interest in booking the culprits. The video, showing the MLA warning the police publically, had gone viral and triggered widespread protests, prompting him to tender an apology on Tuesday. New Delhi: Scores of BJP workers on Monday staged a protest outside Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's residence in New Delhi, demanding his resignation over the alleged auto-rickshaw permit scam. Holding Kejriwal and Transport Minister Gopal Rai accountable for the scam, the demonstrators led by BJP's Delhi unit chief Satish Upadhyay demanded their resignations. Addressing the demonstrators, Upadhyay said that Delhi's auto-rickshaw drivers, who gave full respect and support to Kejriwal, today feel cheated. "It hurts to know that Kejriwal government robbed the permits from the actual auto drivers and gave them to the auto mafia," he charged. Upadhyay said people have lost faith in this Government and BJP demands the resignation of Kejriwal and Rai. The protestors raised slogans like "Kejriwal Sharm Karo Auto Walo Ne Maan Diya, Samman Diya Tumne Unko Bhi Dhokha Diya." Delhi government on Saturday had scrapped more than 900 auto-rickshaw permits in Delhi after alleged irregularities in their allotment. It had also suspended three transport department officials over alleged corruption in issuing fresh Letters of Intents (LOIs) for three-wheelers. "We have requested LG Najeeb Jung to seek a report from the transport department on the issue and the investigation should be handed over to the Anti-Corruption Branch," Upadhyay said. PTI Winning Uttar Pradesh is the biggest challenge that the BJP is facing after its spectacular performance in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Riding on a huge Modi wave, it had bagged 71 of the 80 seats in the Lok Sabha elections. However, there is no certainty that it will be able to replicate this historic victory in the 2017 Assembly elections, especially after its experience in Delhi and Bihar. In Delhi, it had won all the seven Lok Sabha seats, but lost most of its steam in a span of 10 months. It faced a most humiliating defeat when it got only three seats in an Assembly of 70 members. In Bihar too, its performance was nothing to write home about. Yet, as the deliberations at the two-day national executive meet held at Allahabad show, the party has decided to continue with its two-pronged poll strategy and the division of labour between Prime Minster Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah. While Modi will chant his vikas (develoment) mantra, Shah will focus on the contentious and emotional identity issues that have the potential for communal polarisation. Which of these two prongs will acquire greater importance will become clear only as the poll campaign unfolds and gains momentum. The BJP enjoys an advantage in UP. In contrast to Bihar, where such implacable political foes as Lalu Prasad Yadav and Nitish Kumar buried the hatchet and formed an alliance, it faces a fragmented Opposition in UP. By no stretch of imagination, one can think of an alliance between the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party the two main contenders for power. Only Congress, Rashtriya Lok Dal and the ineffectual Left can come together. And, even if they join hands, the combine does not look very formidable as of now. But it may acquire some muscle if the BJP strategy fails to deliver. When assembly elections take place in UP next year, the Modi government would have completed nearly three years at the Centre and the voters would have formed some opinion about its commitment to deliver on poll promises. The youth that had got tremendously enthused and energised by the hope that new jobs would be created, if Modi were voted to power would have some idea about his sincerity. So far, as the prices of essential commodities are concerned, the unanimous verdict goes against his government. In all likelihood, the talk of development will not be able to entice voters. Modis attack on corruption too had a hollow ring. He said Mayawati and Mulayam Singh took turns to loot the state for five years and did not act against the other's corruption when in power. He perhaps forgot that the CBI and Enforcement Directorate work under the Centre and it was indeed he who had failed to initiate any action against either of them in the past two years. Moreover, the UP electorate cannot be entirely unaware of what has been happening in the Vyapam case in Madhya Pradesh. In any case, the ideological agenda of the BJP is also making its presence felt more and more with each passing day. Even at Allahabad, the political resolution adopted by the national executive talks of the BJP as the party of Bharat of present as well as Bharat of future. Here, it must be noted that instead of India, Bharat has been used in the resolution drafted in English. This conforms to the current mood in the BJP that the time has come to put into practice its core ideological beliefs. As the speech of party president Amit Shah focused on Mathura and Kairana, it became clear that the communally divisive campaigns that began with Love Jihad it paid dividends by stoking communal fires in Muzaffarnagar ghar vapasi and beef eating will be intensified with Kairana being projected as the new flash point and a fiercely-contested exodus of the Hindus becoming the new poll plank to revive the old theme of Hindus are not safe in their own country. Needless to say that these campaign will have a strong impact on the Muslims. The Samajwadi Party is a silent supporter of this dangerous game. However, its hope of getting the Muslim vote might crash as the Muslims might look for a more credible alternative. This alternative can come from either Bahujan Samaj Party or the Congress-RLD combine. If the Congress is really making serious effort to woo its Brahmin base back and if it succeeds in this effort, it will have a good chance to give the BJP the run for its money despite its organisational weakness. While the two main players SP and BSP have clear chief ministerial candidates, the BJP and Congress are yet to announce. Modi praised the governments of Kalyan Singh and Rajnath Singh for their good work, but as of now the BJP has not declared its chief minister candidate. If Rahul Gandhi or Priyanka join the fray, it might think of Varun Gandhi. However, all this remains in the realm of speculation. The Allahabad session of the BJP national executive further reinforced the impression that the BJP has virtually become a one-man party. Never before in its history, or in the history of its previous incarnation as Bharatiya Jan Sangh, has one man dominated it so completely and a personality cult has been so consciously and assiduously created. This is enough to make any man megalomaniac, and when that man is Narendra Modi, nothing can be predicted. Bill Clark/CQ Roll Cal(WASHINGTON) -- House Speaker Paul Ryan stood by his criticism of Donald Trumps proposed ban on Muslim immigration Tuesday, saying it was against the countrys interests. I stand by remarks, Ryan said Tuesday in a news conference at the Republican National Committee. I do not think a Muslim ban is in our country's interest. I do not think it is reflective of our principles. The Wisconsin Republican, referencing the House GOP's election-year national security agenda and the House's vote last year on a proposal to pause Syrian refugee resettlement in the United States, said the "smarter way to go is to have a security test and not a religious test." This is a war with radical Islam. It's not a war with Islam. Muslims are our partners. The vast, vast majority of Muslims around this country and around the world are moderate. They're peaceful, they're tolerant, he said. Ryan endorsed Trump roughly two weeks ago, but has been critical of the likely Republican nominee, including Trump's recent comments about a federal judge of Mexican descent. On Monday, Trump doubled down on his proposed Muslim immigration ban after the Orlando terror attack. Omar Mateen, the gunman who killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida Sunday morning, was born in New York to Afghan immigrants. In a speech in New Hampshire Monday, Trump called for a ban on immigration from "areas of the world where there is a proven history of terrorism," and suggested he could do so as president without consulting Congress. Ryan, who has been at loggerheads with the administration over President Obama's immigration executive actions, said Trump's comments raise "a question about immigration law," but did not say if he would support changing immigration laws unilaterally. ABC Breaking News | Latest News Videos Copyright 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Congress party off late has witnessed an exodus of some of its regional satraps, who have left the grand old party of India to either join other parties or form a new one. The party that once enjoyed majority status inside and outside the Parliament, has now been pushed to a corner. In the recently held Assembly elections in five states, the Congress won only in one. Is the Congress party on the verge of decline? According to former RSS-BJP ideologue, KN Govindacharya, the Congress party has got weakened because it has failed in radicalising its cadre due to incapable leadership. It has to make itself relevant to present situation and needs, rather than harping on its past role in the freedom movement alone, and it should be free from undemocratic, personality-centered, dynastic and family-based concept of functioning. A keen political observer and thinker, Govindacharya speaks at length on various issues related to the partys present and future in this interview with Firstpost. Here are a few excerpts: The Congress party is losing one state after another, and the regional satraps are raising a red flag against the high command and leaving the party either to join other parties or float a new one and target the space that was occupied by Congress. Does this signal an end of the grand old party of India? There is no doubt that over the years the Congress party has got weakened. Because of incapable leadership, the party has failed in radicalising its cadre. For how long will the party continue harping on its role in the freedom movement? Over the last two decades, there hasn't been any commendable achievement on its part; rather there has been an increase in corruption and decline in its credibility. Regarding frustration amongst regional satraps, I was told by a Congress leader that there had been no organisational elections. The party has promoted 'dealers and touts' instead of leaders. In-house talents hardly ever got promoted. The party on various occasions failed to encash opportunities to nail down opponents including the BJP in the latter's weak moments. This has severely demotivated the workers at the grassroots level. Instead of focussing on movement, the party has remained limited to electoral mechanism. No doubt a gradual decline has been taking in the party due erosion of values and ideology. If it is so, when do you think in Independent India's history was the right time for the Congress to have re-invented itself, instead of waiting until now for the calamity to fall? Broadly, till 1930, the party worked with a mission; but after that it started deviating from its core ideology. In 1969, Indira Gandhi created a split in the Congress. From idealism and ideology, the party's organisation became a power-centric one. The democratic set up and opportunity for dialogues within the party had been missing. There were no lofty ideals before the party and it was moving on a dynamic inertia. Once Sanjay Gandhi had said that Congress Seva Dal and Youth Congress cadres should consolidate and function like the cadre of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). To this, RSS chief Balasaheb Deoras had asked whether the Congress could work without power but with a sense of mission. Indira Gandhi despite being an out-and-out politician, who made Congress a personality-based and power-centric party, had vision and emotional nationalism. Rajiv Gandhi tried to contribute by making the party 'Safari Congress' from 'Khadi Congress'. However, Sanjay Gandhi brought in people with no credibility, which was damaging. Gradually, the Congress party became bereft of the sense of mission, vision, ownership and team effort. Gradually, the party in its functioning got transformed from a broad-based party to a family party, as it's visible right now. The Congress should have re-invented itself much earlier, instead of waiting for a washout. Many splinters tore off from the Congress fold even in the past. Had they stayed on, such as members of the Indian National Congress (Urs), Nationalistic Congress Party (NCP) or Trinamool Congress (TMC), would the fate of the party have been different? The regional leaders catered to regional sentiments that concretised into issues. But due to lack of democratic functioning in Congress, where power acts as a glue, the regional satraps failed to function. They had to go, as they had no option. It was inevitable. It's been more than a decade since Rahul Gandhi has been stated to be the next Congress president, eventually by default meaning that he would be the next PM too in case Congress ever comes back to power at the Centre. Do you think this factor along with his personality whos seen more as a product of dynastic politics and less a go-getter, have miffed many regional heavy-weight leaders and contributed to Congress decline? The Congress high command is unable to take decision on whether Rahul Gandhi should be elevated as party president. There is no tangible, better alternative before the party. This is causing utter confusion amongst the party workers. The new leadership, besides the heritage factor of Congress, has to be identified with the values and issues. Unfortunately, this is lacking. Mahatma Gandhi wanted to dissolve the Congress party. Given the present situation, do you think it should have been done? Gandhi said it immediately after India got Independence. As per my assessment, he wanted that with the departure of the British (Angrez), the attitude (Angreziyat) should be done away with. Probably, he meant that the power handlers within the Congress should form a separate party, as the Congress was known as a social organisation involved in the freedom movement. Like Italian general, politician and nationalist Giuseppe Garibaldi, who successfully led his country to many military expeditions, instead of ruling Italy himself left the task of rebuilding the nation on others. Gandhi also expressed dissent on several issues like non-inclusion of Panchayat in the Constitution. Gradually, Gandhi's fear came true. Given the present condition of the Congress, do you think is it possible for the BJP to realise Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dream of making a Congress-free India (Congress Mukt-Bharat)? Instead of making speculations, this issue is better left on time. In a tree, old leaves get replaced by the newer ones. Similarly a country is also a living entity and a nation is the ultimate. Let the destiny prevail. What according to you the Congress should have done or do to salvage itself from the cliff of ultimate decline? The Congress party should be free from dynastic and family-based concept of functioning. It has to make itself relevant to present situation and needs. Focus should be on strengthening of organisational structure by infusing new leadership. But the change should be voluntary without tension, so that the transition is smooth and amicable. The old leaders instead of creating resistance should help, guide and support the new leadership on one hand, and on the other, the new ones should respect the old order. New Delhi, Jun 14 (PTI) Congress on Tuesday said it was all for the passage of the long-pending GST bill if concerns of the party and some others are addressed ahead of Monsoon session of Parliament. Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters that the party does not want to make it a major issue if the government agreed to the amendments sought by it and some other parties. "If government satisfies Congress and other parties which have sought amendments, then there is no problem. To speak about it now is premature as the Monsoon session is one-and-a-half months away," he said. The government had targeted to roll out the nationwide single tax regime from 1 April, but the Constitutional Amendment Bill on GST has been stuck in the Rajya Sabha due to opposition by Congress. Azad's remarks came on a day when Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in Kolkata that virtually all states have supported the idea of GST except Tamil Nadu which has "some reservations." He said, however, there was "no deadline as such" for the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax which aims to subsume a string of state and central level levies. A war of words broke out Monday over alleged migration of Hindus from Kairana in Uttar Pradesh with BJP saying it is not good for democracy and that a party team will be sent to probe the "sensitive" issue, prompting Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav to accuse the saffron leaders of resorting to lies. As political temperatures rose over the alleged exodus of Hindus from Kairana village in Shamli district in western UP ahead of elections due in the state next year, the BJP promised "proper action" after the completion of the probe. Shamli district had witnessed communal riots in 2013. BJP MLA from Kairana Hukum Singh has alleged that 346 families have been forced to flee the town, which has 85 percent of Muslim population. Shamli District Magistrate asked the SDM and Circle Officer to probe into the allegations that "jihadi elements" had forced migration of Hindus from there, IG (Law and Order) HR Sharma told reporters. They have been asked to verify the list of 346 families handed over by the local MP who have allegedly migrated, he said. The state government's action came after VHP joint general secretary Surendra Jain's on Monday said, "Jihadis are being encouraged to carry out their activities... VHP calls upon the state government to rein in jihadi elements who are responsible for this exodus and tighten law and order in the state." A day after BJP chief Amit Shah expressed serious concern over the "migration", senior BJP leader and Union minister Nitin Gadkari said his party has taken up the issue with all seriousness. "Party President has set up a committee, which will go there and study the situation. Such a migration is not good for democracy. The party is sensitive about it and proper steps will be taken after the report comes," Gadkari told reporters on the second day of BJP National Executive meeting in Allahabad. The seven-member committee comprises four MPs and three leaders from UP. Shah, in his address to the National Executive on Monday, had said, "The migration happening in Kairana due to violence is a matter of serious concern. There is an atmosphere of violence. The lack of development and the lack of governance in the largest state of India, that is Uttar Pradesh, is becoming a matter of serious concern." But according to an Indian Express investigation, which tracked down 22 people who figure in Singhs list, five had died, four had moved out of Kairana looking for better opportunities, 10 left more than 10 years ago, three had moved fearing local criminals. Out of 118 names submitted by the UP police and the Shamli district administration, who are checking on names in Singhs list, found similar patterns: five dead, 12 still present, 46 moved out since 2011, 55 moved out at least 6-11 years ago, according to The Indian Express report. Shamli DM Sujeet Kumar said they could not just go by "the word of one person", reports The Times of India. He added that, "It is unlikely that such a massive exodus could have taken place. If mass movement on such a scale had taken place, we would have got to know about it." According to the TOI report, it's not just Hindus who have migrated from Muslim-dominated areas, but vice-versa. Mass movement of families happening across religious lines is leading to ghettoization in the region. Akhilesh Yadav on Monday accused the BJP leaders of being "dishonest" and "lying" on the issue and said he would like to see "better work" from the party. "The BJP is alleging that the Samajawadi Party Government forced the people flee from Kairana... BJP can be dishonest to this extent," Yadav told reporters in Mathura. He also claimed that most of the people left the village about 10 to 15 years back while others left in search of jobs about seven or eight years back. "A house to house search shows the lie of BJP," Yadav said. Taking a dig at the BJP, which is seeking to wrest power from the SP in the state, Yadav said he would like to see "better" work from the BJP. "I want them to show some work. They should come and say that they distributed laptops to the people and not only talk about digital India," he added. Gadkari, a former BJP President, parried a question about the Samajwadi Party(SP) government's assertion that many Hindus had migrated from Kairana long back and some of them are now already dead, saying the BJP President has already reacted to this matter. "The party is sensitive on this issue and will take proper action," was his repeated refrain. With inputs from PTI Back from the high decibel National Executive Meet in Allahabad, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is ready to host Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, who arrived in Delhi on Tuesday. This is her first visit to Delhi after AIADMK's landslide victory in the recently held Tamil Nadu Assembly elections. Her last visit to Delhi was in 2014 when the NDA government came to power. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa arrives in New Delhi pic.twitter.com/ZuTGXMR9vD ANI (@ANI_news) June 14, 2016 CM J Jayalalithaa arrives at Tamil Nadu Bhavan in New Delhi pic.twitter.com/IHyPtXEiN1 ANI (@ANI_news) June 14, 2016 Delhi: Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa meets PM Narendra Modi pic.twitter.com/awsG5hGEMo ANI (@ANI_news) June 14, 2016 Jayalalithaa met the Prime Minister at 7 Race Course Road and submitted a 94-page memorandum. Development and welfare funds for tackling natural disasters and calamities, formation of Cauvery Management Board and the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee for the implementation of the final order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal and Mullaperiyar issue, and arrests of Tamil Nadu fishermen by Sri Lankan navy are part of the agenda. Discussions on AIADMK's support in the Rajya Sabha for key legislative business where it has 13 members and Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill were on the cards. In the memorandum, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister has said that the Centre should accept AIADMK's amendments to GST Bill and Tamil should be made one of the official languages. Centre should accept AIADMK's amendments to GST Bill: Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalithaa in the memorandum to PM Modi ANI (@ANI_news) June 14, 2016 Tamil should be made one of the official languages,Cauvery Management Board should be formed among other demands in the memorandum:AIADMK ANI (@ANI_news) June 14, 2016 Jayalalithaa is also likely to bring up the release of seven life convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case with the Prime Minister. Live Mint reported that the Tamil Nadu chief minister is also likely to seek central funds for the implementation of phased prohibition, and urge that the common entrance exam National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for MBBS and dental courses is not forced. What's on Narendra Modi's agenda? The AIADMK has 37 Lok Sabha MPs and 13 MPs in the Rajya Sabha and is the third largest party in Parliament. Modi is likely to ask Jayalalithaa to join the NDA government as the BJP top brass is interested in an alliance. A senior AIADMK leader told The Indian Express, that the party is not likely to gain anything from the alliance. He said that the NDA wants AIADMK's support in Rajya Sabha and for the municipal elections which will be held in Tamil Nadu later this year, but the party is unlikely to get into an unconditional alliance with the BJP. According the report, Jayalalithaa is also likely to meet Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at Tamil Nadu House. With inputs from agencies Kolkata: Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee is all set to visit Tripura on 9 August to strengthen Trinamool Congress in the state where it emerged as main opposition party. "I have spoken to our supremo Mamata Banerjee and she has agreed to come to Tripura on 9 August. We will also prepare our road map under her directions for the next Assembly polls in Tripura," Sudip Ray Barman who led the Congress dissidents in the northeastern state, told PTI. In a setback to opposition Congress, six dissident MLAs in Tripura had joined TMC last week making it the main opposition party in the Left-ruled state. Burman, the former leader of opposition, had been elected leader of the TMC legislature group. "We are confident that we will be able to oust the the Left Front regime in Tripura in the next Assembly polls. People in Tripura are fed up with the Left rule there. The Left Front in Tripura will have the same fate as that the Left Front in West Bengal faced in 2011," a senior TMC leader said. When it comes to appointment of parliamentary secretaries, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal does not have a valid moral argument. He is ethically, constitutionally and legally wrong to insist his appointment of 21 parliamentary secretaries is justified. But, Kejriwal is not the only chief minister in the country to have made a mockery of the Constitution by resorting to such sleight of hand to reward his legislators. All parties, including those giving him sermons on propriety, are equally guilty of impropriety, illegality and hypocrisy. In almost every state, there is a long list of parliamentary secretaries appointed by chief ministers. Kejriwal may be politically right in following a precedence established by various state governments of all parties. But, his claim of being different from them, the boast of standing on a higher moral ground, stands demolished. Why is Kejriwal wrong? The 91st Amendment in the Constitution, which introduced Article 164 (1A), limits the number of ministers in the state cabinets to 15 percent of the total strength of the Assembly. Since the Delhi Assembly has 70 members, Kejriwal's cabinet could not have exceeded 10, a decent number considering the size of the state. Also Read Arvind Kejriwal's desperate appointment of 21 'backdoor' ministers may face a legal challenge Article 164 (A) was introduced in the Constitution in 2003 with the explicit purpose of stopping misuse of public money on politicians, who benefitted from over-sized cabinets. This was done on the basis of the recommendations of the National Commission for Review of the Working of the Constitution headed by former chief justice of India, MN Venkatachaliah. But, political parties found a simple expedient to flout the norm and oblige politicians. Instead of appointing them ministers, chief ministers started rewarding their legislators by appointing them parliamentary secretaries and heads of various government boards and bodies. And such is their hypocrisy that after circumventing the Constitutional cap on cabinet ministers while in power, they argue for the exact opposite when in opposition. Consider Rajasthan's example first. In April 2012, the Rajasthan High Court issued a notice to the then Ashok Gehlot-led government in connection with the petition filed by BJP MLAs Kali Charan Saraf, Rajpal Singh Shekhawat and Ashok Parnami, who challenged the appointment of parliamentary secretaries by the Congress government, arguing it flouted the Constitutional limit of 15 percent. Gehlot had 13 parliamentary secretaries in his team. This was a classic case of a cat going on a pilgrimage after devouring dozens of mice, in this case parliamentary secretaries. Between 2002-08, when Vasundhara Raje was the state's chief minister, she had appointed eight parliamentary secretaries to assist the ministers. In 2015, she performed yet another Haj by appointing five legislators to the same office. High courts in various states have either declared the post ultra vires. In 2015, the Calcutta High Court quashed the appointment of 21 parliamentary secretaries by the Mamata Banerjee government. Similar verdicts were announced by courts in Telangana, Goa and Haryana in 2015, 2009 and 2005. In many other states, including Uttarakhand and Karnataka, appointment of parliamentary secretaries, in spite of previous court orders, has been challenged. So, Kejriwal is not the only one on the wrong side of the law. From the Left to the Right, every party and ideology has used the option in spite of its illegality and immorality. Kejriwal is part of this hammam. In 2014, when Kejriwal appointed 21 parliamentary secretaries, an obscene number considering that it is almost a third of the Assembly, he argued that they will not be eligible for emoluments and perks, except for using offices of the minister they are attached with and availing transport facilities. This is a clever argument that hides one of the objectives of Article 164 (1A). The number of ministers was limited through the Amendment not just to save public money but also to ensure loyalties are not bought through titles and perks, however insignificant they may sound. Kejriwal, like all other parties, has violated this by influencing flock with carrots. It is ridiculous when Kejriwal insists on retaining his parliamentary secretaries. Since he claims to have entered politics to clean itif it is a gutter, we will step into it to clean it, he had grandiloquently announcedKejriwal should immediately realise his mistake and quash their appointment. It won't be a moral victory; no, not after he has no other choice left, but at least it will be a new beginning. Once that is done, the courts need to look at all the positions of profit legislators enjoy in various states. The axe should fall on every state that has flouted the Constitution and every legislator who enjoys an office of profit. What is wrong for Delhi and AAP should also be wrong for other states and political parties. As the BJP used to once scream, ek desh mein do vidhan, nahin chalega. Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said all states have virtually supported Goods and Services Tax with only Tamil Nadu expressing some reservations. He said this after the two-day meeting of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers that deliberated on the model GST law. Jaitley had participated in the meeting to iron out differences with the states over the new regime. There has been complete consensus on no constitutional cap as exigencies may arise in future to revise the rates, said Jaitley. He also said issues of dual control and revenue neutral rate will be dealt by the Empowered Committee. Constituional cap for the GST has been a major bone of contention in passage of the reform. The Congress, which first proposed the constitutional amendment in 2006, is demanding capping the overall rate at 18 percent and scrapping an additional 1 percent tax designed to compensate manufacturing-heavy states that fear losing revenue once the measure is implemented. The consensus on the GST is likely to pave way for the passage of the bill in the monsoon session of Parliament. Earlier junior finance minister Jayant Sinha had told PTI that he government is targeting April 2017 for the rollout GST and that the government is betting on support from smaller regional parties to pass the national sales tax legislation in the Parliament session from next month. He hoped that the supporting laws will get the approval by year-end. GST was earlier planned to be introduced from April 1 this year, converting 29 states into a single market through the new indirect tax regime, but the deadline was missed as the bill to roll it out remains stalled in the opposition-dominated Rajya Sabha. "If we can pass it in the monsoon session (of Parliament beginning next month), then we can implement it in April 1, 2017," Sinha told PTI. The government has enough backing from smaller regional parties to pass the Bill in Rajya Sabha without support from the main opposition Congress party, he said. After Parliament approves the constitutional amendment to allow GST, it needs to be ratified by more than half of states. Then Parliament must pass another bill to implement the GST. After the Constitution Amendment Bill is passed in Parliament, there are three more legislations - Central GST (CGST), State GST (SGST) and Integrated GST (IGST) - which are required to be passed. The GST bill -- which will help create a single national sales tax to replace several state and central levies -- has already been approved by the Lok Sabha or Lower House of Parliament and is pending in the Upper House where the government doesn't have a majority. With PTI Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday termed as "fake" the 'Vikash Parv' being celebrated by the NDA government on completion of two years in office, saying true celebrations will be if Prime Minister Narendra Modi gets the liquor ban imposed at least in BJP-ruled states. "Nowdays BJP-led NDA government is celebrating 'nakli' (fake) 'Vikash Parv' across the country. I request the Prime Minister that true celebration of 'Parv' would be only if he gets prohibition imposed at least in BJP-ruled states," Kumar said addressing a function on prohibition in Patna. "While BJP leaders are falsely drum beating in the name of 'Vikash Parv', in Bihar every household is in festive mood after total prohibition," he said addressing members of women self help groups of Patna division. Kumar said as Prime Minister Narendra Modi has worked as the Chief Minister of Gujarat where liquor is banned for a long time it shows he is in favour of it. "I request him to get the liquor ban implemented in at least the BJP-ruled states." He visited different divisional headquarters to get feed back on the announcement of complete ban on sale and consumption of alcohol in Bihar since April 5 this year and Tuesday's function in Patna was the end of that exercise. Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Prasad Yadav, Education Minister Ashok Choudhary, Rural Development Minister Shrawan Kumar, Chief Secretary Anjani Kumar Singh and DGP P K Thakur were present in the function at S K Memorial hall. Kumar recalled it was the same S K Memorial hall where on appeal of some women to ban alcohol on July 9, 2015 he had promised that if he returned to power he would get prohibition promulgated in the state. "I have fulfilled my commitment by banning alcohol," he said. Kumar claimed that crime rate had come down substantially after prohibition order. "Police crime figures of the months of April and May this year reveal that rape cases have decreased by 36 per cent during the period as compared to last year, kidnapping for ransom 78 per cent, dacoity 45 per cent and road accidents by 32 per cent," he said. Kumar asked the women to maintain a constant vigil in favour of prohibition. Accra: Close on the heels of President Pranab Mukherjee's maiden visit to three African nations Ghana, Ivory Coast and Namibia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also likely to visit a few countries of the continent soon as part of India's to outreach Africa. The indications of this plan was given by Mukherjee while he was addressing the Indian community in Accra on Monday during a reception hosted by the Indian High Commissioner to Ghana K Jeeva Sagar. Recalling 'age-old' friendly relations of Indians with Africa, the President said the relationship has deepened over the years. "My first visit as President of India to three African countries is not accidental," he said, adding it was a follow-up action initiated by the Prime Minister after India Africa Forum Summit held in New Delhi last year. "Very recently, just a few days before Vice President Hamid Ansari visited Tunisia and Morocco. I am visiting these three countries and shortly Prime Minister is also going to undertake visits to four-five African countries to give a message that 'Africa, we stand by you'," the President said. Speaking to the Indian community, he asked them to join the campaigns launched by Prime Minister Modi such as 'Digital India', 'Startup India, Stand up India', 'Clean India Mission', 'Smart Cities' etc. The President said India's trade with Africa is over USD 70 billion and investments worth about USD 35 billion. Addressing the community, he said their efforts were complementing many foreign policy measures taken by the Indian government to assist the friendly countries in Africa, including Ghana. He said India has extended over USD 400 million of concessional credit to Ghana in the last few years for various projects. "Exim bank is also providing funding for a railway project. India-Ghana bilateral trade has reached USD three billion and Indian investments in this country are estimated at around USD one billion," the President noted. Mukherjee, during his talks with Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama, said both the sides have agreed to take the trade to USD five billion by 2020. He also praised the Indian diaspora for its engaging role as "force multiplier" in the country's economic growth. "These giant strides would not have been possible without the active role of the diaspora. You have become force multipliers of India's growing economic strength. I thank you for your commitment," he said. An American is 12 times more likely to be murdered by a firearm than an Indian, according to an IndiaSpend analysis of data collated by GunPolicy, a database managed by the University of Sydney and funded by the United Nations. The US experienced its worst-ever mass shooting at a gay night club in Orlando, Florida, leading to 49 deaths, renewing a debate on easy gun ownership in the USA. India has a firearm homicide rate of 0.3 (per 100,000 population) against the US 3.4. A firearm is used in no more than 10% of homicides in India, against 60% in the US. Indias homicide rate is comparable to countries that are far richer, such as Finland, France and Netherlands. The bulk of gun homicides6.7 of 10 casesare reported from Indias two most populous states, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, which are together home to nearly 400 million people. It also appears clear that Indias strict gun-ownership laws help: more than eight of 10 Indian gun homicides are from unlicensed arms. The worlds highest gun-homicide rate of 66.6222 times as high as Indiasis claimed by the South American country of Honduras, which has half the population of Delhi and is as large as Telangana. Japan, South Korea, Luxembourg and Hong Kong reported almost zero rates of gun homicide. The data further reveal that six of the top 10 countries reporting the highest firearm-driven homicide rates are in the AmericasNorth as well as South. Brazil topped the list (95%) in terms of proportion of homicides committed with a firearm, followed by Venezuela (90%) and Honduras (83%). Of the worlds 50 most violent cities, 41 are in Latin America, including 21 in Brazil, according to this 2015 report by Mexico Citizens Council for Public Security, an NGO. Venezuelas capital Caracas had the highest murder rate in the world last year and was ranked as the most violent city. Source: GunPolicy, National Crime Records Bureau 85% of firearm homicides in India are from unlicensed arms As many as 3,655 people were murdered with guns in India in 2014, of which 3,115 (85%) were killed by unlicensed arms, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). Obtaining a gun licence is far more difficult in India than in the United States, but illegal smuggling of guns is rampant in India, especially in states sharing borders with other countries, such as Bihar, as this April 2015 report in Firstpost detailed. You dont have to buy with a licence because guns are so easily available from illegal sources, Binalakshmi Nepram, secretary general of the Control Arms Foundation of India, told The Hindustan Times. We feel saddened about what happened in America, but we are also aware that a similar situation can happen in India. National Crime Records Bureau UP, Bihar account for 67% of all firearm-related murders in India As many as 2,443 people were killed by firearms in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar: 1,510 and 933, respectively, accounting for 67% of total killings (3,655) by arms. UP is Indias hub for illegal arms, and 24,583 firearms were confiscated in UP in 2014, accounting for 44% of all arms so taken into police custody in India; 62% of these were unlicensed, improvised and crude country-made fire arms, IndiaSpend reported in October 2015. National Crime Records Bureau Notes: The data on country-wise homicide rates have been collated by GunPolicy; data from different years are included. We have taken the most recent data for each country (but not older than 2008) and omitted some countries, which would have been in the top 10 except that their data were more than 10 years old. Data on homicide rates may vary depending upon the year, but the trends largely remain the same. The data include only murders committed by a firearm, not suicides and other unintentional deaths. AUSTIN, Texas An armed suspect holding at least one person hostage in an Amarillo Walmart on Tuesday was shot and is apparently dead, the Amarillo Police Department said. Police described the case in the Texas panhandle city as an incident of workplace-related violence and said the suspect was shot by its SWAT unit. The hostages inside the store are safe, the police said. No information has been provided on the suspect. There are no reports of anyone else being injured. (Reporting by Jon Herskovitz in Austin and Lisa Maria Garza in Dallas; editing by G Crosse) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. In what the Chinese termed as "temporary transgression," about 250 China's Peoples Liberation Army soldiers entered Arunachal Pradesh's east district of Kameng four days ago, defence sources said. The incident happened in Yangste, East Kameng district on 9 June is yet another instance of Chinese incursion. The soldiers, however, went back within hours, said the defence sources. Incidentally, the Chinese crossing-over happened at a time when Beijing had hardened its opposition against India's bid for membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). When Manohar Parrikar visited China in April, issues of strategic concerns and implementation of agreements to reduce tensions were discussed by the two governments. This is the first known transgression by the Chinese army this year in the region, which China claims is part of its territory. The Chinese troops spent about three hours on this side of the border before going back to their territory, the sources said. In the past, however, China has on many occasions "transgressed" into the Indian borders. According to a BBC report, the Home Ministry claims that there have been "334 transgressions by Chinese troops over the Indian border" in 2014 alone. According Harsh V Pant of BBC, such incursions tend to take place between the two countries before major bilateral meets. Indian officials have in the past reasoned China's incursions as a "result of differing perceptions about line of truth," according to Brahma Chellaney in The Sunday Guardian. However, he says that in the Indo-Chinese disputes, India has "always been on the defensive" and that Beijing's "public language" signals Premier Zhou Enlai's words, "to teach India a lesson.. DS Rajan in his paper, Chinese intrusions into India's borders ever end? describes that the People's Republic of China ups the intrusions during or close to periods of exchanges of high-level visits between India and China. With India doing everything it can to secure a membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), China is in stark opposition. According to Jaideep Prabhu in an earlier article on Firstpost, China is insistent when the criteria for membership is clear, there should be no exceptions, including India because it would weaken the non-proliferation regime. Prakash Nanda argued that the Chinese objection to India's membership in NSG is "political" and that China cannot bear that India is emerging as a recognisable force and that for China, "India is part of the strategic periphery which China has historically sought to weaken, control, or diplomatically manipulate." Here's a look at some of the serious intrusions made by Chinese troops in Indian borders: with inputs from PTI WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential rivals Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are set to meet on Tuesday evening after voting concludes in Washington, D.C.'s primary nominating contest, marking the end of a fierce battle for the party's mantle. Clinton has all but wrapped up the Democratic nomination for the White House already after a string of wins since February, and is hoping for Sanders' support as she prepares to take on Republican Donald Trump in November's election. The meeting between Clinton and Sanders was planned on June 7 when the former secretary of state secured enough delegates to become the presumed Democratic nominee, scoring victories in heavily populated states California and New Jersey. "Secretary Clinton and Senator Sanders agreed to meet when she called him last Tuesday night," a Clinton campaign official told Reuters. "She looks forward to the opportunity to discuss how they can advance their shared commitment to a progressive agenda, and work together to stop Donald Trump in the general election," the official added. Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, is facing pressure from Democrats to formally concede in the drawn-out Democratic primary and begin working with Clinton to unify the party and take on Trump. He promised supporters that he would remain in the race until every vote was cast, and that he would continue to push his self-styled Democratic socialist agenda - which focuses on wealth inequality, health, education and the environment - at the Democratic National Convention in July. Top Democrats took steps last week to begin rallying behind Clinton, however, and ease Sanders out of the race without alienating his supporters. President Barack Obama endorsed Clinton last Thursday, hours after meeting with Sanders at the White House. Sanders also went to Capitol Hill to meet with Senator Harry Reid, the top Democrat in the Senate. Reid said after that meeting that Sanders had accepted Clinton was the nominee. Clinton also last week secured the endorsement of U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who remained neutral in the primary race until it was clear Clinton would be the nominee. Warren's populist credentials will boost Clinton's ability to court Sanders voters. (Reporting by Amanda Becker; editing by Richard Valdmanis and Marguerita Choy) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Havana: Cuban President Raul Castro has condemned the Orlando mass shooting that left 50 people killed and 53 others injured, expressing solidarity with the families of the victims, the US people and government. "The Cuban people and government express their condolences and solidarity with the families of the victims," Xinhua news agency quoted Castro as saying in a message to US President Barack Obama. The letter, published by Havana's Foreign Affairs Ministry, is the first of its kind sent by Castro to Obama since the two nations re-established diplomatic relations in 2015. "Cuba rejects and unequivocally condemns all acts of terrorism or hate anywhere, under any circumstances and whatever the motives may be," Castro said. Afghan-origin Omar Mateen, 29, of Florida opened fire at the Pulse gay nightclub on Sunday around 2 am (local time), making it the deadliest mass shooting in the US history after the attacks in 2011. Islamic State militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the extent of its involvement is being probed. Dubbed Pride Month, June was widely celebrated among the LGBT communities. The nightclub Pulse was one of Orlando's most well-known venues that hosts nightly LGBT-themed performances as well as a monthly programme of LGBT-related educational events. Obama, in a national address in Washington on Sunday afternoon, said the Orlando shooting was an "act of terror and an act of hate" by a "lone wolf". He said authorities should spare no effort to determine whether the killer had any ties to extremist groups. The White House on Monday called the shooting "homegrown extremism", and said it appeared that the shooter was motivated by extremist propaganda online as no evidence was found about his direct links with radical groups. Mateen, an employee of a British security firm G4S, had been investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2013 and 2014 for possible connection to extremists. Washington: The India-US relationship is now "stronger" than it may ever have been, The New York Times said in an editorial on Tuesday, praising the "deepened" partnership for finding a common cause to counter China's aggression in the region. The newspaper reflected on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent trip to America his fourth in the last two years of being in power during which he met President Barack Obama and addressed the US Congress. It said the Obama-Modi meeting at the White House left many analysts "puzzled over how and why the two leaders, so different in so many ways, get along". But added quickly that more important was how the two leaders have "significantly deepened the partnership" between the two countries. "It may be one of Obama's most important foreign policy achievements," the Times said. India and US ties have not been so warm always. They were testy during the Cold War. But the relationship became "warmer under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush", the newspaper recalled. The ties "are now producing concrete gains under Obama", it said, adding the "two democracies are finding common cause in countering China's aggression in the South China Sea, resisting climate change, fighting terrorism and investing in each other's economic growth". The newspaper also praised India's commitments to fight the global warming issue and Modi's promise "to work together to realise the potential of December's Paris treaty on climate change". But "no less important", it said, "is the growing" military cooperation between the two nations after the US formally "recognized India as a major defence partner, making it eligible to buy some of the most sophisticated American-made weapons and technology without first having to receive a license". It also underlined how the two countries have stepped up joint military exercises. "If there was any doubt that a message to China was intended, Modi told Congress that India appreciated America's role in Asia and endorsed its commitment to freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, which Beijing is claiming largely as its own." However, the newspaper cautioned, some "vital issues" needed to be worked out, "now and far into the future". These include "the India-Pakistan-China nuclear competition that threatens the region". "It will be up to the next president to build on a relationship that is on (a) stronger footing now than it has been for some time." New Delhi: Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan will visit St Petersburg this week to discuss energy ties with Russia, a country that has been top oil and gas investment destination for Indian firms. Pradhan will visit Russia from 16-17 June to participate in the St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), which will discuss pressing issues facing Russia and the world, an official statement said. "During his visit to St Petersburg, Pradhan will be meeting his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak and CEOs of (Russian firms) Rosneft, Gazprom, Gazpromneft, Lukoil and Novatek," it said. He will also participate in a panel discussion on the subject 'New Global Petroleum Market Realities'. "The visit will provide an opportunity to discuss bilateral relations particularly in the field of hydrocarbon sector between India and Russia," the statement said. "Both the countries enjoy a Special Privileged Strategic Partnership and cooperation in the field of hydrocarbon sector which is one of the key areas of this time tested partnership," it added. During the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Moscow in December last year, both countries had agreed to further enhance cooperation in the oil and gas sector. As a fallout, ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) and Rosneft completed all formalities for acquisition of 15 per cent stake by OVL in Vankorneft, which is a subsidiary of Rosneft. The deal is another effort in augmenting oil security for the country. Pradhan will be accompanied by senior officials from his Ministry and executives of public sector oil and gas companies. Magnanville: A convicted radical who killed a French police couple in an Islamic State-inspired stabbing was carrying a "hit list" of VIPs and urged followers to turn Euro 2016 into a "graveyard", officials said Tuesday. Monday's assault in a small town northwest of Paris was the first deadly strike in France since the coordinated attacks in the capital by an Islamic State cell in November, which killed 130 people. Larossi Abballa, who was under surveillance after serving time for links to jihadist networks, first stabbed 42-year-old Jean-Baptiste Salvaing outside his home. He then holed up inside the house with Salvaing's 36-year-old partner Jessica Schneider and the couple's three-year-old son. Shortly afterwards he killed Schneider by slitting her throat. Abballa then posted on Facebook a live 13-minute video of himself inside the house with the child in which he admits the murders and urges fellow jihadists to carry out more bloodshed. He was later killed during a police raid which ended the standoff in the town of Magnanville. The child escaped unharmed but in shock. Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said Abballa, 25, who came from the nearby suburb of Mantes-la-Jolie, told police negotiators before his death that had had sworn fealty to IS three weeks earlier. He told negotiators he was responding to a call by IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to "kill infidels, at home, with their families." IS claimed Monday's attack in a statement issued by the Amaq news agency, a regular conduit for IS announcements. Three suspects held Molins said police had found a hit list in the house of VIPs and professions, including police and journalists, to be targeted. They also found three knives, one of which was covered in blood. Three men from Abballa's entourage have been arrested over the attack, Molins said. One of the three was among seven people convicted alongside Abballa in 2013 over their involvement in a network recruiting jihadists for Pakistan, Molins added. Abballa, who had been known to police as a youth for petty crime, spent over two years in custody. More recently, he was investigated in connection with a network recruiting jihadists to fight in Syria. His wiretapped conversations gave no indication he was planning an attack, however, Molins said. Monday's stabbings comes with France on high alert during the Euro tournament, with up to 90,000 police and security guards deployed to ensure the safety of local and visiting fans. In his Facebook video, which was seen by AFP, Abballa called on supporters to attack police, journalists, public figures, prison guards and rappers and to "turn the Euro into a graveyard." The video was later removed. The killings took place barely 36 hours after a gunman claiming to be acting in the name of IS shot dead 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida in the worst mass shooting in US history. "It's unquestionably a terrorist act," President Francois Hollande said of the latest in a series of attacks on soldiers and police in recent years, including a number of stabbings by so-called lone wolf operatives. "A new horror threshold has been breached," Prime Minister Manuel Valls told parliament, which observed a minute's silence for the victims of both the Orlando and the Magnanville attacks. 'Paying a heavy price' The slain policeman, who also had another child from a previous relationship, was based at a station in the western Paris suburb of Les Mureaux. His partner had an administrative police job. Their deaths are the first police fatalities in a jihadist attack since January 2015 when gunmen attacked a satirical newspaper, a Jewish supermarket and the police, claiming the lives of 17 people, among them three officers. A month later, three soldiers protecting a Jewish community centre in the French Riviera city of Nice were attacked by a man with a knife. Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Monday's killings showed the gravity of the threat to security forces "who are paying a heavy price to ensure the safety of the French". Hollande said the threat level was "very high everywhere" and that the government had mobilised "significant resources, both in the police and in intelligence services" to defend the country. The Magnanville bloodshed began shortly before 9:00 pm (1900 GMT) on Monday when Abballa attacked the officer, who was in civilian clothing, stabbing him repeatedly. Witnesses told investigators the man shouted "Allahu akbar" (God is greatest) as he knifed his victim. Police moved in to evacuate residents, block off roads and launch negotiations with the suspect. Loud blasts and shots were later heard around midnight as officers from the French elite police force, RAID, launched an assault after the dialogue failed. Paris: French media mocked President Francois Hollande on Tuesday after he described sexual orientation as "a choice", in his reaction to the Orlando gay nightclub massacre, comments that had provoked outrage on social media. In Orlando, "it is America that has been hit but it is also freedom, the freedom to choose one's sexual orientation and to determine one's style of life", Hollande said in condemning "the appalling homophobic killing in Orlando." Hollande was speaking as he left the US embassy in Paris on Monday, where he had expressed France's condolences over the massacre of 50 people in Orlando at the weekend. The comments, in front of television cameras and released later on the president's Twitter account, immediately sparked a storm on social media, with many pointing out that sexual orientation is innate and not a lifestyle choice. "Francois Hollande tweets that homosexuality is a choice! No, what country are we living in?" said one tweet. "Hollande talks about 'the freedom to choose one's sexual orientation.' Can someone explain it to him?" said another. The president's office quickly replaced the offending phrase with "freedom to live your sexual orientation and choose your style of life." But the French press was virtually unanimous on Tuesday in accusing Hollande of committing a "gaffe". "Francois Hollande learns that one can choose one's words but not one's sexual orientation," quipped the newspaper Le Monde. Europe1 radio station described his comment as "a huge blunder." In his first reaction to the killings on Sunday Hollande had condemned the "horrific" attack in Orlando, without mentioning that it was homosexuals who were targeted. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said later on Twitter that "by hitting the gay community, the terrible attack in Orlando touches all of us." Gunman Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old US citizen of Afghan descent, killed 49 people and wounded another 53 before he was killed when police stormed the Pulse, one of Orlando's most prominent gay venues, early Sunday. The Islamic State jihadist group said the attack was carried out by an IS "soldier". Lahore: Police on Tuesday arrested the brother of a Pakistani woman for alleging burning her to death in an honour killing last week. Anees and his mother Parveen allegedly tied Zeenat, 18, to a bed, doused her with petrol and set fire to her on 8 June in Lahore's thickly-populated factory area on Ferozpur Road, for marrying a man of her choice. As her daughter burned, Parveen ran into the street shouting that she had killed Zeenat for "bringing shame on her family". Parveen had told police in custody that her daughter had committed an "unforgivable" crime by marrying a man, Hasan, after eloping with him. "Police today (Tuesday) arrested Anees, brother of Zeenat from Lahore," Lahore police spokesman Nayyab Haider said. Parveen and Zeenat's brother-in-law are already in police custody and facing a murder case under terrorism charges. "Anees denied his involvement in the murder. He told police that his mother torched Zeenat while she (Parveen) shut her in a room. I loved my sister," Haider quoted Anees as having said. Zeenat reportedly fell in love with Hasan Khan, who lived in her locality, and asked her parents to accept the marriage proposal. On their refusal, Zeenat eloped with him and contracted a court marriage on 29 May. Khan is an ethnic Pashtun while Zeenat was a Punjabi that was said to be the main cause of her family's disapproval. Khan said the two had been "in love since our school days" but the family had rejected several marriage proposals, forcing them to elope. "After living with me for four days following our marriage, her family contacted us and promised they would throw us a proper wedding party after eight days. Then we would be able live together. Zeenat was unwilling to go back to her home and told me that she would be killed by her family, but later agreed when one of her uncles guaranteed her safety," Khan said. Khan said "Parveen told her that she and other family members had forgiven her and she should return to take the blessing of her family. But it was a trap". Last month police arrested five men including a suitor for torching a 19-year-old school teacher in Murree, 35 kilometres from Islamabad, for refusing to marry him. Similarly, police arrested 13 members of a local tribal council including the parents of a a teenage girl for first strangulating and later torching her body in Abbotabad for marrying a man of her choice. Some 1,100 women were killed in the name of honour in Pakistan in 2015. Accra: Terming international terrorism as a scourge which is a threat to the world, India and Ghana on Tuesday agreed for greater security and defence cooperation to combat terror. The Joint Statement issued by the two sides said that while India has been a victim of cross-border terrorism for a long time, Ghana is situated in an increasingly volatile region. "International terrorism is a scourge, and is a threat to the entire civilised world. The two leaders therefore agreed for greater security and defence cooperation and also called for greater exchanges between the Kofi Annan UN Peacekeeping Centre, Accra, and the Centre for UN Peacekeeping, New Delhi," the Joint Statement said as President Pranab Mukherjee wrapped up his two-day visit to the African country. Ghana, situated in West Africa, is facing threats from Islamic State and Boko Haram militants who have established their presence in the neighbouring countries. President Mukherjee discussed a number of issues with his counterpart John Mahama. After wrapping up his two-day visit to Ghana, Mukherjee departed for Ivory Coast for the second leg of his three-nation tour seen as "outreach for Africa." A number of announcements were made by Mukherjee during his visit to help Ghana in capacity building and human resource development including further grant assistance of USD one million to the India-Ghana Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT which has been set up with Indian assistance of USD 2.86 million. Washington: Investing in Afghanistan's development and rebuilding the infrastructure is the best way to "gain influence" in the country, a top Afghan diplomat has said in an apparent message to neighbouring Pakistan and endorsing India's model of assistance. "Those who wish to gain influence in Afghanistan, must by now understand that investing in our development and rebuilding our infrastructure, and in contributing to peace and stability can generate enough goodwill in Afghanistan towards them to last a thousand years," Afghan Ambassador to the US Hamdullah Mohib told a Washington audience. Regional stability and peace is increasingly every nations need, more than ever before, and that stability begins with Afghanistan, he said in his address to the Hudson Institute a top American think-tank. "We have been working with our neighbours to end the distinction between "good" and "bad" terrorists as if there is such a thing as a good terrorist," Mohib said in an apparent reference to Pakistan's policy of distinction between terrorist groups. "We have been working with our neighbours to play a positive and constructive role in Afghanistan. The Afghans are strong, resilient and proud people. The people that despite decades of imposed war, have not been beaten," he said. In response to a question, later, the Afghan Ambassador said "Pakistan needs to update its policy". "It may have been sticking in the past. It's 2016 now. Different time and era from the 1970s and perhaps some of the policies are stuck in the era," Mohib said. Praising 10 recent agreement between India, Iran and Afghanistan on the development of the Chabahar port, Mohib said this will create a new transit corridor that for the first time, gives Afghanistan access to a deep water port. "(It is) Giving us an alternative transit route and increasing Afghanistan's connectivity to the world. This is massively important for our ability to export our goods and import what we need to advance our economic development," he said. Mohib also mentioned the Afghan-India Friendship Dam which was inaugurated by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Herat last week and described it as "a project 40 years in the making that epitomises the deepening relationship between Afghanistan and India". Afghanistan, he said, has a clear message. "To the Taliban: Standing against people's demand of peace will take you nowhere, and the only way left for you is to accept and conform to the desires of the Afghan people. "To the international community: Afghanistan is a reliable partner, and the best way to control terrorism is to put more pressure on those who use terrorism for political gains. And, finally, a clear message to our neighbours: You should work with us and be part of the future we are striving so hard to realise," he added. Baghdad: Iraq said it had launched an investigation into possible human rights abuses against civilians fleeing the Islamic State-held city of Fallujah as a senior UN official said more than 7,300 people had left the city in the last two days. Iraqi government spokesman Saad al-Hadithi said on Monday, some fighters suspected of violating human rights during the three-week-old operation to retake the city have been arrested over the past few days and are under investigation. Lise Grande, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, said the United Nations estimates that there had been about 90,000 people in Fallujah, and between 42,000 and 43,000 have now fled including about 4,000 on Sunday and 3,300 yesterday. So there could still be about 50,000 civilians trapped inside the city, she said, "and nothing is more important than protection of those civilians." Fallujah has been under IS control for over two years and is the last major city in western Iraq still held by the extremist group. The militants have threatened anyone who attempts to flee with death and last week reportedly shot at a group of civilians attempting to escape across the Euphrates River. Al-Hadithi, the Iraqi spokesman, did not provide details on whether the arrested fighters are from the army or government-sanctioned paramilitary forces, which are mainly made up of Shiite militias. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi "issued arrest warrants against some suspects who took part in the operation a few days ago," al-Hadithi said. "The Prime Minister is closely following the investigation and we are still awaiting the results." Local Sunni officials and human rights groups have accused Shiite militias of arresting, torturing and killing Sunnis who fled Fallujah and its outskirts. The governor of Anbar province, where Fallujah is located, told a press conference on Sunday that 49 civilians were killed and 643 others have gone missing. Suhaib Al-Rawi described them as displaced persons from Fallujah who reached areas controlled by the paramilitary forces. The spokesman for Iraq's paramilitary forces, Karim al-Nouri, confirmed the arrest of one fighter for alleged human rights violations, but did not provide further details. Dubai: Doctors Without Borders said Tuesday that thousands of Iraqi civilians fleeing the besieged city of Fallujah have been without access to medicine for months and are fleeing to areas without adequate water and sanitation, raising the likelihood of epidemics like cholera. The medical aid group, also known by its French acronym MSF, is assisting around 20,000 civilians from Fallujah who have fled to three main sites. The Islamic State group seized the city more than two years ago. The head of MSF's mission in Iraq, Fabio Forgione, said families who have fled to camps are facing a lack of shelter and Clean drinking water . A cholera outbreak last year infected some 2,800 people in Iraq. He said doctors are also treating people with conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes who haven't had access to medications. There have also been food shortages reported in the city. "We are extremely concerned about the situation in Fallujah. We are talking about a city which has been besieged now for months, where access to care, access to food, access to assistance has been extremely hampered," Forgione told The Associated Press in an interview in Dubai. MSF has deployed mobile health clinics near the front-lines to provide basic services to families who have been able to flee. Fallujah is located 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Baghdad. The UN estimates about 50,000 civilians are trapped inside the city and that 42,000 people have fled Fallujah since a military operation to retake the city began in late May. Organisations such as MSF and The Norwegian Refugee Council say the number of those who've fled is closer to 30,000, lower than the UN estimate. The conflict in Iraq has forced 3.3 million people to flee their homes. Iraq is also hosting between 250,000-300,000 refugees from neighboring Syria who need medical assistance and mental health care, Forgione said. Most are living in camps or informal settlements. "This is one of the worst humanitarian crises Iraq has been facing in the last 10 years," he said. MSF, which operates in more than 60 countries worldwide, has eight international staff and 600 Iraqi nationals working across 11 provinces. They not only assist displaced people, but also plug gaps in the country's strained health sector. Rome: The Islamic State (IS) terrorist group's alleged leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed in an air raid in Syria by the US-led coalition, reports said on Monday. Baghdadi died in an air strike on Islamic State's stronghold of Raqqa in northern Syria, Iranian state media and pro-government Turkish daily Yenis Safak said, citing IS-affiliated Arabic news agency al-Amaq. The statement published by Amaq said Islamic State's 'Caliph' Baghdadi had been killed on Sunday, according to the media reports. "Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed by coalition airstrikes on Raqqa on the fifth day of Ramadan," said the statement. The coalition did not immediately comment on the report. Earlier on Monday, Iraqi TV channel Al-Sumaria said that Baghadi had been wounded on Sunday in a coalition air strike on a location 65 kilometres west of the Islamic State-held city of Mosul. US TV network CNN on Monday cited US defence officials as saying they received credible intelligence that Baghdadi, who has a $25 million bounty on his head, has moved around within the past six months and had travelled to Mosul. United Nations: Israel on Monday won an election to chair the United Nations' legal committee, the first time that it will head one of the world body's six permanent committees since joining the UN in 1949. While it is a largely symbolic and procedural role, chairing the committee will give Israel a chance to have a higher profile in routine affairs at the United Nations. The so-called Legal Committee, or Sixth Committee, oversees issues related to international law. The General Assembly has six standing committees that report to it, on: disarmament, economic and financial issues, human rights, decolonization, the UN budget, and legal issues. "I am proud to be the first Israeli elected to this position," Israel UN Ambassador Danny Danon said in a statement. "Israel is a world leader in international law and in fighting terrorism," he added. "We are pleased to have the opportunity to share our knowledge with the countries of the world." Israel was a candidate for the regional Western European and Others Group (WEOG) and received a comfortable majority of votes - 109 out of 175 valid votes cast in the 193-nation assembly. Sweden was runner-up with 10 votes. Normally committee heads are elected by consensus without a vote. Opponents to the Israeli candidacy called for a vote, prompting a sharp reaction from the deputy US ambassador to the UN, David Pressman. "Even a chair from (former leader Muammar) Gaddafi's Libya was elected by acclamation," he said in a statement. "A vote should not have been called today." "We need a United Nations that includes Israel, that brings Israel closer, not one that systematically pushes Israel away," he added. Israel was originally part of the Asia-Pacific Group along with other Middle Eastern and Asian nations, the majority of which are cool or openly hostile toward the Israeli state. Its transfer to WEOG gave it a chance to get elected to leadership posts and play a more active role at the UN The chief Palestinian delegate at the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, complained about the results of the election, saying Arab and Muslim countries had tried to prevent an Israeli victory. Speaking to reporters, Mansour described Israel as "the biggest violator of international law" and predicted that Danon's election was "threatening the work of the Sixth Committee." He said the Arab League and 57 member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation had opposed Israel's election. London: Opinion polls on Tuesday showed a clear lead for the 'Brexit' camp in favour of Britain's exit from the European Union (EU) in the 23 June referendum. The so-called Brexit side edged ahead in a key survey just over a week before Britain votes on its future within the economic bloc next Thursday. A YouGov survey for The Times puts "Leave" on 46 percent, up three points since the end of last week, and "Remain" is on 39 percent, down three giving Brexit its largest lead since the start of the campaign. 11 percent of people do not know how they will vote and 4 percent plan to abstain. Once the "don't knows" and "will not votes" are excluded, 54 percent would vote to leave and 46 per cent would vote to remain, the biggest lead for the Brexiteers so far. An ICM poll for The Guardian on Monday gave the Brexit campaign a six-point lead, with Leave on 53 percent and Remain on 47 percent, while an ORB poll for The Daily Telegraph has put "Leave" on 49 percent among those certain to vote on 23 June, one point ahead of Remain at 48 percent. John Mills, chair of the Labour Leave campaign, said "The polls are swinging our way, which is very good news but we must not be complacent". Leading Labour MPs within the "Remain" camp, including Keith Vaz and Virendra Sharma, issued a fresh plea of their own to Indian-origin and other ethnic minority voters. "The Leavers' false claim is that, if we leave, there can be higher non-EU immigration while bringing down overall numbers. Let's not be seduced by this lie from people who are anti-immigration and who have spent their lives campaigning against the interests of working people," they wrote in The Guardian on Tuesday. In a direct attack on Conservative party's most prominent Indian-origin voice in favour of Brexit, Priti Patel, they add "Where there are shortages in certain sectors, like our curry houses, it's government rules that are the root of the problem". "Prominent 'Leave' campaigner, Patel, who is the Employment Minister, has responsibility in this area, so she is in fact the source of the problem while claiming to be the solution," they said. The British Election Survey (BES) released last month had found that 51.7 percent of Indian-origin voters are against Brexit, compared to 27.74 percent in favour of leaving the economic bloc. However, there is a significant percentage (16.85 percent) of those who fell into the "don't know" category, who are likely to hold the key in the referendum and this is the group both camps are now focusing on. Opinion polls are not being seen as a reliable reflection of the mood of the voters by either side ever since they had decisively predicted a hung Parliament in the May 2015 general election which threw up one of the largest Conservative party majorities in history. The momentum, however, does seem to be titling in favour of Brexit with the Sun newspaper also coming out in favour of leaving the EU on Tuesday. The Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid is famous for mostly backing the winning horse in elections in the UK. In a front page editorial under the headline "BeLeave in Britain", the paper warned that staying in the EU would be worse for immigration, worse for jobs, worse for wages and "worse for our way of life". "This is our last chance to remove ourselves from the undemocratic Brussels machine and it's time to take it," it said. Prime Minister David Cameron-led "Remain" camp received its own boost with a European Court ruling in favour of UK's right to curtail state benefits handed out to EU immigrants. A legal action brought by the European Commission against the British government over planned tests for foreigners to claim benefits was thrown out by Europe's highest court. Britain had a right to impose a more stringent test for child benefit and child tax credit known as a "right to reside" for EU migrants in order to protect its finances, the court said. A spokesperson for HM Revenue and Customs said, "The UK welcomes the Court of Justice of the European Union's judgement, which supports our view that we are entitled to ensure only EU migrants who have a right to be in the UK can claim our benefits". The decision comes as a welcome relief to Cameron, who will be redoubling efforts in the remaining week to swing more voters in favour of remaining within the EU. Washington: Was it homegrown terrorism, bigotry or random gun violence? Americans searching for answers after the Orlando shootings are finding no easy solutions from President Barack Obama, who is conceding that a deadly mix of extremism and easy gun access have made future tragedies almost a foregone conclusion. In the days after the deadliest shooting in modern US history, Obama has offered no simple prescriptions or promises for new action even as the candidates vying for his job put forward aggressive plans of their own. Instead, the President has suggested the root causes behind a "disturbed" man's actions are difficult to determine and may be less important than a sort of "soul searching" about what to do about it. "We know that at some point there are going to be, out of 300 million, there are going to be some individuals who find for whatever reason that kind of horrible propaganda enticing," Obama said Monday. "And if that happens, and that person can get a weapon, that's a problem." The comments were Obama's most direct acknowledgment yet that the attacks like the one in Orlando may be a new fixture of American life the sort of observation that could only be delivered by a second-term President with seven months left in office. Obama's two-prong message, delivered with weary resignation to reporters, was unlikely to quell the fears of those hoping such attacks will never happen again. But the President has seemed to embrace his end-of-term role. He's also mindful that his administration has overseen the dawn of a new era of domestic attacks and it is incumbent to try to explain the forces at play. The White House began pointing in various directions on Monday, defending the administration at each turn while announcing Obama would travel to Orlando on Thursday to "stand in solidarity with the community." There appeared to be no missteps at the FBI, which had interviewed presumed shooter Omar Mateen in the past, Obama said. Although Mateen wasn't on any watch list at the time, Obama blasted as "crazy" a system in which law enforcement officials weren't alerted when he purchased the assault rifle and handgun used in the attack. White House spokesman Josh Earnest revived the White House's oft-repeated critique of Republicans for blocking "common-sense" gun legislation. Though he declared the President was not resigned to accept the outbreak of mass violence as normal and described considerable "presidential frustration," he did not outline any new push for gun control measures. The Orlando attack comes as the White House had begun touting new progress against the Islamic State group, one of the groups that Mateen claimed to follow as he carried out the attack. Last week, the US envoy to the anti-IS coalition argued that the group's morale was "plummeting" and its funding and recruiting were drying up. Brett McGurk said that IS had lost half its territory in Iraq and that the US and its partners were killing an IS leader about every three days. Obama had planned to echo that message publicly following a National Security Council meeting on Tuesday that will now take on a much less sanguine tone. The juxtaposition has illustrated that "going after terrorists over there," as Obama put it last year, has not seemed to lessen the risk of terrorism at home. That's especially true when it comes to so-called "homegrown extremism" or "lone wolves" phrases used to describe instances where individuals in the US, inspired by groups like IS, take it upon themselves to plan and execute deadly attacks at home. "It is a perverse reaction to the success that we are having on the geographic battlefield," said Wendy Sherman, Obama's former undersecretary of state. "As a result, ISIS is looking to show that it still is powerful, and one of the ways it does that is to claim 'lone wolf,' because they don't have to come to Syria or Iraq or Libya." Obama has long conceded that there's no surefire way to detect those attacks in advance, tacitly putting Americans on notice that some level of violence is inevitable. The FBI said last month it was monitoring more than 1,000 people who are potentially at risk for radicalization and violence. Though the US has made countering extremist ideologies especially online a key component of its anti-IS strategy, the effectiveness of those efforts is called into doubt by continued attacks by people found later to have been inspired by IS from thousands of miles away. "It is, that if we have self-radicalized individuals in this country, then they are going to be very difficult oftentimes to find ahead of time," Obama said. On Sunday, June 5, hundreds crowded into a Louisville, Kentucky mosque to celebrate the life of boxer Muhammad Ali in an interfaith service. Dr. Muhammad Babar began the service with a poem: You were the true face of faith, he read. The vibe, he said, was one of peace and compassion. A week later, Babar, a local physician and community leader, attended a vigil for fifty people killed in a gay nightclub in Florida by a 29-year old American of Afghan descent. Its like somebody has punched us in the gut, he said. Last week, we thought, finally this monkey is off our back, but now it seems the burden is back on us to prove our innocence for something a criminal who claims to be Muslim has done. Across the country, Muslim Americans were quick to condemn the attack, and some mosques took extra security measures to protect against backlash. On the presidential campaign trail, presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump called for a ban on immigration from countries with a "history of terrorism. We've got to get smart, and tough, and vigilant, and we've got to do it now, because later is too late, Trump said in a New Hampshire speech on Monday. In her response to the massacre, the presumptive Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, warned against inflammatory anti-Muslim rhetoric and said she would make identifying and stopping lone wolves a top priority. In Louisville, mosque officials contacted a police officer to provide security at their Ramadan dinners, held every Friday, Saturday and Sunday during the Muslim holy month. After anti-Muslim messages were spray-painted in red on the Louisville Islamic Centers walls in September, it upgraded security technology, including wirelessly controlled locks, and arranged for an off duty police officer to keep watch during Friday prayers. On Sunday, the Islamic Center of Long Island, New York contacted their local precinct chief to arrange police presence at the mosque during the evening prayer service. Weve had backlash before, especially with irresponsible rhetoric from politicians, said Isma Chaudhry, president of the Islamic Center of Long Island. After the San Bernardino shooting in December, the community was harassed, she said, with obscenities yelled at students and cars trying to run people over who were crossing the road, she said. Were hoping this time will be calmer, she said. The Islamic Center of Orlando on Sunday told congregants to avoid praying outside a practice that is common during Ramadan, when mosques are often over capacity for evening prayers. Local law enforcement is sending patrols to the neighbourhood, and the mosque is hiring extra security at night, according to Fatima Rami, an administrator. The centre has called on local congregants to donate blood to victims of the shooting, even if it means breaking their Ramadan fasting for a day. A broken fast can be made up, a life lost is gone forever, it posted on its website. Some mosques have been working with federal authorities on assessments to increase their preparedness for attacks, and said they would maintain already higher levels of security implemented after the San Bernardino shootings in December. The Islamic Community Center of Phoenix has received multiple hate emails since the Orlando shooting, its chairman Usama Shami said, and had already been working with local law enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security. One email, from CJ, said: Do you also refute the Quran when it tells you to lie to the infidel and pretend to be his friend, so that you can betray him. The All Dulles Area Muslim Society in Virginia, which Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson visited in December, had carried out multiple security assessments with national and federal law enforcement agencies in the past few months on how to improve security around the community centre. The sad thing is, were almost used to it now, said Rizwan Jaka, chairman of the organisation. In Louisville, the LGBT community has been supportive of the Muslim community in its fight against Islamophobia, Babar said. In March, when Donald Trump held a rally in Louisville, LGBT activists and the Muslim community stood together in protest against the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, who has proposed a ban on Muslim immigration. Racism and bigotry is the same, whether its against one group or another, Babar said. We hope our fellow citizens will see us through the lens of Muhammad Ali, rather than this deranged soul, though our hopes are dampened by this senseless tragedy. (Reporting By Kristina Cooke and Idrees Ali; additional reporting by Yara Bayoumy in Fort Pierce; editing by Brian Thevenot) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Rome/New Delhi: Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was on Tuesday reported to have been killed in an American airstrike. But there was no confirmation from US officials about the death of the most wanted terrorist, nicknamed "the invisible sheikh", with a $25 million bounty on his head. According to Italian news agency AKI, which cited a report by Islamic State-run Al-Amaq, Baghdadi was killed in an air raid in Syria by the US-led coalition forces on Friday. The report about Baghdadi's death was also corroborated by Iranian state media and pro-government Turkish daily Yenis Safak. AKI said the air strike was launched on the Islamic State-controlled territory's capital Raqqa in northern Syria. It said the statement in Arabic published by Amaq announced that "the commander of the faithful and caliph Baghdadi was killed by alliance airstrikes on Raqqa on the fifth day of Ramadan (Friday)". Mirror.co.uk citing a statement from Iraqi security forces said Baghdadi's convoy was hit "as it was moving towards Karbala (in Iraq) to attend a meeting of the Daesh terrorist leaders". But the British newspaper website citing a spokesman for the coalition said the terrorist leader's death was not confirmed. Colonel Chris Garver, of the coalition forces, said in an email that he had seen the reports but had "nothing to confirm this at this time". This is not the first time that Baghdadi has been reported to have died in a coalition strike. Such reports have emerged earlier as well. On Monday, Iraqi TV channel Al-Sumaria said that Baghdadi had been wounded in a coalition airstrike on a location 65 kilometres west of the Islamic State-held city of Mosul. CNN citing US defence officials said that they had received credible intelligence that Baghdadi has been on the move in the past six months and had travelled to Mosul recently. Baghdadi, 45, has not released any audio or video statement in the last six months. An audio message was released in December 2015 from the dreaded terrorist leader who has orchestrated major attacks in Europe and massacres in the territory he governs. Since then he has maintained a stony silence with some reports saying he may have been dead since long. Very little is known about the earlier life of Baghdadi and when he began his terrorist activities. He is said to have been arrested from Baghdad in 2004 as a "civilian internee" with terrorists in Iraq. He was released later as a "low-level prisoner". He joined the Mujahideen Shura Council, serving on its "sharia committee" in 2006. That is when the group was renamed the Islamic State of Iraq, with Baghdadi promoted as a general. He was named the head of the Islamic State of Iraq in 2010. Baghdadi oversaw the expansion of the Islamic State into Syria, naming the group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Dhaka: At least 11,307 people have been arrested within four days of an ongoing week-long anti-militant drive in Bangladesh, police said on Tuesday. "As many as 3,115 more people were arrested on the fourth day of the drive," Xinhua news agency quoted a senior police official as saying. Police earlier detained 8,192 people, including 119 suspected militants, in the first 72 hours of the clampdown. Among the 145 suspected militants arrested so far, most are members of banned Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB). Also on Tuesday, top JMB leader Garib Ullah was captured at his hideout in a forest in Mymensingh district. The official said Ullah was a close associate of Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai, the executed second-in-command of a banned militant outfit. Amid a new surge in militancy, Bangladesh on Friday launched a special drive aimed at dismantling terrorist outfits. JMB, campaigning for establishment of Islamic rule in Bangladesh, carried out a series of bombings in the country, including Dhaka on 17 August, 2005, leaving two people dead and 150 others injured. Hundreds of JMB leaders and activists were rounded up while six top leaders of the group, including Shaikh Abdur Rahman, were hanged in 2007. A number of secularist writers, bloggers and publishers have been killed or seriously injured in attacks carried out by extremists since 2013. WASHINGTON President Barack Obama and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton launched nearly simultaneous attacks on Donald Trump on Tuesday, heaping scorn on the presumptive Republican presidential nominee for his proposed Muslim ban. Clearly angered, Obama used a speech at the Treasury Department for an extraordinary rejection of Trump's proposed suspension of immigration from countries with a "history of terrorism" in response to the Orlando, Florida, nightclub massacre. The Democratic president, without mentioning Trump by name, dismissed the Republican's criticism that Obama does not employ the term "radical Islamic terrorism" to describe Islamic State militancy. Obama called it a political distraction. "What exactly would using this label accomplish, what exactly would it change?" Obama said. "Someone seriously thinks we don't know who we're fighting? ... There's no magic to the phrase radical Islam. It's a political talking point." Clinton, speaking to supporters in Pittsburgh, said Trump's proposal bolstered her case that Trump is temperamentally unfit to serve as president, saying the commander-in-chief "is a job that demands a calm, collected and dignified response" to events like the Orlando massacre early on Sunday. She noted that Trump seemed to suggest on Monday in a television interview on Monday that Obama might have somehow been responsible for the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, a point that Trump said he did not make. "I have to ask: Will responsible Republican leaders stand up to their presumptive nominee or will they stand by his accusation about our president?" she said. House Speaker Paul Ryan, the top U.S. elected Republican, on Tuesday distanced himself from Trump's proposed Muslim ban in a further sign of establishment unease with the Republican candidate's agenda. (Additional reporting by Amanda Becker, Susan Heavey and David Alexander in Washington and Emily Flitter in New York; Editing by Jonathan Oatis) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. WASHINGTON President Barack Obama will travel to Orlando, Florida, on Thursday to pay respects to families of the victims of Sunday's shooting at a nightclub, the White House said on Monday. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Writing by Eric Beech; Editing by Eric Walsh) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. In the wake of the massacre at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida that claimed 50 lives, US presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump made statements that were expectedly as different as chalk and cheese. And while Clinton chose to focus on themes of sticking by each other, staying true to American values and condemning the free availability of guns, Trump decided to use the occasion to take shots at President Barack Obama, Clinton, West Asia and so on. Without spending too long on their statements, here's the essence of what the likely Democrat presidential nominee had to say: Meanwhile, this is the essence of what the likely Republican presidential nominee Trump had to say: The most obvious observation here is that while Clinton took the time to address the LGBT community that was unarguably the target of Sunday's attack, Trump referenced the entire community under the umbrella of 'gays' as part of a sentence slamming radical Islam: "Radical Islam advocates hate for women, gays, Jews, Christians and all Americans". But, scratch the surface and you'll find that beyond the peace-making (Clinton) and blame-throwing (Trump) rhetoric is the ever-widening gulf between the views of the Republican and Democratic parties on guns. And according to commentators, the gun issue isn't going to be just an issue in the upcoming US presidential election. It's likely to be the issue. So let's see where Trump and Clinton stand on the matter. At the heart of the matter is the Second Amendment to the US Constitution that states: A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed To prevent this article from turning into a series of books, we'll sidestep the 'well regulated militia' part and jump straight into the right to bear arms. Both Clinton and Trump have made the topic of arms a key issue in their respective campaigns, with Clinton declaring that 'It is past time we act on gun violence' and Trump announcing that 'Protecting our Second Amendment rights will make America great again'. It's worth noting at this point that Democrats have traditionally taken the position that it is the actual gun that is the problem, Republicans have maintained that it's not the gun but the bearer that is the problem. What's interesting, however, is that they don't have completely opposite positions. Certainly, there are differences between the Clinton and Trump viewpoints on guns, but there is also a key similarity. Both agree that the mentally unwell or 'deranged madmen' must not be allowed to own arms. However this moment of convergence is ephemeral. Clinton advocates that "(the) Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives should finalise its rulemaking to close loopholes in our laws and clarify that people involuntarily committed to outpatient treatment... are prohibited from buying guns" (emphasis added). Meanwhile, according to Trump, the need of the hour is to "expand treatment programmes, because most people with mental health problems arent violent, they just need help". He cautiously goes on to add, "But for those who are violent, a danger to themselves or others, we need to get them off the street before they can terrorise our communities". Now, the areas of divergence: Clinton seeks to make the process of getting a gun tougher by increasing the number of gun sales that are subject to background checks, while Trump feels the whole system of background checks is flawed and seeks to do away with it altogether. Clinton believes that 'military-style assault weapons' do not belong on American streets, while Trump maintains that it is the opponents of gun rights who invent "scary sounding phrases like 'assault weapons', 'military-style weapons'... to confuse people". He adds that 'law-abiding people should be allowed to own the firearm of their choice'. And then there are those things that only one of the two presidential hopefuls are 'gunning' for: Clinton wants the practice of proxy buying or straw purchasing (when an individual with a clean record buys a gun with the intention of giving it to a violent felon) a federal crime. Trump wants concealed carry permits to be, like driving licences, valid across all 50 states of the USA. Clinton wants 'the gun industry (to be) held accountable for violence perpetrated with their guns' and for gun stores that sell illegal arms or sell arms to felons, to lose their licences. Trump wants to 'empower law-abiding gun owners to defend themselves'. The gun rights versus gun control issue has been brought into sharp focus thanks to the Omar Mateen's heinous actions. But will it influence the election? Only time will tell. Orlando: The gunman who launched the worst terror attack on US soil since 9/11 at a gay nightclub in Orlando was radicalised by Islamist propaganda, officials said, amid reports he was a club regular. Lone gunman Omar Mateen killed 49 and wounded another 53 before he was killed when police stormed the Pulse, one of Orlando's most prominent gay venues, early Sunday. The attack is reminiscent of the 13 November suicide attack on the Bataclan concert hall in Paris, where 90 people were massacred when jihadist gunmen opened fire on concertgoers. A total of 130 people died across the French capital that night in a series of shootings and suicide bomb attacks. The FBI said Mateen had been radicalised by Islamist propaganda, but found no evidence contrary to the Paris attacks that the shooting had been coordinated from abroad. The Islamic State group claimed that Mateen was acting as "one of the soldiers of the caliphate in America." US investigators believe that Mateen was a "lone wolf" inspired by Islamist propaganda to carry out what President Barack Obama dubbed "an act of terror and an act of hate." FBI chief James Comey said his agents found no evidence that the attack had been directed from outside the United States, "and we see no indication that he was part of any kind of network." Agents are instead looking into the possible role of anti-gay bigotry. The FBI was "highly confident" Mateen had been "radicalised" while consuming online propaganda, Comey said, adding that he claimed allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a series of calls during the attack. Mateen a club regular? In a further twist to the story, four people said Mateen, 29, had been a regular at the gay club, the Orlando Sentinel newspaper reported late Monday. "Sometimes he would go over in the corner and sit and drink by himself, and other times he would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent," Ty Smith told the Sentinel. Smith said he had seen Mateen inside at least a dozen times. "We didn't really talk to him a lot, but I remember him saying things about his dad at times," Smith said. "He told us he had a wife and child." Another Pulse regular, Kevin West, told the Los Angeles Times that Mateen messaged him on and off for a year using a gay chat app. Other club goers told local media and MSNBC News that Mateen had been using multiple gay apps, including Grindr, with mutual acquaintances to "hook up." Mateen's wife, Noor Zahi Salman, was not cooperating in the probe, a law enforcement official told the Sentinel. However agents have talked extensively with Mateen's ex-wife, Sitora Yusufiy, who said he had beat her. Relatives and acquaintances portrayed Mateen as an unstable man prone to violence who expressed homophobic views. The slaughter raised questions about US counterterror strategy and gun laws. The FBI said it had investigated Mateen, a US citizen of Afghan descent, but cleared him of extremist ties. Nevertheless Mateen legally bought a rifle and a handgun. "We make it very easy for individuals who are troubled or disturbed or want to engage in violent acts to get very powerful weapons very quickly," Obama said. He demanded that the Republican-controlled Congress pass legislation to curb the sale of assault-type weapons like the one used in Orlando. The White House said Obama would travel to Orlando on Thursday to pay his respects to victims' families. 'Help me, help me' A gay chorus sang and rainbow flags fluttered in the evening wind late Monday as thousands in Orlando gathered for the first major vigil for the night club victims. The trim green lawn outside a performing arts center filled with people gay and straight to hear speakers urge the city known for theme parks and fun to unite and not surrender to fear. "We're not going anywhere, we are here to stay," the crowd chanted at one point. Police put their number at about 5,000. "It shouldn't be so easy to get guns," said Joe Brennan, a 52-year-old engineer at the vigil. "The innocent deserve to be protected, too." Police have identified all 49 victims mainly club goers celebrating Latin Night at the Pulse nightclub at the start of Gay Pride month. Many of the wounded remained hospitalised. As the club was closing around 2 am Sunday, Mateen began a gun battle with an off-duty officer working at the club. More officers responded, and the gunman escaped to the bathroom, where he barricaded himself and seized hostages. Witness Janiel Gonzalez described scenes of mayhem as the gunman sprayed revellers with bullets. "It was like complete chaos," he told AFP. "People were screaming 'Help me, help me, I'm trapped!'" The attacks triggered solidarity vigils by gay and lesbian groups and their supporters across the world. Thousands also gathered Monday in New York at the birthplace of the gay rights movement, and in Los Angeles, where pop star Lady Gaga led a tearful vigil. "This is an attack on humanity itself... an attack on everyone," said Gaga, who has often spoken out on gay rights issues. Other memorial vigils were held in Philadelphia, San Diego and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Several of the victims were natives of the US Caribbean possession. In London's Soho district, thousands marched under rainbow flags, bursting into chants of, "We're here, we're queer, we will not live in fear." Marches and vigils were also held in the Netherlands, France, Germany and Australia. Editor's note: In this series for Firstpost titled 'Letter to the Subalterns' noted rights activist Harish Iyer reaches out to marginalised, oppressed groups and individuals. Dear Gaymerica, I am here in your nation. When I came here, I thought I was here at the most appropriate time considering that this is Pride Month. And well, it was perfect. Right from the time I stepped into the Dulles airport where I met up with two Amercians who guided me and wished me luck when I came out to them, to the lovely, chatty Uber driver who gave me a hug and wished me happy pride, there was no doubt that I was in paradise. I should add that the day I started your governments Department of State-sponsored International Visitors Learning Programme was also the day Capital Pride was organised at Washington DC. I saw colours and vigour unlike any before. I have seen happy people and well-organised events, but I have not seen people who had joy running through their veins. I saw people from all walks of life, I saw people from all faiths, I saw people of all age groups; in fact, I didnt see people alone I saw pets march the Pride, thereby completing the family tree. I want to thank you for giving me, and the world, this volcano of positivity that explodes love of and for every form. Thank you. It was amazing, until, I saw the TV on the night of 11 June. The Internet was replete with details of an attack in a gay bar. What unfolded on my television screen was the tale of mayhem and bloodshed. I learnt that Pulse, a bar in Orlando, Central Florida was attacked by a gunman called Omar Mateen. The atmosphere of happiness had assumed the face of hatred. I was amazed that your country that was bursting with joy suddenly turned into almost a morgue. I understand this feeling way too well. I understand it, therefore it hurts equally and in full measure. It is not too long ago in history that my city, Bombay, saw a bloodbath. I still remember the chilling moments of 26/11 clearly. I know how it feels like when terrorism has an insane face. So, brothers and sisters of America, I am with you in this trying time, and so is my nation. These times are a good reminder of the fact that borders are for countries, not for humanity. We are all bound together. We are all in this together. The very next day, I visited the post-Pride event in Washington DC. I saw the whole place in complete rainbow spirit. Not one programme, to the best of my knowledge was cancelled. Just that the whole space had a lot of police officers, adding an extra cover of security. Nothing could dampen the spirit of the pride. One of my newfound friends wondered how people were so emotionless. It made me think. But just as I was mulling it over, there was an announcement of a memorial service at DuPort Circle for those who lost their lives in the attack. I attended the memorial, which was a candlelight vigil. It was amazing to see people of all races there. Some with their pets, some with their families, some alone, some holding a candle, some sitting down to offer a prayer, some quietly sitting on a bench with their eyes closed. They were mourning, and I mourned with them. They gave themselves to grief as much as they didnt allow the incident to dent their celebration of post-Pride in the afternoon. There was solidarity, but there was no hate. I had to share with you, Gaymerica, a wonderful sight that I saw. There was a man who was standing with a placard with an anti-Muslim message. The moment the person came there, there were a group of individuals who spoke to him and asked him to stand by the side. He stood at a distance with his placard. More and more people went up to him. I guess they were trying to explain to this man that they have not been consumed by hate, that they have not stopped loving or believing in the innate quality of goodness. Gaymerica, at this event I could see that you thought that phobia to a phobia is not the right way to deal with the issue. I am certain, something good transpired in the conversation, because the man suddenly rolled up his placard and left. There was no violence from his end or from that of the organisers of the vigil. There were polite conversations. As individuals spoke with the man, the police just watched over without unnecessarily intervening. But the police was involved, not just in peacekeeping, but also in expressing their grief. They lit up candles with everyone else, making this loss their own. They didnt come there just as governing officers, they came can grieving officers. You are blessed, Gaymerica, for the love you have found in the Washington police force and in the hearts of people. Tragedy or no tragedy, you are united in hope of a better tomorrow. Homosexuals are one of the most hated minorities, but for every arrow of hatred, you have a thousand holy springs of love that emerge from all quarters straight and gay, religious and atheists. You are united. And truly the United States Of America. You defeated terror, Gaymerica. Your very pride, did. In solidarity and in support, Harish Iyer A GayIndian Tourist. The author is an equal rights activist who campaigns for the rights of the LGBT community, children, women and animals. He is a Bollywood buff and an occasional newsmaker. New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Lahore visit to reach out to Pakistan has apparently not gone down well with RSS whose senior leader Dattareya Hosabale on Monday suggested that sincerity aspect of the other side needed to be kept in mind while making attempts to improve ties. He said Modi's unannounced visit to Lahore on 25 December last year had ended up in Pathankot terror attack, just like former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's bus yatra to the Pakistani city had met a similar fate. "I am not opposed to maintaining good ties ties with Pakistan but while making the attempts (to improve ties, we have to see) how sincere the other side is in taking it forward," Hosabale said. "The Lahore bus yatra (of Vajpayee in 1999) ended at the Agra Summit. The visit of Prime Minister to meet Pakistan Prime Minister at his Lahore residence ended in Pathankot. Whatever attempts you make, the problem is Pakistan's anti-India and anti-Hindu sentiment," he said. Speaking at an event to launch "Pakistan Watch", a quarterly journal by Sangh-linked India Policy Foundation, Hosabale said that despite many talks, there has not been any movement of "even an inch" in resolving the problems between the two countries as Pakistan considers India as its "enemy". "Atal ji started a bus to Lahore, but within 24 hours, there was a reversal (of the effort)," the RSS leader said in an apparent reference to Pakistani incursion in Kargil. Similarly, he said, Modi went to Lahore to improve ties with Pakistan but Pathankot happened. He said India has no cultural ties left with Pakistan as it turned into a theocratic state, which he asserted that India "can and will never be". When a nation's feelings are against another country, "then no nation can progress", Hosabale said. "It has been rightly said that it is a nation-less state because its nation-hood could not develop for last so many years. That is why Pakistan remained a nation-less state, it is not a nation state. "In that Pakistan, where street power overpowers the state power, State power where it buckled under the rogues' power, obviously it becomes a terror state... "For so many years, Pakistan never developed manufacturing sector and never moved forward. It manufactured only Taliban terrorists and could not run any other factory," Hosabale said. Islamabad: Pakistan on Tuesday stepped up its efforts to drum up support for its bid to become a member of NSG, with its top diplomat dialing foreign ministers of Austria and Turkey. Foreign Office said that Pakistan was continuing with diplomatic efforts to muster support for its candidacy of the 48-members elite grouping. The Prime Minister's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz on Tuesday made telephone calls to Foreign Minister of Austria Sebastian Kurz and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. "The Adviser underscored Pakistan's credentials for NSG membership and emphasized the importance of non-discriminatory approach on NSG expansion to non-NPT states," it said. Pakistan increased efforts to garner diplomatic support after US President Barack Obama endorsed Indian bid for NSG membership. Aziz has already said Pakistan was sure to get membership on merit if the gates of NSG were opened for India. He recently spoke with Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentilioni, New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully and Foreign Minister of Republic of Korea Yun Byung-se to seek their support. Aziz had earlier spoken over telephone with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the issue. Paladin allegedly hacked a few key Pakistan government websites on Tuesday: those of the President and the Foreign Ministry of Pakistan. He is the same hacker who had allegedly taken down two major Taliban websites a few days ago. However, he said the Pakistan hack is a solo operation and not endorsed by his group - GhostSec Hackers. He said his motive for the attack was Pakistan giving backing to Taliban against Afghanistan. He added that the Turkish web hosting service Niobe hosted Taliban websites, and hence he might later hit Niobe and Turkish government websites. The Pakistan government websites are under a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack. In a denial of service (DoS) attack, many computers try to access a website simultaneously, thus rendering others unable to access its server. Typically, Trojan malware is used to hijack many computers to deliver the distributed (or spread out) attack. He did a test attack for a short duration on Monday and took down three out of 10 of their government services including http://pakistan.gov.pk before attacking again on Tuesday. Pakistan government servers are hosted in Australia by APNIC. FirstPost asked Paladin, "Are you hitting Pakistan government websites as Shahamat has recently been restored by Taliban?" But Paladin denied that. "No, I did my work. They lost their whole database and got humiliated." So why has http://pakistan.gov.pk not been hit and only the other two have? According to Paladin, "It's getting attacked but it's not offline. At some places it would be. I'm focusing on http://mofa.gov.pk, a main service." The current availability status of the websites can be checked by visiting https://check-host.net/, entering the website URL and clicking the HTTP button. Screenshots of the attacked websites and their check host status : According to the hacker, Pakistan government was able to stop the attack on the three websites after more than 12 hours. Late Tuesday night, the hacker shifted the attack to another Pakistan government website, that of its Federal Public Service Commission. That website began working properly on Wednesday. Paladin also claimed to have DDoSed Pakistan Foreign Ministry email login portal to stop them from gaining access to their mails. This story was updated on Wednesday. Accra: Positive transformation cannot be brought by "archaic systems and concepts", President Pranab Mukherjee said and underlined the need to reform global organisations such as United Nations, World Bank, IMF etc. Addressing the students of Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research in the University of Ghana in Accra on Monday, the President said the United Nations, which was established in the context of end of the second world war in 1945, cannot serve the purpose of the world community today which has undergone sea changes. Mukherjee, who addressed the students in the jam packed auditorium of the University, considered to be one of the largest in Africa, said only a few countries were the members of the UN when it was formed but the nations from Africa and Latin America which got independence post world war do not have any "effective role" in the world body. "We are asking for radical reforms in the international architecture, in the administrative structures in the financial architectures World Bank IMF, WTI... United Nations' most important security council," he said. Mukherjee said it was an irony that India, which houses every sixth citizen of the earth, and African continent, which is the hub of the development, has no place in the permanent membership of the UN security council. "Can you expect that these institutions with archaic system of decision making can solve the problems of the world today?" he said. Earlier in the day, Mukherjee unveiled the statue of Mahatma Gandhi on the campus of the University. He also announced that Indian government has decided to increase the seat allocation for Ghana from 250 to 300 in Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme besides the number of annual scholarships from other schemes has been increased from 20 to 40. Mukherjee said India is totally different from what it had inherited more than sixth decades ago when it freed itself of English rule of 190 years. The President said it is a robust country now but it has not happened overnight. "It has happened because of toil and sacrifice of our leaders," he said. Earlier, Mukherjee visited the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum where he laid a wreath on the memorial built for Ghana's first President. The President also took a tour of the memorial and the museum which has preserved number of articles used by the first President who was one of the founding members of non-aligned movement along with Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Abidjan: President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday arrived in Cote D'Ivoirie on the second leg of his three- nation African tour during which he will witness the reopening of Exim bank and receive the country's highest honour. This is the maiden visit of the Indian President to "home of hospitality" Cote D'Ivoirie and is seen as India's outreach to Africa. Mukherjee's visit comes close on the heels of Vice President Hamid Ansari's trip of Morocco and Tunisia. Mukherjee, who arrived here on a two-day visit, was received at the airport by Cote D'Ivoirie President Alassane Ouattara. He was also accorded a warm traditional welcome from about 30 tribal chiefs who wore colourful dresses. "Exim Bank is going to re-open its office. It was relocated to Dakar during the civil war, so they have now got all the permissions and are relocation back to Ivory Coast. This is their regional office in West Africa to monitor all the lines of credit that we have," Secretary (Economic Relations) Amar Sinha said. "In 2011, a new government has come in and there has been a national reconciliation...," Sinha had said. In a symbolic gesture, the President will be handed over key of Abidjan city, the economic capital and largest city of Cote D'Ivoirie. Cote D'Ivoirie also known as Ivory Coast, a francophone country, is the biggest producer and exporter of cashew nuts to India which procures nearly 80 per cent of their total exports of cashew nuts. The President's arrival coincided with rains which is considered a good omen by the locales. "When a guest comes with rain, it is the most auspicious occasion in our country. The second line of our national anthem says our country is a home of hospitality," said Brice, a local. The country had gone through a period of turmoil in the last decade due to civil war but its development can be seen from modern expressways crisscrossing the lush green countryside. Dhaka: A Bangladesh court Tuesday ordered 18 people stand trial for the collapse of a garment factory three years ago that killed more than 1,100 people, a prosecutor said. A senior magistrate issued the order against the 18 charged with breaching building laws in the lead up to the Rana Plaza compound's implosion in 2013, one of the world's worst industrial disasters. No one has yet been convicted over the tragedy which highlighted appalling safety in Bangladesh's $27 billion garment export industry, the world's second largest after China. Thirteen of the accused, including owners of the building and those of factories housed inside, appeared in court to seek their release from jail, saying they were not guilty. "The judge rejected their discharge pleas and ordered their trial. The hearings will now begin on 23 August," prosecutor Anwarul Kabir told AFP, adding that five others still on the run also face trial on the same date. All 18 face seven years in jail if convicted of the charges. The court has heard how the Rana Plaza owners allegedly violated building codes and illegally extended the nine-storey complex which was initially approved as a six-storey shopping mall. Owner Sohel Rana, who has been in jail since 2013, and others also face separate murder and corruption trials over the disaster, although neither hearings have started yet. Rana became Bangladesh's public enemy number one in 2013 after survivors recounted how they were forced to start work despite complaints of cracks appearing in the walls the previous day. Rana's parents, who jointly owned the building with him, and the mayor of the town of Savar where it was located, are also charged with breaching building laws. The mayor and other officials are accused of falsifying documents to approve the extensions, while factory owners are charged with illegally installing heavy equipment including generators in the building. At least 1,138 people are known to have died in the tragedy. Rescue workers struggled for weeks to retrieve the bodies from the ruins but some people are still unaccounted for. The disaster triggered demands for Western retailers to help introduce sweeping reforms including new safety inspections and higher wages in the industry, which employs around four million workers. A host of Western retailers had clothing made at the factories housed at Rana Plaza, including Italy's Benetton, Spain's Mango and the British low-cost chain Primark. WASHINGTON - Hours before rivals Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders were to meet on Tuesday when the Democratic presidential nominating contests conclude, Sanders said he would push for "the most progressive platform" ever passed at the party's convention next month and to reform the nominating process. Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, said he was looking forward to his meeting Tuesday night with Clinton, which comes as the self-styled Democratic socialist is facing pressure to formally concede in the fiercely fought Democratic primary and begin working with Clinton to unify the party to take on Republican Donald Trump in November. "The time is long overdue for a fundamental transformation of the Democratic Party," Sanders told reporters at a last-minute press conference he called in Washington, D.C., which on Tuesday is holding the final Democratic nominating contest. Sanders' demands for reforms to the nominating process included same-day voter registration; adequate resources to timely count ballots; elimination of closed nominating contests, in which a voter must be registered as a Democrat or Republican to participate; and doing away with superdelegates, who are unelected but pledge support to a candidate. The meeting between Clinton and Sanders was planned on June 7 when the former secretary of state secured enough delegates to become the presumed Democratic nominee, scoring victories in heavily populated states California and New Jersey. Clinton leads Sanders in both the number of elected pledged delegates and superdelegates "Secretary Clinton and Senator Sanders agreed to meet when she called him last Tuesday night," a Clinton campaign official told Reuters. "She looks forward to the opportunity to discuss how they can advance their shared commitment to a progressive agenda, and work together to stop Donald Trump in the general election," the official added. Sanders has promised supporters that he would remain in the race until every vote was cast, and that he would continue to push his agenda - which focuses on wealth inequality, health, education and the environment - at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in July. Top Democrats took steps last week to begin rallying behind Clinton, however, and ease Sanders out of the race without alienating his supporters. President Barack Obama endorsed Clinton last Thursday, hours after meeting with Sanders at the White House. Sanders also went to Capitol Hill to meet with Senator Harry Reid, the top Democrat in the Senate. Reid said after that meeting that Sanders had accepted Clinton was the Democratic nominee. Clinton also last week secured the endorsement of U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who remained neutral in the primary race until it was clear Clinton would be the nominee. Warren's populist credentials will boost Clinton's ability to court Sanders' voters. (Reporting by Amanda Becker; Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Leslie Adler) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Washington: Terror outfits like the Islamic States are "perverting" Islam to justify their "murderous, false agenda" as part of which they claim the mantle of the religion to describe themselves as "holy warriors" fighting with the US, the White House has said. "What is true that many of those organisations pervert the religion of Islam to justify their murderous, nihilistic agenda. The President has said that on many occasions. He's been very blunt about what those organisations are trying to do," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters at his daily news conference on Monday. "What they're also trying to do is to claim the mantle of Islam to describe themselves as holy warriors, or religious leaders, engaged in a conflict with the US. "They're wrong about that. That is a false agenda. That is a myth. That is not true. And this administration and the previous administration have gone to great lengths to debunk that myth and make clear that these organisations are seeking to perpetuate a perverted form of Islam," Earnest said in response to a question. His comments came a day after a self-radicalised Afghan-origin youth killed 49 people in Orlando at a gay nightclub. He added that America's "partners in the Muslim world are critical to our success in degrading and ultimately destroying Islamic State". "And the fact of the matter is, most of the victims of terror attacks carried out by ISIL are, in fact, innocent Muslim men, women and children," he said, using the alternate acronym for the Islamic State. Earnest said there are American Muslims who serve the country loyally, patriotically in armed forces and in the intelligence community to combat this threat and to protect the nation. "In fact, the United States of America was founded on the principle of religious freedom, where people of all religions are welcome here, which makes it impossible that the United States could be at war with any one religion," he asserted. Obama Administration, he argued, has gone to great lengths to debunk that myth, because to perpetuate that myth only gives the terrorists what they want, which is legitimacy. "It's only going to make it harder for us to mobilise the Muslim world to fight this threat. It's only going to make it harder for us to mobilise Muslim religious leaders to make their voices heard online, as they have a responsibility to do, to counter that messaging," he said. "And it's only going to make it likely that some members of the Muslim community in the United States feel isolated and feel stigmatised, which only makes it harder to confront the threat that we face from individuals who might be radicalised," Earnest said. The Obama Administration, he said, is not giving legitimacy to a terrorist organisation that would "love to advance the narrative" that they are somehow holy warriors advancing the cause of Islam by waging war against the US. "That is an utterly baseless myth. It is false. Washington: The US is "importing radical Islam" through a failed immigration system, Republican presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump has warned as he ramped up his rhetoric for a ban on Muslims entering the country. "We need to tell the truth, also, about how radical Islam is coming to our shores. We are importing radical Islamic terrorism into the West through a failed immigration system -- and through an intelligence community held back by our president," Trump, 69, said in a major policy speech in terrorism and national security. His comments came two days after a New York-born self-radicalised Afghan-origin youth killed 50 people in the deadliest mass shooting in American history. In his speech in New Hampshire, Trump reiterated call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the US and said that the Afghan family of the Orlando Shooter should not have been allowed to enter America. "We have a dysfunctional immigration system which does not permit us to know who we let into our country, and it does not permit us to protect our citizens. We have an incompetent administration, and if I am not elected President, that will not change over the next four years -- but it must change, and it must change now," he said. "With fifty people dead, and dozens more wounded, we cannot afford to talk around the issue anymore -- we have to address it head on. I called for a ban after San Bernardino, and was met with great scorn and anger but now, many are saying I was right to do so -- and although the pause is temporary, we must find out what is going on," he said. Trump said the ban will be lifted when "we as a nation are in a position" to properly and perfectly screen those people coming into the US. Immigration laws give the President the power to suspend entry into the country of any class of persons that he deems detrimental to the interests or security of the country, he observed. "I will use this power to protect the American people. When I am elected, I will suspend immigration from areas of the world when there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe or our allies, until we understand how to end these threats," Trump said. "After a full, impartial and long overdue security assessment, we will develop a responsible immigration policy that serves the interests and values of America. We cannot continue to allow thousands upon thousands of people to pour into our country, many of whom have the same thought process as this savage killer," the billionaire from New York said. Trump gave examples of several terrorists and their families entering the US through immigration system. "All of the September 11 hijackers were issued visas. Large numbers of Somali refugees in Minnesota have tried to join the ISIS. The Boston bombers came here through political asylum," he said. Geneva: The number of unaccompanied children making the notoriously dangerous Mediterranean crossing aboard unseaworthy boats has more than doubled in 2017, the UN's children's agency said in a new report on Tuesday. Entitled "Danger every step of the way", the UNICEF report said nine out of every 10 children arriving in Italy were unaccompanied minors, noting that more than 7,000 of them had arrived in the first five months of the year. "The reason we are seeing more (unaccompanied children) is not clear at this stage," UNICEF's Sarah Crowe told a press conference in Geneva. Since 1 January 2,859 people have died while attempting to cross the Mediterranean, many of them children, according to the International Organization for Migration. The IOM figure for the whole of last year was 3,770. Unaccompanied and separated children are at particular risk of abuse and exploitation, notably by the smugglers they rely on to get to Europe, UNICEF said. "Just about every child who arrives on the Italian island of Lampedusa or in Sicily has a harrowing story to tell," the report said. Both boys and girls are subjected to sexual violence and forced into prostitution. Some of the girls are pregnant by the time they arrive on European shores. "We should never forget that children on the move are first and foremost children, who bear no responsibility for their plight, and have every right to a better life," said Marie-Pierre Poirier, UNICEF's special coordinator for Europe's migrant crisis. Tens of thousands of children are in danger each day and hundreds of thousands more are ready to risk everything to make the journey, the agency said. And with the arrival of summer in Europe, the numbers of those risking the Mediterranean crossing from Africa and the Middle East are set to rise, it warned. There are currently 235,000 refugees and migrants in Libya and some 956,000 in the Sahel countries, and "many - if not most - of them" are hoping to make their way to Europe, the UNICEF report said. New York: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US provided an "important opportunity" to assess how the Indo-US partnership can help address global challenges and unleash opportunity in the economic and trade space, a top Obama administration official said. "There was a tremendous amount of support and goodwill and his words resonated in many many different audiences around town," Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Nisha Desai Biswal told PTI on the sidelines of an event in New York on Monday. Following Modi's visit to Washington from 6-8 June, Biswal had described the vision laid out by the Indian leader during his address to the US Congress as the 'Modi Doctrine'. Biswal, in the city to speak at the launch of the Sri Lanka Policy Forum, said Modi doctrine was "a way of framing what I thought was an important vision" that the Prime Minister put forward in his speech to the US Congress. "It's a recognition that both President (Barack) Obama and Prime Minister Modi said that we are each other's best partners in an important defining relationship, not only because of what we can do for our own peoples through our partnership but because of the way we can really advance global concerns, address challenges and create betterment around the world." She said Modi's visit was an "important opportunity" to talk about that kind of partnership and to best look at the "challenges that we see", including the challenges across the Indo-Pacific, climate change and "how we can move together to address them as well as unleash opportunity on the economic and trade space and in many other endeavors between our two countries." Earlier speaking during the session hosted by The Program on Peace-building and Human Rights at Columbia University's Institute for the Study of Human Rights and the Association of War Affected Women, Biswal said Sri Lanka is making progress but a lot more still needs to be done. She cited the progress made in establishing the office of missing persons and the current government has welcomed and encouraged the visit of UN special Rapporteurs to help provide technical support, expertise and best practices that can help shape the government's views on reconciliation and accountability. She said the US stood "very firmly" on the need for respect for human rights and the need for a process of accountability and reconciliation in Sri Lanka. "While we are thankful that the days of the conflict our behind us, the effort to move forward on reconciliation is really truly only just beginning," she said. She said the Sri Lankan government that came into power in January 2015 has taken "some very encouraging steps" with respect to the efforts to return land to its rightful owners and effort to "give closure" to so many families whose loved ones are still unaccounted for and to "seek justice and accountability for the perpetrators of worst times of the conflict." She said the reconciliation process is at its beginning and the "hardest work" is still ahead but the country is not alone in this journey and the US stands ready to support Lanka. Orlando: The first victim of the nightclub shooting to reach the hospital was relatively stable, and doctors working the overnight shift hoped any others would arrive in a similar condition. Then five more came, in much worse shape. And then more, and more still, until people bleeding from gunshot wounds were lining up inside the Orlando Regional Medical Center. "They were dropped off in truckloads, in ambulance-loads," said Dr Kathryn Bondani. The trauma bay quickly overflowed, forcing doctors performing triage to move critically injured people elsewhere and focus on those whose lives were most in danger. Luckily, the Pulse nightclub isn't far from the region's main trauma hospital, but its emergency room staff usually gets advance word that severe cases are on their way. In this case, victims started arriving within minutes of the shooting, and the staff had to scramble. Choking up a bit, Dr Chadwick Smith described how he and others called for reinforcements. "I said, 'please come, please come. We need your help,'" Smith said. "This is not a drill. This is not a joke," he told them. "'I need you as fast as I can.' Every answer I got was, 'I'll be right there.'" Nurses and technicians also arrived, many without being told to come, turning much of the hospital into emergency response areas. Doctors quickly expanded from two operating rooms to six, performing surgery after emergency surgery. Another eight operations were scheduled for Tuesday. Angel Colon was shot several times in his leg, and his bones shattered as he was trampled in the crowd. Then he was hit again, in the hand and hip, as the gunman shot the injured, apparently "making sure they're dead." Later, as a policeman dragged him to safety, his body was cut by shards of broken glass. Appearing at a news conference Tuesday in a wheelchair, Colon turned to the doctors and nurses who treated him and said: "I will love you guys forever." The trauma center is used to handling four or five people each shift. A total of 44 patients arrived that night, with all manner of bullet gunshot wounds, broken bones and other injuries. Nine of them were too far gone to be saved, said Dr Michael Cheatham. Of the rest, 27 remained hospitalised Tuesday, including six in intensive care. Two of these patients may be permanently disabled, but no patient has succumbed since the nine who were pronounced dead on arrival, he said. Eleven victims were treated at other hospitals, and most of them have been released, Cheatham said. "It was singularly the worst day of my career and the best day of my career," Smith said. "And I think you can say that of pretty much every person standing up here." Omar Mateen, the Orlando nightclub shooter was reportedly himself a regular at a gay nightspot according to some clubgoers. Samuel King, a year ahead of Mateen in high school posted on Facebook: He was a jokester and at the time didnt have an issue with the LGBT community. On Monday, Mateen's ex-wife Sitora Yusufiy said. There were definitely moments when he would express his intolerance towards homosexuals." Recent co-workers described Mateens demeanor as aggressive and anti-gay, according to The Daily Beast. This transformation from a tolerant, all-embracing Mateen to an intolerant infuriated person is possibly a result of online radicalisation as some reports suggest. There might be some other underlined reasons as well which aided in seeding hate into this apparently happy man. Syed Shafeeq Rahman, Imam at the Islamic Centre in Fort Pierce where Mateen worshipped, said "he had been a sunny child who enjoyed skipping but something had changed in recent years." His fellow security guard Eric Baumer told Newsday. He had bad things to say about everybody-blacks, Jews, gays, a lot of politicians, our soldiers. He told me America destroyed Afghanistan. According to reports, Mateens father posted videos on his Facebook page where, dressed in a military uniform in front of the Afghan flag, he sharply criticised the Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani. According to The Washington Post, in a Facebook video posted on Monday, he said, God himself will punish those involved in homosexuality. In some other videos, he declared himself the leader of Afghanistan. Also, in videos on his YouTube channel, Mateens father has previously paid tribute to the Afghan Taliban. Interestingly, Mateen claimed a solidarity with an al-Nusra bomber and the Islamic State before the attack on the Orlando nightclub. His fathers sharp criticism and demeaning attitude towards homosexuals might have been one of the subtle factors of his transformation. G4S guards, where Mateen has been working since 2007 have been accused of abusing children in the centers where they work, according to The Daily Beast. Im amazed at the amount of violence that goes on over there, both against staff and other inmates, Assistant State Attorney Vicki Nichols said. This violence to which Mateen had been exposed for years might also have played a role in influencing him. Writer Taslima Nasreen tweeted that Mateen was brainwashed by Orlando Mosque Imam to kill homosexuals. Omar Mateen was brainwashed by Orlando Mosque Imam to kill homosexuals.https://t.co/8xwhM1WlWg taslima nasreen (@taslimanasreen) June 13, 2016 According to Fox News, a Muslim cleric calling for gay people to be executed reportedly preached at an Orlando-area mosque just weeks before the Orlando nightclub shooting. Was it this diktat of the cleric that Mateen was trying to devoutly follow? We dont know. However, based on reports, it appears that Omar Mateen was a happy person, who had undergone a sad transformation in recent years that possibly drove him to attack the gay nightclub in Orlando. With inputs from agencies. Imagine if every weekend was a long weekend, and every week a four-day week. In Sweden, a 30-hour week has been shown to benefit satisfaction and health, and lead to a more equal share of housework and childcare between genders. Yet another Swedish experiment found that a decrease in work time by 1 per cent corresponds to an 0.8 per cent reduction in household greenhouse gas emissions. Imagine if you only had to go through this four days a week... Credit:John Phillips Australian academics have recently called for our current 38-hour cap to be strengthened in order to improve gender equality. Perhaps we should go further: a four-day work week - for both men and women. In her book The Wife Drought, Fairfax Media columnist Annabel Crabb suggested we've been looking at workplace equality all wrong. It's not just about getting women into work, keeping them there, and paying them well. It's about getting men to go home. Stamp duty will be doubled for foreign buyers of a median priced Sydney house under changes to be introduced in next week's NSW budget. Based on the Sydney median house price of $995,804, the stamp duty bill for a foreign investor will increase by almost $40,000 - from $40,305 to $80,137. If they are buying a unit at Sydney's median price, $656,000, they will pay an extra $26,240 in stamp duty. It follows the announcement by NSW Treasurer Gladys Berejiklian that foreign buyers of residential property will be slugged with a 4 per cent stamp duty surcharge from next week and pay an extra 0.75 per cent land tax from 2017. "We're led by a man that either is, is not tough, not smart, or he's got something else in mind. And the something else in mind, you know, people can't believe it. People cannot -- they cannot believe that President Obama is acting the ways he acts and can't even mention the words radical Islamic terrorism. There's something going on. It's inconceivable." "The problem is we have thousands of people right now in our country. You have people that were born in this country" who are susceptible to becoming "radicalised," the billionaire real estate mogul told Fox News Channel's "Fox & Friends. He claimed that there are Muslims living here who "know who they are" and said it was time to "turn them in." As it was, Trump's self-congratulatory tweets Sunday had already attracted scalding criticism, even from Republicans. As NBC News reports, "party operatives had hoped Trump would remain silent on the attacks so as not to politicise the tragedy," but they were "likely disappointed." Meanwhile, some news reports were already taking note of the vast differences in the ways that Trump and Clinton responded to the event. As the Post overview reports, Trump responded with "bombast," while Clinton expressed sympathy with the victims, directly addressed the issues raised by the event, and called for a redoubled focus on defeating terror threats. Monday this contrast only deepened. As Steve Benen notes, Trump's latest insinuations about Obama's intentions towards America may well put pressure on other Republicans to clarify whether they agree with their party's standard bearer on this matter. Meanwhile, Clinton went on NBC's Today Show and rejected Trump's semantic games over whether we should use the phrase "radical Islam." Instead, she blasted Trump's "demagoguery," reiterated that she will not "declare war on an entire religion," and said Trump's rhetoric "plays into ISIS's hands." It is routinely suggested that the specter of terrorism helps Trump politically. But if anything, Trump's response to this horrific event could end up raising further doubts about his temperamental fitness for the presidency. Washington Post An unconfirmed number of Zimbabwean soldiers were caught up in a shoot-out with Renamo rebels, according to a report coming from Mozambique. A bus full of Zimbabwean soldiers was attacked by Renamo (rebels) on their way to Gorongosa to help the Mozambican government. The bus was attacked at Mesica turn off. Many deaths (occurred), said the source in a message to Nehanda Radio. Leia em http://nehandaradio.com/2016/06/03/zim-soldiers-reported-killed-mozambique/ Phyllis Swenson recognizes the financial breaking point. She sees it in the faces of people who seek shelter at her church. She hears it when they call there asking for food, a spare gift card, anything. Now, the shadow of unemployment and loss is stalking her. Its scary, says Swenson, who recently received a foreclosure notice on her home. The 63-year-old Fairfax, Virginia, resident is among millions of Americans who havent rebounded with the improving U.S. economy. Part-time work at Vienna Presbyterian doesnt pay all her bills, and almost a year of futile job-hunting has left her desperate. Recovery? she scoffs. How are we recovering? The labor market has staged a strong comeback: Unemployment is 4.7 percent, down from 9.5 percent when the economy started expanding in June 2009. Employers have added an average 150,000 jobs a month this year, though May slowed to just 38,000. The rate at which people quit, a handy measure of job mobility, is trending up. Yet some Americans still feel a deep sense of betrayal. Their journey back to meaningful work has been brutal if they even arrived leaving them with depleted savings, increased debt, homes lost to lenders and for some, long searches that stripped away their most valuable possession: self-esteem. Many who did find jobs now earn less, with fewer benefits. This has helped fuel Donald Trumps improbable rise and Bernie Sanderss strong challenge to Hillary Clinton. Thousands cheer at rallies when the Republican front-runner claims hell put people back to work and the Democratic contender rails against income inequality. Swenson, who likes Sanders, is just trying to survive. Bloomberg News asked her and two other financially stressed people previously interviewed to share how theyre doing now. These are their stories. Swenson has been looking for a full-time job since last fall. An Air Force veteran, shed taken courses at a two-year college but didnt graduate. Shed worked at the Environmental Protection Agency and as a hotline operator and administrator at a center for women in need of psychological counseling. I absolutely loved it she says about her nine years at the center. She was helping people, which is her passion. She resigned in 2009 after a leadership change, a decision she regrets. The timing couldnt have been worse: Unemployment for high-school graduates without a four-year degree reached 11 percent that year, then stuck near there for much of 2010. Swenson became a cashier at a car dealership, but it closed three months later and she was out of work from 2010-2012. She collected unemployment and rented space in her home to help pay the mortgage; she also receives payments from her husbands life insurance. There are pictures of them in the dining room and kitchen, where he died of a sudden heart attack in 1994. Warren, she says, pronouncing his name with love. We were an interracial couple. Swenson is black and he was white. She joined a support group at Vienna Presbyterian Church, and after some volunteer work, landed two part-time jobs there that covered most of her bills. The church also helped with two mortgage payments. But churches, a nongovernmental safety net for millions of people, also are financially strapped. Last August, one of her positions was consolidated into another job, reducing her hours. She was very surprised and deeply hurt, even though she says Vienna Presbyterian remains committed to helping her. Shes stuck in a category labor statisticians describe as people working part-time who want full-time work. The number has stalled around 6 million after dropping from 9 million in June 2009. It averaged 4.4 million in 2007 before the recession. Employers want different things now, Swenson notices. When she mentioned her Air Force experience in the past, Bingo! I got the job, she says. Nowadays, people say, So what? Shes interviewed at another church, which hired someone else, and at a hair salon, which never called back. Shes gotten no response to other queries. There are days when I think, Oh, man, I cant go through with this, Swenson says. But I believe in miracles. I have seen miracles happen in my life. Leticia Vives was helpless in September 2014. Then 44 years old, the former teller supervisor was cut in a Bank of America downsizing after 23 years and said shed been out of work for about 19 months. Her husbands disability check was the familys sole income, so the mother of three was draining her 401(k) to pay bills. Almost two years later, Vives has a job and her Ansonia, Connecticut, home no longer lingers in foreclosure. But her ordeal leaves her oscillating between a dark read on its indelible scars and optimism borne of her religious devotion and love of family. A native of Sicily who came to the United States when she was 5, Vives says the American Dream isnt what her Italian relatives and others abroad made it out to be. Their vision is of a glorious, rich place, and its not really like that, she says. You really have to work for what you want to have and sacrifice, and it doesnt come easy like they make it sound. Shes lost faith in politicians who dont understand how many people in this country are suffering, so shes decided not to vote in the presidential election. Armed with only a high-school diploma and a handful of industry certificates, Vives lacks the college degree that might have doubled her odds of securing work. And her job search was far different from when she started her career. Theres no human touch to it everythings electronic. During her 21-month odyssey, she submitted applications each week, while counting every dollar. Unemployment insurance helped: first state, then federal benefits for 11 months, until the emergency funds expired without congressional action in December 2013. Thats when she tapped her retirement accounts more deeply. She finally got a response to an online application. Her long tenure at Bank of America impressed the boss at Bridgeport Dental Partners, Vives says, and he hired her as financial manager for six Connecticut offices in November 2014. His call came just in time for her to avoid foreclosure, which had dragged on for about two years. Vives now relishes working for a small business. But she yearns for a bigger paycheck. And her employer doesnt offer pension or 401(k) benefits that could help rebuild her almost-empty account. So, with all three daughters 19, 18 and 17 years old college-bound, Vives sees retirement as her biggest worry. Im grateful I have a job now, but Im still not where I want to be. Sally Richards is the rare job-seeker who found what she was looking for after two years, three moves, three part-time positions, resume after resume and months of silence from several prospective employers. A lawyer who specializes in health care, shed served as a court advocate for about four dozen children in Ohio and had her own practice with more than 100 clients. When she moved to Washington in 2013, she anticipated landing a job in the citys big nonprofit sector where her skills could be put to broader use. When Bloomberg interviewed her in mid-2014, shed spent six months looking for work. The response to her experience and the salaries at nonprofits were less than she expected. Toward the end of that year, Richards was fighting discouragement. You get to a point where you say, Nobody knows about me. What am I good for? Sometimes you say, I am approaching the job search all wrong. And you try and reinvent yourself. She wanted to do something constructive, so she started consulting part-time at an insurance brokerage. She had, after all, run her own practice and could help with business development. But the job turned into an administrative position. I lasted three months, she says. She did some grant writing for Volunteer Alexandria, which links professionals with nonprofits that need support. She worked part-time at an art center for a few months, then took a part-time job at a womens boutique last June. She enjoyed it It taps into my marketing skills, my people skills and still works there some weekends for fun. Of course, a part-time paycheck didnt pay lifes full-time bills, and her credit-card debt increased. She went from living with her family, to another family, to a leaky basement apartment, which she eventually left. Richards was careful to avoid luxuries as she looked for a new home: no extra fees for a gym or pool. Last summer, Richardss grant writing and juvenile-law experience paid off. She attended a volunteer orientation at Stop Child Abuse Now, or SCAN, and met some of the leaders. Later, she saw an opening for a full-time director of development. She started at the nonprofit Sept. 8 and speaks with passion about its mission. She received a reminder recently of how tough the labor market is: a notice from a company she applied to 14 months ago saying it chose another candidate. So many people I know from the job search still dont have full-time jobs, she says, adding she hasnt decided yet who shell support in the presidential election. SALT LAKE CITY (AP) | A new commission looking to redevelop the site of Utah's aging state prison in a Salt Lake City suburb holds its first meeting Monday as members chart out a plan to raze the cellblocks and make way for a booming business hub. The 700 acres in Draper where the prison currently sits won't be vacant for another six years, but lawmakers want to start planning how the prime real estate can be redeveloped. The land is in a growing suburban area between Salt Lake City and Provo where high-tech firms like Adobe and eBay have recently opened offices. State officials estimate that once a new prison is built near Salt Lake City International Airport, the old site can generate from $500 million to more than $2 billion in economic activity. Lawmakers, local leaders and economic development officials on the Point of the Mountain Development Commission are expected to lay out a timeline for that on Monday afternoon and discuss possible uses of the land. Lawmakers last year approved moving the new prison to a site several miles west of the airport. The new prison is expected to have about 4,000 beds and updated medical and inmate treatment facilities. Consultants hired by the state estimated that the new prison will cost about $550 million and be completed around 2020. The Draper land, which has housed the prison since 1951, would be cleared for a new use about two years after that, officials estimate. One of the chairmen of the new commission, state Rep. Brad Wilson, was deeply involved in the prison relocation process. The Salt Lake Tribune reported last month that Wilson was simultaneously building townhouses a little more than a mile away from the Draper prison site while serving on panels recommending the prison be moved. Wilson, R-Kaysville, listed his ownership of the townhomes on legislative disclosure forms and told the newspaper said it was not a conflict of interest because he sold the homes months before the committee he co-chaired released details about a new prison site and years before the prison will actually move. TWIN FALLS Idaho doesnt have a lot of animal cruelty. But when we do, its horrific, said Lisa Kauffman, Idaho director of the Human Society of the United States. Some recent examples: Early this month, police said, a Ketchum man dragged an English bulldog puppy down the street on a leash by the neck. Police said the man apparently too drunk to realize he was dragging the dog. The puppy died of severe pulmonary trauma. Twelve stock and guard dogs have died in Parma from strychnine poisoning between April and June. Dr. Brent Varriale, a veterinarian who examined three of the dogs, said its likely the poisonings were intentional. Its a terrible way to die, Varriale said. The dogs owner, Casey Echevarria, said each dog cost between $1,500 and $2,500, but he is more concerned about the dogs suffering than the loss of money. The Humane Society of the United States is offering a reward of up to $5,000. The Canyon County Sheriffs Office has yet to identify any suspects. In May, a dog was drowned in its crate in a canal north of Wendell. The dog was so decomposed Wendell Animal Control Officer Stephanie Hendrix couldnt tell the breed. The only clues to its identity are the crate, a baby blanket and its pink collar. Less than a year ago, someone dragged a familys aging Shetland pony more than a mile down the road, then beat and mutilated him on a canal bank near Rupert. It was a horrendous crime, Minidoka County Sheriff Eric Snarr said. The pony, Patches, had to be put down after it was found barely alive over Labor Day weekend. The sheriffs office still receives tips, but the case remains unsolved despite a $45,000 reward. News of Patches brutal torture went global. A loud outcry for tougher animal cruelty laws followed, and the 2016 Idaho Legislature passed amendments to the states animal cruelty laws. The amendments which added the definition of torture and made a distinction between production animals and companion animals include: A person convicted of a second or subsequent violation of torturing a companion animal shall be guilty of a felony. A person convicted of a first violation of torturing a companion animal shall be guilty of a felony, if the person has been also convicted in the last 10 years of a felony offense involving the voluntary infliction of bodily injury upon any human. Before sentencing an individual convicted of a violation, the court shall order and consider a pre-sentence investigation that shall include a psychological evaluation of the defendant. The law will not impact a persons right to shoot a stray cat on his property. TWIN FALLS Leisha Marler swears shes not a crazy cat lady. The founder of the non-profit animal rescue Forgotten Felines, Marler says she is on a mission to control the cat population in Twin Falls. Marler has found homes for 120 cats since she started rescuing strays just over a year ago. She has 64 cats and kittens in foster homes from Meridian to Idaho Falls. And every cat she rescues is spayed or neutered before given a new home. Rescue works, she said. Thats my motto. John Stevens, a taxidermist who lives across the street from Marler, has a different philosophy. He traps and kills any cat he can catch in his yard. I do not like cats, Stevens said. I do not like cats at all. The spat between neighbors is pitting a cat lover against a cat hater, but more important, its shedding a spotlight on the citys feral cat problem and the laws and regulations that govern felines in Twin Falls. Both property owners, it seems, are operating within the law. One party has a heart for animals, and we understand that, said Staff Sgt. Dan Lewin of the Twin Falls Police Department. The other feels (the cat population) is a neighborhood nuisance. I feel for both of these people. Stevens has lived at 514 Third Ave. E., near Bickel School, for 20-something years; Marler lives across the street. She says her rescue efforts have brought the feral cat population down to nearly zero in their neighborhood. Stevens tells a different story. Shes leaving cat food all over the neighborhood, bringing them in from Rock Creek, Stevens said of Marler. Hes trapped and killed cats off and on for about five years, he said. He recently started again when cats caused hundreds of dollars worth of damage to his boat and property. Stevens uses what he calls the most humane way to euthanize a cat: a 22-caliber bullet to the head. He said he has tried taking some to the Twin Falls Animal Shelter, but the cats ended up back in his yard the next day. We sorted through all the records and we do not have any records from John Stevens or his address, said Denim Stone, the front office manager at the shelter. Marler says she has offered Stevens $25 per cat, but he wont take her offer; he says she has not offered him a dime. He wouldnt take the money even if she offered, he said. Stalemate Hes killing neighbor cats, Marler said. To make matters worse, Facebook posts accusing Stevens of horrible acts have gone viral. A woman called from California saying Stevens had been holding a cat in a live trap without food or water for three or four days. People are calling who have read something on Facebook, said Lewin, the police officer who also supervises the animal control unit. They even accuse me of skinning cats and eating them, Stevens said, laughing. Some have tried to make me out to be Norman Bates. The Humane Society of the United States and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals have called the police department with concerns of possible animal cruelty. In December, Marler reported a cat with its foot caught in a metal spring trap in Stevens yard. The bones in its foot were broken. Lewin forwarded the infraction report to the city prosecutors office for review, but prosecution was declined. It was a No. 1 trap, a little trap used to catch muskrats, Stevens said. Animal control told me to use a live trap, so thats what I use now. Few Regulations for Cats The law considers cats to be wild animals non-domesticated, Lewin said. Unlike dogs, there are no licensing or leash laws for cats. Stevens is within his rights as a property owner, Lewin said. Even under Idahos new animal cruelty law, which goes into effect July 1, shooting a cat trapped on private property is not illegal. All Marler wants to do is find the cats a new home and all Stevens wants to do is keep the cats off his property. The goal is to resolve this for the neighborhood, Lewin said. Is it time to consider regulating cats? Thats something the community needs to decide, but we dont see this problem anywhere else in town. TWIN FALLS A Gooding man was arrested early Monday on a $50,000 warrant after police said he beat another man so severely he was taken to a Boise hospital with bleeding in his brain. Michael Joel Morrison, 31, was arraigned Monday in Twin Falls County Magistrate Court on a felony count of aggravated battery. Prosecutors say Morrison beat James Gunn so badly Friday night outside a home in Twin Falls that on Saturday Gunn was flown to a Boise hospital to be treated for subdural hematoma, described by the U.S. National Library of Medicine as a collection of blood between the covering of the brain and the surface of the brain (that) is usually the result of a serious head injury. Acute subdural hematomas are among the deadliest of all head injuries, the U.S. National Library of Medicine says. The bleeding fills the brain area very rapidly, compressing brain tissue. This often results in brain injury and may lead to death. Twin Falls police were contacted Saturday evening by staff from the Boise hospital to confirm Gunn was in the hospitals neuroscience center suffering from bleeding in his brain, court documents said. Police said Morrison and Gunn knew each other because Gunn used to date Morrisons sister, and that Morrison was upset with Gunn for trying to contact her after theyd broken up. Witnesses told police Morrison was accompanied by a friend Friday night when he went to a Twin Falls home looking for Gunn so he could beat him up, a police officer wrote in a sworn affidavit. The witnesses said Morrisons friend held back another man who tried to prevent the fight while Morrison pushed his alleged victim to the ground and punched him five or six times in the face. Gunn told me he was waiting at the back of the driveway for Morrison and was afraid of getting beat up so he grabbed a wrench, the officer wrote in his affidavit. Gunn said he does not remember anything about the fight after that. He said he lost consciousness and when he woke up his face hurt. When the fight broke up, Morrison and his friend fled in a white pickup truck, but not before witnesses wrote down the license plate number, court documents said. Police used that information to find a photo of Morrison, who Gunn and several witnesses all identified as the attacker. Gunn was initially taken to St. Lukes Magic Valley Medical Center to be treated for a concussion, two broken teeth and cuts and swelling on his face and the back of his head, court documents said. But Gunns contacted police Saturday morning to tell them hed been flown to Boise to be treated for the bleeding in his brain. Police wrote the $50,000 warrant for Morrisons arrest Saturday, and he was arrested by Twin Falls County Sheriffs deputies about 3:30 a.m. Monday. Morrison is out of custody after posting bond and is set for a preliminary hearing June 24. TWIN FALLS A judge has set an October trial date for a Twin Falls man facing 38 child pornography charges. Andrew Michael Hawley, 31, was charged last year with willfully possessing sexually exploitative material of a child. Originally accused on just two counts, Hawley skipped his first preliminary hearing but was later rearrested on a $100,000 warrant and charged with 43 more counts. After a September preliminary hearing, seven of the 45 charges were dismissed. Hawley pleaded not guilty to the remaining 38 charges in October, but his case was placed on the courts inactive list after his January trial was vacated. On Monday, District Judge Randy Stoker called a status conference in which prosecutors and Hawleys defense attorney, Keith Roark, decided they were ready to move forward on the case again. Prosecutors are finishing data analyses of the hard drives on Hawleys phone and computer, Roark said. Once those analyses are done, the information will be turned over to Roark for his experts to examine. Thats not something that will take a great deal of time, Roark told Stoker. Police began investigating Hawley after they were notified by Twitter that an account registered to a Twin Falls phone number and IP address uploaded seven images depicting the sexual exploitation of minors. The phone number and IP address were traced back to Hawley, court documents said. When investigators with Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children served a search warrant in May 2015, they found Hawleys personal laptop containing close to 100 images portraying children, mostly between the ages of one and 15, being sexually exploited. The Boise detectives testified during the preliminary hearing that the images were too deep onto the hard drives operating system to have been shared through a peer to peer file sharing system or hidden using a USB drive. A pretrial conference was scheduled for Oct. 17 and a jury trial expected to last three or four days was set for Oct. 25. TWIN FALLS The Twin Falls School District is looking at a bigger operating budget for next year, thanks largely to more state funding as student numbers increase. After a budget hearing without any public comments, Twin Falls school trustees voted 4-0 Monday night to approve the budget. Trustee Paul McClintock was absent. The proposed general fund budget is $57.2 million for the 2016-17 fiscal year, which starts July 1. Thats up about $5.5 million from last years proposal. Money is used for operating expenses to keep the school district up and running, affecting thousands of students and hundreds of employees. Were looking at a fairly significant increase in state revenue, if the kids show up, fiscal affairs director Bob Seaman said. School officials are projecting about a 300-student increase next school year, for a total of 9,436. Two new elementary schools Rock Creek and Pillar Falls will also open in August, thanks to a nearly $74 million bond voters approved in 2014. Of the approximately $57 million projected general fund revenues for next year, were projecting to spend all but $2.3 million of those revenues, Seaman said. Next years budget also factors in an emergency levy, with the maximum amount allowed under state law. Seaman didnt have the specific number Monday night. School boards are allowed to pursue a levy by the second week of September if average daily attendance rates are higher than the previous year. It doesnt have to be approved by voters. This school year, the district received $1.3 million in emergency levy money. Trustees also held a hearing to amend this years budget. During the meeting, trustees also: Approved revisions to the 2016-17 school district calendar: One day was added for high school registration Aug. 10, for a total of three days. The other change is no school for kindergartners March 15. Heard an update on school construction projects. The district is estimating a total of $639,719.89 in savings. I think weve done a good job getting the most out of the money we have and that weve been responsible to the taxpayers by maximizing the funds and getting the projects completed, director of operations Brady Dickinson said. The school district has $78.8 million in income for facility projects nearly $74 million from a bond voters approved in 2014. Other money is from refunds, rebates and land sales. So far, expenditures have totaled $78.2 million for projects: two new elementary schools, a new middle school, a $7.56 million renovation at Twin Falls High School, a $5.5 million classroom addition at Canyon Ridge High School, and $1.3 million in security upgrades at the districts existing 13 campuses. Im glad to see were under budget and on time, or close to it, board chairman Bernie Jansen said. Expenditures could increase as projects still underway, such as South Hills Middle School, progress. Heard an update from the leadership premium review committee. For this school year, a total of $164,862.50 was approved at the elementary school level. About $106,000 has been distributed. Payments are still in process as people turn in their documentation, according to the school board packet. If the money isnt used, it will carry over to next school year. At the middle and high school level, a total of $117,200 has been allocated and about $70,000 has been paid out so far. Employees can receive leadership premiums for filling extra roles. A few examples include being a grade level representative, maintaining a school website, providing after-school tutoring, leading an after-school club or mentoring new teachers. Recognized employees of the month from Sawtooth Elementary School: librarian Michelle Allen and extended resource classroom employee Julia Hiner. Heard a report about Western States Bus Services awarding $500 scholarships to two 2016 graduating high school seniors. The bus company also awarded a $100 library grant, which will be used at a middle or high school, and $500 elementary grant, to be used for traffic pattern signage at Rock Creek and Pillar Falls elementary schools. Approved a yearly memorandum of understanding with the ARTEC Regional Professional Technical Charter School to provide educational services in automated manufacturing, business and marketing, information technology and health professions for the 2016-17 school year. Twin Falls and Canyon Ridge high schools participate in the program. Reviewed student handbooks for Rock Creek and Pillar Falls elementary schools. School trustees will make a decision during their next meeting. Heard an information item about a job description for new college and career advisers. School trustees will make a decision during their next meeting. Trustees approved a job description for a bachelors degree-level school social worker. The school district will receive $104,000 in state funding specifically to provide students with college and career advising. Jansen said its his opinion theres not enough emphasis on preparing students for a trade. TWIN FALLS Police are investigating a crash in a Twin Falls driveway that left three people injured including at least two pedestrians. A 911 caller reported the crash at 6:52 p.m. at 871 Capri Drive, a Twin Falls city dispatcher said. Police scanner traffic indicated at least two people were injured, including one person with a broken arm and a head injury and one person with a leg injury. Firefighters and police arrived on the scene first and paramedics arrived just after 7 p.m. At the scene, paramedics and firefighters could be seen lifting a woman onto a gurney and loading her into the back of an ambulance. A man with a heavily bandaged head walked around talking with police as paramedics treated the foot injury of a girl lying in the driveway. But, Twin Falls police say, the cause of the crash is still under investigation. At this point, its really unclear what exactly took place, Staff Sgt. Arnold Morgado said. The woman and the girl in the driveway were both taken to the hospital, but the man with the bandaged head was not, Morgado said. The two injured adults were the pedestrians and the registered owners of the car involved in the crash, but it was unclear how the girl was injured. The man with the bandaged head told police a driver backing out of the driveway accidentally accelerated too fast, but Morgado said officers are still investigating. The car was parked in front of their house, Morgado said. And we dont know how it happened yet, but it left the residence and caused three people to be injured. NAMPA A Nampa man who poached a trophy bighorn sheep last year has received a lifetime hunting ban. Paul Cortez, 53, of Nampa stood silent June 6, as District Judge Gregory FitzMaurice handed down the poaching sentence. Cortez also received 30 days in jail, a $10,000 civil penalty, fines and court costs totaling $753 and four years of probation. Fish and Game conservation officers Roy Kinner, Craig Mickelson, Dennis Brandt and Brian Perkes contacted Cortez at his hunting camp Nov. 6 while on routine jet boat patrol along the Salmon River. Cortezs hands and forearms were bloody, says a statement from Idaho Fish and Game. And after a brief conversation, Cortez admitted to shooting the bighorn ram from his camp as the animal came to the river for water. He then field dressed and stashed the carcass among rocks above the river. Bighorn sheep season closed Oct. 13 in the area. Perkes cited Cortez for unlawfully killing a trophy big game animal, possession of an illegally taken bighorn sheep, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. An April plea agreement with Idaho County Prosecutors allowed Cortez to plead guilty to one felony count of unlawfully killing a trophy big game animal, which included 15 days in jail. The second felony count and other charges were dropped as part of the plea deal, the statement says. Its my view that youve been given fairly lenient treatment, FitzMaurice said. My view is that a signal needs to be sent out to others in your situation. FitzMaurice doubled Cortezs jail time to 30 days. Cortez addressed the court briefly, stating that he made a huge mistake in my judgement. I regret it. Cortez asked the judge to not to revoke his hunting privileges for life, but the request was ignored. The (illegal) killing of animals, especially rare animals, has serious consequences in this state, FitzMaurice said. Only a remnant herd of bighorn sheep now traverse the rocky canyons above Idahos Salmon River. Only four bighorn tags are allotted in Hunt Unit 19, where the animal was poached. Only a handful of those applying for one of these coveted tags got their chance at a bighorn sheep during the 2015 hunting season, Perkes said in a statement. This poaching crime robs legal hunters of next years opportunity to pursue this prized 9 -year-old ram. Anyone with any information about suspected poaching activity are encouraged to call the Citizens against Poaching hotline at 1-800-632-5999. It is available 24 hours a day. Callers can remain anonymous and cash rewards are often paid for information leading to the successful conclusion of a case. The Magic Valley is an awesome place to live! This weekend, Twin Falls hosted the 2016 Idaho Special Olympics at Canyon Ridge High School and the support that these athletes received was amazing! The staff at Canyon Ridge and YMCA/City Pool, the nearly 400 volunteers from all of the sponsors and community groups, the Twin Falls Police Department and the event staff focused 100 percent of their efforts on the Special Olympic athletes and their teams. And it showed on the face of every athlete regardless of age or ability! BEIJING -- From 2012 to 2015, China continued to earnestly fulfill its obligations to the international human rights conventions to which it has acceded and conducted international exchanges and cooperation in the field of human rights, said a government report issued on Tuesday. China also enhanced the healthy development of the international human rights cause during the period, according to the Assessment Report on the Implementation of the National Human Rights Action Plan of China (2012-2015) issued by the State Council Information Office. In October 2013, China smoothly underwent the second-round Universal Periodic Review (UPR) held by the UN Human Rights Council, giving a detailed account of developments in China's human rights situation, the challenges it faced and the goals it had set, it said. China seriously studied the proposals put forward by all the other countries. With an open and serious attitude, it actively responded and adopted a total of 204 proposals, accounting for 81 percent of all suggestions, for which China was spoken highly of by all parties. In March 2014, the UN Human Rights Council approved the UPR report on China, according to the report. China attended a series of multilateral meetings on human rights issues including the 67th to 70th meetings of the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly, the 20th to 30th meetings of the UN Human Rights Council, and the annual and follow-up sessions of the UN Committee of Non-government Organizations, actively proclaiming its stance and policies on human rights, its opposition to the combining of human rights with politics and double standards, and speaking out boldly to uphold justice for developing countries. China enhanced the UN Human Rights Council Special Procedures to give an equal stress to economic, social and cultural rights, as well as civil and political rights, and carried out work in a fair, objective and non-selective manner, it said. In November 2013, China was elected by a handsome majority as a member of the UN Human Rights Council for the period from 2014 to 2016. In April 2014, China was successfully re-elected as a member of the UN committee of Non-government Organizations, according to the report. King Hamad of Bahrain has promulgated the bill amending the 2005 Political Societies Law after the parliament approved it last month. The new law separates religion from politics as the state media, Bahrain News Agency, stressed that under no circumstances can anyone combine religious preaching and membership in a political society. People in active religious positions are also barred from participating in political activities. Supporters of the amendments claim that it will discourage the politicization of religious acts as well as giving political motives religious connotations. Bahrain has often been criticized for its human rights records and rights group claim that the new law would be used to clampdown on critics and serve as a tool to detain opposition figures pushing for regime change. The law is also calling for a specialization of activity as state media reported that simultaneous membership in a political society and engagement in religious preaching, guidance or speeches, will be prohibited even if there is no remuneration. Henceforth, religious figures cant talk about politics. Critics claim that the amendments are part of efforts by the authorities to restrict the activities of the Shia population that has been protesting against the government and calling for structural political reforms. The tiny but strategic Gulf state has been shaken by unrest since it crushed a month-long Shia-led uprising demanding reforms in 2011 under the wave of the Arab Spring. Prominent Shia opposition cleric, Sheikh Al Salman of the Al Wefaq National Islamic Society is under custody over charges that he was inciting violence and seeking to change the political system, which is held and dominated by the Al Khalifa family. Sheikh Al Salman is considered as one of the main propelling figure of Shia opposition groups. The dispute between Tehran and Riyadh concerning the Hajj is on the verge of taking a new dimension after Prosecutor General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri said Iran will file a lawsuit against Saudi Arabia over the 2015 Hajj stampede which occurred in Mina killing 461 Iranians. The incident strained relations between the two countries, which have failed to agree on the participation of Iranian pilgrims during the upcoming annual religious ritual scheduled to take place in September this year. It is yet to be determined if the lawsuit would be submitted to a Saudi court or an international court but Minister of Justice, Mostafe Pourmohammadi, hinted that it could likely be an international court. He was quoted as saying after the suit comes to the international court, Iran is going to trace the hearing via diplomatic channels. The problem is that the authorities of Saudi Arabia do not follow the international legal rules and even its judicial system is experiencing deficit of independence. He said the suits of the families who lost their loved ones at the stampede have been collected. Saudi Arabia has not reacted to the reports. Under international pressure, Riyadh had announced the launch of an investigation into the stampede shortly after it occurred and but there has been no communication on the matter since then. Tehran heavily criticized the organization of the hajj after the incident claiming that around 800 people were killed although the figures disclosed by Saudi authorities were lower. If the lawsuit goes ahead, countries in the region could be heavily divided as Gulf States continue to consider Irans policies as provocative. We have seen this all a couple of years ago and know the Security Council decision was used in the exact opposite way than was stated in the document, Russias Deputy Foreign Minister, Gennady Gatilov, told the Russian news agency RIA Novosti and therefore I do not think that this time we will bless NATO actions in this country. The Russian official was speaking about the increasing demand from western countries for a military intervention in Libya to thwart the Islamist threat and migration phenomenon. A resolution for the intervention is currently being negotiated according to the French ambassador to the UN Francois Delattre. However, the UN Security Council on Monday unanimously approved a resolution calling for the unity of armed groups in Libya to unite and strengthen national security forces to defend the country from terrorism citing it as a critical step towards tackling Libyas political, security, humanitarian, economic and institutional challenges and to combat the threat of terrorism. Russian state-controlled media have regularly stated that the overthrow of Gadhafi was a mistake and alleged that western countries exploited the UN Resolution 1973 of 11 March 2011 to act beyond imposing a no-fly zone to protect civilians to the extent of helping to end Gadhafis regime. The resolution approved on Monday urged for support to the UN-backed Government of National Accord and for the UN to re-establish a permanent presence in the country. Almost all the international institutions have moved their residence and operations to neighboring Tunisia while waiting for calm to return to Libya. As part of efforts to bring peace and stability to the North African country, the mandate of the UN support mission in Libya, UNSMIL, was extended for six months, until December 15, and its prerogatives were extended to assistance in securing uncontrolled arms and related material and countering its proliferation. The mission is also tasked to support key Libyan institutions and support, if requested, the provision of essential services. A week after the government of Ghana marked its worst natural disaster which claimed over 150 lives last year, torrential rains on Thursday and Friday has left large parts of capital city Accra in terrifying floods. No human casualties have been reported yet after the two days rain, but reports say residents, especially those around the center of the capital, Kwame Nkrumah Circle, Nungua, Teshie, parts of Kaneshie, Odawna, Dzorwulu, Asylum Down, Awoshie, Tema and surrounding areas have lost some properties. The rain, which began Thursday, is likely to persist, the Ghana Meteorological Agency has warned. In a statement, the government asked the general public to avoid flowing water, move from lower ground to higher places if need be and call emergency lines. Officers of the 48 Regiment of the Ghana Armed Forces were called in to rescue trapped flood victims. Years of delays and repeated failures to implement and improve sewage and drainage systems in Ghanas capital, Accra, has led to increasingly damaging and deadly flooding during the countrys annual rainy season. Last year storm, which led to an explosion at a petrol station, killed more than 150 people and affected thousands of others. It is just the latest example of the countrys failure to properly institute disaster risk reduction management. Residents of most parts of the capital are living in fear that the events of last year could recur. The Nigerian government is set to begin recruitment of 500,000 teachers, through an internet portal as of Sunday. The 500,000 Teacher Corps, nicknamed N-Power Teach is one of the three social investment programs President Muhammadu Buhari launched on Democracy Day, May 29. Another program, called N-Power Knowledge, will train 25,000 Nigerians in the area of technology, while N-Power Build will train another 75,000 in the areas of building services, construction, utilities, hospitality and catering, automotive vocations, aluminum and gas services. The N-Power Teacher Corps initiative, which will engage and train 500,000 young unemployed graduates, is a paid volunteer program of a two-year duration the Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande said in a statement. Unemployed Nigerians selected and trained will play teaching, instructional, and advisory roles in primary, and secondary schools, agricultural extension systems across the country, public health and community education-covering civic and adult education, Laolu Akande said. According to the plan of the Buhari administration, the N-Power Teacher Corps program is an invaluable opportunity for young Nigerians to make immense economic and social contributions to the nation while developing their skills. It will also help to address the problems of inadequate teachers in public schools. Guineas president Alpha Conde sacked over the weekend the west-African nations Communication Minister and three others for criticizing his speech. President Conde who described the three ministers from the Malinke tribe as a bunch of dishonest people vowed to expose those engaged in financial malpractices within the government. Responding to the presidents action, the sacked ministers expressed surprise, describing his speech as misplaced. Alpha Conde, 77, was re-elected in October in only the second democratic presidential contest since Guinea gained independence from France in 1958. Guinea is a major producer of bauxite, an aluminium ore, but growth has been hamstrung by a slump in metals prices and a two-year Ebola epidemic that killed more than 2,500 people and has driven away some investors. Also, poor governance and political turmoil have kept mining revenues from reaching ordinary Guineans, most of whom eke out an existence on less than $1 a day, according to the UN. Rights campaigners in the country have urged Conde to use his second term to intensify the fight against impunity, strengthen the judiciary and promote equal respect for the rights of all Guineans. Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika this weekend conducted a cabinet reshuffle by changing six portfolios, including finance and energy ministers. It is the fifth reshuffle under Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal since he took office in 2012. Noureddine Bouterfa, CEO of Sonelgaz Group replaces Salah Khebri as Energy minister, while Baba Ammi Hadji, who served as Deputy Minister for Budget and Forecasting becomes Minister of Finance, replacing Abderahmane Benkhalfa, who leaves the government. The government also welcomes a new portfolio held by Deputy Minister to Minister of Finance for Digital Economy and Modernization of Financial Systems Boudiaf Mouatassam. Late last month President Bouteflika fired central bank chief Mohammed Laksaci after more than a decade in the job. Laksaci had been under pressure over his handling of the oil price drop. In Algeria, the hydrocarbon sector accounts for 97% of the countrys total exports and 58% of its total fiscal revenues, according to the IMF. The North African OPEC member state has started to take measures to counter the fall in oil prices, including raising subsidized fuel and electricity prices, cutting back on infrastructure projects and trimming budget spending. Algeria, a major gas supplier to Europe, still has around $140 billion in foreign reserves that officials say will cushion it from the oil price drop, although its energy earnings fell by nearly 50 percent in 2015. A wave of protests across Kenyas big cities is threatening to plunge one of Africas best performing economies into political crisis as the country gears up for elections next year. The main opposition Coalition for Reforms and Democracy said its supporters will return to the streets on Thursday if the government doesnt meet its demand for talks on changes to the national electoral body. According to Raila Odinga, former prime minister and leader of the opposition Coalition, Kenya was facing a major national crisis because President Uhuru Kenyatta and himself could not agree on a process of reforming the electoral commission. Odingas coalition has staged weekly protests in the capital, Nairobi, and other cities since April to demand the resignation of officials at the electoral agency over alleged corruption and bias. Clashes with police have left at least five people dead. President Uhuru Kenyatta, who teamed up with one-time rival Deputy President William Ruto to win power in 2013, will seek a second term in August 2017 elections. President Kenyatta has proposed that any reforms be discussed through a select committee of parliament, which his Jubilee coalition controls. But Cord wants the two sides to agree to a deal before reaching the assembly for approval. Kenyatta said on Friday he would not directly participate in the talks himself. The continuing political turmoil threatens to destabilize East Africas biggest economy. (HealthDay News) Early use of antibiotics may dampen some of the benefits of breast-feeding, a new study suggests. Researchers found that babies who were prescribed antibiotics while they were breast-feeding or shortly afterward were prone to infections and obesity. "In breast milk, unlike in formula milk, the infant receives bacteria from the mother and specific sugar components that promote the growth of certain [gut] bacteria," explained lead researcher Katri Korpela, from the immunobiology research program at the University of Helsinki in Finland. The finding indicates that the health benefits of breast-feeding are largely due to how it helps a baby develop intestinal bacteria (microbiota), and that antibiotics disturb that development, she said. However, the study could not prove a cause-and-effect relationship between early antibiotic use and infections and obesity, Korpela said. "But by breast-feeding, the mother guides the development of the infant's microbiota," she said. "Antibiotic use disrupts the natural microbiota development, which appears important for the development of the infant's metabolism and immune system." Another expert agreed. "Early use of antibiotics unfavorably modifies intestinal microflora [gut bacteria], and this may have lifetime consequences, even in those babies who receive a long duration breast-feeding," said Dr. Pietro Vajro, a professor of pediatric gastroenterology at the University of Salerno in Italy. He co-authored an editorial that accompanied the study. Intestinal bacteria may affect the development of obesity because they regulate the production of fatty acids that influence the secretion of molecules that determine the way the gut handles food and feelings of fullness, Vajro said. "Such dysfunction may cause a chronic inflammation in the bloodstream that is characteristic not only of obesity, but also of a number of obesity-related conditions, such as fatty liver disease and metabolic syndrome," Vajro said. In the study, Korpela and her colleagues collected data on 226 Finnish children who had taken part in a probiotic trial from 2009 to 2010. The children's mothers answered questions about breast-feeding, and antibiotic use was gleaned from purchase records. Nearly 97 percent of the babies were breast-fed for at least a month, and the overall average breast-feeding period was eight months. The researchers found that among the 113 babies who weren't given antibiotics before weaning, breast-feeding was linked to fewer infections after weaning and lower weights as kids. In fact, for each month of breast-feeding, the use of antibiotics was cut by 5 percent. Among the 113 infants given antibiotics during breast-feeding and within four months after weaning, there were more infections and the children were more likely to be overweight. The report was published online June 13 in the journal JAMA Pediatrics. "It's well known that breast-fed babies will always do better in fighting infection because of the immunity offered in mother's milk," said Dr. William Muinos, a pediatric gastroenterologist at Nicklaus Children's Hospital in Miami. Antibiotics kill the bacteria in the gut, he said. "If you are not breast-fed, you are not introducing the healthy [probiotic] bacteria," Muinos said. He cautioned that antibiotics should not be given to infants for every fever or infection. "You should not use antibiotics on viral infections, where they are useless," he said. Muinos said he wasn't convinced the connection between breast-feeding and the prevention of obesity is due to healthy gut bacteria. Instead, he thinks breast-feeding may delay the introduction of foods that are linked to obesity. "Breast-feeding prevents the early introduction of highly rich carbohydrate meals, like cereals and fruit compotes, that can make a toddler obese," he said. Explore further Breastfeeding, antibiotics before weaning and BMI in later childhood Copyright 2016 HealthDay. All rights reserved. As federal authorities weigh a plan to release genetically modified mosquitoes to help control the spread of the Zika virus, they need to overcome public fears about the risks and potential unintended consequences. Under the plan, the British biotechnology firm Oxitec wants to release millions of altered mosquitoes in Key Haven, Fla., a small community on Stock Island just east of Key West. Oxitec said the mosquitoes are engineered to produce sterile offspring that die young, reducing populations of the mosquito species that commonly carries Zika. So far, government and outside researchers have found little to fear about the plan, but opposition has emerged in Key Haven. A survey released this month by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that 58 percent of residents in the Key Haven study site oppose the release of the genetically modified mosquitoes. That stands in contrast to national surveys. A Purdue University survey in February found that 78 percent nationally supported using engineered mosquitoes to fight Zika, while a University of Pennsylvania survey in March determined that a little over half approved of such action, with only 29 percent opposed. "Understanding the attitudes of the community is really important for the plan to move forward," said Crystal Boddie, a senior associate at the UPMC Center for Health Security in Baltimore who helped conduct the study as a doctoral candidate at the Bloomberg School. "Gaining acceptance will require a lot more dialogue between the residents and public health officials, the local mosquito control office and the company that wants to do this." Boddie said she thought the timing of the Bloomberg survey might have influenced the results. Few people surveyed may have felt at risk since it was conducted before the Zika virus began making headlines and its scientific link to the severe birth defect microcephaly was known. Microcephaly stunts the development of the brains and heads of afflicted fetuses, and it has been linked to Zika infection in pregnant women. Support could have grown with the rising alarm about Zika, said Boddie, who wants to repeat the survey. Oxitec has wanted to conduct a field study of its genetically modified mosquito in Key Haven since 2008, before an outbreak of dengue fever swept through the area in 2009 and 2010. The dengue virus is carried by the same species of mosquito, Aedes aegypti, that transmits Zika. Oxitec said that its mosquitoes have reduced populations of Aedes mosquitoes by more than 90 percent in the laboratory and small field studies in other countries, including Brazil, where Zika has had the heaviest toll. Those tests have had no adverse impacts, company officials said. If successful in Key Haven, Oxitec plans to apply for government permission to sell the vector control in other U.S. cities. The plan took a tentative step forward in April when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration reported that it found no significant adverse impact from the modified mosquitoes, but the agency, which has final regulatory say, has not issued a final ruling or said when it will. Residents of Key Haven have voiced worries about the safety of releasing millions of genetically modified mosquitoes. Others expressed concerns about being used as test subjects without their consent, while some questioned the need for such an action, since neither Zika nor dengue appears present in the Florida Keys. Scientists who study vector control say they're more concerned the plan won't reduce the mosquito population enough or won't stem cases of mosquito-borne disease but said the community concerns can't be dismissed. The company needs to explain the technology and how they plan to mitigate any risks, however small, said Thomas W. Scott, an entomology professor at the University of California, Davis and a member of the World Health Organization's Vector Control Advisory Group. "The chance of any harm is really remote," said Scott, who once worked with Oxitec on another kind of mosquito control. "People are smart but don't have the kind of education to understand the science. The company has to explain this. The communication part can be really difficult." He said there are other, newer technologies that raise concerns, such as so-called "gene drives" that promote specific gene inheritance and can alter entire populations. In addition to regulatory and community approval, such systems would require "careful design considerations as they move through their development to avoid potential negative consequences," said Scott, citing the possible ecological and evolutionary impacts from altered genes jumping among species. In Key Haven, local mosquito control officials plan to take a public vote in August to assess public sentiment on Oxitec's plan. By then there could be cases of Zika transmitted by local mosquitoes. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports there are now 618 travel-related cases of Zika in the United States, including 195 pregnant women. Most cases worldwide are in Central and South America. Jack Bobo, chief communications officer for Oxitec's parent company, Intrexon, said officials will be going door to door in Key Haven to present their scientific findings. "The main goal is to help people understand the public benefit," he said. "If someone doesn't see the potential benefit, it's not surprising they're going to focus on the risk." Scientists outside of Oxitec say that modifying pests has been done since the 1950s to benefit agricultural crops, and many see little risk in modified mosquitoes. Dr. Peter Hotez, dean for the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, is less concerned about the safety and environmental impact of the modified mosquitoes and more concerned about how well they would control disease. "So far, to my knowledge, it's not clear whether (genetically modified) mosquitoes have been tested at full scale and whether they have been shown to reduce dengue or Zika transmission," he said. "This is important because we know the old methods of Aedes aegypti control work, even if they are labor-intensive." Those methods largely include spraying insecticide and draining standing water and treating for larvae. Max J. Scott, professor of entomology at North Carolina State University who studies pest control, agreed that modified mosquitoes aren't likely a "silver bullet" to stop Zika and he understands public fear about the technology, though it's not exactly new. He said modifications to pests in the past have been done in different ways than gene modification. But Scott supports the trial because it's likely to work for some time. The problem is that only one gene has been modified in the mosquitoes and, eventually, the virus might become resistant to the change. "Risks are very, very low," he said. "This definitely works and could be a really useful tool for people charged with controlling mosquitoes in Florida. ... (But) with the single lethal gene mechanism, there is potential for resistance to develop long term." Explore further Residents concerned about use of genetically modified mosquitoes to curb insect population 2016 The Baltimore Sun Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Credit: University of California, San Francisco Chest pain is one of the most common reasons to visit the emergency room, but a new UC San Francisco study shows that only a fraction of all cases actually lead to a diagnosis of a life-threatening condition. As a result, the researchers suggest that significant diagnostic testing may not be warranted in a general population where the overall risk is low. The study will be published June 13, 2016, in JAMA Internal Medicine. The research involved a probability analysis that examined emergency department visits in the United States by adults over a seven-year span where the chief concern was non-traumatic chest pain. It found that only 5.5 percent of those visits led to serious diagnoses, such as heart attacks. Chest pain is the second most frequent cause of emergency department visits among adults, amounting to more than 8 million visits annually nationwide. "Because chest pain is a characteristic of several life-threatening conditions and the risks of missing these diagnoses are high, clinicians may overestimate the probability of these conditions," said lead author, Renee Hsia, MD, MSc, a professor of emergency medicine and health policy at UCSF. "As a result, it's important to establish accurate pre-test probabilities and determine the need for further testing, in addition to findings from physical examinations, laboratory results, and other testing." The study analyzed 10,907 patient records, which represented 42 million patient visits to an emergency department with a primary symptom of chest pain. The analysis included all ER visits from Jan. 1, 2005, to Dec. 31, 2011, for adults 18 years and older. Data were taken from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, a national probability sample of visits to nonfederal, general acute-care U.S. hospitals conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics. In the analysis, nearly 53 percent of the patients were female and 75 percent were between the ages of 18 and 64. Approximately 64 percent were white, 21.5 percent were black and nearly 11 percent were Hispanic. A huge portion of the patients (84.4 percent) were treated in an urban area, and were covered by private insurance (45.1 percent), while Medicare or Medicaid paid the costs of approximately 32 percent of the other patients. The most common diagnosis was nonspecific chest pain (51.7 percent). When stratified by age group, the prevalence of serious diagnoses increased with age. Diagnoses related to chest pain that are traditionally taught to medical students as life-threatening conditions include acute coronary syndrome, aortic dissection, pulmonary embolism, esophageal rupture, and perforated peptic ulcer. The researchers found that when examining each of these conditions independently, 5.1 percent were for acute coronary syndrome, and all the rest totaled less than 0.4 percent of cases. The findings suggest that "significant diagnostic testing to rule out these diagnoses may not be warranted in a general population of undifferentiated patients," the authors wrote. They concluded that as health care cost pressures mount, improving diagnostic accuracy is increasingly important to limit wasteful tests and improve patient outcomes. More information: Renee Y. Hsia et al. A National Study of the Prevalence of Life-Threatening Diagnoses in Patients With Chest Pain, JAMA Internal Medicine (2016). Journal information: JAMA Internal Medicine Renee Y. Hsia et al. A National Study of the Prevalence of Life-Threatening Diagnoses in Patients With Chest Pain,(2016). DOI: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2016.2498 Robotic technology is helping Doug Eckhoff recover from a spinal cord injury caused by a motorcycle crash that, a decade or so earlier, might have left him unable to walk. Harnessed in an exoskeleton that supports him but forces him to stride properly, Eckhoff, 56, has been working at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center to regain strength and restore the nerve signals between his brain and legs that make walking possible. Two months after the Aug. 10 accident, he grunted out five steps with a walker. Now, he walks 200 feet unassisted. "The first time you stand up and actually take a step like that," he said, "it's amazing." Eckhoff was one of the first users last year of the Minneapolis VA's Ekso GT robotic system for spinal cord injuries. Now the hospital has added a second exoskeleton through a donation from the SoldierStrong foundation and the local Fraternal Order of Eagles to help patients recover from stroke and brain injuries. The robotic exoskeletons are the latest tools in a movement in physical therapy and rehabilitation toward restoring lost function in severely injured patients rather than simply compensating for their losses. Other technologies and approaches, such as a treadmill system that suspends patients over walkways while therapists move their legs, also achieve these goals. The treadmill approach can have diminishing returns, though, because the therapists tire and stop moving the patients' legs at optimal gaits, said Elizabeth Koch, a VA physical therapist who works with Eckhoff. "As the therapist gets fatigued, that gets worse." Allina Health's Courage Kenny Rehabilitation Institute added an Ekso device last winter to hasten patients into rehab, said Brian LeLoup, the institute's director of subacute rehabilitation. "There is a large and growing body of evidence that the sooner you are up, and the more often you are up, and the more intense and realistic and real-life your activity is, the better your outcomes are," he said. Stroke and brain-injured patients often recover some lost mobility through rehab, but LeLoup said research is proving that patients with incomplete injury (partial severing or damage) to the spinal cord can regain some mobility as well. The Minneapolis VA has used an exoskeleton to help spinal cord injury patients since 2014. Ekso was only federally approved for stroke patients in April, and the VA hospital received a second exoskeleton for that purpose a few days later. For spinal cord injury patients, the exoskeleton can be programmed to assist them with their steps, and over time can be ratcheted down so patients do the work on their own. When they tire, the robotic system senses the fatigue and kicks in support. For stroke patients, who might lose function on one side of the body only, the system allows one leg to move unassisted while the other receives support. Eckhoff remembers flashes of his accident in South Dakota, when an approaching motorcycle lost control and skidded into his bike, and the dread two weeks later when he wondered if he'd ever walk. Progress was slow, he said, but a milestone came around Christmas when he demonstrated the exoskeleton to his two sons. He was feeling so good that he then set a personal best, walking 150 feet without the device. "They kept saying, 'Keep going, keep going!'" he recalled. The future direction of restorative therapy for spinal cord patients remains unclear. A handful of companies are pressing ahead with robotic assistance - Allina Health is an approved training site for patients to learn to use the ReWalk exoskeleton that they can use at home. Exoskeletons will likely have a future as rehab devices at hospitals and as permanent assistive devices like wheelchairs, said Chris Meek of SoldierStrong, which donated the second Ekso to the Minneapolis VA. He envisions a day when a sleek exoskeleton could be worn under clothes. "This is like the cellphone in the '80s," he said. "They haven't gotten to the iPhone 6 yet." At the same time, researchers and device-makers are showing progress with electrical stimulation to spark mobility and function lost due to spinal cord or brain injuries. LeLoup said providers of stimulation and robotic support are racing one another, but he predicted that the end result will be an exoskeleton carrying both technologies. The exoskeleton is just one tool Eckhoff has used. He has little feeling below the middle of his calves, so his ankles don't move freely and he needs braces to support walking. He works out in a pool, where he can strengthen his ankles without worrying about falling, and hopes to soon have a three-wheel bike for conditioning. Eckhoff couldn't continue in his old machinist job, so he is doing part-time technical drafting. He joined a kayak group for disabled veterans, and has ambitions of a Boundary Waters trip this summer. The exoskeleton no longer augments his walking during VA therapy sessions, but it keeps him in the proper position so he can build endurance. One son is in the Army, and hasn't seen his father's progress since Christmas. "Next time I see him," Eckhoff said, "he'll be surprised." Explore further Robotics exoskeleton for shoulder rehabilitation 2016 Star Tribune (Minneapolis) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Matt Buck, University of Nottinghams LGBT Society demonstrates against the National Blood Service, February 25, 2010. CC BY-SA 2.0 On June 12, following the mass shooting at Pulse, a gay dance club in Orlando, Florida, sexually active gay men were denied the chance to donate blood to members of their community, because of the FDA's arbitrary and unnecessary ban on blood donation by any man who has had sexual contact with another man in the previous year. Between 1983 and December 2015, the FDA recommended a lifetime ban on blood donations by gay men. (To be more precise, they banned any man who had sexual contact with another man since 1977, which stemmed from concern over HIV infection.) In December 2015, a little over a year after the Advisory Committee on Blood and Tissue Safety of Department of Health and Human Services voted to modify the ban, the FDA opened the door with a catch: gay men may donate blood, if they haven't been sexually active in the previous twelve months. You might wonder where they came up with 12 months. After all, HIV and Hepatitis B can be detected much sooner. In this case, as they report in their guidelines, the FDA was following the lead of seven other countriesArgentina, Australia, Brazil, Hungary, Japan, Sweden, and United Kingdom. But the main epidemiological data came from Australia. They, too, had a lifetime ban, which was switched to a one-year deferral. Did the switch from a lifetime ban to a one-year deferral threaten the blood supply? No. In a 2010 study, researchers "found no evidence that the implementation of the 12-month deferral for male-to-male sex resulted in an increased recipient risk for HIV in Australia." But switching to the one-year deferral did seem to have an effect on Australia's blood supply: the number of donations increased by 939,057. But why should we have a sweeping ban on sexually active gay men at all? Does it really make scientific sense to prevent a man in a monogamous relationship with another man from donating blood? Try this. Fill in the blank: "A married (straight/gay) person has only had sex with their spouse in the last twelve months. They (can/can not) donate blood." Can anyone really justify why there should be a difference? A better alternative is individual risk assessment followed by routine testing. (A 2014 JAMA essay called this model "assess and test.") In 2001, Italy changed their blood donation policy from a lifetime ban to an individual risk assessment of sexual behavior. Here is the basic design: when a person wants to donate blood, they fill out a questionnaire and have an interview with a physician about their risk exposures. Then, the person is categorized as not at risk, at risk, or high risk. If the potential blood donor is considered at risk (say, if they had sex with someone new whose sexual history was unknown), they are deferred for 4 months, when they are eligible to be screened again. Did Italy's new policy contaminate the blood supply? No. In a 2013 study, Barbara Suligoi of Italy's National Institute of Health AIDS Unit and her colleagues compared the period before and after implementation. They found that "the implementation of the IRA [individual risk assessment] policy in 2001 did not significantly affect either the incidence or prevalence of HIV infection among blood donors." It is, by definition, homophobic to assume that every gay man is a danger. There is no scientific evidence to justify the blanket ban on sexually active gay men or to require twelve months of abstinence in order to donate a pint of blood. On the other hand, Ayako Miyashita and Gary Gates at UCLA estimate that "lifting the ban could increase the total annual blood supply by 2%-4%, adding from 345,400 to 615,300 pints of blood each year" and more than 350,000 men would be likely to donate. The FDA's ban on sexually active gay men is fundamentally flawed, because it assumes that sexual orientation itself is unsafe. It isn't. What is unsafe is turning away hundreds of thousands of otherwise eligible blood donors. Explore further FDA releases plan to ease restrictions on gay blood donation This story is republished courtesy of PLOS Blogs: blogs.plos.org. For the roughly 15,000 people who need a liver transplant, it's a waiting game. With demand for donated livers far outstripping supply, patients may spend months or years on a transplant waitlist, their position in the line gradually improving as they get sicker. A recent study suggests this system may be changing but not necessarily for the better. In an effort to get or keep a good performance rating from the federal government, transplant centers have been labeling some patients "too sick to transplant" and dropping from the waitlist some who may been viable candidates, the researchers found. In addition, despite removing more sick patients from the waiting list, one-year survival rates for patients who received transplants didn't improve. The study, published online in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons in April, examined trends in "delisting" at 102 liver transplant centers, including 90,765 waitlisted adults who died, between 2002 and 2012. Midway through the time period under study, the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services implemented a new "Conditions of Participation" policy that established performance standards for heart, heart-lung, intestine, kidney, liver, lung and pancreas transplant centers that participate in the Medicare program. In order to meet CMS standards, liver transplant centers have to meet expected patient and liver graft one-year survival rates. Those that don't meet the performance standards, which CMS recently eased somewhat, may be flagged for poor performance and have to implement program improvements or risk their participation in the Medicare program. (In its letter describing the new guidelines, CMS noted that one-year patient survival for liver transplants increased from 87.7 percent to 90.8 percent between 2007 and 2014.) But something happened when the new policy took effect in 2007: The percentage of patients that liver transplant centers considered too ill or unsuitable for a transplant rose by 16 percent, and the likelihood of delisting continued to increase each quarter through the end of the study period. Compared with the time period before, the patients who were taken off the waitlist after the CMS policy change were more likely to be age 55 or older and have more severe liver illness. The study authors speculate that the new standards made transplant centers more averse to risk and encouraged them to drop sicker patients who might affect their patient survival rates. "There's no common definition for when someone is too sick to transplant," said Natasha Dolgin, an M.D./Ph.D. candidate at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and the study's lead author. Some suggest a different way to look at the impact of the CMS policy. "Maybe centers are making the internal decision of trying to choose the best candidates," said Dr. David Goldberg, medical director for living donor liver transplantation at the University of Pennsylvania. The most common reason for a liver transplant is cirrhosis, or scarring of the liver, often caused by hepatitis C or alcoholic liver disease. The severity of patients' illness is evaluated based on their Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score, a numerical score between 6 and 40 that predicts the risk of death within three months and is calculated based on three laboratory values. Nationwide, 6,729 liver transplants were performed in 2014, but 1,821 patients died on the waitlist. Another 1,300 people were removed from the waitlist because they were considered too sick for a transplant. Patients' health may deteriorate to the point that a transplant is no longer advisable, or they may contract an infection, for example, that makes delisting necessary. But those reasons don't explain the increase in delisting following the introduction of the CMS policy, according to the study. Still, Dolgin said she doesn't blame transplant centers for their waitlist decisions. Once there is a "benchmark, you try to meet that." Kurt Schnier, an economist at the University of California, Merced who has conducted research examining the impact of the CMS policy on kidney transplant waitlisting practices, said the policy has increased the length of time patients are on the waitlist. That research is under review for publication. The CMS policy may also affect surgeon behavior at centers that don't meet the condition of participation standards, leading them to conduct fewer transplants, for example. "It's a well-intended policy," Schnier said. "The problem is that it creates perverse incentives at the physician level that may undermine the personal welfare of the general population." "This is part of the culture now," said Dr. Hillel Tobias, medical director of New York University's liver transplant service and chairman of the medical advisory committee of the American Liver Foundation. "You can't take a chance because if your numbers go down you're going to get canned." One of the goals of the CMS policy was to improve transplant outcomes because of concerns related to transplant center quality and service. Yet the study found its introduction didn't have a statistically significant impact on mortality rates within a year of transplantation. Liver transplants are complicated, and the fact that survival didn't improve during the course of the study might reflect the fact that there may be complications that are not preventable, said Goldberg. Asked to comment on the study, a CMS official said, "CMS is reviewing available evidence about the impacts of our policies on organ transplant centers. After thorough review we will determine a course of action." Explore further Growing number of patients who might benefit from liver transplant removed from wait list 2016 Kaiser Health News Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Foreign media concerned about Georgia's visa-free travel By Messenger Staff Officials in the German government are voicing concerns over the introduction of a visa-free regime for Georgia, Ukraine and Kosovo in the EU Schengen zone, fearing the possibility of a rise in the crime rate and citing the rising number of burglaries committed by immigrants, foreign media reports.German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere was summoned to Parliament last week to provide explanation why the number of burglaries had climbed over the past months, Die Welt newspaper reported on Sunday.Speaking to MPs behind closed doors, the minister said that those burglaries are mostly committed by international traveling gangs, taking special note on those coming from Georgia having evident problems with organized crime.The ministers remarks add to growing dissent in Berlin over the visa-free regime for Georgia, Ukraine and Kosovo a long-lasting proposal advocated by the EU Commission according to Die Welt.Brussels insists that the three countries have already met criteria for being granted visa liberalization, though discussions on the sensitive issue are going on. While the European Parliament has green-lighted the proposal, it is still to be adopted by the EU Council, a body which represents the governments of all 28 member states.Visa liberalization for western Balkan countries has resulted last year in huge numbers of almost hopeless asylum applications in Germany, which only fuels resistance in the CSU, the sister party to Chancellor Angela Merkels Christian Democrats, Die Welt wrote.I can only warn against the urgent [introduction of] visa-free regime for Ukraine, Georgia and Kosovo, Joachim Herrmann, Bavarian Interior Minister and member of CSU told the newspaper. We have to find mechanisms that would prevent our asylum laws from misuse by these countries citizens.CDU interior affairs expert Wolfgang Bosbach said he views the EU visa-free issue with "very mixed feelings"."We are going to face a loss of control over our security [situation]," he said, before adding that there should be some kind of emergency brake which allows us to counter illegal migration."Germany and France are also pushing for a so-called suspension clause which says that specific EU members can withdraw from the visa-free regime. According to Die Welt, EU interior and justice ministers will not give green light on visa liberalization at the blocs meeting next week, despite anger in Brussels and some Eastern European countries.When Georgias Ministry of Internal Affairs paid a visit to Germany, the press service of the Ministry wrote how different police chiefs of Germany praised Georgian reforms and the efforts of Georgias law enforcers to combat crime.During high-level meetings, German and French top officials also praised Georgias significant progress.If a country meets all criteria and it is denied its opportunities regardless of its progress, the situation negatively reflects on the EU.It is stated that Georgia is the only country that meet all criteria for the visa-free travel. It is unknown at this time what excuses the EU might put forward to further deny Georgia from being granted visa-liberalisation. The News in Brief MP Tamaz Mechiauri establishes political party MP Tamaz Mechiauri is creating a new political party together with composer Jemal Sepiashvili and former Deputy Minister for Diaspora Issues Sandro Bregadze. Bregadze told IPN, he was been offered to join the party and subsequently accepted. Georgian Dream youth party founder Davit Patsatsia, journalist Lali Moroshkina and murdered Amiran Robakidzes mother, Ia Metreveli will also be the party members. (IPN) Ukrainian journalist died climbing Mkinvartsveri A Ukrainian journalist, Pavlo Syvokon, 32, died in the Caucasus mountains near the village of Stepantsminda while climbing Mount Kazbegi, or Mkinvartsveri (5,047 m ). According to the other climbers who found him and called for the emergency services, he was an amateur mountaineer and fell in a 25 metrex-cleft. He was already dead by the time rescuers recovered him from the cleft. The incident happened on Thursday morning. This is the first case of a tourist dying while climbing Mkinvartsveri this year. However, fatal cases are reported every year, as foreign mountaineers - whether professional or amateur have significant interest in climbing the Caucasus. A spokesperson for the emergency service told DF Watch on that the rescuers brought the body back to Tbilisi on Friday. You have to follow certain rules while climbing, take into account a variety of factors, and pay attention to equipment requirements. As other climbers told us, he didnt have proper equipment, the spokesperson remarked. Emergency service personnel did not have any information as to whether the tourist was climbing alone or with anyone else, nor were they sure exactly what went wrong. The wife of the victim, Natalya Huzenko, also a journalist, is in Tbilisi. She wrote on her Facebook profile that she was now taking care of the necessary documents to take the body of her husband back to Ukraine. (DF watch) Paintings of famous Georgian artists to be exhibited at Sothebys auction Beautiful works of famous Georgian artists Niko Pirosmani and Lado Gudiashvili will be presented in the Russian masterpieces section at Londons Sothebys auction on June 7. As reported by the auction webpage, the initial price of Lado Gudiashvilis work Pirosmanis Portrait will be 4000 pounds, while Niko Pirosmanis Roe Deer Drinking from a Stream has been valued at 150,000 pounds. Former PM Bidzina Ivanishvili bought Pirosmanis work Arsenali Hill for 1 486 100 USD in June, 2015. The paintings will be sold as part of the Russian section, but the painters nationality will be underlined. (IPN) Ex-Premier announces new format of communication with media After rejecting Bidizna Ivanishvilis suggestions by Rustavi 2 and Tabula TV, Georgia's ex-PM will announce a new format for the meeting with journalists tomorrow. "Ivanishvili's proposal to meet with Rustavi 2 and Tabula journalists was refused by Rustavi 2's leadership, while Tabula TV expressed readiness for the meeting on neutral territory in the format: only Tabula and Ivanishvili will be there. After that, Tabula proposed to meet Ivanishvili with representatives of other TV channels, though this offer was rejected. So, two proposals were rejected. We will announce a new format of the meeting tomorrow, Giorgi Udzilauri, head of the public relations department of "Cartu Group" posted on his Facebook page. (Pia.ge) @ByKristenMClark About five months before Election Day, Miami Republican state Sen. Anitere Flores leads Democratic newcomer Andrew Korge, according to a recent internal Republican poll of the District 39 contest. The state Senate battle between Flores and Korge is one of the most closely watched and expensive legislative races this year. In a survey of 302 likely general election voters three weeks ago, Flores had a 9 percentage-point advantage over Korge in a head-to-head matchup. Flores drew 40 percent support, compared to 31 percent for Korge. About 29 percent of respondents were undecided in the contest. After hearing more about the two candidates, Flores' lead over Korge grew among respondents -- with 62 percent favoring her, 16 percent favoring Korge and 17 percent undecided. The Florida Republican Senatorial Committee had the poll done May 20-22 as a $19,500 in-kind contribution to Flores' campaign, which she reported in her May campaign finance report. Information about the poll was provided to the Herald/Times by a political consultant working with Flores' campaign and Sarah Bascom, on behalf of the FRSC. Specific questions asked of respondents and raw data of the poll results was not available. The margin of error for the results is plus or minus 5.7 percentage points. The poll also found that Flores -- a lawmaker who has represented parts of Miami-Dade County since 2004 -- has stronger name recognition than her opponent. Korge is a first-time candidate, whose father, Chris Korge, is a prominent Democratic fundraiser in South Florida. More than 80 percent of respondents said they didn't know who Andrew Korge was, compared to about 60 percent who didn't know Flores. The District 39 seat, newly redrawn because of redistricting, leans Democratic and Hispanic. The seat spans western and southern Miami-Dade County and Monroe County, including the Florida Keys. The area overlaps slightly with Flores' current district, but most of it is new territory for her. District 39 is one of three hotly contested state Senate seats in Miami-Dade County that could help determine how strong the Republican majority in the chamber is next session. Democrats want to pick up a couple seats and narrow the gap. (The Senate currently has 26 Republicans and 14 Democrats.) The FRSC poll asked respondents in District 39 which party they would vote for if the election were held now; about 44 percent said they'd pick a Republican candidate, 39 percent said they'd support a Democrat and 18 percent were undecided. BILLINGS Montanas congressional delegation is split on whether gun control is needed after Sundays mass shooting in Orlando, Florida, the worst in U.S. history. U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., told the Billings Gazette it was past time to stop selling weapons to people on terrorist watch lists, as well as people who have been declared mentally ill by a court of law. U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., disagreed, telling Senate colleagues the focus needed to be on radical Islam and ISIS, not the Second Amendment. It was the same focus Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., called for Sunday. Given that Sundays gunman, 29-year-old Omar Mateen, who killed 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, was American born, the tighter gun restrictions advocated for by Democrats might not have been enough, Tester said. But tighter restrictions, starting with no gun sales to anyone considered too dangerous to fly commercially, would be a good first action of many needed to address terrorist threats. Keeping guns out of the hands of terrorists is something that makes sense. Why are we not doing this? Tester said. We have a terrorist watch list. It probably wouldnt have stopped this one, but you have to start somewhere. The proposal was the same no fly, no buy law that Democrats first proposed in 2009 and last tried to pass in 2015, failing to do so by seven votes. Tester said he didnt think there was any more support for the measure now. Lawmakers spent Monday making speeches about how horrifying Sundays attack was, while girding battle over what to do about it. Republicans made clear they werent in support of gun restrictions. This is a threat we face from radical Islam and ISIS and the worst response would be to politicize this and use this tragedy to restrict our constitutional rights and freedoms, Daines told the Senate. We cannot allow dangerous terrorists to hide in our communities. We need to seek them out and ensure they arent able to inflict harm on our neighbors, our friends and our families. Sundays mass shooting came after several weeks of gun politicking by Daines and other Republicans. The National Rifle Association hosted presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump at its national convention May 21. Trump told NRA members Hillary Clinton was coming for their guns. Daines was on Snapchat less than a week ago, informing viewers that, in Montana we say gun control means using two hands. With the cloud-covered Bridger Mountains in the background, Daines delivered the message with a rifle slung over his shoulder. Daines planned to support better terrorist background checks. Anyone on the terrorist watch list, the same list Tester supports using to ban gun sales to high-risk people, Daines said should be investigated, arrested and prosecuted. If theres proof a terrorist suspect is trying to buying a gun, Daines would support arresting the suspect. The last time the no fly, no buy act reached the Senate, Montanas two senators were divided, with Tester voting in favor and Daines voting against. The no-fly list has been scrutinized as a tool for banning gun sales because innocent Americans do make the list. Tester said anyone can prove their way off the list. Zinke was waiting Monday afternoon for a whip meeting, in which Republican lawmakers were to discuss options the House might pursue post-Orlando. He said Sunday the focus needed to be on terrorism. "We must change course: Radical Islamic terrorism is as much a war within Islam as it is a war against the West, and it will take a global coalition with Middle Eastern stakeholders and American leadership to stop it at its source, Zinke said. We must also do more here at home to stop individuals who have been radicalized before they act." Theres no bigger Hillary Clinton backer in Montana than Carol Williams. Everybody knows that, Williams said Monday from her Missoula home as she tried to wind down from the weekends state Democratic Party convention in Helena. As in 2008, William was selected by the 27 Democratic delegates to lead them to and at the Democratic national convention scheduled July 26-29 in Philadelphia. And like eight years ago, Williams is a pledged delegate to Clinton, the partys presumptive nominee to take on Donald Trump in the November election. Bernie Sanders delegates from Montana will outnumber Clinton delegates 11-10 based on the outcome of last Tuesdays primary. One of the states six superdelegates, Jean Lemire Dahlman of Forsyth, has also indicated shell join the Sanders camp. But Williams said her selection to chair the delegation is a clear message the Democrats are united and were going to Philadelphia to do work to start the campaign off on a good footing. That was the sense I got around the convention all day Saturday, that everyone was moving forward together, she said. Were all on the same page that Donald Trump would be a dangerous president and we have got to make sure he doesnt get elected. Things went really well in Helena, said Kristen Cates, communications director for the Montana Democrats. The nice thing was we had more than 200 folks who participated, which is phenomenal. We had a lot of people who said it was their first time at a state convention and they just wanted to be part of the process. Clinton becomes the first woman nominee for president, a historical footnote that Williams said she doesnt take lightly. *** Gov. Steve Bullock and U.S. Senator Jon Tester join Dahlman Montanas national committeewoman as superdelegates but havent announced their allegiances. Neither have the other three superdelegates: Jorge Quintana of Helena, the national committeeman; Jim Larson of Billings, party chairman; and Jacquie Helt of Helena, party vice chairwoman. It was no surprise that Missoula County, the states Democratic hotbed, has the bulk of the pledged delegates. They include Sanders' Western Montana delegates Teresa Jacobs of Missoula and Bill Geer of Lolo, Sanders at-large delegate Anita Green of Missoula and Sanders party leader/elected official Steve Wells of Missoula. Joining Williams in the Clinton camp is at-large delegate Stacie Anderson of Missoula. Williams said the Missoula connections go even deeper. There are three standing committees at the national convention. She chose Diane Sands of Missoula to represent the state party on the platform committee in Philadelphia. Missoula attorney Ben Darrow will be on the rules committee and Amanda Curtis, state legislator from Butte and former Democratic challenger to Steve Daines for a U.S. Senate seat, will be on the credential committee. Darrow and Curtis are Sanders backers. Cates said Montanas representation at the national convention is diverse. It includes delegates from all corners of the state and from both rural and urban areas; tribal members George Kipp III of Heart Butte and Caryn Kallay of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes; and Green, Montanas first openly transgender national delegate. *** Williams, 73, said shes known Clinton since 1985 and got to know her well when her husband, Pat Williams, served in Congress when Bill Clinton was in the White House. Their daughter, Whitney, was Hillary Clintons trip director when Hillary was First Lady from 1992-2001. I have great confidence in her abilities; I respect her service and the dedication shes had to childrens and international issues that shes been so stellar on, Carol Williams said. Williams was in Beijing in 1995 when Clinton, then First Lady, gave her speech Womens Rights Are Human Rights at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women. I think shes the best qualified presidential candidate since Thomas Jefferson was in the White House. I really believe that, Williams said. I do think when we get it narrowed down to one Democratic candidate and one Republican candidate a lot of people are going to come to know her like I know her, as an extraordinarily talented woman. The Montana Republican Party elected national delegates last month. The Republican National Convention will be July 18-21 in Cleveland. We must engage men to combat issues of rape and sexual assault. The lack of space for men to have difficult conversations about sexism, homophobia, expressing emotions, etc., contributes to the rape culture we have today. Men account for 99 percent of the prosecuted rapists in Missoula County, a staggering percentage that is unfortunately reflective of statistics throughout the U.S. The cultural definition of manhood is evolving, yet many boys still grow up with messages to objectify women, use violence against others and suppress their emotions in unhealthy ways. Male violence is so normalized in our culture that its become the standard to shame other genders and to scapegoat mens actions. Take, for example, the recent rape case at Stanford that went viral. The judge feared that a long prison sentence would have severe impact on the rapist and said he had less moral culpability because he was drunk. We certainly dont have to look far to see similar cases playing out in our communities. The Missoulian editorial board recently pointed out three similar Montana cases with their recent editorial, Stop letting child molesters, rapists go free. We can do better, and in Missoula, many different people and organizations are already attempting to change this toxic culture. Our organization, NCBI Missoula, runs a program for boys called B-RAD, or Boys Respecting All Diversity, where we give boys a chance to explore the pressures and messages they receive on a daily basis. We see firsthand how a little education and conversation can go a long way. Having these conversations might seem hard but, as Frederick Douglass once said, It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men." I wanted to take a moment to congratulate Greg Gianforte on a stellar performance. I am the Republican candidate for Montana House District 1 and I had the honor to better acquaint myself with Gianforte and his vision for Montana while joining Gianforte on a tour of the Montanore mine, a project that has languished in the re-permitting process for 11 years. This project has already passed a complete permitting process in the '80s after undergoing a protracted process to receive its permit to start the project. As Greg Gianforte fully understands, the permitting process is flawed and needs to be revamped at both the state and federal levels. The federal laws that were enacted to protect the environment and biology were never designed to become economy killers; yet they have. Gianforte understands the need for balance between the economy with rigid environmental standards. I feel Gianforte is the best choice for Montana. His businessman approach to creating jobs, balancing economics with rigid environmental standards and bringing tax reform to the state is a breath of fresh air. For too long Montana has been stagnated by governors who would not stand up to outside interests intent on destroying our economy and pushing to deny true state-level management and unrestricted access to our public lands. As a freshman legislator, I am eager to help craft good bills with my fellow legislators that will make it to the governor's desk. My only want is to have a governor who will sign good bills into law that benefit all Montanans; not to veto the good ones. I want a governor who is not beholden to outside interests and will stand up to outside influences intent on destroying Montana jobs. Give us a governor who will bring Montana back to the prosperity she once held. Steve Gunderson, Republican candidate, House District 1, Libby POLSON Boeing announced Monday it had awarded $200 million in subcontracts to small businesses for work the firm is doing for NASA and the International Space Station, and a significant chunk is headed to a tribally owned company headquartered on the Flathead Indian Reservation. S&K Global Solutions vice president of business development Mike Monahan estimated the five-year contract would be worth north of $50 million, and will involve engineering and technical services. We wont know the exact dollar figure until we receive task orders, Monahan said. S&K Global Solutions is one of six limited liability companies owned by S&K Technologies, which is owned by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. S&K Global Solutions employs 160 people in six locations across the United States, including its Polson headquarters. In 2012, the company was awarded a five-year federal contract worth up to $50 million to help the Engineering Directorate at Johnson Space Center put robots in space. The work done by S&K Global Solutions on that, Monahan said, led to the invitation to bid on this newest contract. *** Monahan said the new contract will add approximately 90 more employees at both the Johnson Space Center in Houston and the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. In addition to work with the space station, the contract will also involve S&K in Boeings Commercial Crew Program. Thats the most exciting, in my opinion, Monahan said. NASA has hired Boeing to take astronauts into space, and to the space station, starting later this decade, and the long-term goal is for that to develop into a vehicle to transport space tourists as well. Its fascinating stuff, Monahan said. Salish Kootenai College in Pablo has been heavily involved in the robotics program, and the goal is to utilize the tribal college in the new work. Wed like to find ways to partner with them again, Monahan said. *** The Polson firms engineering duties for Boeing Space Exploration programs over the next five years will be many and varied. Monahan provided the following statement of work, with tasks related to: Structural and mechanical design, analysis, testing, integration and operation, including 3D computer-aided design modeling and robotics integration. Active and passive thermal control. Environmental control and life support. Flight and mission operations support and analysis. Electrical power. Extravehicular activity, crew systems and crew accommodations. Systems engineering and integration, integrated engineering analysis, and mass properties. Payload integration. Project management over the life cycle from contracting, startup, procurement, fabrication, assembly, test and delivery. Avionics integration, communication and tracking, and guidance navigation and control. Aerodynamics, computational fluid dynamics and aeroheating. *** Its an untold story about the tribes, the capabilities the tribes have nurtured for a long time, Monahan said. The real hidden story is the level of space capability going on on the reservation, and at the college. S&Ks ties to the Johnson Space Center date back to 1997, he said, when the company began working on a software robotics program for NASA. The last several years its really started to grow, Monahan said. This will be the largest contract yet, because there are no subcontractors involved. Well be the only vendor supplying these services to Boeing. The drive for technology innovation under these large Boeing and NASA programs is unmatched, said Barbara DeBernardo, S&L Global Solutions vice president of federal/civilian sector. There is something about space exploration that encourages new ideas and advancements. This community, and the people it naturally recruits, is an exciting environment. Other small businesses awarded contracts by Boeing on Monday included Barrios Technology of Houston, ALATEC of Huntsville, Summit Technologies and Solutions of Alexandria, Virginia, RVMTI JV of Cedar Park, Texas, and All Points Logistics of Merritt Island, Florida. The contracts start in October and run through September 2020. BILLINGS If elected governor, Greg Gianfortes role in a plan to put computer science in every Montana high school will be less about policy and more as a cheerleader, his campaign said. Greg Gianforte as governor is not going to try to mandate that school boards put a computer science class in every high school, said campaign spokesman Ron Catlett. The governors office gives you a soapbox to bring things to the publics attention. When Gianforte, a Republican, announced the plan in May with Superintendent of Public Instruction candidate Elsie Arntzen, it was unclear what mechanisms would be available for state officials to implement such a policy. The Montana Board of Public Education sets state graduation requirements and content standards, but local school trustees dictate any other courses and curriculum. Arntzen, a Republican, also emphasized the importance of local control, but said that she wasnt involved in creating the high school plan. My focus is middle school, she said, especially offering career tracks at a younger age. The Gianforte plan would slide computer science courses under the umbrella of core science requirements. Montana currently requires students to take two units of science. It would also allow coding to count as a foreign language credit a proposal thats been controversial in several other states, even among computer science advocates. Several officials from Code.org, a national group that promotes the expansion of computer science courses, have criticized the concept. Although we use the term programming language to refer to C++, Java, Python, and so on, these arent natural languages, wrote Amy Hirotaka, the groups director of state government affairs, on a code.org blog in 2014. Spanish has a vocabulary of 10,000 words, with a consistent grammatical and sentence structure. In contrast, a typical computing language has a vocabulary of about 100 words, and the real work is learning how to put these words together to build a complex program. Billings Senior High Spanish teacher Alice Nation, president-elect of the Montana Association of Language Teachers, also criticized academic ties between the subjects. But she first took issue with the language in the plans initial statement, which cited Montanas foreign language requirement. Theres not one high school in the state that has a foreign language requirement for graduation, she said. We are purely an elective. Catlett said the requirement term was more of a broad based idea intended to encompass things like university entrance requirements and honors program requirements. Admission standards for University of Montana and Montana State University require students to take two years of elective courses, which include foreign languages, computer science, art and career and technical education courses. The press release on Gianfortes campaign website now uses the phrase foreign language elective. Catlett also said Gianforte had no qualms about academic links between coding and foreign languages. Coding is a way to communicate, he said. *** While proposals to expand computer science often generate broad support the Obama administration unveiled a $4 billion program earlier this year implementing specific plans can be difficult. In Florida, a bill pushed by a former Yahoo executive that would have let students count coding as a foreign language credit overwhelmingly passed the state Senate but died after not getting a vote in the House this spring. A Kentucky lawmaker dropped a provision to allow computer programming as a foreign language requirement in 2015. A bill in Washington introduced last year that would require state colleges to count computer science as a foreign language for admission requirements is still alive. Michigans House recently passed a bill allowing computer science, art or career and technical education classes to fulfill the same graduation requirements as a foreign language. A Texas bill allowing students to swap a foreign language for coding passed in 2013, but for some students. Bringing computer science under the umbrella of math and science has been easier, as 28 states have done. But states still struggle to find qualified teachers. Gianforte suggested adding teaching majors to existing computer science programs at Montana universities and relying on Montana Digital Academy until teachers are certified. Academy officials have been cautious about their capacity to pick up slack. Nation suggested that computer science would be a natural fit under career and technical education, as the state already requires a unit for graduation. Arntzen said that she doesnt want to see subjects pitted against each other for example, coding being added at the expense of French. I would not want to remove a subject just for this purpose, she said. Catlett echoed the sentiment. Montana typically has significant disparities between elective offerings in large and small school districts, while small, rural schools have smaller offerings. Hirotaka worries that, ultimately, folding coding into foreign language "could actually undermine the ability of students to have access to this critical field." HELENA It might have started with a bra, or rather the absence of one, but thats not what its all about. Thats the message Kaitlyn Juvik is delivering after she didnt wear a bra to school last month and was told by officials at Helena High to put one on or cover up. The incident garnered national attention Juvik has appeared in People, Teen Vogue and Seventeen magazines and countess online outlets and it has also given the 18-year-old a platform to share her message about gender inequality and objectifying womens bodies. Juvik was leaving her fourth-period class on May 25 when a vice principal at Helena High said she needed to talk to her. In the administrators office, she said she was asked, Did you forget something? Juvik wasn't wearing a bra, but it wasnt an oversight. She hadnt worn one all year. It was a decision she initially made based on comfort. She wears a lot of off-the-shoulder shirts and didnt want her bra straps showing and found strapless bras cumbersome. A lot of my friends didnt wear bras and I asked How do you do that? And they said 'You just do. Just stop.' And I did. She said she never expected her choice to go braless would turn her into an advocate for social change, but now she's embracing her time in the spotlight. Why do I have to be uncomfortable to make someone else comfortable? she asked last week. We need to show girls they can be comfortable with their bodies and dont have to cover up. Juvik said she was taken off-guard by the administrators request, so much so that she initially told the vice principal she would either change or cover up, but she didnt. After I left I was like I dont think she can do that, she said. Principal Steve Thennis said in an email that Juvik violated the dress code but that there were no demands she put on a bra. She was wearing a black, loose and off-the-shoulder V-neck shirt, one shed worn a handful of times that year and she calls not super bad. After school, her mom asked her to bend forward to make sure her breasts weren't visible. They werent, Juvik said, adding that if they were she would have been in the wrong. *** Juvik posted about the incident on Snapchat shortly after it happened. About 10 people from her school contacted her, and a longtime friend suggested organizing a no-bra day as a peaceful protest and created a Facebook page to promote the event. On May 27 several students attended classes without wearing bras. Juvik said she was pulled out of class four times that Friday and was asked by administrators to take down the Facebook page. She said she was told the event was too distracting and interrupted other students learning, but she pointed out the administrators were interfering with her education that day too. I didnt go to one full class that day, she said. Juvik said the school has been painted as a villain, but thats not where the focus should lie. Helena Public Schools Superintendent Kent Kultgen said last week that the school was enforcing its dress code. We want people to understand the bigger picture here, Juvik said. Its about gender equality and women being asked to cover up. The Facebook page Juvik and her friends set up now has 7,000 likes; four times the enrollment at Helena High. The attention shes gotten from beyond Helena caught Juvik by surprise. Its been crazy and hectic. Ive had a lot of mental breakdowns over the last few weeks. Shes glad the issue is being discussed, but it's come at a cost. Juvik has read most of the comments on stories that have appeared in national magazines and on the Facebook page, both the ones in support and others that are critical of her. Its not worth commenting back to every single person that doesnt agree with me, she said. Ive been called an attention-seeker and lots of derogatory names, but its a bummer people cant understand what this is about. My mom and I have been called some terrible things. But we keep reminding people Hey, its not even about a bra.' Im taking advantage of how big its gotten. Ive always felt strongly about gender equality but didnt equate it to not wearing a bra. *** Last Wednesday the YWCA Helena, Friendship Center, and Montana Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence hosted a discussion on body shaming and image with Juvik and her mother, Tami. About 30 people attended, including school board member Sanjay Talwani. He said it was a productive and positive dialogue about body image and the over-sexulization of young girls. Talwani said he and another school board member at the talk were asked what the school could do to address the situation and the idea of a program to teach kids gender respect came up. MaryJane Ilgenfritz, an AmeriCorps VISTA member who runs the YWCAs social and racial justice program, said work will continue on what the community can do next. It will be a long process, Juvik said, but some sort of education on gender issues in schools can help create a change. Its not going to be in a year or five years. It starts at a young age. We need to teach boys and girls. If we want a child to act a certain way, we need to start from a young age. The group that gathered at the YWCA didnt dwell on assigning blame, Talwani said, adding the schools principal received a large amount of unjust criticism. To think he or anyone else involved here is a retrograde misogynist is a wrong conclusion. The outrage that a particular person at fault in this that isnt the goal. Thats the wrong perception and the wrong conclusion. Juvik said she doesnt think the school should be attacked, though schools do need to adapt. I could care less if people even mention the school anymore. But in order for everyone to get an equal education, that social change needs to happen. I know they talk about it being a distraction, distracting from learning, but I was pulled out of class four times that day, so either way someone's education was affected. *** A school in Billings found itself in a similar position in the fall of 2014, when students at Skyview High protested over a dress code that prohibited wearing leggings unless the student also wore a top that covered their bottom. Terry Bouck, the superintendent in that district, said the whole thing blew over in a matter of weeks inside the school, but lived on longer in the media. You have so many other important issues you have to contend with at as a school or a district. Things like the pants issues it came and it went. People talked about it, it came and it went. We got some phone calls. It wasnt a huge deal, if I look at the issues weve dealt with. Bouck said dress codes are meant to facilitate a school free of distractions. If theres something that disrupts the learning environment, lets say a T-shirt that has vulgar or inappropriate language, that is disruptive and you take care of that stuff. You deal with things on a case-by-case basis. Students have freedom of speech, Bouck said, but if through expressing themselves they impede the learning of others, the school could step in. He pointed out dress codes have evolved and probably arent done yet. Years ago if you came to school with purple hair you wouldnt be in, he said. We know thats not a distraction anymore. Thats something thats accepted. NorthWestern Energy is asking Montana to pull the plug on solar projects, at least until the utility can get better terms from the state on ones it legally cant refuse. The utility, which provides electricity to half of Montana, told Montanas Public Service Commission on June 9 that the mandated price it must pay to small commercial solar projects of 3 megawatts or less is too high and hurting consumers. The projects, known as qualifying facilities, or QFs have been popping up like dandelions because Montanas guaranteed rate is too generous, according to the utility. For each 3 megawatt project, the differential between the QF rate and the rate we propose is about $5 million per solar contract, said John Alke, NorthWestern Attorney. The contracts run 25 years. The utility wants the current rate cut in half and the contracts shortened, but until that happens, it wants out of its decades old obligation for accept solar QFs. The Montana Consumer Council, which represents ratepayers in regulated utility cases, sided with NorthWestern, arguing the price promised to solar farms was more than utility customers should pay. At issue is a 48-year-old federal law promoting alternative energy projects. The Public Utilities Regulatory Policies Act, or PURPA, requires utilities to buy power from QFs, under price and contract terms set by state governments. Montanas rate is $66 per megawatt hour, coincidently similar to the price NorthWestern gets for its own hydroelectric power. The solar projects are small, each capable of powering about 540 homes at most, but there have been several proposed, more than 80 on the current docket, NorthWestern said, with many more casual inquiries, according to testimony. However Jenny Harbine, of Vote Solar, told the PSC there really wasnt a crush of solar projects as the utility suggested. Few of the applications would actually become solar farms. NorthWestern offers no support for its apparent belief that all or most of the current interconnection request will make it through the end of the process, Harbine said. Most wont. Suspending PURPA for NorthWestern both violates the mandate and harms solar companies invested in Montana projects, Harbine said. The projects arent cheap. North Carolina-based FLS Energy told the PSC it would spend roughly $100 million developing its 14 Montana projects during the next 18 months. The PSC is likely to establish a new price and contract terms for solar in the next six months, Harbine said, during which time it should have to use the current rate. But NorthWestern isnt just shutting down solar projects, Alke said. The company has nine solar farms under contract now, mostly with Cypress Creek Renewables, of California. It also has agreed to terms with FLS Energy, for its projects not yet under contract. The locations for the solar farms, each roughly 40 acres in size, are scattered across Montana from Hardin to Missoula. A third company, Pacific Northwest Solar, of Oregon, has 21 projects to which NorthWestern will accept, Alke said. Combined, the 44 solar projects account for 135 megawatts, more energy than offered by the original phase of Judith Gap Wind Farm. The Public Service Commission will meet Thursday to decide whether to block the PURPA requirement. If it doesnt, NorthWestern will have to keep adding solar projects. Senior soldiers from China and Russia hug each other at a commemoration ceremony of Soviet Union Red Army martyrs in Changchun, capital city of Northeast China's Jilin province, on Sept 2, 2015. China and Russia held joint celebrations on the 70th anniversary of the victory of the World War II. [Photo by Wu Ting/VCG] After their successful cooperation last year, China Daily and Rossiyskaya Gazeta (Russian Gazette) jointly launched another photo album on Tuesday, in Moscow. The second project, One Hundred Photographers Focus on China, has turned its focus on modern life in China, whereas the first project, One Hundred Photographers Focus on Russia, offered colorful glimpses into modern life in Russia. As the latest addition to China Daily's Focus series, the photo book again highlights the talent and creativity of Chinese and Russian photographers. It contains 210 photos by more than 130 photographers, including the work of Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Medvedev. Besides comprehensively reflecting on the country's long history, ancient civilizations, diverse landscapes, developing economy and the perseverance and creativity of its people, the book also highlights the friendships that exist between China and Russia. Zhu Ling, publisher of China Daily, wrote in the album's preface: "Thanks for photographers from both China and Russia, especially Prime Minister Medvedev, you turn your eyes on profound and sophisticated Chinese culture, on the rapid development of China ... In short, you zoom in on the positive energy of this old and civilized country." As I was watching the Tony presentations Sunday night, where the remarkable musical "Hamilton" was showered with honors, I could not shake the feeling that Alexander Hamilton and our nation's other founders would be worried that this glorious experiment in democracy was being overwhelmed by hatred. It's not just the hatred of that maniac who, several hours before the awards telecast, had pretended he was an Islamic warrior as justification to massacre some of those whose alternative views of sex had apparently enraged him. As we all know, he chose a gay nightclub to target. He used a killing-machine assault weapon to spew his bullets and insanity, and slaughtered close to 50 innocents who were just trying to have a night of fun. Going about our lives unmolested is, after all, what those who designed our nation seemed to have in mind. Now, it's not unreasonable to worry if the political system they so carefully designed is beginning to crack, that more than two centuries later, too many of the ones we now elect or consider to lead this government are not worthy of the honor. Obviously, millions of Americans reacted in horror to what happened in Orlando, Florida, feeling overwhelming sadness for the victims. But we cannot overlook those like Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who tweeted the biblical admonition "A man reaps what he sows." This was interpreted as a belief that those who don't hew to his narrow and straight ways to love invite divine retribution. Patrick took down his message, but he has pandered to homophobia before, confident that a majority of the voters support him. How pathetic is that? How dangerously pathetic. But then, how wretched is it that one of our two major-party candidates for president, Donald Trump, can't suppress his narcissism long enough to offer sympathy to the victims in Orlando. He chose instead to tweet: "Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism, I don't want congrats, I want toughness & vigilance." Then he made things worse by suggesting that President Barack Obama was somehow sympathetic to violent Muslim extremists and even called on the president to resign. At a moment in history that called for calm resolve, he offered a pandering to his followers' darkest instincts. True to form, he repeated the hard-line anti-Muslim policies that are so appealing to his bigoted followers. Our founders also might cringe at our obsession with another religion, not the one described in the First Amendment, but that Second Amendment one, which has been interpreted as a guarantee that we can worship at the altar where we place our guns. In spite of slaughter after slaughter -- not just at nightspots, but movie houses, even elementary schools -- the gun industry's lobbying henchmen are able to stifle even the mildest tightening of our regulations on their weapons of mass destruction. So it is that nearly any person, no matter how deranged, legally can purchase the semi-automatic AR-15, which allows a murderer to spray death and fulfill his bloody fantasies. Our founders tried to create a free society, but not one that was without controls. James Madison wrote, "If men were angels, no government would be necessary." But we are not all angels. Many, like the Orlando shooter, are consumed by demons. And so, to a lesser degree, are the politicians whose crimes of being bought off are not crimes at all under a system that has been distorted by legalized corruption and moral bankruptcy. The framers of our Constitution realized that their democracy was fragile, and we're witnessing that right now. The deadly violence is unavoidable in a system where hustlers take advantage of our precious liberties, particularly when the politicians utilize their right of free expression to take us down from the lofty, sacred ideals of our founders. (c) 2016 Bob Franken Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc. Theres a student movement afoot in the Last Best Place. University students in our great state are joining together and letting it be known they recognize and celebrate the vital role that public lands play in the everyday lives of all Montanans. The Associated Students of both the University of Montana (ASUM) and Montana State University (ASMSU) passed resolutions this spring urging our elected officials to maintain federal management of American public lands. Both resolutions passed with a majority vote. ASUMs vote was unanimous. Public lands generate $6 billion a year annually in Montana--including $403 million in tax revenue--and support 64,000 jobs in the state. But more important than the economic benefits public lands offer Montana are the educational opportunities those lands provide. Students at both universities are the next generation of wildlife biologists, foresters, engineers, artists, geographers, geologists, and leaders. Students in all of these fields and more rely on the natural classrooms that our public lands provide. Furthermore, professors in these fields depend on public lands not only to educate their students, but also to conduct valuable and groundbreaking research that brings acclaim to UM, MSU, and the state. Most students at UM and MSU will tell you that academics are only part of why they decided to attend these schools. UM and MSU attract and retain students because of our states natural beauty and the easy access we have to the extraordinary public lands in Missoulas and Bozemans backyards. We have great respect for the indispensable place public lands have in the cultural identity of our state and its citizens. Hundreds of MSU students have found community on public lands such as Hyalite Canyon through the schools Outdoor Recreation program, and hundreds of UM students have found the same on public lands throughout the state by taking part in the Universitys Freshman Wilderness Experience. Both of these programs introduce incoming students to the importance of conservation, the sanctity found in natural beauty, and the life-long friendships that can be made while enjoying Montanas amazing outdoor opportunities. Having recognized federal public lands as an essential part of Montanas heritage, a majority of Montanans, including students at UM and MSU, are appalled by the short-sighted and irresponsible agenda to transfer ownership or management of American public lands to state or private hands. If Montana took over American public lands, our state would be faced with a $367 million deficit, according to Lee Newspapers. This could lead to many areas losing vital federal protections, including access to conservation and firefighting budgets, or being closed to public access altogether. Opening public lands to such peril is not in our states interest, and does not have the support of our states students. Many from UMs and MSUs student bodies will soon be joining the Montana workforce. We have a responsibility as the leaders of tomorrow to ensure that these public lands remain as pristine and accessible as they are today and an interest in ensuring their continued contribution to economic stability, education and recreation for generations to come. As representatives of UMs and MSUs student bodies, we believe that our Congressional Delegation, our Governor, and our state representatives have a responsibility to their constituents to maintain the natural heritage of Montana by ensuring that federally-owned public lands in Montana are not transferred to state or private hands. -- Sam Forstag is President of the Associated Students of University of Montana-Missoula. Matthew Campbell is a two-term senator who serves as the Senate Speaker Pro Tempore on the 2016-17 Associated Students of Montana State University-Bozeman Senate. Theres no bigger Hillary Clinton backer in Montana than Carol Williams. Everybody knows that, Williams said Monday from her Missoula home as she tried to wind down from the weekends state Democratic Party convention in Helena. As in 2008, Williams was selected by the 27 Democratic delegates to lead them to and at the Democratic national convention to be held in Philadelphia on July 26-29. And like eight years ago, Williams is a pledged delegate to Clinton, the partys presumptive nominee to take on Donald Trump in the November election. Bernie Sanders delegates from Montana will outnumber Clinton delegates 11-10 based on the outcome of last Tuesdays primary. One of the states six superdelegates, Jean Lemire Dahlman of Forsyth, has also indicated shell join the Sanders camp. But Williams said her selection to chair the delegation is a clear message the Democrats are united and were going to Philadelphia to do work to start the campaign off on a good footing. That was the sense I got around the convention all day Saturday, that everyone was moving forward together, she said. Were all on the same page that Donald Trump would be a dangerous president and we have got to make sure he doesnt get elected. Things went really well in Helena, said Kristen Cates, communications director for the Montana Democrats. The nice thing was we had more than 200 folks who participated, which is phenomenal. We had a lot of people who said it was their first time at a state convention and they just wanted to be part of the process. Clinton becomes the first woman nominee for president, a historical footnote that Williams said she doesnt take lightly. Gov. Steve Bullock and U.S. Sen. Jon Tester join Dahlman, Montanas national committeewoman, as superdelegates but havent announced their allegiances. Neither have the other three superdelegates: Jorge Quintana of Helena, the national committeeman; Jim Larson of Billings, party chairman; and Jacquie Helt of Helena, vice party chairwoman. It was no surprise that Missoula County, the states Democratic hotbed, has the bulk of the pledged delegates. They include Sanders Western Montana delegates Teresa Jacobs of Missoula and Bill Geer of Lolo, Sanders at-large delegate Anita Green of Missoula and Sanders party leader/elected official Steve Wells of Missoula. Joining Williams in the Clinton camp is at-large delegate Stacie Anderson of Missoula. Williams said the Missoula connections go even deeper. There are three standing committees at the national convention. She chose Diane Sands of Missoula to represent the state party on the platform committee in Philadelphia. Missoula attorney Ben Darrow will be on the rules committee and Amanda Curtis, state legislator from Butte and former Democratic challenger to Steve Daines for a U.S. Senate seat, will be on the credential committee. Darrow and Curtis are Sanders backers. Cates said Montanas representation at the national convention is diverse. It includes delegates from all corners of the state and from both rural and urban areas; tribal members George Kipp III of Heart Butte and Caryn Kallay of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes; and Green, Montanas first openly transgender national delegate. Williams, 73, said shes known Clinton since 1985 and got to know her well when her husband, Pat Williams, served in Congress when Bill Clinton was in the White House. Their daughter, Whitney, was Hillary Clintons trip director when Hillary was First Lady from 1992-2001. I have great confidence in her abilities; I respect her service and the dedication shes had to childrens and international issues that shes been so stellar on, Carol Williams said. Williams was in Beijing in 1995 when Clinton, then First Lady, gave her speech Womens Rights Are Human Rights at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women. I think shes the best qualified presidential candidate since Thomas Jefferson was in the White House. I really believe that, Williams said. I do think when we get it narrowed down to one Democratic candidate and one Republican candidate a lot of people are going to come to know her like I know her, as an extraordinarily talented woman. The Montana Republican Party elected national delegates last month. The Republican National Convention will be July 18-21 in Cleveland. Commissioners could approve a new ordinance Wednesday night to regulate vacant buildings in Butte and require owners to register them with the county every year. Its among many hefty issues that might be debated and decided this week. Others include separate requests each seeking $200,000 in county money for possible development projects, including an overhaul of the vacant Copper King Hotel and a possible supermarket off of Harrison Avenue. The council also could OK the sale of about 25 acres in Buttes tax-increment financing industrial district (TIFID) to a truss manufacturer in Dillon that is looking to expand. Macklin Trusses wants to make higher-end trusses frameworks that support building roofs and planned to provide more details to council. Commissioners and county officials have been working on language in the vacant building ordinance for months now, refining it along the way to address concerns that have been raised. Officials say it would give them another tool to ensure vacant buildings are safe and secure, in part by requiring owners to register them yearly so they can be contacted if there are decay issues. Opponents say it would be difficult to enforce and the issues are covered under existing local laws. Under the latest proposal, vacant buildings are defined as being unoccupied or unsecured, dangerous, posted, has city-county violations or is illegally occupied. Once vacant, owners would have 180 days to register them with the county up from 30 days in the original proposal. Owners would have to register them every year and after the first year pay a $25 fee annually. Violations could carry maximum $500 fines, but each day could be considered a separate offense. Some landlords in Butte have spoken against the proposal, saying many owners of vacant properties will not voluntarily register their buildings in the first place. They have also questioned whether $25 registration fees will be enough money to follow through with enforcement actions. One of the $200,000 requests in Hard Rock Mine Trust money would help new owners of the vacant Copper King Hotel on Harrison Avenue pay for major renovations. They want to overhaul guest rooms and event space, install a new roof and make other improvements they say could cost $8.1 million. The owners also want a five-year tax abatement for renovating the hotel, but that requires a public hearing first so no final action will be taken on that request Wednesday night. County officials also want the council to steer $200,000 in Hard Rock funds toward a possible supermarket project on the corner of Harrison and Elizabeth Warren avenues. There are several issues in play on that proposal. (See related story.) TIFID Administrator Kristen Rosa said Macklin Trusses in Dillon wants to buy 24.9 acres of county land to expand its operations to Butte. That would still leave hundreds of acres available for other manufactures in the tax-increment district west of Butte, she said. Amanda Alvear, 25, and Mercedez Flores posted on Snapchat from the nightclub before the shooting. Alvear's friend Sandy Marte said one of Alvear's Snapchats showed a packed club full of revelers. Another, a selfie video of Alvear with a series of gunshots in the background. Marte and Alvear bonded over breakups and health problems. "She was loving, she was caring, she always had an open ear, she always wanted to help people," Marte said. "She had an amazing heart." Marte said he understands what it's like to be at a nightclub during a shooting. He was at the Glitz Ultra Lounge in Orlando in February when two people were killed, and said he froze in place from the shock of it. Capt. Antonio Davon Brown, 29, served in the Army Reserve and deployed to Kuwait for nearly a year. Brown graduated in 2008 from Florida A&M, where he majored in criminal justice and participated in the ROTC program. Lt. Col. Kelvin Scott, a ROTC instructor, remembered Brown's positive attitude and sense of humor. "He kept a smile on his face," Scott told the Tallahassee Democrat newspaper. "He was willing to work very hard to earn his commission." Devonta White, a friend of Brown's, said Brown was known in their dorm for waking up early for drills and becoming close friends with his fellow trainees, but also making friends outside of ROTC. "He had a car so when he went to Wal-Mart, I would ride with him," White said. "We just became good friends over time. He helped me more than he knows." An Army service record shows Brown deployed to Kuwait from April 2010 to March 2011. Brenda Lee Marquez McCool, 49, loved to dance, so much so that she'd go to nightclubs with her 21-year-old son. They were both at Pulse. She was killed, son Isaiah Henderson survived, her oldest daughter, Khalisha Pressley, told NBC News. "She was always really cool, but really a mom at the end of the day ... the sweetest lovingest person in the world," Pressley said of her mother, a two-time cancer survivor who had 11 children. "She was a fighter," lifelong friend Noreen Vaquer told the Orlando Sentinel. "She doesn't take nothing from nobody." Vaquer, who met McCool when they were kindergartners in Brooklyn, New York, said her friend gave good advice, backed up by life experience. "She's smart," Vaquer said. "She'll put you right." Darryl Roman Burt II, 29, worked as a financial aid officer for Keiser University's Jacksonville, Florida, campus. As a volunteer, he co-chaired a clothing drive for the homeless for the Jacksonville Jaycees, a nonprofit organization. "Darryl was very passionate about working in the community and wasn't afraid to take the lead," Jacksonville Jaycees President Shawn DeVries told the Indianapolis Star. "If someone needed anything, he'd usually just ask for the details: where, when and what are the deadlines." Burt left behind family in Indiana. Friend Eric King said Burt went to Pulse to celebrate his recent degree in human resources management. "Some people just stick with you," said King, an Atlanta police officer who met Burt about a year ago. "Darryl was always smiling and there was nothing predictable about him." Keiser University's chancellor, Arthur Keiser, called Burt "a highly respected member of the KU team" on the school's website. Gilberto Ramon Silva Menendez, 25, moved to Orlando a few years ago, his cousin, Irma Silva-Lauer, told the Orlando Sentinel. He was an only child and "the light and the life of all the family gatherings," Silva-Lauer said. Jason Josaphat, 19, called his mother as a gunman opened fire to ask for help, his aunt and uncle said. She stayed on the line with him and could hear gunshots in the background, but tried to calm him down as he hid in the bathroom, Jimmy and Myrleine Inelus told KPNX-TV in Arizona, where Josaphat went to high school. His mother then didn't hear anything for as many as 20 seconds. "It was dead silence on the phone ... I think that's when the gunman finally made his way into the bathroom," Jimmy Inelus said. Josaphat moved to Orlando after graduating from high school in 2014. A childhood friend, Messiah McMillian, told KNXV-TV in Phoenix that he was one of the first people whom Josaphat told he was gay. "When I found out, I never judged him," McMillian said. "I never looked at him any differently. He was always my friend." You are hereby notified that on May 27, 2016, the Last Will and Testament of Mary Lee Longhurst, deceased, bearing the date of January 28, 2011, was admitted to probate in the above named court and that Vidette Ostermeier was appointed Executor of the Estate of Mary Lee Longhurst. Any action to set aside the Will must be brought in the District Court of said county within the later to occur of four months from the date of the second publication of this notice or one month from the date of mailing of this notice to all heirs of the Decedent and devisees under the Will whose identities are reasonably ascertainable, or thereafter be forever barred. Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy MUSCATINE, Iowa A court date has been set for the Muscatine woman accused in a May 13 hit and run accident. Ruth Noemi Santiago Perez, 25, is accused of leaving the scene of a personal injury accident, a serious misdemeanor, and having no proof of liability insurance, a simple misdemeanor. Perez is due to be arraigned in Muscatine County District Court at 9:30 a.m. June 24. She was arrested on May 20, one week after the incident. Alex Pobuda, 17, Muscatine, suffered a concussion and an injury to his hand after being struck by a car at the intersection of East Fifth and Sycamore streets. The teen had gone down the street to get an energy drink. Nathan Wendt of the Muscatine Journal MUSCATINE, Iowa First Baptist Church, 3003 Mulberry Ave, is having a Summer Bible Club on Mondays in the months of June and July with the exception of Monday, July 4. The participants will learn about God and explore missionaries from different countries centered around an Olympic theme. there will be stories, games, crafts, snacks and music. The program will run from 1:30 3:30 p.m. The club is for children who have completed kindergarten through fifth grade. The event is free. Parents will need to register their children on the first day. Anyone with questions is asked to call Jan Hoffman at 563-263-7472. MUSCATINE, Iowa The Midwest Corn Lawsuit is aiming for February to further their fight for farmers who grew corn under Syngenta. The group is encouraging Iowa farmers to come to meetings and join the lawsuit. The approximately 10 trials that attorney at law Rob Tully and other lawyers representing the lawsuit will begin in February. Tully said the case has had some great progress. A great move that the judge suggested was they move the cases out into the counties so there can be more farmers at these cases, Tully said. Another major move was the court has appointed a settlement master that is assigned by the court to see if the plaintiff has merit. According to the Midwest Corn Lawsuit flier, there are lawsuits pending against Syngenta In 22 states and more than 50,000 farmers across the U.S. have filed suit. The case will be a mass tort rather than a class action lawsuit. Tully said this was to give more compensation to the farmers. This is not that way (a class action lawsuit), Tully said. We represent each farmer individually. The lawyers are paying for expenses out of their fees because we are under Texas law. Tully explained that under Texas law, the lawyers are able to take the expenses out of their fees. Under Iowa law, they would not be allowed to do so. Tully wants to remind farmers to join the lawsuit if they were affected by Syngentas corn. This is absolutely risk free, Tully said. If farmers dont join now, they (Syngenta) might settle and the farmers will lose out. This case is happening because Syngenta introduced a genetically engineered corn trait into the U.S. market. The corn was known as Agrisure Viptera. The trait was put into the corn to protect it from insect damage such as the corn borer and corn rootworm. China didnt approve of the corn when Syngenta marketed the product to farmers, yet Syngenta maintained Chinas approval was imminent. When the corn was shipped, China still hadnt approved and when they received the shipments adding up to 545,000 tons of corn, they rejected and destroyed shipments of the corn. Other countries followed suit and there was a loss of 3.3 million metric tons of corn and a loss of $2.9 billion dollars. Tully said this court case is to defend farmers and to help them earn back their losses. I believe in this case, Tully said. I believe farmers deserve compensation for something they had no control of. These programs and their work strengthen our communities, said Julie Bauer, executive director of the Alliant Energy Foundation. We know our support allows them to build on their success and do more good things, especially in the areas of helping families, education and the environment. The Alliant Energy Foundation is a philanthropic organization created by Alliant Energy Corporation and is operated as a separate entity led by its own board of directors. The Foundation is committed to making a positive difference in the communities where Alliant Energy employees, retirees and customers live and work. The Foundation, which is funded solely by Alliant Energy shareowners, seeks to further the corporations goal of being a good corporate citizen and contributing member of society. The Alliant Energy Foundation and Alliant Energy have given more than $48 million since the Foundations inception. MUSCATINE, Iowa City crews are planning on beginning the conversion of Second Street from a one-way to a two-way late Monday night to try and beat a rain storm forecast for the area. Randy Howell, the street maintenance supervisor for the City of Muscatine, said he will be bringing in half the day shift at 10 p.m. Monday to begin re-striping the road and put in crosswalks. "The conversion will happen tonight [Monday] as long as there is no thunder and lightning to place anyone in any danger," Howell said. The conversion of Second Street from Mulberry Avenue to Pine Street from a one-way to a two-way was approved April 21 the Muscatine City Council meeting. The conversion was originally intended to provide a detour during the Mississippi Drive Corridor Project. City Engineer Jim Edgmond said that because of all the preliminary meetings and public hearings, the change was voted to be permanent. "It's our hope that this conversion will lead to a more vibrant downtown," Edgmond said. Howell said that there may be some confusion late Monday night as crews convert the street, however, the workers will be available to help remind people which direction to park and drive on the street. If they are rained out, the conversion will not take place until Thursday since rain showers are also forecast for Wednesday. Howell said the goal will be to open the street to two-way traffic Tuesday morning after Muscatine Power and Water completes work on the traffic signal at the intersection with Mulberry Avenue. Muscatine Police Chief Brett Talkington said officers will be vigilant in downtown on Tuesday. "Just to make sure that people are abiding by the two-way designation, I think that we're starting around 10 a.m.," Talkington said. The intention of the officers will not be to give out tickets, but to be a guide for those who may be confused by the conversion. "At least for a couple days, it's going to be a learning curve for everybody," he said. Talkington said one of the main concerns will be double parking, especially for delivery drivers, but also for the general public. "If there's not a spot, park somewhere else and walk, cause it's going to be congested enough," he said. Simon Adrian Carrillo-Fernandez, 31, loved to travel and "worked to be able to enjoy his life," co-worker Ivonne Irizarry said. A manager at McDonald's, Carillo-Fernandez had traveled to the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Mexico and went on cruises, Irizarry said. He and his partner, Oscar Aracena-Montero, who also was killed at the nightclub, had just returned from Niagara Falls, Irizarry told the Orlando Sentinel. Carillo-Fernandez never forgot a birthday, she said, and would bring in cakes for his McDonald's co-workers. Colleagues said Carrillo-Fernandez's attention to detail was a trademark of his leadership style. "He had to be the best, that was his thing. I cook the best, I clean the best, I work the best," she said of him. Les emplois a Rennes sont abondants et varies. Il y a quelque chose pour tout le monde. Que vous soyez a la recherche dun emploi [] Les blattes ou cafards (Blatta orientalis) sont des insectes qui appartiennent a la famille des Blattoptera. Ils se caracterisent par leur forme allongee, leurs ailes [] Are you ever nostalgic for the innocent smells of childhood, like marshmallows roasting around a campfire, or playing tag on freshly cut grass? Do you miss the salty scent of the Mediterranean, or Lake Tahoes natural cocktail from your last vacation? Well, theres a candle for that. Muguette Renee Candles & Fragrances joined the Oxbow last October, setting up shop across from Karas Cupcakes. Owner and artist Muguette Renee Rinaldi sells uniquely scented handmade candles, perfumes and colognes from an adorable old-fashioned cart. A former jewelry maker, Rinaldi made the switch to candles four years ago. Ive been a jewelry designer for 15 years, thats how I made my living. But the jewelry market was just oversaturated, and I always made candles for gifts during the holidays. They were getting really popular, and my friends were saying, You should really think about selling these, said Rinaldi. I changed my whole medium, I built up my inventory and the next spring at the farmers market, all I did was the candles and it was a huge success. When she secured her own little shop at the Oxbow, thanks to the generosity of Oxbow founder and CEO Steve Carlin, a lifelong dream came to fruition. If it werent for (Steve), and how gracious and easy its been to work with him, this never would have happened, she said. The dream to have her own shop began in childhood, though she didnt know what kind of shop at the time. This is such a big dream of mine because my parents came to this country from Holland right after World War II, and since I was a little girl, this was a dream of mine to have my own shop. To have my 90-year-old parents come out to see my cart, it meant everything to me, she said. Its really been a wonderful whirlwind for me. I work really hard at it, currently six days a week, but I absolutely love doing it, so I feel pretty blessed. Rinaldi hand pours all of the candles herself, as well as handles the labeling and packaging, right from her home studio. She uses all organic ingredients, high-quality, GMO-free soy wax, and then essential and fragrance oils to create her untraditional scents, which are dreamed up via inspirations sparked in her daily life. One of her most popular candles, Lake Tahoe Balsam Cedar, was created after a trip where she was moved to capture the scent of the pine trees, fresh air coming off the lake and the mountains. Anything triggers an idea. I have endless ideas of all the different scents I want to do, said Rinaldi, who currently has 25 different scents, which rotate seasonally, including Sweet Orange Chili Pepper, Amalfi Coast Olive and Exotic African Teakwood. James Bond 007 is her best-seller, and it also comes in a cologne, making a great Fathers Day gift idea. It smells like a nice-smelling man. Its really popular with the ladies, and men really like it because its a masculine-smelling candle. Men are into candles nowadays, too, but dont want one smelling like roses, she said with a laugh. All scents are double fragranced and shy away from the traditional, commercial candles, like Pine and Cinnamon. Formulating each scent is no small or quick task either. When Im in the research and development stage, it takes a while to get the perfect candle for that scent. A particular scent could be four to six weeks before Im able to perfect the recipe for that fragrance, and finally it makes it to the shop, she said. Its a process of layering and getting the perfect scent thats not too strong, not too overwhelming. Rinaldi, who lives in Fairfield but loves and has connections to the Napa community, continues to look for new avenues to grow her business, currently closing some wholesale accounts with local wineries and hotels. Her ultimate goal, however, is to eventually upgrade from the cart to her own store. I hope to have a shop one day and expand. Im blissfully happy with these little achievements. Its a lot of hard work, but so much fun, she said. The cart is currently at the Oxbow Thursday through Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. At the end of the month, Rinaldi will switch to a seasonal schedule, returning at the beginning of October and staying through February. In the meantime, locals can find Rinaldi at the Napa Farmers Market on Tuesdays and Saturdays, or purchase from her Etsy shop. German Chancellor Angela Merkel (L) receive an honorary doctorate from President of the University of Nanjing, Chen Jun (R) at the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS) in Beijing, China, 12 May 2016. The German Chancellor is in China 12-14 June to attend the 4th Sino-German government consultations.[Photo/IC] German Chancellor Angela Merkel's ongoing visit to China is focused on how the two countries can deepen economic relations and help boost a flagging global economy. The visit takes place two weeks after the G7 summit in Japan and just over two months before the G20 summit in China, where global economic issues are expected to dominate the agenda. Merkel will be accompanied by a large business delegation, and apart from talks in Beijing, she will also visit a Chinese-German joint venture in Shenyang, Northeast China's Liaoning province. On the bilateral front, Merkel will bring several ministers for the regular China-Germany intergovernmental consultations. Top of the agenda is likely to be trade and investment, market access, innovation and cyber security. German companies such as Siemens have been vocal in criticizing China for failure to open markets and protect intellectual property rights. The European Chamber of Commerce also criticized Chinese restrictions in a report last week highlighting a drop in European Union investment in China due to "an increasingly hostile business environment". Although German investment in China has stalled, an increasing number of Chinese companies are seeking a foothold in Germany. Chinese investment in Germany rose more than 35 percent last year. These investments were often in high-tech areas as China seeks to benefit from German expertise and technology. This has raised some questions about whether Chinese enterprises should be allowed to take over companies with the latest technology. For example, the Midea Group is currently trying to buy Kuka, a German manufacturer of industrial robots and a flagship company for "Industrie 4.0"the fourth industrial revolution. This has provoked a debate in Germany on whether such technology should be protected. German law allows the government the right to veto the takeover of companies in sensitive sectors but so far the law has been rarely used. Merkel herself has adopted a hands-off approach to foreign takeovers of German enterprises. Already this year ChemChina has bought the machinery giant KraussMaffei; Beijing Enterprise Holdings plans to acquire a major German waste management company, Energy from Waste; and Fujian Grand Chip Investment Fund LP plans to buy the German semiconductor equipment maker Aixtron. Merkel is also likely to raise the sensitive issue of excess capacity, especially in steel production. This issue has now become linked with the debate over granting China market economy status later this year. Germany says it will wait for the impact assessment by the European Commission in July before taking a stance. On the positive side, an agreement on cyber security is due to be signed that aims to protect companies from economic espionage. The German chancellor is also expected to press Chinese leaders on the pace of internal economic reform, something Berlin strongly supports. Germany also has considerable experience in helping areas reliant on heavy industry to reform and change course. On the multilateral front, Merkel may seek to establish a link between the G7 and G20 summits. In Japan, the G7 called for "a more forceful and balanced policy mix, in order to swiftly achieve a strong, sustainable and balanced growth pattern". This phrase covered up differences between Germany and the UK on the one hand, which are determined to continue with their austerity policies, and other G7 countries wanting to pursue greater public spending to boost economic growth. Merkel may press China not to follow those countries ready to further increase public debt. There will be an exchange of views on trade issues against the background of the stalled major deals (Trans-Pacific Partnership and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership). And Merkel will push for an early conclusion of the EU-China bilateral investment treaty negotiations. She is also expected to push forward other issues on the G20 agenda, including financial sector reform agenda and tax transparency. For Merkel, her trip to China will be a break from internal problems (finding a successor to President Joachim Gauck) and European difficulties (UK referendum, migration, Ukraine). The author is director of the EU-Asia Centre in Brussels. One of Napa Countys larger proposed vineyard projects in local mountains has won tentative county approval, though an appeal by opponents to the Board of Supervisors seems likely. County Planning, Building and Environmental Services Director David Morrison on Monday released his decision on the Walt Ranch project. He approved the erosion control plan that under county law is needed to build hillside vineyards. The project is consistent with zoning and the general plan, Morrison said. Its consistent with the general plans future expectations in terms of the vision of the general plan. And it takes all appropriate steps to minimize environmental impacts. He would have needed a compelling and provocative reason to deny the project, Morrison said. He found none. Napa County will release the final decision and findings on Aug. 1. That will trigger a 15-day period 10 working days when opponents can appeal the decision to the county Board of Supervisors. The 2,300-acre Walt Ranch is located in the mountains between the city of Napa and Lake Berryessa along Highway 121. The Hall family owners of Hall Wines in St. Helena asked to create 356 acres of vineyards with a 507-acre total development area. The development area includes such things as roads. Morrison cut about 100 acres from those requested 507 acres to further protect rare plants, certain trees and wildlife habitat. This move wasnt unexpected, given that county officials discussed the idea at an April 4 hearing. A project environmental impact report found Walt Ranch could cause a number of potentially significant impacts, such as altering drainage patterns and blocking wildlife corridors. In every case, the report said that Walt Ranch could take steps to reduce the impact to less than significant. Opponents have found fault with the report. Circle Oaks is a rural community of 179 homes adjacent to Walt Ranch. Residents opposed to the project say Walt Ranch water use could threaten the communitys wells and that vineyard trucks and equipment will use a Circle Oaks Drive that already faces stability issues. Its disappointing, resident David Heitzman said Monday. I think Circle Oaks has been sacrificed. Among the groups opposing Walt Ranch at recent county hearings has been the local Sierra Club. City of Napa Water General Manager Joy Eldredge has said projects such as Walt Ranch could alter what is basically a pristine watershed and hurt water quality in the citys Milliken Reservoir. Still, the city has stopped short of opposing Walt Ranch. Hall Wines President Mike Reynolds said he expects somebody will appeal Morrisons decision to the Board of Supervisors. This has been a really long process, he said. We think weve brought the most responsive vineyard project that has ever been done in Napa County. The Walt Ranch initial study dates back to 2008. In recent years, the project has become caught up in a local, public debate about watershed vineyard projects and timber cutting in general. Walt Ranch opponents have shown up at meetings with signs reading Protect our oaks and Save our water. Hall Wines co-owner Kathryn Hall at the April 4 county hearing on Walt Ranch gave her viewpoint. This is a proposal to plant a vineyard in a county-zoned area for agriculture in Napa Valley and nothing more, Hall said. Craig and Kathryn Hall and Reynolds recently sent out a mailer to residents explaining the project from their point of view. The package included postage-paid post cards asking if recipients supported or opposed the project and whether Walt Ranch could use the name of supporters publicly. Some of these mailers arrived at local homes last week. Opponents point out that making room for Walt Ranch vineyards means cutting down 24,000 trees. The mailer, on the other hand, notes that more than 212,800 trees on the 2,300 acres will be protected. Reynolds said Walt Ranch put out the mailer to educate the public and set the record straight on claims from the opposition that he thinks are untrue. Walt Ranch isnt the only controversial hillside vineyard project. Opponents have already filed appeals for the 16-acre Lazy Susan project on Petrified Forest Road northwest of Calistoga and the 20-acre Kongsgaard project on Atlas Peak Road northeast of Napa. Sandy Elles is ending a 15-year stint as executive director of the Napa County Farm Bureau. Her last day on the job is Friday. On June 27, she will become executive director of the California Agricultural Commissioners and Sealers Association (CACASA). Elles on Tuesday reflected on the highlights of her Napa County Farm Bureau tenure. She mentioned growth of sustainability in the agricultural sector, such as local farmers embracing the Napa Green environmental certification program. Local agricultural land protection efforts stood out for her, such as the passage of Measure P in 2008. Measure P extends through 2058 voter-approved land use laws designed to keep farmland from being paved over. Another standout for her is Napa Countys work on providing farm worker housing. And most of all, just working with the best growers in the world, Elles said. Elles joined the Farm Bureau in 2001. The nonprofit organization has more than 1,000 members, and its stated goal is to ensure the right political, social and economic climate for the continuation of agriculture. On Tuesday, those in the Napa County Board of Supervisors chamber applauded Elles after she delivered some remarks on the county budget during public comments. It marked the last time she will address supervisors on behalf of Farm Bureau. The Farm Bureaus Board of Directors has yet to name a new executive director. The position is being advertised. The CACASA Board of Directors unanimously selected Elles as its new executive director. CACASA is celebrating its 135th year, Board President Cathleen Fisher said in a press release. It needs a leader who can help the association continue to grow by strengthening its membership and managing its projects. CACASA is working with the state Department of Pesticide Regulation on systems that improve restricted materials permitting, pesticide use reporting and compliance and enforcement tracking, the press release said. The organization represents the agricultural commissioners and sealers of weights and measures which are appointed in each California county by the various boards of supervisors. Napa Countys Agricultural Commissioner and Sealer of Weights and Measures is Greg Clark. Prior to joining the Farm Bureau, Elles worked for 22 years with the Blue & Gold Fleet of ferries in San Francisco Bay, becoming vice president of ferry contracts and senior captain. She served on the Cotati City Council from 1990 to 1998, the CACASA press release said. A wise local man reminded me about an old quote. The words might have first been spoken by G.K. Chesterton or Billy Sunday in the early 1900s. Billys version says, Going to church doesnt make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you an automobile. Whether G.K or Bill spoke first, the real question is: If going to church doesnt make you a Christian, then what does? I have always loved the garage. As a young boy I sat in the garage eating peanuts from stored burlap bags sent from my great uncle in Alabama. As a teen, it was my special place where I made electronic projects and installed an old lawnmower motor on a bike. A bit older, my car pulled me into the garage. Still, my time in the garage did not turn me into a car. Factories using materials, equipment and workers are what makes cars. Many love the church, but G.K or Bill would agree that churchgoing does not necessarily make a person a Christian. A church can give desirable results like emotion, friends, cookies, help, jobs and a spiritual feeling, but a person may not have become a Christian. Like a car, to make a Christian, materials, equipment and workers are necessary. In A.D. 33, Jesus Christ died for our sins, came back to life on the third day and then went back into heaven from which He had come. God is the factory of Christians. Jesus death for our sins is the material by which God gave what we need. The Holy Spirit of God moves hearts to understand the need for forgiveness and the understanding of Christs dying for us. God uses people to share about believing Jesus Christ to receive forgiveness and a new life to develop. God is the source of how a Christian is made. I went to church from birth until I was in my first year of college. Going to church did not make me a Christian. Some thought I was one, but I had a growing heart of disbelief. Just before my oldest daughter was born, I wanted to once and for all decide about Jesus Christ as a dying savior and a resurrected helper. Gods Holy Spirit put truth in my heart and stirred me to read the Bible written by those who had known Jesus during His time on Earth. God used people who shared their experience in knowing Christ as Savior. Accepting Christ as Savior opened me as a Christian. It is the Christians that make the church. Kelland Ingram is pastor of Calistogas Highlands Christian Fellowship. Country music icon Alan Jackson and Ply Gem, a manufacturer of building products, helped dedicate a house built with a local family as part of the Habitat for Humanity national Home Builders Blitz week. Ply Gem partnered with Jackson to serve as the ambassador of the Home for Good project, and his song, You Can Always Come Home, is the anthem for the program, emphasizing that having a place to call home is both fortunate and comforting. This is the reason why I love this country so much we step up and we give of our time. Thank you Ply Gem and Habitat for Humanity, Jackson said before giving the house keys to new Rutherford County Area Habitat homeowner Keosha Hendricks, and her daughter Akori Yanah. This is just a house, but you and Akori will make it a home. buy dilantin online no prescription Hendricks brushed away tears as she received keys to the house she helped build. Im so grateful to be a part of this program. The experience has been amazing and my daughter is going to have a stable, healthy home, she said through tears. Thank you Habitat, Ply Gem and Alan. We finally have a home to call our own. buy doxycycline online no prescription Ply Gem, headquartered in Cary, North Carolina, is the presenting sponsor of Habitats Home Builders Blitz, in which professional builders in 31 states worked this week alongside nearly 250 Habitat homeowners to build or repair their homes. The sponsorship is one component of the Home for Good project a multi-year initiative that includes the donation of more than $1 million of performance siding and windows and funds for Habitat for Humanity to use to help families build nearly 300 homes in 2016, alone. Home Builders Blitz kicked off June 6 with a wall-raising ceremony in Raleigh, North Carolina, where four homes are being constructed. As a leading manufacturer of building products, like siding, windows, stone, roofing, fence and rail, giving back by helping to build houses across North America makes sense for Ply Gem, and partnering with Habitat for Humanity was a natural choice, said Gary E. Robinette, chairman and CEO, Ply Gem. Through the Home for Good project we are spreading the word to rally everyone to grab a hammer and help in communities nationwide. Ply Gem is reaching out to the building industry, our 8,900 associates and community members. buy estrace online no prescription Habitat launched its first Home Builders Blitz in 2006, four years after Habitat for Humanity Wake County, North Carolina and local builder Tom Gipson recruited 12 homebuilders to donate their time to each build a house in five days. To date, more than 1,500 homes have been constructed under the Home Builders Blitz model. Habitat and local families are building two homes in LaVergne. To find out how to get involved, please visit Habitat.org, or to learn more about Ply Gems Home for Good project, go to www.plygem.com/homeforgood. [rps] Iltalehti: draft bill on Finland's membership in NATO allows deployment of nuclear weapons Armenia envoy briefs Costa Rica president on South Caucasus situation Russian brand of budget smartphones Inoi leaves Russia Air-raid alarm sirens to be installed in Estonia Armenia legislature head: PM will go to Sochi on October 31, meet with Russia, Azerbaijan presidents US State Department: Armenia, Azerbaijan should decide whether Putin's invitation would be useful to them US transfers to Ukraine first 2 NASAMS complexes Armenia National Assembly speaker: Phrase about signing peace treaty by years end is tacit deadline Armenia parliament speaker: We have 240 casualties as result of Azerbaijan attack Armenia FM in Vatican, meets with Substitute for Holy See Secretariat of State for General Affairs Israel president gives US intel on Iran UAVs in Ukraine Copper prices are rising World oil prices falling Armenia MPs approve several changes to laws FM: Armenia has never lost its belief in humanity despite facing many challenges, calamities Canada embassy to soon be opened in Armenia Biden: Russia would be making serious mistake to use tactical nuclear weapon Margarita Simonyan says she is banned from entering Armenia Newspaper: Artsakh Public Council establishment causes concern in political arena First sneakers for horses created in US India fines Google for $113 million Mass dedicated to peace in Armenia is celebrated at Vatican Biden says Russia would make 'serious mistake' if it deploys tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine Romania plans to intensify talks on Black Sea and military purchases Karekin II and Aram I refuse to participate in World Armenian Forum IMF Director: Ukraine's need for external financing could reach $5 billion month Turkey continues to beat out gas discount from Russia and payment deferral from Gazprom Alen Simonyan refuses to participate in fifth meeting of Russian-Armenian Lazarev Club UN Security Council to meet at Russia's request over accusations that Iran is supplying drones to Russia Leading Wall Street bankers warn of recession in US and Europe Armenian FM tells Vatican secretary of state about Azerbaijani aggression Secretary of Armenian Security Council holds telephone conversation with Biden's aide IEA head: World still needs Russian oil to flow into the market Norwegian police arrest man on suspicion of spying for Russia Ambassador-at-Large meets with Personal Representative of OSCE Chairman-in-Office EU to offer banks to offer mandatory instant payments in euros Ambassador: Active efforts of Armenian authorities are registering regress in Armenian-Russian relations Saudi minister: Saudi Arabia and US will overcome unjustified spat Zatulin: My ban on entering Armenia coincides with trilateral meeting planned in Russia Rishi Sunak vows to fix 'mistakes' of Liz Truss MFA comments on information about meeting of special envoys of Armenia and Turkey Daily Sabah: Armenian, Turkish special representatives next meeting planned in Turkey The Telegraph: US President Biden mispronounces Rishi Sunak's name Zelenskyy proposes creating platforms for the 'de-occupation' of Transnistria and Abkhazia 'Armenia' bloc deputy: Nikol Pashinyan and Suren Papikyan are lying Dollar falls, euro rises Stanislav Zass discusses with Lavrov situation in CSTO zone of responsibility New British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his wife are richer than royalty Klaar: EU actively engaged in Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process at all levels Nissan reveals updated Juke crossover FM briefs Sovereign Order of Malta Grand Chancellor on Armenia position on normalizing relations with Azerbaijan Azerbaijan prepares for peace with Armenia but dramatically increases military budget North Korea completes preparations for nuclear test Azerbaijan manipulates facts, creates information pretext to encroach on Lachin corridor Azerbaijan military aggression against Armenia is discussed at Francophonie Parliamentary Assembly conference (PHOTOS) Peskov says details of gas hub with Turkey were being worked out Konstantin Zatulin on ban on his entry into Armenia: I see it as insulting move Putin's spokesman says building wall on Russian-EU borders is nonsense Turkey begins its part of work on gas hub agreement with Russia Kremlin responds to Macron's appeal to Pope to negotiate with Putin Millliyet: Turkish and Finnish delegations hold talks on NATO membership in Ankara Zelenskiy: Ukraine receives not 'a single cent' on $17 billion rapid recovery plan Rishi Sunak takes office as Prime Minister of Great Britain Indonesian armed woman tries to break into presidential palace Pashinyan's family newspaper writes that Konstantin Zatulin is forbidden to enter Armenia from now on President Raisi accuses U.S. of information terrorism, organizing riots in Iran AraratBank and 4090 Charity Foundation team up for the education of war participants Ursula von der Leyen: EU to provide Kyiv with 1 billion for urgent restoration of energy supply World Bank to provide Armenia with EUR 22.6 million of additional credit funds Macron asks Pope to call Putin to solve Ukraine crisis PM: Azerbaijan hinders search of Armenian soldiers' bodies in occupied territories German president assures Ukraine of his full support Armenia ruling force MP: Major powers have told us You should sign that agreement by the end of the year WSJ: Saudi Prince Bin Salman mocks Biden in private talks OSCE needs assessment mission is briefed on situation in Armenias Jermuk after Azerbaijan military aggression (PHOTOS) Armenias Pashinyan to Kazakhstans Tokayev: Mutually beneficial cooperation corresponds to our countries interests Driver, 41, dies in hospital 2 days after Armenia car accident US: Former student opens fire at school Turkish Finance Minister says he would seek gas discount from Gazprom US State Dept.: We are interested in seeing stable Caucasus where we work both with Armenia and Azerbaijan YEREVAN. Armenia needs all of its children, so as to become and stay a prosperous country. Tanja Radocaj, Head of the the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) Representation in Armenia, stated the aforesaid at Tuesdays discussion on the Armenian governments alternative care services for children in difficult situations. Radocaj said they are cooperating with the state agencies of Armenia for long years, now, to set up alternative services, instead of special and boarding schools, for such children. She noted that their objective is to provide personalized care and support to each and every Armenian child. As per the UNICEF official, there were 11,000 children in the care homes of Armenia ten years ago, whereas their number has dropped to 3,500approximately by 75 percent, in 2015. She expressed the view that the Armenian-government approved respective procedure can run in the country. As per Tanja Radocaj, Armenia has another challenge: care and treatment toward children with disabilities. She noted that such children in Armenia need to be raised by their families, or alternative families, and special assistance needs to be provided to these families. The UNICEF official expressed delight that a fully inclusive education will be provided in Armenia in the coming years. In the German Bundestag resolution on Armenian Genocide, we spoke about Germanys accountability, and no one, including the president of Turkey, can prohibit us. Bundestag member and German Turk Cem Ozdemirwho is also Co-Chairman of the German political party Alliance 90/The Greens, a consistent proponent of and preacher for Armenian Genocide recognition, and the person behind the aforesaid resolutionstated the aforesaid on the air of a German television. Ozdemir noted that the Turkish members of the Bundestag are receiving threats ever since the adoption of the said resolution, according to Agos Armenian bilingual weekly of Istanbul. Its sad that there are [national] fanatics in all nations, said the German Turkish MP. But the most important [thing] is not to bow down before them. Those who became furious at once and are making uncivil statements definitely have not read the text [of the resolution], or have not listened to my speech. Here, we are speaking about the accountability of Germany. No one can forbid us, including the president of Turkey. On June 2, the Bundestag, the lower house of the German parliament, formally recognized the Armenian Genocide, with the aforesaid resolution and with only one vote against and one abstention. The resolution also notes that the Bundestag regrets that the German government at the time did nothing to stop this crime against humanity, and therefore the Bundestag also acknowledges the respective historical accountability of Germany. Gunter Krings, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of the Interior of Germany, has warned the Turks living in Germany that following Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans hate rhetoric could have bad consequences for them. Krings called upon the Turks living in Germany to stay away from the policy which Erdogan has adopted, according to the Rheinische newspaper of Germany. He who follows Erdogans hate speech must ask himself whether he wants to stay with us, said the German interior minister. Who thinks so, means that he definitely has not integrated into our country and our legal system. Joachim Herrmann, Interior Minister of the Free State of Bavaria of Germany, for his part, criticized the statements by the Turkish authorities and the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB) of Germany addressed to the German Bundestag members, and in connection with the passing of the resolution that recognizes Armenian Genocide. I believe that the discussions, which the Turkish authorities and DITIB are holding, are bizarre at the least, said Herrmann. This expresses Erdogans ideology, about which I have always warned. He demands from Germans of Turkish origin to always remain Turks. But he who enters the Bundestag exclusively serves the interests of the Federal Republic of Germany and its permanent population. On June 2, the Bundestag, the lower house of the German parliament, formally recognized the Armenian Genocide, with the aforesaid resolution and with only one vote against and one abstention. The resolution also notes that the Bundestag regrets that the German government at the time did nothing to stop this crime against humanity, and therefore the Bundestag also acknowledges the respective historical accountability of Germany. Eleven Bundestag MPs of Turkish also voted in favor of the resolution. And in this connection, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated that the blood of these deputies should be sent for analysis to find out whether they truly are Turks. We are now moving to the formation of the middle class, which seems to not exist in the country, Armenian PM Hovik Abrahamyan told journalists in Gyumri Tuesday, referring to the draft Tax Code discussed at the Armenian National Assembly (NA). We support the small and medium enterprises. We are now discussing this at the NA. I talked by phone with the leaders of several factions; they have various reasonable proposals. The State Revenue Committee (SRC) of Armenia has been instructed to discuss all the unsolved issues with all the MPs and political forces, Abrahamyan said. The opposition MPs claim that the Code will behead the medium business and not contribute to the development of economy. Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold separate meetings with the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev in Saint Petersburg on June 20, this being followed by a tripartite meeting on Karabakh, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov told RIA Novosti. On June 20, tripartite talks of Russian, Armenian and Azerbaijani Presidents on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement are scheduled. It is supposed that Putin will first have private meetings with Sargsyan and Aliyev, and then the three presidents will already hold talks together, Ushakov said. Apparently, an active attempt to contribute to the sides in conflict settlement will be made from our side. We have already played what I would even call a decisive role in ceasing the military actions, which were going on, the presidential aide noted. Now we are ready to continue our mediatory mission, obviously in full cooperation with the other OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing states, and based on the principles which were included in the joint statement of the Russian, U.S. and French Presidents in the period from 2009-2013. Our country will hold the most interested and active talks, he noted. In Ushakovs words, Russia is going to continue its mediatory mission in line with the joint statements of the Russian, U.S. and French presidents, which mention about the unacceptability of the military solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, urging the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders to solve the disputable issues on the basis of the principles of non-use of force or threat to use force, territorial integrity of states, equal rights and peoples right to self-determination. The presidential aide also added that Russia considers that the sides to the conflict must strictly observe the ceasefire agreement of 1994. We urge all the parties to the confrontation to exercise restraint, refrain from using force and take all possible measures to stabilize the situation,he added. The drivers license found in Baku most probably belongs to the Armenian Lieutenant Colonel Aleksan Arakelyan, who was killed during the four-day April war. All the data coincide. Besides the drivers license, the Azeris also took all the documents, watch, money and car keys of my Alik, father of the killed Lieutenant General, Gevorg Arakelyan, told Armenian News NEWS.am. As per Azerbaijani Minval.az, the document was found in Sabuncu district of Baku. According to the information of the police, resident of 8 Mehmandarov street in Bakxanov settlement, Ilkin Mamedov, found a document belonging to an Armenian in front of his house, reported Oxu.az news agency of Azerbaijan. Mamedov handed the document to the 13th Police Department of Sabuncu district. It is reported that the document is a drivers license in the name of Aleksandr Arakelyan, a citizen of Armenia, born in 1982, and which was issued on August 27, 2014, by the law enforcement authorities of Armenia. The local Azerbaijani state security service was reported about the incident. A respective investigation is underway. A spinner shark catches a wave with a surfer in Florida. Credit: Jordon Waldron via Facebook. PALM BEACH, Florida A shark photobombed a Florida surfer who was riding a wave off the coast of Palm Beach, Florida on Thursday. There were tons of sharks today, photographer Jordan Waldron told NBC affiliate WPTV. It was most likely a spinner shark as I saw some earlier jumping out of the water. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Waldron was taking pictures of her boyfriend, Emmanuel Roig, surfing when the shark photobombed the surfer while riding a wave. Spinner sharks can be found all along the Florida coast line and get their name from their behavior of leaping out of the water while spinning as they pursue prey. These slender sharks can grow up to 10 feet in length but still only weigh up to 200 pounds. According to the University of Florida Department of Ithyology , the gray-bronze spinner shark is often mistaken for a blacktip shark. Although spinner sharks can be a danger to humans, their teeth are designed for grabbing small prey rather than tearing at large prey, so they doesnt perceive humans as food unless it is confused during feeding. Since U.S. policies toward Cuba began shifting, much has been changing for the island nation U.S. diplomatic relations have been restored, trade is growing, and travel restrictions have softened, making it easier for Americans to visit than it has been in decades. For a group of Emory students and scholars, its also created a unique classroom a chance to study Cuba in a new era of transition. Before last month, rising Emory junior Sarah Loftus 16Ox 18C had never traveled outside of the U.S. "But as a sociology major I was always interested in other cultures and comparing different societies, she acknowledges. She found that opportunity through Emorys Journeys of Reconciliation program, an immersive learning experience that would plunge her deep within the cultural, political, racial and economic intricacies of life in Cuba. Offered through the Office of Spiritual and Religious Life, the program invites Emory students, staff, faculty and alumni to examine root causes of conflict in locations around the globe and consider how individuals and groups are contributing to peace-building. For Loftus, Cuba was especially good for that, because of its political and social circumstances, she said. I was excited to see this transition phase. This years Cuba excursion was co-led by Sarahs mother, Mary Loftus, Emory Medicine magazine editor, and Emory alumna Natasha Marcus, who previously served as a cultural ambassador for the Spanish Ministry of Education. Joining them on the 10-day trip were Emory College students Christina Crawford, Emanuel Castro, Jonathan Liang and Justine Zimmerman; alumna Christina Marcus 16T; Andra Gillespie, associate professor of political science and director of Emorys James Weldon Johnson Institute for the Study of Race and Difference; Carlton Mackey, director of the Ethics and the Arts Program in the Emory Center for Ethics; and Kevin Crawford, program coordinator for the Office of the University Chaplain. Changing face of Cuba This marks the third trip to Cuba for the Journeys program, which has focused on historical tensions between the U.S. and Cuba, the nations religious diversity, people, culture and the role of religion in social change. Three years ago, Mary Loftus and her son, Adam Loftus 12Ox 15C, joined a Journeys trip to Cuba at a time when many U.S. sanctions against trade and tourism were still in place. Returning last month offered a very different snapshot a country and a culture stirring with change, says Mary Loftus. Although some things were as she remembered a vibrant music and arts scene, spotty power outages, aging cars, and colorful, sometimes crumbling, architecture there were also signs of an economic shift. Cuba has long been an active tourist destination for other countries. But an easing of restrictions on U.S. visitors has fed a tourism boom, including a surge in the construction of new hotels. Cruise ships are docking in Havana and reservations at good hotels are often booked a year in advance, Loftus reports. But along with the flood of visitors have come fears of running out of supplies as basic as bottled water. We talked with an economist, a professor there, who was worried that Cuba is going to become a nation of taxi drivers and mojito makers, which the students were sad to hear, says Loftus, who chronicled her first experience with the Journeys trip to Cuba for Emory Magazine. People go there seeking the grandeur of old Cuba, but the hotels being built are new and modern and minimal, she says. It does look like tourism is shaping Cuba now, but they are struggling to figure out how to control it." The chance to talk with everyone from people on the street to university scholars and government officials provided a wealth of perspectives. Though Cuba still calls itself a third-world country and describes a government rooted in socialism not communism, Loftus believes neither statement is true. Whats clear is that there is the government and there is the political party, she says. It felt like everyone was holding their breath to see what will happen next. Historic Havana While the program aspires to treat everyone as if they are both teachers and students, Loftus says Emory faculty members proved an invaluable resource. Dr. Gillespie was able to weigh in on complex political issues, she notes. She encouraged students to keep their skepticism and think critically about what they were hearing. And Carlton and Kevin both helped keep the students engaged and energized. With Havana as a home base, participants toured the historic government buildings, churches, plazas and markets of Old Havana, visited with Afro-Cuban artists and musicians, observed a Shabbat dinner with a local Jewish community, and visited the Bay of Pigs, as well as historic battle sites and a museum documenting slavery. For artist and ethicist Carlton Mackey, a photographer who operates the multi-media project 50 Shades of Black which explores the spectrum of race and identity, the experience helped awaken those parts of me that long to be inspired as an artist and didnt go to sleep the whole time I was there, he says. The journey gave me deeper insight, a new perspective, a deeper appreciation for complexity and a deeper sense of connectivity between my experience as a descendent of Africans who were enslaved in North America and those enslaved in other parts of the world, he says. More than one million Africans were enslaved in Cuba, and by some estimates, as much as 60 percent of the Cuban population is descended from them, explains Mackey, who has participated in previous Journeys trips to Jordan-Palestine-Israel and South Africa. To see and meet those people gave me a shared sense of struggle and enterprise and triumph, he says. It also gave me the ability to not take for granted that the way we see ourselves is not necessarily the way that we are seen by the rest of the world. Bosnia: Healing the wounds of war At the same time Emory students and scholars were heading to Cuba, Lisa Garvin, associate dean of the Chapel and Religious Life, was leading a Journeys trip to Bosnia and Herzegovina. This marked the third time Emory has led a Journeys exploration into the region and the first visit in a decade. Like Cuba, it provided a glimpse of a country and culture in transition. We went to Bosnia because the history of conflict there has a religious dynamic to it, explains Garvin. Its a place where ethnic and religious identity is so closely intertwined. Primarily we examined the history that informed the violent and tragic conflicts of the early 1990s and the Dayton Peace Accords, which ended the war, and how nation-building and peace are playing out, she says. Emory participants included Thomas Lancaster, professor of political science; Hank Klibanoff, James M. Cox Jr. Professor of Journalism; and Joe Moon, dean for Campus Life at Oxford College, among others. With stops in more than half-a dozen cities including Sarajevo, Srebrenica, Mostar and Dubrovnik the group met with academic scholars and religious leaders, local residents and human rights advocates, with visits to historic sites, universities, museums, and both a mosque and an Orthodox church. Surrounding them were signs of a war-torn nation still struggling to recover. One of the things we heard repeatedly was that the peace agreement had ended the war, but not the conflict, says Garvin. I was surprised at how intractable the political situation still seems, and how complicated the tensions and the conflict are. Its a beautiful country, but the complexity of the systems at work there continues to strike you in new and profound ways. Talking with people who lived through a war some who left and came back out of their deep commitment to the country and others who stayed to face the challenges of living in the war zone demonstrates the resilience of humanity. Though the name of the program, Journeys of Reconciliation might imply that were going in to reconcile something, what were really doing is trying to learn from people doing the daily work of reconciliation, Garvin explains. Learn more about the Journeys program and to read about other destinations. Ways to give and receive support On Monday, Ajay Nair, senior vice president and dean of Campus Life, and Bridgette Young Ross, dean of the chapel and spiritual life, issued a letter to the Emory community expressing shock and sympathy in the wake of the "horrible and senseless" shooting in Orlando. "This tragedy reminds us that we must not allow terrorism and hate to change who we are a campus community that strives anew every day to be ever more welcoming to all, regardless of sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, disability, religion, ideology, or the many other distinctions that make us unique individuals," the letter said. The deans stressed that campus resources are available to help those who are impacted by the attack. Counseling and Psychological Services offers confidential individual and group counseling for students (additional student resources are listed at success.emory.edu/resources). The Faculty Staff Assistance Program provides similar services for employees. In addition to announcing Tuesday's gathering, the deans' letter listed other ways that the Emory community could reach out to show support and help others: Participate in the #WeAreOrlando gathering at the Center for Civil and Human Rights in downtown Atlanta, Tuesday, June 14, at 7 p.m. Join the Emory Muslim Students Association to provide donations to families of victims and survivors. Write to the families of victims and survivors on Tuesday, June 21, from 1-3 p.m. in the Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Life, in DUC E232; or from 3-5 p.m. in the Office of Multicultural Programming and Services, in DUC E207. "Emory University is a polycultural community that celebrates the intersections of identities and respects the diversity that strengthens our community and society," the deans wrote. "We stand in solidarity with the people of Orlando and with the LGBT, Latinx, and Muslim communities on our campus, in Florida, nationwide, and worldwide." Amid soft piano music and muffled tears, 49 names rang out from around Cannon Chapel as the Emory community gathered Tuesday to mourn the victims of the Orlando massacre, the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. As the names were read by volunteers in the chapel balconies, a video screen displayed photos of each individual, the smiling selfies providing a poignant reminder that the victims were struck down during what should have been a night of fun and solidarity at Pulse, an LGBT nightclub that was hosting its popular Latin night when the killer opened fire. President Obama called the June 13 shooting both an act of terrorism and a hate crime, and speakers at Emory's gathering not only remembered the dead, but called for systemic change. "To think that the killer's beliefs and hatred came into existence in a vacuum, without reinforcement and encouragement, is to deny systems and institutions of oppression that perpetuate and condone violence," Danielle Steele told attendees at the gathering, which was co-sponsored by Emorys Office of Spiritual and Religious Life and two Campus Life offices the Office of LGBT Life and Multicultural Programs and Services. Steele, director of the Office of LGBT Life, noted that it has been almost a year since the Emory community came together to celebrate the U.S. Supreme Court's decision allowing same-sex couples to marry around the country. "As so many marginalized communities have experienced before, each step towards justice comes with the risk of backlash," she said. "To deny that the recent victories of the LGBT community have brought retaliation ignores the ongoing struggle that so many LGBT people engage in every day." "This wasn't Islam" Noureen Shallwani, a senior in Emory College and recent executive board member for the Emory Muslim Students Association, spoke of how she and her Muslim peers found the attack "truly shocking" and incomprehensible, leaving them to grapple with what to do and how to get involved. "God has created all different types of people from different backgrounds, from different races, of different religions, of different orientations not so that we can do violence upon one another, but so we may know one another, so we may embrace one another and learn more about God's creation," she said. "That is what my religion has taught me," Shallwani continued, stressing, "What transpired is not part of my faith at all. This wasn't Islam." DeLa Sweeney, assistant director for Multicultural Programs and Services, described being unable to consider the attack outside of personal experiences as a student affairs professional, a counselor, a person of color and someone who identifies as gender queer, but also as someone with privileges including economic stability and health insurance. "As a community, while we honor the victims and stand in solidarity with the families, friends and community, and grieve for ourselves, I hope we continue to transform both ourselves and our societies," Sweeney said. "Because love wins" As volunteers prepared to read the names of the deceased and light candles for each, Ellen Purdum, assistant dean for student life and spiritual formation in Candler School of Theology, called upon those in attendance to remember them as individuals with vibrant lives cut short. "Names matter because of their particularity, the particularity that points to the unique mystery of every human life," she said. With the nearly hour-long program of words and music drawing to a close, Lisa Garvin, associate dean of the chapel and religious life, offered a quote from Mahatma Gandhi: When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it always." "We have gathered here to be strengthened in community to do the hard work of justice and compassion," she said. "We have gathered here because love wins." James Roland can still recall the day his middle school teacher back in Pineville, Louisiana, asked each student to write down what they wanted to do when they grew up. After considerable thought, Roland scrawled his answer, To have a profound and positive impact on the world. At the time, he was surprised to be told that his answer wasnt sufficient. But many years later, Roland has proven that not only was it a worthy aspiration, it was a bit prophetic. Roland joined Emory in 2000 to work with the Barkley Forum Center for Debate Education, the Universitys award-winning intercollegiate debate program that supports competitive debate, community outreach and campus engagement activities. More recently, the Barkley Forum has stepped into a leadership role on campus, helping model civil discourse by moderating public campus dialogues and debates on pressing topics and offering student advocacy trainings. Roland has also taken on a new, expanded role as senior director of civic and community engagement for Campus Life. In addition to his work with the Barkley Forum, he also oversees programs such as Volunteer Emory, Graduation Generation, the Community Building and Social Change Fellows Program, and the Atlanta Urban Debate League, which provides debate programs to students in Atlanta public schools. Hes also working on a juris master degree, studying law and religion at the Emory School of Law part of what he calls purpose-driven work. This spring, Roland formerly a nationally ranked collegiate debater himself used his skills with oratory and civic engagement to moderate Emorys Racial Justice Retreat, part of an ongoing community-wide dialogue arising from demands raised last fall by the Black Students at Emory movement. As the Barkley Forum leads an intensive series of debate camps for elementary, middle school and high school students this summer, projected to bring some 400 students to campus, Emory Report caught up with Roland to talk about how he became captivated with the power of words. How did you discover debate? I was born and raised in Pineville, Louisiana, surrounded by people who valued a sense of community and hard work. It was a very rich place where I learned a lot about myself and others family, friends and teachers in the community who functioned as family. In school, I was always a talker, the class comic. One day, I was trying out my voice my routine and my teacher said, Mr. Roland, you should join the debate team. Of course, I thought I was too cool for debate. (laughs) What changed your mind? The middle school debate team gave a presentation and I realized that maybe debate was not the worlds worst thing. It offered a place to talk and people who would listen to me. So I joined the debate program, which was led by an amazing teacher, Mrs. North. She was so gracious, open, kind and willing to give me an opportunity to test out my voice, discover who I was. Was your family surprised to see you pursue debate? Not really. I come from a long line of folks whove been involved in the ministry parents, grandparents, a great-grandfather, even uncles. They figured I would do something that involved talking. The church gave me a place to start using my voice, witnessing how people negotiate difference and deal with pain, hurt and joy. Its been a very rich part of my life. Through ministry, they demonstrated that the most meaningful life you can live is a life of service. The opportunities Ive been afforded at Emory provide some of those same opportunities to do meaningful work, to help the students of Emory but also greater Atlanta and the world at large. It allows for those missions to be aligned. I feel extremely blessed. Why is it important for young people to be exposed to debate? Debate gives you an opportunity to develop a set of skills that allows you to take ownership of your learning, including critical listening skills, seeing things outside your own scope of view, research and note-taking, defining an idea and fleshing it out for the sake of getting to the best idea. Those are things people use to negotiate throughout the world. Being able to look at things from multiple perspectives gave me a chance to expand my own horizons. Developing your own voice allows you to be fully human. It means that even if we disagree, we can do it in a productive and civil way. How did you come to Emory? I majored in political science and communications at Southern Illinois University, where I participated in debate throughout college. I had the opportunity to debate against Emory students and meet Melissa Wade, who retired from Emory last year after serving as executive director of the Barkley Forum for the past 43 years. Through Emory, I knew that Melissa was instrumental in helping found the Urban Debate League, a network of high school policy debate teams from urban high schools throughout the U.S. It all started at Emory, and since then weve seen some 40,000 students go through the program. Melissa saw an opportunity to invite me to come to Emory in 2000 and start teaching at summer debate camps. Fifteen years later, Im still here. What is the goal of the summer debate camps? To expose students to the skills that help make them better as students, as debaters, and as human beings. Teaching them how to listen, to have productive and effective conversations with others. Hearing things outside their worldview is extremely important. Our camps also give them a chance to acclimate themselves to a college campus. Its great for high school students to see themselves here. Weve had a number of students whove come to Emory through that first exposure to camp. Its also an opportunity for us to pay it forward too, carrying the torch for what debate can be and how it can impact society. After all these years, what keeps you grounded in your work? Barkley Forum has always provided a sense of family and a sense of community. It is multi-generational and extends far beyond the walls of Emory. Thats a powerful connection. Once youre part of the Barkley Forum, you dont want to lose that connection. I dont know if everyone finds that, being part of a group that serves as a conduit to help make the world a better place. Emory has given me that opportunity. Im looking forward to building that same sense of family in my new role. Ajay Nair, senior vice president and dean of Campus Life, and Bridgette Young Ross, dean of the chapel and spiritual life, issued the following letter to the Emory community on June 13. Dear Emory Community, We are stunned by the horrible and senseless shooting in Orlando on Sunday morning. We extend our deepest sympathies to the families and friends of the victims. We also offer our profound condolences and caring support to all members of our university community who are grappling with this tragedy. This tragedy reminds us that we must not allow terrorism and hate to change who we are a campus community that strives anew every day to be ever more welcoming to all, regardless of sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, disability, religion, ideology, or the many other distinctions that make us unique individuals. If you are struggling with the tragedy in Orlando, please remember that you do not have to face it alone. We, in Emory Campus Life, offer our support in various forms. Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) offers confidential individual and group counseling for students. The Faculty Staff Assistance Program (FSAP) provides similar services for employees. For a more complete list of resources, visit success.emory.edu/resources. Here are some ways you can help others: Attend a community gathering at Cannon Chapel on the Atlanta campus, Tuesday, June 14, from 11:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The event is co-sponsored by Emorys Office of Spiritual and Religious Life (OSRL) and two Emory Campus Life offices Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Life and Multicultural Programs and Services (OMPS). Participate in the #WeAreOrlando gathering at the Center for Civil and Human Rights in downtown Atlanta, Tuesday, June 14, at 7 p.m. Check the centers website for details. Join the Emory Muslim Students Association to provide donations to families of victims and survivors. Write to the families of victims and survivors on Tuesday, June 21, from 1-3 p.m. in the Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Life, in DUC E232; or from 3-5 p.m. in the Office of Multicultural Programming and Services (OMPS), in DUC E207. Emory University is a polycultural community that celebrates the intersections of identities and respects the diversity that strengthens our community and society. We stand in solidarity with the people of Orlando and with the LGBT, Latinx, and Muslim communities on our campus, in Florida, nationwide, and worldwide. Sincerely, Ajay Nair Senior Vice President and Dean of Campus Life Bridgette Young Ross Dean of the Chapel and Spiritual Life 19:28 Social networking giant Facebook has introduced tools and educational resources to help people in India who may be struggling with self-injury or experiencing suicidal thoughts. These tools are already available in countries like the US, Australia, New Zealand and the UK. First launched in the US with the help of Forefront, Lifeline and Save.org, the tools were developed in collaboration with mental health organisations and with inputs from people who have personal experience with self-injury and suicide. "We are rolling them out in India in collaboration with local partners (AASRA and The Live Love Laugh Foundation) in English and Hindi," Facebook said in a statement. With the help of these new tools, if someone posts something on Facebook that makes a user concerned about the person's well-being, they can reach out to the person directly and can also report the post to the US-based firm. "We have teams working around the world, 24/7, who review reports that come in. They prioritise the most serious reports like self-injury and send help and resources to those in distress," it said. Vulnerable users will then be encouraged to connect to the AASRA India helpline or the Live Love Laugh Foundation or a friend or seek self-help advice from resources and tips provided on how they can work through these feelings. Facebook has also introduced 'Help a Friend in Need' guide to help people identify when someone is distressed and what steps to take to get help. The guide also offers suggestions on how to approach their friend, what to say, how to react and what to avoid. It gives people the skills to reach out without fear of making the situation worse. The guide will be available in English, Hindi, Bengali, Kannada, Malayalam, Punjabi, Sinhalese, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu and Marathi. The requested page is currently unavailable on this server. Back to [RTHK News Homepage] BENGALURU, KA: An anonymous hacker, who goes by the pseudonym Tessa88, claims to have gained access to over 32 million Twitter accounts and passwords, in what is being deemed to the biggest security breach of recent times. Leakedsource.com is alleged to have received a copy of leaked data from Tessa88, and have proceeded to publish it on their blog. According to the website, at least 15 people have already verified their passwords published in the data leak to be legit. Twitter however, has denied the claims, issuing a statement through Reuters stating that it is confident that its systems were not breached. Leakedsource.com claims the reason for the breach to be the fact that millions of users were infected by a malware, and that this malware sourced the usernames and passwords from browsers like Firefox and Chrome back to the hackers. The website also goes on to mention a list of the top passwords used by Twitter users, who are likely to have been affected by the malware, and that millions of these hacked passwords are now being traded on the dark web. While Twitter continues to deny the story, worried users should look to immediately change their password. Read Also: Microsoft Launches Its Online Store With Tata CLiQ Facebook Introduces 360-Degree Photos NEW DELHI: Software giant Microsoft on Monday announced the launch of its online store with Tata CLiQ -- the e-commerce portal of the Tata Group -- to sell a wide range of Microsoft products including tablets, personal computers, software and phones. "We are expanding our online presence through our official Microsoft Store so that our consumers find it easier to experience and buy our products," said Priyadarshi Mohapatra, country general manager (consumer channel group) at Microsoft India. The Microsoft online store will sell products using Tata CLiQ's "Phygital" model which smartly blends the physical and digital worlds to create an ecosystem between the brand and consumers. It will allow the consumers to be able to buy Microsoft products and services using innovations like "click online and PIQ up at store, return to store and ship from store" through a large on-ground store network of partner brands. "Tata CLiQ is pioneering the Phygital revolution in India, and enhancing the customer experience through a combination of in-store shopping benefits and conveniences of online shopping," added Ashutosh Pandey, CEO, Tata CLiQ. Read Also: Microsoft to Launch Cortana on iOS and Android Six Bizarre Hackings that you were Least Aware of Creating Indian maritime history, Indian Navy sailing ship INSV Mhadei, with a six-women crew, travelled through the stormy monsoon build-up in the Indian Ocean to reach Mauritius on Tuesday, naval officials said. Covering the 2,100 nautical miles voyage from Goa to here, through rough seas whipped up by the Southwest Monsoon, in 20 days, this was the first voyage by an all-women crew on any Indian Navy vessel. The vessel was welcomed by Mauritian Coast Guard vessel Retriever outside Port Louis harbour and escorted to her berth, where the acting Indian High Commissioner, Commandant of National Coast Guard and other dignitaries and invitees were present. Ten Mauritian women police officers embarked on INSV Mhadei around 10 miles outside the harbor and sailed into port along with the Indian women crew. During their 10-day long sojourn in Mauritius, the Indian woman sailors will call on President Ameenah Gurib, Minister for Gender Equality and Child Development, and other officials. The ship will be kept open for visitors and schoolchildren, undertake local day sorties for select groups of people before embarking on its return voyage on June 24 to Goa, where it is expected to arrive early next month. INSV Mhadei is commanded by Lt. Commander Vartika Joshi, a naval architect and its first woman captain, and the crew comprises Lt. B. Aishwarya (naval architect too), Lt. P. Swathi, Lt. Pratibha Jamwal (both air traffic control specialists, Lt. Vijaya Devi, and Sub Lt. Payal Gupta (both education officers). The Goa-Mauritius voyage in the extreme weather conditions is a build-up to the planned attempt by the all-women crew to circumnavigate the globe in 2017. During its voyage, the 56-feet long INSV Mhadei combated winds of upto 35 knots and waves upto five metres high, providing adequate training to the women crew. "This is a huge step towards the circumnavigation next year," a naval spokesman said. "The timing of the voyage was chosen to expose the crew to rough weather that they are likely to encounter during their attempt to circumnavigate the Globe in 2017." The wood-core and fiberglass sandwich hulled ship has two mainsails, two Genoa's, a stay-sail, one try-sail and two gennakers, is equipped with satellite communications and electronic navigation systems. INSV Mhadei also created history earlier when Commander Dilip Donde sailed it on a circumnavigation voyage in 2009-2010 while in 2012, Lt. Cdr. Abhilash Tomy completed a solo, unassisted non-stop circumnavigation under sail, making him the first Indian, second Asian and 79th person in the world to achieve the feat covering 23,100 nautical miles (42,781 km). Donde has also trained this crew. The vessel on which the team would go around the globe is presently under-construction in Goa. The yet-to-be-named boat is expected to be delivered to the Navy by February 2017. --IANS qn-ao/vd ( 480 Words) 2016-06-14-18:58:03 (IANS) The e-commerce platform will allow consumers to purchase Microsoft products such as tablets, computers, software and phones. Country general manager consumer channel group Microsoft India, Priyadarshi Mohapatra said, "Increasingly consumers are going online to shop for a number of things, including mobiles, devices and software." "We therefore are expanding our online presence through our official Microsoft store so that our consumers find it easier to experience and buy our products. We are excited to partner with Tata CLiQ and see tremendous opportunity in delivering Microsoft products and services through them to our customers," Priyadarshi added. Consumers will be able to purchase the products and services through various modes such as click online and pick up at store, return to store and ship from store through a large on-ground store network of partner brands. (ANI) -At least one soldier was killed and seven other people were wounded when gunmen attacked the regional police headquarters in northern Uganda to try to free an inmate, police said todayUgandan police chief Kale Kayihura identified the man as Oola Dan Odiya, who is being held on charges of murder and terrorism related to an attack at a local police post on May 27.Scores of people have been arrested in the four months since veteran leader President Yoweri Museveni was declared winner of a presidential election on Feb. 18, the opposition says, and protesters have frequently clashed with police.Kayihura said the attack in Gulu, the biggest town in northern Uganda, happened at about 8 p.m. (1700 GMT) on Sunday, when gunmen drove up in a pick-up firing their guns and tried to storm the station "to free and cause escape of one suspect"."The gang was repulsed by a joint Police and UPDF (Ugandan military) force," Kayihura said.Six security personnel and one civilian were injured in the attack, police said. Eight guns and ammunition were recovered after the attackers dropped their weapons as they fled.As well as the arrests of its supporters, the opposition says some of its leaders have also been arrested and then released after questioning.Kizza Besigye, the main opposition leader, was arrested in May and shortly after charged with treason, a charge the opposition says is trumped up.An opposition legislator was recently arrested and security officials were quoted in local media as saying he was being investigated on suspicions of plotting a coup.Military spokesman Paddy Ankunda told Reuters about 30 soldiers, including a colonel, had also been arrested in the last few days and were under investigation for various offences.He did not give any details of those offences but local media has reported they were being questioned over a coup plot. REUTERS CJ GC2352 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0400-784438.Xml Australian shares were set todrop on Tuesday after a three-day weekend, weighed by offshoreslides on worries of Britain possibly exiting the European Unionand as investors remained wary ahead of a Federal Reservepolicy meeting later this week. Local share price index futures pointed to a weakopening, falling 0.8 percent to 5,219.0, a 93.6-point discountto the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index close last Friday.The benchmark fell 0.9 percent last Friday. New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index fell 0.4percent to 6,896.18 in early trade. Top global miner BHP Billiton may defy expectedweakness in resources stocks after a judge in Brazil dismissed a$5.7 billion civil lawsuit over last year's Samacro minedisaster. Samarco is co-owned by BHP Billiton and Brazil's Vale. Mesoblast, coming off a trading halt, will be inthe frame after Teva Pharmaceutical Industries gave uprights to Mesoblast's potential blockbuster heart failuretreatment at a crucial stage of the drug's trials. REUTERS AKC0511 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0432-784540.Xml AIADMK Supremo and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa left here today to New Delhi where she will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss about various developmental issues relating to the state. Ms Jayalalithaa would be meeting Mr Modi around 1630 hrs and present a detailed memorandum on various issues concerning the State, including speeding up of various projects. This is her first visit to the National Capital and the first meeting with Mr Modi after her historicvictory in the May 16 Assembly polls in which she became the first incumbent Chief Minister in 32 years to win a second successive term, by winning back-to-back elections. Incidentally, the AIADMK was the third largest party in Lok Sabha with 37 MPs and with the electionfour more members to Rajya Sabha, its strength in the Upper House of Parliament swelled to 13. The AIADMK has an overall strength of 50 MPs in Parliament and its support to the BJP-led NDA, especially in Rajya Sabha, was crucial in the passage of crucial bills. During her meeting with Modi, Ms Jayalalithaa was expected to seek financial assistance for the State to implement various welfare schemes, besides taking up the inter-state issues like the Cauvery and Mullaiperiyar dam row involving Karnataka and Kerala respectively. Ms Jayalalithaa was also expected to urge the Prime Minister on the urgent need to set up the Cauvery Management Board and the Cauvery River Water Regulatory Authority as per the finalaward of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal to ensure that Karnataka release Tamil Nadu's due share of Cauvery waters. She was also expected to take up the the vexatious fishermen issue and the frequent abduction of Tamil Nadu fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy and the need to retrieve Katchatheevu to protect the traditional rights of fishermen at the Palk Bay. The issue of the release of the seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case was also expected to figure in the discussions. Ms Jayalalithaa would return to the city this evening itself. She was seen off at the airport by among others, Finance Minister O Panneerselvam, her cabinet colleagues and Kancheepuram District Collector R Gajalakshmi. UNI GV CNR1350 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0414-784841.Xml Union Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu has directed Bhopal Mayor Alok Sharma and municipal officials to go ahead with the smart city project.Mr Naidu, who was en route to Gwalior from Allahabad, was forced to halt in the Madhya Pradesh capital as his plane could not land in Gwalior due to inclement weather last night.He was accompanied by Union Steel and Mines Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, state BJP chief Nandkumar Singh Chouhan and Rajya Sabha MP Anil Madhav Dave. Mr Sharma and other municipal officials paid courtesy visit to Mr Naidu during his brief stopover. The Mayor informed Mr Naidu about the change in location of smart city to North TT Nagar. Initially, the smart city was proposed to be developed in Shivaji Nagar and Tulsi Nagar.The Minister said that he was aware of the matter and asked municipal officials to go ahead with the project in the changed location. Besides, he asked to organise a programme on smart city on June 25 as a part of series of such events across the country. The Minister duo flew to Gwalior this morning.UNI PS SV PR1300 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0044-784779.Xml Security forces fired in the air and also burst teargas shells to disperse demonstrators who had blocked the Srinagar-Baramulla-Uri highway after an Army vehicle hit and injured a motorcyclist at Lawaypora today.Traffic has now been resumed on the highway and the driver of the Army vehicle has been brought to police station Parimpora. However, as large number of vehicles were stranded on both sides of the highway, there was traffic jam for several hours as vehicles were moving at a snail's pace.The trouble started after a motorcyclist Bashir Ahmad was injured when an Army vehicle hit him at Lawapora, about 12 km from here on the Srinagar-Baramulla today. The injured was rushed to J V Hospital Bemina from where he was referred to S K Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS).However, people of the area took to streets and blocked the main Srinagar-Baramulla-Uri highway, demanding arrest of the driver.Due to demonstrations hundred of vehicles got stranded on both sides of the highway, leading to chaos and confusion. Vehicles carrying Government officials, students and security forces remained stranded on the highway for several hours.Additional security forces and state police personnel were immediately rushed to the area to chase away the demonstrators and clear traffic. Later, security forces resorted to lathicharge which had no impact as demonstrators were pelting stones.Later, security forces burst teargas shells and also fired several rounds in the air to restored traffic movement, some residents told over phone.This is the second time traffic on the highway was disrupted as last week hundreds of people, mostly women, blocked the road at Shalteang, alleging that police had released the driver who hit and killed a woman there.UNI BAS SV VN1445 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0433-784792.Xml A local court has ordered to send an adult girl to her home in Surat, Gujarat despite her apprehension that she will be murdered by her kin for staying with her Muslim boyfriend. The sensitive issue was raised by the West Bengal Women Commission after media reports said that the girl, identified as Divya Bikharam Chowdhury, (above 18) was yesterday escorted to her Surat home by Gujarat police after the West Medinipur court ordered for transit remand. "I want to stay here, do not take me home because my community would not accept me and I will be murdered by them," Divya, while being dragged into a car by the Gujarat police, told reporters. The Hindu girl was in a relationship with one Shah Rukh, resident of Belda, a small town in Paschim Medinipur district of West Bengal, located some 40 km south of Kharagpur town. The duo came to know of each other when Shah Rukh stayed at the girl's house in Surat as a tenant for a year three years ago. Shah Rukh, hailing from a poor family, went to Surat in search of job. Two years ago, Divya eloped with him, but she was taken back home as she was under 18. But six months ago they again connected through facebook and exchanged phone numbers. "We got in contacte and Divya came to my home in Belda six months ago," Shah Rukh, who threatenedto commit suicide if she was not sent back to him, told reporters today. He said they were going to be married soon and his family were looking for a suitable date. Advocate Arindam Nanda, who appeared for Shah Rukh, said he could not understand why has the court ordered for transmit remand of the girl, who is not at all an accused in the case. He said the girl was born on June 10, 1998 and has her liberty to stay in a place of her choice under the Freedom of Right for an adult Indian. He said time and again they pleaded with the court to ensure safety of the girl under the present circumstances. West Bengal Women Commission Chairperson Sunanda Mukherjee said she was shocked to know on how a court of law went against an adult's freedom when he/she was not an accused or has not violated a law. "I also apprehend about the safety of the girl's life, when honour killing is reported in many parts of India," Ms Mukherjee added.UNI PC AD RJ AS1539 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0108-784934.Xml Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati today hit out at BJP over Kairana mass exodus issue claiming that it was just a conspiracy to create communal tension in Uttar Pradesh before the 2017 polls. " Though the ruling Samajwadi Party had failed to counter the charges of BJP, media thwart the conspiracy by bringing out the real fact about their fake charges," she told reporters here.Ms Mayawati said BJP held its national executive meet in Allahabad to sound the bigul for UP elections and it was clear that there agenda was communal polarisation." BJP raised Kairana issue only with an intention to communally divide the society in West UP. Fortunately, media busted BJP's lies," she said.She said large scale exodus from Bundelkhand and other parts of state has been because of faulty policies of state and the centre." Law and order is also in shambles in UP leaving people across the state, insecure. Only SP govt is not responsible for this plight ,BJP and Congress is also responsible for it," the former UP CM said.Holding the BJP and the ruling SP responsible for the pitiable condition of UP, Ms Mayawati said ,"if BJP is so concerned about law and order in the state, why it never demands for a President's rule in the state." Replying to the charges of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that BSP and SP are swapping powers in UP and protecting each others corruption, she said the PM should correct his facts. "Our previous government acted in cases of corruption during Mulayam Singh Yadav government like the police appointment scam and others. But unfortunately, all the cases are pending in the court.She appealed to the people not to get confused over the tantrums of BJP and SP, as they are trying to confuse them and divert their attention from the present crisis in the state." BJP is misusing the public fund on the name of 2 years celebration of the NDA government which is not acceptable. The money misused on the functions could have been spent on people in the drought hit regions of Bundelkhand and to provide benefits to the poor," she said, adding that on the other hand the SP government was just propogating their false claim of development when 22 crore people in UP are facing severe law and order problem.Meanwhile, UP BJP has strong reacted on the statement of Ms Mayawati on Kairana and defending the charges made by the PM yesterday in Allahabad. " Mayawati has no word to defend herself as the PM and BJP president Amit Shah have disclosed the corrupt practises of both the BSP and SP and how they are protecting each others interest," said UP BJP spokesperson Vijay Bahadur Pathak here. He said the BSP president did not reveal the corruption during her regime through construction of memorials and statues.Mr Pathak said the Kairana incident has shaken the entire country but now both the BSP and the SP were trying to cover up the mass exodus incidents of the Hindus for their vested vote politics.UNI MB SW SB RK1550 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0196-784938.Xml A day after President Pranab Mukherjee withheld assent to Aam Aadmi Party Government's Parliamentary Secretaries Bill, party leader Gopal Rai today relinquished his transport portfolio citing health reasons, sources in the AAP said. Mr Rai has been replaced by PWD Minister Satyendra Jain, who will now hold additional portfolio of the Transport Ministry. Mr Rai had recently undergone a surgery to treat a bullet that had been lodged low in his neck for several years. He is currently undergoing physiotherapy. Sources said Mr Rai, had asked Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to relieve him of the charge on health grounds. According to the sources, the Transport Minister has said that owing to the heavy work load in the transport department, he would not be able to do justice to it in his present condition. They said the Delhi government has appointed Health Minister Mr Jain as the new transport minister. The development comes amid allegations of him having favoured a bus aggregating company over the proposal for a premium bus service in the national capital, Mr Rai has, however, refuted the allegations by the BJP. Talking to reporters yesterday, Mr Rai had said there was no evidence to prove the allegations. "No corruption took place in this scheme. I am ready to go to jail if anyone proves corruption in the app-based premium bus service," he said. As Transport Minister in the Kejriwal Government, Mr Rai oversaw the operation of the two phases of the odd even scheme of vehicle rationing, aimed at reducing pollution and congestion in the Capital.More UNI AR AE SB 1631 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0092-785183.Xml Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said barring Tamil Nadu, all other states in the country extended their support in the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) across the country."All states except Tamil Nadu, have supported implementation of GST," Mr Jaitley told reporters after presiding over the GST meeting, first of its kind in West Bengal.Mr Jaitley said almost all the states' ministerial representatives have been attending the two-day conference here and they have reached to a "broad consensus" regarding implementation of the GST countrywide.He, however, said that only one state - Tamil Nadu - has some reservations. The state's reservation has been forwarded to the GST committee and the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers on GST to look into the issue, the Minister added.The Empowered Committee is headed by chairman and West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra. Mr Jaitley reiterated that virtually, all states have supported the GST Bill, which needs to be passed by the Rajya Sabha.Tamil Nadu Finance Minister KC Veeramani, opposing the current GST Bill, said they would lose revenue on products, if they were not allowed to charge a levy on goods produces in their state.Barring Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim, all other 22 states' representatives, particularly the Finance Ministers, are attending the two-day meet. The GST Bill, dubbed as the major reform attempt in tax regime, has been facing' opposition since 2009. The GST aimed to replace VAT (value added tax). West Bengal is for the first time hosting such GST meeting.Recently, West Bengal Chief Minster Mamata Banerjee, during a reception for her second term, told the captains of the industries that her government would support the GST Bill. Mr Jaitley said following the GST, a constitutional amendment will be provided to cover up the revenue losses to any state or states as compensation for the next five years.On implementation of one per cent inter-state levy, Mr Jaitley reiterated, "I have said this earlier and I repeat, I am flexible to the issue."UNI PC AD RJ SB VN1637 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0108-785198.Xml The Shiromani Akali Dal has questioned the rational of Congress president Sonia Gandhi in appointing as Punjab affairs In-charge, a person, who was convicted in the 1984 riots. It is like appointing 'Lord Ravana' as the religious and political affairs head of Congress at Ayodhya or a staunch Nazi party candidate to monitor on behalf of the UN in the affairs of Jews in Israel, SAD (Amritsar) chief Simranjeet Singh Mann said yesterday. ''Moreover, we are surprised that Congress Chief of Punjab Captain Amarinder Singh has welcomed the appointment of Kamal Nath. Previously, the Captain stated that the mass killer of Sikhs in the 1984 massacres Jagdish Tytler was innocent of any such killings. ''We are surprised at the ignorance of Captain in the affairs of Sikhs. It is obvious, therefore, that the Sikhs in the US and Canada chased him out of the US and Canada, Mr Singh alleged. He said the Congress high command in Delhi does not credit the Captain with much grey matter, as a result of which Sonia Gandhi has appointed Prashant Kishore as his advisor. On the advice of Mr Kishore, the Captain is having coffee with the soldiers and students, little realising that coffee is not the popular beverage of Punjabi's, who prefer tea. Coffee is drunk in America and Europe, Mr Singh quipped. Mr Kishore should advice the Captain to stay in Patiala instead of Chandigarh, which is an expensive city and the poor Congress workers who visit him, have no place to live in or have an inexpensive meal, the SAD leader remarked. Otherwise, the Captain is as fit as a drill sergeant and does not support a single grey hair in his beard. ''Mr Kishore should also frame a Sikh and Punjab policy for the Captain as we do not see how the Captain, (Punjab Chief Minister) Prakash Singh Badal and (Delhi Chief Minister) Arvind Kejriwal are going to address the problems that the Sikhs and Punjab face. ''The problems Sikhs face include Operation Blue Star, its aftermath, punishing the mass killers, rehabilitation of Sikhs who are victims of the genocide perpetrated by the Congress, BJP, CPI, CPM and Lok Dal of Charan Singh,'' he alleged. These are some of the problems that need to be addressed by these political parties before they go to the polls. Suicides of the farmers, labourers, petty shopkeepers and unemployment, which have risen to the staggering figure of 46 lakh, are some of the problems, the Captain on the advice of Mr Kishore and other parties, must answer, Mr Singh said. He alleged that disrespect of the holy Guru Granth Sahib and murders of the youth in fake encounters by police need to be explained to the electorate. Why the Captain insisted in appointing SS Virk as DGP, whose hands are imbrued with the blood of innocent Sikhs or Badal appointing Sumedh Singh Saini as the DGP, who too has blood of the innocent Sikhs on his hands, need explanation. Mr Mann said Mr Kishore is presenting the Captain as a great warrior. The electorate would also be keen to know on which front the Captain served in the 1965 confrontation with Pakistan. Was he leading a platoon, or charging with his bayonet or lobbying grenades into the turrets of Patton Tanks or manning a bunker or any other dare devilry, which is unknown to the electorate, must be told by the Congress party propagandists, Mr Singh added. He said his party is ashamed at the anti-Sikh and anti-Punjab credentials of Congress, the Badalites, BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party that have entered the political and electoral arena of the forthcoming Assembly elections of Punjab. Their leaders are corrupt to the core, have poor records for the upkeep of human rights, are knee deep into the smuggling of drugs from across the border with Pakistan, and are unrepresentative of the ethos of Punjabis, Mr Singh alleged. He further alleged that the leaders of these parties are collaborators with the right wing Hindu ideology that springs from Delhi and Nagpur. They must be thrashed by the electorate of Punjab, for reducing its people to poverty, scorn, ridicule and shame.UNI XC VS RJ 1608 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-784789.Xml Restrictions continued on chairman of hardline Hurriyat Conference (HC) chief Syed Ali Shah Geelani and another senior leader Shabir Ahmad Shah, while some more amalgam leaders were put under house arrest since last night. However, there was no restriction on any other separatist leader. Working president of main opposition National Conference (NC) Omar Abdullah alleged that Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti was personally and directly supervising a selective crackdown on separatist leaders. He was indirectly referring to allowing of both the HCs to hold seminar at Geelani's house on Sunday, when Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Mohammad Yaseen Malik was arrested again. Malik was released yesterday. The seminar was on construction of alleged colonies for sainiks and migrant pundits and allotting land to non-state subjects under the new industrial policy. A spokesman for hardine HC Aiyaz Akbar said chairman Geelani remained under house arrest since he returned from New Delhi last month. There was no change in the situation and a large number of security forces and state police personnel remained deployed outside the Hyderpora residence of Mr Geelani, who is not being allowed to move out. He said General Secretary of the amalgam Shabir Shah also remained under house arrest. ''I and another leader of the amalgam Raja Mehrajuddin have also been put under house arrest since last night,'' Mr Aiyaz said. Strongly condemning the imposing of restrictions on Mr Geelani and Mr Shah, Mr Aiyaz said the leaders were not being allowed to offer Friday prayers in a Mosque, even during this Holy month of Ramdan. Meanwhile, Showkat Ahmad Bakshi, Vice-Chairman of the JKLF arrested on May 25, has been lodged in Central Jail, Srinagar.UNI BAS RJ 1645 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0433-784778.Xml The District Collector has ordered registering of a first information report (FIR) against a chit fund company for withdrawing money in the name of peasants. Official sources said that the company withdrew money from bank in the name of peasants but it did not reach beneficiaries concerned in Guna Janpad Panchayat area. The matter came to light during an investigation by the Horticulture Department. On the basis of the report by the Department, Collector Rajesh Jain directed District Panchayat's Chief Executive Officer Kalesh Wankhede to register FIR against the company. Mr Wankhede has written a letter the Guna Janpad Panchayat in this regard.UNI XC-PS SB AS1719 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0044-785181.Xml Ten Chinese nationals, who were served 'Quit India notice' by Odisha government to leave the country by June 17 next, have left for Kolkata last night by road. These Chinese nationals were working under a Thai company at the Dhamra port had 'business visas' instead of 'work visas' which, police sources said was required for any foreign nationals to take up jobs in India. Officials sources said the state government had received a communication from the Ministry of Home Affairs last week on these ten Chinese nationals engaged by a Thai company in the Dhamra Port owned by the Adani group. These Chinese nationals were summoned to Bhadrak district police headquarters from Dhamra yesterday and served with 'Quit India notice' to leave the country by June 17. All of them had taken a rented house close to the Dhamra port and working as engineer for the expansion of the Dhamra Port. The Bhadrak police today confirmed that all the ten Chinese nationals who were served with notice on Monday have left for the Chinese Consulate in Kolkata last night by road. They had come to Odisha in February last to work in the expansion project of the Dhamra Port.UNI DP AKM SW AS1730 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0213-785246.Xml A police spokesperson here said following special information about transportation of drugs in the district, police established a checkpoint at Kanilwan Chandpora in Anantnag. He said police intercepted a motorcycle at the checkpoint and during search, recovered eight kg of Fukki. The motorcyclist, Muzaffer Ahmad Bhat, and his pillion mate, Farooq Ahmad Shah, were immediately taken into custody. Police have registered a case and initiated investigation to nab other people involved in drug trafficking, he added.UNI ABS ASM RSA SB NS2002 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0433-785929.Xml CPI national council secretary Dr K Narayana told newspersons here that toppers scam was not only shameful but it was also an unprecedented one as scamsters played havoc with careers of a large number of students. He said top ranks were snatched away from deserving students, reminding "one of Chambal days" when dacoits used to loot properties from the people. He said Bihar school examination board chairman Lakeshwar Prasad Singh`s wife Usha Sinha, who was an accused in the topper scam herself, passed her matriculation examination at the age of 8, intermediate examination at the age of 10 and post graduate examination at the age of 15. Mr Narayan said it was also shameful that students of Patna arts and crafts college were compelled to launch an agitation in support of their several demands. He said Chief Minister Nitish Kumar should intervene into the matter and find a way out to end their agitation by meeting their genuine demands. UNI DH AKM RSA GC2124 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0213-786056.Xml Another Dimapur like mob lynching to a rapist was averted in Mokokchung, when a violent mob tried to snatch an alleged rapist from the police and police had to resorted to baton charge, followed by blank firing in the air. According to official sources today, Mokokchung police station- 1, after receiving a complaint that a sexagenarian aged 69, identified as one Alemchiba, who allegedly raped a minor girl of 12 years, was arrested by Mokokchung police of, has been remanded to judicial custody. The victim, a 12 year old Konyak girl, who was raped on two occasions, was staying at the house of the daughter of the accused. After the news of rape and arrest was spread, people yesterday started thronging in front of Mokokchung police station-1 and demanded that the police hand over then accused to them to punish him as per the customary law. When police refused to hand over the accused, the mob became violent and tried to break open the gate of police station to snatch the accused. In the mean time, some people started pelting stones inside the PS, which compelled the police to baton-charge, yet some of them tried to break the police barricade to enter into the police station, police resorted to firing in the air. Hearing the gunshots, the mob immediately dispersed, but police was able to apprehend some of the persons of the mob, who were later released them on personal bonds. In a release by ENWOM president N Khumla Chang and secretary Nyolong Konyak, the Eastern Nagaland Women Organisation of Mokokchung (ENWOM) stated that the minor girl from Konyak community, residing at Khensa village, was allegedly raped on June 4 and 8 by Alemchiba of Khensa village. The victim was staying at the house of Alemchiba's daughter, ENWOM stated. The accused, who had gone to his daughter's house on June 4, committed the crime in the kitchen. Later, on June 8. the girl was raped again by the same person at his farm and warned her not to reveal the incident to anyone, ENWOM stated. In memorandum submitted to the deputy commissioner Mokokchung, ENWOM, Eastern Naga People Union Mokokchung (ENPUM) and Eastern Naga Students Union Mokokchung (ENSUM) demanded that the alleged rapist be booked under IPC and award severe punishment as per the law. While demanding that the accused should not be granted bail, the ENWOM cautioned that if the rapist is bailed out without their knowledge by any individual party, they will take their own course of action. They also urged the district administration and law-enforcing agency to ensure the safety of women folks, it demanded the district administration to see to it that due compensation is given to the victim. The deputy commissioner (DC) Mokokchung gave assurance that severe action against the accused will be taken as per the law of the land after a fair trial. He also assured all help to the victim. In the evening, DC called a meeting with leaders of different organisations in Mokokchung to discuss on the situation arising out of the rape incident. All leaders concerned agreed to cooperate with the district administration to deliver justice to the victim and punish the culprit as per the law, sources said.UNI AS AKM RSA GC2247 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0213-786086.Xml Even as the main accused in the toppers scam and former Bihar school examination board chairman Lalkeshwar Prasad Singh and his wife and another accused in the scam Usha Sinha remain elusive, Special Investigating Team (SIT) probing the scam conducted extensive raids at two colleges which were directly involved in the results muddle. Patna's Senior Superintendent of Police Manu Maharaj, who is heading the SIT, told UNI here that a SIT team under the leadership of Police Superintendent (City) Chandan Kushwaha launched the operation at Vishundeo Rai College in Vaishali district at 0700 hrs. and it continued till evening. He said that SIT sleuths seized several incriminating documents and quizzed college employees in their bid to get clinching evidences against the scam accused. Principal of Vishundeo Rai college and another main accused in the toppers scam Amit Kumar alias Bachha Rai who was arrested on June 11 is the college principal. He is presently behind bars under the judicial custody. The SIT also conducted raids at Ganga Devi mahila college which was made the evaluation centre for the Intermediate examination, albeit it was not originally designated for the purpose. Usha Devi, who shot to the limelight after her name figured in the toppers scam is the principal of Ganga Devi mahila college. She was again in the thick of controversy when it was disclosed that she passed the matriculation examination at the age of 8, intermediate in the age of 10 and post graduate at the age of 15. Meanwhile, education department has already initiated process for suspension of principals- Amit Kumar, principal cum evaluation superintendent government boys higher secondary school, Rajendra Nagar Birkeshwar Prasad Yadav, G.A inter college principal and evaluation superintendent Shail Kumari and a maths teacher at government boys higher secondary school, Rajendra Nagar Sanjeev Kumar Suman after their involvement in the scam was found. UNI DH AKM RSA GC2220 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0213-786096.Xml Former BJP Punjab unit chief and party's national executive member Kamal Sharma today strongly condemned the unparliamentary attacks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), over the issue of the appointment of 21 AAP MLA's at the posts of Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS). In a statement here, the BJP leader said the issue has exposed the AAP real face, while terming it as party of "hypocrites". "The claims of the high morals, principles and clean politics of AAP have fallen flat now", he said, while taking a dig at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.He further said that it was matter of extreme concern that in contravention of the constitutional provisions, the legislators of the AAP were enjoying the benefits of dual posts (office of profit). "Now, when the party has got exposed on the issue, its leaders have got baffled and issuing unworthy statements against BJP and PM", he added.He said that the policy of AAP of pursuing a clean politics was a mere stunt, while reiterating his earlier remarks of Mr Kejriwal being "Natwarlal of Indian Politics". He also said that while the people of Delhi are already suffering on account of the misrule and misgovernance of AAP, the people of Punjab would not be misled by the AAP.UNI DB RSA BD2224 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-786138.Xml Three people were killed on the spot while another person sustained serious injuries when a bike was hit by speeding car near village Lakhanpal on Phagwara-Zandiala Manjki road this evening. The deceased were identified as motorcyclist Harjinder Kumar of Gannapind and car occupants Naveen Kumar alias Sunny and Yowan Malhotra alias Happy of village Kandola. The injured Gurmukh Singh was admitted in a Ludhiana hospital. Reports reaching here said the Phagwara bound overspeeding car hit the bike when the motor cyclist was coming from village Lakhanpal.The police has registered a case and sent the bodies to civil hospital for post-morterm.UNI XC DB RSA BD2305 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-786128.Xml Puducherry Lt.Governor Kiran Bedi who is taking initiatives to make Puducherry prosperous and clean, today announced that she would inspect government offices from 1200 hrs to 1300 hrs . The Union Human Resource Development Ministry will be launching a new scheme called "Vidyanjali" from 16th of this month in which 100 schools would be enrolled.The Centre had asked the Puducherry administration to select schools here and the government had selected Savarirayalu school for the scheme. Dr Bedi who visited the school today, had an interaction with the students and monitored their observance by narrating a story.Later,when girls asked her what they should do to lead a life like her, she said " learn and update " yourselves.She also advised the teachers to clean the school campus and building apart from teaching. Later,talking to media, Dr Bedi said that she would visit rural schools to meet the students. Would visit government departments,hospitals ,ration shops etc from 1200 to 1300 hours every day .She also said that the target of the administration is to enhance the standard of education in government schools so that people should come forward to admit their wards in government schools.UNI PAB CJ RSA 2342 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0400-786212.Xml Police said here that an agriculture labourer Shamsher Khan (30) was killed when lightning struck him at Savaiya village under Buddhuchak police station in the district this morning. Similarly, an 18-year old boy lost his life when lightning struck him at Malkhanpur village under Sheonarayanpur police station in the district early hours today. In another incident, Jwala Devi (40) was killed when lightning fell on her when she was returning to her residence from nearby market at Adarshnagar village under Ghogha police station in the district last night. Bodies have been sent to Bhagalpur Medical College and Hospital for post-mortem. Meanwhile, different parts of the state including districts of West Champaran, East Champaran, Sitamarhi, Madhubani, Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga, Araria, Supaul, Kishanganj, Purnea, Nalanda, Khagaria, Bhagalpur and Patna were lashed by pre-monsoon rains during the last 24 hours. According to met office here, monsoon is likely to hit Bihar in the next 4 to 5 days. "Conditions are favourable for further advancement of south west monsoon into Bihar during the next 4 to 5 days," a senior met official said. UNI DH AKM RSA 2355 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0213-786046.Xml Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said that if elected, she would pressure US technology companies to help intelligence agencies disrupt violent plots after a gunman inspired by radical Islamist groups killed 49 people in an Orlando nightclub.Yesterday in a speech in Cleveland, she articulated plans for expanded online surveillance of potential extremist attackers. She is campaigning against presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump ahead of the November presidential election."We already know we need more resources for this fight. The professionals who keep us safe would be the first to say we need better intelligence to discover and disrupt terrorist plots before they can be carried out," Clinton said."That's why I've proposed an 'intelligence surge' to bolster our capabilities across the board, with appropriate safeguards here at home."While Clinton did not detail what her effort would entail, she said she wants technology companies to be more cooperative to government requests for help in countering online propaganda, tracking patterns in social media and intercepting communications.Clinton's comments will likely further stoke an international debate over digital privacy, which has flared after attacks in Paris, Brussels and San Bernardino, California.Omar Mateen, the 29-year-old Orlando shooter and a US citizen, was likely inspired by jihadist content online, but there is not yet evidence that he was part of any plot directed by others outside the United States, FBI Director James Comey said yesterday.Facebook, Alphabet's Google and Twitter have all dedicated more resources to combating online propaganda and recruiting by Islamic militants within the past year. But they do so quietly to avoid the perception that they are overly cozy with authorities.The companies rely heavily on users to flag problematic content, which is impossible to eliminate completely without creating a highly censored Internet, according to technologists.Counterterrorism experts have also long said so-called lone wolf attackers are difficult to track and stop because they often do not communicate their plans to others.Twitter and Facebook had no immediate response to questions about Clinton's comments. Google declined comment.The Center for Democracy and Technology and Electronic Frontier Foundation, both digital advocacy groups, said they were waiting for more specifics from Clinton before commenting.Unlike Trump, Clinton did not call for blocking online content. She did not reiterate her previous push for a massive effort to break encryption, and she ruled out targeted surveillance of Muslim Americans as "dangerous." REUTERS AKC0422 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0432-784522.Xml Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama called the massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in which 50 people died, a "very serious tragedy," but said it was wrong to see all Muslims as potential terrorists.Asked in an interview with Reuters about US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's reiteration of a call after the shooting for a ban on Muslims entering the country, the Dalai Lama said the billionaire businessman was entitled to his opinion.However, he added that if he had a chance, he would ask Trump "What's his reason? More detail."The Dalai Lama said that in every religious community, including Buddhist ones, "there are some mischievous people.""But you cannot generalize," he said. "Some individual Muslims may carry out some terrorist activities, but better we should not say 'Muslim terrorists.' I think that's wrong."Fifty people, including the gunman, the US-born son of Afghan immigrants who had declared his allegiance to Islamic State militants, were killed in the attack at the Orlando nightclub on Sunday morning. It was the worst mass shooting in US history.Trump and his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton are at odds over how to respond to such attacks, with the latter warning against demonizing Muslims and calling for tougher gun safety measures.Speaking earlier at Washington's US Institute of Peace (USIP), the Dalai Lama said that by nature, women were more compassionate and if more world leaders were female, "there may be less trouble, less violence.""Of course, some ladies, females, are exceptional," he added. "Equally, some males are very compassionate."Asked by Reuters if it was time for a female leader in the United States, he said, "that's up to the people of this country," although he added that past female world leaders such as India's Indira Gandhi, Israel's Golda Meir, Britain's Margaret Thatcher and Germany's Angela Merkel had set good examples.Asked if he would meet President Barack Obama during his three-day visit to Washington, the Dalai Lama said it was "not finalized, but some friends say he may meet me."Obama met the Dalai Lama when the latter visited Washington in 2014 and vowed "strong support" for Tibetans' human rights, angering China which sees the spiritual leader as an anti-Chinese separatist.Asked how Beijing (Peking) might respond this time, the Dalai Lama said: "I don't know - you should ask them. I think in Peking, we cannot as of now generalize. In Peking there are different views. Some people there have a more realistic view. Some are more hardline, which is more narrow-minded."At the start of the USIP event, the Dalai Lama called on the audience to observe a moment of silence for the Orlando victims."Yesterday, very serious tragedy, Orlando. So let us (say) some silent prayer, OK," he said, while adding afterwards: "Although, one Buddhist monk grows quite skeptical about the effects of prayer."Real change, he said, required serious action, including better education, to ensure more compassion and tolerance in the world, and it was important not to lose "determination or courage.""Then on top of that, some prayer is OK, no harm," he said. REUTERS AKC0442 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0432-784527.Xml Recognising the common threat of terrorism, India and Ghana today decided to deepen their security and defence cooperation. A joint statement issued at the end of President Pranab Mukherjee's three-day visit to the West African nation, during which he held extensive talks with his Ghanaian counterpart Dramani Mahama, said that international terrorism was a scourge and threat to the entire civilised world. ''While India has been a victim of cross-border terrorism for a long time, Ghana is situated in an increasingly volatile region. The two leaders, therefore, agreed for greater security and defence cooperation,'' the statement said. They also called for greater exchanges between the Kofi Annan UN Peacekeeping Centre, Accra, and the Centre for UN Peacekeeping, New Delhi. The statement said both the countries underlined the need for regular and consistent high-level interaction and welcomed the setting up of an institutional framework in the form of Joint Commission to periodically review various aspects of the multi-dimensional relationship. Ghana and India shared a long historical relationship that went back to pre-independence days, which was rooted in the shared global vision of their founding fathers, the mutual goodwill between their people, and in the values of democracy, pluralism and inclusiveness. ''The visit is a natural expression of mutual desire of the two countries to further strengthen the warm and close bilateral relationship. The two leaders, while observing that trade and economic relations between the two countries had been deepening, said they were still below the potential. They stressed the need to take up mutually beneficial projects such as joint fertiliser plant, with an emphasis on greater value-addition. It expressed Ghana's deep appreciation of India's concessional developmental assistance by way of grants and Lines of Credit. They placed on record, their sincere gratitude for India's support for major socio-economic projects such as continent Komenda Sugar Plant and Elmina Fish Processing Plant. This was the President's first visit to Ghana, undertaken with an aim to further deepen the engagement with the countries of the continent. Earlier yesterday, after talks between the two leaders, India and Ghana signed three agreements, including one for visa waivers for holders of diplomatic and official passports and one for setting up a Joint Commission. The Joint Commission framework will periodically review various aspects of the multi-dimensional relationship between the two countries. A mutually convenient date for its first meeting will be decided later. The third agreement was for collaboration in diplomatic training between the Indian Foreign Service Institute and a Ghanaian institute of the same standing. During the talks, Ghana sought India's cooperation in civil nuclear energy. Mr Mukherjee, besides holding talks with President Mahama, delivered an address at India-Ghana Joint Business Forum, and the University of Ghana, Legon. He also interacted with the Indian community residing in Ghana at a Reception in his honour, hosted by the High Commissioner of India. The President paid floral tributes to Ghana's first President Dr Kwame Nkrumah at his Mausoleum here, and unveiled the statue of Father of the Indian Nation Mahatma Gandhi, presented by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, in the University of Ghana, Legon campus. He also planted a sapling at Flagstaff House, the iconic Presidential Complex built with Indian assistance. Mr Mukherjee will today visit the India-Ghana Kofi Anan Centre for Excellence. The President's next destination in his three-nation African tour is Cote D'Ivoire and Namibia. UNI NAZ RJ SB 1456 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0421-784989.Xml Turkey will not allow cooperation with terrorist organisations in Syria even as it supports the US-led coalition against Islamic State, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said today.Ankara and Washington have long been at loggerheads over the role of a US-backed Syrian Kurdish militia. Turkey says the fighters are terrorist organisation affiliated with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The US sees the Syrian Kurdish fighters as a key partner in the battle against Islamic State.Yildirim made the comment in a speech to his ruling AK Party in parliament that was broadcast live on television.REUTERS SDR VN1455 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0431-785043.Xml Pakistan is considering buying used F-16 fighter jets from Jordan, media reported today, after a plan to buy eight of the aircraft from the United States fell through because of the refusal of the US Congress to finance the deal. Some of Pakistan's fleet of F-16 jets are due to be decommissioned in the next few years and the government says it needs the aircraft to fight Islamist militants in remote mountains near Afghanistan. The military also sees the aircraft as vital in case of a war. "We are now going for a third-party transfer of F-16s and have an offer from Jordan," Defence Secretary Alam Khattak told a joint sitting of the Senate defence and foreign affairs committees on yesterday, newspapers reported. An air force spokesman declined to say how many F-16s Pakistan has but the number of the aircraft in service is believed to be about 70. Jordan had offered to sell Pakistan 16 used F-16s of the Block-30 variant, an older version than the Block-52s that Pakistan would have obtained from the United States, the Dawn newspaper reported. The US deal, valued at 699 million dollars, came unstuck after the US Congress refused to authorise the use of US government funds to pay for the aircraft under the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) programme. Members of the US Congress, led by Republican Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Bob Corker, demanded that Pakistan stop harbouring militant groups like the Afghan Taliban and Haqqani Network, which are leading an insurgency against a US-backed government in Kabul. Pakistan say it is acting against the militants, citing military operations in lawless ethnic Pashtun lands that border Afghanistan. Pakistan says the F-16s, with their precision strike ability and night-flying capability, are essential for that fight.The difficulty over the F-16 deal was the latest sign of increasingly frayed ties between Pakistan and the United States. Last month, a US drone killed Mullah Akhtar Mansour, then chief of the Afghan Taliban, on Pakistani soil.Pakistan condemned the strike as a violation of its sovereignty, and as not being conducive towards encouraging the Taliban to enter talks with the Afghan government. Pakistan has bought Jordanian F-16s before, procuring 13 of them in 2014, Dawn reported. The current batch on offer were manufactured between 1988 and 1990, and were upgraded in 2001/02, the newspaper report said.REUTERS DUR JW SS -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0442-784838.Xml India and Ghana have inked an agreement and two memoranda of understandings at the conclusion of bilateral delegation-level talks presided over by President Pranab Mukherjee and his Ghanaian counterpart John Dramani Mahama during the former's two-and-a-half day state visit. The agreement was on exemption from visa requirement for holders of diplomatic and official passports, while the MOUs were for the establishment of a joint commission and for cooperation between the foreign service institutes of the two countries. The President of the Republic of India, His Excellency Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, visited Ghana from 12-14 June 2016, at the invitation of the President of the Republic of Ghana, His Excellency Mr. John Dramani Mahama. The President of India was accompanied byHon'ble Dr. Jitendra Singh, Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office, Government of India, and two Members of Parliament, senior officials, business and media 2. The President of India was received on his arrival by H.E. Mr. Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur, Vice-President of the Republic of Ghana, accorded a 21 gun salute, followed by inspection of guard of honour. The two leaders underlined the need for regular and consistent high-level interaction, and welcomed the setting up of an institutional framework in the form of Joint Commission to periodically review various aspects of the multidimensional relationship. Both sides agreed that mutually convenient dates for the first meeting of the Joint Commission would be decided through diplomatic channels. The two leaders expressed satisfaction that bilateral trade and investments have been steadily growing; however, they observed that these were still below the existing potential. India's cumulative investments in Ghana till date have exceeded US$ 1 billion, whereas bilateral trade crossed US$ 3 billion in 2015-16. They acknowledged the need to take up mutually beneficial projects such as joint fertiliser plant with an emphasis on greater value-addition. The Ghanaian Government conveyed its deep appreciation towards India's concessional developmental assistance by way of grants and Lines of Credit. In particular, they placed on record their sincere gratitude for India's support for major socio-economic projects such as Komenda Sugar Plant and Elmina Fish Processing Plant. Further, cementing the relationship between the two Foreign Ministries, the Government of India also approved a Line of Credit for setting up a Foreign Policy Training Institute. The Ghana President conveyed deep appreciation for the successful organisation of the third India-Africa Forum Summit in New Delhi last year, and thanked the Government of India for the warm hospitality extended to him and his delegation. On his part the Indian President reaffirmed India's commitment to further strengthening the partnership with Africa. He also assured of India's continued contribution towards sustained development of Ghana, and the prosperity of its friendly people. The Government of Ghana thankfully acknowledged India's contribution to the Capacity Building and Human Resource Development in Ghana. While more than one thousand government officials underwent training in India in the last five years, about a hundred students pursued full-time academic courses in India on full scholarships offered by the Government of India during the same period. The Government of India, in view of the friendly relations between the two countries, announced an increase in ITEC slots to 300 and ICCR full time scholarships to 40, each year. Acknowledging that the India-Ghana relations are multi-dimensional and have tremendous potential for further expansion, the Indian Government proposed to establish a Chair on Indian Studies in the prestigious University of Ghana, Accra. It will be funded by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations. The Government of Ghana welcomed this initiative. International terrorism is a scourge, and is a threat to the entire civilised world. While India has been a victim of cross-border terrorism for a long time, Ghana is situated in an increasingly volatile region. The two leaders, therefore, agreed for greater security and defence cooperation and also called for greater exchanges between the Kofi Annan U.N. Peacekeeping Centre, Accra, and the Centre for U.N. Peacekeeping, New Delhi. President Mukherjee also appreciated the role played by the vibrant Indian community in Ghana in strengthening the bilateral relationship, and conveyed appreciation for the warmth and friendship given to the Indian Diaspora by the Government and the people of Ghana. The Government of Ghana warmly acknowledged their contribution to the economic development of Ghana. (ANI) China's Ministry of Commerce released a list of goods banned for export to North Korea today, saying they could be used in building weapons of mass destruction.The list of dual-use goods, or products that have both civilian and military use, comes after the United Nations nuclear watchdog said North Korea appeared to have reopened a plant to produce plutonium from spent fuel of a reactor central to its banned atomic weapons drive. REUTERS SDR VN1643 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0431-785287.Xml NATO was set today to agree deployment of a new force in the Baltics and Poland, the last of a series of steps to deter a resurgent Russia but which some allies say must go further to be credible.Three weeks before a critical NATO summit in Warsaw, the alliance's defence ministers will approve deployment of some 4,000 troops which, backed up by rapid reaction forces, could help deter a repeat of Moscow's show of force in Crimea elsewhere."We don't seek confrontation with Russia, we don't want a new Cold War," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said before the meeting in Brussels. He added: "NATO will continue to protect and defend all allies from any threat."But while eastern allies welcome the deployments of four battalions of British, US, German and possibly Canadian troops in NATO's biggest military build-up since the end of the Cold War, they want more support to defend against Russia's powerful arsenal.With a warning last week from a senior US commander that the alliance would have only 72 hours notice of a missile or ground attack, Baltic nations and Poland want a sophisticated anti-missile shield to deter Russia from gaining the upper hand.That could involve NATO fighter planes and surface-to-air missile interceptors on a much larger scale in the Baltics.Southern flank allies Bulgaria and Romania, meanwhile, are pushing for NATO to expand its maritime presence in the Black Sea, where Russia has a naval fleet, as well as more alliance troops to the region.NATO aims to counter Russia's military build-up in Crimea, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014. The Black Sea is strategically important for both East and West given its energy reserves and closeness to the Middle East.Stoltenberg said NATO was considering a Romanian offer to provide a brigade, typically around 5,000 troops, which could coordinate alliance training and possibly play a deterrent role. Defence ministers will discuss this today, diplomats said.Moscow sees NATO's deterrence plans as hostile. Moscow's envoy to the alliance has warned they threaten peace in central Europe. The Kremlin also says a US ballistic missile shield, which Washington says is directed at protecting the alliance from Iran, is also escalating tensions.The United States denies that."You don't invade with a few battalions, okay?" United States' envoy to NATO, Douglas Lute, told reporters. "But you can deter, and you can affect a potential aggressor's calculus in terms of cost, benefit and risks."The four battalions to be agreed today are part of a wider NATO deterrent force to be approved in Warsaw in July. It will involve forces on rotation, warehoused equipment ready for an attack and a highly mobile "spearhead" force backed by NATO's 40,000-strong rapid reaction force.The battalions will be under NATO command and deployed on a six-to-nine month rotating basis to the former Soviet states of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland. REUTERS SDR AS1655 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0431-785354.Xml The session will start this year on September 13 and end in December next year. Peter Thompson of Fiji was elected the president for its 71st session. With this election, Nepal will be a member of the UNGA General Committee, which serves as the bureau of the General Assembly, for three consecutive sessions, for the first time since joining the UN in 1955, stated Nepal's Permanent Mission in New York in a press statement, reports Kathmandu Post. The General Committee comprises president of the General Assembly, 21 vice-presidents representing five geographical regions, chairpersons of the UNGA's six thematic main committees, and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. All except the five permanent members are elected by the UNGA in June every year.(ANI) The trial of five people charged over the leak of sensitive Vatican documents was adjourned on Tuesday until early next month, when court officials said it is expected to end.The case centres on the publication last year of two books based on leaked documents that depict a Vatican plagued by graft in which Pope Francis faces stiff resistance to his agenda.Lawyers for a key defendant, Francesca Chaouqui, 35, told the court that she had given birth to a boy on Tuesday morning.The birth was one of the reasons the trial was adjourned until July 4. It is expected to wind up on July 6 after three consecutive sessions, the court said.Chaouqui, a public relations consultant, is on trial along with Spanish Monsignor Angel Lucio Vallejo Balda, his assistant Nicola Maio, and two Italian journalists, Gianluigi Nuzzi and Emiliano Fittipaldi.Prosecutors say Nuzzi and Fittipaldi got the documents from Chaouqui, Vallejo Balda and Maio. The journalists are accused of exerting pressure on the three to get the documents.The trial, which started last November, has put the spotlight on the ambiguous relationship between Chaouqui, who is married, and Vallejo Balda. Both served on a now-defunct commission advising Pope Francis on Vatican reforms.He told the court in March that his relationship with Chaouqui had been "clearly, for me as a priest, compromising," and suggested that she had seduced him. She denies thisREUTERS CJ BD2300 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0400-786225.Xml US officials have been in touch with French authorities about the killing of a French police commander and his partner by a man who may have had an affiliation with Islamic State militants, the White House said today.White House spokesman Josh Earnest said President Barack Obama was aware of the reports of the killing by Larossi Abballa, 25, a Frenchman who pledged allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a video uploaded from the victims' home."This is obviously a concerning situation that is only enhanced by the fact that there are indications that the killer may have had a terrorist affiliation. So US officials have been in touch with French authorities," Earnest told a briefing."Our counter-terrorism partnership is critical to the security of both of our countries," he added. "So I would anticipate that the United States will do what we can to assist French authorities as they conduct this investigation."REUTERS AKC BD2336 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0432-786240.Xml Eritrea accused Ethiopia today of having orchestrated evidence in a landmark UN report last week that accused Eritrean leaders of committing crimes against humanity including torture, murder and enslavement.The report by independent experts called for the case to be referred to the International Criminal Court.The UN Human Rights Council, which is holding a three-week session in Geneva, is expected to consider a resolution to recommend future action on Eritrea."The gathering of information from 'witnesses' organised by Ethiopia allows the latter to advance its propaganda against a country that it aims to destabilise," Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh told the 47-member state forum.The two Horn of Africa nations were involved in a war in 1998-2000 that killed 70,000 people. They routinely accuse each other trying to destabilise and topple the other's government.The minister called Ethiopia "an African face for other countries with a regime change agenda" and said it had initiated an unprovoked military attack against Eritrea on Sunday."The armed attack two days ago is timed with the release of the report, supposedly for maximum impact on the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Eritrea."Echoing comments earlier by an Ethiopian government spokesman, Ethiopian Ambassador Negash Kebret Botora told the Geneva forum Eritrea had launched the unprovoked attack, shelling the population around the border area."The regime always chooses when to divert the attention of the international community from its repugnant human rights record," he said.Osman said Eritrea was focusing on human rights, including cooperating with the UN human rights office to strengthen its justice system, seeking UN help on its penitentiary system, and freeing Djiboutian prisoners of war. REUTERS AKC BD2350 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0432-786248.Xml Democratic President Barack Obama lambasted Donald Trump's proposed ban on Muslim immigrants today in an angry denunciation of the Republican presidential candidate's response to the Orlando nightclub massacre.Obama and Hillary Clinton, the Democrat he has endorsed to succeed him in the November 8 general election, made nearly simultaneous speeches responding to Trump, the New York mogul who is soon to become the Republican Party's presidential nominee.Clearly annoyed, Obama used a speech at the Treasury Department to respond to Trump's proposed suspension of immigration from countries with a "history of terrorism" in response to the killing of 49 people early on Sunday in Orlando, Florida. The gunman was US-born Omar Mateen, 29, whose parents immigrated from Afghanistan.The president, without mentioning Trump by name, dismissed the Republican's criticism of Obama for not using the term "radical Islamic terrorism" to describe Islamic State militants. Obama called the phrase a political distraction."What exactly would using this label accomplish, what exactly would it change?" Obama said. "Someone seriously thinks we don't know who we're fighting? ... There's no magic to the phrase 'radical Islam.' It's a political talking point."Obama, who canceled a joint appearance with Clinton planned tomorrow in Wisconsin due to the events in Orlando, appeared to be enjoying his role in the campaign to select his successor. He tangled with Trump in 2011, producing his birth certificate to refute Trump's claim that the president was not born in the United States."We now have proposals from the presumptive Republican nominee for president of the United States to bar all Muslims from immigrating to America. We hear language that singles out immigrants and suggests entire religious communities are complicit in violence," Obama said. "Where does this stop?"Clinton, Obama's former secretary of state, addressed supporters in Pittsburgh. She said Trump's proposal bolstered her case that he was temperamentally unfit to serve as president, saying the commander in chief "is a job that demands a calm, collected and dignified response" to events like the Orlando massacre.She noted that Trump seemed to suggest yesterday in a television interview that Obama might have somehow been responsible for the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history, a point that Trump said he did not make."I have to ask: Will responsible Republican leaders stand up to their presumptive nominee or will they stand by his accusation about our president?" she said.The biting criticism was likely to increase the discomfort among many establishment Republican leaders about Trump with little more than a month until party figures gather in Cleveland July 18-21 to formally nominate him.House Speaker Paul Ryan, the top US elected Republican who was his party's 2012 vice presidential nominee, today distanced himself from the proposed Muslim ban in a further sign of establishment unease with Trump's agenda.Ryan endorsed Trump two weeks ago but subsequently chided him for calling a federal judge biased because of the US-born jurist's Mexican heritage."I do not think a Muslim ban is in our country's interests," said Ryan, who last year criticized Trump's original proposal for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States.Ryan and like-minded establishment Republicans have struggled to reconcile their desire to unify the party before a tough fight against Clinton while at the same time separating themselves from some of the positions and rhetoric of Trump, who defeated 16 rivals to win the presidential nomination battle.US Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, who sources say is among the Republicans that Trump is considering for his vice presidential nominee, said he was "discouraged" by the way the Trump campaign was going."It wasn't the type of speech one would expect," Corker said of Trump's yesterday speech in New Hampshire.Trump was to hold a campaign rally today night in Greensboro, North Carolina.Trump has been resolute in demanding tighter immigration policies, and the Orlando attack has prompted him to intensify his rhetoric as he tries to win more support from Americans with deep security fears.Trump noted that Mateen's parents were born in Afghanistan. Pointing to specific incidents such as the September 11, 2001, attacks, he said threats were posed by people with roots in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Somalia.Trump, who was celebrating his 70th birthday today, met at Trump Tower in New York with a host of Republican governors, including Oklahoma's Mary Fallin, who a source close to the campaign says is also on Trump's short list to be his vice presidential running mate.A Republican official said others in the meeting included the governors of Mississippi, Arizona, Arkansas, Nebraska and Tennessee, as well as New Jersey's Chris Christie, a close Trump adviser and former presidential rival.REUTERS AKC -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0432-786254.Xml Three phones, three knives, including the one with blood placed on the table, were found in the house of the police officer, Xinhua quoted Molins as saying. The prosecutor also said the assailant, Larossi Abballa, admitted to the police that he pledged allegiance to the IS three weeks ago and acknowledged the victim's status as police officer. Larossi Abballa was arrested in 2011 and sentenced to three years in prison in 2013 for helping terrorists to go to Pakistan. So far, three people have been arrested and placed in custody during the double murder investigation. The police officer was stabbed to death by the suspect on Monday night in the west Paris suburb of Magnanville. His partner was also killed at their home. Hours after the attack, an IS-linked news agency report said that the attack was carried out by an "Islamic State fighter". --IANS sku/ ( 197 Words) 2016-06-15-03:20:02 (IANS) MANILA, June 14 (Xinhua) -- A severed human head believed to be that of kidnapped Canadian male was found in Jolo, Sulu province in southern Philippines Monday night, military and police said Tuesday. Police said the head was found placed inside a plastic bag, and was recovered around 9 p.m. near a Roman Catholic church in Jolo. The announcement came a few hours after the Abu Sayyaf militants claimed it beheaded Canadian Robert Hall, one of its captives. "Initially, our personnel thought it was an explosive, but when the police team inspected the plastic bag, it turned out that it's a head of an old Caucasian man," police officer Junpikar Sittin, the chief of police of Jolo, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in a telephone interview. "The discovery confirms the brutal beheading by the evil criminal Abu Sayyaf," the military said in a statement. "The military will work relentless with our police counterparts to continue to find, neutralise or arrest and hold these criminals accountable for their crimes," the statement read. Last April, the Abu Sayyaf group also beheaded Canadian national John Ridsdel. The victim's head was found near a police station inside the town hall premises also in Jolo. Ridsdel, Hall, Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad and a Filipino woman were snatched in a posh holiday resort in Davao del Norte in Sept. 21 last year. The bandits demanded ransom money and threatened to kill them if their demands are not met. Enditem BRUSSELS, June 13 (Xinhua) -- European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank, are set to hold a meeting late Monday to discuss the bloc's economic affairs and the Brexit referendum. The two presidents are to discuss deepening the EU's monetary union, said Mina Andreeva, a spokesperson at the Commission, the executive arm of the European Union (EU). On the agenda are "other developments we might see in the weeks to come," Andreeva told a regular press briefing, signalling the referendum on Britain's EU membership as one of main topics. Heads of EU institutions have met frequently in recent weeks to assess possible outcomes of the UK referendum. At Monday's meeting, Juncker and Draghi might discuss its economic impact, media reported. The EU aims to complete its Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) by 2025 at the latest. The EMU represents a major step in the bloc's economic integration, which involves coordinating economic and fiscal policies, a common monetary policy, and a single currency. Experts cautioned the bloc's economy was in a period of great uncertainty ahead of the UK referendum on June 23, when Britons will vote whether to leave the 28-country bloc or stay in the union. NAIROBI, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Agricultural specialists including government officials kicked off a two-day meeting in Nairobi on Monday to discuss the International Fund for Agricultural Development's (IFAD) approach to decentralizing its operations in Africa. The meeting is focusing on IFAD-funded operations in eastern, southern, western and central Africa and will inform an independent evaluation of IFAD's decentralization approach that is scheduled to be released in December. "By understanding what has and has not worked in our decentralization process, we will be able to improve our individual country operations and, ultimately, be more effective in improving the lives of the rural people with whom we work," said Perin Saint Ange, IFAD's Associate Vice-President. "On the basis of the emerging findings of the evaluation, IFAD will be able to strengthen its development effectiveness on the ground and play a more effective role in the countries where it works, strengthening results and impact for project beneficiaries, and building local capacities for conducting its operations," said Oscar A. Garcia, Director of IFAD's Independent Office of Evaluation. IFAD began its decentralization process in 2003 and now has 40 country offices worldwide. The process echoes a trend in several multilateral development institutions, such as the World Bank and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, which have strengthened their presence in countries where they run operations. IFAD currently has 20 country offices in Africa, including a special regional service center for Eastern and South Africa including the Indian Ocean island states, based in Kenya. Previous independent evaluations of IFAD's operations found that IFAD's country presence has allowed the organization to be closer to projects and programmes, has given it more visibility and has enabled it to draw on local expertise and talent. Enditem HONG KONG, June 14 (Xinhua) -- The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) announced on Tuesday that it will hold the first-ever Times Higher Education (THE) Asia Universities Summit on June 20 to 21, when over 30 university heads from all over the world will discuss creativity and innovation. Speaking earlier at a press briefing about the summit, Tony Chan, President of HKUST, told the media that innovation is a global trend, especially when Asia's economy rises and the world's economy shifting to the east, governments in the region are investing more on higher education to enhance universities' competitiveness and to boost the economy. Creativity and innovation can hardly be taught in lectures, Chan said, therefore, not only do universities offer students with basic knowledge, but they also provide an environment that encourages students to unleash their potential. HKUST has been helping students through its entrepreneurship center and by holding competitions. Innovation is about bringing new ideas out of the university, hoping that it could make contribution to or have impacts on the society, Chan said, noting that there is, however, no rush "to push on innovation in commercializing ideas from the university labs and forget about the mission of a university," which is to create basic knowledge and to educate future leaders of the society. Chan said the biggest challenge for Hong Kong to work on innovation and creativity is the culture and mindset of people in the society, and it takes time to change as many stakeholders, including employers, parents and the government are involved. Students in Hong Kong, like those in other places in Asia, perform well in exams, but are not being as good as western people when talking about creativity, Chan said, adding that Asian students are usually less willing to take risk due to their fear of failure. Chan expected sharing given by university heads from different countries and regions at the summit can inspire each others. The impact of higher education in Asia is expanding in recent years. Eighteen institutions from the continent have made the top 100 in THE's World Reputation Rankings this year, climbing from 10 in 2015. When Japan's University of Tokyo performed the best in Asia, taking 12th place, Chinese mainland's Tsinghua University and Peking University has jumped to 18th and 21st place respectively. The 25-year-old HKUST is in the third place in the 150 universities under 50 rankings of THE in 2016. Phil Baty, Editor of THE's World University Rankings, said shifting in balance of power from West to East has been apparent, noting in the last few decades, there has been an extraordinary commitment and passion in Asia institutions, particularly in Chinese mainland and Hong Kong. Talking about the next challenge for universities in Asia to compete at the level of Harvard or Standford, Baty agreed that "it's about creativity" and they have to aim at producing new technologies and Nobel Prize winners. This year's THE Asia Universities Rankings will be released at the summit, Baty said, adding that six Hong Kong institutes are to be ranked among the top 50. Enditem BEIJING, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Meng Jianzhu, China's top official in charge of political and legal affairs, met with Loretta E. Lynch, attorney general of the United States, on Monday in Beijing. Lynch has cut short her visit to Beijing for the Second China-U.S. High-Level Joint Dialogue on Cybercrime and Related Issues and is returning to Washington following Sunday's mass shooting at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Meng, head of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, conveyed President Xi Jinping's deep sympathy and sincere condolences to U.S. President Barack Obama, the U.S. government and the American people, as well as his mourning for the victims. Meng voiced strong condemnation of the brutal act, saying that China stands firm against violent terrorism in any form. China is willing to further advance counter-terrorism cooperation with the U.S. and constantly deepen bilateral law enforcement cooperation in various areas such as cyber security in order to safeguard the safety of the two peoples, Meng stressed. Lynch expressed regret that she could no longer participate in the meetings and was grateful for the Chinese side's understanding and support. The United States will conduct in-depth law enforcement cooperation with China in the fight against terrorism and in cyber security, Lynch added. Meng also had a telephone conversation with U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, who had planned to join Lynch in Beijing. LUO JIE/CHINA DAILY This year's national college entrance examination, or gaokao, has ended but discussions on it continue. Among the questions for gaokao, the one that got the most attention was perhaps the writing test, which required students to write a 800-word essay in Chinese in 60 minutes. The essay carried 60 points out of a total of 750the highest among single questions. It won't be an exaggeration to say that the essay was the most decisive question in the exam and examinees' total scores were largely determined by it. It plays a key role in deciding whether they can go to a college and which one they will go to. The subjects for the essay varied from province to province. Yet this year the essay's subjects in some provinces had some problemssome could lead to inequality or cause other "side effects" among candidates. For example, the essay's subject in East China's Zhejiang province this year was: "Are you for or against virtual reality (VR) technology? Why?" Such a question might have been aimed at encouraging students to be more creative and learn more about advanced technologies. But the problem is, VR is a rather new concept and many people, especially high school graduates from rural areas, might not even be aware of what it is. Besides, given the advanced nature of VR devices, some analysts say, they remain a luxury for students from not-so-well-to-do families. Therefore, forcing them to answer such questions would be unfair, both socially and financially. Some may argue that a short paragraph after the question paraphrases the issue. But since VR is a highly complicated subject, we cannot expect all fresh high-school graduates to understand it by just reading the paraphrase. Another problematic essay topic was seen in the question paper in Southwest China's Sichuan province. It tells a rather illogical story of the suffering of a business start-up because other companies have copied its brands. Following this, the start-up streamlines its operations and makes its patent public, allowing everybody in the industry, including the counterfeiters, to benefit. To make matters more complicated for the examinees, the whole story was written in a chickensoup-for-the-soul style. Isn't it absurd to select such a story for gaokao? The start-up's intellectual property rights were violated, yet no one helped it get compensation. And instead of receiving their deserved punishment, the counterfeiters make profits because of the absence of IPR protection. Other controversial topics included "promotion of soft power and giving more attention to the Chinese language", which is too big and complex an issue for fresh high school graduates. That people are discussing gaokao questions shows they care for justice. For most high school graduates, gaokao decides whether they can attend college. As such, tens of thousands of rural students could unfairly lose valuable scores if they are forced to answer questions on VR devices, because most of them have never used them. Moreover, gaokao is organized by the State and the value it promotes should not be skewed. Data show that 9.4 million high school graduates took this year's gaokao, of which 570,000 were in Sichuan. If the essay question sends a wrong message on IPR protection, how could anyone trust China's determination to fight piracy? Actually, people are not excessively critical of gaokao. Instead, they welcome good topics in question papers. The question in Shanghai's paper is a good example, because it asked examinees to write on talking about others. It is an open question, allows examinees to write freely, and is in accordance with the shared value of the contemporary world. Hence, it is time gaokao examiners set more considerate questions, because on gaokao hangs the destinies of millions of youths. The author is a writer with China Daily. zhangzhouxiang@chinadaily.com.cn DAR ES SALAAM, June 13 (Xinhua) -- A good number of Tanzanian Members of Parliament on Monday opposed the government's plan to charge a Value Added Tax (VAT) on tourism services, saying the move was likely to kill the booming industry. If approved by the National Assembly, the VAT will be charged on supplies of tourist guiding, game driving, water safaris, animal or bird watching, national parks fees and ground transport services. William Ngeleja, an MP for Sengerema constituency on the ticket of the ruling party Chama Cha Mapinduzi said the move will not only affect the tourism industry but also benefit neighbouring Kenya which also has similar attractions as Tanzania's but has dropped the VAT after realizing that it had affected their tourism sector negatively last year. Several MPs opposed the new tax on tourism services saying adopting a measure that has been dropped by a neighbouring country after it had shown to be negatively affecting their economy amounted to "killing the country's tourism industry". The MPs appealed to the government to look for other new sources of revenues instead of coming up with measures that will strangle the growth of the tourism sector. On Sunday, the 330-member Tanzania Association of Tour Operators said in a statement that the country was considered a more costly destination due to multiple taxes and the proposed VAT would be a suicide for the 2.2 billion-U.S. dollar industry. Tour operators in Tanzania are already subjected to 32 different taxes, twelve being business registration and regulatory license fees as well as 11 duties for each tourist vehicle per annum and nine others. Presenting the 2016/2017 budget in the National Assembly last week, the Minister for Finance and Planning, Phillip Mpango, proposed to review the VAT with a view to imposing VAT on tourism services. Enditem GENEVA, June 13, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Ma Zhaoxu, China's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office at Geneva, speaks during the 32nd session of the Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva, Switzerland, June 13, 2016. Speaking in a joint statement on behalf of 136 countries, Chinese diplomat Ma Zhaoxu concerned on Monday the rise in double standards and politicization of the HRC, whose 32nd session kicked off on Monday. (Xinhua/Xu Jinquan) GENEVA, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Speaking in a joint statement on behalf of 136 countries, Chinese diplomat Ma Zhaoxu concerned on Monday the rise in double standards and politicization of the Human Rights Council (HRC), whose 32nd session kicked off on Monday. Compounded by public pressure, naming and shaming and the use of the council to meddle in the internal affairs of sovereign states, Ma warned that such practices not only challenge cooperative efforts but also threaten the interests of affected countries while endangering the HRC's integrity. "We are deeply worried that if these tendencies continue unchecked, the Human Rights Council may run the risk of repeating the same mistakes and failures of the Commission of Human Rights," said Ma, who is China's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office at Geneva. In light of this, the diplomat put forward a number of recommendations in view of putting the Council's modus operandi back on track. Using the UN Charter as the foundation upon which human rights issues should be based, Ma stressed that it is the primary responsibility of states to protect and promote human rights. He also reminded that diverse views and opinions may exist because of differences in historical, religious and cultural backgrounds, social systems and levels of development. "The right of countries to adopt their own paths of human rights protection and promotion in accordance with the principle of national ownership and in line with their specific national and regional conditions and priorities should be respected," Ma explained. The need for genuine and constructive dialogue and cooperation in the human rights field was also emphasised by Ma, as long as discussions are based on the precept of mutual respect. The diplomat furthermore highlighted the need for UN human rights mechanisms to carry of their mandates both objectively and impartially and avoid making condescending and unfounded remarks. Created in 2006, the HRC is an inter-governmental body working to promote and protect human rights around the globe through thematic discussions and structured recommendations. Held between June 13 and July 1, this month's session marks the 10 year anniversary since the council was formed. RABAT, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Morocco and Chinese group HAITE will set up an industrial and residential park in the northern city of Tangiers with 10 billion U.S. Dollar-worth investment, local media reported Monday. According to Moroccan news site Medias24.com, Moroccan officials and Chinese delegation discussed over the weekend in Morocco means to implement this large-scale park which will host 300,000 employees. The park, which will cover 1,200 hectares, will also host numerous Chinese companies whose products will target African and European markets, the same source added. The source revealed that the construction of the park will begin soon. Chinese President Xi Jinping and visiting King Mohammed VI of Morocco signed on May 11 in Beijing a joint statement on establishing a strategic partnership between the two countries. As part of this partnership, a memorandum of understanding to set up an industrial and residential park in Morocco was signed by the Moroccan government and Chinese group HAITE. Enditem ATHENS, June 13 (Xinhua) -- A 14-year-old boy from a village near Thessaloniki in northern Greece was charged on Monday with the murder of his friend and classmate who had been found dead in their neighborhood on Sunday, local police said. The case has shocked Greek society, local media stressed. The boy who has confessed to fatally stabbing with a kitchen knife the victim on Saturday night, claims that he had been a victim of bullying over the past two years by his friend and other schoolmates. The alleged perpetrator was apprehended and brought before a prosecutor on Monday, a few hours after the discovery of evidence linking him to the killing, Greek national news agency AMNA reported. His fingerprints were found on the knife that was thrown away a few meters from the side of the road where the dead body of the victim was found, according to police sources. The 14-year-old boy admitted to the crime attributing the fatal attack to his anger over the bullying he claimed he suffered from a group of his classmates, the same sources said. The alleged attacker told police investigators that he was systematically ridiculed over the poor finances of his family. According to police sources he said that the victim had teased him on Saturday evening while they were out with other friends over his father's old tractor. As they returned home, he asked the victim to wait for a few minutes to go home and return to sort things out. Instead he took a knife from his house's kitchen and attacked his schoolmate. According to police sources it appears that the other 14-year-old boy tried to defend himself. His body was found by the father of the alleged assailant and policemen on Sunday. The suspected perpetrator is detained at police premises at Thessaloniki. As a minor under 15 years old according to Greece's legal framework he will not necessarily be remanded in pre-trial custody. His lawyer told local media that the teenager was in a state of shock; he has regretted the fatal attack and was receiving help from specialized psychologists, as well as his family and the victim's family. As the victim was buried on Monday afternoon, local police chief Nikos Zissimopoulos commented in local media that both families were living a tragedy. Loukas Efstathiades, the village's president who is also a cousin of the victim's mother, told news portal in.gr that the schoolmaster does not confirm any bullying incidents. According to Efstathiades the attacker had the fame of a quick tempered teenager with possible psychological issues who was often involved in brawls. According to a recent UNICEF survey, one out of two 15-year olds in Greece said they had been bullied at school this year. In an EU study carried out in the framework of an EU program "European campaign against bullying", Greece ranked fourth behind Lithuania, Estonia and Bulgaria in school bullying last year. According to the survey, 31 percent of students in secondary schools in Greece said that they have been victims of bullying. Enditem LUSAKA, June 13 (Xinhua) -- A coalition of civil society groupings in Zambia on Monday called on the government not to implement a protocol meant to regulate the use of seeds by farmers in the region. In 2015, Zambia and other members of the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) adopted the Plant Variety Protection Protocol despite opposition from stakeholders. Among other things, the protocol makes it illegal for farmers to save, reuse and exchange seed amongst themselves as they have always done. ARIPO member countries will this week meet in Harare, the Zimbabwean capital, to review the draft regulations for the implementation of the protocol. But the Zambia Alliance for Agroecology and Biodiversity Conservation (ZAABC) has urged the Zambian government not to allow for the implementation of the regulations of the protocol because more work needed to be done in order to prevent any harm to farmers and agriculture production systems. "The draft ARIPO regulations represent a ferocious campaign against seed saving by farmers in Africa. The draft regulations require small scale farmers to pay for the seed they save and propagate on their own holding, or face fines and punishment," the coalition said in a statement. "A significant portion of these draft regulations are targeting farmers in a manner that is unduly punitive and intent on extorting the small scale farmer to the point where the country is in danger of losing all the progress made so far where small scale farmers have contributed massively to food production including maize which is now even available to countries around us that have maize deficits," it added. According to the statement, the regulations contain provisions requiring farmers, seed processors and certification agencies to provide information and monitor the use of farm saved seed by farmers, adding that the provisions were designed to intimidate and force players in the seed sector to police and spy on farmers who use farm-saved protected seed. The smallholder farmers, the statement said, should be allowed to freely exchange with other farmers and sell to local markets their farm saved seed and propagating material. Enditem KATHMANDU, June 13 (Xinhua) -- A team of Chinese medical experts on Monday briefed Nepalese medical professionals about various diseases and their diagnosis. During a program organized here by Arniko Society, the Chinese surgeons provided lectures on obstetrics/gynecology, cancer, among other diseases. Six doctors from the Second Hospital of China's Hebei Medical University, along with the Chinese doctors from BP Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital, shared their experiences with the Nepalese doctors. Manoj Man Shrestha, a Nepalese radiologist, told Xinhua: "The lecture session and presentation by the Chinese medical experts are very fruitful for us. In fact, such interactions should be held regularly to expand our knowledge." On the occasion, Chinese doctors gave presentations on gestational trophoblastic disease, TNM classification for lung cancer and gastrointestinal stromal tumor respectively, among others. Nearly 100 Nepalese medical professionals from renowned hospitals and medical colleges participated in the program. Meanwhile, the visiting Chinese medical team is scheduled to take part in a free medical camp to be organized for the Nepalese patients in the capital on Tuesday. Enditem DUBAI, June 13 (Xinhua) -- A Federal Supreme State Security Court in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) issued Monday jail sentences for 19 members of the Yemeni Muslim Brotherhood. The UAE government has banned the Muslim Brotherhood party and designated it a terrorist organization. The 19 suspects include five Emirati nationals and 14 Yemenis. They are accused of trying to overthrow the UAE government, and joining the Muslim Brotherhood. Four of the suspects were sentenced to three years in jail followed by deportation, while fourteen others were given six-month jail time. The rest one was acquitted of all charges, according to the report, said the Dubai daily Gulf news. Enditem SRINAGAR, Indian-controlled Kashmir, June 13 (Xinhua) -- A militant and a woman were killed, while as two other civilians wounded Monday in an exchange of fire between the militant and Indian paramilitary troopers in restive Indian-controlled Kashmir, police said. The firing broke out in Kud area of Udhampur district, about 190 km south of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir. "This evening a joint contingent of police and Central Reserve Police Force stopped a passenger bus at Kud at a checkpoint. No sooner the personnel entered the bus, a militant opened fire on them, which was duly retaliated, resulting in killing of the militant," a police official told Xinhua. "In the crossfire, a woman passenger was killed and two other fellow travellers were wounded." The wounded passengers were immediately hospitalized. Police officials said the militant was travelling in the Jammu bound bus carrying weapons. The officials claimed recovery of an assault rifle, a pistol and some ammunition from the bus. The government forces have not suffered any damage in the firing. On Sunday evening, militants attacked a police vehicle wounding four policemen, two of them critically, near Qazigund town on Srinagar-Jammu highway. A guerrilla war is going on between militants and Indian troopers stationed in the region since 1989. However, of late Indian policemen too have been trained to fight them. Burhan Wani, a local commander of region's indigenous militant outfit Hizbul Mujahideen, has in a video message warned of intensifying attacks on policemen. Gunfights between the militants and Indian troops takes place intermittently across the region. Kashmir, the Himalayan region divided between India and Pakistan is claimed by both in full. Since their independence from Britain, the two countries have fought three wars, two exclusively over Kashmir. Enditem WASHINGTON, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Astronomers using the U.S. Kepler Space Telescope said Monday they have found the largest planet yet discovered that orbits a pair of binary stars. The new planet, Kepler-1647b, is 3,700 light-years away and about 4.4 billion years old, roughly the same age as the Earth, according to a team led by researchers from the U.S. space agency NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and San Diego State University (SDSU). The planet has a mass and radius nearly identical to that of Jupiter, making it the largest transiting circumbinary planet ever found. The stars it orbits are similar to the Sun, with one slightly larger than our home star and the other slightly smaller. Planets orbiting two stars are called circumbinary planets, or sometimes "Tatooine" planets, after Luke Skywalker's homeland in "Star Wars." Using NASA's Kepler telescope, astronomers looked for slight dips in brightness that hint a planet might be transiting in front of a star, blocking some of the star's light. "But finding circumbinary planets is much harder than finding planets around single stars," said coauthor William Welsh of the SDSU. "The transits are not regularly spaced in time and they can vary in duration and even depth." The new planet was first noticed in 2011, but it took the team years to confirm it's indeed a circumbinary planet, with the help of a network of amateur astronomers in the KELT Follow-Up Network, which consists of small and mid-size telescopes used for confirming transiting planets. "It's a bit curious that this biggest planet took so long to confirm, since it is easier to find big planets than small ones," said SDSU astronomer Jerome Orosz, another coauthor on the study. "It took so long to confirm because its orbital period is so long." The planet takes 1,107 days -- just over three years -- to orbit its host stars, the longest period of any confirmed transiting exoplanet found so far. The planet is also much further away from its stars than any other circumbinary planet, breaking with the tendency for circumbinary planets to have close-in orbits. Interestingly, Kepler-1647b's orbit puts the planet within the so-called habitable zone, but like Jupiter, it's a gas giant, making the planet unlikely to host life. Yet if the planet has large moons, they could potentially be suitable for life. "Habitability aside, Kepler-1647b is important because it is the tip of the iceberg of a theoretically predicted population of large, long-period circumbinary planets," Welsh said. The discovery was announced in San Diego at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society and has been accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. by Xinhua writer Guo Shuang LOS ANGELES, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Kyle Stirling could feel that change was even in the air during his recent visit to China. "Last year everyone was elbowing their way in to make stock trades and watch their portfolios rise," the Silicon Valley startup mentor said. However, within 12 months, "it is a very different time here now and a change is afoot," he told Xinhua after coming back from China recently. Stirling, a mentor in the U.S. National Science Foundation Innovation Corps for technology commercialization by graduate students and elite teams of scientists, noticed that some of the most powerful forces in China are seeking innovation this year. During his packed one-day stay on May 30 in China, Stirling first went to Domo Lab, a tiny startup in Shanghai with a focus on building new robotics courses to promote Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) courses among high school students. Those entrepreneurs were talking about "passion" and "changing the world" and asked the consultant for some advices on designing innovation programs. During the afternoon tea time, Stirling also met a Chinese mom who seemed very worried. But she was not worried so much about the traditional education problems of her 10-year-old boy, like a focus on test scores, he said. What made her so concerned about was how to incorporate innovation into the current Chinese education system and she was betting on innovation through DIY, Art and STEM programs, he recalled. During a conference that evening, some local industry leaders and global experts including Stirling talked about building "smart cities" and discussed how China could have a supportive infrastructure that let people interact in new ways. According to the Chinese industry leaders, innovation is not the same as productivity. "In productivity you optimize for value, could be quality, price or speed, you know in advance what you are doing. With innovation you are bringing together a bunch of experiments and see which one takes root, you want variation the opposite of mass production." "They are all committed to doing something about bringing innovation to the people of China," Stirling said. One example is that Internet plus and data-driven design had made their way into the vocabularies of many Chinese entrepreneurs, Stirling observed. "Last year this was not a part of anyone's vocabularies," the Silion Valley data science specialist said. On May 30, Beijing hosted three top-level science and innovation conferences that would boost China to become a leading global power in science and technology. When asked about what is the best environment for creativity, Stirling believes that it is an environment that can bring together people with different background and experiences to focus on a problem. Stirling is not the only one who was impressed with China's innovation environment. After a visit to an innovation hub in Beijing, Silicon Valley angel investor and entrepreneur Cyriac Roeding was surprised by Chinese entrepreneurs' spirit, their dedication, and friendliness. He said that in 10 years Beijing may become the next center of global innovation. Roeding said in an article that he sat down with billionaire startup executives as well as entrepreneurs while in Beijing in a recent trip and was astounded by the pragmatism, motivation and innovative thinking in the Chinese tech industry. Chinese companies usually ran a 9/9/6 schedule, meaning their staff work from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week, while founders and top executives often ran a 9/11/6.5 schedule, higher than the average of their U.S. counterparts. "We pride ourselves on being fast in Silicon Valley, but Chinese startups are faster ... Meetings are anytime ... A wave of innovation is coming from China." According to Stirling, China might enter a phase where it finally "copies" the successful approach of other countries by actually "not copying" and instead goes full steam for an "innovative culture within the framework and context of China's unique history." The reason why he said this is because the three most powerful forces in China -- Government, Business and Chinese Moms -- give a push for innovation. "The next ten years will be surprising to see how this plays out," he said. Enditem BEIRUT, June 13 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) head Luciano Portolano expressed Monday satisfaction to his two-year term in office upon leaving, according to a UNIFIL statement. He paid farewell visits to several senior Lebanese officials, including Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Tammam Salam, in the capital Beirut, and said that he "felt being very close to the country, the people and the authorities." He also held phone talks with a number of military officials, taking special note of "extremely effective" coordination with the Lebanese army and other Lebanese securities in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1701 implemented in 2006. The major general is leaving the UNIFIL next month after two years at the helm of the UN peacekeeping mission. "I attach great importance to relationship with the people as one of the keys to success," he added. He went on to say that "preserving stability is in the interest of all parties and everybody is enjoying the calm that prevailed in the south (of Lebanon) in recent years." Portolano expressed content in working "hand-in-hand with such encouraging leaders" and he said that "all our personnel -- both military and civilian -- will continue working with full respect for the religious beliefs, traditions and cultural sensitivities of the host population." Launched in 1978, the UNIFIL is to help the government to restore control over southern Lebanon after the Israeli invasion. It was beefed up in 2006 after the devastating war between Israel and Hezbollah. The UNIFIL currently has around 12,000 soldiers from 35 countries. Enditem Photo taken on April 21, 2016, shows Chinese and French officials pose for a group photo in front of a freight train from Wuhan, China, upon its arrival for the first time at the freight railway station in Saint-Priest, outside Lyon, south-eastern France. A direct freight train linking Wuhan in central China and Lyon in France began operation on April 6. The train, loaded with mechanical, electronic and chemical products, exited China through Alataw Pass in Xinjiang, and pass through Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland and Germany before reaching its destination. It took 15 days to complete the 11,300-kilometer journey, slashing the usual 50 to 60 days to transport from Wuhan to France by sea. (Xinhua/Zheng Bin) LONDON, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Former British prime minister Gordon Brown and former French prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin on Monday hailed China-proposed "Belt and Road" initiative for boosting infrastructure links between East Asia and Europe. Speaking during the ongoing Sino-European Entrepreneurs Summit (SEES) here, Brown noted that Chinese leaders, while spelling out the Belt and Road initiative, "talk about the benefits of convergence -- convergence of interest and the community of interest of the rest of the world." This vision of a "world working together, integrated, interdependent, entangled" was a vision shared by European nations, he said. "The convergence of interest and the community of interest that is your view of the future of the world is absolutely and directly relevant to the development of the Silk Road," said Brown. Addressing the same event, Raffarin hailed the Belt and Road initiative as a major international infrastructure investment, saying it is a "gathering together of Asia and also an opening up." "There is a need to cooperate, no country can succeed on its own. Partnership allows opening up, which is why this conference is important for all of us," he added. Wu Jianmin, co-chairman of the SEES and a veteran diplomat from China, told an audience of several hundred Chinese and European entrepreneurs and businesspeople that he believed the timing of the summit was good. "From the Chinese perspective, after more than 38 years of reform and opening up to the outside world we are entering a new phase of opening. 2014 was a turning point because this year China's outbound investment for the first time overtook inbound investment," said Wu. "This is only the beginning because Chinese companies are going global. Chinese companies need it for their own development and the world will need Chinese investment," he added. Liu Xiaoming, Chinese ambassador to the United Kingdom, said that the Belt and Road initiative would provide "multiple benefits". Liu said that the initiative would effectively promote trade and investment cooperation between China and countries along the road, and greatly facilitate cross-border flow and integration of capital, technical knowledge, information, professional and other factors. Noting that Europe is a home to the largest concentration of advanced economies and is the biggest trading partner for China, he said, "If China and Europe can join hands and advance the belt and road initiative this would create much benefit to the world." Related: Chinese "Belt and Road" Initiative will benefit Russia, expert VLADIVOSTOK, Russia, May 31 (Xinhua) -- China's Belt and Road Initiative can benefit Russia, an economics expert said here in a recent interview with Xinhua. Oleg Timofeyev, associate professor with the Department of Economics and Management at the State University of Management, said by implementing the project with China, Moscow will be able to expand its international influence and reduce the effect of sanctions imposed by Western countries. Full story Chinese, Polish experts discuss chances brought by Belt and Road initiative KATOWICE, Poland, May 20 (Xinhua) -- Experts from Poland and China discussed Poland's role within the Belt and Road initiative during the Europe-China Economy Cooperation Forum in Katowice, southern Poland, on Friday. Microsoft under fire in China as the firm pushes users to upgrade to Windows 10 (Xinhua/file photo) SAN FRANCISCO, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Software giant Microsoft announced on Monday that it will acquire social network LinkedIn for 26.2 billion U.S. dollars, to seek new growth opportunities for its business productivity tools. Under a definitive agreement, Microsoft will buy LinkedIn for 196 dollars per share in cash and the transaction is expected to close this year. The deal, the biggest in Microsoft's history, is to bring together the world's leading professional cloud with the world's leading professional network, Microsoft said. Microsoft, which has moved its Office software from a set of productivity tools to a cloud service and now has 1.2 billion users, finds a connection with LinkedIn, which runs an online network connecting 433 million professionals worldwide. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella pointed out in an email to employees that when people find jobs, build skills, sell, market and get work done, they need a connected professional world which brings together a professional's information in LinkedIn's public network with the information in Office 365 and Dynamics. "This combination will make it possible for new experiences such as a LinkedIn newsfeed that serves up articles based on the project you are working on and Office suggesting an expert to connect with via LinkedIn to help with a task you're trying to complete," Nadella said. "As these experiences get more intelligent and delightful, the LinkedIn and Office 365 engagement will grow," he said. "And in turn, new opportunities will be created for monetization through individual and organization subscriptions and targeted advertising." Both companies believe there's a significant opportunity to accelerate LinkedIn's growth and the value it brings to its members with Microsoft's assets. "Together we can accelerate the growth of LinkedIn, as well as Microsoft Office 365 and Dynamics as we seek to empower every person and organization on the planet," Nadella said in a statement. As part of the deal, Jeff Weiner will remain CEO of LinkedIn and report to Nadella, while LinkedIn will retain its distinct brand, culture and independence. Enditem CAIRO, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Leaders of Arab countries have condemned the tragic mass shooting in the city of Orlando, Florida. In a statement, spokesman for Egypt's Foreign Ministry Ahmed Abu Zaid offered the Egyptian government's and people's condolences to the U.S. government and people, wishing speedy recovery to the injured of the "hideous attack." He expressed Egypt's solidarity with the U.S. authorities and people. The spokesman renewed Egypt's condemnation to all kinds of terror and violence, calling for an overall confrontation and an international solidarity to put an end to the phenomenon of terrorism worldwide. Also on Monday, Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Araby condemned the fatal shooting at the Florida nightclub. In a statement, al-Araby stressed the need of rallying international efforts to combat terrorism and confront attempts to ignite violence and hatred. Turkey's Foreign Ministry offered its condolences to the American people in a statement on late Sunday. Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek said in his tweeter account that "I condemn, unequivocally, the horrific terrorist attack in Orlando, as we've seen time and time again, terrorism knows no religion, creed or race." In a statement released by Emirati state news agency WAM, the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation announced its solidarity with the United States, reiterating its condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. The statement also reiterated the ministry's firm stance on the need for concerted efforts of the international community to eliminate the scourge of terrorism which is against all ethical and human values. Authorities said 50 people were killed and 53 others wounded early Sunday in a mass shooting at a popular gay nightclub in Orlando, in the southeastern U.S. state of Florida. It was the deadliest terror attack in U.S. history since the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility. Enditem VIENNA, June 13, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Li Baodong speaks during a ministerial meeting marking the 20th anniversary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), in Vienna, Austria, June 13, 2016. (Xinhua/Qian Yi) VIENNA, June 13 (Xinhua) -- China is committed to taking the path of peaceful development and advocates for complete prohibition and thorough destruction of the nuclear weapons, China's Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong said here on Monday. In the 20-year anniversary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban-Treaty (CTBT) in UN headquarter in Vienna, Li said China has made commitment on no-first-use of nuclear weapons and has unconditionally undertaken not to use or threat to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon states and nuclear free-zones. "China is committed to taking the path of peaceful development and advocates for complete prohibition and thorough destruction of nuclear weapons," Li stressed. As one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, China has always been promoting the peaceful use of the nuclear energy, voting to support the non-proliferation regime, playing a key role in resolving the Iranian nuclear issue and other nuclear related issues in the past years. "We should consolidate the political foundation of the entry-into-force of the treaty. Only common security can eradicate the root causes of the existence and proliferation," Li said. CTBT is seen as a key part of the non-proliferation regime in the international norm, which would monitor and prohibit the nuclear test worldwide, and China has always been promoting the entry-into-force of the treaty. "We should solidify the institutional guarantee of the entry-into-force of the Treaty," Li noted. To facilitate the CTBT, the preparation mission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban-Treaty organization has built monitor station all over the world to monitor possible nuclear explosion, but more work should be done to facilitate the entry into force of the treaty. by Larry Neild LONDON, June 13 (Xinhua) -- British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne warned Monday that up to 120,000 new jobs expected to be created over the next decade in the Northern Powerhouse will be at risk if Brexit wins the referendum on EU membership. Speaking at the official opening in Liverpool of the International Festival of Business, Osborne said a leave vote would cause years of "great uncertainty". Osborne said the future of the Northern Powerhouse was "on the ballot paper" in the June 23 referendum when 43 million Britons will decide if they want to stay as a member of the European Union or quit. The Chancellor said that since the Northern Powerhouse initiative was launched investment projects in northern England had increased by more than 127 percent, compared to 7 percent in London. "We can see more than 120,000 new jobs created here in the North of England in the next few years. But if we vote to quit the EU, then that will be at risk," he warned. "There will be huge uncertainty. We've had the president of the European Council say today that it will take two years to exit the EU and five years to negotiate a new relationship at least with our closest trading partners," he added. Osborne said for the businesses here and for international business, Brexit means "things are put on hold, there's a lot of uncertainty." "There are 500 million people in the single European market. We're people who reach out around the world, who shape the world, rather than be shaped by the world. That is the future at stake when we vote on June 23," he said. Over 30,000 delegates from across the world will visit the Liverpool event, over the coming three weeks, with a quarter of the overseas delegations coming from China. Osborne's warning about the threat to jobs and business came as the Remain camp in the referendum launched a concerted attack in northern England to win over millions of people in the traditional industrial heartlands of the country. Reports have shown many in what is a stronghold area for the opposition Labour Party have indicated they aim to vote to leave. All three main political parties in Britain, Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the governing Conservative Party all support staying in the EU. WASHINGTON, June 13 (Xinhua) -- What supporters of U.S. political outsider Bernie Sanders will do could be crucial for deciding who wins the White House race in 2016, experts said. Though Sanders still refused to quit the nomination race after his rival Hillary Clinton has sealed the victory, the public's attention has already shifted to what his supporters will do next or whom they are going to vote for in the 2016 presidential race. Clinton is eager to woo Sanders supporters, most of them are millennials who are fed up with politicians in Washington. They are also burdened by high student loans and are struggling to make ends meet seven years after the 2008 economic nose dive. Some experts believe the Sanders crowd may well determine the outcome of the 2016 race to the White house. "Although Bernie's name will not be on the ballot in November, his supporters could very well decide this election," Republican Strategist Ford O'Connell told Xinhua. A large number of Sanders supporters are willing to back Clinton after Sanders finally quits the campaign, a recent poll found. But up to 20 percent of Sanders supporters said they are going to support Trump. "The fact is that some (Sanders supporters) agree with Trump when it comes to trade and corporate donations in politics," O'Connell said. That's why Trump in recent weeks seems to be echoing Sanders, lambasting the political system as rigged, as Sanders often does, experts noted. "He's trying to get as many of Bernie's supporters as possible," O'Connell said. Darrell West, vice president and director of governance studies of Brookings Institution, said that Trump will seek to woo Sanders' voters, but he will not have much success. West said that that Trump's outrageous comments about women, Latinos and African-Americans will turn off young people and progressive voters and make it impossible to consolidate their support. For the Democratic Party, an upcoming threat may be the possibilities of Sanders supporters deciding to vote for the Green Party candidate, Jill Stein. That would take votes away from Clinton and could give Trump an advantage, experts said. Julian Zelizer, professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University, told Xinhua that most of Sanders supporters will support Clinton, but some of this will really depend on Sanders' attitude in the coming months. "He has the ability to make sure his followers support her, organize for her and come out to vote," Zelizer said. Still, some supporters will drop out of politics. Others will continue to fight for the causes that Sanders raised either through social movements, nonprofit organizations or electoral politics. Still, West said there is the potential for serious disruption at the Democratic convention in Philadelphia next month. The 2016 campaign has unleashed major dissatisfaction within the Democratic Party and there already have been street protests. "There could be violent encounters outside the convention from more extreme activists, and that has the potential to embarrass the party establishment. Such actions would feed into the Trump critique that things are not going well and America needs a strong leader to restore order," West said. ZAGREB, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Croatia's biggest ruling party Democratic Union (HDZ) said on Monday a vote against Prime Minister Tihomir Oreskovic would be held on Thursday and it has nominated current finance minister as prime minister-designate. The party said the parliament would vote on its motion of no confidence against Oreskovic on Thursday, but it still hoped for Oreskovic to resign himself. Oreskovic had repeated he would not step down as all accusations against him were false. He believed he would get majority support again in parliament which approved him as prime minister five months ago. Analysts here doubted HDZ could gather a new majority in parliamentary as the junior coalition MOST against the motion and call for resignation of HDZ's President Tomislav Karamarko from the position of first deputy prime minister. They believe without MOST it would be hard for HDZ to achieve the goal. HDZ named Zdravko Maric, the finance minister from the party, as the candidate for the prime minister-designate. But it was also unclear that if he could get support of 76 parliament members from a total of 151-seat assembly, analysts said. According to laws, if the government is voted out and no one enjoys a majority support for forming a new one within 30 days, Croatian President Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic has to call a early election. RAMALLAH, June 13 (Xinhua) -- The visit of the Arab League Secretary General Nabil Arabi to the West Bank scheduled on Tuesday was postponed until a further notice, an official Palestinian statement said Monday. Arabi was scheduled to visit in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Monday to hold talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Then it was postponed to Tuesday and then it was postponed until a further notice. The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Presidency announced in an official statement that the visit of Arabi was postponed until a new date for the visit is decided. It didn't clarify what was the reason for the postponement of the visit. However, a senior official speaking on condition of territories, told Xinhua that the reason for postponing the visit of the Arab League Secretary General was due to facing a difficulty in coordinating his visit to the West Bank. "All the attempts of finalizing the security coordination for Arabi's visit to the West Bank with the Israeli side had failed," said the official. Meawhile, Majd al-Khaldi, a diplomatic advisor for President Abbas told Xinhua that a specific date for the visit of Arabi to the West Bank hasn't been yet decided. Earlier, Palestinian minister of foreign affairs Reyad al-Malki told Voice of Palestine Radio that the postponement of the visit was related to the difficulties of coordination with the Israeli side to ensure the visit of Arabi to Ramallah. He said that the PNA coordinated with the Israeli side to allow a Jordanian helicopter to carry Arabi from Amman to Ramallah directly, adding that "but the Israeli side didn't give a direct and a clear answer to the Palestinian side. Arabi was scheduled to discuss with the Palestinian side the French initiative and the coordination to hold an international conference for peace in the Middle East. Enditem BRUSSELS, Jan. 29, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Photo taken on Jan. 29, 2016 shows the UK and EU flags outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker met with British Prime Minister David Cameron here on Friday. (Xinhua file photo/Ye Pingfan) by Larry Neild LONDON, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Latest polls, as Britain's referendum on continued membership of the European Union neared, sent shockwaves through business and financial circles Monday. After weeks of an almost 50-50 split in the remain and leave camps, new polls indicate a major surge towards the so-called Brexit campaign. The FTSE 100 ended the day down by 70.79 points, or 1.16 percent, at 6044.97, its lowest close since the second week in March. Sterling seesawed on Monday as investors reacted to growing uncertainty over the referendum. The British pound was volatile throughout Monday, initially slipping to an eight-week low against the U.S. dollar but later recovering to trade 0.14 percent higher at 1.4275 U.S. dollar. Against the euro, sterling ended down 0.26 percent at 1.2647. One poll indicated a 19-point leave for Brexit, prompting the London-based Daily Express to headline a story "End of EU rule FINALLY in sight". Worst still for the Remain camp, an up-to-the-minute poll released Monday night local time in Britain heaped more gloom in the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign headquarters. The new poll by ICM for the Guardian newspaper showed support for leaving the EU is strengthening, with phone and online surveys reporting a six-point lead. Of those who gave a conclusive answer, it gave leave 53 percent support, compared to Remain's 47 percent once the "don't knows" were excluded. The research was carried out over the weekend and compared to a 52-48 split two weeks ago which had also put Brexit ahead by four points. The Guardian in an editorial said the figures will make grim reading for Prime Minister David Cameron and Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, as well as the opposition Labour Party. Professor John Curtice of Strathclyde University said the poll, which is an average of a selection of polls, would now show 52 for leave and 48 for remain, with the academic saying it is the first time leave has been in such a strong position. ICM's latest research also shows the number of people still undecided has fallen to 6 percent, compared to 13 percent who declared themselves a fortnight ago as undecided. It appears that warnings about a looming catastrophe in the event of a vote on June 23 to leave Europe has had the opposite effect. A weekend opinion poll, commissioned by the Bruges Group think tank, delivered the biggest margin for Brexit so far in the campaign. Its survey found 52 percent in favor of leaving, compared to 33 percent wanting Britain to stay in the EU. Crucially around 15 percent declared they hadn't made up their minds which way to vote. Bruges Group director Robert Oulds said: "This new poll shows there are a majority of voters who prefer an economic rather than economic and political arrangement with the EU. These include people who might otherwise have voted to remain in the EU." The newspaper's own in-out poll shows 91 percent of its readers, or over 171,000 people, clicked the leave button. The first signs of a changing landscape came Friday when a poll for the Independent newspaper carried out by ORBO reported a clear lead for leave. The ORB/Independent online poll put leave on 55 percent and remain on 45 percent. With voting day just over a week away, it seems many people are either changing their minds and switching allegiances or have finally decided how they will vote. Meanwhile, the Remain campaign continued to hammer home what they say will be the consequences of Britain voting to leave Europe, warning of a "lost decade" as the country seeks new trading pacts. MADRID, June 13 (Xinhua) -- The director of the Observatory of Chinese Politics of Spain, Xulio Rios, said the key to the solution to the dispute over the South China Sea is consensus, "not unilateral arbitration. The first one brings positions closer, while the second aggravates disputes." The dispute over the South China Sea are about to enter in a new phase. It is expected that this June, the Permanent Court of Arbitration will announce the decision on the arbitration case brought by the Philippines. However, whatever the content, its legal and effective value is void because China has adhered itself to the reserve clause of the Montego Bay Convention, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), Rios said. He explained that according to articles 297 and 298, China could refuse arbitration on those issues where the country did not accept the treaty's rule, especially when affecting sovereignty issues. China did so through a Note Verbale in August 2006, addressing the UN Secretary General. According to law, the basis of any arbitration is the prior acceptance by the parties and they are the ones, with the assistance of the court, to determine a solution in order to end the conflict. If the court in The Hague cannot achieve a consensus between the parties, arbitration is useless from a strictly legal and operational point of view, as it will not provide any solution to the dispute. This means the ultimate cause of the requested decision is not legal but political. The intervention of the court in these disputes is part of a strategy to put pressure on China, which at the same time is inseparable from the growing U.S. involvement in the litigations. The increasing presence of the U.S. naval and air fleet in the area, carried out on behalf of the defense of freedom of navigation, violates the content of the Article 58.3 of the Montego Bay Convention, which stipulates that actions by third parties shall comply with the laws and regulations of the coastal country. This obligation is reiterated in Article 301. The increased frequency of activities by the United States exponentially increases the risks of military accidents, the director said. The expert also said the Hague Court has the opportunity to declare itself incompetent over various issues. He stressed that in any case, far from solving the problem, the arbitration can lead not only to a long and complicated legal battle, but also to an exacerbation of tensions in the area. He said a solution should be found as a result of bilateral negotiations. The U.S. national flag flies at half-mast at the Washington Monument to mourn the victims of the mass shooting at a nightclub in Orlando, in Washington D.C., the United States, June 13, 2016. (Xinhua/photo) ORLANDO, the United States, June 13 (Xinhua) -- The city was in mourning. Flags in front of all venues were flying half-staff, and every electronic billboard on the expressway was showing the same message: Pray for Orlando. Home to the famous Disney World and Universal theme parks, "The City Beautiful" woke up Sunday morning to its worst nightmare. Fifty people were gunned down, and at least another 53 were hospitalized. Orlando had witnessed the deadliest mass shooting in the history of the United States and the nation's worst terror attack since 9/11. "I heard gunshots around 2:05 a.m.(0605 GMT), but thought it was fireworks," said 41-year-old Keaton Chad, who lives just a block away from the nightclub Pulse, where the massacre occurred. Chad told Xinhua that the neighborhood was always nice and peaceful, and never for a moment did he think a horror like this would happen here. Pulse was one of the biggest nightclubs in town and central to the city's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community. Gunshots started when the club's weekly "Latin Night" was just wrapping up, and around 320 people were still hanging around for the last call. The "fireworks" that Chad heard were just the beginning of the bloodshed. Armed with an AR-15 assault rifle and a handgun, the assailant Omar Mateen opened fire at the people in the main hall. A three-hour standoff and hostage situation ensued, until the SWAT team shot and killed the suspect during actions to rescue the hostages. The police had sealed all entries to Pulse starting from 6:30 a.m.(1030 GMT) Sunday. Looking from a makeshift media center, a white container truck had blocked any possible view of the nightclub. A guarding officer told Xinhua that the club was a lower building and would not be accessible until the roads re-open after the crime scene was thoroughly investigated. Several miles away from the club, the Orlando Regional Medical Center was also on lockdown with a police vehicle blocking the entrance. Many of the casualties were rushed to the center after the shooting. Three regional medical facilities had accepted those who were injured for treatment, and a call to donate types O negative, O positive and AB plasma was made. Several local blood banks were flooded with people wanting to donate blood Sunday evening, despite the pouring rain. At the OneBlood blood bank, dozens of people had been lining up to donate plasma. Some of them came as early as 9 a.m.(1300 GMT). According to a blood bank worker, the blood bank was overwhelmed by more than 2,000 people who had registered to donate on Sunday. The bank had to ask donors to come back later over the next few days. "This is probably the most difficult day in the history of Orlando," said Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer in a news conference. "We need to support each other. We need to love each other, and we will not be defined by a hateful shooter. We will be defined by how we support each other," Dyer added. After nightfall, survivors, friends of the victims and members of the city's LGBT community gathered by the city's iconic Lake Eola to hold a vigil for the deceased and injured. People lit candles, wove reed leaves into roses, and put yellow chrysanthemum flowers onto the lake bank lawn. They embraced and consoled one another. "This situation was very tragic for me and a lot of my friends," said Arron Candelaria, who came and spoke at the vigil. "I want to show my faith and support my community, and I feel this community will grow bigger and better than what it already is," Candelaria said. UNITED NATIONS, June 13 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council on Monday condemned "in the strongest terms" the terrorist attack in Orlando in the U.S. state of Florida, in which 49 people were killed and 53 others wounded. "Terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security," according to the Security Council. The worst mass shooting in the U.S. history targeted persons "as a result of their sexual orientation," the 15-nation council said in a statement issued to the press here. "The members of the Security Council reiterated that any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed," said the statement. "They expressed their deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims and to the government of the United States of America. They wished a full recovery to those injured." "The members of the Security Council reiterated that any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed," said the statement. "They reaffirmed the need for all States to combat by all means, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and other obligations under international law, including international human rights law, international refugee law and international humanitarian law, threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts," the statement added. Earlier Monday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon wrote to the governor of the U.S. state of Florida and the mayor of Orlando to convey his deepest condolences to the people of Florida for the loss of life and injuries in Sunday's horrific and hateful act of terror in Orlando, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters here. In the letter, Ban said that "such violence is despicable, and contrary to the values of equality, peace and mutual respect that underpin the United Nations," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a daily news briefing here. Also on Monday, the president of the UN General Assembly, Mogens Lykketoft, expressed his "anger, outrage and deep sorrow for the victims" killed in the Sunday mass shooting in Orlando. The General Assembly president, in a separate statement, called the worst mass shooting in U.S. history by a lone gunman "a misguided and despicable act of barbarism." A gunman wielding an assault-type rife and a handgun killed at least 49 people and wounded 53 others in a nightclub in Orlando early Sunday. The Islamic State claimed the responsibility for the attack. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (Xinhua/file photo) UNITED NATIONS, June 13 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon wrote to the governor of the U.S. state of Florida and the mayor of Orlando to convey his deepest condolences for the loss of lives and injuries in Sunday's shooting in Orlando, a UN spokesman told reporters here Monday. In the letter, Ban said that "such violence is despicable, and contrary to the values of equality, peace and mutual respect that underpin the United Nations," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a daily news briefing here. "At this time of shock and sorrow, he added, the UN stands in solidarity with the families of the victims and with the people of the United States," the spokesman said. Earlier Monday, the president of the UN General Assembly, Mogens Lykketoft, expressed his "anger, outrage and deep sorrow for the victims" killed in the Sunday mass shooting in Orlando. The General Assembly president, in a separate statement, called the worst mass shooting in U.S. history by a lone gunman "a misguided and despicable act of barbarism." Also on Monday, the UN high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, spoke in Geneva and said that he "condemned with the greatest possible force the outrageous attacks by violent extremists on innocent people, chosen at random, or because of their presumed beliefs, or opinions, or -- as we saw yesterday -- their sexual orientation," Dujarric said. The deputy UN secretary-general, Jan Eliasson, expressed the hope in Geneva on Monday that the Orlando shooting would not prompt hate crimes, the spokesman said, adding that Eliasson said that "we need to exercise restraint and make sure that we are not provoked." "The deputy secretary-general said that the intention of those who carry out such attacks is to scare and divide people and that we need to be strong in standing up for our own values and for every human being's equal worth," the spokesman added. A gunman wielding an assault-type rife and a handgun killed at least 50 people and wounded 53 others in a nightclub in Orlando early Sunday. The Islamic State claimed the responsibility for the attack. Microsoft under fire in China as the firm pushes users to upgrade to Windows 10 (Xinhua/file photo) SAN FRANCISCO, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Computer software giant Microsoft Corporation announced on Monday that it will acquire business-oriented social networking service LinkedIn Corporation for 26.2 billion U.S. dollars, to seek new growth opportunities for its business productivity tools. Under a definitive agreement, Microsoft, once the world's No. 1 software giant for personal computer (PC) and now a multinational technology company, headquartered in Richmond, Washington, will buy LinkedIn, based in Mountain View, California, for 196 dollars per share in cash and the transaction is expected to close this year. In Microsoft Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Satya Nadella's words, the deal, the biggest since he assumed the position in early 2014, is to bring together the world's leading professional cloud with the world's leading professional network. Microsoft, which has moved its Office application suite from a set of PC productivity tools to a cloud service known as Office 365 and now has 1.2 billion users, finds a connection with LinkedIn, which runs an online network connecting more than 400 million professionals worldwide. "We are in pursuit of a common mission centered on empowering people and organizations," Nadella explained in an email to employees. "Along with the new growth in our Office 365 commercial and Dynamics businesses, this deal is key to our bold ambition to reinvent productivity and business processes." Microsoft Dynamics offers businesses an integrated productivity solution. Nadella said when people find jobs, build skills, sell, market and get work done, they need a connected professional world which brings together a professional's information in LinkedIn's public network with the information in Office 365 and Dynamics. About LinkedIn's growth and strength, Microsoft listed a number of parameters registered in the past year: -- 19 percent growth year over year (YOY) to more than 433 million members worldwide; -- 9 percent growth YOY to more than 105 million unique visiting members per month; -- 49 percent growth YOY to 60 percent mobile usage; -- 34 percent growth YOY to more than 45 billion quarterly member page views; -- 101 percent growth YOY to more than 7 million active job listings. "The LinkedIn team has grown a fantastic business centered on connecting the world's professionals," Nadella said. Microsoft was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975. Over years, it has been dominating the PC operation system market, with DOS in the mid-1980s and Windows since mid-1990s. However, as the world goes mobile and PC market shrinks worldwide, Microsoft has been working hard to catch up the trend and keep itself relevant. It reported 93.58 billion dollars in revenue in 2015. Linkedin was founded in 2002. As of 2015, most of the company's revenue, reportedly 2.99 billion dollars, came from selling access to information about its users to recruiters and sales professionals. The transaction between the two has been approved by the boards of directors of both LinkedIn and Microsoft. As part of the deal, Jeff Weiner will remain CEO of LinkedIn and report to Nadella, while LinkedIn will retain its brand, culture and independence. "Just as we have changed the way the world connects to opportunity, this relationship with Microsoft, and the combination of their cloud and LinkedIn's network, now gives us a chance to also change the way the world works," Weiner said. "For the last 13 years, we've been uniquely positioned to connect professionals to make them more productive and successful, and I'm looking forward to leading our team through the next chapter of our story." UNITED NATIONS, June 13 (Xinhua) -- The World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday stressed that voluntary, unpaid blood donations must be increased rapidly in more than half of the world's countries, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters here. WHO made statement ahead of World Blood Donor Day, which falls on June 14, Dujarric said at a daily news briefing here. Nearly 50 percent of blood donations are collected in high-income countries, home to less than 20 percent of the world's population, Dujarric noted. "WHO encouraged all countries to establish blood services based on full voluntary non-remunerated blood donations," he said. Today, only 62 countries get close to 100 percent of their national blood supplies from voluntary unpaid blood donations, with 34 countries still dependent on family donors and even paid donors for more than 75 percent of their blood supply, he added. The theme of this year's World Blood Donor Day is "Blood connects us all." It focuses on thanking blood donors. Every year on June 14, countries around the world celebrate World Blood Donor Day. The event, established in 2004, serves to raise awareness of the need for safe blood and blood products, and to thank blood donors for their voluntary, life-saving gifts of blood. World Blood Donor Day is one of eight official global public health campaigns marked by WHO, along with World Health Day, World Tuberculosis Day, World Immunization Week, World Malaria Day, World No Tobacco Day, World Hepatitis Day, and World AIDS Day. WASHINGTON, June 13 (Xinhua) -- If you have trouble learning a new language as an adult, maybe you can blame your genes and brain structure, a U.S. study suggested Monday. The study by researchers at the University of Washington showed that genetic variations of the so-called COMT gene and a measure of the strength of the brain's communications network -- known as "white matter"-- jointly accounted for 46 percent of the reason for why some college students performed better than others in the second language class. "We are interested in understanding why individuals learn differently, including those who perform well and those who perform poorly," said lead author Ping Mamiya, a research scientist at the UW's Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences (I-LABS). "Our study shows for the first time that variations of the COMT gene are related to changes in the brain's white matter that are the result of learning," Mamiya said. The research, published in the U.S. journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, recruited first-year college students -- 20-years-old on average -- who had just arrived in the United States from China. The 79 volunteers in the study had passed the university's minimum English requirement, and 44 of them immediately entered a three-week immersion class intended to help international students improve their English skills. Over the course of the three-week language class and up to eight days after the class ended, the researchers performed brain scans of all the students, including a control group who had also just arrived from China but did not get into the class. The researchers used an MRI technique called diffusion tensor imaging, which gives clues about the structure of the brain's connections. Better structure helps signals transfer across the brain, which may lead to better learning. The brain scans suggested that within a day of the immersive English training, white matter had already begun to change. Overall, foreign language exposure increased the connectivity of the brain's language circuitry, which went up over the course of the three-week training, and then reversed after the training ended. Using DNA samples taken from the students, the researchers found that two specific forms of the COMT gene were linked to greater success in learning a second language by increasing brain connectivity. "Humans' abilities in learning any particular skill vary tremendously, and we want to know why," said co-author Patricia Kuhl, co-director of I-LABS. "Knowing why answers a basic science question about how the environment, our genes, and our brains really work, but could also lead to interventions that improve learning." UNITED NATIONS, June 13 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations on Monday said that an estimated 40,000 people have been displaced since the June 3 attack reportedly by Boko Haram in Niger's town of Bosso in the West African country's border with Nigeria. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that the security situation in Niger's Bosso area remains volatile following the deadly attack, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters here. Since June 7, authorities and humanitarian partners have been progressively conducting assessments and delivering assistance in accessible areas, the spokesman said. "They have, so far, distributed water and high energy biscuit and provided ambulatory health care." However, only 25 percent of the required 74 million U.S. dollars needed for assistance in the Diffa region have been mobilized so far, he said. "Emergency stocks have been diverted from other programs to provide lifesaving assistance." "Aid organizations warn that additional resources are urgently required and must be made available immediately to prevent a humanitarian disaster," he said. The eastern part of Niger, close to the border with Nigeria, has witnessed since February 2015 repeated attacks launched by Boko Haram, who has claimed the lives of hundreds of Nigerien civilians and soldiers, the group has also displaced thousands of Nigerians as well as Nigeriens. by Matthew Rusling WASHINGTON, June 13 (Xinhua) -- After the mass shooting incident in Florida, terrorism and gun control will likely become major issues in the 2016 U.S. presidential race. In one of the worst terror attacks in U.S. history, 49 people were killed and 53 others were wounded Sunday at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. The gunman, Omar Mateen, had allegedly pledged allegiance to the teror group Islamic State (IS) -- the brutal terror group that has overtaken vast swaths of Syria and Iraq and unleashed a deadly attack on Paris last year that killed scores of people. President Barack Obama said Monday it appeared that Mateen was motivated by extremist propaganda online as no evidence was found about his direct link with radical groups. The attack occurred in the lead up of the 2016 race for the White House, and experts said the terror strike will have a major impact on the elections, with gun control and terrorism -- and U.S. foreign policy by extension -- expected to take center stage in the months leading up to November, when Americans will cast their ballots for the new commander-in-chief. Even so, two competing narratives are already emerging, with the left touting what they say is a need for more gun control and the right calling for more action against Islamic radicalism. In a speech from her campaign trail on Monday, Democratic presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton talked about the need to tackle terrorism, but emphasized what she billed as a need for more gun control. While noting that the shooter had pledged allegiance to IS, she added that his motives remain unknown. "There's a lot we still don't know, including what other mix of motives drove him to kill," she said. Later the same day, Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump spoke from his campaign trail in the state of New Hampshire, saying he would "suspend immigration" from parts of the world where there is a proven link between that country and terrorism. Expressing disdain for what he called the "current politically correct response," he said political correctness inhibits the United States from responding fast and clearly. In response to those who believe that stricter firearms laws will keep Americans safer, the bombastic billionaire noted that while France has very strict gun control laws, scores were killed in the deadly terror in Paris last year. Trump added that more gun control would be tantamount to disarming law-abiding Americans and leaving them more vulnerable to terrorist attacks. Radical Islam is "anti-woman, anti-gay, and anti-American," he said, adding that he refuses to live in a country where Christians, gays, Jews and others are targeted by radical Islam. Reiterating his calls for an overhaul of the immigration system, he said the current "dysfunctional" immigration system does not "permit us to protect our citizens properly." Trump's message is likely to boost his ratings with his supporters and be slammed by Clinton supporters, but the question remains whether the brash billionaire will get a boost in his ratings overall. Darrell West, vice president and director of governance studies of the Brookings Institution, said that last year's Paris attacks boosted Trump by highlighting his warnings about the threat of Islamic terrorism. "The current attack reinforces his message that the world is a dangerous place and America needs a strong leader who can restore order amidst the chaos," he said. Experts said the attack shifts the focus from Trump's controversial remarks against Latinos and Muslims, as well as his perceived bad business dealings. "It puts the attention back on terrorism, which is advantageous for him," West said. "Trump will say Democrats are weak on terrorism while Clinton will point to the dangers of assault weapons. Congress will continue to do nothing and America will have more tragic shootings," he added. But, Julian Zelizer, professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University, said it is not inevitable for Trump to get a boost from the Florida attack. "I don't think that is inevitable. It helps in that it shifted news focus away from the negative stories from last week," he said. "But this raises the question that Hillary Clinton wants to be front and center of -- do you really trust Donald Trump to be in power during moments of crises? Many Americans will have doubts," he added. HAVANA, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Fishing enthusiasts from 10 countries and regions converged on Cuba for the opening of the 66th Ernest Hemingway International Billfishing Tournament on Monday. This year's competition was set "to be the most attended edition" ever, the organizer of the event, Commodore Jose Miguel Diaz Escrich, told Cuban news agency Prensa Latina (PL). Diaz, who heads the Hemingway Yacht Club at Havana's Hemingway Marina, said some 80 boats were competing, mostly from the United States, but also from Italy, France, Spain and other countries and regions. Restored diplomatic ties between Cuba and the U.S. have encouraged more U.S. teams to participate in the event. Americans first took part in the tournament in 2015, after an absence of 35 years, following the two governments' decision to normalize ties. The competition "is one of the oldest tournaments of its kind and was founded by the American writer, who lived more than 20 years in Cuba," the agency added. Competitors use the so-called "tag and release" method approved by the International Game Fish Association (IGFA) to which Cuba belongs, to protect the species and ecosystem. Enditem HAVANA, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Cuban President Raul Castro on Monday condemned the Orlando mass shooting that killed 49 victims, expressing solidarity with the families of the victims, the U.S. people and government. "The Cuban people and government express their condolences and solidarity with the families of the victims," Castro said in a message to U.S. President Barack Obama. The letter, published by Havana's Foreign Affairs Ministry, is the first of its kind sent by Castro to Obama since the two nations re-established diplomatic relations in 2015. "Cuba rejects and unequivocally condemns all acts of terrorism or hate anywhere, under any circumstances and whatever the motives may be," Castro said. The mass shooting took place in early Sunday at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Some 53 people were also wounded, including a police officer. Dubbed Pride Month, June was widely celebrated among the LGBT communities. The nightclub Pulse was one of Orlando's most well-known venues that hosts nightly LGBT-themed performances as well as a monthly program of LGBT-related educational events. Obama said that the Orlando shooting is an "act of terror and an act of hate" in a national address in Washington on Sunday afternoon. He said authorities should spare no effort to determine whether the killer had any ties to extremist groups. The White House on Monday called the shooting "homegrown extremism," and said it appeared that the shooter was motivated by extremist propaganda online as no evidence was found about his direct link with radical groups. U.S. news sources said Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old U.S. national of Afghan origin, had been investigated by the FBI in 2013 and 2014 for possible connection to extremists. UNITED NATIONS, June 13 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Security Council on Monday condemned "in the strongest terms" the mass shooting in Orlando, which it said targeted "persons as a result of their sexual orientation." "The members of the Security Council reiterated that any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed," said French Ambassador Francois Delattre, Security Council president for June. Authorities said 49 people were killed and 53 others wounded, including a police officer, early Sunday in a mass shooting at a popular gay nightclub in Orlando, in the southeastern U.S. state of Florida. That did not include the gunman, who was killed in the shootout with the police. It was the deadliest terror attack in U.S. history since the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility. President Barack Obama said Monday it appeared that Mateen was motivated by extremist propaganda online as no evidence was found about his direct link with radical groups. Earlier on Monday, General Assembly President Mogens Lykketoft expressed his "anger, outrage and deep sorrow" for the victims killed in the mass shooting, said a statement issued by his spokesperson. Calling the attack "a misguided and despicable act of barbarism," Lykketoft called on governments to commit to supporting even stronger global, national and local efforts to prevent the spread of hatred and violent extremism. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon wrote to the governor of the U.S. state of Florida and the mayor of Orlando to convey his deepest condolences for the loss of lives and injuries in Sunday's shooting in Orlando that targeted the LGBT community, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told a daily briefing. In the letter, Ban said that "such violence is despicable, and contrary to the values of equality, peace and mutual respect that underpin the United Nations," said Dujarric. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein also condemned "with the greatest possible force" the attacks by violent extremists on innocent people because of their presumed beliefs, opinions, or sexual orientation, Dujarric told reporters. UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson said the intention of those who carry out such attacks is to scare and divide people, according to the spokesperson. He also underscored the need to be strong in standing up "out own values" and for every human being's equal worth. LOS ANGELES, June. 13 (Xinhua) -- Microsoft officially confirmed on Monday a slimmer version of its gaming machine Xbox One will be launch in August. Dubbed the Xbox One S, the new console will be 40 percent smaller than the existing model, Xbox One, making it the smallest gaming machine Microsoft has produced, the company announced here at E3 Expo. The company said out of a new visual design, "the sleekest, most advanced Xbox ever" also comes with 4K Ultra HD video support and High Dynamic Range capabilities for both gaming and video, among other new features. The new Xbox One S also comes with a slightly redesigned controller, featuring textured grip, increased wireless range, and Bluetooth support. The company also announced another new console, Project Scorpio, which will offer virtual reality and 4K gaming. The console will be backwards compatible with both the Xbox One and Xbox One S, existing alongside both simultaneously. File photo of Raul Castro, president of Cuba's Council of State and the Council of Ministers. Raul Castro speaks at the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly, at the United Nations headquarters in New York, the United States, on Sept. 28, 2015. (Xinhua/Li Muzi) HAVANA, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Cuban President Raul Castro on Monday condemned the Orlando mass shooting that killed 49 victims, expressing solidarity with the families of the victims, the U.S. people and government. "The Cuban people and government express their condolences and solidarity with the families of the victims," Castro said in a message to U.S. President Barack Obama. The letter, published by Havana's Foreign Affairs Ministry, is the first of its kind sent by Castro to Obama since the two nations re-established diplomatic relations in 2015. "Cuba rejects and unequivocally condemns all acts of terrorism or hate anywhere, under any circumstances and whatever the motives may be," Castro said. The mass shooting took place in early Sunday at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Some 53 people were also wounded, including a police officer. Dubbed Pride Month, June was widely celebrated among the LGBT communities. The nightclub Pulse was one of Orlando's most well-known venues that hosts nightly LGBT-themed performances as well as a monthly program of LGBT-related educational events. Obama said that the Orlando shooting is an "act of terror and an act of hate" in a national address in Washington on Sunday afternoon. He said authorities should spare no effort to determine whether the killer had any ties to extremist groups. The White House on Monday called the shooting "homegrown extremism," and said it appeared that the shooter was motivated by extremist propaganda online as no evidence was found about his direct link with radical groups. U.S. news sources said Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old U.S. national of Afghan origin, had been investigated by the FBI in 2013 and 2014 for possible connection to extremists. SYDNEY, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Foreign property buyers will be slugged a 4 percent charge on stamp duty when purchasing residential real estate in New South Wales (NSW) state, the state government announced on Tuesday. A 0.75 percent land tax surcharge will also be introduced for foreign buyers, with both changes taking affect in 2017. The changes are expected to raise just over 1 billion Australian dollars (738 million U.S. dollars) over four years. "These new measures will ensure NSW's property market continues to be an attractive destination for international investors while making sure that we are able to fund vital services into the future," NSW state treasurer Gladys Berejiklian said. Foreign investors will be slugged 7 percent on residential stamp duty in Victoria state from July 1 as well as be hit with a 1.6 percent surcharge on some land tax. "The Victorian experience has demonstrated that the measures have not had an adverse impact on the property market." She also noted foreign investors will no longer be entitled to the 12 month deferral for the payment of stamp duty for off-the-plan purchases of residential property. The Queensland state government also announced recently it would put a 3 percent surcharge on foreign property investors. SYDNEY, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Australians have joined those around the world to honour the victims of a mass shooting at a gay nightlight in Orlando, the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history, the ABC reported on Tuesday. Some 50 people were killed and another 53 injured after a heavily armed gunman opened fire at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida. The Sydney Harbor Bridge was lit up in colors of the rainbow on Monday evening, in a show of solidarity. Brisbane's Story Bridge was also lit up in similar colors. Around 400 people attended a candlelight vigil in Sydney where a number of people spoke out in horror about what had occurred. "It was a hate crime, and it was due to a lack of understanding and the way that I take it is, if we have knowledge within our community and we teach people and educate people on what is OK and isn't OK, things like this wouldn't occur," attendee Erin Young told the ABC. Iconic buildings around the world such as the Eiffel Tower also lit up in the colour of the American flat to show their support. Jeff Prystajko, director of communications at Orlando-based non-profit group Come Out With Pride in Florida told the ABC that everyone in the local gay community would be affected by the shooting. "We are such a tight-knit community. We are all going to know people who knew people who were victims here. For everyone here it was a very tragic and senseless day. Wish we could turn it back," Prystajko said. The shooting coincides with LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersexed) Pride Month in the United States. NEW YORK, June 13 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday met with the two pilots of a solar-powered plane on their global-circling voyage, hailing innovation and experimentation for a more sustainable future. "I have followed this audacious, historic and transformative expedition from day one," Ban said when meeting with Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg, pilots of the Solar Impulse 2, at John F. Kennedy International Airport, during the expedition's stopover in New York City. "As we see before us, innovation and experimentation will help us move into a sustainable future," said Ban, noting that "the plane's technologies can help halve the world's energy consumption, save natural resources and improve our quality of life." The Solar Impulse 2, the spindly, single-seat experimental aircraft the size of a 747 with the weight of a car and the power of a small motorcycle, uses no fossil fuels and has no emissions. Its 35,000-km round-the-world journey began in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates in March 2015. It made stops in countries including Oman, India, China and Japan. New York City is its 14th stop around the world. BEIJING, June 14 (Xinhua) -- The number of people living in poverty in rural areas was reduced by 66.63 million from 2012 to 2015, said a government report released on Tuesday. China formulated the 12th Five-year Plan for Poverty Reduction Village By Village. By 2015, poverty alleviation projects covering 30,000 villages had been implemented, according to the report assessing the implementation of Human Rights Action Plan, which was released by the State Council Information Office. Total Investment reached 144.569 billion yuan (22 bln U.S. dollars), an average of 4.8 million yuan for each village, it said. From 2012 to 2015, the increase of residents' per capita disposable income surpassed the growth rate of GDP of the same period. The annual growth rate of the per-capita disposal income of urban residents and per-capita net income of rural residents were 7.5 percent and 9.2 percent respectively, the report said. During the same period, the State Development and Reform Commission allocated 21 billion yuan from the central budget for relocation of impoverished residents, which brought about an additional more than 200 billion yuan in local government input and various other investments, the report said, adding that about 8 million people in poverty have been relocated. The central government also allocated 771.7 billion yuan to support affordable housing projects, the report said. Equal rights to employment have been guaranteed. In 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015, 12.66 million, 13.1 million, 13.22 million and 13.12 million new urban jobs were created respectively, according to the report. The registered urban unemployment rate was kept within 4.1 percent, lower than the 5 percent target. The basic medical insurance coverage has been extended to all citizens, with the rate of participation surpassing 95 percent. It also underlined that an equal right to education for relocated children of migrant workers has been safeguarded. From 2012 to 2015, the central government allocated 34.6 billion yuan to enable nearly 90 percent of relocated children of migrant workers in cities to obtain government support. BEIJING, June 14, 2016 (Xinhua) -- The Sum-up Meeting on the Assessment of the Implementation of the National Human Rights Action Plan of China (2012-2015) is held in Beijing, capital of China, June 14, 2016. The Chinese government on Tuesday released a report reviewing the human rights progress from 2012 to 2015 and promising harder effort in the future. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai) BEIJING, June 14 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese government on Tuesday released a report reviewing the human rights progress from 2012 to 2015 and promising harder effort in the future. China launched the National Human Rights Action Plan (2012-2015) in June 2012, the second of its kind, following one from 2009 to 2010. Major targets and tasks set by the plan had been fulfilled as scheduled by the end of 2015, says the report issued by the State Council Information Office. About 48 percent of the binding targets and over 50 percent of the targets concerning the people's livelihood had been met ahead of time or exceeded, thus realizing the comprehensive implementation of the plan, the report says. "The Communist Party of China and the Chinese government incorporated the principle of universality of human rights into China's national conditions...successfully charting a path of human rights development suiting China's national conditions," the report says. Fulfilling the plan as scheduled fully demonstrates the commitment and confidence of the Party and government to promote the human rights cause in a coordinated and orderly way and the huge advantage of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, it says. However, the report admits that the government is keenly aware of many challenges in this aspect, for instance, China's economic development mode is still crude and it is still fraught with problems from unbalanced, uncoordinated and unsustainable development. The country is still struggling to deal with a big gap between urban and rural areas as well as problems of immediate concern to the people's welfare including medical care, education, old age care, food and drug safety, income distribution and environment. "There is still a long way to go to realize higher-level protection of human rights in China and hard efforts must be made," it says. IMPROVEMENT OF PEOPLE'S WELFARE From 2012 to 2015, faced with a complex international situation and the challenging tasks of pushing reform and maintaining stability, the government has pushed for more efficient, fairer and more sustainable growth and worked to ensure that all people benefit from reform and development. Compared with the average 7.4-percent annual growth of gross domestic product (GDP) from 2012 to 2015, the per capita disposable income of urban residents increased by 7.5 percent and the per capita net income for rural residents increased by 9.2 percent annually. A total of 66.63 million people in rural areas were lifted out of poverty. Ordinary citizens have enjoyed more comprehensive social security programs and better public services, while more efforts were made to realize equal access to education and address pollution. The rights and interests of ethnic minorities, women, children, the elderly and people with disabilities have also been further guaranteed. PROMOTING RULE OF LAW Efforts have been made to improve government transparency, through computer and Internet technologies, to realize people's rights to be informed, express their opinion, participate in state affairs and oversee the government. Judicial reforms were smoothly pushed forwards to improve transparency of judicial agencies, streamline legal proceedings under the principles such as "innocence until proven guilty" and guarantee lawyers' rights. Efforts were made to correct wrong convictions and ensure judicial departments to perform their duties independently in accordance with the law. In December 2013, China abolished the system of reeducation through labor. In 2015, about 30,000 imprisoned criminals in four categories were pardoned under an amnesty. The latest revision to the Criminal Law, adopted in 2015, removed the death penalty for nine crimes, reducing the number of crimes on which the death penalty is applicable from 55 to 46. RELIGIOUS FREEDOM From 2012 to 2015, the government canceled or adjusted 12 items subject for administrative approval about religious affairs. In the four years, a total of 200 million yuan (30.53 million U.S.dollars) was spent on renovation and expansion projects of religious facilities in Tibet. By the end of 2015, 87 temples in Yushu of northwest China's Qinghai Province damaged in a major earthquake in 2010, were fully rebuilt. From 2012 to 2015, the government allocated nearly 15 million yuan to support and assist repair and preservation of mosques and historic religious sites. Religious workers have been fully covered by social security programs. By 2013, 96.5 percent of them have had medical insurance and 89.62 percent have had pension schemes. JOINING INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS EFFORT From 2012 to 2015, China has maintained constructive dialogues with several treaty bodies on its implementation of international conventions about human rights. In 2014, China participated and passed the second round of the UN Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review. It also took an active part in multilateral human rights meetings hosted by the third committee of UN General Assembly and the UN Human Rights Council. From 2012 to 2015, the country held more than 20 human rights dialogues with the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia and Switzerland, as well as more than 10 human rights consultations and exchanges with countries including Russia, Brazil, Pakistan and Cuba. MANILA, June 14 (Xinhu) -- The Philippine government strongly condemned on Tuesday the murder of Canadian hostage Robert Hall by the Abu Sayyaf group. Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said the government extends its deepest sympathy and condolences to Hall's bereaved family. Hall was the second Canadian hostage beheaded by the Abu Sayyaf in a span of almost two months after failure to pay ransom. Mining executive John Ridsdel was killed in April. The two were among the four hostages seized by the militants in a resort in Samal Island, Davao del Norte in September last year. The two remaining victims on the hands of the Abu Sayyaf are Norwegian national Kjartan Sekkingstad and female Filipino Marites Flor. Coloma said Hall's death "serves to strengthen our government's resolve to put an end to this reign of terror and banditry." He noted that for the past two months, the military and the police have waged continuing operations that have degraded the capability of the militants and limited their movements. The Aquino administration also thanked the Canadian government and people for their steadfast support and understanding which has been extremely helpful in the government's determined efforts to end the decades-old problem. "We truly regret that our people's cherished tradition of extending gracious hospitality toward foreign nationals has been marred by a small band of criminals whose despicable actions have been abetted by the extortion of ransom from their previous victims," Coloma said. Hall was beheaded after the deadline of 3:00 p.m. local time Monday lapsed without any ransom paid to the Abu Sayyaf. The bandits were reportedly asking 300 million pesos as ransom for each of the hostages. The Abu Sayyaf leaders have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State roup, but analysts say it is more focused on kidnappings for ransom than setting up a caliphate. (2) Women's rights Figure 1: Proportions of females in various-level people's congresses and people's political consultative conferences Women enjoy the chance to participate on an equal footing with men in the management of state and social affairs. Female deputies account for 23.4 percent of all deputies in the 12th NPC, 2.07 percentage points higher than the previous congress. There are 25 female members in the12th NPC Standing Committee, accounting for 15.5 percent of all members. There are 399 female members in the 12th CPPCC, accounting for 17.84 percent of the total. Women deputies who served their tenures from 2011 to 2013 accounted for 24.76 percent of all deputies in the provincial people's congresses, and female members accounted for 22.22 percent in the provincial people's political consultative conferences. In 2015, the proportion of females in the leadership of provincial governments increased notably from that in 2012. In 2014, females in enterprises made up 40.1 percent and 41.5 percent of the members on boards of directors and boards of supervisors, respectively. Women enjoy the equal right with men to employment. The state implemented the same-age retirement policy for both cadres of section rank in authority organs and public institutions and technical personnel with senior professional titles. In 2014, female employees accounted for 44.8 percent of all people employed across the country. The state implemented an interest-deducted small loan policy, where the government pays part of the interest, to encourage women's employment and self-employment. Since 2009, it has provided 260.704 billion yuan in guaranteed loans for startups, with subsidized interest payments, to aid nearly 10 million women to start businesses or find a job. The freedom of women in rural areas to enjoy land rights in accordance with the law is basically guaranteed. The state carried out legal publicity and training in grassroots village committees and strengthened the efforts to file, review and rectify village regulations and folk rules. In the process of determining and registering the right to land contracting and management, and in the process of issuing certificates concerning this right, women's rights to land were reflected through registration books and real estate ownership certificates. The level of health services for women has been raised continuously. In April 2012, the State Council promulgated the Special Rules on the Labor Protection of Female Employees, revising and improving some items including the scope of application and range of forbidden labor, as well as extending statutory maternity leave to 98 days. In 2015, maternity insurance covered 77.12 million women across the country and per capita treatment expenditure reached 16,456 yuan, 2,000 yuan more than in 2014. In 2015, 12.05 million couples who wanted to have babies received free physical tests, with the average coverage rate in target groups amounting to 96.5 percent. During the period of 2011-2015, nearly 50 million pregnant women in rural areas received hospital delivery subsidies, and the rate of women in the countryside giving birth in hospitals increased from 97.8 percent in 2010 to 99.5 percent in 2015. The maternal mortality rate lowered from 30 out of 100,000 in 2010 to 20.1 in every 100,000 in 2015. By the end of 2015, 51.95 million and 7.47 million rural women had free tests for cervical cancer and breast cancer, respectively. The state legislated to protect women from domestic violence. On December 27, 2015, the NPC Standing Committee approved the Anti-domestic Violence Law, in which systems, such as police cautions, writ of habeas corpus and mandatory reporting, were specially set up. The Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Justice jointly issued the Opinions on Handling Domestic Violence Cases in Accordance with the Law, so as to intensify the prompt judicial intervention in domestic violence. From 2014 to 2015, the Supreme People's Court published a total of 15 typical cases related to domestic violence. Some local public security organs and courts effectively prevented and stopped domestic violence in a timely way by actively exploring and using police cautions and personal safety protection orders. The state has made headway in cracking down on the crimes of abduction and trafficking of women. The General Office of the State Council published China's Action Plan Against Human Abducting and Trafficking (2013-2020) in order to strengthen efforts to crack down on such crimes. From 2014 to 2015, a total of 2,412 cases of abducting and trafficking women were cleared up by public security organs. China also launched campaigns against cross-border crimes of abducting and trafficking women, promoting cooperation processes with six Mekong River Sub-region countries. (3) Children's rights Children's right to health is effectively guaranteed. The mortality rate of infants reduced from 13.1 out of 1,000 in 2010 to 8.1 in 2015. And the mortality rate of children under the age of five was 10.7 out of 1,000, 5.7 points lower than in 2010. In 2014, the incidence rates of low weight in infants and children under the age of five were 2.64 percent and 1.49 percent, respectively, with the expected goals achieved ahead of schedule. Over 97 percent of children were vaccinated in the national immunization program. In 2014, the average vaccination rate exceeded 99 percent going forward. The state has steadily implemented a nutrition enhancement program for students receiving compulsory education in rural areas. By the end of October 2015, the national pilot program was launched in 699 concentrated destitute counties in 22 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government), benefiting 21.1516 million students. Also by the same time, the program was carried out on a local trial basis in 673 counties in 23 provinces, benefiting 10.9078 million students. The situation regarding school buses and campus safety has been continuously improved. A series of normative documents, including the Regulation on School Bus Safety Management formulated by the State Council and the Standard for Compulsory Education School Management set up by the Ministry of Education, have been promulgated since 2012. By the end of 2015, a total of 37 pilot zones on safety education had been set up throughout the country, covering 128,000 schools with 52 million students. Left-behind children are taken good care of. The central government supported the implementation of the "Pilot Project on Community Care Services for Rural Left-behind Children," benefiting more than 200,000 left-behind children. It has collected 67 million yuan in social charity funds to aid the establishment of 670 "Happy Homes for Children" across the country since 2014. A series of care activities, including acting parents, twinning and help for children in need, was carried out, benefiting 13.129 million such children. Female minors' rights are further protected. The Amendment (IX) to the Criminal Law abolished the crime of prostituting female minors under the age of 14, improving the legal system on protecting female minors from sexual abuse. The state continues to launch special operations to combat attempts to identify the sex of a fetus other than for medical purposes and attempts to terminate a pregnancy once the sex of a fetus identified is not desired. In 2015, in terms of the gender ratio, for every 100 females there were 113.5 males, the seventh narrowing of the gap in a row since 2009. Efforts to protect and support minors have been further intensified. By the end of 2015, there were 1,605 welfare institutions for children and 407 independent relief and protection agencies for minors nationwide, both of which increased substantially over the same period in 2012. In 2015, 23,000 orphans with disabilities were adopted by families, accounting for 4.4 percent of all such orphans, and a total of 149,700 children across the country were provided with relief. The state made sure that children affected by AIDS/HIV related illnesses can learn or continue their study at school without being affected by family difficulties. It has made efforts to protect the privacy of AIDS/HIV-affected children and prevent them from any form of discrimination. The Amendment (IX) to the Criminal Law strengthened criminal punishment for buyers of abducted women and children, and those engaged in any activity concerning the buying of abducted women and children will be held criminally responsible. By the end of 2015, the national anti-trafficking DNA database had helped over 4,000 missing children find their parents. From 2014 to 2015, the state solved 2,216 cases of trafficking in children. The Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate and related departments successively promulgated the Opinions on Punishing the Crime of Sexual Assault against Minors and the Opinions on Legally Handling Several Issues on Guardians' Infringement upon the Rights and Interests of Minors, so as to beef up judicial protection on juveniles. The state implemented the Provisions on the Prohibition of Using Child Labor, and further intensified efforts to safeguard children's rights and interests in the field of labor. (more) IV. Rights of Ethnic Minorities, Women, Children, the Elderly and People with Disabilities From 2012 to 2015, China has taken measures to effectively protect the rights and interests of ethnic minorities, women, children, the elderly and people with disabilities, and basically achieved the planned goals. (1) Rights of ethnic minorities The right of ethnic minorities to participate on an equal footing in the management of state and social affairs has been protected in accordance with the law. All 55 ethnic-minority groups in China have representatives in the National People's Congress. All the ethnic-minority groups with a population of more than one million have members on the NPC Standing Committee. In each of the 155 ethnic autonomous areas, among the chairpersons and vice-chairpersons of the standing committee of the people's congresses there was one or more citizens of the ethnic group or groups exercising regional autonomy in the area concerned, and the head of any autonomous region, autonomous prefecture or autonomous county (banner) has to be a citizen of the ethnic group exercising regional autonomy in the area concerned. The proportion of ethnic minority civil servants in the national total has surpassed that of the ethnic minority population in the national total. Cultivation of ethnic minority talents has steadily progressed. Since 2012, relevant state organs have selected more than 2,100 cadres from Western China and other ethnic regions and dispatched them to organs of the CPC Central Committee and the state as well as to regions with a comparatively prosperous economy where they assume a temporary post for personal training and development. The state carried out "Light of the West", "The Special Cultivation Plan for Leading Professionals of Science and Technology in Ethnic Minority Regions" and other major talent development policies and projects, training more than 3,000 technological professionals for Tibet, Xinjiang and other western regions. Medical undergraduate students expected to provide general practices in targeted ethnic minority regions are educated free of charge, with the government offering a subsidy at a standard rate of 6,000 yuan per student per annum (for 5-year undergraduate programs). Since 2013, the state has launched training projects in ethnic areas, including training of rural health workers in major practices, training of leading doctors in county-level hospitals and training of general practitioners in job transfers. The right of ethnic minority groups to develop their economy has been guaranteed. Between 2012 and 2015, the central government arranged an ethnic minority development fund of 14.824 billion yuan, in exclusive support of the actions to enrich border areas and their residents, efforts to develop ethnic minorities with a relatively small population, efforts to promote ethnic minority style villages and stockade villages, and efforts to preserve and develop ethnic minorities' traditional handicraft. The state appropriated 5.8 billion yuan from the central budget to help the construction of infrastructure, improvement of production and living conditions of the general population and the development of social undertakings in border regions and areas inhabited by people of ethnic minorities with a comparatively small population. The number of poverty-stricken people in the 5 autonomous regions of Inner Mongolia, Guangxi, Tibet, Ningxia and Xinjiang and the 3 provinces of Guizhou, Yunnan and Qinghai plummeted from 31.21 million in 2012 to 18.13 million in 2015. In the same period, the GDP of the eight ethnic minority regions increased from 5850.5 billion yuan to 7473.6 billion yuan, and the per capita disposable income of permanent residents in cities and towns soared from 20,542 yuan to 26,901 yuan. The development of education among ethnic minorities has gained speed. Boarding school students from ethnic groups with a relatively small population who receive compulsory education in rural areas are provided with a living allowance at a standard rate of 250 yuan per person per annum. The policy of free board, lodging and tuition is applied to children of farmers and herdsmen in the Tibet Autonomous Region, and the standard of expenses has steadily increased with the current standard being 3,000 yuan per person per annum. Every year, a separate compulsory education aid of 20 million yuan is set aside for the special purpose of subsidizing the living allowances of poverty-stricken students in boarding schools in the Tibet Autonomous Region. The government launched the standard high school construction project in ethnic minority regions with a weak educational infrastructure, with 7 billion yuan appropriated from the central budget from 2012 to 2015 in support of the construction of 318 standard high schools in ethnic minority regions. The state continues to implement the preferential policy in favor of ethnic minority students in national entrance exams. From 2012 to 2015, institutions of higher-learning directly under the State Ethnic Affairs Commission planned a total enrollment of over 124,000 undergraduate students, including more than 46,000 from the eight ethnic minority regions. Institutions of higher-learning affiliated with other central departments and local institutions of higher-learning planned a total enrollment of 185,000 ethnic minority students in preparatory classes. Between 2012 and 2015, projects for the cultivation of high-level talents from ethnic minority groups recruited and trained a total of 16,000 post-graduate students and 4,000 PHD students. Bilingual education has made steady headway. In 2015, the schools that offered bilingual education, ranging from preschools to standard high schools, numbered more than 12,000 with 225,400 bilingual teachers and 3.4912 million students. Every year, more than 3,500 types of secondary and primary school textbooks in ethnic minority characters were published with more than 100 million copies printed. Teaching conditions in ethnic minority regions have been further improved. From 2012 to 2015, the central government allocated 1.025 billion yuan in support of the middle and western China projects and kindergarten teacher projects under the National Cultivation Plan in 5 ethnic autonomous regions, providing training to more than 870,000 teachers of secondary and primary schools and kindergartens. Normal universities directly under the Ministry of Education offer free education and provide 42,000 teachers to ethnic minority regions. "The Plan of Cultivation of Postgraduate Teachers in Rural Education" provided 4,364 rural teachers to ethnic minority regions. Between 2011 and 2015, 528 projects in aiding Xinjiang education were carried out, with an investment of 10.8 billion yuan, and offering training to 130,000 teachers. 5,300 teachers were selected and dispatched from other regions to Xinjiang for the projects. By the end of 2015, the number of various projects to support education in Tibet had reached 405, with the funding adding up to 938 million yuan, providing training to 6,829 people and moving 3,585 people to Tibet to support the projects. The number of various projects to support education in Qinghai had reached 134, with a total funding of 670 million yuan. The cultures of ethnic minorities are protected. By the end of 2015, 9 natural and cultural sites scattered in ethnic minority regions including the Potala Palace had been added to the World Cultural Heritage List. 14 ethnic minority arts including Uygur Muqam of Xinjiang had been added to the UNESCO's Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity and another 4 including Qiang New Year Festivals had been added to the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding. 10 experimental zones for cultural protection in ethnic minority regions have been established. 479 ethnic minority heritage items and 524 inheritors from ethnic minority groups have been put respectively on the four national representative lists of intangible cultural heritage and the four national lists of representative inheritors of intangible cultural heritage that have been made public. The book series of explanatory notes on ancient books of ethnic minority groups, entitled Synopsis on the General Catalogue of Ancient Books of Ethnic Minority Groups of China, was published in 2014. The spoken and written languages of ethnic minority groups have been protected and developed. Efforts have been made to promote the regulation, standardization and computerized processing of these languages. Projects have been initiated for the research and formulation of regulations on the transliteration of people's names to Mandarin from Mongolian, Tibetan, Uygur, Kazakh, Yi and other minority languages. Work has been done on the research and formulation of the table on commonly used Mongolian words, the regulation of translation between Tibetan and Latin, and the standards on determining correct characters and pronunciations in modern Uygur literature language. Databanks on minority languages on the brink of extinction have been set up. The Project on the Protection of Chinese Language Resources has been initiated and implemented. By the end of 2015, 54 ethnic minority groups were using more than 80 spoken languages of their own ethnic groups, and 21 ethnic minority groups were using 29 written languages of their own ethnic groups. Up to 200 radio stations nationwide broadcast in 25 ethnic minority languages. 32 publishing houses of various types publish books in ethnic minority languages. 11 film dubbing centers have been set up throughout the country, using 17 ethnic minority languages and 37 ethnic minority dialects. From 2012 to 2015, they finished the dubbing of a large number of movies into minority languages amounting to more than 3,000 versions. (more) Social groups have become an important channel through which the masses of people take part in social management and public service. Their structures have been continuously optimized and their quality has been steadily improved. By the end of 2015, the number of social groups registered nationwide according to law had reached about 660,000, an increase of 32.3 percent over the corresponding period of 2012. Social groups of various types nationwide had generated incomes of around 260 billion yuan, providing about 8.5 million people of various kinds with employment, and accepted donations of approximately 90 billion yuan. Direct registration for professional associations of such types as commerce, science and technology, charity, urban and rural community service has been explored and practiced. The delinking between chambers of commerce and administrative organs has been activated. The strengths and role that social groups in the philanthropic field have in poverty and disaster relief and dealing with various emergencies have been fully utilized. Privately-run schools, hospitals and homes for the aged and other social service facilities, that are not for profit, have been actively nurtured and developed, to meet the increasing demands of the people for diversified public services. Government has been encouraged to transfer its functions to and purchase services from social groups. Consultation between social groups, especially grassroots social groups in urban and rural areas, has been explored. (7) Right to be heard The construction of consultative democracy has been pushed forward. In 2013, the CPPCC initiated Bi-weekly Consultative Forums, which were held about 20 times a year, focusing on specific topics, taking advantage of the inclusiveness of the National Committee, relying on special committees and taking the form of discussion meetings. The CPPCC held consultations on specific issues, consultations with representatives of specific sectors of society, consultations with Party and government departments and consultations on the handling of proposals. The internet information platform has enriched channels through which citizens can have their voices heard. By the end of 2015, China's online population had reached 688 million and the internet penetration rate had reached 50.3 percent. Netizens make remarks and comments through online news commentaries, forums, blogs, micro-blogs, WeChat accounts and other internet platforms, putting forward criticisms and suggestions on the work of the government at various levels and exercise supervision over the conducts of civil servants. The channels for people to make complaints in the form of letters and visits have been continuously broadened. Letters and visits and other traditional channels for citizens to express opinions have been optimized. Efforts have been made to make sure that complaints can reach officials through their letter boxes and short messages or through video links. A system has been put in place to collect suggestions from the public. The operational mechanism of the nationwide complaint system has been improved, with the process of complaints being received and handled open to the public and subject to citizens' comments and social supervision. Interconnection and inter-working have been realized in all provinces of China and 30 ministries and ministerial-level commissions, and online complaint making has gradually become the main channel for citizens to make demands. The rights of workers in enterprises and public institutions to be heard are guaranteed. Relevant departments jointly produced the Regulations on Democratic Management of Enterprises, under which the formulation and revision of labor rules and regulations of enterprises, major decisions about the operation and management of enterprises, and important matters concerning the immediate interests of workers must be submitted to workers' congresses for deliberation. During the adjournment of workers' congresses, workers' demands are promptly conveyed through joint meetings of leaders of workers' delegations, workers' democratic management committees, talks between labor and capital and other channels. The State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television has implemented the Measures for the Administration of Press Cards and the Measures for the Administration of Correspondent Bureaus of Newspapers and Periodicals, to protect the legitimate rights of news media and their branches and reporters to interview and supervise by public opinion. (8) Right to oversee The NPC and its Standing Committee have continuously strengthened supervision. In 2015, the Legislation Law was revised, the system of filing and examining laws, regulations and regulatory documents was strengthened, and clear guidelines were set out on voluntary examination feedback to applicants for examinations and openness to society. From 2012 to 2015, the NPC Standing Committee held 12 special consultations, carried out 15 special investigations and surveys, and conducted inspections on the enforcement of 17 laws. In 2014, the General Office of the NPC Standing Committee formulated A Number of Opinions on the Improvement of the Work of Special Consultations, listing reports and bills that involve reform of a high rate of difficulty, reflect numerous problems, draw high degrees of public attention, and concern the immediate interests of the general public as topics of special consultation, and organically combining the three forms of supervision, law-enforcement inspection, report hearing and special consultation. In 2015, the NPC Standing Committee carried out inspections on the enforcement of 6 laws including the Law on Vocational Education, the Law on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Consumers and the Law on the Prevention and Treatment of Water Pollution. The CPPCC actively explored ways to improve the system of democratic supervision. In 2015, it launched several supervisory investigations and surveys especially concerning the treatment of pollution of the Tengger Desert, reform of the system of investment examination and approval and other significant matters, putting forth criticisms and suggestions in relation to the problems that had emerged in the execution of the decisions. Supervision over regulations and regulatory documents has been strengthened. By the end of 2015, relevant departments had by official order nullified 35 rules and regulations, comprehensively amended 24, and partially amended 182. Between June 2012 and June 2014, they dealt with 81 rules and regulations on administrative authorization, administrative compulsion and administrative punishment that had been illegally put in place. They especially conducted concentrated examinations on and supervised and urged amendments to those departmental rules and regulations related to items of administrative examination and approval that had been canceled or delegated by the State Council. The systems of administrative accountability, administrative review and administrative proceedings have been further improved. From 2012 to 2014, administrative review organs at various levels accepted about 340,000 applications for administrative reconsideration and concluded 320,000 cases, or 94 percent of the total. The Supreme People's Court promulgated the Guiding Opinions on People's Courts Exercising Trans-Administrative Regional and Centralized Jurisdiction of Administrative Cases, promoting relevant institutional reforms. By the end of 2015, people's courts that transcend administrative divisions, including the No. 4 Intermediate People's Court of Beijing and the No. 3 Intermediate People's Court of Shanghai, had been put in place. Social supervision has been strengthened. The Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Ministry of Justice printed and distributed the Plan of Reform on the Enhancement of the Mechanism of People's Supervisors. By the end of 2015, more than 15,000 people's supervisors had been recruited and 3,786 special procurators had been appointed. People's supervisors oversaw 7,974 cases of functionary crimes which procuratorial organs either "planned to dismiss" or "planned not to proceed with charges." People's supervisors raised opinions of disagreement to the planned decisions of procuratorial organs over 212 cases, put forth 992 suggestions for the correction of some scenarios that occurred in the course of procuratorial organs handling functionary crimes, and made 156 suggestions on procuratorial work and the construction of the procuratorial team. The supervisory role of the internet has been fully utilized. In recent years, the discipline inspection and supervision organs of the CPC Central Committee, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate and others have opened offence-reporting websites and a large number of problems that were raised on the internet have been resolved, which played an important role in preventing and penalizing embezzlement and corruption. (more) TOKYO, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo shares ended the morning session sharply lower on Tuesday with its benchmark Nikkei index sinking below the 16,000 line amid concerns of the upcoming Britain referendum over its membership of the European Union. The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average fell 200.29 points, or 1.25 percent, from Monday to 15,818.89. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange was down 16.19 points, or 1.26 percent, to 1,268.35. TOKYO, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Residents in northern Japan have been warned to stay away from mountainous areas after four aged people were killed in apparent bear attacks. Four bodies have been discovered recently with severe bites and scratches presumably made by large animals, police authorities in Kazuno city of Akita prefecture said, warning people around the mountain forests to take precautions against potential attacks. Police in Akita prefecture on Friday found a body of a badly mauled woman who suffered horrific injuries which made local authorities unable to identify her at first. The 74-year-old victim Tsuwa Suzuki, who lived in neighboring Aomori prefecture, was reportedly attacked when picking edible wild plants alone. Her death came soon after three men, two in their seventies and one in his sixties, died last month in apparent bear attacks while foraging for shampoo shoots in three separate incidents. On Friday, hunters killed a female Asian black bear in a forest, just 10 meters from the spot where Suzuki's remains were found. Japanese public broadcaster NHK quoted a specialist as saying that the bear probably attacked all the four people. Bear attacks on humans often happen in Akita prefecture, but are not as fatal as the recent ones. According to figures from the Environmental Ministry, only eight people were killed by bear attacks from 1979 to last year. WELLINGTON, June 14 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand is entering the space age, the government announced Tuesday, unveiling a new regulatory regime as the country gears up for its first rocket launch. The newly-formed New Zealand Space Agency -- within the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) -- said on its website that the country was joining "a small group of space-faring nations using disruptive, innovative technologies to tackle some of our planet's big challenges and to create new and exciting opportunities for economic growth." It cited the U.S.-owned Rocket Lab, a commercial space launch operator using technology developed in New Zealand, which was planning to provide frequent, low-cost rocket launch services to a growing international small satellite industry. "New Zealand's location is considered important as it provides access to particular launch angles, clear skies and clear seas to enable frequent launches," it said. Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce said the government needed to introduce a regulatory framework so that Rocket Lab and others could operate in New Zealand. The regime consisted of a new Outer Space and High Altitude Activities Bill, a Technology Safeguards Agreement between New Zealand and the United States, and a decision to join the United Nations Convention on Registration of Objects launched into Outer Space. It was also New Zealand's intention to join the UN Committee for the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. "New Zealand has the advantage of a geographic location that enables a wide range of orbits with minimal interference to air traffic and shipping. We also have a highly skilled workforce and a safe secure environment," Joyce said in a statement. Other groups working in the satellite industry include two potential regional research institutes that had been shortlisted to develop business cases with the MBIE: the Centre for Space Science Technology, and Earth+Vantage. NASA and Google had launched high altitude balloons from New Zealand. Technology Safeguards Agreement (TSA) with the United States would cover the safeguards associated with the use in New Zealand of controlled U.S. rocket technology. "The TSA contains safeguards to protect controlled U.S. rocket and satellite technology while ensuring New Zealand agencies retain the ability to perform their statutory tasks," Joyce said. Accession to the UN Convention on Registration of Objects launched into Outer Space required New Zealand to establish and maintain a register of space objects launched from New Zealand and a mechanism to identify space objects. HOHHOT, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Thanks to China's expanding freight service network, exports of fresh fruit and vegetables to Russia soared in the first five months, according to figures released by the customs in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Among the region's two major land checkpoints that process exports bound for Russia, Manzhouli Customs recorded cargo worth 101 million U.S. dollars during the period, up 42.15 percent year on year. The checkpoint began processing fresh fruit and vegetable freight in March last year. Trains take the cargo to Russia's Novosibirsk, where it is then distributed around Russia. Moreover, from November last year, trains with refrigerated facilities began traveling through the checkpoint, taking China's fresh goods directly to Moscow. Customs official Lu Huanxin said that thanks to these new freight services his department processed 1,851.36 tonnes of fresh produce last year. Meanwhile, Erlianhaote Customs cleared 1,024.7 tonnes of fresh produce exports to Russia in the first five months, 11.1 times higher than the same period last year. Zhang Wenchuan, a trader, said he exported citrus grown in central China's Hubei Province to Russia via Erlianhaote. "The new refrigerated trains can carry 200 tonnes of fruit at a time," he explained. Russia's long winters create an export opportunity for Chinese farmers,and Chinese logistics firms are keen to explore China-Russia trade. Railway authorities in Erlianhaote promised to continue to improve their service to help the transportation of fresh fruit and vegetables. PUL-E-KHUMRI, Afghanistan, June 14 (Xinhua) -- The ongoing operations against Taliban in the northern Baghlan province have killed 15 militants over the past 24 hours, provincial governor Abdul Sattar Bariz said Tuesday. "Up to 15 Taliban rebels have been killed and 22 others injures over the past two days in Sarkh Kotal, chashma-e-Shir and adjoining areas," Bariz told reporters here. The operations which launched last week, would continue until the government control restores to the said areas, the official said. Taliban militants who have been fighting the government forces in the said areas since early this year to expand their territory have yet to make comment. PHNOM PENH, June 14, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Brian Naswall (L, front) is escorted to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court to hear his verdict in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, June 14, 2016. A Cambodian court on Tuesday sentenced 53-year-old American man Brian Naswall convicted of purchasing child prostitution to 10 years in prison. (Xinhua/Sovannara) PHNOM PENH, June 14 (Xinhua) -- A Cambodian court on Tuesday sentenced a 53-year-old American man convicted of purchasing child prostitution to 10 years in prison. Brian Naswall, former chief executive officer of Phnom Penh-based aviation firm Aero Cambodia, was "found guilty of purchasing child prostitution," said a verdict pronounced by Phnom Penh Municipal Court Judge Khy Chhay. The verdict also ordered Naswall to pay about 2,000 U.S. dollars in compensation to each of eight victims. Naswall was arrested on May 22 last year on Koh Pich island in Phnom Penh for allegedly having a 13-year-old girl touch his genitals in front of her two friends. Another six underage girls have also joined the case to testify against him. Cambodia launched an anti-pedophilia operation in 2003 in a bid to end its reputation as a haven for child sex offenders. Since then, dozens of foreigners have been imprisoned for child sex crimes. WASHINGTON D.C., June 13, 2016 (Xinhua) -- People attend a rally calling for legislation on gun violence prevention and gun control outside the White House, in Washington D.C., capital of the United States, June 13, 2016. (Xinhua/Bao Dandan) BEIJING, June 14 (Xinhua) -- The mass shooting in southern U.S. city Orlando, which U.S. President Barack Obama called "homegrown extremism" on Monday, has shocked and drawn wide condemnations from the international community. HOMEGROWN EXTREMISM Fifty people including the gunman were killed and 53 others wounded early Sunday in the shooting at the Orlando's Pulse nightclub. It was the worst mass shooting in U.S. history and the deadliest terror attack since the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001. The gunman, identified by authorities as 29-year-old Omar Mateen of Port St. Lucie, Florida, was found dead inside the nightclub after a shootout with the police. "As far as we can tell right now, this is certainly an example of the kind of homegrown extremism that all of us have been so concerned about for a very long time," said Obama at the White House. The president said so far there was no "clear evidence" that the gunman had been directed externally. "It does appear that at the last minute, he announced allegiance to ISIL," said Obama, referring to an acronym of the extremist group, the Islamic State (IS), based in Syria and Iraq. "But there's no evidence so far that he was, in fact, directed by ISIL." "So far, we see no indication that this was a plot directed from outside the United States, and we see no indication that he was part of any kind of network," said FBI Director James Comey. However, Comey said Mateen was clearly "radicalized," at least in part via the Internet. Al-Bayan Radio, a media outlet for the IS extremist group, on Monday hailed the attack and called the Orlando mass shooter "one of the soldiers of the caliphate in America." However, the broadcast was thought as an opportunistic statement as the IS has not officially claimed responsibility for the Orlando attack. THE SHOOTER Pulse told local media that they saw the gunman there drinking on several occasions before the massacre. Ty Smith told The Orlando Sentinel that he had seen Mateen at the gay bar. Smith said Mateen would sit and drink by himself, getting loud and belligerent. Smith said he did not talk to Mateen much, but that Mateen mentioned having a wife and child. Mateen's father called his son's massacre "the act of a terrorist." Seddique Mir Mateen gave a statement to reporters on Monday at his home in Port St. Lucie, Florida. On Sunday, the father suggested that his son's anti-gay hatred may have led to the rampage, saying his son got angry a few months ago when he saw two men kissing in Miami. The father also apologized for what his son did. Court documents on Monday revealed that Mateen filed a petition to legally change his name from Omar Mir Seddique to Omar Mir Seddique Mateen in 2006, the same year he graduated from Indian River Community College. The documents released in detail Mateen's various jobs and say he was born in Queens, New York, and moved to Port Saint Lucie in 1991. Between 2001 and 2006, he worked at eight jobs, including a Publix grocery store, Circuit City, Chick-Fil-A and a Walgreens drug store. Then his jobs began focusing more on vitamins and health. He worked at Nutrition World in Fort Pierce, Gold's Gym and a GNC store in a mall. Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry told U.S. media that Mateen visited the kingdom twice to perform an Islamic pilgrimage the the year of 2011 and 2012. CONDOLENCES AND CONDEMNATIONS Hospital officials told local media that five people are still in "grave condition" after they were wounded in the attack. According to Orlando Regional Medical Center, 29 people are still at the hospital and a number of patients remain critically ill and in shock. Chinese President Xi Jinping called his U.S. counterpart, Barack Obama, on Monday to offer condolences over the deadly mass shooting. On behalf of the Chinese government and the Chinese people, Xi expressed deep sympathy and sincere condolences to Obama, the U.S. government and the American people. He also mourned the victims. The United Nations Security Council on Monday condemned "in the strongest terms" the mass shooting in Orlando, which it said targeted "persons as a result of their sexual orientation." "The members of the Security Council reiterated that any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed," said French Ambassador Francois Delattre, Security Council president for June. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon wrote to the governor of the U.S. state of Florida and the mayor of Orlando to convey his deepest condolences for the loss of lives and injuries in Sunday's shooting in Orlando that targeted the LGBT community, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told a daily briefing. In the letter, Ban said that "such violence is despicable, and contrary to the values of equality, peace and mutual respect that underpin the United Nations," said Dujarric. "We are all horrified by the horrible massacre in Orlando," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday, at the start of a cabinet meeting, according to a statement from his office. "I wish to express on behalf of the Israeli government and citizens our condolences to the American people and the families of the victims in such a hard and tragic time," he added. Netanyahu also said that countries around the world should stand "soldier to soldier" and fight terrorism that "threatens the entire world." Latin American countries are united in their voices on Monday, condemning the attack and called for the fight for terrorism and homophobia. The U.S. on Monday called on all 193 members of the United Nations to not only condemn the terrorism, but also to protect gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people from such attacks. Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the UN David Pressman said outrage at the killing should be directed at protecting members of the LGBT community "not just around condemning the terrorists who kill them." DHAKA, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Bangladeshi police have arrested a close associate of Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai, executed second-in-command of a banned militant outfit, in the country's northern Mymensingh district, some 122 km from capital Dhaka. Nur-e-Alam, the district's additional superintendent of police, confirmed the arrest of the top wanted militant leader of the banned Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) on Tuesday morning. "Top JMB leader Garib Ullah was captured at his hideout in a large forest in Mymensingh district Tuesday morning," Alam told Xinhua over phone. He could not disclose immediately the details about the arrest which was part of the nationwide ongoing anti-militant special drive that began on Friday. Sources said the militant was a very close aide to Siddiqul Islam, alias Bangla Bhai, a top JMB leader who was executed by hanging in 2007. The arrested militant was wanted in several cases. JMB carried out a series of bombings in 63 out of the country's 64 districts, including the capital of Dhaka on Aug. 17, 2005, leaving two people dead and 150 others injured. Hundreds of JMB leaders and activists were rounded up while six top leaders of the group, including Shaikh Abdur Rahman, were hanged in 2007. Against the backdrop of a new wave of militancy rising, Bangladesh last week launched the special drive aimed at dismantling all terrorist outfits and their networks in the country. Over 8,000 people including 119 suspected militants have been arrested in the first three days of the drive. Among the 119 suspected militants arrested in the three days, most are reportedly members of the banned militant outfit JMB. KINGSTON, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Bahamas' military apprehended 199 Haitian migrants who sought to illegally enter the country by boat over the weekend, reports reaching here from Nassau said on Monday. The migrants were caught aboard a wooden sloop which was intercepted by a military patrol vessel of the Royal Bahamas Defense Force (RBDF), off the west coast of Andros Island, according to daily newspaper the Bahamas Tribune. Residents on the Andros Island provided food, drinks and logistical support to the migrants, who would be handed over to immigration authorities in New Providence, where they will wait for deportation, the newspaper cited the RBDF as saying. The Bahamas has been a major transit point for illegal Caribbean migrants enroute to the United States. The majority of them are Haitians. BUENOS AIRES, June 13 (Xinhua) -- China was the second largest destination for Argentina's fish and seafood exports in the first quarter of 2016, according to a report released Monday. Argentina's fish and seafood exports to China in this period were worth 77 million U.S. dollars, accounting for 16 percent of the total, the report by Argentine consulting firm Sectorial Economic Research (IES) said. Spain was the top export destination, accounting for 112 million dollars and 23 percent of the total exports. The United States took the third place, followed by Italy and Brazil. In 2016, Argentina's exports of fishery products reached 482.5 million dollars, up 16.8 percent year-on-year. The report also said the outlook for 2016 seemed uncertain due to a continued decrease in fishing catches, particularly for mollusks. "Overfishing of squid has led to lower harvests over the years, but we still hope to stabilize the catches and increase the production in the second half of the year, due to the start of the shrimp and squid catching period." IES Director Alejandro Ovando said. OTTAWA, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Two Canadian warships departed from Esquimalt Harbour on Monday to participate in the Rim of the Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC), the world's largest international maritime exercise, said the Canadian Defense Ministry. The two warships are Halifax-class frigates Her Majesty's Canadian Ships (HMCS) Calgary and Vancouver. RIMPAC will take place from June 30 to Aug. 4 in and around the Hawaiian Islands and Southern California. Joining the Halifax-class frigates will be Kingston-class coastal defense vessels HMCS Saskatoon and Yellowknife and they will depart next week for the waters off Southern California. Beyond their exercise responsibilities, the Kingston-class warships will also carry out testing and exercises using advanced mine countermeasure equipment, thereby reducing risks to sailors and warships while increasing interoperability with allied nations. HMCS Calgary and Vancouver will test weapon systems and upgrades to their equipment. RIMPAC will allow the Canadian warships to test electronic countermeasures designed to better protect sailors and warships operating in war zones, and fire Evolved Sea Sparrow and Harpoon missiles as well as heavyweight torpedoes to increase the warfighting capabilities of the Halifax-class warships. "Participation in RIMPAC allows the Royal Canadian Navy to work together with our partner nations while providing unique training opportunities for our sailors to maintain and enhance operational readiness. These opportunities allow our sailors to continue to develop and deepen partnerships with countries from the Asia-Pacific region and beyond," said Jeff Zwick, commander of the Canadian Fleet Pacific. The Canadian Pacific Fleet is home to 11 warships and two submarines. NEW DELHI, June 14 (Xinhua) -- At least three Indian security forces personnel were injured in a fierce gunbattle with left-wing Naxalite rebels in the central state of Chhattisgarh Tuesday morning, a top police official said. "The incident happened in the dense forests of the state's Narayanpur district when the security forces personnel belonging to the District Reserve Group and local police were carrying out an anti-Naxalite operation in the area," head of anti-Naxalite operations D.M. Awasthi told the media. A group of armed left-wing rebels opened fire on the security forces from the forests, in which three personnel of the District Reserve Group sustained bullet wounds, he said, adding that the condition of one of them is serious. The Naxalites soon fled into the forests after the police team retaliated with heavy firing, the official said. "A massive combing operation has been launched in the area in search of Naxalites who are believed to be hiding in the forests," he added. MEXICO CITY, June 13 (Xinhua) -- A Mexican research team has identified fungi commonly found in waste dumps that are capable of degrading various types of polyurethane considered difficult to recycle. This technique, which takes over 10 years to develop and is currently being patented, represents an important step forward in environmental science, Herminia Loza-Tavera, a chemistry professor at at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), has said. According to the scientist, who is leading the project, her team has not only identified the best fungi to do the job, but also isolated the key enzyme which catalyzes degradation. Loza-Tavera said these microorganisms can degrade up to 50 percent of mattress foam, 20 percent higher than other methods used by laboratories around the world. The research at UNAM saw painstaking efforts to transform or alter the microorganisms through metabolic or enzymatic processes, in order to establish a system that could degrade polyurethane used to make mattress foam, shoe soles and varnish. She added that the technique is still at an initial stage and that more human and economic resources are needed to continue the work. According to the data collected by the team, the global production of polyurethane reached nearly 300 million tonnes in 2013, posing a daunting challenge to dispose of the polluting chemicals. The scientist revealed that her research team will continue to work on the effect of these intriguing fungi on various compounds besides polyurethane, so as to find new ways to speed up the degradation process. A fleet of fishing vessels arrive at Zhubi Reef of the South China Sea on July 18, 2012. The fleet of 30 boats, the largest ever launched from China's southernmost province of Hainan, planned to fish and detect fishery resources near Zhubi Reef. (Xinhua/Wang Cunfu) MADRID, June 14 (Xinhua) -- The director of the Observatory of Chinese Politics of Spain, Xulio Rios, said the key to the solution to the dispute over the South China Sea is consensus, "not unilateral arbitration. The first one brings positions closer, while the second aggravates disputes." The dispute over the South China Sea are about to enter in a new phase. It is expected that this June, the Permanent Court of Arbitration will announce the decision on the arbitration case brought by the Philippines. However, whatever the content, its legal and effective value is void because China has adhered itself to the reserve clause of the Montego Bay Convention, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), Rios said. He explained that according to articles 297 and 298, China could refuse arbitration on those issues where the country did not accept the treaty's rule, especially when affecting sovereignty issues. China did so through a Note Verbale in August 2006, addressing the UN Secretary General. According to law, the basis of any arbitration is the prior acceptance by the parties and they are the ones, with the assistance of the court, to determine a solution in order to end the conflict. If the court in The Hague cannot achieve a consensus between the parties, arbitration is useless from a strictly legal and operational point of view, as it will not provide any solution to the dispute. This means the ultimate cause of the requested decision is not legal but political. The intervention of the court in these disputes is part of a strategy to put pressure on China, which at the same time is inseparable from the growing U.S. involvement in the litigations. The increasing presence of the U.S. naval and air fleet in the area, carried out on behalf of the defense of freedom of navigation, violates the content of the Article 58.3 of the Montego Bay Convention, which stipulates that actions by third parties shall comply with the laws and regulations of the coastal country. This obligation is reiterated in Article 301. The increased frequency of activities by the United States exponentially increases the risks of military accidents, the director said. The expert also said the Hague Court has the opportunity to declare itself incompetent over various issues. He stressed that in any case, far from solving the problem, the arbitration can lead not only to a long and complicated legal battle, but also to an exacerbation of tensions in the area. He said a solution should be found as a result of bilateral negotiations. SANTO DOMINGO, June 14, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Image provided by the Organization of American States (OAS) shows Secretary General of OAS Luis Almagro (1st L) and the Dominican Foreign Affairs Minister Andres Navarro (2nd L) attending a meeting with representatives prior to the opening of the 46th Regular Session of the OAS General Assembly, in Santo Domingo, capital of Dominican Republic, on June 13, 2016. (Xinhua/Francis Gerrero/OAS) SANTO DOMINGO, June 13 (Xinhua) -- The Organization of American States (OAS) will not discuss applying its democratic charter to Venezuela during its 46th General Assembly, the chief of the bloc has said. OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro made the remarks at a press conference on Sunday, referring to the controversial call for applying the Inter-American Democratic Charter (IDC) against Venezuela, which had condemned the initiative as an imperialist intervention. The bloc was working on "an intense agenda which will discuss themes such as democracy and human rights. However, Venezuela is definitely not on the agenda," Almagro said. It has been expected that the summit, held in the Dominican Republic, will discuss the situation in Venezuela and the OAS' efforts to broker a dialogue between the government of President Nicolas Maduro and the opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD). Earlier this month, the OAS threw its support behind an initiative for dialogue for Venezuela, instead of applying the IDC. The dialogue, however, saw a setback when an initial meeting earlier this month was boycotted by the MUD. In late May, Almagro called on the OAS to consider activating the IDC against Venezuela to respond to the country's worsening economic crisis and escalating clashes between loyalist and opposition forces. Created in 2001 with the aim of upholding democratic institutions among OAS members, the IDC allows actions to restore democracy if a member government impairs human rights. The IDC has only been activated twice before -- in 2002 for an attempted coup against late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and in 2009 for a coup in Honduras. President Maduro has responded angrily to the call, saying Almagro had "usurped his function and sought to turn the OAS into a supranational power beyond its constitution" while calling on his country to guard against imperialist intervention. With both Almagro and Maduro in Santo Domingo for the OAS summit, any discussions on the matter are likely to reignite the controversy. The 46th General Assembly will be presided over by Dominican President Danilo Medina and will be attended by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. UNITED NATIONS, June 13 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations (UN) Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Monday released its Projected Global Resettlement Needs for 2017, which said that 1.19 million people will need resettlement in 2017. "With a multitude of conflicts and crises causing record displacement around the world, resettlement has become an increasingly vital part of UNHCR's efforts to find solutions and advocate for fairer responsibility-sharing for refugees," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a daily news briefing here. "Despite increased resettlement quotas from some countries, the number of people in need of resettlement far surpasses the opportunities for placement in a third country," Dujarric said, adding that in 2017, Syrians are projected to account for 40 percent of needs, followed by Sudan, Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. UNHCR also reported that 2015 was a record year for submissions which reached 134,044, up 29 percent from the previous year. In 2015, the United States accepted 62 percent of all submissions, followed by Canada, Australia, Norway and Britain. According to the Projected Global Resettlement Needs 2017, the agency resettled more than one million refugees to more than 30 resettlement countries in the past decade. The number of people in need of resettlement in 2017 will likely represent an increase of 72 percent on the projected needs of 691,000 in 2014, before the large-scale resettlement of Syrians began. "We are seeing resettlement taken to a new level and that enhanced resettlement can be an effective means of sharing the responsibility for refugee protection," UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said. "But much more needs to be done to keep pace with the growing numbers of acutely vulnerable." UNHCR expects to submit 170,000 refugees for resettlement next year, based on the expected global quotas from resettlement states, an increase from a current target of some 143,000 in 2016 and more than 100,000 in each of 2015 and 2014. "Resettlement is now more important than ever as a solution, and we must grasp this opportunity to increase the number of refugees benefitting from it, as well as other avenues for admission," Grandi said. UNHCR estimates more than one million are in need of resettlement because they are unable to return home or integrate into host countries for a variety of reasons. The Syrian crisis marked a major shift in the focus of resettlement. By 2014, Syrians were the largest group referred for resettlement and, by 2015, an average two out of every five submissions were Syrians compared to one out of five in 2014. In 2015, Syria accounted for 53,305 submissions, followed by the Democratic Republic of the Congo's 20,527, Iraq's 11,161, Somalia's 10,193 and Myanmar's 9,738. These five countries made up almost 80 percent of submissions that year. UNHCR is also focusing on how complementary paths such as humanitarian visas, family reunions and scholarships could help bridge the need gaps. The report was released on the first day of the Annual Tripartite Consultations on Resettlement, a gathering of representatives from UNHCR, resettlement countries and non-governmental organizations. UNHCR is a UN program mandated to protect and support refugees at the request of a government or the United Nations itself and assists in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to a third country. The Geneva-based UN agency is a member of the United Nations Development Group. The UNHCR has won two Nobel Peace Prizes, once in 1954 and again in 1981. An asylum seeker and her baby from Sudan, who recently arrived in South Sudan, stands beside a truck holding some of her belongings before she is transfered to the refugee camp in Ajuong Thok, near Yida, northern South Sudan, on January 26, 2016. AFP / ALBERT GONZALEZ FARRAN JUBA, June 14 (Xinhua) -- More than 47,000 South Sudanese have fled into Sudan's East Darfur in Western region since January, with about 500 households arriving per day until early April, the UN agencies said on Monday. In a joint humanitarian report, the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said new arrivals have since continued at a slower rate, and as of January to June 11, about 47,100 refugees had arrived in East Darfur. The UN agencies said the influx of South Sudanese refugees is driven by deteriorating food insecurity and ongoing violence in South Sudan. "Though rates of arrival have slowed in comparison to the January to April period, underlying reasons for displacement remain unchanged," the report says. A recent food security analysis by World Food Programme (WFP) expects the number of South Sudan's food insecure people to reach 5.3 million between May and September, which would result in the nation's most severe lean season since independence in 2011. As such, provision of assistance in affected areas of South Sudan will be integral to reducing the number of people who are driven from their homes in search of life-saving assistance in Sudan. According to the UN, new arrivals are mostly coming from South Sudan's Northern Bahr El Ghazal and Warrap states due to heightened food insecurity and ongoing conflict. The report says distribution of shelters will begin once families are relocated to a new site, where erection of shelters will be permitted. "The plot of land previously agreed upon for the new site can no longer be used as local land owners require the area for agricultural activities," the report says. "This recent influx, with large numbers of South Sudanese refugees arriving in new areas, was not anticipated. This unforeseen emergency is unfolding in an underserviced area where partners and resources are limited," the UN agencies said. The report says the influx is critically stretching the available resources and operational capacity of partners carrying out the ongoing response in White Nile State, where the flow of new arrivals from South Sudan continues. Additional funds are needed in order to meet the needs of this refugee population. by Lin Shuo, Sun Jin BEIJING, June 14 (Xinhua) -- In the past, the Philippines and China enjoyed fruitful win-win relations, which greatly benefited the peoples, Joson Shi-Nai Kang, a Philippine business leader with Chinese origin, told Xinhua. In a recent interview with Xinhua, Kang, the president of Asian-Pacific Association for Economic and Cultural Communication (AAECC), a nongovernmental organization founded by business leaders and well-known elites from Asian-Pacific countries to work on folk exchanges, criticized the current South China Sea policy of the Philippines but remained optimistic on the prospect of Philippine-China relations. He said that the administration of President Benigno Aquino III's claim of sovereignty over Huangyan Island and its unilateral action of bringing the issue to arbitration in The Hague had severely destroyed Philippines' ties with China, as well as the Philippines' national interests and its people's livelihood. "It is normal for two countries to have differences. The key is to effectively manage the disputes, cherish the existing schemes of dialogue and try to find constructive resolution in a cooperative way," Kang added. According to Kang, Chinese and Philippine fishermen used to enjoy a friendship before the deterioration of the South China Sea issue. They could fish freely in the disputed waters and Chinese fishermen were willing to buy what their Philippine counterparts catched with favorable prices. When extreme weather threatened their fishing, they could even share safety in the same lagoon. "Isn't that peaceful coexistence good?" Kang asked, adding that it's not only the fishermen's welfare that was affected by the worsened relations between the two countries. Major fruit exports from the Philippines to China lost its favorable conditions, and fewer Chinese tourists are coming to the Philippines, which ultimately harms the South Asian country's economy and hurt the Philippine people, the business leader said. Speaking of the pending arbitration, Kang said he sees no profit for the Philippines and called the arbitration "a political counting frame." "It's Aquino III's ambition and the Americans' plot that are behind the counting frame, but any wise men can spot flaws in it," Kang said. In Kang's opinion, it's the U.S. rebalance strategy in the Asia-Pacific that is fanning the Philippines' ambition in the South China Sea. "When most Southeast Asian countries remain reasonable (to the U.S. incentive), Aquino III stood out for the United States and intended to be its pawn." Nevertheless, Kang said dialogue channels between the Philippines and China still exist, adding that the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) signed by China and ASEAN countries in 2002 has created the conditions for peaceful settlement of South China Sea disputes. "In order to peacefully solve sovereign disputes, both sides have to sit down and negotiate. Dialogue is always the most effective way to settle conflicts," Kang said. Looking into the future, Kang, however, remains optimistic. He said that the incoming president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, clearly knows the importance of Philippines-China relations and the urgency to make that relations back on track. "The replacement of Philippine leadership and the subtle change to the country's diplomatic senses are releasing signals of improvement and reconciliation of Philippine-Sino relations," Kang said. "We are permanent Chinese residents in the Philippines with utmost understanding about the local culture and Duterte himself. Referring to future bilateral relations, in our opinion, there should be more communication and less provocation, more constructive opinion and less troublemaking," the business leader concluded. BEIJING, June 14 (Xinhua) -- China aims to send the Chang'e-4 lunar probe to land in the south pole region of the far side of the moon in 2018, according to China National Space Administration (CNSA). Scientists plan to send a relay satellite for Chang'e-4 to the halo orbit of the Earth-Moon Lagrange Point L2 in late May or early June 2018, and then launch the Chang'e-4 lunar lander and rover to the Aitken Basin of the south pole region about half a year later, said Liu Tongjie, deputy director of the CNSA's Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center. "We plan to land Chang'e-4 at the Aitken Basin because the region is believed to be a place with great scientific research potential," Liu told Xinhua in an exclusive interview. With its special environment and complex geological history, the far side of the moon is a hot spot for scientific and space exploration. However, landing and roving there requires the relay satellite to transmit signals. The transmission channel is limited, and the landscape is rugged, so the Chang'e-4 mission will be more complicated than Chang'e-3, China's first soft landing mission on the moon, which was completed in 2013, said Liu. The lander of Chang'e-4 will be equipped with descent and terrain cameras, and the rover will be equipped with a panoramic camera, he said. Like China's first lunar rover Yutu, or Jade Rabbit, carried by Chang'e-3, the rover of Chang'e-4 will carry subsurface penetrating radar to detect the near surface structure of the moon, and an infrared spectrometer to analyze the chemical composition of lunar samples. But unlike Chang'e-3, the new lander will be equipped with an important scientific payload especially designed for the far side of the moon: a low-frequency radio spectrometer. "Since the far side of the moon is shielded from electromagnetic interference from the Earth, it's an ideal place to research the space environment and solar bursts, and the probe can 'listen' to the deeper reaches of the cosmos," Liu said. The Chang'e-4 probe will also carry three scientific payloads respectively developed by the Netherlands, Sweden and Germany, according to Liu. "It's in-depth, friendly and win-win international cooperation under the leadership of the CNSA," said Liu. "The cooperation will help engineers and scientists from different countries study together. Scientists could conduct joint research and share scientific data." The low-frequency radio spectrometer, developed in the Netherlands, will be installed on the Chang'e-4 relay satellite. The Dutch and Chinese low-frequency radio instruments will conduct unique scientific studies such as measuring auroral radio emissions from the large planets in the solar system, determining the radio background spectrum at the Earth-Moon L2 points, creating a new low-frequency map of the radio sky, and detecting bright pulsars and other radio transient phenomena. "The Chinese and Dutch low-frequency radio spectrometers on the lander and relay satellite of Chang'e-4 might help us detect the 21-cm hydrogen line radiation and study how the earliest stars were ignited and how our cosmos emerged from darkness after the Big Bang," said Chen Xuelei, an astronomer with the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The rover will also carry an advanced small analyzer for neutrals, developed in Sweden, to study the interaction between solar winds and the moon surface. And a neutron dosimeter, developed in Germany, will be installed on the lander to measure radiation at the landing site. Scientists say it is essential to investigate the radiation environment on the lunar surface, in preparation for human missions to the moon. The Chinese public, especially young people, are encouraged to participate in the Chang'e-4 mission. The CNSA launched a contest among students across China at the beginning of this year, collecting creative ideas on the design of the payloads on the lander, rover and relay satellite. "We received a total of 257 submissions, and 20 items entered the primary selection. The final result will be announced in September after online voting and expert evaluation," Liu said. According to the website of the CNSA's Lunar and Deep Space Exploration, entries including a micro-ecological circulation system, a deep lunar soil temperature detector, a 3D printing technology using lunar soil and a sound transmission experiment device have proved to be the most popular in online voting. "The contest is based on creativity, but engineering feasibility has to be considered," Liu said. "We'll try to select one or two items eventually to take to the moon." (Web Photo) HANGZHOU, June 14 (Xinhua) -- "Hush! Daddy is out. Mom is in dream. Now let's go, go, away." That might have been how three Chinese toddlers embarked on the uneven road of their maiden adventure on Monday in east China's Hangzhou. The three naked babies had to stumble three floors downstairs before they came to a 30-meter-long terrace, and they continued to toddle down another three floors until they finally arrived at the exit of a lane about an hour later. (Web Photo) The babies, one girl aged two, and the other two boy-girl twins aged one, were found toddling on street by a local policeman around 6: 00 a.m. when he was having breakfast. Before that, a grocery owner saw the babies and gave them each a lolly. (Web Photo) The policeman surnamed Chen took the babies to the police station, where they were attended with milk and clothes while police started to probe where they were from. Their mother didn't know the three cuties were missing until she woke up about two hours later. The worried woman hurried to the police station after being told by nearby residents that the local police had found three toddlers and were looking for their parents. (Web Photo) The babies were returned to their mother after police confirmed the woman's identification. The mom said that her husband left home for work early in the morning and forgot to lock the door when she was still sleeping. "That might be how they got out of the door and walked onto the street." PARIS, June 14 (Xinhua) -- French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday called the killing of a senior police officer and his partner by a man who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) an "incontestably terrorist act." French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve also said earlier Tuesday that the killing was "an abject terrorist act." "An abject terrorist act was committed yesterday in Magnanville," Cazeneuve told reporters after an emergency security meeting with President Hollande. The minister said that 100 suspects have been arrested since January, reiterating the government's full mobilization to combat terrorism. Late on Monday, a 25-year-old man stabbed a senior police officer to death outside his home in Magnanville in suburban Paris, before hiding inside the house and taking the officer's partner and three-year-old son hostages. After failed negotiations to surrender, the police shot dead the assailant, who had also killed the woman. The boy was unharmed, the interior ministry said. BEIJING, June 14 (Xinhua) -- German carmaker Mercedes-Benz will recall 6,302 vehicles in Chinese mainland over defective hood locks, China's quality watchdog said Tuesday. The affected vehicles are the imported Smart series, manufactured between May 12, 2015 and Oct. 2, 2015, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said in a statement. The automaker said the locking device may loose when moving at high speed, which could cause the vehicle's hood to open. The recall will start from June 15 and the company will replace the defective parts free of charge. BEIJING, June 14, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Graphics show the new urban jobs (2012-2015), and the number of regions that increased minimum wages, and average rate of increase (2012-2015) in the Assessment Report on the Implementation of the National Human Rights Action Plan of China (2012-2015). (Xinhua/Zheng Yue) BEIJING, June 14 (Xinhua) -- The central government on Tuesday released a report reviewing China's human rights progress from 2012 to 2015, accompanied by a commitment to furthering the cause. China launched the National Human Rights Action Plan (2012-2015) in June 2012, following the inaugural plan for the 2009-2010 period. The major targets and tasks outlined in the 2012-2015 plan had been fulfilled, as scheduled, by the end of 2015, according the report issued by the State Council Information Office. About 48 percent of the binding targets and over 50 percent of the targets concerning the public's livelihood had been met or exceeded ahead of schedule, the report says. "The Communist Party of China and the central government incorporated universal human rights into the national condition [...] successfully charting a path of human rights development [that] suits China," the report says. Fulfilling the plan demonstrates the Party and government's commitment to and confidence in the human rights cause and the huge advantage of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, it says. China is one of 34 countries in the world to adopt an action plan on human rights protection, indicating that this issue is of great importance to China, said Zhang Xiaoling, director of the human rights research center of the Party School of the Communist Party of China Central Committee. "We Chinese have made great contributions to the global effort of human rights protection," Zhang said. However, the report admits that the government is keenly aware of many challenges, for instance, China's economic development mode is still crude and it is still fraught with problems from unbalanced, uncoordinated and unsustainable development. The country is still struggling to deal with a big gap between urban and rural areas as well as issues related to medical, education, and elderly care; food and drug safety; income distribution; and environment. "There is still a long way to go," it says. The 2016-2020 action plan is being drafted and will be published soon, said Jiang Jianguo, head of the State Council Information Office, at a meeting held to review the implementation of the 2012-2015 plan. The new plan will be in tune with major targets and projects of the country's 13th five-year plan (2016-2020), he said. "The priority of human rights protection in China will remain to be the right to life and development. We want all Chinese to have a share in economic and social development," Zhang said. The country will need to do more to alleviate poverty as around 50 million people still live under the poverty line, meaning they have a per capita net income of less than 2,800 yuan (427 U.S. dollars) a year. It will also need to push forward the rule of law so that legislation and law enforcement protects the rights and interests of ordinary citizens, while more resources are needed to protect women, children, senior citizens, ethnic minorities and people with disabilities, Zhang said. IMPROVEMENT OF PEOPLE'S WELFARE From 2012 to 2015, faced with a complex international situation and the challenging tasks of pushing reform and maintaining stability, the government has pushed for more efficient, fairer and more sustainable growth and worked to ensure that all people benefit from reform and development. Compared with the average 7.4-percent annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth posted across the 2012-2015 period, the per capita disposable income of urban residents increased by 7.5 percent and the per capita net income for rural residents increased by 9.2 percent annually. During the period, 66.63 million people in rural areas were lifted out of poverty. Ordinary citizens have enjoyed more comprehensive social security programs and better public services, while more efforts were made to realize equal access to education and address pollution. The rights and interests of ethnic minorities, women, children, the elderly and people with disabilities were improved. PROMOTING RULE OF LAW Efforts have been made to improve government transparency, through computer and Internet technology, to realize people's rights to be informed, express their opinion, participate in state affairs and oversee the government. Judicial reforms were smoothly pushed forward to improve transparency of judicial agencies, streamline legal proceedings to ensure the principle of "innocence until proven guilty" and to guarantee lawyers' rights. Efforts were made to correct wrongful convictions and ensure judicial departments perform their duties independently in accordance with the law. In December 2013, China abolished the system of reeducation through labor. In 2015, about 30,000 imprisoned criminals in four categories were pardoned or granted early release. The latest revision to the Criminal Law, adopted in 2015, removed the death penalty for nine crimes, reducing the number of crimes on which the death penalty is applicable from 55 to 46. RELIGIOUS FREEDOM From 2012 to 2015, the government canceled or adjusted 12 items related to religious affairs that had been subject to administrative approval. In the four years, 200 million yuan was spent on the renovation and expansion of religious facilities in Tibet. By the end of 2015, 87 temples in Yushu, northwest China's Qinghai Province, which were damaged in a major earthquake in 2010, had been fully restored. From 2012 to 2015, the government allocated nearly 15 million yuan to support and assist the repair and preservation of mosques and historic religious sites. Religious workers are now fully covered by social security programs. By 2013, 96.5 percent had medical insurance and 89.62 percent had pension schemes. JOINING INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS EFFORT From 2012 to 2015, China has maintained constructive dialogues with several treaty bodies on its implementation of international conventions about human rights. In 2014, China participated and passed the second round of the UN Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review. It also took an active part in multilateral human rights meetings hosted by the third committee of the UN General Assembly and the UN Human Rights Council. From 2012 to 2015, the country held more than 20 human rights dialogues with the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia and Switzerland, as well as more than 10 human rights consultations and exchanges with countries including Russia, Brazil, Pakistan and Cuba. PARIS, June 14, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Policemen stand guard near the site of the killing of a police officer in Magnanville in suburban Paris, France, on June 14, 2016. French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday called the killing of a senior police officer and his partner by a man who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) an "incontestably terrorist act." (Xinhua/Li Genxing) PARIS, June 14 (Xinhua) -- French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday called the killing of a senior police officer and his partner by a man who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) an "incontestably terrorist act." French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve also said earlier Tuesday that the killing was "an abject terrorist act." "An abject terrorist act was committed yesterday in Magnanville," Cazeneuve told reporters after an emergency security meeting with President Hollande. The minister said that 100 suspects have been arrested since January, reiterating the government's full mobilization to combat terrorism. France has raised its terror alert after twin suicide bombings and shootings killed 130 people in November 2015. Late on Monday, a 25-year-old man stabbed the senior police officer to death outside his home in Magnanville in suburban Paris, before hiding inside the house and taking the officer's partner and three-year-old son as hostages. After failed negotiations to surrender, the police shot dead the assailant, who had also killed the woman. The boy was unharmed, the interior ministry said. French intelligence services has identified the man as Larossi Abballa, a 25-year-old man who had been sentenced to three years in jail in 2013 for helping extremist militants to go to Pakistan. An Islamic State-linked news agency report claimed that the attack was carried out by one of its fighters. Related: PARIS, June 14 (Xinhua) -- The suspect who killed a senior French police officer and his girlfriend has been identified as a 25-year-old man who has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group, local media reported on Tuesday. Full story French policeman killed by terrorist: official PARIS, June 14 (Xinhua) -- The suspect who killed a senior French police officer and his girlfriend has been identified as a 25-year-old man who has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group, local media reported on Tuesday. The man, Larossi Abballa, was arrested in 2011 and sentenced to three years in jail in 2013 for helping extremist militants to go to Pakistan, French radio RMC-Info reported, citing a police source. He was also known to justice for acts of delinquency, media reports said. A senior police officer and his girlfriend, a public servant of the Interior Ministry, were killed by the suspect in the west Paris suburb of Magnanville on Monday night. An IS-linked news agency report said that the attack was carried out by an "Islamic State fighter." MOSCOW, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Russian aircraft have dropped 18 tons of United Nations (UN) humanitarian aid on Syria's eastern city Deir ez-Zor, which had been besieged by IS militants, said the Russian Center for Reconciliation of Opposing Sides on Tuesday. The aid, which was delivered via parachutes, contains food, flour and grains. "Humanitarian convoys for Syrian people are being formed," the center said, adding that the settlement of Khmira in Syria's Hama province has received four tons of humanitarian aid. A cease-fire brokered by Russia and the United States, which took effect at midnight on Feb. 27, has brought relative calm to swathes of the war-ravaged country. YANGON, June 14 (Xinhua) -- French Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Development, Jean-Marc Ayrault, will pay a three-day visit to Myanmar from Friday to Sunday, according to the French Embassy in Yangon Tuesday. The French foreign minister will meet with Myanmar President U Htin Kyaw and his Myanmar counterpart Aung San Suu Kyi in Nay Pyi Taw on Friday. He will also meet with Commander-in-Chief of the Defense Services Senior General Min Aung Hlaing on the same day. France stood as the 12th largest investor in Myanmar's foreign investment line-up with 541.610 million U.S. dollars in the last fiscal year 2015-2016. ANKARA, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Five Islamic State (IS) militants were killed on Monday in shelling in northern Syria by the Turkish army and air operations from the U.S.-led coalition, security sources told Dogan News Agency on Tuesday. The move came after the Turkish target acquisition systems detected 13 IS targets preparing an attack on Turkey from Syrian side, security sources said. Initial reports showed that five IS militants were killed, with two armed vehicles, eight buildings, three mortar shells and one defense position belonging to IS destroyed. Since mid-January, the IS militants have launched attacks against towns and cities in southern Turkey with rocket fire, killing and injuring many civilians. Meanwhile, seven IS suspects were detained on Tuesday after local police raided an IS cell in Yunus Emre Valley in southeastern Turkish city of Kahraman Maras, Dogan reported. BISHKEK, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev on Tuesday extended condolences to his U.S. counterpart, Barack Obama, over the mass shooting in Orlando, Florida, the Kyrgyz president's press service said. "Kyrgyzstan strongly condemns this inhuman and appalling act of terrorism, and is absolutely convinced of unacceptable and unjustified acts of terrorism," said Atambayev. He conveyed sympathy with and support to the families and friends of the victims and wished the injured a speedy recovery. Forty-nine people were killed and 53 others wounded early Sunday in the shooting at a gay nightclub. It was the worst mass shooting in U.S. history and the deadliest terror attack since the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001. The shooter has been identified as Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old who was of Afghan descent but born in the United States. He was killed in an exchange of fire with SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) forces. CAPE TOWN, June 14 (Xinhua) -- A water crisis is looming in South Africa as dam levels continue to decline, authorities warned on Tuesday. Due to a sharp reduction in rainfall as a result of the El Nino phenomenon, water levels of dams across the country decline week on week, the Department of Water and Sanitation said in its latest assessment, conducted on a weekly basis. The assessment conducted earlier this month reflected a 0.4 decrease on dam levels which are currently sitting on an average of 53.4 percent compared with 53.8 percent of the previous week. Last year at the same time the dam levels were reported to be at 76.2 percent. There has been a fall off in average dam levels in all nine provinces, the department said, adding that a further fall off of about 10 percent before the onset of the summer rains can be expected. Of the 211 dams being monitored on a weekly basis, 12 dams are below 10 percent, 64 dams are below 40 percent of capacity while 18 of the dams are at 100 percent. The department said it has concluded with stakeholder consultations and recommendations are being advanced on how to intensify and ensure water supply during the current low dam levels. Earlier this year, Minister of Water and Sanitation Nomvula Mokonyane indicated that it can take more than three years for dam levels to recover to acceptable operating capacities, given the effects of a strong El Nino phenomenon. MANAMA, June 14 (Xinhua) -- A Bahrain court on Tuesday announced a verdict to dissolve Al Wefaq National Islamic Society, the main opposition society, and freeze all its activities. The Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments Ministry said in a statement that an urgent verdict was issued by the High Administrative Appeals Court to suspend the society and take control of all its funds. "According to the urgent verdict, the headquarters of Al Wefaq National Islamic Society will be shut down and all its funds will be seized by the ministry," said a statement. It is still not clear whether the society will appeal the court verdict. The court earlier found Al Wefaq guilty of breaking laws, governing political societies, and failing to meet a one-month deadline to hold a fresh internal election. In July 2014, the ministry filed a suit against the society, saying that it must rectify its "illegal status following the annulment of four general assemblies for lack of a quorum and the non-commitment to the public and transparency requirements for holding them." DAMASCUS, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Syria's local TV stations cited news outlets close to the Islamic State (IS) group as declaring the death of the terror group's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The pro-government Sama TV and al-Ekhbariya cited what they called news outlets affiliated with the IS as saying that al-Baghdadi was killed, without elaboration. Meanwhile, other reports said the terror group's leader was killed by a U.S. airstrike in Syria. On June 10, the Iraqi Al Sumariya TV cited local sources in Iraq's Nineveh province that al-Baghdadi along with other commanders of the IS was wounded overnight, when air raids targeted their hiding places near the Syrian borders. The U.S.-led anti-terror coalition reportedly said then that it couldn't confirm the reports, apparently waiting for a stronger concrete evidence. But the coalition didn't deny carrying airstrikes at that given time and place. Al-Baghdadi has declared himself the Caliph of all Muslims in the world, a move deemed as absurd by the majority of moderate Muslims. His terror group has taken hold in several areas in Iraq and Syria. Recently the U.S. coalition and its allied rebels on ground, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), unleashed a wide-scale offensive against the IS de facto capital of al-Raqqa and other key strongholds of that terror group in Syria with the aim of weakening the group. The SDF made notable advance near al-Raqqa and the city of Manbej on the Syrian-Turkish borders. BRATISLAVA, June 14 (Xinhua) -- An 11-year-old Airbus A319-115 CJ, which is due to serve as the new Slovak 'Air Force One,' landed at Bratislava airport on Tuesday morning, announced Slovak Interior Minister Robert Kalinak. "There's a presidential cabin, premises for the entourage, for journalists, and if necessary, part of the area on board can be converted into evacuation premises, doubling its capacity," said Kalinak on Tuesday in a press briefing at the airport. The official added that part of the plane can also be changed into a medical cabin with five couches for patients with medium and severe injuries. "So, for the first time we'll be able to transport injured Slovak citizens back to their homeland," pointed out Kalinak. According to the minister, the aircraft isn't new, but there's a very good ratio between its price of 42 million euros (47 million U.S. dollars), and what it can deliver. The newly bought A319 has a range of around 9,000 km. The aircraft, which was produced in 2005 and put into operation one year later, has spent some 4,400 hours in the air and made 1,300 landings. Kalinak added that it should undergo an overhaul next year, after which it will be able to fly for another 30 years. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang (photo: www.fmprc.gov.cn) BEIJING, June 14 (Xinhua) -- China Tuesday thanked countries for their support on the South China Sea issue. Sierra Leone and Kenya recently announced their approval of China's stance. The number of countries that support China now amounts to 60. "We appreciate these countries for their understanding of right and wrong and belief in fairness and justice," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said at a daily press briefing. "The so-called South China Sea issue is an issue between China and littoral countries of the South China Sea," said Lu, adding that China has opposed the internationalization of the South China Sea issue from the very beginning. Both the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) and the "dual-track approach" recently offered by ASEAN advocate friendly and direct negotiation by the countries directly involved, Lu said. "Following this path, freedom and security of navigation in the area have never been a problem," Lu said. "Manipulation of public opinion cannot cover the truth," Lu said, stressing that international society will not be represented by seven or eight countries. Lu said in recent years, certain countries have deliberately produced tension in the region for their own benefit. "They incite individual countries in the region to break their promises. In the name of 'protecting rules', they are undermining rules and international law," Lu said. Related: China Voice: South China Sea arbitration lacks legal basis BEIJING, June 6 (Xinhua) -- There is a Chinese saying that goes like "the villain brings suit against his victim before he himself is prosecuted." This is true in the Beijing-Manila South China Sea dispute. Full story Chinese Society of the Law of the Sea issues statement on South China Sea arbitration initiated by the Philippines BEIJING, June 2 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Society of the Law of the Sea has issued a statement on the South China Sea arbitration initiated by the Philippines. Following is the English version of the statement: Full story Spotlight: China will not fall into trap of South China Sea arbitration: Chinese ambassador JOHANNESBURG, June 2 (Xinhua) -- China will not give certain countries the satisfaction of tricking it into the trap of the South China Sea arbitration, Chinese Ambassador to South Africa, Tian Xuejun, said on Thursday. In an article carried by Independent Media's nationwide newspaper The Star, Tian reveals the fallacy of the arbitration and reiterates the legitimacy of China's decision of neither participating in nor accepting the arbitration. Full story Old map shows the Philippines' claim over South China Sea islands groundless NEW YORK, May 29 (Xinhua) -- An old map published in 1899 by geographer J. Martin Miller shows that islands in the South China Sea have never been Philippine territory, Zeng Yingjing, the owner of the map, has told Xinhua. LOS ANGELES, June 14, 2016 (Xinhua) -- People attend a candlelight vigil at Los Angeles City Hall for the victims of Sunday's Orlando nightclub shooting incident, in Los Angeles, California, the United States, June 13, 2016. (Xinhua/Zhao Hanrong) ORLANDO, the United States, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Kim Delellis doesn't know any of the Orlando victims personally, but she knew she must do something. "It's not about whether you know them or not. You are human being, you've got to love," she said while distributing chilled drinks to those coming over for the first official vigil to commemorate the victims in Sunday's deadly mass shooting. "I know the weather is hot, and I know people are emotional," she said. Thousands of people gathered in downtown Orlando, in the southeastern U.S. state of Florida, to remember the 49 people who were killed and to pray for the 53 others wounded. The shooting in a gay nightclub was the worst in U.S. history and the single deadliest attack since the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001. People held praying signs and candles. Some of them laid flowers and wrote encouraging words on the pavement with crayon. "Be Strong Orlando," "One City Love" and "We are with you," said the signs. "Tonight we remain a city of pain, we are mourning and we are angry," said Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer in a speech during the vigil. "We will get through this because in our city's darkest hour, our residents have shown that they are the light." CONCERNS OVER GUN LAWS The gunman, identified by authorities as Omar Mateen of Port St. Lucie, Florida, used an AR-15 assault rifle and a handgun to carry out the attacks. Both guns were purchased legally. This mass shooting, together with similar incidents in the United States in recent years, has triggered wide debates over gun control. "I believe in gun control to a certain point. I don't think anybody needs anything as automatic as he had," said Delellis, who owns a handgun at home. "But what are you going to do with a machine gun?" Iman Muhammad Musri, an Islam leader, told the rally: "We have to work hard as a nation, to reconsider our gun laws that allow such massacres to take place." "ONE CITY LOVE" According to Orlando Police Chief John Mina, the lone gunman did pledge allegiance to the extremist group the Islamic State and tried to negotiate with police during the attack. Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump had quickly taken advantage of the event, restating his argument to ban Muslims from coming to the country. Muslims, however, didn't shy away from the vigil. Present were many groups of women wearing hijab. "It might be one guy who is just angry, you can never blame just one religion," said Marie Rivera, an Orlando local who took part in the vigil. At one point, the rally called upon participants to hug the one next to him or her. For some Muslim women, they embraced their neighbors with smiles on their faces. "I saw two beautiful Muslim people here tonight. I went to hug them and thanked them for the courage to be here tonight. That meant the world to me that they have the courage," said Eileen Simoneau, a volunteer who handed out water at the event. "To show support for the people who suffered from this horrible attack. To show that we don't stand for this hate. Hate will not get us any place," said Amany Shalaby, a Muslim immigrant from Egypt who now live in the suburbs of Orlando. "We are not leaving," said a staff member of the nightclub, where the incident happened. "We are here to stay. And we will get bigger and better than you can ever imagine." HANOI, June 14 (Xinhua) -- The China-ASEAN Expo 2016 (CAEXPO 2016), which will be held in both China and Vietnam, is expected to promote cooperation between enterprises of the two countries, said a Vietnamese official here on Tuesday. Ta Hoang Linh, vice head of the Department of Trade Promotion under Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade made the remarks at a press conference held on Tuesday to introduce the event. The CAEXPO Vietnamese Exhibition 2016 will be held in Hanoi from Thursday to Saturday while the 13th CAEXPO 2016 in China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in September. According to Linh, China has many good businesses but not all Vietnamese enterprises know them. Therefore, through the event, many Vietnamese enterprises can discover Chinese brands, said Linh. As Vietnam is a big importer of Chinese goods, many Vietnamese enterprises often buy raw materials and machines from China, Linh said, adding that the exhibition will help Vietnamese importers find suitable Chinese partners for better cooperation results. According to Yang Yanyan, vice secretary-general of the CAEXPO Secretariat, as many as 166 Chinese enterprises from 13 provinces and regions will attend the CAEXPO Vietnamese Exhibition 2016 in Hanoi to showcase their products at some 330 stalls covering around 5,000 square meters. The products to be displayed at the event include those in machinery, food packaging machines and technology, energy equipment, automobiles, among others. Meanwhile, around 200 Vietnamese firms are expected to attend the 13th CAEXPO 2016 in China's Guangxi in September. Vietnam is the country of honor of the 13th CAEXPO. This file photo taken on December 16, 2015 shows Hansjorg Haber (L), head of the European Union (EU) Delegation to Turkey, speaking to a Syrian refugee in a computer class at the training centre funded by the EU in the Sanliurfa province near the Syrian border. (Xinhua/AFP Photo) ANKARA, June 14 (Xinhua) -- The European Union's top envoy to Turkey Hansjorg Haber has resigned from his post, an official from the EU delegation said. "No further comments and no statement by Haber or the delegation are on the agenda," the official was quoted by Turkish local media as saying. As a career German diplomat, Haber has headed the EU delegation in Turkey since last October. According to Daily Sabah, Haber's controversial remarks caused a diplomatic spat between Ankara and Brussels in May, at a time when the negotiations to finalize the crucial readmission deal was ongoing. Haber was also critical of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and government officials' stance when the negotiations were coming to an end, Daily Sabah said. Haber had criticized Turkey's handling of a landmark deal with the EU on migration, and was summoned to the Turkish Foreign Ministry over his comments last month, Daily News reported. Haber told journalists last month that Turkey's EU accession bid had been the reverse of the Turkish proverb, "Starting like a Turk, finishing like a German," meaning starting something with enthusiasm and continuing with determination and discipline. Following the controversial remarks, Haber was summoned to the Turkish Foreign Ministry, according to Anadolu agency. BEIJING, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping's upcoming trip to Central and Eastern European Countries (CEE) and Central Asia from June 17 to 24 is expected to significantly boost the Belt and Road Initiative. During his trip to CEE countries as well as Central Asia, two key regions under the framework of the initiative, Xi will pay state visits to Serbia, Poland and Uzbekistan from June 17 to 22, and attend the 16th meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in the Uzbek capital of Tashkent on June 23 and 24. The visits are also seen as a fresh move to enhance regional and international cooperation as the SCO member states are expecting new proposals from China on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of its establishment. TO IMPROVE PRACTICAL BILATERAL COOPERATION The trip to CEE countries comes within three months after Xi's last one, or his first visit to the Czech Republic as China's head of state and his first multilateral diplomatic trip in 2016. Such frequent visits to countries in the region demonstrate the great significance of bilateral cooperation in efforts by both sides to shape regional and state diplomacy. Liu Zuokui, an expert from the Institute of European Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believed that promoting bilateral cooperation with Serbia and Poland will "play an exemplary and positive role in propelling China-CEE relations." In 2009, Serbia became the first CEE country to establish a strategic partnership with China. In September last year, Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic brought along a column of soldiers to attend China's landmark parade marking the 70th anniversary of the World Anti-Fascist War victory. Increasing political mutual trust and accelerating cooperation over recent years have worked to usher in another occasion to further bilateral ties, Chinese Ambassador to Serbia Li Manchang said. Poland, among the first countries to establish diplomatic ties with new China, elevated the bilateral relationship to a strategic partnership in 2011. Poland remains China's largest trading partner in Central and Eastern Europe, while China is Poland's largest trading partner in Asia as well as its third-largest importer. As the third leg of Xi's upcoming trip after Serbia and Poland, Uzbekistan has witnessed rapid development in its relations with China since the establishment of a bilateral strategic partnership in 2012, boosted by many mutual visits and meetings by the leaders. During the visits, Xi is scheduled to meet heads of state and attend signing ceremonies for cooperation agreements in such fields as energy, finance, infrastructure construction, technology and tourism. TO LEAD SCO MEMBERS OUT OF DIFFICULTY Marking the 15th anniversary of its establishment, the SCO summit this year is expected to have a significant and positive influence on its growth, said Chen Yurong, a director at the China Institute of International Studies. Currently, the SCO needs to make its "two wheels" run well, she said. Regarding security cooperation under the SCO framework, combating the "three evil forces" of terrorism, separatism and extremism remains an urgent task for all. In the meantime, increasing economic cooperation is necessary for member states currently under the pressure of an economic slowdown. A Kazakh political analyst at the Al-Farabi Kazakh National University said that at the upcoming SCO summit, "many countries hope China can work to bring them out of difficulties," since "China is an important driving force for the SCO development as well as a major engine of the world economy." Apart from discussing SCO future plans, member states are expected to approve at the summit a memorandum for India and Pakistan to join the organization, a key step closer to their SCO membership. Leaders from China, Russia and Mongolia will hold their third tripartite conference on the sidelines of the summit to be held in Tashkent. FRESH IMPETUS FOR BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE Xi's trip is expected to focus on the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative, given the relevance of the countries for the initiative, and importance of the SCO as a platform to dovetail China's Silk Road Economic Belt Initiative with Russia's aspiration under the Eurasian Economic Union framework. During the state visits, Xi is expected discuss new measures with leaders of Serbia, Poland and Uzbekistan. The three countries were among the first to respond to China's Belt and Road Initiative, proposed by Xi during his 2013 trips to Central Asia and Southeast Asia. They also have a strong desire to cooperate with China. At present, Serbia is pushing forward a re-industrialization strategy,trying to attract more foreign investment, while Poland, as the sole member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in the region, hopes to provide a gateway for China to enter Europe. As for Uzbekistan, whose economy relies mainly on energy and agriculture, there is great potential for capacity cooperation with China. SHANGHAI, June 14 (Xinhua) -- A man who killed six people and injured four others with guns and an iron pipe in Shanghai three years ago has been executed, a local court said on Tuesday. Fan Jieming, 65, was sentenced to death by Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People's Court for murder, robbery, and forcible seizure, illegal purchase and possession of guns last July. According to the court, Fan had a dispute at a chemical factory in the city's Baoshan District on June 22, 2013, before beating a colleague to death there with an iron pipe. He then took a hunting rifle from his dormitory and asked a driver to take him to another district. He killed the driver on the way and took the vehicle. At a nearby military barracks Fan killed a guard and took his gun. He then returned to the plant and shot dead another three people. Fan also seriously injured three people and slightly injured another. He was captured by police the same day and put on trial in January, 2014. Emirates National Oil Company gets a five-year unsecured loan with 230 million US dollars from China's ICBC. (Xinhua/AFP Photo) DUBAI, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC) said Tuesday it received a green light for a five-year unsecured loan worth 230 million U.S. dollars from China's Industrial and Commercial Banking Corporation (ICBC), for the expansion of its business. The ENOC said in a statement the loan was secured from the bank's branch located at the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). "The trust placed by ICBC in us is a big testament of our robust business and financial performance," said Petri Pentti, Chief Financial Officer at ENOC Group. ICBC is the biggest bank in the world in relation to assets and market capitalization. Pentti added that the ENOC has a long-term strategy in place, "which is not greatly impacted by the change in the economic climate of the region." The loan will help ENOC fund its new projects and support the company's expansion strategy and business operations in light of the challenges faced by the international oil and gas market. RAMALLAH, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah warned Israel Tuesday of more security deterioration in the Palestinian territories due to the increasing Israeli escalation against the Palestinians. "Israel insists on escalation and insists on refuting all the international efforts aimed at making peace in the region," Hamdallah said in a press statement following his meeting with Irish Minister of Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan. He said that there has to be an active international intervention to back the French initiative for peace in the Middle East and to set up a timetable for ending the Israeli military occupation and establish a Palestinian state. Hamdallah insisted that the continuation of the Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian territories is the main reason for endless conflict, and ending the occupation will lead to stability in the region. The Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) consensus government briefed Flanagan on the ongoing Israeli violations in the Palestinian territories, mainly in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Flanagan had earlier met with the PNA Minister of Foreign Affairs Reyad al-Malki in Ramallah. Al-Malki said in a brief press statement that the 2014 decision of the Irish parliament to recognize an independent Palestinian state has to be interpreted to an official Irish declaration. Flanagan, according to the statement, stressed that his country will keep supporting the Palestinians and their cause, mainly their right of self determination and establish the independent Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital. SKOPJE, June 14 (Xinhua) -- The Red Cross in Macedonia declared on Tuesday, the World Blood Donor Day that Macedonian blood donors are getting younger and the number of women donors has increased. According to data of the Red Cross in Macedonia, blood is donated by 25,000-30,000 citizens on a yearly level, about 900 blood donations are realized by volunteers. The law in Macedonia allows citizens which are 18-65 years old to donate blood. "The average age of blood donors has dropped, and the number of women donors has increased. In high schools, blood can be donated by 17.5 year olds, with parent consent, and citizens older than 65 can also donate if they are healthy," said the Red Cross. Annually, there are about 20 citizens who get acknowledgements because they donated blood many times. The Red Cross and the Institute of Transfusion Medicine in Macedonian would mark the World Blood Donor Day under the theme "Blood Connects Us All." On this occasion an event would be held at the Mother Teresa Museum. An exhibition of posters from the competition on the topic 'Blood donation, youth, humanity' will be showcased there. Every year on June 14, countries around the world celebrate the World Blood Donor Day. The event serves to raise the awareness of the need for safe blood and blood products, and thank blood donors for their voluntary, life-saving gifts of blood. ARUSHA, Tanzania, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Agnes Taki is one of women farmers in the southern Tanzania's district of Kilolo who for many years rely on farming. Agnes's dreams to improve her livelihoods through farming were recently shuttered after her three-acre farm was completely destroyed by elephants. The elephants are believed to have strayed from Ruaha, Udzungwa and Mikumi national parks. Agnes lives in Ruaha Mbuyuni ward, one of the areas in Kilolo District, which is highly affected with elephant invasion. Being a mother of three, Agnes has nothing to do as the money she invested into the destroyed farm was loaned from one of the Tanzanian-based banks. "I took the loan from the bank for farming. And now everything in the farm has gone, I don't know how I'm going to repay the loan after elephants destroyed all of my crops." Rashid Ramadhani, the ward executive officer of Ruaha Mbuyuni, admits that in just few weeks ago, five people have been trampled to death and others injured after wild elephants stormed into their farms. The people were killed in separate incidents, which occurred in just one week and in most cases, incidents happened when people were trying to scare them away from their farms. "Most of the killed victims were trying to chase the largest mammals from their farms," the official says, noting that more than 30 hectares of farmland in the area have been destroyed by the elephants. Ramadhani suggests the need to review laws on compensation, so that it can be meaningful to the people who lost their beloved ones and those whom their farms were destroyed. "I urge the government to build a rangers' post in the area to reduce incidences of elephants storming into people's farms," he says, adding: "We want this post which will have rangers all the time." Issa Mwishombe, a Ruaha-Mbuyuni ward councilor, says: "We have been informing responsible authorities on compensating those people who are being victims of elephants attack." Rukia Muwango, the Kilolo District Council executive director, also asks the government to allocate enough rangers in areas which are notorious with elephants attack. Tanzania's Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism Ramo Makani landed into the district and consoled families of the victims including one family in Mtandika village whereby one man was killed a few days ago. The affected area is close to the wildlife corridors where the largest mammals cross from Mikumi, Ruaha and Udzungwa national parks to drink water in Lukosi and Great Ruaha rivers. Eng. Makani said the government was aware of the small amount of money issued to the victims of wildlife attacks "and we're working to review the law." "I agree, it's high time we review the amount of money paid as compensation." Image provided by the Organization of American States (OAS) shows Secretary General of OAS Luis Almagro attending a meeting with representatives prior to the opening of the 46th Regular Session of the OAS General Assembly, in Santo Domingo, capital of Dominican Republic, on June 13, 2016. (Xinhua/Juan Manuel Herrera/OAS) CARACAS, June 13 (Xinhua) -- The moves the United States made recently against Venezuela are part of "the second phase of an international siege" it uses to stifle the South American country amid its political and economic crises, said a political analyst. Jose Antonio Egido, professor of sociology at the Bolivarian University of Venezuela, told Xinhua in a recent interview that the United States uses the moves, non-military at this stage, to increase political pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. "Since the Maduro government has not fallen despite an economic crisis, the United States is taking actions through the local opposition and manipulating the Organization of American States (OAS)," said Egido. At the end of last May, OAS Secretary-General Luis Almagro called for invoking the body's Inter-American Democratic Charter (IDC) against Venezuela. However, the attempt was thwarted by OAS members at a special OAS session held in early June who instead appealed for further dialogue between the Venezuelan government and the opposition. Egido said the United States listed Venezuela in its Country Reports on Terrorism 2015 issued in early June, accusing Venezuela of allowing listed Colombian rebel groups, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and the National Liberation Army to operate from bases on its territory. Image provided by Venezuela's Presidency, shows Venezuelan President, Nicolas Maduro (C), receiving the members of a march supporting the Government and in rejection of the foreign interference, at Miraflores Palace, in Caracas, Venezuela, on June 9, 2016. (Xinhua/Venezuela's Presidency) The United States also accused Venezuela of helping sympathizers of the Basque group ETA and the Lebanese Islamic group Hezbollah. Egido noted that in this "more aggressive" second phase of an "international siege", the United States is also piling up financial pressure so that "no country lends money to Venezuela" despite the current economic crisis. It "seeks an eventual asphyxiation of Venezuela, which the government is continuing to resist," he added. Egido said that in the meantime, the United States has also put on regional blocs such as the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, and the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America. Egido believes that the U.S. moves have encouraged the Venezuelan opposition alliance the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) to stick to its tough stand. "The MUD views efforts made by UNASUR towards negotiations and non-violence in Venezuela as treacherous," he said. Egido noted that dialogue is the only way out for resolving the existing political tension in Venezuela. Image taken on March 31, 2015, shows a man with a knife to open a clam during the sale of fish and seafood in the Vega Monumental in Concepcion, Chile. (Xinhua/Maribel Fornerod/AGENCIA UNO) BUENOS AIRES, June 13 (Xinhua) -- China was the second largest destination for Argentina's fish and seafood exports in the first quarter of 2016, according to a report released Monday. Argentina's fish and seafood exports to China in this period were worth 77 million U.S. dollars, accounting for 16 percent of the total, the report by Argentine consulting firm Sectorial Economic Research (IES) said. Spain was the top export destination, accounting for 112 million dollars and 23 percent of the total exports. The United States took the third place, followed by Italy and Brazil. In 2016, Argentina's exports of fishery products reached 482.5 million dollars, up 16.8 percent year-on-year. The report also said the outlook for 2016 seemed uncertain due to a continued decrease in fishing catches, particularly for mollusks. "Overfishing of squid has led to lower harvests over the years, but we still hope to stabilize the catches and increase the production in the second half of the year, due to the start of the shrimp and squid catching period." IES Director Alejandro Ovando said. ANKARA, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sent a message to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin celebrating the National Day of Russia, NTV reported Tuesday. In the written message, Erdogan expressed his will for better relations between the two countries, NTV reported. Turkish presidential sources also confirmed the letter which was sent on June 12. "On behalf of the Turkish people, I celebrate the National Day of the Russian people. I also hope that relations between Russia and Turkey reach the level they deserve in the near future," Erdogan said the message, according to local media. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim sent a similar message to his Russian counterpart Medvedev. "I hope that the cooperation and relations between our countries reach the level necessary for the common goals of our people soon. I wish health and prosperity to all Russians," Yildirim said. The message came amid efforts by Turkey to mend ties with its northern neighbor which have been deeply scarred after Turkish warplanes downed a Russian jet in November, 2015. A Russian Su-24 bomber was downed on November 24 last year by a Turkish F-16 fighter near the border of Syria and Turkey. Russia denied the jet had violated Turkey's airspace. Describing the incident as the biggest crisis in history between the two countries, Russia imposed a comprehensive set of sanctions against Turkey. Relations between Turkey and Russia can be restored, Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said on May 30, following Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent statement on normalizing the bilateral relations. MOSCOW, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated his wish to restore relations with Russia in a recent letter of congratulation to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Sunday's Russia Day, the RIA Novosti news agency reported Tuesday. "On behalf of the Turkish people, I congratulate all Russians on the occasion of the Russia Day, and wish that in the time ahead the relations between Russia and Turkey reach their well-deserved level," the RIA Novosti quoted the letter as saying. Relations between Russia and Turkey have soured after the latter downed a Russian Su-24 bomber near the Turkish-Syrian border in November last year for alleged airspace violation, which Russia denied and took as a hostile act. Putin described the attack as a "stab in the back" and ordered a broad range of economic sanctions against Turkey. Ankara did not take retaliatory measures, in a bid to avoid the escalation of the already tense situation. But it did not shy away from resorting to harsh diatribe against Russia. Earlier this month, Erdogan said he wanted to improve ties with Russia, lamenting that bilateral relations were sacrificed over what he called "a pilot error." He said that he did not understand what kind of "first step" Russia expects Turkey to take to repair the ties. The Russia Day is a national holiday set to commemorate the gaining of its state sovereignty in 1990. PARIS, June 14 (Xinhua) -- A list of targets, including journalists and the police, was found in the house of the police officer who was stabbed to death on Monday night by an IS-linked man, Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins said Tuesday at a press conference. Three phones, three knives, including the one with blood placed on the table, were found in the house of the police officer, Molins added. The prosecutor also said the assailant, Larossi Abballa, admitted to the police that he pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) three weeks ago and acknowledged the victim's status as police officer. Larossi Abballa was arrested in 2011 and sentenced to three years in prison in 2013 for helping extremist militants to go to Pakistan. So far, three people have been arrested and placed in custody during the double murder investigation. The police officer was stabbed to death by the suspect on Monday night in the west Paris suburb of Magnanville. His partner was also killed at their home. Hours after the attack, an IS-linked news agency report said that the attack was carried out by an "Islamic State fighter". The police couple's three-year-old son was put under medical attention after surviving the bloodshed unharmed. French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday called the killing an "incontestably terrorist act." French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve also said earlier Tuesday that the killing was "an abject terrorist act." CAPE TOWN, June 14 (Xinhua) -- South Africa's special anti-crime unit, the Hawks, issued a warning on Tuesday against people who open bank accounts for fraudsters. The Hawks have of late detected a trend in which people receive money in order to open bank accounts for people they do not even know, said Robert Netshiunda, spokesperson of the Hawks. Investigations have revealed that most people have become the subjects of investigations after their accounts were found to have been used to either receive or transfer money that have been defrauded from other victims. Members of the community, for unknown reasons, agree to open bank accounts and thereafter hand over the bank card to the person who requested them to do so, according to Netshiunda. Criminals who hack people's online banking details use those recklessly opened bank accounts to distribute the money online and make withdrawals throughout the country, he said. "The Hawks are issuing a stern warning to people who open bank accounts not to give their cards and pin numbers to anyone, or risk becoming accomplices to various crimes," Netshiunda said. Over 55 suspects, most of them Nigerian nationals, have so far been arrested for crimes varying from internet fraud to phishing. The account numbers used by these suspects to transfer money were found to have been legally opened by South Africans who voluntarily handed over their cards and pin numbers for a fee. Online dating has also become another way in which criminals use to defraud unsuspecting women. "Those who visit those sites are advised not to deposit or transfer any money without verifying if they are chatting with a fraudster or a potential companion," Netshiunda said. Two women have recently been defrauded of 900,000 rand (about 60,000 U.S. dollars) and 170,000 rand (11,300 dollars) respectively by Nigerian fraudsters who posed at hunks from Belgium and Scotland, said Netshiunda. BEIJING, June 14 (Xinhua) -- China on Tuesday released a list of goods banned for export to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), as the items could be used to develop weapons of mass destruction. The ban, with immediate effect, follows UN Security Council resolutions, said the Ministry of Commerce website. The list names dozens of banned items including metal hydrides, laser-welding equipment and plasma cutting equipment. It also bans the exports of a dozen chemicals that could be used in the production of "chemical warfare agents". The UN Security Council adopted a resolution in March in response to the DPRK's nuclear test in January and attempted satellite launch in February. JAKARTA, June 14 (Xinhua) -- A senior official at the Transportation ministry said on Tuesday that government would speed up the schedule to commence railway transport project in the nation's easternmost province of Papua to the second half this year from the initial schedule set by the end of next year. "The government has requested the initial groundbreaking of the project be accelerated to the second half this year," Prasetyo Boeditjahjanto, Railway Director General at the ministry said here. The railway transport project in Papua, called Trans-Papua, was designated to start from Sorong, serving the city in Papua province to Manokwari in the neighboring West Papua province. The initial 390-km railway route from Sorong to Manokwari requires some 8 trillion rupiah (about 598.3 million U.S. dollars) excluding the land compensation cost, Prasetyo said. However, the railway project in the initial Trans-Papua route was still hindered by land acquisition problem on land hosting 4 kilometers of railway track in the route. The Trans-Papua railway transport would connect cities in Papua and West Papua provinces. Besides Sorong to Manokwari that takes the longest route, the other planned routes were Manokwari to Nabire, Nabire to Timika, Nabire to Sarmi and Sarmi to Papua's capital of Jayapura. In total the Trans-Papua railway transport would serve 1,550 kilometer of public transport across those Papuan cities. Some 108.3 trillion rupiah (about 8 billion dollars) of funds were required to finance development of those routes which were expected to be completed no later than 2024. HANOI, June 14 (Xinhua) -- The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Southeast Asia Regional Forum 2016 kicked off in Vietnam's capital Hanoi on Tuesday, discussing ways to boost productivity and inclusiveness in Southeast Asia. During the two-day forum which was first held in Vietnam, officials and experts from OECD, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and Vietnam exchanged views on three sessions, namely Boosting Productivity in Southeast Asia, Integrating ASEAN Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) into Global Value Chains and Inclusiveness-the Social Agenda, said the forum's website. Speaking at the opening ceremony of the forum, Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son said boosting productivity and inclusiveness is an essential need of ASEAN countries during the process of building ASEAN Community. Vietnam always strives its best to promote integration and narrow development gap among ASEAN, Vietnam's state-run news agency VNA quoted Son as saying. In order to boost productivity and inclusiveness, Son proposed ASEAN countries to focus on creating more productivity jobs, making good preparations on institutional, infrastructure, and personnel issues as well as making use of regional economic linkages to narrow development gaps. OECD Deputy Secretary-General Doug Frantz, for his part, said at the ceremony that despite maintaining optimistic economic growth after 2008-2009 financial crisis, the ASEAN countries are now facing challenges including productivity slowdown, increase in social inequality and the risk of falling into the "middle income trap." In order to solve these problems, the OECD official recommended that ASEAN countries need to enhance investment into education and training, improve skills for workers and business environment, support SMEs, as well as ensure social welfare among others. by Alexia Vlachou ATHENS, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Greek officials are aiming to attract more tourists from China and boost direct flights, hoping Chinese tourism will play a significant role in the growth of the industry in the future. "China is a new market for us," Greek Minister of Tourism Elena Kountoura told Xinhua during a recent interview at her office in Athens. According to the president of the Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE), Andreas Andreadis, Chinese arrivals to Greece can exceed one million by 2021. "For the moment, numbers are less than 200,000. We have to count also Chinese who arrive from other European countries and not only the direct arrivals," Andreadis said. Among the most popular destinations for Chinese tourists are the Greek islands of Santorini and Mykonos, Athens, and many destinations with archaeological and cultural interest like Delphi and Meteora. China and Greece, the two countries which represent two of the world's great ancient civilizations, have many things in common, Kountoura highlighted. "We share a long history and culture." "Chinese prefer to go to the archaeological sites and feel the culture and the power of history of this country. At the same time, they love shopping and good food. We have everything," Kountoura added. Greece is also a dream destination for honeymooners. "We have so many Chinese who come and get married in Santorini, in other islands, and have their honey moon here," Kountoura said. Among the top priorities of Greek officials is to step up efforts in promoting brand Greece in China and to improve connectivity with more direct flights. "One of our next efforts would be to grow the presence of Greece's market in China in cooperation with local tour operators and travel agents. In addition, more direct flights to Greek destinations from China are key in growing the business," Andreadis stressed. Besides the participation of Greece in major tourist exhibitions in Beijing and Shanghai in recent years, the Greek National Tourism Organization is taking action to further bolster tourism traffic from China with a series of activities, documentaries, press and familiarization trips. by Anthi Pazianou MYTILENE, Greece, June 14 (Xinhua)-- Tourist arrivals in the Greek island of Lesvos recorded a fall of 65 percent in May and local tourist agents said the refugee crisis has aggravated problems in local tourism industry. According to official data of Lesvos airport "Odysseas Elitis", the island recorded 4,217 tourist arrivals in May, while a year before the arrivals were 12,043 for the same month. A big fall was also recorded in April with 862 visitors, compared to the 2,037 in the same month of 2015. A similar fall was noted on charter arrivals with 38 aircrafts landing on Lesvos island in May, comparing with 85 of May 2015. More than half a million refugees and migrants have reached the islands' shores since early 2015 from Turkey to continue their journey to northern Europe. The influx has substantially stopped this spring following the EU-Turkey agreement, but the crisis still affects local tourism industry. Most hotel rooms and restaurants are packed at Mytilene,with officers of the European border control agency FRONTEX, policemen, and members of NGOs. But the traditional picturesque villages in the northern side of the island (such as Molyvos and Petra) and in the western side (such as Eresos) which are among the most popular tourist destinations of Greeks and foreigners for decades, recorded sharp falls, tour operators told Xinhua in recent interviews. "The big fall of tourist arrivals will affect both economy and employment this summer," said Periklis Antoniou, president of the Lesvos Hoteliers' Association, who expected the loss of 8,000 jobs and an income of 5 million euros (5.61 million U.S. dollars) for the island's tourism industry. During last week's General Assembly among the hoteliers of Lesvos, many of them blamed the refugee crisis for the fall and recommended either the closure of Moria and Kara-Tepe camps or the return of all refugees and immigrants to Turkey. The two main camps are now hosting about 3,000 refugees and migrants But Antoniou explained that the refugee crisis was not the only factor to pinpoint. "The refugee crisis has only sharpened our permanent problems in the tourism industry, such as the lack of destination managers and a task force to design and implement tourist development projects," he told Xinhua. HANOI, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on Tuesday issued an order instructing the military to implement search and rescue mission for a fighter jet which went missing earlier in the day. The Russian-made SU-30 fighter jet of Vietnam air forces disappeared from radar screen while carrying out a training mission offshore Vietnam's central Nghe An province on Tuesday morning. There were two pilots aboard the jet - Tran Quang Khai, chief of staff of Regiment 923, and Nguyen Huu Cuong, flight lieutenant. The jet took off Tuesday morning from Sao Vang airport in Vietnam's central Thanh Hoa province, some 140 km south of capital Hanoi, for training. In the statement which was posted on the official website of Vietnamese government on Tuesday afternoon, Phuc ordered the Ministry of Defense (MoD) to focus its efforts in seeking all measures and mobilizing forces and vehicles to search and rescue the missing pilots and plane. The Vietnamese cabinet chief urged to investigate and verify the cause of the case as well as review all procedures in the work of flying direction and management in order to avoid similar incidents from happening. Phuc also urged the National Committee for Search and Rescue, people's committees of central Nghe An and Thanh Hoa provinces as well as relevant ministries to coordinate with the MoD to implement search and rescue mission. Egyptian students pose outside high school exam site in Cairo on June 13, 2016. (Xinhua/Meng Tao) by Ahmed Shafiq CAIRO, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Anxiety, constant tension, sleepless nights, fear, horrible pressure from the family -- these are common features that engulf most of the Egyptian students during high school exams, or Thanaweya Amma as it is commonly referred to in the middle eastern country. From June 5 till 28, some 560,000 Egyptian students have to pass these exams which lead to the Egyptian General Secondary Education Certificate and serve as the entrance examination for Egyptian public universities. "Such exams determine my future and I have to get high marks so I could join a good public university," Ahmed Ibrahim, a science/mathematics student told Xinhua as he reviewed his answers of the physics exam with his classmates near Maadi military secondary school in Maadi district of Cairo. The 17-year-old boy has been living under huge pressure for almost one year because of the high school examinations. "I cannot stand this pressure anymore; I want this nightmare to finish. I have gone through tough pressure from my family, my teachers and even some of my friends and relatives. Everyone wants me to get the highest marks so as to be enrolled at a prestigious college," the boy said as he waited near the school's gate for his classmates. At the end of the final year of secondary school, students sit for comprehensive examinations for each of the five core subjects they took that year. Egyptian students pose outside high school exam site in Cairo on June 13, 2016. (Xinhua/Meng Tao) The content of the exams and their relative weight in scoring depends on the students' curricular concentration, either literature, science, or science/mathematics. These scores are turned into a composite and ranked within each track. Thanaweya Amma can also be taken by private school students in national curriculum schools accredited by the Ministry of Education. Additionally, private language schools can teach students the national curriculum but with certain core subjects taught in languages other than Arabic. Unlike many countries, high school exams in Egypt are considered a nightmare for both students and parents. Ibrahim explained that high school program is a curse that hits the family as well as the students, adding the conditions are almost similar at every Egyptian home that has a high school student. "For my parents, it is a psychological and financial burden. It has been almost a must to find some private tutors for all subjects for that students and this costs the family heaps of money," he said. "When the program starts," he said, "a state of emergency is declared at home and the list of the allowed and the forbidden is set." Ibrahim pointed out the Thanaweya Amma are already difficult, adding that the family pressure makes them even harder. "They want to see me frightened of the exams all the time. I'm always urged to study harder because my grades will decide my future, I have always been told this sentence since I was a little child," the boy complained. The family pressure is undoubtedly destructive as Abdel Fattah Mohammed, another high school art branch student, believes. However, he thinks that the educational system in Egypt is the reason behind the family pressure. "The government requires students to score high marks, sometimes over 97 percent to get into a decent university, and families are helping the government by pressuring us in all the ways possible, which make the students fall into depression and sometimes lead them to fail," Mohammed told Xinhua as he just finished an exam and planned to leave the school. Many education experts have complained that Egypt's education system is in need of renovation. However, a few changes happened in the recent decade. The teenager believes that system was made to decrease the number of students joining the country's 22 free public universities. "That's why the government requires high grades to join free universities. Instead of building new universities, they just allow students with highest marks to join free universities, while students with lower marks can join expensive private universities," Mohammed grumbled. Another problem, the boy said, is that the curriculum and the exams are very difficult and students can barely answer all of the questions. "People are not alike, my way of thinking is different from my brother's, so the exams should not be very difficult as if all high school students are geniuses," he added. CAPE TOWN, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of South African fire-fighters arrived home on Tuesday from Canada after a mission marred by a wage dispute. The 301 fire-fighters ended their mission apparently after negotiations failed to resolve a pay dispute between them and the Working on Fire (WOF), which disptached the fire-fighters. The fire-fighters, deployed to Alberta, Canada earlier this month to assist with wildfire suppression, downed tools last week in protest against inadequate payment. The dispatchment of the fire-fighters was part of a resource sharing agreement between South Africa and Canadian firefighting agencies. Upon return of the fire-fighters, the South African Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs issued a statement, voicing concern about the treatment of the fire-fighters. As the Portfolio Committee that plays a critical role in overseeing the work of WOF, it will be engaging with the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) to fully understand what happened in Canada to prevent any similar occurrence in future, the committee said. The WOF, housed in the DEA, is part of the SA government's Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) which aims to create job opportunities for South Africans who cannot find work, enabling them to gain skills and increase their capacity to earn income, and to enter the formal workplace. The DEA is tasked by President Jacob Zuma to help resolve the wage dispute. The Portfolio Committee said it is particularly concerned about disturbing media reports, which seem to suggest that the fire fighters were remunerated far less than what they should be paid. "This is disturbing given that the fire fighters are from marginalized communities and were trained in fire prevention and suppression skills to enable them to earn a living," the committee said. The DEA has to account in this matter, particularly given the negative reports generated by this episode which have the potential to dent the image of South Africa, Committee Chairperson Phillemon Mapulane said. "As the Committee, we envisage our country playing a significant role in assisting other countries in fire prevention and suppression, and hence we need to do it professionally and in a dignified manner, befitting our excellent international image," said Mapulane. On Monday, Minister of Environmental Affairs Edna Molewa downplayed the wage dispute, saying the fire-fighers ended their mission "following successful discussions" between the fire-fighters and the high-level WOF team dispatched to Canada. She said her ministry will continue to engage directly with the Canadian government to establish an over-arching Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to set parametres for the two implementing agencies to work together in the future. Yamato Tanooka, a 7-year-old Japanese boy who miraculously survived six days alone in a mountain forest, leaves hospital in the Hokkaido city of Hakodate on June 7, 2016, with his parents making a deep bow.[Photo/IC] The rescue of seven-year-old Japanese boy Yamato Tanooka after he survived six nights alone in Hokkaido's woods prompted the whole of Japan to deliberate on how to properly disciple children. Tanooka's parents forced him out of their car and left him on a mountain road in the bear-inhabited forest on May 28 as punishment for throwing stones at cars and people. While Japanese rescue workers and Self-Defense Force personnel were scouring the forest for Tanooka, he had walked almost 7 kilometers to a SDF training facility. He kept himself warm by sleeping between two mattresses and drank water from a tap he came across in the SDF training camp (he didn't get anything solid to eat). The second grader's endurance and survival skills awed the whole of Japan. And his parents were condemned for treating their son too harshlysome people called for understanding of parental frustration, though. Many Japanese parents consider disciplining children an important part of their children's development. As an old Japanese saying goes, there are four things to be feared in life: earthquakes, thunder, fire and fathers. In old times, Japanese fathers were regarded as strict and men of authority. But it seems their authority (when it comes to raising a child) has diminished over the past generation. The Olympic Flame burning for the Rio Summer Olympics glows on the Acropolis hill during the Olympic Flame torch relay for the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, April 26, 2016. (Xinhua/Lefteris Partsalis) by Alexia Vlachou ATHENS, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Greek officials are aiming to attract more tourists from China and boost direct flights, hoping Chinese tourism will play a significant role in the growth of the industry in the future. "China is a new market for us," Greek Minister of Tourism Elena Kountoura told Xinhua during a recent interview at her office in Athens. According to the president of the Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE), Andreas Andreadis, Chinese arrivals to Greece can exceed one million by 2021. "For the moment, numbers are less than 200,000. We have to count also Chinese who arrive from other European countries and not only the direct arrivals," Andreadis said. Among the most popular destinations for Chinese tourists are the Greek islands of Santorini and Mykonos, Athens, and many destinations with archaeological and cultural interest like Delphi and Meteora. China and Greece, the two countries which represent two of the world's great ancient civilizations, have many things in common, Kountoura highlighted. "We share a long history and culture." "Chinese prefer to go to the archaeological sites and feel the culture and the power of history of this country. At the same time, they love shopping and good food. We have everything," Kountoura added. Greece is also a dream destination for honeymooners. "We have so many Chinese who come and get married in Santorini, in other islands, and have their honey moon here," Kountoura said. Among the top priorities of Greek officials is to step up efforts in promoting brand Greece in China and to improve connectivity with more direct flights. "One of our next efforts would be to grow the presence of Greece's market in China in cooperation with local tour operators and travel agents. In addition, more direct flights to Greek destinations from China are key in growing the business," Andreadis stressed. Besides the participation of Greece in major tourist exhibitions in Beijing and Shanghai in recent years, the Greek National Tourism Organization is taking action to further bolster tourism traffic from China with a series of activities, documentaries, press and familiarization trips. BUCHAREST, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Visiting Italian President Sergio Mattarella on Tuesday confirmed his country's "convinced support" for Romania's efforts for its accession to the Schengen Area. Italy's position on this issue is "the result of harmony in the political, cultural and social matters between the two countries," Mattarella told a joint press conference with his Romanian counterpart Klaus Iohannis. According to the Italian president, the accession of Romania to the Schengen Area will imply a further increase in the solidity of the European Union (EU) as well as the impact of Romania on the EU. Iohannis thanked Italy and President Mattarella for the reconfirmation of their constant support and stressed the importance of preserving the Schengen Area's functionality. He restated his country's interest in the membership, which, according to him, will considerably contribute to the strengthening of the EU's external borders. According to Iohannis, the two presidents agreed in their talk to bring the economic cooperation to a higher level, showing that the commercial exchanges have already reached a record value of over 13 billion euros (14.58 billion U.S. dollars) by the end of 2015, with Italy the second largest commercial partner of Romania. Iohannis emphasized the need to continue joint efforts to support the Romanian community in Italy and to increase their participation in the social and political life of the country. Schengen accession has been a long process for Romania, whose entry into the border-free area has been constantly delayed since 2011, despite Bucharest authorities' claims that the country had done all the needed preparations. KUALA LUMPUR, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia on Tuesday condemns the execution of a Canadian hostage by the Abu Sayyaf group in southern Philippines, urging Manila to bring the culprits to justice. "Malaysia condemns in the strongest terms the execution of a Canadian national, Robert Hall, in southern Philippines," Malaysia's foreign ministry said in a statement. "The government of Malaysia calls upon the government of the Philippines to intensify efforts to bring the perpetrators to justice, and continue to work with relevant authorities to stop the killing of innocent lives once and for all," it said. "This merciless act of brutality should not and will not be tolerated by any nation," it added. Hall was executed on Monday after the deadline set by the kidnappers to pay ransom expired. Another Canadian was beheaded in April. Four Malaysian sailors were released by the Abu Sayyaf group earlier this month. The 400-strong Abu Sayyaf, founded in the early 1990s by Islamic extremists, is a violent terrorist group operating in southern Philippines. The group is notorious for a series of kidnappings, bombings and beheadings over the decades, both in the Philippines and across the border in Malaysia. Enditem BAGHDAD, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi security forces on Tuesday continued clashes with the Islamic State (IS) militants around the IS stronghold in the city of Fallujah and others areas in Anbar province, while the troops freed two villages from IS group in the country's northern province of Nineveh, security sources and a police chief said. In Iraq's western province of Anbar, the federal police and allied Shiite and Sunni Hashd Shaabi units carried out an operation to clear the areas adjacent to Euphrates River in south of the IS-held city of Fallujah, some 50 km west of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, Lieutenant General Raid Shakir Jawdat said in a press release. The troops managed to free a small dam on a branch of Euphrates River located some five km south of Fallujah, in addition to clearing the areas adjacent to the river in south of the city, Jawdat said without giving details about casualties among both sides. The clearing operation came as the security forces have been battling IS militants after they made their first advance on Wednesday in the district and raised the Iraqi flag over some of its buildings, the source said. The advance in southern Fallujah was slowed by IS militants resistance inside the city, with hundreds of hidden bombs believed to be planted by them. The security forces are also avoiding heavy casualties among tens of thousands of civilians who are reportedly trapped inside Fallujah. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced on May 23 the launch of a major offensive to claim Fallujah and surrounding towns and areas. Also in the province, the Iraqi army and allied Sunni paramilitary units, known as Hashd Shaabi, fought heavy clashes with IS militants who attacked the military positions in the areas of Albu Risha, Tway and Jeraishi in north of the provincial capital city of Ramadi, some 110 km west of Baghdad, a provincial security source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. After hours of fierce clashes during the day, the troops managed to repel the IS attack, leaving at least 25 IS militants killed, including four suicide bombers, the source said. The clashes came just one day after the troops repelled an attack by dozens of IS militants with four suicide car bombs on the military positions in Jeraishi area. Government troops and allied militias have currently been fighting for months to reclaim key cities and towns in Anbar from IS militants, who attempted to advance toward Baghdad after seizing most of Anbar province. In northern Iraq, Iraq's army along with Kurdish security forces, known as the Peshmerga, attacked IS posts in the villages of al-Farraj and Kherbat-Shamam in south of the IS-held city of Mosul after fierce clashes with IS militant that left more than 37 IS militants killed, including several suicide bombers, said the Operations Command of Nineveh Liberation's media office in a statement. After the liberation of the two villages in east of the Tigris River, the troops are now surrounding the adjacent village of Haj Ali, which is expected to be freed in the coming hours, according to the statement. The battles against IS militants in south of Mosul is part of an operation carried out on Sunday by the troops to clear a village cluster scattered in the east of the militant-seized town of Qayyara, 50 km south of Mosul, the capital of Iraq's northern province of Nineveh. The operation is the first phase of a major offensive launched in late March aimed to free the areas in south of Mosul, including the town of Qayyara, to be able to surround Mosul from both the south and east, before heading towards Mosul in order to flush out IS militants from the city, which lies 400 km north of Baghdad. Mosul has been under IS control since June 2014, when Iraqi government forces surprisingly abandoned their weapons and posts and fled. Iraq has been witnessing a wave of violence since the IS controlled parts of its northern and western regions in June 2014. A crew member takes part in a fire drill on China's largest and most advanced patrol vessel Haixun 01 on the South China Sea, April 4, 2016. (Xinhua/Xing Guangli) by Xinhua Writer Zhang Jianhua LONDON, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Two leading experts on international law in Britain have recently published two research papers, both concluding that an arbitral tribunal which allowed the South China Sea case initiated by the Philippines against China to go ahead is not convincing in many respects. Antonios Tzanakopoulos, associate professor of public international law at the University of Oxford, and Chris Whomersley, a former deputy legal adviser to the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, were the experts. JURISDICTION QUESTIONABLE In 2013, the Philippines unilaterally filed compulsory arbitration against China at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague with respect to the two sides' dispute in the South China Sea. The dispute is obviously concerning sovereignty and maritime delimitation, which are beyond the stipulations of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), according to a recent research paper by Tzanakopoulos originally published in the Social Science Research Network (SSRN). "Both the Philippines and the Tribunal sought to carve out distinct and limited 'disputes' over which the Tribunal could make a decision," but this carving-out exercise "smacks of artificiality," he wrote. China made a declaration in 2006 in accordance with Article 298 of the UNCLOS, making it clear that China would exclude disputes on maritime delimitation from compulsory arbitration. The paper further elaborated: "It is difficult to see how questions of entitlement generated by maritime features are not inextricably intertwined with issues of delimitation as well as with issues of sovereignty over the relevant features." Tzanakopoulos' analysis on the jurisdiction of the arbitral tribunal was echoed by Whomersley. In his paper published last week by the Chinese Journal of International Law, an independent and peer-reviewed research journal, Whomersley wrote that "questions of territorial sovereignty, status of features and maritime delimitation are inextricably linked; to consider only one element out of these three is unreal and artificial, and worse it risks producing a distorted result." The tribunal "failed to recognize that the fundamental dispute is about the sovereignty over the features in the South China Sea, and that the status of the features, such as whether they are low-tide elevations or 'rocks,' is a question which can only logically be answered once the sovereignty dispute has been resolved," Whomersley wrote. "To put it succinctly: the Tribunal should have got below the surface of the Philippines' claims, but it did not." ESTOPPEL In 2002, China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), including the Philippines, signed the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), which stipulated that "the parties concerned undertake to resolve their territorial and jurisdictional disputes by peaceful means, without resorting to the threat or use of force, through friendly consultations and negotiations by sovereign states directly concerned." Whomersley argued that "there is a strong case for saying that the Philippines was estopped from ignoring the declaration and proceeding to the institution of legal proceedings." Tzanakopoulos, in his paper, observed that "the relevant provision therein regarding resolution of disputes by negotiation was drafted in clearly binding terms, stating that the parties 'undertake' to resolve disputes through friendly consultations." ADMISSIBILITY The South China Sea disputes involve many of the littoral states, and any determination by the tribunal may have the effect of rendering states other than the Philippines and China the "indispensable third parties," Tzanakopoulos wrote in his paper. He argued that "the South China Sea disputes, as multilateral disputes, are not fit for determination in the context of a bilateral, adversarial proceeding between only two of the many disputing states." POTENTIALLY DESTABILIZING Whomersley, in his paper, also pointed to the potential damage to international relations by an unconvincing decision of the tribunal. He warned "it is potentially destabilizing to the general course of international business that the Tribunal accepted that the Philippines could resile from the undertakings in a formal document like the Declaration (DOC)." Tzanakopoulos also warned in his paper: "The complex and multilateral nature of the relevant disputes" in the South China Sea could lead to "a rather hard case" for the arbitration system. "Hard cases make bad law, and it may be that the Annex VII Tribunal in the Philippines-China dispute has not taken this fully under advisement," he explained. The scholar suggested that the best solution to these complex disputes is putting aside disputes and engaging in joint exploitation of the territory in the South China Sea, put forward by the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping decades ago. "Perhaps zones of cooperation will do much to allow the littoral states to enjoy the benefits of the South China Sea without all the fallout that adjudication inevitably produces in the face of strong objections," he concluded in his paper. Related: Spotlight: Experts say China's stance on South China Sea arbitration fully justified BEIJING, June 10 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines' unilateral move to bring a maritime dispute with China to an international tribunal won't help resolve the problem and the right way forward is to seek settlement through bilateral talks, several foreign experts told Xinhua in recent interviews. Full story Interview: Manila intensifies tension in South China Sea -- former diplomat MANILA, June 9 (Xinhua) -- The Philippine government has been behind the intensifying tensions in the South China Sea, a former diplomat of the country told Xinhua on Wednesday. BEIJING, June 14, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang addresses the eighth forum on China-Germany economic and technological cooperation in Beijing, capital of China, June 13, 2016. German Chancellor Angela Merkel also attended the forum here on Monday. (Xinhua/Zhang Duo) BEIJING, June 14 (Xinhua) -- China will take measures to provide more opportunities for investors from home and broad, said Premier Li Keqiang on Monday, pledging to enhance law enforcement efforts to protect intellectual property rights. Li made the remarks when attending the meeting of the China-German Economic Advisory Committee together with his German counterpart Angela Merkel Monday afternoon at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. China has taken great steps forward in the reform and opening up in the past three decades, Li told the Chinese and German entrepreneurs present at the meeting. "In the future, China will continue to ease market access and take more measures to provide more and greater opportunities for investors from home and abroad," he said, encouraging Germany to make joint efforts with China. China will continue to improve the intellectual property rights protection system, enhance law enforcement efforts and better protect the rights of enterprises, researchers and the public in the hope of releasing their creative powers and entrepreneurship so as to help advance the transformation and upgrading of China's economy, Li said. Chairmen and general managers from Siemens AG, Thyssenkrupp AG, ALBA Group, CLAAS KGaA and China Railway, CRRC Corporation Limited, Baosteel Group gave their views and suggestions at the meeting on industrial cooperation including intelligent manufacturing, cooperation on third-party markets and trade and investment environment. Hailing the discussion "pragmatic, pointed and forward-looking," Li said the advisory committee plays an important role in bilateral cooperation. He called on the committee to continue to strengthen exchange of views and break the information asymmetry in order to better accommodate the overall situation of the China-German cooperation. On the issue of production capacity surplus in some industries, Li said it is caused by weak recovery of the world economy and should be addressed by joint efforts from all countries. "It is unreasonable to blame a certain country or aspect for this. It will harm others without benefit to oneself if some countries trigger a trade war," Li warned. He urged all countries to address the challenges and preclude risks with market means in a cooperative spirit so as to defend trade liberalization. Merkel, for her part, said the advisory committee is an effective mechanism to boost Germany-China economic cooperation. She said she had in-depth discussion with Li on issues of common concern to both countries' businesses and reached many agreements during the consultation. She called on both sides to give full play to the role of the committee to enhance dialogue and expand cooperation. Representatives of the entrepreneurs expressed their hopes of grasping the opportunities of the integration between the strategies of "Made in China 2025" and "Industry 4.0," looking forward to a more equal and open market environment created by both governments. Also on Monday afternoon, Li and Merkel attended the eighth forum on China-Germany economic and technological cooperation co-sponsored by China's National Development and Reform Commission and Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy at the Great Hall of the People. Stressing that China will open wider to the outside world, Li said German companies and companies from other countries will see more opportunities in China especially in the area of new economy. "No matter a company is a joint venture or a wholly foreign owned enterprise, as long as it is registered in China, it will be treated equally," Li told the forum attended by more than 800 business representatives from both countries. With the expansion of China-Germany cooperation, the possibility of economic and trade frictions between the two is increasing, yet such a ratio in the overall mainstream cooperation will be decreasing, said Li. Should both sides bear the overall situation in mind and equally open to each other, the two countries will enhance mutual understanding and properly solve differences, he said. Calling Germany and China "important export markets of each other and partners of creation and research and development," Merkel said the two sides need to work together to well synergize strategies, explore new potentials and expand third-party markets so as to open up a new field of bilateral cooperation. Merkel was on her ninth visit to China in the office of German Chancellor. Li and Merkel held the fourth round of intergovernmental consultation on Monday. She paid a visit to Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning province on Tuesday before ending her three-day trip. Related: China, Germany pledge stronger cooperation BEIJING, June 13 (Xinhua) -- China and Germany pledged stronger cooperation in the fourth round of intergovernmental consultation held during Chancellor Angela Merkel's China visit. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Merkel co-chaired the consultation here on Monday, in which officials from 26 governmental departments of both countries reported on the latest cooperative progress in their fields. Full Story Commentary: Top-level design will further expand China-Germany cooperation BERLIN, June 12 (Xinhua) -- Angela Merkel will pay her ninth visit to China on June 12-14 since she became German chancellor in 2005. The frequency of her visits to China is quite rare for a Western country leader and it reflects the depth and width of Sino-German relations. JAKARTA, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Three workers were killed and five others sustained serious injuries after a bridge under construction collapsed in West Nusa Tenggara province of central Indonesia on Tuesday, an official of the local disaster management agency said. The accident took place at about 15: 00 p.m. local time when the eight workers were conducting construction works for the bridge in Lombok Timur district, said Agung Pramuja, head of the emergency department at the provincial disaster management agency. "When they were pouring cement into a part of the construction, suddenly the bridge collapsed," he told Xinhua by phone from the province. All the wounded workers have been rushed to a nearby hospital and treated, Pramuja added. Enditem NAIROBI, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's law that requires broadcasters to source at least 40 percent of their content locally will be operational in July, the communication regulator said on Tuesday. Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) Director of Legal Services John Omo told a media briefing in Nairobi that the grace period for the implementation of the programming code comes to an end in June. "The authority will from July 1 commence enforcement action against non-compliant broadcasters," Omo said during the launch of the report on local Content Baseline Survey and the Good Taste and Decency Survey by the CA. The local content survey aims at determining the proportion of local content aired by free-to-air television broadcasters as well as identify audience perceptions and attitudes towards local content. The study recommends policy interventions that can spur uptake of local content programming by broadcasters. The Good Taste and Decency Survey sought to gauge the current attitudes and perceptions of the society on what constitutes good taste and decency in broadcasting. Local content refers to the total of all television or radio programmes which fulfill conditions that touch on areas of location of production, shareholding by local artists, local authorship as well as creative control of Kenyans. Omo said that developing countries including Kenya find it easier to have external content while efforts to distribute local content to global networks facing uphill struggle. "However, local content will contribute to Kenya's social and cultural perspective by telling stories through our own lens," he said. The Kenya Information and Communication Regulations 2009 requires the industry regulator to prescribe a Programming Code for free-to-air radio and television services. The codes sets out the standards for the time and manner of programmes to be broadcast by licensed broadcasters. The code provides that a broadcaster be given one year to attain 40 percent local content upon licensing and four years to attain the 60 percent threshold. Enditem ABUJA, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Participants at a Chinese speech contest in Abuja on Tuesday held the audience spellbound as they displayed their proficiency in the language. The event, which had Nigerian government officials in attendance, was part of this year's graduation ceremony held for Chinese language students by the China Cultural Center in Nigeria's capital city. The competition was open to all graduands, including participants of other nationalities who took part in the training at the China Cultural Center. Six winners from two categories emerged after the speech contest. Other side attractions, all rendered in Chinese language, including drama and music performances spiced up the event. In his opening remark, Yan Xiangdong, Chinese cultural counselor to Nigeria who was also director of the center, commended the graduands for respectively taking various levels of Chinese language training to determine their proficiency. "I must say here that your decision to learn and acquire Chinese language is not only timely but also a step in the right direction toward attaining global heights just as the Chinese economy has attained global recognition," he said, urging the graduating students to continue to develop on the various levels attained. In an interview, You Baoming, a deputy director at the center, told Xinhua the Chinese speech contest was first introduced last year not to identify the best among the participants but rather targeted at identifying areas where the graduating students will need to pay more attention in the language training. Enditem SKOPJE, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Macedonian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Zoran Stavreski resigned his post on Tuesday citing "health problems." "The health problems that I face and the advices of my doctors show me the necessity of an extended medical treatment and recuperation period, so I will not be in a position to perform the duties of a finance minister and a deputy prime minister," Stavreski said in a written statement. He gave no further details about his medical condition that forced him to resign. Macedonian government spokesperson Aleksandar Gjorgjiev says that the reasons for Stavreski's resignation should be understood and respected. "The government would like to express its gratitude to Stavreski for his work, dedication and his contribution for the realization of the government measures, programs and politics with outstanding results," Gjorgjiev said. Current Macedonian Prime Minister Emil Dimitriev proposed Stavreski be replaced by the director of the Public Revenue Office Kiril Minovski. His as the new finance minister is scheduled for a Parliament session on Wednesday. Dimitirev will also discharge the current Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Dragana Kirpijanovska and appoint the current Macedonian Ambassador to China Ilija Isajlovski at the post. Stavreski was in the Macedonian government since 2006, first as a deputy prime minister in charge of financial issues and later as a finance minister as well. Enditem BEIJING, June 14, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang speaks at an activity of China Food Safety Publicity Week in Beijing, capital of China, June 14, 2016. (Xinhua/Zhang Duo) BEIJING, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Vice Premier Wang Yang stressed Tuesday that various interested parties should all participate in food safety regulation. The government should accelerate making or revising relevant laws and regulations, as well as improve mechanisms for food safety regulation and information disclosure, Wang said at an event that promoted food safety awareness. He called on enterprises to fulfill their responsibilities and obligations stipulated by the law, and ensure supervision over all phases of food production. The media should give full play to its supervisory role, Wang said, also urging the public to participate in food safety regulation and safeguard their legal rights and interests with knowledge and the law. In recent years, China has seen overall improvement in food safety, Wang said, vowing zero tolerance for any misconduct. BEIJING, June 14, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Minister of Public Security Guo Shengkun (C) poses for a group picture with Suzanne Spaulding (L), Under Secretary of the National Protection and Programs Directorate at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and Bruce Swartz, Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the U.S. Department of Justice, ahead of the Second China-U.S. High-Level Joint Dialogue on Cybercrime and Related Issues in Beijing, capital of China, June 14, 2016. Guo and the authorized representatives of U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Department of Justice co-chaired the dialogue here Tuesday.(Xinhua/Xie Huanchi) BEIJING, June 14 (Xinhua) -- China and the United States on Tuesday held a second dialogue on cybercrime. Guo Shengkun, State Councilor and Minister of Public Security, lauded the progress made since the first dialogue in Washington last year. Cybersecurity cooperation is in the interests of China, the United States and other countries, Guo said, advocating the dialogue as the major mechanism for cooperation. Under Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Suzanne Spaulding and Bruce Swartz, Deputy Assistant Attorney General and Counselor for International Affairs of the Department of Justice, represented Secretary Jeh Johnson and Attorney General Loretta Lynch who could not attend the meeting following Sunday's events in Orlando. The United States and China have many common interests in cybersecurity, and the U.S. government believes that the two sides can turn those differences to cooperation, said the officials, and called for continued exchanges along with strengthened hotline contact, information sharing and cooperation on specific cases. The two sides approved a plan for the hotline and agreed to hold a third dialogue in Washington later this year. Meng Jianzhu, member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and head of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the CPC Central Committee met with U.S. delegation to the dialogue. LONDON, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Chief Justice Zhou Qiang believes Sino-British cooperation and exchange in the judicial field could open a new chapter. Zhou, who is also president of the Supreme People's Court of China, expressed his thoughts during his visit to Britain, which ended Monday. During the visit, he met with senior British politicians including Lord Neuberger, president of Britain's Supreme Court, and Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond. Zhou said his visit was designed to help build up the Sino-British global comprehensive strategic partnership for the 21st century, as well as to promote and strengthen judicial exchanges between the two countries and cooperation between their supreme courts. Lord Neuberger said Zhou's visit could deepen the exchanges and practical cooperation between judicial circles of the two countries and contribute to improving the rule of law in both countries. Hammond said the visit would help carry the bilateral friendship between the countries forward, by further strengthening mutual exchange and learning in commercial dispute settlement, intellectual property protection and judicial reform. The two nation's supreme courts signed documents on judicial exchange and cooperation during Zhou's visit. HOUSTON, June 14 (Xinhua) -- An active shooter was reported on Tuesday at a Walmart store in Amarillo, a city in the northern part of the U.S. state of Texas. According to local TV station KHOU, police and fire crews were now on the scene. There was no reports of injuries but there were reports of a hostage situation. Police, who warned people to stay out of the area, were searching for a Somalian man wearing Kakhi pants. Police have shut down the Interstate 27 highway at Georgia northbound frontage road where the Walmart store stands. HELSINKI, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Finnish parliament on Tuesday observed one minute of silence for the victims of the shooting massacre in the U.S. city of Orlando. Addressing the chamber, Speaker of Parliament Maria Lohela expressed the shocking impact of the attack. She said there was no acceptable explanation for this kind of act. She said violence never led to anything good but rather only brings new problems. The wording of the statement kept a distance from the international discussion regarding the minority nature of the victims, and didn't mention homosexuality or sexual orientation. The attacker killed 49 people and wounded 53 at a gay nightclub in Florida as the "Latin Night" party was wrapping up early Sunday morning. Enditem HOUSTON, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Police shot and killed an armed hostage-taker on Tuesday at a Walmart store in Amarillo, a city in the northern part of the U.S. state of Texas. The Amarillo Police Department said in a brief statement that the suspect shot by its Special Weapons and Tactics officers "is apparently dead" and that hostages inside the Walmart store were safe. No further details were immediately available. But police urged nearby residents to avoid the area. Amarillo city officials first reported an "active shooter incident" at the store on Interstate 27 highway shortly before noon Tuesday. They later confirmed there were no gunshot victims. The police department reportedly said that the incident appeared "to be a workplace violence type event." Photo taken on April 5, 2016 shows the lighthouse on Zhubi Reef of Nansha Islands in the South China Sea, south China. (Xinhua file photo) PARIS, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Ambassador to France Zhai Jun stressed the "South China Sea issue could not be solved without direct dialogue and joint efforts of different countries," and preserving peace and stability in the region was "in the interest of all." In a signed article entitled "Some clarification on the issue of the South China Sea" published by the business daily Les Echos on Monday, the Chinese diplomat said an alternative would be within reach if all countries concerned show a responsible attitude and work together to bridge their differences via friendly consultations and negotiations. "We regret the decision of the Philippines to unilaterally resort to international arbitration to resolve the dispute with China over the South China Sea," he wrote. The Philippines claims before the arbitration tribunal in The Hague concern sovereignty over the islands in the South China Sea and the delimitation of the maritime borders between the two countries. But in 2006, the Chinese government already rejected any arbitration for disputes concerning the delimitation of maritime areas, historic bays, military activities, and acts of law enforcement, he added. "China will not accept and will not recognize the ruling (of) the tribunal, and expresses its deep concern about the abusive and arbitrary extension of the court's powers," the Chinese ambassador to France said. Zhai stressed arbitration initiated by the Philippines violated a bilateral agreement to end the dispute through negotiation and consultations, adding the court's decision was against the basic principles and specific provisions of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. "Both the arbitration procedure and the tribunal's decision are for us null and void," he stressed. The Chinese were among the first people to explore the oceans and the Chinese maritime presence is very ancient. In fact, the country's government started very early to exercise administrative authority over the islands and archipelagos of the zone whose names appear on the official maps of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), Zhai wrote. At the end of the Second World War, China took back the islands and archipelagos of the South China Sea that Japan had seized during the war. Over the period, China also published the map of its territories in the South China Sea, proclaiming its sovereignty and its rights in this area. No country has expressed any objection in this regard, he added. In the 1970s, following the discovery of oil and gas resources in the South China Sea, several countries began to demand rights in this area and to send military troops to occupy the islands and reefs. Faced with this situation, China could have exercised its right of self-defense, as it did in 1974 for the Xisha Islands. Meanwhile, it has chosen, while reaffirming its sovereignty over the islands and reefs, to resolve disputes through bilateral negotiations and consultations with the concerned countries, Zhai explained. In 2002, China and ASEAN states agreed on a declaration on the conduct of parties in the South China Sea, which helped to keep the situation in the zone under control for a long time. From 1991 to 2010, trade between China and ASEAN countries grew from less than 8 billion U.S. dollars to nearly 300 billion U.S. dollars, proving "this principle is indeed the right solution to the issue of the South China Sea," the Chinese ambassador concluded. UNITED NATIONS, June 14 (Xinhua) -- More than nine out of 10 refugee and migrant children arriving in Europe this year through Italy are unaccompanied, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said Tuesday, warning of growing threats of abuse, exploitation and death that such children are facing. In the report, "Danger Every Step of the Way," which was released Tuesday, UNICEF said that 7,009 unaccompanied children made the crossing from North Africa to Italy in the first five months of the year, twice as many as the past year. "The agency said the children generally rely on human smugglers, often under a system of 'pay as you go', which opens them to exploitation, including sexual exploitation and other abuse," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters here. The report documented the risks that adolescents take in their flight to escape conflict, despair and poverty. "It is a silent and desperate situation -- out of sight and out of mind. Yet tens of thousands of children face danger every day and hundreds of thousands more are prepared to risk everything," said Marie-Pierre Poirier, UNICEF special coordinator for the refugee and migrant crisis in Europe. "We urgently need to protect these children from all types of abuse and exploitation by those taking advantage of the situation to exploit their dreams." A total of 2,809 deaths were recorded in the Mediterranean between Jan. 1 and June 5, 2016, as compared with 3,770 for the whole of 2015. The vast majority were on the Central Mediterranean route, and many were children, according to the report. UNICEF noted that some adolescents are sexually abused and exploited. Italian social workers told the UN agency that both girls and boys were sexually assaulted and forced into prostitution while in Libya, and that some of the girls were pregnant when they arrived in Italy, having been raped. However, because of the illicit nature of human smuggling operations, there are no reliable figures to show how many of the refugees and migrants die, disappear into forced labor or prostitution, or linger in detention, UNICEF said. With summer upon the Mediterranean, the latest numbers of children on the Central Mediterranean route may well be just the tip of the iceberg, according to UNICEF. Another 235,000 migrants are currently in Libya, tens of thousands of them unaccompanied children. "Every country -- those the children leave, those they cross and those in which they seek asylum -- has an obligation to establish protection systems focused on the risks that unaccompanied children face," Poirier said. "In the European Union and other destination countries, there is an opportunity for policy and legislative reforms to lead to more opportunities for safe, legal and regular channels for these children," she added. Enditem TEHRAN, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Tuesday that if the U.S. leaders want to break the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or the nuclear deal, the Islamic republic will retaliate. "The pros and cons of the JCPOA are exaggerating" over its merits and limits, Khamenei said, adding that "it has some porosities and loopholes which have been misused by the enemy." The other side was committed to remove the sanctions against Iran and to lift bans on Iran's banking transactions with the world, which have not been implemented by them, he said in a meeting with senior Iranian administrative, legislative and judiciary officials. "The Americans have not fulfilled major part of their commitments, but we took the preliminary steps, suspended 20 percent uranium enrichment and shut down Fordow (enrichment site) and Arak (heavy water) reactor," he added. The Iranian top leader emphasized that "we won't break the JCPOA. But if the other side seeks to break it, as some candidates in the U.S. presidential elections threaten to tear it to pieces, we will set it ablaze." Iran and the world powers reached a deal over the former's controversial nuclear program last year which was implemented in January. Under the deal, Iran quit major part of its nuclear program in return for limited lift of sanctions against its energy and financial sectors. Khamenei also said that the enemy plots to hinder Iran's progress, and "stop or eliminate the capabilities of the Islamic republic," according to Press TV. "I have repeatedly reiterated that the country must grow in power and that we must promote our potentialities. It is only then that Iranian officials can expect the nation to have peace of mind," he was quoted as saying. Khamenei last week echoed fiery remarks against the U.S., saying that Washington's policies and its threats against Iran remain constant even after the nuclear deal. He also said that the U.S. is the "enemy" of the Islamic revolution of Iran and should not be trusted. A crew member takes part in a fire drill on China's largest and most advanced patrol vessel Haixun 01 on the South China Sea, April 4, 2016. (Xinhua/Xing Guangli) GRONINGEN, The Netherlands, June 14 (Xinhua) -- The arbitral tribunal in the Philippines' South China Sea (SCS) arbitration exceeded its competence by circumventing the real disputes and by degrading the role of States, such arbitral expansion is detrimental to the settlement of disputes, said Haibo Gou, legal advisor and counsellor at the Chinese embassy in the Netherlands. The Philippines, which illegally occupied some of China's islands and reefs in the SCS in the 1970s, unilaterally filed the arbitration in 2013. The Philippines raised 15 submissions, on China's U shaped line, on the entitlements of several maritime features, and on the legality of China's activities in the SCS. The Philippines asserted that these submissions are irrelevant to the territorial and delimitation disputes. And the arbitral tribunal endorsed such assertion with a ruling in October 2015. Using a graph indicating the relationship between relevant dispute settlement process and the Philippines' submissions, Gou remarked that the settlement of territorial and delimitation disputes is an integral process. "Territorial dispute needs to be addressed first, to be followed by the settlement of delimitation dispute. Only with the territory and delimitation disputes settled, could the question of legality of activities in disputed area be answered. The Philippines' submissions are either part of or dependent on the territorial and delimitation disputes,"he said at a lecture at Groningen University on Monday. "Entitlements of maritime features are granted to coastal States. With the territory dispute in the SCS pending, who is the coastal State cannot be answered, the issues of entitlements cannot be addressed. Further, according to established jurisprudence, determinations on entitlements are the first step of any delimitation. Thus the submissions on entitlements are subsequent to the settlement of territorial dispute, and are part of delimitation," he explained. "Territorial disputes are not the subject matter of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and China has declared under the Convention that it does not accept compulsory procedures with respect to disputes concerning delimitation. There is no compulsory jurisdiction over disputes in the SCS," the Chinese diplomat told scholars and students attending the lecture in the north of the Netherlands. In his opinion, the arbitral tribunal exceeded its power because firstly, compulsory arbitration is "subject to" China's declaration made under the UNCLOS. "With China's declaration, the establishment and functioning of the arbitral tribunal has no legal basis," he said. "The tribunal has further exceeded the limits of arbitral power when it failed to fulfill the duty of isolating real disputes," he added. The diplomat noted that States shall be alert about the ad hoc organ's performance, which is a typical example of arbitral expansion. "According to the Convention, States have the right to exclude compulsory procedures with respect to delimitation disputes," he said. "The five arbitrators understand delimitation in a very narrow way, thus restraint such right of States. Also, the tribunal restrictively interprets the agreement between China and the Philippines to exclude UNCLOS procedures, and degrades the role of negotiation and exchange of views. By degrading the right and role of States, the tribunal acts beyond its mandate," he said. "The arbitral expansion cannot help settle the real disputes because an ultra vires award is null and void. What's worse, the arbitration is inconsistent with procedural justice," he said. "We should never forget that States play a primary role in international justice and relevant judicial or arbitral organs are based on State consent as reflected in the UNCLOS. When an arbitration exceeds State consent, it breaks the balance inherent in the Convention," he stressed. To avoid the harms of judicial/arbitral expansion, Gou suggested that States shall rebuild trust toward good faith negotiation, and provide necessary procedural guidance to judicial and arbitral organs, and the latter shall be self-restraint in keep the limits of State consent. Citing the "Judgment of Solomon" story, the Chinese diplomat emphasized that more wisdom is needed to safeguard the balance and integrity of the UNCLOS. "When King Solomon ordered to split a baby and give each claiming 'mother' a half, we realize that the real mother will not let her baby hurt. Similarly, real owner of maritime features will not attempt to reduce the capacity of its features. With the arbitration, the Philippines endeavors to reduce the capacity of maritime features in the South China Sea, which tells that it is not the owner of these features," he explained. In addition, "in the Solomon Judgement story, the false mother insisted on proceedings to divide the baby. Thus we know that the party insisting on proceedings may not always be the one with truth. Therefore, we should refrain from an easy conclusion that he who undertakes an arbitration is always the one who is right." China has said repeatedly that the right path forward regarding the disputes in the SCS is consultations and negotiations between directly concerned parties. Related: Spotlight: Experts say China's stance on South China Sea arbitration fully justified BEIJING, June 10 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines' unilateral move to bring a maritime dispute with China to an international tribunal won't help resolve the problem and the right way forward is to seek settlement through bilateral talks, several foreign experts told Xinhua in recent interviews. Full story Interview: Manila intensifies tension in South China Sea -- former diplomat MANILA, June 9 (Xinhua) -- The Philippine government has been behind the intensifying tensions in the South China Sea, a former diplomat of the country told Xinhua on Wednesday. A fisherman works in his boat on the sea near Zhaoshu Island of Qilianyu Islands, Sansha City, south China's Hainan Province, April 30, 2016. (Xinhua/Yang Guanyu) GRONINGEN, The Netherlands, June 14 (Xinhua) -- The arbitral tribunal in the Philippines' South China Sea (SCS) arbitration exceeded its competence by circumventing the real disputes and by degrading the role of States, such arbitral expansion is detrimental to the settlement of disputes, said Haibo Gou, legal advisor and counsellor at the Chinese embassy in the Netherlands. The Philippines, which illegally occupied some of China's islands and reefs in the SCS in the 1970s, unilaterally filed the arbitration in 2013. The Philippines raised 15 submissions, on China's U shaped line, on the entitlements of several maritime features, and on the legality of China's activities in the SCS. The Philippines asserted that these submissions are irrelevant to the territorial and delimitation disputes. And the arbitral tribunal endorsed such assertion with a ruling in October 2015. Using a graph indicating the relationship between relevant dispute settlement process and the Philippines' submissions, Gou remarked that the settlement of territorial and delimitation disputes is an integral process. "Territorial dispute needs to be addressed first, to be followed by the settlement of delimitation dispute. Only with the territory and delimitation disputes settled, could the question of legality of activities in disputed area be answered. The Philippines' submissions are either part of or dependent on the territorial and delimitation disputes,"he said at a lecture at Groningen University on Monday. "Entitlements of maritime features are granted to coastal States. With the territory dispute in the SCS pending, who is the coastal State cannot be answered, the issues of entitlements cannot be addressed. Further, according to established jurisprudence, determinations on entitlements are the first step of any delimitation. Thus the submissions on entitlements are subsequent to the settlement of territorial dispute, and are part of delimitation," he explained. "Territorial disputes are not the subject matter of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and China has declared under the Convention that it does not accept compulsory procedures with respect to disputes concerning delimitation. There is no compulsory jurisdiction over disputes in the SCS," the Chinese diplomat told scholars and students attending the lecture in the north of the Netherlands. In his opinion, the arbitral tribunal exceeded its power because firstly, compulsory arbitration is "subject to" China's declaration made under the UNCLOS. "With China's declaration, the establishment and functioning of the arbitral tribunal has no legal basis," he said. "The tribunal has further exceeded the limits of arbitral power when it failed to fulfill the duty of isolating real disputes," he added. The diplomat noted that States shall be alert about the ad hoc organ's performance, which is a typical example of arbitral expansion. "According to the Convention, States have the right to exclude compulsory procedures with respect to delimitation disputes," he said. "The five arbitrators understand delimitation in a very narrow way, thus restraint such right of States. Also, the tribunal restrictively interprets the agreement between China and the Philippines to exclude UNCLOS procedures, and degrades the role of negotiation and exchange of views. By degrading the right and role of States, the tribunal acts beyond its mandate," he said. "The arbitral expansion cannot help settle the real disputes because an ultra vires award is null and void. What's worse, the arbitration is inconsistent with procedural justice," he said. "We should never forget that States play a primary role in international justice and relevant judicial or arbitral organs are based on State consent as reflected in the UNCLOS. When an arbitration exceeds State consent, it breaks the balance inherent in the Convention," he stressed. To avoid the harms of judicial/arbitral expansion, Gou suggested that States shall rebuild trust toward good faith negotiation, and provide necessary procedural guidance to judicial and arbitral organs, and the latter shall be self-restraint in keep the limits of State consent. Citing the "Judgment of Solomon" story, the Chinese diplomat emphasized that more wisdom is needed to safeguard the balance and integrity of the UNCLOS. "When King Solomon ordered to split a baby and give each claiming 'mother' a half, we realize that the real mother will not let her baby hurt. Similarly, real owner of maritime features will not attempt to reduce the capacity of its features. With the arbitration, the Philippines endeavors to reduce the capacity of maritime features in the South China Sea, which tells that it is not the owner of these features," he explained. In addition, "in the Solomon Judgement story, the false mother insisted on proceedings to divide the baby. Thus we know that the party insisting on proceedings may not always be the one with truth. Therefore, we should refrain from an easy conclusion that he who undertakes an arbitration is always the one who is right." China has said repeatedly that the right path forward regarding the disputes in the SCS is consultations and negotiations between directly concerned parties. Photo taken with mobile phone on June 13, 2016 shows guns for sale at a shop in Orlando, the United States. The American society has been buzzing with measures to prevent further gun-related violence in the United States, after a shooting spree in an Orlando nightclub left 49 dead and 53 wounded on Sunday. (Xinhua/file photo) By Matthew Rusling WASHINGTON, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Despite the deadliest shooting massacre in modern U.S. history, Washington is unlikely to pass major new gun control laws, experts said. Sunday's shooting spree at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, which left 49 people killed and 53 others wounded, has reignited the debate on gun control in the United States. It has sparked calls for increased gun control in the country, where the right to bear firearms is embedded in the Constitution and where millions of ordinary Americans believe it is a sacred right. Gun control advocates point out that it's inconceivable that the killer, Omar Mateen, was able to legally purchase firearms despite being on a police watch list for possible links to terrorism. Still, it is doubtful that the attack will lead to any major changes in gun laws, U.S. experts said. "Thus far crises like this do not change the basic politics of gun control. There is not much evidence at this point that the situation will be different," said Julian Zelizer, professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University. Asked why U.S. Congress has not passed more gun legislation, he told Xinhua that the opposition to gun control "is well organized and has support in both parties." Darrell West, vice president and director of governance studies of the Brookings Institution, echoed those remarks. "The country continues to be divided over gun laws and the NRA (National Rifle Association) still will resist any meaningful action," West told Xinhua. The United States has long suffered from the woes of gun violence as there are more than 300 million guns in the country. As usual, there is nationwide outrage over gun violence every time after a major shooting attack occurs, but it dies down fast with no major gun laws passed. Indeed, even after the Sandy Hook massacre -- the 2012 shooting at an elementary school that killed 20 children aged six and seven -- there was no concerted public outcry for more gun control. Even so, the issue will likely be the subject of much debate in the lead-up to the 2016 U.S. presidential election. In a speech from her campaign trail on Monday, the presumptive Democratic nominee for U.S. president, Hilary Clinton, called for more gun control, emphasizing that while there is much controversy over the issue, there are some points on which both sides of the political isle can agree. Noting the killer of the Orlando shooting was on police watch list for possible links to extremism, Clinton said there is no reason why anyone fitting such a profile should be able to legally purchase firearms. U.S. anti-gun advocates are angered by the fact that gun lobbying groups led by the NRA have powerful influence on Congress to block any efforts to pass bills on gun control. The NRA spends tens of millions of U.S. dollars on political lobbying efforts. But gun rights advocates insist that gun ownership is a constitutional right and gun violence can be curbed by law-abiding citizens bearing guns. Some criminologists also maintain that attackers who are bent on destruction will always find a way around the law in order to get what they want, whether that means obtaining firearms illegally or constructing bombs from household cleaning agents. The presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, who has been endorsed by the NRA, said in a speech Monday that he continues to support the group, while blasting what he called the current "politically correct response" to the attack. Trump maintained that more gun laws would simply disarm law-abiding Americans and prevent them from being able to protect themselves from terrorists. Instead, the brash billionaire seized on the Orlando shooting by attacking President Barack Obama and Clinton for making the country unsafe by trying to curb gun rights of law-abiding citizens while wanting to bring more Muslim immigrants into the country. LAGOS, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Authority of the Nigerian Army said ground troops in different patrols rescued 57 persons held hostage by Boko Haram insurgents in parts of northeast states of Adamawa and Borno. Spokesperson for the Nigerian Army Col. Sani Usman, said in a statement made available to Xinhua that the hostages comprising women and children had been taken to different military locations nearest to them for further screening and rehabilitation. He said troops of the 22 Brigade Garrison rescued 14 Boko Haram hostages during an administrative patrol in Chingowa village near Dikwa area. Usman said troops of 114 Task Force Battalion of 28 Task Force Brigade on patrol of road linking Izge and Bitta rescued 43 hostages at Madube. Usman said two insurgents were killed, while three soldiers and 13 civilians were wounded in an ambush during one of the patrols near Gwoza. Many areas have been cleared, while many hostages have been set free and scores of insurgents killed in different patrols conducted by Nigerian troops across the region. Enditem BRASILIA, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's Supreme Court president, Ricardo Lewandowski, on Tuesday shelved a request by suspended President Dilma Rousseff to clarify the rights she maintains as a suspended head of state. The request sought a clarification from interim President Michel Temer on how Rousseff could continue using her official residence, state bodyguards, her staff, and dedicated land and air transportation. Lewandowski said it had nothing to do with the impeachment process being held in the Senate and that his role was to verify Rousseff was being granted her legal right to a defense. In his decision, he wrote that Rousseff could direct her request to a federal court in Porto Alegre. Earlier this month, the office of the presidency said that Rousseff was now only allowed to take airforce flights between Brasilia and Porto Alegre, where she has her main residence. Last week, the government denied a request by Rousseff to travel between Brasilia and Campinas, forcing her to take a private flight. UNITED NATIONS, June 14 (Xinhua) -- A UN report on Tuesday said that one in three Latin Americans who left poverty since 2003 -- that is 25 to 30 million women and men -- risk sliding back into poverty, but a new generation of public policies in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can boost resilience and prevent setbacks. The United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP) latest Regional Human Development Report, launched on Tuesday in Panama, said that this at-risk group is part of an even larger set of people: 220 million people (almost two in every five in the region) are "vulnerable," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters here. "Although they are not officially classified as poor they have been unable to rise to the middle class," the spokesman said. "The report recommends social protection, care systems (especially for children and older persons), labor skills and closing historic gender, racial and ethnic gaps." The main threat to progress in Latin America and the Caribbean is the relapse of millions of families back into poverty. The economic slowdown is part of the story, but not the only cause of such a setback, said the report, launched with more than 60 congresspersons at the regional parliament (Parlatino). To continue to advance and prevent reversals in the social, economic and environmental fronts, the report highlighted key policy recommendations, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a set of 17 targets approved by world leaders here in September 2015 to serve as the blueprint for the global development efforts for the next 15 years. In the report titled Multidimensional Progress: Well-being beyond income, UNDP expressed particular concern over the group of people, representing 38 percent of the population in the region. Of them, many are youth and women, with precarious employment in the service sector. Officially, they are not poor -- living on less than four U.S. dollars per day, but have been unable to rise to the middle class -- living on more than 10 U.S. dollars a day. The factors that pushed people out of poverty are different from those that prevent them from falling back, the report said. In the past decade, labor markets and education were the biggest engines behind exiting poverty. However, the report argued that it is essential that a new generation of public policies strengthen the four factors that prevent setbacks: social protection, care systems (particularly for children and older persons), physical and financial assets (such as owning a car, a home, savings or bank accounts that act as "cushions" when crisis hit), and labor skills. These four key elements comprise what the regional the report branded as a "resilience basket," enabling people to absorb shocks and prevent setbacks. This is especially important during economic slowdowns. Meanwhile, the UNDP report called on Latin Americans to rethink the region's progress along multidimensional lines, inspired by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. New metrics beyond per capita income, economic growth rates and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) are needed to measure development. Nothing that reduces the rights of people and communities or threatens environmental sustainability can be considered progress, the report said. "The challenges of sustainable, holistic and universal development do not end at a certain income threshold: we don't 'graduate' from development challenges unless we can respond accordingly to the multiple dimensions that enable people to live the lives they consider valuable, "said the UN assistant secretary-general and UNDP regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Jessica Faieta, at the report launch. "Right now, on the one hand, we must protect the region's past achievements, including preventing millions of people from falling back into poverty; on the other hand, we must also promote inclusive policies and comprehensive strategies for populations suffering from historical discrimination and exclusion." More of the same does not yield the same results. While about 72 million people were lifted from poverty and 94 million rose to the middle classes between 2003 and 2013, the region experienced a recent slowdown and reversal of poverty reduction rates. The annual average of Latin Americans lifted from poverty was nearly eight million between 2003-2008 and five million between 2009-2014, according to the report. However, in 2015 and 2016, for the first time in decades, the region saw a rise in the number of poor women and men. This reversal is not due to the economic slowdown alone. It also results from the limits of labor and fiscal expansions in the region, and the substantive number of informal jobs. More than half of the 300 million workers in Latin America and the Caribbean work either in micro-enterprises with fewer than five employees, or as self-employed unskilled workers or earning no income (apprenticeship programs, for example). Also, of the more than 50 million small and medium-sized enterprises, 70 percent are informal, and two of every three new jobs created in the region were in the service sector, which has low productivity and high rates of informality. Without future increases in productivity in sectors with unskilled workers, the sustainability of growth and, consequently, of social attainments is undermined, the report said. Moreover, the expansion of conditional cash and other social transfers and non-contributory pensions, which account for about 30 percent of the income inequality reduction since 2002, has also reached a fiscal ceiling. The report also pointed out that the tax burden on the region's poor is so high that it usually overrides the benefits received by social transfer programs. Investing in women and care policies is key if the region is to leap forward, the report argued. Although the proportion of women with university degrees in the region was higher (17.3 percent) than the corresponding proportion of men (14.8 percent), in 2013, women earned an average hourly wage 16.4 percent lower in relation to men. In addition, women work three times more at home than men. Demographic trends and the absence of care mechanisms (especially for children and older persons) restrict better participation of women in the labour market and the families' income generation, the report said. Enditem MEXICO CITY, June 14 (Xinhua) -- The Mexican Senate has the opportunity this week to pass a new legislation, which would seek to tackle the heart of Mexico's hidden corruption networks, Lourdes Morales, coordinator of the Accountability Network, told Xinhua in an interview. Morales said that the General Law on Administrative Responsibilities for Public Servants seeks to establish new prevention, investigation and penalty mechanisms for corrupt acts, to fight corruption that mar the country and cause increased social aggravation. The Mexican Senate began debate about the law Tuesday after the experts-designed text gained the signatures of over 634,000 people in support. It has also become known as the "Three by Three Law" as it would mandate that every public official would have to make three declarations on their assets, their fiscal revenue and their business interests. According to Morales, this initiative would seek to register instances of corrupt behavior, such as bribery or influence peddling, to establish mechanisms for anonymous tip-offs and to incorporate private sector efforts to fight corruption networks. "It is very important to think about corruption networks as people think corruption can be solved by jailing individuals, but this does not tackle the root causes of corrupt behaviour," explained the coordinator of RRC, which was created by over 60 civil organizations. The "Three by Three Law" is part of seven initiatives proposed by the national anti-corruption system, created in 2015 to combat corruption in Mexico. After several months of delays, the Senate's economic commission will begin debating the proposal, if it is supported by the commission, before putting it up for a vote in the full chamber. "This law would show the population that there is an institutional path toward solving corruption, as this law was not reached through street protests," said Morales. Enditem ECLAC welcomes debt relief support ECLAC has proposed a Caribbean resilience for the countries that benefit from debt reduction which, among other measures, proposes the creation of a resilience fund as part of a strategy based on a swap proposal for climate change adaptation. In a statement, ECLAC noted that during the VII summit of the ACS, which concluded on June 4 in Cuba, the associations 25 member countries approved, by consensus, the 44 points of the Havana Declaration. In point 13 of the document, the summit agreed that it fully supports the consideration of ECLAC Debt Initiative, which takes into consideration the highly indebted nature of many Caribbean nations and recommends an approach that recognises the principles of the Financing for Development, the Sustainable Development Goals and proposes, among other initiatives to be considered, a Caribbean Resilience Fund for the countries benefited by debt relief . ECLAC stated. The commission explained that the indebtedness of Caribbean countries is a dilemma linked to external impacts, aggravated by the inherent structural weakness and vulnerabilities faced by the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) of the Caribbean, which have limited capacity to respond. ECLAC added that many Caribbean countries are categorised as middle income, which restricts their access to financing under favourable conditions. As indicated in the document Horizons 2030: Equality at the Centre of Sustainable Development, presented during ECLACs 36th session held in Mexico this past May, the commission sustains that Latin America and the Caribbean has a historic opportunity to change its development pattern and reduce the economic, social and environmental inequalities that affect its inhabitants. To achieve this, progressive structural change is needed with a big environmental push that promotes development based on equality and sustainability. The debt relief initiative for Caribbean countries proposes that resources from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) be used to reduce the Caribbean public debt held by multilateral and bilateral lenders, and to once again issue debt to private creditors at a significant discount. Charged for ganja at PMs residence Jonathon Sammy, 33, yesterday appeared before Chief Magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar in the Port-of-Spain Eight Court, where he pleaded guilty to being in possession of marijuana and the grinder on Thursday last at La Fantasie Road, St Anns. He was brought to court just before 10 am in a dark-tinted SUV used by the Special Branch. The threeinch diameter grinder - which is used to shred the illegal herb and which contained remnants of the ganja was presented in court as evidence. The chief magistrate examined the object and asked about its use. Told it was used specifically for grinding the marijuana leaf, she asked Sammy if he knew he was using the item for an illegal purpose, to which he admitted he did. Sammy said he purchased the item for $30 in a store, two of three months ago, and had forgotten it in his pants which was in the car. He said he accidentally forgot the item was in his car for two or three days and had only been called out to work that morning (June 9th) before he was held with it. He was employed by a contractor who had been putting up barbed wire on the fencing on the compound at the official residence and Diplomatic Centre. Police Prosecutor Inspector Wayne Mohammed told the court Sammy was stopped at the entrance to the prime ministers official residence after police officers on duty got a pungent order of marijuana emanating from Sammys car. The vehicle was searched and the blue marijuana grinder, with remnants of the drug, was found in a three-quarter denim pants in a bag in the back seat of the car. Sammy told the police officer, Boss, I forget that in there, and after a report was made to a senior officer, he was allowed to leave. On Friday, the police officer received further instructions and a warrant for Sammys arrest was obtained and executed at the Belmont Police Station at about 7 pm on Sunday night. Sammy was remanded into custody overnight and will return to court today to be sentenced once his criminal record tracing is obtained by the chief magistrate. Sammys court appearance came after he surrendered to police on Sunday. Head of the Special Branch of the TT Police Service has launched an investigation into the incident to determine why Sammy was released and not taken to the nearby Belmont Police Station for further questioning as is required. Newsday was told that a senior officer of the unit at the residence was alerted to the find and instructed his junior officer to release the suspect. A team of Special Branch officers have been assigned to probe the incident and an official report is expected to be made available to acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams shortly. State re-opens Cedros Murder Trial Yesterday, Justice Carla Brown-Antoine gave a ruling on a legal issue after which retired Assistant Supt of Police Deokaran Palloo was recalled to the witness box to be subjected to further re-cross-examination by attorney Rekha Ramjit who is defending the accused Jason Hosten. Hosten, 38, is on trial before the judge and a jury of 12 members, for stabbing Krysta inside her home at Limefield Road, Cedros, on the afternoon of January 21, after she had returned home from work. She was alone in the house at the time and her parents, Steve Lackpatsingh, was at the Cedros Senior Secondary School where he is now the Dean of Discipline. Krysta mother, Jade, is a retired principal of the Cedros Anglican Primary School. The parents arrived home to find their daughter lying in a blood at the base of the stairs in the kitchen area, leading to upstairs of the house. The State is contending that Hosten, who lived in an adjacent village call Bamboo Village, went to the house after he had smoked on the beach. He tried to prise open the front door with a piece of iron. He knocked on the door and Krysta open it and when she did, he asked to be allowed to pick portugals. She allowed him but asked him not to raid the tree. Tattoo artist fined $7,000 for weed The father of one was held over the weekend conducting brisk sales about 200 metres from the Montrose Vedic School by a party of officers from the 500 Patrol Unit of the Chaguanas Police Station, who were on patrol in the vicinity of Saith Park. He was given 14 days to pay or in default serve two years hard labour. A 22-year-old unemployed man, also of Edinburgh 500, who at the time was making a purchase, was also arrested and charged with a similar offence. He was fined $2,000. Police also seized $1,856 cash, believed to be proceeds from sales. Both men pleaded guilty. PC Villafana laid the charges. Baal Vikas aids students social development Following the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SE A) examination and while they await results, too many children dont attend school or if they do, they are not engaged in creative activities, Maharaj said. This (the finals) is the culmination of a whole years work. What is happening in our school system is, when our children write the SE A exam, they remain in the Primary School for two months awaiting results to know which secondary school they will go to, he explained. We discovered that in many instances, either the children dont come to school or they are not engaged in creative activities. So we decided thirty-one years ago that we will introduce this programme, to keep the children fully occupied. Maharaj said the annual event is used to train the children to move into another dimension, apart from everything else, the religion, the culture, the traditions, this is also preparing the children for secondary education. Speaking at the event, Republic Bank Limited Senior Manger (Group Treasury) Baldath Ramkissoon said through the Banks Power to Make a Difference programme, it works with various members of the national community to build sustainable, successful societies. We are always respectful of the fact that our children are without a doubt, our greatest, most invaluable resources and we are always vigilant for opportunities to partner with others who are just as invested in youth development and empowerment, he said. Ramkissoon said as the SDMS and Baal Vikas continue to give hundreds of school children the vital space and opportunity to create, express and to learn so too will Republic Bank. We will continue to play our part to ensure that festival like Baal Vikaas Vihaar will continue to motive and empower many, he said. Maharaj later thanked the Bank saying that for several years, Republic has faithfully come to the assistance in a big way of the Maha Sabha to ensure the successful annual staging of the Baal Vikaas Govt reaches out to Opposition on Bail Bill This was revealed by Opposition Chief Whip Ganga Singh at an Opposition press conference outside Parliament on Friday afternoon. The Leader of Government Business (Camille Robinson-Regis) spoke to me with respect to arranging a meeting with the Opposition to discuss that particular Bill. So we await their request for that meeting, Singh told reporters. Government intends to bring legislation to Parliament in the next two weeks to make firearm and gang-related offences non-bailable for a period of two years. Minister in the Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs, Stuart Young, last Thursday explained that provisions in the law which make people ineligible for bail, if charged with certain offences, will expire in August. These offences include crimes related to illegal possession of firearms and use of firearms, gangs and kidnapping. The prosecution then has 120 days within which to bring evidence to court and commence the case. Failing which, the persons can then be eligible to apply to a magistrate or High Court judge for bail, Young said. Government is seeking to extend the provisions until August 2018, to allow law enforcement agencies as well as the prosecutorial arms to have the ability of no eligibility for bail for these offences continuing for the next two-year period. Asked on Friday if they were considering supporting the proposed extension, Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar said, We will have to caucus on that matter to determine whether we need to. Noting that the Opposition has not yet seen a copy of this Bill, Persad-Bissessar shared a conversation with Finance Minister Colm Imbert about supporting Bills which require a special majority. I remember Minister Imbert told me, some months ago, if we would support some of the Bills for special majorities, and I said, Well, I have to see the Bills. He said, No, if we bring it back in exactly the same form? I said I do not trust you. I would want to see the Bills themselves before I comment and caucus, and if they are worthy of further consultations, we will want to also consult with stakeholders and members of the public before we give any commitment with respect to supporting such Bills, Persad-Bissessar stated. Deyalsingh praises Chinese doctors Neurosurgery is on the rise in Trinidad and Tobago, Deyalsingh said, adding, all medical specialities play a role in health but some have a more dramatic impact than others. With global partnerships such as these, combined with our efforts, the quality of health care in Trinidad and Tobago will continue to improve. The success of these and future health care initiatives hinge on the active participation and support of partners inclusive of government, the private sector, NGOs and the citizenry, we have no greater priority than to ensure high quality and equitable access to health care for our citizens, he said. And I look forward to receiving the fifth Chinese medical team for which discussions have been ongoing, he said. Deyalsingh was addressing the third International Neuroendoscopic Conference and Workshop at the Southern Academy for the Performing Arts, (SAPA), Rienzi Kirton Highway, San Fernando yesterday. He noted that government had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Chinese government in 2014 regarding the Chinese medical personnel which had been divided into four teams and would be based at the San Fernando General Hospital over a six month period. I have been informed that these teams not only provided yeoman service to our people but also helped to boost capacity at our health institutions, he said, and regarding the field of neuroscience, noted that Non Communicable Diseases also required neurosurgical management which was a contributing factor in death and disability. Also addressing the opening seminar was SWRHA deputy chairman, Valerie Alleyne- Rawlins, who pointed out that the Chinese medical team had not only provided lifesaving surgeries but had also created mentoring opportunities for local doctors through seminars and lectures. She said the fourth Chinese medical team, which had come from the Beijing Shijitan Hospital had performed three hundred and ninety- one, [391], surgeries at the SFGH between January 4 to March 29, 2016. Alleyne- Rawlins said these included 24, neurosurgeries; seven neurospinal surgeries; 38 coronary intervention surgeries; 32 plastic surgeries; 138 ENT surgical interventions and in the field of Ophthalmology - 36 cataract surgeries, three vitrectomy surgeries and 48 retinal laser surgeries. The first neuroendoscopic pituitary resection and neuroendoscopic intraventricular tumour resection to be performed in Trinidad and Tobago were conducted right here at our faithful San Fernando General Hospital, she said. She said over 2,105 patients had been attended to be at the various clinics while doctors also benefited from their ongoing clinical ward rounds, consultations, lectures and pathology reports. Progress on Loran-Manatee talks She said when discussions between the two countries began, Venezuela was insisting that the gas must be landed in Venezuela and processed in Venezuela but over the last couple of years that position had evolved to the point where the Venezuelan Government had conceded that the Trinidad share of the gas can be sent to Trinidad. She said lately there had been a further shift and they are even suggesting that part of the Venezuelan share of the gas could be processed in Trinidad. She said that in a significant advance, Venezuela was offering to sell TT gas from a field that was totally within that countrys waters. She said this arrangement is similar to what Venezuela is doing with Colombia because Venezuela currently sells gas to Colombia. So thats a significant leap forward, she said during an interview with Newsday on the first day of an Energy Resources Conference organised by the Society of Petroleum Engineers at the Hyatt Regency, Portof- Spain. Olivierre said that wells had already been drilled in the Dragon Field off Sucre in northeast Venezuela and that country is building a pipeline. More powers soon for PCA West called on members of the public to support the agency in its quest for more powers. Al-Rawi said he has been working towards it and promised that very shortly the Parliament and the wider community will hear more of the work that is being done to significantly improve the ability of the independently carved out entity called the PCA engaging in the kind of work that the citizens can feel confident in, as it relates to supervision and discipline of the police. He said he has already written to a number of entities asking for their views on, specifically, treating with, investigative and prosecutorial powers for the PCA including certain exemptions from the application of certain laws as it relates to the gathering of evidence and certain immunities and privileges associated with the officers of the PCA. He also revealed that he has been in close cooperation with the Jamaican equivalent of the PCA regarding the implementation of laws similar to what is being proposed here at home. Al-Rawi added: We have had significant success in the information that has been passed and the case load analysis and course work analysis that has been done. Saying it was important that the PCA have the ability to investigate crime or irregularities or misconduct and to carry them through to conviction, Al-Rawi boasted that in his tenure as AG he has already done what no other AG has ever done. I have specifically opened up the door on statistical information in Trinidad and Tobago, be it in the prisons, the criminal justice system, the issue of children and very soon the issue of money laundering, Al-Rawi said. In relation to the PCA, I have specifically looked at the statistics which I would be bringing forward into the public domain, which will demonstrate, not withstanding the number of investigations carried out by the PCA, that the level of convictions and carry on to the end of the matters which the PCA refers either to the Commissioner of Police or the Director of Public Prosecution, end up with very low statistics. It was therefore necessary, he told Newsday for Trinidad and Tobago to look to improve the situation, so that matters which are investigated, dont just languish in terms of another entity having responsibilities. Al-Rawi said: So the key right now is to make sure that you are being efficient in relation to the laws that you have and that therefore is something that must stand. He cited the introduction of speed guns as an example of implementing what we have. What you need to know about the Octagon Art Festival on Sunday in Ames news Psychotronic weapons in the Caribbean can force victims to commit suicide An ex employee with the Dominican directed energy directorate (INFOTEP) in charge of creating the countrys psychotronic weapons has disclosed that she was a victim of the technology which she helped devise. A psychotronic weapon is a mind control device, which enables the user to torture another person, keep tabs on their movements and control the substrate of their thoughts. As Abreu Report explained: Today, thousands of INFOTEP-trained agents are deployed throughout the Caribbean, primarily working in tourist resorts, where much like an intelligence agency hacking cell phones, the brain of foreign targets is treated as nothing more than a technical objective to be completed. Victim of her own weapons A former INFOTEP employee told Abreu Report anonymously that she was a victim of the same weapons she helped create. We often experimented on ourselves, there really were no ethical boundaries, the ex government employee noted. The President was afraid of us, we literally wrote our own checks, she added. Ms. Bisono (not her real name) added she eventually quit INFOTEP because she felt her health was being jeopardized by the weapons around her. Abreu Report notes: I wasnt the only one in the office who felt like her brain was cooking. I cant even go into detail about the weapons we had in the office. Before the PHaSr was the size of a rifle, we could place a device with similar capabilities in the trunk of a car, with the tail-lights emitting a laser that led the victim to commit suicide, she explained. I know of at least 10 people who committed suicide after our van got parked outside of their house, but we dont need a vehicle that big today. The government has heavily invested in drones, and a psychotronic device can be mounted thereon. We tested it in Haiti and even had success in leading a general to commit suicide there. It was after that death that I decided to call it quits. It was one thing to target people who had actually threatened the stability of the Republic, but I couldnt be part of that, of killing a fellow Catholic general who wasnt our enemy. Microwave system blankets entire country Whenever Ms. Bisono was asked about how many deaths she could verify that were conducted by INFOTEP, she stated: At least two dozen, mostly politicians and journalists who represented a threat to the government of Balaguer. Since Balaguer we are less active, but it was Doctor Balaguer who instigated most of the attacks, he was absolutely obsessed, to him voodoo was a dangerous science which needed to be cracked and weaponized. The man was obsessed. But the main thing the government developed was microwave weapons; the entire country was blanketed with a microwave system, she addded. Whenever the interviewer asked Ms. Bisono if she could go into the specifics of the governments microwave system, she declined on the grounds that it was above her paygrade. Adding that the countrys goal of getting more tourists than citizens will be met, people dont know how theyre being targeted with these microwave weapons, they activate the addiction parts of the brain. Sources include: YourNewsWire.com AbreuReport.com Science.NaturalNews.com Submit a correction >> Frankenstein experiment to take place in China: Worlds first body-swapping to be practiced on LIVE humans Dr. Xiaoping Ren, otherwise known as Doctor Frankenstein in China, claims he and colleagues will perform the first human head transplant next year. Speaking on the specifics of the procedure with the New York Times, Dr. Ren said the surgery would consist of removing two heads from two bodies and attaching the donor body to the beneficiarys head. In particular, a metal plate would be implanted to stabilize the neck and the spinal cord nerve endings would be soaked in a glue-like material to foster regrowth. Dr. Ren assisted the first hand transplant in the United States in 1999. Earlier this year, Dr. Ren claimed he and his team performed the first successful head transplant on a monkey, which lived for 20 hours. We are getting closer to our goal of a human head transplant, Dr. Ren told the Daily Mail. We cant say it will happen tomorrow but I am not ruling out next year. Staying a head of the competition In 2015, the Chinese government invested a whopping 1.42 trillion renminbi, $216 billion, in research and development in an effort to become the worlds leader in scientific innovation. By contrast, the country invested a mere 245 billion renminbi in scientific research in 2005. Whether or not Dr. Ren performs the operation, leading medical experts have condemned the procedure.For most people, its at best premature and at worst reckless, said James L. Bernat, professor of neurology at Dartmouth Medical School in Lebanon, New Hampshire. During an interview in November, Dr. Huang Jiefu, a former deputy minister of health in China, noted the procedure is scientifically impossible, since whenever the spine is severed, it cannot be reconnected. Ethically its impossible, Dr. Huang said. How can you put one persons head on anothers body? Adding to widespread condemnation of the project, Cong Yali, a medical ethicist at Peking University, criticized Dr. Ren for drawing negative publicity to China. I dont want to see Chinas scholars, transplant doctors and scientists deepening the impression that people have of us internationally, that when Chinese people do things they have no bottom line that anything goes. Others have criticized Chinas medical establishment in general for its lack of transparency. The Chinese system is not transparent in any way, said Arthur L. Caplan, a medical ethicist at New York University. I do not trust Chinese bioethical deliberation or policy. Add healthy doses of politics, national pride and entrepreneurship, and it is tough to know what is going on. A good head on shoulders Although the potential operation has received condemnation from the medical community at large, it has plenty of volunteers, such as Valery Spiridonov, 31, who suffers from severe muscular atrophy. In an article for the Daily Mail, Spiridonov said: A human head transplant will be a new frontier in science. Some people say it is the last frontier in medicine. It is a very sensitive and very controversial subject but if we can translate it to clinical practice, we can save a lot of lives. Before conducting the operation on a monkey, Dr. Ren performed an estimated 1,000 head transplants on mice, sometimes attaching the head of a white mouse onto the body of a black mouse. None of the mice survived longer than a day. Dr. Ren purports that transplanting a monkeys head takes around 20 hours. He anticipates a human head transplant will take anywhere from 30 to 40 hours. Sources: DailyMail NewYorkTimes Submit a correction >> Trump to America: Ignorance is not bliss when it comes to a politically correct response to terror threats (Trump.news) Presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald J. Trump lit into his likely Democratic rival on Monday in a pre-scheduled national security speech that laid out in detail why the United States would be much safer and better defended against terrorism like that attack which took place over the weekend in Orlando, Fla. In particular, as reported by the Daily Mail, Trump heavily criticized Hillary Clintons Obama-like embrace of dangerous immigration policy that would only drive more Islamic radicals to commit additional attacks, such as those in Orlando and San Bernardino, Calif. As president, Clinton would negligently implement a catastrophic immigration plan that would bring vastly more radical Islamic immigrants into this country, threatening not only our society but our entire way of life. Continuing during his half-hour speech at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire, Trump said, Ignorance is not bliss. Its deadly. Totally deadly. Here are more excerpts from Trumps speech: This was going to be a speech on Hillary Clinton and how bad a President, especially in these times of Radical Islamic Terrorism, she would be. Even her former Secret Service Agent, who has seen her under pressure and in times of stress, has stated that she lacks the temperament and integrity to be president. There will be plenty of opportunity to discuss these important issues at a later time, and I will deliver that speech soon. But today there is only one thing to discuss: the growing threat of terrorism inside of our borders. Moving on, Trump noted: The attack on the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida, was the worst terrorist strike on our soil since September 11th, and the worst mass shooting in our countrys history. So many people dead, so many people gravely injured, so much carnage, such a disgrace. The horror is beyond description. The families of these wonderful people are totally devastated. Likewise, our whole nation, and indeed the whole world, is devastated. We express our deepest sympathies to the victims, the wounded and their families. We mourn, as one people, for our nations loss and pledge our support to any and all who need it. After calling for a moment of silence, Trump noted that the attack was a strike at the heart and soul of who we are as a nation, and an assault on the ability of free people to live their lives, love who they want and express their identity. He called for responding to this attack on America as one united people with force, purpose and determination. And he warned: If we dont get tough, and we dont get smart and fast were not going to have a country anymore. There will be nothing left. Trump also noted that the terrorist, whose name he did not give and refuses to give, was born to Afghan parents who emigrated here. His father recently published support for the Taliban in Afghanistan, a regime which murders those who dont share its radical views. The father even said he was running for president of that country. Then Trump struck a familiar immigration-related cord: The bottom line is that the only reason the killer was in America in the first place was because we allowed his family to come here. That is a fact, [and] its a fact we all need to talk about. Calling the Obama regime incompetent, Trump warned that a Clinton presidency will give Americans at least four more years of the same kinds of policies and dangers. We have a dysfunctional immigration system which does not permit us to know who we let into our country, and it does not permit us to protect our citizens. Trump also tore into something Clinton said in November 2015 during a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations. Lets be clear: Islam is not our adversary, Clinton said then. Muslims are peaceful and tolerant people and have nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism. That is Hillary Clinton, Trump said, castigating her for her response to the weekends bloodbath to a radical Muslim who pledged his allegiance to ISIS during a phone call to police while he was still carrying out his attack. You can read the rest of Trumps speech here. Sources: DailyMail.co.uk DonaldJTrump.com Science.NaturalNews.com Submit a correction >> Address by the President Shri Pranab Mukherjee at the India-Ghana Business Forum event at ACCRA on June 13, 2016 ACCRA, Tue, 14 Jun 2016 NI Wire 1. I am delighted to be here. Ghana is a trusted friend of India. Our two countries have had a similar political history and yesterday, as developing economies, we have a shared vision for our peoples. India values Ghana's friendship and is committed to partnering Ghana in achieving its goals of sustained development and growth. Ladies and gentlemen, 2. I am happy that our leading business chambers - the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) and Ghana Chamber of Commerce and Industry, have joined hands to organize this meeting yesterday. 3. Indian businessmen and entrepreneurs, due to their long association with this country and their similar experience know what their counterparts in Ghana are seeking. They, like you, have only recently transitioned from a protected business environment in post-Independence India to succeed as global giants today, competing with the best in the world. They are familiar with the challenges faced in developing economies. 4. India is one of the few countries where Small and Medium Enterprises thrive alongside large conglomerates, creating jobs and ensuring wealth distribution on the one hand and infrastructure development, indigenization and external business linkages, on the other. 5. Indian entrepreneurs know that developing countries need to prioritise relevant and eco-friendly technologies that are in sync with the state of economic development of the country as well as its social needs. We have learned that calibrated foreign investments are the key to rapid growth in a developing nation. Indian businesses have learned adaptability and would be happy to share their experience with their Ghanaian counterparts. 6. 'Brand India' is a trusted name today across the developing as well as the developed world. It is trusted because it adds value to the resources of the host countries; it is welcomed because it works and grows together with the local companies; it brings appropriate technologies which create jobs and has the adaptability to absorb local talent; it rejuvenates and invigorates local industry without constraining their growth in any way. 7. Friends, Ghana, on its part, is not unfamiliar with this Indian experience. Indian businesses and investments have been present in Ghana for a long time. However, the potential is large, with considerable scope for growth - both in investments and trade. If a conducive environment is facilitated, the Indian Government would be ready to work with you in key sectors and areas of common interest and encourage Indian private as well as public entrepreneurs to bring more investments into Ghana. I am confident that the representatives of 'Brand India' who are today will reach out to Ghanaian business and industry to forge mutually beneficial partnerships. I have no doubt that both sides recognize the potential and the synergies that are waiting to be exploited. 8. Friends, I am glad to note that our bilateral trade is in favour of Ghana. However, I would encourage the Ghanaian entrepreneurs to diversify and expand their exports to India. During the third India-Africa Forum Summit in October last year in New Delhi, India earmarked US$ 10 billion for diverse projects in Africa and capacity building efforts. Government of India looks forward to working with Ghana to identify projects for utilisation of these funds in Ghana. 9. Wherever there is a possibility for public-private-partnerships, Government of India will not hesitate to support such projects to further strengthen the excellent bilateral relations between our two countries. 10. Dear friends, I am encouraged to note that Ghanaian businessmen are regular participants in the India-Africa Partnership events organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and EXIM Bank of India from time to time. In 2010, President Mahama had himself led the Ghanaian delegation, in his capacity as Vice-President. Ghana's current Vice-President, Mr. Amissah Arthur had participated in the most recent partnership Summit in March 2016. The private and public sectors on both sides should take advantage of the desire and commitment of the two governments to deepen their mutual economic stakes. 11. India-Ghana relations transcend political ideologies and geographical space. Government of India has been happy to extend assistance to Ghana through grants and Lines of Credit, despite her own resource constraints. Our economic cooperation can be extended further - beyond government-funded projects. With the active involvement of Government of Ghana and organisations such as Ghana Investment Promotion Council, we could together identify viable projects for the Indian private sector to invest in. Indian multi-national companies are active and successful in several countries in Africa and would be more than happy to come to a friendly country like Ghana. They recognise that Ghana is the first sub-Saharan nation that marched ahead to become a lower middle income country. Indian private sector appreciates the peaceful, secure and stable environment of Ghana, which is a critical requirement for any investor. The Indian private sector is equipped with funding capacity as well as appropriate technologies. They stand ready to work with their Ghanaian counterparts as partners for mutual benefit. 12. With these words, I thank you all once again for your attention and President Mahama, for your kind presence and solidarity. Delhi BJP will run Public Awareness Campaign on Scams in Delhi Jal Board New Delhi, Tue, 14 Jun 2016 NI Wire WITH SUPPORT OF SIGNATURES FROM LAKHS OF CITIZENS, DELHI BJP WILL APPROACH PRESIDENT OF INDIA DR. PRANAB MUKHERJEE TO DEMAND CBI INQUIRY INTO DELHI JAL BOARD WORKING INCLUDING THE RS. 400 CRORES WATER TANKER SCAM New Delhi 13th June: BJP Delhi General Secretaries Shri Ashish Sood & Smt. Rekha Gupta today at a Press Conference said that Delhi Jal Board has become a centre of corruption and like the predecessor Sheila Diskhit Government the present Arvind Kejriwal regime too is taking its share in corruption and giving silent patronage to the nefarious nexus of officials and contractors. Delhi BJP Media Incharge Shri Praveen Shankar Kapoor was present at the press conference. General Secretary Shri Ashish Sood said that Kejriwal Government came to power by pretending to be anti corruption crusaders. The hollowness of their intention to fight corruption got exposed in December 2013 itself when Kejriwal formed Government with Congress support but the way now CM Kejriwal is sitting upon the report of the Fact Finding Committee formed by his own Minister Kapil Mishra who had in a letter on 28thAugust, 2015 recommended to the C.M. to take action against the culprits of Rs. 400 crores Water Tanker Scam in Delhi Jal Board. It is evidently clear the C.M. Kejriwal is saving the culprits, perhaps the C.M. has some self interest in suppressing this scam. Shir Ashish Sood said those who are avoiding inquiry or saving the culprits are as much guilty in the matter as those who indulged in direct corruption. Kejriwal Government has made it a practice to call Delhi Assembly session for frivolous political reasons. Delhi BJP challenges the Kejriwal Government to call a special session of the Assembly to discuss on corruption in Delhi Jal Board especially on the Rs. 400 crores Water Tanker Scam. In this special session the Leader of the Opposition should be first allowed to place Charge Sheet on Delhi Jal Board and thereafter Government should reply whether there are scams in Delhi Jal Board or not. General Secretary Smt. Rekha Gupta said that Delhi Jal Board is a white Elephant which has been a centre of corruption ever since the formation of first Sheila Dikshit Government in 1998. The employees, engineers & officials are unbridled. There is corruption in every deal of Delhi Jal Board be it of laying of sewer lines or water lines or even regular maintenance work. Shri Ashish Sood & Smt. Rekha Gupta said that Kejriwal Government came to power selling the dream of free water for all and even today claims to give free water & waiving the bills but the truth of the claims has been exposed by the news of women having to fight among themselves for a bucket of water in the national capital. A few days back while flagging of 429 new Water Tankers Kejriwal Government had said that now there will be no water crisis in Delhi but the news of water crisis appearing in newspapers these days tell that the tanker water is not reaching the common man. Shri Ashish Sood announced that Delhi BJP will now run a public awareness campaign to apprise the people about the Rs. 400 crores Delhi Jal Board Water Tanker Scam along with a campaign to obtain signatures of Delhi citizens in the matter. Through this signature campaign Delhi BJP will apprise and mobilise public opinion in support of a CBI inquiry into this Water Tanker Scam. The party intends to collect lakhs of signatures in next few days and they will hand over to the President of India Dr. Pranab Mukherjee a memorandum demanding a thorough CBI inquiry into Delhi Jal Board working including the Rs. 400 crores Water Tanker Scam. The BJP Leaders said that in the Assembly session the BJP Legislators will force Delhi Government to discuss on Delhi Jal Board Scams while outside the Assembly complex the BJP candidates in last assembly polls will demonstrate to raise the demand of inquiry into Delhi Jal Board affairs. Address by the President Shri Pranab Mukherjee at the University of Ghana in Accra on June 13, 2016 ACCRA, Tue, 14 Jun 2016 NI Wire 1. Good Afternoon to all of you! It is indeed a pleasure and privilege for me to be amongst you. 2. It is a great pleasure whenever I have such an opportunity to see the bright faces, sparkling eyes and young minds of students filled with high hopes, aspirations and a strong desire to make a change in the environment in which they live. 3. Dear students, your quest for innovation and yearning for positive change are the Critical Mass and Centre-of-Gravity around which a Nation's hopes and aspirations are built. By challenging society's mores, seeking the rationale of ideologies and questioning systems and beliefs, you prevent society from wilting into complacency. I am, therefore, delighted to be with you today. 4. My delegations consists of Dr Jitendra Singh , Minister of State in the Office of the Prime Minister of India, Shri Surjit Singh Ahluwalia ,Member of the Lok Sabha - the House of the People and Shri Mansukh Mandaviya , Member of the Rajya Sabha, the Upper House of the Indian Parliament. We bring to you the good will, love and affection of the people of India. Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, 5. I am aware that the University of Ghana is one of the largest in Africa, and home to one of the most vibrant student communities in Africa. The scholarship that emanates from this University has contributed to the currents of change and advancement in Ghana and other countries in your neighbourhood and beyond. 6. Friends, today's robust and confident India is not an overnight phenomenon. Decades of toil and the sacrifices of our leaders strengthened by the momentum generated by hundreds of thousands of students and scholars are behind India's freedom and rise; it is their innovations, discoveries, rock-solid determination and self confidence, and more importantly a burning desire to serve the nation, which has contributed to India's success. 7. Independent India, after 1947, refused to simply replicate what the developed countries were doing, nor did we follow blindly the models of development that might have been successful elsewhere. We recognized that natural and financial resources were only one side of the coin of development; but the other side is the quality of human resource that alone can transform the natural resources into prosperity and happiness of the people. 8. Distinguished members of the Faculty and dear Students, you would be aware that since the 1960s, the Government of India, guided by her experience, has been sharing her knowledge and skills with nations in Africa and other developing countries. India's capacity-building programmes - Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme (ITEC) and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) Scholarships scheme - have become household names across Africa. Every year, 250 Ghanaian government and semi-government officials receive training in India while about 20 scholars pursue full-time under-graduate, Masters and Ph.D programmes on scholarships. I have learned, to my delight, that students from Ghana are rated by institutes and universities in India as the finest among all foreign students. Please accept my hearty congratulations. Having recognized Ghana's immense human resource potential, I am happy to announce that the Government of India has decided to increase seat allocations for Ghana to 300 ITEC slots and increase the number of annual scholarships under other Indian schemes to forty. Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, 1. The friendship between India and Ghana is rooted in our common history of struggles against foreign domination and struggle for independence. Both our peoples cherish the shared vision of our founding leaders and the values of democracy, plurality, inclusiveness and human dignity. These commonalities have bound us in a fraternal embrace. The measureless goodwill and the extent of familiarity and affinity that exist between our two peoples defy geographical logic and confound political scientists! No wonder our two governments work so closely together on major international issues and in multilateral organizations including the Commonwealth and the Non-Aligned Movement. By adapting our bilateral relations to the present global context and the changing geo-political dynamics of the present situation, we will be able to renew and nurture this goodwill and affinity. 2. We should recognize that challenges are an inevitable and integral part of the developmental process. Today our nations face many similar challenges: the goal of eliminating poverty, defeating the scourge of international terrorism; sustainable development in harmony with our environment and eco-systems; preserving and further refining our democratic systems and strengthening our democratic institutions; adding greater value to our resources and efficiently generating employment for our youth. We not only have to be watchful, but have to stand shoulder-to-shoulder in confronting them. India, as a friend and partner, is with you in this journey. 3. In brief, there is a need for a paradigm shift in the way we conduct our relations - while building further on the foundation of our mutual goodwill. We need to define a new positive and create a brighter, innovative and updated narrative of India-Ghana relations. 4. I am confident that our youth who are our leaders of tomorrow would fit in seamlessly into this renewed and revised model of cooperation. By duly making them stakeholders, we will succeed in reinvigorating our partnership and taking it to a new level. 5. My dear friends, I do believe that science and knowledge will simply remain a scholarly preserve if it is not translated into wisdom that guides humanity towards a better tomorrow. Education is like a lamp, brightly-lit, which should show the way and enlighten many more lives. I would, therefore, call upon the youth of Ghana to employ your learning and knowledge in the service of your society and your nation. I am confident that the coming generations of this great nation, the inheritors of the legacy of the great son of Ghana, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, have the credentials to make their Nation proud. I have no doubt that you will claim for Ghana the rightful place that it deserves in the comity of Nations. Distinguished Ladies and gentlemen, 6. I believe that Ghana is already moving in the right direction. Your democratic credentials are the envy of many African countries; your rapid progress in realising the Millennium Development Goals is commendable; your social and religious harmony is exemplary and the peace and stability that prevails in this country are your greatest assets. Your role in the integration of the Economic Community of West African States is widely recognised. The exceptional solidarity shown by Ghana in rendering their support to Ebola-affected countries in Africa is worthy of admiration. However, no developing nation can afford to be complacent. We should continue to strive and be watchful. The road ahead is very long, and sometimes tortuous. Alone we may stumble, but together we can go farther. Ladies and gentlemen, 7. India has suffered many challenges in its long history, and continues to confront them. But we are ready to share our success and the expertise we have developed in some key sectors with the people of Ghana under the umbrella of our South-South cooperation programmes. This is one of the reasons why India organized the Third India-Africa Forum Summit in October last year in New Delhi. We want to enhance our developmental cooperation with Africa. 8. India calls upon students and the faculty of this great university and others to take full advantage of the scholarships and training opportunities announced by India at the India Africa Forum Summit last year. The capacity building dimension of India-Africa relations has been vastly expanded to include research in various fields such as agriculture, bio-technology and other subjects of relevance to your country. 9. In this context , I would like to commend two eminent centres of learning in Ghana for their role in nurturing an institutional relationship with India: the first is the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology, Kumasi, which has been coordinating the Pan-African e-network Programme, a brainchild of my illustrious predecessor, the Late Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. The second is the India-Ghana Kofi Annan Centre of ICT Excellence in Accra, which, I am happy to note, has been imparting ICT skills to the youth of Ghana and also other countries in this region. I am looking forward to visiting this Centre tomorrow morning. 10. My dear distinguished friends, let us pause and take a look at the present day geo-political global scenario. Outdated structures cannot resolve problems of today. Positive transformation cannot be brought about by archaic systems and concepts. The United Nations, established in the wake of the 2nd World War cannot effectively respond to the rapidly evolving international challenges that we face today. It is imperative that the organs of the United Nations should keep pace with the changing times. A country of India's size which houses every sixth citizen of the world and the entire African continent do not have a place in the permanent membership of the Security Council. Reform and change of the United Nations is inevitable. 11. Let me conclude quoting from Gandhi the Mahatma, the Father of the Indian Nation, whose statue I have had the honour of unveiling in the precincts of this University today : Gandhiji had exhorted us against: "Wealth without work; pleasure without conscience; knowledge without character; commerce without morality; science without humanity; worship without sacrifice; and politics without principles." 12. There is no better counsel than the above for the youth, the future leaders of our two countries. I wish you all success in your future endeavours. The world belong to you bright young men and women and the entire community wants you to make the change you desire to see the in the world. Thank you. Source: PIB Yes, you can transfer your domain to any registrar or hosting company once you have purchased it. Since domain transfers are a manual process, it can take up to 5 days to transfer the domain. Domains purchased with payment plans are not eligible to transfer until all payments have been made. Please remember that our 30-day money back guarantee is void once a domain has been transferred. For transfer instructions to GoDaddy, please click here. Share Tweet News emerged out of the Sino-German Economic Forum that Nokia and China Mobile (News - Alert) had signed an agreement valued at around 1.36 billion Euros. The agreement not only stretched through the remainder of 2016, but called for projects on several levels of operation. Under the agreement, Nokia Networks China and ASB (News - Alert) would work to get China Mobile's infrastructure switched over to a cloud-based one that boasted a greater flexibility as well as better connectivity that addressed the growing demand for mobile bandwidth in the country. Additionally, the agreement calls for Nokia (News - Alert) to bring its AirScale Base Station to China, which is supports several different radio technologies and is designed to support 5G when it is ready for deployment in the region. Scalability is said to be virtually unlimited with the AirScale, which is also being promoted as a base for Internet of Things (IoT) operations. In addition, as part of the agreement Nokia will be providing several other capabilities including Internet protocol (IP) routing tools, optical transport systems, fixed access systems, customer experience management, and more. That, along with further cooperation between Nokia and China Mobile, will give rise to a set of closely-defined products and services that should help take some of the bite out of a rapidly-growing number of mobile-device users in the region. In fact, for 71.5 percent of new users, mobiles are the communications platforms of choice for accessing the Internet. Nokia Networks China and ASB's president of the joint management team, Mike Wang, commented This is a highly significant agreement with our longstanding partner; it strengthens Nokia's position as a leading provider of next-generation technologies in China, and reflects our larger footprint in the country following the acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent (News - Alert). We are committed to delivering mobile broadband capabilities that will allow operators to optimize their networks and open up new opportunities for them and their subscribers. It's true that the mobile network in China is heavily used. China boasts over 688 million Internet users, and of these, 620 million are mobile device users. To put in context, that is approaching double the United States' entire population. And, those of us who live here know firsthand the challenges operators have with access and quality of service (QoS). 5G may well solve some of these issues. However, 5G is several years off, and China Mobile in a hotly competitive market, needs to look not only to the future but also to the needs of current and near-tem prospective users. Edited by Peter Bernstein Tens of millions more tonnes of fish have been taken from the seas than are recorded in official statistics, suggests a huge and controversial project aiming to estimate the true catch of the worlds fishing industry. The work is detailed in a paper in Nature Communications by fisheries researchers Daniel Pauly and Dirk Zeller of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, and it builds on a decade-long project that has drawn in hundreds of researchers from around the world. According to Pauly and Zeller, global fisheries catches hit a peak of 130 million tonnes a year in 1996, and they have been declining strongly since then. This is substantially higher than the data collected by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), which report that catches reached 86 million tonnes in 1996 and have fallen only slightly. The FAO numbers have long been the only estimate of how many tonnes of fish are caught at a global level. But the FAO doesnt have a mandate to correct the data they get, Pauly told journalists during a conference call. This leaves the organization reliant mainly on the numbers submitted by member countries, he says, and the countries have the bad habit to report only the data they see. This means that many official statistics do not account for a huge amount of the worlds fisheries catch, such as that by small-scale and subsistence fisheries or fish thrown back as discards species other than those being hunted. Nature Communications Catch reconstructions reveal that global marine fisheries catches are higher than reported and declining Trajectories of reported and reconstructed marine fisheries catches 19502010 The reconstructed 2010 catch was 15% below peak landings of 130 million mt in 1996, estimate the researchers, who are based at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver in Canada. In contrast, FAO figures for the same 14-year period showed an 11% decline, from 86 million mt to 77 million mt. According to the study they claim the FAO statistics have understated the size of the global seafood catch by about 30%. This does not include about 73 million tons of farmed fish (aquaculture) in 2014. SOURCES- Nature, FAO, Nature Communications The worlds first horizontala and vertical elevator can literally open up new directions of travel in underground transport hubs. MULTI breaks the 160-year tradition of rope-driven elevators and has been designed to increase passenger shaft capacity by 50%. It does this by enabling multiple cabins to travel safely up one shaft and down another in a single continuous loop, much like a circular shuttle. The only visible difference to passengers is that the doors can open every 15 to 30 seconds. MULTI was initially developed for tall buildings, to double elevator shaft capacity, reduce elevator footprint, and offer vertical and horizontal movement to enable architects to construct taller, more creative and more user friendly structures, but its concept makes it a prime solution to the challenges of metro stations as well. If applied it would undoubtedly change the face of Londons transport network, and reinforce the UKs position at the head of global innovations. Yet it also offers a practical solution that could ease congestion in dozens of underground networks across the world too; a thought that makes you realize its potential to be one of the most revolutionary new developments of our time. In London the population is growing at a rate of 1.5% year-on-year, reaching almost 8.6 million in 2015. Implementing new technology at key city transport hubs is essential to get people from A to B as effectively as possible. The population growth puts pressures on the London Underground, the worlds oldest underground transport network. Passenger numbers have risen 33% in the past decade and some 1.34 billion passengers use the underground every year. The busiest tube station, London Waterloo, handles 95 million passengers every year and the deepest platform in the network is 58 meters below street level, at Hampstead. The elevators would be installed on Underground platforms(Credit: Thyssenkrupp Elevator) Thyssenkrupp envisions a system of elevators to service Londons Underground(Credit: Thyssenkrupp Elevator) MULTI elevators would deliver commuters directly from their offices to their platforms(Credit: Thyssenkrupp Elevator) MULTI uses special junctions to allow cars to move horizontially(Credit: Thyssenkrupp Elevator) SOURCES Thyssenkrupp Elevator Adversaries are increasingly deploying integrated and networked capabilities as part of the Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2/AD) strategy in highly contested environments. To achieve air superiority against this strategy in support of joint force mission objectives, the US Air Force needs to develop a family of capabilities that operate in and across the air, space and cyberspace domains there is no single capability that provides a silver bullet solution. This family must include both stand-off and stand-in forces, integrated and networked to achieve mission effects. The speed of capability development and fielding will be critical to retain the U.S. advantage in the air. As the pace of technological advancements continue to increase the Air Force must leverage experimentation and prototyping to more rapidly infuse advanced technologies into the force. Additionally, the Air Force must reject thinking focused on next generation platforms. Such focus often creates a desire to push technology limits within the confines of a formal program. Such efforts should be accomplished within the S and T portfolio and proven through effective prototyping, harvesting when mature to a sufficient level for transition. Pushing those limits in a formal program increases risk to unacceptable levels, resulting in cost growth and schedule slips. This put such programs at risk of cancellation due to their nearly inevitable underperformance, and results in delivery of capabilities late to need by years or even decades. One key capability is Penetrating Counterair (PCA). Capability development efforts for PCA will focus on maximizing tradeoffs between range, payload, survivability, lethality, affordability, and supportability. While PCA capability will certainly have a role in targeting and engaging, it also has a significant role as a node in the network, providing data from its penetrating sensors to enable employment using either stand-off or stand-in weapons. As part of this effort, the Air Force should proceed with a formal AoA in 2017 for a PCA capability. Consistent with an agile acquisition mindset designed to deliver the right capability on the required timeline, this AoA will include options to leverage rapid development and prototyping in order to keep ahead of the threat. Currently the F-22 and the B-2 bomber provide deep penetration capability. The U.S. military is developing a wide range of new munitions, including hypersonic rockets, lasers and microwave weapons. Its possible to imagine that, around 2030, the Air Force will deploy teams of systems to do the same job the F-22 does today. A team could include a stealthy drone communicating with a distant B-1 arsenal plane hauling a load of hypersonic missiles. The US could also restart F-22 production and double the number of F-22s. SOURCES- US Air Force, War is Boring In Ottawa, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said there was "compelling reason to believe" Mr Hall had been killed by his captors, and that the Canadian government was working with Philippine authorities to confirm his death. "We have every reason to believe that the reports are unfortunately true", Trudeau said. Hall and fellow Canadian John Ridsdel - along with Hall's Filipina girlfriend Marites Flor and Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad - were kidnapped September 21, 2015, from a resort marina on Samal Island by an al-Qaeda-linked group. Hall was the second Canadian to be executed by Abu Sayyaf, after John Ridsdell was decapitated by the group in April following both men's abduction last September. Trudeau in his statement reiterated a policy against paying ransom in these cases because doing so would endanger the lives of more Canadians. The Islamist militants in the Philippines, who took hostage several foreigners six months ago, hadthreatened in March they would kill the captives within a month if their demands were not met. Sources close to the situation in Jolo, the island where the al-Qaeda-linked group is based, and within Philippine security, confirmed Hall's death early Monday. "My first thought was, 'Oh, my God, I'm going to die, '" Alamo said. The prime minister is praising members of the Hall family for their resilience in the face of what he describes as a awful situation. Hall was among four people abducted in September previous year from aboard yachts at a tourist resort in the city of Samal. "On behalf of them and all Canadians, we mourn their loss and reassert our resolve". The group executed Canadian John Ridsdel, a former mining executive, in April. Coloma added that the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police have been conducting military and law enforcement operations against bandit groups for the past two months. Trudeau vowed Monday to work with worldwide allies "to bring those responsible to justice, however long it takes". The Abu Sayyaf killed another one of its hostages in Sulu yesterday afternoon. Abu Sayyaf, whose leaders have sworn allegiance to the terror group Isis, had demanded 600 million pesos ($12.8 million) for the release of Hall, Sekkingstad and Marites Flor, Hall's Filipina girlfriend. On Monday morning, officials emphasized that there was no immediate threat to the public and said they didn't know whether anyone would be charged as part of the investigation. Little is known about Mr Hall but he is believed to have worked as an insurance agent and welder in British Columbia before taking early retirement to sail across the Pacific on his yacht. The Abu Sayyaf group has been listed as a terrorist organisation by the United States and the Philippines. He said Canada holds Abu Sayyaf fully responsible for Hall's death. In a video released by the captors after Ridsdel's murder, the three surviving hostages pleaded with their embassies and the Philippines government for assistance. Da-eun. South Korea's National Police Agency said Monday North Korea hacked into a software program used to manage computer networks in South Korea. A source based in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang who spoke to Free North Korea Radio on the condition of anonymity said Kim provided direct orders to all "North Korean restaurants in China to prevent "South Korean bastards" from getting a foot in the door". The police's cyber investigation unit could not immediately confirm the report. South Korea's military declared success Monday, saying all unauthorized Chinese fishing boats have left the mouth of the Han River after a rare operation with the US -led United Nations Command aimed at clearing the area. The hackers took no action after gaining control of the servers and computers of corporations. According to The Wall Street Journal, the North Korean hackers have stolen over 40,000 defense industry documents in attacks on two companies beginning in 2014 and were discovered earlier this year. While North Korea has remained silent on recent developments, Seoul has been wary of a potential confrontation considering the history of tense standoffs and post-war battles along the western sea border. Among some 42,608 documents suspected to have been compromised, the design map of the wing of the U.S. F-15 fighter jet and photos of parts of a medium altitude unmanned surveillance vehicle were included, police said. The breach was meant to target the network management software used by approximately 160 companies and government agencies in South Korea. Over 160 major companies and government organizations use the system, police said. The internet address was traced to Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, the exact location used for a 2013 cyberattack on South Korean broadcasting stations and banks. South Korea blamed the North for that attack, and the North denied responsibility. "The aim of the interaction was to understand from them how they see global trends in the coming years, the challenges and what the USA and India could (do to) work together", Singh said. "India has made a name for itself as fastest growing economy in the world". India's burgeoning clean energy sector could also benefit from US$440 million of investment under two new initiatives aimed at providing one million households with power by 2020. Energy and climate issues have overshadowed other aspects of U.S. -India relations. During his remarks to the media, Obama said they discussed progress made in the Civil Nuclear agreement. Modi arrived at the Joint Base Andrews from Switzerland where he secured the European nation's support for India's NSG membership ahead of a key meeting of the 48-nation bloc. Obama underlined that India needs technology which is critical for its progress and prosperity. Additionally, five individuals have been arrested in the USA for their role in the scheme, a statement said. "India and the United States have been cooperating on global issues such as nuclear security, global warming and terrorism", Modi said. For the past two years, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi has touted a pro-business and pro-growth message: announcing that India, the world's largest democracy, was "open for business" and that his government would take concrete steps to boost the ease of doing business there. Briefing reporters on Monday evening, Indian Ambassador to the United States Arun K. Singh said the prime minister discussed issues related to improved India-US cooperation in various fields. He said that we will continue to work together in the future too. It's a friendship that will be shown off when PM Modi arrives on Tuesday at the White House for his seventh meeting with the United States president. But Tim Roemer, Obama's first ambassador to India, highlighted the strength of the personal and business relationship between Obama and Modi. This will be the sixth meeting between the two leaders, that included Obama's historic visit to India as a guest of honour at the Republic Day celebrations in 2015. USA lawmakers say it's still too hard for Americans to invest in India, even with some easing of restrictions under Modi. The artifacts that speak about India's astounding history and handsome culture are beginning their journey home, said US Attorney General Loretta E Lynch. "Penultimate leg of PM Narendra Modi's journey begins as he arrives in Washington DC on a sunny summer afternoon", External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted. Now is the time to turn Prime Minister Modi's rhetoric into reality, and solidify a strong trade and investment relationship between the USA and India that would benefit businesses and consumers in both countries. India's only hope is that it manages to push the USA and convince enough of the other nations to support its cause that it leaves China looking like an unreasonable obstacle, which unfortunately is sometimes a role that Beijing enjoys playing. " In addition, the two countries resolved to work to adopt an HFC amendment in 2016 with increased financial support from donor countries to the Multilateral Fund to help developing countries with implementation, and an ambitious phasedown schedule, under the Montreal Protocol pursuant to the Dubai Pathway, " the statement said. A win or draw by Mexico will give the team first place in Group C, while a loss will give Venezuela the top spot in the group. Corona had missed several chances to open his side account before he finally managed to hand Mexico with an equalizer in the 84th minute. However, they trailed Venezuela for the majority of the contest after Jose Velazquez had given the South Americans an early lead via an acrobatic overhead kick. The 45th edition of Copa America 2016 is in its second week and now reached a stage where, teams are in race to reach the next round of this tournament. In the group's other match, Uruguay finished their tournament with a 3-0 victory over Jamaica in Santa Clara. Mexico is likely headed for an easier matchup with Chile in the knockout round, leaving Venezuela to face mighty Argentina. Rondon scored the only goal of the match in Venezuela's 1-0 win over Uruguay on Thursday night. In the end, it was Corona who provided Mexico with the attacking impetus it needed to break through against the upstart Venezuelans. Abel Hernandez gave the the lead to Uruguay in 21st minute when he broke through the centre of the Jamaican defence thanks to a great through pass from Nicolas Lodeiro. Jamaica's first threatening effort on goal came in the 28th minute when Garath McCleary had a shot from just outside the area, but Muslera did not have to move in the Uruguay goal. And there were plenty of those flags being waved throughout the crowd, with one group of people bringing a flag that was about 10 rows high and 20 seats wide in Mexico's colors but that featured a huge image of Pancho Villa. Already eliminated, Jamaica ended Group C at the foot of the four-team table pointless, behind Mexico and Venezuela on seven points, and Uruguay, who had also been eliminated prior to kick off, on three points. Meanwhile, Venezuela had two shots on goal, including that one goal. Uruguay, who have been crowned champions a record 15 times from the 42 Copa America competitions, were keen for star striker Edinson Cavani to notch his first-ever goal in the competition. Things got a little worse for the Reggae Boyz in the second half when defender Je-Vaughn Watson bundled the the ball over his own goal line in the 66th minute. We have used your information to see if you have a subscription with us, but did not find one. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription. A UN technical delegation is currently visiting Morocco to negotiate the return of the MINURSO agents, expelled by Morocco in March after the controversial and provocative visit of Ban Ki-moon to Tindouf. Special adviser to Ban Ki-moon, Moroccan Jamal Benomar, is part of the UN delegation, Bans spokesman, Stephan Dujarric, said during a press briefing in New York. MINURSO is the UN mission monitoring the cease-fire in the Sahara since 1991. The presence of Benomar is not to the liking of the Algeria-backed separatist Polisario front, which has expressed reservations, according to diplomatic sources quoted by Spanish news agency EFE. Dujarric said the visit is part of the ongoing dialogue with Morocco with a view to implement resolution 2285 of the Security Council of April 29, which notes that without a suitable and fully staffed international civilian component, the mission cannot fulfil a core component of its functions and will thus fail to meet the Councils expectations. The resolution requested a briefing from the Secretary-General within 90 days on whether the mission has returned to full functionality. In a strong response to Bans missteps and blatant bias during his visit to Tindouf and Algeria, Morocco had adopted a series of measures. These measures included the expulsion from the Sahara of over 70 civilian staffers of the MINURSO. Morocco also declared three peacekeepers persona non grata for their behavior deemed inadequate with their mission. Morocco had also decided to suspend its voluntary financial contribution to the MINURSO and ordered the mission to close down its military liaison office in Dakhla. The liaison office was not provided for in the MINURSO mandate nor included in the UN budget, but was opened as a goodwill gesture on the part of Morocco. Islamic State fighters Sunday staged three car-bomb attacks against Government of National Accord-linked forces in a bid to halt the impressive advance of militia forces in the city of Sirte controlled by the terrorist group since 2014 and used as the terrorist nerve center in North Africa. The attacks, which involved one ambulance, killed at least one medical operator, 2 patients and wounded several people, Libya Herald reports. Militia forces including powerful Misrata militia troops have engaged in gun battles with IS as they tried to retake the city of Sirte [hometown of former Libyan leader, Muammar Gadhafi] from the terrorist group. Forces loyal to the Government of National Accord (GNA) entered Sirte on Wednesday and made significant gains against the terror group. They reportedly took control, on Friday, of the port and the citys conference center used by the militant group as command center. The pro-GNA forces, equipped with MiG fighter jets and attack helicopters, have pounded IS positions in the city and have been engaged in street fighting with the terrorists. Around 130 pro-GNA forces have been killed since the beginning of the assault on the city on May 12 reports say, putting the number of wounded at 500. GNA, backed by the international community, has made of the ouster of IS its top priority and has received backing from several western and Arab countries which pledged to lend their support. Martin Kobler, the UN mediator in the Libyan political crisis, which erupted since the death of Muammar Gadhafi in 2011, hailed forces relative easy and steadfast advance, al-monitor.com reports. He however urged all fighters to respect international humanitarian law and spare civilians. British and American special troops are assisting militia forces with intelligence and logistics, according to Brigadier Mohamed Al-Ghasri, the spokesman of pro-GNA forces. Morocco and Portugal are studying the possibility of an undersea power connection, which would be the second Europe-Africa link. The two countries have signed in this regard a feasibility study, which will cost $455 million. At present, Portugal exports its excess energy to its neighbor Spain, which then feeds into the European system via France. Portugal currently has an excess of production of electricity, especially in terms of renewable energy, while Morocco has a growing rate of demand. Last year, Portuguese power exports to Spain increased by 278 pc compared to the previous 12 months thanks to a large boost in hydro and wind production. Meanwhile, Moroccos only link with the European grid is via two underwater power cables with a maximum capacity of 800 MW connecting it to Spain. This is presently the only direct link between the continents of Europe and Africa. Morocco and Portugal are also looking into cooperation prospects in other power and gas projects. The North African Kingdom has recently unveiled a 40 billion investment plan for its energy sector through to 2030, with around 30 billion set aside for renewable projects. Morocco hosts COP22 in Marrakech from 7 to 18 next November. The country has pledged to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 32 pc by 2030. In its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) to address climate change to UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC,) the country has unveiled an ambitious plan to increase the share of renewable electricity capacity to 42 pc in 2020 and to 52 pc by 2030. This plan is expected to enable the country to reduce fossil fuel subsidies and increase the use of natural gas, through infrastructure projects allowing liquefied natural gas imports. According to experts, the projects that are currently under construction in wind, solar and hydropower will enable the North African country to achieve its goal of 43 pc renewable share by 2020. As Tunisias President Beji Caid Essebsi continues consultations about the formation of a unity government, the Tunisian Premier has excluded stepping down; explaining that replacing his cabinet at this critical time will be a setback to efforts achieved to face the countrys numerous challenges. The current stage requires keeping in place the cabinet that will be in charge of preparing municipal elections and the promotion of the five-year plan at a big conference, Habid Essid said in an interview with Al Arabya. Essid excluded stepping down and rejected the rumors about his possible replacement. My resignation will mean a power vacuum and will jeopardize the state authority, he insisted. He however conceded that he has been taken aback by President Caid Essebsis announcement about the formation of a unity government. The timing of this announcement surprised me given challenges encountered by the current cabinet. The Tunisian government is facing increasing security instability caused by terror threats that have clouded the North Africa country. Tunisia was hit last year by three major terrorist attacks; the worst in the history of the most secular Arab country. Economic slowdown also dogged the countrys growth predictions. The economic hardship that followed the 2011 revolution nearly gave rise to a new revolution last year after several cities of the country where shaken by social riots dominated by young Tunisian asking for jobs. President Essebsi in an interview earlier this month called for national unity to help Tunisia overcome its difficult situation but stopped short of indicating whether he would replace his Prime Minister. The UN Security Council Monday extended the mandate of the UN support mission in Libya, UNSMIL, for six months, and entrusted it with new prerogatives including assistance in securing uncontrolled arms and related material and countering its proliferation. The UNSMIL is also tasked to provide support to key Libyan institutions and provide support, on request, for the provision of essential services. The extension of the mandate till the end of December comes as UN backed government is still struggling to impose its authority in the North African country, grappling with political and security instability fanned by the Islamic State actions. The UN Security Council hailed the work of the UNSMIL and its Head; Martin Kobler who was able to usher rival Libyan brothers to ink the Libyan Political Agreement in December, in Morocco. The 15 members of the Council also congratulated the Government of National Accord (GNA) and the Presidency Council for its bold initiative to establish itself in Tripoli, on March 30. The Presidency Council led by Prime Minister-designate Faiez Serraj against all odds arrived by sea in Tripoli on March 30 and established its provisional headquarters in Tripoli naval base. The Security Council urged the GNA to maintain the momentum in supporting reconciliation and enhancing political outreach throughout Libya, as well as emphasizing the importance of all parties in Libya engaging constructively with the Libyan Political Agreement in good faith and with sustained political will. Reiterating support to the GNA, members of the council called on Serraj to finalize interim security arrangements for stabilizing Libya as a critical step towards tackling the countrys political, security, humanitarian, economic and institutional challenges and to combat the threat of terrorism. Nouakchott and Dakar have come to an agreement to work jointly and share returns of gas production off their coasts by the American energy company, Kosmos, reports say. Presidents of both countries have reportedly given instructions to their respective energy companies; Petrosen in Senegal and Smhpm of Mauritania to continue working with the American giant for gas exploration and production. Kosmos Energy, active in both countries and main actor of gas exploitation in Senegal, announced it signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the two state-owned companies entailing collaboration between the two governments. Kosmos Energy in January discovered a giant gas field at Saint Louis, off the Senegalese coast. The field reportedly straddles both countries sea borders. The discovery triggered intense talks between the two countries that were arguing over the location of the production platform. According to the agreement reached by the two countries, the offshore platform will explore and exploit the gas whose production is planned to begin in 2020. The gas field deemed the largest in the West African region will make both Mauritania and Senegal major gas producers and exporters. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the murder of a police commander and his wife at Magnanville in the Ile-de-France region, on Monday night, reports say. A police commander aged 42 was stabbed to death in front of his house around 9pm local time by a man who reportedly pledged allegiance to the IS terror group. IS via its agency Amaq claimed responsibility for the slaughter few days after it claimed it ordered the Florida Orlando mass killing on Sunday. The killer, known as Larossi Aballa, 25, was later killed as RAID [police special forces] stormed the house after negotiations with the militant failed, the interior ministry spokesperson, Pierre-Henry Brandet said. After they stormed and killed the suspect, the squad found the body of the police officers wife who also works for the interior ministry. They were able to rescue the three-year old son of the couple who is reported unhurt. He has been given medical attention, reports say. The motives behind Abballas crime are unknown but the 25-year old man is known to police as he was back in 2013 handed a 3 year-prison sentence in connection to terrorism. He was charged for facilitating recruitment of jihadists to Pakistan-Afghanistan tribal zones, Le Monde reports. President Holland condemned what he termed an odious act. All light will be shed on the circumstances of this terrible tragedy, he said. French Premier Manuel Valls also reacted on Tuesday reiterating national support to police forces. Moroccan security services have announced the arrest of an Italian man wanted for plotting terror attacks in the North African country, following an order issued by the extremist terrorist group of the Islamic State. The Italian-Isis terror member was captured last week at the airport of the Moroccan Eastern city of Oujda, near the Algerian border. According to Moroccos Interior Ministry, the captured man had been brainwashed by the fanatic ISIS group and had unsuccessfully tried to join the organizations training camps back in 2014. He lived in Belgium and visited Casablanca, Moroccos commercial capital, after arriving in the North African kingdom in June 2015. The goal of his trip to Morocco was to identify soft targets. His arrest was one of several linked to ISIS in Morocco. Last month, Moroccan authorities announced the arrest of a Chadian national suspected of plotting to attack Western diplomatic buildings and tourist sites. In March, a nine-member cell linked to ISIS branch in Libya was dismantled. Morocco has a comprehensive counterterrorism strategy that includes vigilant security measures, regional and international cooperation, and counter-radicalization policies. The Moroccan government has put counterterrorism at the top of its priorities following the Casablanca terror attacks in 2003 and the subsequent attacks of 2007 and 2011. In 2015, Moroccos counterterrorism efforts mitigated the risk of terrorism but the country continues to face threats, largely from numerous small, independent violent extremist cells. Approximately 1,500 Moroccans are believed to have joined terrorist organizations since 2011, with 719 fighting alongside ISIS. The Moroccan government is concerned about the potential return of veteran Moroccan foreign terrorist fighters from those conflict zones to conduct possible terrorist attacks at home. The Pulse shooter attended the club at least a dozen times before murdering 49 people there. Photo: Gerardo Mora/Getty Images Good morning and welcome to Fresh Intelligence, our roundup of the stories, ideas, and memes youll be talking about today. In this edition, acquaintances say Orlando shooter was active in the gay community, Donald Trump makes a horrible situation worse, and lawmakers continue to yell at each other while accomplishing nothing. Heres the rundown for Tuesday, June 14. WEATHER This will be a week of thunderstorms in the Plains and the Midwest, with even a few instances of hail in June and maybe some tornadoes. A few tornadoes touched down yesterday, including one in rural Texas that damaged a wind farm. Today New York City will be hot and sunny with no clouds and very little wind. [Weather.com] FRONT PAGE Emerging Portrait of Orlando Shooters Sexuality Complicates Search for Motive As reports continue to come in that the Orlando shooter Omar Mateen had visited Pulse the club where he murdered 49 people this weekend many times over a three-year period, his ex-wife and classmate have also spoken out about his sexuality, complicating his motives in what was already a complicated case. One police-academy classmate said Mateen asked him out on a date and was socially awkward. Speaking on Brazilian television, Mateens ex-wifes husband said his wife noticed Mateens gay tendencies and that his father even called him gay in front of her. For his part, Mateens father says his son was definitely not gay; otherwise, Why would he do something like this? EARLY AND OFTEN Candidates, U.N. Respond to Orlando Tragedy Responses to the mass shooting in Orlando have come in today from presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, as well as from the U.N. Security Council. Clinton said that as president she would focus on stopping lone wolves and keeping military-grade guns off the streets. Trump spent the day focusing on the shooters Afghan heritage and Muslim faith, saying we need to limit immigration from Muslim countries and spouting thinly veiled insinuations that Barack Obama was somehow involved in a cover-up over the shooting. He also painted a picture of himself as an ally to Americas LGBT community a status said community was quick to rebuke. And the U.N. Security Council made history by releasing a joint statement condemning the attack, which was the first condemnation of violence based on sexual orientation in the councils history. Chaos Erupts on House Floor Over Gun Control Chaos erupted on the House floor yesterday when Speaker of the House Paul Ryan called for a moment of silence for the victims of yesterdays mass shooting in Orlando. South Carolina representative James Clyburn asked for permission to ask a question about guns. When permission was denied, the chamber filled with shouts of No leadership! and Wheres the bill? from Democrats. Increasingly Democrats had said they would not take part in a moment of silence for the shooting, resenting the constant use of thoughts and prayers and empty symbols in favor of actual policy change. [NYT] Montana Superdelegate Keeps Her Word, Backs Bernie Bernie Sanders presidential run is nearing its end Sanders himself has said he will meet with Hillary Clinton after D.C.s primary tomorrow but thats not stopping him from picking up new endorsements. The latest is from superdelegate and Montana Democratic National Committeewoman Jean Lemire Dahlman, who announced she would support Sanders yesterday, fulfilling her promise to follow the choice of the voters in her state. Montana actually has six superdelegates, but the other five have decided to remain neutral and not back any candidate. [Politico] Trump and Clinton Find Common Ground: Shady Email Habits Donald Trump has been accused of destroying reams of emails relating to an investigation into his casino dealings in 2006. Trump employees have testified that Trump executives would delete all business emails as a matter of routine, leaving the Trump organization in the very suspicious position of having no records from 1996 to 2001 yes, you read that correctly with executives not beginning to save work emails until 2005. You know, Donald, maybe a personal email server wouldnt have been such a bad idea. THE STREET, THE VALLEY That Drain Cleaner You Ordered Might Have Cost Amazon $350,000 Amazon is facing fines of up to $350,000 from the Federal Aviation Administration over accusations that the online retail behemoth routinely flaunted hazardous shipment rules, shipping caustic chemicals like drain cleaner without proper storage or personnel training. Amazon violated hazardous-materials regulations 24 other times in just two years, once sending UPS workers for medical treatment after they were exposed to leaked chemicals. [Bloomberg] Four Women Speak at Apples Annual Conference, Make Headlines All eyes were on Apple yesterday for the companys annual developers conference. Apple didnt have any new hardware to show off, but it did open up new software to outside developers, unveil new operating systems, and even promise users will soon have a way to delete factory-installed apps good riddance forever, Pages! Apple also made headlines for having four women executives one a woman of color make presentations. The tech industry is so white and male that this was considered historic. [Reuters] Market Proves Any Faith You Still Had in Humanity Is Misplaced As has become commonplace after the mass shootings that have also become commonplace, gun-makers stock surged yesterday as Americans rushed to arm themselves out of fear that President Obama was coming for their guns. Youd think theyd have learned by now that the few politicians who do want stricter gun control are totally powerless to make it happen. [Reuters] Well, It Worked for McKinley: Facebook Declares War on the Philippines Over the weekend, Facebook rolled out one of its annoying new bespoke banners for Philippine Independence Day. Unfortunately, the flag in the banner was inverted with the red at the top and blue at the bottom, which traditionally signifies the country is at war. Normally wed say it wasnt too big of a deal, but this Duerte character seems like hed go to war over less. [CNet] MEDIA BUBBLE Gawker Bankruptcy the Most American Thing to Ever Happen Gawker has reached out to an American bankruptcy court for permission to borrow $22 million from Cerberus Capital Management so it can continue to function before its $90 million sale to Ziff Davis LLC goes through. Cerberus is most famous for helping to prop up the Freedom Group, the maker of the Bushmaster rifle, after it was sued by the families of those killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School. To recap: The media company brought down over a sex tape by a racist ex-wrestler and reality-TV star in secret cahoots with a gay tech billionaire will now be allowed to survive thanks to a firm best known for keeping an assault-rifle manufacturer in business after a mass shooting. [Reuters] Trump Revokes Washington Posts Press Credentials for Daring to Listen to What He Said Donald Trumps campaign has revoked the Washington Posts press credentials after the newspaper reported Trumps comments insinuating that the president was in some way involved in a cover-up relating to the shooting in Orlando. Trump, of course, claimed he was misrepresented and called the Post dishonest. [The Verge] New York Timesip So Fair and Balanced Reporters Dont Even Have Opinions at Home An email from Phil Corbett, the New York Times associate managing editor for standards, to Times news staffers is making the rounds. In it he asks them not to share their opinions about the Orlando shooting, even on their personal social-media accounts: People following Times newsroom staffers online expect them to be well-informed and thoughtful. But we should leave the opinions to our colleagues on the Opinion side. [Poynter] PHOTO OP What It Feels Like to Be a Warriors Fan Tonight Just when things were going so well. MORNING MEME If Lacoste Followed Polos Lead Wed All Be Dead Fashion is a flat circle or something. I just laughed so hard I have to go use a rescue inhaler now pic.twitter.com/XuWgFm5PYC The Many-Faved God (@InternetEh) June 13, 2016 OTHER LOCAL NEWS That Naked Guy With a Hatchet Is Probably Not Your Uber Driver The everyday situation of a group of people mistakenly approaching a car believing it to be their Uber escalated very quickly in Crystal City, Virginia, Sunday morning. This time the person driving the car was a drunk, naked man who reacted to a bunch of strangers trying to get into his car by grabbing the hatchet he inevitably had on his back seat and menacing them with it. Nobody was hurt, but nobody had a very good night either. [WTOP] But Where Did the Moose Get the Knife? An Alaskan mystery is closer to being solved after officials said a man who was found in his driveway mauled by a bear and stabbed was more likely attacked by a moose. We really wish this article had more information were no animal experts, but our money is still on a knife-wielding bear. The victim is recovering but couldnt be interviewed due to the severity of his injuries. [CBS] HAPPENING TODAY Non-State to Vote in Process That No Longer Matters Today is the primary in Washington, D.C., and although the Democratic nominee has pretty much already been chosen sorry, guys, its Hillary the primary in the nations capital is still important, mainly because Bernie Sanders has made it clear he will stop campaigning after Washington votes. A win in Washington could give him greater momentum and influence going into the convention. [Bustle] Bernie Sanders Has an Awkward Job Interview Today Bernie Sanders is set to meet with Hillary Clinton today. Thanks to his strong showing in primaries and caucuses and his huge following of impassioned voters, Sanders is hoping to have some say in the Democratic Party platform and a part to play in shaping Hillarys presidency. [Naples Daily News] Some Much-Needed Happy News The National Aquarium in Baltimore will announce plans today to move eight of its dolphins into a still-unbuilt protected seaside sanctuary. The aquarium is exploring sites for the first-of-its kind habitat in the Caribbean and the Florida Keys and hopes to have everything move-in-ready by 2020. Your move, SeaWorld. [NYT] Paul Ryan was displeased. Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images A moment of silence held in the House to honor victims of the mass shooting in Orlando didnt quite proceed as House Speaker Paul Ryan had anticipated. On Monday, following the moment of silence, the House floor erupted in shouts of Wheres the bill? as frustrated House Democrats protested their colleagues inaction when it comes to gun-control legislation. After the moment of silence ended, Representative James Clyburn of South Carolina requested recognition. I am really concerned that we have just today had a moment of silence and later this week the 17th Clyburn said before he was interrupted by a question from Ryan. Yes, Mr. Speaker, Clyburn continued. I am particularly interested about three pieces of legislation that have been filed in response to Charleston. But Ryan, concluding that Clyburn was not in fact posing a parliamentary inquiry, shut him down and proceeded with the days agenda, causing Democrats to take up their cry again: Wheres the bill? Day after shooting, House Democrats erupt in protest; some walk out during moment of silence https://t.co/l5g73n1fS6https://t.co/PrsT9B8V9y ABC News (@ABC) June 14, 2016 According to CNN, Clyburn was seeking action on three gun-control measures that were introduced following the shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, last year: one that allowed the gunman to buy weapons because his background check wasnt completed in three days; one that would prevent people on the FBIs terrorist watch list from buying guns; and one that would block anyone convicted of a hate crime from buying a gun. We think having moments of silence every time something like this happens rather than fashioning some response [is a problem], he later told reporters. His fellow Democrats agreed. The moment of silence is an act of respect and we supported that, but it is not a license to do nothing, and Republicans have afforded it that power, said Representative Nancy Pelosi, while Representative William Clay of Missouri called Republicans tone deaf when it comes to gun control. The victims of #Orlando deserve more than a moment of silence from Congress. They deserve moments of courage & action. #WheresTheBill Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) June 13, 2016 We just observed a moment of silence for the #Orlando victims. Then @SpeakerRyan refused to act to keep guns out of the hands of terrorists. Rep. Ted Deutch (@RepTedDeutch) June 13, 2016 The Moments of Silence in the House have become an abomination. God will ask you, "How did you keep my children safe"? Silence. Jim Himes (@jahimes) June 13, 2016 Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Ryan called Democrats protest shameful and accused them of us[ing] a moment of silence honoring victims of a brutal terrorist attack to advance their own political agenda. French police blockade the street near the victims home in Magnanville. Photo: MATTHIEU ALEXANDRE/This content is subject to copyright. On Monday evening, a French police captain and his wife were killed at their home in the town of Magnanville, about 35 miles from central Paris, by a man who claimed allegiance to the Islamic State. According to The Guardian, the policeman identified by French media as 42-year-old Jean-Baptiste Salvaing was standing outside his house when the assailant, who was reportedly a neighbor, approached him and fatally stabbed him. The attacker then entered the house. Members of an elite French police unit arrived and tried to negotiate with the attacker, who reportedly told officers during negotiations that he was aligned with ISIS. But an interior-ministry spokesperson told The Guardian that negotiations were unsuccessful, therefore a decision was made to launch an assault. When police entered the home, they found the body of the officers spouse, who had worked for the ministry. But the couples 3-year-old son was unharmed. According to the SITE Intelligence Group, the Amaq News Agency one of the Islamic States many media arms issued a statement after the attack that read: Islamic State fighter kills deputy chief of the police station in the city of Les Mureaux and his wife with blade weapons. French prosecutors have launched an anti-terror probe into the attack, which French president Francois Hollande called a cowardly murder and an odious act. Omar Mateen. When Omar Mateen a 29-year-old security guard opened fire at Pulse nightclub in Orlando on Sunday, killing 49 people and wounding 53, it wasnt his first time at the club. In fact, according to at least four regular patrons, Mateen had visited the club several times before, and one Chris Callen, a drag queen who performs at Pulse under the name Kristina McLaughlin said Mateen had been going there for at least three years. Additional reports suggest Mateen had created profiles on multiple gay-dating apps: Grindr, Jackd, and Adam for Adam, to name a few. And a former police-academy classmate of Mateens said he believed Mateen was gay and had asked him out on a date. We went to a few gay bars with him, and I was not out at the time, so I declined his offer, the classmate told the Palm Beach Post. He went on, He just wanted to fit in and no one liked him. He was always socially awkward. Cord Cedeno, another Pulse patron, said he recognized Mateen from Grindr but instantly blocked him because he was very creepy in his messages. Ty Smith, another regular, told the Orlando Sentinel that Mateen would go over in the corner and sit and drink by himself, and at times would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent. We didnt really talk to him a lot, but I remember him saying things about his dad at times, Smith said. He told us he had a wife and child. Yet another Pulse regular, Kevin West, told the Los Angeles Times that Mateen messaged him on the gay-dating app Jackd for at least a year before the shooting, but theyd never met in person. Then, on Sunday, West was dropping a friend off at Pulse when he noticed Mateen crossing the street at about 1 a.m. just an hour before the shooting. He walked directly past me, West said. I said, Hey, and he turned and said, Hey. I could tell by the eyes. Taken together, these accounts seem to suggest that Mateen had a life outside the one he lived with his ex-wife, Sitora Yusufiy (the pair divorced in 2011). And in an interview with CNN, Yusufiy left the question open: When we had gotten married, he confessed to me about his past that was recent at that time and that he very much enjoyed going to clubs and the nightlife, said Yusufiy, who divorced Omar Mateen in 2011 and said he was abusive and unstable. So, I feel like its a side of him or a part of him that he lived but probably didnt want everybody to know about. Do you think he was gay? Burnett asked . Yusufiy was silent for three seconds. She glanced to the side, shook her head a little, and said, I dont know. He never personally or physically made any indication while we were together, of that, Yusufiy continued. But he did feel very strongly about homosexuality. But Mateens father, Seddique Mateen who notably posted anti-gay sentiments on Facebook vehemently denied the possibility. If he was gay, why would he do something like this? he asked. Seddique Mateen previously said his son became enraged when he saw two men kissing in Miami a few months ago, but Smith questioned that characterization. Thats bullcrap, right there, Smith told the Canadian Press. No offense thats straight-up crap. Hes been around us. Some of those people did a little more than [kiss] outside the bar. Since the shooting, police have been attempting to piece together what motivated Mateen to carry out the attack. He reportedly declared his allegiance to ISIS in a 911 call just before the shooting, and police say he referred to the Tsarnaev brothers, who were responsible for the Boston bombings, as his homeboys. But officials stressed that Mateens links to terrorist groups remained unconfirmed, despite the fact that hed been investigated three times by the FBI for such connections. Its still impossible to say what motivated Mateen, but it now appears the answer is much more complicated than Islamic extremism. As investigators and the public attempt to process Omar Mateens murder of 49 people at an Orlando gay club, attention has turned to the gunmans upbringing. And Mateens father, Seddique Mateen, is giving people a lot to work with. The elder Mateen was born in Afghanistan. Officials havent said exactly when he immigrated to the United States, but it was before the birth of 29-year-old Omar, who was born in New York, according to the Washington Post. The Daily Beast reports that Seddique owns a nonprofit company, The Durand Jirga, Inc., the purpose of which is unclear. Since reporters first contacted him on Sunday, Seddique has maintained that Omars rampage was motivated by homophobia, as opposed to religious extremism. I think he just wanted to boast of himself, he told the Post of Omars declaration of support for ISIS. No radicalism, no. He doesnt have a beard even I dont think religion or Islam had anything to do with this. He told NBC News that his son recently became very angry upon seeing two men kissing each other in public. Seddique appears to be at least somewhat anti-gay himself. As CBS News first reported, in a video posted to Facebook page on Monday morning, Seddique said he was very saddened by his sons actions before stating that, God will punish those involved in homosexuality and that its not an issue that humans should deal with. Later in the day, Seddique contacted CBS to temper his remarks: He doesnt have the right, nobody has the right to harm anything, anybody. What a persons lifestyle is, is up to him. Its a free country. Everybody has their own choice to live the way they want to live. He also told the Post that he hoped to eventually visit those affected by the shooting: If theyre not ready, I still say to them, Im sorry. Im saddened for their injury or if they lost their dear one. Seddiques anti-gay statements arent the only notable thing on his Facebook page, which had over 8,000 followers before the shooting (it now has more). From CBS: In his Facebook videos, the alleged gunmans father has often appeared wearing a military uniform and declaring himself the leader of a transitional revolutionary government of Afghanistan. He claims to have his own intelligence agency and close ties to the U.S. Congress assets he says he will use to subvert Pakistani influence and take control of Afghanistan. After watching his videos none of which were recorded in English CBS News Ahmad Mukhtar said it seemed possible that Seddique Mateen is delusional. He thinks he runs a government in exile and will soon take the power in Kabul in a revolution, notes Mukhtar. Seddique also hosts the Durand Jirga Show on a California-based TV station aimed at Afghans living in the United States and Europe. According to what someone described as a senior Afghan intelligence source told CBS, Seddique is a vocal supporter of the Taliban. This person said that the show has a Pashtun nationalistic, pro-Taliban slant and is full of anti-U.S. rhetoric and inflammatory language aimed at non-Pashtuns and at Pakistan. In the past, hes reportedly declared himself a candidate for the presidency of Afghanistan. An Afghan official who spoke to the Post also said that Seddiques show (portions of which can be viewed on YouTube) was a bit off: The most recent video on Mateens YouTube channel shows him declaring his candidacy for the Afghan presidency. The timing of the video is strange, as it came a year after presidential elections were held in Afghanistan. Mateen appears incoherent at times in the video, and he jumps abruptly from topic to topic. His use of Dari, instead of Pashto, the language of Pashtuns, was another strange element of his presentation, given that he is discussing issues of Pashtun nationalism. People would make jokes of this guy, especially after videos surfaced of him claiming to be the president in exile, said one senior Afghan government official, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to media. He looked very serious, but no one could tell what he was talking about. In his interviews with the Post and CBS, Seddique said that his goals for Omar had included [getting] higher education and becoming a servant of the United States, and that he would have called the authorities if hed suspected his son of planning violence. He added that he saw his son over the weekend and that nothing seemed to be amiss: He was well behaved. His appearance was perfect. I didnt see any sign of worrying or being upset or nervous. The putative Democratic nominees rhetoric may sound tougher than Obamas, but she has to deal with the same realities. Photo: Angelo Merendino/Getty Images Horrific atrocities like the murderous rampage in Orlando on Sunday may cry out for divine vengeance. But its mere politicians who must actually deal with the fallout. President Obama has chosen an anti-terrorist and anti-ISIS strategy that, for better or worse, requires a measured and emotionally unsatisfying response to such events. But presidential candidates are far less bound by real-world restraints. Donald Trump predictably demagogued the event, suggesting that Obamas refusal to name the source of this and other attacks as Islam (dictated by Obamas highly responsible strategy of making mainstream Muslims our chief allies in fighting ISIS and other jihadis) somehow made it happen, and calling again for a ban on Muslims entering the country. He will soon presumably renew his demands for law enforcement and intelligence agency profiling of Muslims including U.S. citizens here at home. Like Obama, Hillary Clinton cannot and will not go down Trumps road. But as a presidential candidate, she probably feels she has to promise to do something the incumbent is not already doing. And so we get statements like the one she made today: Hillary Clinton on Monday vowed to make identifying so-called lone wolves a top priority in her administration, if elected president, and proposed an intelligence surge that would help thwart would-be attackers. We have to be just as adaptable and versatile as our enemies, Clinton said in a national security speech she delivered from Cleveland. As president, I will make identifying and stopping lone wolves a top priority. Sounds good until you think about it for a few minutes. As Matt Yglesias points out today at Vox, lone wolf terrorism is the thorniest problem in national security. By definition, lone wolves are not part of some global network you can detect and disrupt. Nor does the flypaper theory beloved of Bush-era conservatives fight em over there so you dont have to fight em here make any sense, because the terrorist is already here. And dealing with lone wolves the way Donald Trump suggests, by demonizing and profiling Muslims here at home, not only violates constitutional and civil liberties concerns, but plays directly into the plans of ISIS to polarize Muslims against the United States, enormously expanding the pool of radicalized Muslims from which lone wolves emerge. Where does this process of elimination lead the responsible politician? Well, in Obamas case, it leads him to an emphasis on gun regulation, which isnt going to cut much ice politically, but has the advantage of being theoretically part of the solution if it were ever to be pursued. Clinton wanted to say something more than whats beginning to sound like liberal gun-control Kabuki theater. And so you have the intelligence surge against lone wolves. Its hard to know what that really means, since lone wolves cannot be identified via links with networks and are often hard to distinguish from fellow Americans from similar backgrounds e.g., Muslim backgrounds. What kind of intelligence tells you someones head is about to explode? You have to guess that Hillary Clinton is telling a bit of a ghost story here: touting some vague and magical strategy that is vague and magical because its not real. That makes it infinitely preferable to Trumps very real desire to violate civil liberties, do vast missionary work for ISIS, and perhaps get us into another big stupid war in the Middle East with the added attraction of deliberately barbaric torture of combatants and slaughter of civilians. But unless she knows something that has eluded the entire Obama administration, an intelligence surge targeting lone wolves while maintaining Clintons own commitments to civil liberties is just not happening. Salman, Mateen, and a 3-year-old boy, believed to be their son. Photo: Facebook The second wife of Orlando gunman Omar Mateen has stayed mostly silent in the aftermath of the her husbands rampage at the gay nightclub that left 49 dead. But Noor Zahi Salman is now apparently talking to authorities, and revealing that she may have had knowledge of her husbands bloody plot. NBC News reports that Salman told authorities she was at least partially aware of his plans to carry out the deadly attack at the Pulse nightclub, and she may have pleaded with her husband not to go forward with the shooting. According to NBC News: Omar Mateens current wife, Noor, told the FBI she was with him when he bought ammunition and a holster, several officials familiar with the case said. She told the FBI that she once drove him to the gay nightclub, Pulse, because he wanted to scope it out. Salman is apparently working with authorities in their investigation, though its possible she could face charges herself if she knew specifics about Mateens plotting, says NBC News. It appears Mateen's son also in back seat of car. Cops say they're here to get belongings after FBI search @wsvn pic.twitter.com/OIZ0AOgeHU Brian Entin (@BrianEntin) June 14, 2016 Salman, unlike Mateens first wife, Sitora Yusufiy, who came forward publicly to talk about his alleged abusive behavior and to respond to questions about his sexual orientation, has not spoken out publicly. Salman was spotted in the dark, early hours of Tuesday by local reporters returning to the condo which she apparently shared with the shooter, to gather some of her belongings. Her 3-year-old son was in the back seat of the car, according to 7Miami News, which captured Salman in the back seat of the car, a hoodie hiding her face from the cameras. Salman allegedly married Mateen in 2013, and shes believed to be the mom of Mateens 3-year-old son. Salman, who is 30, grew up in the Chicago suburbs and lived in the East Bay area, in northern California, before moving to Florida with Mateen. Her family is originally from Afghanistan, according to the San Jose Mercury News. Trumped. Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images On the final night of primary season after a week spent questioning the capacity of Mexican Americans to recognize a legitimate real-estate school when they see one Donald Trump chained himself to a teleprompter. Standing in front of several American flags and family members, the GOP nominee got through an entire speech without saying anything his co-partisans would have to distance themselves from. Elected Republicans started breathing a little easier. Trump had gotten the message: He would stay on message. And even if Trumps scripted speeches still took an approach to trade and foreign policy that was antithetical to the party line, as long as the standard-bearer stopped drawing attention to his own racism and legal woes, Mitch McConnell would sleep at night. And then Omar Mateen killed 49 people in the Pulse nightclub, and the GOP nominee accepted congratulations. And then called for the presidents resignation. And then suggested the president might be sabotaging our counterterrorism efforts to execute some unspeakable design. Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism, I don't want congrats, I want toughness & vigilance. We must be smart! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 12, 2016 Trump had been slated to give a major speech Monday even before the massacre in Orlando. That speech now appeared critical; it was an opportunity to erase the messaging errors of the past 48 hours and to center the general-election fight on the authoritarian-friendly terrain of national security. All eyes turned to Trump; his eyes turned to the teleprompter. The Republican nominee proceeded to reframe the 2016 election as a referendum on a proposal his partys leadership universally condemns. Trump didnt merely revive his Muslim ban he radically extended its scope. To avoid the logistical challenge of determining the true religious commitments of every individual immigrant, the mogul proposed a blanket ban on immigration from areas of the world when there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe or our allies. Of course, the most recent high-profile terrorist attacks against America and Europe have largely been carried out by Americans and Europeans. In positing immigration policy as a solution to a mass murder carried out by an American citizen born in New York, Trump argued Omar Mateens parents never should have been allowed into the country. While the GOP nominee insisted his ban would be temporary, he also argued that it wouldnt be lifted until the United States can perfectly screen incoming Muslims an impossible feat if one wishes to screen for the ideological leanings of an immigrants unborn children. Trumps speech was scripted. The candidate was on message. And that message made life a little harder for Republican lawmakers. [Trump] just blows up everything we want to do, a senior GOP lawmaker told Politico. Every time you turn around, hes said something new. Its impossible for us to keep up. Saying nothing would have been better, one member of the Republican National Committee told the publication. Every Senate candidate will be forced to answer for Trumps bizarre response. His lack of empathy is jarring. Democrats Senate challenger in Pennsylvania, Katie McGinty, called on incumbent Republican Pat Toomey to denounce Trumps remarks. Texas senator John Cornyn mocked a reporters request for a response, saying, There you go again, asking about Trump as if the mogul were still a fringe figure and not his partys presidential nominee. Im not gonna make a career out of responding to every comment and every tweet, Mississippi senator Roger Wicker scoffed at a gaggle of reporters following a leadership meeting. For elected Republicans, the most dangerous thing about Trumps revived Muslim ban may be its popularity. Throughout the 2016 campaign, Trump has heightened the contradictions between the partys rank and file and the rest of the country, including the GOP donor class. In March, a poll found that 71 percent of Republican voters favor the ban, compared with 49 percent of independents and 34 percent of Democrats. Among big-dollar GOP donors, who tend to favor expansive immigration policies and oppose overt racism, that percentage is likely quite small. Trumps speech was designed to intensify support for the ban among that 71 percent. The mogul elevated the stakes of his proposal to apocalyptic heights, arguing that if our current immigration system remains in place, were not going to have a country anymore there will be nothing left. If the GOP nominee succeeds in increasing the issues salience, the task facing blue- and purple-state Republican senators will become more daunting: Disavowing the ban alienates your base; embracing it alienates the crossover voters you need to win statewide. Trump is back on message. And Republicans dont know what to say. We need a lot less Muslims and a lot more tolerance. Photo: Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images In early May, Donald Trump dismissed his own proposal for a blanket ban on Muslim immigration as a mere suggestion. One month and a mass casualty terrorist attack later the ban has become the centerpiece of his general election campaign. On Monday, the Republican nominee described banning immigration from the Middle East and Muslim countries outside the Middle East as a common sense and mainstream immigration policy. Far from a casual suggestion, Trump argued that if the American government fails to establish the ban, were not going to have a country anymore there will be nothing left. And he framed the debate over Muslim immigration as a synecdoche for the broader choice American voters will face in November between policies that put the American people first, and ones designed to benefit politically correct special interests. I called for a ban after San Bernardino, and was met with great scorn and anger but now, many are saying I was right to do so, Trump told supporters at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire. When I am elected, I will suspend immigration from areas of the world where there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe or our allies, until we understand how to end these threats. Trump suggested that this ban would be temporary, lasting only until the American government is in a position to properly and perfectly screen those people coming into our country. But Trumps attempt to frame the immigration ban as a response to the Orlando shooting, specifically, suggested that the United States would never be in such a position. The killer was born an Afghan, of Afghan parents who immigrated to the United States, the Republican nominee said of Orlando shooter Omar Mateen, who was born in the United States and thus only an Afghan in the sense that federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel is a Mexican. (Which is to say, he was only an Afghan from the standpoint of someone who believes the U.S.-born children of non-European immigrants are not truly Americans.) The bottom line is that the only reason the killer was in America in the first place was because we allowed his family to come here, Trump continued. The Boston Bombers came here through political asylum. The male shooter in San Bernardino was the child of immigrants from Pakistan. Trump went on to argue against America accepting any Syrian refugees on the grounds that were incapable of preventing the radicalization of their children. Of course, no screening process will ever be able to detect the ideological leanings of an immigrants unborn progeny. So its not clear how America could ever be in position to perfectly screen Muslim immigrants, under Trumps definition. And thus, its not clear how the ban wouldnt be permanent. Earlier in the day, Hillary Clinton had delivered her own speech in response to the tragedy in Orlando. In it, she argued that Americas open, diverse society is an asset in the struggle against terrorism, not a liability and suggested Trumps Muslim ban threatened this openness. Inflammatory anti-Muslim rhetoric and threatening to ban the families and friends of Muslim Americans as well as millions of Muslim business people and tourists from entering our country hurts the vast majority of Muslims who love freedom and hate terror, Clinton said. But Trump argued the exact converse Monday afternoon that banning Muslim immigrants was the only way for America to remain a tolerant and open society. Unlike many other conservative politicians, Trump characterized the Orlando shooting as an attack on the freedom of LGBT Americans, specifically. A radical Islamic terrorist targeted the nightclub not only because he wanted to kill Americans, but in order to execute gay and lesbian citizens because of their sexual orientation, Trump said. It is an assault on the ability of free people to live their lives, love who they want and express their identity. Trump argued that he is a better friend to the LGBT community than Hillary Clinton because he is willing to confront anti-gay radical Islam with requisite toughness. While Trump promised to work with the NRA to ensure Americans have the means to protect themselves in the age of terror, he said that Clinton plans on abolishing the 2nd amendment, and leaving only the bad guys and terrorists with guns. Trump explained that the Democratic nominee then plans to let hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees into the country (guns presumably in tow), so they can have all the fun they want, while slaughtering defenseless patriots. That is the choice I put before the American people, Trump said in summation. A mainstream immigration policy designed to benefit America, or Hillary Clintons radical immigration policy designed to benefit politically-correct special interests. One might quibble with the idea that Syrian war orphans qualify as a special interest group. And Trumps entire speech was framed around the false premise that radical Islam is the sole inspiration for terrorist violence in America. The media talks about homegrown terrorism, but Islamic radicalism, and the networks that nurture it, are imports from overseas, Trump declared. The notion that there is no such thing as truly domestic terrorism was contradicted the very day that we learned of the shooting in Orlando, when a non-Muslim, American citizen was arrested en route to the Los Angeles gay pride parade, in a car full of firearms and explosives. But for all its demagoguery and preposterous lies, Trumps speech gave his campaign message a coherence it previously lacked. Trump connected his immigration stance to a foreign policy that would give no weight to humanitarian concerns. The GOP nominee inveighed against Clintons interventionist foreign-policy instincts, her decision to overthrow the regime in Libya and her desire to depose Bashar al-Assad in Syria, without plans for the day after. Trump argued that such efforts had only strengthened ISIS while costing the United States trillions of dollars that could have been spent rebuilding our own infrastructure. That is why our new goal must be to defeat Islamic terrorism, not nation-building, Trump said. I pledge to protect and defend all Americans who live inside of our borders. Earlier that afternoon, Clinton had taken a swipe at Trumps propensity for both self-aggrandizement and divisiveness, by declaring, This has always been a country of we, not me. But the GOP nominee is also offering a vision for enhancing national unity one that would bring us together by keeping them apart. This November, the American people will get to decide who we are. What? Accuse me of insulting Obama? How dare you! Photo: Molly Riley/AFP/Getty Images Its not unprecedented for Donald Trumps campaign to ban reporters or entire publications from coverage of his events or direct receipt of his propaganda. Usually this happens when said reporter or publication writes something negative about the candidate that displeases him or his people. But Team Trump did reach a new and hilarious low today by banning one of the Newspapers of Record for political affairs, the Washington Post, because the paper tried to make sense of rambling Trump remarks about Presidents Obamas reaction to the Orlando massacre. Heres what Trump said: Look, were led by a man that either is not tough, not smart, or hes got something else in mind. And the something else in mind you know, people cant believe it, the Post quoted Trump as saying on Fox News Monday morning. People cannot, they cannot believe that President Obama is acting the way he acts and cant even mention the words radical Islamic terrorism. Theres something going on. Its inconceivable. Theres something going on. Trump, who called on Obama to resign for not using the term radical Islam in his address to the nation Sunday, explained to Fox News, He doesnt get it or he gets it better than anybody understands its one or the other, and either one is unacceptable. Well, speaking of an either/or proposition, Trumps remarks were either an incoherent word salad, or intended as an innuendo about the presidents attitude toward radical Islamic terrorism connoting sympathy or even culpability. The Posts Jenna Johnson, understandably, assumed the latter: Donald Trump seemed to repeatedly accuse President Obama on Monday of identifying with radicalized Muslims who have carried out terrorist attacks in the United States and being complicit in the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando over the weekend, the worst the country has ever seen. By way of background, Johnson mentioned that innuendos about Obamas background and inclinations toward Muslims are not exactly new for Trump: For months, Trump has slyly suggested that the president is not Christian and has questioned his compassion toward Muslims. Years ago, Trump was a major force in calls for the president to release his birth certificate and prove that he was born in the United States. On the campaign trail, Trump has repeatedly stated as fact conspiracy theories about the president, his rivals and Muslims, often refusing to back down from his assertions even when they are proven to be false. Thats all entirely true. So whats Team Trump complaining about? What other interpretation of the theres something going on or he gets it better than anyone understands language would it offer? Seems clear to me that Trump got caught in a clumsy and audible dog whistle and instead of shrugging it off as he often does, he decided to make an example of Johnson and the Post (assuming being excluded from Trump events is a punishment) for some reason beyond my understanding. But it did so by way of asserting what amounts to a right to be incoherent, and thats a new one, even for Trump. Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump speaks at the Saint Andelm College New Hampshire Institute of Politics in Manchester, New Hampshire June 13, 2016. Photo: Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images A certain conventional wisdom has set in about the 2016 presidential race, particularly among those who dont find the prospect of a Donald Trump presidency comforting: The electoral map highly favors Hillary Clinton, and shes quite likely to win, unless a major terror attack hits between now and November. If that happens, all bets are off, and Trump could well bluster and fearmonger his way into the White House. Some big names have made various versions of this argument. In Vanity Fair, Nick Bilton wrote last month that national support for Donald Trump is hovering around 41 percent. But, you can bet that if any significant national-security threat is posed between now and November, Trumps poll numbers will soar in the same way that Bushs did in 2001. New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman expressed similar certitude in a March column, declaring that if, God forbid, there is a major terrorist attack on our soil between now and Election Day, Trump will reap enormous political benefits. Sunday mornings massacre at Pulse nightclub in Orlando in which 29-year-old Omar Mateen, who said he was inspired by ISIS, killed 49 people and wounded many others seems to have ignited this discussion a bit (Financial Times: Orlando massacre will boost support for Donald Trump). It was the first terror attack to have occurred since both candidates secured their near-locks on being their respective parties presidential nominees, after all, and it has dominated campaign coverage over the last two days, with each candidate taking what feels like a characteristic approach to responding: Trump by publishing a bizarre tweet accepting congratulations for being right on radical Islamic terrorism, by re-upping on his proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States, and suggesting, a bit obliquely, that Obama may have been complicit in the Pulse attack; Clinton by delivering a rather stateswoman-like speech calling for national unity and emphasizing the peacefulness of most Muslims. Trump's speech was genuinely scary. I had this sense of dread as I read it, b/c I can see how many will find it appealing. (Trump might win) Shadi Hamid (@shadihamid) June 13, 2016 Whether or not the Pulse attack ends up being seen in exactly the same light as other major terror attacks (as opposed to the different, if overlapping, category of mass shooting), its worth asking: Is it correct to believe that Trump benefits from such violence electorally, based on what we know about political science, and from the salience of terrorism as a campaign issue more broadly? The answer: Its a lot more complicated than many pundits would have you think, and there are good reasons to think, given the specifics of these two candidates, that even a major terror attack wouldnt lead to a surge in Trumps general-election chances. Thats not to say its a crazy idea on its face in fact, theres some sound underlying logic to it. Researchers have found that, all else being equal, when the threat of terrorism is salient, candidates who are male and/or Republican and/or incumbent seem to benefit over those who arent. Voters seem to trust them more to handle these situations. Trump has two of those three labels working for him. (While incumbency is very important to this question broadly speaking political scientists speak of a rally around the flag effect that has benefited incumbent presidents, perhaps most notably George W. Bush it isnt relevant in this case since both candidates are trying to attain the office for the first time.) But Elizabeth Zechmeister of Vanderbilt and Jennifer Merolla of the University of California, Riverside, two political scientists who literally wrote the book on this subject, Democracy at Risk: How Terrorist Threats Affect the Public, tell Daily Intelligencer that in the specific case of Clinton versus Trump, it isnt exactly clear which candidate, if either, would accrue benefits from a terror attack. We do find that in our research on this theres a general tendency for the public to orient themselves toward male Republican and incumbent leaders in times of terrorist threats, says Zechmeister. But the combination of Clintons experience as secretary of State and Trumps utter dissimilarity from any other presidential candidate in memory make the question a bit foggier in this specific instance, particularly in light of some of the research Merolla and Zechmeister have conducted on the subject of gender, party, and perceived trustworthiness during periods of mortal threat. Two studies theyve conducted, both of which touched upon voters evaluations of Hillary Clinton specifically, stand out here: one from 2011 and the other, drafted but as yet unpublished, based on data from 2012. The 2011 article (PDF), in which Zechmeister and Merolla, working with co-author Mirya R. Holman of Tulane, drew on data from 2005 in which college students were asked their views on Condoleezza Rice, Clinton, George W. Bush, and John Kerry. Invoking a sense of threat by having students read a news story about terrorism caused the students to evaluate Rice higher, Clinton lower, and Bush higher (by about as much as Rice), as compared to a control group, and had no statistically significant effects on how they evaluated Kerry. As Zechmeister pointed out, at the time Clinton had effectively no experience in foreign-policy issues. Rice, on the other hand, was secretary of State. We interpreted this result as evidence that Rices partisanship and experience inoculated her to gender bias in this context, she said. Clinton herself ended up being a test case for the proposition that experience can ameliorate the effects of gender bias in this context. In 2009, she was named secretary of State, a position in which she served until 2013 a period when the nation dealt with some bruising foreign-policy challenges connected to the disintegration of Libya and Syria and the rise of ISIS. So when Zechmeister and Merolla were examining a new set of nationally represented survey data collected in 2012, they kept in mind just how much foreign-policy experience Clinton had gained since the student sample from 2005. Our expectation had been that, since between 2005 and 2012 she gained experience as secretary of State, she would be somewhat inoculated by her experience against the penalties shed face for being a woman and a Democrat when terror threats were salient, says Zechmeister. That was, in fact, exactly what they found, in a study they havent submitted for publication yet which covers respondents evaluations of both Clinton and Representative Nancy Pelosi: We find that ratings for Pelosi fall to a greater degree than ratings for Clinton and, further, that while Clintons ratings are slightly lower in the terror-threat condition compared to the control condition, the difference is not statistically significant, Zechmeister explains. In short, these results from the 2012 study are in line with the expectation that experience can counteract a decrease in evaluations for certain Democratic female leaders in times of terror threat. So thats the Clinton half of the race: Theres less reason to think terror threats will cause voters to discount her now than there was before she was experienced on this front. (While it goes without saying that some voters are highly critical of Clintons handling of Libya and Benghazi, these tend to be solidly Republican voters, and this conversation is about how terror attacks could change minds.) What about Trump? Here things get difficult, simply because hes such an unusual candidate. It does matter who shes running against, says Zechmeister of Clinton. It is the case that in our research to date, we havent had a hypothetical matchup of someone like Clinton against someone like Trump. We typically look at these characteristics that individuals have while keeping everything else constant but in the real world, not everything else is constant. He is quite a different candidate than weve researched before. Its not the norm, in other words, for a candidate to respond to a mass shooting by pointing to his past proposal to effectively ban members of a major world religion from entering the country. Merolla sounds a similar theme in her emails to Daily Intelligencer. In theory, she says, Trump does exhibit some of the qualities that people look to in times of terror threat: bold, assertive, aggressive leadership. But on the other hand, general-election voters arent likely to respond in a uniform way to his inflammatory approach, especially given the level of political polarization at the moment. Things were obviously quite different after the San Bernardino shooting, which was when Trump first rolled out his proposed Muslim ban. At the time he was seeking to consolidate support among GOP primary voters, who are much whiter, more conservative, and more anti-Muslim than the general electorate. Trump hasnt really moderated his approach appreciably since then. As a result, says Merolla, theres a chance he could squander some of the benefits on the subject of terrorism that he would be expected to enjoy given his gender and party affiliation. It is hard to say for sure if Donald will get the same type of boost that we have found for other Republican male candidates, since he lacks incumbency status as well as foreign-policy experience, and it is not as clear if he will be as advantaged by party stereotypes, given that he is a party outsider, explains Merolla. It will likely end up being a more nuanced story where he will get a boost among some voters concerned about terrorism, but will not see gains among others (for example, Democrats, politically sophisticated independents, and Republicans). All of which points to the dangers of making sweeping assumptions about which candidate will benefit from as emotionally resonant a subject as terrorism. We are a complicated people, says Zechmeister. We dont tend to go to the polls or go into evaluating candidates thinking just about one trait that that person possesses. Photo: Bloomberg/Getty Images At Apples Worldwide Developer Conference today the company announced several big changes coming with the next release of its phone operating system, iOS. For starters, Messages is getting a very fun (and very Facebook-influenced) overhaul that gives users more ways to send texts, including video and giant emoji. (And keeps Apple competitive with Facebooks hugely popular standalone messaging service.) IOS 10 wont be released till the fall, but here are the seven biggest changes that your friends will be irritating you with a year from now. Emojification In a move that prompted Apples Craig Federighi to joke that kids today will never learn English, Apple is making it easier to turn your text messages into emoji-laden hieroglyphs. Once youve completed typing a word or message, a new feature will highlight the word that can be replaced with an emoji (a taco emoji for the word taco; the tree emoji for tree; the eggplant emoji for the word, uh, well, you get the idea). Messages containing only emoji now appear three times bigger on the app. (You are welcome, Dad.) Bubble Letters and Animation Using preset animation options, youll be able to add extra emotion to your messages, like an iMessage bubble the shakes to denote excitement or that youre in the middle of an earthquake. On an even more involved and more annoying level, you can make a balloons float across the screen in your group chat, or write in invisible ink, which creates a message that wont reveal itself until you swipe your finger over it. Fun! Rich Right now, if you text a link to friends, all theyll see on their devices is the string of letters and numbers that make up up the URL. With iOS 10, links will be visible with images and headlines in your messaging thread. Same goes for videos, which can be played right from iMessage without having to open a browser or third-party app. This means you guessed it more time spent in the app, and less time outside of it. One-Tap Camera Users will now be able to tap the camera open within the messaging app and immediately see through the lens to take photos and video. This eliminates the middle step users currently go through: tapping twice to get from messages to camera. Handwritten Notes The best thing about texting is that nobody has to decipher your terrible handwriting, but if you long for the days of passed, handwritten notes, this feature is for you. Users will be able to doodle in the app to send handwritten notes and pictures. Text Sizing Youll be able to select from large and small text sizes for each message you send. This can be used both for dramatic effect, and also for sending something big enough you know your grandmother will be able to read. (This feature also bears a striking similarity to Googles newly released message app, Allo.) Peter Thiel Photo: Jose Image/Getty Images On Friday, Gawker Media filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The move follows a devastating $140 million judgment against the company in a breach-of-privacy lawsuit, brought by the former wrestler Terry Bollea (a.k.a. Hulk Hogan) and financed by PayPal founder and Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel. Thiel has nursed a grudge against the company since 2007, when Gawker site Valleywag revealed what, apparently, most of the Valley already knew: that Peter Thiel is totally gay. The judgment, the revelations of Thiels involvement, and the subsequent bankruptcy have literalized, in the high dramatics of a pro-wrestling plotline, the complete upheaval of the media business at the hands of the tech industry in particular Facebook, in which Thiel was an early investor. The saga is also the culmination of an already-weak fourth estates worst fears about a new class of superrich. Gawker prided itself on its combative sensibility and unwillingness to flatter the powerful, though an expansive definition of powerful may have alienated some bystanders (including the jurors). The apparent success of an aggrieved billionaire in destroying the media company over a personal slight sets a disturbing precedent paving the way for a future in which comic-book villain billionaires can strike down unwelcome coverage with impunity. But while itd be easy, and not incorrect, to cast him in the role of a latter-day Charles Foster Kane a la Frank VanderSloot, the Republican donor whos offered to fund any lawsuits against Mother Jones Peter Thiel is more interesting than your run-of-the-mill rich guy. Some of his eccentricities, like his plan to live forever, are to be expected from a high-powered tech entrepreneur. But hes known for odd politics as well: Hes a big Republican donor in a Valley dominated by Democrats. Though a self-described libertarian, hes advocated for monopoly and argued that companies should be structured like monarchies. Hes funded idiosyncratic political initiatives, such as the Seasteading Institutes project to create floating libertarian city-states. Famously, in a 2009 essay for Cato Unbound, he declared that he no longer believe[s] that capitalism and democracy are compatible. (Thiel has since said that he was wrong to think America was a democracy, calling it instead a state dominated by very unelected, technocratic agencies). Perhaps most interestingly, Thiels raised eyebrows by backing Donald Trump not the candidate youd expect to be the choice of a science-obsessed, futurist zillionaire. Recent media coverage of Thiels support for Trump has tended to focus, naturally, on Trumps threat to open up libel laws and make it easier to sue the press. But there are also a host of odd connections between Thiels post-libertarianism and the new forms of right-wing politics that have accompanied Trumps rise. Trump has awoken the mainstream media to the alt-right and its cousin neoreaction (a.k.a. NRx or the Dark Enlightenment) loosely related, web-based movements that combine internet culture with far-right politics. The alt-right is associated with Trump, 4chan, and anti-Semitic Twitter trolling (think Gamergate and Microsofts Tay debacle), while neoreaction, which is smaller and centered on a few major blogs, tends toward intellectual defenses of hierarchy, race science (human biodiversity), and the virtues of nondemocratic government. Both exist in opposition to the broadly liberal values, like anti-racism and democracy, shared by both sides of the mainstream political spectrum. Neoreaction has a number of different strains, but perhaps the most important is a form of post-libertarian futurism that, realizing that libertarians arent likely to win any elections, argues against democracy in favor of authoritarian forms of government. In this guise, its a heretical offshoot of Valley nerd culture, and has particular associations with Thiel. Mencius Moldbug (real name Curtis Yarvin), the founder of neoreaction, is a Bay Area programmer whose start-up, Urbit, is backed by Thiel; and reactionary blogger Michael Anissimov was formerly media director at the Thiel-funded Machine Intelligence Research Unit (MIRI). Even Nick Land, the major NRx figure after Moldbug (whom Ive written about before), has no personal connections to the Valley but shares many of its peculiar cultural interests: Before his neoreactionary conversion, he spent much of the 1990s as a rogue academic writing philosophy-fiction about the Singularity, killer-AI, and time travel. So when it came out that Thiel was attacking a media company and supporting a candidate already perceived as a neo-fascist, it looked a little like some Pynchon-esque conspiracy coming to fruition. Whats more interesting, however, than Peter Thiel being the shadowy puppetmaster behind a neoreactionary conspiracy hes not, and one doesnt exist is why he doesnt need to be. It may seem a little puzzling why a tech entrepreneur, whose own interests include disruption and high-modernist sci-fi dreams of space travel and life extension, might get in bed with Trumps brand of strongman bullying and populist white resentment. But were living through a number of crises in our liberal-democratic political system that have no obvious way out, and that are pushing all sorts of different people to react and realign in similar ways. It shouldnt be a surprise if some are beginning to converge on pretty weird positions. The first problem and perhaps the biggest and most obvious is the economy. Both Trumps and Sanderss insurgent campaigns have been premised on anger at stagnant incomes and the decline of mass-employment manufacturing. The big drivers of these are structural forces like trade, technology, and the entry of places like China into the global labor market. None of these can easily be fixed by the state, which means that anger and perceptions of elite failure are only likely to grow. Inequality is persistent, long-term unemployment is still high, and more pessimistic forecasters are suggesting a future in which the labor market is split between a small, highly productive elite and a large underclass rendered unemployable by changes in technology. Its a view popular among the tech elite, who generally support things like universal basic income (UBI) free money, essentially which will allow people to survive, and keep buying widgets, even after the robots take their jobs. Yet the neoreactionaries offer a dark twist on what is usually a story of sunny Valley optimism: Why should the elite consent to be ruled by the poor in such a society, especially if the poor dont have the leverage that comes when the rich need their labor? Another major inflection point to understate the matter somewhat is race. Racial tensions have been especially high in recent years, from the racially tinged birther movement to the Trayvon Martin shooting and Black Lives Matter. Commentators have pointed out that the alt-right is a form of white identity politics, and named Trump as an example of nascent white nationalism. But its not exactly clear what white identity even is, and its a question worth considering. Germanic and Celtic mythology? Homebrew and vinyl? What about libertarianism, or American nationalism? If it sounds strange to say that libertarianism is white, well, its still true. Libertarianism is, empirically, really goddamn white, and some have suggested that that may not be a coincidence: That is, libertarianism makes assumptions about whats normal for everyone on the basis of the white experience. Normally, thats a point made by the left as a criticism, but the whiteness of libertarianism is increasingly accepted by post-libertarian reactionaries like Moldbug as a badge of honor. It could also indicate a wider trend in the future, if a combination of demographic changes and political projects to make whiteness visible lead more white people to think of cultural values like individual rights as tied to whiteness, rather than as universal principles. Certainly Trumps brand of nationalism seems to rest on doing something similar with the idea of America, abandoning any pretense to a creedal idea of national identity in favor of one based on race. These trends could well produce, among whites, more conscious anti-racists and conscious racists at the same time. Finally, theres the question of democracy itself and the signs of growing disillusion in its ability to confront the problems of the modern world. Andrew Sullivan recently speculated that Trumps rise reflected the inevitable self-destruction of democracies, setting off a round of fighting about whether we have too much or too little democracy. Affluent urbanites who generally get their way are more socially progressive than the country at large, and popular policies currently include a ban on Muslim immigration. If polarization continues to increase, people may consider that keeping the other side out of power is more important than respecting democratic norms and procedures. After the Gawker verdict, The New Yorkers Nicholas Lemann noted that courts have historically treated the press in accordance with public opinion: The less people like or trust the press, the less its offered legal protection. In that sense, Gawkers immediate fate bankruptcy at the hands of an unsympathetic jury may be a predictable outcome in a country that has lost faith in its media. But the basic point is larger: Popular legitimacy is just as important to liberal institutions as formal legal protections, and public trust in all major institutions except for the military is declining. If that continues, why wouldnt we expect those institutions to come under threat? We can see the consequences already among Trump supporters, who are willing to cheer unconstitutional policies because they see laws simply as the arbitrary rules of a hated elite. Its here that someone like Peter Thiel is most interesting. He probably wouldnt describe himself as a neoreactionary, but he wouldnt have to in order to end up in a similar sort of political place looking for nondemocratic alternatives as our democratic institutions struggle with mounting problems and declining legitimacy. In a revealing comment to George Packer of The New Yorker, Thiel let slip that he was pessimistic about the current system continuing. The failure of the present Establishment, according to Thiel, may point to Marxism, libertarianism, or something else, but its going to be this increasingly volatile trajectory of figuring out what thats going to be. Thiel, obviously, is not a Marxist. He puts his own faith in massive technological breakthroughs, like life extension, that would transform human life without the messiness of social revolution. Thiel frames these big breakthroughs as zero to one innovations which create something wholly new rather than one to n innovations, which copy and extend something that already exists. Many have connected this zero to one frame both to Thiels Christianity and his distaste for imitation. James Poulos, however, in a perceptive review of Thiels Zero to One, sees in Thiel an echo of Nietzsches comment that the maddest and most interesting ages of history come when the actors the imitators rule over the architects; status games triumph; and the strength and courage to build for the future is lost. Thiel seems to believe something similar about our current age: He sees his peers as mired in groupthink and imitation, and he longs for the days when technology meant rocket ships and flying cars rather than social media. Scott Alexander, in a contrarian attempt to provide the best possible argument for reaction, suggests that, at a very basic level, it comes down to the idea that in a chaotic and disordered society, sometimes you need a strongman (and architect) like Lycurgus to sweep aside the old in order to make room for the new. Thiel often says that the solutions hes looking for lie outside of politics, in technology. But if we put that together with his claim that properly understood, any new and better way of doing things is technology, we might worry about what a political zero to one would look like. Brock Allen Turner Photo: Santa Clara County Sheriffs Office In March, a jury of 12 unanimously convicted 20-year-old Stanford swimmer Brock Turner of three counts of sexual assault after he was found assaulting an unconscious woman behind a dumpster. On June 2, Judge Aaron Persky handed down a lenient sentence of six months, of which Turner will only be serving three. Since then, the case has gained unprecedented attention and Turners light sentencing has sparked outrage to the point that a movement has started to recall Judge Persky. And now, for the first time, a juror on the case has spoken publicly. Palo Alto Weekly published a letter from an anonymous juror to Judge Persky in which the juror expresses that hes shocked and appalled at the ridiculously lenient sentence that Turner received. The juror noted that he had become an American citizen after 30 years of living in this country and that he was frankly disappointed by his first experience of serving on a jury. After the guilty verdict I expected that this case would serve as a very strong deterrent to on-campus assaults but with the ridiculously lenient sentence that Brock Turner received, I am afraid that it makes a mockery of the whole trial and the ability of the justice system to protect victims of assault and rape, he wrote. Clearly there are few to no consequences for a rapist even if they are caught in the act of assaulting a defenseless, unconscious person. When Persky handed down the light sentence, he reasoned that a prison sentence would have a severe impact on [Turner] and said I think he will not be a danger to others. He was also presumably swayed by the numerous letters in Turners defense that he received from friends and family members. But the juror also told Palo Alto Weekly that he doubted Turners credibility because his story seemed to change quite a bit. Photo: JANEK SKARZYNSKI/AFP/Getty Images Sundays mass shooting in Orlando, which left 49 dead and 53 injured, is a tragedy for all Americans and for anyone who believes in love, equality, and inclusion. For LGBT Muslims, the sense of loss and mourning is even deeper. Its compounded by past traumas and all-too-present fears. Wazina is a 33-year sex educator, activist, and lesbian Muslim daughter of Afghan refugees. For her, the shooting is a triple slam to the heart. When she first got the news half asleep at 3 a.m. she refused to imagine the worst, to speculate at the shooters identity. It wasnt until the next day, when friends and family began calling to check in and express their solidarity, that she discovered that 29-year-old Omar Mateen was a New Yorkborn Afghan Muslim like herself. My heart just sank, she says. All the LGBT community is in mourning. Organizations like CAIR [the Council on American-Islamic relations] are stepping up to express solidarity. I think every single Afghan family is shaking their heads in condemnation. Several miles away in Manhattan, 29-year Hamid, a gay Muslim immigrant from Bangladesh, experienced the same shock and dismay. It was a fresh cut at an earlier wound: Eight weeks earlier, hed been shaken to his core when he read that the founder of Bangladeshs only LGBT magazine, a Bangladeshi man named Xulhaz Mannan, had been hacked to death in his own apartment in Dhaka by six strangers posing as couriers. A homegrown terrorist group with Al Qaeda ties later declared responsibility. Hamid didnt know Xulhaz personally, but the story hit close to home. Hamid, too, had grown up in Bangladesh, as a gay Muslim who had been alienated by mainstream religious doctrine. But, unlike Xulhaz who loudly and controversially spoke up for LGBT rights in a conservative, Muslim-majority country Hamids life has been a closeted one. He still isnt out to his parents or to the Dhaka community where they live. Now a stylish, confident Manhattanite working at a major business consultancy, he dates openly and has many gay friends but its very much a double life. I dont personally know anyone who is a gay Muslim and not living like a pariah, he says. Growing up, I feared that the worst thing that would happen is that Id be disowned. I would tell myself, At least Ill be successful. Now, I realize, the more successful I am, if Im out, the more it puts me in danger. Its a strange feeling, that your dreams have to be reimagined. Many LGBT Muslims like Hamid and Wazina feel caught at the nexus of their multiple identities: internally fractured and torn between competing loyalties. Many reject Islam because a place doesnt seem to exist there for them; hardline ideologues and fundamentalists greet them with fear, hatred, and sometimes violence. Many resign themselves to lives of quiet desperation, never fully able to express their full selves. The good news is that change is brewing. In the face of angst and uncertainty, LGBT Muslims are beginning to claim their rightful space within the ummah, the global Muslim community. For these individuals, reconciling the multiple parts of their identities requires imagination, love, bravery, and the solidarity of other Muslims. Wazina knew she was gay around age 13, but she didnt have the courage to come out to her parents until years later, in a letter to her father. They said there was no possibility to be gay and Muslim and Afghan, if I chose to assert that out loud, she recounts. My father said, Dont live this life of struggle. Youre a refugee, a person of color. She didnt agree. She calls this notion, that to be gay and Muslim means only struggle, never joy, the deficit model of our identities. Too often, she says, this model dominates the conversation, among Muslims and non-Muslims alike, and even within the larger LGBT community. Oh, its so sad to be gay and Muslim, she says, mimicking the tone of a concerned cultural bystander. Every movie and documentary will give you that narrative. If we keep hearing that, we will keep thinking of ourselves as a deficit. Today, Wazina is the co-creator of Coming Out Muslim: Radical Acts of Love, a performance and storytelling project that explores what it means to be queer and Muslim. Through her teaching, writing, and workshops, she offers gay Muslims who feel splintered and alone the opportunity to tell their whole stories and to engage in a conversation about how loving God can coexist with embracing your sexuality. You exist and youre whole and complete thats all I want to tell people, she says. For Wazina, creating this space for affirmation and open dialogue becomes a way of dismantling loneliness and moving the dial toward a more progressive, joyful Islam. She says, There is a progressive Islam that exists, where people are resisting and challenging the larger ISIS conversation. This is what Islam means to me: Muslims standing up in response to injustice. Im very much moved be the idea of being part of the ummah though not everyone there is cool having me there. Shes glad to see Islamic leaders and organizations stepping up to condemn Sundays shooting and declare solidarity with the LGBT community (just as LGBT leaders are declaring their support against Islamophobia) but she says public statements are not enough. Its more important that they condemn it at the dinner table. If youre not having the conversation at the very personal level with your family, your neighbor, or one-on-one with your partner, its not enough. Thats how you share your values, thats how they change. Building a more inclusive Muslim community is also the aim of Imam Daayiee Abdullah, an openly gay DC-based imam who counsels LGBT Muslim youth and their families, and performs nika (marriage rites) for same-sex couples. He is the founder of the Mecca Institute, a progressive Islamic seminary. The Imams scholarly work focuses on Quran based interpretations for modern life, including locating inclusiveness and equality as themes in Islamic scripture and history. He believes that the Quran doesnt privilege heterosexuality over homosexuality, and describes several verses that he interprets as sanctioning marriage diversity. There is nothing wrong with a diversity in how people understand the Quran, he says. People think there is a monolithic Islam but, if you look at the history, there have always been a number of different Islams. Myth is very powerful, but history is much more truthful. He cites the Muslim ummah in China, where he converted to Islam as a 33-year-old graduate student, as an example of diversity and acceptance: In their culture, in the 1,300 years they had been Muslim, there were no problems with gays. Indeed, same-sex attraction has held a recognized place in many Islamic civilizations, and homoerotic themes abound in pre-19th-century Islamic art, poetry, and literature. But, in the modern global era, thats been lost Imam Daayiee blames funders from Saudi and the Gulf who promote certain ideological frameworks. (Others have blamed British colonialists for exporting rigid attitudes toward gender and sexuality.) But the Imam says that progress is being made, as conversations about LGBT rights and dignity shift worldwide. I think that the awareness is much higher now, outside of people who harbor animosity because they are frightened by mythology, or bad personal experiences, he says. Were working toward a scenario where being an LGBT Muslim isnt an oxymoron, where all are accepted, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, place of origin. Abbas Rattani, cofounder of Mipsterz (Muslim Hipsters), a listserv that often functions as a crucible for progressive Muslim conversations, says that he sees minds being changed in real time. He describes passionate Mipsterz discussions in the wake of the US Supreme Courts 2015 marriage equality decision and the Open Letter to American Muslims on Same-Sex Marriage penned by scholar Reza Aslan and Daily Show correspondent Hasan Minhaj. He says, One of the positive things that came out of it was recognition of individual and collective struggle. A lot of people were raised to think homosexuality is a sin, but you started noticing people starting to question that orthodoxy. For Wazina, Hamid, and others, the hope is that tragedies can also become catalysts for change, as the Stonewall Riots were in New York in 1969. Theres an opportunity for Muslims who stand for justice, inclusion, and equality to come together, face their collective humanity, and speak up. Xulhazs murder became just such a catalyst for Hamid. In the week after, he attended a fundraiser for a co-editor of Xulhazs Bangladeshi LGBT magazine, who is in hiding in a safe house in Bangladesh while he petitions for asylum in the US. At the fundraiser, Hamid witnessed for the first time, the existence of a vibrant community of non-pariah LGBT Muslims like himself, and begin to reimagine his place as a gay Bengali Muslim. He contributed to the fund and later reached out to Ivy League lawyer friends who could help with the asylum petition. He also began to research local events organized by Muslims for Progressive Values, a grassroots organization dedicated to nurturing progressive Muslim communities rooted in traditional Quranic ideals of human dignity and social justice. We need a more vibrant presence of these voices, Hamid says. There are so many of us around, but we dont speak up or do as much as we would if the structures were already in place. * Some names have been changed. The battle lines are being drawn. Photo: Getty Images On the night that Omar Mateen killed 49 people in a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, Donald Trumps friend and former campaign adviser Roger Stone wrote a post on his website that was seemingly unrelated. It concerned Huma Abedin, a close aide to Hillary Clinton. In the brief post, Stone idly wondered if, in addition to being Clintons chic gal pal, Abedin might not also be a Saudi Spy? Foreign Spy? or Terrorist plant? On any other day, after any other week, Stones comments might well have been written off as nothing more than his readily expressed bigotry. But at this juncture, they seemed in sync with the larger message that Stones compatriot Donald Trump was about to push through major media. Appearing on Fox News the morning after the shooting, Trump said of President Barack Obamas refusal to use the words radical Islamic terrorism: Look, were led by a man that either is not tough, not smart, or hes got something else in mind. And the something else in mind you know, people cant believe it. People cannot believe that President Obama is acting the way he acts and cant even mention the words radical Islamic terrorism. Theres something going on. Its inconceivable. Theres something going on. You dont need to recall that Donald Trump got his political start with Republicans by waging a lengthy campaign to force our first African-American president to cough up a birth certificate to understand the Republican nominees suggestion that Obama is working with or supporting or at least sympathetic to Islamic terrorism. And you dont need a roadmap to understand his ally Roger Stone who on Monday took his show to the airwaves, arguing in a radio interview that now that Islamic terrorism is going to be front and center, theres going to be a new focus on whether the administration of Hillary Clinton at State was permeated at the highest levels by Saudi intelligence and others who are not loyal Americans was trying to cast similar doubt on the candidacy of Hillary Clinton, in this case via her long-time aide. I speak specifically of Huma Abedin, Stone said on Sirius radio, the right-hand woman, now vice-chairman or co-chairman of Hillary Clintons presidential campaign. He went on to describe Abedin whose background is well known in birther-esque terms of mystery. She has a very troubling past. She comes out of nowhere. She seems to have an enormous amount of cash so we have to ask: Do we have a Saudi spy in our midst? Do we have a terrorist agent? These suggestions from both Trump and Stone are so brazen and grotesque in their bigotry and dishonesty that they might take your breath away were they not so in keeping with the tone and substance of the larger electoral war being waged around us as we turn a perilous corner toward the fall. As Hillary Clinton noted last Friday in a speech to the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, this election is not like previous presidential contests. It isnt about the same old fights between Democrats and Republicans. This election, Clinton said, is profoundly different. She isnt kidding. Even before the horror of the Orlando shooting unleashed a new wave of poisonous rhetoric, last week looked and sounded like no other in American political history. And in some ways the least remarkable thing about it was the fact that Clinton became the first woman to win the nomination of a major party for the presidency. The turn from the primaries into the general election has already included political battles that are bolder and less mealy-mouthed, cruder and more chilling than any weve seen for decades; it is simultaneously exhilarating and terrifying. There is no taming of the Republican who ostensibly staked out extreme positions to grab attention in the primary; there is no pivot to the center from the Democrat supposedly pulled to the left by her primary rival. Democrats and Republicans are making issues of identity and inclusion central to their campaigns, both symbolically and in terms of policy. The contest were entering feels ever more like a civil war. Symbolically speaking, Barack Obamas enthusiastic endorsement of Clinton (I dont think theres ever been someone so qualified to hold this office.), followed closely by Elizabeth Warrens, were reminders of how swiftly (though still incompletely) our models of leadership are expanding, in ways that have troubled not just the Roger Stones and Donald Trumps of this world but also Omar Mateen, the American citizen and security guard who opened fire in a gay club, killing mostly Latinos, and who is said by a former co-worker to have openly seethed with hatred for blacks, women, lesbians and Jews and to have resented womens increased rights and the fact that he has to be nice to women just to sleep with them, and whose former wife has claimed that he beat her. In the midst of such open resistance to the rise of previously underrepresented groups, it can be difficult to celebrate symbolic victory without courting fury. But Clinton managed a fluid acknowledgement of the significance of her primary win, presenting it wisely as having been made possible only by the work done by so many who came before her and who remain unrepresented; her victory night video featured scenes from suffrage demonstrations, the civil-rights and gay-rights movements, and from the 1972 presidential campaign of Shirley Chisholm. Her Republican opponent spent the week before the Orlando shooting attacking that very diversity. Donald Trump doubled down on his racist attacks on federal judge Gonzalo Curiel later broadening his remarks to include sexist assertions about the inability of women judges to be impartial and then gave a speech to Ralph Reeds Evangelical Faith and Freedom Coalition Conference in which he spoke, awkwardly, about the sanctity and dignity of life, as well as keeping out Syrian refugees, warning of radical Islamic terrorism, and promising that we will respect and defend Christian Americans. Christian Americans. Trump may be the least convincing Evangelical ever, but his rhetoric matches the calls of many extremists in his party to protect certain kinds of Americans from other kinds of Americans, other kinds of people. At the same conference, Georgia senator David Perdue borrowed a line that Obama-hating Christians have been using for years, suggesting to the audience that they should be very specific in how we pray [for Barack Obama]. We should pray like Psalms 109:8 says. It says, Let his days be few, and let another take his office. The Psalm this sitting senator was invoking with respect to our sitting president, as many on Twitter noted, goes on: Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow. Why are we so shocked by the mass murder of LGBT Americans, just two days after a U.S. senator obliquely calls for the death of the first black president? Disagreements over which Americans should enjoy respect and defense and opportunity let alone life and liberty have perhaps never been starker. In part, that is because Donald Trump is exposing the blatant prejudice behind Republican obstructionism, and in part because, in an uncharacteristic show of strategic and messaging coherence, Democratic party leaders showed up last week to make the case for the other side optically, rhetorically, and politically. Leading the aggressive charge is Warren, who gave a speech on Thursday to the American Constitution Society in which she flayed Donald Trump, calling him a thin-skinned, racist bully. But, crucially, she also pointed out that Trumps attacks on Curiel, while particular in their racism, were wholly in line with Senate Republicans obstruction of President Obamas nomination of Merrick Garland for the Supreme Court. Both were examples of the rich and powerful trying to exert their will over an American legal system that would seek to limit their influence, argued Warren: Extremist Republicans who reject the legitimacy of President Obama are determined to make certain our courts advance only the agenda of the wealthy and the powerful. Even as Republicans tried to distance themselves from Trumps racist rhetoric, Warren was showing how that rhetoric is of a piece with their refusal to acknowledge the authority of our first black president (and hence their refusal to work with him). The relish the Massachusetts senator is taking in the role of progressive pit bull is fun to watch, as is her willingness to position herself and Clinton as a pair of tough broads, teaming up to chew up and spit out Donald Trump. Warren emphasized Clintons ferocity, contextualizing it as exactly the thing the Democratic Party has been missing. Hillary Clinton won, said Warren, because shes a fighter. As a Democrat, one of the things that frustrates me the most is there are a lot of times we just dont get in the fight. We ask pretty please if we can have things and then wait patiently for the other side to agree to come along. We negotiate. But sometimes you also ought to be willing to throw a punch. And there are a lot of things that people say about Hillary Clinton, but nobody says that she doesnt know how to throw a punch. This pugilistic language echoed some of Clintons self-presentation back in 2008, when, at the direction of adviser Mark Penn, she was trying to get people to forget she was a woman by framing herself as some kind of hard-bitten boxer. But it sounds different now, coming from another woman, whos also out there throwing punches, and its being set against a very different backdrop: one in which Clintons First Womanness is being amply acknowledged by the campaign and the media. And if anyone doesnt like it? You know, to me, this isnt about palatable anymore, Warren told Rachel Maddow. The interview concluded with Maddows question to Warren on whether, should Clinton choose her as a running mate, she thought she could do the job of the presidency. Yes, I do, Warren responded without a moments pause. The next day, when Trump took to Twitter to call Warren Pocahontas again, and to accuse her of having a nasty mouth, Warren followed up on a tweet by Clintons team the previous day Delete your account and met with both appreciation and derision. No seriously, tweeted Warren. Delete your account. This is optics stuff, sure, the strategic alliance of an unlikely pair of women (Warren has laid into Clinton over her bad vote on a bankruptcy bill Warren opposed) working to defeat an opponent who is cartoonish in his awfulness, but very real in the threat that he poses to the nation. But its not just about optics. Given that Warren is now with her, and spent part of her time on Maddow talking about battling the big banks and expanding Social Security, this pairing offers the promise of friendly pressure on Clinton to stay left. Clintons speech to Planned Parenthood on Friday indicated that she plans to. For years, Democrats, including Clinton herself, have pussy-footed around abortion, staying away from the word itself and distancing themselves from the issue, walling off reproductive rights as a social distraction, a single issue, a womens issue as some pesky skirmish in a culture war. So it mattered that Clintons first speech after securing the nomination, at the moment when it is traditional for politicians to pivot toward the center, was to the organization that has been most regularly and thoroughly attacked by Republicans and members of the tea party during the Obama administration. In her speech, Clinton did use the word abortion, again and again, and she reiterated one of the most progressive of her primary positions her opposition to the Hyde Amendment, which bars federal funds from being used for abortion laying out exactly how it contributes to economic inequality and disadvantages women of color. Clinton also drew out the ways that reproductive rights intersect with other progressive imperatives, including raising the minimum wage, guaranteeing paid family leave and affordable day care, ensuring equal pay, passing comprehensive immigration reform, addressing systemic racism, and passing gun-control measures. This is the stuff that reproductive-justice advocates and progressive activists and lefty politicians including Barbara Lee, who last year introduced legislation that would reverse Hyde understand, but until now, these intersections of bias and inequality havent found purchase in the mainstream wing of even the Democratic Party. And they certainly havent been given voice by a presidential candidate as she moves into a general election. They are also ideas and policies that strike at the heart of a larger progressive project: the expansion of economic, social, and political opportunity for more kinds of people who have long been kept at the margins. And it is this drive toward greater inclusion that is in turn driving the resentments and hatred of the right. The battle lines are being drawn. This election is not like any other. This is a new world. And only one thing is certain: It is not your fathers. Photo: John Lund/Getty Images The best time at Pulse was always from 2 to 2:30 a.m. Right after last call, but before the bar closed. This is when people got most comfortable. Some were wrapping up conversations with people and exchanging contact information, while others danced on top of the go-go dancer platforms shouting the lyrics to some power ballad, or made out with the person that became their date for the night. The shots that left 49 people dead and dozens more injured in Pulse over the weekend began ringing at 2:02 a.m. I found out there was something wrong at around 3:30 a.m. when I checked my Snapchat stories from my apartment in Brooklyn. My stomach dropped. It was Saturday night, I knew people who went on Saturday nights. I texted my friend Anthony, a Pulse regular, and when he confirmed that he was safe, I broke down crying. His confirmation made it real. There was something wrong, at a place that I love. Words like carnage, slaughter, casualties were used to refer to people that I know, people that I saw out all the time, people that I have probably looked around at in a room and felt happy. Hostages were hiding in the womens bathroom. The same bathroom where I had thrown up on my 19th birthday. The same bathroom where I made out with a Disney cast member. There were dead bodies on my dance floor. There were people bleeding next to the bushes that our drunk friends used to fall into, laughing. There was terror in a place that felt like home. The first time I went to Pulse was seven years ago this week. I had just graduated from high school; it was a Wednesday night and my best friend Anthony and I made plans to go. We picked up our friend Jon and drove an hour to Orlando, grabbed Lee, someone I had just met at college orientation the day before, shared a couple cans of a new drink called Four Loko, and had one of the best nights of our lives. In high school, Pulse was a promise. I was a queer teenager in suburban Central Florida, quietly and uncomfortably waiting out the duration of my pre-college days while my older friends, both gay and straight, brought back tales of going to Pulse like it was Narnia. And it was if Narnia was also a debauched mess. That first night, during a moment when I was by myself, a girl sat down next to me on the patio the first girl to ever hit on me at a bar. She pointed to Jon and Lee and said, I think theyre falling in love right now. She was right. They were together for three years. That girl has been one of my closest friends since. On the drive home, I felt like I had started this new chapter in my life. I fell asleep in the backseat of the car listening to my best friend sing along to the Hedwig and the Angry Inch soundtrack. This was the new normal. When I moved to Orlando that summer, we went every week Wednesdays and Saturdays. We had our routine. Wed buy Four Lokos and cigarettes. None of us smoked, but wed stand out on the patio and ask for a light as a way to introduce ourselves to the people we wanted to flirt with. Wed arrive at the club, underage, and the door guy would mark our hands with hearts in place of the usual Xs. Wed make a lap through the circular floor plan to see who was there before we committed to a location, usually the patio, where wed make eyes at strangers and say hi to friends until we felt drunk enough to dance. No matter what your identity was outside of being gay, you went to Pulse. This made for some of the most diverse social groups I have ever been a part of. It also meant that the musical mix could be eclectic where the Yeah Yeah Yeahs Heads Will Roll might transition into Miley Cyruss Party in the USA without missing a beat. The last song played at 2:30 a.m., when the DJ would usually put on Donna Summers Last Dance or Glees version of Dont Stop Believing and we would drunkenly cling to each other, shouting the lyrics, until the lights turned on. Wed all make our way to IHOP, dubbed Gayhop, where the booths were full of every variation on the gender spectrum. Wed linger for as long as possible. This week, there are millions of people who have never been to Pulse talking about the place. Newscasters, politicians, my co-workers. The president of the United States made a speech about the gay bar that I spent my entire college life in, the place where I came into my own. A lot of people who have never been to Pulse talk about it as a sanctuary and a haven for the LGBTQ community a place of celebration and pride. Pulse was all of those things, and I hope it still will be, but it was also a place that was sweaty and shirtless, where people in their underwear sold jello shots, where we made mistakes, where we learned from them. I was the best and the worst versions of myself at Pulse. It was the backdrop for so many of my firsts. The first time that I truly felt confident and secure. The first time I met so many of the people that I love. The first time that I made out with a stranger, cried at a bar, was unexpectedly propositioned for a threesome, fought with a girlfriend, broke a heart, rebounded from a breakup. I can think of what happened as a personal tragedy or I can think of it as a national tragedy, but I have trouble putting them both in the same sphere. I cant place largest mass shooting in American history inside of that place. It just doesnt add up for me. The most beautiful thing about Pulse is that its a place full of people who were just trying to figure it all out. Nobody should ever be able to take that away. i'd love to see a militia full of dipshits try to take on the US govt, which spends more money on its military than the next seven countries COMBINED and has soldiers, tanks, and fucking DRONES. idiots. Reply Thread Link Yep mte Reply Parent Thread Link and isn't that sort of what the oregon militia tried to do but then they started running out of food and then got trolled with a bunch of lube and sex toys in the mail? the average citizen, particularly the kind that thinks it's a good idea start a militia to fight the us government, is ill equipped and far to disorganized to even last a few weeks before giving up. Reply Parent Thread Link I just read something about the ar 15 this morning and I guess that's what some militia used (maybe the one you're referring to) and police had to stand down at first. I don't understand the logic of people who praise police officers but want to keep these guns that make it harder for cops to do their jobs (and plenty of police have said they wish ARs werent available to the public). Your guns aren't gonna protect you from an unmanned drone. Reply Parent Thread Link the average citizen, particularly the kind that thinks it's a good idea start a militia to fight the us government, is ill equipped and far to disorganized to even last a few weeks before giving up. This. The thing that stuck with me from my pre-AP history teacher (in middle school), while everyone was trying to rebel with Avril and chanting "anarchy!" and "fuck the government", he was just like listen you youths if you can physically protect yourself and have the intelligence or street smarts to navigate a governed world by all means chant anarchy but until then shut up, sit down, and pay attention to this history lesson about people that were able to say fuck the king and help gain our independence. Reply Parent Thread Link I think most of these assholes want their guns to "protect" themselves from "thugs". See George Zimmerman. Reply Parent Thread Link it's pretty funny because at the same time that group's venn diagram overlaps significantly with the people who are gung-ho patriotic and always touting the unrivaled power of the US military Reply Parent Thread Link For reals. You'd have better luck hacking government computers than with guns. Reply Parent Thread Link Right if thier worst fears came true, they don't have a hope of a chance. Reply Parent Thread Link it's like if a pee wee football team took on the denver broncos. Reply Parent Thread Link OBAMER GON TAKE OUR GUNS Reply Parent Thread Link Yeah, I mean - the US army could just nuke them from the air with drones, right? Reply Parent Thread Link he is right. america really needs to talk about gun control. he had an automatic weapon. how can someone feel like other person should have that? I was watching O'Rilley interview on Colbert (good interview, even if I don't agree) and the way he says no to any discussion is sad. someone posted this on another post and I want to say thanks because it is really informative: Reply Thread Link thanks for sharing this Reply Parent Thread Link This was spot on in every way, thanks for posting! Reply Thread Link Love him for this. I live in Orlando too, and this has been the worst weekend of my life. Obviously nowhere near as bad as those who lost loved ones and thank god everyone I know is OK, but our city has been ripped apart by this. I'm so grateful at how we've come together but it's so disheartening to hear people speak out against gun control. Like no. Yes, a person killed these people. But much stricter access to automatic weapons would've kept them alive. And to me, that is the more important issue right now. Reply Thread Link Thank you bb. Reply Parent Thread Link I'm sorry for what you're going through. I got into an online fight with some woman who said "this isn't the time to talk about gun control as its disrespectful to those who lost their love ones". which is ridiculous. We have to talk about gun control. If we keep pushing it off people are going to keep dying. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I'm so sorry, I went to Orlando 16 years ago and loved it, I'm so happy to hear that the city is uniting and that everyone you know is ok. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link i live in orlando as well and i recently got in a fight with a stranger through a friend's post who insists that since there are no videos aside from snapchats, obviously this was all staged by the government due to the upcoming election he literally asked why no one inside Pulse was on facebook live Reply Parent Thread Expand Link the most ridiculous thing of all is that for the 1st time i can remember i actually saw fellow europeans adopting a pro-gun stance, and using 'b-b-but we have terrorist attacks in europe too!', 'if someone wants guns they'll get them whether they're legal or not' & 'if we had guns, we could defend ourselves' as justification. like, the last terrorist attacks we had were perpetrated by people deeply involved with Daesh, who'd been to Syria & had planned the attacks for years. the last one in the US was done by some disturbed fucker who bought a bunch of guns the week before & called it a day. sit the fuck down. Edited at 2016-06-14 12:12 pm (UTC) Reply Thread Link Exactly! I hate the "well criminals will still find a way to get them so we can't pass gun control bc then how will we protect ourselves?!" Where are they going to get them? With what money? Bc if they're banned they're gonna be black market expensive, the common street criminal boogey men that people have in their mind are gonna have a lot harder of a time and GOOD. Everyone should have s hard time already. I feel like my thoughts on this post so far haven't been as well spoken as they could be but I'm just so mad that people would rather remain passive than take some sort of action to see if it works (which it would). Reply Parent Thread Link And when those guns are found, they can be taken away. Police confiscated a stash of weapons hidden by a Nazi gang right where I live, and holy shit I would not have felt safe at all if they had been allowed to keep them, and buy more guns and ammunition as they pleased. Plus, it limits the quality of the weapons. John Ausonius shot 11 people in the 90s and only killed one of them. He had to saw off the barrel of his rifle, and put a shitty silencer on his revolver, which made it harder to hit what he was aiming at. If he had been able to buy high-quality weapons that fit his needs exactly, more people would have died. Reply Parent Thread Link i never understand the argument "but criminals will still find a way to get them so gun control only hurts regular people". ok they will. but you legally having the gun at home isnt going to stop someone from shooting up a workplace, movie theater, club or school. so why is it important for you to have an automatic rifle? Reply Parent Thread Link If it were on the black market - the price would go up like crazy (I think I read somewhere that if you buy a gun on the Australian black market, be prepared to shell out like $10K+ for a pistol). Also I read another report that about 10 -15% of all guns out there were stolen by 'criminals,' (either from homes or police officers). It drives me fucking crazy that the CDC can't do official reports on this because Congress keeps blocking them because the NRA gives them money. There was actually a guy on twitter who was finding all the politicians who were tweeting out prayers for Orlando and retweeting how much the NRA has given to those people over the years. It's sickening. Reply Parent Thread Link Bless Seth There's no need for any civilian to own an AR15 Reply Thread Link Yeah I just read an article from a journalist in Philly who said they were able to purchase an AR15 in SEVEN MINUTES. SEVEN MINUTES!!! Reply Parent Thread Link I'm glad that he called it an "attack on the lgbt community". Reply Thread Link Yes. That seems to be erased so many places. Reply Parent Thread Link Yeah, it was something I was worried would get buried because ISIS was named. And in a lot of ways it has gotten lost in the mix but I'm glad not completely. Reply Parent Thread Link Yeah, same here. People incorrectly calling this what it isn't in order to further their agendas against Muslims is way too high. I understand some people's innocent need for solidarity through, "all of us," but it's all mucked up by people negatively riling Americans up. Reply Parent Thread Link Even if he were scoping out other places (I've heard disneyland), at the end of the day he decided LGBT lives weren't worth as much as others and decided to murder them. Reply Parent Thread Link He scouted out Disneyworld, which celebrates gay days at the beginning of June. The LA Times says there's a chance he visited the park at the beginning of the month too. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I just read that the shooter was frequently spotted at the club before and also used gay dating apps. I'm worried how that will be used by the wrong people. Reply Thread Link it's already started... like ppl saying 'it's not homophobia if the shooter was gay!'. i fucking can't with people. Edited at 2016-06-14 12:14 pm (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Link Christ. I really don't want to venture off of ONTD and read actual peoples' thoughts upon that, now. :/ Reply Parent Thread Link They clearly don't understand what is internal hate is. Reply Parent Thread Link We have to talk about gay on gay crimes Reply Parent Thread Expand Link As soon as this attack happened I thought "I bet he was secretly gay". He was probably angry seeing happy gay people when his family/religion/whatever circumstances prevented him from being out and happy. I wish he could've had support or been happier in his own skin, this tragedy may have been avoided :( it's just upsetting Reply Parent Thread Link It's already happening. I'm discussing this with someone on a different forum who said that this wasn't a hate crime because he came there himself. So?! he drove 2 hours to an LGBT people to massacre LGBT people. No matter how people try to spin this and deflect, or he came there himself or he was a closeted homosexual, he went out of his way to kill LGBT people. Therefore, it is a hate crime against the LGBT community. It really shouldn't be hard to understand. Reply Parent Thread Link The arguments that people put forward for keeping their guns are so fucking stupid "What if there is a foreign threat and the military can't protect us? We need to arm ourselves!" um you don't need to be worried about some hypothetical foreign attack when your own citizens are the ones killing everybody and then they go on and on about their freedom being taken away, well what about the innocent lives of people being taken away? Freedom shouldn't be having to worry about the possibility of being shot while you're at school, going to the movies, out at the club, living your life. Reply Thread Link the one excuse that always makes me roll my eyes is I NEED TO PROTECT MY HOME, I NEED TO PROTECT WHATS MINE. Reply Parent Thread Link Omgggg right! A person don't need a gun to protect themselves. Reply Parent Thread Link That one always scares me, that people value property over another person's life. I've seen a couple of stores of neighbors killing each other over property or just boundaries. Its insane. Reply Parent Thread Link Americans are fucking crazy. The idea that their property is more important than someone elses lives. Reply Parent Thread Link Bless Seth for calling it an "an attack on the LGBT community" There really is no need to own an AR15. America really needs to talk about gun control because yikes at the amount of shit going on. Also I agree with you OP about going on social media. I normally avoid Facebook for that reason since people seem to think it's okay to be a shitlord and then complain when being criticized for their ignorant opinion. Reply Thread Link I am reading stuff like, "But if some good guys had guns, they could have stopped it." Arggghhh. As a Canadian, the American mentality toward guns and rifles just boggles the mind. It's not that easy to determine who's good and who's bad so the trick, as most countries have figured out, is for no assault rifles and strict gun control. Sure, a few scary people will slip through the cracks, but it's much easier with limited gun availability; then, nobody uses them on each other! No matter how bad the shooting, many people in the US still resist that logical idea, which is crazy. Reply Thread Link That logic about if others had guns they'd be able to defend themselves is so deeply flawed I don't even know where to begin with it. Reply Parent Thread Link A friend of mine tried to argue that. Her argument got torn to bits. Yes, we want MORE people shooting in a loud, dark club full of people. Reply Parent Thread Link Exactly! Plus a thousand other reasons why that idea is fucking moronic. Reply Parent Thread Link yeah, today someone posted a picture with the words "the problem wasn't the one man with a gun, it's the 103 people without one." WTF, in what world do you think it's okay to post something like this?!?!??!?!?? Reply Parent Thread Expand Link got into a FB argument with a guy over that exact line of reasoning. it just doesn't hold up to reality. the only thing that additional guns would have added to that scene is additional innocent deaths. Reply Parent Thread Link yea I'm also from Canada and I have the same thoughts as you pretty much. There will always be those few scary people who slip through the cracks but I feel safe on a day to day basis knowing that it's not highly likely that a person in my general vicinity is not carrying a gun. my friend from Chicago came to visit me recently and I ordered takeout to be delivered and she hid in my room when I answered the door for the delivery guy and she said that she would NEVER order delivery to her apartment because she is afraid that the delivery man might have a gun! I would hate to have to live in fear like that :( I just don't understand WHY on earth the average citizen should be allowed to have a gun and I never will understand it. Reply Parent Thread Link Canadian here, and awhile back when there was another shooting like this, I got into an argument with someone on here about that.. that I can't understand the US issue, and they were just like AMERICA IS DIFFERENT. ITS A CULTURE. YOU CANT COMPARE. and im like, I literally live 30 miles from the US border, our culture is basically the same, and even if you inflate the Canadian population to match the US, the number of gun violence still doesnt compare. and as much as I love history and culture, just because its the way its always been, doenst mean it cant or mustn't change. Reply Parent Thread Link i live in australia and i see so many of my friends/family posting about how we should change our strict gun laws in case of an attack so we can protect ourselves and???? the reason we haven't had an attack like this in 20 years is because of our gun laws??? i've seen a gun once in my life up close and it was restrained on a police officer - when my family friend from miami said she sees 5/6 guns a day on ordinary civilians i was mortified omg for everyones sake i hope the laws can change, clearly this whole "guns don't kill people, people kill people" mentality a lot of people have isn't working, not sure why it's so hard to see that. i'm also really angry at how australian news is covering this - last night the main emphasis in a 20 minute segment was on 'isis' and the word 'lgbt/gay' were mentioned one time all the way towards the end of it, i was infuriated watching it. Reply Thread Link i just saw a girl on facebook post about how we shouldn't have gun control bc it doesn't work and idek??? australians who are anti-gun control but are privileged enough to live in a country free from fear of gun violence can take several fucking seats. Reply Parent Thread Link omg that's ridiculous, I'm so glad I haven't seen any of that. I've only seen relief/thankfulness for our laws. I live out in the county and some people have guns but that's cause they're farmers who need them (for putting animals down etc, not for defending themselves), and they don't have that gun culture attitude about ~our guns and our freedom~ Reply Parent Thread Link I moved from Australia to the US and it's sort of shocking how quickly it was normal to experience being around guns and gun violence. Reply Parent Thread Link I went the other way and to realise I didn't have to worry I might be shot every time I went out in public took some getting used to. Now I live in NZ where the laws are similar. I hate going back to the US to visit family, knowing guns are just everywhere. It's horrible. Guns are horrible. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link i always had a plan i'd eventually go to the US one day as well bc i rlly need to get away from here and i don't have friends in any other parts of the world, but being around guns petrifies me!! i'm scared when i see people get into brawls and fist fights lmao :(((( Reply Parent Thread Link ive only seen guns carried by police officer and even then it freaks me out. I would be really scared knowing everyone around me might carry a gun with them... it's so weird and scary. Reply Parent Thread Link Automatic weapons are just flat out banned in my country. Semi-automatic weapons are only allowed in very, very special circumstances, and then usually only for the police. and the general police doesn't carry guns. Handguns are also banned, except for police and athletes that use them for their sport. Basically the only guns a civilian is allowed to own is hunting rifles, and you need a license for those that has to be renewed every few years. And to get the license you need to take an expensive course, that's like 6 weeks long (my coworker is doing it rn, he says it's really hard). As well as no criminal record and no history of being incapacitated by mental illness. As a result no one gets killed by guns. I don't get why this is so hard to understand for the gun nuts in the US. Reply Thread Link Because these idiots keep thinking "well we are special snowflakes who can handle guns" when it's clear we can't. Reply Parent Thread Link And the Founders were all about amending the Constitution. The ink had barely dried before they added ten amendments. They considered it something that can and should be changed as needed. The constitution was never meant to be static so if the second amendment no longer makes sense, it should be repealed. Reply Parent Thread Link Civilians don't need to own guns. Period. Shut it the fuck down. Reply Thread Link Rex Tillerson, Chief Executive of Exxon Mobil, is slated to attend an investment forum this week in Russia after a two-year absence following sanctions imposed on Russia because of the Ukraine crisis in 2014. The forum is considered a centerpiece event in Russian business, at which investors seek the Kremlins blessing for their projects, and those on the guest list serve as an informal indicator for international interests in the projects. Tillersons attendance is particularly noteworthy because he is considered a high-profile representative of business interests in the United States at time when Washington, D.C. continues to take a hardline stance on Russias sanction, after Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and supported allies in Western Ukraine. Attendance at the event declined due to the international incident, but the numbers appear to be on the increase for this years gathering. The Italian Prime Minister and the President of the European Union will both be in attendance. For his part, Tillerson is expected to attend a session at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. The keynote speaker for that session is Igor Sechin, who heads up the Russian state oil firm of Rosneft. It is presently not known if Tillerson will attend the forum that runs from June 16 to 18. Vladimir Putin will be attendance. Related: Russias Oil Giants Feel The Crunch But Stay In The Black Diplomats claim that businesses are eyeing Russia, should the sanctions be eased or lifted in the next year; and interest has been awakened by signs that the Russian economy may be making a comeback from its slump. Along with Tillerson, oil executives from BP, ENI, Schlumberger, and Total will also be in attendance. The last time Tillerson was in Russia was last year when he met with Alexander Novak, the Russian Energy Minister. By Lincoln Brown for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Alderman Michael J. Murphy invites community members to the launch of the Enderis Park Farmers Market on Sunday, June 19 to browse fresh locally-grown fruits and vegetables, and locally-crafted foods and beverages. The weekly market will take place on Sundays through Sept. 25 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Enderis Park, located between West Chambers and West Locust, and North 72nd and North 70th Streets. "I am thrilled to welcome the Enderis Farmers Market to the far-west side and hope that Milwaukee residents will take advantage of this unique opportunity to support local vendors, encourage healthy lifestyles and build an even more vibrant community this summer," Ald. Murphy said. More information can be found online at enderisparkfarmersmarket.com. Local vendors interested in a space at the market should contact market manager Heather Sullivan at enderisparkfarmersmarket@gmail.com. This is a reprint from NewsBred. Angoorlata Deka, the newly elected BJP MLA from Batadroba constituency in Assam, has made front-page headlines with her oath in Sanskrit language. The newspapers are shocked at her audacity for haven't we all given up the language as dead? Our ignorance deserves a reality check. Sanskrit is one of the 22 languages listed in a Schedule to the Constitution. It's the official language in the state of Uttarakhand. Since 1967, Sahitya Akademi has been giving award for literary works in Sanskrit. It's true of adult as well as kids' literature. In all, there are 15 Sanskrit universities, thousands of Sanskrit colleges. Features films are being made in Sanskrit, the ones on Adi Shankaracharya, Bhagavad Gita and Mudrarakshasa (a film on great emperor Chandragupta Maurya) instantly come to mind. An animated film in Sanskrit, "Punyakoti", is scheduled for release in 2016. There are more than 75 dailies, weeklies, and monthlies in Sanskrit. We have television news in Sanskrit. No less than our Prime Minister tweets in Sanskrit. In Karnataka, two villages of Mattur and Hosahalli has everyone speaking in Sanskrit to this date. All the 125 major languages and 1500 minor languages of the country can trace its origin on Sanskrit. It's not just India alone, Nepal's motto is a pick from Valmiki's Ramayana. There's Angkor Wat in Cambodia, the word Angkor meaning "City" in Sanskrit. Initially, Sanskrit wasn't known by its present name. It was called Bhasha. This was a fact at least till the 6th century BCE. It was essentially a spoken language. When rendered into writing, various different scripts were used. The use of Devanagari is of a recent vintage. In its grammar, letters and words freely merge to form compound letters and compound words. Two of these principals are called sandhi and samasa. The greatest proponent of Sanskrit language was poet Kalidasa. His classics, such as Malavikagnimitram (the love story between King Agnimitra and Malavika ), Abhijnanashakuntalam (the famous Shaknutala story) and Meghadutam (Cloud as messenger) haven't lost its lustre till this day. It's a fallacy to believe that Sanskrit was only spoken by Kshatriyas and Brahmans in ancient times. Instances abound where commoners were known to use the language. In the Rig Veda, 21 out of 407 rishis were women. There was no gender bias in the use of the language. Since 2003, India has a National Mission for Manuscripts (Namami). Its task is to list, digitize, publish and translate manuscripts at least 75 years old. As of now, Namami has a listing/digitization of three million--the anticipated stock of manuscripts in India is 35 million. There are at least 60,000 manuscripts in Europe and another 1,50,000 elsewhere in South Asia. Ninety-five percent of these manuscripts have never been listed, collated or translated. To give you an idea of the enormity of the task: Since the advent of printing only an estimated 130 million books have been published in all languages of the world. We don't know the treasure waiting to be rediscovered. Take the instance of Arthashastra for instance. The classic on political economy and governance was written by Kautilya (350-275 BCE). But it was rediscovered by R. Shamasastry in 1904, published in 1909 and translated into English in 1915. We don't know how many Arthashastra we have lost in all these centuries. Same is true of many variations of scripts of Sanskrit. The sharada script, popular in Kashmir at one time in history, is completely lost. Same is true of Paishachi language and a very famous work in this script, Brihatkatha. Both are lost to us. Many Buddhist and Jain texts were written in Sanskrit too. And lest we forget, Ayurveda, the treatises on medicine, the work of Charaka (2nd century CE), no longer survives. And here is the surprise of all surprises: "A Companion to Sanskrit Literature," authored by Sures Chandra Banerji, has an entire chapter on the contribution of Muslims to Sanskrit. This volume traverses 3000 years of Sanskrit literature. Naheed Abidi was bestowed with Padma Shri in 2014 for her contributions to Sanskrit literature. Her first book in 2008 titled "Sanskrit Sahitya Mein Rahim" is an account of the Sanskrit leanings of renowned poet Abdul Rahim Khan-e-Khana. Another bookof hers, "Sirr-e-Akbar", is a Hindi translation of 50 Upanishads, earlier translated by the Mughal prince, Dara Shikoh into Persian. Naheed has published a Hindi translation of Vedanta, translated into Persian by Dara Shikoh and also the Sufi texts by the prince. There is no denying the crisis though. The last census in 2011 still don't tell us how many speak Sanskrit in our country. The census of 2001 had put the number to 14,135. There is an initiative from the government for the long-term vision and roadmap for the development of Sanskrit. Angoorlata's act of oath has brought the Sanskrit language into popular mainstream and we ought to be grateful to her. One of the key issues raised by those who campaign to keep Britain within the European Union is that its security is enhanced by remaining. It is mooted that the military and intelligence assets of the EU add to British security by providing for the formation of a European Army and a proposed European intelligence service working alongside it. This proposition flies in the face of any historical analysis and is founded on the delusional idea that Europe has adequate armies or any important intelligence to share. The operational armed forces that Europe does have are primarily British, and the intelligence Europe receives is largely as a result of sharing information gained from Britain through co-operation between British intelligence at GCHQ in Cheltenham, the U.S. intelligence agencies and those of Canada, Australia and New Zealand. XM1216 Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle (SUGV) at the 2008 AUSA Conference (Image by The U.S. Army) Details DMCA As described in an important article by a respected research organisation [i] "The British Armed Forces comprise the Royal Navy, a blue-water navy with a comprehensive and advanced fleet; the Royal Marines, a highly specialised amphibious light infantry force; the British Army, the UK's principal land warfare force; and the Royal Air Force, with a diverse operational fleet consisting of modern fixed-wing and rotary aircraft. The country is a major participant in NATO and other coalition operations and is also party to the Five Power Defence Arrangements. Recent operations have included Afghanistan and Iraq, peacekeeping operations in the Balkans and Cyprus, intervention in Libya and again operations over Iraq and Syria. Overseas defence facilities are maintained at Ascension Island, Belize, Brunei, Canada, Diego Garcia, the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Kenya, Bahrain and Cyprus" It's a recognised nuclear weapons state and its defence budget ranks fifth or sixth in the world. The country has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its inception and has been a member state of the European Union since 1973." In this November 2015 study, researchers at European Geostrategy broke global powers down into four categories: Super Power, Global Power, Regional Power and Local Power. The United States took the top slot as the world's super power, while Britain took the only Global Power slot, bringing her in second behind America. Regional powers include France, China, India and Germany, while local powers were those such as Italy, Brazil, and Turkey World Military Powers (Image by UK Defense November 4, 2015) Details DMCA Europe's security does not rest on the abilities of the feeble and run-down military establishments of Europe (except for Britain), but on NATO; that is a euphemism for Europe free-riding on U.S. and Canadian taxpayers. It has been cited in the campaign to remain in the EU that somehow European unity has maintained peace in the continent since the end of the Second World War. This is a preposterous delusion. Europe's peace was maintained because half of Europe was occupied by the US and the other half by the USSR until 1990.The US and the USSR had the good sense to keep their European allies in check because of the danger of Mutual Assured Destruction which would result from the two major nuclear powers moving beyond a cold to a hot war. It had very little to do with Europeans. European nationalisms have had very little time to establish themselves. Europe was, is and forever will be a cockpit of petty nationalisms and rivalries where the concept of national sovereignty is important but is of recent origin. There is a popular fantasy in which people refer to European nations as if they have been around for a long time. This is patently untrue; the landmass has been there but the united, organized sovereign European nation state is of relatively recent origin. Many states did not exist until well after the end of Napoleon's Grand Tour of the continent. Holland and Belgium weren't established until the mid-1820s; Germany until Bismarck in the 1860s was a hotbed of petty princedoms; Italy didn't come into existence until the early 1870s. Most of what is now Eastern Europe and the Balkans was made up of small regional entities owned and operated by a more powerful local political entity. When Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote, "workers have no country" they were not only writing rhetorically. For most workers in Europe, this was a fact. They were occupied, some-times by a foreign power; sometimes by an imposed twiglet of the Hapsburg-Hanoverian family trees. This included the waning days of the Holy Roman, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman and Russian empires. These independent nations barely surfaced until after the First World War, only to be subsumed again in the maelstrom of World War II. These maxi and mini-states of Europe emerged from World War II as international basket cases, in ruins. It wasn't until almost three years into the Marshall Plan that they were able to afford a foreign policy. Only Britain and Russia (the two nation states not to fall to Napoleon) and the rump state of France proceeded to their own political reorganizations unaided. They maintained some continuity with the past, even if the vision was economically sustainable only through the exploitation of their foreign colonies. The post-war nations of Eastern Europe defaulted to their original status as nations occupied by a powerful neighbor, the Soviet Union, until the early 1990s, when Germany was reunited. And today in these reconstituted states of Europe there is little respite from the very tribalisms and divisions that have always plagued them. Europe has never fully resolved the questions raised by the Thirty Years' War. The ethnic splits that divide countries like Germany, Belgium, Ireland, Holland and others mirror their Catholic-Protestant schisms. The Balkans are divided at the margins of the Ottoman Empire where Muslims and Christians face each other across a great divide. It is wickedly ironic that the seat of European unity is installed in Brussels (a French-speaking enclave in a Flemish region) where language-ethnic riots are not infrequent and whose country operates a parallel ethnic track in every ministry and agency. For example, there is a Flemish-speaking foreign service and a French-speaking foreign service. Promotions, etc. are made by "track" and in strict proportions. There are similar parallel divisions in every govern-ment agency, ministry and many municipalities. On reflection, Belgium is probably is a good mirror of European unity. In 1949, it made some sense to create an alliance to preserve the unity of the wartime alliance in the face of the perceived Communist threat in Soviet-occupied areas of Eastern Europe and the outbreak of the Korean War. The unequal relationship between US military might and economic muscle and the pitiful remnants of the Western European armies, and a "degraded" European infrastructure was tolerated by US planners because they knew that if a vacuum was left, there were candidates ready to fill it. The goal, according to Lord Ismay, the first NATO Secretary General was "to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down". When the Europeans were left on their own to pursue a military strategy after the end of the Cold War, they were incapable of doing so. Their first attempt was in the hostilities in the wake of the break-up of Yugo-slavia. In the early days of the war, in Croatia and later Bosnia, it was the Europeans who insisted on excluding the US (except financially) from its military and politi-cal planning. Egged on by Genscher's insistence that Croatia and Slovenia should be free, the leadership of Croatia (Tudjman and his Ustashi cronies) was emboldened to declare independence from the Yugoslav Federation based on territory that included many ethnic Serbs. These Serbs had already had a long experience with ethnic cleansing conducted by the black-shirted SS battalions of the Croatian Ustashi of Ante Pavelic. Needing no reminder of their welcome in an independent Croatia, they turned to Russia and asked for assistance. Russia and US politicians and military leaders discussed this amongst themselves and felt that a common resolution was possible. However, before anything was undertaken, the Europeans in NATO vetoed this initiative. They reiterated that "Croatia is a European problem" and had to be dealt with by the Europeans if they were ever to maintain any credibility as a politico-military force. Lord Carrington and David Owen were dispatched to bring to the Balkans their skills in diplomacy developed in the debacles of Rhodesia and Portadown. They were able to achieve what everyone expected and feared, and soon it was the responsibility of the US and the Russians to bring the parties to table and establish a fragile Balkan peace despite the Europeans. This was repeated in Kosovo. The Europeans again wanted to show they had some independent military capability. The amount of bombs, missiles and other tactical devices used in the first two weeks of the Kosovo campaign exceeded the arsenals of the totality of the European Community. The amount spent per day on the bombing of Kosovo, including indirect costs, amounted to over $12.5 million. It would have been far cheaper to buy Serbia than to bomb it. NATO could have offered each Serb $10,000 a head plus moving costs and still saved money. Under NATO rules, the US was obliged to pay two-thirds of these costs. This was just as true in Libya. The Europeans (calling themselves NATO) quickly ran out of ammunition, bombs and money. The US spent almost $1.5 billion in the first wave of attacks by the French and British. As Secretary of Defence Gates said in his speech, ""Despite more than 2 million troops in uniform -- not counting the U.S. military -- NATO has struggled, at times desperately, to sustain a deployment of 25,000 to 45,000 troops -- not just in boots on the ground, but in crucial support assets such as helicopters; transport aircraft; maintenance; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; and much more." Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). This piece was reprinted by OpEd News with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source. .Stop the Corporatocracy.. Clarion Alley, San Francisco. #mural #streetart #anticapitalism #flowers #protest #clarionalley #graffiti #SanFrancisco #SF (Image by sfslim) Details DMCA Syria is on the front lines against the dictatorship of a globalizing economic ideology that favours the dominance of capital/markets over people and nation-states. Wahhabi Saudi Arabia, the Gulf monarchies, Israel, and NATO are trying to impose the hidden driver of imperialism, "international capital", on Syria. Robin Mathews describes our own capture by international capital in "The Trans Pacific Partnership: Canada and Imperial Globalization": "A characteristic of Imperial Globalization is criminal manipulation of people and events for the profit of a few. It includes massive 'disinformation' about equality, benefits, social development, law, improved standards of living, etc. The disinformation is spread by 'authoritative' news sources. In the hands of gigantic, wealthy, private corporations, globalization is a process which works to erase sovereign democracies and replaces them with 'treatied' sub-states, economic colonies ruled by faceless, offshore, often secret, unaccountable powers." Whereas Canadians are led to believe that we live in a free and democratic society, we are increasingly engineered to accept the dictatorship of transnational capital as expressed through international banking institutions (as opposed to publicly-owned banking) and "free trade" agreements, all of which subordinate elected policies and serve the interests of an international oligarch class, to the detriment of Canadians. Both domestically and internationally, wealth is increasingly concentrated in the hands of the few. So how did Syria, free from terrorists prior to the pre-planned, criminal, imperialist "interventions", earn the distinction of being on the front lines against the West? Syria insists on choosing its own path, as per international law, and refuses to be a vassal of US-led forces of predatory capitalism that siphons the world's resources for the benefit of a transnational oligarch class. Supremacists, on the other hand, view international law as a disposable commodity. Countries are opened up for the extraction of human and natural resources. Transnational banksters pry open previously sovereign countries with usurious loans bundled Structural Adjustment Plans that privatize and loot public assets for the benefit of the publicly bailed-out "private" market. When all else fails, when sanctions haven't killed and demoralized enough innocent civilians -- the "other" -- non-compliant civilized nations -- face Empire's foot soldiers -- the likes of which include ISIS, and al Qaeda/al Nursra Front in Syria. Zafar Bangash, director of the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought (ICIT), and president of the Islamic Society of York Region, Toronto, ON., explains that Empire is seeking to install a compliant puppet government in Syria; that it is seeking to destroy Syria; and that it seeks to protect Israeli supremacy. Already, he notes, the aggressors have inflicted about $100 billion worth of damage on the battered country. His assessment errs on the side of caution. A study by The Lancet, "Syria: end sanctions and find a political solution to peace", indicates that by the end of 2014, the cost of illegal sanctions imposed on Syria stood at US $143.8 billion, and that 80% of the population was living in poverty. Meanwhile, President Assad is well aware of the imperial forces behind the mercenaries invading his country. In a speech to the newly elected members of the People's Assembly, he elaborated upon the modus operandi of the invaders. --They seek to attack the constitution by means of a so-called "transition" stage --They seek to destroy the two pillars of the government: the army, and the diverse national, pan-Arab and religious identity of Syrians Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). As soon as a disturbed American invokes "Isis," the discussion around pathology and guns halts and it's immediately considered an act of war In the wake of the deplorable mass shooting at an Orlando nightclub on Saturday -- and the deranged shooter's tenuous connection to Isis -- "national security" is about to take on a renewed focus in the presidential race. But the existential threat to Americans is not some fanatical and nihilistic death cult halfway around the world: it's the fact that unstable individuals of all stripes continue to have easy access to assault weapons right here in the US. While no one is doubting the Orlando mass murderer called 911 and pledged allegiance to Isis before continuing his senseless killing spree, the facts are much more complicated than that. Even US officials admitted: "there was no indication that [Isis] had trained or instructed him, or had any direct connection with him." As one senior US official put it to the Wall Street Journal on Sunday: "He seems to be looking for any opportunity to associate with the terrorist group du jour." Isis quickly took advantage of the tragedy to take credit, but "they may just be piling on," a senior US official said. Much more evidence points to the idea that he was unstable before Isis came into existence. He was reportedly a domestic abuser, according to his ex-wife, who said she thought he was mentally ill and not devoutly religious. His co-worker quit his job more than a year ago because "everything he said was toxic. This guy was unhinged and unstable," the co-worker said, "he talked of killing people." His father said that the crime did not have anything to do with his religion and was because he was offended seeing two men kissing weeks earlier. When the killer in these types of mass shootings is white, as the vast majority of them are, Republicans are happy to discount their extreme conservative political views as the ravings of a madman. Yet when a probably unstable American shouts "Isis," that discussion halts and it's immediately considered an act of war. Click Here to Read Whole Article Gary Mondfrans: My mom had actually been telling me about Bernie Sanders for sometime, but at that time, I was excited that Hillary was running and at first thought that Bernie Sanders was too old and too socialist to win. However, as August of 2015 moved on, I felt that Hillary Clinton's "baggage" was dragging her down, and knew that she would certainly loose under scathing criticism from Donald Trump, whom even then I recognized as a Public Enemy #1, and I was looking for someone to inspire young people to carry on our future. I meet a Bernie supporter on-line, Sabrina Geisler of Wyoming, and she inspired me to create my first Bernie video. I already had the song in mind and after listening to Bernie's Clear Lake, Iowa speech, I published the video first on Facebook, then a shortened version suitable for YouTube. Here it is, and please just listen to the words and lyrics of the song matched with Bernie Sanders words and a visual picture of a better more compassionate world and nation and you too will become inspired to follow Sen. Bernie Sanders. "Like a small boat on a ocean...." This is OUR "Fight Song", too!! (Rachel Platten's "This is My Fight Song" Fox: How have you campaigned for him, precisely, and for how long, and for an average of how many hours each day? Have you given speeches, or been on the radio for him? Gary Mondfrans: I have primarily campaigned via Facebook and other web postings since mid-August of 2015, and it covers probably at least 10 to 18 hours a day, seriously. This is my passion, and there is nothing more important than getting Sen. Bernie Sanders' elected as our next President and leader of the free world. I have also participated in local voter registration drives in both San Mateo and San Francisco Counties, and attended three of his rallies here in California: Sacramento, Stockton, and the one just last week near under the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. I have also been to other minor events and have been to his headquarters office twice, and met with his paid organizers several times, although the overwhelming number of us are nearly almost all full-time volunteers. I have spoken at local events, but not been on the radio, except for local water issues on a Lake County Community Radio Station where I might have mentioned Bernie Sanders. Fox: I am NOT speaking here of Exit Polls (which the DNC did away with for California, another obvious step in doing away with all potential evidence), but what sense before the primary did you have that he was ahead in California, especially in the affluent and progressive Silicon Valley communities? Gary Mondfrans: San Bruno is north of Silicon Valley and is decidedly very middle class. It seemed like everyone I met smiled at my Bernie T-shirts and my obvious enthusiasm for Bernie. I actually felt that he was going to win California and all the polls here showed that he was in a statistical tie. I suspect that the "loss" of California to Bernie Sanders was a pre-planned set-up along with the out-and-out voter fraud known to plague places like New York and New Jersey where machine political rule like in the days of the old Tammany Hall. Fox: What about the rest of California? Gary Mondfrans: I have just come from the Lake County Voter registrar's office and they are just going to do only a 1% sampling next week, and I am certain that the last minute provisional ballots are not going to be fully counted, which would show a likely 80% Bernie plurality, considering that #NeverTrump Republicans would have voted on provisional ballots, and certainly not for Hillary Clinton. Bernie here alone earned 500 more votes than Donald Trump, and the Trumpster only pulled 71% of the GOP vote considering he was the only Republican on the ballot. I don't vote up here but I am a property owner and very much concerned about the environmental effects upon Clear Lake and the high cost of Water here in Lucerne where my rentals are. Fox: We saw rallies televised with as many as 100,000 in Oakland for example, with almost empty Clinton rallies. We know the votes aren't counted, quite yet, only one week after the primary, but does a Clinton victory in CA even seem accurate? Gary Mondfrans: The very idea of a Clinton victory is so bogus that it stinks to High Hillary!! The Bernie rallies I saw and attended were major love fests and most of the college age young people are now out of school and available to work this summer for Bernie Sanders. That is why I am working to keep this political movement afloat, which include my latest video set to the late Karen Carpenters' "On Top of the World": I plan on attending the Philly "Love Fest" for Bernie, which I am calling the Philadelphia Freedom Convention. I will be driving there after the Trump Hate Fest in Cleveland. This is history, and this is the American Revolution of our next millennium, and I want to be part of this political revolution. To assure that this will not be a repeat of the Shameful '68 Mayor Richard Daley's Chicago Damn Convention, I am already organizing with people in Pennsylvania to have training of the demonstrators and pro-Berners to assure that #Change2016 is quite different. By the way: The hashtag groups #FeelTheBern, along with #BlackLivesMatter and about 20 other Facebook groups and pages are mine, along with several anti-Trump pages and those also go way back to August of last year. I have been planning this for a very, very long time. For we need real change in 2016, not more of the same which Hill+Billy will bring us even is she survives an all-out assault by Trump, which is doubtful. Bernie out-Trumps Trump nearly two to one!! Fox. What do your friends and colleagues have to say now about whether they will participate in the rest of the election, or will they focus more on specific issues, despite the Presidency being the largest issue of them all? I hear much talk from both my Democrat and Republican friends, who do not like Donald Trump, and certainly don't like Hillary Clinton, and the talk is along the lines that they may just sit on their hands come this November. My Dad has created his own "Mickey Mouse" for President signs, and I swear, I could not make this up! 1968 changed my life forever. Two assassinations, and the onset on the dark ages of the Nixon Administration. Fox: Please talk about your experiences with Facebook. I believe all in all it has a positive effect on American Politics, until you start examining the censorship and group posting restrictions. It has been very frustrating to me to spread the word via Facebook and for Eric King, a prior FB suspension has had a chilling effect in the means and manner in which he posts. This was our very recent conversation. I think it would make a great quote in your article. Mondfrans: Eric, a question for you? How are you able to post so fast without getting blocked by Facebook? I just got zapped for the umteenth time and am in Facebook jail again until the end of the week. Eric: I try to limit myself to ten posts of a specific topic. I got put in FB jail for a month in March. Since I've done my limit of ten of a particular post in ten groups, I've not had an issue. Another response from a friend: "MVP Worland posted this in a chat room I just added you to Delegate for Bernie! so you can link up with him about his Facebook woes. "You are not alone. I have been blocked for two weeks. There apparently are David Brock teams who gang up with complaints to take down Bernie sanders activists. Anyone have any ideas how to get blocks removed?" Fox: Please tell us a little about your own political history, your track record: I registered to vote as soon as the voting age was lowered to 18 but the City Clerk would not give me a receipt as California had not yet lowered the age to 18 in California. I kept coming back until he did. Within two years I was running for my first political office, for San Bruno City Council. I didn't win but I didn't come in last, and by my 3rd try, at age 23, I was elected Councilman. When I ran again, I got more votes than the incumbent Mayor, and by age 25 I was Mayor of the City of San Bruno, oh, and by the way, replaced the City Clerk with one of my political allies by helping her get elected, and then she served for over 30 years. Fox: Please explore those restriction problems with Facebook (and please know that although I have had my own problems with Facebook, I still consider it to have had an enormously beneficial effect on politics) Honestly, it has been very frustrating to me to spread the word via Facebook as I keep ending up on suspension or the posting restrictions which have been referred to as "Facebook Jail". I have never group posted anything anti-Hillary. I am a Democrat after all, but I did cross post one anti-Trump video, this one set to Carly Simon's aptly named "You're So Vain": All the others have been quite appropriate pro-Bernie Sanders posts and I belong to something like 2,000 Facebook pages and groups. Initially, I had no problem. I would quick post from my cellphone, a Sampson Galaxy S5, sometime from 9 pm until 6 am the next day. I am a retired 9-1-1 Dispatcher so I am used to working odd hours and staying up late. I usually start my post after midnight when few others are posting, then I had little trouble. But within the past few months, I get locked down in Facebook Jail within about a hour or so of the start of my postings and this is cutting into my ability to help the Bernie Sanders campaign as well as limit my Freedom of Speech. After all we #Berners are spread out all over the nation and in various regional and associative groups, and it it important to reach as many as we can via Social Media considering the Main Stream Media virtual "Blackout" of Bernie Sanders. My latest restricting ends later this week, and in the meantime I can still post directly to my 5000 Bernie friends and engage them in chat rooms. There is always a "Plan B," and if that "Plan B" fails, then we go on to another "Plan B." Fox: Mayor, clearly you are a major creative force with an insightful and experienced political mind. When you look around California, are there any crusading journalists left? For example, I just yesterday suggested to a sincere friend that she call the Sacramento Bee with some routine questions about vote discrepancies in the slowly returning counts of the uncounted votes, and their political reporter jumped all over her and said "you must be one of those Bernie conspiracy theorists"! I have personally talked to really brusque and insulting reporters and editors of very large California papers who didn't want to hear anything about the hijacked NY primary, and certainly not my insights that the same thing was coming your way in California. When you were Mayor and as an activist in general is it all on alternative news websites, or are there any open minded newspapers and true investigative reporters left in your state? Mondfrans: Most of the really great reporters are gone, the corporations have swallowed up the hometown papers. Only some good "reporters" and commentators exist but those are usually found over local community radio stations and those by and large are all "Labors of Love." Fox: Robert Reich, in my mind, was always an esteemed major brilliant supporter for Bernie, one of the top ones, but when it came right down to the crunch on efforts to get a new NY primary, he ignored us entirely, not even to say "take a hike." "Us" included hundreds of people emailing him directly and calling his office. Did you ever meet Reich? Why do you suppose so many legislators and major figures were never asked to put it in writing and submit it to editorial pages in California? Even Bernie did this only once, that I know of, against fracking, and it was on the editorial page in USA Today, the largest circulating paper in America. What happened? Is the Battle of the Editorial Pages a thing of the ancient political past? What an impact it would have had on the primaries if they had made a point of doing that? MONDFRANS: I follow Robert Reich, and he and Bernie Sanders are substantially on the same page. I would like to see Mr. Reich on the Supreme Court as Bernie's first pick of 2017. Far to many people stood silent when the could have helped Bernie Sanders, and while I am not familiar with the NY issue to me Elizabeth Warren has been a big disappointment, although she can certainly out trump Trump on Twitter and would have been a major asset to Bernie had she chimed in earlier. FOX: I like your idea of training demonstrators. The campaign should have been doing that all along to combat the skilled operatives in the Clinton camp. As to the convention, I have suggested that there be an alternative for the demonstrators, maybe calling it "Reshaping the New Democratic Party," and get these people off the streets and out of the faces of the Super delegates. What do you think of that? MONDFRANS: I have actually met with people here in Northern California, as well as on-line chat with people I will be staying with in Philly and have been using the working title of "Camp BernieMan" for non-violence training. Susan from Chico, California, has a friend who is actually a trainer in protests and demonstrations, and I know a couple of people in San Francisco, the most demonstrated city in the nation whom I plan to contact. "Camp BernieMan" will follow the train-the-trainer concept we used in the SFPD and Dept. of Emergency Service where I retired from after 31 years. It is not possible to train every #Berner and Berniecrat who shows up out side what might be the walled convention center at the Philadelphia Freedom Convention, but we can show by example how to behave in the traditions of Jesus, Gandhi, MLK and Nelson Mandela--we must reverse Chicago '68 and truly give peace a chance. Fox: A very serious question: I believe Hillary would lose to Trump, especially after a half billion or more in ads tearing her up, like the Koch brothers 246 million they spent in 2014 and won all sorts of legislators and statewide spots. Would the Democratic party then dump its blindsided DNC, and recover, or would it ever recover? MONDFRANS: Oh my God! The Democrats have so much to loose sticking with a straight Hillary course, possibly straight into Trump Hell. The only thing that can truly save us if if the Super Dooper Delegates get a clear sense as to what is at stake and look at what Bernie Sanders "Purple" grass roots movement has created. A great purple tidal wave washing out the do-nothing Republicans from Washington, to state houses to city councils and county seats. The #BlackLivesMatter folks can see the opportunity to change sheriffs, police chiefs and judges from coast to coast and the resulting smiling faces will be real come this November. FOX: What do you foresee down the political highway, if Hillary gets the nomination, and not Bernie? Those super delegates might shake loose if her legal "baggage" more or less explodes (in a figurative sense, of course....) MONDFRANS: Backtracking a bit about journalism:I think by and large that the People Media, the internet, and in major part "Facebook" and Reddit especially have filled that gap by and large, and that is a good thing for local papers are no longer economically viable and actually digital media can reach more people instantaneously and without editing, yet with limitations now imposed by corporatists like Maark Zuckerberg directly or indirectly limiting our Freedom of Speech and ability to reach out to the very groups they so eagerly recommended to us in the first place it is having a dampening effect upon this election. Fox: Last questions: How many times has Facebook restricted you and what percentage of the time have you been up vs. what time down? Mondfrans: For the past two-three months I have been unable to post into the pro-Bernie groups and pages I belong to and that has been most frustrating. FOX: Does this discourage you? MONDFRANS: Yes, it means that each time I must redouble my efforts and ask others to post things for me or to endlessly post on individual pages and chat rooms. But you know, where there is a will there is a way, and this has opened up even more opportunities to get Bernie's cause out before the people and getting interview by people like you, so thank you kindly, Stephen Fox. FOX: You are not far from San Mateo, and so you could go down to Facebook Headquarters at 1 Hacker Way. If you could talk with one of the executives for five minutes (and I recommend their lawyer, Colin Stretch, who already knows about your situation), what would you say to them, Mayor? MONDFRANS: I do plan to go down there to talk with him as I told you previously, and I especially would seek out Counselor Stretch: I would ask him to open up to the what-if this will be eventually be called the "Facebook Revolution" and that Mark Zuckerberg has created something amazing for us to instantaneous communicate with anyone, anywhere and what are their plans for the next generation in Outer Space: Spacebook!! FOX: Is it necessary for them to exercise such censorship, or it is a doubtful case of algorithms and numbers piling up for vigorous posters? They should be glad to have us doing what we do, to counter the Hillary Trolls posting pornography to get pages shut down for groups that have 400,000 members, the night before five primaries, as happened just a few weeks ago. MONDFRANS: You and I are on the same page; many, many, in fact too too many people have been wrongly censored by Facebook, some possibly targeted in the extreme. I don't think it's just mathematics, but something quite as unseemly as election fraud back east and digital distortions here in California. In the end I think we will all be better for it. Fox: What is the big picture now for Bernie Sanders? In the overall larger scale overview, there are 51 ways Bernie Sanders can ditch the Democrats and go on to win a majority of the 51 separate elections to be held in November, which all lead to the all-important "electoral college" vote on December 19th, where the Next President of these United States of America is actually elected. Indeed "51 ways", and with Sen. Bernie Sanders being the "King of Amendments" in both the House of Representatives and in the U.S. Senate: he knows every one of them and all the options and opportunities those present. Reprinted from Consortium News The Ukrainian intelligence service that has been guiding the investigation of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 shoot-down of July 2014 recently blocked a United Nations inquiry into alleged torture sites under Ukrainian government control. The U.N. inspectors called off their torture investigation late last month because Ukraine's domestic intelligence service, the SBU, denied the team access to detention facilities where human rights groups have found evidence of torture. "The United Nations Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) has suspended its visit to Ukraine after being denied access to places in several parts of the country where it suspects people are being deprived of their liberty by the Security Service of Ukraine, the SBU," a U.N. statement said, with Sir Malcolm Evans, head of the four-member delegation, adding: "This denial of access is in breach of Ukraine's obligations as a State party to the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture. It has meant that we have not been able to visit some places where we have heard numerous and serious allegations that people have been detained and where torture or ill-treatment may have occurred." Ukraine's deputy justice minister Natalya Sevostyanova said the U.N. team was denied access to SBU centers in Mariupol and Kramatorsk, frontline towns in the simmering civil war between the U.S.-backed Ukrainian government and Russian-supported eastern Ukrainian rebels. SBU director Vasyl Hrytsak said the reason for barring the U.N. team was to protect Ukrainian government secrets, adding: "If you arrive, for example, in the United States and ask to come to the C.I.A. or the F.B.I., to visit a basement or an office, do you think they will ever let you do it?" But the relevance of this SBU secrecy to the MH-17 case, in which the airliner carrying 298 people was shot down over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, is that the SBU is an integral part of the Dutch-led multinational Joint Investigation Team that is trying to determine who was responsible for the attack. The obstruction of the torture inquiry suggests that the SBU also would steer the JIT away from any evidence that might implicate a unit of the Ukrainian military in the shoot-down, a situation that would be regarded as a state secret which could severely undermine international support for the U.S.-backed regime in Kiev. Among the SBU's official duties is the protection of Ukrainian government secrets. A Breezy Report Earlier this month, the JIT investigators published a breezy, notebook-style report on their progress, revealing how dependent they have become on information provided by the SBU and how they have grown to trust the Ukrainian intelligence service. According to the report, the SBU helped shape the MH-17 investigation by supplying a selection of phone intercepts and other material. But the JIT seemed oblivious to the potentially grave conflict of interest, saying: "Since the first week of September 2014, investigating officers from The Netherlands and Australia have worked here [in Kiev]. They work in close cooperation here with the Security and Investigation Service of the Ukraine (SBU). Immediately after the crash, the SBU provided access to large numbers of tapped telephone conversations and other data. ... "At first rather formal, cooperation with the SBU became more and more flexible. 'In particular because of the data analysis, we were able to prove our added value', says [Dutch police official Gert] Van Doorn. 'Since then, we notice in all kinds of ways that they deal with us in an open way. They share their questions with us and think along as much as they can.'" The JIT report continued: "With the tapped telephone conversations from SBU, there are millions of printed lines with metadata, for example, about the cell tower used, the duration of the call and the corresponding telephone numbers. The investigating officers sort out this data and connect it to validate the reliability of the material. And the hate goes on ... (Image by rev. dan) Details DMCA No, Disney World is not the happiest place on earth, but perhaps this is: I would warn Orlando that you're right in the way of some serious hurricanes, and I don't think I'd be waving those flags [gay pride flags] in God's face if I were you, This is not a message of hate , this is a message of redemption. But a condition like this will bring about the destruction of your nation. It'll bring about terrorist bombs; it'll bring earthquakes, tornadoes, and possibly a meteor. Pat Robertson on Disney World having Gay Days Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick tweeted a photo with a Biblical verse reading a "man reaps what he sows" hours after at least 50 people were killed at a gay nightclub in Orlando in the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. The tweet, which was soon deleted, was among a range of political reaction to the rampage at the Pulse nightclub early Sunday by a gunman wielding an assault-type rifle and a handgun. Investigators are looking into whether the gunman, identified by federal law enforcement officials as Omar Mateen, was tied to a terrorist organization. He said in a statement later Sunday that it was a tweet his staff scheduled days ago, and that he and his aides "regret the unfortunate timing of these posts." Right. Fred Phelps Is Alive and Well One man's grief is another man's joy. "America Mourns" has always been a rather disingenuous statement. Not everybody in the country is mourning the massacre in Orlando. Think of it: there will be thousands of Bible verses, thousands of they-asked-for-its and surely-God's-punishments. "I conveyed the condolences of the entire American people" said the President in his press conference. Sorry to contradict you Mr. President, but you conveyed the condolences of a majority of American people. And while there are memorials around the country, there are people who are overtly glad that gay people were killed - and they're not Muslim. The good news is that there's 50 less pedophiles in this world, because, you know, these homosexuals are a bunch of disgusting perverts and pedophiles. That's who was a victim here, are a bunch of, just, disgusting homosexuals at a gay bar, okay? Hate Hate Hate Hate (Image by Patheos) Details DMCA Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Reprinted from Paul Craig Roberts Website Some readers have asked for my take on the Orlando Shooting. I don't have one. Let's see if together we can form a reasonable view. Let's start with the basic first question. Before there can be a murder declared, there must be a body. Has anyone seen on TV or in newspapers pictures of dead bodies? Bodies should be readily available if the reports are correct that 50 people were killed and 50 or more were wounded and in hospital. I cannot bear the presstitute TV and print media. These are full-time propaganda organizations. Hopefully, some of you hold your nose and watch the news and can fill in the spaces. Has anything we have been told been confirmed by any real evidence? Initially, I saw a CNN newscast and a RT report. The reports were heavy with verbiage of blood being all over the place, but the only visual evidence offered were three people, supposedly injured, being helped, not by medics or first responders, but by ordinary folks. A couple of people were helping a guy with tattoos in place of a shirt, but there was no sign of blood. Several people were helping people in police uniforms to carry a person who they dumped in the back of a pickup truck, not in the cab. About six people were carrying a person stretched out prone (no stretcher) down a street. There was no blood and it looked like a crisis acting performance. Why prone? Is an injured person really able to keep his body stiff so that he can be carried along prone parallel to the ground? Where are they taking him? Is this just a camera walk-by? What has become of the protocol that untrained people are not to attempt to help injured people? When police arrive at a scene, they usually run off bystanders, not recruit them to assist their activities or allow them to carry away the wounded and dead. Readers have noticed that the visual evidence does not match the verbal reports. Readers report that Fox "News" and MSNBC repeatedly show the same footage described above of bystanders carrying supposedly injured victims whose facial expressions are completely unstressed and show no pain, fear, or blood. So has anyone seen any dead bodies? Any body bags? Any wounded taken to hospitals in ambulances? Any of the hospital wounded interviewed by TV reporters? Has any reporter checked with the morgue? Allegedly, people inside the massacre location made cell phone calls and texted. But no one took photos or videos? Are there no security cameras? No doormen to notice a heavily armed person enter? With 50 people killed and 50 or more wounded and reports of oceans of blood, there should be plenty of evidence Have any of you seen any of it? As far as I know, dead bodies, other than those of the perpetrators themselves, seldom if ever emerge from the terrorist attacks. No dead bodies materialized from the Paris attacks except those of the alleged perpetrators. No dead bodies ever emerged from the Sandy Hook shootings. The only dead bodies I recall from the San Bernardino shooting were the husband-and-wife-alleged-perpetrators, and their hands were handcuffed behind their backs. Do police handcuff dead people who the police have shot to pieces? I don't remember dead bodies from Brussels, just reports of dead bodies. One could say that the media is averse to invading the privacy of dead people and their relatives by showing dead bodies, or that the media doesn't want to show gruesome scenes -- except for the videos of Muslim terrorists cutting off people's heads. But by now the unanswered questions from the various shootings have created so much skepticism that a person would think the media would provide corroborative evidence for the official claims. Maybe they have. As I admit, I don't watch the presstitute news. In order to shoot 100 people, the principal weapon allegedly used, an AR-15, would have had to have been reloaded several times, a procedure that takes enough time for people to rush the shooter and overpower him. Is it possible for one person to shoot 100 people successfully but not be able to shoot even one cop when police appear? Remember the Charlie Hebdo event. The two killers were highly professional when they wiped out the magazine staff and a policeman in the street, but later when confronted by police they were so hapless and incompetent as to suggest that they were not the same people. Remember the San Bernardino shootings. Three eyewitnesses said that the shooters were three muscular males dressed in black, not a husband and diminutive wife with a new baby. Reprinted from WSWS The US presidential election campaign has reached a new stage with the clinching of the Democratic and Republican presidential nominations by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and billionaire real estate developer Donald Trump. Not only the identity of the nominees, but the political posture of the two campaigns has clearly emerged. Up to this point, the most significant element of the election campaign has been the manifestation of deep popular opposition to social inequality and growing anti-capitalist sentiment. This took the form of support for Bernie Sanders, who describes himself a "democratic socialist" and based his campaign on denunciations of the "billionaire class" and calls for a "political revolution." The major driving force of this political radicalization is the impact of the 2008 economic crash, which has been followed by a restructuring of class relations with devastating consequences for the lives of millions of people. The ruling class, and, in particular, the Democratic Party establishment, is far less concerned about the rise of Donald Trump than it is about the broad support for Sanders, which created a political crisis for Clinton and seriously jeopardized her planned coronation. The surge in support for Sanders came as a frightening shock to the entire political establishment -- including Sanders himself -- and the corporate-controlled media, because it demonstrated the emergence of a mass constituency for anti-capitalist, socialistic ideas. There is a broad consensus, across both parties, that the class issues raised by the Sanders campaign in the primaries must be buried in the general election campaign. The decision has been taken at the highest levels of the political establishment to direct attention to issues of race and gender -- including deliberately provoking such issues -- in order to distract the public from the more fundamental economic division in society. This will be combined with an extremely right-wing campaign by the Democrats aimed at winning support from sections of the Republican Party on the grounds that Clinton, with her close links to both Wall Street and the military-intelligence establishment, is the most competent and reliable figure for waging war abroad and deepening the attack on the working class at home. Clinton set the tone in her victory speech last Tuesday night, preceded by a campaign video that presented her candidacy as the culmination of a struggle for women's rights extending over nearly two centuries and going back to the first stirrings of support for women's suffrage. Bernie Sanders added his voice during a day of meetings Thursday with Obama, Vice President Biden and Senate Democratic leaders. Speaking to the press outside the White House, he made clear that he was planning on working closely with Clinton, as he had pledged to do at the outset of his campaign. He denounced Donald Trump, declaring, "It is unbelievable to me, and I say this with all sincerity, that the Republican Party would have a candidate for president who in the year 2016 makes bigotry and discrimination the cornerstone of his campaign." It was noticeable that Sanders did not describe Trump as a billionaire, or link his opposition to Trump to his own year-long campaign against the domination of "millionaires and billionaires" over US politics. He referred exclusively to Trump's bigoted attacks on Mexican immigrants, Muslims, women and other groups defined by religion, race, language or gender, not economic class. The extraordinary intervention by Vice President Joe Biden into the controversy over a Stanford University sexual assault case is part of this effort to promote identity politics as the central issue in the 2016 campaign. Last week, Biden lent his support to a campaign led by a Stanford professor to recall the judge who presided over the sexual assault trial and conviction of a university freshman, on the grounds that the judge's sentence was too lenient. There is no basis for the federal government to intervene into what is a local criminal matter. Biden has shown no such solicitude for the victims of the lead poisoning of the water supply in Flint, Michigan or the countless victims of US police killings, to say nothing of those bombed, incinerated or turned into homeless refugees by US military violence in the Middle East. Biden, acting in behalf of the Democratic Party establishment, calculates that with the imminent demise of the Sanders campaign, which drew wide support from college youth, a new basis must be created for drawing students around the Democrats and the presidential campaign of Clinton, who is widely despised as a corrupt personification of the political status quo. Hence the calculated effort to promote right-wing agitation tied to issues of gender identity. The most unabashed argument for the primacy of race and gender over class issues comes from New York Times commentator Paul Krugman, who throughout the election campaign has used his column to promote Clinton and heap scorn on supporters of Sanders. In a piece published Saturday under the headline "Hillary and the Horizontals," Krugman defines as "horizontal inequality" differences between social groupings based on race, gender, etc., as opposed to class inequality (which he refers to as "individual inequality"), measured by economic position or income. He declares, "like it or not, horizontal inequality, racial inequality above all, will define the general election." Krugman describes the campaign by Sanders against economic inequality as "a pipe dream" because it ignores the fact -- in Krugman's view -- that the working class in the United States is irretrievably divided by race. "Defining oneself at least in part by membership in a [racial or ethnic] group is part of human nature," he claims. By his account, the Republican Party has long sustained itself by "getting working class whites to think of themselves as a group under siege, and to see government programs as giveaways to Those People." The Times columnist ignores the fact that support for Sanders is itself a refutation of this slanderous characterization of the working class. He also ignores the drastic shift to the right of the Democratic Party, which has long abandoned the reformist liberal program that prevailed from the 1930s to the 1960s based on limited concessions to the working class, in favor of various forms of identity politics benefiting sections of the upper-middle class. Krugman has functioned as an apologist for the economic policies of the Obama administration, presenting its health care program as a progressive reform on a par with the New Deal and the Great Society, rather than an effort to shift medical costs from corporations to workers. He deliberately conceals the principal basis for Trump's appeal to working people: the Obama administration's role as the spearhead for big business in destroying jobs, wages and living standards. Instead, he claims, the 2016 campaign "is going to be mostly an election about identity." He continues: "The Republican nominee represents little more than the rage of white men over a changing nation. And he'll be facing a woman -- yes, gender is another important dimension in this story -- who owes her nomination to the very groups his base hates and fears." Duluth, Minnesota (OpEdNews) June 13, 2016: "Conservatives of the world, unite!" No doubt there is no shortage of conservatives in the world today -- ranging from Pope Francis in the Roman Catholic Church, who does not favor the use of physical violence, to radical jihadists in Islam, who do use physical violence, at times against their fellow Muslims. However, all the conservatives in the world today are not likely to unite together with one another. Whew! That's good news. Why not? "Birds of a feather flock together." But all conservatives in the world today are not the same kind of birds, even though they may all be birds, figuratively speaking. As a result, we see different flocks of birds flocking together in the world today. For example, we see certain birds of American heritage flocking together in support of the wealthy developer Donald Trump of New York, and, as mentioned, we see certain other birds of Islamic heritage flocking together in support of the Islamic State in the Middle East. Crude as this may sound, shooting and killing or wounding unarmed people trapped inside a building in Orlando, Florida, in the name of the Islamic State reminds me of the proverbial expression about shooting fish in a barrel. That's the Warrior archetype gone berserk and running amok. But why does the Warrior archetype in certain people go berserk and run amok? Welcome to the twenty-first century, eh? I want to propose a framework of thought for trying to understand why certain conservatives today may feel threatened. The American Jesuit cultural historian and theorist Walter J. Ong (1912-2003) characterizes our communications media that accentuate sound as constituting our contemporary secondary oral culture (oral culture 2.0), which he differentiates from primary oral culture (oral culture 1.0). Oral culture 2.0 is here to stay. It's not going to go away. Now, in the award-winning book Neurobiology and the Development of Human Morality: Evolution, Culture, and Wisdom (Norton, 2014), Darcia Narvaez in psychology at the University of Notre Dame calls our attention to our small-group hunter-gatherer ancestors who lived in oral culture 1.0. Granted, the term "small-group" is somewhat elastic. But perhaps we can liken small-group hunter-gatherers to an extended family group in terms of size. Perhaps at a much later time, our still distant human ancestors in oral culture 1.0 moved from being small-group hunter-gatherers to forming larger groups and alliances. In addition, some of our human ancestors in oral culture 1.0 moved to being farmers, thereby forming an agrarian economy. To this day, agrarian economies still exist in the world. Along with them, residual forms of oral culture 1.0 still exist in the world today -- even in parts of the world where modern capitalist economies have made inroads, and even in parts of the world today where oral culture 2.0 has made inroads. In any event, in the book The Great Mother: An Analysis of the Archetype, 2nd ed., translated from the German by Ralph Manheim (Pantheon Books, 1963), the German-born and educated Israeli psychoanalyst and Jungian theorist Erich Neumann (1905-1960) discusses manifestations of the feminine archetype in oral culture 1.0. Now, in the book Return of the Goddess (Crossroad, the naturalized American physician and Jungian theorist Edward C. Whitmont, M.D. (1912-1998), discusses manifestations of the feminine archetype in our contemporary oral culture 2.0. At the present time, this is where we stand. The communications media that accentuate sound in our contemporary oral culture 2.0 are resonating deep in the human psyche -- in the deep part of the human psyche that C. G. Jung, M.D. (1875-1961), the Swiss psychiatrist and psychological theorist, refers to as the collective unconscious. Now, the return of the goddess, or feminine archetype in the human psyche, may sound like a bottom-up movement involving the collective unconscious. Bottom-up imagery is not inaccurate to use to characterize this movement deep within the human psyche. Nevertheless, we should keep in mind that this movement can be deeply disturbing for many people to experience in their psyches. It can be deeply disturbing not only for conservatives to experience, but also for progressives and liberals to experience. Next, I want to explain one way to understand why this movement deep in the psyche can be disturbing to experience. What can it be disturbing? In book Compassion and Healing in Medicine and Society: On the Nature and Use of Attachment Solutions to Separation Challenges (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011), widely read psychiatrist Gregory L. Fricchione, M.D., of the Harvard Medical School advances the hypothetical conceptual framework that all significant psychological processes involve separation challenges and attachment solutions. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Gun (Image by lookcatalog) Details DMCA Yes, there are solutions to gun violence. There are no 100% solutions to gun violence. But, we can institute certain partial solutions, greatly diminishing the deaths and woundings that occur every day. Interpret the Constitution properly. Our founders placed the words, "A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state . . . " at the beginning of the 2nd Amendment for a reason. Clearly, they understood that allowing everyone to have any kind of "arms" was dangerous to the public. We are a nation of laws. Regulation always has been and always will be, the key to public safety. Even gun enthusiasts would be first to admit that the public should be prevented, by regulation from "keeping and bearing" certain "arms": 50 caliber machine guns or bazookas or cannons or poison gas, or surface to air missiles , or atomic arms, etc. So the question is not one of regulation vs. no regulation, but merely what kind of regulation. And the Constitution tells us the answer to that question: "A well-regulated militia." That is the kind of regulation needed. Federalize gun manufacture and importation The misrepresentation of the Constitution, the bribing of Congress by the gun manufacturers and the gun importers and the NRA, the propaganda telling us that guns make us safer, despite daily evidence they don't -- these all are funded by one motive: The profit motive.Eliminate the gun manufacturer's and importer's profit motive, and the elements that put too many guns into the hands of too many people disappear. Apply the RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations)laws to gangs. A great many gun killings are committed by street gang members.Entire neighborhoods, even towns, are held hostage by the fear of turf wars, drive-by shootings, revenge shootings, and robberies. Street gangs are criminal enterprises under RICO. Under RICO, a person who has committed "at least two acts of racketeering activity" drawn from a list of 35 crimes--27 federal crimes and 8 state crimes--within a 10-year period can be charged with racketeering if such acts are related in one of four specified ways to an "enterprise". Those found guilty of racketeering can be fined up to $25,000 and sentenced to 20 years in prison per racketeering count. In addition, the racketeer must forfeit all ill-gotten gains and interest in any business gained through a pattern of "racketeering activity. Despite its harsh provisions, a RICO-related charge is considered easy to prove in court, as it focuses on patterns of behavior as opposed to criminal acts. Some patterns of activity include: It shall be unlawful for any person who has received any income derived, directly or indirectly, from a pattern of racketeering activity or through collection of an unlawful debt. (Bottom line: Every gang member does this, so merely belonging to a gang is considered a crime.) . . . to acquire or maintain, directly or indirectly, any interest in or control of any enterprise which is engaged in, or the activities of which affect, interstate or foreign commerce. (For example, if your gang deals in drugs, guns or women, you, as a member of the gang, are liable.) . . . to conspire to violate any of the provisions [of the law]. (Even talking about breaking the law with your fellow gang members is a felony.) Your police know who the gang-bangers are. They have lists. The police could round up many of them, tomorrow. But rather than arresting gang-bangers, again and again, only to see them let them loose back on the streets to shoot someone, we can break up the gangs and take the gangsters off the streets permanently. Additional penalties for gun carry during a felony Enact a law that essentially says: If you carry a gun while committing a felony, twenty years automatically will be added to the term of the felony itself. Tax gun ownership. Governments tax personal property, and the amount of tax is determined by the type of property. Place a heavy, annual tax on guns. Make gun ownership expensive.The ostensible purpose of the tax would be to pay for the widespread death, injury and damage to this nation and to its citizens, caused by guns. Anyone caught with a gun, for which no tax has been paid, would be subject to jail, and have the gun confiscated and destroyed. Denying that guns are a danger to innocent people, while claiming that guns protect "good guys," as the greedy gun manufacturers tell us, simply hasn't worked, cannot work and never will work. Rather than foolishly continuing to repeat failure, common sense must prevail. There is no way to identify in advance, the so-called "good guys" who should have guns. A "good guy" can become a "bad guy" in an instant, given some minor provocation or no provocation at all. Even many mass killers have been seeming "good guys," by any of the myriad definitions. The only solution is over time to make guns harder and harder to get and use, by a four-pronged offensive: --Remove the profit motive from gun manufacture and sales --Eliminate gangs --Greater penalties for gun carry during felonies --Make gun ownership expensive Anyone, sincerely hoping to reduce gun violence will renounce the insatiable gun manufacturer's profit-motivated propaganda, and recognize that for a safer society we must begin to reduce the number of guns in the hands of the populace. There are many things we are not allowed, yet we agree to the prohibitions, because we understand we must give up something to gain something. That is what being in a society means. We must give up guns to achieve a safer society. Other nations have done it. We Americans can do it, too. In the first episode of "On Contact," host Chris Hedges discusses the global revolt against corporate capitalism with radical intellectual and author Tariq Ali. Ali talks about how the world banking system pitched Greece and other European countries into financial difficulties, and how big business may be behind the impeachment of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. RT Correspondent Anya Parampil joins the show with a report on global inequality. Chris Hedges spent nearly two decades as a foreign correspondent in Central America, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans. He has reported from more than 50 countries and has worked for The Christian Science Monitor, National Public Radio, The Dallas Morning News and The New York Times, for which he was a foreign correspondent for 15 years. Hedges was part of the team of (more...) Reprinted from The Guardian This morning, I woke up in my cell to an even more shattered and fractured world. We are lost. We are devastated. We are bewildered. We are hurt. And we are angry. I haven't been this angry since losing a soldier in my unit to an RPG attack in southeastern Baghdad during my deployment in Iraq in 2010. As a young queer kid growing up, I explored my identity through the Chicago and Washington DC club scene. As many have said, the club is our sanctuary -- a place where we find ourselves, love ourselves and find community. I can totally relate to the trauma that has afflicted our community in the wake of the shooting in Orlando. We must grieve and mourn and support each other, but in our grief and outrage we must resist any temptations to let this attack -- or any attack -- trigger anti-Muslim foreign policy, attacks on our civil liberties or as an excuse to descend into xenophobia and Islamophobia. However, an attack like this is carefully planned and executed to maximize attention by inflaming the passions of a helpless public. Because of this, the response can be more dangerous than the attack. The refrains of "safety and security" have, for many years, been used as a tool by the powerful to justify curtailing civil liberties and emboldening backlash against immigrants, Muslim people and others. Those who wish to continue campaigns of fear are prepared to cast an entire religion as hateful with no reflection on their own complicity in the many forms of violence the queer community encounters in the United States. We should not let their agendas guide our reaction to this senseless massacre. We're not sure yet what schemes might be proposed over the next few days and weeks, but we have seen how politicians have used our fear to compromise our constitution many times in the past, from extraordinary rendition (kidnapping) to enhanced interrogation (torture), from foreign intelligence surveillance courts to encryption back doors. Current proposals for hate crime laws and terrorism enhancements only take more power away from our community. We consolidate power with law enforcement only to have those same mechanisms turned against us. For example, more intense scrutiny on verification procedures in government and business have created barriers for trans people seeking documents that correctly identify their gender, causing us to be subjected to abusive and humiliating searches when traveling. Any increase in surveillance of marginalized communities for the sake of security theater have expanded the cycle of criminalization that queer people -- especially queer people of color -- are forced to navigate. Some will claim extreme measures are necessary to protect the queer and trans community. Others will erase the queer and Latin identities of the victims and instead claim that we are at war with Islam. But regardless of how the narrative is told, such policies will undoubtedly have a negative impact on our community at home and abroad. Earlier this year, the FBI sought a novel judicial backdoor to a cellphone in response to the San Bernardino attack. Such a backdoor would have potentially allowed the government to more easily target queer and trans people as well as human rights campaigners, environmentalists and anti-corporate protesters as "threats and criminals." We are not safe and secure when the government uses us as pawns to perpetrate violence against others. Our safety and security will come when we organize, love and resist together. In response to leaks and mass attacks on military bases, the FBI also sought to stifle potential whistleblowers. This Insider Threat program used my gender identity, psychological profile and history as a basis for their targeting. "Safety and security" has even been used as a justification to place a two-inch limit on the length of my hair. We should remember that we are alive. We are real flesh and blood. Apart from the fact that we are increasingly disconnected from the world by technology and politics, we are still surviving as a community. And even though we have come a long way, events like these remind us we still have a long way to go. Thoughts and prayers alone won't protect our community. We need to continue to build and support queer and trans communities and end the profiling and criminalization that so many face. We find solace and sanctuary in the club because we are so often expelled from other public spaces -- from bathrooms, from street corners, from jobs, from history. Our survival is our resistance. And our solidarity and support for the Muslim community in these coming days and months -- some of whom are queer and trans -- will lift us all up in the face of anyone seeking to further marginalize another. Congress Switchboard: 202-224-3121 "Kall's well-researched book integrates knowledge from philosophy to economics and ecology. He shows us how, all over the world and across many fields of endeavor, we humans are organizing new and rewarding ways of acting for the common good. His book is both idealistic and realistic and gives us a vision of what we all most need -- hope for the future" Mary Pipher, psychologist, and #1 New York Times best-selling author of Reviving Ophelia and Writing to Change the World For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Here are the instructions how to enable JavaScript in your web browser This is the first in a series of reports about pre-primary 48-hour notices in the 21st Congressional District race. The campaign is in the period when contributions of $1,000 or more must be reported within 48 hours of receipt. The rule applies even though none of the 21st Congressional District candidates face primary challengers. Lisa Lyttle, vice president of government relations for Berman Enterprises, a Maryland-based commercial real estate investment and management firm, contributed $5,400 to the campaign of U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Willsboro, on Monday, according to a 48-hour notice the campaign filed Tuesday. Stefanik is running for re-election against Democrat Mike Derrick, a retired Army colonel from Peru, in Clinton County, and Green Party candidate Matt Funiciello, a bread company owner and political activist from Hudson Falls. Neither Derrick or Funiciello had filed any 48-hour notices, as of mid-morning Tuesday. FORT EDWARD A Moreau man pleaded guilty to felony criminal contempt and two lesser charges Friday in Washington County Court, days before he was to stand trial in the case. Robert D. Carota Jr., 50, of Fort Edward Road, pleaded guilty to first-degree criminal contempt and two violations of state Conservation Law, one a misdemeanor and one a non-criminal violation, in a case that started with a complaint about construction debris being burned. Jury selection was to begin Monday. State conservation officers who were sent to investigate the complaint on Dec. 27 on county Route 48 near Cossayuna Lake found that Carota was responsible, and found that he was with a woman who had an order of protection against him, officials said. He has a prior conviction for misdemeanor criminal contempt related to an order of protection violation, which elevated the new charge to felony criminal contempt. Carota, who has multiple prior felony convictions, faces up to 1 1/2 to 3 years in state prison when sentenced Aug. 19 by Washington County Judge Kelly McKeighan. His lawyer, Tucker Stanclift, said the sentence will depend on the viability of an appeal of a misdemeanor criminal contempt conviction that elevated the recent charge to a felony. If the appeal is granted, the charge to which he pleaded guilty would not be a felony, and would be reduced to a misdemeanor. He would not face state prison if that was to occur. FORT EDWARD A Fort Edward man was jailed Monday for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman he knows after a series of confrontations in which he threatened to kill her with a large hunting knife, police said. Michael J. Lewis, 36, of Seminary Street, was charged with misdemeanor counts of sexual misconduct and menacing, but Fort Edward Police Chief Justin Derway said felony charges were likely in connection with the sexual assault accusations. He said the woman was injured during the sexual assault and was treated at Glens Falls Hospital and released. Police were awaiting medical records to be used in determining whether weightier charges were warranted, Derway said. Derway said Lewis knows the woman, and she reported he had threatened her numerous times in recent weeks with large knives. He made several statements that he was going to cut her head off and put her in a freezer, Derway said. He did not wield a knife during the alleged sexual assault, but the attack prompted her to contact police. Lewis has a large knife and sword collection, which police have been unable to locate since his arrest. Officers believe he hid the weapons when he became aware that the woman had contacted Fort Edward Police. Lewis was arraigned in Fort Edward Village Court and sent to Washington County Jail for lack of bail. The Washington County District Attorneys Office was reviewing the case for possible grand jury action and felony charges. Derway and Fort Edward Police Sgt. Dean Watkins investigated the case. FORT EDWARD Supervisor Mitchell Suprenant finally got the definitive answer to one question Tuesday, and also got the answer to the next one he knew was coming. People have been asking me, When are they going to start work? When are they going to start work? Suprenant said as a group of 50 dignitaries prepared for the groundbreaking of the new Market 32 supermarket at 354 Broadway. Well, they have started work, so now people will ask, When will it open? When will it open? Fortunately for Suprenant, Mona Golub, vice president of public relations and consumer services of Price Chopper, which is converting all its stores to the new Market 32 style and name, had an immediate answer. Yes, we expect to be open in time for people to do their holiday shopping here, she said at a gathering after the groundbreaking at the Idle Hour Club on Rogers Island. We are not exactly sure when, but we expect to be open in time for the end-of-the-year holidays. Workers from Bast Hatfield Construction were already on the site working on the new store, which will employ about 150 people, many of them part-time. The 42,000-square-foot store, being built on a former brownfield site that was cleaned up by a coalition of public and private groups, is at the site of a former Grand Union supermarket. The Fort Edward store is about half the size of the Price Chopper on Glen Street in Queensbury. This will be the first Market 32 in New York state that will have been built from the ground up. The others in the state, including one in Wilton, have been converted from previous Price Chopper stores. There have been Market 32 stores built in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Jerry Golub, vice president of the board, gave an extensive history of the company, which was founded in 1932, and explained the design ideas behind the new Market 32 stores. What were doing here is very special for us, said Golub, whose company has 135 stores in six states. It goes beyond business for us. Its about raising the quality of life. Golub said the switch to the Market 32 name is a brand vision that the company hopes will take it forward into the future. He also said the prices in the Fort Edward store would be the same as they are in the Price Choppers in Glens Falls and Queensbury. We are not going to charge more just because were the only supermarket out in Fort Edward, he said. Were not about that. Major project More than 1,000 tons of contaminated soil have been sent to a secure landfill and 2,500 tons were treated at the Environmental Soil Management Companies facility to remove the contamination. Another 30 tons were treated for being contaminated with semi-volatile organic compounds. The treated soil will be reused at the site. Town of Fort Edward officials bought the site for $1 from Washington County, which had acquired it for nonpayment of taxes. Fort Edward agreed to take on the cost of cleanup. David Kaplan, of New York City-based Kaplan Realty, and Bruce Ginsberg, of Ikon Realty in Albany, are developing the site and will lease the property to the Golub Corp. This was a true collaboration, Ginsberg said Tuesday. It took all of our resources and all of us working together. We are ecstatic because its been a long process. Mona Galub agreed. People do not realize how long it takes to develop a project like this, she said. Its been almost four years since the idea first came up. Working together Darlene DeVoe, grant coordinator for Fort Edward, obtained two grants from the Environmental Protection Agency of $200,000 each to help fund the assessment and remediation of the site. National Grid also had $300,000 in the project.DeVoe estimated the site-preparation cost is about $1.9 million not including construction of the supermarket itself. The cost of the whole project has previously been estimated at $15 million. Its hard for a community to jump into a contaminated site, DeVoe said. But you either do it or it just stays there. Daniel Eaton, representing the state Division of Environmental Remediation, also pointed to the collaboration involved and praised the town. The Inter-Agency Work Group was the key, getting everyone together, he said. And a lot of credit goes to the town for being forward-thinking and having the chutzpah to take it on. A lot of towns would not have had the chutzpah. Suprenant called it a dream project. Sometimes, you have to go big or go home. We have had some crazy ideas, he said. It was a dream project, and I never knew the dream would come true. Now, we look forward to the ribbon-cutting, which is the next step, Suprenant added. GLENS FALLS A tense primary season has splintered the Democratic Party nationally, but its local pols who gathered Saturday had no hard feelings as they munched on hamburgers and salads. With a backdrop of American flag decorations and live music, many looked forward to unifying around presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in pursuit of the White House in November. Local Democrats coalesced for an afternoon and evening of food and politics at the Lawrence Street Tavern, where the city committee held its annual fundraiser barbecue. Well all come together when its time, Margaret Farrell, committee chairwoman, said from behind a counter, where she and a partner were collecting donations. Farrell has supported Clinton since the former secretary of states presidential bid in 2008, when she lost the Democratic nomination to Barack Obama. And though she supports his rival, Farrell thinks Sanders has a lot of good ideas, too. John Johnson, Glens Falls Democratic Committee treasurer, has been an avid Sanders supporter this primary season. Bernie was addressing issues that need to be addressed, and I think theyre going to be addressed at the convention, he said. Sanders movement will not die if he falls in the primary, he said. If issues Sanders has focused on during the campaign are adequately focused on in Clintons platform, he will vote for her in the general election, Johnson said. But he wants to see what happens at the convention in Philadelphia before committing 100 percent. Either way, he wont be supporting presumptive Republican Party nominee Donald Trump, he said. Alongside Johnson, Fran Cote, a committee member, was more overtly skeptical about Clinton and her chances of getting the nomination, despite her commanding lead in votes and delegates. Something is going to happen at this convention, and I think (Sanders) is going to end up as vice president or end up as president, she said. Shell probably end up voting for Clinton, though, she said, pointing to her strong dislike for Trump. Cote said Sanders campaign has given her and others hope for the future, something she said the country needs. Johnson said the Vermont senator was way ahead of the curve on many issues and has been on the front line. While she agreed that Sanders has homed in on important issues, Mary Gooden, committee member and president of the citys NAACP chapter, thinks he isnt realistic enough to support and is instead backing Clinton. I like the way Hillary is realistic, she said. I think she knows more realistically where this country is going. She too emphasized Democrats need to unite in the general election. We all need to really think about what were voting for, she said. We need to come together. Standing over a steaming grill outside, Bill Loeb, the city committees vice chairman, said events like the cookout are important for people to get involved with. Its an opportunity for people to come together and enjoy the camaraderie of being in the electoral process and not being afraid of it, he said. Loeb, like Farrell, has supported Clinton since 2008, and he said he understood then what many Sanders supporters are experiencing now the likely defeat of their candidate and the pressure to support the nominee. I was saying the same thing eight years ago, he said of Sanders supporters wary of getting behind Clinton. But soon after his candidate conceded the race, he supported Obama in full force. We hope that the Bernie supporters come over, he said. (Clinton) needs to make sure shes meeting their needs. Although Johnson was not yet certain he would back Clinton, he twice referenced his regret about his decision to not vote for the Democratic presidential nominee in 1968. In 1968 the first election he was active in I shouldve voted for Hubert Humphrey, Johnson said. Humphrey ran against Republican Richard Nixon, who won the election. But I was just so angry, Johnson continued. I hope people dont stay at home. Inventory needs to be managed and managed well, or you are going to get in recurring trouble, and lose your credibility and hard-earned conversions, whether Read more At that pioneering workshop, attendees discussed how computers would soon perform all human activities requiring intelligence, including playing chess and other games, composing great music and translating text from one language to another language. These pioneers were wildly optimistic, though their aspirations were unsurprising. Trying to build intelligent machines has long been a human preoccupation, both with calculating machines and in literature. Early computers from the 1940s were commonly described as electronic brains and thinking machines. The Turing test The father of computer science, Britains Alan Turing, was in no doubt that computers would one day think. His landmark 1950 articleintroduced the Turing test, a challenge to see if an intelligent machine could convince a human that it wasnt in fact a machine. Research into AI from the 1950s through to the 1970s focused on writing programs for computers to perform tasks that required human intelligence. An early example was the American computer game pioneer Arthur Samuels program for playing checkers. The program improved by analysing winning positions, and rapidly learned to play checkers much better than Samuels. But what worked for checkers failed to produce good programs for more complicated games such as chess and go. Another early AI research project tackled introductory calculus problems, specifically symbolic integration. Several years later, symbolic integration became a solved problem and programs for it were no longer labelled as AI. Speech recognition? Not yet In contrast to checkers and integration, programs undertaking language translation and speech recognition made little progress. No method emerged that could effectively use the processing power of computers of the time. Interest in AI surged in the 1980s through expert systems. Success was reported with programs performing medical diagnosis, analysing geological maps for minerals, and configuring computer orders, for example. Though useful for narrowly defined problems, the expert systems were neither robust nor general, and required detailed knowledge from experts to develop. The programs did not display general intelligence. After a surge of AI start up activity, commercial and research interest in AI receded in the 1990s. Speech recognition In the meantime, as computer processing power grew, computer speech recognition and language processing by computers improved considerably. New algorithms were developed that focused on statistical modelling techniques rather than emulating human processes. Progress has continued with voice-controlled personal assistants such as Apples Siri and Ok Google. And translation software can give the gist of an article. But no one believes that the computer truly understands language at present, despite the considerable developments in areas such as chat-bots. There are definite limits to what Siri and Ok Google can process, and translations lack subtle context. Another task considered a challenge for AI in the 1970s was face recognition. Programs then were hopeless. Today, by contrast, Facebook can identify people from several tags. And camera software recognises faces well. But it is advanced statistical methods rather than intelligence that helps. Clever but not intelligent yet In task after task, after detailed analysis, we are able to develop general algorithms that are efficiently implemented on the computer, rather than the computer learning for itself. In chess and, very recently in go, computer programs have beaten champion human players. The feat is impressive and clever techniques have been used, without leading to general intelligent capability. Admittedly, champion chess players are not necessarily champion go players. Perhaps being expert in one type of problem solving is not a good marker of intelligence. The final example to consider before looking to the future is Watson, developed by IBM. Watson famously defeated human champions in the television game show Jeopardy. Dr Watson? IBM is now applying it Watson technology with claims it will make accurate medical diagnoses by reading all medical research reports. I am uncomfortable with Watson making medical decisions. I am happy it can correlate evidence, but that is a long way from understanding a medical condition and making a diagnosis. Similarly, there have been claims a computer will improve teaching by matching student errors to known mistakes and misconceptions. But it takes an insightful teacher to understand what is happening with children and what is motivating them, and that is lacking for the moment. There are many areas in which human judgement should remain in force, such as legal decisions and launching military weapons. Advances in computing over the past 60 years have hugely increased the tasks computers can perform, that were thought to involve intelligence. But I believe we have a long way to go before we create a computer that can match human intelligence. On the other hand, I am comfortable with autonomous cars for driving from one place to another. Let us keep working on making computers better and more useful, and not worry about trying to replace us. The General Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU) also criticized the move, accusing government of abandoning its goal of attracting long-term investments into rural agriculture, by implementing tax policies that offer tax exemptions to businesses that invest in agriculture outside regional capitals. This is not good sign. We know that agriculture provide the most needed jobs in rural areas and if you have a lot of investment options, the people might want to stay in the city, Quaye told Starr FM Tuesday. The incentive for someone to invest in rural areas could be the tax. He highlighted the infrastructural challenges in rural communities, arguing that by taxing agribusiness in rural areas, investors are being attracted to choose the urban areas as the first choice for agribusiness investment. If you go to most rural areas, road is an issue, water may be an issue, electricity may be an issue and even carting your goods right from the rural areas is also expensive. So if you tax agriculture and agro-processing activities at the rural level, then you are not providing any incentive for an investor, you are providing incentives that will attract people to choose the urban area as the first choice for agribusiness investment, Quaye said on Starr FM. He said the move will not see improvement in the agro-processing area. We are not going to see improvement in the agro-processing area. May be you can see improvement in food [production]. But if we produce food and we are not able to process them, then the post-harvest loses is also going to be very high. Farmers will complain about lack of market. What we should rather do is to provide more incentives to attract investors to go into rural areas, to invest in agro-processing, not to deter people from going there because most of the agriculture produce that we have in the country come from rural areas, he said. GAWU in a statement warned that the tax imposition could have an unintended consequence of causing rural-urban migration. Sizable investments into rural agriculture and offered relatively decent employment to many people including young women and men, who otherwise would have migrated into congested urban Ghana in search of elusive white-collar jobs, the statement said. GAWU said the tax imposition is bound to have adverse impact on rural agriculture and livelihoods. The policy shift from a zero-related taxation to 12.5 percent tax, is inappropriate and bound to have adverse impacts on rural agriculture and livelihoods. Speaking at the Ghana India Business Forum as part of his 2 day state visit to the country, Mukherjee said trade volumes between the two countries have risen steadily from 1 billion dollars in 2012 to 3 billion dollars in 2015. According to him , Ghanaian business leaders must be ready to diversify and expand as the two countries partner to explore various sectors of mutual benefit . Indias Exports to Ghana are: Pharmaceuticals; semi finished iron and steel; machinery; Sugar; plastic products; wood products and rice. While Ghanas Exports to India are: Cashew Nuts; Scrap Metal; Wood; Cotton; Oil Seeds and Spices. Apart from these traditional exports between the two countries, there is also a growing demand for Indian clothing and textiles, consumer items like biscuits and confectionery, cosmetics and jewellery. The demand for cocoa beans from Ghana to India is also growing. President Pranab Mukherjee, said business leaders in Ghana must be pragmatic to the changing demands of various markets. The minister of foreign affairs Hannah Tettey also speaking at the forum said Ghana is committed to increasing trade volumes between the two countries to meet the 5 billion dollar target. Cabinet has directed the Ministry of Transport to hand over the operations of the PSC Tema Shipyard and Dry Dock Company Limited (PSCT) to the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA). Cabinet took the decision at its 41st Meeting chaired by President John Dramani Mahama. Government expects that, with this decision, the Tema Shipyard would in the long term attract the needed resources to venture into the building of Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) Vessels for the oil and gas industry even as it continues to provide services to the ports and harbours and related sectors in the short to medium term. Cabinet also approved at its 41st Meeting the takeover of an offshore mooring facility from Trafigura, free from encumbrances, at the end of the concession by the Ministry of Petroleum. The Ministry will thereafter transfer the facility to the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) for its use over a period of fifteen (15) years. This is part of governments initiatives to comprehensively reposition TOR in Ghanas downstream petroleum sector to offer regular supply of petroleum products to Ghanaians and our neighbouring countries. The decisions taken to transfer the PSC Tema Shipyard to the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority and the provision of a mooring facility for the use of Tema Oil Refinery are expected to contribute significantly to efforts being made to create more jobs through diversification and value addition to our raw materials. The mooring facility, which is a loading buoy anchored offshore, will also serve as a point of interconnection for tankers loading or offloading gas or liquid petroleum products. Other decisions taken by Cabinet are the approval of an Affirmative Action Bill and a $97,450,000 financing for the second tranche of the modernization of the Kumai Central Market and Kejetia Infrastructure Projects. Issued in Accra on Monday June 13, 2016 Ongoing works to modernize the Kumasi Central Market and the Kejetia Infrastructure Project being worked on by three hundred and forty (340) workers has reached an advance stage and will provide a modern and befitting environment for traders and their customers particularly women who regularly visit the market. The Affirmative Action Bill seeks to advance and ensure women empowerment with the view to according females the enabling and progressive environment in Ghana. President Mahama urged all Ghanaians including, Traditional and Religious Leaders, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Workers, Academia and Students to support the passage of the bill as it makes its way to parliament for consideration and approval. Considering the progress Ghana has made in her democratic journey, the Affirmative Action Bill is deemed to be appropriate, responsive, fit for purpose, progressive and long overdue, President Mahama said during the discussions on the Bill. Social media reports suggested that some candidates in the Eastern Region will be made to re-register due to some inconsistencies in the index numbers. But in an interview with Accra based Citi FM the head of WAEC, Rev. Dr. Samuel Nii Ollenu said the rumors are untrue. "we don't intend cancelling any papers anywhere or asking people to re-write any exams". He said the people peddling such rumours are only being mischievous. He said "sometimes I believe that people just want to play mischief, to serve their own interest". A total of 461,013 candidates from 14,267 public and private Junior High Schools are participating in the examination at 1,598 examination centres across the country. The examination which started on Monday, June 13 will last till Friday, June 17, 2016. The candidates are 239,963 males and 221,050 females. The exams are being supervised by 15,695 invigilators. Dr. Ollenu said though they have recorded some incidents they do not call for the cancellation of papers. "The incidents that we are hearing of are the normal ones like people being caught with mobile phones when they are not suppose to. These are teachers not students," he added. President of Community Health Nurses Association Esther Bamfo said they have reached an agreement with the Ghana Health Service. The agreement, she explained, will maintain their name as Community Health Nurse. Our issues were two;one with our employer and the other one with MMC but for now we are done with that of our employer, that is why we are calling off the strike, she said on Citi FM. Our employers say for them, they will maintain our name Community Health Nurse and they will also support any drive aimed at amending the MMC laws to recognize community health nurses and then also give us a community health certificate, she added. She told Adom FM in a separate interview that the agreement between them and the Ghana Health Service have been documented. I signed on behalf of the nurses and the Director General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Ebenezer Appiah-Denkyira, signed on behalf of Ghana Health Service, he said. Bamfo also called on nurses to resume work, urging them to put in their maximum efforts at work. As the pioneer of private health insurance in Ghana, GLICO HEALTHCARE has always challenged the status quo, setting standards for the market to follow. As part of its commitment to provide prompt and efficient claim settlements for its clients, GLICO HEALTHCARE has employed the services of a full time medical doctor to supervise its claim processes in the person of Dr. Emmanuel Abbeo Annorbah. Dr. Annorbah holds a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery Degree (MBChB) from the University of Ghana Medical School (UGMS). He also obtained a certificate in Biological Science (BSc.) from University of Ghana, Legon in 2009. Prior to joining GLICO HEALTHCARE, Dr. Annorbah worked at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital as a Junior House Officer in the department of Surgery and Pediatrics. He also worked at the Achimota Hospital as a Senior House Officer in the department of Obstetrics & Gynecology and also the department of Internal medicine. Dr. Annorbah also practiced as a General Practitioner, overseeing Medical, Pediatrics, Surgical and Obstetrics & Gynecological cases, management of emergency cases, among others at Trust Hospital, Lapaz Community Hospital and Midway Clinic in the year 2014 and 2015 respectively. He joins GLICO Healthcare Ltd as the Deputy Scheme Manager with a wealth of experience having in addition worked with Medifem, where he worked on verification of claims to assist with prompt payment. Excitedly, the Scheme Manager of GLICO HEALTHCARE, Mrs. Harriet Abotchie commented on Dr. Annorbah's appointment that, The essence of insurance is to pay claims and ensure that all our cherished clients receive the best of healthcare services. With todays increasing cost of health services, we seek to offer all our clients and service providers the needed peace of mind for life. To have a full-time medical doctor as part of our team, demonstrates our commitment to our clients. This means television broadcasting platforms will be expected to switch from broadcasting programmes in analogue transmission to digital. According to him, the general public must not dispose of their analogue television sets. He advised that All you have to do is to go for an approved digital terrestrial set-top boxes in order to enjoy the digital platform. Dr Omane-Boamah also asked Ghanaians to be careful when purchasing television sets, adding that not all flat screen televisions are digital and not all digital television sets conform to Ghanaian standards. The Digital Terrestrial Television Public Forum was used to unveil the digital conformance logo, Digital Ghana Thumb, christened KooDigi. This is being done in collaboration with the Ministry of Education. The ministry is using data from the School Feeding Programme in order to capture as many children as possible. The sector minister Nana Oye Lithur mentioned this at the launch of the National Social Protection Policy She said about 10000 children were registered last week. Oye Lithur had earlier in the year promised that the ministry will by the end of 2016 register 170000 children onto the National Health Insurance Scheme. She explained that partnerships of this nature with stakeholders have helped in the development of social intervention programs by the government. She also said the Ministry also believes in access to health care as a basic human right for vulnerable groups. In 2015 the Ministry in collaboration with the NHIA registered over twelve thousand people who are above 65 on the NHIS and the seven thousand prison inmates and cured lepers. The minister explained that the registration this time around covers basic school children who benefit from the school feeding program. He said: I'm happy to announce that CHRAJ is doing a great work with this case. Department of Social Welfare under the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection are also doing wonderful and I appreciate their work. Yesterday the Director of Investigations and a Principal Investigation Officer in the company of another Officer of CHRAJ met the victim who recounted his ordeal. Honestly it was a terrible narration with unimaginable stress and difficulty. The nearly three hours session began at around 2:20 and ended at 5:10pm, he said. Bama was assaulted by soldiers in Tamale in the Northern Region for allegedly stealing a mobile phone belonging to one of the perpetrators of the assault. He was hanged on a tree, had a gun pointed at him and beaten up in order to force a confession out of him. After the boy subsequently fell unconscious, the soldiers melted plastic bags on his back until he regained consciousness. Lawyer Sosu, who is pushing for the soldiers to be punished, published chilling images of Bama in April. The human rights lawyer visited the victim at the hospital and shared chilling pictures of the boy with multiple wounds he sustained at the hands of the soldiers. The F-X Law & Associates petitioned CHRAJ on 25th April, 2016 for and on behalf of the victim for violation of his rights to personal dignity and rights against torture and dehumanizing treatment under Article 15 of our 1992 Constitution. Sosu said giving the account of what he heard, he believes the soldiers who carried out the brutality should not remain in active service. According to the Dean of the Zimbabwean diplomatic corps in Ghana, Pavelyn Tendai Musaka African journalist should learn to respect our leaders. I just get surprise that this is coming from African journalists; as far as i am concerned if you are an African and doesn't respect another African head of state, i dont know who else to respect him [Robert Mugabe], she said on an interview on Joy news. Speaking on whether President Mugabe is aware of all the numerous quotes attributed to him, Madam Tendai Musaka said: she engaged and challenged the Ghanaian and African media to start respecting their own. She opined that journalists don't attribute quotes to people when they have not quoted. She urged the media and the general public to desist from disrespecting the great president. She however, noted that President Mugabe is not offended or affected by all the falsehood and quotes attributed to him. he is not offended and bored by that; because he is a statesman he does not respond to little boys and girls, she said. According to the Minister of Gender Children and Social Protection Nana Oye Lithur said the document has three main objectives. These she said include "providing effective and efficient social assistance to reduce poverty by 2030, promote productive inclusion and decent work to sustain families and vulnerable communities, and to increase access to formal social security and social insurance for all Ghanaians". Representative of President Mahama, Dr Rashid Pelpuo, a Minister of State at the Presidency, in-charge of Public Private Partnership, said "the policy sets the structures for equitable distribution of resources, thereby, empowering the vulnerable in society and further establishing an institutional framework for co-ordination". He also commended the Ministry for launching a braille version of the policy for the visually impaired. He further promised government's unflinching support to "facilitate and create the needed environment for social protection and inclusion of vulnerable groups to ensure equity and development". Nana Oye Lithur said the government had also developed a Social Protection Bill that was currently at the Attorney Generals Department for consideration. She said the bill when passed "would strengthen the legal environment in creating a stronger social protection framework that empowered and protected all persons". She affirmed governments commitment towards the reduction of social inequalities in the coming years. AMA Chavez as she was affectionately called said she believes President John Mahama appointed her onto the Council of State in order to tone her down. She has however been absent from Ghanaian politics since her appointment on the Council. Following rumours that she was dead, the former NDC National Women's Organizer decided to break her silence. In an interview on Accra-based Joy FM, Ama Benyiwa-Doe said the level of antagonism in the countrys politics is rather worrying. She believes the situation, if not checked could spark violence ahead of the November polls. "Sometimes I sit by my radio and... I wonder why I was put on the Council of State...you know I wish I had been left alone so that I can go out there and do whatever I want to do politically but I think it for a good reason that the President put me on the Council of State...maybe to tone me down for my old age," Ama Benyiwa Doe indicated. But speaking to Pulse.com.gh, Mr Ayariga said the children at the venue were only there as spectators. There were no kids at the delegates congress. There were only kids around the delegates congress. Whiles we were playing music, they were dancing. People should be serious. Wherever you put a music band and play for the next ten minutes, you will see kids coming there, he explained. Will the EC allow them, or the police allow children into a programme like the Accra International Conference Centre?, he asked. Even though we had free food out there and people were also rushing for the free food; even with that one was not in the hall, it was around the hall, he added. Mr. Ayariga, who attended the Congress with his five children, said the children with the delegate tags probably came with their parents as well. Some people [children] also came with their parents. Me for instance, I went there with my kids. My kids were five. Because they are on midterms, they were all there, running around the place and playing...The kids didnt vote. If you even say there were kids there, did they vote? the APC flag bearer asked. Meanwhile, Mr Ayariga has reiterated his vision of an all-inclusive government where all Ghanaians regardless of their political or ethnic background will come together to build the country. Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! TMZ reports, Amber Heard, called the police after Johnny sent his people to remove things from their home inLos Angeles, California. The police responded to Ambers call for a possible violation of court order after Johnnys people were seen carrying out furniture and other personal items belonging to the actor out of the house. Johnny was ordered to stay 100 yards away from his home with Amber after she was granted a restraining order against him. It all started when Dayo Amusa yesterday, June 13, 2016 called Olunloyo a frustrated psycho for saying that Jide Kosoko be investigated for ritualism and occult practices and was dragged by Olunloyo who tagged her a Nollywood prostitute. Amusa later went on to call the social media critic a criminal and refugee from the United States. According to her, the social media queen is a troll and a fraudster whose career was destroyed in 2005. Not stopping there she also told Olunloyo to list all what she achieved in Canada asides Cyber bullying. ALSO READ: Dayo Amusa Kemi Olunloyo drags actress for calling her a psycho @HNNAfrica Come out with what u achieved in Canada aside resulting to cyber bullying," she wrote, adding some swear words like, "Oloriburuku, alinitiju, Omo irankiiran." Olunloyo known for her epic comebacks called Amusa a condom snatching whore. "@DayoAmusa I didn't know u were this stupid used condom snatching whore. I hear you send semen straight to the ritualists so u can make cash." Lil Wayne initially refused treatment from medical officials but when the second seizure occurred the plane had to return back to Omaha and the rapper had to be rushed to the emergency room. Presently Lil Wayne is said to be stable and recuperating. ALSO READ: Fans snub Lil Wayne at Italian fashion show For those familiar with Lil Wayne's medical history, this incident should not be surprising. The Cash Money rapper is an infamous addict of sizzurp- a mixture of cough syrup, soda and candy. Sizzurp is popular in Hip-Hop circles and it is said that the codeine in the cough syrup make the user slow and sleepy. Lil Wayne can be described as one of the poster boys of codeine abuse in rap music. He has had a celebrated relationship with the drug. His red double cup usually has codeine in it. For a while now Lil Wayne has been off the substance after a near death experience. On March 12, 2013 Lil Wayne was rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after having several seizures on a music video set. He was released the next day only to be found unconscious after experiencing more seizures. He was rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit. It was reported that large amounts of codeine was found in his stomach. Lil Wayne's condition was so serious that TMZ reported that he had died. Luckily he pulled through and bounced back. Prior to this scary episode he had a seizure aboard his private jet in 2012. Since his near death experience in 2013, Lil Wayne has stayed off 'lean'. However in January, 2016 TMZ revealed that Lil Wayne was back on codeine. "Lil Wayne is back on lean -- despite his close brush with death nearly three years ago -- and it's so bad he's bringing the stuff everywhere he goes. Sources close to Weezy tell us he started sippin' the sizzurp a few months ago and hasn't even been hiding it by flashing his double cup. He's rarely been photographed without one in recent weeks" wrote TMZ. From all indication the TMZ story was correct. When Lil Wayne nearly was fighting for his life in 2013 the world held its breath. His millions of fans did not want to see him ago. The music community prayed for Lil Wayne to pull through from the health scare. ALSO READ: Lil Wayne slapped with another lawsuit I highly doubt that this will not be the situation now. When it was revealed that Lil Wayne was having seizures yesterday, there was little sympathy from him online. Many of his fans were disappointed that he had gone back to drinking codeine. I doubt there will be crying and gnashing of teeth when Lil Wayne dies from codeine overdose. Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! It was gathered that Akanwa had brought the girl who is her brother's child to live with her and her family at Iponri Police Barracks, from Okofia, in Anambra State in 2015, after promising to send her to school but instead, turned the girl into a slave for the family made up of her husband and two children. According to her neighbours, the young victim was said to have assisted with the house chores, as well as the management of Akanwas recharge cards business, but was always flogged mercilessly anytime she ran foul of her aunt's instructions. A neighbour who did not want her name mentioned, said that on one of such occasions, Akanwa battered for allegedly selling a recharge card of N1,000 for N970, leaving her with severe bruises all over her body. It was Unenemes teacher at St. Paul Primary School, Iponri, who discovered the scars, and took her to a hospital for treatment but the hospital management refused to treat her, insisting on a police extract before going ahead with the treatment. The school was said to have written a petition to the Lagos State Office of the Public Defender (OPD), on the matter and officials of the agency and policewomen from the Area C Police Command were said to have gone to the barracks to arrest the suspect. In her statement at the OPD, Akanwa allegedly confessed to the crime, saying she never meant to inflict injuries on her niece. Chioma (Uneneme) is my niece. I brought her to Lagos last year and she has been staying with me. I never intended to inflict injuries on her. Some time ago, a customer came to buy a N1,000 recharge card. She sold it for N970 after the person said he did not have the balance. I spanked her for it. The latest happened on June 7. My husband and I were not in the house. Somebody came and said my husbands car was blocking his and he could not move out. She gave the person my husbands car key and the man bashed my husbands car while trying to move it. When I returned and saw what had happened, I beat her. Aside these, she steals from me. I beat her like I beat my children. The Director of the OPD, Omotola Rotimi, said the victims class teacher discovered the scars on her back and took her to the hospital. But the hospital management asked for a police extract. The school then decided to write a petition to us. We immediately waded in and reported at the Area C Police Command. Some of our officials and the police went to the barracks to get her arrested. The initial scars she got from the beating had not healed, yet she decided to inflict more injuries on her. She used her hand, cane, stick and other objects to beat her. People must learn to control their anger. We have taken custody of the child and she is now in one of our transit homes. The suspect has two children, including a baby of about six months. It was gathered that the shocking incident happened on Saturday, June 11, at the family JB Street, Ekosodin Ugbowo, around the University of Benin. An eyewitness narrated how the ugly incident happened: "The place is actually a campus area and I happen to live there because of the nearness to school. I heard a noise outside and decided to know what's going on. At first I thought It was normal cultist fight again, not until I saw people crying. I was so scared and asked what happened and I was told that a man poured fuel on his wife and set her ablaze and ran away. This ; the weavon she fix peeled off on her skin. Her skin was in layers and were all gone as at the time I ran out. She was rushed to the hospital but I heard hospitals are on strike, so I don't know how she's going to survive the terrible burns and pain." The accused, Vincent Chikwukume and Nnandi Ujunwa, were arraigned under Sections 79 and 267 of the Penal Code, after they were caught in the act inside a car parked by the road by policemen on routine surveillance of the city on Aminu Kano Crescent, Wuse II, at 12:45 a.m., on Wednesday, June 8. The police prosecutor, A.Z. Dalhatu, told the court that when the police subjected the accused persons to interrogations, the defendants came out of the car and assaulted one Sergeant Okpwe John, attached to the police patrol team. When the charges were read to the accused, they both pleaded not guilty and were granted bail by the presiding judge, Abubakar Sadiq, in the sum of N30,000 each, with two sureties who must be on Grade Level 10 in the Federal Civil Service. When the defence counsel Nnameka Ezeani, applied for a court order for the release of the car in which the act was allegedly committed, the presiding judge refused, saying that the issue of the car was not mentioned in the first information report presented to the court and therefore lacked capacity to order for its release. "My name is Stephanie, a 37-year-old lady.I have been burnt seriously by a man I picked up from the gutters, polished his life and that of his family members, all in the hope of getting married. But now, Lawrence has paid me back in the most wicked ways that I have come to the conclusion that no man can ever be treated with kids gloves. I am into the oil and gas business and without blowing my trumpet, I can say that I am well to do and my business is booming, so much that I have been able to build five houses in different parts of the country. My parents and siblings are well taken care of but the only snag is that I have not been lucky in love. Men have used and dumped me in the most callous way anyone can ever think of. Most of my friends are all married with kids and it was in the quest to also settle down that I ran into that rascal who has turned me into a man, so much that even the sight of men irritates me. I met Lawrence after my fiance of six years ran away with my money to Europe. For three years, I was not willing to date another man until Mercy, a very good friend of mine, introduced me to Lawrence, a man who was five years younger than me. It took me time before I could get used to the idea of dating a man younger than me but with time and with my friend's prodding, I decided to give it a shot. Law turned out to be the kind of man I ever wanted. He did not allow my status to be a hindrance as he showed that he was very much in love with me. Being the person that I am, I let loose and made sure Law had the best of everything. When I met him, he was just a struggling young man trying to make ends meet but I wanted my man to measure up to my taste, so I gave him a huge amount of money to set up a business. He had access to my home and was very useful in my business that I had to allow him take some decisions as to how the business was run. His family too was not left out in the largess as I also turned their lives around. When Lawrence proposed to me, I was so happy that I did not hesitate to agree to marry him. Little did I know that he was just scheming to get what he wanted from me because before I got to know, he had almost milked me dry. I started noticing a sharp fall in my company's revenue and when I asked him what was responsible, he excused away with the economic situation in the country. But when it persisted, I had to bring in external auditors who discovered that almost N5r0 million could not be accounted for. As I stormed home that day, I was bent on giving a piece of my mind to Lawrence but I met another shocker when I got home. Lawrence was no where to be found and when I asked the security man, he told me that Law had driven out in one of my exotic cars and had dropped a letter for me. With trembling hands, collected the letter and just reading the first line, I lost consciousness and when I came to in the hospital, it came back to me that Lawrence had left me. He told me he was traveling out of the country with his wife and that I should not look for him. He thanked me for providing him with the means to marry his lover. As I write this, I have almost gone out of my mind as many thoughts have been ravaging my mind on how to exact my revenge. I am contemplating wiping out his family members and destroying Lawrence totally. Stephanie." The teaser for the day was: How Nigeria voted I will destroy him/her - 13% I will report him/her to the police - 5% I will deal with him/her spiritually - 7% I will leave everything to God - 82% The man, according to the reports, was said to have landed on his head and died instantly just as the corpse was found in a drainage beside the house in a mutilated state with the skull shattered. A sympathiser at the scene said the man, who hailed from Niger State, stayed alone in his flat on the third floor of the building while his family members lived abroad and had just returned to the country from a medical trip to South Africa. According to Punch Metro, Salami was trying to settle the fight that broke out when he was stabbed to death by the OPC member. Report has it that the body of the deceased has been taken for autopsy at the Mainland General Hospital morgue. The murder was said to be a planned attack, as Kabiru reportedly connived with his gang to kill the victim. According to a resident of the area who spoke on a condition of anonymity, the fight was a reprisal attack by the Kabiru. The resident said, Kabiru actually asked a man to bring a chair for him to sit on, but the man refused. He attacked the man and injured him in the nose. The victim mobilised his gang for retaliation and they wreaked some havoc. Kabiru vowed to fight back. The matter was taken to a community leader, who asked the two parties to maintain the peace. According to another witness, some efforts were made to discourage Kabiru from carrying out his revenge, but all fell to deaf ears. The Senator said Me and two other two colleagues from Bayelsa State in this Senate were inundated with calls from our constituents, since the list was released, drawing our attention to the fact that no nominee from Bayelsa was on that list. Initially I thought those calls were misplaced but as we go through the record this morning, the facts that are available to us even at the Foreign Affairs ministry, shows that at least we have two Bayelsans that are in the level of deputy directors. I believe that these two personalities can fit in to where these nominees came from. Equally on the list, there are some states that have up to three nominees. Adding that the Non-inclusive of any Bayelsans on the list is a clear violation of our right in the Constitution. My only prayer is that before the committee considers this list, I implore you (the Senate President) and my colleagues to intervene through the committee. Infact, communicate to the Presidency of the omission so that justice can be done to the state called Bayelsa. Senate President, Bukola Saraki however called Paulker to order, saying the issue will not be debated. He also said However, I am happy that the Chairman, Committee on Foreign Affairs, Senator Monsurat Sunmonu, is here and am sure they will take note of this observation while they carry out their work on this matter and I am sure also by tomorrow (Tuesday) they would have committed that to the foreign affairs committee to work on that. Senator Dino Melaye also revealed his ambition to become Nigerias President. Bello stated this in Lokoja while receiving the 5th World Bank/FGN Joint Mission to Kogi on FADAMA III AF Implementation team on a three-day projects visit to the state. The governor, who was represented by his deputy, Mr Simon Achuba, said his administration believes the almost limitless value chains in the sector (agriculture) can replace crude oil earnings 100 per cent within a decade. ``My vision and yearnings since assumption of office has been to transform Kogi State into an industrial/economic destination with the agricultural sector playing a pivotal role, particularly through massive support for cassava and rice value chains, `` he said. The governor expressed the determination of his government to ensure the success of the World Bank-assisted FADAMA III Additional Financing agricultural projects through prompt payment of counterpart contributions. Bello, however, pointed out that the one hectare per farmer of the `Brown Field` was difficult to achieve without assistance on land clearing. He, therefore, requested for an increase in land clearing allocation to Kogi by 100 per cent. Earlier, leader of the World Bank team, Dr Salau Sheu, stressed the need for the state government to pay its counterpart contribution to provide more food and create jobs. Sheu said the bank would continue to support agriculture and rural development in the state. He observed that the dwindling revenue from crude oil should serve as a wake-up call to all Nigerians to take agriculture more seriously. In his speech, FADAMA National Coordinator, Dr Gbenga Arokoyo, said the cassava specie being produced by FADAMA farmers in the state had the best quality starch content. Arokoyo called on the government to facilitate the establishment of more cassava processing plants in the state to provide the needed market for farmers. Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, said this on Monday in Abuja when he led officers of the army on a visit to the Minister of Communications, Mr Adebayo Shittu. Buratai said the use of technology like the galaxy backbone; satellite and data communication would go a long way in addressing the security challenges in Nigeria. The army chief said they were in the ministry to partner in the area of communication security, adding that communication is vital to military operations and general administration. ``We have a number of platforms in the North-East and Niger-Delta and we need a closer collaboration from the ministry of communications. ``With the availability of the galaxy backbone and satellite outfit, we know that these facilities and institutions have great impact in terms of our communication needs. ``We have been collaborating already in terms of providing the basic communication and other facilities we need to expand further and this is vital. ``National security is the key and we can collaborate more in the fight against Boko Haram and other security challenges in the country to enable us carry out our task more efficiently and professionally, he said. Burutai added that the army was also working closely with telecommunication firms in the North-East towards reinstalling masts destroyed by Boko Haram insurgents. He said that the military was not overwhelmed by the recent activities of militants in the Niger Delta, but needed a robust collaboration to end security threats. On the recent compulsory retirement of some senior military officers, Buratai said the exercise followed due process and in accordance with the laws governing the force. ``This achievement is due to the leadership the Chief of Army Staff has been providing and when you have the right leadership things can be different. ``I am happy that the COAS in realisation of the importance of this ministry decided to pay a visit with the view to getting collaboration between the army and this ministry. ``I believe that only the best can come out of this collaboration we are laying the foundation today. This ministry with the various departments has the best that can transform the army. Shittu pledged the ministrys readiness to contribute in no small way in developing further the army in the country. The minister also expressed the readiness of the ministry to ensure that all destroyed masts in the North-East are fixed by the telecommunication operators. ``If there is no security, no business will strive and if there security challenges telecommunication business will crash, if there is no security lives and properties will be in jeopardy, said Shittu. On the issue of MTN fine, the minister said that Nigerians should be happy that the matter had been laid to rest once and for all. Shittu said: ``We in government needs the private sector just as the private sector needs government to make progress. ``Government business is not necessarily run on the pages of newspapers; you wouldnt know what transpired between stakeholders. I want to assure you that I am aware with all the decisions that were taken. Buratai made the comment on Monday, June 13, 2016, while visiting the Minister of Communication, Adebayo Shittu in Abuja, Leadership reports. There is no better time for the retrenchment than now. It took us long time with painstaking investigation and procedures to ensure that we dont pick the innocent ones, Buratai said. We started with enquiry first of all which a senior officer chaired. After that we did the legal review and after the legal review we forwarded our results to the higher authority for consideration. So the people were given fair hearing and just like in the court process we also have our legal department which give every officer fair hearing on issue like this. So, I think this is right time for the officers to go, he added. Describing the by Al Jazeera as merely uncalled for, Diezani said it clearly shows a clearly a malicious attempt to victimize an innocent woman in what appears an exaggerated plot to validate and give credibility to the anti-corruption crusade under Nigerias new regime. Unhappy with the reactions the report has generated, she wrote, "My attention has been drawn to a report by Al Jazeera, which was released on Monday as a testament to the effectiveness of Nigerias Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in its war against corruption." Continuing, she said, "In the video report, which has been widely circulated in the social media, there are claims about me owning a property in Abuja allegedly worth $18 million. The report, which represents everything ridiculous and despicable about professional media practice and global best practices in the war against corruption, is the latest attempt to give a dog a bad name in order to hang it. Clips of jewelry allegedly worth over $2 million were also copiously displayed as if to feed the cravings of an audience gratified with the notion that every wealthy Nigerian is corrupt. "This will not be the first time calculated attempts have been made to demonise and damage my reputation in the public space. Many times, my detractors have gotten away with these irresponsible smear campaigns because they have become accustomed to my characteristic approach of silence in the face of these callous attacks," Diezani said. Continuing, the onetime elegant beauty said, "The latest in the string of propaganda attacks launched against my person since I left government as Nigerias Petroleum Minister is this Al Jazeera report, which without any court conviction anywhere in the world attempts to dress Diezani Alison Madueke in the garb of a common criminal. This, to say the least, is the height of journalistic brigandage and a sheer mockery of Nigerias anti-corruption war before the eyes of the world who are watching and asking if the war against corruption is a circus show where suspects are prosecuted and sentenced on the pages of newspapers and video blogs without anything as remotely in the semblance of a trial in the courts of law." Decrying the reports as public ridicule at a time she is battling cancer, Diezani said, "Coming at such a critical time in my life when I am battling cancer, this poorly executed propaganda bares on its face like tribal marks, a clearly malicious attempt to victimize an innocent woman in what appears an exaggerated plot to validate and give credibility to the anti-corruption crusade under Nigerias new regime. People who are battling cancer or those who have lost their loved ones to this medical condition understand what I am going through at this time. This is what makes me ponder at the cold-heartedness of those who will go any length to defame and destroy in the name of propaganda. What happened to our shared humanity? "I have absolute regard for the law and believe that people who have breached the laws that govern societies should be made to face the wrath of the law. But in a civilized society, a responsible government owes its citizens absolute commitment to the principles of rule of law, equity, fairness and justice. I have been wrongfully and maliciously maligned and those behind this reckless action know it," she said. Questioning the rationale behind querying her love for jewelry, Diezani said, 'When did it become a crime to own a property in Nigeria? When did it become a crime for a woman of my status to have in her possession, jewelry? Jewelry, which women all across the world, including the woman selling tomatoes in Bodija market have in abundance in their closets? In which court of law, anywhere in the world was I prosecuted by the EFCC and found guilty of corruption? With all sense of modesty, I say this only for posterity and for the records. I have strived within my means and the blessings of God to live a decent and accomplished life. I studied architecture in England and obtained a bachelors degree from Howard University, United States of America in 1992. When I returned to Nigeria that same year, I joined Shell Petroleum Development Corporation. In 2002, I obtained an MBA at Cambridge University, United Kingdom. In April 2006, I was appointed by Shell as the companys first female Executive Director in Nigeria. In July 2007, I was appointed by the late President Umaru Musa YarAdua as Minister of Transport. The next year in December 2008 I became Minister of Mines and Steel Development. In April 2010, I was appointed as Minister for Petroleum Resources and served in that capacity till May 2015. During this period as Petroleum Minister, I had the honour of serving Nigeria and representing her in the Organization of Oil Exporting Countries (OPEC) where I was elected first female President. All through my career, I have strived to maintain a record of hard work, integrity and excellence, giving my best to society, because my parents raised me in the consciousness that a man or womans greatness is defined not by the amount of wealth they have acquired but the impact of their service to God and humanity." She ended it all saying, 'I leave them to posterity, their conscience and above all the Almighty God who is the final judge of all.' The group also said Over time, the present administration in Ekiti has proved to have a way of sniffing out information from the federal authority, why was this particular one missed? The Ekiti government owe her citizens some explanations on why the State refused participating in a national programme that was alleged by Senator Babafemi Ojudu to have been in its planning stage since last year September. We cant but wonder why the state government only concerned itself with clarifying why the state wasnt represented at the flag-off ceremony but tactically ignored the exclusion of the state in the school feeding program. Adding that We are aware that a process must have led to the eventual flag off of the programme, the big question is, was Ekiti State represented in this build up towards the Launching of the School feeding program in Abuja? If not, why? Governor Ayo Fayose said he would not contribute to the Federal Governments School Feeding Programme. The president made the condemnation in a letter to the Ambassador of the United States in Nigeria, Mr James Entwistle. A statement issued in Abuja on Monday by the president's Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, said that Buhari conveyed Nigerias heartfelt sympathy to President Barrack Obama and the people of United States of America. ``President Buhari extends his most sincere condolences to the families, relatives and friends of the victims. ``The president condemns such criminal, cowardly attack, wherever it might occur, as an attack on all decent, democratic, peaceful people. ``Every terrorist attack only strengthens Nigerias resolve to stand shoulder to shoulder with the United States and other countries in the front line of the war on terror,' the letter, signed by the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, read. The former petroleum minister has stolen so much from Nigeria that she is now the stuff of legends. According to a video report published by Al Jazeera on June 11, 2016, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has seized a home worth $18 million from Ms Alison-Madueke. The mansion is located in Asokoro, Abuja and it boasts of a bulletproof gym and $2 million worth of furniture. The EFCC had earlier also seized a watch worth 600,000 from Alison-Maduekeand one worth 1.4m from the wife of her associate, Jide Omokore. Ms Alison-Madueke is believed to have personally supervised the looting of $6 billion (N1.2 trillion) from Nigerias coffers and is also accused of bribing officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) with $115million (N23.29bn) to secure a re-election for former president, Goodluck Jonathan. We have been able to take on a lot of big shots that were hitherto untouchableWe have recorded 164 convictions in just one year, EFCC Chairman, Ibrahim Magu told Al Jazeera in the video report which featured shots of assets and cash which have been seized from looters of public funds. Magu was very right, Ms Alison-Madueke was indeed untouchable during the Jonathan regime and that most definitely contributed to her madness because absolute power corrupts absolutely. According to former Central Bank Governor, and now Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, going against the former minister during Jonathans regime was akin to suicide. I knew that taking on the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporaton was taking on the most powerful minister in Jonathans government, and nobody who had touched Diezani had survived, he said during an interview with Forbes Africa. Sanusi was severely harassed by the government after he disclosed that funds had gone missing from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) which was under Ms Alison-Maduekes control. A lot of people have argued that the former minister is innocent until proven guilty, but those are the words of people who have been tainted by a warped system. Diezani herself is also claiming to be innocent and has even invited God into the matter fully knowing that he is merciful and kind and as such would not give her the response she deserves. I leave them to posterity, their conscience and above all the Almighty God who is the final judge of all, she wrote in reaction to the Al Jazeera video. The former minister also went ahead to whip up sympathy by emphasizing that she has cancer. Coming at such a critical time in my life when I am battling cancer, this poorly executed propaganda bares on its face like tribal marks, a clearly malicious attempt to victimize an innocent woman in what appears an exaggerated plot to validate and give credibility to the anti-corruption crusade under Nigerias new regime, she said. People who are battling cancer or those who have lost their loved ones to this medical condition understand what I am going through at this time. This is what makes me ponder at the cold-heartedness of those who will go any length to defame and destroy in the name of propaganda. What happened to our shared humanity? she asked. Ms Alison-Madueke forgets that it is not just the Nigerian government that is investigating her for corruption. The United Kingdom and the United States of America are also involved and they rarely take action without cold, hard facts so she should please put an end to her poorly organized pity party. Even if Alison-Madueke is found innocent in a court of law, it doesnt change the fact that shes a thief. Res ipsa loquitur, the facts speak for themselves. How can one person be connected to so much insane thievery? The minister alone has been accused of illegally enriching Omokore, billionaire, Kola Aluko, INEC and even Fidelity Bank. No human being with a conscience and sanity would steal like Diezani did, especially not from a developing country. But she stole, she stole like a crazy person. She and her cohorts were living large on ill-gotten wealth while the average Nigerian suffered. For those saying Diezani is innocent, please answer me this, why did she need a bulletproof gym? Why? Is it not to protect herself from the evil she knew her actions could attract? Or maybe thats where she kept all the stolen oil dollars. Also, if she is so innocent, why was Sanusi Lamido persecuted for her sake? Why were all attempts to probe her during Jonathans regime stopped? Why did she run out of the country before Buhari was sworn in? Why was she arrested by the UK government? Why are Aluko and Omokore being investigated when she is their only connection to public office? Madam Diezani should please stop adding insult to injury by lying after robbing the country blind. The former petroleum minister is clearly suffering from a serious mental disorder, one that has plagued many Nigerian officials and caused them to steal like crazy people while also leaving them in denial of their guilt. Christian students on Tuesday, June 14, 2016, also defiantly came to school with various church garments. Justice Jide Falola of the Osun state High Court on June 3, 2016, ruled that Muslim students can wear Hijabs in public schools, adding that it was part of their fundamental rights. In a swift reaction, the state chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) also threatened to instruct Christian students to wear choir robes and other religious garments to school. CAN also accused the Osun Governor, Rauf Aregbesola of trying to Islamise the state through the approval of Hijabs in schools. Premium Times reports that officials of the Christian group were in various schools across the state to ensure the rights of the students with garments were not violated. A CAN representative in Iwo, Paul Olagoke said We are here to ensure that no student is send back home from school. We are here to defend the right of our children, since the female Muslim students are free to wear hijab, our own children also are free to wear anything. Also, the principal of Baptist High School, Omotayo Arowolo said school activities were going on as usual. The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has however appealed the ruling. The minister disclosed this at the South-South region town hall meeting hosted by his ministry to give account of stewardship of President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to the people. Mohammed specifically said that Julius Berger and RCC had returned to the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, while the CGC had started work on the Bode Sadu-Jebba road and the Abuja-Lokoja road. The minister added that the second Niger Bridge was in the 2016 budget and work was expected to start soon. He noted that with the resumption of work at the sites, government had started putting Nigerians back to work, in fulfillment of its promise to create jobs. He said ``as contractors are mobilised back to various road construction projects across the country, building and ancillary workers are returning to work in droves. Let me list some of the road construction works that have now resumed: ``As more and more road construction works resume in the days ahead, thousands of Nigerians will also be returning to work.'' The minister said that government had also commenced the process of recruiting and training 500,000 teachers, specifically targeting unemployed university graduates. He said the online recruitment, through the portal npower.gov.ng, came on stream at the weekend. Mohammed said an agreement had been signed to reposition the River Basin Development Authorities within the next 18-24 months. According to him, the agreement signed with the Songhai Farms of Benin Republic include training of unemployed youths in integrated farm practice. ``This programme is complimentary to the upcoming Youth Agriculture Empowerment Programme being planned by Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.'' The minister assured that the process of every employment opportunity by the government would be made transparent. On the economy, he said government was working to provide fresh but conditional financial support for states, many of which have been finding it difficult to pay their workers salaries. ``This will be a follow-up to such support call it bailout if you like which the Federal Government gave to the states last year. ``This will go a long way in ensuring industrial peace and providing succor to thousands of Nigerians and their dependents, he said. He then thanked the host Governor, Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom for the warm reception and immense support to the success of the town hall meeting. He said ``this is the first time we are holding this town hall meeting in a state that is not controlled by our party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), and we are surely not disappointed. ``You have proven that though we may not share the same political platform, we all believe in the oneness of this country. ``You have set a good example that we hope all others will follow. ``It has lent credence to the statement by President Buhari, that he will be the President of all Nigerians, including those who voted for him and those who did not, he said. The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, who was at the meeting, told the audience that the 2016 budget of the FederalGovernment ``is unique and restructured completely from the past.'' He said 30 per cent of the budget was allocated to capital project compared to last year's budget which had only 11 per cent capital. The minister also said that N250 billion was voted for road projects compared to N18 billion voted in 2015 budget. Though the state Police Public Relations Officer, John Eluu denied any knowledge of the arrest, the spokesman of MASSOB in Cross River, Okon Archibong said the state chairman, Samuel Okah was arrested. Archibong said We have not had any other activity outside the May 30 commemoration of Biafra Anniversary Day, but last night the police from Ikom division went to the home of our state coordinator, Samuel Okah, and nine other persons. They were all arrested. They did not tell us why the members were arrested. They are all being detained at the Ikom Police Station. No reason was given for their arrest. I have gone to see them at the Ikom police station this morning and they are in the cell. I sought to know why they were being held back but no feedback. During our anniversary march, we did not engage in any confrontation with anybody or group, not even with the police, who gave approval, he added. The Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) have warned seven governors in Eastern Nigeria to release the Biafra supporters who are being held in their states within 72 hours. Abubakar said they are only destroying the environment and putting the people of the region in danger. The former President also added that the continued bombing of pipelines will affect the funding of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). Abubakar also said I hope that they will come back to their senses and let us try to give this country peace. We do not deserve what we are going through. We need peace and I am begging everybody in the spirit of Ramadan, whatever religion everybody is following. Please let us give peace a chance. Channels TV reports that he said this while receiving members of the Niger state House of Assembly in his home. Abubakar said All we need to do is to sit down in a round table and discuss this problem. Even if you fight a war and win you must come and sit down with the people you conquered. What is Boko Haram? Nobody knows what they want. The Avengers are now out, what are they avenging? The former Head of State also said the low income from crude oil sales will also affect the 13% derivation given to the Niger-Delta region. He also asked the Federal Government to dialogue with all the insurgent groups. Abdulsalami Abubakar was military President of Nigeria from June 9, 1998 to May 29, 1999. He handed over power to Olusegun Obasanjo on May 29, 1999. undefinedon Monday June 13, 2016. It reads: The high command of the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) is using this medium to restate that there are no new items to put on the table for dialogue; we only want a genuine attitude and conducive atmosphere that will make us commit to any proposed dialogue and lasting peace talk. We want the federal government to commit members states of the multinational oil corporations to commit independent mediators to this proposed dialogue; we believe that it is only such environment that will engender genuine dialogue that will be aimed at setting up a framework for achieving the short, medium and long term demands of the Niger Delta to de-escalate this conflict and bring about lasting peace. The NDA high command is restating our commitment to attack the interest of oil corporations and international refineries operators that bring in vessels to the Niger Delta territory to buy our oil that every successive government has refused to use and reapply the proceeds towards any development in the region since 1958. Refusal to heed our advice will result to sinking of two their mother vessel as an example to others. They should not undertake any repair of pipeline, oil and gas facilities that are damaged or attacked by our forces during this period of Operation Red Economy until and/or after the dialogue. We are using this medium to warn and condemn the activities of all brands of social media agitators being peddled around by some politicians to promote their criminal ways in affairs of the Niger Delta. This genuine spirit behind our struggle for the Niger Delta cannot be derailed on the basis of connivance by politicians, traditional rulers, settled ex-agitators and criminals moving around to fill their pockets. The issues of the Niger Delta are as old and as new as the days of Pa Dappa Biriye, Major Jasper Isaac Adaka Boro, Ken Saro Wiwa and the government of President Musa Yar Adua. We are warning this government of President Muhammadu Buhari not to turn the essence of genuine peace talk and dialogue to political jamboree that is prevailing now where all manner of social media agitators and criminals are being sponsored by the job-seeking corrupt political class to save face before the government of the day. The nine-man committee made the plea during an oversight visit to the NPA's Headquarters in Lagos. The Chairman, House Committee on Ports, Harbours and Waterways, Rep. Pat Asadu, said the committee would ensure that the budget was spent appropriately. Asadu said that the committee came to meet stakeholders in the maritime industry to seek their opinion on how to move the industry forward and to also find out challenges hindering their operations. ``The Nigerian economy is facing some challenges and we feel that all hands must be on deck to enable us to realise more revenue for government. ``We are also here to familiarise with the staff, not to intimidate anyone but to encourage them to be more diligent and focused in their operation in achieving all the proposals their budget, he said. Also speaking, the Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Marine Transport, Mr Samuel Anyanwu, said that the joint committee had been mandated to engage in oversight functions in ensuring that Nigerian economy ``does not collapse. Anyawu said that the committee was basically around to assist in solving issues that were beyond the NPA's control, which might have been affecting smooth operations of both the terminal operators and port users. ``We make sure that the Senate approved the budget of NPA and it was our right in making sure that it was spent on the appropriate proposals the agency requested for, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quotes Anyawu as saying. He said that there was the need to collaborate in ensuring that Nigerian ports were attractive and cost effective to attract more users. Okiro made the appeal in a statement issued by his Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mr Supreme Ibitomi, on Monday in Abuja. According to him, dialogue remains the only panacea for lasting resolution of the issues at stake and for sake of corporate existence of the nation. He reminded the militants that their activities would hurt the interest of the region, adding the destruction of oil pipeline would leave serious effects on the already devastated ecosystem of the region. ``The activities of the militants is not only hurting Nigerians, but the real impact is wrecking havoc on Niger Deltans the more, he said. ``It is instructive to remember that oil is deplete-able resource. ``The best option for the region is to use the present window of opportunity to re-negotiate a holistic template to provide the needed critical infrastructure to realistically develop the region in view of the looming post oil era, Okiro said. He said the Federal Government had demonstrated commitment to address some of the major problems of the region with the launching of the Ogoniland clean-up. The legal counsel to the DSS, Tijjani Gazali said El-Zakzaky is still vulnerable and he needs protection. Gazali told an Abuja High Court that He (El-Zakzaky) needs not give his consent, but the point is he remains vulnerable and is under protective custody and the job of the DSS is to protect every Nigerian. This is coming on the heels of an accusation levelled against the security agency by El-Zakzakys counsel, Festus Okoye. Okoye alleges that the Shiite leaders rights are being violated by his continued detention. He said They told us that he is being held at his own will, but we are yet to hear that from him. So until we consult him and he says that then we can confirm it. Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana revealed to newsmen that the Shiite leader is blind in his left eye. Suhaila Ibraheem, the daughter of Shiite sect leader, El-Zakzaky, also accused the Nigerian Army of allegedly killing her 3 brothers. A chieftain of the party, Nasiru Dano, who represented Mrs Buhari at the event stated that the move was part of her nationwide distribution of food items. Dano who did not say the total amount of items donated however stated that "the items are in their hundreds and it is expected to be shared among party members in the FCT." The party's national chairman, John Oyegun who took delivery of the items expressed his appreciation to Mrs Buhari. Items donated include rice, sugar, milk and beverages. Pulse recalls that Oyegun stated at an interactive session with journalists at the APC secretariat that the was APC was broke and "suffering the strains of funding." He noted that the APC does not plan to involve President Muhammadu Buhari, saying "it is not part of his national assignment." Meanwhile, some parents of the missing Chibok girls have said that they are yet to receive the money donated to themby Aisha Buhari. Amaechi also told residents of the area not to vote for the All Progressives Congress (APC) if the party doesnt develop the region. The minister made the comments during a town hall meeting in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state, on Monday, June 13, 2016. It is part of a nation called Nigeria. You cannot continue to shoot against yourselves and think you will survive. You cannot continue to do the things you are doing and expect a different result. You cannot intimidate Nigerians. Dont forget I was governor; I was never intimidated in Rivers state, he said. So if we are fighting a cause, can we now sit down and know what that cause is, who will be the beneficiary, what we did when we had the opportunity to make decisions? Now you are saying, Ask them. Its time to move forward. If we start the blame game, we would do it for four years and we wouldnt have done anything and people dont care about the blame game anymore. The reason why you voted for us is the reason why you are blaming the other people. Having voted for us, it means you heard us when we were campaigning that these people have failed and failed us. In fact I was very excited when your governor made his speech; I said this is a new convert. Now I can hear your governor say a similar thing. Hes using a different word. He is saying we want development. If we dont give you development, next time, dont vote for us. What development do we want to give you from my ministry? One of my offence in the south-south was that there we have no roads; this east west road was not constructed. We are proceeding with Lagos-Kano and Lagos-Calabar. This year, we will commence with Lagos-Kano and then well start with Lagos-Ibadan. Between this year and early next year, we will start with Calabar to Akwa Ibom. The idea is not only because we want to drive up the economy of the south-south people but we also want to convey passengers and goods from Calabar to Uyo so that once the roads are bad, passengers can use other means of transportation. That is our vision for the next two to three years, he added. In a statement signed by the APC national secretary, Mai Mala Buni and made available to Pulse, the ruling party described PDPs allegations as baseless and laughable adding that the opposition is currently "suffering from its sins of the past." The statement reads in full: "The National Secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in reacting to the baseless and laughable allegations of a faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which accuses the APC and the Presidency of being behind the Ali Modu Sherrif-led PDP faction wishes to remind the PDP that it is suffering from its sins of the past. "In monitored media reports on Tuesday, the Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led Caretaker Committee of the PDP speaking through a spokesperson accused the APC and the Presidency of being behind a faction of the PDP ostensibly to ensure that the PDP is in perpetual crisis and unable to produce credible candidates for the forth coming elections in Edo and Ondo state. "For the umpteenth time, the APC wishes to state that instead of joining issues with the baseless and laughable allegations, the APC would rather join issues that will bring about all-inclusive development in the country. "However, it should be put on record that the PDP forced on them whatever crisis it is troubled with today due to its politics of imposition and other undemocratic practices which the APC abhors. "The PDP should put its house in order rather than playing to the gallery and blaming others but themselves for their sins which has come to hunt them. Also, it is evident that the PDP has chosen to employ diversionary tactics because of its inability to produce credible candidates for the forthcoming elections in Edo and Ondo states." I am not against the University. I hope you people appreciate that. My argument about Okerenkoko is that the land alone is N13 billion. If you give me N13 billion I will buy half of Lagos, Amaechi said. That N13 billion has built the university already so there is no need to spend more money. Let EFCC retrieve the money from them and then release them and we would build the University," he added. Kachikwu disagreed with Amaechi saying that the project would be completed whether the money was returned or not. First let me say on Maritime University, I disagree with the minister of transport. Any facility that is placed in the South-South, we should work towards developing itIf he doesn't want it in maritime, I will take it to petroleum, he said. Speaking in Abuja on Tuesday, June 14, 2016, Adeyeye said Sheriff was appointed and by the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the PDP to complete the tenure of Adamu Muazu. In his press conference yesterday, Senator Sheriff gave the false impression that he has court orders that empower him to continue as National chairman of the PDP. Despite his bravado, he did not display or make available the court orders to the gentlemen of the press. The truth of the matter is that Senator Sheriff has no court orders to back his claims. He and his cohorts continue to shop around to buy any court order at any price, but so far they have not succeeded, thanks to the vigilance and integrity of the judiciary, he said. He stated that the tenure of Muazu would have ended on the February 14, 2016 adding that Sheriff was given an extension of three months by the NEC to organize a national convention. The appointment of Senator Sheriff was not ratified by any National Convention of our party; so constitutionally, he has no other mandate which can extend beyond 21st May, 2016, he said. Addressing journalists on Tuesday, June 14, 2016, the spokesperson for the Makarfi committee, Dayo Adeyeye, said Sheriff was being sponsored by the All Progressives Congress (APC,) to scuttle PDPs chance in the forthcoming governorship election in Edo state and also destabilise the party. The All progressive Congress, APC, has contracted Sheriff and his cohorts to scuttle the chances of the PDP in the Edo governorship elections. We have credible intelligence that Sheriff had a meeting on Sunday night with an APC governor from the South West, where it was agreed that he would be given full security and financial support to exacerbate the crisis in the PDP with the objective of preventing our party from presenting a candidate for the Edo governorship elections, he said. He disclosed that Sheriff was mandated to ensure that in the very least, the PDP is prevented from offering a serious challenge to the APC adding that the party will take all necessary measures to prevent the it from being hijacked by political merchants. The caretaker committee also accused the Nigerian Police of working in cohort with Sheriff acting on orders from above. Up to a point, the police discharged their responsibilities satisfactorily. However, later on without any justification whatsoever, Ali Modu Sheriff and the other renegades were allowed to gain entry into the secretariat, where they later proceeded to address a press conference. While we are still trying to understand the role of the police in the entire saga, it is curious that the police made no arrest of the thugs who openly brandished various dangerous weapons in and around the premises of the secretariat in full glare of the police. It is also curious that the police claimed to be acting on orders from above in allowing Sheriff and his cohorts to gain entry into the secretariat. If we may ask, who is the authority that issued the Orders from above? What we are however very certain about is that Sheriff and his fellow renegades are being used by the enemies of the PDP to destroy the party and to prevent it from reorganizing itself, so as to provide a credible opposition and alternative platform for the forthcoming Edo State Gubernatorial election and 2019 elections, he said. Having packed her bags and brushed up on her Mandarin, Pulse Nigerias Princess Abumere is on the mainland to bring you technology, travel and lifestyle stories from the press trip. Follow her adventures here, on the websites Instagram page and her Instagram page. Monday, 13 June 2016 I decided to learn Mandarin in 2014 while living in the United Kingdom. I didnt think I would use it for anything but here I am today, June 13 at the Huawei campus in Shenzhen China. I arrived in the metropolis in the early hours of the day with other journalists from Nigeria. Jet-lagged and sleep deprived, our adventure began with the first stop at the Huawei product exhibition hall where the firms strategy and products for business and consumers including mobile phones, wearable fashion devices and tablets are showcased. After visiting the product exhibition hall and manufacturing centre, its clear Huawei is passionate about building a brand that is globally acceptable by its consumers. Hawa Hyath who is Huawei's Marketing director for Sub Sahara Africa describes it as Connecting people to people, people to things and things to things. Having been ranked by several technology websites as having one of the best smartphones in the world alongside the likes of Apple and Samsung. Now the company seeks to position itself as the front-runner of smartphone photography. Most recently in April 2016 the firm launched its new flagship device into the market - the Huawei P9 that comes with not just one but two lenses collaborating with German camera manufacturer Leica. Vice President, Global Product Marketing, Huawei, Clement Wong revealed at the companys headquarters in Shenzhen, China that the Huawei P9 and P9 Plus launched with the objectives of looking great as a mobile phone and being able to capture beautiful things. Lawyer Ibrahim Diawara said Senegal's President Macky Sall should intervene and request the release of Habre, who was sentenced to life in prison by a Senegalese court at the end of May. The trial against 73-year-old Habre had been unfair due to a technicality, Diawara said. The jury empanelled to try the case had not been appointed in accordance with the law, the attorney said. The chamber was created in 2013 amid criticism that the International Criminal Court in The Hague has in the past unfairly targeted African leaders. The case against Habre was the first-ever trial of a former head of state in sub-Saharan Africa. Habre was found guilty of having coordinated crimes against humanity, which included illegal detention, repression and sexual slavery. He was also convicted for war crimes, torture and sexual slavery. The judges concluded that Habre had systematically hunted down opponents, personally committed rape and torture and given written orders for execution. Rights groups estimate that Habre is responsible for the deaths of around 40,000 people during his rule. About 200,000 people were reportedly tortured by his regime. After living freely in exile in Senegal for 22 years, Habre was detained in Dakar in July 2013. The US President Barack Obama had during a visit to Senegal expressed his support for Habre to be tried. The men were purportedly granted conditional release last week. Libya's judicial police said that the men were released from Tripoli's Al-Baraka prison on Thursday, a day before their bodies were found dumped in different parts of the capital. "This crime should be thoroughly and independently investigated and perpetrators must face justice. "I urge the relevant Libyan authorities to establish a joint national-international investigation and I will follow developments closely," Kobler said. The attorney general in Tripoli has said that the case would be investigated. The UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli has also called for an urgent investigation into the case. The UN said that the killings may constitute international crimes under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. The case is sensitive because the GNA arrived in March with the acquiescence of some of the armed factions that have long controlled Tripoli and acted with impunity there. Many were originally formed of rebels who took part in the 2011 uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi, and presented themselves as guardians of the revolution. The GNA was designed to replace two rival governments set up in 2014 in Tripoli and the east. GNA says it is working to integrate armed groups in Tripoli into a national security force as it tries to ease the previous government in the capital aside. But its critics, especially in the east, have accused it of legitimising militias operating in western Libya by seeking their cooperation and not acting quickly enough to disband them. The eastern government, parliament and military forces all released statements on the prison killings, with the government pointing finger at "outlawed groups that control the jail". AlBaraka prison houses hundreds of inmates, many of whom are accused of being Gaddafi loyalists. Last year, detainees at the jail told Human Rights Watch that prison guards frequently beat them and administered electric shocks. Ugandan police chief Kale Kayihura identified the man as Oola Dan Odiya, who is being held on charges of murder and terrorism related to an attack at a local police post on May 27. Scores of people have been arrested in the four months since veteran leader President Yoweri Museveni was declared winner of a presidential election on Feb. 18, the opposition says, and protesters have frequently clashed with police. Kayihura said the attack in Gulu, the biggest town in northern Uganda, happened at about 8 p.m. (1700 GMT) on Sunday, when gunmen drove up in a pick-up firing their guns and tried to storm the station "to free and cause escape of one suspect". Six security personnel and one civilian were injured in the attack, police said. Eight guns and ammunition were recovered after the attackers dropped their weapons as they fled. As well as the arrests of its supporters, the opposition says some of its leaders have also been arrested and then released after questioning. Kizza Besigye, the main opposition leader, was arrested in May and shortly after charged with treason, a charge the opposition says is trumped up. An opposition legislator was recently arrested and security officials were quoted in local media as saying he was being investigated on suspicions of plotting a coup. Military spokesman Paddy Ankunda told Reuters about 30 soldiers, including a colonel, had also been arrested in the last few days and were under investigation for various offences. In a joint statement, the organisations said the loans breached a law requiring all borrowing and guarantees longer than a year to be approved by parliament. The debt also exceeded limits in the 2013 budget and were not entered into that year's budget, the groups said. "The officials who broke the law in Mozambique need to be held accountable," she said. "This includes the lenders and financial institutions which facilitated these loans. In defence of the common good and against the continued impoverishment of the Mozambican people, we do not want, do not accept and will not pay the debts." Mozambique's parliament has agreed to set up a commission of inquiry into the issuing of the debt, which has pushed the foreign borrowing levels to 80 percent of the impoverished southern African country's GDP. The controversial loans are an $850 million Eurobond issued in 2013 to build a tuna-fishing fleet, a $622 million loan to enhance maritime security and a $535 million loan to build shipyards for the offshore natural gas sector. The tuna bond has already been restructured and the state company behind the $535 million loan missed a repayment of $178 million due on May 23, putting the government on track for default. Financial watchdogs from Switzerland and Britain are looking into the arranging of the sovereign borrowing, which was done without consultation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or Mozambique's foreign donors. IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said last month the lack of transparency behind the transactions was "clearly concealing corruption". She did not elaborate. Credit Suisse has consistently declined to comment on the maritime security loan. VTB, which arranged the shipyard loan, says it expects the government to honour its sovereign guarantee. "We have learned with great sorrow the news of the armed terrorist attack in Florida which caused deaths and injuries. We condemn and denounce this criminal and disgraceful act, which is not approved by the heavenly religions, nor by international norms and conventions," King Salman said. Omar Mateen, who killed 49 people in the gun attack, travelled to Saudi Arabia in 2011 and 2012 to perform the umrah pilgrimage to the holy Muslim city of Mecca, Interior Ministry security spokesman Major General Mansour Turki said on Monday. Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton singled out the kingdom and other U.S.-allied Gulf Arab monarchies, alleging some of their nationals aided militants. "For starters, it is long past time for the Saudis, the Qataris, and the Kuwaitis and others to stop their citizens from funding extremist organisations," she told supporters in a speech in Cleveland, Ohio on Monday. Saudi Arabia says it is aggressively working to combat militancy and cites two deadly Islamic State suicide bombings on Shi'ite Muslim mosques in the kingdom over the summer as a sign that it, too, is a target. Two men were in the Scott County Jail on Tuesday on drug and gun charges following a vehicle pursuit early Sunday. Dajuan William Parnell, 21, of Davenport, faces charges of possession with intent to deliver crack cocaine, possession with intent to deliver cocaine, two counts of drug tax stamp violation, felon in possession of a firearm, felony eluding, failure to obey a traffic signal, reckless driving and no insurance. Brandon Jamal Malone, 23, of Maywood, Illinois, faces charges of possession with intent to deliver crack cocaine, possession with intent to deliver cocaine, two counts of drug tax stamp violation, and felon in possession of a firearm. The most serious charges, possession with intent to deliver crack cocaine, is a Class B felony punishable by up to 25 years in prison. Bond was set for Parnell and Malone at $50,000 cash or surety and $150,000 cash or surety, respectively. Parnell has a preliminary hearing June 23. Malone will be arraigned July 7. According to an arrest affidavit filed by the Iowa State Patrol in support of the criminal complaint: About 3:20 a.m. Sunday, a trooper saw a black 2006 Chevrolet Monte Carlo drive eastbound through a red light at River Drive and Brady Street and through a red light at River Drive and Perry Street and turned into a parking lot at a high rate of speed. The trooper followed the car into the parking lot before coming back out onto River Drive. The Monte Carlo took off after the trooper turned on his emergency lights and sirens. At West 32nd and Harrison streets, the Monte Carlo lost control, hit the troopers car twice and a telephone pole, and eventually came to a stop. The driver, later identified as Parnell, grabbed several plastic baggies containing a white substance and fled the vehicle on foot. Malone, his passenger, also fled the car. Both were arrested a short time later. A search of the car turned up a Smith and Wesson handgun that was stolen in Davenport in 2013, 73.7 grams of crack cocaine, and 12.3 grams of powder cocaine, according to the affidavit. Scott County taxpayers spent nearly $10 for each vote cast in last week's primary election, county Auditor Roxanna Moritz told the county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday. In a special board meeting, Moritz recapped the turnout and results of the June 7 primary election. A total of 8,974 votes were counted, amounting to 7.21 percent of registered voters, she said. The estimated cost of the election was $86,460. In Scott County, voters for both the Democratic and Republican parties selected candidates for sheriff and county board for the November ballot. Democrats also helped select a candidate to run against U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. Incumbent Supervisors Jim Hancock and Tom Sunderbruch and Sheriff Dennis Conard decided not to seek re-election. Democrats Scott Tunnicliff and Jane Duax won the nomination to run for county board among six candidates. On the Republican side, Tony Knobbe and W. Ken Beck defeated five other candidates to make their way onto the November ballot. In the sheriff's race, Democrat Peter Bawden and Republican Tim Lane will face each other in November. Statewide, Patty Judge won the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate. During the supervisors' regular committee-of-the-whole meeting that followed, Amy Thoreson, county health department deputy director, presented a fiscal year 2017 agreement between the county and the Center for Alcohol & Drug Services for a jail-based treatment program. Thoreson told supervisors that serving people who will benefit most is the main concern. We want to make sure that this program is being used as intended, Thoreson said, especially with the high number of inmates in the county jail. Supervisor Diane Holst shared that concern. What about somebody who gets bumped? Holst asked. Are we keeping people more appropriate from the program? Thoreson said measures are being taken to ensure inmates who are going to prison are denied program access. The CADS program is intended for people who are coming back into the community, she said. Supervisors will vote on the agreement at the regular board meeting at 5 p.m.Thursday at the County Administrative Center, 600 W. 4th St., Davenport. She remembers the little things most vividly. The comic strips he used to cut out of the newspaper and mail to her. Or the play-by-play descriptions of his daily encounters, which she once found a little annoying, but now misses dearly. He was a detail man, a teary Liz Avenia said of her father, Kyle Pollock, who suffered a heart attack last April and died unexpectedly at the age of 76. He loved sharing his wisdom with us so we wouldnt all make the same mistakes. Its taken almost a year for Avenia, the eldest of Pollock's four children who graduated from Pleasant Valley High School, to recover from the shock of losing her father. And on Sunday, the 49-year-old along with 25 family members will pedal along the shores of the Mississippi to commemorate Pollocks life during one of his favorite Quad-City traditions: Ride the River. He loved it because it got us all together, said Avenia, who recruited family members from Chicago, Colorado and Georgia to participate in the annual Fathers Day event. Some of us have had to borrow bikes, some have rented, but we all have bikes and were all going. Their clan, who will be sporting matching T-shirts, plan to start the bi-state adventure in Davenport and ride east to catch the 10:30 a.m. boat at Leach Park in Bettendorf that will carry them across the river to Moline. Now in its 32nd year, Ride the River has become a tradition for many families in the area, said Kathy Wine, executive director of River Action, Inc., which organizes the event. Its something you can do early in the day before you have your barbecue at night, said Wine, whose organization uses proceeds to fund riverfront trail development in the Quad-Cities. Its not a race. Its leisurely and fun. The first ride, in 1984, stretched for two miles on Ben Butterworth Parkway in Moline. Dan McNeil, of Moline, volunteered as a teenager in 1986 when River Action coned off the streets for families to ride before riverfront trails were constructed here. The trails were largely built because of Ride the River, he said, crediting Wine for years of work and dedication. McNeil remembers cruising along the route in the back of a pickup truck with an air pump and tools searching for flat tires. Hes already taken his 9-year-old son on the ride a few times. You can ride the river anytime you want for free, but if you have kids, that boat ride is a blast, added McNeil, who recently launched a website promoting the Great River Trail in Illinois. Even if you dont have kids its fun. Along the Pollock family's selected route, which will pass through Moline, Rock Island and back into Davenport, Avenia said she and her siblings hope to find a spot to eventually place a memorial bench for their father. Although she just recently purchased a bike in preparation and motivation for this weekend, Avenia, who lived in Connecticut for several years before returning home, hasnt been on a bike since Ride the River in 2010. Im going to give it my all, but I probably wont be able to walk for two days, she said with a laugh. My dad is worth that. A daily look at what did well on the web while you were working ... and what's on tap for the evening. Most popular story of the day A Kansas developer is proposing a specialty grocery store to replace the former Ruby Tuesday restaurant on 53rd Street in Davenport. Brian Wellner has more. Most popular photo gallery of the day #SneakPeeks + The Davenport Fire Department's new boathouse will be built along the riverfront and moved into place next month. #ICYMI UPDATED details from last night's armed robbery at Q-C Mart, 1313 E. River Drive, Davenport: https://t.co/qjhwb468El via @qctimes Jack Cullen (@JS_Cullen) June 14, 2016 Quiz: What breed of dairy cow is this? https://t.co/FTmqCJkiDU Q-C Times photos (@QCTphotos) June 14, 2016 2/2 Alds Rawson and Boom said that due to staff illness, an agenda did not get posted in time, so no briefings. @qctimes Brian Wellner (@brianwellner) June 14, 2016 Bettendorf grad Morrissey tabbed to turn around UT football teamhttps://t.co/343uK9ISMt pic.twitter.com/68vnCTct9N Matt Dahlseid (@QCTMattD) June 14, 2016 #CubsCoronation #ontap #qcweather #qctraffic New Rock Island street closure begins Wednesday https://t.co/n0ImXbh24S #qctraffic Q-C Times traffic (@QCTtraffic) June 14, 2016 #Smile Why such vehemence among Republican leaders in their condemnations of Donald Trump for questioning the objectivity of a federal judge based on his "Mexican heritage"? This is, in House Speaker Paul Ryan's words, "the textbook definition of a racist comment." But it is not materially more bigoted than the central premise of Trump's campaign: that foreigners and outsiders are exploiting, infiltrating and adulterating the real America. How is attacking the impartiality of a judge worse than characterizing undocumented Mexicans as invading predators intent on raping American women? Or pledging to keep all Muslim migrants out of the country? Or citing the internment of Japanese citizens during World War II as positive precedent? Is Trump himself a racist? Who the bloody hell cares. There is no difference in public influence between a politician who is a racist and one who appeals to racist sentiments with racist arguments. The harm to the country -- measured in division and fear -- is the same, whatever the inner workings of Trump's heart. No, Trump's attack on Judge Gonzalo Curiel was not different in kind. But for Republican leaders, this much was new: Since Trump now owns them, they now own his prejudice. Sure, Trump has gone nativist before, but this time it followed their overall stamp of approval, given in the cause of Republican unity. Trump must have known his attack on Curiel would humiliate the GOP leaders who have endorsed him, and did it anyway. Trump is taking away the option of wishful thinking. Republicans have clung to the hope that Trump might find unsuspected resources of leadership; lacking that, to the hope that he might be coopted; and lacking that, to the hope of laying low and avoiding the Trump taint. All delusions. Having tied themselves to Trump's anchor, the protests of GOP leaders are merely the last string of bubbles escaping from their lungs. So what were senior Republicans thinking when they endorsed Trump? I don't want to underestimate the difficulties involved in opposing one's own presumptive nominee. There is tremendous political pressure to be loyal to the team. The arguments against doing anything that might help Hillary Clinton are strong. "This is about moving our agenda forward," said Ryan in justifying his Trump endorsement. Republican leaders, in other words, thought they were in a normal political moment -- a time for pragmatism, give-and-take, holding your nose and eventually getting past an unpleasant chore. But it is not a normal political moment. It is one of those rare times -- like the repudiation of Joe McCarthy, or consideration of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, or the Watergate crisis -- when the spotlight of history stops on a single decision, and a whole political career is remembered in a single pose. The test here: Can you support, for pragmatic reasons, a presidential candidate who purposely and consistently appeals to racism? When the choice came, only a handful of Republicans at the national level answered with a firm "no." A handful. It was not shocking to me that the plurality of an angry Republican primary electorate -- grown distrustful of establishment leaders -- might choose a populist who appeals to racial prejudice. It is shocking to me -- and depressing and infuriating -- that almost no elected Republicans of national standing would stand up to it. By this standard, Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska is the moral leader of the GOP. But given the thinness of his company, many of us will never be able to think about the Republican Party in quite the same way again. It still carries many of the ideological convictions I share. Collectively, however, it has failed one of the most basic tests of public justice: Don't support racists -- or candidates who appeal to racism -- for public office. If this commitment is not a primary, non-negotiable element of Republican identity, then the party of Lincoln is dead. Without a passion for universal human dignity and worth -- the commitment to a common good in which the powerless are valued -- politics is a spoils system for the winners. It degenerates into a way for one group to gain advantage over another. And for Trump in particular, politics seems to be a way for white voters to take back social power following the age of Obama. Many Republicans, I suspect, will sicken of defending this shabby enterprise -- as Sens. Lindsey Graham, Jeff Flake and Mark Kirk have done. The process of unendorsing Trump is humiliating, but only for a moment. The honor of choosing rightly, when it mattered most, will endure. Jon Alexander Editorial Page Editor Editorial Page Editor, Quad-City Times Follow Jon Alexander Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today There it was, lying on my bed, a brand-new 20-gauge Mossberg pump ultimate prize for a 12-year-old who just passed his hunter's safety course. The gleaming shotgun was given after years of humping through upstate New York's deepest forests, armed with a BB gun. It was gifted only after countless lectures about proper handling, maintenance and storage. Carry it this way. Finger off the trigger until you're ready to shoot. Never point it at something you're unwilling to kill. And, at the end of the day, hand it over so it can be locked in the gun cabinet. The Mossberg was carried, for seasons to come, only with my father at my side. An avid white-tail deer hunter, he didn't much care for the rabbits and squirrels that became my quarry. No, this shotgun was just another step toward "manhood," ultimately bestowed at 16 with a high-powered rifle and confirmed with the first dead deer. Even then, semi-automatics and pistols were off-limits for several more big-game seasons. The overarching message was hammered into my young mind: Carrying a tool solely designed to kill brings with it unmatched responsibility. And the unofficial crash-course, from father to son, took years to complete. Sunday morning's tragic mass shooting at a gay club in Orlando has again shown how anachronistic my father's safety-first mantra has become in just a couple decades. Social media exploded with calls to ban all gun-free zones. The more than 100 killed and wounded by an apparent Islamic extremist could have fought back if they had been packing, the narrative goes. Suddenly, even those swilling booze on the dance floor should have a piece on their hip. Fear has remade the gun conversation in its own image. Mythical "self defense" trumps caution and care now. Locking up guns doesn't work when hunting takes a back seat to "self defense." The latter requires instant access, even if data shows that civilians who brandish a gun are significantly more likely to get killed. More guns in more places, suddenly, equates to safety, among the gun set. Drunkenness: No sweat. Packing fixes everything. It's utter insanity. Sunday's bloody massacre is deeply complex. Religious zealotry. Prejudice. Rejection of Western inclusion. And yes, 2004's sunset of the assault weapons ban, which opened the floodgates to civilianized versions of military weaponry. AR-15-type weapons, and their quick-change high-capacity magazines, are the most popular firearms in America. Newtown, Connecticut; Aurora, Colorado; San Bernardino, California; Orlando, Florida: They're the tailor-made weapon for a rampaging shooter, Muslim, Christian and nihilist alike. Official after official issued the standard "thoughts and prayers" statement Sunday morning. Never mind that prayers serve no practical purpose. It's just a friendlier way of saying nothing will change. But, as a gun owner, it's imperative to realize how much groups, such as the NRA, have hijacked our ranks. Responsibility has been reduced to a tertiary throw-away line. Fears of boogeymen hiding in the shadows now drive gun sales. And with that fear comes a total breakdown in the priorities that long defined gun owners. As such, the weapons of choice have changed. These are pure man-killers. And state-level restrictions are falling one-by-one. College campuses. Bars. Churches. Gun-free zones are, suddenly, under assault by a twisted view of the Second Amendment. And it's happening when guns are, as a matter of technological innovation, more efficient killers than ever before. A line from Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket sums it up best, "It's not your daddy's shotgun, cowboy." No, no it's not. SPRINGFIELD Even before a gunman opened fire over the weekend at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, killing 49 people before being fatally shot by police, efforts were under way in the Illinois General Assembly to strengthen the state's gun laws. The Illinois House is considering a bill that would require gun dealers to be licensed by the state and another that would create a "lethal violence order of protection." It would allow family members, roommates or law enforcement officers to seek court orders barring individuals from possessing firearms if there's evidence showing that they pose a danger to themselves or others. Both measures are sponsored by Rep. Kathleen Willis, D-Addison, who didn't respond to requests for comment. Colleen Daley, executive director of the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence, said mass shootings such as the one in Orlando, the deadliest in U.S. history, underscore the need for stricter controls on the sale and possession of guns. "We see this time and time again, primarily in Congress," Daley said. "These things happen and everyone says thoughts and prayers, and then it leads to inaction. Inaction is no longer an option. We have to do absolutely everything we possibly can to help save lives in our country." The need for stronger gun laws should already be clear in Illinois, Daley said, noting that 42 people were shot, seven of them fatally, this past weekend in Chicago. The Orlando shooter, Omar Mateen, was able to purchase the semi-automatic handgun and rifle he used in the attack despite having previously been on the FBI's terrorist watch list, according to reports. Changing that would require congressional action, but Daley said measures such as those under consideration in Illinois could help stem the tide of gun violence. "Congress refuses to act, so we need to do things here in Illinois that are going to save lives," she said. Allowing family members to go to court for lethal violence orders of protection potentially could prevent a mass shooting, Daley said. Since the Orlando shooting, Mateen's ex-wife has said publicly that he was "mentally unstable and mentally ill." Under the proposed Illinois law, however, only a relative "by blood or present marriage," a roommate or a law enforcement officer would be able to seek such a court order. State licensing of firearm dealers, meanwhile, would help prevent guns from reaching the streets to be used in crimes, Daley said. A 2014 report from the Chicago Police Department notes that four stores three in suburban Cook County and one in Gary, Indiana accounted for nearly 20 percent of the guns recovered in Chicago crimes from 2009 to 2013. More scrutiny from state regulators and local law enforcement would help keep guns out of criminals' hands, the report says. But Richard Pearson, executive director of the Illinois State Rifle Association, said both measures under consideration in the General Assembly are examples of unnecessary overreach. The organization posted an announcement on its website Monday saying that "the gun-grabbers in the Illinois House" are still waiting for their opportunity to call for a vote on the "dangerous legislation" on state licensing. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives already tightly regulates gun sales, making additional state oversight unnecessary, Pearson said. If the bill were to become law, he said, it would be "used by Chicago and Cook County to harass gun sellers." Likewise, allowing family members to seek court orders barring people from possessing guns could be "used for harassment of people, of relatives you didn't like," Pearson said. "Somebody can complain against you, and your rights are immediately wiped out without any hearing," he said. The bill provides for a hearing within 14 days of an emergency order being granted. Pearson said his organization isn't against laws that will help put people who use guns illegally in jail. For example, the Illinois State Rifle Association supported a bill the Legislature approved this spring that would create a felony charge for firearm trafficking. The General Assembly also approved a bill that would require the Illinois State Police to notify local law enforcement agencies when someone's Firearm Owner's Identification card is revoked because of a court-issued order of protection. A spokeswoman for Gov. Bruce Rauner said he "will carefully review these bills to ensure they protect public safety and the rights of lawful gun owners." HOT SPRINGS The following is a synopsis of the calls fielded by the Fall River County Dispatch office for June 2 through June 7 . Calls include police, sheriff, ambulance, fire and other emergency services. The information is taken from the public log at the sheriffs office. Thursday, June 2 A total of 52 calls, including traffic stops and paper service, were listed on the log. 2:28 p.m. - Joplin Ave., abandoned vehicle. 5:11 p.m. - S Chicago St., 43-year-old caller wants an officer to help her get away from a person who wont leave her alone. 7:37 p.m. - Detroit Ave., missing child report, child later found in the home. Friday, June 3 No report was shared, 64 calls. Saturday, June 4 A total of 50 calls, including traffic stops and paper service, were listed on the log. 12:46 a.m. - Coldbrook nuisance/noise 9:24 p.m. - Chautauqua Park suspicious person. 9:52 p.m. - Sheps Canyon Rd., DUI. 10:41 p.m. - 2nd & G Sts., bonfire. 11:24 p.m. Hwy. 79 DUI. Sunday, June 5 A total of 59 calls, including traffic stops and paper service, were listed on the log. 2:52 a.m. - Jennings Ave., domestic. 8:19 a.m. - Minnekahta Spring House, trespass. 11:10 a.m. - Hot Springs, missing person. 1:48 p.m. - Wind Cave Visitors Center, fire alarm 3:44 p.m. BHFCU, drunkenness, 69-year-old arrested on local warrant. 3:54 p.m. - South of Cascade Falls, officer out with subject near Cascade Falls, just a kid running, officer told him to run facing traffic, not away from it. 7:08 p.m. - Cascade Rd., DUI. 9:07 p.m. Shopko, burglar alarm. 10:48 p.m. - 2nd Ave. caller reports break-in at her residence, found a TV missing; deputy entered. Monday, June 6 A total of 54 calls, including traffic stops and paper service, were listed on the log. 12:13 a.m. - Happy Hollow, fireworks. 7:36 a.m. - Remedy Ranch, trespass. 9:31 a.m. - Wild Turkey Lane, report of a cow walking down off the ridge down towards Fall River Rd. 2:35 p.m. - Senior Citizens Center, caller requesting welfare check for person sitting on bench. 3:24 p.m. Hwy. 18, Oelrichs, two cattle-haulers driving carelessly. 9:19 p.m. - Super 8 Motel, 14-year-old reported, but found shortly after call. Tuesday, June 7 A total of 52 calls, including traffic stops and paper service, were listed on the log. 1:06 p.m. - Summerville PCA/protective custody (alcohol), 27-year-old arrestee. 2:47 p.m. - Coldbrook campsite, 31-year-old concerned about being left behind by family, requests assistance in trying to locate family member. 4:22 p.m. Hwy. 79, patrol vehicle died alongside highway. 5:07 p.m. - Dudley by bridge, small grassfire report, 33-year-old complainant. HOT SPRINGS -- Calling the Miss South Dakota pageant all about glamour and not about substance, would be a mistake, say the pageants Executive Director and two judging committee members. About the pageant According to the Miss South Dakota Scholarship Foundation website, the pageant system is about helping young women achieve their goals. As part of the Miss America organization, one of the nations leading achievement programs, and the worlds largest provider of scholarship assistance for young women, the focus is on helping young women achieve their goals. To become Miss South Dakota and compete for the Miss America crown, a contestant must first win a local competition. The process of competing in a local pageant, says the website, is rewarding because it requires personal commitment, hard work and talent. More than 12,000 young women participate in state and local events annually, supported by the tens of thousands of volunteers who organize these competitions, promote community involvement and further scholarship and achievement among the young women who compete. Contestants must be a U.S. citizen between age 17 and 24, and meet residency and character criteria requirements for their area, be in reasonably good health to meet the job requirements and commit to the time commitment and job responsibilities set forth by local programs. Its not all glamour Miss South Dakota Scholarship Program Executive Director September Kirby says its not all about glamour because of the judging system. The Miss America Organization is based off of the four points of the crown: style, scholarship, service and success, she says. Although 35 percent comes from lifestyle and fitness in swimwear and evening wear where some may think it is a beauty pageant, the contestants are judged on much more than their look. They are also judged on confidence, posture and stage presence which can all be identified as lifelong skills. The judges are looking for a young woman that represents all four points of the crown,Kirby continued, someone who not only has appropriate style, but serves her community and platform issue, is seeking educational opportunities and is striving for overall success in all areas of her life, not just the pageant world. Ashley Lauing, of Hot Springs, a Miss South Dakota pageant committee member, agrees. Lauing awards the contestants their checks after the judges decision. And she says she gets to see a lot of behind the scenes things that go on at the pageant. We require a lot from these girls, Lauing said, that they make public appearances, that they promote Miss South Dakota, and the things theyre passionate about. They must donate an immense amount of time for community service and show they are good role models. They educate people about many things nutrition, domestic violence. People look up to them, and they serve as role models. What are the judges really seeking? Lauing continued, I have no experience with judging, but I know that the scholarship committee selects judges and they have no communication with the board to keep them completely unbiased. The judges come from all walks of life, local celebrities, politics, former Miss SDs, etc. We work with the girls, judges and committees to pick young women who are good role models and can serve as a voice for South Dakota. Anita Frankenstein, of Hot Springs, does sit on the judges committee. And she also agrees with Kirby and Lauing. Miss America for years and years has emphasized scholarship, she said. The money won had to be used for scholarship, and only for scholarship not for dresses, make-up and other things. The emphasis for years has been empowering women, giving them the tools they need to be relevant. We empathize intelligence. The high stress interview, for example, shows that the contestant can think on her feet, Frankenstein said. The stage questions, where judges throw questions at contestants out of the blue, asking about her likes or dislikes, topics like education, politics, hard news and the judges are told that no question is off the table, but the questions must be appropriate are designed to show how that contestants can validate their opinions by explaining why they believe the way they do, she said. Frankenstein also talked about the community service platform how contestants must do mandatory Childrens Miracle Network service, promote the pageant and share their private platforms 2015 Miss South Dakota Autumn Simunek, for example, focused on veterans. Lifestyle elements of judging reflect the girls ability to look appropriate and show the girls can take care of themselves, Frankenstein said. Its all about how you conduct yourself when you dress up, emphasize you as a relevant person. The interviews and stage questions, Frankenstein said, demonstrate how the girls project themselves. Its one thing to talk one-on-one in a personal interview, she said. Another to go beyond the floodlights and have an audience understand you. Talent is unique other competitions dont have this, Frankenstein said. It is No. 1 in points, and the idea is to show the girls are well-rounded, that they pursue other areas in life like the arts singing, piano, dancing weve had harpists, violinists even a unicycle rider. Anything theyve pursued. The Miss America Organization and South Dakota Scholarship Foundation is proud to provide competition opportunities for young women that promote diversity, individuality and overall achievement, said Kirby, in conclusion.They are not looking for a particular mold, but rather a young woman who is articulate in expressing her interests and opinions, demonstrates a sense of confidence, maintains a healthy lifestyle and is talented in an area of her choice. More than 200 people will be sworn in as new U.S. citizens during a naturalization ceremony at 11 a.m. Thursday at Mount Rushmore National Memorial. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is conducting more than 100 such ceremonies at national parks to celebrate the National Park Service turning 100 this year. The 244 immigrants who will take the Oath of Allegiance come from 46 different countries. Last year, about 729,000 immigrants became naturalized U.S. citizens nationwide. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Deputy Director Lori Scialabba will travel from Washington, D.C., to attend the ceremony. Chief federal district Judge Jeffrey L. Viken, of Rapid City, will preside over the ceremony. An Honor Guard from Ellsworth Air Force Base will post the colors and the Dakota Choral Union will provide music. The three men charged in the murder of 22-year-old Rapid City resident Jessica Rehfeld pleaded not guilty Monday to the multiple charges they face. Jonathon Klinetobe, 26, Richard Hirth, 35, and David Schneider, 24, were seated separately at a Pennington County courtroom as their joint charges were formally read. It took States Attorney Mark Vargo five minutes to go through their list of offenses: first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping in the first degree and conspiracy to commit aggravated kidnapping in the first degree. Through their defense attorneys, the men entered not guilty pleas to all the charges. The offenses, which fall under South Dakotas three most severe felony categories, carry maximum penalties of death or life in prison. Authorities allege that Rehfeld's ex-boyfriend Klinetobe hired Hirth and Schneider to stab her to death on May 18, 2015, and help him bury her in the woods south of Rockerville. Police considered Rehfeld a missing person for close to a year, until a witness came forward last month and led law enforcement to her grave site. The trio's charging papers include about 20 details of their alleged crimes, listed in bullet points. It says the men drove to various locations in and near Rapid City, while Jessica Rehfeld was confined in the vehicle, kept property belonging to Jessica Rehfeld and provided false information to law enforcement in attempts to obstruct the investigation. When 7th Circuit Judge Heidi Linngren asked if the men understood the penalties associated with each charge, Klinetobe answered yes in an increasingly faint voice. He appeared in a Pennington County Jail uniform with red stripes, designated for inmates who are segregated from the general jail population. Klinetobe, of Sturgis, sat with his public defenders Elizabeth Regalado and Alecia Fuller. Hirth, of Rapid City, was represented by defense lawyer Randall Connelly. Schneider, also from Rapid City, was represented by attorney Robert Van Norman. Van Norman, in a filing last week, asked the court to appoint a second attorney for Schneider. The lawyer cited several reasons, including the need for assistance in preparing for Schneiders defense since he is possibly facing the death penalty. Meanwhile, the two men charged with being accessories to Rehfelds murder similarly entered not guilty pleas Thursday. Rapid City residents Garland Brown, 29, and Michael Frye, 25, are accused of helping Klinetobe rebury Rehfelds body about two weeks after her murder. Some 30 people filled the courtroom gallery Monday, including Rehfelds family and friends. At least one wore a T-shirt bearing a photograph of the young woman and the words Justice for Jessica. Regalado has asked the court for an order to limit pre-trial publicity and access to court filings to prevent from prejudicing the jury pool. Linngren said the matter will be taken up in a hearing next week. In the meantime, the judge told all the parties involved not to discuss the case with the media. All five defendants are detained at the Pennington County Jail on bonds of $1 million to $2 million. BAKER Ruby Goernet had just enough time to crawl under her kitchen table before a tornado tore through her neighborhood on the east side of Baker just before 7 p.m Saturday. I crawled under the table, and it was a 55-gallon barrel that came flying through one of the windows, Goernet said. Just before the tornado hit, Goernets husband, Fritz Goernet, noticed the trees across the street were blown almost completely sideways. He warned his wife to take cover but didnt have time to join her. Fortunately the couple emerged from the wreckage with no serious injuries. Fritz is a United States Navy veteran who served in World War II. During the war, he was stationed on a ship repair base in the Philippines. He said his time overseas was tame compared to the action he saw Saturday night. Just like in a second it was gone, but it sure made a lot of noise when it was here, Ruby said. The storm ripped the roof from their trailer house and shattered her front windows, showering the home in shards of glass. The home was a complete loss. There were no deaths reported after the tornado but a half dozen people reported injuries ranging from severe wounds to minor cuts and bruises. The storm severely damaged more than 30 homes and a half dozen were completely destroyed, said Fire Chief Tom Bruha, of Baker Rural Fire Department. Bruha said 19 agencies assisted BRFD with the storm response. Two separate searches were conducted of the area to identify victims and pull residents from the wreckage. We went house to house, basically making sure everyone was accounted for last night, he said. One of the people rescued was also a BRFD firefighter. His home was a total loss and his injuries were so severe he was later taken to Billings for medical treatment. Bruha said he was late to the scene because two of the 45 volunteer firefighters in Baker were out of town getting married. Despite it being their wedding day, the firefighters responded and assisted in the search. All of the displaced people found a place to stay with friends and family or rented motel rooms. The American Red Cross responded to the incident but did not need to setup emergency shelter, Bruha said. On Sunday Montana-Dakota Utilities Co. worked to replace broken power poles and repair broken lines. Bruha said the cleanup could take weeks. There are ATVs and trailers in nearby Baker Lake, and there isnt a set plan to remove them yet. Friends and family showed up in full force with pickups, trailers, dumpsters and wheel barrows to start the long process of cleaning the tree limbs and debris from the eight block epicenter. Garbage trucks came and went with full loads throughout the day. Ron Callen returned to his home Sunday to find a friend had already boarded the windows of his home of more than 30 years. Callen and his wife were in Williston on Saturday working at a home for troubled teens. They decided not to return to Baker on Saturday when they learned the power had been cut off to their neighborhood. They followed Facebook for updates on the storms aftermath. Callens front porch was thrown to the opposite side of his house, and two of his outbuildings were destroyed. The storm also damaged his homes roof and interior. But Callen said his thoughts are with his neighbors who lost their homes, and hes just happy nobody died. God is amazing, Callen said. In all this mess nobody got killed. We are a blessed community. Everybody helps each other out and we have a lot to be thankful for. This is just stuff. You cant replace lives. Bruha said the Montana High School Rodeo State Finals were in Baker over the weekend, but the storm didnt affect the event. Campers in tents, folks in RVs and their livestock trailers were not harmed. People expressed sympathy, sorrow, disbelief and anger during vigils held around the state to remember and honor the victims of a mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando. Dozens of people attended another vigil at the University of Montana in Missoula. "We want to stand here in solidarity with our community here, to show them that you are not alone, we are here with you, and that we really prayed for you guys, and hope that you stay strong in these tough times," said Eric Hall, a Western Montana Community Center board member. "Please, please be safe out there this pride month, and let's make sure people know, we're here and that we're not going anywhere." The shooting early Sunday left 50 people dead, including the gunman, and injured 53 others. Five were reported in grave condition on Monday. The father of shooter Omar Mateen suggested the violence may have been prompted by his son's anger after seeing two men kissing in Miami. "I don't want to have to come to any more of these," the Rev. Greg Smith, an openly gay Episcopal priest in Bozeman, said Sunday night. "We have a right to safety and a right to live our lives without fear." "Homophobia is alive and well," said vigil organizer Tim Osen, part of Montana State University's student-run Queer-Straight Alliance. Flowers, candles and a sign that said "Stand with Orlando" were placed on the steps of the Gallatin County Courthouse. In Billings, about 100 people including elected officials and clergy members gathered on the lawn of the Grace United Methodist Church for a candlelight vigil organized by Not in Our Town Billings. Dan Mehrens-Wallace said Islam is not to blame for the massacre. "I promise you," he said, "nothing could be further from the truth." Vigils also were held Sunday evening in Helena, Great Falls and Kalispell. NEPALGUNJ, June 14: Police have tightened security around the Ncell mobile telephone tower stations in Banke district. According to the District Police Office, police have increased mobile patrolling at Ncell tower locations after Netra Bikram Chand-led CPN Maoist started torching Ncell towers. Deputy Superintendent of Police, Bhim Kiran Bogati, said that police have intensified patrolling in the tower areas after CPN (Maoist) cadres set the tower located at Shumshergunj-7 on fire on Sunday. Although security personnel have not been deployed at Ncell towers itself, police patrolling has been intensified, DSP Bogati said. RSS Kathmandu, Nepal: Anti-corruption campaigner Suman Shrestha has filed a complaint at the National Information Commission (NIC) demanding information about property details of Chief Commissioner at the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), Lokman Singh Karki. Shrestha has filed the complaint claiming that unless Karki declares his property details publicly, official decisions taken by the CIAA chief will remain at question. He has a demand that the CIAA should be transparent and accountable. Earlier he had registered applications at the CIAA about three months ago demanding to make public the property details of CIAA Chief Karki. Kathmandu, Nepal: the Nepali Congress, the main and largest party in the parliament, has on Tuesday taken a strong exception to the government accusing it of misusing the fund meant for quake victims. A meeting of the lawmakers of the quake-affected districts and district presidents also decided to protest the governments monopoly while distributing funds meant for the quake victims. The lawmakers have also concluded to obstruct the parliamentary proceedings to exert pressure to the government to correct the mistakes. It is alleged that the government, particularly its head CPN UML has been doling out money from the fund to its non-government organizations (NGOs) through the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA). sacw.net - 14 June 2016 NFSA Survey and Public Hearings, 2016 Background Note Eastern India, the world capital of malnutrition, has reached a make-or-break point in the battle against hunger. For the first time, the National Food Security Act (NFSA) makes it possible to ensure that no-one sleeps on an empty stomach. Many people, however, are still struggling to secure their entitlements under the Act. By way of reality check, a careful survey of NFSA was recently completed by student volunteers in six of Indiaas poorest states. The survey is due to conclude on 13-14 June with a series of public hearings, where the people concerned will have a chance to speak for themselves. Public hearings on the National Food Security Act (NFSA) will be taking place on 13-14 June 2016 in six of Indiaas poorest states: Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal. We are hoping that these hearings, and the careful survey that preceded them, will shed light on the achievement and failures of NFSA in these states. The National Food Security Act The NFSA creates three sets of entitlements: (1) subsidized food from the Public Distribution System (PDS); (2) nutritious midday meals for children at schools and anganwadis; (3) universal maternity entitlements (Rs 6,000 per child). The public hearings focus specifically on PDS entitlements: 5 kg of foodgrains per person per month for aPrioritya households and 35 kg per month for aAntyodayaa households, with a national coverage of 75% in rural areas (rising to 80-85% in the poorest states). The NFSA was passed in 2013, but implementation has been tardy in many states. In five of the six survey states, the NFSA was rolled out sometime during the last two years. The sixth state, Chhattisgarh, enacted its own food security act in December 2012 and implemented it without delay. Identification of eligible households One of the biggest challenges in implementing the Act is the identification of aeligiblea households (Priority and Antyodaya). This is the responsibility of state governments. Most of them use simple aexclusion criteriaa and ainclusion criteriaa for this purpose. Some state governments (e.g. Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal) have used the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) to identify households that meet the eligibility criteria. Others have used alternative methods, e.g. self-declaration (Odisha) and special surveys (Madhya Pradesh). The identification process has proved difficult in all states, but nevertheless far more reliable and transparent than the earlier aBPL Censusa . PDS reforms Another challenge is to avoid corruption in the PDS a leakages used to be as high as 80-90% in some of the sample states. In the eastern region, Chhattisgarh was the first state to undertake wide-ranging PDS reforms (in the late 2000s), with remarkable success. Among the reforms that proved effective are: clear entitlements, de-privatization of PDS shops, computerization, separation of transport and distribution agencies (adoorstep deliverya ), fixed delivery schedules, strong grievance redressal, and extensive transparency measures. The NFSA requires all state governments to undertake similar reforms. PDS reforms are in full swing in the six sample states and evidence of their impact has already emerged from earlier surveys, e.g. in Odisha and Madhya Pradesh. Role of electoral politics PDS reforms and the rollout of NFSA have often accelerated in the run-up to Assembly elections. In Chhattisgarh, PDS reforms were initiated with an eye on possible electoral gains (Assembly elections were held in 2008). In Bihar, the implementation of NFSA accelerated sharply as the 2015 state elections approached. The latest example is West Bengal, where the TMC went out of its way not only to implement the NFSA before the 2016 Assembly elections but also to universalize the PDS. The survey The survey mentioned earlier, NFSA Survey 2016, covered three randomly-selected villages in each of 12 sample Blocks (two Blocks per state, in different districts). In each sample village, the survey teams went from house to house to verify ration cards and collect basic data on PDS purchases. About 3,600 households were interviewed. The survey teams also made unannounced visits to PDS shops in the sample villages. The survey data are yet to be analysed a initial findings will be presented at the public hearings. Judging from reports of the survey teams, the survey consolidates earlier evidence that Odisha and Madhya Pradesh have already gone a long way in emulating Chhattisgarhas success with PDS reforms. In these three states, most of the sample households had a ration card and were able to secure their foodgrain entitlements at the correct price. In Bihar and Jharkhand, the PDS is certainly more inclusive, effective and transparent than it used to be. However, exclusion errors and corruption persists as well as occasional gaps in the supply chain (especially in Bihar). Much work remains to be done, but recent progress suggests that nothing prevents these alaggarda states from catching up with the trail-blazers. In West Bengal, the NFSA is a unique opportunity to put the PDS on a new track. Before NFSA, the system was ridden with exclusion errors, convoluted entitlements and massive leakages. The survey suggests a sea change as the PDS was universalized just before the state elections earlier this year. As in Bihar and Jharkhand, however, the transition towards food security for all is far from complete. o o o NFSA Verification Survey (Dumka & Gumla, June 2016) Main Findings A house-to-house survey was conducted in 3 small villages, each of Verno Block (Gumla District) and Ramgarh Block (Dumka District) in June 2016, to assess the status of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) and the Public Distribution System (PDS). The villages were selected to represent different parts of the Block. The main findings are as follows. NFSA: Household coverage Almost all the 661 survey households were eligible under NFSA, as per official criteria notified by the Government of Jharkhand. As of now, 74% of the survey households have a new ration card (aPrioritya or aAntyodayaa ). Coverage has increased post NFSA, but this varies significantly across regions. For instance, in our Ramgarh sample, coverage went up from a dismal 43% to an appreciable 84% whereas in the Bharno sample it increased marginally from 53% to just 66%. This is indicative of excluded households being concentrated more dominantly in certain regions, which have a much lower coverage. It is critical to identify problems in such regions and ensure that the list of ration cards is corrected in these villages. Missing persons Missing persons on the ration cards was a problem we encountered across villages. Approximately, every 1 person in 8 is left out of the ration card. This is in addition to the households which are completely excluded. This matters, since NFSA entitlements are defined in per-capita terms (5 kg of grain per person per month). It was also observed, that for most households which have been recently included as AAY, there is just one personas name on the card. (usually the head of the household) Though, this doesnat affect the ration entitlements, since it is 35 kg/household but it undermines the coverage done in the state. PDS: Cheating continues The survey households, normally receive 16% less ration than their entitlements. However, in May 2016, the month preceding the survey, in a few villages ration was either massively cut or not distributed at all. In Salkiya and Chitagutu, two of the three sample villages of Bharno block, beneficiaries received just 2% and 13% ration, respectively. Also, it seems to be a common practice for dealers to deduct 0.5 - 1 kg of grain per person per month for Priority households whereas 3-5 kg per month for Antyodya households. Fake cards and duplicate names The survey did not find evidence of afake cardsa in the survey villages. Using Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) data to draw the initial list of ration cards, and putting the entire list in the public domain, must have helped to avoid fake cards. However, there were some cases of duplicate names, with the same name appearing on two ration cards. In most cases, these looked more like mistakes than fraud. When a name appears twice, the local dealer often appropriates the extra ration. Quality/Variety of food grains Unlike the past, most beneficiaries were satisfied with the quality of the food grain. 90% of the households receiving ration said the quality was good/fair. Variety of food grains being served, however, seemed a concern. None of the sample villages in Bharno received wheat as part of their entitlements. Even the sample villages in Ramgarh complained about receiving little quantities of wheat (not more than 0.5 kg per 5kg) The NFSA implementation in the state has brought about significant and much needed PDS reforms. However, a number of concern areas still remains unresolved. Door step delivery which is an integral part of the NFSA was not implemented in any of the sample villages in Bharno. This gives the dealers an excuse to cheat beneficiaries in the name of covering atransportation costsa. The NFSA requirement of the ration cards being made in the name of the eldest women have been met in most cases. However, we came across a few cases in all villages where this was violated a despite the womanas name being on the ration card. Cuts in entitlements still remain extremely frequent and normal. In a nutshell, NFSA has brought substantial improvement in the functioning of the PDS but it still has a long way to go, especially for Bharno. o o o PRESS RELEASE IN GUMLA Public Hearing on in Gumla: District Administration Comes Under Fire for Lapses in Food Security Act Jharkhand has reached a make-or-break point in the battle against hunger. For the first time, the National Food Security Act (NFSA) makes it possible to ensure that no-one sleeps on an empty stomach. Many people, however, are still struggling to secure their entitlements under the Act. By way of reality check, a careful survey of NFSA was recently completed by student volunteers in Dumka and Gumla districts of Jharkhand. A house-to-house survey was conducted in 6 small villages, 3 each in Bharno Block (Gumla District) and Ramgarh Block (Dumka District). The survey concluded on 14 June with a lively public hearing on NFSA in Bharno. The District Supply Officer (Shri Vinod Mishra), Block Development Officer (Ms. Shweta Ved), District Grievance Redress Officer (DGRO, Ashok Kumar Shah) and other representatives of the block and district administration attended the public hearing. The panel also included Balram (State Advisor to the Supreme Court Commissioners in the Right to Food Case), Reetika Khera (Associate Professor, IIT Delhi), Nandini Nayak (Assistant Professor, Ambedkar University Delhi), Lijo Chako (Chief Directing Officer of Head Held High Foundation) and Ankita Agrawal (Consultant, National Institute of Rural Development). The public hearing began with a brief overview of the survey findings. The survey had found that almost all the 661 survey households were eligible under NFSA, as per official criteria notified by the Government of Jharkhand. However, only 74% of the survey households have a new ration card (aPrioritya or aAntyodayaa ) as of now. Coverage has increased post NFSA, but this varies significantly across regions. Further, some family membersa names are often missing on the new ration cards. As a result, the effective coverage of NFSA in the survey villages was still well below the 86% norm for rural Jharkhand. Many respondents also complained of receiving less their due (5 kg per person per month in the case of Priority households) a about 16% less in an ordinary month, with a much larger shortfall in the last two months when the supply chain was disrupted in large parts of Jharkhand. On a more positive note, 90 of the respondents were satisfied with food grain quality. This was followed by testimonies from people in the survey villages and nearby villages. More than 500 people from about 25 villages attended the public hearing to voice their grievances related to the Public Distribution System (PDS). Issues related to cancellation of ration card despite eligibility, missing members on the ration card, not receiving full entitlement and others, were brought up for discussion with the district and block administration. One of the main issues discussed in the meeting was the absence of ration card amongst eligible households. Many people complained about not having a ration card, including many who had a ration card (even an Antyodaya card in some cases) in pre-NFSA times. In this regard, the following promises were made by the BDO: (1) camps would be setup at the Panchayat Bhawan every Thursday to accept applications for new ration cards and add missing members (2) genuine AAY applicants will be issued ration cards within 15 days. Another critical problem was the local Marketing Officer (MO), Mr. Sushil Kandir. There were vocal complaints of corruption and gross absenteeism on his part from a massive section of the crowd. The BDO herself stated that the MO rarely comes to Bharno. The DSO added that even contacting him on the phone is difficult as his mobile is switched off most of the time. In spite of all this, the DSO and DGRO pleaded helplessness and failed to state clearly what action would be taken against the MO. Eventually, the DGRO agreed to recommend strict action against the MO within 3 days. A candlelight vigil to remember the victims of the Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando, Flor I think that our entire community is going to have a lot of different reactions. I think grief is one of them, I think fear is one of them and I think that I would encourage anyone that has those feelings to know that the best response is going to come from a place of love. If we can start there, then we can really come together as a community and talk about how to heal and talk about how to move forward. To donate blood United Blood Services centers have sent blood to Florida to help save the lives of the dozens of people injured in the mass shooting in Orlando early Sunday. The blood bank is calling on area donors to replenish the local supply and help assure there is blood on hand should the Orlando community need additional help. Donors are asked to make an appointment by contacting United Blood Services at 877-827-4376 or online at www.blood4life.org. Donations can be made at United Blood Services Santa Maria, 1770 S. Broadway. " " Places like Colorado have many THC-laced edibles for sale. Erich Schlegel/Corbis In 2014, when New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd ventured to Colorado, legally purchased a marijuana-infused candy bar and ate way too much of it, she spent eight sleepless hours believing she was dead [source: Dowd]. After writing a column documenting her nightmarish experience, a billboard appeared in Denver, offering sage advice: "Don't let a candy bar ruin your vacation. With edibles, start low and go slow" [source: Wallis]. While smoking is the prevailing means of consuming marijuana -- the most commonly used illegal drug in the country -- eating marijuana is a popular alternative [source: National Institute on Drug Abuse]. Typically, "eating marijuana" doesn't mean chowing down on cannabis plants in their raw form. Instead, it means eating baked goods, candies, ice cream, salsa or another food fortified with the drug's constituent chemicals -- in particular, tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, its main psychoactive ingredient. These chemicals can produce a range of effects, including euphoria, relaxation, increased appetite, impaired motor skills, short-term memory loss, dry eyes and mouth, and anxiety. If you're among the two in five Americans who have used marijuana at least once in their lifetime, you probably have some idea what that feels like [source: MedlinePlus]. Advertisement But there are a few key differences between smoking marijuana and eating it, starting with how quickly you begin feeling high. The effects come on more or less immediately after smoking marijuana and disappear within three hours. Meanwhile, with ingestion, the effects can take anywhere from 30 minutes to three hours to kick in, and they can linger for six to 10 hours (an advantage for medical marijuana users who want to minimize the frequency of dosage). Additionally, digestion alters THC in ways that inhaling it does not. Your liver metabolizes delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol into 11-hydroxy-tetrahydrocannabinol -- a THC variant with more psychedelic properties -- before it reaches your stomach [source: Wishnia]. As a result, getting high on ingested marijuana can seem stronger than its puffed counterpart. What you feel after eating a pot brownie all depends on how much you ate, your tolerance and its potency. If your friend with the lava lamp collection baked the brownie, it might be hard to know how strong it is. But if you bought it legally, odds are you can look on the label: Colorado state law, for example, requires disclosure of the amount of THC and other chemicals in edible marijuana products. A standard serving size is 10 milligrams (.00035274 ounces), while first-timers are recommended to start with 5 milligrams (.00017637 ounces) [source: Marijuana Policy Project]. If you ignore these limits and eat too much -- or if your friend with the lava lamps got a little too enthusiastic in the kitchen -- the good news is you won't die from overconsumption of marijuana. However, as Dowd's experience shows, you could be in for a long, paranoid night, and you might even hallucinate. The indirect consequences could be deadly: In 2014, a college student visiting Denver ate a pot cookie with 65 milligrams (.00229281 ounces) of THC, then jumped over a balcony and to his death [source: Nicholson]. Fortunately, the worst symptoms should pass within two hours [source: Marijuana Policy Project]. " " Drilling at the surface of a supervolcano isnt likely to create any measurable seismic activity, but it could cause a string of explosions if the drillers happened to hit a hypothermal pocket. Stan Osolinski/Getty Images A supervolcano is a potentially explosive mountain that can pack more than 1,000 times the punch of a run-of-the-mill volcanic formation. Like other volcanoes, supervolcanoes erupt when pressure builds and molten lava stored well below the mountain's surface shoots out. If that seems like a bad thing, that's because it is. Experts predict that if the supervolcano lurking below the surface of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming were to fully erupt, the explosion would kill tens of thousands of people immediately and spread a 10-foot (3-meter) layer of molten ash as far as 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometers) [sources: USGS, Lemas]. You might think that those who live near a supervolcano should move (now) and that those who can't move should do everything they can to steer clear of it. But Italian geologists have taken a different tack: They want to drill into the supervolcano at Campi Flegrei to take samples and test the geothermal energy coming from the belly of the beast to get a better idea of if and when it might blow. The strategy has caused a heated debate among experts about how to best handle supervolcanoes. We don't know for sure what drilling into a supervolcano might reap, but many geologists, physicists and international leaders have their concerns [source: De Siena]. Advertisement Campi Flegrei sits under a large swath of Naples, the southern Italian city that's nestled against a bay and the supervolcano's better-known cousin, Mount Vesuvius. When Vesuvius blew in C.E. 79, it killed about 10,000 Neapolitans. That's just a drop in the bucket compared with what Campi Flegrei could do. A total of 30,000 people were evacuated in 1983 when researchers noticed that the caldera an 8-mile (13-kilometer) wide crater at the surface of the volcano was rising. The lava flow and avalanche of ash from a full explosion could endanger millions of people [sources: ICDP, Starr]. The International Continental Scientific Drilling Program, the folks behind the project to drill into Campi Flegrei, claim the project would have been pretty safe and incredibly useful. They said they didn't intend to drill very far into the volcano, and the rock samples they wanted to get their hands on could tell us a lot about what's going on further below the surface. This wasn't enough to convince local authorities, however, who shut down the project after a pilot hole was drilled in 2012 [sources: ICDP, De Siena,Lemas]. Opponents say that drilling into a supervolcano is kind of like getting into a cage with a sleeping great white shark and prodding it with a sharp stick. Well, maybe prodding it with a toothpick. Drilling at the surface isn't likely to create any measurable seismic activity, but the risk is that it could cause a string of explosions if the drillers were unlucky and happened to hit a hypothermal pocket. The gases released could, in turn, cause more explosions and even an earthquake or eruption [source: Starr]. The Lusi volcano, the world's largest mud volcano, killed 13 people in Indonesia and displaced another 30,000 when it erupted in 2006. Many observers have blamed nearby oil drilling for the disaster, while oil explorers blamed an earthquake that occurred roughly 175 miles (282 kilometers) away [source: Stiansen]. It may never be entirely clear just what drilling into a supervolcano would do. It looks like we're not going to find out anytime soon. If you are currently a print subscriber but don't have an online account, select this option. You will need to use your 7 digit subscriber account number (with leading zeros) and your last name (in UPPERCASE). "Taking Dignity Seriously: Excavating the Backdrop of the Eighth Amendment" | Main | Split en banc Ninth Circuit tries its level best to sort through what Freeman means for crack guideline retroactivity eligibility This recent local article out of South Carolina provides an interesting review of interesting survey data about opinion on the high-profile capital prosecution(s) of a local mass murderer. The article is headlined "Most SC blacks say Dylann Roof should get life without parole," and here are excerpts: A majority of black South Carolinians say Dylann Roof should be sentenced to life without parole not death if he is found guilty of murdering nine African-American members of Charlestons Emanuel AME Church. But most white South Carolinians say Roof should be sentenced to death if he is found guilty, according to a University of South Carolina poll. Roof faces federal and state charges in connection with the Charleston massacre. Both federal and state prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty. The difference of opinion over Roof reflects historically differing attitudes toward the death penalty between black and white South Carolinians, according to the USC poll, released Saturday. The poll on race relations a year after the Emanuel Nine massacre also found stark differences in how South Carolinas white and African-American residents view the criminal justice system. The poll found: A majority of black South Carolinians 64.7 percent said Roof should be sentenced to life without parole if found guilty. Just three in 10 African Americans 30.9 percent said Roof should be sentenced to death. Another 4.4 percent said they didnt know what the punishment should be, according to the poll, which surveyed 800 random S.C. adults. The majority of whites 64.6 percent think Roof should be sentenced to death. Only 29.9 percent of whites think Roof should be sentenced to life without parole; 5.6 percent of those surveyed said they didnt know. The question of whether to seek the death penalty against Roof divides the families of those slain in Charleston. Some family members oppose the death penalty. Others say it would be justice. The findings of the USC poll reflect most black South Carolinians consistent opposition to the death penalty and most whites consistent support for it, said Monique Lyle, a USC political scientist who co-conducted the poll with USCs Bob Oldendick. The majority of black South Carolinians 64.9 percent oppose the death penalty, according to the poll. The majority of white South Carolinians 69.4 percent favor it. The African-American communitys opposition to the death penalty reflects its history with the criminal-justice system, said Kylon Middleton, senior pastor of Charlestons Mount Zion AME Church. Most black people would not want someone to be executed because so many African Americans have been executed, said Middleton, a longtime friend to Clementa Pinckney, the Emanuel pastor and state senator who was among the nine slain. We have been brutalized in this country, therefore, we can empathize with anyone who would receive ultimate judgment, Middleton said, citing Americas history of slavery. Beyond that history, African Americans also tend to be extremely religious, said state Rep. Todd Rutherford, D-Richland, noting the Bible commands: Thou shall not kill. In addition, a life sentence without parole now means that a defendant will spend life in prison. That seems to be sufficient for most African Americans as punishment, even in the case of Roof, Rutherford said, an attorney. The African-American community also believes in a rehabilitative and repentant society, said state Sen. Gerald Malloy, D-Darlington, who declined to discuss Roof specifically. (Malloy, an attorney, represents the family of Sen. Pinckney.) African Americans also have concerns about the fairness of the justice system, said Todd Shaw, a USC professor of political science and African-American studies. I dont think there would be an exception for someone such as Dylann Roof, Shaw said, adding some African Americans feel bringing about his death will not bring about justice. Notable South Carolina affinities and disaffinities for capital prosecution of Charleston mass murderer Dylann Roof | Main | "Substantive and Procedural Silence" This Courthouse News Service article, headlined "Ninth Circuit Tackles Sentencing Disparities," does a nice job explaining the context and particulars of the ruling on a Ninth Circuit en banc court yesterday in US v. Davis, No. 13-301335 (9th Cir. June 13, 2016) (available here). Here are snippets from the press reporting: Davis pleaded guilty to distributing at least 170.5 grams of crack cocaine in 2005. U.S. District Judge Ronald Leighton, a George W. Bush appointee, sentenced Davis on the higher end of the 188- to 235-month federal guidelines range a year later. In 2010, Congress passed the Fair Sentencing Act, which reduced the sentencing disparity ratios between crack and powder cocaine down to 18-to-1. The U.S. Sentencing Commission passed an amendment the following year that would allow more than 12,000 drug offenders 85 percent of whom were black to apply for retroactive relief. But prosecutors claimed that Davis waived his right to contest his sentence when he signed his plea agreement back in 2005. After losing two rounds of appeals, Davis notched a small courtroom victory that may help hundreds who received disproportionate sentences. In addressing Davis's case, the San Francisco-based Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals tried to settle a controversy that has raged since the Supreme Court's uncertain conclusion five years ago in Freeman v. United States, which did not clearly define whether defendants could be eligible for retroactively reduced sentences if they pleaded guilty under guidelines that were subsequently reduced. Although five justices agreed that the appellant in that case should receive reconsideration of his sentence, only four concurred on the lead opinion. Four judges dissented, and Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote a special concurrence. This left lower courts to puzzle over whether Sotomayor had broken the tie. "To say that Freeman divided the court would be an understatement," U.S. Circuit Judge Richard Paez wrote for a divided 11-judge panel in Monday's majority opinion. "Not only did the plurality and dissenting opinions take opposite positions, but both also strongly criticized Justice Sotomayor's concurrence."... Davis has received a fresh opportunity to reduce his sentence, but this does not guarantee that the district judge will grant him relief. Jones Day attorney Nathaniel Garrett, who represents Davis, said in a phone interview that his client's recommended sentence under the federal guidelines should drop dramatically when it returns to the lower court. Garrett noted sentencing guidelines without the 100-to-1 crack-to-powder disparity would range between 78 and 97 months in prison, and Davis already has served 143 months behind bars. The U.S. Sentencing Commission noted two years ago that at least 71 applications for sentence reductions have been denied because of plea agreements like the one Davis signed, but Garrett believes his client's case would open the way for others to find relief. "What we don't know is how many individuals are in prison who haven't applied because the courts told them that they can't," he said. Nancy Talner, a senior staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union's Washington state affiliate, said in a phone interview that the opinion underscores "how unfair the old crack-cocaine sentencing was."... In a concurring opinion, U.S. Circuit Judge Morgan Christen agreed that Davis deserved the opportunity to reduce his sentence, but quibbled about how courts should interpret plurality decisions with no clear victors. The majority opinion leaves the possibility open to take dissenting opinions into account, but Christen thought that this could sow more confusion. "This is not to say that dissents serve no purpose," Christen wrote. "They can and should be read to provide context and a deeper understanding of the court's decisions, but they do not inform our analysis of what binding rule, if any, emerges from a fractured decision." Dissenting Judge Carlos Bea would have rejected Davis's effort entirely. "The district court correctly determined that it lacked jurisdiction to resentence Davis, and the panel should affirm on that basis," he wrote. Defense attorney Garrett predicted, however, that the majority's "reasoned and thoughtful and thorough" opinion would serve as a guide for other circuit judges who have struggled to interpret the Supreme Court's plurality decisions. Recall that San Francisco distributes around $241 million in more than 400 contracts with 76 private organizations that provide services to homeless people with no unified system to track the effects of that investment? Well, unsurprisingly, as a new Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing takes shape with the goal of unifying approaches to finding housing and providing services, a report issued today from the San Francisco's budget and legislative analyst and covered by the Chronicle calls on a better tracking system for homeless people themselves as they receive services. Each has its own set of systems in place, but they dont necessarily overlap or seem to complement each other so they are actually effective, Board of Supervisors president London Breed tells the Chronicle. Thats the frustration here. Breed initially requested that the report be undertaken. According to the report, With the restructuring of homeless programs under a single department, the city has an opportunity now to re-evaluate the effectiveness of existing programs and identify opportunities for stronger coordination of services...The development of a clear policy for addressing the needs of the homeless population will be an essential first step in this process. The report also calls for the need to address gaps in services. "Without a needs assessment that clearly documents where service weaknesses exist, city officials have a limited ability to understand the dynamic needs of the population and cannot ensure proper policy direction and funding for critical areas, including outreach and housing exits. Deputy deputy director of the new department Sam Dodge (and previously the leader of Mayor Lee's 2013-created office of Housing Opportunity, Partnerships and Engagement) appears to interpret the report as a mandate. These are marching orders for the new department," Dodge told the Chron. What we have set out to do is create a coherent system using data that helps people navigate to the best possible housing solutions. Meanwhile, in Seattle where a count placed the number of homeless people sleeping outside at 4,500, the Seattle Times reports that eyes are turning to San Francisco for examples and solutions. Former SF homelessness czar Bevan Dufty spoke to that publication to explain the Homeless Navigation Center model he spearheaded and which Seattle might adopt. The standard belief had become that the people you saw on the street didnt want help, he reportedly said. But I knew that wasnt the case. Related: SF's New Homelessness Department Head Wants To Leverage Tech To House 8,000 By End Of Mayor's Term Following the attack on Pulse nightclub in Orlando Sunday that took the lives of 49 victims, most of them Latino gay men, the New York Times reminds us of earlier attacks on the gay community, among them an infamous arson case at a gay-friendly church in San Francisco in the summer of 1973. The worst previous case of an act of terror and brutality on the LGBT community was the torching of the UpStairs Lounge in New Orleans on June 24, 1973. The bar was known as a place frequented by parishioners of the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) a gay-founded religious organization that began with a "mother church" in Los Angeles, which itself fell victim to an arson attack in January of that same year. The fire at the UpStairs Lounge in June, in which a person or group of people who were never found doused lighter fluid all over the stairs leading up to the second-story bar, was a horrific conflagration that claimed the lives of 32 people, many of them gay parishioners at the nearby MCC. The NYT notes the particular tragedy of the time in which the attack took place, just four years after the Stonewall Riots. Thirty-two people died, and many others were injured. Many of the people who died were unidentifiable, not only because the fire scorched their bodies, but also because, despite the celebration of gay liberation, many gay men were not out of the closet and used fake IDs and aliases in gay bars. Even their families didnt know they were there. Only weeks later in what seems to have been a copycat arson, the Metropolitan Community Church on Guerrero Street in San Francisco was burned down, on July 27, 1973. Thankfully no one was injured in the blaze, and the nearby Mission Presbyterian Church at 23rd and Capp Streets invited all the MCC's gay and lesbian parishioners to their service that Sunday, and the entire group marched from the burned-out church that evening singing just as SF mourners did last night at City Hall "We Shall Overcome." The MCC went about its mission in many unconventional ways. As they say on their website today, "We are a spiritual community which affirms that you are beloved! Rooted in the Christian tradition, our members come from a variety of spiritual backgrounds. We believe there are many paths to the holy, and that our sexuality and genders are sacred gifts." And as they recount on this timeline, they passed out flyers in gay bars in the early 70's saying "bring a trick to church," and even held Easter Sunday services at a SoMa bathhouse, "replete with baptisms and 'fellowship.'" Gay bars were also the targets of firebombings and arsons in this era. The original Toad Hall in the Castro (where, currently, the upstairs portion of Walgreen's is near 18th) was also hit by several fires between 1973 and 1974, at least one of which, shortly before it was set to reopen following a reconstruction, appears to have been set on purpose. During the AIDS crisis of 1980's and '90's, from their new church at 150 Eureka Street, the MCC ministered to the ill, dying, and mourning with various support groups and services. See a video history here, put together by the GLBT Historical Society, about the history of the MCC in SF. Now, as of 2015, the church shares a handsome home with the First Congregational Church at Polk and Bush, pictured above, and they continue to welcome all kinds of spiritual traditions, including Buddhism and others. And, last night, members of the church gathered with about 10,000 others in the LGBT community to march from the Castro to Civic Center, and led the group in "We Shall Overcome" once again. Yeezy season approaches. This fall, Kanye West is set to arrive at Oakland's Oracle Arena on October 22 as part of a 32-city tour called "Saint Pablo." A note on that name: It harkens back to the title of West's most recent album, The Life Of Pablo, which, it has been suggested, may refer to the apostle Paul or else to several other Pablos, from Picasso to Escobar. Further, the youngest child of Kim Kardashian and Mr. West is named "Saint." News of the tour was relayed by Rolling Stone, who write that general pre-sale tickets are available shortly, on June 18, at Live Nation. There's also a perk for Tidal subscribers, whom West may have led astray in the past (seeming to disingenuously suggest that his album would be available exclusively on that platform).That crowd will have access to pre-sale purchases starting June 16. American Express cardholders find themselves even more lucky, with pre-sale for them beginning today. West's tour sets out on August 25 in Indianapolis and concludes on October 29 in Las Vegas. Los Angeles, New York, and West's native Chicago all receive two nights of shows, while, nestled between Seattle and LA performances, the Bay Area receives just one Still, with so many performances overall, it's likely Kanye aims to lift himself out of the personal debt that he copped to earlier this year. Kanye puts himself at $53 million in the hole, a sum which he asked Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) to help him out with (on Twitter) back in February. Related: Kanye West Says He's $53 Million In Debt, Asks Zuckerberg For $1 Billion So apparently a construction worker was stabbed on 5th and Folsom. 2 suspects taken down right in front of my work. pic.twitter.com/7fthxZeYxV Ophylia Wispling (@wispling) June 10, 2016 According to one broadcast TV station's unnamed sources, the SoMa construction worker who was stabbed to death last week might have been murdered by an LA couple because she refused to allow them to use the job site's porta-potty, the second such alleged attack by the duo. You likely caught a bit of the story last week: At around 9:30 a.m. Friday, 58-year-old construction worker Mitzi Campbell was directing traffic at the South of Market intersection of Fifth and Shipley Streets, when witnesses say they saw her arguing with a couple near the job site. As Campbell escorted the couple, since identified by the San Francisco Police Department as 23-year-old Lizette Cauich and 42-year-old Oscar Mendez, away from the construction site, witnesses say that Cauich pulled out a weapon and stabbed Campbell multiple times. Though the couple allegedly led, they were pursued by Campbell's co-workers, and were arrested near Fifth and Folsom Streets. Campbell was rushed to San Francisco General Hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries and died. But while Gatpandan could not offer any additional information on the motive behind Campbell's slaying, Chron investigative scribe turned NBC Bay Area reporter Jaxon Van Derbeken has unnamed sources who claim that a job site porta-potty was the source of the dispute. According to NBC's report, "Cauich became angry when Campbell refused to allow her use of the construction site toilet" and that authorities have since linked Cauich and Mendez to a similar attack in the Tenderloin on May 29. As reported by Bay City News on May 31, that attack occurred at 1:30 p.m. near Eddy and Taylor streets, when "a 23-year-old woman and a man of unspecified age, asked the victim to use a portable toilet located in a lot in the area." When the man turned them down, they allegedly "stabbed him in the upper torso with a knife," leaving him with life-threatening injuries. According to Bay City News, both are scheduled to be arraigned in San Francisco Superior Court on Tuesday afternoon, and will face charges in both crimes. Mendez faces charges of attempted murder, mayhem, assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury, battery with serious injury, carrying a dirk and dagger, possession of a controlled substance, receiving or buying stolen property and giving false information to a police officer. Mendez, who like Cauich is a resident of Los Angeles, is also the subject of LA County arrest warrants for assault with a deadly weapon and domestic violence, Gatpandan says. Cauich's charges include murder, attempted murder, mayhem, assault with force likely to commit great bodily injury, and battery with serious bodily injury. Both are, according to a San Francisco County Jail spokesperson, presently being held without bail. Previously: Female Construction Worker Fatally Stabbed In SoMa In clip you can see sex workers and passersby near time of shooting. At 5m44s: 5 shots heard, one witness in view: https://t.co/p1XTS2TsJM Zach Klein (@zachklein) June 14, 2016 A man was killed in the Mission District this morning, the victim of a fatal shooting outside a popular area saloon. Details are still scarce, but according to a preliminary report from the San Francisco Police Department, gunfire was reported at 4:05 a.m. Tuesday at the corner of 20th and Shotwell Streets, near a location that's been the site of a bar (at present, called Shotwell's) that's been in operation for over a century. When police arrived at the scene of the report, they discovered a man suffering from gunshot wounds. He was transported to San Francisco General Hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival. Police say that the weapon used was a handgun, by a suspect described only as male. Citing the still-ongoing investigation, an SFPD spokesperson was unable to provide additional details at publication time. According to Mission Local, a witness says that "the man was shot five times and that they saw a black car speeding away from the scene eastbound on 20th Street after it happened." One of the bullets from the shooting cracked the window of an area pilates studio, they report, saying that "neighbors were concerned that the shooting might be related to pimping on the block" though so far no one has told the publication that "they knew the victim, however, nor had any specific information tying the shooting to pimps on the block." The Examiner reports that this is San Francisco's 23rd homicide for 2016, following Friday's fatal stabbing of SF construction worker Mitzi Campbell. SIOUX CITY | The City Council gave the green light Monday for an architect to design a $750,000 day lodge for the all-seasons Cone Park. As of Monday, the city had raised $23,955 in additional private funds for the $4 million park envisioned next to the IBP Ice Center. A state board last month had made a $300,000 Vision Iowa grant contingent on the city raising at least $16,684 more locally. About $15,000 of the additional funds raised is from a Gilchrist Foundation grant, said Angel Wallace, parks and recreation manager. Virginia Anderson, co-chair of the Cone Park Committee, celebrated the council vote Monday, saying the decision was a major step for the long-awaited park. "We have the key indicators now," Anderson said. "We have the financials and the votes. We can move forward now." The council voted, 4-0, to have Sioux City-based PLaN Architecture design the day lodge. Councilman Dan Moore was absent Monday. The decision followed a lengthy discussion on whether the city should budget $750,000, or about $225 per square foot, for a day lodge. "That's too high to spend on a 3,000-square-foot building," Councilman Keith Radig said. Mayor Bob Scott agreed, saying the per-square-foot price was more than a new elementary school in Sioux City. According to city documents, the lodge would be one story tall and designed to contain restrooms, an office, storage, concessions and public gathering space. Councilwoman Rhonda Capron defended the price tag, saying the city would have difficulties building the lodge at a lesser cost. "If we're going to do this, let's do this right," Capron said. Anderson noted the city could use the day lodge as rental space for events such as weddings to generate additional revenue. In other action Monday, the council voted 4-0 to approve construction documents for a tubing hill and roadway at the park. If approved, bids will be taken July 12, with construction starting at the end of August. The expected completion date for the two projects is July 31, 2017. The base bid for the project will include tree stump removal, site grading, excavation of a pond at Sertoma Park, extending Line Drive, snow-making infrastructures and other utilities. The Gilchrist Foundation, a Sioux City-based nonprofit, partners with Security National Bank to provide funding to enable special projects, primarily in Sioux City or Chicago. "We're very excited and thankful for the Gilchrist Foundation coming forward and awarding our city for the project," Wallace said. "We're very supportive of the citizens donating to the general project as well." The award was contingent on raising the minimum amount within 90 days. The additional $7,271 could help fund project alternates or revamped versions of planned amenities at the facility on a hillside in Sertoma Park. STORM LAKE, Iowa | Police say a Storm Lake, Iowa man who set fires at a restaurant after breaking in after hours in 2013 has been arrested. Sergio Quintero Jr., 28, was charged with felony burglary and third degree arson, an aggravated misdemeanor. A release issued by the Storm Lake Police Department said Quintero broke into Los Portales Restaurant, 508 Eerie St. in Storm Lake, sometime between the evening of August 21 and morning of August 22 in 2013. He set small fires, which failed to spread. Damage to the business was estimated at $500. Earlier in June, the police department was informed that fingerprint evidence had been matched to Quintero. He was arrested Monday. Quintero is currently being held in Buena Vista County Jail in lieu of a $27,000 bond. DAKOTA CITY, Neb. | Scores of Dakota County homeowners are objecting to new residential valuations that rose by an average of 6 percent, compared to the previous assessments. The county assessors office on June 1 mailed out new proposed property valuations, and a slew of formal protests by homeowners have since followed, County Assessor Jeff Curry said Monday. The new valuations are one factor that will be used to calculate local property taxes starting in the next budget year. Under state law, county assessor offices are required to release proposed valuations by March 19, then the Nebraska Department of Revenue reviews the figures before the proposed values are mailed out. Curry noted the state agency had no problem with the proposed Dakota County valuations. Curry said the office had been using a residential cost table that dates to 2003 and this year updated it to 2015. As a result, some residential values rose by as much as 30 percent, while some actually dropped. "I knew this year was gonna be tough," Curry said. If all the proposed increases are maintained, the property valuation countywide would rise by $34 million. Jamie Valdovinos told the Journal Monday his South Sioux City home is now valued at 20 percent higher than is reasonable. Valdovinos was given an appointment on June 24 to speak directly with Curry in his office. Dakota County residents who are protesting their valuations have three key dates to remember. They have to lodge an official written protest by June 30. A county panel must hold a hearing by July 25 and then make a final ruling by Aug. 2. Curry said the assessor's clerks are setting up appointments with the protesting people. People should follow their rights in getting the right valuation. In the first step, they will come to his office, Curry will pull up key property factors and the two parties will discuss details. If the resident still wants to fight the valuation, the Dakota County Board of Equalization is the entity that gives a final oversight to what valuations are set, so people would work on individual protests to that panel. Dozens of people have already given protests. As a result, the Board of Equalization in a Monday meeting agreed to hire some temporary "referees," with experience in property appraising, to help process the valuation protests, Curry said. He said the protests have come from residential properties and not businesses, which did not drastically change. DAKOTA CITY | The driver of a car involved in a wreck in which three people died pleaded not guilty Tuesday to vehicular homicide. Christopher Cox, 45, of Council Bluffs, Iowa, is scheduled to stand trial in Dakota County Court on Sept. 22 on three counts of vehicular homicide and one count of no operator's license. Vehicular homicide is a Class I misdemeanor punishable by a maximum of one year in jail. No operator's license is a Class III misdemeanor that carries a maximum penalty of three months in jail. Cox told authorities he swerved to miss a deer and ran off the road at about 3:40 a.m. Thursday on U.S. Highway 20 west of Jackson, Nebraska. The car crossed the center line, went airborne into the north ditch and struck a concrete creek barrier. Passengers Connie Fauzae, 57, and Espinoza Lara, 9, both of Council Bluffs, died at the scene. A third passenger, Jose Lara, 10, also of Council Bluffs, died at a Sioux City hospital. Cox was treated for minor injuries and released from the hospital. According to the vehicular homicide statute, Cox unintentionally caused the death of another person while he was driving in violation of a state law. According to court documents, Cox did not have a valid operator's license at the time of the crash, and a review found that his driver's license issued in New Mexico had been suspended. Dakota County Sheriff Chris Kleinberg said Thursday that an early toxicology test suggested alcohol or another substance could have played a role in the crash. Kleinberg could not be reached for comment Tuesday. SIOUX CITY | Those who hold the purse strings of state and local government agencies undoubtedly have a hard job. There's only so much money to go around to many worthy programs and projects. But you'd think that a program with a nearly 17-year track record of success would have demonstrated enough worthiness to earn immunity from discussions when it comes to budget cuts. In 16 years of serving on Woodbury County's drug court, Charlie Knoepfler has seen the program's future cast in doubt many times because of funding uncertainties, most recently last month, when the Iowa judicial system publicly mulled cutting money to fund drug courts and other treatment courts in order to make a tight budget. Knoepfler has spoken to legislators and other leaders in the past when the possibility of cutting money to drug courts has come up. "If they're threatening that, they haven't done their homework on what recovery and recovered people save the system," Knoepfler said. "This drug court saves taxpayers money." For those not familiar with drug court, it's a diversionary program that's operated in Woodbury County since July 1999 and in other Iowa counties since then. Woodbury County's is unique in that community volunteers, not judges, sit on panels to help guide adult and juvenile drug and alcohol offenders through recovery and probation. Each month, panels meet with offenders, setting up requirements that keep sobriety and recovery as the focus. The goal is to rehabilitate substance abusers and reduce recidivism by giving them individualized attention. It has achieved that goal from the start, said Gary Niles, chief juvenile court officer in Iowa's 3rd Judicial District who oversees Woodbury County's drug court. An estimated 1,000 people have gone through drug court, and the results are impressive. Niles said the recidivism rate for people who complete the program is 10-12 percent, compared with about 25 percent for those who complete other types of programs. Yet at least seven times in nearly 17 years, the program has faced the threat of funding cuts, whether it be from the expiration of federal grants, reduced appropriations from the Iowa Legislature or, more recently, the state's judicial system. "I don't sweat it as much as I used to because I think we can show it's a successful and cost-effective program," Niles said. That's the message Knoepfler delivers when talking to those who make budget decisions. "I give them a logical reason for spending that money," he said. "Drug court has given a lot of people a door to turn their lives around." Knoepfler got involved soon after drug court launched. A recovering alcoholic, he was a sponsor for another man who was sentenced to complete the program. Knoepfler attended a drug court session with him and immediately liked what he saw. "I was very impressed with the makeup of the panels and the whole process," he said. Knoepfler volunteered as a way to give back to the community. He also knew what it's like to battle addiction and thought he could help others facing those same battles. "I could trade places with any of them sitting at that table," he said. Knoepfler can't count the number of people he's seen turn their lives around with drug court's help. Many have returned to drug court to volunteer as panelists. Fortunately, for drug courts in Woodbury County and across Iowa, the judicial branch left them fully funded, finding other ways to make its budget for the coming year. Drug court is safe, for another year at least. It's hoped that funding might be more secure in the future with the program now under the judicial branch. The state's top judges know the value of such programs. Still, Knoepfler said, supporters won't be taking any chances. "I think it's important to stay connected to our legislators to keep them informed of our successes," he said. "The big thing is that our voices be heard, be heard by the powers that be." Let's hope that message gets through loud and clear. DES MOINES Roughly 7 percent of Iowa students are chronically absent, meaning they miss more than 10 percent of school days. Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad on Monday announced the formation of a state advisory council to study and make recommendations on addressing chronic absences, particularly among young students. The advisory council will be composed of 30 education, nonprofit, business and state government leaders. This is a problem that schools cant solve by themselves, Branstad said. They need the involvement and the support of the entire community. Branstad cited a Child and Family Policy Center study that suggests students who are chronically absent are 1.5 times less likely to be proficient in reading. In Iowa, 1 in 4 students cannot read proficiently by the end of third grade. We know that too many children, especially children from families with low income, miss too many days of school, said Jean Kresse, president and CEO of United Way of Story County. If left unchecked, this problem will undermine all of our efforts to end intergenerational poverty, close the achievement gaps and reduce high school dropout rates. The council will meet four times, once a month, starting in August, and will make recommendations to the administration in November. We know schools cant do it alone. And we know chronic absence is a solvable problem, Kresse said. Forming the Iowa Chronic Absenteeism Advisory Council is a critical step in that solution." Kresse noted local projects across the state as examples of work already being done in Iowa to reduce chronic absence, including in the Quad-Cities and Waterloo. Waterloos Bell to Bell program stresses to students the importance of being at school on time in the morning, ready to learn, and it has a staff member dedicated to reaching out to families with students who have had chronic absences in the past. Amy Schmidt, the principal at Waterloos Irving Elementary, said average attendance increased a full percent this year and overall student performance in standardized testing improved. Schmidt and another key Irving staff member attributed much of that success to Bell to Bell. Were definitely seeing a huge difference in what were doing, said Adriane Carlson, a family support worker at Irving Elementary. A similar program also is working in the Quad Cities, said Scott Crane, president of United Way of the Quad-Cities Area. In one Quad-Cities-area school, 80 percent of students who had previous chronic absences improved their attendance this year, Crane said. Its something that schools have really embraced and something were happy to be partner with, Crane said. Sioux City Superintendent Paul Gausman said Monday that the district has begun to develop a plan for chronic absence to be included in the district's strategic plan. In the 2014-15 school year, 7.2 percent of Sioux City's K-8 students were chronically absent, slightly above the state average. SIOUX CENTER, Iowa | The Western Iowa Tech Community College board voted Monday to raise tuition by about 2.8 percent for the 2016-17 academic year. Both in-state and out-of-state students will pay an extra $4 per credit hour under the pay, with in-state tuition growing from $139 to $143 per credit hour and out-of-state from $140 to $144 per credit hour. For a student taking 15 credit hours in a semester, the bump will be an additional $60 in tuition. Even with the increase, Western Iowa Tech's tuition is still in the lower quartile of the state's 15 community college, and is considerably lower than tuition at the state's public universities, President Terry Murrell said Monday. WITCC and Des Moines Area Community College tied for the smallest increase in tuition this year among the state's community colleges, he said. The Sioux City-based school will not increase mandatory fees for students next year. "Our board is very conscious to make sure that it is as affordable as possible," Murrell said. Murrell said Monday's vote was unanimous. Tuition increases help the college meet expenses during a time of limited state aid, he said. WITCC recently approved 3.5 percent increase on salary and benefit packages for faculty and staff. WITCC has its main campus in Sioux City, with satellite campuses in Cherokee, Denison, Le Mars and Mapleton. Gov. Terry Branstad signed legislation providing an extra $3 million, or 1.5 percent, in state funding next year to be split by the state's 15 community colleges. The state contributed no increase in aid the previous year. Last month, the Northwest Iowa Community College board voted to raise tuition at the Sheldon-based school by 4.6 percent, from $150 to $157 per credit hour for in-state students and $160 to $167 per credit hour for out-of-state students. The Iowa Board of Regents approved a measure to increase tuition at the three state universities -- the University of Iowa, University of Northern Iowa and Iowa State University -- by 4.4 percent, or nearly $300 per year. SIOUX CITY | Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate traveled to Sioux City Monday to promote a statewide program designed to protect the identities of victims of domestic violence and other violent crimes. The Safe at Home Act allows victims to conceal their home addresses so that their assailants cannot find them using public records. Under the service, victims use a post office box in Des Moines as their official address. Their mail is then forwarded to their real home addresses by the Secretary of States Office. The substitute address can be used for driver's licenses, voter's registration, employment records and many other government records. Those who sign up will be given a verification card to show they are enrolled in the program. Pate said the program is needed around the state, nothing that there were 100 convictions for domestic violence and 15 for sexual assault in Woodbury County last year. "We're really looking forward to helping these people move forward from victims to survivors," he told members of the Sioux City Rotary Club on Monday. At a news conference in Sioux City Tuesday, Pate will be joined by local domestic violence/sexual abuse victims advocates, and county officials to call even more attention to Safe at Home. Other officials scheduled to speak at the media event include Woodbury County Sheriff Dave Drew, Woodbury County Auditor Pat Gill and Deb Hogan, program supervisor at the Council on Sexual Assault & Domestic Violence, or CSADV. Iowa is one of nearly three dozen states to adopt an address- confidentiality program. SIOUX CITY | A Sioux City teenager has pleaded not guilty to stabbing a man. Trevor Peterson, 18, entered his written plea Tuesday in Woodbury County District Court to four counts of willful injury and one count of going armed with intent. According to court documents, Peterson, Michael Stewart, 16, and an unidentified third person went to a house on the 1900 block of Sherman Avenue to assault someone at about 4 a.m. June 1. When they knocked on the door, a man the three weren't looking for answered the door and a fight took place. Court documents said that Peterson stabbed James Goodteacher seven times. Goodteacher was taken to Mercy Medical Center with non life-threatening injuries. Stewart was initially charged as an adult, but his case has since been transferred to juvenile court. LE MARS, Iowa | A man was airlifted to Mercy Medical Center -- Sioux City Sunday night after intentionally running out in front of a vehicle in Le Mars. According to a news release from the Le Mars Police Department, police officers and the Le Mars Ambulance were called to the 1200 block of Lincoln Street NE on reports of a subject being struck by a car. Upon investigation, police found a male had run in front of an eastbound vehicle. He was then transported by Le Mars Ambulance to Floyd Valley Healthcare and later airlifted to Mercy Medical Center, where his condition is unknown. No name has been released. WASHINGTON -- Hillary Clinton faces a strategic choice. She can concentrate on closing off Donald Trump's potential openings with the white working class. Or she can build large leads among more affluent voters, many of whom are moderate and see Trump as dangerous, extreme and temperamentally unfit. She will necessarily do some of both -- she needs a decent share of the blue-collar vote to hold key Midwestern states -- and she will have to rally what have been core Democratic constituencies: younger voters, who eluded her during the primaries, African-Americans and Latinos. But the direction of her campaign and her selection of a running mate will depend in significant part on the class tilt of her strategy. For the moment, however, her decisions are easy compared with those confronting Republicans. Trump's stubborn refusal to transition away from his persona during the primaries has put the party's leaders in an impossible position. They can try to prop up their presumptive nominee in an effort to avert a quick collapse that could endanger their entire party in November. Or they can distance themselves from him now in the hope of disentangling their ticket from what is beginning to look like an epic disaster. But this is a classic Catch-22: The very process of pulling back from Trump further weakens him, making the calamity the party fears even more likely. And Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg says Republican candidates for the House and Senate would risk large defections from their base if they are seen as sabotaging Trump. This is why House Speaker Paul Ryan ended up in the anomalous position of reiterating his support for Trump even as he was condemning the racism of his candidate's attacks on Judge Gonzalo Curiel. Endorsing Trump means always having to say you're sorry. Clinton set up what was by far the best period of her campaign with a sweeping assault on Trump to which he offered only a feeble reply -- while drawing little defense from his own party. Clinton's primary victories last week opened the way for endorsements from Obama and Elizabeth Warren even as Bernie Sanders signaled he understood that his campaign was nearing its end. Yet Sanders' comments after a White House meeting with Obama pointed to the choice Clinton confronts. Sanders promised to "work as hard as I can to make sure that Donald Trump does not become president of the United States." But he also pledged to continue "to oppose the drift which currently exists toward an oligarchic form of society where a handful of billionaires exercise enormous power over our political, economic and media life." Sanders' enthusiasm for the first objective will depend in part on Clinton's enthusiasm for the second. Still, there's a lot to be said for the upscale strategy. Clinton's forceful emphasis on Trump's character and Vice President Joe Biden's talk of his "authoritarianism" will resonate in better-off suburbs and urban precincts. "I do think his temperament and divisiveness are going to discredit him with voters who might otherwise have been available to a Republican nominee among the white college educated," said David Axelrod, formerly Obama's senior adviser. And given a Democratic leaning in the electorate reflected in Obama's 5 million vote margin from 2012, Trump is unlikely to gain enough in the white working class to offset his losses among the well-to-do. "He can't trade votes and win," Axelrod said. Moreover, Greenberg sees a focus on Trump's personal volatility as having helpful ricochet effects with other constituencies. To the extent that Trump is forced by the party to tone down his rhetoric (just watch his flat, Teleprompter-driven address from last Tuesday), he may start losing some of his magic with working-class voters. And Greenberg argues that Clinton knows she has to offer a strong economic message with a populist feel to win over the millennial voters who flocked to Sanders. Appeals aimed their way will simultaneously help earn Sanders' blessing and pick up the white working-class votes she'll need. The fact that the strategic playing field now favors Clinton points to how urgent it is for Trump to turn the campaign narrative to her weaknesses, which he says he'll do this week. His challenge is that while most of the negative information about Clinton is already well-known, each day seems to bring new revelations about Trump's past business practices and personal habits. And out-of-control attacks on Clinton will only provoke more questions about Trump's temperament. For the first time all year, being Hillary Clinton is easier than being Donald Trump. Starting a business at a young age can be challenging. But if you have a strong community around you, it can be much easier. The city or community in which you decide to start your business can make all the difference. But the cities you might immediately think of when choosing a business location may not be the best choices for young entrepreneurs. Weve listed the best cities in the U.S. for women, minority and small business entrepreneurs thus far, drawing on data from the U.S. Census Survey of Business Owners and other sources. But for our last list, well be drawing from a slightly different place. According to a NerdWallet study in 2015, which is the last time this data was collected, the top cities for young business dont just include the big names like New York and San Francisco. To develop the top ten list, NerdWallet took several different factors into consideration, including the population of people between 25 and 34, the education level, cost of living and more. Best Cities for Young Entrepreneurs Austin-Round Rock A big part of the reason the Austin area, which has the 11th largest population in the U.S. overall, ranks first on the list of places for young entrepreneurs is its population of young people. According to the data processed by NerdWallet, which comes from sources like the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. Small Business Administration, the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics and more, 17.5 percent of Austins population falls between the ages of 25 and 34. Thats the highest percentage of that age group for any city on the list. In addition, the SBA has issued about $17,692,769 in loans for every 100,000 residents. And Texas also doesnt charge personal or corporate income taxes. San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward The San Francisco area of California offers young entrepreneurs the chance to live in a community with plenty of other successful and educated individuals. Ranked number two on the list, San Franciscos median income falls at $61,810. And its percentage of residents with a bachelors degree falls at 45.9 percent, which puts it at fourth place in that category. San Francisco is just 14th in terms of general population, but the other cities around it add to its feel of being a much larger metropolitan area. Salt Lake City In this city, young entrepreneurs enjoy a high small business loan rate along with a high percentage of young people. Salt Lake City has the second highest SBA loan rate in the country, with $21,590,164 in SBA loans per 100,000 residents. And with 16.3 percent of its population falling between the ages of 25 and 34, theres a lot of potential networking opportunities along with an available workforce of young professionals. Salt Lake Citys general population doesnt fall within the top 100 largest cities in the country, so it could be a good choice for those young entrepreneurs who want more of a small town feel. Denver-Aurora-Lakewood The Denver area, which ranks 23rd in terms of overall population, also offers a high small business loan rate, with $14,648,482 in SBA loans per 100,000 residents. The young, active community in Denver also offers a fairly educated workforce, which may also lead to potential networking or partnership opportunities for young entrepreneurs. A total of 40.8 percent of residents have a bachelors degree or higher. Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington The area around the Twin Cities offers a lower-than-average unemployment rate, at just 3.1 percent. So young entrepreneurs who choose the area can enjoy a thriving economy as well as a community made up of potential customers with access to disposable income. In addition, the city boasts an SBA loan rate of $15,957,600 per 100,000 residents. Minneapolis and St. Paul rank 47th and 66th respectively in overall population, so the community as a whole offers a large population without the expense or hassle of huge cities. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue Another community with a workforce and potential customers with disposable income, the Seattle area is ranked number six in terms of median earnings, at $55,123, and 22nd in terms of general population. The community also has a high percentage of young people, with 16 percent falling between the ages of 25 and 34. Madison In Madison, which ranks 82nd in terms of overall population, residents enjoy an unemployment rate of just 2.7 percent. Thats the sixth lowest rate in the country. In addition, 44.7 percent of residents have a bachelors degree or higher. So if you choose Madison to start or relocate your business, you can enjoy an educated workforce and thriving local economy. Midland Another community where entrepreneurs can enjoy a Texas-style business friendly atmosphere, Midland boasts a rate of 2.9 small businesses per 100 residents. And with 16.9 percent of the citys population falling between 25 and 34, it has a community full of young professionals, which could offer young entrepreneurs plenty of collaboration and partnership opportunities. Boston-Cambridge-Newton See Also: Top 50 Cities for Baby Boomer Entrepreneurs With the median earnings rate at $60,168, the Boston-Cambridge-Newton population is the third most highly paid in the country. And straddling Massachusetts and New Hampshire, it has the 21st largest population in the U.S. The community also has a higher-than-average amount of educated residents. 45.2 percent have a bachelors degree or higher. Fargo Fargo might not sound like the most hip place for young people to start their businesses, but with an unemployment rate of just 2.1 percent, its got a thriving economy and plenty of opportunity for young entrepreneurs to build successful companies. In addition, residents between the ages of 25 and 34 make up 16.3 percent of Fargos population. So theres also the opportunity to be part of a large community of young professionals. Get the latest headlines from Small Business Trends. Follow us on Google News. Email is a vital communication resource that many small businesses rely on to send sensitive, confidential information both inside and outside of the organization. But the prevalence of email as a business tool also makes it susceptible to exploitation and data loss. In fact, email accounts for 35 percent of all data loss incidents among enterprises, according to a white paper from AppRiver, a cyber security company. Data breaches are not always the result of malicious activity, such as a hacking attempt. Most often, they occur due to simple employee negligence or oversight. (Employees are the leading cause of security-related incidents, according to a Wells Fargo white paper.) In 2014, an employee at the insurance brokerage firm Willis North America accidentally emailed a spreadsheet containing confidential information to a group of employees enrolled in the company medical plans Healthy Rewards program. As a result, Willis had to pay for two years of identity theft protection for the nearly 5,000 people affected by the breach. In another instance, also from 2014, an employee of the Rady Childrens Hospital in San Diego erroneously sent an email containing the protected health information of more than 20,000 patients to job applicants. (The employee thought she was sending a training file to evaluate the applicants.) The hospital sent notification letters to the affected individuals and worked with an outside security firm to ensure the data was deleted. These and many other such incidents point to emails vulnerabilities and underscore the need for businesses large and small to secure, control and track their messages and attachments wherever they send them. Here are five steps, from AppRiver, that small businesses can follow to simplify the task of developing email compliance standards to safeguard sensitive information. Email Compliance Guide 1. Determine What Regulations Apply and What You Need to Do Start by asking: What regulations apply to my company? What requirements exist to demonstrate email compliance? Do these overlap or conflict? Once you understand what regulations apply, determine if you need different policies to cover them or just one comprehensive policy. Example regulations that small businesses many encounter include: Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act (HIPAA) governs the transmission of personally identifiable patient health information; Sarbanes-Oxley Act (S-OX) requires that companies establish internal controls to accurately gather, process and report financial information; Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) demands that companies implement policy and technologies to ensure the security and confidentiality of customer records when transmitted and in storage; Payment Card Information Security Standards (PCI) mandates the secure transmission of cardholder data. 2. Identify What Needs Protecting and Set Protocols Depending on the regulations your company is subject to, identify data that is deemed confidential credit card numbers, electronic health records or personally identifiable information being sent via email. Also, decide who should have access to send and receive such information. Then, set policies that you can enforce through the use of technology to encrypt, archive or even block transmission of email content based on users, user groups, keywords and other means of identifying transmitted data as sensitive. 3. Track Data Leaks and Losses Once you understand what types of data users are sending via email, track to determine if loss is occurring and in what ways. Are breaches taking place inside the business or within a particular group of users? Are file attachments being leaked? Set additional policies to address your core vulnerabilities. 4. Identify What You Need to Enforce Policy Having the right solution to enforce your policy is just as important as the policy itself. To satisfy regulatory requirements, several solutions may be necessary to ensure email compliance. Some solutions that organizations can implement include encryption, data leak prevention (DLP), archiving of emails and anti-virus protection. 5. Educate Users and Employees An effective email compliance policy will focus on user education and policy enforcement for acceptable use. As unintentional human error remains the most common cause of data breaches, many regulations require the training of users on behaviors that could potentially lead to such violations. Users and employees will be less likely to let their guard down and make mistakes when they understand proper workplace email usage and the consequences of non-compliance and are comfortable using appropriate technologies. See Also: Master the Product Launch with These 5 Steps While no one-size-fits-all plan can help small businesses comply with every regulation, following these five steps can help your business develop an effective email compliance policy that safeguards security standards. When you think of dating services, you probably think of platforms that help match people with potential partners based on their common interests. But what happens after that initial connection? For plenty of couples, coming up with date ideas can be even more difficult than finding potential matches, especially if youre sick of the same old dinner and a movie dates over and over again. Whether youre going out with someone new or looking to add some interest to an established relationship, theres VibeDate. Ideas for Dates Co-founder Maggie Partsi actually got the idea for VibeDate from watching a lot of The Bachelor on TV. She thought that if so many people enjoyed watching others go on fun dates on TV, they might enjoy going on some fun dates themselves. Partsi said in an email interview with Small Business Trends, Ive always loved planning special occasions and my partner and I decided to share our date ideas with those around us. This meant they could go on adventures too and save themselves from those horrible What do you want to do? You choose, No, you choose! fights, by letting us do all the planning for them! Partsi and her partner Tony Dymock officially started the business late last year after winning a pitch fest in their native Australia. They invested their winnings into setting up an Australian Business Number and a website. Theyve also taken part in a Start Up Expo at Pause Fest, a digital festival in Australia. To use the service, users simply use the companys website to input some of their personal information along with date preferences and budget. VibeDate can plan dates anywhere from $50 to $2,000. And the company has some partnerships with popular date locations and vendors to get discounted rates on activities. Partsi says, For special occasions, anniversaries and proposals people tend to spend more. However if youre just looking for a fun way to spend the weekend or want to save some cash, the cheaper options are great too! The company also offers predetermined date categories including foodie, adventure, romantic, nature, bar, surprise and even bestie dates. Once you input your details, someone from VibeDate gets in touch within 24 hours to ask a few questions. And then the team plans and arranges the whole date for you. However, the company currently only serves people looking to arrange dates near Melbourne and Victoria in Australia. In addition to the date service, VibeDate is also producing a Date Book with some of the most popular date ideas theyve created in each category. Partsi says that the details are still being worked out, but the book should be available online for a reasonable rate in a few months. In addition, the VibeDate team intends to continue building brand awareness on social media and of course planning fun dates. Environment June 14, 2016 Jesse McLaren The devastating fires in Fort McMurray show the urgent need to transition to an economy that supports people and the planet, and this is part of a transition in climate justice politics. The mainstream environmental movement used to be dominated by a narrow focus on consumerism, individual lifestyle choices, and single issue politics taking for granted the broader context of colonialism and capitalism. The environmental movement talked about saving the planet in the abstract, without acknowledging the territories on which were living or supporting Indigenous communities defending them. There was even a racist campaign against the right of the Makah nation to hunt whales, which theyve done sustainably for millennia. The environmental movement talked about changing our individual consumer choices without questioning what we collectively produce and how workers themselves can be part of the solution. While the protests against logging in Clayoquot Sound successfully stopped the company, it led to bitter divisions between environmentalists and workers. Fast-forward twenty years and there was a Defend Our Coast mass sit-in in Victoria. It was led by Coastal First Nations, and had support from environmentalists/workers. As a CAW activist explained, the ongoing risks that these tar sands pipelines and tankers pose arent worth any price. Tens of thousands of unionized and other jobs depend on healthy river and ocean ecosystems. The Yinka Dene Alliance has united First Nations against pipelines crossing territories and reached out to labour. Unifor and the BCTF signed the Solidarity Accord with the Save the Fraser Declaration: We, the undersigned, say to our First Nations brothers and sisters, and to the world, that we are prepared to stand with you to protect the land, the water and our communities from the Enbridge pipelines and tankers project and similar projects to transport tar sands oil. Obviously this position is not shared by the entire labour movement or NDP, as we saw in the reception of Leap Manifesto at the NDP convention (8-10 April, 2016). But this conversation is in transition, and its driven by changes to the climate and the economy. Transitions in Climate and Economy The scale and urgency of the climate crisis means it cant be solved through individual behavior. There has to be a massive shift in the economy away from fossil fuels and this means workers need to be involved in this process. The disproportionate impact of the climate crisis on poor and racialized communities also means it cant be understood as an abstract single issue. Increasingly unnatural disasters, from Hurricane Katrina to Typhoon Haiyan, have shone a light on environmental racism. As well as global warming, theres also local impacts disproportionately impact Indiginous communities, from cancer rates at Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, asthma rates at Aamjiwnaang, and the threat of Line 9 to Chippewas of the Thames highlighting colonialism. At the same time theres an ongoing economic crisis, which has cost 400,000 manufacturing jobs across Canada in the past decade which also disproportionately affect Indigenous and racialized workers. This has been double-edged. For years weve been told that while the oil economy might worsen the climate crisis, its the only solution to jobs crisis, reinforcing the old divisions between workers and the environment. But now the fall in the price of oil has exposed how unsustainable those jobs are not only for the climate but also for workers. The same corporations and governments who have ignored Indigenous and climate concerns are showing how little they care for workers in their own industry. Oil corporations have slashed tens of thousands of jobs to maintain their profits. Governments who claimed there was no money for healthcare, education, social services are continuing to bail out oil companies with billion dollar subsidies while refusing to provide a just transition for workers who are suffering. The scale of the climate and economic crisis, and the disproportionate impact they have, wont automatically build a movement against them. People can respond to the climate crisis by blaming workers, or respond to the economic crisis by ignoring Indigenous people, ignoring the climate or blame refugees. But instead, the climate justice movement has risen to unite all those affected including Indigenous and migrant communities, environmentalists and workers, anti-poverty and anti-war organizations. Transition in Climate Justice Politics This is not just because of changes to climate and the economy but also because of a transition in climate politics. This is thanks first of all to Indigenous communities defending their territories from healing walks and toxic tours exposing environmental racism, to blockades and land defense, and legal challenges to assert Indigenous rights. Through this process, frontline communities are not only defending their own land, but also providing a climate justice framework for the whole movement. Climate politics are transitioning from consumerism to anti-colonialism, and from blaming workers to building a new economy. The backlash against the Leap Manifesto included the accusation that it represents Toronto elites who are anti-Alberta and anti-worker. But Leap Manifesto reflects a climate justice movement led by Indigenous communities, many in the heart of Alberta, who are including workers in their vision for change. As Melina Laboucan-Massimo of the Lubicon Cree First Nation explained: Ever since I was a child I have seen immense change to the land which infringes upon our ability to have access to clean air, clean water and live a healthy lifestyle. We have also seen massive oil spills on our traditional territory, with one of the largest in Albertas history just a few miles away from my familys homes in 2011 Our communities deserves justice. For many of us from impacted communities the choices are literally life and death. Its time Canada stopped burying its head in the tar sands and bring about the just transition. Workers deserve to be with their families instead of flying across the country to work in the tar sands only to leave their families for 3 weeks out of every month. In Canada we are so well positioned with such highly skilled workers that we can transition to long term green jobs. There are the economic alternatives for our families and communities. Even in the heart of the tar sands we can build a different kind of economy with clean energy and green jobs without compromising our families and communities. The transition in climate justice politics is also happening within the labour movement, which is building solidarity with Indigenous communities and raising its own demands for good green jobs for all to address the climate crisis, economic crisis, and the disproportional impact on racialized communties. As the Toronto and York Region Labour Council wrote: We dont have to choose between the economy or the environment. Real climate action means investing in mass public transit, clean energy infrastructure and affordable housing. It means expanding low-carbon sectors like health, education and sustainable agriculture. By taking real climate action, we can create an economy that is more fair and equal and offers hundreds of thousands of good new jobs. We want an economy where workers win, communities have more democratic control, and those most impacted and impoverished are the first in line to benefit. An economy that honours Indigenous peoples rights and recognizes their role in protecting the land, air and water for everyone. An economy that respects the limits of the environment made clear by climate science. The climate justice movement is raising the possibility of mass transition in society for Indigenous communities to regain control of their land and for workers to win control of their labour both of which threaten the colonial state and the corporations it defends. So in response weve seen a transition in the tactics of the 1%: from Harper to Trudeau. Transition in Tactics of the 1% As Dene scholar Glen Coulthard wrote about Harper: In the delicate balance of having to ensure that his social conservative contempt for First Nations does not overwhelm his neoconservative love of the market, Prime Minister Harper has erred by letting the racism and sexism of the former outstrip his belligerent commitment to the latter. This is a novice mistake that Liberals like Jean Chretien and Paul Martin learned how to manage decades ago. As a result, the federal government has invigorated a struggle for Indigenous self-determination that must challenge the relationship between settler colonization and free-market fundamentalism in ways that refuse to be coopted by scraps of recognition, opportunistic apologies, and the cheap gift of political and economic inclusion. Whereas Harper claimed Canada has no history of colonialism, Trudeau has announced nation-to-nation relationships without implementing it leading Athabasca Chipewyan Chief Allan Adams to leave recent climate meeting. Whereas Harper used defunding as a weapon against First Nations, Trudeau has promised billions of dollars without actually delivering them leading Mikmaq activist Pam Palmater to write, Trudeaus promise of renewed relationship with First Nations evaporated with Liberal budget. Whereas Harper dismissed UNDRIP and TRC, Trudeau claims to support them but he continues to ignore its calls to action, including #92 to commit to meaningful consultation, building respectful relationships and obtaining the free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous peoples before proceeding with economic development projects. This includes not only pipeline projects like Line 9, but also hydro-electric projects like Site C dam on the west coast. Whereas Harper left the Kyoto accord, Trudeau announced a historic deal in Paris that has no mechanism to achieve it; and there were two critical issues to climate justice that were relegated to the preamble, Indigenous rights and just transition for workers. Whereas Harper dismissed demands for green jobs, Trudeau has greenwashed his budget spending a fraction of what is actually needed for real green job transition while using clean growth to justify giving more funds to oil and gas. Harper failed to beat the climate justice movement into submission so now Trudeau is trying to embrace the movement to smother it. The deficit that exists between Trudeaus rhetoric and reality shows the next steps for the movement, and highlights a transition in leadership. Transition in Leadership Speaking to the wealthiest of the 1% at the World Economic Forum, Trudeau said that Technology itself will not determine the future we get. Our choices will. Leadership will. This is true, but its not Trudeaus leadership that will bring real change. Real change is coming from the climate justice movement. Even before the federal election there was a climate welcome of direct action announced for the new PM because no party echoed the climate justice movement and whoever was elected would need pressure from outside Parliament. Even with Trudeaus sunny ways charm offensive 25,000 people marched on Ottawa the month after he was elected chanting real change, not climate change. Real change is coming from Leap Manifesto and Peoples Climate Plan, which is debunking false choices of jobs vs environment and articulating a vision for climate justice. Real change is coming from the labour movement. Instead of waiting for Trudeaus vague promises of green jobs, there are labour campaigns for just transition for workers. The Canadian Labour Congress has endorsed the Million Climate Jobs campaign, which outlines in detail how spending a mere 5 per cent of federal budget could create a million jobs and cut emissions by 25 per cent in the next decade. We know the money is there. The release of the Panama Papers show all sorts of money hidden in tax havens. But the biggest corporate tax haven is Canadas record low corporate taxes which have been cut by Liberals and Tories, and kept by Trudeau. We know part of the infrastructure for just transition already exists. As the Delivering Community Power campaign for postal workers explains: Our postal service can deliver the sustainable infrastructure of the next economy: postal banking that finances green energy, services for seniors, farm-to-table food delivery, coast-to-coast charging stations for electric cars, and much more. And we know workers are increasingly asking for the just transition, including workers in the heart of the oil sands like Ken Smith who are defending their jobs and asking for just transition. Or like the organization Iron and Earth: Were calling on the government of Alberta to invest in training programs, starting by retraining one thousand out-of-work oil industry electricians in Alberta in solar panel installation By preparing the renewable energy workforce it is a win-win for Canadian workers, our families, our economy, and the environment. Real change is continuing to come from Indigenous communities from ongoing movement for justice for missing and murdered Indigenous women, to occupations of government offices to demand justice for the youth of Attawapiskat, to the legal challenge of the Chippewas of the Thames First Nation. A community shouldnt have to fundraise huge sums to uphold their basic rights. Indigenous rights are supposed to be protected in Section 35 of the Constitution but this section only exists and will only be respected from pressure. Pierre Trudeau omitted Indigenous rights from the original draft of the Constitution as yet another attempt to assimilate after the failed White Paper. It was only after mobilizations from Indigenous communities across country including a Constitution Express that chartered trains from west coast to Ottawa that Section 35 was added, and its only ongoing pressure that will make it a reality. It was only after mobilizations by Metis people and Indigenous women that Section 35 was clarified to include all Indigenous people, and gender equity. But since then the Canadian state has ignored and violated this section repeatedly. This fall the Chippewas of the Thames and Clyde River First Nations are going to the Supreme Court to challenge decisions by the National Energy Board to allow tar sands and fracking companies to use their land without their consent. This case is not a test of Indigenous rights, which are inherent and which predate the Canadian state. This case is a test of whether a colonial state will respect its own constitution, which depends on the balance of forces outside the courts, the strength and solidarity of climate justice movement. Chippewas of the Thames have launched a legal defence fund, and everyone should transition money into this fund and ask their friends, neighbours, and organizations to do the same. Every dollar raised will help defend Indigenous rights and defend the climate we share and on which we all depend. There are many fitness goals out there that we desire. Some of us want to be leaner and others wish to put on muscle mass. The thing is, for you to achieve your fitness goals, you need to Booking photos. PRINCE FREDERICK, Md. Booking photos. Disclaimer: In the U.S.A., all persons accused of a crime by the State are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. See: http://so.md/presumed-innocence. Additionally, all of the information provided above is solely from the perspective of the respective law enforcement agency and does not provide any direct input from the accused or persons otherwise mentioned. You can find additional information about the case by searching the Maryland Judiciary Case Search Database using the accused's name and date of birth. The database is online at http://so.md/mdcasesearch . Persons named who have been found innocent or not guilty of all charges in the respective case, and/or have had the case ordered expunged by the court can have their name, age, and city redacted by following the process defined at http://so.md/expungeme. (June 13, 2016)The Calvert County Sheriff's Office today released the following incident and arrest reports.WEEKLY SUMMARY: During the week of June 6 through June 12, deputies responded to 1,594 calls for service throughout the community.BURGLARY CASE NO 16-32965: On June 11, 2016, at 8:00pm, Deputy C. Callison was dispatched to Oakcrest Drive, St. Leonard, for the report of a burglary. The caller stated a neighbor,, walked into his garage and attempted to remove cleaning products. He was arrested and charged with 3rd Degree Burglary, Disorderly Conduct and Theft less than $100.00.BURGLARY CASE #16-31783: On June 6, 2016, Deputy T. Holt was dispatched to Mesa Trail, in Lusby, for the report of a burglary. The caller reported leaving his home at 6:00pm, returning home 30 minutes later and witnessed a white male walking out of his backyard. A ladder was placed against the house and a window was broken. The suspect stole DVD's, a Craftsman flashlight and medications.CDS VIOLATION CASE #16-33198: On June 12, 2016, Deputy D. Naughton conducted a traffic stop at 11:30pm on a vehicle being driven unsafely near the intersection of Solomons Island Rd/Southern Connector Blvd. The driver,, was found to be in Possession of Marijuana. He arrested Healey for Possession of Marijuana with intent to Distribute, Possession of Marijuana and CDS Possession Paraphernalia (baggies).CDS VIOLATION CASE #16-32477: On June 9, 2016, around 5:30pm, Deputy J. Denton conducted a traffic stop at the intersection of Southern Maryland Blvd/Lyons Creek Road, in Dunkirk. The driver,, was found to be in Possession of an illegal drug. He was charged and arrested for Possession-Not Marijuana/Dangerous Nonnarcotic Drug (Ecstasy).CDS VIOLATION CASE #16-31862: On June 7, 2016, at approximately 4:30am, Deputy S. Moran was dispatched to the area of the 7-11, in Huntingtown, for the report of an impaired driver. He made contact with the driver,, who was found to be in Possession of illegal drugs. He was arrested and charged with CDS Possession-Not Marijuana (Heroin) and CDS Possession-Not Marijuana (Alprazolam).CDS VIOLATION CASE #16-31852: On June 7, 2016, at approximately 1:00am, Deputy D. Naughton conducted a traffic stop at the intersection of S. Solomons Island Road/Rousby Hall Road, in Lusby. The driver,, was found to be in Possession of Paraphernalia (pipe with burnt cocaine residue). She was arrested and transported to the Detention Center, where a body search revealed she was in possession of an additional glass pipe (also with burnt cocaine residue). She is being charged with two (2) counts of Possession of CDS Paraphernalia (pipes) and Possession of Contraband in a Place of Confinement.THEFT CASE #16-32871: On June 11, 2016, Deputy P. Wood was dispatched to the Prince Frederick Walmart for the report of a shoplifter in custody., was observed attempting to steal several items of clothing. Walmart was able to recover all items Wallace had in her possession. She was issued a Criminal Citation for Theft Less Than $100.00.THEFT CASE #16-32819: On June 11, 2016, Deputy C. Callison responded to Calvert Avenue, in St. Leonard, for the report of a theft. Sometime between 10:30pm on June 10 and 4:30am on June 11, an unknown suspect(s) shattered the window of the victim's locked vehicle and stole a purse, MD Driver License, Credit Cards, Passport, money and a pair of Rayban sunglasses.THEFT CASE #16-32462: On June 9, 2016, Deputy A. Woodford made contact with a victim who arrived at the Calvert County Sheriff's Office to report a theft. The victim reported her vehicle, which was parked on Laurel Drive, in Lusby, was entered and a Nine West purse (blue and white in color), a Credit Card, Pandora Bracelet, Alex & Ani Bracelet and medication were stolen. This crime took place between 9:00pm on June 1 and 1:00pm on June 2.THEFT CASE #16-32264: On June 8, 2016, Deputy G. Gott responded to the Lusby Giant grocery store, located on Rousby Hall Road, for the report of a theft. The manager advised a customer was attempting to leave the store with a cart full of groceries without paying for the items., was issued a Criminal Citation and charged with Theft Less than $1,000.00. He was also issued a trespass warning and advised not to return to the store.THEFT CASE #16-32263: On June 8, 2016, Deputy A. Moschetto was dispatched to the Prince Frederick Walmart store for the report of a shoplifter in custody., was issued a Criminal Citation and charged with Theft Under $1000.00. She was transported to the Detention Center and processed.THEFT CASE #16-32255: On June 8, 2016, Deputy M. Robshaw responded to the Sunderland Park and Ride on N. Solomons Island Road for the report of a theft. Sometime between 5:30am and 4:00pm on June 8, an unknown suspect(s) had stolen both registration plates off of the victim's vehicle.THEFT CASE #16-32237: On June 8, 2016, Deputy K. Williamson was dispatched to the Prince Frederick Walmart store for the report of a shoplifter. Upon arrival the Loss Prevention Associate reported witnessing, place items in her handbag and proceed out of the store without paying for the items. She was issued a Criminal Citation and charged with Theft Less than $100.00.THEFT CASE #16-32235: On June 8, 2016, Deputy A. Woodford responded to 5th Street, in Owings, for the report of a theft. The victim stated he set his new registration plates on the backseat of his vehicle and they were stolen sometime between 9:00am on June 3 and 9:00am on June 7.THEFT CASE #16-32153: On June 8, 2016, Deputy K. Williamson responded to Hallowing Point Road, Prince Frederick, for the report of a bicycle theft. The victim advised he had two (2) black Mongoose bicycles stolen from his backyard in early April; he discovered one of the two bicycles had been returned to his residence that morning. PRINCE FREDERICK, Md. (June 14, 2016)In a scenario suitable for a television detective show, a scene unfolded late yesterday afternoon in Calvert County which involved 4 black males; one was the drug dealer and the other 3 were purported customers intent on robbing the man. After one of the teens shot Donavon Stephen Harrod, the alleged dealer, 21, of Prince Frederick, in the neck with a pellet gun, police say Harrod retrieved a .45 caliber gun from the trunk of his car and shot one of the juveniles twice. The juvenile underwent surgery and is listed in critical condition. The second juvenile, a 15-year-old, was transported to the Calvert Memorial Hospital for medical evaluation as police believed he was suffering from some sort of drug-related overdose. The third would-be robber, Corionte Eric Claggett, 18, is in custody and has been charged. Police believe Claggett is the one who shot Harrod in the neck with a pellet gun, thus triggering the events leading to the shooting of the juvenile by Harrod. Harrod turned himself into the state police barrack, after ditching the weapon, and has subsequently been charged with 1st degree assault, among others. Police have since retrieved the gun. The Calvert County Sheriff's Office provided the following detailed narrative of the case. At approximately 5:02 p.m. the Calvert Control Center received a 911 call from the area of Sheridan Point Road and Chinquapin Ridge Court in the Prince Frederick area of Calvert County, Maryland. The caller reported there had been some type of altercation which resulted in one person being shot. Calvert County Sheriff's Office (CCSO) Sgt. Rick McCourt arrived on scene at approximately 5:10 p.m. to find a victim suffering from a gunshot wound. Sgt. McCourt rendered aid to the gunshot victim and directed responding personnel to secure the scene and identify witnesses upon their arrival. The victim received immediate medical attention and was transported to Baltimore Shock Trauma via helicopter. CCSO Detectives and crime scene personnel responded to the area and assumed the investigation. Investigation revealed the individual shot was a 16 year-old black male from Prince Frederick, Maryland. The subject was hit twice during the shooting incident. One shot struck the subject in the head and another in the torso. The juvenile underwent surgery at University of Maryland Baltimore Shock Trauma and is listed in critical condition at this time. The alleged shooter in this case has been identified as Donavon Stephen Harrod, a 21 year-old black male of Sixes Road, Prince Frederick, Maryland. Investigation revealed Harrod was contacted by a female earlier in the day and was informed that the juvenile, who was shot, wanted to purchase marijuana. Harrod left his place of employment and was to meet the juvenile on Sheridan Point Road. Harrod was familiar with the juvenile and knew he would possibly smoke and/or sell some marijuana. Upon arriving at Sheridan Point Road, Harrod was contacted by another juvenile who entered his vehicle and directed Harrod to turn down a gravel road. Harrod stopped the vehicle at the entranced to a farm which was secured by a cattle gate. Harrod was subsequently approached by two other males who were later identified as the juvenile victim who was shot and a third subject, Corionte Eric Claggett an 18 year-old black male. It is believed that Claggett placed a gun to Harrod's neck and squeezed the trigger. This weapon was later determined to be a pellet gun. All 3 subjects began to flee after taking property from Harrod. Harrod retrieved his .45 caliber gun from the trunk of his vehicle and shot at the fleeing subjects, striking one of the juveniles. Harrod then fled the scene and later turned himself in at the Maryland State Police Barracks. Harrod was transported to the Sheriff's Office where he was interviewed and admitted his involvement in the shooting to Det. Wells. Harrod admitted dropping the gun used in the offense at a residence on Sixes Road in Prince Frederick. The gun was subsequently recovered from that residence. The second juvenile involved, a 15 year-old black male, was transported to CMH by Det. Fridman to be evaluated. It appeared that he was suffering from some type of overdose with regards to the CDS he had used earlier. This juvenile's statements solidified the above case facts. Claggett was also interviewed and his statements also corroborated the story that everyone else involved had conveyed. CIB Detectives charged Harrod with 1st Degree Assault, and other related charges. Claggett and the juvenile were charged with robbery and attempted robbery as well as armed robbery and attempted armed robbery. Anyone with information on this case is asked to contact Detective Wells or Detective Lord at 410-535-2800 X2595 for Det. Wells and X2765 for Det. Lord. WASHINGTON (June 2, 2016) Navy Strategic Systems Programs (SSP) Director Vice Adm. Terry Benedict presents the SSP Director's Award to Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD) senior scientist Kim Payne for leadership impacting the Fleet Ballistic Missile Program. Payne was honored for her expertise in fire control software and targeting models as well as quality assurance methodology enhancements to improve Fleet Ballistic Missile deployed software product effectiveness and efficiency. Benedict said her efforts, "directly contributed to the Fleet Ballistic Missile Program and successful SSGN (Ohio-class guided-missile submarine) conversion software initiatives." (U.S. Navy photo/Released) WASHINGTON ATLANTIC OCEAN (June 2, 2014) - A Trident II D-5 ballistic missile launches from the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine USS West Virginia (SSBN 736) during a missile test at the Atlantic Missile Range. Two years later - on June 2, 2016 - Navy Strategic Systems Programs (SSP) Director Vice Adm. Terry Benedict presented the SSP Director's Award to Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD) senior scientist Kim Payne for leadership impacting the Fleet Ballistic Missile Program. Payne was honored for her expertise in fire control software and targeting models as well as quality assurance methodology enhancements to improve Fleet Ballistic Missile deployed software product effectiveness and efficiency. Benedict said her efforts, "directly contributed to the Fleet Ballistic Missile Program and successful SSGN (Ohio-class guided-missile submarine) conversion software initiatives." (U.S. Navy photo/Released) (June 10, 2016)A Navy scientist impacting the Fleet Ballistic Missile (FBM) Program since 1978 was honored with the Navy Strategic Systems Programs (SSP) Director's Award, Navy officials announced today.SSP Director Vice Adm. Terry Benedict presented the award to Kim Payne, a senior Strategic Systems Division manager, before her civilian Navy colleagues and leadership at the SSP Steering Task Group meeting held in the Washington Navy Yard."I was pleasantly surprised when I received the phone call from Vice Admiral Benedict, SSP Director, informing me that I was one of two recipients of the 2016 SSP Director's Award," said Payne, who is based at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD). "Any recognition I am fortunate to receive is a direct reflection of many others - the team that supports me at Dahlgren and throughout Strategic Systems Programs."The NSWCDD Strategic Systems Analysis & Assurance Division Head and her team's efforts directly support the United States sea-based strategic deterrent.In the award citation, Benedict recognized Payne's achievements as "fundamental to providing credible and affordable sea-based strategic missile systems".As a co-op student in 1978, Payne began supporting the FBM Program. Now, she leads and directs an organization of 125 scientists and engineers engaged in software and system engineering for the TRIDENT II Fleet Ballistic Missile Program."These efforts have directly contributed to the FBM Program and successful SSGN (Ohio-class guided-missile submarine) conversion software initiatives," said Benedict in the citation summarizing Payne's accomplishments.SSP develops and deploys the nation's Sea-Based Strategic Weapons Systems. The program directs the end-to-end effort of the Navy's Strategic Weapons Systems to include training, systems, equipment, facilities and personnel; and fulfills the terms of the U.S.-UK Polaris sales agreement.In the citation, Benedict states that Payne was awarded, "in appreciation of your contribution to the U.S. Navy Fleet Ballistic Missile Program, including your expertise in fire control software and targeting models as well as your quality assurance methodology enhancements to improve FBM deployed software product effectiveness and efficiency."The SSP Director recognizes personal contributions - extraordinary in value to the success of the FBM Strategic Weapons System, of no more than two awardees annually. The nominees can be military or government employees who have not had the opportunity to serve in high visibility positions. Their work must be considered significant and important to the FBM Program."I have always been proud to say that I'm part of this program," said Payne, who has supported the FBM Program for more than 37 years. "We have a strong work family that understands the criticality of delivering quality products to the end users. Their dedication has made my job easier and I consider myself very privileged to work with the incredible professionals that are the foundation of the Fleet Ballistic Missile Program."This highly specialized Navy Strategic Systems Programs workforce is composed of military and civilian, scientific, engineering, and professional personnel who work closely with private contractors and consultants.The Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missile (SLBM) Program at NSWCDD has a 61-year history of providing a credible sea-based strategic deterrent.Submarine launched ballistic missiles have been an integral part of the strategic deterrent for six generations, starting in 1956 with the FBM Polaris (A1) program. Since then, SLBM evolved through Polaris (A2), Polaris (A3), Poseidon (C3) Trident I (C4) and today's force of Trident II (D5). Each generation has been continuously deployed at sea as a survivable retaliatory force and has been routinely operationally tested and evaluated to maintain confidence and credibility in the deterrent.Trident II (D5) was first deployed in 1990 and is planned to be deployed past 2020. The Trident II (D5) missile is also provided to the United Kingdom which equips the missile with UK warheads and deploys the missile on Vanguard Class UK submarines.Payne and her team are responsible for the quality assurance of all SLBM products developed at NSWCDD prior to their delivery to U.S. and UK FBM submarine fleets in addition to U.S. Strategic Command and Command Task Force groups.NSWCDD designs, develops, tests and maintains the SLBM weapons control and mission planning software, provides expertise in reentry systems structural, material, aerothermal, and flight mechanics, in addition to performing system level testing and analysis of strategic, test and training targeting data. St. Mary's College of Maryland signs agreement with Aruban Minister of Education and Family Policy Michelle Hooyboer-Winklaar (not pictured) via skype. (Front, seated) Dr. Tuajuanda Jordan, president, St. Mary's College of Maryland (back, standing L-R) Michael Wick, provost, dean of faculty; John Barber, transfer coordinator. ST. MARY'S CITY, Md. (June 14, 2016)St. Mary's College of Maryland and the Ministry of Education and Family Policy, Aruba, announce the signing of an agreement enabling up to 20 first-year and transfer Aruban students to enroll at St. Mary's College for the 2016-17 school year."St. Mary's College is excited about this partnership with Aruba," said Dr. Tuajuanda C. Jordan, president, St. Mary's College. "Aruban students will have access to one of the highest ranked public liberal arts schools in the nation and by welcoming these talented students, St. Mary's College will continue to see a diversification in its student body that will create more broadly educated and well-rounded graduates.""We are very pleased and excited to formalize this agreement with St. Mary's College of Maryland, and open up this unique opportunity for our students," said Minister Michelle Hooyboer-Winklaar, Education and Family Policy, Aruba. "I am convinced that our students will benefit immensely from the education experience at St. Mary's, and in exchange, will contribute uniquely to the diversity that international students bring to local colleges."Aruban first-year students accepted at St. Mary's College would have achieved a 3.0 GPA and scored higher than 1100 on the SAT Examination or taken the Test of English as a Foreign Language Testing System with minimal scores of 550 for the traditional test, 250 for the computer-based test, or 90 for the Internet test version. If English is not the student's native language a minimum score of 7.0 or higher for the International English Language Testing System would also be acceptable.Aruban transfer students would have achieved a 3.0 GPA in college transferable courses. Language test scores remain the same as for first-year students. SAT scores may be substituted for language exams if available.The term of the agreement continues until May 15, 2017, with extensions presumed to be approved. Located in southern Maryland, the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory Blossom Point Tracking Facility is a 42-acre complex with a pool of antennas ranging from 6.1 to 13 meters The station is in continuous operation 24 hours a day. (Photo: U.S. Naval Research Laboratory) WASHINGTON (June 14, 2016)In 1941, the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) leased the southern portion of Cedar Point Neck, located in southern Maryland, from the Catholic Church for fuze and ordnance testing. Originally known as the Blossom Point Proving Ground, the facility was renamed the Diamond Ordnance Fuze Laboratory Test Area after the NBS Ordnance Development Division was transferred to the Department of the Army in 1953.In May 1956, the Department of the Navy (DoN) was granted a permit to use 23 acres of the Army facility for project Vanguarda program initiated to represent the United States in the International Geophysical Year (IGY) and the first American satellite programas a communications tracking station for satellites.Located 35 miles south of Washington, D.C., the site was selected based primarily on its isolation from noise and electronic interference, and was named the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Cedar Point Neck Site, Blossom Point Research Facility. By July 1956, the Blossom Point station went into operation and was soon employed as training and testing headquarters for the first satellite tracking system, the 'Minimum Trackable Satellite,' or Minitrack, based on a proposal by NRL researchers John T. Mengel and Roger L. Easton, whom had also co-authored the project Vanguard proposal with NRL electronics engineer, Milton W. Rosen.The Minitrack system, based on a ground array of antennas with fan-shaped beams making arcs of 100 degrees in the north-south direction and 10 degrees in the east-west direction eventually was comprised of 14 stations, including Blossom Point, each positioned along the 75th meridian, to create a radar 'fence.' In October 1957 the Minitrack receivers were quickly modified to track the first man-made orbiting satellite, Sputnik I, launched by the Soviet Union, making NRL the first to demonstrate the feasibility of a radio detection and tracking system for earth-orbiting non-radiating [dark] satellites. The Vanguard I satellite was later successfully launched into orbit, March 17, 1958, and although not the first U.S. satellite launched into orbit, it remains the oldest still orbiting Earth.Based on the results obtained from Blossom Point, NRL proposed a satellite-surveillance system for the United States, and was responsible for the development of the world's first space surveillance (SPASUR) system to detect and track all types of earth-orbiting satellites, space vehicles, and other orbital objects/debris.Sixty years later, the site is known today as the Blossom Point Tracking Facility (BPTF) and has undergone a series of evolutions that have culminated in it becoming a state-of-the-art command and control facility, capable of supporting "launch through end-of-mission life" operations. The foundation for this broad range of capabilities is the NRL-developed and government owned, Neptune Common Ground Architecture (CGA) software system.Neptune/CGA is government off-the-shelf (GOTS) software developed by NRL to provide a command and control software suite capable of spaceflight support services for automated testing and qualification of space flight articles; intelligent automation of on-orbit assets with minimal staffing or in 'lights-out' operation; contact execution and pre-defined autonomous anomaly response and configuration; monitoring and reporting of the space and ground status and tracking, telemetry, and operation and control of satellites; receiving satellite data transmissions; and monitoring satellite health and data quality.NRL has optimized the hardware and software architectures over many years to maximize flexibility in integrating new spacecraft programs and ground systems with minimal financial and time impacts. To date, Neptune/CGA has contributed to the successful launch and mission operations of more than 25 satellite systems that comprise more than 80 different spacecraft.Today the BPTF 42-acre campus consists of a satellite mission operations center, multiple antennas, and an existing infrastructure capable of providing space system command, control, and management for all customer classes in every orbit regime. The facility is in continuous operation 24 hours a day, 7 days per week, and at present supports numerous on-orbit spacecraft.BPTF provides engineering and operational support to several complex space systems for the Navy and other users, enabling cost-effective solutions for all programs. The tracking facility provides direct line-of-sight, two-way communications services with spacecraft in multiple bands during all mission phases, including concept, mission, and space segment development, launch, early on-orbit operations, and mission data collection. Additionally, BPTF's capabilities allow coverage through connectivity to worldwide ground station networks.There are currently 11 satellite antennas supporting every orbit regime. Power is supplied by two uninterruptable power supplies (UPSs) rated at 125 kilowatts (kW). Emergency power is supplied by a set of redundant emergency generators rated at 1 MegaWatt (MW). The entire system is operated by computers 24 hours every day. U.S. Congressman Patrick Murphy said Republican leader Donald Trumps response to the Orlando massacre was wrong and dangerous. Murphy spoke to SFGN via telephone Monday evening from Washington, D.C. where he was receiving briefings from the House Intelligence Committee. "Donald Trumps response follows a series of knee-jerk reactions that does nothing but incite more fear and hatred and endangers our country, Murphy said. Trump, the Republican Partys presumptive Presidential nominee, gave a speech in New Hampshire on Monday where he again called for a ban on Muslims immigrating to America. The New York businessman called on Muslim communities in America to turn in their bad guys, said President Barack Obama did not know what he was doing and the burden of providing an effective immigration screening process was on Hillary Clinton, former Secretary of State and presumptive Presidential nominee of the Democratic Party. Why dont we have an effective screening system?, Trump asked in his speech. We dont. Were being laughed at all over the world. Murphy, a Democrat from Jupiter, dismissed Trumps comments as unhinged once again. Remember this all started with him pushing the birther movement and believing in every conspiracy theory under the sun, Murphy said. Also on Monday, the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation refused to name the shooter. James B. Comey, FBI director, told reporters he did not want to give any fame or glory to the man who committed the mass killings. The gunman was from Fort Pierce in St. Lucie County part of Murphys district. The bottom line is in a post 9-11 world, federal agencies are not getting enough information to local authorities, Murphy said. Local agencies are our ears on the ground. At the end of the day, they might know something. A lone wolf is tougher to track, Murphy said, and the gunman was on a watch list for some time but was taken off the list. The shooter took his own life along with 49 others at Pulse Nightclub. While Murphy acknowledged it is a tragic time for the LGBT community, he urged Floridians to remain calm and go about their daily lives. This will not tear America apart, Murphy said. We are strong as one. We cannot let extremism divide our country. People need to be aware of their surroundings, but not succumb to fear. (AP) More than 500 anti-terrorism officers were deployed around the nation's largest city as a precaution Monday, a day after the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. Mayor Bill de Blasio said the beefed-up security would especially be deployed at key New York City institutions representing the gay community. The mayor said Sunday that the city remained on "high alert,'' even though there were no credible threats. As the workweek began, law enforcement officials were in Penn Station's Amtrak area with a machine that's used for swabbing bags to check for bomb residue. Transportation Security Administration officials, police and National Guardsmen dressed in fatigues patrolled the station -- a fairly familiar sight since 9/11. Security was boosted in response to the shooting at an Orlando gay nightclub that left 49 victims dead. The shooter was gunned down by police. President Barack Obama called it an "act of terror'' and an "act of hate.'' Law enforcement authorities said the gunman made a 911 call from the club in which he professed allegiance to the Islamic State group. At Penn Station on Monday, elevator contractor Rob Penna said it seemed like authorities were overdoing the security. Then again, he added, "I guess it's never enough.'' Printing engineer Jose Diza said more security was always better, even though he felt safe. "I've been coming here for 50 years and never had a problem,'' he said. On Monday evening, de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, both Democrats, were scheduled to attend a community vigil at the Stonewall Inn, which became a national symbol of gay rights after a 1969 police raid led to violent street riots. On Sunday evening, a previously scheduled gay pride month event there took on added resonance in the wake of the shooting. Outside the bar, several hundred people packed the street, chanting, "No hate, no hate! More love, more love!'' after hearing from a Muslim emigrant from Lebanon who called herself "gender nonconformist.'' A Monday night vigil for victims of the shooting was also planned on Long Island. The horrific massacre at Orlandos Pulse Nightclub occurred on Latino Night and many of the victims were indeed of Latin descent. Our grieving is minuscule to what those families are facing, said Stephen Fallon, executive director of Latinos Salud, a South Florida based HIV/AIDS service organization. Fallon said the suppression by media outlets of the shooters decision to target Latinos at the LGBT club adds to all the hurt his staff is feeling. News reports were quick to link religion and sexuality to the shooting, but the Latino angle has largely been ignored, Fallon said. According to authorities in Orange County, 90 percent of the fatalities are Latin. Make no mistake: self-appointed cultural vigilantes come armed not only with the bullets in their guns, but also with hate in their hearts, Fallon wrote in a newsletter to supporters. They are fired up by rhetoric that exploits peoples fears, rhetoric that we have heard aimed at Latinos, immigrants and members of the LGBT community all too often. Founded in 2008, Latinos Salud was designed to give Latino gay guys, their partners and friends a safe space to meet and access resources. The tragedy in Orlando is most certainly having an impact in Broward and Miami-Dade Counties, Fallon said. Its sinking in slowly, Fallon said. Some of our staff members have said they do not feel safe for Stonewall this weekend. Latinos Salud offers informal grief counseling, Fallon said. Visit LatinosSalud.org for more information. We can't seem to find the page you are looking for. You may have typed the address incorrectly or you may have used an outdated link. MOSCOW (Sputnik Press-Office) - Almost half of Europeans (47 per cent) believe that sanctions against Russia should be lifted in June 2016, according to a recent Sputnik.Polls survey. The poll found that 51 per cent of Italians, 48 per cent of Germans, and 43 per cent of French respondents said that they agreed with the lifting of sanctions. In contrast, when asked about the same topic, only 29 per cent of Americans said that they would like to see sanctions against Russia lifted. The poll was conducted by French opinion and marketing research company Ifop and UK polling agency Populus for Sputnik News Agency and Radio. The poll also found that respondents in the United States were most likely to support extending sanctions. When asked if sanctions against Russia should be lifted or extended in June 2016, 42 per cent of Americans said that they supported extending them. However, only 31 per cent of respondents in Germany, 29 per cent in France, and 27 per cent in Italy agreed with extending sanctions. The Sputnik.Polls survey also found that 21 per cent of Germans, 22 per cent of Italians, 28 per cent of French respondents, and 29 per cent of Americans said that they were undecided on the issue. Do the math: The FBIs terrorist watch list had 800,000 entries by September 2014 of whom 40,000 were US citizens or lawful permanent residents. To keep full-time surveillance on those 40,000 would require 800,000 agents, he said. Omar Mateen, the 29-year-old, New York-born son of Afghan immigrants to the United States, had been interviewed by the FBI but was then taken off the agencys terrorist watch list, Lando pointed out. A watch list doesnt mean you can actually watch someone 24 hours a day. That is more than twenty times the total of all agents and support professionals 35,000 employed by the FBI, he explained. The same pattern had been repeated true in Europe, where most of the recent jihadist terror attacks were also carried out by people who, at one time or another, had been on such suspected terrorist lists, Lando recalled. How can the FBI, or anyone else predict when someone who really is no threat, suddenly, for some reason, flips, decides to take radical action? he asked. The grossly inadequate resources available to Western security sources in monitoring potential terror suspects meant that more atrocities like the Orlando night club massacre on Sunday were inevitable, Lando warned. Orlando is just the latest tragedy. There is no way it will be the last, Lando concluded. California State University Emeritus Professor of Political Science Beau Grosscup, author of several books including The Newest Explosions of Terrorism added that the search for simple, straightforward solutions to the terrorism crisis posed a growing threat to civil liberties. There are many lessons here but the central one is there is no security fix to terrorism especially in the Age of the Internet, Grosscup warned. If one assumes there is a security fix to terrorism, he added, then the logical end game is to construct a lock down society. The Orlando massacre has become the deadliest mass shooting in the history of the United States, surpassing the death toll from the 2007 incident at Virginia Tech, which claimed 32 lives. Primordial black holes, forming in the first seconds after the Big Bang due to the radiation of sound waves throughout the universe, are an excellent explanation for cosmic ripples in the space-time continuum, Alexander Kashlinsky, an astronomer at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, suggested in a scientific paper published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. On September 14, 2015, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, or LIGO, provided proof of the existence of gravitational waves, those cosmic ripples in the fabric of spacetime produced by the collision of black holes. Simeon Bird, an astronomer at Johns Hopkins University, suggested that the two black holes posited by LIGO could be primordial. Upon arrival to the stunning island the traveler will see a round volcanic island, Edinburgh capital, the city of the Seven Seas, scientific bases and weather stations. There are vast fields, orchards, grazing sheep, and if one arrives in the right season it is possible to see seals and penguins. The local population consisted of 267 people in 2008. Svalbard Svalbard is a Norwegian archipelago between mainland Norway and the North Pole. It is one of the worlds northernmost inhabited areas and it is a perfect retreat for those who want to holiday away from civilization. The archipelago is known for its rugged, remote terrain of glaciers and frozen tundra sheltering polar bears, reindeer and Arctic foxes. In winter the place turns magical due to the Northern Lights. BEIJING (Sputnik) On Sunday, a blast at the airport injured at least four people. A beer bottle packed with home-made explosives was detonated in Terminal 2s check-in area. The suspected attacker tried to commit suicide by cutting his throat and was hospitalized in serious condition. The security measures were intensified at the Pudong and Hongqiao airports the passengers are required to open luggage for inspection, according to the China Radio International (CRI). Passengers are advised to arrive at the airport at least two hours prior to departure in order to have time to undergo the necessary procedures. ASTANA (Sputnik) Preliminary data shows that the perpetrators behind the recent attack in the Kazakh city of Aktobe received instructions from Syria, Kazakhstan's Minister of Internal Affairs Kalmukhanbet Kassymov said Tuesday. "Seemingly from Syria, I think the investigation will give decisive proof," Kassymov told reporters. On June 5, unidentified armed assailants attacked two gun shops and a military unit in Aktobe. As a result of the attack, at least seven people were killed, including three servicemen, and 38 injured. In response, the country's authorities announced an anti-terrorist operation. New Delhi (Sputnik)In a recent incident around 250 soldiers of the People's Liberation Army of China intruded into Indian territory after crossing the Line of Actual Control at Yangtze near Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh on June 9. According to defense ministry sources, soldiers stayed in Indian territory for three hours and then went back to their positions across the border in China. "These incidents of incursions are not a new thing along the India-China border. This usually happens due to differences in perception along the boundary. But this generally happens when there is some tension brewing between India and China on some issues. The current intrusion could be due to the Malabar exercise which India, Japan and the US are performing in the Pacific Ocean close to the disputed South China Sea," Major General (Rtd) R K Arora told Sputnik. New Delhi (Sputnik) Daesh is now using glamorous women as a Honey Trap' to lure young Indian men. Karen Aisha Hamidon from the Philippines has been trying to lure Indian men using her raw beauty. The modus-operandi of Hamidon is just like any fictional Honey Trap'. She first befriends Indian men using her beauty and then indoctrinates them with Daesh ideology. Karen Aisha Hamidon has radicalized several Indians and probably also arranged their travel to territories occupied by Daesh. The newly found cities are located close to the ancient temple city of Angkor Wat in the northwest of the country, and are estimated to be between 900 and 1,400 years old. Some of the cities can compete in size with the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, researches said. The findings were revealed beneath the tropical forest floor by researchers using airborne laser scanners. The helicopter-mounted lasers, which can filter out surface vegetation, revealed hidden details and patterns in the shape of the soil layers. "We have entire cities discovered beneath the forest that no one knew were there," Australian archaeologist Damian Evans, who led the research, told The Guardian. The Delhi Police has lodged an FIR against a Vietnamese diplomat as per a complaint by 42-year-old Arti Gupta, a resident of Delhi. According to police sources, Gupta alleged that the diplomat was driving in a rash manner and hit her car from behind when she was leaving a parking lot. Her car is partially damaged. Delhi police files an FIR against a Diplomat from Vietnam for rash and negligent driving in South Delhi pic.twitter.com/hsmHgKSMlv ANI (@ANI_news) 14 2016 . The first secretary of the Vietnamese Embassy is the alleged driver. Since, the case is related to a diplomat, Delhi Police will submit its report to the Ministry of External Affairs through the Ministry of Home Affairs. Persons convicted for reckless driving under Section 279 of the Indian Penal Code may be sentenced to maximum 6 month prison term or monetary fine. Hanoi has attempted to modernize its military in light of ongoing tensions in the South China Sea. Beijings construction of artificial islands in the region has angered Vietnam and other territorial claimants in the region, though China maintains it has every right to build within its own territory and that the islands will be used primarily for humanitarian purposes. Although the United States has no territorial claim to the region, it has pushed Pacific allies to counter Chinas growing influence. Last month, Washington lifted a decades-old arms embargo against Vietnam and will soon begin providing Hanoi with military equipment. "The Vietnamese would like to focus on developing joint venture partnerships with the United States to ensure technological progress over the next 10 to 20 years. The idea would be to gain access to US and Western technology on a reliable and sustained long-term basis," Eurasian Business Coalition (EBC) Vice President Ralph Winnie told Sputnik. SHANGHAI (Sputnik) The Russian Transport Ministry hopes to reach an intergovernmental agreement with China in 2016 on the construction of a high-speed railway between the Russian cities of Moscow and Kazan, Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov said Tuesday. "The first part of this project is already being actively implemented Last year, a corresponding memorandum was signed between the two ministries, the Russian and Chinese railways, and I hope that this year we will reach an intergovernmental agreement," Sokolov said at the International Conference Railway Business at Transit Speed. China has recently confirmed plans to provide a 400 billion-ruble ($6 billion) loan for Russia's Moscow-Kazan High-Speed Rail Project, as well as equity financing of 52 billion rubles and an additional $1 billion. MOSCOW (Sputnik) According to the EU foreign policy chief, trade between the European Union and Iran showed a 22-percent increase in January-April 2016. "We are very actively engaging with the business community and with the banks in Europe and elsewhere outside of Europe to encourage engaging in Iran," Mogherini said at a press conference in Oslo. Tehran began stepping up international trade and investment cooperation after reaching a historic deal on its nuclear program to ensure its peaceful nature in exchange for the suspension of international anti-Iran sanctions, in particular on its oil sector, in July 2015. The growth is already visible in some of Russia's industrial sectors, estimates by Illka Korhonen of the Bank of Finland show. According to Korhonen, the Russian economy has reached its turning point and is starting to recover. Also, Russian manufacturing is increasingly competitive in relation to a number of imported goods, owing to the weakened ruble. The Russian economy took a deep plunge in 2008-2009 as the nation's GDP shrank a whopping 10 percent, Korhonen pointed out, according to Finnish national broadcaster Yle. Remarkably, the recovery was fast and in about four years Russia was back to its pre-2008 level. In contrast, Finland is still struggling to reach the pre-2008 level in terms of GDP. Korhonen attributed this level of adaptation to changes in the price of oil. In July 2008, the price reached nearly 150 dollars a barrel, only to sink to around 30 dollars a barrel in January 2009. Some two to three years later, we were again back at 100 dollars. At present, however, the recession seems to have come to stay. The price per barrel is now a little over 50 dollars. In a few years, it may settle at 60 dollars, Korhonen estimated. DUBAI (Sputnik) He added that a round-table discussion and a separate Middle East session were planned at the forum. Egorov also explained that forming a larger Emirati delegation was impossible as the holy month of Ramadan coincided with the forum. "As of today, about ten participants at the top level, including large companies such as DP World and Emmar, are going to participate and have confirmed it, and the Dubai Chamber of Commerce [is going to participate in the forum]," Egorov told RIA Novosti. The SPIEF-2016 will be held on June 16-18. The forum is organized annually and attended by business representatives and officials from dozens of countries. MOSCOW (Sputnik) According to Ushakov, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi are due to discuss bilateral cooperation and international issues on June 17. "And afterward, the Russian-Italian talks in a format of a working lunch with the participation of representatives of business community from both countries with a prevalence of Italian representatives are due to take place. Several documents are due to be signed, in particular by [Russia's energy company] Rosneft, including with the Eni company, [Russias leading independent natural gas producer] Novatek and the Saipem company with respect to cooperation in the development of LNG [liquefied natural gas] projects in Russia," Ushakov told journalists. Approximately seven-eight documents are due to be signed, while some of them are being coordinated, the president's aide specified. India is very keen that Indian & Russian companies should join hands and try to create win-win opportunities for both. Another area which could be explored is Indias effort to buy more oil & gas from Russia. Taneja stated that India would also like Russian companies to come and invest in India in areas like refinery and gas pipelines. Sources say that Pradhans visit may see progress on ONGC Videsh Ltds proposal for acquisition of 11% in Rosnefts Vankorneft oil & gas field. India wants a lower price for the proposed stake as compared to the 15% acquisition in the same field last year. Taneja said, Indian companies are always looking for good opportunities for investment in oil & gas fields in Russia. If there are new opportunities at the correct price, India is always interested in such opportunities. SPIEF is an annual international forum dedicated to economic and business issues. It attracts thousands of participants, including political and business leaders, leading scientists, public figures, and members of the media from all over the world. The Forum mainly discusses the most pressing issues facing Russia and the world. During the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Moscow in December 2015, both countries agreed to further enhance cooperation in the oil and gas sector. This paved way for ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) and Rosneft to complete formalities for acquisition of 15% stake by OVL in Vankorneft, which is a subsidiary of Rosneft. PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY (Sputnik) Eurasia's largest volcano Klyuchevskaya Sopka in Russias Far East erupted shooting hot ash miles into the air on Tuesday, the local geophysical service said. "The eruption was detected [Tuesday] morningthe eruption column rose 6 kilometers [3.7 miles]. The steam-gas plume stretched for 47 kilometers to the west of the volcano," a representative of the Russian agency told RIA Novosti. The 15,580-feet volcano in Russias Kamchatka peninsula has been rumbling to life since the beginning of April. It has been almost continuously active for the past 50 years but the number of tremors and ash eruptions has been on the rise lately. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The polled states are Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Poland, the Netherlands, Hungary, Greece, France and Sweden. They account for 82 percent of the EU total GDP, ans make up some 80 percent of the EU population. "Majorities or pluralities in all the EU member states surveyed disapprove of the job being done by the institution in dealing with Russia. The strongest criticism comes from Greece (69%), Sweden (55%), France (53%), Italy and Hungary (both 52%)," the poll published on Monday said. As for the further relations with Russia, almost 90 percent of the Greeks stand for "a strong economic relationship" with Moscow. Hungarians, Germans and Italians share the Greeks' sentiment. The film focuses on Sergei Magnitsky, a tax and legal consultant for Browder's Hermitage Capital Management, and shows that Magnitsky's boss was involved in the multimillion tax evasion processes. The millionaire, who used to be one of the largest investors in Russia's economy soon after the collapse of the Soviet Union, had repeatedly said that Russian authorities used Browder's companies to claim a tax rebate worth some $230 million. Nekrasov, known for his criticism of the Russian authorities, decided to make a film about Browder's story, but in the course of research he came to a conclusion that the millionaire's narrative was false and Russian authorities were the victims of a multimillion theft. "In the beginning I met with Browder, I believed him. I listened to him and though he would be my storyteller. I even came up with a role for him the main character in the documentary drama. He should have been one real person, and all the others would have been actors. And he was," the director said. Nekrasov explained that throughout the film it is seen how his view on the Magnitsky story is changing because of the emerging details and facts. "Of course I believed this story, and only after we started shooting scenes, writing scenes, rewriting or updating, I have found the following: He was saying that 'On this day Magnitsky went to the police, accused the police of corruption, but I then saw that Magnitsky had been called as a witness, and I see that he was called as a witness'," he added. Nekrasov said that first he ignored such irregularities but then other facts were appearing. The director also noted that the statements in the report by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) were also wrong as the person who conducted the independent investigation based it on the documents obtained from Browder. Nekrasov said that he hoped that the movie would show that the adoption of the Magnitsky Act by the West was wrong, and many resolutions adopted in Europe under the Magnitsky name are based on the lie. "I hope that I am showing that Browder invented this story in his selfish interests to confuse politics and society, and declare that all investigations against him in Russia are politically motivated," he stated. "I dont know everything. I know that some things Browder made up, but I dont know how everything was. He does not answer these questions, and this itself is suspicious," Nekrasov also shared that they are making another documentary on Magnitsky now. "I think he is not alone, some very serious people are behind him. Thats why he can open the doors of the parliament and the congress with his left foot. He has very rich and influential friends, who might have been somehow connected with him during his activity in Russia. And they will be defending him until the very end," he added. In 2013, Russia sentenced Browder in absentia to nine years in prison for tax evasion and for falsely claiming tax breaks for hiring disabled persons. The court also ruled that Magnitsky developed and implemented a tax evasion scheme while working for the millionaire. Magnitsky was a Russian lawyer, who revealed alleged official corruption at the highest levels of the Russian government. He was detained in 2008 and accused of conspiracy and abatement for tax evasion. He died in the Matrosskaya Tishina pre-trial detention center in Moscow on November 16, 2009. In late 2012, the United States adopted the so-called Magnitsky Act, which imposes travel bans and financial sanctions on Russian officials and other individuals believed to have been involved in Magnistky's death, the case against him and related issues. Russia responded to the Magnitsky Act by issuing its own blacklist, which includes US officials linked to human rights violations, some of whom were involved in the construction and maintenance of the Guantanamo Bay detention center. PARIS (Sputnik) On Monday evening, a man stabbed a 42-year-old police commander and took his wife and child hostage at their house in the Paris northwestern suburb of Magnanville. The wife was murdered but the child was rescued. "I made the decision to allow the police to take weapons home after finishing their shift," Cazeneuve said upon his arrival to the police department building for which the murdered police officer worked. Earlier in the day, Cazeneuve confirmed that Monday's attack on the police commander and his family was an act of terrorism. PARIS (Sputnik) He added that the terror threat in the country remained very high. "[The murderer] himself wanted his act to be viewed as an act of terror," Hollande said, as quoted by BFMTV. Earlier in the day, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve confirmed that the attack on the police commander and his family was a terror attack. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Yildirim was talking to the parliament, his address was broadcast by the local Haberturk TV channel. In March, Brussels and Ankara agreed on a deal under which Turkey pledged to take back all undocumented migrants who arrive in the European Union through its territory in exchange for Syrian refugees accommodated in Turkey. In return, the bloc pledged to accelerate the Turkish EU accession bid and introduce a visa-free regime. PARIS (Sputnik) The investigation into the murder of a police commander and his wife in Paris suburb should lead to new arrests, France's Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Tuesday. "The investigation continues, it should lead to new arrests," Cazeneuve said while visiting the police department where the murdered served. MOSCOW (Sputnik) On Monday evening, a man stabbed a 42-year-old police commander and took hostage his wife and child in the Paris northwestern suburb of Magnanville. The attacker killed the commander's wife, but the child was rescued. According to Le Figaro newspaper, the detainees are "relations" of assailant Larossi Abballa who was killed by riot police. For years, UK aid money has increasingly been going into dubious private sector development projects and into the pockets of wealthy western consultants, according to a campaign group Global Justice Now, ahead of a parliamentary debate on aid spending. Here's our contribution to the #UKaiddebate 0.7% is a small contribution towards justice & equalityhttps://t.co/K8sO3y71zG Global Justice Now (@GlobalJusticeUK) 13 June 2016 The group released a short briefing ahead of the debate, Monday evening (June 13) "0.7% on aid: a small contribution towards justice and equality," which argues that: "aid is not reaching those who need it, but ends up furthering the business interests and boosting the profits of multinational companies." Sovereignty, Immigration at the Forefront While the decision went in favor of the British government, the court case, which was put forward by the European Commission under the leadership of former chief Jose Manuel Barroso, raised several concerns highlighted by those campaigning for Britain to leave the EU. Chief among concerns of those pushing for a Brexit is the issue of immigration and the concerns about the potential exploitation of Britain's welfare system. "The case in questioned was brought by the previous Barroso Commission," notes @MargSchinas of #ECJ ruling today on UK benefits. laurence norman (@laurnorman) June 14, 2016 While pro-EU figures, such as British MEP Catherine Bearder, described the ruling as a "landmark judgment" that justifies staying in the bloc, others have been hugely critical of what they see as a transferring of sovereignty from London to Brussels. Prominent Brexit campaigner and former government Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith said it was "absurd" that the UK needed to justify its policy in the Luxembourg court. "It's absurd that we have to run every nut and bolt of domestic policy past Luxembourg, and then engage in lengthy and expensive court battles if they decide they don't like what our democratically elected government is doing." The panic is really setting in. Even the ECJ has decided to throw Cameron a bone. Unprecedented but cynical. #Brexit https://t.co/cARp7zZR69 Cllr. Keith Redmond (@CllrKRedmond) June 14, 2016 "As well as the cost to taxpayers of fighting these lengthy drawn out cases, it's clearly an illegitimate challenge to our sovereignty. Although David Cameron didn't want to admit it, this case and others like it are proof positive that the unelected European court of justice is now supreme above our elected parliament. They decide the rules and the only way to prevent this kind of intervention in future is to Vote Leave on 23 June." Decision Likely to be Used by Both Camps The ECJ decision also comes at a critical time in the Brexit debate with Britons taking to the polls on June 23 to decide whether to remain part of the EU. With just over a week remaining until the referendum, support for leaving the EU seems to be rising, with two polls on Monday showing 53 percent of people backing a Brexit. As the campaigning sharpens in the final days, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) think tank said both 'Leave' and 'Remain' camps were likely to spin the ECJ's decision to back-up their respective positions. "Nine days ahead of the referendum, this judgement is likely to be picked up by both campaigns. On the one hand, the judgement shows that the EU's free movement rules do not prevent member states from taking action to block access to benefits for migrants who have been in the UK for less than five years and are not economically active and cannot support themselves. It also strengthens the argument that the future reforms to free movement and welfare rules as agreed in the EU renegotiation will not be rolled back by the EU court," IPPR said. European Commission says ECJ judgment 'vindicates our approach' on Brexit deal with Cameron clarified EU law on right-to-reside Danny Kemp (@dannyctkemp) June 14, 2016 "But, despite the judgement going in the UK's favor, it is likely to also remind voters that aspects of the UK's welfare system are subject to EU law." The think tank talked to people in France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden and the UK. "Looking across the 10 European countries surveyed, a median of 76 percent say that [Daesh] is a major threat to their country, with only two-in-ten saying that [the terrorist group] is either a minor threat (17 percent) or no threat at all (3 percent)," the Pew Research Center detailed. Europeans have reason to be worried. France and Belgium have been rocked by major terrorist attacks in recent months, with other countries also affected. These include the January 2015 Charlie Hebdo shooting and the Hypercacher kosher supermarket siege in and around the French capital, the November 2015 night of terror in Paris and the March 2016 bombing at the Brussels airport and subway. MOSCOW (Sputnik) According to the commission, although the responsibility for addressing violent radicalization which can lead to terrorism lies with EU member states, it recognizes the need to aid the member states by setting out a number of initiatives "across several policy areas, from promoting inclusive education and common values, to tackling extremist propaganda online and radicalisation in prisons." "Recent terrorist attacks have shown how some young Europeans have fallen prey to an ideology of death and destruction, breaking away from their own families and friends and turning against their own societies. This calls for a determined response by society as a whole, to prevent radicalisation and strengthen the ties that bind us together. The EU should help wherever it can," Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans said in a press release published on the commission's website. MOSCOW (Sputnik) On Monday evening, a man stabbed a 42-year-old police commander and took his wife and child hostage at their house in the Paris northwestern suburb of Magnanville. The wife was murdered but the child was rescued. The murderer, identified as Larossi Abballa, was killed by riot police. "The killer said he pledged allegiance to the Islamic State [Daesh] three weeks earlier," Francois Molins told a press conference as quoted by the Modern Paper portal. MOSCOW (Sputnik) On Monday evening, a man stabbed a 42-year-old police commander and took his wife and child hostage at their house in the Paris northwestern suburb of Magnanville. The wife was murdered but the child was rescued. The murderer, identified as Larossi Abballa, was killed by riot police. "Three people of Abballas entourage are currently under police custody, men of 27, 29 and 43 years of age," Francois Molins told a press conference as quoted by Le Monde newspaper. Critics have suggested that media mogul Rupert Murdoch's support for Brexit is far more sinister than first meets the eye, with many pointing to an old quote from Anthony Hilton's Evening Standard column, where he said: "I once asked Rupert Murdoch why he was so opposed to the European Union. 'That's easy,' he replied. 'When I go into Downing Street they do what I say; when I go to Brussels they take no notice.'" Editor of the online newspaper CommonSpace Angela Haggerty told Sputnik: "It's tricky when the Sun backs a political party or a decision, to know whether it's them influencing it or whether they just bet right. Because the Sun always likes to be on the winning side, and the question is do they influence the result, or do they just call it right before it happens?" Sun coming out for #brexit Hardly a shocker given yesterday's graphic "old badly educated right wing tabloid fans" pic.twitter.com/fYVEJicGzA YES2 removing tories (@YESthatcherDead) June 14, 2016 "I would suspect therefore, that The Sun probably thinks it's going to be a Brexit, which is interesting in itself. But on the other hand, I think there are a lot of people who feel confused by all of the information that's been thrown at them, so if a trusted brand and it is a trusted brand for a lot of people, they've got a lot of readers says it's safe to vote for Brexit, then I think it could be a game changer." The Sun endorsing #Brexit only strengthens #Remain's case. A lot of us gave up on that newspaper aspiring to anything credible around 1989. Jack Caldwell (@JackRMCaldwell) June 13, 2016 The Sun newspaper has a history of backing the winning side in UK elections the only notable exception being the 2007 Scottish election and they've been known to brag about their influence, famously claiming, "It's the Sun Wot Won It" after a narrow victory for Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Party in 1992. Timely reminder of that time Trevor Kavanagh told us Murdoch would decide Sun stance on Brexit https://t.co/bb1e0jrS38 via @youtube Jess Brammar (@jessbrammar) June 14, 2016 Christopher Silver author of "Demanding Democracy: The Case for a Scottish Media" told Sputnik that the Sun's endorsement would only serve to polarize the referendum debate further: "Given Rupert Murdoch's long-term political project to promote a mistrust of progressive elites there is nothing surprising about this news. "Essentially it just embeds the battle lines that have been drawn up for some time. Older voters, who are more likely to be conservative, more likely to read newspapers and more likely feel a strong British identity, are the Leave campaign's base. This aligns very clearly with the Sun's readership and the values the paper has long espoused," Silver told Sputnik. UK citizens will vote on June 23 in a referendum on the country's EU membership. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The country is in a state of emergency after 130 people were killed in November in a series of terror attacks in Paris "In the past 15 days, 16 people suspected of terrorist activities were arrested," Valls said, as quoted by La Chaine parlementaire, a television network broadcasting the countrys parliament. The Euro-2016 is taking place in various French cities from June 10 to July 10. MOSCOW (Sputnik) As many as 47 percent of UK nationals would support a Brexit, while 40 percent would vote for the country to retain its EU membership at an upcoming referendum, a poll revealed Tuesday. According to the pollster TNS, some 13 percent are still undecided nine days ahead of the vote. UK citizens will vote on June 23 in a referendum on the country's EU membership. European Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans said: "To stop the unacceptable loss of life in the Mediterranean Sea and bring order into migratory flows, we need to rethink how the EU and its Member States join efforts to work together with third countries. We will also work on an ambitious External Investment Plan to help create opportunities and tackle the root causes of migration. Without concrete results from our partners in managing migration better, we should collectively be ready to adapt our engagement and financial aid." Kovacs told journalists in Brussels that the West Balkan route the route favored by migrants to cross from Turkey, via Greece, Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria and Serbia and into Hungary had largely been closed by the actions of individual countries, rather than because of any action by the EU. "Engaging with Macedonia and Serbia was more effective than the whole EU approach. The effective mechanisms of handling the crisis come not so from the joint European, or more European answer, but from the efforts of member states," Kovacs said. In his blog, he repeated calls for the adoption of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's so-called Schengen 2.0, under which migrants would be processed in hotspots outside of the EU and the Schengen borders would be strengthened. 30 countries, 6 sub-indices, 1 Number One spot. The #SoftPower 30 Index is now live https://t.co/v5KGd6VqB6 pic.twitter.com/iepPJsjpbI Portland (@PortlandComms) June 14, 2016 One of the more surprising rankings for western powers is the entrance of Russia into the top 30, after failing to make the cut in the 2015 rankings. Speaking to Sputnik News on Tuesday (14th June), Jonathan McClory, author of the report for Portland Communications, pointed to the global nature of the research used to form the rankings: "It's important to note that the Soft Power 30 represents a global view of soft power, not just the western view that often harbors less positive perceptions towards Russia. Russia's accession to the list comes off the back of a couple of key international developments in the past year, namely a quieter period in Ukraine, as well as Russia's success in casting itself as a leader in the fight against Islamic State," McClory told Sputnik. The methodology of the index uses 76 metrics within 7 categories: Digital, Culture, Enterprise, Engagement, Education, and Government. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Earlier in the day, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the decrees to pardon the two for humanitarian reasons. According to the statement, both pardon decrees come into force on the day of signing. Gennady Afanasiev was sentenced by the Moscow City Court in December 2014 to seven years in high-security colony on terrorism charges, while Yury Soloshenko was sentenced in October 2015 to six years in high-security colony on espionage charges. MOSCOW (Sputnik) On Monday evening, a 25-year-old French citizen of the Moroccan descent, Larossi Abballa, stabbed to death his neighbors, a police officer and his wife. The following day, Paris prosecutor said the man pledged allegiance to Daesh terrorist group. The murderer was killed by riot police. "The government does not protect French people. They do not really fight against fundamentalism," Le Pen wrote on her Facebook page. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Earlier in the day, Britains biggest-selling newspaper openly backed Brexit on its front page, urging its readers to "BeLEAVE in Britain." "I am delighted at the Sun's initiative, and I believe it will have a significant impact. It will sway public opinion and also the Sun would not have done this unless they thought they were on the winning side," Helmer said. He added that the tabloids initiative could motivate other local media to clearly define their stance on the issue. TEL AVIV (Sputnik) Earlier in the day, Vahr met in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other NATO members representatives. "In the East, the focus once again is on defense and deterrence. NATO is forced to take measures that are the most extensive enhancement of collective defense since the Cold War," Netanyahu's press service quoted Vahr as saying. The threat to the Alliances security and lifestyle is coming from the Middle East, where terrorist groups are "wreaking havoc and violence," the ambassador said. Romania is located on the Black Sea and is only about 200 kilometers away from the Crimean peninsula which reunified with Russia in March 2014. Stoltenberg has not made any statements on the extent to which NATO forces will be active in Romania. Military details will be clarified later, he said in Brussels, but according to preliminary reports, the battalion is likely to include Romanian and Bulgarian soldiers. NATO's activities near Russian borders might signify the military alliance's plans to "quietly" surpass the NATO-Russia Founding Act, the newspaper argued. "It actually prohibits a permanent presence, which is why NATO wants to formally deploy battalions on a rotational basis," the article said. "Poland has been repeatedly stating that the NATO Founding Act is only a political document with no legally binding effect." NATO has been gradually building up its forces in Europe for over a decade, but has recently undertaken a huge increase in its presence in the Baltics and Eastern Europe. Russia has repeatedly stated that it views NATO's moves as a threat to its national security and promised to react in response if the military alliance doesn't stop its expansion. Kiev behaves "like a child waiting for a piece candy when it does something right," Tombinsky said as cited by the website It does not want to realize that the question of visa-free travel can't be resolved immediately, the diplomat added. According to Tombinsky, the EU institutions need time to consider the issue of a visa-free regime for Ukraine and will make the corresponding decision by the end of the summer. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The immigration to the United Kingdom needs to be contained, Former London Mayor Boris Johnson, one of the key supporters of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union, said Tuesday. At the debate on the EU membership, organized by The Telegraph, Johnson claimed that, the UK population is expected to reach "80 million in the next few decades." The former mayor also stressed that issues of immigration came down due to the fact that the Brits did not feel in control. MOSCOW (Sputnik) One of the producers was stricken down to the ground and hit by police officers. "Police began to hit protesters and journalists they hit my camera and threw me to the floor. Once I was down, they took off my gas mask and helmet, and carried on brutalizing me, while another officer smashed my camera. Finally, I wrestled free of them and escaped, though someone else got me on the chest, as I ran," one of the RT producers told the channel. Another journalist was hit by a tear gas grenade in her face. Protesters, who were near the wounded journalist, helped the woman to stop the bleeding. BRUSSELS (Sputnik) The Council of the European Union on Tuesday extended the mandate of the EU rule of law mission in Kosovo, EULEX, and approved its budget, the Council's press service said in a statement. "On 14 June 2016, the Council extended the mandate of the EU rule of law mission (EULEX) in Kosovo until 14 June 2018. The Council also approved a combined budget for the mission of EUR 63.6 million [$71.3 million] providing for the period 15 June 2016 14 December 2016 for its operations in Kosovo and until 14 June 2017 for the specialist chambers and the specialist prosecutor office," the statement said. The statement added that the mission would receive 34.5 million euros for "the implementation of its mandate" and 29.1 million euros to support "the specialist chambers and the specialist prosecutor office." Stoltenberg has been working with Carter to rebalance the alliances budget. The US currently provides 75% of the NATO budget, a dramatic increase from 50% in 2001. To convince the other 27 alliance members to increase their own contributions, the US and NATO have routinely trotted out the red herring of a Russian threat. The alliance has also pushed to add new members. Sweden has considered membership and Finland may purchase its own fleet of F-35s, Lockheed Martins beleaguered next-generation fighter jet. But NATOs current members do not seem entirely convinced by the argument. MONTEVIDEO (Sputnik) Venezuela is experiencing an economic and political turmoil. "We are living in a matrix which intends [to launch] a military operation in Venezuela," Rodriguez said at a meeting of the Organization of American States (OAS) General Assembly in the Dominican Republic. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro declared an economic emergency in Venezuela in January. The announcement came two days after Venezuelas oil price dropped to $24 a barrel, the lowest mark in 12 years. Up to 96 percent of Venezuelas budget depends on oil revenues. The measure has since been extended. More than 500 alleged Daesh terrorists have been arrested by Iraqi forces as they tried to flee Fallujah, one of the terrorist group's strongholds in the western Anbar province, Daily Sabah reported. According to police in the Anbar province, extremists tried to leave besieged Fallujah by using fake IDs. "We have arrested 546 suspected terrorists who had fled by taking advantage of the movements of displaced families over the past two weeks," said Hadi Rzayej, the police chief for Anbar province. LATAKIA (Sputnik) Russian servicemen delivered some five metric tons (5.5 US tons) of humanitarian aid to the Christian community Syria's Latakia, a spokesman for the Russian center for Syrian reconciliation said Tuesday. "Today, we delivered five tons of humanitarian aid to the city of Latakia. The products were directed to the people in need, the list of whom has been provided by the prior of St. Andrew Church," Alexander Vladimirov told reporters. Some 500 local residents received individual food packages, canned fish and meat, flour, pasta and cereals. The children received sweets waffles, biscuits and sweets, he said. Military doctors have deployed mobile medical center and are ready to provide the necessary medical assistance to all in need. Furthermore, northern Aleppo is home to the village of Dabiq that, according to Daesh's beliefs, will see the final, apocalyptic battle take place. In northern Aleppo, Daesh has been pressed from three sides. Damascus-led forces, assisted by Russian warplanes and their local allies have advanced from the south. The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are pushing west across the Euphrates River, while rebels from the city of Azaz are advancing to the east. In addition, Turkey has shelled border regions from the north. "But there is another loyalist offensive underway that, if it pans out, will pose an existential threat to the [Daesh's] northern Aleppo zone by completely cutting it off from the rest of the group's Syrian territory," the analysts said, referring to the offensive on the city of Tabqa, located on Lake Assad in the province of Raqqa. If successful, this operation will cut the road linking northern Aleppo and Raqqa, the capital of the terror caliphate. DAMASCUS (Sputnik) According to the source, SDF fighters clashed with Daesh, which resulted in the deaths of eight terrorists. In late May, the SDF troops announced an offensive against Daesh. One of the goals of the operation supported by the US-led coalition is to liberate the city of Manbij. The US-Russia-brokered ceasefire entered into force across Syria on February 27. Terrorist organizations such Daesh and al-Nusra Front, both outlawed in Russia, are excluded from the truce. The diplomat further said that the US army stormed Fallujah twice. It is necessary to understand that the possibilities of the Iraqi army are much smaller than that of the US. According to Morgunov, the liberation of Fallujah will be a prolonged and bloody campaign. Meanwhile, the people of Fallujah are suffering and starving. A human rights report published on April 7 by the organization Human Rights Watch said that famine has struck the besieged city. People are forced to eat grass. There is food in the city, but the prices for it, according to human rights defenders, are extremely high. For example, a 50-pound bag of flour costs $750 and sugar costs $500. For comparison, in Baghdad the same goods can be bought respectively for $15 and $40. A number of international humanitarian organizations are trying to help people leave the city and to provide them with sustenance but there is an ongoing fight between government forces and extremists, making it difficult to deliver any sort of humanitarian aid. Daesh militants are constantly on watch and they intercept any humanitarian convoys trying to enter Fallujah. Prior to the operation to liberate the city from terrorists, Iraqi security forces and authorities identified four areas where residents could go when they leave the combat zone. Many took advantage of this opportunity. But a significant number of people remained in Fallujah where they only pretend to be civilians, but in fact are actively cooperating with Daesh and do not intend to leave the city. One of the most serious problems Riyadh is facing now is unemployment, according to a recent statement by King Salman. Nearly 75 percent of the population is under 30 and 58 percent are under 25. Currently, unemployment is 12 percent and 25 percent respectively in the two groups. Many residents of Saudi Arabia do not work because of state subsidies, and three million people of the 5.5 million work force are public employees. Another problem is low productivity and qualification of Saudi specialists, French analyst and researcher Roland Lombardi said in an interview with Atlantico. However, with a slump in global oil prices, Saudi Arabia is facing financial difficulties and has had to cut subsidies. MANAMA (Sputnik) Al-Wefaq organized mass protest rallies against the current royal power in Bahrain. "In order to protect the society through the law from organizations that are dangerous as they are following religious and political foreign doctrine, the court decided to close all offices of the Al-Wefaq organization, freeze all its accounts and activities," the statement published by the state-run Bahrain News Agency read. MOSCOW (Sputnik) According to the Hurriyet newspaper, police seized a kill list that contained names of prominent journalists and indicated their whereabouts. The information was obtained following arrests of two terrorist suspects in Kilis, a Turkish province on the border with Syria. Daesh is a terrorist group outlawed in many countries worldwide, including Russia and the United States. The jihadists control northern provinces of Syria and Iraq. Daesh has claimed responsibility for many terrorist attacks in the Middle East and Europe. The group is also notorious for beheadings of journalists. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Earlier in the month, the Daesh militants have tried to advance in the northern part of the city and used cars equipped with explosive materials against the government forces. The curfew was declared in the city, but it was not clear when it would be lifted, Al Jazeera media network reported. The French on the ground are not expected to take part in combat, at least for now. "French soldiers arrived in Kobani along with US troops to take part in liberating Manbij. They are primarily tasked with coordinating airstrikes of the [US-led] coalition, consulting and providing training to Manbij's Military council and the Syrian Democratic Forces," he said. Nessan could not disclose how many French soldiers were present in Kobani, but added that additional troops could arrive if required. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The Al Mayadeen pan-Arabic TV channel noted it was the first announcement of the German forces' presence in Syria. German servicemen are supporting their Western allies forces stationed near the Tishrin hydropower plant, the channel said, citing its sources. In late May, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic forces announced an offensive against the Islamic State group. One of the goals of the operation supported by the US-led coalition is to liberate the city of Manbij. According to US Defense Department spokesman Christopher Sherwood, Baghdad approved of the operation. "The government of Iraq approved the use of Apaches in support of ISF [Iraqi Security Forces] operations," Sherwood said, according to Raw Story. "The strike was vetted and approved through the same process the [US-led] coalition used for all strikes." Coalition forces have encircled the city of Mosul in northern Iraq in an effort to retake the Daesh stronghold. Earlier this month, Kurdish Peshmerga forces liberated a large swath of territory to the east of the city. "After three days of fighting, Peshmerga was able to capture 120 square kilometers of territory, containing nine settlements, to the east of Mosul," representative Amir Sherifi told reporters. MOSCOW (Sputnik) A group of about 100 heavily-armed al-Nusra Front militants have arrived in the past 24 hours in a Syria-Turkey border area in Latakia province, the Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday citing local witnesses. "According to residents of the Kbana settlement in Latakia province, about 100 al-Nusra Front terrorists with heavy weaponry have arrived in an area near the Syrian-Turkish border," the ministry said in a daily bulletin posted on its website. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) Persian Gulf states are exporting the kind of ideology to Central Asia and southern Russia that is contributing to the recruitment of extremists from the region, US Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Ed Royce said during a House Foreign Affairs hearing. "We have had many meetings and many explanations from local government officials [in Central Asia] about how Gulf State money floods into that region and acquires either radio stations, television stations, newspapers, increasingly how also imams come from another part of the world and change the indigenous Muslim faith or ideology to a new ideology," Royce said on Tuesday. The chairman added his concern that the pattern of radicalization in Central Asia "is also happening across southern Russia." He warned that the rise in extremist recruitment "is going to be the next big problem because of the rate at which this is happening." The influential Justice Minister called for genocide of Israels Arab neighbors on July 1, 2014, via Facebook, saying, "the entire Palestinian people are the enemy, including its elderly and its women, it cities and its villages, its property and its infrastructure," and that, "they are all enemy combatants, and their blood shall be on all their heads." The Israeli official quickly deleted the posting, but only after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan compared her to Hitler, commenting that "if these words had been said by a Palestinian, the whole world would have denounced it." Netanyahu faces pressure against coming to terms with the Palestinians from new hardline Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who is on the record suggesting that the country engage in a nuclear strike on Palestinian occupied territories, and has said that he "will not support any peace deal that will allow the return of even one Palestinian refugee to Israel." "It is necessary to pay special attention to mobilization component of the Armed Forces, as well as to the condition of the reserve units," Shoigu said. The minister added that the inspection would last for eight days, until June 22. According to Shoigu, the inspection will also assess how smoothly the army, local authorities and military enlistment offices can organize a field mobile command and control centers. "Particular attention is paid to the organization of the operational staff for planning the use of troops in various types of crisis situations," the defense minister said. The practice of having unannounced inspections of combat readiness was revived after Shoigu took the defense minister's office in 2012. In February, the Russian president ordered snap inspections of the countrys Central Military District. During the inspections, the troops were carrying out various drills to test their combat readiness. The checks also assessed the airborne forces' readiness for long-distance missions and landing in unfamiliar terrain. MOSCOW (Sputnik) According to the Polish president, the NATO drills in Poland are aimed at demonstrating primarily to Russia the country's and alliance's strength and readiness to protect the borders. "The exercises don't threaten anyone, and are strictly defensive," Duda said. "Russia is our neighbor and a difficult partner, which shows in recent years very strong imperial ambitions. Unfortunately, we have seen it in Ukraine, in Crimea <> In the situation of such provocative actions only the demonstration of strength and unity and the collective defense ability will enable a true partnership dialogue," Duda said. The S-400 Triumf with the NATO designation SA-21 Growler and the S-500 Prometey, also known as the 55R6M Triumfator-M, will become undetectable thanks to a special container that will also be used to shield mobile command centers, air defense systems, radar stations and other hardware with complex electronic equipment. "We plan to receive containers designed for the S-500 and other cutting-edge air- and missile-defense systems among other things this year," the source, who is involved in creating electronic warfare systems, said. These containers or shelters, the source added, differ in length and mass. They could be installed on the chassis or transported by trucks and trains. Some of the containers have already entered mass production, while other types are currently being tested. Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar said, "Now since we have decided to blacklist Finmeccanica and its group companies, immediately, we can't even think of this torpedo but we have alternative plans. For purposes of secrecy, the commercial importance of price, I will not inform you of the alternative at this stage. Let the decision be taken by the government, then it will come (to you)." India is building six Scorpene class submarine at Mazagon Dock with technology from French firm DCNS. The first submarine is likely to be handed over to Indian Navy in the last quarter of this year. After winning a tender, Italy's WASS was to supply Black Shark torpedoes to be fitted for the six submarines. However, the deal was scrapped following India's decision to blacklist Finmeccanica in the wake of a massive controversy over the alleged involvement of one of its subsidiaries, Augusta Westland, in a chopper scam. Meanwhile, the Indian Navy is currently building 46 naval platforms such as aircraft carriers, submarines, and warships at different dock yards. India had already struck deals with subsidiaries of Finmeccanica to purchase equipment for at least 26 out of the 46 platforms. The Navy had also ordered guns to be fitted to its Shivalik class frigates from Otemelara, another subsidiary linked to Finmeccanica. According to sources, the fate of these deals also hangs in the balance. In May, Denmark finally settled on 27 Lockheed Martin's F-35 fighter jets, thus wrecking the chances of the two other candidates, Boeing's Super Hornet and Airbus's Eurofighter Typhoon. However, the objectivity of the Defense Ministry in connection with the 8 billion dollar deal is now in question, as vital information on the F-35's rivals was reportedly left out on purpose. According to recent reports, the Defense Ministry omitted information about the flight performance of the Boeing and Airbus planes on the grounds that they supposedly failed to meet the deadline and provide the details in time, a claim both aircraft manufacturers strongly deny. "The German Defense Ministry and US industry delivered the answers to the technical questions before the deadline on April 6. Therefore, we expected of course the submitted data to be taken into account the in the final report report," Lars Jrgensen Illum, sales chief for Airbus in Denmark, said. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Anaconda 2016, one of the largest military drills held in Poland over 25 years, began on June 6 and will last until June 17. It involves troops from over 20 NATO member states, bringing together some 31,000 servicemen, 100 aircraft, 12 vessels and 3,000 vehicles. In the beginning of June, the international naval exercise BALTOPS kicked off in the Baltic Sea and will continue until June 19. BALTOPS is an annual military exercise, held and sponsored by US Naval Forces Europe in the Baltic Sea and the surrounding regions since 1971. The agreement, among other measures, provides for annual exchange of military information about forces located in Europe. It also stipulates that each party should notify all other parties in advance about any unusual military activities and receive inspection visits from other parties to the deal to verify information about military forces and plans for deployment of major weapons systems and military equipment. The practice of having unannounced inspections of combat readiness was revived after Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu took the defense minister's office in 2012. In February, the Russian president ordered snap inspections of the countrys Central Military District. During the inspections, the troops were carrying out various drills to test their combat readiness. The checks also assessed the airborne forces' readiness for long-distance missions and landing in unfamiliar terrain. When Northrop Grumman won the $80 billion bid to develop the new bomber the two other contenders, Boeing and Lockheed Martin, filed a lawsuit seeking to revise the contest. The first argument said that previously the company had already developed a strategic bomber, the B-2 Spirit, which lagged behind the old B-52 in payload, speed, and operational range. Boeing warned that there is a risk that Northrop Grumman would build a costly and ineffective aircraft. Currently, proceedings are underway in the court, but the decision is unlikely to be reversed. The first B-21 bombers are expected to be delivered to the USAF in 2025. Currently, they are estimated at $21.4 billion, with $80 billion unveiled for the entire shipment of 100 aircraft expected to be delivered by 2037. The new bomber will partially replace the B-52 and B-1 B aircraft. It may seem strange than the B-2 will replace the B-1 B because the B-1 B is more capable than the new aircraft. However, in accordance with the New START treaty, the B-1 B cannot carry nuclear weapons. Thus, it will be replaced to strengthen the American fleet of strategic bombers allowed to carry nuclear bombs. TEL AVIV (Sputnik) Netanyahu commemorated victims of terrorist attacks in Tel Aviv and Orlando launched over the last week as he discussed security issues with NATO member states ambassadors to Israel. "Terror, the indiscriminate, systematic attack on innocent people, must always be confronted The act is evil and is perpetrated by people with evil designs, and we, the people of the civilized world, have to band together to defeat it. We stand ready to help NATO in this collective struggle. We are prepared to share our intelligence and our experience to help in this common effort," Netanyahu said. He added that working together NATO and Israel would faster crush the Islamic State, a jihadist group outlawed in Russia and many other countries worldwide. TALLINN (Sputnik) Military exercises dubbed Saber Strike 2016 started on Monday at Estonia's Tapa training base. Over 10,000 service personnel from 13 NATO and partner nations are taking part in the drills. Participating nations include the three Baltic states, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Slovenia, the United Kingdom and the United States. "This morning for the first time two US rocket batteries M124 HIMARS have arrived at Tallinn airport to participate in the Saber Strike [drills]" the Estonian Defense Forces said in a statement. The aim of using the HIMARS multiple rocket launchers is to boost military cooperation between the allies as well as training Estonian soldiers, according to Maj. Patrick Vardaro, who is a staff officer with the US 2nd Cavalry Regiment. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The NATO chief noted that the Alliance had already increased its presence in the region while conducting air policing, stepping up naval presence and carrying out more military exercises. "We will further increase and step up our efforts in the Black Sea region," Stoltenberg said at a press conference in Brussels, as broadcast on the Alliances website. According to the NATO secretary-general, the Alliance is also considering the establishment of a multinational framework brigade in Romania, proposed by Bucharest. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) The goal of PASSEX, according to the release, was to improve maritime capabilities between the United States and Romania. "The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Porter (DDG 78) participated in a bilateral passing exercise (PASSEX) with ships from the Romanian navy in the Black Sea, June 13, 2016," the release stated. "Porter launched two rigid-hull inflatable boats to provide Romanian vessels an environment to practice defending against small boat attacks," the release added. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) In total, the strike group has conducted 148 combat sorties and expended 125 ordinance while operating from the US 6th Fleet, the statement said. "The Sailors aboard USS Harry S. Truman have shown their unwavering dedication during our sustained combat operations while deployed in the Fifth and Sixth Fleet Areas of Operation," said commanding officer Capt. Ryan Scholl. "These professionals have enabled us to precisely deliver more ordnance than any other aircraft carrier in US history in support of OIR objectives." Although rated worse than any other institution in the country, federal lawmakers are not alone in facing mass disdain by a US electorate who increasingly thinks that the system has stopped working. Only the military and police services saw over 50% of respondents express "a great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in the job they do every day. Wall Street faced the largest drop in public approval ratings compared to a decade ago, as the country has failed to rebound from the economic calamity precipitated by speculative excess by the finance industry banks fell from a 49% confidence rating down to a 22% rating. Recent polling data shows that 8% of Americans have confidence in the broader US financial system. UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) The UN Security Council on Monday condemned the terrorist attack in Orlando, Florida for targeting persons as a result of their sexual orientation and called on all states to combat threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts. "The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the terrorist attack in Orlando, Florida, on 12 June 2016, targeting persons as a result of their sexual orientation, during which 49 people were killed and 53 injured, the UN Security Council said in a unanimous Press Statement issued on Monday. The mass shooting occurred at Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando. The city Mayor Buddy Dyer stated that at least 50 people were killed and 53 more were injured in the shooting. MOSCOW (Sputnik) On Monday, China's Secretary-General of the Central Commission on Political and Legal Affairs Wang Yongqing and the UK National Security Adviser Mark Lyall Grant co-chaired the first China-UK High Level Security Dialogue. "On counter-terrorism, the UK and China agree in the face of ever more serious challenges for the international community in fighting terrorism that it is in both sides interests to develop their bilateral cooperation in counter-terrorism; in their anti-terrorism cooperation the two sides will recognize each others concerns about major security interests and develop pragmatic cooperation to tackle terrorist threats faced in common and individually," the communique read. MOSCOW (Sputnik) According to Yonhap news agency, Han will meet French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on Wednesday. In addition to the talks on North Korea, which will focus on joint actions against Pyongyang's nuclear and missile ambitions and nuclear non-proliferation efforts, the two ministers are expected to discuss bilateral defense cooperation measures and their potential expansion. Han's visit is set to continue on Thursday and is organized at the French initiative. Tensions over North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs escalated after Pyongyang said on January 6 that it had successfully carried out a hydrogen bomb test and put a satellite into orbit on February 7. The moves violated UN Security Council resolutions, and prompted the United Nations as well as the United States to impose sanctions. The second argument says that former president Yanukovych broke domestic law by selling the debt to Russia. This argument is "purely technical," Mark Weidemaier, a professor at the University of North Carolina, wrote in a note. What is more, a judge may decide that it is not Russias fault that Ukraine broke its domestic laws, he added. Third, the defense claims that Russia pressured Ukraine into signing the debt deal. In 2013, Moscow applied "economic and political pressure" to prevent Yanukovych from signing an association deal with the European Union. As a result, the financial situation in Ukraine deteriorated so that Kiev had to sell its debt to Moscow, according to the defense. Moscow can counter this argument by saying that the debt deal was negotiated between sophisticated legal representatives and advisers, so "Ukraine couldnt have been coerced," Shane Gleghorn, a lawyer at Taylor Wessing in London, told Bloomberg. The final argument says the debt contract implied that Kiev is entitled not to repay if "Russia hinders its ability to do so." The "annexation of Crimea" and "Russias involvement in Donbass conflict" destabilized the economy and pushed Kiev to ask aid from the International Monetary Fund, the defense claims. Both Gulati and Weidemaier agreed this argument is most likely to prevail in the proceedings. In February, Russia filed a lawsuit against Ukraine at London's High Court over the $3-billion sovereign debt following unsuccessful attempts to agree on a debt restructuring as Ukraine announced in December 2015 that it would not make the repayment on current conditions. MOSCOW (Sputnik) In July, Bratislava assumes the six-month rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union. "The president and the prime minister discussed issues on the bilateral agenda, first of all in the economic sphere, including in the context of the forthcoming presidency of Slovakia in the European Union," Peskov said. CHEBOKSARY (Sputnik) He added that the widespread use of foreign information technology and software creates preconditions to block Russian government's infrastructure. "The intensification of intelligence and other activities of foreign states and organizations' special services, aimed at damaging Russian interests in the information sphere has been noted," Patrushev told a security meeting. MOSCOW (Sputnik) On Sunday, US national Omar Mateen killed 49 people and injured 53 others at Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando. The Orlando massacre has become the deadliest mass shooting in the history of the United States, surpassing the death toll from the 2007 incident at Virginia Tech university, which claimed 32 lives. Ramil Ibragimov, the head of Tatarstan's Union of Young Innovators, made headlines on Monday as he welcomed the attack, expressing hope that survivors of the shooting would "die after all." "I don't know who Mr. Ibragimov is, I don't know what he wrote and where, but such thoughts are, of course, unacceptable," Peskov told reporters, answering a question on Ibragimov's controversial statement. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Earlier in the day, Ukrainian media reported that two airplanes were heading from Kiev to Moscow to return Soloshenko and Afanasyev, imprisoned in Russia. "I have nothing to say on the issue at the moment," Peskov told journalists. The General Staff of Ukraine also said Tuesday it had no information about a Ukrainian Defense Ministry aircraft reportedly being readied to pick up Soloshenko and Afanasyev in Moscow. MOSCOW (Sputnik) According to Stoltenberg, NATO will maintain military contacts and political dialogue with Russia to avoid "incidents, accidents like for instance the downing of a Russian plane over Turkey." On November 24, 2015, a Turkish F-16 fighter shot down a Russian Su-24 bomber over Syria, which fell near the Turkish border. Ankara claimed that the aircraft violated Turkish airspace, however, both Damascus and Moscow presented proof the plane was flying over Syria. The jet was carrying out anti-terrorist operations in Syria. The crew of the plane ejected and one of the pilots, Oleg Peshkov, was killed by ground fire, while the second pilot survived. The politician stated that the United States is trying to "encircle Russia" pursuing new resources and markets. Lafontaine sharply criticized Angela Merkel's government for the support of the US policy. He made his statement during a rally in support of peace which took place near the US Air Force base in Ramstein, Germany which Lafontaine called "a symbol of the ongoing US occupation of Germany," the Austrian magazine noted. "The United States is the oligarchic system aimed at obtaining the world's resources and markets, which the US is trying to take control by military means," Lafontaine said. "Ultimately, the United States seeks to encircle Russia, which becomes obvious to anyone who looks at the map," the politician added. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Turkish-Russian relations deteriorated after a Turkish F-16 fighter downed a Russian Su-24 bomber over Syria on November 24, 2015. The jet was carrying out anti-terrorist operations in Syria. The crew of the plane ejected and one of the pilots, Oleg Peshkov, was killed by ground fire, while the second pilot survived. Moscow imposed a number of restrictive measures on Turkey in response to what Russian President Vladimir Putin classified as a "stab in the back." "Dear Mr. President. On behalf of the Turkish people, I congratulate all Russians on Russia Day, and hope that the relations between Russia and Turkey reach the level they deserve [to be at]," the note read. . If you do not agree with the blocking, please use the Access to the chat has been blocked for violating the rules . You will be able to participate again through:. If you do not agree with the blocking, please use the feedback form The discussion is closed. You can participate in the discussion within 24 hours after the publication of the article. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) The United States has accused Russia of violating the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which prohibits the development, testing, or fielding of ground-based cruise missiles with a range of 300 to 3,400 miles. Russia has rejected the accusations, and claimed that Washingtons Europe-based missile defense system violates the INF treaty. "The NPG will focus on adjustments to @NATOs nuclear deterrence posture in light of Russias nuclear strategy," the Defense Department stated. BRUSSELS (Sputnik) In May, Haber was summoned by the Turkish Foreign Ministry over his criticism of Ankara's implementation of the EU-Turkey migration deal. "I can indeed confirm that Ambassador Haber who is actually the head of European Union's delegation in Ankara resigned and he will be leaving his post as of August 1 this year," Kocijancic told reporters, adding that Brussels will send a new envoy to Ankara shortly. He also suggested that some of the sanctions would be lifted by the end of the year. The analysts also elaborated on the factors affecting the removal of European sanctions against Russia. According to Sakwa, the requirement to implement the Minsk deal is rather symbolic than constructive. Kiev is unable to implement the deal despite pressure from the United States. "Some European officials understand that relations between Moscow and Brussels shouldnt be a prisoner of the reckless Ukrainian government. This dependence is harmful to both Russia and the EU," Sakwa pointed out. De-escalation in Europe is the main goal of the EUs current policy, Krastev said. According to him, the extension of sanctions however would only deepen the tensions within the bloc. Sakwa added that both Russia and the EU see the negative political and economic effect of the sanctions regime. "As for Russia, however, the sanctions have had some positive effect on its economy, especially the agricultural industry. However, Russia is part of the global economy, and any attempts of economic self-isolation would have negative effect," the analyst warned. Krastev underscored that the removal of sanctions by the EU would be a signal to Russia that the bloc wants to normalize relations. Additionally, the move would be beneficial for both sides. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Russian President Vladimir Putin and Italian Prime Minster Matteo Renzi will discuss fight against Daesh, outlawed in Russia, and political settlement of the Middle East crises at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), Russian Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov said Tuesday. "Putin and Renzi are expected to address pressing foreign policy issues at the talks. The two leaders will exchange views on the current state and prospects of Russia's relations with the European Union. It is planned to discuss the issue of cooperation between Russia and Italy in the fight against international terrorism, in particular, against IS [Daesh], as well as issues of political settlement in Syria and Libya," Ushakov said. The SPIEF-2016 will be held on June 16-18. The forum is organized annually and attended by business representatives and officials from dozens of countries. Incidentally, this is how much the US spends on Russian-made boosters. Thompson estimates that the cost amounts to some $100 million annually. If the US dropped the RD-180s today, it would have to provide extra funding in the amount between $1.5 billion and $5 billion in the next six years, US defense officials recently said True, in the coming years, the US will come up with alternatives. But before then, it will need the RD-180s to deliver its payloads into space. "Without Russian engines, there is a danger US warfighters will not be able to monitor what is happening in hostile countries including whether they are launching nuclear missiles against the American homeland," the analyst noted. Senator John McCain, who chairs the US Senate Armed Services Committee, led the battle to cut any further purchases of the RD-180 engines, but last week the committee reached a compromise on the matter for the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017. The new defense spending bill will allow the US to purchase 18 engines until 2022. The Senate is scheduled to vote on the bill on Tuesday. Senate invokes cloture to end debate on #FY17NDAA 68-23 one step closer to final passage SASC Majority (@SASCMajority) 10 2016 . Earlier this year, US Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work said that the Pentagon needed no more than 18 RD-180 engines for the next six years. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The Russian president is going to hold an informal meeting with the former French president, according to the Kremlim's aide. "Tomorrow in the evening, the president will hold an informal dinner with his old friend Nicolas Sarkozy. The discussion will have an informal character. All topics may be touched upon including, of course, the state and prospects of the Russian-French relations, possible upcoming contacts and, probably, regional issues. Sarkozy will most probably be interested in our assessments of the situation in Middle East, Syria and so on," Ushakov said. He added that the dinner with Sarkozy would take place in the Constantine Palace near St. Petersburg. MOSCOW (Sputnik) He added that Russian and US ministers had never before had as mush contacts as they had then. "In addition to well-known contacts between the military, talks between [Russian Foreign Minister Sergei] Lavrov and [US State Secretary John] Kerry held almost every day are even more notable," Ushakov told journalists. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US State Secretary John Kerry have been regularly holding phone conversations on the situation in Syria. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) He emphasized the importance of bilateral confidence building and nonproliferation efforts, stating that because both the United States and Russia are nuclear superpowers that pose a mutual existential threat to one another, "there can be no war between us." "It is urgent to restore that cooperation [to reduce nuclear arsenals] if we are to inhibit further proliferation. We are unlikely to do so if we proceed with plans to increase our military presence in Eastern Europe," Matlock told the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The United States and Russia concluded their last major nuclear arsenal reduction in 2010 with the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), cutting the number of deployed nuclear warheads to 1,550 by 2018. KUWAIT CITY (Sputnik) The talks between the Yemeni government and the Houthi rebels brokered by the United Nations have brought no results so far. "Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed has postponed for an uncertain period the submission of the document, that contains the vision of [Yemeni conflict] settlement due to preservation of the differences of the views among the Yemeni conflict parties and the threats that the document will not be accepted if it is not impartial," the source said. On Monday, a diplomatic source told Sputnik that the UN special envoy was to submit the draft deal to Yemeni negotiators in a short time. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) Former US Ambassador to the Soviet Union Jack Matlock raised the question of a leaked phone call involving Nuland, "talking about who should be the Prime Minister of Ukraine in a revolutionary situation." "Well, that was a mistake," McFaul said referring to Nulands phone conversation. McFaul argued that US officials made dozens of attempts to diffuse the protests and tried to "cut a deal" between former Ukrainian Prime Minister Victor Yanukovych and the government opposition. "We did not give one penny to the democratic opposition [in Ukraine] when I was in the US government," McFaul claimed. Washington, the official noted, finds it perplexing that Russia and the Syrian government have failed to seriously pursue US ceasefire proposals. But the regime, sometimes with Russian support, is launching many attacks targeting opposition groups protected by the cessation of hostilities, including in the regions near Handarat and Hraytan in northwest Aleppo, [where] there is little Nusra presence and certainly no Nusra-controlled territory, the official claimed. Last month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Sputnik in an exclusive interview that the United States attempted to include a number of positions occupied by al-Nusra Front in the ceasefire. A charge the State Department subsequently denied. On Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry said that a total of five ceasefire violations were registered in Syrias Damascus province over a 24-hour period, although the truce largely held. Russias reconciliation center in western Syria has claimed that the self-described "opposition" group Jaish al-Islam has continued shelling Syrian army positions in Arbil as well as the village of Harasta al-Bansal. The ceasefire in Syria worked out by Russia and the United States took effect on February 27. The cessation of hostilities does not apply to terrorist organizations, such as Daesh and al-Nusra Front, outlawed in a number of countries worldwide including Russia and the United States. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) A proposed nuclear agreement between the United States and Norway would allow Washington to share nuclear information and material with Norway for bilateral nuclear cooperation, US President Barack Obama said in a message to the US Congress on Tuesday. "[The proposed agreement] would permit the transfer [to Norway] of unclassified information, material, equipment (including reactors) and components for nuclear research and nuclear power production," the White House stated. Furthermore, the agreement would allow Norway to retransfer irradiated nuclear material, or spent fuel, for storage or reprocessing, subject to agreement by France and the United Kingdom. The new frigates, small, fast and bristling with the best weaponry money can buy, fit the Navys current less is more principle just fine. Each of the Project 11356 frigates is armed with eight launchers of the famous Kalibr-NK designed to destroy surface, submerged and land targets. One such missile is powerful enough to sink a cruiser while a salvo of Kalibrs is able to destroy an aircraft carrier. This means that a single frigate can effectively take on a whole enemy task force. The formidable Buyan Last years barrage of 18 Kalibr cruise missiles at terrorist targets in Syria sent western defense experts into a state of shock not only because the missiles hit their targets 1,500 kilometers away, but also because they were launched by small river-and sea-going Russian corvettes. Armed with 8 Kalibr cruise missiles each, the Buyan-M, the Veliky Ustyug, the Grad Sviyazhsk and the Uglich, also carry an A-190 100 mm cannon, a pair of 14.5 mm and a troika of 7,62 mm machineguns. A Buyan-class corvette has a maximum speed of 25 knots, a range of 2,500 nautical miles, 10-day maximum endurance and a crew of 29-36. Four more such corvettes are slated to join the Russian Navy before 2019. Arctic Warrior The Ilya Muromets diesel-electric icebreaker that was floated out in St. Petersburg earlier this month has a cruising range of 12,000 nautical miles and an endurance run of two months. Built to explore northern latitudes, the Ilya Muromets is the first icebreaker built in Russia for the Navy in the past 45 years. Underwater missile carriers and hunters Russia is developing a submarine with an anaerobic power plant that will considerablye increase in theits ability to stay submerged. The sea trials of the new engine are slated for later this year and the construction of the prototype of the new sub capable of sailing three weeks without surfacing, is expected to start next year. The construction of the Yasen-M multirole nuclear-powered submarines and Borei-A strategic missile subs will continue and a fifth-generation nuclear submarine, now in the pipeline, will carry hypersonic anti-ship missiles. In addition, a fifth-generation nuclear-powered attack is already on the drawing board. Nuclear Lider The Russian Navy announced that it plans to begin construction of new Lider-class destroyers in 2019. Russia's new warships will have a displacement of about 17,500 tons, a length of 200 meters and a breadth of 20 meters. Equipped with Kalibr cruise missiles, S-500 surface-to-air missiles, 130 mm cannons and Paket-NK torpedoes, the nuclear powered destroyer will reportedly reach a speed of 30 knots and remain at sea up to 90 days without support. Mateen, who was born in New York to Afghan parents, had previously been investigated by the FBI for his stated support of Daesh, also known as ISIS/Islamic State. Following the attack, US President Barack Obama said "We see no clear evidence that he was directed externally" by Daesh or any other extremist group, adding that, "As far as we can tell right now, this is certainly an example of the kind of homegrown extremism that all of us have been so concerned about for a very long time." Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said that, as president, she would focus on tightening gun restrictions, weeding out Americans like Mateen who sympathize with extremist groups even if there is no direct connection. "I believe weapons of war have no place on our streets," she said, reasoning that, "if the FBI is watching you for a suspected terrorist link, you shouldn't be able to just go buy a gun with no questions asked." The ban was instituted at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in 1985, when the disease was still not yet understood. Since that time, screening technologies have made significant advancements, including undergoing 13 tests, including 10 for infectious diseases such as HIV and hepatitis. The US Food and Drug Administration has refused to fully end the ban however, despite a 2013 statement from the American Medical Association urging them to lift it. "The lifetime ban on blood donation for men who have sex with men is discriminatory and not based on sound science, the American Medical Association statement read. The National Institutes of Health argues that, while it is possible for HIV to be detected nine to 11 days after infection, the process can take three to six months. The Obama administration has made slow moves away from the discriminatory ban, such as gay and bisexual men being able to donate blood if they have been celibate for one year. Still, as many pointed out on Sunday, it is easier to buy an assault rifle to take lives than it is to give blood to try and save them. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) The slaughter of 49 people in a night club in Orlando in the US state of Florida is another expression of the growing problem of mass violence in American society that cannot solely be attributed to Islamic extremism, NSA whistleblower Mark Klein told Sputnik. This problem of mass violence in America is obviously deeply-rooted, with many tentacles, and only fools would blame it all on radical Islamic terrorism, Klein said on Monday. Many of these incidents had nothing to do with foreign terrorism but rather relate to psychologically disturbed youth, racist attitudes which go way back in the United States and Christian fundamentalism. Although the killer, Omar Mateen, the 29-year-old New York-born son of Afghan immigrants had declared allegiance to Daesh, Klein pointed out that other recent horrific mass shootings within the United States had different motivations. In a speech on Sunday, President Obama indicated that the shooter was inspired by various extremist information disseminated over the Internet. It is likely that [Mateen] was self-radicalized by watching ISIS videos and reading the groups propaganda, which points to the easy availability of pro-ISIS propaganda on the internet and on social media platforms, Ibsen explained. He noted that the Islamic State and other groups have been successful in exploiting the internet using social media sites to radicalize, recruit and incite to violence. In light of their success over the internet, social media companies should do more to rid their sites of violent extremists, Ibsen advised. The Counter Extremism Project has repeatedly called on social media companies to do more to prevent terrorist messaging on the website and encouraged lawmakers to address the issue. CEP launched a digital disruption campaign, monitoring posts in French, German, Italian, Turkish, Arabic and English, and has identified hundreds of social media accounts for removal. The FBI investigation into Mateen has reportedly included a thorough review of his activity on social media, where he professed support for a host of different extremists groups. Mateen was previously investigated by the FBI in 2013 due to inflammatory comments he made to coworkers. The Counter Extremism Project (CEP) is a nonprofit international policy organization formed to combat the growing threat from extremist ideology. CEP is led by a renowned group of former world leaders and diplomats, according to its website. FBI Assistant special agent Trevor Velinor said Mateen acquired his weapons "within the last week or so" and that he was able to legally "acquire and purchase firearms." According to the Orlando Sentinel, Mateen purchased his gun at the St. Lucie Shooting Center. Adam Putnam, from Floridas Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which issues gun licenses, explained the process Mateen went through to buy his gun. "You have a U.S. citizen with no criminal record, a U.S. citizen with no prior mental health issues, who waited the three days and went through yet another background check at the point of purchase. So it does not appear that the typical legislative actions would have had an impact on this individuals ability to purchase a firearm," he said, adding, "The striking thing about what we think we know about this incident is that all of the so-called loopholes that people point to were not a part of this crime, not a part of this terrorist act. There was a background check. There was a further background check that allowed him to become an armed security guard." MOSCOW (Sputnik) Early on Sunday, 29 year-old Mateen opened fire in Pulse, killing 49 people in what became the worst mass shooting incident on US soil. FBI Director James Comey said on Monday that Mateen espoused support for a number of extremist terror groups, including al-Qaeda and Daesh, but it is unclear whether his actions were directed by a terrorist organization. "Sometimes he would go over in the corner and sit and drink by himself, and other times he would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent," Pulse regular Ty Smith was quoted as saying by The Orlando Sentinel. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Sergei Naryshkin, the speaker of Russia's lower house of parliament, said Tuesday that the Orlando shooting was a result of US intelligence services failing to take action. "Of course, this is a big mistake on the part of the United States intelligence agencies. They admitted that the terrorist had been questioned on three different occasions," Naryshkin said. GENEVA (Sputnik) The United States needs to adopt "robust gun regulation" amid the mass shooting in Orlando, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad al-Hussein said Tuesday. "It is hard to find a rational justification that explains the ease with which people can buy firearms, including assault rifles, in spite of prior criminal backgrounds, drug use, histories of domestic violence and mental illness, or direct contact with extremists both domestic and foreign," Zeid said in a statement published by his office. "How many more mass killings of school-children, of co-workers, of African-American churchgoers how many more individual shootings of talented musicians like Christina Grimmie, or politicians like Gabrielle Giffords, will it take before the United States adopts robust gun regulation? Why should any civilian anywhere be able to acquire an assault rifle or other high-powered weapons designed to kill lots of people?" he added, warning against "irresponsible pro-gun propaganda." At present, US intelligence agencies are still working on an explanation of the terrorist's motive behind the bloodshed. The key questions remain yet to be answered: Did he perform a mission for Daesh? Was he inspired by Daesh? Did he have an adequate picture of the organizations he had sworn allegiance to? Omar's ex-wife's guess was that Mateen was bipolar. However, his brother-in-law could not provide any explanation to these questions. By his own admission, he did not believe that the gunman was mentally ill either. "I do not think Omar had any mental problems. I cannot say that he had any problems of this kind. He was not sick and he was no fundamentalist," he said. The question of Mateen's political education has been raised after he phoned emergency services from inside the Pulse nightclub and pledged allegiance to both al-Nusra, Daesh and Hezbollah. These are three organizations that are fighting on opposite sides of the conflicts in the Middle East. Mateen's brother-in-law said he had never discussed any politics with Omar. Deitz argued that the information on Trumps investments could give an idea on how he would deal with countries if elected US president. "They [investments] may provide tips for understanding his style of negotiating. In short, this sort of intelligence could be used by Russia, for example, to indicate where it can get away with foreign adventurism," Deitz said as quoted by the Washington Post. Security experts warned the DNCs leaders of unusual activity in April, and expelled the intruders from the network over last weekend, according to the report. However, the hackers had access to communications of the Committee, including emails. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) Moreover, Obama reiterated his call for a ban on the purchase of weapons for anyone on a terrorist watch list. "Reinstate the assault weapons ban, make it harder for terrorists to use these weapons to kill us," Obama urged. On Sunday, a shooter identified as US national Omar Mateen opened fire in the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando killing 49 people and injuring at least 53 others. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) The fight against Daesh has seen major progress in the past two months, US President Barack Obama said on Tuesday upon concluding a meeting with the National Security Council. "Since I last updated the American people on our campaign two months ago, we have seen that this continues to be a difficult fight, but we are making significant progress," Obama stated. The president noted that the US-led coalition against Daesh has carried out more than 13,000 airstrikes and eliminated more than 120 top terrorists leaders and commanders. According to recent reports, following the Orlando shooting, Americans have started buying up guns. The increased demand also affected the market cap of the countrys major gun makers. According to Reuters, shares of Smith & Wesson as well as Ruger jumped over 11 percent in Mondays trading. The analyst said that ironically the demand for guns and some particular gun brands go up after a disaster happens in the US. If you have a car and some terrible disaster happens in it, or with a plane, the brand of that product usually goes down and nobody buys it anymore and that becomes really bad for the company but in the case of mass shootings the sales of guns tend to go up and its really the only product for which thats true, Lytton said. Omar Mateen, the lone gunman in the Orlando nightclub shooting, used legally purchased weapons, including an AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifle, which cost around $700 and can be easily purchased online. There are approx. 5 million to 10 million AR-15 rifles in the United Sates. Following the mass shootings involving AR-15 rifles, Americans began to question whether such a military-style weapon is necessary for home use. Gun control has long been a hotly debated and sensitive issue in American politics. The society is widely divided on the issue, between gun control advocates and gun rights supporters and lobby forces. Academic expert in national security and human rights at Seton Hall University Law School, Jonathan Hafetz, told Sputnik in an interview that the Obama administration is likely to put forward new measures to tackle gun violence in the US, but those measures simply wont be enough. There are simply too many guns in the United States and the notion that the availability of weapons is actually intended for war times. Semi-automatic weapons have the capability of shooting many people at once and they shouldnt be on the street and I think there really needs to be a revolutionary approach and the US needs to get rid of its guns, Hafetz said. He further spoke about how the US approach to guns is really out of step with other countries. Following the Orlando massacre, USA Today asked: Does the debate on gun control ever actually change anything? "First, he claimed family connections to al Qaeda," he said. "He also said that he was a member of Hezbollah, which is a Shia terrorist organization and a bitter enemy of the Islamic State, or ISIL. He said that he hoped that law enforcement would raid his apartment and assault his wife and child so he could martyr himself. When this was reported to us, the FBIs Miami office opened a preliminary investigation." The FBI investigated him again in 2014 to discern if he was connected to Moner Abu-Salha, the American-born suicide bomber that Mateen mentioned in his 911 call before Sundays shooting. Comey said "Our investigation turned up no ties." Mateen was also an abusive husband, according to his ex-wife, an Uzbek woman named Sitora Yusufiy. "He was totally two different people sometimes, and would turn and abuse me, out of nowhere, when I was sleeping," she said. Yusufiy also claimed that Mateen had made homophobic comments in her presence, but didnt espouse solidarity with radical Islamists. "There were definitely moments when hed express his intolerance toward homosexuals," she recalled. FBI Director James Comey, despite warnings from Mateens coworkers about his radicalization and investigations by his agency, does not believe the FBI could have acted differently in handling the case and were correct when they closed the earlier investigations. On Monday, Comey explained at a press briefing that the FBI had been alerted to Mateen twice, and yet he was removed from the terrorist watchlist, prior to killing 49 people at a popular gay club in Florida and wounding an additional 53. Mateens initial questioning by the FBI came after coworkers reported him for making "inflammatory" comments involving radical Islam. He had reportedly told his coworkers that he hoped law enforcement would come into his home and assault his wife so he could martyr himself. "If they were watching this, it could have been tracked electronically with an alert that this person could be dangerous," said Binney. "The problem is that they are looking at the haystack and trying to find the parts of the hay that might become needles, as the FBI director said." Do we need to give into mass surveillance to keep the country safe? "No, it makes the country vulnerable and I have been arguing from the beginning that what they are doing, they have traded the security and safety of the people in the free world for money," stated the former NSA analyst. "This is creating a lot of profits, tens of billions of dollars for corporations in the intelligence-industrial complex to feed on and that is what they have been doing since 9/11." At the core of Binneys argument is that the United States has incredible capabilities to obtain information, but lacks the ability to properly analyze the data they gather, causing a noise-pollution effect; American spy agencies and law enforcement have so much information that they cannot differentiate between static and actionable intelligence. Last week, prior to the tragic event in Florida, Representative Andy Holt announced that he would be giving away an AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifle at his event, which will feature a turkey shoot at his farm on June 25. In the wake of Saturdays shooting which left 49 dead and another 53 injured, he announced that he would give away two of the deadly weapons. Guests are also urged to bring their own weapons and ammunition to the fundraiser. "It was a bullet that stopped the terrorist," Holt said in a Facebook post following the attack. Holt believes that the answer to the nations mass shooting problem is to arm everyone, and it appears that he will be giving away both weapons to winners who will not be required to have a background check to receive their deadly prize. The shooter, Omar Mateen, pledged allegiance to Daesh to a 911 operator after opening fire at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida. In 2013 he was investigated by the FBI for expressing sympathy with Al-Qaeda and Hezbollah, two groups who have violently rivaled Daesh in the past. He was investigated again in 2014 on suspicion of being linked to Moner Abu-Salha, another self-radicalized American who died in a suicide bombing in Syria. To date, no direct connection has been discovered tying Mateen to Daesh, or any other terrorist organization. Since Daesh did not direct the Orlando shooting, and Mateen acted of his own volition, its difficult to see what intensifying the bombing campaign is intended to achieve. According to airwars.org, the US-led coalition has currently conducted over 13,000 strikes against Daesh, nearly 9,000 in Iraq and over 4,000 in Syria. This includes over 44,000 bombs dropped, leaving about 1,300 civilians dead. NATO will deploy four international battalions to Poland and the three Baltic states, as a deterrence to Russia, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told a news conference prior to a Tuesday meeting of the defense ministers in Brussels. While Baltic NATO members welcome the deployments, it is not viewed as being enough, and government officials are insisting that the build-up go further. The Baltic countries and Poland expect NATO to assist them in creating an air-defense missile system to act as a shield against the threat of a Russian aircraft and missile attack, Reuters wrote Monday, citing officials in the region. "The first and foremost is the defense of our airspace," said the head of the Estonian defense force, Lieutenant General Riho Terras, who added, "Air defense is the challenge that needs to be solved together with the NATO alliance." MOSCOW (Sputnik) New Delhi expects Russian President Vladimir Putin to arrive in India to take part in BRICS summit in October, Indian Ambassador to Moscow Pankaj Saran said Tuesday. "India expects President Putin to attend the BRICS summit in Goa in October this year. Our nation is looking forward to this summit," Saran said at the opening of the exhibition "Russia-India: from Afanasy Nikitin to Present Day" in the Russian State Duma, the parliament's lower house. The ambassador noted that Russia and India were united by cooperation in the military sphere and that the exhibition was held with the assistance of the State Dumas Defense Committee. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) On Sunday, 29-year old Omar Mateen opened fire in a crowded gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, killing 49 people and injuring 53 others. "[Kerry and Salman] discussed this weekend's shooting in Orlando and expressed their shared commitment to continue their cooperation in combatting the spread of violent extremism, both regionally and internationally," the statement said. "We have been in the [legal] process since September 2013 and until today we could not get to the jury trial. All our petitions, claims and demands are yet again being shattered by Mr. Browder and the office of New York County District Attorney, they use all means to postpone this case to eternity and carry out the PR campaign they have been carrying out all this years," Veselnitskaya said. Between 1997 and 2005 at least 200 million Gazprom shares have been obtained using a scheme when Ziff Brothers Investments used offshore companies transferring funds into Russian companies for them to purchase shares, constituting a violation of the Russian legislation regarding Gazprom shares. Later these shares had been moved to a Cyprus company and then further on in the form of dividends. In 2013, Russia sentenced Browder in absentia to nine years in prison for tax evasion and for falsely claiming tax breaks for hiring disabled persons. The court also ruled that Magnitsky developed and implemented a tax evasion scheme while working for the millionaire. Katsyv's lawyer Veselnitskaya maintains that Browder was behind the fraudulent activities her client is accused of. Magnitsky was a Russian lawyer who revealed alleged corruption at the highest levels of the Russian government. He was detained in 2008 and accused of conspiracy and abatement for tax evasion. He died in the Matrosskaya Tishina pre-trial detention center in Moscow in 2009. In late 2012, the United States adopted the so-called Magnitsky Act, which imposes travel bans and financial sanctions on Russian officials and other individuals believed to have been involved in Magnistky's death, the case against him and related issues. Russia responded by issuing its own blacklist, which includes US officials linked to human rights violations, some of whom were involved in the construction and maintenance of the Guantanamo Bay detention center. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Russian President Vladimir Putin and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker are expected to discuss the issue of uncontrolled refugee inflows from the Middle East and North Africa to the European Union at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said Tuesday. "It is supposed to consider the situation in Syria, Ukraine, and the situation with uncontrolled inflows of migrants from the Middle East and North Africa to the European Union," Ushakov said. According to Ushakov, the sides are also due to pay specific attention to normalization of trade, economic and investment cooperation, as Russia is the fourth largest trade partner for the 28-nation bloc and maintains its leading positions among exporters of natural gas, oil and petroleum products to the European Union. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) The United States is in touch with French authorities and will help to investigate the Monday's attack on a police officer and his family near Paris, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said in a briefing on Tuesday. "US officials have been in touch with French authorities," Earnest stated. "The United States will do what we can to assist French authorities as they conduct this investigation." MOSCOW (Sputnik) He added that UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan De Mistura could expend more efforts to facilitate the new round of intra-Syria settlement talks. "We hope that a line under the Syrian crisis would be drawn at last We hope that the line would also be drawn under the Ukrainian one," Churkin told the Rossiya-24 television channel. Syria has been mired in civil war since 2011, with numerous opposition factions and Islamic extremist groups fighting the Syrian Army and other government forces loyal to President Bashar Assad. UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) The UN Security Council on Tuesday extended the mandate of the EU anti-migrant smuggling operation Sophia in the Mediterranean, allowing the participants to intercept ships carrying weapons in the international waters, in violation of an embargo against Libya. The Resolution 2292 was adopted unanimously. The draft resolution was proposed by the United Kingdom last week. Operation Sophia was approved by the UN Security Council in October last year amid massive migrant crisis, with a rising number of refugees travelling to the European Union across the Mediterranean Sea and other routes. The experiment will begin with igniting the sample. Air flowing through ducts will fan the fire, which is expected to burn for about 20 minutes. Scientists want to find out how microgravity influences the growth of fire, whether the force will limit flames, and how materials burn. Specialists on Earth will receive data recorded by fire and oxygen sensors installed on the ship and images from onboard cameras. They hope the findings will assist them in developing ways to suppress fire during space missions. "NASA's objective is to reduce the risk of long-duration exploration missions, and a spacecraft fire is one of the biggest concerns for NASA and the international space exploration community," said Jason Crusan, NASA director of advanced exploration systems, as cited by CBS. Three-year-old trotting fillies were in the spotlight Monday evening at Mohawk Racetrack as the Campbellville, Ont. oval hosted a set of $105,000 Ontario Sires Stakes Gold Series divisions. Heavily-favoured Caprice Hill romped to 1:53.3 triumph in the first split for driver Randy Waples and trainer Tony Alagna. The daughter of Kadabra-Bramasole marched out from Post 7 and raced parked to the quarter pole in :28 before crossing over in front of the field. She then whipped through fractions of :56.2 and 1:25.2 before powering home in :28.1 to win by 5-1/2 lengths over Major Muscle. Celebrity Eventsy was third. Sent off as the 3-5 favourite, Caprice Hill improved this years record to 2-1-0 from three starts with the win. The nine-time winner has banked more than $700,000 to date for owner Tom Hill of Hamilton, Ont. Emoticon Hanover took the second division in 1:57 for the duo of driver Sylvain Filion and trainer Luc Blais. After an ugly start, Tymal Tempest took the field to the quarter pole in :28.2 while Emoticon Hanover sat fourth at the rail. Filion rushed his charge to the lead in the backstretch, and after clearing Emoticon Hanover strolled through soft splits of :57.4 and 1:28. A :29-second closing quarter was more than enough to earn her the win by 3-3/4 lengths over Tymal Tempest. Third prize went to Dottie. The daughter of Kadabra-Emmylou Who won for the second time this season in three tries for Determination of Montreal, QC. The six-time winner owns a cash stash of $280,758. To view results for Monday's card of harness racing, click the following link: Monday Results Mohawk Racetrack. While ten of the continent's top sophomore pacers will face off for the $1 million Pepsi North America Cup this Saturday at Mohawk Racetrack, one of the colts many felt would be a factor but not entered was New Jersey Sire Stakes champ Katies Rocker. In three starts this year, the son of Rocknroll Hanover was never out of the top three (1-1-1) and finished ahead of NA Cup elim winner Boston Red Rocks in his two most recent starts. On June 4, Katies Rocker was a 1:50.3 winner over a sloppy track in the $100,000 NJSS Final, prevailing over 1-9 favourite Boston Red Rocks by a neck despite racing first-over for the final three-eighths of a mile. Jim Campbell, who trains the homebred for Jules Siegel's Fashion Farms LLC, told Trot Insider that the decision to bypass the North America Cup has nothing to do with the horse's current condition. "The colt had five weeks in a row of fast miles at the Meadowlands," Campbell noted of Katies Rocker's season of training miles, qualifiers and races thus far. "The three-year-old schedule is every week up to mid-August, it's tough to race at that level every week...so we decided to stay home and prep for the Hempt and Meadowlands Pace." A top ten selection in the 2016 Trot Magazine Pepsi North America Cup Spring Book, Katies Rocker (Rocknroll Hanover - Just Wait Kate) boasts a summary of 7-4-1 from 16 lifetime starts and more than $311,000 in purse earnings. American Catholic Bishops Should Use Their Crosiers of Office in Trump-Clinton Presidential Battle, says John Snyder of Telum Associates Contact: John Snyder, Telum Associates, LL.C, 202-239-8005, gundean@gmail.com WASHINGTON, June 14, 2016 / Standard Newswire / -- "Catholic bishops should use their crosiers of office in the Trump-Clinton presidential battle for the soul of America," John M. Snyder said here today. "They should oppose Clinton and support Trump.""Catholic Church officials truthfully proclaim the sinfulness of abortion and of voting for political candidates who promote abortion. Hillary is such a candidate. Last Friday, Clinton in a Planned Parenthood speech even saluted the abortionist Dr. Amna Dermish who once laughed about harvesting babies' brains."In the opinion of this practicing Catholic layman, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and individual bishops have an obligation publicly to oppose the Clinton candidacy. The only practical way to thwart that candidacy is to elect Donald Trump president.""Some church officials may find this difficult," Snyder admitted. "For decades many Catholics, including Catholic clergy, have felt an affinity for the Democratic Party. However, with its leaders' endorsement of abortion, euthanasia, same-sex marriage and other reprehensible acts, that party has become a satanic entity."Snyder noted that, on April 23, 2015, Hillary, keynoting the Women in the World Summit, said, "Far too many women are denied access to reproductive health and safe childbirth, and laws don't count for much if they're not enforced. Rights have to exist in practice not just on paper. Laws have to be backed up with resources and political will. And deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed."As Bill Donohue of the Catholic League commented at the time, 'Hillary has a problem with the Catholic Church's teachings on abortion they must be changed.'"Snyder said, "A President Hillary Clinton would try to force the Catholic Church to accept and endorse morally unacceptable behavior. Catholics voting for Donald Trump could oppose effectively the election of Clinton to the presidency, and the dire consequences to faith, morality and conscience such an election would portend."Last month, Snyder outlined reasons for Catholics to vote for Trump in a Selous Foundation for Public Policy Research column, ( sfppr.org/2016/05/the-pharisees-of-our-time-vs-the-blue-collar-billionaire ).Snyder said, "A President Clinton would persecute Catholics for their faith. Catholic Church officials and others must support Trump to preserve freedom of religion." Summer Nutrition Programs Close Hunger Gap for Millions of Children, Report Finds Growth Slowing, Need for Redoubled Efforts See How Your State Ranks (pdf) Contact: Colleen Barton Sutton, Food Research & Action Center, 202-640-1121, cbsutton@frac.org WASHINGTON, June 14, 2016 /Standard Newswire/ -- After three years of significant growth, national participation in the Summer Nutrition Programs plateaued last summer, according to the Food Research & Action Center's annual Hunger Doesn't Take a Vacation report (pdf) released today. During July 2015, the programs served nearly 3.2 million low-income children across the country, a modest increase of 11,000 participants from July 2014. The Child Nutrition Reauthorization currently being considered by Congress provides an important opportunity to invest in the Summer Nutrition Programs so that more children return to school in the fall, well-nourished and ready to learn. "Status quo is not good enough when it comes to the well-being of our nation's children," said FRAC President Jim Weill. "More must be done to expand access to summer meals if we are to close the hunger gap and reduce the summer 'learning slide' for millions of our nation's children. Greater investments are needed to make these good programs even better." The report measures the success of Summer Nutrition Programs at the national and state levels both in absolute numbers and by comparing the number of children receiving summer meals to the number of low-income children receiving school lunch during the regular school year. By that measure, less than one in six children (15.8:100) who needed summer nutrition received it in 2015. If every state had reached the goal of 40 children participating in Summer Nutrition in July 2015 for every 100 receiving free or reduced-price lunch during the 20142015 school year, an additional 4.9 million children would have been fed each day, and states would have collected an additional $384 million in child nutrition funding in July alone (assuming the programs operated 22 weekdays). The Summer Nutrition Programs, which include the Summer Food Service Program and the National School Lunch Program over the summer period, provide free meals at participating summer sites at schools, parks, other public agencies, and nonprofits for children under 18. Not only do children benefit from the free meals, but they also benefit from the enrichment activities that keep them learning and engaged. Leadership by the U.S. Department of Agriculture has been a key factor in increasing participation in the summer nutrition programs. The agency has prioritized summer meal growth by partnering with national organizations to increase the number of sponsors and sites and by providing hands-on assistance to states. While participation rates varied greatly throughout the country, 29 states saw growth in summer nutrition from 20142015 as a result of state agencies and partner organizations intensifying their outreach efforts. "We're on the right trajectory, but more must be done," added Weill. "Working together, we can ensure every child has a hunger-free summer." The report is available online at www.frac.org. Graphics: Summer Nutrition Programs: How Does Your State Measure Up? (jpg) Summer Nutrition Programs: Top 10/Bottom 10 Performing States (jpg) About the report: The Food Research & Action Center's annual summer report, Hunger Doesn't Take a Vacation, gives data for all states and looks at national trends. The report measures participation in the Summer Nutrition Programs by comparing the number of children receiving summer meals to the number of children receiving school lunch during the regular school year. The regular school year is used as a measure because such a high proportion of low-income children eat school lunch on regular school days. FRAC measures national summer participation during the month of July, when typically all children are out of school throughout the month and lose access to regular year school meals. The Food Research & Action Center (FRAC) is the lead advocacy organization working to end hunger in America through stronger public policies. When Stephen Buhrmann entered his vehicle in West Longview Monday morning, something seemed amiss. His belongings were splayed haphazardly across the seats. Thats when I noticed (my) two backpacks missing, he said. Most of the items in the bags are replaceable: a t-shirt, gym shorts, a pair of brightly colored shoes. Others arent, including the two award certificates Buhrmann received for military combat duty in Afghanistan. Burhmann, 29, said he earned the awards for locating roadside bombs, a dangerous job he said earned many men purple hearts. Burhmann said he worked as an intelligence analyst and combat engineer. He took great pride in his awards. Thats why he said hes baffled the prowler stole his certificates, which he said have no value to anyone but him. Of all the stuff they couldve stolen in my car, they took my dirty laundry and my sentimental (belongings), he lamented. He said it would have made more sense if something of monetary value had been taken. He said the prowler likely just grabbed his bags and dashed before checking the contents. Itd be a lot easier to lose a vehicle stereo system or to have something of monetary value stolen, he said. To come to have your legacy that you had taken from you is kind of like having your college degree taken from you, something that is irreplaceable. He said the experience has somewhat changed his view of Longview. He moved to the town in September from Wisconsin for his civil service job. He said he knew Longview had its problems, but he didnt expect his car to be burglarized. To have something like this happen makes me go Hmmm, he said. He said he plans to explore dikes near his home in hopes that hell find his belongings discarded somewhere. My idea and thoughts are if you broke into a vehicle and grabbed two bags as fast as you can, you might not necessarily hold on to something thats zero value monetarywise that can incriminate you, he said. However, he said hes not optimistic. I dont have high hopes, unfortunately. Two owners of a Clatskanie farm have been indicted on 15 felony counts of second-degree animal neglect, nearly three months after 15 underweight and neglected horses were removed from their property. Ross and Heidi Bankston were indicted June 2. Each count is considered a Class C felony because the alleged offenses involved more than 11 animals, said David Lytle, public affairs manager for Oregon Humane Society. The owners of the horses have previous criminal citations for first- and second-degree animal neglect in 2012. They pleaded guilty to first-degree animal neglect in 2014. If convicted of the new charges, they could be sentenced to as much as five years in prison. The Bankstons could not immediately be reached for comment Monday. In early March, the Oregon Humane Society and Columbia County sheriffs deputies, with the assistance of animal control, executed a search warrant on a Colvin Road property, where the horses were kept. Authorities seized the horses but took no immediate legal action against the Bankstons. Lytle didnt elaborate Monday on the horses condition because the animals are considered evidence. They are being cared for by OHS. He said in March that the horses were extremely underweight and at least one horse had sores caused by excessive exposure to moisture, a common condition in horses. He said its unclear whether neglecting the horses was intentional or the result of not having the means to care for them. However, he said it doesnt matter under Oregon law. Its a crime to neglect your animal either intentionally or simply because you lack the resources, Lytle said. At OHS, our focus is what we see on the animals, and thats what we base issuing a citation on. The Bankstons will be arraigned June 20 in Columbia County Circuit Court. Its been 15 or 20 years since sisters Karla Higgins and Misty Welty began talking about starting their own coffee shop. The idea finally perked this year. The Wicked Coffee Stand, located in front of 1826 Elite Fitness on First Avenue in Longview, had its grand opening last week. Higgins, 39, and Welty, 41, said they already have regulars. Its kind of been a dream of ours, Welty said. Were getting older and were just like, You know what? Lets do it. The women both have backgrounds in the coffee industry and began working as baristas for coffee shops around the area. Welty said she loves the atmosphere of a coffee store. The sisters want to offer something different with their own stand. And Higgins said its easier to work with her own sister. Its nice to be in business with someone you know you can trust, Welty said. In the past they co-owned a cleaning and delivery business that was run primarily out of Weltys home in Castle Rock. Higgins, of Clatskanie, and Welty use only organic coffee, and they said Zojos provides a specific roast exclusively for their business. Everybodys so cautious about what they put into their bodies, Higgins said. The sisters also drive down to Portland once a week to offer Voodoo Doughnuts to their customers on Fridays. The pair began leasing the building in March, and they said its been more costly than they expected to get the business up and running. They hope to get more business through their delivery service starting Tuesday after setting up a phone line in the stand. Other businesses in the area, including contractor JH Kelly, Dels Feed and Farm Supply and Frontier, have expressed interest in Wickeds delivery service. Prices for their coffee range from $1.70 for regular drip coffee to $5.75 for more expensive blended coffee and energy drinks. The stand is open 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday. Bottom Lines Longviews PeaceHealth Medical Group nephrologist Majd Isreb attended the World Humanitarian Summit on May 23-24 in Istanbul. Isreb is the chairman of the Syrian American Medical Society Foundation, which provides relief to Syrians and hospitals in Syria, and addressed 16 UN member states at the round table. Rebecca Crowe, senior clinic manager at PeaceHealth Medical Group in Longview, is now a Certified Patient Experience Professional. She is one of only 200 associates who have the credential. Jeff and Trish Wilson have sold TPI Sanitation to United Site Services, a Massachusetts-based portable toilet company with locations throughout the county. Wilson, who is also a Port of Longview commissioner, said the sell will free up more of his time to spend on civic activities. The couple also owns a real estate company and an equipment resale business. DeeDee Goble of the historic Shelburne Inn in Seaview, Wash., was named the Long Beach Peninsulas 2015 Tourism Ambassador of the Year in May. Goble is the Peninsulas third tourism ambassador, a distinction created by the Long Beach Peninsula Visitors Bureau in 2013 to honor a Pacific County resident who goes above and beyond representing our communities and serving visitors. Previous recipients are Candy Gillette of the Dennis Company in 2013 and city of Long Beach employee Paul Luethe in 2014. PARIS (Reuters) - China spurred a jump in global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to their highest ever recorded level in 2011, offsetting falls in the United States and Europe, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Thursday. CO2 emissions rose by 3.2 percent last year to 31.6 billion tonnes, preliminary estimates from the Paris-based IEA showed. China, the world's biggest emitter of CO2, made the largest contribution to the global rise, its emissions increasing by 9.3 percent, the body said, driven mainly by higher coal use. "When I look at this data, the trend is perfectly in line with a temperature increase of 6 degrees Celsius (by 2050), which would have devastating consequences for the planet," Fatih Birol, IEA's chief economist told Reuters. Scientists say ensuring global average temperatures this century do not rise more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels is needed to limit devastating climate effects like crop failure and melting glaciers. They believe that is only possible if emission levels are kept to around 44 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2020. Negotiators from over 180 nations are meeting in Bonn, Germany, until Friday to work towards getting a new global climate pact signed by 2015. The aim is to ensure ambitious emissions cuts are made after the Kyoto Protocol expires at the end of this year. Procedural wrangling and a reluctance to raise ambitions to cut emissions due to economic constraints is threatening progress, however. "I think it would be unrealistic to think that there will be major breakthroughs very soon," Birol said. "Climate change is sliding down in the international policy agenda, which is definitely a worrying trend." SHALE GAS HELPED U.S. Birol cited cutting fossil fuel subsidies, boosting energy efficiency and moving away from coal as "buttons to push" for world governments to help meet emission targets. He also warned about the impact of phasing out nuclear power output after the Fukushima accident in Japan, which helped push Japanese carbon emissions 2.4 percent higher in 2011. "In Japan, the rise is almost exclusively due to higher fossil fuel use. This is a very important indication of what could happen if there was a move away from nuclear energy in other countries," he said. In China, CO2 emissions per unit of GDP - or its carbon intensity - fell by 15 percent between 2005 and 2011, the IEA said, suggesting the world's second-largest economy was finding less carbon-consuming ways to fuel growth. In the United States, the world's second-biggest CO2 emitter, a switch to natural gas from coal in power plants, a slower economy and a mild winter helped cut emissions by 1.7 percent. "The replacement of coal by shale gas is a key factor and what happened in the U.S. could very well happen in China and other countries and could definitely help in reducing CO2 emissions," the IEA economist said. In Europe, a relatively warm winter combined with sluggish growth helped cut emissions by 1.9 percent. Asked about prospects for global carbon emissions in 2012, Birol said: "It would come as a very, very big surprise to me if we saw a significant decline in CO2 emissions." (Additional reporting by Gus Trompiz and Muriel Boselli; editing by Jason Neely) hidden General Motors announced plans Friday to hire 1,000 engineers and software developers at its Canadian research facilities near Toronto over the coming years to design new self-driving cars. "With this expansion, GM Canada will play an important role in our evolution toward vehicles that are connected, autonomous, shared and electric," Mark Reuss, GM executive vice president of global product development, said in a statement. In addition to autonomous vehicle software and controls, the teams will also work on new safety, "infotainment" and wireless connection technologies. The positions will be based at existing research facilities in Oshawa on the shore of Lake Ontario and a new automotive software lab to be opened soon in nearby Markham. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who lobbied GM chief executive Mary Barra at the World Economic Forum in Davos earlier this year, was on hand for the announcement, saying GM's investment "will create good paying jobs." GM has made sizeable investments in future technologies, including the billion-dollar acquisition of Cruise, a San Francisco start-up focused on the development of the autonomous vehicles. The United States is currently mulling regulations for self-driving cars, which are also being developed by tech giants Apple and Google. AFP hidden Hungary passed legislation on Monday which could curb the activities of Uber after months of protests by taxi drivers, following in the footsteps of other countries that have banned some of its ride-hailing services. Under the new law, the Hungarian national communications authority can block Internet access to "illegal dispatcher services", in a similar fashion to the way the regulator blocked access to illegal online gambling sites in the country. "The bill aims partly to block the Internet access to illegal taxi, or other similar dispatcher services, if the authorities' other preventive measures are ineffective," Development Minister Miklos Sesztak wrote in the reasoning. Taxi drivers in Hungary have demanded Uber be outlawed and its smartphone app blocked as they say its drivers breach regulations other taxis firms must adhere to. UberPOP, a smartphone app that links private drivers with passengers, has prompted taxi driver protests across Europe and to date has been declared illegal by courts in Italy, Spain and Germany, with appeals pending in Belgium and the Netherlands. France suspended the low-cost service last year after the government banned it under pressure from licensed taxi drivers and a French court slapped a hefty fine on Uber last week for running an illegal taxi service. A German court also upheld the ban on UberPOP last week. Hungary issues taxi firms with dispatcher service permits, allowing a dispatcher service to transfer passenger requests to drivers under a series of criteria, such as a sizeable insurance deposit and an obligation to record data. Without such permits it is illegal to offer rides for money, and the government can block Internet-based communication that enables that, the new law says. While traditional taxi services in Hungary also have apps for ordering cabs, Uber does not yet have a dispatch permit. "Uber will request the dispatcher permit from the Hungarian authorities. Currently we are preparing that administratively. This is also part of our regulatory compliance efforts," Uber's Hungarian operations director Zoltan Fekete said in a statement. "Uber has emphasised legal compliance: our drivers took out permits and provide legal receipts," Fekete said. "Uber seeks dialogue with decision makers in the hope that the current outdated regulations are replaced with a modern one tailored to new technology, centred around the interest of consumers," he said, adding that Uber has 150,000 Hungarian users and 1,200 drivers. The new Hungarian legislation, which does not mention Uber by name, is due to come into effect in 31 days. Dispatcher services in breach of the regulations are first fined and will then have their Internet access blocked for a year. The ban can be repeated. Reuters tech2 News Staff Meizu just launched the M3S in China. The phone is an incremental improvement over the Meizu M3, and sports a 5 inch HD screen with a unibody metal casing. The fingerprint scanner is located in the home button, and not at the back of the device below the camera. There are two variants of the phone available the 16GB version and the 32GB version. There is support for expanding the storage. Under the hood there is an 8 core ARM processor. The GPU is an ARM Mali T860. The 16GB version will have 2GB of RAM and the 32GB version will have 3GB of RAM. The battery is rated at 3020mAh. The rear camera can take images in 13 megapixels, but the front camera is rather disappointing. The front camera is functional, but will not appeal to selfie fanatics because it supports 5 megapixel pictures. The Meizu M3S has 2G, 3G and 4G connectivity options. Bluetooth and Wireless interfaces are also supported. Navigation includes supports for GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS and an electronic compass. There are CDMA and LTE variants available. There are versions based on carriers, there is the full netcom version, and a mobile public / customised version, specific to the operators and standards in China. There is a regular version as well. The phone is available in four colours Grey, Gold, Silver and Pink. In China, the 16Gb version is available for 699 Yen, which converts to about Rs. 7133. The 32GB version costs $899 or about Rs. 9174. It is not known at this time if and when the phone will launch in India, and at what price. Aditya Madanapalle Microsoft has announced that it is going to acquire LinkedIn for $26.2 billion. That is Rs. 1,758,542,690,000 going by the current exchange rate. So what can so much cash get you? 37,697,841 Bitcoin: Microsoft could have purchased all the bitcoin in the world with that kind of money. Theoretically, this would kill the bitcoin economy, and make the cryptocurrency worthless. However, that is not possible because there will only be 20,999,999 bitcoin ever mined. After buying all the bitcoin, there will be some loose change left over for healthy dogecoin and litecoin investments as well. 62,380 Chewbacca Mom Sponsorships: Chewbacca Mom's impromptu Facebook Live gig made her an overnight celebrity, and earned her $420,000 worth of goodies, including a VIP pass to Dinsey World and college scholarships for her entire family. 1,871,428 "Rolls Royce of Smartphones": Israeli Start-up Sirin is making an uncompromising Android device, dubbed the "Rolls Royce of Smartphones". Solarin is a smartphone with military grade encryption, and each one costs $14,000 (over Rs 9 lakh). 840,000 Mobile Phone Towers: Mobile operators are all ready to invest Rs. 12,000 crore for 60,000 mobile towers. At that rate, telecom service providers will be able to install 840,000 cell phone towers with the cash that Microsoft has. Though that may not be something everybody wants considering the fears over cell phone tower radiation. 30 years of Coal Power sector losses: The coal power sector has allegedly faced losses of Rs. 28,000 crore over the last five months because of water scarcity across the country, according to Greenpeace. The Microsoft buyout can cover the losses of the coal power sector for 30 years at this rate, but it is highly unlikely that the rates will stay the same for so long. 354 Mangalyaan Missions: Ok India's mission to Mars was much cheaper than say NASA's Maven mission, because of the different accounting standards for measuring mission costs. But this is how we calculate, and by our calculations, India could have sent 354 missions to Mars for the same price that Microsoft is going to buy out LinkedIn. 18 Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Trains: The high speed rail project that just got rejected by the Maharashtra government because it would cause huge revenue losses. The project costs Rs. 9,800 crore, which means that 18 such high speed rail projects can be built in India, if Microsoft is interested in making a donation. 5 Large Hadron Colliders: at the time of construction, the Large Hadron Collider cost about $4.4 billion to build or Rs. 295,417,980,000. Microsoft can build five, almost six of these underground mega-structures for studying subatomic particles. 935 HAL Tejas Mark IAs: Hal Tejas cost us RS. 7000 crore to develop, with a per unit cost of Rs 190 crore for the HAL Tejas Mark IA and Rs 160 crore for the Hal Tejas Mark I. India will be able to buy 935 of these delta wing light fighters. Major Kuldip Singh Chandpuri from Border would approve. 34,933,333 Apple iPhone 6S Plus 16 GB: Let's be realistic though, who would spend so much on a 16GB version? There is a better option available for the same price though, wind turbines. Wind turbines that can power 34,933,333 houses for a lifetime. For just a little over Rs 50,000, Avant Garde Innovations is installing a permanent source of clean energy for individual households. hidden The United States is pleased to see progress has been made with China on information sharing about cyber threats, a senior U.S. official said on Tuesday during the latest round of cyber security talks between the two countries. Cyber security has long been an irritant in relations between China and the United States, the world's two largest economies. China and the United States signed an anti-hacking accord in September last year, brokered during Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit to Washington, including a pledge that neither country would knowingly carry out hacking for commercial advantages. The agreement marked an ongoing effort to repair relations after China withdrew from a working group in 2014 in response to the U.S. indictment of five members of its military on charges it hacked six U.S. companies. Meeting in Beijing, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Undersecretary Suzanne Spaulding said the focus on the talks was to make sure both sides fulfilled commitments made by the two presidents. "We look forward to discussing the commitments we made with regards to not engaging in IP theft of trade secrets and confidential business information," she told reporters. "A key element of the agreement is information sharing and establishing mechanisms." She said the two sides had been setting up email addresses to share information. "We are very pleased to have temporary email addresses and very much appreciate" working to set up permanent addresses, Spaulding said. Chinese Minister of Public Security Guo Shengkun said China highly valued the talks. "We want to bring the discussions from policies on paper to actual implementation," Guo said. "Both sides will continue to cooperate on cyber cases. I believe the leadership on both sides places emphasis on the issue and values participation. Xi Jinping has personally been involved." China, Russia and Iran are among what the United States believes are its most prolific and sophisticated hacking adversaries. U.S. officials have privately blamed Beijing for a massive hack on federal employee records last year, which exposed sensitive personal information of more than 22 million current and former government workers. Reuters NATO to deploy four `robust` battalions in Baltics, Poland US troops land with parachutes at the military compound near Torun, central Poland, as part of the NATO Anaconda-16 military exercise. AFP, Brussels :NATO will deploy four international battalions to Poland and the three Baltic states as part of the wider pushback against Russia's intervention in Ukraine, alliance head Jens Stoltenberg said Monday."We will agree to deploy by rotation four robust multi-national battalions in the Baltic states and Poland," Stoltenberg told a news conference ahead of a meeting of NATO defence ministers in Brussels on Tuesday."This will send a clear signal that NATO stands ready to defend any ally," he said, referring to a whole series of measures the US-led alliance has taken since the Ukraine crisis to counter a more assertive Russia.NATO leaders are due to sign off on the programme at a July 8-9 summit in Poland, which has pushed for a much harder line, including having permanent bases in the east to counter Russia.Stoltenberg did not say how many troops would be deployed in the four battalions but officials previously have said they will number 2,500-3,000, acting as a tripwire to deter Russia and reassure nervous alliance members once ruled from Moscow.The NATO chief stressed that the deployment -- to be made on a rotational basis, not permanent so as not to infringe existing treaties with Russia -- was part of a much wider response to the Ukraine crisis.This includes tripling the NATO Response Force to 40,000 men ready to move at short notice, creating a Spearhead force of about 5,000 on a just few days standby.It also includes pre-positioning equipment and headquarters units so these troops can hit the ground running in any fresh crisis.Topping off the revamp is a commitment by NATO's 28 member states to reverse years of spending cuts and devote two percent of total national economic output to defence within a decade.Stoltenberg said progress was being made in this crucial area, with the allies spending 0.6 percent more on defence last year and an increase of 1.5 percent expected in 2016.He repeated that NATO's response to the Ukraine crisis was purely defensive and that it did not seek any "confrontation" with Russia. Trump renews call for Muslim ban after Orlando shooting Al Jazeera , New Hampshire : Donald Trump has renewed calls for a ban on Muslims entering the United States following the deadly Orlando shooting and said if elected president he will "suspend immigration" from countries with a "proven history of terrorism". The presumptive Republican presidential nominee on Monday redoubled calls for temporarily banning Muslims, saying that they would only be allowed in if they were "properly and perfectly" screened. "When I'm elected, I will suspend immigration from areas of the world where there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe or our allies, until we fully understand how to end these threats," Trump told supporters in New Hampshire. He did not specify what countries would be affected or whether the suspension would apply regardless of religion. "We cannot continue to allow thousands upon thousands of people to pour into our country, many of whom have the same thought process as this savage killer." In his fiery address, Trump incorrectly referred to the Orlando shooting suspect Omar Mateen as an Afghanistan native. Mateen was born in New York City to parents who emigrated from Afghanistan. Despite the years-long vetting process refugees must go through to arrive in the US, Trump labelled America's immigration system as "dysfunctional", adding that authorities were unaware of who was in the country. "Each year, the United States permanently admits more than 100,000 immigrants from the Middle East, and many more from Muslim countries outside the Middle East. Our government has been admitting ever-growing numbers, year after year, without any effective plan for our security," he said. He accused his likely opponent, Hillary Clinton, of trying to expand immigration and refugee programmes to allow more Syrians in, calling the move a "Trojan horse." The White House hopeful delivered a withering critique of US President Barack Obama's foreign policy, saying that intelligence agencies trying to stop attacks were being "held back by" the president. Earlier on Monday, Obama said there was no clear evidence that the attack at a nightclub, which left 49 dead, was directed from abroad, pointing out that the killer had been influenced by "extremist propaganda" over the Internet. Trump has been increasingly virulent in his remarks targeting Muslims since the deadly Paris attacks, and again after the San Bernardino shooting attack in California. No censorship on media in country : PIO Chittagong Bureau : Principal Information officer of the Government of the Bangladesh AKM Shamim Chowdhury said there is no censorship on media in the country . He said media is the impartial part of development of the country and govt collects major information through journalists and as such takes decisions. He disclose it while addressing the journalists of the daily during his visit there. He urges the journalists to depict the 10 mega projects of the present Govt to the people correctly. He also disclosed that Govt has constituted journalist welfare trust for the welfare of the journalists. In the morning CIO visited local PID office and exchanged views wih the workers there. Later he also addressed a views exchange meeting at Chittagong Press Club auditorium. CIO in his brief deliverations at Chittagong Press Club urged the journalists to present the objective news rather any controversial news which may harm the image and reputation of the govt. He said journalists are the correct media of country to depict true picture of a country. He also urges journalists to present the ongoing development activities of the present govt to the people. Deputy Commissioner of Chitagong Mesbahuddin also addressed the journalists. Former and the incumbent President of Chittagong Press club and general secretary, President and General Secretary Chittagong Union of Journalists were present among others. Journalists from different electronic and print medias also participated the meeting. The journalist leaders of Chittagong Press Club called upon the declaration of 9th wage board for journalists and the implementation of 8th wage board in all dailies of the port city. Senior Information Officer Md. Azizul Hoque Newton was also present on the occasion. CCC Mayor A J M Nasir Uddin with other officials placing wreaths at the graveyard of politician M A Hannan marking his 42nd death anniversary on Sunday. Fellow students still wants justice for Tonu UNB, Dhaka :Progressive Student Alliance on Tuesday rejected the second autopsy report of slain Comilla Victoria College student Sohagi Jahan Tonu.The Forensic Department of Comilla Medical College Hospital on Sunday revealed the second autopsy report, which again failed to identify the cause of death and only reports 'signs of sexual intercourse', with no mention of violence.The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) submitted the report to a court on Monday.Speaking at a press conference held at Dhaka University's Modhur Canteen, left-leaning Samajtantrik Chhatra Front's General Secretary Masud Rana said the inordinate delay in submitting the report was used to paint an illusion, to aid in the impunity of the perpetrators.Ashraful Alam Sohel, general secretary of Bangladesh Student Federation, said the second autopsy report only proves that it was the intention all along to misguide the people.The Alliance vowed to continue their protests till justice is served. On June 20th, they will be holding a protest rally near the Raju Sculpture on the DU campus, still demanding justice for Tonu. Youth hacked to death in Rajshahi UNB, Rajshahi :A young man was hacked to death by miscreants at Chandipur in the city early Tuesday.The deceased was identified as Ahsan Habib Apel,30, son of late Bakul of the area.Sources at Rajpara Police Station said a gang of miscreants attacked Apel in the area when he was returning home from his workplace early in the morning. At one stage, the attackers hacked him indiscriminately, leaving him dead on the spot. Police recovered the body and sent it to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital morgue for an autopsy. Sukhi Begum, mother of the deceased, alleged that their neighbor Gias' s son Arif killed Apel over previous enmity. Gias and his son Arif went into hiding after the murder. A case was filed in this connection. JMB man Bulbul remanded UNB, Chittagong : A court here on Tuesday placed detained member of banned Islamist militant outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) Fuad alias Bulbul on a five-day remand over the killing of Police Super Babul Akhter's wife Mahmuda Khanam Mitu. Metropolitan Magistrate Harunur Rashid passed the order after a team of Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) produced Bulbul before the court seeking a seven-day remand, said Additional Deputy Commissioner (Prosecution) of Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) Nirmalandu Bikash. Earlier, the PBI filed a petition with the court seeking a seven-day remand for JMB man Bulbul showing him arrested in a murder case filed earlier with Bakalia Police Station on May 29 last year. The remand was sought to be sure whether Bulbul has any link to the murder of Mitu, said Bikash. Sources at the PBI said, Bulbul sent a letter to another JMB member from Chittagong jail in May to kill some policemen, including Babul Akhtar, who arrested five JMB men, including Bulbul, along with huge arms, grenade and explosives during a drive in Khoajnagar area of Karnaphuli Police Station on October 5 last year. Police recovered the letter from a JMB den in Gaibandha and later it reached CMP via police headquarters. Assistant Commissioner (South) of Detective Branch (DB) Kamruzzaman, also investigation officer of the Mitu killing case, said, "We're looking into all aspects to debunk the mystery behind the murder." On June 5, unidentified miscreants gunned down Mahmuda Khanam Mitu at the city's GEC intersection while she went there to drop her son, Mahir Akhtar, 7, for a bus to Chittagong Cantonment Public School and College. Arrested ABT suspects put on 5-day remand Two activists of banned Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) were arrested by DB police from cityas Kamrangir Char area on Tuesday. UNB, Dhaka :A court here on Tuesday placed two suspected members of radical Islamist outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team on a five-day remand in a case filed under the Anti-terrorism Act.Metropolitan Magistrate Khurshid Alam passed the order after sub-inspector of Detective Branch of Police Shafiqul Islam produced them before the court seeking a 10-day remand for each.Those remanded are Syed M Mujahidul Islam and Ariful Islam.Earlier, police arrested the duo from Kamrangirchar of the city on Monday night.Later, a case was filed against the arrestees with Kamrangirchar Police Station under the Anti-terrorism Act. AL responsible for Bangabandhu`s death: Rab Staff Reporter :Protesting the statement of Public Administration Minister Syed Ashraful Islam about JSD, the party's founding General Secretary ASM Abdur Rab said the Awami League was responsible for the killing of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. In a press release issued on Tuesday, the JSD leader said that the wrong politics of Awami League (AL), and its colonial rule isolated the lBangabandhu from the people and pushed him to the door of death. The AL leaders took oath as ministers of the post-martial law government on August 15 in 1975. The four national leaders were killed under the direction of AL government.The formation of the party government instead of the revolutionary one shattered the unity of the nation built during the war of independence in 1971. Instead of facing the political crises with politics, muscle power was used and Jatiya Rakkhi Bahini was formed to suppress the aspirations of the people's aspiration. Rab says that ban on politics, undemocratic step like the extension of the terms of the Parliament and the formation of the BAKSAL created ground for murder of Bangabandhu. JSD was formed with the spirit of liberation war when conspiracy was on to restore the British-Pakistani rule and social structure. With the call to establish exploitation-free society through social revolution.,the JSD started a journey and it is still on. Thousands of leaders and workers of the party sacrificed their lives, thousands lost their future in the jail, and thousands leave the country for security reason. Finally JSD'ASM Abdur Rab called for ideal state based on spirits of independence. Ruling coalition cracks ! Ashraf's remarks draw huge repercussion in pol circle: It's not AL statement, says Obaidul Quader Kazi Zahidul Hasan :Awami League (AL) general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam's remarks on Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD), a member of the ruling coalition, drew huge repercussions in the country's political arena.Apart from inside the party politics of ruling AL led 14-party alliance, the issue is now being discussed widely everywhere in the country.The issue has become the talk of the town also. A lot of questions arose among the leaders and workers of the coalition that why an influential leader like Syed Ashraf at a function on Monday came up with the remarks that JSD was responsible for creating the grounds for the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and AL would have to repent for making a Minister from the party.Criticising the activities of JSD, Syed Ashraf, also Minister for Public Administration, said: "Those who are aloud about revolution can never make revolution a success. Those who usually come up with tall talks, have a very little courage. The imprudent persons can never do constructive work".Echoing the same arguments with Syed Ashraf, opposition lawmaker Kazi Firoz Rashid on Tuesday came down heavily on JSD in the Parliament, accusing the left-leaning party of killing around 20 lakh people in the country. Supporting the comment of AL secretary general, Firoz Rashid, said he (Ashraf) has said the right thing. Describing his bitter experiences of JSD-backed Gonobahini activities after the country's independence, Firoz Rashid said: "They had not only killed AL leaders and activists at that time but also created the ground for the killing of Bangabandhu. The country might not have lost the national leaders like Bangabandhu if they had not launched the killing mission. The nation has been suffering since then because of JSD." Speaking on a point of order, the JP MP said: "The Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is all absorber and she can absorb even poison. JSD is now in the Parliament. It seems to me that in the future she might bring those engaged in secret killings to the House."The Prime Minister and Information Minister Hasanul Huq Inu, also president of JSD, were not present in Parliament during his speech Meanwhile, protesting the Syed Ashraf's remarks, JSD (Inu) at a rally on Tuesday urged Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to stop her party's general secretary from 'throwing mud' for the sake of the unity of the ruling coalition. "Blaming each other like this way will destroy the unity of the 14-party alliance when Information Minister Hasanul Haque Inu is working for the development of the country as a Cabinet member of ruling alliance," said Shirin Akter, secretary general of JSD while speaking in the rally. "Bangladesh is marching ahead under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Hasanul Haq Inu has also announced war against the extremist and militants. In the mean time, these types of remarks of Syed Ashraf will harm the unity of the pro-Liberation camp," she said. Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader termed Syed Ashraf's remark as his (Ashraf) personal opinion, saying it is not the AL's statement.It may be mentioned that Syed Ashraf is also the AL spokesperson. When Syed Ashraf says something, besides party leaders and workers, other political parties and people from all walks of life believe it is the statement of AL. After Syed Ashraf when Kazi Firoz Rashid echoed the same, the leaders and workers of AL led-14-party coalition are now taking the issue seriously and considering it as the latest development in the country's political arena, insiders said.They are even thinking such development might be brought crack in ruling coalition.Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, also the AL President, however, refrained from making any comment on the issue. Jails overcrowded 81,693 inmates against capacity of 34,147 Joynal Abedin Khan : In the wake of massive arrests by law enforcing agencies during the on-going crackdown against suspected militants across the country, detained people are overcrowding jails, causing sufferings to the prisoners. Prisoners and detainees have to live in inhumane conditions in absence of sufficient space and food, and toilet facilities, sources said. The country's jails are now packed with more than twice of the capacity, jail records show. According to sources close to the Dhaka Central Jail Headquarters, the total inmate capacity of the country's 68 jails is 34,147. But they are currently holding 81,693 inmates, an increase of 47,012 additional inmates since Tuesday. Besides, on average, 3,000 people are arrested every day by the law enforcers since Friday, said an official statement of Police Headquarters. It also showed, some 11,686 new inmates were put behind bars between Thursday night to Monday night. Of them, 3155, 2131, 3192 and 3115 were arrested respectively on four consecutive days. But the number may exceed 13,000 during the ongoing crackdown. Meanwhile, an already overcrowded Dhaka Central Jail, 7,621 inmates are currently being held in a facility designed for 2,682. According to prison officials, each inmate is supposed to receive eight chatacks (1 chattack=2.06 ounces) of rice, 2.5 chattacks dal, four chattacks vegetables and three chattacks fish or meat. At breakfast, inmates are supposed to get bread and molasses. "Nearly three hundred prisoners share just one toilet. Inmates queue up from early morning," Foysal, a private university student recently released from Dhaka Central Jail, told The New Nation on Tuesday. "Five persons live in a space fit for one," he said, adding: "For the last three days I had to sleep sitting upright in the suffocating congested jail." "I was given a piece of bread and a dollop of molasses for breakfast and a small amount of rice and dal for lunch and dinner," he said. "The jail staff at the gate charges Tk 200 for sending every Tk 1,000 to an inmate. So, actually a prisoner gets Tk 800 for every Tk 1,000 which his or her family sends," he said. "The jail is apparently hell for those who are unable to manage the money," said an auto-rickshaw driver who served one month. He said, those prisoners would be forced to lie down on their left or right side in a row, which is known in jail as hilsa fal. The designated cell keeper then pushes the back of the last prisoner in the row with his leg to ensure there was no room between prisoners, he added. Earlier on February 2, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said that the prisons in country currently have 69,774 detainees against the capacity of 34,796 detainees. The minister informed that work in going on to increase the capacity of jails to 80,000 prisoners. Inspector General (IG) of Prisons Brigadier General Syed Iftekhar Uddin said, "Overcrowding and surges of inmate numbers were not new. He admitted that food problems have sometimes occurred in the past." "The thing is, we are doing our best and working hard to ensure maximum facilities to inmates with insufficient resources," he said. "To cover food shortages, we serve vegetables instead of fish, potatoes instead of vegetables and smaller servings of rice," the IG prison ssaid. Forman Ali, Senior Jail Superintendent of Dhaka Central Jail, told The New Nation that the chronically overburdened jail holds nearly 6,000 inmates all year round, adding, "The number of prisoners has risen in the last five days." The number of people behind bars has risen sharply since the massive drive to weed out militants, he said. Human right activists Nur Khan said that all the inmates were living a very miserable life. He alleged that the prisoners will face danger situation if the number rose over 20,000 during the anti-militant drive. [WARNING TO READERS: This post contains foul language from congressional candidate Clay Higgins.] There are vast differences between Clay Higgins and Donald Trump, make no mistake about it. While they march in the same insurrectionist upswell in American politics, Higgins policy proposals at this point amount to zilch other than his desire to meet violence with superior, righteous violence. Trump has little opportunity to claim piety or righteousness, for reasons of obvious moral depravity. Higgins is a charismatic figure, destined for success in the age of Trumps America. Does that make him a shoo-in in national politics? Not necessarily, but it does give reason to wonder if his reputation is coated with the same layer of high-temperature teflon that has protected Trump from all kinds of nasty gaffes. He may not win Charles Boustany's congressional seat in Louisiana's Third District, but he may remain in the public favor so long as we're playing by Trump's rules. Obviously, the two share an outsiders hatred of the federal government and a belief that America is in decay. Nostalgia for an America that never existed is not an uncommon outlook for the right, so thats not particularly surprising. The chief difference here is that Trump has made actual policy statements disgusting, vociferous, violent and incendiary as they may be. It didnt take long for Trump to turn Great Again exhortations into ham-fisted policy notions like building a wall on the U.S./Mexico border and making Mexico pay for it. Hes proposed a temporary ban on travel to the U.S. by Muslims, a 15 percent flat tax, taking China to diplomatic fisticuffs and putting an end to waste, whatever that means. To be sure, none of this stuff is fully vetted and none really makes any sense, but every single notion is one idea clearer than weve yet seen from Higgins. For Higgins supporters, thats likely not a problem. Politicians like Trump and Higgins and Bernie Sanders while were at it substitute insurgent, evangelical angst for substance. Hollow messages like theirs are resonant precisely because they rest on an uncomplicated, absolutist view of the world. If enemies can be clearly defined, then solutions can be reduced to gumption. The result is that a lack of political caution or stateliness becomes a celebrated rather than derided quality. Both men, Trump and Higgins, are able to drape themselves with an American flag that represents pureness of purpose and vision, creating a slick coat of armor in the battle of public relations. Over the weekend, Higgins tested his armor in a Facebook exchange among several liberal millennials, who openly criticized the good captain for a statement he made about the tragic events in Orlando. Coming fast on the heels of an endearing encounter with conceptual artist and Democratic congressional candidate Jake Hebert AKA Dorian Phibian, Higgins belittled a young lady," who responded to his comments and told her to shut the fuck up in the midst of pretty standard Higginsian prose. To be honest, the flame war seemed to be a run of the mill confusion of internet points. The young lady in question looked to be referencing the righteous violence that Higgins stoked in his comments, not the violence that left 49 dead outside of an LGBT night club. His response, if taken in that context, is consistent with his tone. Higgins portrays himself as an ardent and fearsome defender of the innocent. That he would be so incensed at the suggestion that a Muslim gunmans homophobia was at all righteous is certainly not out of character or indefensible. Still, it's not becoming of a potential congressman to silence dissent with foul language and to do so in all caps the internet's version of shouting. In any other election season, it would be little wonder that Higgins deleted the comment shortly thereafter. But its an open question if publicizing the exchange its not lost on me that that is precisely what Im doing here would actually have benefited the fiery populism of his campaign. Its anecdotal, but a cursory look at replies to Higgins millennial-offending post on his official page gives plenty evidence of crossover appeal with the Trump crowd that seems refreshed rather than repulsed by disregard for decorum. No doubt Trump supporters will likely flock to Higgins this fall. A pre-season poll shows Higgins in second behind Scott Angelle among potential voters, with 18 percent support of those polled. The poll is arguably meaningless at this stage, at least as a measurable predictor of a November election. The buzz on early polls is always that they primarily reflect name recognition more than anything else. With little in the way of published policy, its hard to evaluate Higgins candidacy at this stage. But if the last year of national politics has taught us anything, policy details are irrelevant in the face of a cult of personality. It could, if successful, force LUS to stop making ILOT payments to LCG, which would represent a crippling hit to Lafayette Consolidated Governments revenue stream in an era of plummeting sales tax collections. A Lafayette restaurateur has joined two other local residents in filing a lawsuit against Lafayette Utilities System seeking refunds for thousands of current and former LUS customers. Nidal Balbeisi, owner of Agave Mexican Cantina and the Zeus chain of middle-eastern restaurants is the lead plaintiff in the suit challenging LUSs annual payments to Lafayette Consolidated Government known as in lieu of tax, or ILOT, payments. Because it is a municipally owned utility, LUS is not subject to property and/or sales taxes, but in lieu of those taxes that would otherwise be paid to local government, LUS makes annual ILOT payments to LCG. The most recent amount was roughly $22 million. The lawsuit alleges that LUS is illegally levying an extra fee on its 65,000 customers to cover the payments to LCG. Although the suit does not seek specified damages, LUS has made more than $400 million in ILOT payments to the city of Lafayette since 1976. The suit seeks class action status for the many thousands of current and former LUS customers who are Louisiana residents and not employed by local government. LUS Director Terry Huval told The Advocate, which was first to report the suit filed June 6, that ILOT payments have legally been in use for many decades. According to The Advocate, there appear to be no similar legal challenges in Louisiana to ILOTs, which are not uncommon for municipal utility systems. Because LCG and likely LUS enjoy sovereign immunity they are immune as government entities from civil or criminal prosecution its unlikely such a suit, even if granted class action status and successful, would result in a monetary judgement against LUS and/or LCG. But it could, if successful, force LUS to stop making ILOT payments to LCG (and charging any additional fees to customers to cover those costs), which would represent a crippling hit to Lafayette Consolidated Governments revenue stream in an era of plummeting sales tax collections. Read more about the lawsuit at The Advocate. Pre-purchase property inspection is a relatively new thing in the United Kingdom. Its not something that most people have heard about, but it has become increasingly popular over the last few years with the rise in property prices and increased demand for high quality homes. What are the benefits of pre-purchase building inspection? What can you expect to find out when you pay someone else to inspect your home before you buy it? And what should you look for during an inspection? Many people want to know if theyre buying a house thats been well maintained or if its had any serious problems. If youve found a place on the market that seems attractive, but then discover some issues after moving in, you may not be as excited about buying it as you thought you were. Its important to do your due diligence when looking at properties. A lot goes into making a property appealing to potential buyers, from the landscaping to the flooring to the kitchen appliances. The same applies when inspecting a property there are many things that need checking over to make sure everything is running smoothly. Here are some of the benefits of performing a pre-purchase inspection: You get to see exactly what will happen to your money When you go shopping for a new car, youll probably be shown several different models. You might even be shown one that looks like a great value, but doesnt fit around all of the extra features that you want. When it comes time to actually buy the vehicle, however, you wont have seen how your money will be spent on it once you drive it off the showroom floor. Likewise, when you shop for a new home, you dont really know what youre getting yourself into until you move in. In order to get a feel for whether the home youre considering is what you want, you normally have to spend quite a bit of time inside it. This allows you to learn more about everything that youre going to be spending your hard-earned cash on. A pre-purchase building inspection gives you much the same kind of experience without having to spend thousands of dollars. Since youre paying for the service, you can expect to see exactly what youre paying for, instead of just seeing a vague idea of what you might end up with. You find out about potential major repairs Some buildings are very expensive to maintain, which means that owners often neglect them for the sake of saving money. While youre paying for a building inspection, youre also paying for a professional who knows how to spot signs of trouble and repair work that needs doing. If you notice that a particular area of your new home needs fixing right away, you can call in an expert to take care of it quickly. If you find that theres something wrong with your boiler, you wont have to wait weeks for a plumber to come over and fix it. Instead, youll have access to a solution immediately. You can save hundreds of pounds by finding out about potential problems early on One of the biggest expenses when you first buy a home is the cost of moving in. Many people dont realize this until its too late. Buying a home involves not only paying for the actual house, but also for moving costs, furniture, and other items that have to be moved along with the home. Having a good idea ahead of time of what youre likely to encounter can help you avoid these kinds of costs. If you know youll need to replace the plumbing system, for example, youll be able to put together a budget for the expense and plan accordingly. You can protect your investment by finding out if the homes been well cared for While there are plenty of people who think that houses always look better when theyre newly built, youd be surprised at how well maintained older residences can still look nice. Sometimes, though, those homes need some additional maintenance to keep them looking their best. This could involve repairs that arent so noticeable or small improvements that you wouldnt consider otherwise. Even worse, some houses have fallen into disrepair without anyone noticing. This is why having a professional perform a building inspection prior to purchasing a home is such a big benefit. Not only will it give you insight into the state of the property, but it will also give you peace of mind knowing youre not getting taken advantage of. As long as youre aware of the potential pitfalls, youll have less reason to worry about the state of your new home. You can use information gathered during a building inspection to negotiate a lower price If youre worried about buying a home because you suspect that it may need extensive renovation work, you may already have a rough idea of how much work youll need to do to bring it up to scratch. That knowledge can come in handy if you decide to buy the home. You can use all of the details that you gather during a building inspection to present a realistic picture of what the home is worth to prospective buyers. If a potential buyer thinks that the home is worth more than what you paid for it, you can try negotiating a lower price. You can sell your home faster and for more money If you decide to list your home on the market soon after buying it, youll need to price it accurately in order to attract buyers. But if youve already done a thorough building inspection, youll know exactly what work is needed and what the current market conditions are. In other words, youll be able to make a more accurate estimate of the amount of money youve invested in the home and how much its worth. If you find that youre selling your house for close to its full market value, you can use this information to convince the potential buyer that your home is worth the asking price. Even if youre planning to stay in the home for a while before you decide to sell, the fact that you did a thorough building inspection will give you more confidence when listing it. Prospective buyers will know exactly what theyre paying for. Your home will hold its value longer As mentioned earlier, the value of a home depends heavily upon the condition of the building itself. If your home is in bad shape, potential buyers wont be interested in buying it. On the other hand, if youve performed a thorough building inspection and know what sort of repairs are necessary, you can offer your prospective buyer a compelling reason to invest in your property. When you buy a home, youre essentially agreeing to have it inspected periodically to ensure that it stays in top shape. Not only does this allow you to avoid expensive repairs down the road, but it can also increase the value of your home. You can make smart decisions about property investments Buying real estate isnt as simple as just driving a couple of minutes to pick up a house. There are lots of considerations involved, ranging from location to cost. The same is true when youre investing in property. If you find a house that meets all of your requirements, youll want to make sure that you have a solid understanding of where it stands with regards to the rest of the market. If you havent spent enough time researching the area, you could inadvertently end up with a bad deal. There are lots of resources available online that can help you determine the overall level of competition in your area. They can also help you figure out if there are any properties that meet your requirements that you didnt know about. If you own rental property, you can use the information to identify tenants who might cause damage If you own rental property and youve noticed that certain tenants consistently cause damage, you can use the results of a building inspection to identify them. You can then contact them directly to let them know that youre watching them closely and that you dont appreciate the problem theyre causing. They might start taking better care of their homes, which would be good news for everyone. It could also be the case that youll find out that theyre responsible for previous damages that werent caught during a previous visit. You can make smarter decisions about hiring contractors If youve hired contractors to build or repair your home, you might want to ask them for references. However, unless you perform a thorough building inspection, you might not know exactly what to look for. For instance, maybe you only checked the roof for leaks or the walls for cracks. You might not have looked underneath the foundation for anything that could cause a future issue. By performing a building inspection, you can ensure that you hire reputable contractors who will be trustworthy with your money. You can avoid purchasing a home thats in poor condition Of course, the main benefit of structural inspections perth is that it helps you avoid purchasing a home thats in poor condition. Before you make the decision to buy a home, you should do whatever you can to find out about the state of the building. You can also ask your realtor about what sorts of inspections are typically recommended. Some agents say that its standard practice to check the heating system, the roof, the electrical wiring, and the floors. Others will tell you that they recommend that you check the entire structure. Either way, if you choose to hire an inspector, youll find out exactly what needs to be fixed and how much it will cost to do so. As a result, it can be concluded that a pre-purchase building inspection is highly important for the buyers because it provides transparency regarding the current conditions of the structure. Additionally, the building owner is made aware of any upgrades or repairs that are required, which could lead to a fair deal throughout the purchasing and selling process. President Joe Biden has decided to ban Russian oil imports, toughening the toll on Russia's economy in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine. The United States generally imports about 100,000 barrels a day from Russia, only about 5% of Russia's crude oil exports, according to Rystad Energy. Last year, roughly 8% of U.S. imports of oil and petroleum products came from Russia. Gas prices have been rising for weeks due to the conflict and in anticipation of potential sanctions on the Russian energy sector. The U.S. national average for a gallon of gasoline soared 45 cents a gallon in the past week and topped $4.06 on Monday, according to auto club AAA. Should the US ban Russian oil imports over Ukraine war? You voted: CARBONDALE After Carbondale City Council members approved Gary Williams as the new city manager, members elaborated that an initial plan to search for alternative candidates was was neither initiated, nor needed. Williams was voted in unanimously during a special council meeting last week. When former City Manager Kevin Baity was dismissed, Coucncilman Lee Fronabarger said that the council voted to put Williams the assistant city manager for economic development at that time into Baity's role as an interim. "(Williams) had that position for about several months, and during an evaluation from both council members and certain key staff members (the council) determined that there was no need to do a formal search, because (Williams) did a good enough job," Fronabarger said. "He would be the candidate even if we did a search." City Clerk Jennifer Sorrell said according to city code, council members are not required to conduct a search for the position. "If you read our code," she said, "on it there is nothing in there about having to do a national search, or even a regional search. It's really optional and this particular time around they determined that it was not necessary." Williams said he too is unaware of a requirement. "I'm not aware of any requirement to do a search call," Williams said. "The city council appoints a city manager (and) the city manager then has the responsibility for all other administrative decisions that includes hiring and firing of all staff so it's the council's prerogative as to how they fill the city manager position and one choice is to do a search." CARBONDALE Interested in participating in a mock exercise to distribute medicines to people in Jackson County, in the event of a biological emergency? Up to 100 volunteers are needed Wednesday for the Jackson County Medical Preparedness Exercise, sponsored by the Jackson County Health Department. "Every five years, local health departments are required to test the community's ability to dispense medical countermeasures to residents," according to a news release from the Jackson County Health Department. The exercise will be based on a scenario in which a biological agent is intentionally released, leading to the need to dispense medication to every household in Jackson County. The volunteers will act as the recipients of medication. The exercise will run from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 15, on the Southern Illinois University Carbondale campus. Those interested in participating can sign up to volunteer by visiting https://massdispensing.eventbrite.com. PINCKNEYVILLE Residents who rack up fines for unpaid nuisance violations could see their utilities disconnected, according to updates proposed to the city's nuisance code. This is just one of the proposed changes in the city's nuisance ordinance, which is undergoing review. The city's attorney, Donald Bigham, gave the City Council members an overview of some of the proposal, which he noted was not ready for adopting just yet. The four city council members present did not vote on the measure at Monday night's council meeting, but plan to review the proposed changes over the next weeks and prepare to discuss it publicly at the council's June 27th meeting. Absent from the meeting was Mayor Robert Spencer, who is recovering from undisclosed health issues. Bigham told the council that he had looked over the city's various nuisance ordinances in trying to develop an updated policy. He noted, for instance, that the city's ordinance says weeds cannot be higher than eight inches, but does not mention "grass;" that term is included and defined in the proposed updated ordinance. The proposal also suggested making fines range from a minimum of $250 up to $750, even as Bigham noted fines for other city ordinances start at $100. "I like the idea of the 250, 'cause you let people know you're serious about it," Commissioner Sammy Peradota said. After the meeting, Bigham noted that the city would prefer to not become this involved in managing these nuisance issues. "The preference is that property owners clean up the problem themselves, without the city having to take care of the problem," he said. Once cited, a property owner would have five days to abate, or clear up, the problem, Bigham said. If the problem is not abated, or cleaned up, in five days, then the city has the right to take action on abatement, Bigham said. Property owners would then receive a bill for any rebatement expenses incurred by the city and have an opportunity to pay that bill within 30 days, he said. If the bill was not paid by then, the utilities could be terminated. Bigham said there would be a notice given before utilities were terminated. He said that measure was legal. The group also talked about filing liens against offending property owners, particularly those who were repeat-offenders. They noted that after the city staff have cited a property and then taken care of that problem themselves, they are allowed up to a year from that time to file a lien for repayment. Bigham said Illinois statute generally allows a municipality up to two years to file a foreclosure lien. "You mow your yard and take the junk out of your yard, and no one should have a problem with it," Peradota said. One of those who had worked on the changes was Mayor Spencer; Commissioner William Stotlar, the city's acting mayor, gave an update on Spencer. Stotlar told fellow council members that he had spoken to the mayor before the night's meeting and that he was home recuperating. "He was in good spirits," Stotlar said. "He seemed to be doing well and said he was going to be back soon." ORLANDO, Fla. The gunman whose attack on a gay nightclub left 49 victims dead appears to have been a "homegrown extremist" who espoused support for a jumble of often-conflicting Islamic radical groups, the White House and the FBI said Monday. As Orlando mourned its dead with flowers, candles and vigils, counterterrorism investigators dug into the background of 29-year-old Omar Mateen, the American-born Muslim who carried out the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. "So far, we see no indication that this was a plot directed from outside the United States, and we see no indication that he was part of any kind of network," said FBI Director James Comey. But he said Mateen was clearly "radicalized," at least in part via the internet. Comey said the bureau is also trying to determine whether Mateen had recently scouted Disney World as a potential target, as reported by People.com, which cited an unidentified federal law enforcement source. "We're still working through that," Comey said. The FBI chief defended the bureau's handling of Mateen during two previous investigations into his apparent terrorist sympathies. As for whether there was anything the FBI should have done differently, "so far, the honest answer is, I don't think so," Comey said. Despite Mateen's pledge of fealty to the Islamic State, a murky combination of other possible motives and explanations emerged, with his ex-wife saying he suffered from mental illness and his Afghan-immigrant father suggesting he may have acted out of anti-gay hatred. He said his son got angry recently about seeing two men kiss. The Orlando Sentinel and other news organizations quoted regular customers at the gay bar as saying they had seen Mateen there a number of times. "Sometimes he would go over in the corner and sit and drink by himself, and other times he would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent," said Ty Smith. Smith said he saw the killer inside at least a dozen times. Wielding an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and a handgun, Mateen opened fire at Pulse Orlando early Sunday in a three-hour shooting rampage and hostage siege that ended with a SWAT team killing him. During the attack, he called 911 to profess allegiance to the Islamic State group. At the White House, President Barack Obama said there is no clear evidence so far that Mateen was directed by the group, calling the attack an apparent example of "homegrown extremism." Obama is traveling to Orlando on Thursday to pay his respects to the victims and stand in solidarity with the community, the White House said Monday evening. More details of the bloodbath emerged, with Orlando Police Chief John Mina saying Mateen was "cool and calm" during phone calls with police negotiators. But the chief said he decided to send the SWAT team in and bash through a wall after Mateen holed up with hostages in a bathroom and began to talk about bombs and an explosive vest. "We knew there would be an imminent loss of life," Mina said. As it turned out, Mateen had no explosives with him. Five of the wounded were reported in grave condition, meaning the death toll could rise. A call went out for blood donations. In Orlando, mourners piled bouquets around a makeshift memorial, and people broke down in tears and held their hands to their faces while passing through the growing collection of flowers, candles and signs about a mile from the site of the massacre. Later Monday evening, thousands gathered near the site for a vigil held on the lawn of the Dr. Phillips Center, the area's main performing arts venue. Many in the crowd said they were inspired to attend because Pulse played a huge role in their lives as gays and lesbians. "It was a place that a young 20-year-old who wasn't openly gay felt safe for the first time," said Cathleen Daus, now 36. About 300 employees of the Red Lobster restaurant chain some in business suits, some in chef's uniforms emerged from the company's corporate headquarters and walked two-by-two across the street to the memorial, each carrying a red or white carnation. "We will not be defined by the act of a cowardly hater," vowed Mayor Buddy Dyer, whose city of a quarter-million people is known around the globe as the home of Walt Disney World and other theme parks. The tragedy hit the city's gay and Hispanic communities especially hard. It was Latino Night at the club when the attack occurred. "As the names come out, they are overwhelmingly Latino and Hispanic names," said Christina Hernandez, a Hispanic activist. "These were not just victims of the LBGT community, but of the Hispanic community, as well. This was senseless bloodshed." Mateen's grasp of the differences between Islamic extremist groups appeared shaky. During three calls with 911 dispatchers, Mateen not only professed allegiance to ISIS but also expressed solidarity with a suicide bomber from the Syrian rebel group Nusra Front, and a few years ago he claimed connections to Hezbollah, too both ISIS enemies, according to Comey. The FBI became aware of Mateen in 2013 when co-workers reported that the private security guard claimed to have family connections to al-Qaida and to be a member of Hezbollah, too, Comey said. He was also quoted as saying he hoped that law enforcement would raid his apartment and assault his wife and child so that he could martyr himself. The FBI launched a 10-month preliminary investigation, following Mateen, reviewing his communications and questioning him, the FBI chief said. Mateen claimed he made the remarks in anger because co-workers were teasing him and discriminating against him as a Muslim, and the FBI eventually closed the case, Comey said. His name surfaced again as part of another investigation into the Nusra Front bomber. The FBI found Mateen and the man had attended the same mosque and knew each other casually, but the investigation turned up "no ties of any consequence," Comey said. Mateen was added to a terror watch list in 2013 when he was investigated, but was taken off it soon after the matter was closed, according to Comey. People who are in that database are not automatically barred from buying guns, and in any case Mateen purchased his weapons in June, long after he was removed from the list. On Sunday, the bloodshed started after Mateen approached the club around 2 a.m., exchanged fire with an off-duty officer working security, and then went inside and started gunning people down, police said. After two other officers arrived and exchanged gunfire with Mateen, the gunman holed up in a restroom with about five club-goers. An additional 15 to 20 were in another nearby bathroom, authorities said. Hostage negotiators began talking to Mateen. After Mateen began to talk about explosives, Mina made the decision around 5 a.m. to blow open a wall to the bathroom. The explosives didn't penetrate the wall completely, so an armored vehicle was used to punch a 2-by-3-foot hole. Dozens of people escaped, and Mateen was gunned down as he emerged through the hole, police said. The Islamic State's radio hailed the attack and called Mateen "one of the soldiers of the caliphate in America." But it gave no indication the group planned or knew of the attack beforehand. Counterterrorism experts have been warning in the past few years about the danger of so-called lone wolf attackers who act in sympathy with extremist groups like the Islamic State but are not directed by them. Mateen's father, Seddique Mir Mateen, told reporters that the massacre was "the act of a terrorist," and added: "I apologize for what my son did. I am as sad and mad as you guys are." He wouldn't go into details about any religious or political views his son held, saying he didn't know. Asked whether he missed his son, he said: "I don't miss anything about him. What he did was against humanity." This is a column about the value of six. Actually, its about three individual sixes and their respective values. The first six came after a 23-year-old woman her name has never been revealed spoke in court to address the man who raped her last year, who took her out behind the dumpsters and penetrated her with his fingers after she had too much to drink and passed out at a party. He might have gone further, except that he was spotted by two passers-by who tackled him when he tried to run. You dont know me, she told 20-year-old Brock Turner, a former student at Stanford University, an Olympic hopeful in swimming, but youve been inside me, and thats why were here today. She spoke of the rape and its aftermath, including the fact that that awful night a year and a half ago has left her sleeping with the lights on like a 5 year old. In her statement (which you can and should read at Buzzfeed.com) the woman describes how it felt, after a long and invasive rape exam, to finally be alone with herself in the shower. I stood there examining my body beneath the stream of water and decided, I dont want my body anymore. I was terrified of it, I didnt know what had been in it, if it had been contaminated, who had touched it. I wanted to take off my body like a jacket and leave it at the hospital with everything else. Turners father, Dan, also offered a statement, pleading for leniency for his son. His life will never be the one that he dreamed about and worked so hard to achieve. That is a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action out of his 20-plus years of life. Turner was facing up to 14 years in prison. Judge Aaron Persky gave him the aforementioned six. Months. A harsher sentence would have a severe impact on him, explained the judge. Perskys compassion for the rapist and lack thereof for the victim has detonated social media like a bomb. People are furious. They are weeping. They are calling Turner a monster. At this writing, a petition at Change.org demanding Perskys recall stands north of 900,000 signatures. Which brings us to the second six. The Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network says that 1 woman in every 6 has been the victim of an attempted or completed sexual assault. Its an awesome, awful number. Think about it in terms of women you know. Think about Bonnie, Kadijah, Heather, Consuela, Sarah and Kim. One, two, three, four, five Six. Maybe shes never told you about it, so maybe you think it didnt couldnt have happened, not to one of your six. But the numbers are what the numbers are. Maryum, Stephanie, Yumiko, Keshia, Laurie and Pam. One, two, three, four, five And six. Its not a big number. You were counting past it in kindergarten. For an American woman, its a measure of the danger she faces from predatory men who consider her body to be their right. It is the difference between self-confidence and fear. For Turners victim, it is a measure of the value the justice system placed on her trauma and on her. It is the difference between the free woman she was and the frightened one she has become. For Turner, it is the fraction of his life hes been ordered to pay for the arrogant violation of another persons self. It is the difference between spring and fall. And heres the final six: According to RAINN, only 6 in every 1,000 perpetrators of sexual assault end up in prison. If you are a woman, or a man who cares about women, you ought to seethe, and then you ought to do whatever you can to fix a culture that makes possible a Brock Turner and an Aaron Persky. Because, either way you look at it, the value of six is small too small for safety, too small for solace. And way too small for justice. One of the victims lost in what is being described as the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history is being remembered as a natural leader and a solid, well-liked student during his time at Claflin University. Darryl Roman Burt II, 29, was one of the 49 people killed by a gunman in a mass shooting at the Orlando nightclub Pulse during the early morning hours of June 12. Claflin spokesman J. Craig Cotton said Burt attended Claflin from 2005 to 2007. Claflin English professor Dr. Mitali P. Wong remembers Burt being a hard-working student who persevered despite his financial challenges at the time. Im still in a state of shock. Hed come to my office every day. I wrote some letters of reference for him. He was a very talented and wonderful young man, Wong said. He was working for many hours. He was struggling financially to go to school. He was a talented writer. He used to write for our department newsletter. I still have Darryls last article, she said. Wong said she was proud to see that Burt continued to excel after transferring from Claflin at the end of his sophomore year. She said he went on to earn a graduate degree and had also served as a financial aid officer. He went to school online. It looks like he worked full time, and he became a very popular financial aid counselor. He was giving back from his own life struggle, Wong said. He was a very promising person overall, a very nice young man. He had pretty good grades. I wrote at least one letter for him to be inducted into an honor society and then at the end of the school year, he told me he didnt think he would be able to continue because of his financials. He would have to work full time and maybe go to school online, and he actually did, Wong said. Claflin graduate Kimberly Grace said Burt earned his masters degree the Saturday before the shooting. She carries fond memories of the young man. He actually came in with me in 2005 in the Honors College. I remember Darryl being very jovial and always saying something that made for a really good laugh. He was always a humble person who was also quick-witted, Grace said. Burt loved to play cards, with spades being his best game, she said. He was a very fun-loving person. I hadnt seen Darryl in a while, but Ill definitely miss his quick wit. We were on the concert choir together as well, Grace said. Wong said Burt was full of talent and got along well with everybody. She said he never got behind on his homework and worked almost full time. She said, He was well liked, bright, articulate and helpful. Im still in shock. You remember some students because they had close communication with us and in recent years, I sometimes thought of Darryl. I especially remember Darryl. He would come by my office and chat every day. He was far from home and really young. He just needed sometimes to talk about what was going on with his classes, his job and his goals and dreams. Burt was a native of Indianapolis, Indiana. Wong said, For Darryl to have died at the age of 29 in such a tragic shooting, its such a loss. He was a natural leader. He was very bright and well liked by his colleagues. He served people, and thats what he was continuing to do. He was just cut off. Grace said, We just have to pray for each other and love each other like God tells us to do. Voters throughout The T&D Region will be going to the polls today for Democratic primaries. Orangeburg County voters will be picking Democratic candidates for sheriff and the S.C. House, while Bamberg County voters will be choosing a Democratic candidate for the S.C. House and County Council. And in Calhoun County, theres been a bit of excitement, county Democratic Party Chairman Ken Hasty said. He believes the races on Calhoun Countys ballot should be able to draw voters to the polls. While Hasty is hoping for a tremendous turnout but, it may be fair to moderate from past experience. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. South Carolina voters can participate in Republican or Democratic primaries, but not both. Voters can vote in either primary on today, no matter what presidential preference primary they voted in earlier in the year. Bamberg, Calhoun and Orangeburg counties will all have Democratic primaries. There will be no local Republican primaries. A runoff will be held June 28, if needed. Local Democratic primaries include: Orangeburg County State House District 95: Rep. Jerry Govan will face challenger Kevin Ray. Sheriff: Sheriff Leroy Ravenell is facing opposition from Darnell Bubba Johnson and Kenneth Mac McCaster. Calhoun County Probate Judge: Judge Kathy Strickland Brown is being challenged by Gary Porth. Auditor: Auditor April Wise is being challenged by Melissa Smoak-Wannamaker. County Council District 2: Councilwoman Pamela Claxton is being challenged by Ken Westbury. Bamberg County County Council District 4: Councilman Joe Guess Jr. is being challenged by Rufus Jamison Jr. State House District 90: Rep. Justin Bamberg is being challenged by Evert Comer Jr. U.S. House U.S. House District 2: Arik Bjorn and Phil Black are seeking to be the Democratic candidate. Voters will be required to show one of the following forms of photo identification: S.C. drivers license, S.C. Department of Motor Vehicles ID card, S.C. Voter Registration Card with photo, Federal military ID, or U.S. passport. If you forget your photo ID, you may vote using a provisional ballot but must show an ID prior to the certification of the election. People with a reasonable impediment to getting a photo ID can vote if they sign an affidavit stating why. Bring your non-photo voter registration card to the polling place. President Barack Obama is not just a really good politician hes also a really good magician. He makes things like your money just disappear. A few months ago, I wrote about one of Obamas best tricks Obamacare and (among other things) how he used the state-level healthcare exchanges created by the Affordable Care Act to funnel money (your money) to crony capitalist IT companies that built defective, Pinto-eseque websites that crashed and burned just as spectacularly. Hundreds of millions of dollars your dollars went up in smoke. Or went into someone elses pockets. And it wasnt for health care. Some of the money has apparently been sluiced to (surprise) blue state friends-of-Obama, such as Oregons governor, John Kitzhaber. In that state alone, $300 million in health exchange boodle has simply gone missing. The guy disbursing these funds (our funds) is Andy Slavitt, acting administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). And he may just have been caught fibbing to Congress about it. Last December, Slavitt testified under oath that CMS had recouped approximately $200 million in funds originally earmarked for the state-based health exchanges. Over $200 million of the original grant awards have already been returned to the federal government, Slavitt told a congressional committee chaired by Michigan Republican Fred Upton looking into the matter. We are in the process of collecting and returning more, he added. Except they werent and didnt. Subsequent investigation by the committee discovered that CMS had in fact recouped a mere $21.5 million out of the $4.6 billion originally hog-troughed to the state-based exchanges. And even that chump change the $21.5 million wasnt actually recouped. It was simply left over. Unspent because some states never set up state-based exchanges and so the money (the $21.5 million) was never given out in the first place. Apparently, Slavitt knew the foregoing when he testified before the committee last December. Which would make him a perjurer as well as a bagman for his boss, the president. In addition to being a profiteer. Prior to becoming Obamas disburser of our money, he pocketed almost $5 million in bonus money from his former employer which just happened to be ... the health insurance mafia. The very same mafia that profits handsomely from Obamacare by forcing people to sign up or else. But wait, it gets better. Slavitt was given an ethics waiver for potential conflict-of-interest by the government (Obamas government) to immediately make decisions in his official capacity as CMS administrator that could directly affect (read: enrich) United Health Group his ex-employer. At least the real mafia has the decency to wet its beak behind closed doors. The House Committee issued a press release on May 10 accusing Slavitt of having simply made up the testimony he gave in December though a more polite term (ad-libbing) was used to describe his conduct. It is troubling that the administration has had every opportunity to correct the record or back up the numbers but has failed to do so, said Upton. Obamacare has proved to be a house of cards, he added. A Jenga Castle of fraud would be more accurate. Just the other day, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee went even further and demanded prosecution. If the rule of law were still operative in the United States, Slavitt would be sweating a likely indictment for both fraud and perjury. But the federal government has become a law unto itself, doing what it likes, to whom it likes and with our money. But without consequences. Guys like Slavitt get rich. Guys like Obama get power. The insurance mafia gets both. But what are we left with? Its certainly not free medical care. Or even affordable care. Obamacare premiums continue to rise like the stink emanating from the cesspool that is Washington. As will the fines for not complying with Obamas order that everyone buy health insurance from one of the mafias. Mark that. You are required by law to purchase insurance but that is not the same thing as receiving medical care. Obama knows this and so does his bagman, Andy Slavitt. The both of them are laughing all the way to the bank. While were left holding the bag. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. /By Azernews/ By Fatma Babayeva The construction of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) is strategic for the diversification of the gas supply sources not only for the European Union and the Balkans, but also for Italy, Italian ANSAmed news network reported on June 13 citing country's Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni. Following the inauguration of the TAP project in Thessaloniki, about one month ago, a challenge has opened: seeing Azerbaijani gas reach Italy by 2020, said Gentiloni, while addressing the fourth session of the inter-government commission on economic cooperation between Italy and Azerbaijan in Rome. Italy and Azerbaijan can look at new horizons, the Italian minister said, further adding that the objective is to boost economic and political relations between Italy and Azerbaijan, which is considered a strategic regional partner. TAP project, European leg of the Southern Gas Corridor, envisages transportation of the gas extracted from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz Stage 2 gas and condensate field to the EU countries. The construction of TAP pipeline was launched in May 2016. The overall construction phase will take about three years and is expected to finalize in 2019. Its initial capacity will be 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year, expandable to 20 billion cubic meters. The 870-kilometer pipeline will be connected to the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) on the Turkish-Greek border, run through Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in Italy's south. Italy has remained Azerbaijan's main trade partner over the recent years. The trade turnover between the two countries stood at $567.54 million in January-April 2016, according to Azerbaijan's State Statistical Committee. This is while $443.47 million of this volume accounted for the export of Azerbaijani products to Italy. By Christian Jarrett If youre like most people, youve probably got a firm idea about your own personality whether youre outgoing or shy, nervous or calm, and so on. But how far do you think other peoples impressions of your personality match your own assessment? Psychologists studying this question have found that most of us do have a degree of what they call meta-accuracy. But at the same, we have some blind spots there are certain things that lots of other people consistently think about us that we know nothing about. In fact, the more well-adjusted you are, the less insight you may have into what other people think. One of the most thorough investigations of whether people know what others think of them was published in 2011 by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis and Wake Forest University . Across several studies, Erika Carlson and her colleagues asked hundreds of undergrads to rate their own personality (the main traits like extraversion, but also other characteristics like honesty, funniness and attractiveness), and then to put forward friends and family who would also rate their personality. Finally, the participants estimated how they thought these other people would rate them. One way to calculate what other people think of you is just to consider how you see yourself and use this as the basis for estimating what others think, under the assumption that if you think youre an extravert (or not), and so on, other people will too. But Carlson and her colleagues accounted for this, finding that even after factoring out what participants thought of themselves, there was a correlation between how the participants thought other people perceived them and how these people actually did perceive them their public image. In fact, the participants estimates of what other people thought of them better reflected their public image than the personality scores theyd given themselves. The researchers said these results provide evidence for what they called true meta-insight it suggests we are able to look beyond our self-perceptions to figure out what other people think of us, and that we can do so with some success. This was also true when the procedure was repeated with strangers whom the participants had only chatted with for five minutes. So you probably do have some idea what other people think of you, but later research suggests your insight is far from perfect, as a team of German psychologists showed in a study from 2013. Sixty-five students rated their own personalities through agreement with 37 statements (such as I treat people fairly and I am lazy) and they also put forward several friends and family to rate their personalities on the same items (each student put forward at least three; one student invited 35 people to play this role!). Finally they estimated how they thought these other people would rate them. Crucially, the researchers found there were some consistent judgments made by friends and family about the participants (such as that they all agreed the person was lazy) that were different from how the students rated themselves, and that were missing from the students estimates of how they thought other people perceived them. The researchers called these gaps blind spots and they said the findings show that the typical person is not aware of some of the unique ways in which he or she is consensually perceived by others. The socially anxious among us might not be too surprised by this revelation in fact, we probably spend a lot of time worrying about these blind spots. But actually it turns out that its more psychologically well-adjusted folk who have the least insight into what other people think of them. Self reflection In a study published just this year, a pair of psychologists at Martin-Luther University in Germany asked students to form groups of four with their classmates, to rate their own personalities, those of their group members, and finally to estimate how their group members would rate them. The students also completed measures of their psychological adjustment, including questions about their self-esteem and items tapping signs of personality disorder. The more psychologically well-adjusted students showed less insight into what other people thought of them they relied more on what they thought of themselves when making these estimates, and this was especially true for classmates with whom they were better acquainted. In other words, the more emotionally stable and confident you are, the more likely it is that you just assume your friends see you how you see yourself (which if youre like most people, is in a positive light). This finding is consistent with the broader literature on depression thats shown people who are more depressed exhibit fewer self-serving biases in other words, that they see the world more realistically. These blind-spots may be particularly prominent on social media. In todays world, we increasingly present ourselves to the world online, rather than in person, and psychologists have recently started investigating these new ways for us to misjudge how others might be perceiving us. Another study published this year looked at this issue specifically in the context of selfies the photos that we take of ourselves frequently for the purpose of putting them online. Nearly two hundred undergrads visited a psychology lab, took a selfie, and then had their photo taken with the same phone by a researcher. The students then rated how they thought they looked in the photos, in terms of attractiveness and likeability. The researchers at the University of Toronto found that the frequent selfie-takers among the students thought that they looked more attractive and likeable in their selfie than in the photo of them that the researcher took. But when a separate group of raters recruited online looked at the two sets of photos, they made completely the opposite judgment rating the students as more likeable and attractive in the researcher photos than the selfies. Perhaps something to bear in mind next time youre about to upload your latest me-shot. In light of all these findings, it seems that if you really want to know the complete picture of what other people think of you, youre best off asking them. So long as your friends and family are honest with you, you may discover youre not quite the same person you thought you were, at least not as seen through the eyes of others. On the other hand, if youre happy with yourself and how you think you come over, maybe its best not to ask too many questions. Ignorance really may be bliss. Portugal is keen to establish relations with the city of Ganja, said charge d`affaires of Portuguese Embassy to Azerbaijan Maria Joao lopes-Cardoso as she held a meeting at the Ganja Executive Authority. The meeting discussed the establishment of relations between Azerbaijani city of Ganja and Portuguese cities, as well as prospects for social, economic, educational, scientific, tourism and cultural cooperation. The diplomat said she was deeply impressed by the beauty of nature of Ganja, especially Goygol. Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev expressed condolences to the US President Barack Obama on June 14 over the Orlando mass shooting. "I was deeply shocked by the news of death and injuries as a result of the brutal terrorist attack committed in Orlando, Florida," said Azerbaijan's president in his letter of condolences. Currently, the whole world is facing such a terrible disaster as terrorism, said President Aliyev, adding that this situation requires overall mobilization of forces and a decisive fight against terrorism. As a country suffering from terrorism, Azerbaijan always condemns terrorism and supports the fight against it, he added. "In these hard moments, I share your grief and on behalf of Azerbaijani people and on my own behalf, I express deep condolences to you, the families and friends of those killed and to the whole American people, and wish speedy recovery to those injured," said President Aliyev. Bahrains His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa has ordered officials to prepare a study to build an integrated sport stadium in the kingdom, reported the Gulf Daily News, our sister publication. To read further, please visit GDNonline. The 15th edition of Cityscape Global is expected to attract a new wave of real estate investors from across the region, following the success of recent exhibitions in Turkey, Egypt, Abu Dhabi (UAE) and Qatar, said the organisers. So far in 2016, the Cityscape portfolio of events has gathered more than 46,000 participants, and feedback from key stakeholders including real estate developers, brokers, architects, government officials and investors indicates that all eyes are now turning to the flagship event as the highlight of the real estate calendar year in the Middle East. In 2017, the inaugural Cityscape India will be launched at the Bombay Exhibition Centre in Mumbai from March 2 to 5, building upon the international expansion of the brand, which now hosts events in Abu Dhabi, Cairo (Egypt), Doha (Qatar), Dubai (UAE), Istanbul (Turkey), Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), Kuwait City (Kuwait), and Seoul (Korea). Returning to the Dubai World Trade Centre from September 6 to 8, Cityscape Global is expected to span across 41,000 sq m of exhibition space, featuring new exhibitors showcasing hundreds of project launches. Tom Rhodes, the exhibition director, said: "The Cityscape brand is growing globally, which means we are reaching more investors from around the region and beyond and are connecting more real estate buyers with developers and brokers." "Cityscape Global, meanwhile, continues to be the barometer of the real estate market, with many leading developers using the exhibition as the perfect platform to launch new projects to the market," he stated. Last year was a resounding success the largest the event has been in five years, with more than 43,000 participants from 102 countries and two additional halls to accommodate the demand from local, regional and international exhibitors. Our forecasts for this year anticipate a similar response in terms of exhibitor participation and visitor numbers, he added. The 15th edition of Cityscape Global, the brands crowning flagship event, will feature a range of country pavilions, including those dedicated to exhibitors from the UK, Pakistan, and India, a seminar theatre for exhibitors and a number of big-league speakers at the Cityscape conference. On the day preceding the show (September 5), the Cityscape Global Conference is expected to gather an exclusive mix of more than 1,200 delegates and speakers taking part in three dedicated conference programmes: Market Overview, Architecture, and Real Estate Brokers. For the first time since the conference inception, the Market Overview programme will feature one of the most sought-after speakers, Rohit Talwar, a globally-renowned futurist and strategist, who will debate risk management and ground-breaking development strategies in legislation and investment policies for the global and local real estate market in the near future. Following the success in 2015, the show returns with the Cityscape Talks seminar theatre, offering exhibitors dedicated space in the centre of Hall One on the show floor to engage with visitors and host presentations showcasing their organisations expertise and latest property developments. The opening day will feature the Cityscape Awards for Emerging Markets, an awards programme attracting hundreds of entries from developers and architects across emerging markets globally. The awards are now open for submissions, across 13 categories with the emphasis on innovation and sustainability. The last date for sending the entries is June 15. Cityscape Global 2016 returns with support from the Dubai Land Department and Foundation Partners: Emaar Properties, Dubai Properties and Nakheel; Platinum Sponsors: Al Marjan Island and Union Properties; Registration Trustee Partner Tamleek; and Research Partner YouGov.-TradeArabia News Service Four regional firms - Kuwaiti Manager Contracting, Al Nooh Wood Design, and Modern Glass Technology of Bahrain and Espac of Saudi Arabia - have been shortlisted for the gulfBID 2016 awards in the 'Best Stand Design' category. A major showcase for building materials, services and contractors involved in the building and construction sector, gulfBID is organised by Bahrain-based Hilal Conferences and Exhibitions (HCE) every year. "The designs of this year's nominees represent an innovative presentation to promote their products within the construction and building materials sector," remarked exhibitions director Ahmed Suleiman. "This years stand designs at gulfBID have been of a high standard, making the judges task difficult to decide on the final shortlist," he added. The nominees stand designs will be available for viewing online at gulfBID via Facebook for the public to cast their vote best stand award. The polling will close on September 30. The winner will be honoured in October at the HCE 2017 Events Launch Reception.-TradeArabia News Service Dubai-based Gems Our Own Indian School has partnered with the Lassonde School of Engineering, part of York University in Canada, to create higher educational opportunities and scholarships for its students. This partnership kick-starts a programme that the Indian-curriculum school hopes to benefit students looking at universities in the west. One of the driving forces behind the partnership is to ensure avenues for talented students to pursue their preferred degrees in world renowned international institutions, the school said. During a visit to the school earlier this year, officials from York University were impressed by the large pool of intelligent and motivated students they interacted with. Inspired by this interaction, the university is now offering scholarships to two students to join the Lassonde School of Engineering. The university offers a number of strands in the engineering programme, with Bio-Engineering as their latest addition apart from a number of science degree programmes. Lalitha Suresh, principal of the school, said: As an educational institution, it is our responsibility that we provide our students with all developmental tools that prepare them for their future. By partnering with esteemed international universities through the pre-university courses and scholarships, the students can begin to carve a path of success for themselves. In recognising the growing global importance of preparing children for university, the school is also looking to partner with York University in offering pre-university courses (PUC). This will allow for high school students to be introduced to the challenging, intellectual and highly stimulating university environment besides also providing the additional year required to enable eligibility for admissions in American and Canadian universities. The PUC programme will also allow for students to be exposed to visiting professors and international curricula. This could potentially raise students attainment and the expected enrichment and extension of the curriculum, explained Suresh. Gems Our Own Indian School is also exploring opportunities with other universities to expand the scholarship and PUC programme. TradeArabia News Service King Abdullah Economic Citys Tomouh job fair provided graduates of the citys training and qualification program the opportunity to apply for 1,200 jobs offered by 22 national and international companies. Named after the Arabic word for ambition, the fair is one of the citys most significant sustainability initiatives, providing 1,000 young Saudi men and women who live in and around Rabigh the skills and training needed to compete for quality jobs, said a press release. Fahd Hamidaddin, chief commercial officer of King Abdullah Economic City, said: KAEC is committed to developing the national talent pool by training and qualifying young Saudis to guarantee the prosperity of our nation and contribute to the national economy. We are closely aligned with the vision of His Royal Highness Prince Khalid Al-Faisal, providing more opportunities for the residents of the towns and villages around KAEC by training and preparing them to compete in the job market or start their own businesses. We are happy to see such an exceptional turnout at the fair. This event not only provides support to the beneficiaries of the Tomouh program, it also helps companies in the region take advantage of the opportunity to hire skilled local talent, he added. Visitors of the fair were offered jobs at national and global corporations operating in KAEC, with opportunities in commerce, manufacturing, and services. Even businesses from outside the city rushed to participate, adding even more opportunities and confirming the citys status as a major engine of development and quality employment for the national workforce. TradeArabia News Service Intertek, a leading Total Quality Assurance provider to industries globally, said that its laboratory in Shanghai, China, has been approved by Saudi Arabian Standards Organization (SASO) to conduct energy efficiency testing for cage-induction motors exported to Saudi Arabia. The lab serves as a bridge between China-made motors and SASO certification, facilitating Chinese motors access to the Saudi Arabian market, said a statement from the company. In 2013, SASO and Saudi Energy Efficiency Centre (SEEC) introduced energy efficiency standard SASO IEC 60034-30 for cage-induction motors rated single-speed, three-phase, 50/60 Hz, up to 1000V rated voltage and 0.75kW to 375kW rated power, which defines requirement for the lowest energy efficiency grade MEPS, it said. The standard specifies that energy efficiency grade of three phase cage-induction motors produced or imported into Saudi Arabia shall be no lower than IE2 on and after July 1, 2015, and no lower than IE3 on and after Jan 1, 2017, it added. Starting from the dates of enforcement, motors which do not meet the related energy efficiency grades are not allowed to be sold in Saudi Arabia. Only testing reports issued by SASO approved laboratories are accepted by Saudi Arabia. Intertek Shanghai is one of the only two SASO approved laboratories in China, can provide fast and efficient localized testing service, and help Chinese motor companies to avoid complicated procedure and high cost of sending testing samples to remote places, and speed up the process of entering Saudi Arabia market, said a statement. Intertek is dedicated to providing superior services for electrical and electronic industry, it stated. Additionally, with its motor testing laboratory accredited by International Electrotechnical Commission (IECEE), the US Occupational Safety and Health Agency (OSHA), China National Accreditation Service for Conformity Assessment (CNAS) and SASO, Intertek offers a wide range of safety regulations and energy efficiency testing and certification services for motors including CE/GS/ETL etc. Totally customer oriented, the company will continue to provide one-stop localised total quality assurance solution for Chinese motor industry, it added. TradeArabia News Service State-owned Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) recently recognised Bahra Advanced Cable Manufacture Co, a Saudi Arabian company specialising in the production and distribution of electrical cables, as its excellent vendor for 2015. Bahra Cables accepted the award at SECs 5th awards ceremony for its top vendors and suppliers, said a statement from the company. Bahra Cables business development manager Kareem Talal Idriss; and government and utilities sales manager Loai Taha Al-Bar; received the award from SECs president and CEO Eng Ziyad Alshiha, it said. Talal K Idriss, CEO of Bahra Cables, an affiliate of Construction Products Holding Company (CPC), expressed the company's pride for being chosen as the excellent vendor of SEC for 2015. He said that this choice assured the great trust which the companys products enjoyed by one of its biggest clients, as well as its capability to provide products of the highest quality and specifications required by major companies such as SEC. Talal K Idriss further pointed out that during the last few years, Bahra Cables supplied cables worth SR1.5 billion ($399.9 million) to SEC, it added. TradeArabia News Service SICK AG, a technology supplier in the field of industrial sensors, showcased innovative sensor solutions for forward-looking applications at the recently concluded Hannover Messe (HM) trade fair in Germany. SICK's presentation explained how intelligent sensor data can be used: from highly aggregated, complex web services in the cloud and shop-floor systems for logistics transparency to autonomous robot control. From its stand at Hannover Messe, the world's largest industrial fair featuring 3,342 exhibitors, SICK demonstrated the importance of its role as a technology driver in the field of Industry 4.0. Alongside the company's own intelligent systems and sensors, SICK also presented various examples of its collaborations with research and industry partners. These joint exhibits featured integrated solutions typical of Industry 4.0, which were a big hit with visitors. In particular, the exhibit on human-robot collaboration proved to be a major draw, featuring a robot arm which took a glass cup from a visitor. The robot used the RFID tag affixed to the cup to read the individual print job and performed the task by itself. As the station was protected with microScan3 laser scanners, the robot was able to work without partition screens in this application. As soon as anyone came within a certain distance of the robot during operation, its movement slowed down. If someone came even closer, the robot stopped completely. Meanwhile, the trade fair also featured a first in the field of track and trace technology in the form of the RFU65x RFID read/write device, which creates transparent paths within the factory. The device is the first to be able to measure the movement direction of an RFID tag bearer when read. This means that, in the future, it will be possible to record not only the position, but also the transport path of workpieces with minimal effort. In this way, the current location of a part will always be evident in real time. The eventful week saw a constant stream of visitors to SICK's stand. Employers from the US subsidiary SICK, Inc. were also present in order to honor the close collaboration with the USA as a trade fair partner. TradeArabia News Service UAEs Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) plans to allocate new bandwidth frequencies compatible with 5th generation mobile networks, enable airlines to provide high-speed broadband Internet connection during flights at lower costs, and develop a global maritime distress system. These initiatives were revealed during its participation at a recently-held seminar organized by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) in Geneva. The TRA, which is heading the Preparatory Meeting for World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC), raised several important clauses about the event which will take place in 2019. It reviewed the suggested clauses on using space telecommunications in terms of current capabilities, considering that space telecoms is a major aspect of the space sector along with satellites and other related space communication technologies. Khaled Al Awadhi, manager for International Organizations, Corporate Development Department and TRA spokesperson said: The UAEs participation in the seminar as official speaker is a significant step for the country as a trusted nation capable of leading such events and confirms our established partnership with the ITU in various initiatives for the sector. This is not the first time the UAE been invited to lead as an official speaker in global seminars reflecting our ability to discern the weak and strong points and present ideas transparently. The UAEs leadership in telecommunications is central to the TRAs strategic goals and we are working to achieve this through technical and infrastructure developments as well as strategic partnerships. Leading the Preparatory Meeting for WRC-19 is another testament of the countrys position globally as a trusted partner in telecommunications, he added. The TRA has proposed various technical aspects which require close collaboration between the telecoms and space sectors, especially in terms of enhancing the quality of telecommunications services and providing customers with easy access and reach as our way of helping our customers achieve happiness, Al Awadhi noted. The TRA has discussed the importance of using space services and providing new frequencies that can accommodate 5th generation mobile devices, which will require expanding broadband services or improving the efficiency of current capabilities. The TRA has discussed broadband application using satellites to serve the aviation sector which will allow airlines to easily provide high-speed internet connection in-flight. At present, there are some technical challenges to fully offer Internet connection while onboard flights because of lack of capabilities and high cost. Al Awadhi further stated that the federal agency was invited to become part of an initiative to develop the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System, an electronic identification technology which will track ships navigating across oceans to ensure their safety from pirates and immediately get a response during emergencies. The project can be done by allocating new spectrum bands. Emirati engineers are very much capable of contributing significant innovation in the space sector as we have seen them launch many projects under the sponsorship of technology firms and service providers. The TRA is continuously working to meet the requirements of those projects which may need to be tested and applied internationally. This is where we come in - to facilitate their implementation through coordination with ITU, Al Awadhi said. The Telecommunications and Regulatory Authority won the chairmanship of the WRC 2019 Preparatory Meeting during its participation at the Radio Communication Assemblies meetings held in October 2015. TradeArabia News Service Lotte Group indicated it will shelve what may have been a $4.5 billion initial public offering, the worlds biggest so far this year, for its hotel unit after widening investigations pushed the South Korean conglomerate deeper into crisis, said a report in Bloomberg. Its going to be "physically difficult" for Hotel Lotte to meet next months deadline to complete the IPO in light of the extra steps it would need to take such as making additional disclosures, the parent group said in an e-mailed statement in Seoul on Sunday. Lotte will cooperate with authorities in their investigation, it said. Its the latest blow to hit the conglomerate, which has 89 Korean units with more than 100 trillion won ($85 billion) in assets. With the group still reeling from a feud that tore its founding family apart, Lotte sank into deeper turmoil last week as Korean prosecutors widened their probes into the business empire amid allegations of slush funds and embezzlement. This crisis can be viewed as a problem of governance and lack of transparency at Lotte Group, said Kim Ho Joon, director of the governance research department at Daishin Securities Co. in Seoul. In the long term, Lotte needs to fundamentally improve its corporate governance. All of Lottes eight listed units fell in Seoul trading, losing a combined market value of 1.2 trillion won ($1 billion) as of 10:26 am in Seoul. Stocks are falling because of the probe, according to Kookhee Han, an analyst at NH Investment & Securities Co. Crisis in governance The latest probes came days after another investigation -- one looking into possible bribery -- led Hotel Lotte to delay the IPO and scale back its proposed price range. At the high end, the maximum $4.5 billion offering would still have been the worlds largest so far this year and the biggest ever in Korea. That would have been a boon for the banks -- Mirae Asset Daewoo Co., Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Merrill Lynch -- that had been struggling with a slow year for such deals worldwide. For the IPO market, the January-to-March period was its worst quarter since the global financial crisis and this quarter is headed for another slump relative to past years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. As to Lotte, shelving the IPO would add to the struggles its faced since last year. Besides the probes, Hotel Lotte has been seeking to make up for losing a license in November for its key duty-free business, the companys biggest revenue source. Last month, the Korean government banned Lotte Shopping Co.s home-shopping channel from broadcasting during prime time hours for six months after the company was accused of omitting names of two executives convicted of bribery when applying for a license. After the raid on its group headquarters, Lotte Chemical Corp. said on Monday it withdrew its bid for Axiall Corp., citing the "difficult situation" that its facing in Korea. Axiall instead agreed to be sold to Westlake Chemical Corp. for $2.4 billion. Family feud Then theres the power struggle atop the dynasty that founded the group, the fifth-largest of Koreas family-run conglomerates -- locally known as the chaebol -- that dominate the nations corporate landscape. A year ago, Lotte Group chairman Shin Dong Bin faced a coup attempt by his older brother and their patriarch father. The plan backfired as the father, who founded the group and was then chairman, got sidelined to an honorary position and the eldest son was stripped of group positions. The older brother has since attempted multiple challenges to Shin Dong Bins authority, but to little avail. Shin Dong Joo, the elder brother, said in a statement last week that this is the biggest crisis that Lotte has ever faced and called for the company to give a thorough explanation of the situation. Minor Hotels, a hotel owner, operator and investor, has announced that effective July 1 it will take over the operation of the 216-room Movenpick Hotel Deira in Dubai. The property will operate under the groups dynamic Avani Hotels & Resorts brand as the Avani Deira Dubai Hotel. The change comes after the hotel's parent company, Bin Sulayem Investments, signed a management agreement with Minor Hotels. This deal represents a milestone for Minor Hotels as the first Avani hotel in the Middle East. The group currently has a portfolio of 146 hotels and resorts in 22 countries across Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Europe, South America, Africa and the Indian Ocean. Located in one of the most diverse and culturally rich parts of the city, the property is ideally situated just 4km from the Dubai International Airport and the world-famous Gold and Spice Souks. Close to several shopping malls and the Dubai Metro offering ease of access to Downtown Dubai, Jumeirah Beach and Dubai Marina, the hotel is well-placed for guests to explore the city. This upscale hotel offers 216 guest rooms and two unique dining concepts, meeting rooms, an outdoor pool and a fully equipped gym. Robert Kunkler, chief operating officer of Minor Hotels, said: This key acquisition to our portfolio allows Minor Hotels to take a strategic foothold in the Middle East for our fast expanding Avani Hotels & Resorts brand in what is a vitally important market. We are thrilled to continue our excellent relationship with Bin Sulayem Investments. Avani Deira Dubai Hotel will have the freedom to establish and maintain its individuality and distinct character while benefitting from being part of the Minor Hotels portfolio. Abdulla bin Sulayem, general manager of Bin Sulayem Investments, commented: This property being rebranded to Avani is an important step in the evolution of our owned assets. We are excited to strengthen the current relationship with Minor Hotels and look forward to working with them as a key partner in fulfilling the potential of this uniquely positioned property. Avani Hotels & Resorts was launched in 2011 to complement Minor Hotels five-star Anantara brand. Avani offers relaxed comfort and contemporary style in city and resort destinations to guests who value the details that matter. The brand currently has 13 properties in operation in Thailand, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Seychelles, Mozambique, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Zambia, with a pipeline of further openings in Asia, the Indian Ocean and the Middle East. TradeArabia News Service Oman Air, the sultanate's flag carrier, has decided to temporarily suspend flights to Sohar airport as they did not achieve the targeted results. Oman Air launched the Sohar flights from Muscat in November 2014. "There are economic standards and criteria that define any routes strength, continuity or permanent/temporary suspension. In this regard Oman Air held numerous meetings with the companies and travel agencies at Sohar on periodic bases, where they were offered special passenger fares along with other privileges so as to promote flights and support connectivity of the route from Sohar to Oman Airs global network. However, no economic return or impact has been derived for those initiatives," the airline said. Oman National Transport Company (Mwasalat) is operating more than eight daily bus services from and to Sohar which connect Oman Air's passengers with its domestic and international flights round the clock from and to Muscat International Airport. This will provide alternative transport services to passengers to and from Sohar, the airline said. Oman Airs domestic destinations include Salalah, Khasab, Duqum. -TradeArabia News Service Par Pacific Holdings announced Tuesday the purchase of Wyoming Refining Co. in a deal worth $271.4 million. The transaction includes Wyoming Refinings 18,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Newcastle, as well as a 140-mile crude gathering pipeline and 40 miles of refined product pipelines. Par Pacific executives touted the Newcastle refinerys proximity to the emerging oil play in the Powder River Basin and access to niche markets with significant gasoline needs. William Pate, Par Pacific president and CEO, called the transaction a bullseye for the Houston-based company. Its an area, given the size of our company, where we can grow our business, Pate told financial analysts in a conference call announcing the deal. Wyoming Refining, a subsidiary of Black Elk Refining LLC, purchased the Newcastle facility in 2011. Par Pacific executives approached Black Elk Refining about the prospects for a deal last fall. The refining operation has undergone significant renovations in recent years. Wyoming Refining invested $85 million in the operation over the last four years, boosting daily production by roughly 4,000 barrels, Par Pacific executives said. Under terms of the deal announced Tuesday, Par Pacific will assume about $123 million of Wyoming Refinings debt. Par Pacific will sell $50 million in stock to raise cash and will borrow another $100 million to help finance the purchase. The transaction is expected to close in mid-July. Par Pacific is a Houston-based holding company that operates a Hawaiian refinery and natural gas production in Colorado. The firm also markets and distributes crude throughout the western United States. The company reported an annual loss of $39.9 million in 2015, down from a $47 million in 2013. Company executives said the deal was attractive due to northeastern Wyomings strong tourism market and the presence of Ellsworth Air Force Base outside of Rapid City. Roughly 55 percent of the Newcastle refinerys output is geared toward local gasoline demand, which is fueled in large part by the summer driving season. The refinery is also a supplier of aviation fuel to Ellsworth. It tends to be a tourist-driven market with a strong defense presence, Pate said. The refinerys proximity to the Powder River Basin makes the projects economics attractive, executives said. Powder River Basin crude has, on average, sold for $3.80 per barrel less compared with the national benchmark over the last decade. The spread between crude and refined products has averaged $18.23 per barrel over the last three years. Par Pacific shares were up 11.82 percent Tuesday to close at $15.80. A 19-year-old Natrona County man is facing a felony charge for allegedly impregnating a 12-year-old girl last year. Gage M. Markgraf pleaded not guilty Tuesday in district court to first-degree sexual abuse of a minor. He faces up to 50 years in prison if convicted. Markgraf was 17 at the time of the abuse in January 2015, court documents show. Markgraf is out of jail on $15,000 bond pending trial. The Natrona County Sheriffs Office began investigating the alleged abuse in June 2015 after the Wyoming Department of Family Services reported the victim was pregnant and had said Markgraf was the father, according to the documents. Authorities interviewed the girl at the Childrens Advocacy Project in Casper, the documents state. She said Markgraf was a family friend and had lived with her family for some time. She said Markgraf knew how old she was because he was there for her first day of sixth grade. The victim said she and Markgraf had a conversation on Facebook about having sex, according to the documents. The girl said she and Markgraf went into a closet and had sex. The girl described herself as being too young to have sex, the documents state. She also said Markgraf did not wear a condom. In August, the victim gave birth to a son at Wyoming Medical Center, according to the documents. A paternity test determined Markgraf to be the father. Authorities filed charges against Markgraf on May 9. Mountain View Regional Hospital has not been immune to Wyomings sluggish economy, but officials there say theyve weathered the slowdown without job cuts thanks to a lean operation. The down economy has meant fewer patients as energy workers leave Wyoming. Some patients who do stay are putting off elective procedures. But the doctors who own the east Casper hospital credit a workplace culture that avoids waste and an organizational structure that uses working managers with helping avoid layoffs. We have felt the downturn in the economy, said Dr. Tom Kopitnik, who serves as Mountain Views co-chief executive. Its just that we have always been very efficient in our fiscal management so that we have tried to minimize its effect on our staff and on the quality of care that weve been able to deliver. The hospital specializes in neurosurgery but offers a variety of other services including pain management, orthopedics and general surgery. It also operates an ICU and emergency room. Wyoming Medical Center, the citys largest hospital, laid off 58 employees last week. Officials there cited several reasons for the cuts, including competition from Mountain View and the citys other physician-owned facility, Summit Medical Center. Officials at Mountain View say its unfair to blame their facility. And they challenged suggestions that, as a for-profit hospital, they leave Wyoming Medical Center to care for less lucrative patients. The Affordable Care Act prevents physician-owned hospitals from accepting Medicaid and Medicare patients. But because it opened before the passage of Obamacare, Mountain View accepts both, said Kopitnik, a neurosurgeon who helped found the hospital in 2008. The number of patients who receive coverage through a government program, or who pay for their own care out of pocket, has actually increased over the hospitals lifespan, officials there say. We must take any patient who walks through our door, said interim Chief Nursing Officer Kristal Skiles. We cant look at them and make any different decision, or we would be in violation and subject to fines. Mountain View and Wyoming Medical Center might have a different mix of patients, Kopitnik added. But that relates to the services they offer. For example, the medical center runs a level II trauma center, with emergency services that arent offered by any other hospital in the state, save Cheyenne Regional Medical Center. Mountain View, in contrast, specializes in neurosurgical care and pain management. We have two very different patient populations, Kopitnik said. So you cant really compare them apples to apples. The two hospitals also differ in size. Wyoming Medical Center has 217 patient beds and employs more than 1,000 people. Mountain View is licensed for 23 inpatient beds, with another 14 for observation. It employs 326 people. That has its benefits when it comes to adapting to changes in the market, Kopitnik said. Because we are a smaller organization, we are very fleet of foot, he said. Someone once characterized American democracy as the last best hope for mankind. Now, listening to the political-economic positions of most of the candidates running for Wyomings seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, it is as though we are living in some kind of banana republic. Even on the presidential level, Hillary Clinton espouses dog whistle political-economic positions, while Donald Trump spouts egotistical nonsense. The Awam Tibetan Buddhist Institute, 3400 E. Speedway, will show the film "Blessings: The Tsoknyi Nangchen Nuns of Tibet" 6 to 8:30 p.m. Friday, June 17 as part of its regular movie and potluck party. The film, directed by Victress Hitchcock, explores the role of women in Tibetan Buddhism by focusing on nuns living in Tibet, according to press materials. The event is free but a dish to share and a monetary donation toward rent are encouraged. Dear Amy: I am the proud big sister of my 18-year-old brother Baxter. His last day of high school was yesterday, and he is set to graduate in a few weeks. He earned a 4.0 throughout high school and has worked really hard for four years. He called me yesterday (I live out of state) and told me about his last day at school. Then he dropped a bombshell on me, when he said, Dont tell mom, but I smoked a lot of weed today! Amy, I was shocked! We grew up in a no-alcohol, no-smoking household. Now I dont know what to do. Do I keep his secret? Do I spill to our mom?I know hes worked so hard, so I think he was celebrating and maybe rebelling a little bit, since he was the perfect student for so long. I dont want this to be a stepping stone to more bad decisions for him. What should I do? Worried in Wisconsin Dear Worried: This is not necessarily a binary choice between either telling or not telling. You can choose to stay quiet now, but change your mind, later. It might be best for you to communicate your next thoughts in text form, versus talking to him about this. You can write: First, I want you to know that I appreciate your honesty. Secondly, please dont ever ask me to keep a secret from our parents. Thats not fair to me or them and I will make my own choice about what to do regarding your decision to get toasted on the last day of classes. I am naturally very protective of you. I want you to know that there are extreme risks to what you are doing. You risk not graduating (if you are caught), but you also risk many other things you have worked very hard for. Soon you will be on your own and I hope you will make healthier choices. Your high school record shows how smart you are. I hope your future behavior will demonstrate that you are wise, too. After communicating directly with him, leave it alone. If this is the worst thing this young man ever does, hell be OK. Dear Amy: I am currently seeing a man who has two jobs, one as an everyday civilian and one in the National Guard. He has been a guardsman for several years. We have been seeing each other for about seven months. I just learned that he may face a deployment within the next year (hes been through three already). I am very proud of him. I love him and he loves me. I dont know how to communicate how I feel and how scared I am; for him, for me, for us and for my child that has grown attached to him. My anxiety levels have risen in the past few weeks because of this. He has noticed a change in me. I fell in love with this man without a second thought of what that would mean. I dont want to leave him over this because he is serving his country. However, I do not know how to live the life that is approaching. I need advice and guidance. Can you help? Worried Dear Worried: The most important thing you can do is to communicate with your guy about what might be in store for all of you if he deploys. The National Guard offers helpful support and information to help you start this conversation. You should also seek friendship and advice from experienced people on this side of deployment. Check www.jointservicesupport.org . Dear Amy: I think you let Older but not Wiser, (the aunt who falsely accused her niece of theft) off too lightly. On the stated facts, she should expect a defamation suit by her niece, and she should expect to lose it. She cant duck the liability, but she might reduce the amount of the judgment if she apologized to her niece through the same media, as broadly and as loudly as she defamed her in the first place. This is one instance where the common law, common decency and common sense all point in the same direction. But she would have to accept responsibility for the consequences of her misbehavior, which she seems unwilling to do. H.C. Macgill, Dean Emeritus, University of Connecticut School of Law Dear H.C.: Like many readers, I was absolutely appalled by this aunts behavior. Thank you for weighing in on the legality of this situation. CHAS. HOFELT FOUND GUILTY IN FRAUD CASE Government Tried Douglas Man on Charge of Using Mails to Defraud, Instead of Luring Girls Into State of Arizona After being out fifteen minutes, the jury in the case of Charles Hofelt, charged with misusing the mails by transmitting fraudulent newspaper advertisements, returned a verdict of guilty as charged in the indictment. It had been intended to try Hofelt on a charge of luring girls to Douglas for improper purposes on promise of employment, but yesterday the government decided to try him on another indictment. On this charge, Hofelt was alleged to have inserted in Denver and Los Angeles newspapers advertisements of a book selling for 25 cents, entitled, opportunities for Labor and Employment in Mexico. According to the evidence, Hofelt never mailed books for any of the 20 orders received, but did refund money after he was arrested. He claimed that he was to get the books from a man named J. C. Carson. Inspector Stone, of the postal service, testified that in an interview with Hofelt he admitted that Carlson was a fictitious person. Hofelt denied this on the stand and maintained that Carson resided in El Paso. Testimony to the effect that Hofelt had afterwards inserted an advertisement in the El Paso Herald for a housekeeper, signing Carlsons name, was introduced, and numerous letters from applicants were exhibited to the jury, many of them being from widows. Addresses to the jury were made by Attorney A. I. Winsett, representing Hofelt, and Attorneys Pattee and Flynn for the government. The case against Mrs. Nellie Wiseman, charged with conspiracy to violate the immigration law by bringing in a girl for improper purposes, will probably be begun this morning in the federal court. Duffel bags filled with stuffed animals and books to calm children during a crisis were recently distributed to Tucson police officers by the nonprofit organization Books to the Rescue-Pima County. The nine duffel bags, which hold up to 40 books each, will be handed out to some patrol officers and to detectives who deal with child abuse and assault cases. I wanted to help children in emergency situations, said Jennifer Dillon, founder and the program coordinator for Books to the Rescue. Dillon said she learned about the program through a friend who started one in Greene County, Ohio. I was moved by the program and decided to start it here, said Dillon, who met with Tucson Police Department officers and the Pima County Sheriffs Department last year. Dillon said the program struck an emotional chord because she remembered how upset her then 3-year-old son was when she was involved in a serious car crash eight years ago. The crash was in the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant at East 22nd Street and South Columbus Boulevard. She recalled that the driver of a truck that was traveling at a high-rate of speed crashed into the drivers door of her vehicle. My son was petrified. He was so scared. I couldnt get him to calm down, said Dillon, recalling that her son, who was strapped into a car seat, was not injured. In January, she began working on fundraising campaigns and teamed up with the nonprofit group Mended Little Hearts of Tucson, which now houses Books to the Rescue. Dillon is a volunteer for Mended Little Hearts of Tucson, a support group for families that have children born with congenital heart defects. Community support and donations so far have provided 360 books to Books for the Rescue. The materials include coloring books and activity books, along with stuffed toys for TPD officers to hand out to children they encounter in traffic collisions, domestic violence incidents and abuse cases. The materials are for infants on up to age 16. Dillon is working on collecting materials to fill up 10 duffel bags that will be handed out to sheriffs deputies in coming weeks. New books and new stuffed animals for Books to the Rescue-Pima County can be dropped off at the following locations: Sahuaro Trophy, 2616 E. Broadway. Arts Pit Shop, 5656 E. Speedway. The Advanced Open MRI, 3970 N. Campbell Ave. Speed Auto Seat Covers, 1500 N. Oracle Road UPS Store, 899 E. Silverlake Road. On the Border, 5205 E. Broadway. For monetary donations or more information, you can contact Dillon at 409-1751. More information can also be found on the organizations website at www.tucsonbookstotherescue.org or its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/books4firstresponders . PHOENIX A U.S. citizen is suing the federal government after she said she was taken in handcuffs by border officers to a Nogales hospital for a body cavity search which found nothing and then billed for the procedure. Ashley Cervantes says in her lawsuit that she had crossed into Mexico on foot in October 2014 to have breakfast at a restaurant where she often eats. On returning, she presented border officials with her birth certificate and state identification card. Attorney Brian Marchetti said they accused the woman, 18 at the time, of possessing drugs. When she denied that was true, they took her into a detention room where, during the next several hours, she was handcuffed to a chair, had several dogs sniff her, and eventually taken into a separate room where she was patted down and asked to squat so female investigators could visually inspect her. All that, said Marchetti, occurred without her consent or a warrant. In fact, he said, a request to call her mother was denied. It was what happened next that Marchetti charges clearly violated his client's rights. He said an agent of Customs and Border Protection signed a "Treatment Authorization Request'' to have her taken to a medical facility as an alleged "potential internal carrier of foreign substance.'' That form, he said, requested an X-ray. Instead, Marchetti said Cervantes was taken in handcuffs to Carondelet Holy Cross Hospital where a doctor conducted a body cavity search. "Ashley had never before been to a gynecologist and, for the remainder of her life, will always remember that her first pelvic and rectal exams where under the most inhumane circumstances imaginable to a U.S. citizen at a hospital on U.S. soil,'' Marchetti charges in his lawsuit. No drugs ever were found, Marchetti said, and his client was released after about seven hours. The attorney said the problem goes beyond the decisions by federal agents. He charged that the hospital has no protections in place to ensure that searches sought by law enforcement comply with constitutional requirements. A spokesman for Customs and Border Protection declined to comment. But the agency's policy says that body cavity searches must be approved by a supervisor "and after obtaining consent or a search warrant.'' It also says that consent to X-rays "must be freely and voluntarily given'' or a court order is required. A request for comment from the hospital yielded no response. Marchetti did not dispute that standards for searches of someone crossing into the country, even a U.S. citizen, may be different than someone stopped by police elsewhere. But he told Capitol Media Services none of that excuses what happened to Cervantes. "Wherever the line is, it's crossed here where you have an American citizen who, by the way, the most trouble she's ever been in is an hour of detention her freshman year of high school,'' he said. "Whether or not the border exception applies here, we would certainly submit the search needs to be reasonable,'' Marchetti said. And even if "reasonable minds'' could disagree on whether an X-ray might have been appropriate, that was not the course taken by Customs and Border Protection. And Marchetti said if the invasion of his client's body was not enough, that was not the end. The hospital had one more thing. "They even billed her parents for the 'treatment' for $575,'' he said. The case will be heard in front of a federal judge in Tucson. A pedestrian killed Monday night crossing West Valencia Road, west of Interstate 19, has been identified. Tucson police said Eunice Helen Ortega, 43, died after being hit by a truck as she was crossing in the 1600 block of West Valencia. Police said Ortega was not in a crosswalk when she was struck by a westbound 2007 Dodge pickup truck. Speed does not appear to be a factor and there were no signs of impairment of the truck driver, police said. No citations have been issued. A Tucson man was sentenced to 10 years in prison Monday after being found guilty of a chemical bomb attack. Todd Russell Fries, former owner of Burns Power Washing, was sentenced Monday in Pima County Superior Court after a jury found him guilty in March of two counts of attempted first-degree murder. He also was convicted of 22 other charges, including arson, kidnapping, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and endangerment. The charges stemmed from an elaborate campaign of terror aimed at two former clients of Fries' company on Tucson's northwest side. The plot began with a dispute over a few hundred dollars and culminated with the burning of chlorine tablets mixed with other chemicals outside the couple's home in 2009. The fire spewed a chlorine plume that prosecutors said spread a mile wide over the neighborhood. Fries is already serving a 17-year prison term in federal prison for convictions in 2012 and 2013 of unlawful possession and use of a chemical weapon, providing false information to federal agents, and possession of unregistered destructive devices. His term in state prison will begin after he completes his time in federal prison. A Tucson man was sentenced to 10 years in state prison Monday after being found guilty of a chemical bomb attack. Todd Russell Fries, former owner of Burns Power Washing, is already serving time in federal prison for earlier convictions in the same case. He was sentenced Monday in Pima County Superior Court on state charges after a jury found him guilty in March of two counts of attempted first-degree murder. He also was convicted of 22 other charges, including arson, kidnapping, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and endangerment. The charges stemmed from an elaborate campaign of terror aimed at two former clients of Fries company on Tucsons northwest side. The plot began with a dispute over a few hundred dollars and culminated with the burning of chlorine tablets mixed with other chemicals outside a couples home in 2009. Their front door was sealed so they had to escape the house through a back door, where the found another smoking device. The fire spewed a chlorine plume that prosecutors said spread a mile wide over the neighborhood. Fries campaign against the couple also included writing anti-Semitic graffiti on their home, as well as spreading used oil and placing a dead coyote on their driveway. Prosecutors said during the trial that Fries used similar tactics against another client. After a search warrant was executed on Fries home, authorities found books on revenge that were an instruction manual for this case, prosecutors said. Fries is already serving a 17-year prison term in federal prison for convictions in 2012 and 2013 of unlawful possession and use of a chemical weapon, providing false information to federal agents and possession of unregistered destructive devices. His term in state prison will begin after he completes his time in federal prison. Editor Curt has been with the Star since 2015. He covered the border, immigration and federal courts. He now is the Opinion editor at the Star. He previously worked at the Nogales International. Layla Rodriguezs mother has been a mariachi musician since high school. Its been in my life for as long as I can remember, said the soon-to-be Pueblo High School freshman. Naturally, she also took an interest in the music. Rodriguez plays the trumpet and is spending her summer break playing music in the Sunnyside Unified School Districts summer mariachi program. The four-week program, facilitated by the Sunnyside districts musical directors, serves about 20 children from across the Tucson area, said Daniel Dong, the program coordinator and musical director at Lauffer Middle School. Mariachi has deep ties to the Sunnyside community, he said. The program seeks to deepen those ties with the rest of the community. Were hoping to allow students to really gain appreciation for mariachi music, he said. One recent morning, students from third to eighth grades filled the mariachi room at Sunnyside High School, where the program is being administered. The group is in its second week, and some students came to the program not knowing how to play musical instruments, Dong said. But now, the kids have about four songs in their repertoire. By the end of the program, the students will know six to eight songs, he said. Aneisa Jaure had never been in a mariachi group before, though most of her family members in Mexico are involved in mariachi in one way or another. I decided to do it so I can be like them, the soon-to-be fifth-grader said. She is one of the students who didnt know how to play an instrument. Aneisa picked the violin, which she said her mother also plays. When she returns to Gallego Intermediate 4-8 Fine Arts Magnet School for the new school year, she hopes to join its mariachi program. And maybe, she says, a career as a professional mariachi musician is in the future. Rodriguez, the new Pueblo freshman-to-be, said she plans to continue participating in mariachi when she advances to high school. If this experience can continue into a career, thats even better, she said. Timothy DesJarlais A former staffer for Pima County Supervisor Ally Miller has admitted to repeated lies in an attempt to hide a political blog he had secretly started while working in her office. On Monday, Timothy DesJarlais, 19, acknowledged he created the blog called the Arizona Daily Herald to report on local issues and used an old pseudonym Jim Falken to write because no one would take anything seriously since I worked for (Miller). Using the Falken name, DesJarlais now says he sent emails to county supervisors and supervisor candidates requesting comment on Millers proposed road improvement plan as part of the online news site. During a Board of Supervisors meeting, DesJarlais says he accidentally posted pictures to the Herald site rather than Millers Facebook page as planned. Confronted about his link the blog the same day, the 19-year-old admitted to making a fatal mistake, by denying involvement and blaming John Dalton. From there, DesJarlais compounded the lies with false statements to various media organizations. He also filed a report with the FBI with his then-boss Miller, suggesting someone had assumed his online alter-ego, Jim Falken, in an attempt to disrupt Millers office and re-election campaign. As late as last Friday, DesJarlais continued to stick to his story, buying the Arizona Daily Herald website, but failed to change information that traced the site back to him. In the last few days, DesJarlais became resigned to the conclusion that the odds of maintaining the cover were against him. In an email to Miller Monday DesJarlais said he rebooted the site, buying it from myself, hoping that perhaps people would think there was no way I was originally behind it. Such a plan seemed good in my head but of course backfired. Ultimately, after trying to deny my involvement, I knew I had no choice but to come forward and tell you the whole and full truth, and put myself at your mercy, he wrote. Three days earlier, DesJarlais called his former boss paranoid in an attempt to deflect attention from himself. DesJarlais, a candidate for a seat on the Marana Unified School District board, wont be getting any forgiveness from Miller in his rambling confession. Miller says she stood by Desjarlais when he maintained he was not involved with the site, but now wants to see him prosecuted. Pointing to a stack of public records requests in one of her offices, Miller said DesJarlais lies went too far, costing her office time and money as they tried to track down the various people her former staffer had created through a series of fake phone numbers and email addresses. DesJarlais could be under investigation by several law enforcement agencies. Miller filed reports with both the FBI and the Tucson Police Department. The Pima County Sheriffs Office and the Pima County Attorneys Office also had been asked to look into the incident. DesJarlais did not return a call seeking comment on Monday. The latest figures from the Arizona Department of Health Services are promising for parents of young children concerned about immunizations. Only six of 231 preschools in Pima County have high percentages of preschoolers whose parents have opted not to have their children vaccinated to prevent childhood infectious diseases, according to state data provided to the Star. The higher number of children not immunized makes it hard to establish within a group such as a school what health officials call "herd immunity." Without that herd immunity disease outbreaks can occur. For most vaccines, herd immunity occurs when 90 percent or more of a particular group are vaccinated. For measles its usually considered 95 percent since the disease is so contagious. Parents in Arizona can request an exemption in order not to have their children immunized if they object to vaccinations for religious or personal beliefs. Children can also be exempt from vaccinations for medical reasons. The Arizona Daily Star's immunization database, which covers the 2014-15 school year, allows parents to search by individual school rates for the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination as well as the exemption rate for individuals citing a personal belief exemption, as well as children who have medical issues that prevent them from getting vaccines. Finally, the database uses state figures to show the percentage of students who are fully vaccinated for various infectious diseases. The data, however, is not complete. The state does not provide vaccination rates for smaller preschools, withholding data from those with fewer than 20 children. There were 116 preschools in Pima County exempt from reporting under the state's guidelines. Dr. Elizabeth Jacobs, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Arizonas Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, is concerned with a growing trend for some parents to skip not only the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccinations, but all of their children's shots. She was concerned about the rise in the number of parents deciding against the DTaP vaccine, which protects against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis. "What kind of alarmed me looking at the spreadsheets," Jacobs said. "You are losing coverage for three potential pathogens." She said there have been recent outbreaks of pertussis, also known as whooping cough. Jacobs said these diseases pose a serious threat. "We always say an outbreak is just one plane ride away," she said. In Pima County, the Tucson Waldorf School's preschool, 3605 E. River Road, had the highest percentage of non-medical exemptions among reporting preschools one-third of the children enrolled in the preschool, the state data shows. In 2013, the figure for the school was 50 percent. Rebecca Briamonte, the enrollment director for the Tucson Waldorf School, said the school avoids discussing why a parent might choose not to vaccinate their children. However, the school has stringent protocols on immunization and asks parents to avoid using a "waiver of convenience." As an example, the parent may intend to get the child to the doctor to be vaccinated but not in time for it to be reported to the state. Dr. Francisco Garcia, Pima County Health Department director, said while the numbers of children who have not been vaccinated are alarming, some of the numbers from smaller preschools could potentially be overstated. He said his staff has learned in the last two years that smaller preschools don't have a lot of experience with filling out the state-required forms and has led to some figures misstated. But he is still an advocate for the release of these figures. You wont need a map to help you find the best Mexican food in the United States this weekend: Just head to the JW Marriott Tucson Starr Pass Resort & Spa for The Tucson 23, a Mexican food festival celebrating the nations top 23 miles of Mexican cuisine as designated by Visit Tucson. The festival will feature food and beverage samplings from more than 25 restaurants in the area centered primarily on the city of South Tucson, downtown and lower midtown, along with several outliers. This is the best 23 miles of Mexican food in America. There really is no other concentration of authentic, high quality Mexican food like this in the country. We want to draw attention to that fact and to what a great opportunity it is for people who live in Tucson or are visiting Tucson to experience this in one place, said Cait Huble, communications director of the Southern Arizona Arts and Cultural Alliance, which has partnered with title sponsor Visit Tucson and JW Marriott Tucson to stage the event. Huble said festival attendees can expect to sample regional Mexican cuisine and traditional favorites many from family owned eateries ranging from five pork carnitas by El Charro Cafe and achiote braised pork with grilled pineapple by Penca to machaca tacos and Mexican street corn by Blanco Taco & Tequila. Breweries and distilleries will also offer tastings of beer and craft spirits. This event helps to celebrate the real heritage food movement that is growing in Tucson. It is a great collection of restaurants. Many people might not be aware of them and we thought people could use an introduction. If people are not actually living in South Tucson, they may not have discovered them yet, Huble said. Overall, the event is designed to encourage the public to expand perceptions of art. We want people to discover amazing food and new restaurants and continue to frequent them. We want people to realize that getting out of your comfort zone is a great way to experience new things and new forms of art, which is what are all about at SAACA. We consider food a form of art, she said. The alliance has been on a mission to create, advance and preserve the arts and culture in Southern Arizona since its inception in 1997 as the Greater Oro Valley Arts Council. Last year, the nonprofit collaboration of artists, individuals, businesses and government agencies produced more than 150 culturally diverse programs and events while facilitating opportunities for more than 200,000 distinctive arts experiences in Southern Arizona. Popular offerings include SAVOR Food & Wine Festival and the annual Salsa & Tequila Challenge. The alliance is also a major proponent of arts education through numerous programs including Creative Arts Therapy, which uses a multidisciplinary arts integration method to provide healing through music, writing, visual arts and community arts. Through a partnership formed in 2014 with the Southern Arizona VA Health Care System, it provides rehabilitation services to visually disabled veterans as well as those with traumatic brain injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder and other disabilities. In 2015, the program served more than 5,000 veterans; services were also expanded to 2,100 seniors and residents in local assisted living and retirement facilities. Additionally, with the support of Watermark Retirement Communities, the alliance launched Music & Memory, a nonprofit that provides patients who have life-limiting illnesses with iPods loaded with personalized music playlists. This is an incredible program that we implemented at The Fountains at La Cholla in the dementia unit that has had amazing impact on the patients. The part of the brain that stores music is the last to succumb to memory loss. So when they hear music from their childhood that triggers old memories, it is just like flipping a switch. They become so animated and alive, Huble said. Huble said the alliance also works with local companies to help integrate the arts into their core business models through the Southern Arizona Business Committee for the Arts. Last year, it provided arts experiences for 2,100 employees in the workplace. Arts experiences in the workplace have been shown to create a happier, more unified environment and as the younger generations join the workplace, it is important to create a well-rounded environment. You want them to be satisfied: It leads to better retention, less turnover and more productivity, Huble said. Ultimately, the arts in traditional and non-traditional forms simply improve quality of life for the entire community, according to Huble. At the end of the day, our goal is to increase the definition of what art means. It is not just sitting at a chamber concert or going to a gallery. It is also the pinstripe on a classic car or chalk art or culinary art. We are broadening the definition for each individual, she said. WASHINGTON Was it homegrown terrorism, hatred or random gun violence? Americans searching for answers after the Orlando shootings are finding no easy solutions from President Barack Obama, who is conceding that a deadly mix of extremism and easy gun access have made future tragedies almost a foregone conclusion. In the days after the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history, Obama has offered no simple prescriptions or promises for new action even as the candidates vying for his job put forward aggressive plans of their own. Instead, the president has suggested the root causes behind a "disturbed" man's actions are difficult to determine and may be less important than a sort of "soul searching" about what to do about it. "We know that at some point there are going to be, out of 300 million, there are going to be some individuals who find for whatever reason that kind of horrible propaganda enticing," Obama said Monday. "And if that happens, and that person can get a weapon, that's a problem." The comments were Obama's most direct acknowledgment yet that the attacks like the one in Orlando may be a new fixture of American life the sort of observation that could only be delivered by a second-term president with seven months left in office. Obama's two-prong message, delivered with weary resignation to reporters, was unlikely to quell the fears of those hoping such attacks will never happen again. But the president has seemed to embrace his end-of-term role. He's also mindful that his administration has overseen the dawn of a new era of domestic attacks and it is incumbent to try to explain the forces at play. The White House began pointing in various directions on Monday, defending the administration at each turn while announcing Obama would travel to Orlando on Thursday to "stand in solidarity with the community." There appeared to be no missteps at the FBI, which had interviewed presumed shooter Omar Mateen in the past, Obama said. Although Mateen wasn't on any watch list at the time, Obama blasted as "crazy" a system in which law enforcement officials weren't alerted when he purchased the assault rifle and handgun used in the attack. White House spokesman Josh Earnest revived the White House's oft-repeated critique of Republicans for blocking "common-sense" gun legislation. Though he declared the president was not resigned to accept the outbreak of mass violence as normal and described considerable "presidential frustration," he did not outline any new push for gun control measures. The Orlando attack comes as the White House had begun touting new progress against the Islamic State group, one of the groups that Mateen claimed to follow as he carried out the attack. Last week, the U.S. envoy to the anti-IS coalition argued that the group's morale was "plummeting" and its funding and recruiting were drying up. Brett McGurk said that IS had lost half its territory in Iraq and that the U.S. and its partners were killing an IS leader about every three days. Obama had planned to echo that message publicly following a National Security Council meeting on Tuesday that will now take on a much less sanguine tone. The juxtaposition has illustrated that "going after terrorists over there," as Obama put it last year, has not seemed to lessen the risk of terrorism at home. That's especially true when it comes to so-called "homegrown extremism" or "lone wolves" phrases used to describe instances where individuals in the U.S., inspired by groups like IS, take it upon themselves to plan and execute deadly attacks at home. "It is a perverse reaction to the success that we are having on the geographic battlefield," said Wendy Sherman, Obama's former undersecretary of state. "As a result, ISIS is looking to show that it still is powerful, and one of the ways it does that is to claim 'lone wolf,' because they don't have to come to Syria or Iraq or Libya." Obama has long conceded that there's no surefire way to detect those attacks in advance, tacitly putting Americans on notice that some level of violence is inevitable. The FBI said last month it was monitoring more than 1,000 people who are potentially at risk for radicalization and violence. Though the U.S. has made countering extremist ideologies especially online a key component of its anti-IS strategy, the effectiveness of those efforts is called into doubt by continued attacks by people found later to have been inspired by IS from thousands of miles away. "It is, that if we have self-radicalized individuals in this country, then they are going to be very difficult oftentimes to find ahead of time," Obama said. ___ CHEYENNE, Wyo. Gov. Matt Mead and Interior Secretary Sally Jewell announced a deal Monday under which the Interior Department would buy a square mile of state land inside Grand Teton National Park for $46 million, a big step toward ensuring the pristine property remains in public hands. Under the deal, Congress would appropriate $23 million toward the purchase price. The Grand Teton National Park Foundation and National Park Foundation would provide the rest and have raised $5 million toward that goal, according to Interior. The sagebrush-covered property in Jackson Hole, owned by Wyoming since statehood, offers a wide view of the iconic Teton Range. The land never became part of the busy park in western Wyoming despite being surrounded by park land on all sides. The sale, along with the potential sale of one other square-mile piece of state land in the park, would need to be completed by the end of this year. Otherwise the state could put the land up for sale at a public auction. "I am not alone in the belief that commercial development of these lands is inconsistent with the natural values of the area," Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said in a release. A growing movement in Western states including Wyoming seeks to wrest control of federal lands from the federal government, not the other way around. But Wyoming for years has wanted the Interior Department to buy or trade for its land in Grand Teton. The problem: While Wyoming could, and did, lease the land for cattle grazing, the revenue was a pittance compared to the land's value. In 2010, Gov. Dave Freudenthal went so far as to threaten to sell to the highest bidder. Federal officials within months agreed to a $107 million deal under which Interior would buy all state land within the park, totaling more than two square miles, in four phases over three years. The first two sales of inconsequential mineral rights for $2,000 in 2012, and 86 acres of state land for $16 million later that year, went through as planned. Federal officials in 2014 missed a deadline to buy the section covered by Monday's announcement. Instead, federal and state officials began negotiating a possible swap for federal land elsewhere in the state. This latest agreement also could apply to a remaining square-mile piece of state land on the eastern boundary of Grand Teton. Interior originally agreed to buy that property for $46 million by the end of 2015. State land inholdings are just one of Grand Teton's unusual legal features. The compromise legislation that established Grand Teton to its modern boundaries in 1950 also allows cattle grazing and an annual public elk hunt. ___ Follow Mead Gruver at https://twitter.com/meadgruver Help India! By TCN News Members of the Association of Indian Muslims of America (AIM) unanimously passed a resolution strongly condemning the horrible terrorist attack on civilians in a social club in Orlando, Florida on June 11 by a terrorist who happened to be Muslim. It resulted in grievous loss of life of about 49 people and severe injuries to about 65 people. It is most galling that this individual perpetrated this gory violence in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan when Muslims all over the world fast, pray and try to be on their best behavior. Support TwoCircles Speaking on behalf of the congregation of Indian-American Muslims Kaleem Kawaja, the Executive Director of the Association, invoked the basic teachings of Quran the holy scripture of Muslims and Hadith the sayings of Prophet Mohammad, wherein the scriptures have strongly enjoined Muslims to not commit violence to anyone with whom they may have any differences in the areas of religion, politics or social behavior. The scriptures advise Muslims that if they observe anyone indulging in acts that they perceive as objectionable, they are allowed to only convey their opinion to them, but under no circumstances use force for the same. And under no circumstances they are allowed to commit violence to civilians. The assembly of Indian-American Muslims mourned the needless loss of lives of so many people and appealed to the US government to take strong and effective preemptive steps to root out acts of hate violence, random violence and terrorist actions. The Association pledged to cooperate with the US government agencies in this area. Help India! By Shafeeq Hudawi, Twocircles.net Palakkad: In yet another incident of attack on media persons by members of political parties in Kerala, a group of BJP workers attacked and threatened to murder media persons at Ottapalam here on Tuesday. The incident took place around 1.30 pm on the premises of a court in Ottapalam when reporters were capturing the visuals of BJP members accused in a case related to a political violence at Nellaya. Support TwoCircles Shyam Kumar, a reporter with Asianet News, was manhandled by BJP workers who also destroyed his camera and mobile phone of the news team. A man, who led the attack, threatened the media persons with murder. We have hacked (opponents) when we did not have neither MLA nor power at centre. We will finish you, the man was heard saying in video clips of the attack. Sreejith, a reporter of Reporter channel and Anoop, a cameraman of City channel were also attacked. They sought medical treatment at Ottapalm taluk hospital. The police allegedly stood mute witness to the incident. Shoranur MLA P.K. Shashi of CPM had the other day censured the police officials of the region alleging that they were not taking any action against the culprits in the Nellaya case. Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala, former chief minister Oommen Chandy and KPCC chief V.M. Sudheeran condemned the attack on journalists and sought immediate action against the culprits. Some of the best works of literature have real life counterparts that inspired the story we've come to know so well and yet, sometimes the famous fictional account of a historic incident is more interesting than the story that inspired it. For Herman Melville's famous novel 'Moby Dick,' Melville used his own experience woking on a whaling ship as well as a number of shipwreck accounts as the basis for his novel. One of the wrecks, the Essex, happened as a result of an albino sperm whale ramming into the hull of the ship, causing it to sink. 'In the Heart of the Sea,' directed by Ron Howard and starring Chris Hemsworth, Benjamin Walker, Cillian Murphy, Ben Whishaw and Brendan Gleeson tries incredibly hard to tell a convincing and exciting version of the story that inspired one of the greatest literary works ever created, but some uneven performances, a lack of story focus and heavy-handed dramatics work against what should otherwise have been a thrilling tall tale of adventure and survival. in the 19th century, whaling is a global industry. The streets and homes of the modern world are lit and run on the liquid gold that comes from the melting of whale blubber. As demand increases so does the danger that comes from hunting the supply to the furthest reaches of the planet. With more and more ships going out every season, competition has become fierce and the need for experienced whalers like Owen Chase (Chris Hemsworth). Chase proudly wears two lance pins on his lapel - a shining measure of his accomplishments as a whaler. He's so good at his job that after his last voyage he was promised command of his own ship - but that promise was broken after the expensive retrofit of the whaling vessel Essex. Because the company believes they need a captain of high-society family reputation in order to fund the expedition, they hired Captain George Pollard (Benjamin Walker) leaving Chase as the first mate of the vessel. As the crew for the Essex is assembled, including experienced whalers like Matthew Joy (Cillian Murphy) and a young greenhorn by the name of Thomas Nickerson (Tom Holland), the men set out on a two-year voyage to hunt down and process whales into oil. Quickly, Chase and Captain Pollard butt heads and fail to see eye to eye at every turn. Chase is a common man who knows the business and how to run a ship effectively while Pollard comes from a family of wealth and means who himself has little to no experience aboard a whaling ship. With every command either refuted or obstinately obeyed, the two men form a slender truce to get them through the voyage as quickly as possible. Only the migrating whale pods remain elusive lengthening the expedition. While docked in South America for supplies, Pollard and Chase hear from a stranded Spanish crew that the whales have moved a thousand leagues east, away from coastal waters. It is there that the Spanish crew hunted, and their ship was ultimately destroyed by a demon of the deep, a gigantic male albino sperm whale. Shrugging off the Spaniards' warning as fear and failure, Pollard orders the crew back to the ship and the Essex heads a thousand leagues west into uncharted waters. Only the Spaniards weren't telling tall tales or suffered from fear of the sea. When the crew sets out into their rowboats to hunt, a mammoth whale attacks and breaches the hull of the Essex forcing the crew to gather their precious few supplies and seek refuge into their small rowboats over 2000 nautical miles from South America. What was originally a hunt for wealth and the future quickly escalates into a fight for survival as Chase and Pollard fail to see eye to eye how to save the lives of the crewmen - with the great white whale following closely behind. 'In the Heart of the Sea' Is a film that tries desperately to make the audience care about the characters and the suffering their real life counterparts endured, but because of a misguided framing device, the audience never gets to truly know who anyone is. 'In the Heart of the Sea' opens with Herman Melville (Ben Whishaw) arriving at Nantucket in the dead of night to a lodging house owned by the grown, weary, and haunted Thomas Nickerson (Brendan Gleeson). Melville has been haunted by the rumors surrounding the sinking of the Essex and is desperate to hear the truth as he is working on a book of the event. The rest of the film plays as a retelling of events through the eyes of the younger Thomas Nickerson. While this sort of framing device could have worked if the film itself had been half an hour longer, instead, it eats up so much of the two-hour runtime that true characters fail to emerge and the story suffers for it. Going into 'In the Heart of the Sea,' I was well aware of the story of the Essex and what happened to her crew and how the men had to resort to extreme measures to survive 90 days adrift at sea. I had to do a research report about Melville's 'Moby Dick' in high school and I came across some material pertaining to the actual events that took place. It's a fascinating story and it is one that should have made a great movie. Unfortunately, 'In the Heart of the Sea' is not that movie. Not to knock their performances any, but the jumping back and forth to Brenden Gleeson's older Nickerson and Ben Whishaw's Melville proves to be a constant distraction from establishing character depth and story momentum. Just when things are about to get interesting between Chase and Pollard, there is an unnecessary cut back to Melville listening to Nickerson recount his story. This framing device also hampers any buildup of suspense, especially because this is ultimately a movie about survival. By listening to a story from a survivor, we begin to have a clear idea of who is going to survive. And because so much needless time is spent reestablishing who is telling the story, we don't get to know any of the rest of the crew in a way that better ocean voyage movies like 'Master and Commander' managed to do. Because we don't know who anyone is, it's hard to care or feel anything when someone dies either because of the whale's attack or when the men have to resort to extreme measures to survive. Ron Howard is a man who has proven himself time and time again to be a more than capable director of big idea films and under normal circumstances can bring a film home in fine order. Unfortunately with 'In the Heart of the Sea,' his visual stylings are undercut by a rather weak script by Charles Leavitt. Characters are so thinly drawn that performances by its leading cast of Chris Hemsworth and Benjamin Walker as Owen Chase and Captain George Pollard respectively never emerge beyond basic archetypes. When the movie should be working towards building the suspense and danger of a whale hunt, it diverges into a paint-by-numbers examination of inherited wealth versus natural ability and courage. While the first half of the film works, for the most part, it's a protracted second act that leads to a limp conclusion that ultimately sinks 'In the Heart of the Sea.' For such a well-produced film with a very talented cast and a director who usually has a strong handling of action and drama, I was surprised at how unfulfilling this film was. 'In the Heart of the Sea' is a mass of good ideas that never come together to create a memorable film and instead sinks into the depths of mediocrity. The Blu-ray: Vital Disc Stats 'In the Heart of the Sea' comes with an UHD 4K Blu-ray Disc as well as standard 50GB Blu-ray Disc. There is an insert for the digital download code. The discs are housed in an eco-friendly hard black plastic case with a cardboard sleeve. Wonder kid at WWDC Anvitha Vijay, a nine-year-old Indian-origin wonder girl from Australia, has become the youngest app developer at WWDC 2016, Apples annual developer conference, with her apps for children, according to a report by Fortune. At WWDC she will get an opportunity to rub shoulders with the top award-winning Apple developers from around the world. Tim Cook singled out Anvitha at WWDC Anvitha was singled out by Apple CEO Tim Cook as one of the best, brightest, and youngest app developers in the world. Tim Cook used his keynote speech at WWDC in San Francisco to highlight Apple sponsored 350 students invited to Apples event, while showering praise on the youngest participant Anvita. Out of 350 recipients of Apple scholarship, 22% are women Every year Apple gives away free tickets to hundreds of students to attend the WWDC. Out of 350 lucky recipients this year, 120 are students under the age of 18. The number of women who applied for the scholarship tripled this year and 22% of scholarship winners are women, which is an increase from last year. Anvitha taught herself coding, watching YouTube videos She taught herself how to code when she was just seven, using YouTube and online videos. Anvitha wanted to make an app that would help her toddler sister to identify animals. Two years later Smartkins Animals,' an educational app aimed at small kids made it into Apple's App Store. The iOS app helped her to win one of the 350 Apple scholarships for young coders to attend WWDC. Her interactive Smartkins Animals app helps kids identify over 100 animal names and sounds. Her next app, Smartkins Rainbow Colors, is designed to help young kids learn about colors. She won Student Edge $10,000 Media kit Prize at the OzApp awards in Australia This Mount View Primary School student from Melbourne designed and prototyped the app GoalsHi, over the summer holidays, for which she won Student Edge $10,000 Media kit Prize at the OzApp awards in Australia in 2015. Anvithas mother Buvana Vijay, a business adviser with IBM is the inspiration for her daughter. Her father is a capital projects manager for APA Group. Works and thinks like a seasoned professional Anvitha is already focused on her next app, which will set the goal of empowering young girls and help them develop confidence in the classroom. She used Apple's Swift coding language to develop the second app, and now keen to get her hands on Swift Playground, Apple's new app announced at WWDC, which teaches children to code. Describing her coding experience, the nine-year-old said like a professional developer, that it required a lot of hard work to turn the idea into an app and processes like prototyping, designing, wireframing, coding, and testing. Steve Jobs is her role model Apple co-founder and former chief executive Steve Jobs is Anvithas role model. Like Steve Jobs, she also wants to be one of the top entrepreneurs in the world. She is also like any other normal kid on the block, who likes to play with her friends and roller-skate. We use cookies and similar technologies to personalize contents and ads, to provide social media features and to analyze our traffic. We also share some information about the way you use our site with our partners who deal with web analytics, advertising and social media content: our partners may combine it with other information that you have provided them or that they have collected from the use of their services. To find out in detail which cookies we use on the site, read our Cookie Policy . You can consent to the use of these technologies by clicking the "Accept" button on this banner or you can close it by clicking on the "X", in this case the default settings will be maintained and that does not allow the use of cookies or other tracking tools other than technologycal ones. To change your choices at any time, click on Tracking Management. Confession: Ex-official calls hiding in US a 'dead end' Updated: 2016-06-14 07:49 By Zhang Yi(China Daily) The country's top anti-graft agency published a confession on Sunday by a former official who returned from the United States after more than 2 1/2 years in hiding. The agency pledged that there would be no letup in hunting down others overseas. The 3,400-word confession by Wang Guoqiang, former Party chief in Fengcheng, Liaoning province, was published on the website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, together with a commentary expressing the commission's determination to catch corrupt officials who have left the country. Wang went to the US on a regular Chinese passport in April 2012, 20 days after he was removed from his post as the top official in Fengcheng. He stayed there for 32 months before returning to China. He was prosecuted shortly afterward. In his confession, Wang elaborated on the rough conditions of his US stay, describing it as a "nightmare in my life", and he warned anyone who has the idea of sneaking overseas against what he characterized as a "dead end". "I dared not use my passport, and my wife and I dared not meet our daughter, who was also in the US. If I were allowed to choose again between sitting in jail in China and merely surviving in the US, I would choose the former," Wang said. "I dared not to go to a hospital when I was sick because I feared my identity would be exposed. I had to rent with other people in case the police came and checked my passport." Wang turned himself in and arrived in Beijing in December 2014 after he learned China had started a sweeping anti-graft campaign to net those hiding overseas. He was the first official returning of his own accord since the campaign started in late 2012. In a separate article, the commission criticized the practice of some foreign countries that provide shelter for those involved in corruption cases in the name of protecting human rights. Attack on veteran in Taiwan condemned Updated: 2016-06-14 07:49 By Luo Wangshu and Hu Meidong in Xiamen and Peng Yining in Beijing(China Daily) A viral online video that shows a woman insulting a Chinese civil war veteran in Taiwan has drawn condemnation from officials and experts on both sides of the Straits. The two-minute clip filmed in a park in Kaohsiung shows Hung Su-chu, a self-proclaimed citizen journalist, confronting an elderly man who was among those who retreated to the island after the war ended in 1949. She first calls the man-identified later as 89-year-old Chow Fu-wen - a shameless mainland refugee and then demands he return to the mainland. Hung shared the video on her Facebook page on Thursday. She later removed it after receiving heavy criticism, but fellow users then shared the footage on other social media, and it went viral. Political leaders on the island were quick to condemn the video. Tsai Ing-wen, the Taiwan leader and head of the Democratic Progressive Party, issued a statement via social media on Friday that said no one should be attacked based on their identity. She forwarded a similarly critical post by Hung Hsiu-chu, chairwoman of the rival Kuomintang party, that read, "Any hate-filled remark, we should condemn; any prejudice against identity, we should prevent from spreading." "I'm the son of a veteran. I'm proud ofmy father," JasonHu, vice-chairman of the KMT, said on Sunday while attending the eighth Straits Forum in Xiamen, Fujian province. "The vast majority of the public in Taiwan condemn the video, which is narrow and splits society", Hu said. According to Taiwan-based Central News Agency, protesters gathered on Friday in front of the offices of Taiwan Civil Government, a pro-Taiwan-independence group that Hung Su-chu claimed to work for, in New Taipei City. Ina statement, the organization said, "The abuse of elderly veterans by Hung has nothing to do with Taiwan Civil Government." Huang Hai-lung, president of the Overseas Chinese Association, based in Taipei, said the video was an isolated case. "Clowns can be seen anywhere, during any period," he said. "We don't need to pay special attention to them. But at the same time we should be careful not to let them spread the sensation." Ni Yongjie, deputy director of the Shanghai Institute of Taiwan Studies, said the video doesn't represent mainstream thinking on the island. "On the contrary. The criticism from both sides shows the common view across the Straits and among political parties in Taiwan," he said. Country braces for onslaught of major storms this week Updated: 2016-06-14 07:49 By Zheng Jinran(China Daily) Even though heavy rain didn't arrive at Beijing Capital International Airport as predicted by 5 pm, more than 600 flights were canceled or delayed because of intermittent thunderstorms on Monday. Worse weather is predicted for the vast southern regions of China in coming days. Downpours are forecast to arrive on Tuesday and last until Thursday. The national meteorological authority announced on Monday that rain would cover 1 million square kilometers, the widest area of storms this year. Also on Monday, the national flood control authority released an emergency response plan to encourage increased readiness by local authorities. As of 3:30 pm, the intermittent rain in Beijing affected 698 flights through cancellations or delays at the city's major airport, according to the Mirror newspaper. The Beijing Meteorological Bureau said strong rainfall would start on Monday night, bringing with lightning, high winds and hail in certain regions. The airport also warned that rain would continue to affect flights through Wednesday. Storms in China's southern regions were expected to be harsh - "the strongest torrential rainfall with the largest coverage this year", Zhang Fanghua, chief forecaster at the Central Meteorological Observatory, said on Monday. Daily rainfall is expected to exceed 50 millimeters in the south, with pockets of heavier precipitation exceeding 100 millimeters, Zhang said. "Some cities in Hunan and Jiangxi provinces may see supertorrents, with rainfall exceeding historical records," she said. "Extreme daily rainfall in some regions could reach 350 millimeters." Heavy weather is expected to peak on Wednesday and then trickle down through Thursday before weakening and moving northward, which will affect Henan and Shandong provinces, the observatory predicted. "The heavy rains will increase the risks of flooding and geological disasters in the southern regions, which have been hammered since May," the chief forecaster said. The storms are the result of summer monsoons and a strong cold front in the northeast, said Niu Ruoyun, another forecaster at the observatory. In response to the increasing risk of floods and secondary disasters, the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters released a Level 4 emergency response plan, the lowest level in the four-tier national response system. It is the first such issuance this year. Since the start of flood season on May 21, China has seen rainfall 18 percent higher than average, which has especially affected southern rivers. Rainfall at Taihu Lake has been 75 percent above normal, the authority said. As of June 8, 15 provincial areas in South, Southwest and East China have been hit with floods and secondary disasters responsible for the deaths of 83 people. Direct economic losses reached 14.4 billion yuan ($2.2 billion), the headquarters said. zhengjinran@chinadaily.com.cn Top: Children play with ice in a kindergarten after heavy rain and hail blasted Harbin, Heilongjiang province, on Sunday. Sun Yan / For China Daily Bottom: A large number of passengers are stranded at the Beijing Capital International Airport on Monday because of the weather. Provided To China Daily (China Daily 06/14/2016 page5) Shanghai passengers meet tight security Updated: 2016-06-14 07:49 By Wang Ying in Shanghai(China Daily) Shanghai Pudong International Airport has beefed up security following two minor explosions on Sunday afternoon at about 2:26 pm. "For the safety of passengers and aircraft, the Pudong International Airport has strengthened its security check measures. Passengers are asked to arrive at the airport earlier and to cooperate with the security checks," the Shanghai Airport Authority said on Monday. The announcement was made one day after two bombs made from beer bottles filled with gunpowder exploded at a check-in counter at the airport's No 2 terminal, injuring four people. The Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau said the suspect, Zhou Xingbai, a 29-year-old man from Gui-zhou province, had been mired in financial problems and after indulging himself in online gambling had "borrowed a lot of money". "I'm prepared to do something really crazy that will definitely lead to my death," he said on WeChat. The case is still under investigation. "We advise our customers to arrive at the Pudong airport between three and four hours in advance," said Su Wei, an international air ticket broker. Before the explosion, there was no security check at the airport entrance, and the zone where passengers undergo a security check with their carry-on baggage was located beyond the check-in area, according to Su Weiwei, an official of the Shanghai Airport Authority. A passenger surnamed Zhang said that when he arrived at the airport he found a long line of domestic passengers going through security checks. "The security check was going slower than usual and it took me 70 minutes to complete the procedure. Passengers have to go through the procedure one by one, compared to four or five people at a time before the explosion," Zhang said. A microblogger called Shanghai Agnes wrote that her aircraft taxied for nearly 45 minutes and passengers waited for more than two hours to board a shuttle bus after she arrived in Shanghai from Seoul. A group of people pose with crayfishes at the International Crayfish Fair held at Xuyi county, Huai'an city in East China's Jiangsu province. More than 30,000 gourmets attended the event where over 30 tons of crayfishes were served by 76 restaurants, June 13, 2016. [Photo/IC] China, Vietnam agree to stabalize the sea Updated: 2016-06-14 10:07 By ZHANG YUNBI and LI XINYI in Yuxi, Yunnan province(chinadaily.com.cn) Beijing and Hanoi have jointly sent positive signals in furthering stability in the South China Sea, as well as good management of their divergences, as Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh on Monday. The two-way meeting was made on the sidelines of the Special China-ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting, which will be held on Tuesday in Yuxi, Yunnan province. Wang said the two countries should further implement the consensus reached by the party leaders and jointly champion peace and stability. The Vietnamese senior diplomat said his country was ready to "properly tackle maritime differences" based on the leaders' consensus. The two diplomats highlighted bilateral efforts in boosting strategic links between the two countries, namely the Belt and Road initiatives proposed by China and the "Two Corridors and One Economic Circle" proposed by Vietnam. Wang said China was ready to gear up the linking efforts and achieve cooperation in production capacity for the early harvest. Minh said Vietnam would continue advancing high-level exchanges with China and promote the link between the two strategies. China pulls 66 million rural people out of poverty in three years Updated: 2016-06-14 10:29 (Xinhua) Print Mail Large Medium Small 0 BEIJING - The number of people living in poverty in rural areas was reduced by 66.63 million from 2012 to 2015, said a government report released on Tuesday. China formulated the 12th Five-year Plan for Poverty Reduction Village By Village. By 2015, poverty alleviation projects covering 30,000 villages had been implemented, according to the report assessing the implementation of Human Rights Action Plan, which was released by the State Council Information Office. Total Investment reached 144.569 billion yuan (22 bln U.S. dollars), an average of 4.8 million yuan for each village, it said. From 2012 to 2015, the increase of residents' per capita disposable income surpassed the growth rate of GDP of the same period. The annual growth rate of the per-capita disposal income of urban residents and per-capita net income of rural residents were 7.5 percent and 9.2 percent respectively, the report said. During the same period, the State Development and Reform Commission allocated 21 billion yuan from the central budget for relocation of impoverished residents, which brought about an additional more than 200 billion yuan in local government input and various other investments, the report said, adding that about 8 million people in poverty have been relocated. The central government also allocated 771.7 billion yuan to support affordable housing projects, the report said. Equal rights to employment have been guaranteed. In 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015, 12.66 million, 13.1 million, 13.22 million and 13.12 million new urban jobs were created respectively, according to the report. The registered urban unemployment rate was kept within 4.1 percent, lower than the 5 percent target. The basic medical insurance coverage has been extended to all citizens, with the rate of participation surpassing 95 percent. It also underlined that an equal right to education for relocated children of migrant workers has been safeguarded. From 2012 to 2015, the central government allocated 34.6 billion yuan to enable nearly 90 percent of relocated children of migrant workers in cities to obtain government support. China reviews 2012-2015 human rights progress, pledging greater effort Updated: 2016-06-14 10:46 (Xinhua) BEIJING -- The Chinese government on Tuesday released a report reviewing the human rights progress from 2012 to 2015 and promising harder effort in the future. China launched the National Human Rights Action Plan (2012-2015) in June 2012, the second of its kind, following one from 2009 to 2010. Major targets and tasks set by the plan had been fulfilled as scheduled by the end of 2015, says the report issued by the State Council Information Office. About 48 percent of the binding targets and over 50 percent of the targets concerning the people's livelihood had been met ahead of time or exceeded, thus realizing the comprehensive implementation of the plan, the report says. "The Communist Party of China and the Chinese government incorporated the principle of universality of human rights into China's national conditions...successfully charting a path of human rights development suiting China's national conditions," the report says. Fulfilling the plan as scheduled fully demonstrates the commitment and confidence of the Party and government to promote the human rights cause in a coordinated and orderly way and the huge advantage of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, it says. However, the report admits that the government is keenly aware of many challenges in this aspect, for instance, China's economic development mode is still crude and it is still fraught with problems from unbalanced, uncoordinated and unsustainable development. The country is still struggling to deal with a big gap between urban and rural areas as well as problems of immediate concern to the people's welfare including medical care, education, old age care, food and drug safety, income distribution and environment. "There is still a long way to go to realize higher-level protection of human rights in China and hard efforts must be made," it says. IMPROVEMENT OF PEOPLE'S WELFARE From 2012 to 2015, faced with a complex international situation and the challenging tasks of pushing reform and maintaining stability, the government has pushed for more efficient, fairer and more sustainable growth and worked to ensure that all people benefit from reform and development. Compared with the average 7.4-percent annual growth of gross domestic product (GDP) from 2012 to 2015, the per capita disposable income of urban residents increased by 7.5 percent and the per capita net income for rural residents increased by 9.2 percent annually. A total of 66.63 million people in rural areas were lifted out of poverty. Ordinary citizens have enjoyed more comprehensive social security programs and better public services, while more efforts were made to realize equal access to education and address pollution. The rights and interests of ethnic minorities, women, children, the elderly and people with disabilities have also been further guaranteed. PROMOTING RULE OF LAW Efforts have been made to improve government transparency, through computer and Internet technologies, to realize people's rights to be informed, express their opinion, participate in state affairs and oversee the government. Judicial reforms were smoothly pushed forwards to improve transparency of judicial agencies, streamline legal proceedings under the principles such as "innocence until proven guilty" and guarantee lawyers' rights. Efforts were made to correct wrong convictions and ensure judicial departments to perform their duties independently in accordance with the law. In December 2013, China abolished the system of reeducation through labor. In 2015, about 30,000 imprisoned criminals in four categories were pardoned under an amnesty. The latest revision to the Criminal Law, adopted in 2015, removed the death penalty for nine crimes, reducing the number of crimes on which the death penalty is applicable from 55 to 46. RELIGIOUS FREEDOM From 2012 to 2015, the government canceled or adjusted 12 items subject for administrative approval about religious affairs. In the four years, a total of 200 million yuan (30.53 million U.S.dollars) was spent on renovation and expansion projects of religious facilities in Tibet. By the end of 2015, 87 temples in Yushu of northwest China's Qinghai Province damaged in a major earthquake in 2010, were fully rebuilt. From 2012 to 2015, the government allocated nearly 15 million yuan to support and assist repair and preservation of mosques and historic religious sites. Religious workers have been fully covered by social security programs. By 2013, 96.5 percent of them have had medical insurance and 89.62 percent have had pension schemes. JOINING INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS EFFORT From 2012 to 2015, China has maintained constructive dialogues with several treaty bodies on its implementation of international conventions about human rights. In 2014, China participated and passed the second round of the UN Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review. It also took an active part in multilateral human rights meetings hosted by the third committee of UN General Assembly and the UN Human Rights Council. From 2012 to 2015, the country held more than 20 human rights dialogues with the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia and Switzerland, as well as more than 10 human rights consultations and exchanges with countries including Russia, Brazil, Pakistan and Cuba. China, ASEAN talks key for sea Updated: 2016-06-14 11:38 By Li Yingqing and Zhang Yunbi in Yuxi, Yunnan and Chen Weihua in Washington(China Daily USA) A foreign ministers' meeting on Tuesday between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will be a good opportunity to dispel doubts about China and to ease tension in the South China Sea, experts said. Beijing is ready to discuss further promoting and upgrading China-ASEAN cooperation and "jointly ensuring peace and stability in the South China Sea", Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said on Monday during a briefing on the meeting. At the meeting, to be held in Yuxi, in Southwest China's Yunnan province (which borders Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar), China is looking for an in-depth exchange of views on topics including China-ASEAN ties and fully implementing the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, Lu said. The declaration is a key document, signed by China and the 10 ASEAN member countries in 2002, that endorses political settlement of maritime disputes. The 11 countries held their 12th senior officials meeting on fully implementing the declaration on June 9 in Hanoi, Vietnam. Jia Duqiang, a senior researcher on Southeast Asian studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the meeting will be a good opportunity for China and the ASEAN countries to have productive and candid discussion. Jia said the discussions inevitably will consider the potential impact of the Philippines' arbitration case against China on the sea issue. "The ASEAN countries are worried that the peace and stability of the whole region will be at stake," Jia said. This year marks the 25th anniversary of dialogue between China and ASEAN. A commemorative summit will be held in September, and Tuesday's meeting will help prepare for it, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu said. The meeting is expected to show "emphasis and expectations by both sides on advancing China-ASEAN cooperation", he said. Luo Yuan, a researcher at the Chinese People's Liberation Army's Academy of Military Science, said the South China Sea issue is "not between China and all the ASEAN countries". He said some ASEAN members not directly involved in the issue "have displayed their willingness to downplay the disputes" at recent international events. Speaking in Washington on June 9, Singaporean Minister of Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan said that small countries like Singapore hope China and the US "would be able to work around the differences, compete but keep the competition within reasonable limits, cooperate effectively and above all, avoid conflicts". "Quite frankly, we do not want to be forced to make immediate choices. And what I will plead to the Chinese as well as to the Americans is to avoid a zero-sum mentality," he said. Many in China believe that the US involvement in the disputes over the South China Sea has complicated the situation. Some in the US are not happy about the prospect that Philippines President-elect Rodridgo Duterte might pursue a bilateral consultation with China regarding the maritime disputes, something China has sought for some time. Contact the writer at zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn Xi's visit set to boost Belt, Road projects Updated: 2016-06-14 07:48 By An Baijie(China Daily USA) President Xi Jinping's upcoming visit to Serbia, Poland and Uzbekistan is expected to enhance cooperation with the countries on the Belt and Road projects, experts said. Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said on Monday that Xi will start an eight-day trip to the three countries beginning on Friday. During the trip, Xi will also attend the meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, to be held in Tashkent, capital of Uzbekistan, on June 23 and 24. Wang Yiwei, a professor at the School of International Studies at Renmin University of China, said Xi's visit will bring further outcomes in the China-proposed Belt and Road projects. All three countries are located on key points of the ancient Silk Road. "Central and Eastern European countries, including Serbia and Poland, are eager to develop ties with China to attract more Chinese investment," he said. China's stance on the South China Sea issue is also expected to be supported by countries during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, he added. The Philippines initiated an arbitration case against China over maritime disputes in the South China Sea at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague in early 2013. The court's decision is expected to be announced in coming weeks. Sun Yuxi, former Chinese ambassador to Poland, said that CEE countries have worked with China on a number of big projects, including the bridge across the Danube River in Belgrade, Serbia, which has improved the infrastructure in the CEE region. Xi's visit to Serbia will be the first by a Chinese head of state since Serbia's independence in June 2006. In August 2013, Xi held talks in Beijing with visiting Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic, during which the two presidents exchanged in-depth views on cooperation. On May 30, Nikolic told a Chinese delegation led by Li Wei, head of the Development Research Center of China's State Council, that Serbia can be a pillar for China in Europe and its significant partner for the future, according to a statement released by the Serbian presidential media office. Nikolic called a recent agreement on the Smederevo steel mill significant and said the arrival of Chinese partners in the Serbian meat industry will revive Serbia's rural regions and encourage people to return there after seeking a better life in cities. In November, Polish President Andrzej Duda made a state visit to China, during which Xi announced that China will explore a new logistics corridor to reach Central and Eastern Europe through Poland. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on May 23, while visiting Uzbekistan, that China is willing to work with the nation to boost the two countries' strategic partnership and open up new prospects for mutually beneficial cooperation. anbaijie@chinadaily.com.cn (China Daily USA 06/14/2016 page3) Lessons to be learned from lone wolf attack Updated: 2016-06-14 07:17 (China Daily) A woman weeps during a candlelight vigil for the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting outside the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Orlando, Fla., June 13, 2016. A gunman who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State killed 49 people and wounded 53 in the crowded gay nightclub in Orlando early Sunday.[Photo/IC] He had earlier been investigated, twice, for suspected connections with terrorists. He called 911 and pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group. And IS claimed responsibility for the attack immediately afterwards. Yet it will take credible evidence to prove Omar Mateen, who carried out the deadliest mass shooting in United States' history in Orlando, Florida, was truly associated with the terrorist group. While the FBI works its way into that riddle, a number of long-standing controversies have regained the limelight: gun control; gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender rights; and, of course, the US approach to combating the IS. Finding out if the killer was an Islamic jihadist, as he claimed, or hated homosexuals, as his father indicated, matters, because homophobia and homegrown terrorism have very different meanings to a society and entail dramatically distinct solutions. And underestimating the threat of the IS on US home soil may result in greater security risks. Even before a definitive assessment of the killer's motivation, however, there are two things that are worth vigilance. One is the IS's pernicious impact. Mateen may or may not have had connections with the jihadists. But his claim of allegiance to them, along with his previous record of "extremist" utterances showed the terrorist group has an audience that is difficult to locate and identify. The IS group is adept at using social media and the internet to spread its extremist ideology and hatred, recruit jihadists and order attacks. If the Orlando attack highlights the need to deal with online terrorist communication, it would be conducive to international collaboration in the fight against terrorism worldwide. US President Barack Obama described the killer as "a person filled with hate". That leads us to the other lesson to learn from Orlando: The havoc an individual can cause. China has its own experiences showing that it does not take a full-fledged terrorist to create a sense of fear, or harm innocent people. On Sunday, a man tried to kill himself after injuring four others with a homemade bomb at Shanghai airport. There have been multiple reports of disgruntled individuals targeting public transport vehicles, mostly crowded buses, in order to have their alleged "injustices" noticed. Lone wolf attacks like these may be very difficult to monitor or prevent. But such tragedies do raise the question of how to reduce the likelihood for troubled, angry members of society to make a statement in the form of violence. Cambridge University students let off steam at the annual cardboard boat race on what's known as "Suicide Sunday", the Sunday immediatley after the the summer term ends, in Cambridge, Britain, on June 12, 2016. The various boats were bascially made with card, glue and gaffer tape, and many of them sank straight into the River Cam during the competition. Hundreds of people come to cheer-on the boat race teams alongside the river bank. [Photo/VCG] Valerie Greiner (left), senior development officer of the Museum of Fine Arts Houston (MFAH), discusses the upcoming exhibit: Emperors' Treasure: Chinese Art from the National Palace Museum in Taipei, with a group of Chinese community leaders in Houston on Monday along with MFAH curatorial assistant Beatrice Chan (right). The exhibit, scheduled to begin in October at MFAH, will showcase more than 160 pieces of art from the collections of Chinese emperors from the Song Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty. Greiner said that MFAH hopes to raise sufficient funds to allow the public to enjoy the exhibition free of charge and has solicited help from the Chinese community. Anne Chao, MFAH trustee and a professor at Rice University; Nancy Li, board chair of the US-China Peoples Friendship Association; and Kenneth Li, chairman of the Chinese Community Center and Southwest Management District, organized the meeting to support the cultural showcase. A steering committee for fundraising was formed after the meeting. [Photo by MAY ZHOU/CHINA DAILY] China-Philippines S China Sea dispute needs bilateral talks, says Argentine expert Updated: 2016-06-14 15:07 (Xinhua) An aerial photo taken on Sept 25, 2015 from a seaplane of Hainan Maritime Safety Administration shows cruise vessel Haixun 1103 heading to the Yacheng 13-1 drilling rig during a patrol in South China Sea. [Photo/Xinhua] BUENOS AIRES -- The Philippines' ongoing maritime dispute with China over the South China Sea must be resolved through reasoned bilateral dialogue, said a leading Argentine economist and academic. Unilateral measures only serve to damage the relationship between the two countries, Gustavo Girado, head of the Buenos Aires-based Asia & Argentina Consultancy, told Xinhua in a recent interview. In 2013, Manila decided to take its case to the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague, a move that "didn't seem to be the most appropriate, since the decade-old agreements between the two countries have established a proper means to resolve their disputes," said Girado. The unilateral move ran counter to the commitments the Philippines made as a signatory of the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC), said the academic. "The road the Philippines chose draws attention somewhat due to a number of factors which failed to justify that action, historic and political factors," said Girado. "It's very clear that Chinese inhabitants were the first to name the region," he added. On Wednesday, China again urged the Philippines to suspend its legal proceedings at the PCA and return to the negotiating table. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei made the remarks at a press conference, saying the door to bilateral talks will always be open. "China will continue to be committed to a negotiated solution to the South China Sea dispute with the Philippines, based on historic facts and in accord with international law," he said. Japan remains silent on their radiation problems Updated: 2016-06-14 21:59 By Wang Qingyun(chinadaily.com.cn) China again voiced concern over the Fukushima nuclear leakage incident, and urged Japan to inform the international society of the disaster in a manner that is "timely, comprehensive, accurate and honest". Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang made the remarks at a daily news conference on Tuesday, and asked the Japanese government to "take all measures necessary to protect maritime environment". "It's a duty the Japanese government must not shift off to explain the real situation of the Fukushima nuclear leakage incident and its impact as soon as possible and honestly," Lu said. Lu's remarks came after news reports that the Japanese government lifted the evacuation directive for most of the areas of a Fukushima village on Sunday. The whole village had been evacuated due to the nuclear leakage of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant that started in March 2011, after the plant was damaged by a great earthquake and tsunami. According to The Asahi Shimbun, the Tokyo Electric Power Company that runs the plant failed to officially acknowledge until in May 2011 that reactor meltdowns occurred during the accident. Following the March 2011 great earthquake and Tsunami in Japan, China's Foreign Ministry issued a safety warning, advising against Chinese people to travel to the disaster-areas including Fukushima. "The warning is still valid," Lu said on Tuesday. "The impact the nuclear leakage caused on the environment, ecology and food safety is not only limited in Japan. Thus I think the Japanese government should provide a responsible explanation to the Japanese people, the neighboring countries, as well as the international community as soon as possible." China Watch expands with Russian edition Updated: 2016-06-15 00:46 By Ren Qi in Moscow(China Daily) Editor-in-Chief of Rossiyskaya Gazeta Vladislav Fronin, Publisher of Rossiyskaya Gazeta Pavel Negoitsa, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of China Daily Zhu Ling and China's Ambassador to Russia Li Hui attend the launch ceremony in Moscow of the Russian version of China Watch (top left) and the photo album One Hundred Photographers Focus on China. XU JINGXING / CHINA DAILY China Daily launched on Tuesday its Russian edition of China Watch, the media group's multilingual publication, in partnership with leading Russian newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta. Zhu Ling, publisher and editor-in-chief of China Daily, said 2016 is the Sino-Russian Media Exchange Year, an idea proposed by President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin last year. As a China Daily supplement, China Watch has been telling China's story in English, French, German and Spanish, Zhu said at the launch ceremony. Li Hui, China's ambassador to Russia, said, "Congratulations on the publication of the Russian edition of China Watch. As President Putin is expected to visit China soon, the launch will help pave the way for the visit. I believe it will boost the understanding of the peoples of the two countries." During the launch ceremony, the two newspapers also jointly unveiled a photo album One Hundred Photographers Focus on China. Zhu said publication of the Russian edition of China Watch and the new album signifies the friendship and cooperation momentum between the two nations and their peoples, adding that it will help Russian people to understand China better and intensify ties and the partnership between the two countries. I'm home from an extraordinary three day Shavuot retreat at Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center, about which I hope to write more soon. For now I am struggling, as are we all, to assimilate my fury and my grief at the horrific shooting at Pulse, a queer nightclub in Orlando, Florida, which took place on the first morning of Shavuot. ALEPH just put out a response to the shooting -- a short statement (which I will enclose below) and a beautiful new liturgical poem written by my co-chair: ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal, expresses horror, shock and grief for the victims of Sundays shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida. We stand with all LGBTQA or straight, those who identify with any faith or with none at all whose hearts break for the victims, for their loved ones, for a communitys peace shattered, for hope and safety shaken, for rights and dignity trampled, and for political rhetoric arousing religious hatred in its wake. We fervently pray to heal the injured, and we re-dedicate our hearts and hands to building a world in which the twin scourges of violence and hatred end. In grief and solidarity, we offer this liturgical poem by Rabbi David Evan Markus for use in vigils and prayer services. May the Source of Peace bring comfort to all who mourn, and inspire all to build an ever more just world, speedily and soon. The poem is offered for public use -- if it speaks to you, please feel free to use it aloud and to share it widely: The Pulse of Revelation, by Rabbi David Evan Markus. Please turn JavaScript on and reload the page. Loading... Checking your browser before accessing the website. This process is automatic. Your browser will redirect to your requested content shortly. Please wait a few seconds. A view of the Trang An eco-tourism and Bai Dinh Pagoda complex that is invested by construction company Xuan Truong in Ninh Binh Province. Photo plo.vn HA NOI Some experts expressed concerns about business inequality after the Ministry of Finance asked the Government to exempt automobile import duties for a tourism investor in the northern province of Ninh Binh. According to the local press, construction company Xuan Truong wanted to import 20 specialised vehicles, with 30-50 seats each, for use in the Trang An eco-tourism and Bai inh Pagoda complex that it invested in. The firm planned to buy the vehicles to supplement its fixed assets, and petitioned the ministry for the tax exemption for them last March and May. The ministry reportedly asked Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc for a decision about the case this month. In a document sent to the PM, the ministry said the project of Xuan Truong was located in an area with tough socio-economic conditions, and companies in this area enjoyed preferential corporate income taxes. The Trang An Bai inh complex covers parts of Hoa Lu and Gia Vien districts and Ninh Binh City. Gia Vien particularly faces economic difficulties. The ministry also said that the company was going to buy automobiles of a type that could not be built domestically now, so they should enjoy preferential tariffs, in accordance with Article 12 in Decree No 87/2010. The vehicles were expected to meet European emission standard Euro 5. The ministry added that the tourism complex had been recognised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation as a world natural heritage site. The site attracted up to 120,000 visitors per day in good seasons, driving socio-economic growth and generating jobs for thousands of local workers. According to the ministry, the company undertook to use the vehicles to serve the traveling demands of visitors only inside the tourism complex free of charge, for a non-profit purpose. Therefore, a tax exemption would facilitate tourism development and promote the image of Viet Nam. I dont understand what the Ministry of Finance has based their support on for such proposal of Xuan Truong Company, economist Pham Chi Lan told news website bizlive.vn. Viet Nam has many tourism complexes. If incentives are given to Xuan Truong, will other companies receive the same things? This is likely to cause unfair and unhealthy competition among them, she said. Lan said Trang An Bai inh was a tourist site and visitors must pay for services there. Xuan Truong was purely doing business, not charity or any public service. The Government should not accept its proposal, she said. She said it was not a matter whether 20 vehicles were a small or great number. Even one ong worth of tax exemption should be rejected, if it is unreasonable. Lan said it was not the right time now for the ministry to do a company a favour, in a context that the country was fostering an equal business environment. I support Deputy Minister of Finance o Hoang Anh Tuan who has been very determined about improvement efforts every time he talked about Resolution 19, she said, referring to a resolution that the Government has issued for the third year in a row asking for action plans to enhance competitiveness in the business sector. There are many things worth doing now to improve the business environment, especially tax affairs related to the numerous enterprises, especially small and medium-sized companies. In my opinion, the Ministry of Finance should concentrate on common matters of the business community. It shouldnt look after a few major businesses, she said. Le ang Doanh, the former director of the Central Institute for Economic Management, said no single enterprises should be favoured unless it was actually necessary to have special policies for a struggling business. This is in line with the spirit of Resolution No 35/NQ-CP, which the Government issued last month on supporting and developing enterprises by 2020. Public opinion and other businesses will question why the Ministry of Finance favours a large business like Xuan Truong, and what lies behind this move, he told bizlive.vn. As to the project of Xuan Truong located in a socio-economically tough area, Doanh argued that many companies were operating in even tougher districts. He said business associations should raise their voices about the issue to prevent an unfair precedent that may lead to more beg and give circumstances in the future. Another economist, Ngo Tri Long, emphasised with Phap luat Thanh pho Ho Chi Minh (Ho Chi Minh City Law) online that a fair and equal environment plays a vital role in a market economy. Without it, there will be big doubts inside the business community. Xuan Truong Director Nguyen Van Truong is known as a tycoon from Ninh Binh, who chairs the Hoa Lu Tourism Joint Stock Company and directs Hoa Lu Hotel. Xuan Truong is reportedly investing in several tourist sites in other northern provinces, including the VN15 trillion (US$666.7 million) Nui Coc Lake complex in Thai Nguyen, the VN10 trillion Cai Trap Island complex in Hai Phong, and the VN11 trillion Tam Chuc complex in Ha Nam. VNS A recent survey conducted by Mizuho Research Institute of 1,100 companies in Japan shows growing interest in Viet Nam as an investment priority among ASEAN countries. Photo vov.vn HCM CITY A recent survey conducted by Mizuho Research Institute of 1,100 companies in Japan shows growing interest in Viet Nam as an investment priority among ASEAN countries. More than 53 per cent of the enterprises participating in the survey said that Viet Nam was their ideal investment destination, with Thailand ranking first, with 59.7 percent. The confidence rate in the Vietnamese market increased by 4.9 per cent compared with last years survey. The poll also found a reduction of 2.2 per cent in the confidence rate for the Thai market compared to last year. Nearly 49 per cent of Japanese companies with registered capital of more than 10 million yen chose ASEAN as an overseas investment priority, the survey found. Japanese investors said that Viet Nams membership in the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement was an incentive for them to invest in Viet Nam. Nearly 13 per cent of the respondents said they would choose Viet Nam first as an investment destination among the 12 member countries of ASEAN. Of the 12 countries that have signed the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which includes Viet Nam, Japan and the US, more than 10 per cent said they would invest only in Japan, and 4.9 per cent in the US. Another survey of 1,027 Japanese enterprises conducted early this year by the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) showed that more than 60 per cent of Japanese enterprises investing in Viet Nam had plans to expand their business in the country. About 85 per cent of the enterprises said they would expand to increase revenue, while 65 per cent said they saw high potential for economic growth in Viet Nam. JETRO said that Japanese enterprises considered the ASEAN Economic Community, which simplifies customs procedures, reduces tariffs among members and offers employment mobility, to be an incentive to further invest overseas. About 60 per cent of the respondents said they were earning profits in Viet Nam. Japanese enterprises said they wanted to invest in Viet Nam as it continues to enjoy strong growth, especially with the signing of more trade agreements. - VNS Agricultural products being processed at Nam Huy Dong Thap Company in southern Dong Thap Province. A law on extending support to SMEs company is being drafted. Photo Vu Sinh HA NOI Viet Nam is drafting a law on extending support to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It is part of the governments determined efforts to promote the development of the business community and double the number of firms to one million by 2020. The planning and investment ministry will submit the draft law to the government next month and to the second meeting of the 14th National Assembly (NA) for discussion. This will be the first time support for SMEs is legalised in order to provide a comprehensive approach. SMEs account for 97 per cent of businesses in Viet Nam, contribute more than 40 per cent to the gross domestic product (GDP) and generate 52 per cent of jobs. Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment ang Huy ong said Vietnamese SMEs were facing several difficulties in loan, land and technology access and market expansion, partly explaining the private sectors modest competitiveness and vulnerability to policy and social vagaries, ong said. ong said support policies for SMEs are currently provided by various legal documents, with a majority of them being support for businesses in general, placing SMEs at a disadvantage compared to large firms. The ministrys statistics reveal that as of the end of 2015, the outstanding loans of SMEs accounted for just 23 per cent of the total outstanding loans, although they make up 97 per cent of the business community. ong said legalising support for SMEs was not a subsidy, adding that all forms of support will be compliant with international commitments. At a three-day consultation conference held by the ministry in HCM City that ended last Saturday, Deputy Head of HCM Citys NA Deputy Delegation Tran Du Lich said the draft should turn a spotlight on the strategic significance of SME development in the countrys industrialisation process, adding that SME development support would promote social progress and equity. Experts at the conference said the draft should define the roles of local authorities in giving assistance to businesses, as seen in other countries.Business associations also agreed to set up a national SME development council.Vice Chairman and General Secretary of the Vietnam Association of Small and Medium Enterprises To Hoai Nam suggested that the government lay out the details of the councils functions, missions and organisational structure. Experts also said support for business households that played an important role in the economy should also be considered. While state-owned enterprises (SOEs) were undergoing a thorny restructuring process, Viet Nam has recognised the private sector, mainly comprising SMEs, as an important driver of the nations economic development. Deputy Prime Minister Vuong inh Hue said at the first-ever Viet Nam private economic forum that the government would improve the business climate to enhance national competitiveness and ensure a level playing ground for businesses. VNS HA NOI Vietnamese banks have more opportunities to establish and expand their presence in international markets, Gary Hwa, Ernst & Youngs (EYs) regional managing partner for financial services for Asia Pacific, said. Hwa told the press meeting titled, ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and Trans-Pacific Partnership: Which way for Vietnamese banks held in Ha Noi last week that with increased capital flow into the country, the solvency of the Vietnamese banking sector had been set to help banks utilise more abundant capital with lower costs. A wider spectrum of products are being offered by local banks to cater to more sophisticated needs of the global client. This helps boost the competitiveness of Vietnamese banks, he said. However, the AEC and TPP would also put up bigger challenges for local banks. He said most of the Vietnamese banks were faced with funding difficulties. They should be technologically strong to have access to the development of other countries in the region. He suggested merger and acquisitions as one of the solutions for banks in the digitalisation process as several local banks had encountered the problems of bad debts and modest scales. He noted that small banks could implement digitalisation successfully thanks to cheap solutions from start-ups. The wave of fintech in recent years has made investments in technology and has not been too expensive, he said. He also suggested that Viet Nams government should consider unlimited room for foreign investors. The penetration of foreign banks would also open opportunities for Vietnamese banks to approach modern, cutting edge technology, dedicated expertise and state-of-the-art banking practices. The issue is how to open the banking market to foreign investors while balancing the benefits. Viet Nam could step-by-step lose their room, he said, and added that the government should complete the capital market. The role of the capital market in Viet Nam has seen limitations. The funding for the economy has still depended on bank loans. If there is no foreign investment, local banks could find it hard to resolve several targets. Sharing these ideas, Nguyen Thuy Duong, EY Viet Nam Finance & Banking Service deputy director said there would be a risk of brain drain when the highly skilled, English proficient world force of Viet Nam could move to other more developed countries such as Singapore and Malaysia. Presence of more foreign banks will make competition among banks in Viet Nam more severe, especially when foreign banks possess more advantages of cutting edge technology, abundant capital base and other competitive edges compared to domestic banks, Duong said. She said Vietnamese banks had to meet the requirement on capital, management capacity among others. This would create pressure on domestic banks to enhance their capacities in order to achieve standards to meet with qualified ASEAN bank status. She suggested that banks should be active in enhancing risk management, seeking new capital resources and providing training to staff. Local banks should quickly move to implement common standards on risk management when the country is integrating deeper into the international playground. Vietnamese banks could find it hard to meet with Basel II standards this year. However, Viet Nam has completed the legal framework with specific regulations toward the standard, she added. VNS HA NOI Chairman of the Ha Noi Peoples Committee Nguyen uc Chung has asked the Ha Noi Electricity Company not to cut power during the ongoing hot weather. This is one of numerous measures requested by the Chairman to help local residents cope with the current hot weather, with temperatures forecast to rise to 38-39 degree Celsius during the day. The electricity company was also required to set up a hotline to receive local citizens requests and complaints, and guarantee timely solutions to deal with issues relating to electricity. Officials were also asked to develop plans to supply power, particularly at water pumping stations and safe water production plants. Further, Chung instructed the municipal Health Department to take measures to prevent outbreaks of summer diseases and increase health check-ups and medical treatments during hot weather, as well as step up inspections for food safety and hygiene. The citys construction department was requested to open a hotline to receive information relating to water supplies, and water production plants will review water supply systems and supplement pumping stations to ensure they provide enough water for local citizens during the ongoing hot weather. He also asked agencies to take measures to prevent forest fires during the hot and dry weather, as well as the municipal transport department to work with Ha Noi traffic police to ensure traffic flows and prevent traffic accidents during the hot weather. Prolonged hot weather over the past few days in Ha Noi has also had negative impacts on production, business and living conditions for local residents. Forecasts by the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecast Centre call for the city to continue experiencing high temperatures for the next 2 to 3 days. The highest temperature during the daytime is expected to hover at 35 to 37 degrees Celsius. Some areas will experience temperatures of 38-39 degrees Celsius.Earlier this week, outdoor temperatures were recorded at 40 degrees Celsius at noon in some locations. VNS HA NOI Up to 10,000 people will join International Yoga Day festivities in big cities in Viet Nam this June 18 to July 2. Participants will practise yoga together during the celebrations. The events will take place in Ha Nois Quan Ngua Stadium on June 26, HCM Citys Ho Xuan Huong Indoor Stadium on June 18, a Nangs Bien ong Park on June 19, Hai Phongs Viet Nam Czech Friendship Palace on June 21, Nha Trang City Conference Centre on June 25, and Vinhs Ho Chi Minh Square on July 2. Yoga Day will promote culture and sport exchanges between Viet Nam and India. It will also strengthen friendly relations between the two countries. The event is expected to draw the participation of many people, especially yoga lovers, students, and the Indian community in Viet Nam. Viet Nam was one of the first countries to co-sponsor the United Nations General Assembly Resolution creating International Yoga Day. So far, 177 out of 193 UN member states have co-sponsored the resolution, creating a new record for the highest number of co-sponsoring countries for a UN resolution to date. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi first called for the adoption of June 21 as International Yoga Day while addressing the UN General Assembly on September 27, 2014. The resolution accomplishing this soon followed. Yoga is an invaluable gift of Indian ancient tradition. It embodies unity of mind and body, thought and action, restraint and fulfillment, harmony between man and nature, a holistic approach to health and well-being, Modi said. Yoga is harmony between yin and yang, man and nature, and male and female. Vietnamese people are clearly aware of this harmony, Ambassador Parvathaneni Harish said. I have visited many places in the world. But Viet Nam is the only place where young and old, male and female, wake up at 5am to do morning exercises. The people always practise out in the open, close to nature. So I think that International Yoga Day, initiated by Indian people, will be warmly welcomed by Vietnamese people. Last year, 8,000 people participated in the first International Yoga Day in Viet Nam. From now through June 26, free yoga practice sessions will be provided at the Indian Embassy in Ha Noi at 7am, with instruction and guidance provided by an Indian yoga master. Those interested in Yoga Day may register to participate at www.iyogadayvietnam.org. VNS VIENTIANE The Party and State will facilitate Vietnamese investment and business in Laos, President Tran ai Quang said during a working session with Vietnamese investors in Laos yesterday. He hailed the efforts of businesses and of the Association of Vietnamese Investors in Laos to overcome difficulties and to ensure their projects are implemented on schedule. He also asked the association and relevant ministries to co-ordinate with the Lao side to better facilitate business operations, with the focus on energy, mineral exploration, exploitation and processing, agriculture, tourism, finance and banking. And he asked businesses to take more social responsibility to reduce poverty, protect the environment, and ensure social welfare. Viet Nam currently ranks third among countries and territories investing in Laos. As of early 2016, the country had 258 Lao investment projects, with a total registered capital of US$5.3 billion. The State leader also met with the Secretary General of the Laos-Viet Nam Friendship Association, Saykhong Sayasin, in Laos. During that meeting he affirmed Viet Nam prioritises consolidating and strengthening Viet Nam-Laos relations. He asked the two countries friendship associations continue close co-ordination to better educate their people on the time-honoured friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive co-operation between Viet Nam and Laos. The two associations should organise joint activities to mark the 55th anniversary of the Viet Nam-Laos diplomatic ties - and to mark the 40 years since the Viet Nam-Laos Friendship and Co-operation Treaty was signed in 2017, he said. President Quang visited former Lao Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong. He also visited the Kaysone Phomvihane Museum and a memorial to the late President Souphanouvong. And he placed a wreath at the unknown martyrs monument in Vientiane. The President and his entourage left Vientiane for Champasak province yesterday afternoon. VNS NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan deliver speech to open the 13th National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee's 49th session in Ha Noi yesterday. VNA/VNS Photo Phuong Hoa HA NOI The 13th National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee kicked off its 49th session in Ha Noi yesterday, during which court-related issues and preparations for the 14th parliament are high on the agenda. Opening the session, NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan said the three-day session will focus on the organisation and operation of the board of lay judges, the costumes and identification cards of the judges and lay judges, the salary and benefits for court staff, the number of supplementary high, middle and primary-level judges, and the benefits for procurators at the Supreme Peoples Procuracy. The NA Standing Committees members will discuss the parliaments making of laws and ordinances in 2017, and the State budget balance in 2014. They will also mull over a report about the enforcement of the law on thrift practices and wastefulness prevention in 2015, along with the handling of the State budget spending the same year, she noted. She added during the 49th session, the National Election Council will report on the results of the May election of deputies to the 14th NA and all-level Peoples Councils for 2016 21. Later, the participants are set to give opinions on the agenda of the first session of the 14th NA. In the morning of the first working day, the NA Standing Committee looked into the draft regulations on the organisation and operation of the boards of lay judges, which were also under consideration at the Standing Committees 46th session on March 8. Another matter up for debate yesterday was the agenda of the 14 th NAs first session, slated for July 20 30, with high-level State personnel in focus. The new parliament will also consider a resolution on its supervision programme in 2017 and another on the establishment of specialised supervision delegations. The NA Standing Committee discussed issues pertaining to court and procuracy staff in the afternoon. VNS Commodore Michiel Hijmans (Right), former deputy permanent military representative of the Netherlands to NATO and the European Union at a conference in Ha Noi on the management and settlement of complicated maritime issues. Photo laodong.com.vn HA NOI A common perspective among countries on the risks facing regional maritime security is crucial to build strong co-operation, said Commodore Michiel Hijmans, former deputy permanent military representative of the Netherlands to NATO and the European Union. He made the statement yesterday during a conference in Ha Noi on the management and settlement of complicated maritime issues, which was jointly organised by the EU Delegation in Viet Nam and the Viet Nam Academy of Diplomacy. Maritime security is a shared concern of all regional countries facing common challenges and risks such as storms, flooding, tsunamis and environmental problems, he said. Hijmans also pointed to the need to design a comprehensive strategy involving not only naval forces, but also other forces in order to deal with maritime security issues. Working together is key for success in the field of maritime security, he stressed. Professor Erik Franckx, a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration and President of the Department of International and European Law at Free University of Brussels (Vrije University), said ASEAN should study the EUs model on becoming a subject of international relations and a member of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. This will be useful for Southeast Asian countries during their international integration, as well as the usage of legal tools in fostering co-operation and dispute settlement, he added. During the event, Vietnamese and international maritime experts and researchers also discussed a number of relevant issues, including the response to non-traditional maritime challenges, and the legal framework and regional lessons in settling disputes through peaceful measures. VNS BEIJING Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Yunnan , China , yesterday on the sideline of the Special ASEAN-China Foreign Ministers Meeting. Both sides said they highly valued the co-operation between ASEAN and China and wanted to boost the ties further. They said the Special ASEAN-China Foreign Ministers Meeting would help enhance mutual understanding and co-operation between the two sides, which is an important preparation for the success of the Commemorative Summit marking ASEAN-China dialogue partnership later this year. Deputy PM Minh took note of developments in Viet Nam-China ties and proposed that the two sides maintain delegation exchanges and contacts at high level while pushing forward mutually-benefiting co-operation and the implementation of agreements reached during visits of their leaders. He urged more balanced and sustainable economic and trade ties and stronger cooperation between the two foreign ministries. Minh requested China to facilitate the import of Vietnamese goods, particularly agro-forestry-fishery products. He said both sides needed to improve the performance of their working groups on infrastructure and finance-currency, thus accelerating construction speed of contracted infrastructure projects. He asked China to implement preferential credit packages for Viet Nam . The Vietnamese Deputy PM and Foreign Minister also expressed Viet Nams concern over the recent complicated developments in the East Sea, and called for compliance of commitments and common perceptions reached by leaders of the two Parties and countries on well controlling disputes and refraining from acts that further complicate the situation while pushing for progress in negotiation mechanisms on disputes at sea. He noted the need to together with the ASEAN effectively implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and early build a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC) to help maintain peace and stability in the East Sea and the region. Foreign Minister Wang Yi agreed with his guest on measures to boost Viet Nam-China co-operation. He went on to say both China and ASEAN wanted to maintain peace, co-operation and control dispute in the East Sea . VNS Elderly Vietnamese people usually postpone regular health check-ups and medical treatment even though on average, they suffer from as many as seven diseases and conditions. Photo hoinguoicaotuoi.vn HA NOI Elderly Vietnamese people usually postpone regular health check-ups and medical treatment even though on average, they suffer from as many as seven diseases and conditions, said Director of National Hospital of Geriatrics, Pham Thang. Thang said the most common ailments among the elderly are respiratory disease, Alzheimers, high blood pressure, anaemia and diabetes. He said elderly people and their caretakers should improve skills and understanding to prevent diseases and accidents. People usually think diseases are part of the signs of aging and take it for granted. As a result, they delay going to hospital for timely medical checkups and treatment, he told the Nong thon ngay nay (Countryside Today) newspaper. They seek medical intervention only when their disease worsens, he said, and the delay makes it harder to and more expensive to treat them. Thang said there are about 10 million senior citizens aged 60 and up, accounting for over 10 per cent of the countrys population. Their medications account for half of the countrys total outlay for medicines, according to the official. Facilities fail to meet demand Improper preventive measures for the elderly add pressure on both the healthcare sector and social expenditures because more money is needed to save the elderly, Thang said. He added that healthcare facilities for aging people in Viet Nam are modest and fail to meet the demand, particularly as the number of senior citizens is expected to increase to about 21.2 million by 2035, compared with 10 million last year and 6.9 million in 2010. The country faces a shortage of experienced geriatric specialists who can treat patients with several concurrent diseases. Such patients are treated in different hospital departments rather than in an all-inclusive geriatrics ward. Each aging patients usually suffers from five to seven diseases and take 10-14 kinds of medicines daily, which can damage their liver and kidneys, Thang noted. Biggest problem: hypertension A 65-year-old patient at the National Hospital of Geriatrics, Nguyen Thi Thai of Ha Nois Chuong My District, said that she suffered from a heart disorder and felt more tired in the last few days because of the summer heat. However, she said, she still went to work in the rice field. I dont think its necessary to go to see doctor whenever Im not well, she said. I was scared when doctors told me that my blood pressure had increased sharply, posing a high risk of a ruptured blood vessel, she said. If I were paralytic, my family and I would have a more desperate life, she said. Vuong Sy Hien, 75 years old, of Ha Nois Ba inh District said that for the last few years, he and his wife regularly went to for health check-ups after seeing friends suddenly suffered from serious diseases despite looking fit. Dr. Ta Huu Anh, head of the emergency department of the geriatric hospital, said most patients arrive suffering from heart attacks or broken legs because they and their caretakers did not know how to take preventive measures. One of most common mistakes in looking after the elderly in Viet Nam is that they fail to keep their blood pressure stable. Up to 80 per cent of elderly Vietnamese suffer from hypertension but few are detected and treated properly, Anh said. -- VNS Customs officers at HCM Citys Tan Son Nhat International Airport on Sunday seized 1.7 kilogrammes of cocaine carried by a 32-year-old South African on a flight that originated in Doha. VNA/VNS Photo HCM CITY Customs officers at HCM Citys Tan Son Nhat International Airport on Sunday seized 1.7 kilogrammes of cocaine carried by a 32-year-old South African on a flight that originated in Doha. The drugs, worth a total of US$300,000, were divided into many packages and hidden in the passengers luggage, according to airport customs. The man told local authorities that he had expected to receive US$3,500 in exchange for transporting the cocaine to the US. VNS HA NOI A group of children and youths from ASEAN member countries, ages 12 to 18, will gather at the fourth ASEAN Childrens Forum in Ha Noi from June 20-23. This years forum will be held following the establishment of the ASEAN Community in December 2015, with priorities given to the implementation of commitments to promoting and protecting the rights of children and enhancing their special status in society. Heading towards a friendly ASEAN Community, where all children have the rights to share and enjoy common values, is one of the goals of ASEAN. For these reasons, Viet Nam has chosen the theme, One ASEAN, One Vision For Children for this years forum. The forum is aimed at contributing to building a friendly ASEAN community that is close to all children in the region, along with enhancing the participation of children and listening to their voices, and promoting childrens rights. During the event, children from the ten member countries of ASEAN will discuss issues affecting them, including preventing children trafficking within ASEAN, protecting children in the Internet environment, preventing violence against children, as well as the impact of climate change on ASEAN children. A recommendation or a general declaration about ASEAN children will be put forward at the forum and submitted to ASEAN Ministers in charge of social welfare for consideration. Also, Viet Nam held a drawing competition from March 3 to May 10 under the theme ASEAN Vision 2025 to promote understanding of children in the region about ASEAN. The contest drew millions of children across ASEAN who expressed their viewpoints and wishes about the ASEAN Community through their works. An award ceremony for the competition and an exhibition displaying their works will be held on the sidelines of the ASEAN Childrens Forum. Since 2010, the biennial ASEAN Childrens Forum has become one of the main activities of member countries of ASEAN. Member countries will take turns sponsoring the forum, which gives ASEAN countries an opportunity to hear from children and youth, and creates opportunities for children to express their viewpoints and send messages to government officials of ASEAN countries. VNS The government on Monday set up a Working Group to examine the consequences of the recent amendments to the India-Mauritius Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) and related issues. Omar Mateen's life seemed to be on a successful trajectory a decade before he carried out one of the worst cases of mass murder in American history. Enrique Rios, 25, had come from Brooklyn to Orlando to celebrate a friend's birthday. Even though his mother, Gertrude Merced, says that her heart is broken, she has already forgiven the gunman. "I'm not angry at the gunman. I'm angry about the situation. I'm going to forever miss my son ... but I still have the hope that I'm going to see him again one day," Merced told reporters as she packed her bags outside her New York apartment and headed to Florida. Rios' Facebook page says he worked with a home health care agency, and his mother said he had a heart for helping the elderly. He was studying social work. Family and friends said he was determined, always helping others and had a heart of gold. Anglers body found in Mississippi River NEW ALBIN (AP) The body of a fisherman was found underwater near a dock along the Mississippi River in northeast Iowa. The Allamakee County Sheriffs Office said officers were sent to the scene around 2:20 p.m. Monday to check a report about a suspicious vehicle parked at the ramp east of New Albin. No one was found then, but other searchers discovered the body around 4:45 p.m. It was recovered from the water. Investigators think the 46-year-old man fell from the dock while fishing. His name hasnt been released. Madrid couple arrested MADRID (AP) Two people were arrested after officers found about a dozen homemade explosives during a search of the couples home in rural Boone County. Officers started the search about 1 p.m. Monday at a home about a half-mile west of Madrid. The Boone County Sheriffs Office said a search warrant was obtained after deputies stopped one of the residents cars Saturday and found drug items and explosive devices. Sheriffs Sgt. Dallas Wingate said there is no evidence terrorism is involved. Online court records dont show the man and woman have been formally charged. Post office to honor slain Iowa soldier CEDAR RAPIDS (AP) The downtown Cedar Rapids post office will be getting a new name to honor an Iowa soldier. On Monday President Barack Obama signed legislation that will name the office on 6th Avenue Southeast the Sergeant First Class Terryl L. Pasker Post Office Building. Pasker was killed in 2011 while serving with the Iowa National Guard in Afghanistan. He was 39. The Anamosa native and Lisbon High School graduate was buried in Cedar Rapids, where he had lived four years with his wife. Fort Dodge getting new ambulance FORT DODGE (AP) The Fort Dodge City Council has approved buying a new ambulance for the Fire Department and donating the old one to Webster City. The new ambulance will cost $210,000. On Monday the council approved buying the new ambulance and buying two sport utility vehicles and one sedan for the Police Department. Assistant Fire Chief Lenny Sanders told the council the condition of the 2001-model ambulance being replaced would lower its price if it were auctioned. He instead proposed donating it to the Webster City Fire Department, which intends to use it to tow a boat and carry water rescue gear. Architect to design Sioux City lodge SIOUX CITY (AP) Sioux City officials have agreed to have an architecture firm design a day lodge at a planned all-seasons park. The City Council voted unanimously Monday to have Sioux City-based PLaN Architecture design a day lodge estimated to cost $750,000. The city has raised nearly $24,000 in additional private funds for the $4 million Cone Park. A state board made a $300,000 grant to the city for the park last month. The park will include a tubing hill, splash pad and ice rink. The lodge will be one story and will include restrooms, an office, storage, concessions and a public gathering space. WATERLOO Just onions? OK, but thats not a real Chicago dog! yells Joe Scaturro, fixing up the latest hot dog order. Hes addressing one of many customers who flow in around the lunch hour to nosh at Scaturros hot dog stand, Rocco Jojos. The stand serves up Chicago-style selections such as the Chicago hot dog, Italian beef sangwich, and a Combo Italian or Polish sausage loaded with Italian beef. You cant get this food anywhere else around here, Scaturro said through a Chicago-laced accent. There aint nothing like it. The stand is located at the six corners intersection in the New Star Liquor parking lot where Fourth Street meets Kimball Avenue, Williston Avenue and others. The locations served the stand well this summer, as cars with open windows catch free smells of fresh meat or notice the stands bold, red umbrella bearing the Vienna Beef logo. Hours are usually 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Friday depending on the weather. The stand holds Saturday hours at varying locations and times. Follow Rocco Jojos Facebook page at www.facebook.com/roccojojos for day-to-day updates. In a manner of 40 minutes, Joe serves 20 customers most are working people looking for a bite on lunch break. On a busy day, Joe says 70-plus people place their orders. Steve Bigwood, a carpenter, makes the trek across town as many as three times a week to order up a dog or an Italian beef sandwich, which he eats today. Its definitely worth the drive, Bigwood said. Scaturro updates Bigwood on an order he placed recently for meat by the pound. Ive been trying to get them to sell me the recipe, Bigwood jokes. Id shell out a pretty penny for it. Scaturro and dad, Pete, previously worked the eponymous restaurant alongside the rest of the Scaturro family out on University Avenue in Cedar Falls. It closed in 2014 after five years at that location. We opened it for ourselves, really, Pete remembers. Our family grew up eating this food. Pete recalls his grade school days in Chicago and ditching lunch to grab a hot dog at the nearest vendor. That was back when you could get a hot dog and fries for 25 cents, he laughs. Pete, now retired, worked in the car business for more than 30 years the majority of that time spent as the S in C & S Car Company in Waterloo. He moved to Waterloo in 1968 after getting drafted and serving in Louisiana during the Vietnam War. He had followed his wife, Kathy, back to her native Waterloo. Joes time in Los Angeles, spent playing keys with a touring soul band, kept him too busy to help out at the restaurant. Whether its music or cooking, its the creativity that does it for me, Joe said. When everybodys feeling good, I feel good. Joe, who grew up in Cedar Falls (the accent most likely comes from his fathers family and frequent trips to Chicago), admits that he misses the restaurant. He said it was known for its thin-crust pizza (deep dish isnt the only Chicago-style pizza) and homemade fries. Josh Duben, of Waterloo, attended the former restaurant but places his order today at the hot dog stand. With my job, I often travel to Chicago and I eat this stuff, he said. But when I come back I find my self thinking, Well, where am I going to eat now? Joe solves that problem for me. This food is the best in the city, proclaims Joes cousin, Rocky Scaturro after downing a Chicago dog (what he calls the appetizer for the Italian beef main course). Rocky, a Chicago native, points to the Turano rolls as a secret weapon for Rocco Jojos they soak up the savory juices from the beef. They seem to always come back to get their fix, Pete said. Its addicting. Every time I see a happy face, thats what I love about working the stand, Joe said. WATERLOO Blood runs red in any person, regardless of skin color. Those who have served in time of war know that. And all who served need many of the same services when they get back home. Thats why a group of African-American veterans are trying to raise a tide to float all boats of all colors on a two-wheeled wave of chrome, leather and steel. The Inner City Motorcycle Club, Sister Soldier Network, supported by numerous veterans organizations throughout the Cedar Valley and eastern Iowa, are sponsoring a Veteran Service Dog Motorcycle Run from Waterloo to Cedar Rapids on Saturday. The ride, will follow U.S. Highways 218 and 30 from Inner City club headquarters at 1607 Sycamore St. to Mays Island in downtown Cedar Rapids, with a return trip on Interstate 380. The ride is open to all veterans and riders of all racial and ethnic backgrounds. It is designed to raise awareness of minority veterans and to raise funds and raise awareness for Retrieving Freedom of Waverly, which trains and place service dogs with veterans and autistic children. Lee Galloway, an Iraq war veteran who served with the U.S. Army Reserve 445th Transportation Company from Waterloo, suggested the idea to Dorothy Doty Simpson-Taylor, a Vietnam-era U.S. Air Force veteran and retired University of Iowa psychology faculty member. I asked, How come we never had a ride for African-Amercan soldiers? Its just something I threw out and she took it and ran with it, said Galloway. For me we all bleed the same. My blood is red; yours is red. But it seems to me we always are in the background; never get just due. Thats what it was for me. Thats just my point of view. I spent three years in Vietnam. Theres nothing automatically given to us, said John Bailey, a native of Houston who drove trucks for Warren Transport in Waterloo and served two tours in Vietnam with the U.S. Army 1st Cavalry. He noted Vietnam veterans are aging and dying off, as are veterans of earlier conflicts. Those were good days for me because Im still here to tell about it, Bailey said. He noted black Vietnam veterans received the same indifferent-to-hostile reception as their returning white comrades. Members of the Buffalo Soldiers Motorcycle Club in St. Louis have been invited to participate. Arrangements are being made for law enforcement agencies along the ride route to escort riders. Simpson-Taylor hopes 200 motorcyclists may participate. Registration and breakfast will be 8 to 10 a.m. Saturday with kickstands up at 10:30 a.m. Upon arriving riders will participate in concurrent veterans activties occurring that day on Mays Island, including a job fair sponsored by U.S. 1st Dist. Rep. Rod Blum. Riders are anticipated to return to Waterloo by 4 p.m. Registration is $20 per bike and $5 per passenger. More information about the event may be obtained by calling 433-5028 or emailing sistersoldiernetwork@gmail.com. DES MOINES In the wake of a mass shooting that claimed 49 lives and left 53 injured, Gov. Terry Branstad on Monday called for a more forceful response to terrorists. Branstad expressed his condolences to victims and their families and called for flags in Iowa to be flown half-staff until Thursday. Branstad deflected questions about statements and social media posts made by Donald Trump, the Republican Partys presumptive presidential nominee. Branstad instead criticized Democratic President Barack Obama for his handling of the Islamic State. (Trumps) problem, as far as Im concerned, is Obama has consistently denied the seriousness of this threat that has grown and grown, and I believe the leader of this country needs to stand up and have the guts to say we have Islamic extremists that are committed to killing us, Branstad said. I just think the leader of the country ought to have the guts to say what it is. That doesnt condemn every Muslim. But it does say there is a certain radical element of Islam that is committed to destroying our way of life and killing as many people as possible. Branstad said he thinks the U.S. military should take a more active role in combating the Islamic State. I dont think we can continue to be on the defensive, Branstad said. I think we have to go after them in a much more dramatic way where they are in Iraq and Syria and Libya and other countries. Media reports said the Orlando, Fla., shooter had been twice interviewed by the FBI prior to Sundays shooting. Branstad on Monday said he did not think more gun control laws are appropriate, but he did not rule out supporting a law to prevent individuals on federal terror watch lists from purchasing weapons. I think we do need to seriously review our procedures in dealing with people that are making threats, be it on the internet or in person, just because of the need to protect the safety of our citizens, Branstad said. We put people on a watch list and restrict their travel by airplane, Branstad said. It seems to me that we need to be looking at this very seriously. Branstad also said he would like to see better communication between the FBI and people in charge of gun permits. CEDAR FALLS Several agencies and organizations received a share of hotel-motel tax funding with the recent blessing of the Cedar Falls City Council. The council approved more than $40,000 in funding to six different organizations. The largest share, $22,000, went to the Greater Cedar Valley Alliance and Chamber to promote economic development efforts and business recruitment and retention in the city. The Alliance also is eligible for an additional $20,000 if certain incentives are met. The incentives are based on acres of new development in the Cedar Falls Industrial and Technology Park, the addition of taxable value to the citys property tax base and the number of full-time jobs created. The Alliance also is required to make quarterly reports on the number of business calls, contacts, leads, prospects, initial proposals, follow up responses to request for information and other business-prospecting work. The Alliance money is annual funding that is received through the citys economic development fund generated by a portion of local hotel/motel tax revenue, said Bob Seymour, interim city planning and community services manager. That fund also has historically partially supported Cedar Falls Community Main Street and College Hill Partnership. Regarding the portion of funding for the Alliance, The base funding has fluctuated a little bit for the Alliance over the past 10-plus years, typically ranging from $20,000-$25,000, Seymour said. The city of Waterloo funds the Alliance in a similar manner. Additionally five other agencies divided $19,500 in hotel-motel tax money: Cedar Falls Community Theatre. $5,000. Cedar Falls Historical Society, $4,000. North Shore Boat Club, $5,000. Volunteer Center of Cedar Valley, $2,500. Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony, $3,000. Every year the city sets aside approximately 9 percent of the hotel-motel tax revenue for Economic Development and Community Betterment grants, explained Kim Manning of the Cedar Falls Tourism and Visitors Bureau. Both are distributed to local nonprofit organizations through a competitive application process that usually occurs in the fall. Community Betterment grants are for projects that improve quality of life or elevate the image of Cedar Falls, Manning said. The Visitors and Tourism board reviews the applications and makes recommendations to council for their distribution. Council then approves the recommendations when the city budget is developed. WEST DES MOINES Folks in Iowa by now likely are familiar with the Decorah eagles, reality stars with an international reputation helped along by 24-hour streaming video of their nest, a Facebook page, their own YouTube channel and merchandise. Pat Schlarbaum, a wildlife diversity technician with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, works with the Raptor Resource Project in Decorah and is well aware of its success. Schlarbaum leads the effort to reintroduce osprey in Iowa. The initiative began in 1997 with a release near the Coralville Reservoir. A year later, the DNR helped the Hartman Reserve Nature Center in Cedar Falls and the Black Hawk County Conservation Board establish osprey along the Cedar River. So when several bits of fortunate happenstance converged in 2014, inspiration for a similar project emerged. A pair of osprey built a nest on a construction cranes counterweights near the intersection of Interstates 35 and 80 on the Wells Fargo campus in West Des Moines. From the birds point of view, because osprey rely almost exclusively on fish for food, the site was ideal: a lofty perch near a number of ponds. According to Schlarbaum, Wells Fargo created the property, in part, as a place to enjoy nature and to encourage watchable wildlife. They won the lottery with the wildlife they might attract to those ponds, he adds. But the osprey needed a permanent home. Wells Fargo agreed to host. They got the pole. I made the platform for them, Schlarbaum says. There was a lot of anticipation. The crew made the switch when the birds migrated. Osprey winter in Central and South America. It was a leap of faith to even think they would survive their migration and return. But they did, Scharlbaum says. Keeping the new nest close to the original was important. Osprey have natal site fidelity, according to Schlarbaum: New birds tend to return to where they hatch and learn to fly. Establishing an osprey population, then, means getting birds to imprint on their surroundings, Schlarbaum said. The Wells Fargo birds came back in 2015 and again this spring. So Iowa became their home, where they returned from their migration, Schlarbaum says. The nest at Wells Fargo is 55 feet off the ground and features a webcam. Images are available now for the second season on the DNRs website. Catching the birds in action is a matter of luck an patience. Schlarbaum advises spectators can hedge their bets. Youre going to see something about anytime of day, but I think the noon hour or early in the morning are best, he says. Schlarbaum cautioned those involved to expect an intimate look. Ospreys catch and eat fish, which means shredding their meals. And not every chick hatched survives. This is reality TV. Do not be naive to think everything you expose your viewers to is going to be a wonderful thing, he said. Sometimes nature can be kind of harsh, Schlarbaum adds. The DNRs website, in fact, includes a viewer alert: In the wild, not every story has a happy ending. While we enjoy following the exploits of these amazing raptors, images of them dispatching prey and the young competing for survival can be graphic and upsetting to some viewers. The osprey reintroduction program is well-established, but Schlarbaum stops short of characterizing Iowas osprey population in the same terms. He notes incremental growth in numbers and expresses hopeful optimism. Since 1997, the DNR and its allies have released osprey at 12 sites. Since 2003, 200 wild osprey have been produced at 113 successful nests, according to Schlarbaums figures. In 2015, officials counted 22 known nesting sites in Iowa. One of three new nest sites was near Independence. The only thing better than a nesting pair is a second nesting pair. We really need two or three, Schlarbaum says. Statistically we would like to have three nesting pairs at all of our sites, and thats going to be a few years. Hartman Reserve and Lake Macbride both count four known nesting pairs. Were still on an upward trend. The future is looking bright, Schlarbaum says, noting essentially statewide distribution at this point. You can see osprey just about anytime, anywhere. The DNR is the lead agency on the osprey program, but Schlarbaum credits partners willing to share resources and responsibility. The DNR can only do so much, but ultimately its the people of Iowa that make these things work. WATERLOO The Masjid Al-Noor Islamic Center of Waterloo and Cedar Falls issued a statement of solidarity with the victims of Sundays Orlando, Fla., nightclub shooting and expressing outrage at the shooter. This sick, cowardly act has no justification in any religion or ideology, the statement reads. We stand in solidarity with our fellow Americans as well as the world against this horrific act and any act of hatred, violence and discrimination toward any individual or group. Dema Kazkaz, president of the local Islamic Center, said any form of violence is inconsistent with Islamic teachings. We teach peace and love and concern for the community, Kazkaz said. She expressed concern for a double standard in the media and the general public in regards to terrorism. Extremism doesnt have any certain border in faith or otherwise, Kazkaz said. She cited reports the alleged shooter suffered from mental health issues. If this was a Christian [shooter], the focus would be on the mental disability, she said. An Indiana man, James Wesley Howell, 20, was arrested Sunday in southern California on his way to a gay pride parade. In his car, officers found three assault rifles, high capacity magazines and ammunition and a five-gallon bucket with chemicals that could be used to make an explosive device. Kazkaz expressed shock at the timing of the incident. It happened just days after prominent Islamic leader and boxer Muhammad Ali was laid to rest. June also is the month of Ramadan, a time of renewed focus to the core principles of Islam. We refuse to bear the burden of this so-called Muslim perpetrators actions. Ali is who we are, not this monster, the statement reads. It concluded with a call for interfaith engagement in the Cedar Valley. Americans for Democratic Action will hold a peace vigil and march in Waterloo to commemorate the victims of the Pulse club shooting. Representatives of local faith communities plan to attend. James Phillis, 58, who was a passenger in the Waterloo Police Department vehicle, had a cut on his hand and complained of wrist pain following the crash at East Seventh and Mulberry streets. Paramedics with Waterloo Fire Rescue treated him at the scene, but he wasnt transported to a hospital, according to the collision report. WATERLOO Hoover Middle School has attained the designation of Lighthouse School, an honor awarded by FranklinCovey for schools that demonstrate a superior level total school implementation of Leader in Me. Hoover is only the fifth Lighthouse middle school in the world to achieve such a designation. After completion of a year-long application and review process, FranklinCovey visited Hoover to confirm Leader in Me has been implemented as a whole school transformational model. The Leader in Me model involves an infusion of leadership into the school culture and academics. We are so proud of the work our students and staff have made to transform the academics, culture and leadership at Hoover Middle School, said Mike Fisher, Hoover principal. Lighthouse Schools serve as models of leadership and mentors to other schools by meeting these several standards. Hoover is one of only 232 schools to achieve the Lighthouse Milestone out of the 2,580 Leader in Me schools around the world. Waterloos Orange Elementary received the designation in 2015. Hoover and Orange were among the first Cedar Valley schools implementing the Leader in Me through the Greater Cedar Valley Alliance & Chambers Leader Valley initiative. The Leader in Me, based on the Steven Coveys 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, is creating leadership cultures in schools and instilling 21st Century soft skills of effectiveness in Cedar Valley students. WATERLOO The Waterloo City Council rejected a $25,000 grant from the Black Hawk County Gaming Association. The motion to accept the funds for an Animal Control vehicle was defeated in a 3-3 vote at Monday nights regular meeting. Councilmen Steve Schmitt, Tom Lind and Bruce Jacobs voted to reject the grant. The funding would have covered half the cost of an equipped vehicle, Sandie Greco, superintendent of traffic operations, told the council. Schmitt asked the item to be tabled and suggested the city explore contracting animal control to the Cedar Bend Humane Society. Schmitt said cutting the citys animal control came up at a forum he hosted with Lind and Jacobs at the Waterloo Center for the Arts on May 15. You were having discussions about restructuring an entire city department without any communication with me, Mayor Quentin Hart. This is the first I heard about this. Everyones invited, Schmitt said of the forum. A motion to table the item failed in a 3-3 vote with Pat Morrissey, Jerome Amos, Jr., and Ron Welper voting against tabling the item. BHCGA approved the grant in February. In other business, the City Council approved a development agreement with PDCM Insurance. The company is relocating to 3022 Airport Blvd. in a $600,000 renovation project. Work had already begun at the PDCMs new location. Arent we doing this a bit backwards, Lind asked Aric Schroeder, city planner. Schroeder said while its not typical the city approve a development after work begins, its not unheard of depending on construction cycles and time it takes to make an agreement. The five-year deal would rebate 50 percent of property tax rebates on the taxable property value added beyond the buildings current $1.37 million assessed value. Its a fairly minor incentive package, Schroeder said. In a public hearing, bids were opened and read for parking lot improvements and streetscaping around the new Single Speed Brewing Co. project and Waterloo Public Library downtown. K. Cunningham Construction Co. Inc., of Cedar Falls submitted a bid for the work at $1,014,225.81. Lodge Construction, of Clarksville, came in at $779,206.83 and Peters Construction, of Waterloo, submitted a bid at $810,810.00. No action was taken on the bids. End kiss cam CEDAR FALLS The Waterloo Bucks have a new electronic scoreboard at Riverfront Stadium that allows fans to view hits, errors, strikes, balls and pitch speed. The kiss cam is always fun. Cameramen pick out people so they can kiss for the camera. This is dangerous in itself, making assumptions about marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity very personal things put on public display based on snap judgments. But the cameramen for the Bucks take it one step further by ending the kiss cam on the opposing to team. This is received with laughter in the crowd. Its funny to the majority because seeing the opposing team, made up of seemingly heterosexual young men, kiss would imply homosexuality. Homophobia is alive and well and harbors a culture where mass shootings like in Orlando can take place. HANNA PINT Clean energy jobs WATERLOO The Courier printed an article June 9 by Stephen Moore headlined The liberal plan to kill 10 million jobs. Actually, the transition to renewable energy will generate more jobs than it will destroy, while creating huge environmental benefits. The Political Economy Research Institute (University of Massachusetts) reports, Compared to the fossil fuel sector, the clean energy sector would produce nearly four times the number of jobs that require a high school degree or less, three times the number of jobs that require some college experience and 2.5 times the number of jobs that require a B.A. or more. Today renewable energy is the fastest-growing energy sector. MidAmerican Energy recently announced its investment to produce 85 percent of its energy from wind, with a goal of 100 percent. Wind power supports 7,000 Iowa jobs. Fossil fuel subsidies are many times greater than subsidization of renewable energy, and fossil fuel companies have been receiving subsidies for 70 years. The Environmental Law Institute shows the vast majority of federal subsidies support energy sources that emit high levels of greenhouse gases. Lets change this. MARGARET WHITING Jesus is nonpartisan CEDAR FALLS To say Jesus would be a Democrat is about as blasphemous as anything said in your editorial column. We have a choice to believe whatever we want, even whats in the Bible, but to believe Jesus would be a Democrat is by either willful ignorance or refusal to believe the entire Bible. You either dont know the punishment the Israelites were to administer to man lying with man or woman lying with woman or the instructions given by St. Paul in his writings, or you choose not to believe them. Jesus did say, Heaven and earth will pass away, but not one jot or tittle of my word will pass away. And from all his statements about the Old Testament, God never said they were no longer relevant. Because Scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit, everything else in the Bible is included in his statement. He did say in John 14:6 No one comes to the Father except by Me. He wouldnt be a Republican either. DENNIS BUSEMAN Womans Club will hold events CEDAR FALLS The Cedar Falls Womans Club has several upcoming events planned. Members will volunteer at the Pizza Ranch on University Avenue on Wednesday, beginning at 4:30 p.m.. Donations will be used to assist with club activities and to preserve the grand Victorian Club House at 304 Clay St. CFWC commitment to civic involvement also will be evident during the Sturgis Falls Celebration. Beginning with a unique entry in the Sturgis Falls Parade on June 25, club members will then provide three public events on the club house property on June 26. There will be a Lemon-Shake-up Stand beginning at 8:30 a.m. People can peruse and purchase historic and photographic cards and other special gifts on the front lawn, and then from 1 to 4 p.m. play bingo in the air-conditioned club house where cash prizes and refreshments will be available until 4 p.m. Eagles 764 will host karaoke WATERLOO The Waterloo Eagles No. 764 at East First and Sycamore will host karaoke music in the back room by Caseys Music to Go from 7 to 11 p.m. Friday. BLT baskets will be served from 5:30 to 8 p.m, All members and guests are welcome. Deere retiree event planned WATERLOO An informational session on retiree benefits for salaried John Deere retirees will take place Wednesday at the Supervisors Club, 3265 Dewitt Road. The meeting will include a review on how salaried retirees can best use their Retiree Medical Credits in order to manage health care medical costs. An update on the activities of the John Deere Retirees Organization will also be presented. All salaried retires are welcome to attend the event, which will begin at 10 a.m., with coffee available at 9:30 a.m. Diabetes group plans meeting CEDAR FALLS Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare will offer a free support group for all people with diabetes and their family members from 1 to 2 p.m. on third Thursday of each month in the first floor conference room of Sartori Memorial Hospital. Staff from the Nutrition and Diabetes Education Center lead the group. Various topics for those managing diabetes will be addressed. Summer kids program set WATERLOO First Baptist Church of Waterloo at West Fourth and Baltimore St. will host a free summer kids program from 9 to 11:45 a.m. from Monday to July 8 for children who have completed kindergarten through fifth grade. First Baptist is also a free breakfast and lunch site, provided by the Waterloo Schools. Call 234-1537 for more information. Author to hold book signing WATERLOO A local author is making a bundled offer: A book, a drink and helping defeat cancer. Finding the Ruby Ring: Tales From the Heartland is a new novel by Northeast Iowa native Clark Kilgard. There will be a Waterloo book signing at 5 p.m. Thursday at Catherine Doyles Irish Pub, 500 Sycamore St. The book is $10 and comes with a free drink at Doyles and a personalized signature, if desired. All proceeds go to Black Hawk County Relay for Life. In Finding the Ruby Ring, stories emanating from a small Midwestern town are overheard and shared by an outside observer, a part-time bartender and seeker from the East Coast. Kilgard splits his time between Iowa and South Florida. Q: I heard an argument someone said there are more millionaires in Omaha, Neb., than any other city; another gentleman said no, it was New York. Which is right? A: In the U.S., New York appears to be the leader in millionaires. Worldwide, Tokyo has the most, according to at least some financial publications. We suspect the person who suggested Omaha was thinking of Warren Buffett the Sage of Omaha one of the richest men in the world and a Nebraska resident. nnn Q: Where can we write the National Federation of Republican Women? A: Write to 124 N. Alfred St., Alexandria, VA 22314, or send email through the website at www.nfrw.org. nnn Q: Where did Kyra Phillips of CNN go to? A: She works with CNNs investigative and documentary units and also puts out the Mom Squad podcast. nnn Q: I thought Valley Park Drive by University in Cedar Falls was going to be a dead end but now it looks like it has been opened and they poured cement. Will it be a through-street to Hy-Vee? A: Cedar Falls City Engineer Randy Lorenzen responds: Valley Park Drive does not dead end. It will be connected to University Avenue when all of the work is completed; however, later on in the project the median on University Ave will extended through this intersection, preventing traffic on Valley Park Drive from being able to cross University Avenue from north to south; south to north. The right-in, right-out movements on and off of Valley Park Drive will be allowed after reconstruction. nnn Q: What construction is being done by South Union Road in Cedar Falls? A: City officials are not sure what construction the caller is referring to, but cited an answer to a previous Call the Courier question published May 26 about some tree removal at First Street and Union Road. Several city officials have said they have received no development plans or building permit applications for that location and suggested whatever work is happening there is being done at the private property owners discretion. nnn Q: Given the poor performance of the Waterloo School District concerning graduation and dropout rates and grade level proficiencies in reading, math and science, why does the STEM initiative place emphasis on occupational training rather than basic liberal arts education? A: If the caller is referring to the districts efforts to expand career and technical education, the idea is to better engage students. Classes that teach those subjects in the context of providing training for a skill gain new relevance. As a result, the student may graduate instead of dropping out. nnn Q: How much does it cost a high school to belong to the National Honor Society? A: According to information on the National Honor Societys website, the annual fee for a chapter of the organization at a school is $385. 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several things that will help you make a decision. Heres what you should look for when choosing an online casino Are they regulated? A lot of the larger ones have licenses issued by the authorities in their respective regions, so its worth checking this first. Do they offer games from different software providers? Some casinos just use one software provider and limit your selection. This is fine if you like playing those types of games but you may want to check other casinos as well. What does their payout percentage look like? The payout rate refers to how much money you can expect to win after every bet. A high payout rate means youll be able to play more often without having to worry about losing all your money. Its also important to know the minimum and maximum bets allowed on each game. If youre going to play roulette, for example, then you probably dont want a casino with a minimum bet of less than $2.50 or even lower than that. The players used to play the game slot online in the land based casinos in the past time. But now with time after the invention of the online casinos players play the game slot online. Online platform provide the players with the convenience in playing and even better winning. Even after keeping a good percentage of the profits, they distribute good funds to players. How many games do they offer? There are lots of different types of games to choose from. Roulette, blackjack and poker are some of the most popular options, but you might find slots, video pokers, video bingo and others as well. You can usually filter these games down to only show the ones that interest you best, so make sure that your list isnt too long! Is there a bonus offer? Many online casinos offer free bonuses as part of their welcome package which includes new players being awarded 100% up to $10 instantly, for example. These offers are great but not everyone has access to them all the time (and some require you to deposit real money). If youd prefer to avoid paying a fee, some casinos offer no-deposit bonuses where you can get a certain amount of funds before you need to put any actual money into the account. These are usually offered alongside welcome bonuses, so make sure you read both parts of the terms and conditions carefully before signing up. Does it offer live dealer games? Live dealers are much preferred by many over regular virtual versions, so it pays to check this option out too. Most online casinos now offer live dealer games in addition to their regular offerings, allowing you to experience the thrill of the real thing without needing to leave home. Now that youve got an idea of what to look for when choosing an online casino, heres some tips for making the right choice It really comes down to personal preference. No two people are exactly alike, so everyone has an opinion on what they like and dislike about each casino. That said, here are some things to consider in order to narrow down your choices Popularity. Check out reviews, forums and Facebook pages to see what other people think of the casino. Also, ask around at work or friends houses who they would recommend to you. You could always take a look at the casinos website too, to see what kind of information they provide about themselves. Reputation. Find out what the general public thinks about the casino. Check out any customer reviews on sites like Trustpilot, Amazon and Google Play to find out more. As far as gaming goes, you can also check out the Better Business Bureau to see whether there have been any complaints against the casino. Security. Make sure the casino uses SSL encryption to secure its transactions, meaning that your private data stays safe during transactions. Other than that, look for security seals on the site itself and verify that theyre legitimate. You can also check out the casinos privacy policy to see how they handle confidential information. Payment methods. Its good to have multiple payment options available, especially if you plan to play frequently. Its also nice to find a casino that accepts cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. If youre worried about safety, you can always opt for a credit card or PayPal instead. With all those criteria in mind, heres our top picks Betway: Betway is a relatively new UK casino offering online gambling to residents of the United Kingdom and European Union. They offer hundreds of games across both land based and digital platforms, with plenty of top software providers like Net Entertainment, Microgaming and Yggdrasil Gaming Network. With a generous welcome offer that gives players 100% up to 100, you really cant go wrong with Betway. Coral Casino: Coral Casino is operated by the same company that runs the famous Caribbean casino, Grand Reef. 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New players can receive a massive 100% match bonus up to 200, while existing customers can claim 35% cashback on their first three deposits. William Hill Casino: William Hill Casino is one of the biggest names in the industry, operating in Europe, Asia and North America. Founded in 1984, this online casino has more than 400 games to choose from, including slots and table games, with a wide array of software providers like WagerLogic, Big Time Gaming and Rival. Bonus: 100% Match Bonus up to 100 Register Now Betway: 100% Match Bonus up to 100 Claim Now Coral Casino: 25% Cash Back on Deposits Claim Now Ladbrokes Casino: 35% Cash Back on First 3 Deposits Claim Now Paddy Power Casino: 100% Match Bonus up to 200 Claim Now William Hill Casino: 100% Match Bonus up to 200 Claim Now If youre interested in trying out an online casino but arent quite ready to commit to one, why not try out one of the many no deposit casinos weve reviewed? You can test drive various casinos completely risk-free, so you can feel confident about your choice before you make a single penny deposit. Social media is such a relationship builder and marketing tool. It's not just a 'fad. It is honestly a shift in the way we communicate. The importance has never been greater than now! LOS ANGELES, CA, June 14, 2016 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Since their launch nearly three years ago, Krystle Kelley and Terrah Holder of Desert Pop Design have proven to be quite the experts when it comes to brand development. To date, they've helped expose dozens of clients to an even bigger audience through website development and social media marketing. "Before we agree to work with a client, we look for consistency and commitment," stated Krystle. "We need to know that the client takes their brand seriously because if they don't, who will?" The company's latest success story includes that of tween style blogger, Vandy Jaidenn. Desert Pop Design has helped Vandy rack up over 70K followers on Instagram as well as more than 135K followers @VandyJaidenn on Musical.ly. She's also been featured in numerous magazines and the news. As former fashion models, Krystle and Terrah say they use the marketing ideas and lessons they have learned while working with larger companies and now applies them to Vandy's brand. So far, it's proven to be very successful. "We know the importance of collaborating and working with social media influences to get brand recognition," explained Krystle. "Our relationship with brands and celebrities like ModerneChild and Jenna Ortega were the catalysts to get her brand and name moving." Social media, of course, is powering the world in ways many folks have never imagined. Today, it is now a major source for brand awareness. Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are no longer just sources to spy on your crush or communicate with friends. Rather, it's become a powerful outlet for self-promotion--something the gals behind Desert Pop Design are fully aware of. "Social media is such a relationship builder and marketing tool. It's not just a 'fad,'" stated Terrah. "It is honestly a shift in the way we communicate. The importance has never been greater than now!" Desert Pop Design is applying their success with Vandy's brand to their other clients, too, like: Jenna Ortega from Disney's Stuck in the Middle, ModerneChild Shoppe, House of Posh Tots, Little Edge Threads and Littlest Goose Shoppe. Because of Vandy's massive social media following, it's recently led to ongoing opportunities with additional clients like tween model and fashionista, Little Miss Mia. "Thanks to the following, Vandy will also soon be featured in Babiekins Magazine along with two reality show pilots," explained Terrah. While some social media sites, like Instagram and Musical.ly, are still fairly young, Krystle Kelley and her business partner, Terrah Holder, have learned early on how powerful their impact can be. Both even recently attended the Bloguettes conference which taught them additional marketing tactics to help their current and future clients. "Musical.ly is the newest social media app to go viral, and it is a way for us to stay fresh, current and relevant to other brands and clients," explained Krystle. "In fact, Terrah recently created a video with Forever and For Ava, Savannah Soutas and Michelle Foley for a Musical.ly GMA challenge. We have just learned they got moved to the next round!" About Krystle Kelley: Before delving into the world of web design, Krystle, a native of Palm Springs, previously worked as an international fashion model for a variety of couture fashion designers. She's also worked the runways of major fashion events, like: LA Fashion Week, New York Fashion Week and El Paseo Fashion Week. After turning 25, she decided to focus her attention to her second love: computers. After extensive training in the field of web design-her career has never looked brighter. When she's not working, she enjoys scuba diving, shopping, making jewelry and painting. About Terrah Holder: Born in Cedar City, Utah, Terrah is the vice president of Desert Pop Design. At just 18-years-old, she married her high school sweetheart and remain happily married. Together they have three young children. With a degree in business marketing, she continues to push herself both professionally and personally in this ever changing digital world. When she's not working, she enjoys spending time with her children and husband. Her hobbies include: fashion, photography, styling, designing and snowboarding. Contact Us: Krystle Kelley, President Desert Pop Design Phone: (760) 333-4974 Email: [email protected] Web: www.desertpopdesign.com # # # Jun 14, 2016 | By Alec The Chinese medical world is increasingly becoming known for their very open approach towards innovative 3D printing solutions, and this was again emphasized during a ten-hour surgery in the Beijing QingHua ChangGeng Hospital on May 20. Led by professor Xiao Song Hua, physicians Song Fei and Zhao Zhe successfully completed the worlds first high-sacral en bloc resection that involves a 3D printed sacrum implant. During the surgery, a gigantic tumor was removed from the sacrum the bone in the middle of the pelvis of a father of two. The surgeons subsequently implanted a 3D printed prosthesis that provides pelvic stability and returns normal bowel and bladder functions. The patient in question is in his thirties and is the father of two children. After suffering from back pain and a lack of mobility, doctors discovered a huge bone tumor on the upper part of his sacrum in April, with the pain being caused by the tumor pressing down on a nerve. This is quite a problematic condition, as the sacrum is absolutely crucial for normal movement. It fuses together five sacral vertebras and connects the spine and the pelvis, thus playing a huge role in connecting the torso to the lower body. To be sure, treatment methods already existed but these are either risky or do not provide desired results. As professor Xiao explained, doctors often perform an Excochleation operation, which is quite simple but features a high cancer recurrence rate. Sacrectomy pelvic ring reconstruction is another option and can cure the cancer, but its so complex that few surgeons can perform it. It also requires cutting off the sacral nerve, which can result in numerous complications, including lower limb paralysis, incontinence and sexual dysfunction. After discussing the options with the patient and his family, professor Xiao and his team therefore decided to explore a third method one that would not only cure the cancer, but would also maximize the patients quality of life after surgery. Ultimately, they settled on a 3D printed prosthesis implant that minimizes post-surgery complications. But this method does involve three major challenges: the high precision with which the sacral tumor resection needs to be performed, the accuracy with which the 3D printed implant needs to be placed, and the long surgery times that are required. Professor Xiao Song Hua. But they first focused on 3D printing the pelvis implant, which was made by the 3D printing team of the QingHua ChangGeng Hospital. Using the patients CT scans and MRI results taken during preoperative preparation, they built a digital model of the pelvis. Through a series of calculations that took clinical conventions and expected results into account, they designed a model that would perfectly replace lost sacrum section. In contrast to general purpose artificial vertebrae, the prosthesis has been completely customized and featured a unique locking mechanism to hold it in place. 3D printed in titanium, it was also repeatedly tested for biocompatibility. As the sacrum is located near to numerous vital organs, connected to the illium and close to several major blood vessels, it was also very likely that major bleeding would occur during the surgery. To minimize that as much as possible, the head of the hospitals vascular surgery department Wu Wei Wei embolized various arteries on the day before the surgery. To compensate, Director Ma Hai Mei from the blood transfusion department provided 20 units of red blood cells and 20 units of fresh plasma. Physician Zhao YanJun and Zhang Huan, the director of anesthesia department, prepared the patients anesthesia. Everything was set for the surgery, which comprised of three steps. First, surgeons would have to protect the internal organs and blood vessels as much as possible. After the belly is opened and the bilateral retroperitoneal separation is performed to protect the tissue, they needed to determine the location where the bone will be cut on the front. This needed to take place at the L5 S1 gap, at the edge of the S2 sacral vertebrae hole and at both sides of the sacroiliac joints. This enables them to fully resect the complete tumor tissue, while reducing the likelihood of recurrence. For the second step, the surgeons needed to follow the L345 line on the back of the patient and remove the vertebral plate which was not involved in the resection. During the third step, the surgeons moved to the front again to completely remove the vertebra and S1 nerve on the right side of the tumor, and build a bypass. Finally, they embedded the 3D printed prosthesis using the custom locking system. This exhausting and invasive surgery was finally completed at 2 AM on May 20. During the extensive surgery, nurses changed shifts three times and the patients body needed to be turned over twice. During the ten-hour procedure, no vital sign fluctuations occurred, and the patient woke up a few hours after extubation. Fortunately, the father of two is recovering rapidly. Right now, a few weeks after the surgery, he is already walking and can visit the bathroom by himself. Most importantly, X-rays have shown that the prosthesis is still a perfect fit and doing exactly what it needs to do. Posted in 3D Printing Application Maybe you also like: Jun 14, 2016 | By Benedict A team of students from Gonzaga University has used 3D printing to develop an Ankle Foot Orthosis (AFO) which can be produced in just two days. Normal production time for AFOs, which are used to treat foot and ankle disorders in children, is around four weeks. Since children tend to run around all day, its easy to forget that youngsters occasionally require the kind of advanced healthcare treatment usually reserved for adults. Fortunately, many foot and ankle disorders which affect children can be treated with the use of an Ankle Foot Orthosis, a kind of brace which provides a stable support for a childs lower extremities, allowing them to learn (or relearn) how to walk and balance. Despite the importance of AFOs, their complicated fabrication processscanning, molding, vacuum heat forming, and fittingmeans they can take up to four weeks to make. Worse still, many parents struggle to foot the ~$2,000 bill slapped on such devices. Since AFOs can be expensive and slow to make, a group of students at Gonzaga University, a Catholic college located in Spokane, Washington, wanted to see if 3D printing could be used to speed up and reduce the cost of the process. In late 2015, the team gathered to start researching potential rapid prototyping techniques which it could use to create a simple, easily 3D printed AFO with the best composition and geometry to meet strength and comfort requirements for patients. To meet those strength and comfort requirements, the Gonzaga University researchers first used a 3D scanner to obtain accurate measurements of a patients foot and ankle. Next, they used that 3D scan to create a 3D model for the AFO using CAD softwarethe AFO, of course, needed to be just slightly larger than the patients foot and ankle, while closely following its shape. Several different 3D printing materials (PLA, Polypropylene, Carbon Fiber PLA, PETG, and Nylon) were then tested, before the AFO could finally be 3D printed with the help of 3D Platform, an Illinois-based 3D printing service provider. We want to 3D print large braces (up to 18 inches), and we need to print with a variety of materials as we research the best design for the braces, said McKenzie Horner, one of the student researchers at Gonzaga University, at the time of the project. 3D Platform helped solve the problem by providing a versatile large-format 3D printer that helps us with our materials research and AFO printing. We were able to print a full-scale proof of concept immediately, and the open platform software capabilities allow us to prepare a print easily from a doctors 3D scan of a patients leg. The students tests revealed that PLA and PETG would be the most suitable materials for 3D printing an AFO, since they both provided ample comfort and strength whilst still keeping costs at a minimum. To the students great delight, making these PLA and PETG braces took only two daysfar less than the four weeks usually required to make such a device. Printing time for each AFO was around 16 hours, with the digital model configuration taking just a few minutes. As well as reducing material costs, the 3D printing process also helped to reduce potential labor costs, with several steps of the fabrication procedure either shortened or completely eliminated. With their success demonstrating how additive manufacturing can so often be a step in the right direction, the Gonzaga University students plan to continue using 3D printing in order to create affordable and effective medical solutions. Posted in 3D Printing Application Maybe you also like: Amy Davis wrote at 6/15/2016 4:52:20 AM:This seems like a really cool project. I feel that you may be misguided in what all goes into fitting a device. I feel that some factor were not considered. I am interested in how you decided the best materials. Did you do durability and stress tests. Usually the strength and flexibility properties are selected base on the presentation of the patient. Yes far less time when only providing the devices for a small group of people but if you multiple that by 100s and the processes is actually longer. The actual hours in fabricating an Afo is no longer than a few hours unlike the time to print and a few hours of modication time to create a device to treat a medical condition. Most of that 4 week wait time is insurance approvals and administrative process. I am interested in how this technology can innovate the orthotic and prosthetic industry. Hopefully opening up the world to innovation of design and materials. There a few things preventing it from currently becoming a standard and that is clinical based evidence ( research ), cost effectiveness and time to print. Keep up the work! Dan Chiasson at The New Yorker: One rainy day in the spring of 1960, the San Francisco poet Robert Duncan arrived at my door, Adrienne Rich wrote in her essay A Communal Poetry. Duncan was a daemonic bard with a Homeric attitude, who often wore a black cape and a broad-brimmed hat. Rich made him tea while trying to comfort her sick son, who moved between the high chair and her lap; Duncan, whom Rich cautiously admired, began speaking almost as soon as he entered the house and never ceased. Later, driving him to Boston in the rain, Rich realized that her car was on empty and pulled into a gas station. Throughout it all, Duncan, the oracle, was still talking about poetry, the role of the poet, myth. Apparently, Richs role was to make tea for him, and to keep things like sick children and empty gas tanks from interrupting the great mans groove. Rich concluded, generously, that Duncans deep attachment to a mythological Feminine made it hard for him to manage so unarchetypal a person as an actual struggling woman caring for a sick child. Rich, who died in 2012, had these kinds of run-ins with literary men throughout her life. Her father was an eminent doctor and a professor at the Johns Hopkins medical school, who made her copy out verses from Blake and Keats from an early age, and graded the results; her mother, who had studied in Vienna to be a concert pianist and a composer, put aside her art to raise the family. Richs sense that she was the benefactor of her mothers sacrifice and the object of her fathers fixations never left her. more here. With the summer sun now bright and shining, there's no better time to workout under a cloudless sky. Lace up those Nikes, grab 32 fluid ounces of water, dab some sunscreen on the nape of your neck, and prepare to sweat out some of those summer indulgences. Here are five phenomenal outside workouts to do in San Francisco. Evening Squad Runs Every Thursday at the Lululemon on Grant Avenue, a small, dynamic running club meets to share stories, tips, and, of course, embark on an evening run. Angela Tieri leads the session, offering three-, four-, and six-mile routes. And don't worry about heading there right after work, you're more than welcome to stash-and-store any valuables inside the store while you run. // Thursdays, 6:15pm at Lululemon, 327 Grant Ave. (FiDi), info.lululemon.com/stores/us/san-francisco/unionsquare Early Morning Bodyweight Bootcamp What better way to kick off the day then burning off a few margaritas from the night before? On Thursdays at 6:30am, Katie Meirman leads a bootcamp session that covers all the basesendurance, agility, and strength training. Be sure to park somewhere near the Alta Plaza Park where the group will meet. // $20, Thursdays, 6:30-7:30am at Alta Plaza Park, 2499 Steiner St. (Pac Heights), movewith.com/katiemerriman Resistance Training on the Beach Who would've thought that sand between your toes could be so helpful in toning the body? Trainer Alex Ho organizes an early morning resistance training session a few times a month where the sand acts as a tool to help you look even better in your favorite swimsuit. Be sure to take a look at his schedule to see when and where he'll be hosting his next "Barefoot on the Beach" workout. // $25, Aquatic Park Pier, See full schedule at movewith.com/alexho Yoga or nap time? (photo via Gilt City) Rooftop Yoga on 3rd Street Breathe in, breathe outand take in that view! The Cardiotone studio located on 3rd Street hosts rooftop Vinyasa-style sessions throughout the week either in the early morning hours (before 10am) or later in the evening (after 6pm). We'd recommend checking the forecast prior to your workout to make sure there's no rain. But, even if there's a sudden downpour, the session will be moved inside. // Cardiotone, 360 3rd St. (South Park), cardio-tone.zingfit.com/reserve Rooftop Spin Class on 3rd Street If yoga isn't your thing, Cardiotone also hosts rooftop spin classes at its 3rd Street location. So, go ahead, trade the yoga mat for a pair of spin shoes. Either way, you'll be sweating with a glorious view of San Francisco in splendid company. And what could be a better summer treat than that? // Cardiotone, 360 3rd St. (South Park), cardio-tone.zingfit.com/reserve The big thing about the Jewish Community Center is that, in conjunction with the Julian B. Lane Project, it will spill over onto Main Street. People will be able to walk and get out of their cars. There are already a lot of people walking around, but this is going beyond that to an explosion out of our beautiful Tampa to encompass West Tampa. -- Dawn Hudson, president West Tampa Chamber of Commerce. Fort Homer W. Hesterly Armory has been the setting for some of Tampas most iconic events.A bronzed and dashing President John F. Kennedy joked about the popularity of his daughter Caroline there in November 1963, four days before his tragic assassination. Martin Luther King Jr., in a 1961 speech at the armory, praised local civil rights leaders for desegregating downtown Tampa lunchroom counters.And a guitar-slinging, pelvis-swiveling Elvis Presley thrilled thousands of young women in a 1955 performance forever memorialized on his debut album cover.A half century later, the white, art deco building is again poised to make its mark on Tampas history. Residents and community leaders hope the armorys new incarnation as the Bryan Glazer Family Jewish Community Center will spark a rebirth of the downtrodden West Tampa neighborhood surrounding the massive structure.Jack Ross, who is leading the Jewish Community Center and Federations $26 million renovation of the armory, says new commercial and residential development has already taken place in the 4 1/2 years since the renovation was announced.West Tampa seems to be coming alive and it really seems like a renaissance, Ross says. We have the privilege of being part of this renaissance and we hope an important part.Ross explains that the community center wont just be a gaudy bauble, setting itself above and apart from the dreary neighborhoods nearby. Instead the more than 100,000 square feet of renovated space will provide recreational and cultural activities to uplift the community, Jewish and non-Jewish patrons alike.And unlike most other community centers, the JCC wants the building to become an entrepreneurial center focused on creating jobs. With $1 million in seed money from Floridas Department of Economic Opportunity , the center is creating a Florida-Israel Business Accelerator. The incubator will provide a soft launch pad for innovative Israeli companies that have proven technologies and want to grow a North American market.The hope is we bring the brightest and best to Tampa Bay and have them establish their North American offices in Tampa, hire Tampanians and extend their North American presence right there, creating jobs here in this community, Ross says.In laying the groundwork for the accelerator, the JCC has hired an Israeli CEO for the project. Ross and other Jewish Community Center leaders have been discussing the project with the University of Tel Aviv and business incubators in the Jewish state. The goal is for the business accelerator to be part of a local innovation ecosystem with already established groups such as Tampa Bay Wave, the University of Tampa Entrepreneur Center and USF Connect, the University of South Floridas business and economic development initiative that provides help for tech startups.These are all young, innovative companies that are incubating and obtaining venture capital, Ross says. We hope to bring Israeli innovation and make it a unique part of the ecosystem.JCC leaders also see job-growing potential from a fine arts program that the Tampa city government will operate within the community center. Open to both members and non-members of the center, the program will offer art classes, jewelry and pottery making and studio space for budding artists. West Tampa boosters hope the program will cultivate an arts district along Howard and Armenia avenues.Mike Traina, who owns an art and tattoo business at 408 N. Howard Ave., says he would like to see the community center spawn shops and things you can walk around; not just one destination.If its going to be a strip of places you can walk through that will be nice, Traina says. Until they do that, I dont know.The area is still light years away from the trendy prosperity of the SoHo and Hyde Park areas to the south, or even the grittierSeminole Heights neighborhood north of downtown. West Tampa continues to struggle with crime, blight and poverty.According to a city report last year, the 964-acre West Tampa Community Redevelopment Area has a crime rate 1.5 times higher than the city average. The CRAs median household income of $18,856 is less than half the citywide median household income of $43,242. Within the area, 46.8 percent of the population has an income at or below the poverty level.The results can be seen along Howard Avenue across from the community center. Though there are more than a smattering of businesses, many have burglar bars covering doors and windows. More than one business asks visitors to use a door in the back where they have to be buzzed in.There is still a lot of work to be done, says Dawn Hudson, president of the West Tampa Chamber of Commerce . There are guys hanging out on street corners, scurrilous activities going on, on Main Street. There is still crime to be contended with and improvements, like landscaping are missing -- a lot of fundamental curb appeal things.But there is good news too. Because West Tampa is a blighted area close to the citys central business district, it qualified to become a Community Redevelopment Area. Among other goodies, CRAs have tax increment financing, meaning any growth in property tax revenues generated within the area are kept in the CRA for infrastructure or aesthetic improvements.It could be small business loans, it could be facade improvements or streetscaping, Hudson says. Do we repave Main Street and make it an art district?And at the far western side of the CRA, work will soon commence on the $35 million redevelopment of Julian B. Lane Riverfront Park. The project, which could prove a legacy-maker for Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn, will transform the 26-acre park into a major destination for sports, concerts, art shows and picnicking on a large lawn looking down at the Hillsborough River. Boaters, kayakers and scullers will be able to access the park from the river itself.The big thing about the Jewish Community Center is that, in conjunction with the Julian B. Lane Project, it will spill over onto Main Street, Hudson says. People will be able to walk and get out of their cars. There are already a lot of people walking around, but this is going beyond that to an explosion out of our beautiful Tampa to encompass West Tampa.Fran Weinfeld says shes already seen a difference in the neighborhood in the three years since she opened Fran Chong Tranquility Escape, a hair, nails and skin salon on Howard Avenue. A number of small businesses have moved into the neighborhood, she says, including College Hunks Hauling Junk and Moving at Howard and West Cypress Avenue. Weinfeld attributes much of the new business activity to the announcement that the armory, vacant since 2004, would be renovated and house the Jewish Community Center.The neighborhood is changing, Weinfeld says. Its not a scary neighborhood anymore.But addressing crime and poverty will take more than rising property values and hipster businesses, says Michael Randolph, economic development director for the West Tampa Community Development Corporation. For the Glazer Community Center to foment real change in surrounding neighborhoods, it must address the roots of poverty: lack of education, job training and social cohesion. Ways must be found to integrate people into the workforce who have prison records, physical disabilities or other handicaps.It has to be more than just a building, Randolph says. How do we convert that building into the heartbeat of that particular area. 4) Our only true culture clash occurred over the wedding invitations. Will wanted to use email: "Reply cards always get lost." I disagreed: "Older guests like to get an invitation they can stick on the refrigerator and look forward to." Luckily, the MOB sided with me, and a compromise was reached: Paper invites were sent, but guests could RSVP on the couple's website. "Paper invites are not going away any time soon," says Forrest. In the website's 2015 survey, 74 percent of respondents used paper "Save the Dates," while 89 percent handwrote and snail-mailed thank-you notes. 5) Will and Nan got hitched without a hitch in a Sonoma vineyard oak grove, with bluebirds fluttering by (and cellphone cameras buzzing like a swarm of cicadas). Our niece streamed the entire wedding ceremony on her iPhone a nice touch for two faraway grandmothers, who witnessed the event in real time from home. The wedding toasts divided the guests into predictable camps: While older invitees read from pieces of paper blowing in the wind, the younger ones squinted at notes on their mobile devices. Fortunately, no one suffered the near-injury a friend reported from his son's marriage celebration in India, where the best man looked up mid-toast to find a small object flying straight for his head. It turned out to be a drone; the bride's parents had arranged for it to take aerial photos of the revelry. More and more American couples, too, are requesting drone photography, reports Forrest. Although they are obviously better suited for aerial views of the venue than intimate shots at the altar, drones can be noisy, pricey ($800 to $1,000) and, yes, hazardous. "They're getting mixed reviews when used with people present," Forrest observes. Yet drones pale with the digital pyrotechnics on the horizon: Would you believe minicams hidden in the bride's bouquet? Or heart-rate monitors that capture the bride's and groom's emotional upticks? 6) Just as the afterglow threatened to fade, the wedding photos arrived in the form of an email containing a link to hundreds of them on the photographer's website. Scrolling through the digital shots, we laughed and cried all over again at Will and Nan's first look, first kiss, first dance. True, these images might soon be floating all over Facebook and Instagram, not preserved for posterity in a leather album. But no matter what digital shortcuts had helped bring about their union, the love on their faces was real. Elizabeth Fishel is coauthor of Getting to 30: A Parent's Guide to the 20-Something Years. My theory Though I'm sure those explanations have merit, I'd like to offer a possible theory of my own: Wealthier people are happier and happier people tend to live longer. In support of my hypothesis, research conducted by Michael Finke and Hoang-Nhat Ho at Texas Tech University demonstrates that wealthier retirees typically describe themselves as happier. The data suggest that one factor for why wealthier people may be happier is that they have more time to spend socializing with friends and family. And according to the Mayo Clinic, "Research shows that those who enjoy high levels of social support stay healthier and live longer." See also: How to retire happy My advice Statistically speaking, it appears that the slogan "he who dies with the most toys wins" couldn't be more wrong. Spending to impress others, or even yourself, is not going to make you as happy as you think. In fact, in the long run, you may be buying a shorter life expectancy. So review the seven techniques to save more and get off that hedonic treadmill. In the words of Star Trek's Mr. Spock, it may help you "live long and prosper." AARP Discounts: Discover great deals and savings as an AARP member Allan Roth is the founder of Wealth Logic, an hourly based financial planning firm in Colorado Springs, Colo. He has taught investing and finance at universities and written for Money magazine, the Wall Street Journal and others. His contributions aren't meant to convey specific investment advice. Mocha, an alpaca with dark brown fleece, is waiting her turn for shearing. Shes in the good hands of Tom Morrison, an Albuquerque alpaca shearer who travels the country, but Mocha still seems a little skittish as she watches her mother, Esperanza, lose her winter coat. Its OK, reassures Bill Richardson (no relation to the former governor) of Cowboy Camelids Alpaca Ranch & Gift Shop in Bosque Farms to the alpaca who fits under his arm and nuzzles him. He and his wife, Angela Richardson, own the ranch that is home to 24 alpacas. The ranch and gift shop, 150 North Bosque Loop, is open Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. or by appointment. Visit their Facebook page for information. Morrison can shear an alpaca and trim their toes and teeth in less than 10 minutes or so. Youre working as efficiently as you can so you dont stress them out, Morrison explains on a short break. I like working with all animals, but I especially like alpacas. I like their energy. After handling them so long, Ive come to have a way with them. You dont want to jack up the fleece, says Morrison of his smooth handling of the animals. Its the bread and butter. I get great personal satisfaction from sharing this (shearing ability). Harlie Guess of Corrales, who rescues animals, has brought her alpaca to Bosque Farms for Morrison to shear. Im really thankful. Otherwise, Id be out there with my scissors. She says the first time she had her alpaca sheared the vet charged $90, while Morrison if he has enough alpacas to keep him busy most of the day charges about $30 each. Other alpaca owners loaded up their animals and brought them to the Richardsons farm for shearing day. Annual haircut Morrison travels from Iowa to California during the several months of shearing season. Hes been shearing for five years after learning from a master shearer. Morrison stretches the alpacas that weigh between 100 and 200 pounds on a foam mat, binding their feet. With a flash and buzz of his shears, the blanket or fleece that covers the broad part of an alpacas back is off in one section. With fleece about 3 inches deep, the shorn alpacas seem thin and long with their large eyes even more startling without their cushion of fleece. I call them ET (from the movie) when theyre done, Richardson says. Angela Richardson says they hire Morrison because he is an expert at getting the blanket in one piece without having to do second cuts that would reduce the value of the fleece. After the blanket is removed the alpacas get a second trim to even out their coats. But the blanket fleece is bagged separately. Its more valuable because the strands of the fiber are longer. She says she believes the alpacas enjoy their annual haircut. They get to run naked in the breeze. Because the Richardsons are alpaca breeders, they save a small baggy of the fleece or fiber for a DNA analysis and to assess the quality of the fiber, to demonstrate the value of their herd and to know which animals to breed to make the most valuable fiber. We have beautiful, beautiful babies, Angela Richardson says. Proof is in the rainbow of ribbons her alpacas have won, hanging in the Cowboy Camelids gift shop. Bill Richardson explains that alpacas are induced ovulators, which means when male and female alpacas are together, the female alpacas ovulate and can become pregnant if they mate. So they keep the male and female alpacas separate most of the time. The Richardsons raise huacaya alpacas, which have fluffy, curly fleece. Suris are another type of alpaca that have fleeces that hang like dreadlocks or ropes. Alpacas are camelids, a species that also include llamas and camels, Richardson says. Bred for fiber David Hunter, president of the New Mexico Alpaca Breeders, has an alpaca ranch with his mother called Puerto del Sol Alpacas in San Antonio, N.M., where they breed and sell alpacas, board alpacas and sell their fiber. He says this year they harvested about 200 pounds of fiber from their 55 huacaya alpacas, which sells between $1.75 to $3.75 a raw ounce, depending on the grade of the fiber on a one-to-six scale. A rating of one is very fine fiber, soft enough for a neck scarf, and six is a coarser fiber, suitable for rugs or saddle blankets, he says. Huacaya fiber is fluffier than suri alpaca fleece. Hunter says suri fleece is usually woven into fabric and may become expensive designer mens suits. Alpacas range from bright white to deep black with shades of beige, golden and chocolate brown in between. After shearing the fiber is skirted, meaning its cleaned of debris and then its sent off for further refinement. Some becomes fiber for handspinning, while the coarser fiber is sent to a rug making facility in Texas. Hunter says a 10-year old-female alpaca recently won an award for the length of her fleece, while one of his males won a national award for the brightness of his fleece. The older an alpaca, generally the coarser and shorter its fiber, he says. He says those kinds of fiber values help them with breeding decisions. We are breeding for the finest fiber we can get. A good shearer can name his price and set his own schedule. Hunter says New Mexico has few shearers in the state. He hires a shearer from Colorado because hes sheared their alpacas for five years. Hes watched our herd grow. He uses a shearing table that was developed in New Zealand that raises up to counter height after the alpaca is secured. Hes teaching me to shear, but I only work on grade five or six fleeces, Hunter says. On the finer fleeces, I make him do it. NEW YORK In a surprise move, Microsoft said Monday that it is buying LinkedIn for about $26.2 billion, a deal that could bring subtle but significant changes for the professional networks more than 430 million members. LinkedIn will remain an independent unit of Microsoft. It will keep its name, and current CEO Jeff Weiner will stay on and report directly to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. LinkedIn lets members network with other professionals, upload their resumes, catch up on career advice and search for jobs. For Microsoft, the deal presents an opportunity to cement itself as the tech company for the worlds professionals, helping them find jobs, learn new skills and do their work. Microsoft will also look for ways to combine Microsofts software for workers with the information stored in LinkedIns online professional network. For instance, Nadella told The Associated Press that Microsofts digital assistant Cortana could mine LinkedIn for helpful data. Cortana can wake up before you go into a meeting and inform you about all the people you are meeting for the first time and the connections you have with them, he said. Similarly, he said, LinkedIns news feed which provides articles and updates from your contacts on the network could highlight information thats relevant to a project you might be working on using Microsofts Office 365 software. LinkedIn users might see changes in the first year after the deal is closed, Nadella said. Microsoft may also integrate its business software with LinkedIns growing business of providing sales professionals with contacts and information to help make sales to large companies. LinkedIn, based in Mountain View, California, is by far Microsofts largest acquisition much larger than Skype, which the company bought for $8.5 billion in 2011. Microsoft Corp., which is in Redmond, Washington, is paying $196 for each share of LinkedIn Corp., a 50 percent premium over the stocks closing price of $131.08 on Friday. The deal is expected to close this year. LinkedIns business and share price have been rocky recently. In February, it gave a surprise forecast for slower growth that led to a big sell-off, wiping out nearly $11 billion in market value. The company said at the time that its adjusted earnings would be 55 cents a share on revenue of roughly $820 million. Its stock climbed higher after it reported better than expected results for the first quarter, though not enough to recover from the earlier plunge. In an email to LinkedIn employees posted online , Weiner asked them to give themselves some time to process the news. You might feel a sense of excitement, fear, sadness, or some combination of all of those emotions. Every member of the exec team has experienced the same, but weve had months to process, he wrote. Regardless of the ups and downs, weve come out the other side knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt, this is the best thing for our company. Microsoft has a mixed track record with acquisitions, having written off more than $10 billion it poured into companies such as cellphone maker Nokia and an online ad firm called aQuantive. Nadella expressed confidence that this one will succeed, citing the companys more successful takeovers of Skype and Minecraft. LinkedIn shares soared 47 percent to $192.50 in midday trading Monday. Microsoft shares slipped nearly 3 percent to $50.01. ___ AP Technology Writer Brandon Bailey contributed to this story from San Francisco. PHOENIX The family of an Arizona mother suspected of killing her three young sons spoke out about the tragic event Monday. Relatives of 29-year-old Octavia Rogers thanked family and friends for the outpouring of support they have received since Rogers was arrested earlier this month. The victims grandmother Tanella McCoy described Rogers as a mother who loved her children unconditionally. There is nothing she would not do for her boys and for me, she told reporters. Im ready for the fight because thats my baby and I love my daughter. Authorities say officers found the bodies of Rogers sons stabbed to death in a closet after the suspects brother called 911 when Rogers stabbed herself in the abdomen and neck. The boys were ages 2 months and 5 and 8 years old. Rogers brother told police that she recently began researching various religious ideologies and was screaming about the creator during the incident, according to a police report. Rogers was charged with three counts of first-degree murder last week. Shes being held in lieu of a $1 million bond. Her next hearing is scheduled for June 15. Victims attorney Benjamin Taylor declined to comment on details in the case because of an ongoing investigation. It was not immediately clear if Rogers has an attorney who could comment on the allegations. SANTA FE New Mexico State Police on Sunday suspended a search for a 60-year-old man who went camping in the Santa Fe National Forest north of Pecos. State Police spokesman Sgt. Chad Pierce said Elliott Marvin Wolff, 60, a prominent record producer and songwriter living in Santa Fe, was reported missing last Thursday after he did not return home from a camping trip. Pierce said the search for the missing man was postponed due to lack of evidence. The search centered around the Dalton Canyon picnic area and involved from 30 to 50 people at any given time, on foot and horseback, with canines and by helicopter. According to his website, Wolff toured with Chaka Kahn as a keyboard player. He later wrote and produced Straight Up, which was recorded by Paula Abdul and made it to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1988. Another of Wolffs songs recorded by Abdul, Cold Hearted, also reached No. 1. Wolff has also worked with such artists as Taylor Dayne, Dave Koz, Debbie Gibson, Color Me Badd, and Aretha Franklin. A man answering the phone at Wolffs residence declined to confirm any details. Wolff is white, with white hair and blue eyes. Hes about 5 feet 9 inches tall, and weighs 145 pounds. He was last seen wearing a button-up shirt, jeans and a black hat. He was driving a white Mazda. Anyone with information about Wolffs whereabouts are asked to call New Mexico State Police at 505-841-9256. ORLANDO, Fla. The names of the dead paint an unmistakable picture: Sotomayor, Velazquez, Guerrero, Rivera, Martinez, Perez. Sundays massacre at the Pulse nightclub, the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, carved deep wounds into the heart of Floridas Latino community. We are devastated, said Sami Haiman-Marrero, an Orlando businesswoman who is an activist for Latinos. We are heartbroken. It remains unclear whether the gunman in Sundays rampage which killed 49 people enjoying Latin Night at a popular gay nightclub was targeting gays, Latinos, Americans or any specific group. Regardless of his intent, the effect was a devastating strike on a fast-growing community that makes up nearly 30 percent of the population of Orange County, where Orlando is located. More than 90 percent of the victims are Latino, so we are really trying to come together for them, said Haiman-Marrero, who has helped organize Somos Orlando, an umbrella group of nearly two dozen Latino organizations formed within hours of the massacre to help provide bilingual grief counseling, housing and other support for affected families. Florida has the third-largest Hispanic population in the country: While Hispanics make up 17 percent of the national population, its 24 percent in Florida, and rising fast, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. So an attack on Latinos here ripples into every corner of the local economy and culture. This was a call of action on our part to show we are a growing force in this community, Zoe Colon, director of the Florida chapter of the Hispanic Federation, said at a news conference Monday attended by more than 20 Latino leaders. Weve never really been, at least in recent history, the target of a terrorist attack, she said. Not to speculate that this was an attack on the Latino community, but to have been impacted to this magnitude, I dont think weve ever seen that. Colon, like some other Latino leaders, complained that the media has so far largely painted the shootings as an attack on the gay community. Although the overwhelming majority of the victims were Hispanic, thats been largely omitted from the narrative, Colon said. Yes, we stand in solidarity with the LGBT community and are not here to point fingers. But the fact that its not stressed and not emphasized in central Florida its really difficult. Nancy Rosado, vice president of the nonprofit group Mision Boricua, is a gay Latina. She said the devastating impact on the Latino community should not be omitted when the story of the Orlando massacre is told. Carlos Guillermo Smith, a public policy specialist with Equality Florida, which advocates for the rights of the lesbian, gay and transgender community, agreed. The first thing that stood out to me is that these were mostly young Latino men and thats so tragic because of how close our community is and how inclusive a community Orlando is, Guillermo Smith said. We are proud that we can go to places like Pulse and let our hair down and have a good time with our friends and dance to salsa music and just be free. Smith added, his voice breaking: Its personal to me because Im Latino and gay. When I look at moms and dads and family members hugging their loved ones on TV and they are dealing with this crisis, they look like me. At least some of the victims appeared to be Puerto Ricans, who make up the largest segment of the Latino population here. The Puerto Rican community has been booming, due in part to an economic crisis that has spawned the greatest exodus of people from Puerto Rico in 50 years. The Pew Research Center calculates that the islands population dropped by 11,000 people a year in the 1990s. Annual departures more than quadrupled, to 48,000, between 2010 and 2013, with many of those people moving to central Florida. Because residents of Puerto Rico are U.S. citizens, movement to the U.S. mainland is easy. And Orlando is a powerful lure for young, unemployed Puerto Ricans: It has an abundance of entry-level jobs at Disney World and other parts of its bustling tourist industry. And the area feels welcoming because so many Puerto Ricans are already here, working as established professionals and business leaders. Puerto Rican flags, music and food are easy to find. Here, when someone mentions the island, everyone knows which island theyre talking about. Zoraida Rios-Andino, a longtime community and political activist, speculated that many of the young people killed in Sundays slaying were either recent arrivals or had not been living long in Florida. At least one victim was a Mexican national. Colon, of the Hispanic Federation said a few victims may have been undocumented immigrants. Knowing this is a relatively new Latino community, Colon said. We should be talking about the special needs of that community. In response, the Hispanic Federation helped organize a news conference Monday afternoon, gathering more than two dozen Latino-led organizations for a show of solidarity. Rosado, of Mision Boricua, said she thinks the massacre could be a catalyst to increased civic engagement and involvement in local politics. The presumptive Republican nominee for president, Donald Trump, has pledged to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and to ban all Muslims from entering the United States, rhetoric that has angered many Latinos here. Haiman-Marrero said local leaders were planning an event to demonstrate solidarity between central Floridas Latino and Muslim communities. The fact that the killer was a Muslim and that most of his victims were Latino, she said, should not cause a rift between the two cultures. Were not pointing fingers. We cant point fingers. This needs to stop, Haiman-Marrero said. I could not care less what Trump has to say. We are stopping the cycle of intolerance. We will not judge the character of a community based on the actions of one individual. NEW YORK In the aftermath of the shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando that killed 49 people and injured 53, blood centers were overwhelmed with people who wanted to donate. Gay men, however, werent all allowed to do so a policy harking back to the height of the AIDS crisis, and one that was quickly derided as discriminatory and an insult to a community under attack. Until recently, men who had had sex with men at any point in their lives were prohibited from giving blood in the U.S., the rationale being that they were more likely to be HIV-positive. Federal authorities have begun to loosen those restrictions, which were put in place in 1985, following years of opposition by gay rights advocates and improvements in screening technology. In December, the Food and Drug Administration published new, voluntary guidelines for blood centers that would permit donations by gay or bisexual men who have abstained from sex for one year. Kelsey Louie, chief executive of Gay Mens Health Crisis, called the new FDA guidelines a baby step in the right direction. GMHC, founded in the first days of the AIDS crisis, wants the process to evaluate donor eligibility based on individual risk behavior, rather than their sexual orientation. Advocates have repeatedly assailed the old FDA rule as a double standard, while medical professionals defended it as prudent. Scott Schoettes, senior attorney and HIV project director at Lambda Legal, said a rigorous approach based on donor behavior, rather than identity, would not only reduce discrimination, but also could improve safety. Someone could go out and have sex with eight different people in a span of a month. As long as that was heterosexual sex, that would not ban them from giving blood, Schoettes said. Theres day-to-day discrimination going on against gay and bisexual men on this issue. The concern about HIV in the blood supply focuses on the window between infection and when it may be detectable. Though much longer when the initial FDA rule was put in place, that gap is only nine to 11 days with the latest tests. While all donated blood is screened, if a person who contracted HIV were to donate during that window, it might not be detected. Even before the Orlando massacre, GMHC had been planning to hold a news conference in New York on June 14, World Blood Donor Day, to draw attention to the issue. This stigma perpetuates the very, very old notion that HIV is a gay disease, Louie said. They are taking a group of people gay and bisexual men and saying that only they have to have one year of celibacy. The FDAs latest guidance does include other groups subject to the one-year delay on donation, regardless of sexual orientation. These include people who have been diagnosed with, or treated for, syphilis or gonorrhea, and those who got tattoos from an unregulated tattoo parlor. Individuals engaged in sex work or injection drug use are subject to a lifetime ban. The HIV epidemic continues to disproportionately affect gay and bisexual men, especially gay men of color. Men who have sex with men represent just 4 percent of the male population, but account for 63 percent of new HIV infections and 54 percent of those currently living with HIV, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control. The FDAs one-year guideline is extremely precautionary and, in that sense, appropriate, said Louis M. Katz, chief medical officer of Americas Blood Centers, a network of community blood centers, including the one in Orlando that put out the call for donations after Sundays attack. Katz, an infectious disease specialist who has treated HIV patients, said the deferment period could probably be shortened, but even a six-month or 30-day waiting period may be seen as discriminatory. We look at moving from permanent to one year as a first step, Katz said. I think the next steps going to be a long time coming. Data from Australia showed that a one-year deferment period, as opposed to a total ban, didnt increase the number of HIV-positive donations. No comparable evidence exists for an approach to blood screening based on individual risk assessment, according to the FDA. A time-based deferral for (men who have sex with men) since last sexual encounter is the one deferral policy that has been demonstrated to be effective in a setting with similar HIV epidemiology to the U.S., the agency wrote in its December guidelines. Blood centers are still in the process of putting the new FDA guidelines in place, according to Katz. A spokeswoman for the American Red Cross said it is working to change its processes and computer systems in order to implement this change. Both organizations supported the policy. Gay rights advocates point to policies in Argentina and Italy that take risk-based approaches. Katz said the data on how those approaches affect the risk of infections arent clear-cut. Studies to detect small changes in whats already a very small risk are difficult to perform. FORT PIERCE, Fla. Kevin West said he was in the parking lot at the Pulse nightclub at 1 a.m. Sunday when he recognized Omar Mateen walking in. The men had met more than a year ago when Mateen reached out to West on Jackd, a dating app for men. They then lost touch until three months ago, when Mateen made contact again, mentioned that he would be in Orlando soon and suggested meeting for a drink. West had also seen Mateen at Pulse multiple times before. I remember details, said West, a 37-year-old Navy veteran. I never forget a face. Later that night, Mateen would kill 49 people inside the gay nightclub in Orlando in the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. Mateens apparent presence on gay dating apps and his previous visits to Pulse, according to West and another witness, added another dimension to the portrait emerging Monday of the man behind the violent rampage. Cord Cedeno said he had also seen Mateen inside Pulse before, standing at the bar with a drink. He was open with his picture on the sites, he was easy to recognize, said Cedeno, 23, of Orlando, who said he was also contacted by Mateen at least a year ago on a dating app. Mateen and his family had the typical profile of striving immigrants in this country. But there were also hints of darkness in Mateens life, according to interviews with relatives, friends, ex-classmates, former co-workers and acquaintances: Being Arab American meant he stood out in a small South Florida town and was bullied in school. He switched jobs constantly and became increasingly frustrated, unpredictable, sporadically religious and prone to anger. Some of Mateens high school classmates pinpointed a particularly strange moment on Sept. 11, 2001, when they were watching the attack on the World Trade Center unfold on live TV. Four classmates said Mateen cheered and made mocking comments, which got him pulled from class and may have led to his departure from the school. His unusual behavior that day was also corroborated by other classmates in public posts on Facebook. The Martin County School District referred all questions about Mateens time as a student to the FBI. Robert Zirkle, then a freshman in the Martin school district, said that after 9/11, he saw Mateen excited and making fun of how America was attacked. He was making plane noises on the bus, acting like he was running into a building, Zirkle recalled. I dont really know if he was doing it because he was being taught some stuff at home or just doing it for attention because he didnt have a lot of friends. We all rode the same bus. We werent really close friends, but friends at least a little, he said. After 9/11 happened, he started changing and acting different. At the time, Mateen was attending the Spectrum alternative school, a campus in Stuart, Fla., for students with behavioral issues. One former student who was sitting in the same class as Mateen said he remembers the morning of 9/11 clearly: Teachers said, Turn on the TV. We see the one plane hit. And then see the second plane hit. . . . He was smiling. It was almost like surreal how happy he was about what had happened to us. The former student said Mateen stood up after the second tower was hit and claimed that Osama bin Laden was his uncle. Back then, we didnt even really know who Osama bin Laden was, the classmate said. But he talked about shooting AK-47s. . . . He said he shot them and his uncle taught him how to shoot them. The ex-classmate spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear that business clients would find out that he attended a school for poorly behaving students. He recalled others in the class growing angry. The teacher could tell we wanted to hurt him. So the teacher grabbed him, he said, and sent him to the deans office. In a Facebook post, another student similarly described Mateens standing up and cheering on 9/11. A third classmate said he distinctly remembers Mateens actions that day because both of them were sent to the deans office at the same time for acting out when the towers were hit. That third student spoke on the condition of anonymity because he feared being bombarded by media requests. I was sleeping in class and woke up to see people jumping off buildings, so I started swearing and they sent me up, the former student said. When he arrived at the deans office, Mateen was also there, apparently for saying rude things about Americans deserving to be attacked, said this student, who was not in the classroom to witness the comments. The first former classmate who was in the classroom vividly recalled Mateens father picking him up after he got in trouble. I remember his dad walking up, he said. And in the courtyard in front of everyone, the dad slapped him right across the face. After that day, Zirkle said, he kept doing it and saying crazy things. Its weird. He was totally cool before 9/11, and then something changed. Zirkle and others think Mateen was suspended or expelled from the school shortly afterward. But such memories dont fit with those of Kenneth Winstanley, a friend of Mateens in junior high and high school, who said he did not recall Mateen celebrating the Sept. 11 attacks and doubted his friend would have done that. Winstanley was not in the same room as Mateen that day. I never heard about him doing anything like that, said Winstanley, who attended school with Mateen from grades six through 10. Someone would have said something. We were friends. If he was caught celebrating something like that, he would have gotten beaten up. Winstanley said he never saw signs of radicalization in Mateen in high school, adding, I know Omar liked America. He said the two once had a conversation about Mateens Muslim faith. Omar explained the Muslim religion to me, Winstanley said. He didnt go crazy into it. It was just some of the things his culture does, the food they eat. Nothing radical Islam at all. Sarah Zaidi, who was best friends with one of Mateens three sisters, described the Mateens as an all-American family. His mom worked for a while at a day-care center. His dad did stuff with stocks and investment, Zaidi said. They were pretty moderate as Muslims. None of the sisters or mom even wore a headscarf like some Muslims do. Two of Mateens sisters are now married and have kids in the same area, Zaidi said. A third is a hairdresser and cosmetologist. But as the only son, Mateen seemed to have fewer friends than his sisters. He was brutally bullied, said Justin Delancy, who rode the bus with Mateen for several years. He was a chubby kid and got bullied about his weight. He was probably one of the only kids of Arab descent. That made him stand out a bit as well. On some mornings, kids wouldnt let Mateen sit beside them. On others, hed get slapped on the back of his head, Delancy said. Hed try to joke and laugh and make fun of himself to get the attention off of himself. But it didnt work. Court records released Monday depict a meandering life for Mateen after he left the alternative school. He graduated in 2006 from Martin Countys adult vocational school, where struggling students go to get GEDs. He earned an associates degree from Indian River State College in 2006. In the court documents, Mateen disclosed his work history, a string of jobs from 2002 to 2006 at GNC, Hollister, Golds Gym, Nutrition World, Walgreens, Chick-fil-A, Circuit City and Publix. In 2009, Mateen married Sitora Yusufiy, who has said in interviews that Mateen beat her severely. They separated about nine months later. A judge ruled in 2011 that their marriage was irretrievably broken. After he married a second time, his current wife, Noor Z. Salman, also left him to return to her childhood home in Rodeo, Calif., with their 3-year-old son, acquaintances said. Friends and co-workers gave conflicting reports about Mateens religiosity and personality. To some, he was extremely pious and serious. But others described him chasing girls, going to parties and drinking. He was fun, said Ryan Jones, 27, who said he often went out with Mateen. Former classmate Samuel King and his friends also hung out with Mateen at the mall, where Mateen worked at the GNC store after high school and King at Ruby Tuesday. Half the workers at the restaurant were openly gay, King said, including himself. He had to know it, but I never got any sense of homophobia or aggression from him. Over the past two days, King and others have revisited their interactions with Mateen, trying to find signs of how he turned into someone capable of such violence. On Monday, Mateens father, Seddique Mateen, insisted that his son was not motivated by Islamist radical ideology, describing the 29-year-old as a good son who did not appear agitated or angry in the days before the shooting. In an interview at his home in Port St. Lucie, Fla., the father offered no hints about what could have driven his son. When asked about Mateens 911 call pledging loyalty to the Islamic State, his father said he did not believe it was genuine. I think he just wanted to boast of himself, he said. No radicalism, no. He doesnt have a beard even. . . . I dont think religion or Islam had anything to do with this. His father also glossed over the anger and homophobia that, a day earlier, he recounted witnessing in Mateen after his son saw a gay couple being affectionate in Miami. He was surprised about it. That was it. In a video posted to Facebook early Monday, the father said: God himself will punish those involved in homosexuality. This is not for the servants of God. Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, government officials were also trying to piece together the familys background for clues. They said they do not know when Mateens father left the country but noted that millions fled after the Soviet Unions invasion in 1979. Mateens father, however, maintained a strong affiliation with Afghanistan, hosting a television show broadcast from California that weighed in on the countrys political affairs. He also filmed dozens of sparsely viewed, rambling YouTube videos portraying himself as an important Afghan analyst and leader. The most recent video on the fathers YouTube channel shows him declaring his candidacy for the Afghan presidency. But the timing is strange, coming a year after presidential elections were held in Afghanistan. And the elder Mateen appears incoherent at times in the video, jumping abruptly from topic to topic. Sitting on his living-room couch, the father said he saw no warning signs up to the day before the shootings when he last saw his son. He was well behaved. His appearance was perfect, he said. I didnt see any sign of worrying or being upset or nervous. Hull reported from Orlando. Arelis R. Hernandez contributed to this report from Orlando; Lee Powell and Zachary Fagenson in Fort Pierce; Tim Craig in Afghanistan; and Julie Tate, Alice Crites, Amy Brittain, Jerry Markon, Brian Murphy and Max Bearak in Washington contributed to this report. A political refugee from Iran who spent six years in prison on numerous auto-theft charges has filed a lawsuit accusing Albuquerque police investigators of violating his civil rights and filing false police reports against him. Boback Sabeerin was arrested in 2009 by Albuquerque police, who accused him of operating a large-scale stolen-vehicle ring with another man, Anjum Tahir. The police said the men had taken stolen cars and replaced their VIN plates with the VIN plate of similar vehicles that had been sold for scrap, according to court documents. The investigation started when Tahir was arrested with a car with the wrong VIN plate. Tahir operated an auto-body shop in the 110 block of Rhode Island SE. During their investigation, police tracked Tahir to Sabeerins business, about a half-mile away near the 110 block of General Arnold NE, and later executed a search warrant there. During the search Sabeerin made statements that implicated both men. He was convicted in two separate criminal cases stemming from the police search and was sentenced to 27 years in prison. He had prior auto theft-related convictions from the 1990s. The charges against Sabeerin were ultimately dismissed after the New Mexico Court of Appeals found that APD didnt have probable cause to search Sabeerins business based on their investigation of Tahir. Sabeerin charged in the lawsuit that retired APD Detective Tim Fassler entered his shop and told the man: Foreigners like you dont belong in this country. I am going to do everything in my power to make sure you get deported this time. Sabeerin was released from prison as a result of the Appeals Court decision. Tahir is still incarcerated. Sabeerins lawsuit accuses the Department of Corrections of leaving him in solitary confinement for long periods. Sabeerin says he still suffers from trauma and psychological issues as a result of his incarceration, and he missed watching his children grow up. You spend six years in the penitentiary mistakenly, I would expect that would cause you to bring a complaint, said Jennie Behles, Sabeerins attorney. City Attorney Jessica Hernandez said the city will review the lawsuit once they are served with it and decide how to proceed. The New Mexico Corrections Department and Cabinet Secretary Gregg Marcantel are also defendants in the lawsuit, along with Fassler, Detective John Deer, the city of Albuquerque and the state. Sabeerin fled Iran in 1986 and was granted political asylum in India. He applied to the United Nations to move to the United States and was granted permanent residency status, according to his lawsuit. SANTA FE Attorney General Hector Balderas blasted the New Mexico Legislatures administrative arm Monday for asking a judge to excuse state lawmakers and legislative staffers from having to testify in the criminal case against former Sen. Phil Griego. The Attorney Generals Office and the Legislative Council Service had already been engaged in a legal fight over whether certain legislative records should be kept off-limits in the Griego trial. In a motion filed last week, attorneys for the Legislative Council Service asked District Judge Brett Loveless of Albuquerque to also exempt lawmakers and staffers from having to testify at a preliminary hearing set to begin next month or, at the least, to limit the scope of their testimony. Making legislators testify about an internal ethics investigation into Griegos behavior, and possibly other matters, would violate an immunity provision in the state Constitution, the legislative attorneys argued. But the AGs Office responded Monday by urging the judge to deny the request and claiming the council services legal stance sacrifices justice on an altar of secrecy. As public servants we have an obligation to taxpayers and the citizens of New Mexico to be transparent and accountable, and the Legislative Council Services attempt to assert a blanket privilege on behalf of all legislators in this matter is obstructive to the administration of justice and the transparency that all New Mexicans deserve, Balderas said in a statement. Last month, the Attorney Generals Office indicated in a court filing that it plans to call nine lawmakers including Senate Democratic floor leader Michael Sanchez of Belen and Senate Republican floor leader Stuart Ingle of Portales and at least four legislative staffers to testify. More witnesses could also be subpoenaed in the coming weeks. Even before the latest dust-up, the AGs Office and the Legislative Council Service had been sparring in court about whether the LCS should have to hand over records of the Senate ethics inquiry into Griego. Loveless, who was assigned the case in April after all nine judges in the Santa Fe-based 1st Judicial District either recused themselves from the case or were bumped off it by Griegos attorney, is reviewing the records. He is expected to decide soon whether they should have to be turned over to the AGs Office. Griego, a Democrat from San Miguel County, resigned from the Senate in March 2015 rather than face possible discipline as a result of the ethics investigation into his role in the sale of a historic state-owned building in downtown Santa Fe. He was charged by Balderas office in February with 10 criminal counts, including fraud and bribery, that are based on the allegations that he used his position as a legislator to make money in the real estate deal. If convicted of all counts, Griego, who has pleaded not guilty, could face up to 28 years in prison and more than $40,000 in fines. The preliminary hearing in the Griego case is scheduled to begin July 5. WASHINGTON It was inevitable that we would one day seek ways to kill ourselves with societys blessing. California recently joined four other states Oregon, Washington, Vermont and Montana that allow terminally ill patients to commit suicide using doctor-prescribed drugs. Criteria under the California law include that the patient has a terminal disease, would likely die within six months, and is of sound mind and can self-administer the medicine. Thanks to medical advances that can extend life beyond what some find acceptable, resulting in unnecessary suffering, many think its their right to die with dignity using medications legally prescribed. Its an easy enough argument to understand. Theres a certain logic and humanity to the option of leaving life gracefully by ones own volition, as long as it really is. Here, I should confess my own ambivalence. Basically, Id like to have the means to end my own life on my own terms when my body has clearly called it quits. Im just not sure I like the idea of the state and doctors lending a hand. At least two problems seem obvious: Death dates cant be predicted with precision and are, therefore, speculative. How often have you heard that someone has three months to live and he or she is still around two years later? And medicine by definition means: (1) a substance to ease pain or other symptoms, and (2) a science to prevent, treat or cure diseases. One could argue that suicide medicine would relieve the pain of living through the final stages of cancer, as an example. But this clearly isnt what Merriam-Webster or the Hippocratic oath intended. The purpose of medicine is to prevent illness and to heal, not to end life when healing isnt possible. Still, what are we to do when medicine can do no more? Or when treatment means prolonging suffering toward inevitable death? We are kinder to our pets, many would argue. Perhaps I read too many dystopian science-fiction novels during my formative years, but theres something disturbing about asking doctors to help their patients die. Then again, weve already asked them to destroy unborn human life, codifying the legal right to terminate a pregnancy. When the continuum of life from conception to natural death is interrupted as a convenience to ones individual concept of time (Im not ready to be a parent; Im ready to die), what else do we also terminate? Gradually inured to the metaphysical considerations of such actions, might we also be denying ourselves access to charity, compassion, empathy and love? Unknowable in our calculations is what happens in the final moments of life. If Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, wasted away with terminal cancer, had decided to leave the party early, we might not have learned from his sister, Mona Simpson, that his final words were, after staring for a long time at each of his family members: Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow. I dont know what Jobs saw, but I think Id like to see it, too. Troubling, too, is the possibility that some patients might feel obligated to commit suicide once the option is available, even though prescribing doctors are encouraged to tell patients they dont have to take the medicine. Many reportedly dont take the pills. But a sick person might want to protect family members and think, oh, well, whats another six months? A lifetime, I should think. Cant life be made tolerable enough during this time to avoid making doctors and family members complicit in suicide? Other questions seize the mind: Will the right to die ultimately be considered as just another facet of health care, as abortion has come to be? And when do six months become a year? A novelist would propose that its just a matter of time before a glut of elderly people in poor health, who are by definition terminal, so overwhelm the health care system that opting out becomes an expectation rather than a choice. This would be satire, right? And satire does not a slippery slope make, but laws do condition values. Oregon, which passed its right-to-die law in 1997, has the highest suicide rate in the country 35 percent higher than the national average, according to an Oregon Public Health report. As more than a dozen other states consider similar legislation, it isnt irrational to wonder whether, in tampering with our medical culture of healing, we arent inviting unintended consequences that well live or die to regret. It only compounded the horror that the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history called forth talking points that had been composed long before 50 innocents were murdered early Sunday. The immediate reactions on social media to the killings at Pulse Orlando, a popular gay dance club, etched a portrait of our national divisions, our mutual mistrust and our inclination to know what we think even when we lack all the facts. Even before President Obama spoke Sunday afternoon, there were declarations of great certainty that he would attribute the massacre to guns and not Islamism and would therefore feed support for Donald Trump. Trump did not disappoint. At 12:43 p.m., he turned to his communications medium of choice and tweeted: Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism, I dont want congrats, I want toughness & vigilance. We must be smart! It is no day for partisanship, but how could Trump even think of using a moment of national trauma and mourning as an occasion to tout his own genius or to reach sweeping conclusions on the fly? But its entirely true that those of us who have long believed that our scandalously lax national gun laws make sickening slaughters inevitable had predictable reactions of our own. I freely admit that I identified entirely with Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) when he declared: This phenomenon of near constant mass shootings happens only in America nowhere else. Congress has become complicit in these murders by its total, unconscionable deafening silence. Note that phrase near constant. We are far from alone in the world in confronting terrorism. What is different about our nation enragingly, dispiritingly, depressingly different is that from Virginia Tech to Sandy Hook to Orlando, attacks of this sort happen here again and again and again. Why can we never include a reappraisal of our weapons laws as part of democracys arsenal of responses to terrorism and mass violence? Why are those who tout themselves as being the toughest among us in calling out terrorism inspired by Islam so timid as soon as any plausible answer is labeled gun control? Nonetheless, those of us who hold these views must find ways of reaching out to fellow citizens with whom we have been battling for decades. Terrorism terrorizes advocates of gun control and supporters of gun rights alike. And those on both sides of the gun issue will want to know why three FBI interviews with the killer, Omar Mateen, did not raise more alarms in light of evidence of his apparent terrorist sympathies. What we know so far underscores the challenges of fighting terrorism in a free society. When the president did address the nation, his sobriety and restraint reflected the reaction of a man who had been required too often to speak about the unspeakable and whose calls for action have gone unheeded. He gave his critics who despise his views on guns nothing, turning the tables on them by saying simply that failing to act to keep deadly weapons out of the hands of those who would use them against innocent fellow human beings is a decision as well. And it is. He also did something important, showing how futile it is to force an act of evil into the boxes we prefabricate. The Orlando slaughter was, he said, an act of terror and an act of hate. We should despise what happened if our fellow citizens were gunned down by a man who was inspired by foreign terrorists. And we should despise what happened if people had their lives snuffed out because of their sexual orientation. We gain nothing by arguing about which form of moral revulsion is superior or more appropriate. We set ourselves back by responding to an act of violence against Americans who are gay by turning on Americans who are Muslim. The only appropriate response to Orlando is solidarity harnessed to intelligent determination. So far, no body count, however repulsive, has forced us to abandon our ideological cul-de-sacs. The dead on the floor of a nightclub cry out to us. Dionnes columns, including those not published in the Journal, can be read at ABQjournal.com/opinion look for the syndicated columnist link. Copyright, Washington Post Writers Group; e-mail: ejdionne@washpost.com. Oil and water dont mix. Neither do matches and gasoline. So in the post mortem of the riot outside the Donald Trump rally in Downtown Albuquerque last month, one of the key questions to be answered is why the Trump supporters and the Trump protesters were essentially on top of each other. About 8,000 people showed up for the May 24 event inside the Convention Center. Outside, about 1,000 protesters gathered and marched around Downtown. But the two camps were staked out in a such a way that Trump supporters had to walk through a gantlet of agitated protesters to enter the center. This was definitely badly put together, rally attendee Dereck Scott said during a news conference last week. Who thought this was OK? Scott, who uses a wheelchair, says he was punched in the head as he entered the rally and suffered a concussion. There was taunting back and forth early on. As the night wore on, a protest turned into a melee as others showed up, including a bunch of hooligans set to take advantage of a chance to cause mayhem. Fights broke out, windows were broken, trash and T-shirts were set on fire and rocks and bottles of urine were thrown at police officers. A Journal photo of a police horse going to the ground went viral nationally. At least one major company issued a travel alert for its employees to avoid Albuquerque. City officials blame the layout of the Convention Center, its entrances and network of surrounding parking lots and streets. Gilbert Montano, the mayors chief of staff, has said police determined it would be against the law to force Trump supporters and protesters into separate areas and that federal law requires them to have the ability to be right next to each other. Thats highly debatable. The Constitution and cases allow for reasonable safety restrictions as long as points of view are not suppressed. A neo-Nazi group doesnt have the right to march inside an MLK gathering. The groups can be kept apart. Peter Simonson, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, has said he is not aware of any case law or other legal imperative that requires the city to put protesters with opposing points of view within arms reach of one another, adding we would argue that to comply with free speech they must put protesters in close enough proximity that each group is able to deliver their message to the other and can be assured it will be received. Any official post mortem also needs to determine why APD officers appeared to lack adequate protection as they attempted to keep the peace. The Albuquerque Police Officers Association, which represents rank-and-file officers, in a labor complaint has accused APD administrators of failing to equip officers with the gear needed to avoid harm and of not having enough officers on hand. Some officers had riot gear, but many wore their regular uniforms. Union vice president Justin Montgomery claims many officers assigned to the event wanted to take their gas masks and helmets but supervisors wouldnt allow it. About 20 State Police officers were assigned to help APD cover the rally and control traffic. But as things spiraled out of control, about 300 officers from several agencies had responded, including about 200 APD personnel. The labor complaint also alleges the city is trying to cover its mistakes by ordering officers to change their police reports. Thats a serious charge, and the union should produce proof. Police and city officials are reviewing the events of Trump protest night, including the union allegations, as well as re-evaluating procedures. They should. And when these reports are done, they should be released to the public. So everybody knows what not to do next time. This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers. BAGHDAD Iraq said Monday it had launched an investigation into possible human rights abuses against civilians fleeing the Islamic State-held city of Fallujah as a senior U.N. official said more than 7,300 people had left the city in the past two days. Iraqi government spokesman Saad al-Hadithi said some fighters suspected of violating human rights during the three-week-old operation to retake the city have been arrested over the past few days and are under investigation. Lise Grande, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, said the United Nations estimates that there had been about 90,000 people in Fallujah, and between 42,000 and 43,000 have now fled including about 4,000 on Sunday and 3,300 on Monday. So there could still be about 50,000 civilians trapped inside the city, she said, and nothing is more important than protection of those civilians. Fallujah has been under IS control for over two years and is the last major city in western Iraq still held by the extremist group. The militants have threatened anyone who attempts to flee with death and last week reportedly shot at a group of civilians attempting to escape across the Euphrates River. Al-Hadithi, the Iraqi spokesman, did not provide details on whether the arrested fighters are from the army or government-sanctioned paramilitary forces, which are mainly made up of Shiite militias. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi issued arrest warrants against some suspects who took part in the operation a few days ago, al-Hadithi said. The Prime Minister is closely following the investigation and we are still awaiting the results. Local Sunni officials and human rights groups have accused Shiite militias of arresting, torturing and killing Sunnis who fled Fallujah and its outskirts. The governor of Anbar province, where Fallujah is located, told a press conference on Sunday that 49 civilians were killed and 643 others have gone missing. Suhaib Al-Rawi described them as displaced persons from Fallujah who reached areas controlled by the paramilitary forces. The spokesman for Iraqs paramilitary forces, Karim al-Nouri, confirmed the arrest of one fighter for alleged human rights violations, but did not provide further details. He said the accusations of abuse by paramilitary forces were mere lies aimed at distracting attention from victories on the ground. He said that all displaced people detained by paramilitary forces for security screening were handed over to authorities. Last week, the U.N. human rights chief said there were credible reports that Iraqis fleeing Fallujah were facing physical abuse as they escaped the city held by Islamic State militants. Along with roadside bombs planted by IS militants, the large number of civilians caught inside Fallujah, located about 40 miles west of Baghdad, have slowed down the Iraqi forces operation to recapture the city. The Norwegian Refugee Council, which works with refugees and internally displaced Iraqis, said earlier that 4,000 people had fled since Saturday, bringing the total number of residents who escaped Fallujah since the Iraqi offensive started in late May to 27,580 a lower estimate than Grandes figures. Thousands more are expected to take the risky journey in the coming hours, the Norwegian agency said, adding that some refugees reported IS militants were demanding 150,000 Iraqi Dinars, or around $130, from each person to let them leave. Grande told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York in an audio briefing that one corridor out of Fallujah is open from the southwest and a second corridor out of the city is under construction. She had no estimate when it would be completed. MESILLA Three Mesilla residents voiced concerns during a Monday work session at Mesilla Town Hall about a proposal that could designate a portion of their town as a colonia. Several state legislators have endorsed Mesillas consideration of the proposal. The differing sentiments have prompted the Mesilla board of trustees to call for a public meeting so residents can ask questions about the initiative. Well see what kind of response we get on this, Mayor Nora Barraza said. Hopefully, a meeting will be scheduled within the next four weeks. Town Clerk Cynthia Stoehner-Hernandez said a date to conduct the meeting could be finalized as soon as Tuesday, after she checks for available dates at the Mesilla Community Center, 2251 Calle de Santiago, the largest public building in the town. We need to have a town hall meeting where people can talk and ask about it, Trustee Jesus Caro said. I definitely think we should have a meeting, Trustee Carlos Arzabal added. I dont know if they (Mesilla residents) will come to it or not, but they could get educated about a colonia if they do. The reason to to have it is the opportunity to get educated. Monday, it was trustees who admitted they learned more about a potential colonias designation for the town. From additional discussions with Espie Holguin with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Sandra Alarcon of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development, trustees were told Mesilla would lose state funding or forfeit its designation as the town of Mesilla if the board adopted a resolution seeking formal designation as a colonia. It is a piece of paper that goes into your folder, said Holguin, explaining to trustees what a colonias designation would mean. Your name doesnt change. Mesilla could seek a colonias designation by adopting a resolution, by majority vote of the five-member board of trustees, at a meeting. The resolution would also have to be approved the Dona Ana County Board of County Commissioners. Holguin said there are currently 154 designated colonias in New Mexico A colonia is defined as a semi-rural subdivision, or community, that lacks basic infrastructure, such as drinking water, substandard housing, inadequate sewage, and roads in poor conditions. Mesilla officials are considering a possible colonias designation that would include the historic core of the town. It could include the portion of the town bordered by Calle del Norte, to the north; Calle del Sur, to the south; Avenida de Mesilla, to the east, and Calle de Oeste, to the west. Mesilla officials estimate the price tag to meet Mesillas basic infrastructure needs such as water, sewer and roads are about 10 times the revenues available to improve them. Designating at least part of the town a colonia would allow town leaders to apply for state and federal funding. Barraza said the possibility of a colonias designation has drawn support from state senators Mary Kay Papen and Joseph Cervantes, Las Cruces Democrats, and state Rep. Bill McCamley, whose district also includes Mesilla. Barraza added staff members for U.S. Sen. Tom Udall have also indicated support. But those endorsements didnt sway Mesilla business owner Chris Alexander. He called the colonias designation a cash grab for town officials. This is an effort to fast-track it, grab what you can can and sell ourselves out, Alexander said. The designation is just to get the money, thats all it is. It encourages more destruction and less preservation of the town. Any decision you make had a direct affect on us. Mesilla resident Ralph Geck agreed with much of what Alexander had to say. I learned a lot during this meeting, Geck said. Property values, Im afraid, will go down. The historic aspect (of Mesilla) will be jeopardy. Steve Ramirez can be reached at 575-541-5452, sramirez@lcsun-news.com, or @SteveRamirez6 on Twitter. 2016 the Las Cruces Sun-News (Las Cruces, N.M.) Visit the Las Cruces Sun-News (Las Cruces, N.M.) at www.lcsun-news.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. SANTA FE, N.M. New Mexico State Police have stopped searching for a record producer and songwriter who disappeared while camping north of Pecos. The New Mexican reports (http://bit.ly/1OnvkVU ) that police say they suspended the search for 60-year-old Elliot Wolff on Sunday after finding no clues about his whereabouts. State police spokesman Sgt. Chad Pierce says Wolff got a ride to a picnic area and fishing spot and was last seen at about 5 p.m. on June 7. The Dalton Canyon Picnic area is about six miles north of Pecos in a rugged section of the Santa Fe National Forest. Police began searching Thursday when Wolff did not return. A man who answered a phone number listed for Wolff says his family does not want to comment. ___ Information from: The Santa Fe New Mexican, http://www.sfnewmexican.com SANTA FE A state district judge has ruled the New Mexico Legislatures administrative arm must turn over most records of an internal Senate ethics investigation into former state Sen. Phil Griego, who is facing criminal corruption charges. District Judge Brett Loveless, in his order this week, said the Legislative Council Service has no constitutional privilege to refuse to produce the records, which include the original ethics complaint against Griego and correspondence about the investigations findings. However, the judge did rule that some correspondence between the ethics panel and its lawyer is off-limits, due to attorney-client relationship. Raul Burciaga, the Legislative Council Services director, said in a statement Tuesday that the agency would comply with the judges order, which set a June 22 deadline for turning over the requested records to Attorney General Hector Balderas office. We will provide the documents to the Attorney Generals Office expeditiously, Burciaga said. We have already provided the attorney general with the evidence that was made public last year but believed it was incumbent upon us to assert the privilege on documents we viewed as being protected. Meanwhile, several top-ranking lawmakers said theyre not concerned about the judges ruling, which will allow the Attorney Generals Office to review documents from a legislative process for handling ethics complaints thats primarily done behind closed doors. I dont know whether it will make the Senate look bad or not, Senate Minority Leader Stuart Ingle, R-Portales, said Tuesday. We did the best we could with a tough situation. Senate President Pro Tem Mary Kay Papen, D-Las Cruces, sounded a similar tone, saying, I think if a judge has said those records should be turned over, then thats what should happen. Both Ingle and Papen also said they would have no qualms about testifying during a preliminary hearing in the Griego criminal case, should the Attorney Generals Office decide to call them as witnesses. Thats despite a separate, and not yet resolved, motion filed by the Legislative Council Service that seeks to nullify subpoenas issued to lawmakers and legislative staffers. If approved, the motion could excuse them from having to testify at the preliminary hearing. Griego, a Democrat from San Miguel County who served more than 18 years in the Senate, is accused of using his position as a legislator to make money in the sale of a historic state building in downtown Santa Fe. He resigned from the Senate in March 2015 instead of facing possible discipline as a result of the ethics investigation into his role in the building sale. The AGs Office filed bribery, perjury and other charges against Griego in February, and the preliminary hearing in the case is scheduled to start July 5. Griego has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Meanwhile, this weeks ruling on the Senate ethics probe records marks the latest chapter in a back-and-forth legal battle thats played out as a precursor of sorts to the criminal proceedings. District Judge Loveless had decided earlier this month to privately review the records before deciding whether they should have to be turned over to the Attorney Generals Office. The AGs Office had subpoenaed the investigation records earlier this year, but the Legislative Council Service fought the subpoena, arguing the documents are privileged and that the agency is duty-bound to preserve and protect the independence and integrity of the Legislature. The LCS provides bill-drafting and legal services to legislators. Loveless, in his ruling, said an immunity provision in the state Constitution known as the speech and debate clause is not intended to promote confidentiality. Its purpose is neither to give the legislative branch supremacy nor to make its members super-citizens, immune from criminal responsibility, Loveless wrote in his seven-page order. A new clinical laboratory hopes to capture market share in the toxicology business from out-of-state labs. Southwest Labs, an Albuquerque-owned and operated advanced toxicology reference lab, unveiled the drug testing facility at 5659 Jefferson NE on Tuesday to members of the local medical community and business partners. Southwest was formed by native New Mexicans with years of experience as reference laboratory professionals and addiction treatment specialists in response to what they call the shortcomings of impersonal, corporate mega labs. They are working in a niche of the laboratory industry where technicians test urine, blood and saliva samples to make sure patients are taking their prescription drugs. The principals medical director Evan Baldwin, MD, John Lahoff, marketing director, and Orus Guerra, director of operations and their backers have invested heavily in technology, spending $1 million on equipment to conduct tests for physicians and hospitals and hiring 10 employees to run the operation. The new business, which also operates as a collections site, had to obtain the necessary licensing from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to provide testing services to its beneficiaries. In terms of the competitive landscape, Baldwin acknowledges that rival clinics are just as accurate in their levels of testing, but he believes customers will prefer going local, which will win Southwest a larger share of healthcare dollars leaving the state. We think we can do a better job in terms of response time, customer service and keeping taxes and revenue here in New Mexico, Baldwin said of the business, which is targeting pain medicine and behavioral health entities healthcare providers with a large number of patients requiring prescription drug monitoring. The business development team is also letting commercial insurers, large employers and workers compensation customers know of their services. The business is launching at a time when New Mexicos high rate of drug overdoses has prompted national prescription monitoring labs to open in the state, Guerra said. New Mexico led the nation for years in drug overdose deaths per capita, he said, but West Virginia has occupied the No. 1 spot in recent years. Baldwin, an addictions treatment specialist, said the business hopes to expand into other areas of testing for example, steroid and cannabis use. Setting up shop in the Jefferson corridor puts Southwest Labs in the path of many nearby medical practices, which may be potential customers. Now open five days a week, it might add a night crew as business scales up. Not only will Southwest Labs provide testing for a full range of drugs, but the business said it will donate 5 percent of profits back to local drug prevention organizations and programs. One of the states most important regulatory agencies is straining to complete its responsibilities amidst a wave of staff departures. The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission, which manages pipeline safety inspections and utility rate increases in addition to dozens of other activities, has 27 vacancies out of a staff of 154, according to numbers provided by PRC officials. The commission is actively seeking candidates for 15 of the 27 positions, while another 12 positions are on hold for budgetary reasons. The active vacant positions include a fire inspector and two pipeline safety inspectors. In a statement, PRC chief of staff Ernest Archuleta said pipeline safety inspectors are working extended hours to keep up with inspection schedules. The statement also said pipeline safety bureau chief Jason Montoya is conducting an expedited hiring process for the inspectors, and expects to fill the positions within 45 days. We are currently on track to meet our 2016 inspection frequencies, said Montoya in the statement. PRC spokesman Carlos Padilla attributed many of the vacancies to staff leaving the commission for other, better-paid jobs with the state. He said the vacancies have forced many PRC employees across departments to work longer-than-usual hours. Sometimes Ill come back to the office late at night if Ive forgotten my phone charger, and there are still a few lights on, Padilla said. The departures come in the midst of an unusually strenuous workload for the commission. The PRC is currently reviewing three rate increase cases. Typically, the commission reviews one rate case every two years, said Padilla. The commission has had other personnel issues in recent months. Last August, chief of staff Vince Martinez resigned after the PRC inadvertently sent confidential information about the San Juan Generating Station to the Santa Fe New Mexican, then sued the newspaper to prevent the information from being published (the suit was later dropped). Martinezs position was then offered to Ken Ortiz, chief of staff in the Secretary of States office, who turned it down. Earlier this month, Ernest Archuleta, formerly the operations division director at the Department of Transportation, assumed Martinezs role. It will likely be several months before some of the vacant positions are filled. Padilla said it generally takes a minimum of six weeks to fill commission vacancies from the time the position is advertised to the new employees first day of work. Its the type of thing where bureaucracy gets in the way, he said. The Internal Revenue Service is revising its civil asset forfeiture policies after coming under pressure from Congress for failing to return funds wrongly seized from small businesses. Civil asset forfeitures are being used by many law enforcement agencies around the country but have become increasingly controversial in recent years. A congressional subcommittee held a hearing in March and pressed the IRS, the Treasury Department and the Justice Department to change their civil forfeiture policies (see Lawmakers Prod IRS to Return Funds Seized from Taxpayers). Small businesses that deposit money in their bank accounts in amounts just under $10,000 often fall under suspicion of structuring their transactions to evade laws requiring banks to report deposits of $10,000 or more. However, some banks advise their business clients to keep the amounts below $10,000 so they dont have to deal with the onerous reporting requirements. Small business owners and farmers have testified before Congress about how their bank accounts have been seized by the government and the funds were not returned even after no evidence was found of criminal activity. The IRS changed its policies in October 2014 to stop seizing bank accounts in cases where structuring was the only suspected illegal activity, except in extraordinary circumstances. But some asset seizures have nonetheless continued and a number of taxpayers whose assets were seized prior to the policy change have had trouble getting their money returned. IRS Commissioner John Koskinen wrote a letter to House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee chairman Peter Roskam, R-Ill., and ranking member John Lewis, D-Ga., last Friday informing them that the IRS is changing its policies to help those taxpayers, and he reported on the status of the investigations in which assets were seized prior to the Oct. 17, 2014 policy change. We intend to send notices to persons or entities that had property seized relating to structuring activity between October 1, 2009 and the date of our policy change, he wrote. This notice will advise the persons or entities that they may be entitled to a return of their property through the petition for remission or mitigation process. We have identified over 700 investigations for which we will mail these notices. If an investigation was referred for prosecution or the property owner has already received a full return of property, a notice will not be sent. He added that the notice will be tailored depending on whether the forfeiture was an administrative procedure or a civil judicial procedure. Once a petition is received as a result of these notices, we will either make a determination in administrative forfeiture cases or make a recommendation to the Department of Justice in civil judicial forfeiture cases, wrote Koskinen. For administrative cases, any property owner who participates in this process to seek a return of their funds or property qualifies by establishing that the underlying funds came from a legal source and there is no evidence the petitioning property owner engaged in structuring to conceal other criminal activity, such as tax evasion, money laundering or other crimes. Koskinen said the IRS plans to mail the notices related to administrative forfeiture cases this week and those related to civil judicial forfeitures by June 17, after a follow-up meeting with the Justice Department. During the congressional hearing, an attorney for the Institute for Justice, a law firm that has been representing many of the victims of the civil asset forfeitures, testified that the IRS took $43 million from 618 people between 2007 and 2013. Koskinen said the IRS could not reconcile its findings with those figures, although he acknowledged there were approximately 700 cases. Im glad to see the IRS finally recognize the need to return the money they stole from innocent Americans, Roskam said in a statement Tuesday. It took two years, two hearings, and letters from every Republican and Democratic member of the Oversight Subcommittee, but we can now see justice on the horizon. Im encouraged by this latest development and look forward to continuing our oversight work to make sure the Justice Department also follows through on its pledge to deliver justice to the victims of civil asset forfeiture abuse. The congressmens office noted that the IRS plans to send letters to everyone from whom it had seized assets based on allegations of structuring from October 2009 onward, affecting about 700 cases. Those people can send petitions to the IRS to see if they qualify to get some or all of their money back. People whose assets were seized before October 2009 also can contact the IRS to see if they are eligible to get their money back. In addition, the IRS has changed its internal policies to require agents to include evidence of illegal source in affidavits before seizing money going forward. I am pleased that the IRS is taking clear steps to respond to the strong bipartisan concerns raised in our recent hearing on this grave matter, said Lewis. The IRS and the Department of Justice must make every effort to do what is right for small business owners who were not engaged in illegal activities but were unintentionally captured by the law. We must right this wrong once and for all. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration warned Tuesday about a new twist in the IRS impersonation scam, with fraudsters pretending to be Internal Revenue Service employees demanding taxpayers send them tax payments not only on iTunes gift cards, but on other types of gift cards as well. TIGTA issued an alert in April saying it has received information that callers impersonating IRS employees or the Treasury Department are demanding payments on iTunes gift cards (see IRS Scammers Demand Payments on iTunes Gift Cards). In addition to gift cards, TIGTA said the scammers may also request payment of taxes on Green Dot Prepaid Cards, MoneyPak Prepaid Cards, Reloadit Prepaid Debit Cards, and other prepaid credit cards. It reiterated that these are fraudulent calls. As a reminder, any call requesting that taxpayers place funds on an iTunes Gift Card or other gift cards to pay taxes and fees is an indicator of fraudulent activity! said the alert. No legitimate United States Treasury or IRS official will demand that payments via Western Union, MoneyGram, bank wire transfers, or bank deposits be made into another persons account for any debt to the IRS or Treasury. Hang up on these fraudulent callers and go to the TIGTA scam reporting page to report the call. TIGTA has also posted videos warning taxpayers to beware of the scam. (Bloomberg) Donald Trump has said his main tax-policy goal is a cut for the middle class, yet his guest list for a series of policy presentations at Trump Tower included a Reagan-era economist who has suggested revamping that plan. Lobbyists and business leaders, including oil billionaire and Trump ally Harold Hamm, gathered June 9 at the presumptive Republican nominees New York headquarters to present their policy wish lists. Among them: economist Stephen Moore, who has been offering Trump advice on tax policy particularly suggestions for cutting his plans estimated cost of $10 trillion over 10 years. But Moore and fellow conservative economist Lawrence Kudlow have recommended changes that would all but erase the middle-class benefits Trump favors, according to Kyle Pomerleau, a senior policy specialist at the right-leaning Tax Foundation in Washington. The foundation, a nonprofit research group, reviewed the revisions at the request of Moore and Kudlow. Pro-Growth Juice Trump hasnt committed to any of their suggestions, and spokeswoman Hope Hicks told the New York Times last month that Moore and Kudlow dont speak for the campaign. Nonetheless, Moores appearance at Thursdays Trump Tower conclavewhere he said he was one of the presenterssuggests that the final contours of Trumps tax plan remain under discussion. At some point, there will be a Trump 2.0 tax plan with the basic integrity of what he proposes, but with some refinements so that it has pro-growth juice in it, said Moore, a visiting fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington. Trumps campaign didnt respond to repeated requests for comment. The candidate called his own tax plan into question last month when he described it as merely a starting point for negotiations with Congress and said taxpayers with higher incomes might have to pay more than he has proposed. I am so much more into the middle class, who have just been absolutely forgotten in our country, Trump said on CNBC. Three Brackets His published plan calls for large across-the-board cuts for individuals and businesses. Trump wants to consolidate the current seven individual income-tax brackets to three. At the bottom, married filers who earn less than $50,000 a year would pay no federal income tax. At the top, individuals who earn $150,000 or more would pay a top rate of 25 percent, down from the current 39.6 percent. But the cost of Trumps plan has stirred concern across the political spectrum; its been Moore and Kudlows challenge to try find ways to cut it. By contrast, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clintons tax plan, which includes tax increases on those with high incomes, higher tax rates on certain types of investment income and a higher estate-tax rate, would mean $191 billion in new federal revenue over a decade, according to the Tax Foundations analysis. The foundation is a research center whose board includes tax officials from Eli Lilly & Co., PepsiCo Inc. and Microsoft Corp. One thing Mr. Trump has made clear is that he wants this to be a middle-class tax cut, Moore said Friday, the day after the Trump Tower meeting. What he has told us is that you have to get the cost down, and we have to do it in a way that benefits middle-class voters and families. Standard Deduction By last month, theyd whittled the cost to $3.8 trillion -- but at the expense of some middle-class benefits, according to the Tax Foundations Pomerleau. First, they bumped up Trumps proposed tax ratesthe top rate went from 25 to 28 percent, and the lowest from 10 to 15 percent. They also scaled back Trumps proposal to quadruple the standard deduction, which tends to benefit middle- and low-income taxpayers. Trump proposed to raise it to $25,000 from $6,300; Moore and Kudlow suggest $10,000. The smaller increase would drastically shrink any benefits to the middle class, Pomerleau said. Overall, the Moore and Kudlow changes erase one of the big selling points Trump has had, which is cutting taxes for the middle class, he said. Moore shrugged off a question about whether Trump has rejected the suggestion. He said he and Kudlow still recommend it. Laffer Curve Both men served as advisers to President Ronald Reagan. Their work for Trump is backed by economist Arthur Laffer, whose Laffer Curve provided much of the underpinnings for Reagans tax policies. With Moore and Kudlows input, Trumps plan will be a humdinger, Laffer said in a telephone interview. Moore specified one suggested tweak that would hit higher-income taxpayers: capping itemized deductions. Trump has called for reducing or eliminating most deductions and loopholes available to the very rich but his plan provides few details. Moore said he and Kudlow have suggested capping deductions at $50,000. It wouldnt affect middle-class people, but when people like Warren Buffett or Bill Gates make a billion-dollar giveaway, they can only write off $50,000, he said. The Trump team has said, You might want to keep the charitable deduction, Moore said. Whether Trump will accept that change hasnt been decided, he said. Another Trump proposal would impose a flat 15 percent income tax on all businessesfrom mom-and-pop groceries to Fortune 500 corporationsdown from the current top corporate tax rate of 35 percent. I cant really say whether thats set in stone or not, Moore said. Policy Meeting Thursdays meeting, where representatives from various industries presented briefings on policies the next president should pursue, signals that Trumps campaign is soliciting fresh policy input. The campaign hasnt released names of attendees. Hamm, the chief executive officer of Continental Resources Inc., said he spoke at the gathering, exclusively about energy. Hamm, who served as Mitt Romneys energy adviser during the former Massachusetts governors 2012 presidential run, refrained from discussing any other presentations, saying, I dont think well go there. Trump has sought relatively little input on tax policy to date. For example, Megan Van Etten, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said: We have not provided any input to Trump on taxes. Congressional Plans Congressional Republicans have pledged to release a blueprint for overhauling the U.S. tax code in the coming weeksand the lack of detail so far in Trumps proposals suggests he may be willing to defer to Congress, said Dean Zerbe, the national managing director of Alliant Group, a Washington lobbying firm. At the end of the day, youd want a detailed legislative product, said Zerbe, a former tax counsel for the Senate Committee on Finance. It does suggest theyll be looking for the details from Congress. Regardless, advice on tax policy may not matter much to Trump, said Kenneth Kies, a tax lobbyist and managing director of Federal Policy Group, a Washington lobbying firm. It really doesnt matter what these guys think, because Trump probably doesnt care, Kies said. He doesnt talk about his tax plans in his stump speeches, which should tell you how much a core issue it is for him in the election. By Isaac Davis Every four years, the illusion of democracy and accountable government is reinforced to the public by an expensive media circus and presidential election. Meanwhile, an annual conference of members of the worlds wealthiest and most influential is held in near-secrecy with little attention given to the significance of such a gathering. Why are we encouraged to vote for politicians, but discouraged from considering the sobering fact that the United States and other Western nations are now ruled by a corporate and private oligarchy? An intensive research study by Princeton University in 2014 concluded that the US is indeed more accurately described as a functioning oligarchy, rather than a democracy or a republic. An oligarchy is a small group of people who effectively control a country, a business, or an institution. Rulers may distinguish themselves as royalty, politicians, businessmen, wealthy, highly educated, or as people in positions of military control. The study also found: When a majority of citizens disagrees with economic elites and/or with organized interests, they generally lose. [Source] Attendees and organizers of the Bilderberg conference hold key positions of influence in government, industry, or are of significant social influence. They have the capacity to affect world events in ways that elected officials simply do not. The conference is a chance for them to congregate without the burden of official responsibilities or a permanent record. The meetings are held under the Chatham House Rule, which states that participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s) nor of any other participant may be revealed. Thanks to the private nature of the meeting, the participants are not bound by the conventions of their office or by pre-agreed positions. Bilderberg Bilderberg represents the globalization of empire, a form of international rule where the ideas and goals of a wealthy elite are realized through an organization of business and personal contacts. Coverage of this event is mostly done by independent journalists who face serious harassment and intimidation by law enforcement and private security, which is in stark contrast to the volume and type of media attention given to presidential politics. What most Americans believe to be Public Opinion is in reality carefully crafted and scripted propaganda designed to elicit a desired behavioral response from the public. And noted Australian academic and activist Alex Carey (1922 1988) explained the three most important 20th century developments The growth of democracy, the growth of corporate power, and the growth of corporate propaganda as a means of protecting corporate power against democracy. Canadian writer Ken Adachi The passion that the American people have for self-governance is evident in how seriously people take local and national American politics. It would be impressive to see this same energy directed at the roots of global problems by re-directing accountability onto those who are better deserving of our collective attention. A righteously outraged and unified public is capable of swift and furious social and political change, which is why the elite use propaganda. Some 90% of all media consumed in the world is owned and controlled by just 6 mega-corporations, who, by omission and other tactics, work to manufacture consent while keeping we the people divided in every way possible. What are your thoughts about this? Should a public seeking political change focus itself instead on the organizations and individuals that influence government, rather than argue over candidates? Read more articles from Isaac Davis. Isaac Davis is a staff writer for WakingTimes.com and OffgridOutpost.com Survival Tips blog. He is an outspoken advocate of liberty and of a voluntary society. He is an avid reader of history and passionate about becoming self-sufficient to break free of the control matrix. Follow him on Facebook, here. Like Waking Times on Facebook. Follow Waking Times on Twitter. This article (Americans Argue Over Puppets While Global Masters Meet in Secrecy) was originally created and published by Waking Times and is published here under a Creative Commons license with attribution toIsaac Davis and WakingTimes.com. It may be re-posted freely with proper attribution, author bio, and this copyright statement. By Matt Agorist This week, the United States Department of Education (DOE) released a collection of survey data from all 95,000 public schools in America. According to the DOE, the 2013-14 Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) is a survey of all public schools and school districts in the United States. The CRDC measures student access to courses, programs, instructional and other staff, and resources as well as school climate factors, such as student discipline and bullying and harassment that impact education equity and opportunity for students. The trove of data highlights a frightening state of affairs in which public schools now find themselves. One of the trends shown in the data is the removal of guidance counselors. According to a report in the Washington Post, high school counselors often have tough jobs. They keep track of their students progress toward graduation. They help students apply to college and navigate the financial aid process. They also help kids navigate their lives outside of school, which can be made complex by poverty, violence and family trouble. And because counselors often are one of the first positions to be cut when budgets get tight, there are almost never enough to go around. The national average is close to 500 students per school counselor; many students have no counselor at all. While the data shows that students have declining access to a kind and caring role model to guide them through their high school careers, the number of students who have access to a police officer is growing. A whopping 1.6 million (k 12th grade) students attended a school that employs a law enforcement officer but has no counselor. According to the CRDC report, which counted cops in schools for the very first time, 24 percent of elementary schools and 42 percent of high schools have armed police officers. In schools with higher concentrations of minorities that number skyrockets. It seems that schools in America are starting to more closely resemble prisons than learning facilities. Think about it children are locked in behind steel doors all day long as armed agents of the State patrol the grounds. A few minutes out of the day, the students are given a little yard time and again, they are kept under the watch of armed state agents. Video after video shows the horrific nature of such a practice as children are seen being maced, beaten, and tasered for normal childhood behaviors. The mere act of being a child is now criminalized. As the Free Thought Project previously reported, according to statistics released by the U.S. Department of Education and published by NBC News, in the 2011-2012 school year, teachers called the cops on students a total of 31,961 times in the state of California alone, leading to 6,341 arrests. With 175 8-hour-long school days, that means that every 2.6 seconds a cop is called! At one California school district, in particular, East Side Union High School District in San Jose, police were called on students 1,745 times during the 2011-2012 school year. This one school called the police on students more than ten times a day! Just last month, we reported on the video showing a San Antonio Independent School District police officer body slam a 12-year-old girl. In February, the Free Thought Project brought you the story of the Baltimore School cop who was seen beating a student who had done nothing wrong. In fact, recent videos have revealed a myriad of school cops attacking unarmed students. In December, Officer Rigo Valles was cleared of any wrongdoing after grabbing a student by the neck and slamming him to the floor. In October, Richland County Deputy Ben Fields was fired after students recorded him flipping over a girls desk and dragging her across the floor. Oklahoma City Master Sgt. Thomas Jaha was charged with assault and battery in October as well, after repeatedly punching a student in the face for not having a hall pass. In November, prosecutors agreed to dismiss assault charges against Louisville Metro Police Officer Jonathan Hardin for punching a student in the face if the former officer completes anger management classes. Hardin still faces wanton endangerment, official misconduct, and assault charges for choking another student unconscious in a separate incident five days later. In separate incidents earlier this year, school cops have also been caught attacking an autistic boy, body-slamming a child, and raping nearly two dozen students. And these are the ones the public knows about How many more incidents, just like this one, go unreported and unpunished? Instead of attempting to solve a problem with logic and reason, schools are now taking the easy road and turning to the barrel of a gun to force compliance. This is not only dangerous and lazy, but its entirely unnecessary. A study of more than 185,000 private and public school users from 2010 to 2014 revealed that violence is largely a problem in the public school sector. Private schools, unlike public schools, have an incentive to create a safe and caring environment for their students, so they take a far more proactive approach to prevent bullying and it works. Without using police force, private schools are able to reduce bullying and violence to levels far below that of public schools. Imagine that. What this data illustrates is the societal dependence on the State to solve matters that should be handled without government. Being dependent upon the state to solve ones problems is a de facto dependency upon violence. The State represents violence in a concentrated and organized form. The individual has a soul, but as the State is a soulless machine, it can never be weaned from violence to which it owes its very existence. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi If you truly want a glimpse into the horrid effects of the police state on all school children, take a scroll through our archives, at this link. Until people wake up to the reality of relying on a system of violence to maintain order, we can expect this problem to get worse. Aint it funny how the factorys doors close Round the time that the school doors close Round the time that the doors of the jail cells Open up to greet you like the reaper -Rage Against the Machine, Ashes in the Fall Matt Agorist is the co-founder of TheFreeThoughtProject.com, where this article first appeared. He is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA. This prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government corruption and the American police state. Agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been featured on mainstream networks around the world. Follow @MattAgorist By Claire Bernish As mainstream media headlines begin to solidify around the narrative a single shooter was responsible for the carnage at Pulse nightclub in Orlando on Sunday, details calling the now-official story into question must be addressed. While no doubts can be raised Omar Mateen, indeed, played a role in the attack, eyewitness accounts while varied and certainly subjective, considering the chaos unfolding at the time dont unanimously agree he acted alone. I mean, Im pretty sure it was more than one person, witness Janiel Gonzalez told a bevy of reporters. Like I said, I heard two guns going off at the same time, he continued, gesturing back and forth with his fingers indicating the gunfire emanated from separate directions. Further, he explained, panicked clubgoers had difficulty locating exits during the shooting, which he estimated lasting eight minutes plenty of time for the shooter(s) to reload multiple times. When Gonzalez and others finally found a door hidden behind a curtain, There was probably like 50 people trying to jump over each other just trying to exit the place, and there was a guy holding the door. The guy was holding the door and not letting us exit. When they asked why he was blocking their only way out as the shooting seemed to be drawing near Gonzalez said the man told them, No, you guys have to stay inside. Stay inside. Desperate, the group demanded he move to give them safe passage but the mans steadfast refusal to do so provoked a serious question. As Gonzalez explained, the fact there was a semi-automatic rifle, and not a handgun, employed in the shooting, he realized this must be a hate crime and then he put two and two together, and I was like, this guys trying to prevent us from leaving the club. Maybe theyre working together. Fox News Megyn Kelly actually interviewed the man, Luis Burbano, who admitted to blocking the exit, asking, You were holding the doors so that the shooter could not get out, but was there any concern that, you know, you might be keeping the people fleeing the shooter from getting out? Yeah, um yeah. That was on my mind. There was banging, there was pushing on the door. That was on my mind; but at that point in time, I just tried doing what I thought would be best at that moment, because, as he explained, the door opened into an alleyway which was extremely narrow and would have created a juggernaut. Burbano also worried he might be opening the door to the shooter, so felt by holding it shut, he would prevent the attackers escape. So, while Burbanos actions were perhaps motivated by doing the right thing, he directly endangered the lives of others trapped inside. Was he working in concert with the attacker or attackers? Probably not. Should he face consequences for blocking one of the only safe means for people to escape an active shooter? Without a doubt. As for the description possibly more than one shooter had been involved, Gonzalez actually wasnt alone. A second witness described in an interview aired on the Today Show, It had to have been more than one person, too, because [the gunfire] was just too continuous Its like youre at a gun range and all you hear is just, BOOM, bang, bang I cant even describe it. I dont think anybody really knew what was going on: Orlando shooting witness describes the scenehttps://t.co/Ktbkn65nrz TODAY (@TODAYshow) June 12, 2016 In footage captured by multiple witnesses outside the club, police appear to be engaging in an exchange of gunfire with an unknown subject. Mateen, however, was killed inside the club, according to most accounts. Theyre shooting back and forth, the person taping video can be heard saying over a volley of gunfire in the background. Oh. My. God. Theyre all shooting back and forth. Could this also lend credence to accounts of multiple attackers? Yet another eyewitness to the massacre has come forward to describe the events for ABC News 20/20 and his detailed account could be critical. After Mateen collected the hostages phones, according to the witness, he called either law enforcement or a news station and said, America needs to stop bombing ISIS in Syria. Then he called somebody else that he knew, the man recalled, and he mentioned that he was the fourth shooter, and there was [sic] three others, and mentioned, I believe a female name, that was playing dead and she has a bombing vest and he has one, too. And then he said there was three snipers out there waiting for cops to come so the snipers would shoot at the cops. And even another witness to the events has described the situation as one of multiple shooters. Noting the sheer number of gun shots ringing out, the witness was asked by Infowars, So, you believe there was more than one gunman there? I believe that, the young man replied, because thats kind of impossible, to me, for one person with two handguns firing off. He also described seeing Mateens picture on social media, and said the suspect central to the investigation did not appear to have the physical build to employ the two weapons necessary to account for the barrage of gunfire he heard. He couldnt manage to fire off two guns, he surmised. Decide for yourself, as always, what such accounts which contradict the now-uniform mainstream narrative might mean. But remember, as well, questioning what youre being spoon fed by the government and corporate media is in no way disrespectful of the victims. Rather, it is out of respect for the dead and injured that appropriate parties be held accountable and factual accuracy is imperative in order that justice be served appropriately. Claire Bernish writes for TheFreeThoughtProject.com, where this article first appeared. Nutrela, the flagship and premium brand of Ruchi Soya Industries, has launched its new marketing campaign. This is the first time that the brand is going to be present with such a high decibel national media campaign, which will be spread over six weeks. The objective of the campaign is to highlight the superiority of Nutrela, which is now healthier, tastier and more hygienic. As part of this campaign, conceptualised by Ogilvy & Mather, Nutrela has launched two 45-second TVCs carrying the messages Ab Healthy ho jao sirf 10 rupee mein and Life ki demand hai zyada. The first TVC that went on-air from June 10, 2016, was of a Sikh school boy having his meal during lunch break. The TVC brings the innocence of two boys Tony and Sikh boy wherein the Sikh boy confesses that Tonys veg food prepared out of Nutrela soya is much tastier than the non-veg food that his mother cooks. The second TVC plays on the humorous tension in a father-in-law and son-in-law relationship. The TVC depicts how a son-in-law is keeping his demands in front of his father-in-law tactfully by projecting it to be the needs of his daughter and grandchildren and how the father-in-law tackles his demands. The hero of the film is of course the product, which becomes the instrument which the father-in-law uses to make his point clear to his son-in-law. Both the TVCs highlight the attributes of the product 52 per cent protein, 99 per cent fat-free and filled with calcium and iron. The campaign will be spread across six weeks with TV campaign across Hindi GECs, Regional GECs, Movies and Food channels delivering at least 1000 GRPs so as to break through the clutter. The campaign will also be supported with print and ground activation, coupled with massive visibility drive in trade. Commenting on the new campaign, Nilesh Mazumdar, CEO, Consumer Brand Division of Ruchi Soya Industries, said, The idea was to talk health and taste but not get lost in the sea of brands claiming similar benefits. Also, communicating the importance of healthy food has become very serious. So we decided to use humour and innocence as a device to send out our message of Nutrela Soya, which is not only healthier and tastier, but also affordable. We also felt that this story-line is something that would catch the attention of consumers across all markets as they would be able to relate to it. Piyush Pandey, Executive Chairman and Creative Director, O&M India & South Asia, commented, Nutrela is a well-known brand for a long period of time. With the current concerns of nutrition needs of every family, we have presented Nutrela as an affordable, healthy and tasty option for every day meals. These slice-of-life commercials have been created with simple human insights taken from peoples lives. I am sure the audience will get the message. Commenting on the TVCs, Anup Chitnis, ECD, O&M, said, Nutrela has been among the top players in the health and soya foods category for over 30 years now. So when we came to create the next leg of the communication for them, we felt we were in a good position to take a humorous and insightful approach to health food advertising. Also, since the consumers of Nutrela are both elderly and kids, we felt it would be a good idea to create two films to address both these segments. When it comes to food, kids are inspired more by taste as compared to elders, for whom eating healthy has become a priority. Which is why both the films are balanced on taste and health, which is the core business strategy the Nutrela business is built on. Launched over three decades, Nutrela offers an innovative solution to the Indian palate. The versatile product that can be mixed with different food items, thus bringing in variety and assortment. Today, Nutrela has become synonymous with Soya in India. The TVCs have been conceptualised by O&M Mumbai and produced by Nirvana Films (Sardar Kid) and Ramesh Deo Productions (Son-in-Law). Madison Media is the media agency. Campaign credits: Client: Ruchi Soya Industries Brand: Nutrela Creative agency: O&M Media agency: Madison Media Production house: Nirvana Films ECD: Anup Chitnis Ogilvy Mumbai has been awarded the mandate for Robomate+, an online education portal that provides interactive study material for students. It is Indias largest video platform for students helping them to prepare better for exams such as JEE, CA, CPT, CAT and board exams such as CBSE and ICSE. Ogilvy Mumbai has been tasked with conceptualising the launch of Robomate+ and further sustaining the brand to drive usage across its many different consumer segments. On the appointment, Chhaya Shastri, Director at MT educare, the parent company of Robomate+, said, The task is to induce a new behaviour in the education category, for which a very deep understanding of consumer is key. Ogilvys understanding of Indias consumer is unmatched and it was amply demonstrated in the very first meeting. The team knew exactly how they want to position this brand, even before the brief was rolled out. While there was a formal pitch and a couple of other agencies also had a discussion, Ogilvys solution really made this an easy choice, at the end. Speaking on the win, Abhik Santara, Senior Vice President, Ogilvy Mumbai, said, The true insight and the brand solution came from going back a few years in our life and trying to feel the way we felt as students. Things that we looked for and things that we wished we could have access to in our study days, were the consideration points. Our interaction with Chhaya was very meaningful because of the little insights we gathered before. Chhayas enthusiasm and future plans for Robomate+ got us very excited to work on this brand immediately. We hope to break the campaign in early July. Option Designs, one of Indias leading fully integrated advertising and digital branding agencies has been appointed the 360 degree branding, advertising and digital marketing mandate for Bluebird Pure. Bluebird, a company known for its trust in making voltage stabilizers, has recently entered into the healthcare product segment with its range of Water Purifiers, Water Softeners and Air Purifiers under the name of Bluebird Pure. As a part of the mandate, Option Designs will be responsible to create and manage the creative campaigns and brand strategies for Bluebird Pure while working closely on both ATL and BTL marketing collaterals. As the agency on board, Option Designs will also build and implement a 360-degree advertising campaign with ace Bollywood and Hollywood actor Anil Kapoor who has been roped in as the brand ambassador by Bluebird Pure. Expressing his expectation from the agency, Aditya Mittal, Founder, Bluebird Pure said, We chose Option Designs because of their keen understanding of Bluebird's business needs, additionally their passionate, irresistible energy and unconventional creative approach is noble. He further added that, Association with Option Designs will create a better and stronger brand positioning via innovative solutions and in turn will give mileage to the brand in reaching to its target customers. Japneet Singh, M.D & CCO, Option Designs, said, "It is an honor to work on Bluebird. We as an agency are excited with an opportunity to work in the healthcare segment as it has a lot of scope in terms of creativity, communication and also in terms of building the brand as a trustworthy and reliable brand for purity. It will be quite interesting to work in this industry as there is a lot, which has not been covered yet by the advertisers. Through our strategic advertising campaigns we will try to bring out some clutter breaking advertising in this segment" Starting 13th June, Twitter India will celebrate young creators and users in its first-ever week-long live showcase called #EveryCharacterMatters. This curated showcase across Comedy, Lifestyle, Modern Romance, and Music will see over 20 comedians, chefs, musicians, stylists, and more, harness Twitter, Vine and Periscope to connect and create with their followers. #EveryCharacterMatters, as the theme suggests, will highlight how every content genre, every character, every personality has a voice on Twitter, and the curated showcase will be a reflection of the diverse youth and creative voices of our country. #EveryCharacterMatters will celebrate new forms of digital and live storytelling, and will help users discover and interact with new creators across their daily lives. This week-long showcase will also encourage the creator in every user on the platform, and will showcase how best to use Twitters tools and features. You can join the conversation by following @VideoIndia account or #EveryCharacterMatters hashtag on Twitter, which is the best way to get live updates about the program. On the web, go to www.everycharactermatters.com to check out the #EveryCharacterMatters conversations unfold in real time. Embeddable Tweet: https://twitter.com/VideoIndia/status/741940936825937921 Twitter is current and live - it's just like serving a dish at the restaurant - you get instant feedback. I can bounce off ideas for seasonal menus at The Bombay Canteen with our followers and I can also reach out to them asking about new ingredients I come across. I often look to Twitter for travel tips, and hyperlocal recommendations from foodies in the city I am visiting. Twitter helps build connections, inspires my work, and I learn something new everyday through my conversations, says chef Thomas Zacharias (@ChefTZac) at The Bombay Canteen. #EveryCharacterMatters will put a spotlight on the new young, delightful, hyperlocal Twitter. It will allow people to enjoy their interests such as food and music in a new dimension, and in a more inclusive and collaborative manner. The content across categories on Twitter is authentic and relatable, and that helps us redefine digital lifestyles on the worlds largest live communications platform today, says Keya Madhvani (@keyamadhvani), Lifestyle & Culture Partnerships, Twitter India. Tweet your love for youth culture and emerging artists in India #EveryCharacterMatters will spotlight young Indian talent across genres, and all week these users will tell their stories in new, creative, multimedia content forms using Tweets, photos, videos, Vines, and Periscopes. They will collaborate with Twitter users for a richer experience by asking people to Tweet their ideas, lyrics, sound clips, and will involve them in the creators journey. You can journey with a musician in the making of a new track, or you can accompany a blogger as he walks down the streets of Bandra as he enjoys the local street food. Twitter brings you closer to all your favourite things, and you can enjoy them in ways you had never imagined - through candid conversations, live video broadcasts, and short-form videos. Embeddable Tweet: https://twitter.com/VideoIndia/status/741200609877970944 Embeddable Tweet: https://twitter.com/HoeZaay/status/742012251318558720 Embeddable Tweet: https://twitter.com/MallikaDua/status/741983530918383618 Embeddable Tweet: https://twitter.com/debasreee/status/741257568069292032 #EveryCharacterMatters Schedule Date Name / Account Description June 13: Comedy Jose Covaco (@Hoezaay) & Cyril (@CyrilDabs) Jose and Cyril will answer user questions live on Periscope from the #BlueRoom on how to make Vines and tell a story in just 6 seconds. Varun Thakur (@VarunmThakur) Varun will ask followers to Tweet to him about the characters in their daily life, and make Vines inspired by the responses. Aadar Malik (@TheAadarGuy) Aadar will ask fans to Tweet to him what #EveryCharacterMatters means to them and perform a song live based on the responses. Anurag Verma (@KitAnurag) Anurag will ask followers to Tweet to him what are the types of characters one finds online in India, and make Vines inspired by that. Mallika Dua (@mallikadua) Mallika will create short videos on Twitter based on the characters of Delhi and the kinds of Delhi characters her followers Tweet to her about. Supriya Joshi (@Supaarwoman) Supriya will ask followers to Tweet to her about classic SoBo/suburb girl cliches and create Vines inspired by their input. June 14: Lifestyle Debasree Chatterjee (@Debasree) Users to send in their favourite looks and she will invite them to meet in person to teach them how to get that look, enhance your make-up. Thomas Zacharias (@ChefTZac) To shoot a video of 2-3 ingredients, and he will ask users to guess the name of the ingredients, ask for ideas on flavours, and then he will cook using those ingredients and ideas. Kalyan Karmakar (@finelychopped) He will do a series of Periscopes titled Bandra eats under Rs 140 and it will be about the food as much as the characters behind each stall. Magali Vaz (@magali_c) Tweet to her with an everyday item and she will tell you how to style it. Larissa Dsa (@Larissa_wlc) She will show users how to spruce up an ordinary outfit with a DIY element on Periscope. June 15: Modern Romance Permanent Roommates (@TVFPR) The cast of Permanent Roommates will talk to fans about new age live-in relationships from different perspectives of their characters. Aditi Mittal (@Awryaditi) As her avatar, Dr. Mrs. Lutchuke, she will play agony aunt to users dating issues. She will also do a Twitter Q&A. Pranav Sapra & Sakshi (@PranavSapra) Bawa (@Square_boxes) This couple met on Twitter, and they will focus on courting in 140 characters, they will also try to fix up people up by asking users to Tweet what they are looking for. Additionally, they will do a Your First Date in 140 characters. Arjun Kanungo (@arjun_kanungo) Arjun will do a Q&A with fans about non-conventional characters and gender roles in modern relationships. June 16: Music Prateek Kuhad (@prateekkuhad) Prateek will ask fans to Tweet to him their favourite lyrics and parts of his new single Tune Kaha. Siddharth Sharma (@dubsharma) Siddharth will crowdsource sounds on Twitter and make music with them. Nirali Kartik & Kartik Shah (@maatibaani) They will Tweet a sound clip and will ask users to send across the craziest lyrics for that music. Voctronica (@Voctronica) Asking people to Tweet what matters to them, and they will create music based on those themes. Additional Creator Quotes Food Blogger/Consultant Kalyan Karmakar (@finelychopped) Twitter and Periscope both have helped me reach out to and connect with lots of interesting people and to share my experiences with others. They help me tell my food stories in a spontaneous, candid, passionate way, which has always been my style of storytelling. Conversations on Twitter, instant comments on Periscope, often from around the world, complement my journey in food, and my blog content, and continue to inspire me to do more. Beauty and Lifestyle Vlogger Debasree Banerjee (@debasree) #EveryCharacterMatters is a great step towards encouraging young and niche creators like myself. It will help me reach out to and engage with a larger audience. I enjoy Twitter because it is quick and concise, and it helps me stay connected to my followers in a simple way; I also stay in touch with other influencers and their work on the platform. World music band Maati Baani (@maatibaani) We enjoy using Twitter and Periscope for the quality of conversations on the platform; the feedback is quick and the love our fans show is real. People who engage with us connect to the philosophy of the band and are enthusiastic to spread the word of our music. There is nothing more gratifying than seeing a fan Tweet to us in real time at a gig or at soundcheck! Small contingency response team makes big impact in Swift Response 16 The buzzing of C-130 Hercules and CH-47 Chinook helicopter propellers could be heard throughout the Bydgoszcz Airport as a contingency response team loaded and unloaded cargo from the aircraft during exercise Swift Response 16. The small team of Airmen came from the 821st Contingency Response Group at Travis Air Force Base, California, and the Air Force Reserve Commands 512th Airlift Control Flight at Dover AFB, Delaware. Working out of an old fighter aircraft hangar, they kept the exercise flowing by assuring airborne forces and their cargo smoothly transitioned through the airport. One of the premier military crisis response training events for multinational airborne forces in the world, the exercise had more than 5,000 participants from 10 NATO nations and took place at multiple locations in Poland and Germany. "We are the command and control; we receive aircraft and make sure they can deliver the cargo and passengers to wherever it is needed," said Tech. Sgt. Mitchell Thompson, a 921st Contingency Response Squadron ramp coordinator instructor. "We will be extracting the jumpers from the drop zone as they roll into our station as well as the other CRT location in Poland," said Master Sgt. Brian Beaty, the 921st Contingency Response Squadron CRT chief. "The goal is to get them out of Poland and back in Germany so that they are ready for the next phase of (Swift Response) 16." CRTs are one of the smaller command and control elements within the 621st Contingency Response Wing, so it takes every Airman pulling their weight to ensure the mission is a success. "What we do to make this size team work is a majority of members of the team pull double duty," said Master Sgt. Brian Beaty, the CRT chief of the 921st CRS. "The mindset that we have throughout the CRW is lets get the mission done. With that in mind it might not be my job per se but I am going to go out and put my hands on that equipment that needs to be moved and move it, set it up, whatever needs to be done so that at the end of the day we are ready to operate. Most of the Airmen in the CRW, with the mindset being the way it is, you dont even have to ask. Airmen all up and down the team just step up and get it done." The exercise benefited Airmen from both organizations by providing the opportunity for Air Force Reserve and active-duty contingency response forces to work as a team. "Integrating the reservist into the team has been seamless; they are a ready pool of personnel and material that we can tap into Air Force wide and plug and play," Beaty said. "The specific (job) that they come from and the airlift control flight that they represent complements and works well with the team." During the exercise, the CRT worked with a variety of C-130 units to include aircraft from Dyess AFB, Texas; the West Virginia Air National Guard; Little Rock AFB, Arkansas; Ramstein Air Base, Germany; and the Royal Air Force. They also worked closely with Soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, as well as British soldiers. "Its very good training and provides the opportunity for the U.S. Army and Air Force to work together with foreign militaries," Thompson said. "It also helps strengthen the relationship between NATO partners and the Air Force." Beaty agreed, and said that the training exposed Airmen to actual missions they may see in the future. "This exercise mirrors very well what a real-world operation will look like, he said. We have multiple end users that we are working with and helping to move, not all U.S." For some, working outside the U.S. with different branches of the military and NATO partners would be a challenging task. But for CRW Airmen, its business as usual. "The Airmen on this CRT have handled this exercise very well," Beaty said. "It has worked in true CRW fashion. We pulled from the flights and sections and the disciplines we needed to build the team very fast and we just synced. This team is very cohesive, they have worked together professionally to get the job done. They are ready at a moments notice for anything and they have reacted very well for all those potentialities." Its a publicity gimmick by the MNS which has lost its foothold in the state says AIMIM leaders. Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) Chief Raj Thackeray celebrated his 48th birthday in an unusual manner by cutting cake containing the image of AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi. MNS party workers had arrived at Thackerays residence to greet him on the occasion of his birthday. They also had bought the cake with Owaisis image on it. Raj seems to have taken an inspiration from Former Advocate General of Maharashtra Shrihari Aney who had earlier sliced a cake containing the map of Maharashtra into four parts. Aney had demanded statehood for Vidarbha region. At that time Raj had said that Maharashtra is not a cake which can be sliced into pieces. AIMIM has criticised Raj Thackeray for indulging in this act and said that he has insulted Owaisi. AIMIM MLA Waris Pathan said, We have demanded action against those who have cut the cake. Raish Shaikh vice president AIMIM, Mumbai said, MNS is indulging in this act to garner publicity as the party has lost its foothold in Maharashtra after facing defeat in assembly polls. Right now we dont have any intention to retaliate but we may file a case against MNS. We will follow the instructions of our senior leaders in this regard. Hasan Mulani, AIMIM secretary Thane district said, This is purely a political stunt and an attempt to break public harmony. Through this act Raj wants to alienate Muslims and also show that he is the messiah for Hindu voters. Let me clearly say that Raj Thackeray has become history. Raj is free to do whatever he wants but people of Maharashtra will never vote for him. A leader from AIMIM spoke on the condition of anonymity and said, What is Raj going to gain by cutting the cake containing the image of our leader? Why cant he work for the welfare of the people and start building his party at the grassroots level. He is only trying to spread enmity between two communities. Raj had targeted Owaisi triggered a row early this year saying he would not chant Bharat Mata ki Jai, even if a knife is put to his throat. Come to Maharashtra, I will put a knife to your throat, the MNS chief had said. Raj and Owaisi have always shared a bitter relationship and have taken potshots against each other in the past. Both of them are known for their hate speeches and draw large number of crowds at their rallies. Raj had quit Shiv Sena in 2006 to form his own party MNS as he was being sidelined by his uncle Bal Thackeray who had appointed his son Uddhav Thackeray as his successor. MNS had played spoilsport in 2009 Maharashtra assembly polls by winning 13 seats. It helped the Congress to retain power by weakening Shiv Sena. However, situation changed drastically in 2014 as the party was able to win only a single seat in the state. Chinas official media on Tuesday went public over Indias NSG bid for the first time, saying New Delhis membership of the elite club will not only touch a raw nerve in Pakistan and increase a nuclear arms race in the region but also jeopardize Chinas national interests. An op-ed commentary in state-run Global Times, the first write-up on the issue since Chinas opposition to Indias bid, said New Delhis NSG membership will set off a nuclear confrontation in the region. India and Pakistan, both nuclear powers in the region, keep alert to each others nuclear capabilities. Indias application for NSG membership and its potential consequences will inevitably touch a raw nerve in Pakistan, its traditional rival in the region. As Pakistan is not willing to see an enlarging gap in nuclear power with India, a nuclear race is a likely outcome. This will not only paralyse regional security, but also jeopardise Chinas national interests, said the commentary India mustnt let nuclear ambitions blind itself. Last week, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi embarked on a diplomatic journey, travelling halfway across the world with his top goal to garner support for his countrys entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) ahead of the plenary meeting of the group expected to be held in Seoul on June 24. The US and some NSG members have given a push to Indias membership bid, but the reported opposition from most countries, especially China, eems to have irritated India, it said. Reports from Vienna where the NSG is based said that while majority of the 48-member group backed Indias membership, China along with New ealand, Ireland, Turkey, South Africa and Austria were opposed to Indias admission. The NSG looks after critical issues relating to nuclear sector and its members are allowed to trade in and export nuclear technology. The group works under the principle of unanimity and even one countrys vote against India will scuttle its bid. Beijing insists that a prerequisite of New Delhis entry is that it must be a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) while India is not. Despite acknowledging this legal and systematic requirement, the Indian media called Chinas stance obstructionist, the commentary said. India has its own calculations for joining the NSG. Eyeing retaining the fastest growing economy tag, Indias access to the NSG, a body that regulates the global trade of nuclear technology, is expected to open up the international market for Indias domestic nuclear energy programme. Meanwhile, with the support of the US, India can advance its development in this regard, it said. The deliberations of the US are also clear. With Indias NSG membership, the US, the worlds largest producer of nuclear power, can sell its nuclear technology to India. A US company is set to build six nuclear reactors in India, an agreement made between the two countries during Modis recent visit to the US, it said. The ISISs alleged leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed in an air raid in Syria by the US-led coalition, reports said on Monday. Baghdadi died in an air strike on ISISs stronghold of Raqqa in northern Syria, Iranian state media and pro-government Turkish daily Yenis Safak said, citing ISIS-affiliated Arabic news agency al-Amaq. The statement published by Amaq said ISISs Caliph Baghdadi had been killed on Sunday, according to the media reports. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed by coalition airstrikes on Raqqa on the fifth day of Ramadan, said the statement. Baghdadi died in an air strike on ISs stronghold of Raqqa in northern Syria in a US-led air attack, Iranian state media said. The Iranian media quoted a report from IS-affiliated Arabic news agency al-Amaq. The coalition did not immediately comment on the report. Earlier on Monday, Iraqi TV channel Al-Sumaria said that Baghadi had been wounded on Sunday in a coalition air strike on a location 65 kilometres west of the ISIS-held city of Mosul. US TV network CNN on Monday cited US defence officials as saying they received credible intelligence that Baghdadi, who has a $25 million bounty on his head, has moved around within the past six months and had travelled to Mosul. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Varun Gandhi has sparked a controversy after skipping a dinner meeting organised by Uttar Pratesh party chief Keshav Maurya. Sources close to Varun Gandhi say he skipped the dinner as his wife was unwell. Maurya had invited all BJP MPs for dinner on Monday. Nonetheless, the reason did not go down well with the party leadership, which is already unhappy with Gandhis blatant attempt to project himself as the probable chief ministerial candidate during BJPs two-day National Executive conclave. This came soon after the news that Varun Gandhi had left Allahabad at around 2.30 pm, without waiting for a dinner meeting with BJP president Amit Shah. People close to Varun tried to downplay the event, stating that this was just a dinner meeting and they had already made reservations for Delhi. However, Varuns absence has not gone down well with the party. Amidst reports that Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh could be named as the chief ministerial candidate in Uttar Pradesh, hundreds of posters of Varun Gandhi were put in Allahabad to make sure that his candidacy is not missed, if the party is looking for a face to be projected in Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections early next year. The posters also had images of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah. However, the move irked the partys leadership so much that show cause notice were issued to two party workers, who allegedly were found to be involved in the goof-up. Allahabad MP Shyama Charan Gupta told Shah during the dinner meeting that Varun Gandhi is getting his posters plastered all over the city and when he protested, the Sultanpur MPs supporters threw eggs and tomatoes at his house. Gandhi, meanwhile, on Sunday got the support of Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Patna Sahib MP Shatrughan Sinha in his bid to become the partys face for the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections. Varun Gandhi is known among the people as a fighter who strives hard for the party. He has the acceptability of the people of Uttar Pradesh and he is a leader with wisdom, Sinha said. Were you surprised by the reaction to "Vaxxed"? What were you expecting? [Andy] and Polly came to New Orleans, and spent about three hours with us, just asking me questions about what had happened. Someone asked me if there was a script [for her role in Vaxxed], but there was no script. We were just talking casually like Im talking to you. And thats how I ended up becoming a part of Vaxxed. Sheila said that when she and her family were displaced by Hurricane Katrina, they temporarily lived in Austin, Texas. Thoughtful House, an autism research center that is connected to Dr. Wakefield, sponsored a theater night and Sheila met Andy for the first time. She told him the story of what happened to her son after being vaccinated.. Sheila explained that she was contacted by someone who knew Dr. Andrew Wakefield was looking for an African American family affected by autism. She said that originally Vaxxed was simply going to be a documentary on the Autism Media Channel. Sheila, tell us about your role in "Vaxxed." Why were you included in the film? By Anne Dachel I recently talked with Sheila and recorded her responses on Skype. Not only is she the mother of a vaccine injured African American son with autism, but shes also an outstanding advocate for children on the spectrum. For her, the cover-up revealed by William Thompson is very personal. SHEILA: When I first got involved with Vaxxed, it didnt even have a name because Dr. Wakefield hadnt even named it yet. Sheila explained that Andy had first used her video during presentations and talks. Imagine my surprise when he called me and he said, Youre never going to believe this. Robert DeNiro wants to screen Vaxxed at Tribeca. It came like the quiet storm. Bam! We were there. I had no idea Vaxxed was going to end up being what it is now. Last April, Robert Kennedy, Jr., speaking about the children everywhere who regressed into autism following vaccination, called this a "holocaust," and he came under immediate attack in the media for the use of the term. In your speech on Vaxxed, you also referred to children like your son as victims of a holocaust. Do you think you have a right to use the term "holocaust"? SHEILA: Ive used the word holocaust to explain what is going on because one of the meanings of that word is mass slaughter and reckless disregard of life. When you consider 340 percent causation rate of autism in African American boys if given [the MMR vaccine] before the age of three, when you consider a 700 percent causation rate of isolated autism in any typically developing, healthy child with no other co-morbid factors, you have to look at that and see it for what it is. It is reckless destruction of life, you are destroying these children before they even have a chance. The Nuremberg Code is based upon the fact that the Nazis did medical procedures without consentinformed consent. We dont have informed consent. They took the right of our informed consent away when they lied and they hid the fact that they knew these things, they knew that that triple dose could do these things to our children. So when you consider that, thats a holocaust. As Stephanie Seneff said, in sixteen more years, every one in two children will be diagnosed with autism. And eighty percent of the male population will be autistic. What else can you consider that but a holocaust. Its massive destruction, reckless destruction of our children, of our future and our legacy. Will there be a society? Can there be a society when you destroy the children? Its not possible. So yes, I consider that a holocaust. What has the experience with "Vaxxed" and the aftermath done for recognition of vaccine-induced autism, in your opinion? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXb_wAOy3uU SHEILA: Vaxxed, I believe is the vessel that God has used to bring and unite people together. Even though the CDC covered up what was happening to African American boysand theyve had a history of atrocitiesmedical atrocities, it has touched everyone. Autism knows no respect of person. Neurotoxins going in any childs veins can affect them adversely and damage what would have been a very beautiful life. Vaxxed has been the tool to bring us together. Were in a spiritual movement. I believe that with everything in me. God is the pilot of this movement, and it is a national movement. When a government decides its going to go to fascism and medical tyranny, and take away the publics right to democracy, people are going to rise up. This is about people rising up. And thats why I used Get off the bus. It is time to stop believing the lies were constantly fed. When youve got 270 more vaccines coming down the pipeline, it makes you wonder. How did society exist without vaccinations for? Because they did. Sheila explained that Vaxxed is going international, in Europe and beyond. The atrocities that are happeningtheyre not just happening here, theyre happening all over the world. Were in the midst of a movement and that movement is going to forward. I said it and Ill say it again, This is our America, and were not going anywhere! Sheila Lewis Ealey is the mother four and lives with her husband Ron in New Orleans. Her son Temple was taken to the doctor to be vaccinated along with his twin sister Lucinda, he was given a double dose of the MMR vaccine, along with the DTaP and HIB vaccines. The effect was immediate. By the next morning, he was not responsive. Within the next six months, Temple was diagnosed with severe autism disorder and later in 2008 with mitochondrial myopathy one. Her son's case was one of the 5,000 injury claims dismissed by the federal government. Since that time, Sheila has been an advocate for informed consent and truth in the vaccination program. She was educated in New Orleans' public schools and St. Mary's Dominican College and Loyola University. Currently, she is finishing a Masters in Education. Previously, she was a co-founder, director and curriculum developer for the Creative Learning Center of Louisiana, a school for students with autism for the last 10 years. She is certified in different educational modalities and plans to pursue a doctorate in education beginning in September 2016. For more on Sheila Ealey, see How Autism Happens: A Conversation With Sheila Ealey By Dan Olmsted Anne Dachel is Media Editor for Age of Autism. Web Toolbar by Wibiya Date: 2016. Place: Amos, Province of Quebec, Canada. According to an article published on online newspaper Worldnewsdailyreport.com, a group of Wildlife Protection officers affirmed having captured a 10 year-old feral boy in the surroundings of Amos, Province of Quebec. The boy had been previously seen by a group of huntsmen, who informed the unusual event to Wildlife Protection officers. However, the child, who was almost naked and had very long hair, reportedly dove underwater with the rodents as soon as he saw the hunters, who were unable to locate him again despite hours of research, the article states. He was finally captured using tranquiliser darts. The officers expressed that the young boy seems quite healthy, considering the hostile environment in which he lived. However, he suffers from several minor illnesses linked to having spent too much time in the water, as well as various health problems related to malnutrition. About his body features, the source says that he is Caucasian and is believed to be aged between 10 and 12 years, based on the analysis of his bones and dentition. Additionally, he seems to have forgotten all forms of human language, communicating only with hisses and grunts. His general behaviour also suggests that he was deprived of all human contact for many years. For further information: http://worldnewsdailyreport.com/canada-hunters-discover-feral-boy-raised-by-family-of-beavers/ Canada: Hunters discover feral boy raised by family of beavers AMOS, CANADA | A feral young boy of approximately 10 years of age was captured this morning by Wildlife protection officers in Eastern Canada, and is now in the hands of the child protection services. The boy had been sighted in the wilderness last week by a group of hunters, while he seemed to be gnawing on a tree, accompanied by a small group of beavers. The young boy, who was almost naked and had very long hair, reportedly dove underwater with the rodents as soon as he saw the hunters, who were unable to locate him again despite hours of research. They reported the boys presence to wildlife officers, however, who finally spotted him yesterday near Lac Figuery, after six days of research. The rangers rapidly prepared a capture operation and were finally able to catch him this morning, after putting him to sleep with tranquilizer darts. The young boy seems quite healthy, considering the hostile environment in which he lived. However, he suffers from several minor illnesses linked to having spent too much time in the water, as well as various health problems related to malnutrition. He is Caucasian and is believed to be aged between 10 and 12 years, based on the analysis of his bones and dentition. The boy seems to have forgotten all forms of human language, communicating only with hisses and grunts. His general behavior also suggests that he was deprived of all human contact for many years. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced this morning, that it was opening an investigation to find the boys parents and clarify the circumstances of his disappearance. Web Toolbar by Wibiya An explosive new federal complaint finally sheds some light on the great mystery of why exactly the EPA, which is tasked with protecting the environment, inexplicably sits back and allows the fracking industry to destroy the earth. According to the environmental watchdog group NC WARN based out of North Carolina, the data regarding toxic emissions from fracking has been the subject of a long-term and systematic cover-up that involved payoffs from the gas and oil industry to at least one researcher for the EPA. According to a federal complaint filed by the group with the Inspector General of the EPA, "there has been a persistent and deliberate cover-up that has prevented the agency from requiring the natural gas industry to make widespread, urgently needed and achievable reductions in methane venting and leakage ('emissions') across the nation's expanding natural gas infrastructure." They stated: "Studies relied upon by EPA to develop policy and regulations were scientifically invalid." The group alleges that the man behind the cover-up is Dr. David Allen, who was the head of the EPA Science Advisory Board. They say that he concealed the under-reporting of two devices used to measure the release of gas from equipment used in the natural gas industry. Dr. Allen also happens to be a faculty member of the University of Texas at Austin, where he has received funding from the gas and oil industries for a number of years. Now it's all starting to make sense. Inventor of device used to measure methane emissions warned it was faulty Calls for new studies, tighter oversight and regulations NC WARN's Jim Warren points out that the body's resultant failure to demand that methane leaks are reduced has exacerbated the climate crisis. The group made this startling discovery after learning that the inventor of the primary device used to measure the gas released, the Bacharach Hi-Flow Sampler, had been trying to blow the whistle for years on its malfunctioning! It's not a small problem, either; according to the group, a critical failure makes the faulty instrument under-report the emissions of methane "up to 100-fold."The device's inventor, Touche Howard, says that such a failure could even cause "catastrophic explosions". He says he repeatedly tried to warn the EPA and Dr. Allen about the device's malfunctioning but was greeted with silence every time. NC WARN feels he was ignored out of fear that he would invalidate their studies. By showing methane emissions as being lower than they actually are, the EPA was able to say there was no need to require reductions, and it looks like the oil and gas industry made sure of that by having Dr. Allen in their pocket.The group is now calling for the EPA's internal watchdog, the Inspector General, to investigate the fraud carried out by Allen and other officials and retract their inaccurate studies. They are asking for new studies to come up with more accurate figures regarding methane emissions from fracking and an investigation into the EPA's dependence on researchers who have conflicts of interest.Taking it one step further, they suggest that the EPA put in place a zero-emission goal for methane and place tighter controls on the oversight, remediation and testing of the natural gas industry's methane emissions.With the EPA basing its recommendations on tools that can under-report methane emissions 100-fold, it's easy to see why they seem so lax about fracking . Of course, the only way to really fix the methane leak problem is to stop the practice of fracking entirely. It's been called "a silent death", and it leaves water and farmland ruined, contaminates the food and water supply , and sickens people and animals. This cover-up is absolutely appalling. The EPA is supposed to protect the environment , not the bank accounts of its scientists. Web Toolbar by Wibiya The death and sickness toll for U.S. sailors who were aboard an American aircraft carrier sent to assist the Japanese government in the hours and days following the March 2011 meltdown of nuclear reactors at Fukushima is growing, with scores more continuing to come forward. Japan's Kyodo news agency is reporting that the Japanese former prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, has lent his support to a group of about 400 U.S. sailors who have filed suit against the operator of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, claiming that the health problems they are currently suffering from were caused by being exposed to radiation following a triple meltdown at the plant. Speaking recently at a news conference in Carlsbad, Calif., which he attended with a group of the plaintiffs, Koizumi noted: "Those who gave their all to assist Japan are now suffering from serious illness. I can't overlook them." He broke down in tears Sick and dying crewmen The suit was originally filed in 2012 against Tokyo Electric Power Co., the plant operator, which has recently been renamed the Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. The plaintiffs include sailors and officers who were aboard the USS Ronald Reagan as it provided humanitarian and other assistance to Japanese officials following the damage to Fukushima , which was caused by a major tsunami that was launched following a massive earthquake.During his California visit, Koizumi met with 10 of the plaintiffs in the suit. He asked them about the nature of the disaster relief they provided, and about the kinds of symptoms they were experiencing."I learned that the number of sick people is still increasing , and their symptoms are worsening," he told the news conference, while also calling on Japanese whether for and against nuclear power to find ways to help the U.S. sailors.In a separate report, Japanese newspapernoted that Koizumi broke down in tears during the news conference:The paper noted further that Theodore Holcomb, an aviation mechanic on the Reagan at the time, was one of the sailors tasked with washing off U.S. helicopters that flew into areas where there was a high concentration of radiation . He would later go on to be diagnosed with synovial sarcoma, a rare form of cancer; he died in 2014, at the young age of 35.After his death, the Department of Veterans' Affairs cut short a study into a possible relationship between his radiation exposure and his sickness.His best friend in the Navy, Manuel Leslie, 41, has since become one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit on behalf of Holcomb. He told reporters that he just wants to get to the bottom of what happened and why so many are now sick.Another Reagan crewman, Ron Wright, 26, also worked on the flattop's deck. At the end of a shift one day he was ordered to remove his clothing following a high radiation reading. He later developed testicular swelling and underwent surgery four times after returning to the U.S. However, the pain became so intense that he had to rely on painkillers and sleeping pills to cope. He was never issued with protective clothing or iodine, and was told that there was no connection between the radiation exposure and his illness. Web Toolbar by Wibiya The topic of vaccines tends to inspire strong feelings in people one way or the other, and the admissions made by a CDC whistleblower in the recent documentary VAXXED certainly added fuel to the fire. However, one aspect of the vaccine debate that many people can agree on is that forcing experimental vaccines on anyone is a questionable practice at best. In one of the most egregious examples of this, the FDA used its authority to force American military personnel to get an experimental anthrax vaccine while a civil lawsuit challenging the authority of the Department of Defense to mandate unapproved vaccines was pending. Since 1998, countless service personnel have reported becoming ill after being given a series of vaccines for anthrax before Middle East deployment. Those who refused to get the jab faced punishments including discharge. According to MintPress News, 30 percent of those in the military who received the vaccine ended up with vaccine damage referred to as Gulf War Syndrome, and the issues caused were career-ending for some, particularly pilots. MintPress News cites the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy's 2002 report, which says that the mandatory anthrax vaccines caused many Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve members to transfer or leave the military altogether. 85 percent of troops noted adverse reactions Symptoms and concerns brushed aside One third of vets afflicted Web Toolbar by Wibiya Contrary to all the promises, the increasingly exorbitant cost of health insurance under Obamacare is beginning to be revealed as Blue Cross Blue Shield prepares to implement a 60 percent rate hike for individual policies in its Texas market. The increases will affect more than half a million Texans who are now enrolled in Blue Cross Blue Shield - if approved, the new rates will go into effect in 2017. From The Dallas Morning News: "Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas has about 603,000 individual policyholders and, unlike other insurers in the state, offers coverage in every county. In a recent filing with federal regulators, the company said it is seeking increases averaging from 57.3 percent to 59.4 percent across its individual market plans. "In a statement, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas said its request is based on strong financial principles, science and data. 'It's also important to understand the magnitude of the losses ... experienced in the individual retail market over the past two years,' the statement said. The company says it lost $592 million last year and $416 million in 2014." Among the worst affected in Texas will be those who live in rural areas where Blue Cross Blue Shield is the only coverage available. Texas is not alone For many, dropping coverage will be the only option Texas, the third-biggest market under the Affordable Care Act after Florida and California, is not the only state that will see significant rate hike increases in 2017, suggesting that the ACA is not so affordable, after all:The rate increases throughout the country are in response to huge financial losses for insurers that have been caused by low enrollment, higher-than-expected cost of medical care for many patients and "problems with the government's financial backstop for insurance markets."Some policyholders are eligible for government subsidies that typically cover more than 70 percent of premiums, but many people are ineligible of such protection, including "small business owners, self-employed people and early retirees."There is a real concern that many people will simply be forced to drop their coverage , even at the risk of paying fines.From TheDailySheeple.com:insurance"Affordable health care for all" was a lie - Obamacare has accomplished precisely the opposite and the evidence of this continues to mount as Texas and other states witness skyrocketing premium costs. Mike Adams, founder/editor of Natural News and author of the new book " Food Forensics " said:Thanks, Obama... Web Toolbar by Wibiya American online magazine Transformation has published an article on Shemale Allison from Toronto affirmed, in which they expressed their love for Canada and Canadian girls. We cant express how much we love Canada. All the hot Canadian girls make cold winters warm! the article states. After these declarations, they continued with an interview with Ms Allison, in which she spoke on different issues. When asked on her sexual fantasies, she answered: My main fantasy is an outdoor one. I love the idea of a hot, fit guy walking up to me in the park with his big cock out. About what are the things she is most proud of, she said: I am most proud of being true to myself. I am very open about my sex worker past. I get very angry when people think its there place to judge or pass judgement. I try to be as open as possible in hopes of helping other girls to stop feeling ashamed of what they did to transition or to survive. For further information: http://transformationonline.com/transformation-96-part-two-a-chat-with-shemaleallison-of-canada/ Shemale Allison, Canada WEBSITE: chaturbate.com/shemaleallison/ TWITTER: @ShemaleAllison PHOTO CREDIT: Samantha Lauzon Part one of this interview can be found in Transformation 96: The International Issue We cant express how much we love Canada. ALL the hot Canadian girls make cold winters warm! Tasha Jones, Blair Ryder, Chloe Rose, Casey Lay, Olivia, Tropicana, Jizellethe list goes on and on. We could probably dedicate an entire issue to our neighbors to the north, but today we give you just a slice of all the awesomeness that awaits in Canada. We are pleased to introduce Shemale Allison of Toronto. What do you like to do in your free time? I love playing video games. Im deliriously addicted to Tomb Raider for 360 right now. I actually own a PS3/PS4, a 360 and an Xbox One. Im addicted. Do you have any fantasies? My main fantasy is an outdoor one. I love the idea of a hot, fit guy walking up to me in the park with his big cock out. Taking me by the hand and into the bush and having hot passionate sex with me. He has to have a bigger cock than me though, I mean its a fantasy, right?!? lol What are you the most proud of so far in your life? What are you working towards now? I am most proud of being true to myself. I am very open about my sex worker past. I get very angry when people think its there place to judge or pass judgement. I try to be as open as possible in hopes of helping other girls to stop feeling ashamed of what they did to transition or to survive. Best gift? Best gift I ever received was from my nieces. My mother passed away in 2014 and my nieces for Christmas found a bunch of photos of us and my mom that I hadnt seen in years and framed it for me. Even though the glass broke I still hung it up on my wall. I still walk past and touch the photos and say hello to my mom. What gets you riled up enough to lose your temper? I cant stand stupid people. By that I mean ignorant people who just pass judgment and are mean spirited towards others its sad to me. I was bullied as a kid and now as an adult I dont put up with it at all. Be sure to check out Allisons Youtube channel for more in depth chats: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOG1aXFxzkZhCutYDE_QNBA The Plight of Christians in Syria Dr. Eibner visits a hospitalized survivor of the May 2016 Islamic State bombings in Tartus, Syria. ( Christian Solidarity International) CSIs John Eibner recently returned from a ten day visit to rarely visited locations in war-torn Syria. Upon his return, Dr. Eibner was interviewed by Philipp Hufschmid of the Swiss daily, The Berner Zeitung. Below is an English version of the interview. BERNER ZEITUNG June 9, 2016 BZ: At the beginning of your 10-day stay in Syria, you were in the Kurdish-controlled northeast, visiting Christian villages that had been conquered and occupied by the Islamic State. Why were you there? JE: I wanted to get a clear picture of the situation in the Assyrian Christian villages in the Khabur River valley. Last year, the Islamic State conquered many of them. Later the PKK-related Kurdish militia (YPG) pushed the Islamic State out. Today, many of these villages are mere ghost towns. The Islamic State destroyed many of the churches. Church destruction is normally one of the Islamic States top priorities when they conquer a town or village. BZ: Were you able to speak with villagers? JE: Yes, but not many Assyrian Christians are left. Only a few returned after the departure of the Islamic State. Some of the farmers, who now live as displaced persons in other towns return during the day to tend their fields. I fear that this could be the end of the Assyrian Christian presence there. These Christians are the descendants of survivors of genocide in Turkey 100 years ago. They sought and found refuge in Syria. Now this Christian community is again subjected to renewed religious cleansing. BZ: Who looked after your security? JE: I was accompanied by members of the Christian Sutoro Militia, which is allied with the Kurdish YPG. This militia should not be confused with the Christian Sootoro Militia that fights in coordination with the Syrian Army. We were caught up in a gun battle between the Kurdish YPG and the Syrian Army in the provincial capital Hasaka. We sought shelter in a church and waited for four hours until the shooting and shelling ceased. BZ: You also visited western Syria. You arrived in the Mediterranean harbor city of Tartus only a few hours after the coordinated bomb blasts of the 23rd of May that killed 150 people in the region. What did you observe in Tartus? JE: I was able to speak with survivors in the hospital. They told me that the citys busy bus terminal was the focal point of the attack. First a car bomb exploded. Then suicide bombers pretended to help others get away from the area, and blew them up. The same thing happened at the same time a little farther north in the town of Jableh. The Islamic State claimed responsibility. Their goal was to destabilize the region by provoking acts of revenge from the side of the indigenous Alawite population against the many Sunni displaced people who have sought refuge there. The two communities have lived in peace in this government-controlled part of Syria since the beginning of the war. BZ: Was the hospital able to cope with this emergency situation? JE: The doctor, who was my guide, assured me that they had enough medical personnel, medicines and operating theaters to meet the challenge. But there are other problem areas regarding medical needs. BZ: For example? JE: I visited a young woman in Damascus whose life depends on daily doses of special medicine from western pharmaceutical firms following a kidney transplant operation. The war has led to a drastic devaluation of the Syria currency. Now her parents no longer have the earning power to buy the life-saving medicine. Their total monthly income has the value of less than $65, whereas the medicine costs $80 a month. This can be fatal for their daughter. They already had to buy a kidney from a donor who was desperate for money. Kidneys can be bought relatively cheaply in this catastrophic situation. This is one of the consequences of western economic sanctions against the Syrian state. BZ: The Syrian regime, which has militarily destroyed that country and provoked sanctions, is responsible for this crisis. JE: Those who impose economic sanctions also bear responsibility for the consequences. It is the civilian population that suffers most. Studies about the effect of sanctions against the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq confirm this fact. The American and European public should be aware that the sanctions imposed by their governments kill innocent people, especially the most vulnerable. The economic sanctions also are a powerful driving force behind the destabilizing waves of migrants to Europe and neighboring countries. BZ: In recent months, the Islamic State has pulled back from some areas. How weakened is this army of terror? JE: I cannot be the judge. Some retreats might be merely tactical. But I think it is more helpful to speak about radical Sunni Islamism instead of only its most flamboyant institutional manifestation. The problem of intolerant Sunni Islamism will remain, even if the Islamic State is removed from the scene. Speaking of the Islamic State in retreat, I was, for example, in the town of Sadad, southeast of the city of Homs. It was there for the first time that a coalition of the Syrian Army, Hezbollah and the Syria Social National Party (SSNP) stopped an Islamic State offensive in Syria without support from air strikes. BZ: The SSNP came to existence in the 1930s under the intellectual influence of European fascism. What role does it play today? JE: The SSNP is a secular-nationalistic party, which was allowed to operate again in 2005 after having been banned for decades by the countrys Baath Party-dominated government. It understands itself as a loyal opposition to the government in Damascus. It cooperates with the Syrian Army in order to prevent forces of radical Islam from seizing power. Because the government needs fighters, it has to rely on the SSNP to help make up the deficit. In some places, such as the old city center of Homs, the SSNP is responsible for policing and administration. The armed forces of this party also help provide security in al-Qaryatayn, which was recently recovered from the Islamic State. If the current peace process ever gets Syria off the military track, the SSNP could play an important role in a political transition. It has considerable popular support among secular-minded Syrians. June 13, 2016 TEHRAN, Iran Reactions are still pouring in over the BBC Persian Services June 1 story on the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, based on recently declassified CIA documents. The British broadcaster cites a 1980 CIA analysis, titled Islam in Iran, released in 2008 that claimed Khomeini had reached out to the administration of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. The BBC article also reports that Khomeini contacted the White House just before the fall of the Shah of Iran in 1979. Al-Monitor did not have access to the declassified documents and was not able to independently verify them. The BBC has, however, made Islam in Iran available to the public. CIA documents are reported to show that Khomeini sent a secret letter to President Jimmy Carter in January 1979 in which he proposed that if the US president used his influence with the Iranian military to drop its opposition to his takeover, he would calm the situation in Iran. Khomeini also reportedly promised that US interests and nationals in Iran would be protected. Khomeini was arrested in 1963 after voicing fiery criticism of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. At a speech in the holy city of Qom on Ashoura, Khomeini slammed the shahs land reforms and accused him of serving Israels interests while undermining Islam and Muslim clerics. Khomeini also warned the shah that he would come to regret his actions. According to a CIA cable cited in Islam in Iran, Khomeini sent a rare message of support to the Kennedy administration, explaining that he was not opposed to American interests in Iran. The cable names theologian and cleric Haj Mirza Khalil Kamarei as Khomeinis messenger. The original Persian-language version of the BBCs story went online two days ahead of the 27th anniversary of Khomeinis death, prompting a swift response from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Addressing the crowds gathered at Khomeinis mausoleum on the outskirts of Tehran on June 3, Khamenei dismissed the BBC report as false and asserted, Britain has always been hostile toward Iran. Many others have challenged the authenticity of the CIA documents or claimed that it was Carter who first wrote to Khomeini and that the latters response has been distorted. These figures include Kamareis son, Nasser al-Din Kamarei, who has issued a statement denying any contact between his late father and the US Embassy. Al-Monitor spoke with Seyed Mahmoud Doaei, managing editor of Ettelaat. Doaei spent 11 years working in Khomeinis office in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf, during Khomeinis 1965-1978 exile there. Doaei described both the BBCs report and the CIA cables as lies, adding to Al-Monitor, The Imam, which we knew, was not a man to make contact with any foreigner, whether British or American. On June 7, Iranian parliament Speaker Ali Larijani lambasted the BBC for engaging in a childish game of manipulating the documents. Larijani cited former US National Security Council adviser Gary Sick as saying that the BBCs account contains selective quotations and some factual errors. Of note, Sick downplayed the BBC report as a tempest in a teapot and wrote on his blog that he has no knowledge of the reputed message from Khomeini to Kennedy in 1963. Larijani further charged that the reports were invented in an attempt to legitimize ties between Tehran and Washington and to create the impression among Iranians that Islamic Republic officials maintained contact with the United States even during the most difficult of times. Al-Monitor discussed the BBC report with Seyed Hamid Rouhani, who for 15 years worked as an aide to Khomeini in Qom and later during the years of exile in Iraq. These days, Rouhani is known as a historian of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. He told Al-Monitor, The BBC report and the CIA paper are only claims. In addition, they are full of contradictions. Rouhani claimed that Kamarei, who reportedly relayed a message from Khomeini to the United States in 1963, had some contact with the shahs court. Therefore, he was not a confidante to the late leader and basically he could not have met with Khomeini at all while he was under house arrest. In this vein, Doaei told Al-Monitor that Khomeini and Kamareis relationship was ordinary and that he does not think Khomeini would have chosen Kamarei to pass on any message to anyone. Rouhani, who has published a book series titled Imam Khomeinis Movement, also told Al-Monitor, Not a single Savak [shah-era secret police] document on Imam Khomeini ever pointed to any contacts between him and foreign governments or individuals. He reiterated Larijanis claims about the motivations behind the BBC report, alleging that apart from legitimizing relations with the United States, The enemy is trying to tarnish the reputation of the Imam as an uncompromising figure. They know other nations would not give in to arrogant powers if Khomeinis thoughts and ideas spread throughout the world. Rouhani concluded, America has felt that the Iranian nation is resentful about the recent negotiations and that it cannot tolerate relations with the United States, so America wants to make people believe that having ties with the Americans is not taboo and that even the Imam had engaged with them. June 14, 2016 CAIRO After collecting the signatures of 60 Egyptian parliamentarians, the official spokesperson for the Support Egypt coalition, member of parliament Alaa Abdel Moneim, submitted June 1 to parliament an 18-article draft bill titled Citizenship. Article 3 of this draft bill states, The religion field be abolished from identification cards and all official documents. No citizen may be compelled to disclose his/her religion unless doing so were necessary to determine the legal premise of matters such as inheritances and marriages. The draft bill provoked a sharp debate: Supporters of the bill viewed it as a basis to convert a heterogeneous society predicated on religious affiliation, such as Muslim and Copt, into a homogenous one founded on citizenship, and not religion. For their part, opponents considered the draft bill an affront to Egypts Muslim identity, where religion not only affects inheritance and marriage, but is also a basis for the rituals performed by either community; for instance, Muslims who wish to perform Itikaf (act of residing in the mosque in seclusion during the month of Ramadan) have to submit the necessary papers to the Ministry of Religious Endowments to this effect. The opponents also saw that many legal issues would need to be addressed, such as legal testimonies. A testimony in court of non-Muslims, for example, may not be accepted in Islamic matters and Muslim personal status cases, such as proof of adultery or divorce. In this context, the head of the parliamentary Human Rights Committee, member of parliament Anwar El-Sadat, told Al-Monitor, I am not against the law as a whole. But we must feel reassured that it will not lead to domestic problems, the loss of rights or state of confusion in any form, for said changes [removing the religion field] must occur only through consensus within the [Egyptian] community. Sadat added, The elimination of the religion field from official documents primarily aims to prevent discrimination. Discrimination is not based on this [religion] field, but occurs in day-to-day relations. As a result, we, in the parliamentary Human Rights Committee, discussed [another] draft law for equality and non-discrimination, without any consideration to eliminating the religion field [from IDs or official documents], because we know that doing so would result in grave problems that might lead to even more sectarianism. On the other hand, the head of Al-Azhars Fatwa Committee, Abdul Hamid al-Atrash, highly criticized the bill and told Al-Monitor, Removing the religion field from official documents is futile. According to Islam, each individual enjoys the freedom to choose whatever religion one desires without compulsion. Therefore, people are free to believe whatever they want. But the national ID, and therefore the religion field, is used to regulate transactions between individuals and allow the proper identification of others, by managing Muslim and Christians rites and allowing entry to Muslim and Christian holy places mosques for Muslims and churches for Christians. Moreover, the law would lead to confusion in Egypts relations with some countries such as Saudi Arabia, where some places are only accessible to Muslims, with Mecca being an example. Atrash said that there is no discrimination against a specific community in Egypt that requires the passing of such law, adding, Laws must serve the interests of society, but this law lacked this characteristic. [For instance,] Christians in Egypt are not excluded from any job as they are present in all state institutions judiciary, army, police and Foreign Ministry without any form of discrimination. But this bill inadvertently fuels sectarianism by removing the religion field. Ahmed Karimeh, a professor of comparative jurisprudence at Al-Azhar University in Cairo, told Al-Monitor, In the past [Egypts modern history], Copts held leadership posts in Egypt, such as prime ministers Boutros Ghali in 1908 and Youssef Wahbi in 1919, while Wissa Wassef was speaker in 1928, Makram Ebeid was finance minister in 1942 and Youssef Boutros Ghali held the same position in 2004. Noteworthy is that there are no texts in the Egyptian Constitution that prevent Copts from holding the position of president. Karimeh added, Today, there is nothing in Islam that precludes a Copt from becoming president, which was not the case during the Islamic caliphate, when the caliph in addition to his political functions also held a missionary role, led prayers and gave the Friday sermon. The situation in Egypt is different today as [most] modern democratic civil regimes rely on voting for the most competent people, irrespective of whether they were Muslim or not. Karimeh added, [However,] current intolerance against Copts assuming leadership posts emerged during Anwar Sadats reign [1970-1981], when he played the religion card and allowed Islamic political movements to enter the political arena. Sadat had used the Islamic movements to create balance with the leftist movements, which were a thorn in his side during his rule. Before him, Gamal Abdel Nasser had clamped down on Islamic forces, namely the Muslim Brotherhood. Also, Salafists strongly re-emerged during Hosni Mubaraks term in office [1981-2011]. We currently fear additional Salafi incursions into the existing political system, aided by political support from Gulf countries especially Saudi Arabia which backs Salafists who espouse Wahhabi ideals in Egypt, Karimeh said. In contrast, Father Salib Matta, a member of the Congregational Council of the Coptic Orthodox Church, told Al-Monitor, Citizenship is predicated on a sense of belonging to the homeland, while religion is a relationship that exists between believers and their God. Therefore, I welcome this law and I think it is urgently necessary to remove the religion field from the IDs to strengthen the sense of citizenship [among Egyptians]. He added, Each church knows who the members of its congregation are, and there is no fear for non-Christians to infiltrate church meetings. The seven sacraments such as baptism, chrism, confession, communion and marriage will not be given to non-Copts. Matta indicated that the law would fail to achieve true citizenship if forced upon society. In this case, Al-Azhar and the church must play the important role of instilling this sense of citizenship by choosing sermons that solidify this, as well as provide a rhetoric that encourages proper citizenship through the media and the ministries of culture and education. In the same context, lawyer of the Coptic Church Ramses Najjar, told Al-Monitor, This law will make all citizens equal as dictated by the 2014 Egyptian Constitution. Its aim shall be to confront Salafi extremist ideologies and allow people to embrace their Egyptian nationality without any fanaticism for the religion of their birth. Najjar added, The law will allow any Egyptian Copt to assume sovereign ministries such as those of defense, foreign affairs and interior. Modern Egypt can only be built on competencies and not fasting and prayer. The assistant secretary-general of the Salafi Nour Party, Shaaban Abdel Alim, countered by saying, Sponsors of the current draft law are politically bankrupt. Instead of concentrating their efforts on urgent matters needed to advance the country such as the economy, security and education parliamentarians are proposing these laws to distract people from core affairs. Shaaban told Al-Monitor, Special committees from our party [Nour Party] shall study this matter [draft bill] and put it to a vote [within the party] pursuant to a key principle stipulated in Article 2 of the Egyptian Constitution of 2014, which states that 'Islam is the religion of the state and Arabic is its official language. The principles of Islamic Sharia are the principal source of legislation.' As such we shall reject the bill if the committees find it inconsistent with constitutional provisions. The cancellation of the religious field from IDs and official documents may not help to eliminate discrimination in Egypt, as discrimination is not present at the government level. Rather, discrimination is fueled by sectarian tension, an issue that needs to be addressed by spreading awareness about the importance of the citizenship concept through education and media. June 14, 2016 Anyone looking for a resemblance between the June 8 shooting attack at the Sarona market in Tel Aviv and the mass shooting four days later at the gay nightclub in Orlando can find it in the worn expression getting back to normal. In Israel and the United States, this means the normal condolence calls, the usual visits to the wounded and condemnation of the killers, the routine mouthing of hollow slogans and incitement against the murderers peer group. It's back to the business of sipping coffee and lighting candles at the site of the disaster until the next attack. In a speech after the Orlando massacre, US President Barack Obama said, We have to decide if thats the kind of country we want to be. He then added, And to actively do nothing is a decision as well, a not-so-veiled reference to conservatives persistent refusal to limit the purchase and ownership of guns. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in a better position than Obama. Netanyahu has two options from which to choose: He can continue doing more of the same, meaning nothing, the results of which will be identical that is, bereavement, despair and hatred or he can take action. He can easily muster a solid majority in the Knesset to take action. If he cannot mobilize this majority within his ruling coalition, he can count on support from the opposition. Thats what Prime Minister Menachem Begin did when he agreed to the Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsulai in the early 1980s and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon did when he pulled settlers out of Gaza in 2005. Those who say that the beaches of the Sinai Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh are not the same as the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron, or that one cannot compare a Gaza settlement bloc to the Etzion settlement bloc in the West Bank, are right. Indeed, reaching a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians is way more complex than signing a peace treaty with Egypt. It is highly unlikely that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will ever agree to recognize Israel as the state of the Jewish nation, acquiescing to Netanyahus demand. This is implied in comments made June 5 by Maj. Gen. (Res.) Udi Dekel, who led the negotiation section in the Olmert government, at a conference sponsored by Tel Aviv Universitys Steinmetz Center marking the publication of the following two books: Chances for Peace: Missed Opportunities in the Arab-Israeli Conflict by Eli Podeh and Israeli Peacemaking Since 1967: Factors Behind the Breakthroughs and Failures by Galia Golan. Does the Palestinians' difficulty in reaching a permanent agreement, which requires compromises on territory and on Jerusalem, justify Netanyahus continued foot dragging and zero action routine? Dekel, who during his military service was in charge of issues related to Israels diplomatic arrangements and today serves as deputy director of the Institute for National Security Studies, is not content with a mere no. In his assessment, Dekel spared no criticism of the political echelon, which he knows quite well, for ignoring the recommendations of the professionals in the defense agencies every time a recommendation involves the possibility that the politicians will be accused of being soft on terror. Such was the case with a recommendation to seek a hudna (truce) with Hamas and to ease the policy of granting Israeli work permits to Palestinian residents of the occupied territories. Dekel is not the only one claiming that the status quo is an illusion and that the mantra that time is on Israels side is an eyewash. There are many who agree in the defense establishment and Foreign Ministry. At a June 7 debate in the Knessets Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Sergio della Pergola, a demographer and professor, said that Jews constitute a bare majority of 52% in the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, but that this could change in the coming decade, with an increase in the Palestinian population. If one excludes from the 52% those Israeli citizens who are not recognized as Jews under strict Jewish law mainly immigrants from the former Soviet Union who were not born to a Jewish mother, but were entitled nonetheless to Israeli citizenship the Jewish majority has already been wiped out. I dont know a single person in the military or diplomatic arenas who believes that sitting around and waiting for the next terror attack is Israels sole and best option. Dekel warned that the diplomatic options open to Israel today could be closed tomorrow. He has no doubt that an agreed upon solution in negotiations on the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel is the most desirable goal. Unfortunately, the political forces on both sides are unable, or unwilling, to reach agreement on all the core issues and end the conflict. He therefore suggests leaving the door open to a permanent agreement and in the meantime try other options instead of the current terror routine and the erosion of Israels Jewish character and democratic nature. The options are as follows: Option one: Present the Palestinians at the outset with a reasonable framework for a permanent arrangement one, for example, based on the Clinton Parameters or the Olmert proposal, and not ignoring understandings reached in the past. At best, this could enable the resumption of negotiations and improve the prospects of success. If not, in a worst-case scenario, Israel would at least score important points in the international arena, and pressure would grow on the Palestinians to soften their positions. Option two: Abandon the approach that nothing is agreed on until everything is agreed on and strive instead for agreements on the relatively easy issues (land swaps and security arrangements) while carrying out moves on the ground, such as changing the status of parts of West Bank Area C (under Israels defense and civilian control) to Area A (Palestinian defense and civilian control) and evacuating illegal settlement outposts, a designation established under the Oslo Accord. Option three: Promote the 2003 road map, including its stipulation of a freeze on Israeli settlements and recognition of a Palestinian state within temporary borders, for example, along the route of the separation fence. Option four: Unilateral Israeli withdrawal to the line of the separation fence, based on a quiet agreement between the two sides and coordination of the handover of territories from which Israel would withdraw. Option five: Opening negotiations with the Palestinians within the framework of the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative and a regional peace arrangement with the leading Arab states. Option six: Israeli unilateral disengagement from the West Bank, including, according to Dekel, the evacuation of some 120,000 settlers living outside the main Jewish population settlement areas in the West Bank. The worst option, Dekel said, summing up his presentation, is fear of taking risks in order to achieve ones goal. Albert Einstein has been attributed with saying that doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is insanity. So is a return to normalcy without understanding that the next tragedy is already lurking down the road. June 13, 2016 Khalida Jarrar, a member of the political bureau of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), said in an interview with Al-Monitor that the gateway to resolving the contentious issue of Palestinian reconciliation and electing a new president lies in revitalizing the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and holding democratic elections. Jarrar, also a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), was arrested by Israel on April 2, 2015, on 12 charges, including belonging to a banned organization, the PFLP, and incitement to kidnap Israeli soldiers. Palestinian civil rights organizations tried to keep Jarrar's case in the international spotlight, maintaining contact with the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the European Parliament, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and Amnesty International. She was released June 3. In a phone interview from her residence in Ramallah, Jarrar said that Israel aims for the Palestinians to have much less than autonomous rule and that the Palestinians will not accept calls for the establishment of a confederation with Jordan or the annexation of Gaza by Egypt. Instead, they will continue to press their legitimate demand for an end to the Israeli occupation. The text of the interview follows: Al-Monitor: As a result of an international campaign, you were released after 15 months in prison. Could you tell us more about that campaign to have you released and the extent of its success? Jarrar: In fact, I served the entirety of my sentence in an Israeli jail. I was arrested on April 2, 2015, and released 15 months later, on June 3, 2016, which means that the occupation authorities released me at exactly the end of my sentence. In that regard, I would like to thank all those who played a role in the solidarity campaigns for my release organized by Palestinian and international human rights organizations. Al-Monitor: The Israeli Knesset refused to discuss your arrest in your capacity as a member of the Palestinian parliament. Do you have anything to say to them? Jarrar: I have nothing to say to the members of Israels Knesset, because when all is said and done, the Knesset is one of the Israeli occupations institutions. As a result, it did not issue any statements or communiques condemning my arrest, while Arab [Knesset] members had a commendable role, particularly those members belonging to the Joint List [of predominantly Arab parties] who graciously expressed solidarity with my cause and attended all my hearings in Israeli courts as well as periodically visited me in jail. Al-Monitor: What is your opinion concerning the effort that France is leading to resume negotiations? Can a breakthrough be achieved in light of the political atmosphere that prevails in Israel today? Jarrar: I do not think that French efforts will lead to palpable results. On the contrary, I view them as a waste of time and an attempt to circumvent international resolutions. Instead of the French or other similar efforts, it would be better to demand the convening of an international conference endowed with far-reaching powers, in keeping with international resolutions relevant to the Palestinian cause, which, above anything else, affirm the need to end the Israeli occupation. Al-Monitor: There are those who posit that Israel decided to punish you due to your strong support for joining the International Criminal Court [ICC]. Do you agree with this assessment, and are you satisfied with the pace of Palestinian efforts to join the court? Jarrar: Israeli authorities arrested me for many reasons, among them my membership on the Supreme National Committee for Coordination with the ICC and because I refused to abide by a decision of the Israeli occupation forces to send me to the city of Jericho [as banishment] in August 2014. Add to that the fact that I constantly visited Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails and participated in many of the political and cultural events held in the West Bank. As a result, occupation authorities wanted to distance me from my Palestinian community. As for Palestinian efforts to join the ICC, to date I have not witnessed any serious Palestinian efforts to follow-up on the dossier, which, in my opinion, demonstrates clear laxity on the part of the Palestinians. Al-Monitor: What are the latest developments concerning the relationship between the PFLP and the Palestinian Authority [PA] in light of the latest crisis subsequent to their dispute about the PAs political conduct and [the] April 2016 decision [by Mahmoud Abbas, in his capacity as PLO chairman] to withhold funding to the PFLP, which exacerbated tensions between them to the point where PFLP members burned effigies of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Gaza? Jarrar: Irrespective of the details associated with these differences, it is clear that the situation of Palestinian division has preoccupied people with the multitude of its internal conflicts, sometimes between Fatah and Hamas and other times between other Palestinian factions that oppose one another. All these actions and practices emanate from a lack of national responsibility, particularly in light of the fact that Palestinians are passing through a critical historical and political period that requires drafting a unified strategy that transcends internal Palestinian tensions while maintaining the need for Palestinian factions to reassess their espoused political approach. Al-Monitor: A few days ago, a PFLP delegation headed to Cairo in order to meet with Egyptian officials. What is the agenda of the visit, and what role can Egypt play at this particular stage? Jarrar: As I was only released a few days ago, I am not privy to the agenda of the PFLPs visit to Egypt, but I believe that Egypt has an important role to play on all levels and in all aspects, whether by opening the Rafah border crossing or ending the blockade imposed on Gaza. Furthermore, Egypt was a sponsor of all the Palestinian reconciliation agreements, giving it an important role on the Palestinian scene, a role that must be further energized. Egypt is a key Arab country that plays an influential part in Arab regional affairs As such, Egypt has a leading role to play in preventing descent into such quagmires. Al-Monitor: What is the stance of the PFLP vis-a-vis plans for a confederation with Jordan and the annexation of Gaza by Egypt? Do you consider such options to be untenable? Jarrar: Palestinians unequivocally reject any confederation or federation with any Arab country. We are for the implementation of Palestinian rights to end the occupation and give Palestinians the support needed to attain their rights. While Israel tries to prevent Palestinians from attaining any of their rights, it is accelerating the pace of normalizing its relations with Arab countries, as evident by the marked weakening of the firm stances adopted by some Arabs toward Israel which Id rather not go into in detail due to the existence of covert and overt relations between some of them and Israel. This requires the adoption of a united Arab stance predicated on defending Arabs and their rights, while giving Palestinians their rights through an international conference organized for that purpose. Israel wants to give Palestinians even less than autonomous rule in return for it being recognized as a Jewish state and the abrogation of the Palestinian refugees right of return, all of which necessitates that Palestinians confront Israel and insist on the attainment of their just demands for independence and the end of occupation, without any talk about establishing a confederation with Jordan or Egypt and any other such plans that the Palestinian people reject. Al-Monitor: What is the solution in light of the failure of all past attempts to achieve Palestinian reconciliation? In your opinion, what is the next step? Jarrar: Unfortunately, the leaders of the divided Palestinian factions have not risen to the level of the sacrifices made by our people. Consequently, this continued state of division completely baffles Palestinian prisoners languishing in Israeli jails. For, instead of focusing on ending the state of division, Palestinians find themselves preoccupied with managing division as a result of the various interests of Palestinian political factions and their conflicts on the ground. I hereby call for an end to any talk about meetings or discussions related to Palestinian reconciliation and refer back to the national reconciliation document that Palestinian prisoners drafted in May 2006 and that the Palestinians accepted as the one to govern their national relations and political programs. Al-Monitor: What is the PFLPs advice to the next Palestinian president? Do you think that the president will be chosen through elections or a national agreement between Palestinian factions? Jarrar: The Palestinian people have national institutions whose conduct is regulated in cases where one of their officials or leaders is absent. Here, esteem must be restored to the PLO, with a call made to convene its leadership framework, and precedence should be given to state institutions at the expense of individual considerations. Since we do not live in a jungle, the real avenue for solving the dispute about the future Palestinian president and other such contentious issues lies in holding democratic elections where permitted or resorting to national consensus if elections prove impossible to hold. The PLO must be invigorated with the entry of Palestinian factions that continue to be outside its framework, with efforts made to empower popular representation in the PLO by electing a new Palestinians National Council and Executive Committee tasked with developing the institutional role of the PLO away from interest-based conflicts and the fragmentation of the Palestinian arena. June 14, 2016 With the rise of the Islamic State on Irans western and eastern borders, Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, the head of Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force division, which is responsible for Irans military operations outside of its borders, became one of Irans most popular figures. When the Iranian general allowed himself to be photographed at the front lines of bloody wars, his popularity soared and he was often compared to Irans popular and social media-savvy top diplomat, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. With the massive popularity has now come speculation and concern that Soleimani, who has mostly kept a cool distance from partisan politics in his nearly 20 years as head of the Quds Force, could run in the upcoming presidential election. Conservatives may like to run popular figures like Soleimani, and many Reformists and moderates would likely be reluctant to run against someone of Soleimanis stature. Mohammad Atrianfar, a seasoned journalist and senior member of the Executives of Construction Party, told Reformist Aftab-e Yazd June 13, [Soleimani] has proudly spent his entire life in a revolutionary and sacred institution he knows his work well. Someone like him who is wise will not easily put his activities down in order to enter something he does not have experience in. Atrianfar added that it would be natural for conservatives to try to push Soleimanis candidacy, but he believes that Soleimani would ultimately turn it down. I dont think Soleimani will ever become a presidential candidate," he said. Not only Reformists may be concerned about running against Soleimani. Akbar Torkan, a special adviser to President Hassan Rouhani, told Reformist Armany Daily June 14 that although he finds Soleimanis candidacy unlikely, he is one of the revolutionary symbols. Torkan said, He is popular among all the people and he transcends [partisan] movements. Running against someone as popular as Soleimani presents numerous challenges, and Rouhani and his team would undoubtedly very much like to avoid being the first one-term president in Iran in three decades. While many journalists tend to view Soleimani as being above partisan politics and thus avoid criticizing him, it is possible that that deference could change in the cutthroat political world of Iranian politics. Bahman Hedayati, a former journalist for Mehr News Agency and the current editor of Parsine, wrote May 29 that Iranian military figures tend to lose their political stature and immunity from criticism once they enter politics. Mohsen Rezaei, a former IRGC commander during the Iran-Iraq War, and Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, a former commander of IRGC's air force, both lost their protection from criticism once they chose to enter politics, according to Hedayati. However, Hedayati believes that Soleimanis stature is currently much higher than those of either Ghalibaf or Rezaei ever were. Soleimani also has a positive image among nationalist and secular Iranians, according to Hedayati, and he shares the image of the legendary IRGC commanders who died in the Iran-Iraq War. Hedayati believes that only journalists outside of the country will write critically of Soleimani and his chances in next years presidential elections are good as long as figures such as Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Rouhani and former President Mohammad Khatami do not speak against him or at least remain silent. Since being one of the signatories to the letter warning Reformist Khatami in 1999 about the direction of the country, Soleimani has mostly stayed out of the politics. During the February parliament elections, Soleimani, while not explicitly endorsing traditional conservative candidate Ali Larijani, praised the parliament speaker just four days before the election. During the 2013 presidential election, Soleimani was believed to have supported conservative candidate Ghalibaf. At the time, the head of IRGC public relations was caught in a minor controversy when the Iranian media reported that he denied Soleimani's endorsement. He later clarified that he never spoke about Soleimani but that the IRGC would not be endorsing a candidate. Conservative politician Mohammad Reza Bahonar, head of the political faction Front of the Followers of the Line of Imam and the Leader, has tried to put the rumors to rest. He told Iranian media outlets that while Soleimani had met with conservative political factions, neither he nor anyone else is a conservative candidate at the moment. June 14, 2016 GAZIANTEP, Turkey From Sanliurfa in southern Turkey, Amina Mesto follows closely the latest news from her hometown, the city of Manbij, about 50 miles to the northeast of Aleppo. Since early June, fierce clashes have flared up there between the Islamic State (IS) and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) backed by the US-led coalition that has placed the city under siege. Amina, a Kurdish woman in her mid-40s, fled her hometown two years ago following IS' invasion. She told Al-Monitor that she knows nothing about the fate of the rest of her family, including her mother and older brother and his family, who preferred to stay in Manbij. She fears they will have a hard time fleeing from IS-controlled areas to the Turkish border. "All contacts have been cut for two months now. I tried repeatedly to call them or even their neighbors, but in vain. The internet service has been cut for two months now and I am very worried about them," she said. Mohammad Cole and his wife, who are Turkmens, were forcibly displaced from Manbij two years ago when IS imposed its radical laws and regulations in their hometown. They have decided to renounce the idea of traveling to another European country. The news on military clashes between IS and the SDF on the outskirts of Manbij has given them hope that they may soon return to their homeland. Cole told Al-Monitor that he preferred to return home rather than travel to a country in Europe. "All my family and my relatives are there. All of my memories are there. I will surely return to Manbij immediately after its liberation," he said. Nawaf al-Salem, a man in his 70s from an Arab tribe in Manbij, lives with his family in the city of Kilis, which is adjacent to the Syrian border. Salem left Manbij when IS controlled the city as he feared for his young children who refused to pledge allegiance to IS and join its ranks. He told Al-Monitor, "Sometimes I feel overjoyed when I hear news about the battles and progress by the Syrian Democratic Forces toward the city. But I'm afraid that if the war continues it will be impossible for us to return [to our city], as is the case in other parts of the country," in reference to the war in Syria between the regime and the opposition that has been raging for more than five years. These refugees' desire to return home might not be fulfilled quickly due to the ongoing conflict between the military forces fighting in Aleppo and its northeast countryside. Hundreds of civilians are fleeing hot spots on a daily basis as a result of violent battles between IS and the SDF on the one hand and between IS and factions of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) on the other. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) issued a report June 6 saying, "A US-backed offensive to retake the IS-held northern Syrian city of Manbij has displaced some 20,000 civilians and could uproot about 216,000 more if it continues." The US-led coalition is supporting the SDF a coalition of Arab and Kurdish factions, largely composed of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) in their battles against IS in northern Syria. When the SDF launched the operation to liberate Manbij on May 31, SDF units reached the borders of northern Manbij and managed to completely surround the city from the eastern, northern and southern sides. They also cut IS' supply route from its Syrian stronghold of Raqqa, all the way to Jarablus on the Turkish border. Shirvan Darwish, spokesman for the Military Council of Manbij, which is leading SDF operations there, told Al-Monitor, "Our troops have advanced and are able to target IS terrorists within the city. We are expected to storm the city, but we will make sure not to target civilians." He added, "The day following the liberation of Manbij, our mission will be limited to protecting the city and our operations will be concentrated at the military fronts. Manbij will be completely handed over to a civilian administration tasked with communicating with all of the cities' components, as well as its political, tribal and social elites in order to form a local council." Wael Sawah, an opposition member and executive director of the Syrian civil society organization The Day After, questioned Darwish's statements and told Al-Monitor, "In an ideal world this would be a beautiful speech. It is the best option for all parties and if the Syrian Democratic Forces are able to implement it, this will be an ideal model for the other parties." He added, "The situation on the ground is different, and I fear that the promises of the Syrian Democratic Forces serve only as media material. Unfortunately the experience of the war in Syria has led to different outcomes: Each force has kept its power over the geographical region it occupies." Sawah called on the SDF to hand over Manbij to a new local council made up of citizens to manage the city's affairs. He also demanded these forces, after liberating the city from IS, stay there for defense purposes. He said, "Syrians in several areas have proven their ability to manage their own affairs if they are left alone without regional intervention and without the presence of foreign fighters imposing their radical vision." Farouq al-Mashi, the head of the Manbij civilian council, told Al-Monitor that the biggest challenge after liberating the city will be to bring back civilians and the displaced. He said, "Rebuilding trust among the people is as important as bringing them back. We will also aim at rehabilitating the infrastructure including hospitals, power and water plants and schools." IS controls all aspects of life in areas under its grip and fuels the feeling of terror among people through executions and punishments. This has pushed many to cooperate with IS. On the fate of those who choose to remain in their city and fight alongside IS, Mashi said, "They will be referred to local public courts. Those who committed murders will face a tougher sentence." IS turned schools into centers and prisons under its command. It prohibited the implementation of the official Syrian school curriculum and obliged students to undergo religious education. On how to deal with children, especially those who underwent Sharia courses, Mashi said, "We will open special psychology clinics to treat them and will design programs to rehabilitate those children and others who were psychologically influenced by IS." It is noteworthy that around 120,000 people lived in Manbij before the outbreak of the Syrian war. One-third of them were Kurds, while most were Arabs, in addition to some Turkmens and Circassians. Around two-thirds of the city's residents refused to live under IS' rule and fled to Turkey. June 14, 2016 President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned of dire consequences to Turkish-German relations after the Bundestag adopted its nonbinding resolution recognizing the mass killing of Armenians in 1915 as genocide. Ankara says this is a historic calumny against the Turkish nation. Turkeys actions so far have been limited. Ankara has recalled its ambassador to Berlin and has issued a litany of counter accusations with obvious references to the Holocaust and the mass killings of the Herero people in Namibia by the German military in the early years of the 20th century. Notwithstanding these angry remarks, Ankara has refrained from any steps that would seriously undermine Turkish-German ties. The presence of more than 3 million Turks in Germany and the vast economic interests Turkey has in that country clearly tie its hands. Reports that Ankara and Berlin may have agreed on military facilities for Germany at Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey, on the other hand, show that it is business as usual between the two countries when it comes to brass tacks issues. Unable to respond to Berlin in any meaningful manner, a frustrated Ankara appears to be focusing the full weight of its ire on German deputies of Turkish origin who supported the Armenian resolution. Erdogan is leading the chorus and, starting with Cem Ozdemir, the co-chairman of the Alliance 90/Green Party that co-sponsored the resolution in question, is branding them with insulting adjectives such as treacherous Turks. He even asked for blood samples to be taken from the deputies to prove whether or not they were Turkish. Almost all of the deputies in question are German born and by their own accounts consider themselves as Germans, although they do not deny their Turkish lineage. Protesting to Ankara over the verbal attacks against its deputies, Berlin has also provided extra security for them against possible attacks from radical members of the German Turkish community. The deputies have also been advised not to travel to Turkey. Norbert Lammert, the president of the Bundestag, was among those who condemned Erdogan over his remarks. Whosoever tries to pressurize a deputy has to know he is attacking our parliament and democracy. In that case we will show every necessary reaction possible under our laws, he said, referring to Erdogans remarks as backward. Gunter Krings, Germany's parliamentary state secretary at the Federal Ministry of the Interior, warned Turks living in Germany not to act on Erdogans remarks. Those who think and speak [like Erdogan] will show that they have not integrated with Germany and German law. This must, of course, be taken into account in considerations about their residence permits, Krings warned, according to the German media. Given these exchanges, it would not appear to be the right moment for a strategic military agreement between the two countries. The German and Turkish media, however, are reporting that an agreement has been concluded in principle between Ankara and Berlin for the construction of facilities for the German air force at Incirlik Air Base at a cost of 65 million euros ($72.8 million). Germany, which is part of the US-led coalition against the Islamic State, is planning to construct a fixed location for itself inside Incirlik, with a command post, aviation area, accommodations and a maintenance facility. It already has Tornado jets and an aerial refueling jet, as well as around 200 military personnel deployed at the base. The opposition in Turkey was quick to hit at the government over the inconsistency these reports reflected against the backdrop of the Armenian resolution. The German parliament has adopted a resolution. Everyone in Turkey is talking and blasting away from below the belt. Then we hear that the Incirlik base has been opened to Germany, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the main opposition Republican Peoples Party, said. Aware of the sensitivity regarding this issue, government spokesman Nurettin Canikli told reporters, following a June 13 Cabinet meeting, that a final decision on the topic had not been reached at yet. Germany made a request, but no decision has been taken yet. All our relevant organizations continue work with regard to the unfortunate resolution adopted by the German parliament, Canikli said. His remarks appeared to suggest that Ankara might not endorse the Incirlik agreement with Germany. A Western diplomat speaking on condition of anonymity due to his sensitive position told Al-Monitor that the project was too advanced for this to happen. Turkey would lose a lot of credibility among its allies, the diplomat said. Turkish officials are aware of the potential for serious negative fallout for Turkey such a drastic step would bring, he added. Retired Ambassador Ozdem Sanberk, who heads the Ankara-based International Strategic Research Organization, believes a serious lack of trust in Turkey is the root cause of the current state of affairs between Ankara and Berlin. Turkeys growing introversion, its angry challenges to the world with remarks that at times amount to insults all of this backfires in the end, Sanberk told Al-Monitor. The doleful state of press freedom and the independence of the judiciary, as well as other similar topics, have placed Turkey in a bad light. This is not only a problem with Germany, but also with the United States, the European Union, Great Britain, France and even Arab countries, Sanberk said. Agreeing with Germany over Incirlik is the consistent thing to do, doing the opposite would be inconsistent, Sanberk added, going on to indicate that bombastic statements, religion and ideology have no place in foreign policy. Every government has its own foreign policy, but if this strays away from basic principles, such as maintaining the countrys territorial integrity and security, and trying to keep pace with the contemporary and modern world, then that country ends up paying a price, Sanberk said. He added that it was also crucial for a country to maintain the right balance between its aims and its capacity to fulfill these aims. Sanberks words put the basic problem Turkey has with regard to Germany after the adoption of the Armenian genocide resolution into perspective. The bottom line is that Ankara will huff and puff, but it will be business as usual in the end. The AKP claimed the investigation was an attempted coup led by police and judicial officials loyal to its hitherto ally, the Gulen movement, and embarked on a massive purge in the security sector and judiciary. From the government's position, the HSYK was no longer independent and impartial and had to be reshaped immediately. In early 2014, it passed legislation that paved the way for fresh board elections, which were won by candidates backed by the Justice Ministry. It was during this election process that Yilmaz, one of the pro-government candidates at the time, made the memorable statement about the HSYK working in harmony with the executive. Under the same legislation, the government also changed the HSYKs administrative staff. The Constitutional Court would soon scrap the law, but the ruling was not retroactive in regard to recent appointments, so the HSYKs administrative staff was also brought in harmony with the government. One of the first acts of the new HSYK was to create the so-called criminal judgeships of peace, which amount to a closed circuit of courts dealing with arrest warrants during investigations and appeals against warrants issued. In other words, the recourse of appeal to a higher court was blocked. The arrangement, which sparked much controversy, was to be dwarfed by developments that followed. Erdogan routinely blasted judges who made rulings not to his liking and publicly defied courts that blocked government measures or projects. Following his election as president in August 2014, he flouted constitutional provisions that require the head of state to be an impartial and largely ceremonial figure. Acting as a de facto executive president, he has declared Turkeys parliamentary system shelved. The trampling of the constitution has become so blatant that senior AKP lawmaker Galip Ensarioglu did not hesitate to declare on television, The executive, the legislature and the judiciary are all ours. Most recently, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said that "no matter what the constitution says," Erdogan is the president with de facto political responsibilities. In a striking illustration of how the judiciary was transformed, members of top courts including the Appeals Court, the Council of State, the Court of Accounts and the Military Appeals Court have joined Erdogan on trips across Turkey and applauded his tirades against the opposition. It was against this backdrop that the HSYK replaced thousands of judges and prosecutors. The objective of its decree was unmistakable. For instance, a judge who had petitioned the Constitutional Court to cancel a legal provision under which hundreds of people were charged with insulting Erdogan was exiled from a major city to a small province, while another who had eagerly brought such charges was promoted to deputy chief prosecutor in Ankara. Similarly, a judge who had blocked the construction of a cluster of summer houses, allegedly for the Erdogan family, in a protected seafront area was downgraded, while judges and prosecutors who were instrumental in furthering judicial onslaughts on colleagues and police officers involved in the 2013 corruption probes or the attempt to investigate Turkish arms shipments t o Syria were promoted to prominent positions. In remarks to Al-Monitor, Mustafa Karadag, head of the Prosecutors Syndicate, lamented that this state of affairs flouts the key principles for which the judiciary stands, including the Bangalore Principles of Judicial Conduct. Commenting on senior colleagues accompanying Erdogan on trips, he flatly dismissed their argument that they had only responded to invitations. The judiciarys independence and impartiality is not vis-a-vis the people but the government and the political establishment. Heads of court who go on trips with a president who has sued so many of his citizens are only eroding the credibility of the judiciary, Karadag said. Judges are supposed to shield themselves from the government. There is even a criminal offence of attempting to influence a court. This offense cannot be committed by ordinary citizens and journalists, but by people who hold power. So, the judiciarys impartiality is supposed to be vis-a-vis those who hold power, Karadag emphasized. The Kurdish-dominated Peoples Democratic Party (HDP), for its part, believes the reshuffle is linked to the governments onslaught on the party that last month culminated in a constitutional amendment that revoked judicial immunity for parliamentarians, a move designed to prosecute HDP lawmakers and eventually oust them from the legislature. The president and the AKP are carrying out a very planned, very organized process, Idris Baluken, HDP parliamentary whip, told Al-Monitor. According to him, judicial officials were reshuffled in a surgical operation that aims to ensure that only HDP lawmakers are put on trial. This includes even the [names of] lawmakers who will be arrested. They discussed this extensively and put [the plan] into action with the decree, said Baluken. Even the date on which the president approved the amendment was meant to send a message to the HDP, according to Baluken. Erdogan signed the bill into law late on June 7, shortly before the 15-day signing deadline was to expire. A year to date, the HDP had emerged triumphant from the general elections, dealing a serious blow to Erdogans hopes for an AKP-dominated parliament that would give him the executive presidency he wants. After the June 7 elections, he had said we would be brought to account, Baluken said. And he signed the law on the anniversary of June 7, in the hours when the elections results became known." June 14, 2016 Although Turkey has pursued seemingly strange and inconsistent policies toward Libya since 2010, commercial and economic interests have taken over the Turkish approach to the North African nation. In the aftermath of the Mavi Marmara crisis between Turkey and Israel in May 2010, Libya, then holding the presidency of the United Nations Security Council, issued a statement in support of Turkey. In November that year, Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi awarded Recep Tayyip Erdogan, then Turkey's prime minister, with Gadhafi's famed human rights prize. When the Arab Spring reached Libya in early 2011 and a popular uprising against Gadhafi turned into a bloody revolution, Erdogan first tried to hold back his NATO allies from intervening against Gadhafi. Can there be such nonsense? What business does NATO have in Libya? As Turkey, we say we oppose this; it cannot be talked about, it cannot be debated, Erdogan told an audience in Hamburg, Germany, in late February 2011. But as Ankaras Western allies began pounding Gadhafis forces in mid-March, the Turkish prime minister had a change of heart. On March 21, 2011, Erdogan uttered one of the most nonsensical statements in his political career: NATO must enter [Libya] to establish and record that Libya belongs to Libyans. The Turkish military soon joined the UN-sanctioned blockade against Gadhafi, which led to his eventual overthrow. Turkeys initial reluctance to join the West in the Gadhafi regimes overthrow and its subsequent about-face were both rational decisions. As Al-Monitors Fehim Tastekin reported last year, Turkish contractors in Libya undertook some 565 projects worth $29 billion from 1973 onward. Two years prior to the Arab Spring, Turkish engineering firms were awarded 124 projects valued at about $8 billion in Libya. Turkish entities were estimated to hold $2.5 billion in assets, funds and pending reimbursements in Libya, another $1.4 billion in overdue payments and nearly $100 million in Libyan banks in 2011. Given Libyas high earnings from petrodollars in those days, the Gadhafi's regime's announcement that it would invest $100 billion abroad had also animated Turkish leaders imaginations. By getting on board the fight against Gadhafi, Ankara hoped that its investors and entrepreneurs could quickly return to the North African country upon the Libyan strongmans overthrow. Yet that is not what happened. With no experience in deliberation and democracy, disparate Libyan factions failed to achieve transition to a democratic and representative government similar to the one in neighboring Tunisia. A bloody civil war followed Gadhafis demise in October 2011; Al-Monitor's Mustafa Fetouri has covered this conflict in great detail. Much as it did with its ill-advised policies in other Arab countries (especially Egypt and Syria), the Erdogan regime bet on the wrong horse in Libya by favoring the Muslim Brotherhood over other political parties. Whereas Turkeys Western allies backed the UN-recognized government in Tobruk, Ankara supported the Muslim Brotherhood-dominated General National Congress based in Tripoli. Relations between Ankara and Tobruk became so bad that in February 2015, the latter decided to expel all Turkish firms from Libya. Less than three months later, forces loyal to Libyas internationally recognized government attacked Tuna 1, a freighter owned by a Turkish company registered in the Cook Islands, on the suspicion that it was carrying weapons and supplies to pro-Tripoli militias. The establishment of the Government of National Accord between Tripoli and Tobruk in December could turn the tide even though the resolution of the crisis may still elude Libya. The Islamic State has entrenched itself in the countrys central coastal areas, while rival militias wield immense influence. In this context, the Erdogan regime probably calculates that it could play a role in stabilizing Libya. According to Volkan Ipek, one of Turkeys leading African specialists who teaches at Hacettepe University in Ankara, the Turkish decision to close the embassy in Tripoli was a strange one. Ipek told Al-Monitor, There were also deep political and economic issues during the 2011 presidential crisis in the Ivory Coast, yet Turkey had not closed its embassy there. In Libya, Ipek said, Turkey did not want to step too far from the West and so closed its embassy in 2014. He said that now that the Government of National Accord has come into existence, Turkey wants to play nice with both Libya and the West, [and] it wants to show that it supports reconciliation [in Libya]. Asked if Turkeys return to Libya has any financial and economic motives, Ipek said, That is precisely so. As I argue in a recent article, many Turkish companies did not receive their earned payments [after Gadhafi was killed], which especially affected 'Anatolian tigers.' I think these businessmen put pressure on the Turkish political elite, asking them to collect their monies from Libya. It is also quite likely that Turkish leaders said, 'We pursued a solution during the [Libyan] crisis so now Libya should offer us something,' which of course is oil. You cant ask anything from Libya if youre not in Libya. But whats in it for the Libyans? Ipek argued, Turkey is the only Muslim country that makes major overtures in Africa. Turkey could make massive investments in Libya, especially with its construction sector. That makes a lot of sense. During Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglus visit to Libya on May 30, the two sides emphasized economic and commercial cooperation as a leading reason to revive relations. Ipek also suggests that the thaw in Turkish-Libyan relations could have political underpinnings. Both countries are discussing their regimes these days. Debates on a presidential system in Turkey could influence Libyan debates. And of course, Turkey today is an immigration destination for Libyans. If Turkey is represented in Libya via its embassy, the migration of Libyans could be eased. Whether this conciliatory approach toward Libya means that Ankara is abandoning its pro-Muslim Brotherhood stance in its regional policy, Ipek is not so sure. He mentioned how Erdogan ousted Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu last month and will likely weigh even more heavily on foreign policymaking. I dont think Turkey will alter [its policy] either in North Africa or sub-Saharan Africa, irrespective of who comes to power. The pro-Brotherhood [outlook] will continue. Still, one hopes that realist policy calculations such as those that have led to positive results for Turkey in Libya could be repeated in other parts of Turkish foreign policy starting with Syria and Iraq. Turkeys economic well-being and national security depend on it. Taco Mama restaurant plans to open its sixth location in The Waites retail and residential development that is under construction at the corner of Seventh Avenue South and Richard Arrington Jr. Boulevard on Birmingham's Southside, the Mountain Brook-based restaurant company announced today. "We are thrilled to be opening our sixth location and to be joining the downtown Birmingham community," Taco Mama founder and owner Will Haver said in a statement. "Big things are happening downtown, and we knew we had to be a part of it. When the opportunity to join the retailer lineup at The Waites presented itself, we knew it was one we couldn't miss." Named after the former Waite's Fine Foods, a bakery and deil that was once located on the same site, The Waites will feature more than 16,000 square feet of ground floor retail space, as well as 45 apartments on the second, third and fourth floors. Parking for residential tenants and retail customers will be in the rear of the property. The Waites also will include Farm Burger, Blaze Fast-Fire'd Pizza and Smoothie King, according to developer Retail Specialists management "Having Taco Mama join our retail tenant list for The Waites is very exciting," Rodney Barstein, chief development officer for Retail Specialists, said in a media release. "Their unique restaurant concept has been so successful in other parts of Birmingham and around the state, and we can't wait to see them have that same success downtown." The retail portion of the development is 50 percent leased, according to Retail Specialists. Opening is scheduled for spring/summer 2017. This is an artist's rendering of The Waites retail and residential development scheduled to open Spring 2017 at the corner of Richard Arrington Jr. Boulevard and Seventh Avenue South in Birmingham, Ala. (Image courtesy of Retail Specialists) Taco Mama opened its original location in Mountain Brook's Crestline Village in 2011, and has since opened additional locations in Tuscaloosa, Huntsville and Homewood. The fifth Taco Mama is expected to open at the Summit in Birmingham on July 8. "We've been very fortunate," Haver said of Taco Mama's growth. "It's not been by design. It just kind of ended up that way." Wilco Hospitality, Taco Mama's parent company, also operates Otey's Tavern in Mountain Brook. Taco Mama expects to move into its new space at The Waites by June 2017, and following a build-out, should be open 90 days after that, Haver told AL.com in a separate interview this afternoon. Being close to UAB Hospital and surrounded by "like-minded people" such as Farm Burger and Blaze Fast-Fire'd Pizza made The Waites development especially appealing, Haver added. The restaurant expects to hire 25 positions when it opens next year. The Taco Mama menu features tacos, burritos, nachos and other Mexican dishes prepared with slow-roasted meats and fresh produce, as well as margaritas and local beers. For a full menu and more information about Taco Mama, go to www.tacomamaonline.com. UPDATED at 5:10 p.m. CDT on Tuesday, June 14, 2016, to add more information from Taco Mama founder and owner Will Haver. Four people are facing drug charges following a bust Friday in Attalla. Etowah County Drug Enforcement Unit Commander Randall Johnson said four people were arrested after an operation at a home in the 800 block of Piedmont Avenue in Attalla. Investigators went to serve a warrant and seized about eight grams of methamphetamine. Deputy Commander Phil Sims said those arrested were: Kelly Barnard, 36, charged with two counts of drug possession and possession of drug paraphernalia. Henry Clough, 41, possession of marijuana, distribution of methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia and drug possession. Joseph Riley, 31, drug possession, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia. Debra Ann Daniel, 45, second degree possession of marijuana, drug possession and possession of drug paraphernalia. Clough is already facing charges related to an incident earlier this year where he was one of two men accused of running a vehicle into the Hokes Bluff City Hall. The Tuscaloosa Metro Homicide Unit has arrested two Brent residents today for allegedly making explosive devices, Lt. Kip Hart said. Lonnie Sexton Danny Ray Dunlap, 29, and Lonnie Joseph Sexton, 33, were arrested after the Brookwood Police Department received a 911 call about a meth lab at a home in the 12000 block of Harryman Drive on Dec. 17. When officers arrived, a man inside the home said he saw a portable meth lab when he looked inside a duffle bag sitting on his porch. The officer identified another object inside the bag as an explosive device. Tuscaloosa County Sheriff Ron Abernathy said the area was secured and the county Hazardous Device Unit transported the object to another location. The device was detonated during the examination process, police said. Abernathy said no one was harmed. After a few months of cultivating leads and conducting interviews, investigators identified Dunlap and Sexton as suspects. Both individuals are charged with possession of a destructive device and are being held in the Tuscaloosa County Jail on $100,000 bond. Heartwarming initiatives and donations ensuring that no affected family will have to pay for funeral costs. Ask Terry DeCarlo whether he feels targeted as a gay man by the gunman in Sundays deadly rampage at an Orlando, Florida, nightclub and he is pensive and uncertain. Ask him how he feels about the outpouring of support for the LGBT community and the victims families and he can barely speak. Its just, says DeCarlo, executive director of the LGBT Center of Central Florida, choking up, his eyes welling with tears. DeCarlo, who lives in Orlando but was not at the Pulse club early on Sunday morning when the shooting occurred, has been at the forefront of the organising campaign to get money and help to the victims families after the attack by Omar Mateen. Orlando shooting: Who was Omar Seddique Mateen? Police say Mateen entered the downtown Orlando establishment, popular among the gay, lesbian and transgender community, and opened fire, killing 49 people and wounding 53. Most of the victims were men and many of them in their 20s. Mateen was also killed in a shoot-out with police. Some reports indicate the gunman had visited the club previously. His father, Mir Seddique, told NBC News that his son once got very angry while he was out with his family and saw two men kissing in public. Like many people in Orlando, DeCarlo has been personally affected by the tragedy. Although all of the dead have been identified, as of Monday night, DeCarlo was still seeking answers about the whereabouts and condition of two friends who were reportedly inside. Still, as he keeps his phone close, anxiously awaiting any word of his friends, he continues to manage an operation based in the heart of downtown Orlando, hustling to keep up with demand. Its actually non-stop at the centre, says DeCarlo. As fast as donations are coming in, we have them going right out the back door. Its been overwhelming. Raising millions The LGBT Center has been providing food and water to blood donation and crisis counselling centres around the city that have been flooded with both people who want to help and people who need help. Online campaigns have raised millions in just two days. A GoFundMe page set up by Equality Florida was at $2.7m as of Monday night. JetBlue, an American air carrier, stated it was offering free seats on its available flights to/from Orlando for immediate family and domestic partners of victims who were killed or injured. OPINION: The hate behind the Orlando massacre DeCarlos group originally hoped to raise a million dollars for the families of victims. By mid-Monday, they had doubled that, according to DeCarlo. That included $50,000 from the Gap clothing chain, he says, half of which was raised by employees, then matched by the front office. DeCarlo says the money his group is raising will ensure that no family will have to pay for funeral costs. Why the outpouring of support? You dont think something like this can ever happen in your backyard but it happens and then people say, nobodys immune, says DeCarlo. It could happen here tomorrow. Ghost-catching marines stationed a mere 1km away from forces of arch-rival North Korea are the first line of defence. Gimpo, South Korea One thing that most astonishes foreign visitors to South Korea is the geographic proximity of one of Asias most prosperous and bustling cities Seoul to the worlds most heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone. Al Jazeera was one of a few foreign media outlets recently given a rare opportunity to visit the 2nd Marine Division in Gimpo, located an hours drive from South Koreas capital which faces arch-rival North Korea across the Han River 1km away. South Korean marines earned their reputation as ghost-catching marines for their invincibility during a number of key amphibious landing operations during the 1950-1953 Korean War. In a country where all able-bodied men are required to fulfil their two-year long national defence duty in the face of its belligerent northern neighbour, South Koreans must compete hard to become a marine with the physically and mentally difficult training. The success rate of becoming a marine soared to 4.5 to 1 following the shelling of the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong in the Yellow Sea by the North, an attack that killed two marines and two civilians in November 2010. We first arrived at an observation post at Aegibong Peak, 43km northwest of Seoul and 1.7km south of the North, where its possible to see North Koreas third-largest city of Kaesong on a clear day, thanks to its relatively high elevation of 154 metres. A village sits across the river, which was built as North Koreas propaganda town, showing off the communist countrys success and prosperity. The town was initially uninhabited, but the North relocated 300 residents in the 1980s fearing the South would find out it exists only for propaganda purposes, according to the marines stationed here. More farming activities have been spotted in recent weeks, with dozens of residents seen plowing the fields in an old-fashioned way by using their hands and ox in the absence of agricultural machines, the marines said. Riding with South Koreas Marine Corps This Han River Estuary area is tensely monitored around the clock and was designated neutral waters strictly off limits to civilian vessels after the Korean conflict ended in a ceasefire in 1953. A handful of exceptions include a joint operation between Gimpo City and the marine unit to rescue a North Korean ox that had waded into a massive flood and became stranded on a South Korea-controlled small, uninhabited island in the middle of the river in 1996. Our next stop was a marine battalion operating amphibious landing vehicles known as KAAVs Korean Amphibious Assault Vehicles a variant of the American AAV7 and an asset essential for its core mission of landing on an enemys shore. A KAAV can transport as many as 21 troops and run 480km on land, or stay in the sea up to seven hours. South Koreas Marine Corps has about 160 KAAVs in total, the second-largest contingent of such landing vehicles in the world after the United States. The last image one would have of these tough South Korean guys serving at the forefront of heightened inter-Korean tensions would be these ghost busters completely disarming themselves at the charm of a K-pop band. When we visited the marine unit the all-female band La Boum recently commissioned by the defence ministry as the official cheerleader for Thank you! Soliders campaign was performing to boost morale of these young soldiers. Most enlisted men serve in often poor and ageing facilities in a remote place, and are not free to leave the base even in weekends. Theyre given only a handful of leave opportunities during their two-year mandatory service. The reaction to this rather new and obscure K-pop band was more than fervent. The marines sang along, danced to the tunes, and were eager to get a chance to high-five with members of the band. It was quite obvious that no matter how tough marines are, they are still young, dynamic and energetic. As we left the fenced-off border unit, it reminded me again of the hard reality that more than one million young members of Korean society on both sides of the border are conscripted to fight another potential Korean War. A new BDS campaign to encourage Palestinians to boycott Israeli goods in Ramadan and afterwards. Occupied West Bank Do not let the occupation make your iftar, reads a poster from the latest boycott campaign launched across the occupied West Bank. Entitled Ramadan Tov meaning Happy Ramadan in Hebrew the campaign has brought together a majority of the local Palestinian boycott movements for the first time under the umbrella of the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) group. It aims to encourage Palestinians to boycott Israeli products, food items in particular, during Ramadan, and afterwards. The targets are the biggest Israeli food companies including Jafora, Tnuva, Strauss and Osem. The face of the campaign is an Israeli soldier in his distinguishable green uniform serving a tray of popular Israeli food products regularly consumed by Palestinians during the holy month. We are working on raising awareness about the negative impact of Israeli products on the local market. We try to show the connection between these products and tangible Israeli violations against the rights of Palestinians, represented through the army and the settlers, Hazem Abu Helal, a member of the local BDS committee, told Al Jazeera. I urge all the free people in the world to pressure Israel through boycott. It is one of the permitted methods of resistance to its colonial and racist policies. by Fareed Taamallah, Palestinian activist Established in 2005, BDS is a Palestinian-led global movement that calls for an economic, academic and cultural boycott of Israel until it complies with international law and grants Palestinians their rights. Abu Helal says that one of the factors that sets this campaign apart from previous ones is the use of the word tov which he says is provocative for many Palestinians because it is a Hebrew word. Activists have launched the campaign across major Palestinian cities such as Ramallah, Bethlehem and Nablus. They are putting up posters, staging protests in front of the headquarters of selling agents and distributors of Israeli goods, speaking to people on the streets and placing provoking stickers on products. By pointing out what they see as the irony of funding ones occupier, activists hope to deter Palestinians from consuming any Israeli goods. Fareed Taamallah, a member of the local Support your Occupation Boycott initiative based in Ramallah, believes that boycott awareness is gradually increasing among Palestinians. The local boycott campaign generally intensifies and retreats depending on the security conditions and the situation on the ground. For example, during the last offensive on Gaza in 2014, the boycott campaign was at its peak but receded after the war ended, said Taamallah. Despite believing that the joint-campaign is a major step forward for the Palestinian political landscape, Abu Helal says that there is certainly no consensus on the subject of boycotting in Palestinian society. We confront a government of occupation and a Palestinian government that is weak and cannot take control of anything on the land, said Abu Helal, explaining the reasons behind the lack of consensus over the need to boycott Israel. The economies of the occupied Palestinian territories are highly integrated with and dependent on Israels economy, as laid out in the terms of the 1994 Paris Protocol signed by Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organisation. The conditions of the agreement, as well as other factors, make it difficult for Palestinians to establish their own factories to compete with Israeli products. With Israels restrictions on all movement and access to goods in the occupied territories, economic growth of the private sector is highly limited. As Israel continues to build the separation wall and confiscate West Bank land to build illegal settlements, the area has been turned into enclaves surrounded by checkpoints making it hard to transport goods or raw material from one place to another. Subsequently, the Palestinian economy has been transformed into a collection of small, local markets that cannot compete with Israeli monopolies on goods such as dairy. In other cases, Israel has been directly involved in the destruction of Palestinian manufacturing plants. Tnuvas control of the market in Gaza is linked to Israels targeting and destroying the once-popular local Palestinian dairy factory Dalloul, which it attacked several times. Consequently, Israeli companies are able to grow and flourish at the expense of Palestinian land, economy and livelihood. Al Jazeera approached the Tnuva distribution center in Beit Jala via phone, but the manager did not comment on the issue. As part of the campaign, activists have been posting a fact sheet on social media highlighting the direct link between the products and Israeli violations of Palestinian rights. One post reads: Did you know that Jafora, the company that produces Tapuzina juice and Ein Gedi water is a conglomerate between the two companies Jafora and Tavori, which take pride in their support for Zionist gangs during the Nakba? Another says: Did you know that Tnuva distributed milk and dairy products to the occupation forces for free during the 2014 war on Gaza, due to pride in the armys operations against our people? According to BDS, Palestinians living in the occupied territories consume 14 billion shekels ($3.6bn) worth of Israeli foods annually, while 18 million shekels ($4.6m) of that revenue comes solely from the consumption of Tnuva dairy products. The group says that conducting such campaigns restores hope among the people that boycotting is a legitimate form of resistance. Early last month, Israel imposed a travel ban on BDS cofounder Omar Barghouti, a move seen as an attack on freedom of speech and human rights activists. Boycotting has a direct impact on Israeli politics. For example, last month, the PA decided to block Israeli dairy products from entering the West Bank market in response to the blocking of Palestinian dairy products in Jerusalem. Israel went back on its decision immediately, said Taamallah. I urge all the free people in the world to pressure Israel through boycott. It is one of the permitted methods of resistance to its colonial and racist policies. Gimpo, South Korea Being a South Korean marine is dangerous work here, with forces from decades-old rival North Korea only a kilometre away. Al Jazeera was among a few foreign media outlets invited on a rare tour to South Korean Marine Corps 2nd Division in Gimpo, about 30km northwest of the capital, Seoul. The North and its military is just across the Han River. The marines main task in the event of war is to conduct an amphibious landing on the enemys shore. The tour gave a glimpse into capabilities and daily life of South Korean marines, who have earned a reputation as Ghost-catching Marines for their prowess during the 1950-1953 Korean War. The future of the UK is tied, for better or worse, to the rest of Europe if only for reasons of proximity. The forthcoming British referendum is the single most important event of this decade for the future of Europe. The Leave campaign has advocated isolationism and retreat from the responsibilities of a major European power. It views Europe as a burden, ignoring history and geopolitics. The Brexiters approach is potentially harmful for the country and the rest of Europe. To start with, Brexit is bound to have a significant impact on the countrys international standing. It is hardly a coincidence that the United States President Barack Obama, the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and the Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop have publicly called for the United Kingdom to remain part of the European Union. Since these countries largely view the UK as their main gate to European markets, any change in its status would affect them economically. Thus, Brexit could lead to Great Britains decline in world affairs because the country would lose its value-added position with distant allies. Geopolitical effect To make matters worse, a vote for Leave could trigger a second Scottish referendum if a majority of the Scots opt to remain in Europe. Such a development would certainly damage the image of the UK as a great power. Moreover, the secession of Scotland could encourage other independent-minded regions, such as Catalonia or Flanders, to pursue similar paths. What good can come out of this disunity? Only uncertainly and political introspection. Recently, the Remain camp has brought into the debate the geopolitical effect of a Leave vote. In an era of economic globalisation, discussing geopolitics sounds anachronistic and fear-mongering. But the Bremainers are right. For centuries, Europe was a continent plagued by conflict and instability. Tens of millions died from war and mass killings. Perceptions in international relations do matter. The message that Brexit would send to other Europeans is that the country prefers isolation from engagement. by The biggest achievement of the EU is not the single market; it is the establishment of a community of democracies that collaborate in a peaceful environment so much so that it is unthinkable to imagine French and German soldiers killing each other today. However, this is not the End of History for Europe as Francis Fukuyama once predicted. The wars in ex-Yugoslavia, the annexation of Crimea by Russia, and the conflict in eastern Ukraine have shown that peace cannot be taken for granted in the Old Continent. Furthermore, the rise of far-right parties in many European countries has brought back bitter memories. Only recently, the presidential candidate of the Austrian right-wing populist Freedom Party called for the return of the German-speaking South Tirol an Italian province to Austria. Sending a message Historically speaking, Great Britain has played a paramount role in European security. It has acted as an offshore balancer whenever a continental power sought to establish hegemony. In this role the British became involved in the Napoleonic wars and fought against Germany in two world wars. Also, the UK significantly contributed to the containment of Soviet aggression. OPINION: Brexit, budget cuts and the future of David Cameron Some claim that NATO membership would help maintain the British presence in the European security architecture. Maybe this is true. But perceptions in international relations do matter. The message that Brexit would send to other Europeans is that the country prefers isolation from engagement. For some European countries, such as Portugal, the Netherlands, Greece, the UK has been an old friend who came to their assistance during difficult periods of their history. For others, such as Germany, it is a former enemy who behaved with generosity when it was most needed that is during the Cold War period and the German reunification. For the French, the Italians and the Poles, the UK is a much-needed ally in their effort to counterbalance German political and economic power. Put simply, Brexit would constitute a historical anomaly for a country that has sacrificed so much for a peaceful and prosperous Europe. Another Darkest Hour? Boris Johnson compared the EU to Hitler. It is useful to remember what happened back then. By July 1940, the German army had occupied France and most of Western Europe. The dark forces of Nazism had triumphed over freedom and democracy. During what Winston Churchill called the Darkest Hour, namely the period between the fall of France in June 1940 and the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, Great Britain stood alone against the Axis and faced an unspoken dilemma: to negotiate again with Hitler, or to fight back and help its friends. OPINION: Brexit and the failure of the European Union project The British people wholeheartedly decided the latter. Thousands of young British men died to liberate occupied Europe. Later, when the Cold War started, London prevented a communist takeover of Greece and saved the birthplace of democracy from tyranny. This long history of engagement and solidarity cannot go in vain. The geopolitical destiny of the UK is tied, for better or worse, to the rest of Europe, if only for reasons of proximity. Therefore, Brexit will not serve the interests of the British people. Far from it. More importantly, Great Britain has a moral obligation not to abandon Europe and its numerous friends and allies. Despite its structural weaknesses, the EU is the best guarantee for peace and this something that the British voters ought to remember. Emmanuel Karagiannis is a senior lecturer at Kings College London. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy. No decent human with a moral conscience will now join Donald Trumps bandwagon because of this crime. There are many pertinent factors to be considered in the despicable act of mass murder that according to law-enforcement authorities was evidently perpetrated by a Muslim homophobe inside a gay nightclub in Orlando Florida where some 50 people are reported killed, including the assailant, and at least 53 injured. Over days, weeks, and months to come this horrid crime will attract countless interpretations, some very legitimate concerns, and many obscene conclusions. But two paramount factors will endure and stand out through all these postpartum anxieties: one of particular importance for millions of troubled Muslims around the world and the other for the already traumatised US voters searching their souls for how to vote in this presidential election. Muslim homophobia The most compelling fact about this crime is that it was perpetrated by a Muslim homophobe. Muslims around the world are rightly mobilised to disown this mass murderer and distance their faith from such acts of malicious cruelty. Their collective condemnation of this mass murderer is correct and timely but their task to confront Muslim homophobia will have just begun. ALSO READ: The hate behind the Orlando massacre As a deeply entrenched psychopathological condition, homophobia is not exclusive to any religion or any people. As a deeply entrenched psychopathological condition, homophobia is not exclusive to any religion or any people. by There are homophobic Jews, homophobic Christians, homophobic Hindus, homophobic atheists, and plenty of homophobic Muslims too. Their common denominator is not their communal membership in any religion but their identical homophobia. There has been homophobic violence in all communities and among all religious denominations. When expressed in such gruesome violent crimes, such homophobic acts of violence could very well be a sign of the repressed and denied homosexuality of the perpetrator himself. There are many other lessons to be learned from this heinous crime in Florida. But this particular trait of homophobia among Muslims and the moral and ethical complexities that Muslims as Muslims face is perhaps the most urgent for Muslims. The law enforcement officials have now habitually gone off on a tangent to the goose-chase of Mateens bogus links to the ISIL (also known as ISIS). That is a dead-end decoy and will lead to nothing but more confusion and chaos in dealing with the root cause of such crimes. But that fact does not relieve Muslims from doing their own urgent soul-searching concerning homophobia. Yes there are many other factors involved here: from the US-led invasion of Iraq to the major US allies state sponsored fanaticism in the Arab and Muslim world and beyond to the obscenity of the availability of assault weapons in the US. But none of those factors should distract Muslims from a fundamental fear of homoerotic sexuality in their own midst. Yes some of the most sacrosanct doctrines of their faith are challenged when aging Muslim parents suddenly or eventually discover that their own sons and daughters are homosexual. This will shake them to the core of their existence. But I have seen with my own eyes the grace, the patience, and the tenacity with which their love for their own children has given moral depth and doctrinal nuance to their faith. ALSO READ: The myth of the moderate Muslim Love will ultimately triumph. They will overcome their own fears, and they will find in their faith plenty of room for the varieties of ways their Almighty God has created them in His own image. The ever-vulgar and unfailingly rude Donald Trump congratulated himself in a tweet for having been proved right that Muslims must be barred from entering the US. by Trump will not reap any benefit Soon after the news of this horrid crime came out the ever-vulgar and unfailingly rude Donald Trump congratulated himself in a tweet for having been proved right that Muslims must be barred from entering the US. How is that related to a US-born and raised Muslim American homophobe psychopath is not the fact that will bother Trump and his xenophobic supporters. Donald Trump is now presumed to be the single most loutish beneficiary of this dreadful crime. But that is a false assumption. Only those who were already convinced by his Islamophobia will now be confirmed in their bigotry. No decent human being endowed with a moral conscience and/or critical intelligence will now join Trumps bandwagon because of this crime. What are Americans talking about in these early traumatic hours? They talk about gun control, they talk about homophobia, and they talk about how love will overcome hatred. None of those conversations will benefit Trump, for all of them are against the very grain of his boorish and vulgar campaign. Trump and his hooligan supporters are more isolated than ever. Their only chance in this election comes from his chief competition, from Hillary Clinton, a deeply despised candidate who has thrown an entire nation into the traumatic stupor of trying to convince themselves how tightly to hold their noses to vote for her only to prevent Trump from becoming the next US president. Two people, Americans and Muslims, converging on the edges of their common destiny as Muslim-Americans, now face two traumatic experiences of Islamophobia and homophobia together. From this tragic common destiny a much more robust moral rectitude could emerge to face the future with ethical rectitude and moral purpose. That to me is the only way the precious memory of those perished innocent lives can be best remembered and most honoured. Hamid Dabashi is Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy. The Shia group is accused of creating an environment for terrorism, extremism and violence. A Bahraini court has issued an order suspending the activities of the countrys main Shia opposition group on charges of terrorism, extremism, and violence in the kingdom. The official Bahrain News Agency (BNA) said on Tuesday that the court was pending a verdict on dissolving the Al-Wefaq society altogether after documenting numerous violations under Bahraini laws. Al-Wefaq was accused of creating an environment for terrorism, extremism and violence as well as a call for foreign interference in internal national affairs, BNA said. The ministry of justice said the suspension was part of a drive to combat extremism and protect society. Al-Wefaq will be unable to operate until a verdict is issued on dissolving it, BNA reported. The announcement comes a day after Bahraini security forces re-arrested human rights activist Nabeel Rajab. Rajabs lawyer Mohammed al-Jishi said on Twitter on Tuesday that his client was referred to the public prosecution service and is being held for one week pending investigation on charges of spreading false information. Bahrain, which bans protests and gatherings not licensed by the government, put down a 2011 Shia opposition uprising, but sporadic protests and small-scale clashes persist. The government says the protesters are supported and influenced by Iran but activists say they are fighting for political freedoms. The Tibetan spiritual leader says Myanmar leader has a moral responsibility to end conflict between two communities. The Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, has urged Myanmars leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, to make efforts to reduce tensions between the Muslim minority and the Buddhist community. Speaking at the US Institute of Peace in Washington, DC, the spiritual leader said on Monday that it is Suu Kyis moral responsibility, as the state counsellor and the leader of the ruling party, to try to ease tensions. She already has the Nobel Peace Prize, a Nobel laureate, so morally she should make efforts to reduce this tension between the Buddhist community and Muslim community, he said. I actually told her she should speak more openly, the Dalai Lama, who is also a Nobel peace laureate, said. Suu Kyis National League for Democracy (NLD) party won the April elections in a landslide, but it has largely remained silent on the issue of the Rohingya Muslims, who have been denied basic rights by successive Myanmar governments. READ MORE: Who are the Rohingya? As the country began political reforms, Buddhist-Muslim violence erupted in 2012. More than 100 people were killed and 125,000 Rohingya Muslims, who have been denied citizenship, were forced to flee their homes in the western Rakhine state. The escalating violence between the two communities during the past years has slowed down democratic reforms in the Buddhist-majority nation. There is widespread hostility towards Rohingya Muslims in the country, including among some within Suu Kyis party and its supporters. The Myanmar leader has been criticised by the rights groups for not speaking out on the Rohingyas plight. Suu Kyi was awarded Nobel Peace Prize for bringing democratic change in the impoverished nation. She responded to the Dalai Lamas calls by saying that the situation is really complicated. WATCH Exclusive: Strong evidence of genocide in Myanmar Its very important for the international community to realise the sensitive situation of Rakhine state, and avoid doing anything that would make matters worse and more difficult for the new government to handle it, Zaw Htay, Suu Kyis spokesman, said. Recently, a Suu Kyi-led committee has been formed to ensure peace and development in Rakhine state. And the leader has been trying to handle the situation to the best of her ability, Htay said. Last month, during the visit of John Kerry, the US secretary of state, Suu Kyi said that Myanmar needs enough space to deal with the Rohingya issue, adding that emotive terms are making the situation even more difficult. Myanmar does not recognise the term Rohingya, instead it calls them Bengalis, as residents of the neighbouring Bangladesh. Palestine has decried Israels practice of siphoning off water supplies from large areas of the occupied West Bank. In a statement issued on Thursday, the office of Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah said that Israel was waging a water war against the Palestinians. Israel wants to prevent Palestinians from leading a dignified life and uses its control over our water resources to this end; while illegal Israeli settlements enjoy uninterrupted water service, Palestinians are forced to spend great sums of money to buy water that is theirs in the first place, Hamdallah said in the statement. Mekorot, the main supplier of water to Palestinian towns and cities, is accused of manipulating water supplies to the municipality of Jenin, several Nablus villages and the city of Salfit and its surrounding villages, leaving tens of thousands of Palestinians without access to safe drinking water during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Jamal Dajani, director of strategic media and communications at the prime pinisters office, called Mekorots practice inhumane and outrageous. It is not enough for Israel to systematically appropriate Palestinian land and usurp Palestines natural resources; they also refuse the Palestinians the right to water. On Tuesday, the executive director of the Palestinian Hydrology Group, an NGO focusing on water and sanitation issues, told Al Jazeera that some areas had not received any water for more than 40 days. People are relying on purchasing water from water trucks or finding it from alternative sources such as springs and other filling points in their vicinity, Ayman Rabi said. Families are having to live on two, three or 10 litres per capita per day, he added, pointing out that in some areas they had started rationing water. The city of Jenin, which has a population of more than 40,000 people, said its water supplies had been cut by half, and warned that it would hold Mekorot solely responsible for any tragedies resulting from water shortages during the hot summer months. Israeli denial Israels national water company, Mekorot, denied cutting the water supplies to large parts of the occupied West Bank, saying there was only broad reduction in water supply to the Palestinians. As a result of the shortage of water supply in the West Bank we have made a broad reduction of the supply to all residents in the area, Mekorot told Al Jazeera late on Wednesday. All the facilities are working and the capability to supply is less than the rate of consumption. The water authority recently approved a master plan for the water sector and accordingly we will build the systems that will meet the West Banks required consumption. Israels COGAT agency, a main body of the Israeli army that regulates the occupation in the West Bank, also pointed to a burst pipe, which was said to have disrupted supplies to the villages of Marda, Biddya, Jammain, Salfit and Tapuach. READ MORE: Israel denies cutting water supplies to West Bank The water flow has been regulated and is currently up and running, COGAT told Al Jazeera. The water supply to Hebron and Bethlehem has been expanded a further 5,000 cubic metres per hour in order to meet the needs of the residents, COGAT said. According to the UN, 7.5 litres per person per day is the minimum requirement for most people under most conditions but in some areas of Palestine where temperatures exceed 35C the minimum requirement is much higher. Israel has limited the water available to Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip since its forces occupied the territories in 1967. Israelis, including settlers, consume five times more water than Palestinians in the West Bank: 350 litres per person per day in Israel compared with 60 litres per Palestinian per day in the West Bank. Circus performer set to be held for another six months without trial or charge under administrative detention. Israel has renewed the administrative detention of a Palestinian circus performer for another six months after arresting him without charge in December 2015. Mohammad Abu Sakha, 23, teaches at the Palestinian Circus School in Birzeit, near Ramallah. His case stirred global calls for his release after he was arrested on his way to work at the Zaatara checkpoint near Nablus and taken to Israels Megiddo prison in the north. He was later transferred to Ketziot prison in the Negev, the countrys south. Israels military court claims Abu Sakha carried out unspecified illegal activities with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a political party with an armed wing that is banned by Israel. Speaking to Al Jazeera in January, an Israeli army spokesperson said Abu Sakha was being held due to the danger he posed to the security of the region, noting the case was based on confidential information. All alleged evidence that authorities purport to hold against him has been withheld, making it impossible for Abu Sakha to build an effective case to defend himself or challenge his arrest. READ MORE: Palestinian circus performer jailed for no reason The arbitrary detention of Mohammad Abu Sakha is yet another shameful example of the Israeli authorities abusive use of administrative detention. He has already spent more than six months behind bars without being charged or allowed to stand trial he has been denied even the slightest semblance of justice, Philip Luther, director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at human rights group Amnesty International, said in a statement. Abu Sakha made an appeal against his first detention order in March, but it was rejected. The Palestinian Circus School, funded by a number of bodies including the European Commission, said there is no basis to the claims. The school has launched a global petition for his release. Abu Sakha joined the school in 2007 as a student, only to become a performer and trainer in the circus by 2011. He specialises in working with children with learning difficulties. Administrative detention orders allow Israeli authorities to detain individuals without charge or trial, indefinitely. A military judge will review Abu Sakhas detention renewal order on Wednesday, June 15. The judge can either confirm the order, cancel it, or reduce the detention period. In the majority of cases, however, such hearings are merely used to confirm the orders. Under international law, the use of administrative detention is permitted only in exceptional cases related to security. Israel, however, has detained thousands of Palestinians and for years without charge or trial. There are more than 600 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons on administrative detention. US president responds to criticism of his government for not using phrase radical Islam as political talking point. US President Barack Obama has called the debate surrounding radical Islam a political distraction, stressing that calls for tougher talk on terrorism and a strict ban on Muslim immigration would make Muslim Americans feel betrayed by their government. Obama told reporters after meeting with the US National Security Council on Tuesday that the Orlando shooting that left 49 people dead, or any attack organised by groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group (ISIL, also known as ISIS), was not possible to prevent by using the label. The killer was an angry, disturbed, unstable, young man who became radicalised, he said, adding that Islam had nothing to do with the attack. What exactly would using that label accomplish? What exactly would it change? Would it make ISIL less committed to trying to kill Americans? Would it bring in more allies? The answer is: none of the above, he said. Calling a threat by a different name does not make it go away. This is a political distraction. He said US intelligence and military staff know well who the enemy is and they work countless hours to protect all Americans including politicians who tweet and appear on cable news shows. War against ISIL Obama said the idea that the administration is confused about the enemy would come as a surprise to the thousands of terrorists who weve taken off the battlefield. While parrying his political foes, Obama also sought to show Americans that the war against the ISIL in Syria, Iraq and Libya, while slow, was being won. He said the number of foreign fighters joining the armed groups was plummeting. ISIL lost nearly half of the populated territory it had in Iraq and it will lose more. ISIL continues to lose ground in Syria as well, Obama said. In short, our coalition continues to be on offence. ISIL is on defence. Obamas remarks were his first reaction to Donald Trumps speech on Monday after Sundays mass shooting, and perhaps his strongest yet on the threat he sees the Republican candidate poses to the US politics and security. Obama said Trumps plan to bar foreign Muslims from entering the US ignored Americas history of targeting ethnic and religious groups amid period of anxiety and would undermine American values. If we ever abandon those values, we would not only make it a lot easier to radicalise people here and around the world, but we would have betrayed the very things we are trying to protect. Obama said. And then the terrorists would have won and we cannot let that happen. I will not let that happen. Obama said that treating Muslim-Americans differently would not make the US safer. Are we going to start treating all Muslim Americans differently? Are we going to start subjecting them to special surveillance? are we going to start discriminating them because of their faith? Were starting to see where this kind of rhetoric and loose talk and sloppiness about who exactly were fighting, where this can lead us. The US president said it would make the country less safe by fuelling the notion among followers of ISIL that the West hates Muslims. They want us to validate them by implying that they speak for those billion-plus people, that they speak for Islam. Thats their propaganda, thats how they recruit, he said. And if we fall into the trap of painting all Muslims with a broad brush and imply that we are at war with an entire religion, then we are doing the terrorists work for them. Most of the minors who have crossed the Mediterranean to Italy this year were unaccompanied by adults, UNICEF says. The number of unaccompanied children crossing the Mediterranean on unseaworthy boats has soared this year, the UN childrens agency says. The UNICEF said in a report on Tuesday that nine out of every 10 children arriving in Italy from North Africa were not accompanied by adults. A total of 7,009 unaccompanied minors made the journey in the first five months of the year, twice as many as last year. Italian social workers claim that both boys and girls are sexually assaulted and forced into prostitution while in Libya, and that some of the girls were pregnant when they arrived in Italy, having been raped, the document said. Sarah Crowe, UNICEF spokesperson, said it was not clear why more minors are arriving unaccompanied. There is concern over a sharp increase in Nigerian women and girls leaving Libya for Italy, with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimating 80 percent of them are victims of trafficking. If you try to run they shoot you and you die. If you stop working, they beat you. It was just like the slave trade, 16-year-old Aimamo told UNICEF of the farm in Libya where he and his twin brother worked for two months to pay the smugglers. INTERACTIVE: Why on earth would anyone do this journey? Tens of thousands of children are in danger each day and hundreds of thousands more are ready to risk everything to make the journey, the agency said. And with the arrival of summer in Europe, the numbers of those risking the Mediterranean crossing from Africa and the Middle East are set to rise, it warned. There are currently 235,000 refugees and migrants in Libya and about 956,000 in the Sahel countries, and many if not most of them are hoping to make their way to Europe, the UNICEF report said. It also voiced concern over the number of the children who prefer not to register themselves upon their arrival in Europe, choosing instead to continue their journey through Europe and falling prey to criminal gangs. Every country those the children leave, those they cross and those in which they seek asylum has an obligation to establish protection systems focused on the risks that unaccompanied children face, said Marie-Pierre Poirier, UNICEFs special coordinator for Europes migrant crisis. Children on the move have endured war, persecution, deprivation and terrible journeys, she said. Even when they have reached the relative safety of their destination, they still need protection, education, healthcare and counselling. We must be by their side. Recent attacks have brought the use of the word to the fore, but who decides whether a crime is terrorism act or not? Its a word many of us hear almost every day. A politicised word that means different things to different people, demonstrated in the somewhat cliched phrase: One mans terrorist is another mans freedom fighter. Despite various attempts, there is no internationally accepted definition of the word terrorism. And who gets called a terrorist is often a matter of prejudice, semantics and speculation. Much of the media were quick to label Omar Mateens massacre of 49 people in Orlando, a terrorist act. We were told that he had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group shortly before the attack. And had been investigated by the FBI. But the more we find out, the more murky the picture gets. Mateen had been a regular visitor to the Pulse gay club. And he may have used gay dating apps. And his ex-wife alleges a history of mental illness and domestic violence. President Barack Obama says the Orlando shootings are both a hate crime and terrorism. So, who gets to decide whether a crime is terrorism or not? Presenter: Dareen Abughaida Guests: Andrew Mumford Associate Professor in Politics and International Relations at the University of Nottingham. Rashad Ali Counterterrorism Analyst. Qasim Rashid Visiting Fellow at Harvard Universitys Prince Al Waleed bin Talal School of Islamic Studies. After the Orlando shooting, Obama predictably pushed for gun control but there is little he can do to achieve this. Americans are in mourning after 29-year-old Omar Mateen walked into a gay nightclub in Orlando and shot 49 people dead. The alarming frequency with which mass shootings occur in the United States does little to blunt the trauma of each act. But the facts of the case raise uncomfortable questions for those who seek to defend the countrys gun laws. Mateen carried out the bloodiest mass shooting in recent history despite being on the FBIs radar. He was investigated at least twice for suspected sympathies with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group. But had no trouble buying a military-style assault rifle. A weapon that has been used in several mass shootings in the US. The number of gun-related deaths in the US is high, especially when compared with the rest of the world. Americans make up less than 5 percent of the global population, but they own more than 40 percent of the worlds guns. But why is it easy to access and own guns in the US? And whats preventing change to laws on gun ownership? Presenter: Dareen Abughaida Guests: Scriven King, national security analyst David Burnett, former president of Students for Concealed Carry Leah Gunn Barrett, executive director of New Yorkers Against Gun Violence Cologne authorities last year cleared the way for mosques to apply for permission to call for prayer for five minutes. Alan Alvarez The organizer of a vigil for the victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting, Mitch Foster, 30, embraces Carlos Perez, 26, at Lake Eola Park on Sunday. I needed to be surrounded by people who I knew were hurting as well, and that cared and that needed help, because I needed help, Perez said. ORLANDO On Sunday, everyone was family. People of diverse genders, ethnicities and sexual orientations mourned for their families, friends and fellow Orlando residents. Andrea Miranda, a 21-year-old UF political science senior, stood just feet from the yellow tape that hung between spectators and a horde of local and federal authorities Sunday afternoon. Miranda, who is living and working in Orlando for the summer, said her friend is a dancer at Pulse, where a gunman opened fire early Sunday morning. Her friend, Miranda said, was not working when the attack unfolded. Alan Alvarez Maria Matigas, a 20-year-old Orlando resident for three years, gives a speech at Lake Eola Park in Orlando following the Pulse shooting on Sunday. I wasnt raised in Orlando, but Ive called Orlando my home for the last three years, and, to me, home means family, and family means taking care of one another, loving one another, Matigas said. So, to me, each and every one of you is family. It was a relief to hear from him, she said. Ive known him since high school. Her sister, 16-year-old Valeria Miranda, stood under buzzing helicopters and held a sign that read #OrlandoStrong. People were there to have a good time, she said. They werent there to do anything wrong, and they got punished for it. About two miles away, a crowd gathered at Lake Eola Park to light tealight candles on the waters edge. Three flags flew at half-mast under the gray sky. Mitch Foster, the events organizer, said authorities, who feared the possibility of another attack, advised him not to hold the vigil. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now Alan Alvarez Sarah Schumaker, 23, leads a group of mourning Orlando residents and visitors in lighting candles at the vigil held at Lake Eola Park on Sunday. Despite the warning, about 200 people gathered to share stories and offer support. I know a lot of you have lost a lot of people, and were scared, and were unsure and we dont feel safe, but well make it because no one can take our home from us, Foster said. Carlos Perez opened the vigil with 30 seconds of silence, broken only by the occasional squawking of a goose or the crying of a crowd member. Perez said the gunman shot his friend, who was in stable condition by 4 p.m. I dont want this to be the end of anything, but the beginning of us staying together as a community and helping one another, he said. Alan Alvarez Dani Hereboso, 29, holds a paper sign to show her support for the victims of the Orlando shooting at the gay nightclub Pulse, which is a few blocks down from her home. Hereboso said she was able to hear the gunshots from her own home and said that her heart sank when she first learned about the attack. During more than an hour of speeches, Savannah Perry stood amid a semicircle of people and fought tears to deliver a message: Be kind every day. At first, Perry said, it was hard to imagine someone would kill so many people. She then learned the attacker took her best friends life. Perry said her friend was a sweet, kind-hearted man, and that he would want the community to find strength in the pain. Please dont hold anger in your heart, she said. Its a very, very bad thing what happened . . . but we need to take it in stride. We are a community of love; we are a community that is growing together and is being formed from this. Gray Caylor told the crowd they moved to Orlando in October and found a community that helped them become more open about their identity. Alan Alvarez From left: Shatera Woodward, Akeem Collins and Tacloey Jackson hug in solace on Sunday evening after throwing 50 roses into Lake Eola to pay tribute to the lives lost during the Pulse nightclub shooting. I was just there last night [Friday], and what if this would have happened while I was there? Collins said. I kept saying that over and over again. It hurts, you know, more than anything to see this evil and this wickedness done to the community that has made me feel comfortable in my skin for the first time, they said. Caylor said the pain they felt Sunday morning gradually turned into a familiar feeling of strength and acceptance that they came to know during their short time in the city. Such strength is found in all people, said Claudia Bucaro, a resident of Orlando for 10 years. Children, Bucaro said, always have a favorite superhero, and, as people grow older, they realize its not possible to fly like Superman or crush villains like the Hulk. Bucaro said she imagined herself as a superhero when the attack unfolded. Though its too late to save the dead, the community can harness its strength in the aftermath, she said. Alan Alvarez A crowd gathers at Lake Eola Park in Orlando on Sunday to remember those injured and killed in the Pulse nightclub shooting. Urban Art Orlando, a local artists street name, made 50 palm roses for each victim and gave them to people in attendance to throw into the lake. You were created to be the hero, she said. You have the ability to save the city, and I think, like everybody has shared today, its going to be by loving the person that is next to you. If you can change one life, youre changing the world. Tacloey Jackson joined two friends, Akeem Collins and Shatera Woodward, to attend the vigil and throw 50 roses in the water one for each person who died at the club. We dont want to be remembered for the attacks, Jackson said. We only want to be remembered for how we came together as a community. The name slow food movement might suggest a campaign to eat slow animals or cook food slowly, but its goals are quite different, as Jeff Honeycutt, an executive chef, explained at the Alachua County Headquarters Library this past weekend. Honeycutt, a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Orlando, presented information on North Central Floridas slow food scene Sunday. Slow foods are locally grown, in-season foods that are environmentally sustainable, as opposed to processed foods, he said. The idea is to let things grow the way theyre supposed to grow within their season, Honeycutt said. Honeycutt said he discovered slow foods in 2003 while working at the restaurant Chew, where farmers came in with fresh ingredients. He said he thought it was the coolest thing in the world. I was in it for the long-haul then, he said. Fiona Lama, an Alachua County Headquarters library specialist and a professor at Santa Fe College, said she was unaware of the slow food movement until she had Honeycutt as a student last year. Lama said she is more interested in buying slow foods after attending Honeycutts presentation. It makes you feel like its a good idea to be more health-conscious with your food choices, the 52-year-old said. Honeycutt said college students interested in getting involved with the movement should learn how to cook, and by using basic, natural ingredients, slow foods cost less than processed foods. I did not come out of the womb knowing how to do that, he said. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now Honeycutt currently studies at Santa Fe and plans to attend UF to complete a degree in geomatics. Sunday morning Orlando became the center of another massive shooting, something that seems to have become an occupational hazard of American life. While the details are still coming in about the deaths and injuries, and the whole story is not yet clear, a couple things are. It is clear this was an act of hatred and terrorism that specifically targeted a gay bar, and it was carried out with weapons that were bought legally. While Donald Trump is shouting in the Twitter-sphere with the, I told you so, rhetoric of another terrorist attack being eminent, other politicians have been calling for measures to actually prevent attacks like this from happening for years, such as an update to the background check system. Why is it impossible for there to be bipartisan push for legislation that deals with this issue? It would not even remotely affect the millions of law abiding gun owners in America who have nothing to do with terrorism. In fact, it would make it more difficult for terrorists to buy guns. Instead, the news cycle is beginning to overflow with the worn out phrase, Now is not the time to talk about gun control. Well, then when will it be? These same politicians and pundits that call for a robust discussion on terrorism and how to defeat it do not want to acknowledge the flawed background check system. National Rifle Association sponsored stalls on gun reform are the reason why Omar Marteen was able to purchase high powered assault rifles without so much as a second glance from the background check system, despite his multiple interviews by the FBI and links to known terrorists. Unfortunately, the country is in a place right now where gun reform is a toxic subject for many who have the power and possibility to change it. The NRA is one of the most powerful lobby groups in the country and is able to continue to do so through the exploitation of peoples fear of gun reform. It is commonplace for NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre to claim President Barack Obama is coming any day now to take away everyones guns, despite the fact he has half a dozen months left, and he has said on multiple occasions he does not want to confiscate guns from law-abiding Americans. The battle for gun control was lost after the Sandy Hook shooting, when it was not possible for Congress to come together after a massacre of children to pass some basic measures to prevent something like it from happening again. Even the Democratic Party was not able to coalesce around provisions, and they killed the bill themselves. Future promises of gun reform, even after the Orlando shooting, are distant at best with a Republican Congress and the real possibility of Trump in office. But if we dont talk about it now, then when will we? We may come back to this topic the next time a massive shooting happens, or will we have to wait for the next time the worst shooting in American history happens again to even get to this level of discussion? Not talking about the part easily accessible guns and flawed background checks played into the Orlando shooting is the same as ignoring the influence that terrorism and homophobia had in the attack. Inaction and silence not only do a disservice to those who lost their lives, but also result in our collective responsibility the next time lives are lost when we as a society had the possibility to prevent it. Kevin Foster is a UF political science senior. His column appears on Tuesdays. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now Alan Alvarez Sarah Schumaker, 23, leads a group of mourning Orlando residents and visitors in lighting candles at the vigil held at Lake Eola Park on Sunday. Twenty first-graders attending school in Newtown, Connecticut. Then, it was a family and pedestrians in Santa Monica, California. Twelve more at a Washington, District of Columbia, naval yard. Three at Fort Hood, Texas. A long-planned mass-murder at Isla Vista, California. Then, it was churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina. Marines and a navy officer in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Innocent college students in Roseburg, Oregon. It was three at a clinic in Colorado. Fourteen in San Bernardino, California. All this just in the past three-and-a-half years. And now: Pulse. Many of us Gators are from Orlando or have a few friends from the area. A likely few of you even know an individual, or the family of an individual, murdered or injured Saturday night. We are so, so sorry. We want to tell you this is the end of senseless we really do. But it isnt. It would be disingenuous to say another Pulse wont happen again. It will. It already did. Sunday morning, in Roswell, New Mexico, authorities said a father shot and killed his four children and their mother. Before a time when our political atmosphere reinvigorated its patriotism and manufactured a newfound national allegiance to a vague sense of freedom symbolized by the firearm, by defending the homefront against a non-existent tyranny and routine threat to family safety before this fabricated conversation weve lost ourselves in, there were cars. Automotive deaths were the gun deaths of the last century. In 1924, auto accidents killed 23,600 people and injured more than 700,000. But we matured. We constructed crosswalks, implemented speed limits, designed seat belts and airbags. There wasnt any taking away of everyones cars; we simply did what we had to do to ensure the majoritys safety amidst widespread violence. Ultimately, not before long, the media will move on from Orlando. Weve seen this before. Well take turns assigning whos to blame these continued shootings. You can blame it all on Islams inspirations of terror and homophobia, as so many politicians and commentators were quick to do. But let us not be so quick as to forget the terror and homophobia upheld by extremist Christian and anti-LGBTQ+ groups within our own borders. Likewise, you can blame the National Rifle Association, but its also our Congress that refuses to stand up to this group and accepts their donor money and lets NRA lobbyists host election campaign fundraisers. After all these years, with all of the needlessly dead, nobody is blameless. Even if the Islamic State is responsible for inspiring Omar Mateen, he was born and raised here, he bought an assault rifle by our law and he committed an American-style domestic terrorist attack: a mass shooting. Mateen, his attack and the catalog of domestic mass shootings are our responsibility. Past the point of our leadership taking action, we are left to care for one another. And in many beautiful, indescribable and heartfelt ways, we are: from the long lines of people ready to donate blood to those injured in the attack; to our very own Tyler Richards, a 19-year-old UF industrial systems and engineering major who orchestrated a pizza-donating campaign through Venmo for blood donors; to the countless vigils across the country; and to the venues like Tampas Sacred Grounds Coffee House that raise funds to support the families of victims. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now These attacks will continue to happen. The best we can do is embody the heroism of so many ordinary people doing the extraordinary, and in so doing, making the extraordinary ordinary. This is how we overcome. You may not have heard of Ally Maki yet, but you soon will know her name. You might recognize the Japanese-American actress from her recent cameo on New Girl as Kumiko, a non-English speaker who was renting one of the rooms in an Airbnb deal. But in her next major role, Maki will play a character that has nothing to do with her heritage. On top of being one of the funniest people in Hollywood right now (she posts hilarious Instagram videos like the one below with her fellow actor, Colton Haynes), Maki is about to have a big year. She stars as Jess on the premiere of Wrecked tonight (which is basically a comedic take on Lost). Instagram content This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from. "Jess is the fun, feisty girl of the group," Maki says of her character. "She's a hopeless romantic, and she's with a guy who is sort of a douchebag. But this whole season is about her journey of becoming a strong, independent woman and finding herself. I think it's a story a lot of girls can relate to." The fact that a lot of girlsregardless of their racecan relate to Jess was a major reason why Maki wanted to play the character. "The role has nothing to do with raceshe's just a girl going through finding love, so it's really exciting," says Maki. "I'll be honest, when I first read the script, I loved it, but I almost didn't go in because I just didn't think the industry was there yet in terms of casting an ethnic woman for this role. Just kind of reading it, you kind of think, Oh, that's not going to go to an Asian person." That train of thought caused Maki to come to a realization about how she perceives her race. "It was a really big lesson for me, in that I need to change my thinking," she says. "I need to be confident and say, 'Hey, I have a lot to bring to the table and I feel like my story needs to be told as well.'" 2005 .. AR's Editor Joe Shea Talks About Elections On Iranian TV Bear Stearns Saved By Fed As Lehman Bros. Falters; Major Bank Failure Looms Over Wall Street, Sends Markets Into 200-Pt. Dive Lie Upon Lie Five Years Into the Iraq War The Administration Still Churns Out Lies by Randolph Holhut A Small Tragedy Even at 90, As Friends Turn Cool She Knows the Show Must Go On by Joyce Marcel I'll Take Me Imagine John Wayne or Arnold In Heels, Silk and a Girdle by Elizabeth Andrews Sen. Nelson Calls For New Fla. Primary; Gov Crist Backs 'Do-Over' Who'll Win? Ask Spock Spock.com Engine Predicts Winners By Site Searches; It Can be Wrong by Jay Bhatti Chatting Up The Cat God Gave Me Dominion Over Him But I Think He's a Non-Believer by Constance Daley Death of a Thug The Life and Horrors of Suharto by Andreas Harsono ___________________________ This Just In Sierra Club: McCain Ducked All 15 Key Votes On Green Laws (AR) A Work By AR's T.S. Kerrigan Is Chosen As 'Best Poem' By Wordpress Site Murder At Mile 63 The Deadly Assault and Bush Administration Cover-Up by S. Eben Kirkesby and Andreas Harsono 5427 14th St. West, Bradenton, FL 34207 $6.99 Fish Fridays! Manatee Co.'s Only 24-Hr. FREE Wi-Fi Paid Advertisement On Native Ground AFTER 5 YEARS, WE'RE STILL LIED TO ABOUT IRAQ by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Next week is the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. And it is likely that sometime in the next couple of weeks, the 4,000th American soldier will die in Iraq. [MORE] Momentum OFF TO SEE THE WIZARD by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. - It's 1931, and a 14-year-old girl is standing alone on a stage. She's small and lively with dark curly hair, widespread hazel eyes, slender wrists and an open, eager face filled with the wonder of performing. Her name is Rose, and one day she will be my mother. But now she is performing an Eugene O'Neill monologue called "Before Breakfast" for a ladies' club in a wealthy suburb of Long Island. [MORE] One Woman's World COMFORTABLE WITH MYSELF by Elizabeth T. 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SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- Normally, when the cat starts his evening rant of meowing continuously until he makes his point, I just take it as long as I can, pick him up, and put him in the garage for the night. He doesn't want to go, but the meowing stops and I don't care if he likes it or not. [MORE] Momentum OUT OF STRUGGLE, ART by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Here we are again at the crossroads of art and social change, having the opportunity to watch good and great films about the lives of women in support of the Women's Crisis Center. [MORE] Campaign 2008 HOW TO PREDICT SUPER TUESDAY II WINNERS? ONLINE SEARCH by Jay Bhatti NEW YORK, March 4, 2008, 7:00PM ET -- With the outcomes of the Texas, Vermont, Ohio and Rhode Island primaries to be decided tonight, how possible is it that online searching can predict who will win tonight's primaries? [MORE] One Woman's World DON'T VOTE; IT ENCOURAGES THEM by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- Call me angry and disgusted but don't call me un-American because I won't be voting come November. [MORE] On Native Ground BUSH AND THE KEYBOARD COMMANDOS by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- As the days tick down toward the eventual departure of President George W. Bush from the White House, it's a hopeful sign that most Americans are no longer moved by his Administration's constant exploitation of terrorism for political gain. [MORE] Momentum WHICH AMERICA DO YOU LIVE IN? by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- It's a little confusing. [MORE] Make My Dat THE LAWYER THAT ATE NEW YORK by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- I used to know a guy who, quite literally, didn't get hyperbole. He didn't understand exaggeration. As a result, he missed most jokes that came his way. [MORE] On Native Ground FIDEL RETIRES: NOW THE COLD WAR IS REALLY OVER by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Maybe now, we can finally say the Cold War is over. [MORE] Make My Dat THE LAWYER THAT ATE NEW YORK by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- I used to know a guy who, quite literally, didn't get hyperbole. He didn't understand exaggeration. As a result, he missed most jokes that came his way. [MORE] One Woman's World POLITICS IS NO PARTY by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- Are you having a hard time focusing your eyes? Do you have faint red spots all over your body? Is there a ringing in your ears and do you see wavy lines when you look at your television set? Do your hands shake when you try to hold a cup of coffee? And have you recently been forgetting what day of the week it is - or what year? [MORE] Make My Day FOR BETTER OR WORSE ... A LOT WORSE by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- "Marriage: It's Only Going to Get Worse." [MORE] Constance YOU CALL THESE RIGHTS? by Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- When you express an opinion you hope to persuade others to your point of view. It doesn't always happen but still, opinion writers try. [MORE] Momentum THE BRIDGE WOMAN by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. - Out there in America - yes, still - is a generation of women who were born in the 1940s, raised in the 1950s, and who came to radical consciousness in the late 1960s and early 1970s. I am one of them. Hillary Clinton is one of them. [MORE] On Native Ground OBAMA AND MY GENERATION by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- I originally planned on voting for Dennis Kucinich in the Vermont Primary on March 4. [MORE] The Willies: WARNING: THIS MEDICATION MAY MURDER YOUR FRIENDS by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla. -- You've heard the warnings, haven't you? Stop Prozac and you may take a shotgun, an Uzi or an AK-47 and mow down your family and friends, or even a whole classroom full of your fellow students. You didn't? Well, that warning is not on the bottle, but like countless mass-murder incidents before it, Friday's shootings at Northern Illinois University, as well as the Virginia Tech shootings that killed 32 last year, was probably precipitated by the effect of stopping medications that suppress anger and other powerful emotions but do not relieve the underlying cause. Isn't it time we started warning people - or stopped prescribing these medicines? [MORE] One Woman's World DON'T KNOCK ON MY DOOR by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- I wish I could feel delight in my poet's mansion being like Grand Central Station all the time, but I can't. And I wish my place was such a place that someone would one day write: "Her door was always open and she always made you feel all fuzzy and warm in her presence. She could make a cup of coffee seem like a banquet." [MORE] Reporting: Panama PANAMA'S VIOLENT LABOR UNREST INTENSIFIES Mark Scheinbaum PANAMA CITY, Panama, Feb, 15, 2008 -- After just one day of relative calm, wildcat construction strikes by some members of Panama's largest union flared up again Friday morning, four days after a police sniper shot one worker. More than 140 demonstrators have been injured and at least 500 arrested, authorities say. [MORE] Brasch Words TO STIMULATE ECONOMY, BUY A CHINESE-MADE U.S. FLAG by Walter Brasch BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- Walking down Main Street, pushing a grocery cart loaded with clothes, toys, and appliances was Marshbaum. Fastened to the right front corner of the cart was an American flag tied onto a three-foot ruler. [MORE] Make My Day THE TOOTH, AND NOTHING BUT THE TOOTH by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- To commemorate the death of noted shark exploder Roy Scheider, and the "Jaws" movies that resulted in Erik never setting foot in the ocean again, we are reprinting this column from 2003. Shark Experts 0, Sharks 1 [MORE] Momentum THE WINTER OF MY DISCONTENT by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. - As I write this, it's raining ice. Maybe a half a foot of snow and ice has already landed up here in the woods of Dummerston. Our cars are encased in it, and the door to the house is blocked. The satellite dish that brings in our Internet service quit about 20 minutes ago - frozen solid. [MORE] The Willies AMERICA TO HILLARY: GET OUT! by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Feb. 13, 2008 -- Sen. Hillary Clinton has adopted the Rudy Giuliani strategy, and it's working - for Sen. Barack Obama. It turns out to be the strategy all Democrats are seeking - an exit strategy. But it's not for Iraq. It's for her exit from the race for the 2008 Democratic Presidential nomination. [MORE] Constance CONFESSIONS OF A DISAPPOINTED VOTER by Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- A week ago at just about this time, I completed an article and was about to submit it as scheduled to The American Reporter. I was feeling rather elated, ready to show up on Super Tuesday morning, firmly touch the X next to Rudy Giuliani's name and get on with my day. He was my choice; he would get my vote. [MORE] Reporting: Florida SIERRA CLUB SET TO SUSPEND FLA. CHAPTER by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Feb. 10, 2008 -- The national Sierra Club is set to suspend its Florida chapter after years of divisive infighting, the president of the national club told Florida members in a letter delivered to some this weekend. It is the first time in its 116-year history that such a step has been considered by the club, according to news reports. [MORE] One Woman's World PLANT A NEW WORLD THIS SPRING by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- For a little while, the men will just have to toss and turn in their fear-free-women beds. For a small space of time Hillary Clinton will just have to trudge on toward the White House without my faint applause in the background. [MORE] On Native Ground VERMONT AND THE 5 STAGES OF CONSERVATIVE GRIEF by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- First, Vermont tried to convince the nation to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney. [MORE] Make My Day REBEL WITHOUT A TONGUE by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Kids' brains work in amazing ways. At times, they can grasp complex concepts and make impressive discoveries. Other times, you have to wonder how we ever survived as a species. [MORE] The Willies FOR DEMOCRATS, NOW IT'S ABOUT RACE, INCOME AND GENDER by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Feb. 6, 2008 -- It's not a good time to be a Democrat. As the Super Tuesday results demonstrated, the presidential race between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton has divided the partly along clear racial, income and gender lines - the very distinctions the party has sought to erase in principle but has emphasized in its pursuit of diversity. [MORE] Momentum SUPER TUESDAY BLUES by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Super Tuesday has come and gone and I still can't get excited about the upcoming presidential elections. [MORE] The Willies ON THE BRINK OF HISTORY, YOUR PUSH IS NEEDED by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Feb. 5. 2008 -- I'm expecting a sea change tonight. I believe that for the first time in this nation's history we will once and forever banish racism as the deciding factor in the destiny of African-Americans, and indeed adopt diversity as our path to the future. [MORE] Campaign 2008 AT 88, EVERY VOTE REALLY COUNTS by Ted Manna DENVER, Feb. 5, 2008 -- Pearl Turner will caucus for Mitt Romney tonight in Denver. [MORE] One Woman's World STAND BY YOUR WOMAN by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- The black vote. The gay vote. The fundamentalist vote. The Hispanic vote. [MORE] An AR Special SUSPECTS IN BENAZIR ASSASSINATION HAVE TIES TO MUSHARRAF by Ahmar Mustikhan WASHINGTON, D.C. -- When Gordon Brown this past Monday feted coup-leader-turned-President Pervez Musharraf at 10 Downing Street, Britain's new prime minister probably didn't ask the Pakistani dictator a question that is now on many minds: Did you order the murder of Benazir Bhutto? [MORE] Momentum TO THE VERMONT DELEGATION: WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR US LATELY? by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. Back when President George W. Bush and Dick Vice President Dick Cheney were building up to their loathsome war in Iraq, very few people were brave enough to call the bullies' bluff. [MORE] On Native Ground IF BUSH HAS HIS WAY, WE'LL NEVER LEAVE IRAQ by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. - In his final State of the Union address on Jan. 28, President Bush cautioned against accelerating U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq, saying that it would endanger the process that has been made over the past year. [MORE] Campaign 2008 CLASH OF COMMENTS AND PROTESTORS AT CLINTON, OBAMA RALLIES IN DENVER by Ted Manna DENVER, Feb. 1, 2008 -- At least four presidential campaigns of both partiers rolled into in Denver this week ahead of the Feb. 5 "Super Tuesday" primaries in 22 states, but it was the Democratic presidential contenders who drew the big crowds and duked it out Wednesday. If sheer numbers are any indication, Sen. Barack Obama - preceded by a buoyant and beautiful Caroline Kennedy - won the round handily. He is the overwhelming favorite to win the Colorado primary next Tuesday. [MORE] The Willies WHY THE FLORIDA PRIMARY STINKS by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Jan. 30, 2008 -- I was with my wife and daughter driving the back way from Miami home to Bradenton when we stopped at a McDonald's in Clewiston, the only big town along the vast shore of Lake Okeechobee, the state's precious freshwater reservoir. The McDonald's had three televisions at a central seating area, each tuned to a different network, and our table was in front of CNN as the very first election results started to pour in around 7:30PM. With them, almost as counterpoint, suddenly came such an overwhelming odor of cow plop that my wife started to throw up as we all ran to the parking lot. [MORE] Passings: Suharto DEATH OF A KEMUSU THUG by Andreas Harsono JAKARTA - A few minutes after hearing that former president Suharto had died in his hospital bed, Marco, a militia leader in downtown Jakarta, raced to Suhartos house, wearing his jungle camouflage and began guarding the Suhartos residence on Cendana Street. [MORE] Constance I REMEMBER YOU by Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga.. -- It seems to be more often lately that the sentiment is spoken but it's always been out there: "You never get over the death of your child." This is true. But the heartfelt expressions come from some who cannot fathom the notion of losing a child; their own child is who is in their mind, not another mother's child. [MORE] In an unprecedented move, an Oregon judge has allowed a so-called transgender man to legally change his sex from female (he had previously been allowed to choose female) to non-binary. Its newsworthy enough to have made it to Drudge, but even that fact doesnt do justice to the grave threat presented by Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Amy Holmes Hehns ruling. Ill cut to the chase. Even if you accept the legitimacy of transgender status (more on this later), heres what must be understood: Psychologists and transgender activists do not say sex and gender are synonymous. Rather, they often take pains to point out -- sometimes quite dogmatically -- that sex is a biological distinction while gender is a psychological one. As MedicalNewsToday.com wrote in March, In general terms, sex refers to the biological differences between males and females, such as the genitalia and genetic differences. Gender is more difficult to define but can refer to the role of a male or female in society (gender role), or an individual's concept of themselves (gender identity). You can find essentially the same definitions at Monash Universitys website and numerous other places. Even the man who petitioned Judge Hehn for the sex change, a fellow going by the name Jamie Shupe, has in so many words acknowledged the above. As The Oregonian reports, I was assigned male at birth due to biology," Shupe said. "I'm stuck with that for life. My gender identity is definitely feminine. Judge Hehn is clearly operating far above her pay grade. Like most people, she apparently views gender as a synonym for sex, oblivious to the evolution (or devolution) of the term and concept. Up until relatively recently, gender was mainly used in grammar, pertaining to the categories into which words are divided, such as masculine, feminine, and neuter. It was not traditionally used in reference to people. This started to change with the now discredited quack psychologist Dr. John Money. In 1966, he originated the debunked gender neutrality theory and appears to have been the first person to popularize the application of gender to people. Even so, such usage of the term didnt really catch on until the last 20 or 25 years. And what was the purpose of this language manipulation? You couldnt convince people many decades ago that there were more than two sexes, because that there are only two was rightly cemented in their minds. The biological distinction was the only thing people conceptualized and accepted. But gender was the perfect term as it included more than two categories: masculine, feminine, and neuter. And thus did we see an attempt at the 1995 Conference on Women in Beijing to adopt language stating that a family could comprise up to five genders: male heterosexual, female heterosexual, homosexual, lesbian, and bisexual (the attempt failed owing to Vatican opposition). Of course, thats now old hat -- the shape-shifting libertines now define scores of genders. But no matter. Once the term caught on and most everyone accepted that a person could have gender -- and once a minority had accepted that there could be more than two -- the next step was to add to the concept the notion that a person could be transgender and transition from one to another. Its incrementalism; step by step, inch by inch. And now that even more people have accepted the fluidity of gender and virtually everyone confuses the term with sex, were witnessing the next step: the attempt to eliminate the concept of the biological distinction itself. The idea is that there will only be gender, and sex will just be a term describing what you do with a sentient biped (in most cases) who, hopefully, wont transition in the middle of the act. So first was just the correct concept of sex (biological), then the introduction of a new concept, gender (perception of what a person is). Then there was the confusion of the two terms attended by the expansion of the new concept and advent of another new concept, transgender. Now, with the terms long viewed as synonyms, were seeing the attempted elimination of the concept of sex. And just as the man on the street mindlessly adopted the term gender, expect to see a concerted effort to eliminate the term sexs use in the legal realm. Do you now see why I and a few others warned, for years and years and years and years, that we shouldnt use the word gender in reference to people or embrace any aspect of the Lexicon of the Left? The side that defines the vocabulary of a debate wins the debate. As for Judge Hehn, I doubt shes sophisticated enough to understand any of the above. She likely was just operating on misconceptions and emotion. But as former transsexual Alan Finch said in 2004, You fundamentally can't change sex... Transsexualism was invented by psychiatrists. No, you cant change sex. You dont have gender unless youre a word. And you shouldnt be able to change sex in legal documents, either. You are what you are. Judge Hehns ridiculous, destructive ruling should be overturned if possible, and she should be removed from the bench. Judges who cant separate fact from fiction, emotion from reason or, even, boys from girls, need to be playing with blocks, not with our laws. Contact Selwyn Duke, follow him on Twitter or log on to SelwynDuke.com Mitt Romney, after two unsuccessful bids for the US presidency in 2008 and 2012, is on the campaign trail again. This time not for himself, but instead for some hypothetical candidate to usurp the presumptive nominee, Donald Trump. At this point, Trump has over 1500 delegates, three times more than Ted Cruz and well above the 1237 threshold needed for nomination. What woke Rip Van Romney out of his four-year slumber? At his Deer Valley, Utah summit last week, Mitt was wide-awake. Mitt is quite upset about the Trump nomination. So much so that he says Seeing this is breaking my heart. CNN reports, The 2012 nominee was visibly emotional and appeared to tear up when making the remarks. Has Mitt been emotional and teary eyed when thinking about our $20 trillion national debt? Or Obamacare breaking the financial back of many Americans? Or a feckless Middle Eastern policy? Or the Clintons selling access and influence to anyone willing to write them a check? Or a record low labor participation rate? He has actually not had much to say about anything other than the Donald Trump nomination. No, Mitt is concerned with trickle-down racism," presumably because Trump wants to secure our border and questions the objectivity of the judge overseeing his Trump University lawsuit based on the judges membership in a La Raza Lawyers group. Ordinary Americans who voted for Trump in the primaries are more concerned with homeland security rather than political correctness and so-called racism. This will be reinforced after the Saturday night massacre at an Orlando nightclub where an ISIS inspired terrorist went on a shooting spree, similar to recent events in Paris and Brussels. Romney goes further, criticizing the other GOP primary candidates for not taking out Trump. Their biggest failure was attacking each other and not the frontrunner, according to Romney. Really? Did Mitt miss Cruz calling Trump a pathological liar and a narcissist? Or accusing Trump supporters of acting like union boss thugs? John Kasich warned voters of Trump, "Hes really not prepared to be president of the United States." Marco Rubio also had plenty to say about Trump, aside from references to his anatomy, Trump basically offended everyone for a year ... a disabled journalist, a female journalist, every minority group imaginable, on a daily basis. These candidates actually spent more time attacking Trump than each other. Did Mitt ever look into the mirror after his 2012 defeat? After a strong first debate, he fell asleep. Why didnt he seize the momentum and go after Obama on Benghazi, national security, the economy, and myriad other issues? He let Harry Reid accuse him of paying no taxes in 10 years without fighting back. Romney could have used his 47 percent comment as a teachable moment, educating voters about progressive income taxes, government benefits, and the unsustainable economic consequences, rather than backpedaling. I was not an avid Mitt Romney supporter, but honestly believed he would have been much better for the country than a second term of Barack Obama. Mitt was too moderate for my tastes, much like a Jeb Bush, supportive of big government, open borders, Common Core, and other issues near and dear to the Republican elites and donor class. That being said, Romney would have suffered the same fate as the other 16 candidates if he chose to run in this cycle. The establishment may have coalesced around him rather than around Bush, Rubio, or Kasich, but in the end Trump would have still won the nomination, calling Romney Timid Mitt or The Choker. Many Republicans held their noses and voted for Mitt Romney in 2012. Unfortunately fewer voters than voted for either George W Bush or John McCain. Did the Republican voters who stayed home in 2012 determine the outcome? Hard to know, as Obama received fewer votes in 2012 compared to 2008, but likely a major factor. Turnout will likely be a key determinant in November. Staying home wont help, yet that is exactly what #NeverTrumpers advocate, Mitt Romney says that he will not vote for either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton as Americas next president. Sorry Mitt, but those are your two choices. Unless you believe Gary Johnson is a viable candidate. Funny what four years did in Romneys perception of Trump. When Trump endorsed Romneys 2012 candidacy, Romney had this to say about Trump, "An extraordinary ability to understand how our economy works and to create jobs." And regarding trade, one of Trumps campaign issues, "One of the few who has stood up to say China is cheating." Has Trump changed on these issues or is Romney being a sore loser? Elections are about choices. And we have a major one. A third term of Obama or a new direction for the GOP. A direction away from the losing GOP formulas of 2008 and 2012 preaching open borders, lousy trade deals, endless wars, and pandering to the donors and elites at the expense of ordinary and struggling Americans. Sorry Mitt but you lost last time. You, too, have a choice. Get on board with the candidate, who while not your first choice, is one you praised when he supported your candidacy. Or you can be a sore loser, kicking sand and throwing a temper tantrum, which will serve only to further divide the Republican Party, electing a candidate who represents everything you say you are against. Work with Trump. Make him a better candidate. Help him beat Hillary Clinton. Fifty years ago, Ronald Reagan gave The Speech and spoke of A time for choosing. Americans did choose, and poorly, Johnson over Goldwater, and the result was the rise of the welfare entitlement state. Another choice awaits not only voters but also Republican Party elders such as Mitt Romney, two George Bushes, Trumps primary opponents, and influential pundits. Many important issues face America, not the least of which occurred in Orlando over the weekend. Time to be a big boy. Sore losers are for the playground, not the national stage. Brian C Joondeph, MD, MPS, a Denver based retina surgeon, radio personality, and writer. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter. Its very interesting to note that liberal Democrats are obsessed with justice. They talk about racial justice, economic justice, and environmental justice. Every issue is framed as a matter of justice. This means that these groups are entitled to a say in government, that their rights must be respected, that government must respond to their concerns. And by the strangest coincidence liberal Democrats in government are the only persons equipped to determine where, how, and why injustice has arisen and how to correct it. And it always involves spending your tax dollars to employ their supporters in government jobs you pay for. This helps them keep their political power and campaign donations flowing. But somehow the issue of citizenship justice has not come up yet. Citizens in the U.S. are tired of illegal immigrants getting subsidized to go to college, have free health care, social security benefits, subsidized housing, and numerous other benefits, all at the expense of citizens. Illegal immigration is only possible because the rights of citizens are being taken away. For example, only citizens can vote, yet many states have allowed illegal immigrants to obtain state IDs and drivers licenses. Sanctuary states not only allow illegal immigrants to vote, they want them to vote and set up rules, having the power of law, to enable them to vote. Every illegal immigrant who votes, takes a vote away from a citizen who is legally entitled to vote. This means that the speech of citizens, their voice in elections, is illegally and unconstitutionally taken away by government. Illegal immigrants also deprive citizens of the state services and benefits to which they are entitled and for which they pay with taxes. Money that goes to illegal immigrants doesnt go to citizens and their families. At some point citizens need to speak out and demand some citizenship justice; that they, as citizens of the U.S., are supposed to be receiving absolute respect from the government and to have some say in whether benefits should go to illegal immigrants. Right now the government, particularly in Democrat-run sanctuary cities and states, have given themselves the exclusive power to decide where tax dollars are spent; what benefits go to illegal immigrants. This is a violation of the concept of the consent of the governed. Of course, this entire scheme proves that liberal Democrats really want illegal immigrants in their cities so their biggest campaign contributors, government union members, can keep funding their campaigns. And of course they wont admit that. They rationalize their violation of immigration law with the ideology that we need to treat illegal immigrants humanely, that they are people too. Somehow they dont explain why they are not just as human in their native countries. Never mind, the more immigrants there are, the more the classrooms are filled with students, whose very existence supports the biggest campaign contributors in states; the public sector teacher unions. But citizens are people too. They also deserve humane treatment. But in the mix the rights of citizens are intentionally ignored. Not only do their children lose places at state universities but they are forced to subsidize the places taken by those who are not in the country legally. What citizens need, what Trump should propose, is a citizens bill of rights. Government at all levels justifies its power to tax by asserting that residents of an area need its state and local government to provide police and fire protection, good roads, sewer and water, and so on. Citizens have the right to safety. Yet the Kate Steinle murder is proof that illegal immigrants are being immunized from prosecution by the very liberal Democrats who take your money to protect you. Citizens also have the right to not be called racist if they assert their rights. It is very interesting that those people who assert the rights of illegal immigrants are quick to bully citizens by calling them names, characterizing them as racist, and trying to suppress their right to free speech. It appears that racism accusations carry more weight than citizenship rights. Citizens and their speech are portrayed as a threat to the freedom of others. This is an odd twist of American values since illegal immigrants who are convicted of felonies are a far greater threat and anyone who speaks about that is subject to intimidation and harassment. Democrats dont want citizens to have rights. They only protect the rights of non-citizens. This disrespect and disenfranchisement of citizen residents and citizen voters was created by liberal Democrats. They are the ones who violate Federal Immigration Law and push illegal immigrant children onto taxpayers throughout the nation. They have no respect for citizens. The figure they have the minority vote wrapped up since they have forced minorities into being dependent upon government. All the black ghettoes and Hispanic barrios have been created by, and are controlled by, liberal Democrats. Democrats act as though citizens are a threat to them. To disarm them from being a threat they take away their votes by allowing illegal immigrants to vote. And if some women are murdered in the process, oh well, you cant cook an omelet without breaking some eggs. And in the meantime they build up the strength of illegal immigrants. The great weakness of this scheme is that it is illegal and morally wrong. As soon as voters wise up, it will begin to weaken. As soon as Hispanics realize they are being exploited, as soon as blacks in ghettoes with terrible school systems realize Democrats keep them there by banning school choice, they will begin to look for alternative politicians. It has already started. There is nothing inevitable about the exploitation of minorities, it can be stopped just as it was started. The only thing that is inevitable is that as long as minorities are controlled by Democrats their lives will never improve. President Obama, voted into office as the great hope of minorities, has only made their economic situation worse and has done nothing to change the public education system. This is because he is part of the vast, national Democratic Party machine and was put in office to support it. Citizenship justice must become a new movement. Voters and citizens need to reassert their rights. The Founders of the nation never imagined this would happen, they never imagined how laws would be broken by government, how gerrymandering and ideology would create benefits transferring the wealth of citizens to those favored by the political elites. But it has happened and it is destroying the nation as well as the economy. NATO is restructuring its forces in Eastern Europe in order to deter Russia from attacking the Baltics and Poland. The move will be seen as provocative in Moscow, as Putin's paranoia about NATO will only grow. Reuters: Leaders in the Baltic countries and Poland fear the force NATO plans to deploy on their territory is too small and symbolic to deter an attack by Russia, whose 2014 annexation of Crimea is fresh in the memories of the former Soviet-bloc states. They will this week press other ministers of the western military alliance to help them build an air defense system against Russian aircraft and missiles. But that would be a highly sensitive step, likely to be condemned by Moscow as yet more evidence of a NATO strategy threatening its borders. Asked about the likelihood of Russian aggression in the Baltics, Lithuania's Defense Minister Juozas Olekas told Reuters: "We cannot exclude it ... They might exercise on the borders and then switch to invasion in hours." Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia see themselves on the front line in any potential conflict with Moscow and say they are putting their armies on a war footing, meaning they can be mobilized almost immediately. NATO defense ministers are set to agree this week on a new multinational force of 4,000 troops for the Baltics and Poland. The United States, Germany and Britain are set to lead battalions of about 1,000 troops each. Canada may lead a fourth. While the Baltic nations welcome the deployments, they say the build-up must go further - pointing to Russia's efforts to develop an "anti-access" capability in the Kaliningrad exclave bordering Lithuania and Poland, using missiles and submarines to stop NATO moving reinforcements into the Baltics. The Baltics want NATO fighters to protect their skies and are seeking medium-range missile interceptors from Norway's Kongsberg Gruppen (KOG.OL) and U.S. defense contractor Raytheon (RTN.N). "We need to stop possible air aggression," said Olekas. "We are discussing creating a regional medium-range air defense system together with the Latvians, the Estonians and the Poles." Olekas expects to raise the matter with NATO colleagues at the ministers' meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday in Brussels. The head of the Estonian defense force Lieutenant General Riho Terras said: "The first and foremost is the defense of our airspace. Air defense is the challenge that needs to solved together with the NATO alliance." "We are not talking about defense of Lithuania, we are talking about the credibility of the whole alliance," said Lithuania's Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius. Is there a chance that a NATO buildup in its eastern flank could lead to the very thing it is preparing against? In 2009, Russian threats over missile defense systems in Poland and the Czech Republic caused President Obama to turn tail and run. He withdrew the offer to defend the two countries, substituting a far less effective missile defense shield based in Romania. The missile defense is supposed to be targeting Iran's ballistic missile capabilty, but Putin isn't buying that. He may, as he has done in Ukraine, order military exercises along with border with Baltic states. In Crimea, it led to an invasion and conquest of Ukrainian territory. Putin's modernization of Russian defense forces is still several years from completion. A war with NATO now would be foolhardy, given the massive discrepancy between the two militaries in technology and professionalism. Russia's conscript army has not done particularly well in Ukraine, but its air force in Syria has been making a difference for President Assad, albeit without rebel or ISIS air power to oppose it. Putin's long game is the elimination of NATO. But in the short term, threats and intimidation appear to be all he is capable of. In Chicago, 1 out of every 3 dollars in taxes collected goes into one of the five pension systems for city employees. The city is desperate to stave off insolvency in all of those plans, given the $111 billion in unfunded liabilities. Rather than cut the fat out of the city budget, aldermen have decided to hit Chicago property owners with a 13% average tax increase over the next four years, with the tax bill this year being the largest. The increase is expected to pull in $588 million most of which will go into the pension plans. But Moody's is saying this will only delay the inevitable. Chicago's unfunded pension liabilities are expected to grow for another ten years despite the massive tax increase. Chicago Sun-Times: Lost in the fine print when that tax hike was approved is that the city is phasing in the increase over four years, although by far the biggest hit comes this year. The city increased its property tax levy by $318 million this year for police and fire pensions. That will jump up by another $109 million next year, $53 million the year after that and $63 more in the final year. By then it will have reached a total of $543 million more per year. The full $45 million tax increase for school construction takes effect on this years bills. One way of looking at that is that Chicago will collect more than $1.9 billion more in property taxes over the next four years $1.768 billion for pensions and $180 million for school construction than it would have before the tax increases. Thats how its usually parsed in political campaigns by candidates who didnt have to take responsibility for the tough vote. As you probably figured if you are a city resident, that extra $1.9 billion still doesnt get you out of the woods on property tax increases either, mainly because of the citys massive unfunded pension liability. Still under consideration by the Illinois General Assembly is authorization for a separate $175 million annual property tax levy for Chicago teachers pensions that would also require City Council approval. It would also have to get past Gov. Bruce Rauner, who has said Chicago should be freezing its property taxes. Plus, we still dont know how the city is going to fund its shortfall in the municipal employees pension fund, currently the subject of union negotiations. But don't fret, Chicagoans. Help is on the way. What Mayor Emanuel takes away with one hand, he gives with the other: With the tax bills on the way, Chicago aldermen are in a hurry to craft a property tax rebate plan that will ease the burden on some homeowners. A spokesman for Emanuel said the city will start briefing aldermen Tuesday on possible approaches for a rebate including how much money to give back and how to pay for it. The Civic Federations Laurence Msall is questioning how the city can afford to finance a rebate at this time, and I have the same concern. But political expediency will probably win out. The Illinois constitution makes it illegal to cut pension benefits, as Governor Rauner discoveredf when the Illinois Supreme Court nixed his pension reform plan that included a small cut in benefits and a greater contribution by workers. So the powerful municipal unions will continue to see many retirees with six-figure pensions and the funds themselves becoming insolvent. They ought to change the motto of the city to "Chicago: The City That Works...Badly." We are counting the dead again. Fourteen innocent people were murdered in San Bernardino, and the count is up to 50 in Orlando. Those are the victims of the last two terrorist attacks against the American people in the last year. Sad to say, they won't be the last. The U.S., and much of the West, is infected with people willing to commit horrific acts and kill innocents. Nevertheless, President Obama was clueless again, as John Podhoretz told us: He called it terror, which it is. But using the word terror without a limiting and defining adjective is like a doctor calling a disease cancer without making note of the affected area of the body -- because if he doesnt know where the cancer is and what form it takes, he cannot attack it effectively and seek to extirpate it. So determined is the president to avoid the subject of Islamist, ISIS-inspired or ISIS-directed terrorism that he concluded his remarks with an astonishing insistence that we need the strength and courage to change our attitudes toward the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. Thats just disgusting. Theres no other word for it. As I watched Sunday's events, and especially the aforementioned statement from President Obama, it made me think of President George W. Bush. We can now compare their very different approaches to terror. President Bush took the war to them, decimated al-Qaeda, and left his successor with a stable Iraq, and we had no terrorist attacks on U.S. soil after 9/11. President Obama decided to lower the volume on terror, close Gitmo, withdraw prematurely from Iraq, and let Russian planes fly over U.S. aircraft carriers without consequence. President Bush took this war on terror very seriously and communicated that down the line. President Obama did not take it seriously, and political correctness is now the rule of engagement. I hope that #45 is a lot more like Bush than Obama! P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter. I have a friend in Washington, D.C. who has long, intimate discussions with her hairdressers. They are both out as gay men and both in the closet as conservatives. They feel they have to whisper into her ear when discussing politics or they will be shunned by their gay co-workers and perhaps lose their jobs. So it is quite telling that in the aftermath of Orlando, some gays are speaking out in some cases anonymously in support of Donald Trump. Anonymous writes in PJ Media: The events of Orlando have shattered my political beliefs, as I can no longer swear allegiance to a peace-love-and-unicorns progressive philosophy that only helps to get my fellow queers killed. (snip) Muslim extremists, with guns, murder us, and on the left our only response is to bleat about "Islamophobia" and jump through hoops trying to explain away the self-evident religious motivation for the killings. Oh sure, all year I've been playing the "Bernie or Hillary?" game with all the other default-Democrats in my social and professional circles. But this is no longer some kind of game. Our lives are on the line. Although I voted for Hillary in the primary, I now cringe inwardly with shame and embarrassment at having done so, and in November I will vote for Trump. The Gateway Pundit editor has an important story on Breitbart, entitled "After the Pulse Club Massacre, It's Time for Gays to Come Home to Republican Party." I came out in the 1980s to family and friends during the AIDS epidemic[.] ... It was a scary time to be gay. Like most gay Americans, I don't wear my sexuality on my sleeve. I go about my daily business. I try not to harm anyone. I love my family. I love my friends. I love my country. I've been a conservative activist for years. But today I'm coming out as a conservative gay activist. In the past few years I've built one of the most prominent conservative websites in America. I created The Gateway Pundit because I wanted to speak the truth. I wanted to expose the wickedness of the left. I was raised to love my country. Today I serve my country by defending her from the socialist onslaught. But last night at least 49 gays were slaughtered at an Orlando club. Despite this obvious Islamic attack, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are still in denial. I can no longer remain silent as my gay brothers and sisters are being slaughtered at dance clubs. There is only one man who can lead this nation and protect all gays and all Americans. His name is Donald Trump. The Gateway Pundit itself has this story: "After Gay Club Massacre Phoenix LGBT Officially Endorses Trump." In an update, it's reported that the Phoenix LGBT account was created this weekend after the horrific shooting in Orlando. It's a small step don't hold your breath waiting for an established gay group to endorse Trump but it is a first step. There is a "gaysfortrump" Facebook page started by openly conservative gay Joseph Murray. It is small, with only 1,500 likes. It will be interesting to see if this grows in the next days and weeks. Murray has a column on the Orlando massacre on Breitbart today. While the LGBT community is routinely told its only home is the Democratic Party, this tragedy exposed that the Democratic Party will not do what is necessary to protect the LGBT community. If this shooting had been a crazed Christian fanatic or white supremacist, one only imagines the outrage the Left would have spewed. (snip) The LGBT community needs to wake up and stop being played for fools. Hillary does not have its back and will not take the measures as president to protect LGBT Americans; protect all Americans. (snip) Stop the nonsense over the refugee program and entertain the notion that Trump was correct when he proposed a temporary ban on Muslim immigration. James Driscoll wrote in March advocating for more gays to give Trump a second look: Nearly half of LGBTQ people think more like Republicans than like liberal Democrats on an array of issues unrelated to the red herring of sex: e.g. immigration, trade and jobs, regulation, healthcare, taxes, education and government red tape and intrusion. If only the Republicans would hold true to their professed principles of individual liberty and limited government, half of LGBTQ people might consider voting GOP. Trump is a maverick, a wild, outrageous "only in America" original. (snip) Many Americans, including LGBTQs, seek a captain to steer us out from the treacherous shoals of special interest politics and set the nation's course by the real needs of all its people. Libertarian gay billionaire Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and a board member at Facebook, is slated to serve as a California delegate for Donald Trump. Tellingly, gay journalist Owen Jones walked off a live Sky News set, he was so disgusted with his fellow liberal pundits' insistence on describing the Islamic gunman as a "lunatic" and refusing to agree that it was "homophobic terrorism." Gay men have divided interests. Many are successful businessmen and professionals targeted by progressives along with all the rest of America's successful, taxpaying white males. Many are loyal to the conservative values they were raised with and are not wholly defined by their sexual orientation. A portion of them will weigh their personal safety and our national security against Democrat pieties, overcome their prejudice against Republicans, and join Trump. For all the distaste I feel for Hillary Clinton, she is an ideal foil for humor. American humor delights in skewering pretentiousness, and with her phony self-righteousness and pretend concern for the victims of society while enriching herself, she offers abundant opportunities for humor. As I pointed out some time ago, she is the Margaret Dumont of American politics, an ideal target for derision. Two absolutely hilarious send-ups of her today offer me hope. The first comes from Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit, who responded to a tweet in which Hillary led with her glass jaw: If the FBI is watching you for suspected terrorist links, you shouldnt be able to just go buy a gun with no questions asked. Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 13, 2016 Yeah, anyone under FBI investigation is super sketchy. https://t.co/zqMHkdpODm Instapundit.com (@instapundit) June 13, 2016 The second comes from Shep on a Disqus comment at Scott Adamss blog. It is particularly poignant today, in the wake of Hillary calling out the Saudis for funding radical Islam, and posing as a friend of gays: I encourage readers to add their own examples of Hillary Hilarity in the comments. Oh, the lower back pains that inevitably afflict a judge who sits all day on the bench! And the medications resorted to by such judges contribute to depression and bipolar disorders, which lead to temporary insanity, which leads them to harass their mistresses' daughters. So insinuated Sol Wachtler, ex-chief judge of the New York Court of Appeal, in 1993. Fortunately, Sol Wachtler owned his misdeed and struck a plea bargain, taking one for the team and thereby preserving some integrity for New York's court system. Had Judge Wachtler actually asserted the insanity defense successfully, it would have wrought havoc with the entire New York State judicial system. Plaintiffs and defendants against whom the judge ruled would surely have claimed that Wachtler's assertion of insanity tainted the judgments he had authored. Diane Kroupa was robed for the U.S. Tax Court on 13 June 2003 for a 15-year term. For reasons that seemed a bit obscure at the time, she resigned from the bench in 2014, four years before the expiration of her term. On 4 April 2016, the mystery behind Judge Kroupa's resignation became clear: she and her husband were indicted on various criminal tax charges. Kroupa's indictment carried some troubling implications. She obviously knew that she was under investigation for some time prior to her resignation. Many of us in the tax community wondered not so much whether, but when an unhappy taxpayer against whom Kroupa had ruled would seek a review of Kroupa's adverse decision. On 13 June 2016, Dolores W. Gregory reported in Bloomberg BNA Daily Tax Report that the Eaton Corporation has moved to seek reconsideration of a Kroupa decision against it. The decision against Eaton was worth approximately a half-billion dollars to the IRS. Either Judge Kroupa was insane at the time she ruled against Eaton or she had her mental faculties about her. Either way brings disgrace upon the Tax Court, for not only is the Internal Revenue Service becoming notorious for the shtick it is pulling of late, but so is the Department of Justice, which does the actual criminal prosecutions of tax cases. I, for one, am not willing to bet my quarterly tax payment that Kroupa was not throwing cases the IRS's way in hopes of some lenity in the tax case against her and her husband. Kenneth H. Ryesky, now a senior adviser in the U.S. Desk of Ernst & Young's International Tax Services in Tel Aviv, is a lawyer who has taught business law and taxation at Queens College CUNY. He formerly served as an attorney for the IRS. The Westminster Arcade, also known as the Providence Arcade, in Providence, Rhode Island, was opened in 1828 as Americas first enclosed shopping mall, a concept that was found in some European cities but was not yet popular in the US. Designed by architects Russell Warren and James Bucklin, the building features six massive Ionic columns topped by a triangular pediment, and looked more like an ancient Greek temple than a shopping mall. Behind this striking granite front are open vestibule areas in three levels that were once occupied by numerous shops. Richly decorated cast iron railings capped in mahogany protected the balconies in the upper levels while a glass gable roof filled the atrium with natural light. The mall fell into hard times after the economic collapse of 2008, and was almost destined for the wrecking ball when the owners decided to turn the property into a residential building instead. Photo credit: Northeast Collaborative Architects The $7 million renovation project, which completed in 2013, saw the malls upper floors converted into a total of forty-eight micro-apartments with a floor size between 225 to 450 square feet. These fully furnished apartments features bathrooms, built-in beds, seating, storage, as well as kitchens equipped with refrigerators, sinks, dishwashers, and microwaves. There are also on-site laundry, bike storage, and locked basement storage units that apartment owners can share with their neighbors. The ground floor continues to function as a mall. When Westminster Arcade was built, the design had only two floors of shops, but a third floor was added to the plans before construction began. As a result the third floor had crammed spaces and was somewhat crowded. And for some reason, shoppers were reluctant to trudge up the stairs to the upper floors. Even when the shopping center was operating under full capacity, it was not making money. Shops were opening and closing all the time. The shopping mall underwent several renovation, once in 1940 to correct some of the structures added hastily to provide access to the last-minute third floor. In 1976, the arcade was designated a National Historic Landmark. Four years later, it underwent another renovation, but it didnt help much and the businesses continued to struggle. Westminster Arcade eventually closed its doors in 2008. Micro-apartments provided the arcades owners the best possible option to save the historic landmark. This new housing trend has grown in popularity in recent years especially in the United Kingdom, Poland, and China, before it arrived in some American cities such as San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, Boston, and Providence. The apartments at Westminster Arcade sold out within months of opening. Rents start at $550 a month. Also read: Highbury Square: A 93-Year-Old Football Stadium Converted Into Apartments Photo credit: Northeast Collaborative Architects Photo credit: Northeast Collaborative Architects Photo credit: Northeast Collaborative Architects Photo credit: Northeast Collaborative Architects Photo credit: Northeast Collaborative Architects Sources: Curbed / Wikipedia / ncarchitects.com A three-kilometer-long floating walkway made up of 220,000 high-density polyethylene cubes connect two small islands to the shore on Lake Iseo, on Italys Lombardy region, some 100 km east of Milan. The project which is being overseen by 80 year-old Bulgarian-born artist Christo Vladimirov Yavachev, has been going on since last November and is on its final leg. Although it appears bright white now, the 100,000 square meter walkway will be covered by a shimmering yellow fabric when it opens for visitors on June 18. The walkway will remain open for only 16 days, until July 3, during which half-a-million visitors are expected to walk on it. The experience will be like, as the artist describes, walking on the back of a whale. Photo credit: Luca Bruno/AP Lake Iseo, also known as Sebino, is a small jewel of the Italian territory surrounded by magnificent mountains and valleys of the provinces of Brescia and Bergamo. Formed by the River Oglio, with a surface area of over 65 square km, the lake is home to the islets of San Paolo and Loreto. Monte Isola, on the lakes middle, is Europes largest inhabited lake island. The walkway starts from Sulzano, extending clear across the water, to Monte Isola, and then continues to the island of San Paolo which it completely encircles. To assemble the Floating Piers, the artist brought in a team of athletes from his native Bulgaria and divers to anchor them to concrete slabs on the lake-floor. To sew the yellow fabric, he recruited a team of German seamstresses and gave them specially made sewing machines. 150 volunteers, among them lifeguards, will be posted on the piers and on boats around the clock to ensure safety. The entire project cost 15 million and was financed entirely by the artist. There will be no entrance fee for visitors. The concept of the floating piers was conceived together with Christo's creative and life partner Jeanne-Claude way back in 1970 when they drew up plans to float a 2,000 meter long inflated pier on the delta of the Rio de la Plata in Argentina. Later, they proposed similar plans for Tokyo Bay but was denied permit. Jeanne-Claude passed away in 2009, but Christo continued to pursue their dream. In 2014, he chose Lake Iseo for its calm waters and simple shoreline against the majestic Alpine foothills that some believe may have inspired the background of Leonardo's Mona Lisa. Photo credit: Luca Bruno/AP Photo credit: Luca Bruno/AP Photo credit: Wolfgang Volz Photo credit: Wolfgang Volz Photo credit: Luca Bruno/AP Photo credit: Wolfgang Volz Photo credit: Wolfgang Volz Photo credit: Wolfgang Volz Photo credit: Wolfgang Volz Photo credit: Wolfgang Volz Photo credit: Wolfgang Volz Sources: Design Boom / The Guardian / www.iseolake.info Googles Fiber internet service is one which is highly sought after, and understandably so given its extremely fast Gigabit internet speeds at a reasonable monthly cost. Despite its high demand, though, Fiber is only up and running in a handful of cities across the U.S., although Google has expressed plenty of interest in a wide range of locations around the country. While Fiber is already live and serving customers in Texas, its only available in Austin currently, and is set to enter San Antonio next. Google could be bringing Fiber to Dallas in the future, however, as they have just announced on the Google Fiber Blog that they are exploring the option of Dallas as a future Fiber city. For people of the Dallas, TX area, thats the good news, as who wouldnt be excited about the prospect of super fast Gigabit internet services? With Google expressing their interest in bringing Fiber to the area, though, not all is said and done, as Google will still need to gain approval from the city to launch Fiber, and then theyll have to begin the process for laying the groundwork, which wouldnt happen until they have already started the process for San Antonio. This means that it could still be quite a while before Fiber reaches the Dallas region, if at all. Advertisement Having said that, it stands to reason that Dallas residents will have a good chance at experiencing Fiber at some point, as Google notes that Dallas is already one of the best cities to work in Tech, which could suggest that Google is pretty confident about Fibers potential entry into the city. Aside from Dallas, Google has also expressed interest in other locations, and they have recently launched Fiber in Nashville, TN back at the end of April. Google also recently launched a Fiber application in the Play Store for current Fiber customers, making it easier than ever to manage their accounts, manage their Fiber network, and get quick and easy access to the help center if theyre ever having any issues. If Fiber does come to Dallas at some point in the future, the official Fiber app will likely be of some use. Google launched the Spaces application right before the Google I/O Developer Conference earlier in the year. Spaces is designed as a small group sharing service, similar in some ways to the Google+ Communities service, but users do not need a Google+ account. It is perhaps seen as another way Google is potentially withdrawing from Google+, or at least relaxing the requirements to have an account. In other ways, Spaces is similar to Pinterest in that it can be used as an online scrapbook service. Users can invite friends or family to use the same Spaces using a mobile link. Once in the Spaces, customers can use the Google Search, Google Chrome, Google Photos and YouTube services to build content, which can be commented on by all members of the Spaces. And as this is a Google service, it is integrated with the Google Search product so customers are able to easily find existing content. Googles ideas for Spaces including putting together house hunting lists and planning trips away from home but with a little imagination, there are many different ideas: it could be used for collaborative projects involving pulling together information from many different sources around the Internet. When Google released the product, it came with an Android application plus the web interface, but shortly afterwards they released a Google Chrome browser extension. The extension makes it much easier to create a Space and share content found whilst browsing the web its easily installed into the Chrome browser on either a laptop, desktop or Chromebook computer. Once installed, the extension makes it considerably easier to pin links into a Space to share with other members. Advertisement As a product, Spaces is interesting because it meets a need that has already been met by other applications and services from different providers. Where Spaces has an advantage is in the deep integration with Googles other products and services. It is yet to be seen if the service will gain much traction or if Google have grander plans: Pinterest and Instagram have become the de facto standards for sharing images, but for the time being if you are using Spaces, or interested in trying it, the Chrome extension should make life easier. In the last eighteen months, Google have been making a determined push into the enterprise sphere from all fronts. Weve seen renewed enthusiasm behind Google for Work and a reinvigorated cloud computing business model now going toe to toe with Amazon and Microsoft. However, Google is not inventing new wheels in support of these moves: instead the company is reinventing existing wheels and technologies. In the year to date weve seen a number of new technologies adapted for the enterprise market and this week, the company has announced Google Springboard for enterprise. Theres an easy way and a difficult way to describe Google Springboard. The difficult approach means explaining that Google Springboard utilizes machine learning technologies to provide a meaningful assistant providing useful, timely and actionable notifications, information and recommendations, depending on what he or she has been and is doing. The easy way to describe Springboard is that Google Springboard is to enterprise systems what Google Now is to consumers. The ease of this explanation depends on how well one already knows Google Now! The Springboard lets users search through all information their account has access to including Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Drive, Contacts and more. The mobile application provides quick access to the users agenda, not dissimilar from Calendar, and suggests relevant Google Docs: it produces a Pick up where you left off message for either frequently used documents, or those with new edits or comments from other users. Googles information shows that for many enterprise employees, they spend one day per week searching for relevant information. Advertisement In addition to Google Springboard, Google have also announced significant changes and improvements to Google Sites. Google Sites is a very popular product: back in October 2014, Sites had almost as many active users as Drives at 240 million. These changes bring the service into line with Googles other products, such as Spaces. Theyre designed to improve the layout and ease of use of Sites for example, theres now a drag and drop interface together with speedier access to documents kept in Google Drive. The thinking behind the new version of Google Sites is based on the understanding that many Sites users wish to handle and distribute content without needing to understand the underlying code, which the old version of Sites encouraged. The new Sites allows similar collaboration work as we see with Google Drive and Google Keep. It automatically resizes images and cleverly blurs images under text so as to improve legibility. A limited number of enterprise customers have been experimenting with the new Sites and with Springboard; Google is opening up the new services to all users via an early access program. The idea here is that Google has designed the service for a small group of big companies, which would represent the majority of users, but will customize and tweak it to suit other users as it needs to. Google Apps for Work admins can apply to become part of the new early access program from today. OnePlus has officially announced the OnePlus 3 earlier this morning and alongside the new design and brand-new hardware specifications, the phone comes with plenty of new improvements and unique features. OnePlus has switched a couple of things up this year, like the handsets overall design, as it now features a metal unibody design instead of the open back design that was used on last years OnePlus 2. There are also some similarities, as OnePlus has brought back the alert slider key that was introduced on the OnePlus 2, allowing users to switch back and forth between Androids notification profiles that include All, Priority, and None. This slider makes for a fast and simple process when you want to set your notifications to priority only, or when youre ready to open up to all notifications again. In addition to the alert slider, the OnePlus 3 also features a fingerprint scanner on the front of the device that can be used to unlock the screen and add an extra layer of security to the phone for the user. Although the OnePlus 2 added a fingerprint sensor last year, the OnePlus 3 also features NFC this year which means the device is also capable of making mobile payments, which means the fingerprint sensor wont be just for unlocking the phone, something which many users are sure to appreciate. Advertisement While the fingerprint sensor and the alert slider as well as the NFC radio are a few special features worth mentioning, theyre also all hardware based, and a huge part of the experience on the OnePlus 3 is the software. Special features on the software side of things mostly center around the OxygenOS, OnePlus unique blend of Android and what they call a bloat-free user experience that is light, fast, and stylish. OxygenOS has plenty to offer and brings in a widely customizable experience. First things first, though, the OnePlus 3 comes running the latest version of the unique software which is based on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow. Of course, all the Marshmallow-specific features are there, like Doze Mode, App standby, granular permissions control, and Now on Tap, but there are also additional features that are part of OxygenOS like adaptive brightness, accent color customization, Night Mode, home screen and screen-off gestures controls, and more. You can also customize the status bar and notification icons and rearrange them if you want your device personalized from top to bottom. OxygenOS even lets you customize the Google Search bar on the home screen or remove it if you would rather not have it there at all. Other special features that users will notice on the device are things like RAW image support for the camera, as well as a decent set of manual controls for really getting the best out of your pictures from the phone. Overall, if you want a new and fresh experience in a device along with some unique capabilities and features, the OnePlus 3 just might be the solution youre looking for. When it comes to smartphone launches, there are few out there that command as much quiet excitement as a OnePlus launch. Sure, the Chinese brand ist quite as sort after as Samsung is right now, but the OnePlus 3 has been leaking out all over the place these past few weeks and today, June 14th, is the day that it finally, officially becomes official. Of course, this doesnt mean that the leaks and such will stop, far from it as an Indian newspaper revealed the price of the OnePlus 3 in India. Now, it appears as though the OnePlus 3 is going to be an exclusive item to Amazon India, with its Amazon listing having popped up online already. The Amazon India page describes the OnePlus 3 as the device that we all pretty much know its going to be launched as later today, but also sheds some extra light on some features. Notably the price as well as its unique, proprietary fast charging technology. As the newspaper ad from earlier let slip, the OnePlus 3 is going to cost RS 27,999 from Amazon India, and the images from the Amazon listing (grouped in the below gallery) only go to confirm as much. Meanwhile, the fast charging technology in the OnePlus 3 is called Dash Charge and according to the Amazon page will provide a respectable 60% of the 3,000 mAh battery is just half an hour. On top of all of this, the rest of the phones specifications and features have also been outed by Amazon, and the Snapdragon 820 and 6GB of RAM all seem to be true, as too does the 5.5-inch 1080p Super AMOLED display. A 16-megapixel rear-facing camera and an 8-megapixel front-facing camera all seem to be confirmed as well, and a new feature called Smart Capture appears to be coming along for the ride as well. Curious users who just cant wait can take a look at the gallery below for all of the images taken from the now-offline Amazon IN listing. Its not easy for a company to launch something all over the world, with different time zones and different marketing campaigns colliding with each other it can be a chore to get everything organized. Regardless, OnePlus is not the sort of company to complain about a little extra hype prior to a big launch like this. Not everybody was on board with OLED display technology when it first debuted, or even when Samsung pushed to make it mainstream, incorporating it into their flagship Galaxy S lineup. Years later, many manufacturers are gradually phasing out their LCD display businesses to manufacture OLED displays. Samsung Display, Samsungs in-house screen manufacturer, seems to be ready to move on to the next step. While everybody else is selling off LCD assembly lines and equipment to invest in creating OLED displays, Samsung is doing the same to invest in flexible OLED displays, to the tune of about 3 trillion won, or $2.56 billion. This comes on the heels of them laying out 2 trillion won during the first half of the year to bolster their factories ability to produce flexible OLED displays. Flexible OLEDs have a wide range of applications, many of which Samsung already has a hand in. Samsung offers curved TVs, curved displays in their Galaxy S Edge phones, and is working on flexible, foldable devices. Already the top producer of OLED displays, with a whopping 95% of the market in their grasp, Samsung is moving fast to capitalize on projected early growth of curved OLED displays, which they are driving with their own products. In order to drum up the cash to outfit their factories for the creation of this new type of display, theyre selling off LCD lines in short order. The latest is an L7, or 7th generation LCD, assembly line from their factory in South Chungcheong Province, which was mainly responsible for manufacturing displays for mid-size TVs. Advertisement This scramble to refit their lines and aggressively chase down new markets comes a month after Kwon Oh-hyun took the helm of Samsung Display. With this latest sale and the requisite conversions, four out of six Samsung factories will be manufacturing OLED displays in some capacity. The new investments will be happening throughout 2016, which means that the factories bought and outfitted using that money will likely begin producing in 2017. This means that the current shift in Samsungs manufacturing processes may signal an overall shift in the market toward flexible OLED displays, a commodity produced by relatively few competitors. If Samsung has their way, the rise of the flexible OLED will be history repeating itself, with them seizing the market early on and never letting go, just as they did with OLED displays. Sonys Xperia Z lineup, the now-defunct predecessor to the Xperia X family, has been water resistant from the very beginning of the lineage. Although at one point, Sony backpedaled and said that it was dangerous to take the phones around the wet stuff, there was a time when they were advertised as being useful for underwater photography. The Xperia Z5, in fact, can allegedly be used while wet due to its touch screens ability to sense the difference between a finger and a water droplet. After pressure from some of his audience, YouTuber XEETECHCARE decided to put his Xperia X to the test and see if it held up the water resistant legacy of its bloodline. The phone passed the test quite swimmingly and came out the other side fully working after no less than 2 entire minutes in the drink. Between the Xperia Z lineup featuring water resistance, despite Sonys denial, and the feature becoming mainstream, many people had a hunch that the Xperia X may have the feature. As it turns out, that hunch might be correct. Sony has not confirmed the aquatic abilities of their newest flagship, of course, most likely for the same reason that they disclaimed those abilities in their previous lineup. Although the phones are water resistant, most likely through nano coating, any failure during aquatic use would result in the phone going belly-up and Sony having to hear about it on their customer service lines. If they claimed the phone would do OK in water, they would likely also have a warranty case on their hands. Advertisement It should be noted that the phone being used here, sporting a stylish Uncharted 4 theme, is actually the vanilla Xperia X, not the Xperia X Performance or the lower-end Xperia XA. Additionally, any waterproofing system can fail in a number of ways and hard, salty or chlorinated water could have a more devastating effect than its plain counterpart, so no matter which Xperia you have in your pocket, it may be best to refrain from that impromptu cannonball into the pool. Still, there is some peace of mind in knowing that your device could probably shrug off a quick accidental dip or some heavy rain without needing any components replaced, even if the manufacturer keeps the fact to themselves. When OnePlus initially announced the original OnePlus One, they were a relative unknown in the world of smartphones and the world of Android. Since then however, the company has come on leaps and bounds and the brand has become known for great value for money, as well as some of their controversial marketing tactics. Now, with the newly-announced OnePlus 3 on its way to some customers around the world, you might be wondering what all the fuss is about. With some of the best specs available for a device that costs just $399 (different countries have their own pricing, with info available here) the OnePlus 3 sure looks the part, but what if youre still on the fence or want to know what the big deal with the OnePlus 3 is? If thats you right about now, then you wont want to miss this Top 10. Excellent Value for Money Advertisement Say what you will of OnePlus and the way they do business, but theres no denying their excellent value for money. The OnePlus 3, with its whopping 6GB of RAM comes in at just $399. Thats incredible value for money. Sure, that might sound like a lot, but considering the OnePlus 3 has many of the same internals as devices like the Galaxy S7 Edge as well as LG G5, that figure quickly becomes more and more attractive. It might only have a 1080p display, but at 5.5-inches its a great size and as an AMOLED panel it will look nice and vibrant regardless of resolution. For an unlocked, full-metal smartphone $399 is an incredible price and offers some great value for money. It has 6GB of RAM Advertisement While it might be like this all over the world as standard, the OnePlus 3 is launching in most areas with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of storage to go with it. Now, you might not even know how much RAM you have in your device right now, but 6GB is a lot more than your average smartphone. The Galaxy S7 and LG G5 launched with 4GB of RAM, and the extra 2GB on top here should make multitasking on the OnePlus 3 a breeze. With more RAM comes the ability to keep more apps and games open, and makes it easier for the device to handle big games as well as more intensive apps. Put simply, 6GB is the sort of specification that not only sounds ahead of its time, but is ahead of its time. You Can Buy It Without an Invite, Whenever You Want Advertisement One of the things that made average consumers scratch their heads about the original OnePlus One was the need for an invite. Thats right, you had to be invited, to be chosen to be able to even give your money to OnePlus. This carried over to the OnePlus 2 and OnePlus X, but has since been scrapped and users can purchase any OnePlus device they like, whenever they like. This will carry over to the OnePlus 3 as well, which is going to launch without the need for an invite, and will be available to order whenever and from wherever give or take. This is a big change in the way that OnePlus is doing things, and to put a device up for sale so quickly after its been launched is impressive, to say the least. It Has Fast Charging Advertisement While most smartphones are launched these days with Qualcomm QuickCharge for their fast charging superpowers, OnePlus is going it alone with their own Dash Charging. This is a fast charging solution OnePlus have put together themselves and they say that it can deliver 60% of the 3,000 mAh batterys capacity in just half an hour. Thats impressive, and depending on how much battery you had left in the OnePlus 3 it could get you a full battery topped up before you leave the house. On top of the speed however, OnePlus is keen to remind people that they didnt need to increase the voltage, but rather the current with Dash Charging, which makes for a more consistent charge. All of the heat should be at the power adapter itself, rather than with the phone, which in turn should make for a longer-lasting battery overall. It Features an AMOLED Display Advertisement Previous OnePlus flagships have always launched with a 5.5-inch 1080p display, and thats not changing with the OnePlus 3, but what is changing is the type of display that it uses. With the OnePlus 3, theres now an AMOLED display built-in, which makes for a device with more vivid colors, deeper blacks, as well as better battery life in some situations. Its an Optic AMOLED display, which should deliver a much more pleasant viewing experience overall, including a much brighter display overall. AMOLED displays use Organic LEDs, and when theyre black theyre off which means that black is truly black, which will be a big deal for those movie buffs on the go. Its Carrier Unlocked Advertisement This is something thats true of every OnePlus product to date, including the new OnePlus 3, but its a very important thing to note. Sadly, this sort of thing is only guaranteed for GSM carriers, those on CDMA carriers such as Sprint and Verizon might be out of luck. Even so, this makes it super-easy to use the OnePlus 3 all over the world with just the change of a SIM or by choosing one of the two you can keep inside of the OnePlus 3 the OnePlus 3 can be taken anywhere you want. This gives users freedom to get whatever deal they want for their service, and it also makes it really easy to purchase the OnePlus 3, as theres no need to worry about whether or not it will work on your network. OxygenOS Advertisement You might have heard that OnePlus originally shipped with CyanogenOS, but that deal went South some time ago now and since then OnePlus has been offering their own software. Built on top of Android, of course, OnePlus offers OxygenOS and HydrogenOS. The latter is only available in Asian regions, and mostly in China, but OxygenOS is what ships on the majority of OnePlus devices. The OnePlus 3 is no exception, and whats great about OxygenOS is that its got a little something extra included, while also sticking pretty close to Googles vision for Android. Its arguably one of the most Nexus-like experiences out there, and it has some of the same tweaks that youd expect from a custom ROM. If youre the type of user that wants a basic, yet clean, Android experience with a few more customization options, youll enjoy OxygenOS. All-metal Unibody Look and Feel For many, the above image has been what theyve seen of the OnePlus 3 for some time now; a OnePlus that looks decidedly different from older devices. This is the sort of thing that will divide users, on the one hand it looks much nicer than other OnePlus devices before it in terms of polish and style, but on the other hand its far from original. The OnePlus 3 will seem familiar to an iPhone or many other Chinese devices and Western devices such as the HTC 10. Thats a matter of opinion, but at just 7.35mm thick, its clean new look will feel good in the hand and give off a more professional and premium look and feel. Root Friendly Another key draw of the OnePlus devices has always been how easy they are to root. For those unfamiliar, rooting an Android device gives you system-level privileges similar to your admin password on your computer. It allows you to manipulate the file system more as well as use extra third-party apps such as Xposed and so on. The OnePlus One, OnePlus 2 as well as the OnePlus X all allow for easy rooting and bootloader unlocking, just like a Nexus device does. This makes the OnePlus 3 a fun device to play around with, as well a device that many will develop custom ROMs and software for to extend the life well beyond when OnePlus are done with it. Binatone is set to release two new wireless and two new wired (but all Bluetooth) earbuds tomorrow for sale, but images and details of these earbuds are already available for all to see. As available images show, these earbuds are branded with the Motorola logo but the company wasnt involved in either the designing or development process of these earbuds. The branding as such is a result of Binatone acquiring rights to design, develop and sell Motorola products late last year. While the wireless earbuds are named the VerveOnes and the VerveOnes+, the wired ones have been named VerveRider and VerveLoop+ and all of these are part of the companys VerveLife brand which also includes a VerveCam and VerveRetrieve GPS tracker. Among the wired earbuds, VerveLoop+ costs $79 and features as much as 12 hours of battery life, IP57 certification and support for HD sound. These earbuds, which are connected by wires between them, are also sweat-proof and you will also find an extra pair of ear gels in the box just in case you happen to be an avid music listener. The VerveRider, which is slightly cheaper at $69, features a similar set of earbuds connected with each other through a wire, but also comes with a thin band which is meant to rest on your collar and provide support for the earbuds in case they slip off your ears. The band also carries playback controls and comes with an IP57 waterproof rating. Among the wireless earbuds, the VerveOnes are the less expensive model, costing $199 and featuring dual microphones for calls and stereo sound support. It works with both Android and iOS devices and supports both Google Now and Siri digital assistants and features a 12-hour battery life along with protective cases to keep it damage-free when youre not using it. The more expensive VerveOne+ costs $249, is completely water-proof and sweat-resistant and comes with a carrying case. Advertisement Back in February, a number of VerveLife accessories were displayed at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. These were a pair of water-resistant Bluetooth headphones named VerveLoop, wireless earbuds VerveOnes and VerveOnes+ that will release tomorrow, a portable video camera named VerveCam and a GPS tracker named VerveRetrieve. While the VerveCam came with an impressive 138-degree field of view, could shoot 2.5K videos at 30 frames per second and could live stream videos on YouTube, the VerveRetrieve GPS tracker was meant to help you find your lost pets and boasted an IP67 water-proof certification as well. To use all VerveLife accessories with your Android phone or iPhone, you will need to download an app named Hubble which is available for free in both app stores. Germany-based company, Carl Zeiss, has just announced a new VR headset. Carl Zeiss has introduced the VR One Plus headset, which is essentially a new variant of the VR One headset which was announced back in January of this year. The VR One headset is basically a Google Cardboard headset, but the VR One Plus takes it up a notch. The Zeiss VR One Plus comes with an improved design, and its specifications are also improved this time around. Carl Zeiss has included a new smartphone tray here which should be compatible with any iOS or Android smartphone between 4.7 and 5.5-inches (which means it wont support devices like Lenovos new PHAB2 Pro which is 6.44-inches, or the Google Nexus 6 which is 5.96-inches). This VR headset also comes with a head strap, which is removable, and a front faceplate with foam inserts, which is also replaceable, so you can remove it if gets worn out or something. Zeiss designed this new VR headset around premium materials and ergonomics, with precision Zeiss optics to make it one of the best headsets around. Unfortunately, this new VR headset from Zeiss is not compatible with Googles new Daydream platform, at least it hasnt been certified by Google just yet. That may change in the future, however. Advertisement Carl Zeiss has also mentioned that the VR One Plus headset will ship with integration with the DJI Inspire 1 drone, which means youll be able to see DJI Inspire 1s footage through the VR One Plus headset (first person view). This headset also supports a room-scale experience which the company claims can compete with the best out there (HTC Vive included), and the company was able to pull this off by partnering with Dacuda, a mobile 3D scanning company. The Zeiss VR One Plus headset is priced at $129, and it will be available this August. Update: An earlier version of this post mentioned that the Zeiss VR One Plus headset was compatible with Googles Daydream virtual reality platform. Google has reached out to inform us that they have not certified this VR headset, thus making it incompatible with Daydream. Russian Ultras, Joey Barton irony overload and Igor Lebedev mocks Andrew Bache Russian thugs are in France for the Euros. The Star says 150 of the hyper-violent Russian Ultras are on their way to ambush England fans again. Surely to ambush people you need the element of surprise. The only surprising thing these goons are capable of is breathing with their mouths closed. The Star says the goons have given bungling French police the slip. The paper posts a picture of what appears to be pre-steroid Ultras division. The Mirror goes for the more pumped up version on its front page, and the news is no less inflated. The hooligans are ULTRA EVIL. They are planning to attack the England v Wales match. They are reportedly supported by Russian MP Igor Lebedev, who the Mirror says tweeted, Well done, lads, keep it up. Over page 4 and 5 we get more from Igor: I dont see anything wrong with the fans fighting. quite the opposite, well done lads, keep it up. As General Igor urges more aggro from his Moscow hilltop, we read that a few Russian Ultras were stopped at the airport, but other slipped away from Marseilles by train. You might wonder how anyone can slip anywhere in a country monitored by CCTV and armed police on the look out for jihadis. We also read of Andrew Bache, 51, an England fan batted by Russian with an iron bar by Russian fans. He is in medically induced coma. Perhaps Igor can send him a card? The Sun says Russians chanted DIE! DIE! DIE! as Mr Bache lay on the ground. And then we see an oddity. On Page 4 Joey Barton tells how he feared for his safety on the street of Marseilles as he came face-to-face with the Russian nutters. He as petrified. His pals had a young lad with them. Readers may recall that this is same Joey Barton who in 2008 was jailed for assault and affray. Barton was caught on CCTV in Liverpool punching one man 20 times before an attack which left a teenage boy with broken teeth. Judge Henry Globe QC said it was a violent and cowardly act. Finally, we note that six England fans were jailed over hooliganism in Marseilles. There are not Ultras. But they are ultra thick. Anorak Posted: 14th, June 2016 | In: Back pages, Key Posts, Reviews, Sports, Tabloids Comment | TrackBack | Permalink BRUSSELS - "We are taking the necessary steps to replace" the EU delegation head in Ankara Hansjorg Haber after his resignation, a spokesperson for the European Commission said on Tuesday. "We continue to work with Turkey, a key partner for us," the spokesperson said, without explaining the reasons for the resignation. Haber has been running the EU delegation to Ankara since October. Last month the ambassador infuriated Turkish authorities and was summoned by the Foreign Ministry. Referring to the migrant deal, he told journalists: "we have a proverb: start like a Turk and finish like a German. But it has been just the opposite here." His comment has been interpreted as meaning that Turkish authorities lack discipline to meet their commitments in the deal. His resignation will become effective from August 1, according to EU sources, who added that the new nomination would be made "rapidly" and that the delegation remains active. Haber is a German diplomat with extensive work experience at the EU. Nearing retirement, he may now return to work for the German foreign ministry, according to ANSA sources (ANSAmed) - Naples - The international success of Shirin Neshat began 20 years ago with the presentation of 'Women of Allah' at an exhibition in Naples. Now the Iranian artist returns to the Campania regional capital for the Teatro Festival Italia, starting Wednesday. Neshat presents "Passage through the world", a site-specific theatre project created for Donnaregina museum with the artist and filmmaker Shoja Azari. The pair will lead the public through a musical and visual odyssey along the ancient Silk Road leading from Europe through the Balkans to the Middle East and beyond. The journey examines the numerous cultural convergences that have enriched the areas traversed by the itinerary with a specific focus on the themes of loss and rebirth and the way in which women experience these issues. The work combining theatre, music, choreography and photography blurs the distinction between the arts, as is often the case with Neshat. "Aesthetically, vision travels through different media," the Iranian artist who won the Venice Biennale International Award in 1999 explained. "In cinema and in theatre you always have to think of something more tangible, while in art you are more free. Every form has its logic, its rules, its public, its collaborations, its codes. When you switch medium it is a challenge, an experiment, something new that you are inventing. We do it carefully and conscientiously, often after lengthy conversations and especially with modesty. And I think this performance is full of modesty, in the most poetic sense of the word, and even if the message is very strong it is not complicated and for me working on it has meant experiencing many magic moments, as though it were a kind of gift," she continued. The performance is part of the ninth edition of the month-long Teatro Festival Italia in Naples and other parts of the Campania region. Several events underscore the Mediterranean spirit of the festival, including 'While I was waiting' by Syrian dramatist Omar Abusaada on the situation in his country. The festival will end at sea with migrant artists performing in a boat to draw attention to the unending tragedy of migration to Europe. (ANSAmed). From the Med to Tibet, journey to the East by Shirin Neshat Iranian artist opens Italia Theatre Festival in Naples (ANSAmed) - Naples, June 14 - The international success of Shirin Neshat began 20 years ago with the presentation of 'Women of Allah' at an exhibition in Naples. Now the Iranian artist returns to the Campania regional capital for the Teatro Festival Italia, starting Wednesday. Neshat presents "Passage through the world", a site-specific theatre project created for Donnaregina museum with the artist and filmmaker Shoja Azari. The pair will lead the public through a musical and visual odyssey along the ancient Silk Road leading from Europe through the Balkans to the Middle East and beyond. The journey examines the numerous cultural convergences that have enriched the areas traversed by the itinerary with a specific focus on the themes of loss and rebirth and the way in which women experience these issues. The work combining theatre, music, choreography and photography blurs the distinction between the arts, as is often the case with Neshat. "Aesthetically, vision travels through different media," the Iranian artist who won the Venice Biennale International Award in 1999 explained. "In cinema and in theatre you always have to think of something more tangible, while in art you are more free. Every form has its logic, its rules, its public, its collaborations, its codes. When you switch medium it is a challenge, an experiment, something new that you are inventing. We do it carefully and conscientiously, often after lengthy conversations and especially with modesty. And I think this performance is full of modesty, in the most poetic sense of the word, and even if the message is very strong it is not complicated and for me working on it has meant experiencing many magic moments, as though it were a kind of gift," she continued. The performance is part of the ninth edition of the month-long Teatro Festival Italia in Naples and other parts of the Campania region. Several events underscore the Mediterranean spirit of the festival, including 'While I was waiting' by Syrian dramatist Omar Abusaada on the situation in his country. The festival will end at sea with migrant artists performing in a boat to draw attention to the unending tragedy of migration to Europe. (ANSAmed). BEIRUT - Bahrain authorities on Tuesday called for the suspension of Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, the main Shia Muslim opposition group in the Sunni Muslim-ruled country. A justice ministry statement released by state news agency BNA accused a "foreign religious and political authority" of being behind Al-Wefaq's agenda, a reference to Iran. Like other media, Iranian agency Abna, which handles news related to the Shia community, reported on Monday that activist and president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR), Nabeel Rajab, was arrested near the capital. During the Arab Spring uprisings in 2011, Bahrain authorities strongly suppressed popular protests. In recent years, activists such as Rajab have often spent time in prison. EU most significant donor to Palestine-EU Commissioner Says EU will remain important reliable partner (ANSAmed) - TEL AVIV, JUNE 14 - Johannes Hahn, EU Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy, on Tuesday concluded a mission to the West Bank and Gaza to examine relations between the EU and Palestine. "The EU is and will remain in future the most significant and reliable donor for Palestinians," said Hahn. "All our efforts are directed towards the needs of Palestinians and, above all, to support the creation of a future Palestinian state in the context of the two-state solution," he said. Every year the EU contributes about 300 million euros towards projects in the West Bank and Gaza. During the trip, Hahn visited a marine water desalination project financed by the EU that will be able to supply 150,000 people. In Ramallah, he discussed political developments with Palestinian National Authority President Abu Mazen and Premier Rami Hamdallah. Hahn also met members of Palestinian civil society in Jerusalem and visited Bethlehem. (ANSAmed). (ANSAmed) - WASHINGTON - The UN Security Council has unanimously approved a resolution calling for Libya's militias and security forces to unite to defend the country from terrorism. The resolution urges the recently formed government of national unity to finalise security agreements to stabilise the country "as a critical step towards tackling Libya's political, security, humanitarian, economic and institutional challenges and to combat the threat of terrorism." The council also "strongly encouraged" the government to support reconciliation. (ANSAmed) - Madrid - Spain's four aspiring prime ministers, Pedro Sanchez of the Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), Pablo Iglesias of Podemos, Albert Rivera of Ciudadanos and Mariano Rajoy of the People's Party (PP), exchanged verbal fire in the first and only televised debate between the candidates ahead of fresh general elections on June 26. The strongest attacks were reserved for the outgoing premier, although sparks also flew between Iglesias and Rivera and Sanchez. The latter systematically criticised the leader of Podemos of voting "with Mr Rajoy" against his investiture as premier in March. "You've got the wrong enemy, the adversary is Rajoy," replied Iglesias in a low voice. The tension rose when the four leaders spoke about the endemic corruption in the country. Rivera, Sanchez and Iglesias attacked the PP, of which several exponents are under investigation for alleged wrongdoing. Rajoy replied by recalling that two former PSOE presidents have been sent to trial in connection with the ERE corruption scandal in Andalucia. The outgoing premier also criticised his rivals for "talking of resolving problems by magic, while governing is extremely difficult". Spanish media described the debate - the first between four candidates for the premiership since the end of Francosim - as "historic". Until now, the debate has always been between representatives of the PP and PSOE, the two parties that have taken turns to govern for the last 40 years. Criticized for austerity measures introduced during the 2011-2015 parliament Rajoy recalled that his Socialist predecessor Jose Luis Zapatero had led the country to the "brink of bankruptcy" and that now Spain is the country with the biggest growth in Europe. Passengers of the Berlin-based airline will be able to fly nonstop out of Stockholm Arlanda to the fashionable Eastern Mediterranean capital. With its vibrant nightlife, diverse culinary scene and blend of western lifestyle and oriental culture, Beirut is one of the most exiting cities in the Middle East, and is becoming known as one of the best destinations for a city break in the sun. Karsten Balke, chief executive officer of Germania: We are very pleased by the strong demand out of Stockholm and are proud to add a direct link between the two cities. Our flights to Beirut are aimed at both leisure and business travelers, as well as those visiting friends and relatives in Lebanon. "We are pleased to get this direct route and a better connectivity to Beirut as it is one of the larger cities underserved in the Swedish market. In the last years we have also seen a quickly growing demand for Beirut as a destination. It is also very positive that Germania is increasing their Stockholm Arlanda Airport operation, as in Q1 2016 the international traffic increased by almost 9 percent to and from Stockholm, said Elizabeth Axtelius, Aviation director at Swedavia. Passenger numbers reached 6,978,268 in April, up 7.2 per cent from the 6,510,653 guests who visited the airport in April 2015. During the first four months of 2016, DXB welcomed 27,926,958 passengers, compared to 26,116,977 passengers during the same period last year, an increase of 6.9 per cent. In terms of percentage growth, Eastern Europe topped the list during April with routes to the region growing 12.6 per cent, followed by Asia with 12.1 per cent and the GCC with 10.3 per cent. The Indian subcontinent outperformed all regions in terms of growth in passenger numbers with 1,644,045 passengers, followed by the Western Europe with 1,533,558, and the GCC with 1,252,282 passengers. Total aircraft movements reached 34,733 in April 2016 up 4.3 per cent compared to 33,279 during the corresponding month in 2015. In the first four months of the year, total aircraft movements rose 5.4 per cent to 139,079 compared to 132.005 movements during the same period in 2015. The average number of passengers per movement was 210 during April. Dubai International recorded freight volumes totalling 213,790 in April compared to 204,075 in the same month last year, an increase of 4.8 per cent. Year to date cargo totalled 828,934 tonnes, up 3.8 per cent compared to 798,770 tonnes handled during the first four months in 2015 We are very pleased with the growth so far this year and with the summer travel peak round the corner the numbers are only going to increase, said Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports. As is the case every summer peak, Dubai International is expected to welcome a record number of passengers. We are actively working with our partners devising a robust operational plan which will involve the deployment of additional staff. We will also be launching a public awareness campaign to encourage passengers to follow our travel tips and show up early to the airport to enjoy all that we have on offer before boarding their flights. The agreement includes airline inventory management, pricing, reservations, ticketing (Hitit Crane PAX), departure control (Crane DCS) and revenue accounting system (Crane RA). Nouvelair is the leading private carrier in Tunisia with 1,3 million Passenger in 2015. The carrier is Hitits sixth African airline client following the recent customer wins of Air Namibia and Tanzanias Precision Air. Nouvelair Tunisie decided for three of Hitits airline IT solutions, passenger system Crane PAX, departure control system Crane DCS and revenue accounting system Crane RA, after a broad evaluation of solutions available in the market. Furthermore Hitit has built two GDS connections for Nouvelair with Amadeus and Sabre and an interline connection with Hahn Air. NN from Nouvelair said: Always in the context of enhancing its passengers satisfaction, Nouvelair has signed the partnership contract with HITIT providing the company with best state of the art IT solutions facilitating the reservation process. This new partnership incarnates the companys commitment to provide its passengers with the best services. Hitit CEO Nur Gokman added: "We are very glad that Nouvelair choose Hitit Computer Services as its provider for several airline IT systems. By using the expertise of our airline experts and the features of our systems, Nouvelair will benefit from the migration in order to continue its growth strategy. Le CBD, cette molecule active du cannabis a aujourdhui le vent en poupe. Et cela est en grande partie du au fait quil permet... YEREVAN, JUNE 14, ARMENPRESS. A man claiming allegiance to so-called Islamic State (IS) stabbed a French police commander to death before being killed when police stormed a house, officials have said, reports BBC. The attacker took the officer's partner and their son hostage in their home in Magnanville, near Paris. The partner was found dead but the child was rescued. French media say the attacker had been sentenced in 2013 for involvement with jihadist groups with links to Pakistan. Unnamed sources identified him as 25-year-old Larossi Abballa, who was convicted for "criminal association with the aim of preparing terrorist acts". He was sentenced to a three-year term, with six months suspended. Islamic State's Amaq news agency said an IS "fighter" carried out the attack. If that is confirmed, it would be the first militant attack in France since a state of emergency was imposed following last November's attacks which left 130 dead in Paris. French prosecutors launched an anti-terror investigation, AFP news agency reported. French President Francois Hollande's office said a meeting would be held at the Elysee palace on Tuesday morning to discuss the incident. "Light will be shed on the circumstances of this abominable drama," President Hollande said in a statement. Witnesses quoted by AFP said that the knife-wielding man may have shouted "Allahu akbar" (God is greater) when he attacked the 42-year-old policeman, who was not in uniform, outside his home. The attacker then went inside the house and took a woman and child hostage. He is reported to have claimed allegiance to IS while talking to police negotiators. Interior ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said France's elite police Raid unit was brought in after the officer's killer took hostages at around 21:00 (19:00 GMT). He said negotiations had been unsuccessful and a decision had been made to "launch an assault" at about midnight. Witnesses reported hearing loud explosions as the officers from the Raid unit moved in. "The toll is a heavy one," Mr Brandet later told reporters at the scene. "This commander, this police officer was killed by the individual... (and) we discovered the body of a woman. The assailant, the criminal was killed. Thankfully, a little boy was saved. He is safe and sound." A source later told AFP: "The anti-terror department of the Paris prosecution service is taking into account at this stage the mode of operation, the target and the comments made during negotiations with the Raid." The victims have not yet been named. Magnanville is about 55 km (35 miles) north-west of the French capital. YEREVAN, JUNE 14, ARMENPRESS. The United States carried out a strike in Iraq on June 13 against an Islamic State target using an Apache attack helicopter for the first time since President Barack Obama authorized its use in offensive operations earlier this year, Reuters reports. U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter declined to disclose details of the operation, saying only that it was to support Iraqi forces positioning ahead of an operation to retake the city of Mosul from insurgents. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said two helicopters flew the mission but the strike was carried out by a single Apache firing at a vehicle on the ground. YEREVAN, JUNE 14, ARMENPRESS. The U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State said Tuesday it could not confirm reports that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had been killed in a U.S. airstrike, Armenpress reports, citing USA Today. Army Col. Chris Garver, the top spokesman for the coalition in Iraq, told USA TODAY he was aware of the reports from the Islamic news agency AlhlulBayt and other sources. Garver said that, if true, al-Baghdadi's death would be welcome news but would not signal the end of the fight against the terrorist group. AlhlulBayt reported the militant leader was killed Sunday in an airstrike in the Raqqa, Syria, the Islamic State's de facto capital. Previous reports claiming al-Baghdadi, 44, was killed or wounded have surfaced since he proclaimed himself the caliph, or supreme religious leader, of all Muslims two years ago. Last week an Iraqi TV station claimed he was wounded in an airstrike, a report that was never confirmed. Similar reports circulated in October 2015 and November 2014. Earlier western media reported the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as a result of the air strikes carried out by U.S.-led coalition. According to the reports, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed on June 10 in Raqqa. Best Home Improvement Products and Services Would you like to submit an article in the Home Improvement category or any of the sub-category below? Click here to submit your article. Would you like to have your product or service listed on this page? Contact us. Jesse Green: All four of the musical performance Tonys went to black actors Ten other actors of color were nominated, as were, even more unusually, a number of black and Hispanic and Filipino artists in the creative and technical categories. As a result, all the attention to diversity on the show seemed natural and coherent, not inanely appliqued as at Februarys Academy Awards. This was not just the least white Tonys I can recall but the most earnest. As one commenter on last nights Vulture liveblog put it, I am so moved by the lack of cynicism in this broadcast, this theatre season.' The Chaldean Patriarchate in Iraq calls on Christians to observe the Muslim fasting this Friday. In Pakistan, Christians prepare Iftar meals for believers of all religions. In Aleppo, outreach helps poor Muslim families. For Davao bishop emeritus, fasting is "way of dialogue. Baghdad (AsiaNews) In the Jubilee Year of Mercy proclaimed by Pope Francis, Islam's holy month of Ramadan, which is dedicated to fasting and prayer, provides Christians and Muslims in the Middle East and around the world an even greater opportunity to engage in dialogue. Ramadan is an opportunity to meet, compare, pray, and fast together for peace in the world, engage in interfaith dialogue, and resist all forms of fundamentalism, violence, and terror perpetrated under the guise of religion. As Iraqs Chaldean Church points out, the occasions and venues to promote peace and brotherhood are legion, from Iraq to Pakistan, from the Philippines to Syria. In a message sent to AsiaNews, signed by Mar Raphael Louis Sako, the Chaldean Patriarchate calls on Christians to fast this Friday (17 June) and pray for peace and stability in Iraq, a country reeling from conflict and violence. His Beatitude also wants to see more done for displaced persons "in order to promote a culture of love, fraternity and harmonious coexistence". The Iraqi Church has been directly involved in providing help like food, basic necessities, and medical care. For Ramadan, it also offers Iftar meals* to Muslims. To sensitise Christians, The Chaldean Patriarch, his Auxiliary Bishops and collaborators have decided to fast on this particular day. In Pakistan, Ramadan provides an opportunity to prepare Iftar meals for everyone, Christians and Muslims. Christian activists and leaders urge schools and parishes to promote communal meals at sunset, when fasting ends. This helps "promote true friendship." Some local Church figures note that instead of booking Iftar dinner in restaurants where Muslim clerics are invited, home meals are preferable to bring together Christians and Muslims. "Ramadan is a good opportunity to rebuild relations, said Fr Aftab James Paul. This way, we can let our Muslim brothers know that we share the same values." In Aleppo, since the start of Ramadan, the Syrian Orthodox Archdiocese of Aleppo, Syria, has offered meals before dawn and after dusk to poor Muslim families. Each day Christian, Christian families in the suburb of Sulaimaniyah prepare meals for Muslims, which are then handed out at Saint Ephraim Cathedral. In a statement to the media, the archdiocese said that this simple gesture expresses "solidarity" between citizens of different religions and boosts the sense of community and brotherhood in a country at war. Indeed, Syrian Christians have been involved in outreach activities for some time, helping people of every faith. For example, Muslim orphans have been taken in at Church-run facilities. In the Philippines, Davao Archbishop Emeritus Robles Capalla called on non-Muslims to observe the daily fast during Ramadan. "We should promote this kind of activity as a way of dialogue with other religions," the prelate said. Fasting, he noted, is part of every religious tradition, and is a positive show of solidarity. It is not just abstinence from food and drink, but also a time to boost personal devotion. * Iftar is the evening meal Muslims take at sunset after their daily Ramadan fast. The institution was inaugurated by the bishop of Uijeongbu, Msgr. Peter Lee Ki-heon, "The Korean Catholics have a duty to work for the evangelization of the North". The area is also home to a cathedral "of repentance and reconciliation" and the national reconciliation center. The new Institute wants to "lay the foundations to spread Christ's peace in Asia and the world." Uijeongbu (AsiaNews) - Korean Catholics "have a duty to work for the evangelization of North Korea. This task is all the more important the closer we get to the border, and we are very close. This institution will be a new base for cultivating peace in East Asia and even the world", said Msgr. Peter Lee Ki-heon, bishop of Uijeongbu, inaugurating the new Institute for Peace and Cooperation in Northeast Asia. The ceremony was attended by several members of Parliament and deputy mayor of the city. The approximately 200 faithful present were addressed by Jung Se-hyun, former Minister for the Unification of Korea, on the topic "Reality and Predictions for peace in Asia." The new director of the center, Fr. Peter Kang Ju-seok, explained that "the Church's mission is to promote the peace of Christ worldwide". Among the main aims of the Institute, governed by the diocese, will be to "actualize the Catholic concept of peace" and apply it to Korea, divided in two since the civil war of 1950. In addition to Catholics, Buddhist and Protestant Christian researchers will attend the institute and contribute in various fields including philosophy, politics, economics and literature. The Diocese of Uijeongbu is at the "forefront" of the Church in the work of reconciliation, given its proximity to the border with the North. The new institute is located next to the Paju Cathedral "of repentance and reconciliation" which is decorated with mosaics made by North Korean artists and a symbol of the desire for reunification of the peninsula. The area is also home, since 1997, to the Centre for National Reconciliation. This, run by the Catholic community, is home to refugees fleeing the Pyongyang regime who are welcomed and can take courses for social integration and to find employment. In addition, here new missionaries are trained in how to carry forth dialogue and religious exchanges with the North. Vatican City (AsiaNews) Ecclesial movements and the Church hierarchy are "co-essential" to the life of the Church the fundamental task of which is evangelization - and this results in the need for their "harmonic connection" that avoids conflicts or impossible parallels. An analysis of that reality and of the criteria for such a fruitful coexistence between what are both gifts of God is the central point of the Letter Iuvenescit Ecclesia (The Church rejuvenates), published today by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The publication of the document signed by the Cardinal Prefect Ludwig Muller and Archbishop Secretary Luis Ladaria - was ordered by the Pope. "This co-essential element - said Card. Muller presenting the document - finds its ultimate root in the inseparable relationship between the divine incarnate Logos, and the Holy Spirit (cf. IE, 11), and shows how, in the same perspective revealed by Gods plans, is not permissible to oppose a "Church of the Spirit "to an "Institutional Church", because hierarchical and charismatic gifts are always mutually implicated one in the other, albeit in a rational, hierarchical manner. Nevertheless, because of the native human frailty - and the inevitable infidelities to God's plans that follow it - in fact, the natural tension of dialogue between these gifts, it is often transformed, and can increasingly be transformed, into a dialectic". The 17 pages of the letter, addressed to the bishops of the Catholic Church, open with the statement that "the invitation of Pope Francis to be a Church which goes forth leads to a rereading of the whole Christian life in a missionary key. The work of evangelization touches every dimension of the Church: from ordinary pastoral ministry, to her proclamation to those who have abandoned the Christian faith and, in particular, to those who do not know Jesus Christ or have always rejected Him.In the essential work of new evangelization, it is now more than ever necessary to recognize and value the numerous charisms capable of reawakening and nourishing the life of faith of the People of God." The charisms are "gifts of indispensable importance for the life and mission of the Church", "recognized as a manifestation of the multiform grace of God. However, they must have a "fruitful and ordered participation " in the communion of the Church, and are not permitted to "withdraw the obedience owed towards the ecclesial hierarchy, or bestow the right to an autonomous ministry". The examination of the New Testament, then, excludes "a contrast between the different charisms." And the Second Vatican Council considers the authentic charism "of essential importance as gifts for life and for the mission of the Church". "The antithesis between an institutional Church of the Judeo-Christian type and a charismatic Church of the Pauline type, affirmed by certain reductive ecclesial interpretations, in reality lacks a foundation in the texts of the New Testament". One can not, therefore, oppose a Church of charity and a Church of the institution,, because in the Church "the essential institutions are charismatic," and "charisms must be institutionalized to have coherency and continuity." In this way, both dimensions " concur to make present the mystery and the salvific work of Christ in the world. "I In short, the relationship between the charismatic gifts and the ecclesial sacramental structure confirms the coessentiality between hierarchical gifts of their nature stable, permanent, and irrevocable and the charismatic gifts. Even if the historical forms of the latter are not guaranteed to remain always the same, nonetheless the charismatic dimension will never be lacking in the life and mission of the Church". The document addresses, at this point, the problem of "recognition" of an "authentic" charismatic gift and offers of "criteria" for such recognition, a task that is " that appertains to the ecclesial authorities". These criteria are: to be instruments of holiness in the Church; engage in missionary spread of the Gospel; fully confess the Catholic faith; witness to an effective communion with the whole Church, accepting with loyal readiness its doctrinal and pastoral teachings; recognizing and respecting other components in the Charismatic Church; humbly accepting moments of trial in discernment; having spiritual fruits like love, joy, peace, humanity; looking at the social dimension of evangelization, being aware that "concern for the integral development of the most abandoned by society cannot be lacking in an authentic ecclesial reality". There are also two other key criteria for the legal recognition of new ecclesial realities, according to the forms established by the Code of Canon Law: the first is " respect for the particularity of individual charismatic groups, avoiding juridical straitjackets that deaden the novelty which is born from the specific experience." The second criterion relates to "respect for the fundamental ecclesial regimen, this way favoring the effective insertion of the charismatic gifts into the life of both the particular and universal Church. Thus, any danger that the charismatic entities might be considered in some way as running parallel to the ecclesial life or not ordered in relation to the hierarchical gifts is avoided. The document also highlights, how the relationship between hierarchical and charismatic gifts should take into account the "essential and constitutive relationship between the universal Church and the particular Churches." This means that the gifts are given, yes, to the whole Church, but that their dynamic "can only be realized in a concrete service to the diocese, which is" a portion of the People of God entrusted to the pastoral care of the bishop assisted by his priests' ". And " the new charismatic entities, when they possess a supra-diocesan character, must not consider themselves as completely autonomous from the particular Church; rather, they should enrich and serve her precisely through that particularity which is shared beyond the confines of a single diocese". The charisms, in addition, also represent "a real chance" to live and develop the Christian vocation of every individual, whether it be through marriage, priestly celibacy, or ordained ministry. The consecrated life "is placed in the charismatic dimension of the Church", because its spirituality can become "a significant resource" for both the lay faithful and presbyterite, helping both to live a specific vocation. The letter also urges everyone to look to Mary, "Mother of the Church", her "complete docility to the action of the Holy Spirit: faultless docility in faith and transparent humility": through her intercession, it is hoped that "the charisms abundantly distributed by Holy Spirit among the faithful are meekly accepted and put to good use for the life and mission of the Church and for the good of the world". The Muslim minority has been denied citizenship and is segregated in refugee camps. Myanmars Buddhist majority is opposed to the presence of Muslims in the country. In an interview with Reuters, the Dalai Lama said he talked about the issue with Aung San Suu Kyi. He slams the nationalist attitude. If Buddha happened, he certainly would protect those Muslim brothers and sisters, he said. Yangon (AsiaNews) Aung San Suu Kyi has a moral responsibility to ease tensions between majority Buddhists and minority Rohingya Muslims, fellow Nobel Prize laureate the Dalai Lama told Reuters in Washington. The leader of the National League for Democracy, which won Myanmars last elections, should speak more openly about the Rohingya minority, which is not treated well or even recognised. The Dalai Lama has met Ms Suu Kyi several times. She told him that the situation was really complicated. The Dalai Lama said some Buddhist monks in Myanmar seem to have some kind of negative attitude to Muslims and Buddhists who harboured such thoughts should remember Buddhas face. The reference here is to Ma Ba Tha, an ultra-nationalist Buddhist group that is opposed to Rohingya presence and is suspicious of religions other than Buddhism (including Christianity). If Buddha happened [today], he certainly would protect those Muslim brothers and sisters, the Dalai Lama said. Since 2012, Myanmar has been the scene of sectarian violence that has left at least people 300 dead and displaced 140,000, most of them Rohingya Muslims, in Rakhine State. Originally from Bangladesh, the latter are not considered Myanmar citizens and live in isolation, in refugee camps. In the past few years, thousands have tried to escape to other countries of Southeast Asia. The Rohingya issue came to the fore in April, when the US Embassy in Yangon expressed condolence over the death of several Muslims killed in a boating accident. On that occasion, Burmese nationalists harshly criticised the US statement over the use of the word Rohingya, saying that the Muslims should be called Bengali to suggest that they are illegal immigrants. Suu Kyi said during a visit by US Secretary of State John Kerry on 22 May that the country needed enough space to deal with the Rohingya issue and cautioned against the use of emotive terms that she said were making the situation more difficult. Late last month, the new Myanmar government announced a new plan to bring religious harmony and respect for all faiths. On 30 May, it announced that Ms Suu Kyi would head a new commission to bring peace to Rakhine State, where some rebel groups are still fighting the central government. Since the start of the year, nearly 20 people have been killed, chosen indiscriminately: Hindus, Christians, Muslims, ordinary people. A police inspector has admitted that two Islamist groups are present in the country, but the government has not yet confirmed. Catholics live under police protection. Terrorism is likely home-grown. Dhaka (AsiaNews) In recent months, ordinary people as well as Christians, Muslims, Hindus, and the wife of Chittagong police chief, have become the victims of violence. "Since the beginning of the year, almost 20 people have been killed, a Catholic source, anonymous for security reasons, told AsiaNews. No one is targeted in particular; however, extremists seem to want to destabilise the country. What worries the source the most is the lack of logical pattern in these attacks, which is forcing everyone to take extra care." Despite the governments round up of suspected terrorists this week, with more than 5,000 people arrested, "tensions remains high. The only certain information from the authorities is that we will have to contend with violence for a long time." The countrys streets are under tight control. "Police have set up checkpoints everywhere and are checking everyone". For months, in the north-west of the country foreign people have been under police protection, their movements monitored by security guards. The rise of a lethal but unorganised insurgency "has destabilised the authorities, who did not expect such a development and are not yet sure how much time it will take to restore order." The government continues to deny the presence of terrorist groups linked to Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State (IS) group, the source said, but last week Chittagong police inspector general admitted for the first time the presence of two groups, Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and Anser al-Islam. The government though has not yet made any official admission." The authorities have targeted these two and other banned groups, with large-scale deployment of security forces. However, the opposition has slammed the government, complaining that it is engaged in some form of political cleansing. Extremists have been blamed in several murders of students, professors, bloggers and LGBT activists. To shed light on the motivations of the perpetrators, the source noted one important point. "Those who died were all chosen without precise goals. The only thing certain is that someone wants to bring chaos to the country. We do not know whether it is international terrorism. Indeed, many believe the extremists to be local. The reopening of transit areas overnight, after a three-day blockade following the attack in Tel Aviv. Yatta, native village of the two assailants, still under tight security. The closure coincided with the Jewish holiday of Shavuot. Tension remains high in the area. Jerusalem (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Israel has reopened the crossing points of access to Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, after a three-day closure imposed in the aftermath of the attack in Tel Aviv. An army spokesman confirmed the move yesterday afternoon and the transit areas were accessible again by night. However, security checks" remain in force "in Yatta, Palestinian village near Hebron, in the West Bank, the place from which the perpetrators of the two assailants. On the evening of 8 June, two Palestinians in their 20s opened fire in a shopping district in the center of Tel Aviv, killing four people and injuring at least five. In response, the government tightened controls, security boundaries and declassified the investigation, which continues in the most absolute reserve. Moreover, the newly appointed Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman ordered the bodies of dead Palestinians during the attempted attacks on Israeli territory are not returned to their families. Over the weekend, Israel also closed its border crossings and access with the West Bank and Gaza to the Palestinians by imposing a ban on entry into Israel and East Jerusalem. With the exception of the first Friday of Ramadan, when Israel allowed thousands of Palestinian Muslims to visit the Al-Aqsa mosque for prayer. The closure imposed by the Israeli government coincided with the Jewish holiday of Shavuot; in conjunction with major holidays, when a large number of people come together in one place to pray, the authorities close the crossings as a preventive measure against Palestinian attacks. Since last October, after ultra-Orthodox Jews engaged in provocative behaviour on the Temple Mount, incidents and clashes have multiplied in Israel and the Palestinian territories in what has come to be dubbed the knife intifada. Since it began, 207 Palestinians, 32 Israelis, two Americans and one Sudanese and one Eritrean have been killed. Most Palestinians were killed trying to stab or fire on passing cars or soldiers. The others were killed during demonstrations or clashes with the military. by Mathias Hariyadi In mid-July, after Ramadan, 18 death row inmates will be executed. Another 30 are set for early 2017. More and more young people are getting addicted to drugs. About 104,000 have died so far. Currently, 50 people die from overdose every day. The Indonesian Church is involved in rehab work, but lacks the facilities. Jakarta (AsiaNews) In Indonesia, a third round of mass executions is set to take place. After several weeks of uncertainty, a date has been picked mid-July after Eid al-Fitr celebrations, which mark the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting and prayer. Some 18 people convicted on drug trafficking charges will go before the firing squad. A fourth group of about 30 will follow in early 2017. Indonesian Attorney General H. Muhammad Prasetyo described the 48 death row inmates as prominent drug traffickers. However, they are not alone. Another 152 have been sentenced to death on a variety of crimes, ranging from murder to terrorism. Mr Prasetyo said that everything is ready for the third round of executions in July 2016 on Nusakambangan Island. Indonesia, the worlds most populous Muslim nation, has some of the strictest anti-drug laws in the world against what President Joko Widodo has called a "national emergency." Since he became president in 2014, Mr Widodo has boosted the all-out campaign against drugs. Sixty-six people were executed between 1979 and 2015. In January 2015, five foreigners and an Indonesian woman were executed. In April, a second round of executions took place involving eight people, including two Australians, sparking international controversy. In this case, the authorities spared the life of Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso, a 30-year-old Filipina domestic worker sentenced to death for drug trafficking. According to a recent report by Indonesias National Anti-drug Agency (BNN), more and more people are using drugs, especially amphetamines, a real plague for many countries in South-East Asia. Making matters worse, the age of users is constantly dropping as drug traffickers target young people, which they see as a growth market. Increasingly, drugs are being given out in sweets at schools and colleges to get people hooked with incalculable damages. According to BNN estimates, some 5.1 million Indonesians are into banned substances, age ranging from 15 to 64. So far, 104,000 have died from illegal drug use, and more and more of them are young. Every day, 50 people die from an overdose, making drug abuse a national emergency. In the past five years, 50.2 per cent of people in their 30s have experimented with drugs at least once. Most consumers are male (80 per cent). In order to respond to the emergency, the Indonesian Church has launched targeted programmes of assistance and rehabilitation of drug addicts. In June 2014, the Bishops' Conference established a pastoral plan against drug use, aimed at addicts, especially the younger ones. Still, several issues remain unresolved, the first being the lack of rehab facilities. As of today we have only 140 spots, said Anastasia Cakunani, head of Yayasan Sekar Mawar Centre in the Diocese of Bandung. That is not enough to meet the needs of so many victims." by Marta Allevato Moscow (AsiaNews) - The Moscow Patriarchate has officially announced it will not be taking part in the pan-Orthodox council to be held June 16 to 26 in Crete, the first after more than a thousand years. At the end of an extraordinary meeting of the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, 13 June, the head of the Department for External Church Relations Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeev), insisted on the need to postpone the Council, because of defections already announced by some local Churches: Bulgaria, Georgia, Serbia and Antioch. They are all demanding that some of the first documents that the representatives of 14 autocephalous Orthodox Churches are expected to promulgate in Crete be amended and the a new Council convened. The Constantinople Patriarchate, responsible for organizing the event, has rejected the request. "All Churches should participate in the Pan-Orthodox Council, and only in that case decisions made by the Council will be legitimate" said Hilarion, quoted by Russian news agencies. The 'foreign minister' of the Moscow Patriarchate, however was keen to stress that "the situation is not catastrophic, is a regular situation." "We we should learn lessons from it and understand that the voices of Churches cannot be ignored," he added. A statement published by the Russian Patriarchate, after the Synod meeting, called for support of the proposal made by the other Churches to reschedule the Pan-Orthodox Council for the time that will be established later following a general Orthodox debate and with the consent of the heads of all Orthodox Churches. The proposal is "to become a true testimony of the unity of the Holy, Christian and Apostolic Church. The statement also called for the intensification of the work of the Pan-Orthodox secretariat on studying proposals on the solution of problem issues relating to the Council. "Our decision [to postpone the Council] is being reported to the head of the [Orthodox] churches, we will wait for a response of Patriarch of Constantinople," spokesperson of the Patriarchate of Moscow Vladimir Legoida, told Rossiya-24 television. Bartholomew I had already been opposed to postponing the council, because "no institutional framework allows for the revision of the Synod process once it is already underway." "It is not clear why all the difficulties related to the convocation of the Council came forward openly so late and why the positions of the local Churches, which eventually refused to participate, were declared only now, shortly before the opening the Council" wrote Vladislav Petrushko, professor of theology, on the orthodox news website Pravmir.ru. He asks the question if there were errors in the preparation for Crete, why were they not declared openly and adequately addressed in the frictions between the communities and their discontent. "The loss of reputation in the Orthodox world in general, after what has happened, is quite grave - writes Petrushko - instead of demonstrating our unity, we have created a framework of disagreement and enmity between the Churches" According to many commentators, the main issue that is hampering the council is the long-standing rivalry between the Moscow Patriarchate, the largest and most economically significant, and that of Constantinople, with its historic role of "first among equals" and that in the eyes of Russia is supporting demands for a Ukrainian Orthodox Church independent of Moscow. "Statements arrived from the Phanar - continues Petrushko - that beyond those who participate or not in the Council, its decisions will be binding for the entire Orthodox world. The Patriarchate of Constantinople is evidently going beyond the acceptable limit in relations with the other Churches and beyond which begins an 'Eastern popery' ". He believes that "limits must be set" to this and the participation of the Russian delegation in Crete was very important in this perspective to contain the Ecumenical Patriarchates ambitions of an "abnormal hegemony". Yes, There's Now A Literal Formula For Happiness Trending News: The Key To Happiness? Equality Why Is This Important? Long Story Short Long Story Because equality may be the key to happiness.Researchers claim to have invented a formula that can work out how happy we are with a series of calculations involving our expectations and how things are going for others around us. The key is that people want to be equal.We spend most of our lives trying to work out what makes us happy, but a new study claims the key to happiness is one (very long) equation. A study from University College London saw 47 strangers given a number of tasks while their level of happiness was monitored after each. Participants were first asked how they would divide up a cash prize with someone they had never met before. They then gambled for a better prize and were able to see how others got on doing the same. The results suggested that participants were happiest when there was equality between how they were getting on and how the stranger; inequality led to feelings of discontent. The data, which are published in the journal Nature Communications and reported by the Daily Mail, were added to a formula first mooted in 2012 for happiness which includes guilt and envy amongst other factors and they have now produced a mammoth equation that claims to be able to work out how we are feeling. Study author Dr. Robb Rutledge of the UCL Institute of Neurology and Max Planck Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research said: Our equation can predict exactly how happy people will be based not only on what happens to them but also what happens to the people around them. On average we are less happy if others get more or less than us, but this varies a lot from person to person. While the general pattern was that people wanted equality with a stranger, some people were more generous than others with splitting the initial prize depending on whether their greater fear was being better off or worse off than the other person, and some feared inequality more than others, showing greater levels of empathy. The main take-away from the study is that happiness may be less self-centered than previously thought and in fact relate much more to how someone feels others are doing. While it may have been presumed that humans are happiest when they feel they are doing better than their neighbors, in fact all we seem to really want is to be the same. This may explain why we get so much pleasure from watching people we believe are doing too well for themselves, like celebrities, fail but can also be so generous to people who need charity. Own The Conversation : Is the vast economic inequality why so many people are unhappy right now?: We all want equality it's just that some of us want to be more equal than others. Denmark is the happiest country in the world (the US isn't even in the Top 10). Donald Trump Revokes Washington Post Press Credentials Trending News: Donald Trump Just Banned One Of The Country's Biggest Newspapers Why Is This Important? Because this is how dictatorships start. Long Story Short Donald Trump has revoked all press credentials for the Washington Post, citing what he believes to be inaccurate reporting. The Post seems relatively undeterred by the development, as they are not the first major news outlet to draw the Orange One's ire. Long Story Leaders are measured by their response to hardship. And while we've (somehow) managed to avoid another global conflict since WWII, Sunday morning's Orlando shooting presented itself as an unfortunate opportunity for leaders, both present and future, to show their resolve and bring order to chaos. Presumptive Republican presidential nominee did, uh, something to that effect in interviews after the tragedy, making his typical vaguely accusatory statements and leaving it up to the American people to parse them. The Washington Post took a stab at doing just that, and got their press credentials revoked for their troubles. Following the shooting, Trump laid out some typically bad tweets, humblebragging about being "right" (about what, it's not clear) and calling for President Obama's resignation. In an interview with Fox News Monday morning, Trump expanded on the latter. "Look, we're led by a man that either is not tough, not smart, or he's got something else in mind," Trump said in the interview. "And the something else in mind you know, people can't believe it. People cannot, they cannot believe that President Obama is acting the way he acts and can't even mention the words 'radical Islamic terrorism.' There's something going on. It's inconceivable. There's something going on." He continued: "He doesn't get it or he gets it better than anybody understands it's one or the other, and either one is unacceptable." Later the same day, Trump appeared on Today, where host Savannah Guthrie attempted to get some any clarification on Trump's cryptic comments. As most people have come to expect from Trump, he didn't really say anything. "Well there are a lot of people that think maybe he doesn't want to get it," Trump said. "A lot of people think maybe he doesn't want to know about it. I happen to think that he just doesn't know what he's doing, but there are many people that think maybe he doesn't want to get it. He doesn't want to see what's really happening. And that could be." Trump later went on The Howie Carr Show and said outright that people could "figure it out for themselves" in regards to his comments about President Obama and Islamic terrorism. This is more or less textbook Trump: say something vague, let others decode it, and then criticize the interpretation when/if you don't like either a) what they think you said or b) the entity interpreting your statements. The Washington Post took Trump up on his offer, and reached the following conclusion: Washington Post That is not an unfair reading of Trump's dog whistling, especially given his past record of doing things like insinuating that violence towards protesters might not be a bad thing, then quickly backing away from those comments. It's a pretty sweet deal for Trump: take your audience 90% of the way there, let them say the obvious ("Trump is insinuating that the President is a terrorist sympathizer") and feign ignorance of how anyone could have possibly reached that conclusion. It's like the "90/10" scene from Hitch, only with less hilarious homoeroticism and more Xenophobia. Columbia Pictures Except this time, Trump did more than feign ignorance. He revoked the Post's press credentials for what he called "incredibly inaccurate coverage and reporting." This, again, works out nicely for Trump. He can pretend that he would never suggest such a dishonorable thing, knowing full well that he's planted a hearty seed in the minds of his supporters that won't go away easily, if at all. This isn't the first time the Trump campaign has denied locations for major outlets, but the denials are typically situational or directed at online, known-liberal sites like HuffPo and Buzzfeed. To completely exclude a publication as well-regarded as WaPo is unprecedented. The notion of a free press was so important that the Founding Fathers baked it into the Constitution. While Trump's ban of outlets like WaPo isn't a governmental press restriction (and therefore not illegal), it's still a fine example of how thin-skinned one of the two people most likely to be our next president can be. Own The Conversation Ask The Big Question Will this hurt Trump's campaign? Disrupt Your Feed This won't hurt Trump a bit, his supporters already distrust the media. Drop This Fact Today is Donald Trump's 70th birthday. Data from principal research fellow at the Australian National University 's Centre for Social Research and Methods, Ben Phillips, found that men out-earn women in all but 14 occupations.The study found that females earn more than men as bookkeepers, library assistants, kitchenhands, receptionists, dental assistants and housekeepers, but the average male barrister declares an annual taxable income of $169,000, while the average female barrister declares just $60,000, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.Female barristers work a fewer number of hours on average (37 hours compared to 44 hours for the average male barrister), adjusting for the hours brings the gap down to 141%.Philip Selth OAM, executive director of the NSW Bar Association told Australasian Lawyer that the results were surprising and inconsistent with data from the Bar. In 2014, a survey of barrister found that the pay gap was just 39% between male and female barrister gross earnings.Selth said that there are a number of possible reasons for the gender pay gap but none have been researched enough to provide definitive answers. He said the gap may be a result of the small number of women made senior counsel.Given that there is a pay gap between those who are senior counsel and those who are not senior counsel in New South Wales, and that women barristers currently make up approximately 10% of the number of senior counsel in NSW, it is likely that a substantial part of the gender pay gap may be explained by the senior counsel pay gap, he said.Other reasons include that more women barristers take career breaks in order to have children, often return to work part time.Selth said that retaining women at the Bar to the point where they might be considered experienced enough for a senior counsel appointment would likely reduce the pay gap.He said the Bar is working on a number of strategies, including a revised Equitable Briefing Policy, the establishment of the NSW Bar sponsored childcare scheme, the creation of an extended sitting hours protocol in each of the major courts, the significant commitment of resources to the new barristers' mentoring scheme, the waiver of practising certificate fees for those barristers taking periods of parental leave, and the promotion of Best Practice Guidelines to be adopted by chambers covering such matters as parental leave and standards of conduct. The announcement follows Labors earlier pledge to commit $43m to Community Legal Centres.Shadow attorney-general Mark Dreyfus has announced that $18.2m would go to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services members and $2.2m to the peak representative body, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services.The Law Council has strongly opposed cuts to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services and it would only be responsible for whichever party forms government in July to rectify this promptly, said Law Council president Stuart Clark AM.Last week, the Law Council of Australia launched a Federal Election Policy Platform, setting out the priorities for improvement of the legal sector for the incoming government.First on the list is ending the legal aid funding crisis, followed by addressing the shortage of legal professionals in rural, regional and remote communities and court funding. While the Law Council has welcomed Labors commitment to legal aid funding, Clark said there is still a long way to go.Fixing Australias legal aid crisis will require a whole of sector approach that extends well beyond what either of the major parties have committed to thus far, Clark said.The Law Council has spearheaded the Legal Aid Matters campaign in the lead up to the July election, which Clark said has generated major public interest. He said Australians have been shocked at the state of the funding crisis.Eighty-one per cent of Australians believe legal aid should be there in times of need for those who cannot afford a lawyer, he said.That vision of how Australia should be is nowhere near close to being a reality today. The legal services division of global professional services firm PwC is growing its Australian operation.PwC Australia has added five new senior partners to its Legal Services offering, bringing its headcount to 12 partners and 60 lawyers across the country.The new hires include four in Melbourne: Ashley Poke (corporate), Tiffany Barton (corporate), Cameron Whittfield (TMT), Damian McNair (energy, mining, telecoms, transport); together with corporate lawyer James Delesclefs in Sydney. PwC Legal Services leader Tony OMalley says that the time is right to strengthen the firms team after 18 months in Australia.The firm has also recently hired directors in key practice areas: Michael ONeill (M&A); Charlie Grover and Suzanne Matthews (energy, projects & infrastructure); Anne Ellison (real estate); and Samantha James (corporate & commercial).The International Chamber of Commerce has confirmed that Singapore is the number one seat of ICC arbitration in Asia. The city state is also the fourth most chosen seat globally.In 2015, 6 per cent of all new ICC cases named Singapore as the seat of arbitration with the number of Singaporean parties remaining constant over the last 12 months while the number of foreign parties choosing Singapore as a seat for arbitration is on the rise.In over 71 per cent of all new Singapore seated arbitrations filed in 2015, one or more of the parties was not Singaporean and a non-Singaporean arbitrator was appointed in almost half of these cases.Reed Smith has been named as one of the best employers of Asian and Asian-Pacific Americans. The recognition came from the Asian-Pacific American Employer Awards held in New York and presented by the Asian Society.The awards acknowledge growth, development and advancement of APAC employees in Fortune 500 companies. By Ray Norris, Professor, School of Computing, Engineering, & Maths, Western Sydney University It used to be that you had to have years of training before you could participate in cutting-edge science. But that has changed, with the power of the internet enabling thousands of ordinary people to contribute to one of humanitys most exciting endeavours from the comfort of their homes. It was announced in May that a cluster of galaxies millions of light years away was discovered by a team of citizen scientists clicking on images on their computers at home. Citizen science Citizen Science first became prominent in 2006 with the launch of Stardust@home by the University of California-Berkeley, quickly followed in 2007 by Galaxy Zoo, which aimed to classify galaxies from optical images. Now, many such citizen science projects span all fields of science from astronomy to biology. The idea is simple: the average human brain is far superior to our most powerful computers when it comes to problems like image recognition. So citizen science projects combine the brainpower of thousands of ordinary people to solve some of sciences most challenging problems. What do the citizen scientists get out of it? In most cases, the knowledge that they are helping to expand the frontiers of human knowledge. And perhaps the chance of making a truly great discovery. The EMU project The Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU) project will survey the radio sky using CSIROs new A$165-million ASKAP telescope being built in Western Australia, to understand how galaxies form and evolve. We expect EMU to discover about 70-million galaxies from their radio emission, compared to the 2.5-million so far known. But we have a problem: to get the best science, we need to cross-match these radio sources with galaxies spotted by infrared and optical telescopes, and no research team has enough members to match 70-million objects by eye. About half of EMUs radio sources are galaxies like our own Milky Way, with radio emission resulting from the debris of star formation, so that the radio source is easily matched to the optical galaxy. The other half are caused by jets of electrons squirting out from a massive black hole at the centre of the galaxy, producing two giant blobs of radio emission either side of the galaxy. EMU will see them as three blobs of emission in a line. But how can you distinguish one of these triple monsters from a line of three single galaxies like the Milky Way? Its hard. Clever automated algorithms, such as neural networks, are still in their infancy, and not yet up to the task. But the human brain is really good at this. In 2010 I visited Chris Lintott at the University of Oxford. Chris was one of the founders of Galaxy Zoo, and I wanted to know if we could build something like Galaxy Zoo to solve EMUs problem. The Radio Galaxy Zoo And thus Radio Galaxy Zoo (RGZ) was born, with two young scientists, Julie Banfield from ANU, and Ivy Wong from the University of Western Australia, taking over responsibility for leading it. After two years of designing the interface, and trying out prototypes, RGZ was launched in December 2013. Since then, RGZ has been enormously successful, with about 10,000 people matching up the sources, resulting in some 1.6 million cross-matches. Mainstream science moves forward on two different paths. Perhaps the better known is the painstaking analysis needed to test a hypothesis or understand how something works, like searching for the Higgs boson with the Large Hadron Collider. This way solves the known unknowns of science. The other path is when scientists unexpectedly stumble across something they werent looking for and werent expecting an unknown unknown, such as Dark Energy. Citizen Science is the same. Radio Galaxy Zoo asks people to match up images taken with radio telescopes with those taken with infrared telescopes. Its hard work, but very important if we are to make sense of our universe. Occasionally, they stumble across major discoveries. Galaxy cluster Two Russian citizen scientists, Ivan Terentev and Tim Matorny, were cross-matching the radio and infrared sources in RGZ, when they noticed something odd about one of the radio sources. They found something that none of us had even thought would be possible, Dr Banfield said. What the Russians had found was just one of a line of radio blobs that delineate a C-shaped wide angle tail galaxy. These rare objects are caused by electron jets ejected from a massive black hole, but in this case they are blown sideways by their flight through the intergalactic gas, making them bend into a C shape. The characteristic bent tails are a sure sign that there is intergalactic gas, signifying a cluster of galaxies, the largest known objects in the universe. The wide-angle tail galaxy discovered by Terentev and Matorny is one of the largest known, and its host cluster is now known as the Matorny-Terentev cluster. This cluster, more than a billion light years away, contains at least 40 galaxies, marking an intersection of the sheets and filaments of the cosmic web that make up our universe. Despite their cosmic importance, clusters are notoriously hard to find, and wide angle tail galaxies may turn out to be one of the best ways of finding them. Nevertheless, finding the wide angle tails themselves amongst the millions of radio sources is like finding a needle in a haystack. The discovery was detailed in a paper published this month in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Clusters are poorly understood, but are key to understanding how our universe is put together. This discovery takes us a step closer to figuring it out. So whats next? Obviously, RGZ will continue, and who knows what other discoveries may emerge. But not even RGZ is fast enough to classify all of EMUs 70-million galaxies, and our machine learning algorithms are too dumb to do it well. So, instead, we will harness the power of RGZ to train our machine-learning algorithms. Future RGZ citizen scientists will not just be classifying galaxies, they will be teaching the next-generation algorithms how to do it. Ray Norris does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond the academic appointment above. Originally published in The Conversation. Australia and the UK would be brought closer together if British people vote to leave the European Union later this month, it is claimed.The referendum on leaving the EU takes place in 23 June and much of the arguments surrounding the Leave and Remain campaigns are related to the economy and immigration.A key player, former London Mayor Boris Johnson who leads the Leave campaign, wants the UK to have an Australian style points immigration system. Those who want to leave the EU believe that current immigration rules mean far too many migrants come from Easter European countries putting a strain on services like housing and health.They point out that people from Australia need to have a visa to live and work in the UK while those from EU countries do not so it is hard for immigration to be controlled in terms of attracting those with skills that are really needed.Johnson believes that a new immigration system could allow more Australians to get UK visas and boost trade ties between the countries. "It's a chance for us, in our country, to take back control of all sorts of aspects of our lives including, for instance, immigration policy, which, as you know, at the moment is very heavily skewed towards the European Union, it's very biased," he said.Johnson is also urging British expats in Australia to vote to leave the EU. "I have listened carefully to what friends have said in Australia and they see the advantages of us taking back control of our immigration system," he added.But in Australia Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said that he hopes the UK will vote to stay in the EU. Tony Abbott and Bill Shorten have also publicly backed the case to Remain.The Leave campaign says that the current scale of immigration is putting a strain on public services and that school class sizes will rise and hospital waiting lists will lengthen if Britain does not leave.It also says that this pressure will intensify if Britain votes to remain as EU migrants arrive in the UK to escape rising unemployment in their home countries caused by the Euro-crisis and that a points system is the only way to restore public trust in immigration policy.If the UK leaves the EU the current automatic right of all EU citizens to live and work in the UK will end and a new points based system would mean that those seeking entry for work or study would be admitted on the basis of their skills without discrimination on the ground of nationality. To gain the right to work, economic migrants would have to be suitable for the job in question.So migrants would be tested on their ability to speak good English and amass points for a job that suits their professional skills. Johnson also claims that such a system could be much less bureaucratic and much simpler than the existing system for non-EU citizens. I'm want to enquire regarding my partner on bridging visa ,820 , I'm in overseas now for four months because my mum pass away I have a lot of thing to arrange there , funeral and put property on market also arrange Family living.my question is : what's the maximum length of time that I'm allowing to stay in overseas without effecting my partner bridging visa 820? Is that any other thing I need to be alert from ? Also is that better if I come back and leave again? I'm really worried for my partner! Thanks From : joni So it's been a terrible year for myself and my husband and we still haven't been able to move to Australia. I just need some reassurance that we are ok with our new plan, if others in the know would be so kind. Background history: Applied for husband's 309 through London October 2014. Received 309 approval in August 2015 with first entry date for March 2016 Same month found out that I (Aussie citizen) was pregnant and decided to delay relocation to Oz until after baby born. Booked holiday to oz in February 2016 to activate visa and plan to move to oz after baby born in May. In February 2 days before flying to Oz I went into premature labour and our son was stillborn. Some how managed to rebook flights in fog of grief and husband arrived in Oz before the first entry date in visa grant letter. We stayed 2 weeks and returned to uk. Husband had been offered redundancy so we accepted this with plan to relocate to Oz at end August 2016. In April 2016 my husband suffered a massive stroke at the age of 39. No risk factors, just some random horrible thing. He can now walk but can't speak very well and I'm not sure if he will work again or not. Our plan is to give him a few more months of rehabilitation here in UK before we move to Australia, hopefully around October/November 2016. I'm thinking we need to be in Oz when we apply for his 100 visa, is this correct? I don't think there is, but I just wanted to triple check that he doesn't need to do another medical before his 100? I'm sure he won't pass if he has to due to his current disability. I'm just paranoid that we will get to Australia and they will turn around and say he can't stay due to the change to his condition. I can't earn enough to support him and any future family we have in London and I can't cope with everything that's happened this year on my own. So I just have to move back to Australia asap to have the family support I don't have here. I just can't move right now due to hubby needing rehabilitation. I'm thinking it will be a bit hard to link into Stroke rehabilitation services in Australia especially since we have to wait 12 months to get cover for any preexisting medical conditions when we sign up for private health insurance on arrival. I'm really torn and scared that our future in Australia is out of reach. Sorry if I sound a bit flakey and paranoid, can't see the forest through the trees at present stress does strange things to your brain! Many thanks in advance for your feedback. The automatic gearbox is an Aisin-sourced six-speed unit; automatic variants of the XUV500 dont get Micro-Hybrid engine stop/start system. Mahindra has introduced a six-speed automatic gearbox on the 1.99-litre diesel-engined version of the XUV500, which is currently being sold only in the Delhi-NCR. Mahindra had introduced the smaller engine in Delhi due to the ongoing ban on diesel cars with engines over 2,000cc. The automatic transmission is available in three variants of the XUV500 the W6 AT, the W8 AT and W10 AT. In the automatic variants, the engine continues to produce 140hp of peak power and 320Nm of peak torque as in the manual car, but gets a few tweaks to the equipment list. The automatic variants miss out on the Micro-Hybrid start/stop function which is offered on the manual variants. The W10 AT doesnt get the brake-regeneration feature and the W8 misses out on the push-button start feature. The W6 AT variant, however, comes with Electronic Stability Program, which the manual W6 doesnt get. The other features are the same as that of the manual counterparts. The Aisin-sourced automatic unit is already available on the 2.2-litre version of the XUV500 which is sold in other parts of the country. Prices for the automatic and manual versions of the XUV500 W6, W8 and W10 are listed below (ex-showroom, Delhi): They plan to ride around the planet spending over two years in the saddle of a 2005 BMW R1200GS that was tuned and tweaked to comply with the rigors of such an adventure. The two will cover more than 100,000 km (62,150 miles) and will visit no less than 87 countries in their way.It's not the first time when the two, who are also the founders of the Black Helmets riders club in Romania, are making spectacular trips. They also toured through the entire Europe aboard a BMW R1150RT recently.Florin and Diana are already on their way, and two days ago they were in Germany, heading for Denmark and up north to reach Nordkapp, the northernmost point in Europe reachable by road.Like it is accustomed in the select club of ride-the-world motorcyclists, they will film and take hundreds of photos along the way, all of them being posted to the dedicated Worldride2016 blog . There you can also find details on how to support them with donations if you feel like taking part in a way in their adventure.Even more, thanks to the GPS device they have on the bike, you can also track their progress in real time online . Also, you can get in contact with Florin and Diana using the Worldride2016 Facebook page The two Romanians are also planning to set and break some records along the way, including passing through the most capitals and cities during a motorcycle ride, and becoming the first married couple to ride around the world.After exploring Scandinavia and reaching Nordkapp, the two will go to Russia, Kazakhstan, India, Nepal, China, Mongolia and then back to Russia, to head towards North America. They will cross Canada and the US on their way to Mexico, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Chile, Peru, Argentina and Brazil. From there, they still have to decide whether heading for Africa or Australia. The Hotel was the site of the sold out 2016 Global Fleet Conference. Photo: Mike Antich For the fourth consecutive year, the Global Fleet Conference sold out. The conference, which is produced by Nexus Communication, publisher of Fleet Europe, and Bobit Business Media, publisher of Automotive Fleet, was held in Brussels, the capital of the EU, at the iconic The Hotel. The conference attracted more than 300 fleet managers and stakeholders from around the globe, and has become a not-to-be-missed event for fleet professionals with global responsibilities. During the two-day conference various forward-looking fleet management topics were discussed and detailed, from the impact of the global economy to the necessity to turn fleet management into a more sustainable program steered by the effects of climate change, the rise of electric mobility, and the arrival of the self-driving car. For the expert speakers and the participants of which around 100 were international fleet managers, there was a consensus to develop a sustainable fleet management strategy in which electric mobility can play a key role, with attention for growing support of driver behavior and telematics. On the second day of the conference, the focus was on individual global regions, with insights in Latin America, including Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Argentina, and Chile, and South East Asia. The 2016 Global Fleet Conference was preceded by an Advisory Board meeting of international corporate clients in which the results of the 2016 Global Fleet Survey were revealed and best practices in terms of global fleet management, compliance of policy, electric mobility and the use of telematics were shared. A photo gallery of highlights from the 2016 Global Fleet Conference is available here. The conference is held in Europe and the U.S. on alternate years. The 2017 Global Fleet Conference will be returning to Miami, site of the 2015 conference. Several Infiniti executives spoke at the Arab Luxury World conference, which took place in Dubai, to identify various industry trends and topics within the region. Infiniti was the sole automotive partner for the conference for the third year in a row, according to a release. Juergen Schmitz, managing director for Infiniti Middle East, spoke on the opening panel about the region's changing luxury landscape. The panel focused on market trends, sector outlooks, and areas of opportunity for luxury brands. Later in the day, Francesca Ciaudano, deputy general manager of marking and public relations, participated in a panel on digital strategy. The panel highlighted the importance of having a multi-platform approach to digital engagement as well as using various tools to measure and deliver a strong ROI. Karsten Jankowski, senior manager for marketing, also participated on a session about identifying the ways that luxury brands can market to millennials. Key insights include the importance of a focused strategy and the value of adding emotional and aspirational value to millennial-focused campaigns. Arab Luxury World is an annual two-day conference held by Mediaquest. 600 individuals attended from across the luxury industry including manufacturers, retailers, distributors, financial sector players, and fashion designers. The event took place June 1st and 2nd in Dubai, UAE. Free-spirited newbie Ziggy Star started working in the adult industry on December 31, 2014 (It was a New Years resolution and it worked) with a girl/girl scene for Pornstar Camhouse. I loved it. The girl, the camera, the first time having a Hitachi used on me. Her knowing what she was doing and me so inexperienced, it just opened up a whole different world for me, of sexuality and the industry. I wanted to figure it out. She has worked for Bonnie Rotten and Axel Braun, and had shoots planned with Jules Jordan and William H when she was interviewed by AVN. I like that I set my own limitations and boundaries, Star said. I can do whatever I want in this industry. I have been to Florida, really cool mansion parties, I get to see the most beautiful sights I never even imagined would be there. I love the attention I get from my fans on Twitter: Everybodys interested in what Ziggy Star might have to bring to the table. Im enjoying the ride that Im on. Star says she also likes how some people will take me under their wing and help me. She is currently being mentored by Veronica Avluv. Shes teaching me a lot. Shed like to work for Adam & Eve, ArchAngel, Kink.com, Brazzers and Naughty America, and her to-do list includes Bruce Venture and Tyler Nixon. Her pastimes run to rock climbing, going to the beach, playing volleyball and longboarding. While working, I dont like drama, whatever pleases someone else pleases me. I like to be sweet, Star said. I will always put 200 percent into everything I do. Her words to live by: No one will believe in you more than yourself. Unless its my sister. Book Ziggy Star at 101Modeling.com. Follow her on Twitter: @ziggystarxoxo. Photo by Rick Garcia/@IndustryByRick Airbus will become the first foreign company to assemble helicopters in China, under a new deal to deliver 100 H135 aircraft. The deal is worth about $788 million, according to The Wall Street Journal. With the further opening up of the Chinese skies and the increasing growth in the civil and parapublic segments, China is gearing up to be the biggest market for helicopters in years to come, said Norbert Ducrot, an Airbus Helicopters official. Airbus said it expected demand for helicopters to rise as Chinas power industry develops offshore wind farms. A new assembly facility will open in the coastal city of Qingdao in 2018. It will take about 10 years to deliver all 100 helicopters. General aviation companies have encountered mixed results over the last decade or so as they try to break into the Chinese market. The country has been slow to create the infrastructure and regulatory system needed for general aviation and business flying to thrive. Embraer recently ended a 13-year effort to produce Legacy 650 jets in China, saying demand for private jets had failed to materialize. Embraer executives also said Chinas tax system makes it cheaper for buyers to import aircraft rather than buy made-in-China versions, according to Bloomberg News. 14 June 2016 16:05 (UTC+04:00) By Gunay Camal Young men in Armenia are required to serve two years of military service, but safe and sound return from the service is far from many who are obliged to serve in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. The Nagorno-Karabakh region, occupied by Armenia from Azerbaijan in early 1990th, has turned into a meat grinder for young Armenians, who are forced to serve the illegal regime established there. Poor conditions, sexual abuse of serviceman, suicides, tortures and other horrors are common in the army of the so-called Nagorno-Karabakh Regime. Recently, six Armenian servicemen abjured to obey the orders of the army command of the Nagorno-Karabakhs separatist regime. For that reason, the court of General jurisdiction of the Syunik province of Armenia considered the case on those soldiers. The investigation established that in March of 2016, Vartan Balian, Sevak Hayrapetyan, Garegin Hakobyan, Kamo Ghazaryan, Vitaly and Andranik Beylarans, who served in the self-proclaimed defense army of the so-called "Nagorno Karabakh Republic", refused to serve in the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. The soldiers claimed that they are citizens of Armenia, and not of the unrecognized formation. They expressed their unwillingness to obey the orders of the so-called "Republics" military commanders. However, the soldiers were convicted by the Syunik court for openly refusing to comply with lawful orders of military units and battalion commanders while being the soldier of "Nagorno Karabakh". Thus, six servicemen were charged by Article 356.2 of the Criminal Code of Armenia. Despite the reasonable claim of the Armenian soldiers, their Armenian government has showed once again its irrationality, as well as absurdity of its actions. In Armenia, parents refuse to send their children to serve in Nagorno-Karabakh. Parents do everything for their child not to serve in the army, where bribery is believed to be prevalent as well. Families try to arrange matters before their sons were entered into a lottery used to determine where they will serve. Some simply leave Armenia, while others commit suicide in case they dont have enough money to escape from this hell. I am horrified of the incidents taking place in the army. Soon, the number of victims of army perversions will surpass the number of servants, says a parent of Armenian soldier who was sent to serve in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh. Parents of Armenian citizens who have died in the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army are raising questions as to what legal basis Armenian citizens are serving in the NKR Army. The exact question was earlier asked by the European Court of Human Rights to the Armenian government in the case of Hrachik Muradyan vs. Republic of Armenia. Hrachik Muradyans son, Suren Muradyan, died in 2001 in Karabakh army and due to his death a criminal case had been heard. Muradyan had died as a result of violence against him, while the official cause of death was from his illness with Malaria. The soldier had been tortured by the military bases deputy-commander and artillery chief, however, they avoided punishment, local media reports. Then the government cited Muradyans military service in Karabakh and the Muradyans case with a non-existent document. The European Court still has not released a verdict for the case of Hrachik Muradyan vs. Republic of Armenia. The time shows that the European Court will receive more cases against the Armenian government, as the country still continues the occupation of the internationally recognized territories of Azerbaijan and send deliberately young Armenians to death in Karabakh. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 June 2016 13:04 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov The Turkish Research Institute of space technology (TUBITAK UZAY) studies the experience of Azerkosmos in the management of satellite systems, the Ministry of Communications and High Technologies of Azerbaijan told Trend on Monday. A group of TUBITAK UZAY specialists attended training on definition of satellite orbit, maneuvering in space, studying methods of increase of the satellites service life. In turn, the Turkish Research Institute shared its plans and experience in building ground systems, satellite control, management of low-orbit satellites and practical works on nano-satellites construction. The parties reached a preliminary agreement on continuation of works on experience exchange in the future. Earlier, Azercosmos negotiated with TUBITAK UZAY on providing of scientific and technical support in the production of micro- and nanosatellites. The Memorandum of mutual understanding on cooperation in space industry between the parties and the Science Development Foundation under the President of Azerbaijan was signed in 2015. The cooperation also provides for space and astronomical science, and research in the study of the Earth surface and construction of telecommunication systems of new generation. Being the only satellite operator in Caucasus, Azercosmos launched the Azerspace-1, the first-ever satellite of Azerbaijan in 2013. The company provides highly reliable, satellite-based communication services to enterprise and government customers for DTH, voice, video, data and mobility applications. Azerspace-1 covers the countries of Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Middle East and Africa. Azerspace-2 is scheduled for launch in late 2017-early 2018. Work on the installation of ground station equipment must be completed no later than 2017, and the ready satellite shipped to the launch site before the end of 2017. Overall, Azercosmos has succeeded in becoming one of the driving forces of the ICT sector both in Azerbaijan and the whole region since its recent inception. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 June 2016 10:44 (UTC+04:00) The project of the Baku International Center for Multiculturalism teaching of subject Azerbaijani multiculturalism began at the Faculty of Philosophy at Charles University in the Czech Republic, Azertac reported. The politics of multiculturalism in Azerbaijan and multi-confessional will be studied at the Charles University. The subject of Azerbaijani multiculturalism will be taught at the Faculty of Philosophy at Charles University. Classes will be held during the whole semester. The subject of Azerbaijani multiculturalism was taught at universities in Russia, Bulgaria, Belarus, Georgia, Lithuania, Czech Republic and Italy. In the autumn semester new universities will be added to this list, and their number is constantly growing. Azerbaijan, being faithful to the ideas of multiculturalism and seeing dialogue as a best tool for building peace and prosperity amid the crises and tensions, has declared 2016 the Year of Multiculturalism. President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on to declare 2016 the Year of Multiculturalism in Azerbaijan in an effort to maintain, further develop and popularize the traditions of multiculturalism in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan, a country which established the first secular democracy in the Muslim world in 1918 and offered women the right to vote in 1919, acts as a model for peaceful coexistence of members of different nations and religions for many other countries as well. Tolerance and multiculturalism in secular Azerbaijan is a style of life for over 9.6 million people living at the crossroad of the East and West, and combining traditions and cultures. Azerbaijan has set up an international centre for multiculturalism in 2014, as a concrete effort to promote the values of multiculturalism. Azerbaijan makes important contributions to the traditions of tolerance, intercultural and inter-civilization dialogue. The country's success in multiculturalism relies on the full-scale embrace of this openness and tolerance by both government and the society at large which has remained primarily stable for many decades. Regarded as a model of tolerance and multiculturalism around the world, Azerbaijan aims to continue building tolerance and intercultural dialogue in the country and throughout the world. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 June 2016 10:52 (UTC+04:00) By Laman Ismayilova The 8th Supreme Assembly of the Nizami Ganjavi International Center was held in Andorra on June 13. Deputy head of Azerbaijani presidential administration, chief of the administration's foreign relations department Novruz Mammadov and Chairman of State Committee on Work with Diaspora attended the event Nazim Ibrahimov joined the event, Azertac reported. The event brought together Vaira Vike-Freiberga, co-chair of the Nizami Ganjavi International Center, President of the Republic of Latvia, Ismail Serageldin, co-chair of the Nizami Ganjavi International Center, Director of the Library Alexandria, as well as Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Mladen Ivanic, Amr Moussa the Secretary-General of the Arab League, Former President of Croatia Ivo Josipovic. The event was attended by Prime Minister of Andorra Antoni Marti, former Serbian President Boris Tadic, Diplomatic Advisor to the Italian President Antonio Zanardi Landi. Novruz Mammadov, addressing the event, stated that the main reason for the problems of the modern world is non-compliance with international law. The top Azerbaijani official noted that a number of conflicts emerge as a consequence of non-compliance with international law. Speaking about main problems and challenges of the globalization process, Mammadov mentioned that the international community is facing conflicts in the Middle East and the refugee problem in Europe. These problems should be analyzed thoroughly. These issues are extremely important. Thorough analysis of the underlying case should be the main purpose, he said. Nizami Ganjavi International Center was created with the multiple aims of preserving the reach cultural heritage of the past as well as encouraging and fostering current scholarship, research, cultural activity and social outreach, with aim to be a center of excellence for the production of knowledge and to be a place of dialogue and understanding between cultures and people. The Nizami Ganjavi International Center is a truly unique institution with an international mandate. The government of Azerbaijan and Council of Patrons, guided by the International Board of Trustees and constant touch with the Members and Friends of the Nizami Ganjavi International Center moves forward to build, an institution worthy of bearing the great name of Nizami Ganjavi with hope it will become a source of pride for Azerbaijan and the world. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 June 2016 14:27 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov The relations between the Azerbaijani government and the World Bank (WB) have entered a new level, and the jointly implemented projects successfully advance. This was stated by Ali Hasanov, Azerbaijans Deputy Premier and Chairman of the State Committee for Refugees and IDP affairs, at the meeting with the regional Director of the WB for South Caucasus Mercy Tembon and head of the Baku office of the WB Larisa Leshchenko. Hasanov noted that the government of Azerbaijan has gained a good experience during its cooperation with the World Bank. "Today, Azerbaijan is developing rapidly and has become one of the most authoritative countries in the world, he said. Ali Hasanov said that several successful projects with the World Bank have been implemented to improve the welfare of refugees and IDPs and these projects are currently ongoing. In turn, Mercy Tembon praised the work of Azerbaijan on the problems of refugees and internally displaced persons. Samir Sharifov, the Finance Minister of Azerbaijan, also spoke about the countrys relations with the WB. The disbursement rate of the World Banks funds in Azerbaijan reached 24 percent, he said at a ceremony staged in connection with the expiration of the office term of the WB country manager to Azerbaijan, Larisa Leshchenko. Samir Sharifov noted that the 2012 disbursement rate in Azerbaijan amounted to 13 percent. Azerbaijan has been a WB member since 1992. As of February 1, 2016, the Bank issued loans amounting to $3.785 billion to Azerbaijan. The funds were used to finance over 60 projects. By early 2016, Azerbaijan has used $2.764 billion or 73 percent of all loans drawn via WB. Besides the loans, WB delivered 45 grants totaling $41.586 million to Azerbaijan in 1995-2014. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 June 2016 14:29 (UTC+04:00) Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev expressed condolences to U.S. President Barack Obama on June 14 over the Orlando mass shooting. "I was deeply shocked by the news of death and injuries as a result of the brutal terrorist attack committed in Orlando, Florida," said Azerbaijan's president in his letter of condolences. Currently, the whole world is facing such a terrible disaster as terrorism, said President Aliyev, adding that this situation requires overall mobilization of forces and a decisive fight against terrorism. As a country suffering from terrorism, Azerbaijan always condemns terrorism and supports the fight against it, he added. "In these hard moments, I share your grief and on behalf of Azerbaijani people and on my own behalf, I express deep condolences to you, the families and friends of those killed and to the whole American people, and wish speedy recovery to those injured," said President Aliyev. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 June 2016 18:11 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov The protection and promotion of human rights among the priorities of Azerbaijan's state policy, said Mahmud Mammadguliyev, Azerbaijans Deputy Foreign Minister. Mammadguliyev made the remark while addressing a meeting of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, according to the Council's official website. Highlighting that legislative and juridical authorities have undertaken relevant steps in this regard, he said Azerbaijan attached particular importance to cooperation with the Human Rights Council. "Azerbaijan closely cooperated with the United Nations human rights treaty bodies, regularly submitting reports on measures taken to implement the rights and freedoms stipulated in the relevant international instruments," said the deputy minister. Mammadguliyev further added Azerbaijan also attached importance to the mechanism of the Universal Periodic Review, to which it had voluntarily submitted a mid-term report. "Growing intolerance was one of the negative trends of the contemporary world. Azerbaijan, located at the crossroads of the East and the West, acted as an intercultural bridge between civilizations, he said. The 7th Global Forum of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) had taken place in Baku recently, adopting the Baku Declaration, which would serve as a guideline for states and international organizations in the promotion of intercultural dialogue and multiculturalism, the deputy minister reminded. Mammadguliyev added that the establishment and successful functioning of the State Agency for Services to Citizens and Social Innovations (ASAN) allowed to promote good governance and fight against corruption. The official also spoke about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, saying that the ongoing armed conflict in and around the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan had included ethnic cleansing by Armenia of more than one million Azerbaijanis living in those occupied territories. "As a result, Azerbaijan hosted one of the largest communities of internally displaced persons and refugees in the world per capita," he noted, further adding that the conflict could be resolved only by ensuring full respect to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan within its internationally recognized borders. The Human Rights Council and its special mechanisms should play an increased role in the restoration of the violated human rights of Azerbaijani internally displaced persons, said the deputy minister. Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. While the OSCE Minsk Group acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, the occupation of the territory of the sovereign State with its internationally recognized boundaries has been left out of due attention of the international community for years. Armenia ignores four UN Security Council resolutions on immediate withdrawal from the occupied territory of Azerbaijan, thus keeping tension high in the region. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 June 2016 18:03 (UTC+04:00) By Nigar Abbasova Milli Mejlis [Azerbaijan parliament] held its first plenary meeting of the extraordinary session which included discussions of 28 issues on June 14. Among the issues on agenda were approval of the agreements and memos on the mutual understanding signed with Iran and Korea, the discussions on the law "On science", changes to the Migratory Code, Code of Administrative Offences, Tax Code, Procedural Civil Code as well as changes to the laws "On military service", "On protection and effective use of genetic resources of cultivated plants", and the law "On state duties". MPs made certain changes to the law "On military service". In accordance with the changes military service delay will also be presented to the students of masters and doctors degree courses. Previously bachelors were eligible to continue their education under these programs only after military service. Military service delay will also be presented to the students of scientific institutions which were established by the bodies of executive power, passed accreditation process and hold a special license for operation as well as to the full-time students of bachelors, master's and doctor's degree courses, as well as students getting basic higher medical education and students of medical residentura (medical internship) studying abroad. Within the framework of the meeting parliamentarians have also adopted the clause on science which was worked out in the course of several years. Isa Habibeyli, parliamentary committee chairman on the issues of science and education and vice-president of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS), said that all proposals made by MPs concerning the clause have been taken into account. He noted that the main objective of the law is to provide constitutional rights for all entities engaged in the sphere of scientific activity as well as to determine the legal basis in the sphere. MPs also discussed the changes proposed to the Tax Code of the country. The changes envisage doubling the volume of means allocated for a social security fund of the employees of tax authorities. Commenting on the issue MP Siyavush Novruzov expressed his objections mentioning that the non-budget funds lead to the appropriation of means. Sahib Alekperov, Deputy Tax Minister, in his turn mentioned that all means in the non-budget fund are under control. Under the changes, non-budget fund will be created at the expense of 50 percent of the total sum of the financial sanctions while annual formation of the non-budget fund at the expense of 25 percent of the total volume of financial sanctions imposed by tax authorities with the view of social security provision was envisaged in the previous version of the Law. The creation of the non-budget fund of the tax authorities and arrangements for using will be defined by the appropriate body of the executive power. Changes to the Tax Code of the country have been put to the vote and adopted with a majority of votes. Parliamentarians also adopted the removal of certain duties as well as decreasing the amount of fee for the single-entry visa processing. The changes envisage determining the fee at the level of $20. Previously the amount of the fee for single-entry visa processing was $50 Under the changes certain fees for consular operations held in Azerbaijan and diplomatic missions abroad are removed. The changes also envisage removal of state duty for processing tourist, student and transit visa. In accordance with the previous law the state duty for the students who get their education on the basis of individual contract and single transit visa amounted to $20 while the duty for double transit visa was at the level of $40. The changes are aimed at the simplification of the entry process to the country. The parliament has also approved several changes to the Migratory Code. The changes refer to the rules for issuing electronic visas to foreigners and stateless persons arriving in Azerbaijan through "ASAN Viza" system. Under the new rules, foreigners and stateless persons arriving in Azerbaijan will be able to receive e-visa system through the "ASAN Viza" within the period of three days. The duration of stay is set to 30 days. E-visa will be issued to citizens of countries approved by the relevant executive authority, as well as citizens and stateless persons permanently residing in these countries. Foreigners and stateless persons, who wish to receive an e-visa, must enter information into the system of "ASAN Viza", and after receipt on acceptance of confirmation pay online a state fee in the amount specified by law "On state duty". The system of "ASAN Viza" sends the appeal to the interagency automated retrieval system "Entry-exit and registration". The relevant executive authority verifies the information not later than three days from the time of appeal in "ASAN Viza", checks restriction list of the "Entry-exit and registration". Then a visa is sent to the e-mail address of the contact person. In case of failure the person is also informed. The electronic visas are not stuck in the passport but presented together with the passport while crossing the border check-point. Foreigners and stateless persons may apply for a new e-visa only after they will leave the territory of Azerbaijan. The organization of ASAN Viza operations, information which should be presented for obtaining a visa as well as sample form of the e-visa should be defined by the body of executive power. The presidential order which was signed on June 1 and entered into force on June 6 is aimed at simplification of e-visas issuance procedure for foreigners and stateless persons arriving in Azerbaijan. Creation of an e-visa system is expected to ensure transparency and efficiency with the use of modern information technologies. Parliamentarians also ratified the PSA-contract on the share of extraction, restoration and exploring operations in the land-based blocks of Muradkhanli, Djafarli and Zardab oil fields. The contract is signed between Azerbaijans state SOCAR company and Canadas Zenith Aran Oil Company Limited. The total area of the block which is located in the territory of Imishli district is 642.4 square kilometers. In accordance with the contract the share of Zenith amounts to 80 percent while the share of SOCAR is 20 percent. Average daily volume of oil extraction in the fields currently amounts to 350 barrels. The field also possesses small volumes of gas. MPs also ratified a number of agreements signed between Azerbaijan and Iran. Parliamentarians ratified an agreement on cooperation in the field of energy and use of water resources, continuation of the construction and operation of hydroelectric power plants and hydroelectric complexes Khudaferin and Giz Galasi on the Araz River, the agreement on the cooperation in the sphere of elimination, restriction as well as diminishing effects of the emergency situations, an agreement on the mutual administrative assistance in the issues related to customs operations as well as an agreement on the sale of electric power and coordination of railways of Azerbaijan and Iran. The decision on the conduct of extraordinary session was taken upon the basis of requests of certain number of parliamentarians. The extraordinary session includes two plenary meetings, as well as meetings of several parliamentary committees. -- Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 June 2016 13:25 (UTC+04:00) By Fatma Babayeva AzerGold CJSC will commence purchasing procedure of the assets of the foreign contractors that engaged in gold mining in the coming weeks. The purchase will be carried out under the Production Sharing Agreement on the survey, research, exploration, and development of Garadagh, Chovdar, Geydag, Dagkesemen mines, Kohnemadan field and deposits of Kurekchay Basin located in the Republic of Azerbaijan", Trend reported Zakir Ibrahimov, Chairman of the Board of AzerGold as saying in June 14. At present, the CJSC is passing a state registration through the single window system of the Ministry of Taxes, he said, adding that simultaneously, the talks have been held with foreign companies on acquisition and disposal of the assets. Ibrahimov underlined that the government will allocate funds to procure the stakes of the foreign contractors. Nevertheless, he thinks it is too early to speak about the cost of their assets. After the purchase of the assets, the working program will be prepared for the development of the given deposits. By the order of Azerbaijans President dated to May 25, 2016, AzerGold CJSC was instructed to ensure efficient management and survey, research, exploration and development of Garadagh, Chovdar, Geydag, Dagkesemen mines, Kohnemadan field and deposits of Kurekchay Basin after making a purchase. After the realization of the purchase, the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources will take the necessary steps to annul the agreement on the basis of the mutual agreement in accordance with Article 26.6 of the agreement. Earlier, the agreement covering 30 years was ratified by the Azerbaijani Parliament (Milli Majlis) on June 5, 2007. Investments in the exploitation of the subsoil resources were expected to amount from $1 billion to $3.5 billion after the implementation of successful exploration works. Azerbaijan's share in the agreement is 30 percent of total revenue. Foreign contractors holding shares in the agreement are Londex Resources S.A. (45 percent), Will and Meyris S.A. (29 per cent), Fargate Mining Corporation (15 percent) and Globex International LLP (11 percent). The aggregate potential of all fields available in Azerbaijan is estimated at about 1,500- 2,000 tons of pure gold. In 2015, the country produced 2,229 kilograms of gold. First gold mining in the country began in Gadabey deposit in 2009. Azerbaijan has increased its gold production and accelerated the exploration of new deposits during last years due to the upgraded base of drilling rigs, the use of new techniques and technologies and the efficiency of geological exploration work. --- Fatma Babayeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Fatma_Babayeva Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 June 2016 13:49 (UTC+04:00) By Nigar Abbasova Board of directors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will discuss the allocation of the first tranche for improving the electric power distribution system in Azerbaijan on June 22. Nariman Mannapbekov, Country Director for the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said the first tranche will comprise $250 million. The funds will be directed to the purchase of necessary equipment in substations as well as purchase of meters for the population of the country. Credit will be allocated for the term of 25 years with the grace period of 5 years. Rate of interest will be formed on the basis of London interbank rate (LIBOR) with low level of margin of 0.4 percent. The terms will depend on the governments choice, he added. The project is expected to cover all regions of Azerbaijan except Baku. ADB and Azerbaijan have signed a memo on the mutual understanding on the investment program worth of $1 billion in May 2015, the document envisages reconstruction and modernization of the countrys power supply system. The investment program project envisages allocation of funds with the amount of $750 million in 3 stages ($250 million in each stage), another $250 million will be provided by the government of Azerbaijan. The funds are planned to be directed to the update of the power distribution system, substations, improvement of services, and replacement of meters by new digital ones as well as strengthening of human resources potential of Azerishiq OJSC. The Asian Development Bank which was established in the 1966 has 67 members, 48 of which are from the Asia and Pacific region. Its main instruments for helping its developing member countries are policy dialogue, loans, equity investments, guarantees, grants, and technical assistance. With its headquarters in Manila, Philliooines ADBs main objective is to help its developing member countries reduce poverty and improve the quality of life of their people. Operations of the bank in Azerbaijan are closely aligned with the government's priorities, including diversifying the economy beyond the oil sector. Azerbaijn has become a member in 1999, the countrys share in the banks capital amounts to 0.5 percent. Leading shareholders og the bank are Japan and USA (with 31.2 percent of total stock capital), India (12.8 percent), Australia, South Korea and Canada (16 percent) -- Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 June 2016 17:08 (UTC+04:00) By Amina Nazarli South Korean companies seek to expand their participation in implementation of the infrastructure projects in Azerbaijan. The issue was discussed in Seoul within the framework of the first meeting of the Joint Commission on Economic Cooperation between the two countries. The first meeting of the Commission brought together officials of various ministries, organizations and joint stock companies. Prior to the meeting, the Azerbaijani co-chairman of the Commission, Deputy Minister of Communications and High Technologies, Iltimas Mammadov, and the co-chairman of the Commission on behalf of South Korea, Vice Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy , Woo Taehee, discussed prospects for developing the bilateral relations between the two states. The sides discussed the ways to enhance cooperation in trade and investment areas, as well as the issue of supporting Korean companies for participation in infrastructure projects in Azerbaijan. To discuss a bilateral cooperation, a mission of South Korean Trade, Industry and Energy Ministry will visit Baku in September. We expect that the leading industry technology of South Korea and the rich resources of Azerbaijan will allow us to produce products with high added value, Woo Taehee said. Following the discussions a protocol of the first meeting of the Joint Commission on Economic Cooperation was signed. The Joint Commission on Economic Cooperation between Azerbaijan and Korea was established in 2015 in accordance with the agreement on economic cooperation between the two sides. About 20 Korean companies are doing business in Azerbaijan. In general, almost 4,000 people from Azerbaijan and Korea on average enjoy business cooperation on a yearly basis. The two countries carry out an active cooperation in a number of fields, including economic, political, cultural, and scientific and education. The trade turnover with South Korea amounted to $30 million in January-April 2016, almost the entire amount of which fell to the import from that country, according to the Azerbaijani State Customs Committee. Korea exports to Azerbaijan mainly automobile and plastic and electronic products while the South Caucasus republic exports oil, aluminum and copper products to Korea. Baku and Seoul also will boost maritime cooperation, as the two countries have agreed on joint actions in this field earlier in March. These were Memorandum of Cooperation between the State Maritime Administration of Azerbaijan and the Korean Oceans and Fisheries Ministry and Memorandum of Understanding on mutual recognition of certificates (diplomas) issued on the basis of the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers, 1978. The documents are expected to give impetus to develop the relations between the two countries in maritime transport, trade and cooperation spheres. Meanwhile, on the extraordinary plenary session on Tuesday Azerbaijans Parliament approved Memorandum of Understanding on mutual recognition of certificates (diplomas) issued on the basis of the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping between the State Maritime Administration of Azerbaijan and the Oceans and Fisheries Ministry of Korea. -- Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 June 2016 17:51 (UTC+04:00) By Nigar Abbasova A conference entitled Investment promotion: new approaches and priorities organized by the Azerbaijani Economy Ministry was held in Baku on June 14. Attended by some 200 representatives of the economic, industrial structures, enterprises, governmental bodies and trade chambers the event was addressed by Economy Minister Shahin Mustafayev and others who spoke of the improving business environment in the country. The total volume of investments for 15 projects which hold the document of the investment incentives will amount to 160 million manats ($105.8 million), Mustafayev said addressing the audience. Mustafayev mentioned that the new mechanism exempts entrepreneurs from land taxes and grants discounts at the rate of 50 percent in the cases of income tax payments. I want to underline that the import of equipment and technologies for the implementation of the projects is exempt from value added tax," he added. Realization of projects will give a stimulus for the creation of more than 1,400 new work places. The minister expressed his confidence in the fact that the mechanism will play an important role for the provision of sustainable development of the countrys economy. Projects which have received the document of the investment incentives will be implemented in different spheres including the production of hydrate of lime, creation of hothouse complexes, and production of packaging materials. -- Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 June 2016 11:23 (UTC+04:00) By Amina Nazarli Folk dances are part of the culture of any country. The history, tradition and character of the people and its temper can be traced through national dances. One of the most popular and graceful dances of Azerbaijan is Uzundere, what means "long gorge". This ancient dance originated in Karabakh, in Uzundere areas and is performed both at weddings and other festive events often by women, but sometimes in pairs. The beauty and grandeur of this dance attracts many peoples, some of which even aspire to appropriate it. Recently, the Copyright Agency has protested against the presentation of this ancient Azerbaijani folk dance as Armenian. The agency told APA that some media outlets reported about a wedding ceremony in Moscow held on June 5, where a fragment of the Azerbaijani music was performed as Armenian. In this connection, the Copyright Agency said that a video captured at a wedding ceremony and posted in Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ir0Skn-ZIbE) shows the performance of Azerbaijani folk dance Uzundere. The melody of Uzundere dance was used by great Azerbaijani composer Uzeyir Hajibeyli in the song "Mn n qdr qoca olsam da" (No matter how old I am") in 1910 from his musical comedy "Not that, so this", which was also filmed in 1956. Appropriating the Azerbaijani folklore samples, including folk dancing, has become a tradition of the cultural policy of Armenians. They collected and archived ancient Azerbaijani songs, translated them into their own language, and then presented as their own. Available evidence suggests that most of the samples of folk songs and music (about 90 percent) presented by Armenians as their own, are based on the Azerbaijani folk songs. The book "Armenian foreign fairy tale" by Kamran Imanov, revealing numerous Armenian falsifications was published in 2013 in Azerbaijani, Russian, English, French and Turkish languages. The Copyright Agency sends an official protest letter to the World Intellectual Property Organization over each case of appropriation samples of Azerbaijani literature and music. The above fact is another example of the Armenian robbery of literature and music, which has been continuing over the years. This means violation of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. Throughout the years Armenians continue to steal, appropriate and present Azerbaijani music, folklore and other samples of the Intangible Cultural Heritage as their own. Many times, the people tried to appropriate Azerbaijani songs Sari Gelin Susen Sunbul, dances Yalli, Vagzali, as well as ancient musical instruments like tar, balaban, zurna and even works by prominent Azerbaijani composers such as Uzeyir Hajibeyli, Kara Karayev and Fikret Amirov. Earlier last December, UNESCO did not recognize Kocheri as an Armenian folklore dance, which received a negative assessment from the organization based on five criteria. Azerbaijan in a guard of its history protested this move, producing necessary documents to the organization. Kocheri is a kind of ancient Azerbaijani dance Yalli, which is depicted on the rock carvings in Gobustan dating to 10,000-8,000 years BC. -- Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 June 2016 12:41 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov A book about eminent Azerbaijani orientalist scientist Aida Imanguliyeva has been presented at Baku educational complex No. 132-134 on June 13. An unforgettable graduate -- Aida Imanguliyeva book tells about the life and work of the distinguished Azerbaijani scholar. The presentation of the book was attended by number of scientific and cultural figures. Addressing the event, Sara Khanlarova, Director of the educational complex, said the school with over 100-year history has decided to annually publish a book about one of the famous alumni of the school. "The first book has been dedicated to Aida Imanguliyeva because she is the most famous graduate of the school," she underlined. Khanlarova also voiced her pride that Aida Imanguliyeva was the graduate of their school. Akif Alizadeh, President of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS), said that he was proud of working in the Academy together with Aida Imanguliyeva. Her untimely death was a great loss both for us and for the Azerbaijani people in whole. However, today is a truly pleasant day. Speaking about the graduate of this prestigious school is a very pleasant, and at the same time, responsible task," Alizadeh said. He stressed that Aida Imanguliyeva was a prominent scientist-orientalist. After graduating, she devoted her life to science. She's one of the few scientists that still do not lose their relevance, ANAS President noted. Aida Imanguliyeva could speak both the languages of the East and West. She is the outstanding Azerbaijani scientist-orientalist, who studied literature of the East and West. Academician Vasim Mammadaliyev said that Imanguliyeva was a great scholar of the new Arabic literature, noting that Imanguliyeva is an indispensable scientist. She was a very modest woman, but was a world famous scholar. Aida Imanguliyeva was well known in Georgia, Russia, Lebanon, Syria and other countries. Her work was referenced to, and this is the biggest achievement for a scientist, Mammadaliyev stressed. Academician Ahliman Amiraslanov and Director of the Institute of Oriental studies of ANAS, Govhar Bakhshalieva also spoke about the importance of Aida Imanguliyevas activities. The event progressed with the demonstration of a short film about Aida Imanguliyeva. Aida Imanguliyeva was an active orientalist-scientist who earned respect of the scientific public. She was a member of the Presidium of All-Union Oriental Studies Society and the All-Union Coordination Council on Eastern literature research in the former USSR. As a representative of the Azerbaijani orientalist school, she gave lectures in scientific congresses, symposiums, and sessions held in Moscow, Saint-Petersburg, Poltava, Dushanbe, Tbilisi and other cities. Aida Imanguliyeva was Azerbaijans first female doctor of sciences and first professor on Arab literature. She began fulfilling the functions of the director of the Oriental Studies Institute in August, 1991 and was appointed to the position of Director in December of the same year. She was very sentimental, attentive, kind and slender person. She was always demonstrating interest and kindness to her relatives and trying to solve their problems. Aida Imanguliyeva untimely passed away on September 19, 1992 at the age of 52. --- Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 June 2016 17:35 (UTC+04:00) By Laman Ismayilova The second edition of international exhibition "Art without borders" has been opened in Baku office of the World Academy of Arts New Era, Trend Life reported. The art event brought together prominent public, culture and art figures. The exhibition features over 70 works of artists from Turkey, Russia, Bulgaria, Iran, Georgia and other countries. The diversity of patterns, colors, used by artists aroused great interest among visitors. The event also included an awarding ceremony of famous artist and director of the representative office of the WAA New Era in Azerbaijan, Arif Aziz. The artist received the 1st class Grand Cross of the Order of Merit for tolerance in creativity and art without borders from European Academy of Natural Science and European Scientific Society. The award and the diploma were handed over by a full member of the European Academy of Natural Sciences, artist Solmaz Amanova. Then, honored artist of Azerbaijan, member of the Union of Artists, Sakit Mammadov was awarded "Golden Crown" for creation of a new direction in art, including the using of the mineraloid Opal. Georgian artist Rizvan Ismail received the Turkic Order of Friendship from Ismayil Khatai Fund. The exhibition became another contribution of Azerbaijani art figures in the treasure house of world culture. The public noncommercial organization "World Academy of Arts "New Era" is registered in 2007, in Russia. The aim of the Academy is to provide services in the sphere of culture and art, to create modern international center of studying and assistance of the fine art development as well as to research arts, cultural traditions of the world, to work out plans and actions of their preservation and development. --- Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 June 2016 15:30 (UTC+04:00) A long-lasting Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the South Caucasus region has contributed to a widening volatility gap that is leaving many people in danger, even those who are out of direct impact of the conflict. But one promising solution offers hope throughout the region: a fair resolution to the conflict. Nowadays, the worlds top states seem to understand the necessity of solving the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, which with every ceasefire violation threatens to reignite a military conflict between the countries and destabilize the South Caucasus region. Nagorno-Karabakh, located at the seam of Europe, Russia, Iran and Turkey, has the potential to destabilize the entire Caucasus region. There is no denying that the conflict has far-reaching negative effects, including on energy security of Europe, since Azerbaijan is a significant player and initiator of the huge energy projects. The hot spot in the South Caucasus region cannot only be a headache for Europe, but also close neighbors such as Russia, which has close ties with the conflict parties. No country would love to see a military conflict close to its borders, and Russia is no exception. Immediately following the unprecedented flare-up in fighting along the line of contact in early April, Russia filled a diplomatic vacuum left by other world powers and brokered a ceasefire. Few days later of the fighting, the sides agreed to a truce in Moscow at a trilateral meeting between the Russian, Armenian and Azerbaijani army chiefs. Days later, the Russian foreign minister and prime minister were in Baku and Yerevan. Now, an intensive phase of negotiations on the settlement of the conflict in the Nagorno-Karabakh region may begin in the coming days, as the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia agreed earlier in Vienna. Kremlin has announced that a trilateral meeting of Azerbaijani, Armenian and Russian presidents is possible in St. Petersburg. "The work on this issue is underway. We don't rule out that such meetings will be held," Russian president's spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters last week. "If it is confirmed finally, we will give information." Moscows energetic diplomacy was assessed by many observers and diplomats as a move to strengthen its positions in the region. However, the world powers also admitted that the giant northern neighbor can play a key role in the conflict resolution given its leverages. Earlier, the Secretary General of the OSCE Lamberto Zannier and most recently German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Russia can play a key role in the conflict resolution. Russia's contribution to resolving the long lasting conflict will bring results and create conditions for a new phase of negotiations that will be much more constructive than previous talks, Zannier said on April 8. Germany, said the Chancellor, would like to do its bit within the scope of the OSCE Presidency to resolve the conflict peacefully. It is not only a question of respecting the ceasefire, she said, but of making progress with the political process. The current situation is not favorable, since the conflict could flare up again at any time. Russia will play a crucial part in resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Merkel said. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who was in Berlin at talks with Merkel, has said he wants a peaceful resolution to the conflict over, warning that the truce is fragile and a strong solution is needed. "Recent developments in the region on the line of conflict show the ceasefire is not stable, it is fragile," Aliyev told a press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on June 7. "The status quo is not acceptable." Nonetheless, Yerevan still seems true to its non-constructive position in talks. At the time when the world powers intensified efforts for brokering a lasting peace Armenia shows disrespect to the talks. Following the Vienna meeting of May 16, the Armenian leadership made irrational statements, mostly misinterpreting the essence of the peace talks. Now at time when Moscow has gone into diplomatic overdrive to bring the parties together the Sargsyan regime stages double diplomacy and confronts to even bilateral agreements with Moscow. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 June 2016 14:08 (UTC+04:00) There may be more overtaking on Baku track compared to the other street tracks that we race on, Formula 1 driver Felippe Massa told journalists. "It will be my first time in Azerbaijan so I don't know what to expect from the country. I'm really looking forward to discovering a nice country, good people, and also a race track which will be in the middle of the town, he said, according to Formula1.com. I don't know yet if it will be more like Monaco, or maybe a mix between Monaco and Singapore. We will wait and see. I've heard the straights will be longer, so maybe there will be more overtaking on this track. I hope we come away from Azerbaijan for the first time with a good result," Massa added. Formula 1 race fans will gather in Azerbaijan on June 17-19, as its capital will host the eighth stage of the 67th season of Grand Prix of Europe for the first time. With a length measuring at slightly over six kilometers, the 20-corner track will be lapped 51 times, with cars reaching potential speeds of up to 340km per hour, marking the circuit out as the fastest street circuit on the existing F1 calendar. The circuit offers a number of challenges for drivers, including an extremely narrow uphill section along the old town walls that will require pinpoint accuracy, and it has an acceleration section of almost 2.2 kilometres along the seaside promenade, which will see the cars running flat out at very high speed - something that will create an incredible show for race fans. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 June 2016 16:31 (UTC+04:00) "The Baku track, from what we have seen, looks nice and very quick," Azertac quoted the driver of Formula 1 Grand Prix of Europe, Valtteri Bottas, as saying. "I've never been to Azerbaijan, so it should be interesting. In general, it's a bit of an unknown for me. I like going to new places, discovering new cultures and seeing new cities. I'm looking forward to learning more about the country, the city and especially the race track," he added. Azerbaijan is the latest addition in the F1 calendar and the newly designed impressive street circuit promises to become one of the most exciting and thrilling venues for the F1 race. Being the worlds fastest city circuit and the track loop around the citys historical centre, Baku will create a unique and remarkable atmosphere for fans watching in the grandstands and at home. The six kilometers, anti-clockwise layout of the circuit is planned to start adjacent to Azadliq Square, then loop around the Government House before heading west to Maiden Tower. From there the track is planned to have a narrow uphill traversal and then circle the Old City along Neftchilar Avenue back to the start line. The quickest street track on the Formula One circuit will feature 20 turns and a 2.2km straight along Neftchilar Avenue, where drivers will reach speeds of 340kph. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 June 2016 16:18 (UTC+04:00) The project of transportation of Azerbaijani gas to Europe has entered into the new phase last month by holding a Trans Adriatic Pipeline's (TAP) groundbreaking ceremony in Thessaloniki, Greece. With TAP to be constructed in 2019, gas from the second phase of Azerbaijani Shah Deniz gas field development can be delivered to the EU countries in 2020. In particular, the gas will be trasported from the Turkish-Greek border through Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea and then coming ashore in Italy's south. TAP's initial capacity will be 10 billion cubic meters of gas per year with the possibility expand it to to 20 billion cubic meters. However, TAP has opportunity to provide access for Azerbaijani gas to more far beyond the mentioned countries. The pipeline is able to facilitate connections to several planned infrastructure projects such as the Ionian-Adriatic Pipeline (IAP) and Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB). Lisa Givert, TAP Head of Communications told Trend that TAP continues regular interaction with IGB, as well as with the TANAP (Trans Anatolian) project, which envisages transportation of gas of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field from Georgian-Turkish border to the western borders of Turkey. "In November 2012, TAP and TANAP signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which established technical and commercial cooperation between the two pipelines and formalised a mutual framework and forum for coordinated activities and exchange of information. In December 2015, TAP and TANAP also signed an Agreement for Cooperation during Construction (ACC)," Givert said. In addition, she said, in January 2014, TAP signed an MoUC with ICGB, the company developing Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB), on cooperation to interconnect the two systems. "In line with these agreements, TAP holds regular interface meetings with TANAP and IGB," Givert said. IGB, which is expected to be connected to TAP, will allow Bulgaria to receive Azerbaijani gas. In early December, 2015, Bulgaria and Greece signed a final investment decision on the IGB project. The initial capacity of 182 kilometers length pipeline will be 3 billion cubic meters of gas. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 June 2016 10:21 (UTC+04:00) Ankara's membership in the EU won't benefit Turkey, since any economic problem in the Union may destroy the Turkish economy, believes Naciye Selin Senocak, chair holder at UNESCO Cultural Diplomacy, Governance and Education Chair, Center for Diplomatic and Strategic Studies (CEDS). Speaking to Trend June 13, Senocak didn't rule out that for a number of reasons, Turkey won't be able to become a member of the EU. "There are many reasons hindering Turkey on this path," said the expert. Senocak added that one of these reasons is young and dynamic population of Turkey that may compete with Germany from political and economic points of view. Another important reason is the fact that Turkey is a Muslim country, and that is perceived as a cultural threat in the EU, according to the expert. "In addition, the EU perceives political chaos in Turkey's neighboring countries as a real threat," said Senocak. At the same time, she believes that Turkey itself doesn't really need the EU. The EU is no longer an "island of hope and stability", as it can be seen from the economic problems in France and Greece, the EU policy towards migrants, as well as the expected June 23 referendum regarding UK's membership in the EU, said Senocak. "Turkey needs to develop a model of cooperation with the EU on the win-win principle, as China did," the expert added. She went on to add that in case if Turkey stops negotiations with the EU regarding the membership issue, the EU will immediately start propaganda about Turkey's radicalization with an aim to internationally isolate Ankara. Senocak also believes that Turkey should resume relations with Russia, which is very important for stability in the region. Earlier, the then prime minister and the current president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the EU continues to mislead Turkey [on the issue of accession] and this upsets the country. Meanwhile, the Minister for EU Affairs Volkan Bozkir noted that the accession negotiations "cannot continue in the format required by the EU," and stressed that democracy in Turkey is at a higher level than in some European countries. Ankara submitted its EU membership application in 1987, and negotiations on accession started only in 2005. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 June 2016 14:31 (UTC+04:00) Turkey won't allow formation of new states in neighboring Syria, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said, TRT Haber TV channel reported June 14. He said that the formation of new states in the north of Syria harms the interests of Ankara and is a threat to Turkey's security as well. The prime minister also stressed that Turkey is ready to make every effort to ensure security of the state and its citizens. Yildirim noted that the Syrian wing of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) terrorist group operates in the north of Syria under the slogan of the liberation movement. Earlier, Yildirim said that following successful operations against the PKK terrorist group in several southeastern provinces of Turkey, PKK militants signaled their intention to lay down arms. Yildirim added that Turkey will continue military operations against the PKK until the terrorist group is completely destroyed. Turkey's current priority is internal stability and security of its citizens, Yildirim said. The conflict between Turkey and the PKK, which demands the creation of an independent Kurdish state, has continued for over 25 years and has claimed more than 40,000 lives. The UN and the European Union listed the PKK as a terrorist organization. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 June 2016 16:44 (UTC+04:00) By Fatma Babayeva Business circles of Austria are interested in intensifying cooperation with Turkmenistan and implementation of joint projects, said Heidemaria Gurer, the head of the department of Eastern Europe, Western Balkan, South Caucasus and Central Asia at Austria's Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs. She made the remark during a meeting held in Ashgabat, the Turkmen Foreign Ministry reported on June 14. The diplomat also underlined the need to give an impetus to a more dynamic development of the relations between two countries, the search for new opportunities and areas of cooperation, in particular, small and medium-sized businesses. It was previously reported that Austria is interested in purchasing of the Turkmen textile products. In Turkmenistan, this industry is evolving on the basis of the growth of domestic processing of cultivated cotton. Austria is also interested in partnership in the sphere of processing of agricultural and food products. The possibilities of participating in the projects for the construction of livestock breeding complexes in Turkmenistan, supplying equipments for the production of meat and dairy products are under consideration. Additionally, construction, health and tourism are among the priority areas for the cooperation. The two countries periodically hold business forums. Several Austrian companies such as WOMA GmbH, Schoeller Bleckmann AG, Unger Stahlbau GmbH, Schrack Seconet AG, Oswelt GmbH, AME Interhational, Landhof, Schlafhorst, Truetzschler, Uster and Strabag SE show interest in the Turkmen market. Turkmenistan is one of the most promising countries for Austria in the field of energy security, and the possibility to diversify the sources of raw materials' supply. Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in 1992. Austria also assisted developing the UN resolution on Turkmenistan's neutrality. In 2014, bilateral trade turnover between the two countries increased by over 20 per cent as compared with 2013. --- Fatma Babayeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Fatma_Babayeva Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 14 June 2016 16:32 (UTC+04:00) The construction of the Sahand destroyer is 90-percent complete and the watercraft will soon be ready to join the Iranian naval fleet, according to Iran's Navy Commander Habibollah Sayyari. He said the destroyer has a stealth capability 30 percent greater than the previous models, Mehr news agency reported on June 14. The destroyer has recently been renamed Sahand from Moj-5. Sayyari also commented on the drills that the Navy plans to stage during the current Iranian calendar year (to end March 20). He said that by February 2017, the Navy will have held 20 war games. "The biggest of the drills will be held at the Gulf of Oman and the Indian Ocean if the budget is passed," he noted. Iran's Navy has recently been active as a show of power. Sayyari has recently said the Navy will continue holding military drills in the Persian Gulf despite the US objections. IRGC Lieutenant Commander Brigadier General Hossein Salami in early March threatened the US with blocking the strategic Strait of Hormuz, through which one fifth of the world oil supply passes. The US itself has been keeping its military bases in the area for decades. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. Northwich-based Roberts Bakery has been recognised in the 2016 North West Responsible Business Awards, run by Business in the Community (BITC). Family baking business Roberts was highly commended in the North West Business in the Community New Member Award category at the BITC awards. The award identifies and rewards new members of Business in the Community that have made a demonstrable progression on their responsible business journey. Lindsay Occleston, a member of the Roberts family, said: "We have given people the chance to make a difference in our local community and it has achieved one of the biggest ever changes in engagement generally across the business." Roberts has developed partnerships with local charities Childrens Adventure Farm Trust, the Joshua Tree and St Lukes Hospice where employees have been involved in raising money, donating products and giving up time in support the company has committed 100 days of employee time. This year the business supported Genesis Breast Cancer Prevention with an on-pack Use Your Loaf promotion across 5m wholemeal loaves. The company also runs a regional primary school programme which runs twice weekly during school term. Friends of 34-year-old Eddie Sotomayor said he had a dynamic personality the kind you always wanted to be around. Eddie Sotomayor, 34, died during the Orlando terrorist attack He was at Pulse with his partner Co-workers at Sarasota travel agency remember him fondly Al Ferguson is the owner of Legendary Journeys, a travel agency in Sarasota. According to him, Sotomayor was his national brand manager. He called Sotomayor a friend and a pioneer in the industry. Sotomayor had created the first gay cruise to Cuba this past April. Ferguson recalled when terror struck overseas in Paris. He said Sotomayor was compassionate, yet still encouraged others to travel. You must live your life, said Ferguson. You must get out. They cannot win. Sotomayor was at Pulse nightclub with his boyfriend when the shooting broke out early Sunday morning. The pair separated and while his partner was outside, Sotomayor was trapped inside Pulse hiding. Before the magnitude of the situation was realized, Ferguson said Sotomayor managed to send a warning text to his partner. I really believe Eddie saved his life by telling him do not come back in, said Ferguson. To leave and go to the managers house. On Monday, Ferguson and his employees decided to open up the agency office, leaving Sotomayors desk untouched. A bouquet of sunflowers placed on his keyboard. We are not going to become negative over this and Eddie, for me personally, is going to be a representation of that, Ferguson said. You cant live in a closest. No matter what the closet is. And we wont. We will not be afraid. Described by one BC associate as a beacon of good citizenship, Malec was chosen to receive the Universitys annual Community Service Award, presented by the Office of Governmental and Community Affairs, which honors a BC employee whose actions exemplify the Jesuit spirit of community service and involvement. Malecs colleagues also point out that he has put his ideals into action locally as well as in Nicaragua, as an advocate for affordable housing in Newton and a three-term alderman for the city during the 1980s. Malec says his 48 years at BC have provided him with ample motivation and guidance to serve. Ive been able to do all this because of where I am, he says. The Boston College ethosmen and women for others and go set the world aflame'has nurtured me, and along with the people at Boston College, provided a very supportive environment. I feel very blessed to be here. Malecs colleagues, friends and former students (many of whom refer to him as Don Miguel) feel blessed themselves for having known him. Nominating him for the Community Service Award, Susan Choy 11who participated in the Nicaragua service trip twicewrote that Malec made it possible for students to act out social justice ideals by working alongside Nicaraguan leaders to bolster educational resources, engineer a green preschool, and improve local water sanitation, among other work. By his example, she concluded, we can envision how the power of one passionate individual can mobilize a coalition to engage in service against growing global challenges. The service trips Mike Malec leads offer much more than an interesting and fun opportunity to do community service in another country: They are master classes in civic engagement, wrote Sheila McIntosh, a part-time faculty member in the Romance Languages and Literatures Department. It has been a pleasure to witness how Mikes hands-on solidarity with the people of Nicaragua, his respect and admiration for their ability to achieve so much with so little, and his decades of commitment to the Newton-San Juan del Sur Sister City Project inspire Boston College students. Malec first became involved with the Newton-San Juan del Sur program through a friend, Newton Alderman Rodney Barker, who described its various initiativeslike constructing and renovating schools, raising donations for medical facilities, and building water-purification and smoke-free cooking stovesand urged him to come down and see this place. Malec did so in 2003, during a faculty-staff trip to Nicaragua organized through BCs Intersections program. I was able to get away to San Juan del Sur for a couple of days, and fell in love with the place, says Malec, a member of the sister city project executive board since 1999. I thought, Ive got to come back here with students. The often formidable task of putting together a service trip abroad, Malec says, was made easier by people like Volunteer and Service Learning Center Director Daniel Ponsetto, Campus Minister Daniel Leahy, and others in Campus Ministry, Health Services and Dining Services (They were able to help students set up point drives to raise funds for the trip, he notes of Dining Services). When all the logistics and arrangements were taken care of, and the trip took place, it exceeded expectations, says Malec. It was a very gratifying experience. We worked side by side with local families, and that ordinary, daily interaction meant a lot. A typical day usually involved stopping at a hardware store and picking up a bag of cement and other supplies. Once at the work site, wed mix the cement, pour the foundation, and continue with whatever project we were working on until it was completed. So the students got to see the whole process through from beginning to end, and that it is possible for someone to make a meaningful difference in others lives. The lesson was one Malak Yusuf 09 took to heart. As students and global citizens, during our service trips and beyond, Professor Malec ensured we understood and communicated the power of hope and belief in investing in a societys youth, she wrote in her nomination for Malec. Years after graduation, I still regard Professor Malec as a life-changing mentor and key driver for my commitment to international development and social equality. Sean Smith | News & Public Affairs This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The faithful came to church Monday to pray for world peace and for people in Orlando who are mourning their dead after the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. "I want to pray for peace in our country," said Connie Prewitt, who attended a special lunchtime Mass at Beaumont's St. Anthony Cathedral Basilica. "I want to give prayers for the tragedy in Orlando," said Prewitt's brother, Joe Parigi. Officials are blaming an American man described as a radicalized Muslim in the shooting deaths of at least 49 people, and the wounding of more than 50 others early Sunday in an Orlando gay nightclub. Police shot and killed the gunman, identified as 29-year-old Omar Mateen. Cynthia Parra, assistant director of diversity and inclusion at Lamar University, said she came to the Monday Mass to help support the people in Orlando. "I work for equality in the LGBT community and I work closely with youth," she said. Patrick Guillory said he came to "honor" those killed.Daily Mass usually is celebrated in the chapel next to the basilica, but the Rev. Curtis Guillory, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Beaumont, decided to move the service to the basilica to accommodate a larger group. He also delayed a planned trip to California for a bishops' conference to celebrate Mass instead. "There are many emotions - anger, frustration. That it's happened too many times," said Guillory. "We believe in a merciful God, a God of understanding. We pray on behalf of our brothers and sisters. Let us ask forgiveness and forgive one another." Guillory said he would tell the bishop of Orlando when he sees him that the people in Beaumont prayed for the losses in Orlando. "It's OK to be angry," Guillory said. "But it's not fine to act on that anger. It cannot be the GPS that moves us forward. It ought to be our faith." Guillory said there will be blame and judgment cast, partly because the killings happened in a nightclub that was hosting an event for gay Latinos. "It's easy for us to blame the LGBT or the whole Muslim world because this individual is Muslim. I believe most Muslims are good people. We do not blame all Germans for Hitler. There are radicals in Islam. There are radicals in the Catholic Church and among other Christians," he said. Richard Rosario walked up the steps amid raindrops and said he came to church to pray for the people whose lives were lost and for those who are in mourning. "And to pray for peace and justice in the U.S. and around the world," he said. Ruthie Guidroz said she came to pray for world peace. The bishop acknowledged it won't be easy and specifically mentioned the U.S. Constitution, the foundation of law in the United States. "We do not throw away our laws to deal with complex dangers," he said. "We are a country of laws. We elect our officials and we should let them know of our concerns and we ask almighty God for wisdom. Let us pray for ourselves, for the people of Orlando and for the life of the Constitution," Guillory said. Guillory said everyone shares a common humanity with the people in Orlando. "As St. Paul said, 'If one of us suffers, we all suffer.' We pray on our own behalf and on behalf of our brothers and sisters," Guillory said. DWallach@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/dwallach OK, so you visited NASA's Space Center Houston and the Alamo on a class trip in middle school. But there's so much more to see in Texas, especially in 2016. From President Barack Obama and the first lady speaking at Austin's SXSW festival to the most endangered species of sea turtles being released into the Gulf of Mexico, the Lone Star State has so much to offer residents and tourists alike this year. The older brother of John Michael Brisco, who was shot and killed by Port Arthur police following a suspected robbery last week, withheld judgment on the shooting and said Brisco's death was a result of failures by society and the penal system that imprisoned him for a decade. Brisco's alleged robbery of a Port Arthur Walgreens Thursday night was out of character and led family members to suspect Brisco relapsed in his battle with drugs, Eric Brisco said on Tuesday. "I don't want to portray it as another shooting," Eric Brisco, 55, said. "It's a tragedy. Even in this tragedy we have to understand that we as a society missed the mark. Not on a black man. Just another man. We didn't recognize the disease. We didn't recognize the call for help. "Society failed him. The prison system failed him. And as an individual I failed him. I think he was someone we could have saved." More for you Port Arthur cop shoots, kills armed suspect John Brisco, 52, of Port Arthur, served 10 years of a 15-year prison sentence for a 2002 robbery conviction, according to Eric Brisco and court records. Eric Brisco said his brother was abusing narcotics at that time, and Jefferson County court records show John Brisco was indicted in 2000 for possession of cocaine. Brisco avoided drugs upon his release and met the conditions of probation, which lapsed about two years ago, his brother said. A convicted felon who suffered back and leg pain following a motorcycle crash, John Brisco had trouble finding work, his brother said. He was an ordained minister amid a family of church leaders who enjoyed playing the bongos and singing, but had recently began to pull away from his family, Eric Brisco said. "He had been clean for years," Eric Brisco said. "All of a sudden now you go into old habits, I just didn't see it. ... After you sit down and analyze it, yes he's been using. He had to be altered in some kind of way." Port Arthur PD has released few details about the shooting. Officers responded to a robbery call at the Walgreens at Texas 365 and Ninth Avenue when they saw Brisco running from the store, a department spokesman previously said. One officer gave chase, and the suspect "displayed (a) weapon and shots were fired," the spokesman said. No other injuries were reported. Brisco suffered "multiple gunshout wounds," according to a preliminary autopsy report, Justice of the Peace Tom Gillam III said. The preliminary report does not specify how many times and where Brisco was shot, and the full report may not come back for weeks. Eric Brisco said investigators have not yet reached out to the family. "The only thing we're trying to do is get together and bury him on Saturday," Brisco said. "If (the shooting) was just, then it's just. If it was foul play, then it was foul play." The Jefferson County District Attorney's Office is investigating Brisco's death, as it does all officer-involved shootings in the county, an assistant DA said last week. The officer is on paid leave - also the norm for officer-involved shootings - and has not been publicly identified. Brisco is survived by his wife, one brother, two sisters and two stepchildren, Eric Brisco said. He will be laid to rest June 18, though the funeral home had not been selected as of Tuesday evening, Eric Brisco said. EBesson@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/EricBesson_news This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Texas DPS Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Texas DPS Show More Show Less 3 of 3 Greg William Ivey got out of his father's car on May 8, 1989, at the Houston Intercontinental Airport to board a flight to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. That was the last time anyone saw the young Marine from Groves. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate If your fifth- or eighth-grade child landed in summer school to prepare for a re-test of the STAAR exam, it no longer will be required for promotion to the next grade, the Texas Education Agency said. That's because the testing vendor, Educational Testing Services, of Princeton, New Jersey, failed to report test results quickly enough in the second round of the testing, leaving thousands of students across the state waiting to learn whether they're moving up a grade. Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath late Friday said he will not hold kids accountable for adults' mistakes, but it still doesn't mean kids who attended a summer program to hone their STAAR test skills get an automatic pass to the next grade. Shannon Allen, assistant superintendent of secondary administration in the Beaumont school district, said even if students in the fifth and eighth grades who were going to retake the STAAR exam on June 21-22 are no longer on the hook for the third testing, they still should remain in the program through June 22. If they perform well in the summer program, which began June 6, it will factor into a campus-by-campus review by the principal and the educational committee that will determine whether they will go into the sixth and ninth grades when school resumes in August. "They should know by late July," she said. In a prepared statement about the ongoing test issues, Morath said, "I apologize for the continuing problems our students and staff are being forced to deal with because of ongoing reporting issues with our testing vendor. Kids in the classroom should never suffer from mistakes made by adults. We intend to hold the vendor, Educational Testing Service, accountable." Educational Testing Services is in the first year of a five-year contract to administer the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness tests. Since September, the state paid the service $11.9 million but has not received an invoice since February, TEA said. STAAR tests fifth- and eighth-graders in reading comprehension and mathematics as part of the criteria necessary for grade advancement. In the Beaumont school district, 60 percent of fifth-graders passed reading. In eighth grade, 73 percent passed. Across the state, an average of 75 percent of students passed. In math, 57 percent of fifth-graders passed. In eighth grade, 64 percent passed. Statewide, 79 percent of fifth-graders passed, and 73 percent of eighth-graders passed. "We highly encourage parents to keep their kids in the summer program," Allen said. BISD does not charge parents for the extra instruction for the STAAR program, she said. "TEA allows districts to use their own discretion on promotion," she said. In most cases, fifth- and eighth-graders must pass the reading and math assessment tests in order to be advanced. If that doesn't happen after three tries, a committee made up of a principal, teacher and parents of the student must agree to promote the child. State law gives the commissioner the ability to waive the law when needed. DWallach@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/dwallach This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The nearly 10 inches of rain that's fallen across the region this month has brought Jimmy Barker a lot of business. It's also kept Barker, a supervisor at Beaumont's Superior Lawn Maintenance, from working. Unless we get an extended break in the rain sometime soon, Barker said, his folks can't meet all the increased demand for yard mowing. Unfortunately for Barker and the rest of us missing that bright glowing ball of fire in the sky, the National Weather Service said we will continue to have at least scattered showers in the forecast for the rest of the week. That means more shaggy grass, overflowing pools and sour moods. Barker said these have been the most constant and soaking rains he has seen in some time. He estimates grass is growing between 30 and 40 percent faster in Southeast Texas than it typically does this time of year. As a result, his crews have been working seven days a week for the past six to eight weeks, he said. "Within two weeks, grass has been growing up to six inches. Easily," said Barker. "We've had to add on weekends ... to get it done." Completely dry days are hard to come by. Along with the lakes swelling up in your backyards, some of you are also likely swimming in emotions. Colleen Christie, a licensed professional counselor practicing in Beaumont, said downpours can make some people feel depressed or anxious. Christie said biochemical changes in the body occur when your skin hasn't been exposed to sunlight over the course of a few days. That can lead to depression. Anxiety can be caused by the fear of flooding or home damage, she said. On overcast days, Christie recommends keeping your home or office brightly lit and being creative with indoor activities. Reading, exercising and keeping busy can help relieve anxiety, she said. There's a 20 percent chance of rain throughout the region today and Wednesday, according to the NWS. Skies are expected to clear up on Thursday and Friday, just in time for the rain to return on Saturday. That means there probably won't be too many pool parties planned for this weekend. Cody Evans, store manager at Leslie's Pool Supplies on Dowlen, said even if folks aren't able to swim, business is booming as customers deal with the effects of the recent deluge. Pool owners are having to buy more chemicals to make up for the ones they are losing when they drain overflowing pools. The high humidity accompanying the storms also has caused a lot of Southeast Texas pools to become cloudy or full of algae, according to Evans. That means more chemicals, he said. Along with algae and tall, unruly grass, a lot of unwanted puddles are springing up in backyards across the region. Brad Irving, general manager for Jay's Landscape, said customers are pouring in as they seek out new drainage installations. "We had a customer who called in because she was scared the water was going to get through the weep holes on the side of her house," said Irving. "She had sand bags to cover them until we were able to install a drainage system." While we are all eager to dry out, the next phase in all of this could be just as unpleasant. Fire ants will start marching in as soon as puddles start disappearing. David Oates, a Jefferson County agriculture extension agent, explained that fire ants are dependent on water. When it's raining, Oates said, they will remain deep in the earth. As soon as the ground starts to dry up, they will come topside in search of more water. And very likely your bare feet. There is a proper two-step process for dealing with fire ants, according to Oates. First, is the broadcast application of fire ant bait. Second is the treatment of individual ant mounds. Broadcast bait is granular and should be spread across the entire yard with a handheld or push hopper seed spreader, according to Oates. Oates said nothing can be done to eradicate fire ants. All you can do is control them. SFlores@BeaumontEnterprise.com Santa Clara (Calif.) Valley Medial Center researchers analyzed the Hawthorne Effect in hand hygiene compliance among medical providers, according to pulse. The Hawthorne Effect involves people adjusting their behaviors if they know someone is watching them. The study involved infection prevention nurses, who hospital staff members regarded as health monitors. The researchers also sent in young volunteers to monitor hand hygiene, who the staff did not regard as health monitors. Here are five things to know: 1. The study found a 57 percent hand hygiene compliance rate among those staff members monitored by infection prevention nurses. 2. Researchers found a 22 percent hand hygiene compliance rate among those staff members monitored by young volunteers. 3. Researches concluded the Hawthorne Effect was at work in their study, explaining the discrepancy between the two groups of hospital staff members. 4. The CDC reported health providers do not adhere to hand hygiene rules more than half of the time if it is mandated. 5. Santa Clara Valley Medial Center will institute various strategies to enhance hand hygiene compliance. As premiums escalate and physician burnout intensifies, the healthcare system will need to undergo significant transformations, according to Forbes. Here are four ways to repair the healthcare system: 1. Embrace disruption. The influx of technology and innovation is going to change healthcare delivery and care. The healthcare industry needs to get rid of laws that stifle such innovations' benefits. In the wake of a looming physician shortage, telemedicine provides healthcare to those who lack access, yet many rules are hindering this market's growth, thereby preventing patients from obtaining care. 2. Ensure care is continuous. Fragmented care is not good for patients, physicians or the healthcare industry. Rather, healthcare integration can allow all the industry players to exchange data to optimize patient care. Additionally, facilities should forgo IT investments that are not living up to expected potential. Hold technology to high standards and don't settle for IT that doesn't better a practice. 3. Incentives should be outcomes-focused. CMS initiatives are pushing value-based care, and practices failing to provide value will suffer steep financial penalties. Ambulatory surgery centers and urgent care clinics are offering patients low-cost, high quality options, paving the way for other providers to do the same. 4. Humanize healthcare. Patient satisfaction scores are increasingly tied to a physician's reimbursement, and many patients cite physician disengagement as a primary reason for their dissatisfaction. Connection is central to the patient experience, and the industry needs to find ways to prioritize the human aspect of the care process, rather than weighing physicians down with administrative tasks. More healthcare news: Eliminate the layers of bureaucracy Dr. Louis Levitt on why ASCs are poised for healthcare's future AmSurg, Envision Healthcare consider $9B merger; SCA partners with Grove Place Surgery Center & more 7 key notes on ASC companies 6 factors dictating investment and M&A activity in the ASC sector Five years in the healthcare landscape can feel like five minutes. That amount of time will likely bring substantial change in the way care is delivered and reimbursed. Spine surgeons discussed the current and future landscape of the orthopedic and spine ASC industry as well as physician practice during a keynote panel titled, "ASCs, Orthopedics and Spine: The Next Five Years," at Becker's 14th Annual Spine, Orthopedic and Pain Management-Driven ASC Conference + The Future of Spine in Chicago. The panelists included: Richard Wohns, MD, JD, MBA, founder and president of Puyallup, Wash.-based NeoSpine Robin Fowler, MD, chairman and medical director of Atlanta-based Interventional Management Services James Lynch, MD, founder and chairman of Reno-based SpineNevada Tim Adamson, MD, of Charlotte-based Carolina NeuroSurgery & Spine Associates What it takes to be independent Maintaining independence as consolidation sweeps the healthcare industry is no simple feat. Within a saturated market, independent physicians will likely realize the challenge of trying to change the market to support their independence, said Dr. Lynch. The ultimate goal of an independent spine practice, therefore, involves presenting payers with an easy decision. Demonstrate you are "doing something different and you have a commodity and not just a surgical service," said Dr. Lynch. For those physicians considering independence or holding on to it steadfastly, Dr. Lynch said knowing the market's intricacies proves crucial. "If you don't educate yourself on the business of medicine and the politics and geopolitical spectrum, and you can't have a conversation with an insurance company and say why you're better, then you deserve to be pushed to the sidelines." Also, Dr. Wohns noted that narrowing one's focus helps a physician maintain his or her independence. "I delved into outpatient spine procedures," he said. "The niche has helped me balance my work and life and remain independent." Dr. Adamson added that his practice achieved independence because it is made up of likeminded people. "Nobody really cared about us except us," he said, noting individual physicians must devote the time and energy to fight for their independence. Dr. Lynch agreed that independence requires effort. He said some physicians may not want to sacrifice time for family and other activities to run a successful independent spine practice. "At the end of the day, some ski double black [diamonds] and some do greens; some people will sail in the big leagues and some will stay at shore," said Dr. Lynch. "You have to have a leader in the group." The business of medicine Successful physicians will delve into the business aspects of their practices. Equipped with business education, a physician will likely enter payer negotiations with more confidence and power. "It's a lot easier for us [physicians] to learn the business side than a hospital CEO to learn medicine," said Dr. Lynch. Dr. Adamson's practice utilizes a different business approach, hiring people who view medicine the same way as each other, but understand business a lot better. "We don't try to blend the medical and business side much," said Dr. Adamson. Ultimately, you have to love what you do, said Dr. Fowler, who began his career at a hospital and then opened an ASC. He built his business by collaborating with strong partners. "A year after I began the ASC, I wanted to expand locations," he said. "Physicians try to do everything themselves, but it is impossible to practice full time and take care of scheduling and keep abreast of regulatory changes and so on. You have to have good partners. It's a learning process." The move to outpatient The advancement of spinal technologies and techniques will continue to push more procedures into the outpatient setting. "Patients want to get out the door. I think outcomes really are going to be an important goal going forward," said Dr. Adamson. CMS added nine codes for spine procedures to the ASC-payable list, which took effect Jan. 1, 2015. Dr. Wohns took this as a sign that major payers were getting on board with outpatient spine procedures. "I want that trend to catch on around the country," he said. "Patients will not accept the huge cost of spine procedures at hospitals anymore, and they will turn to ASCs." Dr. Wohns initially looked into the safety and cost-effectiveness of outpatient spine surgeries while he was completing his master's in business administration degree. He conducted an outcomes study at business school. "I used my outcomes database to get my first payer contract," he said. "If you go to payers with outcomes data, it is very powerful. They see not just the cost savings but also the patient satisfaction." Advice for the next five years With the healthcare landscape evolving as quickly as it is, physicians will find collaboration is key. Dr. Fowler urged physicians and healthcare providers to serve as resources for one another. "Don't live in a vacuum," he said. Also, it is important for physicians to focus their time on what they like best and eliminate the things they don't, said Dr. Wohns. While it takes a lot of discipline to let something go, according to Dr. Wohns, the things you like to do will take up the time and space of the things you don't. "I gave up brain procedures when I went to law school and I've never looked back," said Dr. Wohns. "That was a big decision but it gave me more time to perform spine procedures, which I like to do." Despite major concerns over how the Affordable Care Act will impact physician pay, a recently released Merritt Hawkins survey found physician compensation, especially for specialists, is increasing, according to Fortune. Physician pay accounts for 22 percent of all U.S. healthcare spending, with overall healthcare spending reaching $3 trillion in 2014. The survey found specialty pay was up nearly 14.3 percent across eight specialties including family medicine, psychiatry, dermatology, urology, general surgery, non-invasive cardiology, OB/GYN and otolaryngology. Non-invasive cardiology physicians and advanced nurse practitioners experienced the highest increase in salary, with a 21 percent boost from last year. Physician pay is not drastically falling, contrary to popular belief, due to a number of reasons. For one, the United States has an increasing geriatric population, fueling healthcare's demand. Additionally, the ACA expanded coverage to 20 million more Americans; all the while the nation will soon face a physician shortage of up to 90,000 physicians by 2025. Currently, 52 percent of orthopedists, 60 percent of psychiatrists and nearly 33 percent of oncologists are 55 years or older. To combat the pending shortage, various new providers, such as urgent care clinics and concierge practices, are flooding the industry, as well as different providers participating in accountable care organizations. The market is consolidating to prepare for healthcare's tumultuous future. However, while the survey found pay is increasing, the upcoming presidential election could pose a threat to physician pay. In 1993, leading Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton took a stance against physician compensation. If she continues to win electoral votes, granting her access to arguably the most powerful position in the United States, physicians may face a sharp pay cut. More healthcare news: Eliminate the layers of bureaucracy Dr. Louis Levitt on why ASCs are poised for healthcare's future AmSurg, Envision Healthcare consider $9B merger; SCA partners with Grove Place Surgery Center & more 7 key notes on ASC companies 6 factors dictating investment and M&A activity in the ASC sector The City Council of Lakewood, Ohio, is considering selling nine homes on 10 parcels of land near the downtown area following the closure of Lakewood Hospital in February, according to Cleveland.com. The City Council is contemplating the Planning and Development Department's proposal to sell the residential properties it is currently renting to residents. The Lakewood Hospital Association and the city bought the houses decades ago to make room for more medical facilities in the event of a hospital expansion, according to the report. However, in December, the City Council approved a proposal to close the Lakewood Hospital, capping off 11 months of debate. The Cleveland Clinic, which owned the hospital, plans to build a family health center and emergency department on nearby property. City officials said they no longer need to own the rental homes, according to the report. The homes are being rented on a monthly basis, and three of the nine homes are currently vacant. After expenses and property taxes are factored in, the city will net only about $4,600 for the first half of 2016 from the rentals. Many of the houses will also require improvements or remodeling before they are put on the market. The city is proposing offering the current renters the first chance to buy the homes. If they are not interested or cannot afford to buy, the city of Lakewood would allow a real estate agent sell the homes on the open market, according to the report. Andrew W. Gurman, MD, an orthopedic hand surgeon from Hollidaysburg, Pa., was sworn in June 14 as the 171st president of the American Medical Association. "I am honored to serve as AMA president during this pivotal time and be a voice for physicians nationwide," Dr. Gurman said in a prepared statement. "We must work together to build a healthier nation, but the gravity of challenges physicians face today is severe; challenges that have and continue to push many out of the profession. It is my privilege to lead this organization to ensure physicians' needs are met." Dr. Gurman, who has maintained a practice in Altoona, Pa., for 30 years, was AMA president-elect this past year, and previously was speaker and vice speaker of the House of Delegates the AMA's major policy-making body. He has also served as board liaison to the AMA Foundation and represented the AMA at the Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement and the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy Stakeholders Group on Opioid Prescribing and Dispensing. He also previously held the following positions: president of the Blair County Medical Society in Pennsylvania, vice speaker and then speaker of the Pennsylvania Medical Society House of Delegates, and a two-time chairman of the Pennsylvania Medical Society's political action committee. Dr. Gurman is a graduate of Syracuse (N.Y.) University. He earned his medical degree from the State University of New York Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, in 1980. More articles on executive moves: Guthrie welcomes new CNO: 3 things to know Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's foundation appoints chief development officer: 4 things to know Cone Health names new chief nurse executive: 4 things to know Antonio Bianco, MD, PhD, was appointed president of Rush University Medical Group and vice dean of clinical affairs for Rush Medical College. Both entities are based in Chicago. RUMG comprises more than 500 employed physicians and advanced practice providers that provide care in more than 70 practice sites across the Chicago area. Here are four things to know about Dr. Bianco. 1. In his new leadership position, Dr. Bianco directs the faculty practice and business and operational affairs of Rush clinical practices, according to a news release. His responsibilities also include overseeing onsite and off-site ambulatory development efforts, and the implementation of programs across Rush's network of affiliated hospitals and providers. 2. As vice dean of clinical affairs for Rush Medical College, Dr. Bianco and other leaders will work "to align and coordinate the activities of RUMG in support of the clinical, teaching and research missions of the college," officials said. 3. Dr. Bianco, an endocrinologist, joined Rush in February 2014 from the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, where he was professor of medicine and held multiple leadership positions including chief of the division of endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism; vice chairman of the department of medicine; and associate director of the MD/PhD program. He took over as acting president of RUMG last year. 4. Dr. Bianco earned his medical degree from the Santa Casa School of Medicine in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and a Doctorate of Philosophy in human physiology from the University of Sao Paulo. More articles on executive moves: Guthrie welcomes new CNO: 3 things to know Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's foundation appoints chief development officer: 4 things to know Cone Health names new chief nurse executive: 4 things to know Rumors circulating online that more than 100 crucifixes have been destroyed at the faith-based St. Cloud (Minn.) Hospital are false, according to multiple local news reports. Both the SCTimes and radio station WJON reported these rumors are exaggerated, citing a written statement from the hospital that said about 50 crucifixes have been broken in the past year due to accidents and occasionally due to vandalism. The rumors blamed St. Cloud's Somali community for the damages, which the hospital said is not the case, according to the reports. St. Cloud Hospital spokeswoman told the SCTimes,"We are on a journey as our community grows more diverse. It takes intentional effort to understand and relate to those who may be different than ourselves." In a January report in the SCTimes about the hospital's policy on religious symbols, the newspaper reported staff will remove crucifixes at a patient's request. "Our patients are going to be cared for like that regardless of whether the crucifix is present," Bret Reuter, director of mission and spiritual care for CentraCare, the hospital's parent system, told the SCTimes in January. St. Cloud Hospital also offers a variety of religious materials and texts, and offers patients access to their faith leader of choice, according to the report. More articles on leadership and management: CDC vs. NIH on gun violence research: 4 things to know Atul Gawande: 'The public's trust in the scientific community has been decreasing' Corner office: Greater Waterbury Health Network, Waterbury Hospital CEO Darlene Stromstad on excelling despite distractions The America Medical Association House of Delegates voted Tuesday to adopt several policy proposals to improve the nation's health. Physicians, medical students and residents representing all states and medical fields met in Chicago to vote on the policies. Here are seven policies the AMA adopted. 1. Prevention of detergent poisoning in children. The AMA voted to ask state and federal authorities to enact a law that requires detergent product packaging to be child-resistant and less vibrant in color, in an effort to curb accidental exposure or ingestion. Between 2012 and 2013, more than 17,000 children under the age of six were exposed the majority through ingestion to highly-concentrated laundry detergent pods, leading to hundreds of hospitalizations and one confirmed death. 2. Prevention of hearing loss in children from noisy toys. The AMA also adopted a policy to establish noise exposure standards for children's toys. Toys that emit dangerously high levels of noise can impair children's hearing, AMA board member Jesse Ehrenfeld, MD, said. The policy states toys need to adhere to pediatric noise exposure standards and include warning labels when standards are exceeded. 3. Protection of healthcare workers from violence. Between 2011 and 2013, about 70 percent of reported workplace assaults took place in healthcare and social service settings, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. As a result, the AMA adopted a policy that increases healthcare worker safety. The policy asks the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to require healthcare employers to establish violence prevention programs. OSHA currently has guidelines to increase healthcare worker safety, but they are not enforceable or required. The new policy would make OSHA guidelines a requirement and encourage physicians to undergo training that will help them prevent and respond to workplace violence threats, report incidents and promote safe workplace culture. 4. Support for hemorrhage control training to save more trauma victims. AMA voted to adopt a policy encouraging hemorrhage control training for professional first responders and the general public. Hemorrhaging is the leading cause of preventable trauma-related death. Citing the military's implementation of hemorrhage control as a success, the AMA said training will ultimately save more trauma patients. 5. Safe sex in residential aged care facilities to protect residents. The AMA adopted a policy urging long-term care facilities to enact policies regarding intimate and sexual behavior amongst residents. The policy aims to protect residents from unsafe, unwanted and abusive situations, while preserving residents' right to have sexual relationships. 6. Reform of the nation's juvenile justice system to protect adolescent health and prevent recidivism. The AMA voted on policy to protect the long-term safety and health of adolescents in the juvenile justice system both during and after confinement. The policy hopes to prevent youth incarceration by advocating for rehabilitation or community-based alternatives when deemed more appropriate and when the adolescent is not a threat to public safety. The adopted policy also includes Medicaid suspension for incarcerated juveniles only during their arrest and detention. This way, youth will still have health insurance post-confinement. The policy likewise supports rehabilitation school policies maintaining health and wellness rather than "zero tolerance" policies. In addition, the new policy calls to increase the upper age of juvenile court jurisdiction to 17 years of age. 7. Greater physician education on effective use of once-a-day HIV prevention. The AMA adopted new policy to improve physician education regarding pre-exposure prophylaxis/tenofovir/emtricitabine (all known as PrEP) to prevent HIV infection in high-risk patients. A CDC survey found 34 percent of physicians had never heard of PrEP. The AMA states expanding PrEP education will reduce HIV transmission. AMA also adopted a corresponding policy stating the AMA will advocate insurers to cover PreEP-associated costs and work with government officials to see if providing free PrEP to high-risk individuals is feasible. More articles about hospital and physician relationships: Using Snapchat to live-stream surgeries a brewing controversy Do physicians, administrators have the same priorities? Study says yes British physicians warn of recruitment crisis if Britain leaves EU Physicians are calling claims from "Brexit" politicians that Britain should exit the European Union rubbish. Fifty senior physicians from Britain's National Health Service wrote a letter, published by The Times, that states, "If we care about the future of the NHS, we should remain in the EU." The physicians wrote that the economic shock of leaving the EU would add an additional burden to the financially-strapped NHS, that it would reduce the country's research budget and pose a significant risk to physician recruitment. "Without the 10 percent of doctors and 5 percent of nurses who come from other EU countries, not to mention even larger numbers of care workers, the NHS would face severe staff shortages," the physicians wrote. However, the British politicians who lead the Vote Leave Campaign, which is heading the Brexit movement, say the NHS would not suffer financially if Britain leaves the EU according to Daily Mail Online.. In contrast, the Vote Leave campaign claims the country could build a new hospital every week with the dues it pays Brussels to be in the EU, according to the report. Additionally, 13 ministers promised to funnel 5.5 billion pounds into NHS every year if voters agree to leave the union, according to the report. However, the NHS physicians say these claims are simply not true. Daily Mail Online also received a letter from three celebrity physicians in the U.K. that contend a Brexit would put geriatric care at risk and jeopardize significant research funds, according to the report. More articles on integration and physician issues: Why some hospitals are hiring professional chefs for upscale dining Patient privacy concerns stall UCSD's physician review launch This med school is focusing as much on public health policy as anatomy Physicians are at odds with one another over a creative use of the mobile messaging app Snapchat, sparking the question of if it's appropriate to, with patient consent, live-stream surgeries through the app. For instance, Matthew Schulman, MD, a plastic surgeon practicing in New York City, posts clips from his surgeries to Snapchat, garnering a million views every day in the process, he told the New York Post. "I was looking for a platform to show surgeries in a way that was realistic and not sensationalized or glamorized as is commonly done for television," he told the NY Post. Dr. Schulman says he gets patients' permission prior to live-streaming clips from the operating room, and roughly 90 percent of his patients give him the go ahead to do so. However, not everyone is pleased with using the social media platform in this way. "There is no question that some physicians using Snapchat are being unprofessional and lack integrity based on their behavior," Dan Mills, MD, president of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, told the NY Post, also noting possible patient safety and infection control issues associated with live-streaming surgeries. He told the Post that ASAPS' ethics committee is currently discussing the topic. But Dr. Mills may be in the minority in his view of Snapchatting surgeries. A recent study in the Journal of Medical Internet Research found millennial physicians have a "relaxed stance" when it comes to social media use as a professional. Indeed, Dr. Schulman isn't the only physician using social media to show their work to the masses other plastic surgeons and dermatologists, like Michael Salzhauer, MD; Snehal Amin, MD; or Sandra Lee, MD; post videos of procedures or surgeries on YouTube, Instagram or Snapchat as well. The Massachusetts Nurses Association, which represents 3,300 nurses at Boston-based Brigham and Women's Hospital, voted Monday to authorize a one-day strike, The Boston Globe reports. The vote follows months of contentious contract negotiations between the union and Brigham, which is part of Boston-based Partners HealthCare. Ninety-five percent of the 2,460 nurses who cast ballots voted in favor of the strike authorization, the union said in a statement. Sticking points of negotiations include wage increases, time off and health benefits. A walkout is set to begin at 7 a.m. June 27 and will include nurses at the main hospital campus in the Longwood area of Boston, along with Brigham facilities in Foxborough, Newton, Jamaica Plain and Chestnut Hill. However, the nurses have agreed to return to the negotiating table with the hospital June 17 in a last-ditch effort to avert the planned strike, the Boston Business Journal reports. Hospital officials have said they are preparing for a potential strike by contracting with a staffing agency to hire 700 temporary nurses, who would work alongside about 130 nonunion Brigham nurses, according to The Boston Globe. Although nurses authorized a one-day strike, Brigham has said it will lock out the nurses for five days "for continuity of patient care and for economic reasons," the report states. Still, the hospital is hopeful for a resolution. "We sincerely hope that we can reach a fair and reasonable contract and avoid a strike," Ron M. Walls, MD, Brigham's COO, said in a statement Monday, according to The Boston Globe. "Our focus, however, remains on providing safe, high-quality care to our patients, and we will be ready to do so should a strike occur." More articles on workforce and labor management: Cabell Huntington Hospital, union reach 5-year deal: 3 things to know ACMH Hospital nurses and technical professionals ratify contracts: 7 things to know 6 healthcare organizations adding jobs More than 1,120 healthcare workers at Pomona (Calif.) Valley Hospital Medical Center have voted to join SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West, making it the largest hospital unionization in California in nearly 15 years, according to a San Gabriel Valley Tribune report. Results of the Jan. 22 election were confirmed last Friday after the National Labor Relations Board rejected a prolonged vote challenge from hospital executives, the union said in a statement. But the election results have not been finalized, according to the hospital. "SEIU-UHW has not won the election," the hospital said, according to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. "The National Labor Relations Board has not certified the election results. It is premature for any party to proclaim victory. At this time, SEIU-UHW has not been declared the collective bargaining agent for our service and technical associates and the final outcome of the election has still not been determined." According to the report, Pomona Valley said both parties may file exceptions to the National Labor Relations Board hearing officer's report on or before June 23. The hospital has not yet determined whether it will file an exception. SEIU-UHW spokesman Sean Wherley told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune that 531 hospital workers voted in favor of unionization while 458 voted against it. According to the report, the hospital challenged 218 of the votes and the National Labor Relations Board agreed that only 62 of those 218 votes should be counted. Still, Mr. Wherley noted to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune that the final vote would still be in favor of unionization, even when those numbers are factored in. With a finalized vote, licensed vocational nurses, pharmacy technicians, phlebotomists, physical therapy aides, radiology technologists, surgery technicians, ultrasound technologists, radiology support staff, admitting representatives, cooks and food service workers, customer care representatives, janitors and receptionists and secretaries would all become part of SEIU-UHW. More than 1,000 registered nurses at Pomona Valley are already members of another union, SEIU 121RN. Pomona Valley employees who join the union would be able to help SEIU-UHW's campaign to fully fund Medi-Cal, the California Medicaid program, the union said. According to the union, Pomona Valley receives 39 percent of its revenue from Medi-Cal, but the program's long-term underfunding meant the hospital lost an estimated $60 million for treating Medi-Cal patients in 2013. More than 3,300 hospital workers throughout California have joined SEIU-UHW since April 2015. More articles on workforce and labor management: Cabell Huntington Hospital, union reach 5-year deal: 3 things to know ACMH Hospital nurses and technical professionals ratify contracts: 7 things to know 6 healthcare organizations adding jobs An Illinois federal judge has denied the Federal Trade Commission's request to block the merger of Downers Grove, Ill.-based Advocate Health Care and Evanston, Ill.-based NorthShore University HealthSystem. In a brief order issued Tuesday, U.S. Northern District Court Judge Jorge Alonso said the government did not provide enough evidence that the partnership would harm competition in the region. The judge's full opinion remains under seal, but a version will be made available to the public after the health systems and the FTC meet later this week about redacting information from the full opinion, according to Crain's Chicago Business. Advocate President and CEO Jim Skogsbergh praised the judge's decision. "Judge Alonso's decision reaffirmed what we have wholeheartedly believed since day one this merger is a big win for consumers and for healthcare in our country as the shift to value takes hold," he said. In 2014, Advocate and NorthShore unveiled plans to come together and create a new health system called Advocate NorthShore Health Partners, which would include 16 hospitals for more than 4,000 hospital beds, employ more than 45,000 workers and serve more than 3 million patients annually. After a 15-month review, the FTC opposed the merger in December. Both sides presented testimony in April over whether the FTC's request for a preliminary injunction to halt the transaction should be granted. The FTC argued the merger would have anti-competitive effects. However, Advocate and NorthShore claim the merger will not raise healthcare prices for consumers or reduce health insurers' bargaining power. The judge's decision to deny the FTC's request to block the Advocate-NorthShore merger comes on the tails of another FTC loss. In May, a Pennsylvania judge denied the FTC's request for a preliminary injunction to halt the merger of Penn State Milton S. Hershey (Pa.) Medical Center and Harrisburg, Pa.-based PinnacleHealth System. The judge found that the government failed to meet its burden to show it was likely to ultimately succeed on the merits of its antitrust claim. The FTC is appealing that decision. The FTC could appeal the judge's decision regarding the Advocate-NorthShore merger. On Tuesday, Debbie Feinstein, director of the FTC's Bureau of Competition, said the FTC is considering its options in the case. More articles on antitrust issues: Appeals court vacates $30M BCBS antitrust settlement Anthem, Cigna bicker behind closed doors, putting antitrust approval on the line: 3 things to know St. Louis Mercy Hospital announced on Twitter it was all clear Monday afternoon after a bomb squad disabled two suspicious packages. The hospital shut down after discovering the first package in the emergency department. A staff member removed the object and the bomb squad responded. A second package was found and also disabled by the bomb squad, according to the hospital's statement. "Out of an abundance of caution and to ensure the safety of our patients and co-workers, the emergency department diverted incoming patients to other facilities during the investigation," the hospital statement reads. A CBS St. Louis report says the packages were brought into the hospital by a mental health patient. The first was the size of a cell phone and the second was a duffle bag, according to the report. Police were unable to confirm if the packages had explosive materials, but were able to render them safe, according to the report. More news: Hillary Clinton cements abortion rights as integral to her campaign Pfizer raises drug prices by nearly 9% AHRQ: Hospitals that mess up are urged to fess up A lab worker from the University of Pittsburgh accidentally stuck herself with a needle while working with the Zika virus, resulting in what appears to be the first known Zika infection occurring in a laboratory, according to The New York Times. The accident occurred on May 23, after which the unidentified researcher developed symptoms attributable to the virus. A blood sample confirmed the infection. The researcher returned to work on June 6 and reportedly has to wear long sleeves and pants and apply insect repellant for three weeks, according to the Times. Karen Hacker, MD, director of the Allegheny County Health Department, said, "We want to remind residents that, despite this rare incident, there is still no current risk of contracting Zika from mosquitoes in Allegheny County. For those traveling to countries affected by Zika, we urge caution. Pregnant women particularly should avoid travel to affected countries." Recently, the World Health Organization issued guidance, recommending couples in regions where local Zika transmission is prevalent to consider delaying pregnancy. The CDC named lab safety as one of its six public health threats to focus on in 2016. More articles on the Zika virus: Researchers on a medical road trip through Brazil are using mobile labs to track Zika Olympics could see as few as 15 Zika infections, researchers claim Study: Zika directly infects brain cells, subverts immune system The latest showdown over high drug costs features pharmaceutical giant Novartis facing off against a large Latin American country. Trouble started four years ago, when Colombia denied Basel, Switzerland-based Novartis a patent for cancer drug Gleevec. The company took Colombia to court and won a patent for one of two forms of the drug. The second version, slightly different than Novartis', is available as a generic and sold by a handful of companies including Chicago-based Abbott Laboratories. Colombia did not have patents on the drug from 2003 to 2012, allowing generic producers to sell the drug at prices 192 percent cheaper than those of Novartis. However, now the company's patent has reduced competition, forcing the country to pay Novartis' high prices. Colombian Health Minister Alejandro Gaviria has been fighting with Novartis to lower the price of Gleevec. Initially, he intended to declare a compulsory license, which would override Novartis' patent and permit other companies to make cheaper generic versions of the company's drug. Now, Mr. Gaviria calls for a declaration of public interest that would allow health regulators to examine the case and set a new, lower price for Gleevec that Novaris would be legally obliged to follow. Novartis has not received official confirmation regarding the declaration from Colombia. So far, the company refuses to lower the drug's cost. Novartis' annual cost of Gleevec is roughly $15,000 for a country where the nation's per capita gross national income is about $8,000. The Colombian Medical Federation noted that sales of generic Gleevec have declined in the nation, possibly due to decreased availability of the drug. It's not clear how many patients are not receiving treatment because of the pricing dispute. More articles on supply chain: Pharma lobby launches counteroffensive against scrutiny over high drug prices New treatment can stop multiple sclerosis in its tracks FDA draft guidance encourages medical device makers to share data with patients How do patients learn about their healthcare options? In today's world of technology, it's difficult for them to secure one reliable way of choosing where they should go to receive care. But Prizm Development, which develops spine centers of excellence, is looking to change that by utilizing certain techniques to appeal to patients. Among others, Yelp and Healthgrades are central to how patients learn about the healthcare environment. And the prevalence of such sites isn't going away patients will continue to obtain information from the internet, and physicians and providers need to be equipped to paint the best possible picture of themselves. "This isn't an evolutionary thing," Prizm Development President Bob Reznik said at the Becker's 14th annual Spine, Orthopedic & Pain Management-Driven ASC Conference. "Healthcare will end up with a more logical system for ratings eventually. Some sort of national registry will replace it all," he predicted. Unfortunately, such sites don't always portray providers in the best light, and therefore they can't truly help patients find the right provider. Rather than fully relying on Yelp and Healthgrades, Prizm Development seeks to fully educate consumers and better direct patients to its spine centers of excellence. Since 50 percent of Prizm's promotional materials are direct-to-consumer, it considers its internet site the hub of all pertinent information. "With all the content we bury in our center's website, the information comes up high in organic searches," Mr. Reznik said. But that's not all. Another 10 percent of Prizm's advertising is business-related, while 40 percent is through referrals. For example, the company has created its own Prizm Home Remedy Book, which it encourages primary care physicians to distribute to their patients. Through these booklets, the physicians are able to not only help their patients but also refer them to one of Prizm's spine centers of excellence. The promotion isn't over when the patient arrives at one of the centers of excellence, though. "You want to communicate that this space is different," Mr. Reznik said. How exactly is the center different from any other spine facility? For one, each center of excellence is equipped with not only a spine surgeon, but also with a physical medicine doctor who will see the patients first. In this way, the entire team works together rather than competitively. Additionally, a spine center of excellence must look the part. "Space planning is key," Mr. Reznik concluded. "The spine center of the future will be freestanding and will be a blend between a fitness center and a doctor's office." To continue following the latest news and information for Bedfordshire and surrounding areas, simply enter your full postcode below The Elk in Dundonald is being sold off by owner Wine Inns One of east Belfast's best-known pubs is on sale for around 700,000, the Belfast Telegraph can reveal. The Elk bar and restaurant in Dundonald is being sold by owner Wine Inns, a pubs and off-licences group. The company is retaining the Winemark off-licence on the premises. As well as the Winemark chain, it owns well-known city pubs including Cutters Wharf, The Empire and nightclub Alibi, formerly known as the M Club. Selling agents GVA NI described The Elk as "one of Belfast's most famous licensed premises", with a history going back to 1898. The bar was also described as a "sound business proposition with a well-established and secure trade". GVA NI director Gavin Weir said the sale had generated many enquires. "It has been well received on and there have been many interested parties," he added. "We expect it to sell - and sell well - towards the end of the month." There is a public bar on the ground floor of The Elk and a restaurant and function room on the first floor. It is being sold by private treaty, with a closing date for offers of June 29. There has been a great deal of movement in the city's licensed sector in the recent past. With its 3.5m price tag, Cafe Vaudeville on Arthur Street is the most expensive bar to go on the market in Belfast in recent years. Elsewhere, Horatio Group spent a total of 3m on acquiring and revamping Cathedral Quarter pub the Northern Whig - a former Botanic Inns pub - after buying it from Nama. Wine Inns snapped up another former Botanic Inns venue, the King's Head on the Lisburn Road, for 2.2m earlier this year. Lambert Smith Hampton was the agent for the King's Head, as well as for popular student pub the Botanic Inn on south Belfast's Malone Road. It was sold to the Mooney Hotel Group - owners of the neighbouring Wellington Park Hotel - for 2.5m. Property developer Shamus Jennings also paid around 1.75m for Madison's Hotel on Botanic Avenue. Last year, Wine Inns sold the Crescent Townhouse on Belfast's Botanic Avenue, and Wine & Co in Holywood, Co Down, in 2013. The former Botanic Lodge guesthouse was sold for 606,000 - which was more than double its original asking price - this year. The Crescent Townhouse was sold for around 1m to businessman Peter Ringland, who revamped the venue and relaunched it as Town Square. The C-Series jet makes it possible to fly further on less fuel Bombardier's C Series passenger jets could open up a direct route from Belfast City Airport to the east coast of America and the Middle East, its boss claimed. Airport boss Brian Ambrose, who worked for Shorts/Bombardier for 25 years, told the Belfast Telegraph the C Series could "comfortably" open direct routes to The Canaries and Turkey, as well as linking Belfast to the east coast of the US, and cities such as Boston - opening up some longer-range opportunities. The narrow-body passenger jets, which are part-made at Bombardier's Belfast base - which employs around 5,000 staff - are extremely fuel efficient, and potentially give smaller airports greater reach to areas outside of continental Europe. It comes after Aer Lingus and British Airways boss Willie Walsh said he was having talks with Bombardier chief executive Alain Bellemare about taking on the C Series. Both airlines currently fly from Belfast City Airport. And Mr Ambrose says the airport also plans to add up to two new European routes each year. The IAG group (owner of Aer Lingus and British Airways) is proving very beneficial to us... we have a position in the IAG group and are looking to expand that, he said. When it comes to range, the immediate target which is outside of our range would be The Canaries, which is a good 12-month programme ... the C Series can certainly comfortably do that, down in to Turkey, and potentially the east coast of the US. We will watch which airlines buy the aircraft. The C Series is the right kind of aircraft, and has the right range. If you are looking at the next five to 10 years, that might throw up opportunities for us. Once you increase the range of whats possible from this airport. People talk about us having a short runway, but its a mile and a quarter long, its not particularly short. The performance capability of the C Series and that new generation of aircraft will certainly open up wider opportunities for us. And he says from a personal point of view and as someone who spent 25 years with Shorts/Bombardier, hes keen to see the C Series do well. Its an amazing aircraft and I think the Delta order was a game changer. Mr Ambrose said the airport was continuing to look for support and a supportive environment from the new Department for the Economy. But while the long-haul routes may be some way off, he said the airport is focusing on expanding its European network further. Over the last five years we have laid the foundations for a good European network, he said. He said that could include bringing in new routes to Germany, through Lufthansa, or IAG-owned Iberia, into locations such as Madrid. We would be developing the connection into Brussels, and we have about 10 other city pairs that we are targeting, he said. Germany is an unserved market. Certainly Frankfurt and Munich would be the top targets within the German market. Bombardier has been struggling financially, both in Belfast and globally. It said the Belfast operation could be over the worst if C Series orders pick up after the jet programme cost the company here nearly $340m (240m). It also announced it was cutting 1,080 jobs here over a two-year period. But in April it landed an order for 75 of the CS100 aircraft from US giant Delta. Housebuilder Crest Nicholson notched up a 25% rise in pre-tax profits to 72.6 million for the first half of the year, brushing aside concerns over the EU referendum. The southern England-focused firm also saw revenues rise 22% to 408.1 million. Chief executive Stephen Stone said: "Whilst the debate about the forthcoming referendum on UK membership of the European Union continues to dominate the headlines and the board notes the risk of business disruption in the event of a vote to leave, purchaser demand for new homes remains strong." Housing completions in the period grew 7% to 1,206 while open market completions increased by 9%. Forward sales stood at 520.8 million, 19% ahead of last year. Crest added that it is on target to deliver 1 billion of revenue this year and 4,000 homes. It is targeting 1.4 billion in revenue by 2019. Priti Patel argues funds received back from Europe on exit will fill in for grants received from the EU. Prominent Brexit campaigner Priti Patel has insisted there would be "more than enough money" to continue funding the beneficiaries of EU grants as Vote Leave's spending commitments came under scrutiny. Ms Patel joined senior Tory colleagues including Justice Secretary Michael Gove and former London mayor Boris Johnson in committing to maintain current levels of funding in the latest policy pledge made by the Vote Leave campaign. The move comes on top of promises to use the savings in contributions to the EU to provide 5.5 billion a year to the NHS and spend 1.7 billion abolishing VAT on household energy bills. Remain campaigners branded the policy pledges "fantasy economics", warning that any savings would be eradicated by even a small economic downturn following a Leave vote. Brexit campaigners acknowledge it is the Government that decides on spending commitments, rather than the Vote Leave camp, but the message signed by 13 senior Tories was designed to reassure recipients of EU funds. Ms Patel told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "We have been abundantly clear that there would be more than enough money to ensure that those who now get funding from the EU - including universities, scientists, farmers, regional funds - would continue to get money, while ensuring that could be spent on our priorities." "We are giving money to the European Union and when it comes back, it comes back with controls, it comes back with us as government ministers and the British Government not being able to decide how to prioritise that money and what we can spend it on, it's the European Union that dictates how we spend that money. "We are clearly saying that if we take back control of that money we can spend it on a range of our priorities - the ones that I have listed today but on top of that we can continue to invest in the NHS, we can scrap VAT on fuel which affects people on low incomes. "These are the priorities that will make a significant difference to our country and the British public." Despite a range of suggestions from Brexit campaigners about how the money that goes to the EU could be spent, Ms Patel insisted that the only official policy pledges apart from maintaining the existing grants were on funding the NHS and the VAT cut. Although a range of economists and international bodies had forecast a major hit to the economy from Brexit, at least in the short term, Ms Patel said it was "pretty pessimistic that the Remain side keep talking down our economy". She said: "There would be more economic growth through the opportunities that we would have to trade with new countries around the world." But Labour In campaign chief Alan Johnson told Today: "Vote Leave say, in their latest fantasy economics, we are going to give all this money back - that money won't exist. "It only takes a 0.6% movement in our wealth, GDP only has to be hit by just over half-a-percent to eradicate the 8 billion - not 19 billion that they were claiming - the 8 billion that is sent to Europe and distributed through farming subsidies etcetera. "Losing our access to the biggest commercial market in the world, turning our back on something we created, is going to damage our economy. That's going to damage public finances, that's going to hit public services." Labour former chancellor Lord (Alistair) Darling accused the Leave campaign of "fantasy economics", saying they had already committed to additional spending totalling 113 billion - more than 10 times the UK's net annual contribution to the EU. This would come on top of the hit to public finances caused by Brexit, which the Institute for Fiscal Studies think-tank has estimated at 40 billion, he said. Lord Darling said: "This is fantasy economics from the Leave campaign, as quitting Europe would wreck Britain's economy and mean cuts to spending on vital public services, as just about every economic expert has said. "The Institute for Fiscal Studies has said leaving would lead to a 40 billion black hole in the public finances and nine out of 10 economists say leaving would damage the economy. "The Leave campaign have had to abandon their key spending pledge after using misleading figures and have been caught pledging their claimed saving 10 times over. This fantasy economics shows that leaving is too big a risk to take." Northern Ireland milk is among the best in Europe for making cheese and butter, Dale Farm boss David Dobbin has said. Mr Dobbin spoke as his company showcased its Fivemiletown portfolio of brands, which was bought two years ago when the Co Tyrone cheese-maker hit financial difficulties. The popular range includes Ballyblue, Ballybrie and Oakwood smoke cheddar - and its famous Boilie goat's cheese pearls. Guests at the re-launch included MasterChef 2016 champion Jane Devonshire and Simon Dougan, owner and head chef of Yellow Door. Speaking at an event at the Merchant Hotel, Mr Dobbin said: "It was always an ambition of mine to get our hands on Fivemiletown and the problems in the company were almost an opportunity that we couldn't resist. "So we got into the business and retained the employees and the speciality cheese side, made some of the investments, but the reality is that those people who were there are really driving the business." "The company is back in profit and sales are going up and this is part of a real relaunch of the business into the British Isles cheese market." He said his focus was now on pushing the company's exports. "You can get our product in New York, you can get the product in Hong Kong and you can get the product in London - already it's in some of the key places we want to be and we just want to drive it that bit further," he said. "It's never going to be a product you'd buy every day, but it is a better product. "It's something you'd buy when you wanted to treat yourself or when you want something that wee bit different." However, despite its growing popularity, he said Fivemiletown would continue to aim for specialist markets and would still be produced using traditional methods. Speaking about Dale Farm's products in general, he said the firm uses so-called 'summer milk' in its butter manufacturing between May and September. As the cows are kept outdoors and fed grass during these months. The result is a creamier, easier-to-spread product - though winter butter has its uses and is popular for food service. Mr Dobbin said: "Because much of our cows' feed intake is grass, it's a much creamier milk, it's got more natural, softer fats in it and that's why Northern Ireland butter spreads easier from the fridge or why Northern Ireland cheese or milk tastes that bit more creamier." The dairy boss - who will retire soon after 16 years as chief executive of Dale Farm and its parent, United Dairy Farmers - said it exports around 1bn of dairy produce a year, around one third of its output. And as well as Fivemiletown's existing brands, Mr Dobbin said that the company may look at producing other varieties, such as Norwegian cheese Jarlsberg, a mild cow's-milk cheese. Last month Mr Dobbin announced he'd be retiring from the company. However, he is set to continue his other roles in the industry, including as chairman of Dairy UK and the Northern Ireland Dairy Council, as well as continuing to serve on the Agri-Food Strategy board. Mr Dobbin will also remain as chairman of the Northern Ireland Food and Drink Association (Nifda). Kilkenny-based Glanbia Ingredients Ireland Ltd (GIIL) acquired the assets of Fivemiletown. It kept the milk supply contracts but sold on the cheeses. Keith Brown said measures set out to help the oil and gas industry in the March Budget were not being taken forward quickly enough The UK Government must take further urgent action to boost oil and gas exploration in the North Sea, according to Scotland's Economy Secretary. Keith Brown said measures set out to help the struggling industry in the March Budget, while welcome, were not being taken forward quickly enough. He told the third annual Oil and Gas UK conference in Aberdeen the Budget had been a "missed opportunity" in not addressing the "critical challenge" of increasing low rates of exploration. Mr Brown said: "From our point of view, the UK Government cannot consider the last Budget, welcome though some of the measures in that Budget are, as a job done. "Further fiscal support for exploration is needed and it is needed now. "I think the one thing more than anything else, from talking to people in the industry and to colleagues in government, is that the pace, the urgency, of what is required has not been taken forward by that Budget and real urgency is required." Mr Brown said there was also a lack of urgency in addressing problems with access to finance faced by some in the industry. He said: "There is that period in the next few years when you really have to take action now in terms of these loan guarantees to see the investment that's required to keep thing moving along. "It's quite clear that access to finance continues to be considered as one of the greatest challenges in the basin but we've heard no further details since the Budget on these critical issues. "The UK Government has to provide clarity on their use. They could potentially be used to ensure critical assets and infrastructure remains operational, preventing systemic risks." Deirdre Michie, Oil and Gas UK chief executive, also issued a "call to action" on short-term activity stimulation for exploration. She said: "Maximising economic recovery means we need to recover more of what we have already found as well as finding more, so we do need to kick-start activity in these vital areas to keep the hopper replenished and future production flowing. "Stimulating activity is also key to providing some immediate relief and support to the supply chain and if we don't do something urgently then the current hiatus in exploration and appraisal will become the norm, with the basin focusing mainly on production and decommissioning, our world-class supply chain can disperse and relocate as business take their focus elsewhere." In a video address to the conference, Damian Hinds, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, said the 1 billion package for the industry in the March Budget had en sured a "truly globally competitive tax regime". He said: " I have to say I know of no other government in the world that has responded in such a way, on such a scale, to such a degree, to the challenge that comes from these very low oil prices that we have seen. "I think and hope it sends a very clear signal to the world that the UK continental shelf is open for business." Addressing the conference, Stephen Halliday, group president of research and consultancy Wood Mackenzie, challenged the oil and gas leadership at president and chief-executive level to work together to maximise opportunities. He said: "Oil companies like to knock lumps out of each other. They like to win, they like to see people lose and that's just the reality of any negotiation. " They just need to get together and realise that by compromising they win." A Government spokesman said: "This government is clear that the broad shoulders of the UK are 100 per cent behind our oil and gas industry and the thousands of workers and families it supports. "We have established the Oil and Gas Authority to drive greater collaboration and productivity within industry and in the last two budgets we announced radical packages of tax measures worth 2.3 billion to ensure the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) remains an attractive destination for investment. "No other government has made fiscal changes as extensive in response to falling oil prices. In January this year we announced a further package of measures including another 20 million funding for a further round of seismic surveys and our strategy to maximise economic recovery of the UKCS. "We look forward to the industry capitalising on this, to deliver efficiencies and make the industry more robust now and for the future." The Iceland supermarket on the Antrim Road is one of four on the market Four Iceland supermarkets in Belfast have gone on the market for nearly 6m. A private investor who did not wish to be identified is believed to be behind the sale of the four supermarkets, which are fully let to Iceland until 2030. Commercial property agents Osborne King are the selling agents for the stores on Antrim Road, Shankill Road, Newtownards Road and Finaghy Road South, with asking prices from 1.135m to 1.59m. The Shankill Road store is the lowest priced, at 1.135m, while the Newtownards Road store is the highest. Finaghy Road South has a price tag of 1.275m, while Iceland on Antrim Road is priced at 1.46m. And Osborne King said they expected interest from Northern Irish investors, and from further afield. Each store is being sold separately. Osborne King director David McClure said: The local investment market has been starved of good quality product of late, particularly in respect of opportunities at the lower end of the market, and thus interest has already been brisk with local cash-rich private investors recognising the quality of tenant and attractive unexpired lease term on offer. While let to Iceland until 2030, there is potential for tenant breaks in February 2025. Meanwhile, Osborne King is also selling agent for popular south Belfast venue Soul Food Cafe. The Ormeau Road cafe is described as long established and is on sale as a leasehold business including lease, goodwill, fixtures and fittings. The building is not part of the sale. Mark Carron of Osborne King said it had attracted strong interest. The Ormeau Road has improved lately and there is a lot of competition on it, he added. And Lambert Smith Hampton is acting in the proposed sale of an industrial complex on Doagh Road in Ballymena. The complex of industrial units including car retailer Familycarsni.com will be auctioned on July 1 at Europa Hotel. A new Lidl supermarket at east Belfast shopping centre Connswater is now set to go ahead. Belfast City Council gave the green light to the German discounters plans for a new store at Connswater on Monday evening. Connswater has been struggling to find a big-name retailer to fill the void left by former big tenants, Tesco and Dunnes. A spokesman for the supermarket which currently has 38 stores around Northern Ireland said: Lidl welcomes the positive recommendation from Belfast City Council regarding a new development at Connswater. Lidl believes that the new development will greatly enhance the shopping experience in the Connswater area and we look forward to this exciting redevelopment. We would like to thank the Connswater Traders Association, and our Connswater customers, for their ongoing support and we look forward to working with them over the coming months. Last nights decision was a turnaround for the council, which had previously indicated it would turn down the plans. Read More It had argued that there were other vacant sites, such as the former Tesco and Dunnes buildings at Connswater, and vacant sites at the Park Centre in west Belfast and at Forestside in the south of the city. But last week, as it previewed last nights planning meeting, it said that it had changed its view after receiving further legal advice, hearing the opinion of the director of planning and place. The new store is subject to conditions, including that work is to start within a five-year period. Read More Alliance councillor David Armitage welcomed the development, saying he is "delighted" by the decision. "Im absolutely delighted the initial decision to decline Lidl has been overturned," he said. "In recent months Ive recused myself from the Committee in order to work alongside residents and traders to ensure this vital project got the go-ahead. "Im pleased to have represented the needs of the community, challenging perceptions and in the end changing minds on the issue. "While some still saw fit to argue against the application, hopefully the years of struggling for Connswater are now over and the local community can look forward a revived period for the centre." The scandal saw officers sent back to earlier training stages. File image More than 50 trainee police officers are at the centre of a major exam cheating scandal that has rocked the PSNI. Two squads of student officers at the PSNI'S training centre in Garnerville have been caught up in the allegations. But there is serious concern that many more recruits could be embroiled in the scandal. It is understood examination questions were shared among students ahead of assessment. The PSNI confirmed an investigation had been launched into the allegations and that, as a result, disruption within the training college was possible. It is believed that 18 student officers who had completed their 22-week initial training and were due to graduate last Friday were ordered back, or "back-squadded", to week three of training. The group, known as Red Squad, was not allowed to leave the training college until 11.30pm on Thursday, until those suspected of cheating were spoken to. Just 20 members of the squad were allowed to graduate the following day. The Belfast Telegraph has also learned that all but two members of another squad - Yellow Squad, who were due to graduate next month - were ordered back to week one of training after suspicions were raised that they too had cheated. It is understood that Yellow Squad had attained the highest marks in the college's history. A source claimed that those suspected were told by police bosses the only reason they had not been kicked out was because there were too many of them. The scandal, which is a huge embarrassment to the PSNI, was uncovered following a complaint from a whistleblower. Assistant Chief Constable Alan Todd confirmed that an investigation had been launched that "centres around the impropriety of student officers inappropriately sharing examination information between each other". He added that the "full extent of this impropriety and the numbers of student officers involved forms part of this current investigation". "Given the scale and thoroughness of the investigation being conducted, and making provisions to ensure the robustness of the examination process, some disruption within the college is possible, however we will be working to ensure this is kept to a minimum," Mr Todd explained. "This investigation is at an early stage and it would be premature to consider what all the outcomes might be." A source close to the process claimed that information about forthcoming exams had been passed amongst student officers "for years". "An easy way to prevent it would be to change the exam questions," they added. "This is not something new. It just so happens that someone was caught red-handed. "They were told the only reason they didn't lose their job was because it was such a high number involved." The PSNI has been desperately trying to replenish officer numbers through recruitment campaigns. However, fiscal restraint over the past few years has meant recruitment has had to be on a reduced scale. Last week, Chief Constable George Hamilton told the Policing Board that the service needed at least 6,963 officers, but currently had only 6,881. Policing Board member Nelson McCausland said it was a matter of concern that such a huge number of recruits were involved in the cheating claims. Evidence linking politicians in Northern Ireland to a massive property deal allegedly involving multi-million pound fixer fees could emerge in the coming weeks, the Irish parliament has heard. Micheal Martin, leader of the chief Opposition party Fianna Fail, said the Dublin government's position on the 1.2 billion sale of a Northern Ireland property loan portfolio by a State agency in the Republic was becoming more untenable by the day. The deal two years ago by the National Assets Management Agency (Nama) with US investment giant Cerberus has been dogged by controversy after 7 million linked to it was found in an Isle of Man bank account. Investigations have been launched by the UK's National Crime Agency, the US Department of Justice's Securities and Exchange Commission as well as a parliamentary inquiry in Belfast. But Taoiseach Enda Kenny has repeatedly rejected calls for an Irish state inquiry into the so-called Project Eagle sale. Mr Martin said the "nothing to see here" attitude in Dublin was incredible. "As revelations emerge, and as the levels of the investigations get deeper, the Government's position in relation to the sale of Project Eagle by Nama is, in my view, more untenable by the day," he said. "The sense that there is nothing to investigate down here or there is no necessity for the Government of the Irish Republic to be overly concerned about this particular deal - I don't think that is credible." Mr Martin said there are huge ethical questions over the entire sale of the portfolio, which he claims resulted in substantial losses to the Irish taxpayer. "The deal is tainted - of that there can be no question," he told the Irish Parliament, the Dail. He added: "There seems to be a sense of a connection, of a nexus, between politics and all of this in the North as well. "That may emerge in the coming weeks." But Mr Kenny denied the Irish Government was being defensive about the deal and called for evidence that a fair process was not followed. "I'm informed that this loan sale was executed in a proper manner," he said. "Despite all the comments and allegations there are no claims of wrongdoing against Nama. "That loan portfolio was sold after an open process to the highest bidder for what it was worth. "Nama paid no monies to any party against whom allegations of wrongdoing are being made." Two men were arrested last month in Co Down as part of the National Crime Agency inquiry and subsequently released on bail. Nama is the so-called "bad bank" set up in Ireland at the height of the financial crisis to take property linked loans off the books of bailed-out banks. It sold 800 property loans to Cerberus, a multi billion fund which boasts former US vice president Dan Quayle in its ranks. The 7 million was paid into an account controlled by a former managing partner of Belfast-based law firm Tughans who resigned after it was unearthed. Tughans, which was involved in the Nama transaction as subcontractor for Cerberus's US lawyers Brown Rudnick, insisted it was not aware of the transfer. All parties involved in the 1.2 billion transaction in 2014 have denied wrongdoing. Gerry Adams, Sinn Fein leader, said a State inquiry was "definitely" needed into the affair. The DUP's top spin doctor has landed a job as a special adviser (Spad) to Economy Minister Simon Hamilton. John Robinson, the party's former director of communications, is to take up the senior post. It is understood that the party is not planning to fill his old job in handling media relations until the autumn. The 32-year-old, from Ballygawley, Co Tyrone, has a first-class honours degree in communications from Ulster University and has worked for the party for 12 years. David Graham, the head of history at the Royal School Armagh, is also leaving his job to become a SPAD in the Department of Education. DUP sources said he was an "exciting, fresh appointment" and his experience in the sector would be of "great assistance" to Education Minister Peter Weir. Andrew Crawford, a farmer who comes from Beragh, Co Tyrone, is the new SPAD for Michelle McIlveen in the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs. He is a former employee of the Ulster Farmers' Union and was an adviser to Jim Allister when he was a DUP MEP. A party source said: "Michelle will be a very diligent Agriculture Minister, but she isn't from a farming background so Andrew is a key appointment. "He is most knowledgeable on agriculture and on European policy. They will be perfect combination." Andrew Gowan, a former policy adviser to MEP Diane Dodds is to be Paul Givan's new SPAD in the Department for Communities. The DUP will have four SPADs in the Executive Office, which is taking over most of the responsibilities of the old Office of First Minister and Deputy First Minister. Former accountant Timothy Johnston and former barrister Richard Bullick will remain as advisers to Arlene Foster. They will be joined by Dr Philip Weir, a former hospital doctor who was previously a Department of Health SPAD. Stephen Brimstone will also remain on as an adviser to Mrs Foster. A DUP source told the Belfast Telegraph: "We think we have a very strong team of special advisers. They are young, mostly in their 30s, hard-working, and they're all well suited to their departments." Lawyer Pat Finucane was the victim of a Latin American-style Army-run death squad, the Court of Appeal was told yesterday. Counsel for the solicitor's widow said Mr Finucane's assassination was State-sponsored terrorism and a "horror story". The allegations were made as Geraldine Finucane began her bid to overturn a ruling that Prime Minister David Cameron acted lawfully in refusing to hold a public inquiry into the killing. The challenge was adjourned after it emerged one of the three appeal judges had been involved in a civil action Mrs Finucane issued more than 20 years ago. Lord Justice Weir agreed to step aside from hearing the appeal, and proceedings were put on hold until November. Mrs Finucane took the Prime Minister to court after he ruled out a public inquiry in 2011. Instead, Mr Cameron asked QC Sir Desmond de Silva to review the case and produce a narrative of what happened. Sir Desmond's report confirmed agents of the State were involved in the murder and that it should have been prevented, but also that there had been no overarching State conspiracy. Last year, a High Court judge ruled Mr Cameron acted lawfully in refusing to hold an inquiry. Despite throwing out Mrs Finucane's bid to force the authorities to publicly examine the killing, the judge also said the State had not fully met its human rights obligation to investigate. Opening an appeal against that verdict, Barry Macdonald QC claimed the case was about an abuse of power. He said the 500-page de Silva report contained only five pages on the role of the Government. No responsibility has been attached to any minister or official, and no charges have been brought against any police officers, soldiers or security service personnel, the court heard. Referring to Ken Barrett, the loyalist gunman convicted of the killing, Mr Macdonald said: "The only person held accountable was one of the UDA puppets used to pull the trigger." He also quoted correspondence from one of Mr Cameron's advisors describing the killing as far worse than anything alleged in Iraq or Afghanistan. Questioning why the authorities appeared to regard the murder as the most difficult from Northern Ireland's troubled past, the barrister continued: "The answer is because in this liberal democracy where the rule of law is supposed to be paramount, the Army is running death squads of a kind normally associated with Latin American dictatorships." Rather than a few renegade, soldiers, Mr Macdonald alleged that a dedicated unit was established by the military hierarchy. Investigations into the assassination by former Scotland Yard chief Sir John Stevens were obstructed by the Army and RUC, it was also claimed. The court was told that the Stevens team was denied access to intelligence and had its offices set on fire in an attempt to destroy the evidence gathered. "This was not just something of a horror story for the security forces, it was something of a horror story for the Government," Mr Macdonald said. He claimed that commissioning the de Silva review insulated ministers from any scrutiny. It also meant soldiers, police officers and others allegedly involved in the murder and in perverting the course of justice had impunity, he added. The planned three-day hearing had to be adjourned after counsel for the Government, James Eadie QC, applied for Lord Justice Weir to recuse himself. It emerged that while a barrister in the early 1990s, he had endorsed a writ issued by Mrs Finucane in a civil action over her husband's killing. It was stressed that there could be no suggestion of any actual bias on the part of the judge, who had no memory of the earlier case but agreed to have no more involvement in the appeal. Adjourning proceedings to November, Lord Justice Gillen said: "We express our profound disappointment that this has been allowed to happen." Strike action on France's railways has hit some Northern Ireland fans travelling to Lyon for the next Euro 2016 match. At least one early morning train from Nice was cancelled on Tuesday, supporters said, and there have been reports of CGT (General Confederation of Labour) trade unionists staging demonstrations outside the south coast city. However some services are running more or less to schedule. Northern Ireland supporters have been departing in their droves across Provence for Thursday's tie against Ukraine. Buses in Nice were not operating this morning because of the strike, part of a wave of industrial action which has convulsed France for days. John Reynolds, 38, a Northern Ireland fan living in Merseyside, said he changed his ticket on Monday after being told the service had been cancelled but arrived for his train anyway to discover it was operating as normal. He said: "I have asked for help several times but they just said it was ok without even checking my ticket." The Government is attempting to reform labour laws, including making it easier for employers to lay off workers, reduce overtime pay, increase working hours and reduce the strength of unions. A High Court judge quashed a decision to stop a convicted terrorist murderer continuing to work as a groundskeeper. Mr Justice Maguire also held that former Finance and Personnel Minister Peter Robinson breached the Ministerial Code in a case brought by west Belfast man Martin Neeson. On Tuesday, he ruled that the Stormont department should now reconsider Neeson's suitability for a job he carried out for 19 years. Lawyers for the 58-year-old ex-prisoner declared the verdict a "resounding exoneration" for him and others in his position. He is also now expected to secure damages for his loss of employment. Neeson's judicial review challenge centred on an alleged failure to continue with guidance for employers on recruiting staff with conflict-related convictions. He was released from jail in 1987 after serving eleven-and-a-half years for a murder committed when he was aged 16. No further details of the killing four decades ago were disclosed in court. He has also convictions for belonging to a proscribed organisation and two counts of attempted murder. Following his release he secured groundskeeper work with a conservation charity in the Poleglass area of Belfast. But due to a technical change in the body's contractual relationship with the civil service he had to undergo security vetting. Checks carried out by Access NI resulted in the Department of Finance and Personnel deciding in December 2014 that he is unsuitable to continue in the role. Neeson went to Sinn Fein to seek their help in lobbying on his behalf. But after that proved unsuccessful he issued proceedings against the department. His legal team argued that he was unlawfully and irrationally deemed unsuitable for a job he had carried out for nearly 20 years. They also contended that the move was based on an earlier decision taken by Mr Robinson during his tenure as Finance Minister back in 2007 that should have gone before the full Executive. The court heard the guidance was formulated as part of the Good Friday and St Andrew's political agreements, and adopted by the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister (OFMDFM) before Mr Robinson decided it should not apply. It was claimed under Stormont rules the then Finance Minister should have taken the issue to the Executive because it was significant, controversial and cut across departments. Counsel for Neeson said Sir Nigel Hamilton, a former head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service, appeared to be unaware the guidance had been revoked when he gave evidence to the Finance and Personnel Committee in 2012. Ruling on the case today, Mr Justice Maguire said the decision to dis-apply the May 2007 guidance clearly related to a controversial and/or significant matter - the reintegration of former prisoners with conflict related convictions into the world of employment. He held that Mr Robinson had breached the Ministerial Code because the matter should have been brought before the Executive Committee. The judge added that he had no hesitation in concluding that the decision was one which no reasonable authority could lawfully have arrived at. "On the facts of this case declaring the applicant unsuitable for employment flies in the face of being a rational decision," he said. On that basis he quashed the decision and called on the Department to reconsider the matter - ideally by a senior official with no previous involvement in the case. Outside court Neeson's solicitor, Niall Murphy of KRW Law, said: "This judgment is a resounding exoneration for the citizenship rights of the ex-political prisoner community. "The decision made by the Civil Service to render Mr Neeson unsuitable to cut the grass in Poleglass has been declared irrational by the court." Mr Murphy added: "That the judgment also declares that Peter Robinson breached the Ministerial Code is also a matter of grave concern." Francis Noel Stroud appeared at Lisburn Magistrates Court via videolink from Maghaberry prison [File photo] A retired grammar school vice principal has appeared in court accused of indecently assaulting a woman more than 20 years ago. Standing in Lisburn Magistrates Court, 70-year-old Francis Noel Stroud confirmed his identity and that he was aware of the single charge against him. The father-of-three, from Sandymount Mews in Dunmurry, Belfast, is alleged to have indecently assaulted a female on a date between September 1 and December 31, 1994. While none of the circumstances giving rise to the charge were opened during the brief preliminary hearing, a prosecuting lawyer claimed the legal papers "disclose a case to answer" - a submission that Stroud's defence solicitor conceded. The court clerk asked Stroud if he wished to comment on the charge or present evidence to the court by testifying or calling witnesses, but he replied, "no, not at this time". Returning the case to Craigavon Crown Court after granting a bad character application, District Judge Rosie Watters released Stroud on his own bail of 500. She also ordered him to appear before the higher court on September 8. At the time of the allegations, Stroud was a maths teacher and vice principal at Hunterhouse College in south Belfast. Judge Watters reserved the granting of legal aid after receiving details of the defendant's income and expenses. Sir Paul McCartney has paid a glowing tribute to his late Wings bandmate Henry McCullough. The renowned guitarist, who also played with Joe Cocker and jammed with Jimi Hendrix, died on Tuesday, four years after a severe heart attack left him incapacitated. McCullough, 72, originally from Portstewart, Northern Ireland, was said to have been the only Irish musician to have played at the famous Woodstock festival in 1969. And while he may not have been a household name, he counted Marianne Faithfull and The Who among those he jammed with. He also played lead guitar on Wings' James Bond theme, Live And Let Die. Perhaps best known for his solo on the band's number one hit My Love, Sir Paul gave a little insight into McCullough's enduring talent and originality. "The solo he played on My Love was a classic that he made up on the spot in front of a live orchestra. Our deepest sympathies from my family to his," he said. Belfast-based music promoter and agent Nigel Martyn spoke to the guitarist's French wife Josie following his death. "I have just spoken to Josie who has informed me that Henry passed away at home this morning. Josie said that she has lost her one true love," he said. The couple had been living for several years in Ballywindelland, between Coleraine and Ballymoney in Co Antrim, in a home they fondly referred to as "Ballywonderland". Sir Paul sent a heartfelt message from his tour in Germany. " He was a pleasure to work with, a super talented musician with a lovely sense of humour," the former Beatle said. McCullough also sang and wrote music, but one of the renowned guitarist's more memorable contributions to music was a few choice words for Pink Floyd. When playing with Wings at Abbey Road studios in London, members of the band stopped off from their own recording session next door and asked for a few soundbites for their album Dark Side of the Moon. McCullough's line: "I don't know, I was really drunk at the time," found its way into the closing bars of one of the record's best-known tracks, Money. Elsewhere, his lead guitar on stage with Joe Cocker and The Grease Band on day three of Woodstock is the stuff of legend as they performed an electrifying version o f The Beatles' hit With A Little Help From My Friends. McCullough also played on Andrew Lloyd Webber's rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar. He played one of his last live performances in a small rock club in Draperstown, Co Derry, a year before suffering a heart attack which left him incapacitated. Mr Martyn said: "He had suffered severe brain damage and was left completely incapacitated for the last four years. "But Josie has been incredible - t he way she looked after him was absolutely out of this world." Funeral arrangements are to be announced later. Denny Seiwell, drummer and founding member of Wings, posted a series of photos on Twitter of him with his old bandmate. He said: "My dear friend and brother Henry McCullough passed away. His battle is over. Keep his wife Josie in your thoughts he will be missed." The Sun newspaper has come out in favour of Brexit The Sun has come out in favour of Leave in the EU referendum, urging readers to free their country from "dictatorial Brussels". In a front page editorial under the headline BeLeave in Britain, the paper warned that staying in the EU would be worse for immigration, worse for jobs, worse for wages and "worse for our way of life". "This is our last chance to remove ourselves from the undemocratic Brussels machine ... and it's time to take it," it said. "We must set ourselves free from dictatorial Brussels. Throughout our 43-year membership of the European Union it has proved increasingly greedy, wasteful, bullying and breathtakingly incompetent in a crisis. "Next Thursday, at the ballot box, we can correct this huge and historic mistake. It is our last chance. Because, be in no doubt, our future looks far bleaker if we stay in." The paper accused the Remain side of running a "nasty, cynical, personally abusive" campaign that was "beneath the dignity of Britain". It said that outside the EU, the UK could become richer, safer and free to forge its own destiny, while inside it would be engulfed by a "relentlessly expanding German-dominated federal state". The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have sent their "thoughts and prayers" to the victims of the gay nightclub massacre in Orlando. Lone gunman Omar Mateen, 29, left 49 people dead and dozens of others wounded in the massacre at Pulse in the Florida city on Sunday. William and Kate visited the American Embassy in central London on Tuesday to sign a book of condolence. Dressed in black, the royal couple were greeted by the US Ambassador Matthew Barzun before writing individual messages. The Duke paused for a moment to read the ambassador's dedication as his wife stood solemnly by his side. He wrote: "With our deepest condolences and with our thoughts and prayers to all those affected." The Duchess signed "Catherine" beside her husband's name. The couple then spoke to embassy staff who have worked on LGBT issues. Dozens of embassy workers, all wearing custom-made badges with a combination of the American, British and Pride flags, filled the lobby for the royal visit. An image of their messages will be added to an online condolence book which the public are able to contribute to. Prince Harry enjoyed the hospitality of the southern state when he visited Orlando last month for the Invictus games. Police use a water cannon on protesters during demonstrations in Paris (AP) A total of 26 people have been injure d, including 20 police officers, after violence broke out in Paris during street protests against controversial French labour reforms. Police official Johanna Primevert added that some 21 people were detained during the demo, which saw protesters throw projectiles at police officers who responded with tear gas. Tens of thousands of people attended the demonstrations against the proposed law to loosen employment rules. Seven unions and student organisations planned the protests. Demonstrators set out from south-east Paris heading for the Invalides plaza. Street protests also took place in other parts of France, while rail workers and taxi drivers were on strike. In Paris, the Eiffel Tower was closed because the operators said they could not guarantee public safety, while taxi drivers temporarily blocked some of the city's main access roads in the morning. In a separate protest, Air France pilots were striking to demand better working conditions. About 20% of all Air France's flights were cancelled, according to the company. At the Eiffel Tower, an electronic board was indicating: "Monument closed - National strike". "That's a shame for tourists because we didn't just come for the Euros but also the sightseeing," said Petlev Schultz, a German tourist who came to Paris to attend Euro 2016. "We've found out there are strikes everywhere," he added. "We are looking into finding ways to still experience the beautiful city." A court has thrown out 1.8 million US dollars (1.27 million) in damages awarded to former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura, who said he was defamed by the late author Chris Kyle in the best-selling book American Sniper. The 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals also sent a portion of the case - Ventura's defamation claim - back to the district court for a new trial, saying Mr Ventura's lawyer made improper remarks and the trial court "clearly abused its discretion in denying a new trial". Kyle, a former US Navy Seal, is regarded as the deadliest sniper in US military history with 160 confirmed kills. In his book American Sniper, he wrote a sub-chapter called "Punching Out Scruff Face" in which he describes striking Mr Ventura at a California bar in 2006 after he made offensive comments about Seals, including that they "deserve to lose a few" in Iraq. Mr Ventura, a former Underwater Demolition Teams/Seal member and ex-pro wrestler, sued. He gave evidence at trial that he never made the statements and that the confrontation never happened. He also said the book ruined his reputation in the tight-knit Seal community. Kyle, who was killed on a shooting range in 2013 by a troubled fellow veteran, gave sworn videotaped evidence before his death that his story was true. The case proceeded against his estate. In 2014, a jury awarded Mr Ventura 500,000 dollars (350,000) for defamation and 1.3 million dollars (910,000) for unjust enrichment. Kyle's widow, Taya Kyle, appealed, asking that the verdict be thrown out or that a new trial be ordered on First Amendment and other grounds. Mr Ventura's lawyers, however, argued that the jury got the verdict right. In Monday's ruling, a three-judge appellate panel reversed the unjust-enrichment award, saying the theory of unjust-enrichment "enjoys no legal support under Minnesota law" and fails as a matter of law. The majority of the judges also vacated the defamation award and sent that portion of the case back to court for a new trial. The majority found that Mr Ventura's lawyers improperly let the jury hear that publisher HarperCollins had an insurance policy to cover a defamation award and lawyer fees. The majority said those comments prevented Kyle's estate from receiving a fair trial and that Mr Ventura's lawyers deliberately referenced a "deep-pocket insurer" to try to influence the jury and enhance damages. "From our review, these unsupported, improper, and prejudicial statements were not heat of the moment argument, but were strategic and calculated," the judges wrote. The judges also wrote: "Ventura's counsel's closing remarks, in combination with the improper cross-examination of two witnesses about Kyle's insurance coverage, prevented Kyle from receiving a fair trial." Judge Lavenski Smith dissented, saying Mr Ventura's lawyers mentioned insurance coverage only after Taya Kyle testified that she would be responsible for damages. He noted that Mr Ventura's lawyers argued Taya Kyle should not be allowed to "plead poverty if an insurance company is going to pick up the tab". Judge Smith said any error in allowing Mr Ventura's counsel to ask about insurance was harmless and non-prejudicial. He also found that the 500,000 dollar award for defamation was not excessive. The hit movie based on Kyle's book did not depict the alleged incident. Hackers linked to Russian intelligence services broke into the Democratic National Committee's computer networks and gained access to data relating to Donald Trump. CrowdStrike, a cyber-security firm, said the DNC asked it to investigate a suspected breach of its systems that began as early as last summer. The firm said it found traces of two of the best adversaries in the hacking arena, both tied to the Russian government. The newly-revealed attacks join a host of high-profile digital breaches affecting current and past White House hopefuls. DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz called the incident serious and said the committee moved quickly to "kick out the intruders and secure our network". The DNC said donor, financial and personal information did not appear to have been accessed by the hackers. But an individual knowledgeable of the breach said at least one year's worth of detailed chats, emails and opposition research on Mr Trump were stolen. That kind of research, a staple of political campaigns, often contains detailed information about a candidate's personal and professional history. The individual said DNC officials first learned about the hack in late April when its technology staff discovered malware on its computers. CrowdStrike reported that one group of hackers was able to execute computer code remotely on systems running Microsoft Windows. Another was capable of recording keystrokes. Director of national intelligence James Clapper said last month that US officials have seen indications of foreign hackers spying on the presidential candidates. He said the US intelligence community expects more cyber threats against the campaigns. Foreign hacking was rampant during the 2008 presidential election, and US President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney were targets of Chinese cyber attacks in the 2012 campaign. In 2008, Mr Obama and Republican nominee John McCain were also targeted. CrowdStrike said one of the hacking groups identified in the DNC attack, dubbed Cozy Bear, had previously infiltrated unclassified networks at the White House, the State Department and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Another group detected, called Fancy Bear, had targeted private and public sector networks around the world since the mid-2000s. The two groups involved in the DNC hacking had penetrated the system separately, CrowdStrike said. Dmitri Alperovitch, CrowdStrike's co-founder and chief technology officer, said the hackers specifically targeted the DNC's research department and obtained opposition documents prepared about Mr Trump. He said the firm is confident the DNC's network has eliminated the threat. But Mr Alperovitch said: "The Russians' interest in the political campaign will not stop at this incident. We fully expect that they will try to get back in." The incident was first reported on Tuesday by The Washington Post. "It should come as no surprise to anyone that political parties are high-profile targets for foreign intelligence gathering," said Democrat Jim Langevin of Rhode Island, who co-founded the House's cyber security panel. "Nonetheless, it is disconcerting that two independent operations were able to penetrate the DNC, one of which was able to stay embedded for nearly a year." Cyber security experts have previously told The Associated Press that neither Mr Trump's nor Hillary Clinton's campaign networks are secure enough to stop attacks. Mrs Clinton's use of a private email server while secretary of state raised questions of how well her personal system was protected from intrusions. Her campaign has said there is no evidence it was breached. It is interesting to speculate on how much more certain a win for the EU Leave campaign could be but for our subservience to political correctness. It is this pernicious principle which prevents us from openly discussing the threat which Islam brings to our civilisation. Whenever this subject is raised, its proponent is silenced by the false label of racism. The Muslim population of the UK is approaching 3%, but by remaining in the EU we will be inviting its increase to far higher levels. It is a fact that, as an Islamic minority increases in any country, so does public disorder. We can already see this in France. With the growth of the Muslim population, their demands tend to escalate from calls for halal meat, sharia law, self-rule, police exclusion and leading eventually to the domination of the indigenous people. If we are to retain our culture, we must vote "Out" in the EU referendum, otherwise our descendants will be condemned to live in a fragmented, conflicted country. JAMES A McKENNA Belfast A Bosnian couple met online only to be repulsed when they met in person? It wasnt that they found each other unattractive. The surprise was that the on-line daters turned out to be married to each other in real life. Unhappy with their marriage, they each created online identities under fake names and had an affair with each other each complaining about their miserable marriage and thinking they had finally found their soul mate. But when they met, reality hit. Realizing they had only found the person who had disappointed them in marriage, they decided to get a divorce claiming marital unfaithfulness! Theres a lot you could say about this story, but consider what the couple was quoted saying about each other: I am also pleased to announce that my first bookWild Chickens and Petty Tyrants: 108 Metaphors for Mindfulness is being re-released under the title 108 Metaphors for Mindfulness: from Wild Chickens to Petty Tyrants. It has the same metaphors that many people have grown to love and trust in their daily mindfulness practice in a new book design (astute obersvers will notice that it is very similar to Mindfulness A to Z. Here is an excerpt from the preface that I wrote for the new edition: Since the initial publication of 108 Metaphors for Mindfulness in 2009, Ive come to appreciate further the Buddhas mastery with metaphors. Indeed, Buddhist scholar Damien Keown said, The Buddhas skill in teaching the Dharma, demonstrated in his ability to adapt his message to the context in which it was delivered. Parables, metaphors, and similes formed an important part of his teaching rep- ertoire, skillfully tailored to suit the level of his audi- ence. The Pali Canon, which is the written record of the Buddhas teachings, contains over 1000 met- aphorical references addressing over 500 different concepts. You can pre-order your copy here (official release date is June 14, 2016). Bangladeshi volunteers and rescue workers search for survivors in the rubble, a day after the collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory complex, April 25, 2013. Eighteen suspects were charged Tuesday with violating Bangladeshs building laws by allegedly colluding to construct the Rana Plaza garment factory complex against code, before it collapsed and killed more than 1,100 people three years ago. All of the accused 18 persons including the owner of the building, Sohel Rana, had a role in the construction of the building in violation of Bangladeshs building code, prosecutor Anwar Kabir Babul told BenarNews. Hearing both the defense and prosecution, the trial court today for the first time framed charges against the 18, he said, referring to the Chief Judicial Magistrates court in Dhaka. As many as 1,135 people were killed and more than 2,000 were injured in the collapse of Rana Plaza on April 24, 2013 Bangladeshs deadliest industrial accident and one of the worst ever worldwide. The building in the Dhaka suburb of Savar housed five factories that produced ready-made garments for world famous brands. The owner Rana was among 41 charged with murder in June 2015 over the disaster. Some of the others who were charged on Tuesday will face charges in the homicide case as well. No one has been tried or convicted in the case, but the magistrates court on Tuesday set Aug. 23 as a start date for witness depositions. Quoting the police investigation, Kabir said Rana had permission to construct a six-story building but colluded with town planning officials, engineers and others to add three floors. Ranas lawyer challenged the prosecutors claim about construction. The building violation charge against my client is not true, lawyer Faruq Ahmed told BenarNews, noting that his clients had permission to go as high as 10 stories. The court dismissed his claim. 5 of 18 not in custody Thirteen of the 18 defendants, including the buildings owner, have been in the jail while five others, an engineer, two urban planners and two owners of the construction firm, have absconded. According to court records, police filed two cases against 42 people, including the building owners, public servants, garment factory owners and some employees. The other case, on homicide charges, has not been filed, according to Babul. In addition, the Anti-Corruption Commission has filed a corruption case over the collapse. In the past, many ready-made garment buildings collapsed, but the offenders were not tried. There has been a culture of impunity in the labor rights violations in Bangladesh, Sultan Uddin Khan, director of the Bangladesh Institute of Labor Studies, told BenarNews. The brother of a victim of the disaster is seeking justice. Until the politically powerful owners of the building and the public servants are punished, the family members will not sleep well. My slain brother was forced to get into the building that developed cracks, Abul Bashar, a Dhaka businessman, told BenarNews. Ilham Aidit, the son of a leader of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), sits in his home in Bandung, West Java province, June 6, 2016. More than 50 years after D.N. Aidit was executed during an anti-communist purge in Indonesia, his stature as a top leader of the dissolved Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) still casts a shadow on his son Ilhams life. Ilham was only six when Dipa Nusantara Aidit, the chairman of the PKIs central committee, was put to death in November 1965 as part of a nationwide crackdown on suspected communists that killed at least 500,000 people. Communism was banned in Indonesia that year, and countless Indonesians like Ilham have since suffered the stigma of being associated with the old PKI. As a junior in high school in Bandung, West Java, he fought with fellow students almost every day because he could not stand their verbal attacks against his late father, Ilham told BenarNews. That dark period in Indonesias history has remained a taboo subject. But in April, the Indonesian government for the first time convened a two-day symposium where Indonesians were invited to discuss the mass killings. Indonesian human rights advocates have since lobbied the government to pursue a national reconciliation over what happened in 1965-66, although President Joko Jokowi Widodo has said that his administration would not apologize for the killings. In early June, some retired army generals organized a counter-symposium at which they warned against a communist resurgence, yet provided no clear proof of how that threat has manifested itself. In an interview at his home in Bandung, Ilham Aidit, an architect, talked at length about his hopes for a national reconciliation, how this could take shape, and how he has come to accept that people who were victimized during the anti-communist purge likely wont ever get an apology from Indonesias central government. BenarNews: Have you lost your trust in the government? Ilham Aidit: I am pessimistic but I dont know. I think the Jokowi factor will be influential in this matter. Jokowi is firm, right? After the first symposium, there were many disagreements. Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan [Indonesias security minister] and Agus Widjojo [chairman of the government-sponsored symposium], I saw they were kind of more tolerant, but in reality the resistance is so great. That is why the Jokowi factor is influential. Would he apologize? Rehabilitation is the presidents prerogative. BN: Are other relatives and families of victims as pessimistic as you are? IA: Not really, but I hope the government can take the example from Palu [in Central Sulawesi province]. The mayor is amazing. They achieved reconciliation and acknowledged that there were mass killings in 1965 in Palu. The local administration apologized. Even though it didn't compensate [people], they [did] provide social security and free medical service for former prisoners who are sick. They will get that until the third generation, if I am not mistaken. That should be an example, the least that Jokowi can do. BN: What did you think of the June 1-2 symposium organized by the retired generals? IA: The symposium was a joke. It carried a theme for reconciliation but they said no need to apologize. Well, thats not reconciliation. It reflects that theres discord in the army. There are the reformist generals such as Agus Widjojo, Hendropriyono and Luhut [Binsar] Pandjaitan, who realized that human rights violations require a well-intended settlement. At best, even though it would be bitter, they would say, its OK for the Armed Forces to take the blame, because there was proof that they were guilty at that time. Meanwhile, there is the anti-reformist military faction, including [Defense Minister] Ryamizard Ryacudu, Kivlan Zen and Kiki Syahnakri. In their minds, they are still in the golden era of the military under Suharto. BN: All this time why have you ruled out a legal settlement? IA: The non-judicial option is the right one for an old problem. There is strong evidence for this. There are four conditions for a good reconciliation. First, acknowledging that the mass killings did happen. Second, acknowledging this publicly. Third, telling the truth. After acknowledging that, telling it as it is explaining it in school history books and explaining its impact. Fourth, repairing the situation. Its related to compensation, rehabilitation and amnesty. He should have been tried BN: But Luhut said that an apology seemed unlikely. Do you think the government should still apologize? IA: I backed down because Luhut said that probably there would only be an expression of regret. But you know the difference between expression of regrets and an apology? The former is just being sympathetic. Now I am worried that even that will not happen. Rehabilitation without unveiling the truth would be weird. That is weird logic. DNA [D.N. Aidit] never faced a trial. He should have been tried if he was guilty. No problem if he was sentenced to death, if he was so. But there should have been a fair trial. BN: Presidents have changed a number of times but the issue of the anti-communist purge in 1965-66 has never been settled. What made this drag on over the decades? IA: The anti-communist propaganda by [President Suhartos] New Order was overwhelming. It really stuck into a lot of peoples minds, generated hatred for those who dont even know anything, and it still exists. That is why such resistance prevails. On the other hand there are also those who say dont settle this issue. Its clear that they are guilty. BN: Who is perpetrating this? IA: There are some generals who yearn for the military glory of the New Order and have tried to find their way back through this issue. Its quite popular and still talked about as an issue. Luckily people are smart now. But its weird that they think there is still a communist threat. We are the most fearful country. In this world, no country is more afraid of a communist resurgence than Indonesia. What they should be afraid of is the real threat from radical groups such as IS or al-Qaeda. Communist revival? How would they finance it? Everyone knows that the Provisional Peoples Consultative Assembly (MPRS) Decree No. XXV/1966 (TAP MPR) banned communism. BN: What are your concerns if this issue drags on even longer? IA: [Y]ou can guess it. The younger generation would never see a good example. Just imagine when you hear that the state apologizes. Wouldnt you respect them? The younger generation can emulate the honorable action. They can also emulate the victims that had been vilified but are still able to say I forgive. On communism BN: How well do you know communism? IA: I used to know that my father was a communist, head of the PKI. That was all I had in mind. They defended farmers, fishermen and the people. But when I was in high school, I became interested in reading about communism, and found that Marxism was its foundation. BN: What moved you to learn about communism? IA: It was mainly spurred by curiosity to find out what my father really did that was wrong. Was he that great that he was seen as so demoralizing? When I was in high school, I started to have some analytical skills and realized that there are tenets in this world. There is a tenet that favors money, there is a tenet that believes all the wealth in this world should be split equally because people cant choose who they are born to be. I learned the concept of communism through a high school friend whose father had a lot of books on communism, even though he was not a communist. Lets say you admire Gandhi. You can have books about him, even though he was a Hindu. So I learned from that. BN: Does being a communist mean that you are an atheist? IA: Being a communist does not mean that you are an atheist. My father fasted and celebrated Eid. But he thought that to create a new world, there should be elimination of social classes. It has nothing to do with God. Being branded as atheist? Its a New Order [Suharto era] propaganda and it worked. Marx said material possessions should be spilt equally and the world would be better. I agree with that principle. Everything should be split equally. Don't let capitalists rule over us. BN: So, are you a communist? IA: I can say I am more of a Marxist, instead of a communist. BN: Are you an atheist? IA: Im fasting now. I am a religious Marxist. Isnt that confusing? A soldier sets fire to an Islamic State (IS) flag after Syrian troops regained control of al-Qaryatain, a town Homs province, Syria, April 4, 2016. In Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, a Malaysian man was sentenced to 12 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to supporting IS. A Kuala Lumpur court Tuesday sentenced a Malaysian artist, who set out to paint the chaos of the war in Syria, to 12 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to supporting the Islamic State (IS) extremist group there. A court in Penang state, meanwhile, charged a local tour guide with funding a Malaysian who allegedly is fighting alongside Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) militants in the southern Philippines, according to reports. Artist Mohammad Fauzee Ahmad, a father of six, went to Syria to capture on canvas the struggle of Syrians under the regime of Bashar al-Assad. While there, he worked as a sentry and received military training at an unnamed IS camp, court records said. Kuala Lumpur High Court Judicial Commissioner Nordin Hassan sentenced Mohammad Fauzee, 48, after accepting his guilty plea. Nordin ordered the sentence to run from the date of the defendants arrest, Oct. 27, 2014. I dont want any youngsters to be influenced by your actions and follow suit, Nordin told the defendant. Hence, I have to impose a deterrent sentence on you to send out a strong message to the public, especially to those who are planning to do the same. Islamic State is a worldwide threat and it is the courts responsibility to ensure such terror activities do not happen in Malaysia. Lost soul Fauzee was charged with taking part in terrorist-related activities involving firearms and explosives in Syria between June 29 and Sept. 18, 2014, and could have faced up to 30 years in jail, or a fine and forfeiture of his assets. Defense attorney Eric Paulsen told the judicial commissioner that his client had kept a space at a mosque in Putrajaya, where he painted for almost a decade before traveling to Syria. He was misguided to taking part in the fight there. Fauzee is a lost soul and can be rehabilitated. The court should understand that the offense was technically committed overseas and a sentence of five to nine years would be sufficient, Paulsen told the court. Since the arrest, Fauzees wife has become the sole breadwinner of the family, earning 1,000 ringgits (U.S. $243) per month as a factory worker for their three school-age children, Paulsen said. The prosecutor focused on Fauzees actions in Syria. He was clearly lending support to terror activities. There are pictures of him holding an AK-47 and posing alongside bombs, tanks and sitting on top of a tank with an injured Mujahid fighter, Deputy Public Prosecutor Mustaffa P. Kunyalam told the court. Thus, the court should also take into consideration the interest of the public and impose a deterrent sentence. According to Malaysias home ministry, more than 130 Malaysians have tried to join IS in Iraq or Syria. At least 19 Malaysians have been killed while fighting for IS in the Middle East, according to Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay, the head of the Royal Malaysia Polices (RMP) counterterrorist branch. Since 2013, Malaysian police have arrested at least 193 suspects with alleged links to IS, among whom 58 have been charged in court, according to police statistics. Managing terrorism fund In Penang, tour guide Lisoffuan Abdullah, 37, was charged Tuesday over having managed a bank account to support alleged ASG member Muhammad Joraimee Awang Raimee for six months between Oct. 21, 2015 and April 29, 2016. According to news reports, Muhammad Joraimee is part of a group planning to form an official faction of the IS in Southeast Asia by bringing together militant groups in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. A former municipal council employee in Penang, Muhammad Joraimee has been on the RMPs wanted list since April 2014. Lisoffuan could face up to 20 years in prison, if convicted. Balik Pulau Magistrate Court Magistrate Nur Azzuin Abd Moati denied bail and set July 14 for Lisoffuans first court hearing. Lisoffuan Abdullah is led out of court after being charged with managing terrorism fund on behalf of a Malaysian militant fighting alongside Abu Sayyaf Group in Southern Philippines, June 14, 2016 [S. Adie Zul/BenarNews]. ein Google-Unternehmen Google-Dienste anzubieten und zu betreiben Ausfalle zu prufen und Manahmen gegen Spam, Betrug und Missbrauch zu ergreifen Daten zu Zielgruppeninteraktionen und Websitestatistiken zu erheben. Mit den gewonnenen Informationen mochten wir verstehen, wie unsere Dienste verwendet werden, und die Qualitat dieser Dienste verbessern. neue Dienste zu entwickeln und zu verbessern Werbung auszuliefern und ihre Wirkung zu messen personalisierte Inhalte anzuzeigen, abhangig von Ihren Einstellungen personalisierte Werbung anzuzeigen, abhangig von Ihren Einstellungen Wenn Sie Alle ablehnen auswahlen, verwenden wir Cookies nicht fur diese zusatzlichen Zwecke. 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Von: By NIKOLAUS BLOME These days, there could hardly be a bigger gap than that between the consequences of the British referendum on leaving the EU and the level of the corresponding discussion. History is being written on the island but with mud. It is a toxic mix of a distortion of facts, half-truths, and madness. This applies to both sides. Lesen Sie auch Brexit supporters say (in all seriousness) that prolonging the EU membership will increase the risk of cancer on the island. They say that at least one million Turks will have to be allowed to enter the island if the UK doesnt leave. They say that British soldiers will be forced into an EU army, and that the public health system will immediately improve after leaving. The latter would, at least, be comparatively easy to achieve, since the health system is, in fact, pretty bad. Brexit opponents, in turn, predict the Third or Fourth World War should the Brits leave. They say that pensions will have to be cut, that the hole in the state budget will become even bigger and that hundreds of thousands of jobs will be lost immediately, although nobody can actually know if that will be the case. Both camps want fear to decide the referendum. Hence the fearmongering. Lesen Sie auch This means that the British people are being muddled at a time when they have to make the decision of the century. The people are being misled, but they must not make a mistake. This cannot end well. It is a great shame, unworthy of all politicians, media, and proud Brits. It was they who once taught Europe how to lead intelligent political debates and what enlightened, pragmatic democracy is. Much is at stake. Our enemies would drink champagne, if the Brits were to leave, said President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, in an interview with BILD. He referred to autocrats like Russias Vladimir Putin, and he is right. The Brits are about to lethally weaken the West that they have shaped like no other nation. How can they do this to us and to themselves? First up, Joe Biden is thinking about dropping tariffs against China. But theres a spy in prison this morning that helps us understand why he shouldnt. Ill explain. Your second brief, If youre looking for a good paying job, you might consider being a CEO for a health insurance company. One executive made $142M dollars last year. Let's talk about that. And as always, Im keeping an eye out for developing stories. Put this one on your radar. Mexican cartels are grooming American kids online and paying them cash to traffic illegals or run drugs across the border. Ill share details. If you enjoyed this episode of the President's Daily Brief, remember to subscribe and listen daily at podfollow.com/pdb. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices For Immediate Release, June 14, 2016 Contact: Robin Meacher, Cascadia Wildlands, (541) 434-1463 Bob Sallinger, Audubon Society of Portland, (503) 380-9728 Tanya Sanerib, Center for Biological Diversity, (971) 717-6407 Dan Kruse, Attorney for Plaintiffs, (531) 337-5829 Oregon Appeals Court Set to Rule on Plan to Sell Off Elliott State Forest Case Could Cast Uncertainty on States Larger Privatization Effort for Forest PORTLAND, Ore. The Oregon Court of Appeals is set to decide the legality of a 788-acre timber sale on the Elliott State Forest following a court hearing last Friday. The lawsuit, brought by Cascadia Wildlands, Audubon Society of Portland and the Center for Biological Diversity, argues that the Oregon Department of State Lands violated the law when it sold the East Hakki Ridge parcel in 2014 to Seneca Jones Timber Company. The case could have a significant bearing on the states plan to sell off the rest of this public forest by casting significant uncertainty on its legality. Laws are meant to be followed, and we believe the state of Oregon acted outside the law when it privatized this swath of the Elliott State Forest, said Robin Meacher, wildlands campaign director with Cascadia Wildlands. Oregonians are now met with no trespassing signs upon entering this part of the forest, and that should be reversed by the court so that public access is maintained. The Elliott State Forest is a 93,000-acre state forest in the Oregon Coast Range, southeast of Reedsport. The forest contains rare mature and old-growth forest, harbors imperiled salmon and wildlife, and is enjoyed for its camping, hiking, birding, hunting and fishing opportunities. The forest also has an historic mandate to generate revenue for the Common School Fund in Oregon. A federal court in 2012 found that the state of Oregon in its quest to ramp up clearcutting on the Elliott violated the federal Endangered Species Act, which forced the cancellation of 28 old-growth timber sales. The state responded by selling off nearly 1,500 acres of the Elliott, including the East Hakki parcel, and is currently moving to dispose of the entire public forest through a process adopted by the State Land Board. The board, made up of Gov. Kate Brown, Secretary of State Jeanne Atkins and Treasurer Ted Wheeler, oversees the management of the Elliott State Forest and other Common School Fund lands in Oregon. The public cares deeply about public lands and doesnt want them sold to industrial timber companies or any other private business, said Bob Sallinger with Audubon Society of Portland. Oregonians already rejected one attempt to privatize public lands at Malheur earlier this year. Governor Brown, Treasurer Wheeler and Secretary of State Atkins need to reverse course on the Elliott and stand with Oregonians who treasure this public forest for all its incredible values to ensure it doesnt get acquired by private interests and liquidated. At issue in the East Hakki case is Oregon Revised Statue 530.450, which prohibits the sale of most of the Elliott State Forest. The state agrees that the statute forbids the sale of the forest, but argues that the law unduly burdens its ability to manage the Elliott. The Elliott State Forest provides essential habitat for imperiled species like salmon and marbled murrelets, said Tanya Sanerib with the Center for Biological Diversity. Its essential we safeguard this unique coastal forest for future generations. Oregonians have long advocated that the state and State Land Board maintain the Elliott in public ownership and managed for ecological, social and recreational purposes in addition to its Common School Fund mandate. The Elliott can, and should, be managed in a way that balances ecological and recreation needs with revenue production, said Meacher. Approximately half the Elliott is a dense, second-growth tree farm that could benefit from restoration thinning, which would generate much-needed jobs for the local economy. The State Land Board should jettison the current privatization process and take real leadership to create a balanced forest plan that keeps the Elliott in public ownership. The Department of State Lands, which manages the Elliott on behalf of the State Land Board, anticipates receiving acquisition proposals in November, and could make a decision to sell off the forest by December. Earlier this spring a letter was sent by the plaintiffs in two recent lawsuits regarding the Elliott to interested parties, outlining the liability associated with owning and managing the forest based on past and present litigation. The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys Daniel Kruse of Eugene and Nicolas Cady with Cascadia Wildlands. For Immediate Release, June 14, 2016 Contact: AJ Buhay, Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, (310) 908-7852, abuhay@planevada.org John Hadder, Great Basin Resource Watch, (775) 348-1986, john@gbrw.org Valerie Love, Center for Biological Diversity, (510) 274-9713, vlove@biologicaldiversity.org Britten Cleveland, Greenpeace, (941) 979-2948, britten.cleveland@greenpeace.org Peter Dakota Molof, Rainforest Action Network, (971) 295-0887, peter@ran.org Protesters Tell Feds to 'Keep It in the Ground' at Fossil Fuel Auction in Reno Nevadans to Obama: Halt Lease Sales Now to Protect Water, Land, Wildlife, Climate Future RENO, Nev. Hundreds of Nevadans today protested a Bureau of Land Management fossil fuel auction in Reno, calling on the Obama administration to cancel the lease sale to protect Nevadas water, communities and climate future from fracking. The protest included public speakers, songs and visual and performance art spectacles including a massive human oil spill. More than 100 demonstrators urge President Obama to Keep It in the Ground at a fossil fuel auction in Reno. Photos are available for media use. Photo by Kyla Whitmore, Center for Biological Diversity. The Bureau planned to auction more than 74,000 acres or 115 square miles of the Big Smoky Valley for fracking that could, if fully developed, deplete and pollute precious surface and ground water, industrialize traditional indigenous land, public land and habitat for wildlife, impact agriculture and create almost a half-million tons of greenhouse gas pollution. The protest is part of a rapidly growing national movement calling on President Obama to expand his climate legacy by halting new federal fossil fuel leases on public lands and oceans a step that would keep up to 450 billion tons of potential carbon pollution in the ground. Keep It in the Ground rallies opposed to federal fossil fuel auctions have been growing across the country in Alaska, Colorado, Utah, Wisconsin, Wyoming and Reno, Nev., where two rallies have taken place halting some of them. Citing concerns over fracking impacts to water, wildlife and the climate, the Center for Biological Diversity, Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada and Great Basin Resource Watch in April administratively protested the Bureau of Land Managements approval of todays auction. Download that protest here. A second protest, from the Yomba Shoshone tribe, over impacts to water, communities, endangered species and cultural resources is here. Images from todays protest can be downloaded here and here. Quotes From Protesters Public lands are not meant to line the pockets of dirty energy corporations, said AJ Buhay with the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada. The BLM must choose to put people and planet first, not sell off our precious lands to the highest bidder. We stood with the BLM against domestic terrorists in Bunkerville, now we want the BLM to stand with us. There are too many harmful side effects of fracking, the scariest being the poisoning of our scarce water resources. The native community holds these lands to be sacred, and so do we. There are other ways to find energy for our state and our country without destroying our water and land, or in effect, our way of life and our precious state that we call home. We stand with the communities in Nevada concerned about how fracking will affect their lifestyle and environment, said John Hadder with Great Basin Resource Watch. If lands optioned for lease by BLM are developed some of these people would be surrounded by oil and gas production operations. We have seen how mineral extraction has eroded the cultural value of the land and displaced sustainable traditional ranching and farming fracking will do the same. Fracking is very destructive to the land and poses unacceptable risks to existing clean groundwater and air that communities depend upon. We cant continue to extract and burn decades more public oil and gas and say were committed to meeting the goals of the Paris climate agreement, said Valerie Love with the Center for Biological Diversity. President Obama has the power to stop these auctions and must do so now to preserve his climate legacy and ensure a future of clean air, clean water and a livable planet for future generations. Fossil fuel companies make millions off public land leases while wreaking environmental destruction, harming peoples health and violating indigenous rights, said Peter Dakota Molof of Rainforest Action Network. Today's action is an escalation of the people's movement asking President Obama to stop these corporate giveaways now." From Colorado to Utah to right here in Nevada, this is what you can expect when the public is effectively locked out of decision-making on public lands, said Britten Cleveland of Greenpeace. People are not going to sit idly by and watch oil and gas companies destroy the land and water we love and need to survive. Were going to rise up. And were going to keep on coming. Background The American public owns nearly 650 million acres of federal public land and more than 1.7 billion acres of Outer Continental Shelf and the fossil fuels beneath them. This includes federal public land, which makes up about a third of the U.S. land area, and oceans like Alaskas Chukchi Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and the Eastern Seaboard. These places and fossil fuels beneath them are held in trust for the public by the federal government; federal fossil fuel leasing is administered by the Department of the Interior. Over the past decade, the combustion of federal fossil fuels has resulted in nearly a quarter of all U.S. energy-related emissions. An 2015 report by EcoShift consulting, commissioned by the Center for Biological Diversity and Friends of the Earth, found that remaining federal oil, gas, coal, oil shale and tar sands that have not been leased to industry contain up to 450 billion tons of potential greenhouse gas pollution. As of earlier this year, 67 million acres of federal fossil fuel were already leased to industry, an area more than 55 times larger than Grand Canyon National Park containing up to 43 billion tons of potential greenhouse gas pollution. Last year Sens. Merkley (D-Ore.), Sanders (I-Vt.) and others introduced legislation to end new federal fossil fuel leases and cancel non-producing federal fossil fuel leases. Days later President Obama canceled the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, saying, Because ultimately, if were going to prevent large parts of this Earth from becoming not only inhospitable but uninhabitable in our lifetimes, were going to have to keep some fossil fuels in the ground rather than burn them and release more dangerous pollution into the sky. Download the September Keep It in the Ground letter to President Obama. Download Grounded: The Presidents Power to Fight Climate Change, Protect Public Lands by Keeping Publicly Owned Fossil Fuels in the Ground (this report details the legal authorities with which a president can halt new federal fossil fuel leases). Download The Potential Greenhouse Gas Emissions of U.S. Federal Fossil Fuels (this report quantifies the volume and potential greenhouse gas emissions of remaining federal fossil fuels) and The Potential Greenhouse Gas Emissions fact sheet. Download Public Lands, Private Profits (this report details the corporations profiting from climate-destroying fossil fuel extraction on public lands). Download WildEarth Guardians formal petition calling on the Department of the Interior to study the climate impacts of the federal oil and gas leasing program and to place a moratorium on new leasing until completed that study is completed. Download the Center for Biological Diversitys formal petition calling on the Obama administration to halt all new offshore fossil fuel leasing. For Immediate Release, June 14, 2016 Contacts: Mollie Matteson, (802) 318-1487, mmatteson@biologicaldiversity.org Jane Davenport, (202) 772-3274, jdavenport@defenders.org Endangered Species Act Protection Sought for Tricolored Bats Bats Populations Have Plummeted With Spread of Deadly Fungal Disease RICHMOND, Vt . The Center for Biological Diversity and Defenders of Wildlife today petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the tricolored bat under the Endangered Species Act. Like several other North American bat species, the tricolored bat has declined dramatically over the past 10 years due to the fungal disease called white-nose syndrome and is at risk from cave disturbances, habitat loss and wind energy. The tricolored bat is in grave trouble, and its time the federal government took action to keep this species from tumbling off the cliff of extinction, said Mollie Matteson, a senior scientist with the Center. Among the three bats most devastated by white-nose syndrome, the tricolored bat has been virtually forgotten, but that cant continue if this species is to survive. The tricolored bat and other species of bats provide irreplaceable ecological and economic services. They protect human health from insect-borne diseases and protect crops from pest damage, said Jane Davenport, senior staff attorney at Defenders of Wildlife. The tricolored bat needs immediate, meaningful federal protections before it is too late. White-nose syndrome has caused mortality rates among tricolored bats of up to 98 percent in the Northeast, where the disease has been present the longest. Rangewide, scientists estimate that tricolored bats have declined by more than one-third in the past decade. But the tricolored bat has proven to take longer than other species to reach peak mortality, so a more severe rangewide decline can be expected in the future. Already, the deadly fungus or the disease it causes has reached 31 of the 36 states in the species range. Both the northern long-eared bat, which was protected under the Act last year, and the little brown bat, now under consideration for protection, have nearly disappeared across much of the eastern United States as the disease has spread. Among the smallest bats in North America, the tricolored bat has yellowish-brown fur and a fluttery flight pattern that resembles that of moths. It hibernates in caves and mines in winter, but has characteristics unlike other hibernating bats. For example, in summer, it will sometimes roost in tree foliage, rather than tree cavities or under bark. It also gives birth to two bat pups in spring, rather than one. And, among hibernating bat species, it is the most susceptible to mortality from large wind turbines. Other bats found dead at wind energy sites are most frequently non-hibernating bats, sometimes known as migratory bats. The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places. Defenders of Wildlife is a national nonprofit conservation organization founded in 1947 focused on conserving and restoring native species and the habitats upon which they depend. Defenders has more than 1,200,000 members and supporters nationwide. Etisalat has announced its call for entries to the 2016 edition of the Pan-African Prize, Etisalat Prize for Literature. The Democratic Republic of Congo's Fiston Mwanza Mujila won the 2015 edition of the prize with his first novel, Tram 83. Image by 123RF CEO Etisalat Nigeria, Matthew Willsher, also announced the Judging Panel for the 2016 Etisalat Prize, in Lagos, Nigeria, this week. The panel comprises Nigerian novelist and poet, Helon Habila, as the chair of judges; South African writer and activist Elinor Sisulu and Ivorian writer, Edwige Rene Dro as members. The chair of judges was present at the briefing as well as two of the Prize Patrons: renowned literary icon, Prof. Kole Omotoso and awards-winning author, Dele Olojede. Willsher, while speaking about the uniqueness of the Etisalat Prize, said it is designed to serve as a leading platform for the discovery and encouraging of creative writing talents as well as the celebration of literary arts by African writers. We are delighted to champion the cause for celebrating the richness and strength of African literature. Etisalat Prize for Literature is about discovering and bringing to the world stage the creative talent Africa boasts of. The Etisalat Prize is about creativity, excellence, empowerment and reward; it is about celebrating our African diversity in very innovative ways through various forms of art, literature being one of them, he said. Willsher added that only books by debutant writers published not later than 24 months before submission, will qualify for entry. They must also be by registered publishing houses not less than six years as incorporated publishers with registered ISBN Number or the equivalent, and who must have published a minimum of six authors. All entries should be accompanied by seven copies of the book entered along with an acceptance of our publicity terms. A publisher may submit a maximum of three books. Rules and guidelines for entry. At the start of the last century, just one in seven people worldwide lived in cities. Today it's half, and by 2050, the UN predicts, another 2.5 billion people will be living in urban areas. This has brought huge benefits, with the growth of cities linked directly to economic growth, as well as improved health and education. Ebi Atawodi Nowhere is this more apparent than across Africa, but it has also often come at the cost of creaking infrastructure, especially when it comes to transportation. In response to this challenge we have seen governments across the world from Mexico City to Sydney embrace ridesharing. We are thrilled that Nigeria is now the first country in Africa to make a significant step forward towards building ridesharing into their transportation policies. Obinna Chidoka, a member of the Federal House of Representatives and the chairman of the Committee on Environment and Habitat, recently started an important conversation for Nigerias future in the Federal House of Representatives, looking ahead to how technology can enable safe and reliable rides and limit the negative effects of traffic congestion. This culminated in a unanimous vote by the Nigerian House in favour of a resolution supporting ridesharing. Pivotal step Chidoka says: This resolution is a pivotal step for Nigeria and the critical role technology will play in helping us achieve the ambitions set out in the 2015 Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), towards a low-carbon, climate-resilient future. This ridesharing resolution is an important development in reducing the number of cars on our roads, creating thousands of jobs and building sustainable businesses for our country. This matters, because Nigeria is at the very vanguard of urbanisation, expected to add over 200 million people to its cities in the next 40 years, more than tripling the size of its current urban population. Only China and India will add more. This fast pace of change presents a serious challenge for the countrys transport system. As the African Development Bank notes, the average commuter in Lagos now spends over three hours in traffic every day. Thankfully technology can help bring the answer. With just the smartphone in your pocket, ridesharing apps like Uber can now connect riders and drivers at the push of a button. This brings benefits for riders, drivers and cities. Riders find it easier, safer and more affordable to get around; drivers have access to new, flexible economic opportunities; and cities see their transit networks extended, emissions cut as we start to take cars off the road, and reductions in alcohol-related accidents. This resolution is a great first step towards legislation that will allow the benefits of ridesharing to be felt across Nigeria, and ultimately we hope it encourages transport innovation for cities across Africa. Following last year's sold out sessions, Bizcommunity, in partnership with Cinemark , is delighted to announce that industry correspondent Ann Nurock will once again host Cannes Lions Case Studies feedback events. Diarise this year's event which will take place at the Sandton Cine 2 on Thursday, 21 July 2016, and Cape Town's V&A Waterfront Cinema Nouveau on Thursday, 28 July 2016. As per last year, Ann will distill the post-Cannes Lions 2016 highlights via case studies and commentary of this years award winning campaigns, trends and personalities within a month of the event, while all issues are still fresh and relevant. Last year Nurock wowed the industry, setting new standards for advertising and media event coverage with her in depth opinion, articles, interviews with the likes of Sean Rad, president and founder of dating app Tinder, Tencents SY Lau and WPPs Sir Martin Sorrell among others, as well as live tweeting from awards ceremonies, winner results and updates. Join us at: Cape Town Thursday 28 July V&A Waterfront Cinema Nouveau Time: 8am for 8.30-10am Price: R250-00 per head Johannesburg Thursday 7 Sept Sandton Ster-Kinekor Time: 7.30am for 8-9.30am Price: R250-00 per head Receive 15% discount for bookings of five or more. Register Cape Town Register Johannesburg Ann Nurock profile A former CEO of Grey South Africa and President/CEO of Grey Canada, Ann Nurock is now the Africa Partner of Relationship Audits and Management, a global consultancy specialising in the measurement, risk mitigation and optimisation of B2B relationships. She also conducts talks and workshops on trends in advertising, marketing and communications. Contact details: moc.stiduapihsnoitaler@kcorun.nna | Twitter @Annnurock Case studies came after sliced bread/I swipe left/WTF is a Digital Prophet? On the 735th day, just after some other chap invented sliced bread, David Droga said, Let there be case studies, and advertising award shows have never been the same since. Later on, in 2006, he helped Marc Ecko tag Air Force One in a grainy internet video that completely shattered my view of what constituted advertising. Enough about David Droga for now. Lets talk about me. Its been ten years since that enlightenment and four days before I get on a plane to the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. You see, Im escorting a few case studies of our own, to be held up and judged in the frequently harsh light of international creativity standards. It will only be my second trip to Cannes, the first having been five years ago. A quick read through the official site tells me a lot has changed since then. For starters, the festivals dictionary of buzzwords has grown fatter to include phrases like Big Data, Content, immersive and VR. I also notice that CD and ECD are no longer at the top of the acronym food chain. These have been discarded for the more important-sounding CMO, CCO and CEO variants. Someone has shifted the goalposts. I have title envy. As part of my preparation, which has so far included sorting out visas and evicting a flu virus from my body, I also decide to get with the times and download the official Cannes Lions app. On the setup screen, I keep swiping left to get to the following page while the next button at the bottom just waits patiently for me to get it together. I think it knows Im from Africa. My login attempt also gets rejected. So I choose the face-saving not now option and get through to the home screen. Welcome to Inspiration it declares. Im in. There are three tabs to choose from on the welcome page. Whos speaking. Whats on when. Choose a cause. Im intrigued, so I click on the third. The cause is fighting for gender equality by helping to shatter the deep-rooted stereotypes that exist in marketing. Its is a worthy one and one of many that the festival has thrown its might behind over the years. Next I click on the Whos speaking tab and find myself scrolling down pages and pages of what could be the ultimate dinner conversation bucket list. I swipe past a sci-fi author, a clinical psychology professor and a Digital Prophet in under three seconds. Theres an astronaut, a professional wrestler, Usher and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air himself. I also count Oliver Stone, Gilles Peterson and Gwyneth Paltrow among the list of celebrities taking to the stage this year. I make a mental note to avoid all talks by advertising people. Except for Nunu Ntshingila, my ex-boss, now director of Africa at Facebook. And of course David Droga. My last stop on the Cannes Lions app home screen is the Whats On When tab. This is where I get to plan my inspiration regiment for the next two weeks. Judging by the sheer amount of stuff happening, an overdose is not unlikely. Ambiguous metaphors aside this years festival promises to buzz with creative energy. From inside the Palais des Festivals, where the judging and awarding of work will happen, to all the tech company beach activations along the French Riviera, it seems likely too much to take in. Finally, I exit the app and think about what Im personally looking forward to. Seeing how South African work holds up next to the best from all over the world will no doubt be a highlight. Im particularly keen to see how we do against work like: Volvos innovation project, Highway Robbery: Apple Musics YouTube-breaking Taylor vs Treadmill: The hilarious Christmas campaign from Currys PC World featuring Jeff Goldblum: Save The Childrens hard-hitting film about the plight of child refugees: And this really simple but undeniably cool ad for The Grammys featuring Kendrick Lamar: In the meantime, I wish everyone making plans to go on advertisings yearly pilgrimage the best of luck. Everyone except for David Droga. He doesnt need it, apparently. One thing will forever remind me of Europe - since I experienced it many years ago on one of my first trips there - and that is the smell of freshly brewing coffee in the morning. Up until then I had never been a real coffee fan, because we were raised, in our house, in the British colonial tea tradition. But it was that aroma which hooked me and now I have two cups of black coffee every day before I leave for work. These days, I use good quality instant coffee even though a visitor from Europe a few years back looked at us as though we were savages for merely having the bottle in the house (Nespresso for her, it seems) and the Jacobs brand is a family favourite. More than a little of that is because of its aroma it smells exactly like the breakfast room of a European hotel in the morning. Jacobs has a TV ad, which is not new, but it still captures the powerful effect of that aroma. We see a man waking up to the aroma and, half asleep, following his nose through the city and over cars and trucks as he heads to the Coffee Promised Land. He ends up sipping a coffee and gradually coming fully awake at a strangers breakfast table. But, as an embarrassed look flits across his face, there are smiles all round and the news that coffee brings people together. It is seldom that the visceral, basic sense of smell is used in an advertising setting and in this case, it is done so well, you can almost take in the aroma yourself. An Orchid to Jacobs. The marketing and brand experts tell us that, increasingly, consumers are expecting more and more social accountability from the brands they support. That means, in some cases, that the brand puts something back (via charitable work, perhaps) into the community where it makes its money. In other cases, it means brands should look after the planet and act responsibly when it comes to those environmental matters. It goes without saying, of course, that no brand or its employees should be seen to be breaking the law. Yet, every day, especially in this lawless place we call South Africa, I see more and more brands doing just that. In the past week, I have seen three examples, in my neighbourhood, of brands (or their employees) blatantly flouting the law. Example One: The WesBank car finance house (part of the FNB/First Rand group) opened a massive headquarters in Fairland some years ago. You would have thought that traffic planning would have been included in the project but it clearly wasnt as is plainly evident from the traffic jams which have ensued in the vicinity of Beyers Naude Drive, particularly as workers head home in the evening. There are two filter lanes (which become one) to facilitate access to Beyers Naude, yet the WesBank employees have now also turned a straight-only lane, which crosses Beyers Naude, into a turning lane. It is illegal. What does this have to do with WesBank, you may ask. Well, firstly, its employees are breaking the law and doing so brazenly. I can understand why they do so: the traffic planning is wholly inadequate. I do not see why, given the illegal behaviour, that WesBank cannot come to an arrangement where that illegal extra lane is made legal. It wouldnt cost more than a couple of hundred thousand to do. A small price to pay to stop your brand from being associated with lawless behaviour, I would have thought. Example Two: The Sunday Times runs a Generation Next show and its poster company has been putting up huge posters, illegally, on traffic signs in the vicinity of a school in Northcliff. This is simply illegal: no posters of any form are allowed on traffic signs. Check the Roads Act. And to put them up around a school, where there is a considerable danger of a pupil being hit by the driver of a car paying attention to the poster, instead of the road. Example Three: The security company which operates in our area, Beagle Watch, had a promotional drive the other day. But they illegally parked their vehicles in the middle of a traffic circle obstructing the view of approaching drivers. Not only that, but they stationed their uniformed security personnel in the circle, flagging down motorists to hand out flyers. That conduct could well have led to bumper bashings and was an abuse of Beagle Watchs position of trust when people see a security officer beckoning them to do something, they are inclined to do so. So, Onions for damaging your own brand to WesBank, the Sunday Times and Beagle Watch. By the way, if anyone is looking for the Generation Next posters, they should check out the rubbish bins at Northcliff High School *Note that Bizcommunity staff and management do not necessarily share the views of its contributors - the opinions and statements expressed herein are solely those of the author.* Rebosis Property Fund's proposed R6bn deal with developer Billion Group is being queried by some investors who feel the group is overpaying for certain assets. It is a related-party deal as Rebosis CEO Sisa Ngebulana is the founder of Billion. Under the proposed deal, Rebosis will acquire 100% of Baywest City shopping centre, the largest mall in the Eastern Cape; Forest Hill City, a mall in Centurion and a 50.1% undivided share in BT Ngebs City mall in Mthatha. "The deal is still undergoing the negotiation and discussion process, but based on the information currently released, the deal is dilutive for shareholders, given that Rebosis will have to issue mostly equity to fund the acquisition," said Stanlib listed property analyst Chloe Ma. "Rebosis is currently trading around a 13% yield, so funding a deal that yields around 7.5% even with a portion of debt, will be dilutive. "We believe investors may find the price of the malls rich, given the current economic climate, and that two of the three malls have traded for less than a year. There is, therefore, no sufficient track record with which to determine whether the centres are trading well enough to justify the price," she said. But Thabo Ramushu, an executive director at Meago Asset Management, said the deal could bring long-term benefits to Rebosis. He said the deal would enable Rebosis to become a sizeable fund that would be entrenched in the South African Listed Property Index (Sapy). "Initially, there will be a dilutionary effect for shareholders, but I believe there are long-term benefits for Rebosis. It will not fall in and out of the Sapy, and will be exposed to funds that track the index. It will also be able to make larger deals. There also won't be the perception of a conflict of interests between Rebosis and Billion any more," he said. Rebosis, which listed five years ago with R3.6bn worth of assets, would acquire full ownership of two shopping malls, half of a third mall, and Billion Asset Management and Billion Property Service, giving it significant scale and liquidity. The deal would push total assets under management to R18.6bn. Source: Business Day JSE-listed Massmart has not given up the fight against lease exclusivity clauses which have hampered its expansion in malls around the country. Makro store in Midrand, Johannesburg.Picture: Sowetan/Antonio Muchave The retail giant which owns local brands such as Game, Makro, Builders Warehouse is scheduled for a hearing at the Competition Tribunal next month where it will attempt to bring action against Spar, Pick n Pay, Shoprite/Checkers as well as the South African Property Owners Association. At issue are provisions in lease contracts by these parties, which allegedly block the sale by competitors of certain types of perishable food and dry groceries. The action by Massmart is coming despite that a market inquiry into the grocery retail sector was already underway, speaheaded by chairman Halton Cheadle and panellists Lulama Mtanga and Lumkile Mondi. Massmart first filed a complaint with the competition authorities in September 2014 which has so far borne little fruit. The Competition Tribunal has the power to set aside such exclusivity clauses. Dealing with the tribunal directly may prove to be a quicker route to resolve the issue ahead of the industry-wide market inquiry into the sector. The inquiry was initiated by the Competition Commission and is expected to produce a report by May next year. This is the first market inquiry into the multibillion-rand grocery sector, although there have already been a number of investigations. The panel has a particular interest in the effect of national chains on small and independent retailers in townships, peri-urban, and rural areas. It will explore exclusivity agreements as part of this research. Concerning the Tribunal proceedings, analysts say the big retailers who have been cited by Massmart may ask the regulatory body not to make a ruling of any kind until the market inquiry is complete. Massmart will have to prove that its case is strong enough to stand on its own two feet. The power supply fails in Rwanda three or four times a day for between five and 45 minutes, which, given that it is one of the most exciting emerging economies in Africa, could have a detrimental effect on growth. Solar storage units being prepared for Rwanda Therefore German commercial storage system manufacturer, Tesvolt, has been awarded the contract to supply the worlds largest decentralised off-grid storage system, which acts as a mini-grid during power cuts. The lithium storage system, with a total capacity of 2,8MWh, will provide water pumps in an agricultural project in Rwandas eastern province with emergency power. The 3,3MW solar power plant and the storage system are being engineered and constructed by the international system integrator, IdeemaSun. An important criterion in the call for tender was that the storage system is able to absorb electricity from the PV power plant and release it again as quickly as possible. Only very powerful off-grid storage systems can supply the necessary emergency power several times per day, and there are only a few storage systems on the market which meet these requirements. The entire storage solution had to be as reasonably priced as possible, explains Simon Schandert, the company's director of engineering. Tesvolt has developed storage systems which use prismatic battery cells, which enable high charging speeds through their particular design and chemical composition. The intelligent control system ensures that each individual cell is charged and discharged at the optimal rate for a particularly long-service life. There is still a 45% chance that South Africa could play in the premier league in the next five years and this will be determined by the county's competitiveness and social cohesion. There is, however, also a 45% chance that South Africa could move to the second league. It seems that South Africa is sitting between these two scenarios at the moment, but there is also a 10% chance that South Africa could become a failed state. This according to Chantell Ilbury, an independent scenario strategist and facilitator, at the Agbiz congress. Chantell Ilbury The question is do we have clarity and a vision of where we are going? It seems that there is no clear road and that South Africa is only meandering down a path with many negative flags that could determine the countrys future, she said. Ilbury said that if South Africa wants to stay competitive it needs quality education, a strong work ethic, and an entrepreneurial spirit. Social grants may not encourage such a spirit. Competitiveness also requires a high saving rate and businesses must have access to capital when they need it. Infrastructure must support a high growing economy and South Africa must stay export orientated if it wants to be part of the global playing field. Other factors that will support South Africas competitiveness include: a dual economy that will allow both small and big businesses to do well, social harmony, an attractive environment and policies for foreign investment, and an efficient government that is able to deal with the complexity of the countrys challenges. Threats to SAs competitiveness According to Ilbury the following issues seriously threaten South Africas competitiveness: Crime and corruption: This is difficult to come to grips with and needs huge focus, not only from government, but also from the business sector. Infrastructure: This will have a huge influence in determining South Africas future competitiveness. Will roads, airports, seaports provide workable gateways to export? Style of leadership: This was the focus of African countries in the past as it determined a countrys success or failure. This is currently in the spotlight in South Africa. Pockets of excellence: Do we have pockets of excellence, especially in education? Education is a key area as the country needs a pipeline of young people to take businesses forward. Ilbury expressed concern about the call for free education as the country could not afford this compared to other priorities such as health and infrastructure. Some tertiary institutions believe that the quality of their education may not be of the same standard five years from now, she said. Entrepreneurial spark: Does South Africa has entrepreneurial spark? Ilbury believes that South Africas school system does not allow young people to develop an entrepreneurial spirit. It is also very difficult to start a small business in this country because of red tape. Independence of the judiciary and other institutions: Since the Nene debacle, people are questioning this for the first time. Nationalisation: This has to be watched, although there are different models and not all mean total nationalisation. Land ownership. Agricultural challenges Issues that challenge a strong scenario for South African agriculture, a highly sustainable production environment and a strong economy include: Business-government engagement A shift to junk status Political transformation within the supply chain Effective research and development Extraordinary climatic events Appropriate response to climatic variability and disaster The sharing of information on climate change Trade agreements that are unfavourable to agriculture Technical adaptation Illbury told congress that a best case scenario for agriculture will be if the country has a stable exchange rate and that the sector has water and tenure security. There has to be an optimal mix between large and emerging farmers with new farming models being adopted. You will also have to produce affordable food. Illbury further pointed out that for a best-case scenario, farmers must have agriculture-friendly policies and there must be sufficient investment in research and development. Public/private partnerships with a consultative and collaborative government approach are also required. You need strong industry bodies, an integrated climate response and investment in infrastructure. These must be in line with the National Development Plan, she said. The agricultural sector will have to plan its future by taking known certainties and uncertainties into consideration. You have to connect the dots in your sector between the key certainties and uncertainties that will affect your future. This may give you a view of that future. The increasing demand for food, climate change and pressure on the resources farmers rely on to produce, are examples of certainties. On the other hand, factors such as the access to export markets, the degree of investment in infrastructure and changing consumer patterns are uncertainties, Ilbury concluded. Take note of these international trends The religious flag with Isis spreading influence in Europe is one of the most important concerns. Isis also operates in Africa, therefore it affects you as well. The aging communities of Europe and countries such as Japan is another one. This is, however, not an issue in Africa. Ilbury said that Russian president Vladimir Putins role in international politics also needs attention. What is his strategic agenda? Is he only making a lot of noise or is there a new cold war on the horizon? Ilbury also discussed the anti-establishment flag. Locally, the EFF and its call for nationalisation is an example. Donald Trump is certainly also playing the anti-establishment flag in America, she said. The agricultural sector should take note of the green flag, Ilbury said. Green issues such as climate change, carbon emissions and pressure on resources such as water and energy effect them directly. Cop 21 in Paris last year gave green issues a more global focus. We could even see some international legislation in this regard. The world is moving away from coal. South Africa, however, still relies heavily on mineral for energy production. Interconnected Ilbury pointed out that the world is much more interconnected than before. This will change the way in which countries trade. There will be more emphasis on a regional approach and not an individual country approach. Our outlook will be more integrated. There will also be far more interconnectedness with regard to resources such as water and energy as well as food security. We are not going to deal with food, water and electricity security country by country. This creates more uncertainties but also opportunities, she said. Ilbury believes that the world will experience a hard time scenario over the next five years. Low grow will be a characteristic of this scenario. She said that a lot of industries are doing research and development at the moment to position themselves for a new era. Regarding global economics, Ilbury said that some people believe that China could be responsible for a next global financial crisis. The Solar Impulse 2 aircraft flew into New York past the Statue of Liberty completing the US leg on Saturday, 11 June, of a record-breaking bid to circumnavigate the Earth powered only by solar energy. The plane, which is no heavier than a car but has the wingspan of a Boeing 747, is being flown on its 35,000km round-the-world journey by two pilots taking turns, Swiss entrepreneur Andre Borschberg and psychiatrist Bertrand Piccard. "It's absolutely incredible," said Borschberg over a live video feed as the iconic statue lit up the night below him. "It's a dream here." The light, slow-moving aircraft landed at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, one minute ahead of schedule at 3:59am (0759 GMT) after a five-hour flight from Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania. Photographers in New York harbor captured the innovative solar-powered aircraft as it flew over the Verrazano Bridge, circled Lady Liberty and cruised the Manhattan skyline before turning south to land. "I felt like a three-year-old kid looking at the Christmas tree, it was so beautiful," Borschberg told a news conference after landing. It was the 14th leg of an east-west journey that began March 9, 2015 in Abu Dhabi, and has taken the aircraft across Asia and the Pacific to the United States with the Sun as the plane's only source of power. The journey so far included a stretch of five nights and five days from Japan to Hawaii, which broke a record for the longest uninterrupted journey in aviation history. But a third of the journey remains. From New York, the Solar Impulse team will attempt to cross the Atlantic, then fly through Europe and on to the Middle East back to Abu Dhabi. The single-seat aircraft is clad in 17,000 solar cells. During night-time flights it runs on battery-stored power. It typically travels at a mere 48km per hour, although its flight speed can double when exposed to full sunlight. Piccard, a balloonist who made the first non-stop balloon flight around the world in 1999, talked about the symbolism of the Statue and changing definitions of liberty during the course of history. "In the 21st century I believe liberty is to get independent from fossil fuels and pollution," he told a news conference. John Degnan, chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey which operates the airport, paraphrased US hero Neil Armstrong, who in 1969 was the first man to walk on the moon. "Today the solar impulse's effort is a small step for man but a giant step for clean air in our environment," he told a news conference. Borschberg skimmed over Pennsylvania at an altitude of less than 900 metres, descending to 500 metres as the plane crossed over the bays at the entrance to New York harbor. Fielding phone calls from well-wishers and journalists during the flight, he said he could see the light grow denser and denser as he crossed out of Pennsylvania in the approach to New York. The entrepreneur and engineer was also at the controls on its most difficult segment of the trip; a 6437km, 118-hour endurance run from Nagoya, Japan to Hawaii. But the journey has not been without problems. High tropical temperatures damaged the plane's batteries on the Pacific crossing, forcing its crew to take several months off to make repairs. Borschberg is no stranger to adventure. Fifteen years ago he narrowly escaped an avalanche, and in 2013 he survived a helicopter crash with minor injuries. Source: AFP Kaleidoscope recently launched an Apple-based technology centre for the blind in Worcester in the Cape. The centre aims to empower the blind and visually impaired with employability skills for the open labour market. Equipped with modern information technology equipment and software, Kaleidoscope will empower blind and partially sighted persons by training them in the most recent accessible Apple touch screen and touch type technologies which will result in more successful job placements of blind persons. Considering the fact that currently 97% of persons who are visually impaired are unemployed, there is an enormous need amongst blind and partially sighted people in South Africa to be trained in affordable accessible modern technology to enhance their employability, says Freddie Botha, executive head of Kaleidoscope (previously known as the Institute for the Blind). It is very important to empower our blind and partially sighted persons to enable them to enter the open labour market on the same level as sighted applicants and employees. This centre will be an extension of our rehabilitation, skills training and career development department. He continues: No other organisation in Africa provides for the all-inclusive, comprehensive, specialised training needs of visually impaired persons. The establishment of a new modern technology training centre will be the final stage where blind and partially sighted school learners, students and adults will be referred to in their rehabilitation process. After completion of their training in this technological field they are qualified for their future of independence and self-sufficiency. Overcoming a major challenge Being visually impaired is in itself a major challenge, however, according to Hein Wagner, Kaleidoscopes brand ambassador, motivational speaker and global adventurer, with the appropriate training, support and guidance, it is quite possible to overcome. He says that the additional challenge in the South African context is the huge cost of importing adaptive technology to make computers accessible for the blind. Up until a few months ago it would cost you more than R10,000 to convert a standard PC into an accessible text-to-speech computer for the blind, he explains. An average Braille display would put you back just short of R80,000 and with 97% of the blind in SA unemployed, it is time to find an alternative way to equip the visually impaired with affordable tools and training that will help them to enter the job market and become economically active. This is exactly what Kaleidoscope will aim to achieve with the opening of the Apple training centre. Since I moved over to the Apple product range three years ago, Ive never looked back. All Apples equipment including the iPhone, iPad, MacBooks and even the Apple TV as well as the Apple arm watch is fully accessible to the visually impaired, straight from the box. Whether Im tweeting, sending a whatsapp, checking in on Facebook, reading my daily news, tracking my fitness, answering my emails, browsing the web or working through a complicated spread sheet, I am using Apple. I further never thought I would buy an Apple TV as a blind person, however due to Apples inclusive design principles, for the first time even television became accessible to me. Train 400 students Wagner says that the training will focus on both using the technology for personal and business use and the aim is to train at least 400 students in the first year of operation. It is our duty to train the visually impaired on the most recent accessible touch screen, laptop and desktop computers, to make them more employable once they leave our facility, he adds. ABSA understood our vision for technology empowerment and partnered with us to make this dream a reality with a R3m initial investment into the facility. The centre will be equipped with iPhones, iPads, Macbook airs, Mac minis as well as the latest Apple technology used to do visual/keynote presentations. All the training modules will begin with the basics of Voiceover - the Apple accessibility tool for the blind. Students will also be trained on both iOS and the latest Apple Mac operating system. Weve designed the facility to be very blind-friendly with a logical layout and underfoot tactile markings in order for the blind to navigate the open-plan centre with ease and independence, says Wagner. Our trainer, Philip Crous, is also blind as we believe that a trainer who is blind himself will use the most ideal method to transfer his knowledge and skill to the students in such a high tech facility. On the personal computing side, we will focus on social media, i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp, and a number of accessible apps for the visually impaired. On the business side, we will focus on email, Safari/web-browsing, pages, numbers to mention a few. Students will also receive training on the latest ERP and CRM applications that they will most likely face in the corporate environment once employed. Effective work, training placement Wagner says that Kaleidoscope will also engage with the corporate sector to ensure the placement of persons with visual impairments and support the employee as well as the employer to ensure effective work and training placement. As to why Absa got involved in the initiative, Wagner says: We shared our vision and dream with Willie Zastron head of ABSA Business Banking and his team that we aim to develop a training model where persons with visual impairments are empowered in effective career development skills so that they will be able to function on the same level as sighted persons in the corporate sector and other training and working environments. He continues: They immediately understood our need for work and training empowerment and advised us to present them with a business and implementation plan. Zastron and his teams commitment and trust towards Kaleidoscope is so inspiring and gives us so much strength in the fulfilment of this great need in technology empowerment of persons with visual impairments. Commenting on Absas involvement, Sazini Mojapelo, head of Citizenship for Barclays Africa, says: A key priority of our Citizenship strategy is to help young people gain access to the skills and opportunities they need to unlock their potential. To this end we seek to empower young people with the skills necessary to achieve financial and economic independence and security. Mojapelo adds: In our interactions with Kaleidoscope we identified numerous synergies between the work they were planning and our involvement in enhancing the employability prospects of young people. We are extremely proud to partner with Kaleidoscope and extend services to more people including those with visual impairments. Substantial initial funding for the centre was also received from Blinden Stichting voor Zuid Afrika (Blind Foundation for South Africa) initiated by Rene and Sandra de Vries from the Netherlands after visiting Kaleidoscope and the Rotterdamse Stichting Blindenbelangen (Rotterdam Foundation for the needs of the Blind) which supports and promotes social and cultural well-being of partially sighted, blind, deaf-blind and multi-disabled persons irrespective of their circumstances. Roger Simons, regional sustainability director at MCI and president of the Green Meetings Industry Council (GMIC), will headline this year's Event Greening Forum (EGF) Conference. The conference, themed "Go Green, it's good for business" will take place at Hackle Brooke Conference Centre, Johannesburg, on 21 July 2016. Roger Simons Simons will share how global brand communications strategies are evolving in the 21st century, and how events are increasingly an important component of major brands sustainability strategies. This years conference is particularly important, says EGF Chairman, Justin Hawes. Not only is this our first stand-alone conference, but we have managed to secure an international sustainability guru who will share what leading brands and organisations are doing. International green trends There has been a shift in organisations, with sustainable practices now playing a crucial role in their operations. Delegates can expect to learn more about international green trends, the recently-launched Minimum Standards for Sustainable Events, how simple it can be to green an event, the cost versus benefit of hosting sustainable events, and the steps required to ensure a truly sustainable event. Simons will also be hosting a Sustainable MICE Excellence Master Class at the SAACI Association Hub on 20 July 2016. The workshop is aimed at venues and convention bureaus and planners. Hell be covering topics including: key leadership trends in MICE, sustainable food, ISO20121 what it is and how it works, and how to communicate your sustainability strategy. For more info, go to www.eventgreening.co.za/events. A meeting between Agri SA and police management gave further momentum to police initiatives to eradicate crime in rural farming areas. The good working relationship between the two organisations provided the cornerstone for the discussion of practical suggestions on how to progress with various strategies to deal with crime issues and to ensure continuous collaboration and cooperation. DanEvans via pixabay An inclusive rural safety strategy The initiative by police management to host a rural safety summit was welcome by Agri SA. The Acting National Commissioner emphasised the importance of agriculture and the role that the farming community plays in food production. Therefore, it is necessary that this community should be protected so that they can continue with production, he said. Both organisations agreed that the Rural Safety Strategy supported by sector policing and reservist are crucial to deal with rural crime and has been hailed as an inclusive strategy. Agri SA requested police to focus their attention to the operationalisation of the strategy and that commanders should adhere to instructions in this regard. The announcement by police that in the longer term a rural police component will be established to deal with rural crime is in line with Agri SAs recommendations and, therefore, welcomed. Reservist system and police resources A call was made to police management to enhance the roll-out of the reservist system in all provinces as this is an important force multiplier together with farm watches to stabilise rural farming areas. Mention was made of some criteria of the system, which may be too stringent for recruits to adhere to and these should be reviewed. Agri SA raised its concerns regarding the resources available to Public Order Police Units to deal with possible farm invasions while they also have to attend to numerous violent protest actions. The police acknowledge these concerns and said that an additional amount of money was made available to increase this units human capacity and other resources. The announcement by the Acting National Commissioner that crime related statistics will in future be made available on a quarterly basis is encouraging and that will assist police to identified problem areas and to introduce the necessary measures to deal with those areas. Back to basics Stock theft and the impact it has on livestock farmers was discussed and Agri SA recommended to police that all vacant positions in stock theft units should be filled with competent members as soon as possible. The strict application of the Stock Theft Act is necessary and police management was requested to shorten the turnaround time of vehicles, which are to be repaired and serviced. The renewal process of firearm licenses was tabled and Agri SA was informed that the police are busy looking at possible amendments to the act. Agri SA was encouraged to provide the police with suggestions in this regard. The police undertook to deal with Agri SAs recommendations and decide how it could be implemented. It was further agreed that Agri SA will be incorporated in various focus groups to discuss shortcomings in the Rural Safety Strategy and how policing models could be adjusted to combat rural crime based on the polices Back-to-Basics Strategy. As a way forward, Agri SA will be hosting a strategic session at the end of the month, where the discussions with the police will form the basis of developing practical guidelines for the organisation to deal with this issue, which will be presented to its congress in October 2016. Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto has a distinctly philosophical approach to his craft. In this exclusive video interview, he tells us what influences his work, how Einstein was his childhood hero and that architecture that leaves itself open to possibilities is the most interesting. To think about the concept behind our living spaces is quite exciting, says Fujimoto. Fujimoto was born in Japan and acknowledges the effect of Japanese traditional thinking on his work. However, he also points out that we are all a mix of inspirations and influences, from what we see and experience as well as from what we learn. It is the unexpected integration of these influences that leads to interesting work. Fujimotos work often explores the functions of space and then possibilities of the human body interacting within it. In Architecture is Everywhere, Fujimotos exhibition at the Chicago Architecture Biennial, small-scale human models were placed next to strange everyday objects in a humorous attempt to investigate what architectural spaces are today. Fujimoto tries to create spaces that leave open possibilities for the user. His 2013 Serpentine Pavilion is a perfect example of this: it was a experimental, open space that didnt prescribe any particular movement or behaviour. The International Federation of Consulting Engineers' (FIDIC) Quality Management Task Force recently held its first working meeting. Sonja de Klerk Hosted by Aurecon, the goal of the task force meeting is to create a new guide that will give practical and useful information on how ISO 9001 clauses can be applied within engineering and construction companies. Sonja de Klerk, head of quality, Environment & Sustainability at Aurecon, says that engineering consultancies and contractors are often required to have formalised quality management systems and be ISO 9001 certified to compete in todays marketplace. The new guide, which will be entitled Guide to the Interpretation and Application of ISO 9001:2015 in the Consulting Engineering Industry when it is released, will demystify many complex aspects of the standard. This guide will be helpful to any quality management practitioner in the consulting engineering industry. The clauses in ISO 9001 can seem abstract, but the new guide will help clarify them in the context of our industry through the use of explanations and examples, says de Klerk. Interpreting application of the standard FIDIC is the global voice of consulting engineers and member firms are encouraged to commit to implementing quality management systems that involve all levels of management and every employee within their companies. In 1997, FIDIC first released an implementation guide, with further revisions released as the ISO 9001 Standard continued to evolve. In 2015, a fundamental review of the standard was released, namely ISO 9001:2015. It was the catalyst for FIDIC and the European Federation of Engineering Consultancy Associations (EFCA) Task Force on Quality Management to come together and create a guide that will help quality management professionals interpret the application of the standard. De Klerk explains that: Companies are not required to instantaneously switch over to the new ISO standard. Instead, a transition period of three years from date of publication of the new standard has been agreed for accredited certification. This period will end on 15 September 2018, which means that all certified companies need to be fully compliant with ISO 9001:2015 by that date. The new guide helps them on this journey. The Task Force on Quality Management is chaired by Walter Painsi from Austria and includes as members, thought leaders from Switzerland, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, which is represented by Sonja de Klerk. Painsi says the new ISO 9001 Standard introduces some far-reaching changes to previous revisions, such as a prominence of risk-based thinking and engagement with interested parties. These concepts are highly relevant for the consulting engineering industry and the guide will provide much needed guidance, not only on how to comply with the Standard, but on how to do so in a value-adding manner. Further meetings will be held in the future, with the goal of publishing the guide in the next few months, concludes Painsi. Mediation is a facilitated negotiation in which a mutually acceptable third party attempts to facilitate the settlement of a dispute. It is a non-adversarial process, aimed at achieving consensus and a mediator does not adjudicate on the merits of a dispute. Rather, the mediator attempts to bring disputing parties to a point where they are able to settle their differences amicably. Mediation is seen as an alternative to litigation, which may take years and prove costly and time consuming whereas mediation can be finalised within a matter of hours. Advantages of mediation There are many advantages to mediation when compared to litigation. One of the key advantages of mediation is that the negotiations take place on neutral soil, and the parties to the negotiation can design and have some control of the possible outcomes of the mediation. The court system, on the other hand, is unpredictable and the outcome is out of the hands of the parties concerned. Mediation also allows bridging opportunities between the two parties concerned as it separates the person (and therefore the emotion) from the problem. This enables the parties to maintain composure and avoid flaring tensions, which can impede resolution. Mediation works to restore the relationships of the parties concerned. It offers a wider range of solutions and allows time for apologies and explanations. This bodes well for the continuation of existing professional relationships, even if this relationship is established on new terms or after a new agreement. Another advantage of mediation is that it can offer outcomes of mutual gain. Options can be generated that are aligned towards meeting all of the parties interests. In this regard, concessions and compromise can be used to resolve the dispute in a way that pleases everyone. Mediation also allows for creativity in addressing the interests of the parties concerned. This could be done by focusing on a desired outcome and by negotiating on interests and not positions. In this way, disputes are resolved based on the dynamics of personal relations and not points of law. Thus, finding common ground is essential in the resolution process. Feasibility Mediation is not always feasible, especially when an urgent injunctive relief is sought or if the nature of the dispute does not lend itself to mediation. For example, if one party is owed money and the other party is simply trying to avoid payment without any real justification, mediation would not be suitable. Mediation used as a delay tactic in a legal battle will always prevent a successful outcome. Mediation would also not be suitable if the dispute involves allegations of fraud and dishonesty, as a continued relationship would be unrealistic. Litigation would also be a better option if the dispute is a matter of principle or if one party wants to set a precedent. A yellow Table Mountain New 7 Wonder (N7W) frame, the seventh in a series introduced across the city to celebrate Table Mountain being named a New 7 Wonder of Nature in 2011, has been installed in the V&A Waterfront's Silo District. Designed by local artist Porky Hefer, the 2.8m tall by 4m wide yellow frame provides Capetonians and tourists alike with a postcard-perfection vantage point to capture the mountain as a backdrop with friends and family. We are excited to see a seventh frame installed in the V&A Waterfronts highly anticipated Silo District, celebrating a brand new eye-catching perspective of the mountain, said Cableway marketing director Collette van Aswegen. The popularity of the existing frames is testimony to the fact that enjoying Table Mountains iconic beauty is not isolated to the magnificent view from the top. It is also fantastic that the frames have become mini-attractions, encouraging people to explore areas of Cape Town that they may not have otherwise visited. "Not only is Table Mountain unique from a geographical perspective but the view one is afforded from different vantage points, is equally as unique, said David Green, CEO of the V&A Waterfront. The development of the Silo District, and specifically the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa within this district, will give visitors to the V&A Waterfront the opportunity to view Table Mountain from an entirely new angle, and we are confident that the frame will enhance the visitor experience in a fun and memorable way." The other six frames have recently undergone refurbishment and are located at Signal Hill, the V&A Waterfront, Eden on the Bay (Blouberg), Cape Town Station, Harrington Square and Lookout Hill (Khayelitsha). South African Airways (SAA) chairwoman Dudu Myeni not only shot herself in the foot with the competition authorities when she said SAA subsidised Mango, but she may also have blown a hole in a critical arbitration between the SAA Pilots Association, SAA and Mango. SAA pilots are demanding the right to fly for Mango, as career progression in SAA is slowing down as the state-owned airline contracts. On the other hand, Mango has been growing. StockSnap via pixabay But SAA pilots have conditions and pay way better than those at Mango, which is one of the reasons for Mango's lower costs. The SAA pilots' claim rests on the "scope agreement" that it has with SAA, stating that SAA pilots will service all flying done by or in the service of SAA. While SAA's case in the arbitration was that Mango is a standalone company as it is a 100% subsidiary of SAA, the pilots argued that SAA subsidised Mango and the two companies were not distinct. Mango does not publish its financial statements independently, as these are included in SAA's and many major decisions require SAA's authority - proof, they argued - that Mango was operating in the service of SAA. The arbitration ended last week and judgment is expected in two weeks. The SAA statement is unlikely to go unconsidered by the mediators. The chairman of the SAA Pilots Association, Captain John Harty, declined to comment while the arbitration ruling is being awaited. On Saturday, SAA issued a statement saying that as "an initial investment to subsidise the start-up of Mango Airlines, SAA subleased 10 aircraft, at a significantly discounted cost to Mango Airlines, while continuing to pay the market-related premium to the lessor. "The aircraft are still in use and comprise the whole of Mango's fleet. "SAA understands and accepts that this is a necessary investment and a demonstration of shareholder support towards an entity it has exclusive shareholding over." The admission could open SAA and Mango up to an investigation by competition authorities if it is deemed that Mango is a dominant player in the low-cost market. The statement implies Mango operates aircraft below its actual costs, which could be viewed as predatory pricing. DA shadow minister of public enterprises Natasha Mazzone said on Monday that "the DA will request that the Competition Commission launch a full-scale investigation into the alleged collusion between SAA and Mango Airlines that has seen the latter being able to offer drastically discounted flights through subleasing of aircraft at discounted rates by SAA". The DA says it will ask the commission to table its report in Parliament after including a thorough assessment of the leasing arrangements - including the possible cost to taxpayers, the terms of the lease and the total amount of losses to SAA attributed to the subleasing agreement. Source: Business Day This year's Daily Maverick The Gathering, sponsored by Nandos - described as a meaningful conference of this election year - did not fail to deliver as bicycles, toilets, inequality, and optimism as well as an emotional Finance Minster, formed part of the debate and discussion as the country's leaders in politics and civil society were placed under the spotlight of Daily Maverick journalists. Economic change is never easy and reforms are more easily spoken about than done. In South Africa we are getting to the point of convergence in civil labour and society to engage in practical activity to demonstrate how to bring about change. There is no textbook to this. Growing an economy is more complex and requires a collective purpose and will as well as time. These were the words of the Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan at The Gathering, which took place at the Vodaworld in Gauteng recently. The Minister was the last speaker of the day, and like many of the speakers that proceeded him, he expressed an optimism about South Africa. But The Gathering kicked off on a dry note with the director general of the ANC, Zweli Mkhize regurgitating ANC policy and election manifestos with the audience listening politely. Democratic Alliance leader, Mmusi Maimane, fared only slightly better although he did get a chuckle out of the audience when he asked where Jacob Zuma was - Probably in Dubai being his answer - given that both he and Julius made the effort to attend. But both Mkhize and Maimane were quickly forgotten when Julius Malema of the EFF took the stage. The highlight of the three by far, the largely white middle class audience clapped and cheered him on as he asked why there was so much concern with bicycle lanes in Sandton when just across the road people in Alex were without toilets. It was right there that one of the themes of the day took shape and for the rest of the event, bicycles and toilets were a reference point, a metaphor and the subject of much discussion. However, the optimism theme started with Mkhize, when he admitted that the economic situation was not good and that the current growth was never anticipated, but we are also affected by factors beyond our control, such as the commodities prices. South Africa, its leaders and government must work together to bring back confidence in the country. We need to solve what we can and adjust the ones we cannot. I am optimistic at our prospects. Mmusi added to this. It is part of prevailing conditions to make a change. What is wrong with South Africa is not its people; it is its leaders. It is the test of democracy. Given the right leadership and change, then country can be prosperous. We have been in these difficult conditions before as a country. But the real optimist on the day was Pravin Gordhan. And if the audience response was anything to go on he was also the most popular speaker of the day. The Finance Minister started off by telling the audience that as a nation we should not be too depressed. In South Africa we have many things to be proud of We have avoided junk status for the next few months, and will have to work harder, but there are many things going well for South Africa. We have a vibrant civil society and parliament and we are more transparent than many other countries in the world. He adds to this that our business community is fairly innovative and we have the most sophisticated economy on the continent and a fiscal framework that we stick to and deliver. When we say we will reduce the deficit, we do. However, to be frank, more work does need to be done in this area. The minister says that confidence plays a big part in getting business and investment in our country going. Confidence is also about building trust and a shared idea which is not easy as South Africa is still a divided country with different points of view. It is important we try to get a common purpose on how to approach investors and rating agencies. South Africa is a microcosm of what the world is talking about he points out. The big topic is inequality and how increased productivity is not resulting in the spread of benefits to the lower part of society. The levels of alienation are growing and this leads to a growing cynicism. Young people especially are feeling alienated. If we do not solve these problems, then they will compound in the longer term. The challenge he adds is to find transformation and growth and ensure they take place at the same time. To get growth we need to remove obstacles, implement monetary policy and find opportunities for investments in sectors that lead to growth and skills development, especially for the youth. Government and business must cooperate, and leadership is required from each sector. This leadership must be ethical and campaign for higher levels of integrity and a higher set of values. Structural reforms and changes in South Africa will require bold leadership and careful judgement he adds. We are going through tough times, and are facing a few years of a low growth scenario. Many economies on the continent are in difficulty, particularly oil resource ones, but we have no option, but to exercise our creativity and leadership, new mortality, democratic institutions of country and work to leave behind a better SA for future generations. Asked how much political support he has, his answer was clear: I am still in the job and next week I will be in the job. It was at this point that he was overwhelmed with emotion and needed a moment. Celtic Woman, the Irish female singing ensemble, will perform on 17 and 18 September in Johannesburg as part of their 'Destiny' Tour. Having been named Billboard magazines World Album Artist of the Year six times, Celtic Woman is a one-of-a-kind musical entity that showcases young Irish women: vocalists and a Celtic violinist, whose talent and charisma help to bring centuries of musical and cultural tradition to life in the groups recordings and concert performances. Since their formation in 2004, Celtic Woman has sold more than eight million copies of their nine CDs and eight DVDs, making them the only all-female act to achieve multi-platinum success in the classical crossover and world music genres during the past decade. Each of their nine CDs has debuted at #1 on Billboards World Album chart, where the group has occupied the top slot for a record-breaking 112 consecutive weeks. Celtic Woman has also scored two top 10 debuts on Billboards influential album chart and five Top Five DVDs on Billboards Top Video chart, as well as achieving platinum-level sales in nine countries. 2015 marked the tenth anniversary of Celtic Womans debut CD and DVD releases and the groups popular concert tours expanded to include recent performances in Australia, Germany, France, Belgium, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Japan, China, South Africa and Brazil. Celtic Woman embark on the next chapter of their musical journey with Destiny, a new production that celebrates Irelands past while bringing a contemporary musical edge to songs old and new in a way that also reflects the vibrant, modern nation that Ireland has become. The Destiny tour features an entirely new stage production and the all-female ensemble also delivers other traditional Irish songs such as, Bean Phaidin and Siuil A Run, highlighting the beauty of Irelands heritage and its Gaelic language. Alongside newer songs such as Walk Beside Me and The Whole of The Moon, the show also features reimagined renditions of Amazing Grace and You Raise Me Up. Celtic Woman Destiny South African Tour Itinerary Johannesburg 17 September 2016 Teatro, Montecasino Tickets from R565R980 18 September 2016 Big Top Arena, Carnival City Tickets from R395R1,020 Presented in partnership with RSG and Channel24. Tickets on sale from Big Concerts, www.bigconcerts.co.za. Africa is on the brink of an energy revolution which will transform lives across the continent, if decision-makers can fully grasp and advance the technological and other innovations on our doorstep, according to global consulting engineers and scientists, SRK Consulting (Africa). Roger Dixon Rolling back poverty and boosting growth by getting affordable electricity to all households is now a more realistic possibility than ever before, said SRK corporate consultant, Roger Dixon, especially with fast-developing renewable energy technologies to build upon. Dixon highlighted the developmental impact of access to electricity at household and community level, especially in the era of mobile and digital communication. Electricity is the first step into the digital age, facilitating improved levels of learning, enterprise, healthcare and communication, he said. In many remote areas, electricity in the household also heralds a new culture of efficiency in which people can spend time on more productive activities instead of fetching firewood or water. He also highlighted electricitys vital contribution to improving educational access and quality, which were in turn linked to economic performance, employment and more sustainable levels of population growth. According to the African Development Bank (ADB), the continent loses 4% of its gross domestic product due to lack of electricity with over 645 million Africans living without it. Electricity use per capita averages 181 kilowatt hours (kwH) in Africa, compared to about 13,000 kwH in the US and over 6,500 kwH in Europe. Affordability Electricity is also often unaffordable to Africans, according to the ADB, which estimates that a person living in northern Nigeria pays up to 80 times more per unit of energy than a resident of London or New York. The urgency of this challenge is clear from the ADBs plan to spend US$12 billion in the energy sector over the next five years and leverage a further US$40-50 billion, said Dixon. In South Africa, government expenditure on energy projects mainly from Eskom is expected to exceed R180 billion over the next three years, making up more than 20% of public sector infrastructure spending. In addition, government is also considering potential investment in nuclear power. He said renewable energy sources will be a cornerstone of this economic revolution, as Africas potential in wind, solar and hydropower is released by the quick pace of technology. But we also need to innovate our models of energy generation and distribution, providing legal, policy and technical support for private sector investment and exploiting opportunities in locally-focused energy schemes alongside a national grid, he said. Our experience at SRK is that engineering studies must integrate closely with social and environmental requirements to ensure that projects proceed smoothly; governments must facilitate with a conducive regulatory framework and efficient permitting. Renewable energys share of South Africas installed electricity capacity has leapt from zero to 4.5% since 2010, on the strength of governments Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (REIPPPP). This bold initiative breaks new ground and proves that renewable energy is both affordable and well-suited for public-private partnerships in Africa, said Dixon. It also showed that solar and wind power offer unprecedented opportunities to reach remote areas with electricity, without necessarily being linked to a national grid. South Africa has recently become one of the worlds top 10 countries generating power from solar photo-voltaic sources, and is now the largest wind-energy producer in Africa with capacity exceeding 1,000 MW. It is two years since the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice found that the Gambian government failed to conduct a proper investigation into the murder of journalist Deyda Hydara, as the Media Foundation for West Africa reports. Image by 123RF Hydara, who was the editor of The Point newspaper, was gunned down in a drive-by shooting by unknown assailants on 16 December 2004 on his way from work. Hydara was also the president of the Gambia Press Union (GPU) and a well-known critic of Gambian President Yahya Jammeh and led advocacy efforts against legislative restrictions on press freedom in The Gambia. The State's response to the murder After Hydara's murder, the state opened an investigation which was closed in less than a month. No arrests were made and no one was held responsible for the murder. Not only did the state not properly investigate the murder but it also made it a point to restrict and intimidate those who called for proper investigations, MFWA claims. On 30 December 2004, Sam Obi, a Nigerian journalist was arrested and subjected to thorough questioning by officials of the Serious Crime Unit of Gambia Police Force for six hours. Obi's arrest followed an interview he granted to Radio France International (RFI) about a march organised by the Gambia Press Union (GPU) to protest the murder of Hydara. On 13 October 2005, the Gambian authorities ordered the management of The Point to discontinue the Good Morning Mr President column started by Deyda Hydara. The then director general of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Daba Marrena, told Pap Saine, the then managing editor of The Point, that President Jammeh and other government officials were not happy with the column. Following the directive, the column was taken out from the subsequent editions of the newspaper. The management of the newspaper said the authorities threatened to close down the newspaper if it failed to remove the column. Further, on the first anniversary of Hydara's murder (16 December 2005), officers from the Gambia Police Intervention Force sealed off the site of Hydara's murder preventing members of the Gambia Press Union (GPU) and foreign journalists from accessing the site. The officers claimed the GPU did not have authority to assemble. This resulted in a clash. Ramatoulie Charreh, a female photojournalist who attempted to take pictures of the clash had her camera seized. Ten months after that, the NIA on 27 October 2006, arrested and questioned Musa Saidykhan, then editor of The Independent newspaper following an interview he granted to other newspapers on Hydara. Some newspapers quoted Saidykhan who had then returned from The All Africa Editors Forum in South Africa as saying that then South African President Thabo Mbeki said he would assist the Gambian authorities to resolve Hydara's murder. The NIA took Saidykhan to their office, interrogated him for many hours after which he was made to write a statement on his trip to South Africa as well as answer questions relating to his profession. The government silenced media who spoke about Hydara's murder and also attempted to vilify the slain journalist. In an interview on the state-owned Gambian Radio and Television Stations (GRTS) on June 9, 2009, President Yahya Jammeh quoted the findings of NIA which concluded that Hydara's gruesome murder was as a result of personal revenge by a jealous husband, whose wife committed adultery with Hydara. Application at ECOWAS Court On 23 November 2011, Hydara's family, together with the International Federation of Journalists-Africa, filed a suit at the ECOWAS Court against The Gambia. In their application, Hydara's family argued that The Gambia: Failed to effectively investigate the murder of journalist Deyda Hydara. Caused and tolerated impunity concerning the death of Hydara. Violated the right to freedom of expression. Failed to provide redress to Hydara's family, because failing to properly investigate the crime inhibited the family from obtaining compensation. At the trial, Captain Lamin K. Saine, a senior official NIA who was the head of the team that conducted investigations into Hydara's murder, testified as their witness. He defended the NIA investigation and said it was prompt, independent, and that the NIA had included the family. Saine also admitted that the NIA dedicated only 22 days to investigating Hydara's murder. On 10 June 2014, the Court found the Gambian government guilty of failing to properly investigate Hydara's murder. The Court noted that the NIA investigations did not carry out any ballistic, bullets and or weapon tests as part of the investigation. It said by failing to conduct proper investigations, government allowed impunity to thrive in the country. The Court consequently ordered the Gambian government to pay $50,000 in damages Hydara's family and $10,000 as legal costs. The Gambia has yet to comply with the ruling of the Court, just as it has failed to comply with the two earlier rulings of the Court in the cases of Chief Ebrimah Maneh and Musa Saidykhan. Meanwhile the freedom of expression condition in the country has worsened, the MFWA alleges; and it has again appealed to ECOWAS to ensure that The Gambia complies with the rulings of the Court and ensure justice for Hydara and his family. Source: mfwa.org. In a statement issued on 9 June 2016, the umbrella forum of various Burmese media agencies, pointed out that the Myanmar based BBC reporter Nay Myo Lin unintentionally pushed a Burmese police officer in a commotion during a protest in Mandalay on 27 March last year. Later the scribe was accused of violating a crime and charged with Section 332 of the Penal Code for assaulting a public servant and was given a three-month sentence with hard labour on 6 June by the Chanmyathazi township court of Mandalay. The majority of the journalists have been deeply saddened with such kind of harsh prison sentence against a reporter while the new government and media organizations have been striving with mutual understanding for press freedom in Burma, said the BNI statement. It also argued that it would be more appropriate for officials from the judiciary department together with respective government to review reporter Ko Nay Lins case with the legal procedures of the News Media Law, which has been enacted in Burma, rather than the Penal Code. The incident took place on 11 June 2016 during the flood in Taungup township of southern Arakan. They drowned while crossing the inundated areas. The bodies of all victims were recovered next day, said the local police. The victims were identified as Daw Pyu Pyu Win (42 years old), Ma Cho Cho San (20), Ma Pyu Pyu Lwin (37) and Ma Ohma Kyaw Zin (19). All of them hailed from Web Kyit village under Taungup township. Earlier in a separate incident, seven students died in ferry-boat capsizing at Ponna Kyunt locality, which is 16 miles away from the Arakanese capital city of Sittwe. The tragic incident took place on 1 June, when six girls and a boy died in the accident on their way to home from the high school situated at Pho Yee Bying locality under Ponna Kyunt township. He made the comments at the third meeting of the Implementation Committee for Resolutions Made at the Second Chin National Conference. The meeting was held in Carson Hall in Hakha, the Chin State capital, from 9 to 11 June. In his opening speech Pu Zing Cun said: While we must all work together and strive to reach a ceasefire with all ethnic armed groups, the current ruling government and the military also need to have all [ethnic armed] organisations involved [in the ceasefire]. He also said that the tactic of demanding that all EAOs surrender their arms has been unsuccessful and he strongly urged the current government and the Tatmadaw [Burma Army] to work on creating an all-inclusive political dialogue. The Implementation Committee of 45 members was formed to enact the 151 resolutions agreed on at Second Chin National Conference, which was held in Hakha in 2013. Later the committee was reorganised to include 50 members in order to make it more efficient. At the meeting the committee also agreed on policies to be submitted to the 21st Century Panglong Conference. The policies agreed on covered issues of politics, security, economics, the environment and social and land rights. Over 100 people, including representatives of political parties, representatives of different areas and invited guests attended the Implementation Committee meeting. Translated by Thida Linn Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI Dr.Sarbini Abdul Murab, the Chairman of the Presidium of the MERC, was quoted as saying that the construction of the hospital in Rakhine, which has a large Muslim population, would serve as an example that people of different religions can coexist in harmony and peace, just as in Indonesia. The MERC has purchased a plot of land in Mrauk-U and has the support of the Rakhine government. U Myo Tint Aung, the Mon State Education Office director said: In the past, we have said that the lists must be submitted to our state office by the 10th [of June] but they are not ready yet. Thats why we have changed the deadline so that they [the schools] can submit their lists at the end of this month. He said that once the lists have been submitted and recorded for each township the schools can teach Mon literature. In the Mon State Hluttaw (parliament) the Mon State Social Affairs Minister Dr Htein Linn said that in the previous academic year Mon literature teachers had received a stipend of 30,000 kyats per month and that for this year the stipends will be increased as long as the Union budget for the 2016 to 2017 financial year is increased. He also said that following negotiations with the Union Education Minister the stipends would be paid monthly rather than as a lump sum at the end of the academic year as had been previously done to teachers of all ethnic literatures in Mon State. Mon literature ids taught at 258 government schools in Mon State. Translated by Thida Linn Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI It looks like you have reached this page in error ... The content you are looking for has either moved, or if you typed in the address there might have been a mistake. If you believe there has been a technical error please let us know. Most Popular Destinations Do You Donate Blood? Here Are The Benefits And Risks Of Blood Donation Wellness oi-Amritha K Every year, 14 June is observed as World Blood Donor Day. A joint initiative of the World Health Organization, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the day was first observed in 2004 and aims to raise awareness of the need for safe blood and blood products and to thank blood donors for their voluntary, life-saving gifts of blood. It was declared as an annual global event in the 58th World Health Assembly in 2005. World Blood Donor Day is one of 11 official global public health campaigns marked by the World Health Organization (WHO), along with World Health Day, World Chagas Disease Day, World Tuberculosis Day, World Immunization Week, World Patient Safety Day, World Malaria Day, World No Tobacco Day, World Hepatitis Day, World Antimicrobial Awareness Week and World AIDS Day. For 2021, the World Blood Donor Day theme is 'Give Blood and Keep the World Beating'. The message highlights the essential contribution blood donors make to keeping the world pulsating by saving lives and improving others' health. The World Health Organization (WHO) stresses the importance of voluntary blood donation, pointing out that one donation can save as many as three lives. Apart from being used as whole blood, it can also be separated into different components - red blood cells, blood platelets or plasma, etc. and used for treating several diseases [1]. There are three types of blood donors, voluntary, paid and family or replacement [2]. The fact that you feel tired and sick after you have donated blood is only a temporary feeling. But in the long run, there are some serious health benefits of donating blood, with the central one being the balancing of the iron levels in your body [3]. Blood products and blood transfusions help save millions of lives every year and can help patients suffering from life-threatening diseases. Reports suggest that each day, thousands of people need donated blood and blood products to stay alive and healthy [4]. A blood donor's age must be between 18-60 years and their weight should be more than 45 kgs to be able to donate blood. And, one has to wait for 56 days or 8 weeks between whole blood donations. Apart from the selfless act of saving a life, donating blood may also have benefits for the donor. Let's take a look. Health Benefits Of Donating Blood Here is a list of benefits a donor can reap from the process of blood donation. 1. Promotes Heart Health Blood donation helps in maintaining the iron levels and reduces the risk of cardiovascular problems and also help maintain your heart rhythms. By keeping the iron levels in check, blood donations help reduce the risk of developing heart diseases as well [5]. 2. Prevents Hemochromatosis One of the major health benefits of donating blood includes reducing the risk of hemochromatosis. It is a health condition that arises due to excess absorption of iron by the body. This condition is either inherited or may be caused due to alcoholism, anaemia, and other disorders. Regular blood donation will reduce iron overload in the body [6]. 3. Reduces Risk For Liver Damage When the iron level in your body is in excess, it increases the risk for liver failure and damage to the pancreas [7]. Hence, donating blood helps in getting rid of the extra iron; and this, in turn, helps reduce the risk for liver and pancreas damage. nutrition 6 Best Foods For Liver Cancer 4. Manages Blood Pressure One of the other critical benefits of donating blood is the impact it has on controlling high blood pressure levels [8]. When you donate blood, the volume of blood is balanced, thereby preventing the increase in blood pressure. So, a healthy heart is good to prevent cardiovascular diseases. wellness 10 Effective Home Remedies For Low Blood Pressure (Hypotension) 5. Stimulates Blood Cell Production One of the other central health benefits of blood donation is that it helps stimulate the production of new blood cells, which make up for the blood loss and thus help in maintaining your overall health and well-being [9]. 6. Burns Calories According to the University of California, one can burn approximately 650 calories per donation of one pint of blood [10]. Regular blood donors lose weight while in the process and this is helpful for those who are obese and are at a higher risk of cardiovascular diseases and other health disorders. Because it helps burn those extra calories in your body [11]. However, frequent blood donation isn't advisable as a way to lose weight. 7. May Reduce Cancer Risk Lower levels of iron in the body reduce the risks of developing cancer symptoms. Chances of suffering from cancer especially colon, lung, liver, throat and lung cancer are lower if you donate blood [12]. A reduction in the iron level in the body is linked to low cancer risk. disorders-cure 10 Dangerous Habits That May Cause Cancer Apart from these major health benefits, donating blood can help reduce stress, improve your emotional well-being, benefit your physical health, help get rid of negative feelings, provide a sense of belonging and reduce isolation [13]. Side Effects Of Donating Blood The procedure of blood donation is safe for adults who are healthy. However, there are some minor side effects that could occur. Such as [14]: bruising, continued bleeding, dizziness, light-headedness, nausea, pain, and physical weakness. These side effects will only last for a few minutes. But, if you are experiencing the following even after taking proper rest, you should immediately call the blood donation centre or go to a hospital [15]. Lightheadedness, dizziness and nausea even after eating, drinking and resting A raised bump or continued bleeding at the needle site Pain, numbness or tingling in the arm What To Do Before Blood Donation At least a few weeks before you donate blood, ensure that you are eating a healthy amount of iron-rich foods such as seafood, meat, spinach, beans, and sweet potatoes. This will prevent the risk of having low haemoglobin levels [16]. Before you donate blood, you will be asked to fill out a form that has questions about your medical history. This includes whether you have any risk of blood-borne infections, if you are taking any kind of medications, or if you have any nutrient deficiency and so on. After this, a blood sample will be collected from you to rule out any unwanted conditions such as anaemia or blood pressure. If your blood sample turns out positive, the doctor will allow you to donate blood [17]. What To Do During Blood Donation You will be asked to sit or lie down comfortably. An antiseptic solution will be used to clean your arm and a blood pressure cuff will be placed around your upper arm to fill your veins with more blood and make it visible. Then, a sterile needle is inserted into the vein in your arm, which has a plastic tube attached to it that will help draw blood into the blood bag. Only about 400 ml of blood is extracted from the body and this whole process takes about 15 minutes [18][19]. After it is complete, the needle is removed and a small bandage is placed on the area. What To Do After Blood Donation After you have donated blood, keep your arm extended facing upwards to avoid bruising, swelling, blood clot and pain. You can eat a light snack if you want and avoid performing any physical activity in the next 24 hours. Your blood levels will get back to normal after 2-3 weeks. So, therefore to help your body recover quickly here are some tips to follow after donating blood [20]. Drink plenty of water Avoid fatty foods Wear comfortable clothes Avoid smoking and drinking alcohol If you feel dizziness, discomfort or pain, consult a doctor immediately disorders-cure Back Pain: Causes, Symptoms, Risk Factors, Diagnosis And Treatment On A Final Note While donating blood, ensure that you donate it in a specialised medical care centre which practices ultra-safe methods to ensure that you are safe in the process of the donation. All donated blood products are screened for HIV, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis c and syphilis before transfusion. Consequently, the gift of blood is the gift of life. Importance Of Zakat During Ramzan Faith Mysticism oi-Syeda Farah Zakat is one of the important concepts of Islam and it is considered as one of the five pillars of Islam. Giving zakat plays a significant role in the finances of Muslims. Zakat is the amount of money that Muslims are supposed to pay at the end of every Islamic financial year, which ends with the start of Ramzan. Every Islamic financial year starts at the time of Ramzan and concludes at the end of next Ramzan. In this article, we are here to discuss about the importance of Zakat during Ramzan. This is a particular practice that all Muslims follow; and giving Zakat during Ramzan is considered to be very auspicious. Generally, paying Zakat means Muslims need to pay on the extra wealth that they have possessed for a year. They should be in a state to fulfill their main needs of food, shelter, cloth and other cultural and social requirements that makes them eligible to pay Zakat. Muslims are required to pay 2.5% of the wealth, which is in their possession for the entire Islamic financial year, to the needy. It is applicable on wealth in the form of bank balance, gold, automobiles, etc. Therefore, read on to know more about the significance of paying Zakat and why it is important during Ramzan. The Income Of The Person Is Purified It is believed that giving Zakat during every Islamic financial year helps to purify your entire income for the year. Apart from the good work, it helps you stay away from sins. A Person Earns More The more Zakat a person pays, the more he earns. Zakat means proliferation or growth, so when you give Zakat, it does mean that your income would increase along with your good deeds. It Removes The Grudges And Ill Feelings Giving Zakat helps to remove the grudges and ill feelings from the hearts of the poor people. Paying Zakat during every year helps to terminate the ill feelings, in which love and harmony is spread. The Money Flow Becomes Balanced The money flow in the society does become balanced for sometime at least. Generally, Zakat is given to the poor Muslims who cannot afford to buy food and clothes. By giving Zakat to them, there is a balance maintained in the flow of money. It Makes Your Bond Stronger With God It helps to bring a servant close to Allah and increases his Faith and Belief in him. This is the case with all of the acts of worship. It Reduces Class Struggles Zakat has a crucial relation between the rich and poor. It helps to maintain a balance between the rich and poor. When the whole community makes use of this bridge, class conflicts can be reduced to maintain a balance. GET THE BEST BOLDSKY STORIES! Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, June 14, 2016, 15:16 [IST] BRADENTON, Fla. A Florida court has denied Indian River County's quest to block a state-created conduit issuer from selling $1.75 billion of tax-exempt bonds for a private passenger rail project. Leon County Circuit Judge Charles Dodson closed the case Friday after ruling that the county failed to establish that it had standing to challenge the federally approved private activity bonds to be issued for All Aboard Florida. The county sought a writ of certiorari asking the court to review the quasi-judicial orders of the Florida Development Finance Corp. FDFC's board members voted unanimously on Aug. 5 to allow the corporation to serve as the conduit issuer for All Aboard Florida's bonds. Dodson's "ruling is further validation of the appropriate processes and actions we have taken to develop our project," All Aboard Florida said in a statement. "We are glad to see the judge affirmed our position in another lawsuit designed to deter and disrupt our business." Dodson also said that even if Indian River County had standing to challenge FDFC's vote, the county failed to establish that certiorari jurisdiction was appropriate because the corporation's decision was "quasi-legislative as opposed to quasi-judicial." The FDFC was created by the Florida Legislature. Its board members are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate. Indian River County is disappointed by the court's decision, attorney Dylan Reingold said Monday. "The FDFC's behavior in this matter was consistently outrageous," he said. "It is unfortunate that this unelected board can act in such a manner without any ability for Indian River County to challenge the FDFC's approval of the issuance of the bonds." All Aboard Florida, calling its planned train service Brightline, has said it expects next year to begin daily service on the 70-mile-segment from Miami to West Palm Beach, with a stop in Fort Lauderdale. To open that initial segment, it is beefing up the existing Florida East Coast freight rail right-of-way and building stations in the three cities. The full 235-mile system will extend to Orlando International Airport following construction of a new, 40-mile spur between Orlando and existing rail line on the Atlantic Coast. The project is expected to cost $3.5 billion. The project has sparked resentment in Indian River and Martin county, where residents fear the impact of service's passenger trains. Those concerns include potential public safety problems, damages to archaeological resources, and additional vehicular and marine congestion. The passenger trains will pass through the two counties on the existing Florida East Coast freight railroad line. No passenger stops are planned in the two counties, which have filed three different petitions in various state courts seeking reviews of FDFC's vote. None have been successful. Both counties also filed separate federal lawsuits seeking to challenge the U.S. Department of Transportation's approval of $1.75 billion in private activity bonds for the project. The federal suits the first ever to contest a USDOT bond allocation are pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. USDOT and All Aboard Florida have filed motions to dismiss the cases, and a hearing is scheduled June 30. The counties have said in court filings that the bond allocation was approved in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act, and that the federal approval process failed to consider adverse impacts on traffic and public safety. All Aboard Florida has attempted to sell its $1.75 billion of unrated bonds to qualified institutional buyers and accredited investors several times, but each time has pulled the deal In a May 24 court filing, All Aboard Florida said "market conditions relative to bond financing began to improve earlier this year and are continuing to improve." The company, owned by Fortress Investment Group, also said that it has continued to construct stations and upgrade infrastructure with equity and has spent a total of $787 million since January. All Aboard eventually plans to run 32 passenger trains a day between Miami and Orlando. WASHINGTON In a first of a kind case, two California-based municipal advisory firms and their executives agreed to pay a total of $200,000 to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges that they used deceptive business practices in dealing with five school districts. This is the first enforcement action the SEC has taken under the municipal advisor antifraud provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act. School Business Consulting, Inc. (SBIC) was censured and fined a $30,000 while its president and sole employee Terrance Bradley was barred from acting as a municipal advisor and agreed to pay $20,000. The other MA firm, Keygent LLC, agreed to a censure and penalty of $100,000 and two of its managing directors, Anthony Hsieh and Chet Wang agreed to pay penalties of $30,000 and $20,000, respectively. The SEC found that while School Business Consulting, through Bradley, was advising school districts about hiring financial professionals, it was simultaneously retained by Keygent LLC, which was seeking MA business from the school districts. During that relationship, Bradley improperly provided confidential information about the hiring processes of five school districts that were his clients to Keygent, Hsieh, and Wang, which may have led to the districts to hire Keygent as a municipal advisor. The SEC found Bradley verbally disclosed his relationship with Keygent to the school district officials and Keygent's contracts with the school districts also disclosed that Bradley was on its advisory board, but the districts were not aware Bradley was sharing the confidential information. The defendants settled the charges without admitting or denying the charges. A spokesperson for Keygent said in a statement that Keygent "did not ask for this information, nor did [it] change [its] proposals or fees based on the information." However, the spokesperson said the firm acknowledges that mistakes were made and is taking responsibility. "In addition to complying fully with the SEC's order, we have taken proactive steps to improve our compliance program and to ensure that all business practices are entirely in line with the SEC's regulations and best professional and ethical standards," the spokesperson said. LeeAnn Gaunt, chief of the SEC enforcement division's public finance abuse unit, said municipal entities "should be able to trust that their selection of a municipal advisor is untainted by any breach of fiduciary duty." The events leading up to the enforcement action began in September 2010, when Keygent retained SBCI to serve on its advisory board for $2,500 a month. Bradley had numerous contacts in school districts across California and, through the relationship, Keygent gained access to those contacts with the possibility of introductions to officials in districts that Hsieh and Wang had identified as having refinancing opportunities, the SEC found. Many of the school districts that Bradley solicited on Keygent's behalf were SBCI's own clients, the SEC said in its documents. Bradley drafted, and assisted in drafting, the request for qualification documents that the five school districts used in their hiring process. Each of the school districts directed candidates not to make contact with anyone other than specified officials in an effort to make sure the candidates were on an even footing, the SEC found. Despite that direction, Bradley gave Keygent information like advanced copies of draft interview questions and details of competitors' proposals, sometimes including competitors' fees, the SEC said. He also had discussions with Keygent about how to answer interview questions and suggested topics to bring up during the interviews. Although Bradley recused himself from four of the five school districts' interview processes, citing a conflict of interest, he never informed the districts he was sharing the information and continued to recommend Keygent to the districts, according to the SEC. The one process in which he participated was at the discretion of the district after Bradley informed the officials of his believed conflict of interest. The SEC found that SBCI violated Section 15B(a)(1)(B) of the Securities and Exchange Act because it was soliciting for Keygent without being registered as a municipal advisor. The SEC said Bradley, as the firm's sole employee, caused the violation. SBCI and Bradley also violated Section 15B(c)(1) of the Exchange Act because they did not act consistently with their fiduciary duty to its client. Additionally, they violated Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board Rule G-17 on fair dealing and Section 15B(a)(5), which prohibits MAs from engaging in any fraudulent, deceptive, or manipulative act or practice, while soliciting a municipal entity. The SEC found Keygent and Hsieh also violated Section 15B(c)(1) and MSRB Rule G-17. The commission also said Keygent, Hsieh, and Wang were a cause of SBCI's and Bradley's violations of Sections 15B(c)(1), 15B(a)(5), and Rule G-17. On Tuesday this week the Okavango constituency office in Shakawe was locked from the inside. A sign on the door read, Meeting in progress. Come later. The office, which houses Member of Parliament, Bagalatia Arone of the Botswana Congress Party (BCP), remained locked until the late hours of the day. Later that day, in the evening, MP Arone approached a close friend of his and told him that I am joining these guys. His friend asked him what he meant and the BCP man who is on his second term as MP for the Okavango constituency told him that he was defecting to the ruling Botswana Democratic Party. And his main reason: financial gain. He basically told me that he does not want to leave politics a poor man, said Arones friend who preferred to be anonymous. Arone has not handed in his resignation letter yet but sources say he will be a BDP member as soon as next week. A letter of intent to join the BDP is expected to reach the party before end of this week.In Botswana, politicians defect to a different party rarely because of conflicting ideologies but rather for personal reasons and of late for financial gain. According to sources, Arone had earlier on Tuesday told employees of the constituency office that he was joining the BDP and thus they should follow him lest they lose their jobs. The constituency office secretary has since indicated that she will follow Arone to the BDP, sources have said. A Botswana Congress Party councillor for Nxamasere-Xhaoga-Samothima ward in Okavango, Gaopalelwe Ronald told this publication on Tuesday that Arone approached him and tried to recruit him (Ronald) to the BDP. He told me that he was joining the BDP and thus he wanted me to also defect, said Ronald. The latter refused the offer to join the BDP. According to the councillor the MP was busy this week consulting and recruiting members of the BCP to the ruling party, a move which prompted his party (BCP) to suspend him. So far the councillors that Arone have approached have turned him down and the likelihood is that he will reach Tsholetsa House alone or with some ordinary party members in the constituency. The BCP had earlier on Tuesday said they did not have any letter of resignation from any of their MPs, and as a result could not address rumors. But the party later on the day released a statement stating that they have suspended Arone pending further investigations. Ronald said the MP told him that he was joining the ruling party because being in opposition disadvantages the constituency in terms of developments. His reason being that Okavango, a constituency hit by poverty and rising unemployment numbers, remains less developed because it is in the hands of the opposition. The constituency for many years remained an opposition stronghold.Meanwhile, Ronald revealed to Botswana Guardian that Arone also told him that he is joining the BDP because opposition politics cannot make him rich. It is currently not clear how Arones defection to the BDP will help him financially but sources say the MP has purchased a lodge in Shakawe and has another project in Letlhakane. Insiders say the MP is looking at life after politics. Apparently the MP got himself into a financial mess and the BDP has arranged to rescue him. The lodge is the one that got him into trouble. He underfinanced and could not renovate to start operations. BDP has arranged to finance, said an insider. The lodge in question, Hawk Guest House is currently going through renovations. A source based in Shakawe told this publication that renovation works have started at the lodge. It is not yet clear what project the MP is working on in Letlhakane but sources said he told close friends that he has something coming up in that area. Contacted for comment, Arone denied joining BDP for financial gains. People like prophesy, he said without denying or confirming his defection. Asked about the lodge Arone indicated that he applied for a loan at CEDA and it was approved in November last year. Pressed further about under financing and the renovations Arone hung the phone, but not before he angrily exclaimed le a ntapisa banna, nna ke busy mo kgaolong ke tla bua le lona ke le ko Gaborone (you guys are irritating me, I am busy in my constituency and I will talk to you when I get to Gaborone). BDP Secretary General, Botsalo Ntuane said they have not received anything official to suggest that Arone is their member. He however said anything could happen and if it so happens that anyone joins the BDP, it would be accordingly communicated. Defection part of Mokgweetsi Masisis recruitment drive Botswana Guardian understands that Arones defection to the ruling party is part of a major scheme by Vice President Mokgweetsi Masisi to build his own team within the party. Many of the opposition members who recently decamped to the BDP are said to be recruited by Masisi. He is the one who puts their personal deals together as he wants to build a team that will be loyal to him as he fights for the BDP top post. Masisi is largely viewed as someone who has no base in the Barata Party or A Team factions of the BDP and is a man in need of a faction that he can count on. All the BCP members who have since joined the party among them former youth league President Lotty Manyapetsa have been linked to Masisi as he sees them as hard working individuals that he can count on. Masisi could not be reached for comment as his phone rang unanswered. For his part Manyapetsa said as any BDP member he is loyal to the party and not individuals and anything he does in the party would be in accordance with the assignment given to him by the party. BCP to approach Kenny Kapinga Insiders have told this publication that the BCP members in the constituency want the party leadership to approach Botswanas outgoing Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Kenny Kapinga to represent the party come 2019. Kapinga is viewed as a BCP sympathiser. Okavango has been a BCP stronghold for long and it is anticipated that come what may, the BDP may still find it difficult to claim the constituency under Arone. Efforts to reach Kapinga at press time were futile. On social media page Facebook, Kapinga on May 27th,bid Zimbabweans and Batswana living in Zimbabwe farewell. The reality of life is that there is time for everything. I am now home, ready to venture onto new career altogether, he wrote on his Facebook page. Botswana youth contractors have been urged not to take construction business as a moneymaking scheme to venture into, as it is a very competitive environment, which requires dedication.This was emphasised by Minister of Infrastructure Science and Technology, Nonofo Molefhi on Tuesday at the construction youth seminar held at Oasis Motel, Tlokweng. Molefhis call comes amid concerns that Batswana construction companies are not fully committed to deliver projects whenever they are awarded tenders. Minister Molefhi highlighted that his Ministry has had an experience of failed projects by citizens and as well as foreigners and this is a cost to the taxpayers money. Said Molefhi, there is lack of proper procurement plans and this has an impact on capacity to deliver the work. Poor scheduling of work- you must plan your work so that you do not consume your resources by extending time on the site. We have also realised that the skills employed in these construction companies are not up to standards- they must ensure that they employ the right skills required. Management capacity, financial management and leadership quality- these are key principles to adhere to.The youth contractors were also urged by the Minister to always familiarise themselves with the laws that govern the industry, as well as understanding the employment and labour laws. Opportunities for youth contractors Minister Molefhi revealed that under the 2016/17 budget, about P87million has been set aside for maintenance works, and P14million is set for youth contractors. He also encouraged the youth contractors to look outside Botswana boundaries. Other countries such as South Sudan are looking for your expertise. I want to escort you to South Sudan. We are waiting for Festus Mogae to return from South Sudan and give feedback on the opportunities available for Botswana- if it is approved then our contractors will have to go. Just recently teachers were sent to Seychelles, he promised. The voice of the youth contractors association Botswana Youth Contractors Association (BYCA) Chairman, Mpho Makgosa indicated that although they appreciate the youth empowerment schemes by the government, they are however not benefiting the youth as expected. Although good initiatives are in place, there is no affirmative action for the youth. They do not serve the intended purpose due to the current structure they operate. On the other hand, youth contractors have their own shortfalls, for instance, lack of professional and personal experience. This results in projects abandonment due to misuse of funds, highlights Makgosa. He also noted on the challenges of production of sub-standard projects and also engaging in malpractices of taking part in corruption activities with government officials. We can only achieve mindset change through capacity building workshops or platforms and through implementation of the youth empowerment projects, he concludes. Advice from the construction gurus Barulaganyi Gakelebotse, founding partner at NTR Technologies shared his word of encouragement with the youth contractors and how at NTR they managed to survive for the past 19 years in the industry. Gakelebotse, who is also chairman of the Association of Electrical and Mechanical Contractors of Botswana (AEMCB), urged the youth to form businesses in partnerships and that there should always be a spirit of teamwork and patience. We need to understand that when having a business, you cant afford stagnation; it has to grow and the growth has to be planned. Always be prepared to handle multiple tenders, and only when you have the capacity and capability. The business processes must always be followed- do not just dictate to the business and make uninformed decisions, Gakelebotse said. Another guru who has been in the industry for the past 26 years, Chris Gofhamodimo who started Mhago Construction and now running Mhago Properties- emphasised that construction is not a money making scheme. This is a cut throat business- you can make P10million today and lose P2million tomorrow. There is no promise of tomorrow today you are rich, tomorrow you are busted, so there is no continuity. There are also no guarantees of work (tenders) in Botswana. You are in the era where construction industry is in a very difficult/hostile environment, there is tough competition. Gofhamodimo also indicated that, while at it, the youthful contractors should look at other business ventures to invest in their profits. Diversify your portfolio so that when things dont go right you can lean back to something else. I fell back on property development and I do not have to worry about construction tenders. I am currently developing Metlhaetsile Estate in Block 6. Dont go buy Range Rovers and Landcruisers, advised Gofhamodimo. ISLAMABAD (PTI): Pakistan has closed the chapter of acquiring eight F-16s from the US and will now opt for Jordan-owned F-16 fighter jets, foreign secretary Aizaz Chaudhry said Monday amid the strains in bilateral ties over the scuttling of the deal and a US drone strike on its soil. Chaudhry, briefing the Senate Standing Committee on Defence and Foreign Policy, said "the US seemed to be satisfied with Pakistan's decision." "The chapter of receiving F-16 fighter jets from the US has been closed. Pakistan will now opt for Jordan-owned F-16 fighter jets," he was quoted as saying by the Geo News. Choudhry said one of the reasons for "strained relations with the US was Pakistan's close ties with China." "Pakistan cannot cooperate with the US on some issues. One of these issues is its sovereignty," he said. He said that strained relations with the US were nothing new for Pakistan. Condemning the US policy on the war on terror he said, "The US has spent 16 years fighting the war on terror. If only it had given six years to the peace process things would have been different." The Pak-US ties strained after Congressional restriction on financing of F-16 fighter jet's sale from Foreign Military Financing programme, due to which Pakistan could not buy the jets. The relationship further suffered when the US carried out a drone strike in Balochistan, killing Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour, which was termed by Pakistani leadership a violation of the country's sovereignty. PARIS (BNS): French defence firm Safran has been chosen to provide navigation systems for the Griffon armoured vehicles as part of French Army's Scorpion programme. Under the programme, the French Army would be acquiring 1,668 Griffon multi-role armoured vehicles (VBMR) between 2018 and 2033. Safran will supply the Epsilon 10 navigation system for the vehicles, along with a system based on hemispherical resonating gyros (HRG) for the artillery observation version (VOA), the company said. Griffon VOA artillery observation vehicles will be fitted with Safran's Paseo optronic (electro-optical) system, comprising an inertial navigator derived from the Sigma 20 family. This system will give the Griffon VOA target location capability on a par with NATO's best-in-class standards, it said. The Epsilon 10 navigation system is an integral part of the digital battlefield and operates in conjunction with a tactical coordination instrument. It gives multi-role armoured vehicles autonomous engagement capability in the case of a GPS signal loss, jamming or other countermeasures. Charleston, one year later: Prof. Chad Williams looks back on the tragedy Williams started the hashtag #CharlestonSyllabus and has since co-edited a book offering historical context for the shootings Photo/Mike Lovett The Brandeis community held a vigil for the shooting victims in June 2015. Following the shootings at the Emanuel A.M.E. church in Charleston, South Carolina on June 17, 2015, Associate Professor of African and Afro American studies Chad Williams started up the hashtag #CharlestonSyllabus on Twitter as a way to contribute historically informed perspective to the conversation. The outpouring of responses quickly became an online resource hosted by the African American Intellectual History Society. At that point it was more of a curated reading list than a true syllabus that could serve centerpiece for a curriculum on the shootings. Along with Kidada E. Williams of Wayne State University, and Keisha N. Blain of the University of Iowa, Williams transformed the syllabus project into a resource for the classroom by turning it into a book: Charleston Syllabus: Readings on Race, Racism, and Racial Violence. One year after the shootings in Charleston, Williams took some time to answer some questions for BrandeisNow. Immediately after the shootings, you noticed a formation of narratives in the media that you found to be misinformed. Now, one year later, how have these narratives changed? Chad Williams The #CharlestonSyllabus was born out of frustration with how both the media and politicians had been discussing the Emanuel A.M.E. church shooting. Dylann Roof was portrayed as a lone, troubled young man whose views on race and black people were an aberration, and not reflective of something deeper and more widespread. Debates surrounding the Confederate flag failed to seriously engage with the history of slavery, the Civil War and the Confederacy itself. The overarching narrative of the massacre soon became about the need for unity and forgiveness, as opposed to a true reckoning with what took place and why. I imagine, one year later, this will remain the case. However, I do think that scholars and activists have made important progress in educating students and the broader public about the need to not just view the Charleston shooting as a singular event, but instead part of a much longer history of racial violence directed towards African Americans that has larger implications for how we understand the history of the nation. How do you think awareness of, opposition to, and support for white supremacy today compares to past eras of US history? The Charleston shooting demonstrated how white supremacy remains deeply imbedded in every facet of American society. This should not be surprising when we consider the very founding of the country itself and how whiteness determined who was and was not worthy of the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Of course, over the duration of United States history, significant changes in race relations have taken place, mostly for the better. Progress has been real. The removal of the Confederate flag from the grounds of the South Carolina state capitol, after years of protest, is a perfect example of how the America of 1960 or 1860 no longer exists. While acknowledging how vestiges of the past remain with us in the present, as a historian it is important that I also recognize change over time. However, that does not mean that white supremacy is a thing of the past. We need only to look at the ascendency of Donald Trump to see how racism, and white supremacy specifically, remains alive and well. The fact that Trump, whose entire campaign is rooted in racist appeals to white voters who feel that the country, as they imagined it, no longer exists, can become the nominee of Republican Party indicates that the lessons of Charleston have not been fully learned. The refusal of the overwhelming majority of Republican elected officials to unequivocally repudiate Trump speaks to a lack of moral conviction when it comes to challenging racism. Such cowardice disgraces the memories of those killed in the Charleston shooting. While there are differences in their historical contexts, do you see some parallels between the narratives that formed immediately after Charleston and what we are seeing now with the shootings in Orlando? The Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting comes tragically almost one year after the Charleston Emanuel AME Church massacre. Both shootings demonstrate the dangerous relationship between intolerance whether for the LGBTQ community or African Americans and this country's culture of gun violence. They also reveal important differences in how we talk about terrorism. Whereas the media and politicians questioned whether or not the Charleston shooting constituted an act of terror, the Orlando shooting was immediately labeled as such. African Americans certainly saw the Charleston tragedy as part of a longer history of white terrorist violence. The difference between Charleston and Orlando seems to be based largely on perceived differences between the two gunmen, specifically in regards to their race, faith and political motivations. The language we use to describe these two incidents matters, as they shape how we view their severity and what response is warranted from the state. What are some of the advantages of having the syllabus as a physical resource, and how did the syllabus change in the process of turning it into a book? How is the book different from the online collection? One of the first questions I asked myself after the creation of the Twitter and online #CharlestonSyllabus resource was what did it mean to call this a syllabus. Through the hashtag, we had developed a truly remarkable crowdsourced reading and reference list. This, however, was not the same as a syllabus. In approaching the creation of the book, I, along with my co-editors, worked to develop clear themes based on the online collection that provided readers with structure and a roadmap to understanding the historical significance of the Charleston shooting. While many of the readings we included in the book were drawn from the original #CharlestonSyllabus, we also selected some new readings to fully flesh out the themes we wanted to explore. Our main goal was to make the Charleston Syllabus as accessible as possible and provide an opportunity for educators to make use of it in the classroom. From your perspective as a historian, what does the response to #CharlestonSyllabus say about the role social media plays in informing, educating and influencing the public? I was amazed by the response to the #CharlestonSyllabus on Twitter immediately following the shooting. The fact that now, one year later, it has had such longevity is equally remarkable. Social media has transformed the dissemination of African American history and how it is taught. If used conscientiously, social media can be an extremely effective tool in educating a broader public beyond the all too often exclusive walls of academia. Twitter has proven to be especially useful in linking contemporary racial issues and discussions with historical resources. In the past year I have noticed a plethora of different hashtag syllabi, such as #MizzouSyllabus, #BlkWomenSyllabus, #CubaSyllabus, #BlackPantherSyllabus, #LemonadeSyllabus, and most recently #RootsSyllabus. I would like to think that this is in part due to the success of the #CharlestonSyllabus and its demonstrated impact. Already have an account? Log in here Noel Harding is heading back to Mexico for his third and fourth fights there. We need your support! Local journalism needs your support! As we navigate through unprecedented times, our journalists are working harder than ever to bring you the latest local updates to keep you safe and informed. Now, more than ever, we need your support. Starting at $4.99/month you can access your Brandon Sun online and full access to all content as it appears on our website. or call circulation directly at (204) 727-0527. Your pledge helps to ensure we provide the news that matters most to your community! Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/06/2016 (2325 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. OTTAWA The Liberal government is embarking on another round of public consultations, this time on the issue of fostering innovation in the economy. Its an old theme that governments of various stripes have wrestled with for at least two decades: how to improve the competitiveness and international clout of Canadian entrepreneurs. Navdeep Bains, the federal minister of innovation, science and economic development, says the Liberal government will focus on six policy areas, including supporting research excellence, competing in a digital world, building business and research clusters and making it easier to do business. Bains says ensuring government procurement supports smaller companies, cutting barriers to interprovincial trade and making it easier for Canadian firms to hire foreign C-suite executives are all part of the potential policy mix. Bardish Chagger, the Liberal minister for small business and tourism, said the goal is to double the current 169 Canadian companies with sales of more than $1 billion although she didnt set a time frame. The Conservative opposition treated the government announcement with disdain, pointing to the involvement of progressive think tank Canada 2020 in the consultations and noting the Liberal-connected groups principals include a lobbyist who is registered to lobby Bainss department. Consulting the public through an online portal and a series of round tables headed by eminent Canadians is the latest attempt to goose the countrys entrepreneurial spirit. A news conference Tuesday announcing the public consultation opened with a short video advertisement touting famous Canadian inventions such as the telephone and insulin, with a we-can-do-it tag line. Innovation is a mind-set, Bains told the news conference. Its the desire to challenge the status quo, its about finding solutions to problems and the outcome of innovation fundamentally is improving ones quality of life, standard of living. Its about good quality jobs. Its also the Holy Grail of modern Canadian governments. The 1997 federal Liberal budget, for instance, referred to making strategic investments that will strengthen job creation in the long term by helping Canadians undertake the higher education, training and innovation needed to make the most of the opportunities provided by globalization and technological change. Canadas Entrepreneurial Advantage, said the 2008 Conservative budget, means creating a competitive business environment that supports innovation, rewards success and reduces unnecessary regulations and red tape. Bains acknowledged that more than 15 years after Canadian governments began cutting corporate tax rates, the promised research and development spending has not materialized. We in the past have looked at tax policy to spur R&D investment, but we ranked 22 out of 34 OECD countries, said the minister. We have 11 per cent (in cash holdings) on the balance sheets of the large companies in Canada and the number has grown and that money is not being invested in R&D and that is a challenge. Follow BCheadle on Twitter Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/06/2016 (2325 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. TORONTO OMNI Television says its seeking regulatory approval to create a new national channel that would restore ethnic newscasts axed just one year ago. The Toronto-based subsidiary of Rogers Communications (TSX:RCI.B) says it also wants the multilingual and multicultural channel to be included in basic TV packages. Unlike OMNIs current over-the-air channels, the proposed OMNI Regional would be carried by distribution services to subscribers across the country. Revenue from those subscriptions would fund new daily newscasts in Italian, Mandarin, Cantonese and Punjabi, as well as cover increased distribution costs, said Colette Watson, vice-president of television and operations at Rogers. Were trying to position OMNI for long-term sustainability, Watson said Tuesday from Banff, Alta., where she was attending the Banff World Media Festival. It was a very difficult decision and process to go through last year. It was the right thing to do from a business perspective with respect to keeping OMNI solvent. OMNIs application with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission proposes a channel with four feeds: Pacific, Prairies, East, and ICI Quebec, a partnership with Montreal ethnic television station International Channel/Canal International (ICI). OMNIs current local stations in Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary, and Vancouver would continue to operate as free over-the-air channels, as would ICIs local station in Montreal. But inclusion in basic TV packages could give the broadcaster millions of dollars in added yearly revenue, which currently comes solely from advertising. Money was the main reason OMNI cancelled money-losing newscasts and slashed 110 jobs at its multicultural channels last year, Watson said, adding the newscasts cost about $9 million but only brought in $3.9 million of advertising revenue. The new funding plan seeks 12 cents a month per subscriber. Rogers cited CRTC figures that pegged TV subscribers at 11.6 million in 2014. The 12 cents is a complete break-even, she said, noting the revived newscasts would still cost about $9 million. As for how many positions the restored newscasts would create, Watson said: its too early to say how many jobs (would be created) and what those jobs would be. If approved, Watson said OMNI can likely get the newscasts up and running in three to four months. The current affairs series introduced last year as a less costly alternative would remain as a key component of the new programming. The proposal also promises to devote 80 per cent of the schedule to ethnic programming 20 per cent more than currently while continuing to devote 50 per cent of the schedule to third-language programming. It would also devote at least 40 per cent of annual revenues to the production of Canadian programming, re-establish in-house production in all of the markets served by OMNIs over-the-air stations, and create a national cultural affairs series produced in Alberta. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/06/2016 (2325 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. OTTAWA Finance Minister Bill Morneau is warning Britain that tens of thousands of jobs at Canadian firms in the United Kingdom are vulnerable because of the debate around the countrys potential exit from the European Union. Speaking to reporters in London, Morneau says Canadian companies with investments in the U.K. are anxious about the uncertainty caused by the so-called Brexit vote later this month. He says Canadian businesses that invested in the U.K. to access the European market may be forced to rethink their strategies. Finance Minister Bill Morneau speaks at the 'Canada Summit: Disrupting the Status Quo', in Toronto, Wednesday, June 8, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Eduardo Lima Morneau says Ottawa believes the U.K. is stronger as part of a united Europe which he adds is also better for the Canadian economy and the still-to-be-signed Canada-EU free trade deal. He says he hopes Britons will consider this as they make their decision in what is expected to be a close referendum. Last month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggested in an interview with Reuters news agency that it would be difficult for Britain to replicate its own version of the Canada-EU free trade deal, known as CETA. Morneau said Ottawa estimates CETA will create about a 20 per cent increase in trade and will deliver a 0.77 per cent annual boost to Canadas gross domestic product. Were watching in Canada and were anxious, Morneau said Tuesday. (Canadian businesses) see that the decision they took to invest in the United Kingdom in order to have the opportunity for the European market is now at risk, based on this decision. So, tens of thousands of employees people that are employed by Canadian businesses in the United Kingdom those people are more vulnerable as a result of this discussion. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/06/2016 (2325 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. VANCOUVER Health Canada has taken a step back from claims that W-18 is a synthetic opioid that is 100 times more powerful than fentanyl, now acknowledging more research is needed. The department issued a statement Tuesday clarifying its position on the drug after experts questioned widely circulated assertions about its potency and classification. Health Canada said it referred to W-18 as a synthetic opioid to align with multiple sources, including the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Abuse, and because the limited scientific information available compared it to morphine. However, doubts about this classification have been raised recently by a number of credible sources, the department said. It has been noted that, at present, while the only publicly available scientific report compares W-18 and related compounds to opioids, it does not determine whether or not W-18 binds to opioid receptors in the body, it said. The department is aware of ongoing studies to determine the mode of action of W-18 and will continue to assess new information as it becomes available. W-18 is a chemical created at the University of Alberta between 1977 and 1979 as part of a drug-design project aimed at creating a compound for pain relief. It was never produced commercially and the series was eventually shelved. Police and health officials have issued several warnings about the drug, which they say is extremely dangerous. Canada recently made it illegal to produce, possess, import, export or traffic W-18 after the substance was identified during several drug seizures. In a June 1 news release, Health Canada said W-18 can be 100 times stronger than fentanyl. But the inventor of W-18, Ed Knaus, has pointed out that he and other researchers who developed the drug never compared its potency to fentanyl. Health Canada said on Tuesday that the only publicly available report on W-18 is the 1984 patent application, which included a study that used mice to test the pain-relieving activity of the compound. The results were compared to several other drugs, including aspirin and morphine. The research found it takes 10,000 times more morphine than W-18 to produce the same analgesic effect in mice. Fentanyl is 100 times stronger than morphine. Therefore, if the research results are interpreted to mean W-18 is 10,000 times stronger than morphine, that would make the drug 100 times stronger than fentanyl. However, Bryan Roth, a pharmacologist at the University of North Carolina, has said the study results dont necessarily mean W-18 is 10,000 times more dangerous than morphine. He is conducting his own research on W-18. On Tuesday, Health Canada noted the limitations of the research but said the available data suggests a potentially severe risk for harm to individuals. In addition, the lack of data could lead users to rely on self-reported experiences and other information from user web forums, which may be inaccurate. Health Canada emphasized that it is not currently known whether overdose-reversing agent naloxone would be effective for someone who had taken W-18. However, administering naloxone would not hurt the person, and 911 should also be called for emergency medical assistance, it said. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/06/2016 (2325 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Westman will honour the victims of the Orlando shooting at several events planned throughout the city during Brandon Prides weeklong celebration of the LGBTTQ* community. Pride committee chair Ken Jackson said the massacre of 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando early Sunday has reverberated through the LGBTTQ* community in the area. Its shaken a lot of people up, Jackson said. Brandon Pride will host a moment of silence at 10 a.m. on Thursday at Brandon City Hall prior to the rainbow flag being raised. A vigil will also take place the night before at 8 p.m. at city hall. A Facebook post detailing the event said that it is important to come together and process this hate crime together. The shooting in Orlando and the subsequent arrest of another man who was armed and headed to a Pride parade in Los Angeles ignited fears of violence closer to home, according to Jackson. We have a good relationship with the Brandon police, who help us with the march, he said. If we had any inclination that lives were at risk, we would definitely take cancelling events into consideration. At the same time, we dont want to let perpetrators of such an act force us to cancel everything. In that case, fear and hatred win. The shooting, which has been deemed a terrorist act by the United States government, took a dark turn yesterday when several prominent U.S. politicians were accused of politicizing the massacre. Some of the comments coming out of the United States, especially during an election, are disheartening, Jackson said. This shouldnt be a political issue, it should be a human issue. This is no time for politics, but at the same time this reminds us that there is still a long way to go in the world when it comes to acceptance of individuals across the board. The rhetoric that has been aimed at the LGBTTQ* and Muslim communities the shooter pledged allegiance to ISIS in a 911 call during the attack, according to several reports isnt healthy, according to Jackson. This is a human story at its heart, Jackson said. I fear that some of those platforms end up dividing a nation more than they do uniting everyone. For many in the LGBTTQ* community, it has been a long struggle to find their voice in a society that has become increasingly accepting, but which wasnt always the case, according to Jackson. The Orlando shooting only reinforces the importance of those voices. Events as horrific as these shouldnt force anyone back into a closet, he said. I dont know how many individuals who were lost werent out to their families and friends, but I hate the fact that the horrific act of one man would force anyone back into that closet. Jackson said he has seen the needle move in Westman when it comes to tolerance and acceptance of the LGBTTQ* community. He hopes Pride Week provides an opportunity for everyone to grieve in a safe environment. Brandon Pride is actively looking into making sure our events go ahead as planned but making sure our community and our allies are safe, Jackson said. ctweed@brandonsun.com Twitter: @CharlesTweed Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/06/2016 (2325 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Well-known and respected Brandon University professor emeritus Bill Paton has died at the age of 72. Patons career spanned four decades at BU, and he was a strong advocate for environmental issues in Brandon. He had a passion for science, politics and music. As news broke on Monday of Patons sudden passing, there was an outpouring of grief from the Westman community. The Brandon Sun Archives Longtime Brandon University biology professor Bill Paton gestures during a meeting in this undated Brandon Sun photograph. I learned so much from him over the years, said Coun. Kris Desjarlais (Rosser). He treated everyone with such respect and dignity, and at the same time fought so hard for his beliefs, for the environment, for Brandon. Desjarlais sang alongside Paton in the Prairie Blend Mens Choir since 2003. Desjarlais described Patons tremendous spirit and the camaraderie that the group shared with him. Desjarlais said Paton kept the City of Brandons feet to the fire when it came to environmental practices and policies. I dont know where we would be without him, and I dont know how were going to fill that void now that hes gone, he said. Were all in shock We loved him and will miss him dearly. Deanna Ginn, conductor of the Prairie Blend choir, described Paton as a generous, kind-hearted and loyal man. She recalled when she first met him more than 20 years ago, when she was studying music at Brandon University. When I first met him, I thought he was very stern and serious, but once I got to know him I realized he just really liked for things to be done very well, Ginn said. He became an avid choral musician in Brandon, and he became a friend to me in my adulthood for sure, and as a member of Prairie Blend, part of our big musical family. Paton was born in 1944 and raised in rural Scotland. He joined BUs department of botany (later biology) in 1974. Paton taught more than 20 different courses in his time at the university. He was a driving force in the establishment of the long-running HortLine, which launched in 1976 and developed into a popular call-in show on CKLQ radio. Paton said it was through the HortLine that Dutch elm disease was discovered to have moved into Manitoba in the mid-1970s. His extensive community service contributions led to the Community Service Award from the Brandon University Board of Governors in 2000. Submitted Longtime Brandon University professor Bill Paton retired in 2014 after 40 years. Dr. Paton became the best-known face and voice of the Faculty of Science and Brandon University, said Austin Gulliver, acting dean of science, in a statement released by the university. Bill is remembered fondly by his many students and colleagues for the multitude of contributions he made to their lives and careers. We have lost a great friend, colleague and advocate. Paton was one of the organizers in Brandons first celebration of Earth Day in 1991. He served several terms as chair of botany, one term as chair of biology, and was the acting chair of the Department of Nursing and Health Studies for one year, and the agriculture adviser for more than 30 years. BU professor emeritus John Rice, a longtime colleague and friend, said the passing of Paton is an incredible loss for the community and described Paton as a solid, loyal friend. He was someone that I always knew when I met him that I was meeting someone that I felt a great affinity for He was very intelligent and educated, Rice said. I often would take his advice on all sorts of things. While they may have disagreed politically at times, Rice recalls being able to talk through those differences and got along very well. Rice admired how Paton was so community-involved, and was a real Brandonite. An awful lot of people saw Bill as a bit of a firebrand, but he really wasnt, Rice said. He had his views and he expressed them very strongly, but when you actually talked to him about most of the things that he was concerned about he was actually a very conservative environmentalist. He really knew what he was talking about. Paton retired in December 2014, but that didnt slow him down. He continued to sing in local choirs, was involved in a series of television programs on the local community access channel, as well as local theatre. His wife, Eileen Paton, fondly looked back on their life together, from their first meeting at a university dance in Scotland. After writing to each other for a year, they finally had their first date. They married in the late 1960s. He believed in telling the truth, and being open and honest with people, Eileen said. He believed in helping other people with his knowledge. The Brandon Sun Archives Longtime Brandon University biology professor Bill Paton points out a tumour on the gill of a pickerel fish taken from the Assiniboine River in this Brandon Sun file photo from October 1989. At that time, Paton warned that the cancerous tumours could have been evidence of chemical contamination in the water. Paton was involved many scientific associations. At the time of his death, he was chair of the Canadian Environmental Association, and was in the midst of organizing a conference in B.C. for the fall. He also had been getting involved in getting his message out there to people who want to better understand scientific facts, and breaking them down to a level that people like me can understand, Eileen said of his local TV access programs. He believed in living life to the full, had no qualms about when death comes, it happens, and youve got to make the most of the moment. jaustin@brandonsun.com Twitter: @jillianaustin Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/06/2016 (2325 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A man recently arrested when he was found at an RM of Whitehead home with guns and stolen property is wanted for a series of crimes across Western Canada. We have a total of well over a dozen files here, Crown attorney Deidre Badcock said in Brandon provincial court during a bail hearing on Monday. Weve got someone who has been, what the Crown is suggesting, has been engaged in criminal activity for the last number of months, criss-crossing across three jurisdictions that we know of. Jeffrey Edward Canada, 30, faces a drug production charge and numerous counts of possession of stolen property and weapons charges in connection with a search at a rural home on May 31. Hes also charged with identity fraud, possession of property obtained by crime and theft of a motor vehicle in relation to a BMW bought using a stolen cheque. While the allegations against him spread across Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, Canada has ties to Boissevain and his Facebook page lists him as a Brandon resident. The allegations against him havent been proven and hes presumed innocent. His arrest came after RCMP were contacted by police in Saskatchewan who were searching for a man wanted in connection with trafficking stolen vehicles. Police had the name of a suspect and his cellphone information and, with the help of the service provider, Rogers, used it to ping the phones location which turned out to be the RM of Whitehead. Brandon RCMP went to the co-ordinates of the home, and were warned that the wanted man may be armed and dangerous as he was also a suspect in armed robberies in Edmonton. Mounties peacefully arrested the man who answered the door for a warrant issued for an armed robbery out of Vermillion, Alta. Inside the home, they found 30 marijuana plants growing in the basement. They also found two unsecured rifles (one of them loaded), and a pair of unsecured shotguns (one of them loaded and hidden in the seat cushions of the couch.) Two ATVs and a utility trailer stolen from Brandon were also found on the property. Investigators now believe that the same man is responsible for a series of crimes that date back to January. Hes wanted on warrants for some of those offences, while in at least one case no charges have been laid yet. Among the crimes hes accused of: The theft of a TV from an Edmonton hotel room on Jan. 31. The suspect was driving a black 2015 Lincoln Navigator previously stolen from Humboldt, Sask. An armed robbery at a Vermillion gas station Feb. 14, another at an Edmonton pizza shop on Feb. 15, and a third at an Edmonton hotel on March 15. In each case, the suspect was armed with a handgun. The stolen Navigator was used as the getaway car in at least two of the robberies. A gas and dash in Saskatoon involving an Audi A4 stolen from Edmonton. The suspect bought tires for the Audi from a Brandon business three days after it went missing. Its alleged that he later sold the car online for $4,500 through Kijiji, but the buyer got suspicious and ended up identifying the suspect to police using a photo lineup. The theft of blank bills of sale from a Red Deer, Alta., car dealership. Its alleged that the documents were used to register stolen vehicles in Saskatchewan. A forgery and fraud committed in Brandon on May 15, 2016, in which the suspect bought a 2008 BMW from a business using a cheque that was in a truck previously stolen from Saskatoon. The BMW is later advertised online at Kijiji and sold in Saskatchewan for $6,500. The attempted sale on Kijiji of at least one of two dirtbikes stolen in Saskatchewan. The theft of a trailer from Souris. It was found in Regina and used to haul the BMW with a truck stolen from Winnipeg. Badcock, however, said that despite their number, the crimes were unsophisticated. For example, except for the robbery at the Edmonton hotel, the suspect didnt wear a mask, and witnesses would later pick him out of police photo lineups. At one point he provided an email address to the would-be buyer of the stolen motorcycle that contained his own full name. He also provided the cellphone number that was pinged off cellphone towers to find his location for his arrest on May 31. Police also used the technique to place him near the scene of the Edmonton hotel robbery around that time. Also, in many cases, the crimes were caught on video surveillance, and police compared photos of their suspect to those images. Noting that the accused was on an order to live in Saskatoon while the above crimes were committed, Judge John Combs denied his release during Mondays bail hearing. Canada will appear in court next on June 23. ihitchen@brandonsun.com Twitter: @IanHitchen Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/06/2016 (2325 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. HALIFAX Jennifer Watts thinks Halifax council needs something that has been missing for almost a generation: diversity. Last fall, after two successful terms, the councillor announced she would not seek re-election in her north-end district. Watts reasoned the all-white, three-quarters male and predominately older council did not reflect the city it serves. Halifax regional council has had but one non-white member serve within its ranks since its inception in 1996 Graham Downey, who until 2000 represented the north end, home to one of Nova Scotias oldest black populations. This is in a city that, according to the 2006 census, has a visible minority population of 7.5 per cent, about half of it black. Lindell Smith, community activist and political hopeful, is shown in Halifax on Friday, April 29, 2016.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan While not endorsing any candidate, Watts has made it clear she thinks council needs to make room for new voices. Unless politicians stand aside to let others come forward, it is difficult for people to enter the political arena, or even think about doing it themselves, Watts says. Theyll have a lot to learn, but theyll also bring the strength of their perspective. Watts abdication has set up a battle for the Oct. 15 election in which two political rookies appear to be front-runners. Both candidates, one white and one black, have pushed equity issues to the fore, giving voice to millennials dissatisfaction with the incremental change they see as politics of the past. I dont think the city is ready to have that conversation when it comes to race, but its being forced, says Lindell Smith, a 26-year-old African-Nova Scotian. It shouldnt be something they should be scared of. Smith works as a community assistant at the library around the corner from his childhood home on Gottingen Street, or Got-a-gun Street, as he remembers it growing up. He co-founded a recording studio for youth in the area, and has won multiple awards for community service. Smith will officially launch his run for city council on Thursday, but his candidacy has been generating buzz for months. Solidarity Halifax, a local social justice organization, withdrew its white candidate for the district in recognition of the historic significance of Lindell Smiths candidacy. In the background of this conversation is the forced relocation of black residents from Africville, at the northern tip of the district Smith seeks to represent, which was ordered razed by city council in the late 1960s. Many former residents and their descendants still live in the area. Forty years after the last home in the neighbourhood was bulldozed, the city offered a formal apology in 2010 as part of a multi-million-dollar settlement with its former residents. African Nova Scotian communities have a history of being destroyed, being left out in the progression, Smith says. What government likes to say, Sorry, we make mistakes? And we could possibly do it again.' Recently, the north end has faced a more gradual change: gentrification. First came the trendsetters, then the cafes, then the condo developers. It is now home to lush-bearded baristas and the sort of restaurants national magazines take notice of. The old and the new coexist side-by-side, sometimes literally on top of each other. On Gottingen, the districts main drag, the headquarters of a BMO-sponsored music festival shares a wall with a community health centre on one side and a condemned building on the other. According to federal housing reports, the average price of rent has increased by 67 per cent since 1997. Smith fears the people who built the community will be priced out of homes they have lived in for years. No matter what, theres going to be some sort of displacement when it comes to revitalizing the community, Smith says. If things continue the way theyre continuing now, were going to lose the heritage. Smiths main opponent, Brenden Sommerhalder, works for the citys downtown business commission as its director of marketing. He debuted his campaign in the spring with a satirical play, Flat Fee: A Tale of Two Bureaucracies, in a tribute to Charles Dickens. A native Winnipegger, the crisply dressed, bearded Sommerhalder is, in Maritime parlance, a come-from-away. Since moving to the north end eight years ago, he says he has embraced it as his home. Thus far, the back-and-forth between Smith and Sommerhalder has been studiously cordial. Sommerhalder tweeted that his political rival makes some important points. Were richer for having his perspective in the election. Sommerhalder is in a tricky position. There is no doubt in his mind that under-representation of racial minorities on council is an institutional problem, and says if elected, it will be his vigorous intent to empower the unheard. But theres no getting around the fact that hes white. Its not a good enough solution to try to replace a single individual with another individual, he says. Its clear to me by the lack of racial diversity on our council, that there is something about the way our democracy and governments work that is excluding people from the process. Sommerhalder says that its no one districts job to tackle what he sees as a systemically rooted city-wide issue. He has pledged to follow Wattss lead and step down after two terms so as not to perpetuate the status quo. Smith is not the only African Nova Scotian running. Virginia Hinch, an officer for the citys housing authority, is also a contender in the north-end district, making soaring rents a centrepiece of her campaign. At least two other black candidates have announced they are running elsewhere in the municipality, in Preston and north Dartmouth. Smith isnt making lofty campaign promises. He says he knows he cant fix the communitys problems in a single city council motion, but says change begins with a seat at the table. What I would love to see is for the community to feel confident that their voices are being heard, he says. Now youre talking about city issues that you usually didnt talk about. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/06/2016 (2325 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. HAMILTON The accused killers of a Hamilton man whose remains were found burned beyond recognition face another murder trial next year in the death of a young woman. But a judge in Hamilton did not allow any mention of the upcoming proceedings during the lengthy trial of Dellen Millard and Mark Smich, who are accused of killing Tim Bosma and torching his body in an animal incinerator three years ago. Both Millard, 30, of Toronto, and Smich, 28, of Oakville, Ont., have pleaded not guilty to the murder charges in the death of Bosma, who disappeared on May 6, 2013 after taking two men for a test drive in a truck he was trying to sell online. Tim Bosma's parents, Hank and Mary Bosma, take a break outside of the John Sopinka Courthouse in Hamilton on Tuesday, June 14, 2016 while the jury deliberates on their son's murder trial. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Peter Power The two men who court heard first met via drug dealing and later committed missions together, code name for thefts are also charged with first-degree murder in the death of Laura Babcock, a 23-year-old woman from Toronto who disappeared in the summer of 2012. Police says Babcock, whose body was never found, was romantically involved with Millard. The trial into her slaying is expected to begin early next year. Smichs lawyer, Thomas Dungey, said his client intends to plead not guilty to those charges. Millard did not respond to a request for comment, but at a court appearance for that case early this year, he said he intends to represent himself at trial. Millard also faces first-degree murder charges in the death of his father, Wayne Millard, in November 2012, which was initially deemed a suicide. A date for that trial hasnt been set yet. The circumstances of Bosmas disappearance and the massive search for the married father of a two-year-old girl made headlines across the country. The graphic testimony during the trial, which often prompted Bosmas widow and other family members to burst into tears or rush out of the courtroom, hogged headlines in Ontario for months. Millard chose not to testify, so the jury didnt hear him talk about his friend and co-accused. Smich, who did take the stand, described the relationship in detail. The two first met after Millard called Smich looking to buy drugs, Smich testified, describing himself as a small-time drug dealer. As time went on, our bond was stronger and I felt like he was a brother to me, Smich said of Millard. On the surface, the two had vastly different backgrounds. Millard was the heir to an aviation empire Millardair that his grandfather started more than 50 years ago. He owned numerous real estate properties in and around Toronto, several cars, trucks, planes and a helicopter. Court heard Millard travelled the world and once competed in the famous Baja off-road race in Mexico. Smich testified he was broke, sold drugs as his only means of income and held odd jobs throughout his life. He said he also worked for Millard in odd jobs that ranged from painting his friends house in western Toronto to doing manual labour at the hangar in Waterloo, Ont. Millard would sometimes pay him in weed, shoes or would cover his cellphone bills, Smich said. The two bonded over video games, he added, and would play Halo for hours on end with other friends at Millards house. They often partied together. We both liked to smoke weed and hang out, Smich testified. Smich also told court they stole together, from trees to trailers to a skid steer a small loading vehicle used in construction. One time, he said, after the two enjoyed chicken wings and beer in a restaurant, they stole a floor polisher that was in the bed of a pickup truck in the parking lot. Smich said neither knew what it was, but they stole it anyway. The tight friendship changed at some point after Bosmas death, court heard. Smich testified it was Millard who shot and killed Bosma in his truck and then burned his body. He said he helped cover the crime because he was terrified of his lunatic friend. Millards lawyer, meantime, says Smich accidentally killed Bosma while he was trying to steal his truck. Millard didnt mince words in secret jailhouse letters that he sent to his girlfriend, Christina Noudga. In one letter from the summer of 2013, read out in court, Millard said Smich screwed up the truck robbery and he only helped clean up his mess. In another letter, Millard wrote: And treacherous Mark; got himself charged by trying to put it on me. Follow @liamdevlincasey on Twitter Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/06/2016 (2325 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. OTTAWA On the federal governments assisted dying bill, the Senate has done precisely what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wanted it to do: provide independent, non-partisan sober second thought. But will senators stick to their guns if, as expected, the government rejects their most significant amendment, deleting the requirement that the end of a persons life must already be close in order to qualify for an assisted death? Frankly, its unpredictable, Conservative Senate leader Claude Carignan said in an interview. A number of different factions, which cross party lines, have developed during debate on Bill C-14, Carignan pointed out: Senators who believe the near-death proviso is unconstitutional and that the Senate has a duty to refuse to pass the bill unless and until that provision is removed. Senators who think the unelected upper chamber must eventually bow to the will of the elected House of Commons. Senators who are morally opposed to the very idea of medical assistance in dying and are likely to vote against the bill, no matter how it is, or is not, amended. Senators who believe C-14 is flawed but are likely to conclude that its better than having no criminal law at all governing assisted dying. Its possible, Carignan said, that senators with opposing viewpoints will come together for different reasons to defeat the bill much as happened in 1989, when pro-life and pro-choice senators, for polar opposite reasons, voted against an abortion bill that had narrowly passed the Commons. Canada has been without an abortion law ever since. It could happen, he said. How senators will respond depends to some extent on how the government manages our amendments, Carignan added, noting that the government ignored the recommendations of the special joint parliamentary committee on assisted dying and the report of the Senate committee that conducted a pre-study of C-14. I dont know how many senators will just say, Look, thats enough.' However, even if the government cavalierly dismisses the Senates amendments, independent Sen. Frances Lankin said that wouldnt be sufficient reason for senators to dig in their heels and stray from a reasoned and thorough response. Right now Im leaning towards accepting what comes back from the duly elected Parliament, said Lankin, who voted in favour of deleting the near-death proviso. While she personally believes the bill is unconstitutional, Lankin said the government vehemently disagrees and legal experts are divided so, ultimately, that will have to be settled by the courts. The Senate could, she added, urge the government to refer the bill, once passed, to the Supreme Court to test its constitutionality. As far as Conservative Sen. David Wells is concerned, deleting the near-death requirement is an important issue but its not a critical issue. He said he wont insist on it should the government, as expected, reject the amendment. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/06/2016 (2325 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. BROSSARD, Que. The father of a young girl who suffered horrific injuries when she was mauled by a pit bull is lauding a Montreal-area citys intention to ban the breed. These regulations will lead to lives being saved and will help avoid attacks, Bernard Biron said Tuesday. Children have the right to play in a park without being scared of being attacked by an animal. Athena the pit bull, who is up for adoption, is shown at the Montreal SPCA on Tuesday, June 14, 2016. Montreal-area community where an eight-year-old girl was attacked by a pit bull last year is planning to prohibit any new such dogs or crossbreeds on its territory. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Ryan Remiorz Biron was attending a news conference alongside Brossard Mayor Paul Leduc, who said he hopes the city will implement the ban as of July 5. It would also extend to any dogs that are part pit bull. The bylaw would allow current pit-bull owners to keep their dogs but they will have to register the animal and make sure it has a licence. The canine will require a microchip and a muzzle and will not be allowed in parks. Owners will also be required to have insurance liability coverage of at least $250,000. Brossard has seven declared pit bulls on its territory and no new ones will be allowed. Leduc said violators will face heavy fines, although he did not know how much they will be. Biron expressed hope that Premier Philippe Couillard and Public Security Minister Martin Coiteux will adopt a similar plan for the entire province. He said his daughter Vanessa is getting better after last Septembers attack in a Brossard park. Shes doing fine despite everything that happened, he said. Shes very brave. The girl, who was 8 at the time, suffered a fractured skull and a broken hand. The muscles on the left side of her face were savagely mauled and she had seven fractures to a bone in her cheek. The proposed ban is the result of the vicious attack on the girl and comes a week after a 55-year-old Montreal woman was found dead after being attacked by a pit bull. The dog escaped from a nearby residence before it attacked Christiane Vadnais. Ontario adopted a provincewide ban on pit bulls about 10 years ago. They are also forbidden in several municipalities in Quebec and across Canada. Already have an account? Log in here GATINEAU, Que. - Canada's telecom regulator is teaming up with enforcement agencies outside the country to beef up the fight against electronic spam. We need your support! Local journalism needs your support! As we navigate through unprecedented times, our journalists are working harder than ever to bring you the latest local updates to keep you safe and informed. Now, more than ever, we need your support. Starting at $4.99/month you can access your Brandon Sun online and full access to all content as it appears on our website. or call circulation directly at (204) 727-0527. Your pledge helps to ensure we provide the news that matters most to your community! Already have an account? Log in here OTTAWA - A book of condolence will be available in Ottawa for Canadians wanting to express their sympathy over the mass shooting at an Orlando, Fla., nightclub. We need your support! Local journalism needs your support! As we navigate through unprecedented times, our journalists are working harder than ever to bring you the latest local updates to keep you safe and informed. Now, more than ever, we need your support. Starting at $4.99/month you can access your Brandon Sun online and full access to all content as it appears on our website. or call circulation directly at (204) 727-0527. Your pledge helps to ensure we provide the news that matters most to your community! Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/06/2016 (2325 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. HALIFAX The son of a decorated 94-year-old war veteran says hes shocked after receiving word that Petter Blindheim has been rejected once again in his bid to stay in one of 13 beds available at the federally funded Camp Hill Veterans Memorial hospital in Halifax. Peter Blendheim, whose first and last names are spelled differently from his fathers, said Mondays decision leaves him wondering how to provide safe care for the frail veteran of the Norwegian Royal Navy, who is set to receive Norways Commemorative Medal in a ceremony on Thursday. The sad end to this might be that he does break his hip. Its ridiculous, he said. Petter Blindheim is seen in his home in Halifax on Friday, June 3, 2016. A family's bid to gain entry to a veterans' hospital for a 94-year-old man decorated for his service in the Second World War has been rejected. THE CANADIAN PRESS The family has conducted a lengthy public battle to gain entry to the hospital for the former merchant mariner, who has recently sustained a series of falls and has a broken arm. Family members say Blindheim was initially rejected because Ottawa said it didnt admit people who served in resistance forces, but Veterans Affairs officials later retreated from that position and told the son that the Norwegian veterans qualified as full allied veterans. The son says he was then informed Blindheim had to show he required specialized care that couldnt be provided by a provincially operated nursing home. Blendheim says he was told Monday his father failed to meet that standard. Instead, the family is being told to apply to enter a provincial long-term care facility, with Ottawa reimbursing the province for the daily costs. A spokesman for the Nova Scotia Health Authority said the current median wait for a nursing home bed in the Halifax area is 285 days. A spokesman for the provincial Health Department said Nova Scotia wants Ottawa to reconsider. Mr. Blindheim wants to be in Camp Hill with other veterans. We understand there are about a dozen vacancies at Camp Hill and encourage Veterans Affairs Canada to take another look at Mr. Blindheims situation, said the emailed statement from spokesman Tony Kiritsis. Blendheim worries now that his father may fall or hurt himself at night as hes waiting for approval for a bed and begins an appeal process to enter Camp Hill that could take months. He also says the family believes the allied veterans deserve the same quality of care as the disabled Canadian veterans who can gain admission to Camp Hill, especially as their overall numbers dwindle rapidly. The Nova Scotia Health Authority says the beds at the highly regarded Camp Hill hospital are subsidized to a level of about $400 per day, while the average provincial bed costs $250 daily. Lets look after the last allied veterans. Weve made awful restrictions for them to get in. Weve made it almost impossible but lets ease it up because now theres room. Now we dont have hundreds of Canadian veterans going there, said Blendheim. The regulation has not adapted to our current situation. Meanwhile, the NDP went after the Liberal government during question period in the House of Commons on Tuesday, asking why Blindheim was being refused entry to the hospital based on a technicality. Thomas Mulcair accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of breaking his governments election promises to treat veterans more fairly, citing the Halifax case. Trudeau said the Liberals will respect a solemn obligation to help veterans when they face difficulties. That is what we are working on very hard. Our minister of Veteran Affairs is collaborating with veterans groups to make sure we deliver the services they deserve, he said. Veteran Affairs minister Kent Hehr said in a telephone interview that he cant comment on the Blindheim case. Asked if he could provide a rationale on why allied veterans had to overcome the added requirements of showing a need for care not available in provincial facilities, he said the policy has worked well in the past. This policy has existed for decades and in the vast majority of cases has worked very well for veterans and their families who are getting access to more care in more cases across Canada, he said. We cant always accommodate a veterans specific request but we do pay for any level of care they need in a provincially run and mandated facility. Hehr also said in a statement that as a cabinet minister, he has to deliver programs within the legal authorities granted by Parliament. In the case of Long Term Care, I have no ministerial authority to work outside of those parameters, says the statement. Petter Blindheim was commended by the Royal Norwegian Navy for his courage when a torpedo sank a vessel he was serving on in November 1942. After torpedoes struck the Montbretia, Blindheim ran to the deck and removed a primer from the depth charges he oversaw to help ensure they wouldnt go off and kill sailors in the water as the ship sank. After the war, he emigrated to Canada. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/06/2016 (2325 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale says the federal government rejects the idea of allowing hunters to use the same type of military-style assault rifle involved in a mass shooting in Florida. Last month, Conservative MP Bob Zimmer presented a petition to Parliament on behalf of the Lawful Firearm Owners of Canada that calls for the classification of the AR-15 rifle to be changed from a restricted firearm to a non-restricted one. The petition, launched by a man who says Canadian hunters want to be able to use the popular semi-automatic rifle, was signed by more than 25,000 people, mainly from Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia. Goodale says the Liberal government will present a formal written reply to the petition, but he made it clear there is no intention of changing the weapons classification. The position of the government of Canada is that this judgment needs to be left in the hands of the professionals in the police authorities, who are by far in the best position to make these judgment calls based upon their expertise, Goodale said in Ottawa on Tuesday. The request has been made to change the classification, but our position is no, that the existing classification will remain. Marc Bennett, the man from Corner Brook, N.L., who launched the petition, was not immediately available for comment. The AR-15 is a civilian model of the M16 rifle used by the U.S. army and has been used to carry out other mass slayings, including the 2012 killing of 20 children and six adults in Newtown, Conn. One of the top-selling rifles in the U.S., the AR-15s variations are used by some military and police forces around the world. The restricted classification means that most Canadians can only use it at a gun range. In the petition, Bennett said the federal government changed the rifles classification to restricted in the mid 1990s purely because of the way it looks. The petition said the AR-15 isnt more dangerous or different than thousands of other firearms in Canada. The rifle is the most versatile hunting rifle in the world, the petition reads. The Armalite Rifle 15 was in fact legal to hunt with before the 1990s firearm classification changes and we hunters would like that opportunity restored. Goodale said the decision to classify the AR-15 as a restricted weapon was made by RCMP firearms experts. That decision should not be second-guessed by politicians, he said. The argument, the professional judgment has been made by the RCMP, and I would not see any argument on the merits to change that. People wanting to buy an AR-15 in Canada must have a firearms licence that includes restricted weapons and involves passing a safety course. They must also have authorization from their provinces chief firearms officer to transport the gun to a shooting range, gun show, gunsmith or a few other permitted locations. Zimmer, the MP for Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies in British Columbia, did not respond to requests for comment. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 13/06/2016 (2326 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. OTTAWA The Senate has rejected a proposal to allow individuals who are diagnosed with competence-eroding conditions like dementia to make advance requests for medical help to end their lives. By a vote of 47-23, with two abstentions, senators rejected late Monday an amendment that would have added the right to make advance directives to the federal governments proposed new law on assisted dying. The amendment, proposed by the Senates independent Liberal leader, James Cowan, would have allowed individuals to spell out the circumstances in which they would want an assisted death at some future time when theyre no longer competent or able to communicate their wishes. Cowans proposal was a step too far for many senators, who are already on a collision course with the government over their decision last week to knock out the central pillar underpinning Bill C-14: the proviso that medical assistance in dying be available only to suffering Canadians who are near death. We are risking, with a plethora of amendments, losing credibility in the (House of Commons), Conservative Sen. Dennis Patterson warned during prolonged debate on advance requests. Let us venture onto this new ground with caution and with full knowledge of all the implications and nuances of such a complex issue as advance directives This amendment, I say with respect, will rush to a conclusion on a very complex issue. C-14 does not include a provision for advance directives but it commits the government to launch a study into that issue within six months. The Senate is expected to consider another amendment Tuesday which would put an end date on the study, guaranteeing that it would not simply drag on without resolution for years. While the Supreme Court did not address the issue of advance requests when it struck down the ban on assisted dying last year, Cowan argued that parliamentarians have a responsibility to anticipate future court challenges to C-14. By failing to include advance directives, he said C-14 discriminates against individuals on the basis of their disease. Canadians are looking to us to fill what they see as a gaping hole in this bill, Cowan said, adding that senators have received more emails on advance requests than any other subject. They see it as a matter of personal autonomy and personal choice. I agree. However, many senators appeared to be disturbed by a question posed by independent Liberal Sen. Art Eggleton, for which no one had a definitive answer. Let us say somebody is diagnosed with dementia, decides at that point in time while theyre still competent that they want to make an advance request, determines at that point a stage at which they think that request should be carried out, Eggleton said. What if that time comes and the person, although not considered competent at that point in time, does have some sense of the difference between life and death and says that they do not want to die? Cowan said his sense is that the request would not be carried out under those circumstances. But the lack of certainty clearly unnerved some senators. Although he supports the notion of advance directives, independent Sen. Murray Sinclair said Cowans amendment is an example of how doing the right thing in haste can cause us to do the wrong thing. Senators also rejected a sub-amendment by Sen. Pamela Wallin, which would have allowed any consenting adult, whether or not theyve been diagnosed with a grievous medical condition, to spell out in advance the circumstances in which they would want medical help to end their lives. Her proposal was aimed at ensuring assisted dying could be an option for those who lose mental capacity suddenly due to a stroke or accident or for those who have already lost the ability to make an informed choice by the time theyre formally diagnosed. The need for a diagnosis excludes a whole group, Wallin argued. It begs the question why is the end of life so much more important in this debate than the end of any quality of life? In other words, for those who choose a quality of life, why can they not have a voice in how they live their life or end it? C-14 would allow assisted dying only for consenting adults in an advanced stage of irreversible decline from a serious and incurable disease, illness or disability and for whom natural death is reasonably foreseeable. Thats more restrictive than the criteria spelled out by the Supreme Court, which directed that medical assistance in dying should be available to clearly consenting, competent adults with grievous and irremediable medical conditions that are causing enduring suffering that they find intolerable. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/06/2016 (2325 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. OTTAWA Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke with President Barack Obama on Tuesday to offer condolences for the loss of life in the mass shooting in Orlando on the weekend. The Prime Ministers Office said Trudeau reaffirmed Canadas solidarity with the people of Orlando, families and friends of the victims and the LGBTQ community. He and Obama agreed on the importance of fighting hate and intolerance, and the need to promote and protect pluralism and diversity. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau embraces Ambassador of the United States to Canada Bruce Heyman at the United States embassy, in Ottawa on Tuesday, June 14, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld Obama said he was grateful to the people of Canada for their support. He also expressed condolences for the killing of Robert Hall by the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group in the Philippines. The two men said they will continue working together in the fight against terrorism. On Tuesday evening, Trudeau paid a visit to the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa to pay his condolences for the victims of the Orlando shooting. Once inside the ambassadors office, Trudeau sat at a glass-topped table and leafed slowly through a book of condolence with Sophie Gregoire Trudeau standing to his right and U.S. Ambassador Bruce Heyman seated to his left. Being friends is about celebrating in the good times, but even more about being able to lean on each other during the toughest times. Des grands amis, toujours, Trudeau wrote in the book. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/06/2016 (2325 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. TORONTO A prominent securities lawyer breached the rules for civil behaviour during his aggressive defence of a man charged in the 1990s billion-dollar Bre-X mining fiasco, Ontarios top court ruled Tuesday. In a split decision, the court sided with the society that regulates the legal profession in Ontario in finding Joe Groia went too far. The requirement of professionalism for lawyers, both inside and outside a courtroom, including zealous advocacy accompanied by courtesy, civility and good faith dealings, secures the nobility of the profession in which lawyers in this province are privileged to practise, the Appeal Court said. This requirement was breached in this case. The decision is the latest in an epic battle between Groia, who successfully defended the only person charged in the history-making securities scandal, and the Law Society of Upper Canada, which at one point suspended him for two months and ordered him to pay $247,000 in costs later reduced to one month suspension and $200,000. Among other things, the societys disciplinary panel faulted the Toronto lawyer for repeatedly slagging the prosecution. It also cited critical comments judges made during the labyrinthine hearings against his client, Bre-X vice-president John Felderhof, who was ultimately acquitted of fraud. To say that theprosecution against Mr. Felderhof was complex, protracted and exceptionally acrimonious significantly understates the time-consuming, stressful and confrontational climate that rapidly infected the proceeding, said Justice Eleanor Cronk in writing for the majority. Records show one judge involved in the Bre-X case said Groia was prone to rhetorical excess and sarcasm and petulant invective, while another said he engaged in guerilla theatre. Groia, who said the misconduct finding against him would dampen the vigour with which lawyers defend their clients in tough cases, lost an initial appeal to Divisional Court. He then turned to the Court of Appeal, where several legal groups intervened on one side or the other. Groia argued the law society should not, for the most part, discipline lawyers for uncivil conduct in court. He insisted he only did what he had to do defending his client against a no-holds-barred prosecution, and that he shouldnt have been called to account for how he went at it. The majority on the Appeal Court disagreed. Participants in litigation and the public have a legitimate right to expect that the advocates duty of zealous advocacy will be tempered by the overriding duty to adhere to all the standards of the profession, including the duty to act with courtesy and civility and in good faith, the court said. An advocates duty to his or her client does not permit the advocate to act unprofessionally. In a lengthy dissenting opinion, Justice David Brown disagreed with the majority in how to determine when a barristers in-court conduct amounts to professional misconduct because it is uncivil. Essentially, Brown said, the law society appeal panel ignored the trial judges rulings in deciding Groias behaviour amounted to misconduct. Although this court described Mr. Groias rhetoric as improper and inappropriate, not once did the trial judge call Mr. Groia to task for his choice of language, Brown said. The Appeal Court awarded no costs given the issues of significant importance to the legal profession and the public. Groias lawyer, Earl Cherniak, said he would be asking the Supreme Court to get involved. The differences between the majority and dissent reasons set out in stark relief the central issue in the case who should regulate the conduct of lawyers defending or vindicating their clients rights in a court of law, Cherniak said. Investors lost billions when Canadian-based Bre-X collapsed in 1997 after claims of an Indonesian gold find turned out to be bogus. Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/06/2016 (2325 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. WASHINGTON In the hours after midnight Sunday in an Orlando nightclub, three of the most contentious questions in U.S. culture and politics gay rights, gun control and terrorism collided in a horrific way. It is not entirely clear what inspired Omar Mateen to commit the worst mass shooting in U.S. history or what might have been done to stop it. But it happened in a gay club, just two weeks shy of the first anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage, and on a weekend when cities across the country, including Washington, D.C., were holding Gay Pride festivals. It was perpetrated during the holy month of Ramadan by an American-born man whose family originally came from Afghanistan. Shortly before the attack, he reportedly made a 911 call pledging allegiance to the Islamic State. He did it with a handgun and an AR-15 the same semi-automatic rifle that was part of the arsenals used to kill 12 people in an Aurora, Colo., movie theatre in 2012; 20 first-graders and six adults later that year in Newtown, Conn., and 14 others at a holiday party in San Bernardino, Calif., last December. It has always been true that the toughest issues are those that pit our values against our fears. And in this tragedy, as with so many before it, both parties are certain to seek political leverage. Meanwhile, the countrys anxieties have been rekindled. In one sense, all of this seems so far out of control, you just wonder if theres any way of ever getting it under control, said George Pettice, an insurance agent from Charlotte, N.C. Do we now start locking ourselves up in our houses, afraid to go anywhere? Not since 9/11 has a moment such as this brought the nation together, and that evaporated quickly. Since then, calamity seems only to drive the left and the right further apart, while faith in the nations institutions deteriorates further. Across the ideological and partisan divide, it no longer seems possible to even explore much less agree upon causes and solutions. So the response has been to do nothing, except wait for the next tragedy. Although its still early in the investigation, we know enough to say that this was an act of terror and an act of hate, U.S. President Barack Obama said Sunday. And as Americans, we are united in grief, in outrage and in resolve to defend our people. Immediately after Obama left the White House briefing room, however, GOP nominee-in-waiting Donald Trump tweeted: Is President Obama going to finally mention the words radical Islamic terrorism? If he doesnt he should immediately resign in disgrace! While Obama refrained from speculating about whether Mateens religious beliefs might have been a factor in the rampage or even saying the word Islam he did appeal for tighter gun control. The shooter was apparently armed with a handgun and a powerful assault rifle, the president said. This massacre is therefore a further reminder of how easy it is for someone to get their hands on a weapon that lets them shoot people in a school, or in a house of worship, or a movie theatre, or in a nightclub. And we have to decide if thats the kind of country we want to be, Obama added. And to actively do nothing is a decision as well. Obamas comments reflected his frustration over the failure of his efforts to tighten the nations gun laws following the Newtown massacre. Recent polls suggest support for gun control is on the decline. Critics, however, would argue Obamas observation about doing nothing could also apply to failing to face up to the religious component of many acts of terrorism. If Muslim beliefs were behind the attack, said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), common sense tells you he specifically targeted the gay community because of the views that exist in the radical Islamic community with regard to the gay community. I think its something well have to talk about some more here, across the country, Rubio said. Others pointed out many other religions have no claim to moral superiority when it comes to their attitudes toward gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people. We want to get on the moral high ground when it comes to policing homophobia in other religions, ESPN commentator Jamele Hill, a former Orlando resident, said in an interview. Were not the ones to be engaging in this, as if we have always been supportive of these issues. History says just the opposite. Tough and intolerant rhetoric has often been a winner for politicians at times when Americans are worried about their security. Trump, who advocates putting a temporary ban on Muslims entering the U.S., saw his poll numbers rise significantly in the wake of the San Bernardino attack, as well as after a series of them in Paris last November. That may be why presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton struck a purposeful tone in her response to the Orlando mass shooting, although she, like Obama, did not make reference to a specific religion. For now, we can say for certain that we need to redouble our efforts to defend our country from threats at home and abroad, she said. That means defeating international terror groups, working with allies and partners to go after them wherever they are, countering their attempts to recruit people here and everywhere and hardening our defences at home. She, too, gave a nod to the need for tighter gun control, saying Orlando reminds us once more that weapons of war have no place on our streets. Yet there is danger in going too far to politicize a nations grief, even if that happens smack in the middle of a presidential election year. The key thing here is this was not a political event, said GOP pollster David Winston. It is a tragedy the country has to deal with. And perhaps, at some point, to demand a solution. The Washington Post Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/06/2016 (2325 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. If you favoured gun control, this was further evidence of the legislative failures to stop slaughter. If you were wary of Muslims, this was an opportunity to paint an entire faith as terrorists. If you supported gay rights, this was a hate crime targeting the LGBT community. Margaret Sullivan, The Washington Post Every time there is a mass shooting in the United States, the plethora of arguments from politicians, pundits, media notables and anyone remotely political are almost always the same. Blame guns. Dont blame guns, blame people. No, blame the system for failing to help mentally ill patients. Blame the homophobes. Blame poverty. Blame the bullies who hurt him in grade school. And if youre Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, blame the Islamic State and extremism, and accept congratulations from supporters in the immediate aftermath for being right. Theres always plenty of blame to go around, and plenty of finger-pointing from those who always retreat into their preferred political corners. And after so many deaths at the hands of so many gunmen, and after having watched so many chances at fixing the problem pass right on by, it has gotten to the point that partisans now face the walls and not each other, howling their oft-uttered mantras with their fingers stuck in their ears. It was this point that the Washington Post writer above was addressing when she penned her column. By Sunday afternoon, the world would learn that as many as 50 people had died and 53 more were injured at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., at the hands of Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old U.S. citizen of Afghan descent. Working as security guard in Florida, Mateen had been investigated by the FBI in 2013 and 2014 on suspicion of terrorist sympathies, but as reported by The Associated Press, they were unable to make a case against him. He was an abusive husband, according to his ex-wife, who attributed his violence to mental illness, saying he was bipolar. Mateens father chalked up his sons rampage to anti-gay hatred, saying that he seen two men kissing in Miami and became enraged. The Islamic State claimed Mateen as one of their own, one of the soldiers of the caliphate in America, though whether he was actually acting at the terrorist groups urging remained unclear. Mateen did, however, call 911 during his attack to pledge allegiance to ISIS. Mateen had purchased a Glock 17 handgun and a .223 AR-style Sig Sauer MCX semiautomatic rifle within the last week. The rifle was the same kind of weapon used to kill 16 people in San Bernardino, Calif., and in the slaying of 26 children and staffers at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. The news website The Daily Beast reported yesterday that Mateens name had been removed from two federal watch lists in 2014, after the FBI investigations were complete. But in the immediate information vacuum that followed news of the shooting on Sunday morning, partisan conjecture was front and centre. Of course, there is no way to fully separate politics from the deaths of so many people. Guns, terrorism and homophobia are three of the most divisive issues facing American society today. Roping all three together into the worst massacre in modern U.S. history has assured that this single event will play out as a major presidential election issue in the months to come. This is what passes for discourse in politics these days. Do countries like the U.S. and Canada need to be concerned about terrorism? No amount of counterterrorism actions would have prevented this. But sensible decisions by U.S. lawmakers could have. How about bringing the AR-15 back under a federal assault weapons ban, like that which expired in 2004? How about better background checks into those men and women who want to purchase weapons? And assuming that Mateen was indeed bipolar, how about better mental health services for those who need them, before they find their way to a gun store? Sadly, nothing is likely to change, as all the political noise and partisan attacks drown out any chance that practical policy will be brought forward and acted upon. If the deaths of children at Sandy Hook couldnt bring policymakers to their senses, we can only wonder what finally will. Thus far, the deaths of a bunch of innocent men and women at a gay nightclub seem unlikely to move their hearts. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/06/2016 (2325 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. ORLANDO, Fla. Some gays and lesbians appear determined to wriggle free of Donald Trumps embrace as he suddenly throws his arms around their community as an election issue. Their discomfort was evident during a recent vigil for victims of Orlandos massacre. A sea of people produced some of the loudest applause in response to clear digs against the presumptive Republican nominee. Speakers made veiled references to his new pro-gay, anti-Muslim message. Thousands gather outside the Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center for a vigil Monday, June 13, 2016 in Orlando, Fa. A large crowd gathered to remember the Pulse nightclub shooting victims early Sunday. (Chris Urso/Tampa Bay Times via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT Trump promises to keep Muslims out of the U.S. in order to protect homosexuals. It was a central theme of his counter-terror speech in the wake of the U.S.s worst gun massacre. He even started using the preferred LGBT acronym for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people hed defend. Some people here, apparently, dont want this being done on their behalf. Let us all be very clear tonight, said Chad Griffin, who worked at the Clinton White House and now leads the countrys largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer civil-rights organization, the Human Rights Campaign. To those who seek to divide us, LGBTQ people are Muslims and Jews. We are black, white and Latino. An attack on any one of us is an attack against every single one of us. That drew a huge cheer from the thousands gathered for a candlelight vigil Monday night in downtown Orlando. There was a similar message from vigil organizer Carlos Guillermo Smith, who works with Equality Florida and is running for a state congressional seat as a Democrat. He said his fight was against all phobias: Homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia and Islamophobia. The crowd cheered especially loudly at the last one. One regular patron of the Pulse nightclub, where 49 people were gunned down in cold blood and countless others were injured early Sunday, refused to slur the gunmans religion. I cant blame what he did on all the Muslims, Chris Callen said. It aint their fault. As a matter of fact, Callen said he believes Omar Mateen might have adopted religion as a convenient cloak, to hide his true self: I think it was more of a cover. Hed seen Mateen multiple times at the club over a period of several years, often with a male friend and sometimes so drunk he had to be escorted out. The one-dimensional portrait of Mateen as a bloodthirsty religious zealot is getting cloudy. Several news reports have revealed acquaintances previous suspicions Mateen was either mentally unstable, violent, or a self-loathing homosexual. Two old school friends have described Mateen going years ago to different drag bars, with one anonymously telling the Palm Beach Post that Mateen was gay and had asked him out. Yet in the midst of his rampage, Mateen allegedly pledged allegiance to the leader of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and other extremist groups. Trump has responded with a message thats rare in American politics, but far more common from European populist right-wing parties: that Islamism is a threat to homosexuals and must be stopped. Ask yourself who is really the friend of women and the LGBT community Donald Trump with actions or Hillary Clinton with her words? Trump said. Clinton wants to allow radical Islamic terrorists to pour into our country. They enslave women, and they murder gays. I dont want them in our country. Polls actually show Muslim-Americans close to the U.S. mainstream on gay-rights issues. A Pew study two years ago shows 42 per cent support same-sex marriage lower than Buddhists, Jews and Catholics but higher than Protestants, evangelicals and Jehovahs Witnesses. The current holder of the office to which Trump aspires took him to task Tuesday. A frustrated President Barack Obama bemoaned Trumps belligerent language against Muslims. He suggested his rivals main contribution to the discussion on terrorism has heretofore consisted of saying the words radical Islam as often as possible. Thats the key, they tell us. We cannot beat ISIL unless we call them radical Islamists, Obama said. What exactly would using this label accomplish? What exactly would it change? Would it make ISIL less committed to try to kill Americans? Would it bring in more allies? Is there a military strategy that is served by this? The answer is none of the above There is no magic to the phrase radical Islam. It is a political talking point. It is not a strategy. Without mentioning Trump by name, he referred derisively to politicians who tweet and appear on cable news shows without offering any real ideas, just talking points. Forty new jobs have been announced at companies in Dublin and Sligo this morning. Salad chain Chopped is opening a new outlet in Rathmines where 20 new positions are being created. Co-founder and managing director of Chopped Brian Lee said: Were delighted to be opening our newest Chopped in Rathmines. Its a great location in the heart of Rathmines and will serve as yet another proof point of the demand for healthy food in Ireland. This new Chopped will serve everyone in Rathmines, from people commuting to work, to soldiers in the nearby army barracks to students in the neighbouring school. While in county Sligo - Connollys Mercedes-Benz is investing 4.5m in a new dealership in Collooney that is set to open this September. The new jobs will increase the number of full-time employees at the Connolly Motor Group to 183. The company will begin recruitment immediately. The group, which is run by brothers Kevin and Neil Connolly, is one of the biggest motor groups in the country. It already has Audi and Volkswagen dealerships in Sligo and Ballina as well as the Audi dealership in Galway. Located to service customers across the North West, the opening of the new dealership in Sligo will extend the number of Mercedes-Benz main dealers nationwide to 14. Neil Connolly said: We are delighted to be appointed to represent a brand such as Mercedes-Benz. The creation of another 20 new full-time jobs in Sligo is a source of pride for Kevin and I as we expand the Connolly Motor Group in the North West. A 19-year-old Irish man, who travelled to France for Euro 2016, is missing in Paris. Lee McLoughlin who is from Co. Donegal was last seen at the Hotel Ibis in Paris, Montmartre at 12pm. His family has taken to social media to appeal for help in locating him. They say that his flight home has departed, and he had not turned up at the airport. The Department of Foreign Affairs says it's providing consular assistance to the man's family. By Daniel McConnell, Elaine Loughlin and Jack Power Taoiseach Enda Kenny has confirmed that he will bring a memo to Cabinet next week to establish a Citizens Convention to examine the current controversial abortion laws. Speaking during Leaders Questions this afternoon, Mr Kenny confirmed that he will deliver on the Programme for Government promise to set up the convention within six months. This morning I informed the Cabinet that I would bring a memo to Government next week initiating the citizens' assembly which I committed in the programme for Government to have set up within six months of the Government being formed. I intend to bring that memo to Cabinet next week, he said. Mr Kenny said the first item for reflection by the citizens' assembly will be the question of the eighth amendment. However, under pressure from Anti-Austerity TD Ruth Coppinger over last weeks United Nations Rights Committee call on Ireland to lift the constitutional ban on abortion, Mr Kenny said it is pointless to rush into a constitutional referendum unless there is a realistic consensus for whatever change might be recommended here. Ruth Coppinger. Ms Coppinger raised the human rights committee finding that Ireland's laws subjected Amanda Mellet to severe emotional and mental pain and suffering by denying her access to abortion services in Ireland. Will the Taoiseach apologise to Amanda Mellet and commend her on her bravery in going public and exposing her personal situation?, Ms Coppinger said. In response, Mr Kenny stopped short of giving such an apology. It is very prudent and proper that ordinary people from around the country based on geography, gender, age and so on would be involved in giving their reflections on the issue that has arisen in the Mellet case and many others, he said. Mr Kenny also faced questions from Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin on the controversial sale of Namas northern loan book, known as Project Eagle. Mr Martin said the Irish taxpayer has been the biggest loser in the affair which is the subject of several separate investigations in other countries but not here in the Republic. He criticised what he called the nothing to see here attitude of the Irish Government. The sale of Project Eagle by Nama, becomes more untenable by the day, the sense that there is nothing to investigate down here or that there is no necessity for the Government of the Irish Republic to be overly concerned about this particular deal. I do not believe that position is credible. "The sales process, whether we like it or not or whether Nama likes it or not, was not robust or competitive and did not secure the best outcome, Mr Martin said. In response, the Taoiseach insisted that his information was that Nama had no questions to answer as to its role in the sale. No allegations of wrongdoing against Nama, he said. Nama continues to co-operate fully with the NCA and other relevant authorities in these investigations. The Department of Finance has previously made all relevant information on Project Eagle available publicly on its website, he said. Meanwhile, Fianna Fail is to put forward their Parole Bill 2016 in the Dail this week. The partys justice spokesman Jim O'Callaghan said the bill would take away the power from the Minister of Justice to ultimately decide on whether a prisoner gets parole or not. The Irish Solar Energy Association claims more than 7,300 jobs could be created here if the infrastructure is rolled out nationwide. The association claims the deployment of solar power in Ireland would see the creation of more than 7,300 high-value jobs throughout the country and help save Ireland from EU fines in excess of 300 million a year from 2020. However, solar is currently the only renewable energy technology that does not qualify for any form of a subsidy in Ireland. The industry's calling on the Government to create mechanisms to support the growth of solar power here. It is raising concerns about the possibility of Ireland being fined if we fail to meet new EU targets by the year 2020. Ireland is currently on track to fall significantly short on its EU 2020 renewable energy targets where it has committed to generating 40% of our electricity from renewable sources. In 2014 we achieved just over half of this target (23%) from a combination of wind, hydro and biomass sources. In 2014 more than 85% of the energy used in Ireland was imported and last year alone our usage of coal for the production of electricity actually rose by almost 20%. ISEA Chairman, David Maguire, said: It is clear the country is facing a real challenge to meet these targets and avoid significant fines. Despite the successful deployment of wind energy in Ireland, which enjoyed considerable state support, wind alone will not ensure that we reach that goal. However solar, which is a material part of the established solution for other countries in Europe, is still in its embryonic state here. We are ready to deploy immediately and just need a support mechanism similar to that afforded to other technologies in order to kick-start the sector. By David Raleigh A man who has been charged in connection with a violent carjacking last Sunday, in which a woman was struck on the head before she was driven away by her attacker, told gardai after his arrest: "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do it", a court has heard. Ray McDonagh, (aged 27), of Ard Alainn, Bruree, Co Limerick, appeared before Limerick District Court this afternoon, charged with assault causing harm to Carolann Keenehan, in the carpark of the Brothers of Charity, Mulgrave Street, Limerick, on June 12 last. Mr McDonagh, who appeared in court aided by crutches, was also charged with the unauthorised taking of Ms Keenehan's red Nissan Qashqai on the same date. The vehicle was found 12 hours later submerged in water at a pier Seafield, Quilty, Co Clare. Detective Garda Barry O'Grady alleged Mr McDonagh approached Ms Keenehan in the carpark of her workplace around 8am on the morning, and struck her on the head with a crutch. He said the accused then drove off at speed in Ms Keenehan's car with the terrified owner inside. Dtc O'Grady said that after driving the woman around for a few minutes, Mr McDonagh allowed her to get out of the vehicle at the Ballysimon Roundabout after "she pleaded with him" to let her go. Dtc O'Grady alleged Mr McDonagh was later seen on security cameras at the Limerick Tunnel driving the stolen car and paying a toll to cross into Co Clare. McDonagh was arrested at 11.40am last Monday at Greenhills Road, Garryowen in Limerick. The court heard the accused told Gardai after he was charged: "I'm very sorry I didn't mean to do it." During a bail hearing Dtc O'Grady said he believed Mr McDonagh would "commit further serious offences while on bail". He described the alleged offences before the court as "extremely serious". "Someone could have been seriously injured," he said. Dtc O'Grady also alleged that if Mr McDonagh was granted bail he would not appear in court again and would not abide by any bail conditions. John Herbert, solicitor for the accused, said Mr McDonagh had been seriously injured in a recent dramatic incident, in which he was "dragged by a car" which "tore large chunks off his body". The vehicle hijacked in Limerick recovered from the sea at Seafield near Quilty Co Clare on Sunday night. Pic: Press 22. Mr McDonagh broke down a number of times during the court hearing. Judge Mary Larkin said she was "concerned" for the accused's well being. However, as she told the accused she was granting bail, Mr McDonagh broke down again. Addressing the accused the judge said: "Would you behave like an adult. You're like a 16-year old who got caught with his hands in the cookie jar." "Now pull yourself together," she told Mr McDonagh. Again addressing the accused, the judge added: "I can assure you, your crying doesn't cut any mustard in my court." She granted bail on condition that half of a 6,000 surety be lodged with the court; that the accused stay away from the alleged victim; that he sign on twice daily at Bruff Garda Station; and that he be available to Gardai at all times. Mr McDonagh was remanded in custody with consent to bail, to appear before Limerick District Court, on June 21, for directions from the DPP. A man who lost his home and was declared bankrupt after being overcharged on his mortgage is considering legal action against his bank after a landmark High Court decision writes Eoin English Joseph Wallace, of 5 Castle Close, Mahon, Cork, was discharged from bankruptcy early by the court yesterday. It was the first case of its kind where someone forced into bankruptcy was discharged arising out of the tracker mortgage review process. Solicitor Alan McGee said his client is considering legal options, including a possible civil case against his sole creditor, Permanent TSB. Mr Wallaces debt arose after he borrowed money to buy a family home in Carrigaline, Co Cork, in 2007. He originally had a tracker mortgage with PTSB but he opted to fix his mortgage rate. However, at the end of the fixed-rate term, the bank would not allow him back onto a tracker mortgage. The tracker rate at the time was 1.15%, but Mr Wallace was kept on the higher variable rate of 4.5%, and was unable to meet the repayments. The High Court was told yesterday that the resultant pressure exerted by PTSB forced Mr Wallace into bankruptcy, contributed to the breakdown of his relationship with his partner, caused him to lose his home, and caused ill-health. He was adjudicated a bankrupt on March 11, 2014. The only debt in his bankruptcy were the debts with his sole creditor, PTSB. However, on August 4 2015, the bank wrote to Mr Wallace admitting he had been overcharged. Mr Wallace satisfied the court yesterday if he had not been overcharged, he would not have been in the same difficulty and may not have needed to go bankrupt. This article first appeared in the Irish Examiner. Update: 11am The construction industry has welcomed plans for a 100m fund to provide infrastructure for development sites. The plan is being brought to cabinet this morning by the housing minister Simon Coveney and public expenditure minister Paschal Donohoe. It would see local authorities given extra money to pay for roads and other infrastructure, to service sites which could then be used for housing. Tom Parlon of the Construction Industry Federation has said it is a necessary step: Currently you will not get funding for a site, from the banks or any other lender if there is an infrastructure deficit. They will say this is too risky and so on, it may not be spent but I think if there is a commitment now that there is a site say 20 acre site that needs a 10m investment for infrastructure and has capacity for 300 houses. That all of this can be done in tandem and speed up this whole operation. Earlier A scheme to make home building cheaper is likely to be given the go ahead at cabinet this morning. The Irish Times reports the scheme is aimed at cutting costs for developers. A recent report revealed that actual construction makes up less than half the cost of building a house. Charges and providing services make up a large bulk of the cost of building homes. This new fund would alleviate that somewhat by giving local councils money to build infrastructure such as access roads for privately owned land marked for development. Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe will bring a memo to cabinet proposing the 100 million euro fund. This would mean less cost for builders which may spur more construction. Today's Cabinet meeting will also discuss our abortion laws, after a recent UN claim that they subject women to 'suffering and discrimina Michael Moore has called on Irish people to take the p**s out of Donald Trump when he visits Ireland later this month. The famed documentary film-maker is currently on Irish soil promoting his new film, Where to Invade Next, and has urged the people of Ireland to use our great Irish sense of humour to ridicule Trump while hes here. I would ask the Irish in the weeks leading up to his visit to really think about how to use the great Irish sense of humour, satire, ridicule to take the p*** out of him while hes here. You would do all of us a great service, he told RTE TEN. The director, who is of Irish-American descent, also said that he appreciates the impact his Irish heritage has had on his personality. First of all, growing up as an Irish-American, you have a sense of humour that is a bit dark and sometimes a little warped, but very necessary in order to deal with all the darkness in the world, I think. So I think having a sense of humour comes very much from the Irish in our family and Im appreciative of that, he added. The French government has said the murders of a policeman and his partner were an "abject act of terrorism". The suspect was killed by security services last night after the officer was stabbed outside his home to the north of Paris, and she was found inside. A Frenchman suspected of killing two police officers declared his allegiance to Islamic State (IS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and threatened to kill non-believers, according to Paris prosecutor Francois Molins. Attacker Larossi Abballa made the declaration in exchanges with police during a stand-off on Monday night at a house in the Paris suburb of Magnanville, where a police commander and his partner were found dead. Mr Molins said Abballa, who was also found dead in the house after the stand-off, responded to IS calls to kill non-believers and their families wherever they live. The couple's three-year-old child was found unharmed in the property after the stand-off. Abballa is said to have filmed the knife attack before posting it on Facebook Live. A police official said that at one point in the video, the attacker puzzles over what to do with the child. IS news agency Amaq cited an unnamed source as saying an IS fighter carried out the attack. Prosecutor's office spokeswoman Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre said French authorities have "no reason" to doubt that claim. Abballa had a list of targets, including journalists and public figures, according to Mr Molins. Searches of Abballa's home had tuned up a list of "rappers, journalists, police officers and public personalities". Mr Molins give no further detail on the list, or whether it had specific names. Mr Molins said Abballa stabbed Jean-Baptiste Salvaing, 42, a police commander in the Paris suburb of Les Mureaux, outside his home on Monday night. He then went inside and took Salvaing's partner and three-year-old son hostage. He killed the woman, who was a police administrator in the suburb of Mantes-la-Jolie, but did not harm the boy, Mr Molins said. Abballa recorded a 12-minute video related to the attack and posted it on Facebook, Molins said, but he did not provide further details. The prosecutor added Mr Molins said three people - aged 27, 29 and 44 - were detained as part of the investigation. Donald Trump fans in India have celebrated the US presidential hopeful's birthday with a party in a New Delhi park. About 20 members of the right-wing Hindu Sena political group cut a three-tiered cake and held a piece up to a photo of Mr Trump, while singing Happy Birthday. The beheading of a second Canadian hostage in the Philippines by ransom-seeking Abu Sayyaf extremists has prompted a major offensive by troops in the south of the country. However, there there is no sign of an end to the small but brutal insurgency which the Philippines' new president, Rodrigo Duterte, will inherit in about two weeks. With a black Islamic State group-style flag as a backdrop, Abu Sayyaf fighters beheaded Canadian hostage Robert Hall on southern Jolo island on Monday after a ransom deadline passed. Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau and his current counterpart in the Philippines, Benigno Aquino III, expressed outrage and vowed to exact justice. Another Canadian, former mining executive John Ridsdel, was beheaded by the militants in April. The fate of two other hostages from Norway and the Philippines who were abducted with Mr Hall and Mr Ridsdel from a small marina on southern Samal Island in September remains unknown. Mr Aquino said: "This latest heinous crime serves to strengthen our government's resolve to put an end to this reign of terror and banditry." In Ottawa, Mr Trudeau said his government is "more committed than ever to working with the government of the Philippines and international partners to pursue those responsible for these heinous acts and bring them to justice, however long it takes". The beheading is the latest tragedy in the volatile mix of poverty, firearms, neglect and lawlessness that has cursed the southern Philippines. The resource-rich region, where foreign and domestic mining, pineapple and banana companies have made fortunes, has been engulfed by Muslim and Marxist insurgencies. Abu Sayyaf emerged in the early 1990s as an extremist offshoot of a decades-long Muslim separatist rebellion waged by a large group named the Moro National Liberation Front. But the nascent Abu Sayyaf lost its commanders early in combat, sending its mostly rural fighters on a violent path of criminality, banditry and terrorism. The group currently has about 400 fighters split into at least four factions. Aside from support from an informal network of armed groups, the Abu Sayyaf also finds a lifeline among relatives and friends in rural communities who shelter them and provide food, logistics and information when they are pressed by army offensives. Some local officials have also been suspected of providing support, regional military spokesman Major Filemon Tan said, explaining why the militants have endured in the mountainous hinterlands despite several attempts to flush them out. "There are an extraordinarily large number of troops now trying to find the Abu Sayyaf on Jolo island," Major Tan said. "The problem really is how to locate them." Early last year, a US military force ended more than a decade of non-combat counter-terrorism support, including satellite and drone surveillance, for Filipino troops battling the Abu Sayyaf, as the militants' zeal waned. The underfunded military, one of Asia's most ill-equipped, began focusing instead on external defence as territorial rifts with China in the South China Sea escalated. Under the new circumstances, the Abu Sayyaf sprang back into action with ransom kidnappings of tourists from neighbouring Malaysia as well as the southern Philippines, including the Samal island marina where Hall, Ridsdel, Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad and Filipino woman Marites Flor were taken at gunpoint last September 21. Following Mr Ridsdel's beheading on April 25 and Canadian expressions of outrage, Mr Aquino ordered an intensified offensive against the militants. He plans to fly to Jolo, about 600 miles south of Manila, this week to impart a sense of urgency in containing the Abu Sayyaf. One of the officials, a general, said Mr Aquino has made tremendous efforts to end the Abu Sayyaf's brutal presence before he steps down at the end of the month. As things stand, however, the incoming president, the crime-busting former mayor Rodrigo Duterte, will have to take over the campaign to end the group's insurrection. Federal investigators are examining possible motives for the massacre of 49 people in a Florida nightclub - the worst mass shooting in modern US history. The White House and the FBI said 29-year-old gunman Omar Mateen, an American-born Muslim, appeared to be a "homegrown extremist" who had touted support not just for Islamic State (IS) but other radical groups that are its enemies. "So far, we see no indication that this was a plot directed from outside the United States, and we see no indication that he was part of any kind of network," FBI director James Comey said. He said Mateen was clearly "radicalised", at least in part via the internet. Despite Mateen's pledge of support for IS, other possible explanations for the attack have emerged. His ex-wife said he suffered from mental illness, and his Afghan-immigrant father suggested he may have acted out of anti-gay hatred. He said his son recently became angry about seeing two men kiss. Meanwhile, thousands gathered in Orlando on Monday night for a vigil to support the victims and survivors of the Pulse nightclub shooting. It was held on the lawn of Orlando's main performing arts venue, where mourners created a makeshift memorial of flowers, candles and notes for the victims, and the names of the dead were read out. Many in the crowd said they felt compelled to attend the vigil because of the important role Pulse played in their lives. "It was a place that a young 20-year-old who wasn't openly gay felt safe for the first time," said Cathleen Daus, now 36, who had worked at Pulse in her 20s. "Pulse gave me confidence, made me realise I was normal and so much like everyone else." Some, like Jason Primar, who lost two friends in the massacre, released balloons which floated high above the city's skyscrapers. Mr Primar went to the club at 2am on Sunday, hoping to have a good time with friends. Instead, he was greeted with gunshots and became anxious about friends inside. "I felt like I was over in Iraq," he said. He called his two friends inside and they never answered. He later discovered they had died. Mr Comey said the FBI was also trying to determine whether Mateen had recently scouted Disney World as a potential target, as reported by People.com, which cited an unidentified federal law enforcement source. "We're still working through that," Mr Comey said. The FBI chief defended the bureau's handling of Mateen during two previous investigations into his apparent terrorist sympathies. As for whether there was anything the FBI should have done differently, "so far, the honest answer is, I don't think so", Mr Comey said. The Orlando Sentinel and other news organisations quoted regular customers at the gay bar as saying they had seen Mateen there a number of times. "Sometimes he would go over in the corner and sit and drink by himself, and other times he would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent," said Ty Smith, who added that he saw the killer inside at least a dozen times. Jim Van Horn, 71, said he was a frequent patron at Pulse and said another "regular" there was Mateen. "He was trying to pick up people - men," he told the Associated Press outside Parliament House, another gay club. Mr Van Horn said he met Mateen once, and the younger man told him about his ex-wife. "My friends came out from the back and said 'Let's go take pictures on the patio'," Mr Van Horn said. "So I left. And then they told me they didn't want me talking to him, because they thought he was a strange person." Early on Sunday, Mateen, wielding an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and a handgun, opened fire at Pulse in a three-hour shooting rampage and hostage siege which ended with a Swat team killing him. During the attack, he called 911 to profess allegiance to Islamic State group. At the White House, President Barack Obama said there was no clear evidence so far that Mateen was directed by the group, calling the attack an apparent example of "homegrown extremism". He will travel to Orlando on Thursday to pay respect to the victims and stand in solidarity with the community, the White House said. Meanwhile, more details of the bloodbath emerged, with Orlando Police chief John Mina saying Mateen was "cool and calm" during phone calls with police negotiators. But Mr Mina said he decided to send the Swat team in and smash through a wall after Mateen holed up with hostages in a toilet and began to talk about bombs and an explosive vest. "We knew there would be an imminent loss of life," Mr Mina said. As it turned out, Mateen had no explosives with him. In Orlando, mourners piled bouquets around a makeshift memorial, and people broke down in tears and held their hands to their faces while passing through the growing collection of flowers, candles and signs about a mile from the site of the massacre. "We will not be defined by the act of a cowardly hater," vowed Mayor Buddy Dyer, whose city of a quarter of a million people is known around the globe as the home of Walt Disney World and other theme parks. The tragedy hit the city's gay and Hispanic communities especially hard. It was Latino Night at the club. "As the names come out, they are overwhelmingly Latino and Hispanic names," said Christina Hernandez, a Hispanic activist. "These were not just victims of the LBGT community, but of the Hispanic community, as well. This was senseless bloodshed." Five of the wounded were reported to be in a critical condition, meaning the death toll could rise, and a call has gone out for blood donations. Mateen's grasp of the differences between Islamic extremist groups appeared shaky. During three calls with 911 dispatchers, Mateen not only professed allegiance to IS but also expressed solidarity with a suicide bomber from the Syrian rebel group Nusra Front, and a few years ago he also claimed connections to Hezbollah - both IS enemies, according to Mr Comey. The FBI became aware of Mateen in 2013 when co-workers reported that the private security guard claimed to have family connections to al Qaida and to be a member of Hezbollah, Mr Comey said. He was also quoted as saying he hoped law enforcement would raid his apartment and assault his wife and child so that he could martyr himself. The FBI launched a 10-month preliminary investigation, following Mateen, reviewing his communications and questioning him, the FBI chief said. Mateen claimed he made the remarks in anger because co-workers were teasing him and discriminating against him as a Muslim, and the FBI eventually closed the case, Mr Comey said. Mateen's name surfaced again as part of another investigation into the Nusra Front bomber. The FBI found Mateen and the man had attended the same mosque and knew each other casually, but the investigation turned up "no ties of any consequence", Mr Comey said. Mateen was added to a terror watch list in 2013 when he was investigated, but was taken off it soon after the matter was closed, according to the FBI chief. People who are in that database are not automatically barred from buying guns, and in any case Mateen purchased his weapons in June, long after he was removed from the list. Islamic State's radio hailed the attack and called Mateen "one of the soldiers of the caliphate in America", but it gave no indication the group planned or knew of the attack beforehand. Counter-terrorism experts have been warning in the past few years about the danger of so-called lone wolf attackers who act in sympathy with extremist groups like IS but are not directed by them. Mateen's father, Seddique Mir Mateen, told reporters that the massacre was "the act of a terrorist" and added: "I apologise for what my son did. I am as sad and mad as you guys are." He would not go into detail about any religious or political views his son held, saying he did not know. Asked whether he missed his son, he said: "I don't miss anything about him. What he did was against humanity." Nigel Farage has admitted he has "absolutely no idea" what will happen if Britain votes to Leave the European Union next week. The Ukip leader said his party's MEPs, of which he is one, would act as the "canary in the mine shaft" in the European Parliament if the British Government failed to act upon a Leave vote by the British people. Mr Farage was speaking during a walkabout with supporters in the London borough of Kingston-upon-Thames. He arrived clutching a copy of Tuesday's Sun newspaper, which announced its support for leaving the EU on its front page. Mr Farage said he was "absolutely thrilled" and "over the moon" with the newspaper's decision. Arriving in Kingston aboard his bright purple Brexit battlebus, to the theme tune of The Great Escape, Mr Farage, flanked by five security guards, posed for selfies, exchanged handshakes and even signed one supporter's car. He also accepted a 5 note from another supporter, who offered it on the condition he "bought himself a beer". Polls in recent days have shown a rise in support for Leave, but Mr Farage warned that any Brexiteer who thought they had it in the bag was a "fool". A YouGov poll for The Times put Leave seven points ahead on 46%, with Remain on 39%. And a pair of ICM polls for The Guardian - one carried out by telephone, the other online - has Leave ahead by 53% to 47%, if the "don't knows" are excluded. Mr Farage admitted he had "absolutely no idea" what would happen after June 24 if the polls proved correct, but said the effect on British politics could be "very profound". He added: "Here we are, with nine days to go. I'm not contemplating anything afterwards, Nothing. I just want to win this referendum. "And then we'll have a sit down and a think about where we all go. But I think, potentially, the effects of this referendum on the Conservative Party, the Labour Party, Ukip, could be very profound. We could see a big reshaping." During the campaign stop, Mr Farage carried out a trademark pose with his passport, telling supporters he wanted to declare June 23 "UK Independence Day". Asked his opinion of former British prime minister Gordon Brown's intervention on Monday urging people to vote to remain in the EU, Mr Farage said he thought it would further "widen the gap" between the Labour Party and its supporters. He said: "I've been to the real Labour heartlands in this country and, let me tell you, the Labour Party is utterly disconnected with a very large chunk of its roots." As he left Kingston, Mr Farage posed for a photograph with former SNP voter Duncan Calderwood, an IT engineer originally from Kilmarnock. Mr Calderwood, 31, said he had switched his allegiance from the SNP to Ukip just before the Scottish referendum in 2014 because he trusted the Ukip leader. "He's controversial but honest," said Mr Calderwood. The visit to the town centre was largely positive for the long-time EU critic, although chants of "Three cheers to Nigel" were briefly overshadowed by two passers-by who shouted "Racist" at Mr Farage as he departed on his battlebus. Update - 6.55pm: The suspect in a reported shooting at a Walmart store in Texas has been shot dead and all hostages are safe, according to police. Earlier: Police say there were no confirmed gunshot victims at the Walmart store in Amarillo amid reports that an armed person was at the scene. The FBI is investigating reports that Orlando gunman Omar Mateen was a regular at the gay nightclub where he killed 49 people in America's worst mass shooting. A number of possible explanations and motives for the bloodbath have emerged, with Mateen having professed allegiance to the Islamic State group (IS), his ex-wife saying he was mentally ill, and others suggesting he was driven by a hatred of gays. The picture grew more complex as patrons of the Pulse nightclub came forward to say that they had seen the 29-year-old American-born Muslim there a number of times, and that he had been using gay dating apps. Mateen had a wife and a three-year-old son. Jim Van Horn, 71, said Mateen was a regular at the club. "He was trying to pick up people. Men," he claimed. While acknowledging he did not know Mateen well, Mr Van Horn said: "I think it's possible that he was trying to deal with his inner demons, of trying to get rid of his anger of homosexuality." Wielding an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and a handgun, Mateen opened fire at the club early on Sunday in a three-hour rampage and hostage siege which ended with a Swat team killing him. It is the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history. During the attack, he called 911 to profess allegiance to IS. Six of the more than 50 people injured in the atrocity are said to be critically ill, with five others in a "guarded" condition. Dr Michael Cheatham, of the Orlando Regional Medical Centre, said at a hospital news conference that doctors recalled victims arriving in "truckloads" on the night of the rampage. Dr Chadwick Smith described calling in additional staff members and telling them: "This is not a drill, this is not a joke." He said everyone answered: "I'll be right there." US president Barack Obama will visit Orlando on Thursday to pay his respects to the victims and stand in solidarity with the community, the White House said. Asked about reports that Mateen may have been in the club before, his father, Seddique Mateen, said from his home in Port St Lucie, Florida, that his son may have been "scouting the place". Asked if his son was gay, the Afghan immigrant replied: "No." He said that he was not aware of his son having any mental health problems and that he never saw any signs he had become radicalised. If he had seen anything differently, he said, "I would have called law enforcement immediately". The elder Mateen said that apart from one time his son got angry a few months ago over seeing two men kissing, he did not witness any anti-gay behaviour from him. The White House and the FBI said Mateen appears to be a "homegrown" extremist who had expressed support not just for IS, but for other radical groups that are its enemies. "So far, we see no indication that this was a plot directed from outside the United States, and we see no indication that he was part of any kind of network," FBI director James Comey said. He added that Mateen was clearly "radicalised," at least in part via the internet. Mr Comey said the FBI also was trying to determine whether Mateen had recently scouted Disney World as a potential target. He defended the bureau's handling of Mateen during two previous investigations in 2013 and 2014 into possible terrorist ties. As for whether there was anything the FBI should have done differently, Mr Comey said: "So far, the honest answer is, I don't think so." Mateen was added to a terror watchlist in 2013 when he was investigated, but was taken off it soon after the matter was closed, according to Mr Comey. People on that database are not automatically barred from buying guns. Mateen purchased his weapons in June, long after his removal from the list. On Monday night, about a mile from Pulse in central Orlando, thousands gathered for a vigil to support the victims and survivors, with the names of the dead read aloud. The event was held on the lawn of Orlando's main performing arts venue, where mourners created a memorial of flowers, candles and notes for the victims. Barack Obama will travel to Orlando on Thursday to pay his respects to the families of the victims of Sunday's gun massacre which left 49 people dead. Last night people around the globe - including here in Ireland - held vigils for those killed in a show of defiance against terrorism. The US President has described the mass shooting as an attack on all Americans - but said there is no clear link to so-called Islamic State. However Mr Obama has said the attack is being treated as a terror investigation: It appears that the shooter was inspired by various extremist information that was disseminated over the internet. All those materials are currently being searched, exploited so we will have a better sense of the pathway that the killer took. Here at home the national flag will fly at half mast today in memory of the victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting. The Government has announced the measure as a mark of respect to those who died. Flags will be lowered at Leinster House and all departmental buildings. Meanwhile, in Limerick, Limerick Council is opening an online book of condolence this morning for the victims of the Orlando shooting tragedy. 49 people were killed and 53 injured when a gunman opened fire at a gay nightclub in the city in the early hours of Sunday morning. People are being invited to pay their respects on Limerick dot ie, forward-slash council. Mayor of Limerick Liam Galvin, says it is the least they can do. Eight dolphins which once performed at the US National Aquarium in Baltimore will be retired from their tanks to a seaside sanctuary. The Maryland aquarium is announcing plans to move its Atlantic bottlenose dolphins into a protected habitat by the end of 2020. Seven of the dolphins were born in captivity, and aquarium CEO John Racanelli said the animals will remain in human care in the sanctuary. The aquarium has not yet settled on a location. It has been considering new options for its dolphins for several years amid growing public distaste for live animal shows. The dolphins stopped scheduled performances in 2012, but remain on display. SeaWorld is making similar changes to its killer whale shows, but has stopped short of releasing orcas or dolphins into the ocean. Animal rights activists have applauded the National Aquarium for the move. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) criticised SeaWorld earlier this year for not releasing its killer whales from their tanks. Peta executive vice president Tracy Reiman said the Baltimore aquarium's step could prompt other institutions to retire their dolphins and orcas to sanctuaries as well. She said the aquarium recognised "the needs of intelligent, far-ranging dolphins" are not met in captivity. The US Association of Zoos and Aquariums said each of its members makes decisions "appropriate for the animals" in its care. In a statement, interim president and CEO Kris Vehrs said the National Aquarium will work with state and federal agencies as it moves forward with the dolphins' relocation. LONDON: Copper prices fell on Monday as investors worried about the pace of economic growth in top consumer China ... MANILA: The use of LNG imports for power generation in the Philippines next year should not be a disincentive for... WASHINGTON: Kevin McCarthy, who could soon be second in line to the White House, startled US allies when he warned... KYIV, Ukraine: Seven civilians have been killed and three injured in the Ukraine city of Bakhmut in the eastern... RIYADH: Saudi Arabia on Saturday announced $400 million in humanitarian aid for Ukraine, the official SPA news... Snow arrives in the area Monday morning, lasting through at least part of the overnight and perhaps until sunrise Tuesday. You shouldn't expect a foot of snow on the ground when you wake up Monday morning, or even when you are leaving work Monday, but it will pile up by Tuesday. This is a large, powerful ocean storm. As the storm progresses, travel will become slow and more difficult. Where blizzard conditions do verify, it may be impossible to travel for a few hours. My snowfall predictions, below, are based on the storm's western flank impacting eastern New England. As I always write, things will change in terms of the exact snow amounts. I wouldn't be surprised if I need to lower actual totals from where the predictions are now. With all that said, here are my predicted snowfall totals for what will fall through Tuesday: This snowstorm won't be a crippling one, there will be a lot of cancellations Monday and early Tuesday. There will be coastal flooding Monday at the times of high tide, which are around 11 a.m and again at 11 p.m. Moderate coastal flooding is expected south of Boston, with less of an impact north of the city, but still some flooding is still possible. Snowfall will be heaviest in eastern areas, but even out through Springfield, where there is likely going to be a plowable snowstorm. I'll have a completely new update early Monday prior to the start of the storm. Enjoy the evening. Blizzard warning south of Boston: As expected, a blizzard warning has been issued for areas south of Boston, including much of the South Shore, Cape Cod, and the islands. The blizzard warning is in effect for Monday and indicates the strength of the ocean storm we've been concerned about for a couple of days. In these areas, where the wind and snow will be more intense, visibility could lower under one-quarter mile due to the snow and wind. If these conditions are sustained for three hours or more, some towns might register an official blizzard. The most likely counties for this are Plymouth, Barnstable, Dukes, and Nantucket. But it's still still not a definite scenario. Monday morning commute: I don't think we will see many issues for the Monday morning commute. The snow will either begin after the morning rush, or if it's snowing, there won't be much accumulation. Monday evening commute: The Monday evening commute is likely impacted. The snow will be coming down at a steady rate during this time, and roads will be snow covered in many areas. Travel will be most difficult from about Boston to the south, with less intense snow north and west of Route 128, further from the center of the storm. Could this become a bigger storm? As we all saw last week, the models havent been forecasting the western extent of the snowfield far enough inland. Again with this storm(s), some of the more reliable models have most of the heaviest precipitation staying out to sea, with the shorter range and higher resolution models bringing the heavier snow totals. I have leaned heavier with the snowfall prediction based on trends overnight. I dont see this turning into a blockbuster snowstorm for Boston. What's the weather like after the storm? This pattern of unsettled weather will continue much of this week along with increasingly colder air by the weekend. Behind these systems, colder air will rush into all of New England with the peak of the cold arriving Valentines Day morning. Temperatures will likely approach zero in many areas, and I suspect this will end up the coldest morning of the entire winter. A moderation in the cold begins after Presidents' Day. When you look back at this winter, youll likely remember the late start and the few weeks in February where it really felt like winter; otherwise, this winter still isnt likely to show up on the record books for either deep snow or prolonged cold. I only write that to keep in perspective the fact its going to snow again and get cold. This is winter, this is New England, and this is what it does. Please follow my forecast here and on Twitter @growingwisdom. The liquor industry has slammed the ACT government's proposed increases in licence fees for bottle stores as a blatant cash grab that will have no impact on harmful drinking. The government proposes a 25 per cent fee increase for bottle stores with an annual turnover of more than $1 million, and the industry says that comes on top of huge hikes in 2010 that have already left Canberra off-licences paying the highest fees in the country. Adrien Murphy is upset about the proposed increase to licence fees. Credit:Jay Cronan The $1 million threshold equated to alcohol sales of about $18,000 a week, Australian Liquor Stores Association chief executive Terry Mott said in a submission to the government. Bigger fees would cost jobs, result in big price increase for Canberra drinkers, and send business online or over the border to Queanbeyan, he said. An Islamic sect community leader is the first person to be imprisoned over female genital mutilation in Australia. But a mother and a former nurse involved in the female genital mutilation of two sisters, aged six and seven, have been spared jail. Shabbir Mohammedbhai Vaziri has been sent to jail for a minimum of 11 months. Credit:Daniel Munoz They will instead serve a minimum of 11 months' home detention. On Thursday, NSW Supreme Court Justice Peter Johnson sentenced Shabbir Mohammedbhai Vaziri, 59, to a minimum 11 months' jail and maximum 15 months for being an accessory after the fact. Qantas could be China's next investment target after conglomerates from the country bought stakes in the Australian carrier's closest domestic rival, Credit Suisse Group said. Separate investments in Virgin Australia by HNA Group and Nanshan Group in the past two weeks have put around one third of the airline in Chinese hands. HNA owns Hainan Airlines and Nanshan controls Qingdao Airlines. In an alliance with HNA, Virgin Australia plans to start direct flights to and from China next year. A faulty pressure gauge at a Qantas hangar in Brisbane has been blamed for the spill. Credit:Glenn Hunt Those acquisitions could prompt a top-tier Chinese airline to pursue a stake in Qantas to gain a stronger hold on routes between Australia and China, Credit Suisse analysts led by Paul Butler said in a June 13 note. At least 5 per cent of Qantas is available for an overseas investor before the airline's foreign ownership breaches the 49 per cent cap set by Australian law, said Credit Suisse, which rates Qantas's stock outperform. China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines are potentially the most interested suitors, Butler wrote. Qantas, a member of the One World group, has an alliance with China Eastern on China-Australia routes and struck a code-share agreement with China Southern in 2013. Mention "co-working space" and most people already have an idea of what that looks like. Perhaps it's dishevelled young men speaking code and playing ping pong, or perhaps it's artists and architects sitting among creative mess sipping posh coffee. Taylor Tran, consultant and author of Innovation Melbourne a guide to shared offices. The fact is both scenarios, and many more, are true. The co-working leasing marketing is on the edge of an explosion and in doing so is catering to a variety of industries, say experts on the scene. Finding the right space Premier Investments' extraordinary general meeting will be a short and successful affair on Wednesday. Its chairman and 42 per cent shareholder Solomon Lew has made sure of that by voting in favour of a new employment agreement brokered with its chief executive, Mark McInnes, who joined the company in 2011 when the market cap was $900 million. It last traded at $2.3 billion. Stung by last year's first strike vote, Premier Investments CEO Mark McInnes and chairman Solomon Lew have learned their lesson. Credit:Pat Scala While some protest votes are expected, it is understood that some long-term shareholders have decided to throw their support behind a company that is trying to improve its level of disclosure after suffering a first strike at last year's annual general meeting. Premier, which owns retail chains including Smiggle and Peter Alexander, was rattled after last year's first strike, which was largely based on shareholders feeling they needed to send a message that they wanted more disclosure from the company. Its that time of the year again when we move the clocks forward by an hour to take advantage of more daylight during the second half of the day. Although we call this new time daylight saving time, we havent added any more daylight to our lives; weve only shifted when it occurs. A better term would be to call this daylight shifting time, but I doubt that would catch on. This idea of moving the clocks back and forth each year has been around for centuries. While Ben Franklin often gets the credit for coming up with the idea, he might not have been entirely serious when he did. According to Tufts University Professor Michael Downing, author of "Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time," Franklin often espoused the merits of conservation. Franklin argued money would be saved if people rose with the sun and turned in earlier at night, replacing hours of expensive candle use with free morning daylight. While serving as ambassador to France, Franklin penned a letter to the Journal of Paris in which he sarcastically noted that the sun was already up when he awoke at 6 a.m. Franklin was making fun of French laziness and the fact they wouldnt be up early enough to know it was already light at 6 a.m., according to "The Ingenious Dr. Franklin: Selected Scientific Letters," edited by Nathan G. Goodman. I saw it (the sun) with my own eyes. And, having repeated this observation the three following mornings, I found always precisely the same result, Franklin wrote. Daylight saving time has been used in the U.S. and in many European countries since World War I, when it was introduced as a way to conserve the fuel needed to produce electric power. When the war was over, Congress overrode President Wilsons veto and daylight saving time. It was reinstated during World War II. After that, some states continued to used it and others didnt. It was quite confusing. The Uniform Time Act of 1966 was signed into law on April 12, 1966, by President Lyndon Johnson. States could still opt out of daylight saving time by passing a law to do so. During the oil crisis of the early 1970s, the U.S. remained on daylight saving time year round. In 2007, another law was passed extending daylight saving time to where we are today. We now switch the clocks forward the second Sunday in March and move them back the first Sunday in November. The whole thing is rather silly, with the switch causing a documented increase in accidents. According to a 2004 study in Accident Analysis and Prevention, remaining on daylight saving time year round would save the lives of more than 170 pedestrians per year. If your argument against daylight saving time is the dark mornings in winter, think again. Paris, France has a sunrise after 8:30 a.m. for most of December and January, and they manage. In Boston, the latest sunrise of the year would be 8:14 a.m. during the first part of January, but the sun would never set before 4:30 p.m. again. If we left the clocks on standard time, the morning situation would improve and youd still have the sun setting after 7 p.m most of the spring and summer. Please follow my forecasts here and on Twitter @growingwisdom. Wesfarmer's credit rating and generous dividend are at risk from its $705 million acquisition of UK hardware outfit Homebase, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch analyst David Errington, who has compared it to Woolworths' disastrous foray into the home improvement sector. Mr Errington said the damage to investor returns and business performance at Wesfarmers from Homebase would "equal" the impact of Woolworths' costly Masters experiment. Wesfarmers in January said it planned to spend more than $1 billion rolling out the Bunnings hardware brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland within five years after buying the second-largest home improvement chain in the UK market. Chief executive Richard Goyder said at the time the investment was a "deep step" into the overseas market that increased the company's risk profile, but one that had been made with "eyes wide open". "We were critical towards Woolworths entering the Australian home improvement sector via Masters and we believe Wesfarmers entering the UK market via Homebase will be as equally a compromising decision for Wesfarmers," Mr Errington said on Tuesday. "We want policy change, not prayers." Immediately following the violence in Orlando, my friends' social media posts made their priorities clear. They were unimpressed with the deluge of social media piety following the latest mass shooting. As a gay man, I heard their plea: They saw prayer-themed hashtags and photos as nothing more than unwanted triffle. But as a Christian, following the horrific news Sunday morning, I did what people of faith do best: I lit candles. A few others sent out tweets, we showed up in to vigils and we lit more candles. CHRIS OVERLAND SUSAN Merrell, in her comments on PNG Attitude, has neatly illustrated how she, and presumably others who support prime minister Peter O'Neill, willfully misunderstand the nature and intent of the criticism directed towards him. This criticism is not motivated by his politics, or even his distinctly hazy grasp of economic fundamentals: it is about his complete unwillingness to submit to the rule of law. If, as he is consistently maintained, he is concerned about being "fitted up" by various un-named political enemies, surely this is a compelling reason to allow the police and judiciary to examine his situation forensically and, in so doing, vindicate him entirely? It is possible that he is innocent of anything more than being grievously misled into signing documents that he should not have signed. The Greens have given preference to the Christian Democratic Party of Reverend Fred Nile, who believes homosexuality is a "mental disorder", over the Liberal Party candidate for Sydney, an indigenous gay man who is pushing for same-sex marriage. Greens candidate for Sydney, Sylvie Ellsmore defended placing Liberal Geoffrey Winters in the 10th and final spot on the party's how-to-vote card, saying it was an attempt to counter local smear from Labor that the Greens were going to enter a deal with the Liberals. By placing Mr Winters tenth, the Greens are effectively declaring the Christian Democratic Party (CDP) candidate Ula Falanga would be a better choice for the seat. Now Indigenous affairs has entered the campaign, but not in a good way, with Malcolm Turnbull accusing Bill Shorten of putting constitutional recognition of the first Australians at risk. Called the Redfern Statement, it laid out a plan to address the profound disadvantage of the most marginalised Australians and appealed to the parties to engage in discussion on it. It very nearly sank without trace. The nation's peak Indigenous bodies joined forces last week to deliver an historic plea for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices to be heard and respected in the election campaign. The two most emotive words in this fraught and contested space are "invasion" and "treaty" and both were raised when Bill Shorten made his solo Q&A appearance on Monday night. Malcolm Turnbull's Monday return to the Q&A set for the first time since last February just might be his most daring move in this risk-averse campaign to retain government. Credit:Andrew Meares Shorten said little more than the obvious on the former, observing that, if he was an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person, he would regard the arrival of the British as an invasion. As Professor Megan Davis, director of the Indigenous Law Centre at the University of NSW, has noted, the key points here are not contested. "The British did not ask permission to settle. Aboriginal people did not consent and no one ceded. This is the source of disquiet. This is the grievance that must be addressed." When it came to treaty, Shorten was more nuanced, but what he said was unremarkable. "Do I think that there should be a separate Aboriginal state?" he asked himself. "No. Indigenous Australians are quitting the public service, demoralised by ongoing racism, a lack of cultural awareness, internal politics and years of motherhood statements. Many believe their best option is to ignore racism rather than risk a confrontation that could hurt their career prospects and see them treated like former AFL star Adam Goodes, who was routinely booed at games after calling out a racist fan. Adam Goodes makes a lot of people uncomfortable by being a proud black man. Credit:Getty Images The disturbing findings were revealed by a landmark Australian National University study based on interviews with 34 former and currently employed Indigenous public servants. Many said racism within the workforce contributed to their decision to quit the public service. Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is once again calling for a temporary ban on Muslim immigrants entering the U.S., but a GOP congressman from central New York isn't sure that's constitutional. U.S. Rep. John Katko said Monday that Trump's plan may not "pass constitutional muster." "You're talking about banning whole races of people or whole ethnic origins of people," Katko, R-Camillus, said in a phone interview. "I'm not sure that's what we do as a people." Trump repeated his call for such a ban on Monday one day after an attack at an Orlando nightclub left 49 dead and 53 wounded. The shooter was born in New York, but his parents were immigrants from Afghanistan. Trump said if he's elected president, he will "suspend immigration from areas of the world when there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe or our allies, until we understand how to end these threats." He insists the ban would be temporary. It will be lifted, he said, "when we as a nation are in a position to properly and perfectly screen those people coming into our country." Katko, though, is skeptical. "Obviously the idea is to ferret out those that we think are dangerous," he said. "If we don't know enough about someone's background, we shouldn't let them into the U.S. That was my concern with the Syrian refugees. "If we can't verify where people come from and verify that they're not a threat risk, they shouldn't come here. But by banning whole groups of people based on their ethnic origin it's just not what we're about as a country." Trump's plan does have some support from voters. A Rasmussen poll released in December after Trump initially proposed the idea of temporarily banning Muslims from entering the U.S. found 46 percent of voters support the concept. A more recent poll conducted by Morning Consult found 50 percent of voters support Trump's plan. Federal police have launched an investigation into activity in the Torres Strait, amid reports of suspicious behaviour by two Sydney men. Residents of remote Prince of Wales Island called the national security hotline to say the men had travelled there asking about buying a boat and how much fuel would be needed to reach Papua New Guinea, the ABC reports. Two Sydney men have allegedly been trying to source a boat in Torres Strait. Credit:File/Peter Braig An Australian Federal Police spokesman said investigations were ongoing. It comes after five Melbourne men were arrested near Cairns in May accused of planning to travel by boat to Indonesia and on to Syria to join Islamic State fighters. AAP A $3 million overpass over busy Moggill Road near Indooroopilly State School will be built if the government is re-elected, Major Projects Minister Paul Fletcher said. The crossing has been supported for 10 years by MP Jane Prentice, who first received requests for improvements near the school when she was Indooroopilly's local Brisbane City councillor. Federal Government promises future Moggill Road overpass outside Indooroopilly State School Credit:Google Maps The crossing will make crossing the four-lane Moggill Road safer for hundreds of children at the school. "A re-elected Turnbull Government will provide funding to support the delivery of a pedestrian overpass at the Indooroopilly State School on Moggill Road in the electorate of Ryan," Mr Fletcher said. Police are calling for public assistance after the car of a Gold Coast man missing since Monday was found abandoned on Tuesday. Israel Jacob Telea was last seen on the Gold Coast on Monday. Credit:Queensland Police Service Police said there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding Mr Telea's death. Police have confirmed a body believed to be missing Gold Coast man Israel Jacob Telea was found Tuesday afternoon. Israel Jacob Telea was last seen by his family at a Burra Street, Surfers Paradise, home about 9.30pm. On Tuesday, police found Mr Telea's abandoned car at Martin Shiels Park at Burleigh Heads. Police said the 29-year-old has a medical condition and they hold fears for his safety. He is described as Pacific Islander in appearance, about 180cm tall, of solid build with black, straight, cropped hair and brown eyes. There are tribal tattoos on his right and left upper arms. Two people have been arrested after an attack on a police officer near Port Douglas on Monday. Police said an officer was deployed to an alcohol-related disturbance at a pub on Main Street, Mount Molloy, about 3pm. The officer attempted to speak to a man in a vehicle when he was approached by a woman. A police officer has been attacked near Port Douglas. Credit:Tom Threadingham The officer took the woman off the road when the man allegedly grabbed him, pushed him to the ground and punched him repeatedly in the head. The officer attempted to deploy his Taser, which police allege the man had attempted to grab, but it failed, so he sprayed him with capsicum spray instead. "Based on QIC's asset models, this results in the following expected outcomes over the next five years." In a flurry of correspondence between Under-Treasurer Jim Murphy and Mr Cannon between April and May, the State Actuary was advised that the government wished to "provide greater policy clarity" to how the fiscal principles which set out how it met its long term liabilities. "The government has determined that in interpreting the fiscal principle; 1 overfunding of the Government's defined benefit scheme should be minimised; and 2 the funding of the defined benefit scheme is to be managed in accordance with the spirit of the APRA funding and solvency standards applying to corporate defined benefit schemes". APRA is the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, which guides corporate schemes that tend to be less conservative than how governments manage their own funds. Using that advice Mr Cannon advised the government, through the Under-Treasurer, that the risks associated with repatriating a maximum of $5 billion would increase the risk the government would be called on to contribute funds "as part of a restoration plan". "In my view, this risk is greater than it appears on face value as the circumstances in which a deficit arises ie adverse investment markets, subdued economy etc are likely to be ones where the Government is unlikely to have easy access to cash to repair the deficit, either through receipts or borrowings," Mr Cannon warned. "In effect, there is a 'doubling up' of the risks facing the sponsor. In order to ensure the ongoing funding of the scheme, it is critical that the Government recognises this issue and stands ready to contribute additional funds should adverse experience occur in future. "...In conclusion the scheme is very well funded and there is scope to repatriate some of the surplus. "Based on the criteria listed above, a maximum repatriation of $5 billion could be undertaken whilst maintaining consistency with the APRA funding standards, allowing for the contribution suspension and a small buffer against adverse experience." In late April, Mr Cannon advised the Under-Treasurer of the probabilities of deficit at 30 June 2020, based on repatriation scenarios up to $6 billion. Based on what the government settled on - $4 billion there is a 19 per cent chance the scheme will go into deficit based on the return to the scheme's investment in liberal market conditions and a 50 per cent chance it will go into deficit on the accounting basis measure, which is more conservative and reflective of a more depressed global market. Mr Pitt has repeatedly defended the move as following on from advice of the State Actuary and said the government would continue to meet all of its responsibilities, as it is legislatively set out to do. "I would make the point that this is not actually a superannuation fund," Mr Pitt said on Tuesday. "This is a cash management by the government. It is about looking at our long term liabilities and of course we want to have those fully funded and that is our fiscal principle. "But, of course, people must be paid when they leave the defined benefit scheme, last year we had 3500 people leave the scheme guess what, they all got paid, they all got given their entitlements because that is what the government is legislatively obligated to do. We will continue to do that. "Any scare campaign being run by the Opposition was proven false last year and they will continue to run it this year and it's not true. "We will continue looking at what the Actuary tells us, taking his advice and ensuring that we give consideration to what he's asked. We were given the opportunity based on the most recent advice to consider repatriating $5 billion and we have not done that. We have taken $4 billion through this process. The $34 billion closed fund has been described by Mr Pitt as Australia's only fully funded public servant super scheme, and Mr Pitt said on Tuesday the decision to take $4 billion instead of $5 billion was "conservative". The Opposition said the move had put the scheme at risk. "This is the reckless act of a desperate Government that could end up costing every taxpayer in Queensland," shadow Treasurer Scott Emerson said. "Labor has not accepted the Independent State Actuaries advice and is instead taking twice as much as the Actuary has recommended." "In his advice to the State Government, the State Actuary said in relation to the risk posed by raiding more than the recommended $2 billion. "...This raid has substantially weakened the position of the superannuation fund and the State Actuaries advice has confirmed that. "Despite facing serious fiscal challenges in government, the LNP never contemplated raiding the superannuation entitlements of hardworking Queenslanders." Loading Apple's annual Worldwide Developer Conference brings together app developers from all walks of life, and the youngest to make the trip to San Francisco this year was Anvitha Vijay, a grade four student from Mount View Primary School in Melbourne. Anvitha, now nine, began coding at the age of seven. She wanted to make an app that would help her younger sister then two to identify animals. Two years later Smartkins Animals, an educational app aimed at kids aged five and under, made it into Apple's App Store. The iOS app was good enough to win her one of 350 Apple scholarships for young coders to attend WWDC. She was one of eight in Australia. "I'm learning a lot already, there's so many smart people to talk to," she told Fairfax from the conference. "San Francisco is great the weather is even weirder than Melbourne's!" But leaked documents from the Department of Health and Human Services show Andrew might have recently been allegedly involved in another recent, troubling, incident where a child suffered harm. Three-year-old Stevie* was drowsy and disorientated when his mum brought him into emergency at the Royal Children's Hospital on April 26 this year. Tests came back positive for methamphetamine. His mum told staff the drug might have been brought into her home by her "on again, off again" partner - the same Andrew - who she was trying to separate from. Stevie made a full recovery after a few days in hospital, and the matter is being investigated by police. No charges have been laid. The documents also show that in the months after Sam's death, Andrew was reported to police multiple times for allegedly breaching a family violence intervention order, and now faces a charge for this. ..the type of bruising Sam had 'could be an indicator of sexual assault' RCH forensic report But he was not remanded. So Andrew remained in the community and formed a relationship with Stevie's mum. File pic: Daniel Valerio, baby beaten to death. Photo by Mark Wilson. First published 20-2-93. Credit:Mark Wilson WHY DIDN'T THEY ACT? On multiple occasions the hospital had the opportunity - even the mandatory obligation - to report concerns about Sam's wellbeing. . Andrew declined to comment on this story. He denied any suggestion of wrongdoing on his behalf relating to any child or children, in a statement through his lawyer. Twenty-six years ago, the horrific murder of two-year-old Daniel Valerio at the hands of his stepfather Paul Aiton prompted a public outcry and triggered the eventual introduction of mandatory reporting. Numerous public inquiries, including the recent Royal Commission into Family Violence and the 2012 Cummins inquiry into vulnerable children, have called for swift action on suspected abuse and slammed poor information-sharing between authorities. UNEXPLAINED BRUISING The file leaked from the Department of Health and Human Services signals three times that staff could have raised concern's about the little boy's welfare: Sam was first taken to hospital in November 2014, when he allegedly choked on an object and stopped breathing while in the care of Andrew. Andrew told staff he had been able to remove the object before the ambulance came. The Royal Children's social work team were involved over "concerns about one of the carers", but Victorian Child Protection were not notified. On the two following occasions, Sam presented with intimate bruising and swelling. The first time he was diagnosed with oedema (swelling), prescribed medication, and no photos or further scans were done. On the second occasion, four days before he died, the hospital's specialist forensic team were involved. These specialists provide forensic evaluation and healthcare for abused and vulnerable children. Their report (only given to Child Protection a month after Sam died) found the cause of his symptoms was inconclusive, and could have been accidental trauma. But it said child maltreatment studies also showed the type of bruising Sam had "could be an indicator of sexual assault". A toddler was flown to the Royal Children's Hospital in a serious condition on Saturday night. Credit:Pat Scala "ONGOING DISTRESS" The Royal Children's chief executive officer, John Stanway, said staff extended their sympathy to Sam's family and felt "deeply sad". "We are mindful that for staff who cared for Sam, to the best of their knowledge and ability, the child's subsequent death has been a source of ongoing distress," Mr Stanway said. A detailed internal review was conducted following the toddler's death. It would be inappropriate to make further comment because the matter was with the Victorian Coroner, he said. The hospital's own guidelines say staff must report to Child Protection if they form a reasonable belief that a child has suffered, or is likely to suffer, significant harm from physical injury or sexual abuse. Victoria's newly-appointed Children's Commissioner, Liana Buchanan, said while she could not comment on these specific cases, successive inquiries pointed to the need for change to make sure children were protected. "There's an urgent need for better information sharing to prevent violence and abuse. We also need reform to ensure all services understand and respond to the connection between family violence and Child Protection," she said. A spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services said Child Protection would intervene when children and young people were at risk of significant harm. *Names have been changed to protect privacy, or for legal reasons. Got a tip? mperkins@theage.com.au In the aftermath of the Orlando terrorist attack, there is a renewed push to close a loophole that allows individuals on terror watch lists to purchase guns. Democrats in Congress are calling for passage of legislation that would ban those whose names appear on these lists from buying guns. In the past, Republican leaders in the House and Senate have been reluctant to adopt such legislation. U.S. Rep. Peter King, a New York Republican, has introduced a bill that would close what he believes is an "incredibly dangerous" loophole. His measure has 102 cosponsors 100 Democrats and two GOP members. Even King has acknowledged that it faces an uphill battle in the House, where many pro-gun Republicans oppose it. It also doesn't help that the National Rifle Association is a leading opponent of the legislation. (Opponents say it would strip rights away from individuals who have been mistakenly added to the lists.) U.S. Rep. John Katko isn't a supporter of King's bill. He's drawn criticism from Democrats for not backing the measure. One of his potential challengers in the 24th Congressional District race, Colleen Deacon, said the incumbent Republican congressman should change his position. "John Katko thinks we should allow suspected terrorists to buy guns in this country that is simply unacceptable," Deacon, D-Syracuse, said. "It is shameful that John Katko refuses to break with NRA Washington lobbyists and take commonsense action to keep guns out of the hands of those on the terrorist watch list. "We must close this loophole, a simple first step to keeping guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill and reducing the threat of senseless violence across the country." While Katko, R-Camillus, doesn't support King's legislation, he's a cosponsor of an alternative bill introduced by U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin, a fellow New York Republican. Zeldin's bill would serve a similar purpose it would give the U.S. attorney general the authority to "deny firearms and explosives to individuals who are engaged in terrorist activities, or where there is a reasonable belief that an individual may use a firearm or explosive in connection with terrorism." But Zeldin's measure also would require the attorney general to verify the accuracy of terror watch lists and the no-fly list. Zeldin noted that these lists have mistakenly contained the names of members of Congress, federal law enforcement officers and military service members. "It is unfortunate that some in Congress are pushing hard for an alternative that makes Americans guilty until proven innocent, denies necessary due process protections and improperly targets law abiding citizens," Zeldin said. "If this issue is about good policy, and not about good politics, than those members must take the right next step and fully endorse this legislation to close the terror gap in U.S. laws." Katko said he supports Zeldin's bill, in part, because the terror watch lists can be "over-inclusive" at times. After the San Bernardino terrorist attack last year involving two shooters who supported Islamic State, Katko launched an investigation into the methodology used to determine who appears on the watch lists. "If you're rightfully on a terror watch list or no-fly list, then you shouldn't get a gun," he said in a phone interview. "(The bill) is designed to keep the guns out of the hands of terrorists, but not out of the hands of law abiding citizens. I think the Zeldin bill does a much better job of protecting people's Second Amendment rights while also keeping guns out of the hands of potential terrorists." UPDATE: U.S. Rep. John Katko issued a statement reiterating his support for Zeldin's bill: "Americans expect a thoughtful and meaningful solution, and the Zeldin bill is exactly that. This commonsense and comprehensive measure prevents individuals on the no fly list from obtaining firearms, while ensuring the rights of law-abiding Americans are not abdicated without judicial process." UPDATE II: Colleen Deacon issued a second statement, this time responding to Katko's comments: "I think it is outrageous and irresponsible for John Katko to claim the terrorist watch lists are 'over inclusive.' Considering Omar Mateen was no longer on the terrorist watch list, this is clearly not the case. What is not clear to me is why John Katko continues to remain beholden to the corporate gun lobby by refusing to take up common sense legislation that will save actual lives." Our evening news services told us America was in shock following a lone gunman's attack in an Orlando nightclub that killed 49 people. This is, of course, nonsense. How can you be shocked by an event that is actually part of a nation's DNA? Saddened, yes, disgusted, yes but shocked, definitely no. Police officers direct people away from the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. Credit:AP We can waste time and effort wondering about the US gun culture, which will not change. Talking to otherwise rational Americans about guns is akin to a religious debate. You can't and won't change anyone's mind with logic. A man involved in a shocking road rage attack caught on camera earlier this year has pleaded guilty to careless driving and criminal damage in Mandurah Magistrates Court. Patryk Kamal Singh was charged following the January 12 offences which involved him causing $1740 worth of damage to another driver's vehicle, and swerving across the road. Despite indicating not guilty pleas during earlier court appearances, Singh pleaded guilty on Tuesday and was remanded on bail. The court heard Singh wanted to write a letter of apology and pay for the damage he caused before being sentenced on July 1. Nairobi, Kenya: The Eritrean Embassy in Kenya sent a text message alert Monday morning: The Ethiopians had attacked. Fighting on the border. Situation unfolding. The jagged line separating Eritrea from its former ruler, Ethiopia, has been one of Africa's most combustible flash points. Tens of thousands of soldiers died from 1998 to 2000 in a war that had been called as pointless as two bald men fighting over a comb. Presidential adviser Yemane Gebreab of Eritrea at the UN in Geneva last week. Credit:AP As the news of renewed clashes in the rocky, barren frontier began to spread Monday, many Ethiopians and Eritreans feared the worst. Witnesses said both sides were rushing troops to the Tsorona border area, and heavy artillery was apparently fired from both sides. On the Eritrean side, several people were reported to have been killed. The reports of fighting and the lack of solid information raised fears that the two countries could be sliding once again toward all-out war. Auburn's application for $10 million through the state's competitive Downtown Revitalization Initiative program envisions a new look for Loop Road. One of the six key projects outlined in the city's submission is a conceptual plan to close a section of Loop Road, renovating it as the location of a regional public market through new building development near the Owasco River. The market is described as the centerpiece of the developing greenway trail project. All of the projects identified in the DRI application are only concepts at this point. Nevertheless, officials have identified an ideal location for the riverside market on Loop Road between North and Genesee streets. The market concept is a product of public input garnered through past meetings held over the last few months as part of the Auburn Sparks program, said Christina Selvek, the city's director of capital projects and grants. Selvek said the market is a means of reusing underutilized real estate along that section of Loop Road. Further, Selvek said the potential restructuring of the street with a year-round marketplace could provide an indoor home for the Auburn Farmers Market. Auburn business Prison City Pub & Brewery supported the concept with an announcement last week. Owners stated that a new production facility would serve as a year-round anchor tenant for the regional market. "Completing the Nolan block, so to speak, would really complete downtown," Selvek said, referring to the adjacent block of Genesee Street. A schematic included in the DRI application, generated through the Auburn Sparks program, shows the road section closed off and transformed with the market built near pathways bordering the Owasco River. It has not yet been determined whether the market would move forward without the $10 million state grant, which Auburn is vying for against three other cities in the central New York region. Selvek said officials are waiting to see whether the city wins the award before deciding anything. Creating a walkable commercial strip along this section of Loop Road was an idea discussed in the city's comprehensive plan from 2009 a document that influenced Auburn's DRI application. The project is still in a very early phase and has not gone through any formal design process to date, Selvek said. As such, the city has not reached out to affected property owners for a meeting about the project yet. One business located along that stretch of Loop Road is The Good Shepherds Brewing Co. "This proposal looks very interesting and seems like it would really benefit (the city of Auburn)," said Garrett Shepherd, owner of Good Shepherds, after reviewing the city's DRI application. "The tough part for me would be where we are and would end up in relationship to the proposed sites. I think if the city would be able to secure this funding and use it to hopefully benefit even small businesses like mine where I could hire additional employees, we would love it." HIT: To the staff members from Auburn Correctional Facility who were among the honored at last week's statewide awards program. The Department of Corrections and Community Supervision recognized 10 employees at an Albany ceremony, including ACF Corrections officers Kenneth McFadden and Gregory Edgar. Those two received the Medal of Honor for their response to an inmate who tried to attack staff at University Hospital in Syracuse. DOCCS also gave the Medal of Merit award to ACF Sgt. Joseph Merville and plant utilities engineer Bill Kirby for their actions in responding to a fire at the prison's powerhouse. MISS: To the indictment of an Auburn man on vehicular homicide and manslaughter charges in connection with a fatal crash earlier this spring in the town of Fleming. Authorities said the defendant was under the influence of alcohol and marijuana when he crossed the center line and collided with an oncoming vehicle. An infant died from injuries in the crash. HIT: To the Falcon Sportsmen Club, which continues its mission of promoting outdoor activities for our area's youth with the yearly Kids Fishing Derby. Now in its 64th year, the derby held Sunday drew more than 160 young anglers to the club's ponds in the town of Sennett. HIT: To another impressive St. Baldrick's Day in the city of Auburn. Sunday's head-shaving event raised more than $60,000 for the fight against cancer. St. Baldrick's in Auburn is organized by members of the Auburn Fire Department and hosted by the Auburn Knights of Columbus. The large turnouts have become the norm, a testament to the community's tremendous generosity and resolve to battle this disease. Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams This party just keeps getting bigger! The Puerto Rican Day Parade and Festival in Sunset Park on June 12 was a resounding success, with 10,000 spectators lined up along Fifth Avenue to celebrate the islands heritage. It was the second official neighborhood parade in 20 years organizers finally got marching permits last year after a two-decade dry spell and one local reveler said it was noticeably bigger and better than last time around.It was much more packed this year than last year, it was more official, and its finally getting more recognition alongside the Manhattan parade it was really great for everyone, said Destiny Acho, who came with her mother, sister, and niece from Dyker Heights. Two-dozen drummers with the Afro-Puerto Rican traditional percussion group Alma Moyo led the parade down Fifth Avenue. Their pounding traditional bomba y plena tunes set an energetic tone for rest of the parade and had crowds bursting with energy, an organizer said. They automatically draw people out when they play these rhythms, the community responds, it brings people together, said Dennis Flores, whose social-justice group El Grito de Sunset Park organized the parade. They heard themselves in it it amped them up.Scores of classic cars including the hydraulic suspension-equipped low-riders followed them, along with floats and bands. The National Latino Officers Association of America sent a contingent, which Flores said was important for driving home the marchs message of reconciliation and dialogue between cops and community. Police and locals clashed during unofficial pride parades in years past, which partly fueled El Gritos push to go mainstream, Flores said. Officers did not make a single arrest or issue one summons at either this years or last years parade, according to police. Organizers dedicated the procession to Yvonne Cruz, a local who recently died of cancer, and the named Sunset Park native and actor J.W. Cortes the honorary head patron. Borough President Adams honored Floress group with a proclamation and Rep. Nydia Velazquez (DSunset Park) attended. And Cortes, who has a recurring role on televisions Gotham, thoroughly enjoyed himself, he tweeted. The parade ended with hundreds of revelers dancing to salsa, boogaloo, and Latin jazz of the Abrazos Orchestra during an after-party in the neighborhoods namesake green space. Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams They were holding out for a gyro! Thousands of Brooklynites visited Downtowns Saint Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Cathedrals annual Greek Festival last week, where attendees got a taste of Hellenic music, culture, and most of all the popular pita dish, according to the celebrations director. The most popular food is the gyro, said Michelle Tampakis, who is the co-chair of the annual extravaganza. We sell thousands of pounds of gyro. Tampakis said more than 10,000 stopped by the week-long festival on Schemerhorn Street in its 39th edition this year which the Greek Orthodox church puts on every year to raise money for the house of worship and nearby A. Fantis Parochial School. This years event raked in $140,000, much of it thanks to sales of gyros, souvlaki, spinach pie, pastries, and octopus the church sold 250 pounds of the cephalopod specialty, according to Tampakis. The celebration also included traditional dancing, bouncy houses for the kids, and many of the same smiles from years past, said Tampakis. Its nice to see a lot of the same faces from year after year, she said. Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams Thousands of Brooklynites flocked to Park Slopes Fifth Avenue to celebrate the boroughs queer community at the 20th Brooklyn Pride festival and parade on Saturday evening, hours before a gunman massacred 49 people at a gay nightclub in Florida. The procession was a testament to the strength of Kings Countys lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community, said one attendee, and provided a bright spot in an otherwise dark weekend. To see so many people and so much excitement I thought it was very powerful, said Park Sloper Elizabeth Payne, whose 6-year-old daughter Avery marched in the procession with outdoors group the Fifth Brooklyn Scouts. Its maybe more important for me as a memory that the night before, my daughter was marching and participating in a thing that is so happy for everyone. Payne said the event was also a great way to open up the conversation about same sex-marriage with her kid, who was thrilled to learn it means more people can tie the knot. Its very exciting for her because she thinks the more marriage the better, she said. Along with community groups, activists, local businesses, and high-flying cheerleaders, Brooklyn pols including Borough President Adams, Rep. Nydia Velazquez (DWilliamsburg), and Rep. Jerry Nadler (DBorough Park) all waved their rainbow flags along the route stirring up all sorts of emotions for revelers along the way. It was amazing, super inspiring, and a little bit emotional too, of course, said James McPherson, a Park Slope resident who came with pal Bryce Avinano. The pair usually attend the massive four-hour Pride Parade in the outer borough of Manhattan, but this year decided to check out the 90-minute Park Slope extravaganza and were smitten with its small-town atmosphere. It was nice to have a more intimate vibe, there was a real neighborhood feeling, said Avinano. And it is a neighborliness that includes all Brooklynites, said the parades organizer regardless of their identity. All these people just celebrating the livelihood and celebrating the love and not caring whether youre LGBTQA whatever letter of the alphabet and just being there as one Brooklyn was really quite moving, said organizer Mickey Heller. Warrnambool Cheese and Butter launches new Coon cheese campaign Warrnambool Cheese and Butter (WCB) is promoting its Coon cheese brand with a new, large-scale marketing campaign. The campaign will run across TV, print and digital media. It focuses on the heritage of the brand and its everyday use by Australians. The campaign was launched at the start of this week with a television commercial portraying a mother and daughter passing on the tradition of Coon cheese toasties over several decades under the tagline Comfort never grows old. The campaign, developed by advertising agency Havas Melbourne, is the first in nearly three years for Coon cheese after the brand was purchased from Lion Dairy and Drinks by WCB in 2015. For the past 81 years Coon cheese has been enjoyed by Australian families and is a staple of everyday life, said WCB General Manager of Marketing, Ted Lawson. We hope the TVC reminds Australians of their childhood, growing up with Coon cheese and the pleasure and comfort of enjoying a cheese toastie with family. This is a tradition that we want to continue, he said. latest news October 3, 2022 Dee Gambit Hundreds if not thousands of new and returning TV shows and movies are released every month your options of what to watch are endless. Variety, they say is ... Campus News GoPro camera documents trip to Turkey Students in Don McGuire's class used a UBIT-provided GoPro to document their visit to the church of Ayasofia (Hagia Sophia) in Istanbul, Turkey, earlier this year. By DAN HARTMAN In this video from the trip, Don McGuire discusses the luxury condominiums from the high/late Roman period at the ancient city of Ephesus, Turkey. To see additional footage from the trip, visit UBIT's YouTube channel. The best learning environment isnt always in the classroom: Its frequently out in the field. And UB faculty members are using the latest technology to document that time in the field to enhance the student learning experience. Students from Don McGuires Global Cities in the 21st Century, Istanbul course traveled to Turkey in January for a firsthand educational experience. While this years trip wasnt the first time McGuires class has visited Turkey, it was the first time the journey has been documented with a GoPro camera. The experience my students get in Turkey cannot simply be taught through a textbook, says McGuire, coordinator for undergraduate initiatives for the College of Arts and Sciences and adjunct associate professor in the Department of Classics. Its a nicely integrated curriculum. The students jaws drop the entire trip. The trip began with four days of basic introduction to the city of Istanbul, followed by an eight-day journey across western Turkey to explore modern and ancient cities. Afterward, the group returned to Istanbul for another eight days. News / Health by Staff Reporter In an effort to boost the local pharmaceutical industry, Government has put import controls on 23 pharmaceutical medicines.The industry, which employs over 1 000 people is made up of about nine companies but operations have been constrained by the current economic conditions and the influx of imported drugs some of which are smuggled into the country.The sector has also been struggling to breakthrough in regional markets as some of the countries have stringent licensing conditions, which subsequently make the products uncompetitive.Industry Minister Mike Bimha said the move to put controls would boost local industry as the medicines that were gazetted are available locally.The controls were gazetted under statutory instrument 18 of 2016. The drugs which are on the list include aspirin and caffeine tablets or capsules, cotrimoxazole suspension, syrup or dry granules, cotrimoxazole tablets, Ibuprofen tablets or capsules, metformin, metronidazole, erythromyein capsules or tables, paracetamol and codeine tablets, paracetamol syrup, amoxicillin capsules, amoxicillin granules, cloxacillin capsules or tabs, maintelyte with dextrose (glucose) intravenous (IV) Infusion fluid.Minister Bimha, however, said the controls apply only to those products that are brought into the country formally."The problem with those who smuggle the products into the country due to the porous border posts remains.However, Government is currently working on ways to improve border surveillance and the Minister of Home Affairs will soon make an announcement on the measures being taken."Last year, Government estimated that the pharmaceuticals industry requires $80 million to fund operations.Meanwhile, ZimTrade is encouraging local companies in the pharmaceutical sector to broaden their export base by exploring the Zambian market.The increase of the country's national healthcare budget by 72 percent from 2012 to 2015 shows that the Zambian Government is prioritising the health sector.Zambia's imports of pharmaceuticals have also been on an upward trend since 2010 increasing over 90percent from $115 million in 2010 to $220 million in 2014.According to Trade Map, the top five sources of medicaments for Zambia in 2014 were South Africa, India, UK, Denmark and USA with Zimbabwe being number 14.This presents opportunities to Zimbabwean companies in the pharmaceutical sector given both countries are members of the COMESA and have SADC preferential trade schemes.These trade arrangements offer zero duty on the importation of pharmaceutical products which meet the qualifying rules of origin. Furthermore, local companies should also take advantage of the close proximity to Zambia."Potential suppliers need to be aware that the import of pharmaceuticals into Zambia is highly regulated. The Zambia Medicines Regulatory Authority(ZAMRA) determines requirements for market entry which include drug registration," said ZimTrade. News / National by Stephen Jakes Zimbabwean students on government scholarship in Egypt and Algeria are struggling to survive and accused the government of dumping them in the foreign lands.The students have revealed they are eking out a living after a 3yrs stipend drought crafted by the ministry of high and tertiary education."Most of the students on these government scholarships are from disadvantaged families regardless of political backgrounds and majority of students agreed to the scholarship offer after the ministry promised to cater for our day to day living in the foreign lands through the $3000 stipend per annum for each student," revealed a student."We have contacted the Embassy officials here to convey the message back home but all was fruitless.The student attache, Mharapara based in Algeria failed to provide a lasting solution to our financial crisis since most decisions are made back home."The student said most students are studying pharmacy,medicine,engineering,dentistry and computer science which will go a long way in turning around the economy but seems we are being sabotaged by our own government though patriotic."The ministry of high and Tertiary education is still sending new students abroad for these scholarships as well as funding programs like STEM though claiming to be insolvent," said the student."I just read an article by NewsDay where the deputy Minister of High and Tertiary Education,Dr Godfrey Gandawa claimed to have already disbursed the stipends to us which are all lies. In an abstract I am begging the Ministry of High and Tertiary Education headed by Prof Jonathan Moyo to bail us out at least for humanitarian reasons." News / National by Prosper Dembedza THREE suspects believed to be part of a human trafficking syndicate that lured desperate job seekers to Kuwait where they were badly treated and forced into prostitution have appeared in court.Edison Mudonhi (45), Gilson Mugumo (41) and Helen Tambanewako (37) were charged with contravening sections of the Trafficking in Persons Act when they appeared in court last week.They were granted $500 bail and remanded to July 7.Allegations are that on February 19, 2016, Tambanewako, who is Mudonhi's wife, approached a woman at her house in Chitungwiza and inquired if she was interested in working in Dubai.The court heard that Tambanewako advised the woman that she would be working as a waitress earning $750 a month.It is alleged that the woman agreed and was advised to visit Mudonhi's house with her HIV test results which she did the following day.It is the State's case that Mudonhi took the woman to Mugumo's house where Mugumo told her that he was processing her travel documents for Dubai on February 25 2016.Mugumo advised the woman to pay him $25 for fuel and parking expenses at the airport.The court heard that on February 24, Mudonhi gave the woman her visa to go to Kuwait instead of Dubai after telling her that Dubai was no longer recruiting waitresses.It is alleged that on February 25, the woman boarded a plane at the Harare International Airport and arrived in Kuwait the following day.Upon arrival, the woman was detained at the airport by immigration officials for seven hours, while waiting for employment agent identified as Norest, a Zimbabwean, who came accompanied by a Ghanaian known as Ibrahim.They handed the woman to her employer who held her passport and ordered her to remove her clothes and wear Moslem garb.The court heard that during her period of employment, the complainant survived on left overs, was forced to sleep in the passage and was not allowed to communicate with anyone outside the house.It is the State's case that she escaped and went to the Zimbabwe embassy where she reported the abuse.She was repatriated back to Zimbabwe on April 30.She reported the matter to the police. Higher taxes, trash pickup? Many special questions await voters Nov. 8 They're sometimes easy to miss, but many South Jersey communities have special questions before voters on their Nov. 8 ballots. The Coconino Center for the Arts and Pioneer Historical Museum will be grooving the weekend of June 18 and 19 when the 15th annual Flagstaff Folk Festival takes the stage. The fun starts at 10 a.m. and runs until 6 p.m. both days. The festival promises two days of great folk music, workshops and more than 100 acts on five stages. The entrance fee is $5 per person per day or $15 per family per day. Music lovers are encouraged to bring their favorite instrument and join in one of the informal jam sessions that crop up between acts. There will also be food and craft vendors. Some musicians and groups expected to be at the festival include: Brush Arbor Revival, Clearwater Creek and Ryan Biter and the Sunshine Girls. The workshops include: altered guitar tunings, flatpicking and humorous songwriting. The festival is sponsored by the Flagstaff Friends of Traditional Music, the Historical Museum and the Coconino Center for the Arts. Film to premiere at Sedonas Mary D. Fisher Theater "Almost Holy" starts after the collapse of the Soviet Union when the Ukraine's social and political institutions faced massive change. A number of the nation's youth wound up homeless and addicted. In the early 2000s a pastor named Gennadiy Mokhnenko took up the fight against child homelessness by forcibly abducting street kids and bringing them to his Pilgrim Republic rehabilitation center. The film focuses on Mokhnenkos work that has made him a hero to some and a vigilante to others. The film is showing one day only, June 16, at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. at the Mary D. Fisher Theater, 2030 W. Highway 89A, West Sedona. Tickets are $12 for non-Sedona Film Festival members and $9 for members. Burnham-On-Seas MP James Heappey has explained why hes decided to vote for the UK to remain in the EU in this months EU Referendum. The MP, who said he would wait to hear all the sides of the argument before revealing his voting intentions, finally made his decision on Monday (June 13th). He explained: Ive been dancing the EU Hokey-Cokey. Three years ago, I was out. After the Bloomberg speech, I was in. After the renegotiation was unveiled, I was out. But now, with just over ten days to go, the music has stopped, and Im in. There has been no Damascene conversion I still think the EU is urgently in need of change that goes well beyond the concessions won in our renegotiation. Nor have I been schmoozed. Gavin Williamson, the PMs right hand man in the Commons, had offered me a chat with the boss but it never came. Quite rightly, I suspect David Camerons priority was on winning millions of votes rather than my one. And theres no glory hunting either. As I write this, Im surrounded by papers saying that the momentum nationally is going the other way and Im pretty sure that locally here in Somerset the momentum has never been anywhere other than with the Leave. Along the way, Ive been disappointed by both campaigns. There have been scare stories aplenty, hopelessly biased leaflets from the Government and battle buses adorned with made up numbers for extra cash for the NHS. Weve been given plenty to worry about from economic Armageddon to all of Turkey leaving home and coming here. The bulls**t detector has been in overdrive. Career wise, being openly critical of both sides has probably not been the smartest move. Choosing in the end to go the opposite way to the bulk of the Wells Conservative Association and, I suspect, a majority of my constituents is certainly not the easy option. But this is a decision of huge importance, shaping the future of our country for decades to come and so doing what is easy, is surely trumped by doing what is right. No matter what I think of the EU, I just cannot turn a blind eye to the gaping hole in the case for leaving. We have not seen the economic vision for life after Brexit. We know we wont want a deal like Norways nor Switzerlands. Well just start with a blank piece of paper and make something up as we go along. Thats possible, but this is a decision that needs to be made in the real world. On June 24th, we dont get to press pause whilst we design our trade deal and negotiate it with the EU. The world will go on around us, the markets will react, international businesses will make decisions about where theyll invest and none of it will react well to our self-inflicted economic uncertainty. If we remain, we might be better off but the worst case is surely that things are about the same. If we leave, who knows? At some point around two years after the referendum, wed have to hand back our membership card and UK businesses would be trading under our newly negotiated settlement. Two years and two weeks beforehand, we have not the faintest clue what that deal looks like. If its to indulge Project Fear to point that out, then guilty. In my military career, however, I learned a little about fear and invariably its not what you know that makes you afraid but what you dont know. Over the next two weeks, well hear lots of threats but I dont expect those to be decisive in the way people vote. Instead, its the blank piece of paper that is the Leave campaigns post Brexit economic policy. The EU is no less flawed and the need for change is undiminished. Concerns over immigration are coming to the fore in the referendum because in communities across the UK, people are fed up. I will be voting to remain and I really hope the country as a whole will do likewise. But that must not be confused as a vote for more of the same. Our immigration policy needs more work and the EU needs more change. Our decision on 23rd June is going to be taken in the real world. If we vote to leave, everything around us will react to our decision and we just dont know what the cost of that reaction will be. Then well start negotiating for our future and with just ten days to go, nobody seems to have any idea what it is well be asking for. To avoid that whopping great leap into the unknown, Ill be holding my nose and voting to remain. .REACTION TO THE MPS DECISION ON THE EU REFERENDUM Helen Hims, Chairman of UKIP Somerset: Helen Hims, Chairman of UKIP Somerset and who lives in the Burnham-On-Sea area, told Burnham-On-Sea.com: Im incredibly disappointed to learn that James Heappey has decided to campaign to remain in the European Union. In a nutshell, he claims that leaving the EU will be a leap in the dark, and although the EU needs massive reforms, the worst case scenario is things will stay the same. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. By leaving we will take back control of our laws, our money, our borders, our trade and our world influence, all things weve progressively lost over the last 40 years. Leaving is a return to a normal state of affairs that of national sovereignty seen as desirable everywhere in the world except the EU! She added: Remaining is a far riskier option. Things will certainly not stay the same. The EU is a runaway train and the Euro a ticking financial time-bomb. When it blows we will be vastly better off if we have voted to leave. As for reform forget it. Weve had 40 years to reform the EU and got absolutely nowhere. We are constantly outvoted. At our and only chance to get a new deal, Cameron was completely unable to secure even the smallest of concessions. Just imagine how well be treated if we vote to stay. Were being asked to give up the right to govern ourselves and I personally dont believe that is a price worth paying ever! Its a shame our MP has decided otherwise. Arvind Kejriwal led Aam Aadmi Party waged a new war against one of its power distribution companies, BSES, by asking promoter to meet the government to discuss improvement in power supply services. Charged with DUI Thomas Sappenfield, 21, of West University Avenue was arrested by Flagstaff Police Department and charged with DUI at 2:14 a.m. this past Thursday. City and county residents who want to report a crime but wish to remain anonymous may call Silent Witness at 774-6111 or (877) 29-CRIME, submit a tip online at www.coconinosilentwitness.org, or text the word Flagtip along with your information to 274637 (CRIMES). Rewards of up to $2,000 are given for information that leads to an arrest. A court has ordered initiation of proceedings against real estate major Ltd and its top bosses in a case of alleged cheating lodged by an investor for not giving him possession of a flat booked in 2006 in Greater Noida, adjacent to the national capital. Ltd, its Chairman Ramesh Chandra, Managing Directors Ajay Chandra and Sanjay Chandra and four other Directors have been named as accused in the complaint. Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Sandeep Yadav passed the order against them for the alleged offence of cheating under section 420 of IPC saying they had "guilty intention to cheat the petitioner from the beginning". The complaint was filed by Gurgaon resident Paramvir Singh Narang alleging that he had booked a flat in Cascades at Greater Noida in 2006 for which he had paid a total sale consideration of Rs 39.07 lakh. The flat was to be handed over by April 2008 but the company failed to abide by its agreement, following which he lodged a complaint. His plea was dismissed by a magisterial court after which he filed a revision petition before sessions court. "Since respondents after receiving total agreement payment of Rs 39.07 lakh neither offered possession of apartment nor refunded the amount with simple interest at 10 per cent per annum, it can be safely concluded that they were having guilty intention to cheat the petitioner from the very beginning of transaction," the ASJ said. "Even the legal notice issued by complainant to accused persons was not replied. Hence, section 420 of the IPC gets attracted to the facts of present case," the judge said. The court has ordered proceedings against M/s Unitech Ltd, its Chairman Ramesh Chandra, Managing Directors Ajay Chandra and Sanjay Chandra and Directors Anil Harish, Minoti Bahri, Ravinder Singhania and Sanjay Bahadur. "It is clear from the averment of complaint and testimony of the complainant that respondents have neither handed over possession of the apartment to petitioner within stipulated period nor have they refunded the amount with interest. "In fact, legal notice issued by petitioner in this regard went unheeded. Therefore, a clear case of cheating is made out against respondents as respondents cheated the complainant and dishonestly induced him to pay a sum of Rs 39.07 lakh to them on the promise of handing over the possession of apartment," the court said. Realty, real estate advisory arm of Housing Development Finance Corporation, is working on aggregating the services of local property brokers. This in the backdrop of the prolonged slowdown in real estate markets. To take on global brands, especially from China, Kerala-based infant wear and textile maker is all set to launch its own brand 'Little Star' in the US market. The company, which has been the major supplier to some of the global brands is launching its own brand on the backdrop of increasing demand in the country. Sabu M Jacob, chairman and managing director of Kitex, in a letter to the shareholders said: "Company is intend to drive the next level of organic growth by expanding markets and online and offline marketing channels assisted by capacity expansion and by enhancing people and technological capabilities." He said that company's key strategy is to continue leveraging on its leadership position in infant wear manufacturing as well as expand the market in US by forward integration. ANI Technologies, the company that owns Indias largest taxi aggregator, Ola, is in talks to raise nearly $1 billion (Rs 6,700 crore) in fresh funding to compete with global rival Uber, which has a war chest for India, 'the only market that remains open globally. is expected to close the round before the end of July, said sources privy to the development on condition of anonymity. Existing investors SoftBank, Sequoia Capital and DST Global are likely to participate in the round. Two new US investors are expected to take part in the funding, but their names could not be independently confirmed. Olas global collaborator and investor Didi will also take part in the round, potentially bringing India into the competition map between Google and Apple. In May, Apple invested $1 billion in Didi, which dominates the Chinese market, while Uber raised funds in 2013 from Google Ventures, the investment arm of Google. did not respond to a mail seeking comments sent on June 8. Ola, Didi, Indonesian taxi aggregator Grabtaxi and Lyft, the laggard in the US market, are part of a global alliance that allows users to use their home app in other countries. The alliance stitched by Softbank, the common investor in these firms, shares best practices and resources to combat Uber, which dominates the app-based taxi aggregator market in the US. Ashok Sachdev, a New Delhi-based Toyota dealer, is losing his market fast but what adds to the pain is the loss of employees. Unlock 30+ premium stories daily hand-picked by our editors, across devices on browser and app. Full access to our intuitive epaper - clip, save, share articles from any device; newspaper archives from 2006. Curated newsletters on markets, personal finance, policy & politics, start-ups, technology, and more. Pick your 5 favourite companies, get a daily email with all news updates on them. 26 years of website archives. Almost 18 months after the mobile handset manufacturing unit of Nokia India suspended operations at the Special Economic Zone facility in Sriperumbudur, near here, the Government of Tamil Nadu is in talks with at least four or five to revive the manufacturing facility. You may be surprised but one of every four cars sold in the country is being recalled to fix a manufacturing defect. Close on the heels of President Pranab Mukherjee's maiden visit to three African nationsGhana, Ivory Coast and Namibia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also likely to visit a few countries of the continent soon as part of India's outreach to Africa. The indications of this plan was given by Mukherjee while he was addressing the Indian community here yesterday during a reception hosted by the Indian High Commissioner to Ghana K Jeeva Sagar. Recalling 'age-old' friendly relations of Indians with Africa, the President said the relationship has deepened over the years. "My first visit as President of India to three African countries is not accidental," he said, adding it was a follow-up action initiated by the Prime Minister after India Africa Forum Summit held in New Delhi last year. "Very recently, just a few days before Vice President Hamid Ansari visited Tunisia and Morocco. I am visiting these three countries and shortly Prime Minister is also going to undertake visits to four-five African countries to give a message that 'Africa, we stand by you'," the President said. Speaking to the Indian community, he asked them to join the campaigns launched by Prime Minister Modi such as 'Digital India', 'Startup India, Stand up India', 'Clean India Mission', 'Smart Cities' etc. The President said India's trade with Africa is over $70 billion and investments worth about $35 billion. Addressing the community, he said their efforts were complementing many foreign policy measures taken by the Indian government to assist the friendly countries in Africa, including Ghana. He said India has extended over $400 million of concessional credit to Ghana in the last few years for various projects. "Exim bank is also providing funding for a railway project. India-Ghana bilateral trade has reached $3 billion and Indian investments in this country are estimated at around $1 billion," the President noted. Mukherjee, during his talks with Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama, said both the sides have agreed to take the trade to $5 billion by 2020. He also praised the Indian diaspora for its engaging role as "force multiplier" in the country's economic growth. "These giant strides would not have been possible without the active role of the diaspora. You have become force multipliers of India's growing economic strength. I thank you for your commitment," he said. Dan Duke didnt get much sleep Monday. The Flagstaff native works at Woody's Old School Tattoos and Piercing during the day and at Flagstaff Medical Center overnight. He is also openly gay. When he was a sheltered kid, he remembers using the Internet to find advice and friendship from older members of the LGBT community. Even I, when I was younger, would purposely seek out people across the country knowing that nobody would know me there, Duke said. Thats part of queer society. People seek out confidentiality and confidence and similarities so they can relate to others. Now that he is confident in his own identity, younger gay men often look to him for guidance. One of them was a 23-year-old pharmacy technician from Florida named Stanley Almodovar III. About seven months ago, Almodovar reached out to him through social media looking for advice on being openly gay in a rural town. Both men worked the graveyard shift, so they would chat on their late-night lunch breaks. Almodovar always made sure to send Duke a message saying good morning. They bonded over their jobs in the medical profession and talked about their aspirations. Almodovar wanted to become a registered nurse. When they talked this past week, Duke was considering taking a trip to Florida to meet Almodovar in person. Almodovar said he would show him the Everglades on his familys airboat. Our friendship and rapport was based on him getting the strength to come to terms with his sexuality, to have the strength to go out in public, to go to gay clubs, to go to places of safety or sanctuary where you can express yourself and be yourself and not be afraid of being judged or harmed, Duke said. Duke expected to hear from Almodovar when he was at work at the hospital Sunday night. Almodovar never got online. Later, Duke saw a news story releasing the names of the victims killed by a gunman at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla. There, at the top of the list, was Almodovar. Just alphabetically, he was kind of the first picture that popped up, Duke said. He messaged Almodovar, hoping it was a mistake, but got no reply. Duke couldnt sleep when he got home from work early Monday morning. Instead, he just cried for his fallen friend. Im just kind of waiting to see if he texts back, Duke said. Thats kind of where Im at, just waiting to see the message say read or something. I dont even know what Im waiting for or who. There wasnt even a chance to say goodnight or good morning or hello. It was just like, thats it. Almodovars mother, Rosalie Ramos, told the Orlando Sentinel her son posted a Snapchat video of himself singing and laughing on his way to the Pulse nightclub just before the shooting. After he heard the news, Duke sent a message Ramos asking if there was anything he could do. He has not heard back. Im hurting for the other people, he said. Im sympathizing with peoples families the mothers that arent going to be able to kiss their sons to sleep, the boyfriends or girlfriends that are going to bed alone tonight. VIGIL IN FLAGSTAFF The deadly attack in Orlando was the largest mass shooting in U.S. history, leaving 50 people dead, including the gunman, and 53 wounded. It came during national LGBT Pride Month and two weeks before the United States was to mark the first anniversary of the Supreme Courts landmark decision legalizing same-sex marriage. Last year we celebrated marriage equality and this year we are mourning, said Flagstaff Pride President Kathryn Jim. This whole tragedy has affected everyone in the [LGBT] community. Duke, who is a member of Flagstaffs Commission on Diversity Awareness, said in his five years on the commission, he has never had anyone bring an LGBT-specific hate crime to his attention, but he knows they still happen to some extent even here. I can confidently say Im not confident enough to walk down the street holding hands or kissing somebody; Im proud of people that can do that, he said. It pokes my heart when people yell derogatory terms or try to be offensive toward me or family or acquaintances that they dont even know. On Thursday, June 23, Flagstaff Pride will hold a candlelight vigil for the victims of the Orlando mass shooting during its Rainbow Flag Ceremony at 6:30 p.m. at Flagstaff City Hall. Two days later on Saturday, June 25, Flagstaff will celebrate the LGBT community and mourn those who have lost their lives to hate crimes and HIV/Aids at the annual Pride in the Pines festival at Thorpe Park. After the tragedy in Orlando, Jim said she has had a lot of community members calling and asking how they can help with the event next weekend. Jim said community leaders and city officials have really stepped up to the plate in reassuring Flagstaff Pride that Pride in the Pines will be a safe and secure event, and that there is no need to be fearful of attending. I honestly didnt think about being concerned, said Flagstaff Pride member Mark Hanson. Its really sad that I should feel uneasy going to an event made for me. Its supposed to be a time of joy and celebration, but I also hope its a time of reflection where we focus on pride as a community. Duke said he hopes the Orlando killings will help people in Flagstaff and beyond come together to support the LGBT community. Id love to see some sort of huge outpouring of support similar to what we saw after our nation was attacked during 9/11 with American flags on every fence, he said. Id love to see every queer person coming out with their rainbow flags showing a sense of unity and not a sense of fear. He and Jim are both hopeful that some progress will come from the tragedy in Orlando. These individuals were martyrs in the fight for equality, Jim said. I feel after this event happened, I see more unity, more love and more community. India is likely to attain full membership of the (SCO) within a year, Secretary-General of the six-member political, economic and military alliance led by China and Russia has said. "For almost a year, we held consultations with top representatives from India. To become a full member of the SCO, the applicant states should adopt all the documents in accordance with the procedures in this country," Rashid Alimov, the secretary-general, said on Monday at the SCO headquarters here. At the Tashkent summit on June 23-24, India will inch a step closer to obtaining full SCO membership, with the signing of a memorandum on the commitments of applicant states. "We have around 30 documents of this kind. The main document is about long term partnership, cooperation and good neighbourhood. In Tashkent, we are expected to sign the document that will take India to the next stage in the process," he said. He added that India will first have to accept all the documents that have been adopted by the SCO member states in the past 15 years which may take some time. "Keeping all the required documentation in mind, a concrete date cannot be set in this regard. It may take six months or a year," Alimov said. While China may be blocking India's bid to join the coveted NSG club, the prospect of its neighbour joining the six-member SCO, often touted as a counterweight to Western alliances, seems promising to the Secretary-General. "I think India is a great country, it has great culture and economy. When it joins the SCO as a full member, the organisation will grow more powerful," Alimov said. India, which has observer status, applied in 2014 for SCO membership, that is expected to allow the country greater access to energy resources in Central Asia and more say in key security initiatives in the Asia-Pacific region. The SCO summit held in Ufa in Russia last year approved inclusion of India and Pakistan to the list. Vehemently opposing India's bid, Chinese official media in first comments since China's objection said on Tuesday that New Delhi's membership will not only touch a "raw nerve" in Pakistan and increase a nuclear arms race but also "jeopardise" Beijing's interests. An op-ed commentary in state-run Global Times titled "India mustn't let nuclear ambitions blind itself" said, New Delhi's membership will set off a nuclear confrontation in the region. "India and Pakistan, both nuclear powers in the region, keep alert to each other's nuclear capabilities. India's application for membership and its potential consequences will inevitably touch a raw nerve in Pakistan, its traditional rival in the region. "As Pakistan is not willing to see an enlarging gap in nuclear power with India, a nuclear race is a likely outcome. This will not only paralyse regional security, but also jeopardise China's interests," said the commentary, the first write-up on the issue since Beijing's opposition to India's bid. "Last week, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi embarked on a diplomatic journey, travelling halfway across the world with his top goal to garner support for his country's entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG)," ahead of the plenary meeting of the group expected to be held in Seoul on June 24. "The US and some NSG members have given a push to India's membership bid, but the reported opposition from most countries, especially China, seems to have irritated India," it said. Reports from Vienna, where the NSG is based, said that while majority of the 48-member group backed India's membership, China along with New Zealand, Ireland, Turkey, South Africa and Austria were opposed to India's admission. The NSG looks after critical issues relating to nuclear sector and its members are allowed to trade in and export nuclear technology. The group works under the principle of unanimity and even one country's vote against India will scuttle its bid. "Beijing insists that a prerequisite of New Delhi's entry is that it must be a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) while India is not. Despite acknowledging this legal and systematic requirement, the Indian media called China's stance "obstructionist"," the commentary said. "India has its own calculations for joining the NSG. Eyeing retaining the fastest growing economy tag, India's access to the NSG, a body that regulates the global trade of nuclear technology, is expected to open up the international market for India's domestic nuclear energy programme. "Meanwhile, with the support of the US, India can advance its development in this regard," it said. "The deliberations of the US are also clear. With India's NSG membership, the US, the world's largest producer of nuclear power, can sell its nuclear technology to India. A US company is set to build six nuclear reactors in India, an agreement made between the two countries during Modi's recent visit to the US," it said. Beyond cooperation in the nuclear sector, the US views India as a "balancing actor in its pivot to the Asia-Pacific strategy". Its supply of nuclear technologies to enhance India's deterrence capability is to put China in check, it said. "What is missing in US and Indian motives are concerns for regional security. So far, South Asia is still facing the harsh reality that the region is mired in nuclear confrontation," it said. "China insists on peaceful development. A peaceful regional and global environment is in the interests of all stakeholders. China's concern about India's inclusion into the NSG comes out of the security dynamic in South Asia. "Only when New Delhi and Islamabad take another step forward in their non proliferation commitments can the region avoid being dragged into a nuclear confrontation," it said. On Sunday, China had said, members of the elite club "remain divided" on the issue of non-NPT countries joining it and insisted that there "was no deliberation" on the bid by India and other nations at the Vienna meeting. The Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have started blocking websites allegedly offering escort services after an order from the Department of Telecommunication (DoT). The DoT on Monday asked ISPs to immediately block around 240 such URLs (Uniform Resource Locator) offering escort services, to filter out obscene content on the internet. Speaking to Business Standard, Internet Service Providers Association of Indias (ISPAI) President Rajesh Chharia said the ISPs were in process of shutting down these websites. ISPAI represents 60 ISPs including Bharti Airtel, Tata Teleservices, Reliance Communication, Vodafone and Idea Cellular. We received the order yesterday, and it entails a list of about 240 websites that the government wants us to block, said Chharia. CERT-In, which works under the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (Deity), advised the department on certain websites that it feels could be a national or social threat. Deity then reached out to DoT, which is our licensor. We are the licensee, and as per the licensing agreement, we have to comply with the order. While declining to comment on whether this is the first such order the association had received this year, Chharia said, Since last few years, we have been receiving orders to block websites which hosts content that may be a threat to social order or national security. Blocking of websites takes place under Section 69A of the IT Act, and a 2009 secondary legislation called the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking for Access of Information by Public) Rules (Blocking Rules). The rules empower the central government to direct any agency or intermediary to block access to information when satisfied that it is necessary or expedient so to do in the interest of the sovereignty and integrity of India, defense of India, security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states or public order or for preventing incitement to the commission of any cognisable offence relating to above. Intermediaries failing to comply are punishable with fines and prison terms up to seven years. In December 2014, around six months after the Modi-led BJP government came into power, the DoT ordered ISPs to block 32 websites, including Vimeo, Dailymotion, GitHub and Pastebin. Delhi High Court has rejected the plea of a dismissed personnel for reinstatement, saying he was an "active member" of an agitating mob raising "abusive anti-government slogans" in 1979 and their rebellion was of such a magnitude that Army was requisitioned to control them. A bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Sunil Gaur was dealing with the case connected with the 1979 revolt against the government by a section of the force. "There were sufficient reasons for dispensing with the enquiry when the rebellion was of such a large magnitude that the Army had to be requisitioned to contain the unruly mob that was extending threats, criminal intimidation and bodily harm to loyal members of the force," the bench said. The court noted that there was a confrontation between the agitating mob and the Army in which three persons were killed and eight others were injured. The court dismissed the plea of Kumar Pal Singh, who was a Sepoy in CRPF, saying the concerned authorities were justified in adopting a common procedure by dispensing with departmental enquiry and dismissing the petitioner and other delinquent members of the force outrightly. Detailing the facts in its verdict, the court noted that on June 22, 1979 at about 11.30 p.m., around 1,700 members of the force had held an illegal meeting in Camp at Jharoda Kalan here and took out an unauthorised procession. In the meeting, they decided to abstain from work and paralyse normal functioning of the Group Centre by systematic disobedience of orders and non-performance of various lawful duties assigned to them. On June 23, 1979, the revolting members of the force also abstained from discharging their normal duties despite orders directing them to report and subsequently, a mob went to the main entrance of the Group Centre and raised "abusive anti- government slogans". The court noted that the mob had then indulged in physical violence against loyal members of and caused injuries to them. On June 25, pursuant to the decision of higher authorities, Army units accompanied by a magistrate reached the Group Centre in the early hours. After the agitators refused to hand over their weapons or disperse, and confronted the Army by opening fire, the Army resorted to use of force and forced the mob to surrender their arms and ammunition. Welcoming the Bombay High Court's verdict on the film 'Udta Punjab', Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) chief on Tuesday dubbed it as the 'victory of democracy', adding it was not a matter of win or loss. "Every producer has the right to challenge the CBFC order. We welcome the decision of the Bombay High Court. Now, it is up to the administration to take a call to challenge it. Be it CBFC or the income tax, one can go to the higher authorities after an order. This is a right in a democracy. It's not a matter of win or lose; it's the victory of democracy, it's the victory of the producer and I congratulate him," Nihalani told the media here. The censor board chief, who was earlier called a 'dictator' by co-producer Anurag Kashyap for bearing down heavily upon the film, said that he acted according to the rule book. "I don't watch films nor do I have the right to watch films. We respect the order," he added while avoiding posers about the topic of drug menace in Punjab. The Bombay High Court on Monday cleared the release of 'Udta Punjab', whose makers were locked in a dispute with the CBFC. A division bench of the High Court directed the CBFC to certify the film within 48 hours to enable the makers to release it on its scheduled date on June 17. The bench refused to stay its order on a plea made by the CBFC counsel to enable the board to appeal against it in the Supreme Court, saying the filmmakers have already spent a lot on the movie and its promotion and distribution. President will attend the convocation ceremony where degrees will be awarded to the first batch of students at Nalanda University in August. He will also launch the ground breaking ceremony for construction to start at the campus site, a university official said on Tuesday. "Mukherjee will confer degrees to the first batch of students at the convocation ceremony to be held on August 27, 2016," the official said. According to officials, these students had joined the two inaugural schoolsThe School of Ecology and Environment Studies and the School of Historical Studies in the two year Masters programme. The university will be admitting a new batch of students in August and will also start the new schoolthe School of Buddhist Studies, Philosophy and Comparative Religions. Located in the Buddhist pilgrim town of Rajgir in Nalanda district, the university currently has two functional divisions: the School of Historical Studies and the School of Environment and Ecological Studies. It started its first academic session in September 2014 in a makeshift campus. The fully-residential university will eventually have seven schools for postgraduate and doctoral students, offering courses in science, philosophy, spirituality and social sciences. The university is an initiative of India and East Asian countries. A day after stating that the Bombay High Court's decision on 'Udta Punjab' was the 'victory of democracy', filmmaker said Tuesday that the people should stop indulging in blame games. "Somewhere we are the soft targets and we should stop somewhere and say, stop making us soft targets. It is very easy to pick anything against someone and start blame game," he said. Anurag, who was locked in a tussle with the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to allow the release of 'Udta Punjab', said removing board's chairman Pahlaj Nihalani is not a solution, adding there is a need to change the system. "Obviously we have humongous problems with Mr. Nihalani. But if he goes who will come in and what is the guarantee that the one who will come in will not interpret the existing act and the law in the same way or may be worse or better way. The whole system needs an overall (scrutiny), not just Mr. Pahlaj Nihalani needs to be replaced," he said. Anurag, however, expressed hope that a change would be made soon. "We need to change the system. But from Arun Jaitley and Rajyavardhan Rathore's recent statements, we hope that change is coming soon," he added. The 43-year-old filmmaker also thanked the film industry for its support and said that it should always come together on issues like this. "I think we as an industry should fight it as it is even for the films in future. The industry always needs to come together, this time it did and stood as one," he said. The Bombay High Court yesterday cleared the release of 'Udta Punjab', whose makers were locked in a dispute with the CBFC, with just one cut. The other cuts ordered by the CBFC in the movie was struck down by the High Court. The bench refused to stay its order on a plea made by the CBFC counsel to enable the board to appeal against it in the Supreme Court, saying the filmmakers have already spent a lot on the movie and its promotion and distribution. Anurag Kashyap's Phantom Films, the co-producers of the movie, agreed to cut out a scene in which the lead actor Shahid Kapoor urinates into the audience during a rock concert. They also agreed to add to the disclaimer that "neither the film maker, nor the actors support the use of expletives and abusive language by any section of the society. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Tuesday said the three-day yoga camp here was precursor of the celebrations to be held in Chandigarh on June 21. Khattar, who had visited the yoga camp, told reporters, "Over thousands of people performed yoga at the camp and drew inspiration. They would also participate in the June 21 celebrations." "People from various districts, especially from Panchkula and Ambala, are participating in the camp. Besides, around 5,000 yoga practitioners will be joining from Patanjali Yogpeeth," the chief minister added. "On June 21, it will be a function of around 31,000 yoga practitioners, in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also participate. It is a matter of pride for Haryana and Punjab that we are hosting this event," he said. Meanwhile, speaking to reporters, yoga guru Baba Ramdev said more than 10,000 activists are working in Haryana and over one lakh activists of Patanjali Yogpeeth are working across the nation for the June 21 function. Over one lakh people are participating in the function, which is taking place from 17-21 June, including at Faridabad. A big platform has been created for yoga across the nation and 5-10 crore people will participate in the function across the country. It's a matter of pride." As far as standardisation of yoga is concerned, he said, in the absence of standard practice there could be wrong impression among people about yoga and things could go in the wrong direction as well. "Hence, for the first time, under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Quality Council of India (QCI) is working for the standardisation of yoga. From the US to the European Nations and also in China, Japan and Russia, some people were trying to perform yoga differently. As the root of yoga is India, thus India should make a head start in this direction. Hence, the Prime Minister has given responsibility to QCI for the standardisation of yoga." He further said, "Two-three meetings have already been conducted and the syllabus has been finalised. Yoga has three parts, yogic philosophy, physical practice like aasnas, mudra, pranayam, meditation etc, and yogic aacharan (behaviour), and taking together all these three elements, the QCI has about to finish the standardisation work." "Besides this, certification work is also about to be completed and people practising yoga should take certificates for its universal application. When asked if huge money is being spent on the function, Ramdev said, "Spending money on yoga is good use of money." Even as the unified tax regime under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) moved a step closer to becoming a reality with all states extending support, reservations from Tamil Nadu remained a stumbling block. The Ministry of Tribal Affairs had sought clarification from the government over cancellation of community forest rights given to the tribals in Ghatbarra of Sarguja district. PHOENIX A Muslim woman in Phoenix says Ramadan promotes peace, contrary to the man who killed 49 people and injured 53 others at an Orlando gay nightclub. A Christian minister who was among hundreds who attended a vigil for the victims said interfaith conversations needed to continue. An owner of a LGBT clothing store said the tragedy shows more security measures should be taken to guard against those intolerant of gays. A gunman who pledged allegiance to ISIS, identified as 29-year-old Omar Mateen, was killed by police after a three-hour standoff. It was the worst terrorist attack since Sept. 11, 2001, and the worst mass shooting in American history. On Monday, Phoenix area residents shared moments of hope and support, frustration and help. Huda Shrourou, a Phoenix Muslim, said Ramadan, a holy month of intense fasting and prayer to bring Muslims closer to God, is about peace, not violence. Shrourou said the Orlando shooter was not adhering to Islamic values. ` In the Quran it explicitly says if you kill one person, its as if you kill mankind. The fact that this happened in the midst of such a holy month should tell you something about this individual. Patrick Kelly, who runs the LGBT clothing store Off Chute Too and has worked with the Phoenix Police Department to address LGBT issues, says he, like many others across the country, is afraid of a copycat attack. Patrick Kelly stands behind the counter at LGBT clothing store Off Chute Too, which he owns. (Photo by David Marino Jr./Cronkite News) I was reassured by the Phoenix police department that they were going to do everything in their power to address the concerns and some of the fears that we might we have, both as a business and as residents. The Rev. James Pennington, of Phoenix First Congregational United Church of Christ, said the conversation among leaders and followers of diverse faiths needs to go beyond Sundays vigil. More than 750 people attended the vigil at Phoenix Pride LGBT Center, according to azcentral. Its important that when there are opportunities within the community, and even when there arent opportunities, that we gather so that we dont wait until tragedies like Orlando. That we actually take opportunities to be together, to gather together, to build momentum, power, strength, and solidarity. Daniel Rothenberg, an Arizona State University professor who examines war and conflict, said lone wolf attacks are difficult to stop. I dont think anybody should believe that in a society like ours that theres a way to fully prevent people from going out and committing lone wolf attacks, said Rothenburg, co-director of the Center for the Future of War. Its just simply not possible to prevent anybody who gets hold of a gun to shoot that gun at people. Rebecca Sanderson donated blood to a United Blood Services blood bank in Chandler, driven by the urge to help those injured in the Orlandos shooting. A spokeswoman said phone lines were flooded with calls from people who wanted to help. Actually, this is my first time donating. Ive thought about doing it for many years so this brought me in today. Dr. Sydney Vail, a Phoenix doctor who treated four victims of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, in which 32 people were killed, carries a trauma kit around his ankle, just in case. Dr. Vail, who heads the trauma division at Maricopa Medical Center, said he believes Arizona is prepared to handle a major event like the one in Orlando. Phoenix has a lot of Level I trauma centers. So, God forbid something huge does happen, and Im talking more than five or eight patients, we have enough resources here that we should be able to handle a huge mass casualty. Union minister of state for chemical and fertilisers Hansraj Gangaram Ahir on Tuesday ruled out increase in the prices of in the next three years. "We have decided not to increase the price in the next three years", the Union minister said. He was visiting Berhampur in Odisha along with civil aviation minister, Ashok Gajapati Raju to attend the Bikash Utsav to explain the achievements of Narendra Modi-led NDA government in last two years. Individuals and entities with an annual turnover of Rs 10 lakh or more could soon be under goods and service tax laws, widening the tax base of the government, according to the draft central and integrated laws released on Tuesday. Of the 10 states that have signed up for the Ujwal Discoms Assurance Yojana (UDAY), only Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh have gone ahead with plans for a tariff change, a crucial component of the debt restructuring scheme, this financial year. While this may bode well for consumers, experts are worried state-owned discoms will remain stuck in a spiral of subsidy. Supporting implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST), the Odisha government, on Tuesday, claimed Rs 2,755.36 crore towards compensation for the loss on account of Central Sales Tax (CST) reduction. Odisha's claim was made at the meeting of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers on GST, held in Kolkata on Tuesday. aims at single nationwide levy by subsuming various central and state level taxes. As Odisha Finance Minister P K Amat could not attend the meeting due to illness, Development Commissioner and additional Chief Secretary (Finance) R Balakrishnan represented the state. The state government has claimed Rs 2,755.36 crore towards the loss on account of CST reduction from 2007-08 to 2011-12, but received Rs 2,201.40 crore for the said period, an official statement said. "The Centre may release CST Compensation for the year 2012-13 by the end of September, 2016. Further the committee may review CST Compensation to the States for the year 2013-2014 onwards," Balakrishnan said. While supporting the GST, the Odisha government suggested the committee to consider postponing the return provision during initial stages. " return as is designed appears to be complicated for a common trader to fill in the return form with commodity wise and HSN (Harmonised System of Nomenclature) code wise details. Therefore, filling in of HSN code wise details of the commodities in the return form may be postponed during initial stages," the state government said in the release. The Odisha government also suggested that suitable provisions may be made in the IGST Act authorising the state authorities to audit, assess and recover taxes on inter-state transaction of goods and services, as it has a stake in IGST transaction as well. On dual control, the state government said that in order to prevent harassment to the tax payer and litigations, steps may be taken to avoid dual authority of Central and State Government in respect of audit and assessment of a particular dealer for the same tax period. The Empowered Committee of Finance Ministers was presided over by its Chairman and West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra and attended by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Tuesday extended the deadline for comments and counter-comments on its consultation paper on free data, issued on May 19.The last of date of receipt of comments and counter- comments on free data has been extended till June 30 and July 14, respectively, said the regulator, adding that such a step had been taken on the request of stakeholder.Earlier the written comments on the consultation paper were invited from the stakeholders by June 16 and counter-comments by June 30. Trai had floated the consultation paper in an effort to explore transparent models that can achieve benefits of free data. This consultation paper is being issued to explore model(s) that could achieve the benefits of offering free data, while avoiding the ingenuity that the Differential Tariff Regulation is meant to prevent, said the regulator in the paper. The Tamil Nadu government has opposed the goods and services tax (GST) as it is concerned about the impact the tax would have on the fiscal autonomy of states and the huge permanent revenue loss it would cause. Deutsche Bank, Germanys largest lender, has announced Gunit Chadha, its chief executive officer for the Asia-Pacific, would leave the company next month. A note on the banks website from chief executive John Cryan said Chadhas quitting would be effective July 17 and a successor announced in due course. The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee addressed the students and faculty of University of Ghana in Accra yesterday (June 13, 2016). . . Speaking on the occasion, the President said there is a need for a paradigm shift in the way we conduct our relations - while building further on the foundation of our mutual goodwill. We need to define a new positive and create a brighter, innovative and updated narrative of India-Ghana relations. He was confident that our youth who are our leaders of tomorrow, would fit in seamlessly into this renewed and revised model of cooperation. By duly making them stakeholders, we will succeed in reinvigorating our partnership and taking it to a new level. . . The President said education is like a lamp, brightly-lit, which should show the way and enlighten many more lives. He called upon the youth of Ghana to employ their learning and knowledge in the service of their society and their nation. He said that he was confident that the coming generations of this great nation, the inheritors of the legacy of the great Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, have the credentials to make their Nation proud. . . The President said every year 250 Ghanaian government and semi-government officials receive training in India while about 20 students pursue full-time under-graduate, Masters and Ph. D. programmes on scholarships. He announced that having recognized Ghana's immense human resource potential, the Government of India has decided to increase seat allocations for Ghana to 300 ITEC slots and increase the number of annual scholarships under other Indian schemes to forty. . . The President said India calls upon students and the faculty of this great university and others to take full advantage of the scholarships and training opportunities announced by India at the India Africa Forum Summit last year. The capacity building dimension of India-Africa relations has been vastly expanded to include research in various fields such as agriculture, bio-technology and other subjects of relevance to their country. . . Over 100,000 clerics in have signed a fatwa against terrorism to renounce a wave of deadly attacks by Islamists on minorities and secular writers in the Muslim-majority nation. Islamic scholars, leaders, thinkers and Olemas finalised 'Fatwa of peace for human well-being' to curb militancy in after a number of consultations. Fariduddin Masuud, secretary general of Jamaat-e-Ulema Maulana, was the first one who came up with the idea of using fatwa to curb militancy and had sought assistance from the police and other stakeholders. "We have prepared the main part of the fatwa with 10 questions that had been raised by the militant groups and we answered those questions quoting the holy Quran and Hadith (Prophet's sayings)." Masuud said 300 Olemas finalised the draft of the fatwa which will be made public on June 18. "Then we finalised the copy and sent it to Olemas (clerics) across the country and they sent it back with their signatures. More than 100,000 Olemas signed the Fatwa," Dhaka Tribune quoted Masuud as saying. In the fatwa, the clerics have unequivocally said the killings of non-Muslims are forbidden in Islam. Authorities in are under mounting pressure to halt the violence, which in the past three years have claimed nearly 50 people - Hindus, Christians and secular bloggers - many of them by machete-wielding attackers. Though most of the attacks were claimed by the Islamic State or its affiliates and other similar extremist groups, the Bangladesh government has repeatedly dismissed the claims and said the attacks were carried out by homegrown outfits linked to the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday told a meeting of her ruling Awami League party that police would stamp out the violence and she vowed to catch "each and every killer". During the past three days over 11,000 criminal suspects, including 85 militants, had been arrested as part of an intensified crackdown against extremists in the country. The Coconino County Sheriffs Office will hold Woods Watch training this Wednesday to prepare residents for the wildland fire season. It will run from 6-8 p.m. at the Law Enforcement Administrative Facility, located at 911 E. Sawmill Road in Flagstaff. More than 100 volunteers typically attend Woods Watch training in Coconino County every year. The Woods Watch Program is similar to Neighborhood Watch, but focuses on civilian volunteers working with government and public safety agencies to prevent wildfires. Community members must attend an approximately 2-hour training and complete an application process every year to join the program. During the training, volunteers learn how to assist law enforcement in watching for and properly reporting people accessing closed areas of the forests, as well as people who are using fire carelessly or against fire restrictions, especially on forested lands. Anyone who has previously joined the Woods Watch Program must reapply and attend a new training session every year to continue participating. Register by calling (928) 226-5012 or by emailing sheriff@coconino.az.gov. Clashes between security forces of Pakistan and Afghanistan across the Torkham Border, which erupted on Sunday over the construction of a new border post on the Pakistani side, have resumed. The tension ratchet up once again between the two neighbouring countries after the death of a Pakistani army officer who was shot by Afghan forces in the clash across the border. According to the Dawn, the Pakistan Army had moved heavy weaponry and additional troops to the Afghan border on Monday night. Pakistan had, on Tuesday, shut the border with Afghanistan for the second day in a row due to the continued clashes which had also left one Afghan soldier dead. More than a thousand mourners, on Tuesday, attended funeral prayers for the dead Afghan soldier in Afghanistan's eastern city of Jalalabad. It is reported that demonstrators burned Pakistani flags at another protest in the southern Afghan city of Lashkar Gah. The firing between the two forces first broke out on Sunday at the crossing, about 45 km west of Peshawar, over the construction of a new border post on the Pakistani side. The Torkham Border has long been porous and disputed with Afghanistan blocking repeated attempts by Pakistan to build a fence on sections of the roughly 2,200-km-long frontier, rejecting the contours of the boundary. US hotel chain Marriott is on track to win unconditional antitrust approval for its cash and share purchase of Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc, a person familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. The deal, currently worth $12.5 billion, will put Marriott's brands including the Ritz-Carlton and Starwood's Sheraton and Westin chains together to create the world's largest hotel company and is one of many in the sector this year. Consolidation has picked up pace amid rising competition from new rivals such as Airbnb and online travel sites such as booking.com and Tripadvisor. The merged company will have more than 5,500 hotels with 1.1 million rooms worldwide. The European Commission has not called for a "state of play" meeting, the person said. The competition enforcer only sets up such meetings when it has concerns a deal may hurt competition, giving parties an opportunity to offer concessions during a preliminary review or face a full-scale investigation. Commission spokesperson Ricardo Cardoso declined to comment. The watchdog is scheduled to decide on the deal by June 27, US and Canadian regulators have already given the green light. Marriott declined to comment. Starwood did not immediately reply to an email. The Gambia has banned music, dancing and drumming during the Muslim holy month of Ramzan, on pain of being arrested and people are complying, police said on Monday. Ordinary citizens in the small west African country whose President declared it an Islamic state in December are being urged to report anyone seen engaging in the activities to authorities, said a spokesman. "People are complying with the police order banning drumming and dancing during the month of and so far no one has been arrested by the police for violating it," police spokesperson Lamin Njie told AFP. A police statement published last week warned that "all ceremonies, festivities and programs that involve drumming, music and dance during the day or at night are prohibited". "All those engaged in the practice are therefore warned to desist from such acts otherwise they will be eventually apprehended and face the full force of the law without compromise," it said. President Yahya Jammeh announced in December that the Gambia had become an Islamic state, but stressed that the rights of the Christian minority would be respected and that women would not be held to a dress code. A few weeks later it emerged that female civil servants had been ordered to cover their hair at work, according to a leaked government memo, although the presidency subsequently announced the measure had been dropped. An impoverished former British colony famed for its white-sand beaches, the Gambia has a population of nearly two million, 90 per cent of whom are Muslim. Of the remainder, eight per cent are Christian and two per cent are defined as having indigenous beliefs. Jammeh, 50, a military officer and former wrestler has ruled the country with an iron fist since he seized power in a coup in 1994. Critics regularly accuse him of making unilateral decisions and controversial statements, notably about other countries, migrants and homosexuality. The next presidential election in the Gambia, for which Jammeh is a candidate, is scheduled in December. The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation announced in April that its next summit will be held in the Gambia, although a date has not yet been fixed. During the holy month of Ramzan, observant Muslims abstain from eating and drinking during daylight hours. A executive footed the bill for prostitutes and the bank paid for a lavish trip to Dubai for the brother of a decision-maker at Libya's sovereign wealth fund, a lawyer for the fund alleged on Monday, in a case it has brought against Goldman in London's High Court. The Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) is attempting to claw back $1.2 billion from nine trades it carried out with in 2008. In the suit, the $67 billion fund argues that the US investment bank took advantage of its financial naivety by first gaining its trust, then encouraging it to make risky and ultimately worthless investments in equity derivatives. denies all the allegations."The claims are without merit and we will continue to defend them vigorously," the bank said in an emailed statement to Reuters on Friday. The LIA's claim hinges in part on its allegations that the trades were procured under "undue influence". It specifically cites an internship that Goldman Sachs provided for Haitem Zarti, the brother of Mustafa Zarti, the LIA's former deputy chief and a key decision-maker at the fund. The LIA alleges that Mustafa Zarti's willingness to do business with Goldman was influenced by the favourable treatment it was conferring on his brother in providing an internship. Neither side disputes that the internship took place. In his opening statement on Monday for the LIA, lawyer Roger Masefield said that in February 2008 Goldman Sachs, Sales Team Executive, Youssef Kabbaj had flown Haitem Zarti from Morocco to Dubai at Goldman Sachs' expense. According to the LIA's claim, accommodation at the five-star Ritz Carlton was also paid for by Goldman, whilst Kabbaj arranged for two prostitutes to spend the evening with them at a cost of $600, Masefield said. The bank does not deny that it paid for some flights and hotels, but Kabbaj did not seek to expense the cost of the prostitutes to Goldman, and the bank did not know about it at the time, a source familiar with the bank's position said. Reuters was unable to reach Kabbaj for comment. Neither Zarti is connected with the fund now. Reuters could not reach either of the brothers for comment. Legal representatives for Goldman Sachs have not yet had a chance to make their opening statement setting out the bank's defence. But in the bank's court filings outlining its defence, Goldman Sachs argues that it was always clear the relationship was one in which the LIA and the bank were dealing with each other as commercial counterparties, and from which each side would seek to profit financially. Goldman Sachs maintains that its relationship with the LIA was at all "material times an arm's length one" between banker and client, and that the trades in question "were not hard for the LIA to understand". In its court filings, the bank also rebuts the suggestion that the LIA's employees were naive or unsophisticated. "The LIA's plea that it was 'financially illiterate' is as unfounded as it is extreme," the bank argues. The LIA is also pursuing the French investment bank Societe Generale (SocGen) for some $2.1 billion in relation to another set of trades entered into between 2007 and 2009. SocGen is contesting the case, which is only expected to come to trial in January 2017. The Goldman Sachs case is scheduled to run for seven weeks. White House hopeful on Monday issued a pointed warning to US allies in the Middle East, saying countries like Saudi Arabia must crack down on citizens supporting extremism. Following the weekend massacre at a gay club in Orlando by a gunman, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee vowed to step up efforts to stop so-called lone wolf attacks, and said Americans should unite to defeat domestic terrorism. But she also called on other governments to reconsider policies that allow extremism to thrive, calling out three US allies which already have sensitive ties with Washington. "It is long past time for the Saudis, the Qataris, and the Kuwaitis and to stop their citizens from funding extremist organisations," Clinton said in a national security speech in Cleveland, Ohio. "And they should stop supporting radical schools and mosques around the world that have set too many young people on a path toward extremism," she added. In her half-hour speech, the former secretary of state said "American leadership" was crucial in resolving political conflicts that fuel Islamic State extremists, as well as waging the immediate battle against terror groups and messages, including online. "The Orlando terrorist may be dead, but the virus that poisoned his mind remains very much alive and we must attack it with clear eyes, steady hands, unwavering determination and pride in our country and our values," she said. "The threat is metastasising," she added. Clinton also renewed her call for an assault weapons ban, saying, "weapons of war have no place on our streets." She mentioned in particular the AR-15, the type of semi-automatic rifle used in Orlando. And she insisted that if federal authorities are tracking someone for suspected terror ties, that person "shouldn't be able to just go buy a gun with no questions asked". "If you're too dangerous to get on a plane," she added, "you are too dangerous to buy a gun in America." It is interesting to see Hillary attack a nation whose crown prince claims to have funded 20 percent of her presidential campaign, according to a report from Petra News Agency which has now been deleted. Countries in Southeast Asia have "serious concerns" over recent events in the disputed South China Sea, an unusually strong worded communique issued by their foreign ministers in China said on Tuesday. In a rare diplomatic slap in the face for Beijing issued on its own territorythe Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) offered a sharp rebuke over China's actions in the waterway. "We expressed our serious concerns over recent and ongoing developments, which have eroded trust and confidence, increased tensions and which may have the potential to undermine peace, security and stability in the South China Sea," its communique said without mentioning China by name. China claims nearly all of the South China Sea, a vast tract of water through which a huge chunk of global shipping passes. It has bolstered its claim by building artificial islands including airstrips in the area, some of which are suitable for military use. The Philippines, Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam have competing claims to parts of the sea, which is believed to harbour significant oil and gas deposits. The ASEAN statement, which speaks of "a candid exchange with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi" diplomatic talk for a row was forthright on the dangers of this island-building programme. "We emphasised the importance of non-militarisation and self-restraint in the conduct of all activities, including land reclamation, which may raise tensions in the South China Sea," the communique said. "We stressed the importance of maintaining peace, security, stability, safety and freedom of navigation in and overflight above the South China Sea, in accordance with universally recognised principles of law including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)." The bloc's finger-wagging, after a Special ASEAN-China Foreign Ministers' meeting in Kunming, comes as the region braces for a ruling by a UN tribunal on a claim brought by the Philippines against China. China does not recognise the arbitration and has reacted angrily to the Philippines' legal efforts over the Beijing-controlled Scarborough Shoal, which sits just 230 kilometres off the main Philippine island of Luzon. "We articulated ASEAN's commitment to maintaining and promoting peace, security and stability in the region, as well as to the peaceful resolution of disputes," the statement said. Saying that the quality of India's diplomatic engagement had drastically changed since the NDA government came to power, Minister of State for External Affairs today said the country has now "broken out of mould". "Today India can hold friendly talks and business talks with Saudi Arabia and in similar terms it can (talk) with Iran. It can talk to US in mutually beneficial terms. And in similar terms with (its perceived adversaries) Russia and China. It has broken out of the mould created earlier," he said. Singh was speaking at 'The Gateways of India Dialogue' here. "People who are looking at India would agree that the quality of our diplomatic engagement has become totally different....Between Prime Minister, President and External Affairs Minister and me, we have already touched 140 countries. There are another 60-odd left and by the end of this year we would have touched each and every country. "We are not looking at how small or big a country is, we are reaching out to everybody for the simple reason that everybody has a place, everybody mutually benefits with engagement," he added. "Today we have highest FDI basket. It is because there is a great amount of trust in the world that they can come and invest in India," he said. "India is a bright spot in world economy. Our GDP is growing much faster when other economies are going down or shrinking. (This is) Primarily because of our policy and positive environment that has been created," he said. The UN Security Council, on Tuesday, was set to authorise an European Union (EU) naval force to intercept ships suspected of carrying weapons to Libya, in a measure aimed at weakening the Islamic State group and militias fighting the unity government. The council was to vote on a resolution drafted by Britain and France that would expand the mission of Operation Sophia, which has been combating migrant-smuggling in the Mediterranean. Operation Sophia's enforcement of an arms embargo would help shore up the UN-backed unity government as it struggles to establish its authority over the entire north African country. Militias loyal to the new government of Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj are battling to retake from IS jihadists the key city of Sirte. Libya descended into chaos during the 2011 uprising against Moamer Kadhafi and the new UN-brokered government set up office in Tripoli only two months ago. The arms embargo was imposed on Libya in 2011, but UN sanctions monitors have reported shipments from Egypt, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Sudan to various factions. The draft resolution invokes Chapter 7 of the UN charter, which allows for the use of military force. It would grant a 12-month mandate to EU vessels to "inspect, without undue delay, on the high seas off the coast of Libya, vessels bound to, or from Libya which they have reasonable grounds to believe are carrying arms or related material to or from Libya." Diplomats said they expected broad support for the measure although it remained unclear whether Russia, Egypt and Venezuela would abstain during the vote, scheduled at 3:00 p.m. (1900 GMT). Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin last week expressed concerns that the measure could create "suspicion" among Libya's many factions and negotiations on the text have focused on Moscow's proposed changes. These include a mention that the EU naval force must "make good-faith efforts" to first seek consent from the ship' flag state before carrying out any inspection. EU vessels would be authorised to "use all measures commensurate to the specific circumstances to carry out such inspections" of suspected arms-smuggling ships on the high seas, off Libya's coast. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's allies have asked the Supreme Court to block a bid to call a referendum on sacking him, accusing the Opposition of "fraud". The move casts doubt on the recall vote sought by the Opposition, which accuses the high court of pro-Maduro bias and has clashed with it repeatedly since winning control of congress in December. Maduro's opponents warn risks exploding into unrest without a vote on sacking the leftist leader, whom they blame for an economic crisis marked by severe shortages of food, medicine and electricity. The Opposition is racing to call a referendum by the end of the year, and has submitted a petition with 1.8 million signatures to start the lengthy process. But Jorge Rodriguez, the head of a panel appointed by Maduro to oversee the recall push, yesterday said he had filed a complaint asking the Supreme Court to "protect Venezuelans' constitutional rights" by intervening. Electoral authorities have accepted 1.3 million signatures submitted by the Opposition as valid well above the threshold of 200,000. Last week, they said they would proceed to the next stage: verifying those 1.3 million signatories' identity with fingerprint scans from June 20 to 24. Speaking to journalists outside the Supreme Court, Rodriguez said it would be "perpetrating a brutal fraud to authorise (the Opposition) to proceed to the next stage". He did not elaborate on the scope of the complaint or the specific action it sought. "What we're seeking is the defence of the constitution. This farce put on (by the Opposition)... Was trying to create a climate where violence would erupt," he said. The Opposition is rushing to complete the recall process by January 10, the cutoff to trigger new elections. After that date, a successful recall vote would simply pass power to Maduro's hand-picked vice-president. Microsoft Corp has enough cash to buy LinkedIn Corp four times over. So why is it taking out a big loan to pay for its latest purchase? Maybe because it'll lower the technology giant's tax bill. Microsoft will avoid having to pay a 35 per cent tax rate to repatriate cash from overseas accounts. While it's true that Microsoft has more than $100 billion in cash and cash equivalents, most of it is parked offshore. Bringing home any of it to fund the proposed $26.2 billion purchase, announced on Monday, would generate a tax bill. That's not the only benefit of borrowing. The ... has surged 8% to Rs 167 on the BSE in early morning trade after the company announced that the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers has agreed to release about Rs 485 crore outstanding subsidy payment to the company. After Vietnam raised concerns over the quality of groundnut shipments from India, the plant quarantine department in Indonesia has restricted its import from India due to discovery of aflatoxins. These are poisonous and cancer-causing chemical produced by certain moulds which grow in soil, decaying vegetation, hay and grain. Foreign investors need have no unnecessary worries about the recent changes in the tax agreement with Mauritius or the measures regarding Participatory Notes (P-notes), says the capital regulator. imports fell by 28 per cent to 657,454 tonnes in May, in view of higher stock availability and sluggish summer demand, industry body Solvent Extractors Association (SEA) said on Tuesday. India, the worlds leading vegetable oil buyer, had imported 907,347 tonnes of in May last year. make up more than 65 per cent of the countrys total vegetable oil imports. In last few months, there has been a sharp rise in the import of cheap RBD palmolein. But last month, overseas purchase including RBD palmolein showed a decline due to highest stock at port and pipeline and reduced demand due to summer, SEA said. SEA, expressing concerns over rising cheap imports of RBD palmolien, said, Due to this situation, domestic refining industry is facing crisis of under utilisation of capacity and is on the verge of closure. Refined palm oil is cheaper to import because the export tax imposed on it by Indonesia/Malaysia is lower than CPO. Therefore, the duty differential in India has to be made variable to be in line with the differential duty prevailing in Malaysia and Indonesia and justify to rise in duty difference between crude and refined vegetable oils from 7.5 per cent to 15 per cent, the SEA said. Among palm oil products, import of RBD palmolein fell by five per cent to 261,159 tonnes in May from 2,75,150 tonnes in the year-ago period. Among soft oils, import of soyabean oil fell to 178,064 from 289,266 tonnes last year while sunflower oil and rapeseed oil shipments stood at 150,449 tonnes and 18,718 tonnes, respectively. Countrys total vegetable oil imports fell 25 per cent to 1.02 million tonnes from 1.37 million tonnes. Total stock at ports and in pipeline declined to 2.33 million tonnes, while the country's monthly requirement is about 1.65 million tonnes, SEA said. India imports palm oil mainly from Indonesia and Malaysia and a small quantity of crude soft oils, including soyabean oil from Latin America. Sunflower oil is imported from Ukraine and Russia. A measure of protection against stock-market swings in India rose to the highest in six weeks as a growing chance the UK will leave the European Union fueled anxiety among investors. The India NSE Volatility Index climbed for a fifth day, the longest stretch since November, while the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex was little changed after flipping direction at least 20 times. Motorcycle makers Bajaj Auto and Hero MotoCorp were among the top losers on the Sensex. Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys, software services providers that get about a quarter of their revenue from Europe, also fell. ... Company Date Agenda Century Textiles 26-10-2022 CENTURY TEXTILES & INDUSTRIES LTD.has informed BSE that the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company is scheduled on 26/10/2022 inter alia to consider and approve the Unaudited Standalone and Consolidated Financial Results for the quarter ended 30th September 2022. Crompton Gr. Con 26-10-2022 Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals Ltdhas informed BSE that the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company is scheduled on 26/10/2022 inter alia to consider and approve Intimation of Board Meeting under Regulation 29 of SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations 2015 Dabur India 26-10-2022 DABUR INDIA LTD.has informed BSE that the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company is scheduled on 26/10/2022 inter alia to consider and approve Unaudited Financial Results for the quarter and half year ending on 30th September 2022 and to consider declaration of interim dividend on the equity shares of the Company for the Financial Year 2022-23 Gland Pharma 26-10-2022 Gland Pharma Ltdhas informed BSE that the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company is scheduled on 26/10/2022 inter alia to consider and approve the Unaudited Standalone and Consolidated Financial Results of the Company for the quarter and half year ended September 30 2022 At least 25 Taliban militants were killed and 27 wounded in an airstrike carried out by the Afghan forces in western Farah province. The airstrike was carried out in Bala Bolok district of Farah, leaving at least 27 more wounded, said a statement issued by the Ministry of Defence (MoD), reports the Khaama Press. The statement added that four vehicles and seven motorcycles belonging to the militants were also destroyed during the airstrike. The Taliban group, however, claimed that the airstrike targeted civilians, killing and wounding several women and children. The MoD said the militants were targeted and that heavy casualties have been incurred during the airstrikes. The Afghan forces have stepped up counter-terrorism operations against the Taliban militants, who are attempting to increase their foothold and carry out insurgency operations as part of their spring offensive. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa met Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Tuesday during which she raised several matters of her states' interest, including exemption from NEET and a request to prevent Karnataka from building dam across Mekedatu. The AIADMK supremo, who arrived in the capital this morning, also raised the matter of amendments to the GST Bill and gave a 29-point memorandum to the Prime Minister. "The Centre should accept the AIADMK's amendments to the GST Bill, Puratchi Thalaivi Amma in the memorandum to PM Modi," said AIADMK's official twitter handle. "Puratchi Thalaivi Amma memorandum to PM : Exempt Tamil Nadu permanently from NEET Exam.Tamil should be made one of the official languages, Cauvery Management Board should be formed among the other demands in the memorandum," the other tweet read. "Puratchi Thalaivi Amma gives 29-point memoradum to PM, Resume Jallikattu, prevent Karnataka from building dam across Mekedatu," the AIADMK said in a series of tweets. This is Jayalalithaa's first visit to the capital after assuming the office for a second consecutive term. The Chief Minister will be returning to Chennai today. The AIADMK chief had earlier met Prime Minister Modi in August last year when he had visited Tamil Nadu during the Chennai floods. Al-Ahram Weekly, by Azza Radwan Sedky The Western media plays a fundamental role in manipulating world opinion, as can be seen by its biased coverage of Egypt, writes Azza Sedky Today, it is a given among the majority of Egyptians that the Western media is against them. Try as Egyptians might to present themselves as being on the right track, someone out there continues to slander their every move and flagrantly ignore their accomplishments. Is this attitude towards Egypt deliberate and premeditated? If so, why? More importantly, is this only the attitude of the Western media or is media a mere marionette in the hands of larger powers? The Western world was sceptical if not critical of the 30 June Revolution. Though many countries have turned around since, Britain remains on the fence, and the US continues to give Egypt the cold shoulder despite official visits and a continued flow of foreign aid. Even if official views are superficially courteous, the Western media is dead set on presenting a tarnished picture of Egypt today. Egyptians are bewildered. They cannot fathom how the West does not see eye to eye with them on what they consider to be the best thing that could have happened in over five years. Egyptians went out in droves on 30 June 2013 to call for change. Doesnt this make the revolution a legitimate one, launched by Egyptians and not enforced upon them? Egyptians may never get to the real reason behind the hostility, but it will continue for as long as the powers in the West deem it to be necessary. But while the Western media continues to criticise Egypt, many documentaries are exposing its true colours. The documentary Top 10 Staged Media Events is a case in point. It exemplifies not only the bias, but also the fabrications, of the Western media. Though produced in 2013, it is going viral on social media again today. The Top 10 Staged Media Events is a 26-minute collage of footage that zooms in on the Western medias staged coverage. To show that all the networks are reading from the same script and that the media outlets all get their orders from the same external source, the documentary begins with footage of the same repeated message running across many US networks. One story thread truly hits home: the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990 and the events that occurred thereafter. There is footage of Charles Jaco, a CNN reporter, standing somewhere in Saudi Arabia as he anticipates the falling of an Iraqi Scud missile on Saudi soil. As sirens screech in the background and disaster looms, Jaco looks up to the sky apprehensively. Swiftly he puts his gas mask on and his colleague his helmet as the camera abruptly cuts off. The drama was found to be faked. The footage was shot in a CNN studio in the US. The rest of the footage has Jaco exclaiming, I love this country, as he shows off a fake Scud missile before heading out for a burger and coffee. In 2001, only 16 per cent of Americans believed that Iraq had had anything to do with the events of 9/11. But after a two-year propaganda war, 60 per cent believed that Iraq had had something to do with them, justifying the 2003 US-led invasion. The propaganda war had succeeded. The US politician Robert F Kennedy Jr in the same documentary says there are five giant multinational corporations that together control all 14,000 radio stations in the United States, all 5,000 television stations, 80 per cent of newspapers, all billboards, and most large Internet providers. So five American companies govern the media landscape and control what is seen, heard and read across the world. We can go further. According to award-winning ex-CNN investigative journalist Amber Lyon, CNN is routinely paid by the US government to have it selectively report on certain events while censoring others. And while Western newspapers criticise China, Russia and other countries regarding censorship and limitations on freedom of speech, they await content and quotation approval from the gatekeepers in the White House before printing their stories. At face value, Google is a conglomerate that provides Internet-related services, but it seems to have been bitten by the same bug. One prominent commentator on this is activist Julian Assange of Wikileaks. In his book When Google Met Wikileaks, Assange goes in depth into how Google profits from its association with the US State Department and vice versa. This tells us that the Western media can and does play a fundamental role in manipulating world views, regardless of what the truth might be. Be it the Ukraine-Russia War, the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, or Egypts 30 June Revolution, the bias is clear as day. And yet the world digests such information unabashed, only for it to be regurgitated on social media soon afterwards. Objectivity, integrity and altruism go by the wayside in the face of money, power and dominance from a seemingly squeaky-clean journalistic facade that delivers the news to media outlets bought by wealthy decision-makers to worthwhile stories that remain locked in drawers and insignificant ones that are highlighted and brought into the limelight. While the Western media continues to wage a war against some countries and to hold others unaccountable, Western newspapers, TV networks and Internet providers fabricate facts and stage stories to defame and discredit, make omissions to suit their liking, and are bought and censored by governments. All this is taking place while President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi, whom the Western media has shunned, has allowed journalist Ossama Kamal to ask whatever Egyptians would like to know during his two-year presidency in an interview with no censorship, no prohibitions and no omissions, but gaining very little coverage from the Western media. It is high time that we took the Western media with a grain of salt, doubting everything and believing nothing. The writer is a political analyst. Here's a call from the Chinese government to men in China in the age group of 20 to 45 years "for the sake of your country, please donate sperm". China has called for more young men to become donors to help fill sperm banks amid a shortage of volunteers in lieu of cash or iPhone, reports Daily Mail. China's sperm banks are facing severe shortages for a variety of political and cultural reasons. Now that the government policy allows more Chinese couple, including older ones, to have a second child, officials are concerned that the sperm shortages will get much worse. Hence, they are doing everything they can to find new recruits. Reportedly, the men are being targeted via social media with messages from computer-game characters and offers of cash up to 1,000 dollars in some cases and even a coveted rose-gold iPhone. A study also revealed that nearly 50 percent of the people, who do offer to donate, are 'screened out'. According to the newspaper, China has an ageing populating and diminishing workforce and state-run media have been urging people to 'show your compassion' by donating. Clashes between security forces of Pakistan and Afghanistan across the Torkham Border, which erupted on Sunday over the construction of a new border post on the Pakistani side, have resumed. The tension ratchet up once again between the two neighbouring countries after the death of a Pakistani army officer who was shot by Afghan forces in the clash across the border. According to the Dawn, the Pakistan Army had moved heavy weaponry and additional troops to the Afghan border on Monday night. Pakistan had today shut the border with Afghanistan for the second day in a row due to the continued clashes which had also left one Afghan soldier dead. More than a thousand mourners today attended funeral prayers for the dead Afghan soldier in Afghanistan's eastern city of Jalalabad. It is reported that demonstrators burned Pakistani flags at another protest in the southern Afghan city of Lashkar Gah. The firing between the two forces first broke out on Sunday at the crossing, about 45 km west of Peshawar, over the construction of a new border post on the Pakistani side. The Torkham Border has long been porous and disputed with Afghanistan blocking repeated attempts by Pakistan to build a fence on sections of the roughly 2,200-km-long frontier, rejecting the contours of the boundary. With growing speculations over the chief ministerial candidate in Uttar Pradesh, the Congress Party has ruled out vice president Rahul Gandhi's name, saying he is a leader. Newly-appointed party general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad told ANI that the party would strengthen itself in Uttar Pradesh before declaring a chief ministerial candidate in the key assembly polls early next year. "Uttar Pradesh chief minister will be announced at the appropriate time. Rahul Gandhi is our leader and there is no question of him being made a chief minister," said Azad. "We will project a Congress face before the polls, but only after getting the party strengthened in the state," he said when asked about whether Priyanka Gandhi would be leading the charge. The leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha, who has been made in-charge of the Uttar Pradesh affairs, said his party will work to alert people about the forces, which divide them in the name of religion. "In the last one year, we have seen the way Muzaffarnagar incident happened and Mathura and Kairana incidents took place. the kind of statements Uttar Pradesh's BJP leaders are making, it stirs controversies, so these are just an attempt to 'build-up' an atmosphere in Uttar Pradesh to divide people on the basis of religion," Azad added. He further accused the Centre of failing to check those people who are dividing society in the name of religion. "On the other side, they (Centre) is providing them assistance. The Centre is itself involved in a conspiracy of dividing people in the name of religion for the vote bank politics," he added. He further said several parties are involved in polarisation for the sake of votes. "It would be better if they fight elections on their policies and achievements," he added. The applications for Tech Rocketship Awards competition, an initiative by UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) in India are open till June 30. Applicants can find the details on Tech Rocketship Awards website. The award provides top Indian young entrepreneurs with expert business advice and support to help them go global through the UK. This year has seen a record number of applicants vying to be one of ten winners of a trip to the UK. The competition opened for applicants on April 11 at a launch by Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in Mumbai. Over 400 top quality young entrepreneurs have applied so far. "We are very pleased at the level of high quality interest in the competition. Even after we closed the deadline for entries on 12 June, a number of very good applications have come in. We have therefore decided to extend it for a few more days to ensure no one misses out. We are looking for the next batch of leading Indian young entrepreneurs who have the potential to change the world through their innovations. The Tech Rocketship Awards will provide them with the platform to take the plunge overseas and put them on the right path to realising their global ambitions", said Amo Kalar, Deputy Director UKTI India. Now in its third year, the competition will enable top young entrepreneurs to raise their profile with UK and Indian investors. The ten most promising businesses will win a week-long business trip to the UK. There they will experience the UK's burgeoning tech ecosystem first hand, meeting UK venture capitalists, mentors, entrepreneurs and incubators, as well as experts from UKTI and leading professional services firms who will guide them on how to establish a firm footing abroad. This year's high profile judges include Anand Mahindra; T.V. Mohandas Pai, of Aarin Capital; Saurabh Srivastava of the Indian Angel Network; self-made entrepreneur Kiran Mazumdar Shaw; and young entrepreneur Shradha Sharma of YourStory, a leading tech media platform. Applications are open to entrepreneurs under 40 in India who have been operating a company created from the year 2000 onwards. One winner will be selected from each of five categories - cleantech, edtech, fintech, medtech and smart manufacturing - and a further five winners will be selected in the 'Judges' Awards' section, from any sector. The winners will be announced at the UK-India Technology Summit in New Delhi, in November 2016. The six winners from last year's competition will soon be participating in London Technology Week (June 20-26) - a festival of live events taking place throughout the UK's capital to celebrate London as a global powerhouse of tech innovation. While in London, the winners will meet and learn from top tech enterprise figures. Two winners from last year, Project Mudra (Braille learning) and FT cash (A mobile app for micro-merchants), were featured at the royal launch in April and were lauded by the judges for their innovations. The Delhi Police on Tuesday filed an FIR against a diplomat from Vietnam on charges of rash and negligent driving. The incident took place in South Delhi yesterday. Since the Diplomat comes under international convention, a report will be submitted to Ministry of Home Affairs, later to be handed over to the Ministry of External Affairs. The FIR was filed under Section 279 in The Indian Penal Code- Rash driving or riding on a public way, on the complaint of Mrs. Arti Gupta. The European Court of Justice has ruled in favour of the British Government stating it is within its rights to restrict benefits to some EU migrants on the basis that they did not have the right to reside in the UK. The European Commission had argued that the UK's decision to deny some welfare schemes like child benefits and tax credits to the migrants, who were economically inactive, on the grounds that they did not have the right to live in the UK was discriminatory, reports the Independent. The judgment comes as a great relief to British Prime Minister David Cameron as the court nullifies the European Commission's challenge to the government's benefits crackdown. The court agreed with the British Government's stand that it was lawful for the UK to withhold benefits on the basis of right to reside. Such "unequal treatment" was justified on the basis of "protecting a member state's finances", the court ruled. "There is nothing to prevent the grant of social benefits to EU citizens who are not economically active being made subject to the requirement that those citizens fulfil the conditions for possessing a right to reside lawfully in the host member state," the ruling added. After this ruling, the EU citizens, who have been in the UK for less than five years, will not be entitled to welfare benefits if they are unable to economically support themselves. The ruling was a sign that the court was more prepared to give national government freedom to interpret European treaties, said Marley Morris, Research Fellow at the IPPR think tank. The murder of a French police couple by an assailant, claiming allegiance to the ISIS, has been called by the French President Francois Hollande as "incontestably a terrorist act". Hollande said was facing a terror threat "of a very large scale". The assailant who reportedly live-streamed the attack on Facebook has been identified as Larossi Abballa (25). Abballa stabbed the 42-year-old officer to death before taking his partner and their three-year-old son hostage in their Magnanville home in north-west of Paris, around 8:30 pm on Monday night. He later killed the partner of the police officer. The assailant already had a terrorism conviction and had been sentenced to three years in prison in 2013 for "criminal association in view to preparing terrorist attacks" over his role in a recruitment network of jihadists. IS has reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack in one of its media channels. "Islamic State fighter kills deputy chief of the police station in the city of Les Mureaux and his wife with blade weapons near Paris", a US-based intelligence group, cited the ISIS-linked Amaq News Agency as saying. The killing comes a day after a gunman claiming fealty to the ISIS shot dead 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando. Expressing serious concern over the rising cases of deaths due to road accidents, Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday announced series of measures undertaken by the government to prevent road mishaps, asserting that initiative to make roads less accident-prone has been taken up on 'war-footing'. In his appeal to the public, Gadkari asked people to strictly follow rules and not drive on roads after consuming alcohol. "The number of accidents are on a rise and it is a matter of great concern for us. We are taking swift measures in this regard. We are paying attention to accident spots. In Himachal Pradesh, we have installed several crash barriers to prevent buses from falling into gorges," he said. "I have a special request to those who drive to follow the rules. People should not drive after consuming alcohol. There are black spots on district roads, state highways and highways, we have started covering up them on war footing," he added. Gadkari said the government is swiftly working to make changes in the Motor Vehicle's Act and has allocated funds to the tune of Rs. 11, 000 crores to improve condition of roads. "The committee that we had formed to make changes in the Motor Vehicles Act, has submitted two reports. Once we get the final report we will go to the parliament. I appeal to people to be careful on roads, follow rules. Innocent people dying on roads is very saddening," he said. "The Centre has allocated Rs. 11,000 crores to work on 726 black spots. Ten percent of the funds that we have given the state governments is meant for black spots," he added. Gadkari had earlier on Thursday launched the report 'Road Accidents in India 2015' in the capital. Road accidents have emerged as a major problem globally, and more so in India where almost 5 lakh accidents occurred last year, killing 1,46000 people and leaving thrice the number injured. With one of the highest motorization growth rate in the world, accompanied by rapid expansion in road network and urbanization over the years, our country is faced with serious impacts on road safety levels. According to the report compiled by the Transport Research Wing, the total number of road accidents increased by 2.5 per cent from 4,89,400 in 2014 to 5,01,423 in 2015. The total number of persons killed in road accidents increased by 4.6 per cent from 1,39,671 in 2014 to 1,46,133 in 2015. Road accident injuries have also increased by 1.4 per cent from 4,93,474 in 2014 to 5,00,279 in 2015. The severity of road accidents, measured in terms of number of persons killed per 100 accidents has increased from 28.5 in 2014 to 29.1 in 2015. The analysis of road accident data 2015 reveals that about 1,374 accidents and 400 deaths take place every day on Indian roads which further translates into 57 accidents and loss of 17 lives on an average every hour in our country. About 54.1 per cent of all persons killed in road accidents were in the 15 -34 years age group during the year 2015. Asserting that India is a reliable partner both in the developing world as well as in the developed world, President has called for strengthening trade and economic ties between New Delhi and Accra. "President said brand India is a reliable partner both in the developing world as well as in the developed world. India adds value to the mineral resources here, created employment, transfer of technology and that it created a win-win situation which builds on the local resources including human resources," said Secretary (Economic Relations) Amar Sinha. "Ghanaians of course realise that India's investment is not only the biggest in terms of the numbers, but also in the diversity. But the new fields that both the CII and the Ghanian association for industries have identified a rarely mining, energy, agro industries and services centers including IT. We already have Airtel here, TATAs are here, some pharmaceuticals companies that are operating here and most recently DPS has opened a branch here," he added. The Secretary (Economic Relations) said both nations realised that they had started very well right from the time of independence, adding the political relations have remained very close without any imperilment and that it was high time to focus on deepening trade and economic relations. "While discussing the trade and economic relations, our President Mukherjee mentioned that we have a healthy three billion dollar trade but there is a need to be slightly more ambitious. Emphasising on the target of five billion dollars trade in the next three years to 2020, the President said that we need to be more ambitious than that," said Sinha. Highlighting the President's pitch in terms of investments, Sinha said, "While in the past, we relied on the line of credit, government to government way of doing things, relied on PSUs, but the time has come that we should look at encouraging private sector's participation in the economy." Stating that the Ghanaian side has for the first time talked about their firm commitment to international solar lines after having signed the COP-21, Sinha said they are now looking at sustainable energy solution. "And since India is the leader in nuclear energy, they would like to explore the possibility of having civil nuclear energy cooperation with India," he added. Sinha further said the President also underlined the fact that political stability is absolutely critical for any investment whether it is Indian or even Ghanaian. Accra (Ghana), June 14 (ANI): The Indian government on Tuesday announced an additional million dollar grant for the Accra-based Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT to help it to initiate a Masters programme, expand its laboratory facilities and introduce additional curriculum to help its students to stay abreast with rapidly advancing technology. The announcement was made by President Pranab Mukherjee on the last day of his two-and-a-half day state visit to Ghana while on a visit to the centre. Addressing Ghanaian dignitaries, faculty and students of the centre, the president said that the effective deployment of its graduates throughout the economic community of West African states reflected India's primary objective of "seeking to build and assist Ghana and its neighbours in their human resource development." "The establishment of the Kofi Annan Centre and its partnership with the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) in India is an example of the successful cooperation between Ghana and India in the field of information technology and human resource development. India has always been happy to extend technical support and expertise to its friends in Africa," he added. President Mukherjee further stated that India's experience as a developing country has taught it and others about the necessity for giving due attention to "equitable and inclusive growth and development". He said that it is extremely important to ensure that the digital revolution did not create new imbalances between men and women; between rural and urban centres, or between mainstream languages and others. The overall objective of such centres as the Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT, he said, should be to inculcate skills to make targeted populations employable, as well as to address their needs through special programmes. The Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT, he said, has grown into an institution par excellence since its establishment in 2003. It was indeed a laudable achievement that it had trained over 20,000 students not only from Ghana, but also from countries in the neighbourhood, he added. President Mukherjee described former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan as a great son of Ghana and a respected voice in global affairs and South-South cooperation, and therefore, it was appropriate that the centre is named after him. "India has always believed that Africa should take ownership of her resources and define her own interests and goals. Our government is committed to working with partners in Africa in all areas where we can help them to use and adapt relevant cost effective technologies, share best practices and realize their goals of technological development," he added. To the students, he said, "I have no doubt that you will equip yourselves thoroughly and develop your capabilities comprehensively to one day make a your own valuable contributions to the progress of your great country. Your success will be a tribute to the friendship and close partnership between Ghana and India." Earlier, the president was received at the centre by Ghana's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration Ms. Hannah Tetteh and the Director General of the centre, Mrs. Dorothy Gordon. Thereafter, the president and his accompanying delegation emplaned for the second leg of his six-day three-nation tour to the Republic of Cote D Ivoire. Accra (Ghana), June 14 (ANI): The Government of India has decided to increase scholarship seat allocations for students from Ghana from 250 to 300 in the ITEC category, and increase the annual scholarships under other Indian schemes from 20 to 40. Revealing this during an address to the faculty and students of the University of Ghana, Legon Campus, on Monday evening, President Pranab Mukherjee said that he was delighted to know that the students of Ghana are rated by institutes and universities in India as the finest among all foreign students. He said that India has been sharing her knowledge and skills with nations in Africa and other developing countries, especially in the case of capacity-building programs that are promoted under ITEC and the Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR). President Mukherjee, however, said that notwithstanding the fraternal friendship between India and Ghana, there was a need to recognize the challenges that are an inevitable and integral part of any developmental process. He said that both India and Ghana more or less face similar challenges such as eliminating poverty; defeating the scourge of terrorism; promoting sustainable development in harmony with the environment and eco-systems; the need to further refine democratic systems and strengthening democratic institutions and adding greater value to each other's resources, while efficiently generating employment opportunities for the youth. "In brief, there is a need for a paradigm shift in the way we conduct our relations, while building further on the foundation of our mutual goodwill. We need to define a new positive and create a brighter, innovative and updated narrative of India-Ghana relations," President Mukherjee said. "I am confident that our youth, who are our leaders of tomorrow, would fit in seamlessly into this renewed and revised model of cooperation. By duly making them stakeholders, we will succeed in reinvigorating our partnership and taking it to a new level.. I would, therefore, call upon the youth of Ghana to employ your learning and knowledge in the service of your society and your nation. I have no doubt that you will claim for Ghana the rightful place that it deserves in the comity of nations," he added. President Mukherjee said that he would like to see the faculty and students of the University of Ghana taking full advantage of the scholarships and training opportunities announced by India at the India-Africa Forum Summit last year. He made a special mention of Ghana's two eminent centers of learning - the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi and the India-Ghana Kofi Annan Centre of ICT Excellence in Accra, both of which were playing a significant and nurturing role in the India-Ghana institutional relationship. In his concluding remarks, the president used the University of Ghana platform to once again remind the community that there was an urgent need to transform and reform the way the United Nations, and particularly the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) functions. "It is imperative that the organs of the United Nations should keep pace with the changing times. A country of India's size and civilizational depth cannot be watching from the sidelines as the Security Council dispenses solutions to global issues. The continent of Africa of over a billion people cannot be a bystander while its fate is defined," he said. He described Ghana as a robust nation that has been commanding respect across Africa and the for the last several years, and urged it to continue with its good work, particularly in guiding its youth to realize their full potential. "As long as there is dynamism and radiance in the students and scholars of this country, the future belongs to you. It will be a product of what you sow today. If you toil today, you will triumph tomorrow," President Mukherjee said. Quoting Mahatma Gandhi, he reminded his captive audience that it was useless to acquire, "Wealth without work; pleasure without conscience; knowledge without character; commerce without morality; science without humanity; worship without sacrifice, and practice politics without principles. Well-known as dinosaur kingdom, Fukui Prefecture in Japan is also famous for its culinary delights. It was ranked number one in the happiness ladder of Japan in 2014 because of its food culture. Now, All Nippon Airlines (ANA) has announced to introduce the food of Fukui Prefecture as per its project for promoting the 'charms of Japan'. Yuji Ishii, GM, Kanazawa Sales Office, ANA, said, "Among the various services provided at ANA, through this service, we would like to send a message on the attractions of Fukui Prefecture. We would like to promote it both domestically and internationally and would like to have the foreign guests to dine here and physically visit Fukui Prefecture." As part of this project, ANA focused on the fact that Fukui is a home to plums and developed a drink using a new kind of fruit. This project is the result of collaboration with a producer in the Wakasa area in Fukui Prefecture. Two ANA flight attendants participated in the development process. According to Akira Shinya, President, Ecofarm Mikata Corporation, "Last August, two flight attendants who were interested in creating the processed plum drink in Fukui were chosen and have been working extensively over multiple occasions in Fukui." The product was named 'Rogue Eclat' meaning 'glittering red', which came from the plum ingredients raised in Fukui. Shinya further said, "Since the red in Red Points is also used for lipstick or rouge, the name was created by emphasizing the prettiness of the colour as well as the attractiveness of females. Rose was used to create this luxurious feeling. The taste was fine-tuned by adding a little bit of rose essence. The ordinary plum syrup was used as the sweetener and little bit of honey was added to make the taste elegant. We have been striving to promote Fukui by introducing this processed plum drink to the overseas guests." In 'Sado' (tea-ceremony), the host makes tea for the guests with the spirit of hospitality." In May, the harvest season begins at the foot of Mt. Fuji in Shizuoka prefecture. The harvest of tea is usually done by hands. However, nowadays many farmers are using machines. The harvested tea leaf is processed at the factories, which includes steaming, rubbing, and drying. The production is well operated under computerized control. On the other hand, there are many small scaled yet unique tea factories. With its healthy ingredients, tea has got a lot of attention from overseas. In this store in Shizuoka Prefecture, it is given free to the visiting guests. There are many different types of teas in Shizuoka Prefecture. Among which, Matcha is the special tea used in 'Chado' or tea-ceremony. Tencha, the ingredient of Matcha, is raised differently compared to other types of tea. Kyoto city produces Tencha. Traders touch the tea leafs or test drink before they make the bid. The 2016 Tony Awards was a night dedicated to the victims of the Orlando shooting as the show's host James Corden, 'Hamilton' star Lin-Manuel Miranda and actor Frank Langhella paid an emotional tribute to the victims during the show held at the Beacon Theatre in New York. Corden said, "People all around the world are trying to come to terms with the horrific events that took place in Orlando this morning," reports E!Online. "On behalf of the whole theater community and every person in this room, our hearts go out to all of those affected by this atrocity. All we can say is you are not on your own right now. Your tragedy is our tragedy, he added. While accepting the award for best original score, Miranda said "When senseless acts of tragedy reminds us that nothing here is promised. Not one day." Langhella, while accepting his fourth Tony for best actor in 'The Father', said, "I urge you Orlando to be strong. I'm standing in a room full of the most generous human beings on earth and we will be with you ever step of the way." At least 50 people were killed and more than 53 others were injured on Sunday after a mass shooting at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. The Sri Lankan Government and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed a $2 million grant agreement to finance the relief efforts in the country following the recent floods and landslides, which caused mass destruction. "Considering the scope of the damage in Sri Lanka and the government's constrained resources, it is critical that we assist the people of Sri Lanka in this time of urgent need," Colombo Page quoted Sri Widowati, Country Director of the Sri Lanka Resident Mission, as saying. The $2 million US dollars is being provided to the government as a grant under the ADB's Asia Pacific Disaster Response Fund to purchase emergency relief materials and supplies and help restore community services, the ADB said in a statement. Tropical storm Roanu struck Sri Lanka on May 15, causing severe flooding and numerous landslides, affecting 25 districts. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has extended her help to an Indian worker trapped in limbo in a hospital of Oman. "If Doctors permit travel we will contact his family and bring Bikku Prasad back to India. http://timesofoman.com/article/85879/Oman/Health/Un," Sushma said in a tweet taking a note of report in Times of Oman. The leading daily of Oman shared an article reporting about an Indian worker Bikku Prasad. Bikku, who came to Oman on a visit visa, took up a job without following official procedures. He is now battling for life at a hospital in Muscat without much help. "This is Bikku Prasad, an Indian worker who came to Oman hoping for a new life. Now, he is clinging to his old one--a man on a ventilator trapped in limbo, he collapsed just three days after getting a job but his papers were under processing. He was on a visit visa for three months before getting a job," the report said. "Without correct papers, he is also stuck in bureaucratic limbo, with nobody ready to pay his medical bills. Had he come to Oman through proper channels, his hospital treatment would have been covered. Instead, he came on a visit visa and then found a job. He had not received his labour card when he collapsed at work," it added. The Udaan employment scheme in the valley is opening doors for Kashmiri youth to join the Indian Corporate World. One success story is that of Adnan Bhatt, who says that Udaan gave him the opportunity to reach out and secure the Indian dream of middle class life. "Udaan Project in association with Bajaj Allianz GIC Ltd. gave me wings to fly high in my career," Bhatt said. With the number of registered unemployed youth crossing the six lakh mark, Jammu and Kashmir has the highest unemployment rate of 5.3 percent in comparison to its four neighbouring states. Bhatt said that his life changed the day he came across the recruitment drive of Udaan and got selected as "Executive Trainee". "I was offered one year of unique, intensive and innovative training programme in Sales and Marketing, first four months of inter-departmental training followed by 8 months of on the job training developing business acumen in various departments," he said. Bhatt said he served the organization with utmost dedication and hard work because of which he garnered various laurels and feat. Following are the list of his achievements. 1. Qualified for International Training Programme to be held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. 2. Selected as Brand Ambassador of Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Co. Ltd. winning Face of BAGIC contest. 3. Qualified in "Young Leaders Programme". 4. Also, a part of elite advisory panel involved in new product development initiatives. The Fifth Economic Census, conducted in 2005, indicates that there are 3.24 lakh establishments in the state presently engaged in different economic activities. Speaking to the media, Bhatt said, "As of now, I am being designated as "Project Lead - Business on Mobile" directly under the mentorship of Head Office Pune." "Credit goes to Udaan Project for giving me a platform to work and get associated with esteemed Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Co. Ltd. It has altogether been a journey full of learning. Fly high with Udaan and Bajaj Allianz," he said. There has been a stark increase in the rate of unemployment in the state in recent time. The number of registered job seekers increased from 1.11 lakh in 2007 to 6.01 lakh in 2011 registering an increase of 439%. The Unemployment rate in urban areas stood at 6.5 percent as against 4.9 percent in rural areas. Bhatt's story comes as a tale of pure inspiration and motivation for the youth, who are facing severe employment crunch in the valley and are struggling to find a silver lining, given their dilapidated fates. The Udaan employment scheme is bound to better the lives of many such job aspiring and success seeking youngsters in the state and lead them to horizons of accomplishment. A Special Prevention of Money Laundering Act ( PMLA) court on Tuesday gave it assent to the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) plea to declare liquor baron Vijay Mallya as a 'proclaimed offender'. "Order under Section 82 must be passed to declare Vijay Mallya a 'proclaimed offender'," ED lawyers told the court. Former Kingfisher Airlines employee Anirudh Ballal, who is leading a movement to seek unpaid salaries from the now de0funct airlines, welcomed the decision and said it would serve as a lesson to other such offenders. "This is a big judgment by the honourable court for declaring such a highly reputed person like Vijay Mallya as an proclaimed offender on the behest of ED. This has given a strong indication that this government is indeed very serious about bringing defaulters like Dr. Mallya to justice," he told ANI. "It is a lesson for the other defaulters that if they try to play with public money they will have to face the law. I also appeal to the government that our unpaid dues be recovered from Dr. Mallya," he added. The Enforcement Directorate had on Friday urged the court to declare the absconding tycoon a 'proclaimed offender'. The Enforcement Directorate, which has been probing Mallya, had also issued a non-bailable warrant against him. The agency alleges that out of the Rs. 900 crores loan taken from IDBI bank in 2009, Rs. 430 crores had allegedly been dispatched illegally outside the country. Both the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation are probing Mallya for the Rs. 9,000 crores loan scam. Mallya had taken this amount as loan from several banks in order to pay dues of his now defunct Kingfisher Airlines. Despite Mallya's visa getting cancelled by the Indian government recently, the liquor baron has managed to stay on in the United Kingdom. Minister of State for Finance, Jayant Sinha had on Thursday said the government is working on the extradition of liquor baron Vijay Mallya from Britain. Mahindra has launched the XUV500 Automatic in Delhi, with prices starting at Rs 14.51 lakh. The automatic will be available in the W6, W8 and W10 trims in front-wheel-drive only. The two top-spec trims are priced at Rs 15.94 lakh and Rs 17.32 lakh respectively. There is no all-wheel-drive version on offer. Notably, it harbours a 1.99-litre diesel engine that lets it duck underneath the Delhi diesel ban. Power figure for the automatic variant remains unchanged from its manual counterpart and is rated at 140PS/320Nm. The 6-speed automatic is developed by Japanese component manufacturer Aisin. We put the XUV500 automatic through its paces; check the review to know how it drives. The engine is a downsized iteration of Mahindra's 2.2-litre, mHAWK motor. The downsizing has only affected peak torque, which is now 10Nm less compared to the bigger motor. Other than that, Mahindra claim everything is identical to the bigger engine'd variant. The feature list remains identical, the top-spec variant gets goodies such as 17-inch alloy wheels, projector headlamps, leather upholstery and 6 airbags and a whole lot more. The smaller engine came into being purely because of the blanket ban on registration of diesel vehicles in the national capital. The National Green Tribunal that ordered the ban is also considering replicating the ban in 11 other cities. Going one step further, Mahindra will also be introducing petrol variants of the XUV500 and the Scorpio to get sales going in Delhi/NCR. Likely to be a 2.0-litre engine, the petrol versions will be available by the end of this year. Read More on : XUV500 2016 Source : CarDekho Apollo Tyres rose 2.03% to Rs 151 at 15:30 IST on BSE after the company said in an investor conference presentation submitted to the stock exchanges that the company is focusing on new product development to grow market share. Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was provisionally up 4.85 points 0.02% at 26,401.62. On BSE, 1.76 lakh shares were traded in the counter as against average daily volume of 1.86 lakh shares in the past one quarter. The stock hit a high of Rs 152.10 and a low of Rs 147.90. The stock had hit 52-week high of Rs 223.30 on 5 August 2015. The stock had hit 52-week low of Rs 127.95 on 20 January 2016. The stock had underperformed the market over the past one month till 13 June 2016, sliding 7.38% compared with the Sensex's 3.56% rise. The scrip had also underperformed the market in past one quarter, sliding 11.69% as against the Sensex's 6.79% rise. The mid-cap company has equity capital of Rs 50.90 crore. Face value per share is Rs 1. Apollo Tyres said in its investor conference presentation that the company has a track record of launching innovative products in the market. The company also said that it has strong relationships with market leading original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), raw material suppliers and testing facilities. The company said that its global presence helps it in balancing business growth. The company said that it has a wide distribution network across India and Europe. Apollo Tyres further said that a long-standing relationship with dealers has been a key growth driver for the company. Apollo Tyres' consolidated net profit declined 20.3% to Rs 245.16 crore on 5.4% decline in net sales to Rs 2966.12 crore in Q4 March 2016 over Q4 March 2015. Apollo Tyres is one of the leading global tyre companies with presence across India, Europe and other growing economies of Asia. The company has manufacturing operations in Asia and Europe. Powered by Capital Market - Live News Agriculture uses about 18% of the electricity consumed in India. This means that to tackle energy security, to implement India's climate commitments, as well as to ensure food security and deal with water challenges, India must consider energy efficiency in irrigation. Hence, the European Union (EU) has brought policy and financial experts as well as European Business to India offering concrete solutions in this regard, said Mr. Tomasz Kozlowski, Ambassador, European Union Delegation to India. While delivering his keynote address at a workshop on 'Agricultural Demand Side Management (AgDSM)-Adopting Technologies to Boost Efficiencies', the first in the series, organised by FICCI and European Commission, Mr. Kozlowski said that the partnership between India and the EU will facilitated policy dialogue, will bring best practices, business solutions and joint research and innovation and will look at financing models for clean energy and climate change. In terms of finance, he said that the European Investment Bank has already provided loans for more than Euro 1.2 billion to support implementation of energy and climate related projects in India. Speaking about technologies and solutions, Mr. Kozlowski added that the EU was closely involved in developing offshore wind, solar parks and energy efficiency in India. In his special address Mr. B P Pandey, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Power & Director General, Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), said that there are about 20.27 million electrified pumpsets installed in agriculture sector. Further, due to the increasing demand for water to meet the agricultural needs, about 0.25 to 0.5 million new pump sets are being added annually, therefore by adoption of high efficiency pumps about 25-30% energycan be saved. He added that the industry had sufficient pumpsets to supply but there was a need to work out a feasible finance models for adoption of these pumpsets. Speaking about the initiatives to achieve energy efficiency in various sectors, Mr. Pandey said that government's Perform-Achieve-Trade (PAT) scheme is a market-based mechanism launched in 2008 under India's national climate change action plan, and is designed to increase the energy efficiency of the most energy-intensive sectors. The first phase of PAT was completed in March 2015 and the second phase began with the inclusion of three industrial sectors, of which two are railways and utilities. Similarly, the Labeling Program is providing the consumer an informed choice about energy saving, and thereby it is enabling cost saving of the marketed household and other equipment. He added that the government was promoting use of energy efficiency equipment such as LEDs as well. In his theme presentation Mr. Nitin Zamre, Managing Director, ICF International India, speaking about the opportunities, he said that AgDSM is a recognised intervention area by every DISCOM and both EE and RE options are available for agricultural pumps. Also there star rated pumps available in India and there is increased awareness among farmers, pump manufacturers about it. He added that India was getting international support and cooperation as well to fulfil its commitment to INDC goals. Pointing out the challenges, Mr. Zamre said that there was a lack of effective Centre-State coordination for policy push and demand-supply gap of star rated pumps. Also, concentration of agriculture pump manufacturers was in limited locations and the high initial cost of EE pumps becomes a deterrent. He added that there was a need to make international technology easily accessible and mindset change towards transition to EE technology was also needed. Ms. Henriette Faergemann, Counsellor (Environment, Energy & Climate Change), Delegation of the European Union to India, said that there are cost issues involved with the implementation of energy efficiency technology in agriculture but in the long term adoption of such technology would prove to be beneficial for green growth. She added that the EU had an incredible GDP growth with reduced emission by adopting energy efficient technologies and Indian too could attain the same by using energy efficient equipment. Dr. A Didar Singh, Secretary General, FICCI, said that by bringing together stakeholders from the EU and India, the workshop focused on promoting cooperation between the two sides in the area of AgDSM, one of the biggest focus areas for Indian policymakers in the DSM space. The workshop is a stepping stone to build a framework for implementation of efficient pumping technology and best practices in Indian agricultural sector in cooperation with European partners. Powered by Capital Market - Live News Rises by 10% in November 2015 to May 2016 The Solvent Extractors' Association of India has compiled the Import data of Vegetable Oils (edible & non-edible) for the month of May 2016. Import of vegetable oils during May, 2016 is reported at 1,024,878 tons compared to 1,371,662 tons in May, 2015, consisting of 1,004,685 tons of edible oils and 20,193 tons of non-edible oils i.e. down by 25% due to highest stock at port and pipeline and reduced demand due to summer. The overall import of vegetable oils during first seven months of the current oil year 2015-16, November 2015 - May 2016 is reported at 8,593,587 tons compared to 7,833,524 tons i.e. up by 10%. Sharp increase in RBD Palmolein Import (107%): - The import of RBD Palmolein during the first seven months of the current oil year i.e. from November 2015 to May 2016 jumped to 15.87 lakh tons from 7.66 lakh tons (107%) replacing import of CPO and expected to increase further in the coming months. The alarming increase in import of RBD Palmolein, seriously hurting the domestic refining industry. This situation has arisen due to the fact that currently the landed cost of RBD olein (finished product) is lesser than Crude Palm Oil (CPO - raw material). Due to this situation, the domestic refining industry is facing severe crisis of under-utilization of capacity and is on the verge of closure. Presently tax on export of CPO from Indonesia/Malaysia is higher by 5% in comparison to Refined Palm Oil/Olein. This differential will keep increasing with increase in prices of Palm Oil in the origin countries. Therefore, duty differential in India has to be made variable to be in line with the differential duty prevailing in Malaysia/Indonesia and justify to increase in duty difference between crude and refined vegetable oils from 7.5% to 15%. Stock Position at Port and in Pipelines: - Current stock of edible oils as on 1st June 2016 at various ports is estimated at 865,000 tons (CPO 270,000 tons, RBD Palmolein 250,000 tons, Degummed Soybean Oil 210,000 tons, Crude Sunflower Oil 110,000 tons and 25,000 tons of Rapeseed (Canola) Oil) and about 1,465,000 tons in pipelines. Total stock at ports and in pipelines decreased to 2,330,000 tons from 2,440,000 tons in May 2016. India's monthly requirement is about 16.5 lakh tons and operate at 30 days stock against which currently holding stock over 23.30 lakh tons equal to 42 days requirements. The overall stock as on 1st June, 2016 has decreased by 110,000 tons compared to 01 May 2015. Import of Palm & Soft Oil Ratio: - Sharp increase in import of Soft Oils During November 2015 - May 2016, Palm Oil import has marginally decreased to 4,998,344 tons from 5,116,361 tons during the same period of last year, while, soft oils import sharply increased to 3,512,570 tons from 2,591,915 tons last year. The share of soft oils imports increased to 41% from 34% last year while, share of palm oil products down to 59% from 66%. Average Prices and Rupee depreciation: - In last three months, due to reduction in stock of Palm Oil at origins, CIF Indian port prices of edible oils has moved upward. The difference between RBD Palmolein & CPO reduced from month to month. Import of Non-Edible Oils: Import of Non-edible oils during November 2015 - May 2016 is reported at 82,673 tons compared to 125,248 tons during the same period last year. i.e. down by 34%. P.F.A.D., P.K.F.A.D., C.P.K.O. & RBD Palm Stearin are the major import of non-edible oils. Powered by Capital Market - Live News Man Industries (India) was up 2.2% at Rs 60.80 at 12:51 IST on BSE after the company commissioned an indigenously developed hydraulic JCO press at its Gujarat plant. Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was off 31.62 points or 0.12% at 26,365.15. On BSE, so far 45,763 shares were traded in the counter as against average daily volume of 56,914 shares in the past one quarter. The stock hit a high of Rs 61.85 and a low of Rs 60.25 so far during the day. The stock had hit 52-week high of Rs 128.40 on 20 August 2015. The stock had hit 52-week low of Rs 48 on 29 February 2016. The stock had underperformed the market over the past one month till 13 June 2016, sliding 5.63% compared with the Sensex's 3.56% rise. The scrip had also underperformed the market in past one quarter, sliding 2.94% as against the Sensex's 6.79% rise. The small-cap company has equity capital of Rs 28.55 crore. Face value per share is Rs 5. Man Industries (India) said that the augmented facility at its Gujarat plant will open new market for the company's high margin line pipes across the globe. The company further said that it has created a distinct edge over other industry peers by joining the elite league of a few line pipe players in niche sector across the globe, having capability to manufacture high grade steel line pipes in low diameter with high wall thickness with diameters up to 56" and thicknesses up to 55.0 mm. On the financial front, the net profit of Man Industries (India) fell 41.5% to Rs 26.20 crore on 46.4% fall in net sales to Rs 340.05 crore in Q4 March 2016 over Q4 March 2015. Man Industries (India) is one of the leading manufacturers and exporters of large diameter carbon steel line pipes for various high pressure transmission applications for gas, crude oil, petrochemical products and potable water. Powered by Capital Market - Live News Stocks of eight public sector banks were up 1.7% to 4.2% at 11:18 IST on BSE after the Reserve Bank of India announced a scheme for sustainable structuring of large borrowal accounts which are facing severe financial difficulties. Punjab National Bank was up 4.2% at Rs 86.45. State Bank of India was up 1.7% at Rs 205.80. IDBI Bank was up 2.1% at Rs 68.05. Union Bank of India was up 2.7% at Rs 121.85. Bank of Baroda was up 1.6% at Rs 148.30. Bank of India was up 2.4% at Rs 89.60. Oriental Bank of Commerce was up 3.5% at Rs 92.30. UCO Bank was up 2.6% at Rs 37.10. Stocks of major private sector banks were mostly in the red. Axis Bank was off 0.7% at Rs 527.65. HDFC Bank was off 0.6% at Rs 1,145.50. IndusInd Bank was off 0.4% at Rs 1,103.40. Kotak Mahindra Bank was off 0.4% at Rs 752.75. ICICI Bank was up 0.8% at Rs 246.05. Yes Bank was up 0.16% at Rs 1,066.15. The BSE's banking sector index BSE Bankex was up 25.05 points or 0.12% at 20,187.87, outperforming the S&P BSE Sensex. The Sensex was currently off 30.03 points or 0.11% at 26,366.74. The scheme for sustainable structuring of stressed assets or S4A is an optional framework for lenders for the resolution of large stressed accounts. The S4A envisages determination of the sustainable debt level for a stressed borrower and bifurcation of the outstanding debt into sustainable debt and equity/quasi-equity instruments which are expected to provide upside to the lenders when the borrower turns around. The S4A is aimed at providing an avenue for reworking the financial structure of entities facing genuine difficulties, according to a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) statement. The S4A can be implemented only where a project has already commenced commercial operations. Another condition set by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for implementation of S4A is that the aggregate exposure (including accrued interest) of all institutional lenders in the account is more than Rs 500 crore (including rupee loans, foreign currency loans/external commercial borrowings. The debt under stress also should be sustainable debt. Powered by Capital Market - Live News From CRISIL Union Bank of India announced that : 1. The Bank intends to raise capital funds through issuance of Tier 2 bonds. In this regard, CRISIL Ratings has assigned 'CRISIL AAA' rating with negative outlook to the Bank's proposed Basel III compliant Tier 2 bond issue of Rs. 1000 crore. 2. CRISIL has reaffirmed its ratings on other debt instruments i.e. Tier 1 Perpetual Bond Issue (Basel II), Tier 1 Bond Issue (Basel III) & Tier 2 (Basel II & III) at 'CRISIL AAA', 'CRISIL AA' & 'CRISIL AAA' respectively with negative outlook. CRISIL has also reaffirmed its rating on the Bank's Certificate of Deposits programme at CRISIL A1+. Powered by Capital Market - Live News A total of 117 militants were killed in military operations launched by Afghan security forces within the last 24 hours, the country's defence ministry said on Tuesday. "Afghan security conducted several military operations over the past 24 hours, killing 117 militants, wounding 50 and detaining two other militants," Xinhua news agency quoted the ministry as saying in a statement. Some 15 militants of the Islamic State (IS) were among the killed, the statement said. Two personnel of the Afghan army were also killed over the same period, the statement confirmed. The Taliban militants, who ruled the country before they were ousted in late 2001, renewed armed insurgency, staging ambushes and suicide attacks, killing combatants as well as civilians. The Taliban have yet to make comments. A Cambodian court on Tuesday sentenced a 53-year-old American man to 10 years in prison after he was convicted of indulging in child prostitution. Brian Naswall, former Chief Executive Officer of Phnom Penh-based aviation firm Aero Cambodia, was "found guilty of purchasing child prostitution", said a court verdict. The court also ordered Naswall to pay $2,000 in compensation to each of his eight victims. Naswall was arrested on May 22 last year on Koh Pich island in Phnom Penh for allegedly having a 13-year-old girl touch his genitals in front of her two friends. Six other underage girls have also joined the case to testify against him. Cambodia launched an anti-paedophilia operation in 2003 in a bid to end its reputation as a haven for child sex offenders. Since then, dozens of foreigners have been imprisoned for child sex crimes. --IANS py/vt Unhappy over some BJP MPs' attempts, during the National Executive meet, at self-projection as probable chief ministerial candidates in Uttar Pradesh, party president Amit Shah has directed them to refrain from such and instead focus on their constituencies till the assembly polls. The direction from Shah came at a meeting of party MPs from Uttar Pradesh at Allahabad after the National Executive meeting concluded there on Monday. However, BJP MP from Sultanpur, Varun Gandhi, hundreds of whose posters were put up around in the city - a move that did not go down well with the party's central leadership, skipped the meeting. However, one of his aids told IANS that there was no such meeting but a get together of party MPs from state with the party president. Other than Varun Gandhi, around half a dozen MPs skipped the meeting including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, and Hema Malini. "They had sought permission to stay away," said a BJP leader. The development came at time when disgruntled party MP Shatrughan Sinha backed Gandhi's candidature, saying that "he should be given opportunity and his name should be announced as party's chief ministerial candidate at the earliest". He also added that Gandhi could be the best choice for the post. Meanwhile, Shah, during Monday's meeting asked party MPs to refrain from poster war and giving media bytes over the chief ministerial issue, sources said. According to sources, he asked party MPs to remain in the parliamentary constituencies till the assembly elections and confine themselves on development works of the area. Shah also said that MPs will be held responsible if party does not perform well in the assembly seats which comes under their parliamentary constituencies, sources said. During the meeting, Shah also inquired about whether they held Vikas Parv and other celebrations in their constituencies or not. The party had asked its MPs and leaders to hold Vikas Parv and other programmes to celebrate two successful years of Modi government. The party leaders had gathered in Allahabad to brainstorm the strategy for the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, which are due next year. The National Executive meet was attended by Prime Minister Modi, Shah and other senior leaders of the party. --IANS bns/vd Rome, June 14 (IANS/AKI) A stolen 2,000-year-old marble sculpture of the head of the first Roman emperor, Augustus, was welcomed back to Italy on Tuesday, over 40 years after it was illegally smuggled out of the country to Belgium. The ancient treasure was handed to the mayor of Nepi, Pietro Soldatelli, at a ceremony in Rome attended by Italian officials including Deputy Foreign Minister Mario Giro and representatives of the Belgian embassy and the Academy of Belgium. "After more than 40 years of exile in Europe, he's finally home. Welcome back Augustus," Soldatelli said. The hairstyle of the 45-centimetre veiled head suggests the ancient treasure dates to the period before Octavian became emperor in 27 BC and took the name Augustus. Archaeologists believe the head formed part of a toga-clad statue. The sculpture had been on display at the Cinquantenaire Museum in Brussels since 1975 when the museum bought it from a private collector, unaware that it had been stolen. It is the latest artefact to be returned to Italy after being trafficked abroad. Museum officials agreed to return the artefact after a police investigation began in 2013 when Italian archaeologist Germana Vatta spotted its resemblance to another marble head in Nepi's museum. Art history experts established the marble head had been stolen in the 1970s from Nepi, which is near Rome. --IANS/AKI vd Indian army chief, Gen. Dalbir Singh on Tuesday briefed Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on the overall security situation in the state, a defence statement said. "Following his meeting with J&K Governor, N.N.Vohra in New Delhi yesterday (on Monday), General Dalbir Singh, the Chief of Army Staff today (on Tuesday) called upon Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti during his visit to the Valley. "During the cordial meeting at the chief minister's official residence in Srinagar, the Army Chief, who was also accompanied by the Northern Army Commander, Lt Gen. D.S. Hooda and Chinar Corps Commander, Lt Gen. Satish Dua, covered a wide range of issues from the overall security scenario to the specific arrangements for the forthcoming Amarnath Yatra and the Assembly by-elections," it said. The army chief was earlier briefed by Dua about the preparedness of Chinar Corps in dealing with the emerging security challenges and measures to thwart any misadventure by forces inimical to peace, it said. "The Corps Commander also highlighted the measures adopted to integrate the efforts of various security forces for efficient intelligence network and synergised conduct of operations," it added. The army chief also visited the forward area of Baramulla as also Awantipura where he was briefed upon the operational readiness by the respective formation commanders and also interacted with officers and men and complimented them for their untiring efforts, the statement said. "Expressing his satisfaction over the measures instituted by Chinar Corps to ensure security in the valley, Gen. Dalbir Singh reiterated on the continued need for integration and close coordination amongst all security agencies." --IANS sq/vd Commuters faced problems on Tuesday morning after employees of the state-run Himachal Road Transport Corp (HRTC), which has fleet of over 2,500 buses, went on a two-day strike late on Monday night. The employees were demanding regularisation of the contract staff and pension benefits, among other things. The strike hit the commuters, especially the tourists, hard with connectivity between cities and towns affected. The employees said no corporation buses were plying in the state. However, some of the buses of Punjab, Haryana and Uttarakhand state roadways are functional but they were overcrowded. Officials of the HRTC said the striking employees would resume work from Wednesday midnight. The HRTC has been making losses but has been important to the state as it connects far-flung villages with urban areas. The state high court on Monday asked the roadways employees to call of their proposed strike. The court asked the state to look into their demands. "It's beaten law of the land that the employees cannot go on strike in order to press their demands. The court has already declared the strike of doctors illegal. Accordingly, we deem it proper to issue notice," said the bench. It asked the transport principal secretary and the HRTC managing director to have a joint meeting with the employees and try to redress their legitimate grievances by June 20, the next date of hearing. Transport Minister G.S. Bali in a statement said that 90 per cent demands of the employees have been accepted. --IANS vg/sku/ Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama led a silent prayer in the US for victims of the mass shooting in Orlando, the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) said on Tuesday. The answer to attacks like "this tragedy, in some cases in the name of religion", is for young people to work daily, individually and in groups towards peace as a long-term goal, the Nobel Peace Laureate said at the US Institute of Peace in Washington on Monday. He was in Washington to promote a worldwide "peace building" campaign in which he led a workshop in India with 28 young activists from conflict zones around the world, especially Africa and the Middle East. "If you attempt now, make the effort now, the end of this century could be more peaceful, more compassionate," the Dalai Lama said. In the face of imminent violence and real danger, people have to first "take appropriate action to save yourself (and) run away", he told USA Today. But in the long term, society should incorporate "warm heartedness" and compassion in education, he said. He referred to his decades living and working in India, in cooperation with Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Jews and Buddhists. While many religions teach different philosophies, they all teach love and tolerance, he said. "If someone creates bloodshed they should no longer be accepted in that religion," said a CTA post quoting the Dalai Lama. "We have to live on this small planet with a sense of brotherhood and sisterhood," he said. "There is no other choice." The 80-year-old, the global face of the Tibetan exile movement, lives in exile in this northern Indian hill town. The Tibetan exile administration is based here. --IANS vg/py/mr Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said every state has either supported or accepted the idea of the pan-India Goods and Services Tax (GST) except Tamil Nadu, which has expressed reservations. "Every state has given their views on the GST. Every state has supported the idea of GST and only one state -- Tamil Nadu -- has expressed its reservations," Jaitley said here. He said although Tamil Nadu has reservations, the state has affirmed that the GST is highly implementable and has offered some suggestions in this regard. Thus, every state has either supported or accepted the idea of GST, Jaitley added. Finance ministers of 22 states are attending the meeting of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers on GST on Tuesday, which will continue till latter part of the day. Seven states are represented by senior level officials. --IANS bdc-mm/pgh/vt The social networking giant has apologised for showing an inverted Philippine flag in its Independence Day greeting that accidentally gave the message as if the country was at war. The Philippines marked its 118th anniversary of independence from Spain on June 12 with a flag-raising event by President Benigno Aquino III at a historical urban park in Manila. "This was unintentional, and we're sorry. We care deeply about the community in the Philippines and, in an attempt to connect people on Independence Day, we made a mistake," said in a statement sent to The Philippine Star. Earlier, the greeting from that appeared on the users' timeline read: "Happy Independence Day! Here's to all of the Philippines' health, happiness and prosperity." But the greeting came with an inverted Philippine flag that immediately went viral. The Philippine flag has an inverted colour scheme - red on top and blue on the bottom. According to the Philippine law, the flag should only be displayed in that configuration during times of war. In the time of peace, it's flown with blue on top and red on bottom. Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday called for conservation of water to improve the economic condition of farmers in the country. He said much of the water problem can be solved if we learn to conserve and use the water available with wisdom. "The acute shortage of water and lack of innovation and diversification in farming and other related activities are the main reasons responsible for the poor economic conditions of farmers in the country," said Gadkari speaking at a national seminar "Challenges of Policy Reforms in India" on liberating farmers from debt trap. Emphasising that the irrigation infrastructure in the country is grossly insufficient, he said: "The increased funding for the 89 languishing AIBP (Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programmes) and other irrigation schemes are appreciable." He stressed upon the need to build check-dams to maintain the draft of rivers and streams. Gadkari called upon state governments to increase their funding for irrigation and gave the example of Madhya Pradesh where increased irrigation spending has resulted in higher productivity. He said: "The Jal Marg Vikas project on river Ganga and the development of the other 111 recently declared National Waterways would go a long way in raising the water table and making water available for irrigation." "Research efforts should be made to bring in innovative technology to make best use of locally available products including waste," said Gadkari. --IANS rup/lok/vt A Chinese gay man has sued a hospital in Henan province for subjecting him to 19 days of treatment, during which he was tied up to the bed, medicated and threatened with violence, to cure his "sexual orientation disorder", the media reported on Tuesday. The man, identified with the pseudonym Yu Hu, was forcibly admitted to the hospital in Zhumadian city in October after he divorced his wife due to his sexual orientation, Xinhua news agency reported. Yu, 32, was discharged from the hospital after his partner contacted several LGBT rights organisations, who informed the police. Yu's lawyer filed a lawsuit in a local court last month for the violation of personal freedom of his client and for the use of violence against him. "They did it simply because I am gay. I don't know how many other people have been treated like this. They must be held accountable," Yu said. "The personal freedom of Chinese citizens is protected by law and cannot be infringed upon by hospitals or one's family members. It is against the law to carry out hospitalisation against the patient's will," said Yu's lawyer, Huang Rui. This is, however, not the first lawsuit against treatments offered by hospitals in China to "correct" sexual orientation. In 2014, a court in Beijing ordered a cabinet of psychologists in Chongqing city to apologise for trying to change the sexual identity of a gay man. Although homosexuality is slowly gaining acceptance in the country, which until 2001 considered it a "mental illness", discrimination against the gay community remains endemic in the country. --IANS py/vt On what would be his 148th birthday, Google has honoured Nobel Laureate Karl Landsteiner, the discoverer of blood groups -- key to successful blood transfusion -- with a Doodle. Landsteiner may not be a household name but his work that made blood transfusion safer has helped millions of people lead longer, healthier lives. "The first fundamental discovery in the history of serology didn't come until 1901, when Karl Landsteiner's identification of blood groups spurred a flurry of additional research and discovery and eventually led to his receiving the 1930 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine," according to the Vienna-born biologist's profile at Rockefeller University in the US. In the 17th century, the "dangerous" practice of blood transfusions -- used since at least the Middle Ages -- was banned in large parts of Western Europe. In 1900, while working at the University of Vienna, Landsteine made his first observations about agglutination, the clumping of blood cells that can result in the release of lethal toxins in a patient's blood stream. With the discovery of blood groups A, B and C (later renamed "O") later, Landsteiner was able to show that the allergic reaction, agglutination, occur only when blood samples of different types are mixed, not when the same type are mixed. In 1902, two of Landsteiner's colleagues, Alfred von Decastello and Adriano Sturli, discovered the fourth blood group, AB, further elucidating the differences in compatibility among blood types, according to the Rockefeller University profile. Landsteiner was born in Vienna in 1868. With the difficulties faced by researchers in Austria following World War I, Landsteiner moved to The Hague in the Netherlands and later to the US. In 1922, he accepted a post at The Rockefeller Institute. "Landsteiner is also credited with laying the groundwork, together with fellow scientist Erwin Popper, that led to the discovery of the polio virus. This was the first step towards developing a treatment for the disease which affected millions of children worldwide," Google said in a statement on Tuesday. Landsteiner died in 1943 following a heart attack in his laboratory. --IANS gb/py/ Activists representing survivors of the 1984 gas disaster on Tuesday said they had petitioned the White House regarding the criminal case against Union Carbide and its new owner Dow Chemical. The leaders said they hoped the US Department of Justice will serve the Bhopal District Court's notice on Dow Chemical so that it appears in the court here on July 13. The organisations said they had sent a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking directions to the Central Bureau of Investigation to call for harsher measures against Dow Chemical if it fails to appear on July 13. Activist Rashida Bee said: "One month is not yet over and we have collected more than 117 thousand signatures on our petition. "As per the terms of the White House web site, the US government is obliged to respond to our petition within the next 30 days. "We are hopeful the Prime Minister will take note of this historic challenge by the Bhopal survivors and their international supporters and instruct the CBI to seek issuance of non-bailable warrant against Dow Chemical if it fails to appear in court on July 13," she said. Added Rachna Dhingra of the Bhopal Group for Information and Action: "Once Dow Chemical appears in court, it will have to present Union Carbide to face trial. "A successful trial can very well lead to Union Carbide having to pay heavy criminal fines in keeping with its grave criminal acts and its terrible consequences. Hopefully the fines will be large enough to supplement the meagre compensation victims have received so far." Tonnes of poisonous gas leaked from the now shut Union Carbide pesticide plant in the heart of Bhopal on the night of December 2-3, 1984. At least 1,700 people died instantly and thousands have died in later years. Many more face life-long health issues due to exposure to the gas. Activists say the compensation Carbide paid to survivors and the families of those died was too meagre. --IANS mr/vd Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is attending a meeting of Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers here on Tuesday to nudge the states to arrive at a consensus on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill. Twenty-two states are represented at the meeting, which began in the morning, by their finance ministers. West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra is chairing the closed-door meeting, said a state government official. Discussions on the draft Goods and Services Tax Bill, including the overall framework, and the Information Technology process of the GST are on the agenda of the two-day discussions, Mitra told IANS earlier. The meeting would also deliberate upon finding ways and means to resolve issues between the states and the Centre on the GST. However, the contentious issues of the GST rate, the dispute settlement mechanism and one per cent additional tax are not a part of the agenda. The meeting here follows West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's declaration of support to the GST, which has come as a boost for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government's efforts to get the bill passed in the Rajya Sabha in the monsoon session starting next month. The bill for a pan-India GST to thoroughly overhaul India's indirect tax regime, first mooted by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance regime at the Centre, has been passed by the Lok Sabha, but is stalled in the Rajya Sabha where the ruling NDA lacks a majority. The states will draft their own State GST (SGST) bill based on the draft model law with minor variations, incorporating state-specific exemptions. The Centre and the states will also have to approve the integrated GST law or iGST, which will deal with inter-state movement of goods. The Constitution amendment bill needs to be ratified by more than half of the states. --IANS bdc/ssp/kb/vt Veteran actor Rishi Kapoor says his fantasy was to romance late actress Madhubala in a song. The 63-year-old praised the "Mughal-E-Azam" actress' beauty and style. "Why was I not born when Madhubala was there? My fantasy was to romance a song with her. Kya Ada Kya khubsoorti Kya..." he tweeted. Madhubala starred in classics like "Mughal-e-Azam", "Mahal" and "Tarana". -*- KJo praises 'Sairat' Filmmaker Karan Johar has lauded Marathi movie "Sairat" and says he has a lot of respect for the film. "Still reeling from the tremendous impact of 'Sairat'...saw it last night and woke up with a heavy heart and so much respect for the film," Karan tweeted. The film, which released on April 29, has been getting a lot of critical acclaim for the portrayal of the relationship between two children who face several challenges before eloping from the village. "Sairat" is Nagraj Manjule's second feature movie after "Fandry". -*- Saqib feels lucky to shoot with Huma Actor Saqib Saleem, who will be seen sharing screen space with his sister and actress Huma Qureshi, says he is her "biggest fan". The brother-sister duo will be seen in the Hindi remake of Hollywood film "Oculus". "So lucky to be shooting with you maam ...Big fan!! Yours truly isstupid inside joke. I love my sister. Huma Qureshi," he tweeted. --IANS dc/rb/bg Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar on Tuesday said that it will take at least three years to develop the capacity and infrastructure for revival of the lakes. "Things don't happen overnight... It's the backlog of nearly 50 years... reality is that half of Bengaluru's sewage goes untreated to its lakes, for which we need to build the capacity which will take another three years," Javadekar said here after a review meeting on the restoration of the lakes. Minister of Chemicals and Fertilisers Anant Kumar and Karnataka Forest Minister Ramanath Rai also attended the meeting. The meeting also emphasised on revival of the Bellandur lake, the largest of the 262 lakes and tanks in Bengaluru, that receives about 40% of the city's sewage. In May 2015, froth over the Bellandur lake caught fire due to formation of flammable methane gas. "We have put a condition of 24X7 monitoring of all the existing STPs of and we will monitor the progress (of lake revival plan and development of new STPs) every six months," Javadekar added. Everyday about 1,280 million litre of sewage is generated in Bengaluru, while the city's infrastructure has capacity to handle only 721 million litre of sewage. Since 137 out of 500 Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) are defunct, only 600 million litre sewage is treated and the rest goes to the lakes. Javadekar said the Karnataka government has banned plastic and prepared a time-bound "lake by lake" restoration plan. The central government will invest Rs 800 crore to rejuvenate the lakes. The funds would be released under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) scheme. "We are working on bio-development of the lakes. We will remove all the pollution through STPs with the help of Urban Development Ministry in public-private partnership mode," Anant Kumar said here. Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was on Tuesday reported to have been killed in an American airstrike. But there was no confirmation from US officials about the death of the most wanted terrorist, nicknamed "the invisible sheikh", with a $25-million bounty on his head. According to Italian news agency AKI, which cited a report by Islamic State-run Al-Amaq, Baghdadi was killed in an air raid in Syria by the US-led coalition forces on Friday. The report about Baghdadi's death was also corroborated by Iranian state media and pro-government Turkish daily Yenis Safak. AKI said the air strike was launched on the Islamic State-controlled territory's capital Raqqa in northern Syria. It said the statement in Arabic published by Amaq announced that "the commander of the faithful and caliph Baghdadi was killed by alliance airstrikes on Raqqa on the fifth day of Ramadan (Friday)". Mirror.co.uk citing a statement from Iraqi security forces said Baghdadi's convoy was hit "as it was moving towards Karbala (in Iraq) to attend a meeting of the Daesh terrorist leaders". But the British newspaper website citing a spokesman for the coalition said the terrorist leader's death was not confirmed. Colonel Chris Garver, of the coalition forces, said in an email that he had seen the reports but had "nothing to confirm this at this time". This is not the first time that Baghdadi has been reported to have died in a coalition strike. Such reports have emerged earlier as well. On Monday, Iraqi TV channel 'Al-Sumaria' said that Baghdadi had been wounded in a coalition airstrike on a location 65 kilometres west of the Islamic State-held city of Mosul. CNN citing US defence officials said that they had received credible intelligence that Baghdadi has been on the move in the past six months and had travelled to Mosul recently. Baghdadi, 45, has not released any audio or video statement in the last six months. An audio message was released in December 2015 from the dreaded terrorist leader who has orchestrated major attacks in Europe and massacres in the territory he governs. Since then he has maintained a stony silence with some reports saying he may have been dead since long. Very little is known about the earlier life of Baghdadi and when he began his terrorist activities. He is said to have been arrested from Baghdad in 2004 as a "civilian internee" with terrorists in Iraq. He was released later as a "low-level prisoner". He joined the Mujahideen Shura Council, serving on its "sharia committee" in 2006. That is when the group was renamed the Islamic State of Iraq, with Baghdadi promoted as a general. He was named the head of the Islamic State of Iraq in 2010. Baghdadi oversaw the expansion of the Islamic State into Syria, naming the group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). --IANS sar/bg The White House on Monday said President Barack Obama will visit Orlando city in Florida on Thursday to mourn the victims killed at the gay nightclub. "On Thursday, the president will travel to Orlando to pay his respects to victims' families, and stand in solidarity with the community as they embark on their recovery," Xinhua news agency cited a White House statement as saying. Obama's trip will come four days after a lone wolf gunman shot dead 49 people and injured 53 at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando, making it the deadliest mass shooting in the US history and worst terror strike after the 9/11 attacks in 2001. Afghan-origin Omar Mateen, 29, of Port St. Lucie in Florida, opened fire around 2.00 a.m. on Sunday. He was killed after a shootout with police. After his meeting with Director of Federal Bureau of Investigation James Comey on Monday, Obama said the Florida shooting was "homegrown extremism". "As far as we can tell right now, this is certainly an example of the kind of homegrown extremism that all of us have been so concerned about for a very long time," said Obama at the White House. According to Obama, so far there was no "clear evidence" that the gunman had been directed externally. "It does appear that at the last minute, he announced allegiance to IS," said Obama. "But there's no evidence so far that he was, in fact, directed by IS." IS-linked news agency Amaq on Sunday said the Islamic State militant group was responsible for the shooting. --IANS py/vt On a day the AAP blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the President rejecting a bill on Parliamentary Secretaries, the BJP on Tuesday said the appointment of 21 Parliamentary Secretaries in Delhi is "illegal" and urged the EC to take a decision on the matter at the earliest. "The appointment of 21 Parliamentary Secretaries by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is illegal as there is no provision for it in the law," BJP parliamentarian Meenakshi Lekhi said here. "This is an open-and-shut case. The Election Commission must take a final call on the disqualification issue at the earliest," she added. "If this (post) does not come under the office of profit, then why did they have to bring in the bill? Because they knew what they did was illegal," she said. Lekhi, a Lok Sabha MP from New Delhi, accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of furnishing a "false" affidavit before the Election Commission on perks and facilities to be given to its Parliamentary Secretaries. "The office of profit does not only mean procuring perks and free amenities, but it has a distinct definition even in the capacity of advisers. In the past, (Congress president) Sonia Gandhi and (then Samajwadi Party MP) Jaya Bachchcan lost their seats in Parliament for holding offices of profit," Lekhi said. She said when the amendment bill passed by the Delhi assembly for keeping Parliamentary Secretaries out of office-of-profit purview was rejected by President Pranab Mukherjee, the ruling Aam Aadmi Party even "tried to drag the President's office into the controversy". "In Delhi, an earlier provision allowed only one post of parliamentary secretary attached to the chief minister. The position was kept out of the purview of the office of profit rules after a 2006 amendment bill, when the Congress was in power," she said. Lekhi also flayed Kejriwal for dragging the Prime Minister's name into the presidential rejection of the bill, saying the people of Delhi have been cheated while electing the "new-age Tughlaq going by the name of Arvind Kejriwal". "The Delhi government is the epicentre of nepotism and high-quality corruption. The Kejriwal government is suppressing the Rs 400 crore tanker scam. Why has there been no action against those involved in the scam despite a report by the inquiry committee formed by Water Minister Kapil Mishra," the BJP leader from Delhi said. "People in Delhi are facing many problems related to water and electricity. I don't know about you, but I am yet to get free Wi-Fi. But the AAP leaders are chanting Modi-Modi to hide their own failures," she said. Lekhi said the BJP wants a Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry into the corrupt practices of the Kejriwal government. Kejriwal appointed 21 AAP legislators as Parliamentary Secretaries in March last year. Thereafter, the state government retrospectively sought an amendment to the Delhi Members of Legislative Assembly (Removal of Disqualification) Act, 1997. The President, however, rejected the amendment bill. That leaves the political fate of the 21 Delhi legislators hanging in balance. --IANS bns/tsb/vm Thousands of people rallied in the US city of Orlando on Monday night for the first official vigil to commemorate the victims in deadly mass shooting at a gay nightclub that left 50 people killed and 53 injured on Sunday. People from all around the state of Florida gathered at the lawn in front of the Dr Phillips Centre for the Performing Arts, holding praying signs and candles. Some of them laid flowers and wrote encouraging words on the pavement with crayon, Xinhua reported. "Tonight we remain a city of pain, we are mourning and we are angry," said Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer in a speech during the vigil. Afghan-origin Omar Mateen, 29, opened fire at the Pulse gay nightclub around 2.00 a.m. on Sunday. It was the worst mass shooting in US history and the deadliest terror attack since the 9/11 attacks in 2001. Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility for the attack, however, the extent of its involvement is still being probed. Hospital officials said five people were still in "grave condition". Orlando Regional Medical Centre said 29 people were still at the hospital and a number of patients remain critically ill and in shock. Dyer applauded the effort made by police officers, first responders and people who lined up to donate blood in the aftermath of the incident. "We will get through this because in our city's darkest hour, our residents have shown that they are the light," Dyer added. Many people volunteered to bring flowers, signs, food and water for the people attending the vigil. "It's so important to do something instead sitting at home paralysed," said Eileen Simoneau, a volunteer who hands out waters at the event. Dyer also noted the city officials had identified all 49 victims and notified their relatives. --IANS py/ Turkish President reiterated his wish to restore relations with Russia in a recent letter of congratulation to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Sunday's Russia Day. "On behalf of the Turkish people, I congratulate all Russians on the occasion of the Russia Day, and wish that in the time ahead the relations between Russia and Turkey will reach their well-deserved level," Xinhua quoted RIA Novosti news agency as saying on Tuesday. Relations between Russia and Turkey have soured after the latter downed a Russian Su-24 bomber near the Turkish-Syrian border in November last year for alleged airspace violation, which Russia denied and took as a hostile act. Putin described the attack as a "stab in the back" and ordered a broad range of economic sanctions against Turkey. Ankara did not take retaliatory measures, in a bid to avoid the escalation of the already tense situation. But it did not shy away from resorting to harsh diatribe against Russia. The Vasantrao Naik Shetkari Svavlamban Mission (VNSSM), a farmers' group in Vidrbha, has urged the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to urgently clear the Maharashtra government's plan to extend fresh crop loans to farmers. In a memorandum to RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, VNSSM Chairman Kishore Tiwari said here on Tuesday the state wants to bring around 80 per cent debt-trapped farmers under bank loans to arrest farmland suicides in 14 of the worst-hit districts. "However, the plan is going awry without RBI clearance, RBI's apathy and hostile functioning of the public sector banks which hampers the state's proposal to give fresh loans to previous defaulters since 2012," Tiwari said. Rajan is known for his stand on farm loans waiver or giving fresh direct credits in the agro-sector, and Tiwari said the latest bailout package will ensure institutional credit cover for the debt-hit farmers. The state government has initiated several direct and indirect interventions covering various aspects concerning the 13.6 million registered defaulter farmers. "As a major relief, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced crop loans to at least 80 per cent of these farmers by restructuring all pending crop loans since 2012 as per RBI norms," Tiwari pointed out. This has not taken off since the RBI says it is out of rules as revamping of four-year old loans is not allowed though the state government is keen to disburse maximum loans by June-end. Making a strong case for the loan restructuring of around Rs 36,000 crore, the state government has told the RBI that these were no wilful defaulters and the proposal must be reconsidered. "The VNSSM wants RBI to adopt a mature stand and immediately re-examine the issue to meet the target of bringing 80 per cent farmers under bank loan net by June 30 and help prevent suicides," Tiwari said. --IANS qn/pgh/vt A wanted criminal was arrested in Ghaziabad along with his four gang mates and pistols, a stolen Honda car, a police uniform and other articles seized from them, police said on Tuesday. Police said that a patrol in Raj Nagar Extension area noticed a few suspicious persons. On being challenged, the five tried to flee but were apprehended and taken to the police station where they confessed that on June 10, they planned to lot the cash van of the Gabhana toll bridge in Aligarh for which they stole a Honda City car from Delhi's Daryaganj. But the plan was foiled with the arrest of some of their accomplices in Ghaziabad, and they were in search of another target. "After June 10 arrest and subsequent confession of criminals, the SSP Ghaziabad announced a reward on the arrest of the gang's leader Jitendra... on the midnight of June 13 the alert police nabbed five criminals including Jitendra from Karhera bridge in Raj Nagar Extension area," Superintendent of Police, City, Salman Taj Patil said at a press conference here. The other four were identified as Danish, a resident of Delhi, Aamir, a resident of Loni (Ghaziabad), Aleem, a resident of Hafizpur (Hapur) and Sonu, a resident of Arnia (Bulandshahr). Police recovered three pistols, two knives, four mobile phones, a police uniform and the stolen Honda City car. --IANS sps/vd A photograph has emerged of chief Lalu Prasad with Bachcha Rai, an accused in the Bihar Intermediate Examination scam. This is a sort of deja vu for him. When the fodder scam broke in the mid-1990s, a picture had surfaced of Prasad with an accused in Ranchi. He had then claimed that being a politician, he often got clicked with strangers. He had also promised to be more careful in the future. Prasad seems to have forgotten that promise. Pictures have also emerged of Rai with Union Minister Giriraj Singh and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Several senior politicians had attended functions at Vishun Rai College in Vaishali where Rai was the principal. A number of people including some police personnel, were injured when workers protesting against city mayor here today clashed with the police after after which cops allegedly cane charged them. The alleged cane charging prompted the sub-divisional magistrate to order a probe into the incident, a senior police officer said. "The Mayor, Abhay Dare has created an artificial water crisis in Sagar so that he can get additional funds, whereas reality is that the water scarcity is manageable," claimed Madhya Pradesh Committee's Sagar division Spokesman, Sandeep Sablok. As part of the protest, the workers, led by Sagar district unit party president Rekha Choudhry and the opposition leader in the local civic body Ajay Parmar started a demonstration carrying empty water pots outside the Municipal Corporation office. However, as the Congress workers started breaking the pots as part of the protest, the police without any provocation cane-charged them causing injuries to nearly three dozen party workers, Sablok alleged. However, police denied any cane-charging, saying they only used mild force to restore order. "Police used only mild force against the protesters. We have not can-charged them. Nearly half a dozen policemen also sustained injuries in the incident. The allegations of Congress will be proved wrong in the magisterial probe that was ordered by the sub-divisional magistrate," said City Superintendent of Police Gautam Solanki. Sablok, who got six stitches on his head, claimed that 16 Congress cadres were admitted in the district hospital while around 36 party workers, including six women, suffered injuries in the incident. Pradesh Congress Committee president Arun Yadav constituted a five-member committee comprising senior party leaders Prabhu Singh Thakur, Brajendra Singh Rathore, MLAs Harsh Yadav, Nishank Jain and Pratap Singh to probe the incident and submit a report. Over 130 employees of the health department in Kashmir division have been found to be appointed illegally, the government informed the Legislative Council on Tuesday. Minister for Health and Medical Education, Bali Bhagat informed the House that 133 employees were found to be illegal appointees in the Health Department of Kashmir division, after audit and inspection department had conducted an inspection during 2012 and raised observations against 2,274 employees. Replying to a question by Opposition National Conference MLC Bashir Ahmad Veeri, the minister said the department has constituted divisional and district-level committees to scrutinise the cases of these employees. He said a departmental enquiry was conducted in this regard in which 17 officials were found involved in making these appointments. Out of these, eight are retired and the department has issued directions to the Directorate of Health Services, Kashmir, for recovering the amount of loss caused to the state by these employees as arrears of land revenue under the provisions of J-K Land Revenue Act. The minister said out of the remaining nine, one has died while others are in-service and the departmental proposal with regard to action against them is under consideration. He, however, said the action against the eight retired employees has been stayed by the high court. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his residence in New Delhi on Tuesday evening, amid rumours of a likely alliance between his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and her All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). As many as 10 Bills sent by the Delhi government that include one to give a 400 per cent hike in basic salary of MLAs are pending with the Central government. After President Pranab Mukherjee withheld his assent to a legislation that sought to protect 21 Aam Admi Party MLAs, who have been appointed Parliamentary Secretaries, from office of profit, Home Ministry officials said 10 Bills sent by the Kejriwal government are at various stages of examination. "During the examination of the Bills, certain queries were aroused. Some of these queries are curable and some are incurable," an official said. The Finance Ministry is examining the Bill, which seeks to give Delhi MLAs and Ministers a whopping 400 per cent hike in basic salary besides hefty increase in perks and allowances, catapulting them among the highest paid lawmakers in the country. Certain clarifications have been sought by the Finance Ministry and the queries were forwarded to the Delhi government, official said. There are minor queries on the Delhi (Right of Citizen to Time Bound Delivery of Services) Amendment Bill 2015 and another Bill related to upgrading Netaji Subhash Institute of Technology to a university. "When the clarifications of these two Bills come from Delhi government, we will send them to the President for his assent," the official said. There were total four Bills sent by the AAP government till December 2015 that include the bill that sought to protect 21 AAP MLAs, who have been appointed Parliamentary Secretaries, from office of profit. Seven more Bills were sent in April 2016. After the President withheld his assent to the office of profit Bill, 10 Bills of the Delhi government are currently pending with the Central government. While in case of a few Bills, clarifications have been sought from the Delhi government and returned them, in case of a few others, opinion have been sought from different Central ministries and departments. The pending Bills include the Janlokpal Bill 2015, the Minimum Wages (Delhi Amendment) Bill 2015, Delhi School (Verification Of Accounts and Refund of Excess Fee) Bill 2015, Delhi School Education (Amendment) Bill 2015, Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Delhi Amendment) Bill 2015 and a Bill related to working journalists. The two suspended faculty members of University of Hyderabad (UoH) today launched an indefinite hunger strike protesting against their suspension by the varsity on the ground that they had been detained by police for more than 48 hours in March this year. The two faculty members sat on the fast outside the university. The SC/ST Teachers' Forum, meanwhile alleged that the university's action against the two faculty members was taken "in a fit of vindictiveness" and sought revocation of their suspension. The faculty members-- K Y Ratnam, Head, Centre for Ambedkar Studies and faculty member of Department of Political Science and Tathagata Sengupta, faculty member of Department of Mathematics-- were yesterday served with suspension notice for allegedly not informing the University about their detention by police on March 22. The Executive Council of the UoH had taken the decision to suspend them in its meeting held last Monday and the suspension orders were issued yesterday. "Ratnam and Sengupta have commenced an indefinite relay hunger strike in protest against their unjust and casteist suspension," the Forum said in a release. Ratnam and Sengupta were detained when police dragged away protesters who besieged the official residence of vice-chancellor Appa Rao on March 22, protesting against the latter resuming his office after a long leave. "In a fit of vindictiveness, UoH issued suspension notices yesterday, several months after they were already targeted for arrest simply for the noble act of requesting the police to desist from beating and brutalising the students during the lathi charge on March 22," it said. It is also extremely opportunistic for the University to pass these orders, after using their services for the entire duration of the semester until May, retroactively deeming them suspended starting March 22 onward until further orders, the release said alleging this act amounts to a continuation of caste atrocities against Dalits. The University of Hyderabad, popularly known as HCU, has witnessed sporadic protests over the suicide of Dalit research scholar Rohit Vemula, with protesting students demanding removal of Appa Rao from the VC's post. Appa Rao has been booked under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and for abetment of Vemula's suicide. The university has been on the boil since Vemula committed suicide on the campus on January 17, subsequent to which VC Podile went on a leave amid protest by students. "We demand that the suspension be revoked and that Prof Appa Rao be immediately suspended from duty and prevented from committing any further atrocity against Dalits on campus," the Forum said in the release. (Reopens BOM 17) "We demand justice for Rohit Vemula and his family, and an end to caste atrocities and discrimination on university campuses," the Forum added. Senior Dalit Prof Ratnam has been targeted in a casteist manner by Appa Rao repeatedly since 2002, starting from when Appa Rao shifted him from his position as a warden to specifically tend to sanitation in hostels, the release alleged. "Appa Rao's presence as Vice-Chancellor of the University and his continued actions of socially boycotting Dalit students, being responsible for Rohit's death, then again creating a social boycott and cutting off access to food and water on campus," It alleged. The Forum accused Rao of "arresting students who were peacefully protesting, brutalising Dalit students who were cooking food, tearing apart the tent and banners bearing B R Ambedkar's image and quotes, and now suspending Dalit faculty are creating an extremely intimidating atmosphere for Dalits on campus. Three persons were today arrested for allegedly possessing around 900 grams opium with street value of Rs one lakh, police said. B Daniel Sunil Kumar (38), A Ramakrishna (39) and P Dhana Raju (49) used to procure opium from interior parts of Odisha and used to sell it in Chennai, DCP (Crime) T Ravi Kumar Murthy said. "The trio wanted to sell opium for at least Rs 5 lakh in Chennai but as the buyers were reluctant to pay the amount, they were returning to Vizag to sell the contraband in the city," he said. Acting on a tip-off, police personnel intercepted their vehicle and seized the contraband from their possession, the officer said, adding investigations are underway. Delhi Congress today hit out at AAP for "illegal and unethical" appointment of its 21 MLAs as parliamentary secretaries, alleging the Aam Admi Party has become "Khas Admi Party" for power. "The appointment of 21 AAP MLAs is not only illegal, but also immoral because the party had come to power promising public service and alternative politics. In no other state in the country, one third of legislators have been appointed as parliamentary secretaries. The appointments were aimed at providing red beacons to the MLAs," Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken said. In a jolt to AAP, President Pranab Mukherjee had yesterday declined assent to a Delhi government's legislation that seeks to protect the 21 AAP MLAs on the office of profit issue and they now face the prospect of disqualification. Maken said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's claim that the parliamentary secretaries were not provided any benefits was "wrong" because they were allotted office rooms and were entitled to transport facility. Citing a Supreme Court judgement, he said the 21 AAP MLAs were liable to be disqualified even if they did not enjoy the benefits of the post. "The court clearly said in its 2006 judgement that where office carries with it certain emoluments or the order of appointment states that the person appointed is entitled to certain emoluments then it will be an office of profit even if the holder of the office chooses not to receive such emoluments," he said. Maken also assailed AAP government for taking charge of Transport department from Gopal Rai after Anti Corruption Branch (ACB) started a probe in the alleged premium bus service scam. The people of Delhi feel cheated by the AAP government whose half cabinet was facing allegations of cheating, corruption and inefficiency, Maken said. Either Rai has been found to be guilty in the premium bus service matter or he has been relieved of the charge because of inefficiency due to lacklustre public transport in the city, he said. Only Transport department has been taken away from Rai while allowing him to look after 5 other departments which "exposes the excuse" that the decision was taken due to his bad health, Maken added. Air India has decided to withdraw its flight on Kolkata-Durgapur-Delhi sector from June 17, six months after its inauguration, due to 'operational reasons'. "Air India is set to withdraw its flight on Kolkata- Durgapur-Delhi sector, after a little over six months of its inauguration, from June 17 due to operational reasons," an AI spokesman said here today. Air India is operating thrice-a-week service with a 122-seater Airbus 319 aircraft. The airline was operating on this new sector on every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from December 21. Even as the airline officially did not elaborate the reasons behind discontinuing the service, insiders said economic non-viability was forcing AI to withdraw the flight. "Despite assurance to provide viability gap funding (VGF) to the airline, Bengal Aerotropolis Projects Limited (BAPL) failed to maintain its promise," they said pleading anonymity. BAPL Managing Director Partha Ghosh, however, told PTI the decision of the AI is temporary. "The airline will resume its operation on the sector within a week or so." Denying the allegation on VGF, he said "We are aware of Air India's decision. We discussed the issue in our meeting today. I am sure the operation will be resumed within a week or so." The airline sources said alternate arrangements have been made for passengers by way of refunds and routing them to and from Delhi. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had inaugurated the long-awaited Kolkata-Durgapur-New Delhi flight on December 7 last year, connecting the industrial city of Durgapur, which had the country's first private greenfield airport, directly with the national capital. Banerjee herself boarded the flight after inaugurating it here on her way to Delhi and had expressed hope that the service would help in growth of industry, commerce and tourism in the region. Before the launch of this flight, Air India used to operate a small aircraft between Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) Airport in Kolkata and Kazi Nazrul Islam Airport (KNIA) at Andal in Durgapur. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said virtually all states, barring Tamil Nadu, have come on board on the new legislation and expressed hope to push the long-pending GST bill in the upcoming monsoon session. After a meeting of Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers here on the proposed nationwide common indirect tax, Jaitley also said the states' fear of any revenue loss in the first five years has been addressed and the Centre would compensate for these losses. "Virtually all the states have supported the idea of GST today, barring Tamil Nadu which has expressed some reservations. Tamil Nadu has offered a few suggestions which have been noted by the committee," Jaitley told reporters on the first day of the two-day meet. At their meeting, the state finance ministers also approved a model GST law, which said that sale of goods and services and all online purchases will attract GST at the first point of transaction and pegged threshold annual turnover for levy of the tax at Rs 10 lakh. The limit will be Rs 5 lakh in North East and Sikkim. Jaitley said there is "no deadline as such" for the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax which aims to subsume a string of state and central level levies. The government had earlier targeted to roll out the nationwide single tax regime from April 1, 2016 but the Constitutional Amendment Bill on GST has been stuck in the Rajya Sabha due to opposition by the Congress party. Jaitley, however, rejected Congress' demand for capping the GST rate, which has been the main issue of contention. "There is a complete consensus on that, there should not be any such ceiling as exigencies may arise in future. Now it is left to the GST council," he said. The meeting was attended by Finance Ministers of 22 states, including West Bengal's Amit Mitra as well as Chief Ministers of Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya, deputy CM of Delhi and senior officials of seven others. Later in the day, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the national capital and told him that her state was "concerned about the impact the proposed GST will have on the fiscal autonomy of states and the huge permanent revenue loss it is likely to cause to a manufacturing and net-exporting state like Tamil Nadu". "The stand of Tamil Nadu government is that before the Constitutional Amendment Bill on GST is taken up, the Government of India should strive for a broad consensus on important issues like compensation period and methodology, revenue neutral rates, floor rates with bands, commodities to be excluded from GST... And clarity on dual administrative control," she said in a memorandum to the Prime Minister. Stating that this was a record attendance of FMs, Jaitley said that every state has given detailed views on GST. Regarding the future roadmap, Jaitley said: "We will try our best to bring the Constitutional amendment in the monsoon session of Parliament. Then the CGST and SGST legislations will be put in place." On calculation of the revenue neutral rate (RNR), he said the Empowered Committee Chairman and West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra will again convene a meeting of the Committee in July and the Chief Economic Advisor will give a presentation. About dual control on tax rates by the Centre and states, he said it was again up to the committee to see that it was harmonious and there was no conflict. "It will be again discussed in the next meeting." On the issue of additional 1 per cent tax as demanded by the producing states, he said the Centre was flexible on the matter. As GST is a consumption-based tax, the producing states had been demanding this extra tax. Jaitley said the Lok Sabha had approved the GST Bill while it was pending before the Rajya Sabha. "The first thing which will have to be done is to pass the Constitutional amendment which has to be then ratified by the states. Then Parliament will have to pass the CGST Bill and states the SGST Bills" he said. Jaitley said the states' fear of loss of revenue for the first five years had also been addressed. "The Centre will compensate the loss and there should not be any cause for worry," he said. Mitra said there was "general consensus" on the issue of dual control over taxation structure between the Centre and states. "The issue of dual control has been discussed and all the participants have spoken about it. The general consensus was that turnover below Rs 1.5 crore will be taxed by the states and beyond that by the Centre," he said after the meeting. However, the matter would again be discussed at the next meeting in July, he said. The other major issue discussed at the meeting was the revenue neutral rate (RNR), which Mitra said would come up for discussion again in the next meeting to find out what is the optimal rate. While the panel of Chief Economic Advisor had suggested RNR of 17 per cent, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy put it at 26 per cent. Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said the discussion on the GST Council as held today would make it more powerful than the state assemblies which some FMs opposed. Braving rough seas whipped up by the South West monsoons, Indian navy sail boat Mhadei with an all-women crew today sailed into Port Louis in Mauritius, 20 days after it had set off from Goa. This is the first open ocean voyage by an all-women crew on any vessel of the Indian navy. Lieutenant Commander Vartika Joshi, a naval architect, is the first woman skipper of Mhadei. The boat is crewed by Lieutenant P Swathi, Lieutenant Pratibha Jamwal (Air Traffic Control specialists), Lieutenant Vijaya Devi, Sub Lieutenant Payal Gupta (both education officers) and Lieutenant B Aishwarya, a naval architect. The 2,100 nautical miles voyage was covered by Mhadei in 20 days, a statement by the Navy said. The timing of the voyage was chosen to expose the crew to rough weather that they are likely to encounter during their attempt to circumnavigate the globe in 2017. Mhadei encountered winds of up to 35 knots and a swell of up to 5 m during the onward leg from Goa to Mauritius. This adequately met the training aims of the voyage. The strenuous journey also provided the crew with an opportunity to consolidate their theoretical and practical training undergone so far. The return journey from Port Louis to Goa is slated to commence on June 24. Mhadei is expected to arrive in Goa in early July. Amid the rise in militancy-related incidents and infiltration attempts, Army Chief General Dalbir Singh today met Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti here and discussed the security situation including arrangements for the upcoming Amarnath yatra. The meeting covered a wide range of issues from the overall security scenario to the specific arrangements for the 48-day yatra which is scheduled to start on July 2, an army spokesman said. Gen Singh also discussed with Mehbooba the security arrangements for the by-polls to Anantnag Assembly constituency from where the Chief Minister is contesting, the spokesman said. The polling will take place on June 22. Northern Army Commander Lt Gen D S Hooda and Srinagar-based Chinar Corps Commander Lt Gen Satish Dua were also present in the meeting. Earlier in the day, the Army Chief was briefed by Lt Gen Dua about the preparedness in dealing with the emerging security challenges and measures to thwart any "misadventure by the inimical forces". The Corps Commander also highlighted the measures adopted to integrate the efforts of various security forces for efficient intelligence network and synergised conduct of operations, an Army officer said. The Army Chief also visited the forward area of Baramulla as also Awantipora where he was briefed upon the operational readiness by the respective formation Commanders. He also interacted with officers and men, complimenting them for their untiring efforts, the officer said. Expressing his satisfaction over the measures instituted by Chinar Corps to ensure security in the valley, Gen Singh reiterated the continued need for integration and close coordination among all security agencies. The Army Chief's visit to Kashmir comes against the backdrop of escalation in militancy-related incidents in the Valley and increase in infiltration attempts. Even today, Army intercepted a group of terrorists who were trying to infiltrate into Kashmir from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). Prior to his arrival in the Valley today, the Chief of Army Staff had a meeting with the state Governor N N Vohra in New Delhi yesterday. Social organisation will be holding International Yoga Day celebrations on June 21 not just in India, but across 100 countries of the world. founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar will open Yoga Day celebrations at the European Parliament, Brussels by leading the parliament members through a guided meditation at the prestigious Yehudi Menuhin Hall. He will also lead a series of public events on Sudarshan Kriya, yoga, and meditation in the cities of Washington DC, Boston, Columbus, Minnesota, San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle as well as the United Kingdom," according to a statement issued by the foundation in Mumbai. It also said that over 20,000 people are expected to take part in Yoga Day programmes to be held in Delhi, while about 16,500 in Mumbai at four venues. In Mumbai, a programme will be held at Borivali East on June 19, while the other three would take place on June 21 at Carter Road in Bandra, Poisar Gymkhana in Kandivali West and in CIDCO exhibition ground in Navi Mumbai. "Just like the sun, yoga is age-old and yet ever-new. It is a holistic way of life that integrates all elements to make a prayerful discipline uniting the body, mind and soul," Kamlesh Barwal, Global Head, said. Assorted foreign currency equivalent to over Rs 67 lakh was today seized from a passenger who tried to smuggle it by an Emirates flight bound for Dubai at the Cochin International Airport. The passenger, a native of Thrissur, was detained by Customs Air Intelligence officers. Customs said the Air Intelligence Unit officers have been regularly maintaining surveillance at the departure hall over the passengers bound for sensitive places like Dubai, Sri Lanka, Malaysia etc. "At around 4 AM, after clearing the checked-in baggage and emigration formalities, one passenger was intercepted by Customs Air Intelligence Officer on suspicion that he was carrying contraband," an official release said. "A thorough examination of his checked-in baggage resulted in the recovery of foreign currency equivalent to Rs 67,05,380," it said. Officials said all the bundles of currencies in the checked-in baggage were cleverly concealed in the false cavities of the checked-in-baggage along with a pneumatic wrench. The officers seized the foreign currency under the provisions of Customs Act, 1962 read with Foreign Exchange Management Regulations Act 1999. The seizure was effected by a team of officers led by Jayanth P Narayanan, Assistant Commissioner. Kerala Chief Minister condemned the attack on media persons allegedly by BJP workers at Ottapplam court complex and said it was not acceptable in a democratic society. In a statement, Vijayan, who also holds the Home portfolio, directed police to take stern action against persons who attacked journalists when they were trying to take visuals of BJP workers arrested in connection with the post-poll political violence at Nellayi in Palakkad district. It was the responsibility of the government to protect freedom of press, Vijayan said adding any action curbing the same would be firmly dealt with. "There will be no compromise on that," he said. A group of media persons were attacked allegedly by BJP workers at the Ottappalam Court complex here when police brought six party workers, arrested in connection with post-assembly poll clashes, to be produced in the court. Director Nagesh Kukunoor, whose "Dhanak" will be released this Friday, said the common audience's outlook towards festival films has changed over the years and they are not averse to such films. "Directors like me in Bollywood are now more emboldened to time their films' commercial release after screening in the festival circuit. This is because the common audience is no more averse to films having festival tag," Kukunoor told PTI. "Dhanak" has won the Grand Prix for best feature, given by the international jury in the generation KPlus section for children, as well as a special mention of the children's jury in the same section, at the Berlin Film Festival this year. "Earlier distributors were hesitant to release festival screened films on a larger scale. "But if you look at the release trends of our genre of cinema and how they were accepted by the general public, you will yourself understand the public perception has gone for a change-over," he said. The 49-year-old "Iqbal" helmer said he believed children's film should get more support in India. "With this era of commercialisation, we can't re-invent films like Satyajit Ray's 'Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne'. We should make present era films which can also weave magic and create a feel good effect for today's children," he said. "Dhanak is a happy film which I did to remind myself the world is not an altogether bad place, a far cry from my previous directorial 'Lakshmi' which was a gut-wrenching story on trafficking," he said. "'Dhanak,' a tale of two siblings on a magical quest, retains the flavour of 'Iqbal' in a way both films are brother-sister drama and are happy films overall," he said. About directing movies on diverse subjects Kukunoor said, "I write films the way I know. I will put myself in that space. For instance if I develop a script on someone who is a killer, I will try to figure out why he is on a killing spree," he said. The filmmaker also launched the novel version of "Dhanak," claimed to be the first Indian novelisation of a children's film. Earlier non-children films like "Bobby" and "Mera Naam Joker" had been rendered into novels. Over 100,000 clerics in Bangladesh have signed a fatwa against the brutal attacks by Islamists on minorities and secular writers in the Muslim-majority nation, terming them as "un-Islamic". "The fatwa clearly said what they (Islamists) are doing are anti-Islamic and it will lead them to the path of hell, not divinity...These killings of non-Muslims, minorities and secular activists are forbidden in Islam," Bangladesh Ulema Council chief Maulana Farid Uddin Masuod told PTI describing the essence of the edict. The fatwa denouncing the clandestine attacks on minorities and secular activists has been endorsed by over 100,000 Muslim scholars and imams. "The synopsis of the 62-page fatwa is to portray perpetrates of terrorism in the name of Islamic jihad as enemies of Islam, Muslims and humanity," Masuod said. He said the fatwa titled "the edict of peace for wellbeing of humanity" would be formally issued on June 18. He said the process to launch the fatwa began in January this year after the attacks on liberal and secular activists and religious minorities including Hindus and Christian by suspected Islamists sparked an international uproar. Authorities in Bangladesh are under mounting international pressure to halt the violence, which in the past three years has claimed the lives nearly 50 people - Hindus, Christians and secular bloggers - many of them by machete-wielding attackers. Though most of the attacks were claimed by the Islamic State or its affiliates and other similar extremist groups, the Bangladesh government has repeatedly dismissed the claims and said the attacks were carried out by homegrown outfits linked to the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday told a meeting of her ruling Awami League party that police would stamp out the violence and she vowed to catch "each and every killer". During the past three days over 11,000 criminal suspects have been arrested as part of an intensified crackdown against extremists in the country. Masuod aid the anti-militancy security campaign was important but the motivational campaign by Islamic scholars denouncing the terrorism in the name of Islam was more crucial. "They (militants) believe, their actions will take them to heaven but they are required to be made understand they actually are destined to hell because of their act...The meaning of jihad in Islamic term is entirely different from what they are doing," he said. A Bangladesh court today ordered 18 people stand trial for the collapse of a garment factory three years ago that killed more than 1,100 people, a prosecutor said. A senior magistrate issued the order against the 18 charged with breaching building laws in the lead up to the Rana Plaza compound's implosion in 2013, one of the world's worst industrial disasters. No one has yet been convicted over the tragedy which highlighted appalling safety in Bangladesh's USD 27 billion garment export industry, the world's second largest after China. Thirteen of the accused, including owners of the building and those of factories housed inside, appeared in court to seek their release from jail, saying they were not guilty. "The judge rejected their discharge pleas and ordered their trial. The hearings will now begin on August 23," prosecutor Anwarul Kabir told AFP, adding that five others still on the run also face trial on the same date. All 18 face seven years in jail if convicted of the charges. The court has heard how the Rana Plaza owners allegedly violated building codes and illegally extended the nine-storey complex which was initially approved as a six-storey shopping mall. Owner Sohel Rana, who has been in jail since 2013, and others also face separate murder and corruption trials over the disaster, although neither hearings have started yet. Rana became Bangladesh's public enemy number one in 2013 after survivors recounted how they were forced to start work despite complaints of cracks appearing in the walls the previous day. Rana's parents, who jointly owned the building with him, and the mayor of the town of Savar where it was located, are also charged with breaching building laws. The mayor and other officials are accused of falsifying documents to approve the extensions, while factory owners are charged with illegally installing heavy equipment including generators in the building. At least 1,138 people are known to have died in the tragedy. Rescue workers struggled for weeks to retrieve the bodies from the ruins but some people are still unaccounted for. The disaster triggered demands for Western retailers to help introduce sweeping reforms including new safety inspections and higher wages in the industry, which employs around four million workers. A host of Western retailers had clothing made at the factories housed at Rana Plaza, including Italy's Benetton, Spain's Mango and the British low-cost chain Primark. Five NGOs working for survivors of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy today said they have emailed a petition with over 1 lakh signatories to the US White House to mount pressure on Dow Chemical-US, owner of Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) to appear before a local court next month. "We have collected 1.18 lakh signatures to the petition in a just short duration from May 14 to June 14," Satinath Sarangi, head of Bhopal Group for Information and Action told reporters here. Toxic gas leaked from the UCC's pesticide factory (now defunct) here on the intervening night of December 2-3, 1984, killing thousands of people and maiming lakhs - termed as Bhopal Gas Tragedy - the world's worst industrial disaster. "As per the terms of the White House website, which has been petitioned, the US government is obliged to respond to our petition with 30 days," he added. "It is mandatory for White House to act after receiving a plea with a threshold of 1 lakh signatories on a particular issue," he added. In the past, the Bhopal district court had sent three notices to Dow Chemicals, US, to appear before it. Following which, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) sent the notices to US Department of Justice for its execution under Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) of 1991, Sarangi said. But unfortunately, the US Department of Justice didn't act, he claimed. Recently, the district court for the fourth time has issued notice to Dow Chemical to appear before it on July 13, Sarangi said. He said UCC, US, is an absconder as it skipped the trial of Bhopal Gas Tragedy. Dow Chemicals, US, had bought UCC on February 6, 2001, and thus it is binding on it to clear the liability of the UCC to appear in the criminal case and provide succour and more compensation to the people affected by Bhopal Gas Tragedy. Rashida Bee, president of Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationary Karmchari Sangh, Balkrishna Namdeo, president of Bhopal Gas Peedit Narashrit Pension Bhogee Sangharsh Morcha, Safreen Khan of Children Against Dow Carbide, Nawab Khan of Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha also demanded that the US administration should act to bring Dow to justice. The five NGOs thanked Hollywood actor Martin Sheen, MIT professor Noam Chomsky, Canadian writer Margaret Atwood, Association for India's Development, USA, Chennai rapper Sofie Ashraf, US trade Union AFL-CIO, Greenpeace-USA, Story of Stuff network and students of various US universities for their contributions toward making the petition to White House a success. Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani and Bihar Education Minister Ashok Choudhary were today locked in a bitter war of words on Twitter after the Congress leader addressed her as "dear". Issues of etiquette in official communication also cropped up during the barrage of tweets unleashed against each other. Choudhary in a tweet today referred to the Human Resources Development(HRD) minister as "Dear" Smriti Irani ji and said that rather than focus on politics and speeches, she should pay attention to the New Education Policy (NEP). Irani, who is currently touring Bihar, shot back asking Choudhary that since when did he begin addressing women as "dear". "Mahilaon ko 'dear' keh ke kab se sambodhit karne lage Ashokji?" Choudhary, who is also the state president of Congress, responded that it was "Not to disrespect but educate... Professional emails start with "dear"." In his tweet, he asked Irani to answer the real issue and not "circle around it." "@AshokChoudhaary all my communications to you or any other person start with 'adarniya', but since you are now communicating allow me 1/3," Irani said in another tweet. The senior BJP leader further told the Bihar minister that his state's views on education policy had not been provided and "neither did you in your 1 on 1 meeting with me give any suggestions". She claimed that Bihar is possibly the only state which has not done grassroot consultations for the education policy. Yadav, however, launched a counter-attack, tweeting, "@smritiirani ji has learnt a lot from Modiji...Fake promises and shifting blames to others for non-delivery is lesson1 in Sangh's book." Choudhary also wanted the minutes of his meeting with Irani be made public so that "Doodh ka doodh, paani ka paani ho jayega (the truth comes out in the open)." Irani again fired another tweet, saying "Sir I hope you do find time in your busy schedule to contribute to the education policy. Await state feedback." The Bihar minister then responded with a jibe, tweeting "Thx for the high honor, glad to know delivery and non- delivery of NEP is on me. Hope Modiji shares the credit with me too." The battle of the ministers did not stop there with Irani asking the Bihar minister to "fill 2 lac teacher vacancies, land for KVs, CU Motihari." Choudhary responded, saying "I know how to deliver on my promises. Request you to deliver on what you have promised". The war of words erupted on a day when Irani was on a visit to Bhagalpur in connection with "Vikash Parv" observed by BJP-led NDA on completion of two years in the office at the Centre. BJP today demanded disqualification of 21 AAP MLAs appointed as Parliamentary Secretaries, saying it is an "open and shut" case and called Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal "newage Tughlaq" who has "cheated" people. "The Election Commission (while recommending Jaya Bachchan's disqualification) from the Rajya Sabha opined that any post, even if held in an advisory capacity, was an office of profit. "This is an open and shut case. The EC must take a final call on the disqualification issue at the earliest. The appointment of 21 Parliament Secretaries is illegal as the prescribed limit for such an appointment in Delhi is only one," BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi said. The Delhi government's declaration in its affidavit that they had not taken any benefit from the government is "false" as they were allocated rooms, she said, seeking action under the Representation of People Act. "It is so unfortunate that the people of Delhi have been cheated while electing the newage Tughlaq by the name of Arvind Kejriwal. The Delhi government is the epicenter of nepotism and huge corruption," she said, accusing his government of involvement in Rs 400 crore tanker scam. "The BJP wants a CBI enquiry into the corrupt affairs of the Kejriwal government," she said. Hitting back at Kejriwal after he blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for President's refusal to gove assent to a bill that protects these MLAs from office of profit charge, she told a press conference, "He is known to dupe people by creating fuss over non-issues and sidelining them. The issue is what the law has provided." Lekhi noted that Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan was disqualified as Rajya Sabha MP on the ground of holding an office of profit even though she made no money from the post. "It is not BJP but the Election Commission which has caught him red-handed. Now he fears action from the EC and is so lying. He is trying to mislead people," she said. She also rejected Kejriwal's contention that many other states too had many Parliamentary Secretaries, saying law provided for only one such post in Delhi. Another BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra accused the Chief Minister of being "obsessed" about attacking Modi for no rhyme or reason. He said Kejriwal was "frustrated" that his flying ambition has crash-landed and asked him not to make the President's decision a "political issue". "Office of the President of India and the Election Commission are independent institutions with great credibility. "You (Kejriwal) have certain political ambitions, rightly so under a democratic system, but for god's sake don't demean the credibility of the President of India because in the end you are demeaning the democracy of this country," Patra told reporters. In a jolt to the AAP government, President Pranab Mukherjee has refused to give assent to a legislation that protects 21 party MLAs, who have been appointed Parliamentary Secretaries, and face the prospect of disqualification. (Reopens Del 44) Lekhi noted that two Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly members, Bajrang Bahadur Singh and Uma Shankar Singh, were disqualified in January 2015 due to holding government contracts as she pushed for a similar action against 21 AAP MLAs. Taking a dig at Kejriwal for appointing 21 secretaries against the post of seven ministers, she said his party leaders were trying to gain everything from back door that they came to power protesting. They had come to take oath by travelling in bus, metro, auto and riding cycle and now they are trying to get everything, she said. A group of media persons were today attacked allegedly by some BJP workers at the Ottappalam Court complex here when police brought six party workers, arrested in connection with post-assembly poll clashes, to produce them in the court. Four persons came on a two-wheeler and allegedly manhandled reporters and cameramen of television channels present at the court complex, objecting to them taking the visuals of the arrested BJP workers. A senior reporter of a television newschannel said he was beaten up by the attackers who also destroyed the camera of another tv channel. Meanwhile, CPI(M) and Congress condemned the attack and said BJP has become arrogant in the state as they were in power at the Centre and got one seat in the state in May 16 assembly polls. CPI(M) State Secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said he expects the government to take stern action against the persons responsible for the act. "The RSS-BJP is trying to create a situation where in even free media functioning is not possible in the state," he said, adding, "stern action is necessary to see that this kind of incidents never happened in the state in future." On the allegation that police remained mute spectators, Balakrishnan said "those police personnel who have not yet realised that government has changed in the state would know it soon." Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala condemned the attack on media persons and wanted stern action against those involved. President of Kerala Union of Working Journalists C Narayanan condemned the attack and said journalism has become an occupation which lacked any protection. Palakkad BJP President C Krishnakumar said the incident happened as some outsiders tried to take pictures of BJP workers involved in the clash on mobile phone and a 'scuffle' occurred. "BJP will never attack media persons deliberately," he added. Meanwhile, the court remanded BJP workers, arrested in connection with the post-poll clashes between BJP and CPI(M) at Nellayi to judicial custody. They were arrested after a raid near Vallapuzha railway gate here early this morning. Police today arrested the brother of a Pakistani woman for alleging burning her to death in an honour killing here last week. Anees and his mother Parveen allegedly tied Zeenat, 18, to a bed, doused her with petrol and set fire to her on June 8 in Lahore's thickly-populated factory area on Ferozpur Road, for marrying a man of her choice. As her daughter burned, Parveen ran into the street shouting that she had killed Zeenat for "bringing shame on her family". Parveen had told police in custody that her daughter had committed an "unforgivable" crime by marrying a man, Hasan, after eloping with him. "Police today arrested Anees, brother of Zeenat from Lahore," Lahore police spokesman Nayyab Haider said. Parveen and Zeenat's brother-in-law are already in police custody and facing a murder case under terrorism charges. "Anees denied his involvement in the murder. He told police that his mother torched Zeenat while she (Parveen) shut her in a room. I loved my sister," Haider quoted Anees as having said. Zeenat reportedly fell in love with Hasan Khan, who lived in her locality, and asked her parents to accept the marriage proposal. On their refusal, Zeenat eloped with him and contracted a court marriage on May 29. Khan is an ethnic Pashtun while Zeenat was a Punjabi that was said to be the main cause of her family's disapproval. Khan said the two had been "in love since our school days" but the family had rejected several marriage proposals, forcing them to elope. "After living with me for four days following our marriage, her family contacted us and promised they would throw us a proper wedding party after eight days. Then we would be able live together. Zeenat was unwilling to go back to her home and told me that she would be killed by her family, but later agreed when one of her uncles guaranteed her safety," Khan said. Khan said "Parveen told her that she and other family members had forgiven her and she should return to take the blessing of her family. But it was a trap". Last month police arrested five men including a suitor for torching a 19-year-old school teacher in Murree, 35 kilometres from Islamabad, for refusing to marry him. Similarly, police arrested 13 members of a local tribal council including the parents of a a teenage girl for first strangulating and later torching her body in Abbotabad for marrying a man of her choice. Some 1,100 women were killed in the name of honour in Pakistan last year. The Centre is considering a proposal to increase the minimum salary of daily wage workers between Rs 16,000 to Rs 18,000 per month, as demanded by labour unions, Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya said today. "The (labour) unions are demanding that it (the minimum salary of daily wage workers) should be between Rs 16,000 to 18,000. We are considering the proposal," the Minister of State for Labour and Employment told reporters here. Dattatreya was speaking on the sidelines of a meeting of the Consultative Committee attached to his Ministry. "(The) state government is an appellate authority to decide on the minimum wages but at the same time, following consistent demand from the labour unions, the Ministry wants to amend the statutory minimum wages for the country that is universal wages," he added. Dattatreya said the government's main aim is to give proper job, wages and social security to the workers and the Ministry is working towards it. He said the Centre is currently focusing on providing social security to unorganised workers. "In all, 93 per cent of the unorganised workers have no social security, no proper enforcement of labour laws. We need to protect them," the senior BJP leader said. Dattatreya said the social security cover would be provided in three phases. "In the first phase, the construction workers would be covered by bringing them under the purview of formal sector giving benefit of provident fund (PF), ESI and others," he added. The second phase, he said, will cover auto drivers, rickshaw pullers and in the final phase, workers under Mid-Day Meal scheme, and cine workers would be included. The Minister said to have large impact of labour laws, the Union Labour Ministry is contemplating to rationalise the existing labour laws by brining all the 44 laws under four Labour Codes - Code on Wages, Code on Industry working, Code on Social Security and Code on Wages, safety Conditions and Health. After investing heavily in Sri Lanka's infrastructure sector, China today pledged to take forward bilateral ties by assisting in the development of former war zone in the Tamil-dominated north. Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Yi Xianliang visited Jaffna and met with the northern governor Reginald Cooray. Yi Xianliang said that China stands ready to offer assistance to Sri Lanka and the Northern province within Chinas assistance programme in the island. He told the Governor that China and Sri Lanka enjoy strong historical ties and that the relationship must be taken forward. The Ambassador expressed Chinese interest to offer assistance to boost the education of children in the north and said China will consider offering scholarships to the northern children. During the former regime of Mahinda Rajapaksa, China extended millions of dollars in assistance to Sri Lanka by developing its infrastructure and built an airport and a sea port in the south. The current government under Maithripala Sirisena has also vowed to take forward the Chinese port city project in the Colombo port area. Voicing its strong opposition to President Barack Obama's proposed meeting with the Dalai Lama and the upcoming maiden US visit by Taiwan's new President Tsai Ing-wen, China today said that America should keep its promise to abide by the 'One-China' policy. "The 14th Dalai Lama often puts up the facade of religion to peddle internationally his political position of splitting China," Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters, replying to a question on the Tibetan spiritual leader's comments that his meeting with US president is likely. "We demand no country or government give him any space for such activities and should certainly not do anything the 1.3 billion people of China would resolutely oppose," he said. Despite China's opposition, Obama had met Dalai Lama in the past. Beijing considers 80-year-old Tibetan monk as a separatist who is attempting to split Tibet from China. On Tsai's transit visit to US, Lu said: "the US government has made serious commitments to 'One-China' Policy and against Taiwan's independence". "Hope the US will fulfil its commitment and deal with relevant matters in accordance with the 'One-China' policy and do not send wrong signal to those who try to split China," he said. Tsai, who is opposed to reunification of Taiwan with China, is due to transit in Miami on her way to Panama, which still holds diplomatic ties with Taipei despite opposition from Beijing. China considers Taiwan as a rebel province and claims it as part of its mainland. Report said Tsai would also make a stopover in Los Angeles on her return. A Pakistani girl has been killed by her brother for insisting on marrying a man of her choice, police said today, marking the country's latest gruesome "honour killing" following a string of incidents that have sparked national outrage. Anum Ishaq masih, in her late teens and from a Christian family, was murdered while she slept in the city of Sialkot southwest of Lahore in the early hours of Sunday. "Saqib Ishaq masih, 23, killed his sister by smashing her head with a wooden log while she was sleeping," Rana Zulfiqar, the officer in-charge of the police station in Sialkot told AFP. "The girl, named Anum Ishaq masih, was in her late teens and wanted to marry a Christian neighbour but the family was against the marriage," he said. Rana said the girl was insisting on Saturday that she would marry the man, infuriating her sibling. The brother has since been arrested and charged with murder after the girl's father filed a case against him. Shamoon Gill, a Christian activist, told AFP that honour killings were very rare among the Christian community in Pakistan. "It has nothing to do with religion but is part of a social issue that is deeply rooted in the eastern societies," he said. Hundreds of women are murdered by their relatives in Pakistan each year on the pretext of defending what is seen as family honour, and this latest incident follows a spate of recent attacks. About 90 CISF personnel, tasked with the security of Delhi Metro, today donated blood to mark the World Blood Donor Day. Officials said a camp was organised by the force at its Delhi Metro Rail Corporation's security unit at Shastri Park here were 90 jawans led by Deputy Inspector General Raghubir Lal and Senior Commandants Prabodh Chandra and Amit Mathur participated. The blood units have been handed over to GTB Hospital, a senior official said. Over 4,500 Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel are deployed to secure about 150 stations of the Delhi Metro in the national capital region. State-owned Coal India said its subsidiary South Eastern Coalfields Ltd will buy back shares worth Rs 1,200.19 crore. The move will help the government in realising its disinvestment target of Rs 56,500 crore for the fiscal. "The board of directors of South Eastern Coalfields Ltd (SECL)... At its meeting held on June 14, has considered and approved the buyback of 8,46,359 fully paid equity shares of face value of Rs 1,000 each from the members of the company on a proportionate basis through tender offer," Coal India (CIL) said in a BSE filing. The SECL buyback will represent 23.53 per cent of the total number of equity shares in the paid-up share capital of the subsidiary for an aggregate amount not exceeding Rs 1,200.19 crore (maximum buyback size) being up to 25 per cent of the paid-up equity share capital and free reserves as on fiscal ended March 31, the filing said. The buyback will be at a price of of Rs 14,180.57 per equity share payable in cash. Buybacks help a company reduce equity by using idle cash and hence provide better returns to shareholders. Coal India had recently informed bourses that two of its subsidiaries Mahanadi Coalfields and Northern Coalfields will buy back shares worth around Rs 1,978 crore from their shareholders. CIL accounts for over 80 per cent of domestic coal production. Congress, on Tuesday, said it was all for the passage of the long-pending bill if concerns of the party and some others are addressed ahead of Monsoon session of Parliament. Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters that the party does not want to make it a major issue if the government agreed to the amendments sought by it and some other parties. "If government satisfies Congress and other parties which have sought amendments, then there is no problem. To speak about it now is premature as the Monsoon session is one-and-a- half months away," he said. The government had targeted to roll out the nationwide single tax regime from April 1, but the Constitutional Amendment Bill on has been stuck in the Rajya Sabha due to opposition by Congress. Azad's remarks came on a day when Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in Kolkata that virtually all states have supported the idea of except Tamil Nadu which has "some reservations". He said, however, there was "no deadline as such" for the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax which aims to subsume a string of state and central level levies. Congress in Maharashtra will organise a protest meet themed around tea in Yavatmal district on June 16 to highlight the Narendra Modi government's "failures" in fulfilling promises made ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, especially those related to farmers. The 'Chai ki charcha' (the discussion of tea) rally will be held in Arni village in adjoining Yavatmal district, which is infamous for farmer suicides. The rally, organised by the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPC) and its youth wing, will highlight "failures" of the Modi government, which completed two years in office last month, in fulfilling its promises made ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, especially those related to farmers, party leaders said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as BJP's PM face, had held an event, 'chai pe charcha' (discussion over tea), at Dabhadi villae in Yavatmal district on March 20, 2014, where he spoke about issues he would address if BJP came to power at the Centre. Modi, during the event, had assured that if BJP came to power, farmers will get a better deal. He had promised increase in minimum support price for food crops and 50 per cent profit on cost of production, among other things, former Maharashtra Minister Shivajirao Moghe said. However, none of these promises have been fulfilled, he alleged. Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh, former Chief Minister and MPCC President Ashok Chavan and Rajya Sabha MP Raj Babbar, among other leaders will address the protest rally, he said. In a joint operation by the Delhi Commission for Women and police, a domestic worker who was allegedly been held hostage for the past six years in a house was rescued from Model Town area. The Commission on its women's helpline 181 had received an anonymous call from a neighbour informing about the minor girl being held hostage and made to do domestic chores. "Acting on the call, the commission sent its mobile helpline team which reached the Model Town home along with Police and ensured release of the girl. "The Police is recording statements of the girl. The girl was brought before the Child Welfare Committee which is presently ascertaining her age. The girl has revealed that she came to Delhi from Kharagpur through a placement agency six years back and since then has been working in this house," said DCW in a statement. The girl informed the Commission and Police that she was assaulted and was not paid any salary. She also informed that her employers would lock her up in the house for many days when they went out. A senior police official said that they are probing into the matter. The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has formalized handing over of two plots of land in New Delhi to Arunachal Pradesh government for construction of new annexe to the Arunachal Bhawan. The handing over of two plots of land to the Arunachal Pradesh government was agreed upon following a request from Chief Minister Kalikho Pul to the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Najeeb Jung on May 6 last, an official release said here today. Pul instructed the PWD officials to immediately submit a plan for construction of the transit building and asked them to complete the construction within this year. Shares of Deepak Fertilisers surged over 7 per cent in an early trade today after the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers agreed to release about Rs 485 crore outstanding subsidy payment to the company. The scrip gained 7.78 per cent to Rs 166.85 on BSE in the morning trade. At NSE too, shares of the company jumped 7.78 per cent to Rs 166.85. The company yesterday said the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers has agreed to release about Rs 485 crore outstanding subsidy payment to the company. In a regulatory filing, Deepak Fertilisers informed that the Department of Fertilisers has been withholding its subsidy claims amounting to Rs 795 crore. The Pune-based firm had filed a case in the Bombay High Court challenging the Department's decision to hold back subsidy payments for using subsidised natural gas to manufacture decontrolled P&K fertiliser. "...The Department of Fertilisers (DoF), Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers, has been withholding subsidy claims due to the company in accordance with applicable Nutrient Based Subsidy [NBS] scheme...Since June, 2014 amounting to Rs 795 crore as on March 31, 2016," the filing said. "The company had since challenged the said withholding before Bombay High Court and the Department has now informed commencing the release of all subsidy arrears except an amount of Rs 310.52 crore in the interim. This part withholding is already under court's purview for final award," it added. German lender Deutsche Bank today said Asia Pacific chief executive and former head of Indian operations Gunit Chadha has quit. John Cryan, Chief Executive of Deutsche Bank AG announced 54-year-old Chadha's decision to leave the bank after spending 13 years in various capacities, including nearly a decade as the chief executive of India, in an e-mail to employees. Based in Singapore for the past four years, Chadha will be leaving the bank on July 17. "I am grateful to Gunit for his contributions to Deutsche Bank and especially for his role in developing our valuable presence across 16 countries in Asia Pacific," the e-mail, reviewed by PTI, stated. Chadha joined the German lender as the country CEO from the state-run IDBI Bank in 2003 and under his leadership, the German lender's employees grew to 10,000 from 500. The bank entered a slew of businesses in the country under Chadha, including investment banking and retail banking. Chadha became the second top executive at Deutsche Bank, after former global co-CEO Anshu Jain left the bank last year. Chadha's future plans were not immediately known. After spending nearly a decade in India, Chadha was made the co-CEO for APAC region in 2012 and designated as the CEO in 2015 to head the business in 16 countries, including India, Asean, Greater China, Australia and Japan. Five of the top 10 countries by operational profit for the bank in 2015 were from APAC, where it witnessed a 26 per cent compounded profit growth between 2012 and 2015 under Chadha's leadership. "I look back with deep pride in leading a world-class team and a solid client franchise, which delivered sustainable performance across the Asia Pacific region," Chadha said. Prior to joining IDBI Bank, Chadha, who is described as a "socialist at heart who is a capitalist at work" had worked for Citigroup in New York. After graduating from St Stephens College, he studied management at IIM Ahmedabad and Wharton School USA. Hosiery manufacturer Dollar Industries is looking to garner Rs 1,000 crore revenue in 2016-17 besides foraying into new overseas markets and children's wear segment, a top official said today. "Our mission for the current fiscal... We are eyeing turnover of Rs 1,000 crore and increasing our presence across India with special emphasis on Southern India," Dollar Industries Ltd's Joint Managing Director Binay Kumar Gupta told reporters here. The Kolkata-based company had registered total revenues of Rs 829.94 crore in the last fiscal and has doubled its revenues in the last six years, he said. "In 2014-15, our revenue was Rs 730 crore. We have 15 per cent market share in the organised knitwear business. The organised knitwear industry in India is about Rs 10,000 crore," he said. On expansion plans, Gupta said the company is looking at entering children's wear segment in the next two years. "We are thinking of entering the children's wear business. We can do good chunk of business there," he said. Besides tapping e-commerce platform for sale of products, the company would also set up 500 modern retail outlets across the country. Dollar Industries owns four windmills in Kanyakumari district in Tamil Nadu and also plans to tap solar energy at Dindigul district, he said. On the exports front, Gupta said it plans to enter new markets and has set a target of registering Rs 100 crore business from overseas operations in two years. "We have an office in Dubai. Currently, we are the only Indian company to export to Nepal, Middle East and the Gulf countries. We are looking at entering into some newer markets like Africa, including Western African countries -- Nigeria, Ghana and Sudan. "Our revenue from exports in 2014-15 was Rs 60 crore. It increased to Rs 69.35 crore in 2015-16. We are looking to register Rs 100 crore revenue from exports in two years," he said. The company has four manufacturing facilities at New Delhi, Kolkata, Ludhiana and Tiruppur, with average production of five lakh units of men's garments per day, he said. Police today registered a case in connection with the attack on SRCC professor Vineet Mehta allegedly by DUSU president Satender Awana when he was being asked to pay fee for using the college's swimming pool. Police also lodged a non-cognizable report on the basis of a complaint of Awana, who alleged that the professor too held his collar and assaulted him following a verbal altercation, a senior police official said. On the basis of the professor's complaint, we have registered an FIR under IPC sections 323 (causing hurt) and 341 (wrongful restraint). There was a cross-complaint too, on the basis of which a report under IPC Section 323 has been lodged, DCP (North) Madhur Verma said. Mehta had yesterday alleged that Awana had come along with a group of students to the swimming pool of the college and had beaten him when he was asked to pay fees for it. "When asked to pay fee of Rs 200, he argued saying he is student union president and why is he being asked to pay the fees. When I told him that similar rules apply to all students, he attacked me with a rod," he alleged. Awana rubbished the allegations as baseless and said he had gone to college to seek permission for some other students. "Some students had approached me saying they cannot afford the Rs 200 per day fees for swimming pool. Being DUSU president, I met the principal to request him to allow these students to use the pool at Rs 20 per day, which is the charge for SRCC students," he said. "I was asked to meet the teacher-incharge (Mehta) who did not agree to it and started abusing me and held me by collar. We did have an argument but I did not attack him," he added. While both IPC sections are bailable in nature, Section 341 is cognizable, under which a police officer has the authority to make an arrest without a warrant and to start an investigation with or without the permission of a court, a senior official said. Congress affiliated National Students Union of India (NSUI) today staged a protest at North Campus demanding that the university takes an action against Awana. Earlier in the day, 70 members of the SRCC Staff Association members also marched to Maurice Nagar police station demanding that police registers an FIR on Mehta's complaint. To popularise books on Mahatma Gandhi and cater to the ever-changing reading habits, a city-based trust has decided to come up with their own tablet, lending people the facility to read Gujarati and Hindi e-books published by them on the Father of the Nation. Kindle-like e-book tablet, which the Navjivan Trust is planning to bring, will have 170 books mostly on Mahatma Gandhi allowing people to read those in Hindi and Gujarati. This announcement was made by the managing trustee of Navjivan Trust Vivek Desai here today while launching 10 different editions, including 4 e-book versions, of "Hind Swaraj", a book written by Gandhiji in 1909. Till now, the trust, established in 1919 by Gandhiji himself, has sold around 10,500 online versions of around 170 of their books, converted into e-books, which according to Desai, is the key motivating factor for the trust to venture into the territory of an exclusive tablet parallel to online conglomerate Amazon's "Kindle" e-book reader. "During last two years, around 10,500 e-books of 170 different titles published by them, mostly on Gandhiji, have been sold in the online market. Our English version e-books are sold on Amazon, while Gujarati e-books are sold through "e-Shabda" portal" said Desai. "We are seeing a paradigm shift in people's reading habits, as a small tablet allows people to carry hundreds of books in it. Thus, we have decided to come up with our own tablet, like Amazon's Kindle, so that more people can read Navjivan publications, mostly on Gandhiji, through our tablet," said Desai. Giving further details, digital and print publishing consultant of Navjivan Trust Apurva Ashar said that regional language e-books are not compatible with Kindle. "At present, Kindle does not support Gujarati or Hindi language. Thus, we have decided to create a new platform to reach out to people wanting to read Mahatma's books in those languages. We are in process to make a tablet equivalent to Kindle. This device will allow readers to type and search in Gujarati or Hindi," said Ashar. As part of Trust's centenary celebrations in 2019, Desai also announced to launch a graphical autobiography of Gandhiji. "The Trust will complete 100 years in 2019. As part of our celebrations, we have decided to launch Gandhiji's autobiography in graphical format, which will be like a comic book depicting entire life of Gandhiji. We have planned to launch it on October 2 this year," announced Desai. According to Ashar, this graphical autobiography of Gandhiji will have 150 pages. "Each page will have around 9 frames. It will be like a comic strip. We will showcase Gandhiji's entire life and journey in the graphical format. Each frame (picture) will have some text to describe the picture. We have planned to launch this 150-page book in Hindi, English and Gujarati," said Ashar. Oscar-winning actor Eddie Redmayne has been unveiled as the latest face of Prada menswear. The "Theory of Everything" star is fronting the Italian brand's fall collection and a series of pictures featuring the British star modelling the label's latest trends, taken by photographer Craig MCDean, was shared on Prada's official Instagram account. It isn't the first Redmayne, 34, has modelled for a major fashion house - he has also worked for British brand Burberry in 2008, before becoming a full-time actor. Since hitting the big time, the actor has made it onto almost every best dressed male list there is, and was voted number one in GQ's best dressed British men poll for the second consecutive year last month. An elderly couple was killed when a speeding truck hit their scooter at a crowded road in southwest Delhi'sNajafgarh area this evening. The couple - Chandra Jain (67) and his wife Anita (60) - were returning from a temple when the truck hit them from behind near a bus stand, police said. The two were flung several metres after the truck hit the scooter and their heads crashed on a pavement. Locals stopped the truck and called up police. Both riders were not wearing helmets, police said. The driver was arrested and the couple was rushed to a hospital, where doctors declared them dead, police said. Delhi University teachers, who have been boycotting evaluation of undergraduate examinations for 18 days, today staged a protest at Jantar Mantar even as students approached the VC expressing concern over possible delay in their results. The teachers have been boycotting evaluation of undergraduate examinations since May 24 in protest against amendments to UGC regulations that, they argue, will lead to job-cuts to the tune of 50 per cent and drastically decrease pupil-teacher ratio in higher education. Calling it a "Satyagraha", the teachers staged an agitation at Jantar Mantar today demanding that the HRD ministry rolls back the new gazette notification about the criteria to ascertain their academic performance. Meanwhile, a delegation of students led by ABVP members met Vice Chancellor Yogesh Tyagi demanding resumption of evaluation work immediately to avoid any delay in results. "This unethical mode of protest (evaluation boycott) that damages the future of thousands of students should immediately be shunned by the teachers and DU VC should also ensure that no injustice is done to the student community," an ABVP statement said. "We strongly support the demands of the protesting teachers and demand that the Government resolve the issues at the earliest, we appeal to all teachers of DU not to play with the future of thousands of students and resume evaluation work immediately," it added. The new gazette notification has increased the workload for assistant professors from 16 hours of "direct teaching" per week (including tutorials) to 18 hours, plus another six of tutorials, bringing the total up to 24 hours. Similarly the work hours of associate professors have been increased from 14 to 22. Following protests, the HRD ministry had directed UGC to review the same. The commission had yesterday organised consultations on the issue with various stake holders including representatives of teachers associations from across the country. The protesting teachers had, however, claimed that the consultations did not yield any results. DU's dean of examination had last week requested the teachers to resume evaluation work from tomorrow. In a letter to the teachers Vinay Gupta, dean of examination, stated that nearly two weeks of evaluation work has been delayed and "any further delay can jeopardise the career of students and also adversely affect the reputation of the university". The teachers plan to continue with the boycott till June 16 following which the General Body of DU Teachers Association (DUTA) will decide future course of action. Three persons, including a notorious criminal, were today arrested here for allegedly possessing fake currency notes with a face value of Rs 6.78 lakh, city police said. The City Task Force (CTF), led by ACP I Chittibabu, also seized a country-made 9-mm pistol with two empty magazines from the gang. The accused, Gurajarapu Nalamaharaju (45), a native of Rajanagaram, East Godavari district and accused in three murder cases, and two others were identified as Mavuri Chakradhar and Gedela Govindarao, both from Visakhapatnam, police said. According to DCP (Crime), T Ravi Kumar Murthy, Nalamaharaju's close aide Nammi Srinu is absconding. "Nalamaharaju and Srinu had procured the fake notes from New Farakka area of Murshidabad district of West Bengal. They had procured fake Indian currency notes (FICN) to the tune of Rs 5.93 lakh face value from one Ali, who is from West Bengal," the DCP said. The FICN seized were in the denomination of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500, police said adding that further investigation into the case is on. Inter-ministerial body FIPB has referred the Rs 3,400-crore foreign investment proposal of Holcim (India) to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs for approval, while deferred the decision on Vodafone's application for acquisition of You Broadband India. As per a Finance Ministry statement, the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approved two FDI proposals involving inflows of Rs 2.19 crore and rejected seven FDI proposals. Approval of FIPB was sought by Ambuja Cements for acquisition of 24 per cent shares in its holding company, Holcim (India) Pvt Ltd from the latter's holding company Holderind Investments Ltd and subsequent reverse merger through a share swap. The proposal of Holcim has been recommended for approval of Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), the Finance Ministry said. The proposal entails FDI worth Rs 3,400 crore. The FDI proposals that have been approved by the FIPB are of Aurobindo Pharma and Sterling Commerce Solutions India. The release further said Vodafone had sought approval for the proposed acquisition of the entire share capital (100 per cent) of You Broadband India Limited. However, the Board headed by Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das deferred decision on the application. The other two proposals on which decision was deferred are of Mylan Laboratories and Reckitt Benckiser. Investment applications of Rizobactor Argentina, Indian Energy Exchange, BMJ Group India Private, Sharekhan, Exzatech Solutions, Veritas (India) and CevaSanteAnimale have been rejected, the release said. An FIR has been filed against JD(S) MLA Mallikarjun Khuba, who in a sting operation was purportedly seen negotiating a money deal in exchange for votes ahead of the June 11 biennial elections to four Rajya Sabha seats from Karnataka. The First Information Report(FIR) was filed by Karnataka Legislative Assembly Secretary S Murthy, also the Returning Officer, on the directions of Election Commission of India. "I have filed a complaint today and an FIR was lodged at Vidhana Soudha Police station against MLA Mallikarjun Khuba and others under Prevention of Corruption Act and section 171(B) of the Indian Penal Code," Murthy told PTI today. He said the complaint was filed based on the sting operation by a channel in which Khuba is seen purportedly discussing an amount of over Rs five crore in exchange for votes. Khuba represents Basavakalyana constituency in Bidar district. Deciding against cancelling or postponing the June 11 Rajya Sabha elections to four seats from Karnataka, the Election Commission had said it "cannot ignore to take cognisance of certain illegal activities" as appeared in media, including the TV channels. In its June 9 order, the EC had said that Khuba, being a public servant, "may also be deemed to have committed an offence under the relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, for seeking bribe for performing his constitutional function as such public servant of electing a member of the Rajya Sabha. "...Therefore, the Commission holds that an FIR be lodged against Khuba and others and the whole matter be entrusted to the CBI for such deeper probe so that all those who may be involved in such nefarious activities are exposed and duly punished under the law," it had said. The June 2 sting by two channels purportedly showed MLAs negotiating a money deal in exchange for their votes in the biennial elections to four Rajya Sabha seats from the state. JD(S) had demanded cancelling the polls, while Congress and BJP were opposed to change in the poll schedule. Union Minister Nirmala Seetharaman and Congress' Jairam Ramesh, Oscar Fernandes and K C Ramamurthy won the Rajya Sabha seats from Karnataka in the June 11 election, highlighted by cross voting from the JDS. A 37-year-old gay man has sued a mental hospital in China for allegedly forcing him to receive psychiatric treatment for sexual preference disorder. A local court in Central China's Henan Province has accepted the lawsuit filed by him against the Second People's Hospital of Zhumadian where he was hospitalised for 19 days by his family members on October 8 after he filed for divorce from his wife. During his time at the hospital he was made to receive injections and take medicines such as antidepressants. "They did it simply because I am gay," the man was quoted as saying by state-run Global Times. "I don't know how many other people have been treated like this. They must be held accountable," he said. He was rescued from the hospital on October 26 by local police, who had been alerted to his plight by a gay rights activist. Accusing the hospital of violating his personal freedom, the man has demanded an apology and compensation of 10,000 yuan (USD 1,520). "The personal freedom of Chinese citizens is protected by law and cannot be infringed upon by hospitals or one's family members," said Huang Rui, the man's lawyer. The third version of the Chinese Classification of Mental Disorders, released in 2001, removed homosexuality and bisexuality from the list of disorders, following the lead of the 1980 US Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Although homosexuality and bisexuality have been removed from lists of mental disorders, a few clinics in several Chinese cities still claim to be capable of "curing" homosexuality, Huang said. Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar today defended his brother-in-law's reinstatement in the government service despite graft charges against him, saying "law is equal for all". "He was suspended from the service, not terminated. The law is equal for all. We have reinstated several officers in the past who were suspended for different reasons. This is one such case," said Parsekar who has come under fire from the Opposition over the issue. Congress, AAP, NCP and Goa Forward have criticised the CM after his brother-in-law Dilip Malavankar was reinstated in the state-run Goa Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) last week. Last August, the ACB caught Malavankar red-handed while allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs one lakh for allotment of land in Tuem Industrial Estate. Parsekar said he himself had ordered Malavankar's immediate suspension. "I don't understand why my name is unnecessarily being dragged into the issue. He is just my relative," the Chief Minister said. Congress and Goa Forward have said they will submit a petition to Governor Mridula Sinha over the issue, while AAP has demanded the Chief Minister's explanation within seven days. Filmmaker Kabir Khan says the Bombay High Court's verdict clearing "Udta Punjab" will encourage directors but feels it is about time the government takes the film industry seriously. "Yesterday's (Bombay) High Court verdict is definitely a big step. We did need some intervention, we were looking for some sort of intervention may be from the I&B (Information and Broadcasting) Ministry, that didn't come but the High Court verdict came in," Kabir said. The "Bajrangi Bhaijaan' helmer was speaking as part of the panel discussion on 'Soft Power, Hard Influence' along with Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup and Saffronart CEO Hugo Weihe here. The HC had yesterday ordered the Central Board of Film Certification to certify movie "Udta Punjab' within 48 hours with just one cut so that its producers can release the film on June 17. "It is a big step. It is going to embolden filmmakers to be able to take on subjects with the knowledge that if one certification board chief doesn't agree with you, you still have the course to go to the court and get the film out. We should just continue making films which are important and relevant," he added. Kabir said the film industry often gets the feeling that the government takes them in a "frivolous" way while in fact it is a strong influential source across the world. "We in the industry sometimes get the feeling that the government takes us in a very frivolous manner. That this is all about song and dance and 'tamasha'. They need to realise that Bollywood is a very strong influence across the world. We need to recognise that," the "Phantom" director added. Kabir, who has directed movies like "Kabul Express", "New York", "Ek Tha Tiger", feels directors in the country should be given the freedom to make movies on any subjects they want to. "Filmmakers should have the freedom to make films on any subject. Till yesterday, there was always a little bit of nervousness about what's going to happen with your film. "Unfortunately, a filmmaker can be brave but sometimes the pressure of financiers begins to dilute his vision because closer to the release you can be soft targets. There is money riding on the movie," he added. Government today approved a Rs 1,298 crore project for beautification and rejuvenation of Nagpur's Nag river. The approval to the project was given after a meeting between Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari with Environment and Forest Minister Prakash Javadekar here. "The project for beautification of Nag river has been approved and Rs 1,298 assistance will be sought from JICA to implement it," Gadkari, who also represents the Nagpur Lok Sabha constituency, told reporters after the meeting. He said the National River Conservation Directorate (NRCD) has recommended the project and now assistance will be sought through Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The project will not only beautify the river but also minimise its pollution, he said. The detailed project report for the plan was submitted to NRCD in May 2011 while comments on it were received from IIT Roorkee based on which Nagpur Municipal Corporation appointed NJS Engineers Pvt Ltd as consultants to revamp the DPR, an official said. Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) has requested NRCD to consider the project for funding on lines of that being done for a similar project in Pune wherein 85 per cent by the government and 15 per cent by the Pune Municipal Corporation, the official said. Government has decided not to increase the prices of urea for the next three years, Union Minister of State for Chemical and Fertilizer Hansraj Gangaram Ahir said today. "We have decided not to increase the urea price in the next three years," the union minister told reporters here. He alongwith Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapati Raju were here to attend the NDA government's 'Vikash Parv' event. Claiming that shortage of fertiliser, including urea, the minister said the farmers could get required the quantity of fertilizers. "Some of the measures have been taken for the benefit of the farmers as the Narendra Modi-led government's thrust is on the welfare of the farmers," he said. The union minister further said the government has been encouraging farmers to use neem-coated urea. "Investment in neem-coated urea was less than the general urea. Production will also increase with the application of neem-coated urea," he added. Replying to a question, Ahir said the work for the revival of the FCI's Talcher fertilizer plant would start very soon at an investment of around Rs 6,000 crore. A consortium of Rashtriya Chemicals Fertilisers (RCF), Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL), Coal India Limited (CIL) and Fertilizer Corporation of India Limited (FCIL) began the process for revival of the unit last year. "The technology for the production of around 1.2 million tonne urea per annum is almost finalised," he said. This apart, the minister said the central government had introduced the "soil health card" for farmers. Around 14 crore soil health cards would be distributed among the farmers across the country. The government has sanctioned Rs 435-crore for the purpose. Earlier in the day, addressing an intellectual meet Ahir had said that the Centre was ready to sanction for any projects like pharmaceultial production unit at Berhampur if the state government submitted Detail Project Report (DPR). The growing Indo-US relationship facilitated by the Modi-Obama chemistry is going to move forward irrespective of the outcome of impending Presidential elections in United States, a pro-RSS journal has said. "Modi-Obama chemistry has certainly facilitated in overcoming the hesitations and irrespective of outcome of impending Presidential elections this relationship is going to move forward. "The key lies in the ability of US to come out of Euro-centricism and accept the historical reality that Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean Region is the theatre of the world," the editorial in 'Organiser' has said. The editorial titled "The path-breaking partnership" said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to US "formally accepted Modi as a statesman of global stature". Lauding the visit and his address to the joint sitting of US Congress, which saw many standing ovations, the pro-RSS journal said "This is a resounding victory for Modi as a leader and nationalist school of thought he represents". The journal also said that Indo-US relations that were governed by the Cold-War mindset and primacy of Pakistan in the US foreign policy calculus, but "the reticence of historical baggage never allowed the two greatest democracies to realise the potential of bilateralism". It said, "The biggest sign of Cold-War restrictions such as MTCR and NSG were let off by the US administration by formally recognising Bharat as a nuclear power." "The US has realised the fact that India will continue to retain autonomy in foreign policy matters and therefore, cannot be like her conventional allies. On the other hand, India has also shown the willingness to accept the US not just a manipulator or dominator but an equal partner in bridging the mutual requirements of technological innovations and quality human resource," it further said. The editorial said Modi's visit helped develop an "equal and dignified" partnership between both countries who are in a position to deal with the global concerns in a more pragmatic manner instead of getting into rhetoric of realism and idealism. "The range of issues dealt by the India-US Joint Statement titled The United States and India: Enduring Global Partners in the 21st Century is of ample evidence of changing dynamics. "Besides the agreed issues of democratic values and bilateral trade, the complex matters of environment, energy, terrorism, maritime security, etc are addressed cautiously but with definite action plans," it said. The Madras High Court today asked the Assistant Commissioner of Police M. Ramakrishnan, who is now serving at Nagapattinam, to continue the probe into the death of a prisoner, an AIADMK worker, in 2007 in Salem central prison. Justice PN Prakash, before whom the officer appeared directed him to continue the probe and posted the matter after eight weeks. The court had on June 1 directed Ramakrishnan, then a senior official of the Central Crime Branch, Salem city, to appear in person before it today. The court was hearing a petition filed by P Pugalenthi, Director, Prisoners Rights Forum, here seeking expedition of the probe. Referring to a report by then Deputy Jailor of Salem central Prison V Karuppan, Pugalenthi said Sukumar had complained of chest pain and when the Deputy Jailor made arrangements for an ambulance to take him to a hospital, the prison wardens were prevented by a group of prisoners led by former minister Selvaganapathi, from taking him for treatment. They had smashed the stretcher before Sukumar was taken into the ambulance resulting in his death on June 9, 2007, the petition said. Additional Public Prosecutor today informed the judge that the officer was now working at Nagapattinam and a request letter was addressed to superior Police officers about the order of the court entrusting the probe to Ramakrishnan. Justice Prakash recorded the state government's submission that it would ask his higher officials to spare his services. Calcutta High Court today dismissed as withdrawn a petition by special superintendent of police (CID) Bharati Ghosh seeking details of the cause of her transfer by Election Commission of India during the recent West Bengal Assembly poll process. Justice Dipankar Dutta dismissed the petition as withdrawn as it was not in proper form, while giving liberty to Ghosh to file a petition in this regard afresh. Ghosh, who was West Midnapore SP with additional charge of Jhargram police district, was made OSD (Maoist Operations) by West Bengal government before the March four poll notification. She was, however, transferred by EC on March 19 from the post of OSD (Maoist Operations) to SSP (CID). The EC had also later directed Ghosh not to leave Kolkata on the last day of Bengal polls, which was held on May five in Cooch Behar and East Midnapore districts. The IPS officer moved the HC on May 20, a day after the election results were announced, seeking details of any inquiry or its findings by the EC that led to its orders. The Madras High court today doubled the cost, imposed by a single judge, on the management of the National Horticulture Research and Development Foundation, Dindigul, for "abusing" the process of law and wasting the time of the court in a case relating to industrial disputes. Dismissing the appeal filed by NHRDF, a division bench of Chief Justice S.K.Kaul and Justice Nooty Ramamohana Rao, said the NHRDF Management had wasted the time of the court and abused the process of law by dragging the case against a workman P.Murugesan for more than six years, without settling the dispute. The management desired to seek the assistance of a counsel for Murugesan, who wanted to appear in person with regard to the industrial dispute case against him. The management then filed a case in the Labour court which said Murugesan could appear in person.The Labour court rejected the plea of the NHRDF management. They filed an appeal before the single judge who dismissed it. The appeal challenging the single judge order was also dismissed. Then they filed another case questioning the validity of the Industrial Disputes Act wich empowered workmen to appear in person.That was also dismissed, the bench said. They took the same issue before the Labour court,which rejected the appeal following which they filed the present plea in court. The judges said the appellant had been dragging the case for more than six years. "This is gross abuse of process of law," the bench said. Labour disputes do not see end of the day, and the workman was not getting any solution to his case, the bench said. The patience of the workman had been tested by the management repeatedly raising the same issue. The main issue here was the industrial dispute between the workman and the management, the bench said, adding, instead of solving the dispute they had wasted the time of the court. The single judge was right in awarding a cost of Rs.10000 on the management of the NHRDF, it said. "The cost need to be doubled", the bench said. While Rs 10,000 should be paid to Murugesan,another Rs 10,000 should be paid to the mediation and conciliation centre at Madurai in 15 days,the judges said. The Madras High Court today set aside the Union Home Ministry's last July order denying security clearance to the Sun Group on the basis of which the Information and Broadcasting Ministry did not allow the group companies to participate in the Phase-III auction process of FM radio. In his 132-page judgment, Justice M Duraiswamy directed the Union Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, and the Deputy Director (FM) of the same Ministry to announce the name of the successful bidders subject to the other conditions being fulfilled. The judgement was delivered on a batch of petitions filed by Sun TV Net Work Limited, Kal Radio Limited, M/s. South Asia FM Limited and Udaya FM Private Limited. The Group and its companies sought quashing of the July 15 order of the I&B Ministry refusing permission to them to participate in the phase III FM auctions on the basis of non-security clearance from the Union Home Ministry. The Group had been denied security clearance on the ground it faced Aircel-Maxis case linked to 2G spectrum allocation, money laundering charges and alleged illegal telephone exchange case (in which former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran and his brother and Sun Group owner Kalanidhi Maran are accused). Setting aside the denial of security clearance, the judge said, "The petitioner companies which were incorporated have been functioning since 2005 without there being any allegation regarding their functioning resulting in any security concerns." "They were incorporated more than 10 years ago even before the alleged offences were committed and till date have not come to any adverse remarks by any authority; the question of piercing the corporate veil will not arise." In fact the petitioner companies have been operating their licences under Phase I and Phase II for more than 10 years. Though the cases were registered against Dayanidhi Maran and Kalanidhi Maran in 2011, the petitioner companies have continued to operate their respective radio channels without any objection concerning security clearance issued. (Reopens LGM 3) "In the absence of any evidence to show that the operation of radio channels by the petitioner companies would create security concerns, the denial of security clearance by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting cannot be accepted. The ownership and control of the company were not enough to justify piercing the corporate veil," the court said. "The court cannot pierce the corporate veil, even in the absence of third-party interests in the company, merely because it is thought to be necessary in the interest of justice." "The corporate veil can be pierced only if there is some impropriety. To justify piercing the corporate veil there must be both control of the company by the wrongdoers and impropriety, that is, use or misuse of the company by them as a device or facade to conceal their wrongdoing." Citing these reasons, the court said the impugned orders dated July 15, 2015 "denying the security clearance of the petitioner are liable to be set aside." The judge further said, "The petitioner companies are entitled to move to Phase III policy for the FM Radio Stations at Chennai, Coimbatore, Tirunelveli and Vishakapatinam by entering into Grant of Permission Agreement (GOPA)." "Since this court is setting aside the impugned orders, the details of bids made by the applicants which were produced in the sealed cover is returned back. The authorities are directed to announce the name of the successful bidders subject to the other conditions being fulfilled by the participants." Earlier, the high court had passed interim orders on the petitions challenging denial of security clearance to resubmit the bank guarantee and to participate in the FM Radio Stations Phase III auction and to keep the result of the bid in a sealed cover and to produce it before the court. The court had also made it clear while passing the interim orders that the participation of these companies in the e-auction is subject to the result of the writ petitions. Realty firm Housing Development and Infrastructure (HDIL) is in talks to sell 3-4 land parcels near Mumbai as it looks to bring down its net debt to about Rs 2,000 crore by the end of this fiscal. The company's net debt stood at Rs 2,730 crore at the close of 2015-16, according to an analyst presentation. The Mumbai-based developer is in advanced stage of discussions to close first large FSI (floor space index) sale transaction in its project 'HDIL Planet'. It is in advanced stage to sell incremental FSI of 6 million sq ft in 'Paradise city' Palghar and exploring options to sell land in Berkeley square projects in Ghatkopar as well. "With this 3 or 4 FSI sale transactions which are at various stages of discussions and negotiations, I think we are very well-placed in terms of our debt and we would look at a number of close to Rs 2,000 crore by the end of March 2017," HDIL Senior Vice-President Finance Hari Prakash Pandey said in a conference call. HDIL promoters are also infusing Rs 150 crore in the company through issue of warrants and the fund would be used to cut debt. "... There is an interest for all of our land parcels, especially for industrial park. With so much of infrastructure activity happening with Delhi-Mumbai freight corridor, elevated corridor and bullet train from Virar to Ahmedabad, there is a lot of interest in those land parcels and there is a discussion, I would say. But we have not reached any conclusion as of now," Pandey told analysts. Planet HDIL is a 550-acre township project proposed on Vasai-Virar belt (part of Thane district). According to the presentation, the company achieved sales booking of Rs 1,448 crore during the last fiscal. HDIL's net profit rose 22 per cent to Rs 266.1 crore last fiscal, from Rs 218.7 crore in 2014-15. Income from operations increased 14 per cent to Rs 1,169.5 crore in 2015-16, from Rs 1,022.47 crore in the previous year. It has a land bank of 241.7 million sq ft. Investing in Afghanistan's development and rebuilding the infrastructure is the best way to "gain influence" in the country, a top Afghan diplomat has said in an apparent message to neighbouring Pakistan and endorsing India's model of assistance. "Those who wish to gain influence in Afghanistan, must by now understand that investing in our development and rebuilding our infrastructure, and in contributing to peace and stability can generate enough goodwill in Afghanistan towards them to last a thousand years," Afghan Ambassador to the US Hamdullah Mohib told a Washington audience. Regional stability and peace is increasingly every nations need, more than ever before, and that stability begins with Afghanistan, he said in his address to the Hudson Institute - a top American think-tank. "We have been working with our neighbours to end the distinction between "good" and "bad" terrorists - as if there is such a thing as a good terrorist," Mohib said in an apparent reference to Pakistan's policy of distinction between terrorist groups. "We have been working with our neighbours to play a positive and constructive role in Afghanistan. The Afghans are a strong, resilient and proud people. A people that despite decades of imposed war, have not been beaten," he said. In response to a question, later, the Afghan Ambassador said "Pakistan needs to update its policy". "It may have been sticking in the past. It's 2016 now. Different time and era from the 1970s and perhaps some of the policies are stuck in the era," Mohib said. Praising 10 recent agreement between India, Iran and Afghanistan on the development of the Chabahar port, Mohib said this will create a new transit corridor that for the first time, gives Afghanistan access to a deep water port. "(It is) Giving us an alternative transit route and increasing Afghanistan's connectivity to the world. This is massively important for our ability to export our goods and import what we need to advance our economic development," he said. Mohib also mentioned the Afghan-India Friendship Dam which was inaugurated by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Herat last week and described it as "a project 40 years in the making that epitomises the deepening relationship between Afghanistan and India". Afghanistan, he said, has a clear message. "To the Taliban: Standing against people's demand of peace will take you nowhere, and the only way left for you is to accept and conform to the desires of the Afghan people. "To the international community: Afghanistan is a reliable partner, and the best way to control terrorism is to put more pressure on those who use terrorism for political gains. And, finally, a clear message to our neighbours: You should work with us and be part of the future we are striving so hard to realise," he added. To provide a one-stop security platform for elderly persons across the country, HelpAge India today launched an app that will connect the users to local police, hospitals or old-age homes in case of emergency. The 'HelpAge SOS' app was launched in Haryana by state's Director General of Police, K P Singh, at Panchkula, a Haryana government release said here. The SOS stands for 'Save Our Seniors'. The app will connect the users to the HelpAge local helplines across India, it said. "One SOS call made through the app will directly be answered by the HelpAge helpline staff/ counsellor. Its 24x7 functionality aims at helping elders in distress at any given time. In case of emergencies, it connects them with the local police, hospital or old age homes if need be," the release said. The app is at present functional only on Android phones, but HelpAge is working on making it functional on other operating systems as well, it added. A hotel receptionist was arrested for allegedly trying to outrage the modesty of a 24-year-old woman guest in the wee hours today, police said. The victim, who hails from Visakhapatnam and works as a Relationship Manager at a private company there, had yesterday checked-in at the lodge-cum-hotel at L B Nagar area here. According to police, the receptionist, identified as Dasari Shekhar, managed to gain entry into the woman's room at around 3 AM and attempted to outrage her modesty when she was asleep. "The woman immediately raised an alarm, following which Shekhar fled. However, he was caught by the hotel staff and a police party on patrol was informed about the incident," L B Nagar Police Station Inspector P Kasi Reddy said. "Based on the complaint lodged by the woman, a case under section 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of IPC was registered and the accused was arrested and sent to judicial remand," he said. Further probe is on. Defying the High Court order, HRTC employees today went on strike over several demands, including regularisation of contract staff and protection of pension benefits, crippling transport services in the state. The Himachal Road Transport Corporation employees went on strike at the call of Coordination Committee of employees Unions. The Leaders of the Coordination Committee claimed that the strike was total and the entire fleet of over 2,200 buses was off-road. The HRTC has also demanded its conversion into roadways. The Himachal Pradesh High Court had yesterday directed HRTC employees not to go on strike on June 14-15 and asked the Principal Secretary (Transport) to redress their legitimate grievances by June 20. The order was passed by a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Mansoor Ahmad Mir and Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan on a petition filed by Community Initiate trust (a social welfare trust) citing newspaper reports regarding the threat issued by HRTC employees unions to go on a two-day strike. The strike has hit public transport with only private operators plying buses. The HRTC employees, who went on two-day strike from midnight, did not disrupt traffic. They did not stop the private buses and taxis, which were overloaded due to increase in rush of passengers. (REOPENS NRG 14) Meanwhile, HRTC Managing director, Ashok Tiwari said members ofemployees Unions were called for talks in pursuant of the Court orders but they walked out of meeting after two or three of their demands were discussed. He said they raised slogans against HRTC. He said in compliance of the directions ofHigh Court today pertaining to contempt proceedings he tried to deliver the orders. He said it was read out to them, especially the part pertaining to calling off the strike by 5 pm today but they refused to call off the strike or accept the copy of the orders. A Vaishno Devi-bound pilgrim was allegedly killed by her husband who throttled her and then threw the body off a cliff to make it look like an accident in Katra town of Reasi district, police said today. The couple got married on March 10. The body of the woman, identified as Lakshmi Gupta (25), a resident of New Delhi, was found in a stream in Lambikeri area, en route to the Bhavan this morning, said a police officer. The husband of the deceased, Shakti Gupta, had filed a missing report at the police post at Ardh Kumari. During the course of investigation, police became suspicious of the husband and started interrogating him, the officer added. "His statement created a suspicion and the police contacted the parents of the deceased who confirmed a matrimonial dispute between the couple," he said. When put to sustained interrogation, the accused confessed to the crime. He told the police that after throttling his wife at night, taking advantage of the darkness, he pushed the body into a gorge from the cliff near Lambikeri area, the officer added. "The husband has been arrested and an investigation is on to reveal the motive behind the murder," said the officer. Terming international terrorism as a scourge which is a threat to the world, India and Ghana today agreed for greater security and defence cooperation to combat terror. The Joint Statement issued by the two sides said that while India has been a victim of cross-border terrorism for a long time, Ghana is situated in an increasingly volatile region. "International terrorism is a scourge, and is a threat to the entire civilised world. The two leaders therefore agreed for greater security and defence cooperation and also called for greater exchanges between the Kofi Annan UN Peacekeeping Centre, Accra, and the Centre for UN Peacekeeping, New Delhi," the Joint Statement said as President Pranab Mukherjee wrapped up his two-day visit to the African country. Ghana, situated in West Africa, is facing threats from ISIS and Boko Haram militants who have established their presence in the neighbouring countries. President Mukherjee discussed a number of issues with his counterpart John Mahama. After wrapping up his two-day visit to Ghana, Mukherjee departed for Ivory Coast for the second leg of his three-nation tour seen as "outreach for Africa". A number of announcements were made by Mukherjee during his visit to help Ghana in capacity building and human resource development including further grant assistance of USD one million to the India-Ghana Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT which has been set up with Indian assistance of USD 2.86 million. India also announced an increase in ITEC slots from 250 to 300 and ICCR full time scholarships from 20 to 40, each year, it said. Ghana government thanked President Mukherjee for India's contribution to its capacity building and human resource development. "The Government of Ghana conveyed deep appreciation towards India's concessional developmental assistance by way of grants and Lines of Credit. In particular, they placed on record their sincere gratitude for India's support for major socio-economic projects such as Komenda Sugar Plant and Elmina Fish Processing Plant. "Further cementing the relationship between the two Foreign Ministries, the Government of India also approved a Line of Credit for setting up a Foreign Policy Training Institute," it said. More than 1,000 government officials from Ghana underwent training in India in the last five years while about 100 students joined full-time academic courses in India on full scholarships during the period. "The two leaders underlined the need for regular and consistent high-level interaction, and welcomed the setting up of an institutional framework in the form of Joint Commission to periodically review various aspects of the multidimensional relationship. Both sides agreed that mutually convenient dates for the first meeting of the Joint Commission would be decided through diplomatic channels," the joint statement said. It acknowledged warm relations between the two sides, saying they share a long historical ties that goes back to pre-independence days, which is rooted in the shared global vision of their founding fathers, the mutual goodwill between their peoples, and in the values of democracy, pluralism and inclusiveness. The joint statement said the President's visit is a natural expression of mutual desire of the two countries to further strengthen the warm and close bilateral relationship. A high-profile Indian billionaire businessman misappropriated 150 million dollars from his Australian fertiliser business for personal benefit like acquiring a mansion, luxury cars and his wife's vegetarian restaurant chain, the Supreme Court of Victoria heard today. Pankaj Oswal and his wife Radhika Oswal are fighting the legal battle against the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) for allegedly undervaluing shares of their fertiliser company to recoup millions in debts. Philip Solomon, who represented the fertiliser company, told the court that Oswal used over 150 million dollars from the business for his and his wife's benefit, in some instances using fake invoices. "Almost all of the 150 million dollars personally benefited Pankaj Oswal and Radhika Oswal," he said, adding that "Radhika or management requested or demanded Pankaj pay large sums of money". "Pankaj authorised payments, staff, when he clicked his fingers, jumped urgently," Solomon said. It was alleged that the misappropriation included 60 million dollars to a private Burrup trust account, 11 million dollars to a property in the exclusive suburb of Peppermint Grove in Western Australia, several million to parcels of land unrelated to the business and approximately 8 million dollars to Radhika's restaurant chain in London and New York. Solomon alleged Oswal authorised payments for an Aston Martin, 3 million dollars for a boat and 3 million dollars in air travel, including a private jet for his daughter and his daughter's friends for a holiday at Monkey Mia. "They're not fertiliser assets... They're not for the benefit of fertiliser," Solomon told the court. The misappropriations became "rampant" in 2010, with over 25 million dollars allegedly misappropriated in one month alone, Solomon said. "There were invoices masquerading as true business invoices that were not, on which payments were made and the payments flowed in and quickly out of these entities," he said. Earlier in the ongoing trial, the defence team of Oswal accused ANZ and its senior executives, including former chief executive Mike Smith of "racial bigotry" in their dealings with the billionaires. The Oswals have sued ANZ bank for 1.5 billion dollars after it allegedly seized and sold their Western Australian fertiliser company for 560 million dollars which the family claim was worth 1.385 billion dollars. The bank hasdeniedthe claims and saidthe Oswals misappropriated 150 million dollars from their Burrup Fertilisers for personal use. Keeping in mind the Centre's Smart Cities Mission, the UGC has asked all Central Universities to start graduate and undergraduate courses in Urban Planning. In a letter to Vice Chancellors of all Central Universities, UGC secretary Jaspal S Sandhu said that the Prime Minister has launched Smart Cities Mission unveiling the roadmap for development of 500 cities. "In the presentation made to the Hon'ble Prime Minister, it was emphasised that towns and cities are emerging as key drivers of economic growth, hence the economic growth model of a city should form an essential part of its vision," Sandhu said in his letter to VCs. It was proposed that Colleges and Universities should start subject courses on urban planning, he added. The senior UGC official asked Universities to start a subject or course on Urban Planning. He also asked them to convey relevant instructions to the Colleges and institutes affiliated to them to take urgent steps for starting of this new subject course at graduate and post graduate level. Jammu and Kashmir Assembly today witnessed uproar as 14 ruling and opposition MLAs stormed into the Well and then staged a walkout in the House, demanding restoration of reservation in promotion in government jobs in the state. The issue was raised by four Congress members, led by Nawang Rigzin Jora, who demanded the government take steps to ensure that the reservation policy in promotion is restored. Besides two members of the National Conference, the Congress MLAs also got support from ruling BJP and PDP members whose constituencies have significant number of voters from reserved categories. Speaker Kavinder Gupta, however, did not pay any heed to their demands, prompting them to storm into the well of the House and stage a dharna. Jora even conducted mock proceedings in the Well, allowing the protesting members to speak on the issue. The MLA from Leh said reservation in promotion was being ended "by subterfuge as the state counsel had not put forth any arguments (before the High Court)". "Around 50 per cent population of the state fall under reserved categories. Let there be a one-hour discussion on it today," he demanded. Law Minister Abdul Haq Khan said that since the matter was pending before the Supreme Court, it cannot be discussed in the Assembly. Deputy Speaker Nazir Ahmad Gurezi, who was not presiding over the House at that time, supported the protesting MLAs and asked if the media could discuss the issue, why not the assembly. "The central government amended the Constitution to restore reservation. Why does not the government here do it by extending a Presidential order?" he said. The Law Minister, however, stuck to the stand that the House can deliberate on the matter only after the apex court has delivered its verdict. The members then staged a walkout. Action superstar Jackie Chan surprised his fans when he showed off his Punjabi dance moves on a 1990s popular track "Tunak Tunak Tun" on-stage at the 17th Shanghai Film Festival. Chan was accompanied by Bollywood actor Sonu Sood in the impromptu jig. The 62-year-old multi-faceted performer looked at ease grooving to the Daler Mehndi-sung number and seemed to be in high spirits matching the steps with Sood, who is a Punjabi. "Impromptu dance moves with my brother @EyeOfJackieChan #Shanghai #jackiechangallery #kungfuyoga," tweeted Sood. The 42-year-old "Happy New Year" actor and Chan are working together in an upcoming Indo-Chinese project, "Kung Fu Yoga". The action-adventure movie is a part of the three-film agreement signed between India and China during Chinese President Xi Jinpings visit to India. It also stars Bollywood actress Amyra Dastur. The film is set to release this October. YSR Congress President Y S Jaganmohan Reddy today asked "aspiring political leaders" to visit houses in each village, talk to residents about their problems and simultaneously rank the performance of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu by posing questions to them. "I will reveal a secret on how to become a political leader. Do as I said and ask me if you don't become a leader in five months," he said, addressing the party's state executive meeting here this evening. This was the first time after the bifurcation of the state in 2004 that the YSRC held its executive meeting in Vijayawada, the functional capital of Andhra Pradesh. He released a pamphlet listing 100 queries on the performance of the TDP-led government in general and the Chief Minister in particular and wanted his party workers to obtain people's ranking on them. If Naidu scores zero, people themselves would drown him in the Bay of Bengal, the Leader of Opposition remarked. "You need not be the son or grandson of an MLA to become a political leader. Go and meet people in each house. Spend some quality time with them listening to their grievances and wellbeing. Do this and you will get to become an MLA." Citing the "senior most MLA" Peddireddi Ramachandra Reddy as an example, the YSRC leader noted the former never lost an election "because he mingled with people so well". The party would undertake a mass contact programme, "YSRC at every doorstep", from July 8, the birth anniversary of late Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, Jagan announced. "Complete the household visits in five months and then form committees right from the polling booth level. People will bless you." The 43-year-old Opposition leader spit fire on the Chief Minister, accusing him of "purchasing our 20 MLAs (who have defected to ruling TDP) like cattle" by offering "Rs 30 crore each". "I feel sad that we are in such a system where there is none to question this," Jagan rued. Party MP Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy, senior leaders Dharmana Prasada Rao and Botsa Satyanarayana, among others, attended the meeting. A jailed Saudi human rights lawyer who alleged ill-treatment in prison has ended a five-day hunger strike after authorities met some of his demands, an activist group said on today. Walid Abulkhair, 36, ended his action on Sunday, said the Gulf Centre for Human Rights, which has been monitoring his case. Authorities at his prison in the Red Sea city of Jeddah "allowed him to have access to a hospital and promised that they will give him access to the prison library on a daily basis, allowing him to take books into his cell," the group said in a statement. The centre, which has offices in Beirut and Copenhagen, welcomed the response but called for Abulkhair's release as he had only engaged in "peaceful human rights activities". An appeals court in February last year upheld a 15-year jail term against Abulkhair on charges including "inciting public opinion". He began his hunger strike after prison management blocked him from taking medical tests, ordering appropriate food, having special visits and reading books or newspapers, the rights group said. Abulkhair last year won the Ludovic Trarieux International Human Rights Prize, awarded by European bar associations to lawyers who defend human rights and fight intolerance and racism. Abulkhair defended Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, who was arrested in 2012 and convicted of insulting Islam. Badawi is serving 10 years in jail and has received 50 lashes of a 1,000-lash sentence that caused international outrage. The two activists were nominated for last year's Nobel Peace Prize by a Norwegian member of parliament. On her first visit after her second consecutive election victory, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa today met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and submitted a memorandum demanding among other things formation of Cauvery Management Board and a water regulation committee. During the meeting at the Race Course residence of the prime minister, she presented a 29-page memorandum which also demanded the restoration of water level at Mullaperiyar dam to 152 feet. Interlinking of rivers, retrieval of Katchatheevu island and inclusion of fishermen in the Scheduled Tribes list are also listed in the memorandum. Jayalalithaa pressed the Centre for addressing the state's grievances over issues related to the implementation of GST. In the memorandum, the state has also urged for the early commissioning of Unit 2 of Kudankulam nuclear power plant. Jayalalithaa, who arrived in the afternoon, met 50 of her party MPs, the largest regional group in Parliament, before she drove to Modi's residence. Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker Thambidurai, Special Advisor Sheela Balakrishnan and Chief Secretary Rama Mohan Rao accompanied her. TN CM had also urged the centre to set up an All India Institute of Medical Science in the state along with addressing the issues related to NEET in state. Srilankan Tamils issue, lifting of the ban on the conduct of Jallikattu and declaring Tamil as an official language were also among the demands made by the chief minister. She wanted a decision to allow use of Tamil as the language of Madras High Court. Union Minister Nirmala Sitaraman and Pon Radhakrishnan also called on the Jayalalithaa in Tamil Nadu house in the evening. The memorandum described as "meagre recompense" the release of Rs 552 crore by the Centre to Tamil Nadu from the special allocation made in the budget for schemes to be approved by Niti Aayog. "I request you to enhance the annual special grant to Tamil Nadu to Rs.2000 crore in each of the remaining four years of the 14th Finance Commission award period upto 2019- 20. "We have a ready shelf of large projects that could be funded out of this special allocation including the comprehensive special package for the diversification of fisheries, desalination projects and several infrastructure projects under the Vision Tamil Nadu 2023," the chief minister said in the memorandum. Referring to release of further assistance towards restoration and reconstruction in the wake of last year's floods, it said the government of India has so far released only Rs.1,737 crore from the national disaster fund against a demand of Rs.25,912 crore for temporary and permanent restoration. (REOPENS DES35) Jayalalithaa, in her 96-page memorandum, urged the Centre to consider dual citizenship for the Sri Lankan Tamils residing in Tamil Nadu as refugees. "Tamil Nadu government urges the Government of India to permit such refugees to hold dual citizenship of both India and Sri Lanka so that they could take up employment and business in India without any hindrance," she said in the memorandum. She also demanded the government to take necessary measures against those in Sri Lanka who allegedly prepetrated "genocide" on innocent Tamils in Sri Lanka. "India should take the initiative in this regard in appropriate international fora like the United Nations Human Rights Councils," she said. The AIADMK supremo also demanded a permanent exemption for the state from NEET (National Eligibility Entrance Test) for medical and dental courses, saying it is "out of tune" with the prevailing socio-economic milieu and administrative requirements of Tamil Nadu. She also requested the Centre to expedite the process of approval for integrating Chennai Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) with the Chennai Metro Rail as it is desirable and feasible. "Such integration would enable effective synergies between various modes of public transport and increase share of public transport," she said in the memorandum. The parents of a white British Muslim convert dubbed "JihadiJack" due to his presence in Islamic State (IS) territory in Syria were today released on bail after they were arrested on charges of terrorism offences. Justice Saunders described John Letts, 55, and Sally Lane, 53, parents of JackLetts, at the Old Bailey court in London as "two perfectly decent people who have ended up in custody because of the love of their child". JackLetts' parents were arrested earlier this year and charged with three counts of entering or becoming concerned in an arrangement to make money available, knowing or having reasonable cause to suspect that it may be used for terrorism. Jack's mother was charged with two further counts of attempting to provide money or property knowing or having reasonable cause to suspect it could be used for the purpose of terrorism. John Letts and Sally Lane had been remanded in custody on Thursday after denying they provided money for suspected terrorism and have previously maintained they sent their son money to buy a new pair of glasses. Justice Saunders warned the couple that if they breached the terms of their bail it would be "extremely unlikely" for it to be renewed. Jack Letts, 20, is suspected of being the first white Briton to join the terror group after he left his Oxford home and travelled to Syria last year. His parents are next due to appear at the Old Bailey on June 23. Rejecting BJP's contention of migration of Hindus from Kairana, JNU Students' Union President Kanhaiya Kumar today the residents were leaving their village in search of jobs and issue had nothing to do with any particular community. "Now reports have come out...Truth has come out...These people are leaving the village in search of their livelihood," the student leader said, addressing a convention organised by All India Students Federation (AISF) here. Accusing the Sangh Parivar organisations of "spreading lies for polarising people communally" ahead of UP Assembly polls, Kumar said, "They have not been forced out by people of some particular religion but by political system being followed by people like Prime Minister Narendra Modi." "Even in Dadri, mutton became beef looking at the upcoming UP Assembly polls," he alleged. His statement comes two days after top BJP leaders, who were in Allahabad for the two-day national executive meeting, raked up the issue of alleged migration of Hindus from Kairana to attack the Samajwadi Party government in the state, ahead of the Assembly election to be held early next year. BJP president Amit Shah, in his address to the National Executive on Sunday, had said, "The migration happening in Kairana due to violence is a matter of serious concern. There is an atmosphere of violence. The lack of development and the lack of governance in the largest state of India, that is Uttar Pradesh, is becoming a matter of serious concern." The party has also set up a committee which will go to Kairana and study the situation. Kerala Fisheries Minister Mercy Kutty Amma today called on Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh and discussed various issues related to the fisheries sector including ban on juvenile fishing. "Some of the important issues submitted by the Fisheries Minister of Kerala included empowerment of traditional fishers for deep sea fishing, ban on juvenile fishing, providing financial assistance for procurement of marine ambulances," Agriculture Ministry said in a release. Amma has also sought enhancement of unit cost for housing, higher central assistance for construction and renovation of ponds, establishment of hatcheries, setting up of fisheries stations, allocation of sufficient quota for kerosene for traditional fishermen, it said. On the other side, the Union Agriculture Minister informed the Kerala Minister that the central government is formulating a scheme for deep-sea fishing under which traditional fishermen will be provided financial support from the Centre for procurement of resource-specific fishing vessels and for skill upgradation. The targeted beneficiaries under the proposed scheme will be traditional fishermen group, fisheries cooperatives, and fishers associations, he added. Under the National Scheme of Welfare of Fishermen (NSWF), Singh said that the unit cost for fishermen housing has been revised and enhanced from Rs 75,000 to Rs 1.2 lakh per unit in general states and Rs.1.3 lakh in the North-Eastern and the Himalayan states. The scheme has now been aligned with the unit cost at par with Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana - Gramin. Among other benefits of the schemes, Singh said the central government contribution for the saving-cum-relief component under the NSWF has been enhanced from Rs 900 to Rs 1,500 per fisherman per month during the lean/ban period of three months. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar today underlined the significance of yoga, saying it helps nurture mind, body and intellect in harmony which adds passion and enthusiasm to life. "It acts as a stress-buster," he added. The Chief Minister was addressing the participants at the concluding day function of a three-day state-level yoga training camp here where Haryana's brand ambassador for yoga and ayurveda Baba Ramdev imparted training to participants including Khattar, ministers, chief parliamentary secretaries, MLAs, the Chief Secretary and other senior officers. The Prime Minister himself would perform yoga with more than 31,000 participants at Capitol Complex in Chandigarh on the World Yoga Day on June 21 and the programme would be telecast worldwide, Khattar said, adding that as many as 10,500 participants from Haryana would participate in the programme. Baba Ramdev said yoga was limited to a special category of people in the ancient times, but now it has become popular thanks to Narendra Modi. Two persons were awarded life imprisonment by a local court in connection with a murder case of 2014. Additional District and Sessions Judge Ajit Kumar Sinha held Shital Das and Ghanshyam Das guilty of murder under section of 302 and 34 of IPC. Additional Public Prosecutor Anil Kumar Prasad said the duo were charged for killing Jitendra Singh of the same village with whom they had bad blood. The duo called Singh from his home and made him drink liquor and later killed him with a sharp weapon. The incident took place on August 19, 2014 in Chhtaipatti village. London mayor Sadiq Khan has fulfilled his election promise by deciding to ban advertisements that promote an "unrealistic" body image, especially among women. The British capital's first Muslim mayor said: "As the father of two teenage girls, I am extremely concerned about this kind of advertising which can demean people, particularly women, and make them ashamed of their bodies. It is high time it came to an end." Earlier this week, a campaign for Protein World sparked controversy with its "Are you beach body ready" campaign of posters on the London Underground network and buses. It sparked outrage on social media, with many calling for such posters depicting extremely skinny models to be banned. Khan had made it an election promise during his campaign that he would crackdown on such advertisements. "Nobody should feel pressurised, while they travel on the tube or bus, into unrealistic expectations surrounding their bodies and I want to send a clear message to the advertising industry about this," Khan said yesterday. Khan has asked Transport for London (TfL), which runs the city's transport system, to set up an advertising steering group to advise relevant partners of the new policy and ensure ads adhere to the UK's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) regulations. Maharashtra Cabinet today accorded its in-principle approval to a proposal of providing 20 per cent grants to the 'permanently unaided' schools in the state. The decision will benefit 19,247 teachers from 1,628 eligible permanently unaided schools in the state. "The decision will put an additional burden of Rs 163.21 crore on the state exchequer," Minister for School Education Vinod Tawde told reporters here. Meanwhile, in a statement issued here, Leader of Opposition in Legislative Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil termed the 20 per cent grant as "meagre and unjust". After evaluation to allocate just 20 per cent grant to schools eligible for 60, 80 and 100 per cent grant is unjust, Vikhe Patil said. Responding to Vikhe Patil, Tawde clarified that the grants given by the department will be made applicable from the current academic year. The issue had been pending since the previous Congress-NCP government, he alleged. The teachers from the permanently unaided schools were on a 'dharna' at Azad Maidan here over various demands for the last two weeks. Tawde said when the issue was debated in the budget session of the state legislature in March this year he had assured that the issue would be definitely resolved. "Nearly 50 per cent of the school education department budget is spent on wages of teachers and non-teaching staff," he said. Ahead of the International Yoga Day on June 21, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sought the support of all Union ministers and department heads to make yoga a "mass movement" for better physical and mental well being. In a letter to all the ministers, Modi said the International Day of Yoga was a way of making yoga an integral part of our lives. "The International Day of Yoga is not simply an event. It is a way of making yoga an integral part of our lives. It is a means of popularising yoga among the masses, across social strata, in different age groups so that we can enhance our mental and physical well being. It is towards this end that I solicit your support," he said in the letter. "It has been decided to take forward the momentum generated last year with greater and more active participation of all sections of the society, particularly the youth," the letter said. The national event of mass yoga demonstration will be held in Chandigarh on June 21. Similar events will also be held across the nation and the world. "All our efforts should be made to make it a people's programme by highlighting the benefits of yoga for better physical and mental health and social harmony," the Prime Minister said in the letter. The Ministry of AYUSH has designed a common yoga protocol for this event. Modi also enclosed with this letter, a booklet and a DVD on this protocol. He said that along with the mass yoga demonstration at Chandigarh, the Centre aims to organise similar demonstrations at the state, district, block and panchayat levels and each state has been requested to plan its activities in tandem with the national effort. "The state governments have also been requested to encourage the use of locally made yoga mats and apparel, preferably with locally available raw-material to provide employment oppoprtunities to local artisans and small entrepreneurs. Special effors would be made to involve persons with disabilities in all the celebrations. "I request you to provide your support to make yoga a mass movement so that this great heritage can benefit all of us," Modi said. A teaching module publiched by a leading Malaysian university which depicted Hindus in India as unclean and dirty has generated a controversy and outraged the minority community in the Muslim-majority country. Slides from the module of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) caused uproar after they were posted online. The slides claimed that Hindus consider the dirt on the body as part of their religious practice to achieve nirvana. After the issue was raised by Deputy Education Minister P Kamalanathan, the university said it would review the module. "I have just spoken to the Vice Chancellor of UTM and he has acknowledged the mistake," Kamalanathan, an ethnic Indian, said in a Facebook post. The necessary changes to the module will be carried out expeditiously. The official had "totally agreed" to his suggestion to ensure that such errors are not repeated, Malay Mail online said today. Muslim-majority Malaysia's 28 million population include 60 per cent Malays who are all Muslims, 25 per cent ethnic Chinese mostly Christians and Buddhists and eight per cent ethnic Indians, a majority of whom are Hindus. The Minister said slides from the UTM module portraying Hindus as "dirty" could have been designed to intentionally misrepresent the religion. Commenting further, he expressed his personal disappointment over the messages in the slides that were leaked online, triggering Hindu outrage. Further, he said he will ask the Higher Education Ministry to ensure that all content in the Islamic and Asian Civilisation Studies module be vetted by religious experts before they are presented to students, the portal said. The module also claimed that Islam had introduced civility to the lives of the Hindu community in India. Another slide aimed at teaching the origins of Sikhism claims that founder Guru Nanak had a poor understanding of Islam and had combined it with his surrounding Hindu lifestyle in forming the early foundation of the Sikh faith. The slides led to condemnation by the Malaysian Indian Progressive Association (MIPAS) which called for a retraction and apology from the university. "The teaching is insulting followers of Hinduism as a dirty community and a community that regard physical filth as part of its religious practice. "MIPAS condemns completely, the actions of UTM for publishing and allowing such a module that contains negative elements in its educational course that carries elements of insult and harassment as well as demean the purity of the Hindu faith," MIPAS secretary-general S Barathidasan said. A police report was lodged by the chairman of the Hindu Dharma Association of Malaysia in Sungai Petani district against UTM, and expects more police reports to be lodged, Barathidasan added. Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee is all set to visit Tripura on August 9 to strengthen Trinamool Congress in the state where it emerged as main opposition party. "I have spoken to our supremo Mamata Banerjee and she has agreed to come to Tripura on August 9. We will also prepare our road map under her directions for the next Assembly polls in Tripura," Sudip Ray Barman who led the Congress dissidents in the northeastern state, told PTI here. In a setback to opposition Congress, six dissident MLAs in Tripura had joined TMC last week making it the main opposition party in the Left-ruled state. Burman, the former leader of opposition, had been elected leader of the TMC legislature group. "We are confident that we will be able to oust the the Left Front regime in Tripura in the next Assembly polls. People in Tripura are fed up with the Left rule there. The Left Front in Tripura will have the same fate as that the Left Front in West Bengal faced in 2011," a senior TMC leader said. As 21 Aam Aadmi Party MLAs face the prospect of disqualification on grounds of office of profit, details have emerged of how the appointments of Parliamentary Secretaries have been quashed by high courts in various states. As AAP attacked the Modi government over President's refusal to give assent to a bill for amendment of the Delhi Members of Legislative Assembly (Removal of Disqualification) Act, 1997 that has raised the prospects of disqualification of MLAs, government officials said the Kolkata High Court had quashed a bill for the appointment of 13 Parliamentary Secretaries in June 2015. Similarly, the Goa bench of the Mumbai High Court had quashed a bill passed by the state assembly for appointment of Parliamentary Secretaries in 2009. The appointment of 19 Parliamentary Secretaries in Punjab was challenged in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which is still hearing the case. In Haryana too, appointment of four Parliamentary Secretaries was challenged in the Punjab and Haryana High Court and the matter is sub-judice now. In Himachal Pradesh, the state High Court had struck down the appointment of 9 Parliamentary Secretaries saying their appointments did not owe their origin to any constitutional or legal provision. The high court in Rajasthan has issued notices to 13 Parliamentary Secretaries questioning their appointments. The Telangana High Court stayed the implementation of an official order on appointments of 6 MLAs as Parliamentary Secretaries in the rank of cabinet minister. In Karnataka, appointment of 10 Parliamentary Secretaries was also challenged in the court. As per the Constitution, all states, except Delhi, should not have ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries more than 15 per cent of the total strength of the Assembly. In case of Delhi, where the strength of the Assembly is 70 MLAs, the Ministry should be 10 per cent of its strength while the Chief Minister can appoint just one Parliamentary Secretary as per an Act enacted by the then Sheila Dikshit government. (Reopens DES 46) Government officials said after President Pranab Mukherjee withheld his assent to the Bill that wants to give immunity by excluding the post of parliamentary secretary from the office of profit, it is certain the 21 MLAs will face disqualification under the People's Representatives Act by the Election Commission. "The Election Commission will take the final decision but sooner than later, the 21 MLAs will be disqualified as per Constitution," the official said. According to government officials, the most crucial difference between other states and Delhi government's Act is that there was an Act under which the Parliamentary Secretaries were appointed post the Act was in place. In Delhi, on the day of the appointment of these Secretaries, there was no Act. Delhi government wanted its action to be covered retrospectively which does not happen unless its a Money Bill. Unless it's a Money Bill and the acts enacted by the state assemblies are also getting quashed. This is perhaps the first bill ever in the history of Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi on which the President has withheld his assent. Officials said this has happened as there was no consultations between the AAP government and the central government. The government is expected to scrap in the near future the 5/20 norm that restrict new airlines from flying abroad as there is "massive lobbying" against it, says AirAsia Berhad--a key stakeholder in start up budget carrier AirAsia India. AirAsia's remarks come amid high decibel debate over the continuance of 5/20 norm--whereby only local airlines having at least five years of operational experience and a fleet of minimum 20 aircraft are allowed to fly overseas. Start up carriers AirAsia India, a joint venture between Malaysia's AirAsia Berhad and Tatas, as well as Vistara are seeking removal of the rule whereas established airlines, including Jet Airways, are opposed to its scrapping. "Currently, the airline (AirAsia India) is restricted by the 5/20 ruling which requires airlines to have served the local market five years and operate at least 20 aircraft before they can go international. "However, the ruling is expected to be revoked along with a new National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP) to be introduced in the near future, given massive lobbying against it," AirAsia Berhad said in its 2015 annual report. While the government is yet to take a final call on the fate of 5/20 norm, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju last week virtually disapproved continuance of the rule asking who has benefited from the rule and gave an indication that government was going to scrap it. AirAsia Berhad also said repealing the rule would benefit the entire aviation industry. "Although currently hampered by a 5/20 rule...We are hopeful that this regulation will be repealed in the near future given the widespread benefits it would have on the entire travel and tourism industry," it said. In February, Tata Group Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata had accused older carriers of lobbying and using "monopolistic pressures" to retain preferential treatment under the 5/20 rule. Under this norm, AirAsia India and Vistara--both operated by the Tatas through joint ventures--are ineligible to fly overseas. The annual report said AirAsia India's decision to focus on Tier-II cities in the country was a strategic response to competition in the aviation industry. "This competition is heaviest in the tried and tested 'traditional' routes connecting India's most populated urban metros. By opting to focus on more non-traditional routes, AirAsia India not only escapes from the cluttered sectors but also has the benefit of serving large numbers of rural Indians who are migrating into smaller cities in droves," it added. In the three months ended March 2016, AirAsia India saw its net loss narrow to Rs 7.86 crore as revenue grew significantly to Rs 196 crore. The airline had reported a net loss of Rs 26 crore in the 2015 December quarter and Rs 65 crore in the last September quarter. According to the annual report, the AirAsia brand is proving to weave its magic in India, too, with AirAsia India tripling its capacity and more than quadrupling the number of guests carried in 2015. "We feel very bullish about the potential of AirAsia India given the sheer number of people in the country-1.3 billion and growing-as well as their strong links with ASEAN," it noted. Multi Commodity Exchange of India today said it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Mandsaur University, a UGC recognised private university, in Madhya Pradesh for promoting financial literacy among students. This is the tenth such pact signed by MCX with various educational institutions. The initiative is directed towards imparting education on commodity price risk management and derivatives market, and will foster empowerment of the students through several efforts toward financial-skill development. * * * * * * Piramal Realty launches 2nd phase of Piramal Vaikunth proj * Piramal Realty today said it has launched the second phase of its mixed-use development project Piramal Vaikunth with the two residential towers 'Vahin' and 'Vrisa'. Designed by Chicago-based architectural firm HOK, the project, Piramal Vaikunth, is spread across 32 acres, and will house 14 towers having 2/3 BHK apartments, duplexes and townhouses. "There is a dearth of quality development in the city, and we have seen that there is a lot of potential for a high quality product. This is reflected in the response we received for Phase 1 of Piramal Vaikunth... We expect similar response for the phase 2 as well," Piramal Group Executive Director Anand Piramal said in a statement. * * * * * * Rel Securities may bring 40pc customers under Tick Pro in 1 yr * Reliance Securities, the broking and distribution arm of Reliance Capital which launched the mobile-based options trading application- Tick Pro today, is hopeful of bringing around 40 per cent of its already existing 8,00,000 customers under the app's fold within one year. "We are witnessing 2,500 downloads of the app Tick Pro so far since its soft launch a month ago. Now we are hopeful of bringing 30-40 per cent of our existing customers numbering 8,00,000 under the app's fold over 12-18 months," Reliance Securities chief executive B Gopkumar told reporters while launching the app today. "Around 5-6,000 trades are already taking place through the platform as of now," he added. * * * * * * SBI Card upgrades mobile app with more features * SBI Card has upgraded mobile application features adding balance transfer, encash, easy money and flexipay services across all major phone platforms. The refreshed app will enable SBI Card customers to access information and avail services for their credit card account on the go, SBI Card said today. "SBI Card Mobile App 3.0.0, will offer users all the features of the previous version, with additional features such as balance transfer, encash, easy money and flexipay that can be accessed by the customers anywhere, at any time," it said in a release. The new app will be available to customers across all major mobile phone platforms such as Android, iOS and Windows. iRobot launches vacuuming robot in India for Rs 69,900 * Betting big on the Indian market, US-based iRobot has launched its premium vacuuming robot 'Roombaa 980' in the country for Rs 69,900. IRobot entered the Indian market last year in an exclusive partnership with Puresight Systems and already sells a few of its vacuuming robots and floor mopping robots here. "Given changing lifestyles, Indian consumers are constantly looking for convenient solutions to improve their quality of life. This robot will change the way we view floor cleaning and revolutionise home cleaning," Puresight Systems spokesperson Ayesha Khan said. She added that currently there are two iRobot experience centres in Bengaluru, which will be expanded to other major cities in the next 12-24 months. * * * * * * HCL Tech bags IT deal from Australian energy retailer * HCL Technologies today said it has won a contract to provide application management services for Western Australia's energy provider, Synergy. Under the contract, HCL will transform and support the organisation's digital and business applications landscape, it said in a statement. No financial details were disclosed. A total of 85 applications will be transitioned, consolidated and optimised by HCL to deliver ongoing support for mission-critical bespoke energy and utilities applications in a flexible "as a service" model, it added. * * * * * Canara HSBC OBC Life launches 'Smart Junior Plan' * Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance Company today introduced a new plan targeted at covering education expenses of children and providing them protection. 'Smart Junior Plan' aims to meet future needs of a child's education and also to protect, in case of an unfortunate incident like death of the parent, through guaranteed annual payouts. "Smart Junior Plan is one of the most dominant needs of every young parent. They would like to protect their child education and future growth. There is really no better gift you can give your child, than the promise of a secure future with plans that encompass child insurance plans and education policies. "This helps in systematic savings and also covers increasing education costs of children," the company's Chief Executive Officer, Anuj Mathur said in a release issued in Mumbai. Vision Zero Conference on occupational safety begins tomorrow * A three-day international conference on 'Vision Zero' and occupational safety and health will begin in the capital tomorrow. 'Vision Zero' is a philosophy that says nobody should be injured due to an accident. The conference is being organised by the Directorate General Factory Advice and Labour Institutes (DGFASLI) and German Social Accident Insurance (DGUV) in association with International Social Security Association - Manufacturing, Construction and Mining, the Labour Ministry said in a statement. The conference will provide a forum for promoting safety and health at work by exchanging knowledge, practices and experience. According to the statement, the concept of 'Vision Zero' is fast gaining international acceptance and is expected to leverage the efforts of the government to raise the occupational safety and health standards in the country. ***** RMC Switchgears lists on BSE SME platform; total reaches 166 * RMC Switchgears got listed on the BSE's small and medium enterprises (SME) platform today, taking the total number of such companies to 166. Jaipur-based RMC Switchgears came out with an initial public offering of 15.36 lakh equity shares to raise Rs 4.15 crore. The firm completed its public issue on March 3. With this, the total number of companies listed on BSE's SME platform has reached 166. Out of these, 24 have migrated to the BSE's main board. The total amount of money raised so far on the BSE SME platform is a little over Rs 1,292 crore and the market capitalisation of companies listed till date is Rs 17,370 crore. BSE had launched the SME platform in March 2012 to provide opportunity to such firms to raise capital for growth and expansion. It also provides opportunity for investors to identify and invest in good SMEs at an early stage. Police killed eight gunmen who attacked them on a road in northern Mexico and they seized six high-caliber rifles and a grenade launcher after the shootout, authorities said. The federal officers were on patrol on a road in the town of San Fernando, in the violence-plagued state of Tamaulipas, when armed civilians arrived in two pick-up trucks and opened fire, a regional security task force said in a statement. "While repelling the attack in self-defense, the federal police killed eight assailants," the Tamaulipas Coordination Group said in a statement, adding that the gunmen have yet to be identified. A police car was left with several bullet holes but none of the officers were hurt. The six rifles and grenade launchers were found in the two pickups along with cartridges of various calibers and a smaller gun. San Fernando is known as the municipality where 72 migrants, most from Central America, were slaughtered by the Zetas drug cartel in August 2010. Tamaulipas, which borders the US state of Texas, is among the most violent in Mexico, with the Gulf cartel also wreaking havoc in the region. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US provided an "important opportunity" to assess how the partnership can help address global challenges and unleash opportunity in the economic and trade space, a top Obama administration official said. "There was a tremendous amount of support and goodwill and his words resonated in many many different audiences around town," Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Nisha Desai Biswal told Press Trust of India on the sidelines of an event here on Tuesday. Following Modi's visit to Washington from June 6-8, Biswal had described the vision laid out by the Indian leader during his address to the US Congress as the 'Modi Doctrine'. Biswal, in the city to speak at the launch of the Sri Lanka Policy Forum, said Modi doctrine was "a way of framing what I thought was an important vision" that the Prime Minister put forward in his speech to the US Congress. "It's a recognition that both President (Barack) Obama and Prime Minister Modi said that we are each other's best partners in an important defining relationship, not only because of what wecan do for our own peoples through our partnership but because of the way we can really advance global concerns, address challenges and create betterment around the world." She said Modi's visit was an "important opportunity" to talk about that kind of partnership and to best look at the "challenges that we see", including the challenges across the Indo-Pacific, climate change and "how we can move together to address them as well as unleash opportunity on the economic and trade space and in many other endeavors between our two countries." Earlier speaking during the session hosted by The Program on Peace-building and Human Rights at Columbia University's Institute for the Study of Human Rights and the Association of War Affected Women, Biswal said Sri Lanka is making progress but a lot more still needs to be done. She cited the progress made in establishing the office of missing persons and the current government has welcomed and encouraged the visit of UN special Rapporteurs to help provide technical support, expertise and best practices that can help shape the government's views on reconciliation and accountability. She said the US stood "very firmly" on the need for respect for human rights and the need for a process of accountability and reconciliation in Sri Lanka. "While we are thankful that the days of the conflict our behind us, the effort to move forward on reconciliation is really truly only just beginning," she said. She said the Sri Lankan government that came into power in January 2015 has taken "some very encouraging steps" with respect to the efforts to return land to its rightful owners and effort to "give closure" to so many families whose loved ones are still unaccounted for and to "seek justice and accountability for the perpetrators of worst times of the conflict." She said the reconciliation process is at its beginning and the "hardest work" is still ahead but the country is not alone in this journey and the US stands ready to support Lanka. With ruling SAD and AAP attacking Congress over Kamal Nath's appointment as the general secretary in-charge of Punjab, PCC chief Amarinder Singh today said the move will not "adversely impact" party's prospects in the Assembly elections next year. The Lok Sabha MP from Amritsar also said it is not a "historic blunder at all" while accusing Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Aam Admi Party (AAP) of playing politics on the matter by raking up the issue of 1984 anti-Sikh riots. The former Punjab chief minister also dismissed opposition parties' allegations against the senior Congress leader, saying he is an "innocent" man. "These (allegations against Nath that he was involved in the 1984 riots) are all politics...It is being played up politically and it is very unfair that they are trying to tarnish his (Nath's) image," Amarinder said. "These are lies and total lies. Kamal Nath was not involved in anything," he said. AAP and SAD yesterday criticised Congress for appointing Nath with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal terming it as "the ultimate insult to Sikhs". Hitting out at Congress, H S Phoolka, an advocate fighting for the victims of the 1984 riots, had said by appointing Nath, Congress had tried to rub salt into wounds of the victims. Asked whether Nath's appointment will hurt the party's prospects in forthcoming elections, Amarinder asked, "why will it happen." "There will be no effect. Opposition parties are just making noise over this issue," he said. "Everyone makes perception (about any person) because of politics. I do not think when a person who has not having anything to do..Will you throw out someone because of some perception...This is no solution, we will have to stand up for what is right and this man is innocent and I believe him he is innocent," Amarinder said. On the opposition calling the appointment as the party's "historic blunder", Amarinder said, "I don't think it's a historic blunder at all. He is a nine-time MP and has been sent to look after here. (Reopens DES28) When asked whether Congress does not have any other leader to appoint as in-charge, the PCC chief said, "It is the decision of the party high command." "He has been appointed by Congress high-command and we accept him as general secretary," he said. Defending Nath, Amarinder said nobody took his name when he was meeting victims from November 1 till November 4 in 1984 in Delhi. "Nobody took his name in 22 years. Mishra Commission never summoned him. This issue came up when two people Mukhtiar Singh and Ajaib Singh were brought by H S Phoolka," he said. Amarinder said Sheila Dikshit was elected as Chief Minister of Delhi when Nath was general secretary of the party. The entire Sikh community had then voted for Congress, he said. "When nobody in Delhi was bothered then why these Opposition parties are unnecessarily raising this issue," he asked. He also took a dig at Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, saying "he should know that he had good relations with Kamal Nath". "He had even praised him in 2010. And now he is criticising him. This is all politics," Amarinder said. Referring to allegations levelled by AAP, he said, "At that time, most of AAP leaders were not even born. How could they make allegations now?" On the issue of President holding assent to a bill that protects 21 AAP MLAs, Amarinder said these legislators were not redundant and there should be by-elections. "What President did he might have taken legal opinion on what he rejected. It means AAP MLAs are now redundant. There will be by election. If by-elections takes place, they will know where they stand," he said. On the "Udta Punjab" issue, Amarinder said that reality should be shown to the generation. "This is the truth. This is the reality which has to be shown. 78 per cent of Punjabi boys and girls are on drugs. 'Udta Punjab' is showing 'Ud Gya' Punjab. Already one generation has been destroyed. Let Punjab's new generation see what is happening here," he said. On the Centre-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) to re-investigate around 75 cases of anti-Sikh riots, Amarinder said that he welcomed this move and demanded the 44 cases registered against RSS workers which were registered in Tilak Nagar should also be reopened for investigation. Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today met Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and discussed the possibility of extension the Vizag-Chennai Industrial Corridor (VCIC) in that state. Sitharaman also requested her to appoint an officer to take care of the issues of export-oriented industries in the state with a view to promoting trade. "I spoke about extending the (VCIC) down south to Tuticorin and also offered that it can be extended westward till Colachel," the commerce and industry minister told reporters after her meeting. Sitharaman said that the Chief Minister accepted the suggestion and stated that she would send a team to the commerce and industry ministry to discuss the matter. When asked whether she discussed about the Goods and Services Tax (GST), Sitharaman said there was no discussion on that. But she added that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has stated that he would contact every political party to seek their support for GST and "I am sure AIADMK and the Tamil Nadu chief minister will also be contacted by the Finance Minister". On a question if BJP is aligning with AIADMK, she said: "we work together with all the states. So we will work together with Tamil Nadu also". The VCIC will be India's first coastal economic corridor. Spanning over more than 800 kilometers of India's eastern coastline, the VCIC is part of India's East Coast Economic Corridor. ADB is helping in drawing up a master plan for this. Later in a series of tweets, Sitharaman said that she also discussed developing a dedicated logistical hub in Tamil Nadu to boost the port-based ecosystem under Sagarmala project. She also requested the Chief Minister to appoint a nodal officer to work with the commerce and industry minister to improve export performance of the state. Union Minister on Tuesday said there was no confrontation between the judiciary and the government. Speaking about Congress, the senior cabinet minister said that Congress chief Sonia Gandhi was an "able" leader, but she "lacked confidence". "There is no confrontation between the judiciary and government. We got the mandate and are functioning according to it. We do our work according to our mandate," Naidu said, speaking to reporters here. He was replying to a question about reports that the Supreme Court collegium had turned down several suggestions of the Union government including that about introduction of 'Merit-cum-Seniority' as the criterion for judges' elevation. About the Delhi government's bill to exclude the post of Parliamentary Secretary from the definition of office of profit which has been refused assent by the President, Naidu said the bill was unconstitutional. "Now it seems that (Delhi Chief Minister) Kejriwal has realised it," he said. When asked about reports that similar appointments were also made in the BJP-ruled Chhattisgarh, the Union Urban Development Minister said such appointments were against the Constitution. Talking about Congress, Naidu said it was shrinking and weakening with every passing day, and witnessing a massive exodus. "It is losing public base. Congress's approach is negative inside the Parliament and in public," he added. Congress President Sonia Gandhi was "a good and able leader, but lacks confidence," he remarked. After former Revenue Minister Eknath Khadse, allegations of land grab have surfaced against another BJP leader and state minister Girish Mahajan, with Congress today accusing him of "forcibly" acquiring land in Jalgaon district in 2002 under the pretext of setting up a sugar mill. Congress also alleged that the Water Conservation Minister purposefully kept the "illegal" land deal under wraps and did not disclose it in his electoral affidavits. The party threatened to approach court against Mahajan, seeking his disqualification as an MLA for "concealing the details of his land ownership from election affidavits in subsequent Assembly elections (after 2002)". Meanwhile, the NCP said Mahajan has "no moral or legal right to continue as minister after a series of misappropriations". Addressing reporters here, MPCC spokesperson Sachin Sawant alleged that "in 2002, Mahajan, along with Khadse, forcibly and illegally acquired around 5 acres of land at Mangaon village in Bhusawal taluka in Jalgaon district under the garb of starting a cooperative sugar mill, which never came up". The Congress leader alleged the land deal was executed without taking permission from the then government. "If he (Mahajan) wanted to start a sugar mill, why was the land transferred in his name? On top of it, this is 'Mahar vatan' land, which cannot be transferred without the government's permission, which in this case was not taken," Sawant alleged. 'Watan' lands are 'inam' (gift from a ruler to a subject) for service. The term is generally used in a wider sense to denote any alienation in land with or without service. NCP MLC Kiran Pawaskar said the Congress should instead move court against Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for "shielding" Mahajan. "This is not the first time Mahajan has been accused of indulging in wrongdoings. Firstly, he has violated his oath that he took before becoming a minister by keeping illegal property in his name. Also, he is a habitual offender. There was no action taken against him when he had once carried a revolver while visiting students in school," he said. Pawaskar said that Mahajan has no right to continue as minister. "Such a person has no right to be a minister. Either the CM takes immediate action against him or the Congress, instead of approaching the court against Mahajan, should instead do so against Fadnavis for shielding and not taking action against his errant minister," Pawaskar said. When contacted for his reaction, Mahajan merely said that he could not recall clearly whether he had purchased any such land. Khadse had resigned recently over allegations of graft and conflict of interest in the purchase of land in Pune district in name of his kin. The Obama Administration is concerned about the threat posed by lone wolves, the White House said while appealing to Americans to be vigilant, a day after a self-radicalised Afghan-origin youth killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando. "This (lone wolves) is obviously something that the President and his national security team are quite concerned about," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters at his daily conference yesterday. "The President, I believe on a number of occasions, has noted that the most challenging threat facing our counterterrorism and homeland security officials is disruptive to the activities of a lone wolf," he said. "By definition, this (a lone wolf) is an individual that isn't communicating with too many other people. And it's hard to get a sense of exactly what they may have planned," he said in response to a question on lone wolves. The FBI has been following up and pursuing investigations of crimes that are committed by a lone wolf, he said. "That they often find, when they're interviewing people, that people think to themselves -- people express regret that they didn't share something sooner about something that they saw or happened to overhear or otherwise notice," he said. "We certainly want people to be vigilant. This is a very significant challenge, and there's no one on the President's team that would downplay it," Earnest said. Former secretary of state and presumptive presidential nominee of the Democratic party Hillary Clinton also made reference to the lone wolf threat in her speech in Cleveland, Ohio, saying that if elected in the November elections, her top priority would be "identifying and stopping lone wolves". "Efforts to defeat ISIS on the battlefield must succeed. But it will take more than that. We have to be just as adaptable and versatile as our enemies. As president, I will make identifying and stopping lone wolves a top priority," she said. Earnest said that over the last couple of years, a lot of resources have been dedicated to countering violent extremism. The President has mandated to mobilise resources across the federal government and worked closely with state and local governments to combat violent extremism. The most effective way to rebut the radicalising messaging from extremist organisations is to have other individuals with legitimacy in the community stand up and speak out against individuals who are seeking to propagate a radical ideology, he argued. His comments came in the wake of Orlando shooting involving the shooter Omar Mateen, identified as a home grown terrorist who was radicalised over the internet. As many as 49 people were killed and 53 others injured in America's worst mass shooting. (Reopens FGN22) Earnest added: "The other thing that the US government has been able to work effectively to do is to partner with technology companies, social media companies and make it harder for those with bad intentions to use social media outlets to inspire people to carry out acts of violence." Many technology companies have shown in working with the federal government to prevent the tools that they created to promote freedom and communication and openness from being used to inspire people to carry out acts of violence, Earnest said. At the same time, he expressed disappointment that the Republican-controlled Congress underfunded the countering violent extremist efforts. "There is a role for Congress to play, and thus far we have not seen enough members of Congress, principally Republicans, step up to the plate and fulfill their responsibility to keep the country safe," he said. Clinton said the Orlando shooter was a "mad man" filled with hatred. "On Sunday, Americans woke up to a nightmare that's become mind numbingly familiar. Another act of terrorism in a place no one expected. A madman filled with hate, with guns in his hands, and just a horrible sense of vengeance and vindictiveness in his heart, apparently consumed by rage against LGBT Americans, and by extension, the openness and diversity that defines our American way of life. "Whatever we learn about this killer, his motives in the days ahead, we know already the barbarity that we face from radical jihadists is profound," she said in Cleveland, to host the Republican convention in July that would formally nominate Donald Trump as the party's presidential nominee. Clinton said if elected, she will put a team together from across the government, the entire government, as well as the private sector and communities to get on top of this urgent challenge. "And I will make sure our law enforcement and intelligence professionals have all the resources they need to get the job done. We and our allies must work hand-in-hand to dismantle the networks that move money, and propaganda, and arms and fighters around the world," she said. Clinton said in the Middle East, the ISIS is attempting a genocide of religious and ethnic minorities. They are slaughtering Muslims who refuse to accept their medieval ways. They are beheading civilians, including executing LGBT people. They are murdering Americans and Europeans, enslaving, torturing and raping women and girls, she said. Clinton said the threat from ISIS is metastasizing. "We saw this in Paris. And we saw it in Brussels. We face a twisted ideology and poisoned psychology that inspires the so-called lone wolves, radicalised individuals who may or may not have contact and direction from any formal organisation," she said. Clinton also suggested that anyone under FBI investigation should not be allowed to buy gun. Oil Minister will visit St Petersburg this week to discuss energy ties with Russia, a country that has been top oil and gas investment destination for Indian firms. Pradhan will visit Russia from June 16-17 to participate in the St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), which will discuss pressing issues facing Russia and the world, an official statement said here. "During his visit to St Petersburg, Pradhan will be meeting his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak and CEOs of (Russian firms) Rosneft, Gazprom, Gazpromneft, Lukoil and Novatek," it said. He will also participate in a panel discussion on the subject 'New Global Petroleum Market Realities'. "The visit will provide an opportunity to discuss bilateral relations particularly in the field of hydrocarbon sector between India and Russia," the statement said. "Both the countries enjoy a Special Privileged Strategic Partnership and cooperation in the field of hydrocarbon sector which is one of the key areas of this time tested partnership," it added. During the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Moscow in December last year, both countries had agreed to further enhance cooperation in the oil and gas sector. As a fallout, ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) and Rosneft completed all formalities for acquisition of 15% stake by OVL in Vankorneft, which is a subsidiary of Rosneft. The deal is another effort in augmenting oil security for the country. Pradhan will be accompanied by senior officials from his Ministry and executives of public sector oil and gas companies. An Islamic religious body in Pakistan today declared that killing of women in the name of "honour" is un-Islamic, days after 40 influential clerics issued a fatwa against honour-killing. "There are laws in the country to deal with the obscenity and other moral crimes so one cannot kill other in the name of honour," Conservative Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) said in a statement. The CII's statement came after several cases of killing of women by close relatives for marrying against the wishes of their family. The Islamic body enjoys constitutional status in Pakistan and gives non-binding proposals to Parliament to make laws according to Islam. It said, "Provocation after witnessing a moral sin by a close relative is an element of human nature but there is no room to kill someone after being provoked, as punishments for the same exist in the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and the Sharia." "Every accused should be brought before the court," it said. The Islamic body further said that only courts can punish a person or excuse an accused in a case of honour killing, and asked the government to implement the laws. At least 40 clerics of the Barelvi school of thought in Pakistan on June 12 issued a fatwa against honour killing, declaring it 'un-Islamic and unpardonable sin'. The clerics under the banner of Sunni Itehad Council (SIC) said that honour killing is kufr (infidelity). At least 1,100 women were killed in the name of honour in Pakistan last year by their relatives on the pretext of defending what is seen as family honour. Earlier, the CII came under heavy criticism for recommending in a new women protection bill that a husband can 'lightly' beat his wife. Pakistan today stepped up its efforts to drum up support for its bid to become a member of NSG, with its top diplomat dialling foreign ministers of Austria and Turkey. Foreign Office said that Pakistan was continuing with diplomatic efforts to muster support for its candidacy of the 48-members elite grouping. The Prime Minister's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz today made telephone calls to Foreign Minister of Austria Sebastian Kurz and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. "The Adviser underscored Pakistan's credentials for NSG membership and emphasized the importance of non-discriminatory approach on NSG expansion to non-NPT states," it said. Pakistan increased efforts to garner diplomatic support after US President Barack Obama endorsed Indian bid for NSG membership. Aziz has already said Pakistan was sure to get membership on merit if the gates of NSG were opened for India. He recently spoke with Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentilioni, New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully and Foreign Minister of Republic of Korea Yun Byung-se to seek their support. Aziz had earlier spoke over telephone with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the issue. A senior Pakistan army officer today succumbed to his injuries, a day after he was wounded in an exchange of fire with the Afghan forces over the contentious fencing issue at north-western Torkham border crossing. Major Jawad Chengazi succumbed to his injures at Combined Military Hospital (CMH), the army said. Changezi was injured yesterday. He is the third fatality from the artillery exchanges. Two Afghan policemen were killed and nine others wounded in gunfights since Sunday. On Pakistani side, 18 people, many of them civilians, were wounded. Pakistan yesterday summoned a top Afghan diplomat after security forces of the two countries exchanged gunfire over the contentious fencing issue at the border crossing. Pakistan alleged that "unprovoked" firing was started by Afghanistan's security forces when construction work began on a new gate on the Pakistani side. Last month, the border crossing was sealed for several days over the construction of the gate, causing hardships to thousands of people who cross it every day. Afghan government does not recognise the border, which is also known as Durand Line, and it opposes permanent structure. Larossi Abballa, whose brutal stabbing of a French police couple was claimed by the Islamic State group, told friends of his "thirst for blood" as long as five years ago. Previously known only for petty crime such as theft, he was arrested in 2011 on suspicion of having ties with Mohamed Niaz Abdul Rassed, an Indian national considered the instigator of the jihadist cell. Though his phones had been tapped since February as part of a probe into jihadists heading for Syria, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said there was no evidence he was planning Monday's attack. Hailing from Mantes-la-Jolie some 60 kilometres (35 miles) west of Paris, Abballa -- who wore his hair long but with a short beard -- had recently launched a halal sandwich company called Docteur Food. But police had been aware of his desire to carry out attacks in France since his arrest in May 2011 when he was around 20. At the time, police found an appointment book at his parents' home containing a list of police stations, mosques and tourist sites in his area, seen as potential targets for attack. "Have to start the work. I'm thirsty for blood," he had written to a friend, investigators say. "He seemed very motivated by the idea of waging jihad," a fellow member of the cell told investigators, describing him as "bizarre" and "mysterious". Text messages with other cell members left little doubt about his intentions, with one source close to the investigation saying he seemed "determined to commit violent acts in France". (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Participation of officers in the 3-day state-level yoga training programme that concluded today was not compulsory, senior Haryana Minister Anil Vij said, a day after Chief Secretary's communication asking top bureaucrats to turn up for the event which had led to unease in the officialdom. "As far as this programme in Panchkula was concerned, this was just to give knowledge of Yoga and also to make everyone familiar in protocol of the programme, which will be organised on June 21 in Chandigarh. "This was a government programme, not a RSS programme. The Ayush Department organised this. No party was organising this. I do agree that many officers attended it, but there was no compulsion," Vij told reporters. He said the Chief Secretary's communication "was only for information of the officers". He was asked to comment on the letter sent to 21 Additional Chief Secretaries and 15 Principal Secretaries yesterday from the office of Director, AYUSH, Haryana, on behalf of the Chief Secretary D S Dhesi, which stated that he had desired that these officers are expected to join the Yoga training camp conducted by Haryana's brand ambassador for promotion of Yoga and Ayurveda, Ramdev, in Panchkula. "We have specifically organised this programme for MLAs, Ministers, MPs, IPS, IAS officers, Judges, High Court Bar Association, and others, but there was no compulsion to attend," Vij stated. "This was not an RSS programme. This was part of a national programme, rather international level programme (Yoga Day function on June 21). We are proud that this year, the International Yoga Day programme on June 21 is being celebrated in State capital Chandigarh. The programme which was organised for three days in Panchkula was also part of it," the state Health Minister said. After the Chief Secretary's communication, some senior officers reportedly had said on condition of anonymity that they had been reduced to "RSS stooges" and were being forced to attend Yoga training classes at 5 in the morning. One officer had reportedly said that they were not there to forward the agenda of any particular party and they were serving the Union Government. Vij said even today many senior officers attended the Yoga camp in Panchkula, where Yoga Guru Ramdev and Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar were present. "Besides the Chief Secretary, senior bureaucrats including Ram Niwas, Dheera Khandelwal and P K Mahapatra were there," the minister said. Many Ministers, Chief Parliamentary Secretaries, MLAs and others attended the Yoga camp in Panchkula, which concluded today. The Prime Minister himself would perform Yoga with more than 31,000 participants at Capitol Complex, Chandigarh on June 21, Vij said, adding as many as 10,500 participants from Haryana would participate in the programme. Indian office workers are more positive and flexible compared to those surveyed in the US and the UK and half of them would choose to move to their 'ideal' job, even for less pay, says a survey. Interestingly, the Indian lot love their job so much that a whopping 98 per cent confirmed that they would keep working even if they win the lottery, as per Adobe's report titled 'Work in Progress'. Around 83 per cent of Indian office workers love their jobs and access to cutting-edge technology emerged as the top contributor to their overall satisfaction, above perks like food and slick office design. Moreover, pay isn't everything for Indian employees. Nearly half of the Indian workers would choose to move to their 'ideal' job, even for less pay, said the report, which surveyed more than 500 Indian office workers who use computers daily as part of their jobs, on their attitudes about work and the future of technology in the workplace. According to the report, "Moonlighting" has become mainstream with more than one in two workers in India holding one or more jobs in addition to their primary profession. Those that report holding an additional job, say gaining new skills (other than additional income) is the primary reason to moonlight in India. Around 68 per cent of the Indian respondents predict that multiple jobs will be the norm in the future. According to Abdul Jaleel Vice President, People Resources India Adobe, employee expectations and priorities in India are evolving dramatically, largely owing to rapid influx of millennials into the workforce, changing work-life pattern, and rising employee aspirations. "In addition to offering fun perks, employers should also focus on ensuring their people have access to technology that helps them be more productive. In turn, this inspires employees and makes them feel appreciated," Jaleel said. He added that investing in employee motivation provides great returns in the form of a happy and creative workforce and goes a long way in attracting and retaining top talent. Respondents say that technology, more than other flashier perks, is the most important factor in keeping them happy at work (89 percent). Access to state-of-the-art technology that helps people get their jobs done ranks slightly higher than access to food and beverages (87 percent), a beautiful office design (86 percent) and on-site amenities (73 percent).93 percent of Indian office workers believe that technology makes them more productive. Employees who said their company's technology is 'ahead of the curve' feel more creative, motivated and valued than those who say their company is 'behind the times.' Yet only 30 percent employers are viewed as 'ahead of the curve' when it comes to technology. "With a changing work-life pattern, rapid influx of millennials into the workforce, and rising employee aspirations, workforce expectations and priorities in India are evolving dramatically. In addition to offering fun perks, employers should also focus on ensuring their people have access to technology that helps them be more productive. In turn, this inspires employees and makes them feel appreciated," said Abdul Jaleel, Vice President, People Resources India, Adobe. "We have seen that investing in employee motivation provides great returns in the form of a happy and creative workforce and goes a long way in attracting and retaining top talent." Highlights of findings from Indian respondents include: Tech is the new perk - Almost all respondents (91%) said that technology that helps them connect to colleagues more efficiently is an important part of their ideal workspace. - Similarly, workers believe that technology makes them more productive (93%), improves work-life balance (83%) and makes their workday better and easier (91%). - Workers predict that over half (61%) of the menial office tasks will be done by a machine or technology in the next 20 years. No really, people love to work - Almost three-quarters (74%) of the respondents said they would rather work long hours doing the work they love, than shorter hours doing work they don't enjoy. - 84% of waking hours on a workday are spent actively working or thinking about work, and 63% of waking hours on a typical day off are spent working or thinking about work. - The survey indicates that Indian workers are very invested in their work life. A large majority (85%) said that work defines who they are. - While the need for money to support themselves (86%) and their lifestyles (77%) plays a major role in why they work, workers also consider recognition of their success very important (80%). Making an impact on their society or community was also a very significant factor (67%). In search of the ideal job - A majority of Indian workers (68%) predict that most people will have multiple jobs in the future. - Other than money, gaining new skills is the number one reason moonlighters in India have a second job. However, moonlighters are more likely to be overwhelmed (47%) and disconnected (16%) than non-moonlighters (39% and 8%, respectively). - 68% of Indian office workers say they're likely to leave their job for a new opportunity, and even among the respondents who say they love their job, well over half of them (65%) would make the switch. For more information and graphics on the research results, see the blog http://blogs.Adobe.Com/conversations/2016/05/five-workplace-my ths-busted.Html], infographic [https://we.Tl/QADAk2d44E ] and the report [http://www.Adobe.Com/content/dam/acom/en/aboutadobe/pdfs/Futu re-of-Work-2016.Pdf] . Reeva Steenkamp's father broke down in court on Tuesday as he told a dramatic sentencing hearing that Oscar Pistorius must "pay for his crime" of murdering his daughter three years ago. The Paralympic athlete killed Reeva Steenkamp in the early hours of Valentine's Day in 2013, saying he mistook her for a burglar when he fired four times through the door of his bedroom toilet. In March, Pistorius's lawyers failed to reverse an appeal judgement that upgraded his original conviction from culpable homicide -- the equivalent of manslaughter -- to murder. "It has been very difficult for me to forgive... I feel that Oscar has to pay for what he did. He has to pay for his crime," Barry Steenkamp, 73, said shaking with emotion and in tears. Reliving how his daughter, 29, died, Steenkamp said: "What she must have gone through in those split seconds -- she must have been in so much fear and pain. That is what I think of, all the time. It must have been absolutely awful." He also said that he believed the couple had argued on the night of the murder -- disputing Pistorius's claims. Pistorius held his head in his hands and appeared to be sobbing during the testimony at the High Court in the South African capital Pretoria. Barry Steenkamp, a former racehorse trainer, described the chaos and panic when his wife June rang him at work early in the morning after Reeva, a model and law graduate, was shot. "June grieves like I do, all the time. I hear her at night, I hear her crying, I hear her talking to Reeva," he added, saying that June had tried to forgive Pistorius to help her cope with the loss of her daughter. You must still understand that he must pay for that, although June has forgiven," he said. The original trial judge Thokozile Masipa is due to hand down a new sentence for murder after arguments from both prosecution and defence. The hearing -- held in the same courtroom as the original trial -- is scheduled to last until Friday. Pistorius faces a minimum 15-year jail term for murder, but his sentence could be reduced due to time already spent in prison and mitigating factors, including his disability. He was released from jail last October to live under house arrest at his uncle's mansion in Pretoria after serving one year of his five-year sentence for culpable homicide. Earlier Tuesday, the mother of a disabled child and Pistorius's pastor gave evidence as character witnesses for his defence. Ebba Gudmundsdottir, from Iceland, told how Pistorius had befriended her family when she was pregnant with a child who would be born without legs. "He gave us his phone number for us to ask him or consult with him anytime we needed it, which we did and that was lovely," she told the court. Gudmundsdottir said Pistorius has been an "inspiration" to her son, and they had gone to see him compete three times in the Paralympics. Pistorius once gave her son a gold medal and said "This is for you champion". Marius Nel, Pistorius's pastor, told the court that Pistorius was "very excited and positive" about becoming involved in the church's education projects. Another witness, prison nurse Charlotte Mashabane, alleged that Pistorius had been a difficult inmate and had argued with officials, shouting and banging her desk in a dispute over medication. Barry Roux, defence lawyer, accused her of giving contradictory evidence and exaggerating his behaviour due to a personality clash. Pistorius has always denied killing Steenkamp in a rage and, during his seven-month trial in 2014, vomited in the dock as details of his lover's death were examined in excruciating detail. The year before he killed Steenkamp, Pistorius became the first double-amputee to race at Olympic level when he appeared at the London 2012 games. The Supreme Court today once again refused to grant urgent hearing to a plea of former MP Umakant Yadav seeking suspension of his conviction and a seven year sentence in a forgery case to enable him contest the upcoming assembly elections in the Uttar Pradesh in 2017. The plea was mentioned before a vacation bench comprising Justices A K Goel and L Nageswara Rao, which said there was no urgency in the matter which can be taken up in due course. On June 2, the same plea was mentioned before another vacation bench which had also refused to accord an urgent hearing. Advocate Dushyant Prashar, appearing for Yadav who has also been three times MLA of Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) from Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh, said he has been a former MP and legislator and if his conviction and sentence are not suspended till the pendency of appeals, he may not be able to contest the upcoming polls. "There is no urgency in the matter. There are several convicted people out there," the bench said, adding that the matter will be taken up in due course. Yadav, who is out on bail since 2013, was awarded a seven year jail term in 2012 in a forgery case. In 2006, Yadav had got a plot of land registered in his name at Daulatpur Pilkicha village of Jaunpur district by allegedly misrepresenting before the registering authority. Yadav had approached the apex court after the trial court and the Allahabad High Court rejected his plea for suspension of conviction and sentence in the case. In his plea before the apex court, Yadav said that out of seven years of punishment granted by the trial court, he has already undergone the sentence of six years and two months. "Specific consequence that would follow from non- suspension of the sentence would be that the petitioner being a political leader, who has been elected thrice as Member of Legislative Assembly and was also a Member of Parliament once and the petitioner is prospective nominee for the upcoming election of Legislative Assembly in the state of UP, would not be allowed to contest the upcoming elections", his plea said. He sought stay of the operation of the judgement of the trial court and suspension of the sentence and conviction in the case. The search for a man charged in the deaths of his wife and four daughters in the US ended in the hills of a northern Mexico town where authorities said the suspect threatened to take his life as officers closed in on him. Juan David Villegas-Hernandez was taken into custody by Sonora state police on Sunday a day after police in Roswell, New Mexico, said the 34-year-old shot and killed his wife, Cynthia Villegas, and their four daughters ages 14, 11, 7 and 3. The mother, who also was 34, was a well-respected employee of the Eastern New Mexico Medical Center, said Roswell Mayor Dennis Kintigh, who spoke with the CEO of the hospital on Sunday. "This rippled through town quickly," he said. "Candidly, it's hard to get your mind around the deaths of small children. It's hard for law enforcement; it's hard for family members and the whole community." He described Roswell, a desert town in southern New Mexico, as a community that can often feel isolated from much of the rest of the state. It's home to about 50,000 people. Records show that nearly 10 years ago the Villegas purchased their home in Roswell, where the shooting happened. Before that, it appeared Villegas-Hernandez had lived in Sierra Vista, Arizona. He is originally from Arizpe, a city in the Mexican state of Sonora where he was arrested. It lies southeast of the border crossing nearest Nogales, Arizona. Villegas-Hernandez has dual citizenship in the United States and Mexico, which means he can't be deported and is subject to Mexico's often-lengthy extradition process, said Victor Felix, of Sonora state police. Roswell police haven't released a possible motive for the killings. But according to court documents obtained yesterday by the Albuquerque Journal, Cynthia Villegas had just asked her husband for a divorce. The newspaper said a criminal complaint filed in Chaves County Magistrate Court showed a struggling marriage an unhappy and unemployed husband worried about infidelity and a wife in fear of a man who had allegedly become controlling and threatening. During his years in Roswell, however, Villegas-Hernandez had little if any contact with police, said Todd Wildermuth, a spokesman for Roswell police. Authorities had launched a search for the suspect early Sunday after relatives who stopped at the family's house late Saturday called authorities. One of the relatives saw the body of a victim through a partially open window. Pontoon bridges, sluice gates and airships will be deployed to plug the riverine and vulnerable frontier patches along the 60-km stretch on the Indo-Bangla border in Assam with government hoping to completely seal it by June next year. With the help of high-resolution cameras, a stricter vigil will be kept on the porous border that is perenially used for infiltration and smuggling of cattle and drugs, officials privy to the development said today. The Border Security Force has constituted a team of senior officials to accomplish the target by involving officials from the Assam government and those from premier technology institutions like IITs. As per a blueprint prepared in this regard, a total of 60.7-km long Indo-Bangla International Border (IB) in Assam is to be plugged by deploying smart technology and non-physical barriers. Hence, in riverine areas pontoon bridges are proposed to be laid so that BSF personnel can patrol and make 'morchas' (observation posts) atop them to monitor any movement along the border where rivers and rivulets run. Of the 284-km Indo-Bangla border that falls in Assam, about 224-km is fenced. India shares a 4,096-km frontier with Bangladesh on the eastern flank. Also, it is proposed to build over two dozen sluice gates on the rivers, including in Dhubri area, so that the flow of water can be controlled and regulated and the phenomenon of Brahmaputra river 'changing its course' during monsoons checked. Officials said the border guarding force can also create some permanent watch towers in the area marked by dense jungles. "Ever year when Brahmaputra changes course the BSF posts get hit and some get demolished. Many have to be abandoned. Sluice gates can provide a solution to this challenge," they said. It is also proposed, the blueprint said, to deploy static aerial platforms like aerostats that can be loaded with intelligent high-resolution cameras to 'watch over' the border area. "A smart operational command and control room will be created that will have all the machine and human surveillance feeds coming to it. The control room will be connected with optic fibre so that it can collect data from the ground and relay it upto Guwahati and further to the BSF headquarters in Delhi," they said. BSF Director General K K Sharma and Additional DG A P Maheshwari had recently travelled to the affected areas in Assam and also briefed newly appointed Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal about the survey and analysis they conducted in the IB areas. Officials said the force is also looking at placing 'unattended ground sensors' in forward areas of the IB so that any movement can be picked up in the dense forest areas. "An assortment of high resolution cameras, radars, infra red sensors and hand-held thermal imagers is being planned to be deployed to ensure that the border is sealed and that any breach is quickly reported. A special team is working on this," they said. However, the maximum work of infrastructure creation is to be done by state government and civic agencies, they said. The BSF has also submitted a preliminary assessment report in this regard to the Home Ministry and a delegation of senior officials is set to travel again to Assam next month, they said. They said out of the total 60.7-kms of the unfenced Indo-Bangla border in Assam, at 100 locations covering 11.9-km an 'all weather' fence is proposed to be created while at the other 48.8-km border area, non-physical barriers like these smart solutions will be deployed. In the run up to the Assembly elections in the state, BJP had promised to seal the Indo-Bangladesh border in the state completely to check illegal immigration from the neighbouring country. Home Minister Rajnath Singh had also held a high-level meeting in Delhi last week and had asked agencies to ensure that the job of sealing the Indo-Bangla border in Assam is completed by June, 2017. Sonowal, who had spearheaded BJP's victoy in Assam Assembly polls, had said that sealing the borders with Bangladesh is one of his top priorities. The security agencies, along with a team of experts, are also planning to undertake complete sealing of the 4,096-km border running along other states in the North East and West Bengal. As thousands in Orlando turned out to mourn 49 people killed inside a gay nightclub, federal investigators examined possible motives for the gunman who committed the worst mass shooting in modern US history. The White House and the FBI said 29-year-old Omar Mateen, an American-born Muslim, appears to be a "homegrown extremist" who had touted support not just for the Islamic State, but other radical groups that are its enemies. "So far, we see no indication that this was a plot directed from outside the United States, and we see no indication that he was part of any kind of network," FBI Director James Comey said yesterday. He said Mateen was clearly "radicalised," at least in part via the internet. Despite Mateen's pledge of support to the Islamic State, other possible explanations emerged. His ex-wife said he suffered from mental illness. His Afghan-immigrant father suggested he may have acted out of anti-gay hatred, and said his son got angry recently about seeing two men kiss. But questions also emerged over whether Mateen was conflicted about his own sexuality. Jim Van Horn, 71, said Mateen was a "regular" at the popular Pulse nightclub where he'd later take hostages and leave 49 dead. "He was trying to pick up people. Men," Van Horn told The Associated Press late Monday outside the Parliament House, another gay club. Van Horn, a retired pharmacist, said he met Mateen once, and the younger man talked about his ex-wife. But Van Horn said his friends soon "told me they didn't want me talking to him, because they thought he was a strange person." Van Horn acknowledged that he didn't know Mateen well, but said he suspects that the massacre was less about Islamic extremism and more about a man conflicted about his sexuality. "I think it's possible that he was trying to deal with his inner demons, of trying to get rid of his anger of homosexuality," said Van Horn, who lost three friends in the shooting. "It's really confusing to me. Because you can't change who you are. But if you pretend that you're different, then you may shoot up a gay bar." The Orlando Sentinel and other organizations quoted other regulars from Pulse who said they had seen Mateen there a number of times. "Sometimes he would go over in the corner and sit and drink by himself, and other times he would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent," said Ty Smith, who remembered seeing Mateen inside at least a dozen times. Last night, just about a mile from Pulse in downtown Orlando, thousands gathered for a vigil to support the victims and survivors. The names of the dead were read aloud. It was held on the lawn of Orlando's main performing arts venue, where mourners created a makeshift memorial of flowers, candles and notes for the victims. Many said they felt compelled to attend because of the role Pulse played in their lives. "It was a place that a young 20-year-old who wasn't openly gay felt safe for the first time," said Cathleen Daus, now 36, who worked at Pulse in her 20s. "Pulse gave me confidence, made me realize I was normal and so much like everyone else." Some, including Jason Primar, who lost two friends in the massacre, released balloons that flew high above the downtown skyscrapers. Primar went to Pulse at 2 am Sunday, hoping for a good time with friends. Instead, he was greeted with gunshots and worries about those inside. "I felt like I was over in Iraq," he said. He called his two friends inside; they never answered. He later discovered they died. Comey said the FBI also was trying to determine whether Mateen had recently scouted Disney World as a potential target, as reported by People.Com, which cited an unidentified federal law enforcement source. "We're still working through that," Comey said. He defended the bureau's handling of Mateen during two previous investigations into apparent terrorist sympathies. As for whether there was anything the FBI should have done differently, "so far, the honest answer is, I don't think so," Comey said. Wielding an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and a handgun, Mateen opened fire at Pulse early Sunday in a three-hour shooting rampage and hostage siege that ended with a SWAT team killing him. During the attack, he called 911 to profess allegiance to the Islamic State group. At the White House, President Barack Obama said there is no clear evidence so far that Mateen was directed by the group, calling the attack an apparent example of "homegrown extremism." Obama will traveling to Orlando on Thursday to pay respect to the victims and stand in solidarity with the community, according to the White House. More details of the massacre emerged, with Orlando police Chief John Mina saying Mateen was "cool and calm" during phone calls with negotiators. But Mina said he decided to send the SWAT team in and bash through a wall after Mateen holed up with hostages in a bathroom and talked about bombs and an explosive vest. "We knew there would be an imminent loss of life," Mina said. As it turned out, Mateen had no explosives with him. The tragedy hit the city's gay and Hispanic communities especially hard. Sunday was Latino Night at the club. "As the names come out, they are overwhelmingly Latino and Hispanic names," said Christina Hernandez, a Hispanic activist. "These were not just victims of the LBGT community, but of the Hispanic community, as well. This was senseless bloodshed." Five of the wounded were reported in grave condition, meaning the death toll could rise. A call has gone out for blood donations. Mateen's grasp of the differences between Islamic extremist groups appeared shaky. During three calls with 911 dispatchers, Mateen not only professed allegiance to the Islamic State but also expressed solidarity with a suicide bomber from the Syrian rebel group Nusra Front, and a few years ago he claimed connections to Hezbollah, too both ISIS enemies, according to Comey. President Pranab Mukherjee, on Tuesday, arrived in Cote D'Ivoirie on the second leg of his three- nation African tour during which he will witness the reopening of Exim bank and receive the country's highest honour. This is the maiden visit of the Indian President to "home of hospitality" Cote D'Ivoirie and is seen as India's outreach to Africa. Mukherjee's visit comes close on the heels of Vice President Hamid Ansari's trip of Morocco and Tunisia. Mukherjee, who arrived here on a two-day visit, was received at the airport by Cote D'Ivoirie President Alassane Ouattara. He was also accorded a warm traditional welcome from about 30 tribal chiefs who wore colourful dresses. "Exim Bank is going to re-open its office. It was relocated to Dakar during the civil war, so they have now got all the permissions and are relocation back to Ivory Coast. This is their regional office in West Africa to monitor all the lines of credit that we have," Secretary (Economic Relations) Amar Sinha said. "In 2011, a new government has come in and there has been a national reconciliation...," Sinha had said. In a symbolic gesture, the President will be handed over key of Abidjan city, the economic capital and largest city of Cote D'Ivoirie. Cote D'Ivoirie also known as Ivory Coast, a francophone country, is the biggest producer and exporter of cashew nuts to India which procures nearly 80% of their total exports of cashew nuts. The President's arrival coincided with rains which is considered a good omen by the locales. "When a guest comes with rain, it is the most auspicious occasion in our country. The second line of our national anthem says our country is a home of hospitality," said Brice, a local. The country had gone through a period of turmoil in the last decade due to civil war but its development can be seen from modern expressways crisscrossing the lush green countryside. The SAD government in Punjab never opposed the film 'Udta Punjab' and was also not aware of how the film had portrayed the state, its finance minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa said today. "I have no comment to make on the film. The Punjab government has never opposed the movie," Dhindsa told reporters on the sidelines of a meet on GST here. "We are not aware how Punjab is portrayed in the film. It is between the CBFC and the producer and director," he said. The film, slated for release on June 17, has kicked up a storm with the Central Board of Film Certification allegedly asking the makers to remove all references to Punjab and make 89 cuts. Subsequently, the film's producer and director moved Bombay High Court opposing the cuts. The court asked CBFC to clear the film with just a single cut. Rains kept mercury in check in northern states barring Uttar Pradesh with Allahabad simmering at 44.4 degrees Celsius even as the weather office issued a 'heavy rains' warning in Uttarakhand for the next two days. Mercury in the national capital hovered near the normal level but high humidity, up to 74 per cent, troubled the residents. The city had a high of 36.3 degrees, while the minimum temperature was recorded at 26 degrees. The observatories at Safdarjung, Lodhi Road, Palam, Ayanagar and Ridge gauged light rainfall till 8:30 AM. The MeT forecast cloudy skies with a possibility of light showers in the city tomorrow. The other three metropolitan cities of Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai recorded their respective maximums at 30, 38.9 and 34.8 degrees. The weatherman sounded a 'heavy rains' alert in Uttarakhand for the next two days. "Heavy rainfall is likely at isolated places in the state especially Uttarkashi, Tehri, Dehradun, Almora, Nainital, Champavat and Pithoragarh districts in the next two days starting tomorrow," MeT office Director Vikram Singh said. Uttar Pradesh continued to reel under scorching heat with Allahabad being the hottest place at 44.4 degrees Celsius today, even as light rains and thundershowers occurred at isolated places. Varanasi had a high 42.4 degrees Celsius, followed by Fatehgarh and Lucknow at 42 and 41.8 degrees, respectively. Maharajganj and Bhinga received 2 cms of rainfall each, while Moradabad, Orai and Agra received one cms of rainfall each, the weatherman said. In Maharashtra, the Agrimet section of the MeT department advised farmers in the drought-hit parts not to undertake sowing operations, saying "the monsoon has not yet arrived in the state". After its delayed arrival in Kerala, the monsoon is now expected to hit Maharashtra only after June 16. Residents in Bihar grappled with sultry conditions though the weather office predicted light to moderate rains in Patna and other parts of the state tomorrow. Gaya was the hottest place in the state at 43 degrees. Rains brought relief from humid weather in West Bengal. Jalpaiguri in the sub-Himalayan belt gauged 124.8 mm of rains, followed by Asansol 61 mm, Bankura 20.1 mm, Burdwan 13.2 mm, Sriniketan 8.6 mm, Darjeeling and Kolkata 8.1 mm. The weatherman issued a 'heavy rain' warning in the hills of Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar for the next three to four days. (REOPEN DEL 71) Three flights -- two of Air India and one of Vistara -- were diverted at the airport in the national capital due to heavy rains. Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) in a tweet said three flights were diverted due to bad weather today. In another tweet, low-cost carrier IndiGo said that due to heavy rains at Delhi, "our flights are delayed. As a result, consequential delays are expected". As many as 11 destinations, including four in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, are proposed to be developed under the Ramayana circuit in six states. At the same time, the government has also approved to set up another 12 destinations across five states under the Krishna circuit, according to an official statement. The twin proposals came up during the first meeting of the National Committees on Ramayana and Krishna circuits held under the chairmanship of Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma here. As part of the development of theme-based circuits, projects to the tune of over Rs 300 crore for Uttar Pradesh, which will go to Assembly polls next year, have already received in-principle approval from the government. "Under the Ramayana Circuit, 11 destinations spread across six states have been proposed," the release said. The destinations are Ayodhya, Nandigram, Shringhverpur & Chitrakoot (Uttar Pradesh); Sitamarhi, Buxar & Darbhanga (Bihar); Jagdalpur (Chattisgarh); Bhadrachalam (Telangana); Hampi (Karnataka); and Rameshwaram (Tamil Nadu). The expert committee also suggested inclusion of Chitrakoot (Madhya Pradesh), Nashik & Nagpur (Maharashtra) and Mahendragiri (Odisha) in the proposed circuit, it said. However, "under the Krishna circuit, 12 destinations spread across five states have been proposed," the statement said, adding, these were also approved by the committee. The destinations for this circuit are Dwarka (Gujarat); Nathdwara, Jaipur & Sikar (Rajasthan); Kurukshetra (Haryana), Mathura, Vrindavan, Gokul, Barsana, Nandgaon & Govardhan (Uttar Pradesh); Puri (Odisha). Presentations were also made on pan-India Ramayana and Krishna circuits during the meeting which was also attended by Tourism Ministry Secretary Vinod Zutshi, senior officials and experts, among others, it said. Under the Swadesh Darshan scheme, 13 thematic circuits have been identified for development across the country -- North-East India Circuit, Buddhist Circuit, Himalayan Circuit, Coastal Circuit, Krishna Circuit, Desert Circuit, Tribal Circuit, Eco Circuit, Wildlife Circuit, Rural Circuit, Spiritual Circuit, Ramayana Circuit and Heritage Circuit. Indian Air Force today said it would conduct a recruitment rally (for musician tradesmen only) from June 19 to June 23 at '14 Airmen Selection Centre', Kakkanad, Ernakulum. The rally is intended to attract youth proficient in any musical instrument for the "Musician trade" of the Indian Air Force, a release said. The rally is open for youths from south India for an approximate vacancy of 150. The first two days would be for candidates from the states of Andhra, Karnataka and Telengana. The recruitment for candidates from Kerala, Lakshadweep and Mahe would be on June 21 and June 22. All candidates are required to report to 14 Airmen Selection Centre at 6 AM with their respective musical instruments along with their 10th class passing certificate in originals. The selection in IAF is unreserved and open for all eligible candidates. 14 Airmen Selection Centre is the only recruitment centre for IAF in Kerala. It was established in 1976 for providing challenging job opportunities to young boys from Kerala to serve the country. On an average Kochi centre has been recruiting about 350 to 400 canditates who are successfully serving the nation. The Supreme Court today refused to accord an urgent hearing to a plea seeking release of male and female patients who are fit for discharge from a mental hospital in Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh. A vacation bench of Justices Adarsh Kumar Goel and L Nageswara Rao said there was no urgency and the matter could be taken up after the summer break of the apex court this month end. During the hearing, the bench also asked petitioner advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal why he had not approached the High Court in this regard. Bansal said he had approached the apex court as there were around 60 patients in Mental Hospital, Bareilly, who are normal and fit for discharge, and among them were several who were from different states including Kerala. The bench listed the matter for hearing after summer vacation which ends on June 28. In his plea, the petitioner said he had filed applications under Right to Information Act in three mental hospitals of Uttar Pradesh seeking information about the patients who are normal and fit for discharge. He claimed to have taken legal interviews of some of the patients admitted in the Bareilly hospital and found these persons to be as normal as other human beings and wished to live free. "That this court in its various judgments had observed that the Right to Life includes 'right to live with dignity' and in the present case the patients who are absolutely normal are forced to live with the mentally ill persons since last many years and hence their fundamental rights are infringed by the Respondents," the plea said. It said that the "inability of the government to provide social security to such persons is also questionable and thus needs urgent intervention from this court." The plea said the living conditions of female and male patients who were absolutely normal, along with the mentally ill patients, was "totally unsatisfactory", "unethical" and "unconstitutional" and infringed the fundamental rights of the individual. It sought direction to the Uttar Pradesh government and the hospitals to make arrangements to shift the patients who are normal and fit for discharge from the hospital to any other secure place like old age homes. Renewable energy business is a high-growth area in India, though falling asset prices and competitive bidding for new power purchase agreements may lead to volatility in returns on investments, S&P Global Ratings said today. "We believe the renewable energy business is a high-growth area in India, given the government's focus on increasing capacities for renewable energy and priority dispatch," it said in a statement. However, falling asset prices and competitive bidding for new power purchase agreements (PPAs) can expose renewable energy assets to volatility of returns on investments, it said. It added that such assets also face greater volatility of cash flows due to seasonality and inherent uncertainty of wind/hydro/solar patterns, resulting in resource risks. The agency further said that Tata Power's business position is unlikely to materially change after the acquisition of Welspun Renewable Energy. S&P Global Ratings further said that its corporate credit rating on Tata Power Ltd (B+/Stable) is not immediately affected by the company's acquisition of Welspun Renewable Energy for an enterprise value of Rs 92.49 billion. Tata Power indicated that it intends to maintain leverage at the current improved levels post-acquisition through strategic measures. If the acquisition is fully debt funded, Tata Power's debt will increase by about 25 per cent, and its financials and the rating will be pressured. "We believe Tata Power will share further details on its capital structure in due course. "Tata Power's operating performance in the fiscal year ended March 2016 was above our expectations. Cash flows were stronger due to stable earnings from the company's regulated distribution business and lower losses in the unregulated Mundra project," it said. A sharp reduction in coal prices led to lower losses for the Mundra project, where the sale price for the PPA is fixed. "The company's ratio of funds from operations to debt was stronger at about 12 per cent for the fiscal ended March 2016, against our expectation of about 9 per cent," it said. The company will likely emerge as one of the larger renewable energy players in India but overall, renewable energy accounts for less than 30 per cent of the country's power generation. "We believe Tata Power will need to manage its liquidity appropriately as the planned short-term bridge facility could accentuate the pressure from high short-term debt and continuing covenant breach at the Mundra project. However, Tata Power has satisfactory banking relationships and access to support from its promoters if required," it said. A Samajwadi Party leader was arrested today in connection with the murder of a man over payment of money here, police said. Razauddin, a leader of the party's minority cell, owed victim Nasim Ahmed, a contractor, a sum of Rs 84,000 which he had promised to pay on Monday. The victim went to collect the money from Razauddin but when he did not return till late evening, his family informed police. Police officers then reached the SP leader's residence and found the Nasim's body. The victim was found shot from close range, police said. Nasim's brother Salim filed a complaint against Razauddin following which the leader was arrested and the weapon used in the incident recovered, they said. Sri Lanka's anti-narcotics authorities today seized their biggest ever haul of cocaine being smuggled into the island, the finance ministry said. The drugs were found inside a shipping container originating from Brazil, the ministry said, adding that the street value of the cocaine was about two billion rupees (USD 13.8 million). The haul weighed more than 90 kilos (198 pounds). "The stock of cocaine brought from Brazil was stealthily concealed in several travelling bags inside a container of sugar," the ministry said in a statement. President Maithripala Sirisena visited the container yard in Colombo where the drugs were seized following a tip-off and thanked the officials involved, the ministry added. In April, Sri Lanka detained 14 foreigners after seizing 110 kilos of heroin worth USD 7.5 million from an Iranian fishing trawler in the country's biggest drug bust for nearly three years. Sri Lankan authorities have said that such large quantities of drugs suggest Colombo is being used as a transit centre. The ex-companion of media mogul Sumner Redstone filed an appeal against a judge's decision to dismiss her bid to be re-installed as the 93-year-old billionaire's caretaker, likening her case to a Shakespearean tragedy. "The comparison of waning Sumner Redstone to demented King Lear is apt," Manuela Herzer said in her petition for a new trial filed in Los Angeles Superior Court yesterday. Her attorney Pierce O'Donnell argued in the petition that the judge who had dismissed the case in May must reconsider his ruling as there was new evidence proving Redstone's daughter, Shari Redstone, had schemed over a two-year period to get rid of her father's caretaker. Among other things, the petition claims that Shari Redstone had seized control of her father's affairs, isolating him from his closest friends and colleagues as she sought to rule over his USD 40 billion media empire. "This highly probative evidence demonstrates that Manuela was right all along about Shari's greed and thirst for power motivating her machinations," O'Donnell said in his petition. "All of this material new evidence has only recently been discovered and was unavailable at the time of trial." O'Donnell added that the case should be reopened as Herzer had also not gotten her fair day in court. The high-stakes lawsuit brought by Herzer was dismissed after the judge heard videotaped testimony from Redstone in which he used expletives in referring to her and said he wanted his one-time lover and longtime companion out of his life. "This case is a tragedy reminiscent of Shakespeare's King Lear," O'Donnell said. "Mentally incapacitated Redstone is a demented Lear." "Ailing and easily fooled, Lear, unable to discern false flattery from the truth, is duped into surrendering his power, land and fortune to his two deceitful daughters who ruthlessly implement their scheme to eliminate all opposition to their usurpation of their father's authority. Syrian activists say an attack by government helicopter gunships in the northern city of Aleppo has killed at least four people. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Tuesday's attack struck an unused bridge, killing nine people and wounding many others. Aleppo-based activist Baraa al-Halaby said four people were killed. He says nearly two dozen people have been killed in Aleppo, Syria's largest city, since the early hours in separate attacks. Hundreds of people have been killed on both sides of the divided city since late April, as government forces have traded fire with rebels. Rebels seized part of the city from forces loyal to President Bashar Assad in 2012. Assad's forces, backed by Russian airstrikes, have nearly encircled rebel-held parts of the city in recent months. Recreating Rabindranath Tagore's first visit to China in 1924, his great grand nephew today met the grandson of the legendary Chinese poet Lu Xun who hosted the Nobel laureate over 90 years ago in China's Shaoxing city. The meeting of Prof S N Tagore with Lu's grandson, Zhou Ling Fei was a symbolic attempt to recreate the Gurdev's first visit to China, Indian Consul General in Shanghai, Prakash Gupta who was present during the event said. "It was also a unique occasion today, as ever since the meeting of Tagore and Lu in the 1920s, it was for the first time that after over 90 years, their direct relatives met," Gupta told PTI. Tagore, who had visited China thrice, has a fanatical following in the country with several devoted their lives to learn Bengali and English to translate his works. Considering his popularity, China last month released the first collective works of Tagore in Chinese language, a rare honour to the Indian poet who enjoys an iconic status among generations of Chinese people. In all 33 volumes containing 16 million words covering his poetry, essay, novel and drama sections were released coinciding with Tagore's 155th birth anniversary. His great grand nephew Prof Tagore was on a visit to China on the invitation of the Lu Xun Cultural Foundation with the support Indian Consulate in Shanghai. Other delegation members included, Dr Indra Nath Choudhuri, eminent Tagore Scholar and author of book on Tagore's vision of contemporary world, Dr Sanghamitra Basu of Indira Gandhi National Centre and Dr Avijit Banerjee of Cheena Bhavan. They also met Tan Zhigui, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Shaoxing Municipal People's Government. A series of events celebrating the friendship between Chinese poet Lu and Tagore are being held in the city. These included a panel discussion at the Shaoxing University titled 'A dialogue beyond Time and Space' which was held today. (REOPENS FGN 36) Another key event planned for tomorrow includes a lecture on Tagore and readings of his works at the Zhejiang YueXiu University of Foreign Languages, followed by a dialogue between literary masters of Shaoxing city with the visiting delegation, Gupta said. Shaoxing city leadership also evinced strong interest in hosting a bust of Tagore at a prominent location in Shaoxing city. It was also proposed to organise an India Culture Week towards the end of the year in Shaoxing, which would feature an Indian film festival, an exhibition of Indian paintings and Indian food festival. Local city leadership intends to launch the India Culture Week with the inauguration of the installation of the bust of Gurudev Tagore in Shaoxing city. Since Shaoxing is also the home town of late Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai, during the India Culture Week, two dialogue forumsfocusing on the friendship between Tagore and Lu andon the exchanges between Zhou andformer Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru are proposed to be held. Given the long history of association between Lu and Tagore, Shaoxing leadership also proposed setting up of sister-city relations with Kolkata, Gupta said. Shaoxing located in China's highly industrialised Zhejiang province has one of the largest concentration of Indian community. Shaoxing is home to some 2,000 Indian textile traders. Three inmates escaped during a riot and fire at a prison outside Mexico City that left 10 prisoners and seven police officers injured, authorities said today. Authorities deployed some 1,000 police officers to contain late Monday's unrest at the Barrientos prison in the municipality of Tlalnepantla, a densely populated suburb. "A fight occurred between several inmates" at around 8:00 pm and prisoners set fire to mattresses and other objects, which were extinguished, said Jose Manzur, government secretary of the State of Mexico. Order was restored within three hours, but prison officials realized that three inmates were missing when they did a roll call at around 4:00 am, Manzur said. "We think that as a result of this fight in the prison, three people took advantage of it to escape," Manzur said. The fugitives include a murderer, a rapist and a house burglar. Authorities are searching for them and offering a USD 15,000 reward for their capture. Officials had initially reported that nobody was hurt, but Manzur said seven officers and 10 inmates were injured. One prisoner remained hospitalized while the rest were cleared by doctors. Some 150 relatives of inmates, some in tears, flocked to the prison overnight to get information. Many were still outside the prison today morning. "I want to tell the families of the inmates that they have nothing to worry about, (the riot) was controlled with minimal effort," State of Mexico security chief Eduardo Valiente said late Monday after visiting the prison. It is the latest unrest to hit a Mexican prison. In February, 49 inmates were killed in a massive brawl at the Topo Chico prison in the northern city of Monterrey. Three others were murdered earlier this month at the same prison. A report by the National Human Rights Commission found that inmates govern themselves in 71 state prisons, which are also overcrowded. The Barrientos prison has 3,000 inmates, double the normal capacity, Manzur said. Several escapes have also taken place, such as the July 2015 prisonbreak of drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who was recaptured in January. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today said Jhargram, Kalimpong and Asansol would be soon declared new districts. The proposal has already been approved by the cabinet and the new districts would be announced as soon as the Calcutta High Court gives its nod. "Infrastructure is partly ready in Kalimpong and Jhargram. The rest would be ready soon," she added. Banerjee, who held an administrative meeting here in West Mindapore district for the first time after assuming office for the second time, said government development schemes should be given importance and implementation of MGNREGA should be given priority. 'Khadya sathi' (a food security scheme and 'Sabuj Sathi' (bi-cycle for students) schemes of the government should be given importance. "Implementation of scheme on 100-days work should also be given priority." She also stressed that all departments should work according to the timeline fixed by the administrative authorities. Any lapses by ration dealers would not be tolerated, she added. She later inaugurated a tribal museum and presided over the first meeting of West Bengal Tribes Advisory Committee. A local court here today sentenced a police constable and home guard to three years imprisonment for accepting bribe. Additional District and Sessions Judge Dinesh Gupta also slapped a fine of Rs 5,000 each on constable Ramraten Saini and home guard Pervinder after convicting them under the Prevention of Corruption Act. According to the prosecution, Saini and Pervinder were arrested for accepting bribe from a buffalo cart owner in Kotsali police station area in 2006. Punjabi star Diljit Dosanjh says his upcoming film "Udta Punjab" will create awareness on the issue of drug menace. "Udta Punjab", produced by Anurag Kashyap's Phantom Films and Ekta Kapoor's Balaji Motion Pictures, deals with the issue of substance abuse in Punjab. "My friends in Canada and US are talking about it (the film). With the kind of hard work and efforts put in for this film, I am sure awareness (about the issue of drug menace) will come," Diljit told reporters here. The makers and Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) had locked horns over clearance for the film. The Bombay High Court had yesterday ordered CBFC to certify movie 'Udta Punjab' within 48 hours with just one cut so that its producers can release the film on June 17. Asked about various political parties making drug menace as one of the agenda for the upcoming elections, the 32-year-old actor said he had "no idea about the polls". "I did this film because it is related to Punjab and it's a very good story. I think it's my best debut," he added. The movie also stars Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Alia Bhatt in the lead. Scientists from India and the UK will release underwater robots in Bay of Bengal to monitor how ocean conditions influence monsoon, which can help in better predictions of the rainfall. The Bay of Bengal Boundary Layer Experiment (BoBBLE) is led by two UK varsities, University of East Anglia (UEA) and University of Reading in collaboration with the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) in Southampton. Collaborators in India include the Centre for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (CAOS), the Indian National Centre for Climate Information Services (INCOIS), the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF) and the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT). Ministry of Earth Sciences Secretary M Rajeevan said the Indian Research Vessel Sindhu Sadhana carrying scientists will sail from Chennai on June 24. "Once out in the ocean, they will release seven underwater gliders to measure ocean properties such as temperature, salinity and current," he said. Meanwhile, collaborators from a partner project led by the University of Reading with collaborators across the UK and India will use a state-of-the-art aircraft to take atmospheric measurements at the same time. It is hoped that the combined results of this large-scale scientific campaign will help forecast the arrival of the Indian monsoon more accurately than ever before. Forecasting the precise timing and location of the rains is vital to the region's economy, which is dominated by farming, and for managing its increasingly pressured water resources. Lead researcher Prof Adrian Matthews, from UEA's School of Environmental Sciences, said "The Indian monsoon is notoriously hard to predict. It is a very complicated weather system and the processes are not understood or recorded in science. "We will be combining oceanic and atmospheric measurements to monitor weather systems as they are generated. Nobody has ever made observations on this scale during the monsoon season itself so this is a truly ground-breaking project". Matthews said, they are aiming for a better understanding of the actual physical processes. "What we have now are imperfect models for predicting monsoon rainfall when it hits land, so this will create better forecasts." He said they hope it will also help "to mitigate international disasters caused by extreme rainfall and flooding and better understand how the southern Asian monsoon affects the whole world's climate. Back in the UK, the researchers at UEA, the University of Reading and National Oceanography Centre, will use this data to create computer models of the ocean to determine how it affects weather systems and rainfall over India. "Our collaborators will be flying out from Bangalore to make simultaneous observations in the atmosphere above us. It will be really rather spectacular," added Prof Matthews. Previous missions undertaken by UEA's fleet of gliders have helped researchers make a variety of discoveries including why the Antarctic ice caps are melting. The project is funded by the Natural Environment Research Council, the Newton Fund, the Indian Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) and the UK's MeT Office. The UN Security Council on Tuesday unanimously condemned in the "strongest terms" America's worst mass shooting incident at Orlando targetting people on the basis of their sexual orientation. It was the first time that the UN's most powerful body made an explicit reference to targeting of individuals as a result of their sexual orientation. The 15-member council reiterated that "any" act of terrorism is "criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed". In a press statement, it "condemned in the strongest terms" the terrorist attack in Orlando "targeting persons as a result of their sexual orientation" that killed 49 people and injured 53. The unanimous condemnation came after some haggling with Russia and Egypt over a reference to the targeting of gays. The members of the Security Council also "reaffirmed that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to peace and security", according to the statement. Highlighting the difficulty in getting the UN member states to condemn attacks against persons due to their sexual orientation, Washington's envoy to the UN said there is a "pitched fight" over the appropriateness of including "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" in UN resolutions. Ambassador David Pressman, Alternate Representative to the UN for Special Political Affairs in the US Mission to the UN made a strong call to the UN member sates to come together to ensure dignity to all. "Dignity should not be so hard to protect. Here, it too often is. In this chamber, every time it is up for consideration, there is a pitched fight over the inclusion of "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" in the one General Assembly resolution that references it - a resolution, I would note, that does nothing more than urges states to protect the right to life of all persons and investigate killings; there is a pitched fight over whether it is appropriate to include sexual orientation in that protection," he said. Pressman added that the UN Security Council finds itself "constantly battling to incorporate the voices of the LGBT community in the vital work of this body". "If we are united in our outrage by the killing of so many - and we are - let us be equally united around the basic premise of upholding the universal dignity of all persons regardless of who they love, not just around condemning the terrorists who kill them," he said. Following the press statement, the French mission to the UN tweeted: "1st time UNSC has condemned all terrorist acts targeting persons as a result of their sexual orientation #LoveWins." The New Zealand mission also tweeted that "UNSC condemns in strongest terms the terrorist attacks in Orlando where people were targeted because of their sexual orientation". Sambhal district in western Uttar Pradesh has come under the scanner of anti-terror agencies, with the police finding it to be the home of several alleged members of dreaded outfit Al Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) who have been providing active support for the group. This was disclosed in a charge sheet filed by the Special Cell of Delhi Police before a city court. The charge sheet was filed against 17 suspected AQIS members, of whom 12 are absconding, for allegedly trying to set up a base for Al Qaeda in India under the banner of AQIS. The police has claimed that Sambhal resident Maulana Asim Umar, who is currently in Pakistan, is the AQIS chief and six out of the 17 chargesheeted accused belonged to this district. According to the final report, while Sambhal residents Mohd Asif and Zafar Masood have been arrested in the case, the other four -- Maulana Asim Umar, Syed Akhtar, Mohd Sharjeel Akhtar and Usman, who also belong to the district, are still at large, around 200 kilometres from Delhi. It claimed that these Sambhal-based accused were motivating Indian youths to join 'jihad' and have facilitated their departure to Pakistan for arms training for terror acts. The police has alleged that a number of youths from Sambhal had joined Al Qaeda cadre in Pakistan and returned here after arms training. It claimed that AQIS has received aid from several terror outfits in Pakistan and had several sympathisers and financers in Sambhal. "During interrogation, accused Mohd Asif revealed that he joined terrorist organisation Al-Qaeda following some local youths of Sambhal, who had left India long ago... He also revealed that he had radicalised a number of youth of western UP into joining Al Qaeda as he himself believed and advocated the ideology of Al Qaeda," the charge sheet alleged. "Asif, a member of AQIS, stated that from his ideology, several youth had performed 'hijrat', i.E. Migrated to Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan etc for receiving 'askari', i.E. terrorist training from several terror organisations. He had joined Al Qaeda, being motivated by these terror icons of Sambhal," the police claimed in the charge sheet. It said that absconding accused Syed Akhtar alias Qasim, also a resident of Sambhal, was currently residing in Pakistan and used to motivate youths for 'jihad' and radicalised them against the "role of Americans against Muslim community throughout the world. The charge sheet claimed that a book written by the AQIS chief was used to motivate youths for 'jihad'. It said some of the persons who moved out of Sambhal earlier for terror purposes had also facilitated the training of youths from the district with terror organisations in Pakistan and other countries. "In 1995, wanted accused Sanaul Haq, a resident of Sambhal, had left India and after joining Harkat-ul- Mujahideen, had settled in Pakistan," the charge sheet said. "Asif disclosed that in January 2015, Qasim had told him to arrange a secret place in Sambhal for the stay of some AQIS members who would be coming from Pakistan. On this, Mohd Asif asked him to send Rs two lakh for constructing a place to serve as a secret hideout in Sambhal... Later, Asif collected the money from Lahori Gate in Delhi, and spent this amount in the activities of AQIS," the charge sheet said. All the 17 accused were chargesheeted for alleged offences under sections 18 (punishment for conspiracy), 18-B (punishment for recruiting of any person for terror act) and 20 (punishment for being member of terror organisation) of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). The five arrested accused in the case are -- Asif, Masood, Mohd Abdul Rehman, Syed Anzar Shah and Abdul Sami. They were arrested between December 2015 and January 2016 from different parts of the country. The police had alleged that the accused were in touch with terrorists from Pakistan, Iran and Turkey via social media and mobile phones, and they had visited these countries and also financed AQIS and motivated the youths for 'jihad'. The court had earlier issued non-bailable warrant against 12 absconding accused -- Syed Akhtar, Sanaul Haq, Usman, Mohd Sharjeel Akhtar, Mohd Rehan, Abu Sufiyan, Syed Mohd Arshiyan, Syed Mohd Zishan Ali, Sabeel Ahmed, Mohd Shahid Faisal, Mohd Umar and Farhatullah Ghori. Sebi Chairman U K Sinha on Tuesday said investors in the US have a high level of optimism about India, especially because of the policy initiatives in the past two years by the Modi government. "The US investors are very enthusiastic about India and policy changes and the regulator development that has taken place in India," Sinha, who was recently on a visit to the US, told reporters in Mumbai. "They are also very optimistic about the economy," he said. Sinha was talking on the sidelines of The Gateway of India Dialogue. Sebi chief, who met the investors in mutual fund industry, pension funds and academic people in the US, said "compared to what was the situation two years back, today we see a lot of optimism on policy front. They are appreciating the positive direction in which the government has moved and clarity which has been provided in matter of law and long-term policies". Noting that American investors had no major issues with India, Sinha said they had questions on double taxation avoidance treaty with Mauritius and measures taken by the Sebi on Participatory Notes (P-Notes). "The details were given and they were assured that whatever has been thought of, has been thought of from prospective date," Sinha said. He also said anti-money laundering regime in India is very widely appreciated all over the world. "Investors worried about governance in India are fully assured that the regime in India is compliant with the rest of the world," Sinha said. "Appreciate the congrats", Trump tweeted. "I's right, I'm right, I'm always right." Self-inflation out of bloodshed? Trump appears to have directly lifted the tweet from former Breitbart national security editor and author Sebastian Gorka. This would be nothing more than bad taste, if not for the fact that the 'report' is completely unsubstantiated. The similarity was initially picked up by CNN reporter Brian Stelter: The 3 words Donald Trump said that made the Orlando shooting even worse Posted a day ago by in news by Upvote Upvoted Picture: David Becker/Getty Images 50 people at an LGBT nightclub in Orlando, Florida, were left dead in the early hours of Sunday after being attacked by a gunman. Suspect Omar Mateen was killed by police at the scene. Reports have emerged that he called 911 and pledged allegiance to Isis before heading inside the Pulse nightclub with an assault rifle. While grieving families and shocked survivors mourn the dead, the attack has bought a mixture of homophobia and Islamophobia to the fore in other quarters. Many politicians expressed their sadness at events, and affirmed the need to clamp down on both extremism and gun control loopholes. But presumptive Republican nominee for president Donald Trump managed to make the weekend's horrific events about him. Taking to Twitter, he felt the need to mention the praise he's had "for being right on radical Islamic terrorism." "Appreciate the congrats", he tweeted. We have no words. http://indy100.independent.co.uk/article/the-3-words-donald-trump-said-that-made-the-orlando-shooting-even-worse--ZkgUG1wAz4W Donald Trump's Orlando tweets just got even worse Posted 8 hours ago by in news by Upvote Upvoted Picture: Scott Olson/Getty A war of words has erupted in the BJP over projecting Varun Gandhi as the party's face in the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh after he skipped a meeting called by party chief Amit Shah of MPs from the state. Gandhi, who was here to attend the BJP's national executive, was conspicuous by his absence at the meeting of Lok Sabha MPs, which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi among others. When asked about it, party's state unit president Keshav Prasad Maurya, who is himself an MP from Phulpur, said, "We have more than 70 MPs in the state and out of them at least 13 could not take part. This was not due to any resentment on their part but because of their personal reasons." He said the meeting went off peacefully, without any tensions and was attended by Modi and also a number of Union ministers. A second-term MP, Gandhi's absence at the meeting had given rise to speculation that he was miffed at the reluctance of the party's central leadership to grant him a prominent role in the UP assembly polls due in less than a year. In 2013, the then party president had appointed Gandhi as one of the national general secretaries, making him the youngest person to hold the post. However, when Shah took over and Singh moved to the Union cabinet, Gandhi was stripped off the post. Meanwhile, firebrand MP from Bihar Shatrughan Sinha, who had reportedly voiced his support for Gandhi at the national executive, today defended his stand when a number of party colleagues criticised him. "I stand by what I had said at the national executive. And let me make it clear, I never said it should only be Gandhi. My point is, name anybody, be it Gandhi, or Yogi Adityanath, Rajnath Singh or even Keshav Maurya. But please give the people an idea of who could be the chief minister if the party came to power in UP," he told reporters. He was replying to queries about the statement of Allahabad MP Shyama Charan Gupta, who had reacted strongly to reports about the former's vocal stance saying "he is an MP from Bihar. Who is he to comment on UP politics". Claiming he was "not even aware" that Gupta was a BJP MP, Sinha said, "Everybody has a right to voice his or her opinion in a democracy. I exercised my democratic right. Now let others do the same." Sinha has been particularly vocal about BJP's strategy in the Bihar assembly polls last year after the party suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the Grand Alliance of JDU, RJD and Congress. Vietnam has sent four aircraft and dozens of vessels to search for a jet fighter with two pilots that went missing on a training flight. The last contact with the Russian-made Sukhoi Su-30 MK2 jet fighter was today morning. The state-run Tuoi Tre newspaper quoted fisherman Le Van Cuong as saying he saw a jet fighter crash near Mat island off the coast of central Nghe An province. Vietnam has reported several crashes of military helicopters in recent years. Faced with China's increased assertiveness over rival territorial claims in the South China Sea, Vietnam has stepped up the modernization of its military with the purchase of six Russian-made submarines and a number of Russian fighter planes. It is also looking to acquire patrol boats from Japan and India. A Vietnamese diplomat has been booked for rash and negligent driving after he almost knocked down a woman and a security guard with his car before it rammed into a wall in south Delhi's Anand Niketan area, police said today. Delhi Police have registered a case under IPC Section 279 (rash driving) in connection with the incident and also sent a report to the Union Home Ministry regarding the same. The vehicles of both the diplomat and the complainant, identified as Arti Gupta, were damaged in the incident but nobody sustained any injury, a senior official said. The incident took place on Sunday evening, when the Vietnamese diplomat, Nguyen Duy Khanh, was returning from a party, suspectedly in an inebriated state, in his Toyota car. Gupta (42) told police that she had stepped out of her house and opened the driver's door of her Hyundai Creta, when Khanh's Toyota Corolla sped towards her. "Gupta said that she promptly jumped inside her vehicle to avoid getting hit. She said that Khanh's vehicle rammed into her right door and then went on to hit a wall nearly missed a security guard standing outside a bungalow nearby," said a senior police official. Gupta alerted the police. Her husband and other neighbours rushed out of the house hearing the sound of crash and helped the diplomat get out of the vehicle. It was found that the vehicle was registered with the Vietnamese embassy and diplomat worked as the first secretary. According to police, the diplomat refused to hand over his driving licence after they informed the embassy about the incident and also refused to get a medical check-up done. The diplomat cannot be arrested as he enjoys diplomatic immunity and can only be prosecuted after intervention from external affairs ministry. A Vietnamese diplomat was booked for rash and negligent driving in south Delhi's Vasant Kunj area, police said today. The incident took place in the wee hours of Sunday, when the Vietnamese diplomat, Nguyen Duy Khanh, was returning from a party, suspectedly in an inebriated state, in his Toyota car and hit the vehicle of a 42-year-old woman. Delhi Police have also sent a report to the Union Home Ministry in connection with the incident. The vehicles of both the diplomat and the woman, identified as Arti Gupta, were damaged but nobody was injured, a senior official said. "A case under Section 279 of IPC has been registered in connection with the matter at Vasant Kunj (South) Police Station," additional DCP (South) Nupur Prasad said. Khanh cannot be arrested as he enjoys diplomatic immunity, senior officials said. Beleaguered businessman Vijay Mallya was today declared a proclaimed offender by a special PMLA court here on a plea by the Enforcement Directorate(ED) in connection with its money laundering probe against him in an alleged bank loan default case. "The ED application is allowed and proclamation is issued against Vijay Mallya," ordered Special Judge PR Bhavke. The agency had moved the court to issue an order under Section 82 CrPC and term the liquor baron a proclaimed offender as he has "multiple" arrest warrants pending against him including a non-bailable warrant (NBW) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). According to the ED, there are multiple arrest warrants pending against Mallya in various cases like that of cheque bounce and he is also wanted in a money laundering case. The agency has told the court about the status of investigations in the case and the need to get Mallya join the probe. A person can be termed a proclaimed offender in a criminal case probe if the court has reasons to believe that the accused against whom a warrant of arrest has been issued by it, has absconded or is concealing himself so that such warrant cannot be executed. As per Section 82 of the CrPC, the court can publish a written proclamation requiring such an accused to appear at a specified place and at a specified time in not less than 30 days from the date of publishing of such a proclamation. Officials said that the agency also has the option to seek action under Section 83 of the CrPC (attachment of property of person absconding) if Mallya does not comply with proceedings initiated under Section 82. ED has been wanting Mallya to join investigations "in person" in its PMLA probe against him and others in the Rs 900 crore alleged loan fraud of IDBI bank and has virtually exhausted all legal remedies like seeking an Interpol arrest warrant and getting his passport revoked. It is also seeking to invoke the India-United Kingdom Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) to extradite Mallya from Britain. Mallya had left India on March 2 using his diplomatic passport. The agency has registered a money laundering case against Mallya and others based on an FIR registered last year by the CBI. ED is also investigating financial structure of Kingfisher Airlines and looking into any payment of kickbacks to secure loans. On Saturday, the ED had attached assets worth Rs 1,411 crore of Mallya and one of his companies in connection with its money laundering probe in the bank loan case. It is also seeking to invoke the India-United Kingdom Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) to have him extradited from Britain. (Reopens BOM12) ED's lawyer Hiten Venegoankar said the officials tried to execute the non-bailable warrant issued against Mallya on April 18, but he was not available at his known addresses. Issuance of Red Corner Notice against the liquor baron was in the process, and Mallya's absence had stalled the investigation, the lawyer said. "As per statements of Mallya's CFO, he (Mallya) is not in India. But Mallya is giving statements to the media," said Venegoankar. The lawyer further alleged that Mallya had started to dispose of some of his properties. "If a proclamation is issued then we will go ahead with attaching the properties which are not proceeds of crime in this case," he said. Once the proclamation is issued, the accused has to appear before the court within 30 days, he said. The ED, in its application, said it had issued three summons through the company representatives and via email. "Mallya kept evading his attendance on one ground or other and has failed to appear in person so far. This act of non-appearance on the part of Mallya was hindrance in the investigation to find out the truth. "His absence is unnecessarily delaying the proceeding and there is a reasonable apprehension that he may be tampering with the crucial evidence in and outside India," the ED said, adding that his custodial interrogation is utmost necessary to ascertain the trail of the proceeds of the crime. Mallya had no respect for the law of the land, it said. "In spite of issuance of three summons, revocation of passport and also after issuance of NBW he has remained elusive and has failed to present himself in person before the court," said the application. A man, wanted in connection with several criminal cases, was arrested with four kg charas here, police said today. Acting on an information from the special section port division (SSPD), Kolkata Police sleuths arrested Joy Prakash (36) from the Chandpal Ghat area last night, a senior police officer said. Police was looking for Prakash, a resident of Howrah's Nischinda, who was wanted in connection with several criminal cases. "We recovered around four kg charas from his possession for which he had failed to give any satisfactory reply," the officer said adding that the accused would be prosecuted under various sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. A group representing reporters covering the White House today condemned for revoking press credentials of The Washington Post over allegations that the leading US daily was writing inaccurate stories against the Republican presumptive presidential nominee. "The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) stands with The Washington Post and numerous other news outlets that has arbitrarily banned from his campaign events," said Carol Lee, the WHCA president. "Any nominee for the highest office in the country must respect the role of a free and adversarial press, not disown the principles of the First Amendment just because he or she does not like the tone or content of their coverage," Lee said. WHCA represents the correspondents covering White House on a daily basis. In another statement, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) strongly condemned Trump's decision to revoke The Washington Post's press credentials and said this is a serious violation of freedom of the press. In a Facebook posting, Trump said, "based on the incredibly inaccurate coverage and reporting of the record setting Trump campaign, we are hereby revoking the press credentials of the phony and dishonest Washington Post". Trump himself indicated that the decision came after he disagreed with a Washington Post article with the headline " seems to connect President Obama to Orlando Shooting". Marty Baron, executive editor of The Washington Post, said: "This is nothing less than a repudiation of the role of a free and independent press. When coverage doesn't correspond to what the candidate wants it to be, then a news organisation is banished. The Post will continue to cover Donald Trump as it has all along - honourably, honestly, accurately, energetically, and unflinchingly. We're proud of our coverage, and we're going to keep at it." RSF alleged this is the latest incident where Trump and his campaign have made clear his disregard for freedom of the press. Previously, Trump's team has restricted media access to campaign events, he has insulted and bullied reporters who portray him negatively or ask him tough questions, and refused to participate in a Republican debate because FoxNews refused to remove its reporter Megyn Kelly as a moderator, it alleged. "Trump's actions during the run up to the 2016 presidential election mark an alarming trend of curtailing freedom of the press in the United States," RSF said. The US ranks 41 out of 180 countries on RSF's 2016 World Press Freedom Index. KPCC president V M Sudheeran today said women leaders and Mahila Congress activists would be given due representation during the time of reorganization of the party. Inaugurating the state Mahila Congress executive committee meeting here, he said the party could not ensure deserved representation for women in the May 16 assembly polls. The leader also said the party should have to be strengthened more in the present political scenario in the state and at the national level. "We assure due representation for women in the party during the time of reorganisation. The party will also go ahead with its activities to protect the rights of women and ensure their security in the society," he said. To protest the 'anti-people' policies of the union government, the Congress would organise protest marches to central government institutions and stage dharna in front of them on June 20, Sudheeran added. Mahila Congress state president Bindhu Krishna was present during the meeting. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday shot down the opposition Congress party's demand to write a cap for the proposed goods and services tax (GST) into the Constitution. After meeting state finance ministers in Kolkata, Jaitley said there was a consensus among Indian states against the Congress party's stand. The proposed tax reform, India's biggest revenue shake-up since independence in 1947, seeks to replace a slew of federal and state levies, transforming a nation of 1.3 billion people into a common market. The Congress party, the original author of the tax reform, has said it would back the bill if the government agreed to cap the tax rate at 18 percent and create an independent mechanism to resolve disputes on revenue sharing between states. By Sujoy Dhar KOLKATA, India (Reuters) - For India's Finance Minister Arun Jaitley a nationwide goods services tax (GST) is a transformative idea that cannot wait any longer. But he will have to do some more spadework to get states on board if he is to introduce it next April. While support has broadened among states for the sales tax, differences persist on key details, in particular pitching the tax at the right level to offset possible revenue losses. A government-appointed panel has suggested a standard GST rate of 17-18 percent. But India's states are reluctant to accept it. On Tuesday, Jaitley met his state counterparts in a renewed attempt to forge a compromise. The meeting, however, failed to achieve a breakthrough. "There is no consensus on the rate," said Parminder Singh Dhindsa, finance minister of the state of Punjab. "We want a detailed study to ensure there are no revenue losses." State finance ministers will meet again in the second week of July to break the deadlock on the measure that, two years into Prime Minister Narendra Modi's term, remains blocked in the upper house of parliament. Jaitley has threatened to take the GST to a vote in July's monsoon session of parliament. SILVER BULLET Investors have billed the GST as a "silver bullet" for Asia's third-largest economy that would supplant multiple federal and state levies - a chaotic structure that inflates costs for businesses. Jaitley calls it the biggest reform since 1947 that would for the first time create a single market for one-sixth of the world's population and could boost the rate of growth by 2 percentage points. For the measure to become a reality, Jaitley needs not only the backing of states but also of the opposition Congress party to secure the required two-thirds majority needed to pass a key constitutional enabling amendment in parliament's upper house. But pleasing one runs the risk of antagonising the other. For example, the GST is globally known as a consumption-based tax, but Jaitley has agreed to allow states to impose a 1 percent additional levy on the cross-border transport of goods. This proposal is anathema to the Congress party. The Congress, the original author of the tax reform, wants the proposed levy to be scrapped - a position the government-appointed panel has also backed. States are ready to forgo the tax, provided Jaitley offers higher compensation from the national budget. The principal opposition party has also asked for capping the GST at 18 percent and setting up an independent mechanism to resolve disputes on revenue sharing between states. "GST is not like magic," said West Bengal finance minister Amit Mitra, who has been tasked with building a consensus among 29 states. "Step by step it progresses." (Writing by Rajesh Kumar Singh; Editing by Robert Birsel) http://www.forbes.com/sites/panosmourdoukoutas/2016/06/11/america-should-treat-china-as-a-regional-not-a-global-player/ In dealing with China, American leaders are making a big strategic mistake: they are treating China as a global rather than a regional player. Thats what China really is. China has been making a great deal of noise lately. Over the South China Sea, that is, building artificial islands, urging US to stay away from the region, enlisting a couple of African countries on its side, even goingso far as to say that it doesnt fear trouble in the region. Still Washington has been very nice to China too nice some would think keeping American markets wide open to Chinese products, and holding annual bilateral summits on the global economy like the one held in Beijing this week. To be fair, I am not suggesting that Washington shouldnt talk to China on global issues. But it should do so within multilateral rather than bilateral forums (e.g., WTO and UN).Bilateral forums upgrade China from a regional player to a global player, and give Beijing the false impression that China is turning into a superpower. Thats a dangerous precedent for the future of globalization in the Asia-Pacific region. True, China is the worlds second largest economy soon closing in on the US economy, but so was Japan back in the 1980s. Wheres Japan now? Floundering in the swamp of stagnation, counting the one lost decade after the other. But even if it is assumed that China doesnt share the fate of Japan, and its economy continue to grow to eventually bypass that of the US in size, it wont match Americas military might. To be fair, Japan is a special case, as a host of problems crippled its growth from the bursting of multiple asset bubbles to negative demographics. Besides, Japans military is still controlled by the US, which wrote the countrys constitution back during the Occupation. For a reason: fast economic growth doesnt lead to military supremacy these days, unless it is supported and reinforced by technological supremacy. Thats not the case with China. In fact, China lags badly behind the US, as is nicely argued by Stephen G. Brooks and William C. Wohlforth in The Once and Future Superpower: Why China Wont Overtake the United States, published in Foreign Affairs (May/June 2016 issue). Economic growth no longer translates as directly into military power as it did in the past, which means that it is now harder than ever for rising powers to rise, and established ones to fall. And China the only country with the raw potential to become a true global peer of the United States also faces a more daunting challenge than previous rising states because of how far it lags behind technologically. Chinas technological gap vis-a-vis the US is the countrys Achilles heel, according to the authors. Chinas true Achilles heel on the world stage is something else: its low level of technological expertise compared to the United States. Relative to past rising powers, China has a much wider technological gap to close with the leading power. Much more than that of Japan back in the 1980s. Thats why Chinas role will be confined to that of a regional payer within the Asian-Pacific region rather than a global player. Chinas relative technological backwardness today, however, means that even if its economy continues to gain ground, it wont be easy for it to catch up militarily and become a true global strategic peer, as opposed to a merely a major player in its own neighborhood. Simply put, China doesnt have what it takes to be a military superpower. Thats why America should begin treating China as what it is. A regional, not a global player. Microsoft Corp agreed to buy LinkedIn Corp for $26.2 billion in its biggest-ever deal, combining the software giant's fast-growing cloud services business with the world's largest online network for professionals. Here's a look back at some of the others and how they panned out. Dell's deal for the data-storage company remains the biggest ever for the tech industry. The deal, announced last October, is set to close later this year. Avago Technologies Ltd. buys Broadcom Corp. for $37 billion in 2016 This deal closed on Feb. 1, making Broadcom Ltd. the parent company of both Broadcom Corp. and Avago Technologies. By joining forces, the rival chipmakers are hoping to make a bigger dent in the rapidly growing market for wireless devices. Facebook buys WhatsApp for about $21.8 billion in 2014 The social media company expanded its messaging capabilities with this purchase. It seems to be progressing well for Facebook so far. In February, WhatsApp announced that it had passed the 1 billion user mark, more than doubling what it had when Facebook Inc. announced the deal. It remains unclear, though, whether WhatsApp will turn into a major moneymaker for Facebook. Hewlett-Packard Co. buys Compaq for about $19 billion in 2002 This deal was championed by then-CEO Carly Fiorina as a way for HP to become a more formidable rival to computer maker IBM, but it faced staunch resistance from some prominent shareholders, including some of the heirs to the HP's founders. The acquisition helped establish HP's largest maker of personal computers for many years, but the deal has lost its luster as sales of desktop and laptop machines have declined with the growing popularity of smartphones and tablets. Last year, HP split into two companies, one focused on serving businesses and the other on the selling of PCs and printers. Symantec Corp. buys Veritas for about $13.5 billion in 2005 The security software company expanded its storage software capabilities with the buyout. This deal turned out to be another mismatch, culminating in Symantec's decision last year to sell Veritas for $8 billion to the Carlyle Group and Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, GIC. Hewlett-Packard Co. buys Electronic Data Systems for about $13 billion in 2008 The computer maker aimed to bolster its technology consulting services, but HP has had trouble retaining customers. After HP's 2015 split, EDS became part of HP Enterprises. Last month, that company said it would shed the former EDS operations as part of an $8.5 billion deal to sell its business services division to Computer Sciences Corp. Google Inc. buys Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. for $12.4 billion in 2012 The Internet company primarily bought Motorola for its portfolio of 17,000 mobile patents, but Google also inherited an unprofitable division that made smartphones. After losing more than $2 billion in less than two years, Google sold Motorola's smartphone business to the Lenovo Group for $2.9 billion and held on to the patents. Google had previously sold a Motorola division that makes television set-top boxes to the Arris Group for $2.35 billion. Oracle Corp. buys PeopleSoft for $11.1 billion in 2005 The purchase of the maker of human resources software turned Oracle in to a more formidable rival to SAP in the market for business management applications. In recent years, Oracle has been contending with a new threat from Workday, a specialist in online personnel services that was started by PeopleSoft founder David Duffield. Hewlett-Packard buys Autonomy for about $10 billion in 2011 The computer maker aimed to bolster its software and services offerings with the buyout, but this deal blew up quickly amid allegations that Autonomy had misled HP about its sales. HP absorbed an $8.8 billion charge to reflect that Autonomy wasn't worth the price that HP paid for it. Microsoft Corp. buys Skype for about $8.5 billion in 2011 The software company bolstered its online video calling technology with this buyout. Oracle Corp. buys Sun Microsystems for $7.4 billion in 2010 The buyout gave Oracle ownership of the Java programming language and catapulted the software company into the hardware business. Analysts have been generally unimpressed with the payoff that Oracle has gotten from Sun Microsystems so far. The government on Tuesday released the Model GST law after getting in-principle approval from the empowered committee of state finance ministers. It has raised hopes of the GST Bill getting passed in the Rajya Sabha in the Monsoon session of Parliament. The model GST law was released after the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley met finance ministers of 22 states and representatives from seven others in Kolkata on Tuesday. The law would be in public domain for consultation among various stakeholders. "This will provide the much-needed window for stakeholders to understand the nuances of the law and provide their comments," says Harishanker Subramaniam, National leader, Indirect Tax, EY. The empowered committee of state finance ministers has backed the government stand on not putting a cap on the GST rate in the constitution of the law. This was one of the conditions laid down by Congress party for supporting GST. The meeting in Kolkata saw most states agreeing to pass the bill in the present form. Tamil Nadu though has expressed some reservations. The law has already been passed in lower house of Parliament, but is stuck in the upper house where the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party lacks majority. However, the recent elections have changed the equations in Rajya Sabha and the government hopes to get the bill passed with the help of parties like Trinamool Congress. Shares of DLF surged 1.65 per cent in trade on Tuesday following news reports the realty major has received bids worth $1 billion for a 40 per cent stake in its commercial property unit. The stock of DLF rose as much as 2.68 per cent to Rs 132.65 on BSE after three straight sessions of declines but settled the day 1.65 per cent higher. "Blackstone Group, GIC of Singapore and Brookfield Asset Management have fired slightly over $1-billion separate bids to acquire a 40% stake in DLF's commercial property unit that owns rent-yielding assets," reported Times of India citing sources sources directly familiar with the matter. A DLF spokesman told Reuters the TOI report is "speculative". The Irish Exporters Association and Ulster Bank have once again teamed up for the Regional Business Roadshow. A series of six regional business seminars were held in The Clayton Hotel, Galway this morning. Over 80 exporters and service providers attended this event from all over Connaught to hear from Export Industry Panel and Industry Speakers. Furthermore, a lively panel discussion led by Brian Jensen, Political/Economic Counselor, US Embassy in Ireland, took place on the US as a key international market for exporters focusing on industry opportunities and challenges relevant to the Connaught region. Other speakers included Business Development Director of Lifes2good, Andy Leyland and Chief Executive of Chameleon Colour Systems Ltd, Padraic Timon. Chief Executive of the Irish Exporters Association, Simon McKeever commented, "Galway is an extremely important export location for the country with many indigenous Irish companies exporting together with a very strong input from the Med Tech, ICT and Food and Drink sectors. Galway is home to 4 of the top 5 ICT companies and as a county employs one third of the countrys medical device employees." Ulster Banks head of SME Banking in the South Midlands and West, Pat Horgan added, "We know from talking to our customers in Galway that there are exciting and innovative businesses here and we are delighted to have had the opportunity to hear more about what matters to them." He continued, "Ulster Bank has a dedicated fund of 1.5bn available to lend to businesses in 2016, a 31 per cent increase on last year. Were here to talk to customers about how we can provide meaningful help so they can turn their ideas into a reality." Source: www.businessworld.ie About us A planned scheme to repackage JobBridge has been strongly criticised by Sinn Fein Social Protection spokesperson, John Brady today. Sinn Fein has put forward an alternative which they say would allow for tailored internship programmes with meaningful learning opportunities. The document was sent to Minister Varadkar to consider. Deputy Brady said, "Minister Varadkar has been very vague on what his plans are to replace the failed JobBridge scheme with. However, given his recent comments in relation to the new scheme it does not appear that interns on the scheme will be any better off than they were on JobBridge." He added, "While I have welcomed the news that JobBridge will be scrapped, replacing it with something much the same is simply not good enough." Source: www.businessworld.ie Switzerland edged closer to implementing long-awaited business tax reforms on Tuesday, when the lower house of parliament approved proposals aimed at meeting global taxation standards. The changes include abolishing special status for 24,000 companies, which gives them tax rates of 8 to 12%, depending on where they are based in the country. Ordinary companies are taxed now at a rate of around 12 to 24%. The tax rate will average 16% for all companies when the new regime is phased in during the next few years. Tax reform has been a hot topic in Switzerland since 2007. It picked up pace after the financial crisis as countries cracked down on tax avoidance by companies. Switzerland has signed up to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development's action plan on base erosion and profit shifting, which are intended to prevent corporate tax abuse. Revenue losses through such measures are estimated at $100 billion to $240 billion annually, according to the OECD. Under the new proposals, tax privileges for holding companies, management companies and companies that get most of their sales outside of Switzerland will be abolished. In return, companies will get favourable treatment for the income they get from patents and increased deductions for research and development costs. Several cantons will also lower their general business tax rates. The proposals, which could be challenged by a referendum before their planned introduction in 2019, could cut the income of some cantons. Extra income from companies with special status now may not offset the reduced tax from companies taxed at the new standard rate. The Swiss government said it will increase the portion of tax it gives to the cantons and has earmarked almost 1 billion Swiss francs to cover the shortfall. In the longer term, Switzerland hopes the tax overhaul will attract more companies whose tax bill will eventually rise as their business grows. "The successful Swiss way has always been: lower the tax and the business will come," said Jacqueline Hess, a partner at consultancy Deloitte. The proposed new law faces final approval by both houses of parliament on Friday, seen as a formality. (Reuters) Source: www.businessworld.ie About us Photo courtesy Scootem N Shootem Photography Two weeks after finishing his 7th grade work at Willow Valley Middle School in Wellsville, Brock Alder will be leaving Wednesday for Lebanon, Tennessee where he will compete in the 12th annual National Junior High Finals Rodeo. Featuring roughly 1,000 contestants, the NJHFR is the worlds largest junior high rodeo and besides competing for more than $75,000 in prizes, the contestants will be vying for more than $100,000 in college scholarships. Brock, who is the son of Brett and Jenny Alder of Young Ward, is excited about the trip even though he went to nationals in Iowa last year as an alternate for a contestant who had to drop out. This time, he tied for first in the state then dropped to second in a second tiebreaker. But he is happy with the job he has done and with the path he chose to take. I was eight years old, or even younger, Ive always gone out and shot with my dad. Ive just really like guns and hunting, and really interested in them. Ive always rodeod when I was younger and just thought Id try sight rifle. Im just really interested in that stuff. Ive just come to love it. Its a really fun sport and there is a lot that goes into it. You have to practice a lot. Alder says he is looking forward to the great rodeo competition and the chance to meet new friends from around the world who also enjoy the shooting sports. Image courtesy Utah State University. LOGAN Scientists have long-known the moss known as Syntrichia caninervis gathers its water differently than most, but they werent sure how. This desert plant is able to thrive in areas where others cannot. Utah State Universitys Splash Lab, with the help of scientists from BYU, recently published research explaining the plants unique functions. The plant has hair-like awns that can be up to two millimeters in length at the end of each leaf. It was previously thought the purpose of the awns were for UV protection, but research by the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography at the Chinese Academy of Sciences proved otherwise. When they removed the hairs, the plants struggled. It made it clear the hairs werent for UV protection, they were for water collection, but it was still unclear exactly how. Thats when BYU mechanical engineering graduate student Zhao Pan, BYU researcher William Pitt and USU researcher Tadd Truscott dove in. Things got really exciting, Truscott said. We got out the water and the mister and we got some high-speed cameras going. They were able to adjust the pressure and temperature of the air to bring it above and below the dew point. While doing so, they noticed something different than expected was happening. We could watch the water come out of a gaseous state to a liquid state, he said. We could see it was nucleating on the surface of the hair first. We were like, Oh, wow, this plant is really special. It can nucleate water before the air does, slightly before. But that wasnt all. At the microscopic level, they noticed the droplets preferred to bond on the surface of the hair rather than the air. The water collected and formed droplets on barbs. When the droplets reached a certain size they rolled down onto an awn. When the awn got wet, it opened up. We just looked at each other like, This is so incredible. I cant believe we get to study this, Truscott said. Truscott said there may be benefits to studying the plant for future technology, but it hasnt been looked into yet. In the desert air in Utah, we dont have a lot of fog, but we do have dew pretty regularly, he said. There might be ways to collect small amounts of water in small patches or large amounts of water by having lots of small patches of something man-made, maybe collect dew every morning. Image courtesy USU. LOGAN In Utah and throughout the West, water is scarce. The farms and communities in the state depend on the snowpack and subsequent runoff each year, but even with good snowpack, it can be difficult to predict how much water will be available. According to Utah State University researcher Scott Jones, there is currently nothing available that can measure water flow in soils, but he is hoping to change that with a newly developed device. Water flow in soils is what feeds a good majority of our ground water and a lot of our municipal water comes from groundwater, he said. So it would be great if we could measure and monitor the inputs of water from precipitation, snow into the reservoir. According to a USU press release, the small device contains five needles that can be used to detect the soils water flow and direction. These devices would need to be arranged throughout the mountains and forests in large numbers to be as effective as possible, but it is still a less expensive and potentially more effective solution than the 100 sites around Utah that monitor snowpack. Jones got some of his inspiration for the device from researchers at USUs Space Dynamics Lab, who were trying to irrigate plants on the Mir Space Station. Jones noticed they were using a thermal sensor to look at the water content of the soil. He said that a with a two-needle device like the ones used by the Space Dynamics Lab one needle serves as a heater and the other serves as a sensor. The heater needle sends out a heat pulse, heating up the sensor needle. The amount of temperature change experienced by the sensor needle reveals the soils water content. What Jones did is add additional sensor needles. By doing this, the water flows direction and velocity can be measured. If you use three needles so you have an upstream and a downstream, he said. Then you can actually look at water flow rates. We started building three needle probes and trying to measure water flow and soil columns. The device, which has been in development for more than 10 years and has received more than $2 million in finding isnt currently in production, but Jones thinks it could be available soon. Logan-based Apogee Instruments took on the project. Were working with them to try and commercialize a three-needle version of this probe, he said. In terms of time frame it could be within the next year or two if things go well. Rollins Follow Rollins Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today No matter how busy or loud Washington, D.C., becomes, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is usually quiet. The long, black wall, with the names of thousands of fallen heroes, is a visually striking monument and one of Washingtons most powerful places. Here, the names of more than 58,000 American service members are engraved in black granite. Beside some of these names is the symbol of a cross, indicating missing in action. Most include the symbol of a diamond. The diamond designates someone who died and gave the ultimate sacrifice for our nation. The Vietnam Memorial holds the names of 395 Nebraskans. While this war remains a deeply controversial period in our history, each of these heroes deployed for the purposes of fighting communism and defending freedom. Altogether, more than 40,000 Nebraskans served in our military during the Vietnam era. Most of them returned home. They started families and built careers. They formed a new foundation of pride for communities from Omaha to Scottsbluff. Unfortunately, not all of Nebraskas Vietnam veterans are able to visit the memorial dedicated in their honor. Over the years, family obligations, financial constraints and health concerns have prevented them from traveling to our nations capital. Now, over 50 years since the war began, Bill and Evonne Williams of Omaha have taken a step to change that. With help from generous donors throughout Nebraska, they arranged to fly more than 500 of Nebraskas Vietnam veterans to Washington to see the Vietnam Memorial. Their nonprofit organization, Patriotic Productions, chartered three commercial airplanes, organized other accommodations, and tapped numerous volunteers to assist in this enormous undertaking. Hundreds of these veterans arrived in Washington, D.C., on June 6, the 72nd anniversary of D-Day. It was my honor to greet them as they arrived on the National Mall that morning. We gathered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, and, from there, we walked to the wall. The veterans searched carefully across the thousands of names carved into the smooth, granite surface. They looked for comrades. They looked for friends. When they found a name, many of them pressed pieces of paper flat against the wall. With pencils, they took rubbings of the name, and of the diamond or cross beside it. They told their stories. We shared tears. Many were memories of great courage and tragedy. Not all of these stories were sad, though. Some shared fond memories of the special time they spent with their fellow service members. One veteran pointed to a name and told me how, as a young pilot, he and this friend tried to impress some girls by flying acrobatics. They had just 9 hours of flight experience, but managed to land the plane in one piece. The girls loved watching their air show. This honor flight is a profound display of respect for military service. When these 500 Vietnam veterans returned home at the end of their long day in Washington, they received a heros welcome. Family, friends, volunteers and grateful citizens greeted them at Eppley Airfield to celebrate this proud moment. I was humbled to walk with these heroes and grateful for the opportunity to thank them, in person, for their service to our country. I am also proud of all those who helped make this trip possible. Their work reflects the character for which Nebraskans are known all over the world. Thank you for taking part in our democratic process. I look forward to visiting with you again next week. SHARE By Beatriz Alvarado of the Caller-Times More than 1,400 Corpus Christi ISD students will not be held back a grade because of statewide testing glitches. Texas Education Agency Commissioner of Education Mike Morath announced late Friday the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) results for fifth- and eighth-graders were waived "as a result of ongoing reporting issues with (the) testing vendor," according to a TEA news release. Under state law, fifth and eighth grade students need to pass both the STAAR reading and mathematics tests to be promoted to the next grade. Students are given three chances to take the test. After the second administration of tests in May, 1,479 CCISD fifth and eighth grade students failed reading, math or both, according to district data. The group would have retested in June, but Morath also called off the third round of tests. New Jersey-based Educational Testing Service developed and administered the STAAR exam for the first time this year. For more insight on Morath's decision, visit http://tea.texas.gov/Home/Commissioner_Blog/Insights_on_the_STAAR_Grade_5_and_8_decision/ Twitter: @CallerBetty Contributed photo A fundraiser dance is planned for Friday at the Galvan Ballroom, and the Barbershop Books Reading Program kickoff is set for Saturday also in observance of Juneteenth. SHARE By Natalia Contreras of the Caller-Times When young boys walk into Toby Stewart's barbershop this weekend, they'll get more than a haircut. Like always, the boys will talk with Stewart and the other men at the shop about sports, about the neighborhood's comings and goings just the typical Saturday morning banter when they get their fade. They'll also get a chance to read. The Kant Be Faded barbershop on Ayers Street is one of two locations in Corpus Christi participating in the Barbershop Books Reading Program. The program is hosted by the Texas Association of Black Personnel in Higher Education (TABPHE) and the locations in Corpus Christi will be Texas' first, officials said. Children ages 4 to 8 will have the chance to grab a book and read it to their barber while getting a haircut. Stewart, who has owned the shop for about nine years, said he and the other eight barbers are looking forward to encouraging the children to read and pursue an education. "Teachers have a lasting and positive impact, and now (the barbers) will be able to help the children, too," Stewart said. "We want to do what we can to help the children in this community and make a lasting positive impact." The Barbershop Books program is a nonprofit organization created by Alvin Irby from New York City. The program tries to provide a safe reading space in barbershops nationwide for African-American young boys. The program will encourage reading during the summer and after school hours, increasing positive self-perception, male engagement and student achievement, officials said. "After we heard about this, we wanted to immediately sign up to sponsor reading spaces here," TABPHE vice president of public relations Tina Butler said. "This will encourage the children to read, and it will give them that male engagement that some don't get at home." RJ's Hair Tech barbershop, also on Ayers Street, will be the other location with a bookshelf for the children. Gary Holt has been a barber for about 40 years, has seen children come by to get a cut, has seen them grow and has seen them leave Corpus Christi. He said this is the first time he'll get to tap into his customer's education. "They come to the barbershop and the conversation is always about life, their friends, their girlfriends. It's never about school and their grades," Holt said. "With this, we'll get to ask how they are doing in school, and it's a wonderful thing to be part of that." The group plans to expand the reading program to more barbershops after fundraising efforts are met to purchase books. "We'd like to have several book options for the children and be able interchange the books throughout the summer," Butler said. A fundraiser dance is planned for Friday at the Galvan Ballroom, and the Barbershop Books Reading Program kickoff is set for Saturday also in observance of Juneteenth. Twitter: @CallerNatalia IF YOU GO What: Denim & Diamonds fundraiser to purchase additional books When: 7 p.m. to midnight Friday Where: Galvan Ballroom, 1632 Agnes St. Cost: $20 What: Barbershop Books Reading Program kickoff When: 11 a.m. Saturday Where: RJ's Hair Tech, 4531 Ayers St. Information: 361-698-1035 Contributed photo Members of the platform party at Del Mar College's Spring Commencement ceremony included Del Mar regents, administrators, faculty, staff and keynote speaker Capt. Stephen Banta, commanding officer of Naval Air Station Corpus Christi. SHARE By Beatriz Alvarado of the Caller-Times Del Mar College was touted for its effort in equipping veterans with valuable and lucrative skills, a college news release states. Syracuse University's Institute for Veterans and Military Families named the college and three others in the nation as those that are leading the way in helping train veterans in workforce skills for local and regional opportunities. The colleges were identified based on how they used grant funding to provide the services. The Walmart Foundation and the institute awarded Del Mar a $110,000 grant that funded the Pathways with a Purpose program. The program that spanned from August 2014 to July 2015 enrolled 170 veterans. Through the program, veterans also received other services, including counseling to apply for Veterans Affairs benefits, peer mentoring and opportunities to be a part of weekly veteran roundtable meetings focused on veteran affairs and benefits, the release states. Tarrant County College in Fort Worth and Wake Technical Community College in Raleigh, North Carolina, also were recognized by the institute. Twitter: @CallerBetty SHARE By Beatriz Alvarado of the Caller-Times About half of the Corpus Christi ISD's annual federal funds will be used to help five academically struggling schools, the board of trustees decided. The Corpus Christi Independent School District board approved "turnaround plans," or systemic changes, for Gibson, Oak Park and Zavala elementary schools as well as for Driscoll and Martin middle schools during a Monday meeting. The two year-plans detail a more than $919,000 cumulative cost estimate for additional positions, professional development and new technology. CCISD receives about $10 million in federal Title I funds annually, some of which is used as "cushion" for the district, said CCISD director for instructional support Victor Hernandez. "The budget is probably going to be the tightest it's ever been," said Hernandez, who presented the plans to the board. Seven CCISD schools have been rated "improvement required" by the Texas Education Agency three consecutive years, and improvements for two of the campuses Kostoryz Elementary and South Park Middle School are funded through federal grant program. Schools that have received the "improvement required" rating two consecutive years or more had to this year submit "turnaround plans" to the TEA for final approval. The plans first have to be approved by trustees. "Campus improvement plans" were required from struggling schools in that past, but TEA scrapped that approach last year and asked for the turnaround plans instead, TEA spokeswoman DeEtta Culbertson said. "The turnaround plans are more specific," she said. The plans were crafted by committees at each campus made up of district administrative staff, parents, community members and at least one special education professional, Culbertson said. Detailed budgets for the changes and commentary from the committee were not required to be submitted to TEA in the past, she said. Accountability ratings will be released in August and if the schools received a better academic rating, the district has the option not to require the schools implement the plans. Superintendent Roland Hernandez said the plans will be implemented regardless of the ratings. "They built plans based on what they need to get on track for next couple of years," he said. "We can't approach them with 'we got them out of (the improvement required rating) so they are good to go.'" Culbertson said if schools don't meet accountability ratings a fifth time after the turnaround plans have been implemented, they face closure or the appointment of a board of managers to operate functions. Victor Hernandez said schools failing to meet state ratings three consecutive years and making systemic changes as part of the plans is a first for the district. The five campuses were asked to transition from planning for campus improvement plans to the turnaround plans in a matter of months, and Hernandez credited their efforts. "We have never been at this critical point," he said. "We also have not been under turnaround plans, it was a very quick change. The campuses did a great job in (transitioning) in such a short time frame." Twitter: @CallerBetty Federal funding approved to be allotted for struggling schools the next 2 years: $820,000 in additional positions $80,400 in professional development $19,500 in technology COURTNEY SACCO/CALLER-TIMES Lora Tyler in the Lexington Museum on the Bay plays the ukulele as she practices for the Southwest Youth Leadership Conference's talent show. SHARE COURTNEY SACCO/CALLER-TIMES A Southwest Youth Leadership Conference attendee practices for the talent show in the Lexington Museum on the Bay. COURTNEY SACCO/CALLER-TIMES Southwest Youth Leadership Conference attendees practice their group skit for the talent show in the Lexington Museum on the Bay. COURTNEY SACCO/CALLER-TIMES A Southwest Youth Leadership Conference attendee practices ahead of the talent show. By Fares Sabawi of the Caller-Times Jack Harrison knew his beliefs about the Bill of Rights before starting the Southwest Youth Leadership Conference Sunday at the Lexington Museum. But throughout the sessions, his mind began to change. "We were talking about (the right to search and seizure) and I came away from that conversation thinking about it in a way I hadn't before," said Harrison, a junior at Incarnate Word Academy. Harrison is one of 61 students from Texas, Oklahoma and Mississippi who are taking part in a five-day stay at the museum to learn about leadership and other qualities. The program is organized by the Military Order of the World Wars and funded by Texas Patriotic Education Foundation. Deborah Dombeck, the director of the conference, said the program is 50 percent leadership, 30 percent patriotism and 20 percent free market. The high school juniors work on activities like mock trial, discussions on landmark court cases and listening to different local speakers. "We want to create a safe environment where the students can try new things," Dombeck said. "That's where the magic lies." Although the conference isn't over yet, Harrison said he's inspired to run for student council when school starts in the fall. Twitter: @Caller_Fares SHARE CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Border Patrol agents seized 147 pounds of cocaine, worth more than $4.6 million, Monday at the Sarita checkpoint. By Fares Sabawi of the Caller-Times When two American citizens approached the Sarita checkpoint in a tractor-trailer Monday, a Border Patrol K-9 indicated the vehicle needed further inspection. When agents searched the vehicle, they found 59 bundles of cocaine weighing 147 pounds. Agents arrested both citizens after the seizure, which is estimated to be worth more than $4.6 million, according to a news release from the Border Patrol. The cocaine was found in a hidden storage area of the trailer, according to the release. The case was referred to the Drug Enforcement Administration. The identities of the pair involved was not released. Twitter: @Caller_Fares COURTNEY SACCO/CALLER-TIMES Two women embrace during a candlelight vigil in Corpus Christi to remember the victims in Orlando. In all, 49 people were killed and 53 were injured in the shooting early Sunday morning. SHARE COURTNEY SACCO/CALLER-TIMES A woman sheds a tear during a candlelight vigil held at Metropolitan Community Church. They mourned and remembered the 49 victims were slain Sunday at a nightclub in Orlando. COURTNEY SACCO/CALLER-TIMES A man sheds a tear during a candlelight vigil at Metropolitan Community Church to remember the victims of Orlando. COURTNEY SACCO/CALLER-TIMES A candlelight vigil was held at Metropolitan Community Church in Corpus Christi. They mourned and remembered the 49 victims were slain Sunday in Orlando. COURTNEY SACCO/CALLER-TIMES A candlelight vigil was held at the Metropolitan Community Church to remember the victims of Pulse Nightclub Club in Orlando, Monday, June 13, 2016. By Fares Sabawi of the Caller-Times Colin Sykes struggled finding the words to help express his frustration. He couldn't believe that another mass shooting, the 133rd this year in the United States, had occurred Sunday night at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando. "It's so wrong," Sykes said. "We've got to get over this. So much evil is being done." Sykes, of Corpus Christi, was one of the dozens in attendance for a candlelight vigil Monday at Metropolitan Community Church of Corpus Christi. The members of the congregation are predominantly people from the LGBT community, said Andy Wilcox, deacon of the church. The shooting Sunday in Orlando took him by surprise, he said. "We're used to discrimination and hatred, but not on that scope," Wilcox said. Candles were passed out during the ceremony while the names of each victim was read. People hugged one another, some shed tears, as others sat by quietly in solidarity for those slain over the weekend. The event was solemn, but brought people in the community together. "There's more people here than a usual weekday service," Wilcox said. "We're here to share our burden. When you share a burden, it gets light." Jonathan Wickham, the rector at All Saints Episcopal Church, said he felt obligated to attend the vigil. "I don't know how you can be a part of the human family without being touched by what has happened in Orlando," Wickham said. Wickham spoke to the crowd after they sang songs, recited prayers and had a moment of silence for the victims. He encouraged all of them to be active in making the community less violent through the way people treat each other. "We must allow love to be how we greet every human being," Wickham told the audience. "We must preform acts of love to extinguish violence." Another candlelight vigil will be held Tuesday at Cole Park at 7:30 p.m. That event will be organized by Corpus Christi LGBTQIA+ Community, a local gay rights advocacy group. Twitter: @Caller_Fares if you go What: Candlelight vigil for victims of Orlando mass shooting When: Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. Where: Cole Park, 1526 Ocean Dr. How much: Free Information: www.cclgbt.com The bible verse, "for whatever one sows, that will he also reap," offered an unintended lesson about the risk of rushing to judgment in the aftermath of Sunday's Orlando massacre. We will go into further detail about the grief caused by the verse here in Texas. But first, consider carefully these known facts about Sunday's attack in which 50 people died and 53 were wounded: Killer Omar Mateen's wife left him in 2009 after four short months of marriage because he was abusive and mentally unstable. Her family had to rescue her from him. He was a steroid abuser who liked guns and knew how to use them. Coworkers couldn't stand to be around him because he kept up a constant barrage of crazy talk about killing people. He was homophobic. One of the last things his father remembers him saying was that he was disgusted to have seen two men kissing. The nightclub he targeted was known as the hottest gay club in town. He was a native-born U.S. citizen of Afghan ethnicity. He pledged allegiance to ISIS in a 911 call during the attack. His ex-wife and his father, in separate interviews, said the attack wasn't about his Muslim religion. The FBI interviewed him in 2013 and 2014 but found nothing to act upon. ISIS, predictably, rejoiced at the attack but after the fact. No contact or direct ties between Mateen and ISIS have been established. He brought no accomplices into the nightclub and as far as authorities knew as of Monday, he acted alone, armed with an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle and a handgun. President Obama declared the attack an act of terror and a hate crime. That is a sound judgment of known facts upon which we should agree and unite. Blaming Obama, blaming Islam, blaming the FBI and Homeland Security, patting oneself on the back for having recommended banning Muslim immigrants, ignoring the distinction between an assault and an assault-style rifle and between automatic and semiautomatic those are unsound politically opportunistic judgments that divide the nation and dishonor the victims. One of more resonant responses to the attack was from the Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity, which urged that all Americans "resist the forces of division and hatred" and "stand against homophobia as well as against Islamophobia and anti-Muslim bigotry." It probably come as a surprise to some that there is an alliance of LGBT Muslims. "At moment like this," the group said, "we are doubly affected." We can only imagine and embrace them and their appeal for humanity. Resisting the forces of division means also taking the word of our lieutenant governor, Dan Patrick, that his tweet Sunday of the aforementioned bible verse was set up in advance and therefore could not have been meant as a comment against the victims. Patrick has been a vocal opponent of gay marriage and a proponent of the North Carolina-style bathroom law, so it was easy to assume the worst about the tweet. But his explanation rings true and should suffice. The tweet was removed quickly, with apology. Let it be a lesson to Patrick and to those who rushed to judgment against him about reaping what on sows. Out of respect for the victims, this is a time to sow the seeds of unity. The verse itself is an appeal to our better angels rather than a warning of damnation. Patrick, in his written explanation, included the verse in its entirety for context. We all, regardless of faith or lack thereof, should heed this less-often-quoted part of the verse: "As we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone." SHARE I've been to the moon. I've been burned. But more often I'm honored. I'm your American flag. With 13 stars for colonies clamoring for freedom, I was first flown at Fort Stanwix in New York in 1777 and then carried into battle for the first time at Brandywine in Pennsylvania. By war's end, I was saluted as the emblem of a sovereign nation, new and free. I'm your American flag. But challenges lay ahead. With 15 stars and 15 stripes, I survived shock and shell at Fort McHenry in Baltimore in 1814. With the aid of rockets' red glare and bombs bursting in air, I was spied from afar at dawn's early light by a patriot poet. I was then celebrated in sight and song by a fledgling nation. I'm your American flag. A half-century later and with 33 stars and 13 stripes, I was saddened to see our nation divided. Our brothers' blood was spilled in battle north and south. But by war's end, President Abraham Lincoln's iconic words at Gettysburg prevailed a unique nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. But that pledge was yet to be fully fulfilled. I survived mustard gas and ghastly death in European trenches in World War I and, 48 stars strong, was hoisted by six soldiers on Mount Suribachi at Iwo Jima in World War II. I'm proud to be your American flag. I was carried into battle over frozen turf in Korea, waved more proudly on flagpoles here at home with civil rights and women's rights rising, and was saluted by a little boy as the horse-drawn caisson with his father's casket passed by on the streets of our nation's capital. It was the best of times and the worst of times, but through it all, I was your American flag. I lost sons and daughters in the rice paddies and hellish jungles of Vietnam, saw some succumb to Agent Orange, and witnessed renewed conflict about taking me, your American flag, to faraway lands like Iraq and Afghanistan. When and where warfare should be waged is an issue still troubling us today. When our nation celebrated its bicentennial birthday in 1976 200 years after declaring our independence I was there. When people parade on the Fourth of July and other occasions, I generally lead the parade. As I pass by, children along the parade route often stand at attention and proudly salute me while their parents or a grandmother behind them might have a tear rolling down their cheek in memory of a loved one who served in uniform and didn't make it back home. Often I'm inconspicuous, standing silently in the corner of a meeting hall or classroom though far fewer of them nowadays. Indeed, I've fallen from favor for some incensed by actions our government takes. But I suffer in silence when abused or defiled for I represent all of our rights, including protesting and speaking our minds. Though I spend most of my time here at home, I represent us around the globe at various foreign outposts, including military bases, embassies, and consulates. And those row upon row of white crosses above the cliffs of Normandy and elsewhere where we left our honored dead are often decorated with my colors of red, white, and blue. I'm your American flag. But most of all I represent the American spirit, the indomitable demand and yearning for freedom, excellence, and opportunity. I am not the flag of a ruling regime or royal family. I am the American flag, representing rights emanating from a higher and transcendent authority honored on our coinage. Look up to me as you salute or stand at attention. Pledge yourself to fulfill lofty goals symbolized by my heavenly sky-blue field for 50 stars. With red for valor and zeal and white for hope and purity, look up and salute with pride what the patriot poet hailed as a worthy star-spangled banner. May it forever wave over the land of the free and the home of the brave. COURTNEY SACCO/CALLER-TIMES A mound of trash can behind Schlitterbahn Corpus Christi, Tuesday, June 7, 2016. SHARE Constance A. Luedicke Schlitterbahn's unsightly dumping ground Those of us who live in the neighborhoods near Schlitterbahn are watching our property values spiral downward while the fetid fiasco wallows in its trash. Our self-serving, real estate driven City Council has been a willing accomplice in the debacle, repeatedly turning a blind eye to the project's failure to meet its contractual obligations. Like Nero, they fiddle while Rome burns, as does code enforcement, which has wholly failed to do its job and sanction the boondoggle. In the memorable words of Bette Davis' character in "Beyond the Forest," "What a dump!" Recently I heard a story from a Nebraska veteran who had been wounded in Vietnam and spent time recovering in a hospital along Vietnams coast. He didnt give me many details, except to say that his injuries were not as severe as other persons there. Others had lost limbs or been immobilized from combat. One day in the hospital ward some special visitors appeared. Many of you might remember the actor, musician and comedian Bob Hope, who made heroic efforts to visit troops in World War II, Korea, Vietnam and later combat areas. His entourage that day included the actress Ann-Margret. You would have expected that her presence would have created quite a stir, but among the severely wounded, there was not much of a reaction. When Bob Hope entered, however, the severely wounded struggled from their prone positions to sit up, or make some type of gesture out of respect for this man. Earlier this month I had the great privilege of joining the veteran who told me this story and hundreds of others from across Nebraska for the sendoff dinner for this weeks Honor Flight. The dinner included a talented Bob Hope impersonator. He did a pretty good job of reenacting the '60s and early '70s for the veterans there, concluding with the song, Thanks for the Memories. The veterans seemed to enjoy this step back in time. Honor Flights are an altruistic nonprofit initiative to fly veterans to Washington to see their respective memorials. I have been blessed to interact with Honor Flights for veterans from World War II, the Korean War, and now the Vietnam War. I am deeply grateful to everyone involved in planning the pre-flight evening and the most recent Honor Flight. As I learned, this trip cost about $500,000. The money was raised through generous contributions from many Nebraska individuals and businesses. Even little schoolchildren got in on the effort. Tremendous credit is due to Bill and Evonne Williams, who organize the Honor Flights. I had the special opportunity to see my two young friends again, Julia and Eva Yllescas. Their father, Rob, died from injuries he received in Afghanistan. President Bush awarded Rob the Purple Heart before he passed away. The Yllescas girls were not present then, but Julia asked her mother if perhaps she could one day meet President Bush. About one year ago I had the privilege of joining the Yllescas family, including both girls, in a meeting with President Bush. On Sunday evening, Eva and Julia sang beautifully for the veterans during the dinner. Having given their father in combat, the family continues to generously give to those who so dutifully served. One of the speakers was former Governor Heineman. As the Governor pointed out, America learned an important lesson after Vietnam: Our veterans deserve the highest honor and respect when they come home. The political debates over war should not be projected on those who fight for our safety and our freedoms. Fortunately, tributes and welcome home ceremonies now are an important part of Americas cultural fabric. I once witnessed a group of troops make their way off a plane into the airport. As the soldiers entered, the busy terminal turned, people stopped what they were doing, and then began to spontaneously applaud. Having paused on Memorial Day to reflect on the sacrifice of war and remember our war dead, it was so fitting that Nebraska had the chance to give our Vietnam veterans their proper salute with an Honor Flight and a big thank you for the memories. CAMEROUN :: Cameroon, Looking glass, Memorandum to the UN General secretary: THE PLIGHT OF BRITISH SOUTHERN CAMEROONS UNDER IMPERIAL RULE History has demonstrated again and again over the centuries that an imperial power respects no standards and no law. It is simply an embodiment of evil. It is easier for hawks in their numbers flapping their wings to chase away a lion from its prey than to have an imperial power feeding fat on its occupied land to respect international law, conventions and good conscience and withdraw honorably. This explains the case of imperial la Republique du Cameroun in British Southern Cameroons. But the day of reckoning as declared by the Lord of justice is not far. On Friday April 22nd, 2016, some 19 detainees from Wum, Menchum County of British Southern Cameroons who had been in the Bamenda detention camp since January 2016, for fear of confrontation with the population, were under the cover of darkness transferred to Yaounde, la Republique du Cameroun. Prior to being transferred under heavily armed troops, these defenseless suspects, as if this detention under life-threatening conditions was not bad enough, were tortured to break their will power and spirits. The 19 transferred to Yaounde by Order No.090/ORD/C1/16 of April 16, 2016 signed by Chief Judge of the Yaounde Military Court, Captain Fredric POH MBOLULE are; 1. Quala Dze Queenta____________ born on Dec. 02, 1993. She is pregnant. 2. Livingstone Fung Achuo________ Oct. 10, 1990 3. Joseph Afuh Ngourou__________ March 02, 1975 4. Mamouda Sule________________ May 20, 1998 5. Azang Hamlep Azang___________ born in about 1998 6. Kingsley Njuh Kelley___________ born in about 1989 7. Abang Modest Amih___________ born on April 25, 1993 8. Nasser Fontoh_________________ March 03, 1985 9. Ngong Solos Wallang____________ May 13, 1974 10. Franck Tsu Itie_________________ in about 1979 11. Gerald Kum Chou______________ on March 16, 1985 12. Nestor Kangsen Mbah___________ on Feb. 14, 1992 13. Marcel Fung Mih_______________ July 22, 1989 14. Ewi Alain Meeh________________ Aug. 28, 1993 15. Bruno Lumba Nkemta___________ in 1985 16. Canisius Ngong Yoh_____________ in 1989 17. Emmanuel Achou Kum__________ on March 30, 1998 18. Tibi Vincent Tebug alias Ojong____ born on Oct. 02, 1978 19. Tem Josua Mua_________________ born on Sept. 13, 1999 Plus two soldiers working in Wum; 20. Athanase Ateba Mvodo 21. Pierre Gaetan Kame Nkoo This Order which is issued completely in French, and that dictates the language of the masters and in which they will be tried, concludes that these suspects will be at the Kondengui Maximum detention till Oct. 07, 2016. That is to say Queentas baby who had been a prisoner in the womb will be born a prisoner without a crime except that God created him/her a British Southern Cameroonian. The 19 suspects were not arrested in the act but many days later through a kale-kale in Wum town and as such should be presumed innocent until proven guilty by the law. This kale-kale, as usual, took place in the wee hours of the morning when peace loving citizens are deep asleep. These are not the first Southern Cameroonian suspects arrested in Southern Cameroons for allegedly committing a crime on British Southern Cameroons soil which falls under the Common Law jurisdiction that have had to be transferred without the knowledge of their family members and lawyers. Since the 1992 episode in which late Justice Nyo Wakai, a retired Judge of the Supreme Court, and one hundred and seventy two (172) other leaders and militants of the SDF detained at the BMM Up-Station, Bamenda, after the heavily flawed presidential elections of October 1992 in which the victor, Ni John Fru Ndi, a Southern Cameroonian, became the vanquished, many other Southern Cameroonians have suffered this same high handed barbarism of la Republique du Cameroun. Your Excellency, what provoked mob action that led to the burning of the make-shift military barracks in Wum was the murder of Leonard Mih Ngong aged 23 years by a francophone soldier in the night and the insensitive attitude of the proconsuls who treated it as if it were the death of a careless chicken. This nonchalant attitude only came to ignite held up anger, a sad reminder of several complaints tabled against the forces to the authorities who did nothing to establish healthy relationship between civilian population and the forces who behave as lords of a conquered territory. While the population is mourning the irreparable and irreplaceable lose of their dear son, compatriot and bread winner of the poor family, no one is talking about the Francophone murderer soldier who like others before was immediately protected. The murder of Leornard Mih Ngong over his snatched girl friend was a premeditated act. Similar murders by these occupation forces, such as that of Mbengwi, to teach les Anglos an unforgettable lesson have taken place in the past in other towns of British Southern Cameroons. What happens is immediate transfer of the holier than thou home and that ends the story. Beginning from the Ebubu, Tombel massacre in 1962, the numerous unprovoked kale kales, the Black Saturday in Ndu, the states of emergency of the 1990, 1992, 1997 and the economic blockade of 1993, code named Operation Dorade, the murder of unarmed peace-loving SCNC activists in Kumbo, on Oct. 1st. 2001 and other acts of vandalism, these and more have made the Southern Cameroonian conclude that under la Republique du Cameroun he is neither safe, secured nor has he hope and a future in freedom and dignity. This reminds him of the good old days of British Southern Cameroons where, in freedom, under rule of law, enjoying social justice, he was his own master with the sky as the only limit. Your Excellency, Sir, the one billion dollar question is, if this is not concrete evidence of treating British Southern Cameroons and its people as a conquered and occupied land and subjugated people, how many citizens of la Republique du Cameroun arrested, for an alleged crime committed on their home soil, have been transferred for trial under the Common Law jurisdiction in British Southern Cameroons? To the Yaounde authorities the people of British Southern Cameroons are a subjugated people with no rights, no dignity: disregarding uti possedetis juris and the critical date and Art. 4(b) of the AU Constitutive Act, this former UN Trust territory does not exist to merit any respect. Having with impunity flouted the Banjul Ruling on Communication 266/2003 approved by the AU Summit of July 2009 which recognized Southern Cameroonians as a distinct people, from those of la Republique du Cameroun, entitled to the unquestionable right of self-determination and called for Constructive Dialogue, the annexationist regime has continued to intensify its military repression. Furthermore, it has continued to kidnap our fellow compatriots and like looted cargo humiliatingly ferry them to la Republique du Cameroun for brutal and dehumanizing interrogation, torture and trial under kangaroo courts. This is in gross violation of the Banjul Ruling in which the Commission called on the Respondent State, la Republique du Cameroun, to forth with put an end to the transfer of accused persons from the Anglophone Provinces (British Southern Cameroons) for trial in the Francophone Provinces. The Respondent State is called upon to ensure that every person facing criminal charges be tried under the language he /she understands.(Emphasis, mine). This calls to question the so called bi-cultural, bi-jurial, and bilingual Cameroun which the apologists of the Yaounde regime, to protect their crumbs, propagate and pretentiously defend. If no citizen of la Republique du Cameroun brought up under the Civil Law system has ever been transferred for trial under the Common Law jurisdiction, why should citizens of British Southern Cameroons brought up under the Common Law be transferred and tried under the Civil Law in a foreign language French? Sir, nothing illustrates the unbearable and humiliating treatment British Southern Cameroonians are subjected to than the contrasting treatment Wum suspects have had to endure and humane treat given Mora, Far North Region of la Republique du Cameroun where the Boko Haram insurgents are marauding. For those who doubt or question the reasoned presentation in this Memorandum, let them find out how the Yaounde authorities responded to the setting ablaze of the barracks in Mora in October 2015 by a mob. Was there a kale-kale? Were there arrests and humiliating torture in public and are there any now languishing in Kondengui Maximum Prison, Yaounde like those of Wum? We must here firmly understand one thing: neither imperialism nor annexation can be reformed. It is hard core evil pure and simple. It must be over thrown for the subjugated people to regain their freedom and dignity. The Yaounde state will never treat British Southern Cameroons as the equal of la Republique du Cameroun due to non-implementation of UNGA Resolution 1608 of April 21, 1961 that facilitated annexation and subjugation. We do not belong. British Southern Cameroons and la Republique du Cameroun can never belong as equals under one national polity. Historically, culturally and legally, they belong apart and for peace based on justice and stability in the region, separation respecting colonial inherited boundary is the only permanent solution. Your Excellency, if the international community is not begging for another Rwanda, to nip the inevitable in the board, they all should mount pressure on la Republique du Cameroun to submit to the Constructive Dialogue under the Good Offices of the African Commission as approved by the AU Summit of July 2009 in Libya. Consistent repression, kale-kales ( i.e. organised state terrorism), transfer of suspects for trial in a foreign language under the civil law system, persistent killings of unarmed civilians by occupation forces, economic rape, among others, has put the two distinct Cameroons, held together by the barrel of the gun, on a ticking time bomb: the inevitable explosion will have grave consequences for the AU and the UN as a whole for their prolonged culture of silence. Where has it, annexation or imperialism, triumphed unto eternity? British Southern Cameroons will not be the exception! As for our compatriots kidnapped to the gulag in Yaounde as if they were war captives to await the worse; YOUR EXCELLENCY, WE SOLEMNLY APPEAL; 1) To the UN and international community at large, all defenders of human rights and fundamental freedoms, the rule of law and fair trial, to mount pressure on President Paul Biya to bring back these compatriots to British Southern Cameroons where they are alleged to have committed the crime for fair and expeditious trial. To be tried in a foreign land under a strange legal system by foreign judges in a foreign language, which the accused do not understand, will tantamount to persecution not prosecution. 2) To the UN, AU, Commonwealth, all human rights organizations committed to justice and the rule of law, to assist in whichever way possible or to monitor the trial of these compatriots and ensure that they receive fair trial and this implies that they should be tried under the Common Law system, investigations and interrogations, the giving of evidence in court and trial are all in English, and the trial is conducted by Common Law Judges. 3) That the Francophone soldier murderer is brought back to British Southern Cameroons where he committed the heinous crime and given fair trial under the Common Law system. In conclusion, the UN having declared annexation a crime against humanity and threat to world peace, remaining silent and withholding your positive action from according these unfortunate people of Wum origin the right of fair hearing and expeditious fair trial, an act which will bring to international lime light la Republique du Camerouns annexation, imposition of foreign domination and alien rule in British Southern Cameroons, will tantamount to giving the violator of international law a pat on the back. Saddam Hussein of Iraq never enjoyed such treatment when he annexed Kuwait and reduced it to the 19th Province of Iraq. We seek JUSTICE within the ambit of international law! Done, in Buea, this day, 27 April, 2016. For the SCNC and on behalf of the people of British Southern Cameroons. ____________________________ NFOR, NGALA NFOR (National Chairman, SCNC) Cc, All UN Member Nations, Chairman of AU Commission, Addis Ababa President of ICJ, Den Haag, President of ICC, Den Haag, President, Pan African Parliament, Johannesburg African Court of Justice, Commonwealth SG, London, President of ACHPR, Banjul, All Diplomatic Missions, Yaounde High Commissioner of UN Human Rights Commission, Geneva, Human Rights Bodies Accredited with the UN, among others. | BY | by Ted Royer, executive creative director of droga5, New York. Producers are great. They are my favorite people in advertising. And I want to marry one. Since every single person Ive met over the last 15 years works in advertising or some related industry, Ive realized that Im destined to marry an ad person. After a brief panic attack, I thought about producers and felt much better. I want to marry a producer. I dont want to marry an account services person. Sure, they can take lots of pressure and abuse from the world, and theyre organized (a definite prerequisite for my future spouse), but wed quickly realize that while we share many goals, ultimately, she may not care enough about my goals. And caring about my goals, or at least seeming to, is very important. Im not going to marry a traffic person. They propel jobs through the agency and thus are obviously good at getting stuff done. But they cry too much. Or they yell too much. Or they cry while yelling. There is crying and yelling at some point in every marriage. I wish to keep it to the bare minimum in mine. Marrying another creative seems like a great idea. We would laugh together. We would dream together. We would make amazing plans together. But we wouldnt know how to get any of those plans done or how to actually make anything happen. And then we would blame each other. I could marry one of my clients. We would have a great initial relationship. She would find me really funny and inventive, but over time, she might begin to doubt my motives and commitment. And shed be right. Am I bored? Am I ultimately looking to trade up? Am I looking for a newer, fresher challenge? Id be coy and say no. But the real answer would be maybe. No, I want to marry a producer. A producer listens to the most batshit crazy idea and doesnt say yes or no or ask why, but instantly asks How? She could talk me out of dumb things with grace and logic, or conversely show me what its possible to do with virtually nothing. A producer realizes that just as business and creativity need each other, responsibility (her) and irresponsibility (me) do too. A producer wouldnt be afraid of different challenges, no matter what form they took. A producer would be tough, fighting battles Id neither see nor even know about. A producer would plan for a rainy day and not even tell me she was doing it and then, when it started to rain, shed say, Its covered, go over to the food table. A producer would stay up all night partying with me, then make sure what needs to get done gets done, while I sleep. Marrying a producer would allow me to be as self-absorbed, self-indulgent, self-congratulatory, naval-gazing and creative as I want to be. Of course, I could always date someone outside of the industry and see what the rest of the world is like. | BY Ricki Green | To mark Mens Health Week 2016 beyondblue and Nissan Australia have launched Chat Laps, an initiative via Whybin]TBWA Group Melbourne, encouraging Australian men to take a drive and talk, to help battle anxiety and depression. The initiative uses the concept of a lap to get mates speaking to each other more openly, and was conceived after reviewing a recent study noting men were far more likely to talk honestly when they werent facing each other. Chat Laps launches with a film demonstrating the ease at which men chat when theyre in the car, side by side. Men are also encouraged to adorn their vehicles with a Chat Laps sticker, identifying themselves as being up for one should a mate want to talk. Out of 8 suicides in Australia every day, 6 of them are men, and in no line of work is the problem worse than the building industry. Suicide among construction workers aged 15-24 is twice as high as other young males. And with only around a quarter of all men accessing help for a mental disorder, theres a long way to go to remove the stigma associated with guys having honest conversations with one another. Says Chris Mandile, director marketing and sales of Nissan Australia: Chat Laps highlights how time spent in the car can be used to check on others or open up. Car journeys are a great opportunity to talk about anything thats bothering you, what begins as banter may end up saving a life. Says Georgie Harman, CEO, beyondblue: One of the problems weve found is that if men arent feeling great, theyre often unsure about which of their mates they can talk to about it. What we love about this initiative is that it tackles the conversation, as well as some of the barriers to having it. Client: beyondblue & Nissan Australia Creative Agency: Whybin\TBWA Melbourne Executive Creative Director: Paul Reardon Creative Director: Tara Ford Creatives: Tim Woolford. Scott Canning Senior Producer: Nik Round Production Company: TRUCE Director: Nick Clifford Producer: Michael Ciccone Account Service & Planning: Planner: Harrison Steinhart Account Director: Damiano Di Pietro Account Manager: Usman Khan | BY Ricki Green | Warrnambool Cheese and Butters (WCB) has launched a new integrated advertising campaign for Coon cheese via Havas Melbourne, which celebrates the heritage of the brand and its everyday use by Australians. The campaign runs across TV, print and digital media. The TV commercial aired for the first time on Sunday night, (12 June) and portrays a mother and daughter passing on the tradition of Coon cheese toasties over several decades under the tagline Comfort never grows old. The creative is the first major piece of work under Havas Melbournes group managing director Matt Houltham, who joined the company earlier this year from New York. Havas led the strategy, developed the creative, planned and bought the media, and implemented the PR through the Havas owned Red Agency. The campaign is the first in nearly three years for Coon cheese after the brand was purchased from Lion Dairy and Drinks by WCB in 2015. WCB general manager of marketing Ted Lawson said the TVC is a celebration of Coons heritage. Says Lawson: For the past 81 years Coon cheese has been enjoyed by Australian families and is a staple of everyday life as a quick and easy snack. We hope the TVC reminds Australians of their childhood growing up with Coon and encourages them to continue this tradition as they raise their own families. Responding to a brief to refresh the Coon brand, Havas chose to focus on Coons significant brand assets: heritage, comfort and familiarity. Says Houltham: We are delighted to be orchestrating this campaign. Coon is such an iconic brand, all we wanted to do was remind Aussies of the pleasure and comfort that comes from the ritual of preparing and eating a toastie with their favourite cheese and their favourite people. The TVC will appear across primetime media such as Masterchef Australia and The Voice and within specific STV, online and print media environments. Havas Group Managing Director Matt Houltham Executive Creative Director Stu Turner Creatives Ray Ali, Mick Healy, Jerome Lee Senior Strategist Peter Pippen Business Director Zoe Freeman TV Producer Ros Payne Media Planning/Buying Patrick Weiks Collider Director Damon Cameron Producer Peter Holani | BY Ricki Green | Leo Burnett Worldwide has published its 29th annual Cannes Predictions, forecasting major contenders ahead of the 63rd Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, the global advertising industrys most prestigious event, held in Cannes from June 18 25, 2016. The annual Leo Burnett Cannes Predictions, with a track record of more than 84 percent accuracy, spotlights a short list of campaigns with strong likelihood of winning a prestigious Lion among tens of thousands of submissions. The work was selected by Mark Tutssel, global chief creative officer of Leo Burnett Worldwide, creative chairman of Publicis Communications, and jury president of Direct at this years awards festival. Says Tutssel: This collection represents the years most imaginative and innovative thinking from all corners of our industry. If theres a macro theme, its that the alchemy of creativity and technology can drive cultural impact, transform human behaviour and create meaningful change for both business and the world. The creation of the Cannes Predictions list involves a yearlong evaluation of brand work that reflect industry-driving trends. Leo Burnetts analysis arrived at the following six trends from the past year: From innovation to invention The impact of technology has been the biggest theme to emerge from Cannes over the past ten years. Technology has touched everything from media to production and everything in between, but this year were seeing that innovation is happening in the form of invention. While the Nike+ Fuelband was one of the first manifestations, were just starting to see the trend gain maturity last years efforts like Optus Clever Buoy via M&C Saatchi Sydney and Samsung Safety Truck via Leo Burnett / Buenos Aires paved the way by demonstrating the power of pure invention. This year, work like Samsung brainBAND, via Leo Burnett Sydney If Insurance Slow Down GPS via Forsman & Bodenfors and DB Breweries Brewtoleum via Colenso BBDO Auckland are leading the pack, proving that the alchemy of creativity and technology mean brands are now limited only by their imaginations. How many impressions make an impression? Theres no question that the role that news media plays in amplifying brand communications has taken prominence in recent years. The number of impressions an activation earned is included in nearly every case study at Cannes, and more brands are leveraging real news events to amplify their efforts. As such, were seeing more blockbuster ideas like Remy Cointreau Louis XIII Cognac #NotComingSoon, a film starring John Malkovich thats not set to be released for 100 years that depend wholly on the muscle of earned media to make their mark. Conversely, were seeing more work like Netflix House of Cards FU2016 via BBH New York thats hijacking news events with greater scale, ambition and aplomb, and demonstrating that theres no limit to the size of a conversation a brand can enter authentically. Unicorns as media Madison Avenue is connecting with Silicon Valley in fresh ways, as emerging platforms become new creative canvases. Expect to see more inventive collaborations between brands and tech disruptors, as agencies begin to leverage their potential. The Art Institute of Chicago Van Gogh BnB is one example of how brands are finding new partners to execute ideas that wouldnt have been possible just five years ago. Make it personal With greater opportunities to tailor product and messaging for consumers, customization is a topic marketers are working to tackle across the board. One manifestation of this is in customized content not necessarily a new idea, but one thats finally seeing its potential through work like the Beats by Dre Straight Outta Compton effort, which demonstrates that giving people the right tools to participate can turn them into your greatest evangelists. Authentic Truth REIs #OptOutside demonstrates the power of a bold act from a brand embracing its true self and living its own truth. This brave act tells you everything you need to know about who they are, why they exist and how they live their values 24/7. Its what America has an insatiable appetite for. After all, the truth isnt the truth until people believe you. The art of storytelling by animation The Pixar-esque quality of the Spanish Lottery film Justino has captured the hearts of the industry, with its resounding success at all the major award shows to date. This exquisite moving animated film is one of a few gracing the big screen at Cannes this year. ShottaSoCo from Southern Comfort borrows from the art of Taiwanese animation to weave this phrase into the vernacular. Paper by Honda is stop-frame animation of the highest order, bringing to life thousands of hand drawn illustrations from various artists in a spectacular fashion. And Harvey Nichols Shoplifters marries CCTV footage with highly original emoji-like robber animation to give the spot a unique and memorable vibe. Monday, June 13, 2016 at 8:56PM Netflix gain global rights to an upcoming science fiction film entitled The Discovery, starring Jason Segel, Robert Redford, and Rooney Mara. But aside from releasing it on its platform, the streaming service has planned to screen it in theatres in the U.S. sometime next year. Netflix has previously announced that they wanted to premiere movies in theatres at the same time they do on their service, which goes against a long-held movie industry practice and has caused the ire from theatre owners. However, that doesnt seem to have stopped them. Although, it isnt known yet if the theatrical release and the Netflix release will happen at the same time or if SVOD gets it first or the theatres do, we should find out more in the coming months. The Discovery is described on IMDB as A love story after the existence of the afterlife is scientifically verified. Deadline says the Charlie McDowell film will be set two years after this discovery and at this time a lot of people are committing suicide to get another chance at life. Source: Deadline | Via: SlashGear "It's not uncommon when these tactics overstep the mark for the party to then distance themselves from it and take disciplinary action towards the members. Having said that I don't believe they're necessarily discouraged from such things, as long as they don't overstep that mark." Our Promise: Welcome to Care2, the world's largest community for good. Here, you'll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact. Care2 Stands Against: bigots, racists, bullies, science deniers, misogynists, gun lobbyists, xenophobes, the willfully ignorant, animal abusers, frackers, and other mean people. If you find yourself aligning with any of those folks, you can move along, nothing to see here. Care2 Stands With: humanitarians, animal lovers, feminists, rabble-rousers, nature-buffs, creatives, the naturally curious, and people who really love to do the right thing. You are our people. You Care. We Care2. Ever since the 2008 financial crash, American business schools have been reeling from criticism. There is a widespread feeling that the financial meltdown was caused by graduates of elite business schools who created fortunes through hedge funds, derivatives, and other financial tricks.While that view is more fiction than fact, it has spawned conferences, books, and hand-wringing about the purpose of business schools.wrote Judith Samuelson of the Aspen Institute, in a 2011 collection of international essays, Business Schools and their Contribution to Society. Business schools, she says, need to replace their amoral focus on homo economicus with aTo one observer, business schools may be falling into the trap that Josef Schumpeter believed business executives would fall into-a failure to defend capitalism. Fred L. Smith, Jr., founder of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free-market research group in Washington, has created a project called the Center for Advancing Capitalism , and Schumpeter's views are very much on his mind. He said in a 2015 speech that Schumpeter feared that "business leaders, lacking the conceptual skills needed to craft pro-business narratives, would retreat into a defensive crouch, hoping to defend their ever-shrinking sphere of action."Smith worries that business schools are neglecting their role of supporting capitalism and thus maintaining the self-esteem of those in business. (There are other problems with business schools, too, but this seems the most critical right now.)It may already be too late to preserve the self-esteem of business executives. Rakesh Khurana, now dean of Harvard College as well as a Harvard Business School professor, thinks business schools need to become softer.In an influential book written before the financial meltdown-but following the scandals associated with companies like Enron and Tyco-Khurana argued that the business world has lost its "helping aims" and turned managers into "hired hands." The advent of "agency theory," in which managers are mere agents of shareowners, spurred managers to act unethically to achieve their own goals, he argues.Khurana's solution is to restore meaning to the lives of those "lost" managers by re-creating a professional community of business executives.Some of the reformist trends are coming from Europe. For example, the Vienna University of Economics and Business, probably the largest business school in the European Union, has a new socio-economics department that covers "sustainable development, environmental economics, ageing, social policy and urban planning." Christopher Badelt and Barbara Sporn of the Vienna School (writing in Business Schools and Their Contribution to Society) say that business schools should teach that "short-term business interests can be combined with sustainability for society."Fortunately, not every business school professor disparages business.Robert Simons, a Harvard Business School professor, writing in the journal Capitalism and Society in 2013, poked holes in some of the notions aired above. While his paper, "The Business of Business Schools: Restoring a Focus on Competing to Win," avoids attacking business schools on ideological grounds (that is, as anti-capitalist), he argues that they are losing interest in a fundamental aspect of capitalism-competition. In the rest of this essay, I summarize his views.he writes. But he sees the U.S. becoming less competitive. China outproduces the United States in manufacturing, American companies are moving service jobs overseas, and one in five American males between the ages of 25 and 54 is unemployed.While he doesn't blame the business schools for such statistics, Simons questions whether the United States can be globally competitive in the years ahead, now that business education has "gone off the rails" (his term). Simons discusses four ways in which business schools are failing to teach competitiveness.Theory Creep. Business schools often take a valuable theory and over-expand its application. "Serving the customer," for example, now includes serving the "internal customer." Similarly, core values, which ought to be simple and clearly understood, have become "all-encompassing lists as students are taught that they should acknowledge the value and contribution of every stakeholder and interest group."And while non-financial metrics have a place, the list of things to measure can reach 30 or 40 variables-"all with the mistaken assumption that measuring more things results in a more complete-and therefore better-scorecard."This is not competitive, says Simons. Effective companies make decisions; they choose who their customers are; and they make their core values guide their choices.Mission Creep. While non-profit organizations have long learned from business, now businesses are "importing non-profit practices." The result is that business schools are encouraging the insertion of "stakeholder perspectives into strategic plans" and "investing in initiatives that produce societal benefits."Business schools also advocate public policies, such as dealing with inequality or environmental protection. The names of new programs confirm that. Consider Stanford's Center for Social Innovation, the University of Michigan's Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise, and Wharton's Business and Public Policy Initiative.Doing Well by Doing Good. The idea is that businesses should provide certain benefits to society while also earning a profit. So they elevate environmental protection, "sustainability," or "wellness."But such policies can make companies non-competitive. Simons gives Wal-Mart as an example. It tried to meet the demands of environmental groups and "go green," with smaller packages and by reducing landfill waste. But Wal-Mart saw sales fall for seven quarters-and, according to Simons, decided to go back to its core business of providing low prices to the consumer.Quest for Enlightenment. To erase their image as "greedy capitalists," business executives are trying to become more of a profession, like doctors and lawyers. They advocate high standards of quality and preservation of the "dignity of the profession."At Harvard Business School, students are urged to take the "MBA oath," which includes such statements as: "I will...refrain from unfair competition or business practices harmful to society...protect the right of future generations to advance their standard of living and enjoy a healthy planet...and create sustainable and inclusive prosperity."But what is "unfair competition"? Criticizing competitors? Lowering prices? Simons warns that being a profession, like being a guild, strangles competition.Finally, there is corporate social responsibility (CSR). To be socially responsible, corporations must take into account other things than profit. As an illustration, CSR includes "integrated reporting"-telling the public how the company has not just achieved profit but how it has served society and how has it protected the environment.To Simons, this new wave of reforms is shortsighted. He says that business schools should recognize that "the business of business schools is teaching business." That means teaching how to devise and execute winning strategies. Instead, what schools may well be offering, he suggests, is a "recipe for losing the competitive race."But if Fred Smith is right-that "most business schools now argue that business should accept guilt, move toward corporate social responsibility"-it's hard to include competitiveness in the course catalog. If you believe that your fundamental activity is illegitimate, how can you pursue it fervently? June 14, 2016: Are you passionate about Flying? Are you looking for a Flying start to your career? Then Orient Flight School is the place to be in. Orient Flight School - one of India's oldest and premier Flying School in the private sector has announced the dates for the admission to the Commercial Pilot License Course for the Academic Year 2016 - 2017. Eligible candidates can apply for the Commercial Pilot License Course which makes them eligible to take up a flying career with any commercial airliner on completion of their course. An added advantage for those who sign up for the Commercial Pilot License can also obtain UGC approved B. Sc (Aviation) degree from Hindustan University, Chennai. Candidates can log into www.orientflights.com to download a copy of the application form. Orient Flight School offers hands on flight training facilities for aspiring pilots in India. Candidates can enroll for training for the two year Commercial Pilot License, 6 months Private Pilot license or the beginners course for Student pilot license courses depending on their skill, interest and qualifications. Now students have the convenience of pursuing their dream career at one of the two venues convenience to them - Puducherry(Orient Flight School, OFS) or Mysuru (Orient Flight Aviation Academy, OFAA). Across Both locations Orient Flights offers the best in class teaching facilities, State of the art training labs and hands on flying experience for all aspirants who wish to take up flying as a career. OFAA is approved by the Director General of Civil Aviation, Government of India. Established in 2015, OFAA operates in Mysuru with its sister concern Orient Flight School at Puducherry which has been in existence since 1994 and has trained hundreds of pilots. The flight training at OFAA meets international standard in accordance with regulations of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Government of India. OFAA has fleet of 3 Cessna 172 aircrafts. The Fleet strength is set to increase in the near future. All class rooms are equipped with modern training facilities located in the Administrative complex of the School. The Complex also hosts a Simulator Lab, The Operations Wing at the Airport complex has a Flight Briefing cum Class room where Pre Flight medical tests are also carried out. Eligibility Candidates who are 16 years of age or older and who have completed their 12th Standard School education or equivalent with Mathematics and Physics are eligible to apply for the Commercial Pilot License Course. This is a two year course requiring a minimum of 200 hours of flying time for flight training. On ground training for DGCA (Director General of Civil Aviation) Examinations will also be undertaken during the course period covering subjects such as, Air Regulations Air Navigation; Aircraft and Engines; Radio Telephony etc. The Course also includes training on a modern Flight Simulator - French Manufactured ALSIM AL - 50 for visual flying, Instrument flying and practice of "upset prevention and recovery training(UPRT) Completion of this CPL will make the candidates eligible for taking up a career as Commercial Pilot with all leading aircraft operators. Passion for Flying For those who wish to take up flying as a passion, the school also offers a 6 month course that will equip them to fly a plane with a valid License - Private Pilot License candidates who are 16 years or older and who have completed their 10th Standard of school studies are eligible to apply for this course. Training for this course involves a minimum of 50 hours from Flight Training. Students will also be given on ground training for DGCA(Director General of Civil Aviation) Examinations covering the following subjects including - Air Regulation; Air Navigation; Aviation Meteorology Radio Telephony, to name a few. Orient Flight School, also offers Students Pilot License program - a beginners course in flying. Students joining this course will be eligible for getting a getting a Student Pilot License on completion of this course. Student Pilot License program is open for students who are 16 years of age and who have completed their 10th standard exams. The advantage of this program is that students can take this up on a part time basis even while in School buy or during a holiday season. This course will also act as a preparatory module which enable him to get a commercial flying license on successful completion of his 12th standard school examination. The main advantage in offering this program is that the aspiring pilots need not wait for a period of 2 years after completion of their 12th standard schooling and can get it done during the two years of study on completion of his 10th standard schooling. This will then act as a preparatory module which is mandatory for the Commercial Pilot license. In addition to the above courses Orient Flight School also offers the Pilot Orientation Program for flying enthusiasts. This is a three months special course designed by Orient Flights Aviation Academy (OFAA), Mysore to enable students take the first step towards acquiring their Commercial Pilot License or Private Pilot License. This course has been designed as a first stage of acquiring PPL or CPL and pursuing their career in aviation. The hours flown by the student during this course would be counted towards their respective Pilot License program The Central Bank of India has invited applications for recruitment to faculty posts on contractual basis. Interested and eligible candidates can apply for the bank job. Central Bank of India Samajik Utthan Avam Prashikshan Sansthan is a trust sponsored by the Central Bank of India. The advertisement is for engagement of Faculty for RSETI (Rural Self Employment Training Institute) Siwan, Bihar. Details of vacancy at Central Bank of India Name of the post: Faculty Eligibility Criteria Candidates should have a post-graduation in MSW/ MA in Rural Development/MA in Sociology/Psychology/ BSc (Agri.)/BA with B.Ed. etc. Candidates should also possess a flair for teaching with computer knowledge. Candidates should be less than 65 years of age with sound health condition. Candidates should be well versed in the conversant local language. Candidates should be resident of the same state, preferably same or nearby district/residing at the head quarter of RSETI centre. Contract Period: Candidates will be appointed on contract basis for a period of 1 year. Pay Scale: Candidates who are selected for the faculty posts will get a fixed salary of Rs 12,000. How to apply: Candidates can obtain application forms from the bank or the bank's website. The duly filled-in application forms in the prescribed format have to be sent to the Regional Manager/Chairman, Local Advisory Committee, Central Bank of India, Regional Office Post box no 5, near Balua Tal, Motihari, Dist- East Champaran, Bihar - 845401. The envelope containing the application form and required documents should be superscribed with 'Application for the post of Faculty at RSETI Siwan centre on contract for the year 2016-17'. Job Profile: The candidate shall be broadly functioning to assist the Director in conducting Training and Awareness Programmes, Generation of Application & Selection of Candidate, Preparation of Annual Action Plan, Logistics for Training Programme, Handling Sessions, Preparation of Notes and similar other activities of the centre. Selection procedure: Candidates who are eligible for the posts shall be called for personal interview and the decision of the Society/Trust in this regard shall be final. Important date: Last date to submit application form: June 20, 2016 About Central Bank of India Central Bank of India was the first Indian commercial bank, established in 1911, owned and managed by Indians. The establishment of the Bank was the ultimate realisation of the dream of Sir Sorabji Pochkhanawala, founder of the Bank. Among the Public Sector Banks, Central Bank of India can be truly described as an All India Bank, due to distribution of its large network in all 29 States as also in 6 out of 7 Union Territories in India. Central Bank of India holds a very prominent place among the Public Sector Banks on account of its network of 4709 Branches, 4 Extension counters, along with 29 Satellite Offices (as on December 2015) at various centres throughout the country. Also read: In light of continued developments, primarily since 2008, there exists in these United States a Legal System which operates on a proved Two Tiered approach to justice rendered, which primarily benefits Democratic Elites and Woke Ideological Virtue Signalers, representing their co-dependent wards, to the expressed exclusion of normal hardworking American citizens: What is your suggestion in remedying this widespread injustice and, if not corrected, its existential outcome for our Constitutional Republic? Complete overhaul the Department of Justice and their enforcers - the FBI - to reflect a far more honest justice system to keep patriots remaining calm. Disband the FBI, and request that congress investigate all unethical and non patriotic practices to partially right the wrongs of a distrusted and politically weaponized "Department of Justice." Press Release: 1. Do you support the Democrats' plan to raise income taxes? 2. Do you support a 15 dollar minimum wage, even if it forces business to close? 3. Do you still support Obamacare even though premiums have skyrocketed? 4. Do you support NCDP's resolution against higher sales taxes? If so, why did they vote for higher sales taxes while in the North Carolina Legislature? 5. Do you and the NC Democrats really support lower tuition? Contact: NCGOP Communications NCGOP Communications communications@ncgop.org Raleigh, N.C. As the North Carolina Democrat Party (NCDP) stages its state convention, the North Carolina Republican Party (NCGOP) is encouraging the media and voters to ask Roy Cooper and Deborah Ross the following questions:Background: The NCDP is scheduled to consider several resolutions calling for higher income taxes, including one that would create a 50% federal income tax. In addition to the 50% federal income tax, a higher state income tax is also being advocated.Background: This small business mandate is schedule to be debated at NCDP's state convention.Background: Since January of 2015, rates have skyrocketed as much as 50% for some plans in North Carolina. In April, UnitedHealth decided to leave North Carolina's marketplace in 2017 due to Obamacare and just last month Aetna and Blue Cross and Blue Shield requested rate hikes for their 2017 plans.Background: The NCDP is debating this resolution at its state convention. Cooper and Ross both voted for multiple sales tax increases while in the North Carolina Legislature.Background: The NCDP is scheduled to debate a resolution supporting a constitutional amendment requiring taxpayers to provide free tuition to all state university students. This would cost taxpayers billions and require massive tax increases.At the same time, Democrats this week helped kill a bill to lower tuition at several state universities, including our historically black colleges and universities. So which is it - free tuition costing taxpayers billions or opposition to Republican efforts to lower the cost of college for working families?To schedule an interview, please call: (919) 671-1050 A young Australian driver unwittingly drifted his car in front of a police officer and it was all caught on the dash-cam of a truck driver who broke into a hysterical laughter. Tow truck driver Paul Eustace was waiting for a red light on Acacia Ridge in Brisbane on Monday when a man in a silver sedan sped through an orange light drifting around a curve before losing control of the car. Little did he know that there was a police van waiting at a red light on the opposite lane. As soon as the cop turned on his lights and made a U-turn to go after the hoon, Eustace started clapping and laughing uncontrollably. Thats f***ing karma, thats f***ing gold! hes heard saying in the dash-cam video. Australias 7 News spoke to the hoon who was identified as Jake Patching. I was just focusing on the orange light and beating the orange light you know, I was like sitting there and saying, no, no its not going to go red, ah, meanwhile its orange, the 24-year old told the reporter. It got a bit hairy for a second there. I fishtailed one way, I fishtailed the other way. I think I fishtailed the other way again, and then another way, then I spun around twice. According to Yahoo News, Patching will appear at court on June 29, facing four charges, including willfully making unnecessary noise or smoke, driving without a license, driving an unregistered vehicle and driving uninsured. His car was also impounded for 90 days. Thanks to Maria for the tip! Video Glen attends a primal-scream therapy session that causes him to release something deep within that knows no limits. Directed by Simon Cartwright at the National Film and Television School, 2015. Nominated for 2015 BAFTA for Best British Short Animation, winner of SXSW jury award for Midnight Shorts, and screened at Cannes, Edinburgh International Film Festival, Tampere, and Sundance, among other festivals. Read an interview with Cartwright about the film at Vice. Bibo Bergeron, director of Shark Tale, The Road to El Dorado, and A Monster in Paris, is set to direct a new feature that is quite different from his previous efforts: an animated biopic of German-Jewish artist Charlotte Salomon, currently titled Charlotte. Salomon, who was killed by the Nazis at the age of 26 at the Auschwitz concentration camp, didnt achieve art world fame during her lifetime, but is remembered today for a series of 769 paintings she produced in the early-1940s while in hiding from the Nazis. The autobiographical paintings, collectively entitled Life? Or Theater?: A Song-play, will form the basis of Bergerons 2D feature. Staying true to Charlottes spirit and body of work, our film will be punctuated with fantasy, dream-like elements and the animation designs will be minimalist, in a similar vein as [Remi Chayes] Long Way North, Bergeron told Variety, which first reported the news. Well be animating and interpreting her paintings, placing the emphasis on the story which is extraordinarily moving. Bergeron believes that the films key themehow art can save our lives and help us stay sanewill especially resonate with contemporary audiences. Photo: Canadian Red Cross It's been more than a month since raging wildfires forced the evacuation of Fort McMurray, and now the Canadian Red Cross is reflecting on the last month and showing Canadians where donations have gone. On May 3, 2016, more than 80,000 people from Fort McMurray were forced to flee, leaving behind their homes and possessions, and Canadians jumped into action to help. In the largest wildfire evacuation in the provinces history, many residents left with almost nothing. Some had nowhere to go, writes the Red Cross. Donations immediately came pouring in to the Red Cross from around the country, including right here in Kelowna where Castanet readers donated more than $30,000. This horrific event has proven, once again, that people in our country are never left alone when facing a tragedy such as this, writes Conrad Sauve, Canadian Red Cross president and CEO. Over the past month, we have seen an unprecedented show of solidarity from people young and old, community and school groups, governments and companies large and small. According to the Red Cross, Canadians donated $125 million. Together with expected government matching funds, the Red Cross says it has been able to allocate $165 million as of June 2, 2016. Your support allowed Red Cross to open several emergency shelters, deliver critical relief supplies, activate 13 Disaster Response Call Centres across the country, register evacuees and distribute immediate financial assistance to impacted individuals, says Tammie Watson with the Red Cross. According to the Red Cross, 45.5 per cent of donations ($75 million) have gone towards emergency assistance and relief, 30.3 per cent ($50 million) has gone to community organization partnerships and 24.2 per cent ($40 million) has gone to support for re-entry and returning home. The organization says that the fundraising and administrative costs never exceed five per cent, meaning 95 per cent of the money raised is going back to the people of Northern Alberta. "The Canadian Red Cross ensures that the largest possible amount of Canadians donations will be used to support people affected by the emergency," writes the Red Cross. "There are always costs associated with raising funds for emergencies, such as the resources required to process donations securely, or issue tax receipts. These costs include fundraising services fees, donation processing fees, communications, reporting, and all other costs which contribute to the Canadian Red Cross emergency fundraising efforts." Moving forward, the Red Cross will continue to work with the Government of Alberta, the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo and community groups to support families and individuals as they re-enter their communities over the coming days, weeks and months ahead. While the wildfires took only a matter of days to cause unimaginable destruction, Canadian Red Cross knows it will take years to rebuild and reconstruct the lives which have been impacted by this disaster, add Watson. Together, we will support the people of Fort McMurray though this difficult time with your generosity helping at every step of the way, says Sauve. Thank you deeply for your solidarity, your donation, and your trust. Photo: Getty Images Interior Health has launched a new, confidential toll-free number to report the mistreatment of older adults. Research shows that seniors are the most likely to suffer physical, psychological or financial abuse or neglect from a family member, said Minister of Health Terry Lake. World Elder Abuse Awareness Day reminds us to treat everyone, at any age, with dignity and respect. There is no excuse for abuse. Anyone within Interior Health who has concerns regarding elder abuse can call 1-844-870-4754 to be connected with an Interior Health staff member who is trained to respond to such situations. The phone number and corresponding email address [email protected] were launched in May. People are reminded t0 call 911 if the situation is an emergency and requires immediate help. Elder abuse takes many forms, including physical, financial, emotional, verbal or sexual abuse, and neglect or self-neglect. It can affect anyone, regardless of their health, financial background or social standing. It can occur anywhere and anytime, whether an individual is living independently, with family, or in a residential care home or other facility. Seniors are trusting and open-hearted, they are willing to help, and its troubling that sometimes people prey on that kindness, said Parliamentary Secretary for Seniors Darryl Plecas. Its essential for all of us to be aware and take action, because we have a responsibility to promote a culture of respect and protect the safety of seniors. The new toll-free number is one more tool were providing to assist one of the most vulnerable populations. As designated agencies under the Adult Guardianship Act, health authorities across B.C. have a role and responsibility to keep seniors safe, said Interior Health Board Chair Erwin Malzer. Nobody should have to suffer silently. We all need to stand up and speak out on behalf of those who may be unable to advocate for themselves. Almost 16 per cent of B.C.'s population is over 65. Within Interior Health, that number is higher, with more than 22 per cent of residents over 65, and climbing. As our society ages, it is increasingly important to be able to recognize elder abuse and give people the tools they need to stop it. The BC Association of Community Response Networks, which supports a local community coordinated response to the abuse, neglect and self-neglect of vulnerable adults, applauds the launch of the new phone line. June 15 is World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. People are encouraged to wear purple to show support for the elimination of abuse and neglect of older adults and to promote independence, dignity and security. For more information visit the Adult Abuse and Neglect page online. Photo: Google Maps The B.C. Coroners Service has confirmed the identity of a woman who died following an ATV incident near Castlegar. Nicole Anne Rodrigues, 32, of Castlegar died June 11. Rodrigues was driving an ATV on Gladstone Forest Service Road, about 40 kilometres from Castlegar, when she lost control and went down an eight-metre embankment. When she did not meet up with a fellow rider as planned, he began searching for her. She was found the next morning, pinned under the machine. Rodrigues was deceased at the scene. The Coroners Service and RCMP continue to investigate the death. Photo: Skylar noe-vack Emergency crews were kept busy just as the afternoon commute was beginning in Penticton. About 4 p.m. Monday, two separate crashes, moments apart, occurred in different parts of the city. Crews were first called to a two-vehicle crash at Fairview Road and Channel Parkway. Moments later, crews were sent to a three-vehicle fender bender at Naramata Road and Fleet Road. Naramata Road was reduced to single-lane alternating traffic for about an hour while the scene was cleared. There were no serious injuries reported in either incident. Photo: The Canadian Press Arctic archaeologists are fighting to learn what they can from one of the most extensive ancient sites in the North before climate change eats away centuries of history. "It's really happening in a big way," said Max Friesen, a University of Toronto archaeologist who's heading this week to a remote island near the Northwest Territories and Yukon. "We have no idea what we're missing." Friesen is in the middle of a multi-year program to try and preserve what's left of the cultural heritage of the Mackenzie Delta, an area rich in archaeological remains from before European contact. But the region is also seeing some of the fastest global warming on Earth. That means melting permafrost and increased erosion along the coastlines where the sites are located. Kuukpak is one of those sites. Much more than a collection of tent rings, Kuukpak was a complex, year-round community that lasted from the 1400s up until the nineteenth century. Stretching for almost a kilometre along the shore, Kuukpak had at least 40 large houses dug into the earth and built of sod and driftwood. Unexcavated, the houses look like large holes filled with wood from the floor and collapsed roofs. They originally held a central, common area about three metres square with alcoves off three sides for individual families. An entrance tunnel came off the remaining side. Up to three families would have shared one of Kuukpak's large houses, living off abundant beluga whales, caribou and seals. Kuukpak in its prime would have been about the same size as some contemporary Arctic communities. The site, crucial to the history and culture of the Inuvialuit, is vanishing into the Beaufort Sea. "In one region where we had started excavating a house, (the shoreline) had moved back about a metre in one year, right at the central, critical part of the site," Friesen said. While the south end of Kuukpak remains stable, the north end has eroded. "There's really no houses that are left," said Friesen. "We just don't know what's already gone. "It is depressing." Now in the fourth year of the Cultural Heritage at Risk program, co-sponsored by the Inuvialuit Cultural Resources Centre, Friesen is trying to learn as much as he can before Kuukpak washes away. That means focusing on two remaining big houses that are on the edge of the advancing coastine, wringing them dry of knowledge before they fall into the ocean. "It's difficult, trying to figure out which areas are the most important to dig and also which are most at risk." Most of the 19 major archaeological sites on the Mackenzie Delta are eroding. Some like Nuvuqaq, one of only two pre-contact bowhead whale hunting settlements are already gone. Others might as well be. "There are a couple of sites where I thought we might be digging the next couple years and when I've gone and looked closely, I couldn't find any parts of them that are even worth excavating," Friesen said. "All the richest areas are gone." Archaeologists have been working in the Mackenzie Delta for decades and much Inuvialuit oral history has been preserved. "We just don't know enough about any aspect of ancient Inuvialuit society to be able to write a complete history," he said. "What did these houses look like? What were the trade patterns? What was their economy like? What was their social system like? "There's lots of holes we'd like to fill." Photo: The Canadian Press A student residence under construction at the University of British Columbia could set a new precedent for wooden towers in Canada. The 18-storey Brock Commons is intended to show developers and the public that wood can be as effective as steel or concrete, better for the environment and support the country's forestry industry. "This project should effectively demonstrate that mass wood structures can be commonplace," said Russell Acton, principal architect on the project. Taller buildings require so-called mass timber supports and special cross-laminated timber plates that act similarly to concrete slabs. Mass timber is a large section of wood, suitable for competing with concrete, masonry or steel construction. While 17 floors of Brock Commons will be built with mass timber, the building's base and two cores are made of concrete. Designers, engineers and the university purposefully chose a simple design with repetitive floor plans in order to gain special approval from building code authorities. National building code regulations currently limit wood structures to four storeys. However, with new research and engineering, some provinces have allowed architects to push the boundaries. In British Columbia, provincial codes have allowed wood towers to reach six storeys since 2009. Codes in Quebec and Ontario have followed suit. Timber-related industries hope Brock Commons will help make a case for building codes to allow 10- to 12-storey wooden structures in the future. "(As) a building like this becomes a reality, it really paves the way for additional projects across the country, probably throughout North America and throughout the world," said Lynn Embury-Williams, executive director of the Canadian Wood Council's Wood Works BC program. However, building with wood comes with a higher price tag. At $51.5 million, Brock Commons cost eight per cent more than if it were constructed with traditional steel and concrete, Acton said. The Binational Softwood Lumber Council, Forestry Innovation Investment, Natural Resources Canada and the B.C. government provided funding to the university to make up for the higher price. If Brock Commons is successful in inspiring more wood towers, demand would bring down the costs, making wood a competitive alternative to other materials, Acton said. "Wouldn't it be great for B.C. to be a leader in what will be a growing industry," he said. Canada has not been a global leader in the development of wood towers, but it is certainly catching up, said Thomas Tannert, professor of wood science and civil engineering at the University of British Columbia. The environmental benefits of building with wood are a major incentive encouraging research in the field. "We tend to forget that the building industry is responsible for 40 per cent or more of greenhouse gas emissions, solid waste production and carbon storage. If we tackle the issue of the construction industry by using a renewable material, we can really make a big contribution to slowing down climate change," Tannert said. Using a renewable resource like timber that is harvested and produced in a sustainable way can significantly cut back on the emissions typical produced in manufacturing and construction, Tannert said. There are also structural benefits to using timber. Massive wood beams are naturally fire-resistant, charring on the exterior while insulating the centre, Tannert said. Wood structures can also fair better in earthquakes. The impact of an earthquake on a structure is dependent on how heavy it is, meaning a lighter wood structure is less vulnerable than steel and concrete, Tannert said. The greater challenge in building with wood is how it settles and shrinks compared to concrete and other unnatural materials. For Brock Commons, designers had to account for 48 millimetres of settling that is expected to occur after construction is over. "Engineering is a wonderful thing," said Acton. "These guys can figure out how to send a man to the moon and back again, and they can figure out how to construct a building so it remains level over time." While there is great interest in the construction of the project, Acton said when it's completed next year it will look like any other residential building. As Goes Europe So Goes the United States Collaborative Invasion Det. Sidney Franes, NYPD (Ret.)In an attack on an Orlando, Florida, nightspot Sunday morning at about 2:00 a.m., 50 human being were left dead by one alleged Islamic terrorist. While the local cops and FBI agents are still investigating and are following the Obama strategy - don't acknowledge a suspect is a Muslim or a member of an Islamic terrorist group - it's believed the shooter, who was finally brought down and killed by a SWAT team, is named Omar Mateen.So far, news outlets discovered he was a Muslim American citizen who was angry about openly gay and lesbian Americans and the club he struck is a known hangout for the LGBT community.The attack almost mirrors the French terrorist mayhem that was perpetrated earlier this year in a French nightspot. Unfortunately, as with European nations, the United States government refuses to back down from bringing thousands of Muslim refugees to U.S. cities.A police officer from Florida has told the Conservative Base that the shooter is licensed to carry weapons throughout the state of Florida since he was a security officer and that it's the state government that's responsible for the gunman being armed "not some gun show or arms dealer."Manuel Navarrete Paniagua, the Head of the European Counter Terrorism Center at Europol , asserts that terrorist cells in European Union nations - that allowed a deluge of Islamic refugees unfettered entry - are believed to be importing and stockpiling of explosives and bomb components for future attacks.Officials European Police Office (Europol) claims it has thwarted over 200 Muslim terrorist plots in the last year, but that the threat of similar attacks on the scale of November 2015 Paris attacks and the March 2016 attacks in Brussels remain a concern.Paniagua warned on Monday that "large clandestine stockpiles of explosives" are likely being set up by terrorist groups.Speaking at a briefing of Europol about a report due to be released next month, Paniagua told members of the EU's parliament:Europol is the European Union's law enforcement agency whose main goal is to help achieve a safer Europe for the benefit of all EU citizens.says the agency's Mission Statement.Europol officials wrote.Unfortunately, the more than 4,000 foreign fighters were identified in the EU and entered into a Europol database. While not all are part of the refugee relief programs for Great Britain, Germany, France, Belgium and other EU countries, it's been proven a number of jihadists managed to enter as men, women and children fleeing the savagery that exists in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Libya and other Middle East and North Africa countries.Europol notes that a key conclusion of their most recent report suggests that "jihadist terrorism" remains the top threat to security in the EU, with recent attacks suggesting better coordination among terrorists than previously believed.Europol's Manuel Navarrete Paniagua said terrorists' use of explosives and firearms suggests they pose a rapidly evolving threat. He also addressed the concern of jihadists using refugee flows to enter Europe in order to carry out attacks against Western targets.said Paniagua.Europol said in May that it will deploy around 200 counter-extremism officers and investigators at refugee arrival centers in Europe, especially those with large numbers of arrivals such as in Italy and Greece.said former NYPD Detective Sid Franes.said Franes. Photo: Thinkstock.com Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith had a constituent come to his office last week seeking help for a problem he believes should no longer exist. Erskine-Smith, who represents the Toronto riding of Beaches-East York, said the man had been charged with simple possession of seven grams of pot something the Liberals have promised to legalize within the next couple of years. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government plans to introduce legislation to legalize marijuana next spring, but has no plans in the meantime to decriminalize the drug before a new regulatory regime replaces the existing laws. That left Erskine-Smith and the constituent who came to him for help in a bit of a tough spot. "I told him that we weren't going to be able to do anything at the federal level in the interim based upon my government's position," said Erskine-Smith, who rose Monday in the House of Commons to support an NDP motion calling for decriminalization. Decriminalizing marijuana would mean anyone caught with a small amount for personal use would not face any charges, but it would still be illegal to sell it. "Decriminalization is a half-measure, but a half-measure is better than no measure," Erskine-Smith said in an interview. Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould confirmed Monday the Liberal government would not support the NDP motion. "It would mean that marijuana would remain an illegal substance and that it would continue to be grown and distributed by organized crime networks," Wilson-Raybould said. "Canadians, both adults and youth, would continue to purchase a product of unknown potency and quality while fuelling the profits of organized crime." New Democrat MP Murray Rankin said the legalization of marijuana could take two years to come into effect, leaving many Canadians especially young adults at risk of criminal records for something the government does not believe should be a crime. "We are faced with an injustice," Rankin, the NDP justice critic, told the Commons as he introduced the motion. According to Statistics Canada, 57,314 people were charged with possession of cannabis in 2014, the most recent year for which numbers were available. Rankin also spoke of a "patchwork" situation across Canada, where police in one city might avoid arresting people for possession, while those in another city proceed with pursuing charges. "We live in one country. Why is it that the law is so radically different in the real world depending on where you happen to be? That seems wrong," Rankin said. Rankin said all it would take is political will, since Wilson-Raybould has the power to direct prosecutors to avoid pressing charges. He also noted that even former Liberal prime minister Jean Chretien has in the past spoken in favour of decriminalization. Wilson-Raybould disputed the idea that the law is in limbo. "The law is in force and it should be obeyed," she said. The Conservatives are opposing the motion, but for different reasons than the Liberals. Conservative MP Colin Carrie, the health critic for his party, suggested the Liberals might never come through on their campaign promise to legalize marijuana. "We don't even know if marijuana is going to become legal, so why would decriminalizing it immediately be the solution?" he asked. "At this time, the only responsible solution is to enforce the law." Photo: Deborah Pfeiffer Pavers removed from the 200 block of Main Street as part of the 2016 downtown revitalization project will be sold to the highest bidder in a two-week sealed bid auction. Funds raised will support the South Okanagan Similkameen Medical Foundation for the Penticton Regional Hospital Patient Care Tower expansion project. Downtown revitalization is about both injecting energy and creating positive impacts for our whole city," said Mayor Andrew Jakubei. Repurposing pavers creates an affordable way for the community to get even more value from this project, and funds will go straight back into a great community asset. Between June 13 and June 30, people can stop in at the city yards office, 616 Okanagan Ave. East, between 7:30 a.m. and 3:15 p.m. Monday through Friday and submit a bid on a variety of paver packages, ranging from one pallet to ten pallets. There are 130 pallets of paving stones available, with approximately 280 bricks per pallet or approximately 75 square feet. Paving stones will be sold as is, where is, with no exceptions or substitutions. The reserve bid per pallet will be $75. Bids close at noon on Thursday, June 30. Paver auctions from previous downtown projects have generated substantial public interest and raised significant funds for the foundation. As such, the city reminds bidders that the closing date is firm, the clock at city yards will be the official time and bids cannot be retrieved once they are submitted. For more detailed information on the paver auction, visit Penticton.ca. Photo: Facebook - Greg Laureta Two teens were sent to hospital after a dangerous stunt at a high-voltage transmission tower in Powell River. The teens were rescued Friday night after getting stuck at the top of the tower. "They were kids. They were in trouble," Powell River RCMP Const. Tim Kenning told CTV. The teens, aged 17 and 18, were climbing back down when one was hit with an electrical charge. His clothes caught fire, and the younger boy tried to put out the flames with his hands before calling 911. "He didn't let go until emergency personnel were able to intervene," Kenning said. Police, firefighters and paramedics responded to the scene. The teens were stuck for three and a half hours before they could be brought down safely. They were airlifted to hospital in Vancouver, where the older boy remains in intensive care. RCMP and Brookfield Energy are investigating the incident. Police haven't said if the teens will be charged. with files from CTV Vancouver Photo: CTV UPDATE: 2:30 p.m. A notorious and self-described drug dealer, who nearly killed a man by slashing his throat with box-cutters, has died after a targeted shooting Monday night. Police were called to the 3900-block of Forest Street at approximately 9:30 p.m. on Monday for reports of gunshots. Officers arrived to find a man suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Despite efforts to revive him the man died. CTV reports that the deceased has now been identified as Coquitlam resident Christopher Alexander Serrano, 29, who also went by the last name Hutado. IHIT says there was an argument before the victim was shot. CTV reports that Hurtado is well known to police, and was sentenced to two years behind bars in Sept. 2011 for attacking a man outside a Granville Street club during the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. The victim, an investment advisor from South Africa, required surgery and 40 to 50 stitches after he was slit nearly ear to ear by Hurtado, according to B.C. court records. A court-ordered assessment deemed that Hurtado had a history of violent behaviour and was likely to act out in the future. As it stands, homicide investigators have not speculated on a motive for his shooting, but say it does appear to be targeted. CTV adds that a dark-coloured sedan was seen leaving the area that hit a parked car as it fled the scene. Anyone with information on the incident is asked to call the RCMP. ORIGINAL: 9 a.m. A man is dead after a shooting in Burnaby. According to CTV Vancouver, B.C.'s homicide team is leading the probe into the deadly shooting Monday night. Police were reportedly called to the 3900-block of Forest Street at approximately 9:30 p.m. on Monday for reports of gunshots. Officers arrived to find a man suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. CTV reports the unnamed man did not survive, despite efforts to revive him. An RCMP dog team was brought it to search the area, while a large police force was brought in to contain the area. An update is expected later this morning from Staff Sgt. Jennifer Pound. with files from CTV Vancouver Photo: Getty Images Several dental regulators in British Columbia have asked the province's Supreme Court to stop what they allege is an unlicensed denturist operating in the Vancouver area. The College of Dental Surgeons, College of Denturists, and College of Dental Technicians of B.C. have filed a petition in B.C. Supreme Court asking that the man be stopped from making false teeth from modelling clay. Court documents shows the court action began after a Craigslist ad offered individual hand-made partial dentures for $100 each. The ad has since been removed, but the documents allege an investigator visited the man's apartment in Richmond and learned a hard-drying craft clay was being used to make the false teeth, although the clay is not advised for contact with food or liquid. The colleges say the man is not registered with any dental college in British Columbia and the petition seeks special costs, alleging his actions put the public at risk. None of the allegations has been tested in court. Photo: Deborah Pfeiffer T-Bone's Fresh Meal Market is the latest Penticton business to be targeted by thieves. RCMP Cpl. Don Wrigglesworth says the front door was smashed in about 2 a.m. Sunday, and an individual in black entered the store, filling bags with produce. It was business as usual at the Riverside Drive store this morning. At 6:19 a.m. the same morning, security at the Penticton casino observed two men going through vehicles in the parking garage. They were apprehended after a short foot chase. On Monday, there were reports of a break and enter to a home on West Bench Drive. Two males and and a female were observed on video. Police reportedly issued arrest warrants this morning. Sometime during the day, Monday, a residence on the 1200 block of Naramata Road was broken into by cutting a back screen. A TV, jewelry and safe were stolen. Photo: Getty Images. In hospitals or on the front line of emergency medical care and enforcement, efforts are being ramped up in B.C. to battle a health crisis caused by opioid overdoses, many from the drug fentanyl. Seven emergency departments within Interior Health, including Kelowna, Vernon and Kamloops, are the first sites to provide enhanced overdose surveillance and a "Take Home Naloxone" program. Naloxone can save the life or reduce the risk of brain damage in someone who has overdosed on opioids by reversing the effects. Emergency departments in Castlegar, Kaslo, Nakusp and New Denver are also involved. Interior Health will roll both initiatives out to its 27 remaining emergency departments over the next two months. A new emergency department surveillance tool has also been developed to improve overdose tracking in ERs when suspected ODs are brought in for medical treatment. The introduction of this new surveillance measure allows us to identify where risks are arising and will enable us to take proactive action to warn and protect people who are at risk, said Dr. Silvina Mema. The Take Home Naloxone program is being expanded and provides kits free of charge to opioid users. Meanwhile, the growing number of emergency calls involving fentanyl has prompted the province to fund specialized training for first responders. A two-day workshop will take place in Victoria June 14-15 and in Vancouver June 28-29. "For police officers, medical personnel and the public, it's concerning to know that, in a growing number of medical emergencies, drug users don't necessarily know what they've ingested, said Mike Morris, Public Safety Minister. We want to ensure that our first responders have the tools necessary to have a better understanding of these challenges. In the first quarter of 2016, fentanyl was detected in half of B.C.'s illicit drug deaths. In March, the significant increase in drug-related overdoses and deaths prompted the province's senior health officer to declare a public health emergency. Photo: Contributed While some find the billboard offensive and complaints have been lodged, the Kelowna Right to Life Society gets to keep its sign along Highway 97. The pro-life billboard was put up in West Kelowna in March, and immediately met with negative feedback. The billboard compares the killing of a puppy as cruelty to that of an abortion as choice." During the last few months, several complaints were lodged with Advertising Standards Canada. The complaints included claims the Kelowna Right to Life Society was being dishonest in calling the fetus depicted in the ad a baby, as well as claims it violates a section of the Advertising Code that prohibits ads that display unacceptable depictions and portrayals of persons or groups. The society responded to the complaints by pointing to provincial and government publications that also call the unborn babies," said Marlon Bartram with Kelowna Right to Life. Examples included pamphlets on the dangers of drinking, contracting food poisoning and smoking while pregnant. The society also pointed to several online resources through health authorities, medical sites and several others all referring to the baby in the womb as a 'baby.' They also argued that many other advertisers, including Doritos, Pampers and UCBaby have, without controversy, used the word baby to describe the unborn in their advertising campaigns. The society argued that while some may find the billboard offensive, it does not directly identify nor incite displeasure or violence toward any identifiable person or group. In response, Advertising Standards Canada dropped the complaints and allowed the billboard to remain. We see this as a major victory for the pro-life movement, not only in terms of respecting freedom of expression, but also for the march toward achieving protection for the unborn, said Bartram. He says the billboard will remain up until at least March of next year. While most are in deep sleep, criminals on bicycles and electric scooters are stealing anything and everything they can throughout the streets of Kelowna. Your yard is being scoped out in the daylight hours by thieves, so make sure items of interest are out of sight. While the RCMP are babysitting local drinking establishments at bar flush, criminals are taking advantage of the lack of a police presence and are stealing from every neighbourhood. Our block watch group of volunteers patrol the streets and watch criminals moving stolen goods nightly all over Rutland. A dozen rental properties full of criminals working together in what appears to be a form of organized crime in a sense that they know the police arent around at certain times and know when to steal without being caught. On any given night, the thieves come out like bats, usually after 2 a.m. where you can see dozens of criminals hauling stuff on bicycles and electric scooters throughout the Rutland area. Many of these thieves have partners with vehicles who pull up in specific places and load stolen goods without any fear. As of late, the biggest group of stolen items is bicycles, boat motors, generators and travel trailer batteries. The bikes get used for parts or repainted and used by criminals to commit crimes. Many SUVs, vans and trucks are being used to pickup and move stolen items. Most of these thieves are repeat offenders that live this criminal lifestyle, and dont care about being caught, because they keep stealing to survive or support their drug habits. Our group of block watchers call the police when we see suspicious activity and thieves scoping out neighbourhoods between midnight and 5 a.m. but dont always get any response from the RCMP, as it seems that they are no where to be found. Many nights we patrol the streets for hours and never see an RCMP vehicle anywhere, but see dozens of shady characters carrying or hauling what appears to be stolen goods in the wee hours of the morning. How are we to curb crime in Kelowna if we dont have a pro-active police force patrolling our streets after dark in high crime areas? We do our part by patrolling and documenting. Its time that a plan was put into place to deter these criminals from stealing from everyone. Bruce Orydzuk Photo: CTV Patrons and owners of gay bars in Vancouver are calling for increased police patrols. The gay community has a heightened sense of vigilance following the deadly mass shooting at a club in Florida. "How can somebody possibly have that much of a hate-on for a community? said Charles Alexander as he sipped beer at Pumpjack Pub on Davie Street. The Florida attack left 50 people dead and 53 injured. "It's overwhelming, in many ways, every time you think about it, the bar's co-owner, Vince Marino, told CTV. The bar, and others in Vancouver's Davie Village, have requested extra patrols to ease staff and customer fears. With the citys Pride Festival only a few weeks away, organizers plan to talk about security. "In light of what happened, we want to meet with them to make sure if there's anything we haven't thought of, or if we want to debrief some things in the past, we can do that in advance, said Pride Society board member Michelle Fortin. The VPD says there are currently no threats directed at Vancouver that it is aware of. "We continue to maintain a visible police presence throughout the city and encourage the public to report any suspicious activity to police," Sgt. Randy Fincham told CTV. with files from CTV Vancouver Weapons from the former Libyan military's stockpiles were shipped from the port of Benghazi, Libya, to the Port of Banias and the Port of Borj Islam, both in Syria. The weapons shipped during late-August 2012 were Sniper rifles, RPG's, and 125 mm and 155mm Howitzers. The deadly and shocking attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission that saw four Americans - including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens - slaughtered by jihadists occurred just weeks after the weapons shipment. Although the news media and Democrats believe government control of guns owned by Americans is politically necessary, what may be equally important is the investigation into the President Barack Obama-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton illegal weapons deal in Libya that helped to arm the Syrian-based Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The thinking in 2012 was that the fall of the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad made a U.S.- Muslim terrorist alliance worth the few negative news stories or Republican criticisms.said former military intelligence operative and police counter-terrorism unit member, Josiah Mallensky.he added.U.S. intelligence documents released to a government watchdog has confirmed the suspicions that the United States and some of its so-called coalition partners had actually facilitated the rise of al-Qaida in Iraq (AQII) which became ISIS as an effective adversary against the government of the Syrian dictator President Assad. In addition, ISIS members were initially trained by members and hired contractors from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) at facilities in Jordan in 2012. The original goal was to weaken the Syrian government which had engaged in war crimes against their own people, according to a number of reports The non-profit, non-partisan Judicial Watch - a group known for its investigation of government corruption and abuse - had obtained more than 100 pages of previously classified documents from both the US Department of Defense and Hillary Clinton's poorly run State Department through a federal lawsuit.One of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) documents declared that President Obama and his counterparts within the anti-Assad coalition considered the establishment of a Salafist organization in eastern Syria in order to hasten the downfall of the Assad regime. "And this is exactly what the supporting powers to the (Syrian) opposition want, in order to isolate the Syrian regime," said the DIA report, which had been formerly classified until its release.The contents of that document had been submitted by the Obama White House to the U.S. Central Command (CENCOM), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its directorates, as well as to the State Department.Military intelligence officials had also warned that any further damage caused by the Syrian civil war might have an adverse effect on the fragile government in neighboring Iraq. The intelligence analysis predicted that such a situation could lead to al-Qaida in Iraq (AQII) returning especially in the Iraqi cities of Mosul and Ramadi.The DIA report also predicted that ISIS would declare a caliphate through its affiliation with other terrorist organizations in Iraq and Syria, including members of what the Obama administration terms "core al-Qaida." to differentiate it from offshoots such as al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which is creating havoc in Yemen and North Africa.The now declassified documents appear to confirm that the U.S., the European Union and other nations viewed Muslim extremists in ISIS as "a strategic asset toward regime change in Syria." As a result, parts of Iraq have been in chaos since ISIS began to cross the Syrian border in early June 2014.The documents obtained by Judicial Watch also provide the first official documentation that the Obama administration was well aware that weapons were being shipped fromweapons training Syrian-rebels Benghazi to rebel troops - including members from ISIS, the Al-Nusra Front and other Islamist terror groups - in Syria. An October 2012 report confirms:said political strategist Mike Baker.Baker noted. Photo: Sea Life Surveys A Seattle-based ecotourism group says the effects of global warming may be responsible for a unique sighting in the usually chilly northwest coast waters of the Salish Sea, south of Victoria. The Pacific Whale Watch Association says people aboard a whale watching expedition off Port Angeles, Wash., on Saturday saw a small pod of what are believed to be short-beaked common dolphins. The dolphins rarely venture north of California, and a naturalist aboard the expedition snapped a photo when she realized the creatures were not their Pacific white-sided cousins, found along the Washington state and B.C. coasts. If the pod is confirmed, association officials say it could be the first-ever sighting of the speedy mammals in the Salish Sea, around the southern tip of Vancouver Island. The association says a number of short-beaked common dolphins were spotted off the B.C. coast last September, but those two pods were about 75 kilometres southwest of Vancouver Island near the continental shelf. Executive director Michael Harris says that while whale-watching crews are enthusiastic about rare sightings, members believe the unexpected arrivals are likely linked to warmer ocean temperatures. "They're beautiful animals and we're thrilled to get a chance to observe and study them, but at the same time we know that if our oceans were healthier and this planet weren't in the throes of a climate crisis we probably wouldn't be seeing this species up here," Harris says. Short-beaked common dolphins can grow to 2.5 metres and reach speeds of up to 60 kilometres per hour, making them among the fastest animals in the ocean. The association reports growing numbers of unique sightings, including the endangered north Pacific right whale. A sub-tropical green sea turtle was nursed back to health at the Vancouver Aquarium after being washed ashore on Vancouver Island's west coast in January. Photo: CTV By Arthur Caldicott As British Columbians wonder how they will shoulder the cost of the proposed Site C Dam, BC Hydro is quietly wrapping up the final stages of its application for approval of a debt management regulatory account to deal with its skyrocketing debt, which now totals $76 billion. It has taken a decade and a half of mismanagement to get to this point. The hemorrhage of cash is now flowing out of ratepayers' pockets through BC Hydro to independent power producers. Shortly after coming to power on their "New Era" platform in 2001, the BC Liberal government set out its first energy plan, Energy for Our Future. Overruns in the billions occurred when departments were outsourced and transmission projects went over budget. Transmission was also carved out of Hydro to become the new BC Transmission Corp. Eight years later and $65 million down the drain, this unnecessary action was undone, and BCTC was reintegrated into BC Hydro. Yet, the decision to transform the role of private power so that it would dominate BC Hydro's electricity costs is the main source of crippling debt that BC Hydro now faces. BC Hydro has signed agreements with IPPs that require it to pay the IPP whether or not it takes delivery of the power. When electricity markets have hit low points in recent years, the utility curtailed production at its own heritage generation facilities, spilling water instead of using it for generation, while taking all the unneeded high-priced power IPPs could churn out. Hydro is locked in to paying high-end prices for power it may not even use. Electricity exports from B.C. trade mainly through the Mid-Columbia price hub. The average through 2015 was $26.06 per MWh, and for the first six weeks in 2016 has been $22.73. It's not a winning business proposition when the power BC Hydro is selling costs $79.54 per MWh. As well, California, a prime BC Hydro customer, refuses to accept B.C.'s power that is produced by IPPs as eligible "green" power under the state's renewable portfolio standard, which pays a premium price for electricity. BC Hydro has deferred its debts into accounts to be paid off in the future by consumers. Site C Dam, the proposed third dam on the Peace River, already has its own deferral account totalling $441 million. Hydro needs a series of significant rate increases to repair this economic disaster. Fearing the electoral consequences, and ignoring the economic consequences, Premier Christy Clark has put a lid on rate increases until well after the 2017 election. The preceding is a Magazines Canada editorial exclusive issued via Marketwired. Watershed Sentinel magazine Photo: Transit Police A good Samaritan who intervened in a sexual assault on a SkyTrain was left with a bloody nose for his efforts. The incident happened on June 9 about 11:20 p.m. when a SkyTrain passenger noticed three young men board the train at Sperling Station and threaten to follow a female passenger home. "One of the men then sat beside another woman and made jokes to his two friends about raping her," Metro Vancouver Transit Police said in a statement. "The first man stood up and sat down near this suspect, telling him to leave the woman alone." At Lougheed Station, the man got off the train and was followed by two of the three suspects, who punched him in the face and upper body before getting back on the train. After the man pushed the emergency strip inside the train, the three suspects fled. Transit officers arrived moments later, but patrols of the area failed to locate the men. The victim was taken to hospital with a bleeding nose and a sore left forearm. He was treated and later released. "While we would not suggest anyone put themselves in harms way, we commend the victim in this incident for taking the action he did in trying to protect this woman, and the witnesses who provided statements," said transit police. The three suspects are described as: Suspect 1: Caucasian man, 20 to 25 years old, 6-feet, thin build, short brown hair, wearing a red Hurley shirt, blue jeans and a black baseball hat. Suspect 2: Caucasian man, early 20s, 5-foor-9, medium to heavy build, short brown hair, short beard and moustache, wearing a blue NFL jersey with the name Johnson and the number 81 on the front and dark jeans. Suspect 3: Caucasian man, 20 years old, 5-foot-9, heavy build, short brown hair, wearing a grey hoodie with red hood and sleeves, black shorts and grey skate shoes. Anyone with any information regarding these three suspects or who may have witnessed this incident and not already spoken to police is asked to contact Transit Police at 604-515-8300 or text at 87-77-77. Photo: Contributed Health Canada has taken a step back from claims that W-18 is a synthetic opioid that is 100 times more powerful than fentanyl, now acknowledging more research is needed. The department issued a statement Tuesday clarifying its position on the drug after experts questioned widely circulated assertions about its potency and classification. Health Canada said it referred to W-18 as a synthetic opioid to align with multiple sources, including the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Abuse, and because the limited scientific information available compared it to morphine. However, doubts about this classification have been raised recently by a number of "credible sources," the department said. "It has been noted that, at present, while the only publicly available scientific report compares W-18 and related compounds to opioids, it does not determine whether or not W-18 binds to opioid receptors in the body," it said. "The department is aware of ongoing studies to determine the mode of action of W-18 and will continue to assess new information as it becomes available." W-18 is a chemical created at the University of Alberta between 1977 and 1979 as part of a drug-design project aimed at creating a compound for pain relief. It was never produced commercially and the series was eventually shelved. Police and health officials have issued several warnings about the drug, which they say is extremely dangerous. Canada recently made it illegal to produce, possess, import, export or traffic W-18 after the substance was identified during several drug seizures. In a June 1 news release, Health Canada said W-18 "can be 100 times stronger than fentanyl." But the inventor of W-18, Ed Knaus, has pointed out that he and other researchers who developed the drug never compared its potency to fentanyl. Health Canada said on Tuesday that the only publicly available report on W-18 is the 1984 patent application, which included a study that used mice to test the pain-relieving activity of the compound. The results were compared to several other drugs, including aspirin and morphine. The research found it takes 10,000 times more morphine than W-18 to produce the same analgesic effect in mice. Fentanyl is 100 times stronger than morphine. Therefore, if the research results are interpreted to mean W-18 is 10,000 times stronger than morphine, that would make the drug 100 times stronger than fentanyl. However, Bryan Roth, a pharmacologist at the University of North Carolina, has said the study results don't necessarily mean W-18 is 10,000 times more dangerous than morphine. He is conducting his own research on W-18. On Tuesday, Health Canada noted the limitations of the research but said the available data suggests a "potentially severe risk for harm to individuals." "In addition, the lack of data ... could lead users to rely on self-reported experiences and other information from user web forums, which may be inaccurate." Health Canada emphasized that it is not currently known whether overdose-reversing agent naloxone would be effective for someone who had taken W-18. However, administering naloxone would not hurt the person, and 911 should also be called for emergency medical assistance, it said. Photo: Facebook - Brandon Oswald Closing arguments have been made and the 12-person jury has begun to deliberate on the fate of Brandon Oswald, the man accused of robbing a West Kelowna Shoppers Drug Mart at gunpoint. Oswalds trial, where he faces charges of robbery, disguising ones face to commit an offence and the use of an imitation firearm to commit an offence, has been ongoing since the end of May. Jury deliberations can take several days, but a decision is expected to come either late Tuesday or Wednesday. Police had suspected Oswald of being responsible for several previous armed robberies. On March 11, 2014, police followed Oswald to the Shoppers Drug Mart on Dobbin Road. Officers arrested Oswald in the parking lot. Photo: The Canadian Press The father of a young girl who suffered horrific injuries when she was mauled by a pit bull is lauding a Montreal-area city's intention to ban the breed. "These regulations will lead to lives being saved and will help avoid attacks," Bernard Biron said Tuesday in Brossard. "Children have the right to play in a park without being scared of being attacked by an animal." Biron was attending a news conference alongside Brossard Mayor Paul Leduc, who said he hopes the city will implement the ban as of July 5. It would also extend to any dogs that are part pit bull. The bylaw would allow current pit-bull owners to keep their dogs but they will have to register the animal and make sure it has a licence. The canine will require a microchip and a muzzle and will not be allowed in parks. Owners will also be required to have insurance liability coverage of at least $250,000. Brossard has seven declared pit bulls on its territory and no new ones will be allowed. Leduc said violators will face heavy fines, although he did not know how much they will be. Biron expressed hope that Premier Philippe Couillard and Public Security Minister Martin Coiteux will adopt a similar plan for the entire province. He said his daughter Vanessa is getting better after last September's attack in a Brossard park. "She's doing fine despite everything that happened," he said. She's very brave." The girl, who was 8 at the time, suffered a fractured skull and a broken hand. The muscles on the left side of her face were savagely mauled and she had seven fractures to a bone in her cheek. The proposed ban is the result of the vicious attack on the girl and comes a week after a 55-year-old Montreal woman was found dead after being attacked by a pit bull. The dog escaped from a nearby residence before it attacked Christiane Vadnais. Ontario adopted a provincewide ban on pit bulls about 10 years ago. They are also forbidden in several municipalities in Quebec and across Canada. Photo: SFU An official at Simon Fraser University says the RCMP are investigating after three allegations of sexual assault were made by female students against a male student. Vice-president of academic and provost Jon Driver says the university's priority is to protect the safety and privacy of students and his ability to discuss specifics is limited. The university is the latest to grapple with alleged sexual assaults involving students, after the University of B.C. and University of Victoria faced accusations they had mishandled reports of attacks. Driver says in a statement that as soon as university personnel became aware of the allegations, it took action to support the students concerned without interfering with the police investigation. While police were unavailable for comment on the investigation, Driver says the RCMP and the university conducted safety assessments and measures were taken to ensure the safety of the campus community. Driver says the male student who is the subject of the allegations is not on campus. Photo: The Canadian Press The New Democrats are thinking about adopting a completely different process for choosing a new leader, forgoing a traditional leadership convention in favour of a series of smaller-scale events over the course of a month. The NDP executive is recommending a new leader be chosen sometime between Oct. 1 and Oct. 31 of next year, with rounds of voting through a preferential, ranked ballot taking place about once a week until a candidate reaches the threshold of 50 per cent of the vote plus one required to be declared the winner. The proposed rules still subject to change as they have not yet been debated or adopted by the NDP's federal council would be a marked departure from the way the NDP chose Tom Mulcair to succeed Jack Layton in 2012. Then came the 2015 electoral result, when the NDP dropped to 44 seats from the 95 they held going into an election campaign that early polls suggested was theirs to lose. At the party convention in Edmonton this April, Mulcair lost a vote to remain on as leader for the 2019 election, although caucus decided to keep him on as interim leader until a successor can be chosen. The grassroots membership had sent a clear signal they were looking to try something different for upcoming leadership race, said one party source, and the proposed rules released Tuesday are an attempt to answer that demand. It is also a way to move away from the artificial suspense at a leadership convention that uses a one-member, one-vote system, engage more grassroots party members across the country and keep costs down. Here's how it would work: Anyone who is a member in good standing of the NDP as of Aug. 17, 2017, can cast a vote. The NDP would organize a "candidates showcase" event before the voting period begins, where each candidate would get to make a speech that members who cannot attend would get to watch simultaneously online. The polls for the first ballot would open Sept. 18, 2017, with members having until Oct. 1 to make their choice. Those results would be announced at another party-organized event, in a different part of the country. If there is no winner on the first ballot, the polls for the second ballot would open Oct 2, 2017, and so on once a week until a new leader has decided. The final ballot polls, should things go that far, would close Oct. 29, 2017. The proposal, which NDP president Marit Stiles emailed to members of the federal council this week, also suggests parameters for other aspects of the race. The federal council decided in May that each candidate would be able to spend up to $1.5 million on their leadership campaign. That limit does not include expenses related to fundraising, travel, child care or replacement salary, or the registration fee and the 25-per-cent administration fee the party will be taking from all donations to leadership campaigns. Those seeking to throw their hat into the ring would have to shell out $30,000 also set in May and register by July 3, 2017. They would also need 500 signatures from registered party members in different regions of Canada. At least half of them must be from "female-identified members," the proposed rules say, and at least 100 signatures must also come from "other equity-seeking groups," including Aboriginal Peoples, visible minorities, people with disabilities and members of the LGBTQ community. The proposal also recommends at least two official debates one in English and the other in French as well as at least one more bilingual debate dedicated to youth issues. Only one candidate Cheri DiNovo, an NDP member of the Ontario legislature has so far declared her intention to run, but has done so as an "unofficial" candidate because she is refusing to pay the $30,000 entrance fee. Photo: The Canadian Press Alberta is organizing a centralized donation program for residents of fire-ravaged Fort McMurray and says it will avoid mistakes from the Slave Lake fire when new clothes ended up in the garbage dump. Municipal Affairs Minister Danielle Larivee says if Fort McMurray receives more donations than needed, items will be redirected to other charities. Larivee says the province is partnering with the Adventist Development and Relief Agency to co-ordinate donations. Items still being accepted include gently used furniture, food, bedding, baby food, bottles and formula. There has been an outpouring of donations since last month's fire, which destroyed one-tenth of the city and forced more than 80,000 people to flee. A similar show of support followed a fire that destroyed parts of Slave Lake in 2011, but some donations, including new childrens clothing, were later found in a landfill. Photo: Contributed Two brothers have been sentenced to more than four years each in prison for what a British Columbia judge says was "industrial scale" tax fraud. Vancouver residents Fareed Raza and Saheem Raza were both found guilty of fraud over $5,000 in December 2015 for issuing fake donation receipts in exchange for cash donations that were not passed on to charity. The court found that Fareed, who is 42, and 35-year-old Saheem prepared their clients' taxes and issued false receipts worth more than the amount of money the clients provided. When the taxpayers were audited by the Canada Revenue Agency, the Razas issued letters confirming the donations. B.C. Supreme Court Justice Elliott Myers says in a sentencing decision released Tuesday that the Razas issued more than 17,000 false donation claims and defrauded the federal and provincial governments of about $4.9 million in taxes between December 2002 and June 2011. Myers says in his decision that the fraud was "significant" and "on an industrial scale," and he sentenced each of the brothers to 51 months in prison. The fake donations were made to the Mehfuz Children Welfare Trust, a charity registered with the Canada Revenue Agency that was said to provide medical services in Bangladesh. A third man found guilty of fraud under $5,000 in December 2015 for participating in the scheme was given an absolute discharge. The judge ruled that Faiz Khan played a minor role in the crimes. Photo: Google Maps A pipeline leak has spilled an estimated 380,000 litres of light petroleum within five kilometres of a provincially designated grizzly bear management zone in northwestern Alberta, and an undetermined amount of it has reached a nearby creek. Producer ConocoPhillips Canada said in a statement posted on its website Tuesday that the leak of condensate, a liquid produced with natural gas, was seen at a pipeline right-of-way near its Resthaven gas plant about 65 kilometres northeast of Grande Cache last Thursday afternoon. It said its staff also observed condensate in nearby Webb Creek. The Alberta Energy Regulator said condensate was visible as a sheen on the surface of the creek for about 4.5 kilometres below the pipeline leak. The creek flows to a beaver dam and then into the Simonette River. While no sheen was visible on the river, an analysis indicated hydrocarbons present at slightly above minimum detection limits, the provincial agency said. The AER said it was the largest hydrocarbon leak from a pipeline since Nexen, a subsidiary of China's CNOOC Ltd., spilled five million litres of bitumen emulsion in July 2015. Meanwhile, the company said the pipeline, which along with the gas plant is jointly owned by ConocoPhillips and Calgary producer Paramount Resources (TSX:POU), has been shut down and isolated and the company has activated its emergency response plan. "We have deployed over 150 responders to the site with equipment to contain the release and mitigate any environmental impact," the company said, adding that it had reported the leak to the regulator after discovering it last Thursday. Fencing and amphibian barriers have been erected to keep wildlife away and a wildlife biologist is on site, it said. Spokeswoman Michelle McCullagh defended the five-day lag between discovering the leak and beginning what it promises will be daily updates on its website. "Our first priority was making sure there were no residents in the area, notifying the trappers, the First Nations and all the authorities and then, of course, our continued safety for all of our responders on site and then protecting the environment," she said. No residents were found in the isolated area and the company has seen no evidence of animals or fish hurt by the spill as yet, McCullagh said, adding that the company doesn't know how long it will take to clean up the spill. The gas plant is still operating, she said. Mike Hudema of Greenpeace Canada described the number of pipeline spills in Alberta as "alarming." "While we learn the details of this latest incident we need to ask ourselves how many more spills will it take before we begin to move away from pipelines and make the renewable energy transition other countries are already implementing," he said in a email. The regulator said in a statement Tuesday that staff members were at the site, which is in the Little Smoky caribou range and near a core grizzly bear management zone. It said it has issued an environmental protection order to ConocoPhillips directing the company to contain the release and prevent it from spreading, while controlling access, collecting water and soil samples and submitting a final report to the AER. The regulator said no cause has been established and an investigation is underway. One of the key uses of condensate is to dilute raw Alberta oilsands crude to allow it to flow in a pipeline to market. Experts say partisan differences between AGs, governors, legislatures fuel disputes over legal representation Should Americans be thankful for North Carolinians setting precedent in taking a stand for their state's right to manage the safety of their public facilities, where separation of the sexes remains, or should they follow Bruce Springsteen's lead and boycott the state as bigots since they will not allow grown Transgender men to use the same bathrooms /locker rooms as pre-pubescent girls? North Carolina is right to control the separation of the sexes as a matter of decorum and safety. North Carolina is a bigoted state to not require that children of opposite sexes share the same public facilities with adults of the opposite sex, although misidentified - the Transgender. I generally prefer the natural environs of the vacant, although rather public, large tree. 236 total vote(s) What's your Opinion? RALEIGH State Attorney General Roy Cooper's refusal to represent North Carolina in a federal lawsuit over House Bill 2 is just one part of an expanding trend that sees attorneys general across the United States picking and choosing, depending on their party affiliation, which cases they will represent, some experts say.Cooper, who announced his decision in March , stated that he would not defend any agencies over the state's controversial "bathroom bill" because "my office has had its own nondiscrimination policy that includes, along with other protections, marital status and sexual orientation - two classes not protected by the state."This is not the first time Cooper has defied the wishes of the legislature. In 2011, despite appeals from the Republican-led General Assembly, Cooper refused to join a multistate lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.H.B. 2 overturned a Charlotte ordinance requiring that all public and private bathrooms, changing rooms, and other shared facilities in the city be open to individuals based on the gender with which they identify. State law now requires that transgender individuals use showers, restrooms, and locker rooms in public facilities that match the gender on their birth certificates. Private businesses may continue to set their own policies regarding gender identity and sexual orientation.Following his refusal to represent the state in all resulting lawsuits , Cooper - who is running against Republican Gov. Pat McCrory in this year's gubernatorial election - called on the governor and legislature to overturn the law, saying the measure was unconstitutional.On June 2, McCrory called on Cooper to resign, saying Cooper has put "politics over doing his job."A similar legal battle arose in Wisconsin earlier this month, when state Attorney General Brad Schimel, a Republican, announced that he would not appear on behalf of the state's Department of Public Instruction in a lawsuit challenging the state's ability to determine a religious school's denomination for the purpose of allocating transportation funding to students. The state provides bus transportation funding for students attending religious schools, but limits that funding if two schools from the same denomination are in the same district.The independent St. Augustine School is less than a mile from the St. Gabriel Catholic School, which is affiliated with the local Catholic diocese. DPI said St. Augustine School also is Catholic, and students involved in the lawsuit argue Superintendent Tony Evers, a Democrat who opposes many of the state's school choice programs, is trying to deny their funding arbitrarily.Schimel's office defended its decision to withhold representation, saying,In cases where a state attorney general refuses to represent a state agency or department, inaction often has more to do with politics than with constitutional or ethical conflicts, says University of Virginia law professor Saikrishna Prakash.Prakash, who with College of William and Mary professor Neal Devins, co-authored the 2015 studynotes that state laws across the country are inconsistent about the specific duties of an attorney general, and the study concludes this legal haziness makes it easy for AGs to turn controversial cases into political power plays.the authors say.Former North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr says Cooper's political maneuvering raises legitimate questions about whether Cooper should resign his office and campaign full-time. Orr points to state constitutional and statutory requirements as evidence that Cooper is - at the least - not following his job description.Orr told Carolina Journal.Orr continued.But during a June 7 interview with Time Warner Cable News , Prakash said the statutes are still too vague in many states, North Carolina included, to say for sure whether or not attorneys general like Cooper or Schimel are in conflict with the law -making legal subjectivity inevitable.Prakash said. Vietnam Building Materials opens new plant in Dong Nai province 14 June 2016 Vietnam Building Materials (VCM) has officially opened a cement factory for its StarCemt brand in the Bien Hoa Industrial Zone, Dong Nai province. The company's cement products are currently distributed to more than 900 customers through shops and distributors from Binh Thuan to Ca Mau. VCM also has a clinker production plant in Van Hoa, Tuyen Hoa district, province Quang Binh, with a capacity of 5000tpd and a cement grinding plant in the south. The StarCemt brand was established on 1 May 2015. VCM's current monthly sales volume exceeds 200,000t of clinker and 40,000t of cement have been sold. Published under Chino, CA (91710) Today Some clouds this morning will give way to generally sunny skies for the afternoon. High near 75F. Winds W at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight Mainly clear skies. Low 53F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph. Knoxville lawyer Jason H. Long will take office as president of the Tennessee Bar Association at the group's annual convention this week in Nashville. Mr. Long previously served as president-elect during the 2015-2016 bar year. "The TBA plays a preeminent role in promoting civility and professionalism within the bar and facilitating access to justice and an understanding of the legal system throughout the state," Mr. Long said. "It is a great honor to follow in the footsteps of those who have led this association so well and to continue their work." During his tenure, Mr. Long said he will lead the TBA to focus on educating and empowering Tennessee lawyers to adapt to and thrive in today's evolving legal marketplace. The TBA will facilitate the use of greater technology and innovative practice to promote efficiency in legal work and to increase opportunities for Tennesseans to secure quality representation, he said. Mr. Long is a partner with Lowe, Yeager & Brown and works primarily in the areas of professional malpractice defense and licensure issues, commercial litigation, general civil litigation, municipal zoning and adoption law. He joined the firm in 2014. Mr. Long previously worked at Sheppeard & Swanson PLLC and London & Amburn PC. He graduated in 1996 from the University of Tennessee College of Law. Mr. Long has been an active member of the TBA since 1998, serving in multiple roles, including president of the Young Lawyers Division and chair of the Operations Committee of the Board of Governors. He received the President's Award in 2009 for his service as coordinator of the "Justice 4 All" statewide public service day project. Mr. Long also has been active in his local legal community, having served as the president of the Knoxville Bar Association Barristers Division and chair of the KBA Membership Committee. Memphis lawyer Lucian T. Pera will take office as president-elect of the Tennessee Bar Association. He will serve in that position during the 2016-2017 bar year and move into the presidency in 2017. "The TBA is the coolest and most vibrant bar association in the country, and it's a really unique opportunity to serve as president," Mr. Pera said. Mr. Pera is a partner in the Memphis office of Adams and Reese LLP, where he practices in the area of commercial litigation, media law, legal ethics, and professional responsibility. A Memphis native, Mr. Pera has practiced law in his hometown since 1986. He practiced law for 20 years with Armstrong Allen PLLC before joining and helping open the Memphis office of Adams and Reese in 2006. Mr. Pera graduated from Princeton University with honors and earned his law degree from Vanderbilt University School of Law in 1985. Mr. Pera has been active in the TBA since his first year of law practice, beginning in the bar's Young Lawyer Division and rising to serve as YLD president in 1993-1994. For almost a decade starting in 1995, he led the bar's legal ethics committee, which wrote and successfully proposed to the Tennessee Supreme Court a completely revised set of lawyer ethics rules patterned after the American Bar Association's model rules. At the same time, he also served on the ABA Ethics 2000 Commission, which overhauled the model rules for the entire United States in 2002. Mr. Pera has also been active in the American Bar Association, serving in its governing House of Delegates since 1990 and serving as ABA treasurer from 2011-2014. He serves as chair of the ABA's Center for Professional Responsibility, the home of the ABA's core lawyer ethics and professional responsibility committees. He also serves as president of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government. TCOG is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that seeks to improve citizen access to public information and open government in the state, officials said. Taking office along with Mr. Long and President-elect Lucian T. Pera of Adams and Reese LLP in Memphis, will be Vice President Jason Pannu of Lewis Thomason in Nashville. Bill Harbison of Sherrard Roe Voigt & Harbison in Nashville served as TBA president during the 2015-2016 bar year.The 2016 TBA Annual Convention will be held June 15-18 at the Sheraton Music City Hotel. The annual meeting allows legal groups in the state to address common issues and concerns and offers opportunities for additional education, long-range planning, and recognition of attorneys who have performed outstanding legal work and community service. North Shore University HealthSystem CEO Mark Neaman, left and Advocate Health Care President and CEO James Skogsbergh discuss their planned merger Sept. 11, 2014, at Tribune Tower in Chicago. When their companies' merger is complete, the two will serve as co-CEOs of the new parent company. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune) Two large Chicago-area hospital systems will be allowed to move forward with a merger despite the Federal Trade Commission's opposition. After a six-day hearing in April, a federal court judge in Chicago ruled Tuesday in favor of Advocate Health Care and NorthShore University HealthSystem in the legal fight over health care competition. Advertisement U.S. District Judge Jorge Alonso said in a court order the FTC attorneys failed to show there "is a likelihood they will succeed on the merits of their antitrust claims" and denied the agency's request for a temporary injunction halting the merger so it could pursue the case in an administrative court in Washington, D.C. Alonso's full opinion in the case is under seal because it contains "competitively sensitive information," he wrote. A public version will be released after all the parties in the case submit requested redactions later this week Advertisement The case has been closely watched within the industry because of the rapid changes in the way health care is delivered as a result of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, a law designed to lower costs, increase access to care and improve quality by fostering competition. The FTC argued the combination of Advocate and NorthShore would harm consumers by reducing hospital competition in the northern suburbs. The agency also said the health systems' proposed health plan would force consumers to give up choice of doctors and hospitals in exchange for discounted premiums. Advocate and NorthShore have said their goal in combining the health systems is to reduce the amount consumers spend on health care, in part by creating a new insurance policy whose premium would be 10 percent less than the cheapest plan currently available. "The court's ruling is disappointing and we will be considering our options," Debbie Feinstein, director of the FTC's Bureau of Competition, said in an emailed statement. Advocate NorthShore Health Partners the new, combined company will be the 11th largest not-for-profit health system in the U.S. with more than 3 million patients each year, according to a news release from Advocate and NorthShore. "We're wildly enthusiastic about the opportunity to move ahead," said NorthShore President and CEO Mark Neaman. Neaman and Advocate CEO Jim Skogsbergh will serve as co-CEOs of the new parent company and both systems will contribute an equal number of members to the new board of directors, according to the health systems' statement. Skogsbergh said the FTC has four days to decide whether to appeal the decision. If the FTC opts not to challenge, Advocate and NorthShore will start working on forming a new board of directors and integrating the hospitals' operations, Neaman said. Advertisement "We're going to try to use our scale to lower costs, but patients shouldn't see too much shuffling," Skogsbergh said. Barring an appeal, Advocate and NorthShore intend to bring a lower-cost insurance plan, currently available on private health exchanges through Advocate, to a broader audience, possibly as soon as 2017, Neaman said. Advocate and NorthShore first announced plans to merge in September 2014. The FTC announced its opposition in December and a federal court hearing was held in April. Downers Grove-based Advocate is already one of the largest health systems in Illinois. It has 11 hospitals and a two-campus children's hospital; five of the hospitals are in Cook County and two are in Lake County. NorthShore's four hospitals are in Evanston, Glenbrook, Highland Park and Skokie. Together, they would own six of the 11 hospitals in northern Cook and southern Lake counties, and the FTC argued letting two chains that are close competitors join would increase their bargaining power with insurance companies, who could pass along their increased costs to customers. Advertisement Executives at Advocate and NorthShore argued the FTC chose the boundaries of the market it considered to favor its position and failed to account for the fact that more patients are treated outside hospitals and for the role insurer Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois plays in setting prices. lzumbach@tribpub.com Twitter @laurenzumbach The United State of Women is a Summit being convened by the White House to rally all of us together to achieve gender equality. Today, well change tomorrow. Washington More than two dozen companies - including Airbnb, Amazon, American Airlines, Dow Chemical and Pepsico - have agreed to undertake a yearly company-wide gender pay analysis as part of Tuesday's first-ever United State of Women Summit in Washington. Tina Tchen, executive director for the White House Council on Women and Girls, said in an interview Monday that while "there's been a continued sense of frustration at not getting a national paycheck fairness act," the 28 firms' adoption of the White House's equal pay pledge shows that companies are willing to take steps ranging from reviewing their hiring and promotion processes to identifying other ways of ensuring that women and men in similar occupations are paid at comparable rates. Advertisement Tchen, who also serves as chief of staff to the first lady, said the inaugural event will examine what the administration has done so far and will also explore "what needs to be done." Other commitments include a tool kit that Harvard Law School's Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program will develop for community college students across the country, so women can become better prepared to negotiate for higher salaries when they enter the workforce, and a $15 million pledge by the nonprofit group CARE to help educate 3 million adolescent girls in six countries. Advertisement The federal government will also finalize a Labor Department rule Tuesday on what constitutes sex discrimination among federal contractors and subcontractors, the first update to the regulations since the 1970s. The rule addresses everything from pregnancy-related accommodations to prohibitions on discrimination based on a person's gender identity. "This is a rule that HR professionals will look at for their guidelines," Tchen said, adding that while much of the rule just reflects the latest case law on these topics, "when you look at what HR officers are reading, they're not reading case law." The summit will draw more than 5,000 women to Washington, including Oprah Winfrey, who will participate in a conversation with Michelle Obama on Tuesday afternoon titled, "Trailblazing the Path for the Next Generation of Women." Vice President Joe Biden and President Barack Obama are scheduled to speak. Biden will focus on sexual violence, a longstanding policy priority of his, while Obama will speak more broadly about the push for gender equality. Tchen said the White House allotted extra tickets to groups so that "a fairly strong contingent of young women" could attend along with more senior leaders of organizations. And the youngest official participant of all is introducing the president: Mikaila Ulmer, the 11-year old founder of the company Me & the Bees Lemonade, based in Austin. "Talk about the power that young people have," Tchen said. "Her lemonade got picked up by Whole Foods Market." Ryan Berndt and Elise Brown (pregnant with her first child) outside their new Naperville home Friday, June 10, 2016. In late summer Elise's parents will be moving in creating a three generation home. (Erica Benson/ Chicago Tribune) Elise Brown and Ryan Berndt long planned to share a home with her parents, but the questions were: what and where? Any house the extended family bought would be a long-term investment. It had to be accessible for Brown's parents, now fit and active, as they aged. Also, the 30-something couple soon would have children of their own, so they wanted bedrooms and play spaces. Advertisement "We also need a large kitchen," Brown said. "My mother is Italian, and she loves cooking. For us, communal eating is an important part of family life." Two years ago, the couple, who were renting an apartment in Chicago, began exploring the market online. The suburbs appealed more than the city to Brown's parents, who live in rural Michigan. Gradually, they zeroed in on Naperville. The location works for Brown, a legal consultant, and Berndt, a professional musician. The search heated up last fall, and the foursome teamed up with Redfin real estate agent William Finfrock to tour properties. Advertisement In April they closed on a newly built five-bedroom, four-bath home with a three-car garage. On the first floor are a bedroom, office and full bath, a cluster of rooms that is Brown's parents' personal retreat. Upstairs are four more bedrooms, including a master suite. Brown and Berndt have moved in. Her mother will arrive late summer before the couple's first child is due. Her dad, who still works, will temporarily commute. "It's an ideal situation because they are still healthy and able to enjoy life with us and raise our children together," Brown said. "We want that village feel." Ryan Berndt and Elise Brown (pregnant with her first child) inside their new Naperville home Friday, June 10, 2016. In late summer Elise's parents will be moving in creating a three generation home. (Erica Benson/ Chicago Tribune) The Naperville transplants aren't the only ones making these decisions. Last year 13 percent of buyers chose homes for multiple adult generations, according to the National Association of Realtors' Home Buyer and Seller Generational Trends Report 2016. Finfrock believes even more buyers are considering that direction. "A large segment of our clientele is saying, 'There is a very strong possibility in 5 or 10 years, my parents or my husband's parents will come live with us,'" he said. The actual numbers appear to be growing. A 2012 census analysis by the Pew Research Center showed 57 million Americans living in multigenerational households, double the 1980 figure. Another Pew study, released this spring, showed in 2014 more young adults age 18 to 34, about one-third, were bunking with their parents than anywhere else. Not since 1880 has living at home outpaced living with a romantic partner. Advertisement "The cost of living is so high, it's a lot harder for kids in their 20s to launch today," said architect Fred Wilson of Morgante Wilson Architects in Evanston. "They get out of school and have to move back home for a while to get their savings built up." Ryan Berndt and Elise Brown (pregnant with her first child) prepare food in their new Naperville home Friday, June 10, 2016. In late summer Elise's parents will be moving in creating a three generation home. (Erica Benson/ Chicago Tribune) Whether the household is created by younger members who don't leave or who return or by older ones moving in, families find varied solutions to their space needs. Some buy new construction or build from scratch. Others remodel existing homes. Still others move next door. "Every family has different hopes and dreams for this home," Finfrock said. "There is no way to say what works for everyone." It's not always grandma who joins her adult children. Sometimes they join her. A current Morgante Wilson client is a grandmother who is remodeling her long-held home, so an adult daughter and her husband can raise their family there like she did. Another Morgante Wilson client bought an adjoining lot and built his aging father a small home with a potential caretaker's suite. The two homes are connected by a courtyard. "It's a sweet way rather than institutionalizing someone," Wilson said. Advertisement "Everyone wants privacy," said Northbrook architect and remodeler Michael Menn, an aging-in-place specialist. "Even in a small environment, you want the space to be kind of broken up, with spaces for sitting, watching TV, sleeping and storage." Ryan Berndt and Elise Brown stand June 10, 2016, at the foot of the stairs in their new Naperville home. Brown's parents will be moving in, creating a three-generation home once the couple's first child is born. (Erica Benson / Chicago Tribune) Menn's own basement has undergone multiple transformations. It originally was designed as an in-law suite, and then Menn's office. Later, two millennial children at different times occupied the space. Now it's his office again. Menn's advice for extended-family home remodels: Find out what features and amenities are important to each person. Will you eat together or separately? Should you install an elevator? How about a separate entrance? Can a caretaker live in the basement with an intercom system, or must the caretaker be in the next room or the same room? "When everyone is comfortable, living together can be a good shared experience," he said. "I think the biggest thing is making sure everyone has a voice in the decision process," Brown said. "You don't want anyone to feel like a guest in a multigenerational home. It should be everyone's home." New home builders are responding to the demands, whether present-day or anticipated, of extended families. Many offer floor plans with unallocated square footage, sometimes called "flex space," that can become bedrooms, offices or playrooms. Some stack closets in the same location on every floor, so an elevator can be installed later. Advertisement Ryan Berndt and Elise Brown (pregnant with her first child) relax inside their new Naperville home Friday, June 10, 2016. In late summer Elise's parents will be moving in creating a three generation home. (Erica Benson/ Chicago Tribune) "It's not just what does the client need now, but how can this house grow with the family over the next 30 years?" Finfrock said. Deerfield-based The Jacobs Cos. has two projects underway designed with extended families in mind. One is a Highland Park duplex of two adjoining but different single-family homes. Both are two stories with flex space, but the smaller one has a master suite on the first floor. "Everyone wants to be closer to family, but the generations look for different things," said Candice Hartwig, vice president at The Jacobs Cos. "Baby Boomers don't want to maintain their large homes, and they want everything on one level. Millennials want their bedrooms to be on the same level as their children. They don't mind going up and down the stairs." The second project, Taylor Junction in Deerfield, is an enclave of nine row homes and town homes. Some have first-floor masters, and others have optional guest suites. "In-laws prefer more space than a bedroom in their children's homes," Hartwig said. "They want to feel they can have their friends over. Living next door, they can maintain their privacy and still see their grandkids." Caroline Wolf and her mother Jane Keller are living separately together. A few years ago Wolf and her husband, Hank, bought a weekend home at Heritage Harbor Ottawa Resort, a marina community in La Salle County. They moved permanently from Orland Park in 2012, although she commutes to the city two days a week for work and he commutes daily to Oak Brook. When they saw a condominium for sale a few feet away and with the same backyard river view, they talked Keller, a widow, into buying it. Advertisement "We get along beautifully getting together a couple of times a week, but living together, that would never work at all," said Keller, who moved from Arkansas. They have different eating and sleeping habits, and their decorating tastes are polar opposites, they said. The shared proximity has been mutually beneficial. They lean on each other when they are sick, and they take care of each other's cats. "I thought we would be helping my mom out, but there are so many things she does for us," Wolf said. "I didn't realize it would be such a two-way street." "Everybody needs a support network," Keller said. Pamela Dittmer McKuen is a freelance writer. Aaron Franklin of Franklin Barbecue, his Austin, Texas, restaurant with a huge following, will cook for a three-day pop-up in Chicago. (Karen Torme Olson / Chicago Tribune) Love barbecue and have $100 in your smoked meat budget ready to spend? Well, Aaron Franklin, the pitmaster behind the most acclaimed barbecue restaurant in the country, Franklin Barbecue, is coming to Chicago on July 1st for three days of dinners. Like last year, Land and Sea Dept., the restaurant group behind Longman & Eagle and Lost Lake, will host the events at 3124 W. Carroll Ave. in Garfield Park. All you need is a ticket. While it sounds steep, the $100 does cover all food and drinks. And if you consider airfare to Austin, Texas, plus the regular two-hour long lines that greet most customers at Franklin Barbecue, the price starts to sound like a deal. Advertisement Tickets go on sale this Friday, June 17th at noon, but be prepared to snatch them up quickly. Last year, all the tickets sold out in less than three minutes. Purchase tickets, starting Friday at noon:www.ticketfly.com Advertisement The event runs from July 1-3 at Land and Sea Dept., 3124 W. Carroll Ave. nkindelsperger@tribpub.com Twitter: @nickdk When Conrad Chicago, a 20-story hotel near Michigan Avenue in River North, opens in August, it will house not one but three new restaurants. A couple months ago, we learned that all of the projects will be overseen by restaurateur Richard Sandoval, who recently launched the ambitious Latinicity in Block 37. And now we know the executive chef for two of them, at least. James Lintelmann is a veteran of Chicago's dining scene, having worked at Boka, The Lobby and the late Charlie Trotter's. He'll run the kitchen at Baptiste & Bottle, a comfortable whiskey bar with a regional American menu, and Noyane, a rooftop bar and restaurant serving contemporary Japanese cuisine. Advertisement EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT GRILLING Lintelmann admits that the two restaurants will be very different, but he's excited about the possibilities of both. Noyoane will focus on very clean flavors, with a menu dedicated to sushi and yakitori. He's drawing on his experience at Charlie Trotter's to help him prepare. "It was very Eastern inspired at the time," says Lintelmann. "Not a lot of butter. Just amazing ingredients, and letting them shine." Advertisement For Baptiste & Bottle, Lintelmann says he gets to "have a lot more fun and be more whimsical." During a recent tasting he put together, he paired roasted asparagus with smoked pimento cheese, pickled green strawberries and drop biscuits. "It really got your palate going," says Lintelmann. Conrad Chicago will also have a third restaurant, Il Tavolino, an Italian restaurant. The executive chef has not been named. One thing that does tie Noyane and Baptiste & Bottle together? Height. Baptise & Bottle is on the 20th floor, while Noyane is on the rooftop. "The views are absolutely stunning," says Lintelmann. "You'll see the Magnificent Mile in a completely different way." Conrad Chicago plans to open in August. Conrad Chicago, 101 E. Erie St., 312-667-6700, conradhotels3.hilton.com nkindelsperger@tribpub.com Twitter: @nickdk Gloria Steinem, shown in 2015, will be appearing at the Chicago Humanities Festival in the fall. (Seth Wenig / AP) This year's Chicago Humanities Festival theme will be "Speed," the institution was set to announce Tuesday, but that doesn't mean the annual autumn cultural event will play like NASCAR of the north. Feminist icon Gloria Steinem, "Daily Show" host Trevor Noah and New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman are among the small first group of speakers the CHF is announcing for events beginning Oct. 13 and running through Nov. 12. A full lineup of more than 100 events will be released in early September. Advertisement And they all fit under "Speed" because that term can be interpreted broadly and with inherent contradictions, explained artistic director Jonathan Elmer. "Our expectation is that the theme will apply immediately to the lives we are living and then it will unfold in different dimensions," he said. "We assume people will see that word and they'll think, 'Life is speeding up.' And then there will probably be a second reaction: 'And yet there is lots of slowing down, with yoga and slow food and going into Intelligentsia and watching the guy take two-and-a-half minutes pouring your coffee for you.' " Advertisement Beyond that, he added, there is the speed of change in the Earth's environment to deal with, plus the expectations for speed that have been put upon us by the spread and advancement of digital technology. Case in point: Elmer was talking from Vienna, Austria where he and other CHF personnel were meeting with past artistic director Matti Bunzl over a Google Voice connection costing 2 cents per minute. "I like this theme's openness to areas we've tended not to have as much of: a little more technology, a little more science, a little more economics," he said. "And it's also a great theme specifically for performing arts, music, dance. We've got some things lined up that are quite unusual." So, yes, pretty much anybody can be covered by the penumbra of speed, and if not, "There definitely will be a handful of people we're not even going to try to link to the theme," said Elmer. "It's just that they're great, they're interesting and we think our audiences will like them." MOST READ ENTERTAINMENT NEWS THIS HOUR With 2016 as its 27th season, the festival has grown to present more than 100 events in Chicago and Evanston each fall, including performing arts events and small group tours, but mostly a series of talks and public discussions featuring authors, academics and other intellectuals. This year, the closing evening will see a program in Chicago's African-American Bronzeville neighborhood, part of a recent push by the private, not-for-profit organization to spread its wings. The 2015 event closed with programming in the heavily Latino Pilsen neighborhood. "That's the idea, to get out into the city," Elmer said. "We'll be doing some different places, a little bit more in the South Loop than we have in the past." Advertisement Other speakers mentioned in Tuesday's announcement were architect and urban designer Marshall Brown and Yaa Gyasi, Ghana-born and Alabama-raised author of the forthcoming novel "Homegoing." Tickets to the Steinem and Friedman events, which kick off the festival, go on sale to CHF members Aug. 16 and to the public a week later. Tickets for the remainder of the festival go on sale to members Sept. 20, a week ahead of their availability to the public. sajohnston@tribpub.com Twitter @StevenKJohnson RELATED STORIES: Eddie Huang coming to Chicago behind second memoir 'Double Cup Love' Advertisement Chicago Humanities Festival announces first-ever Spring Festival Rachel Roy scraps Humanities Festival appearance amid 'Lemonade' drama Watch the latest movie trailers. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 126 Woody introduces the gang to a homemade spork toy with self-esteem issues in "Toy Story 4." Read the review. (Pixar / AP) Chance The Rapper, left, and Vic Mensa in 2014 at Lollapalooza. (Neilson Barnard / Getty Images ) Names havent been dropped, but Vic Mensa seems upset with someone and fans are starting to wonder if the target for the artists barbs is fellow Chicago native and friend, Chance the Rapper. Mensa reposted, then deleted, a picture from his 23rd birthday party at the 40/40 Club with Jay-Z, Beyonce and a blacked-out Chance the Rapper. The original picture is still on his Twitter account. Joey Purp, a member of the Savemoney crew, took to Twitter to quiet the rumors, reports Vibe.com. But Mensas latest freestyle just leaves listeners with more questions. To the beat of "Schoolboy Q & Kanye Wests "That Part," Mensa delivered the eye-raising bars during a Power 106 Los Angeles appearance. "Beef Ill turn it into Burger King/Just have it your way ... I might have to call Miss Info/Let her get a little info/About some (people) I used to be cool with," Mensa rapped. RELATED STORIES: How Chance the Rapper became the mayor of Bonnaroo Advertisement Watch Chance the Rapper remix Stephen Colbert's 'Late Show' jokes Watch the latest movie trailers. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 126 Woody introduces the gang to a homemade spork toy with self-esteem issues in "Toy Story 4." Read the review. (Pixar / AP) Carlos Rodriguez, of Madrids Nuevo Ballet Espanol, rehearses "Iroko." The dance, by Rodriguez and Angel Rojas, will be a centerpiece of Ensemble Espanol Spanish Dance Theater's annual "Flamenco Passion" at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts this weekend. (Dean Paul) When Dame Libby Komaiko started Ensemble Espanol Spanish Dance Theater with a few student-dancers in 1976, "I wasn't thinking it was going to be like this! I had no idea it would grow into this huge eh!" she says, lost for words. "It's developed the way it's supposed to, but usually people have their business plan first, and then they have their company. This was the other way around." Marking 40 years, Ensemble Espanol offers its annual "Flamenco Passion" performances, part of the 2016 American Spanish Dance & Music Festival, Friday through Sunday at Skokie's North Shore Center for the Performing Arts. The program features works choreographed over the last 30-plus years, among them Komaiko's signature piece, "Bolero" (1993), plus four new dances, including a world premiere by Paloma Gomez and two U.S. premieres, one apiece by Spanish dancer-choreographers Angel Rojas and Carlos Rodriguez. Advertisement MOST READ ENTERTAINMENT NEWS THIS HOUR But the show's centerpiece by Rojas and Rodriguez, directors of Madrid's Nuevo Ballet Espanol is "Iroko," titled after an African tree and honoring the roots and branches of Spanish dance in Europe, Africa and the Americas. Spanish folk dance, which includes flamenco as well as less percussive styles like the sevillanas, grew out of a rich stew, including the influence of the Gitano (Romani) people, African Moors and the Celts, particularly in northern Spain's Galicia. These days, more contemporary, balletic Spanish dances have gained ground. Advertisement Yet "Iroko" choreographer Rodriguez maintains that Spanish dance today is essentially unified. To a question about American versus Spanish troupes, he says (via email), "There is no difference between companies that work with the heart and from the passion for Spanish dance and flamenco." He describes the original "Iroko" score, by Spanish composer Juan Parrilla, as "music to dance with poise, elegance and flow 'soniquete,'" a flamenco term roughly translatable as a passionate "groove." Like the proverbial mighty oak, Ensemble Espanol grew from a little acorn of passion. Komaiko, who first trained in ballet and modern and only later in flamenco (with Jose Greco), found her earliest dancers among the students at Northeastern Illinois University, where she taught until 2011. Though the seeds of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago were similarly modest basically, a few jazz-dance students performing in senior centers Komaiko suggests that Ensemble Espanol faced somewhat different challenges: "Those were styles that people think are American dance. But when you come to a rhythmic form, something different there are 26 nationalities that come to Northeastern. People don't seem to get that these are really American." At the same time, the fact that she is not of Hispanic descent sometimes proved an issue for the Spanish-dance troupe. Among Komaiko's earliest dancers were Jorge Perez, now Ensemble Espanol's executive director, and Irma Suarez Ruiz, now artistic director. Asked what she saw in Perez, a student aide totally untrained in dance, Komaiko says, "First, he was promising just as a human being." Once he started taking dance, "I saw the way his brain worked, his processing. "I can see in an instant," Komaiko explains. "I can tell from the eyes, and the way (students) work, right from the introductory class you can see who (has) dance inside of them, who wants it." At this point, Komaiko says, she's most proud of the Ensemble Espanol dancers and "that the (Spanish dance) tradition will be carried on. I'm excited to see what they'll do next." Though Perez and Suarez Ruiz are still performing some roles in Komaiko's "Bolero," for one Perez says that now most of the parts "created for us or that we created for the repertoire are being passed on at a wonderful higher level. Right now there's such excitement in watching these dancers embrace these roles." Simultaneous continuity and innovation are the lifeblood of most dance companies, especially those devoted to traditional forms; students and budding choreographers are crucial. At this point, Perez says, community classes and performances reach 26,000 people annually, thanks in part to the company's current four full-time dancer-teachers. "We're up to four (city-sponsored) After School Matters programs," he says. Classes for adults and children include a curriculum for ages 4 through 12, "and they get to audition for our youth company," Perez says, now so large it's divided into two age divisions. Advertisement "We want to reach out more to the Hispanic community" in terms of both students and audiences, says Perez, a native Puerto Rican. Recently tapped for "2016 Who's Who in Hispanic Chicago" by Negocios Now, a business publication, he notes that "the marketing sector of Ensemble Espanol needed to meet the company's artistic quality." To that end, he worked with Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses, and this year collaborated with another of its alumni, Chicago-based marketing firm Gameplan Creative. Clearly, forming alliances is crucial. And later this summer, Ensemble Espanol will perform in Spain for the first time. "It's not the company's mission to bring Spanish dance to Spain," says Perez. "But I said, 'Let's do it. Let's show them what Chicago has been home-growing these 40 years.' " Laura Molzahn is a freelance critic. When: 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday Where: North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, 9501 Skokie Blvd., Skokie Tickets: $26-$46 at 847-673-6300 or northshorecenter.org Advertisement RELATED STORIES: Giordano Dance honors all that jazz, past and present 'Rhythm Fest' brings Chicago neighborhoods together Watch the latest movie trailers. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 122 Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, anger management student, in "Dark Phoenix." The film, the latest in the "X-Men" franchise, costars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jessica Chastain. Read the review. (Twentieth Century Fox) Guests look through books at the This Old Book tent at Printer's Row Lit Fest. (Kristan Lieb / Chicago Tribune) Bitter? Moi? That was the attitude of former prosecutor Marcia Clark, who gave a gloriously uncensored take on her life during and after the O.J. Simpson trial in a recent onstage interview at the Printers Row Lit Fest. Advertisement Clark, who has rebounded from losing the so-called trial of the century by reinventing herself as a crime novelist, finds herself back in the spotlight after her sympathetic portrayal this year in the FX drama "The People v. O.J. Simpson." But it's probably safe to say that Judge Lance Ito isn't on Clark's holiday card list. Advertisement The trial was "an incredibly insane circus presided over by this judge who handed over the reins to the defense and courted celebrities it was a bizarro world," Clark told the Tribune's David Heinzmann in front of an audience at Jones College Prep High School. While Clark admitted making mistakes and said she didn't have a problem with most of Simpson's all-star defense team, she described Ito as a sexist and said that at several critical points in the trial, "it was the judge's job to sustain (my) objection, and if you run into Lance Ito you might let him know ... better late than never." Clark said that while she was generally pleased with the FX series, it failed to capture how Ito was "entranced by his media moment" and "the steady stream of celebrities coming in and out of chambers" during the trial. Sometimes the celebs Ito had invited backstage demanded to meet her, too, she said. "I'm actually trying a lawsuit ... I don't need to meet Jimmy Dean," she said of one encounter with the crooner-turned-sausage king. "I mean, I love your sausage, sir!" Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > Clark said that she thought she had "not much" chance of a conviction after jury selection and that "a hung jury was the best I thought we could hope for I felt that way after we read the jury questionnaires, because we had a jury pool that was packed with people that were very favorable toward Simpson." Though she initially dreaded being back in the limelight, she was a "fangirl" of Sarah Paulson, the actress who played her in the FX show, she said. The two got together for dinner when filming was almost over, and Paulson introduced Clark to "a really great drink ... blanco tequila with just fresh lime juice straight up with a little bit of ice, like a martini fantastic," Clark said Saturday before the crowd at Lit Fest, which was sponsored by the Chicago Tribune. "We drank them all night and we got so plastered!" Advertisement Heinzmann noted that the plot of Clark's latest novel, "Blood Defense," concerns "two friends who are brutally murdered with a knife: One is famous, the other is not, and the conduct of the police is called into question." He asked her, "So where do you get ideas like that?" "I don't know," Clark said. "Because no one would buy it." kjanssen@tribpub.com Twitter @kimjnews Use paper invites to announce your party with these sunny postcards from Zazzle. 93 cents a card, zazzle.com (Zazzle) For centuries people have celebrated the summer solstice, and those traditions carry on today, with some of the best-known observations occurring in far northern countries where the sun barely sets that day. To create your own summer solstice gathering, party planners say to think about themes that celebrate nature and light, whether it's a dinner party or a casual get-together. Advertisement Elegance in white Svitlana Flom, editor-in-chief of lifestyle and entertaining website Art de Fete, said she takes inspiration for a solstice party from St. Petersburg, Russia, and the city's White Nights festival. Advertisement RELATED: TRENDING LIFE & STYLE NEWS THIS HOUR Her idea is to create an elegant all-white theme dinner party with decorations to reflect the longest day of the year. "Why not create an outdoor party under the skies? Make it sophisticated and beautiful," Flom said, and bring in natural elements. For a dinner party, place a white tablecloth with a lace runner on top, tied into knots at both ends and cascading to the ground. Or, to give the table an earthy feel, use a burlap tablecloth with white napkins, she said. Fill white porcelain vases of various heights with summer flowers like hydrangea, peonies or daisies. Scatter silver-mercury votive candleholders along the table and perhaps add a pair of crystal or silver five-light column candelabra. "When lit in the evening, (it) will create an ethereal, magical ambience, especially if you are hosting the party under the stars," Flom said. "Lighting is so important to create an intimate ambience for a party that lasts into the night. Make sure to provide plenty of lighting with various tea lights in terra-cotta pots, oversized lanterns, citronella candles or pretty outdoor party lights along the fence or tent." For a place card, use a single sparkler for each guest, and tie a round white name tag with kitchen twine as ribbon, with the sparkler to be lighted when night falls. Alternatively, place large green leaves on white plates and write guests' names on the leaves with a silver marker. For appetizers, Flom said sushi, such as California rolls, and cheese plates lend themselves to a white, elegant theme. Advertisement Fish and chicken are also go-to choices for the entree, Flom said. Sides can be as simple as white cannellini bean puree for swordfish kebabs, or serve Israeli couscous or quinoa with sauteed vegetables as a side dish for roasted chicken breast. Flom's personal favorite dessert is Pavlova, served with freshly whipped cream and grapefruit segments. Another idea is melon-pear-basil ice pops. "Place ice pops upside down in a white glass, and pour prosecco over, served immediately," she says. Bonfires traditionally end a solstice celebration. To re-create that at home, light a fire pit and make s'mores, Flom said. Casual with color Ann Saavedra, owner of Dreamcatcher Events in Walnut Creek, Calif., suggested a casual and fun festival big on color and lights. "You want to have a wow element. The wow element can be lots of outdoor lights, lots of color. The colors that come to mind to me would be bright pinks, yellows and golds really bright colors," Saavedra said. Advertisement For her party, she suggested activities that let people use natural materials to get in touch with their creative side. For a lighthearted theme, people can decorate summer hats and then wear them at the party. To celebrate nature, she suggested placing leafy greens cut small and flowers on a table to make wreathes held together by wire, or to decorate wicker spheres. "People love to do things with their hands. They like to get creative. You give them something like that, and you can't go wrong," she said. To pick up color, she suggested using colored linens or at least colored napkins to be served with hors d'oeuvres, which are inexpensive ways to brighten up the party. Plates in shapes like shells or other natural items accent the earthy theme, Saavedra added. To celebrate solstice's ancient origins, she suggested having a toast with mead, the honey-based liquor, as the sun goes down. As the day ends, that's when hosts can amp up the lights. This is a good time to light votive candles and use mirrors to reflect the light. Tiki torches and fire pits are good choices, but so are lighted ice cubes in drinks, lighted sticks to put in flower arrangements and string lights in trees. "You definitely want to create energy that goes way into the night," she said. Advertisement Debbie Carlson is a freelance writer. RELATED STORIES: It's time to deadhead, prune and mulch roses Bring summer florals indoors with hand-painted textiles from Bluebellgray How to deal with loud neighbors Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 11 The Lolla Bootie from Sorel for women is crafted with waterproof leather (for light rain) and stylized with cutouts and a two-tone stacked heel, providing comfort and style for spring and summer and obviously for Lollapalooza, it's in the name), $160 www.sorel.com (Sorel) Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 9 A West Loop condo situated at 659 Randolph St. Unit 614 is currently on the market for $462,900. (Rick Knoell / VHT Studios) WISCONSIN DELLS, Wis. I'm a dad now. Evan is just over a year old, with a joy for life and a daring spirit that compels him to dive headfirst off any bed, chair or couch if given the opportunity. Like any (hopefully) good parent, I want him to have all the things I never did. Like a trip to the Wisconsin Dells. Advertisement Yes, it's true. I've lived much of my life in Chicago and somehow never made it to the water park and sunburn capital of the Midwest. I'm not even sure what events or excursions replaced this soggy rite of passage for so many years, but Door County, Union Pier and many Cubs games come to mind. The Dells just never happened. And I never minded a bit. RELATED: TRENDING LIFE & STYLE NEWS THIS HOUR Advertisement But then beautiful, bright-eyed Evan came along and the Dells beckoned. Yes, there will be Cubs games and Door County and Union Pier in his future, but the pinnacle of a cliched Midwestern summer getaway seemed necessary if Evan is to have a well-balanced childhood. So my wife and I packed the boy in the car along with the requisite too much stuff that comes with hauling around a baby and headed three hours north to that land of water parks and sunburns. We were determined to embrace one while scrupulously avoiding the other. We arrived on a Friday afternoon with little idea of what to expect. This thing called the Wisconsin Dells or simply "The Dells" to many could have been a slice of idyllic Midwest, where ice cream shops and generations-old bookstores line a main street that's actually called Main Street, rife with towheaded children scampering toward that evening's Little League game. It's not. For one thing, other than restaurant staff and hotel workers, I'm not sure I ever saw a local. The town is overrun with tourists. And as for the town Wisconsin Dells (population 2,700, which means the locals were hiding somewhere), its quaintness is buried deep within generations of being a tourist destination. Consider the old bank building on the north side of Broadway (the Dells' version of Main Street). It's a compact and handsome gray stone building with detailed symmetry that many modern structures would envy. More than 100 years ago, when it was in fact a bank, it sat attractively unadorned on that downtown Dells corner. In 2016 it's buried beneath cheap, oversized signage that touts the twice-daily Tommy Bartlett water show and tickets to seemingly every nearby attraction. The building houses a bar named "Nig's," which seems to be a relic from another generation, much like the Dells itself. The downtown strip is an array of silly gift shops, good-enough restaurants (stick to meat and potatoes), neon signs and attractions like Krazy Mirror Maze, which is exactly what it sounds like. But people don't visit the Dells for high culture. They go to get away from it, to be in a place where Hillary's emails and Donald's bluster don't exist. They go for the unbridled fun and outsized attractions along Wisconsin Dells Parkway, a four-lane state highway just outside the downtown. The 5-mile stretch is home to go-karts. Roller coasters. A wildlife park featuring penguins, camels and giraffes. There's something called Zombie Outbreak, where guests get to shoot zombies in the head for $19.99. A gargantuan Trojan horse sits along the road as part of the Mount Olympus water park and theme park resort. There's an upside down replica of the White House that is called Top Secret and gets laughably awful scores on TripAdvisor. And so on. "It's like Las Vegas for children," my wife said. Advertisement Bingo. And I was so very thankful Evan was too young to want to shoot zombies in the head. Then there are the water parks. There are about 20 of them in the Dells, from wide and sprawling to small and cozy, which is how the area came to call itself "The water park capital of the world!" (exclamation mark included). Tourism officials boast of more than 200 water slides and more than 16 million gallons of water pumped across those parks. (Bonus fact: The average Dells water park resort churns through 5,000 towels per day.) Water park aficionados are well served to visit multiple parks during a visit to the area. The highlights are spread out, with names such as Quadzilla and Black Anaconda (Noah's Ark Waterpark), Poseidon's Rage (Mount Olympus) and Screaming Hyena (Kalahari). As if it isn't obvious, you might want to digest lunch before boarding what claims to be "America's first and the world's tallest looping water slide" (Scorpion's Tail at Noah's Ark). We, however, confined ourselves to the water park attached to our hotel beside the buzz of Interstate 90: Great Wolf Lodge, which is known for catering to wee ones. I was won over immediately after check-in, when a blonde teenage girl in Great Wolf's vast lobby offered the opportunity to frost and decorate a chewy sugar cookie. With Evan in one arm, I used my free hand to smear vanilla frosting onto the cookie that I topped with blue and orange sprinkles (Go Bears!) as opposed to the green and yellow option. It was an immediate microcosm of the family friendliness of The Dells: "Just drove three hours to get here? Here, decorate a delicious sugar cookie!" It's impossible to overstate the degree to which Great Wolf Lodge caters to families. It's so dramatic and effective that I have no idea why someone without children would stay there, short of a bachelor or bachelorette party built around water slides. Kid-focused events at the hotel begin with a 7:15 a.m. children's yoga class and continue through the early morning (at which point parents are presumably awake enough to take control of their offspring) and then resume with evening games and story time that draws a packed house of adorable little people in their jammies. When I saw a small child running down a Great Wolf hallway in nothing but a diaper after a couple of days, I was hardly surprised. Advertisement The water park teems from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. with an absolute crush of children on weekends as water flows and falls in all directions. Plastic slides and tubes seem to twist everywhere in the vast space assiduously scoured by teenage lifeguards. There are some fairly intimidating slides with strict height and weight rules. And then there are the itty-bitty water slides where Evan rode on my lap, at first unsure why we would intentionally splash ourselves so aggressively. But then, at the bottom of each slide, he shouted one of his handful of words: "More!" (Which actually sounds more like, "Mah!") Of course, I obliged again and again. What makes the Dells cheesy good fun, though, is that there's much more to do outside of water parks, and it's the kind of stuff you'll only find in a Las Vegas for children. At Timbavati Wildlife Park, we came face to face with an array of animals that, in theory, should be nowhere near central Wisconsin: penguins, an Arctic fox, giraffes and kangaroos. We were handed cups of carrots upon entry (for the animals, not us), and indeed, Evan was captivated by the long, powerful giraffe neck swinging low toward us and that rough, black tongue extending to take three carrot sticks from my hand. There's enough silliness going on zombies, "krazy" mirrors, Tommy Bartlett and all the rest that it's impossible to become bored in the Dells. But what took a couple of days to realize is that the area is situated in absolutely gorgeous, rolling Midwest terrain stocked with lakes, bluffs and canyons. The Dells don't do much to embrace that fact; most of the touristy things are made of plastic and concrete. That's why on our way out of town, we stopped at Devil's Lake State Park, Wisconsin's largest and most-visited state park, about 20 miles south of the Dells. After a weekend of water slides, giraffes and walks up and down downtown, Evan gladly went into my baby carrier backpack and we hoofed close to 3 miles, heading up to a bluff above the sparkling blue lake and then down and back along the lakeshore. Advertisement Every time his mom and I paused to savor the view, we heard the same command: "Mah!" More walking, he meant. I suspect that the hike was Evan's favorite part of the weekend. Still, when he's 7 or so, I have a feeling we'll take a crack at some of those more daunting water slides. jbnoel@tribpub.com Twitter @joshbnoel If you go Advertisement Getting there: The Wisconsin Dells is about 200 miles (or three hours) northwest of Chicago, along Interstate 90. To do: Water parks are the primary attraction, including five major resorts that all have both indoor and outdoor parks. Noah's Ark Water Park (www.noahsarkwaterpark.com) claims to be the largest water park in the country. Other highlights include two amphibious ducks rides that operate both in water and on land; the Riverside & Great Northern Railway (www.dellstrain.com) that offers scenic train rides north of town; Timbavati Wildlife Park (www.timbavatiwildlifepark.com), featuring up-close views of animals not expected in central Wisconsin, and the legendary Tommy Bartlett Show (www.tommybartlett.com), a water-ski show in its 64th season. Stay: Major resorts include Great Wolf Lodge (www.greatwolf.comhttp://www.greatwolf.com), Wilderness Resort (www.wildernessresort.com), Kalahari (www.kalahariresorts.com) and Mount Olympus (www.mtolympuspark.com), though there are also many smaller and midsize accommodations, including motels and national chains. Eat and drink: Macs Macaroni and Cheese Shop (www.macandcheeseshop.com) offers both basic and gourmet macaroni and cheese for parents and children alike; High Rock Cafe (www.highrockcafe.com) offers a solid array of inventive American fare; the newly opened B-Lux Grill and Bar (www.b-luxgrill.com) served up one of the better hamburgers I've had in a while. Myrt and Lucy's Chat and Chew dishes out belly-filling breakfasts and has tables large enough for the biggest of broods. Beer-loving parents should not overlook Showboat Saloon (www.showboatsaloon.com), which offers an outstanding selection of craft beer on draft and features a generous $2.50-per-pint happy hour that extends to all day on Sundays. More information: www.wisdells.com RELATED STORIES: Advertisement Kids luggage makes travel fun A Frankenstein dream: Spending the night with Frank Lloyd Wright Mammoth Water Coaster and 11 other Midwest travel tidbits not to miss Omar Mateen, right, with his wife, Noor Zahi Salman, and their son. (Facebook) He was a Muslim terrorist who hated Americans. He was an American. Advertisement He was a Muslim man who hated gays. He may have been gay. Advertisement He was just another deranged guy with wide-ranging anger and easy access to guns. Omar Mateen was some, maybe all, of the above, but who was he exactly and why did he do what he did? We don't know. It hurts to say that. A terrible event is all the more terrifying when you can't box it up into a tidy explanation; until you have an explanation, you're not sure what to fix. It's hard to cure a disease without a diagnosis. One thing we do know is that in Florida, a state with lax gun laws, Mateen, a 29-year-old Floridian, legally bought an assault-style rifle that could fire 30 rounds before it had to be reloaded. We do know that he used it in the killing of 49 people, and wounding of many more, most of them young, gay Latinos who had gathered in an Orlando nightclub to laugh, dance, feel free. But the full why of things? We don't know. Yes, we can and should tighten our gun laws, but guns are the means, not the motivation, and until we understand motivation, we haven't diagnosed the whole problem. On Tuesday morning, I heard a radio commentator say that Mateen's motives "may be more complicated than we thought at first." Advertisement Of course they are. News principle No. 1: The story is always more complicated than you think at first. Human principle No. 1: Human beings are always more complicated than you think at first. Untangling the why of violent human behavior can be like trying to untangle the wires in a phone box. It takes time and patience. The mess of ideologies, grievances and brain dysfunction that would drive a person to walk into a crowd and start shooting is likely to elude our full comprehension, at least our immediate comprehension. Yet we resist those three little words: "We don't know." We leap to the idea that we do know so that we can do something to prevent the terror from happening again. Or maybe it's the other way around: We convince ourselves we know because it fits our previous agenda. Advertisement "When we hear news reports," Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist and professor, told The New York Times, in a piece on Mateen, "we don't decide what happened and then decide what to do about it. Rather, we know what we want to do, and we interpret what happened in the way that will best help us do what we want to do." The shock of what happened in Orlando on Sunday is still rippling through the country. In our shock, we feel the need to hurry. Hurry to understand. Hurry to fix. Hurry to politicize. Hurry to make sure this doesn't happen again, though history, going back to the birth of hatred, suggests that something like it will. That's not resignation, that's reality. There are, though, fruitful things we can do. Go to the Gay Pride parade and cheer loudly. Write a letter to a politician and demand stricter gun laws. If you're not Muslim, find a way to talk about the shooting with someone who is. If you are Muslim, find a way to talk about it with someone who's not. Send money to a politician who will fight for your views. Say a prayer for the dead and the people who loved them. Vote. We can also step away from our screens, which whip us into impotent fear and anger and too often feed our ignorance. Advertisement We can go outside and marvel at the beauty and mystery of the world, glad that we're still in it. mschmich@tribpub.com Twitter @MarySchmich Chicago flag themed gifts seen on display at the gift shop inside of the Chicago History Museum in 2015. (Kristen Norman/for the Chicago Tribune) Every day in Chicago is Flag Day. Try walking a block on Michigan Avenue without spotting the city's municipal colors in flag form. Atop building entrances, on the right upper sleeves of police officers' uniforms and on the bridge over the Chicago River, Chicago flags fly near their national and state counterparts. Visitors scoop up the design on T-shirts and other souvenirs, while locals often have it tattooed on their bodies. It might be hard to believe, but despite its popularity today, the Chicago flag was unrecognizable to the general public almost 60 years ago when the owner of a Portage Park hardware store displayed it. Some mistook it "for everything from the flag of Israel to that of one of the Scandinavian countries," according to an Aug. 12, 1958, Tribune article. How did this icon come to be? And what makes its design so popular and respected among flag enthusiasts (including the North American Vexillological Association, which says that next to the flag of Washington, D.C., it's the best city flag in the U.S.) and laymen alike? Let's dissect the flag of Chicago by its colors -- red, white and blue. Why red? Francis Davis Millet sketch from the Chicago Tribune, Nov. 27, 1892. (Chicago Tribune archives) In 1892, with a little more than one month before the dedication of the World's Columbia Exposition, organizers met with city leaders in a panicked effort to finalize decorations on both the exposition grounds and throughout the city. Chicago had very little in terms of an official visual idenity -- no official colors or iconography, let alone a flag -- on which to lean. Published comments from the exposition's supervisor for painting and sculpture, local mural artist Francis Davis Millet, addressed the issue: "Almost all European cities have chosen colors, as the universities and colleges have done, and these are called the 'Municipal Colors.' Would it not be well now to see if the authorities of Chicago will not select a color or combination of colors as the 'Municipal Colors' for the city? If this is done, it will simplify the whole matter of civic decorations very much and afford a precedent which will, I am sure, be followed in all great cities of the Union." -- Millet The Tribune embraced Millet's "catchy" idea, announcing a contest on the next day's front page for the best municipal color combinations. In 10 days, the Tribune received 829 entries. Suggested by an architect for the exposition, Alfred Jensen Roewad, red and white was the winning combination. He also submitted several images of how the colors could be displayed, including designs featuring a now familiar Y-shape. Sketches from the Chicago Tribune, Oct. 1, 1892. (Chicago Tribune archives) Another contest Wallace Rice. (Chicago Tribune archives) It wasn't until 1915 that the city's lack of a flag became an issue. Ald. James A. Kearns, 31st, introduced a resolution calling for an official design. The City Council agreed with Kearns, who feared Chicago was lagging other major cities, and established the Chicago Municipal Flag Commission. The commission sifted through more than 1,000 submissions before settling on an original design by writer and flag aficianado Wallace Rice. Coincidentally, Rice was originally retained to set the design rules of the competition. The designs were submitted and approved by the City Council on April 4, 1917 -- the same day the U.S. Senate voted to support U.S. entry into World War I. There were 63 "Yeas" and no dissents. White "White, the union of all the colors, to symbolize the union of all the races in the city of Chicago." -- Rice, Chicago flag designer Rice's explanations for each element: Top white band: "This white stripe stands locally for the North Side, nationally for the Atlantic Coast, and terrestrially for the countries east and north of the United States." "This white stripe stands locally for the North Side, nationally for the Atlantic Coast, and terrestrially for the countries east and north of the United States." White center band (More than twice as wide as one of the blue bands): "This white bar stands locally for the West Side, nationally for the Great Central Plain dominated by Chicago, and terrestrially for the United States, in which the two stars signify Chicago is the second city, as well as the second city of the New World." "This white bar stands locally for the West Side, nationally for the Great Central Plain dominated by Chicago, and terrestrially for the United States, in which the two stars signify Chicago is the second city, as well as the second city of the New World." Bottom white band: "This white stripe stands locally for the South Side, nationally for the Pacific Coast, and terrestrially for the countries west and south of the United States." Blue "Blue, the color of the lake and river, of distant mountains, and of the oceans." -- Rice, Chicago flag designer Rice's explanations for each element: Upper blue band: "This blue stripe stands locally for the North Branch of the (Chicago) River, nationally for the Allegheny Mountains, and terrestrially for the Atlantic Ocean and Great Lakes." Rice also noted, "This stripe, with the other stripe and the two stars (on the original flag), indicates that Chicago is the fourth city of the globe." "This blue stripe stands locally for the North Branch of the (Chicago) River, nationally for the Allegheny Mountains, and terrestrially for the Atlantic Ocean and Great Lakes." Rice also noted, "This stripe, with the other stripe and the two stars (on the original flag), indicates that Chicago is the fourth city of the globe." Lower blue band: "This blue stripe stands locally for the South Branch of the (Chicago) River, nationally for the Rockies and Sierras, and terrestrially for the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico." The stars The first stars had long, sharp points. Currently, the points are shorter. Why six? When Mayor William Hale Thompson suggested changing the flag's six pointed stars to five pointers, Rice balked: "I purposely made the stars six-pointed. Five-point stars are the symbols of states and could manifestly have no place in a municipal flag. Mayor Thompson is making not only himself but the flag ridiculous by ordering the change." Rice, Chicago flag designer The original design included two six-pointed stars, each draped with its own symbolism. This left room for additional images. The city flag commission also devised 23 additional logos for various city departments (mayor, City Council, city clerk, etc.), which could be added to the flag, if desired. Each logo would fit into a circle and could displayed by its corresponding office. Sketch from the Chicago Tribune, July 17, 1921. (Chicago Tribune archives) Star No. 1 From the original 1917 design Each star bears a specific meaning, and each of its six points does too. As the Chicago Public Library points out, however, the meaning of the points is mostly unofficial, with explanations varying from different sources. The first two stars from the 1917 edition of the flag are accounted for in City Council records from 1917, but the others are not. The first star represents the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Points in this star stand for material ideas in which the city was known for or seeking pre-eminence: Transportation: "The city being now the greatest railway center in the world." "The city being now the greatest railway center in the world." Trade: "Both wholesale and retail, in many features of which the city bears the palm -- as grain, mail orders and many more." "Both wholesale and retail, in many features of which the city bears the palm -- as grain, mail orders and many more." Finance: "Being the second city in the country and perhaps in the would at this time in bank clearings and banking capital." "Being the second city in the country and perhaps in the would at this time in bank clearings and banking capital." Labor and industry: "The city's manufacturers in many lines being favorably known throughout the world." "The city's manufacturers in many lines being favorably known throughout the world." Populousness: "Being already the second city in the Americas and fourth in the world." "Being already the second city in the Americas and fourth in the world." Healthfulness: "Being the healthiest city of its size on earth." Star No. 2 From the original 1917 design "Taken together, the two stars symbolize the Chicago spirit," Rice said. He deliberately placed them on the banner's left so stars could be added to mark events, if approved by the City Council. Chicago Tribune, Sept 20, 1921. (Chicago Tribune archives) The second star represents the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. Points represent immaterial and spiritual ideals: Religion: "Including cathedrals, churches, theological seminaries, schools for missionaries and many institutions of international rank in their respective denominations." "Including cathedrals, churches, theological seminaries, schools for missionaries and many institutions of international rank in their respective denominations." Education: "With three universities, several colleges, two technical schools, great libraries on private foundations, in addition to the enormous public school system." "With three universities, several colleges, two technical schools, great libraries on private foundations, in addition to the enormous public school system." Aesthetics: "With the new city plan for its beautification, the Art Institute, the Orchestra Hall and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the attention given architecture, music schools, art schools and much more of that nature." "With the new city plan for its beautification, the Art Institute, the Orchestra Hall and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the attention given architecture, music schools, art schools and much more of that nature." Beneficence: "Shown in hospitals, neighborhood parks, museums, charitable organizations and a hundred other things." "Shown in hospitals, neighborhood parks, museums, charitable organizations and a hundred other things." Justice: "Exhibited in the Juvenile Courts, the Morals Court, the Court of Domestic Relations and other features in which Chicago has led the world in the application of the most modern methods to the prevention of crime and disorder and the reformation of those under the displeasure of society." "Exhibited in the Juvenile Courts, the Morals Court, the Court of Domestic Relations and other features in which Chicago has led the world in the application of the most modern methods to the prevention of crime and disorder and the reformation of those under the displeasure of society." Civism: "Or the feeling among our people of the need for good citizenship in order that the city may take first rank in everything of good repute." Star No. 3 Added in 1933 On Chicago Day at the 1933 World's Fair, Mayor Edward Joseph Kelly was to present fair President Rufus C. Dawes with a flag to signify the selection of the event as the third star in the city's flag. The City Council approved the addition Oct. 11, 1933. Its points represented Chicago's global-facing identity: The world's third-largest city. "Urbs in Horto," Latin for "City in a Garden." "I Will," the city's motto. The Great Central Market. The Wonder City. The Convention City. Exterior of Marshall Field & Company showing awnings and doorway, 111 North State Street, 1933. A Chicago flag flying nearby has three stars (Courtesy Chicago History Museum) Star No. 4 Added in 1939 The fourth star commemorates Fort Dearborn and its points represent the historical development of the Chicago territory: French domination, 1693. English domination, 1693-1763. Territory of the state of Virginia, 1763-78. Part of Northwest Territory, 1778-98. Part of Indiana territory, 1798-1802. Illinois statehood, 1818. Chicago Tribune, Jan. 6, 1966. (Chicago Tribune archives) The stars also were reordered chronologically: Fort Dearborn, Great Chicago Fire, World's Columbian Exposition and Century of Progress. Historian Kenan Heise, like other Chicagoans, despised the city's choice to honor the Fort Dearborn "massacre." "The white Americans encamped at Ft. Dearborn had to do many things wrong to put the Pottawatomies on the warpath, and they did all of them." He suggested 10 events he felt more deserving of the star, including the engineered reversal of the Chicago River and the founding of Hull House. A fifth star? There have been campaigns to add a fifth star to the flag. Suggestions have included: French explorers Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette, University of Chicago's role in the nuclear age, to honor Richard J. Daley and/or Harold Washington, to recognize the Chicago Bulls' six NBA championships in the 1990s and if the city had been chosen to host the 2016 Olympics. The city began honoring local artists and arts institutions in 2014 with its Fifth Star Awards. Sources: Tribune archives, Chicago City Council Resolution 2015-634 "Commemoration of Honorable James A. Kearns on 100th anniversary of creation of Municipal Flag Commission," "Chicago Commerce," April 9, 1915 and April 13, 1917 issues, "American City Flags" by John M. Purcell, Municipal Reference Collection at Chicago Public Library, Chicago Historical Society, Ted Whalen The feed of 28-year-old Angel Luis Candelario-Padro's Facebook tells the story of a young man from Guanica, Puerto Rico, who recently moved to Orlando from Chicago to start a new life. Read more about him here . (Facebook / Courtesy photo) Angel Luis Candelario-Padro's Facebook page tells the story of a young man from Guanica, Puerto Rico, who recently moved to Orlando from Chicago to start a new life. The 28-year-old nurse soon found a new job and a new love. "He was a humble boy, a good student. He liked to work and wasn't too much into partying," his aunt Leticia Padro told Univision. But he made an exception Saturday night, when he and his boyfriend went to Pulse with friends. Leticia Padro said her nephew's boyfriend, who was shot several times and is in the hospital, told her that after hearing several shots he turned to Candelario-Padro and asked if he was OK. "He told him he was OK, but in that instant he fell to the floor," Padro said. The feed of 28-year-old Angel Luis Candelario-Padro's Facebook tells the story of a young man from Guanica, Puerto Rico, who recently moved to Orlando from Chicago to start a new life. (Sean Pitts/Orlando Sentinel) Minutes before the shooting, Candelario-Padro had posted a photo on Facebook that showed him smiling broadly while standing next to his boyfriend and two friends. Candelario-Padro, who served in the National Guard, loved music and had played the clarinet in his hometown's band, Efrain Padro, an uncle who lives in Guanica, told The Associated Press. "A lot of people know our family in Guanica and are showing a lot of support in this tough time," he said. "We're waiting for his body to be brought home. We will welcome him with music." Candelario-Padro had started his new job at the Florida Retina Institute as an ophthalmic technician on Thursday, just a few days before the mass shooting. In Chicago, he had been a Zumba instructor, an employee at Old Navy and a nurse technician. On his Facebook page's about section, Candelario-Padro says of himself: "I'm an adventurous, easy going but responsible man that would like to live the life completely." Advertisement jruiter@orlandosentinel.com and Associated Press contributed to this report. Angel Candelario-Padro, 28, worked at the Illinois College of Optometry for about two years before moving to Orlando, Fla., in March. He was one of the 49 victims of the mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub. (Facebook, left; Illinois College of Optometry) During his two years in Chicago, Angel Candelario-Padro kept busy working as a technician at the Illinois Eye Institute, along with side jobs at Old Navy and as a Zumba instructor. He wasn't much of a clubgoer, though he could often be found out with friends. But on Saturday night, three months after moving to Orlando, Fla., his family said he was persuaded to go out to the popular Pulse nightclub for its "Latin night." Advertisement Hours later, he was dead. "He was studious, he was joyful. He'd rarely go out and party," his aunt Leticia Padro said in a telephone interview from Orlando, where her family has gathered in the wake of her nephew's death. "In fact, he didn't want to go out that night. He told his friends, 'no, I don't want to go out,' but they kept insisting, so he went." Advertisement As news reports poured out of Florida about a shooting at Pulse, Padro said he had posted a photo from the club on Facebook, leading her to frantically call him to make sure he was safe. "We called him, but he wouldn't answer. He just wouldn't answer," Padro said. "We thought he was working, so we texted him. And nothing." Soon, Padro said, she received a call from one of Candelario-Padro's friends, who was wounded in the shooting. They confirmed that Candelario-Padro had been shot and recounted the evening's events to her. Candelario-Padro, 28, was one of the 49 people slain at the Orlando nightclub, the nation's worst mass shooting. His boyfriend, who was wounded, was among the survivors. On Sunday, Roseanna Thompson awoke and opened Facebook, quickly seeing that Candelario-Padro, an ex-Illinois College of Optometry employee she once supervised, was among the dozens of patrons unaccounted for in the club shooting. The Chicago-area woman soon noticed that his friends and relatives had begun using a Facebook feature that sends a message to users in perilous locations to check if they are safe, and she found herself sending him a note too. "He had not replied, which was (unlike) Angel," Thompson, a clinic coordinator of the pediatric department at the Illinois Eye Institute and Candelario-Padro's former supervisor, recalled Tuesday. It would be another day before Thompson and her colleagues at the South Side clinic would learn that Candelario-Padro had been killed. He worked at the eye institute, which is part of the Illinois College of Optometry training school, for about two years until March, when he moved to Florida. The death of the popular technician devastated his former Chicago colleagues, who remembered his vibrance and warmth that won over co-workers and patients alike. Advertisement "Angel was true to his name, an angel," Thompson said in an interview. "Angel was such a team player. He had a very high spirit, he connected with everyone. He was very personable with our patients. There was never a day that you'd see Angel and he didn't greet you with a smile." Days after the tragedy that drew reaction from all over the world, Thompson said she and her colleagues were still having trouble processing it all. "It was emotionally upsetting to everyone. And really we didn't want to hear the truth, and when we did get the truth, we had to pull strength from each other in order just to continue the day," Thompson said. Some colleagues were too upset to continue working and had to be sent home, she added. A native of Guanica, Puerto Rico, Candelario-Padro studied nursing at the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico before moving to Chicago. After only two weeks in the States, a temporary services agency helped him land a customer service job with the ICO, but his previous training and his skills quickly earned him a promotion, Thompson said. Thompson said she personally connected with the friendly young man who moved to the city knowing only his relatives in the area and few others. "I adopted him when he came in because he was new here, and I felt that we needed to cover him," she said, laughing. Advertisement From there, co-workers got to know him, his infectious smile, about his love of dancing and his gift of making a regular workday fun. "He was just that type of person, he just lit up the room," Thompson said. Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > Candelario-Padro's family plans to bring his remains home to his Puerto Rican hometown, which borders the Caribbean Sea. Colleagues plan to hold a private memorial service for a man they say they still treasure. "Angel was the true essence of someone who lived his life as a service to others. Even with a smile, he gave," Thompson said. "That's why he is going to be incredibly missed, because we carry him, even in his absence." wlee@tribpub.com Advertisement nmoreno@tribpub.com Twitter @MidNoirCowboy Twitter @nereidamorenos This excerpt from video released to the public shows the most complete version of the shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. It is edited for length by the Chicago Tribune. Warning: This video contains graphic images. (Chicago Tribune) The FBI warned the Chicago Police Department that officers' lives could be in danger with the release of the Laquan McDonald video, according to documents released late Monday night by the city. In a Nov. 24 email sent just hours before the city made public the video of a white police officer shooting and killing the black 17-year-old, an FBI agent said that a confidential informant who had provided reliable information in the past reported plans to ambush officers in retaliation for the teen's death. Advertisement "Violent rhetoric is high," the FBI wrote. "Due to the recent media spotlight on officer-involved deaths of minorities, there is a lot of anger in the neighborhood served by the Chicago Police Department." While no known attacks took place following the video's release, the informant said gang members planned to set up outside the 14th District headquarters on the West Side and the Homan Square building, a police facility that has served as the setting for numerous police misconduct allegations in recent years. The informant said gang members intended to wait for police employees to exit and walk toward their cars a time when the officers wouldn't be wearing protective gear or bulletproof vests. Advertisement "In addition to being unarmed and unprotected, these employees will likely be in either small groups or by themselves, which would make them targets of opportunity," the FBI said. "(Confidential human source) states that shooters may lie-in-wait, and then conduct an ambush." While the potential for violence against Chicago police was previously known, the role of the FBI informant was new. FBI spokesman Garrett Croon on Tuesday said the bureau notified city police about the source's information. He declined to comment further and referred questions to the Police Department, which did not have an immediate response. The FBI warning was included in more than 20,000 pages of emails released by Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration at 11:57 p.m. Monday. Faced with a court order to turn over all emails sent or received by former police Superintendent Garry McCarthy in December, the city also released McCarthy's emails from November. Emanuel fired McCarthy on Dec. 1 as the city was being roiled by the release of a dashcam video showing Officer Jason Van Dyke shooting McDonald. Despite his ouster, McCarthy had access to his department email for the remainder of the month. Some emails that flooded McCarthy's inbox were not unlike those any office-worker might receive: spam, an invitation to a party, a joke. Other emails collected daily news clippings, crime statistics and department news releases. There also were several messages of support following McCarthy's abrupt firing, including one from the commander who initially cleared the officer in the McDonald shooting. The emails also include McCarthy's termination letter sent Dec. 17. McCarthy forwarded it to his wife, Kristin, noting that Emanuel's chief of staff Eileen Mitchell and not the mayor had signed the letter. Advertisement "He didn't even have the balls to sign it himself," McCarthy wrote. Emanuel's spokesman, Adam Collins, said Tuesday that it is common for the chief of staff to sign termination letters. He called the focus on the issue "total nonsense." "First, the mayor met with Garry to inform him of the decision personally on Dec. 1. Then he stood before press to explain his decision and the city's need to move forward," Collins said. The city had failed to include McCarthy's email to his wife in the roughly 1,500 it released last week under a court order. The Chicago Tribune which had successfully sued the city for the records was able to identify at least 17 emails that were not included in those documents. City officials said the department reran a search for McCarthy's emails after the Tribune pointed out the missing records. The department did not purposely withhold them, police spokesman Frank Giancamilli said. The emails, in part, showed broad community and department support for McCarthy after Emanuel fired him, with several suggesting that McCarthy was politically sacrificed. Advertisement The November emails demonstrate the buildup to the video's release, though with little direct commentary from McCarthy. The records show, among other things, that he canceled travel plans a week before the video became public and he monitored the department's plans to police the protests. In an email to the entire department, McCarthy directed his officers to treat protesters respectfully and allow them the opportunity to voice their opinions. "Professionalism is paramount during situations that may test your fortitude," he wrote on Nov. 20. "If incidents do arise, I am confident you will maintain the composure and character necessary to safeguard the welfare of our communities. Take great care not to let the circumstances surrounding such an event dictate and undermine your response, but instead rely on your experience, skill and tactical patience to achieve an effective resolution." As protesters took to the streets in largely peaceful demonstrations, a local pastor emailed McCarthy on Thanksgiving Day to ask if they should cancel an upcoming community-police event at the church. McCarthy wanted to keep the commitment, which was scheduled for Dec. 2. "I believe in moving forward," McCarthy wrote. "We have too many projects in motion." Advertisement Three days later, the pastor canceled the event. Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > "Definitely have to wait," the Rev. Christopher Harris of Bright Star Church in Bronzeville wrote. "The purpose of our meeting will be lost in the shuffle of very high emotions and participation will likely be extremely low from my community." McCarthy responded about 90 minutes later. "Reluctantly agree." Tribune reporters John Chase and Dawn Rhodes contributed. sstclair@tribpub.com Advertisement tlighty@tribpub.com dheinzmann@tribpub.com An Edison Park elementary school was evacuated after a custodian threatened to "shoot the school up" during an argument with a co-worker, police said. Officers escorted students, parents and teachers out of Ebinger Elementary School, 7350 W. Pratt Ave., following the threat Monday afternoon, said Officer Kevin Quaid, a police spokesman. The employee, whom he described as a temporary custodian, made the remark before leaving the building following a verbal fight with another employee, Quaid said. He said police know the identities of those involved and are investigating. Associated Press It happened just before 5 p.m. at Harry Maze Playground in Brooklyn. Police say the male victims, ages 15 to 18, were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. Police say the teens were at the playground in East Flatbush when an unknown person approached them and started shooting. Two of the teens were struck in the hand, one was struck in the leg and another in the cheek. Police say a fifth teen suffered a gunshot wound on the side of his stomach. There have been no arrests. Associated Press Dismayed Republicans scrambled for cover Tuesday from Donald Trump's inflammatory response to the Orlando massacre, while President Barack Obama and Democrat Hillary Clinton delivered fiery denunciations that underscored the potential peril for the GOP. Republican hopes are fading for a new, "more presidential" Trump as the party's divisions around him grow ever more acute. Advertisement Clinton, campaigning in Pittsburgh before her Tuesday night win in the Washington, D.C., Democratic primary, said: "We don't need conspiracy theories and pathological self-congratulations. We need leadership and concrete plans because we are facing a brutal enemy." House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin pauses while talking to reporters at the Republican National Committee headquarters on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 14, 2016. Ryan said a ban on Muslims entering the U.S., as presidential nominee Donald Trump proposes, is not in the nation's interest. (J. Scott Applewhite / AP) In Washington, Obama said of Muslim-Americans: "Are we going to start subjecting them to special surveillance? Are we going to discriminate against them because of their faith?" After meeting with counterterrorism officials, a stern-faced Obama said: "We heard these suggestions during the course of this campaign. Do Republican officials actually agree with this? Because that's not the America we want." Advertisement Several of Trump's fellow Republicans clearly did not agree with him. They were nearly as unsparing as the Democrats in their criticism of his boundary-pushing response Monday to the killing of 49 people at a gay club in Orlando, Florida, by an American-born Muslim who pledged loyalty to the Islamic State group. Among other things, Trump suggested moderate Muslims and perhaps even Obama himself might sympathize with radical elements. He renewed his call to temporarily ban foreign Muslims from entering the country, and added a new element: a suspension of immigration from areas of the world with a proven history of terrorism against the U.S. and its allies. "Mr. Trump seems to be suggesting that the president is one of them, I find that highly offensive, I find that whole line of reasoning way off-base," said Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. "Mr. Trump's reaction to declare war on the faith is the worst possible solution." GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois said Trump's comments could be used to radicalize uneducated Muslims. "I guess I appreciate Mr. Trump's fieriness in talking about it, and strength, but you don't do it by alienating the very people we need and those are moderate Muslims," said Kinzinger. "To use religion as a test, to say we're going to discriminate against all Muslims, is so counterproductive it really almost doesn't deserve being talked about." Trump responded to Obama's criticism in a statement accusing the president of continuing "to prioritize our enemy over our allies." At a fiery rally hours later in Greensboro, North Carolina, Trump said the president appeared angrier at him than he was at the Orlando gunman. "That's the kind of anger he should have for the shooter and these killers that shouldn't be here," Trump told the crowd, echoing comments he made to a conservative radio host Monday. Speaking to thousands of supporters for the first time since the attacks, Trump repeated several falsehoods made in his Monday speech. Those included claims that Syrian refugees are admitted into the U.S. without any screening and that neighbors of the perpetrators of December's shooting in San Bernardino, California, knew about it in advance but said nothing to police. Advertisement Trump also boasted about his decision to stop issuing press credentials to The Washington Post, because of a headline he disliked. "I did it with The Washington Post. I'm so happy," Trump said. "Where's The Washington Post? They're probably somewhere. Maybe they're in the back, in the back bleachers." House Republicans said they would meet with Trump on July 7, but the reactions of lawmakers underscored an atmosphere of anxiety and unease among Capitol Hill Republicans, who hoped to see Trump moderate his impulses in the weeks since clinching the nomination. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 94 Omar Mateen, right, with his wife, Noor Zahi Salman, and their son. (Facebook) Instead, the opposite has occurred as the billionaire businessman has stoked one controversy after another and shows no sign of slowing down. One senior Senate Republican, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, went so far as to suggest Trump might not end up as the party's nominee after all. "We do not have a nominee until after the convention," Alexander asserted in response to a question. Reminded that Trump is the presumptive GOP nominee, Alexander retorted, "That's what you say." Advertisement Other congressional Republicans claimed, improbably, not to have heard what Trump said. "I just don't know what he was talking about, I frankly don't know what you're talking about. I hadn't heard it," said Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, in response to a question about Trump's suggestions about Obama. As he has in the past, House Speaker Paul Ryan denounced Trump's plans, saying: "I do not think a Muslim ban is in our country's interest. I do not think it is reflective of our principles not just as a party, but as a country. And I think the smarter way to go in all respects is to have a security test and not a religious test." Ryan, who endorsed Trump only recently after a lengthy delay as he grappled with the implications of the celebrity businessman's candidacy, ignored shouted questions about whether he stood by his support. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters he would not be commenting Tuesday about Trump. "I continue to be discouraged by the direction of the campaign and comments that are made," said Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, Republican chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. Monday's Trump address was not "the type of speech that one would give that wants to lead this country through difficult times." For many Republicans the prospect of continually facing questions about Trump was plainly wearing thin. "I'm just not going to comment on more of his statements. It's going to be five months of it," said Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming. Advertisement Said Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, "What Trump does or says, every time he says something doesn't mean I have to have an answer for it." Associated Press Former Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar speaks at a luncheon put on by The Illinois Campaign for Political Reform at The Standard Club in Chicago on Tuesday, June 7, 2016. (Terrence Antonio James, Chicago Tribune) Former Republican Gov. Jim Edgar spent the summer of 2014 stumping for Bruce Rauner, the man who pledged to "shake up Springfield." But now that Rauner is governor, Edgar has turned his back on reform. Edgar is calling on Rauner to "compromise" by which he really means capitulate. Seems Edgar thinks the problem with Illinois isn't the way things are going; it's that Rauner dared to change them. Advertisement "The big impediment has been the turnaround agenda," Edgar told WCIA-TV in central Illinois, during one of the many interviews he's done in the past few weeks. "The good thing is the governor said was he was going to set aside his turnaround agenda," Edgar said at a Chicago event. Advertisement In an interview with NPR Illinois, Edgar told the host: "I had high hopes for the state. Then we got the turnaround agenda." Of course! Things would be perfect if only Rauner would renounce his initiatives to reform our bankrupt state. Then Illinois could finally get back to its very functional and important work as a bankrupt state. Why is Edgar so uncomfortable with Rauner's reform platform? Maybe because so much of what ails Illinois was caused or perpetuated by Edgar. While governor from 1991 to 1999, Edgar was the "go-along-to-get-along" type. He may have had some skirmishes with House Speaker Michael Madigan and Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, but at the end of the day they held hands and sang "Kumbaya" much to the detriment of Illinois taxpayers. During Edgar's governorship, he advocated for higher taxes. He made state government bigger and more expensive. He built facilities and programs that cost taxpayers more money. He gave raises to unionized government workers year after year. He increased pension benefits without setting up a way to pay for them. The combination of raises plus more generous retirement benefits resulted in the state's pension promises doubling to $54 billion from $27 billion over the course of Edgar's two terms as governor, according to the Illinois Department of Insurance. We're still paying for those decisions today. While we're on the subject of pensions: Recall that Illinois has more than $111 billion in state pension debt. Twenty-five cents out of every dollar in state tax revenue goes to government worker pensions. This was Edgar's handiwork. Edgar had the opportunity to reform the pension system in the 1990s, when the size of the debt was much smaller. Instead of angering Democrats and government unions, he signed a law that put Illinois on a heavily back-loaded 50-year pension funding plan. The pension payments were small when Edgar was in office but grew after he was long gone. Hence today's massive payments. Advertisement Not every Republican agreed then or agrees today with Edgar. For many lawmakers, Edgar's re-emergence on the political scene is unwelcome. "It's not productive. I think it is somewhat unseemly," state Rep. Ron Sandack, R-Downers Grove said. "If he thinks that is going to bring any reform to the state, he is woefully naive and out of touch." Edgar's policy positions aren't his only point of difference with Rauner. Edgar is a government lifer, a product of the political establishment. He spent little of his career in the private sector. This year, Edgar will collect more than $150,000 from his taxpayer-funded pension. He's on pace to cash out more than $4.1 million in pension benefits over his lifetime despite putting just $164,657 into the pension fund, according to the General Assembly Retirement System. In addition to his pension, The Daily Illini reports that Edgar also is paid $71,760 annually for his role as a "visiting senior fellow" at the University of Illinois. Advertisement Rauner, a former private equity investor, has never held elected office before. The multimillionaire has refused a taxpayer-funded salary and pension. While Edgar personally benefited from the pension sweeteners he signed into law, Rauner personally has nothing to gain by implementing his reforms. It's been almost 20 years since Edgar was governor. He knows the past tends to look better than it really was. But we've all done the math, and Edgar is smart enough to know the numbers aren't in his favor. He may have left office with high approval ratings, but he socked every taxpayer with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on his way out. The former governor now faces a crucial choice: Does he become a champion of reform in the twilight of his public life? Or does he try to distract from his own legislative failures by criticizing the guy elected to clean up his and others' messes? No matter which path he chooses, the taxpayers of Illinois will be paying for Edgar's legacy for decades to come. Diana Sroka Rickert is a writer with the Illinois Policy Institute. The opinions in this essay are her own. Flags have been lowered to half staff on the Washington Monument grounds to honor those killed by a lone gunman at a night club in Orlando, June, 13, 2016, in Washington, D.C. (Mark Wilson, AFP/Getty) I was walking to our local post office one morning a couple of years ago when I passed an elementary school in the small Illinois town where I live. It was a warm, early spring day just a couple of weeks from the end of the school year, and the tall classroom windows were open. As I passed by on the sidewalk, I heard a chorus of young voices reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Advertisement I imagined their little hands placed over their hearts as they faced an American flag. I remembered the last time I recited the pledge, some 50 years ago in a public school in Chicago. "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." Advertisement Thirty-one words. Chances are those children did not know the weight of those words. When I was their age at Chicago's Bret Harte Elementary School I also did not know the pledge was first published in a kids' magazine in 1892 as a 400th anniversary commemoration of Christopher Columbus' journey to America. Or that Congress added the words "under God" in 1954 at the height of the Cold War that we were waging with our ungodly foe communism. Thirty-one words. It was the earnestness in each child's voice that moved me then and has stayed with me. In a nation that seems so divided and so filled with angry, divisive voices, I too began to feel something I hadn't felt in years: hopeful. Several weeks later I stood in the back of a second-floor chamber in the Old State Capitol State Historic Site in Springfield, as 57 immigrants from 29 countries became American citizens. They were cheered by their families, friends and supporters. The occasion was joyous and emotional. Some were fleeing political unrest and a lack of opportunity, but many had been here for years and had jobs and owned businesses. An internationally renowned glass artist from Denmark had his own studio in central Illinois. A man from Mexico worked on a quarter-horse farm. A woman from Taiwan came for an MBA, fell in love with a farmer, married and stayed. When the 57 new citizens recited the Pledge of Allegiance, they spoke with the same unified voice that I had heard among the schoolchildren that had moved me just a few weeks previously. Like many Americans, I have become fearful. I am more cautious about going out to public spaces. My anxiety began with 9/11 and has grown through our never-ending wars in the Middle East, domestic terrorism in Aurora, Colo., and Newtown, Conn., the ISIS-inspired terror that spawned the slaughters in San Bernardino, Calif., and the recent attack in Orlando, as well as the unceasing carnage on the streets of my troubled hometown of Chicago. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 94 Omar Mateen, right, with his wife, Noor Zahi Salman, and their son. (Facebook) Is a gunshot wound now a rite of passage? Advertisement Yet I often think back to that spring morning when I heard those bright young children raise their voices in unison to an ideal of "liberty and justice for all." I was reminded of a simple normalcy that far exceeds the abnormal pervading our national consciousness. Liberty and justice are in no small part why those new citizens came to our shores and eventually found themselves in the same building where Abraham Lincoln once advanced his great career. Who knows what similar greatness awaits our newest citizens. Because of those two events I feel a renewed sense of purpose. It's time to tune into the image of those young hands over hopeful hearts. Time to feed off the courage of immigrants who still believe that becoming citizens of this imperfect union is worth the sacrifice. So here is my pledge: I pledge to continue to frequent public gathering spaces. I pledge to continue to travel, even to international destinations, budget willing. I pledge to combat negativity by practicing compassion. I believe when we act collectively even for the briefest of moments when we pledge, pray or sing together that it just might be enough to overcome what often feels unattainable: an indivisible nation. Stephen J. Lyons is a two-time recipient of prose fellowships from the Illinois Arts Council and the author of four books, including most recently "Going Driftless: Life Lessons from the Heartland for Unraveling Times." The city hall and the heritage buildings on the Brussels Grand Place/Grote Markt are showered in the colors of the LGBT rainbow flag June 13, 2016 in support of the victims of the Orlando shooting. (Siska Gremmelprez / AFP/Getty Images) To many Americans, the mass shooting at a gay Orlando dance club was an act of savagery by a terrorist bent on harming America. To gays and lesbians, it was something else as well: an attack on them and the liberties the patrons at Pulse were enjoying that night. Brutal and even deadly assaults on people because they are (or are perceived to be) homosexual have a long history in this country. For the most part, these incidents don't get much attention. But this massacre did. It also evoked a spontaneous outpouring of support and sympathy for a group that is still often disparaged. Advertisement Buildings around the country were lit in rainbow colors. Despite security concerns, thousands of people turned out for gay pride parades in Los Angeles and Philadelphia. On Twitter, the hashtag #LoveWins went viral. (Scott Stantis) On Sunday, throngs of people stood in long lines in Orlando's 95-degree heat to donate blood. Orlando blood bank workers said "they've never seen a response like this since, really, Sept. 11," NPR reported. "At one point, they estimated 600, 700 people were just at one of their blood banks here." Some waited for six hours. It wouldn't be surprising if upcoming gay pride festivities scheduled in cities like Chicago, New York, Houston and Denver drew record crowds. Advertisement Even leaders who have vocally opposed LGBT rights were careful with their words. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick tweeted a Bible verse Sunday morning reading, "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows." He quickly deleted it, saying the post had been pre-scheduled before the massacre. This is a politician who recently was heard mocking the notion of letting transgender people use restrooms corresponding to their gender identity. But Patrick issued a statement after the attack that said, "ISIS believes in the killing of gays. America does not and Christians do not." Whether the killer chose Pulse because of its clientele is not certain. But recently he grew angry when he saw two men kissing in downtown Miami, according to his father. The venue, which called itself "not just another gay club," was well known in the Orlando area. It was founded 12 years ago by Barbara Poma in honor of her brother John, one of thousands of gay men who died of AIDS when the epidemic was at its virulent peak. She named it Pulse "for John's heartbeat." It gained a reputation for supporting programs for HIV prevention, breast cancer awareness and help for LGBT young people and for being a place of acceptance and safety. If Poma's brother were still around, he might be heartened by the supportive response to this horrendous crime. A lot of Americans want to make sure that gays and lesbians know that though they may have been targeted by Omar Mateen, they are not alone. Join the discussion on Twitter @Trib_Ed_Board and on Facebook. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, shown June 13, 2016, in Manchester, N.H., has reiterated his vow to ban all Muslims from entering the United States, in reaction to the Orlando, Fla., mass shooting. (Jim Cole / AP) Giving a formal address about Sunday's ghastly terrorist attack on an Orlando nightclub, Donald Trump said: "I refuse to be politically correct." Good. Because after 48 hours of listening to the presumptive GOP presidential nominee effortlessly make a tragic situation worse including a period of time I've dubbed Trump's Maniacal Monday I also refuse to be politically correct. Advertisement More than 13 million Americans have voted for this man in the primaries. And a growing list of Republican politicians is falling in line behind him, making him the face of their party. That means that, at this moment, more than 13 million American voters and a slew of politicians are embarrassed, nuts or willfully ignorant. Advertisement Some of Trump's earliest comments about the deadliest mass shooting in American history included "Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism" and "I nailed it." I nailed it? The 49 Americans murdered in that nightclub had not even been identified yet, the details of the shooter's motivations remained cloudy and this narcissist is spending Sunday high-fiving himself on Twitter. But that's just the tip of the sickening iceberg. By the next morning the start of Trump's Maniacal Monday he was floating the vague idea that President Barack Obama sympathizes with Muslim terrorists, pandering to the lowest form of idiot conspiracy theorists this country can offer. In a Fox News interview he said of Obama, ominously: "He doesn't get it, or he gets it better than anybody understands." Asked about those comments on the "Today" show later Monday morning, Trump said: "Well, there are a lot of people that think maybe he doesn't want to get it." Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 36 The city hall and the heritage buildings on the Brussels Grand Place/Grote Markt are showered in the colors of the LGBT rainbow flag June 13, 2016 in support of the victims of the Orlando shooting. (Siska Gremmelprez / AFP/Getty Images) Ah, yes. "There are a lot of people." If true, he's referring to a lot of tinfoil-hat-wearing lunatics who don't have brains enough to rattle. (Sorry if I'm not being politically correct. Trump told me political correctness is destroying America.) Later Monday, the vulgarian candidate gave a formal speech in which he doubled down on his past promise to ban all Muslims from entering the United States, expanding the idea so it would halt all immigration "from areas of the world when there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe or our allies, until we understand how to end these threats." Advertisement He spoke of waves of Muslim immigrants and refugees pouring into America unchecked, something that is true only in the minds of paranoid fearmongers. He suggested that Muslim-Americans whom he referred to as "they," because apparently "we" would've made them seem too American are out to get all non-Muslim-Americans and are hiding terrorists like the Orlando, Fla., shooter: "They have to work with us. They know what's going on. They know that he was bad." No evidence provided, of course, because when you're busy demonizing an entire swath of the population based on its religion an act our Founding Fathers notably frowned upon who has time for facts? He went off-script and said the Orlando terrorist was "born in Afghan," which isn't a place and, even if it was, isn't where the terrorist was born. He was born in New York to parents who came from Afghanistan. Trump said: "The bottom line is that the only reason the killer was in America in the first place, was because we allowed his family to come here." That makes sense if: a) you're crazy; b) you're terrible at math; or c) you want to blame the attack on Ronald Reagan, who was president at the time the terrorist was born and this apparent three-decades-long plot was hatched. Advertisement Wrapping up Trump's Maniacal Monday, the man who has mocked a disabled reporter, suggested a female news anchor was asking him tough questions because she was menstruating and routinely referred to journalists as "scum," announced that he was revoking The Washington Post's press credentials. Why? Because the newspaper reported accurately on Trump's suggestion that Obama might sympathize with Muslim terrorists. Trump said the newspaper reported "very inaccurately." That is verifiably false. It is nonsense. It is a temper tantrum by a 70-year-old man-baby who cares more about his personal brand than he does about you or me or democracy or anyone on this planet. Generally speaking, when an authoritarian-minded figure comes along and singles out an entire religion as inherently evil while attempting to stifle the press, bad things happen. If you don't recognize that, read a history book. We have the wealth of human knowledge at our fingertips. There is no excuse for not knowing when you're being lied to, and you, the 13 million or so voters, the throngs of people who slavishly cheer at Trump rallies, the weak-kneed politicians still praying for the man to pivot toward sanity, are being lied to at a rate without precedent. And you are complicit in this figure's rise. You share blame for the damage he is doing to this country's values and its image abroad and to the hurt he is inflicting on your fellow citizens. Advertisement You're aiding and abetting him as he hands the real terrorists recruiting material and affirms their twisted vision of America. Trump's Maniacal Monday can't be shrugged off with a, "He tells it like it is. I like that!" It can't be ignored for political expediency. This is dangerous rhetoric. And if you refuse to acknowledge that fact, you are, if you'll pardon my political incorrectness, out of your damn mind. rhuppke@tribpub.com Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump appears during a campaign rally at the Tampa Convention Center on June 11, 2016, in Tampa, Fla. (Gerardo Mora, Getty Images) As a kid, I had high hopes. "I don't want to be a millionaire," said my favorite T-shirt. "I just want to live like one." That's my impression of autocrat-in-progress Donald Trump. He doesn't want to be a fascist; he just wants to throw his weight around like one. This thought came to mind Monday after he added the Washington Post to a growing list of media whose credentials he has pulled. "Based on the incredibly inaccurate coverage and reporting of the record-setting Trump campaign," Trump posted on his Facebook page, "we are hereby revoking the press credentials of the phony and dishonest Washington Post." Advertisement What was so "phony and dishonest"? In a separate message, Trump cited an online Post headline that morning: "Donald Trump suggests President Obama was involved with Orlando shooting." The newspaper softened that headline about 90 minutes later to "Donald Trump seems to connect President Obama to Orlando shooting," but Trump yanked the Post's press passes and took credit for the headline change anyway. Advertisement In fact, it is hard to say precisely what Trump had intended except vague insinuations about Obama. On Sunday, he tweeted that Obama "should immediately resign in disgrace" if he refuses to use the phrase "radical Islamic terrorism." Obama, former President George W. Bush and presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton have tried to avoid terms like "radical Islamic terrorism" that needlessly encourage more radicalization. On Fox News, Trump hinted Monday morning that Obama is conspiring somehow with our terrorist enemies, saying that Obama perhaps "gets it better than anybody understands" and "has something else in mind. There's something going on. It's inconceivable." "There's something going on" is the sort of vague phrasing that Trump has used to throw mud at Obama in the past without having to bother with producing actual evidence. There are lots of votes to be had by pandering to those who will grasp at any straw to question Obama's legitimacy in office. How serious is Trump about his latest media ban? That was hard to tell. He has a habit of berating reporters in public, then talking with them cordially afterward as if nothing hostile had happened. In one bizarre news conference to address his claim of raising $6 million for veterans groups, he used epithets like "sleaze" and "dishonest" to describe reporters who had raised questions about the money, which turned out to be less than Team Trump had advertised. Trump went full crybaby against the reporters, moaning that his generosity was not being appreciated. When an ABC reporter asked Trump why Trump was calling him a "sleaze," Trump fired back, "You're a sleaze because you know the facts and you know the facts well." Right. The New York businessman and reality TV star loves media attention, reporters who cover him say, but he hates media scrutiny. Among other news organizations his campaign has blacklisted are Gawker, Politico, BuzzFeed, Foreign Policy, Univision, Fusion, Mother Jones, the New Hampshire Union Leader, the Des Moines Register, the Daily Beast and Huffington Post. Advertisement Journalists who do receive credentials are penned up in the rear of his events where Trump can conveniently point at them and lead the crowd in choruses of boos and jeers reminiscent of "Two Minutes Hate" in George Orwell's dystopian "1984." Republicans have complained about liberal media bias for decades. But the often-litigious Trump has gone further than most. He actually has promised to "open up" libel laws, should our country go crazy enough to elect him president. This would make it easier for newsmakers to sue and win judgments against media for coverage that they don't like. Of course, Trump does not mention that the change would require a revocation of the First Amendment. All of which gives new meaning to Trump's declaration at one of his victory rallies: "I love the poorly educated." That's a good reason for him to dislike the media. Too much information could shrink his base of supporters. I have a suggestion for him. If he doesn't want to face reporters' questions, he could follow the path of Russia's Vladimir Putin and Italy's former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi: He could buy his own news media. Then he could have the fun of both censoring and insulting himself. Clarence Page, a member of the Tribune Editorial Board, blogs at www.chicagotribune.com/pagespage. Advertisement cpage@tribpub.com Twitter @cptime Former Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar, center, prepares to speak at a luncheon put on by The Illinois Campaign for Political Reform at The Standard Club in Chicago on Tuesday, June 7, 2016. (Terrence Antonio James, Chicago Tribune) Poor Jim Edgar. The former Republican governor (1991-99) has become the face of Illinois' pension crisis. All because in 1994 he signed into law what became known as the "Edgar Ramp," a 50-year plan to restore the state's retirement systems to solvency through mandatory, gradually escalating investments by taxpayers. Advertisement The right blasts it. In a commentary posted earlier this month, the conservative Illinois Policy Institute ripped the ramp as "an abrogation of responsibility" and charged that "Edgar paved the way for two decades of pension politics that wreaked havoc on Illinois' finances and created a $111 billion pension debt." The left hates it. "The Edgar Ramp was a huge boondoggle," Ralph Martire, executive director of the progressive Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, said in a recent interview. "It was sold as reform, but it was destined, almost designed, to make the situation far worse down the line." Advertisement Regulators are unsparingly critical. In March 2013, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint against the state charging that the Edgar Ramp was the "primary driver" of Illinois' worst-in-the-nation unfunded pension liability because its insufficient investments in the first 15 years merely shifted "costs to the future and, as a result, created significant financial stress and risks for the state." Legislators also point the finger at Edgar. His ramp was "structurally flawed from the beginning" and amounted to "poor fiscal practice," concluded a bipartisan pension modernization task force of the General Assembly in 2009. I say "poor Jim Edgar" because, although he championed and signed the law, Democrats and Republicans worked together to craft it and voted as one to pass it. And he's hardly the only governor to have made irresponsible decisions about pensions. Republican Gov. Jim Thompson (1977-91) signed off on the idea of compounding the annual 3 percent raise given to state retirees, a benefit that dramatically increased the state's long-term obligations. Republican Gov. George Ryan (1999-2003) OK'd a generous early retirement program that saved salary money in the short term but loaded the future with far higher debts. Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich (Federal Inmate No. 40892-424) shorted the pension fund payments for two years, throwing that debt forward with interest. The ostensible purpose of the now-reviled Edgar Ramp was to address a problem that had plagued the state since at least 1917, when the Illinois Pension Laws Commission concluded that we were "moving toward crisis" because the "financial provisions are entirely inadequate" for paying future retirees. It was too easy for lawmakers to borrow ahem from tomorrow's pension obligations in order to pay today's bills and thus balance their budgets without cutting services or raising taxes. The frequency with which they yielded to this temptation over the years is what prompted the framers of the Illinois Constitution of 1970 to include an ironclad guarantee of pension benefits that so far has thwarted every legislative attempt to significantly reduce our unfunded liabilities. The Edgar Ramp, unlike the largely ignored Thompson Ramp that preceded it, made contributions into the pension payment plan a mandatory part of continuing state budget appropriations a new level of discipline that inspired congratulations and optimism all around. But alas. Even though the unfunded liability at the time was a now seemingly modest $20 billion, the scheduled payments for the first 15 years on the 50-year ramp were so small that they actually increased the debt. Advertisement It was much more palatable to everyone in Springfield Democratic lawmakers included to back-load the payments, minimize the mandatory investment and delay (until most of them were safely retired) the time when taxpayers would have to start answering to the actuaries. The reason it's called a ramp is that the first annual payment was a little over $600 million, and the scheduled final annual payment, in 2045, is $16.8 billion. Further, as Martire points out, "the legislature at the time failed to raise even a nickel in new taxes to cover the plan. It was doomed." Poor Jim Edgar, now 69 and a fellow at the Institute of Government at Public Affairs at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has lately been defending his ramp in the media. "You can argue (the early annual payments weren't) enough and I won't disagree with that," he said on my colleague Rick Pearson's Sunday morning radio show on WGN-AM. "We were coming out of a recession and we were barely able to pay our bills. We said at the time this is not perfect, and it's going to take many years and we're going to need to continue to look at this," meaning adjust the slope of the ramp depending on economic conditions. These conditions were not kind. The dot-com bubble burst and then the global financial crisis of 2008 clobbered investment portfolios, so even though Illinois has actually slightly exceeded the total amount of pension investment called for by the inadequate Edgar Ramp, the unfunded liability is now more than five times what it was in the mid-1990s. Edgar should not be the face of this crisis. He was just one in a long line of leaders and legislative foot soldiers in both parties who ducked the hard choices. Advertisement The faces of this crisis belong to the children of Illinois, the next generation, who are looking ahead at the steep slope of the Edgar Ramp in wonder and dismay. Twitter @EricZorn For Township High School District 214 school nurses like Stacy Wodka, there is no typical day when it comes to treating the steady stream of students seeking medical assistance for everything from life-threatening food allergies and strep throat to chronic health conditions like asthma and diabetes. (Karen Ann Cullotta / Pioneer Press) It's the last week of classes at Buffalo Grove High School, and the pressure of final exams has taken its toll on a handful of students seeking help from veteran school nurse Stacy Wodka. Wodka's first two patients of the morning included a teen girl feeling lightheaded, and a teen boy suffering from a stiff neck, both of whom were treated expeditiously and who were able to return to class to resume their dreaded exams. Advertisement "It's finals week, and a lot of students are feeling pretty stressed out," Wodka said, adding that thankfully, neither of the students she had treated that morning appeared to be suffering from anything serious. "She was dizzy, because she didn't eat breakfast, so I gave her some Gatorade and crackers, and I think his stiff neck was from studying in a weird position all night," Wodka explained. Advertisement For Township High School District 214 school nurses like Wodka, a typical day involves treating a steady stream of students seeking medical assistance for minor maladies, as well as potentially life-threatening food allergies and chronic health conditions like asthma and diabetes. And like many school nurses across the U.S., Wodka said she has seen an uptick in demand for her services in recent years, with the number of students she treats each day nearly doubling. For example, when Wodka started with the district in 2000, she was alerted to just a few students at the high school who suffered from life-threatening allergies to food, bees or latex. Sixteen years later, Wodka said she is aware of 71 students on campus with life threatening allergies, and who are approved to carry an EpiPen. Indeed, according to a recent policy statement issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics, "the role of the school nurse has evolved and become increasingly important since first introduced in the United States more than a century ago, yet school district policies regarding school nurses lack uniformity and should be updated." Previously, the AAP had supported ratios of one school nurse to 750 students in the healthy student population, and a 1:225 ratio for student populations who need daily professional nursing assistance, AAP officials said in an email statement. But according to the AAP's updated policy statement, "the use of a ratio for workload determination in school nursing is inadequate to fill the increasingly complex health needs of students." "School nursing is one of the most effective ways to keep children healthy and in school and to prevent chronic absenteeism," Dr. Breena Welch Holmes, a lead author of the policy statement and chairperson of the AAP Council on School Health, said in an email statement. "Pediatricians who work closely with school nurses will serve all of their patients better." Advertisement The AAP's policy statement, which was published in the June 2016 issue of Pediatrics, calls for a minimum of one full-time registered nurse in every school a policy that is already in practice at District 214, said Marni Johnson, the district's assistant superintendent for student services. "Each of our buildings has a certified school nurse, whose roles include helping students with everything from ongoing management of chronic diseases and emergency preparedness, to assisting students with medication management for ADHD, diabetes, allergies and seizures," Johnson said. While Johnson said she did not have the percentage increase in the number of students visiting the district's high school nurses in recent years, she attributed part of the higher demand to better diagnosis of medical conditions. "The school nurses are multitasking throughout the day treating P.E. injuries, helping students manage their diabetes by checking their blood sugar, and taking phone calls from their parents," Johnson said. "They're also essential members of our problem-solving teams, as often when students are suffering from things like anxiety, they are going down to the nurses' office more often." Wodka, the school nurse at Buffalo Grove, said she has noticed an increase in the number of students whose parents are struggling to pay rising insurance deductibles, which can lead families to postpone a visit to the doctor for minor illnesses. And students whose families are enrolled in public health programs can often face long wait lists when hoping to take their children to see a specialist, Wodka said. Advertisement "I think I see a combination of families, some of whom are underinsured, and are paying $2,500 out of pocket before they are covered, and so they're waiting longer before seeking treatment," Wodka said. "They might have been trying to treat their child's cough at home, but it doesn't go away, and it ends up being bronchitis," Wodka said. "I'm also seeing more families where both parents are working, and they can't take the time off, which is an added stressor," she said. "They are trying their best, but they just don't have the resources." Now, with the high school on hiatus until the start of the 2016-2017 school year in August, Wodka will soon spend a few weeks as the building nurse during the district's summer school session at Prospect High School. She will also be tasked with ensuring the required medical records for Buffalo Grove's 2,104 students are up to date by the first day of school in late August, a duty which includes checking that incoming seniors have received the required meningitis booster shot, and that all incoming freshmen have their required immunizations and physicals. "I will still get emails from parents over the summer, looking for advice on what they need to do," Wodka said. "And I do also still hear from some of our graduates, who call for advice on things like what to do for a sore throat." kcullotta@tribpub.com Advertisement Twitter @kcullotta Four-week-old puppies are staying with their mother in a foster home, awaiting adoption. (Always Room 4 More Paws / Handout) Lydia Turgeon hopes someday her new nonprofit, Always Room 4 More Paws, will not be needed, but now she rescues dogs from kill shelters and finds them new homes. With a long-term goal of starting spay and neuter programs in Kentucky and elsewhere, she began her efforts in November and has placed 35 dogs with families since March. Advertisement "I have a passion for animals," she said. "When I moved out at 21, I got a puppy and within two months, I had a second one." Macy, a terrier/hound mix, is staying temporarily with Turgeon in South Elgin, along with her four-week-old puppies, Penney, Tiffany, Jewel, Carson, TJ, and Maxx. Advertisement Macy was rescued from a kill shelter in eastern Kentucky. (Always Room 4 More Paws / Handout) "When Macy came to me, she didn't know how to climb stairs, was afraid of a leash, and was somewhat shy around strangers," Turgeon said of the stray rescued from a kill shelter in eastern Kentucky. Some dogs also have come from southern Illinois. Turgeon started out volunteering as a dog walker at a local animal shelter 16 years ago, and then began fostering dogs. "I really like the ability to get to know the dogs when they are in your home," she said. "When it is time for the dogs to be adopted, knowing their personalities leads to a better fit when placing them in a home." She partners with Paws Aboard Rescue Transport, which visits kill shelters every other week, evaluates the dogs, and sends photos and bios of the available animals to rescue groups in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Turgeon meets the transport in Belvidere every other Saturday to retrieve the number of dogs for which she has volunteer fosters. Wendy Corcoran works with Turgeon at a local bank and agreed to fill in at the last minute as a temporary home for Daisy, a terrier/corgi mix. Within two weeks, she said, her family fell in love with Daisy as did the family's 11-year-old dog, Emma, and they decided to adopt. "We are a foster failure," Corcoran said laughing.. More volunteers are needed to serve as fosters, Turgeon said. Her organization provides food, bedding, collars, bowls, and leashes for the rescued dogs. Advertisement "All we ask is that fosters give them love and a home until they are adopted," she said. More information about available dogs and volunteer requirements can be found at http://www.alwaysroom4morepaws.com/ New organization in South Elgin rescues dogs from kill shelters. (Always Room 4 More Paws / Handout) Cathy Janek is a freelance reporter. Construction crews work on the new Cuba Road Bridge in Barrington Hills. Village officials expect the $1.3 million project to be completed by late July. (Barrington Hills Engineer Dan Strahan / Handout) Barrington Hills officials expect a new bridge with a possible new name to reopen by late July to traffic, once a $1.3 million project to replace the old Cuba Road Bridge is completed. Construction crews started demolishing the old Cuba Road Bridge this past October as part of the local infrastructure project. Robert Kosin, administration director for Barrington Hills, said the two-lane bridge south of Northwest Highway originally was built in 1927 and by 1974, a new road decking was installed. Advertisement The 25-foot long bridge extends over Flint Creek, he said. "The bridge was never in danger of collapsing but in the late 2000s, the village began to schedule a program to replace it," he said. Advertisement The U.S. Federal Highway Administration paid 80 percent of the project's total cost, Kosin said. By early June, crews had installed 32-ton blocks of concrete to help form the new bridge. In the early 1990s, the Illinois Department of Transportation started testing the Cuba Road Bridge for strength and found it was weakening, he said. By 2014, the state transportation agency restricted the weight limit on the bridge to include only cars. After the new structure opens to traffic, village officials are planning to rededicate the bridge and name it Veterans Crossing in honor of U.S. soldiers, Kosin said. Overall, Barrington Hills officials maintain seven bridges in the village. "Barrington Hills does not have a lot of public works projects, so putting a new name and recognition on Cuba Road Bridge were important," Kosin said. Barrington Hills and Cuba Township officials also are working together to commemorate military members and designate a grassy space located about 100 feet northeast of the new bridge, Kosin said. "It's a place for reflection that is open to the public," he said. "Depending on how construction of the bridge goes, there will be an official ceremony for its opening." Kosin said crews also replaced numerous utility systems near the bridge, including electrical, telephone, natural gas and cable TV lines. "If a utility service fails on Northwest Highway, service would be rerouted through Cuba Road, which is the backup route," he said. Advertisement tshields@pioneerlocal.com Twitter @tshields19 Sarah Weston and Neil Arold, of Lucky's Lounge in Chicago Ridge, recently won the Chicago Bloody Mary Competition, Spring 2016, held in Logan Square. (Photo courtesy of Sarah Weston) It's hard to point to just one ingredient that gave Lucky's Lounge a landslide victory in the recent Logan Square Bloody Mary Fest. But Neil Arold, who owns the Chicago Ridge bar, and bartender Sarah Weston can try by deconstructing. Advertisement The pickled Brussels sprouts? The okra? The cube of horseradish cheese? That's not to discount the cucumber slice, summer sausage disk, bacon strip and jalapeno. Or the strip of carrot, celery stalk and olive. Advertisement All blooming from a celery salt-rimmed glass. "We had a really good response to the fact that we top ours with bacon salt and Parmesan cheese," Arold added. In the end it may have been the habanero that put Lucky's cocktail over the top. Way over the top. Lucky's Lounge recently won a Bloody Mary Competition with their Sunday special Bloody Mary, garnished with summer sausage, bacon, cheese, cucumber, olives and celery. Friday, June 10th, 2016, at Lucky's Lounge in Chicago Ridge. | Gary Middendorf-Chicago Tribune Media Group (Gary Middendorf / Daily Southtown) Of the 650 votes cast in the May 15 competition held at Logan Square Auditorium, Lucky's was the only entrant to score in the triple digits, Arold said. "I think it was our spicy version that helped us win," he said. Scratch that, he corrected, "I know it was." One woman cried because it was so spicy, he said. Another came back five times for more, he said. Advertisement Lucky's, the only entrant to offer two varieties, standard and spicy, and the only one to represent the south suburbs in a contest heavy with Chicago bars and restaurants, was a last-minute entry in the sold-out four-hour event that was sponsored by several liquor manufacturers including Effen Vodka and Jim Beam. Arold said he hadn't planned to enter until his sister suggested he give his locally famous Bloody Mary, which sells for $6, $5 on Sundays, a chance at the trophy. At first, he had doubts. He was finishing up his dual culinary degrees from Moraine Valley Community College and having remodeling work done at the bar he's owned for five years. His glass was overflowing. But he inquired anyway, only to learn that all of the spots had been taken and that the only way in was to win a Facebook fan vote for the 12th position. In the online prelim, Lucky's went up against three other bars and walked away with a spot in the contest. And so, with only a week to prepare their mix, buy all of their ingredients and scale everything to 700 sample sizes, Arold and Weston got to work testing and retesting until they felt they had the formula just right. They modified things a bit, using regular vodka instead of the bacon-flavored variety they typically use at the bar and placing the pickled sprouts in the bottom of the sampler cup instead of as a garnish on the glass. Advertisement On the day of the big event, Arold, a Justice native and Argo High School graduate, confessed, "I felt a bit intimidated. "We were going up against all these big name places that had months to prepare," he said. Some, he said, had made videos of their cocktail making process. At the end of the partylike event, during which patrons sampled and voted as a deejay played, Lucky's was the hands-down champ, he said. Weston explained: "I think it's because we don't stray too far from the traditional Bloody Mary. People like a good classic Bloody Mary and so that was our base. We just added fresh ingredients. And we pickle our own vegetables in-house." It helps, she added, that Brussels sprouts are hot right now. Arold said, "Most of the other places had their chef come up with a recipe, and so they were representing the chef. We were representing ourselves." Advertisement In the end, Arold said, "We won even though we were so last minute that we didn't get to invite a bunch of people to come out and vote for us. I think there were two or three there who knew us." One was Ray Rovello of Palos Heights. Rovello's girlfriend had gone to last year's competition and liked it so much that she got tickets again for this year's event. "It was a nice, good time," Rovello said. "We took the train in and got to taste a lot of Bloody Marys." Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday > Rovello said he was pleasantly surprised to see Lucky's Lounge in the "mostly Chicago competition." "I've been to Lucky's and I like what Neil's done to it," he said. Advertisement In addition to the physical improvements at the lounge located just west of Chicago Ridge Mall on 95th Street, Arold has hung Prohibition Era black-and-white photographs, and added gambling machines, billiards and darts. "By the end of this year or early next," Arold said, "my plan is to convert the garage into a kitchen and small brewery so we can become a brew pub." Lucky's Lounge is at 6605 W 95th St., Chicago Ridge; 708-237-3776; www.luckys-lounge.com/ dvickroy@tribpub.com Twitter @dvickroy Balmoral Park purchase good news for Southland It was a sad moment in time watching the final harness race at Balmoral Park on that cold and weary December night. The looks on the faces in the crowd told the story a cherished, historical mainstay in the Chicago Southland would soon be gone, and a void would be all that is left ... but not for long. Advertisement There's an old saying, "When one door closes, another door opens." That door opened last month when HITS, Inc., headquartered in Saugerties, N.Y., announced the purchase of Balmoral Park to make horses the center stage of their plan. This new endeavor can only be described as magical. HITS, Inc. is a special event management company primarily focused on producing equestrian events throughout the United States. HITS Inc. is affiliated with the United States Equestrian Federation, which attracts national and international competitors in a variety of disciplines. The 14 annual events that HITS, Inc. will produce are world class and will feature hunter and jumper competition for all levels of riders, from beginners to Olympic veterans. When HITS is not producing one of its own events, it will offer the opportunity to event producers of all equestrian disciplines to take advantage of all that Balmoral Park and the surrounding area have to offer. Advertisement After renovations, the Balmoral Park complex will further elevate the profile of the Chicago Southland, creating a premier, very unique visitor destination, attracting competitors and visitors from not only around the country, but the world. This will also have a strong economic impact on the Village of Crete and surrounding communities, and everyone stands to gain with those visitors spending money in our hotels, restaurants and retail stores. We, as a region, should be excited to embrace the old philosophical saying, "The secret to change is to focus our energy not on fighting the old, but building on the new." It is with that sentiment that I encourage everyone to experience and forge new memories at Balmoral Park. Life is all about reaching, and HITS, Inc., did exactly that for the Chicago Southland. Jim Garrett, president/CEO for the Chicago Southland Convention & Visitors Bureau What's on your mind? The Daily Southtown welcomes letters to the editor. Email them to letters@southtownstar.com and include your name, address and phone number. Only your name and the town you reside in will appear with the letter. Please keep a letter to no more than about 200 words. The Southtown is not responsible for the accuracy of the opinions expressed in letters to the editor. In 2008, many people voted for Barack Obama simply because they wanted to elect the country's first African-American president. Now, in 2016, many people will vote for Hillary Clinton simply because they want to elect the country's first female president. Talk about being shallow. Thoughts on the approaching holiday: In talking with summer school students, I was reminded that they really didn't know why July 4 was a holiday. Perhaps we should use "Independence Day" terminology, and not assume that our youth are learning the history which makes our country the very special experiment that it is, due to the courageous actions of many. Some of those who deserve honor on July 4 actually dread the day. For those suffering with post traumatic stress disorder, the fireworks evoke terrible memories. Before stocking up for backyard fireworks, I would encourage going to a place where professionals put on their colorful and dramatic displays, and allow some peace and quiet for those who need it this holiday. Advertisement Homewood To Lucille from Markham: It is sad that anyone who doesn't agree with your point of view is a bigot. I don't know if Mrs Obama Is a racist. I do know she is ungrateful for commenting that for the first time in her life she is proud to be an American, and forget all the men and women that lost their lives so she can make such an ignorant statement. Also, Ali was the greatest boxer I have ever seen, but he ran from the draft, so he is no hero and, yes, a white person like me served 15 months in Vietnam and came back with only one arm. Finally, if you want one of the reasons we were in Vietnam, study some French history. So, not everyone that has a different point of view from yours is a bigot or a racist. Advertisement Joe, Oak Lawn Sweden took in 162,000 refugees last year and only 494 of them got jobs. Who do you think is paying the welfare for the rest of them? Billy T Not that I mind the Southtown adding new comics or changing the TV listings, but it would be nice if they were readable. The print is so tiny on the page that is crammed with comics, as is the abbreviated TV listing, that I now finish reading the paper a few minutes sooner. And I really miss "Marmaduke." El, Hegewisch The State of Illinois is the laughingstock of the country, what with politicians from the state being sent to prison and now this budget stalemate. It is about time that the governor and representatives all the way down put their big-boy pants on, put personalities aside, start acting like adults and get a budget worked out. They obviously do not care about the people in this state that are being impacted by their actions because they have money to take care of their families in their big fancy houses. I have grandchildren that understand the meaning of conflict resolution who could probably do better in Springfield than what we have now. I know I will remember this come the next election. Barb, Burbank Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday > The budget battle in Illinois is getting clearer. Mike Madigan and the Democrats want to tax and spend, as in business as usual. Governor Rauner wants to put a stake through the heart of the Illinois political machine with his reform program. It has been enlightening to see how the taxpayers' money is spread across so many special interest groups. May the best man win. Advertisement Tinley Park To Gov. Bruce Rauner: A profound statement made by President Obama "Democracy requires compromise, even when you are 100 percent right." I, too, am old enough to remember the scandal surrounding Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali when he refused to be drafted into the military at a time of war, and changed his religion and name to avoid the draft in the 1960's. Maybe I'm missing something here, but exactly what has he done to make him such a hero? I can't name a single thing he's done that would warrant the parades, memorials and press coverage that his passing has prompted. Palos Heights What's Speak Out? Speak Out allows readers to comment on the issues of the day. Email Speak Out at speakout@southtownstar.com or call 312-222-2427. Please limit comments to 30 seconds or about 120 words and give your first name and your hometown. Ban guns: All guns should be illegal except for law enforcement and security. There is absolutely no reason why a person should own a gun. Killing animals and birds is inhuman, and killing and injuring fellow humans is against the law. If citizens could vote, you would find most people want guns to be illegal. Shootings are totally out of control. Nobody is safe anymore, not even in small neighborhoods. Escalating expenses: I see the city raised its trash fee from $124 to $148. They also added a new sales tax of $8 million a year. That's over $250 for the average resident, not including all the EPA requirements. Where does the buck stop? Advertisement Push for higher wages: I want to comment on these people who are protesting against McDonald's restaurants for higher wages. I'm sure a lot of these people are on welfare. Don't they realize that once they make $15 an hour, they will lose some of their welfare and subsidized housing money? But what they will probably do is get more money, work less hours and still live off the government. Real reason for higher population: Who is the city of Elgin kidding when they say jobs are spurring population growth? It's illegal immigration that is spurring population growth. I grew up in Elgin and moved away from the cesspool it has become. I'm embarrassed to say that I came from Elgin. Advertisement Perturbed by protests: I'm very discouraged by the rampant protesters in the United States. These protesters against Donald Trump are interrupting free speech. Who's paying them? Some of them don't even know what they're protesting. What about protesters against McDonald's restaurants, seeking $15-an-hour wages? History should tell them that fast food and retail jobs are meant to be a supplement to the family and not a living wage. I think the unions who drove factories out of this country due to their terrible demands had brain freeze. Come on. Face reality. Protest peacefully: You know you are on the right side of the presidential race when the other side is vandalizing police cars and harassing people with opposing views. If Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders had any class, they would ask their supporters to protest peacefully. They like to say that Trump's gatherings bring out violence in people. Well, it's their people doing it. They are like babies having temper tantrums. I hope they all get arrested. High cost of gang shootings: Democrat-ruled Illinois and Chicago have been enablers to welfare recipients for more than five decades. They say our streets and highways are suffering for lack of money, while in Chicago they are paying for daily funerals from gang shootings. There is no money for anything else. Comment on Cosby: The news reports there were upward of 50 women who were victims of celebrity Bill Cosby. Most of the women said they were having drinks alone with him. Perhaps these ladies were naive enough to expect a prayer meeting would follow. Livid about the lights: All I can say about the timing and sensors of the lights on Randall Road from Algonquin to South Elgin are that they are utterly ridiculous. You wonder why traffic is backed up. Is this the best these geniuses can do? Fireworks fines: This is in regards to the Fourth of July fireworks. I'm an Elgin resident. Elgin is going to crack down on fireworks this year. That's good. We go up to Lake Geneva every year and come home around 10 p.m. It's like a war zone. It stinks. You can't breathe. I hope they crack down hard on them. Give them a stiff fine. That should stop them. Editor's note Speak Out is a reader-generated column of opinions. If you see something you disagree with or think is incorrect, please tell us. Call us at 312-222-2460 or email couriernews@tribpub.com. Please include "speak out" in the subject line. ETHS District 202 Board member Gretchen Livingston told her colleagues and staff during a presentation on the high school's AP program that some parents had told her that the AP classes and exams put too much stress on their children. (Lee V. Gaines / Pioneer Press) More students at Evanston Township High School scored high enough on Advanced Placement exams in the 2014-15 school year to earn college credit than took the exams five years ago, according to high school staff. "It all boils down to this, ETHS has gained national attention because student participation (on AP exams) has risen, more students are successful in earning a three or higher on the exams and our AP program is more diverse than it's ever been," Pete Bavis, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, told the ETHS District 202 Board of Education at a meeting held earlier this month. Advertisement The AP curriculum and exams are created by the College Board. The tests are scored between one and five, and colleges and universities may award course credit for scores of three or higher. According to ETHS staff, public universities and colleges in Illinois are now required to award college course credit for AP scores of three or higher. "That's a new development," Bavis said. "On the back end, there is potential to save quite a bit of money for kids." Advertisement ETHS saw scores of three or higher on 1,450 AP tests in 2015 compared to a total of 1,384 AP tests administered in 2010, according to the data presented to the board. Nationally, 20 percent of high school graduates earned a three or higher on at least one AP exam. At ETHS, however, a whopping 58 percent of graduates scored a three on at least one test, according to the presentation. The total number of exams taken at ETHS is up 42 percent over the last five years, and the number of exams earning a three or higher is up 44 percent. The scores, however, depend on the subject matter. While a staggering 195 students out of 278 earned a three or higher on the English Language & Composition exam in 2015, only 15 students out of 143 received the same mark on the Physics 1 test. Dale Leibforth, chair of the district's mathematics department, said the Physics 1 course is a brand new class at ETHS. Bavis said it was the first year it was offered by the College Board and "is absolutely front and center on my radar going forward to look for growth there over the next few years." Leibforth said 75 percent of ETHS graduates took at least one AP exam during their high school career, gaps persist among the district's white, Latino and black students. According to the district's data, 92 percent of white students took one or more exams between 2011 and 2015, compared to 60 percent of Latino students and 51 percent of black students. During that same period, 80 percent of white students earned a three or higher on at least one AP test, while 50 percent of Latino students and only 21 percent of black students achieved the same distinction. District 202 Superintendent Eric Witherspoon said the number of black students earning a three or a higher on one exam at ETHS is about the same as the national average of students overall making that mark. "Some of our subgroups are topping Illinois numbers, which is exciting to see, obviously we're looking forward and pushing the envelope," Leibforth said. Advertisement He said the district currently has a total roster of 66 AP teachers and 109 AP classes. He said administrators will "take a look at what is happening with these teachers, how we can marry supports we have in the school with the AP teaching going." He added that all AP teachers would receive additional professional development training and that district staff would continue to examine its AP offerings. Board member Gretchen Livingston said she's received feedback from parents who feel the AP classes and exams place undue stress on their children. "I guess, at the end of day, my take away from this is you've got to know your kid and talk with your kid and the folks at the high school have to recognize every kid is different," she said. Assistant superintendent and ETHS principal Marcus Campbell said the district provides its counseling department tools to address "how much is too much" when it comes to AP classes with parents and students. "That's a question I get a lot in the community as a parent who happens to have the role of assistant superintendent," Bavis said. "You have to know your student. You have to know what they can handle. Each student is unique and each student needs to be counseled accordingly." Lee V. Gaines is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press. ComEd installer Edgar Sanchez installs smart electric meters similar to ones that will be installed in La Grange starting in July. (Jim Boyce / Daily Southtown) Commonwealth Edison will install smart meters at houses and businesses throughout La Grange starting in July. Residents will have the option to refuse the devices, but they will have to pay a monthly charge. Advertisement Digital meters, which have prompted opposition elsewhere, allow customers to view the amount of energy being consumed and to try to reduce it. The meters also send out radio frequencies to ComEd about power outages and the amount of electricity that customers use each month. The overall program to install the devices and otherwise modernize the system started in 2011 when the Illinois General Assembly enacted the Energy Infrastructure Modernization Act, providing $2.6 billion over 10 years to ComEd to modernize its electric grid. The act provides for the replacement of 4 million existing electrical meters in all homes and businesses in northern Illinois with new, digital, smart technology. Advertisement "The smart meters are an important building block of the smart grid program," said Annette Martinez, a ComEd spokesperson. The number of devices that will be installed in La Grange is 6,984. The majority will be replaced over a two-month period. Martinez said modernizing the system should allow ComEd to identify and resolve power outages more quickly because the meters will communicate to ComEd when an outage occurs. Customers will no longer have to call the company. "We'll have a better idea of where an outage is automatically," Martinez said. Customers with smart meters will be able to take advantage of a variety of programs to reduce their energy costs and manage their use. Some programs include letting users opt to lower their usage during peak times or to sign up to receive a text or email when their usage is too high. The cost of all smart grid improvements for residential customers is about $3 per month. Smart meters will comprise about $2 of the monthly cost. ComEd officials say they will fully pass on to customers the operational savings that result from smart meters which, over the next 20 years, are expected to be twice the cost of smart meters. Residents of some other communities, most prominently Naperville, have opposed digital meters. Some foes have cited concerns that meters emit radio frequencies that can cause cancer. "Our smart meters are safe," Martinez said. "They've been extensively tested." Advertisement Martinez noted that ComEd didn't install the meters in Naperville. ComEd's meters are certified by Underwriter's Laboratories as safe and reliable, according to the company. Martinez said the improvements made to the smart grid since 2011 have resulted in a reduction in power outages throughout the system. One improvement allows power to be rerouted to where in the system an outage occurs. "We've avoided nearly 5 million customer outages since 2011," she said. Residents can refuse a smart meter. They will have to pay a monthly fee of $21.53, according to a ruling in 2014 by the Illinois Commerce Commission. "That meter then has to be read manually," said Andrianna Peterson, assistant village manager for La Grange. "Obviously the customer also doesn't get the benefits that the smart meter is meant for." She said the village has not received any calls from residents with concerns about smart meters. Advertisement amannion@tribpub.com Twitter triblocalam Melodie Gliniewicz, the widow of Fox Lake police Lt. Joe Gliniewicz, enters the Lake County courthouse in Waukegan for a hearing on June 14, 2016. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune) A Lake County judge ruled Tuesday that arguments to dismiss four of the nine criminal counts against Melodie Gliniewicz are "without merit." Gliniewicz, 51, was indicted in January after her husband, Fox Lake police Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz, staged his September suicide to look like a murder when he thought his thefts from the Fox Lake Police Explorerprogram were going to be discovered, authorities said. Advertisement Defense attorney Donald Morrison argued last month that four counts of misuse of charitable funds for personal use should be dismissed because based on the wording of the indictments the charges do not meet the requirements laid out in state statute. Morrison noted one of the counts identified Lt. Gliniewicz, not his widow, as the fiduciary of the Explorer accounts. Morrison argued that another count specifically said the use of the funds was for Lt. Gliniewicz. Advertisement "The state is attempting to charge Melodie Gliniewicz for the actions of her late husband, Lt. Charles Gliniewicz," Morrison told Lake County Judge Victoria Rossetti in May. On Tuesday, Rossetti rejected those arguments, noting that her responsibility at this stage was not to evaluate what evidence might be presented at trial. Rossetti said prosecutors could try Melodie Gliniewicz under the theory of accountability, which says when two or more people work together in a criminal endeavor, a charge applied to one can be applied to all involved. The judge also rejected the defense's arguments that one count was not specific enough because it did not identify for whose personal use the funds were used. Melodie Gliniewicz's attorneys may try to get the charges dismissed on constitutional grounds, Morrison said. They requested 14 days to file a formal request for more detailed information. Morrison said the earliest they would be ready for a trial would be October because of possible constitutional challenge and numerous documents to examine. The Lake County State's Attorney's Office has received a request for extended media coverage at the trial, prosecutors said. Five of the prosecution's potential witnesses have already filed objections to that request. The defense does not have a stance on that request, Morrison said. Gliniewicz was indicted earlier this year on charges of conspiracy, felony money laundering and misuse of charitable funds tied to allegations that more than $10,000 of Explorer program funds was misused. Advertisement Authorities said detectives determined funds intended for the Explorer program designed to give aspiring youths police experience in the field were used by the couple to pay for a vacation in Hawaii and trips to the Fox Lake Theatre, Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts. The Explorer funds were also used for more than 400 restaurant charges, according to officials. If convicted on the charges, she could receive as many as seven years in prison or probation, officials said. Gliniewicz has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is free after posting a $5,000 bond. emcoleman@tribpub.com Twitter @mekcoleman Waukegan activist Ralph Peterson was charged with misdemeanors for allegedly failing to stop talking while Lake County Circuit Court was in session. (Mark Kodiak Ukena / News-Sun) A local community activist who was arrested and charged with obstructing a peace officer while in Lake County Circuit Court Monday morning posted bond and was released from custody Monday afternoon, but officials say he has been placed on a curfew. After allegedly ignoring several orders to stop talking while court was in session, Ralph Peterson of Waukegan was charged with obstruction of a peace officer and resisting arrest, both misdemeanors, according to the Lake County Sheriff's Office. Advertisement Peterson was initially held on $1,500 bail, but a bond court judge increased his bail to $25,000 later in the day. Peterson said a family member posted 10 percent of that amount to secure his release about 5 p.m. Monday. Peterson said he was shocked his bail was set that high for misdemeanor charges, and he was given orders that he was under curfew that require him to be home from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. each day. He has a preliminary hearing set for July 11. Advertisement Sheriff's office officials said officers told Peterson several times to stop talking while court was in session before they eventually attempted to escort him out, at which point he "went limp" and was handcuffed and taken to jail. Peterson denied talking loudly or repeatedly in court. He said he was not feeling well and the only thing he remembered doing before he was taken into custody was whispering to his pastor that he was feeling faint. The incident occurred in felony courtroom 202, where people were awaiting a Monday morning hearing for Melissa Calusinski, whose conviction on murder charges involving a 2009 day care death is being challenged. Judge Daniel Shanes left the courtroom during the incident involving Peterson, but returned shortly and court resumed as normal. jrnewton@tribpub.com Twitter @jimnewton5 Round Lake Park police said they recovered a loaded .45 caliber semi-automatic handgun during a traffic stop early Sunday. Osvaldo Colon, 21, of Round Lake Park, was charged with felony aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, no firearm owner's identification card and unlawful possession of cannabis after Round Lake Park police stopped the vehicle he was driving about 1 a.m. Sunday, Chief George Filenko said. Advertisement The officer detected an odor of cannabis coming from the vehicle, and Colon told the officer there was a loaded .45 caliber semi-automatic handgun in the glove box. He told police he recently bought the weapon through a social media website, Filenko said. Colon was ordered held on $50,000 bail, authorities said. Advertisement Police are working with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to see if it was used in any unsolved crimes, Filenko said. fabderholden@tribpub.com Twitter @abderholden Crowds have gathered in big cities and small towns throughout the world to remember those killed when a gunman opened fire inside a gay nightclub early Sunday in Orlando. In Waukegan, Rev. James Olson will hold a prayer vigil at 7 p.m. Tuesday at St. John's United Church of Christ at 1520 N. McAree Road. Advertisement "It's going to be very simple. Prayers, candles and people can speak if they want," said Olson, who lives with his husband, Rev. Darrick Jackson, in Chicago's Edgewater community. "It's a chance for the community to express public grief about this. There aren't a lot of gay-friendly institutions here in Lake County. It's pretty conservative. We're not flag wavers, but we do have two simple rainbow signs outside of church (and) it hasn't been a big deal." Vigils have already been held in Chicago's Boystown neighborhood and in other areas throughout the state. About 25 people gathered Sunday night at a Unitarian church in Springfield to mourn the deaths. They lit candles in honor of the victims, listened to music and shared stories at Abraham Lincoln Unitarian Universalist Congregation. Advertisement "We are an open and affirming church," Olson said. "These things need to stop ... This was clearly violence aimed at the LGBT community and queer people of color. We want to promote a place to express outrage about this. Everyone is welcome. I expect some pushback from the community, because it is very conservative." Dayle Roberts of Lake Zurich said acceptance of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in Lake County has increased, but "it's still hard here." Roberts proudly displays a pride flag outside her home but said a group of "kids" cut the flag pole about three years ago. She said when she put gay pride bumper stickers on her vehicle, people would flash obscene gestures at her or shout slurs. Despite the hostility, Roberts said she believes it is important to be out to increase acceptance. "I do it just to say, this is who I am," Roberts said. "And unfortunately, like I said, some people don't like it. But, I'm not hurting anybody." Early Sunday, Omar Mateen, 29, of St. Lucie County, Fla., fired an assault-type rifle and a handgun inside Pulse, a crowded gay nightclub in Orlando. At least 49 people were killed and more than 50 others wounded in the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. "It was just an abhorrent action," Roberts said. "I mean, the people there are human beings. They were not doing anything that was hurting anybody else. ... It makes me wonder, you know, how safe it is for me to be who I am." Douglas Gray, of Zion, said he considers the LGBT community a "large part of his family." Advertisement "I don't think that people should be afraid to go to events because this happened," Gray said. "I think people should just be a little more vigilant and they should be a little more aware of their surroundings. ... But I don't think we should be afraid to come out and be who we are. I think we should even wear it more proudly now, that we should stand up to the forces that are trying to stop us from being who we are." Toni Weaver, president of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays' Northern Illinois Council, added that the shooting made her "more frightened than ever" for her gay son. "We do fear these loose cannons," Weaver said. "This is a very vulnerable community. Despite the gains we have made, maybe they're even more vulnerable because of the gains we've made." "The LGBT community has lived with discrimination and lived with fear," Weaver said. "I don't think this is going to force anyone back into the closet or force anybody to change how they live their lives." Olson believes too much of the focus is on the radical Islamic aspect of the shooting, but he believes this was a direct assault on the LGBT community. U.S. Rep. Robert Dold, R-Ill., released a statement Monday that focused on "radical Islamic terrorism." Advertisement "Our collective hearts break for the victims and all the families suffering unimaginable pain today due to the horrifying terror attack that targeted America's LGBT community. This hateful attack reminds us once more that the growing threat of ISIS-inspired, radical Islamic terrorism on U.S. soil is real and cannot be ignored or downplayed. An attack on one American is an attack on us all; we cannot allow the tired, partisan bickering to distract us from the difficult but necessary work of defeating terrorism, preventing gun violence and putting an end to hateful bigotry of all kinds." The Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago also issued a statement on Monday to offer condolences to victims' families. The group said it has reached out to local LGBT leaders and has encouraged Chicago area mosques to conduct blood drives specifically for Orlando shooting survivors. "It is no secret that Islamic teachings consider the marriage to be between a male and a female and, Islam is not alone in this regard however, this kind of hatred, terror and killing is completely contrary to the teachings of Islam and unequivocally condemned," Council Chairman Dr. Mohammed Kaiseruddin said in the statement. Frank Abderholden is a staff reporter and Angelica LaVito is a freelancer. The Associated Press contributed. fabderholden@tribpub.com Twitter @abderholden Well, the world turns, as Elvis Presley told us 37 long years ago. Even with everything else going on around us, summertime road construction updates not only continue to flood in, but they sometimes change entirely, probably just to see if we're paying attention. Exhibit A: Washington Street motorists were warned just two weeks ago that the roadway would be completely shut down west of Lake Street from Friday, June 17, through Monday, June 20 a.k.a. this weekend for a major component of the ongoing Canadian National underpass project. Advertisement But the Lake County Division of Transportation sent out an alert last week that the June 17-20 shutdown has been "postponed by the contractor," so if you made any plans to get out of town for Father's Day Weekend and avoid driving in the area, you'll have to either cancel them or go ahead and pretend it was about dad in the first place. For the record, the notice from LCDOT states that, eventually, Washington Street at the work zone will need to be closed temporarily, and "another road closure notice will be sent with the rescheduled closure dates once they are available." Enjoy the suspense. Advertisement Exhibit B: Last week, traffic on Route 60 in the Round Lake area had itself a nice little mess when the roadway was closed between Cedar Lake and Fairfield roads to allow the Illinois Department of Transportation to repair a drainage structure. Not to be outdone, the stretch of Route 60 between Wilson Road and Route 120 just west of there will be closed for a week of its own starting Monday, June 20, and running through Friday, June 24, to allow IDOT to repair another drainage structure. Say what you will about IDOT, but the gang down there is dead serious about repairing drainage structures along Route 60 in summer 2016. Exhibit C: Grand Avenue has been closed west of Fairfield Road in the Lake Villa/Fox Lake area since last September, and now the ante is being upped on that roadway/intersection reconstruction this week with the closure of Fairfield north of Grand starting Wednesday and running through the end of the year. When all is said and done, there will be a new traffic signal controlling the intersection of Grand and Fairfield. Until then, maybe it's best to avoid driving in the area entirely. Last but not least, we have this from News-Sun subscriber Patrick C., who wrote in to ask if we have "any idea what is going on with the road construction at Grand and Route 41?" Ah, Grand Avenue and Route 41. Even without construction, anyone who attempts to drive east or west on Grand during almost all daylight hours can tell you that getting through the viaduct at 41 is a good time to catch up on your meditative thought, because you're going to be sitting still. That reality has been increased exponentially in the recent past by an IDOT project designed to possibly make traffic run more smoothly through a bottleneck created by the Union Pacific Railroad bridge that runs parallel to Route 41. Advertisement Lake County News Sun Twice-weekly News updates from Lake County delivered every Monday and Wednesday > According a statement from Gurnee officials, IDOT "is planning to upgrade the Union Pacific Railroad Bridge and widen Grand Avenue at US 41." You can hear the cheering from all the drivers trapped in their cars. A caveat to that cheering: IDOT apparently "has postponed the bidding process for September, with construction expected to begin in the spring of 2017." For now, IDOT has already started widening Grand west of the UP/Route 41 bridges, or between Greenview and Ferndale streets. Ominously, a village statement updated this week adds that "lane closures can be expected." "Currently," the statement noted, "subcontractors for AT&T are working on relocation of their facilities in the area with tree removal taking place." On the plus side, the weather is really nice these days, so walking through the work zone is not only an option but just might be faster. danmoran@tribpub.com Advertisement Twittter @NewsSunDanMoran A variety of summer programs are being offered at the Lake Forest and Lake Bluff libraries. (Mark Kodiak Ukena / Pioneer Press) There will be plenty to keep kids busy this summer at the Lake Forest Library, which will offer four programs or activities a week. "We have a very active children's program," said Catherine Lemmer, library director. Advertisement From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays, the library offers craft programs. On Tuesdays at 2 p.m. there will be different presentations each week, including a magic show on June 21 and a dog who does tricks on June 28. On Wednesdays, children can bring their lunches and the library will supply dessert and an activity. Advertisement Reading programs for adults, teens and children will run from June 1 to July 31. Adults can be entered in a weekly raffle and children and teens can earn prizes based on their reading accomplishments. The Lake Bluff Library also offers a number of children's programs including a drop-in craft sessions from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesdays. Children can read to a therapy dog at Paws for a Tale at both 3:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Mondays. A knitting group will be held from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. on Tuesdays for children ages 9 to 11. Teen activities take place on Thursday evenings. Those include crafts, knitting, an advisory board and games. Times vary. For adults, there is a trivia night at the Lake Bluff Brewing Company starting at 7 p.m. on Aug. 15 A summer space program will take place on July 18 and Aug. 18 at 7 p.m and will feature a variety of activities including speakers from the Lake County Astronomical Society, Adler Planetarium and Chicago Society of Space Studies. Connected to that is a Thursday Intergalactic Movie Series. "The children's department wanted to do Star Wars," said Liliana LaValle, assistant adult programmer. "For adults we thought it would fun to do 'Read Among the Stars.' We reached out to different community presenters." The library also started a Genealogy Club this summer to help highlight its subscription to Ancestry.com. Staff will offer advice on how patrons can search their family history. It will meet from 11 a.m. to noon on July 12. Advertisement There will also be a number of one-off events including Balloon Bonanza on July 23, a sidewalk chalk art competition on July 23 and Ask the Dog Trainer on July 25 at 7 p.m. mlawton@pioneerlocal.com Twitter: @reporterdude A rendering of one of the 39 single-family homes proposed at Hawthorn Woods. Icon Building Group wants to build the homes on lots of 4,590 and 3,264 square feet on the northeast corner of Route 22 and Quentin Road. (Icon Building Group / Handout) Trustees will have the final say Monday on developers' preliminary plans, but a proposed Hawthorn Woods retail and residential project faces at least five new hurdles after a village commission's review last week. At least one developer of the project, which proposes 39 single-family homes, a gas station and car wash on the northeast corner of Route 22 and Quentin Road, said his firm would likely not be able to build the houses on lots with a minimum of 12,000 square feet each, a condition requested by the Hawthorn Woods Planning, Building and Zoning Commission. Advertisement "A density of 12,000 square feet is extremely difficult," said Charlie Murphy, owner of Icon Building Group of Algonquin. "As far as ruling it out, we're pretty close to it. It just doesn't work at that number." Despite obstacles from the commission, his firm will continue to move forward with the project, Murphy said. Advertisement "How we go from here is take into consideration the requirements that were made where possible and if possible," he said. "We'll go in and present to the Village Board and get additional feedback." Icon has proposed clustering the single-family homes on lots of 4,590 and 3,264 square feet, said Michael Cassata, director of community development for Hawthorn Woods. The company wants to create a more traditional urban-style neighborhood, Murphy said. "The flavor is smaller lots, big front porches, warm and fuzzy design," he said. "We're trying to draw people outside and that kind of thing." Tim Kellogg, property consultant for Foxford Communities of Hinsdale, which wants to build the gas station and car wash, could not be reached for comment. After a five-hour meeting on June 7, the commission outlined its five conditions for the two developers, Cassata said. But the "real challenge" among the conditions is requiring Foxford to follow a 2010 agreement banning gas stations from the overall site, which spans 72 acres, on the northeast corner of Route 22 and Quentin, he said. The village board must approve a special use permit for Foxford to build the gas station and car wash on 4.4 acres, Cassata said. Advertisement Cassata said it is too soon to say whether the conditions placed by the commission could derail either part of the project. "It still has to go to the village board Monday," he said. "This is for preliminary plan approval. We'll see what the village board says. For now, the proposal is still going forward, as it went before the plan commission. You don't know how it will turn out." Even if the project gains preliminary approval, it faces a second review by both the planning commission and the village board before it can receive final approval, Cassata said. Residents of the Hawthorn Trails subdivision and ones in nearby Lake Zurich and Kildeer spoke against the project, he said. In addition to lot size, they raised concerns about traffic, noise and groundwater contamination from the gas station and car wash, Cassata said. Commission members also argued smaller lots would not match existing homes in Hawthorn Trails, Murphy said. "We heard the planning and zoning commission and the public that density is a bit of concern, as well as the impact on neighboring communities relative to value," he said. "Quite frankly, it's simply not true that price points versus what's in the area is black and white. We believe it will drive prices in the area and not impact them in a negative way." Advertisement Murphy also disputed a statement by commission chairman Jim Kaiser, who suggested that $500,000 homes would be out of place next to a gas station. "The market is the market," he said. "There's a reason why those homes will be $500,000 and homes 150 yards to the north are $750,000. If you put all the different elements together, the gas station will have no effect on our ability to attract homeowners to the community. We have schools, neighborhood, parks, jobs, etc." Phil Rockrohr is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press. Charges were dismissed Monday when a Naperville children's store employee failed to appear in court to testify against three of five people accused of attacking her last winter. Associate DuPage County Circuit Court Judge Joseph T. Bugos threw out charges of mob action filed against Kaylai M. Whitty, 18, of the 1700 block of Molitor Road in Aurora; and Kenney F. Williams, 20, and Shakyra D. Wagner, 19, both of the 1700 block of Felten Road in Aurora. Advertisement Williams, speaking by phone Monday, said he had been in another part of the store when the incident occurred, and that he felt vindicated by the court action. "I'm happy that it was dropped, because I didn't have anything to do with the case from the beginning," Williams said. "Naperville police should get their facts together before they charge people for what they didn't do." Advertisement Cmdr. Jason Arres, police public information officer, was not available Monday evening for comment. A telephone number provided for Wagner was not accepting calls Monday, while a woman who answered at a telephone number provided for Whitty said she did not want to comment. Wagner, Whitty and Williams were arrested March 22 in what police said was a case of mistaken identity involving a 19-year-old employee of Buy Buy Baby at 324 S, Route 59. The worker was struck in the face, had her hair pulled, and received cuts to her lip, ear and forehead before those attacking her realized she was not the woman they had sought, according to police reports. Lakeyta S. Wagner, 30, of the 1700 block of Felten Road in Aurora, believed the employee was a woman with whom she had recently quarreled, police said. Wagner was charged with two misdemeanor counts of battery and one count each of mob action and obstructing identification. The fifth member of the group, Unique D. Wagner, 20, of the 1300 block of East Wilson Street in Batavia, was charged with mob action and obstructing identification. It known how, or if, the three Wagner women are related. Naperville City Prosecutor Kavita C. Athanikar on Monday said the judge was "looking for that complaining witness (the store employee) to be in court" to testify against Wagner, Whitty and Williams, "and tell him what happened." "Sometimes, the victim or witness will call (prosecutors) ahead of time" to tell them they cannot appear that day due to work or a family situation, in which case prosecutors can seek a continuance," Athanikar said. "In this case, that wasn't done, and our assumption was (the store employee) would be there. We don't know why she wasn't." A warrant for Lakeyta Wagner's arrest was issued April 26 after she failed to appear for a scheduled court hearing. Unique Wagner is set to appear July 22 in court. Advertisement wbird@tribpub.com Omar Mateen, right, with his wife, Noor Zahi Salman, and their son. (Facebook) Members of the LTBGTQ community in Naperville say the deadly attack at a Florida gay nightclub won't stop them from organizing get-togethers or participating in public events. "This was the act of one crazy person who had lone views of the world," said Naperville resident Casey Wooley, one of the founders of the Thursday night Out! Bowling LGBTQ and Friends League. Advertisement To pause or change the bowling night would mean the gunman wins, and "I am not going to let him win," he said, adding that he and fiance Nathaniel Miracle organized Out! Bowling to bring the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community and their friends closer together. "All are welcome. It doesn't matter who you are," Wooley said. "It's a whole lot of work, but we're a family. It's wonderful to have a place where you feel safe to be yourself." Advertisement Participation in the bowling league has more than doubled since it started in 2014, and he expects to fill every lane at Lisle Lanes when the league starts back up in September. The friendships fostered through the league have connected more than 800 people in Chicago's West Suburbs LGBTQ+ Connection Meetup, which has expanded into more activities such as brunches, socials and movie nights. Besides Chicago's annual Gay Pride Parade on June 26, LGBTQ groups plan to attend Ribfest in Naperville and the Bristol Renaissance Faire. Eva-Genevieve Scarborough, who took over organizing the meetup, said she would like to see the LGBTQ community become more cohesive and change the status quo around Naperville, where she said it's rare to see a rainbow flag or a diverse group of people hanging out. "It would be nice to talk, have a drink, and maybe even raise a glass in memory of those who died," she said. "It's just abhorrent," Scarborough said of the 49 deaths in Orlando. "I've tried to make sense of it all, but I'm still a little shell-shocked." Scarborough, who moved to Naperville a year ago to care for an aging relative, said she relies on her faith to get her through the challenges. She said the massacre raises questions on how to prevent similar incidents from happening elsewhere: "How do we educate our community and what are we doing wrong?" "I would love to go through a day without wondering if this could be my day," she said. Advertisement As a transgender woman, Scarborough said she dreams of everyone in the LGBTQ community feeling comfortable wherever they go. "I still find that when I walk into someplace new, I scan the crowd. I have to ask myself, do I feel safe walking in here," she said. Naperville on Monday became the first Illinois city to join a national effort to open government facts and figures to the public, an honor city leaders said will be made easier by efforts to modernize the community's website and computer networks. "It puts us in a class of cities that's pretty exclusive," Mayor Steve Chirico said. "This is a well-run city that we could really take to the next level." Advertisement Naperville joins nearly 40 other U.S. cities with populations of 100,000 to 1 million in the What Works Cities initiative, sponsored by Bloomberg Philanthropies and launched in 2015. Naperville, Baltimore and Fort Lauderale were among the 12 cities announced Monday. Eventually, about 100 cities are expected to participate. As part of the program, Naperville will work with The Center for Government Excellence at Johns Hopkins University and The Sunlight Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan group, to identify city data, such as salaries, that could be made available to residents and the general public in a format easily sorted and filtered. Advertisement "How do you get the right data out there, relevant and accessible to people?" said Sharman Stein, spokeswoman for What Works Cities. "This is the city coming forward and saying, 'We'd like to do more.'" Naperville staff said the program comes as they are modernizing the city's website and updating the computer network system to link Naperville's assorted municipal departments. The goal is to be able to pull data easily from accounting, finance or other departments, create a database and post it on the website. "The idea is to tell stories through that data," said Russell Rogers, Naperville's IT project manager. Naperville applied to be part of What Works Cities, and Stein said her organization picked Naperville and other qualified applicants based on its interest, commitment to open data and ability to release more information to the public. Those selected typically are midsize communities that want to make data-based decisions and inform residents, but need help processing and organizing the information, she said. Naperville spokeswoman Linda LaCloche cited the documents already available on the city's website, such as those that list employee salaries and insurance contributions, among other data. Ideally, she said, those numbers will be available in a workable spreadsheet that users could sort using filters based on the information they're trying to find. The efforts should let residents monitor how elected officials are spending their tax dollars, staff members said. "We want to make the data usable," said Marcie Schatz, deputy city manager. "It's not our data. It's the city's data. It's the taxpayers' data." gbookwalter@tribpub.com Advertisement Twitter @GenevieveBook Before the Youth Film Festival, held at the Northbrook Public Library on June 13, 2016, from left, filmmaker Alex Kardasis, 13, his sister Maria Kardasis, 18, and brothers Ted Kardasis, 20, and Will Kardasis, 16, stop by the "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" landmark near the water tower and Northbrook Village Hall. The plaque describes Northbrook film locations and the legacy of director John Hughes. (Karie+SEP+Angell Luc / Pioneer Press) These teen filmmakers weren't even alive when the John Hughes classic, "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," was released 30 years ago. But his influence was still strong at this year's Youth Film Festival, held June 13 at the Northbrook Public Library, in the town where several scenes in the coming-of-age movie were shot. "Wouldn't it be cool if the next John Hughes is here tonight?" said Kelly Durov, the library's youth services manager. Advertisement Presented by the Northbrook Youth Commission and the library, the festival now in its seventh year - showcased 11 teen filmmakers from area schools including Libertyville High School and Prospect High School. "John Hughes is our inspiration," said Carla Slawson-Martens, Northbrook Youth Commission chairman, who told the audience that "there's a great tradition of filmmaking in Northbrook." Advertisement During the festival, movie buffs checked out a bench and plaque recently installed near the library's entrance to honor Hughes. "He (Hughes) had a definite style," said filmmaker Matthew Arkema, 17, a Glenbrook South High School student. Twenty films were shown on a 40-by-25 foot commercial theater screen in a cinema with 225 seats. "It's kind of surreal," said Clayton Horwitz, 17, a GBS senior who, along with fellow GBS senior Joshua Noll, 17, took first place for "The Dreamer." "It is really cool to see it (shown large)," Noll said. "But you see the imperfections pop, so it makes me a little sad." Marnie Kritzman, 18, a 2016 Deerfield High School graduate, shoots documentaries. "I was excited watching people's reactions," said Kritzman, a former producer at the school's news station. She will begin studying film this fall at Syracuse University in New York. And the career she'd like, since John Hughes was a conversation starter at the festival? Advertisement "Directing, that's what everyone wants to be!" Kritzman said, smiling. Films can be viewed at http://www.northbrook.info/youth-film. Karie Angell Luc is a freelance photographer and reporter for Pioneer Press. A former contestant on a cable network cooking show was charged with theft last week after Park Ridge police say she failed to return furniture she had agreed to restore for a customer. Monica Schulze Langowski, 43, of Chicago, was taken into custody June 7 in Joliet on an arrest warrant police said was issued in April. Advertisement Park Ridge Deputy Police Chief Lou Jogmen said a 72-year-old Park Ridge woman filed a complaint against Langowski in May 2015, claiming she had met Langowski at an art fair in Park Ridge the previous year and gave her some children's furniture to refinish. The woman reported that Langowski failed to return the furniture, in addition to the $50 deposit she paid, and that she was unable to make contact with Langowski, Jogmen said. Jogmen said detectives also tried unsuccessfully to contact Langowski over the course of several months. Advertisement Langowski, who has also worked as a private chef in the Chicago area, appeared on the Food Network's cooking competition show "Chopped" in 2011 and again in 2013. Contacted by phone Monday, Langowski acknowledged that she failed to return the Park Ridge woman's furniture and deposit, citing personal and financial issues. "In everything that transpired last year, things got lost in the shuffle," Langowski told the Park Ridge Herald-Advocate. "It's not an excuse by any means, but a lot of things in my life went by the wayside." Langowski said she was unaware a warrant for her arrest had been issued or that police were trying to find her. She said she still has two of the three chairs she was given to restore. "I'm absolutely planning on returning [the furniture], plus her deposit, plus I'll give her a replacement chair in lieu of the one I don't have anymore," Langowski said. Langowski is scheduled to appear in court on July 12. jjohnson@pioneerlocal.com Twitter: @Jen_Pioneer George Secke, left, and BJ FitzGerald demonstrate how to properly fold an American flag outside of the American Legion Post 20 in Crown Point. (Suzanne Tennant / Post-Tribune) BJ FitzGerald gets emotional when thinking about the lives lost in countless wars and military actions in the name of freedom. "This flag to buy is $27, but it costs thousands of lives," FitzGerald said. Advertisement Two Army veterans, FitzGerald and George Seckel from American Legion Post 20 in Crown Point, said the flag represents all that it means to be American. Seckel is the post's service officer and has been tasked with handling the hundreds of old, worn out American flags brought each year to the site for official retirement. The pomp and circumstance of the ceremonies, which take place two or three times a year depending on need, is a due respect, not just for the flag itself, he said, but for the men and women who fought and continue to fight for what it means. Advertisement The national Flag Day that's marked on June 14 each year was the idea of a Wisconsin schoolteacher in 1885, according to www.usflag.org. As word spread, more and more municipalities and school districts began to mark the day. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson officially recognized Flag Day by executive proclamation. However, Flag Day wasn't officially recognized as a holiday until President Harry Truman signed an Act of Congress establishing it in 1949. And while FitzGerald and Seckel show their patriotism often, it was another man's pride in the flag that sticks with them. The men recalled one ceremony when 10 members of the Post 20 were behind the post with their rifles and patriotic music playing, while performing the flag burning. A man in a pickup truck, his young children in tow, pulled up enraged, ready to take on the entire group, Seckl said. "He thought we were defacing the flag," Seckel said. FitzGerald, who can be seen at virtually every memorial in the city, raising and lowering the flag, has served in almost every capacity at the post. He said the man initially was outraged at the perceived disrespect and did not care he was confronting a group of armed men. The man's passion for protecting the flag was evident. "That's the kind of people we need," FitzGerald added. Both men said they were disappointed, though, that the man and his children did not stay and join the ceremony. BJ FitzGerald demonstrates how to properly fold an American flag with George Seckel (not pictured) outside of the American Legion Post 20 in Crown Point. (Suzanne Tennant / Post-Tribune) Residents and businesses can bring their worn out American flags to the post and drop them off, or use a specially dedicated collection box made from an old mail box, if the post is closed. The post gathers the flags and inspects them to ensure they are ready for retirement. When enough flags are collected, the post hosts a ceremony on the property where the flags are burned and the remaining grommets buried. Advertisement "It's important to show respect," Seckel said. The men say it is getting harder finding young people who are willing to take on the responsibility of properly caring for and retiring the flag. They would like to train a new band of veterans to be ready to handle the job. The men also help place flags on the grave markers of veterans at local cemeteries for Memorial Day and Veterans Day. Seckel said he is moved when he sees people respond to the American flag at ceremonies, sporting events and parades. Proper American flag etiquette calls for civilians to place their hand over their hearts and military members to salute when the flag passes by or is lifted or lowered on a flag pole and when the Star Spangled Banner is sung or taps is played. Seeing people respond means a great deal. "You see people all the time, some stand with their hands over their hearts. Those that don't, they don't pay respect the flag or what it means," Seckel said. "It means a lot to us," FitzGerald said. The hands of George Seckel and BJ FitzGerald fold an American flag outside of the American Legion Post 20 in Crown Point. (Suzanne Tennant / Post-Tribune) Carrie Napoleon is a freelance reporter for the Post Tribune. Days after an Indiana State board of Accounts audit that called for the return of more than $850,000 to the School Town of Munster from a former superintendent and assistant superintendent, the comments at Monday's shool board meeting were blunt. School Town of Munster Board of Trustee President Melissa Higgason read from a prepared statement that reitertated board members reported "potential misappropriation" to the State Board of Accounts and Lake County Prosecutor Bernie Carter's office nearly a year ago. Per state code, however, they weren't allowed to discuss what the potential outcome of the special audit the SAB conducted prior to its being released. Advertisement Superintendent Jeff Hendrix declined comment on the matter but said during his remarks that the he and the board have worked hard on instituting transparency and established a citizens financial advisory board as well as worked with municipal accounting firm Umbaugh & Associates to right the ship. Resident Julie Compton wasn't impressed. She said during comments that when she spoke to Hendrix about the issues she'd heard, he told her oftentimes, board members don't really understand the financial intricacies of school budgeting and therefore can be led astray. Advertisement "The board is responsible, and we would love to see everyone under the adminstration of William Pfister and Richard Sopko to resign," Compton said, referring to board members Judy Florczak, John Friend and Paula Nellans. "We're sick of hearing it was 'the state formula.' We have fraud, and it's ridiculous." Pfister, the district's longtime superintendent, and Sopko, a longtime assistant superintendent who succeeded Pfister when he retired, were named in the State Board of Accounts report. Resident Kevin Cappo said the board "had one job of oversight," but he isn't sure what they'd been doing the last 20 years and is disappointed it took the new board to see the issues. And incoming Munster High School Senior Tim Derolf asked why the board doesn't have term limits. "I think it's strange that most of you have been on this board longer than I've been alive. Why do you just keep being on the board?" he said. Hendrix, who was hired two years ago, said the $8 million negative general fund balance from January 2015 is projected to see a $3.2 million reduction, to $4.8 million by end of 2016. "In the last two years, the board and the adminstration have made a conscious effort to increase the financial transparency of the district, with the self-reporting of potential mismanagement being the greatest testament of this effort," Higgason read. "Let me reiterate: These issues were forwarded to state and local authorities as a result of the actions of this board, and their determination to ensure that any interference of misappropriation of funds and/or malfeasance was reviewed and addressed." Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune. Vendor Melecio Ramirez hands change to Skokie Mayor George Van Dusen June 12 during the first Farmers' Market of the year in Skokie. (Kevin Tanaka / Pioneer Press) A sure sign that summer has arrived, the Skokie Farmers' Market opened Sunday under clear skies in downtown Skokie. The popular event got a boost from Mother Nature this year a great improvement over last year when those who visited the first Farmers' Market needed umbrellas and rain coats. Advertisement Skokie Mayor George Van Dusen and others participated in a ribbon cutting ceremony aided by a welcome dose of sunshine. Cub Scout Pack #85 performed the color guard. The Farmers' Market runs from 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. every Sunday through Nov. 6 outside Village Hall, 5127 Oakton St. Advertisement New this year, according to the village, is a Skokie kosher bakery called Bites of Pleasure, MJM Provo's Bake Shoppe, the Amazing Kale Burger serving vegan burgers, My Sweet Memories serving sweet and savory crepes and Tamale Express serving fresh tamales and salsa. The Farmers' Market in Skokie has been around for more than a quarter of a century, according to the village, and draws farmers and vendors from Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin. More than two dozen vendors are listed on the village's website for the 2016 season. That's more than twice the number of vendors who participated in the first Skokie Market in 1975, according to the village. Sponsored by the village's Consumer Affairs Commission, the Market has grown in size to host more than 4,000 visitors each year, the village states. "The Market is truly a Skokie community event," according to the village on its Farmers' Market website. "People renew their friendships with the farmers and other visitors each year. They come to shop some even purchasing bushels of sweet corn and apples and to catch up on a year's worth of news." The village also has scheduled a series of special features for each Farmers' Market through the end of August. Some include a Chef Demo Day on June 19 and July 10; a Yoga on the Green session July 3 and Aug. 7; various live music offerings throughout the summer sessions; a balloon artist Aug. 14 and a lot more. The Aug. 28 Farmers' Market coincides with the Backlot Bash weekend and will include acoustic soul music with Rachel Katzman and Stu Frank after it closes. Advertisement For more information about the Skokie Farmers' Market, go to skokie.org/FarmersMarket.cfm or call Market Manager Janelle Silva at (847) 933-8257. misaacs@pioneerlocal.com Twitter @SKReview_Mike Crow Island School in Winnetka underwent a temporary lockdown on the morning of June 8 after getting what authorities describe as a prank call. Police are investigating the incident. (Bridget O'Shea, Pioneer Press) One day before Crow Island Elementary School in Winnetka received a threatening phone call that led to a temporary lockdown of the school, three Wilmette schools also heard from someone claiming that the schools could be in danger, local school and police officials say. The response by the Wilmette Police Department and officials at Wilmette Public Schools District 39 was low-key and meant to deny any potential prank caller the satisfaction of seeing a high-profile response, according to Police Chief Brian King. Advertisement Police said three Wilmette schools Harper Elementary, Central Elementary, and Wilmette Junior High School received hoax calls on June 7, between 2:30 p.m. and 3 p.m., shortly before the end of the school day. In each case, the caller claimed that there was a violent act occurring, or about to occur, at the school. The police department's school resources officer was at one of the schools when the first call was placed, and investigators quickly realized the claims were unfounded, King said. Advertisement "When we got the threats, we immediately, instantly, called the police. They arrived and determined what they suspected - that it was a hoax," District 39 Superintendent Raymond Lechner said. Officers were assigned to patrol areas around all six district schools as a precaution, King said. Investigators are still working to trace the Wilmette calls and identify the callers, but doing so may be difficult, "as it appears that the calls were transmitted in a manner meant to hide (their) origin," King wrote. He and Lechner assured district parents in a series of messages last week that students' safety wasn't in jeopardy. "Police were very present, hyper-vigilant" after the calls, Lechner said Monday. "It may not have been noticeable to everyone, but they were there." Lechner said he sent an email message to district parents immediately. After media reports on June 8 about the Winnetka incident, he sent another message, along with a letter from King that explained how and why police and the district responded as they did. King said in his letter to parents that the district has what he called excellent safety protocols, and that district officials regularly meet and train with police department personnel. "Our approach may appear to be low key that is by design," he wrote, adding that hundreds of schools across the country and in Great Britain had recently been targeted with similar prank calls. Advertisement Lechner said a few parents wanted to know whether it was safe to send their students to school after receiving the messages, but the district received generally positive feedback from parents. kroutliffe@pioneerlocal.com Twitter: @pioneer_kathy A press conference on the preparation of the first Silk Road (Dunhuang) International Cultural Expo is held at the State Council Information Office in Beijing on June 13. [Photo by Mi Xingang/China.org.cn] The first Silk Road (Dunhuang) International Cultural Expo will be held in Dunhuang City, Gansu Province, from September 20 to 21, according to a press conference held in Beijing on June 13.The event will be held there with a different theme every year. Serving as an important platform for cultural exchange and cooperation among countries along the Belt and Road, the expo hopes to boost economic and social development in West China, said Ding Wei, vice minister of China's Ministry of Culture, during the conference. With the theme of "promoting cultural exchanges and seeking common development," the first expo aims to explore cooperation and dialogue mechanisms through wide consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, according to an introduction made by Liang Yanshun, director of the Publicity Department of CPC Gansu Provincial Committee. The expo is of a "2+X" framework covering two regular activities and optional activities (X), Liang said. The two regular activities, namely, the high-level forum and the Silk Road Cultural Exhibition, will be held annually. The optional activities include various forums, exhibitions, art performances and so on, Liang expounded. As for the preparation of the first expo, Liang said: "Currently, we are working smoothly just as scheduled." The upgrading of Dunhuang Airport and the construction of the convention center and railways and roads are expected to be completed by the end of July. Up to now, 58 countries, five international organizations and 19 sister cities have confirmed their attendance at the event, with France acting as the guest of honor. Located in northwestern China, Gansu boasts rich cultural heritage and abundant tourism opportunities. The morin huur master Chi Bulag announced on Monday that he would hold a concert at the Beijing Concert Hall to mark the 30th anniversary of the founding of his band Wild Horses. The morin huur master Chi Bulag performs at a press conference on June 13, 2016. [Photo by Zhang Rui / China.org.cn] The morin huur is a Mongolian string instrument. The name means "fiddle with horse's head," which refers to the shape of the top part of the instrument. It produces a sound that has been described as expansive and unrestrained, like a wild horse neighing or a breeze in the grasslands. It is the most important musical instrument of the Mongolian people. Chi Bulag, 72, a descendant of Genghis Khan, founded the worlds first-ever morin huur band: Chi Bulag Wild Horses Morin Khuur Band. He is one of the very few folk musicians who can play the ancient musical instrument and the most famous morin huur master in the world. "Playing the instrument makes me feel younger and fills me with national dignity and pride," he said, adding he has played it for 65 years. Chi Bulag was born in 1944 in a small village on the Horchin grassland in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. At the age of three, he moved into a lama temple in Horchin. Without anyone teaching him, he learned to play the morin huur as a boy. Many years later, a local art troupe impressed with Chi Bulags playing, allowed him to being performing with them. Besides performing, Chi Bulag also composes music, claiming that inspiration comes out of his blood. "Ten Thousand Horses Galloping" is one of the most famous artworks of Chi Bulag. To put more passion into the sound produced by the morin huur, Chi Bulag also modifies the fiddle's design. Thanks to his efforts, the morin huur now has a wider range and a louder volume. He visits and performs in many countries and regions across Asia, Europe, America and Africa, Chi Bulag says he's received a warm welcome from every city he's visited and now has over 20,000 students worldwide. He says nothing will stop him from playing the morin huur and spreading the sound of peace to all four corners of the world. Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation. You are here: Home A total of 96 contracts worth US$15 billion were signed on Monday between Chinese and German companies at the eighth Chinese-German Forum for Economic and Technological Cooperation. There is great room for cooperation between our two countries as both upgrade their economic structure, said Lin Nianxiu, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country's top economic planning body. The forum, hosted by the NDRC and Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, attracted nearly 800 attendees to discuss topics including the digital economy and economic structural transformation. You are here: Home Morocco and Chinese group HAITE will set up an industrial and residential park in the northern city of Tangiers with 10 billion U.S. Dollar-worth investment, local media reported Monday. According to Moroccan news site Medias24.com, Moroccan officials and Chinese delegation discussed over the weekend in Morocco means to implement this large-scale park which will host 300,000 employees. The park, which will cover 1,200 hectares, will also host numerous Chinese companies whose products will target African and European markets, the same source added. The source revealed that the construction of the park will begin soon. Chinese President Xi Jinping and visiting King Mohammed VI of Morocco signed on May 11 in Beijing a joint statement on establishing a strategic partnership between the two countries. As part of this partnership, a memorandum of understanding to set up an industrial and residential park in Morocco was signed by the Moroccan government and Chinese group HAITE. Employers who hire illegal foreigners will be fined up to 100,000 yuan ($15,000) as part of a four-month crackdown in Southwest China's Sichuan Province, a local newspaper reported. The police campaign started on May 20 and will run until Sept 20. It will mainly target "three illegals" -- foreigners who illegally enter, gain employment and stay in the city. According to Chinese law, foreigners charged with illegal entry will be fined 1,000 yuan to 10,000 yuan as well as possible detainment that last from five to 10 days depending on the severity of the case. Repatriated persons will not be allowed to re-enter China for one to five years. Sichuan police said individuals or agencies that help foreigners work illegally will also be fined from 5,000 yuan to 100,000 yuan. Residents are also urged to report illegal foreigners to police. The number of people living in poverty in rural areas was reduced by 66.63 million from 2012 to 2015, said a government report released on Tuesday. China formulated the 12th Five-year Plan for Poverty Reduction Village By Village. By 2015, poverty alleviation projects covering 30,000 villages had been implemented, according to the report assessing the implementation of Human Rights Action Plan, which was released by the State Council Information Office. Total Investment reached 144.569 billion yuan (22 bln U.S. dollars), an average of 4.8 million yuan for each village, it said. From 2012 to 2015, the increase of residents' per capita disposable income surpassed the growth rate of GDP of the same period. The annual growth rate of the per-capita disposal income of urban residents and per-capita net income of rural residents were 7.5 percent and 9.2 percent respectively, the report said. During the same period, the State Development and Reform Commission allocated 21 billion yuan from the central budget for relocation of impoverished residents, which brought about an additional more than 200 billion yuan in local government input and various other investments, the report said, adding that about 8 million people in poverty have been relocated. The central government also allocated 771.7 billion yuan to support affordable housing projects, the report said. Equal rights to employment have been guaranteed. In 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015, 12.66 million, 13.1 million, 13.22 million and 13.12 million new urban jobs were created respectively, according to the report. The registered urban unemployment rate was kept within 4.1 percent, lower than the 5 percent target. The basic medical insurance coverage has been extended to all citizens, with the rate of participation surpassing 95 percent. It also underlined that an equal right to education for relocated children of migrant workers has been safeguarded. From 2012 to 2015, the central government allocated 34.6 billion yuan to enable nearly 90 percent of relocated children of migrant workers in cities to obtain government support. The Chinese government on Tuesday released a report reviewing the human rights progress from 2012 to 2015 and promising harder effort in the future. The Sum-up Meeting on the Assessment of the Implementation of the National Human Rights Action Plan of China (2012-2015) is held in Beijing, capital of China, June 14, 2016. The Chinese government on Tuesday released a report reviewing the human rights progress from 2012 to 2015 and promising harder effort in the future. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai) China launched the National Human Rights Action Plan (2012-2015) in June 2012, the second of its kind, following one from 2009 to 2010. Major targets and tasks set by the plan had been fulfilled as scheduled by the end of 2015, says the report issued by the State Council Information Office. About 48 percent of the binding targets and over 50 percent of the targets concerning the people's livelihood had been met ahead of time or exceeded, thus realizing the comprehensive implementation of the plan, the report says. "The Communist Party of China and the Chinese government incorporated the principle of universality of human rights into China's national conditions...successfully charting a path of human rights development suiting China's national conditions," the report says. Fulfilling the plan as scheduled fully demonstrates the commitment and confidence of the Party and government to promote the human rights cause in a coordinated and orderly way and the huge advantage of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, it says. However, the report admits that the government is keenly aware of many challenges in this aspect, for instance, China's economic development mode is still crude and it is still fraught with problems from unbalanced, uncoordinated and unsustainable development. The country is still struggling to deal with a big gap between urban and rural areas as well as problems of immediate concern to the people's welfare including medical care, education, old age care, food and drug safety, income distribution and environment. "There is still a long way to go to realize higher-level protection of human rights in China and hard efforts must be made," it says. IMPROVEMENT OF PEOPLE'S WELFARE From 2012 to 2015, faced with a complex international situation and the challenging tasks of pushing reform and maintaining stability, the government has pushed for more efficient, fairer and more sustainable growth and worked to ensure that all people benefit from reform and development. Compared with the average 7.4-percent annual growth of gross domestic product (GDP) from 2012 to 2015, the per capita disposable income of urban residents increased by 7.5 percent and the per capita net income for rural residents increased by 9.2 percent annually. A total of 66.63 million people in rural areas were lifted out of poverty. Ordinary citizens have enjoyed more comprehensive social security programs and better public services, while more efforts were made to realize equal access to education and address pollution. The rights and interests of ethnic minorities, women, children, the elderly and people with disabilities have also been further guaranteed. PROMOTING RULE OF LAW Efforts have been made to improve government transparency, through computer and Internet technologies, to realize people's rights to be informed, express their opinion, participate in state affairs and oversee the government. Judicial reforms were smoothly pushed forwards to improve transparency of judicial agencies, streamline legal proceedings under the principles such as "innocence until proven guilty" and guarantee lawyers' rights. Efforts were made to correct wrong convictions and ensure judicial departments to perform their duties independently in accordance with the law. In December 2013, China abolished the system of reeducation through labor. In 2015, about 30,000 imprisoned criminals in four categories were pardoned under an amnesty. The latest revision to the Criminal Law, adopted in 2015, removed the death penalty for nine crimes, reducing the number of crimes on which the death penalty is applicable from 55 to 46. RELIGIOUS FREEDOM From 2012 to 2015, the government canceled or adjusted 12 items subject for administrative approval about religious affairs. In the four years, a total of 200 million yuan (30.53 million U.S.dollars) was spent on renovation and expansion projects of religious facilities in Tibet. By the end of 2015, 87 temples in Yushu of northwest China's Qinghai Province damaged in a major earthquake in 2010, were fully rebuilt. From 2012 to 2015, the government allocated nearly 15 million yuan to support and assist repair and preservation of mosques and historic religious sites. Religious workers have been fully covered by social security programs. By 2013, 96.5 percent of them have had medical insurance and 89.62 percent have had pension schemes. JOINING INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS EFFORT From 2012 to 2015, China has maintained constructive dialogues with several treaty bodies on its implementation of international conventions about human rights. In 2014, China participated and passed the second round of the UN Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review. It also took an active part in multilateral human rights meetings hosted by the third committee of UN General Assembly and the UN Human Rights Council. From 2012 to 2015, the country held more than 20 human rights dialogues with the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia and Switzerland, as well as more than 10 human rights consultations and exchanges with countries including Russia, Brazil, Pakistan and Cuba. The nine-day search for survivors after a boating accident in Guangyuan, Sichuan province has come to a sad end, with all 14 missing people found dead. Divers prepare to carry out underwater searching on the Bailong Lake in Guangyuan, Southwest China's Sichuan province, June 9, 2016. (Photo/Xinhua) By midday on Sunday, the operation had retrieved all the bodies from the water, according to Yang Mingguang, deputy chief of the Guangyuan municipal government information office. The accident happened on the afternoon of June 4 when a leisure boat with 18 people onboard capsized in gales on White Dragon Lake, in the Lizhou district of Guangyuan, the northernmost city in Sichuan. One seven-year-old girl died in hospital after she was rescued. Three adults survived, while the bodies of 14 people, including five young women and four children, were found dead. The dead included Zhou Piqiang, the vessel's 49-year-old owner, his wife Wang Xingju, 43, and their son Zhou Lin, 4. The boat's 15 passengers were from six families, five of which included husbands, wives and children. Some of the photos taken by passengers with cellphones, just before the sudden storm sank the boat, went viral, prompting sympathy from netizens for the passengers, which included adults aged around 30 and children aged between three and five years. A source from the Guangyuan maritime affairs bureau said the boat's owner, Zhou, had operated boat excursions since the 1990s, and his wife was a qualified sailor. The local weather bureau said the boat, which was designed to carry 40 passengers, sank in extreme weather conditions when wind speeds of 17.5 meters per second were recorded. According to Wang Mingxing, one of the three survivors, some people were initially wearing life jackets, but they took them off later because it was too hot. Wang, 30, grabbed a jacket when the boat started sinking. He was washed ashore while swimming. Flash Chinese President Xi Jinping met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday, hailing the China-Germany relations as "very matured." Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) meets with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Beijing, capital of China, June 13, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] "Sino-German relations have entered a very matured stage of development and pragmatic cooperation has reached a very high level after more than 40 years of joint efforts since the establishment of diplomatic relations," Xi said. Merkel arrived in Beijing on Sunday for the fourth round of China-Germany intergovernmental consultation. Merkel and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang co-chaired the consultation earlier on Monday. Congratulating Merkel on the fruitful consultation, Xi suggested China and Germany enhance mutual trust, take care of each other's core interests and concerns, expand the range of cooperation, strengthen strategic communication in diplomatic and security fields, and innovate the mode of cooperation in international affairs. He also proposed the two governments encourage companies from both countries to carry out projects with the platform built by the governments for conjoining China's "Made In China 2025" blueprint and Germany's "Industrial 4.0" strategy, as well as boost tripartite cooperation with companies from a third country. Xi expressed the hope that Germany and the European Union would view competition and cooperation objectively, appropriately address trade disputes with China and honor their obligation stated in Article 15 of the accession protocol signed when China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, to ensure healthy development of the economic and trade ties between China and the European side. During the meeting, Xi said China will support deepening cooperation between the two sides on education, visa facilitation, freedoms of the air and traditional Chinese medicine. Echoing Xi, Merkel said the two sides should work to enhance mutual trust and boost cooperation on the integration of the "Made In China 2025" blueprint and the "Industrial 4.0" strategy. Merkel told Xi that the German side attaches importance to the implementation of the Article 15 of the accession protocol. She said Germany welcomes China's important role in international affairs and stands ready to increase communication and coordination with China over international and regional hotspot issues. During the meeting, Xi and Merkel also agreed to make joint efforts to make success of the Group of 20 (G20) summits of 2016 and 2017 to contribute to global economic growth. China will host this year's G20 summit in September and Germany will host the summit in 2017. Flash A Brexit could be the beginning of the destruction of not only the European Union, but also of the entire western political civilization, warned European Council President Donald Tusk in an interview published on Monday. Ten days ahead of a referendum in Britain on the country's membership of EU, Tusk told German Bild newspaper that it would be dangerous if the British people decide to leave the union. "Every family knows: Divorce is traumatic for all," Tusk said, "Economically, everyone would lose out in the EU, especially the British themselves. Politically, it would encourage all radical anti-Europeans from the inside of numerous member states." "As a historian, I'm afraid: the Brexit could be the beginning of the destruction of not only the European Union, but also of the entire political civilization of the West," he warned. According to Tusk, it will take at least seven years for Britain to dissolve current contractual connections and to negotiate new relationships with the EU if it leaves the union. Meanwhile, the process would be "without any guarantee of success". He added that the EU would survive even if the Britain leaves, "although the price would be high". Flash The International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Monday welcomed China's application for its membership, saying that it is "crucial" for the organization's global significance. IOM Director General William Lacy Swing on Monday met with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Chao who delivered a letter of application for membership in IOM. "China's membership in IOM is crucial towards growing the organization's global significance," Swing said after the meeting. During the meeting, Swing also discussed global migration and the migrant situation in Europe, as well as preparations for the upcoming UN Summit on large-scale movements of migrants and refugees on September 19. Wang expressed China's recognition of the IOM's role and contributions in managing migration worldwide, stressing three areas for future cooperation with the IOM: capacity building and regional border management, disaster prevention and integration of migrants. IOM was born in 1951 out of the chaos and displacement of Western Europe following the Second World War. From its roots as an operational logistics agency, it has broadened its scope to become the leading international agency working with governments and civil society to advance the understanding of migration issues, encourage social and economic development through migration, and uphold the human dignity and well-being of migrants. Flash Russia and South Korea on Monday called for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. "We reaffirmed the commitment of both countries to the goal of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and in this regard stressed that both Russia and South Korea will not accept the self-proclaimed nuclear status of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)," said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov after a meeting with his South Korean counterpart, Yun Byung-se. Lavrov said that Russia would pursue the full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2270 adopted in March to curb the DPRK's nuclear and missile programs. "We consider it unacceptable to turn the region into a confrontation area, as all problems should be settled by negotiations," Lavrov said. Yun said South Korea sees the DPRK nuclear issue as "the largest obstacle" to improving Moscow-Seoul cooperation and enhancing regional peace and prosperity, and a threat to the international community. "The DPRK is moving backwards by not stopping its aspirations to obtain nuclear potential ... We consider it necessary to direct the DPRK into a correct route by joint efforts of the international community to support the full observation of the UN Security Council resolutions," Yun said. The ministers also discussed bilateral cooperation in such fields as energy, nuclear, port infrastructure and fisheries, as well as the prospects of establishing a free trade zone between South Korea and the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union. Yun's visit is the first travel by a South Korean foreign minister to Russia in five years. The South Korean Foreign Ministry described the visit as an opportunity to make diplomatic efforts to put pressure on Pyongyang to halt its nuclear program. You are here: Home Flash Two people were killed and several others were injured in a suicide bomb attack on Monday in Sirte. The suicide attack occured in Abu Hadi, 18 km south of Sirte, beside a civil registry office. Libya's government presidential guards launched an offensive in May against Islamic State (IS) militants in Sirte, successfully reclaiming most of the city. A further three suicide bomb attacks took place within the vicinity of a government forces field hospital in Sirte on Sunday, injuring several guards, according to a military source. Misrata's hospital announced last week that 130 government troops were killed and over 400 others were injured during clashes with IS in Sirte. The presidential guards service was established by the UN-backed unity government to combat IS's growing influence. Sirte is located 450 km east of the capital city of Tripoli and has been under IS control for over a year now. The IS claimed responsibility for the suicide bombings and the killing of foreign workers in Libya. Flash Iranian security forces killed five Jaish-ul-Adl terrorist group members in the southeastern provinces of Sistan and Baluchestan, reported Press TV on Monday. The terrorists had allegedly planned to conduct terror attacks, police spokesman Saeed Montazer-al-Mahdi said on Monday, noting that Iranian security forces confiscated substantial amounts of ammunition from them. The terrorists were killed during clashes with the police, Al-Mahdi said, adding that a policeman was also killed during the clashes, the report quoted him as saying. Jaish al-Adl, which in Arabic translates to the Army of Justice, is the Sunni rebel group attempting to fight for the rights of Sunni Muslims in the Iranian provinces of Sistan and Baluchestan, and were responsible for numerous attacks against Iran's border posts. Earlier in the day, Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said they also disabled a terrorist group in the northwest of the country, killing five terrorists. The five dead terrorists were all members of the Free Life Party of Kurdistan whose acronym is PJAK. PJAK is an Iranian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), and the five terrorists were killed in an ambush near the city of Sardasht in Iran's northwestern province of West Azerbaijan along the border with Turkey, the IRGC stated on its website. The IRGC added that the PJAK members were also behind the "martyrdom" of three members from the local Basiji militia forces. A sizable weaponry cache in addition to documents were seized during the operation, the statement said. Flash Iraqi security forces on Monday repelled attacks by Islamic State (IS) militants on military positions in north of the city of Ramadi, the capital of Iraq's western province of Anbar, while battles to push into the IS stronghold in Fallujah continued in southern the city, a provincial security source said. A group of Iraqi army are seen in southern Shuhada district, south Fallujah city in Iraq's western Anbar province, in battles against Islamic State (IS), on June 13, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] In the early morning, dozens of IS militants with four suicide car bombs attacked the positions of Iraqi army and allied Sunni paramilitary units, known as Hashd Shaabi, in Jeraishi area in north of Ramadi, some 110 km west of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. The troops fought fierce clashes with the attackers who were forced to withdraw from the battleground after the troops destroyed the four suicide car bombs with anti-tank guided missiles before reaching the first defensive lines, the source said without giving further details about casualties among the IS attackers and the security members. Meanwhile, heavy clashes continued in southern the IS-held city of Fallujah, some 50 km west of Baghdad, as the troops have been pressing to widen their foothold in Shuhada district after they made their first advance on Wednesday in the district and raised the Iraqi flag over some of its buildings, the source said. During the day, U.S.-led coalition warplanes bombarded IS positions near al-Shemary mosque in Shuhada district in southern Fallujah, leaving at least eight militants killed and 14 others wounded, the source added. The advance in southern Fallujah was slowed by IS militants resistance inside the city, with hundreds of hidden bombs believed to be planted by them. The security forces are also avoiding heavy casualties among tens of thousands of civilians who are reportedly trapped inside Fallujah. About 50,000 to 70,000 civilians are expected to remain in Fallujah Earlier, said Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasoul, spokesman for the Joint Military Command. Early in the month, the UN children fund warned that at least 20,000 Iraqi children remained trapped in Fallujah where Iraqi security forces are fighting to drive out the extremist IS militants from the city. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced on May 23 the launch of a major offensive to claim Fallujah and surrounding towns and areas. Government troops and allied militias have currently been fighting for months to reclaim key cities and towns in Anbar from IS militants, who attempted to advance toward Baghdad after seizing most of Anbar province. Iraq has been witnessing a wave of violence since the IS controlled parts of its northern and western regions in June 2014. Flash More than 47,000 South Sudanese have fled into Sudan's East Darfur in Western region since January, with about 500 households arriving per day until early April, the UN agencies said on Monday. In a joint humanitarian report, the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said new arrivals have since continued at a slower rate, and as of January to June 11, about 47,100 refugees had arrived in East Darfur. The UN agencies said the influx of South Sudanese refugees is driven by deteriorating food insecurity and ongoing violence in South Sudan. "Though rates of arrival have slowed in comparison to the January to April period, underlying reasons for displacement remain unchanged," the report says. A recent food security analysis by World Food Programme (WFP) expects the number of South Sudan's food insecure people to reach 5.3 million between May and September, which would result in the nation's most severe lean season since independence in 2011. As such, provision of assistance in affected areas of South Sudan will be integral to reducing the number of people who are driven from their homes in search of life-saving assistance in Sudan. According to the UN, new arrivals are mostly coming from South Sudan's Northern Bahr El Ghazal and Warrap states due to heightened food insecurity and ongoing conflict. The report says distribution of shelters will begin once families are relocated to a new site, where erection of shelters will be permitted. "The plot of land previously agreed upon for the new site can no longer be used as local land owners require the area for agricultural activities," the report says. "This recent influx, with large numbers of South Sudanese refugees arriving in new areas, was not anticipated. This unforeseen emergency is unfolding in an underserviced area where partners and resources are limited," the UN agencies said. The report says the influx is critically stretching the available resources and operational capacity of partners carrying out the ongoing response in White Nile State, where the flow of new arrivals from South Sudan continues. Additional funds are needed in order to meet the needs of this refugee population. Flash China expects Germany and the European Union to stop resorting to an unfair practice of making anti-dumping investigation decisions against Chinese enterprises before Dec 11, President Xi Jinping said on Monday. "I hope Germany and the EU can objectively view the connection between competition and cooperation and properly handle China-Europe trade frictions," he said. During a meeting in Beijing with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Xi called for the timely implementation of Article 15 of the Accession Protocol of China's entry to the World Trade Organization, as agreed when China joined the WTO in 2001. This stipulates that all WTO members should stop following subrogate country measures in anti-dumping cases against China before Dec 11, 2016. According to Chinese media reports, the WTO doesn't clearly define so-called subrogate countries, leaving loopholes allowing the EU to exploit its anti-dumping policies against Chinese exports. Merkel said Germany attaches importance to the implementation of Article 15. Chen Fengying, a world economy research fellow at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, said the discriminatory practice adopte by some countries of using prices in other nations to gauge the cost of Chinese products has caused unnecessary losses for Chinese enterprises in anti-dumping cases. Xi also said Beijing's ties with Berlin have entered a "very mature" phase, adding that the two countries should look after the core interests and concerns of each other to continue the healthy development of the relationship. China and Germany signed more than 20 cooperation agreements on Monday in a dozen fields after the fourth China-Germany intergovernmental consultations, co-chaired by Premier Li Keqiang and Merkel. During the consultations, Li and Merkel listened to reports by heads of 26 departments from both countries, including finance, commerce, education, transportation and healthcare, who later signed the agreements. More than 100 cooperation agreements have been signed during four consultations since 2011. Li said the two nations should strengthen high-level exchanges and strategic trust, and oppose trade protectionism amid a sluggish global economy. He called on Germany to accelerate negotiations and sign the China-EU bilateral investment treaty. The premier said, "Both countries should reinforce policy coordination under global frameworks such as the G20 Summit, link their national strategies and boost industrial cooperation in smart manufacturing and sustainable development." He also said China is willing to advance academic and research exchanges with German universities, research institutes and enterprises. Merkel said Germany is willing to work with China on smart manufacturing and new energy vehicles, and to tap into business opportunities in other markets. Flash The signals from the black boxes of the crashed EgyptAir Flight MS804 are expected to stop operating on June 24, Egypt's Civil Aviation Ministry said in a statement on Monday. Radar pictures sent by the Egyptian Armed Forces to the investigation committee of the crashed flight showed that the plane made a turn to the left and then a full circle to the right before it went down, the statement said. It added that these radar pictures are consistent with the ones from the Greek and English sides. The statement said the Egyptian investigation committee has agreed on the request from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board to dispatch a representative to the investigation, and an expert from the manufacturer of the plane's recorders will join the investigation. EgyptAir Flight MS804, an Airbus A320, went missing on May 19 en route from Paris to Cairo with 66 people on board, including 30 Egyptians and 15 French, until some passengers' belongings, small pieces of wreckage and some body parts of victims were later found in the Mediterranean Sea. On June 1, a French vessel participating in the search received signals from the seabed that might be from one of the plane's data recorders. Search operations have been going on. Flash The World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday stressed that voluntary, unpaid blood donations must be increased rapidly in more than half of the world's countries, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters. Image taken on June 10, 2016 shows a technician in a laboratory performing a test for the detection of blood group in the laboratory of the Buenos Aires "Hemocentro" (Blood Center) Foundation, in Buenos Aires, capital of Argentina. [Photo/Xinhua] WHO made statement ahead of World Blood Donor Day, which falls on June 14, Dujarric said at a daily news briefing here. Nearly 50 percent of blood donations are collected in high-income countries, home to less than 20 percent of the world's population, Dujarric noted. "WHO encouraged all countries to establish blood services based on full voluntary non-remunerated blood donations," he said. Today, only 62 countries get close to 100 percent of their national blood supplies from voluntary unpaid blood donations, with 34 countries still dependent on family donors and even paid donors for more than 75 percent of their blood supply, he added. The theme of this year's World Blood Donor Day is "Blood connects us all." It focuses on thanking blood donors. Every year on June 14, countries around the world celebrate World Blood Donor Day. The event, established in 2004, serves to raise awareness of the need for safe blood and blood products, and to thank blood donors for their voluntary, life-saving gifts of blood. World Blood Donor Day is one of eight official global public health campaigns marked by WHO, along with World Health Day, World Tuberculosis Day, World Immunization Week, World Malaria Day, World No Tobacco Day, World Hepatitis Day, and World AIDS Day. Flash A top member of Boko Haram responsible for the supply of arms and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to the militant group has been arrested by security operatives in the country's northeast region, an official said. Ibrahim Abdullahi, provincial commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) in Borno State, late Sunday told reporters that the unnamed Boko Haram kingpin was arrested last Tuesday in Askira Uba district during a routine security check. "The notorious kingpin, recruiter, as well as supplier of arms and (IEDs) to Boko Haram terrorists, has since been handed over to the Nigerian army for further investigation," the official said. According to Abdullahi, the Boko Haram had confessed that his three children were also arrow heads of the Boko Haram group. Nigeria's security agencies have recently decimated the ranks of Boko Haram, retaking most of the areas previously under the group's control. You are here: Home Flash China and Britain have agreed to strengthen cooperation in security, law enforcement and justice issues at their first high-level security dialogue, held in Beijing on Monday. The two sides have exchanged views on the fight against terrorism, cybercrime, organized crime, illegal migration and other security issues. The dialogue was co-chaired by Wang Yongqing, Secretary-General of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, and Mark Lyall Grant, National Security Advisor to British Prime Minister. The dialogue was an implementation of the China-UK joint declaration on building a "global comprehensive strategic partnership for the 21st century" issued in October, 2015 and is of great significance in mutual security cooperation. Flash Flags in front of all venues were flying half-staff, and every electronic billboard on the expressway was showing the same message: Pray for Orlando. The U.S. national flag flies at half-mast at the Washington Monument to mourn the victims of the mass shooting at a nightclub in Orlando, in Washington D.C., the United States, June 13, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] Home to the famous Disney World and Universal theme parks, "The City Beautiful" woke up Sunday morning to its worst nightmare. Fifty people were gunned down, and at least another 53 were hospitalized. Orlando had witnessed the deadliest mass shooting in the history of the United States and the nation's worst terror attack since 9/11. "I heard gunshots around 2:05 a.m.(0605 GMT), but thought it was fireworks," said 41-year-old Keaton Chad, who lives just a block away from the nightclub Pulse, where the massacre occurred. Chad told Xinhua that the neighborhood was always nice and peaceful, and never for a moment did he think a horror like this would happen here. Pulse was one of the biggest nightclubs in town and central to the city's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community. Gunshots started when the club's weekly "Latin Night" was just wrapping up, and around 320 people were still hanging around for the last call. The "fireworks" that Chad heard were just the beginning of the bloodshed. Armed with an AR-15 assault rifle and a handgun, the assailant Omar Mateen opened fire at the people in the main hall. A three-hour standoff and hostage situation ensued, until the SWAT team shot and killed the suspect during actions to rescue the hostages. The police had sealed all entries to Pulse starting from 6:30 a.m.(1030 GMT) Sunday. Looking from a makeshift media center, a white container truck had blocked any possible view of the nightclub. A guarding officer told Xinhua that the club was a lower building and would not be accessible until the roads re-open after the crime scene was thoroughly investigated. Several miles away from the club, the Orlando Regional Medical Center was also on lockdown with a police vehicle blocking the entrance. Many of the casualties were rushed to the center after the shooting. Three regional medical facilities had accepted those who were injured for treatment, and a call to donate types O negative, O positive and AB plasma was made. Several local blood banks were flooded with people wanting to donate blood Sunday evening, despite the pouring rain. At the OneBlood blood bank, dozens of people had been lining up to donate plasma. Some of them came as early as 9 a.m.(1300 GMT). According to a blood bank worker, the blood bank was overwhelmed by more than 2,000 people who had registered to donate on Sunday. The bank had to ask donors to come back later over the next few days. "This is probably the most difficult day in the history of Orlando," said Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer in a news conference. "We need to support each other. We need to love each other, and we will not be defined by a hateful shooter. We will be defined by how we support each other," Dyer added. After nightfall, survivors, friends of the victims and members of the city's LGBT community gathered by the city's iconic Lake Eola to hold a vigil for the deceased and injured. People lit candles, wove reed leaves into roses, and put yellow chrysanthemum flowers onto the lake bank lawn. They embraced and consoled one another. "This situation was very tragic for me and a lot of my friends," said Arron Candelaria, who came and spoke at the vigil. "I want to show my faith and support my community, and I feel this community will grow bigger and better than what it already is," Candelaria said. Flash Former Prime Minister of Nepal Dr Baburam Bhattarai on Sunday announced the establishment of a new political party under his leadership with the agenda of economic prosperity of the Himalayan nation. Nepal's former Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai speaks during the formal announcement of his party "Naya Shakti", meaning New Force, in Kathmandu, capital of Nepal, June 12, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] Bhattarai's new party is named as "Naya Shakti," which means New Force in English. Addressing the inaugural ceremony at the presence of thousands of well-wishers, party cadres and various political party leaders at Dasarath Stadium here in the capital, Bhattarai declared that his party has given top most priority to economic development of the country. "We can make Nepal one of the richest nations of the world within period of 25 years by developing it as a bridge between the global economies China and India," Bhattarai said while addressing the inaugural session. Bhattarai had announced his resignation as the Vice-president of the Unified CPN Maoist in last September, ending a 25-year-long affiliation with the party, following a serious rift with the party Chairman Puspa Kamal Dahal. Bhattarai, who is regarded as a mastermind of 10-year-long Maoist insurgency from 1996 to 2006, was elected as the country's 35th prime minister in 2011. After administering the 10-point-oath to members of the new party Sunday, Bhattarai said that "New Force Nepal" would work to protect national independence, inclusive democracy and republicanism. Stating that his party is different from other political parties, Bhattarai stressed on ensuring proportional representation of all communities including Arya, Indigenous Nationalities and Madhesis to achieve peace and stability in the nation. Bhattarai further expressed a commitment to respect and promote rights of all social groups and to work for the welfare of next generations. The new political force has claimed of having more than 100,000 members across the nation including intellectuals, experts and civil society leaders. Leaders of major political parties including Nepalese Prime Minster KP Sharma Oli had attended the party announcement ceremony. There have been mixed responses in Nepal over the emergence of the new party under Bhattarai's leadership. On her Twitter Post, Saraswati Subba, a renowned civil society activist in Nepal, doubt over the new party's success on its mission. On his Twitter Post, Former Finance Minister Dr. Ramsharan Mahat has welcomed the party's vision to achieve economic prosperity in the country. You are here: Home Flash A Russia-made SU-30 fighter jet of Vietnam air forces went missing on a training mission offshore in Vietnam's central Nghe An province on Tuesday morning, local media reported. There were two pilots aboard the jet - Tran Quang Khai, chief of staff of Regiment 923, and Nguyen Huu Cuong, flight lieutenant, reported Thanh Nien (Young People) online newspaper. According to Thanh Nien, the jet took off Tuesday morning from Sao Vang airport in Vietnam's central Thanh Hoa province, some 140 km south of capital Hanoi, for training. It disappeared from radar screen at 7:29 a.m. local time (0029 GMT), reported VNExpress online newspaper. According to Military Zone 4, a local fisherman, who was working on sea, said he saw a plane falling down into the sea at around 8:30 a.m. local time to the east of Mat island in Nghe An province, some 260 km south of capital Hanoi. Khai and Cuong are said to be experienced and high-hour pilots, Thanh Nien quoted sources as saying. A joint rescue team has been deployed to search for the missing jet around the area, reported Thanh Nien. Flash The mass shooting in southern U.S. city Orlando, which U.S. President Barack Obama called "homegrown extremism" on Monday, has shocked and drawn wide condemnations from the international community. People attend a rally calling for legislation on gun violence prevention and gun control outside the White House, in Washington D.C., capital of the United States, June 13, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] HOMEGROWN EXTREMISM Fifty people including the gunman were killed and 53 others wounded early Sunday in the shooting at the Orlando's Pulse nightclub. It was the worst mass shooting in U.S. history and the deadliest terror attack since the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001. The gunman, identified by authorities as 29-year-old Omar Mateen of Port St. Lucie, Florida, was found dead inside the nightclub after a shootout with the police. "As far as we can tell right now, this is certainly an example of the kind of homegrown extremism that all of us have been so concerned about for a very long time," said Obama at the White House. The president said so far there was no "clear evidence" that the gunman had been directed externally. "It does appear that at the last minute, he announced allegiance to ISIL," said Obama, referring to an acronym of the extremist group, the Islamic State (IS), based in Syria and Iraq. "But there's no evidence so far that he was, in fact, directed by ISIL." "So far, we see no indication that this was a plot directed from outside the United States, and we see no indication that he was part of any kind of network," said FBI Director James Comey. However, Comey said Mateen was clearly "radicalized," at least in part via the Internet. Al-Bayan Radio, a media outlet for the IS extremist group, on Monday hailed the attack and called the Orlando mass shooter "one of the soldiers of the caliphate in America." However, the broadcast was thought as an opportunistic statement as the IS has not officially claimed responsibility for the Orlando attack. THE SHOOTER Pulse told local media that they saw the gunman there drinking on several occasions before the massacre. Ty Smith told The Orlando Sentinel that he had seen Mateen at the gay bar. Smith said Mateen would sit and drink by himself, getting loud and belligerent. Smith said he did not talk to Mateen much, but that Mateen mentioned having a wife and child. Mateen's father called his son's massacre "the act of a terrorist." Seddique Mir Mateen gave a statement to reporters on Monday at his home in Port St. Lucie, Florida. On Sunday, the father suggested that his son's anti-gay hatred may have led to the rampage, saying his son got angry a few months ago when he saw two men kissing in Miami. The father also apologized for what his son did. Court documents on Monday revealed that Mateen filed a petition to legally change his name from Omar Mir Seddique to Omar Mir Seddique Mateen in 2006, the same year he graduated from Indian River Community College. The documents released in detail Mateen's various jobs and say he was born in Queens, New York, and moved to Port Saint Lucie in 1991. Between 2001 and 2006, he worked at eight jobs, including a Publix grocery store, Circuit City, Chick-Fil-A and a Walgreens drug store. Then his jobs began focusing more on vitamins and health. He worked at Nutrition World in Fort Pierce, Gold's Gym and a GNC store in a mall. Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry told U.S. media that Mateen visited the kingdom twice to perform an Islamic pilgrimage the the year of 2011 and 2012. CONDOLENCES AND CONDEMNATIONS Hospital officials told local media that five people are still in "grave condition" after they were wounded in the attack. According to Orlando Regional Medical Center, 29 people are still at the hospital and a number of patients remain critically ill and in shock. Chinese President Xi Jinping called his U.S. counterpart, Barack Obama, on Monday to offer condolences over the deadly mass shooting. On behalf of the Chinese government and the Chinese people, Xi expressed deep sympathy and sincere condolences to Obama, the U.S. government and the American people. He also mourned the victims. The United Nations Security Council on Monday condemned "in the strongest terms" the mass shooting in Orlando, which it said targeted "persons as a result of their sexual orientation." "The members of the Security Council reiterated that any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed," said French Ambassador Francois Delattre, Security Council president for June. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon wrote to the governor of the U.S. state of Florida and the mayor of Orlando to convey his deepest condolences for the loss of lives and injuries in Sunday's shooting in Orlando that targeted the LGBT community, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told a daily briefing. In the letter, Ban said that "such violence is despicable, and contrary to the values of equality, peace and mutual respect that underpin the United Nations," said Dujarric. "We are all horrified by the horrible massacre in Orlando," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday, at the start of a cabinet meeting, according to a statement from his office. "I wish to express on behalf of the Israeli government and citizens our condolences to the American people and the families of the victims in such a hard and tragic time," he added. Netanyahu also said that countries around the world should stand "soldier to soldier" and fight terrorism that "threatens the entire world." Latin American countries are united in their voices on Monday, condemning the attack and called for the fight for terrorism and homophobia. The U.S. on Monday called on all 193 members of the United Nations to not only condemn the terrorism, but also to protect gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people from such attacks. Deputy U.S. Ambassador to the UN David Pressman said outrage at the killing should be directed at protecting members of the LGBT community "not just around condemning the terrorists who kill them." China Aid By Brynne Lawrence (Midland, TexasJune 10, 2016) China Aid conducted an exclusive interview on May 12 with a member of a serially targeted house church in Chinas central Guizhou province. The church member, who requested anonymity, described the churchs current against persecution and detailed how the international community could help. The interviewee, an attendee of Huoshi Church, disclosed that the church currently faces the trial of six separate cases, five of which involve church members Wang Yao and Zhang Xiuhong, pastors Yang Hua and Su Tianfu and a non-Christian named Yu Lei, who, together with Wang, leaked a confidential document that revealed the existence of a state-run command and control center dedicated to persecuting the church. Officials raid Huoshi Church. (Photo: China Aid) At the beginning, I just thought it was just at the city-level, but this document suggests that there must be some provincial level [government body] or an even higher on the operation. Its not just a single case, the anonymous church member said. Theres a big plan, and our church is just part of the plan. Additionally, the church member said that authorities recently began visiting Yang Huas wife at home and monitoring her when she leaves the house. Similarly, Pastor Su Tianfu and his wife have experienced increased government surveillance. According to the Christian, Huoshi Churchs ability to survive the crackdown on its religious activities depends on its staying in small groups. Repeated raids from government personnel and the imprisonment of church members have forced the church to disperse into smaller gatherings meeting in private residences. However, the interviewee fears the leaders of these groups lack the training needed to oversee them and grow their attendance. When asked how the international society could help churches experiencing persecution, he emphasized the importance of pressuring Chinese officials and legislating an international law that would punish human rights violators. A transcript of the interview can be read below. China Aid reports abuses, such as those experienced by Huoshi Church, in order to promote religious freedom and rule of law in China. Interview Transcript Q: I just want to start out with some questions about the situation with Huoshi Church. What do you think was the most unexpected incident? A: I didnt expect the confidential document. I knew [the government was] going to do something about the church, but I didnt expect it to be so serious. If they have a [command and control center] they can mobilize all their resources. At the beginning, I just thought it was just at the city-level, but this document suggests that there must be some provincial level [government body] or an even higher on the operation. Its not just a single case. Theres a big plan, and our church is just part of the plan. Q: Was it pretty overwhelming when you found that out? A: Yeah. When I first saw that, I thought, Wow. They used the way they treated the Falun Gong many years ago to target a Christian church [Editors Note: Falun Gong is a spiritual discipline in China that is heavily persecuted]. Q: What would you say are some of the churchs current struggles? A: There are so many. A case is going to be tried soon. We have four victims in jail. One pastor, Pastor Su, was released, but he is on bail and is still considered to be a criminal, so there are five cases [involving people]. We also sued the [Urban] Management Bureau. This is another case. So, we have six cases. If we put them all together, there are six cases. Q: How soon are those going to be tried? A: I have no idea. Q: The four people incarcerated are currently Zhang Xiuhong, Yang Hua, and then the two people who leaked the confidential document, correct? A: Yes. Of course, we want the people to be released, and of course, we want to still keep the space. We want to get our money back, but I have no clue [about the trials]. Q: Do you have any updates about the church space? What is the latest that youve heard? A: The latest is that a lawyer wrote a defense statement to the judge, but the judge mailed it back to him. Q: So, there has been no progress? A: No. Q: What are some of the churchs current needs, and how would you like to see the international community reach out to help Huoshi Church? A: There are many different ways. For instance, now it is very difficult for us to pay the mortgage, but the mortgage is roughly $5,000 a month. During this month, were going to run out of all our money. If we cannot pay the mortgage, its another good excuse for the government official to take it away from us, so [providing money] is a practical way to help. Another way to help is to support the lawyers who are still brave enough to stand up and defend the six different cases. Now, there are already 12-14 lawyers involved in this case. Three or four of them have been hired by the family members [of the incarcerated], not by the church, including Yu Leis lawyer and Wang Yaos lawyer [Editors note: Yu Lei and Wang Yao were responsible for leaking the confidential document]. Wang Yaos stepfather is trying to reach Pastor Su. He wants to include his stepdaughters case [with our cases], so that means that our lawyer could also defend Wang Yao as well at some time, but Yu Leis wife hired a lawyer by herself. Therefore, supporting lawyers is another way to help. Additionally, Pastor Su feels really unsafe at this moment, and his wife and three children want to move out as well. Q: Do you mean they want to move out of the country? A: Yes, they want to move out of the country to a safe place, and Yang Huas children and his wife want to do the same. Yu Leis son is in Lynchburg right now at Liberty Christian Academy. I hope that he can apply for asylum or something like that and be safe. If they have some financial problems, I hope people will help them out. Another thing is right now, we have divided our church into small groups. There are many groups, but most of the leaders of the small groups frankly do not have any experience to take responsibility and lead the people, so they also need training on how to [get more people to join the] group or build a small group into a small church. They need some kind of campus building or financial support when they start the group, because they either need a place [to meet] or need some kind of training. Of course, the international community can put some pressure on the Chinese government from all different angles as well. For instance, Congress or different states could write some joint statements. I dont know which state is the sister state of Guizhou province, but it must be some state. For instance, maybe [China Aid] could find out [if it is Texas] and then push a little bit. Additionally, I bet there are many connections in the business sector with Chinese state-owned companies or the Chinese government. Maybe, if they dare, they can do something about it. International organizations such as [China Aid] and NGOs might be able to do something as well. Congress already has a database [of human rights abuses in China], but the legislative body could pass a law that makes sure that, if the Chinese government or any other country [persecutes people], they will be punished in some way, like the law against Russia, called the Malinsky Law. The government can do something about it, not just protest or send over a statement but also do something more holistic. This is what I can think of. Q: Those are a lot of good options. What are some of your concerns for the churchs future? A: If the small groups can survive and grow, I dont think theres anything I should worry about. Definitely, all this poverty we have [is concerning], and all the people locked in jail should be free, but in terms of the church, if the small group can stand firmly and grow, [the church will be fine]. Q: I think it will grow. God is more powerful than the Chinese government, right? A: Yes, definitely! According to the Bible, the church grows even faster under persecution. [For instance], you can see that in Europe and the United Statesmaybe not in Texas, however, but in Germanythe church is shrinking. This is a very free country, and the government and people respect religion, but even still [the church shrinks]. In China, even though there is so much persecution, the church still grows. Personally, from my perspective as a Christian, I dont think all this persecution is totally a bad thing [since it helps the church grow]. Q: You told the China Aid staff how Huoshi Church didnt expect to have to use digital communication as much. How can the Chinese churches be better equipped for the persecution they face? A: This is a very basic issue. You have to make sure communication between the church, the church members and the outside world is going through secure channels. Later on, I found a way to convince people to communicate using these secure tools. I said, We are not bad guys, but its just like when we send letters; we seal them instead of just leaving them open. There are no secrets that we have, but we still want to be respected. Its not about bad and good. We just want to be respected. We dont want all of our personal dialogue to be heard or watched. This is one way they can be more prepared. Then, maybe they can build up some kind of connection with the outside world. They cannot just say, Okay, our church is just a group of people that lives isolated from the rest of the world. They could [say this], but that also means that when they are in danger, nobody will know, and nobody will help them. To build the connections, they should probably know different churches and media sources and work with international organizations in case an emergency happens, so that they can spread the news through different channels, including NGOs, media, other churches, lawyers, etc. How can we help them to build up this kind of network? Q: Do you have any ideas on how to help them build that kind of network? A: Yes, because I went through all these things, I think I do. For instance, you guys hosted a lot of training in Hong Kong and Taiwan, but this kind of networking could be more focused. For instance, how can we safely exchange information or use our mobile phones or computers? Maybe all the house church pastors and leaders can set up a regular plan to meet with one another once or twice a year. Maybe they can talk about their situation or meet each other face-to-face to build up a certain kind of bond, like a band of brothers. It could also be a kind of retreat for them, since all of the house church leaders in China are under a lot of pressure and are very busy. Most of them are not paid well. This kind of get-together could also be a retreat for them to take a break and relax for a little bit and then learn and share things together. Q: Theyd be encouraged, too. Theres other people, since there would be other people with them who have experienced similar things. A: Definitely. In order to prepare yourself [for persecution], your financial system should be invincible. You dont want to leave any back door through which the government can hunt you down, like what happened in Wenzhou. Theyre a couple. They were arrested and sentenced to 12 and 14 years [in prison]. Thats terrible! Just because there are some [factual errors] in their financial ledgers. Maybe [Huoshi Church] can also train them. Even though we dont exist legally, our financial records are good. They are cleanvery clean. You cannot say anything bad about them. So, this is something that would be very helpful. Its kind of a process to build up your own accountability to your [church] members and to your donors and to international society. Q: It really cant hurt. It benefits you and it doesnt leave a back door open, as you were saying. A: Yeah, so this is also a very important thing, and another thing may be related more to spirituality. If some of the house churchs younger generation, can get more opportunities to be trained as future, it could be wonderful. They are many young people now who are becoming Christians all around China, but theres no sufficient resources and help for them to grow. Maybe we can launch some kind of youth program for leaders of the next generation. For the young people, its really easy to learn finances and the digital things and the new ideas because theyre just open to learn. If I think of any other things, I will tell you. At least, we can do these kinds of things, and its a lot of things to do, right? Q: What have you found to be the most encouraging throughout this entire process? Youve already given advice on how to help, but how can we as other Christians encourage the Chinese church? A: For instance, the international society had actually made a lot of effort, and some [of their efforts] were very costly and difficult. For instance, a journalist visited my place herself. Unfortunately, all these stories are being covered in English, so my people cannot read or understand whats going on in the outside world. The Chinese versions of the stories about how the international society is responding to our situation are very important, even critical, to encourage the people who are suffering from persecutionnot only at my church, but also generally all churches. They can be encouraged. They will see Okay, we are not alone! There are some people, organizations and states that are concerned about our situation. They will try their best to help us. So, we need some kind of newspaper, like China Aid. You can function like the media as well as translate the information from the outside world [specific to persecution cases] into Chinese and distribute all this information through all meansnot only through your website, but also through social media, WeChat, Weibo, the telegram group or whatever we can use. This is a thing through which we can really help them to feel encouraged. Q: Next, Im going to ask a couple of questions about Yang Hua, because we just started our FreeYangHua campaign, and I think we have people interested in Yang Hua. Has anyone had any recent contact with Yang Hua? A: I contact his wife almost every day. The last lawyer visit to Yang Hua was around 10 days ago. [I know this] because the lawyer, Chen Jiangang, told [China Aid president Bob Fu] right after the visit. Im not sure of the exact date, but it was around 10 days or two weeks ago. That was the last time that lawyers visited Yang Hua. Recently, they increased security measures against his wife. Actually, they increased the security measure not only against Yang Huas wife, but also towards Su Tianfu (Pastor Su) and Pastor Sus wife. I dont why. Maybe some [important person] was going to visit Guiyang. I dont know whats going on, but just, all of a sudden, they increased the security level. [This happened] a couple of days ago, [maybe] five days ago. I dont why. There is no reason. I cannot figure it out. Q: We just got a report in from Wang Hongwu [Yang Huas wife] talking about how she was summoned to the police station for questioning, and I was starting to wonder if there was something more they were doing to her. Theyre obviously watching her. A: Yesterday, she told me that, in the past two days, the police have visited her house everyday in the past couple of days, they started to follow her around wherever she goes. Q: So shes definitely being tracked? A: Yes, definitely. Q: Does anyone know how Yang Hua is doing? A: Chen Jiangang is the only one who met Yang Hua face-to-face and talked to him in person. Q: So, otherwise, theres been no news about Yang? A: Right. All the information about Yang Hua is coming through Chen Jiangang. Q: How has the detention of Yang Hua and the persecution of Huoshi Church affected local attitudes towards Christianity in Guiyang? A: Many smaller churches are very, very unsafe. Some of them must have compromised [with the government]. Still, I know there are churches that think Huoshi (Living Stone) is the only one the government hates, but what they hate is Christianity, not specific churches. The problem is, not everyone interprets the incident like that. Some of them say that [we experience persecution because] we are too radical, grew too fast and didnt keep a low profile. Some people will say these things, but some people will say, Okay, its not a single case. Its part of the whole plan. If Living Stone can be shut down, then each one of us can be shut down at any time. Anyway, I still see people come to [believe in] Jesus Christ. Q: Thats awesome. A: Yeah, thats very positive. No matter how a certain pastor thinks, thought, or projects the situation to be, ordinary people just keep coming to Jesus Christ, so overall, nothing can stop [Christianity]. Maybe from time-to-time there is some setbacks, but, in general, people still go [to church]. Q: Is it usually a struggle for non-Christians to become Christians because of the persecution? A: Yeah, definitely. Because after all of this, they know that to become a Christian means that the police might visit you regularly, or your boss might talk to you. Q: I dont think Americans understand what a life-changing decision that is, so its so inspiring to hear about people who choose to follow Jesus despite the hardships. Huoshi Church is the largest house church in Guiyang, is that correct? A: Yes. Q: Do you know if non-Christians, in Guiyang, know about the situation? A: Its a big thing. Even some of my classmates who are not Christians know from somewhere. A lot of people know about this situation, because, as you can imagine, [Huoshi Church] has about 700 people, and a special [government] office has been set up to target them. There might be even more. I dont know, because we dont keep a list of the names. It could have been very dangerous, so we didnt count how many people [attend the church]. That means the government doesnt have a clue who is a member of the church and who is not, so they just boldly collect names and the contact information of the place the church members work and then talk to the boss of your workplace and talk to the community leader of where you live. So, a lot of peopletens of thousandshave heard about this news. Q: Its not necessarily being reported in the media, but people are hearing it from other places. A: Yeah. For instance, I have three brothers and sisters, and Im the only Christian. My brothers and sisters are going to be invited for tea [Editors Note: The Chinese police often invite someone for tea when they wish to interrogate them]. So you can imagine, if I am a Christian, they will not only talk to my parents but they will probably also visit my grandparents. Q: So people will just find out by word-of-mouth? A: Yeah. As you can imagine, that is huge. Q: Hearing about what happened to Huoshi Church, have any non-believers in Guiyang expressed support? Either by sympathizing with you, or theyre otherwise demonstrating that they care. A: Okay, Yu Lei could be a typical example. He is not a Christian. He hasnt been baptized yet, but when he saw the [confidential] document and realized that the church was in danger, he took action without any hesitation. This endangered his life. Now, he has left [his home]. His mother is very old. His wife has to take care of his mother and their youngest son, who is only five years old, so its a very difficult time, but this guy is still [strong] I believe he will become a very strong Christian in the future. Q: What would you like people outside of China to know about religious freedom in China? A: In general, I would maybe like to see more media coverage. I dont know if it will work [It would be great if] we can get some celebrities, for instance from Hollywood, like Tom Cruise [to become spokespeople for Christians in China]. I know that Tom Cruise is not a Christian, but there must be someone there, right? Q: Right. Well, I know that Christian Bale supported Chen Guangcheng. A: Yeah, like Chen Guangchengs [case]. Thats got to be huge. That would get the headlines of the newspapers. Either that or, in some major international event, some people could talk about the religious situation in China. For instance, during the Olympic Games, the gold medal champions could say something. Like, if Jeremy Lin says something about freedom of religion in China Thats exciting! Just imagine. There must be a lot of Chinese students in the United States or in Europeall over the world. Maybe we can talk to them. Most of them may not be Christians, but no matter what, if they stay in the United States, sooner or later some people will teach Christianity to them, no matter where they are or what kind of school they go to. Maybe we can go through some channels so that most of the overseas students can get involved in distributing all this news. Q: I know a lot of Chinese students are resistant to the idea that theres religious persecution in China. They believe that its just U.S. propaganda, and even some Americans think that its not that bad. What would you suggest as a way of convincing Americans and international students that religious persecution in China is real, and its bad? A: For instance, if we can get Jeremy Lin to say something it must be real, right? Hes like a hero! Hes like a superhero to some people! So, [their understanding of] the situation will be different. Maybe you can work on that and send some letters or do a little research about which Hollywood stars are Christians. For instance, some Hollywood stars, like Richard Gere, are Tibetan Buddhists. Thats major! We dont have some kind of spokesman for Christianity in Hollywood, at least at the moment, but there must be someone who is a very good Christian there, like [Ronald] Reagan was, many years ago. Q: I think its a great idea to contact celebrities, because they have influence among people across political parties, so its less divisive. Is there any other information that you would like to share? A: I do not fully understand what the mandate of your job is, but I think it could be great if something could be covered by China Aid. That would be wonderful. I know that for instance some Chinese government-controlled, so-called professors are running for the U.N.s Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief. Come on, thats totally [wrong] So maybe you should do something about that. I know that Bob already did a lot of things in Congress, the EU and the UN, but maybe we should put more energy in not only working on individual cases, but also changing laws, such as international or American law. For instance, there was a law in the 1980s that if you were a victim of persecution, you cannot easily travel to the United States. Then, [later] in the 1980s, a law passed that victims of religious persecution can apply for a certain kind of [visa]. A law can better help the situation. It could be any kind of law, for instance, if we can make an international law and the U.N. says that, if any country sets up a law that violates human rights, the international society will consider that law illegal in the framework of the international law. If you sign the human rights treaty, you have to recognize the international law first, then your national law, then your regulations. So, if we can mobilize the international society to do these kinds of things, or if we can do them nationally, or in the future, [says that U.S. government will] hunt them down if they do something really bad. We not only have a duty to report the individual cases, but we also have a broader mission to enforce the law or contribute to the legal system. China Aid Media Team Cell: (432) 553-1080 | Office: 1+ (888) 889-7757 | Other: (432) 689-6985 Email: [email protected] For more information, click here A man tries out a virtual reality headset at the 2016 CES Asia in Shanghai. There were more than 200 exhibitors at this year's show. [Photo provided to China Daily] LOS ANGELES - Kyle Stirling could feel that change was even in the air during his recent visit to China. "Last year everyone was elbowing their way in to make stock trades and watch their portfolios rise," the Silicon Valley startup mentor said. However, within 12 months, "it is a very different time here now and a change is afoot," he told Xinhua after coming back from China recently. Stirling, a mentor in the US National Science Foundation Innovation Corps for technology commercialization by graduate students and elite teams of scientists, noticed that some of the most powerful forces in China are seeking innovation this year. During his packed one-day stay on May 30 in China, Stirling first went to Domo Lab, a tiny startup in Shanghai with a focus on building new robotics courses to promote Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) courses among high school students. Those entrepreneurs were talking about "passion" and "changing the world" and asked the consultant for some advices on designing innovation programs. During the afternoon tea time, Stirling also met a Chinese mom who seemed very worried. But she was not worried so much about the traditional education problems of her 10-year-old boy, like a focus on test scores, he said. What made her so concerned about was how to incorporate innovation into the current Chinese education system and she was betting on innovation through DIY, Art and STEM programs, he recalled. During a conference that evening, some local industry leaders and global experts including Stirling talked about building "smart cities" and discussed how China could have a supportive infrastructure that let people interact in new ways. According to the Chinese industry leaders, innovation is not the same as productivity. "In productivity you optimize for value, could be quality, price or speed, you know in advance what you are doing. With innovation you are bringing together a bunch of experiments and see which one takes root, you want variation the opposite of mass production." "They are all committed to doing something about bringing innovation to the people of China," Stirling said. One example is that Internet plus and data-driven design had made their way into the vocabularies of many Chinese entrepreneurs, Stirling observed. "Last year this was not a part of anyone's vocabularies," the Silion Valley data science specialist said. On May 30, Beijing hosted three top-level science and innovation conferences that would boost China to become a leading global power in science and technology. When asked about what is the best environment for creativity, Stirling believes that it is an environment that can bring together people with different background and experiences to focus on a problem. Stirling is not the only one who was impressed with China's innovation environment. After a visit to an innovation hub in Beijing, Silicon Valley angel investor and entrepreneur Cyriac Roeding was surprised by Chinese entrepreneurs' spirit, their dedication, and friendliness. He said that in 10 years Beijing may become the next center of global innovation. Roeding said in an article that he sat down with billionaire startup executives as well as entrepreneurs while in Beijing in a recent trip and was astounded by the pragmatism, motivation and innovative thinking in the Chinese tech industry. Chinese companies usually ran a 9/9/6 schedule, meaning their staff work from 9 am to 9 pm, six days a week, while founders and top executives often ran a 9/11/6.5 schedule, higher than the average of their U.S. counterparts. "We pride ourselves on being fast in Silicon Valley, but Chinese startups are faster ... Meetings are anytime ... A wave of innovation is coming from China." According to Stirling, China might enter a phase where it finally "copies" the successful approach of other countries by actually "not copying" and instead goes full steam for an "innovative culture within the framework and context of China's unique history." The reason why he said this is because the three most powerful forces in China -- Government, Business and Chinese Moms -- give a push for innovation. "The next ten years will be surprising to see how this plays out," he said. Founder and Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd Jack Ma rings a bell to celebrate as the Alibaba stock goes live during the company's initial price offering at the New York Stock Exchange on Sept 19, 2014. [Photo/Getty Images] Traders have never been more bearish on Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, the fast-growing Chinese e-commerce company facing a regulatory probe and the loss of a key investor. The total number of outstanding shares borrowed for short selling peaked at more than 124 million last week. That's the most since its 2014 initial public offering and is up from about 60 million in December, according to data compiled by Bloomberg and Markit Ltd. Prominent short sellers including Jim Chanos and John Hempton have been red-flagging Alibaba for months, suggesting that its growth figures might be too good to be true. Bearish bets spiked in the past two weeks after the company disclosed a regulatory probe of its Chinese delivery unit and SoftBank Group Corp disclosed plans to sell a $10 billion stake. "There's been an accumulation of factors making it more and more attractive for short sellers to target Alibaba, while the SEC investigation and SoftBank share sale added a lot of pressure," said Gil Luria, an analyst at Wedbush Securities Inc in Los Angeles, who has a neutral rating on the stock. "If the SEC was to find Alibaba's accounting isn't proper and Alibaba has to restate its results, that'll be very detrimental. Because Alibaba's so high profile, it will cast an even greater shadow of Chinese companies listed in the US." Alibaba, which claimed more than 75 percent of the e-commerce market share in the Chinese mainland last year, made history with a record $25 billion initial public offering in September 2014. Traders in New York clamored for the stock, which was priced at $68 a share, as a way to tap into the potential profits available from the country's growing middle class. The shares have dropped 6.4 percent to $75.92 since May 25 when the company said that the SEC is looking at data reported from the company's Singles Day (Nov 11) promotion, Alibaba's biggest shopping day, and how the company consolidates results from affiliates, including logistics partner Cainiao Network. While SoftBank's divestment comes as part of a broader strategy to find new investments in startups and strengthen its debt-heavy balance sheet, the move can be unsettling to investors as the Japanese technology giant first bought into the company 16 years ago, said Henry Guo, a New York-based analyst at M Science. "The stake sale by SoftBank caught the market off guard, which dampened Alibaba shares as it's one of the early investors," said Guo, who has been covering Chinese internet stocks traded in the US for about 10 years and has a positive outlook on Alibaba. Chanos, the hedge fund manager who became known for betting against Enron Corp in 2001, told CNBC last month that he's shorting Alibaba "for accounting reasons". Hempton, of Sydney-based fund Bronte Capital, raised questions about the company's accounting in a blog post last year, calling its numbers "wonky". Hempton declined to comment beyond what he said in the blog post, and Chanos didn't respond to an e-mail and phone calls. Alibaba spokesman Robert Christie also declined to comment. Most analysts covering Alibaba remain bullish. Thirty-seven of them advise buying the stock, while six rate it hold, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It has no sell ratings. The company posted better-than-expected sales of 24.2 billion yuan ($3.7 billion) in the March quarter. Its platforms, which link buyers and sellers, hit a 3 trillion yuan milestone of goods sold during the period, according to its earnings statement. "The reality of Alibaba's strong position in e-commerce in China and the dramatic and rapid move to e-commerce in China set the stage for strong earnings," said David Riedel, president of New York-based Riedel Research Group Inc who rates the stock a buy. Alibaba also remains relatively cheap compared with global peers. The stock sells for 23 times projected 12-month earnings, compared with an average multiple of 51 among seven comparable e-commerce providers, including Amazon.com Inc, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The average 12-month price target of analysts covering the stock implies a potential return of 22 percent. An express delivery firms prepars for the busiest season of the year, Jiujiang city, Jiangxi province, Nov 8, 2015. [Photo/China Daily] Cainiao, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's logistics offshoot, has pledged to lower significantly China's logistics cost by offering data-enabled smart solutions to handle the rapidly rising number of parcels driven by the country's booming online shopping demand. Zhejiang Cainiao Supply Chain Management Co said on Monday that its long-term vision is to lower the proportion of logistics expenditures in the country's GDP from the current 16 percent to 5 percent. Tong Wenhong, Cainiao's chief executive officer, said the vision to lower China's logistic cost is in line with her company's roadmap in the next 10 years. "Logistics cost accounts for 6 percent of the GDP in United States, which delivered 12.7 billion parcels last year. China delivered 20.6 billion parcels last year. A bigger scale can further reduce cost. That is why we believe it is possible to lower China's logistic cost to 5 percent of the country's GDP," she said at the sideline of the 2016 Global Smart Logistics Summit held in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. "Once we have a unified standard in terms of geographic location, data and services, the logistics industry can develop in a smart way and all the industrial participants can share the infrastructure and resources with each other to improve efficiency and cut cost," she said. Jack Ma, executive chairman of Alibaba, said China's logistics industry is expected to deliver 300 million parcels a day in an another 10 years. "With the rising cost in labor, it is impossible for the industry to further expand in the traditional way. It is high time to use smart solutions," said Gao Hongfeng, head of China Express Association. A university student adjusts his "virtual" drum set at a tech innovation expo held in Tianjin. [Photo/Xinhua] Tianjin ORAC Elevator Co Ltd plans to introduce robots to its assembly line in order to boost efficiency and speed up the pace of its transformation toward intelligent manufacturing. The firm, a leading manufacturer of elevators, is taking the step in line with the national "Made in China 2025" strategy, which seeks to transform China from a manufacturing giant into a global manufacturing power. Liu Yongyuan, the company's chairman, said it plans to invest 70 million yuan ($10.6 million) to introduce advanced robotic equipment. "We will continue to increase investment in R&D and attract top talent. Our R&D spending accounts for 20 percent of our total expenditure, while our sales revenue is expected to reach 600 to 700 million yuan this year," said Liu. The annual sales growth of its products is around 30 percent. In 2015, it sold more than 2,000 elevators, and the company expects to sell around 5,000 this year. Founded in 2005 with total assets exceeding 500 million yuan, ORAC now produces elevator components, escalators, and elevators for passenger, freight, observation, hospital and domestic use. It was listed in August 2015 on the National Equities Exchange and Quotations, a pilot national share transfer system for small and medium-sized enterprises also known as the New Third Board. Having obtained more than 80 patents, the company has transformed from initially producing elevator components to owning elevator brands and intellectual property. Tianjin municipal government has issued a range of policies that encourage small and medium-sized scientific and technological enterprises to innovate. The number of "little giant" enterprises with sales above 100 million yuan has risen from 1,800 to 3,453 this year. ORAC has obtained the title of "little giant" enterprise. The city has set a target of having more than 100,000 small and medium-sized science and technology businesses by 2020, with 5,000 achieving the designation of "little giant". "We also plan to complete the acquisition of Alimak Group, a Sweden-headquartered company engaged in the manufacturing and development of industrial elevators, construction hoists and work platforms, by the end of this year," Liu added. Alimak's global R&D headquarters will remain in Europe, while its manufacturing operations will be transferred to Tianjin's Dongli district. An Investor looks at an electronic board showing stock information at a brokerage house in Nanjing, Jiangsu province.[Photo/IC] US index provider MSCI Inc is due to announce early on Wednesday whether it will include China's A shares in its Emerging Markets Index. Inclusion would bring funds of $20 billion to $30 billion into the A-share markets. Analysts, authorities and market players hold different views over the likelihood of the inclusion this year as the market has made significant improvements in many aspects while restrictions on inbound investment remain. MSCI reviewed the A-share market last June and decided not to include A shares for a number of reasons, including market transparency and accessibility. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index is one of the world's most widely recognized measurements for stock performance in emerging markets. The index tracks the performance of more than 800 stocks in 23 economies, more than 70 percent of which are in Asia. Qi Bin, an official with the China Securities Regulatory Commission, said improvements to the trading-halt system were part of Chinese government's efforts to facilitate MSCI inclusion. Qi, who made the remarks while attending the Lujiazui Forum in Shanghai on Sunday, also cited freer money transfers allowed by the foreign exchange regulator and greater recognition of beneficiary ownership. "The inclusion in MSCI is a historic certainty - it will happen eventually," Qi said. "When you participate in a market, you don't want to wait too long. It will be too late to enter a market if you wait for it to become completely mature," he said. CSRC Vice-Chairman Jiang Yang, speaking at the same event, kept investors guessing about the introduction of a planned link between the Hong Kong and Shenzhen stock markets, which would be similar to the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect, which started in 2014. Jiang said the link, which Premier Li Keqiang said in March would be launched this year, would begin at an "appropriate time". Qi added that a feasibility study into a third link, between the Shanghai and London exchanges, is now underway. The inclusion of some A shares in an MSCI index will help make a link between the Shanghai and London stock exchanges more possible, London Stock Exchange Chief Executive Officer Xavier Rolet said on Sunday at the same forum. The A-share benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 3.21 percent to 2,883.67 points on Monday, while Shenzhen Component Index declined 4.4 percent to 9,862.88 points. Bloomberg contributed to this story. An employee uses an Apple iPhone to demonstrate to reporters how to pay using the Apple Pay service at an Apple store in Beijing, Feb 17, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] Chinese banks have moved to set up investment funds to acquire overseas financial technology companies, hoping to harness technical innovation in the financial sector, or the so-called fintech wave that is poised to disrupt the traditional banking business. Fintech involves, among other things, new technologies like machine learning, predictive behavioral analytics and data-driven marketing. It involves improved data analytics helping institutional clients further refine investment decisions. Smaller joint-stock commercial banks and city commercial banks in China are taking the lead as some of them will soon establish their own fintech funds, said Nicole Zhou, associate partner at consulting firm McKinsey & Co. The move is being seen as an answer by the banks to the challenges posed by the flourishing internet finance sector and their response to the rapid rise of digital banking in China, said Zhou, who has been advising her banking clients on digital strategies. Zhou said that the first batch of these funds would probably be announced within months, although she declined to name the banks involved. Setting up overseas investment funds will still be subject to regulatory approval on foreign exchange and the relaxation of investment restrictions on commercial banks. But analysts said the fintech trend is here to stay and direct investment into technology firms would be an effective way for Chinese banks to acquire vital technology and resources. "The fintech wave is an unavoidable trend and will have a huge impact on the banks, many of which have difficulties of developing their own technology capability given their current corporate resources," said Zeng Gang, director of banking research at the Institute of Finance and Banking at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. "If so, the most effective way for the banks would be investing directly into fintech firms rather then developing their own technology ecosystem," he said. The internet finance market in China has been growing fast with total market value reaching about 12 trillion yuan ($1.82 trillion) to 15 trillion yuan as of 2015, accounting for nearly 20 percent of China's GDP, according to McKinsey. The People's Bank of China, the monetary authority, has also been exploring the feasibility of launching digital currency and weighing the blockchain technology, a technical innovation of bitcoin, which will prevent financial transaction records from being tampered with and revised. The developments in China reflect the global trend of fintech wave that is posing challenge to the operation of traditional financial sector. The fintech companies have been using new technology including big data, cloud computing, blockchain technology, and mobile internet to disrupt the business model of traditional banking. In 2015, the fintech sector attracted a record amount of investment of $19.1 billion globally, nearly 8 times the amount in 2011, according to a report by McKinsey & Company. BRUSSELS - After a five-day visit to China at the end of last month, European Investment Bank (EIB) President Werner Hoyer said the good collaboration with China will be further enhanced, focusing on concrete projects which can bring the European and Chinese economies forward. In an interview with Xinhua in Brussels, Hoyer called China "an interesting partner" for the bank, saying the collaboration by far with China is "good". "I have just returned from China where there is a big interest to cooperate with us," Hoyer told Xinhua, hinting that the trip aiming to strengthen partnership between the two sides was a success. The trip marked the first visit to China by a president of the Europe's long-term lending institution since 2007. "It is important to underline that the Juncker plan was not a fund in the classical sense," Hoyer told Xinhua, "so when we talk about cooperation with Beijing we are talking about co-financing." The Investment Plan for Europe, the so-called "Juncker plan", aiming to bring investments back in line with historical trends was initiated by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in November 2014. China became the first non-EU country to announce its contribution to the plan in September 2015. "Therefore we need to develop projects which are interesting for Chinese investors and to develop platforms in which you can find us together," he continued, "this is what is happening now." Asked about his cooperation with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Hoyer said the EIB has been working closely with the AIIB from its creation, sharing technical and financial experiences. An important issue on the president's agenda was to establish and ensure frequent, regular and strategic dialogues with the AIIB, the China-initiated multilateral bank joined by more than 10 European countries. "This dialogue is crucial for the success of this new bank and other new institutions," he said. "We look forward to working closely with the AIIB in the years to come," he stressed. Another key focus of the visit is to strengthen partnership with China to better tackle climate change. During his trip to China, Hoyer also paid a two-day field trip to north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region where he saw at first-hand how the EIB was supporting reforestation to fight against desertification. The flagship forestation scheme located in Xin Cheng District was the first project of its kind supported by the EIB in China. "We are pleased to support the flagship Inner Mongolia Forestation Project as the leading international financial institution supporting this kind of projects in Asia. Tackling climate change is a global challenge and since 2010 has been the main focus of the European Investment Bank's engagement in China," he said. The president was impressed by the project which covers more than thirty-one thousand hectares of forest. It will provide sustainable forestry products for years to come and benefit the local economy creating thousands of new employment opportunities. "The trees planted in the area will also reduce carbon emissions significantly that benefit the entire planet," he added. Experience gained will be helpful in promoting the clean development mechanism elsewhere in China, Hoyer said, noting the forestation project is supporting sustainable development, increased biodiversity and ensuring more sustainable management of forests. According the EIB, the bank has provided more support than any other international financial institution for forestation investment in China over the last five years, amounting to more than 580 million euros. After that, the EIB has supported a total of 14 forestry projects across China under three Framework loans dedicated to climate action in China, Hoyer introduced. President Hoyer also signed a new agreement with the Ministry of Finance to strengthen joint support for climate related schemes in China. "Our bank works closely with Chinese financial institutions who lend on climate related projects around the world," Hoyer said, adding the two partners plan to support crucial investment across a broad range of sectors. Last year, EIB support for climate finance outside Europe represented 30 percent of overall lending, and the EIB said it is committed to raise the share of climate financing outside the EU in developing countries to 35 percent by 2020. "My colleagues are working on a number of initiatives to streamline cooperation between the EIB and Chinese investors to work together in specific projects," he said. Earlier this month, the EIB has agreed to provide its largest ever single loan for offshore wind investment, the 4 billion British pounds Beatrice windfarm off the coast of Scotland in the North Sea. "We warmly welcome the involvement of the SDIC Power, part of the China's State Development and Investment Corporation Group, who have taken an equity stake in the Beatrice project," the president said. EIB president Werner Hoyer and Vice-President responsible for Asia Jonathan Taylor made an official visit to China from May 26 to 31 intended to strengthen strategic financial cooperation between EIB and China. The EIB is the world's leading international public bank and owned directly by the 28 European Union member states. CHONGQING - China's first cargo train carrying parallel imported vehicles from Europe arrived in southwest China's Chongqing municipality on Monday. The train loaded with 82 imported cars, including some famous brand autos such as Land Rover, BMW, and Audi, left Germany's industrial city of Duisburg about two weeks ago, said Pei Lei, an official with the Xiyong Comprehensive Bonded Area in Chongqing. The train traveled through Poland, Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan before entered China via the Alataw Pass in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, according to Pei. The route cut the transport time by over 30 days compared to shipping. Parallel imported cars refer to cars imported without authorization from carmakers. Such vehicles are usually cheaper than similar models from domestic dealers or simply not available through official retail channels. An imported car trading center is being built in the Xiyong Comprehensive Bonded Area to boost parallel vehicle imports. Zhang Qing (Left) and Zhang Qingfeng (Right) examine semi-finished felt products in their factory in Nangong, Northeast China's Hebei province, June 13, 2016. [Photo/IC] Zhang Qing, 31, and his brother Zhang Qingfeng, 28, took over a felt factory opened by their father two years ago. Now, the company has gone global thanks to the brothers' ingenuity. When they started to run the factory, they felt that the old way of operation had restrained the business development. After many discussions, they decided that Zhang Qing, the elder brother, will be responsible for new product development and cooperation with US-based Whirlpool Corporation, while the younger will take charge of marketing. In the past two years, they have introduced world-class advanced equipment and communicated with the foreign peers actively. The factory has also started to rely more on deep processing rather than primary processing. Now the product line has expanded to more than 30 varieties ranging from industrial felts to household goods including felt table mats, couplets, vases, wallpaper, hats and bags, which are sold to more than 30 countries, including the United States, Canada and Russia. The plant has created jobs for nearly a hundred households in nearby villages. HOHHOT - Thanks to China's expanding freight service network, exports of fresh fruit and vegetables to Russia soared in the first five months, according to figures released by the customs in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region. Among the region's two major land checkpoints that process exports bound for Russia, Manzhouli Customs recorded cargo worth $101 million during the period, up 42.15 percent year on year. The checkpoint began processing fresh fruit and vegetable freight in March last year. Trains take the cargo to Russia's Novosibirsk, where it is then distributed around Russia. Moreover, from November last year, trains with refrigerated facilities began traveling through the checkpoint, taking China's fresh goods directly to Moscow. Customs official Lu Huanxin said that thanks to these new freight services his department processed 1,851.36 tons of fresh produce last year. Meanwhile, Erlianhaote Customs cleared 1,024.7 tons of fresh produce exports to Russia in the first five months, 11.1 times higher than the same period last year. Zhang Wenchuan, a trader, said he exported citrus grown in central China's Hubei Province to Russia via Erlianhaote. "The new refrigerated trains can carry 200 tons of fruit at a time," he explained. Russia's long winters create an export opportunity for Chinese farmers,and Chinese logistics firms are keen to explore China-Russia trade. Railway authorities in Erlianhaote promised to continue to improve their service to help the transportation of fresh fruit and vegetables. Tianjin Flying Pigeon, a time-honored Chinese bicycle company, is enjoying success thanks to the popularity of the internet producing smart bikes in cooperation with LeEco, a technology startup. The bikes, ranging in price from 3,999 to 39,999 yuan ($607 to $6,074), enable riders to track their motion, communicate with others and lock or unlock the cycles via apps. Since August, when the bikes went into production, Flying Pigeon has secured more than 400,000 orders, according to Zhang Jinying, president of the company, which has been trying hard to shake off its traditional image as a manufacturer of low-end bikes. This is just one of the success stories in Tianjin's booming technology sector. Local heavy industries have been in decline since the 2008 global financial crisis. The annual output values of the metallurgical and petrochemical sectors fell by 15 and 25 percent respectively year-on-year last year. However, Tianjin's economy still grew by 9.8 percent in 2015, which the municipal government attributes to the rise of small and medium-sized technology firms. He Shushan, vice-mayor of Tianjin, said, "The government has paid special attention to fostering the development of these 'little tech giants' since 2010 to fill the gap left by declining heavy industries in both tax revenues and employment." A robot serves as a waiter at a group wedding ceremony held by Siasun Robot& Automation Co in Shenyang, Liaoning province. [Photo/CFP] When discussing linking Germany's Industry 4.0 and the Made in China 2025 industrial strategies, one of the first things that springs to mind is the robot sector, seen as perhaps the most promising area for cooperation between the two sides. As the leading robot maker in China, Siasun Robot & Automation Co, based in Shenyang, Liaoning province, said it has achieved many new breakthroughs in recent years. The company told China Daily on Monday that its new industrial robot, which only began mass production in February this year, is now being used in the field by customers. "Our product is a world pioneer. Kuka Roboter (the German manufacturer of industrial robots and solutions for factory automation) released its conceptual product last year, but there was no mass production and application. It only took us half a year to realize mass production," said Ha Enjing, public relations director of Siasun. Siasun said its robot is a new type of product which combines the functions of a mechanical arm and automatic guided vehicle together. "The robot has a huge market demand. It is one of our key battlegrounds in competition with global robot giants," said Qu Daokui, president of Siasun Robot & Automation. But however good its product, the idea of cooperation appeals. "We attach great importance to long-term cooperation with Germany," Qu said. Siasun said it has already established strategic cooperative relations with many German companies, which has achieved win-win results. In 2015, the company's self-developed robot stamping production line was used in BMW's Brilliance Automotive's plant in Shenyang. In strategic cooperation with Siemens AG, Siasun will help promote intelligent manufacturing and apply the industrial 4.0 technology in Chinese companies. Moreover, in February, Siasun bought Teutloff Vocational Training Education Group, a leading German mechanical engineering vocational school, for an undisclosed sum. Hu Yong, general manager of Baidu Inc's global business unit, and Zhang Shaoyu (L), general manager of Baidu Global Maps, pose for a picture during the launch event of Baidu Map in Bangkok, Thailand, June 13, 2016. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] Traveling solo in Thailand will become more of a joy for those Chinese tourists who find it difficult and time-consuming to plan a trip, as Baidu Inc has been developing a one-stop information service with multiple partners in the southeast Asian country. The Chinese tech giant on Monday signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Tourism Cooperation with the Tourism Authority of Thailand, or TAT, in part to help independent visitors figure out top picks for local attractions, restaurants as well as hotels, and more importantly, how to get there. Such information will be easily accessible via Baidu Map, a mapping service technology in both Chinese and Thai launched in Bangkok on the same day with an audio smart guide and 17,000 points of interest provided by TAT. Hu Yong, general manager of the behemoth's global business unit, said Baidu is honored to be a strategic partner of TAT to jointly offer systematic and quality information for Chinese tourists and bring the relationship of the two countries to the next level. "Chinese tourists will have a wealth of information even before their departure and can always find more information upon their arrival in Thailand," said Yuthasak Supasorn, governor of TAT. "We aim to restructure the market by expanding to high-end tourists from various cities of China like Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chongqing and Chengdu. This cooperation will help us reach this target group directly and rapidly," he added. Tourism has become the single biggest driver of growth in the Thai economy, contributing to about 10 percent of its gross domestic product, and China is the country's largest source of international travelers. Last year, about 8 million travelers from the Chinese mainland visited Thailand - the most popular trail destination for Chinese tourists - over one third of the country's total inbound arrivals, according to a report by the World Tourism Barometer. The number of Chinese tourists is expected to hit at least 10 million by end-2016, bringing Thailand's total tourism earnings to 509 billion baht ($14.5 billion), a 35.4 increase from a year earlier. Statistics from the China National Administration of Tourism show a total of 120 million Chinese traveled overseas in 2015 spending $194 billion across the world, making it the third year in a row to top the list of international outbound travelers. However, according to Supasorn, more and more Chinese tourists to Thailand are choosing flexible travel methods, which makes one-stop information service such as Baidu Map even more important. A report jointly released on Monday by Baidu Thailand, Union Pay and Ctrip shows only 41 percent are willing to join group tours when traveling in Thailand in the past six months, and the share is expected to drop to 26 percent in the next half year. Providing mapping services for the huge population of Chinese outbound tourists across the world is just the first step of the "go global" strategy of Baidu Map, said Zhang Shaoyu, general manager of Baidu Global Maps. "Our next step is to develop local versions for local people, and shape the product into a world-renowned brand." Zhang said Baidu Map is expected to extend its outreach to 150 countries and regions by the end of this year. By 2020, 50 percent of its users are projected to come from abroad. Currently, the product has about 500 million active users globally. Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks about Swift Playgrounds young developers app at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, San Francisco, Monday, June 13, 2016.[Photo/IC] With posters and invitations written in Apple's Swift code typography unveiled ahead the annual developers' extravaganza, the Cupertino company has already hinted that teaching coding to younger generation will dominate this year's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). Apple Inc introduced a new app on Monday named Swift Playgrounds, an app for iPad that helps users learn and explore coding in Swift, the same language used to create applications for the App Store. The "Glass V1", released by Shenzhen Dlodlo Technologies Co Ltd. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] Shenzhen Dlodlo Technologies Co Ltd, a startup engaged in virtual reality technology research and development, released VR glasses called "Glass V1", which weigh only 78 grams and have a thickness of 16 millimeters. The "Glass V1" looks more like a pair of sunglasses than a VR headset. Each of the lenses is equipped with a display screen, with a resolution of 2,560x1,024 pixels for each eye, with a 110-degree field of view. Users can connect it to a mobile phone. It will likely be sold in August. Li Gang, CEO of Dlodlo Technologies, said: "There are over 100 companies engaged in VR devices, but generally speaking, they lack originality and have no experience in developing consumerlevel electronic products. Their products are still in a phase of imagination." Li said the company will continue to maintain high investment in R&D and patents, carry out deep cooperation with smartphone manufacturers to develop VR smartphones. It also plans to participate in the standard setting of VR smartphone, build up VR content platform and virtual community platform, and cooperate with VR content provider. According to iiMedia Research, China's total VR market was worth 1.54 billion yuan ($233 million) in 2015. It is expected to exceed 5.6 billion yuan this year and 55 billion yuan in 2020. Even though heavy rain didn't arrive at Beijing Capital International Airport as predicted by 5 pm, more than 600 flights were canceled or delayed because of intermittent thunderstorms on Monday. A large number of passengers are stranded at the Beijing Capital International Airport on Monday because of the weather. [Photo/IC] Worse weather is predicted for the vast southern regions of China in coming days. Downpours are forecast to arrive on Tuesday and last until Thursday. The national meteorological authority announced on Monday that rain would cover 1 million square kilometers, the widest area of storms this year. Also on Monday, the national flood control authority released an emergency response plan to encourage increased readiness by local authorities. As of 3:30 pm, the intermittent rain in Beijing affected 698 flights through cancellations or delays at the city's major airport, according to the Mirror newspaper. The Beijing Meteorological Bureau said strong rainfall would start on Monday night, bringing with lightning, high winds and hail in certain regions. The airport also warned that rain would continue to affect flights through Wednesday. Storms in China's southern regions were expected to be harsh"the strongest torrential rainfall with the largest coverage this year", Zhang Fanghua, chief forecaster at the Central Meteorological Observatory, said on Monday. Daily rainfall is expected to exceed 50 millimeters in the south, with pockets of heavier precipitation exceeding 100 millimeters, Zhang said. "Some cities in Hunan and Jiangxi provinces may see supertorrents, with rainfall exceeding historical records," she said. "Extreme daily rainfall in some regions could reach 350 millimeters." Heavy weather is expected to peak on Wednesday and then trickle down through Thursday before weakening and moving northward, which will affect Henan and Shandong provinces, the observatory predicted. "The heavy rains will increase the risks of flooding and geological disasters in the southern regions, which have been hammered since May," the chief forecaster said. The storms are the result of summer monsoons and a strong cold front in the northeast, said Niu Ruoyun, another forecaster at the observatory. In response to the increasing risk of floods and secondary disasters, the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters released a Level 4 emergency response plan, the lowest level in the four-tier national response system. It is the first such issuance this year. Since the start of flood season on May 21, China has seen rainfall 18 percent higher than average, which has especially affected southern rivers. Rainfall at Taihu Lake has been 75 percent above normal, the authority said. As of June 8, 15 provincial areas in South, Southwest and East China have been hit with floods and secondary disasters responsible for the deaths of 83 people. Direct economic losses reached 14.4 billion yuan ($2.2 billion), the headquarters said. A senior official was found hanged on Sunday at his home in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, local media reported. Police confirmed the death of Liu Xiaohua, deputy secretary-general of the Communist Party of China's Guangdong Provincial Committee, and ruled out the possibility of homicide. No further details were revealed. Guangdong's top anti-graft body declined to comment. Before being appointed to what would be his final post in March, Liu was deputy Party chief and mayor of Heyuan until 2011 when he became Party chief of Zhanjiang, a port city in Guangdong, and director of the city's People's Congress. Liu's apparent suicide came as Guangdong's top anti-graft body expanded its investigation of officials suspected of corruption in the southern province, one of the country's economic powerhouses. "Anti-corruption is a long-term and tough task in Guangdong and anti-graft bodies across the province will never lower their vigilance," said Huang Xianyao, Party chief of the Guangdong provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection, during a work conference in Guangzhou last week. Huang urged anti-graft officials to do what they can to ensure clean and honest government operations to serve the province's economic development. Earlier this month, Qian Fangli, chairwoman of the Zhuhai Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and Liu Baihong, deputy mayor of Qingyuan, were put under investigation for suspected violations of Party discipline and accepting bribes. The country's top anti-graft agency published a confession on Sunday by a former official who returned from the United States after more than 2 1/2 years in hiding. The agency pledged that there would be no letup in hunting down others overseas. The 3,400-word confession by Wang Guoqiang, former Party chief in Fengcheng, Liaoning province, was published on the website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, together with a commentary expressing the commission's determination to catch corrupt officials who have left the country. Wang went to the US on a regular Chinese passport in April 2012, 20 days after he was removed from his post as the top official in Fengcheng. He stayed there for 32 months before returning to China. He was prosecuted shortly afterward. In his confession, Wang elaborated on the rough conditions of his US stay, describing it as a "nightmare in my life", and he warned anyone who has the idea of sneaking overseas against what he characterized as a "dead end". "I dared not use my passport, and my wife and I dared not meet our daughter, who was also in the US. If I were allowed to choose again between sitting in jail in China and merely surviving in the US, I would choose the former," Wang said. "I dared not to go to a hospital when I was sick because I feared my identity would be exposed. I had to rent with other people in case the police came and checked my passport." Wang turned himself in and arrived in Beijing in December 2014 after he learned China had started a sweeping anti-graft campaign to net those hiding overseas. He was the first official returning of his own accord since the campaign started in late 2012. In a separate article, the commission criticized the practice of some foreign countries that provide shelter for those involved in corruption cases in the name of protecting human rights. A viral online video that shows a woman insulting a Chinese civil war veteran in Taiwan has drawn condemnation from officials and experts on both sides of the Straits. The two-minute clip filmed in a park in Kaohsiung shows Hung Su-chu, a self-proclaimed citizen journalist, confronting an elderly man who was among those who retreated to the island after the war ended in 1949. She first calls the man-identified later as 89-year-old Chow Fu-wen - a shameless mainland refugee and then demands he return to the mainland. Hung shared the video on her Facebook page on Thursday. She later removed it after receiving heavy criticism, but fellow users then shared the footage on other social media, and it went viral. Political leaders on the island were quick to condemn the video. Tsai Ing-wen, the Taiwan leader and head of the Democratic Progressive Party, issued a statement via social media on Friday that said no one should be attacked based on their identity. She forwarded a similarly critical post by Hung Hsiu-chu, chairwoman of the rival Kuomintang party, that read, "Any hate-filled remark, we should condemn; any prejudice against identity, we should prevent from spreading." "I'm the son of a veteran. I'm proud ofmy father," JasonHu, vice-chairman of the KMT, said on Sunday while attending the eighth Straits Forum in Xiamen, Fujian province. "The vast majority of the public in Taiwan condemn the video, which is narrow and splits society", Hu said. According to Taiwan-based Central News Agency, protesters gathered on Friday in front of the offices of Taiwan Civil Government, a pro-Taiwan-independence group that Hung Su-chu claimed to work for, in New Taipei City. Ina statement, the organization said, "The abuse of elderly veterans by Hung has nothing to do with Taiwan Civil Government." Huang Hai-lung, president of the Overseas Chinese Association, based in Taipei, said the video was an isolated case. "Clowns can be seen anywhere, during any period," he said. "We don't need to pay special attention to them. But at the same time we should be careful not to let them spread the sensation." Ni Yongjie, deputy director of the Shanghai Institute of Taiwan Studies, said the video doesn't represent mainstream thinking on the island. "On the contrary. The criticism from both sides shows the common view across the Straits and among political parties in Taiwan," he said. Contact the writers through pengyining@chinadaily.com.cn (China Daily 06/14/2016 page4) Shanghai Pudong International Airport has beefed up security following two minor explosions on Sunday afternoon at about 2:26 pm. "For the safety of passengers and aircraft, the Pudong International Airport has strengthened its security check measures. Passengers are asked to arrive at the airport earlier and to cooperate with the security checks," the Shanghai Airport Authority said on Monday. The announcement was made one day after two bombs made from beer bottles filled with gunpowder exploded at a check-in counter at the airport's No 2 terminal, injuring four people. The Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau said the suspect, Zhou Xingbai, a 29-year-old man from Gui-zhou province, had been mired in financial problems and after indulging himself in online gambling had "borrowed a lot of money". "I'm prepared to do something really crazy that will definitely lead to my death," he said on WeChat. The case is still under investigation. "We advise our customers to arrive at the Pudong airport between three and four hours in advance," said Su Wei, an international air ticket broker. Before the explosion, there was no security check at the airport entrance, and the zone where passengers undergo a security check with their carry-on baggage was located beyond the check-in area, according to Su Weiwei, an official of the Shanghai Airport Authority. A passenger surnamed Zhang said that when he arrived at the airport he found a long line of domestic passengers going through security checks. "The security check was going slower than usual and it took me 70 minutes to complete the procedure. Passengers have to go through the procedure one by one, compared to four or five people at a time before the explosion," Zhang said. A microblogger called Shanghai Agnes wrote that her aircraft taxied for nearly 45 minutes and passengers waited for more than two hours to board a shuttle bus after she arrived in Shanghai from Seoul. The cartoon image of a cow that officially represents Lanzhou Lamian, a traditional dish, is introduced in Lanzhou, Gansu province, on Saturday. Fan Peishen / Xinhua The city government of Lanzhou, Gansu province, unveiled the cartoon image of a cow on Saturday that will officially represent the area's traditional dish, a beef and noodle soup known as Lanzhou Lamian. The campaign aims to strengthen the Lanzhou brand and bring more cash into the industry. Lanzhou Lamian is popular nationwide for its convenience and low price. The cartoon image to promote the dish is a whimsical cow that uses various colors to signify ingredients, including scallions, noodles and capsicol. Deng Yubo, the designer, is also a Lanzhou Lamian restaurant founder. Restaurants serving the dish are often small scale - 10 to 50 square meters. Each bowl of the beef noodle dish goes for around 10-25 yuan ($1.50-$3.80). Menus typically offer various types of beef soups with some simple cold vegetable dishes. Deng, who has a doctor's degree in computer science, once taught at Lanzhou University. Seeing a business opportunity in the booming interest in Lanzhou Lamian, he quit in 2014 and opened a noodle restaurant with four partners, all of whom hold doctor's or master's degrees. Over the past year, the restaurant sold 200,000 servings of Lanzhou Lamian. "We plan to use cloud-based supply chain technology in the management, hoping the industry will become China's McDonald's in the future," he said. In fact, Lanzhou Lamian is already a well-known brand in China and has even stepped into foreign markets. Chains have popped up in the United States, Britain, France, Japan and United Arab Emirates, according to a Lanzhou beef noodle industrial association. There were more than 30,000 beef noodle restaurants in China at the end of 2015, the association said, with total revenues of 50 billion yuan. Zhao Xiaolong, secretary of the association, said China has formed a complete industrial chain, including powder processing, cattle farming and food logistics, as the beef noodle industry developed quickly in recent years. Yu Jingdong, deputy mayor of Lanzhou, said the cartoon image for Lanzhou Lamian will help attract young customers and promote the brand to the world. "Since the birth of Lanzhou Lamian in 1915, it has developed into a Lanzhou cultural brand," he said. "As the central government encourages innovation and startups, more talent will enter the industry, which will boost it to a higher level." Xue Chaohua contributed to this story. Chinese Islamic leaders at a symposium held to reinforce a positive image of Islam and curb extremism condemned the deadly mass shooting at an LGBT venue in downtown Orlando, Florida, in the United States. "We condemn this attack on innocent civilians. It is an act of terror against humanity and has nothing to do with religious factors," Adiljan Haji Kerim, vice-president of the Islamic Association of China, said on the sidelines of the symposium. The mass shooting, the worst in US history, took place on Sunday as a man armed with an assault rifle killed 50 people at a packed gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Police killed the shooter, who was identified as Omar Mateen, 29, a US citizen who was the son of immigrants from Afghanistan. A law enforcement official said the gunman made a 911 call from the nightclub professing allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, The Associated Press reported. As Muslims across the world celebrate Ramadan, Haji Kerim said it is a time to promote friendship between Muslims and non-Muslims. "It is also a window of opportunity for kind acts and further enhancing respect between different groups," he said. Guo Chengzhen, vice-president and secretary-general of the association, said Islam has always been against terrorism. He cited a verse from the Quran: "If anyone kills a person, it would be as if he killed the whole of mankind; and if anyone saves a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole of mankind." The symposium, held in Kashgar in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, centered on issues such as incorrect interpretations of jihad, which have given rise to extremism in Xinjiang. Guo said the symposium aims to help Muslims in Xinjiang identify and avoid extremism, and to hold exchanges on current thinking in the Islamic world. "In recent years, we have seen a growing trend of reform in Islamic groups in some countries. Chinese Muslims should keep close tabs on the latest trends of thought as well," he said. He also warned against the risks of fundamentalism, adding that the Quran must be interpreted within its historical background. He cited studies from scholars at Al-Azhar University, who believe that Islam should be able to adapt to different locations and times. Haji Kerim said the association is also trying to adapt to the reading habits of Muslim youths in China, and has launched its own social media platforms. He added that a key factor in curbing extremism is to step up the training of religious clergy. Foreign Minister Wang Yi says China and the 10 ASEAN countries should "cherish the hard-won peace" in the region, and that they "cannot allow any single force to disturb the tranquility of this shared home". Amid high interest in the South China Sea situation, Wang made the statements when he addressed a welcoming dinner on Monday for senior diplomats attending the Special China-ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting on Tuesday, in Yuxi, Yunnan province. "We should cherish the great outcomes achieved through cooperation and cannot allow any issue to disturb the big picture of our cooperation, " Wang said. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the dialogue between China and the ASEAN. Wang said parties should "cherish the historic opportunity for the development and prosperity of China and the ASEAN countries" and that they "cannot allow anything to interrupt their development process". The senior Chinese diplomat noted that while 25 years may be a brief moment in the history of all mankind and Asia, major changes have still taken place over that period in the relationship between China and the ASEAN. "China and all the ASEAN countries are connected through land and sea, and they are permanent neighbors that cannot be set apart. Thus, we should be friends and partners forever, which should be the only correct and common choice," Wang said. Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said on Monday that at the Tuesday gathering, Beijing would be ready for discussions about how to further promote and upgrade China-ASEAN cooperation and about "jointly ensuring the peace and stability in the South China Sea". He says the expected meeting is "a special one that adds up to the annual regular meetings between China and the ASEAN", and it shows "emphasis and expectations from both sides upon advancing China-ASEAN cooperation". State Council decision paves the way to give tenants a better deal China is aiming to develop a housing rental market featuring diverse suppliers, standardized services and stable tenancies to ease pressure on renters amid surging property prices. The State Council released a statement on June 4 setting this goal. It came one month after a decision was made at a State Council executive meeting to establish a sound market for housing rentals with preferential policies. The meeting was presided over by Premier Li Keqiang. The most attractive of the six measures states that tenancy contracts must not be arbitrarily altered or terminated by leasers, a phenomenon that has affected tenants for a long time. Commercial complexes can be changed to residential leasing with a lower cost of electricity and tap water than previously. People leasing will also enjoy preferential tax policies, with no tax levied on those earning less than 30,000 yuan ($4,566) in rent a month. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, 89.5 percent of the houses rented in China are owned privately, while in many developed economies institutional owners contribute 25 to 30 percent of the houses on the rental market. The situation has led to a long-lasting problem in China. Tenants have often been plagued by careless termination of contracts or relentless rent increases by landlords, motivating the younger generation to buy their own apartments. The average age at which Chinese buy their first apartment is 27. In comparison, many people making their first housing purchases in Japan are in their 40s. In China, problems are more serious in first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai than in smaller cities. In Beijing, tenants paid an average of 4,453 yuan a month last year to rent an apartment, a year-on-year increase of 7.2 percent and accounting for nearly half the average monthly income of urban residents in the capital, according to B.A. Consulting, a research institute affiliated to housing brokerage company 5i5j.com. In Germany, tenants' rights are protected by the Tenancy Law, which states that if a landlord wants to terminate a tenancy to allow a person to move into a property, that person must be a member of the landlord's household. Tenancies are more stable in Germany than in China, where tenants have often been forced to find other apartments and pay an additional month's rent to agents. Gao Yixuan, vice-president of the Real Estate Association at the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, said the measure allowing commercial complexes to be changed to residential leasing is a good test for supply-side reform amid an excess of commercial property. Guo Yi, marketing director at Yahao Real Estate Selling & Consulting Solution Agency, said the measures are expected to result in more apartments being available for leasing, easing the pressure for rent increases, spearheaded by increased deals in the secondary market in first-tier cities from September last year to March. As e-commerce booms, supermarkets and shopping malls are facing mounting pressure from declining numbers of shoppers. "The central government is encouraging people to rent apartments and then to buy them when they can afford to," Guo said. "In return, these people can spend more money to boost domestic consumption and drive economic growth."" Citizens' civil, political rights effectively protected: report (Xinhua) Updated: 2016-06-14 10:14 BEIJING - Citizens' civil and political rights have been effectively protected, and the people have been guaranteed and supported to act as masters of their own country, according to a report reviewing the human rights development from 2012 to 2015 released by the Chinese government on Tuesday. The supervision and examination against extortion of confession by torture and other illegal acts have been strengthened, it said. Between 2012 and 2015, procuratorial organs made 869,775 remedial proposals on illegal acts during criminal investigations including abusing compulsory measures, collecting evidence through illegal means and extorting confessions by torture, according to the report. In 2015, China handled 208 cases against 243 procurators for their violation of laws and disciplines, it added. According to the report, between 2012 and 2015, procuratorial institutions across the country proposed release or changing compulsory measures for 83,341 people who were involved in cases unnecessary for detention, and case-handling organs accepted such proposals for 77,591 detainees, with the adoption rate standing at 93.1 percent. Between 2012 and 2015, the people's courts at various levels found 3,369 suspects not guilty, the document said. Tighter checks have been placed on the application of the death penalty. In August 2015, nine crimes were removed from the list of crimes subject to the death penalty in the Amendment (IX) to the Criminal Law, and therefore the number of crimes subject to the death penalty decreased from the previous 55 to 46, according to the report. It added, in 2012, the Supreme People's Procuratorate established the Oversight Office on the Review of the Death Penalty, in an effort to strengthen legal supervision procedures on the review of the death penalty. Second trials of death penalty cases have all been conducted in open courts. More importance is given to listening to the opinions of defense lawyers in the course of reviewing death penalty cases, the report read. Freedom of religious belief is fully guaranteed. The work on the protection of pilgrimage activities of Muslims has constantly improved. The State Council established the mechanism of the inter-ministerial joint meeting on the work of pilgrimage made by believers in Islam, the document said. Between 2011 and 2015, a total of 200 million yuan was invested in the renovation and expansion projects of religious places in Tibet, it added. In terms of the right to be informed, between 2012 and 2015, the State Council Information Office organized 322 news conferences on the major meetings, major decisions and major work of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the State. The CPC Central Committee, the State Council and local CPC committees and governments organized more than 9,300 news conferences and news briefings, according to the report. The system of people's self-governance at grassroots level has been further improved. The Ministry of Civil Affairs has formulated the Regulations and Procedures on the Election of Village Committees, and more than 98 percent of village committees are directly elected according to law, the document said. It also read, social groups have become an important channel through which the masses of people take part in social management and public service. By the end of 2015, the number of social groups registered nationwide according to law had reached about 660,000, an increase of 32.3 percent over the corresponding period of 2012. Social groups of various types nationwide had generated incomes of around 260 billion yuan, providing about 8.5 million people of various kinds with employment, and accepted donations of approximately 90 billion yuan. In terms of the rights to be heard, the internet information platform has enriched channels through which citizens can have their voices heard. By the end of 2015, China's online population had reached 688 million and the internet penetration rate had reached 50.3 percent, according to the report. Leaders of six giant express delivery companies in China pose before delivering packages in person during the 2016 Global Smart Logistics Summit in Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province, June 13, 2016.[Photo/VCG] It's not every day that CEOs of major companies come knocking on your door to deliver their products to you in person. But that's exactly what happened on Monday. Leaders of six giant express delivery companies in China delivered packages to their customers in person during the 2016 Global Smart Logistics Summit, which was hosted by Cainiao in Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province. Cainiao, or Rookie Logistics in English, was jointly established by Alibaba Group, Intime Group and some of the country's major delivery companies in 2013. More than 70 percent delivery services in China are carried out by the six giants currently. China pulls 66 million rural people out of poverty in three years (Xinhua) Updated: 2016-06-14 10:29 BEIJING - The number of people living in poverty in rural areas was reduced by 66.63 million from 2012 to 2015, said a government report released on Tuesday. China formulated the 12th Five-year Plan for Poverty Reduction Village By Village. By 2015, poverty alleviation projects covering 30,000 villages had been implemented, according to the report assessing the implementation of Human Rights Action Plan, which was released by the State Council Information Office. Total Investment reached 144.569 billion yuan (22 bln U.S. dollars), an average of 4.8 million yuan for each village, it said. From 2012 to 2015, the increase of residents' per capita disposable income surpassed the growth rate of GDP of the same period. The annual growth rate of the per-capita disposal income of urban residents and per-capita net income of rural residents were 7.5 percent and 9.2 percent respectively, the report said. During the same period, the State Development and Reform Commission allocated 21 billion yuan from the central budget for relocation of impoverished residents, which brought about an additional more than 200 billion yuan in local government input and various other investments, the report said, adding that about 8 million people in poverty have been relocated. The central government also allocated 771.7 billion yuan to support affordable housing projects, the report said. Equal rights to employment have been guaranteed. In 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015, 12.66 million, 13.1 million, 13.22 million and 13.12 million new urban jobs were created respectively, according to the report. The registered urban unemployment rate was kept within 4.1 percent, lower than the 5 percent target. The basic medical insurance coverage has been extended to all citizens, with the rate of participation surpassing 95 percent. It also underlined that an equal right to education for relocated children of migrant workers has been safeguarded. From 2012 to 2015, the central government allocated 34.6 billion yuan to enable nearly 90 percent of relocated children of migrant workers in cities to obtain government support. A wedding takes place on the campus of Zhengzhou Institute of Aeronautical Industry Management, June 1, 2013. [Photo/IC] More than sixty percent of 1,302 college students interviewed in a recent survey say they accept student couples' public displays of affection (PDA), according to a new report on China Youth Daily on Monday. The PDAs that won "best tolerance" included sweet talks, holding hands, hugging and quick kisses, while French kisses and physical strokes received cold shoulders from both students and their parents. Holding hands had the highest acceptance rate, with more than 96 per cent of interviewed students and parents giving it the thumbs up. Compared with students, parents have lower acceptance on almost each form of students' PDA, except hand holding. Only about 38 per cent of interviewed parents thought hugging between student couples in public was okay, while about 80 per cent of students accepted the behaviour. A fifth of parents believe quick kisses in public is tolerable, but more than 63 per cent of students think it's fine. According to the report, it is common among college students to display affection in public. One of the college students interviewed, who wouldn't reveal her name, said she felt like holding her boyfriend's hand forever, because she is love struck. Another student, who just graduated from college, said PDAs were not a performance but a natural emotional gesture. "I have a long-distance relationship so it's precious time for me to spend time with him," she said, "when we parted in bus station, we can't help kissing." Luo Xuelei, an instructor in a Fujian province college, believes it's normal to see affection displayed in public, but it has to be limited. Many parents show low tolerance for PDAs among student couples. They think holding hands is enough, arguing kissing and hugging are too much to see and hard to accept. Diao Yuquan, a lecturer from Zhejiang Sci-tech University, said private actions like PDAs were not from Chinese traditional culture, but imported from foreign countries. Yuan Xin, a psychological professor in Nankai University said PDAs suggest society is now quite open. Yuan said students lacked education to know what the expected boundaries were in private life and public actions. "It's important to know what behaviors are suitable for the right situations. It's called respect for others and the society," Yuan said. ZHENGZHOU -- The ashes of a Chinese peacekeeper, who was killed in a terrorist attack in Mali last month, were interred in a hero's cemetery on Monday in his hometown in Central China's Henan province. Shen Liangliang, a 29-year-old First Sergeant, died in a terrorist attack on May 31 in the northern Malian town of Gao, when a car bomb detonated at a United Nations camp. Shen was at a sentinel post at the time of the attack. Five other peacekeepers were injured. Shen's body was returned to China by military plane earlier this month. Thousands of people lined the street to pay their respects as Shen's ashes were taken from the funeral home to the cemetery. "Shen exhibited the great courage, dedication and heroic spirit of a Chinese soldier. He is the pride of our people," said Deng Kai, deputy secretary of the provincial Communist Party of China committee, at the funeral. Shen was the youngest son of a farming family. Since China joined the UN peacekeeping missions in 1990, over 31,000 Chinese officers and soldiers have taken part in 24 missions around the world. At present, over 2,800 Chinese officers and soldiers are involved in active UN peacekeeping missions in nine mission regions, te largest amount among the five UN Security Council permanent members. BEIJING -- The central government on Tuesday released a report reviewing China's human rights progress from 2012 to 2015, accompanied by a commitment to furthering the cause. China launched the National Human Rights Action Plan (2012-2015) in June 2012, following the inaugural plan for the 2009-2010 period. The major targets and tasks outlined in the 2012-2015 plan had been fulfilled, as scheduled, by the end of 2015, according the report issued by the State Council Information Office. About 48 percent of the binding targets and over 50 percent of the targets concerning the public's livelihood had been met or exceeded ahead of schedule, the report says. "The Communist Party of China and the central government incorporated universal human rights into the national condition [...] successfully charting a path of human rights development [that] suits China," the report says. Fulfilling the plan demonstrates the Party and government's commitment to and confidence in the human rights cause and the huge advantage of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, it says. China is one of 34 countries in the world to adopt an action plan on human rights protection, indicating that this issue is of great importance to China, said Zhang Xiaoling, director of the human rights research center of the Party School of the Communist Party of China Central Committee. "We Chinese have made great contributions to the global effort of human rights protection," Zhang said. However, the report admits that the government is keenly aware of many challenges, for instance, China's economic development mode is still crude and it is still fraught with problems from unbalanced, uncoordinated and unsustainable development. The country is still struggling to deal with a big gap between urban and rural areas as well as issues related to medical, education, and elderly care; food and drug safety; income distribution; and environment. "There is still a long way to go," it says. The 2016-2020 action plan is being drafted and will be published soon, said Jiang Jianguo, head of the State Council Information Office, at a meeting held to review the implementation of the 2012-2015 plan. The new plan will be in tune with major targets and projects of the country's 13th five-year plan (2016-2020), he said. "The priority of human rights protection in China will remain to be the right to life and development. We want all Chinese to have a share in economic and social development," Zhang said. The country will need to do more to alleviate poverty as around 50 million people still live under the poverty line, meaning they have a per capita net income of less than 2,800 yuan (427 U.S. dollars) a year. It will also need to push forward the rule of law so that legislation and law enforcement protects the rights and interests of ordinary citizens, while more resources are needed to protect women, children, senior citizens, ethnic minorities and people with disabilities, Zhang said. IMPROVEMENT OF PEOPLE'S WELFARE From 2012 to 2015, faced with a complex international situation and the challenging tasks of pushing reform and maintaining stability, the government has pushed for more efficient, fairer and more sustainable growth and worked to ensure that all people benefit from reform and development. Compared with the average 7.4-percent annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth posted across the 2012-2015 period, the per capita disposable income of urban residents increased by 7.5 percent and the per capita net income for rural residents increased by 9.2 percent annually. During the period, 66.63 million people in rural areas were lifted out of poverty. Ordinary citizens have enjoyed more comprehensive social security programs and better public services, while more efforts were made to realize equal access to education and address pollution. The rights and interests of ethnic minorities, women, children, the elderly and people with disabilities were improved. PROMOTING RULE OF LAW Efforts have been made to improve government transparency, through computer and Internet technology, to realize people's rights to be informed, express their opinion, participate in state affairs and oversee the government. Judicial reforms were smoothly pushed forward to improve transparency of judicial agencies, streamline legal proceedings to ensure the principle of "innocence until proven guilty" and to guarantee lawyers' rights. Efforts were made to correct wrongful convictions and ensure judicial departments perform their duties independently in accordance with the law. In December 2013, China abolished the system of reeducation through labor. In 2015, about 30,000 imprisoned criminals in four categories were pardoned or granted early release. The latest revision to the Criminal Law, adopted in 2015, removed the death penalty for nine crimes, reducing the number of crimes on which the death penalty is applicable from 55 to 46. RELIGIOUS FREEDOM From 2012 to 2015, the government canceled or adjusted 12 items related to religious affairs that had been subject to administrative approval. In the four years, 200 million yuan was spent on the renovation and expansion of religious facilities in Tibet. By the end of 2015, 87 temples in Yushu, northwest China's Qinghai Province, which were damaged in a major earthquake in 2010, had been fully restored. From 2012 to 2015, the government allocated nearly 15 million yuan to support and assist the repair and preservation of mosques and historic religious sites. Religious workers are now fully covered by social security programs. By 2013, 96.5 percent had medical insurance and 89.62 percent had pension schemes. JOINING INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS EFFORT From 2012 to 2015, China has maintained constructive dialogues with several treaty bodies on its implementation of international conventions about human rights. In 2014, China participated and passed the second round of the UN Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review. It also took an active part in multilateral human rights meetings hosted by the third committee of the UN General Assembly and the UN Human Rights Council. From 2012 to 2015, the country held more than 20 human rights dialogues with the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia and Switzerland, as well as more than 10 human rights consultations and exchanges with countries including Russia, Brazil, Pakistan and Cuba. Graduate photos of a college student of Renmin University have spread on social media platform WeChat in China as millions of undergraduates have completed their academic careers. Zhang Chujun, an undergraduate from the school of Journalism and Communication of Renmin University, is skilled at broadcasting and hosting. She can play piano and violin and acted in some TV dramas as an amateur actress. [Photo/VGC] More government support will be provided to increase the output and impact of research produced by Chinese scientists, a science foundation official said. Investment in scientific research will reach $6 billion by 2020, equal to the United States, said Gao Wen, deputy director of the National Natural Science Foundation of China at a news conference on Tuesday. The foundation allocates funds to research projects especially fundamental research under the State Council, China's cabinet. This year marks the foundation's 30th anniversary. Gao said the foundation's investment in scientific research has increased 300-fold, from 80 million yuan ($12 million) when it was established in 1986 to 24.8 billion yuan in 2016. Continued growth is expected. "By investing more in scientific research, we hope the gap between China and other developed countries will be narrowed," he said. That's one goal of the foundation in the 13th Five Year Plan (2016-20). Others include improving the quantity and quality of academic papers by Chinese scientists so that more are cited. From 2005 to 2015, academic papers written by Chinese scientists and researchers were cited almost 13 million times, ranking fourth internationally. "We hope that by 2020, China will rise to second place, trailing only the US," Gao said. To achieve the goals, Gao said, certain difficulties must be overcome, including issues of academic integrity and credibility. Lack of creativity and innovation is another problem, he said. "We should be patient about this, and the whole society should be more tolerant of failure, as it takes a long time to nurture innovative talent and conduct creative research," Gao said. Adopted Chinese youngsters and their family members take a selfie during a visit to Tian'anmen Square in Beijing on Tuesday. Zou Hong / China Daily More than 90 Chinese youngsters, accompanied by their adoptive families from the United States, began an exploration tour in Beijing on Tuesday to locate their birthplaces. Wearing T-shirts with giant panda and bamboo cartoon images, most of them were returning to China for the first time. In coming days, they will review their adoption files, take traditional Chinese cultural classes, return to the orphanages where they lived before being adopted and travel to tourist destinations, including Chengdu in Sichuan province. The heritage tours have been organized by the China Center for Children's Welfare and Adoption since 2006. They are aimed at helping Chinese adoptees living overseas to understand how they were adopted, recapture their childhood, and learn more about traditional Chinese culture. More than 4,000 Chinese adoptees have been invited to visit the country since 2006. Li Liguo, the minister of civil affairs, said in a welcoming speech that the Chinese government pays great attention to children's interests and rights, and has sought the most suitable adoptive families worldwide for Chinese orphans. "Adoptions are not the end of our work, but an extension of it," Li said. "We are pleased to see the children are happy and healthy, and we want to express our gratitude to the adoptive parents." The United States tops the list of countries where Chinese orphans have been adopted. The ongoing Faberge Revealed exhibition from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts features Easter eggs at Beijing's Palace Museum. [Photo by Jiang Dong/China Daily] As the Palace Museum in Beijing stages the ongoing Faberge Revealed exhibitioncourtesy of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in the United Statesdisplaying treasures owned by former Russian royal families, more US museums want to share their collections with their Chinese counterparts. Last week, at the seventh China-US High Level Consultation on People-to-People Exchanges, professionals from top-tier US museumsThe Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, and the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery under the Smithsonian Institution, in Washington DC, reached an agreement with the Palace Museum in Beijing for closer collaboration. Wang Yiyou, the curator of Chinese and East Asian Art at the Peabody Essex Museum, says the museums will build partnerships in areas like professional exchanges, preservation, studies of objects and research. "It will be a well-rounded relationship," she says. The Peabody Essex Museum has displayed Chinese treasures since 1800, a year after its founding, while the Freer and Sackler galleries are among the biggest repositories in the US of Chinese cultural relics. All three institutions have worked with Chinese museums before. The ongoing Faberge Revealed exhibition from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts features Easter eggs at Beijing's Palace Museum. [Photo by Jiang Dong/China Daily] For example, over 2010-11, the Peabody Essex Museum worked with the Palace Museum to organize an exhibition in the US called The Emperor's Private Paradise: Treasures from the Forbidden City. The exhibition, which comprised cultural relics from Juanqinzhai, a studio which made exquisite decorative art for Emperor Qianlong (1711-99), toured the US, including New York City, Boston and Milwaukee. Wang says more than half a million visitors saw the display in the USone of the biggest exhibitions held by the Peabody Essex Museum. "We want to cooperate with the Palace Museum to start another round of exhibitions," says Wang. Meanwhile, according to Jan Stuart, the curator of Chinese art at the Freer and Sackler galleries, there is a program that trains "future leaders of Chinese museums" since 2000, and Li Ji, the head of the archaeology department at the Palace Museum was one of the scholars who pursued the program there. Besides, there were conservators and exhibition designers from the Palace Museum and other Chinese museums at her institution. Angela Occhipinti displays her paintings and lithography works in Beijing. [Photo provided to China Daily] Italian artist Angela Occhipinti conveys through her works a sense of uncertainty about the future, particularly the fate of humans. But at the same time, she also suggests a positive attitude of embracing the unknown with love, which is a recurring motif of her creations. "Although love sometimes hurts, it helps people better understand others," says the 83-year-old retired professor of the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera, in Milan. During her long career, Occhipinti has largely worked on painting and lithography. "Painting is like writing a novel while lithography is like a poem. Painting feels like Chopin's music while lithography feels like Beethoven's." Occhipinti is showing the two approaches of communicating with the world at her second solo exhibition in China, currently being held at Beijing's Riverside Art Gallery. Titled Angela Occhipinti, the show displays several of her large paintings, a lengthy handmade bookworks of art in the form of a bookand lithographs. Her signature Constellation series of paintings unfolds the mystic imagery of the universe. With gold powder, she draws shooting stars to represent the occurrence and disappearance of illusions in people's minds. In Yellow River and Life, another series, she attempts to interpret how ancient Chinese viewed links between heaven and Earth, based on her several visits to China. Her forceful brushstrokes on large color blocks give an immensity to her works. Angela Occhipinti displays her paintings and lithography works in Beijing. [Photo provided to China Daily] Occhipinti was born in Perugia and now lives in Milan. She says she was lucky to have grown up surrounded by people related to art. Her father was in the business of architectural decoration and her mother collected classical paintings. Her uncle was a sculptor who had introduced her to many artists, and she began learning lithography in her teens. She has worked at several famous studios and with established artists, such as in English painter Stanley William Hayter's studio in Paris and Italian printer Giorgio Upiglio's studio in Milan. A brief interaction with Pablo Picasso at the Mourlot studio in Paris also influenced her creations for long. The printing studio was where many master artists experimented with lithographic techniques, including Henri Matisse and Joan Miro. Occhipinti visited the studio for the first time as an assistant of her teacher, engraver Giuseppe Viviani. She was 16 years old when she saw Picasso there who eagerly waited for his lithographs to be printed, "just like a small boy anticipating a gift", she recalls. During her 20-day stay at the Mourlot studio, she created her own works and also helped prepare acid of varying densities for Picasso to process his etchings. "I used almost everything in my pocket as painting tools, including coco powder, snacks and eyeliners. Picasso sometimes came to watch me drawing with these daily-use items. When I finished, he would say, 'It doesn't look bad.'" She likes Picasso's lithographs although they are largely black, white and gray, and it is because the fewer colors one applies, the more difficult it becomes to handle them on a single surface. At the Beijing exhibition, she's showing a lithograph titled Toro, which she produced in 1960. Angela Occhipinti displays her paintings and lithography works in Beijing. [Photo provided to China Daily] The tribute to Picasso portrays a man and a bull. Picasso revisited the bull motif in his lithographs as an "incarnation" of himself. "Many contemporary artists don't dare to venture deeply once they are seen to have established a style of work," she says. "What I've learned from Picasso is that he never stopped exploring different motifs and mediums, even after he achieved fame." Occhipinti believes art is far beyond just exploring with techniques. "Skill learning is after all for one to create freely and with imagination." Wang Ji, one of her friends, says, "One can read Angela's thoughts of the universe in either her powerful installations, imaginative paintings or elaborate lithographs. "Inside the body of this woman in her 80s, there is a little girl who always embraces the beautiful sides of the world." If you go Through Aug 8. Riverside Art Gallery, Hongyan Road, Chaoyang district, Beijing. 010-5309-2066, 010-8736-7099. Related: Capturing art at Photofairs Shanghai The newly launched Brunch Weekend, an event running June 18-19 and 25-26 in Shanghai and Beijing, offers a good opportunity for those who love to dine out. [Photo provided to China Daily] With no chef, no kitchennot even a knife and fork in their inventory, Onno Schreurs and Toine Rooijmans' may sound incredibly brash with their culinary ambition: building a better dining experience in Chinaand all of Asia. But less than six years after the goal was set, and painted in red against the black sketches of Shanghai's skyline at their office entrance, the two co-founders of Dining City Asia seem well on their way. As the brains and energy behind China Restaurant Week, a popular culinary event for foodies in cities like Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong, they have connected 400 restaurants across the country with 100,000 diners. In the process, they say they provide some outside policing for the food and beverage industry, publicizing reviews of "the most demanding and valuable diners" locally and helping the restaurants to improve in an increasingly competitive industry. "Back in 2006 or '07, waiters here often just threw the menus on the table, and what's more surprising is that people actually found it OK. But now, we actually have reviews saying that the menu is too dirty," says Rooijmans, director of Dining City Asia, which introduced Restaurant Week to China in 2010, first in Shanghai. A concept launched in New York City in 1992, Restaurant Week is an annual or semi-annual promotion in which eateries across a city offer multi-course dishes in specially priced set menus. Tim Zagat, who initiated the first Restaurant Week, once described the event as a "goodwill gesture to the 15,000 reporters coming to cover that year's Democratic National Convention" when it started. The newly launched Brunch Weekend, an event running June 18-19 and 25-26 in Shanghai and Beijing, offers a good opportunity for those who love to dine out. [Photo provided to China Daily] In the next decade, however, when the restaurant industry was stagnating in the wake of the 9/11 attack and then the global economic downturn, the idea went worldwide, spreading to 35 countries by different organizers. In China, however, the incentive for both diners and restaurants to join the event took a rather different approach. "It's more a social than culinary event for locals," Rooijmans tells China Daily before the kick-off of the newly launched Brunch Weekend, an event running June 18-19 and 25-26 in Shanghai and Beijing. He adds that Chinese love to dine out, and Restaurant Week offers a good opportunity. The company, which also offers premium restaurant listings during the event, draws from its base of regular users who are 90 percent local and between the ages of 27 and 37, with 70 percent female. "In most cases, women decide where to eat," Rooijmans says with a grin. The mix of expats and locals was about 50-50 back when Restaurant Week launched in China. "We called it a 'Wagas or Element Fresh phenomenon'", says Rooijmans, meaning that when a Western-style restaurant opens, expats are the first wave of diners. But as the restaurant's popularity grows, the local population follows and keeps the business growing. "The change of percentage is actually not because laowai stop coming, but because there are more local people joining," adds Schreurs, an Italian veteran of the Shanghai dining industry since 2006, working at places like Lounge 18 on the Bund and Le Royal Meridien before launching Dining City. The newly launched Brunch Weekend, an event running June 18-19 and 25-26 in Shanghai and Beijing, offers a good opportunity for those who love to dine out. [Photo provided to China Daily] Despite the popularity of the event, which has spread to eight cities with Restaurant Week, Brunch Weekend and the premium Elite Dining Week, some participating restaurants have questioned its effectiveness at bringing repeat customers for regular-priced meals. Schreurs, however, insists that if the diners are not coming back after the promotion, "It means there is something wrong with the experience. You cannot blame the platform," he says. He also notes that Restaurant Week is not like other discount sites or Dianping.com, the most popular listing website in China with more than 250 million users, which also sells groupons. While most discount websites take a commission from each meal sold, he says Dining City makes a profit by charging membership fees from each restaurant. The biggest change he has seen in the local dining industry is the diversity of cuisines offered and how local people embrace them at an amazing speed. Some diners book 10 restaurants within the Restaurant Week in order to try different types of cuisines, he says. While Italian restaurants remain the biggest category on the site, Schreurs says, steakhouses are the fastest-growing category. Related: Where is the spiciest place in China? A woman weeps during a candlelight vigil for the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting outside the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Orlando, Fla., June 13, 2016. A gunman who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State killed 49 people and wounded 53 in the crowded gay nightclub in Orlando early Sunday.[Photo/IC] He had earlier been investigated, twice, for suspected connections with terrorists. He called 911 and pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group. And IS claimed responsibility for the attack immediately afterwards. Yet it will take credible evidence to prove Omar Mateen, who carried out the deadliest mass shooting in United States' history in Orlando, Florida, was truly associated with the terrorist group. While the FBI works its way into that riddle, a number of long-standing controversies have regained the limelight: gun control; gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender rights; and, of course, the US approach to combating the IS. Finding out if the killer was an Islamic jihadist, as he claimed, or hated homosexuals, as his father indicated, matters, because homophobia and homegrown terrorism have very different meanings to a society and entail dramatically distinct solutions. And underestimating the threat of the IS on US home soil may result in greater security risks. Even before a definitive assessment of the killer's motivation, however, there are two things that are worth vigilance. One is the IS's pernicious impact. Mateen may or may not have had connections with the jihadists. But his claim of allegiance to them, along with his previous record of "extremist" utterances showed the terrorist group has an audience that is difficult to locate and identify. The IS group is adept at using social media and the internet to spread its extremist ideology and hatred, recruit jihadists and order attacks. If the Orlando attack highlights the need to deal with online terrorist communication, it would be conducive to international collaboration in the fight against terrorism worldwide. US President Barack Obama described the killer as "a person filled with hate". That leads us to the other lesson to learn from Orlando: The havoc an individual can cause. China has its own experiences showing that it does not take a full-fledged terrorist to create a sense of fear, or harm innocent people. On Sunday, a man tried to kill himself after injuring four others with a homemade bomb at Shanghai airport. There have been multiple reports of disgruntled individuals targeting public transport vehicles, mostly crowded buses, in order to have their alleged "injustices" noticed. Lone wolf attacks like these may be very difficult to monitor or prevent. But such tragedies do raise the question of how to reduce the likelihood for troubled, angry members of society to make a statement in the form of violence. German Chancellor Angela Merkel delivers a speech during the China-Germany Economic and Technological Cooperation Forum at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, 13 June 2016. The German Chancellor is on a three day visit to China 12-14 June.[Photo/IC] German Chancellor Angela Merkel is in China from Sunday to Tuesday to attend the fourth Chinese-German government consultation. It's her ninth visit to China. The high-profile lineup of Merkel's delegation, including many cabinet members and a high-level economic team, shows that Sino-German ties are now at a high level. Germany is China's largest trading partner in the European Union, accounting for 30 percent of China's trade with the bloc. China was the biggest greenfield investor in Germany in 2015, with a total of 260 investment projects. And German products, such as large mechanical and electrical equipment and consumer goods, are very popular in China. China and Germany have no major disputes or conflicts of interests, which, along with their strong economic complementariness, means there is broad room for cooperation. However, compared with their economic status in the world, bilateral trade between the two countries is yet to be further elevated. Compared with the good image Germany enjoys among Chinese, German newspapers seem to focus on "negative aspects" of China, including its human rights. This perception of China exhibited by the German media has mentally shackled Germany when dealing with China. Chinese people have developed a good image of Germany, not because they believe Germany is free from any problems, but because it is their belief that the problems the country faces should be addressed by Germans. However, some in Germany choose to turn a blind eye to the remarkable progress China has made in a variety of areas. Germany, as a member of the Western community, is to some extent influenced by biased Western opinions of China. But it is hoped that Germany's leaders can show a more open mind and a broader vision to prevent the otherwise close cooperation with China from being sabotaged.--Global Times Chinese Edition Policemen of Yunyang Peoples Court in Chongqing sign a banner on Nov 24, 2014 to show their loyalty to the Constitution. [Photo/Xinhua] A video widely spread shows a policeman in Shenzhen, Southern China's Guangdong province, insulting two women. Reports say the policeman stopped the two women on the street without any reason and asked them to show their ID cards. He refused to show them his own police card when asked. Feeling challenged, the officer threatened to cuff them and throw them behind bars, and behaved aggressively toward them. The police chief apologized to the two women and the policeman has been suspended. China Daily writer Zhang Zhouxiang comments: What role should the police play? Protect and serve, of course. When we hire police officers with taxpayers' money, equip them with batons, handcuffs and even guns, we expect them to use such equipment to protect us against possible harm from criminals. It is no problem for police officers to stop people and question them if they are suspected of being involved in crimes. The police can even bring them in for questioning if necessary. But "enforcing the law" should not be an excuse for police officers to break the law. The policeman in this instance had no right to verbally abuse the women even if they were suspected of breaking the law, let alone when they had not. By being aggressive and verbally abusive toward the women, the policeman broke the law and he deserves to be punished. The police chief has done the right thing by suspending the police officer. Some argue that the policeman had the right to check the women' s identity cards if he suspected them of breaking the law. But the policeman admitted in the video that he did not consider the two women to be suspects. Nor did he give any reason for asking to see their ID. We empower the police to protect us. But the police must also adhere to the law. File photo of Beijing No 2 Experimental Elementary School's Baiyunlu campus. An investigation will be carried out on the playground of the school after some students reported bloody noses, dizziness, coughs and rashes. [Photo/IC] The allegedly toxic playground of No. 2 Beijing Experimental Primary School has been closed after students reportedly fell ill earlier this month. Yesterday the school authorities released the test results, saying the material met the national standards. However, experts pointed out that even though the playground material satisfied the standards, it does not mean the materials used for school playgrounds or running tracks are not toxic. Southern Metropolis Daily commented on Monday: Similar incidents were previously reported in Shanghai and Guangdong, Zhejiang, Henan, Jiangsu and Sichuan provinces, with students reportedly experiencing nose bleeds, dizziness, coughs and repeated fevers that their parents blamed on toxic playgrounds or running tracks. The outcomes of the investigations have not convinced most parents that the materials are not toxic. The tests are very limited and several harmful substances are not tested for toxicity. So being in line with the national standards does not mean the materials used in school playgrounds are non-toxic. The fact that the playground materials satisfy the national standards yet may still be harmful to students indicates it is the standards that are problematic. The low standards mean profit-seeking enterprises compete with lower prices to win bids can legitimately use cheap but possibly harmful substances. This has resulted in the entire industry embarking on a low-cost and potentially harmful path. Low standards are a problem in many industries, especially in those where the standards are set by the industry leaders. They end up playing the role of referee while at the same time their teams are the ones playing. CAI MENG/CHINA DAILY Sexual harassment cases have been on the rise, with most victims being women. But it's not unusual to hear comments that women should dress properly and behave themselves to avoid sexual harassment. In the recent past, Henan provincial police even posted a message on its micro blog, a twitter-like service, that women who dress inappropriately, or like dating, drinking or smoking are easy targets, sparking a heated public debate. The storm of criticism the micro blog raised forced the police to withdraw it. Such comments and wrong assumptionsblaming the victims instead of the perpetratorsshow that we have to change our way of thinking on sexual harassment. They wrongly suggest offenders' actions are pardonable because the victims have done something wrong. Also, such opinions and assumptions indulge wrongdoers to some extent. They could encourage offenders to cause more serious damage to their later victims by tacitly implying that the victims' behaviors induced the sexual assaults. Worse, such a social mindset could force the victims to not report sexual assault cases to the public security bureau in order to avoid further harassment. It is also wrong to suppose the best way to avoid sexual harassment is self-respect, self-esteem, self-improvement and self-reliance. When somebody claims that "potential woman victims should realize what will happen when they get drunk in a bar", he/she only adds credence to offenders' actions. Why should a victim take the blame for not being aware of an insecure situation? To reduce the risk of sexual harassment, we have to improve the social order and supportive network under the framework of the rule of law, and cultivate a healthy gender culture in which men and women respect each other. We cannot build a harmonious society by ordering potential victims to "behave themselves". Such anti-women views reflect the patriarchy-oriented traditional concept and gender bias, which promote male domination in society and tend to defend men even if they break the law by blaming their actions on women's behavior, attitude or clothes. But the rule of law says no one should be sexually harassed no matter how they dress or behave. So the authorities should encourage people to report sexual harassment cases to police immediately after coming to know about them. And victims should seek police help and medical attention as soon as possible; they should also try to preserve evidence. The media, on their part, should promote a healthy gender culture to help reduce sexual harassment cases. The author is a professor of law at China Women's University. State Councilor Yang Jiechi and his EU counterpart Federica Mogherini vow to deepen the bilateral relationship at press conference of the sixth round of high-level strategic dialogue held in Brussels on Friday. [Photo by Fu Jing/chinadaily.com.cn] In the run-up to the G20 summit in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang province, in September, Chinese and European leaders will hold intensive talks to create more opportunities and space to boost their trade and other relations. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is on her ninth visit to China with the aim of taking Sino-German relations to new heights. But despite China's advanced manufacturing power, which helped Germany to reap benefits by investing in the country for decades, Berlin is still hesitant to acknowledge China as a market economy. As for the overall relationship between China and the European Union, the two sides have decided to hold their annual summit in July. The decision was taken at a high-level strategic dialogue co-chaired by State Councilor Yang Jiechi and High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini in Brussels on Friday. Besides, EU leaders, including European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, will meet with their Chinese counterparts at the Asia-Europe meeting in Mongolia in July and the G20 summit in September. In addition to these meetings, the leaders of the United Kingdom and France are also expected to meet with their Chinese counterparts at bilateral and multilateral forums and meetings during the coming months. It is notable that such meetings are being held so frequently despite the serious domestic challenges both sides face and the rising concerns over regional and global issues. It is encouraging to see Chinese and European leaders adopting a pragmatic approach even though they have taken different stands on the serious issues of excess steel production and China's market economy status. In 2012-13 Beijing and Brussels were locked in a dispute over exports of China-made solar panels to EU countries, following which high-level exchanges between the two sides were closed for almost one year. The resumption of the exchanges can thus be seen as a win-win compromise. Some observers say the consultation approach adopted by the two sides should be used to resolve the steel trade dispute and determine how China can acquire market economy status. For the EU and many of its member states, China has been their strategic partner. The essential elements of such a partnership are mutual trust, understanding and compromise. China has established such a relationship with the EU, which got a boost when Xi became the first Chinese president to visit the EU headquarters in 2014, in order to help restore global peace, and accelerate growth and reform. China has offered to synergize Beijing-Brussels work on mega-projects by setting up joint funds to realize connectivity, and inject more capital into the EU's 315-billion ($350-billion) investment plan. These commitments follow China's support to the EU during its deepest financial and sovereign debt crisis in 2008-09. Some EU member states, including the UK, Denmark, the Czech Republic and Greece, have responded positively to China's moves. But some others, especially the EU itself, have a lot of homework to do on how to further expand the strategic partnership. The EU needs to meet the expectations of its member states, most of which are eager to deepen pragmatic relations with China. The EU should also expedite the decision-making process to realize mega-project synergy and facilitate connectivity in Eurasia. Moreover, the EU should consider internal institutional reformsturning its institutions into facilitators of pragmatic partnership, instead of working as stumbling blocks. The author is deputy editor of China Daily European Edition. fujing@chinadaily.com.cn Two men persuade a third to join them to work in a coal mine and then kill him in one of the shafts, arranging the scene to look like an accident. They then pose as his relatives and extort compensation from the mine owner in return for staying silent. That is the story of the 2003 movie Blind Shaft; yet similar incidents have been revealed nationwide since 2014. In Shisun village, Southwestern China's Yunnan province, it even became the main profession of many villagers. In a recent trial in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, 74 defendants, of which more than 40 came from the village, were charged with having killed 17 victims in this way. They even formed a chain, in which everybody had a role to play: The men were in charge of luring victims to work in the coal mines, killing them, and arranging the scenes, while the women pretended to be "families" of the victims and asked the coal mine owners for compensation. When there is an accident in a coal mine, the owner of the mine and local safety officials face punishments according to the number of deaths. Thus both the coalmine owners and officials often bribe victims' families so that they remain silent. Scholars call for stricter law enforcement to curb such evil deeds. Chinese actor Hu Ge (left) attends Amazing Shanghai as the city's tourism ambassador in London, to promote Shanghai to the world, on June 13, 2016. Hu says Shanghai, like London, is a thriving modern metropolis. "While I am sure many of you know Shanghai for our beautiful skyline and major global events, what I really want to speak about today is the deeper beauty of my city - the openness of the people and our traditions that I am so proud of," Hu said. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn] Cambridge University students let off steam at the annual cardboard boat race on what's known as "Suicide Sunday", the Sunday immediatley after the the summer term ends, in Cambridge, Britain, on June 12, 2016. The various boats were basically made with card, glue and gaffer tape, and many of them sank straight into the River Cam during the competition. Hundreds of people come to cheer-on the boat race teams alongside the river bank. [Photo/VCG] People gather as police conduct questioning near Pulse nightclub, where people were killed by a gunman in a shooting rampage in Orlando, Florida June 12, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] With the US reeling in the aftermath of a mass shooting at a crowded gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, which left 49 people dead and 53 wounded, a US senator introduced legislation that would bar people convicted of hate crimes from owning or buying firearms. Bob Casey Jr, a Pennsylvania Democrat, said at a press conference on Monday that law enforcement needs to focus on the connection between violence and hate crimes. Gunman Omar Mateen, 29, had reportedly once expressed anger over seeing two men kissing. Authorities said on Monday that they had identified all but one of those shot and killed at the Pulse nightclub by Mateen, who was killed in a shootout with police. Many victims remain hospitalized in critical condition. Mateen used an assault rifle and handgun that he had recently purchased legally. He professed allegiance to the Islamic State (ISIS) in a 911 call he made during the attack, law enforcement officials said. ISIS claimed responsibility on Monday for the slayings in an official broadcast on the group's Albayan Radio. "One of the caliphate's soldiers in America carried out a security invasion where he was able to enter a crusader gathering at a nightclub for homosexuals in Orlando, Florida ... where he killed and injured more than a hundred of them before he was killed," the group said in its broadcast, according to Reuters. Casey described the deadly shooting as "an act of terror" and "an attack on the LGBT community". "In Orlando, he was targeting people based on who they were and who they loved, and that has to be a focus of our work as well," Casey said. "If you have proven you will commit criminal acts based on hate, you absolutely should not have access to a gun," he said. "It's common sense." Leaders from around the world expressed their condolences for the worst mass shooting in American history. President Xi Jinping called President Barack Obama on Monday to express sympathy on behalf of the Chinese government and Chinese people, according to Xinhua. Premier Li Keqiang said in a press conference after his talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel that China "opposes terrorist action in all forms". MANILA - A three-day regional forestry conference opened Tuesday in western province of Palawan, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said. The agenda of the 10th ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Social Forestry Network (ASFN) meeting include discussions on ASEAN Cooperation in Forestry, and Promoting Policy and Practice of Social Forestry, said DENR-Forestry Management Bureau Director Ricardo Calderon. There will also be reports by ASEAN Member States and Implementing Partners and development of Strategic Plan of Action of ASFN to support ASEAN and Global objectives, he said. Calderon said ASFN is a government driven social forestry network in Southeast Asia with the main goal to strengthen ASEAN cooperation in Social Forestry through the sharing of information and knowledge. He also said that ASFN links government forestry policy makers directly with network members from civil society, research organizations, academe, private sectors and experts of related fields. ASFN supports the development of the ASEAN Community, Calderon explained. Representative of the Implementing Partners of ASFN such as the Centre for People and Forests (RECOFTC) Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Non-Timber Forest Products-Exchange Program (NTFP-EP), World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF), and the Southeast Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) are also participating in the meeting. The establishment of ASFN was endorsed by the ASEAN Senior Officials on Forestry (ASOF) during their 8th Meeting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in August 2005. HANOI - A Russia-made SU-30 fighter jet of the Vietnam air forces went missing on a training mission offshore in Vietnam's central Nghe An province Tuesday morning. Joint search efforts are underway, a local official told Xinhua. Huynh Thanh Dien, vice-chairman of Nghe An provincial people's committee, said over phone that "As soon as learning about the information on Tuesday morning, the province has instructed coordination of provincial military command, border guard, department of agriculture and rural development, search and rescue force, fishermen, Military Zone 4, and navy to deploy ships and boats to carry out the search and rescue mission." There were two pilots aboard the jet - Tran Quang Khai, chief of staff of Regiment 923, and Nguyen Huu Cuong, flight lieutenant, reported Thanh Nien (Young People) online newspaper. "So far, we are checking in suspicious areas," Dien said. According to Thanh Nien, the jet took off Tuesday morning from Sao Vang airport in Vietnam's central Thanh Hoa province, some 140 km south of capital Hanoi, for training. It disappeared from radar screen at 7:29 am local time (0029 GMT), reported VNExpress online newspaper. According to Military Zone 4, a local fisherman, who was working on sea, said he saw a plane falling down into the sea at around 8:30 am local time to the east of Mat island in Nghe An province, some 260 km south of capital Hanoi. Khai and Cuong are said to be experienced and high-hour pilots, Thanh Nien quoted sources as saying. Local media reported that one of the two pilots has managed to escape the fighter and swim to the coast. Concerning the news, Dien said he will instruct to "verify the information". The 300th China Railway Express leaves Chengdu, Sichuan Province to Poland on June 8. China Railway Corp. officially adopts the CHINA RAILWAY Express brand and launches eight trains from Chongqing, Chengdu, Zhengzhou, Wuhan, Changsha, Suzhou, Dongguan, and Yiwu to Europe on the same day. All cargo trains from China to Europe will use this new logo.[Photo/Xinhua] CHENGDU -- Container trains from China's Chengdu, Sichuan Province, to Europe will take only ten-and-a-half days to complete a one-way trip, the fastest among China-Europe trains. The 41 trans-continent carriages departed the Southwest China city on June 8 wearing the newly-launched unified logo for China-Europe freights, the "China Railway Express" or "CR Express". CR Express trains also departed from Wuhan, Suzhou, Changsha, Dongguan, Yiwu, and Chongqing to Europe on the same day, covering central and south parts of China. Besides speeding up and shrink the total time range to ten-and-a-half days, the container trains from Chengdu to Poland, the Netherlands and Germany have also increased their frequencies from weekly to daily plus four return trains each week. According to statistics, the Chengdu station has departed 300 container trains since its launch in 2013 and has delivered 24,600 standard containers with 38,700 tons of freights valued $1 billion. The Chengdu CR Express plans 400 trips from China to Europe in 2016 and the number is expected to reach 1,000 in 2017. The unified use of the CR Express logo indicates a tight regulation and management of brand construction, usage and publication, said a relevant executive of China Railway Corp, major carrier of CR Express. Railway freightage will be equivalent to that of ocean freight in the future, which will grant residents in Chengdu, Poland, and Germany cheaper and richer imported commodities. Chengdu will extend routes to coastal cities of China and to European cities such as Nuremburg in Germany and Tilburg in the Netherlands, according to an insider of the Chengdu Logistics Office. Still image taken from video shows Police vehicles at the scene near where a French police commander was stabbed to death in front of his home in the Paris suburb of Magnanville, France, June 14, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] PARIS - The suspect who killed a senior French police officer and his girlfriend has been identified as a 25-year-old man who has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group, local media reported on Tuesday. The man, Larossi Abballa, was arrested in 2011 and sentenced to three years in jail in 2013 for helping extremist militants to go to Pakistan, French radio RMC-Info reported, citing a police source. He was also known to justice for acts of delinquency, media reports said. A senior police officer and his girlfriend, a public servant of the Interior Ministry, were killed by the suspect in the west Paris suburb of Magnanville on Monday night. An IS-linked news agency report said that the attack was carried out by an "Islamic State fighter." Editor-in-Chief of Rossiyskaya Gazeta Vladislav Fronin, Publisher of Rossiyskaya Gazeta Pavel Negoitsa, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of China Daily Zhu Ling and China's Ambassador to Russia Li Hui attend the launch ceremony in Moscow of the Russian version of China Watch (top left) and the photo album One Hundred Photographers Focus on China. XU JINGXING / CHINA DAILY China Daily launched on Tuesday its Russian edition of China Watch, the media group's multilingual publication, in partnership with leading Russian newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta. Zhu Ling, publisher and editor-in-chief of China Daily, said 2016 is the Sino-Russian Media Exchange Year, an idea proposed by President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin last year. As a China Daily supplement, China Watch has been telling China's story in English, French, German and Spanish, Zhu said at the launch ceremony. Li Hui, China's ambassador to Russia, said, "Congratulations on the publication of the Russian edition of China Watch. As President Putin is expected to visit China soon, the launch will help pave the way for the visit. I believe it will boost the understanding of the peoples of the two countries." During the launch ceremony, the two newspapers also jointly unveiled a photo album One Hundred Photographers Focus on China. Zhu said publication of the Russian edition of China Watch and the new album signifies the friendship and cooperation momentum between the two nations and their peoples, adding that it will help Russian people to understand China better and intensify ties and the partnership between the two countries. BEIJING - China and Serbia on Friday discussed the development of bilateral ties, pledging to further enhance relations. The call for closer ties was made during a meeting between China's top legislator Wu Bangguo and visiting Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic, who was invited by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao for a working visit to China. Hailing the current development of China-Serbia ties, Wu said the bilateral relationship had endured major international challenges and witnessed smooth development. China attaches importance to the relationship with Serbia, and will work with it to keep high-level contacts, strengthen parliamentary exchanges, expand trade, and carry out cooperation in electricity and infrastructure construction, so as to push forward the China-Serbia strategic partnership, he said. Cvetkovic said Serbia saw China as an important strategic partner, hoping to have closer political contact with China and to expand trade and two-way investment, so as to consolidate relations. Wu also expressed gratitude for Serbia's valuable support on issues concerning China's core interests and major concerns. He added that China respected Serbia's sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the country's development path. Cvetkovic echoed Wu in saying Serbia and China shared a traditional friendship. The Serbian government and people were grateful for China's understanding and support. He also spoke highly of the active efforts China has made to cope with the international financial crisis, and China's contribution to the world economic recovery. He said China is a major force in promoting world peace and development. The visit of Cvetkovic runs from June 24-28. Premier Wen Jiabao is welcomed by Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk at the Prime Minister's Chancellery in Warsaw on Wednesday. [Photo / Reuters] Premier says nation in a period of growth that could last generations China is faced with a "long-term and formidable task" to transform its development pattern and realize sustainable growth, Premier Wen Jiabao said on his European trip, pledging that his country is determined to continue development through the efforts of "dozens of generations". Wen highlighted his strategy before he left Sweden, with which China has signed agreements on sustainable cooperation. On Wednesday, Wen arrived in Poland for the final leg of his four-country tour, which included Iceland and Germany. "China has a strategic period of development, which may last 10 or 20 years, but our aim is not to achieve development over just 10 or 20 years," Wen said, when meeting overseas Chinese. "We aim to achieve development over 50 years, 100 years ... dozens of generations. Therefore, we must attach great importance to China's sustainable development." Though China is the world's second-largest economy, Wen said that Chinese people have no reason to become self-satisfied, but should be mindful of potential perils because of the demanding challenges the country faces. "So we must spare no effort to learn from other countries' advanced experiences and civilizations ... to build our country's beautiful future," said Wen. At the Stockholm+40 conference, Wen pressed for global action on sustainable development that strikes a balance between economic growth, social progress and environmental protection, instead of focusing exclusively on the environment. The principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities" should be upheld in order to help developing countries gain their fair right to development, said Wen. The conference was to commemorate the 1972 United Nations Conference on Human Environment in the Swedish capital. That conference, the first global convention attended by the People's Republic of China after it resumed its legal seat in the UN in 1971, has been widely recognized as initiating the global discussion on sustainability. Calling China a firm supporter and practitioner of the concept, Wen said the new conference should be as much a platform for commemoration as one for reflection and commitment. The Stockholm+40 conference, attended by more than 30 government ministers from countries around the world, is the last major global event on sustainability before world leaders head to Brazil in June for the UN's Rio+20 conference on sustainable development. Swedish politician Anders Wijkman said it is also time for developed countries to learn from emerging economies. "We can learn from China, which is the world's biggest producer of clean-tech equipment and also has a very clear vision of sustainable development," said Wijkman, a former member of the European Parliament now working as vice-chairman of the Club of Rome, a think tank. "The key for us is to forge a partnership and go ahead, without hesitation." Tom Johnstone, President and CEO of SKF Group, a Swedish bearing producer and supplier, said Wen's speeches in Sweden once again indicated that China is focusing on sustainable growth with more quality than quantity growth. To achieve this, enterprises can play a big role, he said. "One of the key factors in our business plan is to speed up the knowledge transfer to China and really support China's transformation from 'Made in China' to 'Developed in China'," said Johnstone, whose company has 100 years of experience in doing business in China and is the largest bearing supplier in the Chinese market. To achieve this, the company will train around 2,500 people in the SKF China College. At the conference, Wen said China, as it fast-tracks industrialization and urbanization, is facing a series of problems rooted in unbalanced, uncoordinated and unsustainable development. The 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15) has reflected Beijing's will never to sacrifice the environment and people's health for growth, he said. On Tuesday, Wen and his Swedish counterpart, Fredrik Reinfeldt, signed five bilateral trade deals and six corporate-level agreements after a meeting in Stockholm. Wen also announced a 1 billion euro ($1.32 billion) loan for innovation by Chinese and Swedish firms, and invited Swedish companies to invest in China. In Poland, the premier met Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Wednesday, with whom he would later attend an event to mark the signing ceremony of a batch of bilateral deals. Wen would also meet Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski, and then take an early evening walk in Warsaw's Lazienki Park with Tusk. Contact the writers at huyinan@chinadaily.com.cn and fujing@chinadaily.com.cn WARSAW - Visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said here Wednesday that relations between China and Poland are now standing at a higher level. Wen made the remarks at a press briefing jointly held with his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk. Wen is currently on a two-day official visit to Poland and is expected to attend a forum on cooperation between China and central and eastern Europe on Thursday morning. He is expected to announce a series of measures to be taken to further broaden and deepen China's ties with the region. "Currently, the international political landscape is undergoing big changes. China and Poland are having more and more common interests, so there is a need for both countries to make concerted efforts to further promote their ties and promote their cooperation," he told reporters. He said that China and Poland are going to strengthen cooperation in such sectors as energy, new energy, finance and education. On Poland's economic growth, Wen said that China is glad to see that Poland's economy has grown to be among the world's top 20. Poland is the last leg of Wen's four-nation Europe tour. He has visited Iceland and Sweden and attended the opening ceremony of Hannover Messe in Germany. Chinese wholesalers in Poland are keeping their heads above water much better than their counterparts in other European countries. Poland's sustained economic growth is making most of their small businesses profitable while in those crisis-stricken countries like Greece, Spain and Portugal have had to close up shop and head back home. Wholesaler Wang Yibin, of China, is at his shop in Warsaw's Asian Goods Distribution Center. Fu Jing / China Daily Or to Poland. "This trend has reduced our profits," said Wang Yibin in his 120-square-meter shop in Eastern Europe's biggest Asian goods distribution center, about 30 km from downtown Warsaw. The center, set up with Chinese investment, hosts about 1,000 companies from various countries, nearly half from Asia. After the financial crisis hit in 2008, the center attracted new wholesalers from other countries because Poland was the only country in the EU that realized economic growth. And it still has that momentum. Wang left China in 1992 for Russia and then did business in Romania, the Czech Republic and Hungary before settling down in Poland seven years ago. He said his business was very successful at first but went flat after Poland joined the EU as more Asian wholesalers swarmed into the country. Along the road from the center to downtown, business signs in Chinese and Polish can be easily spotted. In Warsaw there is an outlet filled with Chinese clothes, household appliances and other daily necessities. According to Wang, Poland and other countries in Eastern Europe are largely friendly to them. "Compared with our plight in Russia, it is much better," said Wang, adding that a few Russians had beaten him during his stay there in the early 1990s. Yet Wang still struggles with complicated legal documents, which are not in his mother tongue. Even if he is allowed to register and set up a company in Poland, the Ministry of Civil Affairs may not grant an identify card. "This is always a headache for us and it takes a lot of time for us to solve this kind of problem," said Wang. Poland has eased visa requirements for business investors in high-end or capital sectors. Yet for Chinese shopkeepers and their families, especially those from South China, regulations can still be tight. "I tried to invite my wife and kids to come but failed," said Wang, who is now an adviser of the Polish Chinese Association of Fujian Province. "Polish immigration authorities are afraid that my family will not return to China once they come for a family visit, which is unfair." Contac the writer at fujing@chinadaily.com.cn Wholesaler Wang Yibin, of China, is at his shop in Warsaw's Asian Goods Distribution Center. [Photo / China Daily] Chinese wholesalers in Poland are keeping their heads above water much better than their counterparts in other European countries. Poland's sustained economic growth is making most of their small businesses profitable while in those crisis-stricken countries like Greece, Spain and Portugal have had to close up shop and head back home. Or to Poland. "This trend has reduced our profits," said Wang Yibin in his 120-square-meter shop in Eastern Europe's biggest Asian goods distribution center, about 30 km from downtown Warsaw. The center, set up with Chinese investment, hosts about 1,000 companies from various countries, nearly half from Asia. After the financial crisis hit in 2008, the center attracted new wholesalers from other countries because Poland was the only country in the EU that realized economic growth. And it still has that momentum. Wang left China in 1992 for Russia and then did business in Romania, the Czech Republic and Hungary before settling down in Poland seven years ago. He said his business was very successful at first but went flat after Poland joined the EU as more Asian wholesalers swarmed into the country. Along the road from the center to downtown, business signs in Chinese and Polish can be easily spotted. In Warsaw there is an outlet filled with Chinese clothes, household appliances and other daily necessities. According to Wang, Poland and other countries in Eastern Europe are largely friendly to them. "Compared with our plight in Russia, it is much better," said Wang, adding that a few Russians had beaten him during his stay there in the early 1990s. Yet Wang still struggles with complicated legal documents, which are not in his mother tongue. Even if he is allowed to register and set up a company in Poland, the Ministry of Civil Affairs may not grant an identify card. "This is always a headache for us and it takes a lot of time for us to solve this kind of problem," said Wang. Poland has eased visa requirements for business investors in high-end or capital sectors. Yet for Chinese shopkeepers and their families, especially those from South China, regulations can still be tight. "I tried to invite my wife and kids to come but failed," said Wang, who is now an adviser of the Polish Chinese Association of Fujian Province. "Polish immigration authorities are afraid that my family will not return to China once they come for a family visit, which is unfair." fujing@chinadaily.com.cn BEIJING - A senior official of the Communist Party of China pledged on Tuesday to boost exchanges between the discipline inspection departments of China and Poland. He Guoqiang, a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau, made the remarks while meeting with Jacek Jezierski, president of the Polish Supreme Chamber of Control. "The Chinese government is ready to cement cooperation with other countries and local governments, including those of Poland, to fight against corruption," said He, who is also secretary of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. Hailing the progress of China-Poland ties, He said the establishment of a strategic partnership last year has boosted bilateral relations to a new level. "China hopes to further strengthen political trust, substantial cooperation and personnel exchanges with Poland on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit," he said. He also briefed the guest about China's anti-corruption efforts, as well as the country's economic and social development and its preparations for the 18th CPC National Congress to be held later this year. Jezierski spoke highly of China's achievements in developing its economy and fighting corruption. He said Poland will further facilitate cooperation with China in combating corruption. Jezierski is visiting China at the invitation of the Ministry of Supervision. WARSAW -- A delegation of more than 30 Chinese enterprises attended the China-Poland Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum held here in Warsaw on Wednesday. The Chinese trade group, led by the Ministry of Commerce of China and the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products, was joined by their Polish peers at the forum. Jiang Yaoping, vice Minister of Commerce of China, said he hoped Chinese and Polish enterprises could engage in in-depth exchanges and achieve fruitful and pragmatic cooperation at the forum. Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Waldemar Pawlak, meanwhile, called on the Polish enterprises to seize the opportunity to negotiate face-to-face with Chinese enterprises. He also welcomed Chinese enterprises to investment in Poland. Poland is China's largest trading partner in Central and Eastern Europe. Bilateral trade between the two countries in the first eight months of 2012 amounted to $9.55 billion, up 14.2 percent year-on-year. BELGRADE - China and Serbia pledged Thursday to enhance cooperation between the two sides. While meeting respectively with Serbian Parliament Speaker Nebojsa Stefanovic and Prime Minister and Minister of Internal Affairs Ivica Dacic, Zhang Rongming, vice-chairwomen of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), said China and Serbia have realized deepening mutual political trust and new achievements in economy and trade since the two countries established their strategic partnership in 2009. Zhang noted that the co-built Zemun-Borca Bridge and the Kostolac thermoelectric power plant suggest that China and Serbia have made a breakthrough in large cooperative projects, raising bilateral pragmatic cooperation to a new level. Relations between China and the Middle and Eastern European countries including Serbia, face broad prospects for development and good opportunity, Zhang said. She said China is willing to make joint efforts with Serbia to actualize common understandings reached by the two countries' leaders. China is also willing to make full use of the cooperation platform between China and the countries in central and eastern Europe to step up pragmatic cooperation in the fields of infrastructure construction, energy, culture, education and tourism, according to Zhang. She also pledged to continually enrich the content of China-Serbia strategic partnership. She said the CPPCC is ready to strengthen exchange and cooperation with its Serbian counterpart so as to boost friendship between the two countries and the two peoples. Both Stefanovic and Dacic extended a warm welcome to Zhang, adding that the Serbs bear sincere and friendly feelings toward the Chinese. They also expressed gratitude for Beijing's firm support for their country's position of safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity. Reiterating Serbia's firm commitment to the one-China policy, the officials said the Serbia's parliament and government will make it a foreign policy priority to develop its ties with China. Serbia, they said, will push forward the friendly bilateral cooperation and communication with China in general and economic and trade cooperation in particular. They also expressed hope that the country could capitalize on the cooperation platform between China and countries in central and eastern Europe to accelerate its pragmatic cooperation with China, adding new vigor to the strategic partnership between the two countries. Zhang also met Serbia's First Deputy Prime Minster and Defence Minister Aleksandar Vucic and Serbia's Deputy Parliament Speaker Judita Popovic. Zhang, heading a Chinese delegation, left Beijing last Wednesday for visits to Moldova, Albania and Serbia. BELGRADE - A top Chinese trade official said on Wednesday that talks with the Serbian government were fruitful with grand consensus. "A healthy and sustainable China-Serbia commercial relationship goes in line with both countries' interests," Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Zhong Shan told a press conference after talks with Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic and Finance and Economy Minister Mladjan Dinkic. The main purpose of his visit, said Zhong, was to discuss the implementation of consensus reached by Chinese and Serbian leaders. Dinkic said he was happy with bilateral cooperation in major infrastructure construction programs. He said Serbia would push for more cooperation with China in this field and that Serbia was willing to see the involvement of more Chinese enterprises in infrastructure construction in his country. China and Uzbekistan signed agreements on Friday to boost tourism, cultural exchanges and financial cooperation. Treaties covering cultural and tourism exchanges, as well as the exchange of customs information, were agreed after talks between Premier Li Keqiang and Uzbek Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoev in Tashkent. China Development Bank signed an agreement to lend $10 million to the central Asian country. A memorandum of understanding for $40 million was also signed. Mirziyoev said he expects the countries will boost cooperation in the non-energy sector and hi-tech industry. Li arrived in Uzbekistan on Thursday to attend the prime ministers meeting at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Li flew to Tashkent after wrapping up a four-day visit to Romania. A visitor admires a painting by an Uzbek artist at an exhibition in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, in March. Seventy-one paintings by seven artists were on display, showcasing the folk customs and culture of Uzbekistan. Wang Jiankang / for China Daily "China was the starting point of the Silk Road, so how come you know less about the road than me?" asked Sobirov Shukhrat, a 19-year-old working at a hotel in Tashkent, after he discovered my insufficient knowledge of the hotel's historical decorations. "Let me explain it to you," Bektimirev Bakhodir, Shukhrat's 18-year-old colleague, politely volunteered. "We all learned the history of the Silk Road when we were little." Bakhodir told me the restaurant in the lobby was called "Samarkand" after Uzbekistan's second-largest city, which was a major stop on the once-bustling Silk Road between China and Europe. Large pictures adorning the lobby's walls featured a line of camels, loaded with such Chinese products as silk and tea, passing by landmark buildings in a city as old as ancient Rome. It is easy to understand Uzbeks' pride in the prominent part their country played in the transcontinental route's history. From the pictures, I could visualize the heyday of Samarkand, where different cultures met. Despite the traditional ties between China and Uzbekistan, however, young people from both sides to seem lack knowledge about each other's current lives. This does not mean they have no interest in each other - quite the opposite, in fact. "When do Chinese women usually marry?" asked Shukhrat, who plans to wed at the age of 21. According to United Nations Development Program, the average age for Uzbek women to marry is around 20. As a result, my reply - "Maybe after 25" - surprised him. "On which floor does your apartment sit?" he asked. Again, my answer - "14" - surprised him, as he said most of the tall buildings in Tashkent have only nine floors. Shukhrat, who can speak Russian, English and Turkish along with his mother tongue Uzbek, said he wants to learn Chinese, "a widely used language", at a local training center. He had no idea about the Confucius Institute in Tashkent, a nonprofit Chinese-teaching institution established there in 2005. A part-time Chinese tour guide in Tashkent said that cultural exchanges, which were supposed to be facilitated by modern transportation and communication, should be more than what the two sides have now. Few young Uzbeks have seen Chinese movies or TV dramas, while South Korean series are quite popular, she said. And while China and Central Asian countries have undergone dramatic changes over the past two decades, many people's impressions remain unchanged, limited to "Soviet republics" and "the Great Wall", said a Chinese reporter who has worked in Central Asia for years. His words reminded me that a friend who had visited Uzbekistan years ago had warned me not to make any phones calls to China in Tashkent, because the price was more than 10 times that of many other countries. After arriving, however, I found the warning was unnecessary. China and Central Asia are working to promote business and public exchanges. Proposals for new highways, railways and airlines to bring the two regions closer are now under discussion. Currently, Uzbekistan Airways, the country's national airline, offers only one nonstop flight from Beijing to Tashkent a week. Shukhrat said he plans to attend university soon and wants to major in civil aviation. "When I lived near the airport when I was little, I was excited to see aircraft taking off and landing, with a lot of passengers going in and out of the county," he said, adding, "I wish to bring more people here to appreciate our culture and create more opportunities for Uzbeks to have contact with the rest of the world." More Chinese companies are seeing opportunities brought by the opening up of Uzbekistan to set up businesses in the Central Asian nation, making it easier to expand their trade in the region and to Europe. "By setting up a factory in Uzbekistan, we reduced the cost of our products by about 50 percent compared with sending them from China by train," said Zhou Jiaqiang, who manages a ceramic tile factory 70 km from Tashkent, the Uzbek capital. He said that as Uzbekistan's economy develops and people's livelihood improve, construction materials are in high demand. Zhou is planning to add a production line this year to cope with the growing market in Uzbekistan. He also wants to sell to neighboring Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and eventually to European countries. Zhou's company is based in Pengsheng Industrial Park, which was established by a Chinese company and an Uzbek mining firm in 2009. Besides ceramic tiles, Chinese factories at the industrial park produce mobile phones and leather products. They employ more than 1,100 people, 80 percent of them locals. Wang Xinghe, manager of the park, said: "Uzbekistan started to attract foreign investment in 2009, especially for industrial businesses. We've been given many preferential policies, including cheap rent for land and tax exemption." The park is linked to a railway, enabling products to be distributed in Uzbekistan and the region. Wang said Uzbekistan is building its third special economic zone, which is targeting Chinese companies. "Uzbekistan's stable social and political situation, large population and key geographical location are the main factors attracting Chinese businesses, but low productivity is a big problem," Wang said. "Some equipment we shipped from China need to wait for days before entering the country, which could affect production." Wang said Chinese businesses also benefit from frequent meetings between President Xi Jinping and his Uzbek counterpart Islam Karimov. "The idea of the new Silk Road Economic Belt proposed by Xi has created a platform to discuss business opportunities both at high level and among local companies from China and Uzbekistan," he said. cuijia@chinadaily.com.cn Employees produce ceramic tiles at Pengsheng Industrial Park, located 70 km from Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan. The Central Asian nation began seeking foreign investment in 2009 and has attracted a number of Chinese companies eyeing the region's markets. Zou Hong / China Daily (China Daily 06/10/2014 page7) BELGRADE - Serbia has a ready project for the upcoming meeting of heads of government from China and Central, Eastern European countries, which is reconstruction of the railway from Belgrade to Budapest, Hungary, Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said Sunday. Speaking at a press conference Dacic said that China is ready to invest in the region and that Serbia and Hungary might use the favorable lending conditions to reconstruct the 370 kilometers long railway line between their capitals. "I hope that our PM Aleksandar Vucic, Hungarian PM Victor Orban and China will reach an agreement to modernize the railway. Our wish is that more countries join the project and extend the railway further on," Dacic said. Dacic explained that the three countries work on the agreement, that the "negotiations are on-going, but with our wish to include more countries." "Some countries are in a dilemma whether or not to accept this deal, some are afraid what will be reaction of Brussels, but we don't need to be afraid as EU is the biggest economic partner of China," he said. Speaking about the meeting that will take place from Dec 16 to 17 in Belgrade, Dacic said that it will be one of the largest multilateral meetings in decades that will gather governments of China, Serbia, and 15 more countries from Central and Eastern Europe, as well as guests. "This is a great responsibility for our country, and I think that the event will be of a great significance not only for our region, but for the whole Europe," he concluded, adding that the high officials of the EU are also among the guests. Premier Li Keqiang and his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic wave to crowds during the inauguration ceremony for the Mihajlo Pupin Bridge in Belgrade on Thursday. The bridge is the first to be built by China in Europe. RAO AIMIN / XINHUA The first new bridge for decades over the River Danube in Belgrade, which was inaugurated on Thursday, has cemented friendship and cooperation between Serbia and China. Premier Li Keqiang and his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic inaugurated the $260 million Chinese-built structure. It connects the southern industrial district of Zemun with the northern residential area of Borca in the Serbian capital. The Mihajlo Pupin Bridge, named after a renowned Serbian scientist, which completes a ring road in the city, is 1,500 meters long and has four lanes. It cuts the traveling time across the Danube from more than an hour to about 10 minutes, significantly reducing the traffic burden in a city of 1.2 million. Before the new link was built, there was only one bridge spanning the Danube in the fourth-largest city in the Balkans. During the inauguration ceremony, held at the bridge, Li said its construction with Chinese technology and equipment meeting European Union standards has not only shortened travel time, but also linked the hearts of the two nations peoples. Vucic said completion of the bridge shows that Serbia has overcome deep historical frustrations, and it marks the start of infrastructure cooperation between China and Serbia. Because the structure is the first Chinese-built bridge in Europe, and financed mostly by a Chinese loan, Beijing views the project as a steppingstone to a huge potential market for infrastructure upgrading in Central and Eastern Europe. Neighboring Bosnia has agreed to projects worth $1.7 billion to be financed by China, while Montenegro has chosen a Chinese company to build a 800-million-euro ($984 million) stretch of motorway linking it with Serbia, according to Reuters. Li visited Serbia to meet leaders from 16 Central and Eastern European countries. He said in a written interview with local media, "Projects like the Stanari Thermal Power Plant in Bosnia, the Mihajlo Pupin Bridge in Belgrade, the Bar-Boljare motorway in Montenegro and the Budapest to Belgrade railway will certainly promote local development and benefit the local population." Also on Wednesday, China and Serbia agreed on a credit line to expand a 350-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Belgrade, the first to be built in the former Yugoslav republic in 25 years. The plant is scheduled to start operating in 2019, Reuters reported. Zhao Junjie, a researcher of European studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said infrastructure cooperation with Central and Eastern European countries can help China with export restructuring. Li was made an honorary citizen of Belgrade late on Thursday for his "great personal contribution and support" to the city. He later left for Thailand, the last stop on a three-nation tour. Contact the writer at qinjize@chinadaily.com.cn BEIJING - Top Chinese security official Meng Jianzhu and First Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan Rustam Azimov agreed to expand trade and economic cooperation under the framework of the "Belt initiatives" on Monday. During the third meeting of the China-Uzbekistan intergovernmental committee of cooperation held in China's northern city of Rizhao, Shandong province, the two senior officials agreed to deepen all-round cooperation and strengthen ties as China's Silk Road Economic Belt initiative rolls out. "Co-building the Silk Road Economic Belt will present a major opportunity for developing China-Uzbekistan relations," Meng Jianzhu, head of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, said at the opening ceremony of China-Uzbekistan trade and economic forum prior to the meeting. Meng said China and Uzbekistan should implement the various consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries and push bilateral cooperation to a higher level and a greater scope. Efforts should be made on further deepening political mutual trust and connecting each other's development strategies, further optimizing trade structure and expanding cooperation scale, further improving investment environment and ensuring smooth trade, further coordinating infrastructure building and boosting connectivity, Meng said. China is an intimate friend and trustworthy partner of Uzbekistan, Azimov said, adding that Uzbekistan will actively participate in various projects under the framework of the "Belt initiatives" and expand and deepen all-round cooperation. Meng and Azimov signed a memorandum after their two-hour meeting and witnessed the signing of a pact to boost economic cooperation between the two countries' commerce ministries, under the framework of Silk Road Economic Belt initiative. China-Uzbekistan intergovernmental cooperation committee, established five years ago, played a central role as a mechanism in planning, guiding and coordinating the two countries' all-round cooperation. As the chairman of the respective side of the committee, Meng and Azimov hoped the intergovernmental cooperation committee would continue to play its critical role and contribute to cementing the two countries' bilateral strategic partnership. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (R) meets with Polish President Andrzej Duda in Suzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province, Nov. 24, 2015. Andrzej Duda was in Suzhou to attend the fourth leaders' meeting between China and Central and Eastern European countries.[Photo/Xinhua] SUZHOU - China and Poland on Tuesday pledged to cement economic and trade relations and step up cooperation in infrastructure. In a meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda, Chinese premier Li Keqiang highlighted closer high-level exchanges, growing mutual political trust and enhanced practical cooperation. He said China attaches great importance to its ties with Poland and is willing to develop the strategic partnership. Li expressed his hope that the Polish government would continue its friendly policy towards China. Both sides should work together to put bilateral ties at the vanguard of relations between China and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and that of China and Europe at large, he said on the sidelines of a summit meeting of leaders from 16 CEE countries. The Chinese Premier said China is willing to see both sides draw synergy over their respective development strategies, expand trade and mutual investment, carry out production capacity cooperation and boost collaboration in fields such as infrastructure, transport and logistics as well as clean energy. He hoped the Polish side could support and actively take part in a new China-proposed initiative to promote cooperation among port areas in the Baltic Sea, the Adriatic Sea and the Black Sea.` China, together with Poland, wishes to foster an important engine for its future ties with CEE countries and the entire Europe via the expanding "16+1" cooperation, Li said. For his part, Duda, who is on his first official visit to China and will fly to Beijing to meet with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping after the Suzhou summit, said he was impressed by China's social and economic development. He said he hoped Poland and the entire Central and Eastern Europe could all benefit from it. The Polish government wished its country could become an important partner for China in the latter's cooperation drive with CEE countries, Duda said. Cooperation with the world's second largest economy in Poland's transport and energy infrastructure projects should also be further pushed ahead to help with Poland's re-industrialization, he said. The Polish President went on to list economy and trade, science and technology, culture and education as areas where China and Poland could cooperate in, adding that both sides should also expand trade in agricultural products, and promised to help facilitate investments by Chinese enterprises in Poland. Premier Li Keqiang, with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban (back, L) and Aleksandar Vucic (back, R), prime minister of Serbia, witness the signing of separate deals on construction and revamping of a rail link between Belgrade and Budapest, Nov 24, 2015.[Photo/Xinhua] SUZHOU - China signed separate deals with Hungary and Serbia to construct and revamp a rail link between the Serbian and Hungarian capitals on Tuesday. Details of the two deals, made on the sidelines of an annual summit meeting between Chinese and Central and Eastern European (CEE) leaders, were not immediately available, but Chinese Premier Li Keqiang pledged earlier in the day that construction of the railway would be underway by the end of this year and be finished within two years. Earlier reports said the high-speed rail link could cut travel time between Budapest and Belgrade by more than half. The project for the modernization of the Belgrade-Budapest railway was initially agreed on in 2013 at the China-Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries leaders' meeting that took place in Bucharest, while at last year's summit held in Belgrade, China, Hungary and Serbia signed a memorandum of understanding. At that point, Macedonia and Greece both expressed their willingness to partake in the project, which plans to turn Piraeus, the main port of Greece, into a Chinese hub for trade with Europe. The cooperation plan for the construction of the railway was signed at the beginning of this year in Belgrade at a meeting for the Trilateral Group of China, Hungary and Serbia for Traffic and Infrastructure Cooperation. The plan set dates for certain phases of the project. According to the plan, the construction of the railway should begin by the end of 2015, after a feasibility study and financial model are agreed upon, with the railway scheduled to be fully completed in 2017. Once completed, the railway will help create a fast lane for import and export of products between China and Europe. "The railway not only connects Serbia with Hungary, it also links up to the rail network in southern Europe," Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic told reporters later on Tuesday. Editor's note: The fourth Meeting of the Heads of Government of China and Central and Eastern European Countries on Nov 24-25 holds a lot of promise. The following are some experts' opinions about how China's Belt and Road Initiative could benefit China and the CEE countries: Align new Silk Roads with other European countries' plans The year 2015 marks a defining moment in cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European countries, or "16+1 Cooperation", mainly for two reasons. The first is the Meeting of Heads of the Government of China and CEE Countries is held for the first time in China on Nov 24-25, and the second is the promotion of China's Belt and Road Initiative. The 16+1 Cooperation ranked very high in China's foreign strategies in the context of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road (or Belt and Road Initiative). CEE countries are located in the western part of the Silk Road Economic Belt, and China's proposal in 2012 to develop a framework of comprehensive mutual relations with these countries effectively signaled the beginning of the 16+1 Cooperation. Since then the 16+1 Cooperation has helped deepen mutual political trust, built cooperation mechanisms and frameworks, and developed practical collaboration among all parties. China's government and enterprises have explored approaches to cooperation and identified the priority areas. In fact, China is now capitalizing on these experiences by drafting a mid-term "16+1 Cooperation Program". The country is also expected to seek additional opportunities for transnational infrastructure cooperation projects such as the Hungary-Serbia Railway and the extended network of China-Europe Land-Sea Express Line, as well as international industrial cooperation projects in the CEE region. Compared with some areas in the grip of political and military conflicts along the Belt and Road, the CEE region is relatively peaceful and has stable markets. Still, China faces some challenges in pushing forward the Belt and Road Initiative in the CEE countries, the biggest arguably being how to deepen mutual political trust with the 16 countries and their global stakeholders. China is trying to align the Belt and Road Initiative with the CEE countries' national development strategies to identify common economic interests, which will strengthen the mutual relations of these countries. China is also making efforts to align the Belt and Road Initiative with the European Union's infrastructure development strategy, such as the Juncker Plan and the Berlin Plan, by proposing industrial cooperation with the EU in the CEE region. The alignment of the Belt and Road Initiative with the Eurasian Economic Union is aimed at dispelling any doubts Russia may have over China's initiatives, in order to brighten the prospects of China's cooperation with the Balkan states. Coordination and cooperation in this diverse region is not easy to achieve. However, this challenging endeavor provides China with an opportunity to test and put to use its political wisdom and traditional philosophy of respect, inclusiveness and mutual benefit. Liu Minru is an associate researcher in Central Compilation & Translation Bureau of the CPC and visiting scholar at the Institute for Security & Development Policy in Sweden. Baltic states should seize initiative The idea of reviving the Silk Road is one of the most formidable in recent years - it is difficult to imagine any other economic project that could compete with China's Belt and Road Initiative. By announcing significant plans and allocating substantial funds for the implementation of the initiative, China has given 16 Central and Eastern European countries hope for a brighter future. Cooperation among the 16+1 countries in various fields - most importantly improved export-import opportunities and Chinese investments in the CEE countries - has been announced. While launching the Belt and Road Initiative, China has not only offered opportunities to countries, but also has undertaken considerable responsibility. Many countries, including the three Baltic states, have placed huge bets on the potential investments China has promised to them. And figures show there is no need to worry as Chinese investment in Europe is growing, with the share of foreign direct investment constituting 6 percent and the growth occurring in the past few years. In Latvia, for example, half of all Chinese investment since 1992 was made in 2013 and 2014. Last year alone, China invested 16.8 billion ($17.86 billion) in Europe, mostly in the countries in Old Europe. China indeed has huge funds to invest, but the recipient countries, at least for the time being, are unclear how they would be invested. To cash in on the Belt and Road Initiative, therefore, countries wishing to cooperate with the still promising Asian market have to be more proactive. Countries do compete with each other. For instance, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia do so even in their day-to-day affairs. But none of the three has been party to any international project on the scale of the Belt and Road Initiative, which offers cooperation in various fields, including culture. The combined population of the Baltic states is barely more than 7 million, which is just a fraction of China's. So being part of the Belt and Road Initiative will be in the best interests of these countries. The same applies to other countries in Central and Eastern Europe, for they too have small populations compared with China's. Most of the CEE countries, especially the Baltic states, are largely unknown to China despite regular reciprocal visits by leaders. Consequently, there is a risk that in the absence of initiatives by the Baltic states, the goodwill displayed by China will go to waste. Thus it is of utmost importance, regardless of whether they cooperate or compete, that the countries seize the initiative and offer their own ideas about how to encourage cooperation and friendship between China and the Baltic states. Hopefully, such ideas will be voiced at the 16+1 meeting. Katrina Iljinska is head of international relations of The Baltic Forum and consultant to the SDP "Concord" parliamentary group in Saeima, or the parliament of Latvia. Poland is evaluating the wind of change A lot has changed in the dialogue between China and Central and Eastern European countries since the first China-Central Europe-Poland Economic Forum was held in Warsaw on April 26, 2012. It was indeed a breakthrough, opening up a new era in relations between China and the CEE countries with 12 proposals put forward by China to promote cooperation with the 16 countries of the region with Poland at its core. The official establishment of the Secretariat for Cooperation for Central and Eastern Europe in Beijing - being first on the list - as a platform facilitating the implementation of the proposals followed in September the same year. The meeting this year - the fourth overall and first to be hosted by China in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, is taking place at a particularly significant moment for Poland because of the recent change in government. The Polish delegation is led this time by newly elected President Andrzej Duda, which should make China view Poland as a significant strategic partner both on the political and economic fronts. Since the 16+1 meeting is held on the eve of the fourth anniversary of the strategic partnership between China and Poland, signed by previous Polish president Bronisaw Komorowski in December 2011, it calls for some reflections on the tangible achievements made so far, as well as raises questions about its future direction. Without doubt communications between China and Poland have significantly increased over the last four years, through numerous political visits at the national, sub-regional and the European Union levels, people-to-people exchanges, flow of tourists, exchange of students and scholars and trade and cross border investments, which have contributed to better understanding and trust building between the two countries. This is an achievement of great importance. But there are concerns over the significant asymmetry in bilateral trade, insignificant number of cross-border investments and the unclear role of China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank in furthering the process. However, expectations in Poland and other Central and Eastern European countries are high that the cooperation will not only be sustained, but also strengthened and more importantly transformed into real benefits through China's Belt and Road Initiative, the AIIB and the New Silk Road Fund. As Napoleon once said, ability is nothing without opportunity. The abilities in the CEE countries have not been utilized for years. Let's hope, the emerging opportunities, initiated with the New Silk Road vision will start bearing fruits for China and Europe both. Katarzyna Anna Nawrot is an assistant professor at the Poznan University of Economics and a member of the Commitee of Future Studies, Polish Academy of Social Sciences. Strategic motivations at core of 16+1 initiative Unlike the previous tao guang yang hui philosophy, or "hide brightness, nourish obscurity", China's present foreign policy is an assertive one. This self-confidence is reflected by the Belt and Road Initiative, the establishment of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, its leadership role in BRICS, its strategic partnerships and the 16+1 cooperation mechanism. As demonstrated by the "platform for connectivity" adopted at the China-European Union summit in June this year and the BRICS-plus format at the BRICS summit in Ufa in July 2015, the new Silk Roads are equivalent to bringing together countries and regions on a new track of cooperation for the benefit of all. The 16+1 cooperation can be best understood if analyzed in today's global context. The world economy is undergoing tremendous changes, alongside shifts in the geopolitical and social orders. The pace of these changes has accelerated with the deeper and faster integration of the emerging economies into the global economy. The transformation of the "Arab Spring" into "Arab Winter", and the great divide between East and West over the Ukraine crisis and the accession of Crimea to the Russian Federation have increased the risk of geopolitical conflicts. Fragmentation has become the norm, while cohesion remains an ideal. Under these circumstances, China's initiatives appear as a driving force of integration starting from Asia, continuing with Europe and Africa and ending with Latin America. For China, culture and foreign policy are its main "soft power" tools. The 16+1 cooperation literature underscores China has so far concluded more than 50 strategic partnerships with countries and groups of countries around the world. In Europe, its strategic partners are France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Denmark, Serbia, Ukraine, Poland, Ireland and Belarus. Of the CEE countries in the 16+1 cooperation framework, only Serbia and Poland enjoy this status. China's ties with the 16 CEE countries are not in the strategic partnership category. Scholars are still debating whether the 16+1 cooperation represents a "window of opportunity" or a "strategic opportunity". The literature also underlines that the 16 CEE countries are seen by China as a "bridgehead" to the EU, which could be used for "further economic expansion in Europe" and a "tool for building a positive image of China" in the region despite the rivalry between China, on one side, and Western Europe and the US, on the other that regard China as a "threat" to their established positions. China's efforts to strengthen cooperation with the 16 CEE countries are comparable with BRICS' endeavours from an institutional standpoint, even though the economic and geopolitical scales of the two ambitious projects are incomparable. Through the first, China can gain influence in Europe. Through the second, it can expand its global role. Therefore, this is a golden chance for the 16 CEE countries to transform this window of opportunity into a strategic partnership with China. Iulia Monica Oehler-Sincai is a senior research fellow at the Institute for World Economy of the Romanian Academy. BEIJING -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang held talks with his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic in Beijing on Thursday, vowing to further promote their bilateral strategic partnership. Vucic is paying an official visit to China after attending the fourth summit of China and Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries held in east China's Suzhou city on Tuesday. Speaking highly of the traditional friendship between China and Serbia, Li said China is willing to improve bilateral ties from a strategic standpoint and long-term perspective so as to transfer high-level political trust into more practical results of cooperation. He called on both sides to implement construction of signed projects in railways, expressways and power stations, and to create conditions to start construction of the Serbia-Hungary railway as soon as possible. China supports its enterprises in conducting productivity cooperation with Serbia in areas including steel in the hope of providing more high-quality and low-cost materials for infrastructure construction in Serbia, Li said. He also encouraged both sides to promote the construction of industrial parks along Danube, and to seek potential cooperation in agricultural technology, small and medium enterprises, culture, education, tourism so as to realize win-win cooperation. As a close friend to China, Vucic said Serbia is willing to develop a goodwill relationship with China not out of its own interests, but due to Serbian people's sincere love of China. Hailing the "1+6" cooperation framework proposed by Li during the China-CEE fourth summit for future cooperation, Vucic said Serbia will speed up preparation work of Serbia-Hungary railway. He also expressed the hope that China could expand its participation in the development of Serbia so as to forge ahead bilateral cooperation and the cooperation between China and 16 CEE countries. Prior to the talks, Li held a welcoming ceremony for Vucic at the Great Hall of the People. The two also witnessed the signing of a series of agreements in areas including infrastructure, construction materials, technology, quality control and education. Serbia signed a strategic partnership with China in August 2009, the first in CEE countries. The 14th prime ministers' meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) was held on December14-15 in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou. The meeting has played a positive role to maintain regional peace and stability and promote its development. The SCO has demonstrated "harmony." In a bid to reinforce trust at border areas and to encourage disarmament negotiations, China along with Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan founded a regional cooperation mechanism- "Shanghai Five", the predecessor of SCO in Shanghai in 1996. With Uzbekistan joining in June 2001, the "Shanghai Five" had changed its name to the "Shanghai Cooperation Organization". In September of the same year, the SCO held its first conference in Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan and initiated multilateral economic cooperation. The purpose of SCO is to promote peace, cooperation and development, which is different from other military organizations. The SCO maintains the principles of nonalignment, mutual respect, openness, non-interference in each other's internal affairs; respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of each other; pursuing no unilateral military superiority; esteeming the diversity of civilizations and resolving problems through dialogue and negotiations. The SCO promotes regional peace, stability and development. The 14th prime ministers' meeting of SCO issued a statement on regional economic cooperation, taking infrastructure construction and productivity investment as priorities and promoting industrialization and modernization of the region by enlarging bilateral and multilateral cooperation. SCO member states had held a series of joint military exercises to enhance strikes against terrorism, splittism and extremism to maintain peace and stability of the region. It has been the consensus of the SCO to combat threats in a nontraditional security domain. The SCO offered a trial in constructing a new international order. After the Cold War, the society informatization, economic globalization and power diversification have occurred. The old international order cannot adapt to the development trends of our times. It is a new problem and choice for the world to build a new order featuring peace, stability, fairness and justice. The SCO took the lead in exploring that subject matter. The SCO consists of six member states, five observer states and three dialogue partners. More countries have expressed a willingness to join in. The SCO shows great vitality and creativity, representing the requirement of our times. By Han Xudong, National Defense University ( The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Panview or CCTV.com. ) State Councilor Yang Jiechi meets with Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Secretary-General Dmitry Fedorovich Mezentsev in Beijing on Dec 29. [Photo by Feng Yongbin/CHINA DAILY] State Councilor Yang Jiechi has met with Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Secretary-General Dmitry Fedorovich Mezentsev in Beijing on Tuesday and hailed the latter's work in China. As Mezentsev's tenure in China is coming to an end, Yang has spoken highly of the achievements made by the secretary-general in boosting the development of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, implementing the important cooperative consensus reached by SCO member state leaders and deepening cooperation in various fields. Yang said it is hoped that Mezentsev will continue to make contributions to promoting the development of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Mezentsev extended his appreciation for the assistance and help provided by the Chinese side during his tenure as SCO Secretary-General. He said that in the context of the new situation, the organization will gain achievements even more through cooperation in various fields. The Chang'an cargo train is about to leave the train station at the town of Dostyk, Kazakhstan, March 20, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] WUHAN - Caravans of camels carrying silk, jewels and spices along the Silk Road are long gone, but cargo trains linking Chinese cities with Europe are taking the ancient road into a brand-new future. Lin Zhengpeng's electronics products used to take 40 days to reach Poland by sea. Now, with a new train route linking Europe and Wuhan City where his company is based, it takes just two weeks. "Our efficiency with trains is much higher than shipping, and the cost is lower than airfreight," Liu said. A direct freight train linking Wuhan in central China and Lyons in France began running last week. China now has three rail channels to Europe -- a western route through the Alataw Pass in Xinjiang to Kazakhstan, a middle path via Erenhot to Mongolia, and through Manzhouli in the northeast to Russia. Many cities now have freight trains to European cities including Hamburg, Lyons and Madrid. Such train networks have flourished since the launching of the Silk Road Economic Belt was proposed in 2013 to improve cooperation between countries along the ancient Silk Road. According to the Ministry of Commerce, trade between China and "Belt and Road" countries totaled $995 billion in 2015, about a quarter of the national trade volume. "In the past, it was basically Chinese companies shipping their products to Europe by train, but now European companies are exporting products such as automobile parts to China," said Dong Wanxu, General Manager of Eurasia International Logistics Ltd. Goods produced in Wuhan can reach over 20 countries along the line. In the first quarter of this year, 39 trains carrying 3,512 standard containers of goods have departed Wuhan for Europe, already more than the total for 2014, according to Yu Shiping, director of Wuhan's transport commission. Over 300 trains are expected to set out this year, compared with 164 last year. The western municipality of Chongqing sent 490 trains to Europe in 2015; Zhengzhou more than 300, representing over $1.4 billion of goods. Exports are only half the story. In northeast China, where a freight train began running to Europe last year, Russian imports are all the rage. "I often buy Russian flour," Liu Ruiguo said as he ladled flour into a sack in a grocery store in Changchun, capital of Jilin Province. "The noodles and dumplings made with it have a better texture," he said, surrounded by a cornucopia of Russian commodities. The Changchun-Manzhouli-Europe line has transported cargo worth more than 35 million euros since August, and in return the trains have brought novel, cheap goods like vodka, tiramisu and wild Siberian honey. In a Russian store in Changchun a bottle of vodka costs only 45 yuan ($6.9), while fresh tiramisu costs only 30 yuan. Some items like flour are even cheaper than their Chinese counterparts. "China has a trade surplus with many countries, but the China-Europe trains can help foreign countries exploit the Chinese market," said Lan Jianping, head of the Zhejiang Industry and Economy Research Institute. "The China-Europe freight channels will definitely play a part in reviving the ancient Silk Road," he said. Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski spoke highly of China's One Belt One Road Initiative, saying that it's the most promising cooperation platform between China and Europe, in his speech given in Beijing today. Waszczykowski is on an official visit to China at the invitation of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. He arrived Saturday and ends the trip on Wednesday. After visiting Chengdu, capital of southwestern China's Sichuan province, a starting station of the China-Europe railway opened last year, Waszczykowski shared his understanding and expectations on the relationship and cooperation between China and Central and East European countries. He said: "With regard to the economic aspect of EU-China contacts, I would single out the Chinese Belt and Road Initiatives as the most promising platform for cooperation between Europe and the People's Republic of China. Poland highly estimates this major initiative. We view it as a multifaceted project which ambitiously escalates beyond the questions of trade and transportation connectivity between the partnering countries. The Belt and Road introduces a new quality into Europe-Asia relations. If the initiative succeeds, it will work out a new formula of a strategic relationship between our two continents, based not only on the enhanced, comprehensive and mutually beneficial economic cooperation, but also on the advanced dialogue and boosted inter-civilizational trust. "As a strong country of Central and Eastern Europe, Poland is willing to take an active part in forging a synergy of initiatives within the Belt and Road, coupling them with EU projects implemented in the fields of infrastructure and transportation. It is worth mentioning the so-called "connectivity platform" which implies a mechanism identifying common interests and sectors of potential cooperation within the framework of infrastructural and transport policies of the EU and China. I am convinced that the initiative "16 + 1", which bridges the economies of 16 countries of Central and Eastern Europe and China, could contribute considerably to the "connectivity platform" and facilitate the implementation of common projects. "In this context, I would also like to commend the activities undertaken by the summit organized in the "16 + 1" format at Suzhou in China. This summit dotted the i's (infrastructure) and crossed the t's (transportation) by underscoring that EU member states from Central and Eastern Europe, engaged in the project, pursued cooperation within this format according to EU legislation, regulations and policies. The "16 + 1" cooperation thus clearly became portrayed as a valuable complement to the overall EU-China liaison." Leaders of political parties get a firsthand look at what increased ties between China and Europe would signify With a long whistle, a train left the station in Central China's Zhengzhou city to the applause of dozens of European leaders on May 20. The Zhengzhou-Europe International Block Train takes 10 days to travel 10,214 kilometers across six European and Asian countries and to deliver Chinese goods to Hamburg, Germany, from where the cargo reaches other parts of Europe. Then it turns around and carries European goods back to China. It has operated since 2013. European representatives at the Zhengzhou-Europe Block Train during their visit to Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province. Chen Yingqun / China Daily The European well-wishers were from more than 30 political parties from 24 countries, regional political parties and political groups in the European Parliament. They were in China attending the fifth China-Europe High-Level Political Parties Forum in Beijing. One of the reasons for their enthusiasm is that the train is a tangible example of the opportunities to draw the regions together, such as China's Belt and Road Initiative and green development, as discussed at the forum. The Zhengzhou-Europe Block Train is one of the most important transportation links of the Belt and Road Initiative. The train makes the trip to Hamburg three times a week. More than 50 companies from countries along the way are using the train to transport goods, says Zhao Wenming, general manager of the Zhengzhou International Hub Development and Construction Co Ltd, which runs the service. The initiative encompasses the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, which use investment and trade to link China, Europe and other areas. During their visit to Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province, the European delegates attended the Economic and Trade Dialogue of the China-Europe political parties forum. Zhao Jiancai, vice-governor of Henan province, says Europe is one of Henan's most important trade partners. Last year, their bilateral trade volume was $7.5 billion. During the first quarter of this year, bilateral trade exceeded $2.4 billion, double that of the first quarter of 2015. "Moreover, bilateral investment is also pushing forward, and both sides' exchanges and cooperation in technology, education, culture, tourism, finance and agriculture also have great potential," he says. Zhengzhou has opened air passenger routes and 32 cargo airlines to seven cities in the European Union such as Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Milan. Henan is a dynamic and innovative part of China, with more than 12,000 new businesses registered every day, Zhao says. The province has seen great developments in emerging industries such as electronic information, equipment manufacturing, bioenergy and new energy cars. Last year, the province's smartphone output exceeded 200 million units, about one seventh of the world's production. The province produced some 21,000 new energy cars, the largest number in China. Henan's exports to Europe mainly consist of cellphones, tires, steel, bags and suitcases, garments, chinaware and auto parts, and its imports from Europe are mostly iron and copper ore, metalworking machine tools, integrated circuits and microelectronic components, and cosmetics. More than 300 EU companies are investing in Henan, while companies in the province have increased their investment in the EU to $700 million, says Jiao Jinmiao, director of the Henan Provincial Commerce Department. Du Junfu, president of Shuanghui Group, China's largest pork producer, says it does business in more than 40 countries, and earned a revenue of $21.2 billion last year. In Europe, the company has eight pork processing factories in Poland and one in Romania, and combined annual sales of about $1.4 billion. "In the past 20 years, we have been involved in Europe's agricultural development and cooperation. Europe has advanced agricultural technology, rich natural resources and good products and equipment, but they need external markets, while China has the largest market but lacks resources and needs importation of products. These differences in the two markets complement each other," Du says. The EU leaders expressed great interest in the goods that had just arrived in Zhengzhou from the EU, including wine and milk, as well as the different types of buses exported to Europe by the Yutong Group, a conglomerate based in Zhengzhou. Catherine West, foreign secretary in the British Labour Party's shadow cabinet, says the United Kingdom is interested in working with China on green technology and increasing exports to China. "I think (British) products that will attract the Chinese market are high-tech products, and a lot of creative industries," she says. Manfred Grund, chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group of Germany, says he is especially interested in Zhengzhou's new technology in producing electric cars. The group is the political alliance of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany and Christian Social Union in Bavaria. Grund says Germany and all of Europe is talking about how to improve transportation and increase green technology in the auto industry, and there is potential in this sector for collaboration between China and Europe. chenyingqun@chinadaily.com.cn A visitor tries an aircraft at the booth of Hungary during the 2nd China-CEEC Investment and Trade Expo in Ningbo, East China, June 9, 2016. More than 260 enterprises from 16 Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) took part in the expo. [Photo/Xinhua] Guo Weimin, vice-minister of the State Council Information Office, visits the "Beautiful China, Beautiful Poland" exhibition with Polish guests.[Photo by Chen Xu/Xinhua] A photo exhibition opened on Tuesday in Warsaw, Polish capital city, showcasing pictures of Poland and China to help boost cultural exchanges between the two ahead of President Xi Jinping's first state visit to this country. The "Beautiful China, Beautiful Poland" exhibition, organized by China's State Council Information Office and Chinese embassy to Poland, features more than 40 photos from both countries. Besides putting natural scenery and rich culture on display, the exhibition also tells the stories of the ever-developing friendship between the two countries and their people over the years, said Guo Weimin, vice-minister of the State Council Information Office. Heads of press organizations from Poland said on Tuesday that the public has shown growing interests about China and the upcoming state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping, expecting it to bring great impact on social and economic development of both countries. Representatives of Polish newspapers, radio and TV stations made the remarks at the China-Poland Media Dialogue hosted by China's State Council Information Office in Warsaw, capital of Poland. Fifteen heads of Chinese and Polish news organizations participated in the forum. Xi will pay state visits to Serbia, Poland and Uzbekistan from June 17 to 22, China's Foreign Ministry announced on Monday. It will be Xi's first state visit to Poland, which is one of the first countries to establish diplomatic relations with China after the founding of the PRC in 1949. "We are preparing to produce videos on China-related issues to meet people's growing interests about this oriental country," said Rafal Tomanski, deputy editor-in-chief for Asia and Pacific of Polish national daily newspaper Rzeczpospolita. He said Xi's visit will be a great opportunity for people from the two countries to learn more about each other, and the paper plans to produce a 20-page special edition to cover Xi's activities in Poland. Guo Weimin, vice-minister of the State Council Information Office, said wide media coverage on Xi's upcoming visit to Poland will help people from the two countries and the world better understand the significance of the visit. He said Xi is expected to elaborate the relationship between China and Poland during his visit and introduce China's foreign policies. The two countries are also expected to sign a series of agreements. Guo also suggested the media from both countries further strengthen cooperation. "Media exchange is an important part of bilateral relations," he said. "The State Council Information Office would like to support the establishment of a regular exchange platform between media organizations from China and Poland." Qu Yingpu, deputy editor-in-chief of China Daily, China's national English newspaper, said China Daily seeks in-depth cooperation with the Polish media, especially in establishing a content sharing mechanism on new media so that people can easily learn about the current affairs of both countries without delays. Artur Dmochowski, president of Polish Press Agency, said Xi's visit to Poland is extremely important as China's place in the world is more by more important. "The visit will further enhance the political and economic ties between the two counties," he said. Dmochowski, who had recently visited Beijing and Chengdu, said he sees the Belt and Road initiative proposed by Xi in 2013 has been picking up momentum. Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site. 0108263 License for publishing multimedia online Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349 (Photo : Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks during the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference at the Moscone West center on June 2, 2014 in San Francisco, California. Advertisement Apple's upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference 2016 is very much anticipated as tech aficionados are waiting for new revelations from the company. There are lots of rumors about what to expect at the event. WWDC 2016 is the event where Apple usually introduces its latest works. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement This year, Apple is expected to reveal the iOS 10, OS X 10.12, watchOS 3 and the new tvOS. The Cupertino-based company is also expected to release updates for Apple Music and other Apple applications. iOS 10 Apple's iOS 10 might not feature major changes, but the program promises to give better performance with less battery usage. However, there are talks that the improvements featured in the iOS 10 brings will fully come to life in the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, which will be released in September. Siri for Mac Aside from the iOS 10, there are rumors that Apple is also set to announce the latest Siri for Mac devices at the WWDC 2016. The speculation started after Siri leaked the OS X. Also, Brian Roemmele wrote in his blog post that Apple is starting to alter its servers to make room for Siri on Mac. There are talks that Apple is going to allow Siri to be used by third-party applications. This just means that other developers can now use Siri to provide voice assistance by connecting an Apple product to other products. WWDC 2016 will start on June 13 and will end on June 17 in San Francisco. Advertisement Tagsapple, Worldwide Developers Conference 2016, WWDC 2016, iOS 10, Siri, Mac (Photo : Getty Images) A group of Chinese nationalists have allegedly protested against the Permanent Court of Arbitration's ruling against China's territorial claims in the South China Sea. Advertisement Chinese maritime officials stopped a Philippine nationalist group "Kalayaan Atin Ito" (Freedom It's Ours) from planting a Filipino flag on the disputed Scarborough Shoal on Sunday. The nationalist group's unsuccessful attempt to host the flag on disputed shoal came on the eve of Philippine's independence day, which is celebrated on June 12. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement A boat carrying 15 Philippine citizens and one U.S citizen was reportedly intercepted by Chinese coast guards early Sunday morning and the Filipino nationals were ordered to retreat. Reports claim that five Filipinos jumped into the water and tried to swim towards the shoal. However, they were chased down by the Chinese coast guards, who managed to get hold of a camera and a bag, which contained a Philippines flag. The confrontation is said to have lasted for nearly four hours before the nationalist group members decided to back off. "They refused to allow us to get near Scarborough Shoal," Joy Ban-eg, leader of the Kalayaan Atin group, told reporters. "There was a standoff until we decided to leave." Beijing immediately issued a response over Sunday's incident. "The Scarborough Shoal has been China's territory since ancient times," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said. "We urge the Philippines to respect China's sovereignty and refrain from taking provocative actions." However, there has no response from the Philippine side yet. Philippine defense and military officials refused to comment on the issue. The latest standoff comes as the Permanent Court of Arbitration in Hague is set to deliver judgment on the South China Sea dispute. The case, filed by Manila, challenges China's claim over the maritime region. Since the judgment is expected to go against China, Beijing has categorically stated that it would neither participate nor accept the ruling. Advertisement TagsChina and Philippines, Philippines, Scarborough Shoal, South China Sea, Kalayaan Atin Ito (Photo : Getty Images.) a 29-year-old chronic gambler from Jiangsu province has been identified as the lead suspect in Shanghai Airport Blast case. Advertisement Zhou Xingbai, a 29-year-old chronic gambler, has been identified as the main suspect behind a small explosion at Shanghai's Pudong International Airport that left four people injured. A statement posted on a police microblog said that Zhou Xingbai lived in China's Jiangsu province and travelled all the way to Shanghai to carry out the explosion. Xingbai reportedly posted on the internet few days back that he was badly trapped in debt and intends "to do something crazy" to vent out his frustration. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Xingbai is said to have carried out the blast using fireworks stuffed inside empty beer bottles. The blast occurred at around 2:20 p.m. on Sunday. However, the blast was of a small magnitude and no flights were disrupted. The four injured victims, including Xingbai, were immediately rushed to the hospital. According to reports, Zhou even attempted to commit suicide by stabbing himself in the neck using a knife after the blast. According to a police statement, Zhou was originally from southern province of Guizhou and moved to Jiangsu after completing his graduation from high school in 2006. He had worked as an employee in several factories. The statement issued by the police did not reveal when and how Xingbai got himself involved in gambling, but it is believed that grinding poverty may have pushed Zhou into the habit. Xingbai reportedly lost all his wealth and savings in online gambling and was surviving on money borrowed from close friends. In one of his posts, he had written that he would surely kill someone while carrying out the attack. Advertisement TagsShanghai Airport Blast case, china, Zhou Xingbai, Pudong Airport Blast Case, Shanghai Pudong International Airport (Photo : VCG/VCG via Getty Images) The Disney-themed plane lands at the airport after its debut from Shanghai to Beijing on April 26, 2016 in Beijing, China. Advertisement The man who is said to be behind the Shanghai Airport explosion, which injured four people on Sunday, was allegedly deep in gambling debts. According to police investigators, the man who had been identified as Zhou Xingbo, threatened to do something "totally crazy" before setting off an improvised bomb made from firecrackers inside the airport's terminal, reported the New York Times. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement The injured bystanders were hit by shards of glass, while the suspect tried to kill himself by slashing his throat with a knife after setting off the bomb. He survived but is now in critical condition. The statement from the Shanghai Police was the first account to shed led light on the possible motives behind the Shanghai Airport explosion. It however categorically ruled out that Zhou was harboring broader political grievances, but instead revealed that his act of violence was the result of being mired in debt. Investigators have learned that, Zhou, a 29-year-old migrant worker from Guizhou Province in southwest China, was employed by an electronics factory in the industrial district of Kunshan. While working at the plant, Mr. Zhou "indulged in online gambling and lost all his savings," disclosed the police report. "He regularly borrowed from friends to get by." Before carrying out the attack, Zhou sent a message via WeChat, a highly-popular mobile messaging service in China, saying "I owe a lot of money to a lot of people." Authorities found remnants of firecrackers in Zhou's rented room in Kunshan. He added: "Getting ready to do something totally crazy, sure to lose little life." apparently referring to his own life. Zhou boarded a bus to Shanghai on Sunday morning and proceeded to the airport in the afternoon. It was there where he detonated at least one beer bottle packed with powder from firecrackers, sending terrified passengers scampering for safety. The police report was unclear through how many homemade bombs Zhou detonated, which reportedly caused the explosion at the Shanghai Airport. Advertisement TagsShanghai, Shanghai airport, Shanghai Airport Explosion (Photo : USAF) X-37B of the USAF. Advertisement Lost in the publicity surrounding DARPA's XS-1 spaceplane is that another and much more secretive military space plane, the Boeing X-37B, has been carrying out top secret space missions for the U.S. Air Force since 2011. The X-37B is a small, robot space plane 8.8 meters long and 2.9 meters tall that has flown four times into space since its maiden flight on April 22, 2010. Its precise purpose is still classified but what's been notable about the X-37B is its fantastic endurance. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement On its third flight from December 2012 to October 2014 (designated USA-240), the X-37B set the record for the longest mission by a reusable space vehicle: 674 days. The true purpose of this flight was unknown and most X-37B payloads are classified. The fourth X-37B mission or USA-261 was launched on May 20, 2015 and is ongoing. This mission will not break the 674 day record of USA-240 since the USAF revealed a mission time of only 200 days. In contrast to the secrecy surrounding previous X-37B flights, the USAF announced USA-261 will test a Hall Effect thruster in support of its Advanced Extremely High Frequency communications satellite program. It will also conduct a NASA investigation for testing various materials in space. The X-37B is also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV) and there are two flyable prototypes of the OTV. In 2014, however, media speculated the X-37B is testing reconnaissance and spy sensors to determine how far they can withstand radiation and other low Earth orbit (LEO)dangers. Another report claimed the X-37B might be a spy satellite or a "space bomber" that can launch weapons from space at ground targets. The Pentagon has denied this space bomber claim. The Experimental Spaceplane (XS-1) project of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Program Agency is intended to launch military satellites into LEO as cheaply as possible. This May, DARPA issued an official call for proposals for the XS-1. The goal of the XS-1 project is to build a reusable space plane that can fly 10 times in 10 days at a cost of no more than $5 million per flight. The XS-1 program began in 2013. DARPA wants the first space flight of the XS-1to occur in 2019 or 2020. Advertisement TagsDARPA, XS-1 spaceplane, Boeing, X-37B, U.S. Air Force, Experimental Spaceplane (Photo : Jes Aznar/Getty Images) Moro Islamic Liberation Front armed forces takes a position on the lookout for Bangsamoro Freedom FIghters in Midsayap, North Cotabato on April 19, 2016 in Maguindanao Province, Philippines. For more than forty years, the southern region of Mindanao in the Philippines has been a battleground for numerous Islamic secessionist armies and terror groups. One of the most radical of Islamic separatist group in Southern Philippines, Abu Sayyaf, beheaded a Canadian man on 25 April 2016 after they took him hostage along with three others in September 2015. Widespread injustice and oppression to Muslim communities and their land continues to cause vulnerability in the region to extremist ideas such as ISIS. Despite ongoing peace talks between rebel groups and the Philippine government, militants such as the Moro Islamic Liberation Front continues to push for an autonomous Islamic region in restive Southern Philippines. Advertisement The Philippines military has confirmed on Tuesday that the Canadian hostage of the militant group Abu Sayyaf has been beheaded after a deadline to pay ransom was not given by the deadline last Monday. The Philippine Army's Western Mindanao Command said that police officials recovered the head of Canadian Robert Hall near a church in Jolo. It was the same town where the head of the other Canadian hostage, identified as John Rinsdel, was found. Rinsdel was killed by Abu Sayyaf last April after the ransom deadline for him expired. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement The Philippine Army's Western Mindanao Command released a statement saying, "The discovery confirms the brutal beheading by the evil criminal [Abu Sayyaf group] of a kidnap victim. We extend our sincerest condolences and commiserate with the family and relatives of the slain kidnap victim." Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also released a statement before the confirmation was given. He said that Canada holds the terrorist group fully responsible for the "coldblooded and senseless murder." Trudeau added in his statement that the Canadian government is committed to pursue those responsible for the deaths of Hall and Risdel even if it takes a long time to bring them to justice. Trudeau noted that they did not pay the ransom being asked by the terrorist group as it will only endanger the lives of more Canadians. Hall, Ridsel, a Norwegian man named Kjartan Sekkingstad and Hall's Filipina partner, Marites Flor, were all abducted by Abu Sayyaf last year back in September. They were taken from the resort island of Samal. Both the Philippines and Canada refused to give in to the ransom being demanded by the Abu Sayyaf. The total amount of money being asked by the terrorist group reached $6.4 million for each hostage. A video was posted on YouTube last month showing Hall, Flor, and Sekkingstad pleading for the Canadian and Philippines officials to negotiate with Abu Sayyaf for their release. Hall said in the video that they are surrounded by hundreds of heavily armed people. The Abu Sayyaf has been listed by the United States and the Philippines as a terrorist organization for kidnappings, beheadings, and bombings. The group started in the early 1990s. Advertisement TagsAbu Sayyaf, Terrorist group, Philippines, Canadian hostage, beheaded, Robert Hall, ransom, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Photo : Getty Images.) Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and German German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed to resolve longstanding issue of steel and iron overcapacity through negotiations. Advertisement Chinese Premier Li Keqiang urged China and Europe to work constructively to resolve the longstanding impasse over the issue of steel and iron overproduction. Li's comments came discussions at the China-Germany Economic Advisory Committee that was co-chaired by Li and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Merkel arrive in China on Sunday on a three-day visit. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement "Overcapacity of iron and steel is a global problem, not China's alone. We should separate trade conflicts between China and the EU from the bilateral trade, as the conflicts are a very small part of trade," Li said. Li added that he and Merkel have agreed to work together to tackle the issue and avoid complicating the issue any further. Li's remarks were seen as a response to the European Union's complaint that China's steel and iron overproduction is leading to over excessive dumping of cheap steel and iron in the international markets and China's cheap steel exports have been widely blamed by the plummeting profits of global players. The German steel company ThyssenKrupp, one of the participants of the meeting, insisted that the overcapacity issue would be difficult to solve without China's participation. However, Chen Derong, general manager of Shanghai-based Baosteel Group, refuted the idea that China was dumping cheap steel in European markets. He claimed that last year China exported only 7 percent of iron and steel production to other countries, which is much lower than that of South Korea and Japan. Chen also urged that the European Union must loosen trade limits on Chinese steel and iron. On Monday, Merkel said during her speech at Beijing University that the steel overproduction issue must be solved through proper negotiations, adding that no one wants to see at rade war between China and EU. Advertisement TagsLi Keqiang, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, china, China and Germany, China steel overcapacity, angela merkel, china, European Union, Germany (Photo : Getty Images.) Airbus Helicopters on Monday signed agreement to construct assembly plant in China. Advertisement Airbus Helicopters, part of aviation giant Airbus Group and world's largest supplier of commercial helicopters, finalized an agreement on Monday to construct a state-of-the-art assembly plant in China. The plant will assemble 100 H135 helicopters that will be sold to a Chinese consortium compromising of China Aviation Supplies Holding Company, Qingdao United General Aviation Industrial Development Company and CITIC Offshore Helicopter Co Ltd. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement The plant will be located in the Sino-German Ecopark in the coastal city of Qingdao and is likely to start operations in 2018. The assembly unit will have a capacity to produce 36 units of H135 helicopters in a year, the company said. At present H135 helicopters are mostly used in China for medical emergencies and police surveillance. The Chinese government is currently in the midst of opening up its low-level airspace to civilian aircrafts. This move has pushed the global aviation industry to look beyond private business jets and delve into the helicopter segment for growth. "With the further opening up of the Chinese skies and the increasing growth in the civil and parapublic segments, China is gearing up to be the biggest market for helicopters in years to come," Norbert Ducrot, head of Airbus Helicopters China and North Asia region, said in a statement. The Airbus helicopter deal was signed last year when German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited in October. However, Industry analysts say that Airbus Group won't sign any fresh deals during Merkel's ongoing three-day visit to China. Merkel arrived in China on Sunday to mark her ninth official visit to the country. Advertisement TagsAirbus Helicopters, Airbus Group, china, China and Germany, Airbus China, china, H135 helicopters (Photo : NOAA) This image shows the average sea surface temperature for February 2015 as measured by NOAA satellites. The large area of red (warmer than average) can be seen extending through the equatorial Pacific. Advertisement Scientists say that carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere will now reach above threshold levels for the first time in 2016. More specifically, concentrations of these greenhous gas emissions will exceed 400 parts per million for the entire year, as record annual carbon dioxide levels will aparently be affected by a natural powerful climate event known as El Nino that can shift global temperatures and weather. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement El Nino's impacts will include drier conditions in the tropical regions where it reduces the carbon uptake and triggers more forest fires that can release gas which can boost carbon dioxide levels even more, already adding to burning fossil fuels by man made activities. According to lead author of the study, Richard Betts of the Met Office Hadley Center and the University of Exeter, this atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration is rising every year due to increasing man made carbon emissions however, this year's highest concentrations are further boosted by the El Nino event. Carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere will reach a record of 3.15 ppm between 2015 to 2016 which is an alarming rate, at above average increasing to 2.1 ppm per year, in the last 60 years, according to researchers' forecast. In 2015, the annual average carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere surpassed the 400 ppm threshold where this year's will be the first to maintain above level for the entire year and most likely even in our entire lifetimes, according to scientists. These figures are based from the carbon dioxide record obtained from Mauna Loa, Hawaii in the United States that were first monitored by Charles David Keeling in 1958, where the first measurements only registered 315 ppm in the planet's atmosphere. This new study is published in the journal Nature Climate Change. Advertisement TagsEl Nino, carbon dioxide levels atmosphere, Climate Change, record levels carbon dioxide, Carbon emissions, man made carbon emissions, el nino carbon dioxide levels (Photo : Disney Wikia) Wayward artificial intelligence needs a "kill switch" just like AUTO in Disney Pixar's Wall-E. Advertisement It might sound downright bizarre and terrifying, but a robot was built by scientists that possesses the ability to choose whether or not to inflict pain to others. Roboticist and artist Alexander Reben of the University of Berkeley, California, is the inventor of this machine where this basic robot is able to prick a finger however, its program tells it not to hurt others, when a chance is presented to the robot to hurt others. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Reben named his creation as "The First Law" after a set of rules by Isaac Asimov who is a famous science fiction author. He hopes that this can create further awareness about artificial intelligence, especially when it gets out of control. Reben's work also suggests the need for a "kill switch" as Google DeepMind researchers are developing one right now from the artificial intelligence division of the tech giant. Researchers from DeepMind and the University of Oxford also revealed in a new scientific paper the implications and repercussions of intelligent machines in the future, where they can be programmed to prevent them from learning to override human input. However, back in 1942, Isaac Asimov already predicted the rise of artificial intelligence and robots when he published a short story revealing a set of three robotics laws, where the first and foremost law states that a robot may not hurt any human. Reben says that his First Law machine can indeed draw out blood from a finger but he claims that this is just a "philosophical experiment". He even adds, this robot can make a decision even I, the creator cannot predict, saying that he does not even know who the robot will or will not hurt. The roboticist admits that this can be intriguing, how a robot can inflict pain without any useful purpose, as this can spark an ethical debate, about robots that are specifically designed to do things that are ethically dubious. This machine costs about US $200 to make after taking a few days to build. Reben says he has no plans to sell it commercially or exhibit it. Advertisement TagsAI, robot can inflict pain, harmful robot, Robotics, first of law robot, isaac asimov, three laws of robotics (Photo : Getty Images) A state-run Chinese daily has called on China to enhance the security of Chinese laborers working on the $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Advertisement Pakistan must beef up the security of Chinese laborers working for the $46 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as opposing countries may use "extreme means" to sabotage the ambitious project, the state-run Chinese daily Global Times warned on Tuesday. "The corridor's construction worries Pakistan's domestic and foreign opposition groups," the state-run newspaper said. "CPEC is seeing intensifying opposition from both home and abroad, which, on the other hand, shows that its construction has achieved major progress that gets on the nerves of opposition groups." Like Us on Facebook Advertisement The Global Times article comes just weeks after a Chinese engineer was injured in a roadside blast in Pakistan's financial capital Karachi. The attack was claimed by a small group 'Sindhudesh Revolutionary Part,' which vowed to derail the project and warned China against looting Sindh's natural resources. The Chinese daily said that the attack on the Chinese engineer may just be a beginning, adding that China and Pakistan must seriously take a note of the incident. The article mentions the US and Japan. However, it clearly refrains from directly mentioning India. New Delhi has registered protest over the CPEC project with Beijing and Islamabad as the corridor passes through Pakistani Occupied Kashmir (POK). Kashmir has been the main bone of contention between India and Pakistan since 1947 - the year when both countries achieved independence. Both countries have fought three wars to resolve the dispute over the Himalayan region. Earlier this year, the Indian army claimed that it had spotted PLA troops in POK. India's strategic experts said that PLA army may have arrived in POK to provide security to Chinese and Pakistani workers. Following the report, New Delhi called on China to stop all its construction activities in POK. However, China chose to overlook New Delhi's concerns and said it was committed to complete all infrastructure projects in Pakistan. India has always been critical of the CPEC and Gwadar Port projects. New Delhi claims that China is aiming to increase its presence in the Indian subcontinent through these infrastructure projects. Advertisement Tagschina, Pakistan and China, China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, China and India (Photo : Worldwide Aeros Corp. ) Dragon Dream experimental "baby" airship only 81meters long Advertisement Once operational, the U.S. military version of the Aeroscraft semi-rigid hull hybrid airship funded by DARPA will be the largest aircraft to take to the skies in the past eight decades. The U.S. Air Force's battlefield cargo airship being built by Worldwide Aeros Corp. based in California will be 169 meters long and capable of carrying from 66 tons to 500 tons, depending on which model is used. The military Aeroscraft will have a range of some 3,000 miles and, more importantly, won't need a runway to land on. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement The military value of an airship is its ability to carry extremely heavy and outsized cargo and to land in the most primitive of conditions while hovering like a helicopter. When it enters service, the USAF Aeroscraft might revolutionize the U.S. military's battlefield deployments by giving the USAF the ability to move large loads into areas without a runway. The U.S. military is the largest customer for the Aeroscraft, hardly surprising since the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) invested over $58 million dollars to ensure the success of Aeroscraft. Of this total, DARPA spent $50 million so Aeros could build "Dragon Dream," a test airship half the size of the original. Dragon Dream first took to the air on July 4, 2013 and the Pentagon declared the first float of the airship a "success" since it met its demonstration objectives. Of the 22 planned airships, four (identified as ML866) will be able to lift 66 tons while 18 (ML868) will be 250 ton heavy lifters capable of hauling three M1 Abrams tanks and their crews. The first 66 ton aircraft is expected to take to the air in 2017. A proposed version, the ML86X, will be capable of lifting 500 tons In comparison, the Lockheed C-5M Super Galaxy, the USAF's largest transport aircraft, can lift over 140 tons of cargo, including two M1 Abrams tanks. The largest operational airships were Germany's two Hindenburg-class zeppelins that flew in the late 1930s. The most famous ship in this class, the ill-fated LZ-129 Hindenburg, had a length of 245 meters or 802 feet. It was destroyed in a spectacular fireball over New Jersey in 1937. Advertisement Tagsairship, Aeroscraft, U.S. Air Force, Worldwide Aeros Corp., Boris Pasternak (Photo : Dondi Tawatao/Getty Images) The whole world is mourning the death of 50 people in the Orlando shooting. Advertisement Investigators are still trying to determine the main motive of Omar Mateen, the Florida killer responsible for the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. Investigators are reportedly exploring terrorism and homophobic tendencies as possible reasons for the horrific incident. Terrorism Links Like Us on Facebook Advertisement A total of 50 people died during the mass shooting at Pulse in Orlando City on Sunday, June 12. The horrific incident also left 53 wounded. The shooter Omar Mateen was armed with an assault rifle. He was eventually killed by a SWAT team inside Pulse, a premiere gay club. Police said they have no regrets about storming the club, PBS added. See a live view as the Eiffel tower lights up to honor the 49 victims of #OrlandoShooting https://t.co/2nVir2HPWb pic.twitter.com/8xuFX8AJNW CNN (@CNN) June 13, 2016 During the attack, Mateen reportedly pledged loyalty to the Islamic State when he called 911. ISIS praised Mateen's act of violence, calling him a soldier of the caliphate. FBI Director James Comey said that there are various reason that Mateen may have acted on his own instead of having a terrorist agenda. Homophobic Tendencies While Comey admitted that there are strong indications of radicalizations and potential inspiration by a foreign terrorist organization, there is no evidence that the attack was directed by foreign terrorist organizations. While Mateen's father has painted a good picture of his son, Mateen's ex-wife said he was abusive, mentally unstable and full of hate. She suggested that Mateen was likely gay. Many have speculated that Mateen may have been dealing with his inner demons, of trying to get rid of his anger towards homosexuality, Boston Globe reported. He is reported to have been using gay dating apps. Multiple reports claim that Omar Mateen was a familiar face in the club, according to patrons. The FBI is still looking into these insights and is still trying to determine the shooter's motive. Advertisement TagsOrlando Massacre, Orlando shooting, Omar Mateen, Act of Terrorism, Homophobic Tendencies, Pulse Gay Club (Photo : Getty Images.) India claims that about 250 Chinese soldiers intruded into Arunachal Pradesh on June 9. Advertisement About 250 Chinese soldiers have allegedly intruded into the disputed Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh state, according to defense sources in New Delhi. The alleged intrusion is said to have taken place on June 9, at the eastern district of Kameng. However, the Chinese army did not open fire and returned after spending nearly three hours near the Indian border, sources in New Delhi said. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement The Chinese troop's alleged intrusion comes at a time when Beijing has hardened its opposition to India's bid for Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG) membership. This is the first time that Chinese troops have crossed the Indian border this year. Beijing and New Delhi are yet to issue any official statement on the incident. The Chinese government maintains that China has a territorial right over Arunachal Pradesh, which has been part of the Indian union since India's independence. The history of the territorial disputes dates back to 1914 when the Tibetan government ceded Arunachal Pradesh state to British India under the Shimla treaty. However, the Chinese government has never recognized this treaty and still claims that Arunachal Pradesh is part of China. The Indian government, on its part, has always stated that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India. Both countries fought a full-fledged war in 1962 to settle their border dispute. However, the border dispute is still unresolved and is a source of constrain in their bilateral relationship. Experts claim that the unresolved border dispute has lead to a cold war scenario between the two countries. Although China-India bilateral relationship has improved immensely over the years, mistrust continues to exist between the two countries. Advertisement Tagschina, China and India, Arunachal Pradesh, Chinese Soliders Another ISIS attack in Paris claims lives of policeman, wife 14 June, 2016 by Gregory Tomlin , | PARIS (Christian Examiner) A French police officer and his wife have been stabbed to death in another terror attack in Paris, just one day after an Islamic State loyalist attacked a gay nightclub in Orlando and killed 49 people. According to French police, a suspected Islamic extremist stabbed French police commander Jean-Baptiste Salvaing to death outside of his home. The same attacker also reportedly entered the home and killed his wife, Jessica Salvaing, a police administrator. Like the attacker in Orlando, the Paris terrorist was already on the radar of police of counter-terrorism officials. The 25-year-old French-Moroccan responsible for the attack was arrested in 2013 on charges of supporting terrorist activity by helping French Muslims travel to Pakistan. Police sources said he had been convicted three times in the past of aggravated theft and driving without a license. He was also under surveillance at the time of the attack, police said. According to police, Larossi Abballa, killed the police commander, 42, and then barricaded himself in the apartment with the commander's wife. He later killed her, but did not kill the couple's three-year-old child. Police shot and killed Abballa when they entered the house. Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve called the attack, which occurred just before Euro 2016, "an abject act of terrorism." The Islamic State has already claimed responsibility for the attack. A radio broadcast on ISIS's Albayan Radio said, "God has enabled one of the caliphate's soldiers in the city of Les Mureaux near Paris to stab to death the deputy police chief and his wife." If true, it would be the first ISIS attack on French soil since the terror group claimed responsibility for killing 130 people in coordinated attacks in Paris last November. Compiled from Reuters and other wire reports. Christian leaders: Orlando victims were 'precious souls,' loved by God 14 June, 2016 by Gregory Tomlin , | ORLANDO (Christian Examiner) The president of the Florida Family Policy Council, which has lobbied against several gay rights initiatives in the state and same-sex marriage at the federal level, has issued a reaction to the Orlando nightclub shooting. John Stemberger, an attorney who was also instrumental in founding an alternative to the Boy Scouts of America (Trail Life USA) after it decided to admit openly gay men as scouting leaders, said in a press release the people killed by ISIS-loyalist Omar Mateen Sunday morning were "precious souls." "The people shot by the Islamic jihadist were sons and daughters, mothers and fathers. They were citizens and workers. They were precious souls. Most importantly, they were people who were made in the image and likeness of God himself. There were image bearers of the Creator and worthy of dignity, value, and respect," Stemberger said. The people shot by the Islamic jihadist were sons and daughters, mothers and fathers. They were citizens and workers. They were precious souls. Most importantly, they were people who were made in the image and likeness of God himself. There were image bearers of the Creator and worthy of dignity, value, and respect. Stemberger's response may not be easily understood by many in the LGBT community who see the preaching of the gospel and the ethic of the Christian life as inherently "anti-gay." It communicates, however, the reason why all people even terrorists need the gospel of Jesus Christ, he said. "This is an unspeakable tragedy and we should take extended time to mourn, to pray for the families of those murdered and injured, and to consider the depth of evil in the hearts of men that this senseless act represents," Stemberger wrote. Stemberger said in a radio interview that he was in church when news of the shooting occurred. His pastor, he said, called on the congregation to pray and he was soon debriefed by Sen. Marco Rubio. He added that the nightclub was two miles from his law offices and near sites frequented by him and his family. "The fact that this is a gay bar makes no difference. We are all especially broken at some level. These were human beings who were innocent and had their lives taken. I have just been physically sick to my stomach. These were our neighbors," he said. Stemberger said he was received some "vitriol" via Facebook and Twitter from LGBT activists, but also he has seen LGBT activists blame Christians on CNN and in other media outlets. They have not been challenged on the claim, he added. "The response I'm getting is, 'You're a hypocrite. You've hated these people. What are you talking about?'" Stemberger said. "Jesus kind of predicted this persecution, being misunderstood so this is very sad what is happening here." In the meantime, Stemberger encouraged churches to continue to pray for the families of the victims, insisting that God is the only hope for the nation. The first thing Americans should do in the midst of such an attack, he said, is "drop to our knees and pray." FBC ORLANDO TO HOLD CITYWIDE PRAYER MEETING To that end, First Baptist Church of Orlando and several other churches in Central Florida are planning an evening of prayer for the city. The church's pastor, David Uth, said it is "time to be a light in our community." "Terrorists want us to be scared, to cower, to hide in fear. But our Great God is our fortress, our shield, and our refuge. We will not fear. We are here to pray with all of those hurting, scared, and seeking an end to violence," Uth said. Uth addressed the terror attack in his church's Sunday services, a statement from the church said. He directed the congregation to Psalm 46, which describes God as "our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." The statement from the church also said the members of the church hurt for the LGBT community. "We know God values and loves all people, as do we at First Baptist Orlando," Uth said. "We condemn this horrible and unjustified act of violence against the Orlando community. We hurt and pray for our friends and neighbors, especially in the LGBT community, and we extend our deepest expressions of sympathy to all the loved ones experiencing grief today." First Baptist Orlando has planned its community-wide prayer service for June 14. Not everyone is exhibiting a Christian response to the families of the terror victims. Westboro Baptist Church which consists almost entirely of members of the late Fred Phelps's family and is known for protesting the funerals of soldiers posted a barrage of Twitter responses to the attack. Among those were claims that God "sent the shooter" to "execute wrath and mercifully chasten." Another post read: "Fresh bread. God sent the Orlando nightclub shooter and you and your 'gay pride' and prayers only make it worse." NAMB trustees end investigation involving former state convention leader 14 June, 2016 by Tammi Reed Ledbetter/TEXAN , | ST. LOUIS (Christian Examiner) Following an unanticipated two-hour, closed-door session labeled as a "workshop," trustees of the North American Mission Board meeting in St. Louis June 13 unanimously approved a recommendation by officers indicating their satisfaction with a "thorough examination and review" of the Southern Baptist entity's relationship with the Mid-Atlantic Baptist Network (MABN). "Representatives of this board have conducted a thorough examination and review of the dealings between NAMB leadership and the Mid-Atlantic Baptist Network and have fully reported those findings to the full Board of Trustees, who discussed the findings at length and considered them when making this recommendation," the board was told as a part of background information before the vote. "In addition, the trustees were kept informed about challenges regarding the relationship between NAMB and MABN as the challenges developed, and NAMB's executive leadership sought input from the chairman and other officers of this board regarding such challenges." The motion approved by trustees without discussion during their June 13 meeting a day before the annual Southern Baptist Convention convenes indicated by the action that officers "are satisfied that this matter has been reviewed thoroughly and consider this matter concluded." Board members applauded the action, which was taken at the close of a series of routine reports. NAMB is one of a handful of SBC entities that do not allow media access to committee meetings, opening the doors to plenary sessions where most voting takes place without discussion. Following the two-hour plenary session, spokesperson Mike Ebert emailed two earlier statements from NAMB indicating affirmation of a strong relationship with Maryland-Delaware Baptists (see below). The Mid-Atlantic Baptist Network, previously known as the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware, called Southern Seminary professor Kevin Smith as its executive director a week ago, replacing Will McRaney, who stepped down a year ago and subsequently fired off an open letter criticizing the manner in which NAMB handled cooperative agreements with state Baptist conventions. In the Feb. 5 response to McRaney's charges, which he shared with trustees and eventually the public, NAMB board chairman Chuck Herring indicated a desire to keep the matter internal, however McRaney released the response on his personal website months ago. Herring wrote in his response, "Rather than engage in a line-by-line rebuttal of Dr. McRaney's portrayals of how Kevin and other NAMB leadership navigated through this challenging situation, it is sufficient to say that his letter is both factually inaccurate and misleading." In addition, Herring said the relationship and partnership with state Baptist convention partners is highly valued. In a March 24 letter, NAMB clearly related how a new strategy is working with an increase of church planting funds, resulting in 20 new churches in 2012 and double that in 2015. Following his departure, McRaney posted more than 100 pages of documents related to MABN's relationship with the North American Mission Board during his tenure, alleging his resignation was forced by Ezell. In addition to serving as an assistant professor of church history and Christian preaching, the new executive director was teaching pastor at the church where NAMB president Kevin Ezell previously served before joining NAMB in September of 2010. Michael L. Trammell, president of the network's General Mission Board, told Baptist Press that Smith was "thoroughly vetted by our Executive Director Search Committee, the Administrative Committee of the General Mission Board and by the full membership of the General Mission Board," calling him "a scholar" and "a tremendously gifted leader." NAMB response to Will McRaney's Letter of Concern (February 5, 2016) NAMB affirmation of strong relationship with Maryland-Delaware Baptists (March 24, 2016) Tammi Ledbetter is special assignments editor for Southern Baptist Texan which is on the net at Texanonline.net. This article was first published here. SBC president: 'Gut-wrenching' tragedy in Orlando points to greater global issue Editorial Staff | 14 June, 2016 by Joni B. Hannigan ST. LOUIS (Christian Examiner) Orlando's "gut-wrenching" mass shooting, as well as a recent car bombing in Baghdad, stand as unprecedented attacks in an increasingly violent world where religion plays a role, Ronnie Floyd told Christian Examiner after his final press conference as Southern Baptist Convention president June 13. But whether in the United States or internationally, human life is valuable, Floyd said, as is religious freedom. "This is a great time to remind everyone that each person in this world has been made in the image of God, and we need to value human life. What happened in Orlando is inexcusable and deplorable," Floyd said in the press conference, referencing the recent massacre of 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando by a shooter who has been investigated for ties to Islamic extremists. Southern Baptists "stand against any prejudice, any bigotry, anything that is wrong in relation to devaluing human life, regardless of what someone does or how someone chooses to live. We value people. That's who we are, and that's what we need to continue to be," Floyd said. "I can't imagine what their parents are going through," Floyd said. In comments to Christian Examiner follower the news conference, Floyd was reminded of the most recent suicide bombings in Baghdad last week that killed about 31 people in a shopping district a block from a residential neighborhood and at other points throughout the city. "We must step up as a nation," Floyd said. "Obviously this is a global issue. What we are doing is not working. We have never fought a war like this." Floyd said he is aware that people of all religious faiths suffer here in the United States and internationally in the name of religion. "I pray for every person who is suffering religious persecution across the world," Floyd said. "We can't police the world, but what we can do is call for religious freedom." Many missionaries may feel convicted to go and share the gospel with an unreached people group in a different country, but may feel lost as to how to prepare for such a task and how to actually do ministry once there. How should the research on the region and people group be conducted? How does engagement work once a missionary arrives? In an elective seminar part of the Korean World Mission Conference, which took place from June 6 to 10, Paul Eshleman, the founder of the JESUS Film Project and director of 'Finishing the Task' Movement, shared his thoughts on the first steps missionaries and churches could take to begin engaging an unreached people group. First, Eshleman encouraged the group of about a dozen Korean missionaries at the seminar to first take what he called a 'survey trip' to the location they were interested in to confirm that this is the group that they would like to commit to. Taking the survey trip also allows them to meet potential partners in local churches, Eshleman said, and to confirm whether what they have been learning about the region from afar is actually true. He also encouraged the missionaries to see if there are churches or ministries in their current local areas that are of the indigenous culture they are trying to reach. For example, if a missionary who currently resides in Los Angeles was interested in engaging with the Kahar people group of India, he or she could first check if there are any Indian churches or ministries in Southern California with members and leaders that speak Gujarati. Such an approach allows the missionary to become more familiar with the indigenous culture, and check any personal biases or prejudices that they may have, Eshleman explained. "Find a church that's close to you with that indigneous culture," Eshleman said, "and build a relationship with them so that you can partner with them in reaching that unreached people group." "Ask this new partner to strategize with you on how to reach that people group -- if you try to do it on your own, you'll use your own biased way to approach them," he added. He also suggested them to research and see if there are any indigenous coalitions of churches or mission organizations that are already working to reach that people group. If there is, these organizations would already be a few steps ahead and could offer valuable support and guidance in terms of how to reach that people group. Once that new indigenous and local partner is found, Eshleman recommended signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with that partner, which would detail the roles of both the indigenous partner, and the missionary-sending church or organization. Some details that could be written in the MOU include the requirements for recruiting new workers in the mission field, the salary of the workers, and what each party will provide, for example. Finally, Eshleman shared some thoughts on what the missionaries could do once they arrive at the mission field. "Imagine that you have finally arrived after all of your preparation," Eshelman posed. "What do you do first? I think I would pray. Just walk around the village and pray over the land." Then, the missionaries should gauge how the gospel should be shared to the people. Is there a Bible translated in their language? If not, resources such as StoryRunners and the OneStory Partnership could help develop a written translation, provide audio recordings, or train missionaries to orally tell Bible stories in the indigenous language. From there, missionaries could begin personal evangelism by visiting homes and communicating the gospel. Those who receive the gospel could then be discipled and taught how to study the Bible, and as the movement grows, small groups and house churches can be formed. "If you would like to use the JESUS Film to do some wide-spread sowing but there is none available in the indigenous language, let us know," Eshleman said. The cost to translate the JESUS Film in a new language is about $38,000, but several businesses subsidize about $19,000 of the cost. Meanwhile, the seminar was quite interactive, as Eshleman provided the missionaries with the most recent list of unengaged, unreached people groups found by the Finishing the Task Movement, and missionaries were able to share questions and ideas regarding reaching the people groups they were interested in. Bangladesh police has detained over 8,500 people in the last four days of nationwide crackdown on extremist violence against activists and religious minorities including Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, and atheists, according to recent reports. Of those arrested, about 120 are suspected militants, while the rest are being held for keeping firearms or for their involvement in drugs and other crimes, according to media reports. The large-scale response of police is believed to be an aftermath of the murder of wife of the superintendent who had led the raids against terrorist groups. One of the arrested, Shahjahan Robin is the suspected murderer of Mahmuda Begum who was stabbed and shot when she was taking her son to school. Bangladesh's opposition say that government crackdown on activists is a tool to repress political dissent. "In the name of an antimilitant drive, the government is arresting opposition activists, including BNP [Bangladesh Nationalist Party] and other antigovernment people," Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, BNP's senior joint secretary general, was quoted as saying by The New York Times. About five militants from Jama'atul Mujahedeen Bangladesh, a group that orchestrated a majority of attacks, have been killed in the past five days. Most of the attacks were also claimed by the Islamic State or al Qaeda. However, the government says that they were carried out by home-grown terrorist organizations. Junior foreign minister Shahriar Alam told Reuters last month that the Islamic State was falsely claiming the attacks to fuel Islamic radicalization, but the government had strong evidence to believe that the attacks were perpetrated by domestic groups. "It may take time, but God willing, we will be able to bring them under control," Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said during a meeting with her Awami League party committee. "Where will the criminals hide? Each and every killer will be brought to book." Over 40 people were murdered in the past year, and government says that this step was a much-needed measure to restore law and order situation in the country. "The followers of minority religious faiths are being attacked along with other ordinary citizens as part of an orchestrated plot to embarrass the government but these incidents could in no way affect the interfaith harmony in Bangladesh," Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu said. "We don't need to seek assistance of any foreign country or government for the security of our minority communities the (Bangladesh) government by principle is secular and it is awake 24 hours," he said. Update: Southern Baptists have voted to repudiate the Confederate flag. We call our brothers and sisters in Christ to discontinue the display of the Confederate battle flag as a sign of solidarity of the whole Body of Christ, including our African-American brothers and sisters, states Resolution 7, passed today by an overwhelming majority of messengers to the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). [Baptist Press has the details.] Its not often that I find myself wiping away tears in a denominational meeting, but I just did, wrote Russell Moore, president of the SBCs Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. In a statement, Moore noted: The Southern Baptist Convention made history today and made history in the right way. This denomination was founded by people who wrongly defended the sin of human slavery. Today, the nations largest Protestant denomination voted to repudiate the Confederate battle flag and its time and ... 1 American Catholic Bishops Should Use Their Crosiers of Office in Trump-Clinton Presidential Battle, says John Snyder of Telum Associates Contact: John Snyder, Telum Associates, LL.C, 202-239-8005, WASHINGTON, June 14, 2016 / "Catholic Church officials truthfully proclaim the sinfulness of abortion and of voting for political candidates who promote abortion. Hillary is such a candidate. Last Friday, Clinton in a Planned Parenthood speech even saluted the abortionist Dr. Amna Dermish who once laughed about harvesting babies' brains. "In the opinion of this practicing Catholic layman, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and individual bishops have an obligation publicly to oppose the Clinton candidacy. The only practical way to thwart that candidacy is to elect Donald Trump president." "Some church officials may find this difficult," Snyder admitted. "For decades many Catholics, including Catholic clergy, have felt an affinity for the Democratic Party. However, with its leaders' endorsement of abortion, euthanasia, same-sex marriage and other reprehensible acts, that party has become a satanic entity." Snyder noted that, on April 23, 2015, Hillary, keynoting the Women in the World Summit, said, "Far too many women are denied access to reproductive health and safe childbirth, and laws don't count for much if they're not enforced. Rights have to exist in practice not just on paper. Laws have to be backed up with resources and political will. And deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed. "As Bill Donohue of the Catholic League commented at the time, 'Hillary has a problem with the Catholic Church's teachings on abortion they must be changed.'" Snyder said, "A President Hillary Clinton would try to force the Catholic Church to accept and endorse morally unacceptable behavior. Catholics voting for Donald Trump could oppose effectively the election of Clinton to the presidency, and the dire consequences to faith, morality and conscience such an election would portend." Last month, Snyder outlined reasons for Catholics to vote for Trump in a Selous Foundation for Public Policy Research column, ( Snyder said, "A President Clinton would persecute Catholics for their faith. Catholic Church officials and others must support Trump to preserve freedom of religion." Share Tweet Contact: John Snyder, Telum Associates, LL.C, 202-239-8005, gundean@gmail.com WASHINGTON, June 14, 2016 / Christian Newswire / -- "Catholic bishops should use their crosiers of office in the Trump-Clinton presidential battle for the soul of America," John M. Snyder said here today. "They should oppose Clinton and support Trump.""Catholic Church officials truthfully proclaim the sinfulness of abortion and of voting for political candidates who promote abortion. Hillary is such a candidate. Last Friday, Clinton in a Planned Parenthood speech even saluted the abortionist Dr. Amna Dermish who once laughed about harvesting babies' brains."In the opinion of this practicing Catholic layman, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and individual bishops have an obligation publicly to oppose the Clinton candidacy. The only practical way to thwart that candidacy is to elect Donald Trump president.""Some church officials may find this difficult," Snyder admitted. "For decades many Catholics, including Catholic clergy, have felt an affinity for the Democratic Party. However, with its leaders' endorsement of abortion, euthanasia, same-sex marriage and other reprehensible acts, that party has become a satanic entity."Snyder noted that, on April 23, 2015, Hillary, keynoting the Women in the World Summit, said, "Far too many women are denied access to reproductive health and safe childbirth, and laws don't count for much if they're not enforced. Rights have to exist in practice not just on paper. Laws have to be backed up with resources and political will. And deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed."As Bill Donohue of the Catholic League commented at the time, 'Hillary has a problem with the Catholic Church's teachings on abortion they must be changed.'"Snyder said, "A President Hillary Clinton would try to force the Catholic Church to accept and endorse morally unacceptable behavior. Catholics voting for Donald Trump could oppose effectively the election of Clinton to the presidency, and the dire consequences to faith, morality and conscience such an election would portend."Last month, Snyder outlined reasons for Catholics to vote for Trump in a Selous Foundation for Public Policy Research column, ( sfppr.org/2016/05/the-pharisees-of-our-time-vs-the-blue-collar-billionaire ).Snyder said, "A President Clinton would persecute Catholics for their faith. Catholic Church officials and others must support Trump to preserve freedom of religion." home World Sex with animals is legal in Canada...as long as there's no penetration - court declares In a controversial case involving a man who sexually assaulted his stepdaughters and a dog, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled Thursday, June 9 that sex with animals is legal as long as there's no penetration involved. "Although bestiality was often subsumed in terms such as sodomy or buggery, penetration was the essence - 'the defining act,'" stated the court ruling. The man, who was acquitted of bestiality, is identified only as "DLW" and is convicted of 13 counts of rape cases against his stepdaughters for which he is sentenced 16 years in prison. Court records reveal that while videotaping the act, DLW had the family dog lick off the peanut butter which he smeared on his stepdaughters' genitals. He also tried to make the dog have sex with a stepdaughter but failed. Favoring the argument lodged by DLW's attorneys that Canada's bestiality code does not cover all sex acts with animals, the court voted a majority of 7-1. "Acts with animals that have a sexual purpose are inherently exploitative whether or not penetration occurs," said the lone dissenter, Justice Rosalie Abella, in her dissenting opinion. Abella added that the 1988 amendment on the bestiality law was all about prevention of sexual exploitations. "As of today, Canadian law gives animal abusers license to use animals for their own sexual gratification," Camille Labchuk, executive director of Animal Justice told The Independent in an e-mailed statement. "This is completely unacceptable, contrary to societal expectations, and cannot be allowed to continue," Labchuk continued. "This much-needed bill updates the animal offences in the Criminal Code and closes this dangerous loophole to make it crystal clear that all forms of sexual activity between a person and an animal are unacceptable." Animal Justice and the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies are urging the Parliament to amend what they consider is an outdated bestiality law. Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith introduced the Bill C-246 "The Modernizing Animal Protections Act" offering to expand legislations around animal protection, according to CBC News. Although Erskine-Smith has cited a lukewarm support from his colleagues, the bill is set for another round of discussion in September. home World Catholic Bishops' Conference of Nigeria wants CAN elections suspended, National Christian Elders Forum asks group to reconsider The Catholic Bishops' Conference of Nigeria announced last week that they would suspend active participation with the Christian Association of Nigeria, the organization of various Christian denominations in the country, until some issues are resolved. In response to the announcement, the National Christian Elders Forum sent a letter asking them to reconsider their decision. "As this is The Year of Mercy, there is the need for CBCN to reconsider withdrawing the letter to CAN in the spirit of mercy and reconciliation," says the letter signed by NCEF chairman Solomon Asemota, addressed to CBCN president Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama, as quoted by Sahara Reporters. The CBCN is reportedly withdrawing from CAN until some issues are addressed. According to another article by Sahara Reporters, the CBCN wants CAN's upcoming elections to be suspended, and for outgoing CAN president Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor to drop his alleged plans to rig the association's upcoming elections. They said that under Oritsejafor, the association has deviated from their original objectives. "The way and manner in which the electoral process of CAN has been handled does not show any willingness of the leadership to do things in a way worthy of the Association," reads the CBCN letter, signed by Kaigama. "We can no longer go along with the way things are now." The CBCN letter also says that the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, which represents the Catholic Church in Nigeria, has observed that CAN has continued to deviate from its original objectives. It is demanding the current electorcal process to be suspended until the five Blocks of the association reconvene "to work out a way of bringing the Association back on track, so that it may serve the purpose for which it was originally founded." "This is the only condition under which the CSN can positively consider its continued membership of the Association," it says. In the NCEF letter, Asemota reminded the CBCN that church leaders should take caution lest they give the impression that some church leaders are supporting the intent for Nigeria to be Islamized.. "All Church leaders in Nigeria must be careful not to create the unfortunate impression that some Church Leaders in Nigeria are 'extensions' of Fulani/ Hausa hegemony intent of Islamizing Nigeria," the letter says. "It is my humble submission therefore that the Church,aZ more than any period in history in Nigeria, needs to be unified to combat the systematic and deliberate efforts to Islamize Nigeria by force." home World Christian man stabbed by Muslims for eating during Ramadan in Nigeria A Christian man in Nigeria nearly lost his right eye and sustained multiple wounds on Tuesday, June 7 after getting stabbed by a group of young Muslim men who were angered to see him eating during Ramadan. The 41-year-old Christian carpenter, Francis Emmanuel Olokpo, angered some young Muslim men in the Sokoto Road area of Kukuri who saw him eating during Ramadan at about 2:30 p.m. that day, according to an eyewitness account, as reported by Punch. Olokpo, who was taken to St. Gerard Hospital in Kaduna where he is now recovering, told journalists that six Muslims approached him while he was eating at his workplace and asked him why he was not fasting. He told them he's a Christian but they already started attacking him. "They used cutlasses, scissors and knives. I became unconscious; I don't even know who brought me to the hospital," Olokpo was quoted by Punch as saying. Samuel Aruwan, from the Special Assistance to the governor on media and publicity, released an official statement that revealed Kaduna State Gov. Malam Nasir El-Rufai's visit at the hospital the following day. "The government will not allow anyone to get away with any crime using his or her faith as an excuse. There is no compulsion in religion. It is a free country, and that means no imposition of faith or religious practices on anyone," the statement read (via Daily Post). In a surge of violent attacks targeting non-Muslims, a pastor's wife accused of blasphemy was killed by a Muslim mob in June. The director of National Issues of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Sunny Oibe, released a statement saying that the most recent incident only exposes the level of intolerance particularly by Muslims. "Even if somebody refuses to fast, nobody has the right to embark on such animalistic behavior of attempting murder," Oibe said. Oibe added that CAN is urging the Nigerian security agencies to guarantee that the matter is "not swept under the carpet." Meanwhile, Olokpo told Vanguard on Friday, June 10 that there's no reason to worry over him. "I'm being taken care of very well, and by the grace of Christ, I shall leave here very soon," Olokpo stated. home World Christian woman denied church burial in India as she was married to a Hindu The Christian grandmother of Indian actress Priyanka Chopra passed away recently, but her parish church would not allow her to be buried in their grounds because she was married to a Hindu and did not live a Christian life. "The act of church was awful," Chopra said, according to The Indian Express. "But we should not concentrate on it. Rather we should look that we lost a family member." According to Gulf News, the last wish of Mary John Akhauri, 94, was to be buried at the cemetery of her parish church. However, the St. John Attamangalam Church in Kumarakom, Kerala denied her family permission to have her buried in the Kumakarom Church grounds. Father Simon Manuel of the Attamangalam Church, in a report by Times of India, said that they were following the church's constitution and traditions. Akhauri married a Hindu, and she is said to have not lived a life according to Christian teachings. The issue, he said, became news because she was the grandmother of Chopra, but he claimed that the church members are more important than the Bollywood actress. Fr. Paul Thellakkat, former spokesman of KCBC, said that the Catholic church can refuse such burial only if a member was previously "expelled." "But it is the rule of the catholic church," he said. However, not everyone agrees. Bishop Thomas Mar Thimothios said that a funeral rite is a spiritual act, and the Attamangalam Church's action was "non-Christian." "The decision not to allow her funeral to be held at the Church was wrong," he said. Akhauri's funeral was reportedly held at the St. Thomas Jacobite Church at Ponkunnam. The Indian Express reports that she was buried on Sunday in a graveyard in Kerala. home World Egypt deliberately hiding the number of Christians in the country, says Coptic leader A Christian leader has claimed that the Egyptian government is deliberately keeping secret the number of Christians in the country, allegedly because it is afraid that they would demand that Christians occupy some senior posts in the government. "The Egyptian state doesn't want to reveal the real number of Copts out of fear that it will influence their demands to receive a slice of senior positions in government," said Naguib Sawiris, a Christian politician and businessman, as quoted on Arabi 21 (in English on Breitbart. "The Copts are still not properly represented in the government. The government has one Coptic minister, the Immigration Minister. This is a much different situation than what has existed in Egypt in different periods of history." According to the report, Sawiris was speaking during a conference called "The Future of Egypt's Religious Minorities: Status of Copts after Two Revolutions," held at the U.S. Capital Building in Washington last week and organized by the Coptic Solidarity organization. During the conference, Sawiris said that Egypt was opened to extremism by former president Anwar Sadat, and the country is still being controlled by it. He expressed hope that Egypt will have a Christian prime minister and more than one Coptic minister in the government. "The Copts deserve this," he said. "They never harmed Egypt and never cause any problems." Sawiris also said that people, rather than taking responsibility for what befalls them, puts the blame on others, such as the U.S. and Israel. He mentioned that it was Egyptians who stripped an old woman and paraded her in the streets. His comments, however, received backlash on social media, where people reportedly accused him of sectarianism and extremism. Mansoura University professor Mohammed Shukri said he is attempting to divide the country. Others, on the other hand, supported him and said that just like others, Christian Egyptians should have the same rights. Sawiris is Chief Executive Officer of Orascom Telecom Media & Technology and is the founder of the Free Egyptians Party. According to the CIA World Factbook's 2012 estimate, only 10 percent of the population of Egypt is Christian, majority of which follow the Coptic Orthodox Church. The other 90 percent is composed of Muslims. home World Israel's 'Old City of Jerusalem' tourist map excludes Christian and Muslim holy sites Tourists who wish to visit the Old City of Jerusalem or al-Quds are given a map of the area, but it does not cite significant historical Christian and Muslim holy site, and not many are happy with this move by Israel's tourism ministry. "When I saw it, I thought it was a map for only Jewish tour groups," said a tour guide who wished to remain anonymous, as quoted by Tasnim News. "The narrative it shows is quite exclusive to one religious group." According to the report, the map highlights 57 numbered sites, including those that are not deemed to be historically important such as buildings in the Muslim and Christian quarters in East Jerusalem that are occupied by illegal settlers. "There are a bunch of sites that are not only historically unimportant, but that are run by settlers," Betty Herschman, director of international relations at Ir Amim, is quoted as saying. "That is to the detriment of historically relevant Christian and Muslim sites, which you would think would be far more prioritized on a map of the Old City, the hub of the three major monotheistic religions." Ir Amim is an Israeli human rights non-government organization that provides tours of East al-Quds. Herschman said that the map not only erases significant Christian and Muslim holy sites, it also erases whole neighborhoods located around the historic basin. She deems that it legitimizes private settlements that are built by illegal settlers in Palestinian neighborhoods. "I think that a lot of Israeli tour operators and tour guides, even right-wingers, would agree with me that a touristic map should show the treasures of the city," Aziz Abu Sarah, a resident of Jerusalem and co-founder of Mejdi Tours, told Al Jazeera. "I grew up in Jerusalem. St Anne's Church, which I think is one of the most amazing places, is not on the map. There are many Christians coming to Jerusalem, and they are going to get a map that doesn't identify their holy sites. It's not a smart decision." Apart from the Roman Catholic St. Anne's Church, the map also excludes the Muslim as-Aqsa Mosque compound measurung 14 hectares. The Dome of the Rock is labeled only by its Jewish name, The Temple Mount, and its Muslim name al-Haram al-Sharif or Noble Sanctuary is not mentioned, and the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer is marked only by a small name. The City of David park, however, is promininently featured, according to the Al Jazeera report. It is a settlement managed by the private political organisation, Elad, which reportedly purchases and takes over Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem and the Old City. Also featured are buildings such as Beit Wittenberg, Beit Danon, and Beit Eliyahu. The Ministry of Tourism, however, defended the map. "The map, which was produced in cooperation with tour guides and took into account their recommendations and the vast knowledge they have accumulated, is useful and convenient, listing the main tourist sites," they said in a statement. The map is given away for free to tourists at tourist information centers across Jerusalem. home World Muslims building chapel for Christians in Pakistan The Muslim residents of a village in Pakistan are helping to build a mud chapel for their Christian neighbors. Khaksabad, located in the province of Punjab, is a place in the country where people of two different faiths live side by side and are not segregated because of religion. "At first I didn't believe it when Muslim community leaders said they would build us a chapel," Christian labourer Faryad Masih told Anadolu Agency. "But to my surprise, construction work began within one month of the initial announcement. Our community's longtime dream is now coming true." The previous church in Khaksabad was swept away due to the monsoon season, and the local Christians had to rent or borrow a house for their religious activities and festivities. The Muslim leaders decided to have a chapel built for them, and the villagers are donating what they can for the effort. According to The Independent, there was a donation of 30,000 rupees from a businessman, Hussain gave 10,000 rupees, and a farmer contributed 2,000 rupees. In an interview with the BBC, Christian villager Faryal Masih said that since he was a child, he and his Muslim friends have lived together in the same place. They attend each other's festivals and weddings. "We are together in times of happiness and grief," he said. "I pray that we never have to go through what happened in Gojra ever." Gojra is a city close to the village. It made the news in 2009 when religious mobs attacked Christians and torched their houses. According to Daily Pakistan, the incident left 10 people dead, with seven of them burned inside their homes. Four churches in nearby areas were also destroyed. "After the Gojra riots, we are trying to bring people together even more," Muslim villager Ijaz Farooq told the Brtiish network. "We have increased our activity so we don't have to face something like that. By building this church we want to show that we are united as a community." home World Nepal arrests seven Christians over allegations of converting people to Christianity Seven Christians were arrested on Thursday, June 9, in Dolakha district, Nepal for allegedly converting people to Christianity. The seven Christians had reportedly distributed handkerchiefs together with Bible handbooks called "A Great Story" to a total of 885 students. Among those arrested, two were owners and principals of private schools: Prakash Pradhan, proprietor of Mount Valley Boarding School, and Bimal Shahi, proprietor of Modern Nepal School. Pradhan and Shahi often organize activities for the students. The others who were arrested were part of a Christian organization called Teach Nepal: Banita Dangol, Bhim Bahadur Tamang, Balkrishna Rai, Kiran Dahal and Philip Tamang. Local authorities learned about the activity and reported it to the police, according to UCA News. The persons involved were all arrested on charges of converting other people to another religion through the distribution of religious handbooks, which is illegal under the constitution. The 2015 amendments to the Nepalese constitution include a provision that makes it illegal for any person to convert another to a different religion. Article 26 (3) states: "No person shall, in the exercise of the right conferred by this Article, do, or cause to be done, any act which may be contrary to public health, decency and morality or breach public peace, or convert another person from one religion to another or any act or conduct that may jeopardize other's religion." The amendment does not specify which activities are considered as acts of religious conversion. Although "freedom of religion" or expression of one's beliefs is allowed in the country, this provision has made evangelization an illegal activity in Nepal. Christians in the country fear that this could lead to the inclusion of an "anti-conversion clause" in the penal code, which could put violators in prison, according to World Watch Monitor. Nepal is 80 percent Hindu. Religious minorities, including Christians, comprise only 1.5 to 3 percent of the total population. The seven arrested Christians were told they would be released if they make a verbal commitment that they will not do similar undertakings in the future. A group of Christians, including church leaders, will meet with the Home Ministry officials to discuss the release of the seven. home US Ohio school district sues Obama administration over transgender bathroom directive A school district in Ohio has filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration's directive to let transgender students use bathrooms in public schools based on their gender identity. The lawsuit was sparked by the case of an unnamed biologically male student who identifies as female and attends Highland Elementary School in Morrow County. When the child entered first grade in 2012, his guardian told the school that he now identifies as a female and requested that the child be addressed as female, to which the school complied. The following year, the guardian asked the school to allow the child to use the girls' bathroom, which the school did not allow. The school provided a single occupancy restroom for the student instead of allowing him to use the female restroom. However, the guardian was not happy with the arrangement and filed a complaint at the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights. The department mandated the school to accommodate the child's request, citing that it cannot discriminate students based on sex. The department also ordered the school to change all policies for the sake of transgender students. The Highland Local School District refused to comply with the order and sought legal counsel from the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). Not following the directive could cost the school $1 million annually from its federal funding, something that the school, which caters mostly to low-income families, could not afford, the Associated Press reported. The school complaint says that threatening to pull the funds "will compel Highland to eliminate special-education classes and programs, end many of its educational-advancement programs and resources, increase class sizes (which will decrease the individualized time and attention that staff members are able to give each student), and cut the number of free and reduced-cost lunches available to students." ADF senior counsel Jim Campbell said Highland Elementary School is fulfilling its responsibility to protect the "dignity, safety and privacy" of its students, while the education department is "attempting to strong-arm" the school into compliance to the transgender directive. "The DOE is trying to redefine a federal law that only Congress can change," Campbell said, according to Christian News. home US Orlando shooter Omar Mateen angered seeing gay couple kissing? Omar Mateen, the mass murderer with an Afghan descent who gunned down 49 people in an Orlando nightclub Sunday, June 12, may have been set off by seeing a same-sex couple kissing each other. Seddique Mir Mateen, the gunman's father, thinks that his son may have been enraged when he saw two men kissing each other. He told NBC News, "We were in downtown Miami, Bayside, people were playing music. And he saw two men kissing each other in front of his wife and kid, and he got very angry." "They were kissing each other and touching each other, and he said: 'Look at that. In front of my son, they are doing that.' And then we were in the men's bathroom, and men were kissing each other," he added. Considered as the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, authorities are investigating the motive behind the hostage crisis that lasted about three hours and only ended when the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team stormed the Pulse nightclub with an armored vehicle and gunned down 29-year-old Mateen. A total of 49 were killed while 53 were injured. Mateen had called 911 and pledged to ISIS before the shooting rampage, according to official reports. However, law enforcement officials say there's no indication of direct contact between Mateen and ISIS. Mateen's family insists religion has nothing to do with the incident, pointing instead to Mateen's pure hatred against the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community as the main cause. However, by Monday night claims were emerging that Mateen had been visiting the Pulse gay nightclub for numerous years prior to the shooting. The gunman, who worked as a security guard at G4S Secure Solutions, had anger management issues and was easily set off by women, race or religion, said his co-worker Daniel Gilroy. Gilroy added that Mateen "always referred to every other race, religion, gender in a derogatory way." Sitora Yusufiy, who left Mateen four months into their marriage because of abuse, told ABC News he was a "sick person" who went "really confused" and "crazy." Ronald Hopper, FBI Assistant Special Agent, revealed that Mateen had been interviewed by the FBI in 2013 and 2014 for inflammatory remarks. "Those interviews turned out to be inconclusive, so there was nothing to keep the investigation going," said Hopper, as reported by CNN. home US Orlando shooting latest news: Christians should demonstrate Jesus' sacrificial love to gay community, says Russell Moore In the aftermath of the Orlando shooting, Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission president Russell Moore asks Christians to reach out to the gay and lesbian community and show the love of Jesus to them. Moore, a known conservative Christian, said the Orlando shooting gave way to some good things, like people helping each other and donating blood for the victims. However, he said, it also led to "social media wars," making him wonder if the nation "still has the capacity to grieve together" in times of tragedy. "At least fifty peopleacreated in the image of Godawere slaughtered in cold blood," Moore wrote in his blog. "Families who were waiting to see their loved ones are finding out today that they will never see them again in this life. That ought to drive us to mourn." The recent mass shooting at an Orlando gay club left 49 people dead and 53 others injured. The gunman, Omar Mir Seddique Mateen, was said to have pledged allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadiin a 911 call before he opened fire at the people in the gay club, NBC News reported. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack, although Mateen is believed to not be directly connected to the terror group. Moore urged Christians to come together for prayer, saying the gay community is "likely quite scared" at a time like this. "Demonstrate the sacrificial love of Jesus to them," he said. "We don't have to agree on the meaning of marriage and sexuality to love one another and to see the murderous sin of terrorism." He also asked churches to pray for the country's leaders who are faced with difficult decisions especially during a crisis. "Let's call for governing authorities to do their primary duty of keeping its people safe from evildoers," he wrote. He also reminded believers to "bear patiently" with those who argue about issues on social media, saying those who do so are likely frustrated at how things are going and also "want this horror to end." He said Christians ought to love, serve and weep with those who weep. The Oregon shooting is a good reminder for the Body of Christ and for others that "this is not the way it is supposed to be." "We mourn, but we mourn in the hope of a kingdom where blood is not shed and where bullets never fly," Moore said. home World Should Christians practice yoga? Group of churches call for Christians to refrain from yoga in India A group of 13 Christian churches in Mizoram, India has called for church members to refrain from practising yoga since it is rooted mainly on Hinduism. "Yoga exercises may be able to heal some illness, but Christians cannot use it to replace the eternal healing of Christ," said Reverend Lalramliana Pachuau, the leader of the Mizoram Kohhran Hruaitute Committee, as quoted by Newsgram. According to the report, the issue was discussed during an MKHC meeting on June 2. Pachuau, who is also the senior executive secretary of the Mizoram Synod of Presbyterian Church, asked that members of MKHC churches be informed of what the church believes -- that yoga can "dilute" Christian teachings, and it can be used to convert Christians. "MKHC looks at yoga as being against the teachings and beliefs of Christianity," The Hindu quotes Pachuau as saying. Yoga is a physical, spiritual, and mental discipline, speculated to have started in the sixth or fifth century BCE in India. There are different schools of yoga apart from Hinduism, including Buddhism, Jainism, and Tantra, although it can be found mainly in Hindu texts such as the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, the Mahabharata, the Katha Upanishad, and the Bhagavad Gita. The Indian government has been propagating yoga officially. Unlike the common western view that yoga is for a person's physical well-being, the practice in India is spiritual and a way of life. It is more than physical exercise, explained Kamna Muddagouni, a Hindu writer based in Melbourne, Australia, on Daily Life in April. Muddagouni said that yoga is "a multifaceted philosophy, medicine system and way of life," and that the asanas or poses are just one part of several practices, including "mediation, abstention and liberation a that are considered as a philosophical school in Hinduism." Several Christian organizations have been promoting the practice of yoga amalgamated with their faith. Holy Yoga, for instance, claims that it is "an experiential worship created to deepen people's connection to Christ." Praise Moves, on the other hand, acknowledges that the practice is of Hindu roots and refuses to use the term "Christian yoga"; instead, they call what they do as "the Christian alternative to yoga." Meanwhile, the group Christians Practising Yoga claims that "yoga and meditation deepens our Christian faith." home World Thousands attend gay rights march in Poland Activists fighting for homosexual rights in Poland were joined by thousands of supporters Saturday, June 11 throughout the streets of Warsaw in a predominantly Catholic country where gay rights are among the least recognized. Dotting the streets with rainbow-colored flags and umbrellas, the colorful Equality parade campaigning for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) rights started at the Palace of Culture and ended across the Vistula River for a so-called beach party. The event was led by the civic organization Committee for the Defence of Democracy (Polish: Komitet Obrony Demokracji or KOD) and the left-wing Razem party. Supporters included women's activists, Germany-based LGBTI activists, and some foreign diplomats, as reported by The Guardian. At the same time, a letter was also published in a local newspaper, signed by 100 well-known Poles, including the "out" Slupsk mayor, Robert BiedroA, and an "out" ex-Vatican official subsequently defrocked for being homosexual, Krzysztof Charamsa. The letter and the LGBTI march called on the Polish people to recognize and end the hostilities against homosexuals as well as to encourage other LBGTI to come out. While Poland ranks as among countries that offer the least protection for gay rights in the European Union, activists claim that hate crime and discrimination worsened since the right-wing Law and Justice Government that took office almost a year ago. "We are fed up with waiting for change. This government is hostile but it wasn't much better under the previous (liberal) one," activist Hubert Sobecki told The Guardian. Sobecki's group, Nie Wyklucza translated as "Love does not exclude," is campaigning for same-sex marriage. Sobecki added, "Now we have simply decided to end the softly-softly approach and call for full marriage rights. We are not even talking to the politicians. We are addressing ordinary people. We want them to get used to it." Gay rights parades in Croatia and Italy, two other predominantly Catholic countries in the EU, also took place on Saturday. Just like Poland, activists in Croatia are fighting off a conservative new government that could pose challenges to minority rights. Activists in Italy, on the other hand, have just won the right for same-sex civil unions but claim that gay rights are still far from being completely recognized. Afghanistan: Catholic human rights worker abducted in Kabul A Catholic human rights activist was abducted in Kabul, Afghanistan on June 9. Judith D'Souza, 40, had been working for the Aga Khan Foundation promoting the economic empowerment of women when she was abducted in the Qala-e-Fatullah area of Kabul on Thursday. She moved to Afghanistan in July 2015 to work on the project as a technical assistant. Before moving to Kabul, D'Souza, who is originally from Kolkata in India, had spent 15 years working as a social and environmental specialist in her home country. "I see Judith as a new Malala Yousafzai who has been targeted for her peaceful and legitimate human rights work," William Gomes, a Bangladeshi human rights activist, told Christian Today. Malala Yousafzai, 18, is a Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest-ever Nobel Prize laureate. There was an attempt on her life in 2012 by the Taliban. "The abduction of Judith D'Souza illustrates not only the dangers faced by high-profile women in Afghanistan, but the government's failure to take concrete action to protect women under threat," Gomes added. "Judith was working on empowering women which is deemed a threat to radical people specifically to [the] Taliban in Afghanistan. "We express deep concern about the fate of Judith D'Souza. We believe that her abduction is directly linked to her peaceful work for the promotion of human rights," he said. A number of international NGOs have sent a letter to Ashraf Ghani, President of Afghanistan, urging civil authorities to "immediately take all necessary measures to save Judith D'Souza and ensure her integrity and physical and psychological security". They call for a "prompt, thorough and impartial investigation into the abduction and bring those responsible to justice". Belgium: More than 100 churches at risk of closure under archbishop's plan Catholics in Brussels are protesting against plans to close the majority of the city's churches. The Brussels Catholic diocese reportedly plans to merge parishes and close local churches, moving Sunday mass to larger central churches, according to French website riposte-catholique. Catholics wrote a letter to Archbishop Jozef De Kesel and his auxiliary, Bishop Jean Kockerols, asking them to renounce the plans, saying the proposed closure of churches would mark "the end of parish life". In total, 108 churches are at risk. The letter, which has over 20 signatories, says: "In a context where the priority of all political and social leaders is to strengthen local services and neighborhood life, does not this pastoral policy appear out of step with the desire to witness to a Church and a God who want to be close to man and the poorest in the heart of daily and ordinary life?" The new strategy proposes "flagship churches" in strategic city locations with high quality services in order to increase attendance numbers. This would suggest the Catholic Church is declining in Brussels, but the writers of the letter quoted statistics pointing to a rise in baptisms and seminarians in recent years. "Is there a lack of succession? 55 seminarians for the Diocese of Malines-Brussels and the many foreign priests that drive foreign Catholic communities, this is doubtful," they wrote. Instead they suggested the faithful might "mobilise all together" to create "a wonderful engine capable of revitalising the ecclesial fabric and a wonderful vehicle to announce all the Good News of Christ 'to the outskirts'. "We can together transform the difficulties," they said. Christian teenager 'tied to crucifix' in series of bullying attacks A teenager was "crucified" because of his Christian faith, a court has heard, as four men stand trial for religiously motivated bullying. The boy, now 18, was allegedly the target of a sustained campaign of abuse between July 2014 and April 2015, according to The Telegraph. The incidents that happened around the UK included an attack with a lit aerosol, tying him to a "crucifix" and marking his face with crosses and other religious and phallic symbols. In another attack, the victim was tied to a chair and had a dummy forced into his mouth. He was then marched outside and given a "wedgie" which left him with several cuts and bruises to his backside. Andrew Addison, 30, Joseph Rose, 21, Christopher Jackson, 22, and Alex Puchir, 37, are on trial and are said to have dismissed the incidents as "banter". In July 2014 the teen who cannot be named for legal reasons had begun an apprenticeship with a shopfitting firm managed by Addison, Direct Interior Solutions. Over the next nine months he travelled around the UK to work on shop refittings with the four men on trial. Prosecutor Austin Newman told York Crown Court: "These counts cover what the prosecution contend was sustained bullying of a young man in the work place. "From an early stage with this team he was subjected to acts of bullying that went beyond anything that could be described as banter or hi-jinx in the workplace." Newman said the first incident occured when the five were working in London. The teenager was woken in the night by Rose "who was above him with a deodorant can in one hand and a cigarette lighter in another." "He [Rose] discharged the spray that narrowly missed [the teenager's] head because he had the presence of mind to pull the duvet over his head," Newman said. "Afterwards Joseph Rose was seen stamping out the smoke from the duvet." Newman went on to describe several other incidents including one time the teen was allegedly forced onto a cross made of two pieces of plasterboard. He was tied down with duct tape and the cross was suspended a metre above the ground to resemble a crucifixion. Addision has denied one count of putting a person in fear of violence by harassment, and two counts of racially aggravated assault by beating. Rose, Jackson, and Puchir have denied one count of putting a person in fear of violence by harassment, and one count of racially aggravated assault by beating. The trial continues. Pistorius sentence: Too lenient? Too harsh? Why do you even care? So, Oscar: that's that. After the intricate, painful, fascinating, appalling ritual had been played out, with the media, the legal system, the families and the onlookers all dancing their allotted parts, now we all know: it's a five-year prison sentence. Enough people think you got off too lightly for killing Reeva and enough think you shouldn't be in prison at all for us to think the judge probably got it right. So: do your time, think on your sins, and come out a better person after 10 months, or two years, or however long you serve. But enough of Oscar. He has had far too much of our attention. He is, of course, an exceptional man. But that's the point: his trial was exceptional too. The time devoted to it, the resources, the quality of the legal advice, the intense interest displayed by the watching world: it was all exceptional. It is the exception, though, that proves the rule. If you think about it, 'prove' means 'test'. What does the exception say about the robustness of the rule, its universal applicability, its truth? What does Oscar Pistorius' trial say about guns and guilt, life and death in South Africa and everywhere else? At one level the answer is painfully obvious. His exceptionalism meant that he had money and resources beyond the dreams of most people. Anyone who thinks that a young man from Soweto or Tembisa acused of a similar crime would have received anything like the quality of defence Pistorius did is to be envied for their child-like faith. An article for the Daily Maverick says that the country's justice system is "broken beyond imagination": ordinary South African citizens "battle a dysfunctional court system where bail is denied for no apparent reason; transcripts go missing, where lengthy delays put presumed innocent suspects behind bars for years, where overworked state-funded lawyers do not bother to question glaring inconsistencies, shoddy evidence and lying police officers. Inmates with medical conditions struggle to access medication, medical staff and legal relief for their conditions." The question, then, is: why do we have an opinion about Pistorius, but we don't have an opinion about that? Why is it so important for South Africa that in the eyes of the world justice for Pistorius is seen to be done, when in hundreds or thousands of other cases, it is clearly not? And here Christians are challenged about something that makes us subtly complicit in a fundamentally worldly narrative: it's the temptation to buy into the notion that some people are worth more than others. Some lives are more significant. Some stories are just better. In Pistorius' case, all the elements of a classic tragedy are there. It's Romeo and Juliet, the golden boy killing the golden girl in a tragic misunderstanding. But think of it this way: if, instead of it being Reeva Steenkamp behind the bathroom door, it really had been an 'intruder' we are meant, in Pistorius' defence narrative, to imagine a young black man, semi-feral, armed with a pistol or a machete, perhaps high on some illegal substance if it had been this intruder whom Pistorius shot, would we still be talking about it? Would we, indeed, feel anything other than a vague sense of guilty approval? Of course not: and there's the soft hiss of the serpent. Rather than taking sides over Pistorius rather, indeed, than showing any undue interest in him at all let's remember the Pistoriuses who don't happen to be rich, white and famous. And yes, South Africa's prison and legal systems might be broken beyond imagination, but you don't have to go to Africa to be outraged: a UK news story today warns of a "rapid deterioration in prison safety in England and Wales, with a 69 per cent rise in self-inflicted deaths. And get this: the Ministry of Justice said there was no evidence linking the rise in suicides to government policy. With respect, if increasing numbers of prisoners feel that their lives are no longer worth living, it is someone's fault, and government's role in rehabilitating prisoners and resourcing prisons puts it squarely in the dock. Back to those classic tragedies. There are actors known as 'spear carriers' extras, we might say whose only role is to stand around holding spears, or guns, or machetes, as part of the stage or film scenery. Their function is to be killed by the hero; they are there to highlight his heroism. They have no life or identity beyond that. If the corpse behind the bathroom door had been a spear carrier, it wouldn't have mattered. Because it was Reeva Steenkamp, it did. But in God's story there are no spear carriers. Everyone has a name and a story of their own. Let Pistorius go. There are other people just as important to worry about. EU referendum: Protestant and Catholic splits key factor, says Lib Dem grandee Protestant obsession with the nation state is one of the defining factors in the EU referendum debate. This is according to the Lib Dem grandee and member of the House of Lords, Dr Julie Smith. A committed Catholic, the Cambridge academic delivered the annual Gladstone Lecture on Monday and argued strongly for Britain's continued membership of the European Union. She highlighted the stereotypical split in opinion between Protestants and Catholics on the Europe. "What has come out very clearly in this referendum is the sense in which many Protestant Christians hold to the view of a nation state. "It is a view I don't really understand at all," she told the gathering in Westminster. "The obsession from some of those who talk about sovereignty and reclaiming democracy I find intellectually challenging. "In the 21st century we live in a world virtually without borders. The idea of going back to Europe of nation states does not seem particularly attractive." Smith's comments come after research highlighted that people from traditionally Protestant countries are less likely to support European unification compared to those from traditionally Catholic countries. With less than 10 days to go until Britain goes to the polls, Smith said both sides of the debate had done themselves a "disservice". Although she admitted "there is no one right or wrong answer", Smith argued: "Ultimately Christian response is to work together for shared solutions and creating further stability in the EU at a time when we need cooperation to deal with major international crises." Smith highlighted the Catholic origins of the EU and said it had played a crucial role in building peace in Europe. She said a Brexit would cause instability in Europe and "leave more scope for Vladimir Putin...to divide the EU". She said: "War immediately? No. But the rise of the far-right? Possibly." Franklin Graham's 'Decision America' rally to face protests Franklin Graham's Decision America prayer rally will have competition when it arrives in Madison, Wisconsin tomorrow. The town will be the 28th stop on a 50-state tour of the state capitals. Graham insists it is non-political and he has resigned from the Republican Party, but he has been a trenchant critic of the Obama administration and is associated with very conservative positions on issues including abortion, same-sex marriage, immigration and Islam. A group of local churches has put together an alternative service entitled 'Neighbors in Faith' which will celebrate religious diversity and the common good. The interfaith event is to be held in a church on Capitol Square, while the Decision America rally will be held outside. According to the Wisconsin State Journal, another alternative is to be provided by the atheist Freedom From Religion Foundation, which is based in the city. It will mount a protest during Graham's event and members of the LGBT community are also expected to protest. The Journal quotes Rev Jonathan Grieser of Grace Episcopal Church, which will host the alternative service, who said: "We're really trying to bear witness to a different vision for America." He called some of Graham's views "deeply problematic". Rev Paula Harris, pastor of St Luke's Episcopal Church in Madison and the moderator for Neighbors in Faith, called Graham's views "Islamaphobic, xenophobic and homophobic". "That's not the spirit of the faith I practise," she said. "I think America is better than that." A vice-president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Steve Rhoads, said the tour was designed to "to recognise and not ignore that this country is in a lot of trouble". "We're going to every single state to call together Christians to pray for our country and to pray that God brings an awakening," Rhoads said. He referred to threats to America including a disregard for basic morality. "It manifests itself in a disregard for life and a lack of emphasis on the traditional family," he told the Journal. "And I don't mean only same-sex marriage. It's also the brokenness in homes and the number of children being raised in less-than-ideal situations." He said the alternative event planned in Madison is a first for the tour. "All we're doing is gathering people together to pray. How anyone who is a Christian can oppose that is a little confusing." Last Catholic priest to survive Dachau Nazi concentration camp dies aged 102 The last Roman Catholic priest to survive wartime imprisonment in the notorious Dachau concentration camp has died aged 102, reports the Aleteia news service. Fr Hermann Scheipers was arrested by the Nazis for his staunch Catholicism. An obituary for German Catholic news agency KNA said: "Because he was sympathetic with Polish forced labourers, celebrated Mass with them and heard their confessions, he was arrested [in] October of 1940 and brought to Dachau five months later. His file, which he came across by chance, states the true reason for his arrest: 'Scheipers is a fanatical proponent of the Catholic Church and thus likely to cause unrest among the population.'" Scheipers himself recalled that when the camp commander welcomed him and his fellow inmates they were told: "You are without honour, without help and without rights. Here, you can either work or perish." Dachau had a large population of clergymen. Of the 2,720 imprisoned there, around 95 per cent were Catholic priests. Dachau had a large population of clergymen. Of the 2,720 imprisoned there, around 95 per cent were Catholic priests. His obituary said that like other priests, he was forced to work as a field hand, receiving mostly watery soup to eat. Those who failed to work fast enough were whipped, hung by the arms or drenched with icy water. Many died. In his own memoir, Balancing Act Priest Under Two Dictatorships, Scheipers said: "The only thing one could do was escape or pray." He avoided the gas chamber when his twin sister Anna warned the authorities of the reaction from Roman Catholics. Scheipers escaped from a death march in April 1945. After the war he returned to work in the Diocese of Dresden-Meien, in what had become East Germany, and continued to speak out against the oppressive regime. After German reunification he discovered that 15 Stasi spies had been watching him and that he was to be tried for distributing subversive propaganda "the exact same reasons" he was in Dachau, he remarked. He died on June 2 in in Ochtrup in Munsterland, where he was born on July 24, 1913. Orlando: The images that show the world remembering a tragedy The terrible events of early Sunday morning at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, stand as a testimony to human wickedness. When Omar Mateen killed 49 people at the club we now learn he used to frequent as a patron, his actions created a world-wide sense of horror and outrage. They also sparked a national conversation about hate speech and how people of faith should speak about those of whose lifestyles they disapproved. All around the world, people expressed their shock and sympathy. Some attended vigils, some prayed, some took to social medial. National monuments were lit up in the rainbow colours of the LGBT movement. The pictures of grief and solidarity stand alongside the pictures of horror from the scene of the crime. In Tokyo people remembered Orlando with handmade banners. In the UK, Prince William and his wife the Duchess of Cambridge signed a book of condolences at the US Embassy in London. Mexico's Foreign Affairs building was illuminated in rainbow colours. US Ambassador to Denmark Rufus Gifford took part in the vigil for the Orlando victims outside the US Embassy in Copenhagen. Some demonstrated their anger at the National Rifle Association lobby, which is resolutely opposed to gun controls. Omar Mateen, the killer, had a history of instability and was on an FBI watch list. France's iconic Eiffel Tower was lit up in rainbow colours after the atrocity... ... as was St George's Hall in Liverpool, northern England. People gathered at a vigil in solidarity at Taylor Square in Sydney, Australia... while the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge, seen with the Opera House behind, was lit in rainbow colours. Pistorius trial: Christian faith means 'it is right to forgive Oscar', Steenkamp's father tells court Christian faith compels Reeva Steenkamp's parents to forgive Oscar Pistorius, but he must pay for what he has done. This is the view of Reeva's mother, according to her husband Barry Steenkamp who gave testimony to a court on Tuesday. An emotional Steenkamp answered questions from both the prosecution and the defence and said his wife's Christian faith compelled her to forgive their daughter's murderer. "She feels it's right in her heart to forgive Oscar," Barry Steenkamp said of his wife June. "It still does not exonerate you for the crime that you committed. "He must still understand that he has to pay for that. "June has forgiven him so that she can carry on with her life." Barry Steenkamp said he had found it more difficult to forgive Pistorius who will be given a fresh sentence after his initial conviction of culpable homicide was changed to murder at the end of last year. "I feel the same, that Oscar has to pay for what he did. He has to pay for it." He said the sentence was "up to the court" and he would respect whatever decision was made. "I don't want to say that he has to go to the maximum," Steenkamp said, "but he has to pay for it." Pistorius was initially convicted of manslaughter after he shot dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in February 2013. He served 10 months of his five year prison sentence and since October 2015 has lived under house arrest at his uncle's home. However South Africa's supreme court overturned the ruling at the end of 2015 and found him guilty of murder, the worst crime under South African law. He faces a jail sentence of 15 years but it may be reduced due to time already spent in prison and other factors. On Monday the defence argued Pistorius was a "broken" man and should be sentenced with community service rather than prison. The sentencing continues. Religion often breeds 'contempt' for LGBT people, says Florida bishop Religion, including Christianity, too often "breeds contempt" for gays, according to a senior Catholic bishop. The Right Rev Robert Lynch, Catholic Bishop of St Petersburg, Florida, wrote on his blog: "Sadly it is religion, including our own, which targets, mostly verbally, and also often breeds contempt for gays, lesbians and transgender people." Those killed by the gunman were all made in the image and likeness of God, he adds, and this is what the Church teaches. "We should believe that. We must stand for that." While deranged people do senseless things, everyone observes, judges and acts from some kind of religious background, Lynch said. "Singling out people for victimisation because of their religion, their sexual orientation, their nationality must be offensive to God's ears. It has to stop also." He also condemned those such as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump who wish to ban Muslims from the US as "un-American". "There are as many good, peace loving and God fearing Muslims to be found as Catholics or Methodists or Mormons or Seventh Day Adventists," he said. Bishop Lynch also addressed the issue of gun control, arguing that in crafting the amendment on the right to bear arms, the founding fathers had no idea of the "weapons of mass destruction" their words would one day protect. He said they would be "turning in their graves" and added: "It is long past time to ban the sale of all assault weapons whose use should be available only to the armed forces." True pro-lifers should campaign for a ban on assault weapons like the guns used by the Orlando shooter, he continued. "If one is truly pro-life, then embrace this issue also and work for the elimination of sales to those who would turn them on innocents." Lynch's diocese is just to the west of Orlando where the shooting happened, and he has been in contact with Bishop of Orlando John Noonan. Russian Orthodox Church pulls out of Pan-Orthodox Council The crisis-hit Pan-Orthodox Council due to start in Crete on Saturday has been dealt a mortal blow by the withdrawal of the Russian Orthodox Church. The council was designed to bring together the 14 'autocephalous' or self-governing Eastern Orthodox Churches to iron out historical issues and address key theological and social questions. However, a succession of withdrawals put the standing of the council in doubt and now the defection of the ROC the fifth Church to pull out, as well as the largest and most influential of all the Orthodox Churches means the council can no longer claim to be authoritative. In its official statement, the ROC refers to the withdrawal of the four Churches Antioch, Georgia, Serbia and Bulgaria and says: "In this situation, the necessary ground for convening a Holy and Great Council... is obviously absent." It says: "The only possible decision in this case is to continue the preparation of the Holy and Great Council with the subsequent achievement of pan-Orthodox consent to its convocation at a different date." If the proposed council goes ahead anyway, the statement says, the ROC will not attend. However, the chairman of the department of the external church relations, Metropolitan Hilarion, told the RT news service: "I do not see the current situation as catastrophic. I believe it is one of the stages of preparation for the Pan-Orthodox Council. It's not a fault that this preparation was as smooth as we wanted it to be. And we do not believe that the whole idea of the council should be abandoned. We simply believe that it should be better prepared." He said: "There are many problems among various Orthodox Churches... These disagreements might seem small but, for historical churches, these are important issues. "One Church after another declares that it is not participating, which means there will be no consensus, which means it is no longer a Pan-Orthodox Council. And we believe that the only way out of this difficult situation is to postpone the council," Hilarion said. Transgender files appeal after court rejects plea to change her name from Elizabeth to Elijah, saying 'it's a type of fraud' Lawyers for a woman who identifies as a man have filed an appeal with the Court of Appeals in the U.S. state of Georgia after a superior court judge denied her request to change her name from Elizabeth to Elijah. "I don't know anybody named Elijah who's female. I'm not going to do that. I've never heard of that. And I know who Elijah was, one of the greatest men that ever lived," said Superior Court Judge J. David Roper during a hearing on the petition filed by Rowan Feldhaus, 24, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Roper denied Feldhaus' request last March. Her original name is Rebeccah Elizabeth Feldhaus. She already changed her first name to Rowan and she wanted to change her second name to Elijah. In his decision, Roper said he took a conservative approach in dealing with the case. He said the name change "presents a problem for the person and the general public." It could "mislead the general public, emergency personnel, actuaries, insurance underwriters and other businesses and relationships where the sex of an individual is relevant," he said. "Use of restrooms and facilities designed for one sex are of particular concern, especially where children use facilities unsupervised," Roper noted. Feldhaus was disheartened by the decision. "I felt insulted and objectified to be told by the court that I would not be able to have the name that my family, my friends, and my co-workers all call me, based on sexist opinions about 'appropriate' names," she said. She said she wants to change her name to reflect "who I am." Feldhaus works with the Singh Investment Group and is a student at Augusta University. In July 2015, she filed a petition for name change with the court. She also provided the court an affidavit from her therapist that she is transgender and was diagnosed with gender dysphoria and changing her name was part of the treatment. Roper rejected "Elijah" as this was not a gender neutral name and said that Feldhaus has no salutatory right to change her name. "Name changes which allow a person to assume the role of a person of the opposite sex are, in effect, a type of fraud on the general public. Such name changes also offend the sensibilities and mores of a substantial portion of the citizens of this state," Roper stated. M. Dru Levasseur, Lambda Legal's Transgender Rights Project Director, said, "The court misunderstands the limit of a court's discretion in these matters. There are many peoplemen and women, transgender or notwho know what it feels like to be insulted because their name does not meet someone else's gender stereotype." Trump ups campaign for Muslim ban following Orlando shooting Donald Trump on Monday accused Muslim refugees wanting to enter the United States of "trying to take over our children and convince them how wonderful ISIS is", as he blamed the mass shooting in Orlando on Sunday on radical Islam. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee proposed a suspension of immigration into the US from regions of the world where there is "a proven history of terrorism", reiterating his vow to ban Muslims immigrants. In his national security speech, Trump said it was time to "tell the truth about radical Islam" the day after 49 people were killed and more than 50 wounded at a gay nightclub in Orlando by a gunman, probably self-radicalised, who had sworn allegiance to Islamic State. His comments contrasted sharply to those of Hillary Clinton, his probable Democratic rival in the November 8 election, who urged increased intelligence gathering and more airstrikes on Islamic State territory, and cautioned against "demonising" American Muslims. Trump's rhetoric also differed significantly from that of President Barack Obama, who said America stood united in the face of "an act of terror and an act of hate" and would not give in to fear. "In the face of hate and violence we will love one another," Obama said. "We will stand united as Americans to protect our people, defend out nation and take action against those who threaten us. We must not give into fear." "If we want to protect the quality of life for all Americans women and children, gay and straight, Jews and Christians and all people then we need to tell the truth about radical Islam and we need to do it now," Trump told the crowd in New Hampshire. He went on to lambast Clinton's policies, saying they would allow "hundreds of thousands of refugees from the Middle East" to enter the United States without adequate security measures. There would be "no system to vet them, or to prevent the radicalisation of...their children," he said. "Not only their children, by the way. They're trying to take over our children and convince them how wonderful ISIS is and how wonderful Islam is, and we don't know what's happening." Trump said that, if elected, he would use the executive authority of the presidency to impose stronger controls on immigration to protect Americans from attacks, fine-tuning his earlier campaign promise to temporarily ban the entry of foreign Muslims to shore up national security. "When I'm elected, I will suspend immigration from areas of the world where there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe or our allies until we fully understand how to end these threats," he said. He noted that the parents of the Florida gunman, Omar Mateen, 29, were born in Afghanistan. Pointing to specific incidents such as the 9/11 attacks, Trump said threats were posed by people with roots in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Somalia. The immigration ban, he said would last until "we are in a position to properly screen these people coming into our country. They're pouring in, and we don't know what we're doing." Trump has espoused a hard line on immigration throughout his campaign for presidency. He has pledged to build a wall to slow down the number of Mexicans entering the US, and in July last year claimed that Mexican immigrants were responsible for a significant number of rapes in America. His call for a ban on all Muslim immigrants was used by Somali terrorist group al-Shabaab to suggest that America discriminated against its Islamic population. These hard-line proposals have helped fuel Trump's surge in popularity among some conservative voters; notably, a large swathe of his support is found among the Bible Belt a haven for white evangelical Christians. But his policies have also triggered heavy condemnation from minority and human rights activists and his political opponents, many of whom have called his rhetoric racist. Trump has rejected the criticism, and has said he is often misunderstood by the media and his opponents. 'Anti-woman, anti-gay' In her response to the Florida massacre, Clinton called for increased efforts to remove Islamic State propaganda from the internet, more air strikes in areas held by the group and better coordination with allies in the region. "The Orlando terrorist may be dead, but the virus that poisoned his mind remains very strong, and we must attack it," she said in a speech in Cleveland. She specifically criticised three US allies Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait for allowing their citizens to fund mosques and schools that train jihadists. She also proposed stricter gun control laws, reiterating previous calls to prohibit people on terrorism watch lists from buying firearms. She pointed out that while the Federal Bureau of Investigation was aware of Mateen as a possible threat, he was still able to purchase a gun legally. "It's important that we stop the terrorists from getting the tools they need to carry out the attacks, and that is especially true when it comes to assault weapons like those used in Orlando and San Bernardino," California, Clinton said, drawing a standing ovation from the crowd. Trump challenged Clinton to explain why she favoured letting Syrian civil war refugees into the US. He said his policies would better protect American women, gays and lesbians, Jews and Christians. Trump's support among women and gay voters lags far behind that of Clinton. "Radical Islam is anti-woman, anti-gay and anti-American," said Trump. He accused Clinton of having ties to Saudi Arabia. "Saudi Arabia and many of the countries that gave vast amounts of money to the Clinton Foundation want women as slaves and to kill gays," he said in a Facebook post. "Hillary must return all money from such countries!" Additional reporting by Reuters Who founded the Church? The obvious answer to who founded the Church is Jesus. But the reality is slightly more complex. Without doubt the life, death and resurrection of Jesus was the inspiration for the start of the Church. But given that the first churches did not come into existence until after Jesus' ascension, it's difficult to argue he was the direct founder. After Jesus had left them, his disciples gathered in Jerusalem and started to worship, pray and meet regularly together. Arguably this was the first "church". They probably met in people's houses or in specific rooms. They would not have had a designated building, most probably would have met in secret, and they were not called Christians until much later in the city of Antioch, according to Galatians 3. As the earliest churches began to be persecuted in Jerusalem, Jews who believed Jesus was the Messiah fled across the Roman Empire, taking their newfound faith in Jesus with them. Largely the first churches were made up of Jews who believed Jesus was the promised saviour. But as Paul, formerly Saul, began his ministry and preaching, increasingly churches became full of non-Jews who also believed Jesus was the Christ. Paul can be credited as one of the foundational figures in establishing the Church. These churches, now open to both Jews and non-Jews, grew rapidly at the hands of the disciples and other apostles. Within 10 years of Jesus' death, Christianity had spread from Jerusalem to Antioch, Ephesus, Corinth, Thessalonica, Cyprus, Crete and Rome. Over the period known as the Apostolic Age, which runs from Jesus' death to about 100 AD, the Early Church wrestled with the extent to which it was a Jewish sect or a new religion. In 98 AD the Roman emperor Nerva recognised Christianity as a separate faith because the practices had become more and more distinct from Jewish habits over the decades. Over the next 200 years the Church spread and debated what its teachings were. By the early second century it had largely agreed on a canon of writings that would form the basis for its teaching. This collection of texts became the New Testament, although interpretations of what the New Testament meant varied wildly over the first centuries. The Church changed its mind several times about what was and was not heresy and a broad conformity was not reached until into the fourth century. Over this time the Church gradually built a structure for itself. Each Christian community appointed a central bishop who would have authority and by 160 AD most cities had a Christian bishop. Gradually some bishops, usually in the capital city of a region, would assume more authority than others so a hierarchy developed. These bishops would meet centrally and decide doctrine and so arguably played a significant role in the foundation of the Church and its uniformity. Finally in 325 AD, the council of Nicaea marked the end of early Christianity as it was the start of the Church's official recognition and promotion by the Roman emperor Constantine. This changed the Church forever as Christianity became the official Roman religion. So did Jesus found the Church? Probably not. Rather than having one founder, the Christian Church had a number of key players over the first three centuries. Jesus was the inspiration. The disciples and especially Paul were the initial foundation, followed by the bishops who were appointed to oversee Christians in a region and decide on doctrine. Finally, Emperor Constantine was a crucial figure in making Christianity an established religion, rather than a persecuted minority group. Why Britain should be proud and protective of our aid budget Last month, standing in his late father's laboratory in Kenema, Ebola survivor and orphan Douda Fullah asked me if he could give a message to the people of the UK; to the people who helped him when he lost most of his family to the deadly Ebola virus that swept West Africa. He said: "On behalf of all the orphans in Sierra Leone I want to say thank you to all those who, in diverse ways, supported Street Child to lift hunger from the homes of orphans of Ebola. I want to say bravo, thank you and God bless you. You have done great things, even though there is more to be done. God bless you all." Yesterday, MPs debated whether the UK was right to ring fence 0.7 per cent of GDP for foreign aid. The debate was the result of a 200,000 strong petition started by the Mail Online to question whether we should spend so much on helping people who do not live in the UK. Douda told us that without Street Child, he might be homeless right now. He wouldn't have been able to care for his little brother Richard and make sure that he could go to school, or have been able to take on the family business as he is now. Douda is one voice, albeit a voice that became widely heard after he gave an anguished interview at the height of Ebola that was broadcast around the world. Street Child, hugely supported by UK Aid, has helped more than 11,000 Ebola orphans in Sierra Leone. It is undeniable that there is a strong biblical imperative to support the poorest, to look after the widow and the orphan. During the Ebola outbreak we saw first-hand why that is so important, and the tragic consequences of what happens when you do not. We heard about two toddlers in Monrovia who were living alone after their parents died of the virus. Their community were too scared to visit them, and the children were starving. Sadly, our team heard about them too late when they arrived with emergency food supplies, the children had already passed away. Yesterday, Christian MPs made an impassioned defence of maintaining support for the world's poorest people. MPs Stephen Doughty and Dr Lisa Cameron spoke about their faith as a key driver for why they believe it is the right moral response. Cameron said: "As a Christian, I believe we have a moral duty to fulfil our commitment to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals around the world. As humans, we share one planet and we must contribute to making it fair, healthy and safe for all." My personal faith is at the heart of who I am and thus at the heart of why I started and run UK NGO Street Child, but whether you're motivated by moral arguments or not, what we saw repeated time and again in last night's debate was the argument that more than just being moral, giving aid makes sense for the UK. Doughty said that while as a Christian he is ashamed of the poverty he sees abroad, it is actually in our interests to tackle the causes. He pointed out that diseases like Ebola don't respect borders, and therefore present a global threat. Another story, that of Finda Nymah, a grandmother from Kpondu village in Sierra Leone who was the first victim of Ebola in the country, makes this stark point challenging the idea that overseas aid is just a kind, moral idea. Her death in May 2014, a tragedy in its own right, led to tragedy on a vast scale. The World Health Organisation estimates that her funeral alone led directly to 350 deaths from the virus. Over the following two years, Ebola spread far beyond the small, remote village of Kpondu on the Guinea-Liberia-Sierra Leone border to claim almost 4,000 lives in Sierra Leone, and leave 12,000 children orphaned. It marked the start of the deeper region-wide Ebola crisis and caused a global health emergency. The incredibly low levels of healthcare and education in the three worst hit countries were the key underlying factors behind the spread of Ebola, putting other countries at risk and requiring huge sums of international aid to be spent to control the virus. It revealed how the illiteracy of one person was not just their own personal problem or tragedy it was something that could have dramatic consequences for all of us. Illiterate people who engage in dangerous health practices do not just endanger themselves, but can unwittingly put lives at risk on the other side of the planet. Finda lived in a cluster of 12 villages where there has never been a school. It's actually not difficult to avoid Ebola don't touch ill or recently deceased people. But if you don't have the educational ability to receive, or scientific understanding to trust, this message you are at grave risk. And as a result, to some extent, so are we all. Today, builders in Sierra Leone will be working on Kpondu's first school, built by Street Child with funds donated by the British public and government. The school means that Finda's twin toddler granddaughters will have access to the education that could have saved their village, and Sierra Leone, from Ebola. As Stephen Timms MP highlighted when he spoke about the importance of education for all, this is not just good for these girls it is good for everyone, wherever they are. DFID is currently match funding all donations to Street Child's Girls Speak Out appeal which aims to help 20,000 poor and Ebola-hit children to access school this year. Programmes like this, investing in stopping these children from becoming a lost generation and giving them hope for life, change lives over there, but also make us that bit safer, here. Of course there are rightful questions to be asked about how aid is invested after all, badly administered aid helps no-one but what the Mail's debate has actually revealed is the depth of cross-party support for helping our international neighbour. And it is heartening that Christian MPs were at the forefront of standing up for the poor, the widow and the orphan, so that people like Douda can have a hope for the future, regardless of where they are from. Tom Dannatt is CEO of Street Child, www.street-child.co.uk. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Supporters came out in force on Monday at The Montrose Center for a vigil remembering the lives that were lost in the massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando early Sunday. RELATED: Gunman had used gay dating app, visited nightclub, witnesses say The vigil comes a week before Houston's LGBT Pride Celebration, set for June 19-26. Fran Watson, female grand marshal of the 2016 Houston LGBT Pride Celebration, spoke to a crowd of at least 100 people on Monday. A NATION IN MOURNING: Vigils held across the country "We're seeing this hate and this rhetoric that is coming through. Because of that hate, that rhetoric, LGBTQ lives were lost," Watson said. "Just know that we value LGBTQ lives; our lives are valued and we stand in solidarity." Watson credited Mayor Sylvester Turner and local law enforcement for dedicating increased protection at this year's Pride festivities. POLICE PRESENCE: HPD plans to boost patrols at Houston Pride parade "We want people to come downtown to enjoy the festival. We want people to enjoy the parade," Houston Police Department Executive Chief Assistant George Buenik said at news conference earlier Monday. Among the attendees was Autumn Van Kirk, who identifies as "genderless." Attending the vigil wearing a multicolored beard and a dress, Van Kirk said the Orlando shooting that left 49 victims dead and 53 more wounded echoed of another massacre that affected people whom Van Kirk knows. RELATED: Names of 48 nightclub shooting victims released "For me, it calls back to Columbine," Van Kirk said. "I knew someone in one of my classes (who) used to go to Columbine High School and she was an absolute wreck." The 1999 rampage left 12 students dead at a Colorado high school. The Orlando massacre has been called the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. Van Kirk said a cousin's fiancee used to visit Pulse, the Orlando club where Omar Mateen, 29, opened fire on club goers and was later killed in a gun battle with police. The fiancee lost an acquaintance in Sunday's shooting, Van Kirk said. Despite the Sunday violence, Van Kirk won't be deterred from celebrating at this year's Pride festivities. "It's things like this that galvanize my resolve. I'm going to arrive at Pride and I'm going to shine," Van Kirk said. "I'm going for people that can't be there because they've been taken from us. I'm going for people who feel like they can't leave their homes and go out into the world, be who they really are." Van Kirk added the festival and parade, set for June 25, is for everyone, so long as respect is shown. "People may see things they don't understand or agree with, and that's OK," Van Kirk said. Click through the slideshow above to see photos from the vigil. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Tropical Smoothie Cafe announced plans for three more locations in greater Houston, a market it targeted for expansion three years ago. Franchisee Jignesh Patel opened the first local Tropical Smoothie Cafe in Richmond in August 2013. Vanessa Boles, another franchisee, will open the second location at 19075 Interstate 45 in Shenandoah in September. The third area location will be opened by Patel in Katy in January. Tropical Smoothie Cafe signed a development agreement with franchisee Dexter Rivera, who plans to open a Pearland location next spring. Founded in 1997, Tropical Smoothie Cafe has 500 locations nationwide. The menu includes salads, tacos, wraps, sandwiches, flatbreads and smoothies. The Atlanta-based chain noted that Houston's restaurant growth is outpacing some of the nation's largest cities, such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. "This is an exciting time for us to build our presence in Houston," CEO Mike Rotondo said in an announcement. "We're thrilled with the brand's growth in the first quarter and are optimistic that the second quarter will be even better as we continue to align ourselves with new franchise partners who share our passion for meeting the rising demand of better-for-you food choices and healthier lifestyles in markets across the U.S." Tropical Smoothie Cafe is increasing its franchise presence in cities such as Miami, Philadelphia, Boston, Dallas, Fort Worth and Columbus. It plans to have 800 locations by 2018. Three women were arrested on assault and other charges after an alleged physical altercation outside a Bellevue, Ohio, McDonald's parking lot. But, based on their smiling mugshots, they don't seem too bothered by the case. Authorities found the body of a man Tuesday morning after he disappeared the night before on Matagorda Beach. The man's body was spotted about 8 a.m., washed up on the beach about seven miles from where authorities believe he went into the water to either fish or swim, according to the Matagorda County Sheriff's Office. Police have identified a 16-year-old boy who was seriously wounded late Monday night in a drive-by shooting that also so left two men injured outside at an apartment complex in south Houston. The shooting happened about 11:30 p.m. at the Scott Plaza Apartments, 4235 Barberry near Ferdinand, said Sgt. Joshua Horn, a homicide investigator with the Houston Police Department. Exactly what the University of Texas will build on the more than 300 acres it has purchased in Houston remains unclear. What it won't build, however, is clear, the co-chair of the task force drafting plans for the land said in an interview Monday. "It's not going to be a four-year campus with a mascot and an admissions office," said Paul Hobby, a UT graduate and former chairman of the Greater Houston Partnership who is leading the Houston task force. His comments were a response to many who have said UT wants to "invade" the University of Houston's territory by starting a competing university in town. Some area lawmakers and UH leaders and boosters have worried that UT could pull faculty and research funding from the Houston's rising research university. "I'm having trouble believing that the reasons represented for doing this are the real reasons," regent Welcome Wilson Jr. said in November, before the regents passed a resolution against UT's expansion in Houston. "For me the word Trojan horse is the key here. And I think it's our job to make sure that we maintain our area here." UT leaders have said they don't plan to launch a full campus on the land, although they have said undergraduate courses may be offered there. The task force is six months into a planning process expected to be wrapped up in December. The group has formally reached out to 60 non-profits and companies across town about possibly collaborating on the land, Hobby said. Work at the site will center around health, energy, water and the environment and cyber and data sciences, he said.UT will also likely work with kindergarten through high school students and launch a leadership institute. "We're trying to do something disruptive that fits pretty gracefully between an educational pipeline that feeds it and a jobs pipeline that consumes from it," Hobby said. Hobby shot down the notion that there isn't room for higher education to expand in Houston. He claimed that Houston has far fewer college students in town than comparable cities, meaning businesses here have to import talent, rather than pulling from the Houston market. Los Angeles, for instance, has 1.1 million college students, Hobby said. Houston, which has about 300,000 college students, has about as many students as Detroit, Hobby said. "The argument that we don't need more of this is really isn't statistically defensible," Hobby said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate General Electric Co. has announced plans to relocate the company's water-and-power distribution branch in The Woodlands to the Tomball Business and Technology Park sometime in early 2018. Construction is anticipated to begin by the end of the year and involve an estimated capital investment of $30 million. The facility will house 70 employees. "We have GE under contract to purchase a 5.502-acre tract in the Tomball Business and Technology Park," said Kelly Violette, executive director of the Tomball Economic Development Corp. "We are hopeful that the deal will close by July." GE, which is in the due diligence phase with the land acquisition, presented its plans to a joint meeting of the Tomball EDC and the Tomball Business and Technology Park Property Owners Association on May 17. Plans call for a 38,500-square-foot facility to be built at the corner of Spell Road and Spell Circle. It will house GE's Water and Process Technologies division. George DeLong, GE's global analytical laboratory manager for water and process technologies, said GE has been looking for a new home since 2014. "From a financial perspective as well as location, we really wanted to start from the ground up and build a new facility so we could get all the new modern technology that we really felt we needed, into this facility," he said. "We looked around for quite a while, and the Tomball Business and Technology Park was ideal." Violette said the development corporation began talks with GE last year, with the EDC board approving the land sale in February. GE agreed to the list price of $3.25 per square foot with no incentives included, Violette said. On 102 acres at the corner of Holderrieth Road and Hufsmith-Kohrville Road, the business and technology park has been on the drawing board since the EDC bought the land from the city for $1.6 million in July 2011. Four years later, Canadian-based Packers Plus, which operates three locations inHouston, announced the purchase of 17.38 acres and became the park's first tenant. It hopes to open the first phase of a 50,000-square-foot research-and-development facility in the first quarter of 2017. DeLong added that the relocation also will prove convenient for many employees who live nearby and could provide greater business opportunities "We really liked the idea of the technology park they are building there, and potentially some of our customers could be located in this area," he said. "We just felt this was an ideal situation." This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Three years ago, business and community leaders planning how to revitalize downtown Katy identified the first step as building a new city hall. On June 10, they celebrated the dedication of a new city hall at 901 Ave. C, across the street from the former municipal complex. Hundreds of Katy residents, city employees and others attended the event and participated in tours of the three-story, 33,000-square-foot building that cost more than $7.5 million and has room for expansion. Thirty-year Katy resident Kathie Gerritzen was among residents who participated in a city focus group three years ago. "We met and talked about what we wanted - what the community wanted," Gerritzen said. "They made an effort to get community input and did pretty much what everyone wanted." TurnerDuran Architects of west Houston, hired in September 2013 to design the building, surveyed people who live and work in Katy and formed committees involving various sectors of the community to come up with a traditional design. Amber Ritter, Turner-Duran project manager, said of the building, "It's like an icon for the city; it stands out." Her mother, Brenda Ritter, a former Katy resident who lives in Fulshear, said: "This building was very complicated and not easy. Everyone was able to work together and come up with great results." At the dedication, Katy Mayor Fabol Hughes thanked former Mayor Don Elder Jr., who had begun the study for a new building during his term. Elder was one of five former mayors at the dedication. Hughes also praised former administrations for putting money aside for the city hall, which was paid for from reserves. The keynote speaker was Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar, who lives in Katy. The program, organized by community leader David Frishman, included Katy Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9182, Katy Masonic Lodge 1493 AF & AM and area religious leaders. As part of the revitalization, city officials have talked of creating a plaza in place of the former municipal center and last September City Council approved making Second Street and Third Streets one way. Second Street will run west from East Avenue to Avenue D, and Third Street will run east from Avenue D to East Avenue. At the time, City Administrator Byron Hebert said the study showed the city could gain 100 or more parking spaces by making the streets one way. At the Sept. 14 City Council meeting, Kayce Reyna, Katy tourism and marketing specialist, explained an advisory group was helping with downtown revitalization and LJA Engineering was hired to work on the downtown design. General Electric Co. has announced plans to relocate the company's water and power distribution branch in The Woodlands to the Tomball Business and Technology Park sometime in early 2018. "We have GE under contract to purchase a 5.502-acre tract in the Tomball Business and Technology Park," said Kelly Violette, executive director of the Tomball Economic Development Corp. "We are hopeful that the deal will close by July." GE, which is currently in its due diligence phase with the land acquisition, presented its plans to a joint meeting of the Tomball EDC and the Tomball Business and Technology Park Property Owners Association on May 17. The plans call for a 38,500-square-foot facility that will be constructed at the corner of Spell Road and Spell Circle, and will house GE's Water and Process Technologies division. George DeLong, GE's global analytical laboratory manager for water and process technologies, said GE has been looking for a new home since 2014. "From a financial perspective as well as location, we really wanted to start from the ground up and build a new facility so we could get all the new modern technology that we really felt we needed, into this facility," DeLong said. "We looked around for quite a while, and the Tomball Business and Technology Park was ideal." Violette said the TEDC began discussions with GE last year, with the TEDC board of directors approving the land sale in February. GE agreed to the list price of $3.25 per square-foot, with no incentives included, Violette added. Located on 102 acres at the corner of Holderrieth and Hufsmith-Kohrville roads, the business and technology park has been on the drawing board since the TEDC purchased the land from the city for $1.6 million in July 2011. In December 2011, the city transferred ownership of the property to the TEDC for development of the business and technology park. Four years later, Canadian-based Packers Plus, which operates three locations in Houston, announced the purchase of 17.38 acres and became the business park's first tenant. It hopes to open the first phase - a 50,000 square-foot research and development facility - in the first quarter of 2017. Meanwhile, DeLong added that the relocation also provided a level of convenience for many of its employees who live nearby and also could provide greater business opportunities for GE. "We really liked the idea of the technology park they are building there, and potentially some of our customers could be located in this area," he said. "We just felt this was an ideal situation." Construction is anticipated to begin by the end of 2016. The estimated capital investment is $30 million. The project will bring 70 jobs to Tomball. "We are extremely excited about GE coming to the Business and Technology Park because it not only brings global name recognition, but it further solidifies the technology component of the park," Violette said. "This project will complement Packers Plus operations and create incredible synergy for the park as an ideal location for technology-based, knowledge-driven companies." For the second year in a row, the Tomball Independent School District is looking at starting another budget year in the red. Tomball ISD Finance Director Jim Ross made the first of three planned presentations to the board of trustees last month on the proposed 2016-17 budget, which indicates the district will start the next school year with a $2 million deficit. Some of the issues addressed included the estimated taxable value, the general-fund revenue estimate, staffing needs for growth, starting teacher pay, and recommendations for a general pay increase for all staff. "What we are looking at, as far as revenue, is $119.7 million - a 9.1 percent increase over the previous year," Ross said. Tomball ISD, which is also projecting $121.7 million in expenditures, still anticipates minimal pay increases for existing staff, as well as a bump in starting teacher salaries from $51,250 to $52,000. By the same token, Tomball ISD adjusted the pay rates for custodial and non-skilled staff to $10 per hour in 2014. This year, that will increase to $10.15 per hour. 3 schools opened Last year, trustees approved a budget that as a result of opening three new campuses, came with a $3.6 million deficit. "We took a proactive approach by setting aside funds five years ago in preparation for a potential budget deficit," Tomball ISD Superintendent Huey Kinchen said during budget discussions last year. "We knew that opening three new schools in one year could result in a deficit for the 2015-16 school year." The same can be said as Tomball ISD prepares to open Creekside Park Junior High School to students in grades 6-8 in August. To prepare for the opening, the district will be looking to fill 98 positions, with 63 of those being teachers. The new school, the third junior high campus in the district, will be the first TISD post-elementary campus to open in The Woodlands. Although there is a projected deficit with the proposed budget, the district as a whole is seeing tremendous growth resulting in an increase in taxable values. Taxable values increase In 2014, the Harris County Appraisal District calculated estimated taxable values at $7.67 billion. Last year, the values were calculated at $8.97 billion. This year, the certified estimate for taxable value is at $9.91 billion, a 10.4 percent increase from last year. Last year, the district lowered its tax rate from $1.36 to $1.34 per $100 valuation. "This is very substantial growth that we've seen over the last five years," Ross said. Since 2013, the taxable value in Tomball ISD has increased 67 percent. Much of the increased taxable value is a result of residential growth and development, which has increased by 11 percent over the past year. School officials are seeing growth at the south end of the district with new home construction in Willow Creek Ranch Estates, Hayden Lakes, Wildwood at Oakcrest and Rosehill Estates. Because of some of that growth, Tomball ISD will be classified as a wealthy district in the next budget year, and subject to recapture, Ross said. District now 'wealthy' Recapture is a mechanism within the Texas school finance system in which school districts classified as wealthy support poorer school districts as a way of providing education equality to all Texas schoolchildren. There are 1,041 school districts in Texas, with 135 of those classified as wealthy, according to the Intercultural Development Research Association in San Antonio. Tomball ISD is almost solely locally funded with 86 percent of district revenue coming from property taxes. "We have very little dependence on the state; we are virtually self-funded, which is why we have to pay recapture," Ross said. "We actually received more (from state funding) than we are actually allowed to keep (per student)." The shift in the tax rate last year helped ease the financial burden of opening three new campuses and will have the same effect for recapture this next budget year, Ross said. "This worked just fine. We will get the same revenue per pupil that we did before. The difference is that taxpayers are helping fund other districts," he said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A tractor trailer hauling about $4.6 million worth of cocaine was flagged Monday by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection K-9 unit at the Sarita checkpoint. RELATED: Border checkpoint that nabbed Snoop, Willie Nelson is going for big busts About 59 bundles of cocaine were discovered in a hidden storage area inside the trailer, with the total haul weighing about 147 pounds, according to a border patrol news release. Two U.S. citizens in the cab of the trailer, whose identities were not released, were arrested. The case has been referred to the Drug Enforcement Administration. Why'd the chicken cross the road? Because it was evading the Freeport Police Department on Monday night. Officer Curtis Land attempted to wrangle a loose chicken while on patrol near Church's Chicken in Freeport, about an hour south of Houston. The chicken fled police, making a run through the nearby Buc-ee's parking lot, until officers lost sight of it. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Police killed a man who took at least one hostage inside an Amarillo Walmart Tuesday that sparked evacuations of the store and caught the attention of a nation still reeling from the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. Police, calling the situation a "workplace violence" incident, confirmed that both the suspect, identified by police as Mohammad Moghaddam, 54, and hostage are store employees and said no other injuries were reported. RELATED: South Texas man among dead in Orlando massacre Moghaddam entered the store just after 11 a.m. and fired multiple shots, but no one is believed to have been hit. Law enforcement agencies responded to the Walmart at Interstate 27 and Georgia Street around 11:15 a.m. for "an active shooter incident," the City of Amarillo's Twitter account said. Officers went inside the Walmart to make contact with the suspect and ensure no other individuals are inside. Police shot the suspect inside the store, but further details regarding the incident weren't immediately available. Police evacuated shoppers out of the west side of the building and asked the public to stay away from the area. Walmart employees from the store are being kept on scene to answer questions from police. MORE: Open Carry Texas offers escort for LGBT events, says armed patrons could've stopped Orlando massacre A live stream from the parking lot of the Walmart from the ABC-7 Amarillo station shows dozens of police and emergency vehicles outside. The incident comes on the heels of the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history that left 49 victims and a shooter dead at an Orlando nightclub on Sunday. MORE: Lubbock radio host: Orlando victims were 'getting lit, using illegal drugs and spreading STDs' Amarillo is the largest city in the Texas Panhandle, with the 14th largest population in the state. It is located about 350 miles northwest of Dallas. More details will be added to this developing story as they become available. Text "NEWS" to 72727 to sign up for breaking news from mySA kparker@mysa.com Twitter: @KoltenParker The Texas Public Policy Foundation promotes itself and has been promoted in various media outlets as merely a conservative free market think tank. The group, founded by school choice advocate James Leininger of San Antonio, says its mission is to promote and defend liberty, personal responsibility, and free enterprise in Texas and the nation by educating and affecting policymakers and the Texas public policy debate with academically sound research and outreach. But that sound research, criticized by some Republicans as sometimes suspect, is far from the only way in which a group of TPPFs board members has tried to affect policymakers in this state. Theyve also chosen to open their wallets as part of a full-court press to defeat Republican candidates who are part of Speaker Joe Straus Texas House governing coalition including the speaker himself. An analysis of political contributions made public through Texas Ethics Commission filings shows that a small group of 11 people, a majority of whom are TPPF board members, were very much in the fight during the GOP primary to the tune of $3.2 million. TPPF Vice Chairman Tim Dunn, who of course also chairs the anti-Straus group Empower Texans, was joined in spending heavily against the Straus team by TPPF board members Jeff Sandefer, Kyle Stallings, Mayes Middleton, Windi Grimes, Stacy Hock, and Chairman Emeritus Leininger. When combined with the spending of fracking billionaire Farris Wilks of Cisco, hotelier Monty Bennett of Dallas, janitorial services executive Don Dyer of Austin, and Dick Saulsbury of Midland, the group put their dollars to work trying to unseat GOP members like Representatives Byron Cook, John Frullo, Charlie Geren, Wayne Smith, John Rainey, Dan Flynn, Debbie Riddle, Jason Villalba, Paul Workman, Gary VanDeaver, and others. Wilks, a billionaire who is among the newest entrants to the battlefield, was the biggest contributor to groups efforts, donating $1.6 million. At least on paper, Chairman Dunn was among the smallest contributors at just $103,000. In all, the group appears to have played in about 30 Texas House races through direct contributions to candidates and PACs. Some of the groups top beneficiaries included Rep. Jonathan Stickland, challenger to Straus and former TPPF President Jeff Judson, and Thomas McNutt, who unsuccessfully challenged Chairman Cook. Of course, the TEC reports do not provide a full picture, given that key players in this effort are also politically invested in groups that do not disclose donors. Chairman Dunn operates a 501 (c)(4) nonprofit corporation, a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization, and a PAC all under the same name: Empower Texans. Dunn is the chairman of the first two organizations. Michael Quinn Sullivan is treasurer of the PAC and serves as a spokesman and blogger. Another TPPF board member, Kevin Sparks, was busy this primary season running something called the Constituents Focus PAC, which received at least $200,000 from Sandefer. That PAC supported many of the same candidates supported or endorsed by Empower Texans, including McNutt, Brent Golemon, Mike Lang, Read King, Jim Landtroop, Tony Tinderholt and Bo French, who failed to unseat Chairman Geren. Copyright May, 2016, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved. This story is presented as part of the Houston Chronicle's collaboration with Quorum Report. For inside information on Texas politics and government and to sign up for real-time updates, go here. The summers final Live on the Waterfront concert was held Wednesday evening at Prince Arthurs Landing. The popular series in Thunder Bay has completed nine weekly shows that began on July 13. Wednesdays concert was unique as it was held one hour later in the evening to mesh with the 10 p. Islamism is the great evil of our age, and the great question of our age is whether this foulness is the natural child of Islam itself or a cancer on its body. This is not a question that can be decided by comparing the number of good Muslims to the number of bad ones. A religion is a form of philosophy, and a philosophy shapes not just individuals but whole cultures and nations into its own image over time. Any individual may do right or wrong in the name of any given idea. You have to see a much bigger picture before you can judge the moral quality of the idea itself. The West, over the centuries, has become increasingly tolerant and diversified. This did not happen in spite of our dominant religion but because of it. If you look at a map of the nations that accept the concept of gay rights, for example, you will find that they are almost without exception nations formed by Christianity. Indeed, when one Westerner argues for gay rights and another argues against them, they are both arguing on Christian principlesthe Judge-Not versus the Shall-Not. Though it infuriates both sides to hear it, it is nonetheless true: this is an internecine quarrel, a family feud. Our very ability to disagree on such basic issues without murdering one another is what makes all of us, believers or not, helplessly Christian in the end. When I look at the nations of Islam, I do not see the same sort of development toward tolerance and multiplicity. Almost everywhere Islam is dominant, there is oppression, ignorance, and violence at levels the West does not experience. Almost every act of terrorism worldwide is associated with Islamso much so that those wishing to defend the creed have to seize on the occasional outlying act of non-Islamic terrorism, or descend into childish moral equivalencies or try to spin the issue as one of guns or hate or religion in order to distract us from the painfully obvious. The fact is, when an Islamic man invades an Orlando gay bar and starts slaughtering the innocent on Koranic principles, it is not just right but necessary for us to ask: is he distorting the teaching of the Koran or living out its logic? Much depends on getting the answer right, possibly even our survival. The best way to find the answer is, of course, to have well-informed people debate the question publicly without censorship and with at least a modicum of civility and goodwill. We seem to have decided against this. Instead, with the aid of our media and Internet, we greet each new act of Islamic murder with a show of lies and anger. The Left is in charge of the lies. They tell us, in Hillary Clintons absurd words, that Muslims . . . have nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism. The Right takes care of the anger, spewing useless rhetoric about carpet-bombing Arabia until the sand glows in the dark. A battle between lies and anger can never be resolved. Each feeds the other. The lies produce more frustrated anger; the anger seems to justify the pacifying lies. The best one can hope for is the brute victory of one form of stupidity over the other. That seems to be the idea behind the current ridiculous presidential election, in which the dishonest Left is about to nominate the avatar of its dishonesty, and the angry Right is about to nominate the avatar of its rage. The Devil, says C.S. Lewis, always sends errors into the world in pairspairs of opposites . . . He relies on your extra dislike of one to draw you gradually into the opposite one. But do not let us be fooled. We have to keep our eyes on the goal and go straight through between both errors. The path between lies and anger is the fearless search for truth, that truth which not only sets us free but which, in this case, may be the only thing that can save us. If we are in a fight with the angry fragment of a moderate creed, let our warriors and lawmen hunt them down and kill them and be done with it. If we are in a clash of civilizations, we may all of us need to oppose the enemy without fear at every level of our national life. Photo by omairhq/iStock BNM anunta concurs pentru postul vacant de expert principal, pe durata determinata, responsabil de elaborarea/actualizarea cerintelor metodologice de reglementare a procesului de raportare la BNM In the immediate aftermath of Sunday mornings massacre at Pulse, an LGBT nightclub in Orlando, Florida, newsrooms across the country grappled with familiar questions, beginning with the four Ws: Who was the shooter? Who were the victims? When did it start? When will it end? What happened during a three-hour standoff between police and the shooter, between the hours of 2 and 5am? Where was the son of the woman who cried into the TV cameras, Nobody can tell me where he is? And, then, the unanswerable fifth W: Why? Sign up for CJR 's daily email For many newsrooms, there was a sad familiarity to the reporting, almost routine. The city was different, the names were different, the victim count was staggering, but theyd been through this many times before. Kim Murphy, assistant managing editor at the Los Angeles Times, was in the newsroom on Sunday morning. Unfortunately, we have a very experienced team of mass shooting reporters whove been doing this for quite a while, Murphy says. In short order, reporters were dispatched to run the live blog, to scrub social media; someone was assigned to the victims, someone else to the profile of the shooter. There are certain lines of reporting you have to put in place right away, says Michael Oreskes, news director at NPR. Whered the weapon come from, what did people know about the shooter before the shooting? It has become, sadly, a little bit practiced. Oreskes is a CJR board member. BuzzFeed News Editor Lisa Tozzi echoes the sentiment. When theres news of a mass shooting, Tozzi says, One of the first posts we do is who were the people, who were the victims? But as many times as theyve covered a shooting, the dilemma of how to cover the shooter remains. While newsrooms will and should cover the details of who the Orlando shooter was and try to make sense of how and why he was capable of slaughter, it is clear that media coverage contributes to the cycle. We know that a lot of these shooters want fame, and we know that the media coverage has given them what they want, says Adam Lankford, a criminal justice professor at the University of Alabama and a researcher on mass attackers. We know there are attackers that studied and copied and sometimes explicitly referenced previous attackers and used them as models. The man who opened fire at the Umpqua Community College in Oregon earlier this year, killing nine, reportedly wrote in an online message before the attack, Seems like the more people you kill, the more youre in the limelight. Its a fundamental dilemma, says Murphy of the LA Times. Every time, we wrestle with this. On Sunday morning, while preparing for the print paper, she insisted that while they would profile the shooter, it wouldnt be on the front page. But as the news progressed, she changed her mind. The news value of this guy outweighed any ultimately artificial desire to put him under a rug somewhere, Murphy says. Its almost a societal necessity to know: Where did we as a culture screw up? Oreskes of NPR agrees. I dont really see how you avoid the name and basic facts about the shooter in this kind of egregious case, he says. The reality is we have to tell the story. We should just stay in bounds of what we know. Lankford agrees that the media should cover the details about the shooter, but it needs to be done with care. What we would want is to strike the right balance, where the media is sharing enough information so people could learn to recognize these people, he says. Withholding all information would be a disservice to our attempts to prevent another attack. One way the tragedy in Orlando differs from previous shootings is the lack of clarity surrounding the shooters motives. As details emerged over the past two daysthat he pledged allegiance to ISIS, that he abused his wifemotives only became murkier. For news editors, it was about getting the facts right, rather than coming down on one motive or another. In the early hours, says Murphy, there was only a sketchy menu of motivations, and the newsroom chose to report them all equally. Orlando nightclub gunman remembered as abusive, homophobic and racist, the Times headline read, and the article followed with a litany of his hatred. His ex-wife said he was unstable and beat her. His father said he spoke openly of his disgust for gay people. A co-worker recalled him as a virulent racist. The next paragraph referred to his allegiance to ISIS. Other media outlets were less equivocal, focusing on certain motives over others and prompting a fragmented conversation about whether the core issue was anti-LGBT sentiment, assault rifle control, radical Islam, or mental illness. In his address to the nation Sunday afternoon, President Barack Obama called the massacre both an act of terror and an act of hate. Would be interesting to track which states' media focus on the ISIS angle, which the LGBT, and how they vote in Nov. pic.twitter.com/Ta1lUYgWDo Jonathan M. Katz (@KatzOnEarth) June 14, 2016 Its possible for more than one thing to be true, says Oreskes. The first principle is: Dont go beyond what the facts tell you. We actually, even at this point, dont know what his motives were. Lankford agrees that events of this scope dont need to be limited to a singular term. I dont see things as hes a terrorist or hes a mass shooter, he says. Clearly, he identified with terrorists like ISIS, and, clearly, he committed a mass shooting. Lankford, who wrote a book called The Myth of Martyrdom, also said that mass shooters sometimes use martyrdom as a disguise. They want to die, but they want to be perceived as heroes and warriors who are dying for a cause instead of wanting to escape personal problems. By Monday, after the first horrific details had emerged and the names of the victims began to circulate, news outlets were more attentive to a big hole in the crimes timeline: the three hours between 2 and 5am Sunday morning. Early reports indicated that a gunman had opened fire inside the Pulse nightclub shortly after 2am. Three hours later, police stormed the club, and at 5:56am they tweeted that the gunman was dead. On Monday, police provided more details about the hostage situation that unfolded during that time, but more questions remain. Marc Caputo, a Politico reporter who writes the Florida Playbook, published a list of questions that hadnt yet been adequately addressed by the media. Terrorists pay attention to the news. Madmen pay attention to the news, says Caputo, and that three-hour window in which the gunman held police at bay is worrisome. I think its appropriate to ask the questions about whether the protocols and the judgment calls and the procedures were properly made, vetted, and whether theyre adequate. All the news editors CJR spoke with said they had similar questions about the timeline but that it takes time for information to become available. I think those questions were being asked by editors and journalists on that first day, says Oreskes. There is a question as to whether the fact that there were no answers could have been framed more clearly earlier on to say, Theres a hole in the timeline. We actually have no idea what went on. We can expect that over the next days and weeks these and many other questions regarding the events of Sunday morning, the shooters motives, and the FBIs previous investigations into the shooter will be addressed. But ultimately, with as many answers as we report and confirm and document, one unanswerable question will remain: the question of why a man would pick up a gun and shoot 100 people while they danced. Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Chava Gourarie is a freelance writer based in New York and a former CJR Delacorte Fellow. Follow her on Twitter at @ChavaRisa U.S. regulators have increased training for the doctors who screen airline pilots so they can better spot mental health issues in the wake of last years suicide that killed 150 people on a Germanwings flight deliberately crashed in the French Alps. The Federal Aviation Administration is also requiring airlines and pilot unions to expand programs that encourage employees to come forward to report mental illnesses and allow them to receive treatment, agency Administrator Michael Huerta said at a briefing in Washington on Thursday. We have to do more to reduce the stigma that surrounds mental illness, Huerta said. While the FAA, airlines and unions have agreed to several measures addressing the issue, they also said there arent effective ways to screen for the rare outliers in the cockpit who have become so unhinged that theyve taken down planes and killed all aboard. No new psychological screening of pilots will be required because an advisory group of industry officials and medical experts appointed by the FAA concluded that such exams wouldnt work. The advisory panel was convened to study what could be done to address an issue that has led to multiple catastrophic crashes at a time when most other causes of aviation accidents have almost been wiped out. Airliners Downed Since 2013, at least two airliners have been downed by pilots and investigators suspect a third, Malaysia Air Flight 370 in 2014, was intentionally flown to the southern Indian Ocean in 2014 where it disappeared. There were 422 people killed in the three cases. Frances accident investigation agency, the Bureau of Investigations and Analysis or BEA, concluded that a co-pilot deliberately crashed the Germanwings plane into a mountainside on March 24, 2015. Earlier this year, the agency urged regulators to re-examine how pilot health is monitored and assessed. The BEA also said pilots should lose privacy protection of their health records. Germanwings pilot Andreas Lubitz, who locked his captain out of the cockpit before programming the plane to descend, had been diagnosed with psychotic depression and was recommended for psychiatric hospital treatment two weeks before the doomed flight, according to the BEA. Doctors in Germany arent allowed to reveal such information to an employer and Lubitz never disclosed it. Medical Exams Airline pilots in the U.S. currently must receive a medical check by an FAA-approved physician at least once a year to ensure they are fit to fly. Once they reach age 40, the check occurs every six months, according to the agency. Theres no specific psychological screening for U.S. pilots, though they must answer a questionnaire that includes mental-health issues and they have to disclose drugs they are taking, including medications for depression. The Aerospace Medical Association, which does scientific research into the fitness and safety of pilots and astronauts, has in the past suggested that FAA-approved doctors ask more questions designed to reveal mental health status. The associations work was prompted by a JetBlue Airways Corp. captain who had a psychological breakdown on a 2012 flight and was locked out of the cockpit. Still, such screening shouldnt be expected to predict the most extreme cases when pilots intend to commit suicide and kill passengers, Philip Scarpa, a physician and former president of the association, said in an interview last year. Coming Forward Better screening would still have value because too many airline pilots suffer from depression, anxiety or substance abuse issues that can threaten safety, Scarpa said. Regulations and airline policies should also be tailored so that pilots could reveal these issues and receive treatment without jeopardizing their careers, he said; That would help induce more pilots to come forward. While most U.S. airlines have programs encouraging pilots to voluntarily reveal health issues or to anonymously disclose concerns related to other employees, the FAA panel found only a handful of carriers had programs specifically tailored to mental illness, said Joe DePete, the Air Line Pilots Associations representative on the advisory panel. Such programs will now be required under FAA safety oversight. Reporting Without Fear Just as pilots are now encouraged to report safety issues without fear of reprisal, the new programs are designed to encourage flight crews to come forward with concerns before they escalate into a risk to passengers, Paul Morell, American Airlines vice president for safety, security and regulatory compliance, said at the briefing. We welcome ideas aimed at advancing the safety of the industry and look forward to any opportunities to collaborate with the FAA, Southwest Airlines spokesman Bob Hughes said in an e-mail. The U.S. American Medical Association is currently debating whether to urge U.S. lawmakers to require that physicians who examine pilots report suspicions of mental health issues to airlines or the FAA, according to Michael Barry, a doctor who heads the agencys medical division. There have been seven intentional fatal airline crashes linked to mental health since 1982, according to investigators. While none have occurred on U.S. airlines, there was the 2012 JetBlue incident and a 1994 case in which a FedEx Corp. pilot attacked fellow pilots during a flight before being subdued. The total doesnt include the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks by terrorists on targets in the U.S. The U.S. has had a policy requiring at least two airline employees in the cockpit at all times. If a pilot needs to use the restroom, a flight attendant or another pilot must stay in the cockpit during the break. While that rule was not in place in Europe at the time of the Germanwings crash, most nations have since adopted it. Copyright 2022 Bloomberg. Applying New York law, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that there was no advertising injury indemnity insurance coverage for nearly $35 million in judgments against an off-price luxury goods vendor, insured Ashley Reed Trading, Inc., for selling handbags bearing counterfeit Fendi trademarks. The crux of the decision was that Ashley Reeds liability under the judgments was based on the sale not the advertising of counterfeit Fendi products. Fendi did not even allege it suffered injury because of advertising conducted by Ashley Reed. Instead, damages were awarded based on sales of counterfeit products. As a matter of common sense, the court said, there is a difference between placement of a counterfeit brand label on a handbag and the act of soliciting customers through printed advertisements or other media. Here, the Fendi brand and logo were used for product misidentification, not as an advertisement. The decision, United States Fidelity And Guarantee Company v. Fendi North America, Inc. et al., was filed May 17, 2016 and is reported at 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 8973. It affirmed a published decision of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, reported at 43 F. Supp. 3d 271, denying insurance coverage to Ashley Reed and depriving its judgment creditors of a money source to satisfy their judgments. The operative facts were that Fendi, through its several companies, manufactured luxury handbags, shoulder bags, purses, wallets and other items and owned associated federally-registered trademarks. Ashley Reed sold off price branded handbags and other luxury goods in New York and elsewhere. Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corporation and its subsidiary purchased clothing and merchandise at wholesale and resold them to the public at discounted prices. Burlington regularly purchased merchandise from Ashley Reed. During the relevant time period, Ashley Reed sold counterfeit Fendi goods fashion accessories that were not Fendi products, but which displayed Fendi trademarks and otherwise had the appearance of genuine Fendi products to Burlington and others. Insurer USF&G issued liability insurance policies to Ashley Reed between 2003 and 2006. The policies included coverage for advertising injury as defined by the policies. Advertising was defined in the policies as attracting the attention of others by any means for the purpose of seeking customers or supporters or increasing sales or business. The policies defined advertising injury as injury resulting from four specified offenses, including the use of anothers advertising idea in Ashley Reeds advertising, and infringement of anothers copyright, trade dress or slogan again in Ashley Reeds advertising. The insurance coverage dispute decided by the court arose when Fendi sued Ashley Reed for trademark counterfeiting, false designation of origin, trademark dilution and unfair competition. Fendi asked for treble damages, alleging that Ashley Reed intentionally used the Fendi trademarks with knowledge that they were counterfeit. The United States District Court entered a permanent injunction and awarded Fendi treble damages, pre judgment interest fees and costs, all of which totaled $34,650,885.91. Separately, Fendi also sued Burlington, alleging its resale of counterfeit Fendi-branded merchandise that Burlington had purchased from Ashley Reed. Burlington, in turn, brought its own third party claims against Ashley Reed to pay damages in the sum of $248,257.14, consisting of profits from the sale of counterfeit goods it purchased from Ashley Reed, as well as attorneys fees, costs and interest. The outcome of the case turned on whether or not Fendi complained that it suffered injury because of advertising, or whether it alleged only the sale of counterfeit goods, without more. The court concluded that the policies did not insure Ashley Reeds infliction of Fendis injuries, because as stated above, the offenses covered require the use of anothers advertising idea in Ashley Reeds advertising or infringement of anothers copyright, trade dress or slogan in such advertising, and no advertising of the counterfeit goods by Ashley Reed whatsoever was alleged or proved by Fendi or Burlington. Relief was awarded to Fendi and Burlington based not on any advertising activities by Ashley Reed, but solely on its sale of counterfeit Fendi goods. Going further, the Court of Appeals denied insurance coverage for two more reasons. First, Ashley Reed could not have reasonably expected it would be indemnified for loss it suffered by disgorging the profits it improperly derived from selling goods it knew bore a false designation of origin. In this regard, the court cited cases standing for the well established rule that one cannot purchase insurance to indemnify it for resulting loss when it is forced to disgorge money or property it acquired wrongfully. Second and finally, the USF&G policies issued to Ashley Reed all included a falsity exclusion, providing that there was no coverage for an advertising injury arising out of oral or written publication of material, if done by or at the direction of the insured with knowledge of its falsity. To the extent that Ashley Reeds use of the Fendi logo on its handbags might arguably have constituted advertising which the court emphasized was not so the falsity exclusion would be triggered because the record was clear, according the court, that Ashley Reed intentionally placed the Fendi logo on its handbags with knowledge that it would be selling goods bearing a false designation of origin. The Court of Appeals therefore upheld the District Courts decision denying coverage. Richard B. Wolf is a partner in the Los Angeles office of the nationwide law firm of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP. Since 1970 Mr. Wolf has specialized in insurance coverage advice and litigation. He is a member of the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). BAY VILLAGE, Ohio - The cyclical conversation whether or not to cull white-tailed deer was restarted at the June 6 Bay Village City Council Meeting. "Half our residents think there is a deer problem and the other half think that there isn't," said Bay Village Mayor Debbie Sutherland. "That's the challenge. Currently it's just a discussion, and I'd imagine it's probably going to take quite a while for some language to actually be passed by council." At the meeting, Public Services Director Scott Thomas said nine deer carcasses have been picked up so far this year compared to 36 in 2015 and 34 in 2014. Bay Village Chief of Police Mark A. Spaetzel added there are approximately 30 annual traffic accidents in Bay Village involving deer. "I think most of the damage is on private property, but our private property is very densely populated," Sutherland said. "So how do you craft an ordinance that will protect our residents and yet reduce the deer population?" Also coloring the current discussion is the latest collective-effort among southern Cuyahoga County communities - North Royalton, Broadview Heights, Olmsted Falls, Parma, Parma Heights and Seven Hills - joining together to cull the overpopulation of white-tailed deer under the auspices of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. "Those communities are vastly different," Sutherland said. The Mayor added that in her opinion Bay Village's parks, for example, aren't experiencing a level of deer damage similar to other communities. As for deer populating local neighborhoods, she feels their migration is a result of construction taking place in Avon Lake, Avon and even Westlake. "Some neighbors sustain more damage than others," Sutherland said. "Then you have other neighbors who talk about how wonderful it is to see the deer in their backyard. So you end up pitting neighbors against neighbors. "How do you get all of these people on the same page in order to get an area that's large enough for culling? And keep in mind there's all of these little kids around." The Mayor acknowledged that as a Bay Village native there are more deer in the city than 20 years ago but overall the population she believes is less than other communities acting on the animal nuisance. "I'd rather sustain the damage to my hostas than in any way danger our residents," Sutherland said. "I think it's just something that we kind of have to live with. Right now, it's just a discussion, and I'd imagine it's probably going to take quite a while for some language to actually be passed by council." Brecksville Jerry Hruby.JPG Brecksville Mayor Jerry Hruby, at a city Planning Commission meeting last week, talked about possible redevelopment of the former veterans' hospital property. (Bob Sandrick, special to cleveland.com) BRECKSVILLE, Ohio - The 102-acre site containing the former U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs hospital would become a multi-use district with restaurants, stores and offices, under a plan the city unveiled last week. The district would allow manufacturing plants and distribution centers, and might include second-floor apartments over first-floor shops, and perhaps a hotel or hospital. Walking paths could wind through the property. The development might resemble First & Main, a, Hudson retail-restaurant center, more than Westlake's Crocker Park. City officials don't want it to be a regional, high-profile retail destination. First, however, the city must gain control of the property from the VA, which closed its Brecksville hospital about five years ago. Since the closing, the city has discussed obtaining the property - at the northwest corner of Brecksville and Miller roads - and possibly turning it over to a developer. "We've moved more in the last few months (toward obtaining the land) than we have in the last five-six years," Mayor Jerry Hruby said last week. Hruby believes the city will know by this fall whether land negotiations with the VA will succeed. City Council has been kept up-to-date on negotiations in private executive sessions this year. But city officials seem confident. Last week, the Brecksville Planning Commission recommended placing the proposed multi-use district before Brecksville voters in November. City Council will ultimately decide whether to place a rezoning issue on the ballot, either this year or next year. A business mix About 75 Brecksville residents attended a public hearing last week on a proposal to redevelop the veterans' hospital property. Now, the VA property is zoned for offices and laboratories. The problem is that office space is no longer in demand. Companies would rather redevelop existing offices than build new ones, Hruby said. Hruby said restaurants, on the other hand, are in demand among businesses in Brecksville's growing industrial section in the southern part of town. The few restaurants in Brecksville's downtown are packed at lunchtime. And Richfield, which is south of Brecksville, contains few eateries. As a result, some Brecksville companies have included cafeterias and food kitchens in their buildings. Meanwhile, restaurants are clamoring to move into Brecksville. Under the multi-use plan, the city would create a special zoning district for the VA property that would encompass six existing zoning classifications. All uses in the six classifications would be allowed, except those the city chooses to exclude. Main uses would include offices, laboratories, manufacturing plants, distribution centers, small retail businesses and restaurants. Conditional uses - which the city would have to approve separately as they are proposed - would include apartments over retail. Also, motor services - a category which includes hotels - would be a conditional use, although Hruby said the city would probably not allow gas stations on the VA property. Hruby said the city would also keep out big-box stores and movie theaters. "There are many theaters in the area, so we don't need one there," Hruby said in an email to cleveland.com. "There are higher and better uses for the property. Also, many communities with theaters have unique problems with unruly patrons." Leasing issues The city of Brecksville hopes to redevelop the former veterans' hospital site at Brecksville and Miller roads. The VA's Brecksville property is under lease to Veterans Development LLC Inc., which was formed by Michael Forlani. In 2013, Forlani, a developer and electrical contractor, was sentenced to eight years in prison for bribing and kicking back money to William Montague, who at the time was director of the VA's hospital in Cleveland. In exchange, Montague helped Forlani secure jobs to build a new Cleveland VA hospital and redevelop the Brecksville property. On June 10, Montague was sentenced in federal court to four years and nine months in prison. Hruby said Forlani's ex-wife now controls the lease on the VA's Brecksville property. Hruby said Brecksville won't accept the lease until it knows the land's market value, the cost of removing asbestos from the site and the cost of demolishing the buildings. He said an appraisal of the property is "nearly complete." If the city decides to accept the lease, Congress and the VA would have to declare the land no longer useful to the federal government before the city can take control of the property, Hruby said. Neighboring developments Hruby said the VA plan is separate from another proposed redevelopment project just west of the VA property. However, he said the city should consider the two projects together. The Dalad Group, an Independence developer, announced plans to build restaurants, a gas station with convenience mart, offices, labs and possibly a hotel on 40 acres off Miller Road at 77. Hruby said the two developments would share storm-water control systems and roads. At a June 9 public hearing, Brecksville resident Chris Hannigan said the proposal for the VA land sounds promising. He said he moved his young family to Brecksville because of the quality of the schools but agreed the city needs more places to dine. It was Hannigan who recommended a First & Main-type development here, and the commission agreed the Hudson development might make a good model. "That would be a great thing to have in Brecksville," Hannigan said. But resident Denise Paulson said that after growing up in a congested suburb, she likes Brecksville's relaxed feel, with both Cuyahoga Valley National Park and Cleveland Metroparks here. She recommended another park on the VA property. "It (the city) feels safe, it feels good, it feels green," Paulson said. "I would rather drive to a restaurant." 00CmyckvTHOMAS Felton Thomas, seen here in the Stokes wing of the main Cleveland library, is director of the Cleveland Public Library. He and Sonya Pryor-Jones, the Cleveland-based chief implementation officer for the nonprofit Fab Foundation, have been chosen as two of the 10 White House Champions of Change for Making, for "doing extraordinary things to empower and inspire members of their communities." (Lonnie Timmons III, Plain Dealer file) CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Felton Thomas Jr., director of the Cleveland Public Library, and Sonya Pryor-Jones, the Cleveland-based chief implementation officer for the nonprofit Fab Foundation, have been chosen as two of the 10 White House Champions of Change for Making, for "doing extraordinary things to empower and inspire members of their communities." "These individuals were selected by the White House for their personal passion and tireless efforts to make advances in technology and platforms, educational opportunities, or spaces that empower even more Americans to become tinkerers, inventors, and entrepreneurs," the White House said in a written announcement. The 10 Champions of Change will be celebrated at the White House on Friday, as part of the National Week of Making, from June 17 through 23. Sonya Pryor-Jones, with Adam Savage of MythBusters, left, Andrew Coy, senior advisor in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and Lisa Camp, Associate Dean, Strategic Initiatives, Case School of Engineering. Friday's ceremony, including U.S. Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith and Deputy Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Thomas Kalil, will be live-streamed at wh.gov/live starting at 1 p.m. Viewers can participate via social media using the hashtag #NationOfMakers. Pryor-Jones, who is committed to expanding access to cutting-edge technology to more people to enable anyone to make (almost) anything, is a member of the executive team at the Fab Foundation, a spin-off of the Center for Bits and Atoms at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Formerly, she was the founding director for the Promise Neighborhood initiative at the Sisters of Charity Foundation, and the executive director of Northeast Ohio's STEM Initiative at Case Western Reserve University. Related Plain Dealer story: Thomas, a lifelong advocate of libraries and informal learning, has created a dedicated "makerspace" called TechCentral at 27 branches, where patrons can laser engrave, 3D print, computer program, and use audio, video and photo production tools. He is also president-elect of the nearly 9,000-member Public Library Association, the Chicago-based division of the American Library Association, the world's oldest and largest library association. PLA, founded in 1944, aims to provide a diverse program of communication, publication, advocacy, continuing education, and programming for those interested in the advancement of public library service. The other eight winners, whose credentials can be found at wh.gov/champions, are: -- Greg Behr, executive director of the Grable Foundation, of Pittsburgh. -- Umberto Crenca, co-founder and artistic director of AS220, of Providence, Rhode Island. -- Dara Dotz, co-founder of Field Ready, of San Francisco. -- Renee Fredericks, director of Youth Education and Employment Services at Cook Inlet Tribal Council in Anchorage, Alaska. -- Limor Fried, founder and owner of Adafruit, of New York, New York. -- John Niebergall, a teacher in the Sherwood School District in Sherwood, Oregon. -- Bahiy Watson, founder of the 1881 Institute of Technology in New Orleans, Louisiana. -- Lisa Marie Wiley, a retired Army sergeant who helped create the VA Innovation Creation Series, in San Antonio, Texas. At the first White House Maker Faire in June 2014, President Obama launched the Nation of Makers initiative to expand new technologies such as 3D printers, laser cutters, and desktop machine tools to more students, entrepreneurs and Americans of all backgrounds. "From all of the commitments we have received, events we have heard about, and activities that have been planned, it is going to be a full week of fantastic experiences showcasing American innovation, entrepreneurship, and tech leadership," said Andrew Coy, a senior advisor in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, in a statement. "I am truly inspired by the amazing folks in the maker movement doing fantastic work all over the country day-in and day-out." Follow @janetcho CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The city of Cleveland said in a court filing that it's working toward fixing the "dire" branch of the Cleveland police department that investigates officer misconduct complaints from citizens. The city says that it "recognizes that the timely, full, and fair investigation of citizen complaints is a critical part of the agreed upon reforms ..." according to a Monday evening status report filed in a case brought by the U.S. Justice Department. The city's report comes 11 days after Matthew Barge, the federal monitor responsible for overseeing the police department's reform efforts, issued his own report that was critical of the convoluted internal investigation processes as it pertains to the department's Office of Professional Standards, the Bureau of Integrity Control and the Police Review Board. The city's status report was designed to address where the city feels it is in coming into compliance with its settlement, known as a consent decree. It also marked the first time the city has substantially responded to Barge's June 2 report. The monitor's report questioned how the office still had hundreds of outstanding cases and, conversely, how investigators were able to recently clear so much of their backlog in a short period of time. The city wrote Monday that Office of Professional Standards is hiring two new full-time investigators and a new administrator. And it says that investigators now maintain daily activity logs. As of Friday, 200 of 294 complaints filed in 2015 are pending. There are 65 outstanding from 2014 and 85 from this year, the report says. The city also says that the investigators are not yet using an electronic case-tracking system, which was installed last year, but they will be soon. "The City is committed to significantly reducing the number of pending complaints by the end of 2016," the status report says. "In attending to completing its investigations, OPS will place proper emphasis on assessing and prioritizing current complaints to protect the evidence gathering process." The city, monitor and Justice Department will discuss the city's progress during a status conference Tuesday afternoon in Chief U.S. District Judge Solomon Oliver Jr.'s chambers. The city, like the monitor, says that the work done within the past six months "has involved the development, adoption, and implementation of policies and plans that will guide the CDP going forward." It also notes progress made with crafting new policies on using force and responding to mental-health crises, as well as training that officers will undergo before the end of the year. (You can read the city's status report here or at the bottom of this post.) The status report also addressed a few other areas. They include: Backlog of police reports The monitor found it troubling that the police department had a backlog of thousands of reports that had yet to be entered into its records-management system. It noted that the software, upgraded for the first time since 1998, immediately caused problems with the aging computers that the department uses. The city, in its status report, says that it has made multiple changes and that the system is "completely operational." It says that all reports are added to the system within 72 hours of being completed. It also says that reducing the backlog is a priority. "The backlog refers to the adding of the report narratives to the initial report record. At this time, a combination of temporary workers and current staff has been employed to address and significantly reduce the number of backlog items, while also managing the current report volume," the report says. Creating a mission statement The consent decree requires the police department to craft a new mission statement that shows that it is dedicated to community-oriented policing. The city's status report says the new mission statement, which will be soon put in front of Oliver for approval, shall say the following: The mission of the Cleveland Division of Police is to serve as guardians of the Cleveland community by enforcing the law, maintaining order, and protecting the lives, property, and rights of all people, as guided by the Constitution. We shall carry out our duties with a reverence for human life in partnership with members of the community through professionalism, respect, integrity, dedication and excellence in policing. Equipment and resource study The monitor's report says that elements of the department's core infrastructure -- including computers and police cruisers -- are aging or deficient. Cruisers are often in such disrepair that officers have performed repairs themselves or used their personal cars in the field. The lack of computers available in police cruisers also has resulted in officers using personal cellphones for police-related communications and record keeping. The city says it submitted an equipment and resource study to the monitoring team and the Justice Department in April. Cleveland.com has requested the study. Barge told a reporter on Tuesday that he needed to obtain it from the city. The the city has not responded to a records request and numerous follow-up inquiries. The city's report says it also is finishing a staffing study to see how many officers and civilians the department needs to ensure constitutional policing. If you wish to discuss or comment on this story, please visit Monday's crime and courts comments section. An equity index tracking the euro area's 50 world-beating companies was down 17.4 from a year earlier on Friday. No rational argument of economic analysis can justify that. Here is why. The euro area market is awash in liquidity. And that won't change anytime soon. While criticizing the governments' economic policies, the ECB is clearly implying that its printing presses will remain in overdrive for the foreseeable future. Unlike his Fed colleagues, the ECB's President Mario Draghi is not dancing a hesitation waltz in Frankfurt. Recovering from Germany's disastrous fiscal austerity diktat, the euro area economies are moving up on the wave of cheap and abundant credit flows. In the first quarter of this year, the area's GDP grew at an annual rate of 1.7 percent. That is a slight acceleration from a 1.5 percent pace recorded for last year as a whole and twice the growth rate in 2014. The ECB is front and center Almost all of the growth in the first three months of this year is accounted for by demand components household consumption and business investments -- that are mainly driven by cheap credit and expectations of stronger sales. These two variables contributed 1.6 percent of GDP growth. watch now Cash is one of the U.S. marijuana industry's most nagging problems. Although a growing industry to date, marijuana is now legal for medicinal use in 25 states and Washington, D.C., and legal for recreational use in four plus D.C. traditional banking relationships with these Schedule 1 drug dispensaries are not the norm. So these businesses are cash only, leading to issues with managing the money, reconciling the books at the end of each day and dealing with the IRS. Considering that industry sales jumped 17 percent to $5.4 billion in 2015 and are expected to increase another 25 percent this year, according to ArcView Group, these dispensaries are flush. Yet one Denver-based start-up, Jane, is hoping to solve the many challenges these cannabis dispensaries face by offering a retail kiosk payment solution to allow for financial transparency and more accurate accounting. The company launched in September 2014 by co-founders Jeff Foster and Yves Yon Foster with an e-commerce, finance and risk-management background; Yon an entrepreneur. Today Jane is run by CEO David Ellerstein, who is focusing on applying traditional retail kiosk technology, seen in stores like Home Depot and McDonald's , to the marijuana industry. Registered customers can pre-order items on the Jane app and pick them up in stores that are using the kiosk, or they can simply order from the kiosk in store for an expedited experience, choosing product, inserting cash and showing the cashier their receipt. Total time: About five minutes. David Ellerstein, CEO of Jane Ross LeClair | CNBC For retailers, Jane is integrated with a dispensary's seed-to-sale software, which is required in most states and tracks products from the point they are grown until they're sold to patients or customers. Jane will track what is being bought and sold and make for a more simplistic way to reconcile books at the end of the day. Ellerstein said it's yet another way to legitimize the industry, which the ArcView Group projects will hit $22.8 billion by 2020 for legal cannabis sales. As he explained in the early days, not all regulators viewed this as a legitimate industry. "They saw all dollars as cartel dollars, but we could show them that we had compliance and we are business-minded in how we manage our cash," Ellerstein said. "It's providing greater user experience, efficiency and convenience for the consumer, and providing the dispensary owner with its cash controls and regulatory compliance." Jane is able to track transactions in real-time, providing dispensaries with greater transparency if regulators were to come knocking. watch now Jane kiosks are equipped with touchscreen technology and even show customers the local tax breakdown for what they're purchasing at local and state levels. Dispensaries will check IDs for users entering in store to be sure they are of age in legal recreational markets and are either patients or caretakers in medicinal markets, he said. Those using the app register online. The machines lease out to stores for a range of $2,495 to $3,495 monthly, depending on the suite of services dispensaries use. There are no fees for customers using the kiosks, which are available in five stores currently in Colorado and Oregon, with plans to expand into nearly two dozen more in the coming months. The best thing for us is to allow our regular customers to have an opportunity to not have to wait in line. And we know who they are; they come in and everything is ready to go. Anne Gordon owner of Herban Underground But Calacanis said he isn't convinced that all is well at Alibaba because of the "black box" effect of Chinese regulation. Alibaba plans to double its volume transaction by 2020, while revenue is expected to rise by about 50 percent by the 2017 fiscal year, according to comments made at Alibaba's investor day on Tuesday, local time in China. The news bolstered share prices by about 3 percent as investors bought in on the international online marketplace. Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. at the 2014 CGI annual meeting in New York. "Nobody has any real clarity about what's going on in China," Calacanis said Tuesday on CNBC's "Squawk Alley." "Remember, this isn't even a democracy. And you have a company hanging out there, sort of growing in a large way, that the SEC is trying to figure out what's going on." Alibaba provided information to the Securities and Exchange Commission about its accounting for logistics unit Cainiao Network as well as operating data from its Singles Day shopping extravaganza, the company announced in its annual report last month. A company spokesperson called the move "exactly the kind of robust and transparent information that will address the underlying issues in SEC's inquiry." But Calacanis has his doubts, saying he believes China's economy "has many thumbs on the scale, and a lot of manipulation, and a ton of corruption," citing the lack of free press protection under the Chinese Communist Party. Alibaba did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment about Calacanis' statements. Calacanis, who has invested in e-commerce, customer relations and advertising start-ups, according to AngelList, isn't the first to hesitate when it comes to the internet retailing giant. "I think it's a really tough one," Gil Luria, a technology analyst at Wedbush Securities, told CNBC's "Power Lunch" last month. "The flipside of what we're talking about is this is a company that just grew 40 percent and is only trading at 20 times [earnings] .... there's the underlying concerns with China, there's concerns about inflated volumes, there's concerns about the competitive situations vis-a-vis JD.com." Chinese e-commerce platform JD.com last year accused Alibaba of anticompetitive behavior, calling for a regulatory investigation over Alibaba's relationships with vendors, in a bitter rivalry some have called "malicious." As Chinese companies move to adopt more of an American-style transparency model, Calacanis said he'll be eyeing Alibaba as the test case. "It's a very challenged environment," Calacanis said. "You have to be a high risk investor, you have to be very careful owning the stock. I would only own it under a small, small percentage of your overall diversified portfolio." watch now The massacre in Orlando spurred the American Medical Association on Tuesday to formally call gun violence "a very public health crisis," and say the organization will "actively lobby" Congress to end a funding ban on federal health research into the problem. The move by the largest group of doctors in the United States, during a meeting in Chicago, came days after a gunman slaughtered 49 people and wounded 53 others at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, on Sunday morning with a legally purchased .223-caliber Sig Sauer MCX semi-automatic rifle. "With approximately 30,000 men, women and children dying each year at the barrel of a gun in elementary schools, movie theaters, workplaces, houses of worship and on live television, the United States faces a public health crisis of gun violence," said the AMA's president, Dr. Steven Stack. "Even as America faces a crisis unrivaled in any other developed country, the Congress prohibits the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] from conducting the very research that would help us understand the problems associated with gun violence and determine how to reduce the high rate of firearm-related deaths and injuries." There are three reasons why it's a bad idea to use retirement accounts for college expenses. 1. There will likely come a day when you really need the money. I realize that many people today are postponing retirement, while others don't want to ever stop working. But the fact is, as many as one 1 out of 2 of us will be forced to retire earlier than we'd planned. That's right. Half of us will be forced into retirement before we're ready, either because of a health issue or a change in employment. If you take out money while you are still young and in good health, you may not have the resources to meet your basic needs when you are at an age when you may no longer be able to work. 2. You'll miss out on the miracle of compound interest. Let's assume you are 50 years old and plan on working another 15 years. A $10,000 withdrawal from your retirement account could cost you twice that much. Why? Because of the lost opportunity of having the money grow over that time frame. For example, let's assume you can earn 6 percent on your retirement account over the next 15 years. Had the $10,000 been left in the account to grow, it would be worth roughly $24,000 by the time you reach age 65. So that $10,000 in college expenses really costs you $24,000. Americans searching for a societal reason for the alarming national trend of mass shootings, such as Sunday's deadly gay nightclub attack in Orlando, should look to the past, said Malcolm Gladwell, the renowned author whose books explore the power of connections. "These shootings feed on each other. And each time someone commits an act, an atrocity like this, it makes it easier for the next person to do it," Gladwell told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Tuesday. "This is kind of a well-known theory in psychology, which is the threshold theory," he explained. "[It] says each of us have a different threshold for doing something unusual or heinous. The more these events happen, the lower the threshold gets." American-born, 29-year-old Omar Mateen, the Orlando gunman who by all accounts so far was a self-radicalized Islamic extremist, shares traits with many of the past school shooters, said Gladwell, author of best-sellers including "The Tipping Point" and "Outliers," and a staff writer for The New Yorker. "It's the same notion that troubled, disaffected young men are drawn into the fantasy element kinds of movements," Gladwell said, arguing the mainstream media shoulders an unfair portion of the blame for propagating and glorifying violence. "There are these entire worlds that suck in young people and feed their fantasies that have nothing to do with the mainstream media," he said. "It's not media coverage of ISIS that [Mateen], I'm sure, was inspired by. It's stuff ISIS itself put up online." If authorities want to break "the terrible cycle," they need to disrupt the radical ideology at the source by providing a more compelling counter message, Gladwell said. It may not just the British who are skeptical about the European Union. According to a poll from the Pew Research Center, many Europeans would rather focus on domestic issues and query whether obligations to allies should take precedence over their own national interests. "There are so many questions about how Europe can act together collaboratively," James Bell, vice president of Global Strategy at the Pew Research Center told CNBC on Tuesday. The U.K. is due to vote next week on whether it should stay or leave Brexit the European Union, with latest polls showing the 'Leave' campaign ahead. And according to Pew's 'Europeans Face the World Divided,' regardless of whether Brexit is voted through or not, 65 percent of the British public believes that some EU powers should be returned to the British government. In fact, in seven of the 10 EU nations surveyed, half or more of the public believes their country should deal with its own problems. "In the wake of prolonged economic stagnation, a massive influx of refugees, terrorist attacks and a strategic challenge posed by Russia, Europeans are weary and perhaps wary of foreign entanglements," said the Pew Research Center study published Monday. The majority of Europe which suffered from two major terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels in the past year - see ISIS as the top danger to their countries, with the greatest concern coming from the Spanish (93 percent) and French (91 percent). "The fear of threats seem to unite Europe," said Bell. On the issue of refugees, there are sharp divides with people in Poland, Hungary, Greece and Italy much more concerned about the refugee crisis as a threat compared with those in the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden, said Pew. Yet Europeans have a sense of obligation to help those in developing nations- in seven of 10 countries, half or more of the public supports increasing foreign aid. There is also a big divide in how two of Europe's major powers Germany and France- view themselves. "The economy is key here. Germany really stands out, they are the ones that feel they're more important than 10 years ago," explained Bell. On the other hand, a majority of French believe France has lost prominence on the world stage. More than half of Germans assert that their country should help other nations deal with their problems. A majority of French say their country should deal with its own problems first and let other countries fend for themselves, according to Pew. In terms of international relations, most European countries "have noticed the rise of China but Europeans as a whole are still looking to the U.S. as a primary country that matters to their future," said Bell. According to the YouGov poll for The Times, "Leave" held 46 percent support compared with 39 percent support for "Remain." Undecided voters were 11 percent, while 4 percent won't vote. Recent polls are suggesting that momentum has swung towards the "Leave" camp, or a so called Brexit, unsettling investors. "Leave" in recent days has focused its campaign on the issue of immigration. The result of the June 23 referendum will have far-reaching consequences for politics, the economy, defence, migration and diplomacy in Britain and elsewhere. Britain's "Leave" campaign opened up a 7-point lead over "Remain" ahead of a referendum on membership of the European Union an opinion poll showed late Monday, while the nation's biggest-selling newspaper urged readers to vote to quit the bloc. Last Monday The Times/YouGov had reported a 1 percent lead for the "Remain" campaign. In another, though not unexpected, boost for "Leave," media tycoon Rupert Murdoch's Sun newspaper called on its readers to vote to quit the 28-member EU. "The Sun urges everyone to vote Leave. We must set ourselves free from dictatorial Brussels," said the tabloid, which has a circulation of 1.7 million. Other polls published on Monday also put "Leave" ahead, while betting odds on Brexit narrowed. An ORB poll for The Daily Telegraph put support for "Leave" at 49 percent, compared with Remain's 48 percent, while two ICM polls, one online and one conducted by telephone, found "Out" held 53 percent support compared with 47 percent support for "In," the Guardian newspaper, which sponsored the telephone poll said. That compared with a 52-48 percent split in favour of "Out" in ICM polls two weeks ago, the Guardian said. Those polls excluded respondents who answered "don't know." A poll published on Friday which gave "Out" a 10 percentage-point lead added to pressure on sterling and pushed the cost of hedging against huge swings in the exchange rate to record highs. ICM said it interviewed 1,000 adults by telephone and 2,001 adults online between June 10 and 13. Including people who said they did not know how they would vote, the telephone poll showed 50 percent of people backed "Out," 45 percent supported "In," and 5 percent were classed as "don't know", ICM said. The online poll showed "Out" leading "In" by 49 percent to 44 percent with 7 percent saying they did not know how to vote. Both polls showed falls in the share of "don't knows," ICM said. "As we close on referendum day, evidently minds are being made up," ICM director Martin Boon said in a statement. Opinion pollsters are under pressure because they failed to forecast both Prime Minister David Cameron's unexpectedly decisive election victory and the result of Israel's election last year. watch now watch now watch now President Barack Obama asserted Tuesday that proposals from presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump would strengthen Islam-inspired terrorist groups, but he emphasized that he will "not let that happen." Obama warned that proposals from politicians like Trump seeking to increase surveillance of American Muslims or create a religious test for who can enter the country are antithetical to America's core principles, and could actually make the country less safe. "If we ever abandon those values, we would not only make it a lot easier to radicalize people here and around the world, but we would have betrayed the very things we are trying to protect: the pluralism and the openness, our rule of law, our civil liberties, the very things that make our country great, the very things that make us exceptional," Obama said from the Treasury. "And then the terrorists would have won, and we cannot let that happen. I will not let that happen." Barack Obama speaking June 14, 2016. Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images The president warned that terrorist groups like the Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL) want to push the notion that "the West hates Muslims" as propaganda for recruitment. So, he argued, any U.S. actions that legitimize that notion are playing right into those groups' hands. Later in the day, Trump told the Associated Press in an email that the president "claims to know our enemy, and yet he continues to prioritize our enemy over our allies, and for that matter, the American people." He added that "when I am president, it will always be America first." Among the many responses to the attack during which a man armed with an assault rifle and pledging loyalty to the Islamic State group killed at least 49 people when he attacked a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida Trump renewed his call for immigration bans. "The immigration laws of the United States give the president powers to suspend entry into the country of any class of persons," Trump said Monday. "I would use this power to protect the American people. When I'm elected, I will suspend immigration from areas of the world where there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe or our allies, until we fully understand how to end these threats." "We cannot continue to allow thousands upon thousands of people to pour into our country, many of whom have the same thought process as this savage killer," he said, adding that "many of the principles of radical Islam are incompatible with Western values and institutions." watch now Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks at a news conference on April 22, 2016 in New York City. The leader denounced the beheading of Canadian John Ridsdel by the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group in the Philippines on Monday April 25, 2016. Canadian hostage Robert Hall is believed to have been killed by his captors in the Philippines, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday, in what appears to be the second execution of a Canadian hostage by the militant group Abu Sayyaf in the area in recent months. Trudeau said Canadian officials were working with authorities in the Philippines to confirm the death of Hall, who was taken captive with three other people by the militants in September 2015 from an upscale resort on Samal island, hundreds of miles east of Jolo. In the Philippines, a military spokesman said a severed head had been found near a Catholic cathedral on a remote southern island late on Monday. It appeared to be that of a Caucasian, the spokesman said, but no identification had been made yet. Major Filemon Tan, spokesman for the Western Mindanao Command of the Philippines military, said in a statement on Tuesday the discovery appeared to confirm the killing of a kidnap victim by Abu Sayyaf. watch now Singapore's beaten down home prices may find hopes of a recovery from an unusual source: car loans. In May, Singapore's central bank unexpectedly eased restrictions on car loans, both by raising the maximum permitted loan-to-value ratios and extending the maximum loan tenure from five years to seven. It was a significant change in a country where cars are rationed and buying one requires not only purchasing the vehicle, but also buying at auction the permission to own it. That permission, called a certificate of entitlement (COE), is pricey, with the June auction coming in around 53,000-56,000 Singapore dollars ($39,100-$41,300), down from levels over 90,000 Singapore dollars in 2013. Some analysts pointed to the eased car loan restrictions as a sign that the central bank may also soon ease measures that were aimed at slowing the flow of credit to the property sector. Those measures included limits on the total amount of debt a borrower could take on as a percentage as income, as well as additional stamp duties on property buyers. Credit Suisse said in June that it expected the market would begin pricing in rising chances that the cooling measures' days were numbered. The bank predicted a change by the end of 2016 and pointed to stamp duty as likely to be the first cooling measure to go. watch now The Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty (ABSD) adds as much as 15 percent to a property's purchase price for foreign buyers and Singaporeans with more than one property. However, analysts at DBS said speculation that the cooling measures were on the way out was "still premature," noting that the Property Price Index had only fallen 9.4 percent from its peak, leaving prices still about 40 percent above 2009 lows. DBS said in June that it would likely take another 13-15 percent decline in property prices for authorities to ditch cooling measures. But DBS analysts did come to roughly the same conclusion as Credit Suisse, predicting the measures' removal at the end of this year, or possibly in the first half of next year. Real estate agents said they believed that the ABSD was holding back buyers and that its removal was the catalyst needed to unleash pent-up demand. Property investor Alexander Karolik Shlaen, an economist and CEO of Panache Management, a luxury brands and real estate investment adviser, said that demand never completely evaporated, even in the market downturn. watch now Shlaen called the declines in Singapore home prices a "self-inflicted wound," citing both the ABSD and the introduction in mid-2013 of a total debt servicing ratio (TDSR) to limit how much debt households could take on. Even if authorities stand pat on the property cooling measures, there are signs that the downturn's days may be limited. For one, while new supply in the market is still climbing, it is expected to taper off in coming years. About 20,000 private residential units are set to be completed in the last three quarters of 2016, with about another 15,000 each in 2017 and 2018. But by 2019, that number will more than halve to about 7,500, before falling again in 2020 to just under 4,000 expected completions. Indeed, one developer appears to be counting on that drop: In an April sales preview presentation for media, Cheung Kong Property included the falling supply and lack of competition from other developers as a positive feature to market its "British-themed" Stars of Kovan project, which is slated for completion in 2020. The project has nearly 400 units, with expected pricing ranging from 800,000 Singapore dollars to 3.5 million Singapore dollars. watch now Due to a quirk of Singapore's land policy, the developer won't have to worry about overhang from other finished, but unsold projects. Developers aren't allowed to sit on unsold units while waiting for buyers to return: Any units unsold two years after a project's completion face an "extension charge" of 8 percent of the proportional land cost for the first year, rising to 16 percent in the second year and 24 percent in the third. The measure was aimed at preventing property hoarding by "foreign" developers in the land-starved city-state. The only way to avoid the charges was if the developer was Singaporean or the company had only Singaporean shareholders and board members. In a note last week, analysts at CIMB said it expected home prices to fall around 5-8 percent this year as looming penalties were expected to intensify from 2017 and developers would start clearing unsold inventory. With many developers running out of time before the charges kick in, more discounts may be afoot in the near term, but projects further out will face less competition for potential buyers. watch now Zenefits continued its housecleaning on Tuesday, announcing plans to eliminate more than 100 jobs and close its sales operation in Arizona, according to an internal memo from CEO David Sacks. The 106 job cuts equate to about 9 percent of company head count, Sacks said, and all of Zenefits' sales and marketing efforts will be relocated from Arizona to San Francisco. The company is also offering to pay employees to quit. "This is a painful decision," Sacks wrote in a memo obtained by CNBC. "But it is the right thing to do." In the original memo, Zenefits said it was closing its office in Arizona, but later corrected the statement to say that it's phasing out its sales operation there. The office will remain open with about 350 employees, the company said. Zenefits provides free software to help small businesses manage their own human resources, and the San Francisco-based start-up was valued at $4.5 billion in its latest round of funding. The company makes a profit as an insurance broker by selling health insurance to its business partners. Sacks took over Zenefits in February, after co-founder and former CEO Parker Conrad was forced to resign. Conrad was found to have encouraged salespeople to skirt licensing laws, while also promoting a frat-like culture in the office. Zenefits was a poster-child for Silicon Valley's growth-at-all-costs ethos of recent years. Sacks fired 250 employees soon after becoming CEO. The Missourians Opinion section is a public forum for the discussion of ideas. The views presented in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Missourian or the University of Missouri. If you would like to contribute to the Opinion page with a response or an original topic of your own, visit our submission form What you need to know ahead of mandatory CWD sampling in Missouri June 13, 2016 - A lawn maintenance crew with Shelby County Schools works outside Carver High School on Monday morning. (Mike Brown/The Commercial Appeal) George Washington Carver High School was opened in 1957, a product of a racially segregated society. Last week, Carver High was closed, a casualty of a racially and economically resegregated society. It's nobody's fault. Nobody in particular. It's just the way things were and the way things are. "Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom," the scientist George Washington Carver once said. We're still looking for the right set of keys. It shouldn't be this hard to find them. Numerous studies have shown that integration works. That minority adults who attended desegregated schools were more likely to go to college, less likely to be poor or go to jail. That schools with disproportionate numbers of poor minority children are less likely to have experienced teachers, advanced courses and adequate resources. We don't need studies to prove it. We can just look around. The city's best performing high school, White Station, is also its most integrated. Carver ended its life as the city's worst performing high school, and its most racially and economically segregated. Did it ever really have a chance? The Memphis Board of Education opened Carver High as a segregated school for black students in 1957. That was three years after the U.S. Supreme Court declared separate schools for black children were inherently unequal, even if they had equal resources. "In the years after Brown, absolutely nothing was done here to integrate our schools," the late Maxine Smith told my friend and fellow journalist John Branston in a 2011 Memphis magazine article. "They started building all-black schools like Carver and Lester near white neighborhoods just to keep (black kids) out of schools like South Side and East. It was shameful." Carver opened without a cafeteria. Parents brought hot meals and brown-bag lunches. Teachers took turns running a snack bar. The students and the school got bigger and stronger. Frances Hooks, the wife of Rev. Dr. Benjamin Hooks, became the school's first guidance counselor in 1959. By the time the first senior class of Carver Cobras graduated in 1961, the school had 2,200 students. After decades of forced racial segregation, court-ordered desegregation of schools finally came to Memphis in the early 1970s. That was followed by decades of human-ordered re-segregation. Carver worked hard to adjust. Additions were added in 1958, 1960, 1962, 1971 and 1976. Finally, after 40 years of life, the old school was sagging and struggling to move into the high-speed new century. "This building was never built for the 21st Century. It doesn't have the technology we need for education," Carver principal Jerry L. Marlin told the newspaper in 1997. That year, the school board approved a $10 million renovation/replacement project for the school. It included a new, state-of-the-art academic building with fiber optics and a research library. "We picked the best designs from all over the country," Marlin said. "We're going to have a safe and efficient plant in which to educate children." As Carver's hopes soared, the Riverside neighborhood around it began to nose-dive. Middle-class people moved out. Gangs moved in. In the past two decades, Riverside's population has dropped from 6,500 to 3,900. There are 300 fewer housing units and twice as many vacant ones. Nearly half of all families in Riverside now live below the federal poverty line. Court-ordered desegregation didn't work. Now we're trying a court-ordered "safety zone". That's a court injunction that prohibits gang members from "standing, sitting, walking, driving, gathering, or appearing anywhere in public view or anyplace accessible to the public" with each other. There are two exceptions: Inside a place of worship or inside a school. This past school year, Carver's enrollment dropped below 200. Its student body was 99 percent black and 92 percent poor. Last week, the Shelby County Board of Education approved the superintendent's recommendation to close Carver High, citing the school's low enrollment and poor academic performance. Starting in August, Carver's students will be sent to Hamilton High which is 98 percent black and 92 percent poor. Today, in Memphis and across the country, as The New York Times noted last week, black children are more segregated than they have been at any point in the past half century. It's nobody's fault. Nobody in particular. It's just the way things are. And it's still a shame. Contact columnist David Waters at waters@commercialappeal.com. SHARE Harry Peel By Jody Callahan of The Commercial Appeal Editor's note: An earlier version of this story included an incorrect location for Mr. Peel's memorial service. The story has been updated with the correct information. Ross Rice knew something was wrong when he showed up at the Blue Monkey on Madison Saturday night for a gig, and Harry Peel's drum kit was nowhere to be found. Rice called and texted, but got no answer. So he and his guitar player started as a two-piece, hoping Mr. Peel might just pop up with his sticks in the middle of the set. "He never showed up. We were concerned about that. We didn't really find out anything until about halfway through our gig," said Rice, who played a regular gig with Mr. Peel at that Midtown club for years. "We heard from (his son) that he'd found Harry earlier." Mr. Peel's son, Ryan, found his father in his Whitehaven home Saturday. Mr. Peel, who had suffered heart problems and other maladies in recent years, had passed away in his chair. He was 56. "Harry was a sweet guy. That's about the best thing I could say," said Butch Jordan, one of the owners of the Blue Monkey. "He's family to us. He was not only a close personal friend but our musical anchor for so long." Although his name might not be familiar to those not plugged into the Memphis music scene, Mr. Peel was famous to those who are. A noted session drummer, Mr. Peel made his living for years keeping time for some of the biggest names in Memphis music. He played in the Riverbluff Clan, and often backed up Susan Marshall. He played with Rob Jungklas and John Kilzer, two longtime local stalwarts still making music. If a Memphis musician stayed on the scene long enough, he probably played with Mr. Peel at least once. And through it all, Rice said, Mr. Peel remained one of the best drummers in the city. "He had perfect tempo. That's about the best way I can put it. That is the holy grail of drumming to me. Drummers can learn everything technical, but natural tempo is a gift. That's something Harry had," Rice said. "Harry's gift was that when you play with him, everything was all right. ... You felt like you were riding on a magic carpet." Mr. Peel also passed along that love of music, and particularly drumming, to his son. But Memphis musicians never let Ryan forget who his father was. "It's kind of like growing up with a dad who was in sports. Everywhere I went, people would tell me how awesome he was. And (they'd say), 'Hey, you've got some big shoes to fill. You'd better start practicing,'" his son said. Mr. Peel also gave his son some valuable advice, something he still remembers during his own performances. "There are a lot of people who treat it like a job, (just) clock in. My dad was a guy who was like, 'You've always got to do it 100 percent. Treat it like your last gig. You never know who is watching, and you never know if that's going to be your last gig,'" Ryan said. Mr. Peel's last gig was playing at the Italian Fest earlier this month. A memorial service will be held from 6-8 p.m. June 21 at Memphis Funeral Home, 5599 Poplar Avenue. Jordan said plans for a musical memorial are being discussed. August 13, 2014 - Lincoln "Chips" Moman, a producer, guitarist, and songwriter, smiles as fans surround him during the unveiling of the American Studios historical marker at 831 Thomas Wednesday afternoon. Moman has worked with artists such as Elvis Presley, Carla Thomas, and B.J. Thomas. (Yalonda M. James/The Commercial Appeal) By Bob Mehr of The Commercial Appeal Memphis music icon, Elvis Presley producer, country and soul-songwriting giant Lincoln "Chips" Moman has died. The 79-year-old Moman died at a hospice facility in his hometown of LaGrange, Georgia on Monday, Moman's friend and longtime music industry associate Marty Lacker confirmed. A gifted rockabilly guitarist and band leader in the 1950s, Moman went on to become one of the architects of Stax Records and author of some of the most enduring songs in the history of rhythm-and-blues and country music from "Dark End of the Street" to "Luckenbach Texas (Back to the Basics of Love)." Besides Sam Phillips, he was arguably the only man to effectively produce Elvis Presley helping midwife The King's creative rebirth in 1969. It was Moman who helped build and shape Memphis' American Sound Studios and its house band, generating the most prolific run of chart hits ever. "He was one of the most important people ever. He started out with Stax, then all the great recordings he made at American Studios," said local Grammy head Jon Hornyak, who also worked with Moman at his own studio. "Memphis music history wouldn't be the same without Chips. To me, definitely one of the all time great music makers in Memphis." Born in Georgia in 1937, Moman hitchhiked to Memphis at age 17, where he was discovered by Sun Records star Warren Smith. Moman later joined up with brothers Johnny and Dorsey Burnette, traveling with them for sessions in California at the famed Gold Star Recording Studios. Moman watched and studied noted engineer Stan Ross behind the board. "And from what I'd learned in California, I decided to take that experience and put it to work in Memphis," recalled Moman in a 2008 interview. His chance came when he was called to do a session at a tiny garage studio in Brunswick, Tennessee, owned by Jim Stewart. Moman and Stewart hit it off, and decided to join forces to start what would become Satellite, and eventually Stax Records. Moman played a pivotal role in Stax's development. He was the one who recorded the label's initial hits by Carla Thomas, Rufus Thomas and William Bell; helped develop "Last Night," the song that would become The Mar-Keys' smash; and was the one who was musically predisposed to turning Stax from a white country music company into a black R&B label in the first place. But a rancorous split in 1962 with Stewart and his sister and co-owner, Estelle Axton, brought all that to an abrupt end. In 1965, Moman began developing a studio at 827 N. Thomas. American Sound Studios took off with the arrival of local teen garage band The Gentrys, who cut a million-selling smash called "Keep on Dancing." "They were just kids, and I wasn't much more," recalled Moman. "But that got me started to the point where I could afford to hire a secretary." That secretary, Sandy Posey, would be his next protege, and would go on to record the Top 20 Grammy-nominated hit "Born A Woman." "After that, people started calling me to produce records," Moman said. Between 1962 and 1972, American Studios was a veritable hit factory that produced more than 120 chart records. With Moman guiding them, the American house band, later known as the Memphis Boys guitarist Reggie Young, drummer Gene Chrisman, pianist Bobby Wood, organist Bobby Emmons and bassists Mike Leech and Tommy Cogbill would provide the essential ballast and delicate filigree found in the hits of Dusty Springfield ("Son of a Preacher Man"), Neil Diamond ("Sweet Caroline), Merrilee Rush ("Angel of the Morning") , B.J. Thomas ("Hooked on a Feeling"), Joe Tex ("I Gotcha"), Bobby Womack ("Fly Me To The Moon") and, perhaps most famously, Elvis Presley ("Suspicious Minds"). "He was one of the greatest record producers, musicians and songwriters. Chips was a pioneer," Lacker said. "He brought big name artists to record at American Studios because they wanted a hit. One of his specialties was an artist whose career had gone cold, and he rejuvenated their careers." Moman left Memphis in 1972 and headed to Atlanta to start a new studio, taking most of the American band with him. His tenure in Atlanta was short-lived, however. After encountering problems with the new record label he'd set up, Moman decided to get out of the music business entirely. Instead, he stopped in Nashville and wrote a hit song for B.J. Thomas ("(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song"), and decided to continue in Music City. Moman would spend the next dozen years in Nashville, where he would dominate the country field writing hits and producing albums by Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Tammy Wynette and Ronnie Milsap. Despite his success in Nashville, Moman was lured back to Memphis in 1985. Then-Mayor Dick Hackett and First Tennessee bank chairman Ron Terry, eager to re-energize a Memphis music industry that had been stagnant since the demise of Stax in 1975, offered Moman a studio site and financial incentives to return to town. At first, Moman was hailed as a potential savior of the city's music. He quickly recorded the high-profile Class of '55 album featuring Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Roy Orbison. But the hoped-for hits never materialized, and Moman eventually left Memphis again for good. RELATED: 175 Moments - Sept. 20, 1985: Chips Moman records 'Class of 55' with Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash In poor health for much of the last decade, Moman would make occasional public appearances, performing with the American Boys or at Elvis-related events. In the summer of 2014, Moman and company were finally given some long overdue recognition in the Bluff City. A Shelby County historical marker was placed on the site where American Studios once stood. Moman was also inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame that year. Speaking from Nashville, guitarist Young perhaps best summed up what his friend meant to Memphis, and to the world of popular music. "The songs he's written and recorded," Young said, "I can't imagine ever being forgotten." Moman is survived by his wife Jane, daughter Monique and son Casey. Funeral arrangements were incomplete. Staff reporter Jody Callahan contributed to this story. A statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest stands in the middle of the park formerly named for him on Union between Manassas and Dunlap. (Dave Darnell/The Commercial Appeal) By Ryan Poe of The Commercial Appeal The city of Memphis will seek a waiver later this month to remove the statue of Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest from a public park. The Tennessee Historical Commission is slated to vote June 24 on whether to grant the requested waiver, but officials still needs court approval to disturb the graves of Forrest and his wife under the statue in Health Sciences Park. The city filed its application for the waiver March 6, just before a new state law went into effect at the end of the month, said Historical Commission Executive Director Patrick McIntyre Jr. Under the 2013 law, the city will only need the majority approval of the 29-member commission, as opposed to two-thirds majority under the new law. McIntyre said the city didn't specify in its waiver request a new home for the statue. The Memphis City Council voted in August to remove the statue, joining last year's national backlash against confederate memorials in the wake of a racially-motivated shooting that left nine black people dead in South Carolina. The council vote prompted Lee Millar, Sons of Confederate Veterans' leader, to threaten a lawsuit against the city. The group has an ongoing lawsuit against the city for renaming Forrest Park as Health Sciences Park. The council has yet to decide where the statue will go, although members floated the idea last year of an auction or donating it to a museum. The council members voted to move the graves of Forrest and his wife, Mary Ann Montgomery, back to their original burial plot in Elmwood Cemetery, where Forrest reportedly requested to be buried with his soldiers. SHARE Interim Police Director Michael Rallings (Nikki Boertman/The Commercial Appeal) By Ryan Poe of The Commercial Appeal The national search for the next Memphis police director enters a new phase Friday when the International Association of Chiefs of Police stops accepting applications and begins vetting a pool of candidates that was still shallow a week ago. Virginia-based IACP had received 21 applications as of last week, about a week before Friday's deadline, and will next come up with a short list for in-person interviews, said city Chief Human Resources Officer Alexandria Smith. She said the city is on track to hire a director at the end of August or beginning of September. Interim Police Director Michael Rallings still hadn't applied for the job Monday, but previously said he would seek the position following a personal, public invitation by Mayor Jim Strickland earlier this year. But as the application deadline approaches, pressure is mounting for Strickland to call off the search and hire Rallings, who led the division through recent crises like the June 4 death of officer Verdell Smith, who was killed by a suspect fleeing police as Smith cleared civilians off Beale. Not long after Smith's funeral, state Safety and Homeland Security Commissioner Bill Gibbons, speaking at the business leaders organization Memphis Tomorrow, said the pool of applicants was weak. Gibbons, who steps down as commissioner Aug. 30 to take the helm of the new Public Safety Institute at the University of Memphis and at the Memphis Shelby Crime Commission, clarified Monday that his statement was based on information a couple of weeks old, and the pool could have improved. He added: "I think it would really be premature to say whether the pool of applicants is strong or not." Gibbons said his statement wasn't an endorsement for ending a search and hiring Rallings. But some community leaders are rallying around Rallings, in hopes Strickland will do just that. LaSimba Gray, pastor of New Sardis Baptist Church, said looking outside of the Memphis police for a new director is a "disservice" to the division. "I think it's very much a common feeling and a growing feeling in this community once they meet him," Gray said of hiring Rallings. Keith Norman, pastor of First Baptist Broad, president of the local chapter of the NAACP and part of the police clergy program, said the city needs a director who understands the community and the issues it faces. "A continuity is critical at this point in our city moving forward," he said. City Council member Janis Fullilove, along with Norman, said she favored hiring Rallings from the start, and discounted the administration's justification that directors who can bring new ideas from outside should be considered. "You have new ideas right here," she said. She said outside directors, unlike Rallings, are attracted to Memphis by the proposed salary $190,577 to $247,750, depending on experience, according to the IACP. "They don't have a love of the city, they don't know the city," she said. If the city hires Rallings outright, the city and taxpayers could be out the $40,000 the city is paying IACP for the search. But Smith said the city is proceeding as planned with the search. "We're going through our process, making sure we pick the best candidate for Memphis," she said. Council member Worth Morgan, who chairs the Public Safety Committee, praised Rallings on Tuesday, saying he's seen the interim director calm large crowds of angry citizens at community meetings. But even so, Morgan added, a search will give the city a complete lineup of candidates for the job. "We have a responsibility to the public to look everywhere for the best possible director," he said. SHARE Tony Parker By USA TODAY Network Tennessee NASHVILLE Tony Parker has been appointed commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Correction effective June 19, according to a news release from Gov. Bill Haslam's office. Parker will replace Derrick Schofield, who announced June 1 he is leaving the administration to join GEO Group in Florida as executive vice president for continuum of care. A 33-year veteran of TDOC, Parker has served five administrations, beginning his career as a correctional officer, working his way up and serving since 2012 as assistant commissioner of prisons, supervising prison operations, security operations and offender management, according to the release. "Tony Parker has spent his life dedicated to serving our state through the correctional system. He put himself through school, earning his associate, bachelor's and master's degrees while being promoted through the ranks of the Department of Correction," Haslam said in the release. "Tony understands the department and its mission from top to bottom, and I have no doubt he will do an outstanding job leading it." Parker, 52, began his career with TDOC as a correctional officer at the Lake County Regional Correctional Facility in 1983 and was promoted through the ranks as a correctional corporal, sergeant, lieutenant, captain, associate warden and deputy warden, eventually serving as warden of the Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville from 2003 until 2006. From 2006 until 2008, Parker served as warden of the West Tennessee State Penitentiary in Henning. In 2008, Parker again served as warden of Northwest Correctional Complex until being promoted to correctional administrator of TDOC's West Region in April 2011, according to the release. Parker earned an associate degree in criminal justice from Dyersburg State Community College in 1993 while working for TDOC, a bachelor of science degree in criminal justice from the University of Tennessee at Martin in 1995 and a master of arts degree in security studies from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California in 2013. The state's corrections system is comprised of 14 prisons, collectively housing approximately 21,000 offenders. TDOC has more than 6,500 employees and supervises 79,000 offenders on probation, parole or community corrections. Parker is married to Misty Parker. They live in West Tennessee with three children, Madison, Mia and J'Coy. SHARE The Commercial Appeal files The Goodwyn Institute Building at the corner of Third Street and Madison Avenue as it appears on June 14, 1941. It faces 75 feet on Madison and 117 feet on Third Street. The building is of steel skeleton or frame, which is enclosed in fireproof, hard burnt tile and the entire building is billed as "absolutely fireproof." The building, which was made possible with funds from the will of William Adolphus Goodwyn (1824-1898), was formally opened Sept. 13, 1907. His will declared that the building be used for free lectures and a free library, and that "no part of the building is to be used for political gatherings, but when the lecture hall is not used otherwise it may be rented for musical concerts, art exhibitions or other purposes likely to elevate the public morals and taste." June 14 25 years ago: 1991 First lady Barbara Bush is expected to deliver a box of toys and books to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital today before visiting some patients and speaking at the dedication of St. Jude's new addition. Gov. Ned McWherter and the widow and children of St. Jude founder Danny Thomas are also scheduled to be on hand for the formal opening of the Thomas Family Research Tower. The five-story, $34 million facility is part of a five-year St. Jude expansion program scheduled for completion in 1994. About 1,000 patients, families, hospital employees and invited guests are expected to attend the 45-minute dedication, said Jerry Chipman, a St. Jude spokesman. 50 years ago: 1966 CHICAGO At least seven persons were shot, a newsman beaten and a police officer hit in the head with a brick Monday night in a new outburst of violence only half an hour after clergymen begged for peace in a strife-torn predominantly Puerto Rican neighborhood. One of the shooting victims was reported in serious condition at Chicago's Norwegian American Hospital. Molotov cocktails hurtled toward police cars from amid taunting sidewalk crowds. Bricks, bottles and missiles of all description showered down on darkened streets. Plate glass windows of stores were shattered and new looting was reported less than 18 hours after it was brought under control. The violence began suddenly Monday night after a "peace rally" in a neighborhood park in which community leaders pleaded for peace. 75 years ago: 1941 Taking the oath as members of the Tennessee State Guard, nearly 150 Memphis men were sworn into the new home defense service at Central High School last night. Col. J.W. Bodley administered the oath. 100 years ago: 1916 WEST POINT, N.Y. President Wilson, making his first address since the presidential campaign began, today discussed preparedness, militarism, Americanism, the causes of war in Europe, peace, the Monroe Doctrine, divided allegiance, and the ideals of America. 125 years ago: 1891 In the course of a trial before Squire Powell yesterday afternoon the discussion became so warm at one period that the lawyers for the defense were induced to fly from the courtroom, and they did not return to inquire how the squire decided the case. SHARE By Clay Bailey of The Commercial Appeal Reporter Jane Roberts endured a longer-than-usual Germantown meeting Monday night, highlighted by the public hearing on the city budget. The minimal public outcry dealt with a trio of citizens balking about the current $215,000 salary of longtime City Administrator Patrick Lawton (below). Or the difficulty they claim they have endured accessing the information. Let me start by making one thing very, very clear by my belief and perception, public records should be just that public. The state legislature doesnt quite share my interpretation, adding some exceptions to what seemed like a perfectly good law if it opened all government records. Police departments occasionally disagree with my desire for records. Then we get to play our little game of yes, that information is public; no, it isnt. And, Ive always said the Open Records Law is not exclusively for the media, but for all citizens. Now that the premises are established, I find the efforts of Germantown residents Sarah Wilkerson-Freeman, her husband, Herschel, and former Wonders Series of Memphis Chairman Jon Thompson (below) quite interesting. The group has been vocal in claiming the suburb is dragging its feet on requested records, primarily a breakdown of Lawtons salary. In a June 5 Letter to the Editor, Thompson railed against Lawtons earnings package, saying he (Thompson) had been billed by Germantown several thousand dollars for this salary information under the Freedom of Information Act. Im going to say that is an exaggeration or at least not the whole truth about the billing. My guess is that "cost" is for all of the documents requested by Thompson and/or the group. Through the years, we have periodically posted the salaries of city officials across the county. We are in an off-year because of some website changes, but we are hoping to post them again soon. I have suggested we wait until after July 1 when new pay raises for government officials take effect with the fiscal year. That way the information is accurate and up-to-date. But, let me say this in all the years Ive requested the salary information for suburban public employees (and some were unhappy about the publication of their salaries), Ive never run into much, if any, resistance from the suburbs. I have Bartlett documents from several years in my files. In other cases, the call would go to Germantown and Collierville, the request made and the documents arrived. Usually, the biggest question was exactly what information I was requesting outside of the salary (hire date? police rank? etc.). Theres probably still a couple of copies of Open Records requests onfile in Germantown, where I filled in the spot for RECORDS REQUESTED with any damn thing I want. I would tell them to just keep that in the file, and if they required an official document for one of my requests, just pull that form out of the drawer, read it, and provide the information. So, I have a hard time believing the claim of Thompson spending several thousand dollars for Lawtons salary information. That number became $2,000 when Thompson spoke at Mondays board meeting. I'm thinking for that amount Thompson, Wilkerson-Freeman et al are probably seeking more information than simply Lawtons base salary. Back in April, Roberts reported Freeman-Wilkerson requested two years of Lawton emails including attachments. That covered about 36,000 emails. At that point, she had paid $1,000 for early files and $400 for copies of specific emails One issue here seems to be the citys desire/requirement to redact personal information. (Ive certainly let police departments know I hate their Sharpie strokes on offense and arrest reports). That redact-ification seems to be putting a financial cost on the city. In Monday nights public session, Roberts reported that from February to June, the city paid more than $60,000 to its law firm -- Burch, Porter and Johnson -- to redact the names of private citizens and other private information mentioned in documents included in the open records request. The city probably can show the billing for that amount, but it also could have a tinge of Thompsons several thousand dollars stretch on the amount he spent for Lawtons salary. Still, based on what Lawtons opponents say they have paid for their request and citys claim on the cost, there's a wide cost difference. A cost borne by the rest of the Germantown taxpayers. By the way, the proposed budget includes a 25 percent increase in that line item to address public records requests. Finally, if anyone wants to know what Lawton earned last year, below is his W-2 from 2015. The form shows $196,116.73 in wages, tips and (compensation). Hopefully, I just saved everyone city and citizens some cost in searching for that information. SHARE By Jane Roberts of The Commercial Appeal Three citizens spoke against the Germantown city budget in a public hearing late Monday, saying the condensed budget does not delineate City Administrator Patrick Lawton's salary. The citizens took the Board of Mayor and Aldermen to task for not following the city charter, which says the administrator's salary increases are to be approved in a public vote. The $134 million budget with amendments passed on second reading 4-1, with Alderman John Barzizza voting against. "As a board, we are supposed to vote on your increases," he told Lawton, sitting two chairs away from him on the dais. "I've been with the city almost 30 years," Lawton said, noting that his salary has always been included in the overall budget approval. "That has been the practice," Lawton said, noting that in the budget overview he had provided earlier in the night, Lawton said his salary was $215,000 as of Jan. 1, and would carry forward in the new budget. Residents Sarah Wilkerson-Freeman, her husband, Herschel, and Jon Thompson spoke against the budget and the process, claiming Lawton is part of a culture of subterfuge in the city that keeps even the aldermen from knowing what is going on. Thompson said he has spent $2,000 of his own money in open records requests to find out what Lawton and other city employees make, adding that he recently was told by city staff that it would be June 30 before the documentation could be provided. "Today, since I have no other option, I requested it through my attorney," said Thompson, former head of the Wonders Series in Memphis and longtime Memphis International Airport Authority member. In his years of public service, Thompson said, he had never served on a board where the chairman and all members did not know what the president and the senior managers made. Alderman Rocky Janda asked city attorney Dave Harris for his opinion on whether the city charter requires specific approval of the city administrator's salary. In researching it, Harris said, city practice for 28 years has been to approve the administrator's salary with the overall budget. "I don't think there is any question about being able to disseminate the details," he said, noting the will of the charter has been followed. He also said he could see no reason why public information on salaries would not be readily available to anyone who asked. "If you need information, go ask for it, in the right places," he said. While Barzizza said he respected the attorney's opinion, "it is my opinion if something is in place like the charter, it should be adhered to even though 28 years have passed ... that does not make it right." Alderman Dave Klevan said he was aware of Lawton's pay, plus benefits and every raise he's received. Klevan asked Harris to put his opinion in writing. Beginning in December 2015, Sarah Freeman and Thompson have made several large open records requests, including all of Lawton's emails for two years, copies of his W-2 forms, documents showing insurance premiums and life insurance policies the city has paid for him, the cash value and surrender value of life insurance policies for Lawton and Mayor Mike Palazzolo, plus employment files. From February to June, the city has paid more than $60,000 to Burch, Porter and Johnson to redact the names of private citizens and other private information mentioned in documents included in the open records request. The final hearing on the budget is June 27. Vice President Joe Biden addresses the White House Summit on the United State of Women in Washington, Tuesday, June 14, 2016. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen) SHARE By Kayleigh Skinner of The Commercial Appeal Representatives from the Women's Foundation for a Greater Memphis spent their Tuesday in the nation's capitol brainstorming with peers from around the country on how to improve the lives of women. Staff and board members joined thousands at the United States of Women Summit hosted by the White House Council on Women and Girls. The inaugural two-day event in the District of Columbia focused on gender equality and offered a chance for organizations to share what's working in their respective communities "We're here today to really be in the network of more than 5,000 plus women from across the country who are advocates for equity, ending sexual violence on college campuses, looking at opportunities to empower our women and girls as future entrepreneurs to be a part of the conversation," said Cassandra Webster, WFGM board trustee. The discussions will help "to ensure that Memphis is recognized as a leader on the forefront of how we're going to empower women and girls," she said. Webster, executive director Ruby Bright, deputy director Shante Avant and board co-chair Beverly Cross each participated in a series of panels and talks with fellow organizations. Featured speakers included President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey and others. The summit schedule was filled with "solution seminars" on topics ranging from education, civic engagement, violence against women, health and entrepreneurship. "I am trying not to pass out in public because it's really powerful to be here with 5,000 mostly other women and hear from our national government about their commitment to this ... equity for women." Cross said shortly after a speech from Vice President Joe Biden. "We're going to learn from our sister states and want to share some of our great best practices of the work we're doing on the front lines," Webster said. WFGM was invited to the summit because of its work to improve economic opportunity in Memphis. In May, the foundation announced it a $1 million grant to 22 partner organizations as an investment in the South City community to improve quality of life in 38126, "the poorest ZIP code in Memphis," Avant said. WFGM is one of 28 public women's foundations that make up Prosperity Together, a nonpartisan coalition which announced a $100 million commitment in November focused on improving the economic security of low-income women and their families. SHARE Deborah Fisher By Deborah Fisher, Special to Viewpoint Just how transparent is the state of Tennessee with its economic development programs? In the eyes of Tennesseans, not very. A new poll by icitizen and The Beacon Center of Tennessee measured opinions about the state's economic development activities. The Beacon Center favors stemming "corporate handouts" to specific companies in favor of lowering business taxes for everyone. While the poll results show mixed opinions about favoring select companies with incentives, what's indisputable is that Tennesseans largely think the state is not transparent about them. A whopping 72 percent agreed with the statement: "State government is not transparent with the incentives it provides to corporations." That's not a number to ignore. Occasionally, we see lawmakers question the amount of secrecy involved in giving taxpayer money to companies. In a Senate Finance Committee meeting in March, for example, lawmakers were asked to approve a $30 million earmark for a company without knowing who it was, where it was or what the company would be doing. State Sen. Bill Ketron, R-Murfreesboro, pushed back, noting past projects that fell flat. He said he was uncomfortable voting on the basis of state officials saying, "Trust me, it's going to be good." Still, lawmakers approved the money. However, that's only one part of the transparency puzzle. The other, more important, part is the ability of citizens and lawmakers to measure and understand the effectiveness of programs. To its credit, the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development has a website called, Open ECD. On this website, you can look at lists of companies that have received grants and the amounts. But the website, however well-intended, is woefully short of any information that allows people to understand how well the programs work. For example, the PDFs of company reports on jobs do not have information about the grant amount, nor how many jobs were supposed to be created. The state has touted that it writes "clawback" provisions into contracts. But there is no information on the clawback provisions for each company's grant, and no information about when or if the state has ever even used a clawback. While some information about grants is publicly available, information about tax credits is not. Because of rules protecting taxpayer information, the state Revenue Department that handles the credits cannot or will not reveal the value of the various credits used each year by businesses in Tennessee. The executive director of the Fiscal Review Committee reported a key problem with this secrecy in a report in December: Lawmakers who propose legislation for new tax credits rely on committee staff to calculate estimates on how much the credits will cost in tax revenue. But the Fiscal Review Committee has no way to check whether its estimates are on target because the state revenue department will not give them any information about the use of the credits. Meanwhile, Tennessee has not been eager to require companies to provide information related to job creation in exchange for giving them money. The last legislation, passed in 2014, required recipients of FastTrack grants or loans to report annually to the Department of Economic and Community Development the number of net new jobs produced. But requirements that companies disclose whether the jobs are full time, part time or temporary, and by wage group, was stripped from the final bill. Nearly 70 percent in the icitizen/Beacon poll did not think government should give corporate handouts to select businesses. But 59 percent favored the statement "It makes more sense for Tennessee to give more money to certain companies that show greater potential for job creation and growth." If it's a little murky about what Tennesseans think, you might excuse them for the scarcity of information about the state's programs to begin with. Deborah Fisher is executive director of Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, a nonprofit that promotes government transparency. SHARE By Cal Thomas Credit President Obama for finally using the words he has desperately tried to avoid during his presidency. He correctly called the mass shooting in an Orlando gay nightclub Sunday morning, which killed 49 and injured 53, "an act of terror." It was, writes The New York Times, the "deadliest attack on a gay target in the nation's history." Discredit to the president for avoiding linking the attack to ISIS and Islamic terrorism, even though the shooter, Omar Mateen, reportedly called 911 during the rampage and "pledged loyalty to the Islamic State." Jihadists everywhere quickly celebrated the carnage on the internet and, reports israelnationalnews.com, "...the al-Amaq agency -- which functions as ISIS's propaganda and media wing -- claimed that 'the attack ... was carried out by an Islamic State fighter.'" The president used the tragedy to make another pitch for stronger gun laws. Does he believe that someone who claims to be on a mission from Allah would not be able to obtain guns and explosives illegally? Mateen had been on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's radar in 2013 and 2014, but reports The Daily Beast, the FBI "subsequently closed the case when it produced nothing that appeared to warrant further investigation." NBC News learned that Mateen traveled twice to Saudi Arabia in 2011 and 2012 "to perform a pilgrimage to Mecca," according to a spokesman for Saudi Arabia's Ministry of the Interior. Once again, we are reactive rather than proactive. The pattern following these terrorist attacks is now familiar. First comes extreme caution in which we say very little and refuse even to speculate about what seems obvious, followed, after the fact, as in the Fort Hood shooting, which was dubbed "workplace violence," by an attempt to quickly change the subject. Next comes the obligatory news conference in which a quickly produced imam or "expert," speaking for the Muslim community, is trotted out to say that the latest incident has nothing to do with Islam, which is a peaceful religion, and that we should all embrace unity. Omar Mateen's father, Seddique Mateen, initially claimed there was no religious motivation behind the killings, but The Washington Post reported the father "is an Afghan man who holds strong political views, including support for the Afghan Taliban." Muhammad Musri joined law enforcement officers at the news conference in Orlando. He is connected to the Islamic Society of Central Florida, which is connected to the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), an Islamic umbrella organization that some believe has ties to terrorist groups. Muhammad Musri's mosque was even used for a fundraiser that collected $55,000 for Hamas. There is also a 2011 video of Musri in which he blames the United States for Sept. 11. People like Omar Mateen are not so much "lone wolves" as "known wolves." But before law enforcement can legally act, it's often too late. In wartime, certain liberties have been suspended in order to protect the country. This may be one of those times. Or should we wait until our enemies obtain a weapon of mass destruction? Congress should declare war on all terrorist groups. Websites that promote ideologies that encourage terrorist acts should be shut down. No more mosques should be built in the U.S. until we gain an upper hand against radical Islamists. It does no good to say most Muslims are peaceful if you have no mechanism in place to act against or even identify those who are not. On "American Idol," Randy Jackson would often say of a contestant that he or she was "in it to win it." We don't appear to be in it, but our enemies are. Contact Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com. SHARE By Jennifer Rubin Stealing a jump on Donald Trump (whose campaign team has never gotten up to speed) and obliterating one of Trump's talking points, Hillary Clinton gave a tough-minded foreign policy speech and she specifically identified "radical jihadism or radical Islamism" as the ideological basis for terrorism. She also vowed to put identification of lone wolves at the top of her anti-terrorism to-do list. Speaking in the swing state of Ohio, she declared this a politics-free day, but of course it was all about politics as she seized the opportunity to demonstrate her own maturity and Trump's unfitness to be commander-in-chief. Before she began, Trump had gone a long way toward confirming the latter. With his own conspiratorial-minded lone-ness in full view, Trump suggested President Barack Obama was perhaps Muslim or otherwise sympathetic to Islamist terrorists. It's the kind of fodder to get his birther base revved up but in a general election context reminds voters how grossly incapable he would be of performing his duties as president. He ominously suggested Monday morning on NBC, "There are a lot of people that think maybe he doesn't want to get it ... (who) think maybe he doesn't want to know about it I happen to think he just doesn't know what he's doing but there are many people who think he doesn't want to get it. He doesn't want to see what's really happening." On Fox News, he was even more inflammatory, "We're led by a man that either is not tough, not smart, or he's got something else in mind." This is vile stuff, unhelpful and indicative of a floundering narcissist in way over his head. It's not clear whether this will rekindle concerns among Republicans as to his fitness to be their nominee. It should. As with his attack on Judge Gonzalo Curiel, Trump reveals he is incapable of conducting himself with any semblance of propriety. By contrast, speaking about the Orlando mass murderer, Clinton asserted that the "virus that poisoned his mind remains very much alive" and talked bluntly about "jihadists," calling for stepped-up efforts to stop the flow of fighters back and forth to the United States and an "intelligence surge." (It is not clear if she would undo recent restrictions imposed on the NSA). She added in calls to stop the money flow to terrorists (would she include keeping Iran, the largest state sponsor of terror, out of dollar-backed transactions?). She of course threw in a call for limiting high-powered weapons. And to the LGBT community, she declared, "You have millions of allies who will always have your back. I am one of them." Most startling was her praise for the way former President George W. Bush handled the aftermath of 9/11, refusing to paint all Muslims (as Trump now does) with a broad brush. Trump of course had bizarrely blamed Bush for 9/11. It may well be that the Bush 43 vote goes to Clinton this election. Republicans smirked when she asserted that anyone under FBI questioning shouldn't be allowed access to a gun. But aside from her own predicament, the dilemma of what to do about those who have spoken but not acted on jihadist ideology, traveled back and forth to hotbeds of religious extremism and come in contact with other radicalized Muslims -- all of which the Orlando, Florida, killer did -- remains. With First and Second Amendment rights at issue, when should those with vague indications of radicalization be monitored? How do we prevent them from stepping over the line from protected speech to action? There are no easy answers. Clinton can be faulted for going too long before bursting Trump's "she never says 'Islamic terrorism'" bubble, but now that she has said it and come across as sane and relatively focused on the real problem (getting peaceful Muslims domestically and in Muslim countries to help in the war against the Islamic State), the focus should turn back to Trump. What he is proposing is not only unhelpful (inflaming all Muslims) and naive (if only nightclub attendees had weapons) but counterproductive and dangerous. Jennifer Rubin writes the Right Turn blog for the Washington Post. Nokia hopes it will have a hit on its hands with Impact, an all-encompassing new Internet-of-Things management platform that brings together several existing products. The Intelligent Management Platform for All Connected Things builds on the company's established CPE (customer premises equipment) management tool for network operators, Motive Connected Device Platform, so broadband and home routers will be among the first devices to feel its impact. It already supports 80,000 different device types, Nokia said Tuesday. No doubt its new Smart Home Gateway, also unveiled Tuesday, will soon be among them. It combines a fiber "modem" with a router, dual-band gigabit Wi-Fi -- and Zigbee and Z-Wave radios for home automation. It's intended to be distributed by network operators. But Nokia's ambitions for the Impact platform -- as its name suggests -- are much grander. Nokia hopes that enterprises and governments will also use it to securely manage all aspects of IoT services, handling everything from data collection to data analytics, taking in event processing and device management along the way. The platform is designed to run in the cloud, where it can be sold as a managed service, but customers can also deploy it on their own infrastructure. It seems improbable, with all the marketing effort going into the Internet of Things these days, that a straightforward name like Intelligent Management Platform for All Connected Things and its hard-hitting abbreviation, Impact, were still free for the taking. They weren't. In fact, Canadian company Mformation Software Technologies struck first, making its own Impact in January 2015. Eight months later, Franco-American network equipment vendor Alcatel-Lucent bought Mformation. And who was in the middle of acquiring Alcatel-Lucent just then? Nokia. Nokia's Impact has inherited some of the characteristics of Mformation's earlier project, including its use of the LWM2M (Lightweight machine-to-machine) security model for IoT device management. Secure management tools are important, Nokia noted, because you can't trust data from an unmanaged source. Once an integrated networks-and-terminals business, Nokia sold its declining mobile phone activities to Microsoft in 2014. Now it is reinventing itself as a full-stack IoT vendor, selling everything from network infrastructure to devices and sensors. In addition to its 3G and LTE networks for mobile operators, it is also building IoT-specific, narrow-band and low-power radio networks. At the other end of the stack, meanwhile, it recently acquired Withings, a French maker of health and home automation sensors. In between, it has a range of applications for industry verticals including automotive, healthcare and utilities and now, connecting all those together, it has Impact. Google isn't kidding when it says it's serious about the enterprise. The company announced a pair of new services on Monday that are aimed squarely at helping businesses access information and share it internally, similar to what Microsoft's SharePoint product offers. A new Springboard app gives employees at companies subscribed to Google Apps for Work a unified search box for finding just about anything, including files in Google Drive, emails in Gmail and contacts. The company also unveiled the beta version of a revamped Google Sites, which is aimed at letting less sophisticated users inside a business build websites that can be used to share information internally. The new Sites gives users templates and an easy to use editor. The editor is supposed to help create good-looking sites for communicating things like what a particular team is up to at a company with far-flung offices. These two products seem like competitors to enterprise collaboration software like Microsoft SharePoint, which serves as both a repository for data and as the hosting platform for websites that can be used to communicate internally at a company. In addition to searching for information, Springboard will also display files and contacts for users based on machine learning algorithms that are informed by what calendar events users have on their schedule and a variety of other signals. Users can now see that on the Web and in an Android app. In the future, Google will also have an iOS app available for Springboard. Springboard is an extension of Google's other enterprise search efforts, including search features inside the individual products that Springboard pulls from. What makes the new service so interesting is that it's a one-stop shop for users to try and find what they're looking for. Ryan Tabone, a director of product management at Google, said in an interview that at this point, Springboard only connects to Google services, but that the company is evaluating what services it will connect to in the future, including potentially connecting to data stored on premises. Google Users work together on a Google Site using the new editor announced on January 13, 2016. The new Sites is all about letting people share information with one another. Google has made it easier for people to move around page elements like text boxes and images, and tweak the look and feel of pages through the use of themes. It's a far cry from the previous iteration of the product, which was aimed more at people who were comfortable editing HTML and JavaScript. Like Google Docs, users can invite other people to work together on a Site at the same time. The software will show a marker where each person is working, along with live-updating changes as they tweak a page. Google has been trying to get Office customers to switch to its Apps for Work suite, so it makes sense that the company would invest in trying to build something that competes at least in part with SharePoint. It's still early days for both products, which are just entering beta, so it seems unlikely that either is in a position to kill the far more mature SharePoint. Google Apps for Work administrators can sign up for a private beta for each of the two different services starting Monday. Tabone said that Google is going to start slow when inviting organizations to test out the services. As the company gathers feedback from existing testers, it will expand the program further and further, making changes as it goes. Microsoft yesterday announced it would buy the business social network LinkedIn for a company acquisition record of $26.2 billion, a purchase triggered by Microsoft's appetite for algorithms, an analyst argued. "There are two components to LinkedIn that Microsoft wanted," said Jenny Sussin, a Gartner research director, in an interview. "One is the data component, the other is the algorithm component." An algorithm is a set of operations that tells a computer what calculations to run on what data, then how to process that data to generate a result. Algorithms are the "secret sauce" of many technology firms, the fiercely-guarded crown jewels on which a company's fortunes rest. Google's page-ranking algorithms, for example, are as secret as the recipe for Coca-Cola, and just as critical to Google's ability to generate relevant search results as the sugar water formula is to Coke's bottom line. The complex algorithms LinkedIn uses to, well, link people in networks, as well as to provide pertinent content for each individual, were, to Microsoft, the most valuable half of the deal, Sussin said. "There were two algorithms [Microsoft] wanted," she asserted. "No. 1 was the algorithm that creates the connection graph, the social networking graph. No. 2 was the algorithm that determines the information most valuable and most actionable to you." If Microsoft can integrate those technologies into its existing products -- Yammer, for one, a $1.2 billion acquisition, and its Office 365 suite as well -- and thus transfer LinkedIn's now-public relevance to companies' internal networks, it could justify the new investment. "If your company can help surface the information most important to your job, that could increase productivity," said Sussin. She didn't discount the value of the data LinkedIn has collected on its 430 million users. "Customer and employee records [maintained by a company] are largely seen as having dated information which is no longer useful for organizations' ability to maintain customer, employee or prospect relationships," Sussin said in an email reply to follow-up questions. "LinkedIn data has thusly become incredibly valuable to many business-to-business sales and HR organizations today." More importantly, that data wasn't for sale: LinkedIn, not surprisingly, held it very close. "That's the reason why this is such an interesting data play," Sussin said. "LinkedIn refused access. Google, for example, couldn't have access to it [for ad sales]." Owning LinkedIn, however, lets Microsoft offer that data set to customers running Dynamics, its customer relationship management (CRM) software, or target in-product advertising. And by combining what it knows about its customers with what LinkedIn knows about its users, Microsoft could spin out new products or services, like the "economic graph" that LinkedIn has worked on, and talked about, for years. Yesterday, during a call with reporters and analysts, LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner -- who will remain in charge of the company after the deal closes -- described the economic graph as a " profile ... for every one of the three billion members of the global workforce," along with profiles of every company, and representations of the jobs each hoped to fill. With that in place, and Microsoft's data on its 1.2 billion Office users, Microsoft could tout a service that shows companies what positions would be of most value to the firm, what skills are needed and who has those skills. Such a service, Sussin said, would be ideal for seeding startups with the right mix of employees. One reason why Sussin ranked LinkedIn's data behind its algorithms was because she saw pitfalls if Microsoft misused that data or commingled it improperly with its own. "If LinkedIn users feel that their data is being misused, if it pops up within Office, for example, they may stop contributing to the [LinkedIn] network," Sussin said. That would add to a problem LinkedIn already faces -- only about a quarter of the social network's user base visits the site monthly -- decimate LinkedIn, and quickly lower its value to Microsoft. "I'm concerned that the misuse of LinkedIn customer data by a large provider like Microsoft will actually be detrimental to LinkedIn's ability to stand up as a consumer-driven network," said Sussin. "Microsoft has to be so careful on how it uses the LinkedIn data, or [the value] could just self-explode." In fact, when asked how she would advise Microsoft if asked, Sussin immediately suggested starting with the algorithms, not by diving into the data mine. "I think they could more heavily leverage the algorithms than the data" without much risk, she said. On Monday, Microsoft said it would shoot for closing the LinkedIn deal by the end of this year. It will require regulatory approval in the U.S., the European Union and Canada before the transaction is wrapped up. Russian hackers managed to breach the computer network of the Democratic National Committee and stole opposition research on Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. The hackers had access to email and chat traffic as far back as last summer, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday. No financial data was stolen, however, suggesting that espionage was the motive. The hackers belong to two separate groups that have been linked to the Russian government, according to security firm Crowdstrike, which was hired to mitigate the data breach. Codenamed "Cozy Bear" and "Fancy Bear," the two groups are both notorious for hacking governments across the world, Crowdstrike said in a blog post. Cozy Bear, for instance, infiltrated networks used by the White House and U.S. State Department last year. It was the first group to breach the DNC network last summer, while Fancy Bear conducted its own attack in April. "They were looking for information on policy, political campaigns and strategies, foreign policy plans, etc.," Crowdstrike added in an email. It isnt clear how the hacking groups managed to breach the DNC network. But both groups have used sophisticated phishing attacks to target their past victims, Crowdstrike said. Both groups were also persistently working to clear their tracks and avoid detection from the DNC, but the hacking was stopped over this past weekend. The groups didn't appear to be working together. The DNC, the coordinating body of the U.S. Democratic Party, confirmed the breach on Tuesday. When we discovered the intrusion, we treated this like the serious incident it is and reached out to CrowdStrike immediately," Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Florida Democrat and the DNC chairwoman, said by email. "Our team moved as quickly as possible to kick out the intruders and secure our network." In May, U.S. intelligence chief James Clapper warned that cyber hackers were targeting presidential candidates for reasons including espionage. The attacks could intensify, he said. Cozy Bear and Fancy Bear are among the best hacking groups in the world, according to Crowdstrike. In addition to the U.S., the groups have targeted victims in Europe, China, Japan and attacked a variety of sectors including defense, aerospace, and energy. "Their tradecraft is superb, operational security second to none," Crowdstrike said. Rejecting challenges by ISPs and broadband trade groups, an appeals court has upheld the U.S. Federal Communications Commission's controversial net neutrality rules, passed in 2015. The legal wrangling will likely continue for years, however, and may go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Meanwhile, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, in an opinion issued Tuesday, ruled that the FCC had the authority to reclassify broadband as a common-carrier telecom service to provide a foundation for net neutrality rules that prohibit broadband providers from selectively blocking or slowing Internet traffic. Past court rulings have given agencies the authority to change their minds, like the FCC did when it re-regulated broadband, Judges David Tatel and Sri Srinivasan wrote in an 184-page opinion. Tatel and Srinivasan roundly rejected several arguments from ISPs and broadband trade groups that suggest the FCC didn't have the authority to reclassify broadband and that it didn't follow proper procedure. The Supreme Court, in a 2005 decision called Brand X, decided that the "proper classification of broadband" is determined by the agency's interpretations of "how Internet technology works and how it is provided," the two judges noted. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler cheered the court's decision. "Todays ruling is a victory for consumers and innovators who deserve unfettered access to the entire web, and it ensures the internet remains a platform for unparalleled innovation, free expression, and economic growth," he said in a press release. "After a decade of debate and legal battles, todays ruling affirms the Commissions ability to enforce the strongest possible internet protections -- both on fixed and mobile networks -- that will ensure the internet remains open, now and in the future." The appeals court decision is probably not be the end of the decade-long net neutrality debate at the FCC and in Congress. Republicans in Congress have unsuccessfully attempted to kill the rules several times and are likely to try again. The group of broadband carriers and trade groups that filed lawsuits against the FCC are certain to take further legal action. The appeals court ruling "merely begins the next stage in this decade-long melodrama," said Berin Szoka, president of free market think tank TechFreedom, which joined the lawsuit against the rules. TechFreedom and other groups will ask the full appeals court to reject the ruling of the three-judge panel, and they will "press on to the Supreme Court if necessary," Szoka said by email. That process could take years, he added. "In the meantime, the FCC now has a blank check to regulate the Internet however it sees fit," he said. "The only way to end this madness is a legislative solution that gives the FCC clear but narrow authority over the core of its rules -- but stops the FCCs other power grabs." Wheeler had originally proposed net neutrality rules without reclassifying broadband as a regulated telecom service, but in the last months of the FCC's net neutrality proceeding, he called for reclassification. Many critics objected, saying Wheeler was unduly influenced by President Barack Obama's support of reclassification. The FCC, in a 3-2, party-line decision, voted in February 2015 to pass the new net neutrality rules barring broadband providers from selectively blocking or slowing Web traffic. The commission, in an effort to give the rules a solid legal foundation, also voted to reclassify broadband from a lightly regulated information service to a more heavily regulated telecommunications service. In the following months, more than a dozen groups filed lawsuits challenging the reclassification of broadband. Among the plaintiffs are broadband providers AT&T and CenturyLink and trade groups CTIA, USTelecom, and the National Cable and Telecommunications Association. Since the FCC passed the regulations, often called the open Internet rules, consumers and groups have filed more than 18,000 complaints against broadband providers. Judge Stephen Williams concurred with part of the appeal court majority's opinion and dissented from other parts. "To the extent that the Commission justified the switch on the basis of new policy perceptions, its explanation of the policy is watery thin and self-contradictory," Williams wrote. Nick Timothy is Director of the New Schools Network and a former Chief of Staff to Theresa May. Thats enough, I thought to myself, Im leaving the country. Not like one of those annoying celebrities who threaten to emigrate if a particular party is elected, I should add. I am only going on holiday, but I cant wait to escape this bloody referendum campaign. The decision facing the country is of the utmost significance, and I have strongly held views about Europe. I have already voted to leave the EU, I think we should withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights, and I am not altogether comfortable with our participation in the Ryder Cup team. So why does this campaign leave me feeling so frustrated, disappointed and worried about the future? The short answer is that the referendum campaign is bringing to the surface everything that is wrong about our politics. We should be debating rival visions for Britains future, the risks involved whether we leave or remain, and what we think Britains role in the world needs to be. But that is not what this campaign is about at all. The exaggerated scare stories about the costs of withdrawing are well documented, as are the criticisms of some of the claims made by those campaigning to leave. Issues that are important to voters and therefore appear salient in opinion polls and focus groups like the future of the NHS are shoehorned into EU-related stories by both sides. Hackneyed devices such as coordinated letters from business leaders or celebrities are sent to the newspapers. Process stories about gaffes are leapt on by each campaign team. And the rhetoric used by advocates of both leaving and remaining becomes more and more violent, frequently in response to the last attack by the other side, but often because a new, aggressive turn of phrase is what will win front page newspaper coverage or lead the broadcast bulletins. The people on both sides of this campaign are intelligent, thoughtful, sincere and passionate about what they believe in. So why are they fighting these miserable proxy wars, rather than arguing about the substance of this referendum? Why are they not arguing, in serious terms, about the effect of EU membership on our democracy, our security and our prosperity? After all, they almost certainly argue in this serious way when they talk among themselves or discuss Europe at dinner parties with their friends and acquaintances. The reason they dont show the electorate the same respect is that almost our entire leadership class feel trapped by the Political Rules of Engagement. These rules dictate that you cannot accept that the opposite team has in any way something like a reasonable point, or you will be quoted selectively for the rest of the campaign or even the rest of your career and your words used against you. That is why the Remain campaign claims leaving will reduce our economy to a pile of smouldering rubble, and it is why the Leave campaign does not accept that there is any benefit at all, for example, in the EUs extradition arrangements, or data-sharing agreements to prevent crime and terrorism. The rules dictate that presenting total certainty about your proposition is vital, even if the basis for that certainty is clearly flawed. So the Remain campaign presents its offering as the maintenance of the status quo, even though we all know that further EU integration is on the table, and there are plans in place to allow new member states to join the EU, all of whom are likely to be granted full free movement rights. On the other side, the Leave campaign took the strategic decision to state that its post-referendum policy (even though as a cross-party campaign organisation it has no post-referendum role) would be to not seek access to the EU Single Market. This decision was taken, presumably, because if they had said they seek access to the single market, they would have had to concede that, in return, Britain might still need to abide by single market rules, make payments to the EU, or continue to grant free movement to EU nationals. Better to have a clear dividing line on immigration the Leave campaigns most important subject than reassurance about the economy. This is despite the fact that, if the country votes to leave, it would almost certainly be the British Governments policy to seek access to the Single Market, regardless of which party or prime minister was in power. The Political Rules of Engagement also dictate that changing what is on peoples minds is easier than changing what they think about a particular policy so, in the words of a US political consultant, if you cant change their minds, change the subject. This is why, in order to keep immigration off the front pages and their favoured issues on them, the Remain campaign has produced such a long, varied and often contradictory series of claims about the economic effects of British withdrawal. It is why the Leave campaign have been determinedly running stories of dubious quality or veracity about Britains borders even though the details of those stories often have little or nothing to do with the European Union. The next key rule is that everything must be reduced to a binary choice, which means there can be no room for the consideration of any other matter. So the Remain campaign feel they have to claim that the entire basis for Britains national security is our membership of the EU ignoring small matters such as our nuclear deterrent and our membership of NATO and the Five Eyes intelligence partnership. For their part, while the Leave campaign has complained about the difficulties in preventing the deportation of foreign terrorists, it calls the European Convention on Human Rights a fine thing , even though it was the ECHR and not the EU that was to blame for the most controversial deportation cases such as Abu Qatada and Abu Hamza. Ultimately, the rules dictate that the truth or accuracy of what you say doesnt matter. Even if you have told a whopper, it doesnt matter so long as everybody is talking about it. In fact, the rules say that the more your opponents try to dispute the accuracy of your claims, the happier you should be because theyre drawing attention to your issue of choice. That is why the Remain campaign is predicting a recession, a fall in house prices and a collapse in the value of pensions (all of which sound quite dramatic but are in fact surprisingly small given that they also tell us that Brexit could spark World War Three). It is also why the Leave campaign has stuck resolutely to its claim that EU membership costs Britain 350 million per week, when that is our gross payment, not the net sum, and it excludes the British rebate. These methods may lead campaigners to believe they will win their tactical battles, but it comes at a heavy price for trust in politics. I do not mean to sound weak or lily-livered about the rough and tumble of political campaigning. I have worked on and run enough campaigns to know that they should offer a tough and relentless examination of the propositions made by the rival sides. But the reality of the way this campaign is being fought and how our politics are becoming in general is corrosive to the quality of our democracy and trust in government. And it is patently very damaging to the Conservative Party. It is of course too late now to drain the poison from this campaign, but when the referendum is over whatever the result we are going to need to do something to change these Political Rules of Engagement. We need only look across the Atlantic to the United States where the political culture is even more cynical and the rules even more firmly entrenched to see where we risk heading. Ive already voted to leave in this referendum, but if I could vote against not just the EU but against political business as usual, I would do so in an instant. Little more than five years ago, Labour won 41 Commons seats in Scotland to the SNPs mere six. It remained the dominant party north of the border, as it had been for most of the post-war period. But those MPs were Potemkin Parliamentarians: a display behind which laynothing. No constituency presence to speak of. No members on the ground to form a constituency presence with. Why bother with members in rotten boroughs? Indeed, why bother doing much work in the Commons? Labour would win in these constituencies because Labour always did. Then came May last year. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. The parallel between Labour in its Scottish heartlands and Labour in its English ones is not exact. The writing was on the wall for Labour in Scotland. It has a devolved parliament. England does not. The SNP had won a Holyrood majority in 2011. There is no English Parliament and no English SNP: UKIP doesnt hold a majority on a single local council. But this EU referendum is exposing a chasm between Labour and its English voters outside inner London, anyway that threatens to send its MPs one way and its voters the other. Polly Toynbee in the Guardian, campaigning for Remain, gives you the flavour: We had sheets of Labour-supporting names to call in Nottinghamshire and the results were grim. Out, Out and Out in call after call, only a couple for remain. Here, she writes, were the two irreconcilable faces of Labour, eager young London graduates on the phone making scant headway with older traditional voters of Nottingham. And what has brought this parting of electoral allies about? Toynbee doesnt funk the answer: immigration. Despite todays encouraging polls for Leave, Remain must still be favourites to win. But Brexiteers will be optiministic in one respect at least. Labour has no answer on immigration that will satisfy its natural core vote. The messenger may be Gordon Brown, lumbering from his lair to try to save Britains EU membership. It may be Alan Johnson, a ghostly reminder of the one-time electoral sway of the man Brown deposed, Tony Blair. Or it may be Jeremy Corbyn, the partys leader, hauled out of his bunker to the same end. But none has a message that these voters are willing to listen to. Blairite and Trot, Brownite and Stalinist all flung open the immigration door when in office, and most still say it should be held open now. There are exceptions: mostly Labour MPs who realise that the partys heartland seats are at risk. Andy Burnham is one. There is also a distinguished gentleman who has already lost his. Ed Balls urges readers in todays Daily Mirror to back Remain. But his article merely screws tighter the vice in which Labour is already trapped. We need to press Europe to restore proper borders, and put new controls on economic migration, he writes. But this is not on offer, as he knows perfectly well. Free movement is an EU fundamental. To ask for EU membership plus an end to it is like asking a waterfall to flow upwards. It is a contradiction in terms. No wonder the smarter Labour MPs, such as Tom Watson, have started talking about something else. Namely, that a post-Brexit Boris Johnson-led government would slash public services, cut benefits, and so forth. But there is a deep problem in selling this line in short, that Labour has already exhausted much of this rhetoric onreal-life pro-Remain Prime Minister David Cameron and real-life pro-Remain Chancellor George Osborne. Furthermore, Labours core constituency isnt stupid. It can count. It knows that even if Boris and Michael Gove intended to do anything of the kind which they dont the Parliamentary arithmetic isnt there to sustain it. The Government couldnt get tax credit reform through the Commons. Nor a timetable for academisation. Nor a more liberal Sunday trading regime. Nor pension change. If it lacked a majority for any of these, then so too would a post-Brexit government let alone for wider, deeper change of any kind. Sidelined by Ruth Davidson in Scotland, exposed by the referendum in England, with no answer to a migration problem which it did so much to create, Labour is hoist with its own petard as it seeks to get out a working-class Remain vote that just isnt there. SUBSCRIBE Sign up with your email address to receive news and updates straight in your inbox. We have more newsletters Something went wrong, please try again later. Invalid email Something went wrong, please try again later. Get the best and latest crime stories with our Court Insider newsletter Anti-social behaviour was the most common offence reported in Cornwall during April. That's according to the latest Home Office figures, as presented on the government's police.co.uk website. A total of 2,669 incidents were recorded. Of that total 1,061 were related to anti-social behaviour, with 534 incidents of violence or sexual offences, and 284 incidents of criminal damage and arson. Crime in general was down compared to March, but is likely to rise over the summer. Unsurprisingly, Cornwall's most populous areas recorded the highest number of offences, with Camborne, Redruth, St Austell and Newquay contributing almost half the overall number. This graph shows the general trend over the last 11 months. The winter lull tends to bottom out around January, with crime rising again during the holiday season as the county's population swells. Here's a full breakdown of the numbers for April: CRIME Incidents Anti-social behaviour 1061 Bicycle theft 7 Burglary 136 Criminal damage and arson 284 Drugs 59 Other crime 21 Other theft 246 Possession of weapons 8 Public order 77 Robbery 6 Shoplifting 154 Theft from the person 11 Vehicle crime 65 Violence and sexual offences. 534 TOTAL 2669 We've rounded up all the figures from each of Cornwall's largest towns (populations over 10,000 as of the 2011 census) as well as its only city. Scroll down to find your town in the list. Truro (pop. 23,000): 167 reported crimes. Truro has seen only slight changes in its year-on-year crime figures. Despite it being the centre of commerce for Cornwall, the city saw fewer incidents of shoplifting than both Penzance and St Austell. That said, only St Austell eclipsed it in terms of anti-social behaviour , with criminal damage, and violence and sexual offences close behind. Here are Truro's figures for April in full: CRIME Incidents Anti-social behaviour 82 Bicycle theft 0 Burglary 7 Criminal damage and arson 12 Drugs 4 Other crime 1 Other theft 9 Possession of weapons 0 Public order 8 Robbery 1 Shoplifting 12 Theft from the person 4 Vehicle crime 2 Violence and sexual offences. 25 TOTAL 167 St Austell (pop. 34,700): 202 reported crimes Like the rest of the county, St Austell saw more incidents of anti-social behaviour in April than any other crime. Violence and sexual offences , and criminal damage and arson were the second and third most reported incidents respectively. St Austell also saw more incidents of shoplifting that most other towns in Cornwall, as well as a comparatively high number of thefts. As the graph shows, crime was down in April compared to March - but only slightly. Here are St Austell's figures for April in full: CRIME Incidents Anti-social behaviour 90 Bicycle theft 2 Burglary 13 Criminal damage and arson 20 Drugs 5 Other crime 2 Other theft 15 Possession of weapons 0 Public order 7 Robbery 1 Shoplifting 13 Theft from the person 2 Vehicle crime 3 Violence and sexual offences. 29 TOTAL 202 Falmouth and Penryn (combined pop. 33,000): 190 reported crimes Falmouth and Penryn saw twice as many incidents of anti-social behaviour in April than any other crime. The figures for violence and sexual offences, and criminal damage and arson were roughly the same. Unsurprisingly most of the incidents occurred in Falmouth, which has more than double the population of its neighbour. Crime in both towns was significantly down compared to March, despite a drop in police numbers. Here are the figures in full: CRIME Incidents Anti-social behaviour 66 Bicycle theft 1 Burglary 5 Criminal damage and arson 32 Drugs 3 Other crime 2 Other theft 23 Possession of weapons 0 Public order 2 Robbery 0 Shoplifting 18 Theft from the person 0 Vehicle crime 3 Violence and sexual offences. 35 TOTAL 190 Bodmin (pop. 14,700): 141 reported crimes Bodmin saw a drop in crime between March and April as the town's police continue to crackdown on criminal elements. Anti-social behaviour, violence and sexual offences, and criminal damage and arson made up the bulk of the reported incidents. Bodmin experienced a slight increase in theft over the month compared to other towns. Year on year there's been a slight drop in crime rates, but after a promising dip over the summer figures rose sharply in January, February and March. Here are Bodmin's figures for April in full: CRIME Incidents Anti-social behaviour 47 Bicycle theft 0 Burglary 5 Criminal damage and arson 23 Drugs 1 Other crime 2 Other theft 13 Possession of weapons 0 Public order 3 Robbery 1 Shoplifting 13 Theft from the person 0 Vehicle crime 5 Violence and sexual offences. 28 TOTAL 141 Camborne (pop. 20.010): 167 reported crimes Camborne suffered more burglaries in April than anywhere else in Cornwall, with 15 reported incidents. As with other towns, anti-social behavior, criminal damage and arson, and violence and sexual offences made up the majority of crimes. After a sharp spike in criminal behaviour during March, the number of reported crimes dropped significantly in April to somewhere approaching levels in 2015. Here are Camborne's figures for April in full. CRIME Incidents Anti-social behaviour 66 Bicycle theft 1 Burglary 15 Criminal damage and arson 17 Drugs 6 Other crime 2 Other theft 15 Possession of weapons 0 Public order 3 Robbery 0 Shoplifting 8 Theft from the person 0 Vehicle crime 2 Violence and sexual offences. 32 TOTAL 167 Redruth (pop. 14,018): 80 reported crimes Redruth shares a boundary with larger Camborne, but the two towns have distinct characters. According to April's figures the town continues to see a drastic reduction in overall crime - albeit with a slight increase in March, which may be due to Devon and Cornwall's focus on stop-and-search policing. Despite a downward trend, the summer months have traditionally seen crime figures rise. It remains to be seen whether that's the case this year. Here are Redruth's figures in full: CRIME Incidents Anti-social behaviour 34 Bicycle theft 0 Burglary 4 Criminal damage and arson 8 Drugs 2 Other crime 1 Other theft 6 Possession of weapons 0 Public order 4 Robbery 1 Shoplifting 4 Theft from the person 0 Vehicle crime 0 Violence and sexual offences. 16 TOTAL 80 Newquay (pop. 19,900) : 139 reported crimes Newquay's overall crime figures fell in April, and in general the town has seen a dramatic year-on-year reduction in offences. But the real test will be the summer months when its population more than doubles. Historically the figures tend to rise during peak season: it remains to be seen whether the same happens this year. Anti-social behaviour and violence and sexual offences accounted for the majority of reported crimes, with a slight increase in drug-related offences. Here are Newquay's figures for April in full: CRIME Incidents Anti-social behaviour 47 Bicycle theft 0 Burglary 10 Criminal damage and arson 10 Drugs 8 Other crime 1 Other theft 16 Possession of weapons 0 Public order 3 Robbery 0 Shoplifting 13 Theft from the person 1 Vehicle crime 6 Violence and sexual offences. 24 TOTAL 139 Helston (pop. 11,700): 56 reported crimes Helston continues to see crime figures rise, with current levels approaching last year's July peak. That said, as one of the smaller towns featured, the difference between its peaks and troughs can often be measured in single digits. As with other towns, anti-social behaviour accounted for the majority of crimes, closely followed by violence and sexual offences. Here are Helston's figures for April in full: CRIME Incidents Anti-social behaviour 19 Bicycle theft 0 Burglary 2 Criminal damage and arson 6 Drugs 0 Other crime 0 Other theft 2 Possession of weapons 0 Public order 3 Robbery 1 Shoplifting 4 Theft from the person 1 Vehicle crime 1 Violence and sexual offences. 15 TOTAL 56 Penzance (pop. 21,200): 164 reported crimes Crime figures in Penzance continue to rise, and are rapidly approaching last year's August peak. Burglary and criminal damage incident increased, as did public order offences with most crimes focused around the town centre. Anti-social behaviour, and violence and sexual offences topped the list, but shoplifting wasn't far behind with 19 recorded incidents over the month. Here are Penzance's figures in full for April: CRIME Incidents Anti-social behaviour 68 Bicycle theft 0 Burglary 13 Criminal damage and arson 12 Drugs 7 Other crime 0 Other theft 10 Possession of weapons 1 Public order 8 Robbery 0 Shoplifting 19 Theft from the person 2 Vehicle crime 2 Violence and sexual offences. 22 TOTAL 164 Launceston (pop. 11,700): 39 reported crimes Launceston's crime figures continue to fall, but then, they were never much to write home about in the first place. Last year's May peak saw just over 70 crimes reported. In April this year that figure was 39. That said, there were three burglaries, which is only two fewer than much larger Bodmin. Here are Launceston's figures for April in full: CRIME Incidents Anti-social behaviour 16 Bicycle theft 0 Burglary 3 Criminal damage and arson 0 Drugs 1 Other crime 0 Other theft 4 Possession of weapons 0 Public order 2 Robbery 0 Shoplifting 2 Theft from the person 0 Vehicle crime 0 Violence and sexual offences. 11 TOTAL 39 St Ives (pop. 11,400): 52 reported crimes Crime in St Ives remains relatively low, although the occasional summer peak cant' be ruled out - it happened last year. Last month crime figures rose slightly, but that still represents a single digit increase on March. The usual culprits were responsible: anti-social behaviour and violent crime topping the list. Here are St Ives' figures for April in full: CRIME Incidents Anti-social behaviour 24 Bicycle theft 0 Burglary 4 Criminal damage and arson 10 Drugs 0 Other crime 0 Other theft 1 Possession of weapons 0 Public order 1 Robbery 0 Shoplifting 1 Theft from the person 0 Vehicle crime 0 Violence and sexual offences. 10 TOTAL 52 Saltash (pop. 16,400): 64 reported crimes Crime continues to fall in Saltash, with April's figures showing a slight decrease comapred to those for March. Like other towns in Cornwall it often experiences a summer spike in crime, but there's a long way to go to match 2015's peak in May. Overall the figures appear to be heading in the right direction. Here are Saltash's figures for April in full: Activists Complete 150-Mile Walk To Thomson Prison By Buddy Bell 14 June, 2016 Countercurrents.org In late May and early June, Chicago group Voices for Creative Nonviolence held a 150-mile walk against indefinite detention, solitary confinement, and the racist U.S. prison system. For two weeks, a group of 20 justice seekers walked across the state of Illinois from east to west, interacting with hundreds of passers-by, carrying placards to give a momentary reminder to thousands of motorists, and holding public face-to-face discussions at churches and libraries. They began on May 28 at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown Chicago and then walked through Chicagos west side, the western suburbs, on to DeKalb and the rural northwest part of the state. The march swelled to 35 by the last day, June 11. When the walkers arrived in the small town center of rural Thomson, IL, they noticed that 18 police cars were staged in this town of 600 residents. Carrying placards saying "Education Not Incarceration" and "Hospitals Not Prisons", the activists continued walking the final mile up to the Administrative U.S. Penitentiary, Thomson, which is expected to open in 2017. The word administrative is a euphemism for a facility which consists entirely of isolation cells, in this case 1,900 of them, according to the watchdog organization Solitary Watch. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons would try to fill these cells by taking prisoners from other prisons to bring them to Illinois, a state where activists have spent decades furthering a general awareness of solitary confinement. The general disgust with solitary confinement in Illinois recently forced the state assembly to consider a House Bill 5417, legislation that requires a documented reason for putting any prisoner in isolation confinement and which limits the duration of such confinement to not more than 5 days. The walkers admonished the U.S. government for not releasing the remaining prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, who for 14 years have not been charged with any crime. It is thought that Thomson prison may still be part of a murky and politically expeditious plan to avoid releasing these detainees by simply moving them around. Similar to having people wait years and years without a speedy trial in Cook County jail, indefinite detention without charge or trial is a government crime, the brunt of which falls on poor people and on people of color, especially Black people, who on the national level in 2008 were 6 times more likely to go to prison than white people, according to the NAACP. The walk to Thomson prison is a recently woven row in the vast tapestry of work being done to challenge the prison system. The more work that can be done to engage people on the issue of mass imprisonment, the better. Facilitating dialogue and sparking peoples imaginations can eventually lead to a diversion of public resources away from building prisons and into alternatives that help to build a healthier society. Buddy Bell is Co-coordinator, Voices for Creative Nonviolence www.vcnv.org British Troops Enter Syria And Libya To Ensure That War Outlives ISIS By Dan Glazebrook 14 June, 2016 Countercurrents.org Over the past three weeks, it has emerged that British special forces are now in direct combat roles in Libya and Syria. Ostensibly there to fight ISIS, the real goal is to prevent the Syrian and Libyan armies defeating ISIS themselves. The Normandy landings, launched 72 years ago this week, saw the opening of a second front against the Nazis in Europe by the US and the UK after years of procrastination. Despite the signing of a mutual assistance agreement with Britain in 1941, and the Anglo-Soviet alliance in 1942, for years very little was done by the US or Britain to actually fight the Nazi menace. In a joint communique issued in 1942, they agreed to open a second front in Europe that same year, an agreement they broke and then postponed repeatedly, leaving the Soviets to fight the strongest industrial power in Western Europe alone for three years at an eventual cost of 27 million lives. The US and Britain, it seemed, were following what International Relations theorist John Mearsheimer has termed a bait and bleed policy, allowing Germany and the Soviet Union to bleed each other white whilst they themselves stood on the sidelines. "If we see Germany winning, we ought to help Russia, declared US Senator (and later President) Harry Truman in June 1941, and if Russia is winning we ought to help Germany, and in that way let them kill as many as possible." The British Minister for Aircraft Production Colonel Moore-Brabazon echoed his views the following month, telling a lunch party of government officials that the best outcome on the Eastern front would have been the mutual exhaustion of Germany and the USSR in order that Britain could then move in to dominate Europe. He was eventually forced to resign following uproar from a public determined to see their government do more to help the embattled Soviets. In the end, it was not until well after the Nazis fortunes had been decisively reversed at Stalingrad that the long promised second front actually materialized. Indeed, by this point the outcome of the war had effectively already been determined. D Day, then, was waged not to defeat the Nazis but to ensure the Soviet Union, who had borne almost all of the sacrifice, would not reap the fruits of their victory. As Soviet Admiral Kharlamov, head of the Soviet Military Mission in Britain during the Second World War, wrote, "Certain circles, both in the United States and Britain, feared that should the Red Army defeat Germany single-handed, the Soviet Union would have enormous influence on the post-war development of and social progress in the European countries. The Allies could not allow that to happen. This is why they considered the opening of a second front in Europe not so much a military action but as a political measure aimed at preventing the progressive political forces from coming to power in European countries." Documents declassified in 1998 revealed that Churchill had even ordered the drawing up of a plan that would see British and US troops push on beyond Berlin alongside a rearmed German army in a nuclear war against the Soviets. History is now repeating itself, this time as farce. From 2014 until September 2015, ISIS appeared to sweep all before them, achieving hugely symbolic victories in Iraqs Mosul and Fallujah, Syrias Raqqa and Palmyra, and Libyas Derna and Sirte. At the same time, under Saudi and Turkish tutelage, Al Qaedas Al Nusra front was making gains in Syria, and the Ansar Sharia faction in Libya took Benghazi, paving the way for a major ISIS infiltration. The West did little to help. In Syria, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) had been left to fight such groups not only bereft of support from the West, but facing a West apparently determined to destroy them. Similarly, the Libyan National Army - representing the elected Libyan parliament was hamstrung by an arms embargo scrupulously observed in relation to them, but regularly violated by the Wests gulf allies when it came to the Libya Dawn sectarian militias who were attacking them. And even the US supposedly closest allies in the Iraqi army, the elite Golden Division, had trouble getting effective US support when they needed it. Despite this, starting with last Septembers Russian intervention in Syria, the tide has begun to turn against ISIS and Al Qaeda, paving the way for a string of victories by the Syrian Arab Army and the Libyan National Army in particular, and pointing, potentially, towards the full restoration of governmental authority in both countries. In Libya, the key moment was in February 2016, when the Libyan National Army finally regained control of Benghazi from ISIS and Ansar Sharia after 18 months of intense fighting. Both the ISIS presence in Benghazi and the citys liberation were predictably downplayed in Western media, despite the citys fate having been apparently so important to British and US leaders back in 2011. On May 3rd, the Libyan National Army began its march West from Benghazi towards ISIS last Libyan holdout in Sirte. In February, too, a massive Syrian army offensive towards Aleppo began to make serious gains, taking territory from Al Qaeda, ISIS and Ahrar Al Sham. On February 3rd, the supply route to Aleppo was severed, breaking a rebel siege of two government-held towns south of Azaz. Mass surrenders to the SAA followed, including 1200 in Hama. Then, exactly one month later, the world-historic city of Palmyra was liberated from ISIS by Syrian government forces backed with Russian air support. In what was presumably an attempt to appear relevant, the US had also launched two token airstrikes on the city, illustrating, said journalist Robert Fisk, that the US want to destroy iSIS but not that much. Today, ISIS original stronghold, the capital of its self-declared caliphate, is itself under threat. The Times reported earlier this week that a massively re-moralised Syrian army, is storming towards the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa and that the Syrian regimes elite Desert Hawks unit, backed by the Russian airstrikes, crossed the southern border of Raqqa province at the weekend the first time that any of Assads forces have set foot there since being driven out by isis nearly two years ago. They have been making swift advances. Throughout 2016, then, the national armed forces of Libya and Syria, representing the elected governments of both countries, have been on a roll; and the days of ISIS and their sectarian bedfellows may well be numbered. So it is interesting that it is precisely this moment not when ISIS were making gains, but now that they are facing defeat that British troops have deigned to openly enter the fray. The same edition of the Times that reported that the SAA were storming towards Raqqa also carried, as its front page story, the news that British special forces are on the frontline in Syria defending a rebel unit, noting that the operation marks the first evidence of the troops direct involvement in the war-torn country rather than just training rebels in Jordan. And the same newspaper had reported the previous week that British special forces undertook their first known combat mission in Libya on May 12th, in support of the Libya Dawn faction of the Libyan civil war. Libya Dawn is an umbrella group of mainly Misrata-based militias that emerged following the elections of June 2014 under Qatari patronage to fight against the newly elected secular parliament, and its armed forces, the Libyan National Army (LNA). The Times tacitly acknowledged that, up until now, the LNA has been fighting ISIS alone, noting that MIsrata had largely ignored the metastasis of ISIS in Sirte, 170 miles away, since the first terrorist cells embedded themselves there in 2013. Now, however, alongside the British boots on the ground that Cameron vowed would never step foot in Libya, they have suddenly found themselves the chosen force to liberate the country. As in 1945, having sat back whilst a vicious and genocidal group laid waste to thousands upon thousands of soldiers fighting alone against them, the Cameron regime now wants to deny those armies the fruits of their heroic sacrifices. Cameron would rather see Raqqa and Sirte liberated by a ragtag of militias with little to unite them other than their sectarianism, than to see the authority of the elected governments restored. With British troops now in combat roles alongside the insurgents in Syria, however, this raises the prospect of a direct confrontation with Russian forces. Just like Churchill in 1945, it appears he is quite prepared to risk this. Back then, saner heads prevailed. The question is where are those heads now? Dan Glazebrook is author of Divide and Ruin: The Wests Imperial Strategy in an Age of Crisis This article originally appeared at: Rt.com Dream Phantasy Tribute To Rosa Luxemburg, Sigmund Freud And Carl E Schorske: Debate On 'Revolutionary Dream', 'Dream of Revolution' And Hermeneutics of Mediality By Anil Pundlik Gokhale 14 June, 2016 Countercurrents.org (Tribute to Rosa on her Birthday- 5th March 1871, Sigmund Freud on his Birthday, 6th May 1856 and Carl Schorske 15th March 1915) INTRODUCING BACKGROUND It is an Imaginary Phantasy -Dream Plot to bring two Modernizers of 20th Century and their Historians on a single Platform of debate on PATRIOTISM. Two of them, Rosa Luxemburg & Sigmund Freud made History & third their Historian, Carl E Schorske. A phantasy Dream brings them together in the current Narrative of raging debate Patriotism in conflict with AZADI. The two revolutionary Actors- Rosa & Sigmund responded differently to the unfolding events in Europe, namely to World war I (1914-18) but both changed the modern perspective on PATRIOTISM. The third one Historian- Carl E Schorske evaluates the contributions, historical trajectory and individual characteristics of these two modernists. Both Jews, atheists, non believers, Revolutionaries and Internationalists have confronted Proto NAZI and NAZI sponsored Patriotism and have acquired Martyrdom. Out of this Rosas murder in 1919 at the hands of Patriots remains the saddest, shocking and at the same time inspiring moment in History. On the other hand Freud was stripped of his Austro-German Citizenship, whose, all three sisters died in NAZI concentration camps and he himself escaped the noose. Cartl schorske, essentially is historian AND principle narrator in this Dream Phantasy. This is how he summarizes the highlights of Historical contributions of these two great revolutionaries. Sigmund Freuds attempts to create an epoch making interpretation of human experience in which politics could be reduced to an epiphenomenal manifestation of psychic forces. Freuds determination to challenge the Viennese political and social order, is reflected in his citation on the title page of The Interpretation of Dreams from Virgils Aeneid: Flectere si nequeo superos, Achronta movebo (If I cannot bend the higher powers, I shall stir up hell). Freuds message, I confirm was that the unconscious and its sexual forces would overcome the bourgeois political and social system, and the science of psychoanalysis would alone be able to Control it. . Likewise, Rosa Luxemburgs NOBLE DREAM has paved the way for the new revolutionism whose conceptual formulation was done in her significant theoretical work of the years 1905- 1906: Mass Strike, Party and Trade-Unions. The author (Rosa) drew not only upon her experiences in the fight for a radicalization of the Erfurt tactic in Germany, but also upon her participation in the Polish Revolution in the winter of 1905-06 She attempted to integrate these two experiences into a new conception of revolutionary tactic for the German party. Anti War Spartacus Hero, Rebel and Flower of the Revolution, Rosa Luxemburg, the Polish name-Roza Luksemburg, was brutally murdered on 15th January 1919 in the aftermath of crushing of the massive Spartacus revolutionary uprising of Berlin workers at the hands of Proto Nazi Mercenaries. It is unparallel! In History. Her tragic end has been reported in Last Hours, as Rosa Luxemburg has been dragged, senseless, into another car, Ober-Lieutenant Vogel sits at the side of the blood-soaked woman. A man strikes her again on the head with the butt end of a pistol. Ober-Lieutenant Vogel puts his pistol to her head, and blows her brains out with a bullet. They drive to the Landwehr canal and throw her dead body over the bridge into its dark waters. German News Paper Reported- Rosa Lynched by Patriotic Crowds- Rosa gelyncht von Patriotic Crowds. Identical was the fate of the Co Revolutionary- Karl Liebknecht who was delivered to a first aid station as an unknown man, found dead, by Lieutenant Liepmann. Innumerable attempts to identify the murderers and bring them to legal justice have failed. These tragic images of the murder and the moment of her sacrifice for the cause of human liberation has been lucidly articulated by a poet. Rosy swooned to save her loved one, Moth flitting on the glowing Flame My sweet spark, my love light, The flame also danced and flickered. Rosy dazzled and twinkled for split of a second, For the last kiss of her darling, She glowed and turned into ashes, For a moment she flashed like lightening, Then wild thunder boomed all around She did not doomed she turned immortal The verses triggered a flash in my Midnight dream to bring the immortals amidst current Narrative, AZADI. DREAM PHANTASY SCENE ONE (Current narrative) I was attending a meeting, with political overtones, at some place which I could identify because of the displayed Boards, Banavaras Hindu University Campus. The Felicitation of University Graduates program was underway and was being addressed by a strange Feminine Figure, Yale University Doctorate, wearing an Upright Black Cap and who looked like commander holding important political portfolio. The speech was directed at Patriotic Students who were wearing the brown trousers and were receiving Degree in Patriotism. The central chairs of which were occupied by few foreigners in Military Uniform. The commandant was inciting the audience in hoarse emotional feminine voice and with contemptuous gestures, raising arm and finger, ordering every institute to hoist Flag of Patriotism, High on the top of central buildings. Strangely on the curtain -screen behind the stage was displaying the feminine distorted, dark lengthening shadow, a perfect Image, of feminine Falcon. The aggressive shadow-Image on the screen with raised hand was threatening, No one can question which drama I am playing out now. My name, Remember, My Name is Antionette Gonsalvis Antionette Gonsalves. It evoked Patriotic War cries from Black Coated Lawyers and felicitated bunch of students shouting and jeering, death to traitors, death to traitors. Patriotic lawyers pounced on the Anti Patriotic students and laborers shouting AZADI, AZADI Slogans in campus. Hang them, Kill them, drag those Historians, Humanitarians, Internationalists, Orators, brand them Anti Nationals, assault them. We are law into ourselves and expose the International conspiracy. Strangly the lawyers were led by Waldmar Pabs, and Vogel, were dragging a student leader, by inhumanly skirting his head under the armpit, on a road which displayed Sign Board- Road to Immortality. DREAM PHANTASY SCENE TWO (Critique of Mediality) I experienced change in the Scene. I was seated in an Consulting Hall, named Vienna Therapy Consultancy, Occasion was the debate organized and presided by Historian, I could make out the figure, Carl Schorske, 1981 Pulitzer Prize winner for Authoring the Book, Fin-de- siecle Vienna: Politics and Culture. For every ones joy, from the right side of the Consulting was entering Rosy who had spooned to save the loved ones, a century back, metamorphosed into ROZA, or simply Anti War Spartacus Hero Rebel, Rosa Luxemburg and was accompanied by Karl Liebknecht. Already seated were Sigmund Freud and other Philosophers and Intellectuals. Carl E. Schorske opened up with introductory speech, Its an Historic and relevant occasion to bring on to a common platform, two greatest challengers of repression and who shaped the Cultural ethos of the twentieth Century Modern world. Both have been the dreamers with conflicting ideas, theories and practices. Both expounded theories of dreams, Revolutionary Dream and Dream of Revolution. Today our subject of debate is Human Dreams, Patriotism and AZADI. We will begin this debate with reporting of a strange dream of student from Banvaras Hindu University- Mr. Krishna Kanhayya. Krishna Kanhaiyya a young scholar also stood up as first speaker to narrate his previous nights hilarious dream. A Super Ghost named Dr. Bus Moonja, a very old Super-demon, -- flew in, riding on shoulders of University Professor Mr. PA. Ranjape and got down after a spinning motion and shouted at me. Did you check before commenting who visited Italy to meet Mussolini? It was me and not GURUJI. Why discredit and insult me? Do you know there were judicial executions by Stalin Almost a million. I replied, yes, I agree with you, it was a pity that Poor Joseph Stalin was hopelessly and helplessly crawling to compete with Adolph Hitler who is credited for slaying Six million Jews, Communists, Socialists, Liberals and Intellectuals and more importantly brutal murders of thousands of activists, opponents, trade Union Leaders is to his credit! Mr. PA. Ranjape, now please tell me, who should be regarded as innovative? Isnt it some one who has carried through New Experiments of exterminations, Concentration camps with Death Assemblies to begin easiest ways of population control of Non Aryans, Who forced the million prisoners to parade naked and has introduced ghastly forms of repression of those who stood up in defiance and chanted AZADI Slogans ! Brahma Bhoot, Dr. Bus Moonja intervened to tell me, I have ruthlessly propagated the cause of Militarization of Society and Military regimentation of Aryans and dreamt of an Organization on Italian Fascist Lines. Remember, this is not imitation. Myself and Mussolini have been contemporizes and are pioneers of Philosophy of Mediality. When Mussolini was swinging from Socialist Party in 1920s towards Fascism, I was swinging from Anti- Imperialist Nationalist Movement to founding of Rightwing Aryan party. This is my first innovation. Believe in my power, to change and revamp the existing cultural and political climate. Inspired from the Brown Shirts of NAZIs Storm troopers (Sturm Abteilung) I have instructed the New Generation to wear Brown Trousers. But that is only a step. What was missing in Mussolini, I discovered in NAZISM, the (HEAD) Cutting edge (Technology) ideology and weapon named Racialism. I have integrated these two- military regimentation & racialism. I have drawn both these mighty weapons from our indigenous archaic pre-history of Aryavarta. This sanctions our aggression on Non Aryan Mlenchas. This is my second indigenous innovation! I rebuked the Professor to tell him who needs to be self-critical? Can you forget what Mussolini and dictators like Stalin, all rose on the foundations of crushing of the popular uprisings and revolutions in Europe from 1919 onwards were the exponents of Mediality. They suddenly discovered Nationalism and Patriotism as tool, weapon and fetish to build Military- State to enslave people, subject them to intensified capitalist exploitation and slay freedom-AZADI. Both, Stalinism & NAZISISM, Fascism are two sides of same coin, intense expression of Patriotic Mass Hysteria! Same was the case in 1920s when Dr. Bus Moonja swung rightward. The uneasy Professor replied, As medialist, I dont care for all this. I am an independent intellectual and do not buy Gramscis concept of Organic Intellectual and champion of Hermeneutics of mediality. Unable to stand up to the questioning on mediality, abruptly body shape of Professor Mr. PA Ranjape, began changing and metamorphosed and turned into Prof. PA Moonja-Ranjpe ( Brahma Bhut), another Independent Bramha Demon and with abnormal smile swung to Ultra Right side and in a spinning motion flew away along with Dr. Bus Muonja and began dangling on Saffron Hegemonic Patriotic Space of the Peepal Tree. He began chanting, My name is Independent Brahma Bhoot, Independent Brahma Bhoot in Safron Space. Now can we interpret this hilarious dream or you may call it a Joke Rosa Luxemburg intervened to state that these dreams appear to be hilarious but this dream has performed critical activities. Mediality plays the most dangerous roles in critical hours of History and are the manifestations of developing collective pathological symptoms, impacted by mass hysteria! Dr. PA. Ranjape and Mr. Appa Crow are the self proclaimed Collective Individuals, victims and carriers of the mass hysteria. Antonio Gramscis organic intellectual sharply differentiates itself from advocates of Mediality who consider themselves as freely floating Intellectuals, and boasting themselves as Representing the Nation. Moonja, the Ghost represents Fetishism of Capital. Historical experience teaches us that Mediality ends in awful Organic and deep Embrace of Bourgeoisie Patriotism! Remind Dr. PA Ranjape the experience of another Medialist, Friedrich Ebert, in post World War German History. Sigmund Freud also added, Dreams and phantasies reflect articulations of deep rooted conflicts in History of Civilization. Patriotism and Patriarchy are the two forms of expressions of archaic prehistory of humanity. Human sciences, psychoanalysis in particular have discovered through research, self search and case studies of Decades, and have brought into open the archaic animalistic dispositions of prehistory and trajectory of Patriarchic to Patriotic! The process of social, moral and exploitative regressions becomes intensified in these two forms. From my own experience I can confirm that the whole philosophy of mediality makes mockery on the unfolding of great events in history these philosophies are tested. Mediality crumbles and swings to the Right, regresses in historical events like World Wars and which Rosa will term them as Capitulation. What solution can Historians offer? DREAM PHANTASY SCENE THREE (Narrators Retrospections) The consultancy Room underwent a sudden expansion, into History Forum, with entries of Historians and Scientists - Albert Einstein, students and admirers of Rosa and other outstanding philosophers. All of them offered standing ovation to Rosa, Liebknecht, Herbert Marcuse, Norman O. Brown and Sigmund Freud. The Auditorium of Historians had Carl Schorske as its Principle Addressee and provided significant and long narrative regarding revolutionary change in Sigmund Freuds pursuit of truth. There are two Sigmund Freuds, one before the World War and other after the War. After the world War, Sigmund Freud created new structural model which replaced dream censorship with Superego. The second quest of Oedipus begins with crisis in his own life and his philosophy- post World War. Freuds post war theories are closely linked to disintegration of his fantasy of recognition of his theory of role of sexuality and theory of Interpretation of Dreams by his majesty and the necessity of psychoanalytic therapy of hysteria carried by a two third majority in the parliament during War Years, 1914 to 1918, he ould not escape from being victim of this viral spread of, collective Hysteria and Patriotism. His three sons volunteered to participate for Austrian Army. Sigmund finally disillusioned by the War and himself being influenced by patriotism, in pre-war years he confronted with mighty crisis of the First World War which left millions dead and destrictions of Civilization. He again had to continuously struggle to get over and completely free himself from Patriotism, It was like another or second tryst of Oedipus to get over / the war neurosis, to surmount and battle with his shattered Patriotism. He closely followed the unfolding events of the war. Freud grew disillusioned with the conflict, and the war seemed to have had a decisive impact on Freud's being and thinking. Patriotic War 1914-18 in which Rosa Luxemburg sacrificed her life however Sigmund Freud had not realized the grave consequences of War. But finally unaccountable human losses compelled him to undertake Second quest of Oedipus, to overcome his own Guilt of being responsible for spread of War Plague, as responsible for or contributor to War Neurosis on Global scale, His latter writings, on Death and violence, Civilization and its discontent, Conflict of Life and Death Instincts, Ego, Id and Superego, Religious weltanschauung and Mourning and Melancholia, all of his writings on surface appear to be applications of psychoanalysis but in truth and essence were pursuit for articulation of his social-political guilt, of second Oedipal Quest. New Oedipus was born. He struggled to revamp his theories of unconscious. He went forward to discover social applications of Psychoanalysis. He grappled with deep seated aggressive impulses and aspects of human nature normally hidden in everyday life The first, Quest was till Interpretation of Dreams 1898, Sexuality and other writings, were the Quest of son and daughters and the Patriarchy the second Quest was the quest of Father, THE PATRIOT, to overcome the violence ushered by destructive instincts he battled to overcome Father Complex or Moses complex, to explore the grave and terrible human tragedy and fallouts of fatherland and Motherland ideologies. International bodies of Psychoanalysts pressed themselves into service in the aftermath of both the World Wars to treat Civilians and Soldiers and Bomber Pilots for the War Neurosis. In each case the psychoanalysts discovered Father Fixation, Oedipus Complex as the cause beneath Patriotic Hysteria and Conflicts. Finally, unfortunately Freuds unfinished Quest met with his worst experiences with Nazism, Safronization, Fascism, Book Burning, Gestapo, Dictators and Forced Labour and World wars. The swastika symbol, the emblem of the Nazi party worked like weapon for assassination of six million Jews and for exterminated and millions of communists, humanitarians, opponents by the Nazis. Freud and some of his family members were amongst those who had to leave the Austria and modern Oedipus had to pay the prize. I recount how in 1940s the systematic persecution of Jews by Nazi Germany and the ensuing Holocaust impacted Freuds Family.Four of Freud's five sisters died in concentration camps, Rosa in Auschwtz, Mitzi in Theresienstadt and Dolfi and Pauli in Treblinka. Freuds unending and unfinished Quest for self expression had to pass through the Trauma and historical Human Tragedy of NAZI sponsored test of Patriotism, as Jew, as Psychoanalyst and as self searching Oedipus to discover the guilt and show light to humanity by dispelling dark clouds of repression intrinsic to Patriotism which posed greatest challenge to humanity. After the World War, NAZISM attracted the youth since Standard Historical Interpretations were inadequate because they neglected either the deep wounds of collective trauma or the vicissitudes of conflicting, hidden instincts. They turned to Freud for new ways to understand the dynamics of desire and the eruption of violence. Albert Einstein also appreciated Freudian Concept of Guilt with his own illustration and confessed of shame in discovering Nuclear weapon Atomic Bomb as solution to end the World War II. He narrated, I was on visit to United States when Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933 and, being Jewish I did not return to Germany. I became American Citizen in 1940. While lending support to Roosevelts Manhattan Project, I thought, against my will with a Day Dream, as a defensive act of serving Humanity with Final solution as counter to Adolf Hitlers Bomb Project and his Final Solutions in Concentration Camps!. The dropping of bomb on Hiroshima & Nagasaki in 1945 shocked me to my core. My speech concluded with lines, THE WAR IS WON, PIECE IS NOT. ---the spirit of trust and confidence, of generosity and brotherhood among men, prevail in the minds of those upon whose decisions our destiny rests. Otherwise, human civilization will be doomed. Sigmund I also agree with your researched finding that Nationalism is an infantile disease, It is the measles of mankind This plague-spot of civilization ought to be abolished with all possible speed. Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism - how passionately I hate them! How vile and despicable war seems to me! I would rather be hacked in pieces than take part in such an abominable business Rosa Luxemburg rose to her feet to say dangers of the philosophy of Mediality are magnified in manifold dimensions in periods of what Carl Schorske calls, Social-Cultural- Political Schism! To paraphrase Carl Schorske, you students and entire Social Political Order is passing through phase of Development of Great Schism of Twenty First Century, which inevitably would lead to great breaking apart of Organizational and social structures. The Philosophers of Mediality are the forerunners of Capitulations like the ones I have experienced from 1907 onwards in Germany and which magnified in 1914 to 1918. Bernstenion revisionism which challenged Karl Marxs theory of capitalist crisis, snowballed into capitulations of Intelectuals of Mediality School, Europe and Social Democratic party had experienced it from 1907 onwards historical trajectory of capitulations of Bernstein, Kautsky and the final capitulation of Social Democratic party to Patriotism during War Years of 1914 to 1918 by dumping the cause of Humanity and human imancipation. Rapid evaporation of independent opinion, freedom of speech and capitulation of existing political Groups and opposition parties is dominant feature of such periods. The events only demonstrate that initially signs of collapse of political parties become imminent. Recent drama orchestrated and powered by rabid Right wingers to Chant Victory of Motherland slogan is so shrill but so powerful that Mahatma Mohandas may have to throw out his Gandhi cap in the elected Reichstag and wear Black Cap with SWASTIKA EMBLEM to demonstrate his Patriotism. This capitulation is only the first sign, first stage of series capitulations forthcoming in years to follow and compelled by Patriotic climate and Patriotic Frenzy. With escalation of the Hysteric climate, Centrist political groups and parties, holding fast to Mediality begin vacating the centre stage and are threatened to reduced to dust. It has been the ultimate testing ground for proletarian and popular leadership and on which strongest organizations like Second International crumbled and collapsed! This is the lesson to learn from German Experience with Bourgeoisie Nationalism! Nationalism is the key weapon and force to create monolithic culture and invade the Institutions, Educational Universities and then to foster the organizations to invade Factories and Agrarian Fields to forced labour. This was systematically done in Germany. After Rosas speech, it was the turn of other Historians to speak about Rosa and her personal Characteristics. Max Adler described her as An untamed revolutionary force was alive in this frail little woman, In admiration of Rosa Max Adler commented, It was characteristic of her, however, that her intellect never lost control of her temperament, so that the revolutionary fire with which she always spoke was also mingled with cool-headed reflectiveness, and the effect of this fire was not destructive but warming and illuminating Rosas student and biographer Paul Frolich said, her large, dark and bright eyes .. . were very expressive, at times searching with a penetrating scrutiny, or thoughtful; at times merry and flashing with excitement. They reflected an ever-alert intellect and an indomitable soul. Her fine-toned and resonant voice could express the finest nuances of meaning, and her slight Polish accent lent character to her voice and added a special zest to her humor. DREAM PHANTASY SCENE FOUR (Rosas Spirit Survives) It was dusk hours and abruptly a Safron Saint, claiming to be Medicinal Nudal Saint Babu Asaramdev entered the Auditorium shouting Behead those not chanting- Victory of Motherland. To my surprise he was joined by War Veteran, Lieutenant Vogel and and Waldmar Pabs and other men in Military Uniform. I realized that it was a raid on Auditorium. They swiftly rounded up and picked up Rosa Luxemburg. Instead of assaulting her, out of fear of any backlash from students, this time she was secretly driven in a car and was stopped at Landwehr Canal By seeing the sight of canal my anxiety grew and grew. I panicked and uttered in my dream, History repeats itself. She was taken out on to the Bridge of canal by Patriotic soldiers for her head smash. All at once, students from various Universities, BHU, JNEU, DU, HyU, began pouring in like sea waves appeared from nowhere, on the scene from two sides of the Landwehr Canal Bridge and pounced on the butchers to disarm them and handed over to Area Council of Universities at Milan for Psychoanalytic Treatment for Hysteria. The victorious arrest of murders developed into euphoria amongst the students and the chants of AZADI enveloped the entire atmosphere, AZADI, SABSE PYARI AZADI, JANSE PYARI AZADI, MANUVADSE AZADI, PUNJIVADSE AZADI. AZADI, LADHKE LENGE AZADI chorus flowered in to Freedom in all forms- from oppression, slavery and exploitation. All philosophers and Historians chasing Safron Saint, Lieutenant Vogel and and Waldmar Pabs reached the spot swiftly. Overwhelmed by the mass upsurge and Electrified surrounding, smiling, cheerful, beaming Rosa rose from her Car seat and began, I am overwhelmed not on account of your support but your challenging spirit and love for human freedom. Today is the day I have been waiting for so anxiously for last Ninety years for Humanity to rise to the occasion and realize that Nationalism and Patriotism are the fetishes which chain the masses and AZADI unites the people and all nations. Dialectic of AZADI and Patriotism paves the way for ushering open struggle between the Capital and labour because freedom is rooted in human productivity and creativity. without freedom of the press, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, without the free battle of opinions, life in every public institution withers away, becomes a caricature of itself, and bureaucracy rises as the only deciding factor. Today I am proud to state unequivocally that students my students have transcended Nationalism and instead spread the message of freedom to every household, to every laboring women and men, to every human being oppressed and suppressed under the yoke of capitalism. Albert Einstein joined the chorus to speak out, I am exalted that after search for Eight decades Rosas murders are arrested by you Students. Today I cherished memories of Paul Levi who relentlessly perused the search of these murderers through Legal Trials. . I have admired Paul Levi, Reichstag Deputy of SPD, Rosa Luxemburgs ardent follower, who inherited Rosa Luxemburgs legacy. He possessed one of the sharpest legal mind. Paul Levi was declared as Arch-Traitor and Anti patriot by NAZIs during 1923s on the day of NAZI Putsch in 1923. He perused investigation and legal battle for prosecution of her murderers . The unending struggle he put up worked on him during final trial and was hospitalized in state of delirium he committed suicide by jumping out from Hospital Window. In my obituary I have described him as, One of the wisest, Just and one of the most courageous person I have ever seen. Todays chanting of Freedom gives me the hope that Humanity will survive and courage will win. Sigmund Freud says, Rosa stands tallest. Rosa asked me, whats solution to the clash of repression and Discovery of Self you offer. I answered, Self discovery of Oedipus, Breaks through layers of repression, reach into archaic relations and surge forward towards discovery of my second Guilt. That is the moment of truth and light! Founding of Psychoanalytical Science has also laid foundations for Human emancipation. The brilliant speech inspired Carl E Schorske to join the chorus. Firstly I announce the decision of Students Council to name this Canal Square as Square of Immortals and all have decided to pay tribute to Rosa, Rosa Luxemburg. This extraordinary young woman was destined to play a leading role in the revitalization of the revolutionary tradition in Social Democracy. She combined one of the most penetrating analytical minds of her age with an imaginative warmth which make her unique A passionate fighter for her ideas,; Luxemburg used only the sharp rapier of her wit in intellectual combat . Her revolutionary attitude expressed itself not merely in the cold hatred of injustice and oppression but in a genuine love of humanity He continued From her Polish homeland, Rosa Luxemburg carried into German Social Democracy a passionate and activistic revolutionary spirit and now the same revolutionary spirit to people of this Land of Civilization. : Carl Schorske warned Sigmund Freud discovered the roots of Patriarchy and Rosa Luxemburg the elemental force named Patriotism. Nationalism is now transformed in last two centuries from its original notion of Right of the Nation to exist today into patriotism as the only and the last base station of Bourgeoisies to protect the rule of capital as aggressive fetishistic force of National Capital to suppress the popular energies and compete with other Capital through hook or crook, through Bonaparte, Hitler or others. Albert Einstein has exactly waked in the footsteps of Sigmund Freud to identify Nationalism is an infantile disease. But it does not end there. It assumes the most horrendous form because it rides on the back of mass sentiments, mass hysteria and mass movements purported by Brown Shirts and Trousers but ultimately in service of Capital! It is essentially the last and ultimate form of Fetishism of Capital. Rosa says, Untamed Oedipal sexual forces in rebellion did not succeed in overcoming the bourgeois political and social system, as Sigmund Freud imagined, in fact it provided survival of your own fantasy and PATRIOTISM as fetish and a cover. However your second Quest of Oedipus, has succeeded in discovering the Organic link between Patriarchy and Patriotism and brings out in to open in the perceptual world, the causes of Plague and Human destruction. The perverted untamed sexual forces and instincts which destroy the Civil Institutions, create either the Fetishistic edifice of Patriotism or they collapse into psychic derangements and disorders of highly acute magnitude and scale. Nevertheless Freudian Unending Quest, Quest of Oedipus, is self activity. As Science of psychoanalysis as summarized in second Quest would alone be able to Control these forces. It will train and enable the proletariat to undergo Self Search and show light to Humanity TO GET OVER THE War Plague! In this sense Dream of Revolution can succeed only if Interpretation of dreams, dreamt by Collective Oedipus can control and overcome Hysteria, Neurosis and Fetishism of Patriotic Mass Hysteria in service of National Capital. Comrade Sigmund, as your revolutionary dream was triggered by 1848 French Revolution, 1918-19 revolution led by Spartacus group also derives it energy from rebellion of slaves. The revolutionary force draws energies from the archaic past. Oedipus Quest forms the most crucial revolutionary weapon to garner and synthesize collective energies of present which can break through the hard fossilized layers rocky layers of repression, in order to create Imagery of future not even dreamt of! On one hand, Edwards Ebert illustrates that Hermeneutics of Mediality, provides the fuel to the tottering Bourgeous regimes to install the most repressive regime. Revolutionary force is the midwife and harbinger of every old society pregnant with a new one! Today the specter of Krishna Kanhaiyya is haunting the socio political order because memories of millions of revolutionaries and revolutionary spirit survive as energy for Krishn Kanhaiyyas AZADI. I woke up from the thrilling experience of Dream, with alarm bells of AZADI, AZADI I said to myself, ROSA is REBORN, her spirit is reborn, Spartacus is Alive! Rosas words were ringing in my ears. Tomorrow the revolution will 'rise up again, clashing its weapons,' and to your horror it will proclaim with trumpets blazing: I was, I am, I shall be! I was reminded of the poem, She did not doomed she turned immortal.I got down for Interpretation of my own Dream Phantasy of ROSA LUXEMBERG, SIGMUND FREUD and Carl Schorske. (Dream Phantasy also incorporates Excerpts from the speeches of Rosa Luxemburg, Sigmund Freud, Carl Schorske, Albert Einstein & Others. The Essay is based on Sigmund Freuds concept of absence of Logic in Dreams) Anil Pundlik Gokhale is an Engineer by profession and have been a reader and student of Marxist and Freudian literature for last four decades.He has been a professional translator of medical and other literature from English to Marathi. As a non regular writer on political literature he has always been attempting to intigrate Psychology and Marxism.He has t recently published book Condensation And Condescension In Dreams And History: Essay - From Sigmund Freud To E P Thompson' by Author House London. Eastern India In A Make-or-Break Battle Against Hunger Press Release 14 June, 2016 Countercurrents.org Eastern India, the world capital of malnutrition, has reached a make-or-break point in the battle against hunger. For the first time, the National Food Security Act (NFSA) makes it possible to ensure that no-one sleeps on an empty stomach. Many people, however, are still struggling to secure their entitlements under the Act. By way of reality check, a careful survey of NFSA was recently completed by student volunteers in six of Indias poorest states. The survey is due to conclude on 13-14 June with a series of public hearings, where the people concerned will have a chance to speak for themselves. Public hearings on the National Food Security Act (NFSA) will be taking place on 13-14 June 2016 in six of Indias poorest states: Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal. We are hoping that these hearings, and the careful survey that preceded them, will shed light on the achievement and failures of NFSA in these states. The National Food Security Act The NFSA creates three sets of entitlements: (1) subsidized food from the Public Distribution System (PDS); (2) nutritious midday meals for children at schools and anganwadis; (3) universal maternity entitlements (Rs 6,000 per child). The public hearings focus specifically on PDS entitlements: 5 kg of foodgrains per person per month for Priority households and 35 kg per month for Antyodaya households, with a national coverage of 75% in rural areas (rising to 80-85% in the poorest states). The NFSA was passed in 2013, but implementation has been tardy in many states. In five of the six survey states, the NFSA was rolled out sometime during the last two years. The sixth state, Chhattisgarh, enacted its own food security act in December 2012 and implemented it without delay. Identification of eligible households One of the biggest challenges in implementing the Act is the identification of eligible households (Priority and Antyodaya). This is the responsibility of state governments. Most of them use simple exclusion criteria and inclusion criteria for this purpose. Some state governments (e.g. Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal) have used the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) to identify households that meet the eligibility criteria. Others have used alternative methods, e.g. self-declaration (Odisha) and special surveys (Madhya Pradesh). The identification process has proved difficult in all states, but nevertheless far more reliable and transparent than the earlier BPL Census. PDS reforms Another challenge is to avoid corruption in the PDS leakages used to be as high as 80-90% in some of the sample states. In the eastern region, Chhattisgarh was the first state to undertake wide-ranging PDS reforms (in the late 2000s), with remarkable success. Among the reforms that proved effective are: clear entitlements, de-privatization of PDS shops, computerization, separation of transport and distribution agencies (doorstep delivery), fixed delivery schedules, strong grievance redressal, and extensive transparency measures. The NFSA requires all state governments to undertake similar reforms. PDS reforms are in full swing in the six sample states and evidence of their impact has already emerged from earlier surveys, e.g. in Odisha and Madhya Pradesh. Role of electoral politics PDS reforms and the rollout of NFSA have often accelerated in the run-up to Assembly elections. In Chhattisgarh, PDS reforms were initiated with an eye on possible electoral gains (Assembly elections were held in 2008). In Bihar, the implementation of NFSA accelerated sharply as the 2015 state elections approached. The latest example is West Bengal, where the TMC went out of its way not only to implement the NFSA before the 2016 Assembly elections but also to universalize the PDS. The survey The survey mentioned earlier, NFSA Survey 2016, covered three randomly-selected villages in each of 12 sample Blocks (two Blocks per state, in different districts). In each sample village, the survey teams went from house to house to verify ration cards and collect basic data on PDS purchases. About 3,600 households were interviewed. The survey teams also made unannounced visits to PDS shops in the sample villages. The survey data are yet to be analysed initial findings will be presented at the public hearings. Judging from reports of the survey teams, the survey consolidates earlier evidence that Odisha and Madhya Pradesh have already gone a long way in emulating Chhattisgarhs success with PDS reforms. In these three states, most of the sample households had a ration card and were able to secure their foodgrain entitlements at the correct price. In Bihar and Jharkhand, the PDS is certainly more inclusive, effective and transparent than it used to be. However, exclusion errors and corruption persists as well as occasional gaps in the supply chain (especially in Bihar). Much work remains to be done, but recent progress suggests that nothing prevents these laggard states from catching up with the trail-blazers. In West Bengal, the NFSA is a unique opportunity to put the PDS on a new track. Before NFSA, the system was ridden with exclusion errors, convoluted entitlements and massive leakages. The survey suggests a sea change as the PDS was universalized just before the state elections earlier this year. As in Bihar and Jharkhand, however, the transition towards food security for all is far from complete. Prilimanary findings of the survey can be downloaded here (PDF) Public Hearing in Gumla: District Administration Comes Under Fire for Lapses in Food Security Act Jharkhand has reached a make-or-break point in the battle against hunger. For the first time, the National Food Security Act (NFSA) makes it possible to ensure that no-one sleeps on an empty stomach. Many people, however, are still struggling to secure their entitlements under the Act. By way of reality check, a careful survey of NFSA was recently completed by student volunteers inDumka and Gumladistricts of Jharkhand. A house-to-house survey was conducted in 6 small villages, 3 each in Bharno Block (Gumla District) and Ramgarh Block (Dumka District). The survey concluded on 14 June with a lively public hearing on NFSA in Bharno. The District Supply Officer (ShriVinod Mishra), Block Development Officer (Ms. Shweta Ved), District Grievance Redress Officer (DGRO, Ashok Kumar Shah) and other representatives of the block and district administration attended the public hearing. The panel also includedBalram(State Advisor to the Supreme Court Commissioners in the Right to Food Case), Reetika Khera (Associate Professor, IIT Delhi),NandiniNayak (Assistant Professor,Ambedkar University Delhi), LijoChako (Chief Directing Officerof Head Held High Foundation) and Ankita Agrawal (Consultant, National Institute of Rural Development). The public hearing began with a brief overview of the survey findings. The survey had found that almost all the 661 survey households were eligible under NFSA, as per official criteria notified by the Government of Jharkhand. However, only 74% of the survey households have a new ration card (Priority or Antyodaya) as of now. Coverage has increased post NFSA, but this varies significantly across regions. Further, some family members names are often missing on the new ration cards. As a result, the effective coverage of NFSA in the survey villages was still well below the 86% norm for rural Jharkhand. Many respondents also complained of receiving less their due (5 kg per person per month in the case of Priority households) about 16% less in an ordinary month, with a much larger shortfall in the last two months when the supply chain was disrupted in large parts of Jharkhand. On a more positive note, 90 of the respondents were satisfied with food grainquality. Thiswas followed by testimonies from people in the survey villages and nearby villages. More than 500 people from about25 villages attended the public hearing to voice their grievances related to the Public Distribution System (PDS). Issues related to cancellation of ration card despite eligibility, missing members on the ration card, not receiving full entitlement and others, were brought up for discussion with the district and block administration. One of the main issues discussed in the meeting was the absence of ration card amongst eligible households. Many people complained about not having a ration card, including many who had a ration card (even an Antyodaya card in some cases) in pre-NFSA times. In this regard, the following promises were made by the BDO: (1) camps would be setup at the Panchayat Bhawanevery Thursdayto accept applications for new ration cards and add missing members(2) genuine AAY applicants will be issued ration cards within 15 days. Another critical problem was the local Marketing Officer (MO), Mr. Sushil Kandir. There werevocal complaints of corruption and gross absenteeism on his part from a massive section of the crowd. The BDO herself stated that the MO rarely comes to Bharno. The DSO added that even contacting him on the phone is difficult as his mobile is switched off most of the time. In spite of all this, the DSO and DGRO pleaded helplessness and failed to state clearly what action would be taken against the MO. Eventually, the DGRO agreed to recommend strict action against theMO within 3 days. Carbon Dioxide Levels Are Set To Pass 400ppmPermanently By Nadia Prupis 14 June, 2016 CommonDreams.org Record carbon dioxide levels are set to surpass the symbolic threshold of 400 parts per million (PPM) this year and will likely never fall below that line again in our lifetimes, according to a new study published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change. Scientists at the UK Met Office used emissions data, sea surface temperature figures, and a climate model from the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii to track the trajectory of CO2 levels and found that carbon dioxide "will for the first time remain above 400 ppm all year and hence for our lifetimes." Emissions have increased over the past 12 months due to the continued burning of fossil fuels, but the impact has also been exacerbated by an unbridled El Nino event. Reports from earlier this year also found that 2016 is poised to become the hottest year in recorded history. The findings highlight increasingly urgent concerns about global efforts to curb climate change as outlined in the Paris agreement negotiated last December and signed in April by nearly 170 nations. "It's a sign we are still on track for a high emissions scenario. We won't be looking at below 400ppm in our lifetimes," Richard Betts, co-author of the study and Met Office scientist, told Climate Home. The outlet's editor Ed King reports: The fact emissions rose faster than usual, Betts told Climate Home, was no surprise. Higher CO2 rates are expected as El Nino warms and dries tropical land areas, slowing the uptake of carbon by trees and plants, and increasing the risks of forest fires. [....] If and when the world continues to warm as the UNs climate science panel predicts it will based on current rates of warming gases, the threat of more fires at that scale could rise. The study also found that devastating forest fires in Indonesia in 2015 and 2016which NASA scientists warned at the time were the worst climate crisis on Earthmay have fueled about 20 percent of El Nino's addition worldwide CO2 levels. Carbon concentrations have passed the 400ppm limit before, but never permanently. The new study confirms that those days may be over for good. "Once you have passed that barrier, it takes a long time for CO2 to be removed from the atmosphere by natural processes," Betts told the Guardian on Monday. "Even if we cut emissions, we wouldnt see concentrations coming down for a long time, so we have said goodbye to measurements below 400ppm at Mauna Loa." The authors write: "In the longer term, a reduction in CO2 concentration would require substantial and sustained cuts in anthropogenic emissions to near zero." The safe level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is around 350PPM maximum, climate advocates say. But according to Betts, "We could be passing above 450ppm in roughly 20 years." This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License The Next U.S Foreign/Military Policy By Jack A. Smith 14 June, 2016 Countercurrents.org From Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, October 2011 as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan appeared to be ending: "There are those on the American political scene who are calling for us not to reposition [to Asia], but to come home. They seek a downsizing of our foreign engagement in favor of our pressing domestic priorities. These impulses are understandable, but they are misguided. Those who say that we can no longer afford to engage with the world have it exactly backward we cannot afford not to.... Rather than pull back from the world, we need to press forward and renew our leadership. The Asia-Pacific represents such a real 21st-century opportunity for usto secure and sustain our leadership abroad." President Obama's recent journey to Japan and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, beyond visiting Hiroshima and being welcomed by crowds in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, was primarily aimed at strengthening his administration's most important foreign policy objective the political, commercial and military encirclement of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Now that Hillary Clinton is the presumptive Democratic Party nominee, Obama may rest assured that if she defeats Republican Donald Trump in November, as expected, his "rebalance" to Asia will continue apace. Indeed, a Clinton administration may move faster and more decisively. Clinton was a strong advocate of the rebalance and thoroughly agrees with Obama that Beijing must never be allowed to diminish Washington's global hegemony, even within China's ownSouth Asian region, and, like Obama, she always uses the code words "American leadership" in place of "American domination." Obama announced what he first termed a "pivot" to Asia in the fall of 2011 just after a 5,500-word article by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton titled "America's Pacific Century" appeared in Foreign Policy magazine. It began: "As the war in Iraq winds down and America begins to withdraw its forces from Afghanistan, the United States stands at a pivot point. Over the last 10 years, we have allocated immense resources to those two theaters. In the next 10 years, we need to be smart and systematic about where we invest time and energy, so that we put ourselves in the best position to sustain our leadership, secure our interests, and advance our values. One of the most important tasks of American statecraft over the next decade will therefore be to lock in a substantially increased investment diplomatic, economic, strategic, and otherwise in the Asia-Pacific region." The "otherwise" meant military. While in Japan, Obama told the newspaper Asahi Shimbun May 26: "Renewing American leadership in the Asia Pacific has been one of my top policy priorities as President, and Im very proud of the progress that weve made. The cornerstone of our rebalance strategy has been bolstering our treaty alliancesincluding with Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Philippines and Australiaand today each of these alliances is stronger than when I came into office. Weve forged new partnerships with countries like Vietnam, which I just visited, and with regional institutions like ASEAN and the East Asia Summit. With the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the highest-standard trade agreement in history, we have the opportunity to write the rules for regional and global trade for decades to come. I believe that Americas position in the region has never been stronger, and Im confident that the next U.S. President will continue to build on our progress." A week later in San Diego Clinton delivered a foreign policy speech. Its purpose was to show that she would be much better than Republican Donald Trump in furthering America's global interests. Accusing Trump of not understanding that Russia and China "work against us," she declared: If America doesnt lead, we leave a vacuum and that will either cause chaos, or other countries will rush in to fill the void. Then theyll be the ones making the decisions about your lives and jobs and safety and trust me, the choices they make will not be to our benefit. Now Moscow and Beijing are deeply envious of our alliances around the world, because they have nothing to match them. Theyd love for us to elect a president who would jeopardize that source of strength. If Donald gets his way, theyll be celebrating in the Kremlin. We cannot let that happen. Instead of defining the November election as a contest between the right/far right Republicans and the center right Democrats, Clinton depicted it as a choice between "a fearful America thats less secure and less engaged in the world [under Trump], and a strong, confident America that leads to keep our country safe and our economy growing. Clinton has thus committed herself to a continuation of Washington's decades-longimperial foreign/military policies, replete with cold war rhetoric, the notion of an indispensible America, the commitment to "lead" the world, and targeting China and Russia as virtual enemies. There was no hint of making any efforts to reduce world tensions peacefully. As a result of Obama-Clinton policies the relationship between Beijing and Moscow has become considerably closer in recent years. Meanwhile the Bush-Obama Middle East wars are expected to continue indefinitely, at least throughout the next administration and maybe much longer. If Clinton gains the White House she is expected to intensify U.S. involvement in these conflicts, particularly in Syria and Libya. Her primary rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders, is significantly to Clinton's left in domestic politics but only moderately less hawkish in foreign affairs. Trump is a dangerous enigma, correctly identified by Clinton as temperamentally unfit to hold an office that requires knowledge, stability and immense responsibility. U.S. arms for Vietnam President Obama was warmly received by the Vietnamese Communist Party, the government and it seems by the people as well during his three-day visit starting May 22. A number of U.S. news articles marveled at the fact that Washington appeared to be totally excused for its brutal two-decade intervention to prevent the unification of temporarily divided North and South Vietnam. After all, some to 3.8 million Vietnamese people died from the American air and ground war, as did nearly two million in Cambodia and Laos combined due to U.S. led attacks on suspected North Vietnamese trails and hideouts in these neighboring countries. U.S. war deaths were 58,193 between 1955-1975. Part of the reason Vietnam doesn't hate the U.S. is that it won the long war against the world's most powerful military state following Hanoi's victory against French colonialism and the earlier Japanese invasion and occupation. Vietnam was exhausted and in economic difficulty after 30 years of continual conflict when the Americans finally fled South Vietnam in April 1975. Another reason for cautiously partnering with the U.S. is the existence of China on Vietnam's northern border. Chinese dynasties dominated Vietnam for over 900 years between 111 BCE and 1427 CE. Both Russia and China supported Vietnam in the fight against U.S. aggression but grave tensions and even the possibility of an armed conflict between the two giant nations was an additional worry for Hanoi, which needed their material support to pursue the war. On Dec. 25, 1978,Vietnam invaded and occupied adjacent Cambodia in order to drive out the ultra-left Khmer Rouge government after a number of border clashes between them. In February 1979, China which had supported the Khmer Rouge invaded northern Vietnam in a brief but bloody one-month war, with both sides claiming victory. Several short skirmishes took place until 1989 when Vietnam withdrew from Cambodia. Since then relations between the two neighboring countries with governments that seem to share the same socialist ideology have been peaceful but distant. During his stay in Vietnam, Obama was publicly critical of what he considered Vietnam's human rights shortcomings, as though killing five million people in Indochina, millions in the contemporary Middle East, and uncritically supporting dictatorships such as Saudi Arabia gave Washington the international standing to wag its finger in Hanoi's face. But Obama'scriticisms of the country wereprimarily for show, paving the way for him to announce the ending of he 41-year ban on lethal arms sales to Vietnam. In Hanoi, Obama told a press conference that "we already have U.S. vessels that have come here to port [at Cam Ranh Bay and] we expect that there will be deepening cooperation between our militaries." According to The Diplomat May 31: "Uncorroborated Vietnamese sources in Hanoi [state that] prior to Obamas visit, U.S. officials proposed to their hosts the possibility of raising their comprehensive partnership to a strategic partnership [an important upgrading]. Vietnamese officials reportedly got cold feet at the last minute and politely left this proposal for future consideration.At the same time, although U.S. officials, including the president, described bilateral relations as entering a new phase, no new adjective was placed in front of comprehensive partnership in the official joint statement issued by the two presidents to indicate that relations had advanced significantly since 2013." China's Global Times, a party daily tabloid that tends to speak directly, argued May 26 in reference to the U.S. decision to sell arms to Vietnam: "This is a new move by the U.S. to advance its rebalance to the Asia-Pacific strategy, displaying Washington's desire to reinforce military cooperation with China's neighboring countries.... Now, Washington is ironically trying to manipulate Vietnam's nationalism to counter China. U.S. Senator John McCain, a prisoner in the Vietnam War and now Chairman of Senate Armed Services Committee, plays a key role in rescinding the ban on the sale of lethal arms to Vietnam, believing it will rope in Hanoi to counter China's rise." In the same issue of Global Times, Nguyen Vu Tung, acting president of the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam in Hanoi, wrote an op-ed that expressed his "personal" views, stating: "In July 2013, Vietnam and the U.S. agreed to elevate their relationship to a 'comprehensive partnership' designed to further promote bilateral ties in all fields. It is noteworthy that the enhancement of Vietnam-U.S. relations ran parallel with Vietnam's forging its relations with China, a big neighbor that is of increasing importance to Vietnam's peace, stability and prosperity.... Vietnam-U.S. relations are not developing at the expense of the links between Vietnam and China. Instead of choosing sides, Hanoi tries its best to promote relations with both China and the U.S. and sees its relations with them in positive-sum terms..... "The independent posture of Vietnam's foreign policy applies especially to Vietnam's defense policy where Vietnam strictly follows a 'three-no principle.' Vietnam will not enter any military pact and become a military ally of any country, will not allow any country to set up a military base on its soil, and will not rely on any country to oppose any other country. Recently, Hanoi has been under some domestic pressure to review this principle. Yet, adhering to it is still the policy mainstream." With the arms sales Vietnam is now considered an allied member of the informal U.S. coterie of East Asian and Southeast Asian nations, six of which are contending with China's claims to most of the South China Sea, with Washington's backing. Beijing says it is willing to negotiate with the six on a one to one basis but the U.S insists on multilateral talks. In addition to Vietnam the countries involved in the claims include Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Japan. China's claim is based on two points: 1. Implicitly, its long history about 4,000 years, nearly all of it under Chinese dynastic imperial rule until 104 years ago. 2. Explicitly, the 1947 "nine dash line" map produced by the Chinese Nationalist government in 1947, two years before the success of the Chinese communist revolution replaced the semi-capitalist/semi-feudal Nationalist enterprise called the Republic of China with the People's Republic of China. The Nationalist government, army and many civilians fled to Taiwan, an offshore province of China that still maintains that the nine dash line is absolutely legitimate, as does the PRC. The U.S. which supported the Nationalists to the extent of keeping Taiwan in China's permanent Security Council seat until 1971 did not question China's claims until fairly recent years. U.S. support for the six claimants is an important political part of the containment of China by increasing the number of regional allies and dependencies that will support Washington's political goals. There are military and commercial aspects of the rebalance to Asia in addition to using allies to strengthen opposition to China. The U.S. has militarily dominated the East Asia region since the end of World War II in 1945 but it has been significantly increasing its military might since launching the pivot to Asia. More Army and Air force units have been ordered to existing bases in Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Guam, and other nearby locations, as well as a new base in Australia. Up to 90,000 U.S. military personnel are in the vicinity. Navy aircraft carriers, other warships and submarines have been shifted from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans. An aircraft carrier battle group is patrolling the East China Sea. Some U.S. ships navigate extremely close to small Chinese islets that are being upgraded a practice that could inadvertently spark an armed confrontation. The principle commercial element of the effort to contain China is the corporation-dominated Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Washington's neoliberal free-trade proposal for 12 Pacific Rim countries that is intended to enlarge U.S. economic influence in the region at the expense of China, which has not been invited to join. The 12 signatories to the TPP agreement in 2010 included Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, United States and Vietnam. Ratification of the trade pact the may not happen, not least because recent political developments in the U.S. may bury this major Bush-Obama initiative. Hillary Clinton, once a strong advocate as secretary of state, turned against the TPP during the Democratic primary in order to opportunistically convey the impression she was as radical as Sanders in order to attract his constituency. She also wanted to retain the support of the AFL-CIO, which strongly opposes the pact. Trump rejects the TPP because many working class supporters believe that such trade deals take away American jobs, which they do. Some commentators suggest Obama may be able to get it passed after the elections and before the new president assumes office, but it's a long shot. Vietnam supports the TTP because its economy stands to gain from increased trade.It is of interest that China is Vietnam's biggest trading partner and will remain so, as is true of most regional nations aligning with the U.S. superpower. Beijing's rise over the last 20 years has benefitted all these states, not to mention the transfer of reasonably priced reliable goods throughout area. U.S. President visits Hiroshima Obama arrived in Japan May 25 to attend a Group of Seven meeting and to further strengthen Japan's commitment to help in the effort to surround China, but the international media focused entirely on the first American presidential visit to Hiroshima in the 71 years since the United States obliterated Hiroshima and Nagasaki with nuclear weapons. He didn't apologize to Japan because that would be unpopular with many Americans and alsowith Korea and China, countries that suffered woefully from the vicious and racist Japanese invasion and occupation. They believe Japan hasn't sufficiently atoned for its numerous wartime atrocities. Instead Obama delivered a quite moving speech: "We come to ponder a terrible force unleashed in the not-so-distant past. We come to mourn the dead, including over 100,000 Japanese men, women and children, thousands of Koreans, a dozen Americans held prisoner. Their souls speak to us. They ask us to look inward, to take stock of who we are...." His address was hypocritical, particularly when he declared: "We may not be able to eliminate mans capacity to do evil. So nations and the alliances that we formed must possess the means to defend ourselves. But among those nations like my own that hold nuclear stockpiles, we must have the courage to escape the logic of fear and pursue a world without them. We may not realize this goal in my lifetime, but persistent effort can roll back the possibility of catastrophe. We can chart a course that leads to the destruction of these stockpiles. We can stop the spread to new nations and secure deadly materials from fanatics. And yet, that is not enough, for we see around the world today how even the crudest rifles and barrel bombs can serve up violence on a terrible scale. We must change our mindset about war itself." In reality Obama is not only slower than his three predecessors in reducing nuclear weapons but he has initiated a trillion dollar effort to upgrade America's entire nuclear arsenal and delivery systems. In his Asahi Shimbun interview Obama also said: "I believe that weve substantially enhanced Americas credibility in the Asia Pacific, which is rooted in our unwavering commitment to the security of our allies. We continue to modernize our defense posture in the region, including positioning more of our most advanced military capabilities in Japan. As Ive said before, our treaty commitment to Japan's security is absolute. With our new defense guidelines, American and Japanese forces will become more flexible and better prepared to cooperate on a range of challenges, from maritime security to disaster response, and our forces will be able to plan, train and operate even more closely. Im very grateful for Prime Minister Abes strong support of our alliance." Abe is a hawk about China. "No one country is more enthusiastic than Japan to advocate containing China," according to a May 19 commentary by Zhang Zhixin, the head of American Political Studies at China's Institute of American Studies. He continued: "The strategic competition between the [U.S. and China] is becoming more apparent. In economic and trade areas, the EU and U.S. denied granting market economy status to China. In the South China Sea, where China is trying to secure its maritime sovereignty and rights, the U.S. believes China is challenging its regional hegemony and military dominance in the area. As deputy Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said, the U.S. is intensely focused on Chinas 'assertive and provocative behavior.' Therefore, the U.S. Navy is pushing for a more aggressive policy of patrolling close to Chinese-fortified islands and caused more dangerous encounters between the U.S. reconnaissance aircraft and Chinese jet planes. "What makes the situation more complicated is that Japan, as an outsider in the South China Sea issue, is trying to insert itself into the conflict. At the end of last year, the Japanese Foreign Minister talked about the possibility of joint patrol with the U.S. Navy in the [South China Sea] area. This year, Japan is becoming increasingly aggressive in charging that China's a threat in the Asia Pacific region. It is understandable for the Prime Minister Abe to do so to the domestic audience to sell his proposal of revising the pacifist Constitution, but when he was selling his viewpoint to the EU countries, thats too much. Japan is allied with the U.S., but the latter never restrained Japans anti-China rhetoric. Furthermore, Japan actively sold advanced weapons to countries around the South China Sea, participated in more multilateral military exercises, and conducted more port calls in the area, which just made the regional situation more tense." Another area of sharp Chinese-Japanese contention is in the East China Sea. Both countries claim rocky, uninhabited protuberances known as Senkaku by Tokyo and Diaoyu by Beijing. China scrambled jets to meet Japanese military aircraft in disputed airspace May 21. Japanese officials said it was the closest Chinese jets had flown to their planes. It came as China was holding air-sea naval exercises with Russia in the region. Tokyo officially protested to Chinese ambassador Cheng Yonghua June 9 about a "Chinese and three Russian warships" that entered what Japan called the "contiguous zones" near the disputed Islands. The Chinese Defense ministry responded June 9 calling the navigation legal and reasonable, insisting "China's naval ships have every right to navigate in waters under its jurisdiction." The reply came a day a before the beginning of a large-scale eight-day joint military drill in the western Pacific involving the U.S., Japan and India. According to Stratfor in a June 10 analysis: "Japan under Abe has upset Beijing by broadening the geographic and functional scope of the operations of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, which Japan's postwar pacifism long limited. Perceptions of Chinese expansionism have prompted Japan to prioritize responding in the South China Sea. In 2015, Japan announced the start of talks with the Philippines on a Visiting Forces Agreement that would permit Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force personnel to rotate through Philippine bases. Later that year, Japan secured an agreement with Vietnam to allow Japanese warships to make port calls at Cam Ranh Bay, which they did in April of this year. Even more ambitiously, Japan has responded that it might be amenable to U.S. calls for regional powers to join freedom of navigation operations in waters far beyond the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force's traditional domain in Japan's near seas. Though these steps are incremental, they represent slow and steady progress toward a clear endpoint most unwelcome in Beijing the routine presence of Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force operations in the South China Sea." The 42ndG7 summit meeting in Japan May 2627 accomplished little. It was "an opportunity lost" according to Montreal Star columnist Thomas Walkom, who wrote June 1: The leaders of seven important countries had a chance to do something that would rekindle the sputtering global economy.Some, including Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Canadas Justin Trudeauurged their fellow leaders to foreswear austerity and, among other growth-inducing measures, spend money to stimulate the world economy. "They failed. Italys Matteo Renzi was on side with Canada and Japan, as were Frances Francois Hollande and U.S. President Barack Obama. But Germanys Angela Merkel and Britains David Cameron insisted that debt and deficit control were more important than fiscal stimulus.The final communique from the session said essentially that each nation would continue to do what it thought best.So what do we make of the G7? In some ways, its time has passed. It no longer represents the worlds major economies. China is conspicuously absent. Russia, briefly a member of what was then called the G8, was summarily expelled in 2014 for annexing Crimea." The importance of India As soon as President Obama returned home he put aside time to work out plans for ensnaring rising India more deeply into Washington's informal anti-China coalition. He met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the White House June 7. This was their seventh meeting in the two years since the Indian leader was elected in May 2014, which must be some kind of record. Modi addressed Congress the next day and his speech was received with great applause. Earlier Indian governments, while friendly to the U.S. were closer to Russia (and the USSR in earlier days) and nonaligned countries than to America. Modi is campaigning for a much closer relationship with Washington, which is exactly what the Obama administration wants. The Economist noted June 11: "China worries about signs that Western countries are cozying up to its giant neighbor. It fears that Modi will exploit better ties with America as a source of advantage. For years the Pentagon has pursued India as part of an effort to counterbalance growing Chinese strength, but only in recent months have Indian military officials begun to show eagerness for co-operation. This month the two countries will hold their annual naval exercises not in Indian waters, but in the Sea of Japan, with the Japanese navy, near islands claimed by both Japan and China. In a wide-ranging speech before a joint session of Congress on June 8 Modi said that America was Indias indispensable partner. An outright military alliance between India and America remains unlikely, but even the remote prospect of one will concentrate Chinese minds. In her pivot to Asia article referred to earlier, Clinton foresaw intense U.S. involvement in the region "stretching from the Indian subcontinent to the western shores of the Americas.... Among key emerging powers with which we will work closely are India and Indonesia, two of the most dynamic and significant democratic powers of Asia, and both countries with which the Obama administration has pursued broader, deeper, and more purposeful relationships." India and Indonesia are second and fourth ranking countries in population. (China is first, U.S. third.) According to the Center for International Studies "Washington has made it clear that Jakarta is central to the U.S. rebalance, toward the Asia Pacific, both in its own right and as a leader in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN.)"It is also the largest Muslim country by far. India, however, is the big prize.As a result of U.S.-Indian talks after the Modi government took power India has been designated a "Major Defense Partner" by Washington, although it is not entirely understood what this unusual title obligates India to do. For its part the U.S. is supplying India with technology, loans,equipment,and other means of enhancing India's economy and military. Commenting on the Obama-Modi meeting June 7 the Associated Press reported "The two governments said they had finalized the text of a defense logistics agreement to make it easier for their militaries to operate together. The U.S. and India share concern about the rise of China, although New Delhi steers clear of a formal alliance with Washington. In an article published by the Cato Institute April 29 and titled Persistent Suitor: Washington Wants India as an Ally to Contain China, Ted Galen Carpenter wrote: "A growing number of policymakers and pundits see India not only as an increasingly important economic and military player generally, but as a crucial potential strategic counterweight to a rising China.... Strategic ties have gradually and substantially deepened. President Barack Obama has characterized the relationship between the United States and India as 'a defining partnership of the 21st century,' and Indian Prime Minister Modi has termed it 'a natural alliance.' Perhaps more significant, India has contracted to receive some $14 billion in supposedly defensive military items from the United States in less than a decade. Washington has now edged out Moscow as Indias principal arms supplier. "Bilateral strategic ties received an additional boost in mid-April 2016 with the visit of U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter to Delhi. That trip generated considerable uneasiness in China, where opinion leaders noted not only was it Carters second trip to India during his relatively brief tenure as Pentagon chief, but that he cancelled a previously scheduled trip to Beijing so that he could make this latest journey. That move, they feared, suggested a rather unsubtle tilt against China in favor of one of its potential regional geostrategic competitors. The agreement that came from Carters visit would do nothing to reassure the Chinese.... "Moreover, India maintains an important economic relationship of its own with China. Indeed, according to most calculations, China has now emerged as Indias largest trading partner. Trade between the two Asian giants topped $80 billion in 2015. In addition to the economic stakes, there are bilateral security issues, primarily unresolved border disputes, as well as security issues throughout Central Asia of concern to Delhi that could be exacerbated if relations with Beijing deteriorated.Shrewd Indian policymakers may well conclude that the best position for their country is one of prudent neutrality (perhaps with a slight pro-American tilt) in the growing tensions between the United States and China." U.S.-China Relations The contradiction between Washington's words and deeds is no better exemplified than in its relations with China. U.S. rhetoric rarely includes threats, except occasionally regarding the South China Sea. Most though not all its multitude of discussions with Chinese leaders are soft spoken and civil. From time to time the U.S. speaks of China as a "partner." Never stated openly is the fact that Washington will continue pressuring Beijing until it learns how to behave in a fashion acceptable to the world's only military and economic superpower. Part of that pressure consists of continual exaggerations of China's military power, which is far behind that U.S. The Beijing government never threatens the U.S. It is well aware of the meaning behind Washington's friendly words because it is surrounded by U.S. military power and Washington's obedient allies in the region, by exclusionary trade deals, the rejection of its claims in the South China Sea and innumerable efforts by the White House to undermine China in all the political and economic associations and coalitions in the East Asia region. Beijing rarely mentions this publicly and works to develop a cooperative "win-win" relationship with Washington. China clearly recognizes the U.S. as the world's great power and occasionally appears slightly deferential. The following June 6 report from Xinhua news agency about the annual China-U.S. Strategic and Economic Dialogue held in Beijing that day is typical example of the Chinese approach: "President Xi Jinping urged China and the United States to properly manage differences and sensitive issues and deepen strategic mutual trust and cooperation at a high-level bilateral dialogue. The differences between China and the United States are normal, Xi said. "As long as the two sides tackle differences and sensitive issues in the principle of mutual respect and equality, major disturbances in bilateral relations can be avoided, Xi said, adding that China and the United States should strengthen communication and cooperation on Asia-Pacific affairs. "The broad Pacific Ocean, Xi said, 'should not become an arena for rivalry, but a big platform for inclusive cooperation. China and the United States have extensive common interests in the region and should maintain frequent dialogues, cooperate more, tackle challenges, jointly maintain prosperity and stability in the region, and "cultivate common circles of friends' rather than 'cultivate exclusive circles of friends.' "The Chinese president also called on the two sides to expand mutually beneficial cooperation, uphold the win-win principle, and raise the level of bilateral cooperation.... [He] stressed that China will unswervingly pursue the path of peaceful development and promote the building of a new model of international relations with win-win cooperation at its core." At the same time, as we have written at length [1], China openly rejects in principle the existence of a unilateral global hegemon a position the U.S. has occupied for the last quarter century since the implosion of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Beijing advocates a form of shared global leadership. Washington is convinced that it deserves the right to in effect rule the world and has no intention of dismantling its shadow empire. This is the principal contradiction between the U.S. and China. Beijing is doing what it can to avoid a major clash with the United States, short of appearing to kowtow to Washington. The U.S. does not want a clash as well. Both sides fear the possibility of war and each is aware that one may eventually take place. That is certainly one of the reasons the Obama administration has launched its decades-long program costing a trillion dollars to modernize America's nuclear arsenal. China, for all its progress since the 1980s, is still a developing country and behind the U.S. in many ways, but is destined to become a major power in a few decades at most. The U.S. cannot but accept China's inevitable growth. At issue is whether Beijing will eventually subordinate itself to the U.S. as have other powers, such as Germany, UK, France and Japan, have done, or in any other acceptable fashion. There are current and historical reasons why China will not do so. At this point the U.S. is drawing upon all its resources to contain and surround the growing giant. This can only lead to big trouble in time, for both countries and the world. Unfortunately, both U.S. neoliberal capitalist political parties are absolutely dedicated to world domination and ultimately to the use of terrible violence to defend American "leadership." Unless this changes substantially imperialism eventually will lead to global calamity. This is a matter that goes far beyond the Hillary, Donald, and Bernie political preoccupation of the moment. None of them would substantially transform the existing foreign/military policy. Only a genuinely left wing mass movement in the U.S. has a chance of changing direction. [1] For article "The Hegemony Games USA v. PRC," click on 5-31-15 Newsletter Hegemony Games Jack A. Smith, editor of the Hudson Valley Activist Newsletter at http://activistnewsletter.blogspot.com/, who may be reached at jacdon@earthlink.net. Amulet: A Political- Fantasy Novel by RobertoBolano Book Review By Gaither Stewart 14 June, 2016 Countercurrents.org As read and admired by political novelist Gaither Stewart Rome: I am reading for the first time the work of Chilean born writer, Roberto Bolano.His novel, Amulet, set in a phantasmagoric Mexico City that, perhaps,also because it is Latin Americas biggest city, represents the entire crushed and tortured and imprisoned and murdered Latin America while also his characters are emblematic of the suffering and decimation of much of the best of the Latin American youth. Perhaps the author chose to highlight Mexico City, not only because of the massacre of Mexican students there in 1968, butalso because he moved there as a teenager and lived there many years before moving to Spain and Barcelona where he died at 50. This distinct novelist-fabulist,Roberto Bolano, depicted in his Amuletthe systematic U.S. - organized political disasters (Operation Condor) in Latin America in the 1960s and 70s.Bolano was a literary writer who attempted to correct official governmental history such as that of the Chilean revolution and its crushing by the counter-revolution of General Pinochet and Operation Condor, as well as the massacre of Mexican students by government police and army on Plaza Tlatelolco in Mexico City The narrator of this fable is the author's dream-like Auxilio Lacouture who, when the riot police and soldiers arrive that day in 1968 and arrest everyone, hides in a stall in the womensbathroom of the Faculty of Philosophy and Literature in the National Autonomous University of Mexico where she remains alone and without food for thirteen days, eating only toilet paper until all hunger passes and with time becoming a Mexico City Legend. During those interminable days and nights on the cold tiles of the bathroom she dreams and imagines the characters and actions of Bolanos fable about the young poets of Mexico City and Latin America. In the first chapter of AMULET, Auxilio, young herself and beautiful except for four (unexplained) missing front teeth, who calls herself the Mother of Mexican Poetry relates of herself after her arrival in Mexico from Uruguay or perhaps from Buenos Aires (facts here are always elusive and uncertain) when she goes to work for free for two older and famous Spanish poets, although she has no money, no official work, and often no fixed residence: "... Auxilio, leave those papers alone (the two Spanish poets would say), woman, dust and literature have always gone together.... How right they are, dust and literature from the beginning ...and I conjured up wonderful and melancholy scenes, I imagined books sitting quietly on shelves and the dust of the world creeping into libraries, slowly, persistently, unstoppably, and then I came to understand that books are easy prey for dust....However heroic my efforts with broom and rag, the dust was never going to go away, since it was an integral part of the books, their way of living or of mimicking something like life." Unexpectedly I stayed longer than anticipatedin chapter one, in fact I moved backwards whenearly on I saw that this book requires much repetition and much interpretation. For this is a very political novel, a criminal act for many readers for which crime I have lost friends, though Bolano covers it up well, not only with brilliant writing but through his strange heroine Auxilio Lacouture, the "mother of Mexican poets" some of whom she sleeps with and who do not mention her missing four front teeth. The author disguises the political also with love and with travel. One day Auxilio leaves Montevideo for Buenos Aires across the Rio de la Plata and then travels on to Mexico, her destiny she says, in search of two Spanish poets living in Mexico City. "Maybe it was madness that impelled me to travel. It could have been madness. I used to say it was culture. Of course culture sometimes is, or involves, a kind of madness. Maybe it was a lack of love that impelled me to travel. Or an overwhelming abundance of love. Maybe it was madness..... "You run risks. That's the plain truth, and even in the most unlikely places, you are subject to destiny's whims." In Bolanos prose, objects come alive and play major roles. Auxilio becomes obsessed by a vase her god-like poet stares at. She stares at it too and comes to fear and hate it and wants to smash it on the floor but is afraid to touch it, certain it contains hell in its depths.Over the years, lost books, dead poets, then love dissolve into the air of Mexico City and perhaps become part of the dust that blows through the city. "The dust cloud reduces everything to dust. First the poets, then love, then, when it seems to be sated and about to disperse, the cloud returns to hang high over your city or your mind, with a mysterious air that means it has no intention of moving." Bolano works in images. Mostly created by his fantastic characters, some independently and deeply buried in the at times arcane text. He uses repetition to make his point. The two chief images are the massacre of Mexican students on Mexico Citys Plaza Tlatelolco by the state (during which thirteen days Auxilio remains locked in her stall in the womens bathroom on the fourth floor of the Faculty of Philosophy and Literature of the National Autonomous University of Mexico)and the crushing of the democratically elected leftwing Chilean government of Salvador Allende in Santiago by Operation Condor/General Pinochet. Repetition, Repetition. They are all young, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen years old, the young poets of Mexico City with whom Auxilio, the Mother of Mexican poets, hangs out all night in the bars of Colonia Napoles and Colonia Roma and in chic Colonia Polanco or in the Zona Rosa or she visits someone in very elegantCoyoacan as well as in many of the citys incurable streets, but above all in the bars like the authors Cafe Quito onAvenida Bucareli and they are poor butthey are not all really Mexican. They are all of Latin America. They are positive youth, the best, in contrast with the other group hanging out in the same bars, referred to as old, failed journalists and Spanish exiles,friendly people but not good company, all engaged in the same old conversations such as their stories about Fidel and Che Guevara during their stay in Mexico. No one is satisfied with the answer of a very sexy female character named Lilian who was very beautiful when she was younger, who says she slept with Che and that in bed he was normal. Lilian was Mexican . It was said that in the course of her drawn-out youth she had many fiances and admirers. Lilian, however, was not interested in fiances, she wanted lovers, and she had them too. She liked nothing better than lying in bed with a man and moaning with pleasure till dawn. That too is Bolano. El Che in bed could not possibly be just normal. Other accents enter the individual stories, Uruguayan orthe Portenoof Buenos Aires or Chileanand mentions of Ecuador and Honduras and Nicaragua and Panama. The readergradually comes to realize that these poor, bedraggled, homosexual, heterosexual, bisexual, faceless, nameless, unidentified youth are the lost generation(s) of all of martyred Latin America. On October 2, 1968, in the Plaza de las Tres Culturas in the Tlatelolco section of Mexico City, Mexican riot police and military forces massacred hundreds of students and civilians to suppress the growing student protest movement centered at the National Autonomous Universityof Mexicoten days before the opening of the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City which were not to be disturbed. These events were part of the Mexican Dirty War when the government used all its forces to suppress political opposition. Thousands were arrested, beaten and tortured by security police.There is no consensus on how many were killed that day in the plaza area.At the time the government and the mainstream media in Mexico claimed that government forces had been provoked by protesters shooting at them. But official documents made public since 2000 suggest that the snipers had been employed by the government. If this makes you think of Kiev, Ukraine, in 2014, it is because it is the same U.S.- organized Dirty War. Same formula. Same dead youth. False flag in 1968.Estimates of a death toll from 30 to 300 contrasts with eyewitnesses reporting many hundreds dead, their bodies stacked in huge piles. As Auxilio hallucinates in her stall-home in the womens bathroom of the National Autonomous University of Mexico Faculty of Philosophy and Literature she ruminates about her relationship with the children of the sewers, from the darkest, dirtiest places of Mexico City, i.e. of all of Latin America and to the small voice that is her herself she launches into a series of connected-disconnected prophecies of the reincarnation of the greats of literature: These are my prophecies, Vladimir Mayakovsky shall come back into fashion around the year 2150. James Joyce shall be reincarnated as a Chinese boy in the year 2124.Thomas Mann shall become an Ecuadorian pharmacist in the year 2101. For Marcel Proust, a desperate and prolonged period of oblivion shall begin in the year 2033. Ezra Pound shall disappear from certain libraries in the year 2089. Luis Borges shall be read underground in the year 2045.Virginian Woolf shall be reincarnated as an Argentinean fiction writer in the year 2076.Louis-Ferdinand Celine shall enter Purgatory in the year 2094. Paul Eluard shall appeal to the masses in the year 2121. And the writer-Auxilio-Mother of Latin American Poets continues through some Italian and French literary greats before coming out with predictions like: Framz Kafka shall once again be read underground throughout all of Latin America in the year 2113. The case of Anton Chekhov shall be slightly different: he shall be reincarnated in the year 2003 (the year of Bolanos death in Barcelona), in the year 2010, and then in the year 2014. He shall appear once more in the year 20181. And never again after that. The connection of these two pages of literary prophecies with the rest of the text of this book is a riddle. Do the names selected have significance? Do the years for their reappearance, underground life, the alterations in their vocation have meanings? I myself will leave these considerations to others and pass on to the novels final and for me most meaningful passages. In the storys last and most powerful scene, in which Auxilio has imagined she is descending from the frozen heights of snow and ice of Machu Pichu toward the valley, abandoning her stall in the womens bathroom of the Faculty of Philosophy and Literature of the National AutonomousUniversity of Mexico, thinking of the legend borne on the winds of 1968 that circulated among the dead and survivors, and that now everyone knew that when the university was occupied in that beautiful, ill-fated year, a woman remained on the campus . And when people said that I was the mother of Mexican poetry I would say that Im nobodys mother, but I did know them all, all the young poets, whether they were natives of Mexico City, or came from the provinces, or other places of Latin America and I loved them all. And Auxilio endured and left the immense regions of snow and ice and saw a great valley opening below. And then she saw that at the end of the valley it opened into a bottomless abyss. The valley led straight into the abyss, And then she saw a shadow spreading and advancing from the other end of the valley and after a while she realized that the advancing shadow was a multitude of young people, an interminable legion of young people on the march to somewhere. I also realized that although they were walking together they did not constitute what is commonly known as a mass: their destinies were not oriented by a common idea. They were united only by their generosity and courage.. They were walking toward the abyss. I think I realized that as soon as I saw them. A shadow or a mass of children, walking unstoppably toward the abyss. And I heard them sing. I hear them singing still, faintly, even now that I am not in the valley, a barely audible murmur, the prettiest children of Latin America, the ill-fed and the well-fed children, those who had everything and those who had nothing, such a beautiful song it is, issuing from their lips, and how beautiful they were, such beauty, although they were marching deathward, shoulder to shoulder.The only thing I could do was to stand up, trembling, and listen to their song right up to the last breath, because, although they were swallowed by the abyss, the song remained in the air of the valley. So the ghost-children marched down the valley and fell into the abyss. Their passage was brief. And their ghost-song or its echo, which is almost to say the echo of nothingness, went on marching. And although the song that I heard was about war, about the heroic deeds of a whole generation of young Latin Americans led to sacrifice, I knew that above and beyond all, it was about courage and mirrors, desire and pleasure. And that song is our amulet. Gaither Stewart, based in Rome is a veteran journalist and essayist on a broad palette of topics from culture to history and politics, he is also the author of the Europe Trilogy, celebrated spy thrillers whose latest volume, Time of Exile, was recently published by Punto Press. Printer Friendly Version PA Fiddles While Palestine Dwindles By Vacy Vlazna 14 June, 2016 Countercurrents.org In April, President Abbas, true to form, buckled under international pressure to sacrifice the integrity of the land of Palestine on the altar of another bogus peace initiative by friends of Israel. The Palestinian Authority (PA) had been circulating to UN Security Council members a draft resolution condemning Israeli settlements when the French government effortlessly convinced Abbas to cease and desist the demand to protect diminishing Palestinian land being razed for settlement expansion until after France held its Paris talkfest. Well, the Paris shindig, attended by foreign ministers from Europe, Arab States and the US has come and gone with notable diplomatic irrelevance. It ended, heedless of the French request for urgent deadlines, with no set timetable for yet another pointless peace stunt later in the year. Inevitably, Paris impotently administered CPR to the dead two state solution, tokenly stated that the status quo is not sustainable while maintaining the status quo, purposely minimised criticism of Israel, mouthed empty alarm at the violence on the ground, dodged the Right of Return, fantasised about a mythical peace a la Arab Peace Initiative. A further dead giveaway of the inanity of the Paris pretence. was its acknowledgement of the key role of the failed quisling Quartet. And Paree was flush with anti-Palestine quislings. Of the 26 countries represented, 11* have not recognised the State of Palestine. The host, yes, was the very same France that has no diplomatic relations with the State of Palestine, and is tied with Germany as Europes largest exporter of arms to Israel (Halper). Not one French bullet nor air-to-ground missile, not one Rafaele fighter jet, nor Mistral helicopter carrier was sold to Palestine. In 2014, during Israels monstrous assault on Gaza, France was the first in the world to ban pro-Palestine rallies, even posting details of rallies could incur a years imprisonment or a 15,000 Euro fine. France has criminalised BDS under the Lellouche law as an incitement to hatred and anti-semitism which violates the right to freedom of expression once defended popularly and hypocritically by the Charlie Hebdo issue. Seemingly unfazed by Israels destruction (this year alone) of 150 European funded projects at a loss of a mere $74 million, EU foreign policy head, Federica Mogherini, stressed that the aim of the summit was not to impose terms. This fits snugly with the EUs overlooking the terms of the settlement funding ban in the Horizon 2020 agreement with Israel involving, according to Halper, the biggest single R&D budget in the world, which will make 80 billion of funding available over seven years (201420) The Arab turncoat delegation included the Arab League, Saudi Arabia (of killing Yemeni children and bombing MSF hospital fame), Egypt, Jordan, Morocco all of which are US pawns thereby no friends of the Palestinian people. The Saudis are Frances top arms client and Jordan, UAE and Egypt (plus Israeli defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman) are manoeuvring for Death-Squad-Dahlan to succeed Abbas ignoring that prison not presidency is Dahlans rightful fate. Double-dealer Ban Ki Moon jibber-jabbered about the need for courageous leadership- a concept that is beyond his ken. UN leadership should have booted out Israel from the UN decades ago for violating international law and ignoring dozens of UN resolutions particularly UNSC Resolution 242 calling for the withdrawal of Israel armed forced from territories in the 1967 war and 446 that Determines that the policy and practices of Israel in establishing settlements in the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967 have no legal validity and constitute a serious obstruction to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East. The cherry on the top of the quisling pie, was the absent PA (Palestinian and Israeli officials were not invited - go figure!) carrying on the Arafat tradition of fiddling perks while Palestine dwindles. In the mere 6 weeks from the PA suspension of its anti-settlement initiative to the end of the French sham, the Zionists pushed on airbrushing, dunum by dunum, Palestine from the face of the world; Early April Plan No. 901/20 which states the construction of a new bypass road on lands of Beit Ummer, Halhul and Al Arroub' was begun. 23-4-16 The Israeli authorities delivered notices to the Palestinian village of Jalud in the northern occupied West Bank, alerting residents that 5,000 dunams (1,250 acres) of private land were slated for confiscation in what appeared to be the retroactive legalization of illegal outposts in the area. 26-4-16 The committee of sit-inners in Occupied Jerusalem warned on Monday of the seriousness of the Israeli settlement project to build 1,690 new housing units over Qalandya towns confiscated lands in Occupied Jerusalem. 1-5-16 Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked's plan to apply Israeli laws to Jews living in West Bank settlements,opens way to annex the settlements. 9-5-16 Israeli ministry of security decided to establish a new settlement close to Shilo settlement for those settlers who will be evacuated from Amona outpost. 23-5-16 Israeli bulldozers from Bado'il settlement on Sunday leveled Palestinian plots of land belonging to Deir Ballut town, west of Salfit province. 24-5-16 Israeli Meyashvei Zion association revealed that a new settlement project is scheduled to be built at the expense of the public park in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in Occupied Jerusalem. 26-5-16 Extremist settler, Yehuda Glick who aims to destroy the al-Aqsa mosque enters the Knesset. 26-5-16 Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked said that her government will continue settlement construction and expansion in the West Bank and that more settlers will reside there. 31-5-16 The Israeli Civil Administration re-mapped over 15,000 acres in the occupied West Bank in an attempt at justifying illegal settlement expansion inside the re-designated areas. 31-5-16 President Reuven Rivlin ..vowed the West Bank settlement of Ariel would forever remain under Israeli control, despite its location deep inside the West Bank. 6-3-16 Israeli government endorsed, in a session held in Occupied Jerusalem, the investment of 220 million dollars in settlement projects in Jerusalem over five years under the pretext of city development. Dont fool yourself that the Abbas gang are naive or victims of a Zionist-international conspiracy to obliterate Palestine. Victims they are not. They are co-conspirators since signing the Oslo Accords and Paris Protocols in the early nineties. The PA, intimately familiar with Western and Arab quislings, knew the French farce was doomed to fail the Palestinian people, though cynically on cue Mansour, Erekat, Ashrawi, al Maliki moaned and shed crocodile tears. Yet, a few days before Paris, on 28 May, at the Arab League meeting in Cairo, Abbas agreed in principle to land swaps which he knows are illegal even though theres precious little left of Palestine to swap thanks to years of two-state negotiations that Abbas and Netanyahu are keen to resume. Abbas knows that for 100 years to this very day (and beyond ) the Zionist goal, which has never been compromised, is a Zionist state on the whole of Palestine. It is this goal that drives the settlement facts on the ground rendering the two state solution an illusion, a deception. And Abbas and Co hang in there by directing their vicious security militia to protect Zionist interests and expansion by crushing Palestinian resistance and fending off the main threat to Israel, and to fat-cat-PA self-interests reconciliation i.e. Palestinian unity. You may wonder why Palestinians in the West Bank dont stage a coup against the the corrupt PA/PLO and bring them to trial for treason under the PLO Revolutionary Penal Code 1979 that still applies: Article 144: Any person who provides the enemy with documents, or is considered to have harmed military actions, or the security of military sites and centres, or any other military institutions shall be punished by death, Article 148: Any person who leads the enemy to the sites of the revolutionary forces, or the allied forces, or misleads these forces shall be punished by death. Well, you can ask Hamas affiliated prisoners in Zionist gaols due to PA intelligence sharing with Israel. Or ask the grieving parents of Adel Jaradat, 19 who was killed on 7th June during a PA raid in Silat Harithya near Jenin. PA security forces, trained by the US, conduct raids identical to Zionist Occupation Forces- and kill identically. Or ask the widow of Omar al-Nayef conveniently assassinated in the Palestinian embassy in Bulgaria. Or ask Kefah Quzmar tortured and held in solitary confinement without legal representation by the PA for daring to dissent on Facebook, Do you know why the mukhabarat [intelligence service] is a rotten agency? Because the entire PA is rotten. Seif al-Idrissi is under arrest! #FreedomforSeif Nevertheless, the 6.2 million Palestinians isolated and trapped in the Zionist and PA pincers of brutal oppression have friends. The Palestinian civil society call for Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel which champions Palestinian rights and freedoms is activated by international grass roots activism that has rapidly evolved into a powerful resistance structure that Israel is desperate to destroy. A pan-Palestine BDS joining Palestinians inside historic Palestine with the 6.2 million free diasporan Palestinians, in the spirit of the Palestinian rejectfenchinitiative , could achieve what the PA/PLO has abrogated. *France, Germany, Japan, Canada, Norway, Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, UK, USA, Canada Dr. Vacy Vlazna is Coordinator of Justice for Palestine Matters and editor of a volume of Palestinian poetry, I remember my name. She was Human Rights Advisor to the GAM team in the second round of the Acheh peace talks, Helsinki, February 2005 then withdrew on principle. Vacy was convenor of Australia East Timor Association and coordinator of the East Timor Justice Lobby as well as serving in East Timor with UNAMET and UNTAET from 1999-2001. Tweet WhatsApp Share Share on Tumblr Comments are moderated Russia And China Have To Step Up Ideological War By Andre Vltchek 14 June, 2016 Countercurrents.org These days you may get hugs from many common people in the Middle East or Latin America when you say that you are Russian, but such emotional outbursts are mainly intuitive. After being bombarded by extremely effective and negative Western propaganda for years and decades, people of the world still know very little, if anything, about two enormous countries that have been proudly resisting the Western imperialism Russia and China. I recently spent five weeks in Latin America, where the West openly supports the entire wide spectrum of counter-revolutionary movements, literally overthrowing one progressive government after another. I worked alongside the left-wing intellectuals there, helping to define the way forward, to rescue the Process. But I was shocked by how little is known there about both Russia and China - for decades two natural allies of the patriotic Latin American Left. Are you for Putin or against? And: Is China really as capitalist now as we read? These were two most commonly asked questions. Not in Cuba, of course. Cuba, almost free of most of propaganda media outlets of the Empire is actually one of the best-educated and informed societies on Earth. There, people know all about those long decades and centuries of the epic struggle of the Russian people against Western imperialism. There, it is very well known that China is essentially and once again increasingly a Communist (and successful) nation with clear central planning, which uses some controlled capitalist practicesin order tobuilda prosperous society for its people. But even in such educated countries like Argentina and Chile, even in those centers of progress and revolution like Ecuador and Venezuela, the two world giants are often misunderstood. The majority of people in Latin America may feel sympathy for both Russia and China,but there is no deep knowledge of the realities there. It is truly discouraging, because the Latin American Left is one of the essential components of the front against Western imperialism, standing shoulder to shoulder with Russia and China, but also South Africa, Iran and other proud nations. It is easy to understand the reasons behind all this. Even in some of the most revolutionary nations of Latin America, the Western mass media outlets have been managing to retain their presence, often through the right-wing big business cable TV and satellite distributors. Most of the biggest newspapers are still in the hands of local business interests. And so the negative and misleading messages about Russia and China are spread constantly. People are bombarded with them from the television screens, from the pages of mass-circulation newspapers, and from the imported (Western) films. Many are resisting. They instinctively want to cling to both Russia and China. But they dont have enough ammunition; not enough positive and inspiring information is available to them. In the meantime the critics are armed tothe teeth with toxic propaganda that is mass-produced in New York, Los Angeles, London and Madrid. And the situation is much worse in Asia. There, the Empire has truly and fully mobilized allavailable resources, in order to discredit its two main adversaries. Speaking to my friends and colleagues in such places like Indonesia and Philippines, I was told that most of the people there know little, even close to nothing about Russia. It is still perceived through the Cold War and post-Cold-War stereotypes. The Western propaganda apparatus has been portraying Russians as cold, aggressive, brainwashed and dangerous. Great Russian culture, Russian arts and the exceptional warmth of the Russian people, are something almost totally unknown in most of the Asian nations. Great foreign policy successes of Russia, like those in Syria, are twisted and turned into the crimes, even in Muslim countries like Indonesia and Malaysia, where people should definitely know better. In India, which had been for decades very close to the Soviet Union, the situation is somehow brighter, but only among the extremely small and educated group of its citizens. There, like in many other parts of the world, pro-business and pro-Western mass media is skillfully defending the interests of the West, demonizing all that is standing in the way of the Empire. China is being targeted with an even greater and more malicious force than Russia. Successful and Communist China is the worst nightmare for the West and for the local, Asian elites. The entire propaganda apparatus is now in overdrive, spreading ideological attacks and negative messages. The most peaceful major country on Earth is being portrayed as an aggressor and threat to regional and world peace. In the Philippines and elsewhere, the global Western regime is arousing the cheapest and extremely dangerous bellicose forms of nationalism. The local Chinese diaspora of Southeast Asia that consists mainly of the anti-Communist elements, descendants of the people who left China after the revolution, are playing an extremely important and destructive role. Nobody seems to notice that the United States/NATO is encircling both Russia and China with its military bases, while deploying new offensive missile systems. Nobody talks about those tens of millions of people who were massacred during the Western invasions of Asia during the 20th century. And the situation is not much different in Africa and elsewhere. * True, both Russia and China have invested some substantial resources in order to counter the Western propaganda. The RT, Sputnik and NEO (New Eastern Outlook), have all become extremely effective global information and intellectual detoxification outlets. But the West is still investing more. The ideological war is even something that is lately being discussed openly in Washington. The more Russia and China resist andthe more they defend themselves; the more Western propaganda steps up its indoctrination campaigns. Clearly, both Russia and China have to do more, not only for their own interests, but also for the good of the world. The great achievements of China and Russia have to be explained in detail. Such information should be spread to all corners of the planet. In this field, China should learn from Russia, as the Chinese media outlets now available abroad are still too timid and too reconciliatory. It requires real strength and determination to counter the mighty and centuries-old Western propaganda and brainwashing schemes.It also requires large financial budgets. But the intellectual resistance and the ideological wars should not be fought only in the fields of the politics, news and analyses. The tremendous cultural and intellectual achievements of both China and Russia should be made available to the populations on all continents. China has done so already a lot, mainly through its Confucius Institutes. It should be doing more, and so should Russia. Both countries are in possession of marvelous cultural wealth, overflowing with wisdom and arts. Their humanism is much deeper than that of the West -the West that has been mainly building its wealth, for centuries, by plundering thePlanet. For as long as one can remember, both Europe and North America had been committing genocides, while enslaving entire continents. At the same time, they have been engaging in self-glorification, promoting their political, economic and cultural concepts. They claimed cultural superiority. And they have been doing it with such force, such ruthlessness and in the end with such success, that they have managed to fully indoctrinate most of the world into accepting that there is really no alternative, no other way (except the Western way) forward. There are naturally other ways, and needless to say, much better ones! In fact, before European colonialism began ruining and enslaving the planet, almost all parts of the world were living in much more developed and gentler societies than those of the West. Now very little is known about this fact. Alternatives are not discussed in the mainstream, anymore. The search for a better world, for more humanistic concepts, is almost totally abandoned; at least in the West and in its colonies and client states. It as if this horrid nightmare, into which the world had been forcedinto by the global Western dictatorship, is the only imaginable future for our human race. It is not. And there are two great countries on this planet, Russia and China, which can offer many alternatives. They are strong enough to withstand all the pressure from the West. They have hearts, brains; they have the know-how and resources to offer alternatives and to re-start millennia old, essential discussions about the future of our humanity. But in order for this to happen, the world has to first know about both Russia and China. It has to understand their cultures. The war against imperialism should be fought not only on the battlefields; it shouldbe fought on the airwaves, at the printing presses, in the concert halls and theatres. Kindness, humanism, internationalism and knowledge can often serve as weapons much more powerful than missiles, strategic bombers and submarines. Andre Vltchek is a philosopher, novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist. He covered wars and conflicts in dozens of countries. His latest books are: Exposing Lies Of The Empire and Fighting Against Western Imperialism.Discussion with Noam Chomsky:On Western Terrorism. Point of No Return is his critically acclaimed political novel. Oceania - a book on Western imperialism in the South Pacific. His provocative book about Indonesia: Indonesia The Archipelago of Fear. Andre is making films for teleSUR and Press TV. After living for many years in Latin America and Oceania, Vltchek presently resides and works in East Asia and the Middle East. He can be reached through his website or hisTwitter. First published by NEO (New Eastern Outlook) It predicts, The situation is likely to get worse as the government has proposed to make changes to the labour laws which would undermine fundamental rights, pointing out, The draft law stipulates that at least 10 per cent of the total employees or 100 workers would be needed to form a trade union. Another provision would allow companies employing up to 300 workers to lay off staff without government permission, as against 100 workers previously, the report notes, adding, In India 85 per cent of manufacturing firms employ less than 50 workers, and around half of these workers are kept on short-term contracts and earn just USD 5 or USD 6 per day. Giving several examples of how labour is under stress in India, the report says, The new law contained no provisions to promote collective bargaining, putting the emphasis instead on arbitration, adding, Several provisions of the bill referred to either recognised or certified negotiating agents without providing for procedures for the recognition of such agents. Furthermore, the bill provided that all office bearers of a registered trade union would have to be actually engaged or employed in the establishments or industry with which the trade unions is concerned, restricting a unions freedom to choose its own officers, the report states. --- Download full report HERE The report says, in India, Police has used disproportionate violence against workers protesting to call for the payment of due wages and workers were detained for exercising their rights guaranteed in national laws. Private security guards hired by companies also use violence against workers picketing to demand the payment of their wages.It predicts, The situation is likely to get worse as the government has proposed to make changes to the labour laws which would undermine fundamental rights, pointing out, The draft law stipulates that at least 10 per cent of the total employees or 100 workers would be needed to form a trade union.Another provision would allow companies employing up to 300 workers to lay off staff without government permission, as against 100 workers previously, the report notes, adding, In India 85 per cent of manufacturing firms employ less than 50 workers, and around half of these workers are kept on short-term contracts and earn just USD 5 or USD 6 per day.Giving several examples of how labour is under stress in India, the report says, The new law contained no provisions to promote collective bargaining, putting the emphasis instead on arbitration, adding, Several provisions of the bill referred to either recognised or certified negotiating agents without providing for procedures for the recognition of such agents.Furthermore, the bill provided that all office bearers of a registered trade union would have to be actually engaged or employed in the establishments or industry with which the trade unions is concerned, restricting a unions freedom to choose its own officers, the report states.--- The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the apex body of national trade union centres across the world, has characterized India as one of the worst countries from the angle of workers rights in its latest Global Rights Index (GRI), which seeks to rank 141 countries across the world on the basis of "97 internationally recognised" indicators. Considering "violence, large scale exclusions of workers from labour law and arrests" for rating India in Group 5, with those countries with no guarantee of rights, the report, titled The 2016 ITUC Global Rights Index, shows workers rights were weakened in almost all regions of the world, including through severe crackdowns on the right to free speech and assembly.The Group 5 consists of 25 countries Algeria, Bangladesh, Belarus, Cambodia, China, Colombia, Egypt, Greece, Guatemala, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Korea (Republic of), Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Swaziland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, Zambia and Zimbabwe."Countries with the rating of 5 are the worst countries in the world to work in. While the legislation may spell out certain rights workers have effectively no access to these rights and are therefore exposed to autocratic regimes and unfair labour practices", the report underlined.Of these 25 countries, the report says, The ten worst countries for working people are Belarus, China, Colombia, Cambodia, Guatemala, India, Iran, Qatar, Turkey and United Arab Emirates.A worse rating, 5+, is given to Burundi, Central African Republic, Eritrea, Iraq, Libya, Palestine, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Syria, because in these countries there is no guarantee of rights due to the breakdown of the rule of law, the report states.The best rating of 1 has been given Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia, Sweden and Uruguay. The report says, these countries offer the best protection of trade union rights to workers. Your questions on Medicare and Medicaid answered by the local State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) an objective, not-for-profit counseling, assistance and advocacy service sponsored by DPHHS of Montana and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. I recently was in the hospital but it wasnt covered by my hospitalization. They said I was under outpatient observation. What does this mean? Outpatient observation is used for patients who have medical conditions that require short-term treatment before a decision is made whether they will be admitted for an inpatient stay or discharged. For traditional Medicare, observation service should not last more than 48 hours. While under outpatient observation the cost of your care will be covered by Medicare Part B and have the same deductibles and co-pays as other Medicare Part B services. My Medicare didnt pay for my medicines while I was under observation. Why not? The routine medications you would take at home, if administered at the hospital under outpatient observation will not be covered by Medicare Part B but instead be covered by your Medicare Part D Prescription Drug plan. You will have to request reimbursement from you plan for the cost of the medications dispensed by the hospital. The plan is only liable for the costs their plan would normally cover at your pharmacy. When I went into the nursing home after my time in the hospital under outpatient observation my nursing home cost werent covered by Medicare. Why not? Outpatient observation days do not count toward the three inpatient hospital days needed to qualify for the traditional Medicare skilled nursing facility benefit. As a good medical consumer you or your family will have to ask the hospital staff to verify if you are actually an inpatient client or an outpatient client so you will be aware of the cost for your care and you additional Medicare options. If you have any questions about Outpatient Observation please contact a SHIP counselor at 1-800-551-3191 or in Yellowstone County at 406-259-5212. HAMILTON Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks biologist Rebecca Mowry saw something during this years spring elk monitoring flights that she had never seen before. Somewhere between Skalkaho and Burnt Fork, she spotted a group of 47 bull elk hanging out in a bachelor herd off by themselves. Ive seen groups of five or 10 bulls together before, but never that many, she said. I think the fact that they were all young bulls had a lot to do with it. I had never seen anything like that before. Mowry completed the annual spring elk monitoring flights in May. For the most part, what she saw across the valley was encouraging. Elk numbers appear to be holding steady or growing in most of the valleys hunting districts. On the east side, between Missoula and Skalkaho, elk numbers are so high that Mowry is considering adding additional cow permits in hunting districts 204 and 261. Im pretty sure that those are the elk that are causing game damage in the winter months in the Stevensville area, she said. In the areas most popular hunting area in the East Fork of the Bitterroot, Mowry counted 4,018 elk this spring. While that number is down a little bit from last year, Mowry said its still a bit over the objective set for Hunting District 270. The objective is 3,800 elk. Were within the 20 percent margin that we give ourselves, she said. Its definitely a place where we can afford to shoot some cows. The ratio between cows and calves dropped a little bit this year in the East Fork, but Mowry said part of that could be due to the challenge of counting calves while flying over large groups of milling elk. This year the cow/calf ratio was 19 calves per 100 cows. Last year, the count was 25 calves per 100 cows. Nineteen isnt terrible, she said. We strive to get a ratio of between 20 and 30 calves per 100 cows. Mowry said she wasnt really concerned about the drop simply because of the challenge that comes with counting elk in the East Fork. The elk tend to hang out in large groups of 200 to 300 animals. When you get huge pockets of elk like that, theyre hard to classify, she said. I think the true ratio is higher than that. The bull to cow ratio bumped up slightly this year to 15 bulls per 100 cows in the East Fork. Last year, Mowry counted 14 bulls per 100 cows. In an area that is hunted as heavily at HD 270, Mowry said that number is about what she expects to see. Over in the West Fork of the Bitterroot, Mowry found a few more elk than she did the year before despite the fact that warmer than normal temperatures made it difficult to get a good count. By the time we got to the West Fork, the temperatures were up in the 80s, she said. We were losing snowpack and the elk werent coming out until after the sun went down. On top of that, morning fog was also an issue. Despite all that, Mowry counted 792 elk in the West Fork, which was the most anyone has seen in the spring since 2007. Their numbers are growing, but just slowly, she said. The cow/calf ratio in the West Fork was 28 calves per 100 cows, which is slightly less than what Mowry found last year. The bull/cow ratio was down too. It was 21 bulls per 100 cows. Last year, Mowry found 27 bulls per 100 cows. That might have been because of challenging conditions we had in making the count, she said. Mowry didnt have any problems finding elk in the two districts farther north on the east side of the valley. Elk numbers in the two hunting districts that include the area from the Skalkaho Road to the edge of Missoula are over objective. In HD 204 Missoula to Burnt Fork Creek Mowry counted 1,056 elk, which is almost double the 600 elk population objective set by the state. As far as Mowry can tell, it also could be an all-time high number of elk counted in the annual spring surveys. It just keeps going up and up, Mowry said. We dont seem to get a good cow harvest in there. The cow/calf ratio in HD 204 was 23 calves per 100 cows. Mowry counted 18 bulls per 100 cows. Both of those numbers are OK, she said. Everyone would like to see higher bull numbers. Elk numbers were up too in the adjoining HD 261 Burnt Fork to Skalkaho. This year, Mowry counted 947. The year before she found 842. The elk population objective is 700. Mowry plans to ask for additional cow permits in both hunting districts. Across the valley on the west side, elk numbers declined this year in HD 240. Mowry counted 851 elk this year. The year before, the numbers came in at 955. The objective is 1,000. Mowry attributes part of the decline to a number of game damage hunts this past year, especially in the Darby area. Calf numbers were high on the west side, with a ratio of 31 per 100 cows, but Mowry didnt find as many bulls as she would have liked. The ratio was 11 bulls per 100 cows. Some of the bull elk on the west side may have already migrated into the canyons where they cant be counted easily from the fixed wing aircraft. Mowry said she has also received lots of reports of raghorn bull elk being shot on private land on the west side of the valley. Im going to look for ways to increase bull elk hunting on private lands while trying to protect those raghorns on private lands, she said. At this point, Im not sure how to do that. Im looking for some feedback from the public on that. SHARE By Gleaner Staff A Henderson County man suspected of robbing a Shawneetown, Illinois, bank was seriously injured in a car crash after a high-speed chase. The Union County Sheriff's Office said Marcus Householder, 32, of Reed, was doing almost 120 miles per hour when he lost control of his car on U.S. 41A in Poole, Kentucky. Householder's car struck a ditch, went airborne and slammed into the side of a gasoline tanker in lot of the Country Mark store in Poole. Householder is suspected of being the armed gunman who robbed the Grand Rivers Community Bank in Shawneetown about 10:45 a.m. Tuesday. Police said the suspect displayed a firearm during the robbery, but no one was injured. He then reportedly fled toward Kentucky on Illinois 13 in a silver Ford Fusion with Illinois dealer plates. Union County Sheriff's Deputy Jason Thomas saw a vehicle matching that description headed east on Kentucky 56 West and attempted to stop it just outside Morganfield. The car sped away, reportedly going through Morganfield at speeds in excess of 70 mph, police said. Thomas said the car ran red lights at Kentucky 56 West, U.S. 60 West and at Kentucky 56 East and U.S. 60 Bypass, nearly striking several vehicles. The driver then turned north onto U.S. 41A, toward Poole. After the crash, Householder was transported via helicopter to an undisclosed hospital. According to Thomas, Householder is expected to face bank robbery charges in Illinois and charges related to the chase in Kentucky. Thomas said Householder will be arrested on charges of fleeing/evading, first degree, and wanton endangerment, first degree. Anyone who feels they were directly endangered during this pursuit is encouraged to contact the Union County Sheriff's Office at 270-389-1303. SHARE By Richard Gootee of the Courier and Press Authorities are still searching for answers more than a month after two bodies were found in the Ohio River near the Perry County, Indiana, shore. Police have said they are investigating the deaths of both 30-year-old Sarah Lindsay Ipock and a still-unidentified male as homicides. The bodies were discovered on May 11. According to Indiana State Police, Ipock was reportedly last seen alive on May 4 at a Clarksville, Indiana, Dairy Queen, which is just across the river from Louisville, Kentucky. Investigators believe Ipock was living in the Louisville area before her death. With no leads about the male's identity, state police Sgt. Philip Hensley said he's hopeful that someone who knew Ipock comes forward and talks to police. He said investigators still believe the two deaths could be related. "If we can get some more information about some of the people she was hanging out with, (we can) possibly track them down and get him identified through her," Hensley said on Monday. Hensley added that state police are looking for any information about Ipock, not just information about her death. Though the male's death is being investigated by the Daviess County (Kentucky) Sheriff's Office, Hensley said investigators from both agencies are working together to try to figure out what led to the two deaths. Both bodies are believed to have been in the water for about the same amount of time and were found within a span of six hours. "Until we get him identified, it is impossible to rule out that they could be related," he said. Authorities have ruled out the possibility of a murder-suicide or a suicide pact, Hensley said. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Jasper Post of the state police by calling 812-482-1441. A third body another female was found in the river on May 12, the day after the discovery of the two bodies. But that case has been ruled a suicide, and authorities have said that woman's death is not related to the other two. "(It) was confirmed that she had jumped from the bridge near Cannelton, Indiana, and Hawesville, Kentucky. I believe Kentucky officials had found a suicide note and her van parked there by the bridge," Hensley said. "(Her case) was definitely 100 percent confirmed unrelated." SHARE By Zach Osowski, zach.osowski@courierpress.com INDIANAPOLIS Telling Hoosiers the Indiana economy can do better, Democrat John Gregg outlined his economic growth plan that he said will help close the skills gap and improve the business climate for small, future and current businesses. Gregg and running mate Christina Hale on Monday released their 35-point plan on how to improve Indiana's economy an economy Gregg said isn't doing nearly as well as his opponent, Gov. Mike Pence, would have voters believe. "Today, too many Hoosiers are working two to three jobs, low-paying jobs, to make up for the good-paying jobs they lost," Gregg said. "They don't see economic opportunities in their communities." The first, main thrust of Gregg's plan is to build up the Indiana workforce. To do that he'll be joining with State Superintendent Glenda Ritz in the call for universal pre-K. Gregg said the money to fund a statewide pre-K program is in the current budget thanks to reversions currently in children's programs he estimated to be at $240 million a year. He said the need for such a program is great considering the skills gap currently facing Indiana. The Gregg plan points out a recent Forbes surveythat ranked Indiana 12th in business costs but only 45th in labor supply. "In recent years, our leaders have failed to focus on workforce needs," the plan reads. Gregg also wants to streamline Indiana's workforce training programs and institute a Workshare program in the state to help employers hang on to employees during economic downturns. The plan's second focus is on entrepreneurs and small businesses. Gregg said Indiana isn't friendly enough to small start-ups, and said those that are eventually successful go elsewhere is search of funding. Gregg said he wants to establish the Growth and Opportunity Fund to replace the current 21st Century Research and Technology Fund. The GO Fund would provide hard-to-find money for Indiana start-ups, which Gregg said was the biggest impediment to people starting their own businesses. "The biggest problem we see is a lack of capital," Gregg said. The Gregg administration would also work to change Indiana's reputation, which Gregg said is still damaged from RFRA as well as from the lack of full, statewide civil rights for the LGBT community. "Our reputation is still the number one thing I hear about," Gregg said. "It's still hurting businesses; it hurts us in attracting young people. We cannot be an un-welcoming place." Pence's campaign released a statement after the Gregg announcement that disputed the claims of an under-performing economy. The statement pointed out that unemployment has dropped since Pence took over in 2012 and that 150,00 new jobs have been added in the last four years. SHARE By Jill Disis And Michael Anthony Adams, USA TODAY NETWORK The Indianapolis Star JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. The James Wesley Howell that Jeffersonville knew was a quiet young man best known for walking his black Labrador, Midnight, through the streets of the well-to-do Louisville suburb his parents called home. But 30 minutes away in the small city of Charlestown, friends and a boyfriend told a different story. This Howell, they said, was a troubled and sometimes violent man who had a dangerous relationship with fast cars, big guns and many of the people closest to him. It remains unclear why the Southern Indiana man was in Santa Monica, California, early Sunday, when he was stopped on his way to a gay pride event in Los Angeles. When Howell, 20, was arrested, police said they discovered three assault rifles, high-capacity magazines and ammunition in his car, along with a five-gallon bucket filled with explosive chemicals. He remains in jail there on a $500,000 bond. The FBI also is investigating. Joseph Greeson, of Clarksville, said he hadn't spoken with Howell since June 1. The two car enthusiasts met through a friend last November, and Greeson had done some rim and lighting work on Howell's Acura, the same car Howell had been driving when police stopped him in Santa Monica. "I never really got, like, any bad signals," said Greeson, 18. "Just that it was strange and kind of weird. He was an only child and just kind of lonerish. I don't know. It's hard to explain." Greeson said he heard his friend had skipped town last week. Howell's parents called Greeson's mother looking for their son. And though Greeson said he knew Howell faced prior legal trouble in Indiana, he added that he couldn't fathom the man driving to California to harm anyone. "He might have got scared because he got in trouble here and stuff," Greeson said. "He might have just been heading out, and then had the guns with him for whatever reason and just, you know, wrong place and wrong time." Howell's most recent troubles occurred last October, when he was arrested in Clark County after police said he pointed a loaded gun at a neighbor. He was ordered to forfeit all weapons in April after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor intimidation charge connected to the case. As part of the deal, Howell was sentenced to a year of probation. A felony charge of pointing a firearm was dismissed. An Indiana probation officer met with Howell three weeks ago, rated him a low-level offender, and had yet to schedule an in-home visit, according to the Associated Press. Across the river in Louisville, Howell's fate in criminal court is still pending. Three days after his plea deal in Clark County, a grand jury indicted Howell on speeding, fleeing police and reckless driving. Howell is accused of driving 103 miles per hour in a 55 miles-per-hour zone in February. Police allege he sped off before an officer could arrest him. In a video of the incident Howell sent to Greeson and other friends, the police officer is seen asking for Howell to roll his windows up and get out of the car. Howell, ignoring the cop, steps on the gas. "He sent it to all of us in a group and thought he was, like, badass for running away from the cops," Greeson said. "We all quit talking to him for a while after that." Early police reports suggested that Howell told Santa Monica authorities he intended to inflict harm at the gay pride parade in West Hollywood. Department officials later walked those comments back, saying the man had only told them he was headed that way. Howell's arrest came as the country reeled from the massacre in Orlando in which a gunman killed 49 people at a gay nightclub early Sunday morning. The incident stoked fears of violence at gay pride events across the country, though police said they do not know of any connection between Howell and the shootings in Orlando. "He didn't like anybody to know about it," said Zach Hambrick, an ex-boyfriend from Charlestown. Hambrick said he met Howell on a dating app. While the pair were happy at first, Hambrick said, things soon went south. They haven't spoken in several months, Hambrick said. "After things went bad, that's when he started getting violent with me," said Hambrick, 17. Asked about Howell's arrest in Santa Monica, Hambrick said, "It didn't surprise me. It didn't surprise me at all." Hambrick said his ex-boyfriend kept a collection of guns. In a small house Howell briefly shared with Hambrick in Charlestown, neighbors said he kept a couple of handguns and a rifle displayed throughout his room. "I don't know why he had so many," Hambrick said. "He didn't hunt. He just had them." Records from the Charlestown Police Department detail allegations that the day before Howell's October arrest, he pointed a rifle at Hambrick. Howell told police he held the gun at his shoulder but kept it pointed skyward as he told his former boyfriend to leave, an account echoed by multiple witnesses. No charges arose from that allegation. Jeremy Hebert, 37, the Charlestown neighbor named in the October 2015 arrest report, said he had multiple concerns about Howell. During one of Hebert's encounters with Howell, the younger man sat in his car, clearing ammunition from his rifle. Between each rack, he raised his gun and pointed it at Hebert. Another time, Hebert said, he overheard Howell yelling that he wished "he could take everybody out." "Get the kid some help and everything," Hebert said. Howell is scheduled for an arraignment in Los Angeles on Tuesday. Prosecutors on his pending Louisville case, meanwhile, filed a motion Monday to revoke Howell's bond in that case, according to the Jefferson Commonwealth Attorney's Office. Back in the Jeffersonville neighborhood that Howell's parents called home, many neighbors declined to speak with IndyStar. The large house belonging to his parents was apparently empty; a privacy screen set up just inside the doorway shielded the interior from view. Chris Rowe, 43, who lives a few houses down, said he was friendly with the Howells and never expected something could be amiss. "His parents have given zero indication that they are anything but squared away," Rowe said. Rowe, who works as a juvenile probation officer in nearby Floyd County, said he was previously unfamiliar with Howell's criminal history in Clark County. But he said he sympathized with the man's parents. "I deal with juveniles, so I know the pickle they get in. That's their flesh and blood. That's their kid. What are you supposed to do? You can't just boot him out on the street," Rowe said. "I feel bad for the parents. Your child is how many thousands of miles away? When are you going to get to see him again?" SHARE By Rick Jervis, USA TODAY NETWORK ORLANDO On Monday morning, residents here drove to work, visitors readied for a day at the theme parks and, by most measures, it seemed like any another June morning except for the uneasy knowledge that Orlando now joins the ranks of Paris, New York, Madrid and other cities that have withstood massive terrorist attacks. How residents rebound from the worst mass shooting in U.S. history and whether the incident alters the most visited city in the U.S. remain lingering questions. As investigators pieced together the horror that unfolded early Sunday morning at Pulse, a crowded gay nightclub, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer strove to reset the tone of a city usually known for its perky mouse. "We will not be defined by the act of a cowardly hater," Dyer said Monday. "We'll be defined by how we respond, how we treat each other. This community has already stepped up to do that." But for many people here, the revolting scene left by gunman Omar Mateen, 29, at Pulse will be impossible to set aside. Orlando Police officers and Orange County Sheriff's deputies responded to the initial call of shots fired at Pulse aobut 2 a.m. Sunday. A three-hour standoff with police ended in a shootout with Mateen, 29, who was killed. The shooting left 49 people dead and 54 injured. Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings said a top priority for him Monday was monitoring the deputies involved in the incident. "Many of them saw carnage they would never ever see in any location," he said. "This is not a war zone that we're living in. This is civilized society and we had to deal with something unthinkable." Authorities dispatched teams of victim advocates across the city to help survivors and families of the victims cope with the stress of the shooting. Orange County public schools are on summer break, but officials sent counselors to area summer schools, which start tomorrow, and beefed up security at events, district spokeswoman Shari Bobinski said. Also vulnerable is the city's vaunted tourist industry. Last year, Orlando welcomed a record-breaking 66 million visitors more than any other city in the country and Orange County generated $230 million in tourist development tax collections, also a record. Across the city on Monday, Orlando's famed theme parks opened for business as usual. Across the street from Universal Studios Florida, Toni Sapp, 47, of Kentucky, and her family sipped on Starbucks drinks and readied for the first of three days at the theme park. They arrived Sunday night, just as news of the shooting spread across the world. "We're not as happy as we were coming here," Sapp said. "Everyone's in shock right now." Her son, Joshua Moore, 26, said the incident won't alter their plans or deter them from returning someday. "After we accept and realize what happened, it'll just be another part of American history," he said. "I don't see Florida becoming this terrible place where this terrible thing happened." The fact that the shooter chose a gay club points to the specifity of his intended terrorism and could have less of an overall impact on the city than if he'd had targeted a more tourist-centric site, such as a theme park, said Jerrold Post, a George Washington University psychiatry professor and author of "The Mind of the Terrorist: The Psychology of Terrorism from the IRA to al-Qaeda." Different populations deal differently with terrorist acts. Israelis make it a point to return to the cafes hours after an explosion occurs there and the blood and broken glass are swept away, he said. New Yorkers returned to work and held Broadway plays days after the 9/11 attacks, and Parisian cafes were busy again the day after last year's attacks there. "The goal is to cause terror and intimidate," Post said. "A counter strategy is to be back to normal as quickly as possible." A few blocks from Pulse, the nightclub where the shooting occurred, residents milled around, sharing information and occasionally hugging one another for support. Chris Enzo, a friend of a bartender at the club, said his friend saw Mateen enter the club and heard the sounds of bullets, screaming and breaking glass. The woman he was serving at the time was killed and he was shot three times twice in the back and once in the elbow but was recovering at a nearby hospital. Enzo said he's helping to organize an electronic-dance music event at a local nightclub later in the week, specifically for friends he knows are afraid to leave their homes. "Our message is to get people out there and let people know: We are not going to succumb to terrorist attacks," he said. "We are not going to let Orlando live in fear of terror." SHARE Michael Lewinski Dubois, Indiana Let me ask, how can the United States lead the world when it's become such a corrupted system? Can a country, that no longer is abiding by "the rule of law" lead the world into following "the rule of law?" The rule of law implies that every citizen is subject to the law, including those who make the law, and that's not the case in America today. Can a country corrupted by an oligarchy of crony capitalists, crooked politicians, and bureaucratic incompetence lead the world into following the principles of good governance? That's like putting the prisoners in charge of the jail in our upside-down world. How can a country that ignores and abuses the common man for the benefit of the elites, model to the world what would be advisable for a representative government promoting the common good? The fact is that we cannot. At least not until we clean up our own hypocritical house and put it in order. There is a deep need for a powerful cleansing of what the Washington establishment has wrought from their tools in both parties. It is going to take a great disrupter to shake up the establishment and let loose the reform essential for cleansing Washington. I believe that will be the person who intends to make America great again. We've already seen Trump's pool of conservative nominees for the Supreme Court. Qualified people who would rule based upon original intent. His tax plans are loaded with conservative reform measures that will jump-start the economy in many ways, and that begins to neuter and undercut the financial underpinnings of crony capitalism. One should look at Trump's website (https://www.donaldjtrump.com), which details and explains many of the problems we must overcome to remain a viable country. We will have to see the portfolios of prospective cabinet members to ascertain the likelihood of reversing the declines noted above. There is a very deep reservoir of talent he can call upon. There are many talented people this very intelligent person can tap. Clearly, they have many conservative solutions which can undo the Progressives' mistakes that have brought us to the brink of systemic breakdown. I believe Donald Trump will surprise many with the quality of his team, and with the creativity and innovation of the reforms which he will formulate and promote. MISSOULA The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a request to take up the case of a Kalispell woman who killed her husband by pushing him off a cliff in Glacier National Park in 2013. Jordan Linn Grahams federal defender Michael Donahoe had filed an appeal to the high court in early May, asking it to review her conviction. In an order issued Monday, the Supreme Court denied the petition. On July 7, 2013, Graham pushed her husband of eight days, Cody Johnson, off a cliff near the Loop trail on the Going-to-the-Sun Road after the couple had a scuffle. Graham had then returned home to Kalispell. Days later, after telling law enforcement Johnson had driven away from their house with some friends, she led a search party to his body. A week after that, she confessed to murdering him. Just before the conclusion of her December 2013 trial in U.S. District Court in Missoula, Graham pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in a deal with prosecutors, who dismissed a first-degree murder charge, as well as another for making false statements to law enforcement. She was subsequently sentenced to 365 months, or more than 30 years, in prison, and is being held in federal prison in Aliceville, Ala. During an appeal of her conviction, Donahoe said prosecutors claimed during her sentencing that the murder was premeditated, which he said shouldnt have been allowed after the first-degree murder charge was dismissed. Last November, a panel of judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit upheld Graham's sentence. In February, the 9th Circuit denied a petition to rehear the appeal. The family of the Crow woman who was set on fire and left to die in April, has released a statement regarding her recovery. In a Tuesday news release, family of the burned woman identified her as Roylynn Rides Horse, 28, daughter of Ernestine Pretty Weasel and Roy Rides Horse, stepdaughter of Jerry Pretty Weasel. "Roylynns mother, Ernestine Deputee-Pretty Weasel, has been by her daughters side at the University of Utah Burn Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, and they are in need of financial assistance," the statement read. The circumstances surrounding Rides Horse's attack have not been released by authorities, who say the investigation is ongoing. According to tribal lawmakers and family, on April 17, Rides Horse was found alive, but badly burned on the Crow Indian Reservation, close to the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation. Doctors told the family that Rides Horse walked 3 miles after being set on fire. The majority of her body was covered in burns. The news release included instructions on how to donate to the family, who have set up an account at Billings Federal Credit Union, 2522 Fourth Ave. N. Donations should be made to Jerry and Ernestine Pretty Weasel. HELENA It might have started with a bra, or rather the absence of one, but thats not what its all about. Thats the message Kaitlyn Juvik is delivering after she didnt wear a bra to school last month and was told by officials at Helena High to put one on or cover up. The incident garnered national attention Juvik has appeared in People, Teen Vogue and Seventeen magazines and countless online outlets and it has also given the 18-year-old a platform to share her message about gender inequality and objectifying womens bodies. Juvik was leaving her fourth-period class on May 25 when a vice principal at Helena High said she needed to talk to her. In the administrators office, she said she was asked Did you forget something? Juvik wasn't wearing a bra, but it wasnt an oversight. She hadnt worn one all year. It was a decision she initially made based on comfort. She wears a lot of off-the-shoulder shirts and didnt want her bra straps showing and found strapless bras cumbersome. A lot of my friends didnt wear bras and I asked How do you do that? And they said you just do. Just stop. And I did. She said never expected her choice to go braless would turn her into an advocate for social change, but shes now embracing her time in the spotlight. Why do I have to be uncomfortable to make someone else comfortable? she asked last week. We need to show girls can be comfortable with their bodies and dont have to cover up. Juvik said she was taken off-guard by the administrators request, so much so that she initially told the vice principal she would either change or cover up, but she didnt. After I left I was like I dont think she can do that, she said. Principal Steve Thennis said in an email that Juvik violated the dress code but that there were no demands she put on a bra. She was wearing a black, loose and off-the-shoulder V-neck shirt, one shed worn a handful of times that year and she calls not super bad. After school, her mom asked her to bend forward to make sure her breasts weren't visible. They werent, Juvik said, adding that if they were she would have been in the wrong. Juvik posted about the incident on Snapchat shortly after it happened. About 10 people from her school contacted her, and a longtime friend suggested organizing a no-bra day as a peaceful protest and created a Facebook page to promote the event. On May 27, several students attended classes without wearing bras. Juvik said she was pulled out of class four times that Friday and was asked by administrators to take down the Facebook page. She said she was told the event was too distracting and interrupted other students learning, but she pointed out the administrators were interfering with her education that day too. I didnt go to one full class that day, she said. Juvik said the school has been painted as a villain, but thats not where the focus should lie. Helena Public Schools Superintendent Kent Kultgen said last week that the school was enforcing its dress code. We want people to understand the bigger picture here, Juvik said. Its about gender equality and women being asked to cover up. The Facebook page Juvik and her friends set up now has 7,000 likes; four times the enrollment at Helena High. The attention shes gotten from beyond Helena caught Juvik by surprise. Its been crazy and hectic. Ive had a lot of mental breakdowns over the last few weeks. Shes glad the issue is being discussed, but that hasnt come without a cost. Juvik has read most of the comments on stories that have appeared in national magazines and on the Facebook page, both the ones in support and others that are critical of her. Its not worth commenting back to every single person that doesnt agree with me, she said. Ive been called an attention-seeker and lots of derogatory names, but its a bummer people cant understand what this is about. My mom and I have been called some terrible things. But we keep reminding people Hey, its not even about a bra. Im taking advantage of how big its gotten. Ive always felt strongly about gender equality but didnt equate it to not wearing a bra. Body shaming Last Wednesday the YWCA Helena, Friendship Center, and Montana Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence hosted a discussion on body shaming and image, with Juvik and her mother, Tami. About 30 people attended, including school board member Sanjay Talwani. He said it was a productive and positive dialogue about body image and the over-sexulization of young girls. Talwani said he and another school board member at the talk were asked what the school could do to address the situation and the idea of a program to teach kids gender respect came up. MaryJane Ilgenfritz, an AmeriCorps VISTA member who runs the YWCAs social and racial justice program, said work will continue on what the community can do next. It will be a long process, Juvik said, but some sort of education on gender issues in schools can help create a change. Its not going to be in a year or five years. It starts at a young age. We need to teach boys and girls. If we want a child to act a certain way, we need to start from a young age. The group that gathered at the YWCA didnt dwell on blame, Talwani said, adding the schools principal received a large amount of unjust criticism. To think hes or anyone else involved here is a retrograde misogynistic is a wrong conclusion. The outrage that a particular person at fault in this that isnt the goal. Thats the wrong perception and the wrong conclusion. Juvik said she doesnt think the school should be attacked, though schools do need to adapt. I could care less if people even mention the school anymore. But in order for everyone to get an equal education, that social change needs to happen. I know they talk about it being a distraction, distracting from learning, but I was pulled out of class four times that day, so either way someone's education was affected. Billings Skyview Billings Skyview High School came under similar criticism in fall 2014 when students protested a dress code that banned girls from wearing yoga pants unless the student also wore a top that covered her bottom. Terry Bouck, School District 2 superintendent, said the whole thing blew over in a matter of weeks inside the school, but lived on longer in the media. You have so many other important issues you have to contend with at as a school or a district. Thinks like the pants issues it came and it went. People talked about it, it came and it went, we got some phone calls. It wasnt a huge deal, if I look at the issues weve dealt with. Bouck said dress codes are meant to facilitate a school free of distractions. If theres something that disrupts the learning environment, lets say a T-shirt that has vulgar or inappropriate language, that is disruptive and you take care of that stuff. You deal with things on a case-by-case basis. Students have freedom of speech, Bouck said, but if through expressing themselves they impede the learning of others, the school could step in. He pointed out dress codes have evolved and the issue probably still isn't settled. Years ago if you came to school with purple hair you wouldnt be in, he said. We know thats not a distraction anymore. Thats something thats accepted. Barbaric occupation Open letter to Mr Andre Siregar, Indonesian Consul to Darwin The story about the Morning Star and Aboriginal flags mural in Darwin has recently been brought to my attention. The Morning Star and Aboriginal flags mural in Darwin. In the report I have read, amongst other things, you said that you respect Australias right to free speech and political expression, that Indonesians find the Morning Star Flag of West Papua offensive as it is a separatist one that Australians have raised issues with you about the mural and that human rights are improving in Indonesia. In response, I would like to say that I am pleased that you respect Australias right to free speech and political expression even if you consider the Morning Star offensive. However, you must also appreciate that many ordinary Australians are very concerned about the human rights situation in West Papua as they were with the situation in East Timor when it was occupied by the Indonesian Military (TNI) for a period of 24 years during which nearly a third of the population was wiped out. Many Australians also know the history of what happened in 1965 when the CIA assisted the TNI to overthrow the Suharno government followed by the massacres of well over a million Indonesians. The Suharto dictatorship which replaced the Sukarno leadership arranged the so-called Act of Free Choice in West Papua in 1969 which was as brutal as it was fraudulent. It went on to commit genocide and horrific human rights abuses in Aceh, East Timor, West Papua and parts of Indonesia itself. Many of the crimes committed were as serious as those committed by the Nazis during World War 2. Is it any wonder that many consider the TNI to be the largest terrorist organisation in the SE Asian and SW Pacific regions of the world? We know that not all Indonesians are offended by the Morning Star flag. Former Indonesian president, Abdurrahman Wahid, allowed the flag to be flown and agreed that West Papuans should be allowed to publicly use their cultural symbols. In addition, Indonesians who respect human rights and know the history of West Papua also support West Papuan symbols and independence. The people of West Papua are Melanesians. They are not Asians. The only reason that the Indonesian government claims that West Papua is part of Indonesia is that it was also colonised by the Netherlands. The only reason that West Papua is not an independent nation is that the US intervened in the 1960s to stop the Netherlands from giving the people their freedom because it wanted its gold and copper. The US mining corporation Freeport-McMoRan still makes huge profits from West Papuas gold and copper and the Indonesian government obtains massive taxes from this mining activity. In contrast, the people of West Papua receive little benefit from the theft of their resources. The TNI occupation of the country has been barbaric and genocidal. Human rights observers estimate that during the 54 years that the TNI has been there about 500,000 people have been murdered. West Papuans have lost their lands which have been given to Javanese transmigrants with no compensation. You claim that human rights are improving in Indonesia and yet almost every week we receive stories of TNI atrocities. It is a positive sign that President Joko Widodo says that he wants to investigate the crimes committed by the 1965 TNI bloodbath in Indonesia and improve human rights in West Papua. To be really genuine, this process has to be supervised by a bona fide human rights organisation and not by former officers of the TNI. The fact is that Indonesia cannot be considered to be truly democratic and respectful of human rights until it exerts more power over the TNI and prevents its barbarism against West Papuans, Indonesians and others in the region who suffer from its brutal behaviour. In addition, Indonesia should allow the UN to conduct a referendum tin West Papua to determine the will of the people regarding their future, it should allow the International Court of Justice to put on trial all the TNI officers alleged to have committed war crimes and human rights violations and it should pay compensation to all the victims of the TNI in Indonesia, West Papua, Aceh and Timor-Leste. If some attempts were made to bring justice to those who have suffered at the hands of the TNI and to markedly increase democratic freedoms within West Papua and Indonesia, there would be greater stability within Indonesia itself and a greater chance for peace in this region of the world. Yours sincerely Andrew (Andy) Alcock Information Officer Australia East Timor Friendship Association (South Australia) Member: Australia West Papua Association (South Australia) On the trail of election spin Treasurer Scott Morrison claims the budget delivers the governments economic plan for a brighter, more secure future, in a stronger, new economy with more jobs in three key ways. Treasurer Scott Morrison. 1. Jobs and growth: a $1 trillion military budget over 20 years. The same money spent on health care, education or renewable energy would not only be of benefit but create almost double the number of jobs. expansion of free trade agreements, deregulating the entry of overseas workers, their wages and working conditions resulting in more 7-Elevens and other exploitative schemes. yet another work for the dole scheme for 120,000 unemployed youth, to provide employers with heavily subsidised and conscripted, slave labour with no guarantee of a job at the end. These jobs would replace paid labour. slash or abolish penalty rates, thus reducing purchasing power of workers and hence demand for goods and services. The results would be sackings. real wage increases by cutting the taxes of small business and those on highest incomes. Small business would use the tax cuts to replace workers with technology, not increase workers wages, or they would simply pocket the additional profits. cuts to social security payments, reduce the amount of money in recipients pockets for the purchase of goods and services. It results in a shrinkage of the economy, not growth. sacking more public servants which also shrinks the economy. 2. Education and innovation: skilling Australia by cutting funding to universities and deregulating university fees. innovation and science by continuing to privatise and destroy CSIRO, ignore climate change and the destruction of the Barrier Reef. In addition, the $26 billion cut to schools in the Coalitions first budget in May 2014 has not gone away. The government still plans to withdraw from spending on schools. Nevertheless, the government is committed to providing universities with additional flexibility to innovate, differentiate themselves and offer students more choice and higher quality offerings, says Education Minister Simon Birmingham. How will he do this? It is clearly spin when Birmingham claims to have shelved plans to deregulate university fees. This years budget commences the process of deregulating fees limiting the deregulation to a few courses the thin edge of the wedge. Student fees will increase, students will be required to pay back loans faster, HECS debts will be recovered from deceased estates where they have not been paid back and universities will have their funding cut by 20 percent. The outcome will be more sackings of staff, academic and non-academic, course closures, lower standards, corporate sponsorship with courses dictated by corporate sponsors and narrowly directed to their specific needs. 3. Taxation: By giving the corporations and rich tax cuts Morrison would have us believe that is going to grow the economy. Utter spin and rubbish! Once again, the only things that will grow are profits and the gap between the rich and poor. If pensions, unemployment benefits, other social security payments and the minimum wage were increased, people would spend more and at the same time see an improvement in their living standards. But the Treasurer is not interested in the poor, the vulnerable, the disadvantaged or workers. Its called class struggle and the distribution of income through the budget is one form of that struggle. On forgetting Fukushima March was the fifth anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Robert Jacobs* argues that we have to do more than remember Fukushima, we have to learn how to remember Fukushima. In March the media and social networks are busy remembering Fukushima on the fifth anniversary of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown, but what we are really observing is the beginning of the work of forgetting Fukushima. Fukushima is taking its place alongside the many forgotten nuclear disasters of the last 70 years. Like Mayak and Santa Susana, soon all that will be left of the Fukushima nuclear disaster are the radionuclides that will cycle through the ecosystem for millennia. In that sense we are internalising Fukushima into our body unconsciousness. Forgetting begins with lies. In Fukushima the lies began with TEPCO (the owner of the power plants) denying that there were any meltdowns when they knew there were three. They knew they had at least one full meltdown by the end of the first day, less than 12 hours after the site was struck by a powerful earthquake knocking out the electrical power. TEPCO continued to tell this lie for three months, even after hundreds of thousands of people had been forced to or voluntarily evacuated. In February TEPCO admitted that it was aware of the meltdowns much earlier, or to put it bluntly, it continued to hide the fact that it had been lying for five years. The government of Japan had such weak regulation of the nuclear industry that it was completely reliant on TEPCO for all information about the state of the plants and the risks to the public. It was reduced to being an echo chamber for the denials coming from a company that was lying. The people living near the plants, and downwind as the plumes from explosions in three plants carried radionuclides high into the air and deposited large amounts of radiation far beyond the evacuation zones, had to make life-and-death decisions as they were being lied to and manipulated. Lying about nuclear issues is not unique to Japan or Fukushima. It began with the first use of nuclear weapons against human beings, in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. When announcing the first attack, US President Harry Truman referred to Hiroshima as a military base, and said it was chosen specifically to avoid civilian casualties. Hiroshima was a naval base (in a country whose navy was already destroyed), but the truth is that the city was chosen to demonstrate vividly the power of the super-weapon and the bomb was aimed at the city centre, the area most densely populated with civilians. After the war the US claimed that these attacks, in which over 100,000 people were killed instantly, actually saved lives. The most powerful legacy of Chernobyl, besides its long-lived radiation, is the widespread use of the word radiophobia by nuclear industry apologists to describe the public response to large releases of radiation: fear. Look for this word and sentiment in the many articles published on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the Fukushima disaster. When you see it, or read the claim that more people were harmed at Fukushima by their own irrational fears than by radiation, you are seeing the work of forgetting turn its cruel wheels. Behind those wheels are the shattered lives and emotional well-being of hundreds of thousands of people whose communities were destroyed and whose families were ripped apart by the disaster. People, whose anxieties will rise every time they or their children run a high fever, suffer a nosebleed or test positively for cancer. People whose suffering at no fault of their own is becoming invisible. Soon when we talk about Fukushima we will reduce the human impact to a quibbling over numbers: how many cases of thyroid cancer, how many confirmed illnesses. Lost, hidden, forgotten will be the hundreds of thousands of people forced to flee their homes, in many cases permanently, and try to rebuild their shattered lives. Public relations professionals and industry scientists will say that these people did this to themselves. And the curtain will draw ever downward as we forget them. This is the tradition of nuclear forgetting. The production sites of the Manhattan Project are being transformed into Disney theme parks of American exceptionalism, their local legacies of cancer and contamination becoming footnotes without citation sources lost amidst the museum exhibits and commemorations hailing the greatness of American science and engineering. The actual goal, and accomplishment, of destroying two cities and the hundreds of thousands of people living in them barely receives brief mention at the end of the celebration: confirmation of the successful application of American power and justice that the victims brought upon themselves. In America we honour the memory of the architects of this mass murder, and forget the victims. Some of the difficulty in remembering those affected by nuclear disasters is systemic, and some strategic. Radiation is difficult to understand. Exposure to radiation embodies what Rob Nixon describes as slow violence, formless threats whose fatal repercussions are dispersed across space and time. The slow impact of the catastrophe of nuclear disaster dislocates it from the disaster itself. The news cameras of the world were focused on the Fukushima Daiichi plants while they were exploding, but as the fallout of those plumes settled to earth, other catastrophic events drew our collective gaze elsewhere. Most health effects from exposure to radiation unfold over years and blend into the low moan of tragedies that afflict people in their personal lives, uncoupled from the events that caused them by our perception of the passage of time. This dynamic has been useful to those promoting nuclear power and discounting the health impacts of exposures to radiation since the advent of nuclear technologies. Many of the cancers that progress out of these exposures result from the internalising of radiological elements and then surface as ingestion cancers, such as thyroid cancer whose causation cannot be directly demonstrated on a case-by-case basis. When numbers spike, as in the case of thyroid cancers, some scientists claim that this is merely the result of more intensive screening. This manipulation of ambiguity is the bread and butter of the denial of the health effects of widely distributed radioactive particles, such as the situation facing people living downwind from the Fukushima plants. In addition to thyroid cancer, ingestion cancers that are caused by internalised particles tend to appear as lung cancer, bowel cancer, stomach cancer, throat cancer and cancers of other parts of the body that process what we swallow and inhale. These cancers are common and have multiple origins, allowing nuclear apologists to obfuscate the role that radiation may have played. This is strategic forgetting. We have to do more than remember Fukushima; we have to learn how to remember Fukushima. To do this we must learn to see the impacts of radiation exposures before they become vaguely visible as cancers nestled in health population statistics (for example, at Chernobyl and Hanford). Already higher than normal rates of thyroid cancer have been detected in children living in the plumes of the Fukushima explosions. But before we are reduced to arguing about numbers of attributable cancers (as at Chernobyl), we need to learn to see the larger and subtler manifestations of radiation disasters in the human community. Meanwhile, the psychological and emotional legacies of radiation exposures can be as devastating as some of the physiological impacts. Multi-generational families that are split into separate temporary accommodations, children who are taught they must avoid contact with nature, marriages dissolved by the conflicting financial requirements for one parent to keep a job while the other takes the children away from radiological hazards, and lifelong anxiety over each illness because of uncertainty over ones exposure all disrupt families, communities and individuals. Hundreds of thousands of lives have been disrupted by the Fukushima disaster, leaving people who must pick up the pieces and carry on by themselves. There is good reason to fixate on the cluster f**k that is the remediation of the Fukushima site, and to track the ceaseless entry of radionuclides into the ocean that will continue for decades; the still lethal melted nuclear cores of the plants will need to be removed and contained (a process that will take numerous decades) and the flow of radiation into the sea will continue to affect the local ecosystem and the food chain in the Pacific Ocean. However, we should not allow our gaze to remain fixed on the nuclear plants; we must learn to see the deep wounds to society that are left to heal in darkness. We must learn to bring the whole of the population and ecosystem that suffer from radiological disasters into the light of our awareness and concerns. We must grieve for all that has been lost and we must hold government and the TEPCO Corporation responsible for assisting those whose lives have been shattered. We can demand corporate and governmental compensation and medical monitoring for those whose health and wellbeing have been compromised, for those displaced from their homes by radiation, and for those who have lost their livelihood because of the contamination and loss of public faith in the food they grow or fish they catch. We can remember all of those who have been affected. And we can learn how to understand the long, slow violence that follows behind the compelling first week of the nuclear disasters yet to come. * Robert Jacobs is an associate professor at the Hiroshima Peace Institute at Hiroshima City University. Third World Resurgence Sussex News Story Saved You can find this story in My Bookmarks. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. Montanas congressional delegation is split on whether gun control is needed after Sundays mass shooting in Orlando, Fla., the worst in U.S. history. U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., told The Gazette it was past time to stop selling weapons to people on terrorist watch lists, as well as people who have been declared mentally ill by a court of law. U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., disagreed, telling Senate colleagues the focus needed to be on radical Islam and ISIS, not the Second Amendment. It was the same focus Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., called for Sunday. Given that Sundays gunman, 29-year-old Omar Mateen, who killed 49 people at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, was American born, the tighter gun restrictions advocated for by Democrats might not have been enough, Tester said. But tighter restrictions, starting with no gun sales to anyone considered too dangerous to fly commercially, would be a good first action of many needed to address terrorist threats. Keeping guns out of the hands of terrorists is something that makes sense. Why are we not doing this? Tester said. We have a terrorist watch list. It probably wouldnt have stopped this one, but you have to start somewhere. The proposal was the same no fly, no buy law that Democrats first proposed in 2009 and last tried to pass in 2015, failing to do so by seven votes. Tester said he didnt think there was any more support for the measure now. Lawmakers spent Monday making speeches about how horrifying Sundays attack was, while girding battle over what to do about it. Republicans made clear they werent in support of gun restrictions. This is a threat we face from radical Islam and ISIS and the worst response would be to politicize this and use this tragedy to restrict our constitutional rights and freedoms, Daines told the Senate. We cannot allow dangerous terrorists to hide in our communities. We need to seek them out and ensure they arent able to inflict harm on our neighbors, our friends and our families. Sundays mass shooting came after several weeks of gun politicking by Daines and other Republicans. The National Rifle Association hosted presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump at its national convention May 21. Trump told NRA members Hillary Clinton was coming for their guns. Daines was on Snapchat less than a week ago, informing viewers that, in Montana we say gun control means using two hands. With the cloud-covered Bridger Mountains in the background, Daines delivered the message with a rifle slung over his shoulder. Daines planned to support better terrorist background checks. Anyone on the terrorist watch list, the same list Tester supports using to ban gun sales to high-risk people, Daines said should be investigated, arrested and prosecuted. If theres proof a terrorist suspect is trying to buying a gun, Daines would support arresting the suspect. The last time the no fly, no buy act reached the Senate, Montanas two senators were divided, with Tester voting in favor and Daines voting against. The no-fly list has been scrutinized as a tool for banning gun sales because innocent Americans do make the list. Tester said anyone can prove their way off the list. Zinke was waiting Monday afternoon for a whip meeting, in which Republican lawmakers were to discuss options the House might pursue post-Orlando. He said Sunday the focus needed to be on terrorism. "We must change course: Radical Islamic terrorism is as much a war within Islam as it is a war against the West, and it will take a global coalition with Middle Eastern stakeholders and American leadership to stop it at its source, Zinke said. We must also do more here at home to stop individuals who have been radicalized before they act." Channel programs News CRN Exclusive: Incedo Buys 45-Person Firm to Grow Telco Carrier Business Michael Novinson Share this Rising channel giant Incedo has purchased a 45-person solution provider that counts two of America's largest telecommunication carriers as its customers. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company, No. 447 on the 2016 CRN Solution Provider 500, said its acquisition of St. Petersburg, Fla.-based SysLogic Technical Services will enable Incedo to provide software, virtualization and cloud orchestration services to tier-1 telecom service providers. At the same time, SysLogic's existing customers can take advantage of Incedo's product engineering expertise in the communications space, with services focused on development, design, testing and product launches, according to Anupam Wahi, Incedo's senior vice president of communication engineering, in an exclusive interview with CRN. [RELATED: 2016 Solution Provider 500: 47 Newcomers] "The combination is all set to leverage each of those positives and grow the business to a much larger level," Wahi said. Terms of the deal, which closed in early May, were not disclosed. The acquisition is not expected to result in any staff reductions, and SysLogic will continue to operate as a separate brand and legal entity for the short-to-medium term, Incedo CEO Tejinderpal Miglani told CRN exclusively. Incedo had traditionally supported original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and large product companies such as Cisco, Wahi said, but realized the company would also need to work with telecom carriers to penetrate the business-to-consumer communication infrastructure arena. Up until the SysLogic acquisition, Wahi said, Incedo had not worked with the largest telecom carriers. Wahi said Incedo will be able to provide telecom carriers with a hand in everything from virtualizing notebooks to mapping out Internet of Things (IoT) solutions for enterprise and industrial customers. From a marketing perspective, Wahi said opportunities abound in the analytics space to help telecom carriers better understand consumer behavior and enable them to better customize their offerings. Since some of Incedo's existing customers already sold to telecom carriers, Wahi said the company will work with those customers to build turnkey solutions that they can take to the carriers that are now part of the Incedo ecosystem. Incedo has grown its business in North America, South America and Europe by 600 percent over the past three and a half years, Miglani said, and now has 1,500 employees, as well as robust practices in the financial services, pharmaceutical, life sciences and telecom industries. Between 70 percent and 75 percent of that growth has come organically, Miglani said, with Incedo identifying new clients and growing their businesses with them over time. But Incedo is turning to mergers and acquisitions to speed up its customer acquisition initiatives, Miglani said. That is particularly true in the pharmaceutical space, Miglani said, where high levels of market fragmentation have resulted in many successful small and new service providers that specialize in IoT or analytics. "We want to accelerate our growth even further," Miglani said. Mobility News VMware Inks OEM Deal With Endpoint Security Startup Tanium, Aims To Ease Windows 10 Migrations Kevin McLaughlin Share this VMware is teaming up with Tanium, a well-funded Silicon Valley security startup, on a new type of software that secures endpoints and eases Windows 10 desktop migration projects. The new offering, called TrustPoint, includes endpoint security technology from an OEM agreement VMware inked recently with Tanium, which has raised more than $300 million in funding and had a valuation of $3.5 billion after its last round in September 2015. Tanium's proprietary peer-to-peer technology lets organizations continually scan all endpoints in their global networks, finding and fixing security vulnerabilities and identifying and controlling unmanaged devices. [Related: VMware Acquires Startup That Focuses On Making NSX Software-Defined Networking Better] TrustPoint can also handle Windows 7 to Windows 10 desktop migrations in an automated fashion, using technology from VMware's 2012 acquisition of virtualization startup Wanova. "This lets customers migrate hundreds of machines at the same time, and show strong return on investment for migrations from Windows 7 to Windows 10," Dave Grant, vice president of product marketing in VMware's End User Computing unit, said in an interview with CRN. Grant said TrustPoint offers a unified dashboard for the Tanium and Mirage tech that allows an IT admin to monitor, discover and manage threats and vulnerabilities, and to manage endpoint updates and OS migrations. Scott Miller, director of data center at VMware partner World Wide Technology, said he sees the Tanium partnership as a "smart move" that should help VMware capture more end user computing business. "Powering their TrustPoint solution with Tanium is huge. It will help VMware further differentiate and be the architecture of choice for end user virtualization," said Miller. "Security seems to be the biggest driver behind end user virtualization these days." TrustPoint is priced at $75 per device for a perpetual license. VMware said it expects to start selling TrustPoint in the U.S. later this month, with other regions to follow later this year. Networking News Aerohive Launches Pay-As-You-Go Software Licensing With New MSP Program Mark Haranas Share this Wireless specialist Aerohive Networks is encouraging channel partners to become managed service providers through a new program offering tools, service opportunities, and a new model that allows partners to sell hardware separately from software licenses. Aerohive has launched a new AdvantageMSP program to drive recurring revenue for channel partners that includes the ability to buy hardware, and then separately purchase software on a pay-as-you-go consumption model. "This new model is really beneficial for us to deliver a managed service," said Justin Burgess, director of strategic initiatives for General Communication Inc. (GCI), an Anchorage, Alaska-based solution provider and Aerohive partner. "They've decoupled the licensing from 'I have to buy it all at once with a higher investment cost' to 'Now I can preload a big hardware purchase, then as my service offerings gets deployed, I scale up and scale down my licensing, so I'm not carrying a flat cost'. It's really advantageous for service providers." [Related: 8 Storage Companies Cisco Should Buy (And 1 It Shouldn't)] The program is providing a set of new analytical and visibility tools as well as new product capabilities, including the ability for partners to build custom applications on top of the new Aerohive Cloud Services (ACS) platform. The platform includes open APIs for monitoring, presence, location and identity, allowing partners to offer new services beyond management and support of deployed hardware. "We're using APIs here to access the data for our customers and partners to be able to give visibility in the network," said Matt Edwards, senior product marketing manager for Aerohive, in an interview with CRN. "ACS can collect a massive amount of data, store it, process it, categorize it in different buckets and then make it available by our APIs." The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based vendor is also providing a new management tool within HiveManager, the company's cloud-enabled management solution, that gives partners the ability to manage multiple customers from a central location and scale as needed. The tool provides a centralized global view of multiple customers' networks to make it easier for channel partners, according to Michael O'Brien, vice president of Aerohive's Global Channel Sales. "This is specifically designed to let partners manage multiple organizations from a single dashboard, from a single management interface," said O'Brien, in an interview with CRN. "We're trying to make it easier for partners to get a unified view of what's happening in the network." GCI's Burgess says Aerohive is giving partners access to rich data and analytics that will help drive business outcomes for customers. "We've got a large development team that's building a portal experience that overlays ... the HiveManager that would give visibility to the customer," he said. Aerohive says the program is boosting partners' ability to enhance or build an MSP practice around the program by providing management and wireless as a service in a subscription-based model. "We are working to enable partners to bring managed services to life," said O'Brien. "We intent this managed service portfolio to be ongoing to have a longer life than just an Infrastructure-as-a-Service." For the first quarter of 2016, Aerohive experienced significant growth in the wireless LAN market (WLAN), increasing 63 percent year over year to $28 million, according to recent data from research firm IDC. Aerohive's largest competitors in the space are Cisco, Hewlett Packard Enterprise -- which acquired Aruba Networks last year -- Ruckus Wireless, recently acquired by Brocade Communications, and Ubiquiti. "We've got Cisco Meraki deployed, Aruba deployed, but we feel that the Aerohive solution gives us that visibility and analytics capability that customers are going to start demanding," said Burgess. Power Players At the CRN Test Center, we've recently been focusing a lot on productivity-focused laptops -- especially the most portable ones. But we know there are still plenty of workers out there who have no need to trade horsepower in exchange for portability -- the power is what they're after. For those users -- such as graphic designers, video editors and other high-power multitaskers -- we wanted to look at two of the latest tower workstations. And we're focusing on towers that particularly target the budget-conscious -- the Lenovo ThinkStation P410 Workstation, rolled out Tuesday, and the Dell Precision Tower 3620 (Mini Tower), which debuted near the end of 2015. Which is a better fit? Here is the CRN Test Center's breakdown of how the towers from Lenovo and Dell compare on specs and price. Congress will be hard pressed to approve money for a Zika response by month's end, said U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., who has been appointed to a committee tasked with ironing out differences between House and Senate proposals. The virus, which has now infected 691 people in the United States and causes birth defects including microcephaly babies born with small heads and small brains hasnt received the emergency response its deserved from the House and Senate, Tester said. Theres not a lot of urgency around here when it comes to Zika, Tester told The Gazette. Were well into mosquito season and we havent done anything. Two million pregnant women are at risk. The estimate of two million pregnant women at risk for the Zika comes from the Center For American Progress. The Centers of Disease Control knows of 206 women in the United States with laboratory evidence of Zika infection as of June 2. The virus is transmitted by mosquitos and through sex. There is one case of travel-related Zika in Montana. Only eight states in the continental U.S., including Montana, dont have at least one of the two types mosquitoes that can carry Zika, according to CDC. Those mosquitoes are now in the Southern United States. Opinions are far apart in Congress over how much money should be spent fighting Zika, which first materialized in South America. The Obama administration has asked for $1.9 billion to fight Zika. The Senate approved $1.1 billion in emergency funding in May before its weeklong Memorial Day break. The House approved $622 million for Zika, mostly by taking money previously committed to Ebola virus research. Tester said his objective on the conference committee to reconcile Zika funding differences between the Senate and House is to get the amount closer to the $1.1 billion approved by the Senate. If that means cutting the funds from existing programs as the House prefers, so be it, Tester said. The CDC and federal disease research agencies first requested money for Zika in February. Time is running out, he said. It needs to be reasonably robust because this is s a serious threat, Tester said. Every one of those children born with microcephaly is $10 million bucks and that doesnt include the heartache that happens. The Senate is in session 13 more days this month and eight days in July, before leaving for the entire month of August. The 2016 schedule is the shortest Senate schedule in 60 years, Tester said. Earlier this month, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which conducts Zika research at Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Hamilton, told The Gazette it will run out of funding later this summer if Congress does nothing. We don't know everything, but luckily, we know someone who does - Proverbs 3:5 This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate NEWTOWN For 33 years, David Lydem, a retired police lieutenant, was the volunteer caretaker of the towns most notable landmark, the flagpole at the intersection of Main Street and Church Hill Road. Lydem retired from those duties last August, making Tuesday the first Flag Day in decades that someone else took charge of the red, white and blue. Sitting near the 100-foot flagpole, Lydem, 72, reminisced about his years of taking care of the national symbol. The flag was flying at half-staff in memory of the victims of the Orlando tragedy. What I really liked the most is that it drew in so many people to contribute, he said. It was all the people that contributed over the years that kept it going. Lydem was in charge of the general upkeep of the flagpole, which was fully funded by donations to a designated town account. His work included painting the lower section of the pole, replacing lights that surround it and swapping in and out the larger flag that flies from Memorial Day to Thanksgiving. He decided to take on these responsibilities in 1982, while he was a police sergeant at the Newtown Police Department, after seeing that the pole needed repairs. As word spread of his efforts, he started receiving donations, which he used to have the pole sandblasted and repainted. People from far and wide who pass the flag pole every day would send in donations and nice letters, he said. The flagpole was first erected in 1876 and was made of wood. The current one, the fourth, was installed in 1950 and is made of steel. The state Department of Transportation touched off a furor by proposing to remove the pole after a fatal car accident in 1979, but former state Rep. Mae Schmidle got legislation passed prohibiting its removal. Over the years, Lydem said, the size of the flag has also changed. When he first started taking care of it, it was only 5 by 6 feet. Currently, the flags that soar over the town measure 12 by 18 feet in the winter and early spring and 20 by 30 feet in summer and fall. The flags have been donated for years by the Newtown Lions Club and by Newtown Hardware. Lydem has watched the pole survive wear and tear from the elements and from human mischief. In 2012, the gold-leafed copper ornament that sits atop the flagpole fell off after a tractor-trailer crashed into it. It was never found. The flag was also stolen twice, he said. After more than three decades, Lydem decided to retire from his duties. I thought it was enough after 33 years, he said. The flagpole needs attention again, he said, pointing to the rust bleeding through the poles white paint. He said he tried to find someone to do the necessary work the sandblasting, priming and painting but hasnt found anyone willing to do it without closing the intersection. When he first became the caretaker, he had a steeplejack from New Haven do such work. The man used a rope to shinny up the steel pole, and kept doing the job until he was 66 years old. I couldnt keep it up, he said I thought it was maybe time to turn it over to the town. The Board of Burgesses now has responsiblity for the flagpoles upkeep. But even though Lydem no longer takes care of the towns iconic landmark, it still holds deep meaning to him. Its just a symbol of Newtown, he said. Its a big welcome sign. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate BRIDGEPORT Guns, drugs and cash were seized in a raid Tuesday at a Hanover Street apartment, by members of two statewide crime task forces. During surveillance of the apartment, detectives witnessed the suspect, William Akeem Hooks, participate in the sale of a GSG-522, .22 caliber rifle with a pistol grip and silencer, which is classified as an assault rifle, said TFC Kelly Grant, the State Police spokeswoman. Members of the state police Narcotics Task Force and Statewide Urban Violence and Crime Control Task Force had set up surveillance at 182 Hanover Street after receiving intelligence information that the resident, William Akeem Hooks, was trafficking assault rifles and other firearms that were being obtained from southern states along the East Coast, Grant said. Detectives watched as Hooks drove away from the apartment and conducted a motor vehicle stop with the assistance of Bridgeport police. Hooks was arrested without incident and found in possession of one gram of crack cocaine, marijuana and $1,320 in cash, she said, His 2005 Dodge Magnum was seized as evidence and searched under a warrant at the Troop G barracks, Grant said. Detectives also served a search warrant on Hooks apartment where they seized a loaded Smith & Wesson M&P 15-22 .22 caliber rifle with a high capacity magazine, which is classified as an assault rifle, and was reported stolen from Darlington County, South Carolina. Also seized was a loaded Glock Model 26 9mm semi-automatic handgun with a high capacity magazine. Hooks was transported to Troop G where he is being held on a $500,000 bond on charges of illegal sale or transfer of an assault weapon, possession of narcotics, two counts of possession of an assault rifle, theft of a firearm and two counts of risk of injury to a minor. He will be arraigned later today at Superior Court in Bridgeport. The state Department of Children and Families was contacted and a referral was made for the two children in the apartment. All weapons seized were transported to Troop G where they were held as evidence, Grant said. Anyone with information on illegal activity is encouraged to anonymously contact State Police with their tips. Text TIP711 with the information to 236748 or call 1-866-HLS-TIPS. Stacy Almodovar III, 23, was a pharmacy technician. Luis Vielma, 22, loved his Universal Studios job in the Harry Potter Wizarding World. Kimberly Morris, 37, had moved to Orlando just months ago and was working as a bouncer at the Pulse, a popular gay bar in the city known worldwide as a theme park tourist destination. Those three young Americans are among 100 shooting victims our nation mourns and prays for today. Half of them died when or shortly after a lone gunman opened fire in that crowded bar and dance venue. The rest are hospitalized, many with life-threatening injuries; the death toll may rise. The massacre was carried out by an American citizen of Afghan descent, a man who reportedly swore allegiance to violent Islamic extremists in a 911 phone call shortly before he opened fire early Sunday. His ex-wife said he beat her and suffered from serious mental illness. He was employed as a security guard and licensed to carry firearms in the state of Florida. He legally purchased guns just days before he used an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle to slaughter dozens of people. The FBI had investigated him twice for possible links to terrorism, but found no grounds to charge him with any crime. His father says the gunman hated gay people. Before the sun set on Sunday, Montana leaders reacted to the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. Gov. Steve Bullock ordered flags on all state buildings to fly at half-staff till sunset on Thursday. President Barack Obama had requested that governors issue such orders out of respect for the victims in Orlando. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., cited the senseless hate of ISIS and radical Islam and said it will strengthen our resolve and commitment to freedom. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., said: We must come together to put an end to this terrorism, intolerance and senseless violence that is attempting to steal our freedom. Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont, said: We also must do more here at home to stop individuals who have been radicalized before they act. None of the congressional delegation statements mentioned that the massacre occurred at a gay bar during Pride Week. But those facts weighed heavily on the 100 or so Billings folks who gathered for a candlelight vigil Sunday evening on the lawn at Grace United Methodist Church. The vigil, sponsored by Not In Our Town, drew local clergy, elected officials and members of the local LBGT community. In Helena, Great Falls, Missoula, Bozeman other Montanans gathered for similar vigils. Anonymous, online Gazette commenters defended gun rights and blasted liberals for blaming the shootings on guns. The awful truth is that the terrible loss of life in Orlando Sunday defies simple explanation. Yes, America must do more to keep Americans safe at home. But we also have to stop fighting each other and blaming people who disagree with us or who are different than us. Sometimes it takes a tragedy to bring out the best in Americans. That may be the only good thing to come from the massacre in Orlando. WASHINGTON The Senate on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved the Defense Department policy authorization bill for 2017, which contains billions for Connecticut-produced helicopters, submarines and jet engines. The $602 billion National Defense Authorization Act is critical legislation that will enhance our national defense and support our state economy, said U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who voted for it. As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, I was proud to help craft this bill, and to fight for provisions that would invest in Connecticut jobs and manufacturing. The bill includes: $929.3 million for 36 Black Hawk helicopters, as well as $437 million for two of the Marine Corps new heavy-lift CH-53K helicopters. Blumenthal claimed credit for an extra $302.3 million for eight additional Black Hawks to replace the Air Forces aging fleet of Vietnam-era UH-1N ``Huey helicopters, used to protect intercontinental ballistic missile fields in the West. $8.5 billion for 63 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters for the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps. Pratt & Whitney, of East Hartford, is the exclusive manufacturer of engines for the F-35. $5 billion for two Virginia Class attack submarines, used against potential enemy surface ships and surface ships. Also, $1.9 billion to start replacing Ohio Class ballistic missile submarines, which are part of the nuclear triad. Electric Boat has been contracted to build 12 Ohio Class replacements. U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who worked to secure Connecticut defense funding as a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, voted for the authorization bill. The United States depends on Connecticut to build the subs, engines and helicopters that our military relies on to keep us safe, Murphy said in a statement. I supported todays bill, despite some real policy reservations, because its good for Connecticut working families. A comparable version passed the House last month, with U.S. Reps. Jim Himes and Elizabeth Esty, D-Conn., voting for it even though it contained language that would, in essence, permit defense contractors to discriminate against LGBT employees and job applicants because it contained relatively generous funding for Connecticut defense industries. Both pledged to fight to remove the LGBT part of it before the bill becomes law. The Senate bill does not contain the same language, but both versions received White House veto threats. Among the issues: Republicans in control of both House and Senate want to keep the detention facility for radical Islamic fighters at Guantanamo Bay open, against President Barack Obamas pledge to close it. Republicans and some Democrats oppose another round of military-installation closings, which the Obama administration says is necessary to save defense dollars. The House version shifts money from war fighting to nuts-and-bolts Defense spending, injecting $18 billion more for troops and weapons the Pentagon didnt request, the Associated Press reported. dan@hearstdc.com This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 5 1 of 5 Cathy Zuraw Cathy Zuraw / Hearst Connecticut Media Show More Show Less 2 of 5 Linda Conner Lambeck / Linda Conner Lambeck Show More Show Less 3 of 5 4 of 5 Chip Somodevilla Show More Show Less 5 of 5 BRIDGEPORT A benefit silent auction to benefit the school districts Turnaround Arts program will be held at 7 p.m., Monday, June 20 at Housatonic Community Colleges Beacon Hall events center. The program will include a performance by Bernie Williams, a New York Yankee turned jazz musician and at turnaround artist at Tisdale School. In response to two recent Gazette articles and an opinion piece critiquing the lack of information provided to the public by federal investigative and prosecuting agencies regarding the severe beating and burning of a woman on the Crow Reservation, an explanation is warranted as to why the Department of Justice is not able to provide details on pending investigations and crimes that have yet to be charged, regardless of whether those crimes involve tribal or non-Indian persons as victims. DOJ attorneys and law enforcement personnel from the FBI and BIA are bound by a strict set of rules governing disclosure of information at various phases of a criminal investigation. All of these rules are formulated to protect victims, the rights of the accused and fundamentally the fairness and impartiality of the judicial process. As prosecutors, federal attorneys are held to a high standard to ensure that the publics right to know is balanced with an accused individuals right to a fair trial and the governments ability to effectively enforce the administration of justice. Many legal restrictions This requirement was congressionally mandated by 28 U.S.C. 530B, commonly referred to as the McDade Act. Enacted in the late 1990s, the law requires that federal prosecutors must adhere to the same ethical and professional standards that guide all other attorneys in the state, specifically with reference to the type of information a prosecutor can release to the press. The practical effect of the McDade Act is that a court will hold the prosecutor responsible for improper comments of investigative agents, thereby extending the restrictions to all investigative agencies, including the FBI and BIA. The rules that specify what information may be provided under the McDade Act include the Code of Federal Regulations, the Federal District Court Rules, the Montana Rules of Professional Conduct, and the Department of Justices media policy. These rules and regulations prohibit department attorneys from disclosing any information about a defendant until charges have been filed. Even then, department attorneys are limited by both federal district court rules and state bar ethical rules as to the information that may be revealed about a defendant, in order to preserve the impartiality of the judicial system and to protect the constitutionally endowed rights of the accused. Finally, Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6 provides that federal prosecutors and agents working with such prosecutors may not disclose any matter occurring before a grand jury. This provision significantly limits the ability of federal prosecutors and agents to comment publically about crimes under investigation. Victims' rights The department and investigative agencies are likewise restricted from revealing victim details in order to protect the privacy of victims. As soon as a crime has been committed, however, victim-witness coordinators from the DOJ (FBI and the U.S. Attorneys Office) work closely with victims and their families to ensure that the victim is aware of her rights and that those rights are respected throughout the criminal proceedings, beginning with the criminal investigation and continuing even after sentencing. In its editorial, The Gazette implies that the governments inability to comment on the terrible crime on the Crow Reservation is the product of a general indifference to crimes against tribal members generally and American Indian women in particular. The departments necessary silence on this matter is no different than its silence on all pending investigations and cases. In no way does that silence reflect an indifference to crime or its victims in Indian country. The department has placed a strong emphasis on combating crime in Indian country. Between 2009 and 2013, Indian country prosecutions by U.S. attorneys offices with Indian country jurisdiction rose 54 percent. Currently, Indian country prosecutions make up approximately 30 percent of all cases brought by this office. We are required to and do treat these cases with the same deference to the integrity of the criminal proceedings and the rights of the victims and accused as we display in all other matters. While these rules may be frustrating to the media, they are an essential part of a formula that results in the conviction of hardened criminals both on and off the reservation, and ultimately helps to prevent further heinous crimes like this one. The Gazette articles and opinion piece suggested that news of crimes in Indian country is actively suppressed, and that the FBI pressures victims not to speak to the press. This is not true. The crime referenced by the Gazette was in fact reported shortly after it occurred by at least two regional television stations. That it was not widely reported in the print media was not a result of government suppression efforts. When a Gazette reporter contacted the U.S. attorneys office more than a month after the incident was initially reported, the constraints under which the department operates were explained, yet this explanation was not relayed in either of The Gazette pieces. Media's disservice The media does the public a disservice when it construes our inability to comment on a criminal proceeding or investigation as lack of interest in the crime and the victim. The department recognizes and respects the publics right to know. That right, however, must be tempered with the administration of justice, such that details of crimes and investigations must often remain confidential during the pendency of the investigation, and the minutiae of a criminal case may not become public until judicial proceedings are concluded. These principles apply equally across the spectrum of cases prosecuted by this office, whether they occur in Indian country, involve issues of national security, or target large-scale drug distribution, human trafficking, or child pornography. In no case does our inability to comment on ongoing investigations or criminal proceedings reflect indifference to the victims of crime, or the public as a whole. We strive to serve all of our constituents and the public in equal measure and in accordance with rules we are honor-bound to follow. Who is Orlando nightclub shooting suspect Omar Mateen? Submitted by: Juana international Middle East United States 06 / 13 / 2016 Omar Mateen has been identified as the suspect in mass shooting that left at least 50 dead and more than 50 others wounded at the Pulse Orlando, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Mateen, 29, lived in Fort Pierce, Fla. He was born in New York to parents of Afghan origin and was a Muslim. In the midst of the attack, Mateen called 911 and pledged his allegiance to ISIS, according to two law enforcement officials. Mateen was interviewed three times by FBI agents - twice in 2013, once in 2014 - as part of two separate investigations, FBI Special Agent in Charge Ron Hopper said. However, both inquiries proved inconclusive and the cases were closed. Mateen was not under surveillance or the subject of an active investigation at the time of the shooting, Hopper said. The 2013 investigation was related to comments Mateen allegedly made to a co-worker "alleging possible terror ties." FBI agents were unable to "verify the substance" of his comments, Hopper said. Mateen was also interviewed in 2014 due to his ties to an American man who later drove an explosive-laden truck into a restaurant in Syria for an Al Qaeda affiliate. Mateen and the suicide bomber, Monar abu Salha, attended the same mosque; however, the FBI determined their contact "was minimal," Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee Mike McCaul said. Mr. Mateens father, Seddique Mir Mateen, posted a video on his Facebook page early on Monday in which he expressed regret and confusion about why his won had carried out the mass killing. I dont know what caused this, said Mr. Mateen, speaking in Dari, a language spoken in Afghanistan. I did not know and did not understand that he has anger in his heart. My son, Omar Mateen, was a very good boy, an educated boy, who had a child and a wife, very respectful of his parents, he said. Mateen was married in 2009 to a woman who was born in Uzbekistan, according to the couple's marriage license, but the two divorced in 2011. "He was not a stable person," the ex-wife, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Washington Post. "He beat me. He would just come home and start beating me up because the laundry wasnt finished or something like that." Mateen also had a 3-year-old son and appears to have had no criminal record. Mateen also had a statewide firearms license. He purchased two guns - a handgun and a long gun - legally during the week before the shooting, an ATF official said. WILLISTON Answers in the investigation into a double shooting in Williston are still weeks away, according to police, although new information has been released about the circumstances surrounding the deaths of two men last month. Authorities say Diandre Lott and Donzell Washington arrived at the Renaissance Heights apartment complex the morning of May 17 to see a resident there who was selling a car. The two were let into the mans building, which requires a card for access, and stayed inside his apartment for less than half an hour before shots rang out. Lott, 24, and Washington, 23, who were said to be best friends, died of multiple gunshot wounds at about 11:20 a.m. What happened in the moments before the pair died remains unclear. The man who lives in the apartment told police he shot in self-defense, but investigators are looking to the state evidence lab to provide an impartial account of events. Test results, though, on a series of telltale details from the scene, including fingerprints, DNA, blood spatter and gunpowder residue arent expected for about another five weeks, Williston Police Detective Jacob Gregory said on Monday. There are no charges because all the facts arent known Were waiting on all the facts before a decision is made, he said. Its still being investigated. Further complicating matters is the fact that the confrontation took place in the shooters home. That is a spot where he should feel safe, Gregory said. It was his own dwelling, and that changes things dramatically. A woman, who, along with a young child, was in the apartment at the time of the shooting, called 911, and the dispatcher instructed the survivors to leave the scene. Minutes later, outside the building, officers detained the man who was also present at the shooting. He told authorities hed fired out of fear for his life, and was later released. The man and woman have since left the state, although they are in contact with police, Gregory said. Their names have not been released because they have not been charged with a crime. Residents who called 911 after the incident reported hearing up to 16 shots fired. There is no evidence that Lott or Washington fired a gun, although several handguns were found in the apartment, police said at the time. Lott and Washington hardly knew the man who lived there, according to police, and were believed to have visited the apartment out of interest in an Audi for sale for about $3,000. Investigators are continuing to reach out to family and friends of the slain pair, in an effort to ferret out any remaining relevant information. A family member of Lotts said over the phone last week that Lott was a private person, and wouldnt have wanted the attention generated by the circumstances around his death. The relative added that questions surrounding the shooting are worrisome to the family, which is concerned about its own safety. The Bureau of Criminal Investigation is helping local detectives with the case. The deaths are the first killings in Williston since 2014, when Tovias Carrillo, 48, was charged with murder in the shooting death of 51-year-old Juan Palacios. Teams and players to watch in the District 5 boys soccer playoffs Check out the teams and players to watch and the District 5 Class 1A and 2A boys soccer playoffs open. Despite interest from Fargo, the Williston Basin Petroleum Conference will be back in Bismarck in 2018. There are some perks to staying in the same place with our small staff, said Kari Cutting, vice president of the North Dakota Petroleum Council. Cutting said the NDPC received great feedback from conference attendees on the newly finished Exhibit Hall expansion. It was an easy to make decision this time, she said of choosing the host city. Visitor spending for the conference, which bounces between the United States and Canada every other year, was estimated to be about $1 million this year, according to Bismarck-Mandan Convention and Visitors Bureau CEO Sheri Grossman. And despite decreased attendance during this years low oil price environment, the event remains Bismarck-Mandans largest conference. Fargo-Moorhead Convention and Visitors Bureau had a booth at this years conference to promote Fargo to conference attendees and express interest in hosting the annual conference. "Congratulations to Bismarck; they do a great job with it," Fargo-Moorhead CVB CEO Charley Johnson said of Bismarck's selection as the 2018 host city. Johnson said they knew getting the conference to Fargo was a long shot because of its location on the east side of the state but they won't give up, they'll continue to express their interest to the NDPC and will try again for 2020. Wed just like to get it in the rotation, Johnson said. "It would be interesting to have them come here but first we have to get them here." Fargo hosted a smaller oil industry event last fall, the North Dakota Petroleum Councils annual meeting, which Johnson told the Fargo Forum was a first step in attracting the larger convention. Johnson said he is hopeful Fargo will get to host that event again in the near future. Cities often compete trying to get the best events, Grossman said. We have the facilities that work for them. Were tried, were true, were tested, said Grossman. Cutting said the CVB and Bismarck Event Center staff are great to work with, making it easier to organize and run the conference, which had about 2,600 attendees this year, not including the 4,500 who bought tickets to see Donald Trump. There was a record 4,250 attendees in 2014. The city that hosts it, they truly are partners as well, Cutting said, adding the CVB manages a central hotel room database that allows conference-goers to easily book a place to stay. That has been a huge help to us and those that attend. And in order to keep attendees interest in coming back to Bismarck every other year, the NDPC is considering now how it can keep raising that bar for the event, Cutting said. Cajun time: Buster Tubbs brings the spice to Tavares Longing for some Louisiana fare? Consider Buster Tubbs in Tavares, where the secret is in the rue, according to chef and spice-master Pernell Stewart. The nations leading farmer-owned cooperative revamped proposed bylaw changes after North Dakotas largest farm-member organization expressed opposition in November. The CHS Board of Directors new set of proposed amendments to the companys bylaws will go to a vote at its annual meeting in December. CHS said the changes to the original proposal are "intended to ensure the company remains an agricultural-focused and producer-governed cooperative after receiving member feedback. The North Dakota Farmers Union Board of Directors voted last year to oppose the previously proposed changes because the organization felt it moved CHS away from its producer-controlled roots. We got a lot of feedback from our owners that they wanted us to keep any proposed amendments clear and easy to understand, so weve focused on the important issue they identified membership eligibility, CHS Board Chairman Dave Bielenberg said in a statement. As we considered their feedback, we felt the best way to accomplish this was to recommend new membership classes. The original proposal stemmed from the fact that many CHS members, which consist of local agricultural cooperatives and supplies co-ops with energy products as well as grain marketing services, were changing the way they do business and CHS was trying to adapt, said Steve Fritel, a farmer and CHS director from Rugby. The previously proposed changes would have removed the requirement that members be only producer owners. CHS is getting around that with proposed membership classes. Those cooperatives that arent 100 percent producer-owned would be considered class B members that only receive patronage but no member voting rights, Fritel said. Fritel said CHS has not had any direct meeting with NDFU about whether the changes address the organizations concerns but the organization has been at CHS meetings and has not voiced any complaints to date. He said CHS does hope to meet with NDFU at some point. I think its important for everyone to know that the CHS board spent a lot of time discussing this and weve really listened to our owners, Bielenberg said in a statement. As a board, we carefully considered the options and, in the end, aligned around a proposal we believe honors our heritage and is relevant for the future." The CHS board will make sure members understand the proposal and can make an informed decision via Your CHS Town Hall meetings in June and July, and other forums in the months to follow. To learn more about the proposed changes, view this video. Ridership and hours of local para-transit and senior bus service could be reduced by Sept. 1. Bis-Man Transit Director Roy Rickert said a plan drafted for Bis-Man Transit and Capital Area Transit would replace 24-hour bus service for people with disabilities with a schedule running from early morning to early evening: 5:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday. Healthy seniors ages 60 and older would no longer automatically qualify for the para-transit service unless they meet Americans with Disabilities Act or health criteria. The proposed plan also downsizes the CAT fixed bus system, cutting some of its northeast fringe routes and reducing the number of routes from 12 to six. The CAT routes would run 6:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday. Extended service will be added from 7 p.m. to midnight Monday through Saturday and from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Sunday for a fee of $5. "It could save $1 million, Rickert said, adding that the proposed changes were prompted by a loss of $350,000 in federal funding and $150,000 from state budget cuts. And the para-transit route is expensive. Both systems provided 283,263 rides, and para-transit rides made up more than half. "For a town this size, we should be doing 40,000 to 50,000 rides on para-transit. We're doing 160,000," said Rickert. About 13,000 riders are signed up for the para-transit bus, though not all who sign up use it. The suggested changes come from a study done on the system in 2012, Rickert said. Renee Kipp, executive director for Burleigh County Senior Services, an agency that contributes to the bus service, voiced doubts about the revamped plan: "I have a lot of concerns. Lyle Halvorson, interim state director for AARP North Dakota, said he prefers a phased approach to help users modify their use of the transit. He said the organization is reviewing the changes for the impact on residents who rely on the para-transit service. "Reliable transportation is a lifeline for older residents. We want to ensure the programs are available for those who need it. We may leave vulnerable residents without service," he said. Para-transit service will continue to Mandan and Lincoln, and fixed bus route service will continue to Mandan. "I have concerns about changes in the paratransit eligibility. ... I don't think it's clear other than they are ADA-compliant, Commissioner Josh Askvig said. "I am concerned about 24/7 service going to after-hours and extended service. I am less concerned about how it affects ridership (than) the fees doubling to $5." Askvig also questions narrowing the defined borders for service from 2 miles outside town to three-quarters of a mile away from town, and how the new plan has West River Transit rural bus service overlap the gap to reach Bismarck-Mandan. Rickert notes that although the metro area is growing, general ridership has been stagnant for five years. Despite northeast Bismarck being one of the fastest-growing areas, ridership there is marginal, he said -- perhaps two riders an hour. The new fixed route will no longer stop in the areas of the new northeast Dan's, but the fixed route will still pick up riders from the north Walmart. The change is meant to improve overall service to riders, Rickert said. "It will bring efficiency, productivity and a higher level of service for the passengers, he said. On the fixed route, they are going to get an easier schedule to work with. The buses will stay on route the entire day. "(Rickert) is looking for ways to make the service more efficient, and I look forward to the discussion at the table," said Bismarck Mayor Mike Seminary. "He has to base his decisions on what our community needs today. His job is make decisions on what is best for our ridership. I trust his judgment." One area may see an increase in service: University of Mary. Tim Seaworth, vice president for student affairs, said regular service is something students and staff have been requesting. "We've attracted students from Minnesota and beyond who are used to public transportation. We have more students than 10 years ago that don't have cars. They've been wanting bus service. We have students who work in town. They are excited about the possibility of the bus coming out here," Seaworth said. The proposal will be presented to the Bismarck City Commission for consideration at 5:15 p.m. Tuesday. A commission decision is expected in July, though Askvig questions whether that will allow enough time to educate the public and transition those using para-transit. Rain and thunderstorms rolling through the Bismarck-Mandan area didnt deter voters from coming out to make their voices heard at the polls this morning, with many attracted to area voting booths to have their say on the Republican gubernatorial race as well as a corporate farming measure. Officials with the auditors' offices in both Burleigh and Morton counties didnt have as of this morning full tallies of how many votes had been cast so far. Inside the state Capitol the voting precinct set up in the Brynhild Haugland Room was off to a slow start, with 118 votes cast shortly before 11 a.m. Blaine Nordwall said races of interest to him were the GOP gubernatorial race and the Supreme Court seat for a 10-year term. He voted for Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem. Frankly I dont buy the notion that businessmen are always the best candidate, Nordwall said. Nordwall said Fargo businessman Doug Burgums claim that because hes a successful businessman hed make a successful governor didnt add up to him, adding that the executive functions of business and government dont operate in the same manner. Stenehjem is the GOPs endorsed candidate. Burgum and Bismarck business consultant Paul Sorum are challenging him for the right to move on to the general election. He said for Supreme Court he voted for Jerod Tufte, a Southeast Judicial District Court judge. Tufte is running against Bismarck attorney Robert Bolinske, Sr. A level-headed sort of guy, Nordwall said of what appealed to him about Tufte. Paula Nordwall, Blaines wife, said Measure 1, the corporate farming measure, drew her interest. She voted against Measure 1. I dont care for corporate farming, Paula Nordwall said. I prefer family farming. I think were OK that way. Measure 1, if approved, would affirm legislative action from last session. It would provide exemptions to allow for corporate dairy and swine operations in the state of at least 50 cows or 500 hogs on a farm of up to 640 acres. Janet Scholl also came to the Capitol to vote for Stenehjem. Her reasoning was fairly straightforward. I know Wayne Stenehjem. Hes a good guy, Scholl said. Mandan voter Marlo Anderson showed up at the Mandan Eagles Club shortly after 7:30 a.m. and opted to vote for Burgum over Stenehjem. Anderson said it was a tough choice because hes known both candidates fairly well for years and considers them both friends. I voted for Doug. I think that its just time for a difference, change, Anderson said. Jeff Wanek voted about the same time as Anderson at the Eagles Club and said Stenehjem had earned his vote. Wanek said Burgums campaign advertising turned him off. Particularly the way Dougs ad portrayed him as the only person for the Affordable Care Act, Wanek said. I wouldve been attracted to his candidacy without that. Wanek was referring to an ad that claimed Stenehjem supports the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also referred to as Obamacare. Stenehjem joined a lawsuit with counterparts in several other states in attempting to overturn the law. In a separate lawsuit, over the issue of the subsidies provided for in the law, he was the lone Republican attorney general in support of it. Stenehjem previously said he did so because of the negative impact on thousands of North Dakotans if the subsidies were revoked. Wanek also voted in favor of Measure 1. I think its the only way for them, especially dairy, to survive. Its the only way we can help that industry in the state, Wanek said. Jenn Bailey came to the Capitol this morning to vote for the Democratic-NPL Party candidates. She said the race of interest for her was the U.S. House race. Democrat Chase Iron Eyes is running against Rep. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., and the Libertarian Partys candidate, Jack Seaman of Fargo. He represents his base and doesnt represent all of us, Bailey said of Cramer. Bailey said her and other Democrats votes still matter even if theyre simply voting for a series of uncontested races. Voting is your right. You should exercise it no matter how big or small it (the election) is, Bailey said. Opinion Wordle The next day I woke to find myself in a WhatsApp group titled Quordle is Awesome!! A small group of three. There was no getting out of it now. Road construction projects are running rampant as Mandan works to widen a portion of Old Red Trail and Morton County launches a number of infrastructure improvements, including replacement of two bridges. Mandan The widening of Old Red Trail from east of Highland Road to west of 40th Avenue started May 31 in northwest Mandan. The $5.25 million project will involve widening that stretch of road to include a section wide enough for a dedicated left-turn lane, according to Justin Froseth, the city engineer. The asphalt roadway will be replaced with concrete so it lasts longer, and vertical grade changes will be made to improve line-of-sight distances for motorists. "This will improve capacity and safety. This will put a sufficient roadway in place for the next 30-plus years," said Froseth. "The current roadway is insufficient for the amount of traffic it gets," he said, pointing to a sub-surface structure that is not holding up. Traffic counts show an average of 3,800 vehicles travel the road each day, including 152 trucks. Studies project that by 2040, the traffic will increase to 14,400 vehicles per day with 450 trucks using it, according to Froseth. A new storm pipe system will be installed underground to allow for more efficient runoff drainage. The multi-use bike and pedestrian trail will be extended to the west end of the project limit. The water transmission line will be upsized, said Froseth, adding that new street lights and landscaping will make the corridor safer and more user-friendly. "Substantial completion will be Oct. 15," said Froseth, noting that a milestone will occur on Aug. 24, when the road from 37th Avenue to the east will open in time for the start of school. Eighty percent of the funding for the roadwork on Old Red Trail is provided by federal funds, and 20 percent comes from local sources. Of that local share, 25 percent will be paid from city sales tax revenue, 25 percent from a citywide property tax and half through special assessments to benefiting properties. While the city aims to use HUB funds to pay for a larger water main tied to the Old Red Trail project, the city is prioritizing its use of HUB funds in case all of the $4.3 million the state money does not come through. Special assessments will not be utilized for that upgrade, Froseth said. Originally, the road-widening project was intended to extend to 47th Avenue, but the city lacked enough funding. The remaining section will be upgraded as funding becomes available within the next 10 years, Froseth said. Separately, he said the 40th Avenue and 46th Avenue Southeast signal light projects along Memorial Highway will be installed after Independence Day week. That project is slated for completion by Sept. 1. Other projects include installing new signal lights at Twin City Drive and Main Street, and construction of a series of streets for new housing developments: Meadowlands for $578,506, Lakewood Eighth at $1.39 million, Lakewood Ninth for $2.09 million and West Hills Fourth for $429,777. Those road projects are scheduled for completion in October. Morton County About $1.2 million worth of projects have been awarded to regravel collector roads, mostly in southern and western Morton County, said Mike Aubol, county engineer. The road work is scheduled for county roads 137, 138, 88 and 87. Two wooden bridges in Morton County will be replaced with double concrete-boxed culverts one 3 miles east of Hebron and one 10 miles southeast of Flasher. The construction work will be done in-house at about $200,000 per bridge. Aubol said a third bridge will be replaced later this summer, but the location has not been decided. "Some of these bridges go back to the 1950s," he said. The county will pay $900,000 for the resurfacing of Glen Ullin's South Avenue West, a stretch of road measuring 1.5 miles. The county also will pay $900,000 toward resurfacing a portion of Main Street and Elm Street in Hebron as part of that city's $4.5 million renovation project that measures 0.7 miles. Aubol said the work will be completed this year. An additional $500,000 resurfacing project will be done adjacent to Hebron, on a 1.35-mile stretch to include County 90 and Main Street. Its scheduled completion is Sept. 30. The Crown Butte Subdivision Roadway reconstruction, comprising three-quarters of a mile, started June 6 and is scheduled for completion late July. Cost of the work is $330,000. Resurfacing of 1.6 miles of County 139A just west of Mandan will start in midsummer at an estimated cost of $900,000. It is scheduled for completion by Nov. 1. Uninvited animals should never expect a warm welcome in our house. When I was a schoolboy, we used to engage in long debates as to how to get rid of a tapeworm. Some argued that if you held a steaming hot bowl of soup next to your mouth the tapeworm would eventually pop its head out of your mouth to take a slurp. Happily, we were never in a position to find out if this was true. At the moment, I am doing battle with a crowd of uninvited moths. They spring from every drawer and every cupboard, flitter-fluttering around to their heart's content, whizzing hither and thither in zig-zags, making it virtually impossible to catch them. When I see one approaching, I clap my hands Clap! Clap! Clap! in the hope of squashing one, but they always veer away, just in time. Sometimes, I think they mistake all that clapping for applause. Perhaps that's why they have felt encouraged to expand their operation to take in every piece of furniture, every carpet, every sock and every shirt. Craig Brown writes that moths spring from 'every drawer and every cupboard' and that it is 'virtually impossible' to catch them The only items they ever bother to avoid are the little strips of sticky paper that I have scattered all over the place. So far, the only living creature to have been caught on one of these sticky traps is me. Watching television the other night, I leaned back, only to find my hair attached a sticky strip, so that I looked as if I were wearing an old-fashioned mortar-board, like Mr Quelch, the form-teacher of the Remove in Billy Bunter. At least moths are irritating rather than frightening. Whenever anything larger than a moth comes indoors, I take care to stay well away. In the early days of new technology, a field mouse made its home in my word-processor, and kept popping its head through the keyboard as I typed. Anyone who has ever seen the Alien movies will know exactly how upsetting this can be. Though I like birds a lot more than moths or mice, my love for them disappears the moment they fly inside. Years ago, a robin flew into our bedroom, and set up home in the corner. We threw all the windows open, confident that it would fly away, but it clearly had no such intention. The walls and bed soon became spattered, and the robin's incessant twittering stopped us from sleeping. After a few days, we had no choice but to bow to its will and move to another bedroom. Was it just me, or, as we left, did it swap its usual birdy tune for a triumphal march? But none of these creatures, however annoying, could ever compare with the unwelcome guest that sprang a surprise upon poor Mr Atthaporn Boonmakchuay the other day. Mr Boonmakchuay was sitting on the toilet in his home in Chachoengsao province, east of Bangkok, when he felt what he later described as 'a sharp pain'. Atthaporn Boonmakchuay was sat on the toilet in his home in Bangkok, Thailand, when a python (stock photo) appeared Looking down, he realised that without so much as a 'by your leave' a 10ft python had slithered into the plumbing, popped its head out of the toilet and sunk its teeth into his penis. This uncalled-for python then began pulling and pulling. Mr Boonmakchuay recalls that the python was 'yanking very hard' as he and his wife tried to wrestle it off. Eventually, his wife tied a rope around the snake, and Mr Boonmakchuay managed to prise its jaws apart while his wife pulled it away. Mr Boonmakchuay is presently recovering from his ordeal in hospital, while the authorities are said to have released the offending python back into the wild, without so much as a rap on the knuckles, and no guarantee that it won't get up to its old tricks on someone else. At least incidents such as this put one's own troubles into perspective. Given the choice, I would rather entertain 100,000 of the most irresponsible moths to an eat-all-you-can house party than allow a single python to set up shop in my toilet. I'd like to say that there could be nothing worse than a 10ft python in one's toilet, but, some years ago, the explorer Redmond O'Hanlon encountered an even scarier threat in an offshoot of the Amazon in South America. It was a tiny little catfish called the candiru. He reported: 'Should you have too much to drink, say, and inadvertently urinate as you swim, any homeless candiru, attracted by the smell, will take you for a big fish and swim excitedly up your stream of uric acid, enter your urethra like a worm into its burrow, and, raising its gill-covers, stick out a set of spines. 'The pain, apparently, is spectacular.' Alas, there is, he adds, only one cure: 'You must get to a hospital before your bladder bursts; you must ask a surgeon to cut off your penis.' The hardback book comes with 100 illustrations by 100 female artists Became one of Kickstarter's most successful books ever By the end of its run, a staggering 13,454 backers had pledged $675, 614 Once upon a time there was a girl who dreamed of being an astronaut. When she left school she studied technology and science, learnt about the International Space Station and after years of training, made it into space. If this doesn't sound like a typical fairy tale story to you that's because it isn't. But the all-female team behind a pioneering new book called Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls are confronting that tired, patriarchal narrative head-on. The book that sets out to challenge gender stereotypes and inspire young girls to aim high in their career goals - and its Kickstarter campaign became one of the most successful in its history. A pioneering new book called Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls is confronting that tired, patriarchal narrative of traditional fair tails head-on Power team: Elena Favilli (left) co-founded the company Timbuktu with her co-partner Francesca Cavallo (right) Good Night Stories is a children's book that re-invents fairy tales, inspiring girls with the stories of 100 great women from Elizabeth 1 to Serena Williams to Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters - each accompanied by a unique illustration, commissioned by a female artist. The woman are creative, intelligent, ambitious and powerful - and none of them need rescuing by a prince. The book was launched on April 27 via a stratospheric Kickstarter campaign that drew worldwide attention. Look at Hillary Clinton making history. We are on the verge of a really big shift right now Elena Favilli, co-creator By the end of its run, a staggering 13,454 backers had pledged $675, 614 to help bring the project to life. Its creators knew they had tapped into something unique. Elena Favilli, who co-founded the company Timbuktu with her co-partner Francesca Cavallo, told MailOnline: 'We put our hearts into this and it resonated so much with parents and young women and men too. The book was launched on April 27 via a stratospheric Kickstarter campaign that drew worldwide attention 'It means that we hit something that people now need to hear about. 'Look at Hillary Clinton making history. We are on the verge of a really big shift right now.' It is important the profiles feature women of the past and present and also showcase the widest possible variety of fields from chefs to astronauts. She added: 'As it's a children's narrative we also wanted to choose some people who may have had a difficult childhood experience so they could be an inspiration. 'Frieda Kahlo is a really good example of this. She is a great artist but had a very difficult and troubling childhood.' Another story that stands out to Favilli and one that she hopes to feature is that of Yusra Mardini, who swam for her life across the Aegean sea from her war torn home of Demascus, seeking safety on the Greek island of Lesbos. She is now training for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janero. This incredible story of our time is exactly the kind of inspiring female narrative they wish to showcase. Good Night Stories is a children's book that re-invents fairy tales, inspiring girls with the stories of 100 great women The profiles range from from Elizabeth 1 to Serena Williams - each accompanied by a unique illustration, commissioned by a female artist And it is important that girls learn about these strong role models from an early age. 'Books are a very important piece of our culture and children's book are especially important because the books we read as children have a huge impact on who become as adults,' says Favilli. 'It is important then, that both boys and girls from a very early age, see girls in leading roles and in prominent positions in children's books.' A staggering 70 per cent of children's books have male protagonists, so there is clearly a need for this imbalance to be addressed But while some have commented that Timbuktu is not the first to create a children's book featuring powerful women, Favilli believes that Good Night Stories offers something distinct. She says: 'During our research we didn't find any books that produced a complete anthology, with a significant number of women from all over the world. 'It is pioneering in the way that it's not just women of the past but also from the present. 'It's not imaginary characters, it's real stories, real people and I think it's quite special still for children's literature.' While the stories themselves are very real, the tone of the narrative echoes the traditional fairy tale. This decision was made not just because it is a style that young girls are familiar with and enjoy, but also as a direct challenge to the misogynistic undertone of the traditional fairy tale. A story that stands out to Favilli and one that she hopes to feature is that of Yusra Mardini (pictured) who swam for her life across the Aegean sea from her war torn home of Demascus, seeking safety on the Greek island of Lesbos Inspiring: While the stories themselves are very real, the tone of the narrative echoes the traditional fairy tale. Pictured: Frieda Kahlo and Serena Williams are both featured in the book Favilli said: 'We chose to stick with it but to innovate and propose different feels and characters. It's an experiment. 'This is the first time a children's book uses the fairy tale style for something completely different.' It is about upending a status quo that is so entrenched, it is almost invisible. Favilli and Cavallo have used their own experience as female entrepreneurs to inform the book's creation. She explains: 'This book has come after four years as female entrepreneurs and it's not by coincidence. 'It's very hard work being an entrepreneur, especially for females everything is more difficult for women in the start-up tech world.' Both women suffered sexist jokes and online abuse and while this hurt, it only made them more determined. With this in mind, it was also important for Timbuktu to keep their autonomy and break free from publishing rules. The team are continuing to commission illustrations by 100 female artists, who are carefully matched with the stories to compliment After eight months of research and the successful Kickstarter campaign, the pair are now in the process of working out the final 100 profiles, including suggestions made by their online supporters Elena explained: 'We are getting tons of offers every day from publishers but we wanted to do this on our own. 'We wanted to show we could fund this and publish this ourselves. And it was important to show that female characters can sell.' After eight months of research and the successful Kickstarter campaign, the pair are now in the process of working out the final 100 profiles, including suggestions made by their online supporters. They are also continuing to commission illustrations by 100 female artists, who are carefully matched with the stories to compliment to the narratives. And this is only the beginning. Timbuktu plans to use the success from Goodnight Stories to launch a whole series of platforms, that could include an audio book and even a radio or television show. As with all great ideas, it makes you wonder why it hasn't been done before. Frenchy has appeared on the reality shows Rock of Love 2, Rock of Love: Charm School, and Celebrity Big Brother 14 The doctors advise her to leave her breasts alone, but she says it is her dream to have 1,000cc implants Frenchy explains to the doctors that she likes to sunbathe topless as she insists that her currents breast implants are too small and too far apart Angelique 'Frenchy' Morgan asks surgeons Los Angeles-based surgeons Dr. Terry Dubrow and Dr. Paul Nassif to upgrade her implants on Botched A woman who wants her breasts to be as large as possible is getting push-back from her surgeons, who insist manufacturers don't even make the oversized silicone implants that she desires. On Tuesday night's episode of the E! reality series Botched, Los Angeles-based surgeons Dr. Terry Dubrow and Dr. Paul Nassif meet with Angelique 'Frenchy' Morgan, a former reality star from Malibu, California, who wants her 650cc implants upgraded to 1,000cc. 'Frenchy obviously likes everything big,' Dr. Dubrow tells the cameras in a preview clip from the episode. 'She might as well be Frenchy from Texas.' Scroll down for video Going big: French asks Los Angeles-based surgeons Dr. Terry Dubrow and Dr. Paul Nassif to give her 1,000cc implants on Tuesday night's episode of Botched Personal opinion: The bombshell from Malibu, California, tells the doctors that she is unhappy with her 650cc implants because she feels they are too far apart During her consultation, Frenchy explains to the doctors that she had 650cc of saline placed under the muscle during her previous breast augmentation, but she is less than satisfied with the results. 'I was not very happy because when I woke up they were really hard, and they were very separated,' she says. 'Also, I still have some scar after 10 years. Frenchy, who tried to win Bret Michaels heart on Rock of Love 2, goes on to gripe that there is some rippling on her breasts when she is in 'certain positions'. 'I can show you when I am naked,' she tells the doctors. 'But the thing that bothers me the most is when I lie down because I am always on the beach topless in a bikini. 'I am not a girl who wears a lot of clothes,' she adds. For real? While Frenchy admits she hates the way her breasts look when she is sunbathing topless, Dr. Nassif (left) and Dr. Dubrow (right) question where she lying out with out her shirt on in Malibu However, Dr. Dubrow and Dr. Nassif are perplexed as to where exactly Frenchy is sunbathing topless in Malibu. 'In this country? Is that legal? Dr. Dubrow asks, while Dr. Nassif adds: 'You can be naked in Malibu?' And while the patient admits that she sunbathes topless in private, her breasts bother her nonetheless. However, the doctors are wary about her request even before they take her into the examination room. 'Frenchy is very interesting, but at the end of the day, we are here to help her and see whether she has any problems that require our expertise,' Dr. Dubrow explains. Inside the examining room, Dr. Dubrow takes a good look at the scarring around Frenchy's nipple and reassures her that her previous surgeon had done a great job. Telling the truth: Dr. Dubrow tells Frenchy that the 'scar' that she was complaining about on her nipples is almost invisible Research: The doctor has her lie back on the chair so he can better assess her complaints about her breasts 'I will tell you this is really almost invisible,' he says. 'It doesn't get any better than this.' Dr. Dubrow then has her lie back in the chair, so he can assess her other complaints, including the separation between her breasts. 'When I lie down it is really bad,' she insists. 'Look. Why I can put my who hand there? That's nasty.' Dr. Dubrow pushes Frenchy's implants together and asks if she wants them more like that, and while the patient readily agrees, the surgeon can already tell there will be complications if he were to do that. 'If we sew up the pockets outside of here to push [your breasts] forward, look what it does to your nipples,' he says, explaining that her nipples would end up pointing the opposite directions. Fix it: Frenchy's biggest complaint is the gap between her breasts, which she can put her hand in between Just the facts: Dr. Dubrow explains that if he were to move her breasts closer together, her nipples would point in opposite directions 'No, I love my nipples,' French responds protectively. However, she isn't ready to give up on the idea of more surgery. 'The truth is Frenchy has a very small chest frame,' Dr. Dubrow tells the cameras. 'If she goes any larger she may get closer to the center but she has a high risk of developing a uniboob or symmastia. 'It's a really bad idea,' he adds. After the consultation, Dr. Dubrow tells Frenchy that his 'first impression' of her breasts was that they are 'actually very pretty' but that is not what she wants to hear. 'They are too small. I want them really big!' she says, prompting Dr. Nassif to share his professional opinion as well. Arguing: The doctors try to explain that they don't make 1,000cc implants, but she won't take no for an answer Don't touch: Both surgeons tell Frenchy that her breasts are perfect they way they are now 'Oh my god, they are perfect right now,' he tells her. 'Leave them alone.' Despite their recommendations, Frenchy insists that she wants 1,000 cc silicone implants which Dr. Dubrow assures her that they don't even make. 'That's the only thing left I need to do,' she argues. 'And then I won't do anything more.' After Dr. Dubrow tells her that they only make 800cc implants, she asks if he ever put 1,000 cc in one of his patients before. 'They don't make them!' he insists, but she asks again and forces him to repeat himself. 'Let me say it again. They don't make 1,000 cc silicone implants,' he tells the cameras with frustration. In an interview with Daily Mail Online, they assured viewers that married life is going well and that it is easier than they imagined On the FYI show, which airs tonight, the couple have clashed over key issues Nearly one year after their wedding, the couple, who are both students at the University of California, Irvine, say they are loving married life Brenda and Travis, both now 20, are one of three couples featured on the FYI reality show On Teenage Newlyweds - a new reality show following the lives of young married couples - Brenda and Travis have been seen at odds over everything from politics to gay marriage and views on key issues such as abortion. But in reality, the couple, who are now both 20, insist that despite their differences, they are relishing married life and everything that comes with it - including friendship, sex and being able to 'pee with the bathroom door open'. In an interview with Daily Mail Online, the student couple, who have been married for nearly a year and live together in Irvine, California, said it was difficult talking about anything on camera - especially intimate subjects such as sex. Scroll down for video Young love: Brenda and Travis, both now 20, pictured on their wedding day, are one of three couples featured on FYI reality show Teenage Newlyweds Happy: Nearly one year after their wedding, the couple, who are both students at the University of California, Irvine, say they are loving married life On the show, the couple speak candidly about the subject and their first experience of it together which they said was 'awkward'. Travis said: 'Really, talking in front of a camera is hard to do when talking about anything. Additionally, discussing your sex life on national television doesnt make it any easier. I think you will see me talk a lot more about sex in the later episodes.' Brenda, who is a sociology and Chicano/Latino studies student, added: 'I did not feel super uncomfortable talking about sex on camera. It did feel a little bit weird, but I know that many people are having sex which makes me realize that Im not an anomaly. Ultimately, sex is what it is.' Previously on the FYI show, the couple showed early signs of friction as they clashed over religion - Travis is very conservative and a strict Christian, while Brenda isl liberal and was raised as a Jehovahs Witness but has since converted to Christianity. In the last episode, Brenda's family expressed concern over their political differences and they talked about their excitement over having sex for the first time once they are married and they went to Mexico on honeymoon. In tonight's episode, the couple finally move in together following a difficult three weeks of separation in order to save money to pay rent on their first home together. Friction: On the FYI show, which airs tonight, the couple have clashed over key issues Happily married: But in an interview with Daily Mail Online, Brenda, pictured on her wedding day, and Travis assured viewers that their relationship is going well The couple claim that despite their on-screen issues, married life has been 'smooth sailing'. Brenda said: 'Travis and I are married, but we do not plan on having kids until we are in our late 20s or early 30s. 'We live together with our cat, and its been a great experience. We talk to each other before we make any big expenses, and when we argue, its over petty things like dirty dishes or clothing. 'These arguments are never severe and get resolved within minutes. I love being married to Travis.' Travis said he had expected marriage to be 'the hardest thing I've done' but found his degree in computer engineering is actually more challenging. He added: 'Being married is not as hard as people led me to believe. In fact, it has made my life a lot easier in many ways. For instance, Brenda loves cooking, and I love eating. Comparison: Travis said married life is easier than he imagined and less challenging than his degree Cringe-inducing: They both said talking about sex on camera was 'awkward' 'I would never give up the benefits of being married. Most of the time being married is easy, but at other times its difficult. 'Like when we have petty arguments. It seems like people always try to make the next stage of life seem scary but I totally feel blessed to be married.' When it comes to their differences of opinion, the couple revealed that they 'meet each other in the middle'. 'Those differences take a lot of time to work out, so it doesnt become black and white as to whether you decide to fix it now or ignore it. The real solution requires a bit of both and a whole lot of work,' said Travis. Brenda added: 'Politics do not define me, and Travis has a heart of gold. I do believe we will work things out, and I know that we will come to different compromises. We meet each other in the middle.' She said her favorite elements of married life are sharing a bed and having their own apartment where she can 'walk around in my undies and pee with the bathroom door open'. The toughest part, she said, is working around each others' schedules. Compromise: Brenda said 'politics do not define me' and that they 'meet each other in the middle' Sad: In tonight's episode, Halie, 18, pictured left, is homesick after leaving her family in Mesa, Arizona, to move to Riverton, Utah, with her new husband George, 21, pictured right Travis said he loves the 'intimacy', adding: 'Theres just nothing that can replace having a spouse to enjoy all aspects of life with.' But he said negotiating each others' 'desires and expectations' can be challenging. He added: 'That can be really difficult and it requires a next level kind of communication between the two parties.' After graduating from college next year, Brenda hopes to go to graduate school to do a Master's in social work and Travis wants to get a job relating to his degree Brenda said: 'Ideally, I will study at a college that is close to the job Travis gets. He recently landed a summer internship in Seattle, and I was accepted into the Sociology Honors Thesis Program.' Travis said their future is both 'really exciting and scary' but that in ten years he would like to have a 'well-paying job, a backyard with a dog, and a couple of kids'. Teenage Newlyweds also follows Mormon couple Halie, 18, and George, 21, who in the next episode move to Riverton, Utah, and Emma, 19, and Joey, 21, from Dallas, Oregon, who are looking to buy a house. Advertisement So eye-catching and so elegant, Her Majestys necklace collection is among the finest in the world - and she is rarely seen without diamonds, pearls or gemstones decorating her decolletage. This opulent collar, the Ruby and Diamond Floral Bandeau, was a wedding gift from her parents. Bought by Margaret Greville, a close friend of her mothers, from the jeweller Boucheron in 1907, it was bequeathed to the Queen Mother, along with several other jewels, on Grevilles death in 1942. The intricate piece is set in silver and gold, in an unusual V-shape and features several sizeable rubies. The Queen, who has remarkably slim shoulders, tends to shorten her necklaces to make them sit higher on her neck, and did so here by removing two small floral pieces from the sides. She wore it often in her youth, most memorably as we see here, at the Royal Variety Performance in 1962, paired with her favourite Girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara. So eye-catching and so elegant, Her Majestys necklace collection is among the finest in the world - and she is rarely seen without diamonds, pearls or gemstones decorating her decolletage. This opulent collar, the Ruby and Diamond Floral Bandeau, was a wedding gift from her parents A missing link to King Canute One of the most remarkable pieces in the Queens collection, Queen Alexandras Dagmar necklace started life as a lavish gift, made by the Danish court jeweller for Princess Alexandras marriage to the Prince of Wales in 1863 One of the most remarkable pieces in the Queens collection, Queen Alexandras Dagmar necklace started life as a lavish gift, made by the Danish court jeweller for Princess Alexandras marriage to the Prince of Wales in 1863. It contains 2,000 diamonds and 118 pearls set in gold. Originally, it also included a splinter of wood that was supposedly a fragment of the True Cross and a piece of silk from King Canutes grave. The Princess didnt think much of these historic touches, and immediately sent the piece to Garrard to have them removed. It was bequeathed by Queen Alexandra to the Crown on condition that no part of it shall ever be altered, and reached the Queen on her accession to the throne in 1952. She wears it sparingly - here, to a film premiere in London in 1961 - as its heavy and can look jumbled on her neck. So beloved she wanted more A suite of matching sapphires was the perfect complement to Her Majestys midnight blue gown for a party at The Ritz to celebrate her Golden Jubilee in 2002 A suite of matching sapphires was the perfect complement to Her Majestys midnight blue gown for a party at The Ritz to celebrate her Golden Jubilee in 2002 - 22 years after she wore the set with her pink gown. The necklace and earrings were the first of the George VI sapphire collection to go into the royal vault, given to the Queen as a wedding present from her father. Indeed, she was so fond of them that she commissioned the bracelet and rings in 1963; the latter is unusual as shes said to dislike her hands, so avoids drawing attention to them. A necklace... and a brooch The George VI Sapphire necklace, worn here with matching earrings and an eye-catching diamond encrusted collar to a state banquet in Algeria in 1980, is one of the most enduring pieces in the Queens jewellery box The George VI Sapphire necklace, worn here with matching earrings and an eye-catching diamond encrusted collar to a state banquet in Algeria in 1980, is one of the most enduring pieces in the Queens jewellery box - but it hasnt always looked like this. In its original form, the necklace had 18 sapphire clusters. Preferring a shorter chain, she had four links removed by royal jeweller Garrard in 1952, and turned the largest cluster into a pendant to hang from the centre. It has a pin at the back so it can also be worn as a brooch. Perfect gems that took a year to find This striking necklace, formed from unusual aquamarine stones, was a gift from the President of Brazil for the Queens Coronation in 1953. Made by Mappin & Webb in Rio de Janiero, the stones are set in diamond and platinum surrounds This striking necklace, formed from unusual aquamarine stones, was a gift from the President of Brazil for the Queens Coronation in 1953. Made by Mappin & Webb in Rio de Janiero, the stones are set in diamond and platinum surrounds. It came with matching earrings - and in 1958 she was presented with a large brooch and bracelet. The stones are perfectly matched - it took a year to collect them from mines across Brazil. The nation continues to supplement the Queens aquamarine collection, including providing stones for a tiara she had adapted in 1971. She toned down the piece - seen here at a banquet in India in 1983 - by replacing the pendant with a smaller stone, and attaching the aquamarine to her tiara. Kate and a sign of royal approval For his wedding gift to Princess of Elizabeth in 1947, the Nizam of Hyderabad, ruler of the Indian state, invited the young bride to select two pieces from Cartier. In 2014, the Queen loaned the necklace to the Duchess of Cambridge (right) for an outing to the Royal Portrait Gallery in London For his wedding gift to Princess of Elizabeth in 1947, the Nizam of Hyderabad, ruler of the Indian state, invited the young bride to select two pieces from Cartier. Rather than have anything commissioned, she selected a necklace and tiara from existing stock - meaning it had been sold and repurchased several times over before it came into her possession. Made from diamonds and platinum, it features a single, double-drop pendant and 13 rectangular-cut diamonds. The Queen wore it several times in her youth, including for this official portrait in 1951, paired with a strapless taffeta Norman Hartnell evening gown. In 2014, the Queen loaned the necklace to the Duchess of Cambridge for an outing to the Royal Portrait Gallery in London. It was the third item Kate had borrowed from the royal vault - the others were a Cartier tiara and brooch - and was seen as being a sign of Her Majestys approval. Treasured necklace from a loving father Present from her father, the glittering Festoon necklace was given to Princess Elizabeth in 1950 and has been one of her favourites ever since. It was made from 105 loose diamonds that were kept in reserve at Garrard Present from her father, the glittering Festoon necklace was given to Princess Elizabeth in 1950 and has been one of her favourites ever since. It was made from 105 loose diamonds that were kept in reserve at Garrard, stored in pouches marked C for Crown, in case a monarch wanted to extend a necklace or improve a tiara. Queen Mary, the Queens grandmother, is said to have made regular use of the service. The resulting triple strand necklace has rows of graduated stones, suspended between two diamond triangles. Its the Queens preferred necklace for wearing without a tiara, such as here, during an outing to a concert with President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy in America in 1983. A versatile favourite, with a 22-carat diamond This weighty diamond pendant was created for Queen Victoria in 1858 and has been since worn by every female monarch for their coronation. It has 26 stones: 25 in the necklace, plus the 22.48-carat Lahore Diamond, one of the largest in the Queens collection This weighty diamond pendant was created for Queen Victoria in 1858 and has been since worn by every female monarch for their coronation. It has 26 stones: 25 in the necklace, plus the 22.48-carat Lahore Diamond, one of the largest in the Queens collection. Queen Victoria told Garrard to re-use several stones from jewels she didnt wear: the Lahore Diamond originally hung from the Timur Ruby necklace, while this necklace also contains stones from two badges of the Order of the Garter and a sword hilt. The pendant earrings were made to match. The Queen Mother wore the necklace without the central diamond, which she had on her crown instead, but Elizabeth II likes it in its original form. Its versatile and is seen at formal engagements as well as more relaxed events, such as this banquet in Finland in 1976. Initially, Victoria was not amused On the lavish occasion of Queen Victorias Golden Jubilee in 1887, this necklace was commissioned from royal jeweller Carrington & Co as a gift from a committee of charitable ladies. The Queen has worn it on several occasions, most often with the diamond-studded Kokoshnik tiara, such as for this banquet at Windsor Castle in 1975 On the lavish occasion of Queen Victorias Golden Jubilee in 1887, this necklace was commissioned from royal jeweller Carrington & Co as a gift from a committee of charitable ladies. Before settling on a necklace, there was much wrangling over what the gift should be. They initially opted for a diamond badge, only to receive a letter from the Queen, saying she would not like this at all. The necklace, which cost 5,000 (roughly 455,000 today), became one of Queen Victorias most prized possessions, and she left it as an heirloom of the Crown in her will. The Queen has worn it on several occasions, most often with the diamond-studded Kokoshnik tiara, such as for this banquet at Windsor Castle in 1975. Rescued from a royal mistress The Delhi Durbar necklace started life as a series of nine emeralds won in a state lottery in Germany in 1818 by the Duchess of Cambridge, the Queens great-great- grandmother. The Queen wears it here to a dinner in Italy in 2005 Emeralds are the Queens lucky gemstone and, fittingly, the Delhi Durbar necklace started life as a series of nine emeralds won in a state lottery in Germany in 1818 by the Duchess of Cambridge, the Queens great-great- grandmother. They were nearly lost for ever when a wayward son died and left all his jewels to his mistress. Queen Mary, the Queens grandmother, had to buy them back. The striking modern design was commissioned from Garrard for 5,000 in 1911 (530,000 today) to mark the Delhi Durbar, a mass assembly held in India for King George Vs coronation. As well as the nine emeralds, it features an 8.8-carat diamond, one of a number of stones cut from the priceless Cullinan Diamond, the largest ever found. Exotic rubies presented by a Sheikh This ornate ruby-and-diamond collar is among the Queens more modern jewels, having been presented to her as a gift from Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani, former Emir of Qatar, during a state visit to Britain in 1985 This ornate ruby-and-diamond collar is among the Queens more modern jewels, having been presented to her as a gift from Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani, former Emir of Qatar, during a state visit to Britain in 1985. A diamond swag shape, set in gold and designed around two central gemstones, it came with a matching set of earrings and has been one of the Queens favourite ruby pieces ever since. Because of its rich, exotic colour, she prefers it for foreign engagements, such as this state banquet in Turkey in 2008, but has also worn it twice to the state opening of Parliament. A rare outing for the Kent Amethysts A necklace that was designed to make a statement, the Kent Amethysts belonged to Queen Victorias mother, the Duchess of Kent, and were left to the Crown on Victorias death in 1901 A necklace that was designed to make a statement, the Kent Amethysts belonged to Queen Victorias mother, the Duchess of Kent, and were left to the Crown on Victorias death in 1901. The necklace is part of a matching set, including three brooches, earrings and hair combs. The combs have never been seen and the necklace has only ever appeared twice, suggesting it isnt one of Her Majestys favourite pieces and is brought up from the vault only when a purple outfit requires it. On this visit to Portugal in 1985, the Queen wore the necklace and a brooch, along with the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara, a wedding gift from her grandmother. Historians believe the other two brooches may have been added to the necklace on either side of the central pendant. At last, a glimpse of gold The Queen rarely wears gold, preferring silver or platinum for her everyday jewels, so this gold and emerald necklace is something of a curiosity in the royal collection, worn to a film premiere in London in 2004 The Queen rarely wears gold, preferring silver or platinum for her everyday jewels, so this gold and emerald necklace is something of a curiosity in the royal collection. Its a pared-down look, more akin to costume jewellery than royal regalia, worn to a film premiere in London in 2004 - and paired with matching emerald drop earrings in a pretty bow shape. The provenance of the 18-stone chain is unknown, and Her Majesty isnt known to have worn it before or since, suggesting it may have been a gift not quite to her taste. Tantalising tassels The Emerald Tassel Parure - a matching set of earrings, a necklace, bracelet and a ring - was given to the Queen by a wealthy foreign monarch The Emerald Tassel Parure - a matching set of earrings, a necklace, bracelet and a ring - was given to the Queen by a wealthy foreign monarch. The donor is thought to be Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates, as pieces of the set were worn at a dinner he attended at Claridges Hotel in 1989. This less formal necklace has made several outings without a tiara - such as this royal gala in Cardiff in 2004. She prefers to wear the chain with its matching earrings and a green dress. A priceless picture with Charles and Anne The Queen adores pearls, and she is rarely seen without the triple-strand necklace she was given in 1935 by her grandfather, George V, to mark his Silver Jubilee - which she wore in an intimate portrait with Prince Charles and Princess Anne, by society photographer Marcus Adams in 1954 The Queen adores pearls, and she is rarely seen without the triple-strand necklace she was given in 1935 by her grandfather, George V, to mark his Silver Jubilee. Shes said to like them because they are modest yet elegant and go with almost every outfit. Unusually, she wore pearls on her wedding day - the same two-strand necklace she is pictured wearing here, in an intimate portrait with Prince Charles and Princess Anne, by society photographer Marcus Adams in 1954. It was, in fact, not a single necklace but two - the Queen Anne and Queen Caroline Pearl necklaces, with 46 and 50 pearls respectively. Little Princess Anne - three when this was taken - even wears a miniature pearl necklace of her own. Its not known exactly how many strings of pearls are nestled in the royal vault, but Her Majesty has worn necklaces alternating between one and four strands of different lengths over the years. Advertisement A powerful black and white photograph capturing a loving grandfather and his 11-month-old grandson has touched thousands around the world. The photo, taken by Alabama-based photographer, Sunshine Moody, captured Allen Halstead cuddling little Kolbie Gregware as they proudly displayed their matching heart surgery scars. The pair have both been through multiple open heart surgeries and share similar 'zipper' scars on their chests, despite being at opposite stages of life. Stunning: A powerful black and white photograph capturing a loving grandfather and his 11-month-old grandson has touched thousands around the world... it captured Allen Halstead cuddling little Kolbie Gregware as they proudly displayed their matching heart surgery scars A difficult start: Kolbie had his first open heart surgery when he was just four months old after being born with a heart defect, pulmonary vein stenosis, pulmonary hypertension, chronic lung disease, kidney disease and Down Syndrome 'My dad has had two open heart surgeries,18 stents, pacemaker, deflator, artery disease, diabetic, massive stroke, to many to count mini heart attacks and has 10% heart function. His last admission was at the heart failure hospital in Atlanta [sic],' Brandy Gregware, Kolbie's mother, wrote on Facebook. 'They were able to put him a medicine that helps his heart beat a little stronger. Once the medicine is no longer effective we will be saying our goodbyes.' Kolbie on the other hand, had his first open heart surgery when he was just four months old after being born with a heart defect, pulmonary vein stenosis, pulmonary hypertension, chronic lung disease, kidney disease and Down Syndrome. Fragile: The pair have both been through multiple open heart surgeries and share similar 'zipper' scars on their chests, despite being at opposite stages of life Born at just 29 weeks: The photographer also shared a number of snaps of the family and Kolbie with his twin brother Kash (right), who requires spine surgery 'He is 10 months old and has spent 7 of those months in the hospital! His last admission he was on life support for over 2 1/2 weeks because he had HMPV ( a cold) [sic],' Ms Gregware, from South Carolina, wrote. 'I was in tears when I saw this picture! I'm in tears as I type this... It shows 2 fighting miracles! 'This past year has been extremely hard for our family because BOTH have been in and out of the hospital and us not knowing if they would make it home! There was several times my dad refused to go to the hospital til his kolbie Lee came home [sic].' Fighting: Mr Halstead has had two open heart surgeries,18 stents, a pacemaker, a deflator, artery disease, diabetes, a massive stroke, a number of mini heart attacks and is living with just 10 per cent heart function. His last admission was at the heart failure hospital Strong bond: Brandy Gregware, Kolbie's mother, said she often sits and watches her father hold little Kolbie for 'hours' as 'they chat about their matching zippers' Ms Gregware said she often sits and watches her father hold little Kolbie for 'hours' as 'they chat about their matching zippers.' 'You can definitely see the love and bond these two miracle fighters have in this picture!!' She said. 'I say this with tears in my eyes.. My dad's life is slowing ending and my sons is just beginning. 'There is so much hate and violence in the world yet you have two people fighting to be here each day!! I will cherish this amazing picture the rest of my life!!!! 'MIRACLES HAPPEN EVERYDAY and this is my proof of 2 amazing fighting miracles!!' Proud mother: 'There is so much hate and violence in the world yet you have two people fighting to be here each day!! I will cherish this amazing picture the rest of my life!!!!' Ms Gregware (back) said (pictured with Kash, Kolbie and her partner Dale) 'One life is just beginning while the other is coming to an end': After photographing the loving duo in late May, photographer Sunshine Moody also took to Facebook and said the pair were two of the strongest she'd ever met After photographing the loving duo in late May, photographer Sunshine Moody also took to Facebook and said the pair were two of the strongest she'd ever met. 'One life is just beginning while the other is coming to an end. Kolbie and his grandpa both have heart surgery zipper scars,' she wrote. 'Both of them have been through a lot this past year. And, as you can see, Kolbie loves looking at his grandpa and his grandpa sure loves him! It's moments like these that make what I do worth it.' The photographer also shared a number of snaps of the family and Kolbie with his twin brother Kash, who requires spine surgery. Proud: 'My dad is a WALKING MIRACLE no doubt. What he has been through and has overcome is amazing and a true miracle. Kolbie has fought to be here from day one!' Ms Gregware said Speaking to Daily Mail, the passionate photographer said she met Ms Gregware through Facebook as the twin boys were in the same hospital and NICU as her own daughter, London. 'When I saw her boys were in the same NICU I reached out to her and offered to take free photos of the boys. Mainly because when our daughter was in there, we didn't get to have professional photos of her,' she said. 'We had set a time up to take them, but Kolbie took a turn for the worse and was sent to Egleston in Atlanta. So we postponed the shoot. Then in May, she reached out to me to do their photos for their upcoming birthday. She told me she wanted some of her dad and Kolbie with their open heart zipper scars showing. 'The photoshoot itself was actually fun and her dad is character. When it came time to take the photo, I wanted to catch the rawness of the situation but also the love you can clearly see that the two of them have for one another. Touched: I cried so much yesterday reading the stories and the comments my eyes are swollen. Oh and he won't admit it but my dad cried too!' Ms Gregware said 'After getting home, that night, I was scrolling through the photos and I saw this one. It was one of the first that I edited and I spent over an hour on it. So I labeled it "One life is just beginning while the other is coming to an end". Shooting it was actually emotional because of that reason.' After noticing the impact the photographs had had on thousands, Ms Gregware thanked her followers for their support and kind words. 'It's so amazing and overwhelming to know that one picture could have such an impact on people. We just wanted to share a picture showing that miracles do happen and a bond that my dad and kolbie share! This picture means the world to us!' The overwhelmed mother wrote. 'My dad is a WALKING MIRACLE no doubt. What he has been through and has over come is amazing and a true miracle. Kolbie has fought to be here from day one! For those that have followed our Kash and Kolbie journey have seen first hand. The Rev. Edwin P. Wehner, 73, passed away on June 11, 2016, at CHI St. Alexius Health, Bismarck. Mass of Christian burial will be held at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, June 15, at Church of Saint Anne, Bismarck, with the Most Rev. David D. Kagan, Bishop of Bismarck, officiating. The priests of the Diocese of Bismarck will concelebrate. Burial will be at St. Marys Cemetery, Bismarck. After the burial, a luncheon will be served at Saint Annes. Visitation will be held from 4 to 9 p.m. today, with a vigil service at 7 p.m., at Church of Saint Anne. Visitation will also be held one hour prior to Mass. Edwin was born May 4, 1943, in New England, the son of Frank and Catherine (Simon) Wehner. He was raised in New England, where he attended country school and St. Marys Grade and High School. He received his seminary education from Holy Cross Seminary, LaCrosse, Wis., from 1961-65, and obtained his theological education from St. Thomas Seminary in Denver from 1965-69. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Bismarck, at the Church of Saint Mary, New England, on May 31, 1969, by the Most Rev. Hilary B. Hacker. The Rev. Wehners first assignment in the Diocese of Bismarck was assistant pastor of the Church of Saint Joseph in Dickinson until June 28, 1972. For the next four years, he served as assistant pastor at Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Bismarck. In June 1976, he became chaplain and director of religious life and religious education at St. Marys Central High School in Bismarck. At the same time, he became administrator of St. Vincent de Paul in Crown Butte. In July 1984, he was appointed administrator of the Churches of St. Philomena, Selfridge and Sacred Heart, Solen, for one year. The Rev. Wehner then became pastor of the Churches of St. Theresa, Carson, St. John the Baptist, New Leipzig, St. Lawrence, Flasher, and St. Gertrude, Raleigh. From 1987 to 1991, he served as the director of continuing education for clergy and director of the division of ministry formation for the Diocese of Bismarck. He also served as priest liaison at St. Marys Central High School for the 1992-93 school year. The Rev. Wehners last assignment began on June 30, 1990, as pastor of the Church of Saint Anne in Bismarck. On July 1, 2013, he retired to the Emmaus Place in Bismarck. Along with parish duties, he was also involved in various diocesan works such as advocate and judge for the Marriage Tribunal, was a member of the Vocations Commission and Diocesan Pastoral Council, and chaplain for the Knights of Columbus in Flasher. He served as the Section 8 Ecclesial Priest in leadership for Marriage Encounter for North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota. He also served as a presenting team priest on marriage encounter weekends as well as for the pre-marriage seminars for engaged couples. He currently was the chaplain for the Fourth Degree Bismarck Knights of Columbus. The Rev. Wehner is survived by his brothers, Robert (Ruth), Lincoln, Calif., Harvey (Anita), San Jose, Calif., Arvin (Mary), Brookings, Ore., and the Rev. Eugene Wehner, Kiserian, Kenya, East Africa; his sister-in-law, Roxann Wehner, Whitehall, Mont.; and several nieces and nephews and great-nieces and great-nephews. He was preceded in death by his father and mother, Frank and Catherine Wehner; and his brother, Kenneth. Memorials may be given to the Diocese of Bismarck, Priest Benefit Association. Go to www.eastgatefuneral.com to share memories of the Rev. Wehner and sign the online guest book. (Eastgate Funeral Service, Bismarck) As a brand, Ellery is beloved by celebs such as Olivia Palermo and Rihanna Ellery is the second Australian label to join, following Collette Dinnigan This means the label will always be on the Paris Fashion Week schedule Beloved by the likes of Olivia Palermo, Miranda Kerr, Jessica Gomes and Rihanna, Kym Ellery's Perth-born label, Ellery, is one with worldwide fashion kudos. And now the brand has landed an even bigger coup, as it has been invited into one of the most exclusive clubs in the fashion business: the Chambre Syndicale. As the governing body of French fashion, the Chambre Syndicale du Pret a Porter des Couturiers et des Createurs de Mode boasts the likes of Christian Dior, Givenchy and Chanel as members. Scroll down for video Fashion coup: Australian brand, Ellery, has been invited to join the Chambre Syndicale - fashion's elite club that boasts the likes of Chanel and Dior - it is only the second Australian label to do so Famous: Kym Ellery (left) was born in Perth - her celeb client list includes the likes of Jessica Gomes (right), as well as Rihanna and Miranda Kerr Ellery and Collette Dinnigan are the only two Australian brands to be welcomed. But what does membership to this elite and hierarchical club get Ms Kym Ellery and her beautiful clothes? As well as an official slot at Paris Fashion Week, where Ellery has shown since 2013, it will also give the brand that almost single-handedly pioneered the return of flares and billowing sleeves last season marketing and admin help. Meaning of membership: As well as an official slot at Paris Fashion Week, where Ellery has shown since 2013, it will also give the brand marketing and admin help - it is generally regarded as a huge honour to be invited Regular: Olivia Palermo regularly wears the brand Many designers show off-calendar in Paris, but it is generally regarded as both a major honour and a great help to be officially recognised by the Chambre Syndicale. The other brands invited at the same time as Ellery include Courreges, Yang Li, Maison Rabih Kayrouz, Paco Rabanne and Valentin Yudashkin. Ellery's new membership will provide a great message for other Antipodean designers hoping to make it big in the international sphere. Inspiration: Ellery's new membership will provide a great message for other Antipodean designers hoping to make it big in the international sphere - the brand has Australian origins, but a global approach Worldwide clientele: Ellery is famous the world over, but everything, bar the eyewear collection, is cut, sewn and finished locally, using fabrics from around the world Big show: Chrissy Teigen wore Ellery to a lavish baby shower hosted by Kim Kardashian earlier this year Throughout Ellery's illustrious career, the label has been constantly breaking records and making new achievements in the fashion world. Ellery prides itself on having both a global approach, but also manages to maintain its classic Australian origins whether the designer, Kym Ellery, is in Sydney, Paris or New York. Everything, bar her eyewear collection (which is manufactured in Hong Kong), is cut, sewn and finished locally using fabrics sourced from around the world. It has also picked up a worldwide clientele. With this latest news, Kym Ellery's star may only continue to rise. Three TV star brother teamed up to get Three celebrity brothers Ryan, Adam and Scott Thomas have transformed their physiques after 12 weeks of training together. The two actors and one reality TV star, from Manchester, worked out in a group to halve their body fat percentage in just three months. Ryan Thomas, 32, who starred in Coronation Street as Lothario Jason Grimshaw, joined twin bothers Scott, 27, one of this year's Love Island hopefuls, and Emmerdale and Waterloo Road actor Adam, also 27, to shed the pounds. Celebrity brothers Ryan, above, Adam and Scott Thomas have transformed their physiques after 12 weeks Ryan Thomas, 32, left before the transformation, who starred in Coronation Street as heartthrob and Lothario Jason Grimshaw, was keen to get in great shape for his departure from the hugely poplar ITV soap The three good-looking brothers have worked up a sweat to hone incredibly toned physiques through their group gym sessions. Eldest brother Ryan was keen to get in great shape for his departure from the hugely poplar ITV soap, in which he has acted for 16 years. Meanwhile Emmerdale star Adam, who played Donte in Waterloo Road, wanted to return to a fitness routine after becoming a father to baby Teddy, nearly two. Adam recently proposed to Teddy's mother and his partner of eight years Caroline Daly. Love Island contestant Scott wanted to build his strength after breaking his leg last September Self confessed ladies man, left before the transformation, is currently taking part in the 2016 series of Love Island, where he has wooed fellow islanders such as Great Miss Britain's Zara and Kady The actor popped the question on the beach during a family holiday to Dubai at the end of April. Love Island contestant and club promoter Scott wanted to build his strength after breaking his leg last September - but was also no doubt thinking about his upcoming stint on the island. The self-confessed ladies man is currently taking part in the 2016 series of Love Island, where he has wooed fellow islanders such as former Miss Great Britain's Zara and Kady. The three-month programme included nutritional education and support along with an average of three workouts every week at Ultimate Performance Training in Manchester, which also has studios in Mayfair London, the City of London, Marbella, Singapore and Hong Kong. Emmerdale star Adam, who played Donte in Waterloo Road, wanted to return to a fitness routine after becoming a father to baby Teddy Adam, before the transformation, left, recently proposed to the mother of son Teddy, almost two, and his partner of eight years Caroline Daly The three good-looking brothers have worked up a sweat to hone incredibly toned physiques Prince Harry and Zara Tindall could not contain their excitement at Royal Ascot today as they cheered on horses they had backed to win. Despite the heavy rain, thousands flocked to the Royal Ascot to help kick off the first day of the week-long racing event. And the royal cousins were more excited than most as they cheered, shouted and fist-pumped as they watched the horses they'd backed finish first. Scroll down for video Harry was seen whooping and cheering from inside the Royal box later on in the afternoon Zara, 35, wore a dress with a bold graphic print by Mary Katrantzou. She became the first royal to win a medal at the Olympics, when she won silver in the team eventing at London 2012 Top-hatted Harry and his older cousin Zara joined their parents Prince Charles and Princess Anne at the event. And the duo were clearly invested in the performance of their horses, avidly watching their progress as they sheltered from the downpour in private areas. Equestrian Zara, 35, looked thrilled to see her younger cousin Harry, 31, and he planted an affectionate kiss on her cheek. She wore a dress with a bold graphic print by Mary Katrantzou, and was joined in her private enclosure by her long-term friend Dolly Maude. Zara looked thrilled to see her younger cousin Harry and he planted an affectionate smooch on her cheek Prince Harry seen reacting to a horseracing outcome at Royal Ascot, held at Ascot Racecourse in Berkshire Prince Harry, pictured with a blonde aquaintance, went through a range of emotions after he got a winner in the King's Stand stakes Harry discarded his top hat to join his uncle Prince Andrew in an enclosure where he cheered, waved his arms and couldn't hide his delight as he watched the events on the course. Zara also got caught up with the racing too and was seen cheering and urging the winner on while Dolly looked equally gripped. Prince Harry, pictured in a private, sheltered area with a blonde aquaintance, went through a range of emotions after he got a winner in the King's Stand stakes. Zara looked equally invested, gurning, groaning and fist-pumping as she held onto Dolly's shoulder in anticipation. The keen horse-rider became the first royal to win a medal at the Olympics, when she won silver in the team eventing at London 2012. Zara was joined by her long-term friend Dolly Maude in her private enclosure as they cheered on their horses Zara knocked down the champagne as she watched the horse she had back on from a private area. In a rare interview yesterday, her mother, Princess Anne, praised her riding ability and passion Tess Holliday has given birth to her second child, a baby boy named Bowie Juniper Holliday. The size 22 model and her fiance Nick Holliday welcomed their first child together on Monday her rep told People. At the time of his birth, Bowie weighed 8lbs, 10oz. and measured 22 inches long, and the 30-year-old mother-of-two is clearly over the moon about her new bundle of joy. Our handsome little guy is here, Bowie Juniper Holliday @nickhollidayco snapped this while I was dressing him to go home A photo posted by Plus Model | Mom | Feminist (@tessholliday) on Jun 14, 2016 at 11:45am PDT Celebration: Tess Holliday and her fiance Nick Holliday welcomed fiance their first child together a baby boy named Bowie Juniper on Monday. Nick is pictured with their newborn son The baby's name is presumably inspired by the late musician David Bowie whom Tess publicly mourned on social media after his death in January. Tess took to Instagram on Tuesday afternoon to reveal that they were getting ready to take their new son home. 'Our handsome little guy is here, Bowie Juniper Holliday @nickhollidayco snapped this while I was dressing him to go home' she wrote. The picture sees Tess gazing down at her newborn son who is wearing a white onsie featuring large stars. Nick also shared a precious photo of Bowie on Instagram, writing: 'Cats outta the bag! Meet my little guy, Bowie Juniper Holliday.' In the heartwarming black and white image, Nick and Bowie are nose to nose as they look at each other with love. Good times: The couple can be seen at their Hawaiian-theme baby shower in May Putting it out there: The 30-year-old proudly showed off her bump with this nude image posted to Instagram last month as she hit back at critics who claim her weight could harm her baby The social media star, who was born Ryann Hoven, is already a mom to a ten-year-old son, Rylee, whom she had with a previous boyfriend she no longer speaks to. Throughout her pregnancy, Tess became an even more vocal body advocate, sharing plenty of candid photos of her growing baby bump as well as nude photos to celebrate her changing body. The plus-size model would often take to Instagram to hit back at critics who insisted that her baby's life was in danger because of her size. She appears to have given birth a perfectly healthy baby boy. Tess, who publicly confirmed her pregnancy in January, celebrated her impending arrival in May by throwing a tropical-themed baby shower which doubled as a housewarming party and invited her nearest and dearest to come celebrate with her and Nick. There at their Long Beach, California home, guests were treated to a faux-Hawaiian getaway, complete with straw umbrellas, pineapple-shaped desserts, drinks with cute cocktail umbrellas. Just a few weeks before she gave birth, Tess spent her Memorial Day weekend flaunting her baby bump in a two piece swimsuit, sharing a photo of herself cooling off in a Los Angeles rooftop pool as she balanced a red Solo cup on top of her stomach. Total talent: The 31-year-old share this playful snapshot of herself as she balance a red Solo cup on her baby bump over Memorial Day weekend Proud of her body: Tess, recently posed for a naked photoshoot while seven months pregnant, taking to Instagram a few weeks ago to share one of her nude portraits 'Showing off my #babybump skills,' she captioned the image, which sees her modeling a black bandeau top and black and hot pink striped bathing suit bottoms. Tess was joined by her friend, make-up artist Priscilla Ono, during her relaxing day at the rooftop at TenTen Wilshire, and the two were filmed with their hands on the pool's steps as they kicked their legs and splashed the water behind them. In an interview with ET last month, Tess hit back at critics who insist her weight is a danger to her unborn child, claiming that her doctor had just given her a clean bill of health. 'I literally saw my OB/GYN yesterday and everything's fine,' she said. She added: 'He's happy. Everything's fine and I'm fine.' Tess also discussed with the publication her decision to post nude photos on social media, despite the criticism she ultimately receives from online trolls. 'The more they don't want to see things like that or are criticizing my body, the more I want to do it,' she said. 'Since you are complaining about my covered-up photo, I am going to give you a nude photo to make you even angrier.' All good: Tess revealed that the more people criticize her body, the more she wants to post photos Take that! Tess shared this photo in April as she insisted that she and her baby are healthy Her latest racy snap appeared on her Instagram on a few weeks ago, featuring the pregnant mom displaying her bump at 37 weeks and poking fun at people who tell her: 'I can't tell you're pregnant.' She wrote in the snap's caption: 'I will continue to live unapologetically, to thrive in this body, prove the naysayers wrong and laugh at the ignorance.' It's just the latest instance that Tess has bared her bod for her fans and critics as she previously shed her clothes while seven months pregnant to pose stark naked for a sultry new photoshoot celebrating her size 22 figure. Tess proudly took to Instagram on to share a nude photo of herself, which was taken last month during her shoot with The Telegraph. When captioning the portrait, Tess used a quote from her interview with the British publication, writing: 'What I want to say to you is that when people told me I couldnt model, I would always think, Ive literally had some of the s****est things happen to me and survived them, so me being a model is not the most ridiculous thing that I have had happen to me. Ive never taken no for an answer.' Advertisement Close to her heart As a woman who dons priceless jewels every day of her life - the Queen is said to wear almost as much jewellery in private as she does in public - Her Majesty knows that brooches and earrings are the sparkling touches needed to complete every outfit. The Cullinan V brooch, which she is pictured wearing while presenting the prizes at the Royal Windsor Horse Show in 1962, is a favourite from her collection. The unusual heart-shaped diamond, of 18.8 carats, is one of six numbered stones cut from the Cullinan diamond, the biggest in the world, and given to Queen Mary, the Queens grandmother, by the people of South Africa in 1910. As was the fashion of the time, she wore the brooch as part of a stomacher, a V-shaped piece of decorative cloth worn over the chest. When Queen Mary died in 1953, the piece formed part of the Queens inheritance. She has worn it throughout her reign, most recently to the Epsom Derby Scroll down for video The Cullinan V brooch, which the Queen is pictured wearing while presenting the prizes at the Royal Windsor Horse Show in 1962, is a favourite from her collection Dazzling brooches These twin brooches (left) were a gift from the Queens parents for her 18th birthday in 1944. Theyre an art deco arrangement of aquamarines and diamonds, made by Boucheron, and can be worn clipped together in an oval or staggered, as they are here, in 2005. Another of the 2,500 wedding presents given to the Queen on her marriage to Prince Philip, the Carrington Sapphire Feather brooch (right) was a gift from Carrington jewellers. A fine diamond feather with a sapphire centre, its always paired with blue or purple, as here in 2006 Not her usual style, this is the badge of the Queens Royal Lancers (left), of which she is Colonel-in-Chief. It bears a skull and crossbones - death - and the words or glory underneath, forming the regimental motto. Worn in 2007, its set in gold with diamonds and rubies. This deeply personal brooch (right), a basket filled with ruby, diamond and sapphire flowers, was given to the then Princess Elizabeth by her parents to mark the birth of Prince Charles in 1948. A vibrant, rainbow-coloured piece, seen here at Lords in 2007, it always seems to make her smile 158-carat giant that she calls 'Granny's Chips' This glittering gem of a brooch is made from the third and fourth-largest stones cut from the Cullinan diamond, known as the Lesser Stars Of Africa. Her Majesty doesnt wear the brooch half-heartedly; as seen here, at a theatre gala in London (left) in 1962, she likes to drape herself in diamonds This glittering gem of a brooch is made from the third and fourth-largest stones cut from the Cullinan diamond, known as the Lesser Stars Of Africa. The diamond was found at the Premier Mine near Pretoria, South Africa, in 1905 and named after Thomas Cullinan, the chairman of the company. The largest stones were reserved for the King, who accepted the gift from the people of South Africa on his 66th birthday in 1907, while these, Cullinan III and IV, were set temporarily in Queen Marys crown for her coronation. She also wore them together as a brooch, which is the form in which the Queen inherited the 158-carat piece from her grandmother in 1953. Shes said to refer to it in private as Grannys Chips, acknowledging the fact that the magnificent diamonds have been chipped from a larger stone. Her Majesty doesnt wear the brooch half-heartedly; as seen here, at a theatre gala in London in 1962, she likes to drape herself in diamonds. Also on display is her favourite Girls Of Great Britain And Ireland tiara, the dazzling George VI Festoon necklace, given to her by her father in 1950, Queen Marys chain-link bracelet and the showstopping Greville chandelier earrings. Lending Kate a finishing touch This Maple Leaf brooch - the national emblem of Canada - was worn by Princess Elizabeth for her first trip to Canada in 1951. The Queen then loaned it to newly-wed Kate when she visited the nation in 2011 (right) on her first royal tour with William The New Zealand Fern brooch was presented to the Queen in 1953 by the women of Auckland. She is seen wearing it in 2008 (left) and it was loaned to Kate for her 2014 tour of Australasia (right) The Queen is generous with her jewellery collection and over the years has loaned a number of pieces to the younger royals, including the Duchess of Cambridge. Her brooches are the most widely loaned of her jewels - with more than 100 in the vault, she hardly misses them. How to carry off a sash with panache Mother and daughter are almost a mirror image in this charming photo of the Queen (right) and Princess Anne (left) in Vienna in 1969. Both wear their Royal Family Orders - the Queen of King George V and VI, her father and grandfather; Princess Anne of her mother These unusual badges, always worn on the left shoulder, consist of diamondset cameos of each monarch pinned to coloured silk bows, and are worn with red sashes that denote a Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria Mother and daughter are almost a mirror image in this charming photo of the Queen and Princess Anne in Vienna in 1969. Both wear their Royal Family Orders - the Queen of King George V and VI, her father and grandfather; Princess Anne of her mother. These unusual badges, always worn on the left shoulder, consist of diamondset cameos of each monarch pinned to coloured silk bows, and are worn with red sashes that denote a Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria. Just above the waist, each wears a large silver or gold star paired with the sash to complete the insignia of that particular foreign order. Each star is different - the Queen most often wears her Garter Star, a gift from her father in 1947, which represents the Order of the Garter, the highest order of chivalry. On her right shoulder, the Queen has the diamondstudded Dorset Bow, a wedding gift given to her grandmother in 1893 by the County of Dorset. She pairs it with the Festoon necklace, Greville chandelier earrings and her Girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara. Princess Annes attire is slightly less ostentatious. Her tiara, the Greek Battenberg Meander tiara, belonged to Princess Alice of Battenberg, Prince Philips mother. The Queen gave it to Anne in 1972 - here, its just on loan. Glorious emeralds for the Queen in green Commissioned by her grandmother, Queen Mary, for the Delhi Durbar celebrations in 1911, the grand Round Cambridge Emerald brooch was inherited in 1953 Commissioned by her grandmother, Queen Mary, for the Delhi Durbar celebrations in 1911, the grand Round Cambridge Emerald brooch was inherited in 1953. It has a sister brooch, the Scroll Cambridge Emerald, and is made from a round emerald surrounded by two rows of diamonds. Mostly worn to daytime engagements, its sometimes seen with the emerald pendant detached - but here, paired with a green tam oshanter at a military parade in 1980, its in all its original glory. Beloved bow she wore at Sunday's celebrations The Kensington Bow brooch, the Queens favourite daytime pin, was a wedding gift from the residents of Kensington to her grandmother in 1893, costing 450 (about 40,000 today). The brooch features two rows of diamonds set in silver and gold, tied in a bow around a single large diamond, and it is often used to secure a sash or as a clasp for remembrance poppies. Here the Queen wears it in London in 1965 (left) and (right) on a state visit to Germany in 1978 What better choice for her official 90th birthday celebrations, as the Queen pairs her best-loved brooch with this pretty pink ensemble for the Patrons Lunch on the Mall outside Buckingham Palace on Sunday. The complete piece has a pearl pendant drop, which Her Majesty prefers to remove, accentuating the delicate gem-studded bow Glittering earrings If shes not wearing her trademark pearls, the Queen opts for pendants such as these dazzling purple stones (left), part of the Kent Amethyst set, which belonged to Queen Victorias mother. These ornate diamond frames (right), each containing an oval pearl drop, are the Duchess of Gloucesters Pendants, first owned by Queen Marys great aunt If shes not wearing her trademark pearls, the Queen opts for pendants such as these dazzling purple stones, part of the Kent Amethyst set, which belonged to Queen Victorias mother. The set also includes three brooches, a necklace and hair combs, but these earrings worn to a state banquet in Portugal in 1985 - are the only items seen in public. These ornate diamond frames, each containing an oval pearl drop, are the Duchess of Gloucesters Pendants, first owned by Queen Marys great aunt. They passed to the Queen on her grandmothers death in 1953. She chose them for her wedding in 1947 and nowadays wears them often. She positively shimmered in them on this visit to Mauritius in 1972. Rubies are among the Queens favourite gems, and these unusual earrings (left) - rubies set inside an asymmetric diamond swirl - are thought to have been a gift from the Emir of Qatar in 1985. The Queen wore diamonds at this state dinner at the White House in 2007 (centre) and stunning drop earrings (right) which are part of the George VI Sapphire set Rubies are among the Queens favourite gems, and these unusual earrings - rubies set inside an asymmetric diamond swirl - are thought to have been a gift from the Emir of Qatar in 1985, along with a matching necklace. Here, she wears them at the Pardo Palace in Spain in 1988. Some occasions demand diamonds - such as a state dinner at the White House in 2007. The inner pendant of these earrings is interchangeable, and can be swapped for an emerald instead. They are thought to have belonged to the Queens grandmother, Queen Mary. Part of the George VI Sapphire set, which her father gave her as a wedding gift, these stunning drop earrings have a matching brooch, rings and necklace. Theres even a tiara, seen here at a banquet in Prague in 1996. The earrings were most recently worn at the Chinese state reception in October 2015. Earrings with elan - thanks to Queen Mary A change from her preferred pendants, these striking gems are Queen Marys Floret earrings, which the Queen inherited from her grandmother on her death in 1953 A change from her preferred pendants, these striking gems are Queen Marys Floret earrings, which the Queen inherited from her grandmother on her death in 1953. The brilliant diamonds at the centre of each began as a pair of solitaire earrings, given to Queen Mary for her wedding in 1893 by eminent Scottish shipowner Sir William Mackinnon. Not quite to her taste, Queen Mary arranged for the stones to be reset within a double row of diamonds in 1922, and again inside these seven flower petals in 1939. The alterations were all carried out by royal jeweller Garrard, which charged 50 (more than 3,000 today) for the service. Apparently impressed with her grandmothers improvements, the Queen hasnt made any further changes to the jewels. Because of their simple style, she wears them to formal occasions, such as state openings of Parliament and the annual Garter Service. Here, during her tour of Australia in 1954, the 28-year-old Queen pairs them with the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara. Resplendent in the riches of history No ode to the Queens jewellery collection would be complete without mention of the Crown Jewels, seen here in the coronation portrait taken by Cecil Beaton in the Green Drawing Room at the Palace in 1953 No ode to the Queens jewellery collection would be complete without mention of the Crown Jewels, seen here in the coronation portrait taken by Cecil Beaton in the Green Drawing Room at the Palace in 1953. There are 142 historical objects stored in the Jewel House, a secure vault at the Tower of London, many of them dating from 350 years ago when Charles II acceded to the throne. On Her Majestys head is the Imperial Crown, set with more than 3,000 gems around a velvet cap trimmed with ermine. Curiously, it wasnt used to crown her: this honour went to St Edwards crown - which is heavier and less photogenic. She was criticised for baring her shoulders at a St Paul's service on Friday - but as she stepped out to a charity gala Samantha Cameron made sure to cover up. The Prime Minister's wife joined her little sister Emily Sheffield for the event at Wyndham's Theatre clad in a high necked burgundy blouse, black trousers teamed with a pair of white sneakers. It was a surprisingly dressed-down look for the fashion conscious mother-of-three, however her sister - the deputy editor at British Vogue - stood out in a leopard print top, dark skirt and two-tone heels. Scroll down for video Siblings united: They're rarely pictured out together, but on Tuesday night Samantha Cameron (right) and her younger sister Emily Sheffield (left) appeared arm in arm at a London charity gala The sisters were guests at the People, Places & Things Charity Gala in aid of Action On Addiction at the West End Wyndham's Theatre. Other attendees included TV star Davina McCall, journalist Mariella Frostrup, make-up artist Charlotte Tilbury and actress Joely Richardson. While the majority of female guests attended the glitzy event in a selection of glamorous high heels, Samantha was the only one spotted wearing trainers. She opted for her beloved platform Converse Chuck Taylors which cost around 58. She posed for pictures with her sister holding a selection of bags including a Lulu Guinness tote and a leather shoulder bag with her butterfly clip attached to the strap for safe keeping. Her black coat, which teamed with her black trousers, was draped over her arm. Trendsetter: While the majority of female guests attended the glitzy event in dress shoes, Samantha wasn't the only one spotted wearing trainers Painting the town red: Samantha and her sister were guests at the People, Places & Things Charity Gala in aid of Action On Addiction at the West End Wyndham's Theatre. But just a few days ago Sam Cam was blasted for choosing a dress that revealed her shoulders to attend a service for the Queen's 90th celebrations. Samantha opted for a Forties-style dress with nautical stripes from L.K. Bennett as she joined hundreds of VIP guests for a national service of thanksgiving in honour of the Queen's 90th birthday at St Paul's Cathedral. But it was the sleeves - or lack of them - that riled up commentators, with Emma, from Hitchin, taking to Twitter to blast: 'I have just shrieked at the telly because Samantha Cameron is not wearing a jacket & just looks like she's on her holidays!' Samantha went for a pared-back look for her appearance at the charity gala on Tuesday night Samantha opted to cover up after getting a dressing-down for her bare shoulders at St Paul's last week Samantha, 45, paired the belted midi dress with an asymmetric netted hat and black court heels, but even her headgear didn't go down well, with another Twitter user suggesting it looked 'more suited to a funeral'. Last Friday's service, which is being broadcast live on the BBC, was the first of three major national events to mark the Queens official birthday. The other two were Trooping The Colour on Saturday and The Patrons Lunch, a street party for 10,000 people in The Mall to celebrate the Queens charitable work, on Sunday. Last week the Prime Minister's wife suffered a rare fashion fail as commentators blasted her choice of outfit for one of the most important public engagements of the year Samantha wore L.K. Bennett stripes as she joined her husband David at the thanksgiving service at St Paul's However Twitter users seemed more interested in the guests' fashion choices. Marcus Stead blasted: 'Doesn't Samantha Cameron know that it's rude to have your shoulders uncovered in church?' while Imelda Finnerty wrote: 'Samantha Cameron could have made an effort for HMQ service in St Pauls' *cathedral* at least by covering her shoulders.' Annie Dewar echoed the sentiment, adding: 'Samantha Cameron and George Osbourne wife (sic.), SLEEVELESS in the Abbey!' Another viewer, Helen Baimbridge, wrote: @has nobody told SamCam that one covers ones shoulders in church & in presence of Queen #oldfashionedetiquette (sic.).' 'Guessing that SamCam is straight off to the beach after this,' joked Lydia Starbuck, with Sara adding: 'oh my...what was SamCam thinking when she opened her closet this morning?? Not a pool party, Madam!!!' I.M. Seethin added: 'SamCam looks like she's come home from shopping after finding a hat.' Racked with shivers, unable to tolerate light and with my head pounding so much it felt as if my brain was pushing out of my skull, all I wanted to do was to shut my eyes and sleep. Yet while the doctors and nurses buzzing about my hospital bed were doing all they could to help me work out what was wrong, the one thing they could not help with was the peace I so craved. Hospital wards are noisy places and so I spent a sleepless night listening to trolleys rattling, machines beeping and fellow patients crying. Just when I thought it was quietening down, a monitor would whirr or an alarm would shriek or the woman opposite would cry out for her mother again. Our wards are now on average 10 decibels louder than in the 1960s, according to research by Johns Hopkins Hospital, Balitmore After one night in hospital, I felt more washed out than I had during my unscheduled admission the day before. Noting the dark rings under my eyes and satisfied I had a virus rather than meningitis as first suspected, the doctor the next morning said bluntly: We could keep you in but, frankly, I think youre going to get more rest and improve quicker at home. In the peace of my own bedroom I quickly fell into a deep sleep. I was lucky to be well enough to recover at home, but many arent and are left exposed to extraordinary levels of noise. Before he died earlier this year, Sir David MacKay, a former chief scientific advisor to the Government, blogged about how the noise on his ward at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge contributed to him spending six days without sleep. The ward is always full of lights going on and off, doors opening, special mechanical beds that make fizzing electrical noises and clunks for hours on end, and an army of crucial machines each with their own bleeps, pings, and Klingon photon torpedo sounds, he wrote. The sleeplessness took its toll and he cried like a soggy jelly on a sympathetic nurses shoulder. Far from being places of peace and quiet, many hospitals have noise levels more akin to a building site. The din in intensive care can be as loud as a revving motorbike or a heavy lorry, Belgian researchers found. And the alarms on patient monitors can be as loud as 100 decibels, similar to the levels from a DIY drill Our wards are now on average ten decibels louder than in the 1960s, according to research by the Johns Hopkins Hospital in the U.S. The din in intensive care can be as loud as a revving motorbike or a heavy lorry, Belgian researchers recently found. Meanwhile, the alarms on patient monitors can be as loud as 100 decibels, similar to the levels from a DIY drill. Even the level of background noise in intensive care can be high. Julie Darbyshire, a senior critical care researcher at Oxford University, led a team in 2012 who measured the level of noise on intensive care units in five NHS hospitals around the Thames Valley and found the average level of noise is 55-60 decibels as noisy as a busy restaurant and not what you want or expect for a ward where seriously ill patients are trying to recover, she told Good Health. This is also well above the maximum of 35 decibels recommended by the World Health Organisation. She adds: The lowest we found was hardly any quieter some 53 decibels, at around 3 to 4am. At this level people find it hard to sleep and we found that on average patients in intensive care are only getting three minutes sleep in total at any one time. The level of noise on intensive care units in five NHS hospitals around the Thames Valley and found the average level of noise is 55-60 decibels as noisy as a busy restaurant (file photo) 'Alarms go off a lot, not just in intensive care but all around the hospital. All this is not just an irritation in some cases the noise will be hampering recovery, say experts. Alarms can share characteristics of the human scream and activate areas of the brain that recognise danger, as seen from scans. 'So quite apart from stopping people sleeping, the noise itself causes stress, says Julie Darbyshire. We have found alarms go off every few minutes in intensive care, on average around 16 times an hour at night and more during the day. In this noisy environment restorative deep sleep is never reached. All of which is bad news for the patient says Hugh Montgomery, professor of intensive care at University College London and a consultant at the Whittington Hospital. 'He believes cutting noise on the wards could save the NHS a fortune. For paediatric units, research has shown that if you give babies ear muffs they have improved breathing and heart rate, and better levels of oxygen in their blood with few big variations, he says. In adults, noise can lead to sleep deprivation, which is associated with higher levels of stress hormones . . . such as adrenaline, which has the impact of shutting down blood vessels thats why you go pale when youre scared. An Oxford University study found that alarms go off every few minutes in intensive care, and on average 16 timer per hour during the night This is not good for wound healing or the delivery of oxygen and will have an impact on the immune system. 'Stress also increases your perception of pain, so reducing noise could mean the patient who has just had a major operation needs less morphine, therefore their bowels work better and theyre back on their feet quicker. Noise-induced lack of sleep wont just hamper recovery, it can also increase the risk of delirium. This occurs in 15 to 20 per cent of all those admitted to hospital. A study at the Johns Hopkins Hospital published in journal Critical Care in 2013 found that reducing night time noise and staff interruptions improved a patients chance of avoiding delirium by 54 per cent. At the intensive care unit I oversee at the Whittington weve been routinely giving our patients ear plugs for the past couple of years and the rates of delirium have dropped right down, says Professor Montgomery. Lisa Hinton, a senior researcher at the Health Experiences Research Group, is working with ways to reduce hospital noise, inspired by her own experiences in 2003. Noise-induced lack of sleep wont just hamper recovery, it can also increase the risk of delirium. This occurs in 15 to 20 per cent of all those admitted to hospital (file photo) I thought I had flu but developed difficulties breathing and went to A&E and was swiftly admitted to intensive care, she says. She had developed sepsis, a life-threatening condition that occurs as the result of an infection. For days I was heavily sedated and then I spent another ten days conscious in intensive care, where there was a constant bustle of noise: surgical packets rustling, bin lids closing and alarms going off. Its really disconcerting when youre immobile in intensive care and the machines sounding the alarms are behind your head. Its really disconcerting when youre immobile in intensive care and the machines sounding the alarms are behind your head Lisa Hinton, a senior researcher at the Health Experiences Research Group 'You cant tell if the alarm is yours or not. So youre not just disturbed by the sound but it also causes anxiety. Often, the alarm may go off for no real reason. It may be that the oxygen probe that normally clamps around your finger has slipped off so a nurse will nonchalantly walk over and put it back on. The constant sounding of alarms 75 per cent of which are false alarms can have worrying effects on staff, says Julie Darbyshire. The fact that they go off so regularly means staff can develop alarm fatigue: they hear the alarms but stop registering them and that means they may not respond. Trevor Cox, professor of acoustic engineering at Salford University, says the noise is exacerbated by the fact hospitals were designed with hygiene in mind, not acoustics. Carpets, for example, absorb noise, but of course this would not work in a hospital because the floors need to be kept very clean. There are simple measures that could help though, such as changing metals bins for plastic ones, or moving beeping machines from the head of the bed to the foot. HOSPITALS ARE BEGINNING TO TAKE NOTE After a survey in 2015 found that 37 per cent of patients were disturbed by noise overnight, nurses at the University Hospital Southampton NHS Trust backed a noise at night pledge which involves keeping voices down and reducing bed moves at night. And in the U.S. and the Netherlands they have machines wired so that alarms do not sound by the patients beds but at the nurses station, says Julie Darbyshire. Nurses at the University Hospital Southampton NHS Trust backed a noise at night pledge which involves keeping voices down and reducing bed moves at night (file photo) Her suggestions for hospitals she works with include setting alarm limits for the patient rather than using broad limits used for all. Professor Montgomery says offering more ear plugs that cost pence could also help. He hopes to run studies next year using bluetooth to silence alarms and instead relay messages into nurses ear pieces. He says the compassionate element involved in cutting noise should also not be overlooked. An elderly lady admitted to a general ward with pneumonia is already on edge and is then going to be exposed to shrilling alarms and the screaming of patients, he says. Melissa Mead finds it hard to recall the time when she knew nothing about sepsis or the devastating swiftness with which it can kill. Since her baby son, William, died from it, aged one, in December 2014, following a catalogue of errors, misdiagnoses and missed opportunities by doctors and the NHS helpline, shes become an expert on the subject, campaigning to raise awareness and ensure others dont die needlessly. So consider her shock when she learned, only months ago, that she herself had almost died from the condition. Following surgery in 2011, she became critically ill with an infection. The revelation that the infection was sepsis came during a session with the psychiatrist who has treated her for depression and post-traumatic shock since William died. Melissa Mead lost her one-year-old baby son, William (right), to sepsis in 2014. She was shocked to learn she herself almost died from the condition in 2011 There are no words to explain how profoundly the trauma of losing William affected my mental health, she recalls. I am still having intensive therapy, and during one session my psychiatrist asked me: How does it make you feel to know you survived sepsis and William didnt? I was confused. I said: What do you mean? He has access to my medical notes and he said: When you were very ill in hospital five years ago, you had sepsis. I cant really remember the rest of the conversation because I was so shocked. I asked him to explain and he told me the infection after my operation was sepsis. I wonder now if Id been aware of what it was and what to look out for, whether wed have been more alert to the symptoms when William developed it. We should have been told. If we had been, things could have been so different. Melissa, 29, who is five months pregnant with her second child, has reason to be angry. But she focuses her efforts on a campaign to raise awareness of the condition, which kills 44,000 people a year in the UK. Earlier this year, she met Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who announced in April that he was throwing Government weight behind a public health initiative, backed by the Daily Mail and the UK Sepsis Trust. But a subsequent meeting with Mr Hunt due to have taken place this week has been postponed, and shes urging prompt action. It is vital the message gets out to people, she says. Every day in the UK, four children and 120 adults die from it, and many of those lives could be saved if people knew what to look for. There is not a single symptom that screams out, but several, so it can be quite confusing to pinpoint. The message should centre on simply getting the word sepsis into everyones minds. William Mead tragically died after medics failed to spot he had signs of sepsis - with a charity saying 14,000 lives a year could be saved if more people were aware of the symptoms Mrs Mead and her husband Paul are now calling on Jeremy Hunt to launch a national campaign to make families aware of the symptoms She adds: They should ask their doctor: Could this be sepsis? And if lives are to be saved, it is crucial to act quickly, within the golden hour of the condition setting in. Everyone should be sepsis aware, and it wont cost millions to get the message across. The worst thing is knowing William died needlessly. Sepsis is a dangerously fast-moving condition where the bodys immune system over-reacts to an infection, which can be caused by anything from a cough to a cut. THE WARNING SIGNS OF SEPSIS Sepsis, also referred to as blood poisoning or septicaemia, is a potentially life-threatening condition, triggered by an infection or injury. In sepsis, the bodys immune system goes into overdrive as it tries to fight an infection. This can reduce the blood supply to vital organs such as the brain, heart and kidneys. Without quick treatment, sepsis can lead to multiple organ failure and death. Early symptoms of sepsis may include: a high temperature (fever) or low body temperature chills and shivering a fast heartbeat fast breathing In some cases, symptoms of more severe sepsis or septic shock (when your blood pressure drops to a dangerously low level) develop soon after. These can include: feeling dizzy or faint a change in mental state, such as confusion or disorientation diarrhoea nausea and vomiting slurred speech severe muscle pain severe breathlessness less urine production than normal (for example, not urinating for a day) cold, clammy and pale or mottled skin loss of consciousness Severe sepsis and septic shock are medical emergencies. If you think that you or someone in your care has one of these conditions, call 999 and ask for an ambulance. Source: NHS Choices Advertisement The immune system attacks not only the invading bacteria, but also its own tissues and organs. If spotted in time, it is easy to treat with strong antibiotics, delivered intravenously but delays can prove fatal. When Melissa looks back on her own experience of sepsis she realises how perilously close to death she came. In April 2011, shed been suffering severe stomach pains and a urinary tract infection. She left her office, where she is PA to a financial director, to see her GP who, believing she had appendicitis, arranged for her to have surgery urgently at the hospital near her home in Penryn, Cornwall. I was breathless with pain; faint, dizzy, sick, she recalls. She collapsed as she walked to the hospital and a passing police car called an ambulance. In the early hours of the morning she had an emergency appendectomy. Her partner Paul, a telecoms engineer, was away on a training course in Yorkshire with the Territorial Army. I didnt want to worry him, so I didnt tell him I was ill, says Melissa. The next day they were going to discharge me, but I remember struggling down the corridor clutching the wall for support and crying in pain. A nurse saw me and arranged for me to stay another night. The next day I felt a bit better, so I was sent home with painkillers. By then Paul had arrived home to find Melissa very ill. He took me to the doctors and I couldnt even get to the surgery without vomiting. I was readmitted to hospital, but then sent home again. That night I became very ill. My temperature soared to 41c, I started hallucinating, imagining there were spiders crawling over me, and was talking gibberish. Paul took me to the out-of-hours doctor, who called the hospital and I was readmitted for a third time. My temperature was still high, but I felt clammy and cold. I felt so ill I just wanted to close my eyes and die. If someone had offered me a pill to end my life then, I would have gladly taken it. Paul made urgent calls to Spain where Melissas parents, Lesley and Bernard, and sister, Louise, live. She remembers her mum and sister sitting at her bedside, their faces etched with worry. A scan revealed that Melissa was suffering from a pelvic abscess her appendix, it emerged, had been taken out needlessly. She had surgery to remove the abscess and a drain fitted. But it was sepsis that threatened her life. The situations were very different for William and me, and sepsis presented differently in both of us, she says. William had a chesty cough; mine began with a urinary tract infection. I struggle to piece together everything that happened then, its just a blur. But if Id been told Id had sepsis I would have been aware of its dangers, conscious that it was something to look out for. After William's death, Mrs Mead was receiving therapy for depression and post-traumatic shock. It was during one of these sessions that her psychiatrist said she almost died of sepsis too, according to her medical notes An inquiry after his death revealed that there had been a staggering 15 failures in his care. Today, Mrs Mead is beset by grief that sometimes threatens to engulf her, but also by guilt that she is alive while William died Fortunately in Melissas case prompt treatment with fluids and intravenous antibiotics saved her life, but the haul back to health was painstaking. Overwhelmed by tiredness, loss of appetite and sickness, she lost 2 st and was off work for two-and-a-half months. It was another year, she says, before she felt normal. Id have given my last breath so my child could live Melissa Mead, 29 Today, she is beset not only by grief that sometimes threatens to engulf her, but also by guilt that she is alive while William died. Id have given my last breath so my child could live, she says. William had been suffering from a persistent, stubborn cough for three months and although his parents diligent, articulate and caring had taken him repeatedly to doctors, vital warning signs that he was critically ill were missed. An inquiry after his death revealed that there had been a staggering 15 failures in his care. William was particularly treasured because Melissa had not believed she would ever become pregnant. She has only half an ovary, following seven operations to remove three ovarian tumours Now she is pregnant again, Mrs Mead feels as though the new baby is a gift from William. She said: 'Of course, we feel joy, but it is mixed with such profound regret that he is not here to share the new baby with us. Yet had William been correctly diagnosed, there is a very good chance, the expert witness at his inquest stated, that he would still be here today. William was particularly treasured because Melissa had not believed she would ever become pregnant. She has only half an ovary, following seven operations to remove three ovarian tumours. But then after she and Paul, 32, had been together for ten years she became pregnant. Now that she is pregnant again, she grapples with a complex amalgam of emotions. In a way, I think of this new baby as a gift from William. Of course, we feel joy, but it is mixed with such profound regret that he is not here to share the new baby with us. She gains solace, however, from her sepsis awareness campaign and the many messages of gratitude she has received from those who, through hearing Williams story, have been alert to symptoms. Mrs Mead said: My little boy has helped saved lives and hell live on in peoples minds because of that' She treasures a letter from a mother who hoped it would bring a tiny chink of happiness to Melissa to know her daughter had been saved thanks to Williams story. A husband contacted her to express his heartfelt thanks: his wife, who had just given birth to their first child, had developed sepsis but was saved by swift medical intervention. All I can do is get through each day and take comfort from the fact that William is helping to save others live Melisa Mead, 29 Seeing you on TV planted a thought. It made me call triage [where patients are assessed for urgency]. You saved my family, he wrote. It makes me feel very humble, says Melissa. I think, My little boy has helped saved lives, and hell live on in peoples minds because of that. Ive been told Im brave, but Im not. Im just a mum who loved her son, and by campaigning in his name, by telling his story even though, every time I re-live the trauma of his death it causes me terrible pain it allows me still to be Williams mum. All I can do is get through each day and take comfort from the fact that William is helping to save others lives. Got a nasty cough you just cant shake? If so, you are one of an estimated 15 per cent of Britons who suffer from chronic cough - a cough lasting over eight weeks. Coughs are a protective measure, helping clear airways of mucus and debris, explains Alyn Morice, a professor of respiratory medicine at the University of Hull. Most persistent coughs are caused by gastric reflux, which makes the upper airways hypersensitive but they can also be caused by underlying disease. Sometimes no cause can be found. An estimated 15 per cent of Britons who suffer from chronic cough - a cough lasting over eight weeks The good news is that researchers at the University of Manchester have just developed a treatment that promises to banish irrepressible coughs for good. Known as AF-219, the twice-daily pill works by blocking receptors on the throat that trigger the cough reflex. In trials, it reduced cough frequency by 75 per cent. It is the most effective treatment for chronic cough that has ever been studied, says Peter Barnes, a professor of respiratory medicine at Imperial College, London. Unfortunately, the drug which is the first new medication for persistent coughing developed in 50 years wont be available to patients for at least three years. And even then, it wont be suitable for all types of cough. Some coughs such as those caused by the common cold are essential because they help remove excess mucus from the lungs, easing breathing, explains Professor Barnes. We wont want to remove the coughing reflex in these people. But, its important to find ways to treat coughs that dont serve a useful purpose and can actually do harm. So what can you do to alleviate a chronic cough? The priority is to identify whats causing it. Diagnosis hinges on whether a chronic cough is either wet/productive which means you produce phlegm or mucus or dry/non-productive, says Dr Omar Usmani, a consultant physician in respiratory medicine who runs the chronic cough clinic at the Royal Brompton Hospital. Some coughs such as those caused by the common cold are essential because they help remove excess mucus from the lungs, easing breathing. But others don't serve a useful purpose and can do harm Then, the patients full history will be taken to determine the cause its focused detective work, says Dr Usmani. In some cases, the cough is simply due to hypersensitivity of the nerves lining the throat without any obvious reason. This is the type of cough AF-219 was initially developed to help. Here, with the help of some of the UKs leading experts, is our guide to help you work out whats causing your cough. Note: If a cough lasts more than eight weeks, Professor Morice says see your GP. A chest X-ray should be performed to rule out any serious problems. If you cough up blood, see your doctor immediately. DRY COUGHS Gastro-oesophaegal reflux is the most common cause of persistent cough, responsible for up to 70 per cent of cases. Acid reflux typically causes heartburn, but some people may also or only develop a persistent cough linked to stomach acid splashing into the oesophagus. A cough caused by acid reflux may sound explosive or guttural and sufferers often report a funny taste, says Dr Richard Russell, honorary medical adviser at the British Lung Foundation, If it is associated with a hiatus hernia, where the stomach can protrude through the diaphragm, it can sound like barking, Acid reflux is the most common cause of persistent cough, responsible for up to 70 per cent of cases TREATMENT The most important thing to do is reduce the production of stomach acid, using proton pump inhibitors omeprazole and pantoprazole, available over the counter, explains Professor Barnes. Yet this only works in around 60 per cent of cases. For the rest, the cough remains, probably because the sensitive cells in the lining of the gullet are still being stimulated by the contents of the stomach splashing up. Losing weight can help, reducing pressure on the valve between stomach and oesophagus. Its important to quit smoking and reduce alcohol consumption as both exacerbate heartburn. And avoid lying down for two to three hours after a meal to allow the stomach to empty. Surgeons can also reconstruct the valve between the oesophagus and stomach to prevent leakage. POST-NASAL DRIP This is when mucus from the sinuses runs down the back of the throat, irritating cells in the larynx, triggering the cough reflex. The drip is typically caused by sinusitis, inflammation of the sinuses, infection or allergic rhinitis (inflammation inside the nose caused by pollen or another allergen). A post-nasal drip tends to causes spasmodic coughing, a coughing fit which can be quite uncomfortable, says Dr Russell. Symptoms tend to be worse at night time when someone has been lying down for a long period of time, allowing the mucus to build up. Another sign I look for is loss of smell. When the mucus from the sinuses runs down the back of the throat - called the post-nasal drip - it irritates cells in the larynx, triggering the cough reflex TREATMENT Treating the infection can stop the mucus drip many over-the-counter drugs contain ephedrine to dry up secretions, while antibiotics can clear infection, explains Professor Barnes. For allergic rhinitis, a topical nasal steroid such as Beconase may dampen an allergic response. For a persistent problem, a minor operation can improve drainage from the sinuses, and this should help stop the cough, says Professor Barnes. MEDICATION SIDE EFFECT This causes a dry, irritated cough more tickly than terrible. Those affected may cough every few minutes, especially if exposed to cold air or irritants in the upper airways. Typically, its caused by medication for another condition. A chronic dry cough is a side-effect of ACE inhibitors, a common heart drug, says Dr Russell an estimated 20 per cent of people taking them develop a chronic cough. Some medications can cause a dry, irritated cough as a side effect. For example, a chronic dry cough is a side-effect of ACE inhibitors, a common heart drug Some asthma inhalers can cause a cough, either because of the powder or propellant, he adds. TREATMENT Swapping medications may help. Around 90 per cent of drug-related coughs settle when patients switch drugs. ASTHMA/ALLERGIES Coughing caused by allergies and asthma often worsens at night (because our bodies produce fewer of the natural steroids that reduce inflammation). These coughs can be worsened by temperature changes and strong perfumes, says Dr Russell. Another symptom of asthma is wheeziness. TREATMENT For asthma, doctors usually prescribe corticosteroids as a preventer inhaler to be used twice daily, and a reliever medication such as Salbutamol to be used when needed, says Dr Usmani. Many asthma patients dont realise they need to use their preventers to keep coughing at bay, and only use relievers. Hayfever sufferers can get relief from nasal sprays that reduce inflammation or antihistamines. Coughing caused by allergies and asthma often worsens at night (because our bodies produce fewer of the natural steroids that reduce inflammation LUNG CANCER Around 44,500 people are diagnosed with lung cancer every year in the UK. One of the earliest symptoms can be a persistent cough, which in later stages may involve coughing up blood, says Dr Usmani. People with lung cancer can have a small niggly cough a bit like a smokers cough, adds Dr Russell. It is important to get it checked out and not ignore it. Advanced disease results in a whistling cough as the tumour invades the airways. It can also lead to breathlessness, unexplained weight loss and fatigue. While more common in smokers, lung cancer can occur in non-smokers, too. TREATMENT This depends on the type of lung cancer, but often involves surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. One of the earliest symptoms of lung cancer can be a persistent cough, which may involve coughing up blood MUCUS COUGHS Viral/bacterial infection Most common coughs are caused by viruses, and last up to three weeks. Viruses tend to increase the production of pale white sputum. Bacterial infections, such as with the streptococcus bacteria, result in yellow or green mucus, and cause coughing and fever for a short period. However, in some cases, a bacterial infection persists so that a person may cough up phlegm for a much longer period. Coughing associated with infection tends to involve a lot of throat clearing, and sounds chesty. TREATMENT Viral coughs should clear without treatment within three weeks; long-lasting bacterial infections can be treated with antibiotics. But in some patients, chronic coughing persists even after the infection has cleared up, explains Professor Barnes. He doesnt recommend cough remedies, saying: There is no hard scientific evidence that these work beyond the placebo effect. Bacterial infections, such as with the streptococcus bacteria, result in yellow or green mucus, and cause coughing and fever for a short period CHRONIC BRONCHITIS This is a hacking cough that often comes in fits the cough can also sound wheezy with whooping noises. Another symptom is shortness of breath. Chronic bronchitis is a form of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), an umbrella term for inflammation of bronchial tubes and excess amounts of white or clear mucus building up in the lungs. The major cause of COPD is smoking, but it can be caused by long-term exposure to other irritants, explains Professor Barnes. TREATMENT Chronic bronchitis is a long-term condition that never goes away completely. Symptoms can be eased by a broncho-dilator, a drug which helps open the airways, or steroids to reduce inflammation. Lakes and rivers carry the risk of the norovirus and bacteria such as E.coli Minutes after finishing my swim, my skin began to itch, and within a couple of hours my arms, legs, belly and chest were covered in unsightly red spots. I had swimmers itch, or cercarial dermatitis, which is caused by a parasite carried by some birds and freshwater snails which burrows into your skin, and causes a rash. The rash appeared after a swim in the Serpentine in Londons Hyde Park. Ive enjoyed so-called wild swimming in lakes, rivers and the sea for more than 20 years, and must have done it more than 100 times in the Serpentine without incident, until last summer. Perhaps the greatest danger with freshwater swimming is the coldness of deep water. The risk is cold shock response, where people gasp and breathe rapidly after sudden exposure to very cold water Thankfully, the rash is neither dangerous nor contagious, and after a few itchy nights, my spots cleared up thanks to a mild steroid cream. But as wild swimming becomes increasingly popular advocates say it can soothe muscle aches, boost the immune system and even relieve depression in a way that a chlorinated pool never can it is not without hazards. Here are some other risks of bathing in the great outdoors. LAKES, PONDS AND RESERVOIRS Perhaps the greatest danger with freshwater swimming is the coldness of deep water. Early summer is particularly risky below the surface water can still be very cold (its less of a problem in rivers or the sea, where the water moves, so the temperature contrast wont be as great). The risk is cold shock response, where people gasp and breathe rapidly after sudden exposure to very cold water. This can trigger a cardiac arrest in unfit people. But its not the only concern. Even strong swimmers can get into trouble trying to swim across a deep lake or reservoir because the cold weakens their arms and legs and they find themselves far from safety, adds Lynne Roper, a spokeswoman for the Outdoor Swimming Society. Another potential hazard, especially in summer, is blue-green algae. It forms a powdery green scum on lakes and ponds this can set off an allergic rash or sore eyes If your body temperature drops too low, the body will do all it can to conserve heat, starving the muscles of blood, and oxygen, explains Isobel Kearl of St John Ambulance. Another potential hazard, especially in summer, is blue-green algae. It forms a powdery green scum on lakes and ponds this can set off an allergic rash or sore eyes. Isobel Kearl suggests washing the affected skin before taking antihistamines and seeking further medical advice if necessary. Swimming in freshwater lakes and rivers also carries the risk of the norovirus and bacteria such as E.coli which can cause vomiting and diarrhoea. The risk is particularly acute in low-lying reservoirs or lakes near a sewage outflow, says Paul Hunter, a professor of health protection at the University of East Anglia. RIVERS AND CANALS Swimming in canals or rivers could result in Weils disease (or leptospirosis) a bacterial infection spread by rat urine. Canals are particularly risky because the water is stagnant, as are slow-moving rivers in urban areas where the rat population is high. But it can also be caught in lakes. You get it by swallowing contaminated water or absorbing it into the bloodstream through a cut or graze. Swimming in freshwater lakes and rivers also carries the risk of the norovirus and bacteria such as E.coli which can cause vomiting and diarrhoea Any cuts should therefore first be covered with a waterproof plaster, though the NHS advises against swimming in metropolitan canals at all. Symptoms include high temperature, vomiting, headaches, swellings, chills and fatigue. One in ten patients suffers a severe infection sometimes affecting the liver, causing jaundice, says Isobel Kearl. The usual treatment is antibiotics. THE SEA Last year, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution dealt with 97 jellyfish stings in British coastal waters. Most stings arent dangerous, but they usually cause pain and sometimes a rash. Remove remaining tentacles using tweezers, says Dr Imran Rafi, of the Royal College of General Practitioners. And an ice pack will help ease pain and inflammation. Washing the affected area with seawater can help or, even better, vinegar, which nullifies the chemical reaction, says Isobel Kearl. But that popular DIY remedy, urine, can exacerbate the stinging pain. Last year, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution dealt with 97 jellyfish stings in British coastal waters. Most stings arent dangerous, but they usually cause pain and sometimes a rash Jellyfish arent the only stinging fish in our waters, as I can testify. Weevers are small fish that bury themselves in the sand by the waters edge. They have poisonous spines and gills that can sting, causing pain and then numbness. Luckily, I was stung near a lifeguard station, in Dorset. They put my foot in a bowl of hot water (heat breaks down the venom) and after 30 minutes the pain eased off. If a weevers spine breaks off and its not removed from the skin, it can cause infection, warns Isobel Kearl. If you cant get it out, visit the hospital. Asian, black and Hispanic youth worse affected by alcohol and drug use It's something that's long been suspected - and a new study has just confirmed it. Students who drink beer and smoke weed have worse grades at school, scientists discovered. Mental health was also found to be affected in students who used both substances as they felt 'less prepared' for education. Students who smoke weed and drink alcohol have worse grades at school, new research claims To add fuel to the fire, smoking weed was also found to increase the likelihood of 'delinquent' behaviour and makr students less ready for their day ahead. Over 6,500 students from Los Angeles were followed over a seven-year period as part of a study by the RAND Corporation to monitor the effects of the two drugs. Participating teenagers aged between 11 and 17 years old were required to complete seven surveys split between their time in middle and high school. This enabled researchers to monitor their alcohol and drug habits, comparing them to school results and any behaviour or mental health issues. The study found non-white students who reported using both alcohol and marijuana were worse affected academically and behaviourally than white students. However, white students appeared to be at greater risk of using the substances while at school than those of other ethnic backgrounds. Cheers? Students who think alcohol is more dangerous than marijuana may be misinformed, say researchers Lead author of the study and behavioural scientist Dr Elizabeth D'Amico said that the study showed alcohol and marijuana use were issues that needed to be tackled early on in life, especially in Asian, black and Hispanic students. DANGERS OF CANNABIS IN YOUTH A recent study in New Zealand highlighted the dangers of cannabis use in young adults. Participants aged 18-38 who smoked the drug four or more days a week ended up in a lower social class than their parents. They also worked in less skilled jobs, earned less and were exhibited more antisocial behaviour such as lying, stealing and domestic violence Advertisement 'One approach may be to increase protective factors such as parental support or the adolescent's ability to resist temptations to use these substances. 'Many youths tend to think that alcohol use has more consequences than marijuana use and therefore view marijuana use as safer than drinking. 'However, they need to better understand the harms of marijuana use, such as the potential effect on their developing brain and how it can affect performance in both adolescence and adulthood.' Students completed their final surveys in high school after having attended an alcohol and other drug use prevention programme. Not too long back Arvind Kejriwal made the news by addressing rallies in Punjab sporting a turban. But the next time he visits the poll-bound state, he may be delivering speeches in fluent Punjabi. The Delhi chief minister, who is eyeing victory in the Punjab polls next year, is learning to speak in Punjabi, and read and write in Gurmukhi. I have learnt Gurmukhi so that I can feel the pulse of the Punjabi population and get familiar with their cultural heritage and social condition. Power can be achieved even without knowing the language and the script - but then it will be difficult to connect with the masses, Kejriwal told Aaj Tak. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal is learning to speak in Punjabi, and read and write in Gurmukhi The change has not come overnight. It is a result of rigorous practice over the last two months. The CM is taking lessons and regular tests to assess his progress. I have been devoting two hours every morning to learn Punjabi. This has been a regular practice for the last two months, Kejriwal said. The AAP leader has been reading newspaper reports and even government-related documents in the Punjabi language to prepare himself for the big fight. While he has been learning to communicate with people in the Punjabi tongue, he has been focusing equally on learning Gurmukhi, the language used in Punjab for all official purposes. Kejriwal, who is sparing no effort to repeat the AAPs stupendous Delhi victory in Punjab, says it is crucial to learn the language to make an entry into rural Punjab. This assumes significance given the AAPs vote-bank, which essentially resides in the rural areas. I am mentally preparing myself to take up the challenge in Punjab. This will help our party in running the government if we get to power in the state. This will ensure there is no communication gap and all official works are carried out with ease, Kejriwal said. He said that he was always willing to walk the extra mile, even as his party was working hard to take on the BJP, Akali Dal, and the Congress in the Punjab elections. In order to boost the Punjabi language, the Kejriwal government in Delhi launched a campaign declaring that Punjabi would be made a compulsory language in all government schools in the Capital. The ad further said every school would have at least one Punjabi teacher and that their salary would be raised. The idea is to strike an emotional chord with the Punjabi people in Delhi who have their roots in the poll-bound Punjab. Without striking an emotional chord, it is difficult to reach out to the rural Punjabi voters, he said. However, it is not only the language but also the organisational framework in Punjab which the AAP chief is focusing on. The party is trying to reach out to people at the lowest level of governance, the panchayats, and is listening to their issues. In the last leg, we will come out with solutions to these problems and subsequently come out with our manifesto, Kejriwal said. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Tuesday that virtually all states, barring Tamil Nadu, have come on board to push through the nationwide goods and services tax (GST) and expressed the hope to get the long-awaited legislation approved in the forthcoming monsoon session of Parliament. After a meeting of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers on the proposed indirect tax, Jaitley also said the states' fear of any revenue loss in the first five years has been addressed, and the Centre would compensate them for these losses. While support has broadened among states for the sales tax, differences persist on key details, in particular pitching the tax at the right level to offset possible revenue losses. Union Minister Arun Jaitley (centre) briefing the media with West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra (left), and Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia in Kolkata A government-appointed committee has suggested a standard GST rate of 17-18 percent. But the states are reluctant to accept it. "There is no consensus on the rate. We want a detailed study to ensure there are no revenue losses," said Punjab finance minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa. Jaitley said West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra will again convene a meeting of the Empowered Committee in July, and the Chief Economic Advisor would give a presentation to arrive at a revenue neutral rate. "Virtually all the states have supported the idea of GST today, barring Tamil Nadu which has expressed some reservations. Tamil Nadu has offered a few suggestions which have been noted by the committee," Jaitley told journalists on the first day of the two-day meeting. Jaitley rejected the Congress Partys demand for capping the GST rate, which has been the main issue of contention. "There is a complete consensus on that, there should not be any such ceiling as exigencies may arise in future. Now it is left to the GST council, he said. On the issue of additional 1 per cent tax as demanded by the producing states, he said the Centre was flexible on the matter. As GST is a consumption-based tax, the producing states had been demanding this extra tax. The state finance ministers also approved a model GST law, which said that sale of goods and services and all online purchases will attract GST at the first point of transaction and pegged threshold annual turnover for levy of the tax at Rs 10 lakh. The limit will be Rs 5 lakh in North East and Sikkim. Jaitley said: "We will try our best to bring the Constitutional amendment in the monsoon session of Parliament. Then the CGST and SGST legislations will be put in place." Talking about dual control on tax rates by the Centre and states, he said it was again up to the committee to see that it was harmonious and there was no conflict. It will be discussed again in the next meeting. The next meeting is likely to be held in the second week of July, Mitra said. The meeting was attended by Finance Ministers of 22 states, including West Bengal's Amit Mitra as well as Chief Ministers of Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya, deputy CM of Delhi and senior officials of seven others. Keen to regain Punjab, the Congress has started a novel approach - Sune aur sunayen - where workers spend time with voters listening to their woes and talking about the partys achievements in the past. The Youth Congress, which has been tasked with rolling out the plan across the 117 Assembly constituencies that will conduct polls in 2017, is already excited about it. Our teams have started meeting the voters in villages and cities, Youth Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Brar told Mail Today. Youth Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Brar said teams had already started meeting people in Punjab As the Congress is betting big on young people and women in the next Assembly polls, the teams are focusing on these demographics. Congress leaders said the approach allows them a two-way advantage - getting feedback on the issues concerning people, and a chance to remind them about the grand old party. The Congress has been in the opposition for two terms and is desperate for a win in the state. We get to gauge the impact of the drug menace and unemployment amongst the youth, said Brar. As the youth-wing members travel in small groups, it is easier to start a dialogue with the locals who open up easily as they dont see it as another publicity stunt. We keep it informal, said Varinder, a volunteer. Delhi's central business district Connaught Place is turning back time to reclaim its old charm and neo-Georgian grandeur. But the Colonial-era white shopping arcade is also a social leveller, drawing people of all ages and backgrounds - from businessmen and foreign tourists, to students, middle-class families - and drug addicts and the homeless. As bars and restaurants catering to the young spring up almost every week and the grand colonnaded buildings in the heart of Delhi come alive at night, the party crowd and shoppers are jittery after a slew of robberies and attacks allegedly carried out by vagrants and junkies who have made the pavements of CP their home. Last year the Ministry of Home Affairs raised concerns over these vagabonds after a Sashastra Seema Bal jawan was stabbed to death, allegedly by a rag picker (file picture) BJP worker Ravinder Deshwal says he was assaulted last week after he got into an argument with two such vagabonds while reversing his car. He was hit on the head with a broken glass bottle that left him with a cut on his right ear. In his complaint to the police, Deshwal claimed that the men would have killed him if people had not come to his rescue. BJP worker Ravinder Deshwal says he was assaulted last week after he got into an argument with two vagabonds over his car The victim said he had parked his car near the Audi car showroom next to the Connaught Place police station. After visiting the Hanuman temple on Baba Kharak Singh Marg, he returned to the vehicle and found two vagrants fiddling with it. "I objected to it and asked them to leave my car alone. This triggered an argument and suddenly one of the accused attacked with a broken beer bottle and smashed it on my head, he said. Another accused gripped my right hand and asked his friend to kill me. After that they started punching me badly. A few passersby came to his rescue when he screamed for help, and the two attackers fled from the spot. In another incident last week, a juvenile was caught trying to break into a car, say sources. The reports come at a time when authorities are trying to ensure shops and restaurants in the inner circle remain open till late hours, with plans to make the area vehicle-free. Police officials admit that the vagrants do pose a security threat, but say they cannot initiate action till they indulge in a criminal act. Detaining them is not a deterrent as they go back to their haunts after being released, police say. We can take legal action against them but to give accommodation and rehabilitation is the responsibility of the Delhi government, said an officer. Activists argue, on the other hand, that the authorities are seeking to sweep the poor out of sight in a bid to present to the world an image of India in which everything is flashy and modern. Restaurant owners in Connaught Place say they are aware of the menace and have taken steps on their own to ensure the safety of their guests. Over the past year, several new pubs and restaurants have opened in CP, making it a lively centre for nightlife in the Capital Sudhir Goria, owner of Caffe 9, says almost every outlet now employs two security guards - one at the front and the other at the back - to make sure that clients are safe and not harassed until they reach their vehicles. We sometimes throw mugs of water on the vagrants as that scares them off, he revealed. The complaints from guests are kept in check with these measures. When President Obama visited in January, the vagabonds were transported to secluded places. But now, with the help of NGOs, they are back and causing problems. Last year, the home ministry raised concerns about the presence of these vagrants after a Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) jawan was stabbed to death, allegedly by a ragpicker who was pestering the victim for a bottle of alcohol. A Delhi court this month sentenced five vagabonds to life for raping a Danish tourist at knifepoint. We maintain a database of vagabonds. We have deployed sufficient patrolling bikes and PCR vans. Though rehabilitation is not our job, we stick to crime and preventive measures," said DCP, New Delhi district, Jatin Narwal. Authorities struggle to shift homeless from CP By Mail Today Bureau in New Delhi Connaught Place, which is home to several night clubs and plush retail outlets, is facing problems with unruly beggars and vagabonds, whom the authorities have failed to relocate from the area. Most of these homeless people have been living near the Hanuman mandir and subways for years, and despite several attempts by local authorities and government agencies they have refused to clear the marketplace. Officials claim that vagabonds prefer to sleep on the street near Hanuman Mandir as they get food from the devotees there (file picture) However, visitors have raised the issues of filth and lack of security due to the growing vagabond activity in the area. New Delhi Market Association has also raised concerns, but no concrete action has taken place so far. Government officials claim that beggars and homeless people around the temple prefer sleeping on the street under the open sky as they get food and other basic amenities from the devotees. We have carried out special drives to shift and motivate the homeless, near the Hanuman temple, to use our night shelters but it has not yielded any result. Sometime they also get aggressive, said a senior official of Delhi urban shelter improvement board (DUSIB). Some of the beggars near the temple have made a temporary structure. They also cook food and clean their clothes on the street, adding to the filth problem in the area. During winters, devotees offer shawls and blankets to the people sitting outside the temple. There are beggars who are drug addict and when they are asked to shift they open attack. They are comfortable staying here as they can easily buy their drugs and get enough food and money from the temple. In the past, some anti-social elements have also attacked government teams who had tried cleaning up the area, said a senior NDMC official. According to the officials, almost all the night shelters meant for the homeless, beggars and needy people in Delhi remain empty. Government records reflect that 201 night shelters are running at one-fifth of their capacity at night. Close to 5,000 people use these government shelters during the night and 2,000 during the day, an officer said. The homeless claim that they prefer not to shift to night shelters, and provide various reasons ranging from distance, to crime and lack of facilities. Meanwhile, a DUSIB official claimed that the temporary night shelters are far better now than in previous years, and are regularly cleaned. Shady subways scare away commuters By Mail Today Bureau in New Delhi Connaught Place is known as one of the most buzzing places in the Capital. However, its subways tell a completely different story. Dingy and shady, they are teeming with drug addicts and miscreants. Created to regulate the flow of traffic and provide safe passage to pedestrians crossing the road, these subways remain largely under-utilised after sunset. The Palika-Janpath subways are newly renovated and even well-lit, but drug addicts are now making their homes there Working professionals in the area are plagued by a host of problems when they have to use the subway late in the day to travel by the Metro or bus. They say that most of the subways in Delhi are not safe after dark. Subways located in the outer circle of Connaught Place, Barakhamba Road and Palika-Janpath depict the same picture. The Palika-Janpath subways, though newly-renovated and even well-lit, have not been able to deter drug addicts from using them as their homes. A group of students who use the subways on a daily basis said that the stretch does get scary, with addicts behind almost every corner. Women commuters told Mail Today that they have encountered situations where they were followed by unknown men, and hence avoid using these pathways. Kalpana Sharma, an IT professional, said: We prefer taking a longer route than use the subway once it gets dark. Although these subways are well lit, they are largely vacant. It is actually safer to cross the road than using the subway. Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa and PM Narendra Modi are set to meet Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa and PM Narendra Modi are set to meet on Tuesday in New Delhi, where they will discuss a number of state-related issues. This will be Jayalalithaas first visit to the national Capital since assuming the post for a second consecutive term in Tamil Nadu after her AIADMK party secured a thumping victory in the Assembly polls that concluded last month. Jayalalithaa had immediately called on Modi after he took over as PM, and flagged the states concerns over many issues, including the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill. University VCs to attend yoga event Vice-Chancellors of the central universities will be attending a national level seminar on yoga on June 18, ahead of the International Yoga Day celebrations. HRD minister Smriti Irani will also be present there along with senior officials of her ministry, VCs, UGC top brass and yoga experts. The seminar is being held at a time when the ministry is considering a report submitted by a panel of experts led by Dr HR Nagendra, who is also the Prime Ministers yoga guru. Army chief and J&K Governor discuss security Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag met Jammu and Kashmir Governor NN Vohra on Monday and briefed him about some important security-related concerns for the state. Officials said Gen Suhag called on Vohra at the Jammu and Kashmir house in the Capital. They said the two discussed various important matters relating to internal and external security management in the state. CAT sends notice to ACC yet again For the third time in the past six months, the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has issued a time-bound direction to the Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC), led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in the case of IFS officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi's deputation to the Delhi government. A Rs 1 crore project has been launched to build 240 latrine units along the 6 km-long Delhi Ring Railway that runs within the New Delhi Municipal Council's (NDMC) territories. The project shows how some of the most upmarket areas of Delhi also suffer from the problem of open defecation. However, the NDMC, the richest municipality in Asia, has taken up the challenge to get rid of the stinking problem. The slum-dwellers of Sewa Nagar and New Khanna Market make their regular morning visits to the Lodhi Colony track (file picture). As the core of Indias political hub, New Delhi - home to Parliament, several foreign embassies, ministers, and bureaucrats - is largely open defecation-free. However, the notorious rail line poses an issue as it cuts through posh areas like New Moti Bagh, Lodhi Colony and Sarojini Nagar. An estimated 3,000 residents of jhuggi-jhopri (JJ) cluster Sanjay Camp use the New Moti Bagh line to defecate, and slum-dwellers of Sewa Nagar and New Khanna Market are known to make their regular morning visits to the Lodhi Colony track. Further, inhabitants of the shanties behind Delhi Flying Club make use of the Sarojini Nagar line. An agreement to build the latrines has already been reached with the Indian Railways, while work is in progress and will be finished by August, said an official. NDMC is following in the footsteps of PM Narendra Modis Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Campaign). It is among the first 20 cities selected by Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) for the Smart Cities Mission. Last year, the NDMC area emerged as 16th in the Swachh Bharat Ranking out of 476 Indian urban municipalities, in which Mysuru (Karnataka) came top. It is also one of the 400 cities - including those in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Rajasthan and Haryana - to have set an ambitious goal of becoming open defecation-free (ODF) by December 2016. This pledge was made at a National Workshop on Sanitation inaugurated by the MoUD Minister, M Venkaiah Naidu, in April this year. A senior NDMC official told Mail Today: While we do not suffer a chronic open-defecation problem, the railway line is an irritant. We already have 273 public toilets, including community toilets, in the entire NDMC area. Doctors from Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC) are outraged after they were ordered to give up hospital space so the Directorate General of Health Services can have a new office. The medics believe such a move would compromise patients safety and the quality of healthcare they are able to provide. The space earmarked for the office of the Directorate General of Health Services is currently home to departments like the casualty block and the skin ward. The Lok Nayak Hospital has been earmarked for the office of Directorate General of Health Services The faculty from the medical college and associated hospitals (Lok Nayak, GB Pant, and Guru Nanak Eye Centre) have requested the intervention of Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung to challenge this unprecedented act from the health department. Sources said that the doctors have been called by the L-G to discuss the matter on Tuesday. However, the Delhi government has denied imposing any such order on the hospital. A Delhi government spokesperson told Mail Today: Nothing has been finalised as of now. The final decision will be taken after consultation with the doctors and authorities from the Lok Nayak hospital. As of now, nothing like this is being implemented in the hospital. Doctors have not approached us on the issue. We dont have any wrong intentions. The health department's office is in Karkardooma, and a few of its officials also sit in Delhi Secretariat. As per the new plan, the Emergency and Trauma Centre of the hospital is to be shifted to the orthopaedic block, but doctors have highlighted how this move will put the lives of many patients at risk as there is no oxygen pipeline available in the new block. The decision would put the lives of the patients at risk as there is no oxygen pipeline. What would further endanger the lives of many patients is that they will be treated in a place that is without any central gas pipeline,a senior doctor from MAMC told Mail Today. In the letter to L-G, the doctors have highlighted the growing interference of the health department in the day-to-day working of medical professionals at MAMC. The faculty from the medical college and associated hospitals, including the Lok Nayak (pictured) have requested the intervention of Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung to challenge this 'unprecedented act'. Mail Today has accessed the letter, which is dated June 9. The final insult comes in the form of the Health ministers decision to illegally and forcibly occupy for himself and his representatives, the heritage medical superintendents office complex by displacing the institutional head, thereby attempting to decapitate an 80+ year old glorious institution, the letter says. On the other hand, the administrative block of the hospital has already been vacated and the hospital has informed the health department of this. A letter was written to the health department on June 9 by Lok Nayak hospital, in which it told officials about changes made to the premises. An India Today TV investigation has pointed to a nexus of middlemen, school teachers, impostors and possibly even state education officials running a massive test-rigging racket in Bihar. The cash-for-grades scam helps poor-performing students from across the country leapfrog their hard-working peers and con their way into India's top colleges. The 10-day investigation into the possible scandal came after India Today TV conducted an on-camera test for the states cream of the crop. In 2015 relatives of students taking school exams in Bihar climbed the walls of the building to help pass candidates the answers Arts topper Ruby Rai from Bihars Vaishali district was seen referring to political science prodigal science. Saurabh Shrestha - who had topped the Science stream - couldnt answer a basic chemistry question in his TV interview. An India Today TV team then worked undercover to get deeper insight into the suspected exam-fixing industry operating in the state. In Vaishali district alone, a network of fixers, touts, and 'proxy students' is thriving, guaranteeing high scores in the school-leaving 12th grade. Will you get your own scholar to sit the exam or would you like us to arrange for one? asked Rajeswar Rai, a teacher at the Sant Kabir Mahant Ram Dayal Das Mahavidyalaya. The teacher, who is also the brother of the institutions head, was in conversation with India Today TVs undercover crew, who were posing as agents of a group of Haryana-based students wanting to pass the 12th grade with first division from Bihar. By scholar, Rai meant a professional who would impersonate the original applicant at the exam centre. The India Today expose has unearthed the culture of cheating in Bihar (file picture). We will get the scholar from Patna... youll get your admission cards after filling the registration forms, he said. We charge Rs 12,000 for the scholar per applicant. The scholar takes Rs 10,000 from us. We keep Rs 2,000, Rai said, as he offered a break-down of his fee. But the scholar would charge higher for female candidates - ranging from Rs 18,000 to Rs 20,000. Professional female exam-writers are difficult to get because of the poor female literacy rate in Bihar, he explained. Rai then quoted additional costs for outstation candidates, subject wise: For the Science stream, it is Rs 5,500, and for Commerce and Humanities, Rs 4,500. After adding on miscellaneous expenses, he fixed the total bill for rigging exams at Rs 25,000 per applicant. He assured that his clients would definitely secure a first division result without having to sit the tests. Of course, theres a guarantee! Rai insisted. The special investigation team then walked into another school. The crew met Sunita Singh, manager and principal of Sanjay Singh Plus Two Uchch Madhyamik Vidyalaya, at Adalpur in Vaishali. Her services for exam frauds were more expensive than Rais. She demanded Rs 60,000 for first division, and Rs 50,000 for second division in 12th class. She claimed that potential cheaters would under no circumstances secure the third division. There wont be any third divisions. We are taking the money to ensure that. She brazenly acknowledged that fixing exams was a competitive business. If your candidate comes first, it will boost our reputation as well. Well have a long-term business relation. But, no one should know about it, she said. The team also found that schools engaged in the fraud had no standard price for facilitating the wrongdoing. Ruby Rai (left), the humanities topper, and Saurav Shrestha (right), the science topper, couldnt answer basic questions when interviewed by India Today It varies from one institution to another. N Kumar, principal of Ram Videshi Singh Mahavidyalaya, Dhanushi, Vaishali, asked for Rs 1 lakh for securing desired results - with added discounts if the candidates scored a little less. His method didnt involve arranging impostors, but centered around forging answer sheets. The student has to write the test, whether or not theres an opportunity to cheat at the examination centre, Kumar said. The idea is to not leave the answer-sheet blank even if it meant copying down questions. Write anything, even if its a song, quipped one of his staff members. Keep Rs 300-Rs 500 in between the answer-sheets of every exam. There are five tests. So it comes to around Rs 2,500. That way well find out where the papers are going. Well go there and offer them Rs 50,000 for 10 candidates for results we want, Kumar claimed. In another case, Vasudev Singh Inter-College principal, Chandra Bhushan Sharma, said: Last year, we bought out an entire (examination) centre so that no one would bother our children there. While cheating, the first page remains the same, the second is changed. So, if theres an uproar, you can be caught. If not, you are free, he said. Kingpin of 'toppergate' caught in Twitter war by Giridhar Jha A photo war has broken out in Bihar, with pictures of Bachcha Rai - the alleged kingpin of the toppersgate scam - surfacing with top politicians from different parties, including Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. The photos have gone viral on social media. Rai, the principal of Vishun Rai College in Vaishali district, is accused of having run a racket to sell degrees - and had plenty of photo-ops with top leaders like Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad and Union minister of state Giriraj. These pictures have prompted political rivals to take pot-shots at one another for their alleged proximity to the scamsters. Union minister Giriraj Singh (left) pictured with 'toppergate kingpin' Bachcha Rai (right) in an awards ceremony at the latters institution Rais photo with Nitish surfaced on Monday, a day after Bihars deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav posted Union minister Giriraj Singhs picture with the kingpin on his Twitter handle, alleging an unholy nexus between them. In the picture, Rai is seen standing behind Nitish at a function where the then Governor of Bihar D Y Patil was also present. The Janata Dal-United, however, made light of the picture. Party spokesman Sanjay Singh said that the photo was clicked at a social gathering. But Nitishs picture came in handy for Giriraj, who had been at the receiving end of the barbs from Lalu and Tejashwi ever since his picture with Rai started doing the rounds on social media. The BJPs minister for micro, small and medium enterprises wasted no time posting the pictures of both Nitish and Lalu with Rai to hit back at Tejashwi. Dear @yadavtejashwi ji..few of ur father Lalu JI & uncle Nitish babu with Baccha Ray..clarification?? pic.twitter.com/WCi25UBNRB Giriraj Singh (@girirajsinghbjp) June 13, 2016 Dear @yadavtejashwi ji..few durlabh tasveer (rare photographs) of ur father Lalu JI & uncle Nitish babu with Baccha Ray..clarification?? he tweeted. Giriraj said that Tejashwi should first post the pictures of Rai with Nitish and Lalu, in whose regime such scams were coming to the fore. Tejashwi rebutted Giirajs charges, saying had Rai been close to them, their leaders would have been giving away the awards, not Giriraj. Chief minister Siddaramaiah once vowed to purge superstition from Karnataka and announced plans to ban astrology shows on Kannada radio. And now, in a chilling turn of events, the CM is being haunted by the ghost of his own political rhetoric. The signs were ominous after a stubborn crow perched on the hood of his vehicle earlier this month for twenty whole minutes. Chief minister Siddaramaiah once vowed to purge superstition from Karnataka and announced plans to ban astrology shows on Kannada radio. However, he is now being accused of double-standards. The crow refused to move from the Chief Minister's car and had to be physically removed. Allegedly disturbed by events, the CM ordered a new Toyota Fortuner. The onimous crow refused to move from the Chief Minister's car and had to be physically shifted Since the episode, Siddaramaiah has had to defend allegations that he went hysterical over the bird. His critics are accusing him of buying the new car over fears of an ill-omen. Karnataka BJP general-secretary CT Ravi accused Siddaramaiah of double-standards. His buying a new car after a crow sat on it is a classic case of his not practising what he preaches, Ravi alleged. However, sources in the chief ministers office say the new Toyota Fortuner was ordered because Siddaramaihas old vehicle had run more than two lakh km and had developed 'mechanical problems'. Still, many remain unconvinced - and for them, the ominous sight of the crow caused the car to be changed. Its not the first time the CM has been in the news for a topic unrelated to his position. In April, the misplaced Hublot wrist-watch worth Rs 70 lakhs had nearly cost Siddaramaiah his chair. Following allegations that he was gifted the expensive diamond-studded watch in return for a favour, the CM declared it a government asset and handed it over to the Legislative Assembly Speaker. Also, in May this year, his move to modernise the age-old, world-renowned pilgrimage centre Chamundi Hills invited a severe backlash from Mysoreans, who took out a massive protest march in May. It would appear that RBS is replacing all its cash machines with ATMs owned and controlled by a third party operator. We as customers have not been made aware of this change. As a result RBS customers can no longer get a mini statement from an ATM set in the wall of their own bank. Do you know why they have made this retrograde step as it now appears that they are the only major bank that customers cannot obtain a mini statement? I have been advised by my local branch in St Helens that I can still get one from Natwest. Are my banking details secure when using one of these new machines? J.R, via e-mail. Strange change: My local RBS has replaced the cash machine with one operated by a third party Lee Boyce, consumer affairs editor at This is Money, replies: How very strange that you can no longer get a mini statement from your own bank. Although we often taken simple things transactions this for granted, when a major bank makes a move like this without warning, it's frustrating. It's also concerning why would RBS be replacing cash machines, located at its branches, with those not operated by the bank? An RBS spokesman told me: 'As Williams & Glyn is separated from RBS, it's necessary for the new bank to have its own standalone ATM network. 'The work to separate this network is underway and will be complete later in June.' It adds that this affects all RBS ATMs in England and Wales, and NatWest ones in Scotland the future Williams & Glyn network and they will remain free to use. ASK AN EXPERT Got a problem or question about your bank? E-mail: lee.boyce@thisismoney.co.uk Meanwhile, it assures me that security of these cash machines is exactly the same as before as per the ATM industry standard. It also claims other banks outsource ATMs, with Barclays and HSBC outsourcing elements of its cash machine estate. RBS has been forced to break away part of its business from the EU as part of its bail out in the aftermath of the financial crisis, hence the resurrection of Williams & Glyn. It says cash machine demand is falling year-on-year with customers using mobile and online services 1million RBS customers log-in to its mobile banking each day. We own a London flat worth about 700,000 and would like to move out of the city to a house we plan to stay in for the long term, costing about 1million. My wife and I would like to try and do this by remortgaging the London flat to a buy-to-let (it currently has a 200,000 mortgage on it) and keeping it as a long-term investment and using some of the money released and a bigger mortgage to buy our new home. Our income is sufficient to support this. Is it possible for us to do this and how much stamp duty will we pay? As the new property we buy will be our main residence, will we have to pay the additional 3 per cent buy-to-let stamp duty rate on it, or could we pay that surcharge on our existing property, which will become the buy-to-let? Thinking of letting out your home to fund the purchase of another? Watch out for higher rates of stamp duty Sarah Davidson, of This is Money, replies: The short answer is yes, you will have to pay the extra stamp duty. The surcharge of 3 per cent was brought in this April by the Chancellor George Osborne as part of a wider range of measures to dampen the popularity of buy-to-let. It applies to all buy-to-let purchases made by an individual or limited company and also to homeowners who are buying a second property, whether it is to let out or to live in. It's not possible to pick and choose which property you can pay it on. The tax is triggered by the purchase of the property not the change in its use, which means in this scenario, you'll be charged stamp duty against the purchase of your new home. Stamp duty is now graduated (like income tax) and charged on certain chunks of the property purchase price. On first homes there is no stamp duty up to 125,000; the portion from 125,001 to 250,000 incurs a 2 per cent charge; the portion from 250,001 to 925,000 incurs a 5 per cent charge and the portion from 925,001 to 1.5million will be hit with a 10 per cent stamp duty charge. Above 1.5million buyers have to pay 12 per cent in stamp duty. The new buy-to-let and second home surcharge adds 3 per cent to all rates including the zero stamp duty band, however, confusingly it only applies for purchases above 40,000 (those below this are considered low value transactions and do not need to be declared to HMRC so stamp duty is not paid). So on a buy-to-let you will pay 3 per cent up to 125,000, plus 5 per cent to 250,000, 7 per cent to 925,000 and so on. An important thing to note, stamp duty is only charged on property purchased in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scotland has a different system. Now for the bad news, if you buy a new home in England, Wales or Northern Ireland for 1million and keep hold of your existing property you will owe 73,750 in stamp duty including the surcharge. If you had bought before April 2016, the stamp duty owed would have been just 43,750. There is one caveat: if you purchase the second property and sell your existing flat within three years, you are entitled to claim back the additional surcharge from the Government but you will still need to pay it up front in the interim. The Government offers a useful online calculator to help you work out exactly how much stamp duty you'll need to pay. STAMP DUTY: HOW MUCH WILL YOU PAY? Band First home residential stamp duty rates Buy-to-let and second home stamp duty rates 0 - 125k* 0% 3% * No stamp duty is paid on buy-to-let and second home purchases below 40,000 as transactions under 40,000 do not require a tax return to be filed with HMRC and are not subject to the higher rates 125,001 - 250k 2% 5% 250,001 - 925k 5% 8% 925,001 - 1.5m 10% 13% 1.5m + 12% 15% * No stamp duty is paid on buy-to-let and second home purchases below 40,000 as transactions under 40,000 do not require a tax return to be filed with HMRC and are not subject to the higher rates Let-to-buy, buy-to-let, limited company purchase: Advisers can help you navigate your options Now that the stamp duty question is settled, if you decide to go ahead how do you structure the mortgage part? We asked Mark Harris, chief executive of mortgage broker SPF Private Clients, what the options are for the two mortgages you will need. He says: 'Residential mortgages at 80 per cent loan-to-value are still very well priced so if the couple took 200,000 in equity out of the London flat and put it towards the 1million house in the country, they could access a deal such as Halifaxs two-year fix pegged at 1.59 per cent with 1,499 fee. This leaves them requiring a 400,000 let-to-buy mortgage on the London flat against a value of 700,000, or 57 per cent loan-to-value. 'Rates are well priced at this level, while the lower loan amount means the pressure to satisfy a lenders assessment of rental income is somewhat reduced. 'If there was a requirement for the residential mortgage to be on an interest-only basis, we could consider a reduced loan on that side of the transaction with more capital being released from the let-to-buy side. This may also be relevant to maximise the debt on the let-to-buy side from a taxation point of view but that would depend on the borrowers' individual circumstances. If the couple opted for the Halifax deal on their new residence, Halifax will ignore the let-to-buy when working out affordability as long as the anticipated rental income covers the mortgage cost by 125 per cent. Poll Are you thinking about renting out your existing property to fund the purchase of another? Yes No Are you thinking about renting out your existing property to fund the purchase of another? Yes 255 votes No 140 votes Now share your opinion 'As far as other lenders are concerned, Barclays would completely ignore the let-to-buy in the background and assume it to be self-financing. NatWest will also ignore it if the rental income covers the monthly mortgage payment. Assuming the rental income is sufficient, on the let-to-buy Barclays has a two-year fixed rate at 1.99 per cent, with a fee of 1,999. This requires rental income of 2,659 per month. The monthly interest-only payment needs to be covered by the rental income by 145 per cent using a notional rate of 5.5 per cent. The let-to-buy component of the transaction would be classified as a consumer buy-to-let owing to the fact that the couple have no existing buy-to-let properties and are converting their main residence to a buy-to-let. 'A number of lenders will not allow for a consumer buy-to-let such as Accord and Platform but there are many who will. The tax implications will depend on the individuals' own tax positions and there are options to hold buy-to-lets in a limited company name. 'We would advise that the client takes professional tax advice if they are in any doubt as to their current and future liabilities. The couple will pay the additional 3 per cent stamp duty on the new purchase but this additional cost could potentially be reclaimed from HMRC if the original property is sold within 36 months. The borrowing could potentially be increased to cover the stamp duty liability if required.' What about buying in Scotland? If you are considering a move north of the border, the rules are slightly different. In April 2015 the Scottish government moved from stamp duty to a new system known as land and buildings transaction tax. Properties purchased in Scotland up to 145,000 are exempt from paying the tax; on the portion between 145,000 and 250,000 buyers pay 2 per cent; between 250,000 and 325,000 there is a 5 per cent charge; from 325,000 to 750,000 buyers are charged 10 per cent and on all property purchases over 750,000 buyers pay 12 per cent. The 3 per cent surcharge on buy-to-let purchases and the purchase of second homes also applies in Scotland. That means on a 1million property in Scotland, you would owe 108,350 in tax including a 30,000 surcharge. Crest Nicholson fell with other housebuilders today on Brexit fears despite the firm posting a 25 per cent rise in profits and its chief executive brushing aside concern over next week's EU referendum. The FTSE 250-listed firm saw its pretax profits increase to 72.6million for the first half of the year, as the southern England-focused firm's revenues rose by 22 per cent to 408.1million. Crest Nicholson boss Stephen Stone said that despite increasing Brexit fears among buyers, demand for its homes had not tailed off. Holding up: Crest boss Stephen Stone maintained that despite Brexit fears its business was still strong Mr Stone said: 'Whilst the debate about the forthcoming referendum on UK membership of the European Union continues to dominate the headlines and the board notes the risk of business disruption in the event of a vote to leave, purchaser demand for new homes remains strong.' But the comments were not enough to soothe wider investor fears over the impact of a possible Brexit vote on the housing market, with Crest shares falling 5 per cent, or 28p to 532p in late morning trade. Larger rivals were all lower, with Bovis Homes down 3.6 per cent, or 34p to 902p, while Persimmon was off 2 per cent, or 36p at 1,903p, and Barratt Developments lost 3 per cent, or 16.0p, at 520.5p. Commenting on Crest, Atif Latif of Guardian Stockbrokers, said: 'Overall numbers were in line and revenues are strong. 'But there seems to be real concern over Brexit and how this will likely impact the overall sector.' Investor sentiment for the builders has not been helped after a warning from Chancellor George Osborne and the Treasury that house prices will crumble if the UK votes to leave the EU. Just last month Mr Stone himself said in a trading update that overseas buyers were showing less interest in prime central London properties as a result of the UK's upcoming EU membership vote. He cautioned then: 'The debate around Brexit has had no impact on the domestic market, but some international investors are pausing for breath.' In today's results for the six months to the end of April, Crest said its housing completions grew by 7 per cent to 1,206 while open market completions increased by 9 per cent. Forward sales stood at 520.8million, 19 per cent ahead of last year. Crest added that it is on target to deliver 1billion of revenue this year and 4,000 homes. It is targeting 1.4billion in revenue by 2019. Robin Hardy, an analyst at broker Shore Capital, was keen to stress the underlying strength of Crest's business. He said: 'The firm is still showing good growth and customers in the real world seem unaffected by Brexit. 'We still like the stock, its hunger for growth and the high yield but Brexit is setting the agenda for the sector at the moment.' Mr Hardy continued: 'House builders really in the markets firing line because of the Remain campaigns statements on house prices and concerns about mortgage rates and availability of mortgages after a Brexit. 'Perhaps some disappointment that the statement was short and did not contain much new news and it looks as if forecasts will be unchanged. Fitness group Virgin Active is slimming down this summer, selling 35 of its gyms to rival Nuffield Health as it looks to focus on its luxury clubs. Members and staff of the clubs being sold will all move over to Nuffield Health, leaving Virgin Active with 61 clubs across the UK. Virgin Active has said it will use the proceeds to bolster its high-end 'Collection' clubs, where membership costs around 134 a month plus a 50 joining fee. Keeping fit: Virgin Active is selling 35 of its gyms to rival Nuffield Health this summer Virgin Active chief executive, Paul Woolf, said: 'This transaction is an acceleration of our global strategy to focus on high-end clubs in metropolitan areas. 'We will have a far more focused UK business with particular strength in London, the South East and bigger towns and cities. 'It will also help accelerate investment into our UK estate, particularly as we continue to grow our UK Collection portfolio of clubs.' Virgin Active said the sale, for an undisclosed sum, would allow the group to invest in its luxury clubs, such as that at Bank, London, where members can enjoy spas and services such as shoe shining, shirt pressing and gym kit laundering. Over the next few years, the group plans to upgrade a further 10 of its London Collection clubs, adding to the 11 already opened in the capital and 17 worldwide. The group is on track to add a new 6.5million Collection club to its network at Mansion House in London this summer. As well as its Collection clubs, Virgin Active said it wants to focus on further developing its family and racquets clubs. LOCATIONS OF THE 35 VIRGIN ACTIVE GYMS BEING SOLD TO NUFFIELD HEALTH Bolton, Bridgend, Bristol, Chigwell, Chislehurst, Crawley, Croydon, Cwmbran, Derby, Devonshire, Ealing, Edinburgh Fountain, Edinburgh Omni, Enfield, Farnborough, Friern Barnet, Glasgow, Hemel Hempstead, Hendon, Islington Essex Road, Kingston Richmond Rd, Leeds The Light, Manchester Didsbury, Medway, Merton Abbey, Milngavie, Oxfordshire, Preston, Romford, Rugby, Stockley Park, Sunbury, Wandsworth Southside, Weston-Super-Mare and Wokingham. Transfer: All affected Virgin Active members and staff at the 35 locations will transfer to Nuffield Health Virgin Active was sold to South African investment firm Brait last year for 682million. Brait snapped up a 51 per cent stake from private equity group CVC Capital Partners and 29 per cent from Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group. Details of the disaposals to Nuffield Health emerged as Virgin Active posted a 15 per cent rise in underlying earnings to 133.5million for 2015, on revenues 3 per cent higher at 630.5million. The group said it added another nine clubs in the past year, with recent overseas investment in southern Africa, Italy, Australia, Thailand and Singapore. Commenting on the deal, Steve Gray, chief executive of Nuffield Health said: 'This acquisition is a great move forward and allows us to increase the pace of delivery of our strategy and our charitable purpose, to help people achieve, maintain and recover to the level of health and wellbeing they aspire to.' Believes UK salaries could become 'less competitive' after Leave vote A vote to leave the European Union in the key referendum on June 23 could leave the UK 'critically short' of workers, a report by recruitment firm ManpowerGroup claimed today. Citing the 'vital contribution' of the 2.2 million people from the EU currently working in Britain, ManpowerGroup said salaries in the UK could become 'less competitive' if sterling falls on a Brexit vote. The report also claims the leaving the EU will make it 'much more difficult for Britain to attract the brightest and best' and will heap bureaucracy on those from the EU wanting to work in the UK. Worry: A vote to leave the EU could leave Britain with a 'critical shortage' of workers, ManpowerGroup claims A vote to leave the EU could be particularly damaging for the construction sector, which relies heavily on overseas workers and has been warning of a skills shortage for months, the report added. James Hick, managing director of ManpowerGroup, said: 'Britain added 404,000 jobs in the last 12 months alone, and despite the uncertainties of Brexit, employers tell us they still need more workers. Poll The most important consideration for me in the EU referendum vote is.... Economy Immigration The most important consideration for me in the EU referendum vote is.... Economy 799 votes Immigration 1753 votes Now share your opinion 'Make no mistake about the vital contribution EU workers make to Britain. There are currently 2.2 million people from the EU working in the UK, but not all of them will stay here in the long term and we need the opportunity to replace the skills they bring.' He added: 'Britain today is a magnet for international talent, from finance to tech to the NHS. Leaving the EU will make it much more difficult to attract the brightest and best. It will mean more bureaucracy for those coming to Britain and salaries could be less competitive, especially if sterling falls, as many warn it could. 'To compete on the world stage British businesses need the flexibility and free movement that EU membership brings.' The UK seasonally adjusted net employment outlook has fallen by 1 per cent for the second consecutive quarter to +5 per cent, the Manpower Employment Outlook survey also revealed. This suggests that employers' hiring intentions in the UK are being hit by uncertainty over a potential Brexit, the Manpower report claimed. In or out? ManpowerGroup claims the construction sector could be hit hard if Britain opts to leave the EU Out of Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the countries with the strongest third-quarter employment forecasts are Romania and Hungary, Manpower said. Last month, data from the Office for National Statistics revealed that there are currently over 2.2 million Europeans working in the UK. With record numbers coming from Romania and Bulgaria, eight out of 10 of the 413,000 extra workers in Britain compared with a year earlier were from outside Britain, the ONS said. Among the eight eastern European countries which joined the EU in 2004, including Poland, the number of workers stood at 974,000 for the period from January to March this year, just below the peak of 987,000 in the third quarter of 2015, the ONS data showed. At the last count, ONS data showed there were 1.69 million unemployed people across the UK. Across the eurozone - countries which use euros as their currency - the unemployment rate stands at 10.2 per cent, which is double Britain's rate of 5.1 per cent. Notorious Sydney gangster Neddy Smith, 71, the infamous criminal now in a prison hospital following a heart attack, used to have a saying about his attitude to life. 'Walk tall and f*** 'em all, Steve,' the convicted murderer told reporter Stephen Gibbs in his rapid fire delivery during a visit to him in Long Bay prison. Smith was once a towering gangster who at 189cm was well and truly 'six foot tall and bullet proof', as he liked to feel, in his day as a major heroin dealer and enforcer. By 2001, when the Long Bay visit took place, the man whose name had become a byword for old style criminals who enmities had erupted into the Sydney gang wars of the 1980s, was well affected by the ravages of Parkinson's disease. Once Sydney's most notorious gangster Neddy Smith, pictured with his former wife Debra (left) and his only daughter Jaime during one of his many stints in prison Neddy Smith, in the suit in which he married Debra Bell in prison, for a marriage that lasted 20 years while he was in and out of prison before being sentenced to life for murder Debra Smith, pictured at Long Bay prison after marrying Neddy Smith, of whom she said 'there were the good sides and the funny sides as well as the bad sides of Ned and I loved him' Several years later, in the aged and frail unit of Long Bay Prison, the hulking frame of Smith was supported by a walking frame, which he proudly pushed away when visitors walked in. His defiant attitude, borne of a a hard early life, stints in boys' homes and the ritual brutal beatings of prisoners in Grafton jail's 'intractables' wing in the 1960s and 1970s, was still there. But there was a charming side to the man accused of eight high profile murders, but convicted only of one, plus the fatal beating of a tow truck driver in a road rage incident. And Smith's former wife Debra, who has remained friends with him following their divorce and regularly visited or called him in prison, Ned has 'a good side' and was 'a good father who would lecture his kids about ever ending up in prison'. Debra says there were many happy, warm moments with a man who adored his family. 'People always used to ask me questions: 'What was it like being Neddy Smith's wife?' she said. Neddy Smith, his then wife Debra and brothel owner, Harvey Jones, the man Smith was convicted of murdering, the only one of eight gangland murders he was accused of to result in a conviction, plus a life sentence Neddy Smith, in a white prisons visit suit, with his grandson Raecin more than a decade ago at Long Bay jail where the onetime heroin dealer and enforcer spent many years of his life Neddy Smith (centre, back) with former wife Debra (third from left), daughter Jaime (second from right) during a family visit to him in prison in the late 1990s 'I have been spat on, run off the road, threatened, victimised and treated like dirt. 'But there were the good sides and the funny sides as well as the bad sides of Ned and no one knows the real Ned like me and our children and he has never kept the truth from them. 'I'm not about to say that Ned was the devoted father or husband, or that he was innocent of all crimes. 'I was horrified to find out Ned was making money through drugs, but he went to jail. As funny as it may seem, Ned has always been as honest as he can.' Arthur Stanley Smith, known as 'Neddy', or to those close to him, as 'Ned', was born near the end of World War II to an Australian woman, the product of a brief relationship with an American serviceman, whom Smith never knew. Intelligent, but poorly educated and wilful, Smith ended up spending times in boys' homes including Tamworth Institution for Boys. The Tamworth home, whose barbarous whippings and punishment of teenage boys was infamous, also housed other future killers, notably Kevin Crump, who is serving life for the rape, torture and murder of Virginia Morse, and rapist and killer Billy Munday. Debra Bell, 22, met Neddy Smith, 34, in Sydney inner western suburbs and fell in love with him, and married him in Long Bay prison. Ned Smith with his only daughter Jaime in the yard at Long Bay jail during a visit by his family who regularly see and call him Arthur Stanley 'Neddy' Smith (right), pictured with his former friend Graham 'Abo' Henry in prison, was the kingpin Sydney's thriving heroin trade in the 1980s Although she she wanted a traditional wedding, Smith was serving time in prison for stealing and goods in custody. 'I loved Ned that much that when he asked me to marry him and I just wanted to marry him, so I did,' Debra said and the ceremony took place behind bars at Long Bay in 1980. Smith was an armed robber, a violent enforcer and later heroin dealer who was to admit to his crimes in several books he wrote about the Sydney underworld and corrupt police. Ned entered into the lucrative heroin trade in the 1980s, allegedly making millions in drug deals while intimidating anyone who dared to challenge him and for a time the Smiths lived the high life while he was not in prison. The good times included holidays with people like (the missing believed murdered) hitman Christopher Dale Flannery and his wife Kath, but there were also police raids, attempts on Ned's life and arrests and returns to prison. Neddy Smith, pictured during a television interview, was honest about what he portrayed as a society corrupted at all levels , from the crims he mixed with up to police officers and judges Neddy Smith leaving court in 1999 after being found not guilty for the murder of prostitute turned police whistle blower Sallie-Anne Huckstepp When he went back, Debra cleaned houses on a supporting mother's pension to make ends meet. During more than 20 years of marriage to Australia's most notorious criminal, Debra brought up three children - Darrin, daughter Jaime and Daniel - whose father was regularly portrayed as a gangster, rapist, thief, gunman and murderer. It was during Smith's 1980s career as a heroin dealer that Sydney's gang wars erupted, with Danny Chubb, Barry McCann, Barry Croft and Mick Sayers among the drug dealers and criminals gunned down. In 1989, Smith was caught trying to rob Botany Council in Sydney's southern suburbs as it deposited its $160,000 Christmas payroll. Ned Smith, pictured in prison, has been incarcerated since 1989 and suffers Parkinson's disease Given his record, Smith went straight to Long Bay and while in prison, he was convicted of the crimes which would result in his life sentence. The first was the 1987 road rage murder of tow truck driver Ronnie Flavell, who infuriated an inebriated Smith by flashing his lights. Police believed Smith was linked to a series of drug-related murders committed in the 1970s and 1980s and secretly recorded conversation between his cellmate 'Mr Brown', in which Smith allegedly boasted about his involvement in seven more murders. Smith would later say he had made the stories up. He was cleared at committal of killing heroin dealers Danny Chubb, Barry McCann, Barry Croft and Bruce Sandery, but he went to trial for two of the murders. For the murder of prostitute, heroin addict turned police corruption whistleblower, Sallie-Anne Huckstepp, whose body was found in a Centennial Park pond in Sydney in 1986, Smith was acquitted. He was not so lucky when he went to trial for the murder of Harvey Jones, who 'Mr Brown' gave evidence that Smith had told him died in a hotel cellar. 'He told me that he shot him and he told me that he took his body up to Botany and threw him in the water,' Mr Brown said in evidence at the trial. 'He told me that Jones was crying and he said, "I'd die for you, Ned", and Ned said, "Well, you're about to, ya c***". "Ned told me then that "I blew his heart out with a big 357".' Smith, who received a life sentence, had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1981 and the disease has progressed. Neddy Smith, pictured (centre) attending a trial for murder, has seen his health deteriorate while in prison and was taken to the Prince of Wales hospital secure wing in Sydney following a heart attach He received treatment more easily while at Long Bay Correctional Centre, but following an incident in which he was not implicated Smith was moved to Lithgow prison and his health deteriorated. Unable to attend daughter Jaime's 2003 wedding, Smith wrote in his Lithgow cell a touching letter from the father of the bride to 'my beautiful, loyal, warm and loving daughter', which was read out by his two sons. 'There wasn't a dry eye in the house,' Debra said. While married to Smith, Debra was no doormat or stay at home wife. She once threw a shotgun in the back of the car and drove down to Sydney from their Newcastle home, after an attempt on Smith's life outside the Iron Duke Hotel at Alexandria in Sydney's inner west. When she caught her husband having a fling with another woman, she poured brake fluid over the woman's car. Debra said when her former husband was on the outside, they met and mixed with people from all walks of life. 'Over the years I've been to many places with Ned where I have met police and their wives, judges, lawyers, magistrates and crooks,' she said. 'I'm not saying they were all corrupt, but they certainly knew who Ned was and what he did for a living and that did not deter them one bit. President Barack Obama will travel to Orlando on Thursday to pay respects to the victims of last weekend's nightclub shooting and to stand in solidarity with the community as it embarks on recovery, the White House said Monday night. Obama had canceled what was to be his first campaign event with presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the wake of the shooting at a gay nightclub that killed 49 and wounded dozens more. That event was scheduled for Wednesday. White House press secretary Josh Earnest didn't provide any details about the visit, but said additional information would be forthcoming before the trip. The role of consoler-in-chief is not a new one for Obama, who has traveled to Newtown, Connecticut, Charleston, and South Carolina among other places to meet with families who have lost loved ones to gun violence. President Barack Obama speaks to members of the media in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. On Thursday, he is due to travel to Orlando to pay his respects and stand in solidarity with the community White House press secretary Josh Earnest didn't provide any details about Thursday's visit, but said additional information would be forthcoming before the trip. Obama has called the Orlando shooting an act of terrorism and an act of hate. He noted that the site of the shooting was more than a nightclub, calling it a place where people came to raise awareness, speak their minds and advocate for their civil rights. Earlier Monday, Obama said the gunman was inspired by extremist information over the internet, calling it an apparent example of 'homegrown extremism' that U.S. officials have been worrying about for years. Obama, speaking in the Oval Office after meeting with the FBI director, said the attack appears similar to the shooting late last year in San Bernardino, California, though he added that 'we don't yet know.' Investigators in that attack determined the killers weren't directed from overseas but were at least partly inspired by the Islamic State group. Attack: A woman sits on the ground outside the club while another party-goer, whose legs are covered in blood, stands beside her Police, army and FBI surround the club after Sunday's massacre, which killed at least 49 people Pictured: US citizen Omar Mateen, 29, the suspected Islamic extremist who slaughtered at least 49 people inside a gay club in Orlando 'At this stage, we see no clear evidence that he was directed externally,' Obama said, referring to suggestions that the Islamic State group or other extremists had orchestrated the attack. 'It does appear that at the last minute, he announced allegiance to ISIL,' he said, using an acronym for the extremist group. He said the probe was being treated as a terror investigation and said investigators were examining materials from the internet that the shooter may have consumed. Obama said investigators are still looking into the motivations of the shooter and considering all possibilities. He said gays and lesbians are targeted by organizations like IS, al-Qaida and others because of their 'vicious, bankrupt ideology' and their religious beliefs about homosexuality. 'The fact that it took place at a club frequented by the LGBT community I think is also relevant,' Obama said. A Catholic teenager was tied to a wooden cross and hung from a wall in a sustained course of victimisation and bullying by work colleagues, a court heard yesterday. Andrew Addison, 30, Joseph Rose, 21, Christopher Jackson, 22, and Alex Puchir, 37, allegedly tormented him at their firm in Selby, North Yorkshire before some dismissed it as banter. The boy apprentice, who cannot be named for legal reasons, also had religious and phallic symbols drawn on his face and body with permanent marker, the court was told. Defendants: Andrew Addison (left), 30, and Joseph Rose (right), 21, allegedly tormented the apprentice at their shopfitting firm in Selby, North Yorkshire before dismissing it as banter Four men have gone on trial at York Crown Court accused of religiously aggravated assault against the teenager, who was aged between 17 and 18 at the time. Austin Newman, opening the case for the prosecution, told the jury of five men and seven women the boy obtained an apprenticeship at the shopfitting company in July 2014. During his apprenticeship, he worked on jobs in London, the South East and Yorkshire with the four defendants, including company manager Addison. Mr Newman said: These defendants are charged variously on counts of religiously aggravated assault by beating and putting a person in fear of violence by harassment. These counts are designed to cover what the prosecution contends was a sustained course of victimisation and bullying of a young man in the work place. He added: He was subjected to acts of bullying, which the Crown say went beyond anything that could reasonably be described as banter or high jinks in the workplace. Appearing: Christopher Jackson (left), 22, and Alex Puchir (right), 37, have also gone on trial at York Crown Court accused of religiously aggravated assault against the boy, who was aged between 17 and 18 at the time Mr Newman said the boy was a practising Roman Catholic and told the jury the defendants were motivated by hostility based on his religious observance. Addison, Jackson, and Puchir are accused of tying the boy to a wooden cross and hanging him from a wall in a way which resembled a crucifixion, Mr Newman said. He was subjected to acts of bullying, which the Crown say went beyond anything that could reasonably be described as banter or high jinks in the workplace Austin Newman, prosecuting The prosecutor said the three men tied the teenager on to a cross, which had been fashioned from two lengths of wood and attached to a piece of plasterboard, with duct tape before leaving him suspended about a metre above the ground for around ten minutes. On another occasion, Rose is accused of using a permanent marker to draw crosses and penises across a large proportion of the boy's body and face while he was asleep. Mr Newman said: The Crown say that the crosses in particular were an indication of the hostility towards (the boy) based on his religious observance. The barrister said it took a number of days to remove the symbols and the boy was left with sore skin due to having to scrub at the marks. Rose is also accused of spraying deodorant towards the boy's head and lighting it while he was asleep in bed, the court heard. Hearing: York Crown Court (pictured) was told that the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, also had religious and phallic symbols drawn on his face and body with permanent marker Mr Newman told the jury the teenager only avoided serious injury by pulling a duvet cover over his head as Rose lit the deodorant, causing a ball of flame that narrowly missed (the boy's) head. The prosecutor said Addison took photographs of the incident on his mobile phone. The Crown say that the crosses in particular were an indication of the hostility towards (the boy) based on his religious observance Austin Newman, prosecuting Addison is also accused of tying the teenager to a chair with duct tape and cable ties and leaving him locked in a room by himself and giving the boy a wedgie by pulling his underpants up so forcibly he was lifted off his feet and suffered cuts and bruises to his buttocks, the court heard. Mr Newman said Addison remained silent when interviewed by police after his arrest in May 2015. The other three defendants accepted their involvement in the incidents but claimed they were part of general workplace banter, the jury heard. Addison, of Selby, and Rose, of Bubwith, East Yorkshire, both deny putting a person in fear of violence by harassment and religiously aggravated assault by beating. Addison also denies a charge of assault by beating. Jackson, of Barlby, North Yorkshire, and Puchir, of Edinburgh, both deny religiously aggravated assault by beating. A man serving a 60-year prison term for strangling a teenager and stuffing her body into a barrel escaped from an Arkansas jail yesterday by walking away from a prison work crew. Lloyd Jones, 40, from Lavaca, had been imprisoned for killing 16-year-old Angela Allen in 2012. He gave prison guards the slip while working with other inmates on a construction site two miles from the Arkansas Department of Correction. Lloyd Jones, 40, (pictured) from Lavaca, had been imprisoned for killing 16-year-old Angela Allen in 2012 nd stuffing her body into a barrel He gave prison guards the slip while working with other inmates on a construction site two miles from the Arkansas Department of Correction (pictured) Spokesman Solomon Graves said guards at the East Arkansas Unit at Brickeys noticed Jones' absence sometime around noon Monday. The 24-year-old Brickeys unit is a maximum-security prison, but some inmate work programs include the use of prisoners in agriculture fields outside the prison walls. Graves said he did not know the nature of the work Jones was assigned to perform, nor its location. He added: 'Our focus right now is bringing the inmate into custody. How he got away will be determined at a later date.' It's not known if Jones is still wearing his white inmate uniform and investigators are trying to find out whether the prisoner knew anyone in the area. He has numerous tattoos, including inkings of a dragon, a wizard and a skull, which would help identify him. Jones had met up with 16-year-old Angela Allen (pictured) near the Arkansas River after speaking online Jones said he was making out with Angela, but then 'violently pushed her into the water and left her there' after she told him her age. However an autopsy proved she had been strangled and no fluid was found in her lungs Jones had met up with his victim near the Arkansas River after speaking online. Jones told investigators that he picked the teenager up at a hospital parking lot near her home in Van Buren. He decided to take her to the river instead of his home nearby because his girlfriends might find out, he allegedly said. Jones was tracked down after officers found multiple text messages on the teen's cellphone from his number According to court documents, Jones said he was making out with Angela, but then 'violently pushed her into the water and left her there' after she told him her age. However, an autopsy proved she had been strangled and no fluid was found in her lungs. In an attempt to hide the body the murderer shoved it into a blue plastic barrel and buried it on his brother's property. Police unearthed it a week after she had been reported missing. Dental records confirmed her identity. Jones was tracked down after officers found multiple text messages on the teen's cellphone from his number, a sheriff's investigator wrote in an affidavit. They also discovered he was a sex offender, before authorities located him by tracing the location of his cellphone. Investigators also questioned one of his girlfriends, who said Jones would take his laptop to Starbucks to talk to people through social networking websites. Jones used one site, Mbuzzy.com, to communicate with Angela, who also had an account with that site, he told authorities. One of Jones's girlfriends told authorities that his clothes and shoes were covered in mud when he came home that night. Authorities said that while he was in jail after being arrested, Jones' father visited and asked him what was going on. During the recorded visit, authorities allege that Jones asked, 'Did they find her?' and said 'I panicked - I did it.' Jones was sentenced to 60 years for Allen's death, plus 20 years on two child pornography charges and 10 years for one child pornography charge and abuse of a corpse. It is unclear why he wanted to waive his right to a trial by a jury The alleged shooter of nine black will be tried by a jury, a judge has decided The white man accused of killing nine black parishioners in a racially motivated attack at a South Carolina church last June will face a trial by jury rather than a judge as he requested, a U.S. judge ordered on Monday. The federal trial for accused Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof, 22, is scheduled to begin on November 7. In a court filing last week, Roof asked to be granted a bench trial. Scroll down for video Dylann Roof (pictured on June 18, 2015) will be tried by a jury rather than a bench trial, as he had requested It is unclear why Roof, who is accused of killing nine black parishioners at the AME Emanuel Church (pictured June 19, 2015), requested the trial by judge rather than jury The filing did not say why he wanted to waive his right to a trial by jury. Federal prosecutors, who intend to seek the death penalty over the June 17, 2015, killings, objected to the request in a court filing on Monday, records show. Federal rules require that a criminal trial be conducted before a jury if the government does not agree to a bench trial, U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel said in his order. As a result, jurors will decide Roof's guilt and punishment, Gergel said. Federal prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty over the June 17, 2015, killings and objected to the request Roof faces 33 federal charges, including hate crimes, obstruction of religion, and firearms charges in the gun slayings of nine black members of a Bible study at Charleston's historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. A state capital punishment trial is also scheduled for January. State prosecutors charged Roof with murder and attempted murder. The slayings shook the country and intensified debate over U.S. race relations, already roiled at the time by numerous high-profile police killings of unarmed black people. MINOT-- A 53-year-old Minot man is sitting in jail after he is accused of causing a scene in two Minot businesses and then knocking a vehicle in his driveway into his home over the weekend. Douglas Carr is charged with criminal mischief and reckless endangerment. On Saturday afternoon, a call came from Taco Bell reporting a disorderly male throwing around his change. Ten minutes later, a customer at Starbucks called police to report a man with his shirt off yelling at customers. At 3:48 p.m. -- just four minutes after the Starbucks call -- another person reported a vehicle being driven by Carr at 912 17 St. NW, which he lists as his place of residence, had struck a car parked in the driveway. Carr then is accused of backing and striking the car two more times causing it to move about 7 feet and through a support beam of the residence. Police said Carr left the scene but was stopped minutes later several blocks away. He was taken to the Ward County Jail. Carr then left the scene and was stopped by responding officers several blocks away. Sir Eric Pickles said funding sent to the Palestinian Authority is used to free up money to pay prisoners British aid money may be indirectly going into the hands of Palestinian terrorists, Sir Eric Pickles said last night in a direct attack on his own Government. The former communities secretary said funding sent to the Palestinian Authority is used to free up money to pay prisoners who have committed attacks in the Israeli conflict. And he warned of worrying reports that some charities funded by taxpayers money were promoting violence on social media pages. Sir Eric joined a queue of MPs who said cash from the Department for International Development was acting as an incentive for violence in the Middle East. The comments were made during a debate on Britains pledge to spend 0.7 per cent of its income on foreign aid. While no MP questioned the size of the aid budget, one Labour member said she was asked by her constituents why we were sending money abroad while their children were going hungry. Liz McInnes said: In my constituency we have a plethora of food banks and some of my constituents are not in a position to feed their families. 'Until that problem is solved, my constituents will continue to ask me: Why are we spending money on foreign aid when our children are hungry here? Another Labour MP, David Lammy, suggested Comic Relief donors should ask more questions about how their cash is used. He expressed concern about armchair donors who give money without fully considering the governance of the countries they are seeking to help. And he criticised the use of poverty porn on TV adverts by charities. International development minister Desmond Swayne insisted that money given to the Palestinian Authority funds specific civil servants, helping to prepare a government in the event of a two-state agreement. But Sir Eric suggested that UK aid payments are freeing up money which in turn is being spent on criminals in prison for terrorism offences. Its no good just saying we dont fund terrorism, there is a knock on effect, he said. He also attacked charities working in Palestine some of them funded in part by DfID for promoting violence on their websites. Surely it is not unreasonable to ask the minister and officials to check what is going on, and to say if youre going to receive money from the British Government you should unequivocally denounce violence in all its forms. The former communities secretary said British aid money may be indirectly going into the hands of Palestinian terrorists, during a debate on foreign aid (Pictured, Palestinian militants) He added: I dont think its unreasonable in times of stringency that we should address the quality of that aid as well as the quantity. DfIDs stated goal is to help secure a lasting two-state solution. I regret the funding doesnt follow that laudable ideal. Labour MP Joan Ryan suggested the aid frees up cash to pay convicted Palestinian terrorists, including Taleb Mehamara who targeted Israelis in a shooting attack. She said the aid is failing the UKs scrutiny tests, adding: Let me give one example, the issue of the PAs payments to convicted Palestinian terrorists. These are not, as one DfID minister claimed in 2012, social assistance programmes to provide welfare payments. 'Instead, by operating a perverse sliding scale where you receive more money the longer sentence you receive in some cases as much as five times the average monthly wage in Ramallah they actually incentivise people to commit the most terrible acts of violence. Labour MP David Lammy, suggested Comic Relief donors should ask more questions about how their cash is used (Pictured, Comic Relief founder Lenny Henry) The complaints were echoed by Labour former minister Ian Austin, who said the aid payments were in contradiction to the demands of the international community. Mr Swayne insisted British taxpayers money does not fund terrorism and defended the thoroughly scrutinised list of aid recipients. the attack and Mr Jenkins has been charged He said police did not act fast enough and he A man whose wife needed plastic surgery after a dog attack has admitted he kidnapped the border collie and stabbed it to death. Gordon Jenkins, 58, said he broke into the home where Sam the dog was staying, eight hours after it mauled his wife Teresa in New Zealand's Takaka. Mr Jenins, who is battling cancer, broke into the property, duct-taped the dog's mouth then took it to his home and stabbed it in the neck, reports Stuff NZ. Gordon Jenkins (pictured) has admitted to stabbing a dog to death after the animal mauled his wife Ms Jenkins, 50, was handing out pamphlets on Commercial St last week when she ran into Heather Cole, who was walking Sam but is not the dog's owner. Sam lunged at her and took a 'softball-sized chunk' of flesh from her leg, leaving the shin bone on her lower leg exposed. The retired working dog attacker the victim again while she was trying to crawl away, this time leaving her with deep wounds in her buttocks and thigh. Ms Jenkins was flown to Hutt Hospital for an emergency skin graft, then taken to the Ms Cole's home to be looked after the same house the dog was staying at. Mr Jenkins entered the home because he was worried the police were not quick enough to put the animal down and he was 'scared it would attack again'. 'I didn't want it on my conscience if that dog savaged anyone else because the cops couldn't get rid of it.' Ms Jenkins required plastic surgery after the dog lunged at her and took a 'softball-sized chunk' of flesh from her leg Ms Jenkins was handing out pamphlets on Commercial St (pictured) last week when the attack took place He noted he was dying of cancer and living on morphine, and said financial troubles at the time of the attack drove him to 'lose it.' Ms Jenkins, who is still unable to walk in hospital, supported her husband's decision to take the matter into his own hands. 'It's a good job he did. They are saying it is cruelty to animals, what about cruelty to the victim?' Mr Jenkins has been charged him with wilful ill-treatment of an animal. He is due to appear in court next month. Ms Jenkins was flown to Hutt Hospital (pictured) for an emergency skin graft, before being taken back to the home where the dog was staying Police, who are investigating whether Ms Cole may be liable for the attack, said they condemned dog attack victims seeking retribution. 'If they are required to be destroyed, by law it has to be done in a humane way without suffering,' said Senior Sergeant Blair Hall. The SPCA are also investigating the attack after the dog was found dead with a several wounds. Pictured, War hero Lord Bramall attends the Garter Ceremony at St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle War hero Lord Bramall took his place beside the Queen yesterday for the first time since being formally cleared of spurious sex abuse claims. The former Army chief attended the annual Garter Day lunch and service at Windsor Castle alongside the monarch who, the Mail revealed earlier this year, showed an extraordinary level support through his ordeal. According to one who was there, he was on cracking form, despite arriving on a Zimmer frame. Lord Bramall, 92, was the victim of a bungled ten-month probe by the Metropolitan Police after baseless claims by a suspected serial fantasist known only as Nick. Last March he and his dying wife were subjected to a distressing dawn raid by 20 police officers and questioned over the allegations. Britains most decorated living soldier was eventually told by letter in January that the investigation was being dropped because of lack of evidence. Met Police boss Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe refused calls to offer a formal public apology despite the claims being so weak that a file wasnt even sent to the Crown Prosecution Service - claiming his officers were simply doing their jobs. Lord Bramalls wife of 66 years passed away last July never knowing her husband had been cleared. The Order of the Garter, of which Lord Bramall has been a member since 1990, is the most senior and the oldest Order of British chivalry. Its companions who are awarded the title of knight or lady are personally chosen by the sovereign for their outstanding contribution to national life or the monarchy. Each June recipients gather at Windsor for lunch followed by a procession through the castle precinct and a service at St Georges Chapel. There was no let up for the Queen as she continued her gruelling programme of public engagements with an appearance at the service, following three days of national celebrations to mark her 90th birthday. Lord Bramall, 92, (left) was the victim of a bungled ten-month probe by the Metropolitan Police after baseless claims by a suspected serial fantasist known only as Nick (not pictured) The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge - Kate wearing a vivid red Catherine Walker coat with a Lock & Co hat - were also present, as were Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall, and other senior royals. For the first time since 1971, rain put paid to the traditional procession and carriages through the precincts of Windsor Castle, however. Mass migration will change the UK for ever if the country votes to stay in the European Union, with more than 7 million foreigners arriving in just 20 years. A damning report by a major think-tank predicted that runaway immigration would see Britains population currently 64million rise by 12.8 million to 76.8million in 2035, then to 80.2million in 2039. Some 60 per cent of the 7 million migrants will be from the EU, the paper forecasts. The remainder of the 12.8 million increase is due to domestic births and an ageing population. In a blow to David Cameron, MigrationWatch said the findings were a final wake-up call ahead of the EU referendum In a blow to David Cameron, MigrationWatch said the findings were a final wake-up call ahead of the EU referendum. Leading Brexit campaigner Boris Johnson said: Many people will welcome Britain going up to 75 million, 80 million, and think thats a good thing, but people are also entitled to ask where are the houses going to be built? How will our hospitals cope? How will the schools handle it? Immigration has been a key battleground in the referendum campaign. MigrationWatch warned that an extra 100,000 Turks would flock to Britain every year if the Muslim country became a full EU member. The numbers flocking here under free movement rules would be inevitable, substantial and sustained. Leading Brexit campaigner Boris Johnson asked: where are the houses going to be built? How will our hospitals cope? How will the schools handle it? In that scenario, annual net migration would rocket to 420,000 equivalent to adding a city the size of Bristol to the population each year. Britains official position is to support Turkeys accession to the EU and David Cameron has explicitly spoken out in favour of its membership promising to pave the road from Ankara to Brussels. Challenged over the threat it would pose to Britains security, the Prime Minister has since insisted its potential accession was a red herring and that it will be literally decades before Turkey, with a population of 77 million, can join. FIVE MILLION GET EU PASSPORTS More than five million migrants have been handed EU citizenship in six years giving them the right to enter Britain under freedom of movement rules. Some 889,139 arrivals were given passports in 2014 alone, including tens of thousands of Moroccans, Albanians and Turks. Migrants from Morocco headed the list with 92,700 given citizenship. Around one in ten were already EU citizens and had moved to another country within the bloc, according to figures for 2009 and 2014 released by statistics agency Eurostat. Almost a quarter of those acquiring EU citizenship in 2014 were given a passport by Spain. Advertisement But there are concerns that Brussels will cave into the demands of the countrys hard-line Islamist leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan to maintain his co-operation in tackling the Syrian migrant crisis. Leaked diplomatic cables also suggest British diplomats have already secretly discussed granting visa-free travel to the UK for 1.5million Turks. Leading Brexit campaigner Chris Grayling, the leader of the House of Commons, said: If this level of immigration continues it will change the nature of the places we live in. Our country will become much more developed and vast tracts of our green spaces will disappear. It will become more congested and our public services like the NHS will face ever growing pressures. And if we stay in the EU people in the UK will have no say at all about this change. That cant be right. Ex-Cabinet minister Liam Fox said: If we remain in the European Union we will be forced to accept unlimited free movement of people as the Prime Ministers renegotiation failed to achieve any limits on this whatsoever. Yet, there will be no free movement of space coming with them. Lord Green of Deddington, of MigrationWatch, said: This report is a final wake-up call. Even leaving aside the prospect of Turkey joining the EU, it shows that net migration could still be running at 265,000 a year in 20 years. This would change our country for ever against the express wishes of a very large majority of our fellow citizens. A spokesman for Britain Stronger In Europe said: The overwhelming majority of independent experts agree that leaving the EU would damage the economy pushing up prices, risking jobs and reducing the amount of money available for public services. Throwing our economy into this kind of uncertainty is not the answer to immigration, an issue that is much more complex than the Leave campaign would have the public believe. I'm IN, says ex-IRA chief Martin McGuinness, a former member of the IRA army council, last night pledged to campaign for the Remain camp. Northern Irelands deputy first minister and veteran Sinn Fein representative argued that a Brexit would be bad for his countrys economy and could impact negatively on relations with the Republic of Ireland. Martin McGuinness, a former member of the IRA army council, last night pledged to campaign for the Remain camp While acknowledging not everything in the EU was hunky dory, Mr McGuinness hopes most will vote to stay. He added: I hope the majority of people in the north will vote to remain. If so, we will stand strong with Scotland. But the big vote is in England and that is not a situation we can control. He is expected to visit England next week to tell voters of the great dangers facing Northern Ireland. Fury over BT boss's email The chairman of BT has written to the companys 80,000 employees to warn them of the dangers of leaving the EU. Sir Mike Rake emailed his staff to claim that a vote for Brexit would damage both the firm and the economy. But last night Eurosceptics seized on Sir Mikes track record as a cheerleader for Brussels and the fact that he was opposed to holding a referendum in the first place. Sir Mike co-signed a pro-euro letter sent to Tony Blair in 2003, saying that ruling out joining the single currency would be damaging for British-based businesses, British employees and the British economy as a whole. A clubber caught up in the Orlando nightclub massacre who was trampled as people fled has told how he lost his best friend in the chaos and discovered hours later he was killed after being taken hostage in a bathroom while he texted his mother for help. Demetrice Naulings, 34, was left with the imprint of someone else's shoe on his leg as he ran for a back door exit when a terrorist opened fire on the crowd at Pulse nightspot shortly after 2am on Sunday. He ran for the door holding the hand of his best friend, Eddie Justice, as people were shot all around them by the lone gunman. In the scramble for the exit, the pair became separated, Demetrice realized with horror when he made it outside. With bullets still hitting the walls inside, Eddie sent messages saying he was in the bathroom and he was going to die. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO Best friend lost: Eddie Justice (rear) was hand-in-hand with Demetrice Stroke (front) but they became separated as they fled from Omar Mateen's opening bursts of gunfire Heartbreaking texts: Eddie Justice, 30, worked as an accountant and lived in downtown Orlando. He was killed at Pulse nightclub after sending his mom desperate messages Heartbreaking: Eddie Justice sent his mom Mina a series of texts in the minutes before his death at Pulse nightclub, with the final one: 'I'm gonna die.' Naulings told the dramatic account to his mother, Tripholia Moreland, who shared her son's story with Daily Mail Online. She was fast asleep when she got a call about the attack on the gay club. 'I got the call at 4 o'clock in the morning letting me know that there had been a massacre at Pulse and that my son was there. 'I didn't know if my son was alive, I didn't find out until later in the morning that he was alive.' Demetrice told his mother about his traumatic experience when he finally made it home. Tripholia said: 'The first shot he heard, it was at the door with the security and the girl who collects the money. 'The killer came inside the club and started shooting up the DJ booth. 'He was just shooting everybody. He was just spraying the gun. 'Demetrice said, "Mommy, there was so many dead bodies and blood everywhere the killer just didn't care." 'He said it was like I was in a movie people were just dropping dead. 'People were getting shot in the head, in the leg, in the back. People were asking for help, to help them.' Demetrice told his mother the terrorist, Omar Mateen, did not appear to know the layout of the club because if he did, more could have been killed. Tripholia broke down as she recalled her son's traumatic night. 'People were trying to get out the door but couldn't because the man was still shooting. 'Demetrice said every time the killer ran out of bullets, they could hear him putting another clip in the gun. 'People were running to the men's bathroom, to the women's bathroom. 'First they ran into the bathroom, him and his friend. Demetrice said, "No, we got to get out of here." 'They ran to the back entrance by the dressing room to get out and everybody was following. Horror: 'I got the call at 4 o'clock in the morning letting me know that there had been a massacre at Pulse and that my son was there, Tripolia Moreland said. Her son Demetrice Strokes survived, his best friend Eddie Justice did not Devastation: Mina Justice received the texts from her son as the massacre at the Pulse nightclub began to unfold. He was confirmed dead on Monday 'His friend was saying 'Don't let me die, please Demetrice, stay with me.' 'When Demetrice got to the back entrance, people was running over people.' Moreland, who is a nurse practitioner, said that her son's leg had footmarks from where he was trampled. 'Demetrice said, "I thought he still had my hand. When I got outside, I didn't have his hand and I didn't see him anywhere."' To his horror, he realized that Eddie had returned to the men's bathroom to hide. 'He was telling him he was going to die,' Tripholia said. 'Eddie started texting his mother, asking his mom to call the police to help him that he was fixing to die because the killer was in the bathroom with him.' Eddie sent his last dramatic texts to his mother, Mina Justice. She told the Associated Press that she received a text message from her son at 2:06am which read: 'Mommy I love you.' 'In club they shooting.' Two minutes later, he sent: 'I'm gonna die.' Then at 2:42am: 'Still here in bathroom. He has us. They need to come get us,' followed at 2:50am with the message: 'He's a terror.' Perpetrator: Omar Mateen's deadly rampage claimed 49 lives before he was killed by police Eddie Justice, 30, was one of 49 victims killed in the attack, the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. Some 53 were injured with five survivors reportedly in a grave condition in hospital. Tripholia said: 'Eddie was like a son to me too.' She said that the 30-year-old was not the type to go to nightclubs and that he ran his own business. Demetrice seems unable to process what has happened, his mother said. 'He asked me, 'Mommy, why did this man do this?' 'I told him it's a hate crime. I told him I love you and I love your friends and I've been with you in the gay community. But people don't accept you guys, and they are all one big happy family. They can be themselves, they don't bother anybody.' She said that Demetrice, who is regular at Pulse, had lost a lot of friends but was not sure just how many in the chaotic aftermath. Tripholia said: 'My heart just goes out to all families right now because they have lost loved ones. God gave me grace and favor, because I pray for my kids every day, and he allowed my son to be here still with me.' She added: 'For this man to come in and destroy people's lives like this, to tear families and loved ones, brothers, sisters, mothers, dads, grandmothers, aunts. I tell God thank you for your grace and mercy. A lifeguard is planning to paddle board 1,000km up the east coast from Newcastle to Noosa to raise awareness about domestic violence. Juliana Bahr-Thomson, 28, is attempting the Guinness World Record paddle from June 26 and will spend 43 days in the water for a cause that is close to her heart after she spent 20 years as a victim of domestic violence. The New South Wales teacher told Daily Mail Australia she suffered physical, mental and sexual abuse at the hands of people who were close to her. Juliana Bahr-Thomson is attempting the Guinness World Record, 1,000km paddle from June 26 and will spend 43 days in the water for a cause that is close to her heart 'Being a child it's so much more complex... I did not realise the effects it had on me until I got older and more knowledgeable,' Ms Bahr-Thomson said. 'Growing up I thought I had the same upbringing as everyone else and you presume everyone is going through what you are.' Ms Bahr-Thomson still has trouble speaking about her experience but she hopes her support for White Ribbon, an organisation who work to combat domestic violence, will encourage other victims to speak out. She is also raising money for the Surfrider Foundation Australia, which helps protect the nation's beaches, and herself to cover the $30,000 cost of doing the paddle. The NSW lifeguard spent 20 years as a victim of domestic violence and is raising money for White Ribbon Ms Bahr-Thomson has had her setbacks leading up to the paddle after she did another 180-kilometre charity paddle from Newcastle to Bondi Beach in March last year. Here she is training after ankle surgery 'I thought I want to really do something for a charity that resonates with me,' Ms Bahr-Thomson said of her paddle. 'If you want to make a difference, you have to do something pretty big to get that impact you are after.' Like any huge undertaking, Ms Bahr-Thomson has had her setbacks after she did another 180-kilometre charity paddle from Newcastle to Bondi Beach in March last year. She has had a number of surgeries to fix what she initially thought was just a sore ankle when her Achilles started to swell up before tearing her tendon off the bone. 'I had grown two extra bones out of my ankle, which I started joking and calling my mermaid tail,' Ms Bahr-Thomson told Daily Mail Australia. 'My ankle was an absolute write-off... My surgeon said I had the ankle of a 50-year-old retired professional athlete, so I shocked him.' But even after surgery Ms Bahr-Thomson could not be stopped. She started training again for the paddle in her walking cast, which she dubbed her 'moon boot'. 'I've doing quite a few 10-kilometre swim sets and a ridiculous amount of board paddling, and alternative gym and body strength training, and surfing just to spice it up,' Ms Bahr-Thomson told Daily Mail Australia. Ms Bahr-Thomson's journey will start at Newcastle Harbour's Horse Shoe Beach in NSW and end at Noosa Heads on Queensland's Sunshine Coast. Members of the Orlando Police Department who killed homophobic gunman Omar Mateen in the wake of the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history have been named. They are: Adam Gruler, Scott Smith, Jeffrey Backhaus, Timothy Stanley, Kevin Easterling, Andrew Bishop, James Parker, Raul Rivas, Jonathan Bigelow, Ricardo Duenas, and Michael Napolitano. Officer Gruler was off-duty when he exchanged gunfire in an attempt to stop Mateen outside the gay nightclub Pulse before the 29-year-old terrorist killed 49 people and injured 53 more inside. Among the heroes are nine SWAT team members who stormed the club, along with Officer Michael Napolitano, whose kevlar helmet saved his life during the shoot out. Officer Michael Napolitano (center), whose kevlar helmet saved his life during the shoot out, smiled after the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history. A large laceration can be seen on his forehead The Orlando Police Department released a photo of Officer Napolitano's helmet (pictured), with a jarring bullet hole at its center Officer Gruler (center) was off-duty when he exchanged gunfire in an attempt to stop Mateen outside the gay nightclub Pulse before the 29-year-old terrorist killed 49 people and injured 53 more inside HEROES OF THE ORLANDO POLICE DEPARTMENT Officer working extra duty at Pulse: Officer Adam Gruler, member of OPD since 2001 First Patrol Unit On Scene (Also a SWAT Member): Lieutenant Scott Smith, member of OPD since 1992 First Patrol Unit On Scene (Also a SWAT Member): Sergeant Jeffrey Backhaus, member of OPD since 2004 SWAT: Officer Timothy Stanley, member of OPD since 1998 SWAT: Officer Kevin Easterling, member of OPD since 1994 SWAT: Officer Andrew Bishop, member of OPD since 1994 SWAT: Sergeant James Parker, member of OPD since 1991 SWAT: Detective Raul Rivas, member of OPD since 1992 SWAT: Lieutenant Jonathan Bigelow, member of OPD since 2001 SWAT: Officer Ricardo Duenas, member of OPD since 2014 Officer shot in the Kevlar helmet: Officer Michael Napolitano, member of OPD since 2012 Advertisement Mateen, who legally purchased two firearms in recent weeks, exchanged gunfire with Gruler outside the club around 2am before he made his way inside and opened fire with a handgun and AR-15 assault rifle. Lieutenant Smith and Sergeant Backhaus arrived on the scene soon after and the firing continued. Authorities said the shooting turned into a hostage situation once gunman Mateen made it into one of the bathrooms where club-goers were hiding. Mateen called 911 and pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, before crisis negotiators stepped in and tried to talk to the gunman, Orlando Police Chief John Mina said Monday. After Mateen mentioned explosives and bombs, the SWAT team stormed the club using a controlled explosive, along with an armored BearCat vehicle to create a hole in the exterior wall so hostages near the bathrooms could run out. The SWAT team operation saved the lives of 'at least 30 possible victims,' according to Mina. Mateen emerged from the same hole and exchanged gunfire with the SWAT team at 5am before he was shot dead, officials said. It turned out there were no explosives. Raul Rivas (left) and Jonathan Bigelow (right) were among the SWAT team that broke a hole in the club's exterior wall, allowing about 30 people to escape SWAT team member Timothy Stanley (pictured) was also on the scene. He has been a member of the department since 1998 The massacre turned from an active shooting to a hostage situation after Mateen was inside the club. He called 911 and pledged allegiance to the Islamic State and mentioned explosives and bombs Around 5am Mateen emerged from the same hole that hostages had escaped from and exchanged gunfire with the SWAT team before he was shot dead, officials said The Orlando Police Department released a photo of Officer Napolitano's helmet, with a jarring bullet hole at its center. Napolitano has been pictured smiling with a laceration on his forehead, where he would have been shot had the helmet not saved his life. Police chief Mina sent an emotional email to everyone in the department following the incident. It read: 'On the darkest day of my 25 years at the Orlando Police Department, I wanted to take a moment to tell all of you how proud I am of the work you have done today and will do over the next days and weeks. 'We have trained again and again for this type of situation. Its unfortunate that we had to put those skills to use today. 'But because of that training and your professionalism, we saved dozens of lives this morning.' Omar Mateen, (pictured) legally purchased two firearms in recent weeks before he killed 49 people at the Orlando nightclub Pulse and injured 53 others ORLANDO SHOOTINGS TIMELINE 2:02am - Sunday, June 12 - Suspect Omar Mateen tries to enter Pulse nightclub armed with assault rifle and and handgun and is spotted by a uniformed officer. The two exchange fire outside the club - but Mateen manages to enter the nightclub holding 320 people while still firing. The shooting then developed in a hostage situation. 2:09am - Pulse nightclub posts a message to their Facebook desperately telling those inside 'Everyone get out of pulse and keep running'. 5.05am - Three hours after the first shooting began, a SWAT team rushed inside to rescue hostages and confront Mateen. Members of the SWAT team detonated a controlled explosion to confuse Mateen and then nine officers exchange gunfire with terrorist - shooting him dead. SWAT officers manage to free 30 hostages who dashed to safety. 5:35am - Orlando police confirm that the shooter is dead. 8:00am - Officials with the FBI deem the incident to be 'domestic terrorism'. 9:40am - The shooter was officially identified as 29-year-old Omar Mateen of Port St. Lucie. 10:20am - At a press conference Mayor Buddy Dyer makes the announcement that 49 people have died and 53 injured in what is now the worst mass shooting in the history of the United States. 11.54am - US Senator Bill Nelson and California congressman Adam Schiff claimed Mateen had pledged his allegiance to ISIS Advertisement Some questioned why authorities chose to hold off, leaving Mateen inside the club for about three hours, where more than 100 people were shot. But authorities explained the shooting turned into a hostage situation, and hostage negotiators tried to talk to Mateen. Police Chief John Mina has also admitted that some of the victims may have been hit by officers' gun fire. across the country, including in Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver and New York City Advertisement Thousands gathered in Orlando Monday night to mourn, remember and pay respects to the 49 people killed in the brutal attack on a gay nightclub in the city on Sunday morning, each one symbolized by a bell toll at the end of the event. Coming together on the lawn outside the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, the crowds heard from Muslim, LGBT and Latino community leaders, and those affected by Sunday morning's attack. And it was just one of numerous vigils held in cities across America. Scroll down for video Vigil: Thousands gathered to mourn, remember and heal at a vigil in Orlando Monday night for those slain in a shooting at city gay club Pulse at the weekend. Omar Mateen opened fire in the nightclub early Sunday morning, killing 49 and injuring 53 Masses: There were people from all walks of Orlando life at the event, gathering to mourn, remember and hope for a better future Unity: Many of those in attendance were from the city's LGBT community. Speakers talked of the need to unite across all boundaries, and not to submit to 'homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, Islamophobia.' Shooter Mateen was a radical Islamist Goodbye: For many it was a chance to say goodbye to friends, family and acquaintances killed in what was the biggest mass shooting in U.S. history Tributes: Those attending the vigil created a shrine full of flowers, messages, posters and candles in honour of the victims Sorrow: Many hugged those close to them as they remembered the fallen. The vigil took place at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Orlando Tears: The loss was too much for many to bear, and even those on stage were audibly moved on occasion Comfort: Freedanchy Ruiz (left) is comforted by Shawn McCluskey as she is overcome with emotion thinking about her cousin, who was killed at Pulse. Right: The twin flags of America and the LGBT community symbolized the unity that so many speakers called for Tearful: Many were moved to tears during the event, seeking comfort in friends and family Memories: Many carried pictures or signs symbolizing loved ones slain in the shooting, while others carried chains on which people had written messages of condolence, love and encouragement Raw: For many, the vigil brought forth raw and powerful emotions Loss: The loss was felt across the crowd during the event - but there was hope, too, from speakers such as Orlando Mayor Theresa Jacobs, who promised that they would not let Sunday's events tear their city apart Lost: Many held up photographs of those friends, relatives and partners they had lost in the attack on Pulse Lean on me: Members of the crowd supported one another through emotional moments during the vigil Light: Speakers promised that the light of hope for a better future would never be extinguished Prayers: Thousands gathered to offer prayers and hold candles for those lost in the brutal attack Reflection: Mourner Juan Carlos Garcia sits next to the makeshift memorial in downtown Orlando to pay his quiet respects to the victims Respects: Ronny Torres and Zaid Hinds read the messages on the hundreds of floral tributes left at a makeshift memorial in Orlando All 49 victims who were killed during the mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in the early hours of Sunday morning in Orlando, Florida Speaking at the event, which was broadcast live by ABC News, Orange County Mayor Theresa Jacobs said: 'I am so proud of you today - for being here for not being afraid. 'But I shouldn't be surprised because you have spent a lifetime waiting for this moment - this moment to show who you are, and who we are as a community.' 'This act will not define us,' she added. 'What will define us is how we respond.' She emphasized the need for unity within the city across all boundaries, and promised a wave of healing that would defeat the hatred seen on Sunday, when Omar Mateen killed 49 - mostly Latinos - and injured many more. Flying the flag: A rainbow-colored Colorado flag is waved by Mark Wonder at a vigil to remember the victims of the Orlando shooting at Cheeseman Park in Denver Prayer: Orlando locals Sam Jitaree and Devi Thompson hold up candles in honour of the 49 victims during a vigil last night in downtown Orlando Solidarity: Jose Hernandez and Victor Bayez, friends of victim Amanda Alvear and Mercedez Flores hold hands in solidarity at the vigil in Orlando Action: As people arrived for the vigil at the Dr Phillips Performing Arts Center, they called for an end to gun violence in the U.S. Embrace: At a vigil in Memorial Park in Provo, Utah, over 200 people attended to remember the Orlando victims, including Beckfar de Faux and Nick Thurber who were pictured embracing Silence: Jessica Voght and Melanie Vegara observe a moment's silence during a memorial in the Memorial Park in Utah last night Victims: Nick Bazo and Stephen Flowers who are originally from Orlando attended a vigil in Boston holding up a picture of their friends Drew Leinonen and Juan Guerrero, who were both killed in the attack Grief: A relative of victim Luis S. Vielma falls to his knees and is comforted by another mourner at a vigil in Sandford, Florida Heartbreak: Friends and family of Luis S. Vielma, who died during the shooting, gathered in Orlando to release balloons to remember him by Standing together: As well as laying floral tributes and messages at the vigil in Orlando, a large streamer using multi-colored paper was also created in memory of the victims Comfort: Two mourners embrace each other and hold candles in honour of the victims at a vigil in the Metropolitan Community Chutch in Corpus Christi, Texas 'There is no amount of hate, not in one man's heart, not in a million men's hearts... that will turn back the tide,' she added The crowd - dotted with signs saying 'Love Conquers All' - cheered with delight. And Jacobs became audibly moved - appearing to fight back sobs - as she promised the LGBT community in Orlando would not be alone. 'We will stand beside you to fight for your right to be who you are,' she said. 'This is not your fight - this is our fight. This is America's fight.' 'WE MUST UNITE AS HUMANS': LADY GAGA BREAKS DOWN IN TEARS AT VIGIL IN LOS ANGELES Singer Lady Gaga broke down in tears as she read the names of some of the victims of the Orlando shooting during a vigil in Los Angeles Singer Lady Gaga broke down in tears while speaking at a vigil in Los Angeles to remember the 49 victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting. Thousands of people attended the memorial outside City Hall in the California city including the singer, who took to the stage to address the crowd. There she read some of the names of victims during the rally but broke down as she said them aloud. After the event she tweeted to her 60.2 million followers: 'Ignore voices that aim to divide us, this only leads to more violence between people. We must unite as humans, where we are all the same.' Thousands of people attended the memorial outside City Hall in the California city including the singer, who took to the stage to address the crowd The singer became visibly upset during the memorial which was held outside of Los Angeles City Hall to honour the victims After the event Lady Gaga tweeted to her 60.2 million followers: 'Ignore voices that aim to divide us, this only leads to more violence between people. We must unite as humans, where we are all the same.' Advertisement Solidarity: Orange County Mayor Theresa Jacobs (pictured, in blue and white top) was audibly emotional as she told the crowd that the fight for a peaceful future was not just the LGBT community's, but everyone's. 'This is our fight,' she said. 'This is America's fight' Love: Many signs saying 'Love Conquers Hate' were held up by the crowd, and the need for unity, love and respect was a common theme throughout all of the speakers' talks Messages: Many left messages of strength and resilience in crayon and chalk Posters: Others created posters calling for love to defeat hatred, and supporting both Pulse and individuals Chained: Paper chains full of messages linked many of those at the vigil, as they held them up for photographs and carried them to makeshift shrines for the dead Shrine: Small shrines were made with remembrances of those who were lost. In the background can be seen the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts Remembrance: A makeshift memorial to the lost was set up and populated with remebrances, such as this one to Eric Rivera Children: Ten-year-old twins Erica (left) and Olivia Hartley lit candles. They were just two of many children at the event Help: Some relied on their partners to get them through the event. In this shot (l-r) Kyra Murphy and wife Crystal Murphy, and Nicole Edwards and her wife Kellie Edwards, observe a moment of silence for the slain Sorrow: Prayers led to tears for many of those who attended Orlando's vigil Rainbow: The colors of the LGBT flag provided a colorful counterpoint to a frequently solemn period of reflection People also paused for a moment's silence at a memorial honoring the victims of the shooting in the Boystown Neighborhood of Chicago Two girls embrace during the vigil in Chicago where hundreds of people gathered to pay their respects to the dead People even stood outside the community centre where the vigil was being held in Chicago with one man waving a rainbow flag The symbolic Stonewall Inn, a gay bar that launched the gay rights movement in New York City, turned into a shrine as people laid floral tributes Thousands gathered outside the bar in Manhattan, with one woman waving the rainbow flag in solidarity with the victims People at the vigil in New York also held up their cell phones as lights as well as candles to pay tribute to the 49 victims of the massacre New York Mayor Bill de Blasio stands with the owner of the Stonewall Inn in Manhattan to lay a floral tribute to the victims of the Pulse massacre Barbara Poma and Ron Legler, founders of Pulse club - the site of Sunday's shocking violence - also stepped up to the stage to promise that they would restore the club's promise to be a place of safety for the LGBT community. Legler caught the crowd up in a chant of 'Peace! Love! Pulse!' and invited the audience to engage in a group hug with their neighbors. And Pulse manager Neema Bahrami also stepped up to shout 'We will not be defeated,' and to lead the the crowd in a vibrant chant of 'We are here to stay!' WORLD UNITES TO PAY TRIBUTE TO VICTIMS OF THE ORLANDO NIGHTCLUB MASSACRE AT VIGILS AROUND GLOBE Sydney: The Sydney Harbour Bridge was tonight lit in rainbow colours to honour the victims of the atrocity - the deadliest mass shooting in US history Millions of people around the world have joined together to light candles and hold vigils in memory of the 49 people killed in the deadliest mass shooting in US history. In dozens of countries and cities from London to South Korea, Copenhagen, Berlin, Bangkok and Australia, mourners have paid their respects to those brutally murdered by Omar Mateen, who opened fire in the gay club Pulse in Orlando on Sunday. Landmarks across the world - from the Eiffel Tower in Paris to Syndey's Harbour Bridge, were also lit up in rainbow colours to show their solidarity with the LGBT community. London: The lively Old Compton Street in the heart of Soho, central London was packed with thousands of people who all fell silent at 7pm last night to pay tribute to victims Australia: People hold candles during a vigil in Sydney. The Sydney Harbour Bridge was lit with the colours of the rainbow as hundreds of Australians gathered to stand in solidarity with the global gay community after massacre Hong Kong: People in Hong Kong hold candles as they share a minute of silence during a vigil for the victims or the Orland shooting Paris: The Eiffel Tower in Paris was this evening illuminated in rainbow colours to pay homage to the 49 victims Hundreds of mourners - many wearing rainbow flags or holding placards - gathered in the heart of London's LGBT community to commemorate the 49 victims. The lively Old Compton Street, Soho, fell silent at 7pm this evening as a sign of respect for the revellers slaughtered in Orlando on Sunday morning. Meanwhile hundreds of people also lit candles and laid flowers in Glasgow as the names of the victims gunned down were read aloud in George Square. At the US Embassy in London, the Duchess of Cambridge signed a book of condolence which had opened in tribute to the victims Also signing the book was Prince William, while his wife and the US Ambassador to the UK, Matthew Barzun looked on Advertisement Hugs: Members of the audience were invited to hug one another at one point in the talks, to aid healing. Speakers included representatives of the LGBT, Muslim and Latino communities Singing: As the event drew to a close, the Orlando Gay Choir (right) sang 'You'll Never Walk Alone', while those in attendance held candles up to the sky Light: Candles helped to bring a small sense of hope to even the darkest moments in the vigil Held: The crowd members held one another as the service continued Sadness: Though the tone was one of sad reflection, there was a sense of bonding Flags: Many waved rainbow flags, a symbol of LGBT pride, as guests spoke on the stage Colorful support: Carlos Diaz, with his arm painted in the colors of a rainbow, raised his fist in solidarity during the event Introspection: For many the vigils were a period of quiet and introspection Mourning: Crowds gathered earlier in the evening to lay flowers, pray, and pay respects ahead of the vigil Moved: Many of those visiting - gay and straight - had been directly affected by the attack at Pulse Solace: As people dispersed from the Orlando vigil, this man stopped to offer a prayer Speakers from the local Muslim community took to the stage to denounce the actions of the shooter, who was a radical Islamist. And Rasha Mubarak from the Council on American-Islamic Relations of Florida, said: 'It was just yesterday when Orlando, the beautiful city, was dismantled - but this, right here, is a unity message. It is a powerful message that we will not let fear and hate divide us.' The need for unity was also demanded by a representative of the city's Latino LGBT community who stepped up to the podium to emphasize that the majority of the victims in the shooting were Latinos. He remarked on the need to unite - to stamp out 'homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, Islamophobia'. He followed his speech with a reading of the names of victims who died in the shooting, followed by a period of silence. At the close of the event, the crowd stood solemnly as a bell tolled for each of the dead at the attack. Then candles were held into the creeping darkness as the Orlando Gay Choir sang 'You'll Never Walk Alone.' Finally, The Beatles' 'Let it Be' played, and the event came to an end, as the crowd stood beneath the arts center, its front lit up in the colors of the LGBT rainbow flag. Solidarity: New York's Stonewall Inn - the site of riots after homophobic action by the police in the 1960s - became a focal point for mourners in the city, who showered it in flowers throughout the day Rise: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (pictured) called on the city to 'rise to the occasion' and stand up to any attacks on LGBT people. 'An attack on any of us is an attack on all of us,' he said Mayor: New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and wife Chirlane McCray (both pictured right) also attended the vigil, to lay flowers at the site This was just one of many events held across the U.S. in solidarity with the victims of the Orlando shooting, their families, friends and communities. In New York crowds came together outside the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village. Almost 50 years ago, the gay bar was the focal point of riots across the city after a raid by homophobic police officers. On Monday night those memories were brought back - joined by new horrors seen in Orlando, CBS New York reported. But the gathering also spoke of how far the city had come. Standing outside the Inn, which had been showered with flowers in the day before, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo spoke of the 'beautiful sight' of 'New York at its best, coming together to speak with one voice'. 'We believe in New York, that an attack on any of us is an attack on all of us,' he added, and invited all to gather on Sunday May 26. 'Let us heed the words of James Baldwin: "Love does not begin and end the way we think it does. Love is a battle. Love is a war." And it is a war we cannot lose,' he said. 'Lets do, my friends, what New York does at its best. What we do at our best is we rise to the occasion, and we show the way forward.' He also took the opportunity to demand 'sensible gun control,' saying: 'We went through it at Sandy Hook. How many people have to die before this federal government comes to its senses?' Standing: Support came from NYC groups and individuals, who gathered for the Stonewall meeting Power of Love: The healing power of love was a common theme throughout many of the events, including in New York Support: Crowds outside Philadelphia City Hall lit candles in their own vigil at the same time as the Orlando event. Akyra Murray, a high-school basketball star at Philadelphias West Catholic Prep, was the youngest victim of the Pulse shooting at just 18 years of age Hugs and prayers: They may have been in Pennsylvania, but the Philadelphia crowds were with the Orlando memorial in spirit Flags: Many of those in Philadelphia carried both a Pride flag and a national or local one - such as the Puerto Rico flag seen here Thousands more gathered outside Philadelphia City Hall on Sunday night, including Mayor Jim Kenny. The city had been touched in its own way when Akyra Murray, a high-school basketball star at Philadelphias West Catholic Prep, was announced as the youngest victim of the shooting, being only 18. And Governor Tom Wolf ordered U.S. and Pennsylvania state flags at the Capitol complex, commonwealth facilities and other public buildings in the state to be lowered lowered to half-staff on Sunday in honor of the victims, NBC Philadelphia reported. And in Washington, DC, a third vigil was held in two days - with one previous one having been held at The White House Sunday - this time held in Dupont Circle, by a Muslim-American womens group, The Washington Post reported. Organized by the Muslim-American Women's Policy Forum, the gathering's goal was to stand together against anti-gay, anti-transgender and anti-Muslim bias. Chicago, too, had already held vigils, but held a third and fourth simultaneously on Sunday daytime in Boystown, the first officially recognized gay village in the United States, and Andersonville, Chicago Patch reported. Hundreds gathered to pay their respects at the Boystown event. Those in attendance included Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson who reiterated his promise to increase police patrols in areas with many LGBT citizens. Another vigil was held at night at The Center on Halsted and Roscoe. Sisters: Iris Vargas embraces her sister Joanna at a vigil in Sanford, Florida. The Monday vigil particularly focused on local man Luis S. Vielma, 22, whose death in Pulse on Sunday had been announced that day Family: Brian Vielma (bottom left) and Jose Vielma (bottom right) remember their slain relative Respect: Others paid their respect off the mainland, such as at this vigil in the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico Glow: Lit up by the warm glow of the candles, Puerto Rican citizens paid respect to the victims of the Orlando attack Still more gathered in Atlanta, Fox News said, An intersection in Midtown had to be closed to accommodate the crowds, who carried rainbow flags and candles. Others showed their respect off the mainland, too. In the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico, people gathered to light candles and pray for those harmed in the Orlando shooting and the families. Other vigils were taking place Monday night in cities across the U.S. Los Angeles is set to hold a vigil and rally at Los Angeles City Hall from 7-9pm local time, with smaller vigils set at Mickey's West Hollywood, a gay nightclub, at 7pm, and an interfaith vigil at the Islamic center in Koreatown. And in Canada, the cities of Toronto and Vancouver gathered supporters to hold their own vigils at the same time as the Orlando event. Sister act: Sister Millie Terri, of the Washington, DC, LGBT activist group Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, attended another gathering in Washington. This one was organized by the Muslim-American Women's Policy Forum Hands on heart: Mourners offered prayers and hopes for their fallen brothers and sisters in Orlando at the Washington, DC vigil Closeness: Those at the Washington gathering (left and right) held one another as they considered the losses felt by the friends and family of the Orlando victims. There have been three Washington vigils, including one at the White House Sunday Wept: One Washington vigil-goer couldn't help but weep as the event unfolded Candles: Vigil-holders lit candles at the Washington gathering Sunday night A timeline showing the series of events during the mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando that left 49 people dead And though it wasn't a traditional vigil, members of the American Muslim Community Center in Longwood, Florida, paid respect and offered prayers in a special event watched by non-Muslims. Led by Imam Azhar Subedar and with a sermon by Christian Pastor Gus Davies, the event gave non-Muslim members of the local community the opportunity to learn more about their Muslim neighbors. 'It's only in America that we continue to successfully thrive as a unit despite our intellectual differences, our faith differences, our cultural differences or our lifestyle purpose,' Subedar said, according to the Christian Today. 'This is the sole reason why the world envies America. And we're not going to allow anyone to break that from us. We're not going to allow anyone to hijack that from us.' 'So at this moment the call of the moment is for us all to come together in solidarity and in unity to show what an American family is about.' Ceremony: Imam Azhar Subedar (left) and Pastor Gus Davies (right) spoke at a ceremony in a Longwood, Florida mosque Monday where local Muslims prayed for those killed and hurt in the attacks Thriving: Subedar said that America had helped Muslims 'thrive' and that the Muslim community would not let anyone 'hijack' that Prayer: The event was set up to show non-Muslim members of the community (pictured on chairs, at back) how their neighbors pray - and to reiterate that the killer's actions did not represent everyone in the Islamic faith Earlier in the day, before the vigil, family members of those present during the Pulse shooting who had come to Orlando from out of town gathered at the Beardall Senior Center. There, police - who had established a family reunification center - were able to bring together some of the families who thought they'd lost one another in the attacks. Some, but not all. With many of the victims not identified in the media pending family notification, it was down to those at the center to tell hopeful family members that their loved ones would not be coming home. Hope: Family members hug outside the family reunification center in Orlando, Florida, Monday Tears: For some of those going to the center, there was only bad news Nearly four in ten Brits are still wary of shopping online because of banking frauds, according to new research. Despite the popularity of e-commerce, 38 per cent of consumers fear their bank account or credit card details will be stolen by hackers, it found. Cautious shoppers fear scammers are constantly one step ahead of the latest security technology while many also believe they have already been victims of online fraudsters. Nearly four in ten Brits are still wary of shopping online because of banking frauds, according to new research The survey of 1,000 adults by the new banking service Pockit shows 40 per cent think they have been victims of fraud or attempted fraud online. Around one in nine - 12 per cent - have seen money mysteriously disappear from their bank account and 17 per cent have experienced attempts at direct debit fraud, said Pockit. Official figures recently revealed scams involving payment cards, bank accounts and online payments totally 755 million in the UK last year, up 26 per cent on 2014. Many also fear banks do not do enough to protect customers against fraud and would welcome alternatives to the current account system most use - such as a specific, second, protected account. The survey of 1,000 adults by the new banking service Pockit shows 40 per cent think they have been victims of fraud or attempted fraud online This would also be available to the estimated two millions adults in the UK who have been turned down for a regular current account in the last two years, said Pockit. These customers cannot take advantage of the discounts of direct debits or online offers, for instance, so end up paying an average 1,300 a year more for many goods and services, it added. Virraj Jatania, co-Founder of Pockit, said: 'Consumers who've been rejected by traditional banks or poorly treated by them often end up outside the financial mainstream and having to rely on cash. A boatload of Sri Lankans bound for Australia are stranded in a rickety fishing boat off the coast of Aceh, Indonesia. Pictures have emerged of the boatload, which include 20 men, 15 women- one who is pregnant - and nine children after they were found by Indonesian fishermen on Saturday. The boat drifted into Indonesian waters off the town of Lhoknga, off the coast of the province of Aceh in Northern Indonesia. Local authorities, who will not let the asylum seekers leave the boat because they lack proper paperwork, have told media the crew claimed the ship had suffered engine problems. But engineers inspected the boat and believed it was OK to travel on to Christmas Island once choppy weather conditions subsided. The asylum seekers have drifted into the coast of Lhoknga, Indonesia, claiming engine problems The modified fisherman's boat has 44 people on board, including nine children and a pregnant woman Though the people aboard the vessel claim the boat had engine problems, Indonesians technicians found the engine was fine People aboard say they want to continue the journey to Christmas Island, Australia, but are stranded 1km off shore Military commander Major Darul Amin was quoted saying that engine failures may not have been the real reason that the boat was found in Indonesian waters. 'I think it was just a modus operandi.' 'We will go back to their boat today (Sunday) at around 3pm and if they do need food or gasoline we will provide it. Then they have to leave our waters,' Major Darul said. 'Actually we wanted them to leave now but the wind is very big as well as the waves. So I think we have to wait until the weather is better than they will have to leave Lhoknga waters,' police chief Zainudin added. Local fishermen discovered the boat at 11am on Saturday after it drifted into the Lhoknga coast Indonesian immigration police aren't letting the asylum seekers leave the boat because they don't have passports The Indonesian Military Commander says that the boat will be provided with supplies but then made to leave Indonesian waters Lhoknga police said the asylum seekers were well supplied and in good health and didn't look like they needed food The asylum seekers are crowded onto the modified fisherman's boat which can fit 100 Indonesian immigration officials are advising people aboard the boat not to continue their planned journey to Australia The asylum seekers who are stuck in Lhoknga, near the province of Aceh, cannot leave the vessel because, according to military commander Major Darul Amin, they don't have any passports or travel documents. 'We are trying to negotiate with them to advise them to return to their country and not to continue to Australia,' he said. 'We are trying to reach their boat again today but so far we can't because of high waves.' Indonesian officials have said that people aboard the vessel are well supplied and in good health Lhoknga police said the asylum seekers were well supplied and in good health. 'They didn't look like people who needed food. Their faces looked happy. They didn't ask for food either,' police chief Zainudin was quoted telling Fairfax Media. Local fishermen discovered the modified fisherman's boat, made of iron, which could carry around 100, at 11am on Saturday, after it drifted into their coast. The boat was said to be experiencing engine problems and had to stop every few kilometres. Rough seas mean that the boat isn't being made to leave Indonesian waters immediately The International Organisation for Migration is helping the Indonesian Government to move the asylum seekers As of January there were 13,679 refugees and asylum seekers registered with the UNHCR in Indonesia International Organisation for Migration Jakarta spokesman Paul Dillon said the IOM had been advised on Saturday that a boat had arrived in Lhoknga with foreign nationals. 'We indicated we were prepared to assist with the provision of services IOM normally provides and we are just waiting to hear back,' The IOM has offices all around Indonesia and helps the Government to move refugees, as does the UN Refugee Agency. As of January there were 13,679 refugees and asylum seekers registered with the UNHCR in Indonesia, many of whom have been stuck in transit for years, according to the Jakarta Post. UNHCR figures show that Australia resettled 808 refugees from Indonesia in 2013. This dropped to 526 in 2014 and 425 in 2015. UNHCR figures show that Australia resettled 808 refugees from Indonesia in 2013 Many of these refugees have been stuck in transit for years, unable to find a permanent country to dwell in Potter was driving a Toyota 4 Runner eastbound on Interstate 694 in Brooklyn Center when it went off the road and hit a guard rail, the Minnesota State Patrol said. The vehicle overcorrected into the center lane and almost hit another vehicle, overcorrecting again before flipping multiple times. Earls passing is a huge loss to SCSU, to the state of Minnesota, and to higher education, Chancellor Steven J. Rosenstone of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System said in a statement. His leadership, on so many fronts, will be missed. Earl was a colleague and a friend a thoughtful, insightful leader who cared deeply about the university, its students, and the St. Cloud Community. I know he was deeply respected on your campus, as well, and my condolences go out to you all. Police searched Albuquerque City Hall after a man allegedly sparked a hostage situation. SWAT teams are said to be searching the government building in the New Mexico city following reports of an active shooter. One man was taken in for questioning a short time after reports surfaced. Police spokesman Tanner Tixier told reporters Monday evening that officers had detained a man who was believed to be 'the initiator' of the incident that led employees to call 911. Police searched Albuquerque City Hall after a man allegedly sparked a hostage situation. One man was detained and taken in for questioning a short time after reports surfaced Tixier said the man had previous contact with the police department's crisis intervention unit and was known to have issues. Employees had reported that a man was running up and down the halls yelling that there was a shooter in the building. Police believe the situation may have been the result of a hoax, but they were not taking any chances. The search of City Hall was expected to take a couple of hours. Cops have asked people to avoid the area as tactical units scour the building. Members of the City Council Finance Committee were meeting on the 9th floor of the building. They were told to leave the meeting and go to individual locked offices, according to reports. The incident comes less than two days after Omar Mateen kept people hostage in the bathroom of Pulse nightclub in Orlando during the rampage that left 49 people dead. SWAT teams are said to be searching the government building in the New Mexico city following reports of an active shooter. Police cars are seen parked outside the building that houses the local government Embarrassing leaks have revealed that British Government officials colluded in Brussels to keep contentious issues about plans for making the EU into more of a superstate off the political agenda until after next weeks referendum. One of the most shocking of these secret proposals involves allowing 1.5 million Turks visa-free access to Britain. Here, DANIEL HANNAN outlines ten more controversial policies EU leaders are planning by stealth if we vote to Remain... Daniel Hannan (pictured) has outlined ten more controversial policies EU leaders are planning by stealth if we vote to Remain 1. Banning hair-dryers The EU plans to outlaw high-energy dishwashers, hair-dryers and other household appliances. It comes after lobbying by German manufacturers, who see an opportunity to keep competitors out of the market. Even supporters reluctantly admit its environmental impact would be tiny: these gadgets account for 12 per cent of household energy use, or 1 per cent of our carbon footprint. As so often, something presented as eco-friendly turns out to be about commercial advantage. The proposal, as Commissioner Jyrki Katainen observes, has been ridiculed in the media. He means the British media, and hes right. The Finnish politicians response? Postpone it until autumn. 2. A bigger budget A mid-term review of the European Unions seven-year budget was due at the start of the year. But its been postponed till after our referendum. Brussels officials privately admitted they were reluctant to give extra ammunition to British Leave campaigners. What extra ammunition? By the EUs own admission, its unpaid bills amount to 24.7 billion (19.6 billion). Britain pays 12.5 per cent of the budget, so our share of those bills is an additional 2.4 billion. Thats before the extra money being demanded by MEPs to deal with the migration crisis. 3. Open borders David Cameron tried and failed to get an agreement that the EUs free movement rules would not apply to countries that might join the EU in future, such as Albania, Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Turkey. David Cameron tried and failed to get an agreement that the EUs free movement rules would not apply to countries that might join the EU in future, such as Albania, Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Turkey If we vote to remain on unchanged terms, we are accepting in perpetuity that there can be no control over migratory flows. Having failed to get a better deal before voting to leave, there is no chance of getting one if we were to stay. The migration crisis has cruelly exposed the weakness of the EUs Schengen Agreement (which abolished EU internal borders). When Britain joined, we agreed to open our borders to the EU. The EU has now clearly opened its borders to the world. That was never the deal. 4. More bail-outs The Prime Minister has said very clearly that Britain is exempt from any further bail-outs. The trouble is, he said it in 2013. In June 2015, when Brussels needed more cash for the third Greek bail-out, the UK was forced to loan it 600 million. Mr Cameron hadnt lied. He had, indeed, secured an agreement a written agreement, drawn up in the clearest possible language that Britain would not have to prop up a currency it had declined to join. But the moment that agreement became inconvenient, the EU ripped it up; Britain was powerless to stop it. How long before the euro crisis spreads to Italy and France, making Greece look like a sideshow? Jim Mellon, the investment guru, says: When this happens and I am guessing that it will within three years the crisis will be so huge that Germany and Britain (if we are still in) would have to help out. Having made a billion pounds out of knowing when to buy and sell, he is urging us to sell EU membership urgently. In June 2015, when Brussels needed more cash for the third Greek bail-out, the UK was forced to loan it 600 million 5. Deeper integration The EU is responding to the euro and migration crises in the way it responds to everything: by giving more power to Brussels. To anyone else, it might seem odd to prescribe more of the medicine that sickened the patient in the first place, but Eurocrats are Eurocrats. In an official document last summer known as the Five Presidents Report (the EU has a lot of presidents), Brussels officials called for the harmonisation of budgets, economic policy and taxation, as well as elements of social security. Although these things are a response to the euro crisis, most will be brought in as single market measures, because that is the only legal mechanism at the EUs disposal. They will therefore apply to all 28 member states. Britain, despite staying out of the euro and the border-free zone, will be dragged in. 6. Human rights The European Court of Justice (ECJ) began life as, in effect, the highest tribunal of a trade bloc. Yet, as the EU extended its powers into new areas, the ECJ is now more like a supreme court. The greatest extension of its powers has come with the adoption of the EUs Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms. Suddenly, as well as economic issues, euro-judges settle human rights questions. For example, in a preliminary decision, they have ruled against the deportation of hate-preacher Abu Hamzas daughter-in-law after her criminal conviction. She is not a British national, but her son is, and the ECJ holds that her deportation would violate his rights as an EU citizen. 7. Arts import licences London is the centre of the global trade in fine arts, bringing in billions in revenue. Its competitors are New York, Geneva and Hong Kong. Britain has already been disadvantaged by the EUs application of VAT to fine arts sales and, even more, by the preposterous Resale Rights rule, which obliges traders to pay a percentage to the heirs of the original artist each time a work is sold on. Now, Brussels plans an import licensing regime, which would again subject London to more cost and bureaucracy than overseas rivals. Anthony Browne, chairman of the British Art Market Federation, says: Our big concern is that an import licence system would impose a new and very damaging burden on the British art market which is heavily dependent on cross-border trading. 8. Wrecking our ports The EU wants to oblige every port to have more than one provider for its internal services, such as mooring, dredging and unloading. The EU wants to oblige every port to have more than one provider for its internal services, such as mooring, dredging and unloading (file picture) This might make sense for state-owned or state-subsidised mega-ports on the Continent, such as Antwerp, Hamburg and Rotterdam. But it makes no sense for British ports which are private, small, and in competition with each other. Everyone agrees that the measure will deter investment. Every British port operator and every trade union opposes it. Every British MEP, from the Greens to Ukip, voted against it. But it went through the European Parliament anyway, only to have the final decision suddenly deferred. It, too, will come back after the referendum. If we vote to stay in, these new rules will hit some of our most successful ports, including Belfast, Glasgow, Bristol, Liverpool, Cardiff, Harwich and Southampton. 9. Quotas for online TV The European Commission wants online providers to reserve 20 per cent of their content for European programmes which should, it says, be given good visibility. EU rules already oblige terrestrial TV to invest in, and broadcast, a certain amount of European material. The European Commission doesnt want online providers to be exempt. So, more Euro-noir, less U.S. drama. 10. A European Army No one is talking about a European Army, say Remainers. No one, except the people running the EU. The European Commission, in its formal statement, calls a European Army a strategic necessity. One by one, the EU has acquired the attributes of statehood: a president and a parliament; a currency and taxes; embassies and a foreign minister; a supreme court and a legal system; a national anthem and a flag. A European Army is the logical next step. The rabidly homophobic Islamist terrorist, Omar Mateen, pledged allegiance to Islamic State minutes before carrying out the Florida atrocity. He was keenly aware that there could be no other outfit on earth that would take more pleasure in the knowledge that it was gays who were singled out for slaughter. The massacre has thus brought into tragic focus the murderous hatred Islamic State and those its barbaric ideology now inspires to commit atrocities around the world has for homosexuals. IS supporters are indeed jubilant at the choice of target. The smiling killer: Omar Mateen with his wife and son, whose identity has been protected Over the past two years, its blood-drenched foot soldiers have themselves been executing anyone it deems to be homosexual among the millions of Muslims it rules over in Syria and Iraq. Unlike in the Florida nightclub attack, the grim body count of gay victims in the self-declared, secretive caliphate is unknown to the outside world. However, judging by its steady stream of graphic videos of the merciless executions, and other reports from the region by independent observers, the number of homosexuals murdered by IS far exceeds the 49 who lost their lives in Florida. Inside its caliphate, those accused of homosexuality are first paraded in public by masked men, who read the charges against them in a local square before leading them onto a rooftop. The condemned are blindfolded, and have their hands tied behind their back. Then they are casually thrown from the roof to the ground. Those who survive the fall are stoned by a crazed crowd of locals that includes whole families including small children. In Syria, as many as ten men have been murdered in this way at the same time. Perhaps especially heartbreaking is the fact that victims have included young boys who, in any civilised society, would not even be considered old enough to be sexually mature. Given this terrifying state of affairs, many Westerners have drawn the conclusion that Islam as a religion is uniquely irrational in its treatment of homosexuality. The reality, though, is far more complex. For instance, while the Koran does indeed single out homosexuality as a sin, it is the only transgression in the Muslim holy book that is not given a specific punishment. Moreover, the Koran says that those found guilty of indulging in homosexual acts should be given the opportunity to repent, and subsequently rehabilitated into society. The rabidly homophobic Islamist terrorist, Omar Mateen, pledged allegiance to Islamic State minutes before carrying out the Florida atrocity For more than a millennia after the birth of Islam, the relevant Koranic verses were sensibly interpreted by leading Islamic scholars as meaning that homosexuals should be left alone so long as they did not behave in a way that would disturb the public order. Remarkably, from the ninth century until the 21st, almost all love poetry written in Arabic was addressed to beautiful male youths. And in stark contrast to Christian Europe during the same period, where homosexuals were hanged and burned at the stake even well into the 19th century, there is only one example of homosexuals in the Middle East being executed. Indeed, the easy-going attitude survived for much of the last century. Western gays flocked to countries like Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt precisely because, unlike at home, homosexuality was tolerated. So how can Islamic State, and so many internationally recognised Islamic countries, now justify the persecution, imprisonment and execution of homosexuals according to sharia law? Of course, Islamic State itself has shamelessly ignored the teachings of the Koran when it comes to this subject as it does to justify the actions of its death cult generally and instead exploits the infamous hadiths or sayings of the Prophet Mohammed to justify the carnage. But these sayings have been shown to have been largely invented by Muslim rulers over the years. Things had already began to change for the worse for local gays, though, with the rise of political Islam promoted by groups like the Muslim Brotherhood, which originated in Egypt in the 1980s. Regimes in North Africa which were worried by the rise of hardline Islamic opposition parties cynically started trying to curry favour by using laws against outraging public decency established by the former colonial powers to prosecute gays. Police forensic investigators work at the crime scene of a mass shooting, as bodies are removed at the Pulse gay night club in Orlando, Florida Three forensic investigators are pictured above working the crime scene as the windows at the nightclub are completely broken out With the rise of Islamic State, Arab regimes now feel more threatened than ever. As a result, their cruel strategy of adopting the radical Islamists social agenda is being pursued even more shamelessly. Which means the extremist position taken by Islamic State is becoming ever-more entrenched into these historically tolerant Muslim societies. From Egypt to Tunisia, Saudi Arabia to Morocco, homosexuals are now being tortured and imprisoned as never before just as atheists, liberals, pro-democracy and womens rights advocates are also being smeared as foreign agents, traitors and devil worshippers by the regional media. Even in once staunchly-secular Turkey, where homosexuality is legal, gays are facing an unprecedented backlash. The climate is so overtly hostile that in response to the Orlando massacre, a pro-government Turkish newspaper, Yeni Akit, published the grotesquely homophobic headline: Death toll rises to 50 in bar where perverted homosexuals go! The tragedy is that this has all been happening just as the West has been travelling in the opposite direction, championing individual freedoms and sexual diversity. And while it is true that fundamentalist Christians do not approve of gay people, they do not go around massacring them. Omar Mateen had spent his entire life immersed in the culture of the United States, yet despite this he was filled with enough hatred and bile to carry out the worst massacre of gays in modern Western history. John R Bradleys books include Behind the Veil of Vice: The Business and Culture of Sex in the Middle East. Despite the hatred IS had for homosexual, millions around the world united and showed their solidarity. In London, people hold placards during a vigil for the victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting, outside the Admiral Duncan pub on Old Compton Street, Soho An Amber Alert has been issued for three children believed to be traveling with a suspected child molester. Jason 'Travis' Simon, 37, left his home near Caldwell, Idaho in the first week of June in an apparent attempt to evade arrest, according to the Ada County sheriff's office. Officials believe he found out he was about to be served with an arrest warrant for allegedly producing child pornography, and fled along with his son, 6-year-old Kaydn Simon, and his girlfriend and her two young adoptive children. The girlfriend, Sarah Joy VanOcker-Dunn, 36, was charged with felony custodial intervention on Monday, shortly before the Amber Alert was issued. Her children, Lewis 'Louie' Dunn, 10, and Kaylee Dunn, 9, are victims of Simon, according to the Amber Alert. All three children are believed to be in imminent danger. From left, Kaylee Dunn, 9, Lewis 'Louie' Dunn, 10, and Kaydn Simon, 6. The children have been traveling with a suspected child molester for weeks Jason 'Travis' Simon, 37, the father of Kaydn, is suspected of producing child pornography. He and his girlfriend Sarah Joy VanOcker-Dunn, 36, the mother of Kaylee and Lewis, took the kids on the run On the afternoon of June 2, the fugitives were seen buying camping equipment in Emmett, Idaho, officials said. Authorities believed they might have been camping in Gem or Valley Counties, north of Idaho's state capital Boise. They were next sighted in Arcata, California, near Eureka last Wednesday. They were spotted again in Sparks, Nevada on Sunday. Lewis and Kaylee's biological mother, Natalie Benson, told the Idaho Statesman she received a tip of a sighting in Reno, Nevada, on Monday. Police believe they may be traveling in a 2006 Gold Pontiac Montana with an Idaho license plate number of 2CJN683. After they were initially believed to be camping in Idaho, the traveling group has been spotted in California and Nevada Police believe the fugitives may be traveling in a 2006 Gold Pontiac Montana with an Idaho license plate number of 2CJN683 Video courtesy of KIVI Jesse Dunn, the adoptive father of the children, said VanOcker-Dunn may have dyed her hair and Kaylee's hair multiple colors. VanOcker-Dunn previously had blue hair, but investigators say it may now be bright red. Caldwell, Idaho, Police Sgt. Damon Rice told the Idaho Statesman that his department made several efforts to issue an Amber Alert for the children, but they were told the incident didn't initially qualify in part because the kids are with their custodial mother. 'In this case we did tried: We called our contacts and ... we were told on a couple of different occasions that this did not meet the criteria,' he said. The Amber Alert was able to be issued after VanOcker-Dunn was slapped with the custodial intervention charge. She did not have permission from the children's father to take them out of the Idaho. The alert has been extended to Nevada. To Judge Aaron Persky: I was a juror in the Brock Turner trial. I have to be honest and say that I was not happy that I was selected for the jury given my work responsibilities, but once I was in the box, I took my civic responsibility very seriously. Personally I have absolutely no doubt that Mr. Turner is guilty as charged and as convicted on all three counts. The predominantly male jury reached consensus of guilt on all three counts within two days of deliberation. In light of that quick and decisive finding, I was absolutely shocked and appalled when I heard on June 2 about the minimal sentence you announced that Mr. Turner would serve for this crime. After the guilty verdict I expected that this case would serve as a very strong deterrent to on-campus assaults but with the ridiculously lenient sentence that Brock Turner received, I am afraid that it makes a mockery of the whole trial and the ability of the justice system to protect victims of assault and rape. Clearly there are few to no consequences for a rapist even if they are caught in the act of assaulting a defenseless, unconscious person. After the guilty verdict, I expected that this case would serve as a very strong deterrent to on-campus assaults. But with the ridiculously lenient sentence that Brock Turner received, I am afraid that it makes a mockery of the whole trial and the ability of the justice system to protect victims of assault and rape. I recently became an American citizen after being in the country for over 30 years. This was my first experience as a juror and frankly I am disappointed. Although I wasn't in the court for the sentencing, you were reported as having said: 'A prison sentence would have a severe impact on him ... I think he will not be a danger to others.' Isn't that the point ... a sentence should have a severe impact on Mr. Turner just as the event for which he has never expressed sorrow or regret has had on Ms. Doe. Also, given Mr. Turner's complete lack of credibility, I certainly would not assume that he will not be of danger to others. Witnesses describe his predatory behavior both the evening of the assault and on at least one other previous occasion, which is evidence of a pattern of dangerous behavior. Justice has not been served in this case. The jury's verdict of guilt on all three felony counts of sexual assault was completely disregarded in an effort to spare the perpetrator a "hardship". What message does this send to Emily Doe, and indeed all victims of sexual assault and rape, especially those on college campuses? It was also reported that you acknowledged the difficulty of trying to balance the jury's guilty verdict with your belief in the events as Mr. Turner described them. A jury of 12 people found Mr. Turner guilty of three charges, but you, despite the information that came to light during the trial and the subsequent sentencing memos filed by both sides, chose to disregard the jury's findings and other evidence and believe the defendant's self-serving version of events. And you disregarded the findings that he had lied about prior alcohol and drug use in high school. You chose to find the defendant credible on the basis of irrelevant character witness testimony; I find that impossible to understand. During the sentencing, you said, 'The trial is a search for the truth. It's an imperfect process. But after the trial all sides should accept the jury's findings.' It seems to me that you really did not accept the jury's findings. We were unanimous in our finding of the defendant's guilt and our verdicts were marginalized based on your own personal opinion. You had to justify that there were 'unusual circumstances' to give Mr. Turner less than the two year minimum sentence for his crime. But the unfortunate fact is, these circumstances are not unusual. Women like Ms. Doe suffer daily from similar crimes and I fear your sentence will make these victims less willing to report their attacks. This punishment does not fit the crime. Mr. Turner, convicted of 3 felony counts of sexual assault, will serve 3 months in county jail since he is scheduled to be released on September 2. And Mr. Turner is going to appeal the verdict, which not only is a complete waste of tax payers' money but could mean, if he gets off, that he will not even have to register as a sex offender. How unjust would that outcome be, the slate wiped clean for a 3-count convicted sex offender?! Justice has not been served in this case. The jury's verdict of guilt on all three felony counts of sexual assault was completely disregarded in an effort to spare the perpetrator a 'hardship'. What message does this send to Emily Doe, and indeed all victims of sexual assault and rape, especially those on college campuses? Your concern was for the impact on the assailant. I vehemently disagree, our concern should be for the victim. Shame on you. A reformed sex addict and Family First candidate seeking election in the Senate has apologised after his Twitter rant linked the Orlando massacre to 'real and present dangers' of gay marriage. Tasmanian political candidate Peter Madden said on Monday that Australian children parented by gay couples were at risk of being targeted in a similar attack. A gunman stormed a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida on Sunday, killing at least 49 people and injuring 53 the worst mass shooting in US history. Scroll down for video Australian Senate hopeful Peter Madden was slammed for linking the Orlando gay club massacre to the dangers of Australia's marriage-equality agenda. He has since apologised Peter Madden is a Senate candidate for the Family First party in Tasmania for the July 2 federal election - he says he has apologised for a social media post in which he linked the Orlando massacre to Australia's same-sex marriage debate A day after the Orlando massacre, Mr Madden posted this tweet which sparked instant outrage on social media Mr Madden was subjected to a torrent of abuse on social media after his tweet linking the Orlando shooting with same-sex marriage. The politician said he was responding to a person who had criticised his election campaign trailer. He tweeted: 'Though Orlando is abhorrent, it doesn't change the real and present dangers of the gay marriage agenda to Aus children.' Since the post, Mr Madden claimed he'd been the target of hate and vitriol even though stating 'I have no hate toward gay people but love'. On Tuesday, Mr Madden apologised during a local ABC radio interview and said he would attend a vigil in Hobart to remember the victims of the massacre. Mr Madden's tweet was met with outrage on social media, with one user calling it shameful and abhorrent Another took it upon herself to edit Mr Madden's tweet, leaving nothing but the phrase 'Orlando is abhorrent' Twitter user Rob Laing-Smith said it would ruin Mr Madden's political career 'I absolutely condemn the massacre in the gay club, this is absolutely wrong and I'm praying for victims,' he said on Tuesday. 'I don't want to offend people, this is a sensitive time.' Mr Madden's website promotes a 'family values' platform and states that 'gay marriage epitomises the worldwide social Marxist agenda to undermine Conservative values'. Outraged Twitter users immediately responded to the post, describing it as 'absolutely disgusting', 'sick', 'abhorrent' and 'dangerous'. Mr Madden posted this cryptic explanation for his first tweet, after it was labelled 'disgusting', 'sick', 'abhorrent' and 'dangerous' In a follow-up, Mr Madden said the criticism he had copped for his 'anti-marriage equality' stance was 'undue' In follow-up posts, Mr Madden attempted to defend his statements, saying: 'As already stated, I condemn the Orlando massacre and grieve for the victims.' 'My tweet was a response to one person criticising my campaign trailer,' he said. 'This undue response to my reply to a critic is extraordinary. 'Both sides need to be heard as we head to a plebiscite.' Mr Madden, a church pastor and Family First political candidate, has a history of posting controversial statements on social media Mr Madden campaigns on an anti-marriage equality platform and has previously called gay and lesbian people 'immoral'. Earlier in June he said on Twitter: 'The gay rights flag is dripping with the blood of the unborn.' A day later he posted: 'Research proves a large portion of gays were molested as children.' 'Safe Schools [a government-backed diversity campaign] = a social Marxist agenda to molest children's minds.' In 2011 while campaigning for parliament in Sydney, Mr Madden told News.com.au how he had regularly visited brothels and struggled with a porn addiction in the past. 'I am a former sex addict,' he said. 'It was something I found profoundly difficult to overcome, it was through Christianity that I overcame that.' Three crew members remain on board and a container ship is en-route The boat's rigging was damaged in five metre high seas and 75km/h winds The 20-metre vessel, Platino, was sailing 550km north of New Zealand One man is dead and another missing after their yacht encountered rough seas, as the remaining crew members wait for the arrival of a container ship to rescue them. The 20-metre yacht, Platino, was sailing 550km north of New Zealand when it issued a distress call on Monday morning after suffering serious rigging damage in winds of up to 75km/h and seas of up to five metres high. A man, aged in his 60s, is believed to have been thrown overboard after being hit by the boom in the high winds, which later caused the vessel's rigging to collapse, killing a second man. His body remains on the yacht as the remaining crew members try to secure the rigging and the mast that was drifting alongside the yacht. The 20-metre yacht, Platino, (pictured) issued a distress call after suffering serious rigging damage in winds of up to 75km/h and seas of up to five metres high The yacht was sailing 550km north of New Zealand when it encountered rough seas on Monday morning A container ship located 360km away re-routed its journey on Tuesday to assist three remaining crew members aboard the battered yacht. Two other vessels, another yacht six kilometres away and a fishing boat 220km away, were called to assist on Monday, according to stuff.co.nz. Peter Keogh, whose son Brent, 55, and his daughter-in-law Victoria are still on the yacht, is relieved the pair and a third crew member are alive, according to the news report. 'Well [they're] not safe yet, but if they get through the night they'll get picked up, there's not a hell of a lot you can do about it, you've just got to leave them to it,' he told the publication on Monday. The pair, who live in Bayswater, in Auckland, are experienced sailors, Mr Keogh said. A Royal New Zealand Airforce P3 Orion aircraft assisted in the search for the missing man on Monday and resumed its search at first light on Tuesday. A Royal New Zealand Airforce P3 Orion aircraft (pictured) assisted in the search for the missing man on Monday and resumed its search at first light on Tuesday Rescue Coordination Centre of New Zealand watch leader David Wilson said the aircraft would search an area of 223 square nautical miles - calculated from drift predictions. 'The next few hours are vital in this rescue effort both in attempting to recover the man lost overboard, and to ensure the safety of those left on-board. Once the container ship Southern Lily is alongside its crew will help to clear the rigging,' he said. Mr Wilson said the sea is currently up to five metres high with conditions forecast to improve later on Tuesday. Rescue Coordination Centre of New Zealand watch leader David Wilson said the aircraft (pictured) would search an area of 223 square nautical miles - calculated from drift predictions 'There is plenty of diesel onboard the yacht, and once the rigging has been cleared the remaining Platino crew may be able to motor the vessel back to New Zealand,' he said. According to the news report, the yacht had been expected to compete in the Auckland to Denarau, Fiji, yacht race, ahead of the June 1 start but pulled out due to a delay in the refit of the vessel. Anderson Cooper fought back tears as he shared a poignant seven-minute tribute to the victims of the deadliest mass shooting in American history. Cooper began Monday evening's two-hour broadcast of CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 by honoring the 49 people who were killed as they partied at gay nightclub Pulse in Orlando in the early hours of Sunday morning. The journalist, who is gay himself, started by mentioning that his program would not name the gunman or show his picture. Instead, standing very close to where the massacre occurred, he read the names of the victims who had been identified and shared a little bit of their stories as their names and faces showed up on screen. Scroll down for video Anderson Cooper (pictured) fought back tears as he shared a poignant seven-minute tribute to the victims of the deadliest mass shooting in American history on his CNN show on Monday night Cooper started the segment by saying: 'We begin tonight with their names, the names of the 48 out of 49 people who have so far been identified. 'Victims of the deadliest mass shooting in American history, a massacre that happened in a gay nightclub just a block from where I'm standing, just down that road two nights ago. 'There is one name I want to tell you that you will not hear in this broadcast tonight. One picture of a person that you won't see. 'We will not say the gunman's name or show his photograph, it's been shown far too much already.' Cooper read the names of the victims who had been identified and shared a little bit of their stories as their names and faces showed up on screen The victims' names and pictures were shown. Cooper also started his show by mentioning that the broadcast would make no mention of the gunman's name and would not show his picture He added: 'We want to keep the focus on where we think it belongs: on the people whose lives were cut short and we're gonna start tonight by honoring them. 'The truth is we don't know much about some of them, but we want you to hear their names and a little bit about who they were.' Then, his voice shaking at times, he spent several minutes speaking about each victim as their name, age and picture was shown on screen. 'They are more than a list of names, they are people who loved and were loved,' he said. 'They are people who had families and friends and dreams.' THE VICTIMS OF THE DEADLIEST MASS SHOOTING IN AMERICAN HISTORY On Sunday, Edward Sotomayor Jr., 34; Stanley Almodovar III, 23; Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo, 20; Juan Ramon Guerrero, 22; Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera, 36; Peter O. Gonzalez-Cruz, 22; Luis S. Vielma, 22 and Kimberly Morris, 37, were confirmed dead. In the early hours of Monday morning, Eddie Jamoldroy Justice, 30; Darryl Roman Burt II, 29, Deonka Deidra Drayton, 32; Alejandro Barrios Martinez, 21; Anthony Luis Laureanodisla, 25; Jean Carlos Mendez Perez, 35; and Franky Jimmy Dejesus Velazquez, 50, were added to the list. Later on Monday morning the authorities announced more names: Amanda Alvear, 25; Martin Benitez Torres, 33; Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon, 37; Mercedez Marisol Flores, 26; Xavier Emmanuel Serrano Rosado, 35; Gilberto Ramon Silva Menendez, 25; Simon Adrian Carrillo Fernandez, 31; Oscar Aracena-Montero, 26; Enrique L. Rios, Jr, 25; Miguel Angel Honorato, 30; Javier Jorge-Reyes, 40; Joel Rayon Paniagua, 32; Jason Benjamin Josaphat, 19; Cory James Connell, 21; Juan P. Rivera Velazquez, 37; Luis Daniel Conde, 39; Shane Evan Tomlinson, 33; Juan Chevez-Martinez, 25; Jerald Arthur Wright, 31; Leroy Valentin Fernandez, 25; and Tevin Eugene Crosby, 25. In the afternoon, authorities identified another nine victims: Jonathan Antonio Camuy Vega, 24; Jean C. Nives Rodriguez, 27; Rodolfo Ayala-Ayala, 33; Brenda Lee Marquez McCool, 49; Yilmary Rodriguez Solivan, 24; Christopher Andrew Leinonen, 32; Angel L. Candelario-Padro, 28; Frank Hernandez, 27; Paul Terrell Henry, 41; Antonio Davon Brown, 29; Christopher Joseph Sanfeliz, 24; and Akyra Monet Murray, 18. Late on Monday evening, the final name was added to the list: Geraldo A. Ortiz-Jimenez, 25. Advertisement Wielding an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and a handgun, Omar Mateen, 29, shot dead 49 people and wounded at least 53 more when he opened fire at the Pulse nightclub in the early hours of Sunday morning. During the three-hour shooting rampage and hostage siege, Mateen who was born in New York to Afghan parents - called 911 to declare his allegiance to ISIS. Mateen, of Port St Lucie, Florida, reportedly laughed as he sprayed bullets into the crowded club before he was shot dead by a SWAT team several hours after launching the attack with legally bought weapons. More details of the bloodbath have emerged on Monday with Orlando Police Chief John Mina saying Mateen had remained cool and calm during his phone calls with police negotiators. But Mina said he decided to send the SWAT team in and bash through a wall after Mateen holed up with hostages in a bathroom and began to talk about bombs and an explosive vest. On Sunday, the gunmans father claimed religion was not a factor in the attack and revealed his son recently got angry when he saw two men kissing in Miami and said it may have been connected to the attack. We are saying we are apologizing for the whole incident, he said. We arent aware of any action he is taking. We are in shock like the whole country. Two men have been charged with multiple counts of murder a decade after a family of three was found dead inside their blazing home in Pinyon Pines, California. Robert Pape and Cristin Smith were arrested for the second time on Friday after Jon Hayward, 55, and his long time girlfriend Vicki Friedli, 53, were found shot inside their burning home in 2006. Friedli's 18-year-old daughter Rebecca was found in a wheelbarrow about 70ft outside the house, but her body was too badly burned for authorities to determine the cause of death. The two men were first arrested for the murders in 2014 but a judge dismissed the case, citing an undisclosed 'legal issue'. Robert Pape (left) and Cristin Smith (right) were arrested for the second time on Friday and charged with multiple counts of murder for three killings in 2006 Pape was Rebecca Friedli's ex-boyfriend. All three teenagers had plans to go hiking the night she was found dead, but the two suspects said they changed their plans and did not see her at all Becky was found burned in a wheelbarrow outside her house and her mom Vicki Friedli (left) and her long term boyfriend Jon Hayward (right) were found with gunshot wounds inside the blazing home On September 17, 2006, firefighters responded to a 911 call reporting a fire in Pinyon Pines, California, and arrived more than an hour after it started. The blaze was finally extinguished and two bodies were both found inside the house. Investigators believe Rebecca, known as Becky, was doused with gasoline in a wheelbarrow about 70 feet away from the house and set on fire first, according to grand jury transcripts cited by KESQ. Gasoline was also poured on the house, with Friedli and Hayward's bodies found burned inside. But Friedli died from a .40 caliber gunshot would to the head, and live-in boyfriend Hayward sustained a shotgun wound in the chest. Pape, Smith and Becky had planned to go hiking the night of her death, but the two suspects said they changed their plans and did not see her at all. Pape, who was Becky's ex-boyfriend, had spoken to her on the phone nine times in the 48 hours before her death, call records show. The last call between Becky and Pape was made about two hours before her body was found. Pape, who was Becky's ex-boyfriend (pictured together), had spoken to her on the phone nine times in the 48 hours before her death, call records show. The last call was made about two hours before her body was found Pape's alibi was corroborated by cell phone tower records, until both his and Smith's phones were either turned off or cut off from reception between 7.13pm and 10.34pm, a half hour after the fire was reported Pape had been fired from his job at 6.30pm the night of the murders, and both he and Smith told police they tried to go to Mass at 7pm, an alibi corroborated by cell phone tower records. The two told investigators they showed up late, so they went to James Workmen Elementary School to shoot a paintball gun instead. But there was no evidence of their activity at the school, and their phones were either turned off or cut off from reception between 7.13pm to 10.34pm, a half hour after the fire was reported. A search warrant for Pape and Smith's homes did not come through until 13 months after the murders. DNA tests in 2007 linked one suspect to the crime scene, but the two weren't arrested until 2014. DNA tests in 2007 linked one suspect to the crime scene, but the two weren't arrested until 2014. Pape was indicted by a grand jury, and Smith, who was underage at the time, was ordered to stand trial, but all charges were eventually dropped. They face murder charges with authorities saying they have new evidence Pape was indicted by a grand jury, and Smith, who was underage at the time, was ordered to stand trial. All charges were dropped in 2014 due to legal issues during the proceeding against Pape, KESQ reported. At a news conference on Friday, authorities said they were seeking justice after the case was 'mishandled'. Authorities said they had gathered new evidence utilizing 'cutting edge technology' following a 16-month investigation. Pape faces the death penalty and Smith could be sentenced to life in prison. Both are still held in custody. Adeel Khan found guilty of manslaughter over the deaths of Bianka O'Brien and her 11-month-old son Former Sydney convenience store owner Adeel Ahmad Khan has been found guilty of manslaughter, not murder, over the deaths of a mother and her baby who died in a fire at his shop in 2014. A NSW Supreme Court jury on Tuesday found Khan not guilty of murdering 31-year-old Bianka O'Brien and her 11-month-old son Jude but convicted the former shopkeeper of their manslaughter. Ms O'Brien and her son lived above Khan's shop and died in the September 2014 blaze. On Friday the jury convicted Khan, 46, of deliberately starting the fire and also of the murder of the O'Briens's 27-year-old neighbour Chris Noble, who lived directly above Khan's shop. During Khan's trial the jury was told that to return a murder verdict the Crown had to prove the shopkeeper knew the risk his actions would kill people nearby. The O'Briens and Mr Noble died when a large explosion and fire tore through the convenience store and reduced it and the apartments above to rubble in the early hours of September 4. Former convenience store owner Adeel Khan set fire to his store in September 2014 On Friday the jury convicted 46-year-old Khan (pictured) of deliberately starting the fire The 11-months old boy's father escaped harm after he left the unit to go to work Ms O'Brien's body was found the next day laying across her baby. Her electrician husband John O'Brien escaped harm after he left the unit to go to work as little as half an hour before the blast. Mr O'Brien told Khan's trial that not long before the explosion, his wife had smelled spray paint and suspected there were graffiti vandals downstairs. However when he went to investigate he noticed nothing unusual. To return a murder verdict the Crown had to prove the shopkeeper knew the risk his actions would kill people nearby Khan was accused of placing petrol-filled containers around his shop and lighting the fire in order to secure an insurance payout John O'Brien, husband of Bianka and father of Jude O'Brien, is pictured leaving the NSW Supreme Court on Tuesday following the verdict A jury found Sydney convenience store owner Adeel Ahmad Khan guilty of murdering 27-year-old Chris Noble Prosecutors said Khan (right) was under extreme financial pressure and had debts of nearly $400,000 Before the fire Khan was caught on CCTV buying 38 litres of fuel which he pumped into containers Mr Noble, who is thought to have become trapped in his room, texted his mother 'I love you' in his final moments. At his trial, Khan was accused of placing petrol-filled containers around his shop and lighting the fire in order to secure an insurance payout and to avoid lease obligations. Prosecutors suggested he was under extreme financial pressure and had debts of nearly $400,000. But the married father of three denied he started the fire and testified that robbers had tied him up for hours, spilled fuel on the shop floor and left shortly before the blaze erupted. Two nights before the fire Khan was caught on CCTV buying 38 litres of fuel which he pumped into containers. He was buried under debris in the explosion, and told emergency workers who rescued him that he was sorry. A face mask was found in his pocket. The jury retired on June 2 after a three-week trial. Bianka O'Brien (left) pictured with her husband on her wedding day had asked her husband to check downstairs after she smelt spray paint and suspected there were graffiti vandals Police have revealed Rye Hunt died from either dehydration or drowning when he tried swimming from an island off the coast of Rio De Jenairo. Brazilian authorities officially handed the 25-year-old's body over to his family on Monday after confirming the body that washed ashore last week was that of the missing backpacker. Forensic investigators have now confirmed the Tasmanian electrician died during the drug-induced 800-metre swim from Cotunduba island near Copacabana beach, reports ABC. Scroll down for video Backpacker Rye Hunt died from either dehydration or from drowning as after swimming from an insland near Copacabana beach Rio police investigator Elen Souto said it is suspected a psychotic episode had driven Mr Hunt into taking the fatal swim. 'According to our investigation the location of the body supports the investigation that Rye went to the island of Cotunduba during a psychotic episode, coherent with the state of someone who is running away from a danger created in their minds,' Rio police investigator Elen Souto said. 'Certainly because of his physical debilitation, probably because of dehydration, he must have tried to leave the island and not have had enough strength or health to get to land.' The badly decomposed state of the body made it hard for investigators to determine Mr Hunt's exact cause of death. She revealed the body was identified using dental records, before being released to his family to arrange cremating him and returning the ashes to Australia. 'The cremation has not yet happened but the body has been released, they are just waiting for judicial clearance for the cremation.' Brazilian polices said it is suspected a psychotic episode had driven Mr Hunt into taking the fatal swim Forensic investigators have now confirmed the Tasmanian electrician died during the drug-induced 800-metre swim from Cotunduba island (pictured) Mr Hunt's uncle and girlfriend Bonnie Cuthbert (right) is expected to bring his remains to Australia on June 15 Brazilian authorities returned Mr Hunt's body to his family on Monday and he was taken to a local funeral home as his girlfriend and uncle prepare to bring him back to Tasmania. Mr Hunt went missing on May 21 after he became separated from his travelling companion Mitchell Sheppard at Rio airport. They had an argument after the two took what is suspected to be a highly potent hallucinogen known as NBOMe. His uncle Michael Wholohan, who has been searching for him in Rio for the past two weeks, lodged an application with a Rio court to have his remains cremated and repatriated. Mr Wholohan provided the Rio Police Forensic Institute of Genetics Expertise and Research a DNA to compare. 'Rye has previously made clear his wish to be cremated and for his ashes to be scattered in his home state of Tasmania,' the family said in a statement on Monday. Mr Hunt, 25, was last seen on CCTV leaving an apartment in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro This comes as Mr Hunt's family lashed out at Foreign Minister Julie Bishop for unexpectedly telling media of his death before they could tell their closest friends. Ms Bishop confirmed the identification of Mr Hunt's body on Saturday after DNA results were released by the Australian embassy. But in a statement released on Facebook his family said they were 'disappointed' they had not been given the opportunity to share the news first, reported Fairfax Media. The family said Ms Bishop announced the identification of Mr Hunt's body before her department officially notified them. The family's post said: 'We are disappointed that we were not given the opportunity to share this sad and important news with our closest friends and family directly. Brock Turner's high school yearbook shows a jubilant teen who was named 'best legs' in his class. In a photo stamped with the former swimmer's Twitter handle, the then-teen grins happily with his hand around the waist of a female student, also deemed 'best legs'. Another photo shows Turner smiling widely into the camera as his class picture is snapped and filed among his fellow students. Scroll down for video Brock Turner (pictured) can be seen smiling in a yearbook photo as he is named 'Best Legs' with a female classmate In transcripts released from Turner's case, Judge Aaron Persky, who sentenced the convicted rapist to six months in jail for his crimes, pointed specifically to a classmate of the 20-year-old, Leslie Rasmussen, who had been in school with him for years. He quoted a part of Rasmussen's character letter, which read: 'If I had to choose one kid I graduated with to be in the position Brock is, it would never have been him.' Persky said that image of Turner 'rings true' and 'corroborates the evidence of his character up until the night of this incident, which has been positive', he said in the transcripts. The 'lenient' sentence dished out to Turner has sparked outrage around the world and Persky has since received death threats at work, and is the subject of a petition, signed by more than a million people, to have him recalled. The transcripts give a comprehensive view as to why Persky rationalized a short sentence. Rasmussen's letter was believed to place much of the blame on Turner's victim. She later apologized for the letter. Another photo shows Turner smiling widely into the camera as his class picture is snapped and filed among his fellow students Turner's sentencing on June 2 gained international attention after a detailed letter that the victim had read aloud in court was posted online. It describes the devastation the woman felt in being sexual assaulted while unconscious after partying Turner, who is from Dayton, Ohio, had claimed that the victim had been conscious when he attacked her and had signaled her consent by saying 'yeah' Persky quoted the victim's statement in his remarks saying the 'damage is done' and that it is his duty to follow the 'roadmap our system of criminal justice sets out for the court in sentencing decision'. He also suggested that Turner's privileged life should count in his favor, not against him, despite the victim saying otherwise in her statement. 'If a first time offender from an underprivileged background was accused of three felonies and displayed no accountability for his actions other than drinking, what would his sentence be?' she said. Persky suggested Turner has 'more to lose' because of his privileged upbringing. 'I think the victim made a good point, which is, well, if you had someone who wasnt in the fortunate circumstances that Mr Turner had found himself in his youth, that they shouldnt it shouldnt count against them. 'But the I I think you have to take the whole picture in terms of what impact imprisonment has on a specific individuals life. 'And the ... character letters that have been submitted do show a huge collateral consequence for Mr Turner based on the conviction,' he said. He went on to say the media circus surrounding Turner is a punishment enough for the 20-year-old. 'Where, in certain cases, there is no publicity, then the collateral consequence on those on the defendants life can be minimized. 'And so here, we have, I think, significant collateral consequences that have to be considered,' he said. Turner's claims were demolished after witnesses, including heroes Peter Jonsson and Carl-Fredrik Arndt, pointed out that the victim was motionless on the ground at the time Several graduating seniors at Stanford University used their celebratory day to express their outrage over the six-month jail sentence Students who participated in the protest posted held signs that read: 'Stanford protects rapists' and 'Brock Turner is not an exception' Turner, who was found guilty on three counts of rape, is currently incarcerated in Elmwood Jail, a minimum to medium security facility, in Milpitas, California. However, Daily Mail Online revealed earlier this week that he will serve just three months of his sentence and is slated for release on September 2. He has applied to serve his three-year probation term in his home state of Ohio. Turner will also have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life and complete a sex offender management program. The 39 people who wrote letters in support of Turner have also been subjected to a barrage of abuse. Daring motorists sick of peak hour traffic in Sydney's inner west are illegally crossing a pedestrian bridge to slash their morning commute in half. Bennelong Bridge, a 330 metre overpass that connects suburbs Rhode and Wentworth Point, is a tempting alternative to the congested eight kilometre route that winds along Parramatta River. The recently-opened bridge, Australia's largest piece of privately funded infrastructure, is strictly reserved for pedestrians and select bus routes. But with transit lane cameras yet to be installed, commuters are willing to ignore multiple 'Do Not Enter' signs and risk the chance of being caught by police to use the city's best rat run. Motorists sick of peak hour traffic in Sydney's inner west are illegally using the pedestrian-only Bennelong Bridge (pictured) to slash their morning commute in half Bennelong Bridge is a 330 metre overpass that connects suburbs Rhode and Wentworth Point and takes less than 20 seconds - compared to the winding eight kilometre legal route (pictured) Using the bridge reportedly takes commuters less than 20 seconds, whereas the legal route can take anywhere from 10 minutes to over half an hour during heavy traffic. A Roads and Maritime Services spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia cameras were expected to be installed by August, but until then it was a matter for police to enforce. 'Anyone caught illegally driving in a transit lane faces a fine of $319 and one licence demerit point,' the spokeswoman said. Wentworth Point Community Central president Bronwyn Evans said the bridge was not created for cars and the surrounding residential streets would crumble if more cars started using it. 'The residential streets would not be able to cope with the volume if people were allowed to drive across the bridge,' Ms Evans told The Daily Telegraph. 'If you were the only one doing it, it would be great but if everyone did, it wouldn't work.' Until transit lane cameras are installed on the bridge in August, motorists only risk being caught be police The $63 million bridge was opened on May 24 and was a joint project by developers 'Sesuiki House' and the Wentworth Point Landowners Alliance Group. Sekisui House Australia President and Managing Director Toru Abe said the opening of Bennelong Bridge marked an important milestone for the community of Wentworth Point. 'Bennelong Bridge will provide significant long term benefit to the already thriving community of Wentworth Point and indeed the wider community of Rhodes and Canada Bay,' Mr Abe said. A female teacher accused of sexually abusing her 15-year-old student and possessing child exploitation material has appeared in court. The 26-year-old woman, from Perth, was charged last month with 23 sexual offences committed against the teenage girl between July last year and May, including sexual penetration and indecent dealing with a child. She was further charged with one count of possessing child exploitation material on Tuesday. A female teacher accused of sexually abusing her 15-year-old student and possessing child exploitation material has appeared in court (stock image) Western Australia Police allege they found 104 category one child exploitation images, 11 category three child exploitation images and two category three child exploitation videos on a number of electronic devices when searching her home in Forrestfield, in Perth's east, last month. It is also alleged the child exploitation material was recorded between July 2015 and May 2016. Material is classified as category one when a child is naked, and category three when it features a child and adult but there is no penetration. The woman, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the girl, appeared in Midland Magistrates Court on Tuesday but was not required to enter a plea. She is due back in court on July 12. The woman appeared in Midland Magistrates Court (pictured) on Tuesday but was not required to enter a plea The woman faces 15 counts of sexual penetration of a child over 13 years and under 16 years of age (stock image) Police say the girl, who was the 26-year-old's student, was 15 years old at the time of the first offence. The woman faces 15 counts of sexual penetration of a child over 13 years and under 16 years of age. There's 'no doubt' Australia was invaded by the British said Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. The Prime Minister was asked by reporters in Perth on Tuesday if he accepted the term 'invasion' to describe the British colonisation of Australia in 1788. 'Well, I think it can be fairly described as that and I've got no doubt obviously our first Aboriginal Australians describe it as an invasion,' the Prime Minister said. 'I've got no doubt obviously our first Aboriginal Australians describe it as an invasion,' the Prime Minister said to reporters on Tuesday. Mr Turnbull was joined by Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop after attending a youth employment forum in Perth when he was asked about the divisive term. 'The facts are very well known. This country was Aboriginal land. It was occupied by Aboriginal people for tens of thousands of years 40,000 years,' Mr Tunbull said. 'So this was, is and always will be Aboriginal land.' The Prime Minister added that there needed to be 'practical reconciliation' between the government and Indigenous people but distanced himself from treaty talks. 'To introduce another element, a treaty, the terms of which is unknown, the nature of which is unknown, adds a level of uncertainty that puts at risk the constitutional recognition process,' Mr Turnbull told reporters. 'We have to be very careful that you don't set hares running that undermine the real goal, which is to secure ... overwhelming majority for constitutional recognition of our first Australians.' The Prime Minister added that there needed to be 'practical reconciliation' between the government and Indigenous people but distanced himself from treaty talks Mr Turnbull was joined by Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop (left) at a youth employment forum in Perth Opposition Leader Bill Shorten (pictured) said on ABC's Q&A program that he would support a treaty Mr Turnbull's comments come after Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said on ABC's Q&A program that he would support a treaty. 'I do think there needs to be a discussion about should you have a treaty or shouldn't you have a treaty. What I'm not going to do is give all the answers on one spot at one time.' Mr Shorten accused the prime minister a separate event in Perth of not listening to what indigenous people want, saying both symbolic and practical recognition were important. 'I know, through getting out and about with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people ... that just simply pretending the constitutional recognition, reform on its own is the answer to all the problems, it isn't. 'There is a level of cynicism amongst parts of the Australian community that somehow constitutional reform in and of itself will deliver all the other outcomes.' He made 'sexist' remarks to a woman when discussing Aborigines in 2008 ' Facebook comments by Mr Parasiliti were found in May A Liberal Party candidate is being urged to resign after a series of 'sexist' comments on social media, including a Twitter outburst where he compared actress Kristin Bell's face to 'a half-eaten pie.' City of Swan Councillor Daniel Parasiliti, who is running for the state seat of Midland, in Perth, in 2017, should step down, Labor Party member for Fremantle Simone McGurk said on Monday, according to Perth Now. Mr Parasiliti, who has since deleted his Twitter account, allegedly criticised Ms Bell's appearance in a commercial in 2013 soon after he lost an election to Midland Labor incumbent Michelle Roberts by just 24 votes. Liberal Party candidate Daniel Parasiliti (right) for Midland, in Perth, was urged to resign on Monday after a series of 'sexist' comments he made on social media were released Mr Parasiliti, who has since deleted his Twitter account, allegedly criticised actress Kristin Bell's (pictured) appearance in a commercial in 2013 'Kristina bell on Neutrogena, if you want to sell skin care don't have a d class celebrity with a head like eaten pie sell ur product (sic),' the tweet read, according to ABC. It comes just a few weeks after comments Mr Parasiliti made to a woman on Facebook in 2008 were released, according to The Sunday Times. When discussing a national apology to Aborigines and the Stolen Generation in a Facebook group, Mr Parasiliti asked why he should say sorry and disagreed with compensation payouts. 'Wasting money on stupid legal payouts which theyd blow anyways (sic),' Mr Parasiliti wrote, according to The Sunday Times. Mr Parasiliti called Ms Bell a D list celebrity and compared her face to 'a half-eaten pie' (pictured) When a woman disagreed with his comment, he retorted that she should 'go get a d*** in ya including your mouth to shut it.' The series of 'inappropriate' outbursts show a pattern in Mr Parasiliti's behaviour, Shadow Minister for Women's Interests Ms McGurk said. There needs to be standards about how people in the community are spoken to and we can't expect women to be given respect when public office officials are using such language, she said. Mr Parasiliti, who will face off against Ms Robert's again this year if he is not removed as a candidate, said in May that he doesn't remember his comments on Facebook but said called them 'vulgar'. A couple who died together in the Orlando massacre are going to have a joint funeral, their families said. Juan Ramon Guerrero, 22, and his boyfriend Christopher Drew Leinonen, 32, were killed when a gunman opened fire, killing 49 and wounding at least 53 more, at Pulse nightclub in the early hours of Sunday morning. Since then, their families endured an agonizing wait to find out if their loved ones were among the dead. But while Guerreros family were one of the first to find out about their relatives death, Leinonen was missing and it wasnt until Monday afternoon that he was confirmed dead. Even though funeral services are yet to be planned, the families have agreed one thing: they will say goodbye to them at the same time. Scroll down for video A couple who died together in the Orlando massacre are going to have a joint funeral, their families said. Above, Juan Ramon Guerrero (left) and his boyfriend Christopher Drew Leinonen died after a gunman opened fire at Pulse nightclub in Orlando on Sunday I think my son wanted to do that. Thats why, Guerreros father, also called Juan Ramon Guerrero, 61, told Time. I dont care what people think. I dont care. He added: He was a beautiful kid, a hard worker, friendly, sweet person. I lost part of my life. His sons birthday is in a few days and the family still plan to celebrate. Guerreros father said his wife would be cooking all of their sons favorite foods for the occasion. Guerrero and his boyfriend had been together for around two years and were living together, his sister Aryam Guerrero said, adding they were soul mates. If its not a funeral, they were going to have a wedding together, she told the website. They were honestly so in love. You can tell by how they looked at each other. Guerrero posted this collage on Instagram showing Christmas with his boyfriend's mother (top) and his family below The couple (pictured) had been dating for about two years and were living together, their family said She added: Its a little comforting that they died together. Guerreros family rushed to the hospital after a friend spotted him being carried out of the club on a stretcher. At the hospital, Aryam said they had been praying for the best, but then spotted her brothers name on a piece of paper that listed the victims. I said, Thats my brother! Thats my brother! Tell me whats going on. A short while later, they were taken into a room, where hospital officials and a member of the FBI broke the devastating news to them. The moment I heard my mom yell out, we all knew, she added. But no one had seen or heard from Leinonen, whose mother Christine, 58, spent all day Sunday outside the hospital desperately waiting for news. She drove to Orlando at 4am on Sunday after learning of the shooting from a friend of her son. Christine Leinonen (pictured with her son) said her last words to him were: 'I love you, Chris' 'These are nonsensical killings of our children,' she sobbed outside Orlando Regional Medical Center on Sunday morning. 'They're killing our babies!' Her son's friend Brandon Wolf survived by hiding in a bathroom and running out as the bullets flew, she told ABC News. After more than a days wait, her son was confirmed to be among the dead. She last spoke to him on Saturday night about surgery she was scheduled to have. 'I left him with 'I love you, Chris,'' she said. She also told the station that shes proud of her son and that he established the Gay-Straight Alliance at his high school. Guerreros family said that it was her idea to hold the joint funeral. Christine Leinonen, 58, sobbed as she waited desperately for information about her son outside of the Orlando Regional Medical Center on Sunday Guerroro had just finished his first year at the University of Central Florida after two years in community college, his sister said. He was planning to become a financial advisor and was working as a telemarketer for a credit union. She said her family had been really loving when he came out as gay around three years ago. His cousin Robert, 19, said Guerrero had been worried about telling his family, but they embraced him and Leinonen. 'As long as he was happy, they were OK with it.' Robert said he began to worry about his cousin when he heard about the shooting at a club he knew Guerrero sometimes visited. Later in the day, his worst fears were realized. 'He was always this amazing person and he was like a big brother to me,' he said. 'He was never the type to go out to parties, would rather stay home and care for his niece and nephew.' As they returned to work after Sunday morning's mass shooting in a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, TV's late-night hosts faced the challenge none of them looks forward to. Several hosts opened their respective shows on Monday with apologies for departing from their customary hijinks, and with heart-felt expressions of shock and sorrow. Shooter Omar Mateen killed 49 people and injured 53 others in the shooting at a nightclub called Pulse over the weekend. Mateen was killed by police. Scroll down for video Late Show host Stephen Colbert told viewers to 'love your country, love your family, love the families and the victims and the people of Orlando' Shooter Omar Mateen (pictured left and right) killed 49 people and injured 53 others in the shooting at a nightclub called Pulse over the weekend The hosts' specialty is mining laughs. Their quarry is the foolishness of the human race and the absurdities gleaned from the latest news. But when a national tragedy afflicts the nation an event too wrenching to ignore and certainly no laughing matter these jokesters must shift gears. They have to find a way to bond with their viewers, as they do every night, but with shared feelings unrelieved by the comfort of comedy. On The Tonight Show, host Jimmy Fallon said: 'I, as a new father, am thinking "What do I tell my kids? What do I tell them about this? Like what can we learn from this? What if my kids are gay? What do I tell them?"' The comedian said: 'We need to support each others differences and worry less about our own opinions. Get back to debate, and away from believing or supporting the idea that if someone doesn't live the way you want them to live, you just buy a gun and kill them, bomb them up. 'That is not okay. We need to get back to being brave enough to accept that we have different opinions, and that's okay, because that's what America is built on - the idea that we can stand up and speak our minds and not be punished for that, or mocked on the internet, or killed by someone you don't know.' Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon said: 'Get back to debate, and away from believing or supporting the idea that if someone doesn't live the way you want them to live, you just buy a gun and kill them, bomb them up' He continued: 'This (shooter) was just one bad guy here. Forty-nine good people, and one bad guy. And there will always be more good than evil. 'When I think of Orlando, I think of nothing but fun and joy and families. If anyone can do it, you can. Keep loving each other, keep respecting each other, and keep on dancing.' On CBS' The Late Show, host Stephen Colbert said: 'You know what a president, whoever it is, will probably say. You know what both sides of the political aisle will probably say. You know what gun manufacturers will say. 'Even me, with a silly show like this, you have some idea of what I will say. Because even I have talked about this when it has happened before. 'It's as if there's a national script that we have learned, and I think that by accepting the script we tacitly accept that the script will end the same way every time with nothing changing, except for the loved ones and families of the victims, for whom nothing will ever be the same. The jokester said at one point: 'Now these people in Orlando were apparently targeted because of who they love, and there have been outpourings of love throughout the country and around the world. 'Love in response to hate. Love is not despair. Love makes us strong. Love gives us the courage to act. Love gives us hope that change is possible. Love allows us to change the script. So love your country, love your family, love the families and the victims and the people of Orlando.' The shooting took place at Pulse in Orlando. Authorities are seen working the scene A crowd gathers for a vigil in honor of the Pulse night club shooting victims at the Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center in Orlando on Monday Conan O'Brien said: 'I simply do not understand why anybody in this country is allowed to purchase and own a semi-automatic assault rifle. It makes no sense to me. These are weapons of war and they have no place in civilian life' Conan O'Brien, host of Conan on TBS, said: 'The news out of Orlando yesterday is still impossible to fathom. That so many people can lose their lives so quickly because of one person's demented rage will never make sense and God help us if it ever does. 'Now I am not a pundit, I am not an expert, and I have always, always made it a policy to stick to my job and keep my opinions to myself. I have really tried very hard over the years not to bore you with what I think. 'However, I am a father of two, I like to believe I have a shred of common sense, and I simply do not understand why anybody in this country is allowed to purchase and own a semi-automatic assault rifle. 'It makes no sense to me. These are weapons of war and they have no place in civilian life.' Seth Meyers said: 'I don't know who's been congratulating Donald Trump, but you may want to redirect your congratulations to the first responders or those waiting in line to give blood' Both Larry Wilmore and Seth Meyeres referred to a self-congratulatory tweet by presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump Over on Comedy Central, Trevor Noah, host of The Daily Show, also addressed the shootings. He said: 'I wonder if President Obama ever thought to himself that mass-shooting speeches would be such a big part of his job. Because at this point he's hosted 12 state dinners, but he's had to give 16 mass-shooting addresses. So right now the White House is using more Kleenex than it is good napkins. '... America needs to ask itself the question: Do you want to be a country that takes reasonable measures to protect its citizens, or should we tell the president to prepare speech No. 17?' Larry Wilmore from Comedy Central's The Nightly Show said: 'When the news broke, the people of this nation were unified in a selfless outpouring of support for the victims and their families. 'Well, it was selfless except for one person,' indicating a self-congratulatory tweet by presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump. Trevor Noah, host of The Daily Show, also addressed the shootings. He said: 'I wonder if President Obama ever thought to himself that mass-shooting speeches would be such a big part of his job' People are seen at a Monday vigil for the Orlando victims in Boston, Massachusetts Seth Meyers, host of Late Night on NBC, also referenced Trump's tweet, which said 'Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism....' Meyers said: 'I don't know who's been congratulating Donald Trump, but you may want to redirect your congratulations to the first responders or those waiting in line to give blood. An Islamic preacher who called for gay people to be executed has boarded a flight to leave Australia after Malcolm Turnbull said there would be an urgent review into his visa. Farrokh Sekaleshfar's visa was called into question after it was revealed he gave a sermon in Orlando urging Muslims to 'get rid' of homosexuals in the months before the Pulse nightclub massacre. The Sheik boarded a flight in Sydney on Tuesday night, ABC's Lateline reported, saying it was the best outcome for the community. Sekaleshfar expressed sympathy to the families of victims of the worst massacre in US history. He had delivered a final speech at Imam Husain Islamic Centre (IHIC) in Earlwood before his departure, and said he was leaving without the government's direction, but because IHIC asked him to. 'Never have I incited hatred or violence against human beings and I want (everyone) from the Prime Minister to the people of Australia to understand that.' Scroll down for video Controversy: Farrokh Sekaleshfar - a British-born doctor - has gained a following urging Muslims to 'get rid of' homosexuals. In April, he took his speech 'How to deal with the phenomenon of homosexuality' to Orlando 'But if the Government were to make that decision and the people want that, then I respect it, but I don't see any reason for fear even though I do understand why people may panic,' he told ABC. The British-born doctor also said his comments gay people should be executed were made in an academic setting. He said he was referring to anal sex in public in a country which follows Islam. Sekaleshfar had delivered a speech titled 'How to deal with the phenomenon of homosexuality' to the Husseini Islamic Center in Orlando. Two months later, 29-year-old Omar Mateen killed 49 people and wounded 53 by opening fire on a LGBT club in the same city. His father has suggested he was motivated by homophobia. Sekaleshfar has condemned the shooting and denied he had any connection to it. He was on a speaking tour in Sydney this week but the government has announced it was taking a fresh look at his documentation. 'We have zero tolerance for people to come to Australia to preach hatred,' Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told reporters. Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said it was essential for people visiting Australia to follow the law or their visa would be cancelled and they would be deported. 'I've cancelled a number of visas over the course of the last 12 months and I'm reviewing this particular case,' he told The Australian newspaper. Authorities are urgently reviewing the visa of British-born doctor Farrokh Sekaleshfar (pictured), who delivers sermons around the world and has urged Muslims to 'get rid' of homosexuals Weeks before the worst massacre in US history, Sekaleshfar (pictured) delivered a speech titled 'How to deal with the phenomenon of homosexuality' to the Husseini Islamic Center in Orlando The father of the Pulse nightclub shooter, Seddique Mateen, has said his son was enraged after seeing two men kissing in front of his wife and son during a visit to Miami a couple of months ago. Speaking to NBC, Mr Mateen condemned his son's shooting - but shocked many as he said: 'God himself will punish those involved in homosexuality. This [killing] is not for the servants.' It is not clear whether Port St Lucie-based Omar Mateen attended Shia preacher Sekaleshfar's event in Orlando earlier this year. Sekaleshfar has not been linked to the Pulse nightclub massacre. Previous versions of Sekaleshfar's speech have been posted online, showing him say that gay people should die. 'Death is the sentence. There's nothing to be embarrassed about this. Death is the sentence,' Sekaleshfar says in one sermon, dated in 2013. 'We have to have that compassion for people. With homosexuals, it's the same. Out of compassion, let's get rid of them now.' In the video, he also says 'forgiveness is possible' for homosexuality and that 'executions' should only be carried out in countries where Islamic law exists. Earlier this week, Sekaleshfar posted a statement on his Facebook page offering his 'sincere condolences to the friends and families of those massacred'. Previous versions of Sekaleshfar's speech posted online show him saying that gay people should die Orlando Police officers direct family members away from the Pulse Nightclub where 49 people were killed in a shooting on Sunday Jermaine Towns (left) and Brandon Shuford (right) wait down the street from Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida, after the mass shooting on Sunday 'The killing of innocent life is never justified by religion,' he said. 'The perpetrator of this shooting has directly violated this holy commandment and displayed a complete disregard for the sanctity of human life and divine values.' The Sheikh went on to address claims he has been the subject of abuse since the shooting, and that he has received death threats by people attempting to link his sermon with the shooter's motives. 'Such a connection is impossible, because had the shooter listened to my lecture, he would have clearly heard me condemn hate and violence multiple times and endorse compassion towards all humankind,' the statement read. 'I invite my friends to help in supporting the humanitarian needs of the families of the victims of the shooting during such a period and share with their grief. 'This is an Islamic value in all cases where people are being oppressed - whoever they are.' Sekaleshfar arrived in Sydney on June 7 and was scheduled to speak at the Imam Husain Islamic Centre at Earlwood, in Sydney's south-west, according to the centre's website. 'His Eminence Sheikh Dr Farrokh Sekaleshfar. Speaking the entire month of the topic of: Stories of the Quran and testaments of the Mystics,' it read. The centre did not return a request for comment. An officer is seen standing outside the gay nightclub where 49 people were killed when a gunman opened fire An Indian tycoon and his glamorous wife allegedly misappropriated $100million from their company to fund a lavish lifestyle of mansions and private jets, a court has heard. Pankaj Oswal and his wife Radhika are accused of using the money from their company Burrup Fertilisers to build their garish $40million 'Taj Mahal' mega mansion and jet around the country. The couple are embroiled in a legal battle with ANZ which they claim undersold their stake in the company by $1billion in 2012. They are seeking damages of $2.5billion from the bank and receivers claiming the $US560 million the bank sold it for was half its worth. On Tuesday ANZ's lawyers told Victoria's Supreme Court the couple took $100million from the Western Australian company to pay for personal extravagances, The Herald Sun reported. Scroll down for video ANZ has accused Pankaj Oswal and his wife Radhika (above last week) of misappropriating more than $100million to bankroll their extravagant lifestyle Mr and Mrs Oswal are pictured leaving the William Cooper Justice Centre in Melbourne last Thursday Among expenses was the $40million construction of the couple's would-be home in Perth's Peppermint Grove which was dubbed the 'Taj Mahal' of the Swan River. Plans for the property included a 17-car garage and numerous double bedrooms. It was never completed, with the couple leaving Australia for Dubai in 2011. They also flew to birthday parties for their daughter on a private jet and used company cash to pay for a fleet of luxury cars, it was alleged. It was claimed in court that the couple funnelled money from the company in to a trust of which they were the beneficiaries. The bank alleged the couple used cash from their fertiliser company to pay for construction on their $40million mansion (above) Construction on the large mansion in Perth was never completed with the family leaving Australia for Dubai in 2011 'There was no contractual obligation by (Burrup) Fertilisers to pay these amounts,' Philip Solomon QC told the court. Earlier the couple claimed they had been the victims of racism and were pushed out of the company by ANZ risk officer Chris Page. Barrister Gary Rich accused him of holding Mr Oswal in a headlock to force him to sign documents in what he described as 'extraordinary conduct applied to intimidate him'. The couple's share in the company was sold in 2012 but they say they received only half of what it was worth. The couple are embroiled in a legal battle with ANZ which they claim undersold their stake in the company by $1billion in 2012 (pictured last Wednesday leaving court) They are seeking damages of $2.5billion from the bank and receivers claiming the $US560 million the bank sold it for was half its worth (pictured last Wednesday leaving court) They have also accused the bank of forcing Mr Oswal to falsifying security documents and later threatening his wife that she could go to prison if she did not cover debts of more than $1billion in 2009. 'Mr Page said there were people in the bank who believed she was involved and she could go to jail as well. 'He also made it plain that the bank did not want the forgeries to become public and they would be irrelevant once the bank was repaid,' a barrister acting on behalf of Mrs Oswal said. She gave the bank a guarantee that she would be personally liable for debts of up to $US568 million in debts despite not wanting to expose herself to loss, the court heard. The couple's fertiliser empire collapsed in 2010. Burrup Fertilisers is now known as Yara Pilbara. The case continues. Mr and Mrs Oswal is seeking damages of more than $2billion claiming the bank undersold their stake in Burrup Fertilisers Thank you for joining! Access your Pro+ Content below. CW Europe: June-August 2016 In this issue of CW Europe we lead off with a look at the open data success story in France. Making data available promises organisations particularly data rich public sector bodies the opportunity to improve services and cut costs. France is doing just that. Read how following the appointment of its first chief data officer (CDO), France has made good progress in using open data. It now has the number four spot in the Open Data Barometer, compiled by the World Wide Web Foundation. France has also become a prominent member of the Open Government Partnership. Through its data.gouv.fr open data programme, the French government has created both economic and social benefits such as reducing transaction costs. Kallstadt, a tidy village in Germany's lush wine country, has plenty of things to take pride in if you ask its friendly citizens - but Donald Trump is not one of them. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee's grandparents grew up in this hamlet nestled in Germany's southwest but left for America more than a century ago fleeing poverty and later, after a brief return, trouble with the law. Today, no plaque hangs on the modest white houses where they grew up opposite each other on Freinsheimer Strasse, then called Engelsgasse (Angel's Lane), and no street bears the Trump name. Donald Trump's paternal grandparents, Fredrich and Elizabeth Trump, grew up in the small German town of Kallstadt (pictured above) Since Trump started running for president, the small town of 1,200 has seen visitors pass through from as far away as Vietnam Trump has promised to visit Kallstadt the next time he's in Germany. Trump, who turned 70 on Tuesday, is pictured above But in a year that could wind up with the brash billionaire becoming the leader of the free world, Trump is the talk of Kallstadt, population 1,200. 'The Trumps got rich off real estate, that is a major achievement but none of them still live in town. Why should we be proud of that?' Mayor Thomas Jaworek, 48, asks. 'If he becomes president, let's see what he does for America and the world. Then maybe we'll hang a plaque.' The erstwhile Drumpf family simplified its name around 1700 to Trump, long before Donald's grandfather Friedrich set off for the United States at the age of 16 in 1885, according to biographer Gwenda Blair. Leaving only a farewell note on the kitchen table, he joined his sisters in New York, then went out west during the Gold Rush, opening taverns offering food, drink and female companionship to lonely fortune seekers, Blair said. Friedrich, who anglicised his name to Frederick, shipped gold nuggets back east to his sisters who used the proceeds to buy property, laying the foundations of the family empire. Above, the home that Fredrich and Elizabeth Trump lived in before moving to America for good in 1905 Donald Trump's paternal grandparents, Fredrich and Elizabeth Trump, are pictured Above. Fredrich Trump moved to America at the age of 16 and struck is big by opening taverns during the Gold Rush. He returned to Germany a wealthy man and married hometown girl Elizabeth Christ and the two eventually returned to the U.S. Frederick returned to Kallstadt a wealthy man, married the neighbors' daughter Elisabeth Christ and whisked her off to New York. Her homesickness, however, would soon bring them back to Kallstadt. But because Frederick had left Germany before completing his obligatory military service, he and his heavily pregnant wife were forced to return to the U.S. in 1905, according to historian Roland Paul. A quirk of history would have it that two of America's best-known self-made men came from the same small town, as the patriarch of the Heinz ketchup dynasty also hailed from Kallstadt. The main street of the village of Kallstadt, southern Germany, is pictured on June 8, 2016. In addition to the Trump family, the Heinz ketchup dynasty claims an ancestral origin in Kallstadt The village is known for its wineries and hiking trails. Above, signs point in the direction of 'weinguts' in the area - which translates to winery estates The church of the village of Kallstadt, southern Germany, is pictured on June 8, 2016 Retired vintner Hans-Joachim Bender, 74, descends from a grandmother in the Trump clan and a grandfather who was a Heinz but sees little family resemblance. 'What do I think of Trump's policies? I'd better not say,' he said, sitting in his dining room as the sun set over the vines. 'Blowing hot air is not everyone's thing. I think Hillary (Clinton) is a bit less... radical,' he added, referring to the rival Democratic presumptive nominee. The Trumps long claimed to be of Swedish stock due to anti-German sentiment in the U.S. during the world wars and in the aftermath of the Holocaust. The people in Kallstadt are very reliable, strong people and I feel that about myself - I'm strong and I'm very reliable. I'm on time, I get things done. Donald Trump However, filmmaker Simone Wendel, who made a light-hearted 2014 documentary about her hometown's famous sons called 'Kings of Kallstadt', managed to cajole Donald to appear on camera at his Manhattan office in Trump Tower and discuss his German roots. 'The people in Kallstadt are very reliable, strong people and I feel that about myself - I'm strong and I'm very reliable. I'm on time, I get things done,' he says in the film. Trump also promises to pay his first visit to Kallstadt the next time he's in Germany. 'I'm proud to have that German blood, there's no question about it. Great stuff,' he said. Kallstadt owes its reputation to crisp white wines, stunning hiking trails and the local delicacy of pig's stomach (Saumagen). Tourists, including many GIs on leave from the nearby U.S. air base Ramstein, can choose from a range of quaint locales such as Pig Stomach Cellar, Pig Stomach Lounge and the Pig Stomach Paradise deli. Working behind the meat counter, Edelgard Kellermann, 62, says the Trump phenomenon has attracted visitors from as far afield as Vietnam. Above, another view of the main street in Kallstadt, Germany. Edelgard Kellerman, employee of a butcher's shop in the village of Kallstadt, southern Germany, speaks to a journalist on June 8, 2016 The town is also known for a delicacy of pig's stomach, called 'saumagen'. Above, an advertisement for 'pig stomach paradise' on a Kallstadt street Canned pig stomach are pictured at a butcher's shop in the village of Kallstadt, southern Germany, on June 8, 2016 Many of the local taverns and restaurants are named after the pig's stomach delicacy, like the Saumagen Keller restaurant above Above, another view of the main street running through the quiet village of Kallstadt, Germany 'It keeps things from getting boring around here,' she said with a smile. Her expression darkens, however, when asked about Trump's calls to build a wall on the Mexican border to stop illegal immigration and his attacks on German Chancellor Angela Merkel over her 'insane' decision to open the doors last year to more than one million asylum seekers. 'Mr Trump is a descendant of a refugee - his forebears left here for economic reasons, to have a better life. He (Donald) has it even better and should give others the same chance,' she said, calling him a 'demagogue'. One month ago, tiny Kallstadt took in its first refugees, a Syrian family of four. 'It's about showing humanity,' said Mayor Jaworek, who belongs to Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats, bristling at Trump's 'harsh' rhetoric. 'The fact that we now have a family who lived in refugee camps for a long time and who has now found a home in Kallstadt - that is a beautiful thing and we are happy about it.' But Kallstadt's denizens, known in the regional dialect as 'Brulljesmacher' or braggarts for their relative wealth and success, are mostly taking all the Trump hype on the chin. Both Barrera and Phillips - no relation to Denny - were the killing of six people in 2009 The 38-year old is charged with Two gang members have been convicted of murdering six people, including a pregnant prostitute who starred on HBO's Cathouse. After deliberating for three hours Monday, the jury convicted Denny Edward Phillips and Russell Lee Hogshooter, both 38 of Oklahoma, of six counts of first-degree murder and one count of conspiracy each. The victims included 22-year-old Brooke Phillips, who had worked as a prostitute at the legal brothel Moonlite Bunny Ranch near Carson City, Nevada, that was featured on HBO. She was not related to Denny Phillips. the jury convicted Denny Edward Phillips (right) and Russell Lee Hogshooter (left) both 38 of Oklahoma, of six counts of first-degree murder and one count of conspiracy each The victims included 22-year-old Brooke Phillips, who had worked as a prostitute at the legal brothel Moonlite Bunny Ranch near Carson City, Nevada, that was featured on HBO Other victims were Milagros Barrera, 22, who was also pregnant, Jennifer Ermey, 25; and alleged drug dealer Casey Mark Barrientos, 32. Each of the victims was repeatedly shot and stabbed and their bodies set on fire. Phillips and Hogshooter were convicted of six counts of murder because of two of the women were pregnant at the time. Assistant District Attorney Gayland Gieger described the murders as 'one of the most violent crimes I've ever seen'. 'Six people were gunned down and slaughtered,' NewsOK reports. 'Actions of sheer evil were involved that night.' Phillips' attorney had argued in court that his client was not at the scene and did not physically take part in the murders. But Gieger called Phillips the 'puppet master' behind the plan to travel to Oklahoma City to rob and murder drug dealer Barrientos. In 2013, the Associated Press reported that 'Investigators allege Barrientos ran a drug and prostitution ring out of a south Oklahoma City house where the victims were killed.' The wire service reported that Indian Brotherhood gang chief Denny Phillips 'and a second man, David Allen Tyner, 31, were allegedly dealing drugs with Barrientos and plotted to kill him because they weren't happy with the amount of money they were being paid.' 'The murder of Barrientos was motivated by money, drugs, jealousy, anger, and/or the perception that Tyner, Phillips and/or the Indian Brotherhood Gang were being disrespected by Barrientos,' prosecutors said in a court document. 'Unfortunately for Ermey, Barrera and Brooke Phillips, they were present (when) the co-conspirators carried out their murderous plan.' Tyner, a member of the Cherokee Nation who had worked as a drug dealer's bodyguard, was arrested soon after the shootings when he was identified by a witness who managed to flee the drug den. The former Marine and cage fighter finally told detectives in 2014 that he had not committed the crimes alone,newsok.com reported. Killed: Brooke Phillips was pregnant at the time of the November 2009 slaying Other victims in the killing were Jennifer Ermey (left) and Millagros Barrera (right) Tyner, who is serving life sentences without parole in connection with the crime, claimed that Denny Phillips had threatened to kill his family if he didn't take part in his plan. He admitted shooting every victim except Brooke Philips. He told the court Hogshooter attacked and tortured the reality star before setting the house on fire. Hogshooter's defense attorney Perry Hudson denies his client was ever there and insist Tyner had tortured Brooke. Another gang member, Johnathan Allen Cochran, was jailed for 25 years in March after he pleaded guilty as part of a plea deal to testify against others charged in the case, The Oklahoman reported, citing court documents. The Oklahoman, which cited an affidavit, reported that on November 9, 2009, Tyner let Cochran and Russell Lee Hogshooter off near the Oklahoma City home where the murders would take place. Tyner then reportedly went to the house by himself. Tyner claimed to have murdered Barrientos with a gun - after overhearing gunshots take place in a living room while he was inside a bathroom, the newspaper reported. Referring to the affidavit, the Oklahoman said Tyner pursued Barrientos out of the home, got back, and saw the bodies of the slain female bystanders. He also claimed to see Cochran and Hogshooter with knives covered in blood. The house was lit ablaze by Hogshooter - then he, along with Tyner and Cochran, burned the clothes they were wearing, hid their firearms in the ground, then took off, the Oklahoman reported. Denny Phillips, seen in this file photo, allegedly encouraged David Tyner to commit the murders Johnathan Allen Cochran, left, was previously sentenced to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to murder and conspiracy in the deaths of six people. He had worked with Russell Lee Hogshooter, right, and David Tyner A friend of Miss Phillips, pictured here, said at the time of her death that she was not involved in drugs and had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. The friend said: 'Brooke never used drugs. She barely even drank. But she did date a drug dealer on and off.' Shortly after the November 2009 murders, Moonlite Bunny Ranch owner Deninis Hof told CBS News upon learning of Brooke Phillips' death 'That's terrible, terrible, terrible. We're sad.' 'It's been the saddest few days of the 54 years at the BunnyRanch,' Hof said at the time. Phillips has always denied any connection to the murders. But his former girlfriend previously said in court that he had bragged about the murders. 'He liked to brag. When he was describing the murders, it sounded like bragging,' Kelsey Day testified in February 2013 at a preliminary hearing for Phillips. Day, who was dating Phillips when the November 2009 killings occurred, said Phillips had provided details of the victims' deaths that made her believe that he was there. Michael Mease, a federal inmate serving time on a weapons charge, testified that he befriended Phillips while both were incarcerated at a federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, in 2012. Phillips was serving a seven-year sentence on charges related to a shootout in Tulsa in April 2010. 'He told me he was involved in the murders,' Mease testified last year. 'He told me it was over some bad drug business ... he said he wasn't there at the scene, but he was watching closely.' Mease said he notified authorities of Phillips' statements because Phillips showed no remorse for the deaths of the women in the house, while noting that another man who had been inside the home had escaped when the gunfire began. 'That was unexpected, because everyone in the house was supposed to die,' Mease said. He said Phillips told him they were supposed to leave no witnesses. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for both Phillips and Hogshooter. Images of a decapitated human head inside a plastic bag have emerged after it was confirmed a second Canadian hostage was beheaded by Muslim extremist guerrillas. Philippine officials said Abu Sayyaf militants beheaded Robert Hall after a large ransom demand wasn't met. A severed head had been found near a Catholic cathedral on Jojo, a remote southern island, on Monday but no identification had been made. A member of the Philippine National Police Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) holding a plastic bag containing a recovered decapitated human head Hostages Canadian national Robert Hall (R) and Norwegian national Kjartan Sekkingstad (L) were pictured in this undated picture taken in the southern Philippines The head reportedly belongs to Canadian hostage Robert Hall, left. He was abducted from a seaside resort in the southern Philippines in September Mr Hall was abducted with a Filipino woman, a Norwegian man and another Canadian man Mr Hall was kidnapped from an upscale resort on Samal Island last September with another Canadian, a Norwegian and a Filipino. Mr Hall was the second Canadian hostage to be beheaded by Abu Sayyaf militants this year. John Ridsdel, a former mining executive, was beheaded in April. A Norwegian man and a Filipino woman are still being held by the Muslim rebel group. The Philippines government has condemned the execution in an official statement. Mr Hall was the second Canadian hostage to be beheaded by Abu Sayyaf militants this year The hostages were taken from Samal Island in the Philippines in September, 2015. Mr Hall died after ransom demands for the victims were not met 'We strongly condemn the brutal and senseless murder of Mr Robert Hall, a Canadian national, after being held captive by the Abu Sayyaf group in Sulu for the past nine months,' Philippines President Benigno Aquino said. Abu Sayyaf, demanded one billion pesos ($29.4 million) each for the hostages, but lowered the ransom to 300 million pesos each early this year. Intelligence reports from the Philippines indicated Hall had been beheaded 10 minutes after the deadline lapsed in the mountains outside Jolo's Patikul town The head was dumped near a Catholic cathedral on Jojo, a remote southern island, on Monday Intelligence reports from the Philippines indicated Hall had been beheaded 10 minutes after the deadline lapsed in the mountains outside Jolo's Patikul town. Abu Sayyaf is known for kidnapping, beheadings and extortion. 'We cannot allow this situation to continue, this should end once and for all,' President-elect Rodrigo Duterte's national security adviser Hermogenes Esperon told Reuters. The group involved, Abu Sayyaf, is known for kidnapping, beheadings and extortion Abu Sayyaf, demanded one billion pesos ($29.4 million) each for the hostages, but lowered the ransom to 300 million pesos each early this year This is the nail-biting moment a railway porter saves the life of an elderly man who nearly stepped in front of a speeding train. Tom Keown spotted the man walking past the automatic gate at Brisbane's Wynnum Central Station on April 7, scrambling to blow the whistle that made him step out off the tracks in the nick of time. Mr Keown won a bravery award for his quick-thinking efforts, which were caught on camera in dramatic CCTV footage. Scroll down for video This is the nail-biting moment a railway porter saves the life of an elderly man who nearly stepped in-front of a speeding train Tom Keown (left) won a bravery award for his quick-thinking efforts, which were caught on camera in dramatic CCTV footage Footage shows the elderly man pushing the automatic gate open and making his way onto the tracks, despite lights at the crossing signalling an oncoming express train. 'I shouted at him but he didn't hear me, so I began to blow my whistle very loudly and run towards him,' Mr Keown told Courier Mail. The man takes a step back after hearing the whistle, narrowly avoiding the hurtling locomotive. 'I was panicking, I was afraid that there was going to be a serious accident. I was very frightened for the man.' Wynnum Central is notorious for people illegally walking past the gate, with 100 people caught walking over the gate in the last two months alone. Mr Keown was given a bravery award from State Labor MP for Lytton Joan Pease. Tom Keown (left) spotted the man (top) walking past the automatic gate at Brisbane's Wynnum Central Station on April 7, scrambling to blow the whistle that made him step out off the tracks in the nick of time The elderly man (pictured) was seen on CCTV footage walking towards the train tracks before he was shouted at to stop 'I shouted at him but he didn't hear me, so I began to blow my whistle very loudly and run towards him,' Mr Keown said Irish police have been told off by an ombudsman for carrying out a raid at 3am and have been urged to search suspects' homes at a 'reasonable time' so as not to disturb their targets. The dawn raid is the oldest police tactic in the book - catch the suspects while they are asleep and you can expect no resistance. But the Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) slapped down the police after receiving a complaint from a member of the public. Armed Gardai on patrol in Dublin earlier this year. A feud between two Dublin gangs has led to seven murders but now Gardai have been told not to carry out night-time raids on suspects Gardai investigating the theft of car parts served a search warrant on a suspect in Dublin at 3.15am. The GCOC said: 'Upon review, it was determined that there was insufficient evidence to warrant the initiation of any criminal or disciplinary proceedings. 'However, GSOC noted that although current legislation allows for searches to be conducted at any time, it was believed by GSOC that the timing of the search at 03:15hrs was not a reasonable time to conduct a search of this nature.' The ombudsman has asked the Garda to consider adopting a Code Of Practice, which includes a recommendation that search warrants are carried out at a 'reasonable time'. One officer told the Sunday Times 'It's a nonsense to suggest that houses can only be searched during daylight hours. 'If we believe someone has a gun hidden in their attic should we wait till everyone is out of bed before we try to seize it?' The dawn raid is the oldest trick in the police's book - smash the door down in the early hours and find the evidence before the suspect has time to throw it or flush it away STOCK IMAGE But Dublin barrister Paul McDermott said: 'The purpose of a search is to gather evidence, it's not a tool to annoy someone suspected of crime or bring pressure on them. 'It should always be done in normal working hours unless the gardai believe there are certain reasons why it's urgent, such as a drug transaction is about to take place. The radical US Marine turned Muslim cleric thought to have inspired Orlando massacre gunman Omar Mateen has been supported by the British campaign group who defended Jihadi John. Controversial group Cage last year urged supporters to help raise $10,000 to fund hate preacher Marcus Robertson's legal fees as he fought terror charges. Mateen, 29, who was shot dead by a SWAT team who stormed inside the Pulse nightclub in Orlando early on Sunday morning, is believed to have been enrolled in Robertson's online 'Fundamental Islamic Knowledge Seminary', and is thought to have been inspired by the cleric's homophobic rants. Orlando gunman Omar Mateen (left) is believed to have been inspired by Marcus Dwayne Robertson (right), a former US Marine who turned into a radical Muslim cleric. Controversial group Cage last year urged supporters to help raise $10,000 to fund Robertson's legal fees as the cleric fought terror charges The radical US Marine turned Muslim cleric thought to have inspired Orlando massacre gunman Omar Mateen has been supported by the British campaign group who defended Jihadi John Robertson, 47, known as Abu Taubah to his followers, was arrested and questioned by police after the shooting at the popular gay club, which left 49 dead and at least 53 injured. He was jailed for fraud in 2011, and last year prosecutors attempted to have ten years added to his sentence after documents preaching terror were allegedly discovered among his possessions. A judge later released him, but before this, Cage, which supports Muslims suspected of terror offences, had asked its supporters to wire money to his family to help pay his legal bills. In 2015 the group found itself at the centre of a bitter row when its representatives described the man behind the Islamic State beheadings, Jihadi John, as a beautiful, kind man. At an extraordinary press conference hours after the identity of Jihadi John was revealed, Cage spokesman Asim Qureshi said the man involved, Mohammed Emwazi, wouldnt hurt a fly and that the British security services were at least partly responsible for radicalising him. Cage spokesman Asim Qureshi (left) said Mohammed Emwazi, aka Jihadi John, wouldnt hurt a fly and that the British security services were at least partly responsible for radicalising him A post on Cage's website from April last year carries a message from one of Robertson's two wives ahead of his sentencing, which says 'we are accepting whatever it is that Allah has in store for us'. The post claims US prosecutors had 'attempted to portray him as a radicaliser sending people to train overseas', and that he was not aware of some of the evidence against him. It advises that supporters can send funds to contribute to the $10,000 needed by Mail Union, wire transfer or PayPal. Robertson, who was living in Florida, was brought in along with several other associates in for questioning on Sunday morning. According to Fox News, a law enforcement source said: 'It is no coincidence that this happened in Orlando. Mateen was enrolled in (Robertson's online) Fundamental Islamic Knowledge Seminary.' Police believe that Robertson's Timbuktu Seminary is used to dispense his radical teachings, sources said. Robertson, who was a former US Marine and undercover FBI agent before turning into a radical Imam, has previously been allowed into Britain, and preached at the Green Lane mosque in Small Heath, Birmingham, in 2010 - despite his violent criminal background, according to The Sun. Many British ISIS fighters have described him as an inspiration, while videos of his lectures posted online show him rail against homosexuals and describe cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants, as gay and a means to promote homosexuality to children. Robertson (pictured), who is also known as Abu Taubah, converted 36 people to his version of Islam while he was imprisoned for four years Mateen was a member of the Timbuktu Seminary, an educational website run by Robertson (above) that police believe is used to dispense his radical teachings US law enforcement officials have been familiar with Robertson since as early as 1991. After serving as a Marine for six years, he became the leader of a New York gang known as 'Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves' and robbed more than ten banks, private homes and post offices at gunpoint. They shot three police officers and also attacked an officer after he suffered injuries from a homemade pipe bomb. In that same period, authorities claimed that Robertson, who was known as 'Ali Baba,' also 'served as a bodyguard to Omar Abdel Rahman, who led the terrorist group that carried out the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center,' it has been reported. When he was arrested in 1991 he cut a deal with prosecutors who let him serve just four years in prison before he went to work undercover for the FBI in 2004 to document terrorists' plans in Africa and the United States. Mateen, who was shot dead by a SWAT team who stormed inside the Pulse nightclub in Orlando early on Sunday morning, is believed to have been enrolled in Robertson's online 'Fundamental Islamic Knowledge Seminary' Police used a controlled explosion to distract Mateen before storming the nightclub to kill him. Above, the scene at Pulse nightclub on Sunday after the shootings He was dismissed by the FBI in 2007 after allegedly attacking his CIA handler, and then began preaching Islamic extremism. He was jailed in 2011 but was released from prison last year despite warning from officials and prosecutors that he would recruit people to carry out horrendous acts of violence. He was considered so dangerous that he was kept shackled with his own security detail away from other inmates. Whenever he was transported to court, authorities had a seven-car caravan of armed federal marshals escort him. He was eventually moved to solitary confinement after prison officials discovered that he was trying to radicalize his fellow inmates. He converted at least 36 people to his version of Islam during his time behind bars. A 29-year-old woman has been stabbed three times in the neck and stomach in western Sydney. Paramedics were called to Garswood Road in Glemore Park, 60 kilometres west of the city centre, about 5:40pm. A NSW Police spokesman told Daily Mail Australia it is believed the man who attacked the woman is known to her. Scroll down for video A 29-year-old woman has been stabbed three times in the neck and stomach in western Sydney Paramedics were called to Garswood Road in Glemore Park, 60 kilometres west of the city centre, about 5:40pm She has been taken to Westmead Hospital and will be interviewed by police. The man who allegedly attacked the woman has not been apprehended. One in three pupils in London failed to secure a place at their first-choice secondary school this year as councils grapple with demand for places as a result of the capital's baby boom. Barely half of the 11-year-olds in some of London's boroughs managed to clinch a spot at their favourite school, exposing a postcode lottery which is hitting London's children the hardest. The area with the worst record across the entire country is Hammersmith and Fulham, in west London, where just 600 students (52 per cent) secured a place at their first-choice school. Also at the bottom of the pile was Westminster - where only 635 (53.4 per cent) students got their top spot - and Lambeth, where only 1,481 (57.9 per cent) pupils were lucky. The concerning figures also reveal that 17,500 pupils in the capital - more than a fifth - will be forced to travel outside of their home borough just to attend school. The national places crisis is reflected in figures from across the country, where around one in six children missed out on a place at their first choice of secondary school. Figures from the Department for Education show more than 87,000 students (15.9 per cent) missed out on their favourite school, while more than 27,000 (five per cent) of 11-year-olds did not even manage to secure a place in one of their preferred three. Of those who applied, 19,700 (3.5 per cent) did not receive an offer from any of their top six. By law, councils must find a place for every child by September, but officials are battling with a bulge in the secondary school population caused by a baby boom fuelled by migration. This means students will either be crammed into super-size year groups or sent to less popular schools far away from their homes. Those who were not allocated one of their top schools - which can include academies - will be assigned to another one or will be given a list of schools with available places to chose from. Today's statistics paint a worrying picture of the growing battle for school places, with the number of students rejected from their first-choice school increasing year-on-year. The problem is only expected to intensify because more schools are becoming academies, which are free from local authority control. The spike in the birth rate has already been putting pressure on the primary sector, but is now beginning to take its toll on secondary schools. In 2013, 66,495 pupils did not secure a place at the top school, with that figure increasing to 77,148 in 2014. The following year, it increased again to 84,263, before surging again this year. In total, there were 548,006 applications for a secondary school place this year - an increase of 2.8 per cent from 2015 and the highest number on record since 2008. Barely half of the 11-year-olds in some of London's boroughs managed to clinch a spot at their favourite school, exposing a postcode lottery which is hitting London children the hardest (file picture) But the problem remains most acute in London, where 59,644 (68.8 per cent) of the 86,600 applicants secured a place in their first-choice school. In total, 17,500 pupils in London (20.2 per cent) were offered schools in another local authority to where the child lives, compared with 8.6 per cent across the rest of the country. In previous years, children in London have been forced to commute for more than two hours every day to schools in other parts of the city - a problem likely to recur this year. Last year, a report by London Councils put this down to the number of children aged five to 19 having increased by 112,000 between 2010 and 2015. The report forecast that the school-age population would rise by another 12 per cent over the next five years - nearly twice the rate for the rest of England. At the bottom of the pile across the entire country was Hammersmith & Fulham (pictured) where more than 600 children (48 per cent) missed out on their first choice school TEN LOCAL AUTHORITIES WHERE PERCENTAGE OF CHILDREN SECURING PLACES AT FIRST-CHOICE SCHOOL IS THE HIGHEST Northumberland 98.7% Central Bedfordshire 98.6% Cornwall 98.4% Devon 96.9% East Riding of Yorkshire 96.8% Rotherham 96.3% North Tyneside 96% Wilshire 95.8% Derbyshire 95.7% Leicestershire 95.7% Advertisement TEN LOCAL AUTHORITIES WHERE PERCENTAGE OF CHILDREN SECURING PLACES AT FIRST-CHOICE SCHOOL IS THE LOWEST Hammersmith and Fulham 52% Westminster 53.4% Lambeth 57.9% Wandsworth 58.4% Kensington and Chelsea 58.6% Southwark 59% Lewisham 59.6% Brent 63.5% Hounslow 64% Greenwich 64.6% Advertisement By 2020, there are expected to be 146,000 more five to 19-year-olds in London than there were last year. In Hammersmith and Fulham, where the local authority is at breaking point, the latest census shows a 10.4 per cent increase between 2001 and 2011, including a 17 per cent hike in those aged between 0-4. Nearly a quarter of those living in the borough said they arrived in the UK between 2001 and 2011, while the number of those born abroad rose from 33.6 per cent to 42.8 per cent. Oppositely, in Northumberland, where children are mostly likely to get a place at their first-choice school, the population only rose by 2.9 per cent between 2001 to 2011. The majority of that population increase was in those aged over 65, while the number of those born abroad stayed at around 8 per cent. Councillor Roy Perry, Chairman of the Local Government Associations Children and Young People Board, said changes needed to be made so councils have the power to compel academies to expand. He said: 'More than 800,000 extra places are needed by 2024, and while councils have a statutory duty to ensure every child has a school place available to them, they find themselves in the difficult position of not being able to ensure schools, including academies, expand. 'Finding suitable sponsors with the capacity to take on the running of a successful new school is also proving a challenge. 'Councils are therefore calling for powers to either compel academies to expand to provide enough places, or to create new schools if they are unable to secure high quality free school sponsors in their communities.' The government says it invested 5bn during the last parliament to help create half a million new school places, with a further 7bn set aside to create more places over the next six years. A Department for Education spokesman said: 'Delivering good quality school places is a top priority for this Government and today's figures show that the system continues to work. HOW TO APPEAL THE DECISION Families who do not win a place at their favoured school can appeal to the admission authority for the school - usually the school itself or the council. A hearing will then be heard by a three-person independent panel. The appeals panel must decide if the schools admission criteria was properly followed and are legal. The panel must then decide if they were followed fairly and thoroughly. If they were not followed accordingly, the parent's appeal will be upheld. If they were followed accordingly, the parent is expected to present reasons as to why their child should go to that school. Parents must appeal against each rejection separately and decisions will be given within five days of the hearing. The admission authority for the school must give parents at least 10 school days notice of the hearing. Appeals must be heard within 40 school days of the deadline for making an appeal. Parents should also put their child's name on the waiting list for their preferred school. Advertisement 'The vast majority of pupils were offered a place at their first choice school and more than 95 per cent received offers from one of their top three choices. 'Our reforms and our academy programme are raising standards for all children, with 1.4 million more pupils in good or outstanding schools than in 2010. 'We will continue to invest and work hard to ensure every child has an excellent education that allows them to reach their full potential.' The best-performing authority for the second-year running was Northumberland, where 98.7 per cent of student secured a spot in their first-choice school. This was closely followed by Central Bedfordshire and Cornwall where 98.6 per cent and 98.4 per cent respectively will attend their preferred school. The South West was the region with the highest proportion of first choice offers at 91.9 per cent, followed by the North East at 91.8 per cent. The latest Department for Education statistics also show that 88.4 per cent of youngsters seeking primary school places were offered their first choice, up from 87.8 per cent last year. This means that almost one in eight did not receive their top preference. Today, shadow education secretary Lucy Powell said the Government's 'free market approach' to providing new school places 'just isn't working'. 'Children are being crammed into ever larger class sizes and many primary and secondary schools are at or over capacity,' she said. 'The provision of new places needs proper planning and co-ordination. Yet this Government's fixation with free schools, which can be opened where there is no shortage of school places, has made it harder and harder to ensure there are enough good school places in every local area.' She also added that, while there were 'legitimate concerns' about the impact of migration on the system, it was only five per cent of new places that were needed for children of EU migrants. 'This should have been better managed by Tory education ministers without a doubt, but the vast majority of pressure on the school places system is coming from a rising UK birthrate. 'It is time for ministers to give local areas adequate powers to plan for new places and remove the bureaucracy that councils face when it comes to opening and expanding schools.' Families who do not win a place at their favoured school can appeal, and one admissions expert said more are now willing to take that step, and get legal help to do so. Matt Richards, of legal advice firm schoolappeals.com, said: 'A few years ago out of 10 phone calls to us, maybe two would pay for some help. Now it's more like 50 per cent. 'People are much more switched on in terms of their legal rights and in terms of not wanting to do it on their own and asking for help.' Last year, there were 54,600 appeals against school allocations - 3.7 per cent of the total number of admissions to state schools. Reeva Steenkamp's heartbroken father today urged a judge to show the world pictures of his daughter's gunshot wounds so everyone could see the pain Oscar Pistorius had inflicted on her. In dramatic testimony, Barry Steenkamp, 73, said the Paralympian 'must pay' for the model's murder as he addressed the disgraced athlete directly for the first time. Mr Steenkamp described how he had repeatedly self-harmed and driven needles into his own body since his daughter's death to 'try and feel the same pain that she went through' on the night she was shot dead by Pistorius three years ago. He told the court he wanted the world to see a picture of Reeva's dead body so 'the world can see the wounds that were inflicted on Reeva and the pain she must have gone through.' Scroll down for live feed of the hearing Emotional: Reeva Steenkamp's father, Barry, breaks down on the witness stand as he urges the judge to show the world pictures of his daughter's body so everyone could see the pain Oscar Pistorius had inflicted on her Tormented: Mr Steenkamp described how he had repeatedly self-harmed and driven needles into his own body since his daughter's death to 'try and feel the same pain that she went through' Can't bear to look: Pistorius buried his head in his hands in the dock as Mr Steenkamp took to the stand The retired racehorse trainer broke down repeatedly in the witness box as he laid bare the devastating impact his only daughter's death had had on his life. 'I think of her every day of my life, morning, noon and night, in the early hours of the morning, I think of her all the time,' he told a sentencing hearing that will decide what punishment Pistorius will face for killing the 29-year-old. He described his wife June's devastation, adding that 'people say that June is "stone-faced" but I know that June grieves like I do all the time. 'She is probably a bit stronger, I hear her crying at night time and talking to Reeva and of course she feels just as much as I do.' The Paralympian breaks down in court as he listens to testimony during his sentencing hearing Pistorius's lawyer Barry Roux told the court: 'We understand, we are really very very sorry, whatever we do can't bring her back and whatever I say can't bring her back.' During the lunch adjournment, Pistorius was seen examining paperwork with his lawyers prompting speculation that he had prepared a statement to be read to the open court. Pistorius locked eyes with his victim's father for the first time across court as the older man told him that although he had spurned his requests to meet, he would be prepared to hear directly from him one day. And although he and his wife, June, 69, had forgiven the killer, they were convinced he should lose his freedom. A clutch of female supporters, who had queued for hours for a seat in the court's public gallery, gasped audibly and began to sob and pray as Mr Steenkamp told Judge Thokozile Masipa that he wanted to see his daughter's killer back behind bars. 'Not the maximum sentence,' he told her. 'But Oscar has to pay for what he did.' Answering questions from prosecutor Gerrie Nel, Mr Steenkamp wept as he re-lived the terrible morning he heard his daughter had died. 'I got a phone call from June and I couldn't really understand what she was so upset about, screaming and shouting. 'She said "come home immediately, just come home". 'On my way home, I tried to fathom what she had tried to tell me... that's when I started to panic,' he said, his voice barely audible between sobs. 'The more I drove the more I realised that Reeva had been killed.' The packed court was hushed for the dramatic evidence. Members of Pistorius's family, who have turned out in force for the crucial hearing, watched him with concern as he appeared to weep in the dock. New evidence: Two forensic experts released previously unseen crime scene pictures earlier this year that claim to show Oscar Pistorius attacked his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp (left) with a cricket bat before shooting her dead. They believe these two injuries on the model's back (right) match the tip of the bat Scene of horror: This photograph shows the blood-soaked bathroom where Oscar Pistorius shot his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in the toilet cubicle (top) with his 9mm pistol (seen lying on a bathmat, right) and the blood-splattered cricket bat (bottom right). Forensics experts Calvin and Thomas Mollett claim that marks on the ripped and blood-covered handle of the bat suggest there was a struggle between the pair Other pictures appear to show a 4.5mm hole in the athlete's bedroom door (left) which is believed to match the caliber of his air rifle. A similar-sized wound was also found on Reeva's arm (right), suggesting he may have fired at her with the weapon as the model fled the bedroom Mr Steenkamp described how he speaks to Reeva, a law graduate, constantly and still finds the pain of losing her unbearable. 'Our lives have changed completely. I talk to her every day,' he said. 'You know, people say be patient, two years three years and you start feeling a bit better about the whole thing, but every day of my life is the same. 'Ever since Reeva's death, I wouldn't say I've become a recluse but I can't really mix with people any more. 'And I sit on that veranda at two o'clock in the morning which has become a habit and I smoke my cigarettes. 'It is very difficult to explain when you talk about the incident. I don't wish that on any human being. 'It devastated us. I ended up having a stroke and so many things since then and I just don't wish that on anyone in this whole world,' he said, his body shaking with emotion and grief. Pistorius's ex-girlfriend Jenna Edkins (centre) sits in the public gallery with his sister Aimee (right) June and Barry Steenkamp arrive at North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, South Africa on Tuesday He also told the judge he believed she and Oscar Pistorius had argued before the amputee athlete shot her dead. Pistorius has always maintained that he mistook Steenkamp for a burglar when he fired four times through the door of his bedroom toilet. 'I personally think that there was an argument,' Mr Steenkamp, 73, told the sentencing hearing after Pistorius's conviction was upgraded to murder. Oscar Pistorius returned to court today after being described as a 'broken' man who should be hospitalised rather than jailed as he attended sentencing for the murder of his girlfriend. Frosty: Barry Steenkamp refuses to make eye contact with Oscar Pistorius after the sentencing hearing Close guard: Pistorius leaves at the high court in Pretoria on the second day of his pre-sentencing hearing Oscar Pistorius is escorted by police officers as he leaves the High Court in Pretoria, South Africa, on Tuesday The athlete leaves court in a car after the second day of his sentencing for the murder of Miss Steenkamp The double-amputee killed Reeva Steenkamp in the early hours of Valentine's Day in 2013, saying he mistook her for an intruder when he fired four times through the door of his bedroom toilet. Pistorius tried to greet the model's relatives as he entered the court on Tuesday but they did not respond. On Monday, the 29-year-old Blade Runner was red-eyed and tearful on the first day of his sentencing hearing at the High Court in Pretoria. 'He has developed a serious psychiatric condition which has become worse in the past two years,' psychologist Jonathan Scholtz, called by the defence, told the court on Monday. 'Further imprisonment would have a detrimental effect on him.' Pistorius's brother Carl tweeted this picture of the athlete asleep with his godson, niece and nephew after the first day of his sentencing hearing The athlete's father, Henke Pistorius, leaves the North Gauteng High Court during a lunch break on Tuesday Oscar Pistorius's uncle Arnold (left) with his wife Lois (right) arrives at the High Court in Pretoria, South Africa Scholtz said that during recent interviews Pistorius had displayed signs of 'post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety disorder and depressive disorder'. In March, Pistorius's lawyers failed in their legal bid to reverse a Supreme Court of Appeal judgement that upgraded his original conviction from culpable homicide the equivalent of manslaughter to murder. The original trial judge Thokozile Masipa is expected to pass a new sentence after hearing arguments from both prosecution and defence. Pistorius faces a minimum 15-year jail term for murder, but his sentence could be reduced due to time already spent in prison and mitigating factors, including his disability. Steenkamp's parents were both in court. Her father Barry may take the witness stand to ask the court to impose a lengthy punishment. If he does, it will be the first time that one of Steenkamp's parents has testified in the case. The shamed athlete, 29, will not return to the witness box in a desperate bid to convince the court that he is a 'changed man' since the Valentine's Day slaughter of model Reeva because he is 'too depressed' Pistorius has shunned the media during years of intense coverage since Steenkamp's killing. But his family have revealed that he has given his first interview due to air on British broadcaster ITV later this month. The interview drew a sharp attack on Monday from state prosecutor Gerrie Nel, who said it proved that Pistorius was capable of testifying. 'He would rather give his version to the TV than to court,' said Nel, who accused psychologist Scholtz of being biased. Pistorius was released from jail last October to live under house arrest at his uncle's mansion in Pretoria after serving one year of his five-year sentence for culpable homicide. Since being convicted of murder, Pistorius has been on bail and allowed to leave his uncle's house at set times, but not travel further than 12 miles without permission. The hearing held in the same courtroom as the original trial is scheduled to last one week. Pistorius has always denied killing Steenkamp in a rage and, during his dramatic seven-month trial in 2014, sobbed in the dock as details of his lover's death were examined in excruciating detail. They promise to spend an extra 100million on the NHS every week Voters have been told to ignore arguments from Brexit politicians on the NHS as 50 top medical experts said EU membership is vital for the NHS and combating public health risks. A group of 50 senior doctors intervened today to claim the NHS would be plunged into a recruitment crisis if Britain votes to leave the EU and they took a swipe at the official Vote Leave campaign for its 'discredited' claims that it could spend 350million a week on the NHS after a Brexit vote. The economic shock of Brexit would 'only worsen the existing financial crisis' in the NHS, the doctors warned, concluding: 'It is Brexit that is the threat to the NHS, not our membership of the EU.' Meanwhile three celebrity doctors have warned in a letter to MailOnline that a vote to leave the EU will make it 'impossible' for the NHS to look after Britain's ageing population. Three celebrity doctors - including the resident BBC Breakfast GP Dr Rosemary Leonard (pictured left) and TV host Dr David Bull (right) have warned in a letter to MailOnline that a vote to leave the EU will make it 'impossible' for the NHS to look after Britain's ageing population They also argue that leaving the EU will jeopardise the 'substantial amount of the research income which underpins much of the UK's science base'. But today 13 ministers supporting Brexit have committed to increasing spending on the NHS if Britain votes to leave. They promised to spend an extra 100million per week - the equivalent of 5.5billion a year - in a 'much-needed cash transfusion' for the health service. Writing in a letter to The Times the 50 top doctors point to the 10 per cent of doctors, 5 per cent of nurses and 'even larger numbers of care workers' in the NHS who come from other EU countries as proof the health service would suffer 'severe staff shortages' after a Brexit vote. They dismiss Vote Leave arguments that the NHS is 'strangled by bureaucratic regulations' from Brussels. Today 13 ministers supporting Brexit, as well as leading campaigner Boris Johnson (pictured in front of Vote Leave's bus) have committed to increasing spending on the NHS if Britain votes to leave Instead they claim that the EU is vital in coordinating Europe-wide action on outbreaks of diseases such as the zika virus as well as combating environmental pollution, climate change and antibiotic resistance. QUARTER OF VOTERS STILL DON'T KNOW WHEN EU REFERENDUM IS A quarter of potential voters could not correctly name the date of the EU referendum. The proportion was higher among Leave backers than Remain supporters A quarter of potential voters still don't know when the EU referendum is due to be held, according to a poll. With Britain due to take its biggest decision for a generation in just nine days, some 25 per cent were not aware that the ballot is on June 23. The shocking finding emerged as a series of surveys suggested that Brexit is gaining ground in the battle over whether we should stay in the EU. One YouGov poll gave the Out campaign a seven-point lead - on 46 per cent to 39 per cent to Remain. And two pieces of ICM research indicated that Leave had a five-point lead. David Cameron's election guru Sir Lynton Crosby - who masterminded the Tory general election victory barely a year ago - said today that Brexit appeared to have momentum. Writing in the Daily Telegraph, he argued that Brexiteers' focus on immigration and the lack of controls over our borders was paying off. The Prime Minister has been on the rack over the issue since figures last month showed net migration running at 333,000 a year - including 184,000 from the EU. But Australian Sir Lyton - who has also organised successful elections for Boris Johnson - also cautioned that lack of awareness among Brexit supporters should raise a 'red flag' for those who want to cut ties with Brussels. He highlighted ORB research that found 25 per cent of people could not correctly identify the date of the EU referendum. Advertisement The 50 senior medics write: 'We benefit from rapid access to new medicines because of the European Medicines Agency, based in this country. 'In addition, about 20 per cent of our medical research is now funded by the EU; we receive considerably more back from the EU for this than we pay in. If we leave we can expect to lose a good proportion of this to other EU countries.' Vote Leave, the official Brexit campaign, has put the NHS at the heart of its campaign, arguing Britain could build a hospital every week with the money it sends to Brussels every week. However the 350million figure is bitterly disputed because it does not account for the rebate that Brussels sends back to the UK every year. The correct figure is around 240million a week. The claims triggered the sensational defection of health committee chair Sarah Wollaston to the Remain campaign and yesterday Andrew Tyrie, chair of the Treasury committee, said Vote Leave's 350million figure was having a 'corrosive' impact on trust in politics. Doctors also took a swipe at leading Brexit campaigner Michael Gove today after he claimed 'people in this country have had enough of experts' and should vote for Brexit. But hitting back directly at Mr Gove's comments, professor Sir Simon Wessely, president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, told The Times: 'Health experts, not Leave campaign politicians... know what is best for our NHS'. He added: 'Michael Gove might think that the public have had enough of experts but most people, if they had a medical problem, would go to a doctor rather than an MP to get it sorted out.' Meanwhile in a letter to MailOnline today, there celebrity doctors claim it would be 'impossible' for the NHS to look after Britain's ageing population without the 135,000 health and care workers it employs from other EU countries. The letter is signed by Dr Phil Hammond, also a comedian and Private Eye journalist, Dr Rosemary Leonard, the resident GP for BBC Breakfast News since 1998 and Dr David Bull, also a TV host. They also argue that leaving the EU will jeopardise the 'substantial amount of the research income which underpins much of the UK's science base'. But in an attempt to reassure voters today, 13 pro-Brexit ministers, as well as Boris Johnson - committed to boost NHS spending if Britain votes to leave. After protecting those now in receipt of EU funding, we will still have billions more to spend on our priorities,' they write in an open letter. 'We propose that at least 5.5 billion of that be spent on the NHS by 2020, giving it a much-needed 100 million per week cash transfusion, and to use 1.7 billion to abolish VAT on household energy bills. BREXIT WILL MAKE IT IMPOSSIBLE TO LOOK AFTER BRITAIN'S AGEING POPULATION, THREE CELEBRITY DOCTORS WARN IN LETTER TO MAILONLINE Dear Sir, The welfare of our patients and all those who rely on our NHS is at risk if Britain leaves the EU. Over 68 years our NHS has withstood countless challenges and served generation after generation proud. But with tighter finances, growing costs and an ageing society already to contend with, leaving Europe and crashing our economy would be a needless, dangerous and self-inflicted wound to the NHS, from which it may never fully recover. As doctors, we have considered carefully the evidence about how the referendum result could impact the institution and its patients that we care about so deeply. It would be impossible for the NHS to look after our increasing elderly population without the 135,000 health and care workers it employs from across the EU. A substantial amount of the research income which underpins much of the UK's science base comes from the EU, and without this there will inevitably be delays to new treatments being developed and made available to patients. And an economic recession triggered by leaving would affect the NHS budget, which has never been under so much pressure. As our leading clinicians, NHS chiefs, top scientists and patient groups have made clear, the NHS is better off with Britain in the European Union, and so too are we all. Yours, Dr Phil Hammond, Dr Rosemary Leonard, Dr David Bull Advertisement Brexit poll boost as migration fears grow: Out camp takes SEVEN-POINT lead amid warnings of UK population surge The Remain campaign was in meltdown last night over mass migration. Three opinion polls gave Brexit leads of up to seven points following a fortnight in which immigration became the dominant issue in the referendum. A report yesterday warned the UK population will pass 76million by 2035 most of the arrivals coming from the EU. The apparent surge in support for Brexit has been underlined by a YouGov poll for The Time The study follows official statistics revealing that net migration rose to a near record 333,000 last year. Yesterday senior Labour figures were called in to shore up Remain support in the partys northern heartlands. But Gordon Brown continued to insist that EU migration was not uncontrolled. Within hours he was flatly contradicted by his ex-sidekick Ed Balls who said Britain needed to restore proper borders. The former shadow chancellor also said the deal secured by David Cameron on limiting migrant benefits did not go far enough. With only nine days until the historic vote on continued EU membership: n European Council president Donald Tusk claimed Brexit could trigger the end of Western political civilisation. Figures showed the EU has granted citizenship to five million migrants since 2009 giving them free access to the UK. Mr Cameron took a back seat in the campaign yesterday to allow Mr Brown to lead the Labour fightback. The decision followed mounting alarm that large numbers of traditional Labour voters, particularly in the North of England, are planning to vote Leave, largely because of concerns about immigration. But the move quickly backfired as the former PM, who once labelled a voter with concerns about immigration a bigot, came under pressure over Labours past record. Mr Brown brushed aside the publics concerns, saying: In Britain we have managed migration it is not uncontrolled. He also said voters were much more concerned about the threat of illegal immigration than about mass migration from the EU. His comments were criticised by pro-Brexit MPs including senior figures in his own party who accused him of complacency. Last night, his former close adviser Mr Balls added to the chaos with an article for the Daily Mirror. Mr Balls, who is campaigning to stay inside the EU, wrote: Europe still doesnt work well enough for Britain. Theres still too much waste and bureaucracy from Brussels and, while a limit has been secured on the benefits paid to migrant workers, I dont think that can be the end of the story. We need to press Europe to restore proper borders. Mr Cameron will keep a low profile again today to allow Jeremy Corbyn to make the pro-Brussels case. Speaking on a joint platform with militant Unite union boss Len McCluskey, the Labour leader will say staying in the EU provides the opportunity to strengthen workers rights. Leading Brexit campaigner Boris Johnson said the PMs decision to make way for Mr Brown smacked of panic. He added: The Remain campaign are getting slightly rattled now, if you have a relaunch with Gordon Brown thats got to be some measure of desperation. The odds on Brexit tumbled last night after new polling gave Leave a seven-point lead. Experts said it now had an overall lead in the so-called poll of polls. A YouGov poll for the Times put Remain on 39 and Leave on 46, with 11 per cent still unsure. Phone and internet polls for the Guardian, conducted by ICM, show support for leaving the EU is strengthening. Advertisement Royal Ascot milliner David Shilling has put his 200-year-old London pad on the market for 1.95million, complete with a design matching his own unique style. The 59-year-old is a regular attendee of the Royal meeting, which gets underway at the Berkshire track today, where many of his weird and wonderful hats have been donned by racegoers. But now the artist and designer is putting his period property, which appears just like any other house in the area from the outside, up for sale. The five-storey mid-terrace period house is found in trendy Marylebone and has 1,329 sq ft of space. Unique: Royal Ascot milliner David Shilling has brought his own design style to the decoration of his London home, pictured Chic: Portraits of some of his famous creations adorn the walls while zebra print chairs are a striking feature of the dining room, pictured Trendy: One of the bedrooms in the property in Marylebone, which has been put on the market for almost 2million Deceiving: From the outside the property looks like any other on the London street, but it is the interior that really stands out Striking: Mr Shilling, pictured after he was ejected from Ascot in 2013 for wearing one of his flowery hats, has designed accessories for stars including Kylie Minogue, Shirley Bassey and Joanna Lumley London-born Shilling has brought his grand style to the interior and layout of the property, which can be purchased fully furnished by negotiation. Entering the property on the ground floor, into a classic entrance hall, immediately to the right is the formal dining room, with period fireplace and aspect to the front. To the rear of the hall is a guest cloakroom, with shower, and stairs down to the eat-in kitchen and utility space. The contemporary styled kitchen is the perfect place for hosting informal lunches and suppers, with what is described as an 'enchanting view' of an intimate courtyard and the secret outdoor seating area in the vaulted store. Off the kitchen is the service area with dishwasher and sink, beyond which is the utility space. The main reception is located on the first floor, with grand period fireplace and double windows offering views to the front, with stairs rising to the second floor where there is a family bathroom and second bedroom. Private: The five-storey house also comes with an 'intimate' courtyard to provide some outdoor space away from the hustle and bustle Clean: Along with the family bathroom, left, the house comes with a ground floor 'guest cloakroom' complete with a shower Contemporary: A modern kitchen, also reflecting the owner's design tastes, is described as the 'perfect place' to host informal suppers The master bedroom, with en-suite shower room, is on the third floor and provides direct access to the roof terrace, via a domed sky-light. Shilling decorated Homer Street with a magical mix of contemporary flair and a nod to the origins of the house: 200 years old, reputedly it was first built as a home for a family fleeing the French Revolution, hence for such a modest sized house the proportions of the lay-out are quite grandiose with generous ceiling heights. Mr Shilling said: 'Even after 15 years of living in Monaco people still say to me they expect I will come back to live in London one day. 'While I love how the house is presently, a great blend of contemporary design with a hint of its origins, and I have even managed to incorporate a covered 'smoking area', moving back to London isn't going to happen.' Historic: The master bedroom in the house, which was reportedly built in the 1800s as a place to house refugees of the French revolution Home away from home: Mr Shilling, who has lived in Monaco for 15 years, said he put the house up for sale as he is not returning to the UK Flamboyant: Mr Shilling became well known for the extravagant hats he has created over nearly three decades, with famous models including Heather Mills, left, displaying his innovations Experienced: Mr Shilling has been designing his signature hats, pictured, since the age of 12 when he made them for his mother Gertrude He added: 'It is time for a new owner to benefit from and enjoy this super house, which has given me so much over the years. 'It is perfectly located a few minutes from the Heathrow Express at Paddington Station, the Eurostar at St Pancras and all the amenities of Marylebone High Street and the heart of the West End so close. 'The advent of Cross Rail will also further reduce travel time across London from Paddington Station.' Rosy Khalastchy, of Beauchamp Estates which is selling the property, said: 'Homer Street is the perfect London pied a terre in a good location. Advertisement The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have visited the US Embassy in London this morning to pay their respects to the victims of the Orlando nightclub massacre. Terrorist Omar Mateen shot dead 49 people and wounded at least 53 more during the massacre at the Pulse nightclub in the Florida city in the early hours of Sunday morning and called 911 just before the attack to pledge allegiance to ISIS. Prince William and Kate have signed a book of condolence after meeting US Ambassador Matthew Barzun and some of his staff. The royals looked solemn as they arrived at the Embassy in Grosvenor Square in the pouring rain, but Kate still managed to raise a smile from the Embassy workers after meeting them in a receiving line. The couple took it in turns to sign the book, with William writing: 'With our deepest condolences and with our thoughts and prayers to all those affected'. Scroll down for videos The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, pictured, visited the US Embassy in London today to pay tribute to the Orlando shooting victims Prince William, pictured, and his wife signed an official book of condolence, paying their respect to those killed in an Orlando nightclub Kate, left, and her husband, centre, also met US Ambassador Matthew Barzun, right, and his staff in the wake of the tragedy Prince Harry was unable to join his brother and sister-in-law, pictured, but is said to have been speaking about the tragedy in private having spent time in the city for the Invictus Games earlier this year Kate, pictured arriving at the Embassy, and Prince William have joined with millions of other people across the world in paying tribute A source close to the couple said: The Queen immediately issued a statement on Sunday and spoke to the president to offer the nations condolences. But with such a disproportionate number of young people affected by the worst mass shooting in US history the Duke and Duchess were very keen to be able to offer the condolences of their own generation too. Prince Harry was unable to join them but he has been speaking at length to people out in Orlando privately because he spent a significant amount of time out there recently for the Invictus Games . All of them have been affected deeply by the stories they have read and heard. They signed a book of condolence in front of a flag given to Hillary Clinton by The Kaleidoscope Trust, a global LGBT rights organisation, following her first speech on the issue of gay rights. The couple, pictured with the Ambassador, signed a book of condolence in front of a flag given to Hillary Clinton by The Kaleidoscope Trust, a global LGBT rights organisation The Duchess of Cambridge, centre, chats with Elizabeth Dibble, left, deputy chief of mission, as they look at a model of the new US Embassy which will be based at Nine Elms, London The Duke and Duchess, pictured, were said to be 'very keen' to be able to offer the condolences of their own generation Embassy staff who met the royals were wearing custom-made badges with a combination of the American, British and Pride flags The Duke also spoke to members of the embassy staff including people from the state departments own LGBT network. The Duke paused for a moment to read the ambassador's dedication as his wife stood solemnly by his side. The Duchess signed 'Catherine' beside her husband's name. The couple then spoke to embassy staff who have worked on LGBT issues. Dozens of embassy workers, all wearing custom-made badges with a combination of the American, British and Pride flags, filled the lobby for the royal visit. An image of their messages will be added to an online condolence book which the public are able to contribute to. It comes as millions of people across the world have come together in solidarity with the citizens of Orlando to pay tribute to the victims of the worst mass shooting in US history. Yesterday, London's LGBT community gathered in Old Compton Street in Soho for to pay their respects, falling silent at 7pm for a two-minute moment of reflection. Despite the sombre occasion, Kate still managed to raise a smile from Embassy staff as she met them in a receiving line, pictured 'With our deepest condolences and with our thoughts and prayers to all those affected' - the message left by Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge The royal couple spent around 15 minutes at the Embassy this morning and spoke to staff who had worked on LGBT issues Flags bearing messages of hope fluttered in the wind and a number of the fists were raised defiantly in the air during the silence. Afterwards 49 balloons - one for each person killed - were released into the air. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, mayor of London Sadiq Khan and Education Secretary Nicky Morgan were among a cross-party group of politicians at the event. A rendition of Simon and Garfunkel's hit Bridge Over Troubled Water was sung by London Gay Men's Chorus as the silence in London came to an end, followed by the road chanting: 'We're here, we're queer, we will not live in fear.' Dozens of candles laid by mourners illuminated the St Anne's churchyard in the early dusk, while flowers were piled up at their side. Millions of people around the world have joined together to light candles and hold vigils in memory of the 49 victims. Queen Letizia of Spain yesterday paid an emotional tribute to the victims of the Orlando night club massacre during an official visit to Salamanca . The 43-year-old royal looked sombre during a ceremony to deliver the Spanish flag to the Regiment of Engineers. Mateen, right, pictured with his ex-wife Noor Zahi Salman and their three-year-old son, is said to have scouted Walt Disney World in Florida as a potential target and had twice before been interviewed by the FBI suspected of terrorist leanings Pictured: All 49 victims of the mass shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando after Omar Mateen opened fire in the early hours of Sunday During her visit to the town in the north west of Spain Letizia took the opportunity to say a few words in support of the victims of the Orlando massacre that has shocked the world. In dozens of countries and cities from London to South Korea, Copenhagen, Berlin, Bangkok and Australia, mourners have paid their respects to those brutally murdered at the gay club on Sunday. And landmarks across the world - from the Eiffel Tower in Paris to Sydney's Harbour Bridge, have been lit up in rainbow colours to show their solidarity with the LGBT community. Hundreds of people also lit candles and laid flowers in Glasgow as the names of the victims gunned down were read aloud in George Square. Rainbow Pride flags - a symbol of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community - were planted in the square and cards and messages were laid beside flowers and candles. In London, a vigil was held on Old Compton Street in Soho, the centre of the city's LGBT community, with thousands attending Politicians from across parties gathered in Soho to pay their respects. (From left) Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, Deputy Labour leader Tom Watson, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, Chris Bryant MP, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, American Ambassador Matthew Barzun, Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson and Education Secretary Nicky Morgan Sydney: The Sydney Harbour Bridge was tonight lit in rainbow colours to honour the victims of the atrocity - the deadliest mass shooting in US history Paris: The Eiffel Tower in Paris was this evening illuminated in rainbow colours to pay homage to the 49 victims Glasgow Mayor Sadie Docherty told the 600-strong crowd that the city stood in solidarity with Orlando as she placed a bouquet in the square which had a Scottish and US flag inside it. Earlier, the Pride flag was raised at the Scottish Government's headquarters in Edinburgh. A similar vigil has also been organised in Edinburgh for tomorrow. The hashtag #LoveWins, which went viral last year after the same-sex marriage ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, is now being used to show support for those shot in the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando. Millions have also commented under #loveislove on Twitter. Mateen had been interview by the FBI twice before and had once been on a terrorist watch list. According to the Bureau, Mateen, of Port St. Lucie in Florida, 'laughed' as he sprayed bullets into the crowded club before he was shot dead by a SWAT team several hours after launching his horrific massacre with a legally bought assault rifle and pistol. Although US officials do not know if the attack was directed by ISIS, Mateen, was inspired by the terror group and has been investigated by the FBI three times over his suspected terror links. Mateen worked as a security officer, a fact that comforted other members of the Islamic Center of Fort Pierce where he worshipped, Syed Shafeeq Rahman, the head of the mosque, said. Queen Letizia of Spain, pictured, yesterday paid tribute to the victims of the Orlando massacre during a visit to Salamanca Barcelona: Mourners light candles placed on a rainbow flag outside Barcelona's city hall during a vigil at Sant Jaume Square South Korea: People attend a candlelight vigil in solidarity for the victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting, in Seoul, South Korea Bangkok: Scores of mourners gathered to pay their respects and lit candles during a vigil held in Bangkok, Thailand Sitora Yusufiy, Omar Mateen's first wife, described how he 'seemed like a normal human being' at first. Following a brief romance after the two met online, the pair married in 2009 and moved into the two-bedroom home in Fort Pierce. After a few months he started to beat me, she said. He was mentally unstable he was obviously disturbed. I know he had a history of [taking] steroids. 'He was not a stable person. He would just come home and start beating me up because the laundry wasnt finished or something like that.' VICTIMS: ALL 49 IDENTIFIED On Sunday, Edward Sotomayor Jr., 34; Stanley Almodovar III, 23; Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo, 20; Juan Ramon Guerrero, 22; Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera, 36; Peter O. Gonzalez-Cruz, 22; Luis S. Vielma, 22 and Kimberly Morris, 37, were confirmed dead. In the early hours of Monday morning, Eddie Jamoldroy Justice, 30; Darryl Roman Burt II, 29, Deonka Deidra Drayton, 32; Alejandro Barrios Martinez, 21; Anthony Luis Laureanodisla, 25; Jean Carlos Mendez Perez, 35; and Franky Jimmy Dejesus Velazquez, 50, were added to the list. Later on Monday morning the authorities announced more names: Amanda Alvear, 25; Martin Benitez Torres, 33; Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon, 37; Mercedez Marisol Flores, 26; Xavier Emmanuel Serrano Rosado, 35; Gilberto Ramon Silva Menendez, 25; Simon Adrian Carrillo Fernandez, 31; Oscar Aracena-Montero, 26; Enrique L. Rios, Jr, 25; Miguel Angel Honorato, 30; Javier Jorge-Reyes, 40; Joel Rayon Paniagua, 32; Jason Benjamin Josaphat, 19; Cory James Connell, 21; Juan P. Rivera Velazquez, 37; Luis Daniel Conde, 39; Shane Evan Tomlinson, 33; Juan Chevez-Martinez, 25; Jerald Arthur Wright, 31; Leroy Valentin Fernandez, 25; and Tevin Eugene Crosby, 25. In the afternoon, authorities identified another nine victims: Jonathan Antonio Camuy Vega, 24; Jean C. Nives Rodriguez, 27; Rodolfo Ayala-Ayala, 33; Brenda Lee Marquez McCool, 49; Yilmary Rodriguez Solivan, 24; Christopher Andrew Leinonen, 32; Angel L. Candelario-Padro, 28; Frank Hernandez, 27; Paul Terrell Henry, 41; Antonio Davon Brown, 29; Christopher Joseph Sanfeliz, 24; and Akyra Monet Murray, 18. On Monday evening, the final name was added to the list: Geraldo A. Ortiz-Jimenez, 25. Advertisement Yusufiy said that Mateen owned a gun during their marriage, was short tempered and would express hate towards things. She would not reveal if he had any homophobic views. Meanwhile, the gunman's father Seddique Mir Mateen revealed his son recently got angry when he saw two men kissing in Miami and said that might be related to the assault. 'We are saying we are apologizing for the whole incident,' he said. 'We weren't aware of any action he is taking. We are in shock like the whole country.' When asked if the gunman had a connection to radical Islamic terrorism, Hopper said authorities had 'suggestions that individual has leanings towards that.' Mateen's father said the attack had nothing to do with religion, he said. The scene at the Pulse gay nightclub where Omar Mateen killed at least 49 people on June 13 in Orlando, Florida, after police arrived The horrifying attack on Pulse nightclub was initially thought to be a homophobic attack rooted in extremist Islamic ideology. But Mateen's ex-wife, a former police academy classmate and clubbers have stepped forward to say they think Mateen was gay and had been visiting Pulse since 2013. It's also been revealed that Mateen used gay dating apps Grindr and Jack'd to chat to men online and was friends with draq queens at the club. Signs that Mateen could have been gay emerged as far back as 2006 when he asked a male classmate out on a date. At the time Mateen was said to be going to gay clubs and chatting up men. Brussels could be a target for terrorists during the month of Ramadan as security is beefed up in crowded public places, such as fan parks showing Euro 2016 matches. Schools and hospitals are being closely monitored as well. Information from security services on the possible terror threats was reported in Dutch newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws. Belgium will beef up security and police during the month of Ramadan in crowded and densely populated areas The attacks could take place during Ramadan - the Muslim month of fasting - which started on June 6 and will last until July 5. Last month ISIS released a chilling video calling for attacks on Europe and the US during the holy month. In a recording titled 'That They Live By Proof' the group's spokesman Abu Mohamed al-Adnani said: 'Ramadan, the month of conquest and jihad. Get prepared, be ready...to make it a month of calamity everywhere for the non-believers...especially for the fighters and supporters of the caliphate in Europe and America. 'The smallest action you do in their heartland is better and more enduring to us than what you would if you were with us. If one of you hoped to reach the Islamic State, we wish we were in your place to punish the Crusaders day and night.' Belgium has been on high alert since the deadliest terror attack on the country's soil, last March Belgium has been on high alert after coordinated suicide bombings at Brussels airport and at Maalbeek metro train station, which left 35 dead and was the deadliest terrorist attack in the country's history. Last Friday night two police cars were torched in the working class district of Molenbeek - which is 80 per cent Muslim - and is often referred to as a 'hotbed for Islamic extremism'. Labour In leader Alan Johnson today claimed a Brexit vote next week would make immigration worse Alan Johnson today claimed immigration would be 'worse' if Britain votes to quit the EU next week. The former home secretary said a Brexit vote would trash cross-border relations with France and lead to a spike in illegal immigration. And the leader of Labour's In campaign also insisted migration from outside the EU would also increase after a Brexit vote. Mr Johnson's intervention comes a day after former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown insisted the public's concerns about immigration related primarily to illegal migrants. The claims have renewed concern among Remain campaigners about a misfiring Labour message ahead of the referendum as polls show a surge of support for Brexit. Official migration statistics published in late May turned the referendum from the economy to immigration and left the Remain camp ailing. Mr Johnson today insisted the Labour message on immigration still needed to get through. He told the BBC: 'There's three types of immigration: there's immigration from outside the EU, there's illegal immigration, and there's free movement. Of those, free movement gives us the benefit of the single market. 'Our argument is remaining part of the single market helps us to control the other two forms of immigration. 'If we leave, the situation is going to be worse. We won't be protected by the Dublin Accord. 'If anyone believes that our UK border in Calais is going to survive us leaving the EU then once again they're in the realms of fantasy. Of course it won't, that will make the issue much worse.' Mr Johnson repeated claims there was no need to be concerned about Turkey joining the EU and driving up migration - despite a think tank yesterday warning Turkish accession could add 100,000 a year to net migration to Britain by the 2030s. Former Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls today suggested free movement could be watered down. But Mr Johnson argued the UK had to be in the EU to make that happen. He said: 'This is the central argument of Ed Balls, because he goes on to say the only way to tackle that is to stay in. 'The argument of the Leave side is you leave you take control. You lose control. 'You lose control over all those aspects that are so important on immigration, you lose control over the economy, you don't know where it's going to go except that you can be fairly sure it's going to take a big hit if you leave that huge market.' Gordon Brown yesterday insisted tackling illegal immigration was the key to easing voters' concerns about immigration - despite evidence showing fears about the impact on wages and public services Mr Brown's intervention on immigration was dismissed yesterday by Labour MP John Mann. The Bassetlaw MP is one of the few Labour MPs backing a Brexit vote on June 23 and he has repeatedly demanded Labour take a stronger position on immigration. He said: 'Gordon refers to illegal immigration and illegal immigration is not the issue in the Labour heartlands, in fact illegal immigration is a tiny, tiny issue in the Labour heartlands. 'It's about pay, it's about conditions, it' s about wages going down, it's about agency work that's why there's this popular revolt out there among Labour voters. 'Gordon re-emerging on the scene, great though he was while in power, just reminds us that Labour is uncomfortable with these issues.' Brexit poll boost as migration fears grow: Out camp takes SEVEN-POINT lead amid warnings of UK population surge The Remain campaign was in meltdown last night over mass migration. Three opinion polls gave Brexit leads of up to seven points following a fortnight in which immigration became the dominant issue in the referendum. A report yesterday warned the UK population will pass 76million by 2035 most of the arrivals coming from the EU. The apparent surge in support for Brexit has been underlined by a YouGov poll for The Time The study follows official statistics revealing that net migration rose to a near record 333,000 last year. Yesterday senior Labour figures were called in to shore up Remain support in the partys northern heartlands. But Gordon Brown continued to insist that EU migration was not uncontrolled. Within hours he was flatly contradicted by his ex-sidekick Ed Balls who said Britain needed to restore proper borders. John Letts and wife Sally Lane have been freed on bail while they await trial over allegations they funded terror by sending money to their son The parents of a Muslim convert known as 'Jihadi Jack' were granted bail today after being locked up last week while they await trial for funding terrorism. Organic farmer John Letts, 55, and wife Sally Lane, 54, are facing trial at the Old Bailey for allegedly wiring 1,700 to help 20-year-old son Jack Letts, who is believed to be in ISIS-held Iraq. Police had allegedly warned the middle-class couple, from Oxford, they could face criminal prosecution if they sent any money to the ISIS territory. Their son is believed to be the first white Briton to join ISIS and is thought to be currently living in war-torn Fallujah with his Iraqi wife and their son, Muhammed. His parents were remanded in custody last week by District Judge Emma Arbuthnot following a hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court and they have spent the weekend in prison. But today, making no criticism of the decision, Mr Justice Saunders granted the pair conditional bail. 'These two defendants have been committed in custody from Westminster Magistrates' Court for trial on offences for arranging to send money to their son knowing or having reasonable cause to suspect that it would or might be used fo the purposes of terrorism,' he said in his ruling. He explained the district judge had taken the view 'the defendants were devoted parents who believed their son was in mortal danger and, as many parents would, they would stop at nothing to remove him from that danger'. 'In those circumstances she concluded that there was a serious risk that they would commit further offences by sending money to their son in the belief that that would lead him to safety,' the judge continued. 'So two perfectly decent people have ended up in custody because of the love of their child.' The couple both appeared by videolink at the Old Bailey today with bespectacled Letts in Wandsworth prison sporting a makeshift sling, which his barrister Di Middleton explained was the result of a flare up of an existing injury. His wife appeared from Bronzefield prison wearing glasses and a grey blouse, and both spoke only to confirm their names. The couple - who are be prosecuted over allegations they sent money to their Muslim convert son Jack - have been bailed today after they were kept in prison over the weekend After hearing an outline of the prosecution case against them, which involves sending payments between September 2015 and January 2016, the judge said: 'These two are clearly desperately concerned about their son and information that they have had would indicate to them, and they appear to believe it, that if they were to send money to their son, he would be able to get out of the desperately dangerous situation he is in. Two perfectly decent people have ended up in custody because of the love of their child Mr Justice Saunders today 'For perfectly understandable reasons, that is considered to be an offence because of where he is and whose hands that money is likely to fall into. 'With perfectly decent parents in that situation, how can I be sure that they would not be just moved by compassion to their son and send money out there?' Letts' barrister Di Middleton explained that all of the factors have been present since they were on police bail from 5 January. 'There have been no attempts since then, not withstanding the continuing situation, the continuing fear, there have been no further attempts,' she said. Tayib Ali, for Lane, said: 'From the moment Jack left the defendants, both in communications with him, have tried to pursuade him to come back to the UK or to move to a safe place. That's been the motivation behind this.' Letts sat with his head in his hands as Mr Justice Saunders read out his ruling. Jack Letts, pictured three years ago on a family holiday to Morocco, is suspected on being in ISIS-held Iraq The judge said: 'I make it perfectly clear that the District Judge was entitled on the evidence that she heard to reach the conclusion that she did. 'I have no doubt that the last thing she wanted to do was to send these two defendants to custody but she felt she had no option in accordance with her public duty. 'The defendants have now spent some time in custody. I have no doubt that they have found that very difficult. 'I hope and believe it has brought home to them that, however well intentioned, they cannot and must not transfer money directly or indirectly to their son without express written permission of the appropriate police department.' Jack changed his name to Abu Mohammed after telling his parents he was going to study Arabic in Kuwait. ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has reportedly been killed in a US air strike in Raqqa. His death, reported by the respected Turkish daily Yenis Safak, would be a major blow for the jihadists and comes only days after 49 innocent people were killed in an Orlando nightclub by a man pledging allegiance to ISIS. But there have previously been reports that al-Baghdadi, who proclaimed himself caliph of all Muslims two years ago, has been killed or wounded, which turned out to be untrue. Scroll down for video Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS, is pictured addressing Muslim worshippers at a mosque in Mosul The Abna24 website said al-Baghdadi had been killed on Sunday morning by an air strike in Syria. However, there has been no confirmation of his death by the US or any other coalition powers, who have been targeting the terror group in Syria and Iraq. A Pentagon spokesman told MailOnline they were not aware of any 'high value targets' having been killed. Baghdadi was born as Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim al-Badri, in 1971 in Samarra, Iraq, to a lower-middle class Sunni family. His tribe claimed to be descended from the Prophet Muhammad. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been the leader of the jihadist militant organisation of ISIS As a youth Baghdadi was a meticulous observer of religious law and could recite the Koran from cover to cover. He then rose from obscurity to lead the world's most infamous and feared terror group, reviving the organisation's fortunes as it launched its sickening offensive across Syria and Iraq. But he still continues to shun the spotlight for an aura of mystery that adds to his appeal and his lack of public appearances means he still has a unprecedented $10million bounty on his head. The situation is in direct contrast to the likes of Osama bin Laden, who regularly appeared in videos sprouting hate messages and was internationally known long before 9/11. Oppositely, Baghdadi's only appearance came during a slick propoganda video last summer, when he led a sermon in a mosque in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. The video - which showed a man with a black and grey beard wearing a black robe and matching turban - came after the group captured Iraq's second largest city, a terrifying moment which highlighted how quickly the terror group was gaining territory. An Iraqi intelligence report indicates that Baghdadi - who it says has a PhD in Islamic studies and was a professor at Tikrit University - also married a second woman, with whom he had another son. Baghdadi apparently joined the insurgency that erupted after the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, at one point spending time in a U.S military prison in the country's south. But he did not swear allegiance to the leader of the al-Qaeda network, Zawahiri, who had urged ISIS to focus on Iraq and leave Syria to al-Nusra. ISIS members wave flags as they parade through their stronghold of Raqqa in Syria, where Baghdadi has reportedly been killed in an airstrike Baghdadi and his fighters openly defied the al-Qaeda chief, leading some commentators to believe he now holds higher prestige among many Islamist militants. As well as the uncertainty surrounding his true identity, his whereabouts are also unclear. Although there were reports he was in Raqqa in Syria, - the ISIS stronghold - those reports are unconfirmed. In the past year, Baghdadi has been reported wounded multiple times. Last year there were two reports that Baghdadi had been wounded in air strikes, but they turned out to be inaccurate. An elderly grandfather has died after he was hit by a white panel van outside his Sydney home, just days before his 90th Birthday. Theodore known neighbours as 'Theo' was 'the caretaker' on Ritchie Street in Rosehill where he was hit by a car outside his home on Tuesday morning. He was loved by his neighbours who said he always put out the garbage bins and kept the street neat and tidy. Scroll down for video Theodore was known as 'the caretaker' on his street is Rosehill, pictured with his daughter Dorothy Emergency services were called to Ritchie Street at 6.30 on Tuesday morning, but Theodore died later in hospital His daughter Dorothy Risko made it to hospital just before he died. 'He was just hanging on, you know,' Ms Risko told 7News. 'There goes my lovely dad.' She cried in the street outside his home and remembered him as a 'lovely' man, but doesn't blame the driver of the van for what happened. 'I do not have any grudges against him, I don't hold this against him,' she said. Theodore's neighbours were devastated when they heard the news. 'He's very good man, very nice and we miss him a lot.We love him very much,' said one man. 'He was like a father to me,' said another. The 52-year-old driver of the white panel van was not injured during the accident It was about 6.30 when emergency services were called to the accident, he was treated by paramedics but died in hospital a short time later. It is not known if he died putting the bins out in his street, but one man mentioned 'he was just trying to do something good, then that happened'. The driver of the van, 52, was not hurt in the accident but was taken to Westmead Hospital for mandatory blood and alcohol samples. An inquest into the death of an Adelaide girl from internal injuries has heard evidence of a lack of communication between nurses and doctors and a raft of mistakes by hospital staff. Nine-year-old Leila Marijke Baartse-Harkin died last October of peritonitis as the result of a perforated small bowel caused by falling from a swing at vacation care. The inquest has heard that doctors at Adelaide's Women's and Children's Hospital sent Leila home from hospital on the night of the fall after stomach and chest X-rays did not detect internal injuries. Leila Baartse-Harkin died last October of peritonitis as the result of a perforated small bowel caused by falling from a swing Leila was discharged from hospital before nurse could carry out a second set of required Leila was taken to the Women's and Children's Hospital in Adelaide but was discharged. She was later found unresponsive and died A nurse giving evidence at an inquest into Leila's death said she had not been consulted on the decision to send Leila home, which she described as 'not uncommon' Two days later, she was found unresponsive at her home and later died in hospital. The inquest on Tuesday heard evidence from Chloe Basford, the registered nurse who was responsible for Leila's care during her hospital stay. Ms Basford said she had not been consulted on the decision to send Leila home, which she described as 'not uncommon'. Ms Basford also said hospital protocol required patients to undergo hourly observations, however, Leila was discharged before a second set of observations could be taken. Leila and her mother Edie Harkin, who was in the inquest as nurse Chloe Basford gave evidence Leila, who would have turned 10 in January is pictured here with her mother Edie (left) and her father Ricky (right) She told the inquest she was unaware Leila had been vomiting on the night of her admission or that she had already been seen at another emergency department that night. '(Leila had) a little bit of discomfort with her arm but she presented quite well,' Ms Basford said. 'She didn't complain of any pain.' Nine News Adelaide reported that Leila's mother, Edie Harkin, sat in the inquest shaking her head as statements about her daughter not being in pain were made. Ms Harkin said she she wanted people to feel safe when they went to hospitals. The court heard hospital protocols have changed since Leila's death. The inquest has previously heard evidence the decision to send Leila home was made partly on the basis of inconclusive scans. Two doctors and Ms Harkins are set to give evidence at the inquest. Ms Harkin's family lawyer said new evidence would provide a different perspective of Leila's condition upon presenting in hospital and the decision to discharge her. Deputy state coroner Anthony Schapel will hear closing submissions on Wednesday. Ms Harkin described Leila as a kind-hearted, cheeky child who loved the outdoors and was an 'angel in the way she was with people' In January, Ms Harkin told Daily Mail Australia Leila was a 'gorgeous looking girl, but also an angel in the way she was with people'. She was a kind-hearted, cheeky child who loved the outdoors. She is mostly remembered for her kindness, she always wanted to make other people feel better, if she saw someone was upset she would try to make them happy. Someone left a note at her service, it sits on our fridge to remind us of how she was, and how people remember her. It says she was one of the few people who could make you happy just with their presence, and she was a blessing for everyone who met her. Leila would have turned 10 on January 14. Her mother said she was remembered for her kindness and wanting to make others feel better Family received an 8,000 payout after hospital bosses admitted Mrs Trowsdale's death would not have happened had her DVT been diagnosed A grandmother who died of deep vein thrombosis after being sent home from hospital with antibiotics following a misdiagnosis told her family 'make sure they don't get away with this'. Widow Doreen Trowsdale, 77, died of a pulmonary embolism caused by deep vein thrombosis after being sent home from York Hospital's A&E department with medicine for a urinary tract infection. Her daughter, Fiona Nixon, has now received an 8,000 payout after hospital bosses admitted Mrs Trowsdale's death would not have happened had her DVT been diagnosed. Widow Doreen Trowsdale, 77, (pictured) died of a pulmonary embolism caused by deep vein thrombosis after being sent home from York Hospital's A&E department with medicine for a urinary tract infection Businesswoman Mrs Nixon, 43, of Driffield, Yorkshire, said: 'Losing her came as a massive shock to the whole family. The whole experience has completely ruined any faith we had in the health service. None of us trust doctors any more. 'It makes me so angry that we lost her in such a horrific way - it was such an awful way to go - and something could have been done about it. 'The worst part was, she was terrified because she knew they had made a mistake. 'Her last days were filled with fear and when she passed the last thing she said to us was "make sure they don't get away with this."' Mrs Trowsdale, whose husband Peter (both pictured) died of Alzheimer's in 2011 aged 75, had been to see her daughte on March 20, 2013 and had seemed fine despite looking pale 'If they had treated her differently, she would have survived. The settlement is an admission and while it is good to get it, it doesn't make up for our loss. 'We will never know how much time she could have had left and we will never get to properly say goodbye. That was taken away from us and we will never get it back.' Mrs Trowsdale, whose husband Peter died of Alzheimer's in 2011 aged 75, had been to see her daughter, her husband Philip Nixon, 45, and their 10-year-old son Charlie on March 20, 2013 and had seemed fine despite looking pale. But later that evening Mrs Trowsdale, who also lived in Driffield, called her daughter but did not say anything - prompting her daughter to call an ambulance and rush to her mother's home. The mother-of-two and grandmother-of-three was complaining of swelling, tenderness and warm skin in her left leg - the primary symptoms of DVT - as well as being very confused and short of breath. Mrs Trowsdale was rushed to York Hospital's A&E department but after allegedly waiting two hours to see a doctor her family claim she was sent home with antibiotics for a urinary tract infection. Mrs Nixon said her mother was still confused and by the morning the pain in her leg was so bad she couldn't even use the toilet by herself. Mrs Trowsdale was rushed back to Scarborough Hospital the following morning and was diagnosed with DVT. In a letter of apology sent to Doreen's family, York Hospital's Chief Executive said he was 'very sorry' her DVT was not diagnosed Doctors discovered this had already caused a pulmonary embolism and the grandmother died in hospital a week and a half later. Mrs Nixon said the stress of her mum's death had taken its toll on the whole family. She said: 'Seeing someone you love go so suddenly and in such a terrible way is horrendous. It is the last thing you want for one of your parents. 'My brother has had to leave the fire service and take early retirement because he couldn't cope with the stress on top of an already stressful job. It has really finished him off. 'We try to get through it and keep going but we all still have bad days and Charlie gets very upset when talking about his grandma. 'Losing her has left a big space in all of our lives. It is very difficult to move on without knowing exactly how different things could have been.' Mrs Trowsdale was rushed to York Hospital's A&E department but after allegedly waiting two hours to see a doctor her family claim she was sent home with antibiotics for a urinary tract infection In a letter of apology sent to Doreen's family, York Hospital's Chief Executive said he was 'very sorry' her DVT was not diagnosed. He said: 'I am very sorry that your mother's pulmonary embolism was not diagnosed, and that this resulted in the sad death of your mother. 'I take this opportunity to offer you and your family my sincere sympathy and regret. I recognise that this has been a tragic loss and undoubtedly an incredibly difficult experience for you. 'Please accept my sincere condolences and I hope that the resolution of this claim goes some way to assisting you in the grieving process.' York Hospital Trust confirmed they had apologised to Doreen's family and reached a settlement, while reiterating their 'sincere condolences'. A spokesman said: 'We have apologised to the family of Mrs Trowsdale for the care that was given to her when she attended the Emergency Department in March 2013. 'We recognise that this has been a tragic loss and an incredibly difficult time for the family. The wife of the late actor Patrick Swayze has denied extraordinary claims she repeatedly beat her husband throughout their marriage and even when he was dying of cancer. The Dirty Dancing star was married to his former dance partner Lisa Niemi for 34 years before he lost his battle with pancreatic cancer in September 2009, aged 57. The couple met when they were just 15 years old and were considered to have one of the strongest and happiest marriages in Hollywood. But now, an unknown person described by RadarOnline as a long time friend of the couple has claimed that the actor, who also starred in Ghost, was the victim of domestic violence. Patrick Swayze with his wife of 34 years Lisa Niemi. Friends have made a series of extraordinary claims that Niemi would often beat her late husband - even when he was dying of cancer The friend also reportedly alleged that when the star was in the final weeks of his battle with cancer, Niemi would often neglect him while his main caregiver his brother Don was away, and that Swayze would be left languishing in dirty clothes. However, Niemi has strenuously denied the claims, with her spokesperson telling MailOnline: 'It is categorically untrue. It is that simple.' It comes as the unnamed friend told RadarOnline, after what they claimed to be a a year-long investigation: 'She (Niemi) would beat on him and he would beat on the walls and furniture. They fought and I covered up a lot of that they destroyed hotel rooms, cars, their house . It was abusive.' When asked if Niemi would hit Swayze during his 21-month cancer fight, the friend supposedly added: 'Oh yeah, it didn't matter. She wouldn't hit him with stuff she would claw at his arms and neck. She would punch and slap him. The Dirty Dancing star was married to his former dance partner Niemi for 34 years before he lost his battle with pancreatic cancer in September 2009, aged 57 Swayze was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in early 2008, but lost his battle with the disease in September 2009. 'Cancer bought him from 180 pounds to 90 pounds. She always had to upper hand because he wouldn't hit her. He was adamant about never ever laying his hands on her.' The friend also reportedly alleges that Niemi would control Swayze's life, telling him how much money he could spend, which friends he could see and what movie roles he was allowed to take. Meanwhile a childhood friend of Swayze, Charlotte Stevens, also told the website that she had encouraged the star to leave Niemi after he allegedly learned she had affairs with men and women. She added: 'I would tell him, "You mean to tell me shes having these affairs and you havent stepped out on her?" And he would say, "No I dont want it used against me".' However, Niemi's rep told Gossip Cop on Tuesday that her client did not know who Charlotte Stevens was. Swayze and Niemi married in 1975 before he landed his breakout role in the coming-of-age movie Dirty Dancing in 1987. He also starred in Ghost opposite Demi Moore, crime thriller Point Break and supernatural drama Donnie Darko. Niemi is now married to jeweller Albert DePrisco, who she married in a small ceremony in Palm Beach in May 2014 The actor was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in early 2008, but lost his battle with the disease in September 2009. The couple had no children. Four years after her husband's death in December 2013, Niemi announced she was engaged to jeweller Albert DePrisco. The couple married in May 2014 after ceremony at the Mar-a-Largo Club in Palm Beach in front of 50 guests. Britain today won a court case against the European Commission over handing child benefit to foreigners in Britain. The ruling of European judges confirmed the verdict of the Supreme Court four years ago that EU citizens with no legal right to live in Britain should not be allowed to claim child benefit or child tax credit. Despite the judgement, Vote Leave insisted it was 'absurd' the UK had to fight the case in the European Court of Justice at all. Britain Stronger in Europe said it proved Britain had influence over the rules of the EU. Iain Duncan Smith, who was work and pensions secretary when the challenge was brought, said it was ridiculous Britain had to contest such policies with European judges Iain Duncan Smith, who was work and pensions secretary when the challenge was made, said: 'It's absurd that we have to run every nut and bolt of domestic policy past Luxembourg, and then engage in lengthy and expensive court battles if they decide they don't like what our democratically elected Government is doing. 'As well as the cost to taxpayers of fighting these lengthy drawn out cases, it's clearly an illegitimate challenge to our sovereignty. 'Although David Cameron didn't want to admit it, this case and others like it are proof positive that the unelected European Court of Justice is now supreme above our elected Parliament. 'They decide the rules and the only way to prevent this kind of intervention in future is to Vote Leave on 23 June.' A QUARTER OF VOTERS STILL DON'T KNOW WHEN THE REFERENDUM IS A quarter of potential voters could not correctly name the date of the EU referendum. The proportion was higher among Leave backers than Remain supporters A quarter of potential voters still don't know when the EU referendum is due to be held, according to a poll. With Britain due to take its biggest decision for a generation in just nine days, some 25 per cent were not aware that the ballot is on June 23. The shocking finding emerged as a series of surveys suggested that Brexit is gaining ground in the battle over whether we should stay in the EU. One YouGov poll gave the Out campaign a seven-point lead - on 46 per cent to 39 per cent to Remain. And two pieces of ICM research indicated that Leave had a five-point lead. Advertisement Tory MP and Brexit supporter Anne-Marie Trevelyan added: 'The Prime Minister made a solemn promise to the British people in our manifesto which, sadly, the EU makes impossible to honour. 'EU migrants will still be able to receive child benefit and even export it abroad. Today's judgement does not change that. 'Rather than admitting that the EU prevents the UK from controlling our welfare system, our borders and our economy, promises have instead become aspirations; commitments have become ambitions.' For the Remain campaign, former Attorney-General Dominic Grieve MP said: 'This underlines the fact that Britain has been successful in arguing for an end to something for nothing for EU citizens coming to Britain. 'They can no longer take out before the put in. It proves Britain has more influence over the rules that affect us as part of the EU. 'Nine out of 10 economists agree that leaving Europe will damage the economy, put up prices, and mean less money for public services. 'It's a leap into the dark that will risk of children's future.' Vote Leave also claimed Britain has lost 75 per cent of the cases it has contested at the European Court of Justice. In today's ruling, the judges concluded while there was 'indirect indiscrimination' in the UK policy it was justified under EU rules to 'protect the finances of the host member state'. And in a press statement, the court said: 'There is nothing to prevent the grant of social benefits to EU citizens who are not economically active being made subject to the requirement those citizens fulfil the conditions for possessing a right to reside lawfully in the host member state.' It said UK tests on whether a child benefit claimant was lawfully allowed to live in Britain under free movement rules was justified. The EU needs real reform, not Cameron's 'Mickey Mouse negotiation', claims Nick Clegg's Spanish wife (who can't even vote next week) Miriam Gonzalez Durantez said the EU needed 'real reform' to produce growth Nick Clegg's wife today blasted David Cameron's EU reforms as a 'Mickey Mouse renegotiation' that had left the UK 'sleepwalking towards disaster'. Miriam Gonzalez Durantez said next week's referendum would be the first moment in her life that would be written into the history books and urged voters to reject Brexit. But Ms Gonzalez Durantez gave a scathing assessment of the Prime Minister's efforts, negotiated at February's EU summit. The off-message remarks come after former shadow chancellor Ed Balls also levelled criticism at the deal today and as polls show momentum for Brexit with just nine days to go. Speaking at the Fortune Most Powerful Woman International Summit in London, Spanish lawyer Ms Gonzalez Durantez said: 'This is a club where everybody gets a say. 'You cannot be there and expect that others are going to reform it for you. I am all in favour of reform. 'The European Union is crying for reform. Proper reform. Not that Mickey Mouse negotiation that the prime minister did. 'The biggest reform that the EU needs is growth. We need growth in Europe.' Ms Gonzalez Durantez, who cannot vote next week as she is a Spanish citizen, added: 'I believe that this country is sleep walking towards disaster. 'It will not only be a disaster in this country it will be a disaster for Europe and across the whole world. 'In my life I have never gone through another moment when I have thought we are in the history books.' Alleged killer Jordan Brown, now 18, is pictured in a recent mugshot. He walked free on Monday The family of a pregnant Pennsylvania woman who was slain along with her unborn son in 2009 is protesting the release of the convicted killer, who was 11 at the time. Debra Houk, the mother of 26-year-old Kenzie Houk, and other relatives confirmed Monday's decision by a Lawrence County judge. They say Jordan Brown, who is now 18, was released after a juvenile court hearing that was closed to the public, but open to some of the slain woman's relatives and Brown's family. Brown was charged as a juvenile and adjudicated delinquent the juvenile court equivalent of guilty for shooting Houk, his father's pregnant fiancee. Brown denies that and has appealed the verdict. His attorney, Dennis Elisco, said Monday's ruling was 'favorable.' Brown graduated high school three days before he was released and has been accepted into a college, reported WPXI, which has been following the story extensively. The case grabbed headlines as much due to the chilling nature of the crimes as the ill-fitting Pennsylvania laws governing juvenile homicide suspects, which prompted two Superior Court appeals. The first resulted in the case being moved from adult to juvenile court and the second was an unsuccessful attempt by three western Pennsylvania newspapers to open the trial to the public even though Hodge had the discretion to close the case because Brown was under 12 when the killings occurred. Scroll down for video Jordan Brown, pictured left in a mugshot aged 14, allegedly shot Kenzie Houk, 26, in the back of the head with a shotgun as she was lying in bed. She was eight months pregnant and her unborn child died in the attack Prosecutors said Brown shot Houk, who was 8 1/2 months pregnant, in the back of the head with a .20-gauge youth model shotgun while she was lying in bed A Lawrence County judge, Dominick Motto, initially refused to move the case to juvenile court because he found no evidence connecting anyone else to the killings on Feb. 20, 2009, and agreed with prosecutors that Brown's refusal to admit guilt made his chance of rehabilitation in juvenile custody remote. Houk, who was 8 1/2 months pregnant, was shot in the back of the head with Brown's .20-gauge youth model shotgun while lying in bed. The murder weapon was a Christmas present given to Brown by his father, the New York Daily News reported in 2009. The shooting occurred after the boy's father left for work, with only Jordan Brown and Houk's two daughters, ages 7 and 4, also in the house. The murder weapon was a Christmas present given to Brown by his father, Chris Brown, pictured left State police investigators found a spent shotgun shell dropped along a path that Brown walked with Houk's older daughter to catch a bus to school minutes after the shooting. 'The offense was an execution-style killing of a defenseless pregnant young mother,' Motto wrote. Brown's attorneys argued that the boy was being forced to incriminate himself in order to avoid being tried as an adult and the appeals court agreed. Forty-nine people were killed by Omar Mateen, 29, of Florida on Sunday But many criticized her for 'self- In the wake of the Orlando massacre, celebrities and public figures have taken to social media to express their sorrow at the tragedy. But Madonna, a long-time celebrated icon of the LGBTQ community, has received a backlash for her contribution, which many have slammed for 'making it about herself'. One post includes a photo of her kissing Britney Spears at the 2003 VMAs, accompanied with the text 'Gay or straight, no hate', along with 'Stop Hate. Stop Violence. #revolutionoflove'. Scroll down for video Controversial: One post includes a photo of her kissing Britney Spears at the 2003 VMAs, accompanied with the text 'Gay or straight, na hate', along with 'Stop Hate. Stop Violence. #revolutionoflove'. Earlier that day she also posted a photo of herself at a lectern with the words:'You cannot use the name of god or religion to justify acts of violence to hurt, to hate, to discriminate' Madonna.' The post was put out on her Instagram and Twitter late Sunday afternoon but was quickly met with criticism. She sent another message that included two men touching tongues with the words: 'Love is Love. Stop Hate Crimes. Any form of terrorism is a form of Hate! If this image bothers you why are you following me?? 'Tongues are not the problem. Intolerance is the problem.' Earlier that day she also posted a photo of herself at a lectern with the words :'You cannot use the name of god or religion to justify acts of violence to hurt, to hate, to discriminate' Madonna.' But what was perhaps meant as an expression of solidarity has been perceived as another 'publicity stunt'. Oregon girl tweeted: 'Are you serious right now? This isn't about you and your fake a** kiss for publicity. I would think you'd know better.' Masses: There were people from all walks of Orlando life at the event, gathering to mourn, remember and hope for a better future Reflection: Mourner Juan Carlos Garcia sits next to the makeshift memorial in downtown Orlando to pay his quiet respects to the victims While Jade commented: 'Dear Madonna, Please stop equating #Kissingforcapitalism with Love.' And Tia Dickerson tweeted: 'Way to capatililze on the lgbtqa community with 'bisexuality, I kissed a girl for momentary gain' Katy perry b***s***. over it.' Madonna is not the first public figure to be slammed for her reaction to the Orlando mass-shooting. Donald Trump tweeted Sunday: 'Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism, I don't want congrats, I want toughness & vigilance. We must be smart!' It was quickly met with wrath from followers and celebrities alike. Modern Families Eric Stonestreet wrote: Is this the grossest tweet in Twitter history? Yes. I think it is.' While actress Olivia Wilde wrote: 'You are disgusting, @realDonaldTrump. Surely your supporters deserve more than your heartless idiocy. Omar Mateen, 29, opened fire at gay nightclub Pulse in Orlando, Florida, in the early hours of Sunday morning, massacring 49 people and injuring 53 in America's worst ever mass shooting. A Baptist preacher in California has been blasted online after he delivered a hate-filled sermon that celebrated the deaths of 49 men and women who were gunned down in a terror attack at an Orlando nightclub over the weekend. Roger Jimenez, fundamentalist pastor at the Verity Baptist Church in Sacramento, has been condemned by the citys mayor and others for telling his followers that Orlando is safer following the massacre and gays should be executed. Jimenezs church posted footage of the homophobic sermon on YouTube - where he was called heartless and a horrible human being - but it was deleted for violating the websites policies against hate speech. Roger Jimenez, pastor at Verity Baptist Church in Sacramento, delivered the sermon hours after the attack Jimenez told his followers he was upset that the gunman didn't kill even more people in Sunday's attack Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson condemned Jimenez and said his comments have no place in society In a sermon praising Sundays attack just hours after the mass shooting ended inside the gay bar, Jimenez said Christians shouldnt mourn the victims or be sad or upset. What if you asked me, Hey, are you sad that 50 pedophiles were killed today? Um, no, I think thats great, he told his followers, some of whom laughed. I think that helps society. I think Orlando, Florida, is a little safer tonight. The tragedy is that more of them didnt die. Im kind of upset that he didnt finish the job. Later in the sermon, Jimenez quoted scripture and said gays should be executed by a 'righteous' government. I wish the government would round them all up, put them up against the firing wall, put a firing squad in front of them and blow their brains out,' he said. Im not saying we should do it. Im not saying we should go, you know, blow up Planned Parenthood. All Im saying is this, if God had his way, thats what he would do. Sacramento's mayor, Kevin Johnson, was among those who denounced Jimenez for his remarks. The mayor wrote on Twitter: 'The hateful comments made by a preacher in Sacramento do not reflect Christian values and have no place in our society. #standwithorlando'. Hes not a man of God, said Sandrea Nelson, the Pride director of Sacramentos Davis-Phoenix coalition, which works to prevent hate and intolerance, in an interview with CBS Sacramento. He is not teaching religion. A man holds up a rainbow flag during a vigil for the shooting victims at the famous Stonewall Inn in New York Thousands of people have attended vigils around the world, including this one in downtown Orlando One YouTube user called Jimenez an 'evil, heartless' man, adding: 'His behavior and attitude is that of the Pharisees of the Bible. The same men who hated Jesus because of Jesus' love and compassion for ALL people, especially sinners. Jesus would NOT support this so-called preacher's agenda and hateful teachings.' According to the churchs website, Jimenez was born in Venezuela and came to Christ around the age of four after his family met American missionaries. He moved to the US at a young age and eventually became a Baptist preacher. A photo on the website shows him with his family wife Joann, who was born in Northern California, according to the website, and their four children. The churchs website tells visitors: The word verity simply means truth. It is our desire to be a church where the message is never watered down or compromised. We are an independent, fundamental, soul winning, separated, King James Bible believing Baptist church and not ashamed to say so. Its the second time in as many days a preachers hate-filled speech has been removed from YouTube for violating its terms and conditions. On Monday, a rant by Steven Anderson, a fundamentalist pastor at a church in suburban Phoenix, celebrated the victims deaths and said they deserved to die. Anderson - who has previously encouraged his followers to pray for President Barack Obama to die - was criticized after he quoted the Bible and Book of Leviticus as he tried to justify the terror attack at Orlandos Pulse nightclub. Meanwhile, an official who worked on social integration in a Mexican state has caused further outrage by saying that it was a shame 'only' 50 people died in the worst mass shooting in US history. Jose de Jesus Corona Manzo, who worked for SEDIS, the Ministry of Development and Social Integration in the western Mexican state of Jalisco, posted the hateful message on Facebook. 'Too bad it was only 50 and not 100,' he wrote. Both the state's governor, Jorge Aristoteles Sandoval Diaz, and the secretary of development and social integration, Miguel Castro Reynoso, personally requested his dismissal. 'The first thing we need to do is be tolerant, we serve the people and so on behalf of SEDIS and the people who give 100 per cent on a daily basis to improve the lives of the people, I humbly and sincerely apologise to anyone who may have been offended,' said Castro Reynoso. A lorry driver found nine suspected illegal immigrants, including two children in the back of his truck as he travelled through Kent. The driver pulled over near Sandwich in Kent yesterday afternoon and discovered the group of migrants hiding in the back. He was shocked to find six men together with a father and his child and a second lone child. Nine migrants were found hiding in the back of a truck at a roundabout on this road in Kent. File photo Five of the men were from Iran, and two were from Iraq. They were between 20 and 34 years of age. All nine people were detained and handed over to the Home Office Immigration Enforcement. Now, five of the men and the family group have made immigration applications. One of the men remains in immigration detention and the second child has been passed into the care of Kent Social Services. The driver of the lorry was not arrested. It is unknown whether the lorry had come through the Channel Tunnel or through Dover, although Sandwich is just nine miles from the ferry port. A Kent Police spokesman said: 'Kent Police was called at 5.18pm on Monday June 13 to the A256 in Sandwich following reports of suspected migrants in the back of a lorry. 'Nine people were handed over to the Home Office Immigration Enforcement.' A spokesman for the Home Office said: 'Those found comprised of six men, a family group of one man and a minor, and a second minor. 'The men arrested on suspicion of entering the UK illegally were aged between 20 and 34 years of age and included five individuals from Iran and two from Iraq. 'After being interviewed by immigration officers five of the men and the family group have made immigration applications. 'These applications are being progressed in line with immigration rules. 'One man remains in immigration detention.' It is unknown whether the lorry had come through Dover ferry port (below), which is just nine miles away Lorries queue up at the Port of Dover Ferry Terminal at Dover in Kent A spokesman for the Home Office said: 'Home Office immigration officers were contacted by Kent Police yesterday afternoon, Monday, 13 June, after police officers attended an incident on the A256 near Sandwich, Kent. 'Those found comprised of six men, a family group of one man and a minor, and a second minor. 'The men arrested on suspicion of entering the UK illegally were aged between 20 and 34 years of age and included five individuals from Iran and two from Iraq. 'After being interviewed by immigration officers five of the men and the family group have made immigration applications. 'These applications are being progressed in line with immigration rules. One man remains in immigration detention. 'The second minor has been passed into the care of Kent Social Services.' It is the latest in a series of discoveries as migrants coming from the continent target hauliers travelling to Britain Police found 17 African migrants in a lorry in Ashford, Kent - 20 miles from Sandwich - earlier this month. Fears have grown this summer that controls of cross-channel traffic are forcing migrants to more desperate attempts to get to the UK. A total 18 Albanian children and adults were rescued from a sinking boat off Dymchurch last month. It comes after three Iranian men rescued in a sinking dinghy in the English Channel on Saturday have claimed asylum. An RNLI lifeboat and an HM Coastguard search and rescue helicopter were called out to rescue the men after they got into difficulties off the coast at Hastings, East Sussex. Border Force officials sent a cutter who picked up the three men at 9.30am on Saturday and brought them in to Dover harbour. Now the three men have made immigration applications according to the Home Office. Joshua Lapin-Bertone was apparently showing a 10-year-old boy he was babysitting how to set off acid bombs, authorities say A Florida man faces multiple charges after he was apparently showing a 10-year-old boy he was babysitting how to set off acid bombs, authorities say. A deputy working an off-duty detail in a subdivision heard a loud explosion Monday, according to Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Debbie Carter. The deputy went to a nearby park and saw 30-year-old Joshua Stephen Lapin-Bertone setting off acid bombs, Carter said in a news release. An arrest report says Lapin-Bertone 'had the juvenile' throwing the bombs. Investigators found additional chemicals used to make acid bombs in the babysitter's car. The sheriff's office says on its website: 'The child's mother responded to the scene and took possession of the juvenile. 'The defendant works as a baby sitter through Care.com and has been baby sitting the juvenile for a period of 4 years.' Lapin-Bertone was released on bond. He's charged with four counts of making, placing or discharging a destructive device. Lapin-Bertone is also charged with four counts of child neglect. Jail records show he doesn't have a lawyer. A mother-of-11 who survived two types of cancer died in the Orlando massacre protecting her son. Brenda Lee Marquez McCool, 49, was a regular at Pulse's Latin night with her 21-year-old son Isaiah Henderson. On Saturday they were dancing in the club when gunfire erupted. They tried to take cover as gunman Omar Mateen showered bullets through the venue. But eventually Mateen turned his gun to Brenda and Isaiah - and Brenda acted as a human shield to protect Isaiah, who is gay. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO Brenda Lee Marquez McCool, 49, had survived two types of cancer. Mother to 11 children, she had a boyfriend and was out with friends at the Latin night on Saturday when she became a victim of the massacre Party girl: Brenda (pictured) was a regular at salsa nights and a staunch supporter of the LGBT community 'Brenda saw him point the gun. She said, "Get down," to Isaiah and she got in front of him,' Brenda's sister-in-law Ada Pressley told the New York Daily News. 'She was shot dead. Thats how much she loved her kids. If it werent for her, hed of been shot.' In the commotion Isaiah lost sight of his mother, and was promptly pulled to safety by police. Outside the club he scrambled to find Brenda. On Monday he was informed she was one of the 49 people Mateen murdered. He wrote on Facebook: 'Just laying here thinking that I was just with my mom 24 hours ago, this is so surreal. I love you mom.' According to his sister Khalisha Pressley, Isaiah has been crippled with a feeling of guilt. 'He had to watch his mother die. He saw everybody getting killed,' Khalisa told NBC News. 'He feels it was his fault.' Brenda was born in Brooklyn, New York, where she spent most of her life. She later moved to California for about 15 years before relocating to Orlando to be near her younger children. In Orlando, she regularly went dancing, and loved salsa. She normally returned to New York for Puerto Rico Pride Day. But this year she decided to stay at home with family. Shortly after midnight on Saturday, she posted a video on Facebook of her two friends dancing Salsa in Pulse. That was the last her friends heard from her. Her fifth-eldest son Farrell Marshall created a GoFundMe page to support his younger brothers and sisters in the wake of the tragedy. Farrell wrote on the GoFundMe page: 'We have conformation that this wonderful and caring woman known as a mother of 11 children left behind from fighting 2 types of cancer and now to be taken off this earth from what we call 'Insanity.' 'She just went out last night and said goodbye to her children and to be called 3 hours later that she has been hit by 2 gunshots and later pronounced dead.' Brenda pictured with her ex Robert Pressley and their newborn son in 1986. Brenda was born in Brooklyn. She later moved to California for about 15 years before relocating to Orlando to be near her younger children Brenda pictured with her son Robert and an unidentified man. Robert said 'everyone called my mom "mom"' By Monday afternoon, well-wishers had donated almost $5,000. By Tuesday morning that figure was up to more than $17,000. The family has been flooded with messages of support from people who knew Brenda, and from strangers. One of her sons, Robert Vinnie Pressley, posted a video message on Facebook thanking well-wishers and describing his mother's joie-de-vivre. 'A lot of people called my mom "mom",' he said. 'My mom was a good person. She loved to hang out she was always uplifting, always there, everybody loved my mom.' He added: 'She passed away doing what she loved, supporting her kids and having fun with her kids. She wasn't supposed to make it, she had cancer, she was a fighter. My mom was a fighter. They told her she wasn't supposed to live eight years ago.' Many have remarked that Brenda was a vibrant character who loved to dance and was a staunch supporter of the LGBT community. Even when she was given her cancer diagnosis, and told she didn't have long to live, she told her children not to mourn but to celebrate, Robert explained. 'She wouldn't want you guys to be sad, she'd want you to be happy. Celebrating her. 'My and my brothers and sisters we're doing what we have to do but my mom wouldn't want us to be sad she'd want us to celebrate. 'She always told me that when she passed away she didn't want us to be sad she wanted us to party and celebrate her life because my mom, she never had any regrets.' His lawyer is expected to mount an insanity defense in the case Police have quoted the 45-year-old saying a 'devil figure' on Uber's app was controlling him on the night of the shootings Former Uber driver, Jason Dalton, was charged with murder and attempted murder after shooting dead six people The 14-year-old was one of eight people shot in Kalamazoo in February The 14-year-old Kalamazoo shooting survivor, who was shot in the head and was once declared dead, is 'back to square one' after an infection following a surgery has worsened. Abigail Kopf was critically injured in February after a bullet pierced her skull and frontal lobe of her brain during a series of random shootings in Michigan. Doctors were shocked that Abigail pulled through and following the shooting, they had to remove part of her skull and replace it with the plate, according to the Detroit Free Press. Abigail's family shared the devastating news Monday on their Facebook after doctors were forced to remove the plate that was inserted in Abigail's skull following the spread of the infection. Kalamazoo shooting survivor Abigail Kopf (pictured), who was shot in the head and was once declared dead, is 'back to square one' after an infection following a surgery has worsened The devastating news was shared Monday on the family's Facebook after doctors were forced to remove a plate that was inserted in Abigail's (left and right) skull following the infection Abigail's road to recovery has been an inspirational one as she started walking again and moving on her own. Her mother, Vickie Kopf (right), applauded her daughter's perseverance in the face of near-death 'She will be without a plate 6-12 weeks before it is replaced again,' the post read. Last week, the family posted on Facebook that doctors had been treating the infection with antibiotics. But the infection spread around the plate, prompting doctors to act swiftly and remove the entire thing. 'We are back to square one,' the post read. The post said that Abigail 'will have to heal for three months without a plate again'. Abigail underwent surgery in mid-May to have the 3D-printed plate inserted to repair the missing portion of her skull. After Abigail was shot by former Uber driver, Jason Dalton, 45, her heart had stopped and doctors were preparing to harvest her organs. The shooting, which occurred in southwestern Michigan on February 20, left six people dead. She showed signs of life by squeezing her mother's hand as she lay in a hospital bed. Former Uber driver, Jason Dalton (pictured), 45, was charged with murder and attempted murder int he shootings of eight people in the Kalamazoo area Her road to recovery has been an inspirational one as she started walking again and moving on her own. Abigail's mother, Vickie Kopf, applauded her daughter's perseverance in the face of near-death. She said: 'She's an amazing kid, especially when you're told that she might be brain dead or she might not make it.' Dalton was charged with murder and attempted murder in the shootings of eight people in three locations in the Kalamazoo area. He opened fire at an apartment complex, car dealership and a restaurant parking lot. Dalton's attorney told a judge last week during a pretrial conference in Kalamazoo County Circuit Court that he will file a notice of intent to use the insanity defense, prosecutor Jeff Getting said at a news conference. 'It wasn't a surprise at all,' Getting said. 'This is where I expected the case to go from the very beginning.' Police have quoted Dalton as saying a 'devil figure' on Uber's app was controlling him on the night of the shootings. According to a police report, Dalton told authorities that 'it feels like it is coming from the phone itself' and that the 'devil figure ... would give you an assignment and it would literally take over your whole body'. Dalton's lawyer, Eusebio Solis, is expected to mount an insanity defense. Murdered: Lynette White was stabbed to death in Cardiff in 1988 A group of former detectives whose corruption trial following a botched murder investigation became one of the most expensive in British legal history have lost a legal bid to sue their old police force. Graham Moucher, Thomas Page, Richard Powell, John Seaford, Michael Daniels, Peter Greenwood, Paul Jennings and Paul Stephen went on trial accused of framing a group of men over the 1988 murder of Cardiff prostitute Lynette White. Stephen Miller, Yusef Abdullahi and Anthony Paris spent four years behind bars before their convictions were quashed on appeal. The real killer was eventually caught a decade later. More than 30 million of taxpayers' cash was spent on the ex-South Wales Police officers' trial before the case collapsed when key documents went missing. The detectives in the original investigation, who had all denied any wrongdoing, later launched a legal bid to sue their old employers for a host of claims including unlawful arrest and misfeasance in public office. Court papers showed that there were 15 claimants, including the eight former detectives who were charged, seeking to mount a legal challenge against South Wales Police. However, High Court Judge Mr Justice Wyn Williams dismissed all the claimants' applications at a hearing at Cardiff Civil Justice Centre on Tuesday. Solicitors representing the former police officers said are are 'considering the possibility' of launching an appeal against the decision. Mr Justice Williams ruled: 'The claimants' case, in summary, was that the defendant's officers committed misfeasance in public office by deliberately or recklessly acting beyond their powers in the investigation, prosecution and trial. 'The claimants have failed to prove these allegations. On the basis of the evidence as a whole I concluded that no officer of South Wales Police either deliberately or recklessly exceeded his or her powers during the course of discharging his or her duty.' Former detective Richard Powell (left) and Ex-inspector Thomas Page (right), former detective Peter Greenwood (bottom left) and former detective sergeant Paul Stephen (bottom right) Solicitors representing the former police officers said are are considering launching an appeal against the decision. Stephen Miller, John and Ronald Actie, Yusef Abdullahi and Anthony Paris stood trial in 1990 for the murder of Ms White. Mr Miller, Mr Abdullahi and Mr Paris - known locally as 'The Cardiff Three' - were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment but were acquitted in December 1992 when the Court of Appeal quashed their convictions after hearing evidence that they had been 'fitted up' for the crime. A new investigation was launched by the force but it was not until 2003, 11 years after the Cardiff Three were freed, that the real killer was identified. In 2003, advances in DNA technology saw the real killer, Jeffrey Gafoor, caught. He confessed to stabbing Ms White to death more than 50 times following a row over 30. Eight years later, a number of officers in the case went on trial at Swansea Crown Court, accused of perverting the course of justice. Former DC Paul Jennings (left) and former DC John Seaford (right), former Detective Inspector Graham Moucher (bottom left) and former DC Michael Daniels (bottom right) The case was eventually halted in dramatic fashion after fears that documents had been lost. They were eventually found in a storage unit, but by that time legal proceedings had been halted. Last year, UK Home Secretary Theresa May announced that a QC-led review into the trial's collapse will go ahead and look at what lessons that could be learned. As well as the eight ex-officers who went on trial, seven other former police staff, who were arrested but did not stand trial, also launched legal proceedings against Wales's biggest police force. The seven were named in court papers as Rachel Edith O'Brien, Wayne Stephen Pugh, John Bryan Gillard, Stephen Hicks, John Howard Murray, Adrian Morgan and Erica Coliandris. All 15 claimants' action sought 'compensatory, exemplary and aggravated damages'. Mr Justice Wyn Williams adjourned proceedings late last year before deliberating over the evidence for around six months - with his handed-down judgment coming in the form of a 221-page document. Yusef Abdullahi (above, left), Stephen Miller (above, right) and Anthony Paris (bottom left) were jailed but later cleared of the murder. Advances in DNA technology saw the real killer, Jeffrey Gafoor (bottom right), caught Bernie Sanders has one last chance to win a primary today as Washington, D.C. Democrats cast their ballots. Hillary Clinton has already been heralded as the presumptive Democratic nominee after winning the popular vote in the party primary and a majority of pledged delegates last Tuesday. President Barack Obama formally endorsed her in a video released last Thursday. Still, Sanders is refusing to quit the race. He will not concede to Clinton tonight after primary voting is complete, his campaign says, even though there's no plausible path to Democratic nomination. 'It was made very clear today he definitely doesn't have the c-word in his vocabulary,' a senior campaign aide told DailyMail.com. Instead, the Sanders campaign announced today that the Vermont senator will give a national address via livestream on Thursday to talk directly 'about what's next for our campaign.' 'He definitely will not be dropping out tonight,' the aide told DailyMail.com. 'And when he does finally give a 'speech' it won't be what folks are expecting.' Sen. Bernie Sanders is competing in the Democrats' last primary today in Washington, D.C., though he doesn't have a rally scheduled with supporters tonight Democratic hopeful Bernie Sanders talked to reporters today (pictured) and met with his Democratic colleagues on Capitol Hill. Tonight he's going to meet with his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton Sanders had no campaign events on his calendar today, aside from tonight's meeting with Clinton, but he did give a brief statement to the press this afternoon. In it, he doubled down on his plans to stay in, though didn't articulate them directly. 'Let me be as clear as I can be,' Sanders said. 'That I think the time is long overdue for a fundamental transformation of the Democratic Party.' Sanders said he wanted to open up the party to working people and younger people, two constituencies that often voted Sanders. He also said he wanted to rid the party of superdelegates, the party insiders who also get to cast a vote at the Democratic National Convention. Sanders has complained about the 400 or so superdelegates who were already pledged to Clinton before he even started his underdog campaign. He also said he's like to see fresh blood at the top of the Democratic National Committee. Sanders had previously backed the primary challenger of DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Following the lead of Clinton and President Barack Obama, Sanders also swatted at Donald Trump today. 'We know that one hateful person committed this terrible crime, not an entire people, or an entire religion,' Sanders began, speaking of Sunday's massacre in Orlando. 'The Muslim people did not commit this horrific act, a man named Omar Mateen did,' he added. Bernie Sanders briefly talked to the press today. He hit Donald Trump and he also talked about the changes he would like to see in the Democratic Party The Vermont senator said he's like to see the Democratic party open its door to working people and young people - two groups that often vote for Bernie Sanders - and he'd like to see new leadership at the top Bernie Sanders went after Donald Trump in his brief remarks today, saying that Muslims - as a religion - are not responsible for the horrific Orlando terror attack Campaign sources tell Dailymail.com that Bernie Sanders will not be dropping out tonight - even if he loses the Democratic primary in Washington, D.C. 'To blame an entire religion for the acts of a single individual is nothing less than bigotry, and that is not what this country is supposed to be about,' Sanders stated. He made a couple more statements before linking that bigotry to the presumptive Republican nominee. 'Our goal must not be to allow politicians, Donald Trump or anyone else, to divide us up based on where our family came from, the color of our skin or our religion,' Sanders said. Besides his chat with reporters, Sanders met with his Senate Democratic colleagues on Capitol Hill today. 'He mentioned he has every intention of being involved in the platform process and making sure his 2,000 delegates have the opportunity to have their voices heard,' Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., told USAToday, referring to Sanders' plans for the Democratic National Convention in July. Sanders received a 'warm welcome, a friendly welcome,' as he returned to the Senate today, Carper said, with some reporters on the Hill reporting that the Vermont senator received a standing ovation. Tonight Sanders decided against holding another rally in Washington, D.C., like he held last week, and will meet with Clinton as the District's voting results pour in. D.C. has 20 pledged delegates up for grabs. Clinton was ahead by 375 in the latest count. Altogether, when superdelegates, the party officials and other hand-picked Democrats who have a vote at the convention, are tossed into the mix, Clinton has a delegate lead of 907. As of this morning Clinton had 2,784 delegates in her column, per the Associated Press, to Sanders' 1,877. Party rules say a candidate needs 2,383 delegates to win. She's short 180 pledged delegates of winning the nomination in her own right via the popular vote, but is certain to make up the difference at the convention when the superdelegates officially have their say. Tonight Bernie Sanders will not hold a rally, like he's done on practically every primary night. Instead he'll meet with his longtime rival Hillary Clinton, who became the Democrats' presumptive nominee last week Sanders has said for months that he would take his candidacy all the way to the Democratic National Convention in late July. He seemed to waiver last week on Thursday after meeting with Obama at the White House. As he spoke to reporters outside the West Wing, Sanders said he'd compete through D.C. His only mention of the convention was in the context of the platform and what he'd like to see in it. 'These are the issues that we will take to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia at the end of July,' he said, after rattling off a list of concerns on which he's based his campaign. The Vermont lawmaker suggested in the statement that he could soon endorse Clinton as he said he looked forward to meeting with her 'in the near future to see how we can work together to defeat Donald Trump.' The conversation is scheduled to take place today. Her campaign confirmed the meet-up Monday night in a statement that said: 'Secretary Clinton and Senator Sanders agreed to meet when she called him last Tuesday night. 'She looks forward to the opportunity to discuss how they can advance their shared commitment to a progressive agenda, and work together to stop Donald Trump in the general election.' NO CONCESSION: Bernie Sanders won't give into Clinton tonight his campaign says - even though there's no plausible way for him to win the nomination. He's seen here Monday in Burlington, Vermont Monday Sanders stayed in his home town of Burlington as the country mourned the 49 people killed at a gay night club on Sunday morning. He attended a vigil for them there, as Clinton continued to campaign. She's seen here in Cleveland on Monday Previewing their talk on Sunday, Sanders said, 'I simply want to get a sense of what kind of platform she will be supporting, whether she will be vigorous in standing up for working families and the middle class, moving aggressively on climate change, healthcare for all, making public colleges and universities tuition-free.' 'And after we have that kind of discussion and after we can determine whether or not we are going to have a strong and progressive platform, I will be able to make other decisions,' he said on Meet the Press. The show's host, NBC's Chuck Todd, had asked Sanders whether he was still an 'active' candidate. 'Well, let me just say this, I am doing everything that I can and will continue to do everything that I can to make sure that Donald Trump does not become president of the United States,' the senator said. Asked again, in the context of whether or not it's fair to say he is 'winding down' his campaign, Sanders gave a different, and perhaps telling answer as it pertains to his future plans. 'Well, no. What's fair is that what our campaign has always been about are addressing the many crises facing this country. And there are millions of people who want bold change in this country.' 'And what we have got to determine between now and the Democratic convention, and by the way Chuck, we're going to have well over 1,900 delegates at that convention, is what kind of platform and what kind of agenda there will be if Secretary Clinton gets elected, if she wins the election,' Sanders said. Sanders' campaigning since last Thursday, when he held what is likely to be his final rally, in S.E. Washington, D.C., has mostly been through activity on his social media account Monday Sanders stayed in his home town of Burlington as the country mourned the 49 people killed at a gay night club on Sunday morning. He attended a vigil for them there, as Clinton continued to campaign. She called into several morning shows and delivered a speech on national security and gun control in Cleveland. Her campaign did however cancel a fundraiser in Cincinnati and an appearance with President Obama in Green Bay, Wisconsin, that was supposed to take place on Wednesday. The event has been indefinitely postponed. Clinton will give a national security speech in Virginia, instead, her campaign said today. Both Democratic candidates meanwhile pushed their supporters to the polls today in the District of Columbia. 'Make our country work for everyone, not just a handful of billionaires. Let's bring it home. Washington, D.C. go vote. #FeelTheBern,' Sanders said this morning in a tweet. D.C. already went through a week long period of early voting. 'But if you haven't had a chance to vote yet, there's still time -- and Hillary is counting on all of us today!' said a reminder email to her supporters today. Sanders' campaigning since last Thursday, when he held what is likely to be his final rally, in S.E. Washington, D.C., has mostly been through activity on his social media account. 'Reminding ordinary people that government can work for them and can speak with their voice is, I believe, the hope for America's future,' he said on Monday, the day before the D.C. primary. Another recent tweet read: 'The question of our time is whether we will take on the enormous power of the billionaire class, or do we slide into political oligarchy,' he tweeted. Sanders tweeted this Monday morning while he was in his home town of Burlington, Vermont, attending a vigil after the Orlando terrorist attack And he sent this tweet out on Saturday, a day before he met with supporters advisers and told them he would take his campaign to convention Back at home over the weekend in Burlington, Vermont, Sanders met with friends and top supporters and promised he would not end his campaign. 'We are going to take our campaign to the convention with the full understanding that we are very good at arithmetic and that we know, you know, who has the received the most votes up to now,' he said, according to the New York Times. Yet Sanders also said he'd put his energy into 'transforming the Democratic Party.' Clinton leads Sanders by 3.7 million votes. D.C.'s population is less than 700,000. Sanders believes that he can make up ground in California when outstanding votes are counted. He said last Thursday at the White House that the final accounting 'I suspect will show a much closer vote than the current vote tally.' It would take an extreme turn of events to negate the results. Clinton is ahead 56 to 43 percent. Imagine you are given three choices A, B, or C. In the ranking, A is much preferred to B and B is exceedingly preferable to C. Which do you choose? Obviously, all else being equal, youd choose A. Now lets add the following restrictions to your choice: You, your family, and your friends will all get A. But you must make the choice of A, B, or C, for other people who you will likely never meet. If you choose A, no one gets B and some (perhaps many) other people will be stuck with choice C. If you choose B, few people will get A but even fewer will get stuck with C. Which do you choose now? Before you know what the choices entail, youd likely select B as the least bad option for the people you are choosing for. Its not as good as the choice you yourself got but its still better than C. But what if I told you A is a ban on child labor in Bangladesh and B is allowing children to work in a garment factory earning 53 cents per day. Does that change your decision? Now what if I told you choice C was the children become prostitutes or go hungry. Does that shift your choice back to B? Because C is so horrible, youll likely choose B even though youd prefer the children get A. If so, you made the correct moral choice. You weighed the available options and chose the minmax, the choice in decision theory that minimizes the possible loss for a worst case (maximum loss) scenario. Had I simply asked you whether child labor in Bangladesh should be prohibited, though, youd have said it should. And it should be prohibited unless doing so would lead to an even worse outcome for the children. Unfortunately, most people never bother to ask, Would my preference lead to a worse outcome? Even more unfortunate is the fact that some people would still choose to ban child labor even if they knew it would lead to a worse effect. They could claim that they had good intentions and therefore werent responsible for the horrible outcome. The alternative is for them to align with those horrid people who seem to willing to allow the continuation of an evil like child labor. But in some cases, the best option is to embrace realism and choose the least bad choice so that we dont harm others. As C.S. Lewis once wrote, Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. Thinking we have solved the problem of child labor may help us sleep better at night, but only at the expense of children who will suffer more oppressive forms of abuse. So does that mean that we should just throw up our hands in despair and do nothing? Not at all. Economist Ben Powell explains that while banning child labor doesnt help, there are other options for indirectly eliminating child labor. The parents of two children killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting massacre are offering to settle their wrongful death lawsuit against Newtown, Connecticut, and its school system for $5.5million apiece. The parents of Jesse Lewis and Noah Pozner filed the settlement offers Monday in Danbury Superior Court. A lawyer for the town and the school board declined to comment Tuesday. The lawsuit alleges security measures at the school weren't adequate when Adam Lanza fatally shot 20 first-graders and six educators in 2012. The other victims' parents aren't part of the lawsuit. The parents of Noah Pozner (left) and Jesse Lewis (right), who killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting massacre, are offering to settle their wrongful death lawsuit against Newtown, Connecticut, and its school system for $5.5million apiece Before going to the school, shooter Adam Lanza (pictured) killed his mother in their Newtown home, state police said Among the allegations is that Sandy Hook Elementary School had security policies and procedures in place that teachers weren't able to follow on the day of the killings. Classroom doors could only be locked from the outside with keys, leaving teachers vulnerable to intruders, and the front of the school didn't have security glass to protect against gunshots, according to the lawsuit. It also alleges a teacher in one of the two classrooms where students were killed was a substitute, didn't have a key and didn't receive training on the security protocols. The gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, shot his way into the front entrance of the school, which was locked at the time, and killed the 20 children and six educators, then shot himself to death, state police said. Before going to the school, he killed his mother in their Newtown home, state police said. Reports by state police and the state child advocate said Lanza's parents, educators and others missed signs of how deeply troubled he was and opportunities to steer him toward more appropriate treatment for his mental health problems. Lanza's obsessions with firearms, death and mass shootings have been documented by police files, and investigators previously concluded the motive for the shootings may never be known. In another lawsuit, the families of nine victims and a teacher who survived are suing Madison, North Carolina-based Remington Arms, the parent company of Bushmaster Firearms, which made the semi-automatic rifle used in the shootings. Real Housewives of Orange County star Lynn Curtins daughter Alexa Curtin - who recently filed a lawsuit against the OC Sheriffs Department accusing an officer of rape - has been charged after being found with a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia last month. Curtin was charged with two misdemeanors: possession of a controlled substance and possession of controlled substance paraphernalia. The 23-year-old could face up to a year in county jail. There was also no evidence of current registration for her vehicle by the District Attorneys Office on June 7, the day she was charged. Curtin was pulled over by police on May 14, and officers allegedly found her with drugs and paraphernalia. She was cited and released the same day. Alexa Curtin was charged with possession of a controlled substance and possession of controlled substance paraphernalia on June 7 Curtin, 23, was pulled over by police on May 14, and officers allegedly found her with drugs and paraphernalia Police records do not state the type of drug that law enforcement officers allegedly found on Curtin, who is an aspiring porn star who goes by the alias 'Jayden Taylors'. Court records show that Curtin has a co-defendant - who was also cited and released - named John Micah Durkin. An arraignment in the case has been set for June 15 in Newport Beach, California. Curtins arrest comes months after the reality star filed a federal lawsuit against the Orange County Sheriffs Department. She claimed a deputy with the Orange County Sheriffs Department sexually assaulted her in April, 2014 when she was 21 years old. Curtin - who has waived her right to anonymity to encourage any other alleged victims of the police officer to come forward - claimed she was pulled over shortly after leaving her boyfriends house in Dana Point, California. The lawsuit states one of the deputies approached Curtins car and began questioning her. It states: The Deputy searched Plaintiffs vehicle. Plaintiff had some of her clothing in her vehicle. While searching...the Deputy found some of Plaintiffs underwear and began inappropriately questioning Plaintiff about her underwear, asking if the underwear belonged to her, how many pairs she had, why she needed the underwear, etc. Curtins arrest comes months after the reality star filed a federal lawsuit against the Orange County Sheriffs Department The suit says the Deputy then had to leave to tend to another more pressing matter, but told Curtin she wasnt free to leave and ordered her to remain in her vehicle. Twenty minutes later the same deputy who had conducted the earlier traffic stop returned but in his personal vehicle and out of uniform, the lawsuit states. The plain clothed officer got into the car and sat in the passenger seat next to Curtin. The lawsuit states: The Deputy began issuing orders to Plaintiff. Based on information and belief the Deputy said, Since you are still here, I am going to f**k the s**t out of you. Based on information and belief, the Deputy stated to Plaintiff, Show me your p***y. The suit says Curtin was afraid and feared for her own safety, and she complied with all of the Deputys commands. It added: Then the Deputy groped Plaintiffs vagina and digitally penetrated her while commenting on her anatomy. The suit says that the officer then pulled his pants down and ordered Curtin to straddle him while he was sat in the passenger seat. Curtin complied because, she was still in fear for her safety and knew that many in law enforcement carry guns. It added: While in this position, the Deputy had nonconsensual sexual intercourse with Plaintiff. The deputy then pulled his pants up and asked Curtin for her cell phone number so he could text her again. Curtin is the daughter of Real Housewives of Orange County star Lynn Curtin (left) appeared regularly in the Bravo reality series herself alongside big sister Raquel Still afraid Curtin gave him a wrong number. The suit stated: Plaintiff was violated, traumatized, emotionally drained, in shock, and fearing for her own safety. Specifically, Plaintiff feared that given the Deputys position, he would find her and harm her again. It added: Due to the Defendants atrocious actions, Plaintiff has suffered physical and emotional injuries. Plaintiffs injuries continue. Curtin is suing both the Sheriff's Deputy and Orange County Sheriffs Department asking for damages for the mental anguish, emotional distress and financial losses and is demanding general, special and exemplary damages along with attorney fees.. The department has yet to respond to the allegations in federal court. Curtin is the daughter of former Real Housewife of Orange County star Lynne Curtin and appeared regularly in the Bravo reality series herself alongside big sister Raquel. In May 2014 Lynne was shocked to discover her daughter did porn under the alias 'Jayden Taylors' to pay for plastic surgery. 'When I found out that Alexa was involved in porn I became physically ill,' the 59-year-old reality star said in the National Enquirer. The jewelry designer was under the impression her daughter, now 23, was just modeling lingerie. The 47-year-old will reportedly dispute the claim and say she owes $60k Bankruptcy proceedings of almost $300,000 filed against Roberta Williams Gangland widow and convicted drug dealer Roberta Williams is facing bankruptcy proceedings brought against her by the Australian Taxation Office amounting to almost $300,000. Ms Williams was married to convicted murderer and drug boss Carl Williams, who was beaten to death with a bicycle seat while inside Barwon Prison, southwest of Melbourne, in 2010. Bankruptcy proceedings filed against her on June 9 reveal the tax office is petitioning for $295,632 of her estate, Herald Sun reported. Scroll down for video Gangland widow and convicted drug dealer Roberta Williams is facing bankruptcy proceedings brought against her by the Australian Taxation Office to claim almost $300,000 Ms Williams was married to convicted murderer and drug boss Carl Williams (pictured), who was beaten to death with a bicycle seat while inside Barwon Prison, southwest of Melbourne, in 2010 Ms Williams believes the figure was calculated by learning how much she has sold her story to media outlets for over the years, her agent Matt Ryan-Garnsey said, according to Herald Sun. Mr Ryan-Garnsey said she would dispute the amount, and instead claimed she owed the tax office about $60,000 from the media payments. She had been ordered to pay the tax office $230,623 at the Supreme Court in 2013. The debt has since grown a further $65,009 in interest and has resulted in the bankruptcy application by the ATO against Ms Williams' estate. Ms Williams believes the figure was calculated by learning how much she has sold her story to media outlets for over the years, her agent Matt Ryan-Garnsey said It was reported last week Ms Williams is being sued by prestigious Penleigh and Essendon Grammar School her daughter Dhakota attended over $22,000 in allegedly unpaid school fees (pictured together) The case against Ms Williams is expected to be heard in the Federal Court on July 14. It was reported last week Ms Williams is being sued by prestigious Penleigh and Essendon Grammar School her daughter Dhakota attended over $22,000 in allegedly unpaid school fees. Ms Williams also reportedly still owes about $40,000 from Carl Williams' funeral, with $16,000 owed for his headstone. She is also battling for the estate of George Williams, the father of Carl Williams, against his partner Kathleen Bourke. George died aged 69 of a heart attack in May. Ms Williams has convictions for trafficking ecstasy and amphetamines, and convictions for possession of ecstasy and cocaine. Ms Williams is also battling for the estate of George Williams, the father of Carl Williams (left), against his partner Kathleen Bourke Carl Williams was beaten to death with a bicycle seat while inside Barwon Prison, southwest of Melbourne, in 2010 Three cast members from the popular Bravo show Southern Charm claimed on Monday that Kathryn Denis had failed a drug test. Cameran Eubanks, Landon Clements and Whitney Sudler-Smith appeared on Watch What Happens Live where host Andy Cohen asked them what they knew about the rumors and reports that were circulating about the failed drug test that came to light last week during a custody hearing. 'That its true. And thats all that we know. Its heartbreaking and its hard to watch and be a part of it, but there we are,' said Landon. Whitney meanwhile was a bit more vicious, complaining about how poorly he, Landon and Cameran have been perceived on the show this season when in reality it is Kathryn he claims who is a problem. 'She is a drug addict, a violent sociopath and we want nothing to do with her,' said Whitney. Kathryn, 24, responded to this by writing on Twitter: 'The 3 biggest liars #WWHL this is hilarious watching.' The cast will be filming their reunion show this week in New York City and Kathryn's ex and the father of her two children, Thomas Ravenel, 53, was spotted flying into the Big Apple on Monday with the kids. Scroll down for video Rumors: Kathryn Dennis reportedly failed a drug test that was given as part of her child custody hearing with ex Thomas Ravanel Confirmation: Cameran Eubanks, Landon Clements and Whitney Sudler-Smith (above) appeared on Watch What Happens Live on Monday and claimed the reports of the failed drug test were true Daddy's little girl: It is being reported that her ex Thomas Ravenel now has joint custody daughter Kensie (above) and newborn son St. Julian because of the test results New friend: Kensie played with Bill Murray and some stickers (above) on her flight Monday Ravenel posted photos of himself with daughter Kensington, 2, and his baby boy St. Julian who was born in November. The group, which also included the childrens' nanny Dawn, even ran into a pretty major celebrity on the way - actor Bill Murray. Thomas later shared a photo of his daughter, who he calls Kensie, eating some of the candy she got from the Groundhog Day star. Kenise and Mr. Murray also had some fun with stickers during the plane ride. There is a report on allaboutthetea.com that claims because of Kathryn's failed drug test Thomas now has joint custody of the children and Kathryn will be forced to have supervised visits with her son and daughter. Thomas has agreed to allow her parents to be the ones supervising their daughter during those times. This comes just weeks after Kathryn very publicly announced that Thomas never makes an effort to see his children. A court docket and documents filed in the case that were seen by DailyMail.com show that Thomas filed an affidavit last Thursday after he and Kathryn appeared in court for 30 minutes last Wednesday for the custody hearing. Thomas had asked that records be sealed but that request was rejected by the judge. The pair will now be heading back to court later this month on June 27 for another hearing in front of the judge. Thomas has had his own struggles with drugs over the years, and in June 2007 he was indicted on charges alleging he had purchased less than 500 grams of cocaine. He was sentenced to 10 months in federal prison in 2008. A year before his indictment he had been elected State Treasurer for South Carolina, a position he was suspended from immediately by Governor Mark Sanford. He was also tested for drugs as part of the custody hearing for his two children and 'passed his test' Landon said during her interview on Monday night. Speaking out: Kathryn responded to the claims by writing on Twitter: 'The 3 biggest liars #WWHL this is hilarious watching.' Changes: Kathryn reportedly has to have supervised visits with her children at this time and it is unclear if she will not appear at this week's reunion taping (Kathryn and Thomas above in March 2015) Kids: The couple have a daughter Kensie (left) and son St. Julian (right) Landon, Cameron and Whitney were also joined on WWHL by castmate Shep Rose, who came out halfway through and is also in Manhattan for the reunion. Craig Conover also wrote on Twitter that he was flying up for the event. There is now word however is Kathryn will be at the taping, and both she and a representative from Bravo did not respond to a request for comment. Kathryn and Thomas' relationship has been the focus of Southern Charm since season one, when she first hooked up with Shep and then Whitney before she began dating Thomas. She got pregnant and gave birth to her daughter, but the couple split soon after. Then, after filming the reunion episode for the show's second season in New York City and viciously attacking one another, Kathryn and Thomas made up and she got pregnant again soon after with their son. The Duke of Cambridge is to feature in the UK's leading gay magazine, Attitude. William told a member of staff during a visit to the American Embassy that he will be appearing in the monthly publication, which comes out on Wednesday. Mike Buckley, managing director of Attitude, confirmed the news and said: 'We will have some exciting announcements to share soon.' Prince William (left) will appear in this Wednesday's edition of gay lifestyle magazine Attitude The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge signed a book of condolence for victims of the gay nightclub shooting in Orlando at the embassy in Westminster, central London, on Tuesday. Lone gunman Omar Mateen, 29, left 49 people dead and dozens of others wounded in the massacre at Pulse in the Florida city on Sunday. After signing a message, the couple spoke to staff who have worked on LGBT issues. Craig Petty, president of LGBT association Glifaa, said the Duke told him he would be appearing in the magazine. 'I told him what I do and he said he's going to be in Attitude magazine,' he added. 'I was really nervous about meeting the royal couple but they are both great at putting you at ease. 'I think it's great that they have come here today to show their support.' A Kensington Palace spokesman said: 'We look forward to speaking about this soon.' A magazine source added: 'It's all very exciting. For the Duke to have mentioned it today is really nice to know. 'It's been set up for months.' The Duke of Cambridge, pictured left and right with the Duchess, told the news to staff at the US Embassy after they met Ambassador Matthew Barzun, right, and paid their respects to the victims of the Orlando massacre Attitude was founded in 1994 and is the UK's biggest-selling gay magazine with a circulation of around 60,000 issues per month, including digital. It was previously owned by Vitality Publishing but has since been sold to private investors, with Attitude Media Ltd listed as the current owner. The magazine has featured just as many straight celebrities on its cover as those who are openly gay over the years, with iconic figures such as David Beckham, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Lady Gaga and Prime Minister David Cameron all appearing. Attitude also became the first gay publication to feature an interview with the prime minister in 2005 when it spoke to Tony Blair. Gifted pianist: Edward Mallen, 18, was found dead between railway tracks after being hit by a train A gifted student with a place at Cambridge killed himself two weeks after telling a mental health nurse he had thought about throwing himself in front of a train, an inquest heard today. Gifted pianist Edward Mallen, 18, of Meldreth, Cambridgeshire, was found dead between railway tracks after being hit by a train - eight months before he was due to start at university. Mr Mallen, who was voted 'most likely to become prime minister' in his yearbook, had previously told his GP, a mental health nurse and a psychiatric practitioner that the thought of killing himself had crossed his mind. But his local GP's recommendations for urgent psychiatric support were overruled because nurses said he had not picked out a time and place to kill himself. The inquest, held at Huntingdon Town Hall, heard how there was a difference in opinion for the treatment plan for the intelligent student. Assistant coroner Belinda Cheney said: 'There appears to be a significant disconnect between the GP's view and those of other people.' Mr Mallen, who had achieved 12 A*s at GCSE, was killed by a train near Meldreth railway station on February 9 last year at 3.30pm. He had been self-harming for three months after becoming depressed, but had told nurses he would not kill himself because of 'the devastating effects suicide would have on his family'. The Mallen family's GP, Dr Jens Richter, saw Mr Mallen on January 22 last year and had been concerned so recommended immediate transferral to secondary psychiatric care services. Concerns: Mr Mallen - voted 'most likely to become prime minister' in his yearbook - had previously told his GP, a mental health nurse and a psychiatric practitioner that the thought of killing himself had crossed his mind Dr Richter said: 'I asked him if he had had any suicidal thoughts and he confirmed that and on further questioning I asked him whether he had planned anything in particular and he mentioned that he might want to throw himself in front of a train. That was a very alarming statement.' Dr Richter told the hearing he requested an 'urgent' referral' where a psychiatric nurse would see Mr Mallen within 24-hours. But after a 15-minute phone interview with a registered mental health nurse, Leo Katsukunya, the decision was made that Edward was not at immediate risk of suicide. Mr Katsukunya said: 'I spoke to Edward. He gave me assurances that he had support.' Instead over the phone he recommended the use of the anti-depressant Citalopram - and Dr Richter then prescribed a month course of it. Assistant coroner Cheney asked Mr Katsukunya why he felt confident that Edward was not at immediate risk of suicide when the family's GP had thought he was. Mr Katsukunya said he based the decision on the clinical information he had and after discussions with colleagues in his team. He added that he didn't believe there was an 'imminent risk' that Edward would commit suicide. Sad case: Mr Mallen, pictured with his father Steve, died eight months before he was due to start at university But the assistant coroner said: 'What does someone need to say for it to be determined that there is an imminent risk? 'He said to the GP he is thinking about throwing himself under the train. He said the same thing to you. Does he have to go on and say it's going to be the 10:15 from Cambridge to London on January 7?' Great potential: Mr Mallen had received 12 A*s at GCSE - the best results in 50 years at his school Mr Katsukunya said: 'In Edward's case I would say that it wasn't something he was planning on doing. He assured me that this was not something he was going to do.' After giving evidence he then looked at Edward's parents and offered his condolences as well as apologising for his 'errors'. The inquest also heard how Dr Richter held face-to-face meetings with Mr Mallen and that his mood hadn't improved despite the use of Citalopram. But Dr Richter said it was not unusual for there not to have been an immediate effect. Mr Mallen was then seen by Duncan Maxwell, a liason psychiatric practitioner who worked for the Crisis Resolution Home Treatment Team in Cambridge. He concluded that when he saw Edward on January 26 for an assessment he was depressed but that he was not at risk of committing suicide. Mr Maxwell added: 'I asked him if he had got as far as identifying a place or a time. He said he hadn't.' Mr Mallen also told Mr Maxwell that he would alert someone if his feelings changed and he was given a couple of websites to visit for advice. Emily Formby, barrister for the Mallens, said: ' He [Edward] gave his account to three different people and he is given no help at all. 'What is he getting back other than giving his account and getting pushed further down the line?' The teenager had received 12 A*s at GCSE and was due to study geography at Girton College, Cambridge Mr Mallen's friend and ex-girlfriend of just under a year, Sophie Payne, also told the inquest how he had been 'happy with his life' in the summer of 2014. She said: 'He had a perfect life, perfect family, he was doing well at school. He had no idea why he was upset.' Miss Payne said she convinced Mr Mallen to tell his parents how he was feeling, 'but even then Edward was almost in denial about the way he felt', she added. He had a perfect life, perfect family, he was doing well at school. He had no idea why he was upset Sophie Payne, his former girlfriend The teenager, a student at Hills Road Sixth Form College in Cambridge, had received 12 A*s at GCSE - the best results in 50 years at his school - and was predicted three A*s at A level. He was due to study geography at Girton College, Cambridge. His mother, Suzanne, 48, who works part-time at a school and father, Steve, 50, who is a property consultant, were both present at the inquest yesterday. The hearing is set to conclude today. In a statement released after his death, Mr and Mrs Mallen said: 'Edward was a truly remarkable individual whose academic brilliance was matched only by his caring, friendly and warm character. 'Despite intense efforts, Edward's inexplicable, sudden, brutal and remorseless recent decline into a deep depression could not be averted. 'We implore the authorities to reconsider the funding and resources directed towards alleviating the seemingly relentless spread of psychological disorders and anxieties amongst our young people. Tragedies like this can and must be avoided.' The family added that they were 'utterly devastated by the sudden and traumatic loss of our lovely son and brother' and the world had been 'measurably diminished' without him. Veterinarian said when glue hits the stomach it slowly starts expanding A six-month-old puppy was rushed into emergency surgery after she swallowed Gorilla Glue. Krystal Wilson's Weimaraner, named Lake, found the glue that was left out after a family member brought it over for a house project, according to KFOR. It wasn't too long after the puppy ate some of the glue, that Wilson noticed something was wrong. Lake's stomach had started to expand. A six-month-old Weimaraner, named Lake (pictured), was rushed to emergency surgery after she consumed Gorilla Glue Lake's owner, Krystal Wilson, noticed something was wrong with Lake as her stomach started to expand. The Gorilla Glue had started molding into the shape of Lakes's stomach, producing a solid mass (pictured) Dr Leonardo Baez (pictured) with Midtown Vets in Oklahoma immediately performed surgery on Lake. He said Gorilla Glue can be deadly. The glue reacts with the dog's stomach fluid and expands, quickly becoming a solid mass. In less than an hour it can become a deadly obstruction 'Just a small amount had just swollen up to the size of a turkey leg. It was huge, pretty much took the size of her stomach,' Wilson told KFOR. Wilson took Lake to a local veterinarian who immediately took the puppy into surgery to remove the glue. Dr Leonardo Baez with Midtown Vets in Oklahoma told the news station that once the glue 'gets to the stomach, it slowly starts expanding'. The glue reacts with the dog's stomach fluid and expands, quickly becoming a solid mass. In less than an hour it can become a deadly obstruction. The reaction also produces heat, which can result in secondary complications such as thermal burns to the esophagus and stomach, which can also be life threatening. Baez pointed out that the glue had molded into the shape of Lake's stomach. The mold was solid as a rock and Baez said because Gorilla Glue can be deadly, it was good that they were able to remove it in time. Baez said Gorilla Glue has a very sweet taste, which is appealing to animals and even children. 'It's hard not to feel guilty. You feel like you kind of failed. We were very upset that we failed, but you can't prevent everything,' Wilson told KFOR. Lake is now back home and 'back to her crazy self'. The puppy is having a fast recovery. An X-ray of Lake's stomach show's the glue expanding and molding into a rock hard material Krystal Wilson (pictured with Lake) said that 'it's hard not to feel guilty' because 'you feel like you kind of failed'. Lake is making a fast recovery Donald Trump wants Hillary Clinton to return $25 million in Saudi government donations to the Clinton Foundation after the former secretary of state called for the Saudis and other Middle East government to clamp down on terror funding. 'Crooked Hillary says we must call on Saudi Arabia and other countries to stop funding hate. I am calling on her to immediately return the $25 million plus she got from them for the Clinton Foundation!' Trump posted on Facebook Monday. Clinton addressed the issue of sources of terror funding in a Monday speech she gave in response to the massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando. The killer proclaimed his support for ISIS in a 911 call while the massacre was ongoing. 'The third area that demands attention is preventing radicalization and countering efforts by ISIS and other international terrorist groups to recruit in the U.S. and Europe,' Clinton said. 'For starters, it is long past time for the Saudis, Qatari and Kuwaitis and others to stop their citizens from funding extremist organizations. And they should stop supporting radical schools and mosques around the world that have set too many young people on a path towards extremism.' Donald Trump on Monday called on Hillary Clinton to return $25 million in contributions the government of Saudi Arabia made to the Clinton Foundation Trump issued the demand on Facebook after Clinton called on the Saudis to clamp down on terror funding within their borders during her speech in response to the Orlando nightclub attack, which was carried out by a U.S.-born man who proclaimed support for ISIS Give it back: Trump wants Clinton to return Saudi contributions to the Clinton Foundation she ran with her husband Clinton also complained about terror financing from the three countries while serving as Secretary of State, according to an internal cable published by Wikileaks. Clinton complained of 'an ongoing challenge to persuade Saudi officials to treat terrorist financing emanating from Saudi Arabia as a strategic priority,' according to a 2009 cable, and said 'Qatar's overall level of CT cooperation with the U.S. is considered the worst in the region. She also said the Kuwaiti government was "less inclined to take action against Kuwait-based financiers and facilitators plotting attacks." But any desire to get tough on oil-rich nations may have been undermined by their past support of the foundation. According to an investigation by the International Business Times, State green-lighted an increase in arms deals under Clinton's tenure, including a deal to sell $29 billion of Boeing fighter jets to the Saudis. The Wall Street Journal reported in 2015 that the Saudi government gave $10 million to $25 million to the Clinton Foundation since 2009. Clinton met with Saudi foreign minister Saud bin Faisal bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud in Tunis in 2012 during the 'Friends of Syria' conference while serving as secretary of state Trump's blast at Clinton follows reports that Republican insiders want him to focus his attack on Clinton and stay away from other tangential fights, like last week's attack on Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who is overseeing a lawsuit against Trump University. It also follows repeated efforts by Trump to hit President Obama for failing to confront Islamic extremists following the Orlando attack, and insinuating there is 'something going on.' "Look, we're led by a man that either is not tough, not smart, or he's got something else in mind," Trump told Fox News Monday morning. "And the something else in mind you know, people can't believe it. People cannot, they cannot believe that President Obama is acting the way he acts and can't even mention the words 'radical Islamic terrorism.' 'There's something going on,' Trump added. 'It's inconceivable. There's something going on." Roger Stone, an informal Trump advisor, on Monday said he wants Trump to start going after longtime Clinton advisor Huma Abedin, who lived in Saudi Arabia as a child when her academic parents moved there for work. 'She has a very troubling past,' Stone told Breitbart News Daily. 'She comes out of nowhere. She seems to have an enormous amount of cash, even prior to the time that she goes to work for Hillary. 'So we have to ask: Do we have a Saudi spy in our midst?' he said without offering evidence. 'Do we have a terrorist agent?' The U.S. government has long chafed at Saudi support for terror groups like Al Qaeda. White House press secretary Josh Earnest read from the Sept. 11th report this spring in advance of an Obama visit to the kingdom. "Saudi Arabia has long been considered the primary source of funding. But we have found no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded the organization," according to the passage he read. The Pope has refused a donation of 16,666,000 pesos from the President of Argentina because it contained 666, the so-called number of the Devil. Pope Francis, a former Archbishop of Buenos Aires, has traditionally supported progressive causes in his native Argentina and does not naturally see eye-to-eye with President Mauricio Macri, who was elected on a right-wing market-oriented ticket. The Pope has been unimpressed by some of the austerity measures introduced by President Macri, including 500 per cent rises in domestic electricity prices and 100 per cent increases in transport fares, which have both hit poor Argentinians hard. President Mauricio Macri (pictured) was elected in December and, as head of an overwhelmingly Catholic nation, he understandably wants to have good relations with the Vatican The Guardian newspaper reported the frosty relationship between the pair took a turn for the worse after the Pontiff turned down President Macri's offer of 16,666,000 pesos (855,000). The donation was due to be made by the Argentine government to the Scholas Occurentes educational foundation, which is backed by the Pope. President Macri made the donation earlier this month, shortly after actors George Clooney, Richard Gere and Salma Hayek had agreed to be ambassadors for the charity. When he Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, (second from left), frequently travelled on public transport in the Argentine capital. His humble nature has made him a popular Pope But the Vatican Insider, which specialises in papal affairs, reported that Pope Francis wrote to the Argentinian branch of the foundation, asking them to return the money. In a postcript, he reportedly wrote: 'I don't like the 666.' The Pope is reported to have been irritated by reports in the Argentinian press that the donation was a sign of improving relations with the Vatican. The Scholas Occurentes returned the donation saying: 'There are those who are trying to misrepresent this institutional gesture...with the purpose of generating confusion and division among Argentines.' Dave Grohl, as the Devil, plays the drums in the movie Tenacious D in The Pick Of Destiny and of course his favourite number is on the drumkit But after meeting the Pope on Monday, President Macri's foreign minister Susana Malcorra said: 'There is no animosity towards the president. It was a very rich, very natural conversation, with no calling of accounts or enormous philosophical differences.' Juan Grabois, a Vatican adviser, told the Argentinian press: 'The 16million didn't sound goodnian social. Whoever thinks that by giving money, especially public funds to a foundation directly or indirectly linked to Francis, is making a gesture to the pope, is stupid.' It is not clear why the figure of 16,666,000 was offered in the first place. The origin of the myth is the New Testament's Book of Revelation, which says: 'One who understands can calculate the number of the beast, for it is a number that stands for a person. His number is six hundred and sixty-six.' Only later was this paragraph taken to mean referring to the Antichrist. The owner of the gun store where the Orlando terrorist bought his murder weapons said he does not feel culpable for the worst massacre in US history. Ed Henson of St Lucie Shooting Center insists Omar Mateen passed all the background checks when he came in last week. In two separate visits, the 29-year-old bought a .223 caliber AR-type rifle and a 9mm semiautomatic pistol. Days later, he killed 49 people in Pulse nightclub and wounded dozens more. 'It's horrible but I don't make the laws. I abide by them,' Henson, a retired New York police officer, told reporters in a statement. 'My heartfelt condolences for the family and victims and I can't imagine the horror they face. 'I did everything by the book. I'm not going to be made into a villain.' SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO Conscience clear: Ed Henson said that Mateen who he refused to refer to by name, instead calling him 'an evil person' legally bought the handgun and the long gun approximately a week apart The ATF confirmed that Madeen obtained his guns at the St. Lucie Shooting Center a few days before Sunday morning's atrocity He added: 'We did nothing wrong.' The St. Lucie Shooting Center, on an industrial estate outside Port St. Lucie, Florida, where Madeen's family live, was closed Monday despite it boasting that it is open 7 days a week. A note was posted on the door saying it would open later in the day. The ATF confirmed that Mateen obtained his guns at the center a few days before Sunday morning's atrocity in Orlando, 125 miles to the northwest. The center offers free range time for anyone who has just bought weapons there. The company website says Henson had 20 years service with the NYPD and the New York Housing Police, 16 of which were as a detective. The Statewide Firearm License discovered by Daily Mail Online in the killer's apartment (below left) expired last September. But the owner of the gun center, retired New York City cop Edward Henson, says that Mateen had an up-to-date license with him Henson said that Mateen who he refused to refer to by name, instead calling him 'an evil person' legally bought the handgun and the long gun approximately a week apart. 'If he hadn't purchased them from us I am sure he would have got them from another local gun store,' added Henson, who is known locally as 'Big Ed.'. 'This man held multiple security licenses. He had an armed and an unarmed licence. He passed the background check that every single person who purchases a firearm in the state of Florida undergoes Aa full background check, there is no such thing as an abbreviated background check. He said if Mateen had not had a concealed carry permit he would have had to undergo a three-day cooling-off period to buy the handgun, although he could have bought the AR-15 on the same day 'He is familiar to me, vaguely,' said Henson. 'But I don't know him personally. 'He was evil, we happen to be the gun store he picked. And there is nothing else I can say.' Henson said he voluntarily closed the store on Monday so ATF officers could carry out an inspection. He forcefully denied reports that ATF had shut him down. He also said reports that Mateen had asked for body armor were false. He said his store has never sold body armor The center was in the news in 2013 when a 22-year-old man went there to rent a handgun. As soon as the background check and a basic safety course was completed the man killed himself with a shot to the head. There has been no suggestion that Mateen, a guard for giant security company G4S who worked at a condo complex in Palm City, Florida, bought the weapons illegally nor that the St. Lucie Shooting Center should have realized what he would use them for. The Statewide Firearm License discovered by Daily Mail Online in the killer's apartment expired last September. But gun shop owner said Mateen had an up-to-date license with him when he bought the guns The St. Lucie Shooting Center is owned by retired New York City cop Edward Henson. The company website says he had 20 years service with the NYPD and the New York Housing Police, 16 of which were as a detective Henson said he voluntarily closed the store on Monday so ATF officers could carry out an inspection. He forcefully denied reports that ATF had shut him down Shop owner Henson said that Mateen who he refused to refer to by name, instead calling hi 'an evil person' legally bought the handgun and the long gun approximately a week apart. The Shooting Center was close Monday morning 'He had a concealed weapon permit and he worked as a security guard, so absolutely his purchase was legal,' John O'Neil, who owns a pawn shop in Port St. Lucie that sells gun shop told Daily Mail Online in an exclusive interview. 'I feel very sorry for Big Ed. He did nothing wrong. I know him well I got my concealed permit through him,' added O'Neil, who says he has not contacted Henson since the Orlando massacre. 'I figured he would have enough people calling him,' he said. O'Neil and other gun shop owners said the first thing they did once Madeen's name was made public was to check their records to make sure they were not the ones who supplied the weapons. All apart from Henson breathed a sigh of relief. O'Neil said his company, Paramount Pawn & Jewelry, is sponsoring a two-day gun show at the Port St. Lucie Civic Center this coming weekend, and had no plans to cancel despite the massacre. 'I would tell people who say it is the wrong time to have a gun show that it is absolutely the right time,' he said. 'There is a heightened fear in the community. Just this morning I have sold eight guns. 'A woman who lives two doors down from Madeen's parents sent her husband in to buy another gun. She never owned one herself, although he did. But she just doesn't feel safe and wanted an extra weapon in the house.' O'Neil said the weekend gun show is an ideal place to buy a gun because law enforcement officers will be on hand to give safety demonstrations something that buyers would not get if they bought a weapon in a gun shop. He said it is quite possible the show will be protested, but he would not bow to any pressure to put it off. Today is Flag Day. You probably didnt know. You probably didnt care. Unless youre Boy Scout or a member of the VFW, you probably dont give the American flag much thought. And you likely dont have any flags in your home. I dont either. Not really. What I do have hanging on the walls of my home office are several variations of Jasper Johnss paintings of the American flag. I have no idea what Johns thought about the works or what he intended by the paintings. In fact, Ive actively avoided finding out so that his artistic intent doesnt interfere with my own personal, peculiar interpretation. For me, seeing these American Flags helps me to better see the American Flag. Normally when I look at an American flag I see . . . an American flag. Although not consciously recognized, there is a certain semiotic understanding that the flag (a cloth with stars and stripes) is merely the signifier (the form the symbol takes) while the signified (the concept it represents) is America. Of course this leads to another level of recursion since America is also a sign that stands in for a variety of signified concepts, both tangible (our homeland) and intangible (our ideals). When I look at Johnss Flags, though, I see something different: an abstract representation of an abstract symbol that itself represents abstract concepts. In looking at the paintings I no longer see American Flag but see past the symbol to what it represents, such as liberty and civic virtue. The paintings help me to better see the authenticity of the flag in a way that I often miss when I encounter it flying on a flagpole. Without Johnss painting to keep me focused, it would be easy for me to see the American Flag in a cliched manner. Like how President Obama used to think of flag lapel pin. That seems to have changed, for I noticed the other day that the president was wearing just such a pin. I had almost forgotten why he had stopped. Almost a decade ago, when he was running for president, he said hed no longer wear a U.S. flag pin, but would instead show his patriotism through ideas. He said he didnt wear the flag pin anymore because it has become a substitute for true patriotism since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks: Someone noticed I wasnt wearing a flag lapel pin but I am less concerned with what you are wearing on your lapel than whats in your heart . . . We have to lead on our values and our ideals. He is absolutely right that the pins can be used as a substitute for a concept (patriotism) that has lost its meaning. But then I heard his explanation, and I realized there was something else going on: You know, the truth is that right after 9/11, I had a pin, Obama said Wednesday. Shortly after 9/11, particularly because as were talking about the Iraq war, that became a substitute for I think true patriotism, which is speaking out on issues that are of importance to our national security, I decided I wont wear that pin on my chest. Obama wasnt just saying the flag pins had become a cliche; he was saying the flag pins no longer served at least for him as authentic symbols. In other words, the reason Obama refused to wear the pin on his chest was not that he wasnt patriotic, but rather because he was what I would call post-authentic. Authenticity refers to the truthfulness of origins, attributions, commitments, sincerity, devotion, and intentions. For instance, a WWII veteran might wear a flag label pin because he has an authentic love of country. His intention in wearing the symbol is to convey a sincere non-ironic expression of patriotism. Someone who is post-authentic would wear (or not wear) the pin for a quite different reason. Although it is not intended to be ironic, it does share some characteristics of hipster irony. Hipster irony is a self-awareness of ones behavior that is incongruent with expectations of how the person (hipster) would authentically act. For the ironic hipster, wearing a flag pin would be communicating, Isnt it ironic that someone as cool as me would wear such a lame symbol? In contrast, the post-authentic person is also painfully self-aware of what they are communicating. Yet unlike the ironist they wear the symbol to be congruent with the intended meaning. They are uncomfortable, though, with the meanings of the signified concepts as commonly held. They do want the symbols to be authentic but only after the symbol has been recalibrated, returned to an original, pure, or redefined meaning of the concept signified. For the post-authentic, the quest for authenticity also becomes a purpose unto itself. The prefix post (after) in post-authentic is the search for what a more authentic authenticity, a constant striving for a more genuine genuineness. The authentic is condition of truthfulness and sincerity. The post-authentic is a condition of truthfulness and sincerity but with an asterisk. The WWII vet wears the flag pin as an authentic expression of Im a patriot. I love my country. Obama chose to not wear the pin as a post-authentic expression of Im a patriot. I love my country, but . . . Unfortunately, the asterisk isnt completely without warrant since the co-opting of patriot by nativists, xenophobes, and domestic terrorists has caused some Americans to distance themselves from the label. It is also true that the term patriot has to compete with other terms that we might rightfully believe take precedence. Christians, for example, not only owe allegiance to the state but also, and more importantly, to the Kingdom of God. Even when we consider ourselves loyal citizens of the U.S., we also embrace a form of universal cosmopolitanism in cleaving to the invisible, catholic church. Whatever unique and individual allegiances we might have, though, we corporately share a divided loyalty between America as our birthplace (or adopted home) and America as an ideal, a set of principles embodied in such documents as the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. While our bifurcated loyalty can make patriotic sentiments complex and dissonant, it can also prevent a love of America from devolving into blind nationalism. This tension sets Americaand our identity as a nationapart in a peculiar way. As historian Walter Berns notes, The late Martin Diamond had this in mind when, in an American government textbook, he points out that the terms Americanism, Americanization, and un-American have no counterparts in any other country or language. This is not by chance, or a matter of phoneticsSwissism? Englishization?or mere habit. (What would a Frenchman have to do or believe in order to justify being labeled un-French?) The fact is, and it was first noted by the Englishman, G.K. Chesterton, the term Americanism reflects a unique phenomenon; as Diamond puts it, It expresses the conviction that American life is uniquely founded on a set of political principles. Most Americans have so internalized this concept of America as both a geographic place and an abstract ideal that we sometime forget how radical it must appear to the rest of the world. Consider, for example, the tiny minority of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans who support reconquista, the reconquering and return of California, New Mexico, and other parts of the United States to Mexico. If their dream were realized it would simply make Mexico a much larger but still underdeveloped nation. You can move the border northward but without the culture, ideals, laws, and principles of America, San Diego is just another Tijuana. Presumably, though, the re-conquistadors would still want to take the land even though it would mean having to immigrate further eastward to find work. The beauty and genius of our principles, though, is that there is nothing that makes them exclusively American. They are ideals (such as universal religious liberty) that are not only available to all people but also, as American political philosophers since Thomas Jefferson have contentiously argued, likely to eventually be adopted by the majority of nations on Earth. To be a patriot then is to align oneself with all generations of Americans past, present, and future who claim that all men are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights. In his eulogy for the Kentucky politician Henry Clay , Abraham Lincoln gave expression to what should be an applicable description of all American patriots: He loved his country partly because it was his own country, but mostly because it was a free country; and he burned with a zeal for its advancement, prosperity and glory, because he saw in such, the advancement, prosperity and glory, of human liberty, human right and human nature. He desired the prosperity of his countrymen partly because they were his countrymen, but chiefly to show to the world that freemen could be prosperous. Berns says that for Clay (and Lincoln), country and principle were one and the same. Perhaps in Clay we can find a useful model for ourselves; a way to be an authentic patriot again without the need for the asterisk. It's said his wife had requested a divorce after being Juan David Villegas-Hernandez was arrested in connection with the deaths of his daughters and wife A man who allegedly murdered his wife and four children then went on the run had become embroiled in divorce proceedings, it has emerged. Juan David Villegas-Hernandez was taken into custody by Sonora state police on Sunday - a day after police in Roswell, New Mexico, said the 34-year-old shot and killed his wife, Cynthia Villegas, and their four daughters - ages 14, 11, 7 and 3. The mother, also 34, was a well-respected employee of the Eastern New Mexico Medical Center. According to court documents obtained yesterday by the Albuquerque Journal, Cynthia Villegas had just asked her husband for a divorce. The newspaper said a criminal complaint filed in Chaves County Magistrate Court showed a struggling marriage - an unhappy and unemployed husband worried about infidelity and a wife in fear of a man who had allegedly become controlling and threatening. 'This rippled through town quickly,' said Roswell Mayor Dennis Kintigh. 'Candidly, it's hard to get your mind around the deaths of small children. It's hard for law enforcement; it's hard for family members and the whole community.' The Villegas had been living in Roswell for 10 years before the shooting happened, records reveal. They had previously lived in Sierra Vista, Arizona. Villegas-Hernandez is originally from Arizpe, a city in the Mexican state of Sonora where he was arrested. He has dual citizenship in the United States and Mexico, which means he can't be deported. Authorities had launched a search for the suspect early on Sunday after relatives who stopped at the family's house late Saturday called authorities. One of the relatives saw the body of a victim through a partially open window. After officers arrived, they reportedly discovered the victims in three different bedrooms of the house. Villegas-Hernandez's red, four-door Ford pickup with New Mexico license plate KJS479 By Sunday afternoon, Sonora state police in Mexico alerted local authorities in Roswell that they believed they had apprehended the suspect. Officers had gone to Villegas-Hernandez's family home in Arizpe and found his vehicle parked outside, said Victor Felix, of Sonora state police. When the suspect realized police were present, he fled in a vehicle, then bailed out and ran. 'It's a hilly area and he fled into the hills on foot. When police surrounded him, he took out a knife and said he was going to kill himself.' The officers managed to take him into custody - 'it was a process of negotiation,' Felix said - and are now holding him under arrest at a local hospital. Villegas-Hernandez is being held on a misdemeanor charge equivalent to fleeing from police, and that Mexican authorities can hold him for only 36 hours. The U.S. Marshals Service is assisting Roswell police in the process of completing paperwork to extradite Villegas-Hernandez back to New Mexico. A Connecticut mom who was berated by a man for breastfeeding her baby while shopping in Target has shared a video of how staff and a customer came to her defense. Jessie Maher, who lives in Canton, posted a video taken inside the Target at Torrington, showing herself being 'verbally assaulted by an old man in Target for breastfeeding my baby'. Maher says that she started filming around 11.30am Monday after the man said to to her: 'Can't you do that somewhere else? That's f****** disgusting.' Maher said the man also called her a 'wh***'. 'Thats f------ disgusting': This is the man that was caught on camera at the Target in Torrington, upset that he had seen a woman breastfeeding her baby. The man has not been identified In video taken of the scene, a group of staff (left) are seen approaching the man and asking him to move on Maher said the incident occurred at a coffee shop inside the Target and that the man demanded a refund after witnessing her breastfeeding, Fox 17 reported. During the video, a woman can be heard coming over to Maher and standing by her in support. The woman can be heard saying: 'You shouldn't be ashamed of feeding your baby, okay? He can go the other way. This is a beautiful moment right now, if he doesn't like it he can go.' The man says that Jessie was being disrespectful to him, to which the woman replied: 'Then don't look!' Then, three Target staffers - two men and a woman - arrive at the coffee shop and appear to gesture the man to leave. New mom Jessie Maher posted a video taken inside the Target in Torrington, Connecticut, showing herself being 'verbally assaulted by an old man in Target for breastfeeding my baby' Jessie wrote in a comment on her post that one of the male employees 'was so sweet He kept saying, 'It's your right to nurse where ever you want here.' Target have not yet commented on the incident. However, as per the company's policy, 'guests may openly breastfeed in our stores,' The policy also states: 'Target's policy supports breastfeeding in any area of our stores, including our fitting rooms, even if others are waiting.' Actress Keira Knightley has produced a video telling young people to vote in the EU referendum to 'stop others 'f***ing with your future'. Although she does not tell viewers which way to vote in the video, it is a clear attempt to drum up support for the Remain campaign among younger voters, who are more pro-EU but less likely to vote. Last month Knightley was among 250 luvvies who signed a letter claiming leaving the EU would make Britain 'less imaginative' and her video today is produced by the pro-EU group We Are Europe. Actress Keira Knightley has produced a video telling young people to vote in the EU referendum to 'stop others 'f***ing with your future' Keira Knightley pretends to be practicing for an awards speech in the 30-second clip. She tells viewers: 'It only takes five seconds to practice the perfect awards face' Keira Knightley produced a video to drum up voter turnout among young people and tells viewers to vote to 'stop others 'f***ing with your future' Dressed in a colourful dress, Knightley pretends to be practicing for an awards speech in the 30-second clip. She tells viewers: 'It only takes five seconds to practice the perfect awards face. 'And it takes five seconds to mark an X in a ballot box. Five seconds to stop others fucking with your future,' before drawing a cross on the camera lense. The video is part of the group's 'Don't F*** My Future' campaign and Knightley follows actor and model Lily Cole and musicians Eliza Doolittle and Big Narstie in urging young voters to turn out in the June 23 referendum. In the video, Keira Knightley says: 'It only takes five seconds to practice the perfect awards face. And it takes five seconds to mark an X in a ballot box. Five seconds to stop others fucking with your future' Actress Keira Knightley then drew a cross on the camera lense in the video encouraging young people to vote The video makes no attempt to tell viewers it was produced by a campaign group whose aim is to stop Britain leaving the EU. Its website states: 'Working together with our neighbours is the best way to make it better for us all. 'On 23rd June we're voting to remain. We'd love you to join us.' Meanwhile the campaign to increase voter turnout among the black and minority ethnic community (BME) launched their latest poster this afternoon with the slogan: 'Deciding the future of Britain is everyone's birthright'. The poster mocks up a picture of the famous Bullingdon Club photo - which showed David Cameron and Boris Johnson posing in tuxedos at one of the elite group's events during their Oxford University days - and replaces the individuals in the photo with BME actors to highlight the EU referendum is for everyone and 'not just the privileged few'. Research by the neutral Operation Black Vote campaign shows just half of the 4 million eligible voters from the BME community are expected to vote in the EU referendum. However the OBV group sparked fury last month after publishing a poster portraying a Brexit supporter as an aggressive white skinhead opposite an elderly Asian woman on a see-saw. The campaign claimed the poster highlights the 'demonisation of foreigners and people of colour' in the referendum campaign but critics lambasted the 'repugnant' and 'deplorable' poster, which they said was urging people to vote Remain. The campaign to increase voter turnout among the black and minority ethnic community (BME) launched their latest poster this afternoon with the slogan: 'Deciding the future of Britain is everyone's birthright'. The poster (pictured) mocks up a picture of the famous Bullingdon Club photo - which showed David Cameron and Boris Johnson dressed in tuxedos during their Oxford University days - and replaces the students with BME actors to highlight the EU referendum is for everyone - 'not just the privileged few'. The OBV group sparked fury last month after publishing a poster (pictured) portraying a Brexit supporter as an aggressive white skinhead opposite an elderly Asian woman on a see-saw ICM released two more polls today, carried out over the past three days, both of which showed a six point leader for the Brexit campaign The latest attempts to drive up voter turnout came on the same day as a poll found a quarter of potential voters still don't know when the EU referendum is due to be held. Three more polls over the last 24 hours have shown the Brexit campaign gaining ground in the campaign. A YouGov poll gave the Out campaign a seven-point lead - on 46 per cent to 39 per cent to Remain and two pieces of ICM research indicated that Leave had a five-point lead. David Cameron's election guru Sir Lynton Crosby - who masterminded the Tory general election victory barely a year ago - said today that Brexit appeared to have momentum. Writing in the Daily Telegraph, he argued that Brexiteers' focus on immigration and the lack of controls over our borders was paying off. The Prime Minister has been on the rack over the issue since figures last month showed net migration running at 333,000 a year - including 184,000 from the EU. But Australian Sir Lyton - who has also organised successful elections for Boris Johnson - also cautioned that lack of awareness among Brexit supporters should raise a 'red flag' for those who want to cut ties with Brussels. He highlighted ORB research that found 25 per cent of people could not correctly identify the date of the EU referendum. QUARTER OF VOTERS STILL DON'T KNOW WHEN EU REFERENDUM IS A quarter of potential voters could not correctly name the date of the EU referendum. The proportion was higher among Leave backers than Remain supporters A quarter of potential voters still don't know when the EU referendum is due to be held, according to a poll. With Britain due to take its biggest decision for a generation in just nine days, some 25 per cent were not aware that the ballot is on June 23. The shocking finding emerged as a series of surveys suggested that Brexit is gaining ground in the battle over whether we should stay in the EU. One YouGov poll gave the Out campaign a seven-point lead - on 46 per cent to 39 per cent to Remain. And two pieces of ICM research indicated that Leave had a five-point lead. David Cameron's election guru Sir Lynton Crosby - who masterminded the Tory general election victory barely a year ago - said today that Brexit appeared to have momentum. Writing in the Daily Telegraph, he argued that Brexiteers' focus on immigration and the lack of controls over our borders was paying off. The Prime Minister has been on the rack over the issue since figures last month showed net migration running at 333,000 a year - including 184,000 from the EU. But Australian Sir Lyton - who has also organised successful elections for Boris Johnson - also cautioned that lack of awareness among Brexit supporters should raise a 'red flag' for those who want to cut ties with Brussels. He highlighted ORB research that found 25 per cent of people could not correctly identify the date of the EU referendum. Advertisement Brexit poll boost as migration fears grow: Out camp takes SEVEN-POINT lead amid warnings of UK population surge The Remain campaign was in meltdown last night over mass migration. Three opinion polls gave Brexit leads of up to seven points following a fortnight in which immigration became the dominant issue in the referendum. A report yesterday warned the UK population will pass 76million by 2035 most of the arrivals coming from the EU. The apparent surge in support for Brexit has been underlined by a YouGov poll for The Time The study follows official statistics revealing that net migration rose to a near record 333,000 last year. Yesterday senior Labour figures were called in to shore up Remain support in the partys northern heartlands. But Gordon Brown continued to insist that EU migration was not uncontrolled. Within hours he was flatly contradicted by his ex-sidekick Ed Balls who said Britain needed to restore proper borders. The former shadow chancellor also said the deal secured by David Cameron on limiting migrant benefits did not go far enough. With only nine days until the historic vote on continued EU membership: n European Council president Donald Tusk claimed Brexit could trigger the end of Western political civilisation. Figures showed the EU has granted citizenship to five million migrants since 2009 giving them free access to the UK. Mr Cameron took a back seat in the campaign yesterday to allow Mr Brown to lead the Labour fightback. The decision followed mounting alarm that large numbers of traditional Labour voters, particularly in the North of England, are planning to vote Leave, largely because of concerns about immigration. But the move quickly backfired as the former PM, who once labelled a voter with concerns about immigration a bigot, came under pressure over Labours past record. Mr Brown brushed aside the publics concerns, saying: In Britain we have managed migration it is not uncontrolled. He also said voters were much more concerned about the threat of illegal immigration than about mass migration from the EU. His comments were criticised by pro-Brexit MPs including senior figures in his own party who accused him of complacency. Last night, his former close adviser Mr Balls added to the chaos with an article for the Daily Mirror. Mr Balls, who is campaigning to stay inside the EU, wrote: Europe still doesnt work well enough for Britain. Theres still too much waste and bureaucracy from Brussels and, while a limit has been secured on the benefits paid to migrant workers, I dont think that can be the end of the story. We need to press Europe to restore proper borders. Mr Cameron will keep a low profile again today to allow Jeremy Corbyn to make the pro-Brussels case. Speaking on a joint platform with militant Unite union boss Len McCluskey, the Labour leader will say staying in the EU provides the opportunity to strengthen workers rights. Leading Brexit campaigner Boris Johnson said the PMs decision to make way for Mr Brown smacked of panic. He added: The Remain campaign are getting slightly rattled now, if you have a relaunch with Gordon Brown thats got to be some measure of desperation. The odds on Brexit tumbled last night after new polling gave Leave a seven-point lead. Experts said it now had an overall lead in the so-called poll of polls. A YouGov poll for the Times put Remain on 39 and Leave on 46, with 11 per cent still unsure. Phone and internet polls for the Guardian, conducted by ICM, show support for leaving the EU is strengthening. He then pulled on the door to help his friend get away and pair headed off One suspect was filmed escaping van by squeezing through a gap in door They were put in the back of a police van before a man tampered with lock Two suspects were reportedly arrested for being in possession of weapon This is the moment two suspected criminals break out the back of a police van after a third man tampers with the lock on the door. The footage was captured in Pinetown, in the KwaZulu-Natal Province of South Africa, after the duo were reportedly arrested for being in possession of a dangerous weapon. In the video a man walks over to the back of a police van holding the two suspects and fiddles with the door, which suddenly pops out slightly. Helping hand: A man walks over to the back of a police van holding the two suspects and fiddles with the door Escape: The suspects kick the door before one of them is seen attempting to squeeze through a narrow gap The man then backs away as Mohammed Noushaad watches in disbelief while filming the action on his smartphone. The suspects inside the vehicle, who are acutely aware of what has just happened, are then seen banging and kicking the door in a bid to open it. Before long there is a gap just wide enough for one of the men to squeeze through, which he manages to do without a great deal of trouble. The suspect is then seen pulling open the door to stretch the gap even more to allow for his friend to escape before the pair make off down the road together. Meanwhile observers can be heard cheering, laughing and apparently encouraging their escape. Commenting on the incident, Mohammed said: 'I have no idea where the policemen were at the time. Almost free: The man is seen struggling to get out the back of the police van as bystanders watch in shock In it together: The suspect is then seen pulling open the door to allow for his friend to escape the van 'They were not in police uniform so it was difficult to tell who and where they were. Nobody could spot them anywhere.' Police Captain Nqobile Gwala said the officers were attempting to gather further information on the duo, who they believed were secure in the back of the van. A police spokesman said: 'The van was securely locked at the side of the door and it is alleged that someone tampered with the bottom latch. 'It is a concern to see members of the community helping suspects to escape rather than preventing the escape. The entire incident is subject to investigation by the Pinetown police.' The current whereabouts of the pair is unknown. A Catholic teenager whose bullying workmates tortured him by 'crucifying' him on a cross was too ashamed to report it and feared he would be sacked, a court has heard. The man, now 19, told a jury today that he believed his colleagues were 'taking the mickey' out of his religion when they tied him to a timber cross and suspended him three feet in the air during a shift. But, despite feeling 'distraught' over the sustained campaign of bullying, the alleged victim said he did not report the incidents because he was 'embarrassed' about what had happened. Andrew Addison (left) and Joseph Rose (right) are among four colleagues accused of carrying out a campaign of bullying against a teenage churchgoing apprentice who worked for their shop refit firm The youngster, who had started working at shopfitting firm Direct Interior Solutions in Selby as an apprentice, also feared he might be sacked if the alleged incidents came to light. Andrew Addison, Joseph Rose, Christopher Jackson and Alex Puchir are now on trial at York Crown Court accused of religiously aggravated assaults against the teenager. Giving evidence via video link, the teenager, who was aged 17 and 18 at the time, said the alleged incident took place in January 2015 when Addison and Jackson grabbed his arms and legs and tied him to a cross, which Puchir had fashioned out of timber. The alleged incident - which was apparently filmed by other colleagues - took place because the man refused to hand over his phone. 'I was then lifted up and put on to the cross and secured on to it,' the teenager said. 'I was then put up on to the wall.' 'I remember Chris Jackson saying 'don't record it because our boss has already seen us do something'. 'At the time I didn't know what to feel. I felt ashamed, everyone could see what was happening to me. I was embarrassed. 'Afterwards I was thinking they were trying to take the Micky out of my religion. Otherwise why was there a cross made?' The victim told the court that the abuse had started not long after he joined the firm in July 2014. He said he was a regular churchgoer and had told colleagues he could not answer his phone on one occasion because he was in a church service. The alleged victim told the court that the four men then embarked on a campaign of bullying against him. He claimed that, on one occasion, while they were all away in London as part of a refitting job at a hospital, that one of the men attacked with a can of deodorant and a cigarette lighter. Christopher Jackson (left) was allegedly one of the men who tied the man to a cross and suspended him 3ft in the air. The cross was allegedly fashioned together using timber by Alex Puchir (right) He told a jury: 'I woke up and Joseph Rose was setting my bed on fire with a deodorant can and a lighter. 'I was in the flat on my own and just saw an orange ball in my face. I was still half asleep. 'I got the duvet and managed to cover my head. The duvet got dragged off me and thrown on the floor. I could still see the orange ball. I could feel the heat. I knew it was not just a flashlight. 'There was Andrew Addison laughing and filming the thing.' In another alleged incident, the teenager was allegedly pelted with eggs and flour by Jackson, Addison and Rose while he was in the shower. One month later, while the group were staying at a Holiday Inn in Basildon, Essex, Rose allegedly struck again while the teen was sleeping. This time, the man was left with crosses, phallics and other marks over his body. The teen said: 'I was asleep and they had gone out again. I was drifting in and out of sleep and I felt pens and stuff, but I didn't want to say something in case it got worse. 'I thought if I could get through it at least it was just drawings. The next day I realised my whole body had been covered in crosses and penises, from head to toe. At the time I didn't know what to feel. I felt ashamed, everyone could see what was happening to me. I was embarrassed Alleged victim 'There was nowhere that hadn't been touched with a marker pen on my body. I had 'd***' across my forehead and penises drawn on my cheeks.' The youngster also told the court how he was left bleeding after being given a 'wedgie' by Addison. He said his carried out the prank while on Facetime to Jackson as a punishment for forgetting to put wood filling in a van. After describing what happened, he said: 'I was screaming to let me go because it was excruciating. I was lifted up. He was doing it with two hands. I got lifted off the floor. 'I couldn't sit down or walk for long periods of time because it was so painful. When I got back to the hotel room there was blood in my boxer shorts.' The youngster also told the court he had also been allegedly attacked while working on sites in York and Hull by Addison and other colleagues. In one incident, he was allegedly tied to a chair and had duct tape wrapped around his eyes, before having a dummy stuffed in his mouth and being carried out into the street. The teen said: 'I could hear from my ear that there were loads of people standing there talking. I knew I was outside because of how cold it was compared to inside. 'I was then picked up and put into a cupboard. I knew I was in there for quite a while because I managed to get my hands free and the duct tape off my hair. 'I was rocking on the chair trying to get out. Someone got me out of the cupboard and set my legs free. Andrew Addison then told me to get back to work and to stop messing about.' Addison, from Selby, North Yorkshire, denies one count of putting a person in fear of violence by harassment, and two counts of racially aggravated assault by beating. Rose, of Bubwith, East Yorkshire, Jackson of Barlby, North Yorkshire, and Puchir of Edinburgh deny one count of putting a person in fear of violence by harassment, and one count of racially aggravated assault by beating. A New York woman has been charged with fatally poisoning a chiropractor who had employed her. Kaitlyn Conley, of Sauquoit, is charged with second-degree murder in the killing of 60-year-old Mary Yoder, Oneida County Sheriff Robert Maciol said Tuesday. Yoder died on July 22, 2015, but a concerned relative contacted police in October and believed Yoder's death was suspicious, according to Maciol. The day after Yoder's death, Conley paid tribute to her on Facebook. Kaitlyn Conley (left and right), of Sauquoit, is charged with second-degree murder in the killing of 60-year-old Mary Yoder, Oneida County Sheriff Robert Maciol said Tuesday. A medical examiner's office ruled Yoder's death was a homicide caused by colchicine, an anti-inflammatory drug used to treat gout. A motive for the poisoning wasn't released. Conley wrote in a July 23, 2015, Facebook post: 'Dr Mary I still can't believe you're gone. Yesterday was so sudden. 'You truly were a positive light in the world and I'm so lucky and thankful our lives crossed paths. 'There wasn't a day I didn't look forward to work with you. You taught me so much and had such a profound impact on my life. 'Everyone appreciated your attention, stories, and laughter. 'We will be remember you for your light, energy, and strength, and the best way I can think to honor your life is to emulate your genuine, cheerful, and kind spirit.' A medical examiner's office ruled Mary Yoder's death was a homicide caused by colchicine, an anti-inflammatory drug used to treat gout. Yoder is seen in these images The Oneida County Sheriff's Office said Tuesday: 'Kaitlyn Conley was an employee of Dr. William and Mary Yoder who owned and operated Chiropractic Family Care located on Oriskany Boulevard Whitesboro, NY' The Oneida County Sheriff's Office said Tuesday: 'Kaitlyn Conley was an employee of Dr. William and Mary Yoder who owned and operated Chiropractic Family Care located on Oriskany Boulevard Whitesboro, NY. Conley was employed there at the time of Dr. Mary Yoder's death.' Conley, 23, is being held in the county jail. The sheriff's office said that Conley was charged with one count of second-degree forgery, two counts of first-degree falsifying business records, and two counts of petit larceny. The 23-year-old graduated last month from the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute in Utah and majored in business administration, syracuse.com reported. Yoder's obituary said: 'Along with her husband, Mary owned and operated Chiropractic Family Care in Whitesboro for 28 years. 'She was a beloved woman and well-known member of her community who touched countless lives throughout her working and social life. 'She was wholeheartedly holistic and believed in the therapeutic power of healing that considers the body, mind, and soul.' Ken Livingstone was today told he had become a 'pin up for prejudice' by ranting about Hitler in toxic remarks that were 'needlessly and repeatedly' offensive to Jews. Senior Labour MP Chuka Umunna launched a furious tirade at the former mayor of London as he grilled him at a home affairs select committee hearing into anti-Semitism. Mr Livingstone was giving evidence to the inquiry against the backdrop of this suspension from Labour over his inflammatory claims Hitler supported Zionism 'before going mad and ended up killing six million Jews'. The close ally of Jeremy Corbyn admitted earlier in the session his 'regret' at mentioning Hitler in scores of media appearances, triggering a row that led to a furious row in the street with MP John Mann. Ken Livingstone, pictured left at today's committee hearing, revealed his 'regrets' at sparking the row with his remarks over Hitler. His refusal to apologise prompted a furious tirade from Chuka Umuna, right Mr Livingstone gave more than an hour of evidence on anti-Semitism today after being suspended from the Labour Party for his views on Hitler Mr Umunna questioned Mr Livingstone in detail on his views about Israel and anti-Semitism before getting frustrated at what he saw as a failure to answer. And the Sreatham MP said: 'You were born in my constituency. You went to school in it. I and many other Labour colleagues of all backgrounds and faith, we campaigned not just once but twice for you to be mayor. 'I think you campaigned for me. You did help reduce poverty. You did help reduce inequality, you did improve the housing situation. 'But you are not a historian, you are a politician and by needlessly and repeatedly offending Jewish people in this way you not only betray our Labour values but you betray your legacy as mayor. 'All you are now going to be remembered for is becoming a pin-up for the kind of prejudice that our party was built to fight against. That is a huge shame and it is an embarrassment.' Mr Livingstone replied: 'Many of the things I have said have been controversial. When I defended lesbian and gay rights in 1981, it was denounced. When I said we needed to negotiate with the IRA, we were denounce. THE ANGRY CLASH IN FULL: CHUKA UMUNNA VS KEN LIVINGSTONE Chuka Umunna challenged Ken Livingstone repeatedly in a heated exchange today about anti-Semitism today before getting launching a frustrated tirade at the ex-Mayor. Mr Umunna said: As has already been said, over six million Jewish people were killed during the Holocaust at the behest of Hitler. 'Do you believe conflating Zionism with Hitlers views, which you did in the Vanessa Feltz interview, causing obvious and foreseeable offence to Jewish people, runs counter to the spirit of solidarity and respect towards others that our partys constitution demands of us? Mr Livingstone replied: I have had Jewish people stop me in the street to say I know what you said is true. They knew their history. CU: Do you disagree those who do not recognise the state of Israel or its right to exist are anti-Semitic? KL: Many of them will be anti-Semitic. We promised the Arabs an Arab government. CU: I dont need a history lesson. I just need a straight answer. KL: The British government lied. It told the Arabs that if you fight on our side in WW1, you will be given a kingdom. Instead, we split it all up with France and ourselves and created a legacy of conflict that is still there today. CU: Would you make the same kinds of comments about black people? Yes or no? KL: You cant give a yes or no answer on this. Look at the result of the election last year. You asked me my views about why Jewish people vote as they do. Last year KL: We went into the election with a Jewish leader. Over 60 per cent of British Jews voted for the Conservatives, 22 per cent voted Labour. We can argue about why they did that. I think 50 years ago it would have been a different figure. CU: Why are you stereotyping people? KL: Im not stereotyping, Im looking at the data published by the pollsters. Look at the facts of my record as mayor. Whatever you may say, my period as mayor saw a reduction in anti-Semitic incidents, Boris Johnsons period they went up by 50 per cent. Advertisement 'The simple fact is, show me what I got wrong in those times I was prepared to challenge the bigotry of the day.' Mr Livingstone refused to apologise outright for his inflammatory remarks as he was grilled by the Home Affairs Select Committee in Parliament. Mr Livingstone, who suspended by the Labour Party over the row, triggered outrage and became embroiled in a kerbside row with a Labour MP when he suggested The remarks, made initially to BBC Radio before he repeated them over and over again, exploded a relatively low-profile row about anti-Semitism within Labour just days before the May elections. Mr Livingstone told the committee: 'If I could go back in time and avoid referring to Hitler and Zionism in the Vanessa Feltz interview, I would because it... allowed all the anti-Jeremy people in the Labour Party so start whipping this up as an even bigger issue. 'I regret using it because it became an hysterical issue that messed up our campaign to do well in the local elections.' He added: 'I don't think it helped our campaign.' Mr Livingstone said he had 'mis-spoken' if he suggested anti-Semitism and racism were not the same thing. Defending his remarks, he said: 'I had gone on to do that interview because I was defending the Labour Party against these accusations. 'Vanessa Feltz asked me was what Hitler illegal and I pointed out there were two phases in his policy - one to move Jews to what is now Israel and then the liquidation, the genocide - I simply said an historical fact.' Asked if he was anti-Semitic, Mr Livingstone replied: 'Well... I have had this accusation thrown at me many times over the 35 years since I became leader of the GLC. 'The simple fact is it's only ever been thrown at me since I have been critical of the Israeli government.' Asked if he was anti-Zionist or believed in the right of Israel to be in its territory, he said: 'Zionism has changed dramatically.' Mr Livingstone denied saying 'Hitler was a Zionist' but said he would have apologised for this particular remark because it was 'rubbish'. He said: 'When Hitler won his election in 1932, his policy was the Jews should be moved to Israel - he was supporting Zionism.' Earlier in the same hearing, Jonathan Arkush, president of the British board of deputies, said Mr Livingstone's remarks had been 'deliberately offensive'. Home Affairs Select Committee chairman Keith Vaz grilled Mr Livingstone as part of the committee inquiry into anti-Semitism Mr Arkush told the committee: 'The remarks were intended to offend and they were anti-Semitic. 'What he said in trying to say Jews were like Nazi is something anti-Semitic.' Asked by the committee how he felt about the remarks, Mr Arkush said: 'I could not believe I was hearing someone in political life say that Hitler was a Zionist. 'It's an absurd and ridiculous thing - it was a hateful thing to say. 'I feel insecure when it happens.' In a written statement ahead of his appearance, Mr Livingstone said: 'I detest racism and condemn anti-Semitism. Indeed my political career has totally opposed any such views concerning any religious or ethnic group.' Mr Livingstone voiced concern over what he said was 'a rise of physical and verbal attacks in London motivated by racism and faith hate' over recent years, including an 'utterly deplorable' doubling in recorded anti-Semitic hate crime between 2010 and 2015. He was critical of his Conservative successor as mayor, Boris Johnson, for cutting police numbers in the capital, and said the Government should scrap its 'counter-productive' Prevent programme, which he said was undermining confidence-building measures between faith communities. Jonathan Arkush, the president of the British Board of Deputies, slammed Mr Livingstone's remarks as 'anti-Semitic' and 'deliberately offensive' Mr Livingstone, pictured right in the cream suit and yellow tie, looked on as he waited to give his own evidence to the home affairs committee And he drew a link between British military engagement in Iraq, Syria and Libya and terror attacks in the UK. He quoted unnamed security chiefs as warning that 'military intervention overseas increases the risk of domestic terrorism' and said the Community Security Trust had reported that 'trigger events' in the Middle East can spark a rise in anti-Semitic incidents in the UK. Defending himself against suggestions of anti-Semitism, Mr Livingstone quoted the finding of a High Court judge in a 2006 case, that it 'could not sensibly be suggested' that Mr Livingstone was anti-Semitic and adding that his disapproval of some actions of the state of Israel 'has nothing to do with anti-Semitism'. 'Racism is a uniquely reactionary ideology, used to justify the greatest crimes in history - including the slave trade, the extermination of all original inhabitants of the Caribbean and apartheid,' said Mr Livingstone. The Holocaust was the ultimate, 'industrialised' expression of racist barbarity, he added. 'Racism serves as the cutting edge of the most reactionary movements. An ideology that starts by declaring one human being inferior to another is the slope whose end is at Auschwitz. The gang dealt with 20,000 calls per month from addicts seeking drugs Gunmen left four people injured over nine months of attacks Victoria Galloway, pictured, was jailed for 12 years for helping lover Scott Smith carry out a spate of drive-by shootings in Widnes in a drugs war A young mother who helped her boyfriend's drugs gang win a turf war through drive-by shootings has been jailed for 12 years. Gangster's moll Victoria Galloway, 31, was a leading figure in a crime gang which used self-loading pistols and an Uzi and Mac-10 sub machine guns on rival hoodlums during a vicious drugs feud. The blonde from Widnes, Cheshire helped gang boss lover Scott Smith, 29, wage war on drug dealers who tried to muscle in on their heroin, crack cocaine and cannabis rackets, in what was described as 'something from a Hollywood mob movie' by prosecutors. They were part of a 13-strong gang who have been jailed for a combined total of 111 years for firearm and drugs conspiracy offences at Liverpool Crown Court today. Police linked her to four drive-by shootings over a nine-month period which left four men injured - one of whom was paralysed from the waist down when his spine was severed by a bullet during a dramatic car chase. During the chase in Liverpool, one of the gunman was seen hanging out of the passenger window of an Audi as he shot at the occupants of a VW Passatt he was chasing at high speed. In another incident one house was petrol bombed in a 20,000 extortion plot as a grandmother, daughter and grandchild were trapped inside. All escaped uninjured. Police arrested the gang after a raid in April last year at a flat in Widnes in which officers found an 'Aladdin's Cave' of firearms including Glock and Browning self-loading pistols complete with silencers and a St Etienne French revolver. Tests showed the Glock had been used in all four drive-by shootings. Officers who caught up with Smith and Galloway also discovered a mobile phone photo of him showing off a loaded revolver whilst he was sat in his bathroom. Scroll down for video Smith, right, 29, was jailed for life for leading Galloway, left, and a 12-strong gang in a war against rivals who tried to 'muscle in' on their heroin, crack cocaine and cannabis rackets The court heard Galloway, left and right, ordered the gang to move a bike and gun used in the shooting The gang used motorbikes, pictured, to carry out the shootings over a nine-month period, injuring four people with one left paralysed from the waist down Galloway herself was implicated after she ordered one of the gang to move a bike and a gun used in a shooting. Inquiries revealed the gang fielded 20,000 calls a month from addicts asking for drugs. At Liverpool Crown Court, Galloway denied wrongdoing but was convicted of conspiracy to possess firearms, conspiracy to supply cocaine and conspiracy to supply cannabis. Smith, who was convicted of similar charges, was jailed for life with a recommendation he serve 12 years. Eleven other men were jailed for a total of 87 years. After the case Chief Insp Mike Evans from Cheshire Police said: 'This organised crime gang brought misery, fear and intimidation to the streets and the sentences handed down reflect the severity of their crimes. Police raided a flat in Widnes last April, discovering an 'Aladdin's cave' of guns, including this revolver, pictured being held by Smith A Glock self-loading pistol, pictured, was also found among the trove of weapons at the flat. It was used in all four shootings This Browning pistol, complete with silencer, was also confiscated by police who raided the flat The gang, pictured, was jailed for a total of 111 years for firearms and drugs conspiracy offences Police said the offenders 'gang brought misery, fear and intimidation to the streets' and their sentences reflected their crimes 'They believed they were above the law and untouchable - now they are paying the ultimate price for their criminal activity. 'The successful conclusion of this case has resulted in a number of dangerous individuals being taken off the streets for a very long time.' Detective Chief Inspector Mark Tivendale from Merseyside Police said: 'We are pleased this reckless organised crime group has been removed from our streets for the foreseeable future. 'We have seen again that criminals who use firearms are throwing away their life and destroying that of others. 'The sentencing demonstrates just how strongly we will deal with those involved in gun crime and drug supply, and should strongly deter those who are considering this path of criminality. 'Serious and organised crime remains a priority and we will continue to take positive action against those who blight our communities. David McMullen, left, was also jailed for life for conspiracy, blackmail and arson while Paul Remedios, right, was jailed for 14 years for drugs conspiracy offences Andrew Hughes, left, and Kieran Blair, right, both received 14-year jail terms for conspiracy offences Ammunition, pictured, recovered from the flat in Widnes, that revealed how organised the operation was A St Etienne revolver, pictured, was also used by the gang members to carry out their attacks on rivals Bags full of ammunition, pictured, which helped make the group believe they were 'above the law' according to officers The prosecution said the shootings and car chases the motorbike gang, pictured, were involved in was like 'something from a Hollywood film' 'My message to those engaged in organised crime is clear. We know who you are, we can see where you are operating, and we will come knocking.' The first shooting took place in Speke, Liverpool on September 23, 2014 when two gunmen on a scrambler bike opened fire with an Uzi and Mac-10 on a man standing in the street - only to miss and hit a house. The second shooting occurred in Whiston the following January when a man was shot and wounded in the shoulder as he walked along the road. In March 2015 two men in Huyton were shot and wounded outside a house and the car chase occurred the following April. Nick Johnson QC, prosecuting, said: 'The calm of suburban life was broken by the revving engines and squealing tyres of an Audi chasing a VW Passat and what happened was something that most people will hopefully only ever see in a Hollywood film. Police found several images of weapons on Smith's phone, including this picture of a revolver on his legs The court heard the gang, pictured, also carried out a petrol bomb attack against a grandmother in a 20,000 extortion plot 'Witnesses could see a man hanging out of the passenger window of the Audi with a gun in his hand. He was firing live ammunition at the car in front.' During the trial the jury heard a recording of a 999 call made by a terrified mum who was trapped with her baby in a house following a petrol bomb attack targeted against a relative. 'The woman, her mother and the baby were all rescued from a bedroom window. In the hours before the attack the gang had been blackmailing a relative of the family and sent a text saying: 'I've waited long enough. You obviously think I'm a divvy. 'Let's see who the divvy is shall we.' Another said: 'Mate, I suggest you answer your phone before I f****** ruin your life.' The court heard Smith was one of two gunmen who used a bike in one of the shootings but he ended up in hospital with a broken arm after his machine crashed during the getaway. Later Galloway contacted an accomplice to move the wrecked bike and hide the gun telling him 'to get his a*** in gear'. In court she denied knowing about the firearms and said she felt 'sick' when she discovered Smith had a photo of himself showing off a loaded revolver in her bathroom. She said: 'I've never seen the gun before. I had never seen the picture before. I was disgusted. I was appalled he would have anything like that in the house. I haven't had any involvement with this gun.' Tyrone Grimes, left, got five years in jail for drugs offences and Stephen McCarten, right, received three-and-a-half years for the same crime Callum Tombs, left, was jailed for nine years for conspiracy offences, while Smith's brother Sean, right, received a six-and-a-half year sentence, also for conspiracy Terence O'Donnell, right, 27, got three years for assisting an offender and Michael Loughran, left, was jailed for four years for drugs offences David McMullan, 31, of Huyton got life in jail with a minimum 12 years after he was convicted of conspiracy plus blackmail and arson. Paul Remedios, 31, of Widnes, Kieran Blair, 23, and Andrew Hughes, 48, of Widnes were each jailed for 14 years after being convicted of conspiracy. Callum Tombs, 19, of Sutton Manor, St Helens for nine years and Smith's brother Sean, 33, of Widnes got six and a half years for conspiracy. Tyrone Grimes, 19, of Widnes, Michael Loughran, 26, and 25-year-old Stephen McCarten, both of Runcorn got five, four and three and a half years jail respectively for drugs offences. The latest hearing in New York over Madonna's custody dispute has been delayed - as both sides appear to near a deal. The Material Girl and her ex-husband Guy Ritchie were due to appear before a judge in Manhattan on Tuesday in the row over their son Rocco, 15. But hours before the hearing was due to take place it was adjourned. A spokesman for the Manhattan Supreme Court confirmed that it was put off 'on consent of all parties'. Carefree: Rocco Ritchie has been seen skateboarding both in London earlier this month while staying with his father Guy and the week before that in New York while spending time with his mother, Madonna Performance: Madonna, who appeared on NBC's Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon last week, has been spending time with Rocco in an apparent reconciliation after he refused to tour with her last year Business as usual: Madonna appeared on NBC's Tonight Show and performed on the same night that President Barack Obama appeared last week. She was due in court in New York on Tuesday A court officer said that the case had been 'put over for continued negotiation'. The next date for the hearing has not been set but it is understood it will be in the coming days. The New York hearing had already been delayed once as Madonna, 57, and Ritchie, 47, work through their differences. The pair have been having an ugly transatlantic custody row which has reopened old wounds from their divorce and put Madonna at the center of a painful and public battle. During the dispute Madonna has reportedly hired private detectives to spy on Rocco, while Ritchie launched a parallel legal action in London's High Court. The row began last December when Rocco left his mother's Rebel Heart world tour and refused to return home with her to New York. Rocco spent Christmas in London with his father, who is the director of films including 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels', and has largely been living with him ever since. However he spent time in New York at the end of May and was seen skateboarding near Madonna's Upper East Side home and going to a play with his mother and his half-sister Lourdes Leon. Rocco is now back in London. As the row unfolded Madonna made a series of swipes at her former husband in public and on social media. Show of unity: Rocco Ritchie joined Madonna and his sister Lourdes Leon to go to a performance of off-Broadway show Sleep No More wearing masks in keeping with its film noir theme Resolution: Guy Ritchie, who was seen posing with Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho earlier this month, is close to a resolution with his ex-wife over the custody of their son Rooco, 15 Ritchie's second wife also posted a picture on Christmas day of Rocco at their wedding, in what was seen as a veiled swipe at Madonna. But both sides now appear to be reaching a resolution. During the last hearing in New York Madonna's lawyers claimed that Ritchie taught his son to disrespect the law by refusing to return him to his mother. Judge Deborah Kaplan scolded both parties and told them to resolve their differences for the sake of Rocco. In March at the High Court in London Mr Justice MacDonald told the former couple that they risked ruining what was left of Rocco's childhood if they carried on feuding. On the eve of his 70th birthday, Donald Trump enjoyed a quiet night out for dinner with his wife, Melania, and youngest son, Barron, at Ralph Lauren's The Polo Bar. Trump was photographed waiving his hand goodbye as he left the famed eatery with his wife and mini me son, who was sporting a navy blue colored suit, just like him. Melania, dressed flawlessly in a black lace dress with Christian Louboutin stilettos, ushered 10-year-old Barron out, as neither of them cracked a smile for the cameras. The family exited the super exclusive restaurant to the Republican presidential candidate's waiting Secret Service detail, and got into a car to be chauffeured roughly one block home to their sprawling residence inside the Trump World Towers. As the family-of-three piled into the black colored vehicle, Barron could be spotted in the backseat sitting next to his father appearing to look a little tired. Happy early birthday: On the eve of his 70th birthday, Donald Trump (above) enjoyed a quiet night out for dinner with his wife, Melania, and youngest son, Barron, at Ralph Lauren's The Polo Bar in New York City Trump was photographed leaving the famed eatery with his wife, Melania, and mini me son, Barron, who was sporting a navy blue colored suit, just like him (above) Melania, dressed flawlessly in a black lace dress with Christian Louboutin stilettos, ushered 10-year-old Barron out, as neither of them cracked a smile for the cameras (above) This isn't the first time the Trumps have dined at the reservation-required A-list establishment. The real estate mogul was photographed in September with Melania, a former model from Slovenia, leaving The Polo Bar, as both seemed less than cheery. During that outing, the White House-aspiring couple strode with purpose from the high-end restaurant and walked the block back home to the Trump World Towers. At the time, he told People: 'I just don't have the time that I would love to spend with my children and my wife. I see less of my grandchildren than I might like. But they get how important this is. 'My life is so busy and so crazy, and I'm away all the time. If I can just stay home and do nothing, it's considered a great luxury.' The Monday night out with his family was probably a welcomed break for The Donald, as he's made headlines for his comments in the wake of the tragic Orlando gay nightclub shooting, in which at least 49 people were killed and dozens more injured early on Sunday morning. The presumptive Republican nominee vowed again to suspend immigration from countries with a history of terrorism. The family exited the restaurant to the Trump's waiting Secret Service detail, and got into a car to be chauffeured home As the family-of-three piled into the black colored vehicle, Barron could be spotted in the backseat sitting next to his father appearing to look a little tired (above) The cornerstone of Trump's anti-terror plan was sweeping changes to the nation's immigration rules, despite the fact that the Orlando shooter was born in the United States. He redoubled his previous call for a temporary ban on Muslims coming to the US, saying that policy would stay in place until the government can 'properly and perfectly' screen immigrants. Going further, he also said he would use presidential discretion to 'suspend immigration from areas of the world where there's a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe and our allies.' The businessman did not specify what countries would be affected or whether the suspension would apply regardless of religion. The Republican pledged to protect all Americans 'wherever they come from, wherever they were born,' but he repeatedly referred to Muslims in a negative context. Though the Orlando shooter 29-year-old Omar Mateen was born in the United States, Trump noted that he was 'born to Afghan parents who immigrated to the United States.' The family rode in a car roughly one block home, instead of walking 463 feet to their sprawling residence inside the Trump World Towers He said Muslim communities must turn over to law enforcement 'people who they know are bad,' adding 'they do know where they are.' He also said gays and lesbians are often discriminated against in the Muslim world, and said Clinton could not claim to be an ally of the LGBT community if she supports immigration from such countries. 'Ask yourself, who is really the friend of women and the LGBT community: Donald Trump with actions, or Hillary Clinton with her words?' Trump said. However, the businessman has said he opposes gay marriage the official position of the Republican Party while Clinton and Democrats back same-sex unions. The Republican did not repeat suggestions he'd made in earlier television interviews that Obama may not be taking tougher action against terrorism because he may sympathize with the perpetrators. A Preoccupied Western Media Fails to Appreciate the Historic Revival of Ties Between Russia and Israel | Main | Former NYT Jerusalem Bureau Chief Sees the Light June 14, 2016 Timely Recall of Huffington Worldpost Op-Ed: More Acts of Jewish Terrorism than Muslim Terrorism in the United States In the wake of a horrific Islamist inspired massacre, its important to remind readers of the mindset that exists in certain quarters of the media culture. On December 9, 2015, The World Post, a "Partnership of the Huffington Post and the Berggruen Institute" published an article by a self-described Palestinian-American humanitarian-student named Omar Alnatour titled, "Muslims are Not Terrorists: A Factual Look at Terrorism and Islam." Alnatour condemns all acts of terrorism and his tone is moderate. The problem here is the absurdity of the piece and what it reveals about the contempt Huffington Post editors and the publisher must have for their readership. We can start with title of the piece. The author introduces his subject by refuting a strawman argument. No reasonable person would seriously offer the equation that simply being Muslim means you are a terrorist. In order to tear apart his strawman, Alnatour provides the following "facts": According to the FBI, 94% of terrorist attacks carried out in the United States from 1980 to 2005 have been by non-Muslims... According to this same report, there were more Jewish acts of terrorism in the United States than Islamic, yet when was the last time we heard about the threat of Jewish terrorism in the media? The study quoted by the author is from an outdated FBI tally of incidents up to 2005. it is a classic example of the misuse of information. The Jewish terrorist acts come almost entirely from the 1980s and involve relatively minor incidents in which few people were hurt. In fact, the report shows the single largest offender in terms of number of acts was a radical animal rights group that perpetrated numerous acts of vandalism against government laboratories. If one bothers to look at the data with any integrity, it is immediately evident that the mass casualty incidents overwhelming were perpetrated by Islamist terrorists, secondarily by rightwing racist extremists. And crucially, this list only goes up to 2005. Since 2005, terrorism has been overwhelmingly committed by Muslims as evidenced by the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorist list, which is made up almost entirely of Islamists. A larger list of one hundred international terrorists consists exclusively of Islamists. It is a sad indicator of the current state of the humanities in American universities that the distorted report that attempts to decieve readers about the source of terrorism by misusing information contained in the outdated FBI report comes from a study at Duke University. The author continues; There have been 140,000 terror attacks committed worldwide since 1970. Even if Muslims carried out all of these attacks (which is an absurd assumption given the fact mentioned in my first point), those terrorists would represent less than 0.00009 percent of all Muslims. To put things into perspective, this means that you are more likely to be struck by lightening in your lifetime than a Muslim is likely to commit a terrorist attack during that same timespan. CAMERA posting author's interjection: One thing this CAMERA author has noted over the years is that simplistic, over-the-top articles (the sort that one routinely finds in publications like the Huffington Post) often try to bolster their credibility by including precise-sounding figures. Invariably these are either fabrications (often pulled from other falsified sources) or figures carelessly gleaned from serious reports that are misunderstood, taken out of context and misused by the frenzied writer. It's an age-old tactic borrowed from conspiracy theorists, Holocaust deniers and their ilk. An associated feature is that scrutiny of the figures often reveals flawed computation. Political agitators, especially the radical variety, often treat numbers the same way they treat other facts, flinging them around with reckless abandon. That is the case here. The "percent of all Muslims" provided by the author is too small by a factor of 100 (he forgot to correct for percentage calculation). But of course the entire analogy is absurd. The author doesn't stop there with his new math. The next percentage he offers - the number of American homicide victims who were killed by Muslims is even more ludicrous. The author continues, If you are scared of Muslims then you should also be scared of household furniture and toddlers: A study carried out by the University of North Carolina showed that less than 0.0002% of Americans killed since 9/11 were killed by Muslims... Based on these numbers, and those of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the average American is more likely to be crushed to death by their couch or television than they are to be killed by a Muslim. As a matter of fact, Americans were more likely to be killed by a toddler in 2013 than they were by a so-called Muslim terrorist?. If roughly 15,000 Americans are killed each year (homicides), that amounts to about 225,000 since 9/11/2001. The author's figure of .0002% equals something less than 1, a fraction of a person. I will not deny that terrorism is a real threat, it definitely is. However, it is extremely incorrect to associate the words Muslim? and terrorist? when literally all the facts implore you to do otherwise. The only way that we as Americans can defeat terrorism at home and across the world is by accurately targeting its root causes. And pray tell, what are those root causes? No need to ask, Huffington Post readers all know what they are because they have been endlessly told. When considering that the Huffington Post chose to publish this Op-Ed, it is important to recall the sanctimonious declarations of Huffington Post founder and namesake, Arianna Huffington, whose current bio says she serves on the board of The Center for Public Integrity: So when it comes to the Huffington Post and other internet sources of news, basically we embrace journalistic values like accuracy, fact checking, and correct punctuation and grammar... I prefer to see what were doing as part of a new future, which incorporates the best of traditional journalists and the best of traditional journalists and other writers. Uh-huh. Posted by SS at June 14, 2016 01:43 PM See this web page for a strong analysis of FBI terror statistics with an emphasis on Muslims. http://neoneocon.com/2015/11/27/counting-terrorist-attacks-what-does-the-fbi-say/ Posted by: Ronaldo at June 15, 2016 10:32 AM What I would like to know is what does the F.B.I.propose doing about those toddlers ? Posted by: Erica Ling at June 19, 2016 05:12 AM Guidelines for posting This is a moderated blog. We will not post comments that include racism, bigotry, threats, or factually inaccurate material. Post a comment House Speaker Paul Ryan drove another wedge between himself and Donald Trump on Tuesday with a stinging rebuke of his party's presumptive presidential nominee's proposed pause on non-citizen Muslim immigration saying 'Muslims are our partners' in the war on terror. 'I do not think a Muslim ban is in our country's interest,' Ryan said during a press conference at the Republican National Committee's Capitol Hill headquarters. 'I do not think it is reflective of our principles not just as a party, but as a country,' he said. 'And I think the smarter way to go in all respects is to have a security test, not a religious test.' SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO 'MUSLIMS ARE OUR PARTNERS': Paul Ryan criticized Donald Trump on Tuesday for equating Islam with terrorism, saying most who practice that faith are moderate and peaceful WE NEED A TIME-OUT: Trump has said the U.S. is admitting too many Muslim refugees, too fast, from too many Muslim nations and pays the price in jihadi terror attacks Ryan's comments came just a day after Trump seemed to walk back his December 2015 notion of a religious test for entry into the U.S. until homeland security officials can get a handle on the potential for terrorist infiltration. Instead he shifted to the idea of nation-specific immigration limits tied to terrorism incidents. 'The immigration laws of the United States give the president powers to suspend entry into the country of any class of persons,' Trump said during a speech in Manchester, New Hampshire, saying such judgments are 'to be determined by the president for the interests of the United States. And its as he or she deems appropriate.' 'I will use this power to protect the American people,' he continued. 'When Im elected I will suspend immigration from areas of the world where theres a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe or our allies until we fully understand how to end these threats.' Ryan's tone emphasized the cooperation the U.S. receives from more moderate Muslim governments around the world. 'This is a war with radical Islam. It is not a war with Islam,' the speaker said. 'Muslims are our partners: The vast, vast majority of Muslims in this country and around the world are moderate, they're peaceful, they're tolerant.' Ryan and Trump have clashed repeatedly this year most recently over the White House hopeful's criticism of a Hispanic judge who is hearing a lawsuit case against him. Trump will call on Ryan and the rest of the House GOPers next month for a July 7 meeting,House Republican conference chairman Cathy McMorris Rodgers said Tuesday morning. Jeremy Corbyn's EU referendum rescue bid was thrown into chaos today after a string of his own MPs condemned the bloc's immigration rules. As the Labour leader warned that Brexit could 'end' the NHS, his deputy Tom Watson was insisting that there had to be curbs on free movement. Meanwhile, senior MPs Tristram Hunt and Rachel Reeves branded the situation 'unsustainable' and argued that things must be 'done differently' in future. The interventions effectively demolished Labour's attempts to get the Remain campaign back on track after signs of a surge in support for Brexit. Jeremy Corbyn and Labour deputy Tom Watson joined forces to urge a Remain vote in the EU referendum today. But Mr Watson also demanded tougher restrictions on free movement David Cameron has been struggling to explain how he can control immigration within the Brussels club since official figures last month showed numbers running at 333,000 a year - including some 184,000 from the EU. The Prime Minister has been repeatedly mauled on the issue by members of the public during referendum debate programmes. Vote Leave have also raised the prospect of millions of Turks joining the EU and gaining the right to come to this country - despite furious denials from Mr Cameron that this is on the cards. Brexit backers Boris Johson and Michael Gove have also ridiculed the premier's claim that his renegotiation of our membership terms will cut numbers by reducing the 'pull factor' of access to benefits. Tristram Hunt posted on Twitter about the need for EU migration rules to change Mr Cameron, who has handed over the reins of the campaign to Labour this week amid concerns that voters are no longer listening to him, suffered fresh embarrassment today when Nick Clegg's wife blasted his 'Mickey Mouse renegotiation' that had left the UK 'sleepwalking towards disaster'. Spanish lawyer Miriam Gonzalez Durantez said next week's referendum would be the first moment in her life that would be written into the history books and urged voters to reject Brexit. Mr Corbyn staged a show of unity with his shadow cabinet and union leaders this afternoon, as he sought to demonstrate to Labour supporters that he is committed to EU membership. In a speech at the TUC's headquarters in London, the veteran left-winger accused Ukip leader Nigel Farage, Mr Johnson and Mr Gove of wanting to break up the NHS. 'Nigel Farage called for an insurance-based system to replace the NHS,' he said. 'Michael Gove is co-author of a book that says the NHS is "no longer relevant in the 21st century". 'A book which calls for the NHS to be replaced by a new system of health provision in which people would pay money into individual health accounts. Rachel Reeve insisted migration rules within the EU had to change but urged people to stick with the bloc 'And Boris Johnson, who said: "If people have to pay for NHS services, they will value them more". 'Well, Michael, Nigel and Boris, people do value our NHS. Labour values our NHS. We created it and we will protect it from the likes of you. 'A Vote to Leave is a vote to put our NHS in jeopardy, in the hands of those who want to break it up to end it as a service free at the point of use.' Mr Corbyn, whose efforts so far in the campaign have been criticised as lukewarm, said Labour was making 'the strongest case we can' for a Remain win on June 23. But Mr Watson told the BBC that there had to be changes to EU rules on freedom of movement - a principle that was left untouched by Mr Cameron's renegotiation. Ed Balls and Yvette Cooper, left, were visiting a children's centre in Blackburn today as they campaigned for a Remain vote in the EU referendum He argued that Labour voters had been 'telling us for a long time' that fundamental reform was needed. Mr Hunt, a former shadow education secretary, tweeted: '@tom_watson right to say we need to look at controls on free movement within the EU - the status quo is unsustainable.' Speaking on the BBC's Daily Politics, Ms Reeves said: 'There are huge problems in the EU at the moment... 'I am not that saying everything is fine. I think this referendum is a wake up call to the EU, to the British Government that things have to be done differently on freedom of movement.' Former shadow chancellor Ed Balls - who was out on the campaign trail in Blackburn with MP wife Yvette Cooper today - has made a similar argument that migration rules need changing. A YouGov poll for The Times today gave the Out campaign a seven-point lead - on 46 per cent to 39 per cent to Remain. Two pieces of ICM research indicated that Leave had a five-point lead. A YouGov poll for The Times today gave the Brexit camp a seven point lead The EU needs real reform, not Cameron's 'Mickey Mouse negotiation', claims Nick Clegg's Spanish wife Miriam Gonzalez Durantez said the EU needed 'real reform' to produce growth Nick Clegg's wife today blasted David Cameron's EU reforms as a 'Mickey Mouse renegotiation' that had left the UK 'sleepwalking towards disaster'. Miriam Gonzalez Durantez said next week's referendum would be the first moment in her life that would be written into the history books and urged voters to reject Brexit. But Ms Gonzalez Durantez gave a scathing assessment of the Prime Minister's efforts, negotiated at February's EU summit. The off-message remarks come after former shadow chancellor Ed Balls also levelled criticism at the deal today and as polls show momentum for Brexit with just nine days to go. Speaking at the Fortune Most Powerful Woman International Summit in London, Spanish lawyer Ms Gonzalez Durantez said: 'This is a club where everybody gets a say. 'You cannot be there and expect that others are going to reform it for you. I am all in favour of reform. 'The European Union is crying for reform. Proper reform. Not that Mickey Mouse negotiation that the prime minister did. 'The biggest reform that the EU needs is growth. We need growth in Europe.' Ms Gonzalez Durantez, who cannot vote next week as she is a Spanish citizen, added: 'I believe that this country is sleep walking towards disaster. 'It will not only be a disaster in this country it will be a disaster for Europe and across the whole world. 'In my life I have never gone through another moment when I have thought we are in the history books.' Ms Gonzalez Durantez's warning about Brexit comes off the back of another three polls yesterday all of which pointed toward strengthening leads for Brexit. Cook Out insists it welcomes all customers regardless of political affiliation Employee shouted 'Oh not for you!' as her cousin went to collect her food Riggs says staff at restaurant laughed at them and refused to serve them A family of Trump supporters are furious after they claimed they were refused service at a restaurant because of their political affiliation. Shannon Riggs and her teenage cousin were returning home from the presumptive Republican nominee's rally in Richmond, Virginia, when they decided to stop into Cook Out on Boulevard in Colonial Heights. Still wearing their Trump t-shirts and hats - all emblazoned with his slogan Make America Great Again - Riggs says she had tried to place an order. But she was outraged after claims staff mocked and ridiculed the group before refusing to serve her. Scroll down for video Shannon Riggs (left) and her teenage cousin Lauren Wolfrey (right) were returning home from the presumptive Republican nominee's rally in Richmond, Virginia, wearing their Trump t-shirts (pictured) when they decided to stop into Cook Out on Boulevard in Colonial Height 'I will never, ever go to the Cook Out in Colonial Heights ever again,' she fumed on Facebook. 'How unprofessional from a business establishment. It's a crying shame you can't support who you want, because of uneducated, stupid, ignorant people act the way they did tonight.' 'You should not be discriminated based on who you support, whether it be Bernie, Hillary or Mr. Trump,' she added to WTVR. Riggs said she and her cousin Lauren Wolfrey were approaching the window at the popular barbecue chain on Friday when she heard someone inside shout 'Hell no! I'm not serving them.' Riggs was outraged after claims staff at Cook Out on Boulevard in Colonial Heights, Virginia, mocked and ridiculed the group before refusing to serve her The pair had been coming from a campaign event for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in Richmond, Virginia (pictured) She claims three separate members of staff refused to serve her. Eventually, their order was taken but she said that she and Wolfrey were made to feel very uncomfortable. 'Everyone was laughing and giggling,' Riggs told WTVR. An employee later called to Wolfrey to tell her, her order was ready. But when she went to the window to collect her food, the employee laughed at her, 'gave a dirty look' and shouted 'Oh not for you!' Riggs claims. 'By that time I had enough. I went knocked on window said I don't want any food from here. Give my cousin her money back and give me your corporate office number'. Wolfrey (left) said she was left 'in a state of shock' by the experience while Riggs (right) insisted that no one should be discriminated against because of who they support Riggs and Wolfrey were still wearing their Trump t-shirts and hats - all emblazoned with his slogan Make America Great Again, when they were refused service Her 16-year-old cousin says she was left in 'a state of shock' after the ordeal. 'Once you witness [discrimination] first hand, it's a totally different experience,' she said. Riggs says Wolfrey was given a refund and she made an official complaint with Cook Out headquarters. A Cook Out spokesman said the situation has since been resolved. 'Cook Out is, and always has been, a politically neutral company,' he said. 'We welcome all customers regardless of political affiliation. The former best friend who testified against Oliver Curtis to help convict him for insider trading has landed a job with mining billionaire Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest. Curtis, who is PR queen Roxy Jacenko's husband, was found guilty in the Supreme Court in Sydney two weeks ago after his once good friend John Hartman who had himself been imprisoned for 15 months for insider trading helped the prosecution's case against Curtis. And while Curtis, 30, faces a possible five years in prison when he's sentenced on Friday, his friend who helped secure the guilty verdict has been employed by a billionaire, Herald Sun reported. Scroll down for video John Hartman (pictured), the former best friend who testified against Oliver Curtis to help convict him for insider trading has landed a job with mining billionaire Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest Oliver Curtis (left) arrives with his wife Roxy Jacenko (right) at the Supreme Court in Sydney in May during the trial against him Fortesque Metals chairman Mr Forrest said criminals who've paid their dues deserve a 'second chance'. 'If someone's paid their due to society, society needs to forgive them and move on,' Mr Forrest told the paper. Hartman, a former equities dealer, was given a job as head of agribusiness at Forrest's private business in Perth managing agricultural investments. 'It's easy to be a stuffed-shirt chief executive and say "Well, I'm not going to employ anyone with a criminal record",' Mr Forrest said. Fortesque Metals chairman Mr Forrest said criminals who've paid their dues deserve a 'second chance' 'But what about the fact they actually deserve a shot, a second chance. And what about the fact there, by the grace of God, go any of us.' Over the course of the trial, the court heard Mr Curtis traded using inside information from Mr Hartman on 45 occasions between May 2007 and June 2008. The jury heard the pair made about $1.4 million from the trades and used the money on a lavish holiday to Whistler and Las Vegas, a $20,000 Ducati motorcycle and a $60,000 Mini Cooper. In emails shown to the court, Mr Curtis even suggested the pair would charter a helicopter to fly them around Canada because they would be 'too hungover to drive'. They rented a $3000-a-week pad together in Bondi allegedly using the profits of the insider trading scheme, the court heard. 'It's easy to be a stuffed-shirt chief executive and say "Well, I'm not going to employ anyone with a criminal record",' Mr Forrest said Hartman, a former equities dealer, was given a job as head of agribusiness at Forrest's private business in Perth managing agricultural investments Yearbook photos from the prestigious Saint Ignatius College Riverview school in Sydney have revealed 'best friends' Oliver Curtis (left) and John Hartman (right) before they faced each other in court Mr Hartman steadfastly refused to make eye contact with Mr Curtis throughout the trial despite the pair sitting just metres from one another. Mr Curtis kept a close eye on his former friend. The pair grew up together in the suburb of Mosman on Sydney's north shore. Mr Curtis is the son of wealthy minerals businessman Nick Curtis and Mr Hartman the son of celebrity obstetrician Keith Hartman. They both attended the prestigious Saint Ignatius' Riverview College and entered jobs in the finance sector after school. Mr Hartman told the court he shared inside information from his job as an equities analyst at Orion Asset Management with Mr Curtis. He told the court the scheme began when Mr Curtis bought him a Blackberry from an Optus store in the Sydney CBD. Curtis is pictured with his wife Ms Jacenko leaving the Supreme Court in Sydney two weeks ahead of his conviction that week Mr Curtis has two little children with Ms Jacenko: daughter Pixie, aged four, and son Hunter, who is about one Mr Curtis will remain on conditional bail until a sentencing hearing in front of Justice Lucy McCallum on June 17 Mr Hartman said in his witness testimony he then would send Mr Curtis trading information with encrypted Blackberry PIN messages. 'WE'LL HAVE TO SETTLE FOR COMMERCIAL FLIGHTS': TRADERS' EXTRAVAGANT LIFESTYLE REVEALED IN EMAILS 'We now have Heli Jet picking us up...the same chopper picking us up as we will all be very hungover and not enjoy a 2 hour drive. 'For Vegas we'll have to settle for commercial flights... I'm happy to pay the spread' - Oliver Curtis to friends ahead of a boys skiing trip in 2007 'This guy made 1million in 1907... about 3bn in todays money shorting the market. Could be you - John Hartman to Mr Curtis, October 2007 'I am sure we should be able to get it for 160 which would be a little over 3,000 a week. 'Good value I would say.' - Mr Curtis to Hartman, February 2008 'I can give you $200,000, is that enough?' Hartman to Mr Curtis, October 2008 'Nice mate... birthday present?' - Mr Curtis to Hartman in October 2007 about a $20,000 Ducati motorcycle Advertisement Mr Hartman told the jury it was a 'crazy time' and the pair were 'swept up in this fake world'. At one point he recalled meeting up with Mr Curtis at a CBD bar popular with stockbrokers where the pair agreed: 'We'd both be in a lot of s*** if it came out. 'It wouldn't just be one of us who would be in trouble'. Mr Hartman served 15 months imprisonment over insider trading charges, the jury heard during the trial. He agreed to testify against Mr Curtis and received a discounted sentence for assisting authorities. Mr Curtis's silk, Murugan Thangaraj SC, said in his opening address the trial would hinge on whether Mr Hartman could be trusted. 'There's no dispute the trading took place,' Mr Thangaraj told the jury at the time. 'The issue is Mr Hartman's evidence. 'Is he reliable? Can we trust him?' Mr Curtis has two little children with Ms Jacenko: daughter Pixie, aged four, and son Hunter, who is about one. Mr Curtis will remain on conditional bail until a sentencing hearing in front of Justice Lucy McCallum on June 17. In another email Mr Curtis encouraged his friend to purchase a $60,000 Mini Cooper - which he later did Emails shown to the court detail how Mr Curtis offered to pay for a private chopper during a boys' trip to the US and Canada in 2008 Curtis and Ms Jacenko are pictured in happier times prior to the 30-year-old father-of-two's convictions earlier this month Curtis and Ms Jacenko are pictured arriving at Supreme Court in Sydney in May during the trial Curtis and Ms Jacenko leave Supreme Court during the trial, before he was found guilty of insider trading This is the painful moment a lion 'lost the tip of its tail' after it was caught in a hydraulic door during a training exercise at a zoo. The video was captured by a visitor to Oregon Zoo, in Portland, who filmed the male lion making his way into an inside enclosure where a member of staff was present. The footage shows the huge predator, named Zawadi Mungu, standing by the hydraulic door before it is promptly closed behind him. The footage shows the huge predator, named Zawadi Mungu, walking into the inside enclosure at Oregon Zoo His tail is not completely clear as the piece of metal comes down on the end of it, causing the lion to growl and jump around in pain. Zawadi is then seen pulling his tail free as the staff member inside the enclosure reassures the spectators by explaining what just happened. According to the video maker, who posted the clip to YouTube, the door severed the black furry tip of the predator's long tail. He added that 'blood started to puddle on the ground' following the accident. Oregon Zoo vet Dr Tim Storms said the lion is expected to make a full recovery, reported KATU 2. The lion stands next to the hydraulic door, which is promptly closed behind him after he enters the enclosure The lion's tail is suddenly trapped in the door, causing the predator to jump around in shock and growl in pain He said: 'He lost the tip of his tail just above the tuft,' adding that it is a 'relatively small injury' for a lion of Zawadi's size and stature. The vet concluded that the zoo is treating the injury seriously and that the lion is recovering well. Animal curator Michael Illig also discussed the incident and said the zoo would be reviewing its producer to ensure a similar incident does not occur again in the future. He said: 'It doesn't appear to be a serious injury, and we're glad that Zawadi seems to be recovering well.' Adding: 'But you always feel badly when an animal you care for is hurt.' President Joko Widodo said he will intervene if she was sentenced to death Ms Salihin's father said Wongso 'has to be killed to set an example' She allegedly put cyanide in the victim's iced coffee at Olivier Grand Cafe The woman accused of killing her friend by slipping cyanide in her iced coffee 'has to be killed as an example' her friend's father says, as Indonesian President Joko Widodo said he will intervene if she is found guilty and sentenced to death. Australian resident Jessica Wongso is due to face trial in Jakarta over the death of Mirna Salihin, 27, in a local cafe in January after drinking a coffee police said was laced with cyanide. Dermawan Salihin, 64, said Wongso should face the death penalty if she is found guilty because if she, 'manages to get away then the same thing can happen to other people'. Australian resident Jessica Wongso (at left) is accused of murdering her friend Mirna Salihin (right) by allegedly slipping cyanide into her iced coffee at a cafe in Jakarta in January 'This girl has to be killed as an example so nobody else follows what she has done. Everybody in Indonesia is watching this,' Mr Salihin told The Australian. However President Widodo has said he will intervene if Wongso is sentenced to death, honouring an agreement the country made with Australia. Indonesia's Justice Minister Yasonna Laoly revealed the Australian resident was not at risk of being put to death, while adding the trial may have not been possible without the support of the Australian Federal Police, the ABC reports. 'As a state we have to respect the international agreement,' Mr Laoly said. Wongso (pictured earlier this year in her orange jumpsuit) could face the death penalty despite a promise Australian Justice Minister Michael Keenan was given It was previously alleged Ms Wongso was jealous (Ms Salihin pictured on wedding day with friends) It comes after Australian Justice Minister Michael Keenan previously said he had been promised Wongso would not be sentenced to death and had approved Australian Federal Police assistance in honour of that agreement. But a Central Jakarta District Court has now said there is no binding agreement preventing the death sentence because the Indonesian justice system 'does not recognise that kind of deal'. 'No such deal is possible in our system,' District Court Judge and court spokesman Jamaluddin Samosir told ABC earlier this month. 'The judges can decide any penalty they want. We are independent, there can be no intervention.' Murder is a capital crime in Indonesia. Criminology Professor Adrianus Meliala from the University of Indonesia in Jakarta told ABC the death sentence was unlikely but couldn't be ruled out. Mirna Salihin (pictured), 27, died in January after police believe her iced coffee was spiked with cyanide a few weeks after she was married Ms Salihin (seen above during another outing) began foaming at the mouth and convulsing after drinking the coffee A spokesperson for Mr Keenan's office told ABC: 'The Indonesian government has given an assurance to the Australian government in writing that the death penalty will not be sought nor carried out in relation to the alleged offending.' Ms Salihin began foaming at the mouth after one sip of Olivier Grant Cafe's 'Vietnamese coffee' and died on her way to hospital on January 6. Wongso ordered the drink for Ms Salihin after arriving at the restaurant an hour before her in January. She was seen handling the beverage on CCTV footage before her friends arrived, according to local media. MsSalihin had only just married her partner Arief Soemarko, who was left devastated after her death (pictured together) Ms Wongso (above being escorted by police) is accused of murdering her friend by slipping cyanide into her iced coffee in January The 27-year-old was arrested on January 30, some three weeks after meeting her friend at the cafe. She denies one count of pre-meditated murder. Wongso, a permanent resident in Australia, studied with Ms Salihin at the Billy Blue College of Design in Sydney and at Swinburne University of Technology. They graduated in 2008 but Wongso remained in Sydney to work. She returned to Indonesia sometime afterwards but the pair had grown distant, it was claimed by local police. The 27-year-old woman (pictured escorted by police) denies killing her friend and has vowed to clear her name by helping police BBC correspondent Caroline Wyatt has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, it emerged today Respected news reporter Caroline Wyatt is to step down as the BBC's religious affairs correspondent after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, it emerged today. Ms Wyatt, 49, has worked in a number of roles since joining the BBC as a trainee in the early 1990s. She has reported on fall of the Berlin Wall and covered wars in Iraq, the Balkans and Afghanistan. More recently she has presented a number of programmes on Radio 4, including The World Tonight, From Our Own Correspondent and the Saturday edition of PM. Jonathan Munro, Head of Newsgathering, told staff today: 'A few months ago, Caroline was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis - a condition she has battled with for many years. 'For that reason, Caroline has decided to step down as Religious Affairs Correspondent for BBC News with immediate effect. 'After an extended break over the summer, Caroline will return to the airwaves to focus on a range of presenting for Radio 4 and the World Service. 'In due course, she plans to carry out occasional reporting duties for TV and radio where they are compatible with her medical advice.' Ms Wyatt has yet to speak about the diagnosis, but she told her followers on Twitter earlier this month that she was off work due to illness. BBC colleagues showed their support for the popular reporter on Twitter today. Ms Wyatt is a respected correspondent who covered wars in Iraq, the Balkans and Afghanistan (pictured) Producer Callum May wrote on Twitter: 'Can't pretend I'm not v sad about the news that Caroline Wyatt is to step down as BBC News's religious affairs correspondent. 'Caroline has been one of my heroes since I started in journalism - and it's been brilliant to work as her producer. Wishing her every success as a radio presenter - and the best health possible.' WHAT IS MS? Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurological condition, which means it affects the nervous system including the brain and the spinal cord. It affects around 100,000 people in the UK and most people are diagnosed between the ages of 20-40. Roughly three times as many women have MS as men. In the human body, all the nerve fibres are surrounded by a protective coating called myelin. It works like an insulating cable, helping messages from the brain get to the spinal cord and other parts of the body quickly. In MS, the body's immune system turns inward and starts to attack the myelin. When the myelin becomes damaged, the messages from the brain slow down or have trouble getting through. Damage to the nerves responsible for movement can lead to poor co-ordination and damage to the nerves in the eye can result in blurred vision. Advertisement New York correspondent Tony Brown replied: '@callummay a hug for @CarolineWyatt from me please' Ms Wyatt was born in Sydney, Australia, and was adopted by a British diplomat. She was educated at the Convent of the Sacred Heart School in Woldingham, Surrey and went on to study English and German at Southampton University in Hampshire. After graduating, she moved to City University in London to study print and magazine journalism. Ms Wyatt joined the BBC in 1991 as a news and current affairs trainee and was first based in Germany as a business reporter. In December 1998, Wyatt reported from Baghdad, Iraq, during the American bombing campaign of the Middle Eastern country. She later covered the 1999 Kosovo conflict in the Balkans peninsula of south eastern Europe, from both Kosovo and neighboring Albania. The experienced journalist then went on to cover the US Invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 following the 9/11 attacks in New York City. Ms Wyatt also covered the later invasion and the second Persian Gulf War in 2003 as a journalist with the British Army troops. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurological condition which affects around 100,000 people in the UK. Physical symptoms of MS commonly include dizziness, fatigue and problems with vision, speech and swallowing. Shocking photos have emerged showing the sickening abuse suffered by two dogs that were starved and thrown from a moving van in central Spain. The dogs - which are so thin that their bones are visible through their skin - were found near a university in the city of Ciudad Real, in the region of Castilla-La Mancha, and are being cared for by an animal protection organisation. Police have launched an investigation to identify the people who abused the dogs, which were emaciated and missing chunks of their fur, over several weeks at least. Scroll down for video The two dogs were starved and exposed to very little light before they were thrown from a moving van An animal protection organisation in the city of Ciudad Real, Spain, is caring for the emaciated dogs The dogs are missing chunks of their fur and are so thin that their bones are visible through their skin Protectora La Bienvenida Ciudad Real, the agency that is caring for the dogs in the city 125 miles south of Madrid, has named them Raiz (Root) and Tierra (Earth). It said they were found near the Ciudad Real University after they were thrown from a van, and it is believed they were exposed to very little light, which is why their skin colour is so pink. Carmen Diaz, a volunteer for the organisation, said: They were completely abandoned without food or water. This state is not reached in a matter of weeks or months. Having worked for the organisation for over 35 years, she also said she had never seen animals arrive at the centre in such a poor condition. A volunteer for the animal protection agency said the dogs were likely abused for weeks or months The agency that is caring for the dogs in in Ciudad Real has renamed them Raiz (Root) and Tierra (Earth) A volunteer worker said she had never seen animals arrive at the centre in such a poor condition Police have launched an investigation and issued an appeal for information to identify the dogs' abusers The animals were taken to the shelter by locals who saw them being thrown from the van by at least a couple of people, according to reports, but the van's number plates had been removed, making it difficult for police to identify the suspects. The witnesses also said they saw more dogs in the back of the van, but they did not know what had happened to them. The Civil Guard posted a tweet appealing for people to come forward if they have information that could help their investigation and lead to an arrest. Photos of the dogs were shared on social media, leading to outrage from the animal protection agencys followers. One user wrote: The people who know something and who do nothing are just as much cowards and criminals. Twenty-severn patients remain in hospital, six of those are critically ill Forty-four patients taken to trauma center, nine of Orlando doctors who treated victims of America's worst mass shooting in history have described the chaotic scenes like that of a 'war zone', with patients being dropped off 'by the truckload'. Medical staff told how the first victim of the nightclub shooting to reach the hospital was relatively stable. But soon after more and more patients began to arrive, until people bleeding from gunshot wounds were lining up inside the Orlando Regional Medical Center. Speaking at press conference held by ORMC Tuesday morning, staff told how the trauma bay quickly overflowed, forcing doctors performing triage to move critically injured people elsewhere and focus on those whose lives were most in danger. Scroll down for video Orlando doctors who treated victims of America's worst mass shooting in history have described the chaotic scenes like that of a 'war zone', with patients being dropped up 'by the truckload'. Pictured: Bloody scenes on Sunday following the shooting Before the chaos: Emergency personnel wait with stretchers at the emergency entrance to Orlando Regional Medical Center hospital for the arrival of patients Speaking at press conference held by ORMC Tuesday (pictured) staff told how the trauma bay quickly overflowed They arrived by the 'truckloads,' said Dr. Kathryn Bondani. Luckily for the victims, the Pulse nightclub isn't far away from the region's main trauma hospital, but its emergency room staff usually gets advance word that severe cases are on their way. In this case, victim after victim arrived unannounced, forcing the staff to scramble. Choking up, Dr. Chadwick Smith described how he and others called for reinforcements. 'I said, 'please come, please come. We need your help,'' Smith said. 'This is not a drill. This is not a joke,' he told them. ''I need you as fast as I can.' Every answer I got was, 'I'll be right there.'' Nurses and technicians also arrived, many without being told to come, turning much of the hospital into emergency response areas. Trauma surgeon Dr. William Havron was one of those called in, and found a hospital flooded with bloody victims with severe wounds. He called it a surreal experience. 'We were just given patient after patient after patient,' he said. 'We'd literally walk from that operation room to another operating room and just do it again and again.' Dr. Joseph Ibrahim said the hospital looked like a 'war scene' with 'patients in every corner.' Some had wounds from both large and small ammunition, suggesting the gunman used both his assault rifle and pistol. Another doctor who treated nightclub shooting victims says the massacre was 'the largest disaster that we probably could have imagined.' Dr. Michael Cheatham of Orlando Regional Medical Center says hospital and trauma centers prepare for disasters, but 'you can never prepare adequately.' One doctor thanked the environmental crews on the scene for disinfecting the space repeatedly, in the midst of all the bloodshed from patients. EMS workers were tapped to put in IVs and rotate patients to help check wounds. Cleaning personnel hustled to get slots ready for new patients. Stocking personnel made sure supplies, including chest tubes, were at the ready. All the residents at this teaching hospital hurried through the doors. Luckily for the victims, the Pulse nightclub isn't far away from the region's main trauma hospital, but its emergency room staff usually gets advance word that severe cases are on their way. Pictured: News conference at the Orlando Regional Medical Center, Tuesday Chaos: Omar Mateen opened fire on the dance floor inside Pulse nightclub, Orlando, at around 2 am, leaving 49 dead and 53 injured Cheatham said there was 'never a time we were without anything we needed.' He also says the facility escalated from two operating rooms to six within 30 to 60 minutes to care for the flood of patients. While another doctor said he would be surprised if the death toll doesn't rise. Forty-four patients were taken to the medical center, the region's only trauma center, and nine of them died quickly. No other patients have died since that night. Of the rest, 27 remained hospitalized Tuesday, including six in intensive care. Two of these patients may be permanently disabled, but no patient has succumbed since the nine who were pronounced dead on arrival, he said. Eleven victims were treated at other hospitals, and most of them have been released, Cheatham said. He said patients are still coming into hospitals. 'It was singularly the worst day of my career and the best day of my career,' Smith said. 'And I think you can say that of pretty much every person standing up here.' He says he suspects those who were critically ill may survive but will likely have lasting impacts on their health and functionality. Forty-nine people were killed when a gunman attacked a gay nightclub on early Sunday. More than 50 people were wounded in the attack. The gunman died in a shootout with police. Dr Saqib Uddin Khan (pictured) denies one charge of assault by penetration at Lincoln Crown Court A patient who went to hospital suffering from bleeding following a breast implant procedure told a court how she was sexually assaulted when the doctor asked to carry out an intimate examination. The woman, in her late twenties, said Dr Saqib Uddin Khan, 36, looked 'really excited' and had his mouth hung open as he carried out the assault. A jury heard how she attended the Pilgrim Hospital in Boston, Lincolnshire, suffering from a bleeding implant wound, a fortnight after going under the knife at a Polish clinic for the cosmetic procedure. During a police video interview which was played to the jury, the woman said Dr Khan, who qualified at the University of Karachi in 2002, had carried out two internal examinations on her without a nurse being present. The patient described how the doctor felt her upper body and her groin area before asking if he could examine below her underwear. She told the police officer: 'I told him he could if he needed to. I thought 'He's a doctor. He knows what he's doing.' She described how during the first incident, which lasted about ten seconds, she thought that what he was doing to her must be wrong. When she looked at his face, he 'looked like he was a person who was really excited'. Under cross-examination in court from Dr Khan's barrister the woman explained it was hard to put in to words his facial expressions. When asked to demonstrate the doctor's expressions to the jury she opened her mouth and raised her eyes to the ceiling. The woman insisted the doctor only stopped when he saw her look of shock, but then carried out a second internal examination just moments later after asking her to sit down. The jury was told the woman attended the Pilgrim Hospital in Boston, Lincolnshire, suffering from a bleeding implant wound She added: 'He said "can I just double check something".' The woman said the doctor then digitally penetrated her for a second time. Andrew Hockton, representing Khan, said: 'It is inconceivable that the woman would have agreed to any further examination if the doctor had 'hung his mouth open and raised his eyes to the ceiling' as she described in the first alleged incident. They also suggested the woman was 'light hearted and jovial' during her interview with the police. But in answer to a defence suggestion that the incident 'simply did not happen' the patient replied: 'He did.' The woman claims she tried to read to doctor's name badge but could not see it as she did not have her contact lenses in. Lincoln Crown Court heard she was taken to the hospital's casualty department by her house mate. Dr Khan's own records showed he took a history from the woman after she was moved to a surgical assessment unit from the Accident and Emergency department, but he denies carrying out any internal examination. Lincoln Crown Court heard the woman was taken to the hospital's casualty department by her house mate The woman admits she saw many different doctors and nurses after being seen by Dr Khan but did not make any complaint until shortly before she was discharged after two days in hospital. Under cross-examination she also admitted that she could not remember being examined by a female doctor before being transferred from the casualty department. The court heard the alleged victim quizzed nurse Sharon Cutts about the doctor's actions when she came on duty for the following night shift. The staff nurse who made headlines in April when it emerged she had become Britain's oldest mother of triplets, conceived with the aide of IVF when she was 55 told the jury: 'She asked 'can I have a word with you but not tell anybody?' 'She said "Is it right for a doctor to examine all over bodyeven though I have come in about my boobs?" 'I told him he could if he needed to. I thought "He's a doctor. He knows what he's doing".' The alleged victim, who is in her late 20s 'I said "no". I asked if he was wearing gloves. She said "no". She said it was just her and the doctor in the room.' Miss Cutts said she had worked with Dr Khan over a number of years and regarded him as a 'good and conscientious doctor' who would seek out a chaperone if he needed to examine a female patient. In evidence Khan, a speciality doctor in general surgery at the Pilgrim Hospital, told the jury that he attempted to find a female nurse to act as chaperone while he examined the patient but staff were too busy dealing with other urgent cases. He said he discussed the lack of a chaperone with the patient and she agreed to being examined without one present. Khan said that he only examined the woman above the waist and described the complainant's evidence as 'fabrication'. He told the jury: 'I did a professional examination. I did the best I could for the patient. 'I didn't touch her in a sexual fashion at all. I didn't do such a thing. I totally deny it.' Mr Hockton, defending, had earlier asked the woman if she had made the complaint up to obtain compensation. But she responded: 'I haven't made it up. I didn't claim for compensation. I just wanted to make sure it didn't happen to anybody else.' Dr Khan, of Boston, Lincolnshire, denies one charge of assault by penetration on 29 September, 2014. Forest officials have 'arrested' 18 lions in a bid to find a man-eater who has killed three people in India. The beasts are being detained while their paw prints and excrement are tested, with the guilty lion facing a life behind bars - in a zoo. The mass 'arrests' were made after six people were savaged near Gir sanctuary in Gujarat state. Forest officials have 'arrested' 18 lions in a bid to find a man-eater who has killed three people in India (stock image) Officials believe that one dangerous lion is behind the attacks and they are holding suspects in separate cages until they find the killer. The innocent detainees will be released back into the 545 square mile sanctuary, which is the sole home of Asiatic lions. Gujarat's top forest official, JA Khan, said: 'We think we have pinpointed the guilty lion, but we are still awaiting the results of nine more animals.' Speaking to the BBC, Wildlife expert Ruchi Dave said the 'tests' involved studying the pug marks and faecal matter of the lions. The beasts are being detained while their paw prints and excrement are tested, with the guilty lion facing a life behind bars - in a zoo (stock image of a lion at Gir park) 'The officials are also studying the animals' behaviour. Man eating lions usually get aggressive at the sight of a human being,' she said. Other experts fear that the attacks could be due to the thriving lion population which is expanding beyond the bounds of the sanctuary. Govind Patel, the former chief wildlife warden of Gujarat, told the Indian Express that Gir could accommodate only 270 lions, meaning that some are settling outside. The mass 'arrests' were made after six people were savaged near Gir sanctuary in Gujarat state (stock image) The FBI has confirmed they have seized a cell phone belonging to Orlando gunman Omar Mateen Investigators probing why gunman Omar Mateen opened fire killing 49 people in an Orlando nightclub could be set to battle Google for access to his cell phone. The FBI has already been locked in a legal case with Apple after authorities demanded the tech firm crack the iPhone of San Bernadino shooter Syed Farook, which had been encrypted. The agency has so far acknowledged that they are investigating Mateen's electronics, including his cell phone, after they were seized, but refused to comment on what operating system it used or whether it was locked. However, according to USA Today, online activity seems to point out that Mateen used an Android device, which runs on a programme devised by Google. This means that in order to access the cell phone, investigators may have to demand Google crack the phone so it can be unlocked. It is known that Mateen used a cell phone as he launched his deadly attack on the Pulse gay nightclub in Florida as he called 911 three times. During one of these calls, which took place between 2am and 5am on Sunday morning, he pledged allegiance to ISIS, they FBI has confirmed. However, it is unclear if this was the same phone he has been using to post on social media prior to the shooting. Earlier this year, the FBI took California-based Apple to court to order them to help unlock an iPhone belonging to Syed Farook. Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik gunned down 14 people and injured 22 others during a Christmas party in San Bernardino, California. Investigators wanted to find out what the shooters were doing during an 18 minute gap in a timeline investigators have put together tracking their movements. Online activity seems to suggest that Mateen has been using an Android operating system on his phone, which has been devised by Google However, Apple refused to co-operate, saying to do so would fundamentally undermine the security of all iPhones However, last month FBI Director James Comey said the agency paid $1.3million to a contractor to help them unlock the phone. The FBI, not the contractor, has physical possession of the mechanism used to open the phone but does not know details of how it works, one of the sources said. The identity of the contractor is so closely-held inside the FBI that not even Comey knows who it is, a source has said. A Tennessee lawmaker said he would give away two AR-15 assault rifles as a prize just days after a gunman used the same weapon to kill 49 and injure 53 others at an Orlando nightclub. Republican state representative Andy Holt was heavily criticized in the wake of Sunday's shooting because he announced last week he would give away one rifle as a door prize to a 'Hog Fest and Turkey Shoot' fundraiser scheduled in late June. Despite receiving threatening phone calls to his office, Holt dug his heels in and said he would give away a second AR-15, arguing that gunman Omar Mateen could have been stopped if more people inside the club were armed. A Tennessee lawmaker said he would give away two AR-15 assault rifles at a 'Hog Fest and Turkey Shoot' fundraiser just days after gunman Omar Mateen used the same weapon to kill 49 and injure 53 others Many, including President Obama, have called for a ban on the AR-15 rifle, which has been utilized in a number of mass shootings including attacks in San Bernardino, California, and Newton, Connecticut State Democratic Party Chair Mary Mancini said: 'Responsible gun owners don't put guns in the hands of strangers.' Pictured, a flyer for the fundraiser, which includes an AR-15 door prize The worst mass shooting in modern US history has renewed an ongoing debate surrounding gun control laws. Many, including President Obama, have called for a ban on the AR-15 rifle, which has been utilized in a number of mass shootings including attacks in San Bernardino and the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Connecticut. But Holt stood his ground and said: 'In response to people saying I shouldn't do this: No, actually we should and we should celebrate it. 'Not in response to what happened in Orlando by all means, but in response to the bans that have been called for.' 'It doesn't matter what the physical characteristics of the gun are,' he said. 'What matters is that in the hands of an unlawful, crazed individual, a person who is motivated by hate, any instrument can be used as a weapon of destruction.' He also said that more armed people inside the Orlando club could have intervened before so many people were killed by the gunman. Holt, a hog farmer from northwestern Tennessee, was the sponsor of a new law this year to allow faculty and staff at public colleges and universities to be armed on campus. Despite receiving threatening phone calls to his office, Holt said he would give away a second gun as well, arguing that gunman Omar Mateen could have been stopped if more people inside the club were armed Omar Mateen, (pictured) legally purchased two firearms in recent weeks. The worst mass shooting in modern US history has renewed an ongoing debate surrounding gun control laws Both President Barack Obama (pictured) and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called for more gun control in the wake of the tragedy State Democratic Party Chair Mary Mancini called Holt a reckless gun owner in a statement on Monday. 'Responsible gun owners don't put guns in the hands of strangers,' she said. 'Andy Holt doesn't know if he's putting the winning raffle ticket in the hands of the next mass shooter.' Holt dismissed Mancini's comments as misguided, saying that he plans to do all background checks required by law. He also argued that specific weapons shouldn't be targeted for bans. Holt said an anonymous caller who repeatedly contacted his office said he was armed and threatened to pay him a visit. The politician said it has become a 'fairly regular occurrence' for him to receive threatening emails, text messages and phone calls to his home. None has resulted in a personal confrontation. 'But I'm prepared if it does,' he said. The recorded threats, which were made to a staffer, have been forwarded to the Tennessee Highway Patrol's Capitol security unit. Jay Wallace, the owner of Adventure Outdoors in Smyrna, Georgia, has reported a boom in sales of AR-15s. Within three hours on Monday, he sold 35, compared to typical sales of two per day Gun sales have soared days after the Orlando shooting. One Georgia gun shop has reported a boom in sales of AR-15s since Sunday. Within three hours Monday, 35 AR-15s were sold, around 10 guns an hour. Typically, the store sells just two per day. Meanwhile, a Pennsylvanian gun dealer says he has already sold around 15,000 semi-automatic rifles on his website since the tragedy. The soaring sales come amid fears from gun enthusiasts that the weapons could be banned in the near future after both President Barack Obama and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called for more gun control in the wake of the tragedy. President Barack Obama ripped into Donald Trump today over the Republican's insistence that he use the phrase 'radical Islam' to describe terrorists like the one who perpetrated the massacre in Orlando. Obama said Trump's 'yapping' was nothing more than a 'political distraction' and defining an entire religion by the behavior of terrorists who are perverting it would only fuel hate and make America less safe. 'There's no magic to the phrase radical Islam. It's a political talking point. It's not a strategy,' Obama said in statement this afternoon from the Treasury Department. 'And the reason I am careful about how I describe this threat has nothing to do with political correctness and everything to do with actually defeating extremism.' Trump told the Associated Press after the speech, 'President Obama claims to know our enemy, and yet he continues to prioritize our enemy over our allies, and for that matter, the American people. When I am President, it will always be America First.' A spokeswoman for Trump's campaign told DailyMail.com that Republican was referring to Israel in his statement. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO President Barack Obama ripped into Donald Trump today over the Republican's insistence that he use the phrase 'radical Islam' to describe terrorists like the one in Orlando Omar Mateen, 29, died in a shootout with police after killing 49 and injuring 50 more at a Orlando, Florida gay club this weekend Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, hit back at Trum, calling the allegation 'disgusting and outrageous.' 'Trumps comments arent just factually wrong and unproductive, theyre deeply divisive at a time when we should be united in common cause against terrorism, and theyre outright dangerous to our national security. He should immediately apologize,' said the Florida congresswoman, who is Jewish, The afternoon the president delivered a scathing rebuke of Trump a day after Hillary Clinton, who was busy going after the presumptive Republican nominee in her own remarks when Obama spoke, said she'd be happy to say 'radical Islamism' but it wouldn't 'solve the problem.' In his remarks, Obama also pushed for an assault weapons ban and declared, 'Enough talking about being tough on terrorism. Actually be tough on terrorism.' Tearing into Trump and other Republicans who have made his refusal to use the phrase radical Islamic terrorism a main component of their argument against his strategy to defeat ISIS, Obama asked, 'What exactly would using this label accomplish? 'What exactly would it change? Would it make ISIL less committed to try to kill Americans? Would it bring in more allies? Is there a military strategy that is served by this? He said, 'The answer is none of the above.' 'Calling a threat by a different name does not make it go away. This is a political distraction,' Obama said. His tone turning from one of bewilderment to mockery, Obama said, 'Not once has an adviser of mine said, "Man, if we use that phrase, we are going to turn this around." Not once.' 'So someone seriously thinks that we don't know who we're fighting? If there's anyone out there who thinks we're confused about who are enemies are, that would come as a surprise to the thousands of terrorists who we've taken off the battlefield.' Continuing, he said, 'If the implication is that those of us up there, and the thousands of people around the country and around the world who are working to defeat ISIL, aren't taking the fight seriously,' that would also come as a surprise. That would come as a surprise, he said, to members of the military who have spent the last seven and a half years dismantling terrorist groups and the law enforcement and intelligence officers who have spent countless hours disrupting plots. 'They know full well who the enemy is.' Head to head: Ovbama spoke largely in reaction to Donald Trump's ferocious assault on his record on terror on Monday afternoon in New Hampshire Mateen, who was born in New York and grew up in Florida, earned an associate's degree in criminal justice before becoming a security officer (pictured, the scene outside Pulse in Orlando on Sunday morning) The president said that until now, he and Republicans had been arguing about labels and 'partisan rhetoric.' 'And that kind of yapping has not prevented folks across government from doing their jobs. 'But we are now seeing how dangerous this kind of mind set and this kind of thinking can be,' he said. 'We are starting to see where this kind of rhetoric and loose talk and sloppiness about who exactly we are fighting, where this can lead us.' OBAMA ON... SAYING THE WORDS RADICAL ISLAM What exactly would using this label accomplish? 'What exactly would it change? Would it make ISIL less committed to try to kill Americans? A MUSLIM BAN It won't make us more safe, it will make us less safe, fueling ISIL's notion that the West hates Muslims, making Muslims in this country and around the world feel like, no matter what they do, they're going to be under suspicion and under attack. ARE WE AT WAR WITH ISLAM? If we fall into the trap of painting all Muslims with a broad brush and imply that we are at war with an entire religion, then we are doing the terrorists' work for them. WAR IN SYRIA AND IRAQ This campaign at this stage is firing on all cylinders and as a result, ISIL is under more pressure than ever before. STOPPING ANOTHER ORLANDO These lone actors or small cells of terrorists are very hard to detect and very hard to prevent. Advertisement Case in point: 'The presumptive Republican nominee for President of the United States' wants to ban Muslims from immigrating into America, Obama said. 'And you hear language that singles out immigrants and suggests entire religious communities are complacent in violence.' Obama wondered allowed, 'Where does it stop?....Do Republican officials actually agree with this? Because that's not the America we want. It does not reflect our democratic ideals. 'It won't make us more safe, it will make us less safe, fueling ISIL's notion that the West hates Muslims, making Muslims in this country and around the world feel like, no matter what they do, they're going to be under suspicion and under attack.' The Democratic president has addressed the topic several times before. In light of Trump's recent comments - on Sunday he should Obama should say radical Islamic terrorism or resign - the term-limited executive who leaves office in January revisited his reasons for avoiding the phrase today. Groups like ISIS and al Qaeda want to expand the fight into a war between Islam and the West, he said. 'They want to claim they are true leaders of over a billion Muslims who reject crazy notions.' 'And if we fall into the trap of painting all Muslims with a broad brush and imply that we are at war with an entire religion, then we are doing the terrorists' work for them,' he said. While his remarks were seemingly pointed at Trump, who he referred to directly as the presumptive Republican nominee once and indirectly as he derided 'politicians who tweet and appear on cable news shows,' the White House said afterward that Obama was talking to all Republicans who are angry he's not using the phrase. 'This is not, unfortunately, about just one politician in the Republican Party who is reacting out of fear,' White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters. 'He's not the only one, and that is the problem.' A flurry of Republicans in Congress invoked the term 'radical Islamic terrorism' in statements after the terrorist attack Sunday in Orlando. FURIOUS: Tearing into Trump and other Republicans who have made his refusal to use the phrase a main component of their argument against his strategy to defeat ISIS, Obama today asked, 'What exactly would using this label accomplish? 'If the implication is that those of us up there, and the thousands of people around the country and around the world who are working to defeat ISIL, aren't taking the fight seriously' that would come as a surprise to members of the military, Obama said, as he delivered the statement with his Attorney General Loretta Lynch (L), Treasury Secretary Jack Lew (C-L), Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford (C-R) and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper (R) at his side Trump on Sunday said in a statement that Obama 'disgracefully refused to even say the words "Radical Islam". For that reason alone, he should step down. 'If Hillary Clinton, after this attack, still cannot say the two words "Radical Islam" she should get out of this race for the Presidency,' he further stated. Yesterday, Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee, responded to Trump during a round of morning show interviews, uttering the phrase 'radical Islamism' as she justified her own refusal 'to demonize and demagogue' and 'declare war on an entire religion.' 'That plays right into ISIS' hands,' she said. 'We can call it radical jihadism, we can call it radical Islamism. But we also want to reach out to the vast majority of American-Muslims and Muslims around this country -- this world, to help us defeat this threat, which is so evil and has got to be denounced by everyone, regardless of religion.' Trump pounced on the admission during a speech later in the day. Clinton 'still has no clue what Radical Islam is, and wont speak honestly about what it is,' he said. As Obama battled Trump from a podium at Treasury, Clinton took him on at a campaign event in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 'Now I read every word of Donald Trump's speech yesterday and I sifted through the bizarre rants and the outright lies and what I found, once you cut through the nonsense, is that his plan comes down to two things. 'First, he is fixated on the words "radical Islam." Now I must say I find this strange. Is Donald Trump suggesting that there are magic words that once uttered will stop terrorists from coming after us?' she asked. Clinton said, 'Now, Trump as usual is obsessed with name-calling. And from my perspective it matters what we do, not what we say. 'In the end it didn't matter what we called [Osama] bin Laden, it mattered that we got bin Laden,' she said, repeating a line she used against Trump yesterday. Continuing, she said, 'I have clearly said that we faced terrorist enemies that use a perverted version of Islam. 'Now that we are past the semantic debate, Donald's going to have to come up with something better. He's got one other idea, he wants to ban all Muslims from entering our country and now he wants to go further and suspend all immigration from large parts of the world.' While his remarks were seemingly pointed at Trump, who he referred to directly as the presumptive Republican nominee once and indirectly as he derided 'politicians who tweet and appear on cable news shows,' the White House said afterward that Obama was talking to all Republicans who are angry he's not using the phrase The remarks from Obama and Clinton - delivered simultaneously - on 'radical Islam' as 'magic' words seemed too similar to be a coincidence, but Earnest told reporters today, 'I'm not aware of any advance coordination or notification provided by the White House.' 'That said, I don't think that you should be part surprised that the president views....are similar' to the 'woman who served as his secretary of state during his first term in office,' the White House official stated. Later in the day Bernie Sanders, who is lingering in the Democratic presidential race despite Clinton's apparent victory, responded to Trump in a televised statement. 'It is impossible for any of us to understand what goes on in the sick mind of some one who commits an atrocity like this,' Sanders said. The shooter, who was killed in the stand-off with police, may have been 'motivated by the ideology of some fanatic Islamic organization' or homophobia. He may have been 'suicidal and wanted to end his life by taking others with him.' The Muslim people did not commit this horrific act, a man named Omar Mateen did. To blame an entire religion for the acts of a single individual is nothing less than bigotry, and that is not what this country is supposed to be about. Losing Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders backs Obama 'We may never know the answers to those questions,' the U.S. senator said. What we do know is 'that one hateful person committed this terrible crime, not an entire people, or an entire religion.' 'The Muslim people did not commit this horrific act, a man named Omar Mateen did,' he said. 'To blame an entire religion for the acts of a single individual is nothing less than bigotry, and that is not what this country is supposed to be about.' The president opened up his remarks today by saying that authorities still have not uncovered information indicating that Orlando attack was directed by a major terrorist group. 'It is increasingly clear,' Obama said, that the killer took in terrorist propaganda online and instigated the attack himself. The shooter 'appears to have been an angry, disturbed, unstable young man who became radicalized,' Obama said in a statement to the press. Obama had just finished meeting with FBI Chief James Comey, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew and other members of his national security team. The meeting was scheduled before the attack but Obama said in his statement that the terrible tragedy shaped the talk. ISIS' propaganda online is 'pervasive and more easily accessible than we want,' he acknowledged. 'As I've said before, these lone actors or small cells of terrorists are very hard to detect and very hard to prevent.' The government is doing everything in its power to prevent attacks like the one Sunday, he stated. 'We work to succeed 100 percent of the time. An attacker, as we saw in Orlando, only has to succeed once.' Addressing the battle against ISIS on the ground in Iraq and Syria, Obama said, 'We've seen that this continues to be a difficult fight, but we are making significant progress.' 'This campaign at this stage is firing on all cylinders and as a result, ISIL is under more pressure than ever before,' he said, using the administration's preferred name for the terrorist group. Among the coalition's achievements, he said, is that it has taken out 120 of the terrorist group's leaders and commanders. 'And our message is clear, that if you target American and our allies, you will not be safe. You will never be safe.' Keeping Americans safe from home-grown extremism, he said, will require an effort by Congress to assault rifles, the weapon of choice for the shooters in Orlando, San Bernardino and Sandy Hook. 'We have to make it harder for people who want to kill Americans to get their hands on weapons of war that let them kill dozens of innocents,' he said. Obama reacted to conservatives' argument that banning certain types of guns would not stop every every tragedy. That is 'absolutely true,' he said. 'But we know that consistent with the Second Amendment, there are common sense steps that could reduce gun violence and could reduce the lethality of somebody who intends to do other people harm.' Echoing Clinton a day ago, Obama said Congress should reconsider passing legislation that bans individuals on the no-fly list from buying a gun, as well. 'Otherwise, despite extraordinary efforts across our government, by local law enforcement, by our intelligence agencies, by our military -- despite all the sacrifices that folks make, these kinds of events are going to keep on happening,' he said. 'And the weapons are only going to get more powerful.' This morning, Homeland Security Chief Jeh Johnson backed up the president - whose spokesman yesterday said he wanted an assault weapons ban - and said 'meaningful, responsible gun control is now part and parcel of homeland security.' 'It's critical to public safety, but we have to face the fact that meaningful, responsible gun control has to be part of homeland security as well, given the prospect of homegrown, home-born violent extremism in this country,' he said on the CBS This Morning program. An unofficial North Korean ambassador has reportedly been arrested in Spain in an operation against the trafficking of illegal weapons. Alejandro Cao de Benos was held in the eastern city of Tarragona an hour and a half's drive south of Barcelona, according to respected Spanish daily El Mundo. The 42-year-old, who is from Tarragona, is the only Westerner working for north Korea's secretive regime. Alejandro Cao de Benos, 42, (pictured) who is the only Westerner working for north Korea's secretive regime, has allegedly been arrested in the city of Tarragona, Spain, as part of a police operation into illegal weapons He is an honorary special delegate for the DRPK's Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries. Last week he called north Korean leader Kim Jung Un 'humble' and dubbed north Koreans the 'Latinos of Asia.' The IT consultant, who in 2000 set up the Korean Friendship Association which has official representatives in 28 countries, said: 'I feel Catalan and Spanish by birth and North Korean by adoption. 'I would say that the North Koreans are the 'Latinos' of Asia. 'Compared to my Japanese, Chinese or Thai friends, Koreans show their feelings, like hugging family members and friends, crying, laughing, and being quite expressive.' There was no immediate confirmation of the arrest today from the Civil Guard. The local report said a second man had been arrested further down the coast in Murcia and police were expected to search several premises around Spain as part of an ongoing operation It is understood the operation followed the discovery blank firing guns had been modified for use as real weapons and is being led by a Madrid-based unit. Alejandro Cao de Benos called leader Kim Jung Un 'humble' and dubbed north Koreans the 'Latinos of Asia' Last month Cao de Benos told how he was planning to extol the virtues of the North Korean regime from an old music bar in Tarragona he had transformed into a cultural delegation decorated with an enormous national flag. Alejandro Cao de Benos had up to three modified blank firing pistols which could be used with real ammunition, El Mundo reported. But it said investigators suspect he acquired the weapons for his own security and not to sell them on. A banker procured a prostitute and her 'good-looking friend' in a bid to win favour from a Libyan investor, a court heard yesterday. Goldman Sachs executive Youssef Kabbaj paid for his Libyan contact to fly business class to Dubai, put him up at a five-star hotel and paid $600 (425) for a night with the two women. But it is claimed that when he offered Haitem Zarti a second night with the prostitute, the Libyan refused, saying he was 'getting back to God's way and going to sleep'. Mr Kabbaj was under pressure to impress Mr Zarti's older brother Mustafa, a senior official with the Gaddafi-era Libyan Investment Authority (LIA), the High Court in London heard. Goldman Sachs executive Youssef Kabbaj paid for Haitem Zarti to fly business class to Dubai, put him up at a five-star hotel and paid $600 (425) for a night with the two women, to impress his brother Mustafa (right, next to Saif al Islam, General Gaddafi's son) He helped to arrange a prestigious internship for Haitem Zarti at Goldman Sachs, despite assessors at the investment bank saying the Libyan's CV would not ordinarily have 'made it past the first round'. Just days after the internship was arranged, the LIA agreed deals worth hundreds of millions of pounds and Mr Kabbaj was hailed as 'a hero' by his Goldman colleagues. But the relationship soured after an angry meeting in Tripoli, when Mustafa Zarti accused Goldman of having 'screwed' the LIA and ordered Mr Kabbaj out of the building. The Libyan fund is now suing Goldman and wants it to repay $1.2billion (846million) to cover its losses from a series of disastrous trades made in 2008. It claims Goldman abused a relationship of trust and took advantage of 'naive and vulnerable' funds officials to persuade them to invest. The deals were left virtually worthless when share prices crashed later, but lawyers for the fund said Goldman still made 'eyewatering' profits of more than 200million for its role in the deals. Roger Masefield QC, representing the LIA, said the Wall Street giant courted the LIA assiduously and targeted Haitem Zarti because of his brother's position at the fund. The younger brother did not work for the fund, but Moroccan-born Mr Kabbaj lavished corporate hospitality on him in an attempt to impress his older brother. Messages retrieved from his Blackberry apparently showed Mr Kabbaj arranged the night with the prostitute in February 2008, when he took Haitem Zarti on an all-expenses-paid trip to Dubai and paid for him to stay at the luxury Ritz Carlton hotel. Messages from his Blackberry showed Mr Kabbaj arranged the night with the prostitute in February 2008, when he took Zarti on an all-expenses-paid trip to Dubai and paid for him to stay at the Ritz Carlton (pictured) Zarti did not work for the fund, but Moroccan-born Mr Kabbaj lavished corporate hospitality on him in an attempt to impress his older brother, including the trip to the Ritz Carlton (pictured), Dubai Mr Masefield said he would not read 'salacious' messages to the court, but said they referred to a woman called Michaela, adding: 'It is perfectly clear that Michaela was a prostitute. Mr Kabbaj had procured her service and an unnamed but good-looking friend for the evening for him and Mr Zarti.' The lawyer added: 'It is about trying to influence Mustafa Zarti and make him more disposed to do as Goldman Sachs recommends.' Mr Kabbaj no longer works for Goldman and is not due to be called as a witness. He was said to have received a 3.1million payout from the bank. He told the Wall Street Journal he had not paid for or arranged prostitutes for Mr Zarti. He declined to comment on whether he paid for a prostitute for himself, but said Goldman partners signed off all his expenses for the Libyan fund. Court papers filed for the LIA showed Mr Kabbaj claimed expenses of more than 22,000 for hotels and entertaining when he took other LIA employees on a trip to London, and he also arranged a 'side trip' to Morocco. Internal emails apparently showed senior executives at Goldman referred to 'brain-washing' officials at the LIA, and one partner warned they were 'very unsophisticated', adding: 'Anyone could 'rape' them.' Other Goldman executives are said to have questioned if the Libyans understood the complex nature of the financial deals being done on their behalf. The 46billion fund was created in 2006 to manage income from Libya's oil fields after economic sanctions were lifted. At London's High Court, pictured, Goldman Sachs was accused of exploiting the financial naivity and trust of Gaddafi-era officials into investing in complex financial instruments during the financial crisis It claims it placed its trust in Goldman the world's most powerful investment bank and that the bank abused that relationship. Goldman denies the claim and the profits it was alleged to have made, and said the LIA money was lost because of unpredicted falls in stock markets during the 2008 financial crisis. It said the fund's officials understood the risks involved but were now trying to use the courts to recoup their lost investments. Robert Miles QC, for Goldman, said: 'Equity markets and the underlying stocks tanked. The LIA therefore lost the money it invested. 'What it really seeks to do by this claim is to get its money back from the investment, which has turned out badly for it We say this truly is a case of buyer's remorse.' Legal documents filed on Goldman's behalf included an email from Mr Kabbaj in which he said he was unable to exert pressure on the LIA to make decisions, adding: 'They HATE pressure.' He said Mr Zarti had told him: 'We are like pigeons, if you come after us we will fly away, if you walk away, we will s*** on your head.' by fierce debate about controls on immigration and claims of scaremongering David Cameron and Jean-Claude Juncker had agreed the EU Commission President would keep quiet - unless Brexit had a final week lead Jean-Claude Juncker is poised to make a major intervention on Britain's EU referendum after a string of polls handed Brexit a large lead with just nine days to go. The President of the European Commission had promised David Cameron he would stay out of the Brexit battle for fear of making it look like Brussels was bullying British voters. But the pair secretly agreed the gloves could come off if Brexit was ahead going into the final week, it was reported today. German newspaper Der Spiegel said today: 'Juncker had to promise British Prime Minister David Cameron that the EU executive branch would stay out of the Brexit debate. 'Juncker only managed to convince Cameron to give him a small loophole: If Brexit supporters have a clear lead in polls in the week prior to the June 23 referendum, the Commission president will be allowed to make his voice heard. 'That, of course, would be too late to significantly shift public opinion, but it would mean that Juncker could not be accused of having done nothing to prevent a Brexit. 'Under no circumstances does Juncker want to go down in history as the first Commission president to preside over a member state departing the EU.' An intervention from Mr Juncker would follow the inflammatory comments yesterday from EU Council President Donald Tusk. In apocalyptic comments in an interview with German newspaper Bild, Mr Tusk - who runs Brussels summit for leaders of EU states - said 'no-one could forsee' the consequences of Brexit. 'Why is it so dangerous? Because no one can foresee what the long-term consequences would be,' Mr Tusk said. 'As a historian I fear that Brexit could be the beginning of the destruction of not only the EU but also of western political civilisation in its entirety.' He argued that everyone in the European Union would lose out economically if Britain left. 'Every family knows that a divorce is traumatic for everyone,' Mr Tusk said. 'Everyone in the EU, but especially the Brits themselves, would lose out economically.' Mr Juncker, pictured at the European Parliament, is generally a noisy advocate for the European Union but has stayed out of the referendum so far Mr Tusk had previously promised to stay out of the referendum in an intent to avoid claims the EU was trying to influence British voters. But he broke his own rule in the wake of Boris Johnson's controversial comments about the referendum and how the EU shared similar ambitions to unite the continent under a single rule. Mr Tusk claimed: 'I cannot stay silent. Such absurd arguments should be completely ignored if they hadn't been formulated by one the most influential politicians of the ruling party. 'Boris Johnson crossed the boundaries of a rational discussion, demonstrating political amnesia.' He added: 'In some sense, he illustrated a state of mind and emotions of many Europeans, not only from the UK. 'In no way, however, can this be an excuse for this dangerous blackout.' Mr Tusk said 'the EU still remains the most effective firewall against the ever-dangerous and often tragic conflicts among the nations of Europe'. He added: 'The only alternative for the Union is political chaos, the return to national egoisms.' A bisexual man convicted of murder as a hate crime for shooting a gay man he taunted on a New York City street was sentenced Tuesday to 40 years to life in prison. A Manhattan jury had convicted Elliot Morales in the May 2013 shooting of Mark Carson in the Greenwich Village neighborhood, a center of American gay life for decades. Prosecutors said Morales, 36, had issues with his own sexuality and was jealous that Carson and his roommate were openly gay. He yelled anti-gay slurs at the men before shooting Carson in the face at close range. Scroll down for video Elliot Morales, 36, was sentenced to 40 years in prison for shooting a gay man to death after yelling anti-gay slurs in a 2013 incident in the Greenwich Village neighborhood in New York Morales, who represented himself in court, said he acted in self-defense and couldn't be guilty of a hate crime because he is bisexual The New York medical examiner's office said the bullet immediately killed Mark Carson, 32, by severing his brain stem Arrested moments later, Morales began laughing and admitted killing Carson as officers held him down. 'Diagnosis dead, doctor,' he is heard shouting on an officer's video. The New York medical examiner's office said the bullet immediately killed Carson by severing his brain stem, the New York Daily News reported. Morales, who represented himself in court, said he acted in self-defense and couldn't be guilty of a hate crime because he is bisexual. His star witness was a transgender woman who testified that she was his ex-lover. As he cross-examined Carson's former roommate at trial, Morales blamed the two men for the conflict that led to the shooting and suggested they should have ignored the taunts and walked away. Morales is pictured as he's being arrested by NYPD officers after fatally shooting Carson. 'Diagnosis dead, doctor,' he is heard shouting on an officer's video The shooting happened a few blocks from the Stonewall Inn, the site of 1969 riots that helped give rise to the gay rights movement He also blamed EMTs for failing to save Carson, saying: 'You can see these EMT workers... let him die,' the Daily News reported. In his closing argument, he wept and told jurors that he was 'not a bigot of any type' and that charging him with a hate crime was 'ridiculous.' The shooting happened a few blocks from the Stonewall Inn, the site of 1969 riots that helped give rise to the gay rights movement. 'Any life lost to gun violence is a tragedy for our city,' Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. said in a statement. Sir Paul McCartney has led the tributes to former Wings guitarist Henry McCullough who has died aged 72 following a long illness. His live music agent Nigel Martyn said McCullough passed away on Tuesday. He said the guitarist never fully recovered from a severe heart attack suffered four years ago. McCullough played with the Grease Band with Joe Cocker at Woodstock, and worked at various times with Marianne Faithfull and Donovan, and he also appeared on the original cast recording of 'Jesus Christ Superstar'. McCartney said: 'He was a pleasure to work with, a super talented musician with a lovely sense of humour.' Sir Paul McCartney, pictured, led the tributes for his former Wings band mate Henry McCullough, who died McCullough, left, pictured here with Wings, died earlier today following a long illness, his agent announced McCullough, from Portstewart, Northern Ireland , pictured right along with Jimi Hendrix, joined Wings in 1971 The Northern Ireland native was recruited to join the second version of Wings in 1971, and his guitar solo on 'My Love' on the album 'Red Rose Speedway' marked a career peak. He improvised it in a single take. 'With music, sometimes you come across something and it's a gift from God and it's channeled through you,' he said in a 2011 interview with the website Pennyblackmusic. 'I swear, I never heard those notes before that way.' McCullough, who also played on the single of 'Live and Let Die,' walked out of Wings in July 1973 after clashing with McCartney. The rift was patched up in later years. 'Just because there's a little hiccup along the way, it doesn't take away from what you've built up,' he said in a 2011 interview with the website Musiclegends. McCullough also worked with George Harrison's Dark Horse label, which produced his solo album 'Mind Your Own Business' in 1975. McCullough, left, described the row with McCartney, right, as 'a little hiccup along the way' McCullough, right, suffered a heart attack four years ago from which he never fully recovered McCullough played guitar on the theme to the James Bond movie Live and Let Die featuring Roger Moore McCullough, left, appearing in concert with Joe Cocker, centre, suffered a heart attack four years ago During his time with Wings, McCullough was one of the people whose voices are heard answering questions at the end of Pink Floyd's song 'Money' from the album 'Dark Side of the Moon.' His contribution: 'I don't know, I was really drunk at the time.' McCullough grew up in Portstewart on the north coast of Northern Ireland, and one of his earliest musical memories was of the power of the singing at his mother's church. 'The choir would be singing all these harmonies and it would scare me half to death,' he said. His reaction to the church was summed up in 'Failed Christian,' one of the few songs he composed. In the song he said: 'I'm going to meet my maker / A firm believer / Of spirit in music / There's a prayer in a song.' McCullough remained active on the music scene until the heart attack in November 2012. Terror suspect Omar Mateen made one last attempt to become a full-fledged police officer last summer when he applied for an intensive six-month law enforcement academy in his hometown of Fort Pierce, Daily Mail Online has learned exclusively. But officials at the Indian River State College's Criminal Justice Institute were so concerned about his behavior that they rejected his application and reported him to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, a source familiar with Mateen's application said. 'In the light of what happened in Orlando this weekend, I believe he was trying to infiltrate the school to understand how policing works on a day-to-day basis,' the source said. 'I believe he wanted to find a way to get hired by a police force after the end of the program and carry out whatever nefarious plan he may have had while in a uniform.' It wasn't the first time that Mateen applied for a law-related job. Scroll down for video Omar Mateen, wearing an NYPD T-shirt, was kicked out of the police academy at Indian River State College last summer. 'I believe he wanted to get hired by a police force to carry out whatever nefarious plan he had while in a uniform,' said an informed insider Students at the Indian River State College Criminal Justice Institute in Fort Pierce Staff at the Institute were so concerned about Mateen's behavior they rejected his application and reported him to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, a source familiar with Mateen's application In the late 2000s the source said, Mateen was hired by the Florida Department of Corrections to be a prison guard. The department, however, told Mateen he'd need additional training at the Criminal Justice Institute before he could start. So Mateen passed the rigorous application process and was accepted. After about a month of instruction, however, Mateen quit without as much as an explanation. 'He just stopped showing up,' the source said. 'But he passed the state's screening process as well as the school's. All he had to do to work in a prison was to get a decent grade in his classes and graduate.' Mateen, 29, graduated from the two-year Indian River State College's law enforcement program after high school in 2006, according to school spokesman Robert Lane. The program, however, was purely academic and centered on the philosophy, history, administration and broad-brush principles of policing. The school's Criminal Justice Institute, however, is where candidates get hands-on training from retired prison guards and police officers. WEIGHTS, PROTEIN POWDER AND GROWTH HORMONE - HOW HE BULKED UP Omar Mateen desperately wanted to be a law enforcement officer, according to a former classmate, but it may have been for the wrong reasons. Mateen, one source tells the Daily Mail Online, was bullied in high school. 'Some kids picked on him,' said a former classmate of Mateen at Martin County High School, which he attended in the early 2000s. 'It had nothing to do with him being an Arab [sic]. It had to do with the fact he was 150 pounds wet and rather short. 'There's no doubt he was obsessed with being a cop because he wanted to assert some authority. He loved being with the big boys. He just wanted to belong, but he wasn't that kind of a guy who could belong.' At first, the ex-friend said, Mateen started lifting weights in the school's football team area. 'The school had a state-of-the-art weight room,' the source said. 'I was a big boy so I spent hours in there. Omar started coming in regular. We sorta make fun of it but he became a spotting partner to all the muscle guys.' In time, the friend said, Mateen was physically unable to grow as big as his training friends. So, he started using growth hormones. 'He used to come into the (GNC) nutrition store where I worked to get protein powders. One time, it looked like he had grown by 50 pounds in just a couple months. 'So he started bragging about shooting up steroids. He was way deep into it. You could tell. He had that rounded muscle look that just wasn't natural.' In time, Mateen also started working at the GNC store at the Treasure Coast Mall near Port St. Lucie. Upon graduation in 2003 Mateen, who had turned 18, enrolled in a vocational school at first. In 2004, he started in the criminal justice program at Indian River State College in his hometown of Fort Pierce. The college prides itself for its tuition 40 percent lower than most colleges, and for a recognized law enforcement academy. The two-year law enforcement program had become a forced passage for young adults in the area who want to become police officers or sheriff's deputies. It offers classes in the history, philosophy, organization, management and laws of policing. Training includes real-life action simulators and firearms certification. However, the friend said Mateen couldn't keep up with some of the classes. 'Two of us bodybuilders went into the same program as Omar,' he said. 'It was obvious he was having problems studying. It ended he couldn't pass a few tests and had remedial classes.' A spokesman with Fort Pierce Police said Mateen never applied for an officer's job with the agency. 'We don't have any records of him putting in for a job here,' said Public Information Officer Ed Cunningham. And Bryan Beaty, a spokesman for the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office, said Mateen never applied with that agency either. There may have been a good reason for that. 'At one point, he admitted he couldn't pass a psychological exam and you could tell the air had just run out of him,' the former classmate said. 'That's why he ended up a security guard.' Advertisement When Mateen returned to the Institute with paperwork indicating he wanted to be certified as a police officer in June 2015, according to the source, his application for police training was rejected quickly. 'The application process is a 25-page questionnaire plus a one-on-one interview,' the source familiar with the process tells Daily Mail Online. 'It's is very competitive since only 50 applicants are accepted into each six-month session.' Mateen, the source said, showed up for his interview with an admissions coordinator with no answer to a series of questions. One of them was whether he'd ever been the subject of an investigation. It turns out that when Mateen arrived at the interview, he'd been questioned about terrorist activity twice in two years, according to FBI Director James Comey. The FBI, however, cleared Mateen and he was free. Mateen appealed his rejection rejection and returned to the school for another interview . 'He was with his dad,' the source said. Mateen's father, Afghanistan-born SeddiqueMir Mateen, stars on YouTube videos in camouflage outfits 'At the interview, he was aggressive from the moment he came to the office,' the source continues. 'Everything was an argument. Within three minutes, he started talking about how futile it was for him to apply. "You won't let me in because I'm a Muslim," he said. 'Religion isn't even a question on the application form. He volunteered that information. He wasn't asked. But that's all he kept talking about.' Within days, the Institute notified Mateen it rejected the application. 'There were just too many red flags,' the source said. 'One of them was the fact this young man did not have the true motivation to be a police officer. 'The coordinator had no idea why Omar even wanted to be a cop because he couldn't even answer that simple question. 'All he wanted to talk about was that he was a Muslim and the school didn't want Muslims.' On his application, the coordinator called Mateen 'deceptive and untruthful.' Mateen then appealed the rejection and returned to the school for another interview with an IRSC vice president. 'He was with his dad,' the source said. Mateen's father, Afghanistan-born Seddique Mir Mateen, stars on YouTube videos in camouflage outfits where he says he is that country's president. 'Things got pretty heated in that office. For the two of them, it was clear that the school was racist and didn't want Muslim students, which is totally false. But the VP let them rant and, eventually, politely asked them to leave.' Institute Director Dr. Lee Spector didn't return calls for comments about Mateen's interview, but on its website, the school cites its policy of non-discrimination on the basis of gender, age, race and religion. After Mateen lost his appeal, a school higher-up called the Florida state police, the FDLE, to report Mateen as someone who should be watched. The FDLE's response, according to the source was that Mateen was already on a watch list for potential terrorist affiliation. In the end, the source said Institute officials now believe Mateen hoped to carry his bloody deeds in a police uniform. A man set a Flint, Michigan, house on fire, killing three children, because a woman who was sent to buy drugs didn't return, investigators say. Genesee County prosecutor David Leyton announced murder charges Tuesday against Rodney Dale King Jr. and Erica Starkey. Starkey is the mother of two of the victims: 13-year-old Onya Starkey and 4-year-old Kaydon Hull. Genesee County prosecutor David Leyton announced murder charges Tuesday against Rodney Dale King Jr. and Erica Starkey A man set a Flint, Michigan, house (pictured) on fire, killing three children, because a woman who was sent to buy drugs didn't return, investigators say King set a Flint, Michigan, house on fire, killing three children, because Starkey, who was sent to buy drugs, didn't return, investigators say Leyton called it a 'horrible case.' He was quoted by MLive.com saying: 'It's just an indication of just how out of control an individual can become when drugs overtake them. 'This is an instance where two individuals who were using drugs thought of nothing else but the drugs and, "Where am I going to get my next high," and as a result of that, three kids are dead.' The 40-year-old King and 39-year-old Starkey met on a street in the early hours last Friday. Leyton said they smoked crack cocaine at Starkey's home before Starkey left to buy more drugs. The Genesee County Prosecutor's Office said in a release: 'While Starkey was gone, King fell asleep and Starkey never returned. 'When King awakes, he finds that Starkey had never returned and he gets mad and sets furniture on fire. 'Around 5:50 AM, the investigation reveals that Starkey left the home and about five minutes after that, smoke is coming from the home.' Pictured are two of the victims, 13-year-old Onyah Starkey (left) and her friend, 14-year-old Brianna Beaushaw (right) Kaydon Hull (pictured) also died. Kaydon and Onyah were Erica Starkey's children Michigan State Police Lt. David Kaiser, left, speaks with Sgt. Lenny Jaskulka, a State Police fire investigator, as officials investigate the cause of the fatal house fire on Friday The prosecutor's office said: 'At 6:14 AM, the Flint Fire Department arrived on the scene to find the home on fire and three victims inside. 'There is evidence that 4-year-old Kayden Hull had been confined in a bedroom with a padlock securing the door shut.' Onya and Kaydon were taken to a hospital and declared dead there on Friday, while Onyah's friend sleeping over, 14-year-old Brianna Beaushaw, was taken to the same hospital and died Sunday, the prosecutor's office said. King and Starkey will appear in court Tuesday. They don't have lawyers yet. Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton holds a photo from the investigation that shows a padlock on one of the children's bedroom doors as he announces multiple felony murder charges Kings' been charged with 3 counts of felony murder and one count of first-degree arson, the prosecutor's office said. Starkey's been charged with one count of felony murder, two counts of second-degree murder, three counts of second-degree child abuse, three counts of unlawful imprisonment, plus two counts of killing or torturing animals, according to the prosecutor's office. Brianna's mother Schuyler Kelley told MLive.com: 'It was just supposed to be a sleep over. Polling day is in just nine days time after months of campaigning Labour has been handed control this week to try and stem the momentum by a string of opinion polls showing them in front The Remain campaign must spell out basic answers on how uncontrolled migration can be provided for, the latest referendum debate was told tonight. Voter Tony Smith said he backed immigration to Britain but blasted the 'cartoon politics' that reduced all debate over immigration to mud slinging. Mr Smith clashed with ex-SNP first minister Alex Salmond over the issue in a YouTube debate hosted by the Daily Telegraph and Huffington Post. Brexit champion Boris Johnson told the debate he was in favour of immigration but shared Mr Smith's concerns about allowing more people in the country without proper resources. Audience member Tony Smith said the question about resourcing uncontrolled immigration had to be answered without reducing the debate to cartoon politics Mr Smith clashed with Alex Salmond, right, who was joined by Liz Kendall, second right, in supporting Remain at tonight's debate against Priti Patel, left, and Boris Johnson, second left Mr Salmond said he 'wished it were true' that everyone supported immigration but claimed it was presented by the Leave campaigns as a 'dreadful thing'. Mr Smith greeted Mr Johnson at the end of the debate, revealed in a Twitter post by Huff Po political reporter Owen Bennett Mr Salmond claimed after 43 years of EU membership just 5 per cent of the country was a European migrant. He said: 'I'm fed up in this campaign of it being presented as a negative - it's not fair, it's not right and it's not true.' Mr Smith intervened and said: 'The question is quite simply a practical one about resourcing. Building a new reservoir for example - and don't forget in the South East the water companies have told the Government not to allow new housing development - costs billions and takes several years. 'The question about resourcing unconstrained population growth is a fair question. Please don't turn it into cartoon politics about attitudes to immigrants and immigration. That's not my question, don't deflect. 'Do you, Mr Salmond, have any idea at all how many immigrants per year this country can either afford or cope with? 'We are not talking about the leafy suburbs where the elite live, we are talking about the Midlands and North of England where ordinary, decent people live.' Mr Salmond insisted: 'I didn't demean your question in any way but I don't live in leafy suburbs. 'I live in a country which has areas that suffer not from immigration but from emigration. I've seen emigration and de-population and believe me it's a lot worse.' The remain campaign, represented by Ms Kendall and Mr Salmond, was criticised for reducing the immigration debate to 'cartoon politics' Vote Leave spokeswoman Priti Patel used the debate to warn the EU had 'set its course' and would not stop on the road to 'closer integration' Mr Johnson insisted control was crucial and said: 'There's a reason across Europe you are seeing the rise of far right parties, there is a reason why you are seeing immigration escalated in the whole conversation at the moment. BREXIT WOULD MEAN A SECOND REFERENDUM IN SCOTLAND, SALMOND CLAIMS Alex Salmond, pictured in tonight's debate, said there would be a second independence referendum after a Brexit vote Brexit would trigger a new Scottish independence referendum, former SNP leader Alex Salmond has insisted. The comments appear in contrast to Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon's stance that she is only interested in campaigning for a Remain vote and will not speculate on possible political repercussions of Brexit. Asked if Brexit would lead to a second independence referendum, Mr Salmond said: 'If Scotland has voted Remain, then I believe it would, yes.' Speaking at a Daily Telegraph/Huffington Post online debate, Mr Salmond then quoted the SNP manifesto for last month's Holyrood elections which stated that the parliament should have the right to hold a new referendum if a UK poll saw Scotland taken out of the EU 'against her will'. 'You don't know the result of a referendum in advance, but what we do know is that the SNP stood on that manifesto in last month's election and got 47% of the vote in Scotland. 'Now, this referendum we are having just now was held by David Cameron on a mandate of 37% of the vote. 'So, it would have to go through the Scottish Parliament. It would have to be a Remain vote in Scotland, accompanying a Brexit elsewhere, but under these circumstances, the answer to your question is yes,' Mr Salmond said. Former London mayor and prominent Leave campaigner Boris Johnson insisted Scottish independence, like the EU vote, should be a 'once in a generation' referendum event. Advertisement 'That is because, I think, because people feel they have not given democratic consent to what is happening.' Earlier in the debate on immigration, Labour's Liz Kendall said she was concerned about the language used. She said: 'People are talking about immigration like it is a disease. In fact migrants pay more in than they get out.' She adds: 'You are more likely to be treated by a migrant in the NHS than you are to be behind them in the queue.' Elsewhere in the discussion, held at YouTube's London headquarters, Mr Salmond distanced himself from the grim economic warnings issued repeatedly by the Remain campaign. He said: 'For understandable reasons, I don't really go along with the economic Armageddon stuff.' Reflecting on the Scottish independence campaign - the loss of which Mr Salmond has put down to the 'Project Fear' tactics run by Better Together - he said: 'I've seen it from the other side.' Asked if politicians were out of touch, Mr Johnson said: 'I think that some of the language that is being use to scare people about the consequences I do think is extreme.' He said he was 'very much at one' with what people like Alex had been saying about that. An audience member shouted out: 'I would like to request that the panel speak to the audience rather than each other. 'It is not about your egos, it is about our lives.' At point, Mr Johnson was caught out during a discussion on the economy when he cited a Bank of England report on wages. He said: 'A Bank of England study that showed that for every 10 per cent increase in immigration there was a 2 per cent reduction in wages.' Mr Salmond interrupted and challenged: No it didnt, have you read that study, Boris? Have you actually read it? Boris admitted 'I have not read that study' - prompting Mr Salmond to claim he was 'scaremongering'. A succession of polls this week has shown the Brexit campaign with a significant lead with just nine days to polling day - causing shudders in the market as expectations Leave could pull off an unexpected win grow. David Cameron took a back seat in the campaign this week Labour to lead an attempted fightback. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn took on the mantle of trying to lead a fightback in the referendum battle today as the beleagured Remain campaign slipped further back in the polls As Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn warned that Brexit could 'end' the NHS, his deputy Tom Watson was insisting that there had to be curbs on free movement. Meanwhile, senior MPs Tristram Hunt and Rachel Reeves branded the situation 'unsustainable' and argued that things must be 'done differently' in future. A QUARTER OF VOTERS STILL DON'T KNOW WHEN THE REFERENDUM IS A quarter of potential voters could not correctly name the date of the EU referendum. The proportion was higher among Leave backers than Remain supporters A quarter of potential voters still don't know when the EU referendum is due to be held, according to a poll. With Britain due to take its biggest decision for a generation in just nine days, some 25 per cent were not aware that the ballot is on June 23. The shocking finding emerged as a series of surveys suggested that Brexit is gaining ground in the battle over whether we should stay in the EU. One YouGov poll gave the Out campaign a seven-point lead - on 46 per cent to 39 per cent to Remain. And two pieces of ICM research indicated that Leave had a five-point lead. Advertisement The interventions effectively demolished Labour's attempts to get the Remain campaign back on track after signs of a surge in support for Brexit. Yesterday, former Labour PM Gordon Brown took on the attempt to stem the tide. The decision followed mounting alarm that large numbers of traditional Labour voters, particularly in the North of England, are planning to vote Leave, largely because of concerns about immigration. But the move quickly backfired as the former PM, who once labelled a voter with concerns about immigration a bigot, came under pressure over Labour's past record. Mr Brown brushed aside the public's concerns, saying: 'In Britain we have managed migration it is not uncontrolled.' He also said voters were much more concerned about the threat of illegal immigration than about mass migration from the EU. His comments were criticised by pro-Brexit MPs including senior figures in his own party who accused him of complacency. Last night, his former close adviser Mr Balls added to the chaos with an article for the Daily Mirror. Mr Balls, who is campaigning to stay inside the EU, wrote: 'Europe still doesn't work well enough for Britain. 'There's still too much waste and bureaucracy from Brussels and, while a limit has been secured on the benefits paid to migrant workers, 'I don't think that can be the end of the story. We need to press Europe to restore proper borders.' The EU needs real reform, not Cameron's 'Mickey Mouse negotiation', claims Nick Clegg's Spanish wife (who can't even vote next week) Miriam Gonzalez Durantez said the EU needed 'real reform' to produce growth Nick Clegg's wife today blasted David Cameron's EU reforms as a 'Mickey Mouse renegotiation' that had left the UK 'sleepwalking towards disaster'. Miriam Gonzalez Durantez said next week's referendum would be the first moment in her life that would be written into the history books and urged voters to reject Brexit. But Ms Gonzalez Durantez gave a scathing assessment of the Prime Minister's efforts, negotiated at February's EU summit. The off-message remarks come after former shadow chancellor Ed Balls also levelled criticism at the deal today and as polls show momentum for Brexit with just nine days to go. Speaking at the Fortune Most Powerful Woman International Summit in London, Spanish lawyer Ms Gonzalez Durantez said: 'This is a club where everybody gets a say. 'You cannot be there and expect that others are going to reform it for you. I am all in favour of reform. 'The European Union is crying for reform. Proper reform. Not that Mickey Mouse negotiation that the prime minister did. 'The biggest reform that the EU needs is growth. We need growth in Europe.' Ms Gonzalez Durantez, who cannot vote next week as she is a Spanish citizen, added: 'I believe that this country is sleep walking towards disaster. 'It will not only be a disaster in this country it will be a disaster for Europe and across the whole world. 'In my life I have never gone through another moment when I have thought we are in the history books.' Britain WINS court case against the EU over child benefit for foreigners who don't live here but Vote Leave blast as 'absurd' being forced into a legal battle in the first place Britain today won a court case against the European Commission over handing child benefit to foreigners in Britain. The ruling of European judges confirmed the verdict of the Supreme Court four years ago that EU citizens with no legal right to live in Britain should not be allowed to claim child benefit or child tax credit. Despite the judgement, Vote Leave insisted it was 'absurd' the UK had to fight the case in the European Court of Justice at all. Britain Stronger in Europe said it proved Britain had influence over the rules of the EU. Iain Duncan Smith, who was work and pensions secretary when the challenge was brought, said it was ridiculous Britain had to contest such policies with European judges Iain Duncan Smith, who was work and pensions secretary when the challenge was made, said: 'It's absurd that we have to run every nut and bolt of domestic policy past Luxembourg, and then engage in lengthy and expensive court battles if they decide they don't like what our democratically elected Government is doing. 'As well as the cost to taxpayers of fighting these lengthy drawn out cases, it's clearly an illegitimate challenge to our sovereignty. 'Although David Cameron didn't want to admit it, this case and others like it are proof positive that the unelected European Court of Justice is now supreme above our elected Parliament. 'They decide the rules and the only way to prevent this kind of intervention in future is to Vote Leave on 23 June.' Tory MP and Brexit supporter Anne-Marie Trevelyan added: 'The Prime Minister made a solemn promise to the British people in our manifesto which, sadly, the EU makes impossible to honour. 'EU migrants will still be able to receive child benefit and even export it abroad. Today's judgement does not change that. 'Rather than admitting that the EU prevents the UK from controlling our welfare system, our borders and our economy, promises have instead become aspirations; commitments have become ambitions.' For the Remain campaign, former Attorney-General Dominic Grieve MP said: 'This underlines the fact that Britain has been successful in arguing for an end to something for nothing for EU citizens coming to Britain. 'They can no longer take out before the put in. It proves Britain has more influence over the rules that affect us as part of the EU. He claimed he had schizophrenia and was meant to have injection that day Voices allegedly told him 'he had to make a sacrifice for Ramadan' She was 'waiting for a bus' outside Lycee Chateaubriand when he attacked A man with known psychiatric problems stabbed a 19-year-old girl three times, telling police he had heard voices ordering him to make a 'sacrifice' for Ramadan (stock photo) A 19-year-old girl was today stabbed three times by a man with psychiatric problems who told police voices ordered him to make a 'sacrifice' for Ramadan. It is understood the man, 32, stabbed the girl twice in the wrist and once in the abdomen at 4pm in Rennes, western France. According to local media he attacked her while she was waiting for a bus outside the city's Lycee Chateaubriand, where she is said to be a first-year preparatory student. The man, who said he was being treated for schizophrenia, told officers he was a Muslim before handing over the knife. The attack comes a day after a jihadist killed a French police couple in a small town near Paris, in a stabbing inspired by the Islamic State group. A witness claimed the knifeman was overpowered by bystanders, according to Rennes magazine Le Mensuel. He was immediately assessed by a doctor and sent to a psychiatric hospital. He told investigators he was being treated for schizophrenia and was supposed to receive an injection on the day of the attack. The girl was said to be standing at the bus stop on Rue Mirabeau when she was attacked, Le Dauphine reported. The teenager's wounds are said to be not life-threatening. 'Voices told him that he had to make a sacrifice on the occasion of Ramadan,' prosecutor Nicolas Jacquet told AFP. Ramadan is the holy Muslim fasting month that began on June 6. Mr Jawuet added that the man had been in and out of psychiatric wards several times. An investigation has been opened into attempted murder. According to local media, he attacked the girl while she was waiting for a bus on Rue Mirabeau (pictured) in Rennes, France The bus stop was outside Lycee Chateaubriand (pictured), where the victim is said to be a first-year preparatory student It comes as an ISIS militant murdered a police commander and his wife at their home near Paris on Monday, before being shot dead by officers who rescued the couple's three-year-old boy unharmed. Larossi Abballa, 25, stabbed Jean-Baptiste Salvaing, 42, nine times in the stomach at his home in the Yvelines department, north west of Paris, shortly after 8.30pm on Monday. After a three-hour stand-off elite Raid commandos entered the building, where they killed Abballa. Inside the house, they found the lifeless body of Mr Salvaing's wife, Jessica Schneider, who was an administrator who worked for the police force in Mantes-la-Jolie. It is understood the man, 32, stabbed the girl twice in the wrist and once in the abdomen at 4pm in Rennes (pictured), western France The only survivor was the couple's three-year-old son, who was 'extremely shocked but otherwise unharmed'. After killing the couple Abballa recorded a 12-minute monologue to camera while in the couple's house in Magnanville and posted the video on Facebook Live. In the video, Abballa says: 'We will come and find you the way I have found this policemen at his house.' He also hinted at an ISIS attack on the Euro 2016 football tournament, saying: We're keeping another surprise for the Euros but I wont say anything more.' And, chillingly, he also hinted that the son of his victims was also in danger, saying: 'I don't know what I'm going to do with the boy.' Jean-Baptiste Salvaing (left) and his wife Jessica Schneider (right) were killed by ISIS militant Larossi Abballa, 25, at their home near Paris on Monday. Their son witnessed both killings The killer was 25-year-old Larossi Abballa (pictured), who grew up in Mantes-la-Jolie and had a criminal record dating back to 2011 The couple's young son was 'in shock but unharmed,' a prosecutor said, adding he was receiving medical attention. Mr Molins said Abballa pledged his allegiance to ISIS three weeks ago and appeared to be following a recent order from ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi 'to kill miscreants at home with their families' during Ramadan. Three men - 'linked to' Abballa - were arrested on Tuesday morning. They were described as 'acquaintances' and are aged 27, 29 and 44. It also emerged today the knifeman was part of a recent investigation into a Syrian jihadist network. Gun sales have soared since the tragedy as enthusiast fear the weapons may be banned or restricted in the wake of the massacre Sales of high-powered automatic weapons have soared days after the deadliest mass shooting in modern United States history where Omar Mateen use one to kill 49 people in a gay nightclub. One Georgia gun shop has reported a boom in sales of AR 15s - the semi-automatic weapons used in the Orlando massacre - since Sunday. Within three hours Monday, 35 AR-15s were sold, around 10 guns an hour. Typically, the store sells just two per day. Scroll down for video Jay Wallace, the owner of Adventure Outdoors in Smyrna, Georgia, as reported a boom in sales of AR 15s - the semiautomatic weapons used in the Orlando massacre - since Sunday Wallace said that he had seen many customers rushing to buy the weapons on his website in the past few days out of fear that the weapons could be banned Meanwhile, a Pennsylvanian gun dealer says he has already sold around 15,000 semi-automatic rifles on his website since the tragedy. Jay Wallace, the owner of Adventure Outdoors in Smyrna, Georgia, told 11Alive News that he had seen many customers rushing to buy the weapons on his website in the past few days out of fear that the weapons could be banned 'There's one (type of customer) that's buying them for an investment and the other one is the person that's buying them because they're afraid they won't be available; they're afraid the government is going to take them away,' Wallace said. But he insists that anyone intent on carrying out an act of terrorism will find a way - whether the guns are available or not. 'If we want to try and get into a terrorist mind, I think they go by their religious beliefs and I don't think the religious beliefs say kill people with a rifle,' he told the network. 'It just says 'kill people.' And if they don't kill people with a rifle, they'll kill them some other way and you won't be any less dead.' Army veteran Mike Barnell said he was stocking up on three of the weapons, which cost between $500 and $3,000, as he was concerned that the price would increase with the talk of gun control. Gun dealer Tom Engle, who owns Hunters Warehouse in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, said that he had seen between 13,000 and 15,000 sales of high powered automatic weapons since Sunday. Pennsylvania gun dealer Tom Engle, who owns Hunters Warehouse in Bellefonte, (pictured) says he has sold 15,000 weapons since Sunday The AR-15 assault rifle (file picture) is the same type used in the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school massacre, the 2012 movie-theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado which killed 12 He added that there must be a universal background check for all gun purchases and warned that it is currently very easy for a non-US citizen to get their hands on a weapon. 'The easiest way is to obtain the hunting license,' he said. 'Then they basically can get the gun simple as that. As long as they have an ID of course.' Along with increased gun sales, there has also been an increase in share prices on the stock market for major gunmakers, according to Business Insider. Smith & Wesson, the Massachusetts-based manufacturer of handguns, saw its shares increase by as much as eight per cent the day after the shooting, although prices fell by more than four per cent today. Shares of Connecticut-based Sturm, Ruger & Company saw a more than nine per cent jump in shares on Monday but also fell by around four per cent today. While Vista Outdoor (VSTO), a company that's headquartered in Utah and designs, develops and manufactures ammunition and related equipment, saw a two per cent increase on Monday. Meanwhile the owner of the gun store where the Orlando terrorist bought his murder weapons said he does not feel culpable for the worst massacre in US history. Ed Henson of St Lucie Shooting Center insists Omar Mateen passed all the background checks when he came in last week. In two separate visits, the 29-year-old bought a .223 caliber AR-type rifle and a 9mm semiautomatic pistol and which he would later use during Americas worst ever mass shooting. 'It's horrible but I don't make the laws. I abide by them,' Henson, a retired New York police officer, told reporters in a statement. 'My heartfelt condolences for the family and victims and I can't imagine the horror they face. 'I did everything by the book. I'm not going to be made into a villain.' The soaring sales come amid fears from gun enthusiasts that the weapons could be banned in the near future after both President Barack Obama and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called for more gun control in the wake of the tragedy. Shares of Connecticut-based Sturm, Ruger & Company saw a more than nine per cent jump in shares but today saw a 4.19 per cent fall in prices Smith & Wesson, the Massachusetts-based manufacturer of handguns, shares increased as much as eight per cent the day after the massacre but by today, the prices had dropped by 4.46 per cent 'This massacre is... a further reminder of how easy it is for someone to get their hands on a weapon that lets them shoot people in a school, or in a house of worship, or a movie theater, or in a nightclub,' President Obama had said. 'And we have to decide if that's the kind of country we want to be.' On Monday the White House demanded that Congress pass legislation blocking extremists from obtaining assault weapons. But experts say the deadlock is unlikely to end anytime soon, with gun control a hot-button election issue for both Republicans and Democrats. 'The Republicans that control Congress are adamantly opposed to gun legislation and they will not give Obama this victory in an election year,' Adam Winkler, a law professor at the University of California Los Angeles, told AFP. According to Gun Violence Archive, which tracks gun-related deaths in America, 13,429 people were shot dead in 2015 and 5,962 so far this year. Firearm deaths including suicides stand at around 30,000 per year. The fact-checking site Politifact said more Americans have been killed by guns in the United States since 1968 than in all wars in the country's history. And yet, the paradox: with each new massacre, gun sales spike as enthusiasts rush to stock up fearing a clampdown - with the right to bear arms cherished as fundamental by many in the country. A similar boom in weapon sales was seen in January this year after President Obama promised to use executive powers to expand background checks for people purchasing guns and increasing licensing requirements for gun dealers in the wake of the San Bernardino mass shooting. According to surveys by Quinnipiac University, between 88 and 93 percent of Americans support universal gun background checks and more than half back a ban on assault weapons. While the gun debate is at a standstill at federal level, some headway is being made at the local and state level, says Laura Cutilleta, a senior staff attorney at the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. The soaring sales come amid fears from gun enthusiasts that the weapons could be banned in the near future after both President Barack Obama (right) and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (left) called for more gun control in the wake of the tragedy Since the Sandy Hook school massacre, a number of US states have made it harder for people suffering from mental illness or with a history of domestic violence to acquire weapons, she says. But Winkler believes legislation can only go so far in stopping would-be attackers. 'I'm not sure if any new law would have prevented the Orlando shooting,' he said. 'All you can do is make these incidents harder for the criminals.' Three million semi-automatic weapons are estimated to be in circulation in the United States. But even banning them would not necessarily solve the problem, Winkler said, noting that a simple handgun can do tremendous damage too. Cutilleta meanwhile points to Florida as an example of the dysfunction of the current system. 'In Florida, there is no background check if you don't buy a gun through a licensed seller,' Cutilleta said. 'So if you're selling at a gun show, you don't have to conduct a background check.' And even with checks in place, that was not enough to stop Mateen. The owner of the Florida store where he bought his rifle, Ed Henson, told CNN he passed the required background check. 'An evil person came in here and legally purchased a firearm from us,' Henson said. 'If he hadn't gotten them from us, he would have gotten them from other places.' Omar Mateen, an American of Afghan descent who the FBI believes was radicalized online and who was probed in recent years for suspected extremism, burst into the Pulse nightclub in Orlando early Sunday armed with a .223 caliber AR-15 assault rifle and a handgun. The ATF said that Mateen had purchased the guns within the last week. By the time his shooting rampage ended, 49 people were dead and 53 others injured. Mateen was killed in an exchange of gunfire with police. Omar Mateen burst into the Pulse nightclub in Orlando early Sunday armed with a .223 caliber AR-15 assault rifle and a handgun and shot dead 49 people The AR-15 assault rifle is the same type used in the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school massacre, the 2012 movie-theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado which killed 12. It was also the weapon of choice in the San Bernardino attack last December where 14 people died when a couple pledging their allegiance to the Islamic State killed them. No sooner had news of the carnage hit headlines than politicians jumped into the fray, with Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic White House nominee, training her fire on the ready availability of assault weapons. 'I believe weapons of war have no place on our streets,' she told supporters in Cleveland, saying the fact Mateen was at one point on an FBI watchlist should have barred him from purchasing weapons. 'We may have our disagreements about gun safety regulations, but we should all be able to agree on a few essential things,' Clinton said. 'If the FBI is watching you for suspected terrorist links, you shouldn't be able to just go buy a gun with no questions asked.' While speaking in the Oval Office on Monday, Obama also warned against downplaying the role of gun control in solving the problem of home-grown Islamic crusaders. 'If we have self-radicalized individuals in this country, they are going to be very difficult oftentimes to find ahead of time,' he said. 'And how easy it is for them to obtain weapons is in some cases going to make a difference as to whether they are able to carry out attacks like this at not.' 'We make it very easy for individuals who are troubled or disturbed or want to engage in violent acts to get very powerful weapons very quickly. And that's a problem. It's a problem regardless of their motivations,' he insisted. Hillary Clinton went after Donald Trump today at a rally in Pittsburgh calling him 'shameful' for suggesting yesterday that President Obama was 'on the side of terrorists.' She dissected the national security speech that Trump delivered yesterday in the aftermath of the Orlando terror attack, saying it contained a number of 'bizarre rants' and 'outright lies.' Clinton said she read every word. 'And what I found, once you cut through the nonsense, is that his plan comes down to two things,' she noted, before taking apart both parts. Scroll down for video Hillary Clinton blasted Donald Trump today from a podium in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, hitting him for suggesting that President Obama somehow identified with radicalized Muslims Hillary Clinton called a majority of Donald Trump's plan to fight ISIS 'nonsense,' saying it was filled with lies and 'bizarre rants' First, sounding a lot like President Obama, who was giving remarks at the same time today, Clinton said that Trump has gotten caught up with 'semantics' as he's blasted both Democrats for not using the terminology 'radical Islamic terrorism.' 'He is fixated on the words "radical Islam,"' Clinton pointed out. 'Now I must say I find this strange.' 'Is Donald Trump suggesting that there are magic words that once uttered will stop terrorists from coming after us?' the former secretary of state mused. In D.C., at the Treasury Department, Obama used a 'magic' line too. 'There's no magic to the phrase "radical Islam,"' the president said. 'It's a political talking point, it's not a strategy.' 'And the reason I am careful about how I describe this threat has nothing to do with political correctness and everything to do with actually defeating extremism,' Obama added. Back in Pittsburgh, Clinton labeled Trump's tactic more 'name-calling' as usual. 'And from my perspective it matters what we do, not what we say,' she said. 'In the end it didn't matter what we called bin Laden, it mattered that we got bin Laden,' she said, name-dropping the Al Qaeda leader behind 9/11, that was killed by American Navy Seals in Pakistan while she was still President Obama's secretary of state. Hillary Clinton touted being a part of the Obama administration when Navy Seals took Osama bin Laden down: 'In the end it didn't matter what we called bin Laden, it mattered that we got bin Laden,' she said President Obama sang a similar tune as Clinton as the two Democrats spoke at the same time, both mocking Donald Trump for suggesting that saying the 'magic words' 'radical Islamic terrorism' would stop terrorists Clinton told the crowd that she has discussed Islam in the context of terrorism talk. 'I have clearly said that we faced terrorist enemies that use a perverted version of Islam,' she said. 'Now that we are past the semantic debate, Donald's going to have to come up with something better.' The Democrat then said that The Donald's idea No. 2 was the expand the Muslim ban. 'Now he wants to go further and suspend all immigration from large parts of the world,' Clinton said. 'But in this instance, Donald's words are especially nonsensical because the terrorist who carried out this attack wasn't born in Afghanistan, as Donald Trump said yesterday, he was born in Queens, New York, just like Donald was himself,' Clinton continued. 'So Muslim bans and immigration reforms would not have stopped him,' Clinton added. 'They would not have saved a single life in Orlando and those are the only two ideas Donald Trump put forward yesterday in how to fight ISIS.' Trump also hinted, early yesterday morning during an interview on Fox News, that Obama may have identified in some ways with the shooter, 29-year-old Omar Mateen. 'Look, we're led by a man that either is not tough, not smart, or he's got something else in mind,' Trump said, according to the Washington Post, which headlined the story, 'Donald Trump suggests President Obama was involved with Orlando shooting,' later changing it to, 'Donald Trump seems to connect President Obama to Orlando shooting.' 'And the something else in mind you know, people can't believe it. People cannot, they cannot believe that President Obama is acting the way he acts and can't even mention the words "radical Islamic terrorism." There's something going on. It's inconceivable. There's something going on,' Trump continued on Fox. 'He doesn't get it or he gets it better than anybody understands it's one or the other, and either one is unacceptable,' Trump added. Later in the day Trump announced that he would no longer be giving press credentials to the Washington Post for reporting his remarks in such a way. Clinton also interpreted Trump's remarks this way. 'Donald Trump wants to be our next commander-in-chief,' Clinton said near the top of her speech. 'I think we all know that this is a job that demands a calm, collected and dignified response to these kinds of events.' 'Instead, yesterday morning, just one day after the massacre, he went on TV and suggested that President Obama is on the side of the terrorists,' she continued. 'And, just think about that for a second. Even in a time of divided politics, this is way beyond anything that should be said by someone running for president of the United States,' she added. Clinton then called on Trump's fellow Republicans to disavow their nominee's remarks. 'Now I'm sure they'd rather avoid the question altogether, but history will remember what we do in this moment,' Clinton said. 'What Donald Trump is saying is shameful it is disrespectful to the people who were killed and wounded, and their families.' Clinton again called Trump 'temperamentally unfit' and 'totally unqualified' to be commander-in chief. She reminded her audience that Trump was behind the 'birther' attacks on Obama, which insinuated that he the country's first black president wasn't born in the United States. 'I guess he had to be reminded Hawaii is part of the United States,' she snickered. She called to attention the attacks that Trump made on the Mexican-American judge, Gonzalo Curiel, too the man tasked with handling a Trump University case. 'I guess he has to be reminded Indiana is in the United States,' Clinton said, stating Curiel's place of birth. Like yesterday Clinton brought up gun control and said that Trump wouldn't stand up to the gun lobby. 'We have reached the point where people cannot board airplanes with full bottles of shampoo, but people being watched by the FBI for suspected terrorist links can buy a gun with no questions asked,' Clinton stated. 'That is absurd,' she said. 'It just seems like Western Pennsylvania common sense, if you're too dangerous to get on a plane, you're too dangerous to buy a gun,' she said, giving a nod to her Pittsburgh-based audience. Finally, Clinton ended her remarks in a way that could woo Republican voters toward her candidacy too. She discussed a letter left in the Oval Office by one President George H.W. Bush to her husband, President Bill Clinton, in January of 1993. The 92-year-old Bush, who celebrated his birthday this week, had said to Clinton, who had just beat him in the election, 'You will be our president when you read this note. I wish you well. I wish your family well. Your success is now our country's success and I am rooting hard for you.' 'That is the America we love. That is what we cherish,' Clinton said. 'So let us come together we can disagree without being disagreeable, we can root for each other's success.' 'Our president is everyone's president and our future belongs to us all,' Clinton said. A rotting 11-foot alligator was pulled from a storm drain after a bad odor was said to be coming from a catch basin in Fort Meyers, Florida. Lee County Sheriff's Office reported the stench coming from the Whiskey Creek community to the county's Department of Transportation (DOT) workers on Monday. Public information officer for Lee County, Betsy Clayton, told News Press that when the DOT crew got there, they confirmed the odor and searched for the cause. A rotting 11-foot alligator (pictured) was pulled from a storm drain after a bad odor was said to be coming from a catch basin in Fort Meyers, Florida. Crews from Lee County's DOT removed the reptile and disposed of it in a designated dump site The DOT crew found the gator located about two to three feet below ground in the catch basin. Lee County Manager, Roger Desjarlais, shared the photo of the alligator on Facebook. Lee County Manager, Roger Desjarlais, posted the photo of the alligator to Facebook letting the public know the dead 11-foot gator was responsible for the odor The caption read: 'The drainage system in this Fort Myers neighborhood was backed up so someone called our Public Works Department to investigate,' 'Here's what our guys found. Eleven feet long.' Clayton said the calls for alligators in the pipes aren't extremely unusual as they receive calls for gators about 'twice a year'. She added that most times the alligators aren't that large. 'Our pipes are not that big,' she said. The pipe the gator probably came through was about 14-by-24 inches, Clayton said, but the catch basin, measures about 4-feet-wide, according to News Press. The DOT crew removed the foul-smelling gator with an excavator and disposed of it in a designated dump site. 'This was an abnormally large gator,' Randy Cerchie, director of the county's DOT, told News Press. 'It's just part of what we do.' Whiskey Creek resident, Tracey Galloway, told News Press that 'there are always gators in our canals and the Whiskey Creek lake, but with all the fresh rain water this one must've made a wrong turn into a drainage pipe'. It's unclear just how long the reptile had been in the storm drain. A five-year-old girl with an incurable neuro-degenerative disease died 'comfortably' at her Washington home on Tuesday, her parents have said. Julianna Snow, who told her parents she would rather go to heaven than back to the hospital, suffered from a severe form of the rare condition Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease and could not walk, eat or even breathe on her own. Her mother, Michelle Moon, 43, a neurologist, announced on her blog this week that her daughter 'is free now' after dying in the at-home hospice the family had built for Julianna. Moon wrote: 'Our sweet Julianna went to heaven today. I am stunned and heartbroken, but also thankful. I feel like the luckiest mom in the world, for God somehow entrusted me with this glorious child, and we got almost six years together. Now in heaven: Julianna Snow, 5, told her parents the next time she were to get seriously ill, she would rather go to heaven than to the hospital. She died at her family home in Washougal, Washington, on Tuesday Parents Michelle Moon and Steve Snow (pictured with Julianna, left, and her brother Alex, right) agreed to honor their daughter's wishes not to hospitalize her next time she was to fall ill In memoriam: Michelle Moon posted a message to her blog on Wednesday confirming her daughter's death Moon continued in her post: 'I wanted more time, of course, and thats where the sadness comes in. But she is free now. I will have more to say later. For now, this is what is in my heart.' Last fall, Moon asked her daughter whether she would want to go back to hospital for treatment if she were to get sick again, after years of extended stays and visits. Moon said her daughter's answers were 'fast and clear' as she chose heaven over the hospital, the mother recounted in a blog post of her first conversation about heaven with Julianna. Moon wrote an essay about Julianna's response and posted it on her blog, quickly sending the story viral. The mother explained in the piece how she said to her daughter: 'Julianna, if you get sick again, do you want to go to the hospital again or stay home?' 'Not the hospital,' Julianna replied. Moon: 'Even if that means that you will go to heaven if you stay home?' Julianna: 'Yes.' Moon: 'And you know that mommy and daddy won't come with you right away? You'll go by yourself first.' Julianna: 'Don't worry. God will take care of me.' Moon: 'And if you go to the hospital, it may help you get better and let you come home again and spend more time with us. I need to make sure that you understand that. Hospital may let you have more time with mommy and daddy.' Julianna: 'I understand.' Moon (crying): 'I'm sorry, Julianna. I know you don't like it when I cry. It's just that I will miss you so much.' Julianna Snow suffered from a severe form of the rare condition Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease and could not walk, eat or even breathe on her own Julianna has never been healthy enough to go to Sunday school at her family's City Bible Church so the majority of what she knew about heaven was from her parents Julianna: 'That's OK. God will take care of me. He's in my heart.' The family live in Washougal, Washington. Moon and her husband, Steve Snow, told their daughter that heaven is where she will get to do the everyday activities she never could, like play, jump, run and eat real food. They told her she would get to meet her great-grandmother who, like Julianna, had a love for sparkly clothes. They also told her that God will be in heaven too, and that he will love her even more than they do. However, they told Julianna, who started showing signs of the neuromuscular disease when she was one, that they will not be in heaven when she arrives, nor will her big brother, Alex. They told her she will have to go to heaven before them because she has a severe case of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. The illness, which initially debilitated her arms and legs, is now targeting the nerves that control her breathing and muscles. According to Fox News, the disease affects around one in 2,500 people in the United States. Doctors had warned that the next time Julianna gets ill from something as minor as a common cold, she risked dying of pneumonia. In May last year, Moon shared her family's story on The Mighty, along with one of the 'remarkable, uncomfortable, humbling conversations about heaven' she had with Julianna. In that conversation, Julianna again said that she did not want to go back to hospital if she were to get sick again, expressing she hated the most dreaded part about the hospital, naso-tracheal suction, or NT. Julianna (pictured left and right in 2012) started showing signs of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease aged one At around 18 months in spring 2012 (pictured), Julianna could walk short distances in a walker The muscles that controlled Julianna's breathing became so weak that any germ that came her way, even just the common cold virus, could have killed her. She's pictured here on her fourth birthday in August 2014 During NT, which was usually done every four hours, a nurse would place a tube down Julianna's nose and throat, pushing it past her gag reflex and into her lungs, in order to suck the mucus out of the tiny pockets in her airways, CNN reported. Prior to these conversations, Julianna's parents had planned to take their daughter back to the hospital if she were to get another infection, however after hearing Julianna's wishes they said they changed their minds. 'She made it clear that she doesn't want to go through the hospital again,' Moon told CNN. 'So we had to let go of that plan because it was selfish.' After her post in May, Moon was hit with both support and criticism, as some naysayers said it was 'unbelievable' that a parent could think a four-year-old was capable of making a decision on her life. Others believed her questions were 'leading'. Moon posted a second post on The Mighty last June and said the comments by the few critics hurt, but said wrote that Julianna 'hasnt changed her mind about going back to the hospital, and she knows that this means shell go to heaven by herself. If she gets sick, well ask her again, and well honor her wishes.' Bioethicist Art Caplan said he though Moon made the wrong decision, and said that children usually do not understand the concept of death until around age nine or ten. 'This doesn't sit well with me. It makes me nervous,' he told CNN. Julianna's parents wrote about her request not to be hospitalized online. It drew a wave of both support and criticism from readers. Julianna is pictured undergoing respiratory treatment with her grandmother Some doctors warned the family would be making the wrong decision by keeping Julianna from treatment, and said that children usually do not understand the concept of death until around age nine or ten Julianna's mother said on Wednesday: 'This last fight was not to be won by her body. It was tired, and it needed to rest. And when it did, she was comfortable' However, Dr. Chris Feudtner, a pediatrician and ethicist at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia said that to say Julianna's experience is irrelevant 'doesn't make any sense.' 'She knows more than anyone what it's like to be not a theoretical girl with a progressive neuromuscular disorder, but to be Julianna,' he told CNN. He added, 'Palliative care isn't about giving up. It's about choosing how you want to live before you die. This little girl has chosen how she wants to live.' Moon also recounted a conversation with Julianna about when they will see each other in heaven. 'Do you want me to stand in front of the house, and in front of all the people so you can see me first,' Julianna asked her mom. 'Yes. Ill be so happy to see you,' Moon replied. 'Will you run to me,' Julianna asked. 'Yes. And I think you will run to me too,' Moon responded. 'Ill run fast,' Julianna said as she shook her head back and forth to show her mom how fast she will run. Defiant Diana said she hopes to be back to photograph the next race Crushed beneath the extra-large wheels of an out of control buggy this female photographer was lucky to survive. Horrifying footage shows Iceland's Diana Dreki being run over by the motor and squashed into the muddy ground. After being rushed to hospital the photographer was left with severe facial injuries, but a buoyant Diana was able to joke about the incident. Horrifying footage shows Iceland's Diana Dreki (red jacket) being run over by an off-road buggy Despite suffering serious injuries a defiant Diana said she hopes to be back to photograph the next race The video shows she was standing at the bottom of a hill with her colleagues as the high-powered vehicle shot down the mound towards her. The photographers scattered but Diana was caught in the path of the powerful vehicle and was crushed under the wheels. Officials in yellow jackets ran over to help and she was swiftly transported to the nearby hospital in Akranes, on the island's west coast. Diana said: 'He was driving down a very steep slope and I realised that he had lost control of the vehicle. I tried to run as fast as I could but then I felt the car hit me and I fell onto the rocks.' And added that she does not blame the driver, saying 'this was just an accident'. The video shows she was standing at the bottom of a hill with her colleagues as the high-powered vehicle shot down the mound towards her Doctors diagnosed her with a broken cheekbone and cuts and bruises. But after being knocked out she gained consciousness and thanked her friends on social media for their support and had to say that reports about her death were 'exaggerated.' Motorsport and concert photographer Diana said: 'It really takes more than a one ton off-road car to kill me. This goes into my photographer's portfolio.' Officials in yellow jackets ran over to help and she was swiftly transported to the nearby hospital in Akranes, on the island's west coast Doctors diagnosed her with a broken cheekbone and cuts and bruises, leaving her with severe facial injuries She asked the driver of the car to rename the vehicle Dragon Slayer because of the meaning of her surname. One of the survivors of the nightclub shooting says she went from having the time of her life with her friends to the worst night of her life in a matter of minutes. Twenty-year-old Patience Carter was partying with her friends Akyra Murray, 18, and Tiara Parker, at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida Saturday night when gunman Omar Mateen opened fire and killed 49 revelers in the gay club - including Murray, the youngest victim. During a press conference on Tuesday at Florida Hospital Orlando, Carter recalled her memories of the shooting, read a poem about her survivor's guilt and revealed previously unreported details about how the gunman - including the fact that he promised not to shoot any black people because they had 'suffered enough'. Philadelphia college student Patience Carter, 20, sobs on Tuesday as she describes her survivor's guilt at a press conference about the Orlando shooting Carter suffered gun shot wounds to both legs. She was at the nightclub Saturday night with her friends Tiara Parker and Akyra Murray, who are cousins. Parker was injured; Murray didn't make it out alive Carter, a college student in Philadelphia, says she was on vacation with Murray and Parker's family (Murray and Parker are cousins), and that Murray's parents dropped them off at the club that night for a girl's night out. It was around 2am when the first gunshots were heard. At first, Parker says she thought the noise was some over-the-top way the club owners were trying to get everyone to leave. 'I was so confused. I was like, 'Wow, a club would do all of this just to get people to leave their club?'' she said. 'I thought it was a BB gun at first, or the DJ playing some sound of gunshots. I didn't think they were actually real gunshots.' Nonetheless, Carter says the noise prompted a physical response and she dropped to the floor. On the floor, she noticed her friends running to the bar, while she started reflexively scooting backwards - not aware that she was actually crawling out the exit. Murray noticed where Carter was going and ran over from the bar to join Carter exiting the building. Carter says shortly after Mateen started shooting inside the club, she and Murray actually escaped Her biggest regret is not telling Murray to stay outside so she could go back in and get Parker Carter says she was in the bathroom when Mateen came in and asked if any black people were hiding. Mateen reported said: 'I don't have a problem with black people. This is about my country. You guys suffered enough.' Once they reached the safety outside, they realized that Parker didn't make it out of the building so they decided to risk both of their lives and reenter the club. What makes Carter feel so guilty is that Murray was later shot and bled out from her injuries, and may have survived if only she had told her to stay outside while she went back in to get their friend. Back inside the club, the three friends reunited and then sought shelter with some other men in a handicapped bathroom stall. Mateen was quick to follow the victims into the bathroom though, and started unleashing a barrage of bullets - striking the man that had closed the door to their stall. 'We were all scrambling around in the bathroom, screaming at the top of our lungs,' Carter recalled. Carter's friend Murray (pictured), the youngest victim of the shooting, was shot early on and bled out while she was help hostage for three hours It was when Mateen stopped and left that she realized that she had been hit in the leg, and that her friends were shot too. 'At that point we knew that this wasn't a game. This was very real and this was something that was really happening to us right now. 'It was a shock. We went from having the time of our lives to the worst night of our lives all within a matter of minutes,' Carter said. Carter says Mateen did eventually return to their stall and that they feared he was going to shoot them again. But this time he called out and asked if there were any black people hiding behind the doors. Carter was too afraid to respond, but another black person did, giving an affirmative. Surprisingly, that caused Mateen to put away his weapon. 'I don't have a problem with black people,' Mateen reportedly said. 'This is about my country. You guys suffered enough.' The notion that he 'didn't have a problem with blacks' is, however, contradicted by the fact that he had already shot a number of them that night and statements from ex-colleagues who said he was openly racist and continually making derogatory remarks about blacks and hispanics. Carter says she also heard some of Mateen's phone conversations with police during the three-hour stand-off, recalling that he spoke in Arabic at a certain point, pledged an allegiance to ISIS and said he was carrying out the shooting to stop America from bombing his country. Mateen was born in New York and is a U.S. citizen, but both of his parents immigrated to the country from Afghanistan. The shooting took place on Latin night and many of those killed were from Puerto Rico, which has a large expatriate community in Florida. Mourners from West Catholic Preparatory High School, Murray's alma mater, embrace during a vigil in memory of the victims of the Orlando, shooting on Monday at City Hall in Philadelphia Near the end of the standoff, police issued a warning to the survivors in the club, telling them to move away from the walls since they were going to break through. It was then that Carter says Mateen made three final executions - including a man who was shielding her body. After SWAT team's broke through the club walls, Carter says she as afraid she was going to drown 'in bloody water' since the force of the break-in caused the pipes to burst and blood was everywhere. While some have questioned the three-hour wait to break into the club, Carter thinks that police did the right thing. After being rescued, Carter learned that the bullets had shattered her right femur and also hit her left leg. She continues to recover from her injuries at the hospital, alongside her friend Parker who is also on the mend. Murray, however, did not make it. To deal with her survivor's guilt Carter has been writing in the hospital, and she shared one of her poems on Tuesday titled 'The guilt of being alive is heavy'. She also says that she has spoken with Murray's mother who has assured her that she did nothing wrong. 'I was speaking to her mom and she told me to not feel guilty, God has his plan,' she said. Murray's death came less than a week after she graduated third in her class of 42 students at West Catholic Preparatory High School in Philadelphia. During her time in high school, Murray was a stand-out player on her basketball team, leading scoring with more than 1,000 points to her name. She had recently signed a letter of intent to play basketball at Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pennsylvania on a full scholarship. ORLANDO NIGHTCLUB VICTIM PATIENCE CARTER PENS POEM ABOUT SURVIVING THE MASSACRE The guilt of feeling grateful to be alive is heavy. Wanting to smile about surviving but not sure if the people around you are ready, as the world mourns the victims killed and viciously slain,I feel guilty about screaming about my legs and pain...Because I could feel nothing Like the other 49, who weren't so lucky to feel this pain of mine. I never thought in a million years that this could happen. I never thought in a million years that my eyes could witness something so tragic. Looking at the souls leaving the bodies of individuals. Looking at the killer's machine gun throughout my right peripheral. Looking at the blood and debris covered on everyone's faces. Looking at the gunman's feet under the stall as he paces. The guilt of feeling lucky to be alive is heavy, it's like the weight of the oceans walls crushing uncontrolled by levies. It's like being drug through the grass with a shattered leg and thrown in the back of a Chevy. Being rushed to the hospital and told you're going to make it, when you laid beside individuals whose lives were brutally taken. The guilt of being alive is heavy. Advertisement Angel Colon, one of the survivors of the Orlando nightclub massacre, recieves a kiss from his sister as he speaks to members of the press at the Orlando Regional Medical Center on Tuesday Colon says he was getting ready to leave Pulse nightclub around 2am Sunday morning when gunman Omar Mateen arrived and starting shooting the revelers Another survivor, Angel Colon, recalled his fear that night as he lay wounded on the floor of Pulse as people trampled him in their desperation to escape the club. Speaking at the Orlando Regional Medical Center, the 26-year-old described how his fun night out with friends turned into a night of unfathomable horror when the gunman entered and started shooting. 'I had fallen down. I tried to get back up, but everyone started running anywhere. I got trampled over, and I shattered and broke my bones on my left leg,' he said. 'All I could do was just lay down there while everyone was just running on top of me trying to get to where they had to be,' Colon, his voice quivering, said. 'And all I could hear was the shots going one after another, and people screaming, people yelling for help.' With three bullets in his leg and unable to run to safety as Mateen continued to fire bullets into the motionless bodies of those around him, Colon thought he was going to die. He remembers Mateen leaving at one point and hears more shots but just as he began to feel safe, he hears the gunman return. 'I hear him come back, and he's shooting everyone that's already dead on the floor. Making sure they're dead,' Colon said. 'I look over and he shoots the girl next to me. And I'm just there laying down. I'm thinking, 'I'm next. I'm dead.'' Colon was shot twice more in his hand and again on the side of his hip. Felipe Marrero, 30, left, poses in his hospital bed in Orlando on Monday in this picture taken by his friend Joseph Rivera, 34, right. Rivera said Marrero was hit four times in the back Careful to not give away the fact that he was still not dead despite six bullets lodged inside him, he remained there - until police burst into the building three hours after the start of their ordeal. A police officer dragged him to safety through broken glass, he said. 'I don't feel pain, but I just feel all this blood on me from myself, from other people.' Other survivors were not ready to talk about their ordeal. Felipe Marrero, a ride attendant at Universal Studios in Orlando, had been scheduled to speak to reporters but cancelled at the last minute, saying he was not ready. His friend and colleague Luis Vielma, 22, was killed. Vielma had posted a group picture featuring Marrero on his Facebook page on Saturday, captioned: 'True friends who become family.' Marrero survived four shots in the back, and the 30-year-old was barely able to sit up for a selfie with his friend Joseph Rivera, 24, who reunited with him at the hospital on Monday night. His mother Jacqueline Perez sad she grieved for Vielma's family, but was relieved to discover her son had survived. 'I was so relieved,' she told NBC News. 'It's like seeing your baby all over again.' Demetrice Naulings broke down in tears while telling reporters how he survived the mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub that claimed the life of his best friend Eddie Justice. 'I'm not going to get a chance to get another friend like that anymore,' said Naulings. 'Eddie was my angel.' Naulings, 34, described how he ran for the door holding Justice's hand as people all around them were shot. In the scramble for the exit, the pair became separated, Demetrice realized with horror when he made it outside. With bullets still hitting the walls inside, Eddie sent messages to his mother saying he was in the bathroom and that he was going to die. Demetrice Naulings (right) broke down in tears while telling reporters how he survived the mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub that claimed the life of his best friend Eddie Justice (left) A groom-to-be died just seven hours into his own stag do in Magaluf after collapsing suddenly at his hotel. Father-of-three Shaun Ennis and 17 friends flew to the holiday resort in Majorca from Manchester and arrived just after midnight. They went straight to some bars but within hours the 31-year-old was banging on his future brother-in-law's hotel door saying he did not feel well. Moments later he started convulsing. Groom-to-be Shaun Ennis (left and right with his fiancee, Kiri Robinson) died just seven hours into his own stag do in Magaluf after collapsing suddenly at his hotel Friends and relatives battled to resuscitate Mr Ennis with his father Brian giving him the kiss of life. But despite their desperate efforts he could not be saved and passed away at the scene. An investigation into the cause of his death on June 10 is now under way. His father, Brian, 57, told the Manchester Evening News how Mr Ennis, from Stretford, was due to marry the love of his life, Kiri Robinson, next month and had been excited to go on his stag do. He said: 'It was our first night, we only got there around midnight and went out straight away. 'There were 18 of us and everyone was really excited and looking forward to three days away. 'It was in the early hours, around 6am, Shaun knocked on his future brother-in-law's room and said he didn't feel well. He went onto the balcony and started convulsing. Mikey called me in and I tried to save him, tried to give him the kiss of life, the paramedics tried too but it was too late.' An autopsy has been carried out in Majorca by Spanish authorities, and Mr Ennis' body will be released to his family once a preliminary report is completed within the next week. His family say bringing him home will cost thousands, and his sister Toni has launched a fundraising bid to try to cover some of the costs. Father-of-three Shaun Ennis and 17 friends flew to the holiday resort of Magaluf (file picture) in Majorca from Manchester and arrived just after midnight So far the total is at 6,000, but it is expected, along with the price of a funeral, that closer to 10,000 will be needed. Toni wrote on the Crowdfunding page: 'As you all may or may not know, our wonderful brother Shaun unfortunately lost his life on the 10/06/2016 whilst celebrating his stag do in Magaluf. 'He was due to marry the love of his life on the 23rd of July to our beautiful Kiri and now sadly we are having to lay him to rest. He was three weeks away from meeting his beautiful baby niece, our daughter and was also due to watch our big sister get married next year. 'He's left behind three gorgeous children who will forever live on in his memory. 'He's also left behind the most amazing group of lads who when we see them we will see him. 'Shaun unfortunately wasn't insured on his trip so we are trying to give a little back to our wonderful dad who is still out there fighting every hurdle thrown at him and to try and make this tragic time that little bit less painful with not as much worry. 'Shaun was a beautiful person inside and out and would be buzzing his little face off if he knew just how well liked and loved he really was by all.' The painter and decorator moved from Stretford when he was 14 to live in Buxton with his mother Sheila Pink. He was a former pupil of St Antony's Catholic College and had three children, aged 14, nine and six. His father thanked Shaun's friends, especially those on the stag, who he says have been a 'rock of support' throughout the ordeal, as well as his wife Alison and cousin John Vanden who flew out to be with him, and all those who have donated towards the fund. He added: 'Shaun was so well-liked and popular and the measure of that shows by the level of support we have received already, it's very overwhelming.' WEST POINT, Miss. -- A Mississippi man who was incarcerated for 11 years without trial is on the verge of being released from prison after Clay County Special Master Thomas Story decided on Monday that Steven Jessie Harris was deemed mentally unstable to stand trial. According to Moss Point attorney Carlos Moore, who took on Harris as a client pro bono, the circuit court judge found Harris to be too mentally unstable to stand trial. Te chancery court judge ordered Harris to be committed to the proper mental health facility on Monday. "In two to three weeks, my client will be released to a mental health facility as soon as a bed becomes available," Moore said. "There will be other legal proceedings that I will pursue on behalf of my client to ensure justice is served. He was wrongly incarcerated for eleven years without a trial and deserves to be compensated by those responsible for the unconstitutional, miscarriage of justice." Moore said he decided to take on Harris's case pro bono after sitting down with his twin brother, Steven Jeffrey Harris. The Mississippi Press attempted to contact Oktibbeha, Lowndes, Clay and Noxubee County District Attorney, Scott Colom since Tuesday of last week. On Monday, Colom responded that he did not have a comment on Harris's case because according to him, "it was still pending and that we filed a petition to have Mr. Harris committed." Initially, Colom told Jerry Mitchell of the Clarion Ledger that Harris's case had "long ago fallen through the cracks." Steven Jessie Harris was accused of murdering his father, later allegedly driving to a Sonic's and holding a woman hostage while kicking a male driver out of the car, and also firing his gun at and hitting three officers. West Point police also accused Harris of shooting at innocent bystanders on a U.S. 45 alternate highway. Steven Jeffrey Harris, who himself was incarcerated while his brother languished in state custody, said that his brother was diagnosed with a case of schizophrenia in 2007 and had been in prison since October of 2005, but was yet to have his day in court. Harris also told the Mississippi Press that in April of 2008, doctors concluded Harris was not competent to waive his constitutional rights or to stand trial. Initially, a grand jury indicted Harris on one count of murder, three counts of aggravated assault on law enforcement officers, two counts of armed robbery, two counts of kidnapping, two counts of aggravated assault and shooting into an automobile. Healthcare budgets have taken a major dip in the state of Mississippi as Gov. Phil Bryant recently signed a bill slashing the state's budget. Harris will be transferred to East Mississippi State Hospital per Clay County Sheriff, Eddie Scott, which is dealing with the closure of twenty-five beds. According to Moore, Harris will be transferred when a bed becomes available, but because of the budget cuts, two to three weeks can become longer. A federal judge has joined the White House press secretary is declaring that Hillary Clinton is the subject of a 'criminal investigation' related to classified emails once housed on a private server she maintained in her house. Judge Emmet Sullivan wrote in a court order that one of Clinton's former information technology aides during her time as secretary of state will be required to give a videotaped deposition in a Freedom Of Information Act case brought by a conservative group. Sullivan had demanded to see an immunity agreement struck by Bryan Pagliano's attorneys and the Department of Justice before ruling on whether or not the tech expert could plead the Fifth Amendment and refuse to answer questions. In ruling that that agreement would remain sealed, he wrote that 'the privacy interests at stake are high because the government's criminal investigation through which Mr. Pagliano received limited immunity is ongoing and confidential.' TROUBLE: A federal judge has declared in a ruling that a former Hillary Clinton aide must testify in a videotaped deposition in a case related to a 'criminal investigation' into classified documents once housed on her private email server ON THE SMALL SCREEN: Bryan Pagliano (right) will have to testify under oath and on videotape about how he set up the homebrew server that Clinton used exclusively for emails while she ran the State Department White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters last week, just an hour after President Barack Obama endorsed Clinton to succeed him, that he trusted his Justice Department to impartially weigh the evidence against her despite his cheerleading from the sidelines. 'That's what their responsibility is,' Earnest said. 'And that's why the president, when discussing this issue in each stage, has reiterated his commitment to this principle that any criminal investigation should be conducted independent of any sort of political interference.' Clinton, the Democratic Party's presumptive White House nominee, has repeatedly referred to the FBI's probe as a routine 'security review' that will 'absolutely' have no practical impact on her quest for the presidency. Pagliano received a limited grant of immunity from federal prosecutors in exchange for revealing to the FBI what he knows about how Clinton's private homebrew server was set up in 2009, according to multiple media reports. That immunity deal, too, will remain sealed despite being part of a federal civil case. '[T]he need for public access to Mr. Pagliano's agreement with the government is minimal,' Sullivan wrote. 'Mr. Pagliano's immunity agreement has not previously been disclosed. Mr. Pagliano and the government object to disclosure of the immunity agreement ... [which] was filed with the Court by Mr. Pagliano solely to enable the Court to assess the legitimacy of his intent to assert his Fifth Amendment rights in this civil proceeding.' Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton, whose conservative advocacy group filed the public records lawsuit, said in a statement that 'Mr. Pagliano is an important witness and we're pleased his testimony will be videotaped.' OOPS: White House press secretary Josh Earnest said last Thursday that the president won't interfere with 'any criminal investigation' like the one Hillary Clinton faces Republican National Committee spokesman Michael Short told reporters in an email blast that the judge's choice of words 'is the latest evidence Hillary Clinton has been misleading voters about the nature of the investigation into her illicit email server which exposed classified material and jeopardized our national security.' 'Hillary Clinton's reckless conduct and dishonest attempts to avoid accountability show she cannot be trusted in the White House,' Short said. The Judicial Watch case, one of dozens winding their way through the courts, originally focused on the public's right to see an employment agreement that allowed Clinton aide Huma Abedin to work for a private company at the same time she was deputy chief of staff at the State Department. Two years after its 2013 filing, however, Clinton's secret server became a national scandal. The case now is bogged down in minutiae over whether the State Department should have searched Clinton's emails for records about Abedin. The State Department has now released about 30,000 emails from the server often redacted to remove classified information. A British gap year student was crushed to death by her quad bike after it flipped and overturned as she drove along an Australian beach, an inquest heard today. Bryony Bonekyn, 21, from Tottenham, north London, who was planning to study English Literature at Brighton University, was backpacking around Australia last July when the tragedy happened. The gap year student had volunteered at an Elephant Sanctuary in Sri Lanka before working in a pub in Coen, Queensland for two months before the accident. Bryony Bonekyn, 21 (pictured), from Tottenham, north London, died after her quad bike overturned when she rode through a stream with a group of friends at One Mile Beach near Port Stewart, Queensland, Australia On the day of the crash, she had gone swimming and fishing with friends before they went biking. Bryony was with a group of friends riding on a quad bike along One Mile Beach near Port Stewart when she rode through a stream causing the vehicle to turn over. She was pronounced dead at the scene while her 37-year-old male passenger was unharmed. At the time of her death, her father, Bill, said: 'She's the kind of person people enjoyed talking to and being around. That was because she was bubbly and liked talking to other people. 'But had serious ideas and views about the world as well. 'As part of her travels she was recently in Sri Lanka working at an Elephant Sanctuary for about six weeks. She was volunteering and wanted to help. She loved elephants.' He added: 'It is important that anyone riding these bikes wears a crash helmet and where possible be strapped in because I would hate to see any other family going through what we are. 'These bikes can be lethal. Quad bikes are dangerous and people need to be made aware that even if you're on holiday and go for a ride and there's an accident, there's a fair chance your insurance will not cover you.' Staff at the Elephant Freedom Project in Sri Lanka where Bryony volunteered while travelling were devastated by her death in July last year. She had been on a gap year and was due to return to the UK just two weeks later Bryony was with a group of friends riding on a quad bike along One Mile Beach near Port Stewart, Queensland, when she rode through a stream causing the vehicle to turn over. She was pronounced dead at the scene Mr Bonekyn attended his daughter's inquest at north London Coroner's Court today and told the hearing: 'She was going to Brighton University to do a degree in English Literature.' Recording a narrative verdict, Senior Coroner Dr Andrew Walker said: 'Bryony Florence Doris Bonekyn died on July 18, 2015 at One Mile beach near Port Stewart, from multiple injuries she sustained when she drove an ATV vehicle through a stream of water on the beach and lost control causing, it to roll over. Addressing Bryony's father, Dr Walker said: 'I offer my deepest condolences. 'I can't begin to imagine how difficult it must be to lose something in these circumstances.' In the aftermath of her death, Bryony's friend revealed the heartbreaking moment she had to break the distressing news to her travelling companion's parents. Speaking at the time, travel agent Erryn Wells said: 'It's something I never want to do again ever... They were devastated as you can imagine.' She volunteered for the Elephant Freedom Project, a conservation programme in Sri Lanka, earlier last year After her death, friends described the 21-year-old gap year student as 'a beautiful person inside and out' Ms Wells, who described herself as Bryony's 'adopted Aussie mum', also said she was left devastated by the death of 'the kindest kid I've ever met'. Bryony had been working in the Coen pub for two months and was saving money to pay for her studies. She had been backpacking in far-north Queensland and was due to return home to north London two weeks after her death to finish university. Friends took to social media to pay tribute the fun-loving traveller in the wake of her death. Wiktoria Laba wrote: 'So so devastated and heartbroken. I can't believe she's no longer with us. We only just talked a few days ago.' The crash occurred at One Mile Beach, which is located to the north of Queensland and is popular with tourists Tom Perica said: 'We are enormously sad to hear about the loss of such an amazing person. 'She had a lot of wisdom for someone so young and her family should know that she touched people in such a positive way.' And Heidi Laugesen added: 'I will forever miss my gorgeous friend who I had a blast with in SL [Sri Lanka]. So happy and lucky to have known her. Such a beautiful person inside and out.' The Elephant Freedom Project wrote on their page: 'We are utterly devastated to learn about the untimely death in Australia of Bryony, better known to us as BB. Melania Trump was photographed while out with her mother in Manhattan on Tuesday. The two women were seen entering a building together, with Melania dressed down in a t-shirt, flats and white jeans, over which she wore a knee-length suede coat. The stunning Slovenian wore no make-up and her hair in a bun for her outing. Scroll down for video Melania Trump was spotted out in Manhattan on Tuesday (above) She wore a simple t-shirt, white jeans and flats with a suede coat Melania wore no makeup and her hair in a bun as she went to an office building in the city She was joined by her mother, Amalija Knavs (above) The look was a far cry from the glamorous get-up she was pictured in on Monday night when she and son Barron joined The Donald for dinner at The Polo Lounge, Ralph Lauren's popular new restaurant in the Big Apple. The family enjoyed a night out to celebrate The Donald's birthday on Monday even though his actual birthday is today but he will not be able to celebrate with Melania and Barron because he has an event in North Carolina. Trump meanwhile was busy on social media, writing about Sunday's brutal massacre at an orlando gay club once again as he thanked the LGBT community. He did not make it clear why he was giving thanks, and also wrote: 'I will fight for you while Hillary brings in more people that will threaten your freedoms and beliefs.' He also hosted a group of Republican governors at Trump Tower on Tuesday morning. It was unclear what their meeting was about and they all left without saying anything about what went on inside. On Monday night Melania and son Barron went out to dinner at The Polo Lounge, Ralph Lauren's NYC restaurant, for his 70th birthday Melania was out while her husband hosted a group of governors at Trump Tower It is thought by some the group could include Trump's possible pick for vice president Melania's mom, who has an apartment in Trump Tower too, carried a Gucci purse The other would-be first spouse: While Melania was supporting her husband in New York on Tuesday, her counterpart Bill Clinton was giving an interview to Bloomberg from a Clinton Global Initiative event Melania has been keeping a low profile recently ever since her husband became the presumptive Republican nominee for president. She had been making more appearances towards the end of the primary and granting more interviews, a move that seemed to not have the desired result when she became angered by a GQ profile revealing she had a half-brother. Former president Bill Clinton is promising to be 'careful' to avoid conflicts of interest if wife Hillary Clinton becomes president and says there will 'clearly' be changes at the Clinton Foundation and the Clinton Global Initiative. 'You have to be careful to avoid actual or potential conflicts of interest,' Clinton said, when asked about it at a Clinton Global Initiative event in Atlanta Tuesday. 'We'll have to cross that bridge when we come to it. If she wins we'll have to think about it,' Clinton said. 'There are clearly politics is different from what I do. I just try to get partners together and make something good happen. The government should do more of that,' Clinton explained, referencing how the Clinton Global Initiative gets businesses and individuals to pledge commitments to do charity work. Bill Clinton spoke about changes coming to his foundations if his wife were to get elected president 'The president has tried to involve more people in the private sector in a lot of his decision making. But you have to be careful to avoid actual or potential conflicts of interest,' Clinton said, introducing the issue that has hounded his wife's campaign. Pressed on the subject, Clinton said, 'We'll think very clearly about it and we'll do the right thing. And explain it to American people.' One reason Clinton says he isn't revealing his precise plans is that he doesn't know for sure his wife will win. Then, having first spoken about the CGI, he referenced the Clinton Foundation, which has accepted gifts in the millions from foreign governments that have various interests that intersect with U.S. government policy. Family affair: Bill and Hillary Clinton have both been involved in the foundation's activities since Bill Clinton left the White House, although Hillary suspended her involvement during her campaign 'First I don't believe I counting your chickens before they hatch. And so let's see how this election unfolds. But there'll clearly be some changes in what the Clinton foundation does and how we'll do it and we'll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it,' Clinton said. Clinton's foundation work was one obstacle to Barack Obama appointing her to serve as secretary of state. The deal got sealed only after the Clinton camp agreed to disclose donors and screen future donations for potential conflicts. Donald Trump is already making an issue of the Clintons' charity work in his campaign Bill Clinton made his remarks at a Clinton Global Initiative event in Atlanta CGI stopped accepting contributions from foreign governments, and material increases from governments to other charities under the Clinton umbrella were vetted at the State Department. State lawyers including longtime Hillary Clinton counsel Cheryl Mills also vetted speeches that Bill Clinton made to an array of corporate interests while his wife was at the State Department. The former president earned more than $100 million giving paid speeches, mostly to an array of foreign and domestic corporations, since he left the White House in 2001. The system wasn't always fool-proof. In one instance, the Clinton Foundation failed to submit for review a $500,000 contribution from the Algerian government for Haiti relief. No conflict: Trump is calling for the Clinton Foundation to return $25 million in contributions Hillary Clinton told MSNBC in March there would be 'complete transparency' as to contributions to the foundation. On Monday, Donald Trump demanded that Hillary Clinton return $25 million in Saudi government donations to the Clinton Foundation after the former secretary of state called for the Saudis and other Middle East government to clamp down on terror funding. 'Crooked Hillary says we must call on Saudi Arabia and other countries to stop funding hate. I am calling on her to immediately return the $25 million plus she got from them for the Clinton Foundation!' Trump posted on Facebook. Clinton also spoke about the expired assault weapons ban dating from his administration in the wake of the Orlando club shootings, Bloomberg News reported. Video has emerged of an off-duty NYPD officer pulling a gun on a bike messenger after the two had a near-miss traffic accident in Manhattan on Monday. The footage shows the cop armed with a small silver pistol, pointing the weapon at a messenger in the middle of the road in the West Village. A cyclist can be heard yelling at the officer in the video: 'Put that away! Put that away! You're on camera!' Caught on camera: Footage has emerged showing the cop aiming a small silver pistol at a bike messenger in the West Village after the two nearly collided in Manhattan on Monday According to the man who took the video, the cop got into a heated exchange with three bike messengers after a traffic incident. The man said the officer pulled a gun but did not identify himself Police confirmed that a man, Dejaune Jones, 19, was arrested during the incident. Jones, a bike messenger, is accused of punching the police officer's side-view mirror, kicking his front bumper and menacing him with what may have been an ice pic, the New York Daily News reported. He was charged with criminal mischief, criminal possession of a weapon, menacing and harassment. Police also confirmed that the footage is under investigation. The other cyclist, Aaron Lawrence, 22, who recorded the footage, said he, Jones and two other messengers were riding on W. 10th St. near Greenwich Ave. when the cop's vehicle nearly hit one of them. Arrested: Dejaune Jones, 19, a bike messenger, has been charged over the incident on Monday Lawrence said the officer - who has not been named - never identified himself as a cop. 'My friend kind of screamed at him as he's riding off. . . . He stops his car, and he's getting out of the car. As soon as he gets out of the car, I see a gun in his hand,' Lawrence told The Daily News. Lawrence said the sergeant then started yelling: 'Get on the floor, get on the floor!' Worried, Lawrence started filming on his phone. 'He doesn't say he's a cop. He doesn't pull out a badge,' Lawrence said. Eventually, the officer put his gun down, and it appears at the end of the video he waves away the cyclists. A Muslim cleric who previously called for a death sentence for gay people has left Australia following a public outcry at his entry into the country for a speaking tour. British-born Farrokh Sekaleshfar boarded a flight at Sydney Airport on Tuesday night after it emerged his visa was under review, the ABC reported. His Sydney tour came under fire in the wake of the Orlando massacre at gay nightclub Pulse after a video emerged of the Muslim leader preaching death as a compassionate sentence for homosexuals. Scroll down for video British-born Farrokh Sekaleshfar boarded a flight at Sydney Airport on Tuesday night after it emerged his visa was under review. Here is pictured outside the Imam Husain Islamic Centre in Sydney on Tuesday Mr Sekaleshfar said he made the 'voluntary decision' to leave Australia and his visa, which had been under review by the immigration department, had not been cancelled. 'All I want to say, because I know this got caught up in the political area and everything, that never have I incited hatred or violence against human beings,' he told the ABC at Sydney Airport. The cleric had been slated to give a talk at the Imam Husian Islamic Centre in Earlwood, in Sydney's south-west, but he said they asked him to leave. 'It is a decision that IHIC thought it was in my best interests and for the best interests of the community and I didn't want to go against the committee's decision,' Mr Sekaleshfar said. Authorities were urgently reviewing the visa of Mr Sekaleshfar (pictured), who delivers sermons around the world and has urged Muslims to 'get rid' of homosexuals Weeks before the worst massacre in US history, Mr Sekaleshfar (pictured) delivered a speech titled 'How to deal with the phenomenon of homosexuality' to the Husseini Islamic Center in Orlando Mr Sekaleshfar said he made the 'voluntary decision' to leave Australia and his visa, which had been under review by the immigration department, had not been cancelled Mr Sekaleshfar told the ABC he condemned the Orlando attack, where 49 people were killed and more than 50 others injured by a gunman. He said the death penalty should only apply in Islamic countries when homosexual sex was committed in public view. In a 2013 YouTube video titled 'Islam and Homosexuality', the cleric delivered a talk at the University of Michigan where he said if homosexuals died they would sin less. 'Out of compassion let's get rid of them now, because he's contaminating society... his eternal life will be saved to some degree rather than if we were to let him continue with his ways,' he said in the video. The Briton condemned the Orlando attack, where 49 people were killed and more than 50 others injured by a gunman Previous versions of Mr Sekaleshfar's speech posted online show him saying that gay people should die Months after the preacher delivered a sermon in Orlando, Omar Mateen, 29, killed 49 people by opening fire on a gay club in the same city. Mr Sekaleshfar is not linked to the Pulse nightclub (pictured) massacre Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull earlier said he had zero tolerance for hate preachers wanting to come to Australia. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said the man was not welcome in Australia with his abhorrent views. 'I don't know how on earth that fellow got a visa,' he told reporters in Perth. Mr Sekaleshfar also delivered a speech titled 'How To Deal With The Phenomenon Of Homosexuality' to the Husseini Islamic Center in Orlando earlier this year. Two months later, Omar Mateen, 29, killed 49 people and wounded 53 by opening fire on a LGBT club in the same city. The shooter's father has suggested he was motivated by homophobia. Orlando Police officers direct family members away from the Pulse Nightclub where 49 people were killed in a shooting on Sunday Jermaine Towns (left) and Brandon Shuford (right) wait down the street from Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida, after the mass shooting on Sunday Seddique Mateen said his son was enraged after seeing two men kissing in front of his wife and son during a visit to Miami a couple of months ago. Speaking to NBC, Mr Mateen condemned his son's shooting but shocked many as he said: 'God himself will punish those involved in homosexuality. This [killing] is not for the servants.' It is not clear whether Port St Lucie-based Mateen attended Mr Sekaleshfar's event in Orlando. Mr Sekaleshfar has not been linked to the Pulse nightclub massacre. Previous versions of Mr Sekaleshfar's speech have been posted online, showing him saying gay people should die. Earlier this week, Mr Sekaleshfar posted a statement on his Facebook page offering his 'sincere condolences to the friends and families of those massacred'. An officer is seen standing outside the gay nightclub where 49 people were killed when a gunman opened fire Forensic officers are seen outside Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida, that was attacked by a gunman on Sunday 'The killing of innocent life is never justified by religion,' he said. 'The perpetrator of this shooting has directly violated this holy commandment and displayed a complete disregard for the sanctity of human life and divine values.' The sheikh went on to address claims he has been the subject of abuse since the shooting, and that he has received death threats by people attempting to link his sermon with the shooter's motives. 'Such a connection is impossible, because had the shooter listened to my lecture, he would have clearly heard me condemn hate and violence multiple times and endorse compassion towards all humankind,' the statement read. 'I invite my friends to help in supporting the humanitarian needs of the families of the victims of the shooting during such a period and share with their grief. 'This is an Islamic value in all cases where people are being oppressed - whoever they are.' Mr Sekaleshfar arrived in Sydney on June 7 and was scheduled to speak at the Imam Husain Islamic Centre at Earlwood, according to the centre's website. 'His Eminence Sheikh Dr Farrokh Sekaleshfar. Speaking the entire month of the topic of: Stories of the Quran and testaments of the Mystics,' it read. The pair were found safe and well on Wednesday His grandfather Wayne Pearson drove him away from house in Mudgeeraba Corbyn Pearson was taken from his parents' front garden on Tuesday A toddler who was taken from his parents' driveway by his 43-year-old grandfather has been found safe and well. Police issued an amber alert to find Corbyn Pearson, two, on Wednesday after he and his grandfather Wayne went missing. The pair had been listening to music in the grandfather's car at his parents' house in Mudgeeraba when Mr Pearson, 43, drove away with him after drinking for hours. They were found on Wednesday in Coolangatta, 24km away, after a member of the public reported seeing Mr Pearson's red Toyota Landcruiser to police. Scroll down for video Corbyn Pearson, two, was taken from his parents' front yard by his grandfather Wayne (right) in Mudgeeraba, Queensland, on Tuesday afternoon. The pair have been found safe and well The pair had been with other family members at Corbyn's parents' home on Tuesday when Mr Pearson took the boy into the car to listen to music. He let other children in the vehicle back inside but drove off with Corbyn at around 4pm. He had been drinking for around three hours at the time. Queensland Police Detective Superintendent Dave Hutchinson issued an urgent appeal for assistance on Wednesday as he revealed the man had been known to have health issues. Shortly before 10am police confirmed the pair had been located safely. 'The boy was located at Coolangatta just after 9am after police received a call from a member of the public who sighted the vehicle which had been the subject of a public appeal. 'The two-year-old has since been confirmed as safe and well.' Mr Pearson is assisting police with investigations in to the incident, they said. Earlier police expressed grave concerns for the child. Det Supt Hutchinson said: 'In essence there has been no contact at all between the family and Mr Pearson since he left the house. 'Police have conducted a number of enquiries throughout the night and been to a number of locations to try to locate them and the vehicle, all to no avail at this point. 'We have obviously tried to contact him by phone but it is turned off. As a consequence we have concerns now for the safety of the child.' Corbyn had been with his grandfather listening to music in the car when he suddenly drove away from the house Police were urgently seeking assistance in locating Pearson (above) on Tuesday afternoon The pair are thought to have been travelling in a red 1993 Toyota Landcruiser four-wheel drive (above) Det Supt Dave Hutchinson said a 'combination' of circumstances led them to fear for Corbyn's well being. 'The fact he has left without any notice, his phone is turned off and we're told that's unusual. We have become aware he is suffering a medical condition as well. 'He has had some problems in recent times and we're concerned for his ability to take care of the child.' He said the man had been drinking that afternoon, a concern previously expressed by relatives. 'If he continues to drink that is obviously a concern as well,' he said. Mr Pearson and the boys' parents had been getting along well before his sudden departure, he said, with the man giving no indication of any intention to take off. He has never in the past indicated any desire to harm the boy and did not take any of his personal items with him when he left. 'There's been nothing in the past that would suggest that he's outwardly indicated he is going to harm the child. But a combination of circumstances are such that we have concerns now.' NSW Police is assisting in the search, with the man known to frequent northern parts of the state. The child's mother's family shared their concerns on social media on Wednesday as they pleaded for their safe return. His mother's cousin said he had been 'abducted', writing: 'It's dark and wet, he will be cold with no warm blanket or warm bed or clean nappy, he needs to come home to his mummy and daddy and back with our family.' Another pleaded: 'Please if anyone could please let us know, we just want our boy home.' Pearson is described as being Caucasian, about 182cm tall with brown hair. The boy has auburn hair and green eyes. 'It is believed they may be travelling in a red 1993 Toyota Landcruiser four-wheel-drive with Queensland registration 295-SZB,' added the spokesman. The third-youngest daughter of Muhammad Ali has spoken out following the Orlando massacre, saying her father would have been 'profoundly saddened' by the tragic events. In a heartfelt article, penned for CNN, Hana Ali, described the intense disappointment he would have felt as 'the world's most famous Muslim.' His funeral, held just two days prior to Sunday's mass-shooting, was a celebration 'where world leaders and religious figures of different faiths came together in the spirit of peace, love and religious tolerance.' The third-youngest daughter of Muhammad Ali (pictured praying in a mosque) has spoken out following the Orlando massacre, saying her father would have been 'profoundly saddened' by the tragic events. Hana Ali (left) described the intense disappointment he would have felt as 'the world's most famous Muslim.' Right: Ali prays inside the Holy Mecca Though he was a famed boxer, Ali was a strong advocate for peace and refused to serve in Vietnam Ali goes on to say that the legendary boxer would have 'profoundly disappointed by the cowardice and heartless displays of inhumanity shown by the so-called Muslim gunman who took the lives of so many innocent people in the name of a religion which has as its very meaning: peace' She described how her father, though intensely religious had brought them up to respect all religions. The devoted daughter also recalled how he once told her that there is only one true religion, the 'religion of the heart'. Muhammad Ali joined the black Muslim group the Nation of Islam in 1964, at first calling himself Cassius X before settling on the name Muhammad Ali. He later converted to Sunnism, known to be a more mainstream Islamic faith during the 1970s. After visiting Prophet Mohammed's tomb in Medina in 1972 he reportedly said he became convinced that he could defeat Joe Frazier. Hana Ali concluded with a heartfelt message to the family members of the victims who lost their lives and said she hoped that their hearts may remain 'unhardened by this senseless act'. Muhammad Ali joined the black Muslim group the Nation of Islam in 1964, at first calling himself Cassius X before settling on the name Muhammad Ali Hatred: Donald Trump's tweet following the massacre has caused outrage, may called for his account to be suspended She also noted that her father would never judge an entire religion based 'on the deeds of a single group of extremists', perhaps a swipe at the Republican presumptive nominee who has regularly called for a ban on all Muslims entering the country. Donald Trump has been slammed for his 'insensitive' comments post-Orlando, after he wrote he was 'right' to ban all Muslims from entering the United States and congratulated himself. Hours after the attack he tweeted: 'Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism, I don't want congrats, I want toughness & vigilance. We must be smart!' He also wrote: 'In my speech on protecting America I spoke about a temporary ban, which includes suspending immigration from nations tied to Islamic terror.' Larry Wilmore was among the many who lined up to express their horror at his comments: 'Yeah, Donald, you were really ahead of the curve on the whole, 'terrorism is bad' thing. I mean, honestly, who brags about this?!' Nihad Awad, executive director, Council on American-Islamic Relations, above, said of the Muslim community: 'We are sickened and heartbroken by this appalling attack.' Meanwhile, Muslim leaders from around the world condemned the violence, which left 49 dead and 53 injured after Omar Mateen gunned down clubbers at Pulse in Orlando. Nihad Awad, the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, called the killings a hate crime and said the group has no tolerance for extremism of any kind. In Florida, where the attack occurred, Rasha Munarak, the CAIR Florida Orlando regional coordinator, released a statement saying, 'We condemn this monstrous attack and offer our heartfelt condolences to the families and loved ones of all those killed or injured. 'The Muslim community joins our fellow Americans in repudiating anyone or any group that would claim to justify or excuse such an appalling act of violence.' A 'depressed' teenager has admitted murdering his girlfriend after she dumped him, before driving for five hours to dispose of her body. Tanner Flores, of Larimer County, Colorado, was arrested Friday on suspicion of the murder of Ashley Doolittle, 18, after her body was discovered in Collbran. She had been reported missing by her family the previous day after her car was found abandoned near Lon Hagler Reservoir in Larimer County - five hours away. Scroll down for video Tanner Flores, of Larimer County, Colorado, was arrested Friday on suspicion of the murder of Ashley Doolittle, 18, (pictured with Flores) after her body was discovered in Collbran Flores, 18, told police he'd murdered his ex-girlfriend because he'd been 'angry' that she'd ended their year-long relationship. The teen shot her twice in the head and then drove her body five hours away to his grandfather's house in Collbran where he cleaned up the corpse and hid it in the back of his truck, according to a police affidavit. In a missing person's report Thursday, the Larimer County sheriff's office described Flores as 'upset and distraught' over his recent breakup with Doolittle, and officials noted he 'may be armed with a handgun'. 'Tanner was 'upset' over the breakup with Ashley,' one friend told officers, according to the affidavit. 'Another friend stated that Tanner was "really down" over the breakup and did not know why they were no longer together.' 'Tanner apparently sent a Snapchat message to several friends on (June 8) in the late evening that had a message that was suicidal in nature,' the affidavit said. Flores, 18, (pictured on his arrest, left) told police he's murdered his ex-girlfriend (right) because he'd been 'angry' that she'd ended their year-long relationship Authorities also posted this picture of Flores' 1999 Dodge 2500 pickup truck, which was found near Doolittle's body on Friday Flores' father also told deputies that his .22 caliber revolver was missing from a locked gun cabinet, the affidavit states. Officials discovered Flores had been missing since 3.30pm Thursday and issued an alert for him and his 1999 Dodge 2500 pickup truck. Searchers began looking for Doolittle and Flores 'at first light' Friday morning in the area near where her vehicle was found the previous day. A neighbor of the 18-year-old's grandfather later contacted the local police department after she saw Flores carrying what appeared to be a bundle of blankets out of the back seat of a truck. She said that she had then noticed what she thought was a human arm. '(The woman) said she was not totally sure, but she thought she could see an arm sticking out of the bundle.' Until their recent breakup, the couple had posted several pictures together on social media. A picture posted to Doolittle's Facebook page in May shows the couple posing together in festive outfits. Family members told officials Doolittle had recently ended a one-year-relationship with Flores. Officials noted he 'may be armed with a handgun' before he was taken into custody on Friday Ashley Doolittle, the lady-in-waiting of Boulder County Fair and Rodeo, is pictured right, sitting next to the queen of the rodeo 'Gorgeous babe, I love you,' Flores commented on another picture of Doolittle posted on May 18. According to the Denver Post, Doolittle was enrolled as an agricultural business major at Colorado State University. She won a $1,000 to attend the university, and is also interested in horses and the rodeo, the Post reported. A picture posted to the Boulder County Fair and Rodeo Royalty page showed Doolittle in a sash that says 'Lady-in-waiting', meaning she was poised to become the next queen of the rodeo. In a Facebook post published two days before Doolittle disappeared, the current rodeo queen wrote: 'Ashley and I had a great weekend kicking off our summer rodeos and events with the Berthoud Day parade and the Elizabeth Stampede! Its already looking to be an amazing and busy summer and we hope to see you during it!' Flores, who is charged with first-degree murder and second-degree kidnapping, is being held without bond in Mesa County. George Osborne (at BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Hindu Temple, London, yesterday) has made an extraordinary threat to hike income tax in an 'emergency Budget' if Britain votes to quit the EU A 'panicked' George Osborne has made an extraordinary threat to hike income tax by 2p in an 'emergency Budget' if Britain votes to quit the EU. The Chancellor also warned of an increase in inheritance tax, a rise in the duty on alcohol and petrol and cuts to the police, the NHS, pensions and defence though foreign aid would not be touched. Furious Tory MPs said his plans for a 'punishment Budget' would be rejected by MPs on both sides of the Commons and he was taking the public for fools. In a deepening of the Tory civil war on Europe, pro-Brexit MPs also warned that by resorting to such 'desperate and despicable' scaremongering Mr Osborne was putting his own political future in peril. Amid a slew of polls putting Leave in the lead, the Chancellor will ramp up Project Fear by appearing on a platform alongside former Labour Chancellor Alistair Darling. Mr Darling whose economic forecasts were mercilessly mocked by the Tories when he was in the Treasury will claim that he is more worried now than in 2008 when the global economy crashed. Leave campaigners accused Mr Osborne of having a 'hysterical' reaction to Remain falling behind in the increasingly bitter contests, although a ComRes poll for The Sun last night put Remain ahead by one point at 46 per cent to 45. Appearing at a factory in Essex today, Mr Osborne and Mr Darling will set out 30 billion of 'illustrative' measures that would need to be taken in an emergency Budget. They claim it is based on the Institute for Fiscal Studies' assessment of the impact of a vote to Leave on the public finances because of lower trade, investment and tax receipts. It includes 15 billion in tax rises, comprising a 2p rise in the basic rate of income tax to 22 per cent, a 3p rise in the higher rate to 43 per cent, and a 5p rise in inheritance tax rates to 45p. Alcohol and petrol duties would rise by 5 per cent. Meanwhile, 15 billion in new spending cuts could mean NHS, education and defence spending being 'slashed' by 2 per cent. The Chancellor (pictured at BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Hindu Temple yesterday) warned of an increase in inheritance tax, a rise in the duty on alcohol and fuel and cuts to the police, the NHS, pensions and defence Furious Tory MPs said Osborne's plans for a 'punishment Budget' would be rejected by MPs on both sides MRS CLEGG BLASTS PM'S DEAL Nick Clegg's wife, Miriam Durantez Gonzalez, has attacked David Cameron's 'Mickey Mouse EU negotiation' in an extraordinary swipe. The Remain campaigner said the PM's offer to the electorate did not amount to 'proper' reform. Her remarks were seized on by Brexiteers as a sign that the Remain campaign had 'split'. The wife of the former Deputy Prime Minister told Fortune's Most Powerful Women event: 'The European Union is crying for reform. Proper reform, not that Mickey Mouse negotiation that the Prime Minister did.' She accused Mr Cameron and the country of 'sleepwalking towards disaster'. Former Welsh Secretary David Jones said: 'Oh dear, even EU fanatic Nick Clegg's wife slams David Cameron's EU renegotiation.' Advertisement The Britain Stronger in Europe campaign said this would mean 'a 2.5 billion-a-year cut to the health service, a 1.2 billion cut to defence and a 1.15 billion cut to education. Pensions spending could be cut by 2 billion a year.' Spending in other areas, including the Home Office and policing, transport and local government, could take a 5 per cent cut, saving 5.8 billion. Mr Osborne will claim: 'Quitting the EU would hit investment, hurt families and harm the British economy. 'As Chancellor, I would have a responsibility to try to restore stability to the public finances and that would mean an emergency Budget where we would have to increase taxes and cut spending. 'Far from freeing up money to spend on public services as the Leave campaign would like you to believe, quitting the EU would mean less money. Billions less.' Details of the planned intervention last night leaked out at Westminster on social media and elsewhere, drawing a ferocious response from Tory backbenchers. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne visits BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Hindu Temple, London. During his visit yesterday, he made a speech reaching out to the Hindu community to vote to remain in the EU Appearing at a factory in Essex on Wednesday, Mr Osborne will set out 30 billion of 'illustrative' measures that would need to be taken in an emergency Budget. The Chancellor is pictured at a Hindu temple in London SCOTS 'COULD KEEP ENGLAND IN THE EU AGAINST ITS WILL' Strong Scottish support for Remain could keep England in the EU against its will, experts warned. Tory MPs said a result in which Leave sentiment in England and Wales was overruled could damage the Union. Professor John Curtice, a political scientist at Strathclyde University, said: 'Scotland is certain to Remain... also in Northern Ireland. We're looking at polls in England and Wales where the Leave side are ahead. If we only get 51 per cent support for Remain, almost undoubtedly Scotland and Northern Ireland would have been pivotal in keeping the UK in the EU.' Tory MP and Out campaigner Bernard Jenkin said: 'Unionists in Scotland and Northern Ireland should vote Leave to prevent this damaging the unity of the UK. It would add to the strain between different parts of the UK.' Advertisement Senior Tory MP Steve Baker said: 'I am shocked that the Chancellor is threatening to break so many key manifesto pledges on which all Conservative MPs were elected. The In campaign are panicking but no one will believe these hysterical prophecies of doom any more.' His colleague Michael Fabricant added: 'These fear tactics are desperate and despicable.' Ex-Cabinet minister Liam Fox said: 'A punishment budget would be rejected by both sides of the House of Commons. It would damage the Chancellor's credibility and would be putting his own position in jeopardy. I think the British public would react adversely to such a threat based on the Chancellor being afraid they will vote the wrong way in his opinion.' Labour MP John Mann said: 'This is more scare tactics from the Remain side. If we vote to Leave and take control of our money we will have more to spend on the priorities that matter to us.' More than 30 billion was wiped off the FTSE 100 Index yesterday over mounting Brexit fears. More than 70 billion has been lost from the index since Monday. Chancellor George Osborne earlier paid an EU-related visit to Renshaw Plc in Woodchester, Gloucestershire Even if Anthony had a year to analyze and dissect each piece...(he couldn't tell if it would)... stand the harsh light of public exposure. WUWT insider Willis Eschenbach tells you all you need to know about Anthony Watts and his blog, WattsUpWithThat (WUWT). As part of his scathing commentary , Wondering Willis accuses Anthony Watts of being clueless about the blog articles he posts. To paraphrase: Click here to read more. They arrived and ushered the animal out of the Finding himself in surroundings unfamiliar even to his well-travelled kind, this fox looked anything but fantastic as he was caught red-pawed in a terrified woman's bed. As intruder turned to face shocked homeowner, the woman found herself so scared of the unwelcome creature that she called police. Fortunately, the boys in blue were nearby and shot to the woman's rescue, carefully ushering the fox out of the premises by shutting one door of the house at a time in an exercise requiring military precision. Police were called to an address in Wembley, London, when the homeowner discovered a fox was on her bed The image was posted online by officers in Brent, north London, yesterday after they went to the aid of the woman and found time to grab a quick picture during the obvious melee. It is believed the animal had wandered into the woman's home in Wembley through an open door, before sitting down in the middle of the bed. After rescuing the similarly worried animal from its perch next to a box of tissues, the force posted on social media: 'Officers provided assistance when resident had unexpected guest.' But one Twitter user wasn't as enamoured by the rescue operation. Fiona Bexon said: 'So someone actually called the police because they had a fox cub in their house? Plus you actually attended?' Fox sightings are becoming more familiar in urban areas as the usually-nocturnal animals are forced away from the countryside to look for food To which Brent Police replied: 'Not something we would normally attend but officers were nearby and offered assistance.' And just to allay any fears about the possible dangers of trespassing vulpines, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Police added: 'Frightened animal and no cause of concern to the public.' A Sydney teenager with special needs is accused of posting about killing a police officer and creating an 'attack map' in preparation for a terrorist act. The 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was charged around midnight on Tuesday after police were alerted to his social media posts. The boy created a map and deleted hard drives in planning for a terrorist act, court documents allege. Scroll down for video A 17-year-old boy with special needs (pictured) from Sydney's south-west is accused of posting online about killing a police officer and creating an 'attack map' in preparation for a terrorist act The boy also allegedly deleted hard drives in planning for a terrorist act, court papers alleged on Wednesday (stock image) His matter was mentioned in the Parramatta Children's Court on Wednesday where it was adjourned until Thursday. Bail was not applied for. The boy was arrested from his home at The Oaks, in south-west Sydney, before being charged by the NSW Joint Counter Terrorism Team with preparation for planning a terrorist act and using a telecommunications network with intention to commit a serious offence. The teen's arrest comes just days after 49 people were shot and killed at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida, during the early morning hours of Sunday in a terrorist attack. Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said the 17-year-old talked about killing an officer in social media posts. The teen, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was arrested at midnight on Tuesday and taken to the Camden Police Station (pictured) Mr Scipione implored officers to remain vigilant following the threat. 'Late last night, we put a warning out to our police again on the back of the most recent advice we've broadcast, that we know police and security services are currently targets,' he said. Mr Scipione said the teen has no known connection to any previous terror activity. The commissioner said he expected the court to take into account the boy's special needs. He declined to answer if a weapon was referenced in the social media threat. He's been charged with planning a Terrorist Act and using a telecommunications network with intention to commit a serious offence (stock image) 'At this stage we need to bear in mind he does have special needs but this is now a matter that will be before the courts and we expect the courts will take all of that into account,' he said. 'You cannot afford not to respond.' Police Minister Troy Grant said all threats to the safety of police or the public were concerning. 'As we've seen across our shores, terrorism in all shapes and sizes is a massive challenge,' Mr Grant said. CNN host Anderson Cooper has slammed Florida's Attorney General for her LGBT views in the wake of the Orlando massacre. The journalist accused Pam Bondi of hypocrisy during an interview outside the hospital where people caught up in Omar Mateen's deadly rampage are being treated. He reminded her of when she said allowing same-sex marriage would bring 'significant public harm' to the state. A few days ago, shortly after horrific terrorist attack that left 49 people dead, she said anyone who went against the LGBT community will be met by the full extent of the law. Scroll down for video 'Do you really think youre a champion of the gay community?' CNN host Anderson Cooper slammed Florida's Attorney General, Pam Bondi, for her LGBT views in the wake of the Orlando massacre But Cooper, who is gay, began the heated segment by saying: 'I talked to a lot of gay and lesbian people here yesterday, who are not fans of yours. 'They thought you were being a hypocrite... Do you really think youre a champion of the gay community?' 'Ive never said I dont like gay people,' she responded. She also tried to defend herself by saying she was trying to protect Florida's constitution when she made the remarks. The broadcaster then questioned whether she thinks her remarks would influence people who could be violent towards the gay community. He then said: 'Is it hypocritical to portray yourself as a champion of the gay community? Im just reflecting what a lot of gay people have told me. They dont see you as that.' Controversial remarks: The journalist accused Bondi of hypocrisy during an interview. He reminded her of when she said allowing same-sex marriage would bring 'significant public harm' to the state. Bondi then retorted that today was about the victims She said: 'Im not portraying myself as anything, other than trying to help human beings.' 'Im not championing anything other than Floridians.' Cooper then said: 'I will say I have never really seen you talk about gays and lesbians and transgender people in a positive way, until now. 'People in the state want to know that you are representing everybody'. Just a few feet away from where the interview took place, mourners laid flowers for victims of the shootings being treated inside the hospital. NBC 6 has reported that Bondi's failed fight against gay marriage would cost the taxpayer around $500,000. A judge ruled that every attorney who successfully sued the state was owed their money back. Bondi said she defended the ruling as it was approved by the voters. Cooper (left) questioned whether Bondi (right) thinks her remarks could influence people who could be potentially violent towards the LGBT community. She says she was just trying to defend the constitution Just a few feet away from where the interview took place, mourners laid flowers for those victims of the shootings being treated inside the hospital The Russian government is set to publicly release emails obtained from Hillary Clinton's private server, according to a new report. Clinton has maintained the highly classified information that passed through her controversial system was not intercepted by foreign governments. However, according to trade site OilPrice.com citing US intelligence sources, the government is braced for a release that would suggest the opposite. And it could come at any time once the Kremlin gives the green light, the site reports. 'Breach': A report claims Hillary Clinton's private email server was accessed by the Russians, who are set to release the confidential information soon Clinton would be at risk of violating the Espionage Act if foreign governments or sources accessed classified information through her personal server. It is not the first mention that Russia could have obtained some of the emails. Last year it emerged that Clinton's private server was directly connected to the internet in ways that made it more vulnerable to hackers. A recent State Department inspector general's report indicated the server was temporarily unplugged by a Clinton aide at one point during attacks by hackers, but her campaign has said there's no evidence the server was hacked. In each year from 2011 to 2014, the State Department's poor cybersecurity was identified by its inspector general as a 'significant deficiency' that put the department's information at risk. Another State Department inspector general report revealed that hacking attempts forced Clinton off her private email at one point in 2011. Then in 2014, the State Department's unclassified email system was breached by hackers with links to Russia. They stole an unspecified number of emails. The hack was so deep that State's email system had to be cut off from the internet while experts worked to eliminate the infestation. At least 47 of the emails Clinton turned over to the State Department contain the notation 'B3 CIA PERS/ORG,' which indicates the material referred to CIA personnel or matters related to the agency. And because both Clinton's server and the State Department systems were vulnerable to hacking, the perpetrators could have those original emails. Stewart Baker, a Washington lawyer who spent more than three years as an assistant secretary of the Homeland Security Department and is former legal counsel for the National Security Agency, said it is 'entirely plausible ... that foreign intelligence services discovered and rifled Hillary Clinton's server'. If so, infiltrators would have copies of all her emails - unredacted. Baker points out another instance where Clinton's server might have been hacked. A March 2, 2009, email warned against State Department officials using Blackberries. Eric Boswell, assistant secretary of state, says the 'vulnerabilities and risks associated with the use of Blackberries ... considerably outweigh their convenience.' Nine days later, another email states that Clinton approached Boswell and says she 'gets' the risk. The email also said: 'Her attention was drawn to the sentence that indicates we (the diplomatic security office officials) have intelligence concerning this vulnerability during her recent trip to Asia.' Clinton traveled to China, Indonesia, Japan and South Korea in February 2009. 55 per cent of voters said Trump's comments about 'Mexican' judge bother them 'a lot' Clinton also leads trump by 7 points in a new NBC News / Surveymonkey poll Trump is viewed as the stronger candidate for battling terrorism 63 percent of women say they wouldn't vote for Trump Polling took place over the weekend as news of the Orlando shooting broke She leads Trump 49 to 37 in new Bloomberg poll Hillary Clinton is getting a bounce now that she is wrapping up the Democratic primary, opening up a 12-point lead over Republican Donald Trump in a new poll. The former secretary of state leads Trump 49 to 37 in a new Bloomberg poll. Fifty-five percent of likely voters say they could never vote for the real estate mogul. The poll was taken Friday through Monday, as forces within the Democratic Party formed a protective circle over Clinton. President Obama finally issued a formal public endorsement last week, liberal firebrand senator Elizabeth Warren finally endorsed her Friday. Even rival Vermont senator Bernie Sanders called off his harshest attacks while still training fire on Donald Trump. Hillary Clinton has opened up a 12-point lead over Donald Trump in a new Bloomberg poll Big bounce: The bloomberg poll gives Clinton a 12-point lead over Republican Donald Trump Trump had one of his rougher weeks last week, as key Republicans admonished him for comments that judge Gonzalo Curiel couldn't fairly oversee a trial involving Trump University because of his Mexican heritage. Out of those surveyed, 55 per cent said Trump's comments about the judge bothered them 'a lot,' while another 17 per cent said it bothered them 'a little.' An overwhelming 63 percent of women say they would never vote for Trump, as his top issue liability continues to be his comments about Fox News host Megyn Kelley. Sixty two percent of voters said the comments bothered them 'a lot.' Libertarian Gary Johnson scores 9 per cent in the poll. He has polled at 10 percent in other surveys. Trump's comments about Megyn Kelly rank as his most opposed statement, according to the poll ANOTHER DIG: Trump has a love-hate relationship with polls and typically ignores those he doesn't like Bernie bounce: Clinton's poll lead comes as Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is dialing back his criticism of her as she locks up her party's nomination 'Clinton has a number of advantages in this poll, in addition to her lead,' pollster J. Ann Selzer, conducted the poll, told Bloomberg. 'Her supporters are more enthusiastic than Trump's and more voters overall see her becoming a more appealing candidate than say that for Trump.' When a group of respondents were asked about the attacks at an Orlando nightclub, 45 per cent said they would have more confidence in Trump to handle a similar crisis, compared to 41 percent with more confidence in Clinton. An NBC / Surveymonkey poll released Tuesday had Clinton leading Trump 49 to 42 per cent. The movement comes after Trump drew to parity with Clinton in the Real Clear Politics polling average in late May, as Trump put away his nomination while Clinton faced ongoing attacks from Sanders. Their numbers have diverged in recent weeks, as Clinton's support held steady and Trump's dropped. Clinton's average lead in the RealClear average is 5.5 per cent. In the safe bet category, 64 per cent of voters said Trump would say more things that will upset Republicans. Sixty per cent of voters said Clinton would face further investigation for her emails. Don't mess with Megyn: Trump's comments about women bother people more than his statements about the 'Mexican' judge overseeing a class action suit against him Liberal firebrand Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren endorsed Clinton Friday The weekly tracking poll, from NBC News included the opinions of 7 per cent more self-identified Democrats than Republicans the same margin as the poll's topline result. Pollsters generally adjust their results to reflect the likely makeup of the electorate, massaging data to match the expected turnout among demographic groups. In the case of Tuesday's poll results, however, federal government statistics not voter surveys were used to arrive at a conclusion that there are far more Democrats than Republicans who will vote in the fall. Hillary has a strong lead in the NBC poll 'Data for this week has been weighted for age, race, sex, education, region, and voter registration status using the Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistic's Current Population Survey,' the pollsters say in the fine print, 'to reflect the demographic composition of the United States.' The most recent Gallup polling on the subject, published in January, found the Democrats had just a 3 per cent advantage nationally. In that same survey, Republican-dominated states outnumbered those populated mostly by Democrats, by a 20-12 margin. OVERSAMPLED?: Far more Democrats than Republicans were asked for their opinions The two most recent presidential elections trended heavily in the Democrats' favor as Barack Obama built and then replicated a coalition of liberals and heavily leveraged African-American voters to win. An Alabama police officer has shot and killed an 18-year-old man during a traffic stop. Mobile Police Chief James Barber tells media outlets that an officer saw a vehicle cut off another car Monday evening. The officer stopped the vehicle, carrying driver Michael Moore and two passengers. Barber says Moore had no driver's license and was asked to step out of the car. At that point, police say the officer noticed that Moore had a gun in his waistband and reached for it. Shocked: A large crowd gathers at the scene where 18-year-old Michael Moore was shot and killed Cordoned off: A Mobile Police officer shot and killed the teenager during a traffic stop off Stanton Road, near USA Medical Center Barber says the officer shot Moore four times. He was later pronounced dead at USA Medical Center. Barber says investigators recovered a semi-automatic .40-caliber Smith and Wesson and a magazine from the scene. However, several witnesses said they never saw a gun and at least one woman said she told the officer 'not to shoot'. The officer involved has been placed on administrative duty pending results of the investigation. Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson released a statement regarding the shooting. It read: 'Last night, a Mobile Police officer was involved in a fatal shooting just before 7pm. 'First and foremost, our prayers and condolences are with the family of Mike Moore. Any time a life is lost it is a tragedy. The incident is under investigation by the Mobile Police Department. Investigation: Police say they recovered a semi-automatic 40 caliber Smith and Wesson on the scene We have called upon the FBI to run a parallel investigation with the MPD. I have complete confidence that the investigation will reveal the facts. I expect that this process will be as transparent as is legally possible. We ask for prayer and patience until the full facts are revealed.' A large crowd gathered around the scene shortly after the shooting happened. Willie Westbrook, who lives across the street from where the shooting happened, told FOX10 News: 'We thought it was a routine traffic stop, we were standing at the door looking at it, young man gets out with his cell phone in his hand and as soon as he gets out, he [the officer] shoots him. Leave campaigners said it made a mockery of claims by David Cameron that Turkey is not on course to join until the year 3000 Britain last night caved in on Turkey, agreeing to let it take another step towards full EU membership. During talks in Brussels, UK diplomats initially resisted allowing the country to open a new phase in its negotiations with the EU. But within only a few hours, Britain backed down. Leave campaigners said it made a mockery of claims by David Cameron that Turkey is not on course to join until the year 3000. Talks over whether Turkey can satisfy financial and budgetary rules on European Union membership could now begin as early as June 24 the day after the referendum. The U-turn was revealed by the pro-EU Financial Times which accused the Government of diplomatic acrobatics. One eurozone diplomat was reported saying of Britain: It is like they are scared of their own shadow. The Prime Minister has hardened his language on Turkish membership in recent weeks after it became a huge issue in the referendum campaign. However, Leave campaigners point out that he has stopped short of changing the Governments official position which is to support Turkeys membership of the EU. The campaign group Migration Watch has warned an extra 100,000 Turks would flock to Britain every year if the Muslim country became a full EU member. The numbers coming here under free movement rules would be inevitable, substantial and sustained, it claimed. In one scenario, Turkey would get EU status by 2024, with transitional controls restricting arrivals to 30,000 being lifted in 2031, when 100,000 a year will come. It predicted more than 710,000 Turkish citizens would head to the UK by 2035, many lured by the National Living Wage which towers over pay back home. Earlier this week, leaked papers suggested that British diplomats have already secretly discussed granting visa-free travel to the UK for 1.5million Turks. Vote Leave chief executive Matthew Elliott said: This is the second time this week that the Governments plans to accelerate visa-free travel and EU membership for Turkey have been revealed. David Cameron said he wants to pave the road from Ankara and the Brussels negotiations to make this happen are well under way. It is now abundantly clear that the only way to take back control of our borders is to Vote Leave on June 23. Earlier this week, leaked papers suggested that British diplomats have already secretly discussed granting visa-free travel to the UK for 1.5million Turks. Pictured: The European Commission building Last month, Mr Cameron said it would be decades, literally decades before Turkey joins the EU. But Vote Leave released a video of footage in which the he had spoken out in favour of Turkish membership. In 2005, as leader of the Opposition, he complained that progress had been desperately slow. And, after becoming Prime Minister in 2010, he upped his backing for the Turks joining the EU significantly. He said: This is something I feel very strongly and very passionately about. Together I want us to pave the road from Ankara to Brussels. During a referendum debate last night, Boris Johnson said: People feel they havent given democratic consent to what is happening [with immigration]. It is because we dont have control. Before it can join the EU, Turkey must satisfy the EU it is making progress in 35 different areas, known as chapters. So far it has closed one of the chapters science and research. The number of lone children making the treacherous crossing from North Africa to Europe has doubled this year, it has been revealed. Labour was at war over EU immigration last night as senior MPs broke ranks with Jeremy Corbyn in a desperate bid to prevent supporters backing Brexit. In an extraordinary intervention, Labour deputy leader Tom Watson said the party, which championed open door immigration for years, would now demand curbs to free movement of migrants from the EU. The panicked move follows warnings that the party is haemorrhaging support because of anger about mass immigration in Labour heartlands. Mr Watson was backed by several senior figures, including former Cabinet ministers Ed Balls and Yvette Cooper and former shadow cabinet members Rachel Reeves and Tristram Hunt, who described levels of immigration from the EU as unsustainable. Scroll down for video Labour Deputy leader Tom Watson, right, has called for curbs on immigration from the EU despite leader Jeremy Corbyn, centre, being opposed on the imposition of any such restrictions But aides said Mr Corbyn did not support curbs. A spokesman for the Labour leader said he held to his view that free movement was not a problem or a fear but an opportunity. And prominent Labour MP John Mann said calls for curbs on free movement from senior figures lacked credibility. Mr Mann, who is campaigning to leave the EU, said: While it is welcome that they are finally admitting that uncontrolled migration is a problem, the truth is that they still have no solutions. The only way to take back control of our borders and introduce an Australian style points-based immigration system is to vote to leave. Former Labour welfare minister Frank Field said there was now a dangerous gap between the party hierarchy and its traditional supporters on immigration. He added: Immigration is the issue that explains why a third or more of Labour voters might back Brexit. Former Labour cabinet minister Ed Balls, pictured, has warned the party faces losing support from its heartlands if it continues to follow a policy of allowing unrestricted immigration from the European Union The row wrecked an attempt to relaunch Labours lacklustre In campaign. Mr Corbyn gathered union barons and his top team for an event that was meant to focus on the risks to the NHS of leaving the EU. But the message was quickly overshadowed by Mr Watsons intervention on immigration. He told the BBC: We have to reassure people that if they vote Remain, that isnt the end of the reform package for Europe. A future Europe will have to look at things like the free movement of labour rules. Asked if a Labour administration would suggest a control on the numbers coming to the UK, he said: I think its very likely that a Labour government would want to reform the European Union and yes, if we get to a general election in 2020, of course we would have to listen to our voters. Theyre giving us a pretty clear signal in this referendum, and we should be listening. Miss Reeves said: This referendum is a wake-up call to the EU, to the British Government that things have to be done differently on freedom of movement. Mr Hunt said the status quo is unsustainable, while Mr Balls added: We need to press Europe to restore proper borders. Miss Cooper said Britain should vote to stay in the EU and then push to develop new... brakes to manage economic migration, adding: Ignoring the problem doesnt work. Last night, in signs of increasing desperation in the Remain camp, it was claimed that Downing Street is considering a last-ditch plea to Brussels for curbs on free movement. Footage has emerged of passersby rushing to rescue a man who had become trapped underneath a car in Suzhou, China on June 7. The man was crossing the road when the vehicle hit him, dragging him underneath, reports the People's Daily Online. Once freed, the man was rushed to hospital but had no serious injuries. Working together to rescue pedestrian: Passersby rushed to lift the car and turn it in order to free the man Horrifying: The man was crossing the road when the vehicle failed to spot him dragging him underneath Traumatic: Police arrived on the scene and helped direct traffic until an ambulance arrived In the footage filmed in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, the man dressed in a white T-shirt and trousers can be seen crossing the road. As he stops on the corner, the red car fails to see him as it tries to take the corner and runs him over. He is dragged partly underneath until the vehicle comes to a complete standstill. Onlookers can be seen rushing over to the man to see if they can help him. They attempt to lift the vehicle however it is too heavy. As soon as more people come over to help, they are able to lift the car and turn it around freeing the man. Police were called and arrived at the scene. They helped direct traffic around the vehicle until ambulance crews arrived. The man was rushed to hospital but is said to have no life threatening injuries. Shocking incident: The man was dragged underneath the red vehicle which took the turn quickly Teamwork: The team of passersby worked together to lift the car and move it to free the man Passersby came to the man's aid after he was hit by a car in Suzhou, China A grandfather in China has faked his own grandson's kidnapping in a bid to give his 'careless' wife a lesson. The man's wife had taken her grandson to do shopping on June 12 when the child went missing, reports the People's Daily Online. Police launched a massive search for the young boy in Wuhan, central China's Hubei province, before locating him in a village accompanied by his grandfather, who admitted it was a prank. Shocking: The grandson was located with his grandfather who had kidnapped the boy to teach his wife a lesson Traumatic: The woman became frantic after her grandson went missing after she left him on a kid's ride According to the report, the grandmother left the grandson, named Qian Qian, outside a shop on a child's ride in the morning of June 12. She said she had kept checking on him while she was shopping inside the store. Just two minutes later, the boy went missing. The elderly woman became frantic after not being able to find the boy and kept blaming herself before fainting. Police launched a massive search for the child. Surveillance footage shows a man in his 50s picking up the boy and riding away on his scooter. The woman was inconsolable and unable to even speak and say the boy's name. Police later received a report that the boy showed up to a nearby village. When they arrived at the scene, the boy was located with his grandfather. The grandpa admitted to the police that he had plotted the whole kidnapping as he thought his wife was too careless in looking after the child. He said she needed a lesson. Police criticised the grandfather. A rendering of the seaside sanctuary where National Aquarium plans to retire its eight Atlantic bottlenose dolphins by 2020. Graphic by Studio Gang Architects 9 shares It was extraordinarily good news in March when SeaWorld, in cooperation with The HSUS, announced it would end the breeding of orcas and phase out its orca theatrical shows. Today, another big-name brand in the world of captive display of marine creatures has made a far-reaching announcement: the National Aquarium and its CEO, John Racanelli, have announced a plan to move eight Atlantic bottlenose dolphins from their captive setting in Baltimore to a seaside sanctuary off the coast of Florida or in a Caribbean nation, over the next four to five years. In his announcement, Racanelli noted that the facility and he have evolved and are transitioning from an entertaining sea life attraction to a nonprofit aquatic conservation organization. We are committed to creating conditions for all of the animals in our care to thrive, Racanelli wrote in an op-ed in todays Baltimore Sun. In the dolphins case, we know far more today than 25 years ago, when the aquariums Marine Mammal Pavilion, the dolphins current home, first opened on Pier 4. Emerging science and consultation with experts have convinced us that dolphins do indeed thrive when they can form social groups, have opportunities to express natural behaviors and live in a habitat as similar as possible to that for which nature so superbly designed them. This is the first such effort of its kind for dolphins. There are an estimated 300 or so dolphins now kept in captivity, including 100 used by the U.S. Navy. Racanellis effort is more evidence that animal-based facilities and attractions are adapting to a changing cultural and scientific environment and making the physical and psychological well-being of the animals a top priority. As I have traveled around the nation on my tour for The Humane Economy, visiting more than a few bookstores along the way, Ive noted so many other titles in the animal category, especially a whole series of them on animal intelligence and cognition. Theres already an incredible body of literature about dogs, parrots, chimps, and all manner of other creatures, and now theres a new title every week or two. My colleague, Jonathan Balcombe, has just released a book called What a Fish Knows: The Inner Lives of Our Underwater Cousins. Other notable works are Jennifer Ackermans The Genius of Birds, Frans de Waals Are we Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?, Sy Montgomerys The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration Into the Wonder of Consciousness, and Carl Safinas Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel. Meanwhile, theres very little of substance on the other side of the debate. Old ideas that animals act by instinct, dont reason, and dont have feelings are now considered discredited, or even embarrassing. That said, the challenges of providing bigger, enriched environments for captive wildlife are immense, and the costs are incalculable. The animal protection movement is straining under the weight of the financial burdens imposed on it by reckless individuals and institutions and the deficiencies in public policy that exist in regard to these issues in the United States. Our nation, for example, has dozens of facilities that report taking in rescued big cats an animal care responsibility that, if done properly, costs tens of millions of dollars every year. Theres a new chimpanzee sanctuary in the field now, called Project Chimps, and The HSUS is a primary backer, caring for hundreds of chimps coming out of private laboratories, at a long-term care cost that approaches $100 million over the animals life spans. We are already running a chimp sanctuary in Liberia, where chimps are housed on islands and live outside of cages, and even that facility will cost tens of millions. Racanelli has done something terribly important here. But it is the beginning of the discussion, not the end, and space, money, and science all must be brought to bear as these discussions move forward. Most of all, Im pleased that hes pushed the discussion ahead by putting dolphins first indicating that the individual needs of the dolphins take priority over those of all others, including the public, scientists and donors. A suicidal woman who threatened to take her own life following a break-up was rescued on June 11 after she accidentally fell from the top of a high-rise and landed on a ledge. The drunk woman sat on the roof of the 18-storey building in Changsha for four hours however she could not be talked down, reports Huanqiu, affiliated with the People's Daily Online. She eventually lost her balance and fell miraculously landing on a ledge underneath. Saved by the ledge: Firefighters rushed to grab the woman from the ledge in fear of her falling again Miraculous landing: The woman who had been drinking fell from the ledge and landed on another ledge The woman can be heard screaming in video footage, angry that she is being rescued by the fire crew According to the report, the 24-year-old emotional woman surnamed Zhang was under the influence of alcohol before she went to the top of the building and sat on the edge. She allegedly sat there for four hours with her friends, family and the fire brigade trying to talk her down. One friend was able to get closer and try and talk to her. However she wouldn't listen. According to reports, she had been dumped by her boyfriend. She gave him a phone call demanding that they get back together again. The drunken girl eventually lost her balance and tumbled off the top of the building miraculously landing on a ledge underneath. Firefighters managed to grab hold of the woman despite her reluctant cries and pulled her back to safety. Zhang suffered no injuries during the ordeal and was taken to hospital for treatment. She is set to be charged by police for disturbing public order. Police also criticised her parents for not supporting her. For confidential support call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch, see www.samaritans.org for details. According to reports, she had been dumped by her boyfriend and had called him demanding they get together The male straddles the females back with his hands holding or resting on a leaf or branch for support Frogs are already known to have six mating moves in their romantic reptoire, and now experts have described a seventh. The Bombay night frog rips up the risque rulebook by straddling its partner instead of embracing her, in a move called the dorsal straddle. This froggy style mating position is thought to be unique among the 6,650 species of frogs and toads found across the world, making the male Bombay night frog quite the amphibian Casanova. The frog, Nyctibatrachus humayuni, is endemic to the Western Ghats Biodiversity hotspot of India, and has wrinkly, mottled skin, with short, plump limbs. Its one of an ancient group of frogs that diversified 70 to 80 million years ago and can now be seen calling from streams in large numbers at sunset during breeding season. A team of scientists from the University of Delhi, NCBS in Bangalore and the University of Minnesota discovered the creatures strange love-making technique, while conducting a survey during monsoon season in the Western Ghats, over 40 nights between 2010 and 2012. They have dubbed it the dorsal straddle, because the male straddles the females back with his hands holding or resting on a leaf or branch for support. This is unusual because most male frogs embrace the female during sex. Stranger, however, is that the male is thought to release his sperm over the females back while straddling her, before moving away. After that, the female lays her eggs, which are then fertilised by the sperm trickling down her wrinkly back. There is therefore no direct contact between the sexes during egg laying and fertilisation. FROGGY STYLE Researchers have dubbed the unusual technique the dorsal straddle, because the male straddles the females back with his hands holding or resting on a leaf or branch for support. This is unusual because most male frogs embrace the female during sex. Stranger, however, is that the male is thought to release his sperm over the females back while straddling her, before moving away. After that, the female lays her eggs, which are then fertilised by the sperm trickling down her wrinkly back. There is therefore no direct contact between the sexes during egg laying and fertilisation. Advertisement As seen in other species, female frogs usually lay eggs during embrace or amplexus, while the male releases his sperm to fertilise the eggs in the process. This is a remarkable frog with an unprecedented reproductive behaviour, which is unique for a number of reasons, said study leader Professor SD Biju, from the University of Delhi. This discovery is fundamental for understanding the evolutionary ecology and behaviour in anuran amphibians [frogs and toads]. The rare behaviour of this frog, described in the open journal PeerJ, does not end there. In a display of girl power, female Bombay night frogs call out for a mate during breeding season. This happens in just 25 frog species worldwide, with males more often taking the initiative to woo a partner. Fights between competing males are a common occurrence among Bombay night frogs. When a male intrudes the territory of another male, a fight ensues until the intruder is forcefully made to leave. The researchers also observed a snake eating the eggs of Bombay night frogs - the first time this has been documented in India. The researchers also observed a snake eating the eggs of Bombay night frogs - the first time this has been documented in India Using Speech to Text service, it can be done verbally while wearing the hat It then returns a classification, along with a confidence level for its answer The Sorting Hat is no longer confined to fiction a solutions architect for IBM Watson has developed a real-life version of the all-knowing Harry Potter artefact. Powered by multiple Watson services, the hat was trained to sort the wearer into one of the four Hogwarts 'Houses' based on distinctive character traits. The researchers have added animatronics to the design to bring their sorting hat to life, including a voice, a moving mouth, and colour-changing LED eyes, and the smart hat has even tested its abilities by sorting the presidential candidates. Scroll down for video The Sorting Hat is no longer confined to fiction a solutions architect for IBM Watson has developed a real-life version of the all-knowing Harry Potter artefact. Powered by multiple Watson services, the hat was trained to sort the wearer into one of the four Hogwarts 'Houses' WHICH HOUSE ARE YOU IN? Anderson and his daughter trained the hat to sort people among the four Hogwarts Houses. These are: Gryffindor - 'the brave and bold' Hufflepuff - 'the loyal and dependable' Ravenclaw - 'the clever and witty' Slytherin - 'the ambitious and often nasty' Advertisement Inspired by his two daughters' love for the Harry Potter series, Ryan Anderson set out to build a sorting hat, Tech Insider reports. In a blog post describing the project, Anderson explains how they used IBM Watson's Natural Language Classifier (NLC) and Speech to Text to create a mechanism that could differentiate between a 'Brave Gryffindor, Brainy Ravenclaw, Loyal Hufflepuff, and Nasty Slytherin' based on a brief verbal description. The NLC enables the hat to understand the 'intent behind text and returns a corresponding classification with associated confidence levels.' This feature was trained by 'Harry Potter #1 fan Lucy' Anderson's then seven-year-old daughter. Once the initial program was developed, its abilities were tested on political figures and other notable people using their Wikipedia pages. With this information, the sorting hat determined with 92 percent certainty that Hillary Clinton would be in House Ravenclaw, which is said to host the 'clever and witty.' But, it was less sure about Donald Trump. Based on the Republican candidate's top Wikipedia sentences, the hat says Trump would be a Gryffindor, who are known to be 'brave and bold' but it was only 48 percent certain. Other famous people were much more obvious in their placement, Anderson explains, such as Stephen Hawking. Inspired by his two daughters' love for the Harry Potter series, Ryan Anderson set out to build a sorting hat. The researchers added animatronics to the design to bring the hat to life, including a voice, a moving mouth, and colour-changing eyes. A scene from Harry Potter is shown on the left As expected, the cosmologist and theoretical physicists was sorted into 'brainy' House Ravenclaw, with 97 percent certainty. After the initial tests to prove it works, Anderson needed to add 'hardware, microphones, speakers, power supplies, hat materials, motors, lights, and speech to text and text to speech services,' along with a 'brain,' as he notes his youngest daughter pointed out. The mechanisms included Raspberry Pi 2B+ project board, Adruinos, YUN, and servos. The real-life sorting hat was taken to Science Hack Day in San Francisco this past October, where a team added the facial features and voice. It was even given LED eyes which turn a particular colour white/ blue, green, red, yellow depending on the House assignment. Today, Mars is a dry and desolate world with little geological activity - but it has not always been that way. Billions of years ago the surface of the planet was covered in oceans, ice sheets and erupting volcanoes that created the mountains that tower over the planet. Now new evidence collected by Nasa's Curiosity rover shows these ancient volcanoes might have been a lot more powerful than we had thought. The latest discovery contradicts the believe that Mars' volcanoes produced bubbling streams of lava. Scroll down for video Curiosity's instruments found a substance called tridymite - a kind of crystal that only forms on Earth as a result of extremely hot, silcic volcanoes. The tridymite was found in the Gale crater (pictured), a crater that spans 96 miles (154 kilometers) in diameter and holds a mountain rising from the crater floor WHAT IS TRIDYMITE? Curiosity's instruments found a substance called tridymite - a kind of crystal that only forms on Earth as a result of extremely hot, silcic volcanoes. Silicic volcanism is a highly explosive form of volcanic activity, which happens as tectonics plates move from the Earths outer shell into the Earths mantle and force water into the molten depths. The plates melt into magma, which is ejected out into the surface in a powerful eruption. Advertisement Curiosity's instruments found a substance called tridymite - a kind of crystal that only forms on Earth as a result of extremely hot, silcic volcanoes. The tridymite was found in the Gale crater, a crater that spans 96 miles (154 kilometers) in diameter and holds a mountain rising from the crater floor. 'The kind of volcano that would produce tridymite is usually very explosive,' lead author Richard Morris, a planetary scientist at Nasa, told Inverse. The findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, by scientists based at Nasa's Johnson Space Center, in Houston. A common form of Tridymite, ultra thin colorless tabulars (pictured), a kind of crystal that only forms on Earth as a result of extremely hot, silcic volcanoes It had been previously known ancient Mars hosted vast lakes of water, and the famous Gale crater 9artist's impression of sunset over Gale crater, shown) is thought to be one of these sites. This means the water in the Gale lake might have helped cause plate tectonic, which resulted in this kind of explosive volcano THE CARGO ROUTE TO MARS Earlier this year, SpaceX chief, Elon Musk, announced that he was 'planning to send Dragon to Mars as soon as 2018.' However, until now there was little in the way of details of the plans. Mr Musk has now shed light on his ambitions to send an unmanned spaceship to the red planet, which he believes could become a regular cargo route running every 26 months. Speaking to The Washington Post, Mr Musk, who is the chief executive of SpaceX, drew parallels between people crossing the oceans in centuries past to unknown worlds. He said that the journey to Mars was going to be 'hard, risky, dangerous and difficult', however he was confident people would still sign up to go because 'just as with the establishment of the English colonies, there are people who love that. They want to be the pioneers.' However, before SpaceX can begin to send people to the red planet, unmanned travel and a supply chain must be developed successfully. Advertisement Silicic volcanism is a highly explosive form of volcanic activity, which happens as tectonics plates move from the Earths outer shell into the Earths mantle and force water into the molten depths. The plates melt into magma, which is ejected out into the surface in a powerful eruption. There has been no evidence found for plate tectonics on Mars so far, so how the silcic volcanism occurred is a mystery. 'So we were surprised to find tridymite at Gale crater,' Morris said. 'The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover, Curiosity, has been exploring sedimentary rocks within Gale crater since landing in August 2012,' the authors wrote in the paper. Curiosity used its Mineralogy (CheMin) X-ray diffraction instrument to identify the tridymite. It had been previously known ancient Mars hosted vast lakes of water, and the famous Gale crater is thought to be one of these sites. This means the water in the Gale lake might have helped cause plate tectonics, which resulted in this kind of explosive volcano. Alternatively, there might be a different mechanism through which tridymite can form, which has not been observed on Earth. This is not the first evidence for geological activity on Mars. About 3.4 billion years ago, a big meteorite impact triggered the first tsunami wave, composed of liquid water, according to a study published earlier this year. The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover, Curiosity (pictured) has been exploring sedimentary rocks within Gale crater since landing in August 2012. It used its Mineralogy (CheMin) X-ray diffraction instrument to identify the tridymite Nasa, which is aiming for a human mission to Mars in the 2030s, said it will provide technical support for SpaceX's first foray, known as Red Dragon The news that gravitational waves had been seen for the first time astounded the scientific community when it was published in February this year. Researchers had detected the warping of space-time caused by a collision of two massive black holes, 30 times the size of the sun. Now a paper has been published offering an explanation as to how the black hole merger formed suggesting it is most likely to have come from a dense cluster of stars. Scroll down for video Last year researchers had detected the warping of space-time caused by a collision of two black holes, 30 times the size of the sun. Now a paper has been published offering an explanation as to how the black hole merger formed suggesting it is most likely to have come from a dense cluster of stars, like Messier 8, shown A COSMIC MOSH PIT Black holes form when a star reaches the end of its life and collapses in on itself. Dense globular clusters of stars form hundreds, even thousands of black holes. Out of these, the most massive gravitate towards the centre where they thrash around. They form pairs and swap partners in a kind of cosmic 'mosh pit' until eventually some get spat out and the process repeats. 'Once those kick each other out, either as single or binary black holes, the next-most massive black holes rush in and start a new mosh pit,' Dr Rodriguez told New Scientist. Advertisement A globular cluster is a densely packed spherical collection of stars orbitting a galactic core. 'It turns out that clusters might be one of the best ways to create a heavy binary black hole,' lead author Dr Carl Rodriguez said on hiswebsite. The signal detected last September and published in February came from a merger of two black holes, named GW150914. The historic signals were picked up by two advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatories (Ligo) in Louisiana and Washington. The discovery was the first time anyone had detected the warping of space-time caused by a collision of two massive black holes - something first predicted in Einstein's Theory of General Relativity in 1915. Dr Rodriguez and his team, from Northwestern University in Illinois had previously published a letter in Physical Review Letters that suggested that Ligo could detect dozens of binary black holes every year from globular clusters alone. At the start of the month, scientists in the Ligo Scientific Collaboration directly observed the ripples of gravitational waves (artist's impression shown) for the first time. Using the world's most sophisticated detector, the project scientists listened for 20 thousandths of a second as the two giant black holes circled WHAT ARE GRAVITATIONAL WAVES? Scientists view the the universe as being made up of a 'fabric of space-time'. This corresponds to Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, published in 1916. Objects in the universe bend this fabric, and more massive objects bend it more. Gravitational waves are considered ripples in this fabric. They can be produced, for instance, when black holes orbit each other or by the merging of galaxies. Gravitational waves are also thought to have been produced during the Big Bang. If found, they would not only confirm the Big Bang theory but also offer insights into fundamental physics. For instance, they could shed light on the idea that, at one point, most or all of the forces of nature were combined into a single force. In March 2014, a team operating the Bicep2 telescope, based near the South Pole, believed they had found gravitational waves, but their results were proven to be inaccurate. Advertisement There are two ways you can form binary black holes that produce gravitational waves. The first starts off with two stars already orbiting one another -a binary star. Then, once both stars die and collapse into black holes, they leave behind a binary black hole since they were already gravitational bound. 'The other main channel is the dynamical formation that we've considered in our paper,' Dr Rodriguez told MailOnline. 'Instead of starting off as a binary star, the black holes are born alone from single stars in the cluster. 'Then, because they are more massive than the typical star in the cluster, they rapidly sink into the cluster center, where they form a black hole mosh pit. 'After the news was reported in February the researchers set about to see how exactly a star clusters, like ones we see in the Milky Way, would create a binary black hole like the one Ligo observed.' The latest paper, published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters says the most likely way the merger formed was from a cluster. 'People started thinking about binary black holes from globular clusters about 20 years ago,' Dr Rodriguez told MailOnline. 'But it's only in the last few years that our computer power has gotten to the point where we can model globular clusters with realistic sizes.' 'Unlike the other ways that you can create a binary black hole, the binary black holes from globular clusters are formed through dynamics,' Dr Rodriguez said. 'That is, the black holes become concentrated in the center of the cluster, and can actually capture one another, forming a binary that gets ejected into space.' Gravitational waves are invisible ripples in the fabric of space and time caused by the movement of dense objects, like black holes. These waves spread out across the universe but have never been seen by scientists before the results published in February this year The paper's results also fit with the fact that one signal had been detected during the 14 days in which Ligo's signal was found. 'For the 14 days that LIGO reported around the detection of GW150914, our models say they should have seen anywhere from 0.05 to 0.7 mergers (and 0.7 is close enough to 1 for an astrophysicist),' Dr Rodriguez said. 'We also can predict that LIGO should have seen anywhere from 0.2 to 2 mergers in the whole 50 days that they ran the detector this time,' he added. But the simulations do not rule out the possibility that a lone pair of stars created the black holes that gave us GW150914, Ligo team member Professor Bangalore Sathyaprakash from Cardiff University told New Scientist. 'We need a lot more data to determine by which of these two channels binary black holes generally form,' he says. 'In fact, both of these scenarios might be at work.' Putting more bobbies on the beat really does cut crime even if they are just police community support officers, research suggests. It found targeting high-crime areas with PCSOs, who have fewer powers than police constables, saved 56 in prison costs for every 10 spent on extra manpower. The officers spent just over ten minutes twice a day patrolling 34 hot spots where crimes were statistically more likely to happen. Having PCSOs patrol for an extra 21 minutes a day could save 280,000 a year in prison costs, according to new research from Cambridge University Just having a visible police presence reduced 999 calls by 20 per cent and led to 39 per cent fewer reported crimes, the research found. In all, the extra 21 minutes of patrols a day in the 34 areas cost 50,000 over the year of the study equivalent to the salaries of two full-time PCSOs. Researchers from the Institute of Criminology at Cambridge University said the study showed traditional foot patrols were more effective than a reactive fire brigade approach to policing. PCSOs were studied, the team said, because given budgetary constraints in British policing, they are for the most part the only officers who conduct proactive and visible foot patrols. They added that because the officers have very limited powers, they wanted to test whether potential criminals would be discouraged by even the most minimal threat of arrest. Basic PCSO powers include issuing fines, confiscating alcohol from minors and asking police to arrest a suspect. The researchers equipped the officers with GPS tracking devices. They then monitored patrols at 34 random crime hot spots in Peterborough a city which experienced 6.85 crimes per 100 residents in 2013, slightly above the UK average of 6.57. The study contradicts previous research by Kent Police Authority in 2008 which found apart from vehicle offences, the presence of PCSOs did little to reduce crime The study compared offences in these areas known for high rates of crimes such as burglary, assault and criminal damage with control hot spots given no increased police presence. It found that, on average, there were 39 per cent fewer crimes reported and 20 per cent fewer 999 calls to the police in areas with extra patrols. WI-FI DEVICES COULD HELP POLICE Information from Wi-Fi devices could place people at the scene of a crime. Routers have access to vital information from smartphones, tablets and wearable technology which could place work out who was in the area when an incident took place. Dan Blackman, a PhD candidate at Edith Cowan University in Australia, and technical adviser to Western Australia Police, thinks that police are missing out on this key source of information. Wi-Fi devices captures chatter from mobile devices, which includes successful and failed attempts to log onto a network, as well as the amount of times tried. In addition, the gadgets capture a media access control (MAC) address from mobile devices, which are unique identifiers for each phone, laptop or tablet, which try to connect to the network. Advertisement The additional 21 minutes a day for each area amounted to 3,094 hours over a year, roughly equivalent to two full-time PCSOs. Using a measure called The Cambridge Crime Harm Index, the authors said the extra patrols prevented crime amounting to 2,914 days around eight years of imprisonment, which would have cost the taxpayer 280,000. The study, published in the Journal of Experimental Criminology, concluded that every 10 spent on foot patrols prevented a further 56 in prison costs. The latest research contradicts some previous reports. A study by Kent Police Authority in 2008 said that apart from vehicle offences there was little relationship between the presence of a PCSO and a reduction in crime. Numbers of PCSOs who unlike PCs can be made redundant have been slashed due to cutbacks. Professor Lawrence Sherman, leader of the Cambridge study, said: We could be preventing a lot more violent and property crimes... with a policy of deploying officers in this way, a way most UK police forces dont follow. A biblical plague of voracious moths from continental Europe have arrived in the UK this week. Diamondback moths which are arriving on British shores have arrived in their tens of millions in the past few days with more expected. The numbers of the super pest insect - are 100 times higher than in previous years and are expected to have a devastating effect on cabbages and other vegetables. Diamondback moths (pictured) have arrived in their tens of millions in the past few days with more expected. Crop experts have warned the animals could have a devastating effect on cabbages and other vegetables PEST MOTHS HIT THE UK Experts say tens of millions of the insects have arrived on the UK's shores. Numbers are hundreds of times higher than they have been previously. They feast on green leafy vegetables, so could decimate cabbage crops. Crop scientists warn the animals could have a devastating effect on cabbages and other leafy vegetables. Advertisement Once the bugs lay their eggs, the eggs take around four or five days and the moths larvae chew through their leaves leaving just the veins. The warning was sounded by the Rothamsted Research institute in Harpenden, Hertfordshire. Using their Twitter feed @migrantmothUK, the institute reported a two mile cloud of moths on Saturday night at Leominster with one Twitter user reporting it was like driving through rain. Steve Nash of Rothamsted, who runs the feed, said further moths are on their way with devastating results. He said: Once the progeny of this influx arrives in mid-July, numbers could be biblical. Diamondback moth - pic taken in barley field in Peterborough this Wednesday, were quite a few @Warwickpestnews pic.twitter.com/0EWnTdpQ7C Toby Bruce (@Toby_Bruce) June 11, 2016 Dr Steve Foster, of Rothamsted Research said: There are swarms of them, a bit like plagues of locusts - there are so many of them that they seem like a brown cloud. Dr Foster and colleagues are urgently working on identifying an insecticide that can be used against them a process which could take a few weeks. If no effective spray can be found, he said cabbages, cauliflower, broccoli and oil seed rape could be devastated. The bugs lay their eggs on the undersides of leaves, and the clutch takes around four or five days to hatch Dr Foster told the BBC: Hopefully there will be an Achilles heel and one of the insecticides available to growers will work out. But if you haven't got anything available what you can do apart from sit down and pray, because they are just going to destroy your crops? Chris Shortall, who produces a survey of moths each year at Rothamsted for conservation purposes reported exceptionally high numbers of diamond back moths in traps at the research centre. His network of monitors around the country had also noticed an upsurge, and had reported that hundreds of the moths had been caught in traps each night instead of just one or two as normal. Mr Shortall said: I'm concerned for cabbage and cauliflower growers which is why I wanted to get this information out as quickly as possible. What I've seen so far is the moth community saying 'we are seeing all these moths isn't it great. A trap in Oxfordshire collected 173 moths in one night, another in Guernsey collected 310, in Bedfordshire it was 260, in North Yorkshire it was 71, in County Durham it was 61 and in Berkshire more than 1,000 were trapped over three nights. Once hatched, the moth larvae (pictured) chew through the leaves at a rapid rate leaving just the veins The Diamondback moth has also been found in large numbers in in Kirton, Lincolnshire and Wellesbourne, Warwickshire. Mark Parsons, Head of Moth Conservation at Butterfly Conservation said: Diamond-back Moths arrive in this country annually, sometimes in reasonable numbers. The recent immigration seems to be unusual in its large number, but it is not without precedent, the moth has appeared in large numbers before. Why they arrived was probably due to following winds from their likely breeding grounds. Although we don't know where this is for certain yet it was probably somewhere in Eastern Europe. It's often said that cats are secretly plotting against their human companions and now, researchers say they may even be using physics to know your every move. According to a new study in Japan, cats use a combined understanding of cause and effect principles and some elements of physics to predict the location of unseen prey based on sound. Researchers say these skills may be favoured by their natural hunting style, as they often hunt in areas of poor visibility. According to a new study in Japan, cats use a combined understanding of cause and effect principles and even elements of physics to predict the location of unseen prey based on sound WHAT THE STUDY FOUND The researchers found that cats spent more time looking at containers that were accompanied by a noise when shaken. They say this suggests that they used an understanding of physical laws to infer whether or not an object would appear. The cats were also found to stare longer at containers in an incongruent setup, suggesting they may have a rudimentary understanding of gravity, which was challenged by the conditions of the experiment. Advertisement Researchers from Kyoto University investigated whether cats could infer the presence of a hidden object and predict its appearance based on auditory stimuli. The team videotaped the responses of thirty cats to different noise-based scenarios. In a series of tests, an experimenter shook a container and simultaneously produced either a rattling sound, or no sound at all. Information from the environment is often limited to specific sensory modalities; for instance, a cat may hear but not see a target object, the authors wrote in a paper published to the journal Animal Cognition. When animals perceive incomplete information, they may have to complete the remaining parts from other available clues. Sound was used to imply that there was an object inside the container, while no sound would suggest it was empty. Then, the container was turned over to drop an object, or reveal that there had been nothing inside. In some cases, the experimental conditions lined up with the laws of physics if there was no sound during the shaking, no object would fall out of the container, but if there had been a sound, an object would appear. Other times, however, the conditions were incongruent. The team videotaped the responses of thirty cats to different scenarios in which the experimenter shook a container and produced either a rattling sound, or no sound at all IS YOUR CAT PLOTTING TO KILL YOU? Last year, a study carried out between the University of Edinburgh and Bronx Zoo compared our beloved domestic cat with its wilder relatives. A total of 100 cats, from two different shelters in Scotland were used in the experiment, whilst the other animals were examined from zoos and animal sanctuaries in the UK and USA. Compared with the snow leopard, the Scottish wildcat and the African lion, researchers found domestic cats shared similar characteristics of aggression and neurotic behaviour. Dominance, impulsiveness and neurotic behaviour are the most common trait shared between the domestic cat and the wild cat. The researchers used a testing method known as the 'Big Five' personality test: Openness to Experience, Extraversion/Introversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Neuroticism. According to the study, only their size prevents the domestic cat from being able to unleash its full predatory qualities. Advertisement This meant that turning the container over after making a rattling sound would not produce an object, while the no sound scenario would then lead to something falling out. When analysing the responses, the team found that cats spent more time looking at containers that were accompanied by a noise when shaken. According to the researchers, this suggests that they used an understanding of physical laws to infer whether or not an object would appear. When analysing the responses, the team found that cats spent more time looking at containers that were accompanied by a noise when shaken. This suggests that they used an understanding of physical laws to infer whether or not an object would appear The cats were also found to stare longer at containers in an incongruent setup, suggesting they may have a rudimentary understanding of gravity, which was challenged by the conditions of the experiment. Cats use a causal-logical understanding of noise or sounds to predict the appearance of invisible objects, says Saho Takagi, who led the study. It's thought growth has been sped up as warming Over the last few decades, a rapidly growing crater has shaken the Siberian taiga with terrifying 'booms,' causing locals to believe it is the 'Gateway to the Underworld.' Since the massive Batagaika Crater opened suddenly toward the end of the last century, it has expanded at a rate of roughly 60 feet each year, now stretching almost a mile long. While it may not actually be a portal to the next life, scientists have their own concerns regarding the 'megaslump,' as it hints at the threats of melting permafrost due to climate change. Scroll down for video Over the last few decades, a rapidly growing crater has shaken the Siberian taiga with terrifying 'booms,' causing locals to believe it is the 'Gateway to the Underworld.' The Batagaika Crater expands at roughly 60 feet each year, and stretches almost a mile long WHAT CAUSED THE CRATER The Batagaika Crater initially began to form after the clearing of forest land in the 1960s. Warming temperatures later sped up the process, causing the layers of soil on the surface and below to sink as permafrost melted. In 2008, major flooding made the depression even larger. Researchers now classify the Batagaika Crater as a megaslump a massive hollow created as a result of melting permafrost. It is over 300 feet deep, and expands at a rate of roughly 60 feet each year. Advertisement The monstrous sounds are likely produced by falling soil, The Siberian Times reports, but locals are afraid to approach the ever-growing gash in the landscape. For scientists, however, the structure provides insight on the past and future conditions of the Earth. The enormous crater sits near the village of Batagai, in the Verkhoyansk district, and reaches depths of more than 300 feet. This region is one of the coldest places in the world. A recent expedition to the site revealed that the soil once frozen in permafrost is roughly 200,000 years old. Researchers now classify the Batagaika Crater as a megaslump a massive hollow created as a result of melting permafrost. While slumps are common in the Arctic, some scientists consider Batagaika to be an anomaly, according to Motherboard. Dr. Julian Murton of the University of Sussex, one of few people studying the site, says the crater will likely keep growing and it won't be the only one. The dramatic slumping now seen in Siberia hasn't occurred since the Earth moved from the Palaeolithic Ice Age into the current Holocene, a transition period which took place 10,000 years ago, the researcher tells Motherboard. The monstrous sounds are likely produced by falling soil, but locals are afraid to approach the ever-growing gash in the landscape. For scientists, however, the structure provides insight on the past and future conditions of the Earth The enormous crater sits near the village of Batagai, in the Verkhoyansk district, and reaches depths of more than 300 feet. This region is one of the coldest places in the world But in recent decades, numerous similar craters have opened up in Siberia, and many scientists believe this is a result of the warming temperatures from global climate change. The Batagaika Crater initially began to form after the clearing of forest land in the 1960s; warming temperatures then sped up the process, causing the layers of soil on the surface and below to sink as permafrost melted. In 2008, major flooding made the depression even larger. Murton has been visiting the Batagaika Crater since 2009, working with the Institute of Applied Ecology of the North at the North-East Federal University in Yakutsk. Murton has been visiting the Batagaika Crater since 2009, working with the Institute of Applied Ecology of the North at the North-East Federal University in Yakutsk In the past, researchers at the site have found the remains of ancient bison, horses, elk, mammoths, and reindeer, some dating back as far as 4,400 years. They've even discovered the mummified body of a bison calf. Advertisement The city of Cairo is among one of the oldest, continuously inhabited places in the world. It started life close to 2,000 years ago, under Roman occupation, but was only given its current name around 1,000 years ago. The English name of Cairo is in fact a derivative of its Arabic name Al-Qahirah, meaning The Victorious. These vintage images, taken between 1900 and 1936, illustrate life in the Egyptian capital at a time when it was experiencing rapid population growth according to Mashable. They reveal everyday life in the city as well as the timeless tourism appeal and mesmerising sights that have captured the imagination of travellers throughout history. The Giza pyramids outside Cairo, pictured in 1936. The English name of Cairo is in fact a derivative of its Arabic name, Al-Qahirah, meaning The Victorious Taken in 1934, a man and a boy lead a donkey and two camels, carrying jugs of water and boxes, along the road Pictured in 1934, the cargo boats, heavily laden with goods, are docked in a canal off the Nile river A bustling street in Old Cairo, pictured in 1934, showing children playing by themselves while the adults went about their business Left, the view Mosque of Ibn Touloun, captured in 1900; right, rows of felucca boats on the Nile also in 1900 Taken in 1936, this image shows a farmer standing by the floodplains of the Nile river with the breath-taking pyramids in the background Left, a snake charmer pictured in the 1900, surrounded by a crowd; right, an obelisk near the city, pictured in 1934 Left, outside Cairo station in 1900, the street vendors are busy tending to their wares; right, the entrance to a Nile bridge, Kasr En-Nil, pictured in 1900 This photograph, taken while the Nile has flooded its banks around 1900, shows a tree partially submerged and the waters getting precariously close to the temples in the foreground Left, a man and his donkeys are pictured standing outside the Mosque of Kait Bey in 1900; right, the Cairo donkey market, also in 1900 Times are changing: A felucca sails past a steamboat on the Nile in this image from 1920 which juxtaposes the old and new world Left, a group of boatmen eat their lunch together by the side of the Nile, pictured in 1934; right, pictured in 1934, people gathered outside the south entrance of Mosque of al-Azhar Left and right, both pictured in 1934, showing men getting their shoes polished on the side of the road by shoe shiners Left, a group of men wait on the side of the road while their donkeys feed on grain in 1900; right, a camel-drawn bridal party going to a wedding, pictured in 1900 This image, taken in 1939, shows a felucca boat sailing down the Nile - a sight that can still be seen today Left, a woman wearing the traditional outfit of the time in 1900; right, a lemonade vendor pictured in 1900 carrying an unusual contraption Left, a man and his donkey outside Mosque of Emir Akhor in 1900; right, the scene in Muski street in 1900 In this photograph taken in 1934, fishermen cast their nets into the Nile water as it gushes around them Left, a man waits outside Sultan el-Ashraf's tomb and mosque, pictured in 1900; right, a man standing with his back to the necropolis, the city of the dead, in Cairo, also in 1900 Another shot of a busy street, taken in 1934, shows a trader walking with his goods on a tray on top of his head Merely thinking of your financial future can render headaches. Navigating all the circumstances that affect the stability of your finances can feel like an arcane endeavor, and it's especially true for Millennials. Millennials are facing a different financial landscape than previous generations. Compared to previous generations, they have the lowest credit scores and use credit less, according to an Experian report. A TransUnion survey revealed that while 32 percent of Millennials plan on purchasing a home within a year, 43 percent of them currently hold a subprime credit score. For Millennials who have establishing financial stability on their mind, Jeanene Smith of West Michigan Credit Union (WMCU) said their launching off point depends on what kind of credit they might already have established. In WMCU's case, they consider average credit in the 600-650 range, and great credit as over 680. "It can be tough to achieve that score," Smith said. "To tell somebody to get to that ultimate number is difficult." When you're already facing low credit, building credit is potentially an arduous path. Many bring on their parents as cosigners initially for small loans as means of establishing credit. Smith said WMCU is open to offer small, unsecured loans to those wishing to build credit. "As a credit union, it's about building and establishing a relationship to help them get there," she said. If you're in a position to open a credit card, start with something you can easily afford, manage and pay off every month -- thus, establishing a payment history. By making small purchases on a credit card and paying them off before the due date, you're building a credit history and avoiding interest charges. Being in a position to save, save and save some more is another critical aspect of financial stability. Avoid spending money on instant gratification as much as possible. You need to budget within your means, and as Renee Wawrzyniak of WMCU put it, you should even budget now for the way you want to live in the future. "Live currently how you want to live in the future," she said. "For example, if you see yourself with a $1,000 mortgage in the near future, but you currently pay less than that while you rent now, budget as if you are making that mortgage payment every month. That way you understand what you need to do and budget for the future." Building credit and achieving financial stability can be a difficult task if you never received education centered on it. Pair that with rising living costs and the fact that purchases can be made at the click of a button -- before you've even contemplated how it would affect your finances -- and the challenges for Millennials are definitely there. West Michigan Credit Union recognizes those challenges and that is why they are committed to building a relationship with their members. Michelle Koziel of WMCU said they are in the process of implementing special teen/student accounts that include educational benefits. "We tend to get to know our members and their families," Smith said. "We're here to help them. They can rely on us." Visit westmichigancu.com for more information. Advertisement Mount Rushmore in South Dakota is one of the most recognisable landmarks in the United States, featuring in numerous Hollywood films such as Team America: World Police, National Treasure: Book of Secrets and North By Northwest. But it turns out that the sculpture is even more of a mystery than the adventure movies portray it as - behind the chiseled granite showing Abraham Lincoln's head is a hidden room. When he planned the monument, sculptor Gutzon Borglum had wanted to create a much larger image that included several important moments in America history as well as the images of presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. Mount Rushmore in South Dakota has a hidden room behind Abraham Lincoln's head The Hall of Records - a hidden room that would tell the story of the US to future generations, including the country's charter documents - is through a doorway behind the four presidents' heads Sadly, tourists visiting Mount Rushmore are not able to access the Hall Of Records because its location is too difficult to reach The images of presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln on Mount Rushmore Unfortunately his plan was too intricate to be completed and Gutzon had to settle for the four presidents, but he was also allowed to start work on a Hall of Records - a hidden room that would tell the story of the US to future generations, including the country's charter documents. The government approved the idea but asked the sculptor to focus on finishing the presidents' heads before starting work on the Hall of Records. When Gutzon died before the project was finished, the Hall work ground to a halt for several decades. Eventually, in the late 1990s the project was revived to an extent and the chamber room was completed. The view of the outside from the entrance of the Hall of Records The beginning of the Hall Of Records, which started in the 1920s but was only completed in the 1990s Mount Rushmore in South Dakota is one of the most recognisable landmarks in the United States, featuring in numerous Hollywood films, such as North By Northwest Several porcelain enamel panels featuring the American history, Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights were placed inside the room as well as a biography of Gutzon, in a teakwood box that was locked in a titanium vault. The idea is that the vault will be opened in thousands of years' time by another civilisation so that they can learn more about us. Sadly, tourists visiting Mount Rushmore are not able to access the Hall Of Records though because its location is too difficult to reach. An American Airlines plane bound for San Francisco had to return to Phoenix's airport after part of the engine cover was ripped off during take-off. An astonishing photo taken by a passenger on the flight has emerged that shows the wiring and electronics exposed in mid-air after the panel fell to the ground. American Airlines spokeswoman Polly Tracey said the carrier is working to determine what caused the part a removable engine cover known as a cowling to come loose. This photo taken by passenger Ken Papagno from inside the plane shows the damage to the engine Tracey added that the part was recovered on Sky Harbor property, and no one was injured. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said that the incident occurred about 8.30am local time on Monday and the plane landed safely about 20 minutes later at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. He added the FAA are also investigating the incident. Flight 403, with 136 passengers aboard, was delayed almost three hours before it departed Phoenix for San Francisco International Airport. A spokesperson for American Airlines told MailOnline Travel: 'American Airlines flight 403 from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport to (PHX) to San Francisco International Airport (SFO) returned to Phoenix and landed safely after a part of an engine cowling came loose. 'We have notified the FAA and are working to determine what caused the part to come loose. We apologize to our customers for the delay.' American Airlines has confirmed it, along with the Federal Aviation Administration, is investigating the mishap (file photo) Last month MailOnline Travel reported how a Delta flight with more than 100 passengers on board was forced to make an emergency landing in Nashville after turbulence ripped off the engine cover. The Delta Flight 762 was travelling from Atlanta to Chicago on Mother's Day when it hit turbulence at 28,000ft, over Cleveland. The cowling (engine cover) flew off and hit part of the fuselage, leaving marks that could be seen when the plane landed. The engine lights immediately went on and the pilot was forced to land the plane unexpectedly at Nashville International Airport, WTVF reported. But the 109 passengers on board and five crew made it down safely, according to a statement released by Delta at the time. Osteria Francescana in Modena, Italy, has been awarded the coveted first position in an annual list of the best restaurants in the world. Chef patron Massimo Bottura is known for his eccentric reinterpretation of Italian cuisine, including a dish called 'Oops! I dropped the lemon tart', where the dessert is deliberately dropped onto the plate before being served to diners. The World's 50 Best Restaurant list, revealed in an awards ceremony in New York on Monday evening, also saw last year's number one, El Celler de Can Roca in Girona, Spain, fall to second place. Chef patron Massimo Bottura, known for his eccentric reinterpretation of Italian cuisine, has been given the top spot in the World's 50 Best list for the first time One of the dishes on the menu is a dessert called 'Oops! I dropped the lemon tart' (pictured), where the tart is deliberately dropped onto the plate before being served to diners Osteria Francescana's Massimo Bottura with wife Lara after receiving the award on Monday night in New York The three Michelin-starred Osteria Francescana, run by 53-year-old chef patron Massimo Bottura, has been in the top 10 for several years running but this is the first time the restaurant has been voted number one. Speaking at the the award ceremony, the chef said: 'We did something epic.' The restaurant is known for its reinterpretation of traditional Italian cuisine. According to the list's organisers: 'The chef's ambitious creations perfectly balance the demands of honouring heritage while embracing modernity.' This year's list has seen perhaps the biggest change in the top 10 since the list began in 2002. Second place in the list has been taken by El Celler de Can Roca, which also has three Michelin stars. The restaurant in Girona is run by the three Roca brothers and was previous year's number one. In third position is yet another three Michelin-starred restaurant, New York's Eleven Madison Park while in fourth position is Central in Lima, Peru. Former winner Noma in Copenhagen, which is set to close later this year, remains in the top 10 but has slipped to number five. Massimo Bottura is known for his eccentric reinterpretation of Italian cuisine, such as the one above Osteria Francescana currently has three Michelin stars and has previously been in the top 10 of the list OTHER AWARDS FROM THE LIST Lifetime Achievement Award: Alain Passard, chef at Arpege, Paris, France Worlds Best Pastry Chef: Pierre Herme, owner of Pierre Herme macarons in Paris, France One To Watch Award: Restaurant Den in Tokyo, Japan Worlds Best Female Chef: Dominique Crenn, chef at Atelier Crenn and Petit Crenn, San Francisco, USA Sustainable Restaurant Award: Restaurant Relae in Copenhagen, Denmark Advertisement Three restaurants dropped off from last year's top 10. Heston Blumenthal's London restaurant Dinner, which was number seven last year, has fallen all the way to number 45, meaning that there are no UK restaurants in the top 10 this year. Aside from London's Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, Gaggan in Bangkok slid to number 23 and D.O.M. in San Paulo dipped to number 11. Asador Etxebarri in Spain, Steirereck in Austria, Narisawa in Japan and Mirazur in France have all entered the top 10 for the first time. More than half of the restaurants in the top 50 are in Europe. Six are in the United States; six in South America and five in Asia. Monday's ceremony also handed out individual chef awards. Pierre Herme was named world's top pastry chef, while Alain Passard, whose Paris restaurant Arpege landed on number 19 on the latest list, was given the lifetime achievement award. Dominique Crenn, who owns acclaimed Atelier Crenn and Petit Crenn in San Francisco, was recognized as the world's best female chef. The list, compiled by trade publication Restaurant magazine since 2002, was based the personal experiences of 972 chefs, restaurateurs, food writers and culinary experts, instead of a list of pre-determined criteria. The Best 50 list has gained prominence among chefs around the globe, rivaling the longstanding Michelin guides with its star system. This year's awards was the first time the global list has been presented outside of London. Melbourne will be hosting the awards in 2017. Chefs featured in the World's 50 Best Restaurants list in a group photo in New York on Monday night Massimo Bottura (centre) is pictured after the awards with the Roca brothers Joan (left), Jordi (second from left) and Josep (right) Flying parallel or in formation is something you might associate with the Blue Angels or Red Arrows. Yet one passenger filmed the incredible moment their plane landed in sync with another commercial aircraft at San Francisco International Airport in a manoeuvre one pilot said was 'like an airborne display'. The video, shared on YouTube, filmed from inside the cabin of the plane approaching the right-hand side runway, shows a United Airlines aircraft outside the window coming in to land on its left. The two planes fly over San Francisco Bay as they make their in-sync approach to the airport The aircraft maintain the same speeds as they prepare for touch down on two of the airport's four runways The plane to the left is clearly identifiable as a United Airlines aircraft. The carrier the footage was filmed from is not known The two fly over San Francisco bay ready to touch down on two of the airport's four runways. And maintaining the same speeds and keeping their true lines, the planes land in sync safely. One serving pilot, who wishes to remain anonymous, says that while in this particular case it was 'not dangerous', due to good weather and the fact that the landings were coordinated by air traffic control, aircraft would normally be separated. 'The main reason for not having two aircraft next to each other like this on an approach would be firstly concerning turbulence created by vortex winds - for example the possibility of one aircraft being blown across the other,' he told MailOnline Travel. 'This would be dependent on the wind direction and strength, so might not be a factor in this case. 'And another reason would be if they both lost an engine at the same time and veered into each other. When an engine is lost the thrust from the 'good' engine creates a sideways force, until the plane or pilot corrects the movement.' He concluded that the clip shows that the planes are 'a bit like being part of an airborne display'. One serving pilot has said that parallel landings are rare in case of severe turbulence that could blow one plane into the other There is also the threat of engine blow-out, that could see one plane veer off to the side, and in this case, it could have been a disaster Thankfully both planes made a safe landing. Air traffic control would have been fully aware of the in-sync landing at San Francisco Airport BALPA Flight Safety Specialist Stephen Landells added: 'Closely Spaced Parallel Runway operations' are a safe and normal procedure at airports around the world. 'Pilots are highly dedicated, skilled professionals who undergo regular training and testing throughout their careers to ensure every flight is safe and comfortable for the travelling public. 'While this type of procedure gives an interesting view out of the window for passengers, it is well within the capability of the pilots and the aircraft.' Plane landings are seen by many as a work of art in themselves. Probably the most famous, and incredible, are the landings of passenger planes on the Caribbean island of Saint Martin. Approaching Princess Juliana International Airport, aircraft come astonishingly close to those relaxing on Maho Beach and it makes for terrific footage. Maho Beach is located on the Dutch side of the Caribbean island of Saint Martin, in the territory of Sint Maarten. Aircraft are forced to land so closely to the beach so they can touch down at the start of the short runway, which is around 7,500 feet in length. Advertisement Most round-the-world sailors would want to travel with expert navigators - but one man has decided to do make the journey with his pet hen instead. Guirec Soudee, from Brittany, France, has been travelling around the world with his pet, Monique, for the past two years. But his feathered friend is more than just a companion - she also keeps the 24-year-old Frenchman fit and healthy with her eggs. Scroll down for video Guirec Soudee (right), from Brittany, France, and his hen Monique (left) have been sailing around the world since 2014 The Frenchman and his feathered bird are currently stationed in Greenland where this picture was taken. The fearless bird is clearly not scared of the cold Left, Soudee and Monique enjoying the view on the boat and right Monique demonstration her boat 'house training' Soudee was given the bird in the Canary Islands and Monique has been more than just a companion as she also lays eggs for him. Above, they share a bowl of noodles on board their boat Soudee has described himself as being adventurous from a young age on his website. He left home at 18 and travelled to Australia before making his slow migration back to Europe to embark on his current sailing adventures. It was in the Canary Islands that he first met Monique, who was given to him as a gift. The sailor wrote on his website: 'It was love at first sight!' Soudee and Monique are currently travelling on a 30-year-old boat called Yvinec. The Frenchman has been documenting his adventures on Facebook and Instagram, attracting the attention of thousands of fans with his unusual travel companion. After setting off from the Canary Islands in May 2014, they travelled across the Atlantic to the Caribbean. Soudee and Monique are currently travelling on a 30-year-old boat called Yvinec having started their journey in May 2014 The young traveller hopped that the hen might provide him with sustenance on his sea journeys, which she has more than delivered by laying 25 eggs during the 28-day transatlantic crossing The young traveller hoped that the hen might provide him with sustenance on his sea journeys, which she has more than delivered by laying 25 eggs during the 28-day transatlantic crossing. With just pennies to their name when they arrived, the pair had to stay in St Barths to prepare their ship and to earn money for the rest of their journey. While in the Caribbean, they also explored the Grenadines and British Virgin Islands. In August 2015, they reached Greenland, where they're planning to stay until they decide where to go next. Soudee hopes that through his adventures, he will 'help people to realise their dreams, to live their passions, to encourage them to face their fears and discover their hidden resources'. He also hopes that his journey will raise awareness for environmental preservation. On a separate note, Soudee is more than happy to have a human travelling companion. He wrote: 'Ladies, do not hesitate to apply, all applications will be considered carefully!' They reached Greenland in August 2015, where they're planning to stay until they decide where in the world to go next Keeping warm: Despite the obvious cold weather, Monique seems to be happy to step in the snow with just a woolly jumper on With a population of 320million spread across 3.8million square miles, it's no surprise that America's 50 states differ hugely in terms of personality and geography. But in a new online discussion, locals have shed light on what they think is the worst feature of each individual state. From bad cellphone service in Vermont to meth addiction in Missouri, locals are letting off steam about what is dragging their part of the country down. Scroll down for video Vermont local, Dukeof3arl said: 'It's all centralized in basically two parts - the Green Mountain ski areas and the Burlington area. The rest is just a vast expanse of dairy farms and bad cellphone service.' In the new Reddit thread, everything from tornadoes and blistering heat, to lack of water and cannabis tourism are listed as top concerns in answer to the question: 'What sucks most about your state?' The US is the world's third largest nation by total area and as a result, the climate in different parts of the country varies greatly, meaning the weather is a source of irritation for many. For example, Hysterymystery said of living in Indiana: 'The cost of living in Indiana is super reasonable, but I wish the weather didn't suck so much. Summers are So. F******. Hot. 'There are lots of hot miserable places in the country to be in the summer, but the thing that makes Indiana rotten is the fact that we don't get a mild season where we can enjoy the outdoors - we just have blistering, two weeks of moderate, cold as balls.' Oklahoma residents said the state's abundance of tornadoes was high up on its list of cons Meanwhile an Oklahoma resident said they were mainly worried about tornadoes and a Californian said that the worst thing about living on the West Coast was the lack of water. In Michigan, residents had complained about the weather - but mainly because of the effect it had on the state's roads. A user called MichiganRXsaid: 'The potholes, due to the s***ty winters.' Drugs were also an enormous bugbear for locals in many states, although the type of drug and the reason for their annoyance varied greatly, for example one Massachusetts resident said the worst thing about his area was the heroin addict problem. A user called TooDangShort said of Missouri: 'Missouri - come for the meth, stay because you traded your car for meth. 'SO. MUCH. METH.' In Colorado however, the issue with drugs came from the state's decision to legalise cannabis, making it a hotpot for marijuana tourism. Legalising cannabis has led to a huge influx of marijuana tourism in Colorado A user called BoomerKeith said: 'The weed immigrants. I'm happy it was legalized (and I don't even use it), but I wasn't expecting the immigration. 'We were barely hanging on with our infrastructure as it was, and now it's just ridiculous. I really wish the states that haven't legalized it would hurry up and do so!' Other states had problems with alcohol, namely that their access was more restricted to booze than other states. A user called Cisforcookie2112 said that living in Minnesota meant there were no liquor stores open on Sunday, while Don said of living in New York State: 'Stores can only sell one of beer or liquor, not both. 'Supermarkets usually have beer and liquor stores have, well, liquor...gets annoying at times.' New York State has difficult alcohol laws that don't allow beer and spirits to be sold in the same shop For others, just the basic geography of their state was hard to stomach, including Vermont, with Dukeof3arl saying: 'It's all centralized in basically two parts - the Green Mountain ski areas and the Burlington area. 'The rest is just a vast expanse of dairy farms and bad cellphone service.' Another user called PM-ME-UR-BADONK said of Rhode Island: We are called Rhode Island even though the state is not an island.' While for residents of New Mexico, the biggest con of living in the state started with the name itself. A user called Capri1722 said: 'New Mexico - Yes, it's a state. Yes, I'm American. No, you don't need a passport to visit me and the reason my English is so good is because it is my first language. 'It's such a problem that New Mexico Magazine publishes a monthly column called "One Of Our 50 Is Missing" that's about people who don't believe or don't know that New Mexico is a state.' Others complained that their region has a misleading reputation, with Washington known as the Evergreen state many were surprised at how much of it is barren. User PacSan300 said: 'Surprised me when I found out that only 1/3 of Washington (and Oregon) look like the stereotypical Pacific Northwest, with pine trees, snow-capped volcanoes, and rain. Didn't realize most of it is desert.' A police officer was allegedly injured while arresting two 'drunk' Scottish passengers after they were stopped from boarding a plane. The two males, aged 28 and 30, were arrested by police at the gate at Glasgow Airport after airline Jet2 made the decision to refuse travel due to their reportedly highly intoxicated state. They were set to fly out to Alicante. Two 'drunk' Scottish men were stopped from boarding a Jet2 flight out of Glasgow to Alicante (file photo) The airline had already been made aware of the pair thanks to Glasgow Airport and Police Scotland's initiative to identify disruptive passenger behaviour in the terminal. The 28-year-old was also charged with resisting arrest, which Jet2 allege led to the injury of the police officer. In addition Jet2.com has banned them both for life. Phil Ward, managing director of Jet2.com, said: 'Our Onboard Together initiative commits us to stamping out disruptive passenger behaviour to protect our customers, staff and airport colleagues. 'This pair's behaviour was totally unacceptable and it's shocking that their reported actions led to a police officer being injured. 'We thank both Police Scotland and Glasgow Airport for their continued support and zero tolerance stance. Passengers should be in no doubt that the consequences of drunken and offensive behaviour both in airports and on aircraft do lead to arrests, charges and bans.' The pair arrested are the subject of a report to the procurator fiscal in Paisley after being charged under the Contravention of Glasgow Airport Bylaws 2005 and Criminal Justice and Licensing Scotland Act 2010. Glasgow Airport police are working with airport staff and airlines to identify potential troublemakers JET2'S ZERO TOLERANCE TOWARDS MISBEHAVIOUR Jet2.com has already put in place a series of measures under its 'Onboard Together' programme, to educate passengers about the effects of alcohol at high altitude, and to outline its policies. It has empowered its staff to take decisions quickly regarding disruptive passengers including verbal and written warnings and, ultimately, the ability to divert the aircraft to the nearest airport to off-load particularly offensive people before flying remaining passengers onto their holiday destination. Measures also include banning disruptive passengers for life, handing them over to the police, issuing a bill for the cost of the diversion and taking legal action, post travel. Advertisement Inspector Bob Smith, airport police commander, Glasgow Airport, added: 'Border Policing Command officers within Police Scotland are working with airlines on a daily basis to reduce the impact of disruptive passengers at our airports during this very busy summer period. 'Violence, drunkenness, verbal abuse and any other form of antisocial behaviour towards crew, airport staff or passengers will not be tolerated in our airports or onboard aircraft and will be dealt with robustly. 'People who engage in this type of behaviour will find that their holiday has ended before it begins. By working in partnership with our airports and airlines we will continue to keep staff and members of the public who transit through our airports safe.' Mark Johnston, operations director at Glasgow Airport, said: 'This type of behaviour will not be tolerated under any circumstances at Glasgow Airport. Through our campus watch initiative, we work closely with our airline partners, retailers, caterers and Police Scotland to identify anyone who may cause disruption, as was the case with these two individuals. 'For many, their holiday begins the moment they arrive at the airport and we want all of our customers to have a safe and memorable journey. Anyone who acts in a disruptive or abusive manner will not be welcome at Glasgow Airport.' Since Jet2.com launched Onboard Together more than 500 passengers have been refused travel due to disruptive behaviour and 57 of these have been given lifetime bans. Advertisement Forget Alpine curves or Mediterranean sunsets, Europe's best driving road is in Norway, say psychologists. It may not be as famous as others but the remote yet spectacular Atlantic Ocean Road is the 'Ultimate Summer Drive', according to research. Factors including climate, scenery, twists and turns, state of the road, how busy it is and the facilities en route were all part of a formula used to calculate which European driving experience offered the most. Atlantic Ocean Road in Norway is Europe's best drive according to research by psychologists The Scandinavian road, just 5.1 miles long, runs across a series of tiny islands with the sea either side and mountains in the distance. But it beat Portugal's Estoril Ocean Drive and driving round Lake Como into second and third place with Greece's The Peloponnesus in fourth in a study by satnav company TomTom. . Britain's best - the Inverness to Nairn Circular in Scotland - was fifth in the table chosen by psychologist Dr David Holmes after a survey of 14,000 motorists across Europe identified what they wanted in a great summer drive. Dr Holmes analysed attributes from the number of bends and hills to the expected seasonal volume of traffic to find the best summer driving routes in Europe. The road, which is 5.1 miles long, runs across a series of tiny islands with the sea either side and mountains in the distance Factors including climate, scenery, twists and turns, state of the road, how busy it is and the facilities en route were all part of a formula used to calculate which European driving experience offered the most Apart from the overall top five, Ireland's Causeway Coastal Route was among the best for seeing the sea, the New Forest in Hampshire among the best woodland drives and the Furka Pass in Switzerland named among the best mountain roads. TomTom UK Vice-President Tom Brown, said: 'There are so many incredible journeys with jaw-dropping views all over the world to explore, which a summer road trip can help you discover. 'Summer motoring should be relaxed and exciting - driving to be enjoyed and relished.' The road is one of the most famous in Europe for its beautiful views of sea and mountains In the survey of drivers, 70 per cent said great scenery was a key part of the best drives and the Atlantic Ocean Road has plenty of that In the survey of drivers, 70 per cent said great scenery was a key part of the best drives, particularly with the rise in selfies and posting holiday pictures on social media. One in four wants a road with gentle bends and good visibility and one in five said they enjoyed a remote, near empty, route. Dr Holmes said: 'Holiday driving can combine the thrill of the new and novel with a sense of adventure, unlocking a sense of excitement and freedom.' One of the world's most scenic airstrips that can only be used when the tide is out is celebrating its 80th birthday. The first planes landed on the sand in the wide bay of Traigh Mhor on the Outer Hebridean island of Barra in June 1936. It was officially licensed as an airport in August that year. Scroll down for video A plane on the beach at Barra Airport in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland - the only place in the UK with scheduled beach landings Flights to and from Barra are dictated by the tide and its three runways are fully submerged at high tide. The airport has three runways with the use of them dependent on the tide being out But trade is booming. The airport saw its passenger numbers soar by more than 50 percent last winter. Last year it recorded the highest percentage rise of any of the 11 airports operated by Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd - up 10.7 percent with 11,663 flyers. Flights to and from Barra are dictated by the tide and its three runways are fully submerged at high tide And the increase shows no sign of slowing. Barra saw a huge take off in passenger numbers in the final quarter of last year and the first three months of 2016. The famous landing, which celebrates its 80th anniversary this year, recorded the highest percentage rise in the six month period among the 11 airports operated by Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd. Though the numbers were relatively small - 2175 in the last quarter of 2015, compared to 1755 for the same period the previous year - the 420 rise equated to a near quarter increase. Twin Otter airplane landing on the Traigh Mhor beach runway of Barra Airport But between January and March this year the numbers soared to 2428 - up 55.5 per cent on the same quarter in 2015. A spokesman for HIAL said Barra's boom may be explained by having an extra 146 flights since the start of the year as a result of an enhanced Public Service Obligation on the subsidised route. But extra flyers may be flocking to Barra in the Outer Hebrides simply because of its picturesque landing, famously featured in the Martin Clunes' film Staggered. A sign warns people to keep off the beach at Traigh Mhor in the Outer Hebrides when Barra airport is operating Two new aeroplanes that serve the unique beach airstrip started on the route last year. The Twin Otter aircraft were ordered by the Scottish Government to provide a lifeline air service to Barra, Tiree and Campbeltown. The 19-seat Twin Otter aircraft were specially selected as they are able to land on Barra, which was also recently named in the top ten of the world's most scenic approaches. In the poll of more than 3000 people by PrivateFly.com it was listed fourth and among some of the world's most iconic destinations, including winner Malta, second place Nice in France, and third place Queenstown in New Zealand. The baggage reclaim hut at Barra airport, Traigh Mhor beach, Isle of Barra Among the comments from flyers were: 'It is unique being probably the only airport with a tidal beach as the airstrip. Flying in over the sea whatever the weather is awesome and ever changing. 'The view of the island, the colours of the sea and the bird life are out of this world. Should be on everyone's bucket list.' And judge Adam Twidell described Barra as 'a unique opportunity to land on a tidal beach runway, this really is an out-of-this-world arrival into Scotland's outer Hebrides.' Her enviable figure has made her one of the modeling industry's most sought after cover girls. But Alessandra Ambrosio's stunning frame didn't happen over night, as proof of her grueling fitness regimen surfaced as she was spotted leaving her local yoga studio in Los Angeles on Monday. The Brazilian beauty appeared to have worked up quite a sweat, keeping her muscles warm under a tight-fitting hooded sweatshirt. Work hard play hard: Alessandra Ambrosio's stunning frame didn't happen over night, as proof of her grueling fitness regimen surfaced while spotted leaving her local yoga studio in Los Angeles on Monday Backside: The 35-year-old rounded out her functional workout ensemble with a pair of light grey yoga pants, exposing her pert posterior as she reached in her purse for coins to feed the parking meter The 35-year-old rounded out her functional workout ensemble with a pair of light grey yoga pants, exposing her pert posterior as she reached in her purse for coins to feed the parking meter. Alessandra pulled her long brunette tresses into a messy ponytail and went completely bare-faced under chic, purple-tinted circular sunglasses. A pair of black leather espadrilles and silver watch spiced up her otherwise dressed-down fitness gear. Let's get physical: The mother-of-two carried her tan yoga mat over shoulder in a similarly-colored tote bag with a bohemian-inspired print of a dream catcher emblazoned across it The mother-of-two carried her tan yoga mat over shoulder in a similarly-colored tote bag with a bohemian-inspired print of a dream catcher emblazoned across it. Alessandra has made yoga an integral part of her daily routine, often attending classes with her fiance Jamie Mazur by her side. The couple of 11 years were seen on Saturday afternoon hitting the gym with yoga mats in tow. On the move: The supermodel paid no attention to onlookers as she emerged from yoga with her iPhone glued to her hand It could all have gone so horribly wrong. Jennifer Garner balanced a diorama precariously on one hand and held a phone to her ear with the other as she walked across a carpark in Los Angeles on Monday. The diorama appeared to be a school art project showing a white-washed mission with a red roof and a cross on the top. Scroll down for video She's got it in hand: Jennifer Garner carried a diorama of Californian mission balanced on one hand, with her coffee sitting on the base as she chatted on the phone in Los Angeles on Monday It was surrounded by matching, smaller buildings, probably all made of cardboard, sitting on a rigid base. The 44-year-old actress soon realised that one hand was not going to be enough to carry the creation safely and switched to two. But Jennifer didn't drop her call - she jammed the phone between her shoulder and her ear and carried on going. The star shares three children with estranged husband Ben Affleck - Violet, 10, Seraphina, seven and four-year-old son Samuel. Changing her tactics: Realising that the precious art project, probably made by one of her three children, was balanced a little precariously she shifted to two hands but didn't drop her call The art project was probably the handiwork of one of her girls, since Samuel's a little too young for that kind of scissor work. But no doubt mum lent a hand. Jennifer looked like she was on her way to the gym, wearing a black long-sleeved T-shirt with red flecks, black leggings that showed off her slender legs and bright blue sneakers. She pulled her brunette tresses back into a jaunty ponytail and covered her eyes with shades that she pushed back on top of her head at one point. The Danny Collins star will next play Lara Brand in the swapped-identity comedy Nine Lives alongside Kevin Spacey, Christopher Walken and Cheryl Hines - hitting UK and US theaters on August 5. She's jammin' it: The beautiful brunette jammed the phone between her shoulder and her ear and with her coffee balanced on the diorama, the 44-year-old carried on going It's been nearly a year since Jennifer split from Ben Affleck, who was last seen with BFF Matt Damon at the Spike Guys' Choice Awards at Sony Pictures Studios in the Culver City neighbourhood of Los Angeles last Thursday The 43-year-old Oscar winner has since returned to England to continue filming Zack Snyder's two-part Justice League at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden. But first, the Batman v Superman star will reprise his Bruce Wayne role in the DC Comics supervillain flick Suicide Squad with Jared Leto, Margot Robbie and Will Smith, due out in the UK and US on August 5. She's had her fair share of failed romances but it it may well be that Catherine McNeil has finally found love. The 26-year-old Brisbane native has sparked rumours of a romance with fellow Australian and model Kye Howell thanks to the women posting very risque uploads to social media. One upload included Kye provocatively sitting on top of the Chic managed model with one hand placed firmly around Cats bare belly. Scroll down for video New flames? Catherine McNeil has sparked rumours of a romance with fellow Australian and model Kye Howell thanks to the women posting risque social media posts Cat can be seen with her arms placed behind her head, while looking seductively at Kye, who is stroking her chest in the raunchy social media snap. The brunette beauty simply used eight heart emoticons to caption the post. In another upload, the bisexual Australian is seen kicking back with her rumoured flame on a wooden bench. Ive never gotten a rose before': Kye wrote alongside the picture of herself holding a single red rose in her hand while leaning her head lovingly against Catherine's Rose for a rose: In another upload, the bisexual Australian is seen kicking back with her rumoured flame on a wooden bench Chilling: Kye was seen sitting on Catherine's lap, while the brunette beauty balanced on an unidentified man in the post to Instagram Ive never gotten a rose before, Kye wrote alongside the picture of herself holding a single red rose in her hand, while leaning her head lovingly against Catherine's. Again the pair posted another raunchy snap to Instagram. The beaming model was seen cupping Kyes breasts, while a hand from a third person, who could not be identified in the image, could be seen pulling down the brunettes singlet to reveal her assets. Risque positioning: The beaming model is also seen cupping Kyes breasts in another Instagram snap Kye simply captioned the snap: Cat. Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Catherines representatives for comment. The posts come just months after the Daily Telegraph reported the model was romantically linked to fellow CHIC Management model, Lydia Collins. Catherine has also previously found love with Orange Is The New Black star Ruby Rose, culminating in their engagement, which was eventually called off in 2010. The pair remain close and in January, Ruby, 29, uploaded a throwback snap of herself with her ex-fiancee covered in cake on her 21st birthday. The slender beauties are dressed in casual attire - jeans and button-up shirts - and are relaxing back in outdoor chairs. Over already? The posts come just months after the Daily Telegraph reported the model was romantically linked to fellow Australian and CHIC Management model, Lydia Collins Throwback: Ruby Rose, 29, (L) shared a throwback picture of herself with ex-fiancee Catherine on her 21st birthday Ruby, seen sporting a blonde pixie cut in the nostalgic snap, captioned the upload: 'Lol to the messiest 21st!' A few hours later, Catherine re-grammed the picture onto her own Instagram feed. She wrote alongside the picture: 'Throw back to one of the best birthdays I've ever had...Young dumb and 21 hahahaha [sic].' The couple are still pals since breaking up, despite moving forward in new relationships. Catherine was also engaged to model and tattoo enthusiast Miles Langford. She's known for her role in thrillers such as The Awakening, Iron Man, Transcendence and The Gift. But Rebecca Hall, 34, showed off her lighter side as she soaked up the sun on the beach in Taormina, Italy, on Monday, where the film festival is taking place. The 34-year-old flaunted her svelte frame in a barely-there red bikini that exposed her slender curves and enviably taut abs and nearly lost her balances as she walked on the stony sea-bed. Scroll down for video Red hot! Actress Rebecca Hall looked stunning in a halter bikini but almost lost her balance as she made her way into the sea Taormina, Italy, on Monday Meanwhile the halterneck detailing of the two-piece accentuated her perky cleavage, in a flattering fashion. The actress rocked a retro look for her day at the beach as she styled her sleek brunette hair into a short bob that skimmed her defined jawbone and framed her face with a deep side parting. And she showed off her natural beauty with barely there makeup, which highlighted her fresh faced features. Flaunting it! The 34-year-old flaunted her enviably svelte frame in a barely-there red bikini that exposed her slender curves and enviably taut abs Beach babe: The halterneck detailing of the two-piece accentuated her perky cleavage, in a flattering fashion Rebecca appeared to be having a whale of a time as she made a splash in the clear blue waters and posed in a satisfied stance with her hands on her hips. However, she made sure to be careful as she ventured across the slippery rocks, as she put her arms out to stablise herself to avoid a fall. And she finally submerged herself in the rippling tides where she looked out peacefully into the distance. Bobbing along: The actress rocked a retro look for her day at the beach as she styled her sleek brunette hair into a short bob Stunning! Rebecca showed off her natural beauty with barely there makeup, which highlighted her fresh faced features Sizzling! Rebecca appeared to be having a whale of a time as she made a splash in the clear blue waters As she arose from the water, Rebecca looked every inch the beach goddess as water dripped from her toned frame while she headed back to land to dry off in the scorching heat. Earlier this year, Rebecca starred in a film about the tragic life of Christine Chubbuck - an American news anchor who shot herself live on air. The movie, called Christine, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah. Safety first! Rebecca made sure to be careful as she ventured across the slippery rocks, as she put her arms out to stablise herself Causing waves: Rebecca looked every inch the beach goddess as water dripped from her toned frame while she headed back to land Testing the waters: Rebecca put her hands in the clear blue water as she tested the temperature Ms Chubbuck killed herself while reading the news for a local Sarasota, Florida, TV station in July 1974, aged 29. The lead up to that tragic day has been portrayed by Antonio Campos, with British Hollywood actress Rebecca Hall playing the lead role. Campos' feature takes a sympathetic look at the build up to the shocking act and ponders whether she had mental health issues. Soaking up the rays: Rebecca posed in a satisfied stance with her hands on her hips Keeping afloat! Rebecca submerged herself in the rippling tides where she looked out peacefully into the distance Hall, who has featured in a host of films including Frost/Nixon and Iron Man 3, hopes the story can raise awareness about rare mental illnesses. She told Indiewire: 'In many ways, there is still so much stigma and misinformation around these sorts of things, to the point that people who are suffering from these problems don't seek the help that is available now in a way that it definitely wouldn't have been available for Christine then. 'A lot that has to do with this sort of misunderstanding, there's still a kind of 'pull yourself up by your bootstraps' mentality. 'Destigmatizing it helps to make it human. Otherwise, you're left in a situation of 'I'm a just a bad person. I'm just a bad person and I can't ask for help, I can't do that,' which is what Christine does.' Balancing act! Rebecca looked slightly unstable as she ventured into the water Back to dry land: The star turned her back on the water as she made her way back to the beach He's been busy promoting his upcoming sci-fi sequel Independence Day: Resurgence. But on Monday Jeff Goldblum took a bit of well-deserved time off and enjoyed an afternoon with his wife Emilie Livingston. The 63-year-old actor looked effortlessly cool in a black biker jacket and fedora while strolling through the streets of New York City. Time together: Jeff Goldblum, 63, enjoyed an afternoon stroll with his wife Emilie Livingston, 33, in New York City on Monday The Jurassic Park star affectionately held hands with his 33-year-old Olympic gymnast wife as they took in the sights of the Big Apple. He was dressed in black trousers and a matching buttoned-up polo shirt that showcased his fit physique. His edgy vibe was upgraded with polished black dress shoes and smart-looking hipster glasses. Looking good! The Jurassic Park star looked effortlessly cool in a black biker jacket and fedora Silver fox! The Oscar nominee was dressed in black trousers and a matching buttoned-up polo shirt that showcased his fit physique Livingston donned herself in dark denim skinny jeans with a low-cut black tee that flashed a hint of cleavage. The professional contortionist layered a blue ombre flannel over her v-neck and stepped out in brown soft leather moccasins. She skipped the cosmetics to let her natural beauty shine through and left her wavy brown locks flow past her shoulders. Jeff and Emilie - who welcomed their son Charlie Ocean last July 4 - will celebrate his first birthday in the weeks ahead. Opting for comfort: The professional contortionist wore a blue flannel with dark skinny jeans, v-neck tee and moccasins Alone time: The Fly star affectionately held hands with his Olympic gymnast wife as they took in the sights of the Big Apple Highly anticipated: Goldblum has been busy promoting his sci-fi film Independence Day: Resurgence which is set to hit theaters June 24 The Oscar nominee has been busy promoting his highly anticipated sci-fi film Independence Day: Resurgence which is set to hit theaters June 24. He is reprising his role of David Levinson in the long-awaited sequel of the identically-named 1996 blockbuster. He's joined in the movie by Liam Hemsworth who plays a fighter pilot pivotal in saving the world once again from alien attack. The actor re-teamed with Roland Emmerich, the director of the blockbuster 1996 film, for the sequel along with original cast members Bill Pullman, Vivica A. Fox, Judd Hirsch and Brent Spiner. Promo tour: Jeff spoke about the new film during the AOL Build Speaker Series at AOL Studios in NYC on Tuesday All-smiles: The actor, who is reprising his role of David Levinson in the long-awaited sequel of the identically-named 1996 blockbuster, appeared in good spirits outside of the AOL Studios Cast photo: Liam Hemsworth will play a fighter pilot pivotal in saving the world once again from alien attack. Liam, director Roland Emmerich, Vivica Fox, Jeff, and Jessie T. Usher all were on hand at the AOL Build Speaker Series on Tuesday He's one of Hollywood's most talked-about heartthrobs, so it's nice to hear Liam Hemsworth has had his fair share of humble jobs. Speaking with NovaFM's Ryan 'Fitzy' Fitzgerald and Michael 'Wippa' Wipfli on Tuesday, the Independence Day: Resurgence star revealed he used to work at Baker's Delight in Melbourne. The 26-year-old went on to explain his second job was 'shining pins' at a bowling alley, to which his action film co-star Jeff Goldblum quipped: 'Is that a euphemism?' Scroll down for video Getting a rise out of his fans! Liam Hemsworth reveals his first ever job was as a humble baker 'My first job was a baker, I made bread for Baker's Delight, and then I worked at a bowling alley,' he told the breakfast radio hosts. The Hunger Games actor grew up with his close-knit family, including his brothers Thor star Chris and Neighbours actor Luke, on Phillip Island in Victoria. Liam told Sunday Style that his mother Leonie taught a personal development class which covered sex education and tried out her teachings on the boys. Youngster! The Hunger Games actor learned a lot growing up in his close-knit family on Phillip Island in Victoria (pictured in his high school photo on Jimmy Fallon) Being bowled over! The 26-year-old went on to explain his second job was 'shining pins' at a bowling alley It runs in the family! Liam, Chris and Luke Hemsworth have all dipped their toes into the world of acting and are very supportive of one another 'She did this exercise where she handed out different cards with STDs. She picked me first, "What have you got, Liam?" "I've got chlamydia!"' he recalled laughing. The Hollywood star went on to tell the publication that he enjoys going home to see his childhood friends because they don't care about the superstar he has become. As for his brothers, the trio have all dipped their toes into the world of acting and are very supportive of one another. Got it from his mama! Liam told Sunday Style that his mother Leonie taught a personal development class which covered sex education Eldest brother Luke, 35, paved the way landing a role in Neighbours, and has had intermittent parts in Blue Heelers, Winners And Losers and an upcoming Australian war film The 34th Battalion. Meanwhile Chris went along the same path in Home And Away before cementing his career as the God of Thunder in the successful Thor franchise. Liam Hemsworth and Jeff Goldblum star in Independence Day: Resurgence, which hits Australian cinemas on June 20. He welcomed his fourth child into the world at the end of last year. So it's no wonder Steve 'Commando' Willis looked every inch the doting father as he kicked back and celebrated his 40th birthday with his youngest son Axel during a camping trip to Double Island Point in Queensland. The fitness instructor- who is in a relationship with Biggest Loser trainer Michelle Bridges - lovingly carried his six-month-old cherubic tot in his arms while lapping up the heat from the campfire. Bonding session: Steve 'Commando' Willis looked every inch the doting father as he kicked back and celebrated his 40th birthday with his youngest son Axel during a camping trip to Double Island Point in Queensland Dressed down in a black hoodie and boardshorts, the fitness buff appeared to be in relaxed and in content spirits as he enjoyed some one-on-one time with his little lad. Meanwhile, Axel looked cosy in an adorable chequered beanie, a patterned long sleeve shirt and baggie tracksuit trousers. He snuggled up to his father, while his attention was completely drawn to the flickering flames. 'What better way to spend your 40th Birthday!' Commando simply captioned the snap. Doting mum: A smitten Michelle Bridges cuddled up to her six-month-old son, Axel, during a beach camping trip to Double Island Point in Queensland on Friday Michelle has also been posting an array of picture from their holiday to her respective social media account. In one post, Michelle sat the cherubic tot on her lap and looked into his big blue eyes as they lapped up the peaceful serenity. The 45-year-old fitness trainer kept warm in a black thermal jacket teamed with white wash denim trousers and boots. She completed her winter chic look with a beanie placed firmly on her head, while leaving her auburn coloured locks out and straight. Meanwhile, Axel looked warm in a simple black puffa jacket with a hoodie and snuggled up to his famous mother on the empty beach. Winter chic: The 45-year-old fitness trainer kept warm in a black thermal jacket teamed with white wash denim trousers and boots with silver detailing Adorable: Axel appeared to be in absolute bliss as he snuggled up in his blanket and beanie The celebrity trainer simply captioned the image: 'Looks like it's just us dude.' Michelle, her partner and their little lad have been soaking up the sun and the water while on a beach camping trip. But the holiday hasn't been all about watching the waves roll in and out for the famous fitness family. Michelle took to Instagram to upload a video of herself performing a series of workout-inspired dance moves on the beach, with her baby strapped to her torso. In the background, a distinctly nineties-sounding dance track can be heard. Keeping active: Michelle took to Instagram to upload a video of herself performing a series of workout-inspired dance moves on the beach, with her baby Axel strapped to her torso Fun in the sun: Michelle squatted and grape-vined across the sandy shore-side during the beach workout 'Beach baby workout!!' wrote Michelle in the caption as she squatted and grape-vined across the sandy shore-side. Speaking to the Daily Mail Australia earlier this year, a gushing Michelle said her little lad enjoyed coming along to her training sessions. 'He comes to training, but not every time,' she said. 'But definitely when we go out outdoors. We go on big long walks together. He has been to the gym with me a few times and he quite likes it.' Michelle and her partner recently launched a health campaign in which Steve said on Instagram is designed to 'help Australia combat the obesity crisis.' The couple met while working as trainers on Ten's weight-loss series, The Biggest Loser. They welcomed Axel on December 19. She's been hiding her second pregnancy for about six months. And now, Lara Worthington (nee Bingle) is giving fans a glimpse of her growing baby bump and pregnancy curves in a high-fashion photo shoot for InStyle Australia. The 12-page spread will feature inside the July issue of the magazine, which shows the 28-year-old all rugged up on the cover. However inside, the model is smoking hot in a black Calvin Klein Collection viscose dress. Scroll down for video Showing off her pregnancy curves: Lara Worthington shows a hint of her baby bump and pregnancy curves in high-fashion InStyle Australia photo shoot for the magazine's July issue The knee-length number features a plunging neckline, which shows off her ample assets and cleavage. Standing on the sand of a deserted beach for the shot, the expectant mother-of-one appeared to relish being back in model mode as she gave a sultry glance down the lens. Her famous blonde bob is seen blowing about in the breeze and is paired with very subtle and natural make-up for the shoot. In the accompanying interview, Lara confirms her pregnancy after months of speculation and even a failed announcement attempt during a radio interview. Covergirl: The 28-year-old model announced her pregnancy news as part of her cover shoot and 12-page high-fashion spread in the monthly magazine This will be the second child for the Australian model and her actor husband Sam Worthington, with whom she also shares 14-month-old son Rocket Zot. Lara has told the monthly magazine: 'I had a great pregnancy with Rocket and touch wood it will be the same this time. 'I dont really get morning sickness but I do have to eat consistently to keep my energy up,' she added. 'Im sure it might seem full-on at the beginning for me (having two children so close in age), and its probably a lot harder than it is now, but when they get older they can share their life together,' the expectant mum admitted of having two under two. Her burgeoning bump is getting harder to hide, with the blonde beauty spotted out with Sam in New York on Monday displaying a round mid-section underneath a baggy beige turtleneck jumper, paired with loose-fitting black tracksuit pants. Pregnant again: The news comes after months of speculation that the model and her actor husband Sam Worthington were expecting again Hiding her curves! The expectant mother-of-one has been hiding her pregnancy curves underneath a range of flowly and baggy outfits in an effort to keep the news under wraps (Pictured at the InStyle Awards early May) 'I had a great pregnancy with Rocket and touch wood it will be the same this time': The model said while pregnant with her son (pictured) she didn't get any morning sickness and hopes it will be the same this time Two under two! The model, who is already a mum to 14-month-old son Rocket Zot, is preparing herself for the busy months ahead when the new bub arrives but is happy they will grow up close together The confirmation of the widely-suspected pregnancy comes just weeks after the blonde beauty appeared on the KIIS FM Kyle and Jackie O Show for an interview with a 'big announcement'. However, when asked about any news on baby number two, she brushed off the rumours and vowed that any pregnancy news would be kept between her and her husband. 'I think being pregnant is such a personal thing for a woman. I just find it weird even talking to you about it,' Lara said, keeping mum on the issue. 'It should just be between us': The confirmation of the widely-suspected pregnancy comes weeks after the blonde brushed off rumours and vowed that any baby news would be kept between her and her husband Whoops: The Kyle & Jackie O show promoted the interview with the starlet as an exclusive with a big announcement, however she refused to talk about the rumours on-air 'Sam and I, it should just be between us and close family,' she continued, before revealing she probably won't have as many as four children, after previously expressing her desire to have a larger family. 'I think since having rocket, ... maybe not four,' she laughed, referring to the couple's first son they welcomed 13 months ago. But she admitted her 39-year-old husband 'would have many' children if it were up to him. 'It's just life changing but the most rewarding thing,' she said of new-found life as a mother. 'It's just life changing': Lara gushed about motherhood in the interview when asked how many children she wanted Meanwhile according to a recent issue of Who Magazine, the 28-year-old Australian model is said to be excited about expanding her brood having welcomed son Rocket 14 months ago. 'She is very relaxed and happy with her life,' a friend close to the couple told the publication. Despite neither Lara nor Sam confirming the baby news at the time, their pal explained the beauty's growing bump 'will confirm' it itself in the coming months. In May, it was reported by The Daily Telegraph that the mother-of-one had been telling friends she is five months pregnant. The couple were married in 2014 and relocated to the US in the same year and are based in New York. Former Real Housewives Of Melbourne star Chyka Keebaugh was in high spirits on Monday evening as she attended the Longines Ladies Awards at London's National History Museum alongside her husband Bruce. The 46-year-old businesswoman dressed to impress as she slipped into a blue and white two-piece ensemble. Chyka opted for a royal blue figure-hugging skirt which flared outwards to the ground, and a white short-sleeves blouse that rested over the top of the bottom garment. Making an impression: Chyka Keebaugh dressed to impress at the Longines Ladies Awards at the National History Museum in London on Monday as she slipped into a royal blue and white two-piece ensemble She accessorised her classy attire with a metal silver clutch, which rested in the palm of her hand, and a beaded necklace and broach along with matching drop earrings. The online blogger tied her golden hair back into a tight bun while allowing her thick fringe to fall across her forehead. As she kept her make-up natural, she defined her blue eyes with a black winged eyeliner and a thick brush of mascara. The details: The 46-year-old opted for a blue figure-hugging skirt which flared outwards to the ground, and a blouse that rested over the top of the bottom garment Her husband Bruce also dressed up for the occasion, opting for a black tuxedo, white button-up shirt and a bow tie. Despite the choice of evening wear, he rocked an unshaven facial. The exclusive annual event celebrated Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal. Chyka's evening out in London come a month after she revealed she had quit reality television after two years. At the time of announcing the shocking news, she explained she had decided to depart from the Foxtel series to focus on her family, hospitality business and burgeoning lifestyle brand. 'Reality TV is a ride and I have enjoyed it thoroughly, but that ride for me is now over,' Chyka posted on Instagram. Side-by-side: The former Real Housewives Of Melbourne star attended the event with her husband Bruce also dressed up for the occasion in a tuxedo, white button-up shirt and a bow tie 'I have decided to close this door in order to make way for some exciting new opportunities within the lifestyle arena, for the 'Chyka Home and Life' media brand. 'My friendships made during the show won't change either, and I'll look on with such pride as the girls film many more seasons full of drama, frocks and shocks!' The television personality finished: 'For me, I'll just have a little more time for my family, businesses and will be able to focus on moving forward with Chyka Home and Life.' The mother-of-two currently runs her own blog, chyka.com, and heads up her own hospitality company The Big Group with husband Bruce. The Big Group is hugely successful, and is considered one of the leading hospitality agencies and event management companies in Australia. Riding a dirt bike through rocky valleys and gigantic sand dunes in the Sahara Desert may not be the ideal location to find out youre pregnant. But adventure enthusiast Laura Csortan has revealed on The Morning Show on Tuesday, she found out she was expecting her first child while filming adventure documentary, Riding Morocco: Chasing the Dakar, back in February. Very early [at that stage], the 39-year-old told the shows presenters, Larry Emdur and Kylie Gillies, while showing off her burgeoning bump. Surprise: Laura Csortan has revealed on The Morning Show, on Tuesday, she found out she was expecting her first child while filming adventure documentary, Riding Morocco: Chasing the Dakar, in February I had no idea and when I look back at the vision I cringe. I'm like, oh my god this poor baby, but, well protected and nothing is wrong."' She joked that her child, which is due in November, might come out as a motorbike enthusiast. Adding: Lets hope not. Almost there: The beaming TV presenter admitted she had made it to the halfway point of her pregnancy Child's hobbies: The former Miss Universe Australia joked her child would be a motorbike enthusiast as a result of her trip New show: Follows Laura riding a CRF1000L Honda motorbike through the Moroccan desert alongside four-time Dakar rider Christophe Barriere-Varju The new show, to feature on the National Geographic Channel on Tuesday, follows Laura riding a CRF1000L Honda motorbike through the Moroccan desert alongside four-time Dakar rider Christophe Barriere-Varju. Laura and Christophe explored the original Dakar Rally route in February, before it was moved to South Africa in 2009 after terrorists threatened to shut it down in 2008. The TV interview comes just one day after the former Miss Universe contestant revealed that she was pregnant and would be bringing up her baby as a single mother, after splitting with the father of her unborn child before she knew she was expecting. Dream trip: Laura explored the original Dakar Rally route, in February, before it was moved to South Africa in 2009 after terrorists threatened to shut it down in 2008 Laura told Woman's Day that while she still speaks to her ex, whose identity remains a secret, he will not be involved in their child's life. 'He respects my decision (to have the baby), and when the baby's older I'm happy with her finding out who her father is. I'm going into this with an open mind,' she explained to the publication. While Laura does not know the sex of her baby, the statuesque blonde is convinced she is having a little girl. Expecting: Laura is expecting her first child and is due to give birth three days after her 40th birthday Happy: Despite suffering from severe morning sickness, body conscious Laura says she's embracing the changes in her body Going forward: The former Miss Universe contestant confessed she was would bring up her baby as a single mother, after shed split with the father of her unborn child before she knew she was expecting The former Miss Universe is no doubt leaning on her family for support during her pregnancy, and Laura, who has travelled the world for her job, will continue to base herself in Sydney. Despite suffering from severe morning sickness, the body conscious star says she's embracing the changes in her body throughout her pregnancy. 'I'm watching my belly get bigger, my bum get bigger and my boobs get bigger, and I'm just embracing it! I have never felt so womanly,' she told the magazine. Laura's last reported romance was with Port Adelaide AFL player Chad Cornes, last year. At the time, a source confirmed to The Daily Telegraph that the couple struck up a relationship with one another after meeting through mutual friends in Sydney. Before Cornes, Laura dated Abercrombie & Fitch model Joshua Slack for several months. Partner: Laura dated Abercrombie & Fitch model Joshua Slack for several months after the pair met in 2014 Split: The pair split after a few months of dating The pair began their relationship in April 2014 after meeting through friends in Los Angeles earlier that year. Laura later admitted that she found their eleven-year age gap 'overpowering'. Speaking to Daily Mail Australia in November 2014, she said: 'I think it's great and there are a lot of really great girls in the industry that have younger boyfriends as well. 'It's just a number. Whatever makes you happy, whatever works.' Picturesque: The former flames are seen enjoying a romantic meal looking over the skyline Nicole Kidman arrived back to Australia on Sunday to work on her first local TV production in 27 years. And the Hollywood actress couldn't hide her delight at being back home, smiling broadly as she arrived on the set of crime drama Top Of The Lake: China Girl on Monday. The 48-year-old was casually clad as she arrived at the production, seemingly make-up free and partially covering her face with over-sized sunglasses while her blonde locks were pulled back. Scroll down for video Happy to be home! Nicole Kidman couldn't hide her delight at being back home, smiling broadly as she arrived on the set of crime drama Top Of The Lake: China Girl on Monday The actress was seen happily chatting to crew as she stepped out of a black vehicle carrying her designer bag in one hand. However, the rest of Nicole's outfit was seemingly less high-fashion. The mother-of-two donned a black and grey striped top with black trousers and kept herself warm in a denim shearling lined anorak jacket, with a faux fur lined hood. The last time the Oscar-winning actress was in Australia for a local production was back in 1989 for the three-part miniseries Bangkok Hilton. Having landed in Sydney on Sunday, there was no rest for the actress who headed straight to work the next day. Straight to set: Having landed in Sydney on Sunday, there was no rest for the actress who headed straight to work the very next day in a casual ensemble Back Down Under! The Oscar-winning actress has returned back Down Under for five weeks and has brought daughters Faith and Sunday Rose along with her for the trip For this project, the blonde beauty has returned back Down Under for five weeks and has brought daughters Faith and Sunday Rose along with her. It's the second installment of the critically acclaimed series, which was released last year, which centres around the disappearance of 12-year-old Tui, who is five months pregnant. Nicole will join Mad Man actress Elisabeth Moss who has returned for the second series, and Game Of Thrones star Gwendoline Christie. The narrative will pick up four years after the first season, which saw Elisabeth win a Golden Globe for her performance. The acclaimed director Jane Campion revealed to Confidential that she never expected the popular series to return for another run. Return: The last time she was in Australia for a local production was back in 1989 Flash back! She starred in the three-part miniseries Bangkok Hilton 'It was like a novel, each one being a novel. They are not episodics so they have to have a whole shape and form and end to them,' she said. According to The Daily Telegraph, Foxtel boss Brian Walsh said it had taken a year to secure Nicole, having signed the contract finally on Thursday. 'Having Nicole on board is such a great endorsement of the high-concept television we are producing here now,' Brian said. 'I dont think theres been a better time for Australian television.' The mini-series is slated for a 2017 release. scott wagner.jpg State Sen. Scott Wagner, R-York, speaks at a recent Pa. Press Club luncheon in Harrisburg (PennLive file). (Jan Murphy/PennLive) Good Tuesday Morning, Fellow Seekers. A long-stalled bill that to Pennsylvania's LGBT citizens could finally be getting a jump start this week - from the unlikeliest of all places: A committee chaired by Sen. Scott Wagner, R-York County . Senior aides to the outspoken conservative, who chairs the Senate Urban Affairs and Housing Committee, say he plans to move language in the bill banning discrimination related to housing in what's known as an "off the floor" meeting on Wednesday. For those of you playing along at home, that means Wagner's committee could be convened without warning, at any time, during Wednesday's scheduled voting session. Ordinarily, committees tend to meet at a fixed time. So don't blink, you could miss this one if you're not paying attention. Aides said the bill, originally sponsored by Sen. Pat Browne, R-Lehigh, has been chopped into three sections: One deals with housing, another with employment and another with public accommodation. The bill had been sitting in the Senate State Government Committee, chaired by Sen. Mike Folmer, R-Lebanon, since its introduction last September. It's time to force the debate," Wagner's chief of staff, Jason E. High, said Tuesday. "It's time to move this [bill] and force the conversation." The announcement by Wagner's staff came a day after a gunman who'd pledged allegiance to the Islamist terrorist group, ISIS, opened fire with a semiautomatic weapon in a gay club in Miami. Forty-nine people were killed in the rampage and 53 were injured. The gunman, an American citizen of Afghan descent, was gunned down in shootout with police. Language in Browne's bill, which banned discrimination for public accommodation, had been caught up in the debate over access to public restrooms by transgender men and women. In a statement posted to his website, Wagner, a likely GOP 2018 gubernatorial candidate, said he'd been "pressured" to take his name off the legislation because of unfounded concerns about access to public bathrooms by transgender individuals. Wagner pointed out that towns and cities across the state had enacted similar ordinances without a single concern about restroom access. The legislation "changes absolutely nothing about the way that bathrooms are dealt with, in spite of claims to the contrary that are full of legalese and references to court decisions from states with laws that are very different from Pennsylvania's," he wrote. Wagner said he's willing to work with those who have concerns about the bill, including "individuals with deeply held religious convictions." But "what we should not do, however, is completely abandon all efforts to gain fairness for the LGBT community," he wrote. "What we should not do is use fear as a tool to attempt to bully legislators into just giving up on this important issue." Ted Martin, the executive director of the LGBT advocacy group Equality Pennsylvania, said Monday that his group had no concerns about the non-discrimination bill being split into three parts. "Our approach is to fight for everything," Martin said. "We want to make sure that everything is included. There's no issue, procedurally, with the way," the legislation is advancing. "It is movement - so we are cautiously moving it forward this way," he said. "We want employment and public accommodation just as much. This is just a way to move progress forward." The rest of the day's news starts now. Gov. Tom Wolf will undergo prostate cancer treatment this Tuesday, The Associated Press reports (via ABC-27). Hate crimes offenders should not be allowed to own guns, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., tells The Tribune-Review (among others). Our colleague, Ivey DeJesus, has everything you want to know about Monday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on a bill expanding Pennsylvania's statute of limitations in child sex-abuse cases. PhillyMag looks at how Mayor Jim Kenney's big win on a soda tax is 'upending' things in City Hall. Not for the first time (and probably not the last), Solicitor General Bruce Castor and Attorney General Kathleen Kane are singing from two, entirely different hymnals, likely printed in two entirely different languages (via The Post-Gazette). U.S. Sen Pat Toomey, R-Pa., has 'worked to allow terrorists to buy guns,' in the United States, his Democratic rival, Katie McGinty, tells The Inquirer's Jonathan Tamari. BillyPenn's Anna Orso looks at Pa's gun laws - and explains why Philly can't do much to tighten them. Gov. Tom Wolf has signed legislation requiring rear-facing car seats for kids younger than age 2, The AP reports (via WITF-FM). NewsWorks/WHYY-FM went to Monday's vigil in Philadelphia for the Orlando shootings victims. Thousands turned out to pay their respects. In the Lehigh Valley, they're also showing their solidarity for the Orlando victims, The Morning Call reports. What Goes On. 10 a.m., Main Rotunda: Rally to end violence against LGBT citizens. 11:30 a.m., East Rotunda: Rep. Steve McCarter and environmental groups on clean power 11:30 am., Main Rotunda: Blindness Awareness Exposition 1 p.m., Main Rotunda: Early Childhood Action Day 2 p.m., East Rotunda: Rep. Ed Gainey and others on fully decriminalizing marijuana 2:30 pm., Main Rotunda: Senate Democrats on topic TBD. What Goes On (Nakedly Political Edition). 8 a.m.: Breakfast for Rep. Rosemary Brown 8 a.m.: Breakfast for Rep. Hal English 5:30 p.m.: Senate Republican Campaign Committee's annual "Summer Hoopla." Ride the circuit, give at the max, and you'll part with a mere $1,500 today. You Say It's Your Birthday Dept. Best wishes go out to two, longtime Friends O'the Blog this morning: Pete Muntean, ex-WGAL reporter now of WUSA-TV in Washington D.C.; and Amber Wilkerson Marchand, of Hamilton Strategies in Washington D.C., both celebrate today. Congratulations, folks. Enjoy the day. Heavy Rotation. And now you're up to date. See you all back here in a bit. He has been busy working on several projects. But is James Franco also juggling a new relationship along with his fruitful career. The 38-year-old actor was spotted leaving Fiat Cafe in New York City on Monday with a mystery woman. Scroll down for video Cuddled up: James Franco was spotted leaving Fiat Cafe in New York City on Monday with a mystery woman The two seemed to be more than just friends as James put his arm around her and even snapped a few selfies on the outing in Little Italy. James and his lady friend seemed to be enjoying each other's company as they shared a few giggles as the pretty girl tucked her head under the 127 Hours star's bicep. The Oscar-nominated actor was dressed comfortably in a baggy black T-shirt, relaxed fit indigo-washed jeans and blue and orange New Balance trainers. Cosying up: The 38-year-old actor looked happy to be on the outing as he wrapped his arm around her In a snap: James even snapped a selfie of the two of them He wore an on-trend The Strokes dad hat over his long hair as he sported a bushy moustache. The pair looked like the picture perfect hipster-chic couple as his female pal sported a white retro The Velvet Underground T-shirt tucked into blue high-waisted jeans. She also sported a pair of black leather loafers with a matching belt as she accessorised with black Ray-Bay Clubmaster shades. Her brunette tresses were worn mostly down as the top was put in a messy updo as she sported minimal make-up on her face. Comfortable customer: The actor dressed in a baggy black shirt with indigo washed jeans James was last romantically linked to model Erin Johnson as the two were spotted out in Los Angeles together back in August 2014. The Spider-Man star has been keeping busy as always as he has 17 projects on the horizon on both the big screen and television. Perhaps his most anticipated venture is upcoming HBO drama The Deuce, which he will both star as the lead in as well as produce. Keeping it cool: He also wore an on-trend dad cap and designer shades while showing off his busy moustache It is centred around 1970s and 1980s New York in the midst of rampant prostitution and pornography in Manhattan. Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Carr, Margarita Levieva, Lawrence Gillard Jr, Dominique Fishback and Emily Meade all star. The Deuce will premiere sometime next year on HBO. Her sophomore album was recently pushed back after new single Team bombed on the music charts. But Iggy Azalea still has reason to smile after signing on to replace Dannii Minogue on The X Factor Australia, thus beginning a whole new career as a local TV talent show judge, Following the exciting announcement, the 26-year-old appeared to be in good spirits on Monday as she stepped out in a skintight ensemble for the New York premiere of the documentary, Serena. Curves ahead! Iggy Azalea put on a voluptuous display as she stepped out in New York on Monday The fast-talker showed off her voluptuous physique in a two-piece bodycon dress that clung to her shapely curves. While the dress was in a brownish olive shade, Iggy decided to boldly break up the colour scheme by wearing bright orange stilettos on her feet. The plastic fantastic starlet appeared to match her shoes to her blush, which was a striking shade of bronzed orange. Best foot forward! The 26-year-old was all smiles after inking a deal to judge on X Factor Australia Yesterday the the Mullumbimby-born bombshell revealed she will be returning to Australia in June to film The X Factor audition episodes over the period of one week. The celebrity - known for her song Fancy - was asked by Twitter user @JaamieeexD when filming will begin for the reality TV karaoke competition. Replying directly Iggy revealed the dates writing: 'I will be there for one week at the end of June and 4 weeks in November so in total this is just a 5 week thing' [sic].' Tight squeeze: The two-piece bodycon dress could barely contain Iggy's artificial assets and derriere Matching: The fast-talked appeared to match her shoes to her blush Iggy's comments would suggest that the reality show will begin with a few weeks of pre-recorded audition episodes in October before going live in November. Channel Seven have yet to share the dates with the public and the network has shortened the series due to scheduling around the Olympics and to curb falling ratings. The personality - who is originally from NSW's Mullumbimby - will be replacing Dannii Minogue. Short time only: Iggy confirmed on Twitter that she will only be filming the show in Australia for five weeks Mother-of-one Dannii has taken time out from television this year to focus on her son Ethan and relaunch her pop career. Former judges Chris Isaak and James Blunt are also not expected to return. Despite signing on, Los Angeles-based Iggy was initially uncertain. 'I really didn't picture myself being a judge on any kind of television show but I think that actually this could be a good fit for me, so I said yes,' she told Sydney Confidential. Iggy also told fans this will be her longest stint home in Australia for a decade. She's paraded her incredible body down the catwalks of some of the most coveted fashion shows in the world. And on Tuesday, Bridget Malcolm took to Instagram to share a flirty snap of her toned bottom while thanking a swimwear label for the gift of a cheeky-cut bikini. The 23-year-old was also topless for the snap, taking the selfie from over her right shoulder and showing off her lean physique in a mirror. Scroll down for video That's a bit cheeky! Bridget Malcolm puts her pert posterior on display in Brazilian-cut bikini bottoms in an Instagram snap on Tuesday Her textured blonde locks were tied up in a messy top bun, and she appeared to be makeup-free for the snap. For some unknown reason, the Victoria's Secret model deleted the snap less than an hour later. Bridget often provides fans with some insight into how she maintains her incredible body, revealing recently loves Reformer Pilates. Pilates fan: Bridget often provides fans with some insight into how she maintains her incredible body Third time's a charm! Bridget previously revealed to Daily Mail Australia it was a case of third time lucky to secure her spot as a Victoria's Secret model Last year Bridget debuted on the Victoria's Secret runway alongside fellow newcomers Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid. However, Bridget previously revealed to Daily Mail Australia it was a case of third time lucky, as she'd been knocked back twice before during casting. 'This was the third year I cast for the show...The first two years I was turned away,' she said. Natural beauty: The Victoria's Secret model hails from Perth in Western Australia 'The first year was because I wasn't in good enough shape and the second year I wasn't confident enough to pull it off.' She also added that she believed her figure wasn't in shape at that time because she only 'went to the gym once before the casting' and wasn't aware of the commitment that was needed. Bridget is set to wed her musician beau Nathaniel Hoho in the US on July 23, with another ceremony taking place in Australia for her Perth-based family. She is hardly noted for her ladylike sense of style. But that did not stop Kristen Stewart from looking effortlessly elegant in a white floral dress as she attended a star-studded Thirst Gala in Beverly Hills on Monday. The Twilight star ditched her trademark grungy look for a change, and it paid off with aplomb as she stole the show at the thrilling charity event. A bit of all white: Kristen Stewart stunned in a surprisingly feminine dress at the Thirst Gala in Beverly Hills on Monday And it certainly paid off for the svelte 26-year-old, as she looked fantastic in her partially sheer white lace dress, which she twinned with a pair of strappy high heels. But the lesbian star, who is currently dating on-off lover Alicia Cargile, was far from the only saucy stunner turning heads at the event. For famously busty Buffy the Vampire Slayer favourite Charisma Carpenter, 45, proved she has lost none of her old charms in a plunging dress, while Disney kid Kelli Berglund looked fabulous in a more low-key look in a little black dress. Too much hairspray? The Twilight favourite could not resist scratching her barnet as she posed up Top draw: The The Thirst Project President and CEO Seth Maxwell made sure he posed up with Kristen Usual style: Kristen is best known for the androgynous look she sported here as she arrived in LAX with her girlfriend Alicia Cargile last month Others turning heads at the event included racy redheaded actress Katherine McNamara and Breakout Kings favourite Brooke Nevin. This year's gala has some task to match the amount raised 12 months ago. For the 2015 Thirst Gala attracted 600 cash rich guest who banded together to raise more than $240,000 raised, which is used to give safe, clean drinking water to those who need it most. Despite her disappointing dress sense, Kristen's star power has seen her feature as a celebrity ambassador of Chanel since 2013 She's still got it: Sexy Buffy Vampire Slayer star Charisma Carpenter looked as good as ever at 45 Curve appeal: The famously busty sexpot proved her assets are as noteworthy as ever in a low cut gown Black beauty: Disney kid Kelli Berglund looked great in a classically understated LBD Earlier this month her Paris in Rome campaign with the luxury label was unvieled, with two separate videos. In one she attempts to seductively tease the camera as she unbuttons her blouse while wearing a black mini skirt and lace tights. And in the second she packs up her handbag and appears to contemplate her next move as Gil Scott-Heron's I'll Take Care Of You blares in the background. As part of her no doubt bumper deal, Kristen has minced down the red carpet several times in the brand's designs since signing on as the label's face in 2013. A fiery pair: Redhead Katherine McNamara showcased her cleavage in a plunging blue dress while Brooke Nevin looked hot in orange Black and white: Actresses Ronni Hawk and Jillian Rose wore contrasting colours There's no denying The Bachelor's Anna Heinrich and her boyfriend of nearly three years Tim Robards have an enviable life. And to celebrate Anna's mother Jude's 60th birthday, the glamorous couple have been kicking back in the idyllic cliffside village of Positano, Italy. Flaunting her amazing assets in a sexy black bikini last week, the 29-year-old relaxed on a white sun lounge overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea. Scroll down for video Back in black: Anna Heinrich flaunts her amazing bikini body in a sexy black swimsuit while on holiday to the Amalfi Coast The two-piece, designed by Slinkii, drew attention to her lithe, toned limbs, whittled waistline and sun-kissed skin. Anna's golden-tinted locks were swept back into a chic ponytail to keep the heat off her neck and she appeared to be makeup-free. Meanwhile her buff beau, 33, flaunted his rippling physique in some revealing bathers by aussieBum. Sexy: The two-piece, designed by Slinkii, drew attention to her lithe, toned limbs, whittled waistline and sun-kissed skin Natural beauty: Her golden-tinted locks were swept back into a chic ponytail to keep the heat off her neck and she appeared to be makeup-free Kicking back: Anna relaxed back on a white sun lounge so as to soak up some rays Anna had arrived by the pool earlier that day in a baby blue sundress that was layered down the skirt. And even though he was on holiday, it didn't stop Tim from performing his daily exercises, which included handstands and pull-ups with wooden rings. The smitten couple, who found love on the first season of The Bachelor Australia, were staying at the exclusive Villa Boheme, which boasts gorgeous ocean views at a minimum of $1,600 per night. Romantic getaway: The smitten couple found love on the first season of The Bachelor Australia Lucky: There's no denying The Bachelor stars Anna her boyfriend of nearly three years Tim Robards have an enviable life Making the most of the sun: The couple were seen enjoying the sunshine in Positano Even tan: Anna rolled over onto her stomach to ensure her back saw a little sunshine Enviable physique: The black two-piece showcased Anna's svelte figure They've been travelling in the lap of luxury the entire time, having jetted off in Etihad's first class cabin on Tuesday. 'Couldn't be any more EXCITED. We're coming for you EUROPE,' Anna captioned her shot leaving the Etihad Airways lounge at Sydney Airport last Tuesday evening. And while they are not filming this European holiday for their YouTube show, Anna and Tim have wasted no time in sharing plenty of photos across social media. Bend and stretch! Anna extended her arms above her head as she lay in the sun Reality stars: The blonde beauty was a contestant on Australia's first series of The Bachelor In the lap of luxury: The smitten couple were staying at the exclusive Villa Boheme It was Broadway's biggest night. And Hamilton helped bring in the most viewers in years. The 2016 Tony Awards aired on CBS on Sunday night for the Show's highest overnight rating in 15 years according to a Monday report from Variety. Big night: The 2016 Tony Awards aired on CBS on Sunday night for the Show's highest overnight rating in 15 years according to a Monday report from Variety The gala event, which saw the Lin-Manuel Miranda created play earn an impressive 11 gongs, grew 33% from last year's telecast. According to the weekly, the nearly three-and-a-half-hour programme had an average of 6.8/11 in overnight metered markets which is a vast improvement from last year's 5.1/8, which happened to be among one of the lowest numbers ever. It definitely brought it a much younger audience than usual as it received a 1.6 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 8.7 million viewers, which are the highest audience numbers since 2001. Touching: Barbra Streisand presented Lin-Manuel Miranda and the rest of the Hamilton cast and crew with one of the biggest awards of the night: Best Musical 'Look around, look around. How lucky we are to be alive right now': Producer Jeffrey Seller exclaimed during the acceptance speech when they were given one of the biggest awards of the night Historic: They took home 11 of their record-breaking 16 nominations Their total of 11 gongs falls just one short of The Producers record from 2001. Hamilton does have the record-breaking most nominations of all-time with 16 The previous record for most Tony nominations went to The Producers and Billy Elliott, who each received 14 nods. The smash Broadway hit also received nominations in all four acting categories and came away with three wins. At the top: Lin was bested by his co-star Leslie Odom Jr. in the coveted Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical category Milestone moments: Daveed Diggs (left) and Renee Elise Goldsberry (right) were recognised for their performances in the smash hit play Making a statement: They announced before the show that they would not be using muskets during their performance after the horrific massacre at an Orlando gay club that claimed the lives of at least 50 people Leslie Odom, Jr., Renee Elise Goldsberry and Daveed Diggs all came away with a shiny new trophy. Players in the play, which is centred around the life of American founding father Alexander Hamilton, announced before the show that they would not be using muskets during their performance after the horrific massacre at an Orlando gay club that claimed the lives of at least 50 people. The ensemble put together an incredible performance Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story before breaking out into Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down) without the prop firearms. Man of the hour: James Corden opened up as host of the gala event with a spof of the track Alexander Hamilton All-star cast: Laura Benanti, James Corden, Jane Krakowski, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Renee Elise Goldsberry - pictured from left to right - all harmonized together at the end of the host's opening segment The awards extravaganza was hosted by James Corden who was joined by members of the smash hit play at the beginning of the show for a spoof of Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton may have won several of the awards but did not win all of them as The Humans took home several awards including the coveted Best Play prize. Reed Birney took home the Best Performance by and Actor in a Featured Role in a Play gong for the play based off the book by Stephen Karam. It was the second most awarded show with four. Big moment: British actress Cynthia Erivo won best actress for her Broadway debut in The Color Purple Mogul: Oprah Winfrey was in attendance at the event as she is a producer for The Color Purple Breathtaking in blue: Jessica Lange accepted the award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in Long Day's Journey Into Night What an honour: Playwright Stephen Karam accepts the Tony award for Best Play for The Humans as the play totalled the second most wins with four Fantastic four: Daveed, Cynthia, Leslie and Renee posed for a snap together as they won the musical acting awards, all but Cynthia starred in Hamilton British actress Cynthia Erivo won best actress for her Broadway debut in The Color Purple. The Color Purple, which was produced by Oprah, won for Best Revival Of A Musical. Jessica Lange won her first Tony for playing a drug-addled mother in the revival of the monumental Long Day's Journey Into Night. Frank Langella won his fourth Tony for playing a man who has begun his slide into dementia in The Father. Moving and grooving: There were several impressive performances throughout the night incuding Jane Krakowski showing off her flexibility with Gavin Creel as they star in She Loves Me They've been flaunting their Italian holiday on social media for the last week. But it would seem a European trip isn't enough to stop Tim Robards from working out. The original Bachelor was seen literally bending over backwards in front of his ladylove as they soaked up the sun in Positano last week. Scroll down for video Balancing act: A European holiday isn't enough to stop Tim Robards from working out. The original Bachelor star was seen doing handstands at he and girlfriend Anna Heinrich's hotel in Positano, last week As the couple enjoyed a day by the pool, the handsome 33-year-old flaunted his impressive physique and core strength by doing a handstand while Anna's attention was solely on her phone. The blonde beauty looked relaxed as a she reclined on a sun lounge and showed off her own toned figure in a black string bikini, while Tim opted for fitted red and white shorts. Tim also managed to fit in a quick pool-side workout in between handstands and was seen using wooden gymnastics rings. The pair, who met on The Bachelor Australia in 2013, have made sure to document their Italian trip as they explore the country. Tim and Anna are in the Italy for the 60th birthday celebration for Anna's mother, Jude. Don't fall! The handsome chiropractor tried to get up on his hands while doing a work-out in Italy Nearly there: Tim was determined to show off his fit physique during the pool-side exercise session The lovebirds wasted no time exploring the romantic Italian town of Positano. Taking to social media last week, the pair shared a passionate kiss as they posed for a photo while standing on the cliff edge over looking the endless seas. They both closed their eyes tightly for the picture while Anna wrapped her arms around her beau's toned torso. BYO gym equipment: Tim also managed to fit in a quick poolside workout in between handstands and was seen using wooden gymnastics rings Tiny shorts: The handsome hunk wore a pair of tiny red and white aussieBum shorts Relaxing day: The loved up couple, who met on The Bachelor Australia, opted for a day off to rest pool-side after landing in Italy, last week The former reality TV stars opted to stay at the exclusive Villa Boheme, which boasts breathtaking views of southern Italy's Amalfi Coast. A sophisticated resort featuring Moorish-style architecture, guests are able to look out onto the Sirenuse Islands. The suites starting at 900 Euro ($1,369 AUD) offer a spectacular private terrace, stylish antiques, Vietri floor tiles and an authentic Italian breakfast. All strength: The former Bachelor was also seen working out with rings, no doubt helping him strengthen his arm which he injured last month Getting strong: As the couple enjoyed a day by the pool, the handsome 33-year-old flaunted his impressive physique and core strength by doing the handstands. Anna glanced up from her phone to watch Keeping in touch: While Anna played around on her phone, her boyfriend of nearly three years soaked up the sun post-workout Too cute! Taking to social media last week, the pair shared a passionate kiss as they posed for a photo while standing on the cliff edge overlooking the endless seas She's normally dressed to the nine's on the red carpet. However Salma Hayek went for a completely different look on the set of her upcoming movie How To Be A Latin Lover on Monday. The 49-year-old actress was seen wearing a pretty pink floral dress with a yellow apron over the top as she donned a pair of pink piggy slippers - all while taking a drag off a cigarette. Not her usual look! Salma Hayek went for a completely different look on the set of her upcoming movie on Monday The Mexican-American actress smoked a cigarette as she took a break from filming. She is currently working on a Ken Marino directed film titled How To Be A Latin Lover which follows the rise and fall of a Latin Lover, played by Eugenio Derbez. The star-studded cast includes Kristen Bell, Michael Cera, Rob Lowe and Raquel Welch. All puffed out! She is currently working on a Ken Marino directed film titled How To Be A Latin Lover which follows the rise and fall of a Latin Lover, played by Eugenio Derbez Interesting look! The 49-year-old actress was seen wearing a pretty pink floral dress with a yellow apron over the top as she donned a pair of pink piggy slippers Smoke break! The Mexican-American actress smoked a cigarette as she took a break from filming On her break Salma is seen chatting to her co-star Eugenio. The film is a joint project between 3Pas Studios, Pantelion Films, Lionsgate and Televisa Cine. This will be Derbezs first English-language starring role. Latin lover! Ken Marino directed film titled How To Be A Latin Lover which follows the rise and fall of a Latin Lover, played by Eugenio Derbez Big names: The star-studded cast includes Kristen Bell, Michael Cera, Rob Lowe and Raquel Welch The story, written by Chris Spain and Jon Zack, is about an aging Latin lover forced to return to live with his estranged sister and her young son after being dumped by his sugar mama. Meanwhile Salma Hayek just finished Hitmans Bodyguard opposite Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson and Gary Oldman. She is most famous for playing kinky temptresses in films such as Basic Instinct. But Sharon Stone looked more like a Valley Girl as she wore a colourful ensemble to the premiere about rock music pioneer Frank Zappa in Hollywood on Monday. The self-styled genius looked thrilled as she posed up on the red carpet ahead of the screening of Eat That Question. Peace offering: Sharon Stone flashed a V-sign at the premiere of a Frank Zappa documentary in Hollywood on Monday Sliver favourite Sharon, 58, was looking great for her age in a tight-fitting floral patterned dress, which she twinned with green stilettos. She also added some Hollywood glitz to her look by wearing sunglasses indoors. The Quick And The Dead star seemed in high spirits, and was doubtlessly looking forward to hearing the secrets behind some of her favourite music from the horse's mouth itself. For Eat My Words is subtitled Frank Zappa In His Own Words, and stitches together archival footage from his entire career to tell his story. Family members of the supremely talented musician, who had a famous disdain for the music industry, who attended the event included his stunt guitarist son Dweezil, 46, and his eccentrically named 48-year-old daughter Moon Unit. Shady lady: Sharon added some Hollywood glitz to the event by wearing sunglasses indoors Valley Girl: The Sliver favourite pulled out all the stops for her latest appearance on the red carpet Ready to Sheik Yerbouti? The self-styled genius was surely grooving in her seat as Frank's music played Before his untimely death from cancer at the age of 52 in 1993, Frank released some of the most creative and satirical works in rock, both as a solo performer and with his original band the Mothers Of Invention. As a producer and bandleader he also helped launched the careers of the likes of Alice Cooper, Captain Beefheart and virtuoso guitar shredder Steve Vai. His most famous albums include Freak Out, Joe's Garage and Sheik Yerbouti, while he was also a noted classical composer. In another pioneering move he proposed replacing records with 'direct digital-to-digital transfer' through phone or cable TV, but in 1989 he considered his idea a 'miserable flop.' Family affair: Descendants of the rocker at the event included son Dweezil (second R), daughter Moon Unit (L) and his grandchildren Ear Loeb: Firecracker musician Lisa looked excited to hear what Frank had to say and skipped popcorn in favour of Jackson's Honest Chips and Hope Hummus which guests were given as a healthy option Single Sharon has said her disastrous six-year marriage to former San Francisco Chronicle executive editor Phil Bronstein is one of the reasons she has stayed unmarried since their divorce back in 2004. The actress said: 'Marriage was kind of a losing proposition for me.' The Agent X star was also wed to MacGyver producer Michael Greenburg from 1984 to 1990. The two also had a custody battle in 2003 over their adopted son Roan, who is now 16-years-old. After her split, the Sphere actress adopted Laird, 11, and Quinn, 10, on her own. Father of invention: Frank Zappa is famous for his staggeringly prodigious and virtuosic output in the rock, jazz and classical genres over four decades She recently opened up about her heartbreak after suffering an ectopic pregnancy. But Charlotte Crosby did her best attempt at putting her troubles behind her when she arrived at a fashion launch in Melbourne wearing a pair of thigh-high grey suede heeled boots. The Geordie Shore star flaunted her pins in a short maroon playsuit with a waist-tie detail which highlighted her trim figure at Tiger Mist boutique in Eastland Shopping Centre on Tuesday. Scroll down for video Those boots are made for walking! Charlotte Crosby arrived at a fashion launch in Melbourne on Tuesday wearing a pair of thigh-high grey suede heeled boots She oozed confidence in the plunging outfit following her dramatic weight loss which saw her shed two-and-a-half stone in seven months. With her long blonde locks curled into loose waves, Charlotte looked happy and relaxed as she posed for selfies with fans at the appearance. At one point, the 26-year-old was even seen cuddling a baby and being handed a bag full of nappies. Covering up: Charlotte was later seen walking through the shopping centre wearing a cropped bomber jacket over her playsuit Enviable figure: The Geordie Shore star flaunted her pins in a short maroon playsuit with a waist-tie detail which highlighted her slender frame at Tiger Mist boutique in Eastland Shopping Centre Busy star: The reality TV star was pictured using her phone and holding a Louis Vuitton iPad case as she strolled past the shops, flanked by security Charlotte was later seen walking through the shopping centre wearing a cropped bomber jacket over her playsuit. The reality TV star was pictured using her phone as she strolled past the shops, flanked by security. Charlotte is visiting Australia for a week where she is launching a fashion campaign for a well-known brand. She is expected to return to Sydney on Thursday before jetting back to the UK on June 19. Popular celebrity: At the appearance in Melbourne, the Geordie Shore star was seen cuddling a baby Smiling for the camera: Posing with a baby, Charlotte beamed for the camera having recently opened up about her heartbreak after suffering an ectopic pregnancy Confused: Charlotte looked a little bemused when she was handed a pack of nappies It has been a tumultuous month for Charlotte, who recently broke up with on-again-off-again boyfriend Gary Beale. Her arrival in Australia comes after she revealed she suffered an ectopic pregnancy after falling pregnant with Gary Beadle's child. In an emotional interview with Heat magazine she confessed it happened while he was away filming Ex On The Beach, and that she was rushed to hospital for an operation. Having fun: With her long blonde locks curled into loose waves, Charlotte looked happy and relaxed as she posed with fans at the appearance Funny face: The reality star was seen posing for selfies with one of her fans at the event Charlotte had been filming Geordie Shore: Big Birthday Battle at the time and said she wasn't even aware she was pregnant at first, putting the pain down to a heavy period. 'I didn't know what the hell was going on and I was in so much pain,' she explained. 'Then the X-ray showed how much damage had been caused.' 'Because I'd left it a week, it'd torn open my fallopian tube and I was bleeding internally. He [the doctor] said: 'If you'd have left it any longer, you could have died.' She called the ordeal 'a difficult personal time' that she 'chose to share with her fans'. Behind the scenes: Charlotte is pictured here wearing the same jumpsuit at a Tiger Mist fashion shoot Today we've got something very unusual; our friends out at Proexpo sent out a Meizu M3 Note smartphone for us to review, and it's a Chinese-make device. I've had more than a little history with Chinese devices, and though they can be a little odd to those of us used to North American devices, they've also got a lot going for them. My time with the Meizu M3 Note shows that there's been little change in that, for better...and for worse.The Meizu M3 Note offers up a 5.5 inch full-HD display, backed up by a Helio P10 octa-core processor, your choice of 16 or 32 gigabytes of memory, and your choice of two or three gigabytes of storage. Also included is an ARM Mali T860 image processor, a 13 megapixel rear camera with panorama shooting capability, a five megapixel front camera for video conferencing, a fingerprint recognition system with capacity sufficient for five fingerprints, a magnetic sensor, gyroscope, IR proximity sensor, digital compass and more. It operates on the Flyme OS, and works with the Google Play store, though that may be one of the device's biggest shortcomings. More on that directly.The first thing I noticed about working with the Meizu M3 Note is that it has an absolutely buttery-smooth interface. Seriously, it's crazy. I picked up this phone and was working with it easily in a matter of minutes with absolutely no instruction manual help. Finding the included tools was easy, and there were no shortage of tools. Included flashlight app with multi-level brightness, a mirror program for the user-facing camera, a level--no, seriously, a level. I discovered all my kitchen counters were canted about one degree down bubble thanks to that, a bit of a shock but still plenty nifty. Starting the device with my Wi-Fi connection went likewise smoothly and every bit as easy as an Apple device. I was immediately impressed by its efficiency, user-friendliness, and its sharp aesthetics. Even video on this device looked and sounded great.But then I tried to get into Google Play.An app built conveniently into the front screen points right to the Google Play store, and I thought I'd whip in and get a free game to see how the screen handled high amounts of touchscreen manipulation. But then, several attempts to connect over the two days that followed were stymied. I figured that one day might have been the store was down, but two days? That was a little odd. What's more, comments on GSMArena revealed that I was not the only one to have trouble connecting to Google Play with a Meizu M3 Note. This suggests a much larger problem: that somehow this phone plain old can't handle Google Play. That fundamentally limits its usefulness; this thing should be able to handle Google's own app store, and if it can't, there shouldn't be a shortcut right on the front screen to this to begin with. One important note: when I tried to get in through the device's mobile browser, there was much less problem. So it seems to be only the app shortcut that has issues.That's a problem. Virtually every function this thing had built in was impressive by any standard, and worked nicely. This thing was practically a Swiss army knife; I don't remember the last time I saw a compass built into a smartphone, and one that worked so well. But when the biggest app store is only accessible by workaround, now, that's a problem.It may be that this will be addressed in future versions, or that this is primarily meant for areas that don't mainly work with Google Play. But still, that's one big handicap for a smartphone potentially meant for release in North America. If this is fixed, the Meizu M3 Note will likely be able to hold its own against a variety of devices. If not, the phone's value is significantly hamstrung despite a fairly attractive price that varies depending on options selected and store used.Pros: Terrific interface, intuitive use, sharp aestheticsCons: Difficult to use Google Play Ever since announcing her pregnancy last month, Stephanie Davis has been locked in a bitter feud with her ex Jeremy McConnell, who has publicly insisted that he is not the father of her child. But on Monday night, the embattled actress's fury was ignited by a complete stranger, when a Twitter troll accused the 23-year-old screen star of faking her pregnancy. After Stephanie shared a throwback video of her slender physique, a troll sniped: 'You're not even pregnant. We're all just waiting for the inevitable "miscarriage horror" story. You're a mess.' Scroll down for video Fury: Stephanie Davis blasted a Twitter troll on Monday night, after she was accused of faking her pregancy The harsh words soon prompted the former Hollyoaks star to fire back: 'Absolutely disgusting! This is why I'm not sharing any photo as there's so many vile people! I've been under enough.' An army of Stephanie's fans soon chimed in with their support, attacking the man in question, with one disgusted user branding him 'just wrong in so many ways'. Soon after the uproar, the actress wrote: 'Stress! I'm very happy settled and over the whole thing now, but seeing comments like that, makes me sick. how do some of u sleep at night. (sic)' 'Vile': The former Hollyoaks star was horrified as she was hit with the harsh words - and quickly hit back Lost love: Stephanie has said she is carrying former flame Jeremy McConnell's child yet the couple, who met in the Celebrity Big Brother house in January, are currently locked in a bitter feud Stephanie has said she is carrying former flame Jeremy's child yet the couple, who met in the Celebrity Big Brother house in January, are currently locked in a bitter feud. Her body appears to be very much on her mind, as she shared a stunning throwback image on Instagram on Monday. Stephanie was seen stripped down to just a leotard for the snap from around two years ago. Throwing it back: Stephanie shared a stunning throwback image on Instagram on Monday As the war of words rages on between the pair, the Liverpool-born beauty will no doubt catch the eye of her lost love as she looked simply incredible in the throwback shot. Posing in a high-leg leotard with a plunging back and halterneck, Stephanie exhibited her incredibly slender frame while proffering a cheeky glimpse of sideboob. Beaming into the camera, Stephanie held one hand aloft her head while the other clutched the camera to capture the image of her body contorted into a flattering shape. Baby daddy? Heavily tattooed Jeremy has publicly denied the actress' claims that she is carrying his child Lost love: Stephanie has frequently vented her woes on social media yet now she has turned to spiritual planes rather than the Internet to provide guidance Stephanie, who is yet to unveil an image of her pregnancy belly, added a caption on the shot reading: 'Body goal for next year might go back red!' Shortly before her throwback snap, Stephanie revealed to her 399,000 Twitter followers that she had visited a medium in the hope of contacting her late grandfather in the afterlife. After her acrimonious break-up from Jeremy, the pair have now been locking horns in an Internet feud as Stephanie has lambasted her former flame for failing to support her. Now the pretty starlet has turned to Staffordshire-based medium Sandrea to try and contact her late grandfather for spiritual help. Seeking help: The actress revealed to her 399,000 Twitter followers that she was hoping to contact her grandfather in the afterlife and the visit was 'just what she needed' War of words: Stephanie appears unlikely to stop the feud anytime soon, as she launched her latest attack seemingly directed at her 'toxic' former partner Jeremy She tweeted her thanks to Sandrea in a gushing Tweet reading: 'Thankyou so so sooo much @sandrea27 for the reading you are amazing #Mygrandad #justwhatineeded big love xxx' Sandrea lists herself on the microblogging site as: 'Psychic to the stars. International Medium and author of Vanquishing Ghosts and Demons.' She responded to Stephanie's tweet saying: 'It was my absolute pleasure darling X he's always with you and remember you have an amazing year ahead.' Soon after their meeting Sandrea spoke to The Sun about the emotional reading in which they discovered the sex of the baby, saying: 'Her grandad told me.' Adding: 'There was such happiness from her grandad, her mum and from Steph.' But saying that, Sandrea explained: 'I don't really want to say about the sex, because I don't want to break her confidence, but yes [the grandad] did give a clear indication and yes, I am sure.' Aside from her praise to her spiritual aide, Stephanie has remained relatively coy in regard to images of herself or her bump - a bizarre move from a former selfie lover. Coy: On Sunday night she simply shared an image of her strappy heels and added the caption: 'Out for din dins... lets go' On Sunday night she simply shared an image of her strappy heels and added the caption: 'Out for din dins... lets go'. Stephanie has taken to sharing a host of thinly-veiled attacks on her 'toxic' ex Jeremy on social media, as she launched her latest attack via a meme on Friday, which read: 'When a toxic person can no longer control you, they will try to control how others see you.' 'The misinformation will feel unfair, but stay above it, trusting that other people will eventually see the truth, just like you did.' Stephanie seemed to be in a good place, despite her ongoing problems with Jeremy, as she captioned the shot: 'Never read anything so true. Ahh so relaxed and breathing easy.' She added: 'Can't wait to see friends, me my beautiful bump and laughs.' (sic) 'Me and my beautiful bump': The Celebrity Big Brother star seemed in a reflective mood as she took to her Instagram page to rant about her former flame Support: She received many messages of support, with one follower writing: 'Steph you are a beautiful person inside and out. I have loved you ever since Hollyoaks. Ignore what people say about you' Earlier this month, Jeremy provoked fresh outrage after he posted a snap of himself and a busty mystery woman on Instagram. But despite the pair's close pose, Jeremy insisted that he was only friends with the woman, as he simply captioned the image: 'Buds.' The tattooed hunk could be seen smiling broadly as he places a hand on the glamorous lady's shoulder, while showing off his muscular physique in a form fitting T-shirt. Just 'buds'? Jeremy posted a snap of himself and a busty mystery woman on Instagram earlier this month But despite gaining thousands of likes on the social media site, the photo has sparked controversy amongst Jeremy's followers with some saying the image is disrespectful to ex Stephanie Davis. And Jeremy proved his former Celebrity Big Brother love interest couldn't be further from his mind as he cosied up to a mystery girl last week. Jeremy previously insisted that Stephanie is not pregnant with his child and has even called for a DNA test if she gives birth to prove she is lying. The reality star called Stephanie's claims 'ridiculous,' and added she would look like a 'mug' when it is revealed any child is not his after a paternity test, Ireland's TV Now Magazine reports. No love lost: The Irish hunk has insisted that Stephanie is not pregnant with his child and has even called for a DNA test if she gives birth to prove she is lying Following a bitter war of words between the former couple, the 26-year-old again said: 'I'm not going to be a dad. If she is pregnant, it's not mine. 'If I was a dad, I'd be 100 per cent no, 110 per cent, the best dad in the world. But you'll see in the future that it's not my kid, and she'll look like a mug.' A representative for Stephanie said in a statement to MailOnline: 'Our client is categorically pregnant. We do not need to continue repeating this.' Despite their strained relationship, Jeremy showed he still cared for the former Hollyoaks actress and dismissed her behaviour as a tactic to secure media coverage. 'I still love Steph and Id never bad mouth her, but I just think the whole thing is a media approach and its ridiculous,' he said. Two weeks ago Stephanie alleged her ex had a serious drug problem and begged him to go to rehab. 'Healthy mind and body': The Irish male model posted a lengthy statement on Twitter last week, denying he had a drug problem and accusing her of having an affair with her ex Sam Reece In response, Jeremy denied he was abusing narcotics and accused Stephanie of having an affair with her ex-boyfriend Sam Reece during their rocky four-month romance. The former Beauty School Cop-Out star also denied Stephanie's claims again that he is the father of her unborn child. Posting a lengthy statement on Twitter, he wrote: 'Was gonna stay quiet about the whole thing and just let it come out normally, first of all I'd like to let people know I'm perfectly healthy mind and body and have took the break up privately, but when me and my family are effected by what I'd call a person with no shame, she is slandering me and trying to portray me in a certain light for a reason, to make me look like a terrible lad. 'People can choose to believe or not. I do not care. For months she was seeing Sam behind my back and now in Ibiza together. It will all unfold in time. 'People don't know what I put with in that relationship. I was never perfect but please, don't believe 90 per cent of what she says. I've messed up but I'd never be as evil. This will be my last message about her #bookclosed.' The night before his lengthy post, he tweeted: 'I'm as shocked as all you are at this whole saga, I'm sure you can join the dots yourself #letmelive. Concerns: The former Hollyoaks actress accused Jeremy of being a drug addict and urged him to go to rehab Former flame: Jeremy accused Stephanie of having an affair with her ex-boyfriend Sam Reece, who she dumped to date the Irish male model in January 'She's not pregnant with my child come on. It's all lies I've been told by her friends.' The following morning, an angry Steph hit back: 'Tell me I'm not pregnant and keep denying your child, and I#ll throw u right under that bus as the s**t I have in u, u would never survive!' Responding to the Irish model's claims she's in Spain with her ex - who she dumped on TV after falling for Jeremy on Celebrity Big Brother - Stephanie posted a photo of her legs on a balcony in Liverpool. She wrote: 'Sorry does his tweet not show how f**ked he is... I'm in Ibiza with Sam.......... Sure I'm in Liverpool. 'Let's look positively he needs this to sort his life out , for all u to understand what I've been through with his crazy mind. It's all good.' Jeremy's statement came an hour after Stephanie posted her own lengthy essay, accusing her ex of failing to turn up for baby scans. She wrote: 'I think it's disgusting that Jeremy hasn't turned up for scans and is constantly drunk and partying, the stress he has had me under. I've already been in hospital once with pains and stress. 'I don't hate the lad I feel very VERY sorry for him the fact no one is getting him the help he needs. His management should have him in rehab and sorting his life out so he can then be there for his child before he dies. 'I wouldn't mind but don't WANT to get someone pregnant and have a family. To not be there. I'm happy doing it alone. Off for a chilled week away with bump. 'Been doing this since his act from Big Brother was over after sleeping with what 9 girls now? Boy need help. Sort it out and be a dad. Bye for now, Steph.' She was recently left devastated after she revealed that she had suffered an ectopic pregnancy. And while Charlotte Crosby may still be feeling the anguish of her recent loss, the former Geordie Shore star put on a brave face as she attended a fashion launch in Melbourne on Tuesday. Cutting a relaxed figure, the 26-year-old happily mingled with shoppers inside Tiger Mist Boutique where at one point she was seen cuddling up to a baby after a fan handed her a bag of diapers. Scroll down for video Beaming: Charlotte Crosby put on a brave face as she cuddled up to a baby at a Melbourne fashion event on Tuesday afternoon She appeared to be in great and content spirits as she engaged with visitors, who were eager to meet the popular British TV personality. Charlotte is currently Down Under for a week where she is launching an Australian fashion campaign and will return to Sydney on Thursday before jetting back to the UK on June 19. The TV stars visit comes days after she announced she had suffered an ectopic pregnancy with the child she shared with ex-boyfriend Gaz. Not the typical sort of gift: Cutting a relaxed figure, the 26-year-old happily mingled with shoppers inside Tiger Mist Boutique where at one point she was seen cuddling up to a baby after a fan handed her a bag of diapers Taking it all in: The TV star was seen happily engaging with shoppers at the fashion event Twinning: Charlotte was seen happily holding a baby wearing leopard print trousers and a black blouse - just like their mother During an emotional interview with Heat, she confessed that the it happened in April while Gaz was away filming Ex On The Beach, and that she was rushed to hospital for an operation. Charlotte, who had been filming Geordie Shore: Big Birthday Battle at the time, said she wasn't even aware she was pregnant at first, and that she thought the pain was down to a heavy period. I thought I had a really bad period because I was bleeding and cramping - I can't describe the pain, it was awful,' she explained, adding that it felt like she was 'being stabbed in the side'. Keeping busy: The TV stars visit comes days after she announced she had suffered an ectopic pregnancy while dating ex-boyfriend Gaz Those boots are made for walking! Charlotte arrived at the fashion launch wearing a pair of thigh-high grey suede heeled boots An ectopic pregnancy is when a fertilised egg implants itself outside of the womb, usually in the fallopian tube, meaning a baby is unable to develop and leaving the mother's health in danger. While there is a chance of conception again, it is advisable for the woman to wait a while due to damage caused in the fallopian tube. Charlotte also confessed that she is now in fear that she won't be able to have children following the ordeal. After revealing the tragic news, she subsequently confirmed her departure from MTVs Geordie Shore following a bitter rift with Gaz. The TV starlet has since vowed to move on from the show and make a fresh start altogether following her turbulent few weeks. Covering up: She was later seen walking through the shopping centre wearing a cropped bomber jacket over her playsuit Busy star: The reality TV star was pictured using her phone as she strolled past the shops, flanked by security She's just jetted into Paris for a whirlwind visit alongside husband Kanye West. And Kim Kardashian has been suffering from terrible jetlag, illustrating her grumpy mood during her bout of insomnia on Tuesday morning by sharing a cute throwback picture of daughter North, almost three, chilling on holiday. The adorable toddler looks the picture of cool in the image, relaxing into her dad Kanye's chest as the pair pose against the stunning seaside backdrop. Scroll down for video 'Mood': Kim Kardashian was feeling unimpressed after failing to sleep on Monday night, sharing a picture of her daughter North giving some serious attitude North is giving plenty of attitude, perfecting her nonchalant pose behind a pair of sunglasses. Kim simply captioned the snap, 'MOOD'. The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star documented her jetlag on social media all night long, complaining about her lack of sleep in between replying to fan questions and musing about her next business ventures. Paris visit: Kim and her husband Kanye West have been mingling with the fashion pack in the French capital, meeting with Karl Lagerfeld on Monday The prolific tweeter posted: '4:15am still can't sleep #JetLag'. '5:15am now. Planning out my travels for the rest of the year and I think see a birthday trip to Dubai!' She continued,'Ok it's 6:30am and I haven't slept yet. Going a try to fall asleep (sic)', before grumpily concluding, 'Up again'. Meanwhile, Kim recently boasted about her 'five-star' sex life with the New Slaves hitmaker. Social media saga: The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star documented her jetlag on social media all night long, complaining about her lack of sleep in between replying to fan questions and musing about her next business ventures In an article on her paid-for blog KimKardashianWest.com, the mother-of-two tackled the issue of star signs - by reflecting upon the couple's pairing. 'Since it's Kanye's birthday week, I did a little research about Libras and Geminis and found out they're a perfect match!' she told her fans, noting that 'we [are] one of the best matches in the zodiac.' While Kim did not mention if she personally believed in astrology, she stated that her sisters Khloe and Kendall were 'obsessed'. Snoozy Snapchats: Kim also shared endless videos and images of herself unable to sleep Tossing and turning: She raged, 'Ok it's 6:30am and I haven't slept yet. Going a try to fall asleep (sic)', before grumpily concluding, 'Up again' 'Libra/Gemini sex gets a 5-star rating because we're so in tune with each other,' revealed Kim Then, there is the fact that 'we both love travel, surprises and communication'. While a love of luxury vacations is perhaps not that unusual, Kim explains that both her star sign Gemini, and Kanye's sign Aries are 'air signs'. This means, says the 35-year-old: 'We've had an amazing connection right from the start.' British reality TV star Charlotte Crosby is enjoying a whirlwind trip to Australia as she helps an Australian fashion brand launch their new collection. And on Tuesday, the former Geordie Shore personality was in full action, posing up for a fashion shoot for the clothing brand Tiger Mist in Melbourne. In behind-the-scenes shots, the 26-year-old showed off her trim figure in a black and white mini dress and mucked around for the camera, including taking a selfie on her phone. Scroll down for video Doing her thing: Ex Geordie Shore star Charlotte Crosby posing up for a fashion shoot for the clothing brand Tiger Mist on Tuesday, wearing a black and white mini dress. She is seen here in behind-the-scenes shots The outfit, which featured a plunging neckline and a material choker, was long sleeve in design and boasted black and white panels. Charlotte - who hails from Sunderland in the UK - also wore retro inspired reading glasses and silver platform runners. The blonde stunner wore her long glossy hair out and over her shoulders in loose tousled curls, while sporting flawless makeup including foundation, bronzer, lip gloss and eye liner. Selfie time: The 26-year-old blonde mucked around in front of the camera and took a picture on her phone Back to basics: The outfit featured a plunging neckline and a material choker, was long sleeve in design and panels of black and white Showing off her long talon-like nails, Charlotte held up her mobile phone as she posed for a selfie during the shoot. Appearing to be in great and content spirits, the popular TV star smiled as she snapped away. She also showed off her long legs as she sat down on an ornate zebra-print chair, and in one frame stuck her tongue out and flashed the peace sign. For the shoot, Charlotte posed in a colourful room with eye-catching gold wall paper and a lavish gold mirror, with rows of shoes behind her. When she sat on the chair, she was in a hallway with bright red walls. In another frame, Charlotte again wore a figure-hugging outfit, wearing a pink strapless mini dress. Kicking back: She also showed off her long legs as she sat down on an ornate zebra-print chair, and in one frame stuck her tongue out and flashed the peace sign Colourful: When she sat on the chair, she was in a hallway with bright red walls Charlotte first jetted to Australia on Saturday, arriving into Sydney from the UK. She is expected to leave Australia on Sunday, having fulfilled a number of promotional duties for the fashion brand. Her Australian tour comes after she revealed to Heat Magazine she sufftered an ectopic pregnancy after falling pregnant with ex and Geordie Shore cast member Gary 'Gaz' Beadle's baby. Its been a hard few months for the star, who also recently split with Gary. She's no stranger herself to stripping off on-screen, having disrobed to play sex-mad Samantha in Sex And The City. But when it comes to posing for naked selfies, actress Kim Cattrall admits she finds the process strange and 'boring'. Speaking on Good Morning Britain on Tuesday, the English-born star, 60, was asked by host Piers Morgan what she thought about the Kardashians. Not a fan: Kim Cattrall thought the Kardashians' penchant for naked selfies was 'boring' She said: 'I don't really watch the Kardashians. But I don't think you can avoid them.' When Piers asked about the naked selfies, after Kardashian, 35, posed in the buff twice in recent months on her Instagram, Cattrall said she didn't see the point. The former Mannequin star replied: 'I think it's a bit boring. It's a one-off situation. 'I don't know how you build a career on that. But they seem to have done that.' What's the point? Kim Kardashian famously disrobed (again) for a naked selfie in March 'I don't think you can avoid them': Kim admitted the Kardashians were everywhere While Cattrall's naked scenes in SATC were integral to her character Samantha Jones, Kardashian chose to strip off to show her post-baby body following the birth of her son Saint. When she shared it in March, she wrote: 'When you're like I have nothing to wear LOL.' Meanwhile, Cattrall also admitted she'd still be interested in making a cameo in Coronation Street after previously having to turn one down. 'I think it's a bit boring': Kim was interviewed by Piers Morgan as she joined Richard Arnold on the sofa She explained: 'They did offer me a part but I wasn't available. Maybe they'll ask me again?' The Canadian actress, who lives in New York, admitted she recently stopped driving in the city due to the amount of road rage from other drivers. She has a home in the Hamptons, around 90 miles outside of Manhattan, but now gets the Hampton Jitney bus - just like the SATC characters did in Season 2 of the show. Ta-ra: The glamorous actress waves as she leaves the ITV studios on London's South Bank after her early morning appearance She said: 'I've stopped driving because of the road rage in New York. You have to be quite stealth about it. 'I don't do it as much. I take the Hampton Jitney to my place.' Kim was on the show to promote the second series of her Canadian TV show Sensitive Skin, about a middle-aged woman suffering a midlife crisis. Raunchy: Kim stripped off for sex scenes in Sex And The City, pictured with co-star Jason Lewis, for her role as sex-mad Samantha Jones Brittny Ward looked like she was ready for a night out, rather than a coffee run, on Monday as she slipped into a barely-there summer dress. In high spirits, Jenson Button's new girlfriend served up an eyeful of her enviable figure as she went out early in West Hollywood, CA. The Playboy model, 25, dressed in a plunging dress with cutaway panels at her middle, sensibly layering on a fluffy cardigan cover up. Scroll down for video Extremely revealing: Jenson Button's girlfriend Brittny Ward picked out a very tiny dress for her coffee run on Monday morning in California Brittny wore a wide smile and even delivered a wave with her car keys in hand as she left the coffee shop holding a bag full of purchases. The model was on her way to an appointment at Cristophe hair salon in Beverly Hills, approaching Monday morning like a true lady of leisure. Keeping comfortable, Jenson's new girlfriend wore flat sandals that laced up on her legs and also cleverly matched a body chain in gold that drew yet more attention to her neckline. Cutaway: The dress featured a plunging neckline and two cutaway panels at the middle Sun-worshipper Brittny has many hours of beach time to thank for her glorious, golden glow, since the bikini model seems to regularly shooting on the sands. Only one day ago, Brittny used a gratuitous bikini picture to encourage her followers to act positively at all times. She penned a note beside the snap that read: 'You choose the life you want. Happiness is a choice! Choosing to look at all your blessings above looking at what you're missing in life is such a strength. 'Things aren't always going to go your way, all you can do is react with positivity. You are responsible for yourself, no one else. Take a look at yourself and decide what type of life you want.' Fashion boast: The bikini model showed off the back of the dress as she told followers on Instagram that she was off to the hair salon Positivity: The star used a bikini picture to promote positivity on Monday, too Brittny has gained overnight notoriety for her relationship with Formula 1 racing car driver Jenson, who split from his wife in December 2015. The couple made their red carpet debut just under two weeks ago, when they put in a joint appearance at the Hope & Homes End The Silence fundraiser at Abbey Road Studios in London. She also accompanied him to Monaco this year for the Monaco Grand Prix, just one year after his ex-wife Jessica Michibata was similarly on the sidelines supporting him. She's just jetted into Paris on Monday for a whirlwind visit alongside husband Kanye West. And after just 24 hours in the French capital, Kim Kardashian and the rapper were back on a plane again as they headed back to the United States. The pair had been in Europe for a meeting with fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld, but it looks like they were in a rush to be back in Los Angeles for their daughter North's third birthday on Wednesday. Scroll down for video Off again: Kim Kardashian arrives at Paris airport on Tuesday morning in a pair of ripped jeans, low-cut sheer T-shirt and long jacket Although excited about returning to her children North and Saint, Kim looked understandably rather weary as she arrived at Paris airport for yet another long-haul flight. The reality TV star looked fabulous in her ripped white jeans, low-cut sheer vest and beige coat as she entered the terminal. Following close behind was husband Kanye, who was the yin to his wife's yang in an all-black ensemble. See more Kim Kardashian updates as she and Kanye West jet home from Paris Rushing home: Kim and her husband Kanye West are flying home for their daughter North's third birthday on Wednesday A busty show: Kim flashed a bit of cleavage in her low-cut sheer vest as part of her stylish ensemble Earlier on Tuesday morning, Kim illustrated her grumpy mood during her bout of insomnia on Tuesday morning by sharing a cute throwback picture of daughter North chilling on holiday. The adorable toddler looks the picture of cool in the image, relaxing into her dad Kanye's chest as the pair pose against the stunning seaside backdrop. North is giving plenty of attitude, perfecting her nonchalant pose behind a pair of sunglasses. Kim simply captioned the snap, 'MOOD.' Keep it simple: Kanye was the yin to his wife's yang in his all-black ensemble of jeans and T-shirt Going for a pale colour palette: Kim dressed head to top in pale shades of beige and white for her flight back to Los Angeles The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star documented her jetlag on social media all night long, complaining about her lack of sleep in between replying to fan questions and musing about her next business ventures. The prolific tweeter posted: '4:15am still can't sleep #JetLag'. '5:15am now. Planning out my travels for the rest of the year and I think see a birthday trip to Dubai!' Tired: Kim looked understandably rather weary as she arrived at Paris airport for yet another long-haul flight Planning a trip Down Under: Kim delighted her Australian fans when she tweeted she was expecting to visit later this year She continued,'Ok it's 6:30am and I haven't slept yet. Going a try to fall asleep (sic)', before grumpily concluding, 'Up again'. She also tweeted about her rough plans to visit Australia at some point this year after an Antipodean fan asked when she was returning. Kim wrote: 'I think I saw some Australia tour dates floating around so if it's all still the same, this year for sure!' Not in the mood: An airport employee asks for a selfie, but it appears Kim isn't in the mood Jet-setter: Kim spent around 24 hours in the French capital before heading back to California It appeared she was also thinking about cakes - perhaps a last-minute plan to get one for North's birthday. The mother-of-two tweeted: 'Ok guys my family is looking for a new bakery. What are the yummiest cake spots in la that makes amazing cakes & cupcakes?' Meanwhile, Kim recently boasted about her 'five-star' sex life with the New Slaves hitmaker. In an article on her paid-for blog KimKardashianWest.com, the mother-of-two tackled the issue of star signs - by reflecting upon the couple's pairing. 'Mood': Kim was feeling unimpressed after failing to sleep on Monday night, sharing a picture of her daughter North giving some serious attitude Spaced out? The couple fought off their jetlag as they were spotted out and about in Paris on Monday night Meeting the fans: The rapper signed a pair of trainers for a fan as they left a building in the French capital 'Since it's Kanye's birthday week, I did a little research about Libras and Geminis and found out they're a perfect match!' she told her fans, noting that 'we [are] one of the best matches in the zodiac.' While Kim did not mention if she personally believed in astrology, she stated that her sisters Khloe and Kendall were 'obsessed'. 'Libra/Gemini sex gets a 5-star rating because we're so in tune with each other,' revealed Kim Paris visit: Kim and her husband Kanye West have been mingling with the fashion pack in the French capital, meeting with Karl Lagerfeld on Monday Social media saga: The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star documented her jetlag on social media all night long, complaining about her lack of sleep in between replying to fan questions and musing about her next business ventures Then, there is the fact that 'we both love travel, surprises and communication'. While a love of luxury vacations is perhaps not that unusual, Kim explains that both her star sign Gemini, and Kanye's sign Aries are 'air signs'. This means, says the 35-year-old: 'We've had an amazing connection right from the start.' Snoozy Snapchats: Kim also shared endless videos and images of herself unable to sleep If you thought The Bachelorette's resident 'international model' David Witko was controversial, you haven't seen Kiss Bang Love. The Channel Seven reality show presented its own male model character on Tuesday night's episode, which saw single girl Jess kiss twelve mystery men in a bid to find love. During the episode, viewers met Vetea, a 28-year-old Tahiti-born male model with a sizable ego. Scroll down for video 'People tell me I look like Ashton Kutcher': On Tuesday Night's installment of Kiss Bang Love, viewers met Vetea, a 28-year-old Tahiti-born male model with a sizable ego 'People tell me I look like Ashton Kutcher or Rafael Nadal', he announced, preening and posing before the camera. 'It's hard to find an Australian girl because they like to be the boss', he continued before adding: 'I'm a good kisser... 'If you don't believe me you can ask all my ladies. If she don't like it she will miss something'. Unfortunately for Vetea, Jess was left unimpressed with his aggressive kissing technique, telling the camera: 'No one's been that forceful upon me'. 'It's hard to find an Australian girl because they like to be the boss': The glossy-haired gentleman appeared to be frustrated with the pool of single ladies Down Under Long lost twin? The model claimed his friends compare him to Ashton Kutcher (pictured) She's not a fan! Unfortunately for Vetea, Jess was left less-than-impressed with his aggressive kissing technique Meanwhile, viewers took to social media to comment on Vetea's unusual commentary, with one Tweeting: 'This guy is surely put in as a joke?' Another fan poked fun at him by Tweeting: 'I'm a good kisser. You can ask all my ladies lol'. After Vetea failed to make it to the next round of dates, one fan showed their delight by Tweeting 'Up himself Zorro misses out'. Taking no prisoners! Vetea appeared to be pulling all the stops during his kiss with Jess; gripping her by the neck with both hands Puckering up! On Tuesday night's episode of Channel Seven's new social experiment reality show, audiences watched personal trainer Jess, 24, find love with salesman Jared, 29 Zing! Meanwhile, viewers took to social media to comment on Vetea's unusual commentary, with one Tweeting: 'This guy is surely put in as a joke' Oh dear! Another fan poked fun at him by Tweeting: 'I'm a good kisser. You can ask all my ladies lol' On Tuesday night's episode of Channel Seven's new social experiment reality show, audiences watched personal trainer Jess, 24, find love with salesman Jared, 29. Coming second was Clayton, a 24-year-old oil rigger from Perth, with whom Jess shared a particularity steamy session in a hot tub during their overnight date. Jess and Jared have apparently continued their relationship since the show. Ouch: After Vetea failed to make it to the next round of dates, one fan showed their delight by Tweeting 'Up himself Zorro misses out' From first kiss to love! On Tuesday night's episode of Channel Seven's new social experiment reality show, audiences watched personal trainer Jess, 24, find love with salesman Jared, 29 He owns his own fashion line and is known for his unique style. And Ollie Proudlock certainly made a statement as he attended Joshua Kane's Spring/Summer catwalk show with girlfriend Emma Connolly in London. The 27-year-old Made In Chelsea star hit the FROW with his model girlfriend in matching black and red check suits. Scroll down for video His and hers check: Ollie Proudlock certainly made a statement as he attended Joshua Kane's SS17 catwalk show with girlfriend Emma Connolly Ollie teamed his bold suit with a crisp white shirt and tie, accessorising with his trademark black rim glasses. Wearing his ever-changing hair in a gelled side-parting, the British reality star beamed as he held on to his girlfriend of two years. Emma wore a low-cut black vest under her matching trouser suit, adding edgy silver heels. See Made in Chelsea updates as Ollie Proudlock and Emma Connolly don matching suits Unique style: Ollie dressed his unique suit up with a crisp white shirt and tie, accessorising with his trademark black rim glasses Coordinating: Emma wore a low-cut black vest under her matching trouser suit, adding edgy silver heels and keeping her make-up light, showing off her natural beauty Keeping the rest of her look simple, the star of Scotland's Top Model showed off her glowing complexion with minimal make-up, and left her blonde ombre hair loose. Looking loved-up, they sat arm-in-arm in the front row of the show, before joining the runway to hug designer Joshua. Proudlock previously gushed about his girlfriend, telling Reveal magazine they had celebrated their first anniversary in August of last year. At the time he tweeted: 'A year ago today I met my soulmate, the most beautiful person inside and out. It's safe to say it has been the best year of my life. @emmalouiseconnolly I love you to the moon and back, and cannot wait for the times ahead.' Speaking about how they met, he explained: 'It's a long story, but we met in Scotland a few years back. We didn't see each other for a long period of time, but when I got back from a trip to New York we hooked up, we met up and hung out. She's great. '[Emma] is hands down, without a doubt, the most amazing person I have ever met, and I've never loved anyone as much as I have loved her.' She was sent home from the MasterChef Australia kitchen two weeks ago after forgetting to add key ingredients to a tricky quail dish. But Theresa Visintin has now won her place back in the competition after creating a stunning snowball dessert in a dramatic cook-off on Tuesday against the 11 other former contestants. The mother-of-three, who decided to stay in Australia to train with Reynold Poernomo rather than go back home to Canada to see her family, said she named the dessert 'winter' in tribute to them. Scroll down for video Stand-out performance: Theresa Visintin won her place back in MasterChef Australia after creating a stunning snowball dessert in a dramatic cook-off on Tuesday against the 11 other former contestants After Theresa presented her rosemary and yoghurt snowball with chocolate raspberry balls to the judges, George Calombaris heaped praise on the budding chef. He said: 'Food should make you happy. When you eat it, it should evoke a memory. It should have texture. It should have flavour. 'If you're sitting there with your partner, you'd share that and fall in love.' Big fan: After presenting the rosemary and yoghurt snowball with chocolate raspberry balls to the judges, George Calombaris (pictutred) heaped praise on the budding chef Relief: She broke down in tears and hugged the judges after hearing the news Emotional moment: She said she was relieved her decision to stay in Australia rather than go home to Canada had paid off Gary Mehigan told her: 'I think you've created something that takes us to, you know, Canada and deep winter I think it's beautiful. 'And to find that little kind of jammy surprise in the middle there, I think that's very, very clever.' The judges whittled down the 12 returning contestants to the final two - Theresa and Cecilia Vuong who presented a yoghurt sorbert with beetroot curd. But they decided to bring Theresa back into the competition because of the use of her rosemary flavour. She broke down in tears and hugged the judges after hearing the news. Tribute to her family: The 44-year-old, who decided to stay in Australia to train with Reynold Poernomo rather than going back home to Canada to see her family, said she named the dessert 'winter' in tribute to them Big decision: The judges whittled down the 12 returning contestants to the final two - Theresa and Cecilia Vuong who presented a yoghurt sorbert with beetroot curd Beautiful flavours: The judges praised Theresa's dessert because of the use of rosemary 'Oh, my goodness. All that time, working hard to make my family proud is happening right now. Oh, my God. Thank you so much,' she said. 'Oh, man, I didn't go home to see my family and I'm just like, 'I can't believe it was worth it.' 'I think I'm floating back to my bench. So, I'm gliding back to my bench and I'm doing it very slowly, so that I can just enjoy every minute of this happy feeling.' Earlier in the episode, Anastasia - who has the power apron - decided to give Theresa the advantage of being able to choose one additional ingredient for her dish. Reunion: There was excitement in the kitchen when the eliminated contestants returned to the kitchen Announcement: Con Vailas revealed that he married his wife immediately after leaving the competition Theresa selected a coconut so she could re-create a dessert using techniques she she learned from former contestant Reynold. Her 'winter' dessert combined a number of elements including a yoghurt and lemon snowball with a raspberry puree. 'So, my dessert is winter. And that's a dedication to my beautiful family enjoying winter in Canada,' she said. Australian actress Emilie de Ravin and boyfriend Eric Bilitch welcomed their first child, daughter Vera, three months ago. And on Monday, the couple were seen doting over their little girl when they enjoyed a day of sightseeing in Rio, Brazil. Emilie, 34, was seen cradling Vera in her carrier as Eric snapped pictures of the pair while they checked out the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue. Scroll down for video Family time: Australian actress Emilie de Ravin and boyfriend Eric Bilitch were seen doting over their little girl when they enjoyed a day of sightseeing in Rio, Brazil on Monday Emilie - who hails from Victoria's Mount Eliza - struck a stylish and casual figure in light-washed skinny leg jeans and a white shirt. She teamed the look with brown wedges and wore a pair of dark tinted sunglasses over her eyes. The Lost star had her short blonde locks tied up off her face into a loose bun, secured with a black clip. Eric, meanwhile, looked smart wearing a denim collared shirt with a blue T-shirt underneath and beige pants. Apple of their eye: The pair welcomed their first child, daughter Vera, three months ago Adventures: Emilie, 34, was seen cradling Vera in her carrier as Eric snapped pictures of the pair while they checked out the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue During the outing, he held a camera in his hands and snapped pictures of Emilie and Vera. In one sweet shot, Emilie leans towards Vera as she smiles. They first welcomed Vera on March 12, having announced they were expecting a baby on Twitter in October. At the time, she Tweeted: 'I wanted to share some exciting news...me & @ericbilitch are expecting a baby!! 'Tis truly a dream come true and we could not be happier.' Proud parents: They first welcomed Vera on March 12, having announced they were expecting a baby on Twitter in October Emilie currently stars on the television show Once Upon A Time, which also stars Ginnifer Goodwin. In the American series, Emilie plays the character of Belle French, with the series centering around a small town where fairy tales come to life. She previously played the character Claire on the hit ABC series Lost. He stars as the jungle-dwelling protagonist of the adventure flick Legend Of Tarzan. And Alexander Skarsgard took a leaf out of the book of his on-screen persona when he spent the day frolicking with native Australian critters at Sydney Zoo on Tuesday. Clad in a navy blue sweater and grey jeans, the 39-year-old Swedish hunk looked comfortable as he draped a sizable snake across his shoulders in one animal enclosure. Scroll down for video Wild at heart! Alexander Skarsgard, 39, took a leaf out of the book of his on-screen persona when he spent the day frolicking with native Australian critters at Sydney Zoo on Tuesday Posing with a teethy grin and a relaxed stance, Alexander certainly appeared anything but alarmed by his slithering companion. Meanwhile, Alexander also appeared to have been unphased by the dusty environment of the zoo, choosing to wear a pair of slick pair of dress shoes and a glamorous wrist watch. At one stage, he was seen holding up the head of his reptilian comrade while staring into its black eyes. All tied up: Clad in a navy blue sweater , the 39-year-old Swedish hunk looked comfortable as he draped a sizable snake across his shoulders in one animal enclosure Not a flinch! Meanwhile, Alexander also appeared to have been unphased by the dusty environment of the zoo, choosing to wear a pair of slick pair of dress shoes and a glamorous wrist watch Snake eyes: At one stage, he was seen holding up the head of his reptilian comrade while staring into its eyes And yet, despite his prior jungle king-like confidence, Alexander became slightly concerned when the snake wrapped itself tightly around his neck. The True Blood actor also spent quality time with a troop of friendly kangaroos; offering them a juicy branch of eucalyptus leaves as a welcome gift. Alexander couldn't help but crack a smile as he puckered up for a kiss with his new marsupial mates. Took close for comfort! And yet, despite his prior jungle king-like confidence, Alexander became slightly concerned when the snake wrapped itself tighter around his neck How cute! The True Blood actor also spent quality time with a troop of friendly kangaroos; offering them a juicy branch of eucalyptus leaves as a welcome gift Sharing a smooch: Alexander couldn't help but crack a smile as he puckered up for a kiss with his new marsupial mates He was also seen hand-feeding the hungry kangaroos while simultaneously pulling a debonair expression toward the camera. Later, Alexander was seen bravely stroking the spiked back of an echidna. Like the kangaroos, the prickly creature was treated a hand-fed meal by the Hollywood hunk. Strike a pose! He was also seen hand-feeding the hungry kangaroos while simultaneously pulling a debonair expression toward the camera Ouch! Later, Alexander was seen bravely stroking the spiked back of an echidna Tucking in: Like the kangaroos, the prickly creature was treated a hand-fed meal by the Hollywood hunk Later that day, Alexander appeared on The Project to chat about his new flick as well as his on-set experiences with Australian actress Margot Robbie. Speaking of a love scene with Margot, who plays the role of Jane, Alexander said: 'Margot, she's quite strong. There's a love scene where John and Jane return to the jungle and reconnect with the Kuba village, the people that Jane grew up with.' 'And that night it's kind of the first big love scene of the movie and David Yates our director wanted it to be primal', he explained, adding that David had encouraged Margot to punch and scratch Alexander during the scene. Back to work! Later that day, Alexander appeared on The Project to chat about his new flick as well as his on-set experiences with Australian actress Margot Robbie Steamy: Speaking of a love scene with Margot, who plays the role of Jane, Alexander said: 'Margot, she's quite strong. There's a love scene where John and Jane return to the jungle and reconnect with the Kuba village, the people that Jane grew up with' 'David Yates our director wanted it to be primal': Alexander said that the director had encouraged Margot to punch and scratch Alexander during the love scene 'He kept egging Margot on. Hit him scratch him, beat him': He admitted that he was left with bruises and scratches after the saucy scene 'He kept egging Margot on. Hit him scratch him, beat him. I wasn't severely injured but it was probably the scene in which I got the most bruises and scratches', he quipped. Alexander also revealed that he endured eight months 'of starvation' preparing his body for the role and that his first meal after filming consisted of banoffee pie and beer. 'It's not a big thing but its a British desert and they mad a massive banoffee pie the day of wrap. As soon as they called wrap they brought it out', he reminisced. He earned it! Alexander also revealed that he endured eight months 'of starvation' preparing his body for the role and that his first meal after filming consisted of banoffee pie and beer Classic tale: The Legend Of Tarzan is a modern re-telling of the classic story about a boy raised by apes in the jungle Iconic story: The movie opens with Tarzan now living in London as John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, and married to Jane It begins: He is invited to return to the Congo as a British government trade emissary The Legend Of Tarzan is a modern re-telling of the classic story about a boy raised by apes in the jungle. The movie opens with Tarzan now living in London as John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, and married to Jane. He is invited to return to the Congo as a British government trade emissary. Danger: But he finds himself at the heart of a murderous plot driven by greed and revenge and in danger of becoming a pawn in a high stakes game being played by a Belgian Mastermind, played by Christoph Waltz In good company: Directed by David Yates, who helmed several of the Harry Potter films, the cast also includes Samuel L. Jackson, Simon Russell Beale and John Hurt But he finds himself at the heart of a murderous plot driven by greed and revenge and in danger of becoming a pawn in a high stakes game being played by a Belgian Mastermind, played by Christoph Waltz. Directed by David Yates, who helmed several of the Harry Potter films, the cast also includes Samuel L. Jackson, Simon Russell Beale and John Hurt. The David Yates-helmed film starts with Tarzan out of the jungle, a decade removed from his jungle home and completely established in the British upper class. Rebecca Judd has a thriving career as a model, Channel Nine presenter and blogger. And on Tuesday, the pregnant 33-year-old said she was 'shooting a dream career campaign' that was 'all about the skin and face.' The WAG shared to Instagram a shot of herself with natural-looking makeup, before showing her transformation in a time lapse video where she channelled bright red lips and winged eyeliner. Scroll down for video Transformation: WAG Rebecca Judd shared with fans on Tuesday a sneak peek of a new 'dream career campaign' as she wears different makeup looks and goes from fresh-faced (L) to vintage pin-up (R) In the fresh-faced shot, she wears a light coat of dewy foundation and lip gloss, and a swipe of mascara. In the short video, a makeup artist applies eyeliner and red lipstick to Rebecca, who appears to be wearing fake eyelashes. She then has her hair done, with it being pulled out of its tight bun to fall down around her face in loose tousled curls. Rebecca - who is 19 weeks pregnant with twins - captioned part of the clip: 'Look 1 (sic) transformed to look 2 (sic).' Sitting in the makeup chair: In the short video, eyeliner and red lipstick is applied to Rebecca Pucker up: A deep red hue is applied without lip liner It comes after Rebecca returned from a mini-break in Palm Cove, Queensland, with her family including ex-AFL star Chris Judd and their children Oscar, four and Billie, two. The pair touched down in their native Melbourne after the trip on Monday. This week, she also shared to her online site Rebecca Judd Loves, eight pricey babymoon destinations for pregnant women. One location on her list is the exclusive Lizard Island resort on the Great Barrier Reef with a price tag of $5,800 for a twin share villa, off-peak or almost $2,000 for a standard beach-view room, twin share. She also listed the Matakauri Lodge in New Zealand, where deluxe suites cost anywhere from AU $943 to AU $1419, per person, per night. Sitting pretty: The makeup artist applies the eyeliner with a brush and draws it on thickly Picture perfect: This week, she also shared to her online site Rebecca Judd Loves, eight pricey babymoon destinations for pregnant women, including a trip to Lizard Island resort on the Great Barrier Reef It's her third outing at this year's Monte Carlo Television Festival and former Bond girl Jane Seymour impressed yet again, appearing radiant in front of the cameras. The 65-year-old actress - who looks decades younger - opted for a daring geometric patterned black leather dress, standing out among other stars on Monday. She teamed the statement fashion piece with a pair of eye-catching black strappy stilettos embellished with gold studs. Scroll down for video Adventurous: Jane Seymour looked sensational as she stepped out for her third outing at the 56th Monte Carlo TV Festival in Monaco on Monday The star simply accessorised her look with a solitary gold ring, highlighting her red manicure and understated gold hoop earrings. Her luscious locks were worn in her trademark tousled style with the voluminous curls falling over her shoulders. She was spotted arriving clutching the hand of her new partner David Green, whom she has been dating since last year. The 66-year-old English director was dressed smartly in a striped shirt, light grey trousers and a navy blazer. Looking good! The 65-year-old actress - who looks decades younger - opted for a daring geometric patterned black leather dress, but still managed to stand out among the celebrities In love! She was spotted arriving at the festival clutching the hand of her new partner David Green, whom she has been dating since last year Jane was joined for pictures at the festival by actors Darin Brooks, Rena Sofer, John McCook and Jacqueline MacInnes Wood. Darin, who is best known for his role on the NBC series Days of Our Lives, was dapper in a cream suit and black shirt. For her second day at the 56th annual festival on Monday, Roger Moore's 1973 Bond girl in Live And Let Die opted for a striking orange dress. It ensured all eyes were on her as she worked her magic in front of the cameras at the event. All smiles: Jane was joined at the event on her third day at the festival by actors Darin Brooks, Rena Sofer, John McCook, Jacqueline MacInnes Wood Striking: Jane proved she was as glamorous as ever at the 56th Festival De Television in Monte Carlo earlier on Monday The classic piece was teamed with a pair of black strappy stilettos embellished with gold studs in what was a simple but eye-catching ensemble. Jane accessorised with a pendant necklace, an intricate silver bracelet and one matching ring. Her voluminous tresses were worn in a relaxed tousled style and fell in bouncy curls over her shoulders, framing her flawless complexion. Clearly in high spirits, Jane beamed for the cameras and was happy to pose for the waiting photographers. Glamorous: The actress opted for a striking orange dress ensuring all eyes were on her at the star-studded television event On Sunday, the star wowed in a pretty blue and white dress at the festival, where she was joined on the red carpet by Princess Charlene and Prince Albert of Monaco. Her glowing looks could have something to do with her newly-found single status. Late last year Jane finalised her divorce from her fourth husband James Keach, whom she had been married to for 22 years. But the star maintains a close bond with her family and last month she gushed about her love for her three grandchildren. Stunning: The classic dress was teamed with a pair of black strappy stilettos embellished with gold studs in what was a simple but eye-catching ensemble Jane's children include Katherine and Sean, with David Flynn, as well as John and Kristopher, whose dad is James Keach. The British actress, told Closer Weekly being Grandma - or 'Oma,' as her grandkids call her - is her favorite role yet. 'I love having my grandchildren over,' the actress said. Jane was also joined on the red carpet by big names, such as Princess Charlene and Prince Albert of Monaco and Jason Pristley. Youthful: She accessorised with a restrained pendant necklace, an intricate silver bracelet and a solitary matching ring Having waved goodbye to her role on Geordie Shore, Charlotte Crosby is now immersing herself into new ventures. And on Tuesday, the 26-year-old put on a flirty display in a chic floral two-piece as she worked her magic in front of the camera lens during a photoshoot with fashion brand, Tiger Mist. Doing well to display her slender frame, the bubby TV personality wore a plunging cropped blouse with flared sleeves which was styled further with matching shorts. Scroll down for video Pretty as a petal: Charlotte Crosby put on a flirty display in a chic floral two-piece as she worked her magic in front of the camera lens during a photoshoot with fashion brand, Tiger Mist, on Tuesday She added some glitz to the ensemble with shiny reflective high-top trainers and various gold encrusted bracelets. Charlotte opted for full glamour with her make-up and styled her glossy blonde tresses in loose tousled waves. The TV babe is currently Down Under for a week where she is launching a fashion campaign for the Australian brand and will return to Sydney on Thursday before jetting back to the UK on June 19. Daring to bare: Doing well to display her slender frame, the former Geordie Shore star wore a plunging cropped blouse with flared sleeves which was styled further with matching shorts Her visit comes days after she announced she had suffered an ectopic pregnancy with the child she shared with ex-boyfriend Gaz. During an emotional interview with Heat, Charlotte confessed the devastating incident happened in April while Gaz was away filming Ex On The Beach, and that she was rushed to hospital for an operation. The British reality star, who had been filming Geordie Shore: Big Birthday Battle at the time, said she wasn't even aware she was pregnant at first, and that she thought the pain was a heavy period. Attention to detail: She added some glitz to the ensemble with shiny reflective high-top trainers and various gold encrusted bracelets A beauty: The 26-year-old opted for full glamour with her make-up and styled her glossy blonde tresses in loose tousled waves I thought I had a really bad period because I was bleeding and cramping - I can't describe the pain, it was awful,' she explained, adding that it felt like she was 'being stabbed in the side'. After revealing the tragic news, she subsequently confirmed her departure from MTVs Geordie Shore following a bitter rift with Gaz. The TV starlet has since vowed to move on from the show and make a fresh start altogether following her turbulent few weeks. She's first and foremost an actress, but Katie Holmes has certainly proved she's got what it takes to be a model. The stunning Hollywood star, 37, truly sizzles in a stunning set of newly-resurfaced campaign pictures - taken for jewellery brand H. Stern back in 2012 - in which she wears nothing but a few items of the glitzy accessories. Oozing serious sex appeal and gazing into the camera, the most striking image shows the beautiful brunette covering her bare breasts with her arm. Scroll down for video Naked ambition: Katie Holmes posed completely nude in a shot for jewellery brand H. Stern in a striking throwback shot from a 2012 campaign Her skin looks silky and smooth, her figure toned and lean, and she also makes sure to draw attention to her whittled waistline. A swirly, diamond-encrused necklace sits on her neck just above her bust, a pair of delicate earrings just visible beneath her billowing, beachy mane. Another of the gorgeous images - shot in New York four years ago while the Brazilian label was under the artistic direction of Roberto Stern, the chairman - shows Katie lying on her front on the sand in front of an ocean backdrop. True beauty: Another of the gorgeous images shows Katie, 37, lying on her front on the sand in front of an ocean backdrop Wow-worthy! Another of the stunning photographs saw Katie pose topless, her sultry smokey eye-adorned gaze fixed on the camera Wearing a simple white bikini, she certainly looks like an utter beach goddess in the beautiful photograph, with her once again showing off items from the jewellery brand's IRIS collection. The images, which show a different side to Tom Cruise's usually more conservative ex-wife, have come back to the fore in honour of H. Stern's new boutique store opening in London, on the British capital's prestigious Sloane Street. Back when the snaps were taken, Roberto said at the time: 'Katie is the perfect choice for our latest collection. 'She's beautiful, stylish, has great taste and sincere integrity. Of course, Katie is also the ideal choice because she represents our target group in general. Young, successful and ambitious.' 'She's beautiful, stylish, has great taste and sincere integrity': Roberto Stern said back in 2012 that he chose the former Dawson's Creek star for a plethora of reasons Meanwhile, the former Dawson's Creek star has been focusing on her day job, and on Sunday was seen filming scenes for TV miniseries The Kennedys After Camelot in Toronto, Canada. The star - who is a mother to daughter Suri Cruise, from her marriage to actor Tom - stepped out on the set in the sunny Canadian city alongside her co-star Matthew Perry. In the show, she portrays Jackie Kennedy while the ex-Friends star is taking on the role of Ted Kennedy, the younger brother of JFK. However, she revealed slightly too much of herself as she bent forward to hug her child co-star, showing off the back of her pantyhose. Oops! The actress gave on-lookers a little more than they bargained for as she suffered a wardrobe malfunction during filming in Toronto, Canada on Sunday, while shooting The Kennedys After Camelot Careful! The star was shooting a scene alongside Matthew Perry, who plays Ted Kennedy, and revealed the top of her pantyhose as she crouched down Only just covering her dignity, the star's mini-dress rode up flashed a lot of derriere. Katie looked especially like the American icon as she wore a belted, white double-breasted coat with black-and-gold buttons while shooting in a park. Matthew puffed on a cigarette in character as JFK's younger brother, wearing a white and blue polo shirt and his hair grown out and styled into a side parting. The series, which will debut in 2017, portrays the life of the former First Lady of the United States, Jacqueline, in the aftermath of the assassination of her husband as she becomes Jackie O. He recently sung the praises of all the lessons he's learned since becoming a dad to two daughters. And Ryan Gosling, 35, looked the very picture of a doting dad as he took his first offspring, 21-month-old Esmeralda, for a day of bonding at a park near his Los Angeles home on Saturday. The Hollywood heart-throb - who shares two children with actress Eva Mendes - stepped away from his big screen duties to enjoy a trip to popular Griffith Park, where they rode the Southern Railroad. Scroll down for video Doting dad: Ryan Gosling was seen taking his 21-month-old daughter Esmeralda for a day out at Los Angeles' Griffith Park on Saturday morning Wearing a blue sweater and a Chicago Bulls cap pulled low over his eyes, the screen star was seen carrying his adorable offspring in his arms as he exited his luxury vehicle. Looking stylish in a cream coat, and with her brown hair up in two pigtails, the tot clung to her father as he carefully seated her for the open-top railway ride, where they were joined by other families. Despite his superstar status, Canadian-born Ryan blended in effortlessly with the other visiting fathers, mothers and children, intent on having family fun on the unusually gloomy day. A wheel nice day out: The Hollywood heart-throb took his offspring for a ride on the Southern Railroad Protective: The Canadian-born actor kept a close and careful watch on his eldest offspring as they rode along Life lessons: He also chatted with her intently as she sucked on a pacifier while taking in the green sights Low-key: Stepping out in a blue sweater and a Chicago Bulls cap, Ryan blended in with the other families The actor, who welcomed the birth of his second daughter Amada on April 29, recently stated that having girls proved to him that females are 'more evolved' than their male counterparts. 'I think women are better than men. They are stronger. More evolved. You can tell especially when you have daughters and you see their early stages, they are just leaps and bounds beyond boys immediately, he told ES Magazine. His respect and appreciation for women stems back to his childhood and has followed him into his current home life. Baby news: Ryan and his partner, Eva Mendes, welcomed the birth of their second daughter, Amada, in April Daddy's little girl: Esmeralda looked stylish for her day out with her dad, staying warm in a cream jacket Budding train enthusiast? Esmeralda appeared to be particularly fascinated by the park's sights and sounds Ive always liked women more,' he revealed. 'I was brought up by my mother and older sister. I found my way into dance class. My home life now is mostly women. They are better than us. They make me better. On April 14, it was reported that Ryan and 42-year-old Eva were expecting their second child, and Eva gave birth to Amada in Santa Monica two weeks later. Much like with Esmeralda, the star kept both the pregnancy and birth of her second child under wraps. Busy schedule: The 35-year-old actor has been hot on the promo trail for his latest film The Nice Guys Under wraps: Ryan and Eva kept the pregnancies and the births of their two daughters under tight wraps Lesson: The star recently stated that having two girls has taught him that women are 'more evolved' than men Ryan has been hot on the promo trail for his latest film The Nice Guys which he stars in alongside Russell Crowe. The film sees Russell play a contract killer to Ryan's private investigator, with the pair working together to solve the mysterious disappearance of a porn star in 1970s Los Angeles. It has won rave reviews from film critics across the world and is expected to do well commercially too, with projected takings of around $10 million on its opening weekend in the US. Ladies first: His appreciation for the female mind began while he was raised by his mother and big sister Blending in: The twosome were joined by a group of happy families on the gloomy weekend morning EastEnders: Griffith Park is a popular park destination with residents living close to Los Angeles' east side When it comes to pulling out all the stops for a glitzy event, she never fails to impress. And Tuesday was no exception for Tessa James, as the former Home And Away star dazzled crowds on the first day of the Royal Ascot. Despite the chilly climes, the 25-year-old exuded heaps of glamour in a chic white dress as she posed for pictures outside the Ascot racecourse in Berkshire. Scroll down for video She's a good sport! Former Home And Away actress Tessa James dazzled crowds on the first day of Londons Royal Ascot on Tuesday She dressed her lean and slender frame in the bold Ellery ensemble which featured voluminous sleeves with a pleated pencil skirt and a plunging neckline. The rest of her look was kept simple with a classic boater hat, a dainty silver watch and black peep-toe ankle boots to set off her striking outfit. The Australian beauty swept recently dyed short locks to one side, while highlighting her striking facial features with subtle tones of flawlessly applied makeup. Beaming: Despite the chilly climes, the 25-year-old exuded heaps of glamour in a chic white dress as she posed for pictures outside the Ascot racecourse in Berkshire Keeping it classy: She dressed her lean and slender frame in the bold Ellery ensemble which featured voluminous sleeves with a pleated pencil skirt and a plunging neckline Looking all-white: The rest of her look was kept simple with a classic boater hat, a dainty silver watch and black peep-toe ankle boots to set off her striking outfit The day before, Tessa stunned in a blue and black floor-length gown, designed by Michael Lo Sordo, as she arrived for the Longines Ladies Awards in London. The satin number featured navy material across one breast and a black coloured piece of material down the other side, which fell into a twist across her torso and showed a generous amount of cleavage. Meanwhile, Tessa recently spoke to Daily Mail Australia about her style philosophy, naming Ashley and Mary-Kate as style icons. 'I think someone who is really content and happy with who they are is someone who is stylish,' she confessed. Attention to detail: The Australian beauty swept recently dyed short locks to one side, while highlighting her striking facial features with subtle tones of flawlessly applied makeup Looking fine: She appeared to be in great and relaxed spirits during the day's proceedings 'Do I have a style icon? Yeah, I really love The Row, and I love Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen and the way that the dress. I think they're really chic.' The much-loved actress, who is married to NRL player Nate Myles, announced last August that she was in remission from Hodgkin's lymphoma, having battled the disease since 2014. Last year, she spoke to Sunday Night about her battle, saying: 'No one should have to go through that.' Elsewhere, Tessa - who left Home And Away in 2011 - will soon make her return to the small screen later this year on Spin Out - her first big role since recovering from Hodgkin's Lymphoma in 2015. They got married nine years ago in June. And Steve Harvey and his glamorous wife Marjorie celebrated their anniversary by jetting off to Italy for a romantic break on Tuesday. The 59-year-old actor and his wife, 41, put on a loved-up display as they explored the sights of the pretty port of Portofino. Scroll down for video Still in the honeymoon period: Steve Harvey and his glamorous wife Marjorie celebrated their anniversary by jetting off to Italy for a romantic break on Tuesday Arriving at the quaint fishing village on the Italian Riviera coastline, the couple strolled along the marina, stopping to enjoy local delicacies - and each other - as they packed on the PDA with a romantic kiss. Marjorie, mother to three children, looked stylish in a black playsuit which featured a plunging criss-cross neckline showing a hint of cleavage. The green-eyed-beauty dressed her ensemble down with black trainers, a small clutch bag and sunglasses. Pucker up, baby! The 59-year-old actor and his wife, 41, put on a loved-up display as they explored the sights of the pretty port of Portofino Lovebirds: Arriving at the quaint fishing village on the Italian Riviera coastline, the couple strolled along the marina, stopping to enjoy local delicacies - and each other - as they packed on the PDA Retired comedian Steve looked relaxed in white loose-fitting trousers and a white cap, along with a green t-shirt and sandals. Wearing shades and carrying a cigar, the TV star looked happy and relaxed as he explored the coastline. The couple had arrived by boat, where they put on an equally tactile display. Chic: Marjorie, mother to three children, looked stylish in a black playsuit which featured a plunging criss-cross neckline showing a hint of cleavage Scenic: The couple had arrived by boat, where they put on an equally tactile display while admiring the view of the blue sea Steve has been married twice before, spending fourteen years with ex-wife Marcia, who he shares twin daughters Karli and Brandi and son Broderick Steven, Jr. with. He also has son Wynton, 19, with ex-wife Mary Shackelford, who he was married to for nine years. The Steve Harvey Show host has credited his third wife for changing his life. He previously told People magazine: 'The Lord saved my soul. Marjorie saved my life. You've got to be in a bad relationship to really understand what a great one is. 'Marjorie changed the way I existed. I'd never been in a healthy adult relationship. I'd never been loyal, I'd never been fully respected.' Gushing: Steve has credited his third wife Marjorie with changing his life and his style for the better And he later admitted on his show that his stylist wife has improved his fashion sense, explaining: 'Marjorie changed my style. I was very different. I dressed very different before I married Marjorie Harvey. 'When we were getting married, Marjorie said 'Steve, where God is going to take you, you have to look different. 'God has something for you, you have to listen. He gave you me, so I could tell you this here!' He is known for his dramatic makeup aesthetic and avant-garde fashion sense. But Boy George stripped off to reveal his makeup-free face on Wednesday as he celebrated his 55th birthday in Japan. Taking to Instagram, the Grammy-winning musician shared a video of himself miming along to an the words of a Japanese intercom announcement. Scroll down for video Barefaced birthday boy! Boy George stripped off to reveal his makeup-free face on Wednesday as he celebrated his 55th birthday in Japan Keeping a straight face throughout the cheeky clip, Boy George wrote in the caption: '#japan #boygeorge #cultureclub #2016'. Meanwhile, his legion of fans made sure to leave their birthday wishes, with one commenting: 'Happy birthday George have a fabulous day!!! Massive inspiration to me'. Another fan commented on his seemingly ageless appearance, writing: 'Gawd U Haven't aged a bit since I was a Kid [sic]'. Music legend: Keeping a straight face throughout the cheeky clip, Boy George wrote in the caption: '#japan #boygeorge #cultureclub #2016' Bringing thunder to Down Under! Earlier this month, he reunited with his band Culture Club during their Australian tour. The group also consists of original bandmembers Roy Hay, Mikey Craig and Jon Moss Earlier this month, Boy George reunited with his band Culture Club during their Australian tour. The group - which also consists of original bandmembers Roy Hay, Mikey Craig and Jon Moss - last toured the country in 2001 and there are reports this may be the last time the band make the trip Down Under. The iconic band shot to fame in 1982 after releasing their hit single, Do You Really Want To Hurt Me, which bagged them a Grammy Award for Best New Artist the following year. Making waves! The controversial star has sported endless eccentric outfits and makeup during his time in the spotlight Breaking the mold: In 1970, Boy George would sport a beanstalk-like mane and a dramatic eyebrow look on stage The smash hit Karma Chameleon, which debuted on their second album, sold more than 1.5million copies, making it the band's most successful hit to date. Over the following years, Culture Club then released three albums which sold a combine of 50 million records across the globe. Culture Club once again reunited in 1998, allowing them to release their Storytellers album later that year. She is one of the women vying to win Richie Strahan's heart on the upcoming series of The Bachelor. And Lara Bingle lookalike Keira Maguire has posted a flashback snap of herself posing by a pool in Bali - two weeks after the final rose ceremony was filmed on the Indonesian island. The blonde beauty, who is friends with Richie's cousin Lisa Clark, flaunted her enviable physique in a black bikini in the poolside picture. Scroll down for video Bronzed beauty: Lara Bingle lookalike Keira Maguire posted a flashback snap of herself posing by a pool in Bali - two weeks after the final rose ceremony was filmed on the Indonesian island Wearing a straw hat and sunglasses, Keira was seen soaking up the sunshine and topping up her tan. She shared the image on Instagram, saying: 'BALI TIMES. Take me back to the warmer weather #bali #summer #sun #warmth.' On her Instagram, the Brisbane native describes herself as a lover of 'Life, the Ocean & Yoga'. Close connection: Keira (left) is close friends with Richie Strahan's cousin Lisa Clark (pictured right) Watch out Richie! Keira is one of the girls vying for the heart of 2016 Bachelor Richie Strahan and was spotted filming on set of the reality love show Filming wrapped for the new series on June 1, according to reports. To maintain as much secrecy as possible, Richie and his three final women, as well as host Osher Gunsberg, travelled to the island of Nusa Dua on separate flights. Producers also reportedly called in the Indonesian military to keep paparazzi from snapping shots while they filmed the final episode in Bali. The Daily Telegraph claimed that they even used special airport exits before they were chauffeured to their five star accommodation at the Sofitel hotel. Lookalikes? Keira bears a remarkable resemblance to Australian model Lara Bingle (right) Boat day: Keira and Lisa Hyde feature heavily of each other's social media accounts Speaking to the publication following filming for the finale in Bali, Richie said that he was 'happy' with the outcome and experience which he gained from series. 'Im definitely happy,' he told the newspaper. 'This has been such an unreal, crazy roller coaster ride and Ive loved every moment of it.' Keira has previously faced calls that she might have an unfair advantage for the show because she knows Richie's cousin Lisa and former Bachelor contestant Lisa Hyde. Mario Falcone has voiced concerns over Stephanie Davis' mental health. The TOWIE star became embroiled in the pregnant Hollyoaks actress' social media attacks in which she claimed he 'begged to date her'. Since the alleged messages were unveiled last month, the 28-year-old tailor has now spoken to Daily Star about his worries for the CBB star, 23, who he has dubbed 'deranged'. Scroll down for video Troubled: Mario Falcone has voiced concerns over Stephanie Davis' mental health after her became embroiled in the pregnant Hollyoaks actress' social media attacks in which she claimed he 'begged to date her' Stephanie announced her pregnancy last month, revealing she is expecting Irish model Jeremy McConnell's child, after they met on CBB in January and subsequently split. In one of their many social media feuds, she turned her attention to friend Mario and insisted that the reality Lothario 'begged to date her'. Stunned Mario discussed the situation with the Daily Star, saying: 'Where she has got this whole thing about me calling her up crying I do not know, but as you can see from most of her tweets and outbursts she is quite deranged. 'I used to be friends with her so I'm not going to s**g her off, but the way she is right now I think alarm bells should be ringing and her family should be helping.' Off she goes: Since the alleged messages were unveiled last month, the 28-year-old tailor has now spoken to Daily Star about his worries for the CBB star, 23, who he has dubbed 'deranged' Earlier this year, Stephanie called the reality TV star out for allegedly 'begging' her to date him while she was still with her former flame Sam Reece, whom she split from in February, and then again when she started dating Jeremy. Taking to her Twitter account at the time, Stephanie tweeted: "Oooo mario u a bit dry from trying it on with me when I was with Sam, THAT I know he would back me up on saying u love me and all the s*** I have on you.... U want me to print your messages BEGGING me then .. "Standard i was close to jezz so u get closer, did u ever tell him of the dates u took me on? Meeting buddy and trying to get me a when every time I said....NO. Not happy: In one of their many social media feuds, she turned her attention to friend Mario and insisted that the reality Lothario 'begged to date her' "The way u treated [ex girlfriend] Lucy [Mecklenburgh], your a fine one for advice.. Oh wait... Another coke head wasn't u pictured but called me for help s*** on someone who has helped u and heard you cry...I'll destroy u. @samreece even he will say how much of a sly p**** u are. (sic)." To which Mario responded: "You actually need medical help... I have screen shots of everything... Please leave me out of your melt down. "Not even going to bother responding.. I actually feel really sorry for the girl... How many more red flags till her family help her? Shame x (sic)." Atop Mario's comments, on Monday night, the embattled actress's fury was ignited by a complete stranger, when a Twitter troll accused the screen star of faking her pregnancy. Fury: Stephanie blasted a Twitter troll on Monday night, after she was accused of faking her pregancy After Stephanie shared a throwback video of her slender physique, a troll sniped: 'You're not even pregnant. We're all just waiting for the inevitable "miscarriage horror" story. You're a mess.' The harsh words soon prompted the former Hollyoaks star to fire back: 'Absolutely disgusting! This is why I'm not sharing any photo as there's so many vile people! I've been under enough.' An army of Stephanie's fans soon chimed in with their support, attacking the man in question, with one disgusted user branding him 'just wrong in so many ways'. Soon after the uproar, the actress wrote: 'Stress! I'm very happy settled and over the whole thing now, but seeing comments like that, makes me sick. how do some of u sleep at night. (sic)' 'Vile': The former Hollyoaks star was horrified as she was hit with the harsh words - and quickly hit back Lost love: Stephanie has said she is carrying former flame Jeremy McConnell's child yet the couple, who met in the Celebrity Big Brother house in January, are currently locked in a bitter feud Stephanie has said she is carrying former flame Jeremy's child yet the couple, who met in the Celebrity Big Brother house in January, are currently locked in a bitter feud. Her body appears to be very much on her mind, as she shared a stunning throwback image on Instagram on Monday. Stephanie was seen stripped down to just a leotard for the snap from around two years ago. Throwing it back: Stephanie shared a stunning throwback image on Instagram on Monday As the war of words rages on between the pair, the Liverpool-born beauty will no doubt catch the eye of her lost love as she looked simply incredible in the throwback shot. Posing in a high-leg leotard with a plunging back and halterneck, Stephanie exhibited her incredibly slender frame while proffering a cheeky glimpse of sideboob. Beaming into the camera, Stephanie held one hand aloft her head while the other clutched the camera to capture the image of her body contorted into a flattering shape. Baby daddy? Heavily tattooed Jeremy has publicly denied the actress' claims that she is carrying his child Stephanie, who is yet to unveil an image of her pregnancy belly, added a caption on the shot reading: 'Body goal for next year might go back red!' Shortly before her throwback snap, Stephanie revealed to her 399,000 Twitter followers that she had visited a medium in the hope of contacting her late grandfather in the afterlife. After her acrimonious break-up from Jeremy, the pair have now been locking horns in an Internet feud as Stephanie has lambasted her former flame for failing to support her. Now the pretty starlet has turned to Staffordshire-based medium Sandrea to try and contact her late grandfather for spiritual help. Seeking help: The actress revealed to her 399,000 Twitter followers that she was hoping to contact her grandfather in the afterlife and the visit was 'just what she needed' War of words: Stephanie appears unlikely to stop the feud anytime soon, as she launched her latest attack seemingly directed at her 'toxic' former partner Jeremy She tweeted her thanks to Sandrea in a gushing Tweet reading: 'Thankyou so so sooo much @sandrea27 for the reading you are amazing #Mygrandad #justwhatineeded big love xxx' Sandrea lists herself on the microblogging site as: 'Psychic to the stars. International Medium and author of Vanquishing Ghosts and Demons.' She responded to Stephanie's tweet saying: 'It was my absolute pleasure darling X he's always with you and remember you have an amazing year ahead.' Soon after their meeting Sandrea spoke to The Sun about the emotional reading in which they discovered the sex of the baby, saying: 'Her grandad told me.' Adding: 'There was such happiness from her grandad, her mum and from Steph.' But saying that, Sandrea explained: 'I don't really want to say about the sex, because I don't want to break her confidence, but yes [the grandad] did give a clear indication and yes, I am sure.' Aside from her praise to her spiritual aide, Stephanie has remained relatively coy in regard to images of herself or her bump - a bizarre move from a former selfie lover. Coy: On Sunday night she simply shared an image of her strappy heels and added the caption: 'Out for din dins... lets go' On Sunday night she simply shared an image of her strappy heels and added the caption: 'Out for din dins... lets go'. Stephanie has taken to sharing a host of thinly-veiled attacks on her 'toxic' ex Jeremy on social media, as she launched her latest attack via a meme on Friday, which read: 'When a toxic person can no longer control you, they will try to control how others see you.' 'The misinformation will feel unfair, but stay above it, trusting that other people will eventually see the truth, just like you did.' Stephanie seemed to be in a good place, despite her ongoing problems with Jeremy, as she captioned the shot: 'Never read anything so true. Ahh so relaxed and breathing easy.' She added: 'Can't wait to see friends, me my beautiful bump and laughs.' (sic) 'Me and my beautiful bump': The Celebrity Big Brother star seemed in a reflective mood as she took to her Instagram page to rant about her former flame Support: She received many messages of support, with one follower writing: 'Steph you are a beautiful person inside and out. I have loved you ever since Hollyoaks. Ignore what people say about you' Earlier this month, Jeremy provoked fresh outrage after he posted a snap of himself and a busty mystery woman on Instagram. But despite the pair's close pose, Jeremy insisted that he was only friends with the woman, as he simply captioned the image: 'Buds.' The tattooed hunk could be seen smiling broadly as he places a hand on the glamorous lady's shoulder, while showing off his muscular physique in a form fitting T-shirt. Just 'buds'? Jeremy posted a snap of himself and a busty mystery woman on Instagram earlier this month But despite gaining thousands of likes on the social media site, the photo has sparked controversy amongst Jeremy's followers with some saying the image is disrespectful to ex Stephanie Davis. And Jeremy proved his former Celebrity Big Brother love interest couldn't be further from his mind as he cosied up to a mystery girl last week. Jeremy previously insisted that Stephanie is not pregnant with his child and has even called for a DNA test if she gives birth to prove she is lying. The reality star called Stephanie's claims 'ridiculous,' and added she would look like a 'mug' when it is revealed any child is not his after a paternity test, Ireland's TV Now Magazine reports. No love lost: The Irish hunk has insisted that Stephanie is not pregnant with his child and has even called for a DNA test if she gives birth to prove she is lying Following a bitter war of words between the former couple, the 26-year-old again said: 'I'm not going to be a dad. If she is pregnant, it's not mine. 'If I was a dad, I'd be 100 per cent no, 110 per cent, the best dad in the world. But you'll see in the future that it's not my kid, and she'll look like a mug.' A representative for Stephanie said in a statement to MailOnline: 'Our client is categorically pregnant. We do not need to continue repeating this.' Despite their strained relationship, Jeremy showed he still cared for the former Hollyoaks actress and dismissed her behaviour as a tactic to secure media coverage. 'I still love Steph and Id never bad mouth her, but I just think the whole thing is a media approach and its ridiculous,' he said. Two weeks ago Stephanie alleged her ex had a serious drug problem and begged him to go to rehab. 'Healthy mind and body': The Irish male model posted a lengthy statement on Twitter last week, denying he had a drug problem and accusing her of having an affair with her ex Sam Reece In response, Jeremy denied he was abusing narcotics and accused Stephanie of having an affair with her ex-boyfriend Sam Reece during their rocky four-month romance. The former Beauty School Cop-Out star also denied Stephanie's claims again that he is the father of her unborn child. Posting a lengthy statement on Twitter, he wrote: 'Was gonna stay quiet about the whole thing and just let it come out normally, first of all I'd like to let people know I'm perfectly healthy mind and body and have took the break up privately, but when me and my family are effected by what I'd call a person with no shame, she is slandering me and trying to portray me in a certain light for a reason, to make me look like a terrible lad. 'People can choose to believe or not. I do not care. For months she was seeing Sam behind my back and now in Ibiza together. It will all unfold in time. 'People don't know what I put with in that relationship. I was never perfect but please, don't believe 90 per cent of what she says. I've messed up but I'd never be as evil. This will be my last message about her #bookclosed.' The night before his lengthy post, he tweeted: 'I'm as shocked as all you are at this whole saga, I'm sure you can join the dots yourself #letmelive. Concerns: The former Hollyoaks actress accused Jeremy of being a drug addict and urged him to go to rehab Former flame: Jeremy accused Stephanie of having an affair with her ex-boyfriend Sam Reece, who she dumped to date the Irish male model in January 'She's not pregnant with my child come on. It's all lies I've been told by her friends.' The following morning, an angry Steph hit back: 'Tell me I'm not pregnant and keep denying your child, and I#ll throw u right under that bus as the s**t I have in u, u would never survive!' Responding to the Irish model's claims she's in Spain with her ex - who she dumped on TV after falling for Jeremy on Celebrity Big Brother - Stephanie posted a photo of her legs on a balcony in Liverpool. She wrote: 'Sorry does his tweet not show how f**ked he is... I'm in Ibiza with Sam.......... Sure I'm in Liverpool. 'Let's look positively he needs this to sort his life out , for all u to understand what I've been through with his crazy mind. It's all good.' Jeremy's statement came an hour after Stephanie posted her own lengthy essay, accusing her ex of failing to turn up for baby scans. She wrote: 'I think it's disgusting that Jeremy hasn't turned up for scans and is constantly drunk and partying, the stress he has had me under. I've already been in hospital once with pains and stress. 'I don't hate the lad I feel very VERY sorry for him the fact no one is getting him the help he needs. His management should have him in rehab and sorting his life out so he can then be there for his child before he dies. 'I wouldn't mind but don't WANT to get someone pregnant and have a family. To not be there. I'm happy doing it alone. Off for a chilled week away with bump. 'Been doing this since his act from Big Brother was over after sleeping with what 9 girls now? Boy need help. Sort it out and be a dad. Bye for now, Steph.' He recently posted a heartfelt picture of himself and his girlfriend, expressing how much he missed her. And while the Atlantic Ocean is currently separating Brooklyn Beckham from Chloe Moretz, the 17-year-old managed to put his blues behind him by hanging out with his pal, Rocco Ritchie. Heading out into North London with a group of friends, the eldest of the Beckham brood, 17, and Guy Ritchie's first-born, 15, looked to be in extremely high spirits. Scroll down for video Taking his mind off the heartahce: While the Atlantic Ocean is currently separating Brooklyn Beckham from Chloe Moretz, the 17-year-old managed to put his blues behind him by hanging out with his pal, Rocco Ritchie The two teens, whose fathers are famously close, appeared to be having a blast as they larked around outside a local coffee shop. Stood chatting away to a group of their friends, both Brooklyn and Rocco couldn't help but smile as they joshed and joked around with their group on the pavement in the British capital. And despite admitting to missing Kick Ass star Chloe only hours before, Rocco and his other chums appeared to be taking Brooklyn's mind off his absent girlfriend. Showcasing his fashion credentials, Brooklyn looked the epitome of street style, as the keen skater paired a fawn hoodie with black three-quarter-length trousers and trainers. Bro time: Heading out into North London with a group of friends, the eldest of the Beckham brood, 17, and Guy Ritchie's first-born, 15, looked to be in extremely high spirits All the laughs: The two teens, whose fathers are famously close, appeared to be having a blast as they larked around outside a local coffee shop Sweeping his long brown locks off of his face, the aspiring fashion photographer wore a red beanie, whilst he also accessorised his look with a gold bangle. Rocco meanwhile kept to his familiar relaxed style, pairing a navy hoodies with frayed baggy jeans and a pair of black Vans HiSkate shoes. Guy and Madonna's eldest, and only natural child together, covered his freshly shaven head by pulling his hoodie up. Skater chic: Showcasing his fashion credentials, Brooklyn looked the epitome of street style, as the keen skater paired a fawn hoodie with black three-quarter-length trousers and trainers Chilled-out chic: Rocco meanwhile kept to his familiar relaxed style, pairing a navy hoodies with frayed baggy jeans and a pair of black Vans HiSkate shoes Brooklyn and Rocco's outing came just hours after Brooklyn appeared to suffer some heartahce over the distance seperating him and Chloe, 19. Not afraid to show his true feelings about the situation, the teen shared sweet snap of the pair, candidly captioning the post: 'When you're missing bae,' which he accompanied with a sad face. The couple confirmed their romance earlier this year and made their red carpet debut in May at the premier of Chloe's latest film, Neighbours 2: Sorority Rising, where the candid photo was taken. 'Bae': Brooklyn Beckham, 17, took to Instagram to share a sweet snap of him and his girlfriend, Chloe Grace Moretz, 19 A jovial Chloe is seen to giggle flirtatiously in the image, while a besotted Brooklyn looks adoring at his older girlfriend. So it's no surprise that the post has attracted the attention of Brooklyn's fans, with over 240,000 people descending on social media to like the photo. The pair made their red carpet debut as a couple at the Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising premiere last month. And Chloe shared a flashback photo to the special evening on her Instagram, uploading a heartwarming picture of boyfriend Brooklyn gazing into her eyes. The actress can be seen from the back, clad in a quirky black dress with her blonde locks swept back in a low bun. The look of love! Chloe shared a cute flashback picture to the Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising premiere last month, showing boyfriend Brooklyn gazing at her The eldest Beckham boy, who was looking dapper in a formal suit, casts her an adoring look. 'Hey @brooklynbeckham I like the way ya look at me, that's all :)', Chloe captioned the shot. The couple have been practically inseparable in recent weeks, but Brooklyn was spotted flying solo and enjoying a skateboarding session in London on Friday. Missing her beau: Chloe and Brooklyn have been inseparable since taking their relationship public Chloe showed off her new tattoo earlier this week, lifting up her T-shirt to reveal the inking in a snap shared by tattoo artist to the stars, Jon Boy. The Carrie star visited the tattoo parlour with her boyfriend Brooklyn Beckham when she was staying in Los Angeles last week. Jon Boy revealed that Chloe got her grandmothers name, Janette Duke, in cursive script. New art: Chloe showed off her new tattoo in an Instagram posted by famed artist Jon Boy - the actress had her grandmother's name Janette Duke inked on her back Once the actress's art was completed, Jon Boy handed over the tattoo gun to let her give it a whirl on his forearm. He shared a video of the moment, writing simply 'Pro'. Chloe was pictured in a black t-shirt and denim shorts for the tattoo session and wore a dainty gold chain around her neck. The actress already has several tattoos including her family members' initials tattooed down her thigh. Switching roles: Jon Boy then shared a video clip of Chloe using the needle on him New career? The 19-year-old Kick-Ass star smiled as she got to work on the talented tattoo artist The Kick-Ass beauty just got back from a week long vacation in Los Angeles with her 17-year-old beau. She also recently wrapped on her upcoming Charlize Therone produced film Brain on Fire. The movie is a film adaptation of Susannah Cahalan's memoir and stars Tyler Perry, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jenny Slate, Thomas Mann and Richard Armitage. Chloe stars in the film as a young woman struggling with a rare auto-immune condition that causes violent episodes and delusions. Pro @chloegmoretz #jonboytattoo A video posted by c/s Jon Boy p/v (@jonboytattoo) on May 24, 2016 at 9:40am PDT Out and about: Chloe was spotted out on Tuesday leaving her hotel in New York Meanwhile she is soon to start work on a new movie adaptation of The Little Mermaid. Currently the only name confirmed for the hotly-anticipated flick, it is being touted as a retelling of the famous fairy tale by Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen. It tells the story of a mermaid princess who saves a human prince on their birthday, falls in love with him, yearns for his love and a human soul, and bargains her fish-tail for legs with the Sea Witch. Kevin Hart's Los Angeles home was broken into over the weekend. The 36-year-old comedian called police to report that $500,000 of his possessions were taken when thieves forced their way in through a back door of his Tarzana property. TMZ reports that jewelry, watches and clothes were taken but luckily the star and his family were out of town at the time of the break-in. Loss: Kevin Hart's Los Angeles home was burglarized over the weekend with $500,000 of his belongings stolen The website says Hart reported the theft when he returned to Los Angeles on Monday. Police are now coming through surveillance footage as the Get Hard star has cameras set-up inside his home and out. Whoever broke in to the actor's mansion would have had to get past two security points as Hart lives on a super exclusive gated community. Hart was in Miami over the weekend and shared pictures from a grueling training session with Dolphins star Ndamukong Suh. Thieves reportedly broke in through a back door and took items including jewelry, watches and clothes while he was away in Miami. He shared this photo to Instagram on Monday when he was back in LA 'Got a great workout in this morning with my man': The 36-year-old comedian shared photos from a grueling training session with Miami Dolphins star Ndamukong Suh The actor is also busy promoting his new movie Central Intelligence which he stars in alongside Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson. Hart plays mild-mannered accountant Calvin Joyner who is reunited with his former high school friend (Johnson) and lured into a world of international espionage. The movie is released June 17. Hart lives in Tarzana with his fiancee Eniko Parrish, 31 who he plans to marry in August. He has two children, Heaven and son Hendrix, with his ex-wife Torrei Hart. 'Watch me!' Hart also promoted his Jimmy Kimmel appearance on Monday night She's been enjoying some time in Las Vegas with her sister Georgia - and former TOWIE star Lydia Bright showed her ex James Argent exactly what he's missing on Tuesday with a sexy Instagram. The 26-year-old shared a snap as she sat on a pouffe in front of an incredible view over the city, wearing a very sexy bikini. Showing off her toned abs, the pretty blonde looked incredible in the two-piece which had a colourful crochet trim. Scroll down for video Bright and beautiful: Former TOWIE star Lydia Bright showed off her incredible bikini when she posed at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas on Tuesday Currently staying at the Cosmopolitan Hotel, she flicked the V-sign with her hands as she pouted and posed behind a pair of designer shades. Her hair was beautiful blow-dried into soft curls as she sat for the killer snap. Ahead of her long-haul flight to America, she took to Twitter to rant about a three-hour delay. Hello, Vegas! She recently also uploaded this sexy Instagram snap, which shows her standing with her arms raised and her back exposed as her bathing suit gets lost in her pert posterior And it seems that delay had reality star Lydia Bright in a hurry to strip down and get some sun, as she uploaded a scintillating Instagram photo during her first morning in Sin City. In the image, the 26-year-old TOWIE star stood with her arms raised and her back exposed as her form-fitting bathing suit got lost in her pert posterior. The blue-and-white swimsuit rose a third of the way up her back, showing off her even tan and endlessly lithe skin. Besides its provocative fit, the tantalising suit included a thin strap that snaked from her derriere around her taut thigh. Her blonde locks flowed straight down to her shoulder blades, where they gently curled and rested against her back. Friends reunited: Earlier in the week, Lydia caught up with former TOWIE cast mate Danni Park-Dempsey Lydia's fancy-free display on her balcony is a continuation of the good cheer and frivolity she enjoyed last week, when she partied with her best pal Danni Park-Dempsey. Danni, who now runs a shisha bar in South Woodford, North-West London, looked stunning in a body-con black dress with shallow thigh split. Holding a black clutch and working the ombre hair craze, she was the picture of confidence as she posed on a balcony for an Instagram shot, which she later shared with her 52,000 followers. Stunning: Danni, who now runs a shisha bar, may have given Lydia the inspiration for her balcony shot. Last week, the TOWIE alum posed on a balcony in a sexy black dress with thigh split Well-aware that her friend would turn it out, Lydia upped her own fashion game, slipping into an elegant black dress with a golden floral motif. When Lydia turned around she revealed cross-strap detailing with large cut-outs, once again showcasing her toned back. The 5ft 4in beauty elongated her slim pins in a pair of pointy black heels, which complemented her dress perfectly. After checking in to their hotel suite at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Lydia and Danni joined their gal pals at the 1 Oak nightclub at The Mirage. Groupie: Well-aware that her friend would turn it out, Lydia upped her own fashion game, slipping into an elegant black dress with a golden floral motif for a girls' night out Details: When Lydia turned to the side she revealed cross-strap detailing with large cut-outs, once again showcasing her toned back Lydia's jovial mood kicked off from the moment she and her older sister Georgia landed at Las Vegas' Mccarran International Airport to start their party holiday. The sisters looked like they enjoyed a comfortable flight, with Lydia walking out in a matching grey lounge-wear set. With her newly-darkened locks pulled up in to a bun, she hid her make-up free face in a large pair of sunnies, which looked suitably prepared to embrace Nevada's sizzling heat. Sister act: Lydia Bright, 26, arrived at Las Vegas' Mccarran International Airport with her older sister Georgia ahead of their holiday Georgia, on the other hand, opted to flash a slither of her toned abs with a plain black crop top and skin-tight leggings. She added a pop of colour with a lilac hoody which was tied around her waist and a pair of matching trainers. She pushed a bright pink suitcase - no doubt filled with fashionable bikinis and dresses - on which she rested an oversized Longchamp tote. 'Parday!' Lydia expressed her excitement for the party trip on Twitter Annoyance: Lydia's trip didn't get off to a good start as there was a three hour delay The blonde also kept her tresses free as she clutched on to her hot pink suitcase, while Lydia opted for a jet black case. Lydia was inevitably ready to party which was evident on her Twitter, before she heard of her flight's delay. 'Lego. Vegas 2016 bound!!! Bring on the PARDAY @vipvegas2016 @steviejayuk!', she enthused with a series of clapping emojis. Shortly after, she let off some steam by tweeting: 'DELAYED. FUMING HELL'- obviously annoyed that she had to wait to cut loose as a newly-single independent woman. Comfy: Lydia opted for a matching grey lounge-wear set and oversized sunnies as her sister flaunted a hint of her stomach in a black crop top and leggings She also opened up last month to TV host Lorraine Kelly about her choice to break-up with Arg: 'It was a tough decision to make but I felt like I didn't have a choice. I'm stronger and happier now.' 'I've just been away to Indonesia and I've come back a lot more positive and strong and looking forward to the future.' Lorraine chimed: 'You'll always love him, though. You'll always be friends. I want to shake him sometimes.' Lydia replied: 'You and me both, Lorraine.' She's known for her sensational singing and acting. And Katharine McPhee added another string to her bow on Tuesday as she took to the red carpet at the 56th Monte Carlo Television Festival looking like a first class fashionista. The 32-year-old flashed some serious sideboob in her plunging unbuttoned black dress at the Scorpion photocall. Scroll down for video Sophisticated: Katharine McPhee looked like a first class fashionista as she took to the red carpet for the 56th Monte Carlo Television Festival on Tuesday The flirty gown perfectly cinched in Katharine's tiny waist before flowing out elegantly in a ladylike A-Line style. Maintaining her demure style, Katharine also shrouded her svelte frame with an oversized black blazer that hung loosely around her shoulders. And she kept things glamorous in the footwear department with a pair of towering strappy heels that she laced up her leg with a pretty bow. Busty display: The 32-year-old flashed some serious sideboob in her unbuttoned outfit Looking every inch the Hollywood star, Katharine styled her golden tresses into loose waves that perfectly framed her heart-shaped face with a sleek centre parting. And she made the most of her beautiful features as she sported a flawless complexion, with fresh rosy cheeks and drew attention to her plump pout with a slick of baby pink lipstick. Katharine was joined on the red carpet by Scorpion co-star and love interest, Elyes Gabel, 33. Glamorous: The flirty gown perfectly cinched in Katharine's tiny waist before flowing out elegantly in a ladylike A-Line style Demure: Katharine shrouded her svelte frame with an oversized black blazer that hung loosely around her shoulders Putting her best foot forward: Katharine kept things glamorous in the footwear department with a pair of towering strappy heels that she laced up her leg with a pretty bow The actor rocked a smart-casual style for the red carpet outing as he teamed a simple lilac jumper with a formal tailored jacket. And he continued with his mix and match style right down to his toes as he slipped on a pair of tuxedo trouser, which he tucked into a pair of monochrome hi-tops. The duo took a liking to each other after meeting on the set of their CBS show, which follows a gang of misfit geniuses who unite to prevent cyber terrorism crimes. Perfect pair: Katharine was joined on the red carpet by Scorpion co-star and love interest, Elyes Gabel, 33 Prior to Gabel, she was famously pictured making out with Smash director Michael Morris in 2013 which led to the demise of her six year marriage to Nick Cokas. Katharine and Nick married in Beverly Hills in February 2008, when Katharine was 23, after a three year romance. McPhee is however, keen on leaving her relationship breakdown in the past after her divorce was finalised in February. Natural beauty: Katharine made the most of her beautiful features as she sported a flawless complexion, with fresh rosy cheeks and drew attention to her plump pout with a slick of baby pink lipstick Making waves: Katharine styled her golden tresses into loose waves that perfectly framed her heart-shaped face with a sleek centre parting She recently made the move from pop star to stage sensation. But despite her hectic schedule, Pixie Lott looked as radiant as ever as she went to chat to Today FM about her role as Holly Golightly in West End hit, Breakfast At Tiffany's, on Tuesday. The 25-year-old looked stunning in a navy blue playsuit that featured ladylike skort detailing, which fell in neat pleats around her tiny waist. Scroll down for video Stage star! Pixie Lott looked as radiant as ever as she went to chat to Today FM about her role as Holly Golightly in West End hit, Breakfast At Tiffany's, on Tuesday Sticking to the fashion rule book, Pixie opted to cover her decolletage with a high neckline as she flashed her neverending legs in the asymetric ensemble. She rounded off her look with a pair of sensible yet stylish, metallic strap sandals, with a thick white base. Maintaining her trademark quirky style, the songstress rocked a clashing manicure and pedicure, in vibrant shades of scarlet and duck egg blue. Ladylike: The 25-year-old looked stunning in a navy blue playsuit that featured ladylike skort detailing, which fell in neat pleats around her tiny waist Stylish: Pixie flashed her neverending legs in the asymetric ensemble And she styled her platinum blonde tresses into her trademark voluminous style with wild waves that framed her heart shaped face and a deep centre parting. Looking every inch the stage siren, Pixie went for high-glamour in the makeup department as she accentuated her impossibly high cheekbones with a dusting of peachy blush and drew attention to her deep brown peepers with lashings of mascara and a hint of bronze eyeliner. Breakfast at Tiffany's is currently touring at the Bord Gais Energy Theatre in Dublin. Flat-tering her feet: Pixie rounded off her look with a pair of sensible yet stylish, metallic strap sandals, with a thick white base Rocking the rainbow: Maintaining her trademark quirky style, the songstress rocked a clashing manicure and pedicure Golden girl: Pixie styled her platinum blonde tresses into her trademark voluminous style with wild waves that framed her heart shaped face and a deep centre parting But although Pixie had managed to avoid the West End downpours in London, she still made sure to wrap up for the occasion in a stylish camel mackintosh. And she shaded her eyes from the June sunshine in a pair of playful plastic sunglasses. Pixie recently explained that, despite working hard channeling good-time girl Holly in the iconic play this year, she hasn't packed in the music career yet. Coming up rosy: Pixie went for high-glamour in the makeup department as she accentuated her impossibly high cheekbones with a dusting of peachy blush Speaking on This Morning, she said: 'Music will always be my number one. I've had a month off to finish up my music. There's going to be a lot of collaborations this summer then the album to follow.' The star, who made her theatre debut in March, said the role threw up some unexpected challenges but lets her flex her musical muscles. She added: 'This is my first ever play. I've learnt so much. Ours is a new production and it's really true to the original Truman Capote story. 'The book is edgier, more risky and gets a bit darker at the end. Especially for the show I learnt the guitar. I get to do Moon River and another song as well.' Covering up: Although Pixie had managed to avoid the West End downpours in London, she still made sure to wrap up for the occasion in a stylish camel mackintosh Casting shades: She shaded her eyes from the June sunshine in a pair of playful plastic sunglasses She showcased her incredible bikini body during a sun-soaked photoshoot in Italy on Monday. And Hofit Golan was back on the beach catching some rays on Tuesday, as the Israelie socialite and model poured her curves into an array of flesh-flashing swimsuits. Clearly making the most of the surrounding at the Taormina Film Festival, Sicily, the 30-year-old beauty put on a very busty display in a plunging black bikini at one of the island's beaches. Scroll down for video Sizzling: Hofit Golan was back on the beach catching some rays on Tuesday, as the Israelie socialite and model poured her curves into an array of flesh-flashing swimsuits Clearly having foreseen an ample amount of downtime at the star-studded cinematic event, Hofit - whose a regular fixture at any A-List event - looked to be enjoying another day on the beach. Following her swimsuit shoot on Monday, the blonde bombshell was clearly full of body confidence, as she donned a tiny black bikini. Featuring an extremely low-cut halterneck top, Hofit left little to the imagination as she showcased her ample assets. Beach body ready: Clearly making the most of the surrounding at the Taormina Film Festival, Sicily, the 30-year-old beauty put on a very busty display in a plunging black bikini at one of the island's beaches Showing some skin: Featuring an extremely low-cut halterneck top, Hofit left little to the imagination as she showcased her ample assets Donning a pair of matching bottoms, the Israeli-born beauty ensured both her toned tummy and gym-honed legs were on full-display. Accessorising her look with a pair of over-sized sunglasses, the model looked every inch the beach-bound beauty. Wearing her blonde locks in a centre-parting, she allowed her golden tresses to tumble in gentle waves down around her shoulders; allowing her tresses to frame her striking face. Toned and tanned: Donning a pair of matching bottoms, the Israeli-born beauty ensured both her toned tummy and gym-honed legs were on full-display Racy in red: The bandage style swim wear, allowed Hofit to flaunt her fantastic figure to the max, whilst keeping her summer style credentials on par Showcasing her summer sizzle: Featuring a criss-crossed design, the two piece allowed the model to flash plenty of her toned and trim figure, whilst it also highlighted and subtly drew attention to her curves And it seems that one bikini wasn't enough for the day, as the model slipped into a low-cut red two-piece later on in the day. The bandage style swim wear, allowed Hofit to flaunt her fantastic figure to the max, whilst keeping her summer style credentials on par. Featuring a criss-crossed design, the figure-hugging swim suit allowed the model to flash plenty of her toned and trim figure, whilst it also highlighted and subtly drew attention to her curves. Time to cool thigns down: Sliding off the quay and into the glistening Sicilian waters, the model looked the definition of a blonde bombshell as she cooled down in the shallow waters Taking the plunge? Sliding off the quay and into the glistening Sicilian waters, the model looked the definition of a blonde bombshell as she cooled down in the shallow waters Blonde bombshell: Wearing her blonde locks in a centre-parting, she allowed her golden tresses to tumble in gentle waves down around her shoulders; allowing her tresses to frame her striking face Bathing beauties: Hofit has been in Sicily attending the festival, which has attracted the likes of Richard Gere, and has been squeezing in sessions on the sand with her pals whilst also indulging in some modeling The cheek of it: Hofit has been spending much of her time on the island with her friend, Ana Maria Folostina, who showcased her incredible body in an equally saucy swimsuit Sliding off the quay and into the glistening Sicilian waters, the model looked the definition of a blonde bombshell as she cooled down in the shallow waters. Hofit has been in Sicily attending the festival, which has attracted the likes of Richard Gere, and has been squeezing in sessions on the sand with her pals whilst also indulging in some modeling. Only 24 hours before the TV presenter was seen posing up a storm for a swimsuit shoot, in an eye-catching red one-piece that featured bold cut out detailing around her waist that teased her enviable hourglass figure and toned torso. But while Hofit has certainly been making the most of her time in the sun when it comes to hitting the beach, she's also been showcasing her effortless and glamorous taste in fashion at various festival events. A glam turn: But while Hofit has certainly been making the most of her time in the sun when it comes to hitting the beach, she's also been showcasing her effortless and glamorous taste in fashion at various festival events Lounging in leisure: Attending the fourth day of the festival, the Israeli beauty stunned in a floorr-length midnight blue gown EastEnders confirmed Walford is much like Hotel California: you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave. Sylvie Carter became the latest of several characters who have recently re-appeared when viewers thought they were free of them. She arrived in the final seconds, accompanied by the Old Bill, screaming Stan ! - the name of her (dead) ex-husband - and generally reminding us why she had been so unappealing in the first place. Look who's back! Sylvie Carter became the latest of several EastEnders characters who have recently re-appeared when viewers thought they were free of them Lee had alerted his parents, confirming even her own family werent pleased to see her. So why we should be was anyones guess. A combination of the Alzheimers disease she was suffering from (occasionally) and a back story of Dickensian misery that included walking out on her children (Tina and Shirley Carter) and their father (Timothy West) meant Sylvie became one of EastEnders most depressing characters of all-time. This was despite only featuring in a total of 14 episodes. No mean feat. She was also the only character to look even more ghoulish than Albert Squares legendary vampire Dot Cotton (aka Dot-ula), particularly when Sylvie sank her teeth into Aunt Babes neck understandable even without Babe slapping her. And now shes back, turning up in the Vic seemingly either believing Stan was alive or that Danny Dyer was playing him. Admittedly, Mick Carter had already gone from being her son to her grandson but not even he could be his own father. Confused: Sylvie turned up in the Vic seemingly either believing Stan was alive or that Danny Dyer was playing him Sylvie hadnt featured since the 1st of January when Tina brought her to Mick and Ls wedding. Where shes been in the meantime wasnt specified. No one explained and none of the Carters have mentioned her since not even Tina. Wherever it was they should have left her there, like the other characters that have reappeared unexpectedly (and unwanted). Christine for example. Viewers had spent recent months recovering from the Les Coker cross-dressing storyline and eradicating the image of the Walford undertaker in his slingbacks, a purple floral dress, and a wig that made him look disturbingly like a butch version of Gail Tilsley. Then suddenly last week we saw his alter ego looking back at Les (and us) from the mirror. Claudette Old Muvver Hubbard was also back, busting out of her dress and reprising her unlikely friendship with Les, despite having been killed off (by Patrick) and buried in the cellar (by Vincent). Steven Beale has come back from New Zealand not gay anymore and with a distracting resemblance to Chris Packham. It turns out even the black sheep of the family is better than no one, Steven said to Lauren. Not for us. Johnny Carter was still gay but had returned from his travels having had a head transplant. Issues: Mick and Linda keep complaining that they are fed up with the way they keep taking baby Ollie to the doctor only to hear that it was too early to tell if he had brain damage If these storylines sound ridiculous they were, um, trumped by Roxy Mitchell who made a dramatic entrance by crawling back to Albert Square with 10,000 worth of cocaine stuck up her derriere. After two episodes consisting mostly of Roxy and Billy discussing laxatives and bowel movements, and no sign of the people collecting the cocaine, the storyline, like the drugs, was just dumped. Jack and Ronnie let her hang out with Amy again as if she had been caught smoking a spliff. Only Lauren Brannings return was accompanied by a storyline that we wanted to see - the release of her dad, Sex-Mad Max. Mind you, the new additions didnt fare much better. In only a few weeks Andy the creepy builder for example has already been salivating over Stacey, Roxy, and Ronnie all with a range of precisely one facial expression (wide-eyed frowning). Shakils romance with Rebecca has not impressed her father Martin who complained about his flashy clobber and the way Shak was constantly attached to his phone. It speaks for itself ! Cheer up: Poor Jane needed some good news. She was not only paralysed, she couldnt get away from Sharon visiting her whenever she wanted It really didnt. Martin should be more worried about his top knot, which looks less like Zlatan Ibrahimovich more like Little My from the Moomins. This left storylines that even some of the characters objected to. Kim and Denise both felt the same way about the idea of Donna and Vincent trying for a baby as we did namely to turn away crying Ew ! And Mick and Linda keep complaining that they are fed up with the way they keep taking baby Ollie to the doctor only to hear that it was too early to tell if he had brain damage (Ollie that is, not Mick) although not as fed up as we are of seeing them being fed up or Mick storming out every time. As for Bobby Damien Beales fate Jane said to Ian: after all this time its nearly over. Amen. I just want to fast forward and get it over with, Ian told Ben as indeed we did. Family problems: Bobbys confession meant a pre-trial report had been compiled, depriving viewers of a trial Ian was sitting on the swings at the time, as is compulsory whenever anyone has a problem in EastEnders. Whats happening to Bobby, its not your fault, Ben said. Youre a great dad Ian. Debatable. Ians wife was already paralysed but Ritchie had more bad news for him: she thought Bobby might not be banged up after all. Bobbys confession meant a pre-trial report had been compiled, depriving viewers of a trial. Judges like to see remorse and feel that the accused is taking responsibility for what theyve done, his lawyer said. Coming home? Ians horrified face suggested that it wasn't good news about Bobby's possible early release More than Bobbys usual excuse she was annoying me presumably... Because this is the first time Bobbys been in trouble and we can argue extenuating circumstances, theres a good chance the judge will opt for a Non-Custodial Youth Rehabilitation Order over custody. Youll have to remind me what these extenuating circumstances were apart from Ian being his dad or Lucy looking like a human cat and being an estate agent. You could have him home by the end of the day ! concluded Ritchie. Did you hear that Ian? beamed Jane. Ians horrified face suggested that he did. Poor Jane needed some good news. She was not only paralysed, she couldnt get away from Sharon visiting her whenever she wanted (to get away from Denny). Make him a lasagne for when he gets back love. Thats his favourite, she ordered Ian forgetting to add: and make sure you make it how he likes it, otherwise he may stick his fork in your eye. What use is it locking him up? Dot lamented. A lot of use if you were one of the people he might hurt/kill. Maybe its best if Bobby doesnt come home, Sharon suggested. Ive been thinking the same thing, muttered Ian. So had we all. The whole storyline could have all been for nothing. Just when we thought we had seen the last of the little brat, it could be Bobbys turn to be back in Walford sooner than expected. He's well used to looking after his baby boy solo. Rose Byrne even left their four-month-old son Rocco in Bobby Cannavale's care when she jetted off to London to receive the Best Comedy Actress honour at the Glamour Awards last week. So the 46-year-old appeared to be totally chilled out as he pushed the tot's stroller around New York's East Village neighbourhood in Manhattan on Tuesday. Scroll down for video Daddy duty: Bobby Cannavale pushed his four-month-old son Rocco in his stroller when he was spotted out running errands in the East Village neighbourhood in Manhattan, New York, on Tuesday The Vinyl star even ran a few errands, dropping into a dry cleaner to pick up some clean clothes. Bobby paid tribute to the late boxer and activist Muhammad Ali, who died on June 3, by wearing a black T-shirt with his original name, Cassius Clay, emblazoned across the front. The Ant-Man actor teamed it with knee-length black shorts and black Nike sneakers. Sporting a healthy crop of stubble, he jammed a black cap over his dark hair and protected his eyes with a pair of celebrity-must-have shades. And he also made sure baby Rocco's delicate skin wasn't in the sun, keeping the hood of his pale blue stroller up. Multi-tasking: The 46-year-old star of HBO's Vinyl dropped into a dry cleaner to pick up some clean clothes and balanced the large red bag on the front of Rocco's stroller Five-star service: The assistant at the dry cleaner's came to the door to help the actor, meaning he didn't have to leave his precious cargo outside There was no sign of Bobby's 36-year-old ladylove, Rose, who hails from Sydney, Australia. The couple have been together since 2012 but don't seem to be in any hurry to tie the knot. Bobby was previously married to Rachel Getting Married screenwriter Jenny Lumet and they share a 21-year-old son, Jake. Meanwhile, Bobby and Rose combine being parents with their busy screen careers. Touching tribute: Bobby paid homage to the late boxer and activist Muhammad Ali, who died on June 3, by wearing a black T-shirt with his original name, Cassius Clay, emblazoned across the front Rose currently has two films in theaters, X-Men: Apocalypse and Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising. Her beau stars as Richie Finestra, head of a fictional record label in the Seventies on HBO series Vinyl, which is executive produced by Martin Scorsese. He will next be seen in indie comedy The Fundamentals Of Caring, which bowed at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, in February and will be released on Netflix on June 24. Liev Schreiber has been living in LA to shoot his show Ray Donovan. But that means he's across the country from his partner Naomi Watts and their two sons Sasha, aged eight, and Samuel Kai, aged seven. And on Tuesday while on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, the 48-year-old actor discussed how that makes him feel: 'It's hard on me most, I think.' Scroll down for video Doting dad: Liev Schreiber talked about how much he misses his New York City based kids: Sasha, 8, and Samuel Kai, 7, during his appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Tuesday Liev, who is in a long-term relationship with Watts, 47, added: 'You have to put them first at a certain point, and the back-and-forth thing can get tough.' The father of two explained that his kids live in New York City with Naomi because they are 'at that age where you kind of want them to have a continuity with friends and school.' The Tony Award winner stars as the title character in the Showtime hit Ray Donovan, which films in Los Angeles with up to 16-hour work days. The screen star, who is in the midst of promoting the fourth season of the show, looked handsome in a striped top, black blazer and matching hued trousers. Honesty: The 48-year-old, who works primarily in LA, told the daytime host: 'It's hard on me most, I think' Family first: Liev, who is in a long-term relationship with actress Naomi Watts, added: 'You have to put them first at a certain point, and the back-and-forth thing can get tough' Liev told Ellen that the family uses FaceTime regularly, but jokes the kids are 'bored' of it. During his appearance, Ellen offered him a shot of tequila, which he accepted; following his drink, he talked about the 'Willy Dance.' He jokingly explained that he does the 'Willy Dance' with his sons to dry off after bathing in order to prevent chafing. Liev and Naomi have been in a relationship for 11 years; they welcomed their first son, Sasha, in 2007, followed by Samuel in 2008. Hard worker: The Tony Award winner stars as the title character in the Showtime hit Ray Donovan, which films in Los Angeles with up to 16 hour work days Stylish look: The screen star, who is in the midst of promoting the fourth season of the show, looked handsome in a striped top, black blazer and matching hued trousers Devoted father: The father of two explained that his kids live in New York City with Naomi because they are 'at that age where you kind of want them to have a continuity with friends and school' In May, Naomi shared a family photo to her Instagram, captioning the sweet snap: 'My tribe.' The lovebirds have worked on three films together: The Painted Veil in 2006 as well as Movie 43 and The Bleeder in 2012. Season four of Ray Donovan premieres on Showtime on June 26. Having a good time: Ellen offered him a shot of tequila during his appearance - which he accepted Good times: Following his drink, he talked about the 'Willy Dance' which he does with his sons after bathing She's no stranger to the glitz and glamour of the A-List. But Hofit Golan was clearly delighted to find one of Hollywood's leading action men, Jeremy Renner, at the 62nd Taormina Film Festival's Gala Dinner on Tuesday evening. Beaming as she met the 45-year-old Avenger's star at the cinematic soiree, held on the Italian island of Sicily, the Israeli socialite ensured she put her most glamorous foot forward. Scroll down for video Goign Hollywood: Hofit Golan was clearly delighted to find one of Hollywood's leading action men, Jeremy Renner, at the 62nd Taormina Film Festival's Gala Dinner on Tuesday evening Following a day spent on the beach, modelling a variety of flesh-flashing swimsuits, the model and socialite attended the even alongside a host of stars. Making sure she looked the part at the celebrations, Hofit showcased her effortless and glamorous taste in fashion as she slipped her slim curves into a fitted sleeveless ball gown which had a low-back detail. The model and socialite - who has been spending much of her time on the island modeling a vast array of swimsuits on the beach - looked the epitome of elegance in her floor-length navy number Elegant and chic: She showed off some skin in the very elegant low-backed number Slipping her curves into the figure-hugging dress, which featured a high and folded neckline, the blonde beauty ensured her look straddled the line between demure and chic. The frock's fitted design ensured Hofit's pert derriere was on highlighted to the max, as was her trimmed and toned waistline. And thanks to its plunging backless design, Hofit was able to keep her modesty in-tact whilst showing a tantalizing amount of skin. Putting her best foot forward: Following a day spent on the beach, modelling a variety of flesh-flashing swimsuits, the model and socialite attended the even alongside a host of stars Demure display: Slipping her curves into the figure-hugging dress, which featured a high and folded neckline, the blonde beauty ensured her look straddled the line between demure and chic Subtle showcase: The frock's fitted design ensured Hofit's pert derriere was on highlighted to the max, as was her trimmed and toned waistline Showing some skin: Thanks to its plunging backless design, Hofit was able to keep her modesty in-tact whilst showing a tantalizing amount of skin Keeping her look free of necessary clutter, the jet-setting beauty added only a few minor touches in the accessories department. Opting for a pair of dangling earrings, Hofit also selected a pearl bracelet and a sparkling diamond ring, before she finished her look for the evening off with a simple white clutch. Wearing her long blonde locks in carefully styled waves, the Israeli beauty allowed her tresses to tumble down past her shoulders and framed her face. Effortless glamour: Keeping her look free of necessary clutter, the jet-setting beauty added only a few minor touches in the accessories department An elegant look: The model and socialite - who has been spending much of her time on the island modeling a vast array of swimsuits on the beach - looked the epitome of elegance in her floor-length navy number Time for a selfie: Joined by her friend Ana Maria Folostina, the model and presenter appeared in high spirits. Accentuating her plump lips with a flash of fuchsia lipstick, Hofit kept the rest of her make-up palette to a natural shade, bare a a dab of black mascara to make her eyes pop. Joined by her friend Ana Maria Folostina, the model and presenter appeared in high spirits. And while Hofit went for a restrained yet elegant look, Ana took a racier approach to the evening's dress code - opting for a plunging black number. After nearly five years off the air, a resurrection of the show was hardly expected. But never say never. The beloved HBO comedy series Curb Your Enthusiasm will return for a ninth season, it was announced on Tuesday. Larry David, 68, will be reprising his role as an over-the-top version of himself. Scroll down for video Never say never: Curb Your Enthusiasm will return for a ninth season on HBO, it was announced on Tuesday 'Were thrilled that Larry has decided to do a new season of Curb and cant wait to see what he has planned,' said HBO programming president Casey Bloys. The show, which has spanned 80 episodes thus far, is HBO's longest-running scripted comedy or drama series, not bad for what was originally developed from a 1999 one-hour special, which David and HBO originally envisioned as a one-time project. When asked about the exciting news, Larry said: 'In the immortal words of Julius Caesar, "I left, I did nothing, I returned.' Major key-player: Larry David, 68, will be reprising his role as an over the top version of himself, once and for all proving to be one of the major key players in the TV industry. He is pictured at an event in New York last year Details on a premiere date or additional casting have not been announced at this time. Curb Your Enthusiasm has enjoyed a largely positive critical reception since its debut, due to its misanthropic and sometimes excruciating humor and wonderful improvisational acting. The series follows Larry in his life as a neurotic semi-retired television writer and producer in Los Angeles and later New York City. He often finds himself in awkward situations that arise as a result of his obstinate belief in his own codes of conduct, which he's not fully prepared to bend. Hit show: Curb Your Enthusiasm, which has spanned 80 episodes thus far, is HBO's longest-running scripted comedy or drama series, not bad for what was originally developed from a 1999 one-hour special; here he is seen in New York in 2010 The comedy series has been nominated for 38 Primetime Emmy Awards and in 2002 it won The Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series Musical or Comedy. Since wrapping up the eighth season of the show in 2011, Larry has co-written and starred in the 2013 HBO movie Clear History. Margot Robbie recently admitted she was left speechless at the sight of her Tarzan co-star's amazing body. And it seems the appreciation works both ways, with Alexander Skarsgard gushing about his Australian co-star's 'stunning' beauty but adding her relaxed and fun personality makes her even more beautiful. Speaking to The Daily Telegraph after posing alongside some furry critters at Sydney Zoo on Tuesday, the 39-year-old said the pair's chemistry was undeniable, revealing: 'Margot and I had just a really deep connection from day one, we really found each other'. Scroll down for video King of the jungle: Alexander Skarsgard gushed about his 'stunning' Tarzan co-star Margot Robbie while at Sydney Zoo on Tuesday 'Margot and I had just a really deep connection from day one': The Sweedish hunk said he and the Australian actress had an instant connection He added that the blonde beauty was exactly what they were looking for in their Jane - strong, tough and independent. However, the True Blood actor says the former Neighbours actress is not just physically beautiful, saying: 'What makes Margot so beautiful is not only that shes a stunningly gorgeous woman, but that she is not vain, 'Margot is so down to earth and fun and that makes it even more attractive,' he added. Meanwhile, Alexander appeared to be unphased by the dusty environment of the zoo, choosing to wear a pair of slick pair of dress shoes and a glamorous wrist watch. And despite his prior jungle king-like confidence, Alexander became slightly concerned when a snake wrapped itself tightly around his neck. The True Blood actor also spent quality time with a troop of friendly kangaroos; offering them a juicy branch of eucalyptus leaves as a welcome gift. Alexander couldn't help but crack a smile as he puckered up for a kiss with his new marsupial mates. How cute! The True Blood actor also spent quality time with a troop of friendly kangaroos; offering them a juicy branch of eucalyptus leaves as a welcome gift He was also seen hand-feeding the hungry kangaroos while simultaneously pulling a debonair expression toward the camera. Later, Alexander was seen bravely stroking the spiked back of an echidna. Like the kangaroos, the prickly creature was treated a hand-fed meal by the Hollywood hunk. Later that day, Alexander appeared on The Project to chat about his new flick as well as his on-set experiences with the Australian actress. Sharing a smooch: Alexander couldn't help but crack a smile as he puckered up for a kiss with his new marsupial mates Strike a pose! He was also seen hand-feeding the hungry kangaroos while simultaneously pulling a debonair expression toward the camera Ouch! Later, Alexander was seen bravely stroking the spiked back of an echidna Tucking in: Like the kangaroos, the prickly creature was treated a hand-fed meal by the Hollywood hunk Speaking of a love scene with Margot, who plays the role of Jane, Alexander said: 'Margot, she's quite strong. There's a love scene where John and Jane return to the jungle and reconnect with the Kuba village, the people that Jane grew up with.' 'And that night it's kind of the first big love scene of the movie and David Yates our director wanted it to be primal', he explained, adding that David had encouraged Margot to punch and scratch Alexander during the scene. Back to work! Later that day, Alexander appeared on The Project to chat about his new flick as well as his on-set experiences with Australian actress Margot Robbie Steamy: Speaking of a love scene with Margot, who plays the role of Jane, Alexander said: 'Margot, she's quite strong. There's a love scene where John and Jane return to the jungle and reconnect with the Kuba village, the people that Jane grew up with' 'He kept egging Margot on. Hit him scratch him, beat him': He admitted that he was left with bruises and scratches after the saucy scene 'He kept egging Margot on. Hit him scratch him, beat him. I wasn't severely injured but it was probably the scene in which I got the most bruises and scratches', he quipped. Alexander also revealed that he endured eight months 'of starvation' preparing his body for the role and that his first meal after filming consisted of banoffee pie and beer. 'It's not a big thing but its a British desert and they mad a massive banoffee pie the day of wrap. As soon as they called wrap they brought it out', he reminisced. He earned it! Alexander also revealed that he endured eight months 'of starvation' preparing his body for the role and that his first meal after filming consisted of banoffee pie and beer Classic tale: The Legend Of Tarzan is a modern re-telling of the classic story about a boy raised by apes in the jungle Iconic story: The movie opens with Tarzan now living in London as John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, and married to Jane It begins: He is invited to return to the Congo as a British government trade emissary The Legend Of Tarzan is a modern re-telling of the classic story about a boy raised by apes in the jungle. The movie opens with Tarzan now living in London as John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, and married to Jane. He is invited to return to the Congo as a British government trade emissary. Danger: But he finds himself at the heart of a murderous plot driven by greed and revenge and in danger of becoming a pawn in a high stakes game being played by a Belgian Mastermind, played by Christoph Waltz But he finds himself at the heart of a murderous plot driven by greed and revenge and in danger of becoming a pawn in a high stakes game being played by a Belgian Mastermind, played by Christoph Waltz. Directed by David Yates, who helmed several of the Harry Potter films, the cast also includes Samuel L. Jackson, Simon Russell Beale and John Hurt. The David Yates-helmed film starts with Tarzan out of the jungle, a decade removed from his jungle home and completely established in the British upper class. Hopper Penn bares a striking resemblance to his famous father, actor Sean, and has a first name that pays homage to Easy Rider star Dennis, whom Sean idolized. But it could have all been so very different if his dad had had his way, the 22-year-old has revealed. 'My dad wanted to name me Steak, the food, because he loves it so much,' Hopper explained to Interview magazine. 'But my mom was never going to go for it. What they told me is that I hopped in her stomach, I didn't kick, so they went with that.' Scroll down for video Lucky break: Hopper Penn, 22, has revealed that he was almost named Steak Penn because of his famous dad's love of red meat Hopper is featured in Interview magazine's Ones To Watch issue and poses for a couple of black and white portraits resembling mug shots. Currently living in Los Angeles - which he says he loathes - he is pursuing an acting career of his own after starring in his dad's latest film The Last Face. 'I asked if I could PA for it,' he said of the production that starred Sean's then girlfriend Charlize Theron and Spanish actor Javier Bardem. Famous genes: Hopper, who bares a remarkable resemblance to his Oscar-winning father, was named instead for Easy Rider star Dennis Hopper, whom Sean Penn idolozed The 22-year-old is pursuing an acting career of his own after his dad persuaded him to go in front of the camera for his film The Last Face. Hopper is pictured with Sean and his sister Dylan in Cannes last month Hopper went on: 'He said, No, youre going to act in it. I said no, because Im very shy; I didnt know how to act. He said, Well, youll get paid. So I was like, Im onboard. After the first day, I fell in love with it.' Hopper's mom is actress Robin Wright and he has a sister Dylan, 25, an actress and model. He remains in awe of his parentage and what they have achieved in their chosen profession. 'My dad is a really good actor, and there are a lot of sh***y actors, and I definitely think Im one of them,' he said. Hopper will next be seen with Brad Pitt in Netflix's war machine. He's said to have got down on one knee in April, popping the question after a whirlwind romance. And Lindsay Lohan and Egor Tarabasov did little to dispel the rumour, as the couple enjoyed a romantic day out in Zurich, Switzerland together. Jetting to the continent to enjoy some time with her 22-year-old Russian beau, the Mean Girls actress, 29, appeared to be in very high spirits as they enjoyed a day out in the Swiss city. Scroll down for video A romantic break for two? Lindsay Lohan and Egor Tarabasov did little to dispel the rumour, as the couple enjoyed a romantic day out in Zurich, Switzerland together Obviously enjoying all that the lavish city - renowned for its many banks and close ties with the finance world - had to offer, Lindsay made sure she cut an impeccably stylish figure. Opting for a layered and low-cut lilac midi dress, the Herbie: Fully Loaded star flashed more than a hint of cleavage whilst managing to remain on the demure side of her wardrobe. Teaming the satin banded frock with a pair of contrasting gold stilettos, Lindsay ensured her gym-honed pins were clearly defined, Only eyes for him? Jetting to the continent to enjoy some time with her 22-year-old Russian beau, the Mean Girls actress, 29, appeared to be in very high spirits as they enjoyed a day out in the Swiss city Keeping her look uncluttered, Lindsay only adding a complementary handbag and a sparkling wing to her look. Styling her famous red locks into gentle waves, the Canyons actress let her flame-coloured locks cascade down around her shoulders. Subtly defining her pretty features, the American star added a flash of eyeshadow and a coating of berry lipstick to her look. Real Estate mogul Egor looked the epitome of a modern dandy, donning a modern cut two piece suit, which he teamed with a pair of black leather loafers. L is for lilac: Obviously enjoying all the lavish city - renowned for its many banks and close ties with the finance world - had to offer, Lindsay made sure she cut an impeccably stylish figure in a banded lilac midi dress with his dark locks slicked back and his facial hair groomed into a neat moustache and goatee, the son of millionaire Dmitry Tarabasov cut a suave figure. Laughing and joking around at the entrance of a building, Lindsay casually puffed on a cigarette as her fiance cracked jokes. The Russian business heir reportedly proposed to the actress at a Duran Duran concert in front of her parents Michael and Dina Lohan in April. News of the reported engagement was sparked when she began to wear rings on her fourth finger, although a representative for the star later shot down the claims. They have been an item since meeting at a party in 2015 and have now been dating for seven months. Patricia Clarkson has had enough of complaining white male actors. In a new interview the 56-year-old actress addresses Game of Thrones star Kit Harington's recent complaint about Hollywood's sexism toward men and being labeled a hunk. The actress told The Guardian: 'He's a sex symbol. Get over it,' she said. 'Shut up and sit in the corner.' Patricia Clarke has hit out at white male actors who she says shouldn't be allowed to complain about sexism in Hollywood 'You have an amazing career and youre on a hot show. Take your shirt off.' The actress also reflected on the backlash surrounding the new all-female Ghostbusters movie and slammed her male peers who she feels already have it so easy in Hollywood. 'There are still so many movies made starring 50 men and one woman, 'A white male actor should never be allowed to complain about anything. Shut up and sit in the corner. I mean, seriously.' the Learning to Drive star said. 'He's a sex symbol. Get over it,' the 56-year-old actress said about Kit Harrington, 29, who recently complained that being labeled a hunk felt demeaning 'You have an amazing career and youre on a hot show. Take your shirt off.' Patricia said stars like Kit should be grateful for their career instead of complaining 'The odds of having films made which star women Everyone still references one movie: Bridesmaids! 'Ghostbusters is a great thing and I love these actresses, I can't wait to see it' she added optimistically. The Friends with Benefits star was asked if she's concerned about the pressure on a film like the Paul Feig Ghostbusters reboot being a success. Clarke responded: 'Men make bad movies that bomb all the time but theyre like, "Oh, well, we didnt do the marketing right,"' before adding, 'Eat me!' Patricia was asked about the (mainly male) backlash regarding the new all-female Ghostbusters and said 'There are still so many movies made starring 50 men and one woman,' Last month British star Harington told The Sunday Times that life as a handsome young male actor is more difficult than people realise. 'I think there is a double standard,' the 29-year-old star said. 'I like to think of myself as more than a head of hair or a set of looks, 'It's demeaning. Yes, in some ways you could argue I've been employed for a look I have. But theres a sexism that happens towards men.' Just weeks ago actress Ruby Rose joked about her single life in a post on Instagram. But now it seems the Orange Is The New Black star is off the market again, just six months after her split from fiancee, Phoebe Dahl. According to People Magazine, the 30-year-old actress is dating businesswoman Harley Gusman, 24, with the couple spotted on a sushi date in Hollywood on Saturday. Scroll down for video New couple alert: Ruby Rose (left) is reportedly off the market and is dating businesswoman Harley Gusman (right) after the pair were spotted on a date night in Hollywood on Saturday The Australian model-turned-Hollywood star was seen smiling broadly as she arrived at Japanese restaurant Katsuya with the stunning brunette beauty, who was dolled up for the date night. An onlooker told the US tabloid: '[Ruby] was sitting across from her girlfriend. It was definitely a date night.' The couple reportedly shared spicy tuna crispy rice, yellow tail jalapeno, edamame, shishito peppers and lobster dynamite. The pair shared shots of their night out together across the weekend on social media, with Ruby posting a selfie inside a car with Harley as well as another mystery blonde. However Harley, who owns her own skincare company Truly Organic, took to Instagram sharing a more telling snap of the pair cosying up together on the night. The Miami-born beauty captioned the shot of the pair 'LA, you've been good to me'. 'It was definitely a date night': Onlookers said the cosy couple certainly appeared to be on a date Throwing people off? While Harley posted a picture of the pair cosying up together, Ruby shared a shot of them with a mystery blonde beauty in a car Ruby announced her split from long-term partner Phoebe in December last year after being engaged to her for 20 months. Ruby, who has earned sex symbol status in the States after rocking her prison jumpsuit in hit drama Orange Is The New Black, donned a dark blue boiler suit for the dinner. Ruby covered up her slender frame in a dramatic long jacket with a zip-up front and matching trousers, which gathered above her black patent boots. Jailbird chic: Ruby covered up her slender frame in a dramatic long jacket with a zip-up front and matching trousers, which gathered above her black patent boots A black shirt was just visit underneath the boiler suit jacket and the 30-year-old kept her hands inside the deep pockets. With her cropped raven locks styled over one side, Ruby once again displayed the edgy, androgynous style she is known for. Harley, Ruby's rumoured new girlfriend, dolled up for date night looking effortlessly stylish in an off-the-shoulder striped crop-top and choker necklace. Making an entrance: The Australian actress was seen grinning as she arrived at Japanese restaurant Katsuya on Saturday alongside her new ladylove She paired this with loose-fitting high waisted trousers and a statement belt with silver buckles. The brunette wore lace-up black boots and an embellished hand-bag with black tassels thrown over one shoulder. Ruby's career in the spotlight continues to go from strength-to-strength. Androgynous look: A black shirt was just visible underneath Ruby's boiler suit jacket, and the 30-year-old kept her hands inside the deep pockets Effortlessly stylish: Harley, Ruby's rumoured new girlfriend, dolled up for date night sporting an off the shoulder striped crop-top and choker necklace The model and TV personality joined the cast of Orange Is The New Black to play sassy Litchfield inmate Stella Carlin in season three. After garnering a legion of fans from the American comedy-drama, Ruby has managed to secure various modelling gigs and roles in new movies. She's been open about her past life as an addict. And on Tuesday night Davina McCall showed her support for a cause close to her heart as she attended the People, Places And Things charity gala on behalf of Action on Addiction. The TV star, 48, looked chic but casual in a stylish look as she joined a star studded crowd at Wyndhams Theatre in London. Scroll down for video Chic: On Tuesday night Davina McCall showed her support for a cause close to her heart as she attended the People, Places And Things charity gala on behalf of Action on Addiction Davina cut a casual figure for the evening in a plain white T-shirt and matching boucle blazer, with gold button detailing. The TV presenter gave her look an ageless feel with a pair of youthful skinny jeans and skyscraper strappy sandals. And she tied back her glossy brunette locks into a stylish updo which she softened with long bangs that framed her face. Looking great: Davina cut a casual figure for the evening in a plain white T-shirt and matching boucle blazer, with gold button detailing Davina is a keen supporter of the charity, and has been open about her drug taking as a teenager. By her 20s, the star has admitted she was an addict, describing heroin as her drug of choice. It was family friend Eric Clapton who persuaded her to seek help when she was in her mid-20s. Gillian Anderson was another star supporter of the event, cutting a demure figure in a chic pin-striped blazer, that she teamed with a sophisticated knee-length dress. Doing her bit: Gillian Anderson was also at the star-studded charity event Far from boring, Gillian's gown accentuated her womanly curves and cinched in her tiny waist before flowing out into a flattering A-Line style. Meanwhile, the textured material of the navy-blue number added interest to her muted look with a pretty paisley finish. Gillian also couldn't resist adding some extra inches to her impossibly toned legs as she rounded off her sophisticated ensemble with a pair of towering nude wedges. True lady: The X-Files star cut a demure figure for the event in a chic pin-striped blazer, that she teamed with a ladylike knee-length dress Blonde beauties: Gillian posed alongside Joely Richardson, who looked smart in a checked blazer and tailored trousers Stunning! Gillian's gown accentuated her womanly curves and cinched in her tiny waist before flowing out into a flattering A-Line style The 47-year-old looked extremely youthful for the event and sported a flawless complexion with not a line or wrinkle in sight. And she made the most of her perfect canvas as she drew attention to her piercing peepers with a sleek cat-eye and accentuated her cheekbones with a dusting of peachy blush. Maintaining her simple style, the actress opted for a no fuss hairstyle, as she slicked her golden locks off her face in a poker straight bob. Coordinating! Samantha Cameron (left) and make-up artist Charlotte Tilbury (right) matched in shades of black and red Wild thing: Samantha posed with her sister, Emily Sheffield, who sported a bold look with a leopard print blouse However, she struggled to keep control of her mane as some strands leaped out away from her uniform style. Gillian also looked smart in the accessories department as she teamed her sultry black glasses with a large patent tote bag. The star was joined by a number of other big names at the event, including Samantha Cameron and Charlotte Tilbury. Unique: Long Island aristocrat Brooke Metcalfe put on a quirky display with a dazzling green sweater that was emblazoned with stars and ladybirds Ever the glamour puss, Charlotte Tilbury sported an entirely red and black outfit that stood out against her vibrant auburn tresses. The makeup artist also embraced the tassel trend with both her handbag and shoes. In contrast, Brooke Metcalfe put on a rather more quirky display with a dazzling green sweater that was emblazoned with stars and ladybirds, and even featured a pretty silk collar. She completed her zany look with a pair of snake print trousers. Short and sweet: Nicola Formby (left) and Mariella Frostrup (right) both looked stunning with sleek blonde bobs She has proudly showed off her wide range of back, hand and arm tattoos in the past. And on Tuesday, Australian model Catherine McNeil gave fans a glimpse of her new ink as she once again went under the needle. The 26-year-old took to social media to share an image of herself during a tattoo session. Adding to her collection: Australian model Catherine McNeil went under the needle again on Tuesday as she got a tattoo the inside of her right elbow Pictured was her friend and tattooist Jordan Hemingway getting to work on the inside of her elbow. In the captured moment, the artist covered the piece of artwork with his hand while placing a tray of red and blue ink alongside Catherine's body. Alongside the progress shot, she wrote, 'Trap queenz'. The model didn't seem fazed by the needle as she blankly glared up towards the camera while rocking a make-up free face. At it again: The 26-year-old's latest inking addition is just one of many, as she has slowly covered her back with black artwork over the last 12 months While wearing her brunette hair out and tucked behind her ears, she dressed in a black and silver printed T-shirt. Her latest tattoo is just one of many for Catherine, who has slowly covered her back with black ink artwork over the last 12 months. The etchings between her shoulders and behind include a combination of traditional and more Gothic-inspired images including a cross and butterflies. The detail: Her back tattoos include a combination of traditional and more Gothic-inspired images, including a cross and butterflies as well as angel wings, bees and a series of flowers The model's tattoos along her back also includes angel wings, bees and a series of flowers across the top of her butt cheeks. Last year the New York-based Aussie told fans on social media, 'Put in some work this yr' [sic] before thanking her tattoo artist Bert Krak. Catherine also has ink across her fingers, wrists, ankles and ribcage as well as under her feet and the inside of her palms. Never ending: Catherine (L) also has ink across her fingers, wrists, ankles and ribcage as well as under her feet and the inside of her palms Despite the never-ending collection of tattoos, she generally keeps them hidden when she takes to the runway for high-end fashion brands. In 2014 she told i-D.vice.com that she has to 'stop' going under the needle to keep her management happy. 'I need to stop getting tattoos. My agency is not happy. One of my best friends did the 'MEOW' on my hand, so I gave him a 'MEOW' too,' she laughed. Habit: In 2014, she revealed her management weren't happy with her growing collections of tattoos, after admitting she was 'addicted' to the inking procedure Three years earlier Catherine admitted to photographer JD Ferguson that she found tattoos 'addictive'. 'They're [tattoos] addictive...Like seriously addictive,' she said. Catherine's latest tattoo addition come just a day after she sparked rumours of a romance with fellow Australian model Kye Howell thanks to the women posting very risque uploads to social media. America's gun control debate deadlocks after Florida carnage The deadliest mass shooting in US history has once again unleashed gun control advocates clamoring for curbs on weapons sales. But the Florida carnage also shows the scale of their challenge in a country where a 29-year-old once flagged on an FBI watchlist was able to commit mass murder with a legally-bought assault rifle. As has become a somber ritual after each of the mass shootings that regularly stun the United States, President Barack Obama came forward to plead for stricter gun laws. People gather to protest gun violence and call for sensible gun laws outside the White House on June 13, 2016 Molly Riley (AFP) "This massacre is... a further reminder of how easy it is for someone to get their hands on a weapon that lets them shoot people in a school, or in a house of worship, or a movie theater, or in a nightclub," Obama said. "And we have to decide if that's the kind of country we want to be." It was a powerful appeal. And a familiar one. A veteran US reporter estimated on Twitter it was the 20th time he had seen Obama take the podium to deliver the exact same message. The US president has been stifled in his bid to curb gun violence since taking power in 2008, by a Republican-led congress and the powerful gun lobby that reject any moves to rein in gun ownership in the name of the Constitution's Second Amendment. On Monday the White House demanded that Congress pass legislation blocking extremists from obtaining assault weapons. But experts say the deadlock is unlikely to end anytime soon, with gun control a hot-button election issue for both Republicans and Democrats. "The Republicans that control Congress are adamantly opposed to gun legislation and they will not give Obama this victory in an election year," Adam Winkler, a law professor at the University of California Los Angeles, told AFP. - 'Weapons of war' - Omar Mateen, an American of Afghan descent who the FBI believes was radicalized online and who was probed in recent years for suspected extremism, burst into the Pulse nightclub in Orlando early Sunday armed with an AR-15 assault rifle and a handgun. By the time his shooting rampage ended, 49 people were dead and 53 others injured. Mateen was killed in an exchange of gunfire with police. The AR-15 assault rifle is the same type used in the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school massacre, the 2012 movie-theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado and the San Bernardino attack last December. No sooner had news of the carnage hit headlines than politicians jumped into the fray, with Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic White House nominee, training her fire on the ready availability of assault weapons. "I believe weapons of war have no place on our streets," she told supporters in Cleveland, saying the fact Mateen was at one point on an FBI watchlist should have barred him from purchasing weapons. "We may have our disagreements about gun safety regulations, but we should all be able to agree on a few essential things," Clinton said. "If the FBI is watching you for suspected terrorist links, you shouldn't be able to just go buy a gun with no questions asked." According to Gun Violence Archive, which tracks gun-related deaths in America, 13,429 people were shot dead in 2015 and 5,962 so far this year. Firearm deaths including suicides stand at around 30,000 per year. The fact-checking site Politifact said more Americans have been killed by guns in the United States since 1968 than in all wars in the country's history. And yet, the paradox: with each new massacre, gun sales spike as enthusiasts rush to stock up fearing a clampdown -- with the right to bear arms cherished as fundamental by many in the country. - 'Make it harder for criminals' - According to surveys by Quinnipiac University, between 88 and 93 percent of Americans support universal gun background checks and more than half back a ban on assault weapons. While the gun debate is at a standstill at federal level, some headway is being made at the local and state level, says Laura Cutilleta, a senior staff attorney at the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. Since the Sandy Hook school massacre, a number of US states have made it harder for people suffering from mental illness or with a history of domestic violence to acquire weapons, she says. But Winkler believes legislation can only go so far in stopping would-be attackers. "I'm not sure if any new law would have prevented the Orlando shooting," he said. "All you can do is make these incidents harder for the criminals." Three million semi-automatic weapons are estimated to be in circulation in the United States. But even banning them would not necessarily solve the problem, Winkler said, noting that a simple handgun can do tremendous damage too. Cutilleta meanwhile points to Florida as an example of the dysfunction of the current system. "In Florida, there is no background check if you don't buy a gun through a licensed seller," Cutilleta said. "So if you're selling at a gun show, you don't have to conduct a background check." And even with checks in place, that was not enough to stop Mateen. The owner of the Florida store where he bought his rifle, Ed Henson, told CNN he passed the required background check. "An evil person came in here and legally purchased a firearm from us," Henson said. "If he hadn't gotten them from us, he would have gotten them from other places." US President Barack Obama speaks about the investigation into the mass shooting in Orlando, Florida on June 13, 2016 Saul Loeb (AFP) 'Bungling sailors' in record New Zealand 'ice' bust Some bungling boating by a group of landlubber drug smugglers led to New Zealand's largest ever haul of methamphetamine, commonly known as 'ice', with their fumbling efforts arousing the suspicion of locals, police said on Tuesday. The 494 kilogram (1,090 pound) haul, with a street value of US$347 million, is the largest ever in New Zealand, eclipsing in a single swoop the entire amount of ice seized in the South Pacific nation last year (334 kilograms). Police said locals found an abandoned boat at remote 90 Mile Beach on Sunday and also reported a group of men had been acting suspiciously in the area in recent weeks. The 448 kilogram haul of methamphetamine is the largest ever in New Zealand New Zealand Police (AFP) They said the men, whose nationalities were not given, had been unsuccessfully trying to launch boats off the beach, then offering locals large amounts of cash to help them. When police went to recover the boat, a vehicle used by the group drove past and was stopped after a brief chase. Two men, aged 26 and 31, were arrested. A short time later, a campervan driven by a third man, aged 19, was stopped and a search found multiple suitcases containing zip-lock bags full of drugs totalling 448kg. Police also found a handheld GPS device in the first vehicle which had coordinates leading to some sand dunes, where officers on Monday dug up a further 46kg of drugs. "What is so great about this is that it's not only the result of hard work by the Northland police, but it's the result of information we got from the community," Superintendent Russell Le Prou said in a statement. "We received notification of several cases of suspicious behaviour in the past few weeks, and that has allowed us to get to this point." Police said they were working with customs to determine where the methamphetamine came from. Many of the bags showed signs of salt water. Orlando massacre a deadly reminder of anti-gay hatred The massacre at a gay nightclub in Florida comes at a difficult time for the LGBT community in the United States, which is still facing violent bigotry even as their civil rights have been significantly reinforced. A hardening of attitudes towards lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people has heated up since the US Supreme Court legalized gay marriage a year ago -- a historic decision that outraged many socially conservative Americans. Flying the flag of religious liberty, a tactic used in the battle against abortion rights, these conservatives used new local laws to curb gay rights. A hardening of attitudes towards lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people has heated up in the United States since the US Supreme Court legalized gay marriage a year ago Kena Betancur (AFP) Mississippi allowed churches and private businesses to decline services to gays and others if doing so would violate their religious beliefs. Another law in North Carolina specifically jeopardized transgender rights. For gay rights activist Michelangelo Signorile, the Orlando tragedy is "a reminder of the animus against LGBT people that still exists, and the ever present danger with which we still live." "Even in 2016, our mere existence can still be considered a threat," another LGBT rights advocate, Gabe Ortiz, wrote in The Washington Post on Monday, one day after the shooting rampage that left 49 people dead and 53 others wounded. - Gunman had voiced anti-gay rage - Many questions remain about the early Sunday massacre at the Pulse club in Orlando, the deadliest mass shooting in American history. But relatives and acquaintances have painted a picture of the slain shooter Omar Mateen, an American of Afghan descent, as a violent and unstable young man who had beat his ex-wife and expressed homophobic views. Mateen's father told NBC television that his son was infuriated by recently seeing two men kissing, in front of his wife and son. "He got very angry," Seddique Mateen said. A colleague of the 29-year-old Mateen, who worked as a security guard, also said he made homophobic comments. "I quit because everything he said was toxic and the company wouldn't do anything," Daniel Gilroy told local media. Chad Griffin, the head of the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBT rights advocacy group, told MSNBC that a "toxic mix" of hatred and access to guns had made Sunday's carnage possible. - Twitter storm - On Sunday, some Republican lawmakers seemed to sideline homophobia as a possible motive, instead focusing on Mateen's proclamation of allegiance to the Islamic State group during the attack. The lieutenant governor of Texas, Dan Patrick, went one step farther. After the attack, Patrick tweeted a Bible verse from Galatians 6:7: "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows." Widespread outrage quickly erupted over the tweet, which was immediately interpreted as blaming gays for the attack in Orlando. Patrick quickly deleted it. The attack was hardly the first against the gay community. Eric Rudolph, who was behind the Atlanta Olympics bombing in 1996, had earlier planted a bomb at a lesbian bar where five people were wounded. According to an analysis of FBI crime statistics from 2011 by the Southern Poverty Law Center, LGBT people were more than twice as likely to be the victims of a violent hate crime than Jews or blacks in the United States. "We've made bigotry a matter of public policy. It shouldn't be a shock then that bigotry has trickled down into our lives in so many deadly ways as a result," Ortiz said, referring to legislation like the Mississippi law. "This act of hate was meant to cause fear... But we cannot be afraid. That's what homophobia and transphobia feed off, and we have come too far to be forced back into a closet." According to an analysis of FBI crime statistics from 2011 by the Southern Poverty Law Center, LGBT people were more than twice as likely to be the victims of a violent hate crime than Jews or blacks in the United States Brendan Smialowski (AFP) Thousands rally in New York for Orlando victims Thousands of people gathered at the birthplace in New York of the gay rights movement Monday to honor the Orlando victims, demand tolerance and call for tighter gun control. The crowd packed the street outside The Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village carrying rainbow pride flags and posters saying "We Stand With Orlando" as a string of LGBT activists addressed the rally. Speakers called for US-wide tolerance of gay, lesbian and transgender rights, a ban on assault weapons, tougher background checks for those who purchase guns and stinging rebuke of Islamophobia in America. People attend a vigil outside New York's historic Stonewall Inn to express their support for the victims of the Pulse nightclub attack in Orlando Kena Betancur (AFP) Leaders of the gathering, organized by the LGBT community, read out the names and ages of the 49 people who were shot dead at a gay nightclub in Orlando. "When thousands of people come together in love, in support, it is a renunciation of hatred," said Mayor Bill de Blasio, paying tribute to the dead, who included a nursing school student from Brooklyn. He listed the names and ages of the victims on his Twitter feed. New Yorkers would never accept anyone sowing hatred and division, de Blasio said, adding: "that means you Donald Trump," referring to the Republican presumptive White House nominee, a Manhattan billionaire. De Blasio urged Americans from across the country to come to New York to take part in the city's Gay Pride parade on June 26. "Come join us," he said. "It will be safe and we will protect each other and we will send a message to this nation and to this world of what our society should look like." Roads were closed and there was a strong, armed police presence patrolling the crowd in a spot where mourners have been coming for two days to lay flowers and pay tribute to the dead. The Stonewall Inn considers itself the birthplace of the modern gay rights movement where members of the gay community rose up against harassment from police officers on June 28, 1969. New York, America's largest and most diverse city home to 8.55 million people, considers itself a beacon for gay rights across the world. Sumner Redstone ex-companion invokes Shakespeare in appeal The ex-companion of media mogul Sumner Redstone has filed an appeal against a judge's decision to dismiss her bid to be re-installed as the 93-year-old billionaire's caretaker, likening her case to a Shakespearean tragedy. "The comparison of waning Sumner Redstone to demented King Lear is apt," Manuela Herzer said in her petition for a new trial filed in Los Angeles Superior Court. Her attorney Pierce O'Donnell argued in the petition that the judge who had dismissed the case in May must reconsider his ruling as there was new evidence proving Redstone's daughter, Shari Redstone, had schemed over a two-year period to get rid of her father's caretaker. Manuela Herzer, ex-companion of media mogul Sumner Redstone, has filed an appeal against a judge's decision to dismiss her bid to be re-installed as the 93-year-old billionaire's caretaker Jonathan Leibson (Getty/AFP) Among other things, the petition claims that Shari Redstone had seized control of her father's affairs, isolating him from his closest friends and colleagues as she sought to rule over his $40 billion media empire. "This highly probative evidence demonstrates that Manuela was right all along about Shari's greed and thirst for power motivating her machinations," O'Donnell said in his petition. "All of this material new evidence has only recently been discovered and was unavailable at the time of trial." O'Donnell added that the case should be reopened as Herzer had also not gotten her fair day in court. The high-stakes lawsuit brought by Herzer was dismissed after the judge heard videotaped testimony from Redstone in which he used expletives in referring to her and said he wanted his one-time lover and longtime companion out of his life. "This case is a tragedy reminiscent of Shakespeare's King Lear," O'Donnell said. "Mentally incapacitated Redstone is a demented Lear. "Ailing and easily fooled, Lear, unable to discern false flattery from the truth, is duped into surrendering his power, land and fortune to his two deceitful daughters who ruthlessly implement their scheme to eliminate all opposition to their usurpation of their father's authority." The petition added another layer to a case that has unfolded like a soap opera, captivating Hollywood and Wall Street as court papers have laid out salacious details about the mogul's private life and his troubled relationship with his daughter. Herzer was removed as his caretaker last October and cut out of his will. She has since been battling to be reinstated as health care agent, arguing that he was mentally incapacitated and unduly influenced. She has also filed a separate lawsuit claiming she was cut out of the mogul's inheritance. Shari Restone's attorneys could not be immediately reached for comment. Operation to lift South Korean sunken ferry suspended Strong waves forced the suspension of an operation to lift a South Korean ferry that sank in 2014 in a disaster that shocked and enraged the country, a spokesman said on Tuesday. The Sewol was carrying 476 people when it sank off the southwestern island of Jindo in April 2014, with the loss of 304 lives -- most of them schoolchildren. Attempts to raise the bow of the vessel that began on Sunday afternoon marked the start of a long and difficult process to bring the wreckage to the surface, a key demand of victims' families who hope nine bodies still unaccounted for may yet be recovered. A giant crane that will lift up the sunken South Korean Sewol ferry is seen ahead of the salvage project off Jindo, on June 12, 2016 Yonhap (Yonhap/AFP/File) But high waves and strong winds compelled a salvage company to put off the operation Monday after lifting the bow slightly, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said. "The operation will resume late this month when weather improves and tides are weak, a ministry spokesman told AFP. The bow of the ship was lifted by two-point-two degrees or about four metres (13 feet) during the operation but lifting wires sawed into the wreck because of jolts from the waves, forcing the company to suspend the work, he said. Once the bow is lifted, lifting beams will be put underneath, and work will follow in the same way on the stern section. Buoys will then be placed underneath the wreck to reduce gravity before giant floating cranes start pulling up cables. "It's difficult to predict exactly when the ship will be brought to the surface but we now hope to do so sometime in August", he added. Seoul last year announced plans to salvage the 6,825-tonne ship and selected a Chinese consortium led by state-run Shanghai Salvage Co. to spearhead the $72 million project. The Sewol lies more than 40 metres (130 feet) beneath the surface, and officials say lifting the 145-metre-long vessel from the seabed without causing it to break up will be the main challenge. A naval architect involved in the project put the success rate at 80 percent at a press briefing in April, saying lifting a wreck in one piece from such a depth had never been done before. The disaster was mainly due to human error -- an illegal redesign of the ship, an overloaded cargo bay, inexperienced crew and a questionable relationship between the ship operators and state regulators. Captain Lee Jun-Seok was sentenced to life in prison for "murder through wilful negligence" and sentences ranging from two to 12 years were handed down to 14 other crew members. Candles and tears at US vigils for massacre victims Thousands gathered for vigils late Monday in Orlando, New York and Los Angeles in memory of the 49 people killed at a Florida gay nightclub in the worst mass shooting in modern US history. In Orlando, where Omar Mateen gunned down patrons of the Pulse, a prominent gay venue, locals gathered outside a performing arts center for the first major vigil in memory of shooting victims. Mateen wounded 53 others before he was killed when police stormed the nightclub early Sunday. Thousands of people gather in Orlando for the first major vigil in memory of the 49 people killed in America's worst mass shooting Brendan Smialowski (AFP) People gay and heterosexual, including families with children, filled the lawn outside the arts center. Many held hands or hugged, and some wept. Speakers took turns addressing the crowd in English and Spanish, a reflection of the fact that many of the victims were Latino. One after another, they urged the Florida city to unite at a time of unfathomable pain, and appealed for its lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community (LGBT) to not surrender to fear. Alex Hartdegen, a 20-year-old art student, said the debate should be about teaching people to live and let live. "It should just be about accepting everyone whether you agree with them or not. It's none of your business what other people do with their lives or how they love people or who they love," she said. Toward the end of the ceremony, as the crowd stood in silence holding white candles into the air, the bell of a nearby church slowly rang 49 times -- once for each of the people killed in the massacre. - Vigil at NY's Stonewall Inn - In New York, a crowd packed the street outside The Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, the birthplace in New York of the gay rights movement, to honor the Orlando victims. A string of activists addressed the rally, demanding respect for LGBT rights, a ban on assault weapons, tougher background checks for those who purchase guns, and stinging rebuke of Islamophobia in America. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, Police Chief Bill Bratton and Mayor Bill de Blasio also attended the event. "When thousands of people come together in love, in support, it is a renunciation of hatred," said de Blasio, paying tribute to the dead, who included a nursing school student from Brooklyn. New Yorkers would never accept anyone sowing hatred and division, de Blasio said, adding: "That means you, Donald Trump," referring to the Republican presumptive White House nominee, a Manhattan billionaire. "Everyone has the right to love... to persecute that is just evil," said Elizabeth Daniels-Sanford, who came with her six-year-old daughter to show solidarity. "This community is vibrant, we will get through this," Stonewall co-owner Stacy Lentz told AFP. The Stonewall Inn considers itself the birthplace of the modern gay rights movement. It is the place where members of the gay community rose up against police harassment on June 28, 1969. - An 'attack on everyone' - In California, thousands gathered outside Los Angeles city hall to hear pop star Lady Gaga lead a vigil for the Orlando victims. The singer, known for her flamboyant on-stage attire, wore an unusually subdued black t-shirt and dark jeans. Her flowing blonde hair was neatly tucked under a black cap. "This is an attack on humanity itself... an attack on everyone," said Gaga, who often speaks out on gay rights issues. The city hall was lit in rainbow colors for the event, in solidarity with the LGBT community. "Everyone here, we represent the compassion and the loyalty of millions of people around the world that believe in you. You are not alone, you are not alone," she said, her voice faltering at times as she choked back tears. Other US vigils were held in Philadelphia, San Diego, and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Mourners observe a moment of silence during a vigil for the mass shooting victims at the Pulse nightclub June 13, 2016 in Orlando, Florida Brendan Smialowski (AFP) Philippines confirms second Canadian hostage beheaded Philippine authorities on Tuesday confirmed that Muslim extremist guerrillas had beheaded a second Canadian hostage, as they defended their inability to save him despite months of pursuit. The Abu Sayyaf, a small group of Islamic militants based on remote and mountainous southern islands that specialises in kidnappings-for-ransom, killed Robert Hall after its demands for 300 million pesos ($6.5 million) by Monday were not met. " We strongly condemn the brutal and senseless murder of Mr. Robert Hall, a Canadian national, after being held captive by the Abu Sayyaf group in Sulu for the past nine months," presidential spokesman Herminio Coloma said in a statement. Philippine soldiers patrol a highway during a search operation for the body of beheaded Canadian hostage Robert Hall in Indanan town, Sulu province, in the southern island of Mindanao on June 14, 2016 A military statement confirmed that a severed head, believed to be Hall's, was found near a cathedral on Jolo, the main island in the Sulu archipelago that is one of the Abu Sayyaf's strongholds. In announcing on Monday night that he feared Hall had been killed, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed outrage while maintaining that ransoms should not be paid. "The vicious and brutal actions of the hostage-takers have led to a needless death. Canada holds the terrorist group who took him hostage fully responsible for this cold-blooded and senseless murder," Trudeau said. Hall, a retiree, was among four people abducted last September from aboard yachts at a tourist resort on Samal island, about 500 kilometres (300 miles) to the west of Sulu. Another Canadian kidnapped with him, John Ridsdel, was beheaded in April after a similar ransom demand of 300 million pesos was not paid. The fates of the two other people abducted at the Samal resort -- Hall's Filipina girlfriend Marites Flor and Norwegian resort manager Kjartan Sekkingstad -- were unknown on Tuesday, but the Abu Sayyaf had also previously demanded ransoms for them. - Radical offshoot - Muslim rebels have been waging a separatist insurgency in the south of the mainly Catholic Philippines since the 1970s, and the conflict has claimed more than 100,000 lives. The Abu Sayyaf is a loose network of a few hundred Islamic militants that broke away from the main rebel groups in the early 1990s, evolving into a radical offshoot focused heavily on kidnapping Filipinos and foreigners in largely succesful bids to extort money. Its leaders have in recent years declared allegiance to the Islamic State group that holds territory in Iraq and Syria, but security analysts believe it is chiefly interested in ransom rather than religious war. While having only a relatively small number of armed followers, it has proved extremely resilient against repeated military offensives. From 2002-2014, the US deployed special forces in the southern Philippines to train Filipino troops to combat the Abu Sayyaf, a move which led to the killing or arrest of many Abu Sayyaf leaders. - Kidnapping spree - But the Abu Sayyaf went on a sustained kidnapping spree after the Americans left. It has abducted 44 Filipinos and foreigners since the beginning of last year, according to Pacific Strategies and Assessments (PSA), a security intelligence group. Most have been released after ransoms were paid, although it is still believed to be holding at least eight people including a Dutch bird watcher abducted in 2012. After the beheading of Ridsdel, Philippine President Benigno Aquino vowed to "neutralise" the Abu Sayyaf and ordered a fresh offensive that PSA said involved more than 4,000 troops. Major Filemon Tan, spokesman for military forces in the south, on Tuesday defended their performance and highlighted difficulties -- such as support for the group from the impoverished Muslim residents on Jolo island. "They have relatives in the community. They are the ones that give them a warning when there are soldiers in the area," Tan told radio station DZMM. He also said the island's forested, hilly terrain, a broad coastline that allows for swift movement by boat and the kidnappers' tactic of breaking up into smaller groups, were all hindering pursuit. A Philippine soldier picks up the headband of a militant, adorned with the logo used by the Islamic State group, as they end their operation in Butig Town, Lanao Del Sur on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao on March 1, 2016 Mark Navales (AFP/File) Indonesia planning executions after Eid holiday Indonesia plans to put 16 convicts to death after next month's Muslim Eid holiday, an official said Tuesday, confirming executions were set to resume after a hiatus. The death row convicts will be executed "immediately after" the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, Mohammad Rum, a spokesman for the attorney-general's office, told AFP, but he did not give a precise date. Ramadan ends with the Eid al-Fitr holiday, which falls in Indonesia on July 6 and 7. A giant banner reads 'Narcotics threaten everyone, eradicate narcotics,' as seen on Indonesia's Nusakambangan prison island, where executions are usually carried out Bay Ismoyo (AFP/File) Rum did not say who would face the firing squad, but Indonesia has been waging a campaign against narcotics and in 2015 executed 14 drug convicts, mostly foreigners, sparking international outrage. There have been no executions since April last year, with Indonesia saying it was pausing capital punishment to focus on fixing its slowing economy. "We could not do it earlier because the government was trying to improve our economy, but now we will take some action after Eid," Rum said. Rum said the convicts would likely be put to death by firing squad on the prison island of Nusakambangan, off Java, where executions are usually carried out. There are scores of drug convicts on death row in Indonesia, among them foreigners including Frenchman Serge Atlaoui and Filipina Mary Jane Veloso, who were both pulled from the last round of executions. British grandmother Lindsay Sandiford is on death row in Bali after she was caught smuggling a huge stash of cocaine into the resort island. President Joko Widodo declared a war on drugs when he took office in 2014, saying that the country was facing an emergency due to rising narcotics use and traffickers should be severely punished. There were two rounds of executions last year. The second round in April, which saw two Australians, a Brazilian and four Nigerians put to death, caused the most serious diplomatic backlash. Following the executions of the Australian drug smugglers, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, Canberra temporarily recalled its ambassador from Jakarta. Facebook 'declares war' in Philippine flag gaffe Facebook has apologised for accidentally declaring the Philippines was in a state of war, in what was meant to be an innocuous flag tribute for Independence Day. The social media giant greeted Filipinos a "Happy Independence Day" on Sunday with a post showing a Philippine flag, but it was upside-down with red rather than blue at the top. In the Philippines this officially means the nation is at war. Facebook, which routinely comes out with greetings to mark holidays around the world, apologised for the blunder. A nation of over 100 million, the Philippines has 51 million monthly active Facebook users, according to the social network Noel Celis (AFP/File) "This was unintentional, and were sorry. We care deeply about the community in the Philippines and in an attempt to connect people on Independence Day, we made a mistake," Facebook said in a statement sent to AFP on Tuesday. The blunder was greeted with a mix of anger and humour in the social media-obsessed country. "Dear @facebook: It's not a happy Independence Day if our flag is like this. Like seriously," said Twitter user @econcepcion. But activist Jonas Bagas jokingly linked the gaffe to president-elect Rodrigo Duterte's controversial planned law-and-crackdown that envisages security forces killing thousands of criminals. "We will soon have shoot-to-kill orders and bounties to eradicate the scums that plague our timelines and our streets... Happy Independence Day, Philippines! What a curious state we are currently in," Bagas said in a Facebook post. A nation of over 100 million, the Philippines has 51 million monthly active Facebook users, according to Facebook. The social network is not the first to cause a stir over an inverted Philippine flag. In 2010, the United States had to apologise for mixing up the red and blue fields of the Philippine flag during a New York meeting between President Barack Obama and Southeast Asian leaders. Filipino-American athletes at last year's Southeast Asian Games had a wardrobe malfunction as they wore their vests with the Philippine flags upside-down. Another sportsman, Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin, committed a similar blunder in 2013 when he carried an inverted Philippine flag before a game to campaign for victims of Typhoon Haiyan. Washington, D.C. The Every Student Succeeds Act may have passed in a flurry of bipartisan love and good feelingsbut that doesnt mean that the fights over the federal role in K-12 education are over. That dynamic was apparent Monday at the National School Boards Association conference here, where U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King, Jr., and Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., the chairman of the Senate education committee and a key architect of ESSA gave back-to-back speeches. King, who spoke first, said the proof of whether the new law strikes the right balance between state and federal control will be whether schools use it to further equity for all students. We have to acknowledge how we got here, King said. In the past there were some communities that werent attending to the needs of English-language learners in their accountability systems .... There are high schools today where students cant take the very courses that will be necessary for success in college. Alexander, on the other hand, told the school board members that he needed their help in ensuring that the U.S. Department of Education doesnt become a national school board. And he encouraged school boards to follow the law as it was written, not the departments regulations. The law was written by people you can get rid of, he said, referring to the election of members of Congress. The rules were written by people youll never meet. Supplement-Not-Supplant The biggest point of contrast, unsurprisingly, was on supplement-not-supplant. (Thats the wonky provision of the law that deals with how federal dollars are supposed to be used in relation to state and local money.) The departments proposed rule would require that teachers salaries be part of the mix when ensuring state and local funds are evenly spread between poor schools and wealthier schools, a prerequisite for tapping Title I dollars. You can read all about the controversy here . It doesnt sound like King is backing down from the departments proposed rule on supplement-not-supplant. We need to ensure that the fiscal accountability elements of the law are enforced, King said. He gave some background on how supplement-not-supplant came about. The provision originated with a study by the NAACP and the Childrens Defense Fund in 1969 that showed that despite the commitment in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to get resources to the highest-needs kids, that was not in fact happening. The goal of the regulation is ensuring that federal funds truly are an extra for needy students, he said. Money is not everything, but money is necessary to pay for things like advanced coursework and school counseling, and the kinds of after-school programs and extended learning time that we know make a difference. Alexander had a very different take. He said that the department is essentially flouting ESSA, which said very specifically that educators salaries are not supposed to be part of the mix in calculating whether spending is equal between schools that get federal money for disadvantaged kids and those that dont. (The Congressional Research Service concurs.) The department, he said, paid no mind to that portion of the law. They just ignored it. They just ignored it. Im pretty upset about that, he said. Our consensus was to move out of Washington and back to you most decisions about what to do about the results of tests and standards and all of the things that I just mentioned before. And this goes strictly against that line of thinking. He said the proposed accountability regulations also appear to be an overreach, but hes holding off on commenting on them specifically, for now, out of respect to the president. (He said something very similar in this Q-and-A .) But it sounds like his comments on the proposed accountability rule could be pretty blistering, and hes asking school board members to take a serious look at the proposal, too. Im going to ask you to join me in saying to the Department of Education, Surely you can read the law?, he said. Next Steps Meanwhile, Kings comments also emphasized the need for stakeholder engagement under ESSA. States are supposed to reach out to the civil rights community, school districts, and educators as they design their accountability plans under the law. States have the responsibility to conduct broad, meaningful stakeholder engagement early and often, King said. This cant be one of those times where the state produces a plan and then calls folks in this room in 10 days before submission and says, Hey, read this 500-page document, let us know what you think by tomorrow. On another issue, it sounds like both Alexander and King are ready to roll when it comes to reauthorization of the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act. King said theres a lot of bipartisan agreement on the policy thereand hes hoping the reauthorization can make it over the finish line this year. (The potential holdup: the political conventions in July, Alexander said.) Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., the chairman of the House education committee, also as listed this renewal as a priority for the year . Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 . An American aviation executive has been sentenced to a decade in jail in Cambodia for sexually abusing girls as young as five. Brian Naswall, the founder and CEO of Aero Cambodia, was arrested last year, reportedly in the act of abusing three underage girls, and was accused by nine victims between the ages of five and 16. Naswall, 53, denied the charges during his trial in Phnom Penh's Municipal Court and claimed the case was fabricated, but was today found guilty of engaging in child prostitution. Brian Naswall, founder of AeroCambodia, arrives at the Municipal Court in Phnom Penh, Cambodia Naswall (bottom right), walks from a prison van before he was sentenced in Phnom Penh's Municipal Court Naswall, pictured in a Facebook photo, described himself online as a 'part-time pilot and world traveler' Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE), a non-governmental organization that hunts down suspected foreign pedophiles in Cambodia, said Naswall was arrested by Tonle Basac police in May 2015. At the time, the organization claimed, he was engaging in sex with a 12-year-old girl in the presence of two other underage girls. APLE claimed Naswall lured the girls to a quiet place surrounding Koh Pich Island and sexually abused them with the promise to pay them up to $20 each. After he was arrested, Cambodia's Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection Department took over the investigation. APLE said it helped police to identify more victims. 'Six other victims had disclosed that they had been sexually exploited on different occasions,' the organization said in a statement released after the sentencing. 'Finally, police had concluded a total of nine victims.' Naswall, 53, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay $12,000 in compensation to his victims APLE claimed Naswall was caught in the act of abusing three underage girls when he was arrested Naswall, whose airline offered sightseeing tours of Cambodia, poses in front of a small aircraft In its ruling, Phnom Penh's municipal court sentenced Naswall - who was wearing an orange prison jumpsuit and looked slimmer compared to photos on his Facebook profile - to 10 years in jail. As he was led into court by police officers he gave a thumb's up to photographers. Naswall, whose company offers joyrides or sightseeing tours in small aircraft for as little as $50 per person, must also pay 48 million Cambodian riel (approximately $12,000) in compensation, which will be split among eight of his victims. A member of his legal team said he would appeal the ruling. Vando Khoem, the program director of APLE, called for Naswall to be deported after he serves his sentence. 'I applaud the decision of the court. However, I express my heartfelt disappointment that the court didnt order his deportation,' Khoem said. 'Without deportation, he would exploit an opportunity to be here to prey on Cambodian children. Deportation should be made automatically.' On his LinkedIn profile, Naswall described himself as a pilot and world traveler. He claimed to have previously worked as a locomotive engineer who operated trains in Oregon, Washington, Montana, California and Idaho in the US, British Columbia in Canada, Thailand, Cambodia and Mexico. Naswall's sentence is the latest effort by officials in the impoverished nation in Southeast Asia to punish pedophiles who travel from abroad and prey on children. Cambodia's grim reputation as a child sex hub attracted global attention in 2002 when British glam rocker and serial pedophile Gary Glitter was deported over suspected sexual offences. The country launched a drive in 2003 to shed its reputation as a haven for foreign pedophiles. Dozens of foreigners have since been prosecuted for child sex crimes but there are still wide gaps in policing. Scientists use underwater robots to study India's monsoon Scientists from Britain and India will release underwater robots into the Bay of Bengal in a bid to more accurately predict the Indian monsoon critical to millions of farmers, they said on Tuesday. Researchers will also fly a plane packed with scientific equipment over the bay to measure the atmosphere as part of the multi-million pound study of the monsoon which hit southern India last week. Better forecasting would improve the livelihoods of India's more than 200 million farmers and agricultural labourers, who are reeling from devastating drought. Chennai fishing harbour, seen during heavy rains in May 2016 Arun Sankar (AFP/File) Scientists from the University of East Anglia (UEA) will release seven underwater robots from an Indian ship next week to study how ocean processes influence monsoon rainfall. At the same time, colleagues from the University of Reading and climate experts in India will use instruments on board the plane flying from the southern city of Bangalore to measure heat and moisture in the air. The robots, which have computers onboard and look like miniature yellow submarines, will spend a month moving through a southern section of the bay, to measure temperature, salinity and currents. "The Indian monsoon is notoriously hard to predict. It is a very complicated weather system and the processes are not understood or recorded in science," lead researcher Adrian Matthews said. "Nobody has ever made observations on this scale during the monsoon season itself so this is a truly groundbreaking project," he said. More than half of India's farms lack irrigation for their crops, meaning they depend almost entirely on the annual rains that fall in intense bursts from June until September. More precise predictions of the monsoon, that sweeps up from the Indian Ocean which extends into the bay, can also help hundreds of millions better prepare for droughts and floods. Beamed backed to scientists via satellite signals, the information will be used to create computer models of the ocean to determine how it affects weather and rainfall over India. "We should be able to collect an amazing amount of information about how this weather system develops," researcher Ben Webber told AFP. The eight million-pound collaboration is the latest effort to understand the monsoon in India where weather scientists have a patchy record of predicting its start time and intensity. India suffered its worst drought in decades in 2009 despite the meteorological department's predictions of a normal monsoon. In April, researchers in Germany said they had found a way to more accurately predict the start of the monsoon based on an analysis of regional weather data. India's meteorology office is also reportedly spending millions of dollars on a new super computer to predict how the monsoon is likely to develop each year. North Korea shuts down Pyongyang model village North Korea has closed a multi-million dollar model village in Pyongyang because it reminds leader Kim Jong-Un of his executed uncle who managed the project, media reports said on Tuesday. Pyongyang Folk Village, which features miniature versions of the capital's buildings, was completed in 2012, with Kim describing it as the brainchild of his deceased father Kim Jong-Il. Its construction was overseen by Jang Song-Thaek, once the second most powerful man in North Korea who was convicted of treason and executed in late 2013. The Grand People's Study House and the Pyongyang city skyline, seen from the Yanggakdo hotel Ed Jones (AFP/File) Jang was described as a "traitor" to the nation and derided as "despicable human scum... worse than a dog" in the announcement of his death by the official KCNA news agency. South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted sources as saying that Kim ordered "Mini Pyongyang" to be dismantled as it reminded him of Jang. "Whenever Kim passed by Pyongyang Folk Village, he often complained it brought Jang back to his mind," one source was quoted as saying. A second source said the ruling communist party had withdrawn and shredded brochures promoting the village. Nick Bonner, Director of Koryo Tours, a China-based travel agency that specialises in tours to North Korea, said the country's tourism authority told the company the closure was temporary. "We were told last week it's closed for renovation," he told AFP. Tourist trips to the site are rare, he said, adding that visitors prefer to see the real Pyongyang rather than its model replica. The 200-hectare (500-acre) model village features scaled versions of propaganda monuments and buildings in Pyongyang, including the Juche (self-independence) tower topped with the torch of revolution. It also contains replicas of palaces that existed at the time of the Koryo dynasty, which ruled from the 10th to the 14th centuries. According to estimates in South Korean media, the village cost millions of dollars to build. Pistorius 'must pay' says Steenkamp's father Reeva Steenkamp's father broke down in court on Tuesday as he told a dramatic sentencing hearing that Oscar Pistorius must "pay for his crime" of murdering his daughter three years ago. It was the first time that 73-year-old Barry Steenkamp testified in court and directly addressed Pistorius. The Paralympic athlete killed Reeva Steenkamp in the early hours of Valentine's Day in 2013, saying he mistook her for a burglar when he fired four times through the door of his bedroom toilet. South African Paralympian Oscar Pistorius in court in Pretoria on June 14, 2016 Kim Ludbrook (Pool/AFP) In March, Pistorius's lawyers lost an appeal judgement that upgraded his original conviction from culpable homicide -- the equivalent of manslaughter -- to murder. "It has been very difficult for me to forgive... I feel that Oscar has to pay for what he did. He has to pay for his crime," Barry Steenkamp said, tears streaming down his face. Reliving how his daughter, 29, died, Steenkamp said: "What she must have gone through in those split seconds -- she must have been in so much fear and pain. That is what I think of, all the time." "It must have been absolutely awful." He also said that he believed the couple had argued on the night of the murder -- disputing Pistorius's claims. Pistorius held his head in his hands, sobbing during the testimony at the High Court in the South African capital Pretoria. Barry Steenkamp, a former racehorse trainer, described the chaos and panic when his wife June rang him at work early in the morning after Reeva, a model and law graduate, was shot. "June grieves like I do, all the time. I hear her at night, I hear her crying, I hear her talking to Reeva," he added, saying that June had tried to forgive Pistorius to help her cope with the loss of her daughter. "You must still understand that he must pay for that, although June has forgiven," he said. - Murder term - The original trial judge Thokozile Masipa is due to hand down a new sentence for murder after arguments from both prosecution and defence. The hearing -- held in the same courtroom as the original trial -- was adjourned until Wednesday morning. It is scheduled to last until Friday. Pistorius faces a minimum 15-year jail term for murder, but his sentence could be reduced due to time already spent in prison and mitigating factors, including his disability. He was released from jail last October to live under house arrest at his uncle's mansion in Pretoria after serving one year of his five-year sentence for culpable homicide. Earlier Tuesday, the mother of a disabled child and Pistorius's pastor gave evidence as character witnesses for his defence. Ebba Gudmundsdottir, from Iceland, told how Pistorius had befriended her family when she was pregnant with a child who would be born without legs. "He gave us his phone number for us to ask him or consult with him anytime we needed it, which we did and that was lovely," she told the court. Gudmundsdottir said Pistorius has been an "inspiration" to her son, and they had gone to see him compete three times in the Paralympics. Pistorius once gave her son a gold medal and said "This is for you champion". Marius Nel, Pistorius's pastor, told the court that Pistorius was "very excited and positive" about becoming involved in the church's education projects. Another witness, prison nurse Charlotte Mashabane, alleged that Pistorius had been a difficult inmate and had argued with officials, shouting and banging her desk in a dispute over medication. Barry Roux, defence lawyer, accused her of giving contradictory evidence and exaggerating Pistorius's behaviour due to a personality clash. Pistorius has always denied killing Steenkamp in a rage and, during his seven-month trial in 2014, vomited in the dock as details of his lover's death were examined in excruciating detail. The year before he killed Steenkamp, Pistorius became the first double-amputee to race at Olympic level when he appeared at the London 2012 games. Barry Steenkamp, father of Reeva Steenkamp, testifies in court in Pretoria on June 14, 2016 Deaan Vivier (Pool/AFP) Bangladesh clerics issue fatwa on Islamist killings Bangladeshi clerics said Monday they have issued a fatwa against the killings of minorities and secular campaigners in the mainly Muslim country, where police have arrested over 10,000 people in a crackdown on militancy. Nearly 50 people have been killed over the last three years in a wave of gruesome attacks by Islamist militants targeting Hindus, Christians, Sufi Muslims, activists and foreigners. Many were hacked to death with machetes. Farid Uddin Masuod, who heads the Council of Bangladesh Clerics, said over 100,000 clerics had signed the fatwa, or religious edict, which will be made public on June 18. Bangladeshi police escort arrested men who were detained during a anti-militant crackdown in Dhaka on June 12, 2016 - (AFP/File) "The fatwa unequivocally said these killings of non-Muslims, minorities and secular activists are forbidden in Islam," he told AFP. "We've said these killings are illegal and are crimes against humanity," Masuod added. Last week an elderly Hindu priest was found nearly decapitated in a rice field and a Hindu monastery worker was hacked to death, while a Christian grocer was murdered near a church. Other victims have included liberal activists and secular bloggers along with two foreigners and two gay rights activists. The Islamic State (IS) group and a South Asian branch of Al-Qaeda have claimed responsibilities for many of the murders. But the police and the government say they have no presence in the country. The fatwa announcement came as police said they had detained 3,115 people on the fourth day of a nationwide anti-militant drive aimed at stopping the killings, taking the total number to 11,307. Bangladeshi authorities had faced criticism for failing to tackle the violence, but Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina vowed at the weekend to catch "each and every killer". She has accused the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its Islamist party ally, Jamaat-e-Islami, of orchestrating the killings to destabilise the country. - 'Acts of terrorism' - However, the BNP says 2,100 of its activists have been arrested and accuses the government of using the crackdown to suppress political dissent. Most of those arrested are wanted for criminal offences unconnected with militancy. Deputy inspector general of Bangladesh police A.K.M Shahidur Rahman told AFP just 145 of those arrested were members of Islamist militant groups. Police said they had detained two local leaders of the Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) on the outskirts of the capital with a meat cleaver and some Jihadi books in their possession. Police have blamed the ABT and another homegrown militant group, Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), for most of the murders. Many of the ABT's leaders are highly educated and the group has a reputation for sophistication. The crackdown comes after five suspected Islamist militants were shot dead in gunbattles with police in recent days. It is thought to have been triggered by the murder this month of Mahmuda Begum, wife of a top anti-terror police officer. The officer had led several high-profile operations against the JMB, scores of whose members were among those arrested in the latest sweep. Masuod said the police crackdown was important, but the clerics' fatwa would discredit any Islamist groups that tried to defend the killings. "The fatwa clearly says these killings are not a just part of Jihad, but mere acts of terrorism," he said. Bangladesh police say they have arrested more than 8,000 people in a nationwide crackdown on militants following a spate of gruesome murders 'Missing' bookseller returns to Hong Kong, seeks end to probe A Hong Kong bookseller who went missing in mainland China and re-emerged under detention returned to his home city Tuesday and asked police to drop their investigation into his initial disappearance. Lam Wing-kee is one of five Hong Kong-based booksellers who published salacious titles critical of Beijing and disappeared at the end of last year, a case which fuelled growing fears Beijing was tightening its grip on the semi-autonomous Chinese city. It later emerged that all had been detained in China, where four of them -- including Lam -- are under official investigation over the import of banned books from Hong Kong to the mainland. Four booksellers working for a Hong Kong publishing house which specialised in gossipy works about Chinese leaders went missing from various locations in October, with another disappearing at the end of December Philippe Lopez (AFP/File) Lam is the latest to return to Hong Kong -- three of the other booksellers have also made short trips but have quickly gone back over the border. Hong Kong police said they met Lam Tuesday morning. Like the others who have come back, he requested the cancellation of his missing person case and said he did not need official help, police said. Critics have said the retractions were made under pressure from Beijing. Hong Kong police have said they are continuing to investigate the booksellers' cases. Lam was one of three who went missing from southern mainland China in October. Another went missing from Thailand and the fifth, Lee Bo, from Hong Kong. Lee's disappearance led to accusations that mainland law enforcement agents were operating illegally in the city. Lam's colleagues Cheung Chi-ping and Lui Por returned to Hong Kong in March on bail, but are reported to have quickly gone back to the mainland. Lam is also on bail. Lee resurfaced in the city the same month, only to cross back across the border less than 24 hours later. He insists he is a free man and is just assisting mainland authorities. The men all worked for the Mighty Current publishing house, which produced books about political intrigue and love affairs at the highest levels of Chinese politics. Bookseller Gui Minhai, a Swedish citizen, confessed to trying to smuggle illegal books into China in a television interview in February. Lam, Cheung and Lui blamed the company's illegal book trade on Gui. Hong Kong was returned to China by Britain in 1997 and enjoys far greater liberties than in mainland China, but there are fears these are being eroded. Turkey police seize 'Kadhafi's dagger' in Istanbul: report Turkish police have seized a jewel-encrusted ivory dagger said to have belonged to Libya's late leader Moamer Kadhafi and which was going to be sold for millions of dollars on the black market, Anadolu news agency reported. Acting on a tip-off, the police raided a house of a businessman in the Esenyurt neighbourhood of Istanbul on the European side of the city and confiscated the artefact, the state-run agency said late Monday. The dagger, studded with sapphires, emeralds and diamonds, was looted from Kadhafi's palace during the Libyan revolution, it added. A handout picture taken and released on June 14, 2016 in Istanbul by the Istanbul Police Department Anti-Smuggling and Organized Crime Unit shows a jewel-encrusted ivory dagger said to have belonged to Libya's late leader Moamer Kadhafi HO (Istanbul Police Department anti-Smuggling and Organized Crime Unit/AFP) The businessman planned to sell the dagger on the black market to a Saudi businessmen in Istanbul, it said. Anadolu quoted officials as saying the Istanbul businessman paid $4.6 million (4.09 million euros) for the dagger, which was purchased from Libya nearly three months ago. The suspect was detained while trying to sell it to the Saudi businessman for $10 million, it said. Police detained two other accomplices, according to the agency. They were released pending trial. Anadolu published an image of the seized artefact showing the finely-crafted dagger embossed with gold and jewels supported on a stand and flanked by two white lions. Istanbul is a hub for the smuggling of valuable art works and antiques but Turkish police regularly claim success in seizing valuable artefacts that are about to be sold illegally. Syrian teen's amputated hand a cruel reminder of IS rule US-backed fighters chased the Islamic State group out of his village last year, but Syrian teenager Bashar Qassem's missing hand is a constant reminder of their cruel rule. A Kurdish-Arab alliance backed by US air strikes recaptured Bashar's village of Al-Hol, near the border with Iraq, from the jihadists in November. When the jihadists fled, they left the bright-eyed 16-year-old behind, cradling a stump wrapped in white cloth instead of a right hand. Syrian teenager Bashar Qassem sits at his house in the northeastern town of al-Hol in Syria's Hasakeh province on May 31, 2016 Delil Souleiman (AFP/File) It all started when "one of the Daesh guys accused me of stealing a mobile phone," Bashar says, using an Arabic acronym for IS. The jihadists declared a "caliphate" across parts of Syria and Iraq in 2014, implementing their extreme version of Islamic law in areas they controlled and committing widespread atrocities. Sitting in his modest home among the hamlet's low concrete houses, Bashar says that after the accusation he was detained by the jihadists. "They hit me so hard that I confessed -- even though I never stole it," says the youth, his thick black hair slicked back and a faint moustache on his upper lip. He was taken to a jail in Shadadi, a town some 80 kilometres (50 miles) southeast of Al-Hol. Bashar was held there with several others, some, he says, no older than 10. Two of these boys had been detained for smuggling tobacco because smoking was forbidden by IS, Bashar says. "They took them and whipped them in front of everybody, then fined them before releasing them." When an investigator came to question a woman in an adjoining cell, "they locked us all up -- closing even the tiny window in the door so we couldn't see". "We could hear her screaming outside." Bashar was kept locked up -- with only half-hour excursions in a courtyard -- for 40 days. - 'Not a whole man' - Finally his captors told him he would be going home. They handcuffed him, covered his eyes and put him in a car. The blindfold was not removed until he was placed on a chair, sitting at a table surrounded by an unfamiliar crowd. "When I saw all these people around me, I thought they would behead me. They laughed as if this was something normal," Bashar says. Under IS's interpretation of Islamic law, the punishment for theft is amputation of the right hand. "I refused to give them my hand but they hit me and drugged me," he says. "When I woke up I was in the hospital and my hand was missing." Back home, Bashar's mother could not believe what had happened. "For two or three days I was in complete disbelief," she says, her slim face weathered by years of sun and grey hair bound in a black scarf. "When he came to me with his hand amputated I went crazy." Since IS left Al-Hol, the area has slowly returned to life. Inside a tiny convenience store, Bashar waits as a young boy scoops a ball of bright pink ice cream out of a freezer. Cone in his left hand, Bashar eats the frozen treat as he strolls down the street with his brother. In areas freed from IS, many teenagers have returned to studying the national curriculum that was banned under the jihadists. Some even get excited about high school finals. But Bashar isn't one of them. "I don't know how to write with my left hand. What's the point?" he asks. The teenager is also not enthusiastic about returning to work to support his single mother and three of his siblings. "Before I used to work in vegetable, fish or poultry shops. But I can't work without a hand. "I'm not a whole man. I wish they'd cut my head off instead." Syrian teenager Bashar Qassem's right hand was amputated by Islamic State group after he was accused of stealing a mobile phone Delil Souleiman (AFP/File) Syrian teenager Bashar Qassem (centre right) chats with his friends as they sit on the counter of a shop in the town of al-Hol in Hasakeh province on May 31, 2016 Delil Souleiman (AFP) China rights lawyer 'ready for consequences over new book' A leading dissident lawyer in China is prepared to face the consequences over his new book predicting the possible collapse of the ruling Communist Party, his tearful daughter said Tuesday. Gao Zhisheng has been under house arrest since 2014 after serving a three-year prison term on subversion-related charges -- a sentence which sparked an international outcry. Daughter Grace Gao said the 52-year-old was about to publish a book written in custody and was ready to accept the consequences. Grace Geng, daughter of Gao Zhisheng, a renowned human rights lawyer in China, holds her father's book "A Human Rights Lawyer under Torture the auto narratives of Gao Zhisheng" in Hong Kong on June 14, 2016 Anthony Wallace (AFP) "He told us we (the family) should be prepared. To him he is physically and mentally prepared," the 23-year-old told a press conference. Gao has indicated he is determined to sacrifice his freedom despite being separated from his family, she said, bursting into tears. "He's determined he is not going to leave China... for things he thinks are right to do," Grace Gao said. "He is putting his family aside... he thinks there are things bigger than ourselves." Gao's wife Geng He fled to the United States in 2009 with Grace and their other child. The wide-ranging book discusses the physical abuse Gao endured under detention, his faith in God and his belief that the Communist Party could collapse next year. It has been brought out by a Taiwanese publisher and will go on sale there this week. But the publisher is still looking for a distributor in Hong Kong, said pro-democracy lawmaker Albert Ho. The dissident lives in an isolated village in Shaanxi province. Ho, a friend of Gao, would not say how the manuscript was delivered to the publisher. Gao fell foul of Chinese authorities by championing the rights of vulnerable people including underground Christians, aggrieved miners and members of the banned Falungong spiritual movement. He was convicted in 2006 of "subversion of state power" and given a three-year suspended prison sentence. State media said in 2011 that he had been ordered to serve the sentence after a Beijing court ruled he had violated the terms of his probation. The decision was criticised by the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and rights groups such as Amnesty International. Upon his 2014 release, his family said he had suffered abuse in prison and malnutrition that led to severe tooth damage. Grace said her father was still living in "difficult" conditions and not receiving proper care. Researchers have explored how mispronouncing a students name can affect a childs experience in school. Now, the research arm of the federal Education Department says that getting a students name right is essential to ensure theyre getting the services they need. A recently released guide from the Institute of Education Sciences Regional Education Laboratory Northwest is designed to help district employees accurately enter student data to ensure that students arent listed in multiple databases in different ways: Its the kind of mistake that can lead to students being overlooked for services, such as English-language learner support, that they may desperately need. While conducting a study in the Seattle metropolitan area on how long it takes elementary school-aged English-language learners to be reclassified as English proficient , REL Northwest researchers stumbled upon a problem: there were no policies on accurately entering student names in databases. That led to confusion. We kept on seeing the same kids over and over again with different student IDs, but the same home addresses, said Jason Greenberg Motamedi, a senior researcher at REL Northwest. We kept on hearing the same story over and over again. There was no deep knowledge about what they should be doing and they didnt know who to ask. Available in eight languages, the manual, Getting It Right: Reference Guides for Registering Students with Non-English Names, offers reference guides for students whose home languages are Cantonese, Punjabi, Russian, Somali, Spanish, Tagalog, Ukrainian, or Vietnamese. Each guide offers a brief overview on naming conventions in each language, advice on greeting and addressing ELLs and their families, and tutelage on where their names might fit into common database fields in school, district, and state systems. An earlier version of the naming conventions guide was field-tested by an outside consultant in six districts in 2013: three in Washington state and one each in California, New York, and Texas. After giving in-depth previews to other districts, REL Northwest is already fielding requests for more languages to be included. Some of the nations largest school districts, such as New York, have students and families who speak more than 150 languages. Heres a look at a pictorial guide for a Vietnamese family: Education Week produced a story and video multimedia package this spring that explored the importance of getting a students name right. We also participated in a Google hangout discussion with the PBS NewsHour to discuss the topic. A kid who goes from one district to another and suddenly theyre not getting English-language-development support or special education support because it just wasnt spotted from previous records. It could be a disaster, Motamedi said. Its about culturally responsive teaching and policies that districts really need to have in place. Its not just a teacher, its somebody deep in a data office somewhere who also needs to be aware of the issues. Getting It Right Related Stories Mispronouncing Students Names: A Slight That Can Cut Deep Pronouncing Student Names Correctly: A Quick Guide Bahrain cracks down on opposition bloc amid US concern Bahrain suspended all activities by the main Shiite opposition group Tuesday as part of a crackdown in the Sunni-ruled kingdom that has raised concerns among rights defenders and in Washington. A court suspended the Al-Wefaq group pending a verdict on dissolving it altogether, the justice ministry said, accusing the bloc of breaking the law. The decision came a day after security forces rearrested leading human rights activist Nabeel Rajab, drawing a complaint from the United States. Bahraini Shiite cleric Ali Salman, the leader of the opposition movement Al-Wefaq, is serving a nine-year jail term for inciting violence Mohammed Al-Shaikh (AFP/File) The court also ordered Al-Wefaq offices closed and its funds frozen, said a justice ministry statement published by the official Bahrain News Agency (BNA). Al-Wefaq draws most of its support from the Shiite majority in the small kingdom across the Gulf from Shiite Iran. The bloc's chief, Shiite cleric Ali Salman, is currently serving a nine-year jail term for inciting violence after a court last month more than doubled his original sentence. Salman's arrest in December 2014 sparked protests in a country already rocked by a Shiite-led uprising that erupted in February 2011. Tuesday's ruling followed a justice ministry request for Al-Wefaq to be dissolved for alleged illegal activity. The bloc was accused of offering a haven for "terrorism, radicalisation, and violence" and opening the way for "foreign interference" in the kingdom's affairs, the ministry said. This was a reference to Iran, which Bahrain accuses of fomenting unrest on its soil by backing the Shiite opposition. Al-Wefaq will be unable to operate until a verdict is issued on dissolving it, BNA reported. A judicial source told AFP that a court will convene on October 6 to investigate the case. The justice ministry said its move against Al-Wefaq was part of a drive to "combat extremism... and protect society". In October 2014, the administrative court banned Al-Wefaq for three months for violating the law on associations. Political parties are banned in Bahrain, as in other Gulf Arab monarchies, so Al-Wefaq has the status of an association. - 'Alarming new crackdown' - The United States called on Bahrain to reconsider the decision to dissolve Al-Wefaq, which it called "alarming". "We are concerned this action against Al-Wefaq, as well as other recent decisions, including the detention yesterday of prominent human rights activist Nabeel Rajab and resentencing of Al-Wefaq chairman Sheikh Ali Salman, will restrict freedom of expression," the State Department said. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also expressed concern about the move. Ban stressed "the right to the peaceful exercise of their freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly and association in Bahrain and everywhere", according to his spokesman. The Washington-based group Human Rights First in a statement on Tuesday called Al-Wefaq's suspension "part of an alarming new crackdown by the government, designed to eliminate all remaining opposition in the country". "The Bahraini government seems determined to kill all avenues of peaceful dissent. This is a dangerous course, and is likely to fuel extremism and deepen political instability," said the group's Brian Dooley. "Bahrain has targeted leading human rights figures and opposition leaders in recent weeks; today's move is a major statement of intent by the regime that any prospect of reform is over." After activist Rajab was taken back into custody, his lawyer said on Twitter Tuesday his case has been referred to the public prosecution service. Rajab is being held for one week pending investigation on charges of "spreading false information", Mohammed al-Jishi said. The 51-year-old was detained in 2014 for tweets deemed insulting to the authorities before his release on health grounds. Rajab heads the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights and has led anti-government marches. He previously served two years in jail for taking part in unauthorised protests. His rearrest comes a week after another leading opposition activist, Zeinab al-Khawaja, fled the country following her release from jail on "humanitarian grounds". Bahrain, home to the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, has been shaken by unrest since security forces crushed the 2011 protests demanding a constitutional monarchy and an elected prime minister.bur-dv/srm Bangladesh orders 18 stand trial over factory disaster A Bangladesh court Tuesday ordered 18 people stand trial for the collapse of a garment factory three years ago that killed more than 1,100 people, a prosecutor said. A senior magistrate issued the order against the 18 charged with breaching building laws in the lead up to the Rana Plaza compound's implosion in 2013, one of the world's worst industrial disasters. No one has yet been convicted over the tragedy which highlighted appalling safety in Bangladesh's $27 billion garment export industry, the world's second largest after China. Bangladeshi relatives of missing garment workers take part in a protest marking the first anniversary of the Rana Plaza building collapse in Dhaka on April 24, 2014 Munir Uz Zaman (AFP/File) Thirteen of the accused, including owners of the building and those of factories housed inside, appeared in court to seek their release from jail, saying they were not guilty. "The judge rejected their discharge pleas and ordered their trial. The hearings will now begin on August 23," prosecutor Anwarul Kabir told AFP, adding that five others still on the run also face trial on the same date. All 18 face seven years in jail if convicted of the charges. The court has heard how the Rana Plaza owners allegedly violated building codes and illegally extended the nine-storey complex which was initially approved as a six-storey shopping mall. Owner Sohel Rana, who has been in jail since 2013, and others also face separate murder and corruption trials over the disaster, although neither hearings have started yet. Rana became Bangladesh's public enemy number one in 2013 after survivors recounted how they were forced to start work despite complaints of cracks appearing in the walls the previous day. Rana's parents, who jointly owned the building with him, and the mayor of the town of Savar where it was located, are also charged with breaching building laws. The mayor and other officials are accused of falsifying documents to approve the extensions, while factory owners are charged with illegally installing heavy equipment including generators in the building. At least 1,138 people are known to have died in the tragedy. Rescue workers struggled for weeks to retrieve the bodies from the ruins but some people are still unaccounted for. The disaster triggered demands for Western retailers to help introduce sweeping reforms including new safety inspections and higher wages in the industry, which employs around four million workers. Israel to help NATO anti-terror fight: Netanyahu Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israel was ready to share intelligence with NATO to help fight extremist violence, as he met with ambassadors from alliance nations ahead of a summit. Netanyahu condemned the weekend massacre in Orlando in the United States, last week's assault by Palestinian gunmen in Tel Aviv that killed four Israelis and a list of other attacks as resulting from "the same evil". "Terror knows no bounds, and that is why our cooperation in the battle against terrorism must know no bounds as well," Netanyahu said in an address to the ambassadors before a closed-door meeting. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the gay nightclub massacre in Orlando in the United States Ronen Zvulun (Pool/AFP) "One day ISIS kills gays, the next day Yazidis, and then Jews, Muslims and Christians," he said, using an alternative name for the Islamic State jihadist group. Netanyahu said "we stand ready to help NATO in this collective struggle. We are prepared to share our intelligence and our experience to help in this common effort." NATO will hold a summit in Warsaw on July 8-9 and Tuesday's meeting in Jerusalem was meant to discuss issues related to the meeting. Israel said last month it would upgrade its ties with the 28-member military alliance by opening a permanent mission to its Brussels headquarters. Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israel was working to open the office as soon as possible. Israel already participates in military exercises with NATO members other than Turkey, notably the United States. US ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro told journalists on the sidelines of Tuesday's meeting that ongoing joint training and intelligence sharing from Israel was "certainly relevant to the threats that come out of this region." "We're quite encouraged by what's possible between Israel and NATO in the months ahead," Shapiro said. With IS and other jihadist organisations operating in neighbouring Syria, the fight against extremist violence represents a key area of cooperation for Israel and Western nations. A number of those countries have however also criticised Netanyahu's rightwing government over Jewish settlement building in the occupied West Bank and the lack of progress in peace efforts with the Palestinians. UN rights chief urges US to introduce arms controls The UN's human rights chief on Tuesday called on the United States to bring in "robust gun regulation" in order to prevent the kind of mass killing seen in Orlando, Florida over the weekend. Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein urged Washington to live up to its obligations to protect its citizens from the "horrifyingly commonplace but preventable violent attacks that are the direct result of insufficient gun control." Gunman Omar Mateen killed 49 people and wounded another 53 before he was killed when police stormed the Pulse, one of Orlando's most prominent gay venues, early Sunday. A woman walks with a sign to protest gun violence and call for sensible gun laws outside the White House on June 13, 2016 Molly Riley (AFP) "It is hard to find a rational justification that explains the ease with which people can buy firearms, including assault rifles, in spite of prior criminal backgrounds, drug use, histories of domestic violence and mental illness, or direct contact with extremists both domestic and foreign," Zeid said in a statement. "How many more mass killings of school-children, of co-workers, of African-American churchgoers... will it take before the United States adopts robust gun regulation?" he asked. He refuted the kind of justification for easy access to arms propagated by the likes of the US National Rifle Association (NRA), whose members argue that the bad guys will always get hold of guns so the good guys should have them too. "Irresponsible pro-gun propaganda suggests that firearms make society safer, when all evidence points to the contrary," Zeid said. "The ready availability of guns leaves little space between murderous impulses and actions that result in death." A new UN human rights report on the civilian acquisition, possession and use of firearms highlights the devastating impact of gun violence, he said. "Examples from many countries clearly show that a legal framework to control the acquisition and use of firearms has led to a dramatic reduction in violent crime," the UN rights chief stressed. "In the United States, however, there are hundreds of millions of guns in circulation, and every year thousands of people are killed or injured by them." The slaughter in Orlando has raised new questions in the US about its gun laws and its counterterror strategy. The FBI said it had investigated Mateen, a US citizen of Afghan descent, but cleared him of extremist ties. Nevertheless Mateen legally bought a rifle and a handgun. US President Barack Obama swiftly demanded that the Republican-controlled Congress pass legislation to curb the sale of assault-type weapons like the one used by Mateen. "We make it very easy for individuals who are troubled or disturbed or want to engage in violent acts to get very powerful weapons very quickly," Obama said. Obama to Orlando gay community: 'You are not alone' US President Barack Obama on Tuesday voiced solidarity with the LGBT community after the shooting rampage at a Orlando gay nightclub, calling the gunman an "angry, disturbed, unstable young man who became radicalized." Investigators were working to untangle the complicated motive of Omar Mateen, as witnesses said the 29-year-old American of Afghan descent -- who was married with a child -- frequented the popular nightspot and used gay dating apps. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the shooting in Orlando early Sunday. The FBI said Mateen pledged allegiance to the IS leader in 911 calls made during the killing spree -- the worst mass shooting in US history. Photos and flowers are seen at a memorial to honor the Pulse nightclub mass shooting victims on June 14, 2016 in Orlando, Florida Brendan Smialowski (AFP) Forty-nine people were killed and another 53 wounded after Mateen opened fire early Sunday at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, a resort city in central Florida mainly known as the home to Walt Disney World. After a meeting of his National Security Council, Obama said the country's thoughts were with survivors and relatives of the dead, as well as the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community "who were targeted." "You are not alone. The American people and our allies and friends all over the world stand with you," Obama said. He reiterated the official belief that Mateen -- a practicing Muslim -- had absorbed extremist propaganda online, noting: "He appears to have been an angry, disturbed, unstable young man who became radicalized." Obama will travel to Orlando on Thursday to pay his respects to victims' families. - Did his wife know about attack? - MSNBC and ABC News, citing unnamed law enforcement officials, reported that Mateen's wife may have had prior knowledge of her husband's plan and could face criminal charges. Noor Mateen, who is 30, was cooperating with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and claims she tried to convince her husband not to go through with the shooting, the networks said. Asked about the reports, an FBI spokeswoman told AFP: "I wouldn't confirm that. We are not going to talk about any ongoing matter or any parts of the investigations." Security has been stepped up at Disney theme parks however amid reports -- based on his wife's statements to investigators -- that Mateen may have scouted Disney World as a possible target. - Club regular - The probe took a new turn after witnesses said Mateen -- who was killed in a shootout with police when they stormed the venue -- had been a regular at Pulse. "Sometimes he would go over in the corner and sit and drink by himself, and other times he would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent," Ty Smith told the Orlando Sentinel. Another Pulse regular, Kevin West, told the Los Angeles Times that Mateen messaged him on and off for a year using a gay chat app. Clubgoers told local media and MSNBC that Mateen had been using multiple gay apps, including Grindr, with mutual acquaintances to "hook up." And a man who attended law enforcement training classes with Mateen in 2006 told the Palm Beach Post that the slain gunman had once asked him out on a date. Mateen's ex-wife, Sitora Yusufiy, who has said he beat her, told CNN on Monday that he had "confessed to me about his past that was recent at that time and that he very much enjoyed going to clubs and the nightlife." "I feel like it's a side of him or a part of him that he lived but probably didn't want everybody to know about," she said. - 'I'm next. I'm dead' - Police have now identified all 49 victims, who ranged in age from 18 to 50. Of the 53 people wounded, 27 remained in hospital Tuesday, with six of them in critical condition, doctors at Orlando Regional Medical Center said. Survivor Angel Colon, who suffered three bullet wounds to his leg, which was shattered as people trampled him to escape Pulse, offered a harrowing account of the carnage to reporters. "I can hear the (gunshots) closer, and I look over and he shoots the girl next to me. And I'm just there laying down. I'm thinking, 'I'm next. I'm dead,'" Colon said. "Everybody could hear him talking to 911, saying that the reason why he is doing this is because he wants America to stop bombing his country," recounted another survivor, Patience Carter. She told of a chilling moment when the gunman asked if there were any African Americans present -- before telling them: "You know I don't have problem with black people, this is about my country." The shooting hit Orlando's Latino community hard -- the club was hosting a "Latin Night" when the attack occurred. Thousands joined a vigil late Monday. - 'Where does this stop?' - The slaughter has raised questions about US counterterror strategy -- the FBI said it had investigated Mateen but cleared him of extremist ties. But in his noon press conference, a fiery Obama lashed out at Republicans, especially presidential hopeful Donald Trump, for anti-Muslim rhetoric that he said was counterproductive to the fight on extremism. "Where does this stop?" he said. "Are we going to start treating all Muslim Americans differently? Are we going to start subjecting them to special surveillance? Are we going to start discriminating against them because of their faith?" The rampage has also raised questions about gun laws. Mateen legally bought the assault rifle and handgun used in the attack. Obama has demanded that the Republican-controlled Congress pass legislation to curb the sale of assault-type weapons like the one used in Orlando -- a measure that conservatives say violates their constitutional right to bear arms. Orlando nightclub shooting Sophie Ramis (AFP) Nicole Edwards and her wife Kellie Edwards observe a moment of silence during a vigil for the mass shooting victims at the Pulse nightclub on June 13, 2016 in Orlando, Florida Brendan Smialowski (AFP) People holds giant letters that say "From Brussels with love" next to a rainbow flag during a rally organized by RainbowHouse to pay homage to the victims of a shooting at a gay nighclub in Orlando, on June 14, 2016 Nicolas Maeterlinck (BELGA/AFP) L-R: Dr. Marc Levy, Dr. Michael Cheatham and Will Havron III take questions from reporters at a press conference with Orlando Health trauma staff Brendan Smialowski (AFP) UN to authorize EU operation against Libya arms-smuggling The UN Security Council on Tuesday was set to authorize an EU naval force to intercept ships suspected of carrying weapons to Libya, in a measure aimed at weakening the Islamic State group and militias fighting the unity government. The council was to vote on a resolution drafted by Britain and France that would expand the mission of Operation Sophia, which has been combating migrant-smuggling in the Mediterranean. Operation Sophia's enforcement of an arms embargo would help shore up the UN-backed unity government as it struggles to establish its authority over the entire north African country. Sailors of the German navy frigate ship Werra make a fire-self-defence practice in the Mediterranean Sea not far from the Libyan territorial waters on September 25, 2015 Alberto Pizzoli (AFP/File) Militias loyal to the new government of Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj are battling to retake from IS jihadists the key city of Sirte. Libya descended into chaos during the 2011 uprising against Moamer Kadhafi and the new UN-brokered government set up office in Tripoli only two months ago. The arms embargo was imposed on Libya in 2011, but UN sanctions monitors have reported shipments from Egypt, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Sudan to various factions. The draft resolution invokes Chapter 7 of the UN charter, which allows for the use of military force. It would grant a 12-month mandate to EU vessels to "inspect, without undue delay, on the high seas off the coast of Libya, vessels bound to, or from Libya which they have reasonable grounds to believe are carrying arms or related material to or from Libya." Diplomats said they expected broad support for the measure although it remained unclear whether Russia, Egypt and Venezuela would abstain during the vote, scheduled at 3:00 pm (1900 GMT). Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin last week expressed concerns that the measure could create "suspicion" among Libya's many factions and negotiations on the text have focused on Moscow's proposed changes. These include a mention that the EU naval force must "make good-faith efforts" to first seek consent from the ship' flag state before carrying out any inspection. - Seize and dispose - EU vessels would be authorized to "use all measures commensurate to the specific circumstances to carry out such inspections" of suspected arms-smuggling ships on the high seas, off Libya's coast. The EU force would be authorized to "seize and dispose" of the weapons and divert vessels and their crew to a nearby port. Libya is awash with weapons, with some 20 million pieces of armaments of all types in a country of six million people, according to the United Nations. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini asked the council last week to endorse the naval mission's expanded mandate, saying it would "make the Mediterranean a safer place." Once the council has given its backing, EU foreign ministers are expected to formally task Operation Sophia with combating arms-smuggling when they meet in Luxembourg on Monday. The move to combat weapons-smuggling coincides with a push to grant the Sarraj government an exemption to the arms embargo for purchases of military equipment needed to confront IS and rival militias. That request for an exemption, however, is conditional on receiving assurances from the unity government that it will properly store and keep track of the new weapons to prevent them from falling in the wrong hands. Council members also want Tripoli to provide a clear command structure of the various militias that are now claiming to be fighting on the unity government's behalf. Netanyahu stresses Arab peace initiative must be rewritten Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said a long-dormant Arab peace initiative with the Palestinians that he has spoken of reviving must be changed before Israel can support it. Netanyahu made the comments on Monday night to members of his Likud party, Israeli media reported, after facing pressure from rightwing members of his cabinet over his recent comments on the Arab initiative. Members of the religious nationalist Jewish Home party who hold key positions in Netanyahu's cabinet oppose a Palestinian state. A Palestinian protestor runs with his national flag during clashes with Israeli forces near the Nahal Oz border crossing with Israel, east of Gaza City, on November 1, 2013 Mohammed Abed (AFP/File) "If the Arab nations grasp the fact that they need to revise the Arab League proposal according to the changes Israel demands, then we can talk," Netanyahu said, according to the Haaretz newspaper, which cited two sources at the meeting. "But if they bring the proposal from 2002 and define it as 'take it or leave it' - we'll choose to leave it." Late last month, Netanyahu spoke of the Arab League-endorsed proposal that dates to 2002, saying it "includes positive elements that can help revive constructive negotiations with the Palestinians." But some analysts questioned whether his comments were a bid to fend off international critics over his appointment of hardline Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman and his strong opposition to a French peace initiative now taking shape. The Arab proposal essentially calls for Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories and resolve the issue of refugees with the Palestinians, leading to the creation of a Palestinian state, in exchange for normalised relations with Arab countries. According to Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom, Netanyahu also told fellow Likud members that "the Arab initiative includes positive elements." "But it is clear that it must be updated in order to take account of changes that have occurred in the region in recent years," he said. Haaretz reported that Netanyahu said the plan's "negative elements" included what he described as the return of Palestinian refugees and the demand that Israel retreat from of all lands occupied in the 1967 Six Day War. Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi dismissed Netanyahu's comments and said Israel cannot seek the benefits of the proposal before making concessions. "Those comments are completely rejected because the Arab initiative has a precise philosophy and a specific order," he told journalists in Egypt. Despair grows in Iraq camps over hundreds of missing men When Iraqi officials and top brass visited this displacement camp south of jihadist-held Fallujah, distressed residents swarmed around them asking the same question: "Where are our sons?" Mothers pleaded with their palms upturned while elders scribbled on paper the names of some of the hundreds of male relatives whose fates are unknown. "My husband, three sons and three nephews are missing," said Taliaa Diab, who fled the town of Saqlawiya near Fallujah with her family earlier this month. An Iraqi woman -- who fled the ongoing fighting between government forces and Islamic State (IS) group jihadists in the Fallujah area -- washes clothes at a camp for displaced people in Amriyat al-Fallujah, on June 14, 2016 Sabah Arar (AFP) She has heard nothing from them in a week. "We are hearing that they are killing many of them. We want to know what happened," she said. Her family is one of hundreds who have been filling tents at the camp in Amriyat al-Fallujah over the past three weeks. Iraqi forces launched a vast offensive more than three weeks ago to retake Fallujah, which lies only 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of Baghdad and is one of the main bastions of the Islamic State (IS) group. The initial phase of the operation saw forces, including Shiite militias from the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) paramilitary umbrella group, retake areas around Fallujah and tighten the seal around the city. - 'They took my husband' - The International Organization for Migration said on Tuesday the offensive against Fallujah has displaced 43,000 people in just over three weeks. As the number of displaced civilians who fled IS rule continues to rise, so does the volume of allegations against members of the security forces, mostly militias. "The sectarian mobilisation took my husband," said Marwa Mohammed, using a derogatory nickname for the paramilitary Hashed forces that made the women around giggle. "The militia that took all the men was Ketaeb Hezbollah. That was the one we saw, from their flags and their badges, but there were others too," she said. Fallujah and the areas around it are Sunni Muslim while the Hashed forces fighting alongside the government are dominated by Shiite militias, some of which are supported by Tehran. Their involvement in the operation to retake Fallujah had raised fears the battle would see collective revenge being meted out against Sunni civilians. "I will pass on this information. We are here to listen and look for a solution", said one official from Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's office visiting the camp in Amriyat al-Fallujah. Interior ministry spokesman Saad Maan said that a total of 6,000 men from the Fallujah area have been held for screening since the start of the operation on May 22-23 to try to identify fleeing jihadists. He said around 1,000 had already been released and that another 4,000 would be soon. Maan said the screening should not exceed seven days. - 'We should have stayed' - Away from the dust-clouded scrum surrounding the government officials, the men who were lucky enough to be have been released sat in tents and exchanged accounts of torture and abuses by Hashed forces. "I saw maybe up to 40 people die in Hashed detention with my own eyes," said a man in a blue tee-shirt who gave his name as Abu Ban. He displayed deep cuts on his wrists. "That's from having my hands cuffed for four days, with nothing to eat or drink." Abu Hussein, another man from the same area of Azraqiyah, said: "They would beat us with sticks. Look at my arm. I saw them burn a man like you would roast a chicken." Many of the men in the camp had similar stories of torture by some militias. They would not give their full names, they said, because they feared reprisals from the Hashed al-Shaabi. All of them told AFP that the militiamen said explicitly that they were motivated by revenge for the Speicher massacre, when up to 1,700 mostly Shiite cadets were rounded up and executed by IS near Tikrit in June 2014. The prime minister's office has said it would investigate allegations of abuses committed by the security forces in the course of the Fallujah operation. "We were fleeing Daesh (IS) to be rescued by the Hashed al-Shaabi and they treated us like we were Daesh," said Abu Abdallah, a 57-year-old teacher. "Our life wasn't that affected by Daesh. We lived a rural life, had our farm to live on and we knew how to survive under siege," he said. "I'm telling you, we should have stayed behind." The battle for Fallujah Iraqi forces patrol the outskirts of Fallujah's southern Shuhada neighbourhood during a military operation on June 13, 2016 Ahmad Al-Rubaye (AFP) Displaced Iraqis who were evacuated from their villages by Iraqi forces, rest at a safe zone near Fallujah, on June 12, 2016 Moadh Al-Dulaimi (AFP) US appeals court upholds 'Open Internet' rule A US federal court ruled Tuesday that the Internet is effectively a public utility, upholding a hotly contested regulation requiring broadband firms to treat all online traffic equally. The so-called "net neutrality" principle was upheld in a 2-1 decision by the US Appeals Court panel in Washington, a major ruling in a decade-long legal battle and the first court approval after two past efforts failed. The ruling deals a setback to major broadband firms like Verizon and AT&T, which claimed the rules unfairly restrict providers and discourage investment. Activists protest outside Federal Communications Commission in support of "net neutrality" Alex Wong (Getty/AFP/File) Judge David Tatel, writing for the majority, said the Federal Communications Commission's decision last year to reclassify Internet firms as "common carriers" that can be regulated like phone companies "is a permissible exercise of its authority." In a 115-page opinion, Tatel wrote that "the role of broadband providers is analogous to that of telephone companies: they act as neutral, indiscriminate platforms for transmission of speech of any and all users." Backers of the rule say it is needed to ensure that Internet service providers avoid deals that could favor one service with faster access while throttling or blocking a rival. Companies such as Netflix, Yelp and Twitter, for example, were backing the FCC rules. "Now consumers will be assured the right to full access to the Internet without interference from gatekeepers," said Gene Kimmelman of the consumer group Public Knowledge. - 'Open, fair, free' - Ed Black of the Computer & Communications Industry Association, which represents various Internet and tech firms, also welcomed the ruling. "This is a huge, historic victory for all Internet users," Black said. "It means no company can act as a gatekeeper for Internet content. It ensures that smaller startups and service providers will be able to compete on equal terms for Internet traffic with established companies." Netflix hailed the decision as "ensuring that providers like Netflix will be able to reach consumers without ISP interference." President Barack Obama, who has been a backer of net neutrality, welcomed the ruling. "Today's ruling is a victory for the open, fair, and free Internet as we know it today -- one that remains open to innovation and economic growth, without service providers serving as paid gatekeepers," a White House statement said. The new rule also applies the concept to mobile Internet carriers, preventing them from blocking or throttling content for competitive reasons. Two previous FCC rulemaking efforts were tossed out by the appellate court in Washington, but the agency last year tried again with a new twist, applying the 1934 law that regulates phone companies to categorize Internet firms as public utility providers. In the dissent, Judge Stephen Williams said there was no evidence of monopoly power in broadband, and thus no need for new regulation. "The ultimate irony of the Commission's unreasoned patchwork is that, refusing to inquire into competitive conditions, it shunts broadband service onto the legal track suited to natural monopolies," Williams wrote. - More appeals likely - Cable and Internet providers, which contend the regulation limits their ability to invest and innovate, were expected to appeal the ruling to the US Supreme Court. "We have always expected this issue to be decided by the Supreme Court, and we look forward to participating in that appeal," said AT&T general counsel David McAtee in a statement. Berin Szoka, president of the advocacy group TechFreedom, which joined the lawsuit, said the ruling only prolongs a "decade-long melodrama," and pledged to join an appeal to the full appeals court and Supreme Court. Robert Atkinson, president of the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, a think tank which opposed the rules, said the reclassification of broadband "was a mistake." "Common carriage is simply a very poor fit for regulating the rapidly evolving technology that underpins today's broadband networks," Atkinson said in a statement. Daniel Berninger, a communications architect who heads an activist group called "Tech Innovators," called the decision "a huge step backward" for the Internet. Berninger, who joined in the appeal, said the opinion was based on "legal gymnastics" and "ignores the reality that the Internet prospered for 20 years without FCC policy intrusions." The US Appeals Court panel in Washington dealt a setback to major broadband firms like Verizon and AT&T Michael Bocchieri (Getty/AFP/File) Libya PM calls for unity behind anti-IS Sirte offensive The head of Libya's unity government urged Libyans to rally behind the battle against jihadists in Sirte, as the UN approved an operation to stop the flood of weapons into the country. Pro-government forces are fighting to oust the Islamic State group from Sirte, whose fall would be a major setback for the extremists who have also lost territory in Syria and Iraq. The UN Security Council unanimously authorised a European Union naval mission to enforce an arms embargo on the country and expand Operation Sophia which has been combating migrant-smuggling. Forces allied with Libya's unity government made rapid gains in Sirte last week, pushing IS out of the port and the airport on the edges of the coastal city Mahmud Turkia (AFP/File) Diplomats hope the move will shore up the UN-backed administration led by prime minister-designate Fayez al-Sarraj, who on Tuesday said advances by pro-government fighters in Sirte should be a model for "a national initiative to fight terrorism". Forces allied with his Government of National Accord have been fighting since mid-May to oust IS from Sirte, 450 kilometres (280 miles) east of the capital Tripoli. "We bless the victories of our sons on the front lines... in the fight to liberate Sirte and cleanse it" of IS, he said in a televised statement released on the Facebook page of the GNA. Pro-government troops -- a mix of militias and army units -- have taken control of Sirte's port and airport. But their advance slowed at the end of last week as they reached central and northern parts of the city where IS fighters are holed up in residential areas. - IS attack repelled - "This morning at dawn our forces repelled a new attack by Islamic State in which it attempted to capture the port," Reda Issa, a spokesman for the unity government's forces, told AFP on Tuesday. Later the GNA forces said they lost two fighters and 14 wounded in clashes with IS in Sirte, which they claimed to have advanced on. The fighting has left 140 pro-GNA fighters dead and 500 injured, according to medical officials. Established in Tripoli more than two months ago, Libya's unity government has been struggling to unify violence-ridden Libya and exert its control over the entire North African country. Its task is complicated by the presence of a parallel government operating out of eastern Libya, backed by local militias and units of the national army loyal to a controversial general, Khalifa Haftar. Haftar refuses to recognise the GNA, and considers its forces "militias outside the law". "We are following the battle in Sirte... we are watching, and we will see what happens," Colonel Ahmad al-Mesmari, a spokesman for forces loyal to Haftar, told AFP. Haftar's forces have been fighting Islamist and jihadist militias -- including IS -- for two years in Benghazi, 350 kilometres (220 miles) east of Sirte. Haftar's "Libyan Arab armed forces" -- equipped with fighter jets, tanks and rocket launchers -- have appealed for a lifting of the arms embargo to help his forces fight extremists. The operation against IS in Sirte enjoys wide support in western Libya, where many welcomed the GNA's installation in the capital Tripoli on March 30. - Awash with weapons - Haftar has faced growing opposition in Benghazi since the GNA's installation in Tripoli, said Mohamed Eljarh, a Libya expert at the Rafik Hariri Centre for the Middle East. He said Haftar's position is particularly hard "given that forces loyal to the GNA, his main rival, are on the point of liberating the city of Sirte from the clutches of IS". Jihadist groups took root in Libya in late 2014, taking advantage of the chaos and power struggles that followed the fall of Moamer Kadhafi's regime in 2011. The country is awash with weapons -- 20 million pieces of weaponry in a land of six million people, UN envoy Martin Kobler told the Security Council last week. An arms embargo imposed on Libya in 2011 during the uprising against Kadhafi remains in force. The resolution adopted at the UN allows EU vessels to "inspect... vessels bound to, or from Libya which they have reasonable grounds to believe are carrying arms or related material to or from Libya." Stronger enforcement of the embargo would limit weapons falling into the hands of IS and other anti-government forces, and could pave the way for an exemption allowing for arms deliveries to the GNA. According to American officials, there are around 5,000 IS jihadists in Libya. The vast majority, including many foreigners, are in Sirte, which the group seized in 2015. Loyalist forces enter Sirte, IS bastion Kun TIAN, Thomas SAINT-CRICQ (AFP) Utah schools, faced with a growing teacher shortage, can now hire people who have relevant professional experience but no teaching experience. The Utah State Board of Education voted on Friday to create an alternative pathway to obtaining a teaching license. School districts and charter schools can hire individuals with professional experience in certain content areas like computer science, as long as they have a bachelors degree, submit college transcripts to education administrators, pass the state test required for teacher certification, complete an educator ethics review, and pass a background check. After being hired, that individual will have to go through three years of supervision and mentoring from a master teacher designated by the school before receiving licensure. The move, which was adopted unanimously by the board, is meant to stem the hemorrhage of teachers in the state. Forty-two percent of teachers quit within the five years of starting, and more than one-third of those who quit teaching do so at the end of their first year, according to the Utah State Office of Education. There have also been declines in the number of prospective teachers graduating from Utah universities, the Deseret News reported . Meanwhile, Utahs student population is rising every yearstate schools gained nearly 12,000 new students last year. Critical shortages are concentrated in subject areas like computer science and high school math and science. This new plan aims to draw professionals in those fields into teaching. While those professionals will not have gone through classes in education school, the state school board vice chairman, Dave Thomas, said having a mentor teacher for three years will help the new teacher learn pedagogy and teaching methodology, according to the Deseret News . But some expressed concerns about the change. Sara Jones, director of education for the Utah Education Association, told the Deseret News that while the association wasnt opposed to alternative paths to licensure, strong content knowledge isnt necessarily enough to be a good teacher. You can have a very, very brilliant mathematician who cannot just automatically communicate that information to a class of 40 13-year-olds, she said. With teacher shortages growing, officials in other states have also looked for wary to hire people outside of the traditional teaching pool. In Wisconsin, a controversial proposal from the state legislature would have allowed districts to hire and license anybody with a bachelors degree (and for certain subjects, the individual might not even have needed a bachelors, just relevant experience). The proposal was watered down significantly, but Wisconsin professionals can now teach a trade or technical education in public schools, if they receive some training in pedagogy and are supported by a school district. In Alabama, the state Board of Education recently adopted a resolution to allow school districts to hire part-time adjunct instructors for vocational and technical courses, even if the instructors dont have a teaching certification. The instructors can only work half-time or less (and not in elementary schools), must pass a background check, and will work with a certified mentor teacher. The Alabama Education Association opposes the policy on the grounds that it could hurt professional teachers and students, but state education officials said this is a way to address a shortage of teachers in areas like high school math and science and vocational courses like plumbing. Were struggling, a Board of Education member told AL.com . Its not ideal, but we just have to get teachers into the classroom. It remains to be seen how Utah school districts will recruit STEM professionals who often have higher-paying options. On average, Utah public school teachers earn an average of $46,689. As one commenter on the Deseret News story said, If I were to quit my industry job and teach as the article suggests I can, my salary would be cut in more than half. So...I am not sure this will help much. Source: Image by Flickr user Prime Education , licensed under Creative Commons Related Reading on Teacher Shortages: Follow @madeline_will and @EdWeekTeacher on Twitter. Operation on Iraq's Fallujah has displaced 43,000: UN Iraq's offensive to retake the jihadist bastion of Fallujah has displaced 43,000 people in just over three weeks, the International Organization for Migration said on Tuesday. The IOM "identified a total of 43,470 internally displaced Iraqis (7,245 families) from Fallujah district between 22 May and 13 June," it said in a statement. It said 10,000 people had fled between June 11 and 13 alone. Iraqis, who fled the ongoing fighting between government forces and Islamic State (IS) group jihadists in the Fallujah area, gather around officials visiting a camp for displaced people in Amriyat al-Fallujah on June 14, 2016 Sabah Arar (AFP) The majority of the displaced were not from the city itself but lived in outlying areas. Tens of thousands of civilians are still believed to be trapped in the centre, some of them being used as human shields by the Islamic State group. "Ongoing and recent displacement, especially from Fallujah, requires immediate attention," IOM Iraq chief of mission Thomas Lothar Weiss was quoted as saying in the statement. "IOM is responding but funds and supplies are insufficient to provide adequate assistance to the huge numbers of displaced Iraqis," he said. Fallujah is one of IS's most emblematic bastions and lies just 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of Baghdad, in the province of Anbar. The latest wave of displacement brings to 3.3 million the number of Iraqis made homeless by conflict across the country since the beginning of 2014. Gaza desalination plant to be operational in autumn Gaza's largest desalination plant will be operational in the autumn as the Palestinian enclave tries to avert a potential humanitarian crisis over a lack of drinkable water, officials said Tuesday. A 2012 UN report warned that over-extraction of groundwater from the Gaza Strip's sole aquifer could make it unusable by 2016, while the damage could become irreversible by 2020. In response, the European Union and the UN children's agency, UNICEF, have financed construction of a desalination plant in the south of the enclave of 1.9 million people, including around a million children. Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy & Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn speaks to the press as he visits the EU-funded seawater desalination plant in the Gaza Strip's central city of Deir al-Balah on June 14, 2016 Mahmud Hams (AFP) Most water plants in the Gaza Strip draw from groundwater, not from the sea. Tests on the desalination plant in Deir el-Balah will be carried out in the summer, with the aim of producing 6,000 cubic metres of drinking water per day. That amount would be doubled over the course of three years. Eventually, "150,000 Palestinians living in Rafah and Khan Yunis (in southern Gaza) will have access to fresh drinking water" through the project, EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn said Tuesday. "Nearly 95 percent of the water resources in Gaza are considered unfit for human consumption," he said. Obama says Islamic State group 'is on defense' US President Barack Obama on Tuesday said the Islamic State group was losing ground in Iraq and Syria, and that the number of foreign fighters joining the extremists was plummeting. "ISIL lost nearly half of the populated territory it had in Iraq and it will lose more. ISIL continues to lose ground in Syria as well," Obama said after a meeting of the National Security Council on the fight against the jihadist group. "In short, our coalition continues to be on offense. ISIL is on defense," Obama said, using an alternate acronym for the group. Obama slams Trump's 'loose talk' on Muslims President Barack Obama assailed Donald Trump and the Republican party for "loose talk" and anti-Muslim rhetoric Tuesday, warning that their populist election message was dangerous and un-American. Tearing into "politicians who tweet and appear on cable news shows," an irate Obama said right-wing bombast and "yapping" had whipped up anger but done nothing to prevent terrorism. The killing of 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando -- by a self-described Islamic State sympathizer -- has poured kerosene on already angry election-year debates over guns, terrorism, sex and faith. US President Barack Obama speaks following a National Security Council meeting on June 14, 2016 Saul Loeb (AFP) The bloody attack prompted Trump to repeat his controversial proposal to ban all Muslims from entering the United States on counterterrorism grounds. Obama took issue with Trump's plan. "Where does this stop?" Obama demanded, shedding his usual 'no drama Obama' public persona to denounce "language that singles out immigrants and suggests entire religious communities are complicit in violence." "Are we going to start treating all Muslim Americans differently? Are we going to start subjecting them to special surveillance? are we going to start discriminating them because of their faith?" "We're starting to see where this kind of rhetoric and loose talk and sloppiness about who exactly we're fighting, where this can lead us." Obama's message was echoed by his would-be heir Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president. The two had been scheduled to campaign together on Wednesday, but the event was postponed following the Orlando shooting. Nonetheless, they seemed to be on the same page when it came to Trump, making a concerted effort to paint him as, in Clinton's words, lacking substance, "temperamentally unfit and totally unqualified to be commander-in-chief." "We don't need conspiracy theories and pathological self-congratulations. We need leadership, common sense, and concrete plans because we are facing a brutal enemy." - Not a strategy - Trump and his fellow Republicans regularly upbraid Obama as being weak on terror, citing his refusal to use the term "radical Islam." "What exactly would using this label accomplish?" Obama asked. "What exactly would it change? Would it make ISIL less committed to trying to kill Americans?" he said, using an alternate acronym for the Islamic State group. "Would it bring in more allies? Is there a military strategy that is served by this?" "The answer is none of the above," said Obama. "There's no magic to the phrase 'radical Islam'. It's a political talking point. It's not a strategy." "Not once has an advisor of mine said, 'man, if we really use that phrase, we're going to turn this whole thing around.'" Trump -- who has long fostered conspiracy theories about Obama's birthplace -- has appeared to suggest that the president may even be in league with jihadists. "Look, we're led by a man that either is not tough, not smart or he's got something else in mind," Trump told Fox News. "He doesn't get it or he gets it better than anybody understands -- it's one or the other, and either one is unacceptable," he added. Obama said the idea that the administration is confused about the enemy "would come as a surprise to the thousands of terrorists who we've taken off the battlefield." While parrying his political foes, Obama also sought to show Americans that the war against the Islamic State in Syria, Iraq and Libya, while slow, was being won. He said the number of foreign fighters joining the extremists was plummeting. "ISIL lost nearly half of the populated territory it had in Iraq and it will lose more. ISIL continues to lose ground in Syria as well," Obama said after a meeting of his National Security Council. "In short, our coalition continues to be on offense. ISIL is on defense." A woman stands at a memorial for the Pulse nightclub shooting victims on June 14, 2016 in Orlando, Florida Brendan Smialowski (AFP) US President Barack Obama speaks alongside his national security team at the Department of Treasury on June 14, 2016 Saul Loeb (AFP) E.Guinea urges UN court to halt graft trial of leader's son Equatorial Guinea has appealed to the United Nations' highest court to order France to stop legal proceedings against the president's son, claiming they violate international treaties, the tribunal said Tuesday. In a filing on Monday to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, the leaders of the oil-rich African nation also called for Paris to pay as yet unspecified damages for the "prejudice" it has suffered. Teodorin Obiang, one of the country's vice presidents, is accused by French prosecutors of looting state coffers to fund his lavish tastes, including the purchase of pop star Michael Jackson's famous white glove, private jets and sprawling properties in some of the world's most expensive areas. The son of Equatorial Guinea's president and the country's vice president Teodoro Obiang Nguema Teodoro (aka Teodorin) Nguema Obiang Mangue in Mbini-Rio Benito, south of Bata n January 24, 2012 Abdekhak Senna (AFP/File) In 2012 prosecutors had already ordered the seizure of the Obiang family's six-storey mansion on Avenue Foch -- one of the poshest addresses in Paris -- as well as several luxury cars, famous works and vintage wines. Now in a twist of the long-running legal saga, Equatorial Guinea has taken its case to the ICJ insisting that despite previous rulings by French courts, Obiang enjoys diplomatic immunity. In its filing to the 70-year-old tribunal in The Hague, Equatorial Guinea said the dispute arose out of cases filed before French courts since 2007 "by associations and private individuals". But the proceedings before the French courts "constitute a violation of the immunity to which (Obiang) is entitled under international law". It also argued that Obiang had sold the Foch Avenue mansion to the state in September 2011 and since then the house "has been used by the diplomatic mission of Equatorial Guinea" and should therefore enjoy "the immunities accorded to official premises by international law." Obiang's father, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who has ruled the country with an iron fist since 1979, is Africa's longest-serving leader, and extended his 36-year rule in April when he was re-elected with 93.7 percent of the vote. Equatorial Guinea urged the court to "declare that the French Republic has breached its obligation to respect the principles of the sovereign equality of states." Google chief says Israeli tech second only to Silicon Valley A top Google official on Tuesday hailed Israel's tech sector, saying it trailed only Silicon Valley in the United States when it comes to "initiatives". Eric Schmidt, formerly Google chief executive and now executive chairman of its parent company Alphabet, said Israel, a country of only around eight million people, was punching far above its weight in technology. "For a relatively small country, Israel has a super role in technological innovation," he told an audience at Google's offices in the commercial capital Tel Aviv. Eric Schmidt, pictured on March 8, 2016, said Israel was punching far above its weight in technology Jung Yeon-Je (AFP/File) "I can't think of a place where you could see this diversity and the collection of initiatives aside from Silicon Valley," he added. "That is a pretty strong statement." Israel has long self-styled itself as the "start-up nation", encouraging entrepreneurship - especially in the technological sector. However, companies have often been sold to larger investors in the United States, rather than remaining in the Middle Eastern country. Schmidt said he had seen a "maturation" of the "start-up nation" in recent years. "(Previously) it seemed like many of the initiatives were not fully thought out," he said. "But now I am beginning to see companies that are on their way to being worth a billion dollars." Google acquired Waze, an Israeli real-time traffic application, for more than $1 billion in 2013 and has also bought other smaller Israeli firms. The company develops many of its technologies in research and development centres in Tel Aviv and Haifa. Iran's Khamenei warns US candidates over nuclear deal Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned candidates in the US presidential election against questioning the Islamic republic's nuclear deal with world powers, his official website reported on Tuesday. "We do not violate the nuclear accord... candidates in the American presidential election are threatening to tear up the nuclear deal. If they do so, we will burn it," he told visiting dignitaries. Republican candidate Donald Trump has called the nuclear agreement "catastrophic". Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei delivering a speech during a meeting with Iranian senior officials in Tehran on June 14, 2016 HO (KHAMENEI.IR/AFP) In March, Trump said that if elected his first foreign policy priority would be to dismantle the deal and what he said was Tehran's global "terror" network. The nuclear agreement signed in July last year between Iran and the P5+1 group -- the US, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany -- came into force in January. Under it, Iran has limited its nuclear programme in exchange for a lifting of many international sanctions. Tehran accuses Washington of not actively promoting relations between Iran and international business, especially banks. "The other party had to lift sanctions but has not done so. The question of banking has not been regulated... we are unable to recover oil revenues and other capital we have in other countries," Khamenei said. "The Americans are not applying a large part of their commitments as we have done," he said. Iran complains that major international banks, particularly in Europe, are reluctant to do business with it for fear of US punitive measures. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, at the Oslo Forum in Norway where he is due to meet US Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday, urged Washington to lift "psychological" barriers to Iran doing business. "I think that while on paper the US has lifted all sanctions, the psychological aftermath associated with many years of sanctions remains, and I think the US should play a more active role to remove them," he said. Christian ministers quit over Lebanon government inaction One of Lebanon's main Christian political parties said on Tuesday its two ministers in the cabinet have resigned in protest, accusing the government of failing to address the country's problems. Lebanon has been without a president since May 2014, when Michel Sleiman's mandate expired, because the country's Christians, Sunni and Shiite Muslims and Druze cannot agree on a candidate. The country has also not held a parliamentary election since 2009, with the legislature instead twice extending its own mandate. Lebanese Maronite Christian MP Sami Gemayel waves to the crowd as his father, former president Amine Gemayel, stands behind him during celebrations by supporters of his Phalangist party in the mountain resort of Bikfaya on June 8, 2009 Joseph Barrak (AFP/File) "This government has become uncontrollable and detrimental" to the interests of the country, Phalange party leader Sami Gemayel said. "Its existence is worse than its inexistence. Nothing justifies our participation," he told a news conference. Those stepping down are Sejaan Azzi (labour) and Alain Hakim (economy and trade). "The government does not care about finding a solution to the problem of Syrian refugees, nor does it care about the economic plan presented by the economy minister" or the garbage crisis, Gemayel said. Lebanon currently hosts more than a million Syrian refugees -- nearly a quarter of its own population of four million before the conflict in neighbouring Syria began in 2011. The country is also going through a "garbage crisis" caused by the closure of its main landfill. US denies rift with Saudi on Syria tactics The United States denied Tuesday that it is in a dispute with its ally Saudi Arabia over how to handle the crisis in Syria. US Secretary of State John Kerry was all smiles late Monday when he welcomed deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman to his home in Washington. The influential 30-year-old prince, who serves as defense minister, broke his Ramadan fast at an iftar supper with the top US diplomat. A young Syrian sheppard leads his flock on June 14, 2016 as smoke billows from a farm following a reported airstrike in Sheifuniya, near the rebel-held town of Douma, east of the capital Damascus Abd Doumany (AFP) Reports had suggested Riyadh is frustrated with US policy in Syria and would like to step up arms supplies to the rebels fighting Bashar al-Assad's regime. But on Tuesday, Kerry's spokesman John Kirby denied there was any rift. "If you're asking if there's this big philosophical divide between the Saudis and the United States on how to move forward on the ground in Syria, the answer is 'no,'" he told reporters. Kirby recalled that Saudi Arabia had been one of the first countries to join the United States and Russia in forming the International Syria Support Group. This 22-nation group is pushing for a negotiated end to Syria's civil war, and Riyadh was vital in getting skeptical mainly Sunni rebels on board. "If it were not for Saudi leadership, we wouldn't have that first meeting of the Syrian opposition groups back in December in Riyadh," Kirby said. "They have been at this right from the beginning with the United States and with Russia and with Turkey, moving this process forward." Earlier in the process, Saudi officials privately told AFP they favored sending ground-to-air missiles and anti-tank weapons to the rebels. But they have stuck by the US and Russian plan, while continuing to complain that Assad -- backed by Saudi foe Iran -- is breaching a shaky truce. "I'm not going to speak for what they specifically want to do differently," Kirby said. "But I can tell you that on the issues that matter... Saudi Arabia has been with us step-by-step." - Extremist funding - According to a statement issued after Monday's meeting, Kerry and the prince also discussed joint US-Saudi efforts to counter Islamic extremism. This was a particularly touchy topic in the wake of Sunday's mass shooting by an apparent Islamist sympathizer in a Florida gay nightclub. Kerry's predecessor as secretary of state, US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton seized up the attacks to demand that Saudi citizens stop "funding extremist organizations." "They should stop supporting radical schools and mosques around the world that set too many young people on a path towards extremism," she added. Kirby would not be drawn on whether Kerry had passed a similar message to his Saudi guests. Homosexuality is illegal in Saudi Arabia and under the kingdom's strict interpretation of Islamic law can in some cases be punishable by death. But Riyadh did issue a statement condemning the Orlando shooting. According to Kirby, the prince and the diplomat "discussed this weekend's shooting in Orlando and expressed their shared commitment to continue their cooperation in combating the spread of violent extremism, both regionally and internationally." UN allows EU to move against Libya arms smuggling The UN Security Council on Tuesday authorized an EU naval force to intercept ships suspected of arms smuggling to Libya, moving to shore up Tripoli's unity government as it battles the Islamic State group. The council unanimously adopted a resolution drafted by Britain and France that expands the mission of Operation Sophia, which has been combating migrant trafficking in the Mediterranean. French Ambassador Francois Delattre, who holds the council's presidency this month, said the measure is a potential "game-changer," by cutting off the arms flow "that feeds the instability" in Libya. Sailors of the German navy frigate ship Werra make a fire-self-defence practice in the Mediterranean Sea not far from the Libyan territorial waters on September 25, 2015 Alberto Pizzoli (AFP/File) But Russia warned that the measure could deepen divisions in Libya, which has been in turmoil since the 2011 fall of Moamer Kadhafi. Operation Sophia's enforcement of an arms embargo is aimed at supporting the UN-backed unity government as it struggles to establish its authority over the entire north African country. Militias loyal to the UN-backed government of Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj are battling to retake the key city of Sirte from IS jihadists. Following the UN vote, EU foreign ministers were expected to formally task Operation Sophia with combating arms smuggling when they meet in Luxembourg on Monday. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said in a statement welcoming the vote that Operation Sophia would "play an important role" in enforcing the arms embargo. The embargo was imposed on Libya in 2011, but UN sanctions monitors have reported shipments from Egypt, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Sudan to various factions. British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said "the existing arms embargo has not fully stopped the flow of weapons" and that action was needed to prevent shipments from reaching IS fighters. Libya is awash with weapons, with some 20 million pieces of armaments of all types in a country of six million people, according to the United Nations. - Seize and dispose - The resolution invokes Chapter 7 of the UN charter, which allows for the use of military force. It grants a 12-month mandate to EU vessels to "inspect, without undue delay, on the high seas off the coast of Libya, vessels bound to, or from Libya which they have reasonable grounds to believe are carrying arms or related material to or from Libya." Russian Deputy Ambassador Vladimir Safronkov warned the measure could sow division by "helping some Libyans against others." Safronkov recalled that militias loyal to Libyan General Khalifa Haftar, who has refused to back the unity government, were "effectively pushing back" against IS jihadists. "It is inadmissible to ignore this," he told the council. In a concession to Russia, the resolution included a mention that the EU naval force must "make good-faith efforts" to first seek consent from the ship's flag state before carrying out any inspection. EU vessels are authorized to "use all measures commensurate to the specific circumstances to carry out such inspections" on the high seas, off Libya's coast. The EU force received UN permission to "seize and dispose" of the weapons and divert vessels and their crew to a nearby port. The adoption of the resolution coincides with a push to grant the Sarraj government an exemption to the arms embargo for purchases of military equipment to confront IS and rival militias. That request for an exemption, however, is conditional on receiving assurances from the unity government that it will properly store and keep track of the new weapons to prevent them from falling in the wrong hands. Council members also want Tripoli to provide a clear command structure of the various militias that are now claiming to be fighting on the unity government's behalf. Top 5 Terrorism Questions Immediately following the heinous Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando last weekend, many labeled the shooter, Omar Mateen, a terrorist. After all, he allegedly pledged allegiance to ISIL in a 911 call during the attack. It turns out Mateen's relationship to the club and the gay community in Orlando might be slightly more complex, but does that mean the massacre wasn't an act of terrorism? The investigation of Mateen's motives and background is ongoing, but here are five common questions regarding terrorism crimes, here and abroad: Terrorism doesn't just apply to international groups like Al Qaeda or ISIL -- domestic terrorism is alive and well, as this analysis of a series of Texas killings shows. There's your standard school prank, which is bad enough, and then there's yelling the word "bomb" at Los Angeles International Airport. Conveying a false bomb threat can get you 20 years in federal prison, and penalties only increase if someone is injured because of the threat. Additionally, some states considering bomb threats as terroristic threats. Whichever acronym you use to refer to the Islamic State (IS, ISIS, or ISIL), attempts to join the group are illegal. Just attempting or conspiring to travel to Syria and join ISIS is its own crime, and you can be convicted even if you never crossed the border. Section 2339B, title 18 of the United States Code prohibits providing terrorists material support, including: ...any property, tangible or intangible, or service, including currency or monetary instruments or financial securities, financial services, lodging, training, expert advice or assistance, safehouses, false documentation or identification, communications equipment, facilities, weapons, lethal substances, explosives, personnel (1 or more individuals who may be or include oneself), and transportation, except medicine or religious materials. Some acts of violence appear to be terrorism, plain and simple. Like massacring nine black parishioners in a historically black church after telling them, "I have to do it. You rape our women and you're taking over our country. And you have to go." But sometimes legal and political circumstances prevent terrorism charges. Terrorism can happen anywhere and can be perpetrated by anyone. If you have more questions about terrorism crimes, or if you've been charged with a crime associated with terrorism, you should contact an experienced criminal defense attorney as soon as possible. Related Resources: Congo detains ex-presidential candidate Mokoko: lawyer Congo's security services on Tuesday detained General Jean-Marie Michel Mokoko, who ran unsuccessfully against President Denis Sassou Nguesso in a disputed election in March, his lawyer told AFP. The general has been accused of discussing plans to remove Sassou Nguesso from power with a French intelligence agent in a video filmed in 2007. "He has been detained for questioning at the DGST (security services),"Mokoko's lawyer Yvon Eric Ibouanga said. Congolese presidential candidate Jean-Marie Michel Mokoko speaks during an interview at his residence in Brazzaville on March 19, 2016 Eduardo Sotteras (AFP/File) He added that the investigation against Mokoko, who was military chief of the oil-rich African nation from 1987 to 1993, was still at the "preliminary" stage. Witnesses said Mokoko was escorted to DGST offices by several police officers. He had quit as a peace and security advisor to Sassou Nguesso in February in order to challenge the strongman's 32-year grip on power. The general took less than 14 percent in the March 20 election, which returned Sassou Nguesso to the presidency with more than 60 percent of the vote. The opposition charged that the poll was marked by "massive fraud". Mokoko had already been questioned over the video on the eve of the election. Saudis invite UN for talks on child rights black list The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen has invited a UN team to visit its headquarters in Riyadh for talks on a UN report that blamed the military alliance for the deaths of hundreds of children in Yemen. Saudi Ambassador Abdullah al-Mouallimi extended the invitation in a letter sent to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon last week, but UN officials say they would rather hold talks in New York. "We're studying it," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Tuesday. "We obviously remain interested in what information the Saudi-led coalition could provide us." Forces loyal to the Saudi-backed Yemeni president patrol a street in the southern city of Lahj on April 24, 2016, during an operation to drive Al-Qaeda fighters out of the southern provinces Saleh al-Obeidi (AFP/File) He added that "our preference" would be to hold meetings at UN headquarters in New York. The United Nations had blacklisted the coalition after concluding in a report that it was responsible for 60 percent of the 785 deaths of children in Yemen last year. But the world body later reversed its stance and removed the coalition from the list of shame pending a joint review with the Saudi-led alliance. Ban last week admitted that he had succumbed to "undue pressure" from Saudi Arabia and its allies who had threatened to cut off funding to UN aid programs over the blacklisting. The coalition launched an air campaign in support of Yemen's President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi in March 2015 to push back Huthi rebels after they seized the capital Sanaa and many parts of the country. The war has killed some 6,400 people and exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in the impoverished country, according to the United Nations. In his letter, Mouallimi said "the coalition invites a team of experts to visit the coalition headquarters in Riyadh, with advance notice, and jointly review the cases and number in the report to ensure objectivity and accuracy." "The coalition was created precisely to protect civilians, including children, in the aftermath of the military escalation by the Huthis and forces loyal to former president Ali Saleh," he wrote. The Saudi ambassador requested "a detailed overview of the methodology and modality that were used to create the number in the report and the sources relied on for said numbers." Mouallimi has denied threatening to cut off funding to the United Nations and has said that the decision to take the coalition off the list was "final and irreversible". The UN Security Council is set to discuss the blacklist contained in the annual UN report on children and armed conflict during a meeting in August. Dujarric, however, said there had been no senior-level face-to-face meetings on resolving the dispute over the findings. US preacher praises Orlando attack as 'great' A California Baptist preacher has sparked uproar for praising as "great" the massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando that left 49 people dead and scores injured. "Today, people say like, well aren't you sad that 50 sodomites died?" pastor Roger Jimenez of the Verity Baptist Church in Sacramento told his congregation during his sermon delivered on Sunday, just hours after the massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Florida. "Here's the problem with that," he added. "It's like the equivalent of asking me... 'Hey, are you sad that 50 pedophiles were killed today? A California Baptist preacher sparked uproar for praising the massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando as "great" during a sermon he delivered on Sunday Louisa Gouliamaki (AFP) "Um, no, I think that's great. I think that helps society. You know, I think Orlando, Florida is a little safer tonight." His comments, which were posted on the church's YouTube channel before being taken down, were denounced by members of the LGBT community as well as local officials. "The hateful comments made by a preacher in Sacramento do no reflect Christian values and have no place in our society," Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson said in a tweet. Dave Garcia, director of policy at the LGBT center in Los Angeles, told AFP he was not surprised by the comments, which he noted were a sad and familiar refrain for the LGBT community. "While these individuals have not shot or killed members of the community, they are loading the guns with hateful bullets," Garcia said. Jimenez insisted that his remarks had been taken out of context and that the uproar was an attack on freedom of speech and religion. The pastor added that he was simply quoting from the Bible during his sermon and that his comments reflected the opinion of many in America. "The whole point I was making is that if people who God has put a death penalty on die anyway, that's not something that we necessarily need to be mourning," he told reporters. He said he had received many threats after his remarks went public. Police: 5 teens wounded in New York City playground shooting NEW YORK (AP) Police are searching for a gunman who shot and wounded five teenagers at a New York City playground. It happened just before 5 p.m. at Harry Maze Playground in Brooklyn. Police say the male victims, ages 15 to 18, were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. Police say the teens were at the playground in East Flatbush when an unknown person approached them and started shooting. Two of the teens were struck in the hand, one was struck in the leg and another in the cheek. Police say a fifth teen suffered a gunshot wound on the side of his stomach. Did a delay in police response give shooter more time? As the largest mass shooting in modern U.S. history began to unfold, an off-duty police officer working at a gay nightclub exchanged gunfire with the suspect. But three hours passed before a SWAT team stormed the building and brought the attack to an end. The decision by law enforcement to hold off on entering the Pulse club where more than 100 people were shot, 49 of them killed immediately raised questions among experts in police tactics. They said the lessons learned from other mass shootings show that officers must get inside swiftly even at great risk to stop the threat and save lives. "We live in a different world. And action beats inaction 100 percent of the time," said Chris Grollnek, an expert on active-shooter tactics and a retired police officer and SWAT team member. Orlando Police Chief John Mina describes the details of the fatal shootings at the Pulse Orlando nightclub during a media briefing Monday, June 13, 2016, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara) The gunman, Omar Mateen, first had a shootout with the off-duty officer at the club's entrance. Then two other officers arrived and the firing continued. The situation changed from an active-shooter scenario to a hostage situation once Mateen made it into one of the bathrooms where club-goers were hiding, authorities said. Experts say there's a big difference between responding to a lone gunman and a shooter who has hostages. In active-shooter situations, police are now trained to respond immediately, even if only one or two officers are available to confront the suspect. In a hostage crisis, law enforcement generally tries to negotiate. Orlando Police Chief John Mina said the presence of hostages required officers to "reevaluate, reassess what is happening and make sure all the pieces are in place." From the restroom, Mateen called 911 and made statements pledging allegiance to the Islamic State. That's when the shooting stopped and hostage negotiators began talking with him, the chief said. "We had a team of crisis negotiators that talked to the suspect, trying to get as much information as possible, what we could do to help resolve the situation ... He wasn't asking a whole lot, and we were doing most of the asking," Mina said. Mateen soon began talking about explosives and bombs, leading Mina to decide about 5 a.m. to detonate an explosive on an exterior wall to prevent potentially greater loss of life. The explosives did not penetrate the wall completely, so an armored vehicle was used to punch a 2-foot-by-3-foot hole in the wall about 2 feet from the ground. "We knew there would be an imminent loss of life," Mina said. Hostages started running out, as did Mateen, who was killed in a shootout with SWAT team members. It turned out there were no explosives. Police tactics changed after the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School, where the first officers to arrive exchanged fire with the gunmen but then stopped and waited for the SWAT team. That took 45 minutes. By then, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold had killed 12 students and a teacher. At the time, the standard police practice was to set up a perimeter, wait for SWAT officers and then go inside. Authorities began to realize that the delayed response gave suspects more time to kill. "We can't just let him have free rein and continue to shoot," said Ben Tisa, a former FBI agent and former SWAT team member. Experts point to other mass shootings where a delay in confronting the shooter probably gave the gunman time to maneuver and attack. A mass shooting in 1984 at a McDonald's in San Ysidro, California, offered one of the earliest lessons, with 21 people being killed and 19 wounded before a SWAT team killed the gunman about 45 minutes later. Incorrect or incomplete information is typical during police emergencies. And the gravity of the decisions is not lost on SWAT teams and their commanders. Civilian lives are at risk, along with those of police officers who are often outgunned by suspects. "You have split seconds," said Thor Eells, commander of the Colorado Springs Police Department and chairman of the board of the National Tactical Officers Association. Almost immediately after the shooting began, the nightclub posted a note on its Facebook page telling people to get out and "keep running." Grollnek, a consultant who conducts active-shooter training for law enforcement, said that's another lesson from other mass shootings: Civilians can't expect to stay safe by heeding the old advice to hide or shelter in place. "The problem is we're failing to evolve by learning the lesson that hiding does not work," he said. "Running works. Everyone who escapes to tell their story says, 'I ran away. I heard a noise on my left, and I went to my right and I got out.'" But Grollneck reserved his anger for the police commanders in Florida who didn't allow SWAT team members to enter until several hours after the shooter began the attack. "How have we failed so poorly that we did not learn our lesson ... when we see SWAT teams respond and not making entry creates victims," he said. "Period. End of story." ___ Associated Press writers Curt Anderson in Miami and Mike Schneider in Orlando contributed to this report. Two bodies of victims arrive at the Orlando Medical Examiner's Office, Sunday, June 12, 2016, in Orlando, Fla. A gunman opened fire inside a crowded gay nightclub early Sunday, before dying in a gunfight with SWAT officers, police said. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz) Review: 'Finding Dory' is no trophy fish but it's a keeper In Pixar's hands, the ocean equal parts danger and wonder is a vast metaphor for the choppy waters of parenting. Cloistered coral reefs of home are surrounded by frightful drop-offs and strong currents that can sweep a little fish out to an immense sea. When the difference between survival and shark bait is flipper-thin, how much line do parents give before reeling in? "Finding Dory," a sequel to 2003's "Finding Nemo," shifts the tale from Nemo, the clownfish with a weak fin, to Dory, the blue tang with short term memory loss or as the baby Dory seen early in the film says, "remembery loss." The adventures of both Dory and Nemo are born out of straying too far from anxious parents. The gulf of separation stretches wider and longer in "Finding Dory," but it's covered the same way: by pluckily overcoming genetic handicaps and trusting in the Pacific-sized love of family. In the Pixar brood, the sweetly sentimental "Finding" movies are the most ready-made for parent-kid bonding; they would surely inspire countless father-son fishing trips if that didn't mean hooking the movies' heroes. This image released by Disney shows the characters Hank, voiced by Ed O'Neill, left, and Dory, voiced by Ellen DeGeneres, in a scene from "Finding Dory." (Pixar/Disney via AP) "Finding Dory" promotes the original's daffy supporting character (so perfectly voiced by Ellen DeGeneres) to protagonist. But it's not a simple switch in perspective: In seeing through her forgetful fisheyes, you realize how terrifyingly disorienting it is to be Dory. "Finding Dory" is "Memento" under the sea, with a much more chipper lead forever at pains to remember why and where she's going. The film, directed by Andrew Stanton, picks up six months after "Finding Nemo." Dory is living with Nemo (Hayden Rolence, replacing Alexander Gould) and Marlin (Albert Brooks), but she's nagged by flickers of memory of her family. A flashback of Dory's childhood follows. Though it doesn't reach the gentle poetry of the famous montage in "Up," it movingly reveals Dory's origins: a challenged fish whose parents (Eugene Levy and Diane Keaton) teach her mantras for coping ("Just keep swimming") but are helpless when a current sucks her away. Dory grows up a lost and confused orphan. Energized by clues of remembrance, Dory, Nemo and a reluctant Marlin travel from Australia to California, where her search leads to the Marine Life Institute. So much of the dazzle of "Finding Nemo" was the colorful richness of its aquatic life: sharks in recovery, pelicans interested in dentistry, Willem Dafoe's battle-scarred striped fish. So why, with oceans to explore, does "Finding Dory" cling so closely to the shore? The trip across the Pacific goes in a flash. The action takes place almost entirely jumping between tanks at the institute (subbed in by Pixar for an originally planned SeaWorld-like location) and in a number of less exotic (and less creative) scampers on land. The sidekick here is a sullen seven-legged octopus named Hank (Ed O'Neill), who helps Dory navigate the complex to facilitate his own escape. But the movie's high point unquestionably belongs to the pair of British sea lions (Idris Elba and Dominic West, "Wire" veterans reunited) who bark at any creature that dares approach their sunning rock. "Finding Dory," bright and clever like most all Pixar releases, has the animation studio's familiar blend of wit, heart and visual detail. But it's missing its own magic. Like Dory's questions, it feels a bit like a repeat. It's certainly no "Cars 2" (Pixar's low point) but neither does it approach the glory of "Toy Story 2." Pleasant as it is, if "Finding Dory" feels a little disappointing, it's partly because the appetizer upstages the main course. "Piper," Alan Barillaro's six-minute short that precedes the film, is about a baby sandpiper learning to feed, scampering in an out of the surf. The photorealistic imagery may be the best yet for Pixar. In the 13 years from "Finding Nemo" to last year's clunky but gorgeously animated "The Good Dinosaur," Pixar all the while making us tear up has effectively mastered water. "Finding Dory," a Walt Disney Pictures release, is rated PG by the Motion Picture Association of America for "mild thematic elements." Running time: 97 minutes. Three stars out of four. ___ Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP This image released by Disney shows the characters Hank, voiced by Ed O'Neill, right, and Dory, voiced by Ellen DeGeneres, in a scene from "Finding Dory." (Pixar/Disney via AP) This image released by Disney shows the characters Destiny voiced by Kaitlin Olson, top, Bailey, a beluga whale voiced by Ty Burrell and Dory, voiced by Ellen DeGeneres, in a scene from "Finding Dory." (Pixar/Disney via AP) This image released by Disney shows the characters Hank, voiced by Ed O'Neill, left, and Dory, voiced by Ellen DeGeneres, in a scene from "Finding Dory." (Pixar/Disney via AP) This image released by Disney shows the character Dory, voiced by Ellen DeGeneres, in a scene from "Finding Dory." (Pixar/Disney via AP) Shanghai evicts small polluters for Disney theme park SHANGHAI (AP) Authorities have evicted hundreds of Shanghai residents and dozens of businesses to clean up the air and make way for the newest Disney theme park, which opens Thursday. Residents were paid for lost homes but hundreds of employees of shuttered factories say they don't know where their next jobs will be. "You can find low-paying work. But jobs that pay better you can't get," said a 50-year-old equipment inspector at China Xingyue Group, which makes small utility vehicles and motorbikes. He would give only his surname, Chen. In this June 7, 2016 photo, workers collect materials left over from the demolished factories in Zhoupu Township in Pudong district of Shanghai. Authorities have evicted hundreds of Shanghai residents and dozens of businesses to clean up the air and make way for the newest Disney theme park, which opens Thursday, June 16. (AP Photo/Paul Traynor) The story has been repeated thousands of times across China over the past two decades as the communist government removed farmers and small businesses for construction of factories, office towers, hydroelectric dams and other projects. Authorities who used to turn out residents with little compensation have gotten more sophisticated about smoothing the transition. But the outcome is the same: A community uprooted to make way for economic development. In the district near the Disney site, at least 153 factories have been ordered to close this year to cut pollution, according to the local government. Most are workshops that employ 10 to 20 people producing goods ranging from clothing to chemicals. Shanghai's air pollution isn't as bad as Beijing's eye-searing smog but regularly exceeds levels the World Health Organization says are safe. Qin Lijun's home was demolished in 2013 to make way for Disney construction. She prefers her new, 70-square-meter (700-square-foot) apartment, one of three given to her extended family, where she lives with her dog, Harry. "The surroundings of the village, it doesn't compare to now. You would be working in the factories there during the day, and then tending to your land when you got home," said Qin. "Here, you walk out and it's all greenery and flowers. The surroundings are so much better." Xingyue Group plans to relocate its factory to neighboring Zhejiang province but some of its 200 employees have no plans to go along. "Some people have been here full-time for more than ten years," said a welder who would give only his surname, Cao. "We're just going to have to find other work." ___ AP Business Writer Joe McDonald contributed from Beijing. In this June 7, 2016 photo, a worker takes a nap inside a truck parked on the demolished factories in Zhoupu Township in Pudong district of Shanghai. Authorities have evicted hundreds of Shanghai residents and dozens of businesses to clean up the air and make way for the newest Disney theme park, which opens Thursday, June 16. (AP Photo/Paul Traynor) FILE - In this May 31, 2016 file photo, people watch a light and fireworks display near the Enchanted Storybook Castle at the Shanghai Disney Resort in Shanghai. Authorities have evicted hundreds of Shanghai residents and dozens of businesses to clean up the air and make way for the newest Disney theme park, which opens Thursday, June 16. (AP Photo/Paul Traynor, File) Curfew imposed day before vote on Haiti interim president PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) Haiti's interim government has imposed an overnight curfew a day before lawmakers are slated to decide whether to extend the caretaker president's 120-day term. The office of Prime Minister Enex Jean-Charles says the 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew was necessary to deter acts "against life and property," especially in the capital's metropolitan area. The Monday night order was announced a half-hour before enforcement was due to begin. But very few checkpoints were seen on major roads after the curfew began. People could be seen relaxing in a central square in Port-au-Prince and patrons enjoyed themselves in restaurants above the city. On Tuesday, Haiti's legislators will debate extending caretaker President Jocelerme Privert's term or paving the way for a new interim leader until elections are held. Drought heightens seasonal food scarcity in Guatemala SAN JUAN ERMITA, Guatemala (AP) A prolonged drought has worsened the hunger problem among Guatemala's heavily indigenous population. In a country where about 60 percent of the people live on less than $3.50 per day, hunger is always a concern. But now, it has hit especially hard in areas like Chiquimula, one of the provinces where meager rainfalls limit farmers to one crop per year. The victims are like 2-year-old Narcisa, who is being treated for severe malnutrition at a Chiquimula clinic. Her father, Samuel de Jesus, doesn't leave her bedside, but he couldn't feed her either. A farmer, Samuel de Jesus hasn't been able to get the work he needs to tide him over between harvests for four months. With a wife and two other children, there was no way to make ends meet. It is part of what experts call "seasonal hunger," the period between June and September when the previous harvest runs out and the Guatemalan government has to provide food assistance for about one million people before the crops come in. In this May 31, 2016 photo, too tired to play, Giovani Martinez rests on a makeshift bench outside his home in the village of Caparrosa, in Guatemala's eastern state of Chiquimula. Historically affected by poverty, thousands of people in eastern Guatemala are suffering from a prolonged drought that has resulted in a food crisis. Many of the children are beginning to show signs of malnutrition. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo) The farmers, many of them Chorti Indians, live off corn, beans and coffee, but don't grow enough to make it through the year. Jovita Vasquez says she needs a 110-pound (50-kilogram) sack of corn each week to feed her 11 children. They live in a shack with no running water or electricity in the mountains near the border with Honduras. "Last year we planted corn, but it didn't rain and we lost everything," Vasquez says. "There is no work here, and my husband has to really hustle to get even tortillas for the kids." The Jupilingo river is one of the few sources of fresh water in the area, but its level has dropped and the surrounding hillsides have been largely deforested. "We walk three hours a day to get water, and after that we go out to look for firewood," said local resident Elda Perez Recinos. Farmer Enario Martinez said it has been four years since there was enough rain to bring in a decent crop of corn and beans. Martinez said he had been able to get some day labor jobs, but they weren't enough to even keep his family fed. In this June 1, 2016 photo, Cleotilde Garcia uses the half of a dried gourd to water her newly-planted corn seedlings in the village of Shalagua, in Guatemala's eastern state of Chiquimula. According to the local farmers who live off corn, beans and coffee, say it has been four years since there was enough rain in the area known as the "Corredor Seco" or "Dry Corridor", where some residents have to walk hours to get fresh water. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo) In this May 30, 2016 photo, Mario Roque culls though a handful of corn seeds for planting, at his home in San Juan Ermita, in Guatemala's eastern state of Chiquimula. A prolonged drought has especially hit Chiquimula hard, known as part of the "Corredor Seco" or "Dry Corridor", where meager rain falls limit farmers to one crop per year. The farmers, many of them Chorti Indians, live off corn, beans and coffee, but aren't growing enough to make it through the year. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo) This May 30, 2016 photo shows patches of deforestation in the mountains overlooking the village of El Carrizal, in Guatemala's eastern state of Chiquimula. A prolonged drought has especially hit hard Chiquimula, known as part of the "Corredor Seco" or "Dry Corridor", where meager rain falls limit farmers to one crop per year. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo) In this June 1, 2016 photo, a woman waits her turn to collect water in the village of Shalagua, in Guatemala's eastern state of Chiquimula. The Jupilingo river is one of the few sources of fresh water in the area, but its level has dropped. We walk three hours a day to get water, and after that we go out to look for firewood, said local resident Elda Perez Recinos. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo) In this May 31, 2016 photo, students wait to have their cups filled with atole, a hot corn-based beverage, accompanied with a piece of bread, before the start of their school day in the village of Las Flores, in Guatemala's eastern state of Chiquimula. A prolonged drought has worsened the hunger problem that many of Guatemala's indigenous population have long suffered. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo) In this June 1, 2016 photo, corn tortillas sit on a blackened comal at the home of Elda Perez Recinos in the village of Shalagua, in Guatemala's eastern state of Chiquimula. A prolonged drought has worsened the hunger problem in Guatemala where about 60 percent of the population lives on less than $3.50 US dollars per day. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo) In this May 31, 2016 photo, students stand in line as they wait to receive a free hot breakfast, before the start of their school day in the village of Las Flores, in Guatemala's eastern state of Chiquimula. A prolonged drought has worsened the hunger problem that many of Guatemala's indigenous population have long suffered. The farmers, many of them Chorti Indians, live off corn, beans and coffee, but aren't growing enough to make it through the year. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo) In this May 31, 2016 photo, bags of salt sit on a shelf in the home of Jovita Vasquez at the start of, "between harvests" in the village of Las Flores, in Guatemala's eastern state of Chiquimula. Between harvests, which lasts for four months, is part of what experts call seasonal hunger, the period between June and September when the previous harvest runs out and the Guatemalan government has to provide food assistance for about one million people before the crops come in. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo) In this June 1, 2016 photo, Cristina Ramirez comforts her son Isaac who is recovering from acute dehydration brought on by a stomach virus, at the Catholic-run clinic Bethania, in Jocotan, Guatemala. Historically affected by poverty, thousands of people in eastern Guatemala are suffering from a prolonged drought that has resulted in a food crisis. An increasing number of children are beginning to show signs of malnutrition. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo) In this May 30, 2016 photo, 16-year-old Claudia Noelia Lopez holds her malnourished daughter inside a public health clinic in San Juan Ermita, in Guatemala's eastern state of Chiquimula. A years-long drought in the area has caused more than 1 million people to require food assistance. Local farmers say it has been four years since there was enough rain to bring in a decent crop of corn and beans. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo) In this May 30, 2016 photo, Samuel de Jesus stands nearby as his two-year-old daughter Narcisa is checked by a nurse inside a public health clinic in San Juan Ermita, in Guatemala's eastern state of Chiquimula. Narcisa, who has spent 20 days at the clinic, is being treated for severe malnutrition. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo) In this May 30, 2016 photo, Samuel de Jesus holds his daughter Narcisa, who is recovering from acute malnutrition, at a health center in San Juan Ermita, Guatemala. De Jesus has not left his daughter's side in the 20 days she has spent recovering. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo) In this May 30, 2016 photo, Andrea Garcia stands beside an Oxfam donation of drought tolerant maize seeds and a dozen bags of corn flour, in San Juan Ermita, in Guatemala's eastern state of Chiquimula. A prolonged drought has worsened the hunger problem in parts of Guatemala. The farmers in the Chiquimula department live off corn, beans and coffee, but don't grow enough to make it through the year as the meager rain falls limit them to one crop per year. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo) In this May 30, 2016 photo, Arcadio Garcia talks with his wife Felicita outside their home in San Juan Ermita, in Guatemala's eastern state of Chiquimula. A prolonged drought has especially hit hard Chiquimula, known as part of the "Corredor Seco" or "Dry Corridor", where meager rain falls limit farmers to one crop per year. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo) China, US hold talks to bridge cybersecurity differences BEIJING (AP) Chinese and American officials said Tuesday they're committed to bridging their differences on cybersecurity and moving to implement recent agreements, as they held talks amid complaints over China-based hacking operations that the U.S. says may have already cost U.S. companies tens of billions of dollars. Repeated meetings between the sides on cybersecurity indicate the seriousness with which the Obama administration regards the issue, the U.S. ambassador to China, Max Baucus, said at the start of the two-day talks in western Beijing. U.S. officials have been particularly eager to build on an agreement forged during Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to the White House in September that says neither government will support commercial cyber-theft. The deal was viewed by Washington as a diplomatic breakthrough, although U.S. officials have not conclusively determined that it has led to a decline in hacks against U.S. companies. China's Minister of Public Security Guo Shengkun speaks during the Second U.S.-China High-Level Joint Dialogue on Cybercrime and Related Issues at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing Tuesday, June 14, 2016. (Jason Lee/Pool Photo via AP) "We're here today to ensure implementation of agreements made by the two presidents, commitments that illustrate that we can work through areas of differences to reach areas of cooperation," Baucus said, referring to the agreement, which he called a "major advancement." Cyber issues are "an important element in our bilateral relationship," the ambassador said. "Each step that we take enables us to have greater trust. We're prepared to work hard with you to narrow our differences." Chinese Minister of Public Security Guo Shengkun said China wants to "bring the discussions from policies on paper to actual implementation." "Both sides will continue to cooperate on cyber cases," Guo said. "I believe the leadership on both sides places emphasis on the issue and values participation. Xi Jinping has personally been involved." U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson and Attorney General Loretta Lynch were scheduled to attend the meetings, but withdrew following the mass shooting in Orlando, Florida. In a meeting with Suzanne Spaulding, an undersecretary at the Department of Homeland Security, Meng Jianzhu, secretary of the Communist Party's Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, said China wants to make progress on talks in the final half year of the Obama administration. "We hope that both sides can work to enrich our cooperation in the remaining six months and leave more of a political legacy for President Obama, and lay a strong foundation for our cooperation for the next administration," said Meng, who as China's de facto security chief has been closely involved in cybersecurity discussions. Although China denies sponsoring or permitting hacking attacks, a U.S. congressional advisory body said last year that China's increasing use of cyber espionage has already cost U.S. companies tens of billions of dollars in lost sales and expenses in repairing the damage from hacking. It said that in many cases, stolen trade secrets had been turned over to Chinese government-owned companies. That body, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, is typically very critical of Beijing, and said the U.S. response to the threat has been "inadequate." It said China has also infiltrated a wide swath of U.S. government computer networks. Among the most serious breaches in which China is suspected was one last year against the Office of Personnel Management. Hackers gained access to the personal information of more than 22 million U.S. federal employees, retirees, contractors and others. China describes itself as a victim of hacking and says it is combating cybercrimes. Along with cybersecurity, the two days of talks are also expected to deal with global supply chain security, combating transnational crime, illegal immigration, counterterrorism and maritime law enforcement. China's Minister of Public Security Guo Shengkun, second right, shows the way to U.S. Homeland Security Department Undersecretary Suzanne Spaulding, second left, and U.S. Ambassador to China Max Baucus, center, after taking group photo ahead of the Second U.S.-China High-Level Joint Dialogue on Cybercrime and Related Issues at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing Tuesday, June 14, 2016. (Jason Lee/Pool Photo via AP) U.S. Homeland Security Department Undersecretary Suzanne Spaulding, speaks during the Second U.S.-China High-Level Joint Dialogue on Cybercrime and Related Issues at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, Tuesday, June 14, 2016. (Jason Lee/Pool Photo via AP) Why FBI Hate Crime Data Doesn't Reflect Reality Local law enforcement is supposed to report hate crimes to the FBI so that it can get a handle on how many people nationally are targeted every year for who they are. What makes a hate crime special and deserving of this extra attention is that it's motivated by hate for the victim's race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity. But according to the Associated Press, about 17 percent of local agencies have submitted no reports in six years, which makes it much more difficult to assess and address hate nationwide. It's not even clear how many incidents actually occur, much less what to do about them. The AP's investigation identified more than 2,700 city police and county sheriff's departments across the country that have not submitted a single hate crime report for the FBI's annual crime tally in years. What Does This Mean? The reason that we need to know just how many of the crimes that occur are motivated by hate -- and not greed, say -- is that this would enable authorities nationally to better address bias. Some experts say that by failing to report hate crimes to the FBI, we can maintain an illusion that things are fine, and that bias is not a major factor in crime, although this does seem to be a time when racial tensions are high. According to the FBI, better information means more effective prevention of hate crimes and bigger budgets for law enforcement. That latter point is interesting and important. When the locally reported numbers don't reflect how many hate crimes really happen, then there appears to be little need to address bias-motivated violence or to allocate funds in the budget to address bias, apart from giving a false impression of safety. How Numbers Help "We need the reporting to happen," said the Rev. Raphael Warnock, pastor of Atlanta's historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, to the AP. "Without a diagnosis, we don't know how serious the illness is. And without a diagnosis, there is no prescription. And without a prescription, there is no healing." For the victims of these crimes, this failure to report only confirms a sense of alienation. "If these crimes are never really counted, it's a way of saying they are not important," said Mark Potok with the Southern Poverty Law Center. Drive for Better Data Gawker states that about a quarter million hate crimes occur annually. But it's not clear where this estimated figure in its report comes from or how close it is to an accurate reflection. What is clear, however, is that many city and county law enforcement agencies are failing to report at all, making it more difficult to get a reliable estimate. "It is the most important data collection initiative, but it is far from complete," Michael Lieberman, the Washington counsel for the Anti-Defamation League, said of the FBI's hate crime survey. The ADL has launched a "50 States Against Hate" campaign focused on improving data collection by law enforcement and is seeking passage of hate crime laws in the five states that do not have them: Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina, and Wyoming. Talk to a Lawyer If you have been accused of a crime, talk to a lawyer. Many criminal defense attorneys consult for free or a minimal fee and will be happy to discuss your case. Related Resources: Pakistan's transgenders mocked by most, abhorred by many PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) Abandoned by family and mocked by their society, the life of a Pakistani transgender is lonely. It can even be deadly. Alisha was just 23 years old when she was shot five times last month, allegedly by a boyfriend who has since been arrested. She died of her wounds three days later. Her friends say she was neglected by doctors and medical professionals who taunted her, rather than treated her, and that three hours passed before Alisha went into surgery after arriving at the hospital. In this Wednesday, May 25, 2016 photo, Pakistani transgenders mourn the death of their colleague Alisha in Peshawar, Pakistan. Alisha was shot five times allegedly by her boyfriend who has since been arrested. She died of her wounds three days after being admitted to hospital. Her friends say she was neglected by doctors and medical professionals, who taunted her, rather than treated her. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad) As she lay bleeding, the hospital's health workers crowded around her, making jokes and ridiculing her, said her friend Paro, herself transgender. "I shouted: 'She is not dancing. She is dying. For God and the Prophet's sake leave her alone, let her breathe," Paro recalled, her voice rising as she remembered pushing the crowd away. Farzana, another friend, said the hospital shuffled Alisha from ward to ward. First they sent her to the male ward, but the other patients and family members ordered her out. She was shunted then to the female ward, but she wasn't welcome there either, said Farzana, who heads an organization devoted to fighting for the rights of transgender people in Pakistan's conservative northwest. As outcasts, Pakistan's transgender people are often forced into begging, dancing and even prostitution to earn money. They also live in fear of attacks, causing most to either change their names or use only one name to give them anonymity in their society. Paro and Farzana have both changed their names, as had Alisha, abandoning their male names with their gender. The Pakistani Supreme Court has designated transgender people as a third gender, which under law should afford them protection but in practice, Kamran Arif, vice president of the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, said transgender people bear the brunt of some of the worst discrimination. They are sexually abused, assaulted and even murdered. He said Pakistan has become increasingly intolerant. He blamed the growing intolerance on a proliferation of madrassas or religious schools that propagate a strict Wahabi sect of Islam, like that practiced in Saudi Arabia. Many of these religious schools get some funding from Saudi Arabia as well. "They have produced an army of young men with very intolerant views," said Arif. Sediqque Mir Mateen, the father of an American of Afghan origin who gunned down 50 people at a Florida gay nightclub Sunday, said his son was enraged after seeing two men kissing, suggesting that might have been why he chose to attack a gay club. Before carrying out the deadly attack, Omar Mateen also announced his allegiance to the Islamic State group, which follows the same strict Wahabi belief that reviles the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Community as abhorrent to Islam, allowing them to justify their attacks. So far this year in northwestern Pakistan alone, there have been five attacks against transgender people. According to members of the community, 45 have been killed in the last two years in the northwest province of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa, of which Peshawar is the capital. "I am very scared about being publicly visible," says Mani, another transgender, who rarely mixes with anyone but close friends who are either supporters or transgender themselves. Mani tells of growing up as a girl in Pakistan's central Punjab province, never feeling in his heart like a girl. He would dress and act as a boy. He avoided family weddings so he wouldn't have to dress in fancy clothes, and strapped his chest, desperate to hide any evidence that he was a girl. One day he saw a program on television about a sex change operation. He was surprised. He never thought it possible and blurted out in front of his family: "I will change my sex too when I have enough money." His mother scolded Mani, telling him that the body assigned by God was unchangeable. He left home. Everyone but his mother has stopped speaking to him "but still she doesn't support my transition," he told The Associated Press. Now 31, Mani is saving money and crowd funding on Facebook to raise $5,000, the cost of a double mastectomy in Pakistan. He has begun the long and potentially dangerous journey to becoming a man the medicines, endless rounds of blood tests, and regular visits to a psychiatrist. Mani freely discusses the emotional road he has travelled since childhood. But he is reluctant to say anything that will identify him fearful, he told the AP, of violent attacks by Islamic militants who revile transgender people as against their version of the tenets of Islam. He uses only the name Mani. "In Pakistan, very few people are aware that there are transgender men as well, not only transgender women, so people consider us like tom-boy girls," said Mani. While that might afford some safety in a child's early years, Mani says a woman trying to live as a man in Pakistani society is vulnerable to violence because "the men of the society will not tolerate a woman who behaves and acts like a man." Sitting in a small cement box of a room at the top of steep gray cement stairs, Paro wipes the sweat from her face, taking with it her carefully applied make-up. Her hair is long and pulled back from her face. The home she lives in with Farzana is protected by a camera that pokes out from over the outside door, which is bolted from within. Located in Peshawar's old city, it is hidden in the back of a sewer lined street. Paro and Farzana mourn Alisha, and seek justice for her death. The hospital has ordered an inquiry; the hospital administrator, a retired army colonel named Dr. Hamid Saeed Haq, promised to punish the culprits, acknowledging in an interview that it seems mistakes were made. But he neither identified the mistakes nor assigned blame. "The whole society was responsible for her death," said Farzana. In recent years and in several areas of the country, transgender people have begun to organize, occasionally demonstrating despite violent responses. Paro and Farzana both want to be recognized as women but say that's not possible in Pakistan. "In the outside world we are called she-men because no one will ever call us female," said Farzana. It is no small matter, she said. "The basic thing that matters," she said, "is our soul." In this Sunday, May 29, 2016 photo, A Pakistani police officer covers the face of the man who allegedly killed Pakistani transgender Alisha in Peshawar, Pakistan, Alisha was shot five times allegedly by her boyfriend, seen arrested. She died of her wounds three days after being admitted to hospital. Her friends say she was neglected by doctors and medical professionals, who taunted her, rather than treated her. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad) In this Wednesday, May 25, 2016 photo, Pakistani transgenders mourn the death of their colleague Alisha in Peshawar, Pakistan. Alisha was shot five times allegedly by her boyfriend who has since been arrested. She died of her wounds three days after being admitted to hospital. Her friends say she was neglected by doctors and medical professionals, who taunted her, rather than treated her. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad) In this Wednesday, May 25, 2016 photo, Pakistani transgenders mourn the death of their colleague Alisha, in Peshawar, Pakistan. Alisha was shot five times allegedly by her boyfriend who has since been arrested. She died of her wounds three days after being admitted to hospital. Her friends say she was neglected by doctors and medical professionals, who taunted her, rather than treated her. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad) In this Wednesday, May 25, 2016 photo, Pakistani transgender Paro, right, mourns the death of her colleague Alisha, in Peshawar, Pakistan. Alisha was shot five times allegedly by her boyfriend who has since been arrested. She died of her wounds three days after being admitted to hospital. Her friends say she was neglected by doctors and medical professionals, who taunted her, rather than treated her. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad) Police: Man going to gay pride event had rigged magazines LOS ANGELES (AP) Police found a loaded assault rifle with magazines rigged to allow 60 shots to be fired in quick succession, along with 15 pounds of chemicals mixed and ready to explode in the car of an Indiana man who said he was headed to a gay pride event, authorities revealed Tuesday. James Wesley Howell, 20, of Charlestown, also had two other loaded rifles, ammunition, a stun gun, a buck knife and a security badge when he was arrested early Sunday in Santa Monica, they said. Howell made his initial court appearance Tuesday and pleaded not guilty to three felony weapons and ammunition charges. The judge set bail at $2 million. James Wesley Howell, 20, of Indiana, appears in Superior Court in Los Angeles Tuesday, June 14, 2016. Howell faces felony weapons charges after authorities say they found assault rifles and explosive chemicals in his car in Santa Monica, Calif., on June 12, before a major Los Angeles gay pride parade. (AP Photo/Nick Ut) Alone, each item found in Howell's car might not indicate anything sinister, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Keith Schwartz said. But together, they "just don't pass the common sense test." "I cannot in good conscience think of any reasonable reason that somebody would be traveling across the country with all of these things," he said. Howell recently drove from Indiana to Los Angeles because of pending charges against him in his home state, according to statements he made to police. Authorities haven't disclosed any evidence that Howell intended violence at the LA Pride event in West Hollywood that attracts hundreds of thousands of people. Friends in Indiana described Howell as a gun enthusiast with a short temper. In October, he twice was accused of pulling a gun and making threats, once against his then-boyfriend and once against a neighbor. Howell was convicted in April of misdemeanor intimidation for the incident with his neighbor. Under the terms of his probation, Howell was not allowed to have weapons or leave Indiana. When he was picked up in Santa Monica, there was an assault rifle in his car's passenger seat and 15 pounds of "Shoc-Shot," two chemicals that explode when mixed and shot. The assault rifle was loaded with a 30-round magazine, which had another inverted 30-round magazine taped to it, according to police. Deputy District Attorney Sean Carney said gun enthusiasts don't mix Shoc-Shot until it's ready to be used, as federal regulations require, and the amount that Howell had "far exceeds any amount that would reasonably be used." Howell's attorney, Pamela Jones, told the judge there was no evidence Howell planned to detonate the chemicals. She said a black hood found in his car was "just a clothing item," and nothing indicated Howell planned to use it as a mask, as police contended was a possibility. James Wedick, a former longtime FBI agent, said the manipulation of the gun magazines would allow someone to reload 30 rounds in less than 2 seconds. "It doubles your killing capacity by 100 percent," he said. For a civilian to have a weapon rigged as such, "it suggests his purposes are deadly." The FBI took the lead in the investigation and its probe continues, spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said. Federal agents searched Howell's Jeffersonville, Indiana, home Monday but declined to release any details. Rebecca Lonergan, a former federal prosecutor who teaches national security law at the University of Southern California, said filing the state charges keeps Howell in custody while the FBI continues building its own possible case. "In the atmosphere we have where there is such great concern about active shooters, about terrorism, about hate crimes, both the state and federal investigators are going to want to thoroughly look at this guy," she said. On Tuesday, the sheriff's office in Clark County, Indiana, said Howell also is the subject of a sexual assault investigation. The alleged incident occurred May 31, about two weeks before Howell's arrest in California. ___ Davies reported from Indianapolis. Associated Press writers Christopher Weber and Christine Armario in Los Angeles, Claire Galofaro in Jeffersonville, Indiana, and Dylan Lovan in Charlestown, Indiana, contributed to this report. Superior Court Judge Keith Schwartz said on Tuesday: 'I cannot in good conscience think of any reasonable reason that somebody would be traveling across the country with all of these things' Deputy District Attorney Sean Carney speaks after the arraignment of James Wesley Howell, 20, of Indiana, in Superior Court in Los Angeles Tuesday, June 14, 2016. Howell faces felony weapons charges after authorities say they found assault rifles and explosive chemicals in his car in Santa Monica, Calif., on June 12, before a major Los Angeles gay pride parade. (AP Photo/Nick Ut) James Wesley Howell, 20, of Indiana, appears in Superior Court in Los Angeles Tuesday, June 14, 2016. Howell faces felony weapons charges after authorities say they found assault rifles and explosive chemicals in his car in Santa Monica, Calif., on June 12, before a major Los Angeles gay pride parade. (AP Photo/Nick Ut) This June 12, 2016 law enforcement booking photo provided by the Santa Monica, Calif., Police Department shows James Wesley Howell, 20, of Indiana. Police say Howell was the heavily armed man arrested in Santa Monica on his way to a Southern California gay pride parade, who told them he wanted to do harm to the event. (Santa Monica Police Department via AP) Investigators view items removed from a car, left, after a heavily armed man was arrested in Santa Monica, Calif., early Sunday, June 12, 2016. The man reportedly told police he was in the area for West Hollywood's huge gay pride parade. Authorities did not know of any connection between the gay nightclub shooting in Orlando, Fla., early Sunday and the Santa Monica arrest. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon) China gives hero's funeral to UN peacekeeper killed in Mali BEIJING (AP) A Chinese peacekeeper killed while serving with the U.N. mission in Mali was given a hero's funeral in his home province on Tuesday, underscoring the importance China attaches to its involvement in the global body's peacekeeping work. State media reports said thousands of people lined the streets along the route from the funeral home to the cemetery for national heroes where the ashes of 29-year-old 1st Sgt. Shen Liangliang were interred. Shen was killed in a May 31 car bomb attack while on sentry duty at the peacekeepers' base camp in the northern town of Gao. Five other peacekeepers were injured. His body was flown back to China on a chartered flight and greeted by an honor guard at Beijing airport. China considers its participation in U.N. peacekeeping missions an important symbol of its global engagement and commitment to conflict resolution. It also views its participation as a useful means of upgrading the skill sets of personnel in the People's Liberation Army and an excellent exposure to the logistical challenges of operating far from home. More than 2,400 Chinese peacekeepers are currently assigned to U.N. missions in Mali, Liberia and five other African nations. FBI looking at whether Orlando gunman led a secret gay life ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) The murky picture of Orlando gunman Omar Mateen grew more complex Tuesday with word that the FBI is investigating whether he had been a regular at the gay dance club he attacked and had been leading a secret life as a gay man. As victims described the bloody horror of the massacre during a riveting hospital news conference, investigators continued to gather information on the 29-year-old American-born Muslim and took a close look at his wife, too for clues to the attack that left 49 victims dead. An official who was briefed on the progress of the case but insisted on anonymity to discuss a continuing investigation said authorities believe Mateen's wife knew about the plot ahead of time, but they are reluctant to charge her on that basis alone. Jean Dasilva sits next to a makeshift memorial for the victims of Sunday's mass shooting at the Pulse Orlando nightclub as he mourns the loss of his friend Javier Jorge-Reyes Tuesday, June 14, 2016, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/David Goldman) A number of possible explanations and motives for the bloodbath have emerged, with Mateen professing allegiance to the Islamic State group in a 911 call during the attack, his ex-wife saying he was mentally ill, and his father suggesting he was driven by hatred of gays. On Tuesday, a U.S. official said the FBI is looking into a flurry of news reports quoting patrons of the Pulse as saying that Mateen frequented the nightspot and reached out to men on gay dating apps. The official was not authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity. Some psychologists raised the possibility that Mateen was sexually conflicted and lashed out against gays, or that he was casing the nightclub for an attack and trying to find victims online. Jim Van Horn, 71, told The Associated Press that he saw Mateen repeatedly at the bar and talked to him once. "He was a homosexual and he was trying to pick up men," Van Horn said. "He would walk up to them and then he would maybe put his arm around 'em or something and maybe try to get them to dance a little bit or something." The attack early Sunday ended with Mateen being shot to death by a SWAT team. Of the 53 people wounded, six were listed in critical condition Tuesday and five others were in guarded condition. At a news conference at Orlando Regional Medical Center, shooting survivor Patience Carter described praying to die as she lay on a nightclub bathroom floor covered in water and blood. She said Mateen talked about wanting the U.S. to "stop bombing my country," a possible reference to his father's native Afghanistan. "I really don't think I'm going to get out of there," Carter, 20, recalled. "I made peace with God. 'Just please take me. I don't want any more.' I was just begging God to take the soul out my body." In Washington, President Barack Obama said investigators had no information to suggest a foreign terrorist group directed the attack. He said it was increasingly clear the killer "took in extremist information and propaganda over the internet. He appears to have been an angry, disturbed, unstable young man who became radicalized." The president also blasted Donald Trump's anti-Muslim rhetoric as dangerous and contrary to American values, challenged Congress to reinstate the assault weapons ban, and lashed out at his Republican foes who have criticized him for not using the term "radical Islam." "If someone seriously thinks we don't know who we're fighting, if there's anyone out there who thinks we're confused about who our enemies are," Obama said, "that would come as a surprise to the thousands of terrorists we've taken off the battlefield." Gay dating app Jack'd said it has been unable to confirm so far that Mateen had a profile on the service. Grindr officials said they "will continue to cooperate with the authorities and do not comment on ongoing investigations." And Adam4Adam said the company is looking at conversations and profiles in the Orlando area for any activity by Mateen but hasn't found anything yet. Mateen's father, Seddique Mateen, denied his son was gay and said that if he had been in the nightclub before, he may have been "scouting the place." The elder Mateen, who lives Port St. Lucie, Florida, said that apart from the time his son got angry a few months ago over seeing two men kissing, he never saw any anti-gay behavior from him. Psychological studies have shown that some men with repressed same-sex desires may express anti-gay views, especially if they grew up in families that opposed homosexuality. "People who are struggling to come to terms with their sexual identity do at times react to that by doing the exact opposite, which could be to become more masculine or more vocal about their ideals of a traditional family," said Michael Newcomb, a Northwestern University psychologist. Mateen's ex-wife, Sitora Yusufiy, said earlier in the week that he was mentally ill, controlling and abusive. Amid the latest reports about his clubgoing, she told CNN: "Well, when we had gotten married, he confessed to me about his past that was recent at that time and that he very much enjoyed going to clubs and the nightlife and there was a lot of pictures of him." "I feel like it's a side of him or a part of him that he lived but probably didn't want everybody to know about," she said. The FBI has recovered Mateen's phone and will use location data to verify whether he previously visited the club, said a third official, who was not authorized to discuss the case and spoke on condition of anonymity. Investigators working to determine whether anyone had advance knowledge of the attack have spoken extensively with Mateen's wife, Noor Salman, and are working to establish whether she and Mateen were recently at or inside the club, the official said. The official said investigators have not ruled out charging others, including the wife. ____ Tucker reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Allen G. Breed and Tamara Lush in Orlando; Holbrook Mohr in Port St. Lucie, Florida; and Lindsey Tanner in Chicago, contributed to this report. Daniela Armas of Fort Myers with Hermandad de Sigma Iota Alpha, Inc., a Latina-based sorority, calls off names during a vigil Tuesday, June 14, 2016 at FGCU's Veterans Pavillon. Over 100 people paid their respects to those affected by the recent mass shooting in an Orlando gay nightclub Pulse. (Corey Perrine/Naples Daily News via AP) Jean Dasilva, left, is comforted by Felipe Soto, as they mourn the loss of their friend Javier Jorge-Reyes while visiting a makeshift memorial for the victims of Sunday's mass shooting at the Pulse Orlando nightclub Tuesday, June 14, 2016, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/David Goldman) Unidentified family members of Pulse nightclub shooting victim Angel Colon look on as Colon speaks during a news conference at Orlando Regional Medical Center on Tuesday, June 14, 2016 in Orlando, Fla. Several doctors and Colon spoke to the media Tuesday. (Chris Urso/Tampa Bay Times via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT C.J. Ford of Orlando places flowers as visitors continue to pay their respects at makeshift memorial at Orlando Regional Medical Center, a few blocks from the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., Tuesday, June 14, 2016. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT Patience Carter, a victim in the Pulse nightclub shooting from Philadelphia, speaks of her experience during a news conference at Florida Hospital Orlando Tuesday, June 14, 2016, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack) In this photo provided by the Florida Keys News Bureau, people walk by a banner proclaiming support for victims and survivors of the Orlando nightclub shooting Tuesday, June 14, 2016, in Key West, Fla. (Andy Newman/Florida Keys News Bureau via AP) This undated image shows Omar Mateen, who authorities say killed dozens of people inside the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., on Sunday, June 12, 2016. The gunman opened fire inside the crowded gay nightclub before dying in a gunfight with SWAT officers, police said. (MySpace via AP) Thousands gather outside the Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center for a vigil Monday, June 13, 2016 in Orlando, Fa. A large crowd gathered to remember the Pulse nightclub shooting victims early Sunday. (Chris Urso/Tampa Bay Times via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT In this Monday, June 13, 2016 photo, Sitora Yusufiy, ex-wife of Orlando shooter Omar Mateen, talks about her ex-husband from her home in Boulder, Colo. (Kathryn Scott Osler/The Denver Post via AP) MAGS OUT; TV OUT; INTERNET OUT; NO SALES; NEW YORK POST OUT; NEW YORK DAILY NEWS OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT Amy Semesco, left, wipes a tear, while visiting a makeshift memorial for the victims of a mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub with Bree Balchunas on Tuesday, June 14, 2016, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/David Goldman) Rhonda Rodeffer, left, and her daughter Kennedy, 4, visit a makeshift memorial for the victims of a mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub Tuesday, June 14, 2016, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/David Goldman) Amy Semesco wipes a tear as she pays tribute, Tuesday, June 14, 2016, in Orlando, Fla., at a growing memorial at the The Dr. Phillips Center for the victims of the mass shooting Sunday at the Pulse Nightclub. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz) Hillary Clinton wins DC primary, as she meets with Sanders WASHINGTON (AP) Hillary Clinton brought a close to the presidential primary season with a win Tuesday in the nation's capital and a meeting with dispatched rival Bernie Sanders, hoping to set a tone of Democratic unity heading into next month's party convention in Philadelphia. Clinton's win in the District of Columbia, the final primary of 2016, had no bearing on her role as the presumptive nominee, but it nevertheless marked a transition in the lengthy primary fight between the two rivals. In virtually identical statements released after meeting for more than 90 minutes, the Clinton and Sanders campaigns said the two rivals discussed their primary campaign, "unifying the party and ... the dangerous threat that Donald Trump poses to our nation." Neither spoke to reporters after the session at a Washington, D.C., hotel a few blocks from the White House. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton arrives to speak at a rally at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Circuit Center in Pittsburgh, Tuesday, June 14, 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) Clinton told Sanders she appreciated his commitment to stopping Trump in the general election and the two discussed issues in which they share common goals, including "raising wages for working families, eliminating undisclosed money in politics and reducing the cost of college for students and their families." Both candidates agreed to work together on the development of the platform at the upcoming Democratic National Convention. Before polls closed in Washington, where Clinton won with nearly 80 percent of the vote, Sanders vowed again to do all he can to prevent Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, from reaching the White House but he declined to endorse Clinton. The Vermont senator had said the private meeting would help him determine how committed Clinton will be to the policy issues he has staked out during his 13-month campaign. "Our goal must not be to allow politicians, Donald Trump or anyone else, to divide us," Sanders said outside his Washington headquarters, telling reporters he will continue to "fight as hard as we can" to transform the Democratic Party. Sanders said he would push for new leadership in the Democratic National Committee his campaign has sparred with Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the party's chair along with a progressive platform in the summer convention and electoral changes, such as primaries that allow independents to participate and the elimination of superdelegates. "We need major, major changes in the Democratic Party," he said. Yet in Sanders' statement from spokesman Michael Briggs, the senator does not refer to Clinton as the presumptive nominee but instead congratulates her "on the campaign she has run." Sanders was warmly received Tuesday by Senate Democrats at their weekly luncheon, where he offered an update about his campaign and some of the lessons he had learned during the past year. Lawmakers in attendance said Sanders did not indicate his future plans. "He had an opportunity to talk to us about his campaign and how it has changed him and what he has learned," said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. "I think we all listened intently because we are anxious to always do better and grow as a party and be more inclusive." Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., who leads the Senate Democrats' campaign arm, said Sanders "absolutely will" support fellow Senate Democrats in the fall elections. "It was productive, it was good, it was vintage Bernie," Tester said. Sanders met last week with President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, who both later endorsed Clinton, and signaled to Democrats that he hopes to play a constructive role in helping the party regain control of the Senate in the 2016 elections. The self-described democratic socialist says he will take his campaign to the convention in July and advocate for his policy issues in the platform while urging Democrats to be more inclusive of independents, young people and working-class voters, all of whom were pivotal in his victories in 22 states. But what that will look like still remains unclear, and Sanders has been soliciting advice from supporters on how he should take his campaign forward. The mass shooting at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida, has commanded the attention of both campaigns and prompted Democrats to point to Trump's call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the U.S., an issue they view as a key contrast in the general election. Without mentioning Trump by name, Clinton warned during a speech in Cleveland on Monday that demonizing Muslims would only empower extremist groups. "We should be intensifying contacts in those communities, not scapegoating or isolating them," she said. Sanders attended a vigil in his hometown of Burlington, Vermont, on Monday night to show solidarity with the victims. Pointing to Trump's comments about Muslims, Sanders said the shooting was conducted by "one hateful person" and not committed by the Muslim people. Looking forward, Sanders has begun helping Democrats preparing for congressional races and the battle to regain control of the Senate. An early test of his clout came Tuesday in Nevada, where a Sanders-backed congressional candidate, Lucy Flores, was defeated in a three-way primary. Sanders has opened up his campaign's massive email donor list to several Democratic candidates, hauling in more than $2.4 million for his allies. Flores has been the top recipient of those appeals, collecting about $390,000 from an email Sanders sent in April on behalf of her and two other candidates. ___ AP Congressional Correspondent Erica Werner and AP writer Wilson Ring in Burlington, Vermont, contributed to this report. ___ On Twitter follow Ken Thomas: https://twitter.com/KThomasDC Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., arrives at the Capitol Hilton for a meeting with Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, in Washington, Tuesday, June 14, 2016, with his wife Jane Sanders. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen) Senate approves defense bill, defies White House veto threat WASHINGTON (AP) Defying a White House veto threat, the Senate voted decisively Tuesday to approve a defense policy bill that authorizes $602 billion in military spending, bars shuttering the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and denies the Pentagon's bid to start a new round of military base closings. The GOP-led Senate's version of the National Defense Authorization Act passed 85 to 13, with all but seven members of the Democratic caucus backing the legislation. Six Republicans voted against the bill. The legislation mandates for the first time in history that young women sign up for a potential military draft. The requirement has angered social conservatives, who fear the move is another step toward the blurring of gender lines akin to allowing transgender people to use public lavatories and locker rooms. FILE - In this Feb. 24, 2016 file photo, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., left, accompanied by committee members Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., center, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., participate in a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Senate is scheduled to vote Tuesday, June 14, 2016, on a $602 billion defense policy bill that the White House has said President Barack Obama will veto over numerous objections, including a prohibition on shuttering the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. McCain, said Friday, June 10, 2016, hed become so frustrated that he would consider supporting changes to the Senates rules so that one individual out of 100 can't bring everything to a screeching halt." (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) A heated dispute over amendments to the bill left in doubt the future of a program that allows Afghan civilians in danger of being harmed or killed by the Taliban to receive visas and resettle in the United States. The Republican-led House passed its version of the defense bill last month and lawmakers from both chambers must meet in a conference to resolve differences. The House, for example, excludes the female draft requirement and seeks $18 billion more in spending than the Senate to pay for troops and weapons the Pentagon didn't request. The defense bills authorize military spending for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. But there is agreement in both chambers on key policy provisions such as keeping Guantanamo open that puts Congress on a collision course with President Barack Obama. During his first campaign for president, Obama promised to close the detention facility at Guantanamo, which he has called a recruiting tool for extremist groups. But Republicans and a number of Democrats have repeatedly thwarted his goal, arguing the prison is critically needed for housing suspected terrorists. The ban on closing the prison also includes a prohibition on moving detainees at Guantanamo to secure facilities in the United States. The House and Senate also have agreed not to allow military bases to be closed. The Pentagon says the services have vastly more space for training and basing troops than they need, and trimming the surplus would save money better used to strengthen the military. But Congress won't go along. Military bases are prized assets in local economies and shutting them can cost votes in the next election. Besides, several lawmakers have argued that the Pentagon has cooked the books to justify its conclusions or at least didn't do the math completely. The White House also opposes provisions in the House and Senate bills that would limit the size of the president's National Security Council staff. According to Republicans, the staff has been micromanaging military operations even though they are supposed to only coordinate policy and advise the president. Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, the House Armed Services Committee chairman, said he has personally heard from troops in combat who have received intimidating calls from junior White House staffers. The Senate bill caps the number of National Security Council staff at 150, while the House would require Senate confirmation of the president's national security adviser if the size of the staff exceeds 100 employees. The White House has called the limits "arbitrary" and said curbing number of staff number undercuts its ability to assist the president "in an increasingly complicated world," according to the veto message. Hundreds of potential amendments to the bill weren't considered due to procedural disputes that resulted in gridlock. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, said the stalemate was caused by a few senators who didn't get votes on their amendments and responded by refusing to allow votes on any others. "Too often throughout this process, a single senator was able to bring the Senate's work on our national defense to a halt," McCain said Tuesday. "This was a breakdown in the decorum of the Senate, and one that will have serious consequences." The dispute effectively shut down debate on all amendments, leading McCain and other senators to warn of life-or-death consequences if the Senate failed to take up the Afghan visa program. The Afghans worked for the coalition as interpreters, firefighters and construction laborers. Without the option to leave Afghanistan, they and their families risk being harmed or killed by militants who consider them traitors, the top American commander in Afghanistan has warned. An amendment authored by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., would extend the so-called special immigrant visa program through 2017 and authorize an additional 2,500 visas for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 to meet the growing demand. In the House version of the defense bill, lawmakers refused to provide additional visas. The House extended the program for a year, but also narrowly restricted eligibility to Afghans whose jobs took them outside of a military base or secured facility. ___ Kosovo amends draft law to formally prolong EU's mission PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) The Kosovo government has amended a draft law to prolong the European Union rule of law mission, known as EULEX, for two years. The outgoing mission expires on Tuesday. It wasn't immediately clear why the Kosovo authorities waited until the last day to authorize the extension. The government said the Cabinet approved the prolongation of the current EU mission at a session on Monday. The Parliament must now approve that decision, and it may convene in an extraordinary session Tuesday to do so. "We are continuing to work with the Kosovo authorities in order to complete all preparations for the renewal of the EULEX mandate," a spokeswoman for the EU mission to Kosovo, Dinka Zivalj, told The Associated Press. Since 2008, EULEX has supported Kosovo on its path to greater European integration in the areas of rule of law and the fight against corruption. Vietnam rescues 1 of 2 pilots missing on training flight HANOI, Vietnam (AP) Vietnam has rescued one of the two pilots who went missing on a training flight on a Russian-made jet fighter, state media and officials said Wednesday. The state-run Nghe An newspaper said a fishing boat rescued Major Nguyen Huu Cuong early Wednesday morning, one day after his Sukhoi Su-30 MK2 with another pilot went down off the coast of the central province of Nghe An. Cuong ejected from the plane before it crashed, the report said, adding he was in stable condition. The Vietnamese Air Force operates 32 Su-30 MK2 planes, according to state media. Nguyen Cong Luc, deputy commander of the coast guard in Nghe An province, confirmed the report when contacted by telephone, and said a coast guard vessel has been sent to reach the fishing boat to bring the pilot to shore. Authorities were searching for the other pilot, he said. The Thanh Nien newspaper quoted a rescue official as saying the other pilot, Lt. Colonel Tran Quang Khai, also ejected from the plane, and that the two could still see each other's parachutes when they hit the sea. The incident was the latest in a string of accidents to hit the military. At least two crashes of military helicopters in the past two years have killed 24 people. 'Highly offensive': GOP lawmakers distance selves from Trump WASHINGTON (AP) Dismayed Republicans scrambled for cover Tuesday from Donald Trump's inflammatory response to the Orlando massacre, while President Barack Obama and Democrat Hillary Clinton delivered fiery denunciations that underscored the potential peril for the GOP. Republican hopes are fading for a new, "more presidential" Trump as the party's divisions around him grow ever more acute. Clinton, campaigning in Pittsburgh before her Tuesday night win in the Washington, D.C., Democratic primary, said: "We don't need conspiracy theories and pathological self-congratulations. We need leadership and concrete plans because we are facing a brutal enemy." Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gives a thumbs up as he takes the stage at a campaign rally at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, N.C., Tuesday, June 14, 2016. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton) In Washington, Obama said of Muslim-Americans: "Are we going to start subjecting them to special surveillance? Are we going to discriminate against them because of their faith?" After meeting with counterterrorism officials, a stern-faced Obama said: "We heard these suggestions during the course of this campaign. Do Republican officials actually agree with this? Because that's not the America we want." Several of Trump's fellow Republicans clearly did not agree with him. They were nearly as unsparing as the Democrats in their criticism of his boundary-pushing response Monday to the killing of 49 people at a gay club in Orlando, Florida, by an American-born Muslim who pledged loyalty to the Islamic State group. Among other things, Trump suggested moderate Muslims and perhaps even Obama himself might sympathize with radical elements. He renewed his call to temporarily ban foreign Muslims from entering the country, and added a new element: a suspension of immigration from areas of the world with a proven history of terrorism against the U.S. and its allies. "Mr. Trump seems to be suggesting that the president is one of them, I find that highly offensive, I find that whole line of reasoning way off-base," said Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. "Mr. Trump's reaction to declare war on the faith is the worst possible solution." GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois said Trump's comments could be used to radicalize uneducated Muslims. "I guess I appreciate Mr. Trump's fieriness in talking about it, and strength, but you don't do it by alienating the very people we need and those are moderate Muslims," said Kinzinger. "To use religion as a test, to say we're going to discriminate against all Muslims, is so counterproductive it really almost doesn't deserve being talked about." Trump responded to Obama's criticism in a statement accusing the president of continuing "to prioritize our enemy over our allies." At a fiery rally hours later in Greensboro, North Carolina, Trump said the president appeared angrier at him than he was at the Orlando gunman. "That's the kind of anger he should have for the shooter and these killers that shouldn't be here," Trump told the crowd, echoing comments he made to a conservative radio host Monday. Speaking to thousands of supporters for the first time since the attacks, Trump repeated several falsehoods made in his Monday speech. Those included claims that Syrian refugees are admitted into the U.S. without any screening and that neighbors of the perpetrators of December's shooting in San Bernardino, California, knew about it in advance but said nothing to police. Trump also boasted about his decision to stop issuing press credentials to The Washington Post, because of a headline he disliked. "I did it with The Washington Post. I'm so happy," Trump said. "Where's The Washington Post? They're probably somewhere. Maybe they're in the back, in the back bleachers." House Republicans said they would meet with Trump on July 7, but the reactions of lawmakers underscored an atmosphere of anxiety and unease among Capitol Hill Republicans, who hoped to see Trump moderate his impulses in the weeks since clinching the nomination. Instead, the opposite has occurred as the billionaire businessman has stoked one controversy after another and shows no sign of slowing down. One senior Senate Republican, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, went so far as to suggest Trump might not end up as the party's nominee after all. "We do not have a nominee until after the convention," Alexander asserted in response to a question. Reminded that Trump is the presumptive GOP nominee, Alexander retorted, "That's what you say." Other congressional Republicans claimed, improbably, not to have heard what Trump said. "I just don't know what he was talking about, I frankly don't know what you're talking about. I hadn't heard it," said Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, in response to a question about Trump's suggestions about Obama. As he has in the past, House Speaker Paul Ryan denounced Trump's plans, saying: "I do not think a Muslim ban is in our country's interest. I do not think it is reflective of our principles not just as a party, but as a country. And I think the smarter way to go in all respects is to have a security test and not a religious test." Ryan, who endorsed Trump only recently after a lengthy delay as he grappled with the implications of the celebrity businessman's candidacy, ignored shouted questions about whether he stood by his support. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters he would not be commenting Tuesday about Trump. "I continue to be discouraged by the direction of the campaign and comments that are made," said Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, Republican chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. Monday's Trump address was not "the type of speech that one would give that wants to lead this country through difficult times." For many Republicans the prospect of continually facing questions about Trump was plainly wearing thin. "I'm just not going to comment on more of his statements. It's going to be five months of it," said Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming. Said Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, "What Trump does or says, every time he says something doesn't mean I have to have an answer for it." ___ Associated Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick, Lisa Lerer, Richard Lardner and Jill Colvin contributed to this report. House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis., and the House GOP leadership, talks to reporters at the Republican National Committee headquarter on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 14, 2016, about their response to the deadly shooting in Orlando on Sunday that left 49 dead and more than 50 injured. Ryan said that a ban on Muslims entering the U.S. as presidential nominee Donald Trump proposes, is not in the nation's interest. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) President Barack Obama speaks at the Treasury Department in Washington, Tuesday, June 14, 2016, following a meeting with his National Security Council to get updates on the investigation into the attack in Orlando, Florida and review efforts to degrade and destroy ISIL. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis., and the House GOP leadership, pauses while talking to reporters at the Republican National Committee headquarters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 14, 2016, about their response to the deadly shooting in Orlando on Sunday. Ryan said that a ban on Muslims entering the U.S. as presidential nominee Donald Trump proposes, is not in the nation's interest. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) AP Interview: Chinese lawyer not giving up despite torture BEIJING (AP) One of China's best-known dissident lawyers said his newly launched memoir is his latest act of resistance to show he has not been silenced by years of solitary confinement and torture, accounts of which have drawn international criticism of Beijing. In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, Gao Zhisheng, 52, who has been living under near-constant surveillance by Chinese authorities since his release from jail in 2014, said he wrote his book "to expose the truth and crimes of this regime." The Chinese-language book, titled "Stand Up China 2017 China's Hope: What I Learned During Five Years as a Political Prisoner," was launched in Hong Kong on Tuesday at an event attended by Gao's daughter. "This book is my way of posing resistance," Gao said in Monday night's interview, which was conducted over a messaging app instead of by phone to circumvent surveillance and interruption. "I wrote it secretly because I had to hide from the minders who watch me around the clock." In this photo taken in April 2016 and released by China Aid, Gao Zhisheng poses for photo in his hometown of in northwestern China's Shaanxi province. One of China's best-known dissident lawyers said his newly launched memoir is his latest act of resistance to show he has not been silenced by years of solitary confinement and torture, accounts of which have drawn international criticism of Beijing. (China Aid via AP) He said he kept the book a secret even from his family to avoid endangering them. In the book, Gao recounts the torture he says he endured, as well as the three years he spent in solitary confinement. It was the strength of his Christian faith and his unwavering hope for China that sustained him in that period of isolation, he said. A spokeswoman for China's Public Security Ministry, which oversees the police, said the ministry hadn't been directly involved with Gao's case and had no information about his treatment while in custody or in prison. The spokeswoman, who gave only her surname, Wang, said only local authorities were qualified to answer questions about Gao's claims. Gao's interview and book come as Chinese authorities wage what rights groups say is one of the most severe crackdowns on the country's rights-defending legal community in recent memory. Several Chinese rights lawyers have been arrested on state subversion charges that carry potential life sentences. Activists say the use of such charges indicates that the ruling Communist Party sees this group of lawyers as a threat to its grip on power. Authorities are also putting lawyers on trial on other charges. On Friday, Xia Lin, a rights lawyer whose clients have included dissident artist Ai Weiwei, will stand trial in Beijing for fraud. Gao had won international renown for his courage in defending members of the outlawed Falun Gong spiritual movement and fighting for farmers' land rights. After he was detained, he upset the authorities by publicly denouncing the torture he said he had suffered. When Gao was released from prison straight into house arrest in August 2014, the formerly outspoken lawyer could barely walk or speak a full, intelligible sentence, raising concerns that one of the most inspirational figures in China's rights movement had been permanently broken physically and mentally. Since then, he has kept a low profile while living in a small village in Shaanxi province, several hundred kilometers (miles) from Beijing, giving the AP his first interview in five years early last year. International rights groups have condemned Gao's treatment both in and out of custody, and the U.S. government has urged China to allow him to come to the U.S. to be reunited with his family if he chooses. His wife lives in San Francisco. Presenting Gao's book in Hong Kong on Tuesday was his 23-year-old daughter, Grace Geng, who said it has been seven years since she last saw her father. Geng said her father was not well and that his teeth in particular needed urgent treatment that he has been denied. She said she, her mother and brother, who all fled to the United States in 2009, have limited communication with him. "At the very beginning, I did not totally understand. I wondered why our father couldn't be with us," said Geng, sobbing with emotion. "But ... after some time, I came to think of his decision as truly great. He loves the Chinese people so much that he put his family in second place. I think that what he thinks is very, very great, so I am very proud of it." In a sign of the chill Beijing's influence has cast over Hong Kong, Gao's book is being published in Taiwan and will not at first be sold in the semi-autonomous Chinese-controlled city, Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmaker Albert Ho told the AP. Books on sensitive political topics have increasingly been pulled from mainstream Hong Kong bookstores or consigned to the back shelves. Several men associated with one of the leading independent publishers of such tomes briefly went missing last year amid strong suspicions they had been taken away by the Chinese security services. During the interview with the AP, Gao said that he missed his family deeply, but chose to remain in China in the hope of someday playing a role in changing the country. Gao said he didn't fear being taken back to prison. "Once one has chosen to engage in combat, then there is no such thing as giving up. It is defeating to think about those things," he said. "My only worry is that I have affected the lives of my wife and children," he said. "I'm indebted to them eternally, because I love them more than my own life, but I cannot attend to their needs now." ___ AP videojournalists Aritz Parra in Beijing and Annie Ho in Hong Kong contributed to this report. Grace Geng, the daughter of one of China's most prominent human rights lawyers Gao Zhisheng, presents a book authored by her father at a news conference in Hong Kong, Tuesday, June 14, 2016. The book, titled Stand Up China 2017 - Chinas Hope: What I Learned During Five Years as a Political Prisoner is a memoir by Gao in which he details the torture he says he endured while detained and jailed as well as three years of being held in solitary confinement. Before being detained and jailed, Gao was a leading figure in the country's small community of rights lawyers and was admired for his bold defense of politically sensitive members of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement and farmers with land disputes. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung) Grace Geng, the daughter of one of China's most prominent human rights lawyers, Gao Zhisheng, attends the launch of a book, titled Stand Up China 2017 - China's Hope: What I Learned During Five Years as a Political Prisoner, written by her father, at a news conference in Hong Kong, Tuesday, June 14, 2016. The book is a memoir by Gao in which he details the torture he says he endured while detained and jailed as well as three years of being held in solitary confinement. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung) Grace Geng, the daughter of one of China's most prominent human rights lawyers, Gao Zhisheng, holds a book, titled Stand Up China 2017 - China's Hope: What I Learned During Five Years as a Political Prisoner, written by her father, at a news conference in Hong Kong, Tuesday, June 14, 2016. The book is a memoir by Gao in which he details the torture he says he endured while detained and jailed as well as three years of being held in solitary confinement. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung) Grace Geng, the daughter of one of China's most prominent human rights lawyers, Gao Zhisheng, attends the Hong Kong the launch of the book titled Stand Up China 2017 - China's Hope: What I Learned During Five Years as a Political Prisoner, written by her father, at a news conference in Hong Kong, Tuesday, June 14, 2016. The book is a memoir by Gao in which he details the torture he says he endured while detained and jailed as well as three years of being held in solitary confinement. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung) Bosses: What to Do Before Hiring You have a lot to do -- you're the boss. Your business demands a lot from you. For that reason, you rely on others to comb through resumes and vet candidates for positions. But picking a person who will fit in at your company, truly, and produce the quality of work you demand, requires your involvement. According to a Gallup poll discussed in Fortune, companies choose the wrong person for a job more than 80 percent of the time they hire. That means four out of five new hires are are not well-suited to a job they were offered. The solution to this costly and time-consuming problem may be relatively easy, however. It just requires extra attention before making the final hiring decision. Take the Time Hiring the wrong person for a job can wind up costing you a lot and damaging your business. So your best bet is to take the time in advance of hiring to get to know the prospective employee in a few different settings. Share a meal or invite the candidate to attend an event in your office before you commit. The idea is not to trip them up but it is a test. You want to see how they handle different situations -- what is appropriate will depend on your business and industry. One person may do best in an interview setting but crack in social situations. Another may sweat the interview but charm a room full of strangers when the focus is not on them. Seek Authenticity You know what you need from an employee and it's probably not something you will see in an interview, in their resume, or in their degrees and certifications. It's a human quality. Fortune advises that to find genuine assets -- people who are authentic, communicative, flexible, reliable, resourceful, and able to handle pressure -- you will have to look for and choose them yourself. Of course, you can still rely on your human resources team to handle the deluge of resumes. But check in and speak up. Remind your team of the qualities you seek. Then show them what you mean by participating in hiring the right person. Your ability to assess got you this far in business, so don't relinquish the decision-making to people who are less experienced, and you will be providing insight to others in the process. Consult With Counsel If you need help with employment issues or any other aspect of business operations, consult with counsel. Get guidance. Follow FindLaw for Consumers on Google+. Related Resources: Orlando shooting gives LGBT Singaporeans a slight opening SINGAPORE (AP) A tragedy half a world away has created an unlikely opening for a repressed community in Singapore. The mass shooting at a gay club in Orlando, Florida, has galvanized LGBT people in Singapore, where a candlelight vigil was held Tuesday to express solidarity with the victims. In the process, they highlighted the predicament of their own largely underground community. Although there is little fear of gun violence in Singapore, "we must remember that violence takes many forms, not only physical," said Lynette Chua, an assistant professor of law at the National University of Singapore. The gay, lesbian and transgender community is "still unprotected by the law from discrimination on the basis of their sexuality or gender identity," she said. People raise glow sticks as open flames are banned in Singapore parks as they gathered for a vigil in remembrance of the Orlando shooting victims on Tuesday, June 14, 2016, in Singapore. A tragedy half a world away has created an unlikely opening for a repressed community in Singapore. The mass shooting at a gay club in Orlando, Florida, has galvanized LGBT people in Singapore, where a vigil was held Tuesday to express solidarity with the victims. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E) In Singapore, sex between men is banned by a law, a holdover from British colonial days. Over the years, however, the small Southeast Asian city-state has loosened up and homosexuality is now quietly tolerated. Singapore's leaders have even said the anti-gay law, known as Section 377A, will not be enforced. But discrimination remains rife, although it is subtle and often masked under the need to protect a pro-family Asian culture. "I felt that a show of solidarity, no matter how small a group would go a long way as a silent statement that the shooting is inherently wrong," said Nicholas Lim, 36, the administrator of GLBT Voices Singapore, a Facebook page that organized the vigil. The page has more than 48,000 followers. At the evening gathering of about 400 people, attendees held hands and sang songs in remembrance of the Orlando shooting victims. The victims' names were read, and some people hugged, overwhelmed with emotion. The crowd raised multicolored glow sticks above their heads and displayed them in the shape of a heart on the ground. The glowing sticks were used instead of candles since open flames are banned in Singapore parks. A 36-year-old teacher, who only wanted to be identified as Jonathan, said: "It is important to show solidarity with the LGBT community around the world. An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us. There is little fear of gun violence in Singapore, but discrimination is discrimination around the world." Not all attendees were members of the LGBT community. "I felt that it was important as the tragedy took place during pride month and there have been negative comments on the Internet," said social media executive Donna Louisse, 24. "As allies, we are not going to stop fighting for our LGBT friends. Just showing up is a sign of support." Public meetings in highly regulated Singapore can be held only with police permits. Politically and socially sensitive meetings can only be held in a designated area, Hong Lim Park, for which no police permit is needed but have to be approved by park authorities. Lim had planned to hold the vigil on Monday, to coincide with similar events in the U.S., but couldn't get the necessary approval. The fact that approval was given, even if a day later, shows how far Singapore a contradictory crucible of modernity and industry under the thumb of a virtual one-party rule has come in shedding its image as an all-work-no-play country. While open display of same-sex affection such as holding hands or kissing is not common, it is also an open secret that there are several gay bars in the Tanjong Pagar district that come alive on Friday and Saturday nights. One such is DYMK, which stands for Does Your Mother Know. Official space for LGBT people, however, is far more restrictive. Before enlistment to the compulsory military service, all men must declare if they have gay inclinations. Gay marriages, including those solemnized overseas, are not recognized here. Accounts of being thrown out of homes or being discriminated against in the workplace are rampant on the GLBT Voices Singapore page, where many members remain anonymous for fear of further discrimination. In 2014, the National Library Board removed three children's books including "And Tango Makes Three," based on a true story of two male penguins in a New York zoo who hatched an egg. Earlier this month, following complaints from the public, a kiss between two male actors was removed from a production of the musical "Les Miserables." "I am afraid that Singaporeans have forgotten what it took to make Singapore special, which is to live side by side, accepting and respecting our cultural differences," Lim told The Associated Press, referring to the huge economic strides the country's ethnically diverse 5.5 million people have made since independence in 1965. Singapore's leaders have long emphasized that its prosperity it is the third richest nation in the world on per capita income basis depends on social, racial and religious cohesion. Of late, they have also had to maintain an increasingly uncomfortable balance between conservatives and gay rights supporters. In June, the Ministry of Home Affairs said it will "take steps to make it clear that foreign entities should not fund, support or influence" the annual Pink Dot event, that advocates the freedom to love. Yet, the ministry said it will not pursue action against 18 sponsors, including Google, Facebook and Goldman Sachs, of Pink Dot's latest run on June 4. Organizers said attendance increased from 2,500 in 2009 to 28,000 last year. Numbers this year were not tracked. While it is apparent that Singapore's government is not fundamentally opposed to homosexuality, it is reluctant to remove Section 377A from the books for fear of angering conservatives. But making it clear that the law won't be enforced appeals to the gay community. Last June, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said "there is space for the gay community but they should not push the agenda too hard because ... there will be a very strong pushback. Where we are I think is not a bad place to be." In 2014, a survey of 4,000 Singapore residents by the Institute of Policy Studies found that 78.2 percent of respondents felt that a same-sex relationship is wrong, and a similar percentage was against gay marriage. The government's dilemma was clear from Lee's condolences to President Barack Obama on Monday following the Orlando shooting. He condemned the attack as "brutal and senseless," and said it resulted "in the loss of many innocent lives." "They condemn the attack without even mentioning the fact that gay men were the target. Even when we are being persecuted they deny us our identity," said writer Ng Yi-Sheng, 35, who plans to attend the vigil. He said he knows of people in Singapore who have refused to condemn the Orlando attack, and even praised it. "So yes, it has been traumatic and people need a space to come together." A couple visiting from Los Angeles comfort each other during a vigil in remembrance of the Orlando shooting victims on Tuesday, June 14, 2016, in Singapore. A tragedy half a world away has created an unlikely opening for a repressed community in Singapore. The mass shooting at a gay club in Orlando, Florida, has galvanized LGBT people in Singapore, where a vigil was held Tuesday to express solidarity with the victims. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E) People gather at a park in Singapore for a vigil in remembrance of the Orlando shooting victims on Tuesday, June 14, 2016, in Singapore. A tragedy half a world away has created an unlikely opening for a repressed community in Singapore. The mass shooting at a gay club in Orlando, Florida, has galvanized LGBT people in Singapore, where a vigil was held Tuesday to express solidarity with the victims. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E) People raise glow sticks as open flames are banned in Singapore parks as they gathered for a vigil in remembrance of the Orlando shooting victims on Tuesday, June 14, 2016, in Singapore. A tragedy half a world away has created an unlikely opening for a repressed community in Singapore. The mass shooting at a gay club in Orlando, Florida, has galvanized LGBT people in Singapore, where a vigil was held Tuesday to express solidarity with the victims. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E) People gather at a park in Singapore for a vigil in remembrance of the Orlando shooting victims on Tuesday, June 14, 2016, in Singapore. A tragedy half a world away has created an unlikely opening for a repressed community in Singapore. The mass shooting at a gay club in Orlando, Florida, has galvanized LGBT people in Singapore, where a vigil was held Tuesday to express solidarity with the victims. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E) A man places a flower on a rainbow flag as they gathered for a vigil in remembrance of the Orlando shooting victims on Tuesday, June 14, 2016, in Singapore. A tragedy half a world away has created an unlikely opening for a repressed community in Singapore. The mass shooting at a gay club in Orlando, Florida, has galvanized LGBT people in Singapore, where a vigil was held Tuesday to express solidarity with the victims. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E) The Latest: Gunman's ex-wife urges no rush to judgment ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) The Latest on the Florida nightclub shooting (all times local): 11:30 p.m. The ex-wife of the gunman who opened fire in a Florida gay nightclub has urged people not to quickly assign motive to the attack that left 49 dead. Doctors and medical staff that treated the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting answer questions at a news conference at the Orlando Regional Medical Center, Tuesday, June 14, 2016, in Orlando, Fla. (Naseem Miller/Orlando Sentinel via AP) MAGS OUT; NO SALES; MANDATORY CREDIT Sitora Yusufiy said in an interview Tuesday night on CNN that former husband Omar Mateen was unstable and prone to emotional outbursts while they were together but she never heard him express any radicalism. Yusufiy said she hadn't talked to him for a while but wouldn't be surprised to learn he was leading a double life and in deep internal conflict. "So, I just hope that people, without making rash judgments on one another, can truly understand that this is one insane person that did such a tragic thing," she said. ___ 9:30 p.m. The owner of another Orlando LGBT club says he got a Facebook friend request last week from the gunman in the Pulse nightclub shooting. WKMG-TV (http://bit.ly/21liyIN) reports that owner Michael Bass says he looked through Omar Mateen's Facebook friend list and didn't see anything that would relate to a LGBT club, so he rejected the friend request. He says he recognized Mateen after news of the Sunday shooting that left 49 people dead. The station says investigators from the Orlando Police Department and the FBI interviewed Bass about the contact. ___ 9 p.m. Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said he was uplifted by the way the community has come together during a citywide prayer service for the 49 people who were killed in a nightclub shooting over the weekend. More than a thousand people including many clergy and local, state and national civic leaders met Tuesday night at First Baptist Orlando to hold a vigil for the victims of the early Sunday morning shooting at the Pulse nightclub. Dyer said to the crowd: "We will not be defined by the act of a hate-filled killer. We will be defined by our love, compassion and our unity." Dyer says officials are in the process of putting together an Orlando Family Assistance Center. It will open Wednesday at Camping World Stadium. Sunday's shooting at the gay dance club ended when police killed gunman Omar Mateen. ___ 6:30 p.m. The chairman of the U.S. Senate Homeland Security Committee is seeking information from the Florida security company that employed Omar Mateen, the Orlando nightclub gunman. Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin says in a letter to G4S Secure Solutions that he wants to learn more about Mateen's job responsibilities, security reviews and reported concerns raised by co-workers related to his behavior and possible connections to terrorism. Johnson said the company is not suspected of any wrongdoing in connection with the attack, but says it may have useful information to better identify and address homegrown extremism. Johnson's committee is examining the June 12 attack at the Pulse nightclub and is considering legislative proposals to address homegrown extremism. ___ 6 p.m. The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee says he wants to explore the potential for a system that would trigger an alert when someone who was previously on a terrorism watch list wants to buy a gun. Rep. Adam Schiff of California says an alert would allow law enforcement officials to consider anew whether an investigation ought to be reopened to determine whether the person who had expressed "radical thoughts is at the point of taking those into action." He spoke with reporters following a closed-door briefing on Capitol Hill by Obama administration officials about the investigation into the Orlando gunman. Schiff declined to provide details about the briefing conducted by FBI Director James Comey and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson. But Schiff did say there is no clear answer yet on whether there were additional factors aside an allegiance to Islamic State militants that motivated the gunman, Omar Mateen. Rep. Mac Thornberry, the Texas Republican who chairs the House Armed Services Committee, said investigators are looking into everything that may have motivated the gunman. ___ 5:40 p.m. A Missouri county has changed course and lowered its flags in honor of the 49 victims in the shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Presiding Commissioner Sam Bushman said Cole County's public flags were at half-staff Tuesday despite earlier disagreement with another commissioner. Flags weren't lowered immediately after President Barack Obama's proclamation to do so. A county ordinance calls to lower flags upon executive orders when military or government officials die or on days such as Memorial Day. The two opposing commissioners had told the Jefferson City News-Tribune that they're sympathetic to victims. But one worried lowering flags too frequently could take away the honor of the gesture. Bushman disagreed. Another commissioner later changed his mind. Bushman says the initial decision wasn't unusual: Flags weren't lowered after attacks in Brussels or Paris. ___ 4:40 p.m. Vice President Joe Biden says the attack on a gay nightclub in Florida is becoming "clearer and more straight-forward." Biden said he had been briefed at a national security meeting shortly before making the comments at an unrelated event in New York City. He said federal officials were "getting to the bottom of the tragedy." He says it is "becoming clearer and more straight-forward than a lot of us even thought." He did not elaborate on that comment, but said President Barack Obama would say more in the coming days. Biden also praised the work of the New York Police Department. He says the agency surpasses every other city in the nation in terms of cooperation and intelligence sharing. ___ The medical examiner in Orlando has started releasing the bodies of the Pulse nightclub shooting victims to their families. A spokeswoman for the medical examiner in Orlando says at least 20 bodies had been sent to funeral homes by Tuesday afternoon. The medical examiner and his team were expected to finish autopsies on all 49 shooting victims by Tuesday. The next of kin of all 49 victims had been notified late Monday. Autopsies were required for all the victims since their deaths are classified as homicides. ___ Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs says she supports building a memorial in Orlando that is a tribute not just to the victims of the shootings at the Pulse nightclub, but one that honors gay history. Jacobs, who is the mayor of the county that is home to Orlando, said Tuesday after a county commission meeting that the attack wasn't just the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history but also the biggest massacre of gays and lesbians. Jacobs says the memorial wouldn't be a plaque but a physical place in Orlando that people could enter and reflect. The Orange County mayor says the shooting is an opportunity to open the hearts and minds of people whose beliefs or background may have prevented them from embracing members of the LGBT community. ___ 3:15 p.m. Jamaica's attorney general says a decision to fly the rainbow flag at the U.S. Embassy following the Orlando gay nightclub massacre is an affront to the island's anti-sodomy laws. On her social media accounts, Marlene Malahoo Forte condemned the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history but says she found the Kingston embassy's decision to fly the rainbow flag "disrespectful of Jamaican laws." The attorney general described this as her personal view. On Tuesday, the U.S. Embassy said it is flying the rainbow flag "in solidarity with the victims who were targeted for being members of the LGBT community." U.S. embassies across the globe have also been flying the pride flag following the Sunday violence. Jamaica has longstanding laws criminalizing gay sex between men. Stigma against LGBT citizens is common. ___ 2:40 p.m. Walt Disney Company is donating $1 million to a fund established by Orlando officials to help people affected by the nightclub shooting. Disney officials also said they would match dollar-for-dollar individual contributions by the company's employees to the OneOrlando fund, established by Mayor Buddy Dyer following Sunday's shooting that killed 49 people and wounded 53 others. Disney has about 74,000 employees in the Orlando area, which is home to its Walt Disney World resort. Disney employees also have been encouraged to donate blood at five locations on the resort property. The company also is providing complimentary hotel accommodations to family and friends of victims. The FBI's director has said the agency is trying to determine whether the Orlando nightclub shooter had recently scouted Walt Disney World and other locations as potential targets. ___ 2:05 p.m. An official says 23 of the 49 victims killed in the massacre at a gay Florida nightclub shooting are Puerto Ricans. Puerto Rico's justice secretary, Cesar Miranda, hasn't specified how many were born in the U.S. mainland to Puerto Rican parents and how many had moved there from the island. He issued a statement decrying "all the social problems that led to this massacre: intolerance about gender preferences , discrimination against Latin Americans in the United States and broad access to weapons in that country." On Monday, Mexico's president said three people killed were citizens of his country. The tragedy hit the gay and Hispanic communities especially hard. Sunday was Latino Night at the Pulse nightclub. ___ 1:45 p.m. One of the survivors of the nightclub shooting says she went from having the time of her life with her friends to the worst night of her life in a matter of minutes. Twenty-year-old Patience Carter talked about the night from Florida Hospital Orlando on Tuesday where she is recovering from a gunshot wound. Carter says she was with a group of friends at the Pulse nightclub when she heard the gunshots on early Sunday. Carter says one of her friends was killed and another was also shot and has more severe injuries. She described hearing the gunman's calls to 911 in which he said he was shooting because he wanted America to stop bombing his country. She says he spoke in Arabic and pledged his allegiance to the Islamic State. The gunman was born in New York and his parents were born in Afghanistan. She also described a person that she didn't know shielding her from being hit as the hostage situation came to a close and the gunman was killed by police. Before speaking, Carter read a poem that ended with the words: "The guilt of being alive is heavy." ___ 1:30 p.m. A survivor who hid in the handicapped stall as a gunman attacked a gay Florida nightclub says he had to drag himself out to safety and is just grateful to be alive. From a bed Tuesday at the hospital that treated him, Angel Santiago Jr. described to reporters how he survived the massacre. He says he got to club Pulse in Orlando about 12:30 a.m. Sunday. About 2 a.m., as the last drinks were served, he and the two friends he was with heard gunshots. They made their way to the bathroom area and hid in the large stall. Santiago says about 15 people total were in there. He was shot in the left foot and right knee. The group tried to be quiet. He eventually dragged himself, unable to walk, out of the bathroom and toward police. He used his cellphone light to indicate his presence to officers, who soon grabbed him and got him outside. He says he could see the bullet hole on one of his friends, who also is recovering. He says he never saw the shooter or heard him speak. He says: "I don't even know how I'm alive today." ___ 1 p.m. President Barack Obama says anti-Muslim rhetoric from presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is "not the America we want." Obama is arguing that treating Muslim-Americans differently won't make the U.S. safer. He says it will make the country less safe by fueling the notion among followers of the Islamic State group that the West hates Muslims. Obama lashed out a day after presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump doubled down on his proposal to temporarily ban foreign Muslims from entering the U.S. Obama says the U.S. was founded on freedom of religion and that there are no religious tests in America. He says such talk makes Muslim-Americans feel like their government is betraying them. Obama commented after meeting with his national security advisers on the threat posed by IS. He also was briefed on the investigation into the Orlando nightclub shooting. ___ A Tennessee lawmaker says his office has received threats for planning to give away the same type of semi-automatic rifle used by a gunman in the massacre of 49 people at an Orlando nightclub. Republican state Rep. Andy Holt, a staunch gun rights supporter, had offered the AR-15 as a door prize at a fundraiser before the shootings took place. Following heavy criticism in the aftermath of the attacks, he said he would give away a second gun. State Democratic Party Chair Mary Mancini on Monday said that the winner of the raffle could be "the next mass shooter." Holt said his office was contacted repeatedly by an anonymous caller who said he was armed and threatened to pay the legislative office a visit on Tuesday. ___ 12:40 p.m. A man who knew the Orlando nightclub shooter as a teenager says the student infuriated his peers by joking about the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Robert Zirkle says he and Omar Marteen lived in Stuart, Florida, and rode the same bus, though they attended different schools. Zirkle says he and his friends were generally on good terms with Mateen until 9/11. Zirkle says Mateen made airplane and explosion sounds and appeared to be joking about the attacks. Zirkle says, "My group of friends told him it wasn't a joke, and if he didn't knock it off he was going to have problems." Zirkle is now 29 and lives in Johnson City, Tennessee. He says he would see Mateen when both teens worked at the mall but didn't have much contact after those jobs. ___ Chick-fil-A employees in Orlando, Florida, were serving food this past Sunday after the massacre at a gay night club, even though the chain is normally closed on Sundays in a nod to the religious beliefs of its founder. The Facebook page for a local Chick-fil-A says a few employees from at least one Orlando location made food for people waiting in line to donate blood after the massacre that left 49 dead and dozens more injured. Another location noted that it simply responded just like numerous other Orlando businesses and residents. Chick-fil-A touched off protests by gay rights advocates in 2012 after its CEO Dan Cathy voiced support for "biblical families" and opposition to same-sex marriages. As it seeks to expand its national footprint, the company has tried to draw a distinction between its business and the beliefs of its ownership. ___ 12:25 p.m. A law enforcement official says investigators who have spoken with the Orlando gunman's wife are looking into whether the two of them were recently at or outside the nightclub he attacked. The official is familiar with the investigation, but was not authorized to discuss the investigation by name and spoke on condition of anonymity. The official says investigators had been told that Mateen and his wife had been at the Pulse nightclub on a prior occasion and were trying to confirm the accuracy of that statement. The official says the FBI has Mateen's phone and will try to use data from it to see if he had visited the club before. The official says investigators have not ruled out charging anyone who may have had advance knowledge of the attack. Eric Tucker, Washington ___ The father of the gunman who attacked a gay Orlando nightclub says his son was not gay. A U.S. official briefed on the case said Tuesday that the FBI is investigating reports that Omar Mateen had been a regular at the nightclub and had used gay dating apps. Investigators are looking into possible motives for the attack and have said Mateen appears to be a "homegrown extremist" who touted support not just for the Islamic State, but other radical groups that are its enemies. Mateen's father, Seddique Mateen, said he never saw his son exhibit homophobic behavior except for one time in Miami when he saw two men kissing. The father answered questions from reporters on Tuesday at his home in Port Saint Lucie. He added that his son's second wife, Noor Zahi Salman, returned to their apartment late Monday because she "needed clothes to wear." He said she is in shock, adding that she and his grandson are in Florida, but he didn't say where. Asked about reports that his son celebrated the 9/11 terrorist attacks, he said that there may have been an incident at school, but he didn't want to discuss it in detail. ___ 11:40 a.m. The owner of the Orlando nightclub where dozens of people were massacred says her club will be rebuilt as a tribute and will honor those who were killed, wounded or left grieving. Barbara Poma told the Today show's Matt Lauer (http://on.today.com/1VXgCXj) that she "will not let hate win" in the aftermath of the shootings. Poma said she named the club Pulse in honor of her brother, who died from AIDS in 1991. The name was a way of keeping his heartbeat alive. She wanted Pulse to be "a safe place" for the gay community. She says the club will be rebuilt as a tribute to the people who lost their lives, as well as the survivors and their relatives. She also says she can't stop imagining the terror felt by those inside the nightclub amid the killing. __ 11:40 a.m. A city-owned cemetery is donating free plots to the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting. Don Price is the sexton at Greenwood Cemetery in Orlando. He said Tuesday that the city is donating space to any of the victims' families. The cemetery was founded in 1880. He says two families are already interested and have set up appointments to meet with the cemetery Tuesday. Price says the county's medical examiner started releasing the first of the bodies Monday night. ___ 11:35 a.m. A doctor at the hospital treating nightclub shooting victims says that of the six patients who remain in the intensive care unit, one or two are still "profoundly ill." Dr. Michael Cheatham of Orlando Regional Medical Center says many of those patients are recovering from the mass shooting early Sunday. But he adds: "The big question is what their long-term outcome will be." He says he suspects they may survive but will likely have lasting impacts on their health and functionality. ___ 11:25 a.m. A survivor of the Florida nightclub massacre is giving an emotional thank-you to staff at the hospital that treated him and other victims, and he says the gunman had to be "heartless" and "ruthless." Angel Colon spoke alongside doctors Tuesday at Orlando Regional Medical Center. Nurse Megan Noblet told Colon that she think he was her second patient of the night as the flood of victims arrived. She described him as brave, and Colon told her and the other staff gathered, "I love you guys." Asked his thoughts on the shooter, Colon said, "This person had to be heartless. ... This person is just enjoying doing this." Colon made remarks in both English and Spanish at the news conference. The tragedy hit the city's gay and Hispanic communities especially hard. Sunday was Latino Night at the Pulse nightclub. ___ 11:20 a.m. A doctor who has been treating the wounded from the Orlando nightclub shooting says he would be surprised if the death toll doesn't rise. Dr. Michael Cheatham said at a news conference Tuesday that six people are still critically ill at the hospital. He says they are doing everything they can for them and he asked people to pray for them. Forty-nine people were killed when a gunman attacked a gay nightclub on early Sunday. More than 50 people were wounded in the attack. The gunman died in a shootout with police. ___ 11:15 a.m. A doctor who treated nightclub shooting victims says the massacre was "the largest disaster that we probably could have imagined." Dr. Michael Cheatham of Orlando Regional Medical Center says hospital and trauma centers prepare for disasters, but "you can never prepare adequately." Doctors at a Tuesday news conference praised the work of staff at the hospital, where six people remain "critically ill." Cheatham says described great support at the hospital, saying there was "never a time we were without anything we needed." He also says the facility escalated rom two operating rooms to six within 30 to 60 minutes to care for the flood of patients. ___ 11 a.m. Doctors at the Orlando hospital that treated nightclub massacre victims are describing a chaotic night of patient after patient arriving for trauma treatment. At a news conference Tuesday at Orlando Regional Medical Center, doctors described "truckloads" and "ambulance-loads" of patients. Dr. Kathryn Bondani says the first patient that arrived was relatively stable, and the staff hoped that others would be in a similar condition. But the doctors soon got about five patients in much worse shape. Dr. Chadwick Smith choked up a bit talking about the night. He described calling in additional staff and telling them, "This is not a drill, this is not a joke." He says everyone answered "I'll be right there," and dozens of doctors and nurses showed up to help. ___ 10:50 a.m. A man who survived the nightclub shooting in Orlando says he thought "I'm next, I'm dead" as the gunman fired toward his head. Angel Colon described the horrific night he survived during a news conference on Tuesday at the hospital. Appearing in a wheelchair with the doctors and nurses who treated him nearby, Colon talked about what happened early Sunday at the Pulse nightclub. He says the gunman shot a girl next to him and then shot his hand and his hip. He says he pretended to be dead and the gunman kept firing his gun. Colon says at times the gunman was shooting people who appeared that they had already been killed. He thanked the hospital staff and said "I will love you guys forever." ___ 10:40 a.m. A doctor says six people wounded in the Orlando nightclub shooting are "critically ill" at the hospital and another five patients are in "guarded" condition. Dr. Michael Cheatham of Orlando Regional Medical Center made the announcement at a news conference Tuesday. Cheatham says 16 patients at the hospital are in stable condition. The people were wounded when a gunman opened fire at a gay nightclub early Sunday. ___ 10:10 a.m. Family photos, drawings, blackboard messages, a Quran and books on Islam decorate the apartment where the shooter in the Orlando gay nightclub massacre lived with his wife. Univision News reported the details and says it visited the home in Fort Pierce, Florida, on Monday when it was unoccupied. Univision reports that it was the morning after the FBI swept the apartment for evidence, and says the home was unlocked and not yet sealed off by crime-scene tape. The report describes a blackboard message in the kitchen about an appointment at their 3-year-old son's school and a note with an Arabic phrase praising God. Univision says that on the living room table was a document listing items investigators removed: 9 mm cartridges, an iPad mini, a Samsung phone, a Dell computer, a CD labeled with Mateen's name. Mateen lived there with his second wife, Noor Salman. ___ 10:05 a.m. An official says the FBI is investigating reports that the Orlando massacre shooter had been a regular at the gay nightclub he attacked and had used gay dating apps. The U.S. official had been briefed on the investigation into 29-year-old gunman Omar Mateen. The official was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity Tuesday. The comments follow reports and comments from patrons at the Orlando club Pulse that Mateen was a regular there and tried to pick up men. Previously, his Afghan-immigrant father had suggested Mateen may have acted out of anti-gay hatred, and said his son got angry recently about seeing two men kiss. Eric Tucker in Washington ___ 9:45 a.m. The hospital treating those wounded in the shooting spree at an Orlando, Florida, nightclub that left 49 victims dead plans to hold a news conference where doctors and patients will speak. According to a news release from Orlando Regional Medical Center, eight surgeons will share their stories from the hours after the shooting began. Two patients will also recount their stories from that night. The news conference is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Tuesday. In addition to the 49 deaths, dozens more were wounded when Omar Mateen opened fire at a gay nightclub early Sunday. He was eventually killed in a shootout with police. ___ 9:30a.m. The ex-wife of the shooter at a gay Florida nightclub says the man enjoyed nightlife, but she's not sure if he had any homosexual tendencies. Sitora Yusufiy spoke to CNN on Tuesday from Denver. She says: "When we had gotten married, he confessed to me about his past ... that he very much enjoyed going to clubs and the nightlife, and there was a lot of pictures of him. ... I feel like it's a side of him or a part of him that he lived, but probably didn't want everybody to know about." The comments follow reports from customers at the gay nightclub that shooter Omar Mateen was seen there regularly. One told The Associated Press that Mateen tried to pick up men there. Asked whether she thinks her ex-husband was gay, Yusufiy said: "I don't know. He never personally or physically made any indications while we were together of that. But he did feel very strongly about homosexuality." She says it's possible he hid feelings about being gay. The couple were married in 2009 and divorced two years later. She has said he was abusive. ___ 9:30 a.m. Three Democrats in Congress say it was "unacceptable" that gay and bisexual men weren't able to donate blood after the shooting at a gay Orlando nightclub. As hundreds rushed to blood banks after the shooting, rumors spread that no one would be turned away. However, the FDA bars blood donations from men who have had sex with a man in the previous year. Illinois Rep. Mike Quigley's office issued a statement calling for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to "lift this prejudicial ban." Quigley is the vice-chair of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus. California Rep. Barbara Lee and Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin also signed the statement. They say the Orlando shooting shows "how crucial it is for FDA to develop better blood donor policies that are based on science and on individual risk factors." ___ 7:40 a.m. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh (jay) Johnson says Republican Donald Trump's proposal for a ban on immigration from countries with terrorist histories is impractical. While declining to name Trump, Johnson condemned "overly simplistic suggestions" for dealing with the violence. Appearing on ABC's "Good Morning America," Johnson defended President Barack Obama against Trump's charge that Obama has been too passive on the issue. Johnson said that "I know from working with him for seven years that the president's No. 1 priority is the protection of Americans." He added that authorities throughout the government continually reassess whether their strategy to combat this violence needs to be changed. Johnson told ABC that protecting U.S. from attack is increasingly complicated in an era of "self-radicalization." He said "there's no indication" the Orlando attack was "terrorist-directed." ___ 7:25 a.m. Officials with an agency that collects blood donations across much of Florida continue to urge people to give blood in the wake of the Orlando nightclub massacre. Potential donors are asked to make appointments at their local blood banks. OneBlood officials posted videos on Facebook showing snacks and beverages donated for people waiting in long lines to give blood. Spokeswoman Stephanie Zaurin says donors are coming "in record numbers." U.S. Food and Drug Administration spokeswoman Tara Goodin said in an email to The Associated Press that the Interorganizational Disaster Task Force met Sunday and ensured that all immediate needs for blood were met. Goodwin said the agency appreciated the widespread desire to donate blood after the shooting at Pulse. She said scheduling appointments to donate blood "will help replenish the blood supply in an organized manner, without overwhelming the system." __ 7:10 a.m. As they got back to work after the Sunday nightclub massacre, TV's late-night hosts faced the challenge of how to acknowledge it. As in past tragedies, the jokesters shifted gears. Several opened their shows with apologies for departing from their customary monologues, instead voicing shock and sorrow. "The Daily Show" host Trevor Noah pointed out that President Barack Obama has hosted 12 state dinners but 16 mass-shooting addresses. Noah raised the possibility that, without reasonable gun control, Obama should begin preparing Speech No. 17. "The Late Show" host Stephen Colbert bemoaned "a national script" that seems to guide a nonproductive response to shootings. He declared that love could help Americans change that script. Conan O'Brien, while noting that he had made a career-long policy of keeping political opinions to himself, expressed bewilderment that anyone is allowed to buy a semi-automatic assault rifle. He said, "These are weapons of war and they have no place in civilian life." ___ 6:50 a.m. The office of the U.N. human rights chief is decrying "insufficient gun control" in the United States and urging its leaders "to live up to its obligations to protect its citizens." In the wake of a gunman's deadly attack on a Florida nightclub, Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein criticized "irresponsible pro-gun propaganda" in the U.S. claiming that firearms make society safer, "when all evidence points to the contrary." He questioned the ease with which people in the U.S. can obtain firearms and assault weapons like one used in Sunday's attack. Citing a U.N. report on firearms in April, Zeid pointed to examples of how control of firearms in many countries led to a "dramatic reduction in violent crime." Office spokesman Rupert Colville told reporters Tuesday in Geneva: "The problem is the guns." ___ 5:20 a.m. Jim Van Horn said he was a frequent patron at Orlando's Pulse night club. He said another "regular" at the Florida gay bar was Omar Mateen, the man whose shooting rampage left 49 dead and dozens more wounded early Sunday in the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. Speaking to The Associated Press late Monday, 71-year-old Van Horn says he saw Mateen trying to pick up men at the club. Van Horn said he met Mateen once. He said the younger man was telling him about his ex-wife. Van Horn says some friends then called him away and told him they didn't want him talking to Mateen because "they thought he was a strange person." Despite Mateen's pledge of support to the Islamic State, other possible explanations emerged, including questions of whether he was conflicted about his sexuality. His ex-wife said he suffered from mental illness. And his Afghan-immigrant father suggested he may have acted out of anti-gay hatred. ___ 3:15 a.m. Thousands in Orlando are mourning 49 people killed inside a gay nightclub as federal investigators examine possible motives for the gunman who committed the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. The White House and the FBI said 29-year-old Omar Mateen, an American born Muslim, appears to be a "homegrown extremist" who had touted support not just for the Islamic State, but other radical groups that are its enemies. Meanwhile, Mateen's ex-wife says he suffered from mental illness. And his Afghan-immigrant father says his son got angry recently about seeing two men kiss. Meanwhile, thousands gathered Monday night in downtown Orlando for a vigil to support victims and survivors of the Pulse nightclub shooting on the lawn of Orlando's main performing arts venue. Kelli Cantu 24, left and Soe Aponte, 23, of Orlando become emotional Tuesday, June 14, 2016, as they visit a growing memorial at the The Dr. Phillips Center for the victims of the mass shooting at the Pulse Nightclub. (Red Huber/Orlando Sentinel via AP) ** LEESBURG OUT, LADY LAKE OUT , DAYTONA BEACH NEWS JOURNAL OUT , TV OUT, MAGS OUT, NO SALES ** President Barack Obama speaks at the Treasury Department in Washington, Tuesday, June 14, 2016, after meeting with his National Security Council to get updates on the investigation into the attack in Orlando, Florida and review efforts to degrade and destroy ISIL. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) Rhonda Rodeffer, right, walks with her daughter Kennedy, 4, as they visit a makeshift memorial for the victims of a mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub Tuesday, June 14, 2016, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/David Goldman) This undated image shows Omar Mateen, who authorities say killed dozens of people inside the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., on Sunday, June 12, 2016. The gunman opened fire inside the crowded gay nightclub before dying in a gunfight with SWAT officers, police said. (MySpace via AP) This undated image shows Omar Mateen, who authorities say killed dozens of people inside the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., on Sunday, June 12, 2016. The gunman opened fire inside the crowded gay nightclub before dying in a gunfight with SWAT officers, police said. (MySpace via AP) A rainbow appears behind the U.S. flag flying at half-staff on top of the Tacoma Dome, Monday, June 13, 2016, in Tacoma, Wash. Flags across the state were at half-staff Monday to honor the victims of a mass shooting early Sunday at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) Ronny Torres, right, is comforted by Zaid Hinds, as they visit a makeshift memorial for the victims of a mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub Monday, June 13, 2016, in Orlando, Fla. Hinds and Torres lost 12 friends in the shooting. (AP Photo/David Goldman) Angel Colon, a victim of the Pulse nightclub shooting, speaks about his experience at a news conference at the Orlando Regional Medical Center Tuesday, June 14, 2016, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux) Angel Colon, front second from left, a victim of the Pulse nightclub shooting, speaks about his experience while surrounded by family members at a news conference at the Orlando Regional Medical Center Tuesday, June 14, 2016, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux) Pakistani officer dies of wounds from Afghan border clashes PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) A Pakistan army major wounded in cross-border clashes near Afghanistan died of his wounds at a military hospital on Tuesday morning, the military said. The death of Maj. Ali Jawad Khan was the second fatality from the artillery exchanges at the Torkham crossing on the Afghan-Pakistan border that erupted late Sunday. The clashes have killed an Afghan border guard and left 18 wounded on both sides. Pakistan's army chief Gen. Raheel Sharif joined Khan's family and relatives for his funeral service in Peshawar later Tuesday. TV footage showed Sharif praying for Khan, whose body was returned to his southwestern hometown of Quetta for burial. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also paid a tribute to Khan, saying he sacrificed his life in defense of his country. Pakistan and Afghanistan have blamed one another for the violence. The Torkham crossing has been closed since the violence erupted and tensions have escalated between the two neighbors. Shekib Mostaghni, spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said "Pakistan broke the agreement, which was accepted by both governments" and opened fire on Afghan security forces. Afghanistan does not recognize the present boundary, the so-called Durand Line, as an international border, and has denounced Pakistan's plans to erect a fence at the crossing. Pakistan army says it is constructing a gate on its own side of the border as a necessary measure to check for unwanted and illegal movement. On Monday, Islamabad summoned Afghanistan's charge d'affaires, Syed Abdul Nasir Yousufi, to complain about the incident. Last month, the Torkham crossing was closed over a similar incident and reopened following a meeting between Sharif and Afghan Ambassador Omar Zakhilwal. __ Maldives opposition wants election under interim gov't COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) A newly formed opposition alliance said Tuesday it will seek to oust the Maldives's president and form an interim government to ensure elections scheduled in 2018 will be free and fair. An interim administration is crucial to restore democracy and to "protect the many people being persecuted," Ahmed Naseem, a member of the so-called shadow government in exile. "The primary objective of the Maldives United Opposition is to strive for the removal from power of the dictator in Maldives, through all legal and lawful means, and pave the way for a transitional administration as soon as possible," Naseem said. The Indian Ocean tourist destination has a history of being governed by autocratic rulers, and many opponents of President Yameen Abdul Gayoom are in exile or have been jailed. The opposition says all of the country's independent institutions, such as the police, judiciary and bureaucracy, are under Gayoom's control. He also has filled the elections commission with his activists, which undermines its independence and risks the trustworthiness of the electronic voting he wants to introduce, according to Naseem. The government of the Maldives had no immediate comment. The opposition parties formed their alliance earlier this month in Britain, where its leaders are exiled. Leading the alliance are Maldives' former president Mohamed Nasheed and Gayoom's ex-deputy Mohamed Jameel. Others in the alliance are supporters of Gayoom's former defense minister Mohamed Nazim, another former vice president Ahmed Adeeb and opposition party leader Sheik Imran Abdulla, all of whom are in jail. Nasheed was sentenced to 13 years in jail last year but was given asylum in Britain after traveling there for back surgery. Nazim is serving an 11-year jail term for possessing a firearm, and Adeeb was sentenced to 25 years in prison last week on two counts of terrorism charges, including an assassination attempt on Gayoom. All these convictions have been decried for a lack of due process. Nasheed won the country's first multiparty election in 2008, defeating Gayoom's half-brother Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who had ruled the country from 1978. Nasheed, however, resigned within four years of his presidency amid public protests for ordering the military to detain a sitting judge. Bahrain suspends main Shiite opposition party amid crackdown DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) Bahrain suspended the country's largest Shiite opposition group in a surprise court hearing Tuesday, intensifying its crackdown on dissent five years after Arab Spring protests rocked the island kingdom. The Al-Wefaq opposition group has been suspended before amid turmoil over the protests and lingering unrest. The small Shiite-majority island off the coast of Saudi Arabia is ruled by a Sunni monarchy, which has imprisoned several activists and deported others. A statement from the Justice and Islamic Affairs Ministry carried on the state-run Bahrain News Agency accused Al-Wefaq of creating "a new generation that carries the spirit of hatred," and of having links with "sectarian and extremist political parties that adopt terrorism." It said a court in Manama ordered the party suspended and its funds frozen. FILE- In this Jan. 3, 2015 file photo, a masked Bahraini anti-government protester holds a picture of jailed Shiite cleric Sheik Ali Salman, the head of the opposition al-Wefaq political association, as riot police fire tear gas canisters during clashes in Bilad Al Qadeem, Bahrain. On Tuesday, June, 14, 2016, Bahrain said it has suspended all activities by Al-Wefaq, the largest Shiite opposition political group, and frozen its assets amid a widening crackdown on dissent, five years after the countrys Arab Spring protests. A statement from the Justice and Islamic Affairs Ministry carried on the state-run Bahrain News Agency said a court made the decision to suspend Al-Wefaq to safeguard the security of the kingdom. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali, File) Abdulla al-Shamlawi, the lawyer who represented Al-Wefaq in court, denied all the allegations. He said he was served the court papers only Tuesday morning for the hearing and had to argue to be allowed to offer any sort of rebuttal. He said the complaint alleged Al-Wefaq had damaged Bahrain's national security since its inception in 2001 and also included allegations about it causing unrest during the 2011 protests. "It was out of the blue," al-Shamlawi told The Associated Press. "They say Al-Wefaq is the sole danger to national security." He said the court set an Oct. 6 hearing to decide whether to "liquidate" the party meaning the island's biggest opposition group could be entirely dismantled. He said Al-Wefaq "presumably" would appeal the court's ruling, though the order suspending the party would stand unless an appeals court acts to lift it. By late Tuesday afternoon, police had surrounded Al-Wefaq's headquarters and took down its banners and posters while carrying away material inside, witnesses said. In May, a Bahraini appeals court more than doubled a prison sentence for Al-Wefaq's secretary-general, Sheikh Ali Salman. Salman now faces nine years behind bars, up from an earlier four, following his conviction last year on charges that included incitement and insulting the Interior Ministry. Prosecutors meanwhile announced Tuesday that they'd launched investigations into three Shiite Islamist organizations and seized their assets on money-laundering allegations. The sudden court case and investigations came a day after authorities detained Nabeel Rajab, a prominent activist and the president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. Rajab, whom King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa previously pardoned over health concerns, faces a charge of spreading "false news," lawyer Mohammed al-Jishi said on Twitter. Al-Jishi did not respond to requests for comment. State Department spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. was "deeply troubled" by the decision to suspend Al-Wefaq and urged Bahrain to reconsider. He also expressed concern over Rajab's detention and the extended sentence for Salman. "Collectively, these actions divert Bahrain from dialogue necessary to ensure its security and stability," Kirby said in a statement. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is "concerned about the re-arrest" of Rajab, his spokesman said. Ban "reiterates the right of people to the peaceful exercise of their freedoms of expression, peaceful assembly and association in Bahrain and everywhere," Stephane Dujarric told reporters. Zainab al-Khawaja, another prominent activist, fled to Denmark earlier this month after being released from prison, fearing she would be detained again. The 2011 demonstrations called for greater political freedoms on the island, which is home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet. The government crushed the protests with the help of troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Since then, the island has seen low-level unrest, protests and attacks on police. Other prominent opposition figures and human rights activists remain imprisoned. Some have been stripped of their citizenship and deported. In a speech Monday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, said at least 250 people lost their citizenship in Bahrain in recent years "because of their alleged disloyalty to the interests of the kingdom." Rights groups say Bahrain refused to allow activists to leave the country to attend the Geneva conference where al-Hussein spoke. The raids appear to have been timed to serve as a snub of the U.N. meeting. Tuesday's court decision shows Bahrain "is bulldozing its civil society," said Sayed Ahmed al-Wadaei, the director of advocacy at the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy. "Bahrain is only reforming itself into a state of silence and terror," al-Wadaei said in a statement. ___ Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellap . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/jon-gambrell . FILE- In this Jan. 18, 2012 file photo, an anti-government protester stands in front of riot police while photographing other demonstrators in Manama, Bahrain. On Tuesday, June, 14, 2016, Bahrain said it has suspended all activities by Al-Wefaq, the largest Shiite opposition political group, and frozen its assets amid a widening crackdown on dissent, five years after the countrys Arab Spring protests. A statement from the Justice and Islamic Affairs Ministry carried on the state-run Bahrain News Agency said a court made the decision to suspend Al-Wefaq to safeguard the security of the kingdom. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali, File) FILE- In this Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2015 file photo, Nabeel Rajab, one of Bahrain's best-known human rights activists, walks toward the courthouse to attend his appeal hearing in Manama, Bahrain. A prominent activist in Bahrain has been detained by authorities after a raid on his home. The family of Nabeel Rajab and an activist group, Human Rights First, say he was taken into custody early on Monday morning.(AP Photo/Hasan Jamali, File) FILE- In this Thursday, May 14, 2015 file photo, Bahraini anti-government protesters hold up images of jailed human rights activist Nabeel Rajab during a solidarity protest outside his home in Bani Jamra, Bahrain. A prominent activist in Bahrain has been detained by authorities after a raid on his home. The family of Nabeel Rajab and an activist group, Human Rights First, say he was taken into custody early on Monday morning.(AP Photo/Hasan Jamali, File) FILE -- In this Oct. 21, 2012 file photo, Bahraini opposition activist Zainab al-Khawaja, left, gestures as she shouts "God is greater than any tyrant," while being arrested by police officers in Eker, Bahrain. The prominent activist says she's left Bahrain with her two children for Denmark after being recently released from prison. Zainab al-Khawaja is the daughter of well-known activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, who is serving a life sentence over his role in Arab Spring-inspired protests by its Shiite majority in 2011. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali, File) Q&A: Tortured Chinese lawyer on his faith, hopes _ and teeth BEIJING (AP) In a rare interview, Chinese dissident lawyer Gao Zhisheng talked with The Associated Press on the eve of the launch in Hong Kong of his memoir, using a messaging app to circumvent the constant surveillance he lives under. Gao, whose accounts of torture while in the custody of Chinese authorities triggered international criticism of Beijing, discussed his efforts to circumvent his minders and the faith and hope that sustain him. He also described a long-standing dental problem that he says he can't fix because the security services are blocking treatment. Some edited excerpts from Monday night's interview: The books, titled Stand Up China 2017 - China's Hope: What I Learned During Five Years as a Political Prisoner, written by one of China's most prominent human rights lawyers, Gao Zhisheng, are displayed at a news conference in Hong Kong, Tuesday, June 14, 2016. The book is a memoir by Gao in which he details the torture he says he endured while detained and jailed as well as three years of being held in solitary confinement. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung) AP: How is your health now? Have you been able to see doctors, or access medical treatment? GAO: I still have problems with my teeth. This place has become the front line of my personal battleground against the government. My relatives tried to take me three times to see a dentist, but we were sent back by local thugs. I am under surveillance all the time. ___ AP: How do you communicate with the outside world? How do you make ends meet? GAO: I do not have a computer, and of course I don't have access to the internet. I have been using cellphones I bought three different cards, but the numbers were halted as soon as (the minders) found out I was using them. I cannot work, but fortunately I don't need to worry about a livelihood, thanks to my brother, whose land is very fertile. ___ AP: In your book, you mention your faith and your religion, Christianity. What role does your faith play in your life? GAO: Every time I've been in trouble, my religion was always there as a source of strength. All the difficulties I've experienced have drawn me closer to my faith and religion. I am a person of faith; a person of faith is never lonely, never weak. I think God gives me a lot of strength. ___ AP: What are your wishes at the moment? Do you wish to reunite with your family? Would you choose to leave China if you could? GAO: Of course I wish to reunite with my family; I also wish to be able to work again as a lawyer. But I know that as long as the Communist Party is in power, all these things will not be possible. My ultimate wish is that democracy and a constitutional political system will be established in China, so we can all live in a normal country. I think change is about to happen here. I know this is not easy to understand, but staying here is the price we need to pay in order to be able to be part of the change. War record of Vietnam university's US chairman angers some HANOI, Vietnam (AP) The limits of forgiving and forgetting are being tested by the former U.S. senator picked to be board chairman of the new Fulbright University Vietnam: Bob Kerrey, who has described how his squad killed civilians including women and children during the Vietnam War. It's an unusually sensitive point in a relationship between two nations that in many ways have put the war behind them. While a top Vietnamese Communist Party official has expressed support for Kerrey's appointment, and many people interviewed by The Associated Press were pragmatic or forgiving, others find his role upsetting. Ton Nu Thi Ninh, a former Vietnamese ambassador to the European Union, wrote in an article published this month in the state-run online newspaper Zing that when she learned of the appointment she was "extremely stunned and could not understand." In this May 25, 2016 photo made available by the U.S. State Department, former U.S. Sen. Bob Kerrey, center, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the new Fulbright University Vietnam, is presented with the school's license as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry applauds during a ceremony at the Rex Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The limits of forgiving and forgetting are being tested by the former U.S. senator picked to be board chairman of the new Fulbright University Vietnam: Bob Kerrey, who has described how his squad killed civilians including women and children during the Vietnam War. (US State Department via AP) Whether Kerrey truly felt remorse for his wartime actions was something only he could know, she wrote, but "taking a leadership role in the university with ambitions like Fulbright University should not be considered to atone for the wrongdoing in the past." Ninh declined to comment further when contacted by telephone in Ho Chi Minh City. Fulbright University Vietnam, partially funded by the U.S. government, will be the first private nonprofit university in the country. Hoped-for corporate sponsorship and planned programs in management and public policy hint strongly at a capitalist academic agenda, but this is no cause for controversy, because the Communist Party has jettisoned most aspects of a command economy for the type of freewheeling entrepreneurship that is a hallmark of modern Asian culture. During a visit to Vietnam last month, President Barack Obama announced the university would open this fall in Ho Chi Minh City. For some, the announcement of the university's board chairman sent old animosities rushing back. Kerrey, a former Democratic governor and senator from Nebraska and former president of The New School in New York, was a Navy SEAL during the war. He lost part of a leg in a combat engagement for which he received the Medal of Honor. Earlier in his war service, on Feb. 25, 1969, he led a seven-man squad in a nighttime raid on Thanh Phong, in Vietnam's Mekong Delta, to eliminate Vietcong officials. They ended up shooting dead at least a dozen women and children. Those details came to light only in early 2001, shortly after Kerrey retired from the Senate. Kerrey and five members of his squad issued a statement saying the civilians were caught in crossfire as the men fought their way out of the village. One member of his squad and two surviving villagers painted a darker picture, saying the civilians were executed to ensure the squad could make a safe exit without the local Vietcong being alerted. In his 2002 book "When I Was a Young Man," Kerrey said, "I saw women and children in front of us being hit and cut to pieces. I heard their cries and other voices in the darkness as we made our retreat to the canal. "The young, innocent man who went to Vietnam died that night. After that night, I no longer had illusions or objectivity about the war. I had become someone I did not recognize." Controversy over Kerrey's revelation flared for a while, then eased off. The United States had little inclination to recall such old battles when facing the challenges of 9/11. Fulbright University Vietnam had been gestating since 2013 and finally cleared all hurdles to be inaugurated on May 25 this year in a ceremony attended by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, a former Senate colleague of Kerrey's and fellow Vietnam vet. In remarks at the ceremony, Kerry called the war "an indelible but an increasingly distant memory." "And for most, it's not a memory at all," he noted. "Certainly, the students who are going to enroll at this university are far more interested in plugging into the world economy than in being stuck in the past or reliving memories of events that took place long before they were born." Though news of Kerrey's appointment set off criticism among some Vietnamese in the press and on social media, Nguyen Thi Ha, a 23-year-old third-year university student in Hanoi, shares Kerry's sentiment. "It's a desire for most students including myself to study in a university that offers good education with affordable expenses," she said in an interview with The Associated Press. "We will not forget the past, but the past should be put aside and look forward to build better future for both countries." Kerrey said last week in an interview with NPR's "Here and Now" that he will stay on as chairman. "The secretary of the party in Ho Chi Minh City fully supports the effort, and my measurement is, if I were to step down it would hurt the project," he said. Nguyen Minh Thuyet, former vice chairman of the culture and education committee of the National Assembly, told the AP that Vietnamese "should look at Bob Kerrey's case in the spirit of reconciliation and place the national interests and the friendship between the two countries above the hatred of the past." "We do not forget the past, but we should not allow the past to impede our future," he said, calling the appointment and the public's reaction to it "a test for reconciliation between Vietnam and the United States." Dinh La Thang, secretary of the ruling Communist Party organization in Ho Chi Minh City and one of the 19 members of its all-powerful Politburo, wrote that it was "brave of Bob Kerrey to accept this position, knowing full well the reaction it would generate." In a statement carried on many state media outlets June 4, Thang said Kerrey wants to share "the wisdom gained during a lifetime of public service." He urged Vietnamese to be "enlightened and guided by our ancestors' traditions of self-respect, compassion, forgiveness, and faith in the future," and to "give Bob Kerrey one more chance to experience the greatness of the country on which he, out of ignorance, once inflicted great pain." Thang's statement could be taken as the definitive word on the matter but in an indication of how sensitive the issue has become, the online version of it was removed from state media websites after a few days. ___ AP writer Grant Peck in Bangkok contributed to this report. FILE - In this March 8, 2012 file photo, Nebraska Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, Bob Kerrey speaks in Omaha, Neb. The limits of forgiving and forgetting are being tested by the former U.S. senator picked to be board chairman of the new Fulbright University Vietnam: Bob Kerrey, who has described how his squad killed civilians including women and children during the Vietnam War. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik,File) In this May 25, 2016 photo made available by the U.S. State Department, Thomas Valley, left, Director of the Vietnam Program at Harvard Kennedy School of Government and former U.S. Senator Bob Kerrey, center, now Chairman of the Board of Trustees for Fulbright University Vietnam, listen as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry addresses attendees during a ceremony to mark the licensing of the U.S. supported University at the Rex Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The limits of forgiving and forgetting are being tested by the former U.S. senator picked to be board chairman of the new Fulbright University Vietnam: Bob Kerrey, who has described how his squad killed civilians including women and children during the Vietnam War. (US State Department via AP) EU envoy to Turkey resigns after less than a year ISTANBUL (AP) The European Union's top envoy to Turkey has resigned, less than a year into the job, after falling out with officials in Ankara at a critical juncture in EU-Turkey relations. The EU delegation in Ankara said Tuesday that Ambassador Hansjoerg Haber, a German career diplomat, was leaving his post, without giving any reason. The spokeswoman for EU foreign affairs and security policy confirmed he would leave the position on Aug. 1. "All the necessary steps are being taken to swiftly appoint a new ambassador," Maja Kocijancic said. FILE - In this Friday, Oct. 24, 2008 file photo, ambassador Hansjoerg Haber, the then Head of the European Union Monitoring Mission in Georgia, addresses the media at the EU council headquarters in Brussels. The European Unions top envoy to Turkey has resigned, his office said Tuesday June 14, 2016, less than a year into the job. The EU delegation in Ankara confirmed that Ambassador Hansjoerg Haber was leaving his post, without giving any reason. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe, File) Turkey's recently appointed minister for EU affairs, Omer Celik, said there was no point in Haber continuing to serve in Turkey because he had caused offense at the highest level. "The first rule that a diplomat must certainly know and abide by is to respect the values of the countries they serve in as well as ... to respect the office of the president," said Celik. "He violated those two basic rules." Haber had angered Turkish government officials last month after he criticized Turkey's reluctance to meet the remaining criteria for its citizens to benefit from a visa-free deal, and reportedly quoted a German expression, "to start like a Turk and finish like a German." He was called to Turkey's foreign ministry and asked to explain his words, which evoked negative cultural stereotypes. Haber was previously posted in Ankara between 1993 and 1996 as a German diplomat. He returned as head of the EU delegation to Ankara in September 2015. The veteran diplomat's resignation comes at a sensitive and turbulent time in EU-Turkish relations as the bloc recently brokered a high-stakes deal with Turkey to curb illegal migration. The agreement called for irregular migrants who arrived in the Greek islands from Turkey after March 20 to be sent back to Turkey. The EU, in turn, is to resettle one Syrian refugee from Turkey to the bloc for each Syrian that Greece returns to Turkey. Turkey also stands to receive up to 6 billion euros ($6.71 billion), visa-free travel and fast track negotiations on EU accession. Visa-free travel to Europe, however, is conditioned on Turkey amending its anti-terrorism laws among other criteria. That requirement has proved a sticking point and the subject of sharp exchanges between EU and Turkish officials. Ankara argues it cannot narrow its laws when it faces the twin threats of Islamic State and Kurdish rebels. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Tuesday stressed the laws would not be amended. "Changing the anti-terror law can never, under any condition, ever, be a point of discussion for us," he said. Brussels worries that the existing legislation is too sweeping and plays a role in restricting dissent and media freedom. ____ The Latest: Implosion levels tower of Vegas' Riviera casino LAS VEGAS (AP) The Latest on the demolition of the tower of the Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas Tuesday morning (all times local): 3 a.m. The tallest tower of the Riviera Hotel and Casino has crumbled in a controlled demolition that brought an end to one of the last relics of Las Vegas' mobster past. FILE - In this May 4, 2015, file photo, traffic passes in front of the Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nev. The Las Vegas Strip's first high-rise that was as famous for its mobster past as its Hollywood personification of Sin City's mobster past will officially exit the scene Tuesday, June 14, with a cinematic implosion complete with fireworks. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP, File) LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL OUT MANDATORY CREDIT The implosion early Tuesday of the 24-story Monaco Tower comes 61 years after it opened on the Las Vegas Strip. "The Riv" joins other storied properties like the Dunes, Sands, Desert Inn and Stardust as only a memory. It opened in 1955, and closed last year. Liberace was the first headliner. Dean Martin was once part-owner. It was a backdrop for the Rat Pack original "Ocean's 11" in 1960; the James Bond film "Diamonds Are Forever;" and the 1995 movie "Casino." It was also featured in "The Hangover" in 2009. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is clearing the 26 acres to make room to expand the Las Vegas Convention Center. The Monte Carlo Tower is scheduled to be imploded in August. ___ 12:30 a.m. LAS VEGAS (AP) The Riviera Hotel and Casino will officially exit the scene early Tuesday with a cinematic implosion. "The Riv" was the Las Vegas Strip's first high-rise that was as famous for its mobster ties as its Hollywood personification of Sin City's past. It closed a year ago after 60 years on the northern end of the Strip. The shuttered casino's owners, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, are spending $42 million to level the 13-building campus. Officials estimate that the Monaco Tower will go down before dawn Tuesday, and the Monte Carlo Tower will be imploded in August. The Riviera's 15-to 20-seconds-long implosion will mark the latest kiss goodbye to what's left among the relics to Vegas' mobster past. FILE--In this May 22, 1955, file photo, the Rivirera Hotel, nine stories high, is under construction on Las Vegas' strip. The Las Vegas Strip's first high-rise that was as famous for its mobster past as its Hollywood personification of Sin City's mobster past will officially exit the scene Tuesday, June 14, with a cinematic implosion complete with fireworks.(AP Photo/Harold P. Matosian, file) The Latest: Call for UK to remain, become more active in EU LONDON (AP) The Latest news on Britain's June 23 vote on whether to leave the European Union (all times local): 12:25 p.m. The chairman of the group of nations using the euro is urging Britain not just to remain in the European Union but to become a more active member of the bloc, as it used to be. Ukip leader Nigel Farage, left, poses with local Ramsgate taxi driver Chris Bissett during his party's referendum bus tour in Thanet, Kent, England, Monday June 13, 2016. Polls suggest the June 23 vote on whether to leave the 28-nation bloc could go either way. (Gareth Fuller/PA Photos via AP) UNITED KINGDOM OUT Eurogroup chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem told EU lawmakers on Tuesday that the U.K. has "become more and more passive, defensive" in recent years. He said: "I would really like to see them become once again an active member, in the forefront of designing and changing and improving what we're doing here." Dijsselbloem said that "they once used to be." His remarks come before Britons are due to vote in a June 23 referendum on whether to leave the 28-nation EU. Feds Put FedEx on Trial for Illegal Drug Delivery FedEx is on trial in federal court in California for delivering drugs, among other charges. The delivery giant is accused of knowingly dropping off millions of packages from illicit internet pharmacies, and the prosecution in its opening statement likened the package distributor to a part-time drug dealing operation. Of course, FedEx can't be held responsible for what people mailed if it did not know that internet pharmacies were delivering illegal items. But federal prosecutors say that they have evidence that FedEx not only knew about the illegal drug deliveries, but worked to keep this type of business and to ensure customers did not switch to the competition, according to Courthouse News Service. Relax, It's FedEx The shipping giant was indicted in 2014 on controlled substance charges and for conspiring to distribute misbranded drugs and launder money. This week, prosecutors are proceeding with a bench trial that is expected to last two months and will be heard and decided by Senior US District Court Judge Charles Breyer in federal court in San Francisco. Assistant U.S. Attorney John Hemann opened the trial with a statement, saying, "This case is about a prolific drug courier that delivered millions and millions of packages over a 10-year period that contained illegal drugs. It is surprising because of the defendants' single-minded effort to make sure that they were paid before their customers were arrested." FedEx executives reportedly knew that the internet pharmacies were under federal scrutiny and facing criminal accusations. Nonetheless, they worked with these entities and even squeezed them for payment before arrest. Emails of FedEx employees will prove that the shipping giant knew it was dealing with entities engaged in illegal activity, the prosecution said. UPS Faced Similar Charges UPS, another delivery giant, faced similar allegations in 2013 and settled with the feds. Reportedly, UPS paid $40 million to settle claims that it delivered drugs for internet pharmacies that ship to customers without valid prescriptions. But FedEx has chosen to go to trial on these charges, which is a risk considering how much is at stake financially and in terms of the company reputation. It is facing up to $1.6 billion in fines, which is also a good reason to fight at trial. The company's attorney, Cristina Arguedas, argued in her opening statement that FedEx helped investigators crack down on illegal pharmacies, and was never told by the US Drug Enforcement Agency not to ship for a customer. Any pharmacy it dealt with had DEA registrations, even if it was shut down and then re-opened, she said. FedEx denies all charges. Talk to a Lawyer If you're concerned with the legality of your business operations, or those of your customers, talk to a lawyer. Get guidance from reliable counsel. Follow FindLaw for Consumers on Google+. NATO ministers agree to deploy 4 battalions to eastern flank BRUSSELS (AP) NATO on Tuesday reinforced its defenses against Russia from the Baltic to the Black Sea, delivering what NATO's chief called a clear message to Moscow that "if any of our allies is attacked the whole alliance will respond as one." Jens Stoltenberg, the alliance secretary-general, told a news conference that NATO defense ministers agreed to deploy four multinational battalions on a rotational basis to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. He said the ministers also agreed on "tailored measures" to enhance "defense and deterrence" in the Black Sea region, including the advance stockpiling of equipment and supplies. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg speaks during a media conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Monday, June 13, 2016. NATOs chief says the alliance will agree this week to send four multinational battalions to the Baltic states and Poland to boost their defenses against Russia. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo) "NATO is an alliance that delivers," Stoltenberg said.. Earlier, as the defense ministers began the first of two days of meetings at NATO headquarters, the secretary-general called "defending our territory and protecting our people" NATO's primary task. The ministers' meetings are meant to set the stage for NATO's summit next month from July 8-9 in Warsaw. On Tuesday and Wednesday, ministers are also expected to agree to cooperate more closely with the European Union in security affairs, discuss how to improve NATO cyberdefense, intelligence-sharing and decision-making to face current challenges, and meet with Ukraine's defense minister. Without disclosing details, Stoltenberg also said "we will establish a framework to deal with threats and challenges from the south" NATO speak for the Islamic extremist violence that has become widespread in the Middle East and North Africa. The U.S., Britain and Germany have already committed to spearheading the development of three of the four battalions earmarked for Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. A senior U.S. official said Canadian leaders are currently meeting to discuss the possibility that they would coordinate the development of the fourth battalion. Canadian defense spokeswoman Ashley Lemire said that, "Unfortunately, we are not in a position to provide any additional details at this time. As a committed NATO ally, Canada is actively considering options to effectively contribute to NATO's strengthened defense and deterrence posture." U.S. officials said it's not yet clear whether the Pentagon will use troops currently in Europe to form its battalion or bring in others. U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter told reporters Monday that the U.S. may well contribute most or all of the 800-1,000 troops needed for the unit. British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon told reporters that in early 2017 Britain will deploy one of the "framework battalions." "That's around 500 British personnel rotating on a continuous basis," Fallon said. He said other countries will contribute to the multinational unit, including France, which will chip in a company. Additionally, he said, Britain will send a company of between 150 and 200 troops, plus vehicles and equipment, to train and operate alongside Polish soldiers. Fallon called the British actions "a very clear message that we are committed to defend the eastern flank. NATO is strong and united. ...We are ready to respond to any threat." Stoltenberg said defense ministers also discussed establishing a Romanian-led multinational "framework brigade" of ground troops to help defend the Black Sea area. In a statement, NATO deputy spokeswoman Carmen Romero said that the proposed unit, with a Romanian headquarters and a Romanian and Bulgarian battalion, would serve as a framework for training and exercises with other NATO member countries' militaries. The brigade's strength was expected to be roughly 3,000-5,000. NATO's latest actions, said one senior U.S. defense official, are key to putting some teeth behind talks with Russia, which have centered on concerns about Moscow's military actions in Crimea and eastern Ukraine. NATO officials also predicted support for a Romanian proposal for a joint training initiative that focuses on specific operational requirements of the southeastern European region and promotes interoperability of NATO forces through training and exercises. Additional proposals are under consideration to increase air and naval defenses in the Black Sea, where a Russian naval fleet based at Sevastopol in Crimea is a major concern, NATO officials say. Speaking to reporters before ministers met, Stoltenberg said that even as NATO reacts to what it sees as a potent security threat from a newly resurgent and unfriendly Moscow, "at the same time we convey a very strong message that we don't seek a confrontation with Russia. We don't want the new Cold War." He said it "is important that we continue to keep channels for political dialogue open, but also military contacts." During their talks in Brussels, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter and his counterparts from Canada and NATO's European members are also expected to consider providing AWACS surveillance planes to support the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State organization in Iraq and Syria, discuss how to support countries in the Middle East and North Africa threatened by extremist violence and assess what NATO can do to assist an EU operation attempting to stop people trafficking in the Mediterranean. ___ Associated Press writer Rob Gillies contributed to this report from Toronto, Canada. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg speaks during a media conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Monday, June 13, 2016. NATOs chief says the alliance will agree this week to send four multinational battalions to the Baltic states and Poland to boost their defenses against Russia. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo) U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, center left, speaks during a meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday, June 14, 2016. NATOs chief says the alliance will agree this week to send four multinational battalions to the Baltic states and Poland to boost their defenses against Russia. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, Pool) Court clears Swede suspected of seeking to fight in Syria STOCKHOLM (AP) A Swedish court has dismissed charges against a 25-year-old Swede who was suspected of traveling to Syria to become a foreign fighter. It was the first case tried since Sweden introduced a travel ban to counter radicalization. The Attunda District Court, north of Stockholm, says the prosecution did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the man intended to join the al-Qaida affiliated Nusra Front. The court said Tuesday that although evidence backed the claims, two of the prosecution's own witnesses cast doubts by telling the court he was headed to Syria to carry out humanitarian work. Complicated picture emerges of Orlando nightclub shooter ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) A complicated picture has emerged of 29-year-old Omar Mateen, who opened fire in a gay Orlando nightclub. The attack left 49 dead and dozens more wounded in the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. ___ CONFLICT WITH SEXUALITY? FILE -- This undated file image shows Omar Mateen, who authorities say killed dozens of people inside the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., on Sunday, June 12, 2016. U.S. authorities say Omar Mateen, the man who carried out the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history, had touted support not just for the Islamic State but also other radical factions that are enemies of the Sunni militant group. He not only professed allegiance to IS but also expressed solidarity with a suicide bomber from the Syrian branch of al-Qaida, which is known as the Nusra Front and which is Islamic States top rival. (MySpace via AP, File) While many have condemned the attack as a hate crime against the gay community, and his own father suggested Mateen may have acted out of anti-gay hatred, reports have surfaced that Mateen himself was a regular there. "He was trying to pick up people. Men," Jim Van Horn, 71, told The Associated Press. "He would walk up to them and then he would maybe put his arm around them or something and maybe try to get them to dance. ... and buy a drink .... That's what people do at gay bars." The FBI is investigating reports that Mateen was a Pulse regular and had used gay dating apps, according to a U.S. official who had been briefed on the investigation but wasn't authorized to discuss it publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. Asked Tuesday whether his son was gay, Mateen's father, Seddique Mateen, replied: 'No. No" ___ BORN IN AMERICA The son of Afghan immigrants, Mateen spent most of his childhood on Florida's Atlantic coast and lived there as an adult, not far from his parents. Born in the New York City borough of Queens in 1986, he moved with his family to the Long Island town of Westbury two years later and then in 1991 to Port Saint Lucie, Florida, about 125 miles southeast of Orlando. ___ JOBS Like many young men, Mateen worked a series of unremarkable jobs after high school. He eventually found stability as a security guard in South Florida. He still held the job when he attacked the nightclub and was killed. ___ CO-WORKER TENSION? A one-time co-worker with security company G4S remembered Mateen as an angry man who used slurs for gay people, blacks, Jews and women, and threatened violence. Daniel Gilroy said Mateen badgered him and sending him dozens of text messages daily, and that he reported Mateen's behavior to his bosses. "I kind of feel a little guilty that I didn't fight harder," Gilroy said. "If I didn't walk away and I fought, then maybe 50 people would still be alive today." Gilroy told The New York Times that Mateen "talked about killing people all the time." Of the massacre, Gilroy said, "I saw it coming." ___ UNSUCCESSFUL MARRIAGE An early marriage faltered. Mateen's ex-wife, Sitora Yusufiy, told reporters she believed he suffered from mental illness. Yusiufiy said she was with Mateen for only four months because he was abusive. They divorced two years after their 2009 marriage. Asked during a CNN interview whether she thinks her ex-husband was gay, Yusufiy said: "I don't know. He never personally or physically made any indications while we were together of that. But he did feel very strongly about homosexuality." She said he acknowledged enjoying clubs and nightlife and that it's possible he hid feelings about being gay. ___ MARRIED AGAIN It's unclear when Mateen married his second wife, Noor Salman, but an Aug. 30, 2013, property deed in Saint Lucie County identified them as a married couple. Family members said the pair had a young son about 3 years old. FBI Director James Comey said the agency was trying to determine whether Mateen had recently scouted Disney World as a potential target, as reported by People.com, which cited an unidentified federal law enforcement source. The report said he visited with his wife. ___ FBI SCRUTINY The FBI became aware of Mateen in 2013 when co-workers reported that he claimed to have family connections to al-Qaida and to be a member of Hezbollah, too, FBI Director James Comey said. The agency conducted a 10-month preliminary investigation, following Mateen, reviewing his communications and questioning him, the FBI chief said. Mateen claimed he made the remarks in anger because co-workers were teasing him and discriminating against him as a Muslim. The FBI eventually closed the case, Comey said. His name surfaced again as part of another investigation into a suicide bomber from the Syrian rebel group Nusra Front. The FBI found Mateen and the man had attended the same mosque and knew each other casually, but the investigation turned up "no ties of any consequence," Comey said. ___ HIS GUNS Mateen bought at least two firearms legally within a week or so before the attack, according to Trevor Velinor of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. He bought them at the St. Lucie Shooting Center. Store owner Ed Henson said Mateen passed a full background check and that if he hadn't bought the guns there, he would've gone somewhere else. Henson said he's sorry this "evil person" bought the guns from his business. ___ HIS APARTMENT Univision News reported that it entered the unlocked home of Mateen and his wife in Fort Pierce after the FBI swept for evidence. Family photos, drawings, blackboard messages, a Quran and books on Islam decorate the apartment. On the living room table was a document listing items investigators removed: 9 mm cartridges, an iPad mini, a Samsung phone, a Dell computer, a CD labeled with Mateen's name. ___ Associated Press writer Eric Tucker contributed from Washington. A 24-year-old investment banking analyst who worked at Goldman Sachs died shortly after completing a triathlon over the weekend. Samuel Fisher, a Harvard University graduate, collapsed after he received a medal for competing in the KIC IT Triathlon in Stamford, Connecticut on Sunday morning. An autopsy is being performed to determine the cause of Fishers death, which is being investigated by police. Samuel Fisher, 24, collapsed and died shortly after he completed a triathlon event in Stamford, Connecticut Paramedics were on scene and began working on Fisher as soon as he collapsed but were unable to revive him, the Stamford Advocate reported. 'They really worked on him very hard,' police Lt Diedrich Hohn told the newspaper. 'I went up there and they did everything they possibly could do for this poor kid. They used electric shock, CPR and medicines. Unfortunately, it was his time.' Fisher, who was competing with colleagues from his New York office as a team-building exercise, was rushed to hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Hohn said Fisher swam nearly a mile before he took a 90-minute rest and waited for his colleagues to complete the bike ride. He completed the 3.2-mile run even though he wasn't supposed to and finished the race with no apparent problems, the newspaper reported. Athletes can participate in the race as an individual or as part of a relay team. Goldman Sachs said in a statement it was deeply saddened by the loss of our colleague Samuel Fisher Fisher collapsed and did not regain consciousness after changing his clothes and receiving his participation medal. 'We have started an investigation. We want to see if it is a medical episode, or it was secondary drowning type thing,' said Hohn. He said someone who inhales too much water could have a life-threatening episode up to two hours later, although such an occurrence is rare. Fisher grew up in the Boston suburb of Newton, Massachusetts, and was a recent graduate of Harvard. When he was at Harvard he was president of the undergraduate steering committee of Harvard Hillel, a center for Jewish students. 'We are reeling and deeply grieving at the news of the sudden passing away of Sam Fisher '15,' said a statement on Harvard Hillel's website. 'Sam's election as President of our Undergraduate Steering Committee at Harvard Hillel was just one indication of the great admiration and affection for him in our community, and of the degree to which he helped to make Harvard Hillel warm and welcoming for others.' After graduating from Harvard, Fisher moved to New York City and began working for Goldman Sachs last July. The company said in a statement it was deeply saddened by the loss of our colleague Samuel Fisher. First held six years ago, the triathlon raises funds and awareness for Kids in Crisis, the states only free, around-the-clock crisis counseling center and emergency shelter for children up to 17. 13-year-old Indiana boy charged in killing of 9-year-old boy INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Prosecutors say a 13-year-old boy is charged in the fatal shooting of a 9-year-old boy last month in suburban Indianapolis. The Indianapolis Star reports (http://indy.st/1ttQ3OI ) that the teenager is charged in the May 27 death of Anthony Harmon Jr. The boy was shot in the face in the kitchen of an apartment in Cumberland and pronounced dead at the scene. Court documents show the 13-year-old will be kept in custody because of the murder charge and to protect him and the community. He has denied the allegations The Marion County prosecutor says in court documents that the case will remain in juvenile court. ___ UNICEF: 9 in 10 children migrants to Italy unaccompanied GENEVA (AP) UNICEF says most of the children migrants who have crossed the Mediterranean Sea from Libya to Italy this year were unaccompanied by adults, making them vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. The children's agency says 92 percent of some 7,600 children who made the dangerous and often deadly crossing between January and May were unaccompanied minors, up from 68 percent in the same span last year, when 4,566 children crossed. Spokeswoman Sarah Crowe told reporters Tuesday in Geneva that most were boys aged 15 to 17, and came from Somalia, Nigeria and Eritrea. She said boys and girls have faced prostitution, pedophilia rings and gangsterism. She said it's unclear why more minors are arriving unaccompanied. Beheading draws outrage but no end in sight for Abu Sayyaf MANILA, Philippines (AP) Enraged by the beheading of a second Canadian hostage by ransom-seeking Abu Sayyaf extremists, Philippine troops pressed a major offensive in the south Tuesday but there was no sign of an end to the small but brutal insurgency that a new president will inherit in about two weeks. With a black Islamic State group-style flag as a backdrop, Abu Sayyaf fighters beheaded Canadian hostage Robert Hall on southern Jolo island on Monday after a ransom deadline passed. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Philippine counterpart, Benigno Aquino III, expressed outrage and vowed to exact justice. Another Canadian, former mining executive John Ridsdel, was beheaded by the militants in April. The fate of two other hostages from Norway and the Philippines who were abducted with Hall and Ridsdel from a small marina on southern Samal Island in September remains unknown, according to the military. FILE - This file image made from undated militant video, shows Canadians Robert Hall, left, and John Ridsdel, right. With a black Islamic State group-style flag as a backdrop, Abu Sayyaf fighters beheaded Canadian hostage Hall on southern Jolo island on Monday, June 13, 2016, after a ransom deadline passed. Enraged by the beheading of a second Canadian hostage by ransom-seeking Abu Sayyaf extremists, Philippine troops pressed a major offensive in the south Tuesday, June 14, 2016, but there was no sign of an end to the small but brutal insurgency that a new president will inherit in about two weeks. (Militant Video via AP Video, File) NO SALES, MANDATORY CREDIT "This latest heinous crime serves to strengthen our government's resolve to put an end to this reign of terror and banditry," Aquino said through his spokesman. In Ottawa, Trudeau said his government is "more committed than ever to working with the government of the Philippines and international partners to pursue those responsible for these heinous acts and bring them to justice, however long it takes." Monday's beheading is the latest tragedy in the volatile mix of poverty, firearms, neglect and lawlessness that has cursed the southern Philippines. The resource-rich region, where foreign and domestic mining, pineapple and banana companies have made fortunes, has been engulfed by Muslim and Marxist insurgencies. The Abu Sayyaf emerged in the early 1990s as an extremist offshoot of a decades-long Muslim separatist rebellion waged by a large group named the Moro National Liberation Front. But the nascent Abu Sayyaf lost its commanders early in combat, sending its mostly rural fighters on a violent path of criminality, banditry and terrorism. The group currently has about 400 fighters split into at least four factions. Aside from support from an informal network of armed groups, the Abu Sayyaf also finds a lifeline among relatives and friends in rural communities who shelter them and provide food, logistics and information when they are pressed by army offensives. Some local officials have also been suspected of providing support, regional military spokesman Maj. Filemon Tan said, explaining why the militants have endured in the mountainous hinterlands despite on-and-off military offensives against them. "There are an extraordinarily large number of troops now trying to find the Abu Sayyaf on Jolo island," Tan said. "The problem really is how to locate them." Early last year, a U.S. military force ended more than a decade of non-combat counterterrorism support, including satellite and drone surveillance, for Filipino troops battling the Abu Sayyaf, as the militants' zeal waned. The underfunded military, one of Asia's most ill-equipped, began focusing instead on external defense as territorial rifts with China in the South China Sea escalated. Under the new circumstances, the Abu Sayyaf sprang back into action with ransom kidnappings of tourists from neighboring Malaysia as well as the southern Philippines, including the Samal island marina where Hall, Ridsdel, Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad and Filipino woman Marites Flor were taken at gunpoint last Sept. 21. Following Ridsdel's beheading on April 25 and Canadian expressions of outrage, Aquino ordered an intensified offensive against the militants. He plans to fly to Jolo, about 960 kilometers (600 miles) south of Manila, this week to impart a sense of urgency in containing the Abu Sayyaf, according to two military officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about details of the trip with the media. One of the officials, a general, said Aquino has made tremendous efforts to end the Abu Sayyaf's brutal presence before he steps down at the end of the month. As things stand, however, the incoming president, crime-busting Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, will have to take over the campaign to end the group's insurrection. ___ Associated Press writer Rob Gillies in Toronto contributed to this report. Philippine National Police Spokesman C/Supt. Wilben Mayor, right, and PNP Crime Laboratory Chief C/Supt. Emmanuel Aranas listen to questions from the media after reading the statement on the beheading of a Canadian hostage Tuesday, June 14, 2016 at Camp Crame in suburban Quezon city northeast of Manila, Philippines. Philippine officials have confirmed that Abu Sayyaf militants beheaded Canadian Robert Hall, the second Canadian hostage to be killed by Abu Sayyaf militants in two months after their demands for a large ransom were not met. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) Martha Stewart is aiming to make her recipes even more fool-proof by delivering them to your door along with all the necessary ingredients. The 74-year-old home goods mogul and cookbook author announced today that she is getting into the fast-growing meal kit business, with her own dinner subscription box service that just launched. 'Subscribers will get a box shipped to their door with Stewart's recipes and all the ingredients needed to cook up the dishes at home, including pre-measured raw meat, fish, vegetables and spices,' she explained. 'It is, I think, the way to cook for the future.' Ta da! Martha Stewart has launched her own meal kit service, Martha & Marley Spoon Don't mess this up! The kits come with pre-measured ingredients and detailed instructions Customers can choose from seven weekly recipes and order as many meals as they'd like The service takes all the guesswork out of cooking since everything is pre-portioned The new venture is a licensing deal with existing meal kit company Marley Spoon. Marley Spoon has now been renamed Martha & Marley Spoon in the U.S. and will tap Stewart's library of thousands of recipes. Already up and running, the site allows shoppers to choose from a list of seven current recipes and order them for the week. Pre-measured ingredients and detailed cooking instructions are then delivered to their door. 'The easy-to-use subscription service provides pre-portioned ingredients from the best local purveyors and growers, along with step-by-step recipes - everything needed to prepare a nutritious and enjoyable meal,' Stewart announced on her blog. Current recipes include crispy chicken thighs with tomatoes, skillet Stroganoff with rice, grilled tofu with chimichurri, and shrimp tortilla soup. Stewart teamed up with existing company Marley Spoon and will be using her own recipes Meals can be ordered for two or a family of four including two children She said she is excited about the venture and it is 'in keeping with my whole cooking philosophy' No skimping! The recipes use local produce and meat and cheese from top brands Boxes can be ordered with meals for two people or a family of four, with discounts for subscribing to more meals. The meals cost between $8.70 and $12 per serving, and are available in 37 states. Prep and cook time is less than 40 minutes, the company said. 'Its absolutely in keeping with my whole cooking philosophy,' Stewart said, according to USA Today. 'This way, (customers will) get a chance to really eat our food and not have to go shopping and buy all the ingredients and make all our recipes from scratch.' Ready-to-cook meal kits have exploded in recent years and have been popular with city folk who want to skip the supermarket and still whip up a meal at home. People around the world spent $1.5 billion on meal kits last year, with less than half of that coming from the U.S., according to research group Technomic. The U.S. market is expected to grow to as much as $6 billion in the next four years, Technomic said. Current recipes include crispy chicken thighs with tomatoes, skillet Stroganoff with rice, grilled tofu with chimichurri, and shrimp tortilla soup The recipes change every week and families can subscribe in advance before picking their favorites Foolproof! The instructions even come with pictures so home cooks can know what everything is supposed to look like Stewart joins other famous names in the space. TV chef Jamie Oliver appears in commercials for rival HelloFresh and cookbook author Mark Bittman joined vegan meal kit company Purple Carrot last year. Competition has been heating up recently and Marley Spoon hopes adding Stewart's name will set it apart from Blue Apron, HelloFresh, Plated and the many other companies that ship boxes of raw food. Stewart said she tried all the rivals but was 'hooked' on Marley Spoon, and began talks with the company about a deal eight months ago. The Latest: SeaWorld won't release orcas into 'sea cages' MIAMI (AP) The Latest on the National Aquarium's announcement that its dolphins will be relocated to a seaside sanctuary (all times local): 3:25 p.m. The CEO of Humane Society of the United States says his counterpart at the National Aquarium has "done something terribly important" in deciding to relocate its dolphins to a seaside sanctuary. In a blog post, Wayne Pacelle says the aquarium's plans are "more evidence that animal-based facilities" are adapting to cultural shifts and prioritizing the animals' well-being. The Humane Society has partnered with SeaWorld on conservation and education programs. But SeaWorld officials say they won't be following the aquarium's lead. In an email, spokeswoman Aimee Jeansonne Becka said SeaWorld's orcas would be safer and receive better care in their current displays than in "sea cages" that are "high risk." She also said dolphins kept by zoos and aquariums help educate the public as "ambassadors for their species and the oceans." ___ 10:30 a.m. Animal rights activists are applauding the National Aquarium for deciding to relocate its dolphins to a seaside sanctuary. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals criticized SeaWorld earlier this year for not releasing its orcas from their tanks among other changes at its theme parks. In a statement Tuesday, PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman said the Baltimore aquarium could prompt other institutions to retire their dolphins and orcas to sanctuaries as well. She said the aquarium recognized "the needs of intelligent, far-ranging dolphins" aren't met in captivity. The Association of Zoos and Aquariums says each of its members makes decisions "appropriate for the animals" in its care. In a statement, Interim President and CEO Kris Vehrs says the National Aquarium will work with state and federal agencies as it moves forward with the dolphins' relocation. ___ 3:10 a.m. Eight dolphins that once performed at the National Aquarium in Baltimore will be retired from their tanks to a seaside sanctuary. The aquarium is announcing plans to move its Atlantic bottlenose dolphins into a protected habitat by the end of 2020. Seven of the dolphins were born in captivity. CEO John Racanelli tells The Associated Press the animals will remain in human care in the sanctuary. The aquarium hasn't settled on a location. It's been considering new options for its dolphins for several years amid growing public distaste for live animal shows. The dolphins stopped scheduled performances in 2012 but remain on display. Syrian helicopter attack on Aleppo kills at least 4 BEIRUT (AP) Syrian activists say an attack by government helicopter gunships in the northern city of Aleppo has killed at least four people. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Tuesday's attack struck an unused bridge, killing nine people and wounding many others. Aleppo-based activist Baraa al-Halaby said four people were killed. He says nearly two dozen people have been killed in Aleppo, Syria's largest city, since the early hours in separate attacks. Hundreds of people have been killed on both sides of the divided city since late April, as government forces have traded fire with rebels. Diocese suspends pastor after sexual abuse allegations OWENSBORO, Ky. (AP) The Catholic Diocese of Owensboro has suspended a pastor after allegations that he sexually abused a juvenile in the 1980s. The Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer (http://bit.ly/1topael ) reports that the diocese suspended the Rev. Freddie Byrd after being notified of the allegation June 2. The Diocesan Review Board reviewed the complaint and recommended the suspension. The diocese said in a statement Monday that the complaint accused Byrd of engaging in inappropriate conduct with a then-17-year-old in 1983. Byrd was not a priest at the time. Diocese spokeswoman Tina Kasey says the diocese has no connection with the alleged incident. The diocese added that it is conducting its own investigation and has alerted law enforcement about the allegations. Kentucky State Police Public Information Officer Corey King says authorities aren't conducting an investigation. ___ Judge: Indiana abortion law may infringe on women's rights INDIANAPOLIS (AP) A federal judge weighing whether to block a new Indiana law banning abortions sought because of a fetus' genetic abnormalities sounded skeptical of the measure during a Tuesday hearing, saying it may infringe on some women's right to an abortion. Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky sued the state in April, seeking a preliminary injunction to stop the law from taking effect July 1, arguing it is unconstitutional and violates women's privacy rights. The law would ban abortions sought due to fetal genetic abnormalities, such as Down syndrome, or because of the race, sex or ancestry of a fetus. If upheld, Indiana would join North Dakota as the only two states to ban abortions sought due to genetic fetal abnormalities. In this April 9, 2016 file photo, Rachel Ferguson, center, holds a sign in support of women's rights during a rally for women's rights in front of the Indiana State House in Indianapolis. Hundreds of abortion rights supporters gathered at the Indiana Statehouse to protest an anti-abortion law signed by Gov. Mike Pence that is among the most restrictive in the U.S. A federal judge weighing whether to block a new Indiana law mandating that aborted fetuses be buried or cremated and also banning abortions sought because of a fetus' genetic abnormalities will hear Tuesday from attorneys for the measure's supporters and opponents. (Mykal McEldowney /The Indianapolis Star via AP) NO SALES; MANDATORY CREDIT U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Walton Pratt said during Tuesday's hearing on the injunction request that it appeared clear the new law would invade the privacy of some women by preventing them from getting an abortion. "How can it be described as anything but a prohibition on the right to an abortion?" Pratt asked Indiana Solicitor General Thomas Fisher during the hour-long hearing. Fisher said the new law is a response to DNA testing advances that permit fetuses to be screened for genetic defects or to determine their sex. He said the state has an interest in "preventing discrimination" against fetuses slated for abortion based on such test results. Fisher said the case before Pratt "is about understanding the limits" of the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision upholding a woman's right to an abortion and its 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey ruling which found states generally can regulate abortion unless doing so places an undue burden on women. "We acknowledge that in many respects this case is the first of its kind," he told Pratt. The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana joined Planned Parenthood in challenging the new law. Its legal director, Ken Falk, is representing Planned Parenthood in the case. Falk told Pratt that Indiana's law is clearly unconstitutional under the high court's abortion rulings. "The point is, what we are talking about is the right to privacy, the right to make this very personal decision without interference from the state," he said. If the law takes effect, Falk said women seeking an abortion because test results show their fetus may have a genetic defect, or women who don't want to have a child due to their own genetic predisposition to a serious illness would not be able to get one in Indiana. Republican Gov. Mike Pence signed the measure in March after it was approved by Indiana's Republican-dominated Legislature. The measure passed over the objections of many female legislators, including Republicans, who said it would go too far. Indiana's law would also require that aborted fetuses be disposed of through burial or cremation. Planned Parenthood is also challenging the fetal disposal provision, as is Indiana University in a separate lawsuit which argues that it would prevent its scientists from acquiring fetal tissue for scientific research and sharing it with other institutions. Falk said Planned Parenthood currently disposes of aborted fetuses by incineration. He said aborted fetuses are not considered human beings and they should be destroyed in the same manner by which an amputated arm or other tissue removed through surgery is destroyed. Pratt said she would rule "very soon," with a decision coming before July 1. PICTURED: World honors club victims with candles, prayers They lit candles in Paris and the Philippines. They raised glow sticks in Singapore. And they said prayers in Orlando. Mourners around the globe paid their respects to the 49 people who died when a gunman attacked a gay nightclub in Florida over the weekend in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. Thousands crowded the streets Monday around the Stonewall Inn in Manhattan where large-scale gay rights activism got its start in 1969. Rhonda Rodeffer, right, walks with her daughter Kennedy, 4, as they visit a makeshift memorial for the victims of a mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub Tuesday, June 14, 2016, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/David Goldman) In the city where the shooting happened, thousands of people gathered to support victims and survivors. Many in the crowd in downtown Orlando said they were inspired to attend because the Pulse nightclub played a big role in their lives. Here are some images from the Monday evening gatherings. ___ Follow AP photographers on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AP/lists/ap-photographers Follow AP Images on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AP_Images Visit AP Images online: http://www.apimages.com http://www.apimages.com Filipino members of the LGBT (Lesbians Gays Bisexuals Transgenders) community light candles during a vigil to pay tribute to the victims of the Orlando, Fla. mass shooting Tuesday, June 14, 2016 at the University of the Philippines campus in suburban Quezon city northeast of Manila, Philippines. A gunman, later identified as Omar Mateen, opened fire inside a crowded gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla. early Sunday before dying in a gunfight with responding SWAT officers, authorities said.(AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) People hold up candles against a rainbow lit backdrop during a vigil for those killed in a mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub downtown Monday, June 13, 2016, in Orlando, Fla. A gunman has killed dozens of people in a massacre at a crowded gay nightclub in Orlando on Sunday, making it the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. (AP Photo/David Goldman) Thousands gather outside the Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center for a vigil Monday, June 13, 2016 in Orlando, Fa. A large crowd gathered to remember the Pulse nightclub shooting victims early Sunday. (Chris Urso/Tampa Bay Times via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT Frankie Arroyo, from left, Tonisha LaFayette, Tabbitha Segui and Jose Ramos hold candles and a photographs of their friend Xavier Emmanuel Serrano Rosado, who they said passed away today from his wounds, while thousands attend a vigil for family and friends that have lost loved ones in Orlando, Fla., Monday, June 13, 2016. A gunman killed dozens of people in a massacre at a crowded gay nightclub in Orlando on Sunday, making it the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. (Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) MARIETTA DAILY OUT; GWINNETT DAILY POST OUT; LOCAL TELEVISION OUT; WXIA-TV OUT; WGCL-TV OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT People mourn around candles at the Place Trocadero in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, to honor victims of Sunday's mass shooting at an Orlando gay club, Monday, June 13, 2016. People brought banners, flags and candles to the Place Trocadero in front of the Paris landmark. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner) Jose Hernandez, center, joins hands with Victor Baez, right, as they mourn the loss of their friends Amanda Alvear and Mercedez Flores who were killed in the mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub, as they visit a makeshift memorial, Monday, June 13, 2016, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/David Goldman) Ronny Torres, right, is comforted by Zaid Hinds, as they visit a makeshift memorial for the victims of a mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub Monday, June 13, 2016, in Orlando, Fla. Hinds and Torres lost 12 friends in the shooting. (AP Photo/David Goldman) A man rallies the crowd who turned out during a vigil and memorial for victims of the Orlando nightclub shootings at the historic Stonewall Inn, Monday, June 13, 2016, in New York. State and city officials, LGBT community members, and others gathered as a show of solidarity with the victims and survivors of the Orlando nightclub shootings. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens) A man walks past the United States consulate in Istanbul, adorned with a large rainbow flag, Tuesday, June 14, 2016. According to the consulate's press office, the flag is usually displayed every year around this time to celebrate gay pride but this year it also honors victims of the mass shooting early Sunday at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis) A Filipino youth activist has his face painted in rainbow colors as they gather in solidarity with victims of the mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida during a gathering in Manila, Philippines on Tuesday June 14, 2016. The group calls for justice for the victims of the mass shooting. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila) Women embrace beside candles and tributes laid at Saint Anne's Church in the Soho district of central London, during a vigil for the victims of Sunday's Orlando shootings at a gay nightclub in Florida, Monday June 13, 2016. Wielding an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and a handgun, Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old American-born Muslim, opened fire at the crowded Pulse Orlando club early Sunday, killing dozens and wounding others. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham) People raise glow sticks as open flames are banned in Singapore parks as they gathered for a vigil in remembrance of the Orlando shooting victims on Tuesday, June 14, 2016, in Singapore. A tragedy half a world away has created an unlikely opening for a repressed community in Singapore. The mass shooting at a gay club in Orlando, Florida, has galvanized LGBT people in Singapore, where a vigil was held Tuesday to express solidarity with the victims. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E) 5 questions for retiring GM design chief Ed Welburn WARREN, Mich. (AP) During a visit to the Philadelphia Auto Show, 9-year-old Ed Welburn was spellbound by the 1959 Cadillac Cyclone, with its big fins and rocket-like front cones. Then and there, he vowed to become a designer for General Motors Co. On June 30, he'll retire as GM's head of global design, a role that makes him one of the auto industry's most influential designers. He is also one of the industry's highest ranking African-American executives. Welburn the sixth design chief in GM's 108-year history reinvigorated design at the company. After GM shed excess brands like Pontiac in its 2009 bankruptcy, Welburn gave the remaining ones a fresh identity, turning out bold, chiseled Cadillacs and elegant Buick sedans. If you look closely, you might see his nod to the Cyclone's tail fins in the 2010 Cadillac SRX. In this June 9, 2016, photo, Ed Welburn, head of global design for General Motors, stands next to company concepts and production vehicles on the grounds of the company's Technical Center in Warren, Mich. During a visit to the Philadelphia Auto Show, a then 9-year-old Welburn was spellbound by the 1959 Cadillac Cyclone, with its big fins and rocket-like front cones. Then and there, he vowed to become a designer for GM. Welburn said he's retiring on June 30. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio) Welburn, who joined GM in 1972, also is credited with pulling together GM's 10 global design studios which had operated independently and working more closely with engineers and marketers from the very beginning of a car's development. "I firmly believe that the best vehicles happen when you have great collaboration between designers and engineers. If you don't have it, you can forget about it," he said. Welburn still sketches every vehicle the company is working on, but doesn't share his drawings with his team they still need to come up with their own ideas. For a high-ranking official in a cutthroat industry, Welburn is surprisingly soft-spoken and courtly. He favors tailored suits and cufflinks in an era where most designers are clad in jeans. In his office overlooking GM's historic design dome where every car has gone for final approval since 1956 Welburn says he feels like his work at GM is complete. He's planning a two-week spin through Europe in his new Chevrolet Corvette, one of the vehicles he helped design. Here are Welburn's answers to questions from The Associated Press. They have been edited for length. Q: Is it important to you that you were the first African-American chief designer at a major automaker? A: It's nothing that I dwell on or celebrate. It didn't take me long to understand the first week that I was here, there was a responsibility I had. Everyone wanted to know what I could do. I was representing more than myself, right or wrong. There's a certain amount of pressure that goes with that. Q: What is your legacy at GM? A: I believe that we have created a culture in which design and engineering really work together. You have to have that in creating the fundamentals of the vehicles, the basic architecture. If you get great proportions, then it's much easier for a designer to style it. If you don't have that great proportion, then designers do some bad things to try to make up for shortcomings. I think a huge part of (my legacy) is the collaboration between design and its partners, as well as establishing this very powerful global design organization. Q: Have you been able to attract design talent to Detroit? A: The challenge is attracting digital sculptors. They're very talented and it's a very limited pool. They're sculpting in the computer. They can create just about anything, and every industry needs them, including the film industry. So we're competing with them as well as Silicon Valley. Years ago it was very difficult to get anyone from California to come here. You create the right environment and they see what we're doing. It's not easy, but it's a whole lot easier than it was 10 years ago. Q: Of everything you've designed or been in charge of here, what car is your favorite? A: There's so many projects I love for so many different reasons. The Corvette project, the latest C7. With this one, the average age of the customers was getting higher, sales were going down. We needed to make a course correction. It needs to be obvious it's a Corvette, but it needs to be obvious that it's a new Corvette. I decided since we had designers in studios around the world, to offer up to every designer to submit their idea. Ultimately the design came from the Corvette team, but it was fascinating to see how each one of those studios interpreted it differently. Q: With new ways of powering vehicles, will designs change? A: It depends on the propulsion system. If it's electric, I think it can give us more flexibility, the ability to put a greater focus on the interior space and comfort. Autonomous vehicles, as well, will do that. At the end of the day, a beautiful vehicle, no matter how it's propelled, will win. In this June 9, 2016, photo, Ed Welburn, head of global design for General Motors, stands next to company concepts and production vehicles on the grounds of the company's Technical Center in Warren, Mich. During a visit to the Philadelphia Auto Show, a then 9-year-old Welburn was spellbound by the 1959 Cadillac Cyclone, with its big fins and rocket-like front cones. Then and there, he vowed to become a designer for GM. Welburn said he's retiring on June 30. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio) Gov't-picked Polish judge critical of its stance on court WARSAW, Poland (AP) A judge promoted by Poland's governing party to a top court has defended the authority of the court's rulings over the government. The court, the Constitutional Tribunal, is at the heart of a political conflict in Poland after the governing party changed regulations regarding the appointment of judges and the court's functioning. The court has ruled that those steps were against the constitution, but the government refuses to acknowledge and implement that ruling. On Tuesday, one of the judges appointed to the court by the governing party told reporters that the court's rulings are binding and should be implemented by the government. FBI: $20K reward to solve Puerto Rico killing of US banker SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) The FBI is offering a $20,000 reward for information that could help solve the 2011 killing of a U.S. banking executive in Puerto Rico. Maurice Spagnoletti was an executive vice president at Doral Bank who was repeatedly shot as he drove his Lexus on one of San Juan's busiest highways. No one has been arrested. Police have said they believe the killing was professionally orchestrated. FBI agents raided the bank's information technology offices in December 2014. U.S. Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodriguez said at the time that it might be related to a probe into Spagnoletti's killing. Puerto Rico regulators shut down Doral Bank last year. The bank had struggled in recent years with shrinking assets and a multimillion-fraud case. Clinton says Trump's Orlando response merely 'bizarre rants' PITTSBURGH (AP) Hillary Clinton fired back at Donald Trump on Tuesday, saying the presumptive Republican nominee is offering voters little more than "outright lies," ''bizarre rants" and "nonsensical" words in the wake of the country's most deadly mass shootings. "He is the Republican nominee for president," she said, almost incredulously. "We don't need conspiracy theories and pathological self-congratulations. We need leadership and concrete plans because we are facing a brutal enemy." Clinton called on "responsible Republicans" to denounce Trump's accusations about President Barack Obama's loyalties, noting that "history will remember what we do in this moment." She went after Trump for criticizing Democrats refusal to call the attacks "radical Islamic extremism." Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at a rally at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Circuit Center in Pittsburgh, Tuesday, June 14, 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) "Is Donald Trump suggesting that there are magic words that once uttered will stop terrorists from coming after us?" she asked union members at a campaign event in Pittsburgh, echoing comments being delivered by Obama in Washington at virtually the same moment. Her nearly point-by-point rebuttal to Trump's speech a day earlier underscores the balancing act Clinton faces, as she tries to both take on Trump's bombastic attacks and while maintaining focus on the high-minded policy prescriptions that have been the backbone of her campaign. Clinton's campaign believes her sober view of national security could win over independents and Republican disturbed by Trump's inexperience and provocative rhetoric. They're trying to exasperate the divides within the GOP by presenting Clinton as a safe choice for the party's more moderate voters. On Monday, Trump focused much of his response to the Orlando shooting on Clinton, accusing her of backing immigration policies that would spur a wave of extremism on U.S. soil. Earlier that day, he suggested that Obama was sympathetic to Islamic extremists, telling Fox News: "People cannot, they cannot believe that President Obama is acting the way he acts and can't even mention the words 'radical Islamic terrorism.' There's something going on." On Tuesday, Clinton lashed back, calling his comments "shameful" and "disrespectful." "It is yet more evidence that he is temperamentally unfit and totally unqualified to be commander in chief," she said. On Monday, the presumptive Democratic nominee delivered a speech in which she offered a policy-laden response to the shooting, stressing the need for national unity and a coordinated approach to "lone wolf" attacks. She never mentioning Trump's name though she alluded to some of his campaign slogans. Less than twenty-four hours later, Clinton set aside that kind of traditional restraint, even as she called for national unity. Trump, she said, "needs to distract us from the fact that he has nothing substantive to say." Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton greets members of the audience after speaking at a rally at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Circuit Center in Pittsburgh, Tuesday, June 14, 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at a rally at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Circuit Center in Pittsburgh, Tuesday, June 14, 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) Michigan judge tosses misconduct counts against ex-lawmakers LANSING, Mich. (AP) A judge dismissed misconduct charges Tuesday against two former Michigan lawmakers for their role in a bizarre, false email that was sent as a ruse to hide their extramarital affair, but let other charges proceed against one of them. Lansing District Judge Hugh Clarke Jr. ruled that there was not enough evidence for Cindy Gamrat to face felony misconduct in office charges. But he said the case against Todd Courser can continue to trial on two of four counts a perjury charge that carries a maximum 15 years in prison and a misconduct in office charge with a maximum five-year penalty. Gamrat, who turns 43 on Wednesday, became only the fourth legislator in state history to be expelled. Courser, 43, resigned in September rather than be kicked out. Cindy Gamrat, a former Michigan lawmaker, listens with her attorneys while Judge Hugh Clark Jr. dismisses charges against her on Tuesday, June 14, 2016, in Lansing, Mich. Gamrat, who was expelled from the state House in 2015, was facing misconduct in office charges stemming from a legislative investigation into an alleged cover-up of her extramarital affair and her staff forging her signature on proposed legislation. (AP Photo/David Eggert) "I do have a lot of mixed emotions. It's been a really hard journey," a tearful Gamrat told reporters. Courser expressed confidence that he would prevail at trial, calling the remaining allegations that he ordered staff to forge his signature on draft legislation and then lied about it to a legislative disciplinary committee that was investigating the email cover-up the "weakest" brought by state Attorney General Bill Schuette. "I certainly maintain my innocence," Courser said. Schuette spokeswoman Andrea Bitely said the office will not appeal the dismissal of charges against Gamrat. "Judge Clarke was correct to approve of these charges and we will prosecute (Courser) to the fullest extent of the law in circuit court," she said. An aide for the former lawmakers testified during the probable cause hearing that Courser asked him to send an outlandishly bogus, sexually explicit email to thousands of fellow Republicans as a trick so his extramarital affair with Gamrat a fellow married, freshman tea party conservative would not be believed if it was revealed by an anonymous extortionist. The extortionist turned out to be Gamrat's husband, according to a separate state police probe. The staffer, who later was fired and gave a secret recording of the meeting to The Detroit News, said he refused to send the email because he thought it was unethical and possibly illegal. The attorney general's office has said it began investigating even before the Michigan House asked for a criminal investigation at the time of the expulsion and resignation. The attorney general's office accused Gamrat and Courser of lying during a House Business Office investigation and of having employees in their combined office sign their names on legislation ready for introduction to beat another conservative lawmaker in proposing road-funding bills. But the judge said there was insufficient evidence that Gamrat told an aide to sign her name on the legislation. He also ruled there was no probable cause that she knew about the email's contents. "I can't say that there was corrupt intent here," Clarke said. The judge threw out a charge that Courser solicited an aide to send the phony email during a late-night meeting at Courser's law office in Lapeer, about 65 miles from Lansing. "It didn't take place here in my jurisdiction," said Clarke, who also dismissed a charge that Courser gave false information during the House investigation. The attorney general's office is reviewing its options with regard to the charges against Courser that were rejected. ___ Follow David Eggert on Twitter at http://twitter.com/DavidEggert00 . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/author/david-eggert Former Michigan lawmaker Todd Courser, right, reacts after Judge Hugh Clark Jr. dismisses some charges and allows others to proceed on Tuesday, June 14, 2016, in Lansing, Mich. Courser, who resigned from the state House in 2015 rather than be expelled, will face trial on two of four counts _ a perjury charge that carries a maximum 15 years in prison and a misconduct in office charge that has a maximum penalty of five years in prison. (AP Photo/David Eggert) Former Michigan lawmaker Todd Courser, right, listens with his attorney while Judge Hugh Clark Jr. dismisses some charges and allows others to proceed on Tuesday, June 14, 2016, in Lansing, Mich. Courser, who resigned from the state House in 2015 rather than be expelled, will face trial on two of four counts _ a perjury charge that carries a maximum 15 years in prison and a misconduct in office charge that has a maximum penalty of five years in prison. (AP Photo/David Eggert) Lansing District Judge Hugh Clark Jr. explains why he dismissed charges against one former lawmaker and allowed some of the case to proceed against another ex-legislator, Tuesday, June 14, 2016, in Lansing, Mich. He ruled there was not enough probable cause for Cindy Gamrat to face felony misconduct in office charges stemming from an investigation into an alleged cover-up of her extramarital affair with ex-Rep. Todd Courser. But he said Courser will go to trial on two of four counts a perjury charge that carries a maximum 15 years in prison and a misconduct in office charge that has a maximum penalty of five years in prison. (AP Photo/David Eggert) Prosecutors: Former judge tried to retaliate against worker FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) A former federal judge in West Virginia has pleaded guilty to attempting to have a Social Security Administration employee fired. Charlie Paul Andrus pleaded guilty Monday in Kentucky to one count of conspiracy to retaliate against a witness. He's scheduled to be sentenced this fall, and could face up to 10 years in prison, a fine or both. Prosecutors say Andrus was embarrassed after a criminal investigation into his office led to his demotion in 2011. They say Andrus colluded with high-profile Kentucky disability attorney Eric Conn to spy on a federal employee they knew was providing the incriminating evidence to investigators. Prosecutors say Andrus and Conn hoped to gather evidence that would get the employee fired. Tony Zentil, a mechanical engineer, has a fully funded Kickstarter for a variety of multitool belt-buckles aimed at skateboarders, snowboarders, and motorcyclists they're a significant advance on my old, beloved 686 belt-buckle stolen by the security staff of London Gatwick airport in 2011. The buckles are $25-35. Zentil doesn't list any manufacturing experience on his bio, but notes that he's partnered with Backerkit, a fulfillment firm, for shipping. The sums involved are small enough that I'm taking a risk having a toolkit on my belt-buckle was supremely useful, and I've really missed it. Portable and Wearable Tools Fix Manufacturing [Tony Zentil/Kickstarter] (via Core 77) The Latest: Police list weapons, other items found in car LOS ANGELES (AP) The Latest on an Indiana man charged in California with possessing an assault weapon and explosives before a gay pride event. (all times local): 3:50 p.m. Authorities say an Indiana man charged in California with weapons violations before a major gay pride parade had a high-capacity assault rifle, two other loaded rifles, 15 pounds of commercially sold explosive, a stun gun and buck knife in his car when he was arrested. Investigators view items removed from a car, left, after a heavily armed man was arrested in Santa Monica, Calif., early Sunday, June 12, 2016. The man reportedly told police he was in the area for West Hollywood's huge gay pride parade. Authorities did not know of any connection between the gay nightclub shooting in Orlando, Fla., early Sunday and the Santa Monica arrest. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon) Santa Monica police Detective Derek Leone also said Tuesday the two ingredients of the explosive had been mixed and that if detonated by a rifle, "would have posed a grave danger." Leone described the items in court records as part of his request that a judge increase bail for 20-year-old James Wesley Howell. Leone says Howell also had a security badge. Superior Court Judge Keith Schwartz says all the items found in Howell's car don't "pass the common sense test." He set bail at $2 million. Howell's defense attorney, Pamela Jones, says there's no evidence Howell intended to detonate the explosive commonly used by gun enthusiasts. Howell was arrested Sunday with the weapons and explosive materials in a car he apparently drove from Indiana. He told police he was headed to a gay pride event in West Hollywood that attracts hundreds of thousands of people. ___ 2:15 p.m. Bail has been set at $2 million for an Indiana man charged in California with possessing an assault weapon and explosives before a major gay pride parade. The amount was set as defendant James Wesley Howell made his first appearance Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court. An attorney representing Howell entered not guilty pleas on his behalf. In setting the high bail, Judge Keith Schwartz found that Howell poses a significant public safety danger, citing Howell's violation of probation on a misdemeanor intimidation conviction in Indiana. Under the probation, Howell was not supposed to leave Indiana or have any weapons. Police say the 20-year-old Howell was arrested Sunday in Santa Monica with the weapons and explosive materials in a car he apparently drove from Indiana. Howell told police he was headed to a gay pride event in West Hollywood that attracts hundreds of thousands of people. ___ 12:45 p.m. An Indiana man charged in California with possessing an assault weapon and explosives before a major gay pride parade is also the subject of a sexual assault investigation. The Clark County, Indiana, Sheriff's Office said Tuesday that 20-year-old James Wesley Howell of Jeffersonville is a suspect in the alleged May 31 assault. A department spokesman declined to release further details. The incident occurred less than two weeks before Howell was arrested Sunday in Santa Monica, California, when police said they found three assault rifles and explosive chemicals in a car apparently driven from Indiana. Indianapolis FBI spokeswoman Wendy Osborne says agents searched Howell's home Monday night. A message seeking comment was left for Howell family attorney Bobby Boyd. ___ 12:05 p.m. An Indiana man has been charged with felony weapons violations after California authorities say he was found with three assault rifles and explosive chemicals in his car ahead of a major gay pride parade. James Wesley Howell was charged Tuesday in Los Angeles County with possessing an assault weapon, a high-capacity magazine and explosives on a public highway. He also was charged with a misdemeanor count of possessing a loaded weapon in a vehicle. Prosecutors are asking that he be held on $2 million bail. It was unclear if Howell has an attorney. Police say the 20-year-old Howell was arrested Sunday in Santa Monica with the weapons and explosive materials in a car he apparently drove from Indiana. Howell told police he was headed to a gay pride event in West Hollywood that attracts hundreds of thousands of people. This June 12, 2016 law enforcement booking photo provided by the Santa Monica, Calif., Police Department shows James Wesley Howell, 20, of Indiana. Police say Howell was the heavily armed man arrested in Santa Monica on his way to a Southern California gay pride parade, who told them he wanted to do harm to the event. (Santa Monica Police Department via AP) Items removed from a car are displayed on a sidewalk after a heavily armed man was arrested in Santa Monica, Calif., early Sunday, June 12, 2016. The man reportedly told police he was in the area for West Hollywood's huge gay pride parade. Authorities did not know of any connection between the gay nightclub shooting in Orlando, Fla., early Sunday and the Santa Monica arrest. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon) Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies ride along a street in West Hollywood, Calif., during the gay pride Parade on Sunday, June 12, 2016. A heavily armed man arrested in Southern California told police he was in the area for West Hollywood's gay pride parade. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel) Los Angeles County Sheriff's department motorcycle deputies ride along a street in West Hollywood, Calif., during the Gay Pride Parade on Sunday, June 12, 2016. A heavily armed man arrested in Southern California told police he was in the area for West Hollywood's gay pride parade. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel) McConnell: Senate to consider Puerto Rico aid by end of June WASHINGTON (AP) Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday the Senate will consider a rescue package to ease Puerto Rico's financial crisis before the U.S. territory's $2 billion payment to creditors is due July 1. The House overwhelmingly passed legislation to create a new control board and restructure some of Puerto Rico's $70 billion debt last week. The Senate is expected to take up the same bill "sometime before the end of the month," McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters Tuesday. Puerto Rico has already missed several payments to creditors while a lengthy recession has crippled commerce, sparked unemployment and driven hundreds of thousands of people to the U.S. mainland. In a rare display of political unity, the House bill had the support of President Barack Obama, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who see it as the best hope for the island's 3.5 million Americans. Some senators have opposed the legislation, though, and that opposition could slow passage. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., has spoken out strongly against the House bill, saying the control board would take away the rights of ordinary Puerto Ricans and has colonialist overtones. He said he is hoping to try and amend the House bill when the Senate debates it. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said the rescue package would "make a terrible situation even worse." He has introduced his own bill to help the territory. Like all U.S. states and territories, Puerto Rico cannot declare bankruptcy under federal law. The legislation would allow the seven-member control board to oversee negotiations with creditors and the courts over reducing some debt, but the bill does not provide any taxpayer funds to reduce that debt. Some Republicans have expressed concerns that it could serve as a precedent for financially stressed states. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the chairman of the Finance Committee, said he doesn't like the House legislation but acknowledged that "I think I'm going to have to" support it. McConnell and Republican leaders are hoping to unite the caucus on the issue. They invited House Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop, the Utah Republican who negotiated the House bill, to speak to the Senate caucus about the legislation on Tuesday. "It was very positive," Bishop said after the meeting. ___ Air, land, sea, cyber: NATO adds cyber to operation areas BRUSSELS (AP) NATO agreed Tuesday to make cyber operations part of its war domain, along with air, sea and land operations, and to beef up the defense of its computer networks. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the decision to formally consider cyber operations a military domain is not aimed at any one country. He says the allies need to be able to better defend themselves and respond to attacks on their computer networks. The decision has been long in coming, particularly amid rising tensions with Russia, which has proven its willingness to launch computer-based attacks against other nations. FILE - In this June 13, 2016 file photo, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg speaks in Brussels. NATO agreed Tuesday, June 14, 2016, to make cyber operations part of its war domain, along with air, sea and land operations, and to beef up the defense of its computer networks. Stoltenberg said the decision to formally consider cyberoperations a military domain is not aimed at any one country. He says the allies need to be able to better defend themselves and respond to attacks on their computer networks. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, File) Russian hackers have been blamed for a breach into an unclassified Pentagon computer network and for a breach of NATO's computer network two years ago. Stoltenberg was speaking at the meeting of NATO defense ministers. About a year ago, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter told NATO that it must improve its ability to protect itself before it builds its cyberwar capabilities. And he pledged that the U.S. would use its expertise to help allies assess their vulnerabilities and reduce the risk to their critical infrastructure. In 2014, after years of debate, NATO finally agreed that a cyberattack could rise to the level of a military assault and could trigger the Article 5 protections, which allow the alliance to go to the collective defense of another member that has been attacked. On Tuesday, Stoltenberg said that cyber must be a war domain, much like air, land and sea. He said the decision means that NATO will coordinate and organize efforts to protect against cyberattacks in a more efficient way. Kansas roofing company accused of forced labor, kickbacks KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) Two owners of a longtime Kansas City-area roofing company forced workers who are in the U.S. illegally to either pay kickbacks and obey other demands or be reported to immigration authorities, an indictment unsealed Tuesday alleges. Tommy Frank Keaton, 70, of Shawnee, Kansas, and Graziano Cornolo, 55, of Lenexa, Kansas, are charged in the 17-count federal indictment with labor trafficking, conspiring to harbor aliens for commercial advantage or private financial gain, and transporting, harboring and encouraging aliens not lawfully in the country to stay. The two are co-owners of Canadian West Inc. and RAM Metal Products both of which also are named as defendants in the indictment doing business as Century Roofing. The crimes go back at least to 2009, prosecutors said. Also charged is Alberto Diaz-Hernandez, a 33-year-old Century Roofing employee who is a citizen of Mexico. He's charged with one count of transporting, harboring or encouraging people who are unlawfully in the country to stay. All three men entered not-guilty pleas at a hearing Tuesday afternoon in federal court in Kansas City, Kansas. Their attorneys all declined to comment to The Associated Press. Century Roofing, which says on its website that it has been in business since 1990, mainly used workers who are in the country illegally to complete commercial and residential roofing projects in the Kansas City area, the indictment says. Roofing crew leaders were paid in cash and threatened with being fired if they didn't pay kickbacks to the company owners, prosecutors said. The owners also threatened to call federal immigration agents if crew leaders or their crews failed to pay kickbacks, worked for other roofing companies without permission, or missed deadlines for finishing a job, prosecutors said. "Unlawful business practices alleged in the indictment paint a picture of undocumented workers being manipulated by employers who played on their vulnerabilities particularly their fear of being caught and deported from the United States," Acting U.S. Attorney Tom Beall said. The indictment includes a criminal forfeiture count seeking real estate, proceeds from bank accounts and substitute assets, if necessary. Family of slain woman fights to keep court records sealed CONCORD, N.H. (AP) The parents of a University of New Hampshire student who was raped and killed in 2012 are fighting to keep details about her sexual history from exposure to the public. Elizabeth "Lizzi" Marriott, of Westborough, Massachusetts, was 19 years old when she was killed. The man convicted of her murder, Seth Mazzaglia, 32, is serving a life sentence. His case is going through the appeals process. The state Supreme Court ruled Friday that previously sealed documents relating to Marriott's "alleged prior consensual sexual activity," which form the basis of Mazzaglia's appeal, should be made public. The state's rape shield law helped keep the information out of the trial. New Hampshire's attorney general won a stay Tuesday in the records' unsealing. If the records eventually are released, Marriott's parents' are asking journalists not to report on details of her private life. "My child has been murdered; her ability to speak and provide context has been silenced by this monster who has no regard for human life," the victim's father, Bob Marriott, said at a news conference Tuesday. "We deserve our privacy to be respected." In a unanimous order to unseal the records, the Supreme Court justices wrote that keeping them sealed would conflict with the public's right to open court records and proceedings. A rule change adopted in January makes it easier for the high court to unseal documents made private in trial court proceedings. Politicians and victims' advocates have strongly condemned the court's decision, saying it renders the state's rape shield law moot and may prevent victims from speaking out. "How can we really tell a victim that their right to privacy is protected if they come forward?" said Lyn Schollett, executive director of New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence. "These are promises we can no longer make." Attorney General Joe Foster wrote in a Monday court filing that unsealing the records "eviscerates" protections granted to rape victims by the Legislature and "represents a catastrophic sea change for victims of sexual assault." Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan has urged the Supreme Court to reverse course. She said the decision could have a "devastating impact on victims and their families." New Hampshire's two senators also decried the Supreme Court ruling. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat, said it moves New Hampshire in "exactly the wrong direction," at a time when lawmakers nationwide are looking to strengthen protections for sexual assault survivors. Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte said the court must reconsider its "terribly misguided order given its disgraceful treatment of victims and their families." Chris Johnson, Mazzaglia's appellate public defender, said Tuesday he could not comment because the matters remain under seal. 911 calls released in children's suffocation by mother MIRAMAR, Fla. (AP) Authorities have released new details from a 911 call made last week by the cousin of a Philadelphia woman who admitted to suffocating her two children during a visit to Florida. The Miami Herald (http://hrld.us/1roc5jT) reports that in the eight-minute call released Monday by Miramar police, Neisha Nettleford made told the operator, "Honestly, I think they are dead." Nettleford made the call last Wednesday, the same day the children were suffocated. She called police after Sophia Hines contacted her and told her to come home. This photo made available by the Broward County Jail shows Sophia Hines, who was booked Thursday, June 9, 2016. Hines, from Philadelphia, is accused of killing her 7-month-old son and 3-year-old daughter during a visit to South Florida. She is charged with two counts of premeditated murder. (Broward County Jail via AP) Nettleford said she was scared and would not go inside the house. Hines' lawyer said that Hines had postpartum depression and was off her medication the day of the suffocations. The Latest: Judge refuses to toss indictment in bridge case NEWARK, N.J. (AP) The Latest on the criminal case stemming from the 2013 George Washington Bridge lane closures (all times local): 4 p.m. A federal judge in New Jersey has declined to dismiss an indictment in the criminal case stemming from lane closures at the George Washington Bridge in 2013. Two former allies of Republican Gov. Chris Christie, including his former deputy chief of staff, face conspiracy, wire fraud and civil rights charges. They're accused of causing traffic gridlock to punish a mayor for not endorsing Christie. The ruling was released Tuesday. Former Port Authority of New York and New Jersey executive Bill Baroni and former Christie staffer Bridget Kelly had argued that the government relied on laws that don't fit the facts of the case. They are scheduled for trial in September. A second former Port Authority official, David Wildstein, pleaded guilty last year and is expected to testify for the government. ___ 11:55 a.m. Lawyers seeking New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's cellphone records from the George Washington Bridge lane-closing case are using Watergate as justification. In filings late Monday opposing an attempt to block a request for the records, they say they've established the likelihood the records are relevant under a legal standard set by the Supreme Court when it forced President Richard Nixon to produce audio tapes. The attorneys represent indicted former Port Authority of New York and New Jersey executive Bill Baroni and former Christie staffer Bridget Kelly. They argue the Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher law firm must turn over text messages the Republican governor sent during Baroni's testimony to a legislative committee in 2013. Christie has said he gave the phone to the government. ___ Immigration agents claimed Mexican Indians were Guatemalan MEXICO CITY (AP) Four members of Mexico's Tzeltal indigenous community were detained for nine days by immigration agents who refused to believe they were Mexican. The agents claimed the three men and one woman were Guatemalans, despite the fact they had Mexican birth certificates or ID documents. The incident occurred in 2015 in the north-central state of Queretaro, where few Indians live. The Tzeltales are from Chiapas, a southern state that borders Guatemala. They speak a language similar to the Maya-family languages spoken by indigenous groups in Guatemala, who they also physically resemble. 2nd California police agency reviews sex misconduct claims RICHMOND, Calif. (AP) A second police department in the San Francisco Bay Area has launched an internal investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct by its officers. The Richmond and Oakland departments are investigating after an 18-year-old woman said she had sexual relations with two dozen current and former officers in five cities during her stint as a sex worker. She told the East Bay Times recently that she was underage during encounters with three of the officers. Richmond Assistant Police Chief Bisa French said Tuesday that the department opened an internal affairs inquiry last week after receiving information from Oakland police. French said several ranking officers are being investigated for criminal contact with the woman or policy violations but she could not confirm the exact number of officers. In Oakland, the allegations marked another blow to a department that has been under federal oversight because of failures to adequately hold officers accountable for misdeeds. Police Chief Sean Whent stepped down Thursday and gave no specific reason for his resignation. Whent said last month that an investigation into the misconduct allegations began after an officer killed himself last year but did not provide specifics. Two officers have resigned and two others are on paid leave. Oakland police have been under the supervision of monitors appointed by federal courts since 2003. It stemmed from a civil settlement involving allegations that four night-shift officers in predominantly black west Oakland were beating and robbing residents and planting evidence. The woman at the center of the scandal told the East Bay Times that she entered prostitution at age 12 and eventually ended up on Oakland's International Boulevard, a well-known sex-trafficking hub, said many officers knew she was underage. Biden praises plan to revamp 'Third World' LaGuardia Airport NEW YORK (AP) Two years after likening LaGuardia Airport to a "Third World country," Vice President Joe Biden commended a $4 billion redevelopment project for it at a groundbreaking ceremony on Tuesday. Biden joined Gov. Andrew Cuomo to announce the overhaul of the aging and cramped facility. The plan calls for the remaking of the airport's footprint and a new 1.3 million-square-foot, 35-gate central terminal, which officials said should be completed by the end of 2021. There are also plans for ferry access and rail service that would connect to the Long Island Rail Road, the nation's busiest commuter rail system. More than two-thirds of the overall cost will be paid by private financing and passenger fees, officials said. While New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, left, looks on, Vice President Joe Biden speaks during a news conference at LaGuardia Airport in New York, Tuesday, June 14, 2016. Cuomo and Biden were helping to announce and break ground on major infrastructure improvements at the airport. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) "This is not going to just be a rebuilding of what it was, this is going to be a whole new airport," Cuomo said. "We're not just building an airport, we're building an airport that's part of a new vision that revitalizes New York." Since Biden's unflattering remarks about LaGuardia in 2014, he and Cuomo have provided numerous updates on improvements being planned there. "When he said, and we kid him about it, that if you landed in LGA and you were blindfolded and they took off the blindfold you'd think you'd be in a Third World country, it was his way of saying the king has no clothes, and he was right," Cuomo said of his fellow Democratic politician. "I'm proud to be the governor who heeded his words and stepped up to the plate, because he was right." Biden said he "wasn't so sure when I said that that people would be clapping." He commended Cuomo for taking action and said other governors should be following suit to improve infrastructure. "The greatest city in the world and New York is, it's not hyperbole needs and deserves the greatest infrastructure in the world," he said, noting that the United States ranks only 26th in the world in its infrastructure. Cuomo and state officials also held a ceremonial groundbreaking Tuesday afternoon. ___ Associated Press writer Michael Balsamo contributed to this report. Joined by other officials, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, third from right, throws dirt in the air during a ceremonial ground breaking on the tarmac at LaGuardia Airport in New York, Tuesday, June 14, 2016. Cuomo held a news conference to talk about the planned infrastructure improvements at the airport. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, right, speaks while Vice President Joe Biden looks on during a news conference at LaGuardia Airport in New York, Tuesday, June 14, 2016. Cuomo and Biden were helping to announce and break ground on major infrastructure improvements at the airport. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) Vice President Joe Biden laughs during a news conference at LaGuardia Airport in New York, Tuesday, June 14, 2016. Biden was helping to announce major infrastructure improvements at the airport. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) While New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, left, looks on, Vice President Joe Biden speaks during a news conference at LaGuardia Airport in New York, Tuesday, June 14, 2016. Cuomo and Biden were helping to announce and break ground on major infrastructure improvements at the airport. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, right, speaks while Vice President Joe Biden looks on during a news conference at LaGuardia Airport in New York, Tuesday, June 14, 2016. Cuomo and Biden were helping to announce and break ground on major infrastructure improvements at the airport. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks during a news conference at LaGuardia Airport in New York, Tuesday, June 14, 2016. Cuomo was helping to announce and break ground on major infrastructure improvements at the airport. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) While New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, left, looks on, Vice President Joe Biden speaks during a news conference at LaGuardia Airport in New York, Tuesday, June 14, 2016. Cuomo and Biden were helping to announce and break ground on major infrastructure improvements at the airport. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) One day after Omar Mateen opened fire in a gay-friendly Orlando nightclub, killing 49 people and injuring 53 more, reports are surfacing that suggest Mateen may have been attracted to and obsessed with gay men. Investigators are looking at reports that Mateen visited gay clubs and used gay dating apps, a law enforcement official told the Los Angeles Times. "Watch that space," the official said. As Mother Jones editor-in-chief Clara Jeffrey tweeted tonight, "Jihadi or self-hating gay or homophobe or dude was likely mentally ill, rageoholic, grandiose, obsessive, just like they all are." CNN interviews regular Pulse performer: Murderer attended club 1-2 times a month for last 3 years. Marc Love (@marcslove) June 14, 2016 We may never know exactly what made Omar Mateen pull the trigger on his semiautomatic rifle. But we do know the one thing each of the shooters behind America's many recent mass shootings had in common: access to efficient killing machines like the AR-15 Sig Sauer MCX Mateen used to carry out the worst mass shooting in American history. On MSNBC's Chris Hayes show tonight: "Cord Cedeno, who frequents Pulse nightclub and lost friends there, recognized the gunman from his photos as someone who had messaged him on a gay dating app." The Orlando Sentinel reports that "At least four regular customers" at Pulse, the Orlando gay nightclub where the massacre took place, said today that they had seen Omar Mateen there before. "Sometimes he would go over in the corner and sit and drink by himself, and other times he would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent," Ty Smith said. Smith told the Orlando Sentinel that he saw Mateen inside at least a dozen times. "We didn't really talk to him a lot, but I remember him saying things about his dad at times," Smith said. "He told us he had a wife and child." At least four regular customers of Pulse told the Orlando Sentinel on Monday they believed they had seen Mateen there before. The Canadian Press reported today that a self-described "drag-dancing married couple" say they saw Mateen "as many as a dozen times" at Pulse. Ty Smith and Chris Callen recalled the eventual killer being escorted drunk from the Pulse bar on multiple occasions, including one incident where he pointed a knife at a friend. Both professed shock at seeing his face on TV: "It's the same guy," said Callen, who performs under the name Kristina McLaughlin. "He's been going to this bar for at least three years." They expressed incredulity at the story being told by Mateen's father in the wake of the shooting, that the gunman had once been scandalized during a visit to Miami by the sight of men kissing each other. They say Mateen saw plenty of men kiss and far closer to home than Miami. "That's bullcrap, right there. No offence. That's straight-up crap. He's been around us," Smith said Monday in an interview at the GLBT Community Center of Central Florida. "Some of those people did a little more than (kiss) outside the bar. He was partying with the people who supposedly drove him to do this?" Smith said the sometimes-visitor would show up with a buddy and let loose in a way he couldn't when he was closer to the family home in Port St. Lucie: "(He'd get) really, really drunk He couldn't drink when he was at home around his wife, or family. His father was really strict He used to bitch about it." The Daily Beast reported today that Mateen often ate lunch at a diner where the waiter was a high-school classmate of Mateen's, an openly gay man who did drag. That classmate, Samuel King, said Mateen never said anything about not liking gay men. On the contrary, Mateen "may have even gone to see a drag show or two." "That's the thing that's pinning me to the wall the most, that it was a gay nightclub," King said. "Because he would come into the [the restaurant] and laugh with us. "He might've even sat down at the bar and had a drink and laughed with the bartenders, knowing that they were lesbians," King added. Callen and Smith separately described an incident with Mateen that made them uncomfortable. Each told reporters they decided to stay away from Mateen after he became rageful when one of their friends told a joke, which may have been about religion. "He ended up pulling a knife," Callen said. "He said if he ever messed with him again, you know how it'll turn out." The Palm Beach Post interviewd a former classmate from Mateen's 2006 police academy class who said he believed Mateen was gay, and that Mateen once asked him out. The classmate said that he, Mateen and other classmates would hang out, sometimes going to gay nightclubs, after classes at the Indian River Community College police academy. He said Mateen asked him out romantically. "We went to a few gay bars with him, and I was not out at the time, so I declined his offer," the former classmate said. He asked that his name not be used. He believed Mateen was gay, but not open about it. Mateen was awkward, and for a while the classmate and the rest in the group of friends felt sorry for him. "He just wanted to fit in and no one liked him," he said. "He was always socially awkward." The Los Angeles Times reports that one Pulse regular said he had messaged Mateen back and forth over the course of a year or so on the gay dating app Jack'd, but never met him until he saw Mateen crossing the street about 1 AM Sunday. Kevin West, a regular at Pulse nightclub, said Omar Mateen messaged him on and off for a year before the shooting using the gay chat and dating app Jack'd. But they never met until early Sunday morning. West was dropping off a friend at the club when he noticed Mateen whom he knew by sight but not by name crossing the street wearing a dark cap and carrying a black cellphone about 1 a.m., an hour before the shooting. "He walked directly past me. I said, 'Hey,' and he turned and said, 'Hey,'" and nodded his head, West said. "I could tell by the eyes." West told reporters that when he saw Mateen's photo released after the mass shooting, he recognized him from Jack'd. West drove to his local police station. Officers there reached out to the FBI, who showed him a photo of Mateen on a computer screen. "I said, 'That's him,'" West said, and turned over his phone and Jack'd log-in information to the FBI, which still had the phone late Monday, he said. The self-loathing-gay and ISIS-inspired-jihadist theories of this attack are not mutually exclusive. Josh Barro (@jbarro) June 14, 2016 The man I spoke with today also said the shooter has messaged him on a gay dating app. His friend as well. We'll run the interview tonight. Christopher Hayes (@chrislhayes) June 13, 2016 1/ jihadi or self-hating gay or homophobe or dude was likely ~mentally ill, rageoholic, grandiose, obsessive, just like they all are. Clara Jeffery (@ClaraJeffery) June 14, 2016 2/ the search for motive as we think about it from watching too much Law and Order is largely misguided Clara Jeffery (@ClaraJeffery) June 14, 2016 3/ we want a motive, because wouldn't that be tidy. This is never tidy. Clara Jeffery (@ClaraJeffery) June 14, 2016 That's some in-depth research https://t.co/NilPfxnT3O Patrick LaForge NYT (@palafo) June 14, 2016 Brazil congressional committee vote deals blow to ex-speaker RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) One of Brazil's most powerful men was dealt a major blow on Tuesday, when a legislative ethics committee voted in favor of a motion to strip the former speaker of Congress' lower house of his mandate over allegations he lied when he denied possessing foreign bank accounts. Eduardo Cunha has been regarded as one of Brazil's most skilled political operators, and even though he's been beset by corruption allegations and was removed from the post of speaker, he still wields considerable influence in Congress. It came as little surprise, then, that Tuesday's long-awaited vote by the Chamber of Deputies' ethics committee was a nail-biter. Many observers predicted that Cunha's supporters would succeed in defeating the measure. The 11-9 result hinged on one single vote, that of Rep. Tia Eron from the northeastern Bahia state. The vote was postponed last week after Eron failed to show up to the committee. In remarks as she delivered her swing vote, Eron said she was voting in accordance with her conscience. Cunha's foes broke into raucous cheers as Eron delivered her vote, with some brandishing placards saying that popular pressure had won the day. "We are facing the biggest scandal this body has ever ruled on," said Rep. Marcos Rogerio, who authored the report recommending that Cunha be stripped of his mandate. The ethics committee's narrow approval of the motion against Cunha means the matter will move to the full Chamber of Deputies, where it needs a simple majority of 257 out of 513 votes to take effect. The ethics committee's inquiry was focused on allegations Cunha lied when he told a separate parliamentary committee he didn't hold foreign accounts. Swiss prosecutors contend that Cunha held secret accounts at the Julius Baer bank worth an estimated $5 million, funds that Brazilian investigators suspect are linked to a corruption scheme at state oil company Petrobras. Cunha has insisted on his innocence, acknowledging using money from the accounts but denying they actually belonged to him. He maintains he was merely the beneficiary of what he called "trusts," belonging to others. Cunha's fate has become a hot-button issue among many in Brazil who regard the ex-speaker as a symbol of everything that is wrong with the country's political system, which is embroiled in a sprawling investigation centered around a kickbacks scheme at Petrobras. Cunha managed to delay the ethics committee proceedings against him, dragging the process out for some eight months. It has become the longest-lasting process of its kind in Brazilian congressional history, according to the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper. Judge denies bail for man accused of joining Islamic State ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) The lawyer for a Virginia man accused of joining and then quitting the Islamic State group says his client is no longer a danger to the U.S., but a federal judge disagrees and has denied bail. At a detention hearing Tuesday in Alexandria, defense lawyer John Zwerling emphasized the apparent change in heart from 26-year-old Mohamad Khweis of Alexandria. Prosecutors brought terrorism charges against Khweis, saying he traveled to Syria and Iraq to join the Islamic State group. Khweis said he became disillusioned after a few months and surrendered to Kurdish forces. Zwerling argued unsuccessfully that Khweis should be free pending trial. A night of terror at club Pulse: One young woman's story ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) Patience Carter lay bleeding on the floor of the bathroom in club Pulse. She recalled looking into the stall next to her, and seeing bloody handprints on the wall and people draped over a toilet. Some were dead, others moaned in agony. She turned her head to see her best friend, lifeless. Then she heard the voice. "Where is it?" the man demanded when he heard a ringing cell phone. "Give it up." Patience Carter, a victim in the Pulse nightclub shooting from Philadelphia, becomes emotional after giving her story during a news conference at Florida Hospital Orlando, Tuesday, June 14, 2016, in Orlando, Fla. Carter, a 20-year-old Philadelphian, was visiting Florida for the first time, vacationing with her two friends. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack) She was safe now reclining in a hospital chair, a white blanket draped over her lap and legs as she told her story Tuesday to a packed news conference at an Orlando hospital. Her words transported a rapt audience to the horrific moments of early Sunday, when a nightclub turned into a slaughterhouse. Carter, a 20-year-old Philadelphian, was visiting Florida for the first time, vacationing with her two friends. Her friends' parents drove them to Pulse that evening after they saw it had five-star reviews on Google. When they walked in, they started chatting with others immediately. "The sweetest face greeted me," said Carter. "I told her that her shoes were the cutest I've ever seen." That woman let Carter be her plus-one, so they could save on the cover charge. Amanda Alvear, the kind woman with the cute shoes, would not survive the night. Carter and her friends, Tiara Parker and Akyra Murray, danced and laughed. "We were just all having the night that we dreamed of," she said." It was the most beautiful bonding experience three girls could have on their first night on vacation." At 2 a.m., just before the club was about to close, Carter tapped at her phone to order an Uber ride. "That's when we started hearing the gunshots," she said. Maybe, she thought, it was something the DJ was playing to get people to leave. "I was so confused." She and Murray had separated from Parker and were in the outdoor patio area. Carter insisted on going back inside for her friend. The shots continued and the trio ran to a bathroom with other panicked clubgoers. It all seemed so unreal. "I was even Snapchatting in the bathroom stall," she said. And then, the unthinkable: The shooter entered the bathroom and sprayed bullets. Blood was everywhere. "At that point, we knew this wasn't a game. This was very real. It was shock; we just went from having the time of our lives to the worst time of our lives in a matter of minutes." Carter was shot in the leg, and tried to wedge herself into the next stall. She heard the shooter make a phone call to 911. He said he wanted America to stop bombing his country. "We knew what his motive was. He wasn't going to stop killing people until he was killed," she said. She thought she heard the shooter talk with other co-conspirators. He said he had snipers outside. She could not believe one man could cause all this mayhem. The gunman walked out and they heard more gunshots. Over the next long minutes, people texted loved ones and tried to call 911 themselves. The man came back into the bathroom and ordered all to silence their phones. She watched as his feet backed into the stall where she was lying. "Hey you," he said to one man. Then he shot him. And another person, and another. One of those people shielded Carter, sparing her life but losing her own. Then a SWAT team broke through a concrete wall with a battering ram, busting the water pipes. The shooter and police exchanged gunfire and water flooded the floor. "If they don't get to me soon, I'll die in pile of bloody water," she recalled thinking. She managed to pull herself into the other stall and sit up. She'd already been talking to God. "I really don't think I'm going to get out of there," she thought. "I made peace with God. Just please take me, I don't want any more. I was just begging God to take the soul out my body." But then, she was free. A SWAT team member picked her up and dragged her by the arms through the grass. Akyra, her friend, didn't make it. She had just turned 18. ___ Follow Tamara Lush on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tamaralush Patience Carter, a victim in the Pulse nightclub shooting from Philadelphia, is comforted by Dr. Neil Finkler after speaking during a news conference at Florida Hospital Orlando Tuesday, June 14, 2016, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack) Patience Carter, a victim in the Pulse nightclub shooting from Philadelphia, center, is escorted by Dr. Neil Finkler, right, to a news conference at Florida Hospital Orlando Tuesday, June 14, 2016, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack) Patience Carter, a victim in the Pulse nightclub shooting from Philadelphia, center, is escorted by Dr. Neil Finkler to a news conference at Florida Hospital Orlando Tuesday, June 14, 2016, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack) Patience Carter, a victim in the Pulse nightclub shooting from Philadelphia, speaks as Dr. Brian Vickaryous listens during a news conference at Florida Hospital Orlando Tuesday, June 14, 2016, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack) Patience Carter, a victim in the Pulse nightclub shooting from Philadelphia, speaks of her experience during a news conference at Florida Hospital Orlando Tuesday, June 14, 2016, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack) Shooting victim Angel Santiago, right, wipes away a tear as Patience Carter, of Philadelphia, left, relays her experience of being in the mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub during a news conference at Florida Hospital Orlando Tuesday, June 14, 2016, in Orlando, Fla. Listening at center is Dr. Brian Vickaryous. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack) Shooting victims Patience Carter, of Philadelphia, left, and Angel Santiago, right, listen as Dr. Brian Vickaryous relays his experience during a news conference regarding the treatment of victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting, at Florida Hospital Orlando Tuesday, June 14, 2016, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack) Patience Carter, a victim of the Pulse nightclub shooting from Philadelphia, becomes emotional after talking about the shooting during a news conference at Florida Hospital Orlando Tuesday, June 14, 2016, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack) Patience Carter, a victim in the Pulse nightclub shooting from Philadelphia, is comforted by Dr. Neil Finkler after speaking during a news conference at Florida Hospital Orlando Tuesday, June 14, 2016, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack) The Latest: Southern Baptists condemn Confederate flag use NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) The Latest on resolutions at the Southern Baptist Convention's annual meeting Tuesday in St. Louis (all times local): __ 5:15 p.m. The Southern Baptist Convention has passed a resolution calling on Christians to stop displaying the Confederate battle flag. The resolution was first proposed by an African-American pastor, the Rev. Dwight McKissic. The proposal presented to thousands of delegates at the denomination's annual meeting in St. Louis on Tuesday was less strongly worded than the original. It added a paragraph saying that the flag serves for some not as a symbol of racism but as a memorial to loved ones who died in the Civil War. It also called on Christians to "consider prayerfully whether to limit, or even more so, discontinue" the flag's display. But on Tuesday, the convention approved a motion from the floor to remove the added paragraph and strengthen the language by calling on Christians to simply discontinue the flag's use. __ 4:45 p.m. The Southern Baptist Convention has approved a resolution expressing love and compassion for the victims of the Orlando shooting and their families. The nation's largest Protestant denomination adopted the resolution at its annual meeting in St. Louis on Tuesday. Southern Baptists consider same-sex marriage and sexual relations to be sinful, but the resolution says "we regard those affected by this tragedy as fellow image-bearers of God and our neighbors." At the same time, the thousands of delegates to the meeting of the Nashville-based convention also adopted a resolution seeking protection for the religious liberties of those who oppose gay marriage and transgender bathroom access. ___ 3:30 p.m. The Orlando shooting, racial unrest and the tension between religious liberty and gay rights are all under discussion at the Southern Baptist Convention meeting. Convention President Ronnie Floyd told an audience of thousands attending the convention in St. Louis on Tuesday that he believes racism is from Satan, and it is up to churches to defeat it. Floyd has made racial unity a priority of his presidency. The nation's largest Protestant denomination was founded in a split with northern Baptists over slavery, has a history of complicity with Jim Crow laws and is still 80-90 percent white. But with 15.3 million members, that translates to at least 1.5 million non-white members in the Nashville-based denomination. Was Orlando gunman sexually conflicted? And did it matter? NEW YORK (AP) Was the Orlando nightclub gunman part of the local gay dating scene? As investigators ask that question, activists and academics reflect on a phenomenon that has been documented: Some men who profess to disdain homosexuality have covertly engaged in sex with other men. Over the years, there has been a string of politicians and pastors who publicly opposed various gay-rights initiatives, and eventually were implicated in furtive same-sex liaisons. The Rev. Ted Haggard, a prominent evangelical megachurch pastor in Colorado who opposed same-sex marriage, was forced out of his job in 2006 after a male escort alleged Haggard had paid him for sex. Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho, a consistent foe of gay-rights legislation, pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in 2007 following his arrest in a Minneapolis airport men's room where an undercover officer suspected him of soliciting sex. FILE -- This undated file image shows Omar Mateen, who authorities say killed dozens of people inside the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., on Sunday, June 12, 2016. U.S. authorities say Omar Mateen, the man who carried out the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history, had touted support not just for the Islamic State but also other radical factions that are enemies of the Sunni militant group. He not only professed allegiance to IS but also expressed solidarity with a suicide bomber from the Syrian branch of al-Qaida, which is known as the Nusra Front and which is Islamic States top rival. (MySpace via AP, File) It's not yet known if Omar Mateen, killed in a gun battle with police during Sunday's attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando, had any sort of internal struggle related to sexual identity. His father has suggested he may have acted out of anti-gay hatred, and was not gay himself. Meanwhile, the FBI is investigating reports that Mateen was a regular at the nightclub and had used gay dating apps. Even if it turns out that Mateen, a Muslim, had engaged in gay sex, and was conflicted about it, there is no track record to suggest that would be a trigger for a massacre. Gay-on-gay violence is not uncommon, but much of it is in the form of intimate-partner violence, not attacks on strangers. "It is very rare that homophobia turns into something that is so hateful," said Dr. Marshall Forstein, a Harvard Medical School psychiatrist and president of the American Psychiatric Association's lesbian, gay and bisexual caucus. "We don't know whether he (Mateen) was casing the joint, whether he was trying to find victims on the websites or whether he was trying to deal with internalized feelings" of homosexuality, Forstein said. Sarah Kate Ellis, president of the LGBT advocacy group GLAAD, said any further revelations about Mateen's sexuality wouldn't alter the fact that the LGBT community and the core values of America had suffered a horrific attack. "Whether the gunman's homophobia spurred from hatred of others or hatred of himself, this is homophobia all the same," she said in a statement. "And it's sadly just the latest example of homophobia turning to horrific violence, just as it has for decades." Psychological studies have shown that some men with repressed same-sex desires may express anti-gay views, especially if they grew up in families that opposed homosexuality. Dr. Jack Drescher, a New York-based psychiatrist with expertise in sexual-identity issues, cited a 1996 study at the University of Georgia that tested the sexual arousal of men exposed to imagery of gay sex. It found that men with antipathy toward gays had higher arousal levels than men who were accepting of gays. However, Drescher said there's been relatively little subsequent research to explore the topic of anti-gay sentiments among men sexually attracted to other men. "It might make common sense, but I don't think it's been very well studied," Drescher said. "And rarely do you see this level of violence it's not a typical response." Douglas Haldeman, president-elect of the California Psychological Association, also has reviewed the Georgia study. "It did suggest that some people cannot tolerate their own homoerotic responses," he said. "Their cultural beliefs, their society, has caused them to internalize their feelings." Michael Newcomb, a Northwestern University psychologist who studies health disparities in the LGBT community, said even if the shooter was struggling with his own sexuality, it's likely many other factors led to the massacre. "People who are struggling to come to terms with their sexual identity do at times react to that by doing the exact opposite, which could be to become more masculine or more vocal about their ideals of a traditional family," he said. "There are so many societal factors that can lead to mental health problems just by living in a society that devalues being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender." That may sometimes lead to violent outbursts, but not to the extreme of the Orlando massacre, he said. The Orlando attack, which left 49 people dead in addition to Mateen, occurred just two weeks ahead of the one-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide. That ruling, and increasing acceptance in many other realms of U.S. society, have empowered many people to come out as gay at earlier ages and to be more comfortable with that decision, according to gay activist Wayne Besen, a Florida native now based in Chicago. "When I came out in 1988, I felt alone, like I was the only one," he said. "Nobody says that anymore. Everyone knows there's a community out there, that people are out and happy." However, he said there are pockets of U.S. society, for example in households where homosexuality is viewed as sinful, where young people still struggle with whether to come out. "For someone who grew up in an extremely anti-gay atmosphere, with parents saying that if they had a gay child they would shun them, that creates profound psychological damage," Besen said. "They may want to come out but they can't." For any such young person, he suggested, it would be deeply frustrating to be in the closet while observing the growing number of gays and lesbians living openly and confidently. "It's out there and in your face and hard to avoid," he said. ___ Tanner reported from Chicago. ___ Follow AP National Writer David Crary and AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner on Twitter at http://twitter.com/CraryAP and http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner . Her work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/lindsey-tanner ___ This story has been corrected to show the activist's surname is spelled Besen, not Bessen. Man who left Washington work release caught in South Dakota OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) Officials say a man convicted of murder at age 12 who walked away from a work release program in Washington state has been captured in South Dakota. The Washington Department of Corrections says U.S. Marshals apprehended 25-year-old Jake Eakin without incident Tuesday at a bus stop in Rapid City. A warrant was issued for Eakin's arrest Sunday after he failed to report to a Yakima, Washington, work release center. Eakin will be sent to the Washington Corrections Center in Shelton, and could face charges for his unauthorized leave. Eakin was convicted of murder in 2005 and sentenced to 14 years in prison for the 2003 beating and stabbing death of a 13-year-old special education student. At the time of the killing, Eakin was 12. Municipal police in Mexico's Veracruz state kill 2 in mix-up MEXICO CITY (AP) Prosecutors in the Mexican state of Veracruz say municipal police allegedly killed two people after confusing their vehicle with one the police were pursuing. The state Attorney General's Office said in a statement Tuesday that multiple shots were fired into a misidentified vehicle by local police from the city of Martinez de la Torre. A 36-year-old victim and 17-year-old son were killed as they drove through Emiliano Zapata. The Latest: Michigan AG won't appeal dismissal of charges LANSING, Mich. (AP) The Latest on the criminal case against two Michigan lawmakers who were forced from office in a sex scandal (all times local): 6:40 p.m. The Michigan attorney general's office is not planning to appeal a judge's dismissal of criminal charges against a former state lawmaker who was expelled from office. Cindy Gamrat, a former Michigan lawmaker, listens while Judge Hugh Clark Jr. dismisses charges against her on Tuesday, June 14, 2016, in Lansing, Mich. Gamrat, who was expelled from the state House in 2015, was facing misconduct in office charges stemming from a legislative investigation into an alleged cover-up of her extramarital affair and her staff forging her signature on proposed legislation. (AP Photo/David Eggert) A spokeswoman for Attorney General Bill Schuette said Tuesday his office looks forward to prosecuting ex-legislator Todd Courser. A Lansing judge ruled there's not enough probable cause to charge Cindy Gamrat with felony misconduct in office. He also tossed two charges against Courser while ordering him to stand trial on two other charges. Courser has admitted to writing a false email that was sent as a ruse to hide his extramarital affair with Gamrat. She was expelled by the Michigan House in September. Courser resigned rather than be kicked out. ___ 2:30 p.m. A judge has dismissed charges against a former Michigan lawmaker while ordering another ex-legislator to stand trial after they were forced from office in a sex scandal. Lansing District Judge Hugh Clarke Jr. ruled Tuesday there's not enough probable cause for tea party conservative Cindy Gamrat to face felony misconduct in office charges. But he said Republican former Rep. Todd Courser will go to trial on two of four counts. Clarke tossed two other charges against Courser. Gamrat became only the fourth legislator in state history to be expelled in September. Courser resigned. Michigan's attorney general accused them of lying during the legislative probe and having staff forge their signatures on draft legislation. Lansing District Judge Hugh Clark Jr. explains why he dismissed charges against one former lawmaker and allowed some of the case to proceed against another ex-legislator, Tuesday, June 14, 2016, in Lansing, Mich. He ruled there was not enough probable cause for Cindy Gamrat to face felony misconduct in office charges stemming from an investigation into an alleged cover-up of her extramarital affair with ex-Rep. Todd Courser. But he said Courser will go to trial on two of four counts a perjury charge that carries a maximum 15 years in prison and a misconduct in office charge that has a maximum penalty of five years in prison. (AP Photo/David Eggert) Cindy Gamrat, a former Michigan lawmaker, listens with her attorneys while Judge Hugh Clark Jr. dismisses charges against her on Tuesday, June 14, 2016, in Lansing, Mich. Gamrat, who was expelled from the state House in 2015, was facing misconduct in office charges stemming from a legislative investigation into an alleged cover-up of her extramarital affair and her staff forging her signature on proposed legislation. (AP Photo/David Eggert) Former Michigan lawmaker Todd Courser, right, reacts after Judge Hugh Clark Jr. dismisses some charges and allows others to proceed on Tuesday, June 14, 2016, in Lansing, Mich. Courser, who resigned from the state House in 2015 rather than be expelled, will face trial on two of four counts _ a perjury charge that carries a maximum 15 years in prison and a misconduct in office charge that has a maximum penalty of five years in prison. (AP Photo/David Eggert) Lansing District Judge Hugh Clark Jr. explains why he dismissed charges against one former lawmaker and allowed some of the case to proceed against another ex-legislator, Tuesday, June 14, 2016, in Lansing, Mich. He ruled there was not enough probable cause for Cindy Gamrat to face felony misconduct in office charges stemming from an investigation into an alleged cover-up of her extramarital affair with ex-Rep. Todd Courser. But he said Courser will go to trial on two of four counts a perjury charge that carries a maximum 15 years in prison and a misconduct in office charge that has a maximum penalty of five years in prison. (AP Photo/David Eggert) Burgum wins ND governor primary; farming measure defeated BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) North Dakota Republicans nominated former Microsoft executive Doug Burgum Tuesday in a primary likely to decide the next governor, and voters also overwhelmingly rejected the Legislature's move to loosen the state's Depression-era rules prohibiting corporate farming. The GOP battle between Burgum and his longtime friend, state Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, featured a spirited and expensive debate about which candidate was better suited to revive a state economy that is slumping due to depressed oil and crop prices. Burgum, a millionaire Fargo businessman, was expected to be a heavy favorite in November over Rolla Rep. Marvin Nelson, who ran unopposed in the Democratic primary and is seen as a longshot in a state that has not had Democratic governor since 1992. FILE - In this May 10, 2016, file photo, North Dakota Republican gubernatorial hopeful Doug Burgum speaks during an editorial board meeting in Bismarck. North Dakota Republicans nominated former Microsoft executive Burgum Tuesday, June 14, 2016, in a primary likely to decide the next governor, and voters also overwhelmingly rejected the Legislatures move to loosen the state's Depression-era rules prohibiting corporate farming. (Tom Stromme/The Bismarck Tribune via AP, File) MANDATORY CREDIT Burgum thanked his supporters, volunteers and voters. "This is an exciting night for the future of North Dakota and it's a tremendous honor to have you support and your trust," Burgum told cheering supporters at a Fargo art gallery. In an interview with The Associated Press, Stenehjem said he had no regrets. "We worked tirelessly and presented that vision we have for North Dakota that is one of optimism, and I continue to believe that," he said. "We can hold our heads high." Burgum is the latest in a line of wealthy business people who have made the leap to the governor's office. Rick Snyder and Bruce Rauner did it in Michigan and Illinois, respectively, in recent years. The North Dakota Farmers Union led the campaign to reverse the Legislature's decision last year to exempt pork and dairy operations from the state's anti-corporate farming law. Campaign disclosure filings show the Farmers Union, which has more than 40,000 members, has spent more than $1 million to overturn the law. Supporters of the so-called ham-and-cheese law say the exemption is needed to save the two dying industries by giving them more access to capital and opportunities to expand. Opponents said family farming had served North Dakota well and that the law was an invitation for big, out-of-state corporations to set up operations in the state. Eight other states have laws restricting corporate farming, though all allow exemptions for some livestock operations. Republican Sen. Terry Wanzek, who farms near Jamestown, and Sen. Joe Miller, R-Park River, also a farmer, were primary supporters of the legislation. Wanzek said he was not surprised at the result Tuesday. "It's a lot easier to mislead people than to tell the truth this wasn't going to open the state up to corporations to buy everything up," he said. "The opponents defended the status quo and offered no solutions to help the swine and dairy industries in our state." Mark Watne, president of the North Dakota Farmers Union, was elated with the vote. "The citizens of North Dakota do not support corporate farming and we should respect that," he said. Stenehjem, who was elected attorney general in 2000, won the Republican convention delegates' endorsement for governor in April though Burgum vowed to stay in the race, crisscrossing the state in a 42-year-old bus with a leaky roof that logged some 16,000 miles and lost its muffler twice along the campaign trail. Burgum is known in North Dakota as the godfather of software for building Fargo's Great Plains Software into a billion-dollar business, which he later sold to Microsoft. Burgum's late brother, Brad, was Stenehjem's roommate at the University of North Dakota law school. Brad Burgum also served as treasurer for Stenehjem's successful bid for state House in 1976. The latest campaign filings show Stenehjem raised more than $1 million in campaign donations for the primary race, including shifting $145,000 from his past attorney general campaign treasury within the past week. Burgum raised about $1.1 million, or about $60,000 more than Stenehjem's total, filings show, but he also has personally funded his campaign. Burgum had a much greater presence in television, radio and internet advertising. Stenehjem is a native of Mohall who grew up in Williston and had a wide geographic base, having lived in western, eastern and central North Dakota. Burgum also promised in television advertisements to refuse a salary and a state pension if he's elected North Dakota's governor, even though state law does not allow that move and similar ones in the past have drawn criticism. But state law specifies the salary of the governor $133,000 annually at the moment and does not say they have the option of taking less. Previous opinions by two North Dakota attorneys general have been critical of potential officeholders promising on the campaign trail to take less money. Stenehjem, who is in the middle of his four-year term as attorney general, will continue to serve with the next governor and the agriculture commissioner on the state Industrial Commission, which regulates North Dakota's oil industry. __ Associated Press writers Blake Nicholson in Bismarck and Dave Kolpack in Fargo contributed to this report. Kate and William send 'thoughts and prayers' to Orlando massacre victims The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have sent their "thoughts and prayers" to the victims of the gay nightclub massacre in Orlando. Lone gunman Omar Mateen, 29, left 49 people dead and dozens of others wounded in the massacre at Pulse in the Florida city on Sunday. William and Kate visited the American Embassy in central London on Tuesday to sign a book of condolence. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge sent their "thoughts and prayers" to victims of the massacre Dressed in black, the royal couple were greeted by the US Ambassador Matthew Barzun before writing individual messages. The Duke paused for a moment to read the ambassador's dedication as his wife stood solemnly by his side. He wrote: "With our deepest condolences and with our thoughts and prayers to all those affected." The Duchess signed "Catherine" beside her husband's name. The couple then spoke to embassy staff who have worked on LGBT issues. Dozens of embassy workers, all wearing custom-made badges with a combination of the American, British and Pride flags, filled the lobby for the royal visit. An image of their messages will be added to an online condolence book which the public are able to contribute to. Prince Harry enjoyed the hospitality of the southern state when he visited Orlando last month for the Invictus games. The Duke of Cambridge signs a book of condolence for Orlando shooting victims at the US Embassy in London The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge sign a book of condolence for Orlando shooting victims The Duchess signed "Catherine" beside her husband's name The royals were greeted by the US Ambassador Matthew Barzun before signing the book The note left by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge meet staff at the US Embassy in London The Duchess of Cambridge meets US Embassy staff The shooter who killed 49 people at a gay-friendly bar in Orlando, Florida had been on the FBI's radar for three years. In 2013, some of Omar Mateen's co-workers reported that Mateen boasted of links to terrorists overseas, saying "he hoped that the F.B.I would raid his family's home so that he could become a martyr," reports the New York Times. Based on that report, the FBI opened an investigation and put him on a terrorist watch list for about a year. He was not arrested. The Times reports that a second investigation centered around his possible ties to a bombing in Syria. He was not arrested. When a young American man from coastal Florida drove a truck packed with explosives into a hilltop restaurant in Syria in May 2014, F.B.I. agents scoured his online postings and interviewed his contacts in Florida in a scramble to determine who, if anyone, might try to launch a similar attack inside the United States. One of the people they spoke to was Omar Mateen, a young security guard from a nearby town who had attended the same mosque as the suicide bomber and had been on a terrorism watch list for incendiary comments he once made to co-workers at a local courthouse. But the F.B.I. soon ended its examination of Mr. Mateen after finding no evidence that he posed a terrorist threat to his community. Violence and Contradictions on the Path to a Gay Nightclub [NYT: MARK MAZZETTI, ERIC LICHTBLAU and ALAN BLINDER] Parents of 'Jihadi Jack' freed on bail pending funding terrorism trial The parents of Muslim convert "Jihadi Jack" have been freed after spending five nights in jail amid fears they would try to rescue their son from "mortal danger" in Syria. A senior judge reversed the move to remand John Letts and Sally Lane into custody as they await trial on charges of funding terrorism. The couple, from Oxford, are accused of sending hundreds of pounds to 20-year-old Jack Letts, who is believed to have joined Islamic State in 2014. The parents appeared at the Old Bailey in London Mr Justice Saunders refused to criticise the decision by a district judge at Westminster Magistrates' Court not to allow the pair bail during their first appearance in court last Thursday. He said: "She took the view ... the defendants were devoted parents who believed that their son was in mortal danger and, as many parents would, they would stop at nothing to remove him from that danger. "In those circumstances she concluded that there was a serious risk that they would commit further offences by sending money to their son in the belief that would lead him to safety. "So two perfectly decent people have ended up in custody because of the love of their child." Letts, 55, appeared before the Old Bailey via video-link from HMP Wandsworth, with his arm in a sling fashioned from a jumper to protect an old injury that had flared up in jail. Wearing black clothes and spectacles, his wife, Lane, 54, appeared from HMP Bronzefield. Defence barrister Di Middleton, for Letts, said the effect of a few days behind bars had been "incalculable" for both of them. Mr Justice Saunders observed: "These two are clearly desperately concerned about their son. The information that they have had would indicate to them - and they were given to believe it - if they were able to get money to their son, he would be able to get out of the desperately dangerous situation he is in. "For perfectly understandable reasons that is considered to be an offence because of where he is and whose hands that money is likely to fall into. "Perfectly decent parents in that sort of situation - how can I be sure they will not be moved by their own compassion to their son and send money out there?" Ms Middleton replied: "All aspects of what your Lordship has summarised have been in existence since this couple were granted police bail and there have been no attempts since then. "Notwithstanding the constant situation - the constant fear - there have been no further attempts." Granting conditional bail, Mr Justice Saunders noted there was no opposition from police and the defendants were of "positive good character". He added: "The defendants have now spent some time in custody. I have no doubt that they have found that very difficult. "I hope and believe it has brought home to them that, however well intentioned, they cannot and must not transfer money directly or indirectly to their son without express written permission of the appropriate police department." He warned the couple that if they breached the terms of their bail, it would be "extremely unlikely" it would be renewed. Lane and Letts are charged with three counts of terror funding by allegedly sending their son 223 on September 2 last year, 1,000 on December 31 2015 and 500 on January 4 2016. Lane is charged with two further counts of allegedly attempting to send two payments of 500 on January 4 2016. Jack Letts, dubbed "Jihadi Jack", was suspected of being the first white Briton to join the terror group after he left his Oxford home and travelled to the war-ravaged country in 2014. The 20-year-old reportedly goes by the name Abu Mohammed and married an Iraqi woman with whom he has a son, Muhammed. Ken Livingstone denies being anti-Semitic in appearance at Parliamentary inquiry Ken Livingstone has denied being anti-Semitic, as one of the leading members of Britain's Jewish community said he should be a "political pariah" because of his claims that Hitler supported Zionism. Giving evidence to a parliamentary inquiry into anti-Semitism, the former London mayor said he stood by the comments, and blamed "embittered Blairites" for forcing his suspension from the Labour Party as part of a bid to undermine leader Jeremy Corbyn. He said he expected the review set up under Shami Chakrabarti to investigate allegations of anti-Semitism within the party to find that it involved only a "handful" of recent recruits and was not a problem "inherent" to Labour. Ken Livingstone was suspended from the Labour Party in April But the president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, Jonathan Arkush, told the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee that Labour's shift to the left under Corbyn had "emboldened" anti-Semites on the far left to voice their prejudices. "The election of a leader who is associated with the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, with Stop the War, with a very, very hostile position on Israel, very well-known and well-publicised, and someone who has thought it appropriate to meet here in the democratic mother of parliaments with terrorist organisations whose stated mission in life is to kill as many Christians and Jews as possible, has clearly sent the wrong sort of message to some people," said Mr Arkush. He added: "With the advent of a more leftwards tilt in the leadership of the Labour Party, some people feel that a space has been opened up for them, or they feel emboldened to say things which previously they felt they couldn't say in polite society." Mr Arkush welcomed the establishment of the Chakrabarti review, but added: "We are concerned that the impression is being given by the leader of the Labour Party of a certain reluctance to accept these issues. The impression we have got is that every step taken has had to be wrung out of him by public pressure." He said he had pressed Mr Corbyn to accept that his earlier meetings with Hamas and Hezbollah had been "inappropriate" and should not be repeated, and was concerned that the Labour leader had not yet done so. Mr Livingstone was suspended from the Labour Party in April amid a row over his remarks about Hitler, which led to a confrontation in front of TV cameras with furious Labour MP John Mann who branded him a "Nazi apologist". The former London mayor told the committee the allegation was a "lie" and he could have sued Mr Mann over it. He said he had been trying to calm the Bassetlaw MP because he "seemed to be on the edge of violence" and he feared Mr Mann would "take a swing" at him. Mr Livingstone insisted he was right to say that Hitler had at one point supported Zionism as a way of "getting rid" of Jewish people from Germany. He repeatedly told the cross-party committee he had been approached in the street by Jews agreeing he was right. In a written statement to the committee, he said: "I detest racism and condemn anti-Semitism. Indeed my political career has totally opposed any such views concerning any religious or ethnic group." Challenged to offer an apology for his comments, he said: "If I had said something that was untrue and caused offence, I would have apologised, but what I said was true. "What caused offence was a group of embittered old Blairites running around lying about what I said. " But Mr Arkush described Mr Livingstone's comments as "plainly anti-Semitic" and "a completely false and distorted version of history" which had been debunked by reputable academics. "To say Hitler was a Zionist was not only the most absurd thing to say, but a hateful thing to say," he told the committee. And HASC chairman Keith Vaz said that the committee found Mr Livingstone's evidence "unconvincing". Mr Livingstone said he "absolutely" felt that his suspension was the result of MPs seeking to undermine Mr Corbyn. "They are not out to get me - I'm a retired pensioner and I'm a house husband," he said. "They are out to get Jeremy Corbyn and that's why they whipped up this hysteria about anti-Semitism." He added: "The MPs who smeared me have been criticising Jeremy Corbyn and stabbing him in the back for the last nine months. What I find appalling about the motivation of these MPs is they are prepared to cause worry and doubt and confusion amongst our Jewish community in this country for short-term political gain." Labour committee member Chuka Umunna told Mr Livingstone he was an "embarrassment" to the party. "You are not a historian, you are a politician," said the Streatham MP. "By needlessly and repeatedly offending Jewish people in this way, you've not only betrayed our Labour values, you betray your legacy as mayor, because all you are now going to be remembered for is becoming a pin-up for the kind of prejudice that our party was built to fight against. "That's a huge shame and it's an embarrassment." Led Zeppelin pair in court to counter Stairway To Heaven riff plagiarism claim Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page and Robert Plant have arrived at court to face claims they copied a guitar riff on Stairway To Heaven. The British musicians are accused of plagiarising the instrumental track Taurus by the US band Spirit when they wrote the classic rock song, which was released in 1971. A lawsuit has been filed by Michael Skidmore, the trustee of Spirit's guitarist Randy Wolfe - known by the nickname Randy California - who died in 1997 having never taken legal action over the song. Led Zeppelin pictured at a film launch A jury will rule on the case at the US District Court in Los Angeles, where Plant, Page and their bandmate John Paul Jones are expected to give evidence. Led Zeppelin were the opening act for Spirit when the British band made their US debut in December 1968 in Denver, according to documents filed with the court. Led Zeppelin's lawyers have argued that both Stairway To Heaven and Taurus use notes and combinations that have been circulating in music for centuries. The lawsuit comes after a US federal jury found last year that Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams had copied a Marvin Gaye song to create their 2013 hit Blurred Lines and awarded Gaye's children 7.4 million US dollars (5.2 million). A judge trimmed the award in that case and the verdict is under appeal. The jury was sworn in as district court judge Gary Klausner warned the panel not to read news reports about the case or do their own research online. "The plaintiff asserts infringement of copyright of a musical composition known as Taurus," the judge said. "The defendants deny these claims. "You must decide this case solely on the evidence received during this trial. Diana's evening gown and tartan coat fetch more than 100k A glamorous sequinned Catherine Walker evening gown and an 80s tartan coat worn by Diana, Princess of Wales have sold for more than 100,000 at auction. The teal floor length dress - one of the Princess's favourites, went for 96,000 at the sale on Tuesday. The shimmering gown, which is split to the knee and has accentuated shoulder pads, was commissioned for the Princess in 1986 by Walker - who was her much loved go-to designer. She wore it on a state visit to Austria the same year and many times after. Diana and Charles pictured during their trip to Venice Auctioneer Kerry Taylor said: "It is unusually glitzy being entirely covered in shimmering sequins - more Hollywood glam than the sedate, elegant numbers she usually wore." The second outfit - a bold, green tartan wool coat with wide, padded shoulders, the Princess's trademark sailor-collar, and a matching skirt - was not a popular look. Despite being likened to a horse blanket by the media after Diana wore it on a trip to Venice with the Prince of Wales in 1985, it sold for 11,250. Made by Elizabeth and David Emanuel, who designed the Princess's wedding dress, it ended up in a resale clothes shop after being handed over by Sarah, Duchess of York's mother. The Princess was also photographed wearing the coat while holding baby Prince Harry on board the Royal Yacht Britannia on the same trip to Italy. It ended up in a Hampshire high-end clothes resale shop some years later, and was bought in 1990 by the vendor who was told it had come from Susan Barrantes, mother of Sarah Ferguson. The Duchess of Cambridge has followed in Diana's footsteps by wearing Catherine Walker - last opting for the label when she chose a grass-green coat dress for her appearance at the Chelsea Flower Show last week. Kerry Taylor Auctions' Passion for Fashion sale was held on Tuesday in Bermondsey, south east London. Schroders ex-trader gets 2 years' jail for insider trading June 13 (Reuters) - Damian Clarke, a former equities trader at Schroders Investment Management, has been sentenced to two years imprisonment for insider trading, Britain's financial watchdog said. Clarke pleaded guilty to nine counts of insider trading spanning nine years, the Financial Conduct Authority said on Monday, adding that the profits made from the deals amounted to at least 155,162 pounds ($221,400). Clarke pleaded guilty to seven counts of insider trading on July 24 last year. In March this year, he pleaded guilty to the remaining two counts in London's Southwark Crown Court. (http://yhoo.it/1UedjZj) OPEC points to oil demand exceeding its production for first time in 3 years By Alex Lawler LONDON, June 13 (Reuters) - OPEC forecast on Monday that the world oil market will be more balanced in the second half of 2016 as outages in Nigeria and Canada help to speed up the erosion of a supply glut. In a monthly report, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said its current production is lower than the average forecast demand for its crude in the second half of 2016. The last full quarter when OPEC pumped less than demand for its crude was in 2013, according to past OPEC reports. Oil has risen to $50 a barrel from a 12-year low of $27 in January as the outages curb excess supply. These, say OPEC, are accelerating a tightening in the market it expected to happen anyway, as lower prices finally take their toll on higher-cost supply outside the group. "The excess supply in the market is likely to ease over the coming quarters," OPEC said in the report, resulting in "a more balanced oil market toward the end of the year." Prices collapsed from $100 two years ago in a drop that deepened after OPEC refused to cut output, hoping lower prices would curb rival supply. With signs the strategy is working, OPEC at a June 2 meeting made no change to its output policy. Attacks on Nigeria's oil industry, wildfires in Canada and losses elsewhere pushed the level of unplanned supply outages to the highest in at least five years in May. But inventories are high and OPEC cautioned: "Nevertheless, there is still a massive global supply overhang." In Monday's report, OPEC said its oil output fell 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 32.36 million bpd in May. That is 500,000 bpd less than OPEC's forecast of the demand for its crude in the third quarter, and 160,000 bpd below the average of expected demand for OPEC crude in the second half. That points to a tighter market than in the first quarter of this year, when OPEC said its output exceeded the demand for its crude by 2.59 million bpd and prices hit the 12-year low. The price drop is hitting non-OPEC supply as companies have delayed or cancelled projects around the world. OPEC forecasts supply from outside producers will decline by 740,000 bpd in 2016 led by the United States, unchanged from last month. OPEC supply had been climbing since the 2014 policy shift, reaching its highest since 2008 in April. The output drop in May was led by Nigeria, the report said, citing secondary sources. OPEC stuck with a forecast that world oil demand will rise by 1.20 million bpd this year. Hungary passes law that could block Uber sites By Marton Dunai BUDAPEST, June 13 (Reuters) - Hungary passed legislation on Monday which could curb the activities of Uber after months of protests by taxi drivers, following in the footsteps of other countries that have banned some of its ride-hailing services. Under the new law, the Hungarian national communications authority can block Internet access to "illegal dispatcher services", in a similar fashion to the way the regulator blocked access to illegal online gambling sites in the country. "The bill aims partly to block the Internet access to illegal taxi, or other similar dispatcher services, if the authorities' other preventive measures are ineffective," Development Minister Miklos Sesztak wrote in the reasoning. Taxi drivers in Hungary have demanded Uber be outlawed and its smartphone app blocked as they say its drivers breach regulations other taxis firms must adhere to. UberPOP, a smartphone app that links private drivers with passengers, has prompted taxi driver protests across Europe and to date has been declared illegal by courts in Italy, Spain and Germany, with appeals pending in Belgium and the Netherlands. France suspended the low-cost service last year after the government banned it under pressure from licensed taxi drivers and a French court slapped a hefty fine on Uber last week for running an illegal taxi service. A German court also upheld the ban on UberPOP last week. Hungary issues taxi firms with dispatcher service permits, allowing a dispatcher service to transfer passenger requests to drivers under a series of criteria, such as a sizeable insurance deposit and an obligation to record data. Without such permits it is illegal to offer rides for money, and the government can block Internet-based communication that enables that, the new law says. While traditional taxi services in Hungary also have apps for ordering cabs, Uber does not yet have a dispatch permit. "Uber will request the dispatcher permit from the Hungarian authorities. Currently we are preparing that administratively. This is also part of our regulatory compliance efforts," Uber's Hungarian operations director Zoltan Fekete said in a statement. "Uber has emphasised legal compliance: our drivers took out permits and provide legal receipts," Fekete said. "Uber seeks dialogue with decision makers in the hope that the current outdated regulations are replaced with a modern one tailored to new technology, centred around the interest of consumers," he said, adding that Uber has 150,000 Hungarian users and 1,200 drivers. The new Hungarian legislation, which does not mention Uber by name, is due to come into effect in 31 days. Fijian diplomat elected president of U.N. General Assembly UNITED NATIONS, June 13 (Reuters) - The ambassador of the tiny Pacific Island nation of Fiji on Monday won a rare election for the post of president of the United Nations General Assembly, a position that has been the focus of a corruption scandal in the United States. Ambassador Peter Thomson of Fiji narrowly defeated Andreas Mavroyiannis of Cyprus with 94 votes compared to Mavroyiannis' 90 votes. The post is a largely ceremonial one, though it has a high profile and important procedural functions. Normally a single candidate for assembly president is elected by consensus without a vote. Speaking to reporters after the election, Thomson pledged to keep pushing for more transparency in the office of the assembly president after his predecessor from 2013 to 2014 was accused by U.S. authorities of taking $1.3 million in bribes from Chinese businessmen. Thomson will oversee the process of searching for a new U.N. secretary-general to replace Ban Ki-moon of South Korea, who will finish his second five-year term in the post at the end of 2016. The president of the 193-nation General Assembly, Mogens Lykketoft of Denmark, has attempted to make the process of electing a U.N. chief more transparent by organizing town hall-style meetings with candidates for the job. The secretary-general is nominated by the 15-nation Security Council and confirmed by the General Assembly. It has traditionally been a secretive process with few chances for countries outside the Security Council to get much information about the candidates. "I will be carrying on that legacy of his. We did suffer a terrible blow with what happened with that past PGA," Thomson said, referring to former President of the General Assembly John Ashe. "But this is not something that taints the U.N. in any way. These things happen." Ash, the former U.N. ambassador from Antigua and Barbuda, is one of seven individuals charged since October in connection with the bribery scheme and is in plea talks, according to a court filing last month. Earlier this year a U.N. task force recommended new ethical rules and financial disclosures for the General Assembly presidency's office in the wake of the bribery allegations. UNHCR cuts 2016 estimate for refugee arrivals in Europe via Greece By Tom Miles GENEVA, June 13 (Reuters) - The U.N. refugee agency said on Monday it expects 248,000 refugees and migrants to arrive in Europe via the Eastern Mediterranean this year, far lower than the "up to 1 million" it foresaw at the start of the year. The figure is made up the 156,000 who have already arrived and another 92,000 who may arrive on the Turkey to Greece route by the end of the year, UNHCR said, in an update of a regional refugee plan first issued in January. The flow of migrants via Greece effectively dried up after a string of border closures in the Balkans in February and then a deal in March between the European Union and Turkey to halt migration to Greece. "From a response solely targeting people on the move, the overall strategy is now focusing on a largely static population, with the majority residing in urban areas," said the plan, which set out UNHCR's strategy and a $670 million budget. "The response strategy ... recognises that while legal and physical restrictions have been put in place at borders along the former route, the motivation of refugees and migrants to reach further into Europe will not abate," it said. "There are therefore considerable risks that people remaining in countries along the previous route may approach smuggling networks to facilitate their onward travel, further exposing them to human rights violations and exploitation." The document did not give any full-year estimate for the other major migration route into Europe, from Libya to Italy through the central Mediterranean, which has seen almost 50,000 arrivals this year, and over 2,400 deaths. The International Organization for Migration has said there has been no evidence of migrants switching from one route to the other, with the Libyan route mainly attracting African migrants and the Greek route mainly Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis. The UNHCR report said its strategy would be revised as necessary, especially if there were large migrant movements from Libya or in other parts of Europe. It added that it was possible that some migrants would try to sail from Greece and Turkey to Italy, because smuggling and trafficking networks were highly adaptable. U.N. Security Council condemns Orlando gay nightclub massacre By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS, June 13 (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council on Monday condemned the mass shooting at a Florida gay nightclub as the United States urged dozens of United Nations member states to drop their opposition to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality. The 15-member council denounced the attack "targeting persons as a result of their sexual orientation" in a U.S.-drafted statement, overcoming standard resistance at the U.N. to such language by African and Muslim states, as well as Russia. A shooter pledging allegiance to Islamic State carried out the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history on Sunday at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, killing 49 people. Rights groups have accused Islamic State militants of killing dozens of gay men by throwing them from buildings or stoning them and then posting videos of the murders online. "If we are united in our outrage by the killing of so many - and we are - let us be equally united around the basic premise of upholding the universal dignity of all persons regardless of who they love, not just around condemning the terrorists who kill them," Deputy U.S. Ambassador David Pressman told the 193-member U.N. General Assembly on Monday. Being gay is a crime in at least 74 countries, the U.N. has said. The issue of gay rights consistently sparks heated debate at the United Nations. Pressman noted that there is just one General Assembly resolution referencing "sexual orientation" and "gender identity," a resolution that urges states to protect the right to life of all persons and investigate killings. He said every year "there is a pitched fight over whether it is appropriate to include sexual orientation in that protection." U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who condemned the Orlando attack on Sunday, has long advocated for gay rights but has faced opposition from African, Arab and Muslim states, as well as from Russia. In 2014, Ban announced the U.N. would recognize all same-sex marriages of its staff, allowing them to receive U.N. benefits. Russia unsuccessfully tried to overturn the move last year, with Saudi Arabia, China, Iran, India, Egypt, Pakistan, and Syria among 43 states that supported Moscow. In February the 54-member African Group, the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the 25-member "Group of Friends of the Family," led by Egypt, Belarus and Qatar, protested the launch of six U.N. stamps promoting LGBT equality. Then a group of 51 Muslim states blocked 11 gay and transgender organizations from officially attending a high-level U.N. meeting last week on ending AIDS, sparking a protest by the United States, Canada and the European Union. Apparently farting in Sloppy Joe's, a famed Key West bar, can quickly get out of control. Via the Miami Herald: According to the police report, a fight broke out between two couples this week when someone, who Friday remained unidentified, allegedly broke wind inside Sloppy Joe's, 201 Duval St. "The argument was due to someone farting," police were told by a man who went to the hospital for a dislocated shoulder after the scrap. Richard McBride, 53, and his girlfriend Sandra Stoner, 55, both of Naples, said they were caught up in a physical altercation after the argument arose "over a fart," Officer Igor Kasyanenko wrote after last Monday's incident. Israel elected to head permanent U.N. committee for first time By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS, June 13 (Reuters) - Israel on Monday won an election to chair the United Nations' legal committee, the first time that it will head one of the world body's six permanent committees since joining the U.N. in 1949. While it is a largely symbolic and procedural role, chairing the committee will give Israel a chance to have a higher profile in routine affairs at the United Nations. The so-called Legal Committee, or Sixth Committee, oversees issues related to international law. The General Assembly has six standing committees that report to it, on: disarmament, economic and financial issues, human rights, decolonization, the U.N. budget, and legal issues. "I am proud to be the first Israeli elected to this position," Israel U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon said in a statement. "Israel is a world leader in international law and in fighting terrorism," he added. "We are pleased to have the opportunity to share our knowledge with the countries of the world." Israel was a candidate for the regional Western European and Others Group (WEOG) and received a comfortable majority of votes - 109 out of 175 valid votes cast in the 193-nation assembly. Sweden was runner-up with 10 votes. Normally committee heads are elected by consensus without a vote. Opponents to the Israeli candidacy called for a vote, prompting a sharp reaction from the deputy U.S. ambassador to the U.N., David Pressman. "Even a chair from (former leader Muammar) Gaddafi's Libya was elected by acclamation," he said in a statement. "A vote should not have been called today." "We need a United Nations that includes Israel, that brings Israel closer, not one that systematically pushes Israel away," he added. Israel was originally part of the Asia-Pacific Group along with other Middle Eastern and Asian nations, the majority of which are cool or openly hostile toward the Israeli state. Its transfer to WEOG gave it a chance to get elected to leadership posts and play a more active role at the U.N. The chief Palestinian delegate at the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, complained about the results of the election, saying Arab and Muslim countries had tried to prevent an Israeli victory. Speaking to reporters, Mansour described Israel as "the biggest violator of international law" and predicted that Danon's election was "threatening the work of the Sixth Committee." Britain's opposition leader to urge supporters to vote "In" at EU referendum LONDON, June 14 (Reuters) - Britain's opposition Labour leader, widely accused of only lukewarm backing for his party's "Remain" stance, will urge supporters on Tuesday to vote to stay in the European Union at a June 23 referendum. With polls showing Britons still evenly divided over how to vote, the "Remain" campaign has switched its focus to Labour voters, who it fears have been turned off by a debate dominated by splits within Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservatives. They are seen as crucial to winning a vote to stay in the bloc. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who has rejected criticism he has not done enough to campaign for an "In" vote, will hold an event with his senior team and trade union leaders on Tuesday to make what he will describe as "Labour's case" to remain. "Today I am issuing a call to the whole Labour movement, to persuade people to back Remain to protect jobs and rights at work," he will say, according to advance extracts of his speech. "We have just nine days to go to convince Labour supporters to vote Remain." A YouGov poll late last month showed nearly half of Labour supporters did not know the party backed staying in the EU. Polls show increasing support for Brexit; Murdoch's Sun backs 'Leave' LONDON, June 14 (Reuters) - Britain's "Leave" campaign opened up a 7-point lead over "Remain" ahead of a referendum on membership of the European Union an opinion poll showed late Monday, while the nation's biggest-selling newspaper urged readers to vote to quit the bloc. The result of the June 23 referendum will have far-reaching consequences for politics, the economy, defence, migration and diplomacy in Britain and elsewhere. Recent polls are suggesting that momentum has swung towards the "Leave" camp, or a so called Brexit, unsettling investors. "Leave" in recent days has focused its campaign on the issue of immigration. According to the YouGov poll for The Times, "Leave" held 46 percent support compared with 39 percent support for "Remain." Undecided voters were 11 percent, while 4 percent won't vote. Last Monday The Times/YouGov had reported a 1 percent lead for the "Remain" campaign. In another, though not unexpected, boost for "Leave," media tycoon Rupert Murdoch's Sun newspaper called on its readers to vote to quit the 28-member EU. "The Sun urges everyone to vote Leave. We must set ourselves free from dictatorial Brussels," said the tabloid, which has a circulation of 1.7 million. Other polls published on Monday also put "Leave" ahead, while betting odds on Brexit narrowed. An ORB poll for The Daily Telegraph put support for "Leave" at 49 percent, compared with Remain's 48 percent, while two ICM polls, one online and one conducted by telephone, found "Out" held 53 percent support compared with 47 percent support for "In," the Guardian newspaper, which sponsored the telephone poll said. That compared with a 52-48 percent split in favour of "Out" in ICM polls two weeks ago, the Guardian said. Those polls excluded respondents who answered "don't know." A poll published on Friday which gave "Out" a 10 percentage-point lead added to pressure on sterling and pushed the cost of hedging against huge swings in the exchange rate to record highs. ICM said it interviewed 1,000 adults by telephone and 2,001 adults online between June 10 and 13. Including people who said they did not know how they would vote, the telephone poll showed 50 percent of people backed "Out," 45 percent supported "In," and 5 percent were classed as "don't know", ICM said. The online poll showed "Out" leading "In" by 49 percent to 44 percent with 7 percent saying they did not know how to vote. Both polls showed falls in the share of "don't knows," ICM said. "As we close on referendum day, evidently minds are being made up," ICM director Martin Boon said in a statement. Global farmland deals now cover area the size of Finland - campaigners By Chris Arsenault RIO DE JANEIRO, June 14 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - G lobal investors have spent more than $90 billion buying agricultural lands the size of Finland in deals criticized by rights groups for displacing small farmers, according to research published on Tuesday. Internationally, there are now 491 large-scale farmland deals covering territory in 78 countries, said the analysis from GRAIN, a Barcelona-based campaign group. Activists have condemned the deals as "land grabs" hurting developing countries while supporters say large-scale foreign land investments can alleviate poverty and help boost domestic farm productivity. The report found that while the total area covered by large-scale agricultural investments has declined by five million hectares over the past four years, the number of financial deals to secure the land has increased. Many of the largest investments are in Africa with money from the Gulf states, East Asia and other international investors pouring into Sudan, Mozambique and other countries, the report said. Palm oil, feed for livestock, sugar, corn, wheat and rice are some of the key crops produced through the international land deals. GRAIN reported that the largest land deals were signed between 2008 and 2012 when global food prices reached record highs. Some of these deals have since collapsed. "Now there are more deals on the table covering slightly less land," GRAIN researcher Renee Vellve told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "Land grabbing is not just a passing fad linked to the food crisis: it is structural," Vellve said in a phone interview from Paris. "The serious, hard core deals are here to stay," she said, although "some of the more crazy schemes have collapsed." The report cited a plan by Libya's ousted leader, Muammar Gaddafi, to build a giant rice farm in drought-hit Mali and a Chinese proposal to open a Hawaii-sized palm oil plantation in the Democratic Republic of Congo as two of the high profile deals which failed to proceed. Vellve said data is not available to estimate how many people have been displaced globally by these large-scale land deals. However the number of conflicts linked to land investments has risen substantially since 2008, she said, citing an example in Cameroon where protests from small farmers have helped stall the building of a 70,000 palm oil plantation. Food produced under the agreements is often exported to foreign markets rather than consumed by hungry people in the host country, GRAIN said. In Mozambique alone, half a million people could be displaced from their ancestral territories to make way for a 600,000 hectare farm producing hay and other feed for livestock in what is thought to be the world's fifth largest land deal, Vellve said. Supporters of large agricultural investments say they bring crucial capital into poor countries, boosting farm output and creating jobs for local people. Venezuela lootings, food protests leave three dead in past week CARACAS, June 13 (Reuters) - A wave of lootings and food riots in crisis-hit Venezuela has left three people dead in the last week, authorities and a rights group said. The state prosecutor's office is investigating the deaths of a 21-year-old man in eastern Sucre state on Saturday, another 21-year-old man in the Caracas slum of Petare on Thursday, and a 42-year-old woman in the western state of Tachira last Monday. All three were shot during chaotic protests and melees outside shops, which have become flashpoints for violence and looting amid scarcities of basics across the South American OPEC member country, according to local rights group Provea. A policeman has been arrested over the Tachira death. And a National Guard sergeant major was arrested for the shooting in Sucre, the prosecutor's office said on Monday. With basics such as flour and rice running short, crowds chanting "We want food!" are thronging supermarkets daily, presenting a major problem for the struggling leftist government of President Nicolas Maduro. More than 10 incidents of looting are occurring daily, according to the Venezuelan Observatory of Violence, a local monitoring group. Venezuela's political opposition is pursuing a recall referendum in an effort to remove Maduro, a socialist, from office. GRAINS-Corn falls on steady US crop condition, soy eases for 2nd day SINGAPORE, June 14 (Reuters) - Chicago corn slid on Tuesday to give up some of last session's gains, with a U.S. government report showing the crop condition was unchanged despite concerns over hot weather. Soybeans slid for a second session on pressure from an improved rating of the U.S. crop, while wheat edged higher after falling for the last three sessions. FUNDAMENTALS * The U.S. Department of Agriculture in its weekly crop progress report rated 75 percent of the U.S. corn crop in good-to-excellent condition, unchanged from the previous week. Analysts had expected a slight decline. * Corn futures rallied on Monday on concerns over hot and dry weather threatening yields, especially in the Mississippi Delta where corn is starting to pollinate, a key growth phase for determining yield. * The good-to-excellent rating for U.S. soybean crop was at 74 percent, up from 72 percent a week ago and above last year's 67 percent, the agency said after the market closed on Monday. * Still strong demand is keeping a floor under prices. U.S. soybean processors likely boosted crush levels to the highest ever for the month of May due to stepped-up demand for U.S. soymeal stemming from problems with the South American crop, analysts said. * Some analysts expect the USDA to raise its U.S. soybean plantings estimate and lower its corn area forecast in a hotly anticipated June 30 acreage report. * Private analytics firm Informa Economics raised its estimate of U.S. 2016 soybean planted area to 83.8 million acres, up from its May forecast of 83.0 million and above the USDA's March figure of 82.2 million. * Informa cut its estimate of U.S. corn plantings to 92.6 million acres, down from 93.4 million previously and below the USDA's forecast of 93.6 million. * Commodity funds were net buyers of CBOT corn futures contracts on Monday and net sellers of soybeans and wheat. Trader estimates of net fund buying in corn ranged from 15,000 to 20,000 contracts. MARKET NEWS * Asian stocks slipped on Tuesday amid growing worries this month's referendum in Britain could see it exit the European Union, while markets were also nervous ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's two-day meeting that begins later in the day. DATA/EVENT AHEAD (GMT) 0900 Euro zone Employment Q1 0900 Euro zone Industrial production Apr 1000 U.S. NFIB business optimism May 1230 U.S. Retail sales May 1230 U.S. Import prices May 1230 U.S. Export prices May 1400 U.S. Business inventories Apr Federal Open Market Committee starts two-day policy meeting Grains prices at 0042 GMT Contract Last Change Pct chg Two-day chg MA 30 RSI CBOT wheat 491.50 0.25 +0.05% -3.67% 478.59 50 CBOT corn 427.50 -2.50 -0.58% +0.23% 400.60 64 CBOT soy 1165.25 -3.75 -0.32% -0.91% 1088.08 70 CBOT rice 11.25 -$0.06 -0.57% -0.62% $11.47 45 WTI crude 48.32 -$0.56 -1.15% -1.53% $47.76 42 Currencies Euro/dlr $1.129 $0.004 +0.36% -0.22% USD/AUD 0.7384 0.001 +0.18% -0.58% Most active contracts Wheat, corn and soy US cents/bushel. Rice: USD per hundredweight RSI 14, exponential (Reporting by Naveen Thukral; Editing by Joseph Radford) Hong Kong bourse pushes on with China metals trading hub By Michelle Chen and Melanie Burton HONG KONG, June 14 (Reuters) - Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing is pushing ahead with plans to start a metals trading platform in southern China, looking to build its commodity business in the world's No.2 economy. Qianhai, a new free trade zone near Hong Kong, is set to host the platform for trading metals before stretching into other commodities, pending regulatory approval. HKEx bought the London Metal Exchange for $2.2 billion at the peak of the commodities boom back in 2012, and a mainland presence would come after a years-long struggle by the London bourse to break into China. "We are going to build in Qianhai a platform - it could become an exchange - and there we are going to trade physical commodities, starting with metals," HKEx chief executive Charles Li said at an industry conference in Hong Kong. The construction of the Qianhai platform would include setting up an IT system, which Li hopes to complete by the end of the first quarter of 2017, as well as starting a network of warehouses. "Warehousing is not an easy thing to do. It took the LME 150 years to build 700 warehouses globally ... Are we going to build (in China) in five years? That's too long ... Is it possible in one year? We think it's possible and we'll give it a try," Li said. The bourse does not yet have permission from the Chinese government to start a warehousing network in the country. Under such a system, it would license warehouses operated by logistics providers. Bankers and brokers said the move could help expand the LME's franchise, but some were concerned that monitoring of commodities underlying receipts would not be rigorous enough if warehouses used were not actually licensed by the LME. "It's effectively providing receipts for metal that is not in LME warehouses. So it's not clear to us if we would have recourse to that metal. If that can be shown, then we may be interested but it has not been shown yet," said the head of commodities at a Western bank who declined to be named due to company policy. Li also said the exchange wanted to build base metal pricing benchmarks in China with the aim of developing futures markets in the world's top consumer of commodities. Indonesia to ramp up executions of drug traffickers JAKARTA, June 14 (Reuters) - Indonesia plans to execute 16 prisoners after the Muslim Eid al Fitr holidays next month, and more than double that number next year, a spokesman for the attorney general's office said on Tuesday. M. Rum told reporters there are 152 people on death row in the country, but that drug traffickers would be prioritised. "In accordance with the budget we have, we plan (to execute) 16 this year and 30 next year," Rum said. "President Joko Widodo has said the country is facing a narcotics emergency and this is to...save our future generations," he added. He declined to give details on who would face the firing squad next month. Indonesia has harsh penalties for drug-related crimes, but temporarily halted executions after facing intense international criticism last year when it executed 14 people, mostly foreign drug traffickers. President Joko Widodo's refusal to pardon the prisoners, despite repeated pleas for mercy, sparked diplomatic tensions, most notably with Australia, which recalled its ambassador in protest at the execution of two of its citizens last April. Attorney general spokesman Rum said drug-related cases involved "many" foreigners, but declined to comment on whether any would face execution this year. A 59-year-old British women, Lindsay Sandiford, was sentenced to death after being convicted in 2013 of trying to smuggle cocaine worth $2.5 million into the country. A Philippine maid, Mary Jane Veloso, got a last-minute reprieve last year in response to a request from Manila after an employment recruiter, whom Veloso had accused of planting drugs in her luggage, gave herself up to police in the Philippines. China, Hong Kong shares dip on Brexit woes, focus shifts to MSCI decision SHANGHAI, June 14 (Reuters) - China and Hong Kong stocks sagged on Tuesday morning, extending losses after Monday's slump, as investors worry about China's economy and brace for a possible exit of Britain from the European Union. Although some expect U.S. index publisher MSCI to add Chinese shares to its emerging market index later in the global day, many believe any positive market impact will probably be limited in the near term given the lead time required for global funds to switch their asset allocations. Both China's blue-chip CSI300 index and the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.3 percent by the lunch break, to 3,058.70 points and 2,826.00 points, respectively. The indexes slumped 3 percent on Monday. Hong Kong shares also fell. The Hang Seng index lost 0.3 percent, while the Hong Kong China Enterprises Index dipped 0.2 percent. Trading remained sluggish in Shanghai as worries about China's economy deepened after data showed growth in China's fixed-asset investment slipped below 10 percent for the first time since 2000 in January-May. "You don't see any convincing reason to buy stocks at the moment," said Zeng Yan, strategist at Zhongtai Securities. "Even if MSCI decides in favour of a China inclusion, it would still take at least six months for global fund managers to increase their China allocation. Short-term impact is limited." Global investors are now concerned about the potential impact of Brexit with recent polling showing a swing in favour of a Britain exiting the European Union. The referendum is on June 23. Most sectors in China fell on Tuesday morning, but financial shares firmed. In Hong Kong, all main sectors declined. Kyrgyz president orders legal review of Centerra deals June 14 (Reuters) - Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev ordered state prosecutors on Tuesday to review the legality of agreements signed with Canada's Centerra Gold in 2003-2004 and 2009, his office said in a statement. PRESS DIGEST - Bulgaria - June 14 SOFIA, June 14 (Reuters) - These are some of the main stories in Bulgarian newspapers on Tuesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. -- Bulgaria will be able to receive up to three million cubic metres of natural gas from Greece daily following the modernisation of the compressor station in the southwestern town of Petrich. The investment, which has been funded by the EU, amounts to 17 million euros ($19.18 million) and is expected to make Bulgaria more independent in terms of its energy supplies (Trud, Standart, 24 Chasa, Monitor, Capital daily) -- A project for the construction of a high-speed road linking the capital Sofia and the northwestern city of Vidin has put on hold as the government is exploring options for public-private partnerships to secure most of the 1 billion levs ($577.23 million) budget, Regional Development Minister Lilyana Pavlova said (Trud, Standart, Capital daily) Romania - Factors to watch on June 14 Here are news stories, press reports and events to watch which may affect Romanian financial markets on Tuesday. INDUSTRY Romania's adjusted industrial output rose 3.5 percent on the month in April after March's 0.1 percent increase, and was up 3.9 percent on the year, data from the National Statistics Board showed on Tuesday. DEBT TENDER Romania sold a less than planned 293.5 million lei ($73.29 million) worth of Dec. 2022 treasury bonds on Monday, with the average accepted yield at 3.09 percent, central bank data showed. CURRENT ACCOUNT Romania's current account balance recorded a deficit of 1.84 billion euros ($2.07 billion) in the first four months, compared with a surplus of 282 million euros in the same period of last year, central bank data showed on Monday. CEE MARKETS Czech stocks hit a seven-year low on Monday, leading central European markets lower as concerns that Britain will vote to leave the European Union in a referendum on June 23. GAS IMPORTS Gas imports will be roughly 20 percent cheaper than Romanian stored domestic gas prices this winter, meaning the European Union state may import more, the head of energy regulator ANRE Niculae Havrilet said. For the long-term Romanian diary, click on For emerging markets economic events, click on For an index of all diaries, click on Czech Republic - Factors To Watch on June 14 PRAGUE, June 14 (Reuters) - Here are news stories, press reports and events to watch which may affect Czech financial markets on Tuesday. ALL TIMES GMT (Czech Republic: GMT + 2 hours) =========================ECONOMIC DATA========================== Real-time economic data releases.................... Summary of economic data and forecasts........... Recently released economic data.................. Previous stories on Czech data............. **For a schedule of corporate and economic events: http://emea1.apps.cp.thomsonreuters.com/Apps/CountryWeb/#/2E/events-overview ==========================NEWS================================== UNIPETROL: The board of Czech oil refiner Unipetrol opposes a call from the company's largest minority shareholder to increase the company's proposed dividend, Unipetrol said on Monday. Story: Related stories: SKODA: VW's Czech unit Skoda Auto says May deliveries were up 4.5 percent to 96,700. Story: Related stories: CURRENT ACCOUNT: The Czech current account showed a surplus of 880 million crowns ($36.69 million) in April, well below a Reuters poll forecast for a surplus of 18.2 billion crowns, central bank (CNB) data showed on Monday. Story: Related stories: CEE MARKETS: Czech stocks hit a seven-year low on Monday, leading central European markets lower as concerns that Britain will vote to leave the European Union in a referendum on June 23. Story: Related stories: ---------------------- MARKET SNAPSHOT ------------------------ Index/Crown Currency Latest Prev Pct change Pct change close on day in 2016 vs Euro 27.022 27.019 -0.01 -0.09 vs Dollar 23.937 24.028 0.38 3.72 Czech Equities 818.38 818.38 -2.58 -14.42 U.S. Equities 17,732.48 17,865.34 -0.74 1.76 Pvs close or current levels vs prior domestic close at 1500 GMT =======================PRESS DIGEST============================ BROWNFIELD INVESTMENTS: Industry Minister Jan Mladek wants to set aside 2 billion crowns in subsidies for cities and towns to use to buy and rejuvenate brownfields. Hospodarske Noviny, page 14 Reuters has not verified the stories, nor does it vouch for their accuracy. For real-time stock market index quotes click in brackets: Warsaw WIG20 Budapest BUX Prague PX For updates on CEE currencies TOP NEWS -- Emerging markets Prague Newsroom: +420 224 190 477 E-mail: prague.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com ($1 = 23.9100 Czech crowns) ($1 = 23.9980 Czech crowns) (Reporting by Prague Newsroom) French policeman killing an "abject act of terrorism" - minister PARIS, June 14 (Reuters) - French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve described the killing late Monday of a French police commander and his partner at their home outside Paris as an "abject act of terrorism". Speaking after an emergency meeting with President Francois Hollander, Cazeneuve said on Tuesday: "An abject of act of terrorism was committed yesterday". Philippines condemns execution of Canadian by al Qaeda-linked group By Allison Martell and Manuel Mogato TORONTO/MANILA, June 14 (Reuters) - The Philippines confirmed on Tuesday the execution of a Canadian who had been held hostage by the al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf Islamist militant group on a remote southern island with three other people since September 2015. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in Toronto on Monday that it appeared the second execution of a Canadian hostage by Abu Sayyaf in recent months had taken place. That was later confirmed in Manila. "We strongly condemn the brutal and senseless murder of Mr. Robert Hall, a Canadian national, after being held captive by the Abu Sayyaf group in Sulu for the past nine months," outgoing Philippines President Benigno Aquino said in a statement. A Philippines military spokesman said earlier a severed head had been found near a Catholic cathedral on a remote southern island late on Monday. No identification had been made yet. Hall was taken captive by the militants with three others from an upscale resort on Samal island, hundreds of miles east of Jolo. Another Canadian who was held captive, former mining executive John Ridsdel, was executed by the group in April. A Norwegian man and a Filipina are still being held. Trudeau told reporters that "Canada holds the terrorist group who took Mr. Hall hostage fully responsible for this cold-blooded and senseless murder". He said Sunday's attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, and the killing of Hall "serve as devastating reminders for all of us, the vicious acts of hatred and violence cannot be tolerated in any form". Abu Sayyaf, based in the south of the mainly Roman Catholic Philippines, is known for kidnapping, beheadings and extortion. Security is precarious in the southern Philippines despite a 2014 peace pact between the government and the largest Muslim rebel group that ended 45 years of conflict. In Manila, President-elect Rodrigo Duterte's national security adviser said Duterte's new government, which takes charge on June 30, would "take a stronger action against lawlessness in the south". "We cannot allow this situation to continue, this should end once and for all," Duterte's adviser Hermogenes Esperon told Reuters. Abu Sayyaf had initially demanded one billion pesos ($21.7 million) each for the detainees, but it lowered the ransom to 300 million pesos each early this year. Preliminary intelligence reports in the Philippines indicated Hall had been beheaded 10 minutes after a 3 p.m. deadline lapsed in the mountains outside Jolo's Patikul town. Philippine media had already quoted Abu Raami, a spokesman for Abu Sayyaf, confirming the execution. ($1 = 46.1470 Philippine pesos) Kazakhstan guard base attackers heard 'holy war' broadcast from Syria -minister ASTANA, June 14 (Reuters) - Gunmen who attacked a national guard base in Kazakhstan last week listened to a broadcast from Syria beforehand that urged them to wage holy war, the country's interior minister said on Tuesday. Five civilians and three servicemen died in the June 5 attack in the city of Aktobe, the deadliest in Kazakhstan since it became independent in 1991. Security forces killed 18 gunmen, some in a subsequent manhunt. Kalmukhanbet Kasymov said the suspects had some time earlier listened to an audio address from "a so-called imam", probably from Syria, who called for "jihad", or a war against unbelievers. The minister provided no further details and did not specify if he was referring to territory held by Islamic State. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, which Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev blamed on Salafist militants, followers of an ultra-conservative form of Islam. One of the men held responsible by Kazakh authorities had posted a video online sympathetic to Islamic State. A message issued on May 21, purporting to come from a spokesman for the jihadist group, called on followers abroad to launch attacks during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which began in early June. A Russian version of the message can be found on social network Vkontakte, used by several people who were on a list of Aktobe suspects that was leaked to Kazakh media. Kenya police summon politicians over "hate speech" allegations NAIROBI, June 14 (Reuters) - Kenya's police have summoned seven pro-government and opposition politicians for investigation over alleged "hate speech", flagging growing tension more than a year before elections and after weeks of deadly protests. Ethnic loyalties tend to trump policy matters in Kenyan politics. After a disputed election in December 2007, incitement by rival camps was blamed for stoking bloodletting between major ethnic groups that left 1,200 dead and hundred of thousands displaced. The 2010 constitution that sought to reshape institutions and national politics guarantees free expression but expressly outlaws ethnic incitement or "hate speech". Incidents of politicians drumming up support or stoking fears based on ethnic allegiances continue to pop up in recordings or speeches on the Internet, however, worrying many who fear renewed violence in the August 2017 race. Police said in a statement late on Monday they had been alerted to remarks by three pro-government politicians and four from the opposition "that are said to be laced with ethnic hatred, vilification and border on incitement." "All the said members of parliament are required to appear before the Director, Directorate of Criminal Investigations ... immediately," it said. The 2017 vote for president, parliament, governors and county assemblies is expected to pit President Uhuru Kenyatta, a Kikuyu - the biggest of Kenya's more than 40 ethnic groups, against Raila Odinga - a Luo, another major ethnic grouping. Odinga disputed the 2007 and 2013 election results, losing the latter to Kenyatta. Since late April, he has led a series of almost weekly protests against an electoral oversight body his supporters accuse of pro-government bias. The oversight body denies this. At least four people have been killed in the protests so far, in which demonstrators have often clashed with police. On the opposition side, the politicians named included Aisha Jumwa from the coastal region and Timothy Bosire, a lawmaker from western Kenya, an opposition stronghold. On the pro-government side, politicians included Ferdinand Waititu, a lawmaker now challenging for a county governorship near Nairobi, and Moses Kuria, a lawmaker who represents a constituency formerly held by Kenyatta. Kuria has been embroiled in another "hate speech" case for almost a year. He denies the charges. Kenyan newspapers reported that Waititu and Kuria recorded statements at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations on Monday. The men could not immediately be reached for comment. Opposition lawmaker Junet Mohamed, who was also called for questioning, was detained by police when leaving a building in central Nairobi after giving a television interview, Kenyan media reported on Tuesday. New Zealand seizes record $350 mln drug haul from smugglers June 14 (Reuters) - New Zealand police seized a record 494 kg (1,100 lb) haul of methamphetamines after tip-offs from residents of a coastal community about mysterious men needing help launching boats off a beach. Police said on Tuesday they found most of the drugs, with a street value of NZ$448 million ($315 million), in the back of a caravan on Sunday after searching a car and an abandoned boat by 90 Mile Beach, 400 km (248 miles) north of Auckland. An entry on a GPS device found in the car led officers to find a smaller stash buried in the sand on the beach on Monday. The haul eclipsed the 334 kg (736 pounds) total combined amount of methamphetamine seized in New Zealand last year, police said. "This is without a doubt, the largest ever seizure of methamphetamine in New Zealand," Superintendent Russell Le Prou, District Commander, Northland Police said in a statement. Residents had contacted police after some strangers had offered large amounts of cash to help them launch boats. The men had been "acting suspiciously" in the area for two weeks. Police said they had seized a second boat and were investigating where the methamphetamine had come from, with many of the bags showing signs of exposure to salt water. Iran oil exports on track for 4-1/2-yr high as European buying recovers -source By Aaron Sheldrick and Osamu Tsukimori TOKYO, June 14 (Reuters) - Iran's oil exports are on track to hit the highest in almost 4 1/2 years in June, as shipments to Europe recover to near pre-sanctions level, according to a source with knowledge of the country's crude lifting plans. Tehran's oil sales have nearly doubled since December, the last month before sanctions targeting its disputed nuclear programme were lifted, and the increase in sales should help offset some of the current global supply outages. Iran is regaining market share at a faster pace than analysts had projected since sanctions were lifted in January, helped by securing more tankers through a temporary shipping insurance fix. June loadings of crude and condensate are up by about 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) from last month to 2.31 million bpd in June, the source said. The overall figure is more than a double the same month a year ago, and the highest since January 2012, before Western sanctions were introduced, based on U.S. Energy Information Administration data. Exports to Europe in June recovered to about 580,000 bpd, up from 530,000 bpd in May and nearly six times greater than prior to sanctions being lifted, the source said. Before sanctions were enforced in mid-2012, Iran was exporting about 2.2 million bpd of crude, with Europe taking about 600,000 bpd, according to the International Energy Agency. Tehran's re-entry into the oil market has heightened tensions with arch-rival Saudi Arabia and helped thwart efforts by OPEC to limit output to boost oil prices. Iran has resisted Saudi Arabia's calls to cap output, while Riyadh aggressively expands sales ahead of an IPO for its state firm. Iran's loadings to Asia were 1.62 million bpd in June, up slightly from May but down from this year's high of 1.71 million bpd in April, according to the source. Loadings for China, Iran's biggest customer, were nearly 610,000 bpd in June, a three-month low. India's loadings were about 406,000 bpd, while South Korea is at a multiple-year high of 323,000 bpd. Japan is loading about 290,000 bpd, the highest since April. Greece, Italy, Spain and Turkey are all loading Iranian oil, according to the source. Poland is also lifting about 67,000 bpd this month, the first purchase since last August. Greece and Spain will take 67,000 bpd each this month, while Italy is lifting half that. Royal Dutch Shell resumed loading Iranian oil at the end of May, lifting about 1.1 million barrels and becoming the second major oil firm after Total to buy from Tehran. China won't come to the LME, so the LME will go to China: Russell By Clyde Russell HONG KONG, June 14 (Reuters) - Some four years after shelling out a top-of-the-market $2.2 billion for the London Metal Exchange (LME), it appears owners Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEx) are still battling to make the venerable old Western institution work with China, the new and dominant centre for metal demand. HKEx Chief Executive Charles Li used the LME Week Asia seminar today to tout the latest plan, which involves bringing the LME's expertise in physical metals markets to China, where financial instruments dominate trade. As Li Outlined, the LME is still overwhelmingly dominated by physical players, producers, traders and buyers, who use the exchange not only as a method of price discovery but also as a regulated supply chain management system. It may not be a perfect system, but it is widely understood and trusted by the various participants in the metals market. China, on the other hand, is home to what many, Li included, have characterised as commodity casinos, where exchanges have huge volumes of contracts traded, tiny open interest and virtually zero physical settlement. At the LME Week Asia this time in 2013, Li outlined a vision of using the LME as a basis for launching new contracts in Hong Kong, aimed largely at the China market. These were yuan-denominated, cash settled contracts that used the LME's price discovery method to ensure transparency and tradability. It was basically a vision of getting a slice of action in the world's biggest producer and consumer of commodities, and of bringing together the hitherto separate worlds of Western and Eastern commodity trading. It's probably still too early to say this hasn't worked, but it's probably also fair to say the HKEx would be far happier if it had been more successful. So what Li is now talking about appears to be a new strategy, namely one of trying to replicate, to some degree, the LME's physical trading system inside China. HKEx plans to develop an industrial user base in southern China at Qianhai, a new free trade area near Hong Kong. The plan is to use this as platform for trading metals, to service the real users rather than the small financial investors that currently dominate China's domestic commodity exchanges. In other words, HKEx now wants to bring the LME's expertise in warehousing, logistics and physical trade to a market where the current situation is fragmented and not integrated. Li's basic message is that the needs of the physical market in China aren't being well served, and the LME has the ability and market trust to rectify the situation. CHALLENGES ABOUND Of course, there are numerous challenges to rolling out an LME-style system inside China, the first and most obvious one is to get sufficient warehouses that people trust. Credit financing, regulatory hurdles, how to handle China's value-added tax on transactions also loom as issues that need to be sorted out, and all of these have to happen prior to the final obstacle of building sufficient liquidity. But it does seem like a strategy that has potential for success. If HKEx's first stab at cracking the China market was basically trying to get China to trade LME products tailored for them, this new plan can be seen as trying to put the LME in China's backyard. The basic strategy appears to be that if they (the Chinese) won't come to us, no worries, we'll go to them. Li is also keen for the LME to attract more participants, and by that he means financial players rather than the traditional physical players. The view is that the LME has to change and evolve, not only to remain relevant but alo to provide a return on what was a pricey acquisition. Changing the dynamics of trading on the LME is unlikely to meet the unanimous approval of the existing, well-established participants. Several traders expressed unhappiness about the LME in conversations around the LME Week Asia, and not only about the increase in fees. But when the old owners of the LME, predominantly the exchanges users, took HKEx's money in 2012, they would have been extremely naive if they thought the Hong Kong company wouldn't make changes aimed at maximising its return. HKEx's Li made the point repeatedly in his address today that he doesn't want to "change the DNA" of the LME, in fact he used the phrase so often I lost count. What Li is trying to do is a juggling act, he has to keep the old guard onside while expanding the LME to new participants, and at the same time work an effective strategy of getting a slice of the China metals action. The balls are still in the air, the next year or two should show whether Li and his colleagues are good jugglers. IEA sees oil market balance in 2016, surplus to re-emerge next year By Amanda Cooper LONDON, June 14 (Reuters) - The oil market is now in balance thanks to unplanned outages and robust demand, particularly from emerging economies, but this equilibrium will tilt into surplus again early next year, the International Energy Agency said on Tuesday. The agency said in its monthly report that demand growth in 2017 is likely to reach 1.3 million barrels per day (bpd), the same level at which it estimates growth for this year, having revised up its May 2016 forecast of 1.2 million bpd. "Again, on the planning assumption that OPEC oil production grows modestly in 2017, we expect to see global oil stocks build slightly in the first half of 2017 before falling slightly more in the second half of 2017. For the year as a whole, there will be a very small stock draw of 0.1 million bpd," the IEA said. "At halfway in 2016, the oil market looks to be balancing; but we must not forget that there are large volumes of shut-in production, mainly in Nigeria and Libya, that could return to the market, and the strong start for oil demand growth seen this year might not be maintained," the Paris-based agency said. Most of the anticipated demand growth this year and in 2017 is expected to come from nations that are not part of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the agency said. "We must stress that this is our first look at 2017 and the huge number of moving parts will see us amend our numbers accordingly. However ... the direction of travel seems to be clear," the IEA said. The IEA's latest demand estimate for the first three months of this year shows global oil deliveries rising by 1.6 million bpd to 95.2 million bpd, with nine out of every 10 extra barrels going to a non-OECD economy. On the supply side, the IEA said output fell by 590,000 bpd year-on-year to 95.4 million bpd in May, the first major decline since the start of 2013, as spending cuts and outages reduced non-OPEC production by 1.3 million bpd from a year earlier. Having fallen by 900,000 bpd in 2016, non-OPEC supply growth is expected to rise by 200,000 bpd in 2017, lifting output to 57 million bpd, the IEA said. Crude output from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries fell by 100,000 bpd in May to 32.61 million bpd, after a spate of attacks on oil infrastructure in Nigeria offset higher output from the Middle East. Production was still 500,000 bpd higher than in May last year, however. "Iran has clearly emerged as OPEC's fastest source of supply growth this year, with an anticipated annual gain of nearly 700,000 bpd," the IEA said. UAE's IPIC takes Malaysia fund dispute to London court, seeks $6.5 billion DUBAI, June 14 (Reuters) - Abu Dhabi's state-owned International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC) asked a London court to arbitrate in a dispute with Malaysian state fund 1MDB, in which it is claiming about $6.5 billion, IPIC said on Tuesday. The submission to the London Court of International Arbitration alleges that 1MDB and Malaysia's finance ministry failed to perform their obligations under a debt restructuring agreement involving the companies last June. China warns U.S. on visits by Dalai Lama, Taiwan president BEIJING, June 14 (Reuters) - China warned the United States on Tuesday to stick by its promises not to support any separatist activities, ahead of a U.S. visit by Taiwan's new president and a possible meeting between the Dalai Lama and U.S. President Barack Obama. The self-ruled, democratic island of Taiwan and the remote mountainous region of Tibet are two of China's most sensitive political and diplomatic issues. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said both issues involved the "one China" policy, a basic diplomatic tenet referring to both Taiwan and Tibet being part of China that Beijing insists foreign governments recognise. "I can responsibly tell you that on this issue the U.S. government has made solemn promises, which is to uphold a one China policy," Lu told a daily news briefing. Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen will transit in Miami on her way to Panama, one of the island's few diplomatic allies, for the expansion ceremony of the Panama Canal and stopover in Los Angeles on her return, Taiwan deputy foreign minister Javier Ching-shan Hou said on Tuesday. Her trip abroad from June 24 to July 2 will also include a state visit to another ally, Paraguay, the government said. Travel abroad is sensitive for Taiwanese leaders who have angered China in the past because it is seen as exerting sovereignty. China is suspicious of Tsai, who assumed office last month, as she is also head of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Lu said the U.S. has said it opposes Taiwan independence. "We demand the U.S. government earnestly stands by its promises, conscientiously handle the relevant issue in accordance with the one China principle and not give any space to any individual or behaviour which tries to create two Chinas, one China one Taiwan, or to split China," he added. Taiwan deputy minister Hou gave no details on who Tsai would meet while in the U.S. On the issue of the Dalai Lama, whom Beijing brands a dangerous separatist, Lu said the United States also recognises that Tibet is an inseparable part of China. "The 14th Dalai Lama often puts up the facade of religion to peddle internationally his political position of splitting China," he said. "We demand no country or government give him any space for such activities and should certainly not do anything the 1.3 billion people of China would resolutely oppose." Asked if he would meet Obama during his three-day visit to Washington, exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama told Reuters on Monday it was "not finalised, but some friends say he may meet me". Spike in numbers of migrant children arriving alone in Europe raises exploitation risks LONDON, June 14 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - More than nine out of ten refugee and migrant children arriving in Europe through Italy this year are travelling alone, the U.N. children's agency UNICEF said on Tuesday, warning of "appalling" risks children face while escaping conflict and poverty. In the first five months of 2016, more than 7,000 unaccompanied children made the crossing from North Africa to Italy, following a route that in recent weeks has become the busiest and the deadliest for migrants to Europe, UNICEF said. The children rely on human smugglers, often under a "pay as you go system", making them prone to exploitation and abuse including rape, forced labour, beatings and death, UNICEF said. It said Italian social workers told the agency some boys and girls were sexually assaulted and forced into prostitution in Libya, while some of the girls arriving in Italy were pregnant as a result of rape. "If you try to run they shoot you and you die. If you stop working, they beat you. It was just like the slave trade," 16-year old Aimamo told UNICEF. "Once I was just resting for five minutes, and a man beat me with a cane. After working, they lock you inside," he said, describing conditions on the farm in Libya where he worked for two months with his brother to pay the smugglers. The number of unaccompanied children travelling from North Africa to Italy so far in 2016 was more than double that of the same period in 2015, UNICEF said, adding that it could not pinpoint one reason why the numbers had spiked. Christopher Tidey, a UNICEF spokesman, said girls from Nigeria told him they fled to Europe to escape early marriage, while a boy from Somalia said his family sent him away after militant group al Shabaab threatened to recruit him. "Extreme poverty is a major motivator as well," Tidey told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone from Germany. "I met a number of boys from countries like Gambia who made the trip basically because their families were so poor that the older ones were being sent to Europe effectively to try and earn money to send back home." As calmer summer weather begins, European officials who struck a deal with Turkey to block crossings to Greece have been scrambling for ways to shut down flows on the other major sea route into the EU from Libya. Between Jan. 1 and June 5 this year, more than 2,800 deaths were recorded in the whole of the Mediterranean, the vast majority on the dangerous central Mediterranean route from North Africa, compared with 3,770 in 2015, said UNICEF. It said 235,000 migrants were currently in Libya, tens of thousands of them lone children, many trying to make it to Northern France in hope of eventually reaching Britain. Syria, Iraq conflicts won't be solved by military alone, Iran says OSLO, June 14 (Reuters) - The ongoing conflicts in Syria and Iraq can't be resolved through military means alone, Iran's foreign minister told a news conference in Norway on Tuesday. "I think we need to agree that there is no military solutions in any of these cases (Iraq or Syria) although there might be a military component. Even for defeating extremists you need more than a military strategy," Mohammad Javad Zarif said. Norway closes part of its airspace due to technical problems OSLO, June 14 (Reuters) - Norway has closed part of its airspace due to technical problems, airports operator Avinor said on Tuesday. "We are working on sorting out the problem. Delays can be expected but we can't say for how long," a company spokesman told Reuters. He said the airspace over Oslo was open and that the closure was affecting western Norway. EU envoy to Turkey resigns amid tensions over migration deal By Tulay Karadeniz and Ece Toksabay ANKARA, June 14 (Reuters) - The European Union's top envoy to Turkey has resigned, EU officials said on Tuesday, after displaying what a Turkish minister said was disrespect for national values and for President Tayyip Erdogan. The resignation of Hansjoerg Haber was a further sign of strained ties as Brussels tries to keep on track a landmark deal credited with curbing the flow of migrants to Europe. It comes a month after Haber was summoned by Turkey's foreign ministry over comments critical of Ankara's handling of the migration accord. An EU official said his departure was "not for personal reasons". Omer Celik, Turkey's EU affairs minister, told reporters it had become impossible for Haber to function in his role. "The first rule for all diplomats is to respect national values, which include the common value of the office of the presidency," Celik said during a visit to Slovakia in comments broadcast live by TRT television. "The comments made by the ambassador in question violated this fundamental rule and the necessary reaction was made. Following that, I believe his work no longer had a function or meaning," he said. EU officials declined to comment on the reason for Haber's resignation. The 28-nation EU is dependent on Turkey to enforce a deal, criticised by rights groups, that has sharply cut the number of refugees and migrants reaching Greece, giving EU leaders breathing space after more than a million arrived last year. But the EU is treading a delicate line, facing accusations of compromising its values by failing to be critical enough of Turkey's deteriorating record on human rights and freedoms. A spokeswoman for the European Commission said Haber would be leaving his role as of August. "The successor will be appointed swiftly. We, as the European Union, continue to work with Turkey, Turkey is a key partner, it's a candidate country. We have re-energised our relationship," spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic said. As a reward for keeping a lid on migration, Brussels promised Turkey to speed up its long-dormant EU accession talks. EU envoys to Brussels were due to act on that commitment on Wednesday by formally agreeing to open negotiations on financial and budget issues with Ankara, diplomatic sources told Reuters. COUNTER-TERRORISM LAWS Haber was summoned by the foreign ministry in May to complain about comments he had made about the migration deal. Turkish officials took offence at his use of an unflattering German saying, cited in local newspapers, to describe how a plan to ease visa restrictions for Turks traveling to Europe, part of the wider migrant deal, had run into problems. Turkey and the EU have been discussing visa liberalisation since 2013 and agreed in March to go ahead with it as part of the deal to halt illegal immigration from Turkey to the EU. But progress stalled when Brussels insisted that Ankara must also reform its counter-terrorism laws. Prime Minister Binali Yildirim repeated on Tuesday that Turkey had no intention of changing its counter-terrorism laws, even if that meant the deal on visa-free travel collapsing. The EU says Turkey must narrow its definition of terrorist crimes, which leads to extensive application of the law against intellectuals, Kurdish sympathisers and critics of Erdogan. UAE's IPIC takes Malaysia fund dispute to London court, seeks $6.5 billion DUBAI/KUALA LUMPUR, June 14 (Reuters) - Abu Dhabi's state-owned International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC) said on Tuesday it has asked a London court to arbitrate in a dispute with Malaysian state fund 1MDB in which IPIC is claiming about $6.5 billion. The submission to the London Court of International Arbitration alleges that 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and Malaysia's finance ministry (MOF) failed to perform their obligations under a debt restructuring agreement involving the companies last June. "The failure of 1MDB and MOF to perform their obligations, cure their defaults or put forward acceptable proposals has left IPIC in the position where it must pursue its claims in arbitration," IPIC said in a statement. "The total amount claimed by IPIC/Aabar is approximately US$6.5 billion," it added. 1MDB said in response that it would review the request for arbitration once it has been served with a copy. Under a deal signed in June, IPIC agreed to loan $1 billion to 1MDB and assume payments on $3.5 billion of 1MDB debt. It also forgave an undisclosed amount of debt that 1MDB owed to IPIC, in exchange for assets which have not been identified. But IPIC said in April that 1MDB was in default of that agreement, after the Malaysian fund failed to repay the loan. 1MDB subsequently defaulted on interest payments on two bonds, which IPIC had guaranteed. The Malaysian fund said it has sufficient funds to make the interest payments but did not due to its dispute with IPIC. The finance ministry did not immediately comment. IPIC is claiming the $3.5 billion bond plus interest that amounts to $4.8 billion, the $1.2 billion loan plus interest, and about $481 million owed to Aabar -- adding up to $6.5 billion, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. 1MDB, once a pet project of Prime Minister Najib Razak, is the subject of money-laundering investigations in at least six countries. Problems began when the Abu Dhabi fund denied it owned Aabar Investments PJS Ltd, a British Virgin Islands company which received payments of $3.5 billion from 1MDB meant for the IPIC. These fund transfers are now under the scrutiny of global investigators. Iran says U.S. must encourage banks to do business with it OSLO, June 14 (Reuters) - The United States must do more to encourage banks to do business with Iran following the lifting of sanctions, Iran's foreign minister told a news conference in Norway on Tuesday. "I believe the United States on paper has removed all the sanctions," Mohammad Javad Zarif said. EU engaging with banks, businesses to invest in Iran - Mogherini OSLO, June 14 (Reuters) - The European Union is engaging with businesses and banks to encourage them to do business in Iran following the signing of the nuclear deal, the EU's foreign policy chief said on Tuesday. "In the first four months this year trade between the European Union and Iran increased by 22 percent," Federica Mogherini told a news conference in Norway. "We are very actively engaging with the business community and the banks in Europe and elsewhere to encourage engaging in Iran," she said. Pakistan, Afghanistan increase troops at Khyber Pass border after clash By Jibran Ahmed PESHAWAR, Pakistan, June 14 (Reuters) - A Pakistani military officer died on Tuesday after being shot by Afghan forces during a clash at the Torkham border, Pakistan's military said, a development likely to ratchet up tension between the neighbours who sources said were beefing up troop numbers on either side. The main gates at Torkham remained closed for a third day on Tuesday, leaving thousands stranded on either side of the most frequented official border crossing at the end of the Khyber Pass. Firing between Pakistani and Afghan forces first broke out on Sunday evening at the crossing, about 45 km (28 miles) west of Peshawar, over the construction of a new border post on the Pakistani side. Major Jawad Ali Changezi was among nine Pakistani and six Afghan troops who were wounded in the fighting, according to security officials. One Afghan soldier was killed, Afghan officials said on Monday. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's office and the Pakistani military's press wing confirmed Changezi's death. Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have been strained for months. Kabul says Pakistan is harbouring militants seeking to overthrow the Afghan government, including the Haqqani Network and the leadership of the Afghan Taliban. Pakistan denies it supports militants and says it is building the gate at Torkham to stop the movement of militants across the border. "This gate (is) considered essential to check & verify documentation of all border crossers," tweeted Asim Bajwa, the Pakistani military's chief spokesperson, on Monday. On Tuesday, Afghanistan summoned the Pakistani ambassador to register its protest at the violence. Pakistan had similarly summoned the Afghan Charge d'Affaires in Islamabad on Monday. Pakistani security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media, said the army had moved heavy weaponry and additional troops to the Afghan border on Monday night. On Monday, an Afghan border police commander also confirmed that reinforcements had been deployed to the Afghan side of the border. Turkey will not change anti-terror laws, even if scuppers EU visa deal -Yildirim ANKARA, June 14 (Reuters) - Turkey will never change its anti-terrorism laws, even if it would mean a collapse in a deal with the European Union to secure visa-free travel for Turks to Europe, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Tuesday. Turkey and the EU have been discussing visa liberalisation since 2013 and agreed in March to go ahead with it as part of a broader deal to halt illegal immigration from Turkey to the EU. But progress stalled when Brussels insisted that Ankara must also reform its tough anti-terror laws. Swiss Daetwyler agrees $1.1 bln deal to buy Premier Farnell ZURICH, June 14 (Reuters) - Switzerland's Daetwyler Holding AG has agreed to buy Britain's Premier Farnell Plc in a cash deal valuing the maker of the Raspberry Pi mini computer at 792 million pounds ($1.12 billion) including debt. Explaining the reasons for the deal, Daetwyler said the two electrical components distributors had complementary product ranges and regional networks and the combination would boost their scale and global reach. The offer price of 165 pence per Premier Farnell share is a 51 percent premium to the British company's closing price on Monday and the shares duly soared to 164p by 0900 GMT. Swiss engineering and manufacturing companies have been cutting jobs at home and expanding in foreign markets after the central bank abandoned the ceiling for the franc against the euro in January 2015, abruptly making Swiss goods a fifth costlier abroad.. Daetwyler, which distributes more than 500,000 electronics products under brands like Nedis, said the combination would create a group with total revenues of 2.5 billion Swiss francs ($2.6 billion). Premier Farnell has been having a tough time. Its shares had lost about 10 percent since last September when the company announced a cut in its dividend and the sale of a non-core unit as profits fell due to slower sales growth in its key UK and North America markets. The deal values shares in Premier Farnell, based in the northern English city of Leeds, at 615 million pounds. Daetwyler plans a 200 million franc capital increase and the sale of treasury shares worth 60 million francs to help fund the deal. Pema Holding, its long-time majority shareholder, will maintain its current stake. Daetwyler will target total annual synergies of 50-70 million francs by the end of 2019, made up of gross profit synergies of 25-35 million francs and cost synergies of 25-35 million francs. Trump's post-Orlando message falls flat with Republican establishment By James Oliphant and Luciana Lopez WASHINGTON/NEW YORK, June 13 (Reuters) - The mass shooting in Orlando, Florida has allowed Donald Trump to seize upon a familiar issue he has used to great advantage --the threat of Islamist militants and his plan to limit Muslim immigration to the United States, offering him what could be a crucial moment to re-boot his sputtering presidential campaign. But while rank-and-file voters might respond positively to Trump's renewed call for a ban on some Muslims entering the country, his reaction to the massacre showed few initial signs of winning over Republican foreign-policy figures who have spurned the New York mogul. "It's a missed opportunity to present a different image," said Peter Feaver, a top National Security Council aide in the George W. Bush White House. "He has doubled down on policies I oppose and that aren't going to solve the problem." Trump said in a speech Monday in New Hampshire he would suspend immigration from countries "where there is a proven history of terrorism" against the United States. He said radical Muslim immigrants were "trying to take over our children and convince them how wonderful ISIS (Islamic State) is." After the worst mass murder in modern U.S. history on Sunday left 50 dead, Trump's speech was hastily refashioned from a broad critique of Democratic rival Hillary Clinton to a dire warning of the threat from Islamist militants. Although Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack, U.S. officials have maintained that Omar Mateen's motives were unclear and that he had no known direct links with the Syria-based group. Mateen, they said, was likely radicalized over the Internet. A week ago, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee's bid was taking on water. He was being battered by fellow Republicans for his comments about the Hispanic heritage of a federal judge, and Clinton was pulling away in the polls. A renewed focus on national security could provide Trump with the chance to expand his appeal both to undecided voters and to the Republican foreign-policy establishment. While Trump at times seems to relish being at odds with the establishment, the unhappiness among the party's hawks isn't just a matter of hand-wringing. It means if Trump does reach the White House, he could have a difficult time recruiting talented, experienced advisers. ALARMING THE MAINSTREAM Max Boot, an influential conservative at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the Orlando tragedy "could have provided an opening for Trump to rally Republicans against terrorism." But instead, Boot said, Trump has been "partisan and petty." Boot criticized Trump for raising the specter of Islamic involvement just hours after the Orlando shooting and for taking credit on Twitter for having warned about such threats. On Sunday, Trump tweeted: "Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism." Said Boot: "His performance has been in character, which is to say appalling." Trump has alarmed some mainstream Republicans with vows to shred international trade deals, his demands that Mexico pay for a border wall and his questioning of U.S. foreign policy pillars such as its security commitments to NATO and Asian allies. Clinton struck a very different tone in a speech on Monday, urging "statesmanship, not partisanship" and "clear, rational discussion" on how to protect the United States from terrorist threats. Eliot Cohen, a top-ranking State Department official during the Bush administration, called Trump's reaction to the shootings "opportunistic and shallow" and "not what Americans expect from a president." Lanhee Chen, a top aide to Mitt Romney during his 2012 presidential campaign, suggested Trump will not be able to refine his image. "While it would be true in most cases a big speech like this could reset the decks, I think the challenge with Donald Trump is always who he is at his core," Chen said. But voters are another matter. Trump's swift rise within the Republican Party was at least partly due to the strident tone he has taken toward immigrants and refugees. When Trump responded to last year's terror attacks in Paris and California with a call for banning Muslims from entering the country, he surged in the Reuters/Ipsos poll in the weeks that followed, opening up a 30-point lead over his Republican primary rivals. Republicans continue to be strongly supportive of Trump's approach to handling terrorism. This month, two-thirds of Republicans said they agreed with Trump's proposal to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the country. Overall, 42 percent of Americans said they agreed with a Muslim ban while 50 percent said they disagreed, with another 8 percent not sure, according to another Reuters/Ipsos poll from May 17 to June 6. The poll of more than 6,000 people has a credibility interval, a measure of accuracy, of about 1.5 percentage points. Combating Islamist extremism was on the mind of Texas billionaire Doug Deason, a major Republican donor who told Reuters he will meet with Trump later in the week to discuss his support. Nothing Trump has said since the Orlando shooting has caused him to re-think backing him, Deason said. Peter King, a U.S. congressman from New York, said his party's foreign-policy establishment will eventually have to get on board with Trump. Deutsche Bank Asia head Chadha leaving By Sumeet Chatterjee HONG KONG, June 14 (Reuters) - The Asia-Pacific chief executive of Deutsche Bank, Gunit Chadha, will step down from his role on July 17, the German lender said on Tuesday, against the backdrop of a wider restructuring effort to turn around performance. In a message to staff on the bank's website, Chief Executive John Cryan said the bank would announce in "due course" a successor for Chadha, who joined as chief executive for India in 2003 and became a co-head for Asia Pacific in 2012. The message gave no reason for Chadha's exit. Cryan, who took charge of the bank last year, is leading deep restructuring at Deutsche Bank to turn around a business that declined in three years from being a potent force on Wall Street to posting a record loss in 2015. Deutsche will complete two-thirds of its restructuring by the end of this year, Cryan said last month, adding the bank hoped to settle three or four big litigation cases, sometime before or after the summer. Asia-Pacific accounted for 13.2 percent of Deutsche Bank's net revenues of 33.5 billion euros ($37.56 billion) last year, up from roughly 12 percent in 2014, its annual report shows. The region acounted for nearly 9 percent of its loans last year. Chadha's move follows some recent senior-level departures from Deutsche Bank, including the head of its asset management business, Quintin Price, and supervisory board member Georg Thoma, who both left this year. China thanks countries for supporting it over South China Sea BEIJING, June 14 (Reuters) - China expressed thanks on Tuesday for the dozens of countries it says have offered support for its position on a case brought by the Philippines over Chinese claims in the South China Sea, saying they are speaking out to uphold justice. China has stepped up its rhetoric ahead of an expected ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague on the Philippine case. China refuses to recognise the case and says all disputes should be resolved through bilateral talks. The Chinese government says more than 40 countries have offered support for its position, the latest being the African nations of Sierra Leone and Kenya. Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said certain unidentified countries had been trying to blacken China's name over the South China Sea, confusing right for wrong and trying to control public opinion. "Against this backdrop, certain friendly countries which care about China want to understand what's really going on," Lu told a daily news briefing. "Once they've worked out the rights and wrongs and gotten the whole story, a fair few countries are willing to speak out from a sense of justice." "We express appreciation and thanks for this. It shows that a just cause enjoys abundant support and people have a sense of natural justice," Lu said. While a small number of countries wanted to blacken China's name on this issue, they cannot be said to represent the international community, he added. China claims almost all of the energy-rich South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of maritime trade passes each year. The Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia and Taiwan have overlapping claims. The Philippines is contesting China's claim to an area shown on its maps as a nine-dash line stretching deep into the maritime heart of Southeast Asia, covering hundreds of disputed islands and reefs. Despite China's protestations it has no threatening intent in the South China Sea, it has bolstered its military presence there with an ambitious land reclamation programme that includes building airstrips for military use. China's actions have drawn criticism from the United States. The United States is not a claimant in the South China Sea dispute but says it has an interest in ensuring freedom of navigation and overflight in the area. The United States and the European Union have called on China to respect the ruling from The Hague. The court has no powers of enforcement and its rulings have been ignored before. Cambodia arrests Chinese, Taiwanese suspected of telecoms extortion By Prak Chan Thul PHNOM PENH, June 14 (Reuters) - Cambodia has arrested 27 Chinese and Taiwanese nationals on suspicion of operating a telecoms extortion ring to defraud victims in China, officials said on Tuesday. Cambodia has deported more than 200 Chinese nationals since November in a crackdown on internet and telecoms scams. Beijing is battling a fast growing industry in telecoms fraud that has cost billions of dollars in financial losses and driven some victims to suicide. Chinese and Cambodian authorities have coordinated to uncover scams orchestrated from Cambodia. Cambodian police said people in Cambodia would call up people in China asking for money to free relatives allegedly held captive or for other fictitious reasons. "We are questioning them and if we find them guilty of the crimes, we will deport them," Uk Heisela, chief of investigations at Cambodia's immigration department, told Reuters on Tuesday after the latest arrests. "Their alleged crimes were all the same, they extorted money via phone from victims in China." The 15 Chinese and 12 Taiwanese men and women were arrested in a raid at their villa in the capital Phnom Penh on Monday, Heisela said. Since 2011, Taiwan and China have cooperated in investigating telecoms fraud in Indonesia, Cambodia, Philippines and other countries, arresting more than 7,700 suspects, including 4,600 from Taiwan, according to China's official news agency, Xinhua. "This is happening all over the world," said Khun Sambor, Cambodia's deputy director of immigration. "Cambodia is just a small percentage of it." Sambor said he was unaware why Cambodia had become a base for some of those involved. Chinese authorities say criminal gangs based in diplomatic rival Taiwan are behind many of the scams and according to Xinhua, on average more than 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) is swindled out of the mainland to Taiwan by telephone scammers every year. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said on Tuesday that he did not know the details of the case. Kenya deported 45 Taiwan suspects in another telecoms fraud case to China in April, angering Taipei who accused China of kidnapping its citizens. Cambodia needed to be transparent about the process and those arrested allowed to contest deportation to China in a fair and impartial hearing, said Phil Robertson, deputy director for Human Rights Watch in Asia China says to ban export of more dual-use goods to North Korea BEIJING, June 14 (Reuters) - China's Ministry of Commerce released a list of goods banned for export to North Korea on Tuesday, saying they could be used in building weapons of mass destruction. Iran says U.S. must encourage banks to do business with it OSLO, June 14 (Reuters) - The United States must do more to encourage banks to do business with Iran following the lifting of sanctions, Iran's foreign minister said on Tuesday, a day before meeting his U.S. counterpart. The United States and other major powers struck a deal with Tehran in July that lifts some economic sanctions in return for curbs on Iran's nuclear program. However, Iranian officials have complained the country is not getting the full economic fruits of the landmark July 14 deal and have urged the United States to do more to clarify the sanctions relief and to encourage commercial deals. "I believe the United States on paper has removed all the sanctions," Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said, but Washington needs to do more to remove the "psychological remnants" of measures which had been in place for decades. "On the banks, I believe it is important for everybody to realise that an agreement will be sustainable if everybody feels they are making gains from the agreement," he told a news conference with European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini. "Its implementation must also be a win-win implementation so that everybody feels there are benefits, there are dividends," Zarif said. Zarif and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry are to meet in Oslo on Wednesday, a senior U.S. official told reporters in the Dominican Republic, where Kerry is attending a regional meeting. In Washington, his spokesman suggested Iran must do more to make itself attractive for Western companies, including curbing what Washington sees as its support for terrorism. "What might help lift some of the psychological remnants ... would be Iran's ceasing the destabilizing activities that they continue to carry out," State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters. "What makes business reticent isn't some lack of education or effort by the United States, but when they see missiles being shipped to Hezbollah, missiles being fired at U.S. aircraft carriers, and support to terrorist groups -- that's what makes business nervous," he added. Mogherini said the European Union was engaging with businesses and banks to encourage them to do business in Iran following the signing of the nuclear deal, but cautioned that progress would take time. Italian former PM Berlusconi's heart surgery went "very well," says surgeon By Ilaria Polleschi MILAN, June 14 (Reuters) - Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi had open heart surgery at the age of 79 on Tuesday, an operation his doctors described as a success and which his supporters greeted as a sign that he could soon return to the political fray. The centre-right leader and media mogul was taken to hospital last week suffering from what doctors called a life-threatening cardiac deficiency. Berlusconi, still engaged in active politics, has worn a pacemaker for the past decade. He underwent a four-hour operation at Milan's private San Raffaele hospital to replace a defective aortic valve. "The operation went as planned, very well, without complications," said surgeon Ottavio Alfieri. "He is in intensive care now." Berlusconi's younger brother, Paolo, told reporters outside the hospital, renowned for its cardiac unit, that Berlusconi had breathed normally throughout the operation. "We were not particularly worried before. We are even more relaxed now," he said. "His heart is very strong and in good shape, I am sure that he will overcome this trial and will come out of this the same as before, or even stronger and more determined than before." The four-time premier has survived numerous diplomatic gaffes, legal brushes and controversy, including allegations he had sex with an underage girl and hosted orgies. Family and supporters have kept a vigil at the hospital since he was admitted. One supporter erected a banner -- "Forza Silvio. Don't give up" -- while his girlfriend, 30-year-old Francesca Pascale, was pictured in local media wiping away tears while looking out from a hospital window. "Francesca was emotional like all women. She is at his side, little by little his children will arrive too," Paolo Berlusconi said. A hospital official said Berlusconi would stay in intensive care for 48 hours and would be under sedation until Wednesday. In a post on Facebook, Berlusconi wrote on Monday: "Naturally I am worried, but I have been very much consoled by the outpouring of affection and support that have come from many sides, including from so-called political enemies." Berlusconi's personal doctor, Alberto Zangrillo, had said last week that he was in very serious condition when he was taken to the hospital but was expected to recover fully from the surgery within a month. Berlusconi's once-powerful centre-right group of parties has become increasingly fragmented in recent years, mostly since he lost his grip on power in 2011 at the height of the euro zone debt crisis. His Forza Italia (Go Italy!) party suffered mixed fortunes in local elections this month, with his candidate for Rome mayor finishing fourth. Berlusconi was forced to take a back seat from the political scene when he was ejected from the Senate in 2013 following a conviction for tax fraud. Last year, a court in southern Italy found him guilty of bribing a senator to switch factions in a move which helped topple a centre-left government in 2008. An honest essay has numerous characteristics: original thinking, a good structure, balanced arguments, and plenty more. But one aspect often overlooked is that an honest essay should be interesting. It should spark the readers curiosity, keep them absorbed, make them want to stay reading and learn more. An uneventful article risks losing the readers attention; whether or not the points you create are excellent, a flat style, or poor handling of a dry subject material can undermine the positive aspects of the essay. The matter is that a lot of students think that essays should be like this: they believe that a flat, dry style is suited to the needs of educational writing and dont even consider that the teacher reading their essay wants to search out the essay interesting. You might want to have online essay editor service to boost your confidence in writing with an error-free output. Academic writing doesnt need to be and shouldnt be bland. The excellent news is that there is much stuff you can do to create your essay more attractive, while youll be able only to do such a lot while remaining within the formal confines of educational writing. Lets study what theyre. 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One of the ways ancient orators held the eye of their audiences and increased the dramatic effect of their speeches was by using the statement. A decent place to use a statement is at the top of a paragraph, to steer into the following one, or at the start of a replacement section to introduce a brand new area for exploration. Proofread Finally, you may write the top interesting essay an instructor has ever read. Still, youll undermine your good work if its plagued by errors, which distract the reader from the particular content and can probably annoy them. NATO to agree eastern force to deter Russia, some allies want more By Robin Emmott and Phil Stewart BRUSSELS, June 14 (Reuters) - NATO was set on Tuesday to agree deployment of a new force in the Baltics and Poland, the last of a series of steps to deter a resurgent Russia but which some allies say must go further to be credible. Three weeks before a critical NATO summit in Warsaw, the alliance's defence ministers will approve deployment of some 4,000 troops which, backed up by rapid reaction forces, could help deter a repeat of Moscow's show of force in Crimea elsewhere. "We don't seek confrontation with Russia, we don't want a new Cold War," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said before the meeting in Brussels. He added: "NATO will continue to protect and defend all allies from any threat." But while eastern allies welcome the deployments of four battalions of British, U.S., German and possibly Canadian troops in NATO's biggest military build-up since the end of the Cold War, they want more support to defend against Russia's powerful arsenal. With a warning last week from a senior U.S. commander that the alliance would have only 72 hours notice of a missile or ground attack, Baltic nations and Poland want a sophisticated anti-missile shield to deter Russia from gaining the upper hand. That could involve NATO fighter planes and surface-to-air missile interceptors on a much larger scale in the Baltics. Southern flank allies Bulgaria and Romania, meanwhile, are pushing for NATO to expand its maritime presence in the Black Sea, where Russia has a naval fleet, as well as more alliance troops to the region. NATO aims to counter Russia's military build-up in Crimea, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014. The Black Sea is strategically important for both East and West given its energy reserves and closeness to the Middle East. Stoltenberg said NATO was considering a Romanian offer to provide a brigade, typically around 5,000 troops, which could coordinate alliance training and possibly play a deterrent role. Defence ministers will discuss this on Tuesday, diplomats said. Moscow sees NATO's deterrence plans as hostile. Moscow's envoy to the alliance has warned they threaten peace in central Europe. The Kremlin also says a U.S. ballistic missile shield, which Washington says is directed at protecting the alliance from Iran, is also escalating tensions. The United States denies that. "You don't invade with a few battalions, okay?" United States' envoy to NATO, Douglas Lute, told reporters. "But you can deter, and you can affect a potential aggressor's calculus in terms of cost, benefit and risks." The four battalions to be agreed on Tuesday are part of a wider NATO deterrent force to be approved in Warsaw in July. It will involve forces on rotation, warehoused equipment ready for an attack and a highly mobile "spearhead" force backed by NATO's 40,000-strong rapid reaction force. easyJet pilots strike in the Netherlands over working hours AMSTERDAM, June 14 (Reuters) - Dozens of easyJet pilots went on strike in the Netherlands on Tuesday over a disagreement with the budget airline about working hours, pensions and sick pay, the Dutch Airline Pilots Association said. The 8-hour stoppage began after negotiations between the pilots' union and the airline's management failed to agree on terms of a new collective labour agreement. easyJet brought in crews from other airports and there were virtually no flight disruptions out of Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, the association said. The association, which is negotiating on behalf of roughly 60 pilots, said bringing in replacement staff was throwing oil on the fire and said that more strikes were being planned. The easyJet pilots in the Netherlands are unhappy about their working hours, do not receive sick pay and want the company to make larger pension contributions. Bahrain court shuts down main Shi'ite Muslim opposition group By Sami Aboudi DUBAI, June 14 (Reuters) - A Bahraini court ordered the suspension of the main Shi'ite opposition group al-Wefaq and closed down its offices on Tuesday in what appeared to be an escalating campaign against dissent in the Western-allied Gulf Arab kingdom. The U.S. State Department said it was deeply concerned over the ruling and Bahraini opposition groups condemned the move. Al-Wefaq's lawyer, Abdallah al-Shamlawi, said the Bahrain administrative court had also set an October date for a hearing into dissolving al-Wefaq. The move came a day after authorities detained one of Bahrain's leading rights activists. Sunni Muslim-ruled Bahrain was rocked by mass protests by majority Shi'ite Muslims in 2011, when uprisings shook the Arab world, demanding a bigger role in running the small Gulf island, where the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet is based. Al-Wefaq, which held 18 out of 40 parliamentary seats in a 2010 election, pulled out of the assembly during the 2011 crackdown against mostly Shi'ite protesters demanding greater democracy. It boycotted the 2014 election saying it believed the vote would not be free or fair. Shamlawi said the court had ordered al-Wefaq's activities suspended and its offices closed, and set Oct. 6 as the date for a hearing into the request for the dissolution of the group, whose full name is al-Wefaq National Islamic Society. "Two hours after a petition to stop the activities of al-Wefaq and to close its office, the administrative court swiftly approved the (justice) minister's request," he wrote on his Twitter account. The Justice Ministry said it had filed a request to dissolve al-Wefaq, which it said "works within a political, religious and foreign framework", state news agency BNA reported. "In view of the incitement to sectarianism and the sectarian lineup we currently see in Bahraini society... these decisions and rulings have become necessary," state news agency BNA quoted Information Minister Ali al-Rumaihi as telling the Abu Dhabi-based Sky News Arabia TV. U.S. CONCERN Residents said police have removed signboards, flags and banners from the society's offices. Officials from al-Wefaq could not be reached for comment, but rights activists said the Bahrain Monitor for Human Rights had filed a complaint to the U.N. High Commission for Human Rights over the decision. In Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby urged Bahrain to reconsider its decision. "Peaceful criticism of the government plays a vital role in inclusive, pluralistic societies," he told a briefing. In a joint statement issued in Manama late on Tuesday, three Bahraini opposition groups said the government decision would undermine the ability of political parties to operate. Rights groups have accused Bahrain of escalating a crackdown on the opposition over the past two years by jailing some activists and revoking citizenship of others and expelling them. On Monday, police detained Nabeel Rajab, one of the most prominent activists in the Arab world, nearly a year after he was freed by royal pardon. His lawyer said on Tuesday Rajab was ordered detained for a week for questioning on charges of disseminating false news. Last month an appeals court more than doubled a prison term imposed on al-Wefaq's leader, Sheikh Ali Salman, in June last year to nine years from four. Pakistan, Afghanistan increase troops at Khyber Pass border after clash By Jibran Ahmed PESHAWAR, Pakistan, June 14 (Reuters) - A Pakistani army officer died on Tuesday after being shot by Afghan forces in a border clash, Pakistan's military said, a development likely to ratchet up tension between the neighbours who sources said were beefing up troop numbers on either side. The main gates at Torkham, the most frequented official border crossing at the end of the Khyber Pass, stayed closed for a third day, leaving thousands stranded on either side. Firing between Pakistani and Afghan forces first broke out on Sunday at the crossing, about 45 km (28 miles) west of Peshawar, over the construction of a new border post on the Pakistani side. Pakistan's army chief attended funeral prayers on Tuesday for Major Jawad Ali Changezi, who was among nine Pakistani and six Afghan troops wounded in the fighting, security officials said. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's office and the Pakistani military's press wing also confirmed Changezi's death. One Afghan soldier was killed, Afghan officials had said on Monday. Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have been strained for months. Kabul says Pakistan harbours militants seeking to overthrow the Afghan government, among them the Haqqani network and the leadership of the Afghan Taliban. Pakistan denies it supports militants and says it is building the gate to stop militants from crossing the border. "This gate (is) considered essential to check and verify documentation of all border crossers," Asim Bajwa, chief spokesman for the Pakistani military, said on social media website Twitter on Monday. Afghanistan summoned the Pakistani ambassador on Tuesday to register its protest at the violence, Afghanistan's foreign ministry said. Pakistan had similarly summoned the Afghan charge d'affaires in Islamabad on Monday, the Pakistani foreign office said. The Pakistani army had moved heavy weaponry and additional troops to the Afghan border on Monday night, said Pakistani security officials, who asked not to be identified because they were not authorised to speak to the media. On Monday, an Afghan border police commander also confirmed that reinforcements had been deployed to the Afghan side of the border. In Afghanistan's eastern city of Jalalabad, more than a thousand mourners attended funeral prayers on Tuesday for the dead Afghan soldier. Angry protesters chanted "Death to Pakistan". Hundreds of demonstrators burned Pakistani flags at another protest in the southern Afghan city of Lashkar Gah. U.S. Secretary of State Kerry to meet Venezuelan counterpart -U.S. officials SANTO DOMINGO, June 14 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will meet his Venezuelan counterpart Delcy Rodriguez on Tuesday alongside a meeting of Western foreign ministers, U.S. officials said, amid increasing international pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's socialist government. While Venezuela's crisis is not officially on the agenda of the Organization of American States meeting in the Dominican Republic, officials have said it will dominate discussions among delegations during the meeting this week. Germany preparing for market volatility if Britain leaves EU -official BERLIN, June 14 (Reuters) - Germany is preparing for increased market volatility if Britain votes to leave the European Union next week, a senior finance ministry official said on Tuesday. If that happened it would also be critical for Germany and other EU countries to demonstrate their determination to continue as a bloc, Jens Spahn, parliamentary state secretary in the ministry, told German broadcaster ARD. Financial markets were already anxious about the possibility of Brexit, but the reaction to a "Leave" vote in the referendum on June 23 could trigger far greater volatility. "It will be important to demonstrate stability," Spahn said, adding that a British exit would be a huge loss. He said the ministry was preparing responses to several scenarios and differing market reactions, but declined to give details. A finance ministry spokeswoman also declined to elaborate. A British exit would be a huge loss, Spahn said, and would mean Britain would have to renegotiate trade agreements with the rest of Europe, probably on less favourable terms. "It has to make a difference if you're part of the family or just a neighbor," Spahn told ARD. Spahn said the bloc needed to reassess its overall status regardless of how the vote turned out, given the depth of the problems it was facing. But the need to cooperate on issues such as terrorism and the migrant crisis demonstrated the benefits of acting as a larger European community, he said. Joerg Rocholl, president of the ESMT Berlin business school and a member of the finance ministry's academic advisory board, said Britain's departure from the EU would also raise serious questions about London's role as the financial capital of Europe. European markets could drop dramatically if Britain left, he said, with only the European Central Bank and national central banks in a position to offset the losses through massive intervention and asset purchases, Rocholl said. As migrant toll rises, IOM urges action to identify victims By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA, June 14 (Reuters) - At least 60,000 migrants have died making their way to new countries over the last 20 years, and their families rarely learned of their fate, the International Organization of Migration (IOM) said on Tuesday. In a report entitled "Fatal Journeys", the agency called on authorities to ensure the missing are identified and their families traced. The estimated toll includes a record 5,400 migrants believed to have died in 2015 trying to cross borders, and a further 3,400 who have perished already this year, the IOM said. Of last year's deaths, 3,770 occurred in the Mediterranean where boats capsized en route to Europe. Others died in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea, the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea and along the U.S.-Mexico border, it said. "Something in the region of 60,000 migrants across the world have died over the last 20 years," Frank Laczko, director of IOM's global migration data analysis centre, told a Geneva news briefing by telephone from Berlin. The death rate is particularly high in southeastern Asia, where migrants are trying to reach Thailand and Malaysia. "The volume of people making those crossings is perhaps lower but the death rate is similar to the Mediterranean death rate," he said, noting it was one in 23 along the central Mediterranean route this year. However, a separate IOM report said the Central Mediterranean route is probably much more deadly than thought, because "reports of large numbers of bodies being washed up on the shores of North Africa indicate that shipwrecks occur without leaving any traces." Families are left wondering if their relatives are alive or dead, the IOM said. Without legal proof of death, it may be difficult for spouses to remarry or for families to inherit property. Fewer than half of the 387 migrants who died when their boats capsized off the Italian island of Lampedusa in October 2013 have been officially identified, it said. In the United States, a cemetery in Arizona contains the remains of at least 800 unidentified individuals believed to be migrants. "Missing migrants tend to be a low priority for many authorities around the world, because they are often an irregular situation, they may be undocumented and difficult to identify," Laczko said. Little is known either about the deaths of migrants travelling north overland from sub-Saharan Africa. At present there is no established common practice for collecting information on migrant deaths between states, or even sometimes between different jurisdictions in the same country, the report said. U.S.-backed forces in Syria appeal for aid for hundreds fleeing IS By Rodi Said and Lisa Barrington NEAR MANBIJ, Syria/BEIRUT, June 14 (Reuters) - - U.S.-backed forces waging an offensive against the Islamic State-held city of Manbij in northern Syria appealed for international assistance for those fleeing the fighting on Tuesday as the forces tightened their encirclement of the city. The SDF push comes at the same time as other enemies of Islamic State, including the governments of Syria and Iraq, also launched major offensives on other fronts, in what amounts to the most sustained pressure on the militants since they proclaimed their caliphate in 2014. The Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance launched the advance two weeks ago to seize Islamic State's last territory on the Syria-Turkey border and cut the self-declared caliphate off from the world. "In the areas we control we have tried to take care of the needs of the internally displaced persons. But we are not able to cover their needs," Sharfan Darwish of the SDF-allied Manbij Military Council told Reuters in Beirut by telephone. "The international community must turn their attention to the people which have been liberated from Daesh (Islamic State)," he said, adding that there were no international humanitarian organisations working in the area. Darwish said the Manbij civil council was bringing supplies from the northern, Syrian YPG militia-controlled city of Kobani to displaced persons, but this was not enough. The SDF is a U.S.-backed group formed last year which includes the powerful Kurdish YPG militia and Arab fighters. They are one of a number of sides fighting in Syria's complex civil war now in its sixth year. The conflict pits rebels against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Syrian government forces and some rebel groups are also fighting separate battles against Islamic State. The SDF has largely avoided fighting against government forces and focuses on fighting Islamic State. BRAVING SNIPER FIRE Around 1,100 people have already fled Islamic State-held Manbij this week into SDF-held territory, braving Islamic State sniper fire on the city's edges, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Many who had fled the city told Reuters that Islamic State fighters were trying to prevent people leaving. One person told Reuters Islamic State was arresting people suspected of collaborating with the SDF. Having seized control of the last route into Manbij on Friday, the SDF has yet to enter the town. "We are closing in on Manbij," Darwish said, adding that fighting continues on the city's outskirts. The Observatory said the SDF has taken about 105 villages and farms around Manbij since the start of the operation. Since the start of the offensive on May 31, 49 civilians have died as a result of the U.S.-led coalition air strikes in and around Manbij and 19 civilians had been killed by Islamic State, the Observatory said. It also said at least 246 Islamic State fighters and 29 SDF fighters have been killed. Syrian government and allied forces are trying to advance against the Islamic State south-west of their de facto capital in Syria, Raqqa. Fighting on Monday between Ithriya and al Tabqa killed 11 government and 17 Islamic State, the Observatory said. Syrian state media broadcast pictures of bloodied bodies lying in the desert sand which it said showed 16 Islamic State fighters killed by government and allied forces in the fighting. Syrian government and allied forces have been supported by Russian air power since September last year, an intervention which helped turn the tide of the war in Assad's favour. Creation of new Serbian government to be delayed beyond June 16 BELGRADE, June 14 (Reuters) - The creation of a new Serbian government will be postponed until after June 16, the date set earlier by country's prime minister-designate, who said on Tuesday the delay was caused by domestic political considerations and a visit by the Chinese president. Aleksandar Vucic and an alliance led by his Serbian Progressive Party won an election on April 24, securing 131 deputies in the 250-seat parliament, enough to rule alone. Vucic however wants a coalition partner to share responsibility for unpopular reforms, the implementation of a 1.2 billion euro ($1.35 billion) loan deal with the International Monetary Fund, and European Union membership talks. Although negotiations are still in progress, the Socialist Party of the outgoing Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic is Vucic's most likely coalition partner. On June 3, Vucic said the new government should be completed by June 16. At a news conference in Belgrade, Vucic said the creation of his new cabinet would be delayed by the need to put in place a government in Serbia's northern Vojvodina province. "Immediately after the creation of the provincial government, the new republic's government will be formed," Vucic said. Vucic also said that a three-day visit by Chinese President President Xi Jinping, which begins on June 17, would also contribute to the delay, as parliamentary debate on the new government may not end before then. Xi's visit is crucial for Serbia's efforts to attract more Chinese investment and secure growth. "Should we enter parliament and cannot end that job by (June) 17 ... we would rather wait until the end of (Xi's) visit," Vucic said. Power cuts, violence fuel Yemen separatists' dreams By Mohammed Mukhashaf ADEN, June 14 (Reuters) - Deprived of sleep by temperatures of over 40 degrees (104 F), Azal Mohammed was among dozens of young men burning tyres last month to protest against persistent power cuts in Aden, a port city that was the capital of South Yemen. Over the past 14 months, Aden's one million inhabitants have endured war and gang violence. The collapse of even basic public services has fuelled demands for the restoration of the southern state that merged with northern Yemen in 1990. "We want the world, our neighbours, to help us win back our old state," said Azal, a 20-year-old student. "The south joined this union voluntarily and we don't want to be part of it any more." South Yemen, a former British colony and the only Communist Arab state, united with the pro-Western north after a brief 1986 war. The collapse of South Yemen's financial patron, the Soviet Union, around the same time encouraged the unification process. It was never a happy marriage: President Ali Abdullah Saleh's north Yemen dominated from the start and when the south tried to break away four years after unification, Saleh's army quickly crushed the separatists, cementing Sanaa's rule and Aden's decline, feeding southern resentment. The current southern separatist movement grew out of a 2007 campaign demanding financial benefits for army officers and civil servants. Emboldened by 2011 anti-government Arab Spring protests that had forced Saleh to step down, southern separatists now want full independence. SEPARATISTS CONTROL Their demands gained momentum after Iran-allied Houthi forces invaded the capital Sanaa in 2014 and forced President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to flee to Aden in February last year. That precipitated a civil war that has sucked a Saudi-led Arab alliance into the crisis, in which thousands of air strikes had been launched against the Houthis. The fighting - which has killed more than 6,400 people and displaced 2.5 million - has also allowed al Qaeda to consolidate its presence in the country. The conflict has hit access to basic supplies like food, fuel and medicine amid the coalition's near-blockade on ports. Having played a key role in facing the Houthi offensive on southern Yemen, separatists now control most levers of power in Aden, where Hadi's government is currently based. "The current situation shows the failure of the state to make any movement towards providing even basic services," said Khaled Murshed, a 40 year old employee at a state company. "This reinforces the demands of regaining the southern state." QUEUES AND VIOLENCE Many Yemenis accuse Hadi and his government, which until this month had operated from Saudi Arabia, of paying only lip service to improving living conditions. "Aden lives its worst days," said Azal, while the government of enjoys "air-conditioned accommodation in Saudi Arabia." Stung by growing criticism, Hadi's government rebased to Aden earlier this month promising to get down to business on improving living conditions in the city. But residents poked fun at the government, after reports that Prime Minister Ahmed bin Daghr protested at a meeting with city officials that the flag of the former South Yemen was flying over state buildings instead of the national colours. The Yemeni government, which controls only parts of the country outside areas of northern Yemen held by the Houthis and its Saleh ally, acknowledges it has few sources of revenue to bring about major change. Officials promised some relief following a deal with the United Arab Emirates - a main member of the Saudi-led coalition that has shouldered much reconstruction in Aden - to supply spare parts for the power plants and fuel supplies, according to the state-run Saba news agency. But residents say Aden still receives about six hours of power every day, with the main power stations in the Khor Maksar and al-Mansoura districts out of service while the third one in al-Hiswah produces a quarter of its original capacity. The power shortages have hit water supplies, hospitals and factories. Car owners often queue for three or four days to fill up, while bottled gas is so scarce many people use firewood. Local hospitals say that at least nine elderly patients died in recent weeks due to the power cuts, and hospital managers say more are at risk due to a shortage of oxygen supplies. The only oxygen-producing plant is at a standstill due to lack of fuel. "People are dying from the lack of electricity," said Umm Alaa Aleiwah, a mother of 10 children. "You should resign (Hadi) and leave it to others. May the lord of the world grace us with those who can fix the country." Top EU envoy showed disrespect to Turkey's values and president -Turkish minister ANKARA, June 14 (Reuters) - The European Union's ambassador to Turkey violated basic rules of diplomacy in showing disrespect to Turkey's values and its president, Ankara's EU Minister, Omer Celik, said on Tuesday. "There are two rules any diplomat should know, first is respect for a country's values, and second is respect for that country's president. The ambassador violated these basic rules," Celik told reporters in Bratislava, Slovakia, in comments broadcast live on Turkish television. US security chief urges gun control steps after Orlando attack WASHINGTON, June 14 (Reuters) - U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson called on Tuesday for "meaningful, responsible" gun control measures following the Florida nightclub massacre, saying steps were needed to keep firearms out of the hands of people who might be planning terrorist attacks. Johnson, in several morning television interviews, said such curbs were a critical step for public safety and could be taken without infringing on the rights and abilities for responsible people to own a gun. "This has become a matter of homeland security," Johnson told CBS News. "We need to do something. We need to minimize the opportunities for terrorists to get a gun in this country." Discussing Sunday's attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando by a gunman who killed 49 people, Johnson said the prospect of homegrown violent extremism was something the public and U.S. lawmakers must face. The shooting was the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. Authorities said the gunman appeared to have acted alone, but was inspired by radical ideology he was exposed to over the internet. Johnson said he had thought the nation would address access to high-capacity assault rifles after the 2012 shooting at an elementary school in Sandy Hook, Connecticut in which 20 children and 6 adults were killed. Legislation that would have imposed some gun control measures failed in Congress the following year. "We've seen the devastation and the deaths that one assault rifle with a number of magazines can bring about," Johnson told CBS. Johnson, who also spoke on CNN and ABC, said officials must address the gap that allows people who are banned from airline flights to buy firearms. "This is now something that is critical to homeland security as well as public safety," Johnson said. He added that he has not spoken publicly on gun control until now. Democrats in Congress have renewed their call for gun control following the Orlando massacre. The likely Democratic candidate for November's presidential election, Hillary Clinton, has urged a ban on assault weapons. Republican lawmakers have rejected such calls, and Republican candidate Donald Trump has said the Orlando attack shows why Americans need to have guns, to better protect themselves. Egyptian court acquits 52 over Red Sea islands protests CAIRO, June 14 (Reuters) - An Egyptian court acquitted on Tuesday 52 people who were standing trial for protesting against a government decision to transfer two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia, judicial sources said. More than 200 people initially faced trial for taking part in several protests in April against President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's decision to hand over the islands of Tiran and Sanafir. On April 15, thousands of people protesting over the islands called for "the fall of the regime", a slogan from the 2011 uprisings which ended the 30-year-rule of president Hosni Mubarak. Hundreds of police were deployed in Cairo to quell further protests on April 25. Authorities later freed many of those detained without charge, but sent others to trial. An Egyptian court sentenced 152 protesters in May to between two and five years in jail in connection with the protests. Forty-seven of those have since had their five-year jail terms cancelled by an appeals court. The court upheld fines of 100,000 Egyptian pounds ($11,261.39) that each detainee is required to pay. Earlier this month, another Egyptian court acquitted 33 of the protesters. The prosecution did not issue any formal statement on Tuesday's verdicts. South African court rules local elections in August can go ahead JOHANNESBURG, June 14 (Reuters) - South Africa's Constitutional Court said on Tuesday local elections could go ahead in August, quashing speculation of a delay after a lower court demanded the addresses of all registered voters be verified before the vote could take place. Some opposition parties and independent candidates have said addresses must be verified to ensure the vote is not compromised, arguing electors without addresses could travel to municipalities where they do not live to vote there. The local elections on Aug. 3 pose a major test for President Jacob Zuma's African National Congress (ANC), with the party facing a strong challenge from opponents amid a struggling economy. The Constitutional Court said that while the voter roll was "unlawful, inconsistent with the constitution, and therefore invalid", it was unreasonable to expect the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to correct errors before the local elections. The IEC had challenged a ruling by the Electoral Court that said the polling body must obtain and verify the addresses of all registered voters and remove anyone from the voter rolls whose address was not listed. The IEC then asked the Constitutional Court, the country's top court, to give a go-ahead for the vote using the existing voter register with about 12 million voters with no addresses, some of whom live in informal settlements and rural areas. The Constitutional Court gave the IEC 18 months to update its voter rolls, paving way for the local elections to proceed. Analysts said the ruling had averted a crisis. Switzerland getting closer to major overhaul of business tax By John Revill ZURICH, June 14 (Reuters) - Switzerland edged closer to implementing long-awaited business tax reforms on Tuesday, when the lower house of parliament approved proposals aimed at meeting global taxation standards. The changes include abolishing special status for 24,000 companies, which gives them tax rates of 8 to 12 percent, depending on where they are based in the country. Ordinary companies are taxed now at a rate of around 12 to 24 percent. The tax rate will average 16 percent for all companies when the new regime is phased in during the next few years. Tax reform has been a hot topic in Switzerland since 2007. It picked up pace after the financial crisis as countries cracked down on tax avoidance by companies. Switzerland has signed up to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development's action plan on base erosion and profit shifting, which are intended to prevent corporate tax abuse. Revenue losses through such measures are estimated at $100 billion to $240 billion annually, according to the OECD. "The pressure on Switzerland has really increased in recent years as part of the general discussion on tax regimes," said Elias Hafner, an economist at UBS. "The challenge for Switzerland is to scrap these special statuses but remain an attractive location for businesses." Under the new proposals, tax privileges for holding companies, management companies and companies that get most of their sales outside of Switzerland will be abolished. In return, companies will get favourable treatment for the income they get from patents and increased deductions for research and development costs. Several cantons will also lower their general business tax rates. The proposals, which could be challenged by a referendum before their planned introduction in 2019, could cut the income of some cantons. Extra income from companies with special status now may not offset the reduced tax from companies taxed at the new standard rate. The Swiss government said it will increase the portion of tax it gives to the cantons and has earmarked almost 1 billion Swiss francs ($1.04 billion) to cover the shortfall. In the longer term, Switzerland hopes the tax overhaul will attract more companies whose tax bill will eventually rise as their business grows. "The successful Swiss way has always been: lower the tax and the business will come," said Jacqueline Hess, a partner at consultancy Deloitte. The proposed new law faces final approval by both houses of parliament on Friday, seen as a formality. Kerry launches talks with Venezuela but backs disputed referendum By Lesley Wroughton SANTO DOMINGO, June 14 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced high-level talks to ease tensions with Venezuela's socialist government on Tuesday, just hours after he backed calls for a referendum that could force President Nicolas Maduro from office. Kerry said the talks would start immediately in Caracas and be led by Thomas Shannon, a veteran of U.S. diplomacy in the region. Attempts last year at dialogue between the ideological foes were stalled by Venezuela's deepening crisis. The two countries have been embroiled in diplomatic hostilities since the administrations of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and U.S. President George W. Bush. Kerry said the goal was to go beyond "the old rhetoric." "I've committed to see if this can work so let's see if we can improve the relationship," he told reporters, after huddling with his Venezuelan counterpart on the sidelines of an Organization of American States (OAS) meeting in the Dominican Republic. The talks would also be aimed at fostering dialogue between Venezuela's government and opposition, Kerry said. Maduro welcomed the proposed talks and repeated his suggestion that the two sides restore ambassadors in each other's capitals after an eight-year hiatus that began when Chavez expelled the U.S. envoy to Venezuela. "I propose to John Kerry 'let's designate ambassadors', I am ready. They have ambassadors in Beijing, Vietnam and Havana, and they don't have one in Caracas," he said in a speech to teachers. Maduro proposed an ambassador in 2014 but U.S. President Barack Obama has not yet accepted his credentials. FIREWORKS AT ASSEMBLY Once one of Latin America's most prosperous nations, Venezuela has plunged into unrest and a harsh economic slowdown. Long lines for food and medicines have led to protests and opposition calls for a recall referendum to remove Maduro. That measure is allowed under the constitution, a point made by Kerry to reporters after he met Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez. Earlier in the day, in a speech to OAS delegates, Kerry gave his backing to the referendum push and called on Chavez's political heirs to release political prisoners and respect fundamental rights. His comments to the 34 members of the main diplomatic body of the Americas marked the strongest show of support yet from the United States for the disputed referendum process. Venezuela's opposition accuses the election council of stalling the recall at the behest of Maduro by arbitrarily changing criteria for requesting a recall vote. Maduro has said any recall against him would be in 2017 at the earliest, pushing back against opposition pressure. Several opposition politicians are in jail, notably hardline leader Leopoldo Lopez, who has a 14-year sentence for inciting 2014 anti-government protests that spiraled into violence killing more than 40 people. The government denies it holds political prisoners. Kerry's comments drew a furious response from Rodriguez, who accused Washington and OAS chief Luis Almagro of "international bullying." "Every day we have evidence of the secretary general's bias in favor of sectors of the opposition who are seeking a coup in Venezuela," she said. "I see now this is ordered by Washington. I know they are on Washington's payroll to meddle in the domestic affairs of Venezuela," she said, speaking through a translator. Kerry was more conciliatory after his first ever bilateral meeting with Rodriguez, saying the United States did not support a push by Almagro to suspend Venezuela from the OAS for alleged violations of the regional group's "democratic charter." "The United States is not taking that position, we are not pushing for a suspension. I don't think that would be constructive," he said. At Almagro's behest, the OAS will hold a meeting later this month to initiate the process that could end in Venezuela's suspension. But the former Uruguayan foreign minister appears isolated in the group, with even right-wing governments opposed to Maduro in the region balking at throwing Venezuela out. Venezuela and the United States have repeatedly gone through periods of diplomatic fighting followed by generally short-lived eras of reconciliation. Following Washington's 2014 rapprochement with Cuba, Shannon met with a top Venezuelan Socialist Party official to improve ties with Caracas. The good mood soured within months when the United States criticized the sentence handed to opposition leader Lopez. NATO to send troops to deter Russia, Putin orders snap checks By Robin Emmott and Phil Stewart BRUSSELS, June 14 (Reuters) - Britain, Germany and the United States advanced plans on Tuesday to spearhead a new NATO force on Russia's border from next year, and Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered snap checks on combat readiness across his armed forces. Weeks before a critical NATO summit in Warsaw, three of NATO's biggest military powers said they would each command a battalion across the eastern flank to help deter any show of force such as that deployed by Moscow in Crimea in 2014. "Britain will lead one of the battalions," British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said at a meeting of NATO defence ministers, adding London will send up to 700 troops to the Baltics and Poland. "That should send a very strong signal of our determination to defend the Baltic states and Poland in the face of continued Russian aggression," he said. In a reminder of Russia's efforts to bolster its military readiness, its armed forces started carrying out spot checks on its units, as well of weapon and equipment depots. Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said the goal of the June 14-22 drill was to ensure the ability of his military to "carry out planned activities, including mobilisation." NATO's battalions are part of a wider deterrent to be approved at the Warsaw summit on July 8. It will involve troops on rotation, warehoused equipment and a highly mobile force backed by NATO's 40,000-strong rapid reaction unit. NATO hopes the complex plan can discourage Russia from orchestrating the kind of campaign used to annex Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in February 2014 and which has left eastern allies nervous of their former Soviet overlord. Berlin and Washington also said that they would send troops to the new force, which is expected to total about 4,000 soldiers, with contributions from other allies. France is sending a company of about 250 troops to Britain's battalion. Germany is likely to deploy to Lithuania, the United States to Poland and Britain to Estonia, on a six- to nine-month rotating basis. Other NATO nations will eventually take command responsibilities, diplomats told Reuters. CANADA ANNOUNCEMENT SOON? Western officials also acknowledged discussions in Canada to lead a fourth battalion, with a British official saying a decision could come as early as Wednesday. Reuters first reported on Canada's possible role last week. Canada's battalion was expected to be based in Latvia, diplomats say, although Ottawa has yet to comment publicly. The new deployments are apart from U.S. plans to provide an armoured brigade, typically around 5,000 troops, plus extra equipment in Europe. "There will be a continually present armoured brigade combat team, which will bring in its own equipment with each rotation," said U.S. Defence Secretary Ash Carter. He said that on top of that, the United States would bring "a pre-positioned set of equipment for yet an additional armoured brigade combat team which troops could fall in upon in a crisis." While eastern allies welcome the deployments in NATO's biggest military build-up since the end of the Cold War, they want more support to defend against Russia's powerful arsenal. With a warning last week from a senior U.S. commander that the alliance would have only 72 hours notice of a missile or ground attack, Baltic nations and Poland want a sophisticated anti-missile shield to deter Russia from gaining the upper hand. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said NATO was also considering a Romanian offer to command a multinational brigade which could coordinate alliance training and possibly play a deterrent role. Russia sees NATO's deterrence plans as hostile. Moscow's envoy to the alliance has warned they threaten peace in central Europe. The Kremlin also says a U.S. ballistic missile shield, which Washington says is directed at protecting the alliance from Iran, is also escalating tensions. The United States denies that. NATO says it is respecting a 1997 agreement with Moscow not to deploy substantial combat forces on Russia's borders. Algeria plans to launch Islamic finance, push banking reform By Hamid Ould Ahmed ALGIERS, June 14 (Reuters) - Algeria is preparing to launch Islamic financial services as the OPEC member seeks new ways to raise money after a sharp fall in energy earnings, a senior financial official told Reuters in an interview. Boualem Djebbar, head of the state-run Banks and Financial Institutions Association, said plans to offer Islamic finance products were part of wider reforms aimed at modernising the underdeveloped banking sector. Algeria's outdated financial system has been a barrier to investment as the government seeks to diversify its economy away from oil and gas, which account for 60 percent of the state budget and 95 percent of the country's revenue from exports. The plan to launch financial services that comply with Islamic law had not been previously announced. Djebbar did not give a time frame or details for the plan. But he stressed that a legal framework would need to be finalised before giving the green light to state banks. "We are working on that," Djebbar said. "A commission has been set up to speed up the process". The North African state has been slowly emerging from decades of state-led centralised economic control after independence from France in 1962. The oil price drop has revived debate over how quickly to try to open up the economy. The Islamic finance plan comes as Algeria tentatively seeks to broaden its sources of funding. In April, it launched its first domestic debt issue in years, intended to fund investment across the economy. At the start of the year, the government offered a fiscal amnesty under which Algerians have until December 2016 to deposit undeclared income and pay a 7 percent fee. However, some analysts expect the debt issue to have limited uptake, and observers say the amnesty has failed to attract much money from the parallel market. Mohamed Boudjelal, an Islamic finance expert and university professor in Algiers, said introducing sharia-compliant systems would help, since "part of the population refuses to deal with the conventional banking system." "Opting for Islamic finance is strongly recommended during this period of crisis," he said. President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who has promised deep reforms in the financial sector, replaced the finance minister in a cabinet reshuffle on Saturday and created a new position of junior minister for the digital economy and modernisation of financial systems. The International Monetary Fund and World Bank have repeatedly called for reforms for Algeria's archaic banking system to help attract much-needed foreign investment. Djebbar said developing the banking system had become inevitable, with a particular focus on electronic payment systems, which are still little used in Algeria. Venezuela in talks with China for grace period in oil-for-loans deal -sources By Corina Pons, Alexandra Ulmer and Marianna Parraga CARACAS/HOUSTON, June 14 (Reuters) - Venezuela is in talks with China to obtain a grace period in its oil-for-loans deal that would improve the OPEC nation's capacity to make bond payments amid an economic crisis, sources briefed on the proposal have told Reuters. Venezuela has borrowed over $50 billion from China under the financing arrangement created by late socialist leader Hugo Chavez in 2007, in which a portion of its crude and fuel sales to the world's second-biggest economy are used to pay down loans. The two-year rout in oil markets has left the government of President Nicolas Maduro struggling to meet the original terms of the agreement, which require that state oil company PDVSA set aside more barrels for debt services when prices fall. Venezuela is now seeking a one-year grace period in which it would only pay interest on the loans, according to two oil industry sources and one finance industry source who asked not to be identified because they are not authorized to speak about the issue. The sources said state oil company PDVSA would receive cash payments for shipments that currently go to pay principal. The change would improve PDVSA's 2016 cash flow by $3 billion if it took effect this month, two of the sources estimated. That would make it easier for PDVSA to meet heavy bond payments this year amid an ongoing collapse in a socialist economy facing Soviet-style scarcity and daily food riots. It could also ease investor concerns of a default that have made its paper the riskiest of any emerging market debt. Maduro denies his government will default and accuses adversaries of spreading rumors to that effect in order to destabilize his government. The potential cash-flow benefits of the proposed deal, however, could be offset by Venezuela's falling oil output. Consulted by Reuters about the proposal, PDVSA President and Oil Minister Eulogio del Pino responded: "We're working on all of this." He added that he planned to travel to China following a trip to Russia, which is expected this week. He declined to provide additional details. China's foreign ministry did not respond to an email seeking comment. BETTER TERMS Economy Vice President Miguel Perez said in an interview last month Venezuela had reached a deal to improve the terms of the arrangement, but declined to provide details. Under the proposal, the interest-only payment terms would remain in place as long as Venezuelan crude is below $50 per barrel, according to the three sources. If crude prices continue to rise, China would apply a sliding scale under which Venezuela would steadily increase payment on the principal portion of the loans, one of the sources said. Venezuela's basket of oil and fuels this year has traded at a discount of around 25 percent to the benchmark Brent crude price, which was trading around $49.55 a barrel on Tuesday. The proposed change in terms of the agreement has not derailed negotiations for the renewal of a $5 billion tranche of the financing deal, according to two of the sources. The proposal has been slowed in part because China has requested that the change be approved by Venezuela's Congress, according to one of the sources. The legislature has been locked in a power struggle with Maduro since January, when an opposition majority took control of parliament following a sweeping electoral victory in December. Venezuela in 2014 shipped 630,000 barrels of oil and fuel to China according to PDVSA's 2014 financial results, which are the most recent available. Around 45 percent of the value of those shipments was used to pay down debt, with PDVSA receiving the remainder in cash, according to Reuters calculations based on information released by PDVSA. Rising oil prices have boosted investor optimism that PDVSA will be able to pay off $3 billion in bonds that come due in October and November, helping fuel a rally in PDVSA and Venezuela bonds in recent months. Flow of civilians from Iraq's Falluja slows as IS tightens grip By Stephen Kalin and Isabel Coles BAGHDAD/ERBIL, Iraq, June 14 (Reuters) - About 40,000 residents of Falluja, Islamic State's besieged stronghold near Baghdad, have fled in the last three weeks, but a similar number are trapped despite the Iraqi army's attempts to secure escape routes for them, officials said on Tuesday. Officials in Anbar province, where Falluja is located, said Islamic State was tightening control over civilian movement in the centre where the United Nations and a provincial official estimate around 40,000 civilians are stuck with little food or water. The group has used residents as human shields to slow the troops' advance and thwart the air campaign backing them. By midday on Tuesday fewer than 1,000 people had fled Falluja through a southwestern route secured by the military on Sunday at al-Salam Junction, a Norwegian aid group said, down from 4,000 and 3,300 on each of the previous two days. The United Nations recently put the total population at 90,000 people, a fraction of its size before IS took over. The army, counter-terrorism forces and Shi'ite Muslim paramilitary fighters backed by air strikes from a U.S.-led coalition launched a major operation last month to retake the mainly Sunni city, an hour's drive from Baghdad. But Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi slowed the advance to protect civilians amid fears of sectarian violence, and Iraqi forces have made only piecemeal gains in recent days as they try to reach the city centre. Most of those displaced on Tuesday came from the outskirts, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), which is providing aid to escapees at nearby camps who join around four million others displaced across the country. Islamic State has alternately attacked civilians trying to leave and forced them to pay an exit tax of more than $100 per person, said Karl Schembri, an NRC spokesman. "The journey is still full of risks and extremely unsafe," he said in an email. "IN TERRIBLE TROUBLE" Falih al-Essawi, deputy head of the Anbar provincial council, said the militants had threatened to shoot fleeing families. Aid groups providing food, water and other supplies to escapees do not have access to the city itself, which was besieged by government forces for around six months before the current advance began, prompting the United Nations and rights groups to warn about an imminent humanitarian crisis. "The fighting has now gone on for nearly three weeks. Those people were in trouble before the operation began and we have to now assume that they are in terrible trouble," Lise Grande, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, said in a telephone interview. Iraq said on Monday it had made arrests as it investigates allegations that Shi'ite militiamen helping the army retake Falluja had executed dozens of Sunni Muslim men fleeing the city held by Islamic State. The participation of militias in the battle of Falluja, just west of Baghdad, alongside the Iraqi army had already raised fears of sectarian killings. Falluja is a historic bastion of the Sunni insurgency against U.S. forces that toppled Saddam Hussein, a Sunni, in 2003, and the Shi'ite-led governments that followed. The push on Falluja comes at the same time as other enemies of Islamic State launched major offensives on other fronts, including a push by U.S.-backed forces against the city of Manbij in northern Syria. They amount to the most sustained pressure on the militants since they proclaimed their caliphate in 2014. NORTHERN OFFENSIVE While it kept focus on Falluja, the Iraqi army also pressed on with an advance south of Mosul, Islamic State's de facto capital seized in 2014 along with a third of Iraq's territory. Backed by coalition airstrikes and artillery, Iraqi forces retook the hilltop village of Nasr on the eastern bank of the river Tigris, about 275 kilometres (170 miles) north of Baghdad, a military statement said. The army had recaptured Nasr two months ago but retreated a day later, drawing criticisms that it was unprepared. The army was still pushing to retake another village in the Haj Ali area, which it pushed into at the weekend. Across the river is the Islamic State hub of Qayara, where there is an airfield that could serve as a staging ground for the future offensive on Mosul, about 60 kilometres further north. "The bridges are ready," said an Iraqi officer involved in the operation. "When we occupy the Qayara base, Mosul will be within reach". The officer said Islamic State had not mounted a strong defence of Haj Ali, and that more than 20 fighters had been killed, while others fled across the river. "Our intelligence says that they are collapsing," he said. Elite Iraqi forces are also preparing to advance up the Tigris river valley towards Qayara from the south, military officials said on Tuesday. If successful, the move would isolate the militant-held districts of Hawija and Shirqat from the rest of the territory Islamic State controls to the west. ECB would pledge to backstop markets after a Brexit - sources By John O'Donnell and Balazs Koranyi FRANKFURT, June 14 (Reuters) - The European Central Bank would publicly pledge to backstop financial markets in tandem with the Bank of England should Britain vote to leave the European Union, officials with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. The preparations illustrate the heightened state of alert ahead of the June 23 referendum, which will help determine Britain's future in trade and world affairs and also shape the EU. The pound and euro have lost value on fears a Brexit could tip the 28-member bloc into recession. Such an announcement from the ECB would come on June 24 if an early-morning result showed that British voters had chosen to leave the EU, according to the sources. The aim is to underpin investor confidence across Europe and contain further market jitters. "There will be a statement to do whatever it takes to maintain adequate market liquidity," said one senior central bank official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The ECB's pledge would involve opening so-called swap lines with the Bank of England, allowing euros and sterling to be exchanged and effectively making unlimited funding in both currencies available to European banks, the sources said. The ECB and Bank of England declined to comment. The Bank of England said last month that possible "heightened uncertainty" due to the vote may make it harder for banks to tap their usual sources of foreign currency and that it would keep its operations, including swap lines, under review. The ECB used similar arrangements with the U.S. Federal Reserve to unlock extra dollars during the financial crisis and after the 9/11 attacks. Providing extra funds to banks after a Brexit vote would ease pressure on them and reduce the potential for panic as financial markets digest the result on Friday, June 24, shortly before closing for the weekend. MARKET FALLOUT The ECB is limited in what it can do, beyond releasing funds for banks. Extending its money-printing programme, which has already saturated markets with more than one trillion euros ($1.1 trillion) and is gradually running out of bonds and securities to buy, would likely be contested by some countries such as Germany. Such a move could only be considered if the market fallout from a Brexit were to weigh on the regional economy over the longer term. In the days around the referendum - which is expected to be closely contested - governors of European central banks will hold a series of meetings, some of which were scheduled independently of the vote. These gatherings may present an opportunity to fine-tune their response. ECB President Mario Draghi and European peers gather in Frankfurt on June 23, the day Britons cast their vote. The Bank of England said that its Governor Mark Carney, who is a member of this 'general council', would not be present and could not immediately say who would attend in his absence. Governors from across the 19 European countries that use the euro have also scheduled a telephone conference call the following day to decide their response to the vote, two people with knowledge of the matter said. A statement could follow. On the weekend after the vote, central bank chiefs from around the globe will gather in Switzerland for the annual meeting of their umbrella body, the Bank for International Settlements. The Bank of England has already sought to avert any liquidity squeeze ahead of the vote by providing injections of cheap funding for banks ahead of the vote. The first of two such batches was released on Tuesday, prompting banks to request 2.5 billion pounds ($3.5 billion) for six months. ($1 = 0.8906 euros; $1 = 0.7057 pounds) Brazil indigenous community faces imminent eviction over land dispute - Amnesty By Chris Arsenault RIO DE JANEIRO, June 14 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - An indigenous community in southwestern Brazil faces imminent eviction from its traditional territories, Amnesty International said on Tuesday, in a case exemplifying ongoing land conflicts in South America's largest country. A small number of families from the Guarani Kaiowa Apika'y indigenous group received a judicial order late last week to leave the contested land in Mato Grosso do Sul state, an agricultural region bordering Paraguay, Amnesty said. The judge's eviction order followed complaints from farmers who say they are the rightful owners of the land even though the territory had been promised to the indigenous group, according to Amnesty researcher Fatima Melo. "It's a symbolic case: indigenous people have the right to this land under the (Brazilian) constitution," Melo told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "The people pushing for the eviction are the big landowners in the region who grow soy and sugar cane on large plantations," she said. "Other communities are facing the same problem." The community was given five days notice that it will be evicted sometime between June 13 and June 15. Brazil's Ministry of Justice, the government body responsible for ordering the eviction, did not respond to emails or phone calls requesting an interview. Nearly 13 percent of Brazil's territory belongs to indigenous people, according to the country's National Indian Foundation (FUNAI), a government body. Unclear land titles and competing territorial claims from farmers, indigenous groups and the state lead to frequent conflicts in the country's agricultural heartland. FUNAI had demarcated nearly 10,000 hectares (24,710) of territory to the indigenous group, but they never received formal title to that land, Melo said. Because the indigenous group does not have a formal title plantation owners were able to register ownership of the land with a local official, a practice that is not uncommon in rural areas where property rights are not well regulated, Melo said. The nine families who face eviction have told activists that they would rather die than leave the land, Melo said. Government officials have said they are upholding the law. Alexandre de Moraes became justice minister last month following the suspension of President Dilma Rousseff due to budget irregularities. Upon taking over the portfolio, Moraes told local media that he would "review indigenous land demarcations that were made in a rush." "If there is a (land) invasion by indigenous people and a judicial decision of eviction all negotiation (with the indigenous group) will be finished," Moraes said in an interview with the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper. Ethiopia says will not escalate border clash with Eritrea By Aaron Maasho ADDIS ABABA, June 14 (Reuters) - Ethiopia and Eritrea both suffered casualties during weekend skirmishes along their border but Addis Ababa will not escalate the dispute on its own, an Ethiopian official said on Tuesday. The Horn of Africa rivals accused each other of triggering clashes that took place along the central stretch of their disputed frontier on Sunday, highlighting persisting tension over an unresolved boundary dispute that sparked war in 1998-2000. The Red Sea state seceded from Ethiopia in 1991 after a three-decade liberation war. About 70,000 people were killed in the border war that flared up just seven years later. In a statement, Asmara's information ministry said on Tuesday that Ethiopian troops had "sustained heavy casualties" after launching the attack on the Tsorona Central Front along its share of the border. Ethiopian government spokesman Getachew Reda said both sides had suffered casualties but that Eritrean soldiers had "fired the first salvo" that led to the incident. "Eritrea fired first, but they did not expect the kind of response that we were able to mount. The extent of the damage they have suffered will hopefully make them think twice," he told a news conference. "We are capable of waging a full-scale war against Eritrea, but simply we don't choose to. That is why we have withdrawn our forces once our objectives were achieved," Getachew said. Tsorona is a town south of the Eritrean capital Asmara and close to the frontier. The area saw intense fighting during the 1998-2000 conflict. Soon after the end of full-scale war, the United Nations deployed a ceasefire monitoring force on the border but withdrew it in 2008 in response to restrictions imposed on it by Eritrea that the U.N. said at the time made it impossible for the mission to function. In addition to sporadic clashes, Eritrea and Ethiopia also routinely accuse the other of backing rebels trying to destabilise and topple the other's government. Eritrea, which is under U.N. sanctions, says world powers have failed to push Ethiopia to accept an international arbitration ruling that handed a flashpoint town to Asmara. Ethiopia says it wants talks on implementation. Iran plans to buy or lease over 100 Boeing jets -sources PARIS, June 14 (Reuters) - Iran has reached a tentative understanding with U.S. planemaker Boeing that would see it acquire over 100 Boeing passenger jets under a deal between Tehran and world powers to ease sanctions, Western and Middle East sources said on Tuesday. The deal, which is so far only an outline of what a proposed future arrangement would look like, involves flag carrier Iranair acquiring the jets both through direct purchases and leases, subject to U.S. government approval, they said. An Iranian minister said earlier that Tehran had reached a deal with Boeing and would announce details in coming days . Boeing declined detailed comment. "We have been engaged in discussions with Iranian airlines approved by the U.S. government about potential purchases of Boeing commercial passenger airplanes and services," a spokesman said by email. Food aid to double in Niger after fresh Boko Haram attacks - UN By Kieran Guilbert DAKAR, June 14 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Food aid will be doubled for people uprooted by Boko Haram violence in southeast Niger after recent attacks forced 50,000 people to flee their homes, the United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday. Boko Haram earlier this month seized the town of Bosso in Niger's Diffa region, killing 32 soldiers in the Islamist group's deadliest assault in the country since April last year. The militants have recently ramped up attacks in Diffa, home to at least 250,000 uprooted Nigeriens and Nigerian refugees, and many people have been displaced several times, the WFP said. "Many people have walked from 10 km to 40 kms (6 to 25 miles). They are arriving in a state of shock, and urgently need food, shelter, water - assistance with their most basic needs," said Belkacem Machane, WFP Niger deputy country director, in a statement. "They have now reached the end of their rope," Machane said. The WFP plans to scale up its response to help more than a quarter of a million people in Diffa, where some 450,000 people - around two-thirds of the region's population - face hunger. A lack of funding, widespread displacement and the imminent lean season mean hunger is likely to worsen, Machane said. Many of those in need live in makeshift huts alongside the country's main highway, yet some of the recently displaced are scattered across Diffa, said international medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF). The U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said last week that the 50,000 newly displaced had fled Bosso in various directions. "Some families are in the middle of nowhere, and the insecurity means it is difficult to reach them with aid," Elmounzer Ag Jiddou, MSF's head of mission in Niger, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "Our biggest concern is lack of water ... the weather is extremely hot and many people find themselves with essentially no access to water, and with no food and or shelter," he added. Niger's President Mahamadou Issoufou told the Thomson Reuters Foundation last month that Boko Haram had destroyed schools and health clinics, paralysed the region's economy and caused a "catastrophic humanitarian situation". The militant group has killed more than 15,000 people and displaced more than 2 million in the West African states of Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria during a seven-year campaign to carve out an Islamist caliphate. French reform champion cries foul over deregulation resistance PARIS, June 14 (Reuters) - France's economy minister on Tuesday accused entrenched interest groups of sabotaging some measures in his flagship deregulation bill passed by parliament almost a year ago. Emmanuel Macron, who championed the reforms, said court clerks, notaries and other professionals were undermining the implementation of a bill rammed through parliament last summer to reassure euro zone partners about France's reform zeal. The legislation, dubbed the "Macron Law", cut red tape in a variety of areas and opened up closed-shop professions. It has been praised by international institutions and ratings agencies as a first step towards boosting flagging growth. It was also the first time the Socialist government invoked a rarely used constitutional decree to pass the reform without a vote, something it did again earlier this year to pass a separate labour reform bill aimed at curbing unemployment that has triggered protests across the country. But showing how reforming the country is not as easy as simply passing laws in parliament, Macron said some in the protected public sector professions he sought to liberalise were refusing to apply the law. "It's absolutely unacceptable that people acting on the state's behalf do not respect the law. That's really the ABCs of the trade," Macron told reporters in an update about the law's implementation. "It doesn't mean I think France is unreformable, but I think it takes, as you can see, a lot of time." He said court clerks who were now supposed to make data held about companies free to the public instead of charging a small fee were pursuing a group action in court against the measure and were refusing to apply the law. Macron also slammed the "odious blackmail" of notaries, officials in charge of checking deeds in any property transaction, who have been criticised in government reports for making unduly large profits. Macron's reform is meant to increase the number of such officials to increase competition but he said some notaries were "causing panic" among junior employees interested in applying by saying the reform could hit their pay or threaten their jobs. A notary earns 197,700 euros ($220,000) per year on average, according to statistics office INSEE. In another high-profile case showing the difficulty in translating the law into actual change, Macron criticised the attitude of unions who had blocked famous department store Galeries Lafayette from opening on Sundays. "Some unions' activism aims neither to protect employees nor to create wealth, but simply to protect their reason for being," he said. Israel's reconciliation with Turkey seen bolstering its NATO cooperation By Dan Williams JERUSALEM, June 14 (Reuters) - Israel's efforts to reconcile with NATO member Turkey will help enhance Israeli intelligence sharing and other security cooperation with the alliance, a NATO diplomat said on Tuesday. The once-strong Israeli-Turkish partnership was shattered by Israel's killing of 10 pro-Palestinian Turkish activists who sailed against its Gaza blockade in 2010, and Ankara had chafed at Israeli contacts with NATO. But with both countries now working to mend fences, Turkey last month acquiesced to Israel setting up representation at NATO's Brussels headquarters. Hosting envoys from NATO countries in Israel, including the Turkish charge d'affaires standing in for the ambassador who was withdrawn during the bilateral crisis, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered to further close ranks with the alliance. "Israel has much to contribute to NATO. I believe NATO has much to contribute to Israel. We've already begun that process, but I think we can extend and increase our cooperation," Netanyahu said before the closed-door meeting in Jerusalem. Israeli officials declined to elaborate on this, but one of the foreign diplomats who took part in the meeting, cited Israeli intelligence, as well as the country's cyber security and battlefield medicine capabilities, as assets to NATO. "There is a host of areas where we could start doing more (but) cooperation has been stifled. Turkey, to put in frankly, has blocked many (Israel-NATO) activities," the diplomat told Reuters on condition of anonymity. "Now there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel." Where Israel might have previously cooperated in such fields with NATO members on a bilateral basis - for example, by giving the United States intelligence findings on Islamic State volunteers in the region - its closer involvement with the alliance would streamline the process for all 28 members, the diplomat said. "It means that it (Israeli input) is easier to share through the NATO command structure, if we have that framework," said the diplomat, who cautioned, however, that this framework required Israel and Turkey finalise their reconciliation deal. Both sides have said the deal could be imminent, though it remains unclear how they might reach terms on Turkey's long-standing demand that Israel remove its naval blockade on Gaza. Israel says the measure is required to prevent arms smuggling by Palestinian militants. "There are creative solutions to be found, and I think that both sides have the political will to find a solution," a Turkish official told Reuters, describing an agreement with Israel as "very close". Israel's role in the NATO-sponsored Mediterranean Dialogue has allowed it to hold security contacts with several Arab countries with which it does not have formal bilateral relations - a boost to Netanyahu's vision of outflanking arch-enemy Iran through regional cooperation. Ireland sweating on Walters fitness for Belgium clash June 14 (Reuters) - Ireland face an anxious wait over the fitness of striker Jon Walters ahead of Saturday's Euro 2016 Group E clash with Belgium in Bordeaux. The 32-year-old was forced off with an Achilles problem in the 64th minute of Monday's opening 1-1 draw with Sweden at the Stade de France. "Jon Walters would obviously be the main concern and he will be pretty doubtful for the second game," said manager Martin O'Neill. The Belgians slumped to a 2-0 defeat against Italy on Monday and O'Neill said his side would have to be wary of the attacking threats posed by the likes of Eden Hazard and Kevin De Bruyne. Turkey may soften stance on Assad exit as Kurdish gains force shift By Tulay Karadeniz ANKARA, June 14 (Reuters) - Turkey's determination to prevent an autonomous Kurdish region emerging in northern Syria could see it ease up on demands for President Bashar al-Assad's immediate exit, as it overhauls a foreign policy that has left it more isolated than influential. Days after taking office last month, new Prime Minister Binali Yildirim - a close ally of President Tayyip Erdogan - said Turkey needed to "increase its friends and decrease its enemies", in what appeared a tacit admission that his predecessor's policies had left the NATO member sidelined. Under former Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, Ankara was insistent on Assad's departure as the only way of stabilising Syria, setting it at odds with Assad's ally Russia and distancing it from a U.S.-led coalition more focused on the fight against Islamic State. Erdogan - who wields ultimate power in Turkey, including over foreign policy - has been one of Assad's fiercest critics but analysts say changing circumstances on the ground could force a softening of his rhetoric. Turkey's worst nightmare in Syria has come true: Russian support has enabled Assad to remain in power, while Kurdish militia fighters have benefited from U.S. support as they battle Islamic State, bolstering their position in territory adjacent to the Turkish border. Yildirim's government has outlined four areas of policy where it wants to take new steps: Israel, Russia, the European Union and Syria, the last motivated in part by a realisation that Assad's demise could benefit the Kurdish militia. "Assad is, at the end of the day, a killer. He is torturing his own people. We're not going to change our stance on that," a senior official from the ruling AK Party told Reuters, requesting anonymity so as to speak more freely. "But he does not support Kurdish autonomy. We may not like each other, but on that we're backing the same policy," he said. Ankara fears that territorial gains by Kurdish YPG fighters in northern Syria will fuel an insurgency by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged an armed struggle in Turkey's southeast for three decades. The groups do not deny links. The PKK founded the YPG as a Syrian organisation a decade ago and both are inspired by Abdullah Ocalan, who led the PKK from its inception and lived in Syria shortly before his capture in 1999. He remains in jail. Conflict in Turkey's southeast has flared anew since a ceasefire with the PKK collapsed last July - fuelled in part, according to the Turkish authorities, by weapons and fighters crossing the border from Syria. That leaves Turkey with few easy options, according to Mehmet Yegin, an analyst at Ankara-based think-tank USAK: relaunching peace talks with the PKK, which the government has so far ruled out, or indirectly relying on Assad as a buffer. "The only thing that can change is Turkey can stop insisting that Assad must go," he said. OVERTURES TO MOSCOW A softer stance on Assad could in theory help smooth relations with Russia, which have been severely strained since Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet near the Syrian border last November. The dispute has cost Turkey billions of dollars in lost tourism revenues and trade sanctions. Erdogan sent President Vladimir Putin a message on Sunday, to mark Russia's national day, expressing a desire for an improvement in ties, Turkish presidential sources said. Turkey's EU affairs minister Omer Celik meanwhile said on Tuesday that Turkey had not known the jet was Russian when it was shot down after entering Turkish air space near the border. But such efforts to assuage Russian anger look unlikely to bear fruit until Putin himself is ready. "Russia insists on the conditions it set at the beginning. They expect Turkey to apologise and pay damages. Reconciliation looks hard unless Russia takes a step back," said Sinan Ulgen, chairman of Istanbul-based think-tank EDAM. As Yildirim and his team adjust foreign policy in the wake of Davutoglu's departure, there are also few signs of significant progress in relations with the European Union, despite Brussels' reliance on Ankara to maintain its side of a landmark deal on migration. Turkey's decade-long accession talks with the EU have largely stalled, with some leaders in Europe increasingly concerned about what they see as a creep towards authoritarianism as Erdogan seeks to broaden his powers. The migrant deal, criticised by rights groups, has sharply cut the number of refugees and migrants reaching Greece, giving EU leaders breathing space after more than a million arrived last year. But the bloc is treading a difficult line, facing accusations of compromising its values by failing to be critical enough of Turkey's record on rights and freedoms. In a sign of tensions, the EU's top envoy to Ankara quit on Tuesday after displaying what Celik said was disrespect for Turkish values and for Erdogan. The envoy had made critical comments in the Turkish media about Ankara's implementation of the accord. Of the new government's four foreign policy priorities, that leaves only efforts to restore ties with former ally Israel showing any immediate signs of progress. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said last week Turkey was just one or two meetings away from normalising relations, after diplomatic and military ties were cut in 2010 when Israeli commandos stormed a Turkish ship in an aid flotilla to Gaza, killing 10 Turks. Turkey wants Israel to end a sea and air blockade of the Gaza Strip but Israel has ruled out ending its embargo of the Palestinian territory. "There are creative solutions to be found, and I think that both sides have the political will to find a solution," a Turkish official familiar with the efforts said, adding a deal could be within reach. Eritrea accuses Ethiopia of being behind UN crimes report By Tom Miles GENEVA, June 14 (Reuters) - Eritrea accused Ethiopia on Tuesday of having orchestrated evidence in a landmark U.N. report last week that accused Eritrean leaders of committing crimes against humanity including torture, murder and enslavement. The report by independent experts called for the case to be referred to the International Criminal Court. The U.N. Human Rights Council, which is holding a three-week session in Geneva, is expected to consider a resolution to recommend future action on Eritrea. "The gathering of information from 'witnesses' organised by Ethiopia allows the latter to advance its propaganda against a country that it aims to destabilise," Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh told the 47-member state forum. The two Horn of Africa nations were involved in a war in 1998-2000 that killed 70,000 people. They routinely accuse each other trying to destabilise and topple the other's government. The minister called Ethiopia "an African face for other countries with a regime change agenda" and said it had initiated an unprovoked military attack against Eritrea on Sunday. "The armed attack two days ago is timed with the release of the report, supposedly for maximum impact on the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Eritrea." Echoing comments earlier by an Ethiopian government spokesman, Ethiopian Ambassador Negash Kebret Botora told the Geneva forum Eritrea had launched the unprovoked attack, shelling the population around the border area. "The regime always chooses when to divert the attention of the international community from its repugnant human rights record," he said. Burundi school sends home 230 students for defacing president's photo NAIROBI, June 14 (Reuters) - A secondary school in rural Burundi sent home 230 students on Tuesday for defacing the portrait of President Pierre Nkurunziza in their textbooks, a regional head of education said. Burundi has been mired in a year-long crisis in which more than 450 people have been killed since Nkurunziza pursued and won a third term. Opponents said his move violated the constitution and a deal that ended a civil war in 2005. Kwizera Guillaume, the provincial director of education in Ruyigi province, 200 km (124 miles) east of the capital Bujumbura, said they had sent home a total of four classes who were sitting an exam. "It is an option we took to push them to reveal the authors of the acts," he told Reuters by phone. Earlier this month police clashed with students protesting at the arrest of other students for a similar offence of defacing the president's portrait in Muramvya, which is 50 km east of Bujumbura. Alberta regulator asks ConocoPhillips to contain condensate leak June 14 (Reuters) - The Alberta Energy Regulator asked ConocoPhillips's Canada arm to immediately contain a condensate leak caused by a pipeline failure near Grande Cache, Alberta. The environmental protection order directs the company to prevent the leak from spreading. ConocoPhillips said it was working closely with the regulator, which has personnel on site. Kyrgyz president orders legal review of Centerra Gold deals June 14 (Reuters) - Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev ordered state prosecutors on Tuesday to review the legality of agreements signed with Canada's Centerra Gold Inc in 2003-2004 and 2009, his office said in a statement. Centerra operates Kyrgyzstan's biggest gold mine, Kumtor, and has been locked in a bitter dispute with the Central Asian nation's government over profit-sharing that has recently escalated. Centerra has "complete confidence" in the 2009 agreements, company spokesman John Pearson said in an email. "They were negotiated openly, fairly and transparently and were approved by the Kyrgyz government, parliament and the Kyrgyz supreme court," he said. The 2009 agreements supersede all prior agreements including the 2003-2004 restructuring agreements and are part of Kyrgyz legislation, Pearson said. Toronto-based Centerra turned to international arbitration last month to settle a number of disputes with the Kyrgyz government. Centerra's chief executive officer earlier this month blamed the escalating tensions on a weaker economy in Kyrgyzstan and the impoverished nation's desire for a bigger slice of profits. Centerra is Kyrgyzstan`s biggest foreign investor and taxpayer. Kerry says US and Venezuela agree to start talks to ease tensions SANTO DOMINGO, June 14 (Reuters) - Venezuela and the United States will immediately start talks to ease tensions between the two countries and does not support its ouster from a regional diplomatic bloc, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday after meeting his counterpart from the OPEC nation. Venezuela is embroiled in an economic and political crisis that has led to social unrest in one of the world's largest oil producers. The United States will send Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Shannon, a veteran on Latin American diplomacy, as its representative to the talks, Kerry told reporters traveling with him after the bilateral meeting. Niger leader asks France to boost operations against Islamist militants PARIS, June 14 (Reuters) - President Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger called on Tuesday for France to strengthen military operations against West African Islamist militants, including Boko Haram after its fighters carried out a deadly attack on a Nigerien town. France currently has some 3,500 troops spread across five countries - Chad, Mauritania, Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso - in the region as part of a two-year-old operation to hunt down jihadists. Paris also assists West African states in the fight against the Nigeria-based Boko Haram with intelligence, logistics and training, but does not have combat troops directly involved. "We want ... a strengthening of this operation across the Sahel, including to address the threats we are facing today with Boko Haram," Issoufou told reporters after a meeting with French President Francois Hollande in Paris. Hollande said earlier, during the same press conference, that France would back the multinational force - that includes Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Benin - in its fight against Boko Haram, without giving further details. Boko Haram killed 26 Nigerien soldiers when it stormed and seized the southeastern town of Bosso on June 3. The attack, one of the deadliest by Boko Haram in Niger, spurred neighbouring Chad to send in 2,000 troops to prepare a counter-attack. "We hope France will continue to support us in terms of intelligence and operational capacities to deal with this extremely dangerous threat," Issoufou said in Paris. France said in April it would increase the number of its troops in Ivory Coast to counter growing jihadist threats in the region, and could deploy them further afield if needed. Iran's Khamenei threatens to "set fire" to nuclear deal if West violates BEIRUT, June 14 (Reuters) - Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, threatened on Tuesday to "set fire" to the nuclear deal sealed with world powers if U.S. presidential candidates reneged on the agreement. Presumptive Republican candidate Donald Trump said last August it would be hard to "rip up" the deal, but if elected president he would "police that contract so tough they don't have a chance". Iran can expect a shift in relations with the United States to a more aggressive posture under a Republic president, a reversal of the warming trend nurtured by Democratic President Barack Obama. "The Islamic Republic won't be the first to violate the nuclear deal. Staying faithful to a promise is a Koranic order," Khamenei said, according to state media. "But if the threat from the American presidential candidates to tear up the deal becomes operational then the Islamic Republic will set fire to the deal." He did not identify any candidate and said he did not see a difference between Democrats and Republicans in the comments that state media said he made in a meeting with senior officials including President Hassan Rouhani, who championed the agreement. Hillary Clinton, who Obama has endorsed to succeed him in the Nov. 8 election, said in March in a speech to a pro-Israel lobby group in Washington that Iran still posed a threat to Israel and needed to be closely watched. She was secretary of state under Obama during his first term. The United States and Europe lifted sanctions on Tehran in January under the deal that curbed Iran's nuclear programme. However, some restrictions remain, including on financial transactions, slowing Iranian hopes to reintegrate with world markets. Khamenei noted that sanctions had not been completely lifted, issues with Iranian banks had not been resolved and that Iranian money that was being kept in other countries had not been returned. "The nuclear deal has holes which, if they were closed, would reduce or cancel its disadvantages," he said. He added: "Some think that we can get along with the Americans and solve our problems. This is an incorrect idea and a delusion." The Supreme Leader also told the officials, who had gathered for a meeting to commemorate the holy month of Ramadan, that the issue of insurance for oil tankers had not been resolved. Khamenei said Iran had met its obligations by halting the enrichment of uranium at 20 percent and shutting down nuclear facilities in Fordow and Arak. Saudi-led Yemen coalition demands sources for critical U.N. report By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS, June 14 (Reuters) - A Saudi Arabia-led military coalition has asked the United Nations to reveal details on the sources of information that led the world body to briefly blacklist it for maiming and killing children in Yemen and invited U.N. experts to come to Riyadh. The demand was included in a letter from Saudi Ambassador Abdallah Al-Mouallimi to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the coalition's behalf dated June 8 and seen by Reuters on Tuesday. The United Nations initially added the coalition to its annual child rights blacklist but removed it shortly afterward pending a review by the coalition and the United Nations in the face of protests from the Saudis and other Muslim nations. The U.N. report on children and armed conflict said the coalition, which began an air campaign in March 2015 to defeat Iran-allied Houthi rebels, was responsible for 60 percent of child deaths and injuries in the conflict last year, killing 510 and wounding 667. Riyadh, a key U.N. donor, had threatened to cut off funding to a Palestinian aid program and other U.N. initiatives and said there was discussion of a fatwa against the United Nations, diplomatic sources told Reuters. Saudi Arabia denied using threats, although Ban himself confirmed the initial Reuters report. The coalition's removal from the blacklist prompted angry reactions from human rights groups, which accused Ban of caving in to pressure from powerful countries. They said that Ban, in the final year of his second term, risked harming his legacy as U.N. chief. Mouallimi's letter to Ban expressed "his sincere appreciation for the removal" of the coalition from the blacklist and reaffirmed what he said was its respect for, and compliance with, international humanitarian and human rights law. Mouallimi added the coalition "requests a detailed overview of the methodology and modality that were used to create the numbers in the report and the sources relied on for said numbers." U.N. officials said they did not believe it was possible to disclose sources used to create the report. "We're studying it, and we obviously remain interested in what information the Saudi-led coalition can provide us," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said when asked about the letter. Asked about the invitation for U.N. experts to travel to coalition headquarters in Riyadh to discuss the report and concerns about the coalition's actions in Yemen, Dujarric noted it "would be our preference" to have such a meeting at the United Nations. The Saudi-led coalition includes Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Senegal and Sudan. As the contentious race for president narrows to a pair of controversial candidates from each of the two major political parties, longtime local Democratic activist and campaign manager Tim Cotton is pursuing another option. Hillary or Trump is not our only choice, he said. I dont really see a difference between the parties. Cotton, of Culpeper, recently helped organize the launch of the Piedmont Green Party that on the national level is attempting to lure Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders to run on its environmentally-focused, socially left-leaning ticket. In the 1990s, Cotton as a native New Yorker was a community organizer Bill Clintons successful presidential campaigns, but in 2016, Cotton is not supporting Hillary Clinton and said he wouldnt support Bill today either. Like other supporters of Bernie Sanders, Cotton has an issue with the purported deep corporate ties the Clintons have. The corporatism that is taking over both parties makes them no different. Were always voting for the lesser of two evils which means were always voting for evil, he said. Cotton most recently worked on the General Assembly campaigns of Democratic candidates Traci Dippert and Ned Gallaway, who both lost. He came away disillusioned by the process, saying the candidates didnt get support from Virginia Democrats. I struggled to find who were the good guys and who were the bad guys. Thats disheartening, he said. Many Americans hate the two major parties, Cotton said. They are really flocking to something different, he said. Cotton recently met with Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, a medical doctor from Massachusetts, at a meeting in Charlottesville. The Central Committee of the Green Party of Virginia. certified the Piedmont Green Party representing Culpeper, Fauquier, Greene, Madison, Orange and Rappahannock counties and Cotton was appointed interim chairman of the local chapter. His son, Tim Jr., was named director of field operations and his other son, Brian, treasurer. Cotton said each has political campaign experience. The Piedmont Green Party will hold its organizational meeting 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Culpeper Library, and begins with about 40 members, according to Cotton. There needs to be more choices than what we have had, he said. Its about people over profit. He said people are tired of voting for one candidate just to block the other one. No one is voting for Hillary or for Trump they are voting for the block, and thats not Democracy, Cotton said. The Green Party remains focused on people, the planet and peace, he said, while Stein has also advocated canceling student loan debt for young Americans, comparing it to the government bank bailout. She was the Green Party presidential nominee in 2012, though the alternative party wont officially pick its candidate until the August convention in Houston. Cotton said hes done playing for winners or losers. Its not about the lesser of two evils. I want to start looking at the greater good, he said. The Green Party of Virginia lists among its 10 key values: ecological wisdom, social justice, grassroots democracy, nonviolence, decentralization, community based economics, feminism, respect for diversity, personal & global responsibility and future focus & sustainability. Asked who should attend this weeks local Green Party meeting in Culpeper, Cotton replied, Anyone whos interested in putting the environment at the front of politics, anybody who thinks there has to be more than Trump or Hillary for choices or anyone who wants to get information about the party or why it is in Culpeper. Born in Brooklyn, Sanders is a two-term U.S. Senator to Vermont who previously spent 16 years in the U.S. House, making him the longest serving independent member of Congress. He has said in the past he would not mount an independent run for president. Want to learn more? The newly formed Piedmont Green Party is holding an organizational meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Culpeper Library. For information, contact Tim Cotton at (540) 219-3599, piedmontgreens@gmail.com or piedmontgreens.com LONDON - England - The pro-EU CBI cannot be trusted and is a corrupted institution with zero credibility in relation to British business. Commenting on the CBIs claims that there is no alternative to EU membership, Matthew Elliott, Chief Executive of Vote Leave said: The CBIs unflinching support for Brussels is simply not credible. They have consistently called it wrong on the EU, ranging from support for joining the euro to opposition to a referendum and support for the Exchange Rate Mechanism. Now they want us to believe that we cant take back control from Brussels and secure new trade deals. Not only they are wilfully misrepresenting the debate over leaving the EU but they are not even being straight over who they speak for. You cant trust the CBI on EU, they are the voice of Brussels. The CBI claims that there is no alternative to EU membership. The CBI knows the real Albanian option is to vote to stay and supports free movement with Turkey. If Norway, Switzerland and Canada have such a bad deal, why do the peoples of those countries not want to join the EU? The CBI refuses to disclose how many members it has. When it was campaigning for the euro, it admitted it had just 2,037 direct members, 0.06% of British companies. The CBI claims to speak for 190,000 businesses . It is doubtful the CBI is even in contact with this indirect membership (i.e. companies that are members of trade associations that are affiliated to the CBI). It appears that 28.9% of the 190,000 businesses the CBI claims to represent are farmers, who are opposed to EU membership by nearly 2:1. The CBI misrepresented business opinion on the single currency. Its landmark EU membership survey was called dodgy by the British Polling Council. Recent business surveys have shown growing hostility to the EU. Business polling has consistently shown a majority of firms want the British Government, not the EU, in charge of trade policy and reject the premise of the so-called single market. The CBI hardly ever criticises the EU and is funded by the European Commission. The CBIs own report on the EU referendum showed growth would be higher in the event of a vote to leave the EU. The CBI knows the real Albanian option is to vote to stay and supports free movement with Turkey. Albania is currently a candidate country to join the EU and the UK is currently paying nearly 2 billion to it and four other countries to join the EU. In Albania, average gross annual earnings are 3,690, 13.4% of the median annual salary in the UK, or 19.7% of what a person on the minimum wage will earn in 2020. In 2008, Gary Campkin of the CBI said the CBI would support free movement in relation to Turkey, as we have done with the A8 and the A2. If Norway, Switzerland and Canada have such a bad deal, why do the peoples of those countries not want to join the EU? Norway: 74% of Norwegian voters would say no to Norway joining the EU. 17% want to join. Switzerland: According to a 2012 poll for the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, just 6% of Swiss voters favoured joining the EU, against 63% who want the present bilateral arrangements preserved and 11% who want to join the European Economic Area (EEA). The Swiss Peoples Party, which is anti-EU, won the October 2015 general election. Switzerland has withdrawn its application to join the EU. Canada: The prospect of Canada applying to join the EU is so fanciful no opinion polling has been conducted. The CBI refuses to disclose how many members it has. When it was campaigning for the euro, it admitted it had just 2,037 direct members, 0.06% of British companies. The CBI claims that: the CBI is the voice of business and that were the voice of business. The CBI is notoriously secretive about the number of members it has and the composition of its membership. It has consistently refused to state how many members it has. In 1999, when the CBI was campaigning to join the euro, it was forced to admit that it had just 2,037 direct members. This was the equivalent of just 0.06% of British businesses in 2000. The CBI claims to speak for 190,000 businesses (3.52% of British firms). It is doubtful the CBI is even in contact with this indirect membership (i.e. companies that are members of trade associations that are affiliated to the CBI). The CBIs 2012 annual report refers to a direct corporate membership and organisations [represented] through their affiliations with trade associations that are direct members of the CBI. The CBI has previously admitted to a parliamentary committee that it has both a direct and an indirect membership. In 1999, when the CBI was campaigning to join the euro, it was only able to poll indirect members with the consent of the relevant trade association, suggesting it has no direct contact with them. 190,000 companies amount to just 3.52% of the UKs 5.39 million businesses. It appears that 28.9% of the 190,000 businesses the CBI claims to represent are farmers, who are opposed to EU membership by nearly 2:1. The National Farmers Union (NFU) is an affiliate member of the CBI. The NFU has 55,000 members in England and Wales. This would suggest that 28.9% of the 190,000 businesses the CBI claims to represent are, in fact, farmers. A recent survey for Farmers Weekly showed that by 58% to 31%, farmers would vote to leave the EU. The CBI misrepresented business opinion on the single currency. Its landmark EU membership survey was called dodgy by the British Polling Council. In 1999, the CBI claimed that three in every four businesses backed British membership of the single currency. Polling by ICM showed that just 32% of British companies supported joining, with 64% of CBI members opposed to scrapping the pound. The CBIs landmark 2013 pro-EU survey was condemned as pretty dodgy by the Nick Moon, Secretary to the Management Committee of the British Polling Council following a complaint from Vote Leaves Campaign Director, Dominic Cummings. Recent business surveys have shown growing hostility to the EU. By 46.4% to 42.8%, British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) members who do not export would vote to leave the EU. By 50.1% to 46.7%, BCC members which export to the rest of the world only would vote to leave the EU. Firms which do not export to the EU represent over 90% of British businesses. A majority of IoD members (50%) agree that the UK could make an economic success of leaving the EU. Business polling has consistently shown a majority of firms want the British Government, not the EU, in charge of trade policy and reject the premise of the so-called single market. Polling by Perspective Research Services in August 2015 found that, by 69% to 25%, SMEs agree that the UK can trade and cooperate with Europe without giving away permanent control to the EU, rejecting the proposition that the single market is good for jobs and living standards. By 74% to 22%, SMEs believed the British Government, not the EU, should be in charge of trade policy. ICM polling in April 2004 found that by 82% to 14%, British Chief Executives believed that the British Government, not the EU, should be in charge of trade negotiations. The CBI backed British membership of the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) and subsequently campaigned to scrap the pound. In a 2015 CBI document celebrating [h]ighlights from the CBIs first 50 years, the CBI included how in 1987 it called for full UK membership of the European Monetary System, arguing that the discipline of a more stable exchange rate could help to increase Britains share of world trade. In 1999, the CBI argued that joining the Euro would deliver significant benefits to the UK economy, including allowing British companies to participate fully in a more complete and competitive single market and removing from the UK economy the harmful impact of exchange rate volatility. The CBI has consistently called for the further transfer of control to Brussels. It welcomed the Nice and Lisbon Treaties and secretly lobbied the Government not to ask for substantive changes to the UKs terms of membership during the renegotiation. The CBI claimed that the need for the Nice Treaty was pressing. In 2008, it stated that it welcome[d] the attempt to clarify the role and remit of the EU in the Lisbon Treaty. Leaked documents revealed the then President of the CBI, Sir Mike Rake, who is now campaigning to remain in the EU, privately urged the Government not to overplay our hand in the negotiations with Brussels. The CBI hardly ever criticises the EU. An analysis of a years worth of CBI press releases showed only 1% of them were critical of the EU, and that the CBI did not challenge any of the 2,337 laws or 852 judgments passed by Europe during the period. The CBI recently failed to comment on a European Court ruling holding that insurance claims handling services had to be made subject to VAT. Freddy Macnamara, founder of insurance group Cuvva, said: Removal of VAT exemption on claims management companies would be a disaster, meaning a multi-billion pound rise in premium for responsible insurance customers. The CBI made no public comment. The CBI is funded by the EU. The CBI received 955,484 from the European Commission between 2009 and 2015. The CBIs own report on the EU referendum showed growth would be higher in the event of a vote to leave the EU. A report by PwC for CBI found that in the periods 2021-2025 and 2026-2030, growth would be higher (or the same) if the UK left the EU (whether or not in struck a free trade agreement with the EU) than in the counterfactual in which the UK remained in the EU. The report also found the economy would grow substantially in the event of a leave vote, stating: Compared to 2015 levels, real UK GDP would be 39% larger in the FTA scenario and 36% larger in the WTO scenario in 2030. The report showed that 3 million jobs would be created even in the event the UK left the EU and traded on WTO terms. LONDON - England - Peter Lilley MP, responds to the letter from BT to their staff telling them to vote Remain in the EU referendum. Statement by Rt Hon Peter Lilley MP former Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on BTs letter to employees. Few companies are less affected than BT as far as their day-to- day business is concerned by whether Britain is in or out of the European Union. There are no tariffs or obstacles on phone calls in or out of the EU. So why are BT bosses trying to cajole their staff to vote to remain in the EU? Rake and Patterson are abusing their position to advocate their personal political beliefs to which they have long been wedded. Given that their similar warnings about non-membership of the Euro were so wrong in the past, they might show a little humility and focus on the real interests of their hard working employees, long suffering customers and the thousands of small businesses who desperately need faster broadband. But there is probably a second reason: BT hope that the European Court would protect BT management from pressures for greater separation of Open Reach to ensure more competition in provision of broadband. Small businesses in my constituency have lobbied me for this. Apparently OfCom would have gone further in this direction but for fear that they would be challenged in the EU Court on the basis of the EU Framework Directive. This is another example of Big Business bosses relying on the EU to protect their cosy practices and another reason why British business as a whole will benefit if we take back control. BRUSSELS - Belgium - A challenge to the UK's right to deny some EU migrants child benefit and child tax credits has been rejected by European judges today. Commenting on the European Courts decision on social security, Iain Duncan Smith, Secretary of State in the Department for Work and Pensions at the time the challenge was brought, said: Its absurd that we have to to run every nut and bolt of domestic policy past Luxembourg, and then engage in lengthy and expensive court battles if they decide they dont like what our democratically elected Government is doing. As well as the cost to taxpayers of fighting these lengthy drawn out cases, its clearly an illegitimate challenge to our sovereignty. Although David Cameron didnt want to admit it, this case and others like it are proof positive that the unelected European Court of Justice is now supreme above our elected Parliament. They decide the rules and the only way to prevent this kind of intervention in future is to Vote Leave on 23 June. Commenting, Anne-Marie Trevelyan said: The Prime Minister made a solemn promise to the British people in our manifesto which, sadly, the EU makes impossible to honour. EU migrants will still be able to receive child benefit and even export it abroad. Todays judgment does not change that. Rather than admitting that the EU prevents the UK from controlling our welfare system, our borders and our economy, promises have instead become aspirations; commitments have become ambitions. We have consistently been defeated and sidelined in the meddling European courts. Judgments have made the cost of living more expensive, undermined our borders and put UK security at risk. If we want to take back control from the EU courts we have to Vote Leave on 23 June. The European Court has today handed down its judgement in Commission v United Kingdom, Case C-308/14. David Cameron has failed to meet his manifesto promises on child benefit because of EU law. After this judgement, all EU citizens will still retain the right to come to the UK, despite Camerons promises. The Commission has pursued this costly action despite a clear finding four years ago by the UK Supreme Court that the right to reside test was lawful. The judgement is of little assistance to the UK, because it cannot systematically check whether EU citizens are lawfully resident in the UK, as the Advocate General and the Court have confirmed. Even taking into account todays victory, the Government still loses over three-quarters of cases in the European Court. It has increased the price of beer, undermined the UKs border controls and weakened our security. It appears this case has been scheduled for immediately before the referendum in order to deliver a victory for the Government just before the poll. David Cameron has failed to meet his manifesto promises on child benefit because of EU law. The Conservative Manifesto promised: If an EU migrants child is living abroad, then they should receive no child benefit or child tax credit, no matter how long they have worked in the UK and no matter how much tax they have paid. David Camerons renegotiation will still allow the export of child benefit. The deal says new EU legislation could give member states an option to index such benefits to the conditions of the Member State where the child resides. This also only applies to new claimants and makes clear the export of child benefit will continue. Cameron also promised that EU migrants would not be able to claim child benefit during their first four years in the UK. The 2015 Conservative Manifesto stated: We will insist that EU migrants who want to claim tax credits and child benefit must live here and contribute to our country for a minimum of four years. Since child benefit, unlike certain tax credits, is not a non-contributory in-work benefit, it would appear the emergency brake will not apply to it, meaning the Conservative Manifesto has likely been broken. The Government does not claim that the emergency brake will apply to child benefit. The Commercial Secretary to the Treasury, Lord ONeill of Gatley, has conceded that: Details of the proposals for restricting in-work benefits for EU nationals will be subject to further negotiation and we cannot speculate on these. The Minister was unable even to state which benefits the emergency brake might apply to. After this judgement, all EU citizens will still retain the right to come to the UK, despite Camerons promises. The EU Treaties provides that: Every citizen of the Union has the right to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States. This is entirely unchanged, either by Camerons renegotiation or by the judgement today. In his 2014 conference speech, Cameron said: Numbers that have increased faster than we in this country wanted at a level that was too much for our communities, for our labour markets. All of this has to change and it will be at the very heart of my renegotiation strategy for Europe. Britain, I know you want this sorted so I will go to Brussels, I will not take no for an answer and when it comes to free movement I will get what Britain needs. The Commission has pursued this costly action despite a clear finding four years ago by the UK Supreme Court that the right to reside test was lawful at great expense to the taxpayer. In March 2011, the UK Supreme Court considered almost identical arguments in the context of eligibility for state pension credit. By a 4-1 majority, the Supreme Court held that the test was lawful. The Government claims that: Departments do not quantify the cost of time spent by government officials throughout the infractions process. The judgement is of little assistance to the UK, because it cannot systematically check whether EU citizens are lawfully resident in the UK, as the Advocate General confirmed. EU law forbids systematic verification of whether EU citizens are lawfully resident in the UK. It states that this verification shall not be carried out systematically. Advocate General Pedro Cruz Villalon stated clearly that EU law precludes national legislation from adopting any approach that might be tantamount to presuming that, after the first three months of residence and before he has acquired a permanent right of residence, [an EU] citizen is unlawfully present in that territory, so that it would systematically be for the person in question to prove that this is not the case. As a matter of principle, the opposite presumption should, in fact, be made. The Court found the right to reside test was lawful precisely because this verification is not carried out systematically by the UK authorities for each claim. Even taking into account todays victory, the Government still loses over three-quarters of cases in the European Court. It has increased the price of beer, undermined the UKs border controls and weakened our security. The UK loses three-quarters of cases in the European Court. Even taking into account todays victory, the UK loses more than three quarters of cases in the European Court. Since the UK joined the EU in 1973, it has lost 101 out of 132 cases before the European Court in which it has been a party, a failure rate of 76.5%. Since David Cameron became Prime Minister in May 2010, the UK has been defeated on 16 occasions: a failure rate of 76.2%. The European Court has increased the price of beer. On 12 July 1981, the ECJ ruled that the UKs low duty on beer afford[ed] protection to domestic beer production and was therefore illegal under EU law. In his 1984 budget statement, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Nigel Lawson, said we lost; and I am now implementing the judgement handed down by the court last year. Accordingly, I propose to increase the duty on beer by the minimum amount needed to comply with the judgement and maintain revenue: 2p on a typical pint of beer. The UKs border controls are under constant attack from the European Court of Justice. In December 2014, the European Court said that the UK cannot require family members of EU citizens from other EU member states to have a permit issued by UK authorities. This is despite the fact that a High Court Judge had found permits from other EU countries to be systematically forged, stating Systemic abuse of rights and fraud calls for systemic measures. The European Courts rulings make it easier for terrorists and criminals to enter the UK using forged documents. The 2014 judgement of the European Court also means that the UK cannot require persons purporting to be EU citizens to have a document issued by the British Government which attests to that status in pursuit of an objective of general prevention of terrorism and serious crime. This constitutes a threat to the UKs security, in light of the fact that eight Schengen countries were on the list of the top 10 nations reporting stolen or lost passports in Interpols databases, according to the former Secretary General of Interpol, Ronald K Noble. The Italian ID card, for example, is made of laminated card. In April 2016, Frontex noted that: The number of persons aiming to get to the UK with fraudulent document significantly increased (+70%) compared to 2014. This trend is mostly attributable to the increasing number of Albanian nationals often misusing Italian and Greek ID cards followed by Ukrainian nationals abusing authentic Polish ID cards. It appears this case has been scheduled for immediately before the referendum in order to deliver a victory for the Government just before the referendum. The Commission brought its action on 27 June 2014. Advocate General Pedro Cruz Villalon delivered his opinion on 6 October 2015, in the middle of the Conservative Party conference. This case has taken 23 months and 18 days from the launch of proceedings until judgement. The average time taken for a direct action (such as where the Commission sues a member state) in 2015 was 17.6 months. This means this case has taken six months longer than usual to decide. LONDON - England - Leading members of the IN campaign are now calling for restrictions on free movement and admitting David Cameron's deal was a sham. Commenting on Alan Johnsons remarks on immigration on The Today Programme, Tom Watsons comments to the BBC, and Rachel Reevess comments on The Daily Politics, Labour MP John Mann said: David Cameron failed to achieve any reform of the European Union particularly in the area of border control. He asked them to change their open borders policy, but the resounding answer was no. While some in the In campaign are desperately trying to hang on to the idea that Camerons renegotiation could reduce immigration, senior Labour figures are openly admitting defeat on this issue and calling for a change to the EUs obsession with freedom of movement. While it is welcome that they are finally admitting that uncontrolled migration is a problem, the truth is that they still have no solutions. If Camerons renegotiation told us one thing, it is that the EU will not move on this founding principle. The only way to take back control of our borders and introduce an Australian style points based immigration system is to Vote Leave on 23 June. Leading members of the IN campaign are now calling for restrictions on free movement and admitting David Camerons deal was a sham. Changes to free movement are impossible within the EU. David Cameron didnt win any concessions despite the threat of leaving the EU. IN campaigners have previously accepted restrictions on free movement are impossible within the EU and its single market. Freedom of movement drives down wages. The Home Secretary, the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee and the OECD have said that mass migration has brought no discernible fiscal benefits. Leading IN campaigners have previously praised uncontrolled immigration from the EU stating it is the solution to our problems. Alan Johnson claimed Turkey could join the EU without free movement. This is false. Alan Johnson claimed juxtaposed border controls at Calais would end. The French Interior Minister has said they will continue. Alan Johnson wanted the UK to join the single currency. This would have been a disaster. Leading members of the IN campaign are now calling for restrictions on free movement and admitting David Camerons deal was a sham. Tom Watson has suggested that curbs on free movement may be needed today. BBC Political Editor Laura Kuenssberg has said: Watson-voters been telling us for a long time party needs to do more on immigration, suggests any future govt need to curb freedom of movt. IN campaigner Rachel Reeves said today: there are huge problems in the European Union at the moment. I am not that saying everything is fine. I think this referendum is a wake up call to the European Union, to the British Government that things have to be done differently on freedom of movement. Yesterday, former Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, Ed Balls, recognised that free movement was causing problems, stating we need to put new controls on economic migration. Leading IN campaigner, Miriam Gonzalez Durantez, whose is married to pro-EU lobbyist Nick Clegg has claimed that the agreement in February was a Mickey Mouse negotiation that the Prime Minister did. Alan Johnson has also admitted the renegotiation is a sham. When asked by Evan Davies whether the renegotiation is a bit of a sham?, Alan Johnson replied I think so. Changes to free movement are impossible within the EU. David Cameron didnt win any concessions despite the threat of leaving the EU. EU law provides that: Every citizen of the Union has the right to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States. The European Commission states that: free movement of workers is a fundamental principle of the Treaty. The Council of Ministers argues that: the free movement of persons is a fundamental pillar of EU policy and that the internal market and its four freedoms are indivisible. The Prime Minister promised to change this before his renegotiation. His final deal contained no changes to free movement. In his 2014 conference speech, Cameron said: Numbers that have increased faster than we in this country wanted at a level that was too much for our communities, for our labour markets. All of this has to change and it will be at the very heart of my renegotiation strategy for Europe. Britain, I know you want this sorted so I will go to Brussels, I will not take no for an answer and when it comes to free movement I will get what Britain needs. IN campaigners have previously accepted restrictions on free movement are impossible within the EU and the so-called single market. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, has said it is impossible to be in the EU or the single market without accepting the free movement of people. That is an absolutely clear principle, which has been made very starkly clear to this country by Germany and France, and is internationally accepted. Shadow Foreign Secretary, Hilary Benn, has said part of the deal of being part of the European Union is free movement of workers we have a need for people to come in. The Executive Director of the IN campaign, Will Straw, has said: we cannot end free movement, end budget contributions or unilaterally ignore EU regulations. Freedom of movement drives down wages. The Bank of England has found that the immigrant to native ratio has a small negative impact on average British wage. The study found that immigrants in recent years are most predominant in low-skill occupations. The study concluded that: the biggest effect is in the semi/unskilled services sector, where a 10 percentage point rise in the proportion of immigrants is associated with a 2 percent reduction in pay. The Chairman of the IN campaign, Lord Rose acknowledged this and admitted wages will go up if we Vote Leave, stating: If you are short of labour, the price of labour will go up. The Chancellors former close adviser, Rupert Harrison, agrees. A BlackRock report in February co-written by Harrison said leaving the EU could mean lower immigration [which] could make labour scarcer in the long run, pushing up wage costs. The Home Secretary, the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee and the OECD have said that mass migration has no discernible fiscal benefits. In her speech to the 2015 Conservative Party conference in Manchester, the Home Secretary, Theresa May, said: not all of the consequences can be managed, and doing so for many of them comes at a high price But even if we could manage all the consequences of mass immigration, Britain does not need net migration in the hundreds of thousands every year The evidence shows that while there are benefits of selective and controlled immigration, at best the net economic and fiscal effect of high immigration is close to zero. So there is no case, in the national interest, for immigration of the scale we have experienced over the last decade. Neither is it true that, in the modern world, immigration is no longer possible to control The numbers coming from Europe are unsustainable and the rules have to change. The House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee found in 2008 that there is no evidence for the argument, made by the Government, business and many others, that net immigration generates significant economic benefits for the existing UK population We also question the Governments claim that immigration has generated fiscal benefits The overall fiscal impact of immigration is likely to be small. The OECD has found that: Immigrants are thus neither a burden to the public purse nor are they a panacea for addressing fiscal challenges. Leading IN campaigners have previously praised uncontrolled immigration from the EU stating it is the solution to our problems. Last month, Alan Johnson claimed that: If you are thinking about free movement, the people who come over here under free movement They are helping to solve a very important problem. He has said that if free movement were ended, you would have a very serious problem for the economy. The Executive Director of the IN campaign, Will Straw has said ending free movement involves the sacrifice jobs and low prices, which would be the consequence. Alan Johnson claimed Turkey could join the EU without free movement. This is false. On The Today Programme, Alan Johnson claimed Turkey could join the EU without accepting free movement. Not even the Government believes this to be the case. In April, the Government acknowledged that when Turkey and other accession countries join the EU, their citizens will have the right to come to the UK: once a country becomes a Member State of the EU its citizens have the same rights under EU law as other EU nationals. Alan Johnson claimed juxtaposed border controls at Calais would end. The French Interior Minister has said they will continue. On The Today Programme, Alan Johnson claimed that the UKs juxtaposed border controls at Calais would end in the event of a leave vote. This is false. The French Interior Minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, has said: Calling for the border with the English to be opened is not a responsible solution. It would send a signal to people smugglers and would lead migrants to flow to Calais in far greater numbers. A humanitarian disaster would ensue. It is a foolhardy path, and one the government will not pursue. Mr Cazeneuve confirmed this remained his view in March and that he was in charge of French immigration policy. Alan Johnson wanted the UK to join the single currency. This would have been a disaster. As a minister in the Department for Trade and Industry, Alan Johnson, said companies should be pleased at the Labour Governments strengthened support for the single currency. He said companies would be pleased to see we have strengthened our commitment to the principle of joining the euro. Alan Johnson also said: we recognise the potential benefits of euro membership for our manufacturing exporters, which is why we support the single currency in principle. LONDON - England - The Department for Education has today published statistics on secondary and primary school applications revealing an increase in numbers that is putting a serious burden on the school system. Commenting on the release of statistics on school places by the Department for Education, Priti Patel MP said: The shortage of school places with one in six children in England missing out on a place at their top choice of secondary school is yet another example of how uncontrolled migration is putting unsustainable pressures on our public services. Education is one of the most important things that Government delivers, and its deeply regrettable that so many families and young people have been let down in this way. The truth is that for as long as we remain a member of the EU we are completely unable to control the numbers of people coming to this country and with another five countries in the pipeline to join the EU, including Turkey, Serbia and Albania, the problem can only get worse. The only way to take back control of our borders is to vote to leave the EU on the 23 June. We can also take back control of the 350 million we send to the EU every single week, and reinvest it in our vital public services. This is yet another example of how Britain can look forward to a more prosperous, more secure future if we Vote Leave. The Department for Education has today published statistics on secondary and primary school applications and offers. The proportion of first preference offers for 11 year olds is in decline. The number of applications continues to increase. Immigration is continuing to rise. The EUs free movement rules are placing an unprecedented burden on our schools, resulting in a growing shortage of school places. The proportion of first preference offers for 11 year olds is in decline. 84.1% of 11-year-olds across the country were given a spot at their first preference, compared with 86.7% in 2013. This means that around one in six children in England missed out on a place at their top choice of secondary school this year. This is particularly acute in London, where the proportion of applicants receiving an offer of their first choice school in 2016 was 68.8%, down from 68.9% in 2015. The number of applications continues to increase. 548,006 applications were received for a place at secondary school in 2016, nearly 50,000 more than the 2013 figure of 499,968. Immigration is continuing to rise. The UK population is rapidly expanding as a result of migration from the EU. Since 2004, 1.25 million persons have been added to the population, more than the population of Birmingham. In 2015, 270,000 persons came to the UK from the EU. This is the equivalent of a city the size of Newcastle. This is up from 264,000 in 2014. In 2015, net migration from the EU was 184,000. This is the equivalent of adding a city the size of Oxford to the UK population. This is up from 174,000 in 2014. Total net migration in 2015 was 333,000, up from 313,000 in 2014 (ONS, 26 May 2016, link). The EUs free movement rules are placing an unprecedented burden on our schools, resulting in a growing shortage of school places. The Local Government Association says that two out of five council areas will not have enough primary school places by September 2016. This Thursday at 7:30 P.M. on Courthouse Square there will be a vigil held honoring the victims, friends and families of the precious lives lost in this weekend's vicious attack at Pulse Night Club in Orlando. Prior to Thursday's vigil, Argos, Masque, MJ's, Right Corner, and Stage Door ask you to meet in front of your home bar or club at 7:00 P.M. as we carry, with PRIDE, the rainbow flag through the streets of Dayton. Argos patrons are asked to meet between MJS and Masque located on Jefferson. We invite you to join us as we hear from The Dayton Gay Men's Chorus, local and county officials, Dayton LGBTQA+ groups, and gay-affirming religious leaders. Stand with your Dayton LGBTQA community as we honor and march shoulder to shoulder, unified, strong and forever proud. New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday shot down the opposition Congress party's demand to write a cap for the proposed goods and services tax (GST) into the constitution. After meeting state finance ministers, Jaitley said there was a consensus among Indian states against the Congress party's stand. The proposed tax reform, India's biggest revenue shake-up since independence in 1947, seeks to replace a slew of federal and state levies, transforming the nation of 1.3 billion people into a customs union. The Congress party, the original author of the tax reform, has said it would back the GST bill if the government agreed to cap the tax rate at 18 per cent and create an independent mechanism to resolve disputes on revenue sharing between states. SRF Ltd, the sole producer of the chemical in India had filed an application alleging dumping of the product China. (Photo credit: Global Chemical Price) New Delhi: India is likely to impose anti-dumping duty of USD 1.22 per kg on import of a chemical, used mainly by refrigerant industry, from China to protect domestic players from cheap inbound shipments. SRF Ltd, the sole producer of the chemical in India had filed an application alleging dumping of the product China. The applicant had requested for continuation and enhancement of the anti-dumping duty, imposed on the imports. In its final findings of the sunset review, the Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD), under the commerce ministry, has concluded that there is "continued dumping" of the chemical - '1,1,1,2- Tetrafluoroetha' from China. "The authority is of the view that the anti-dumping measures are required to be extended in respect of China... Therefore, authority considers it necessary to recommend continued imposition of definitive anti-dumping duty on the imports," the DGAD said in a notification. While DGAD recommends the duty, the Finance Ministry imposes it. Last time in July 2011, the government had imposed the restrictive duty of up to USD 1.15 per Kg on the imports for a period of five years. Countries initiate anti-dumping probes to determine if the domestic industry has been hurt by a surge in below-cost imports. As a counter-measure, they impose duties under the multi-lateral WTO regime. Anti-dumping measures are taken to ensure fair trade and provide a level-playing field to the domestic industry. They are not a measure to restrict imports or cause an unjustified increase in cost of products. According to a WTO report, India, US and Brazil were the leading initiators of anti-dumping investigations in 2015. The WTO members had initiated 107 new anti-dumping investigations during January to June 2015, slightly up from 106 in the same period in 2014. Union Minister Arun Jaitley briefing the media with West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra, and the Revenue Secretary, Hasmukh Adhia on the meeting of the Empowered Committee on GST, in Kolkata. (Photo: PTI) Kolkata: Union finance minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said there is a broad consensus over the Goods and Service Tax ( GST) proposal, with Tamil Nadu being the only state to express some reservations. After attending a meeting of the empowered committee of finance ministers in the city, Mr Jaitley said, Every state has given its opinion and virtually all of them have supported the idea of GST. Tamil Nadu has some reservations. They have offered some suggestions that we have noted down. Read: Arun Jaitley shoots down Congress party's demand to cap GST The meeting of the empowered committee was chaired by West Bengal finance minister Amit Mitra. Mr Jaitley turned down the Congress demand to write a cap for the proposed GST into the Constitution. He claimed that the empowered committee has reached a consensus on having no such constitutional cap. The quantum of taxation is fixed by the GST committee and it is best to leave it to the committees discretion, he added. The Congress, the original author of the tax reform, had said it would back the Bill if the government agreed to cap the tax rate at 18 per cent and create an independent mechanism to resolve disputes on revenue-sharing between states. A survey done by Adobe revealed that a surprising 83 per cent of Indian office workers love their jobs, and access to cutting-edge technology emerged as the top contributor to their overall satisfaction, above perks like food and slick office design. Mumbai: Indian office workers are overall the most positive and flexible workforce, when compared to those in the United States and the United Kingdom. A survey done by Adobe revealed that a surprising 83 per cent of Indian office workers love their jobs, and access to cutting-edge technology emerged as the top contributor to their overall satisfaction, above perks like food and slick office design. Not only did the majority of respondents report loving their jobs, but 98 per cent confirmed that they would keep working even if they wins a lottery. While pay is an important factor, nearly half of Indian workers would choose to move to their ideal job, even for lesser pay. According to the report, Moonlighting has become mainstream, with more than one in two workers in India holding one or more jobs in addition to their primary profession. Those that report holding an additional job, say that gaining new skills (other than additional income) is the primary reason to moonlight in India. Around 68 percent of the Indian respondents predict that multiple jobs will be the norm in the future. The survey highlighted that access to state-of-the-art technology, which helps people get their jobs done ranks slightly higher (89 per cent) than access to food and beverages (87 per cent), a beautiful office design (86 per cent) and on-site amenities (73 per cent). About 93 percent of Indian office workers believe that technology makes them more productive. Employees who said their companys technology is ahead of the curve feel more creative, motivated and valued than those who say their company is behind the times. Mumbai: Nawazuddin Siddiqui is one actor who is unperturbed by his super stardom and continues to live a simple life like he did before becoming a star. France is world's second largest agricultural exporter and follow highly advanced agricultural techniques. During his recent visit to Cannes, the actor befriended a few Frenchmen who happened to own farms in Nice and invited the actor for a tour. Nawaz learnt a new technique of irrigation during the tour. He says, Almost every kind of crop in France was being irrigated using this cost-effective and water efficient technique called center pivot irrigation". Nawaz instantly thought of applying this technique in his Village, and got a sample model fabricated and shipped to his village. His native place Budhana falls under the dark zone where the water level is way below the alarming level and farming is becoming a challenging task with every passing day, thus water conservation is of utmost importance in this region. In the traditional irrigation technique, water is sprinkled in the farms in random directions which may or may not meet the need of the crop, it also ends up wasting a lot of water which is not a feasible idea in dark zone regions. With central pivot irrigation, minimum water is used and crops are watered from top to bottom, which is the most ideal way of watering a crop (natural way like rains). The UP Government commissioned a research which marked Budhana in the `dark zone' given its sinking water levels. When I worked in the fields, we would manage to find water 80 feet below the ground and until four years ago, bore wells could pump water out of 110-120 feet, today, in Budhana, water is found 220 feet under the ground. It was challenging to explain the farmers the benefit of this technique. The best way to explain this technology to them was to ask them which is the best way to irrigate land. Everyone agreed that natural rainfall was the best option and this technique recreates the sprinkle of rainfall." Nawaz, has grown sugarcane, rice and wheat in his farms and returns to inspect the progress of his harvest, whenever he gets time. The film will be directed by Shashanka Ghosh and will be shot in Delhi and Thailand. Mumbai: We were the first ones to tell you that Rhea Kapoor is pulling off a major casting coup for her debut directorial venture. Though there were a lot of speculations about who will be brought on board, the makers have finally made the grand announcement. Rhea and Ekta Kapoor have brought together four powerhouse performers in their next film, 'Veere Di Wedding'- Sonam Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Swara Bhaskar and Shikha Talsania. According to reports, Rhea is already in the Capital prepping for the film, which is being directed by Shashanka Ghosh. The next schedule will be shot in Thailand. Meanwhile, Sonam who couldn't stop gushing about her upcoming film posted a series of pictures with the cast. Here's what she had to say. Behen this is our third film together!!!! Yayyyyyy!!! I love you @reallyswara !! #sisterfromanothermister #girlsruntheworld #veerediwedding A photo posted by sonamkapoor (@sonamkapoor) on Jun 13, 2016 at 11:28pm PDT No one understands the importance of sisterhood better than you! Bebo what an honour to share screen space with you! #friendslikefamily #iconic #kapoorgirlsforlife #begum #senior #veerediwedding A photo posted by sonamkapoor (@sonamkapoor) on Jun 13, 2016 at 11:39pm PDT So kicked to be working with an amazing actress whose talent can't be contained! @shikhatalsania welcome to the family!! #veerediwedding is gonna be one awesome ride! A photo posted by sonamkapoor (@sonamkapoor) on Jun 14, 2016 at 12:09am PDT Mumbai: It looks like Udta Punjab will release on schedule on June 17 after all. The honorable Bombay High Court has asked for just one change in the film. They have asked for the scene showing Shahid Kapoor urinating into a crowd to go. The makers of Udta Punjab have happily agreed to remove that sequence. Late in the afternoon on Monday, the honourable High Court announced that some of the abuses and expletives must go. However most of the language has been left intact. In the film Shahid Kapoor plays a drug-addicted rock star named Tommy Singh who showers expletives abuses and cuss words in practically every sentence he speaks. Reacting to this verdict Censor chief Pahlaj Nihlani says, We had requested the producers of Udta Punjab to tone down the abuses. No one speaks as filthily as Shahid Kapoor is shown speaking in the film. Says the honourable Court, We do not find the film questions sovereignty or integrity of India by the names of cities, reference to state or by a signpost. This means the the title Udta Punjab remains. The Court also declares that the film has not been made keeping the mind the forthcoming Punjab elections. Now the film is all set to release on time on June 17. Relieved beyond belief producer Madhu Mantena said. This is a big day for not just us, the makers of UdtaPunjab but the entire film industry.Weve been told by the honourable court that freedom of expression is not to be frowned at. Director Abhishek Chaubey could not be more elated with the courts decision. Massively relieved today, looking to release the film on the scheduled date, he said. Mumbai: Anupam Kher has reached yet another milestone in his illustrious acting career by signing up another Hollywood film 'The Big Sick', which happens to be his 500th film. The film is directed by Michael Showalter and stars Oscar Award winner Holly Hunter, Zoe Kazan, Ray Romano star of the popular TV serial 'Everybody Loves Raymond' and the Pakistan-born actor, writer, producer Kumail Nanjiani. The film deals with the marriage of a Pakistani with an American woman and is slated for release next year. An elated Anupam shared a video by his 'Silver Lining Playbook' co-star Robert De Niro. Robert congratulated him on his 500th film and said, "Congratulations for finishing your 500th film, it is an amazing thing to do. In America i have done 95 movies, but doing 500 is incredible." Happy to announce my 500th film 'The Big Sick'. And who else but to have Robert De Niro congratulate me. Jai Ho.:) pic.twitter.com/9fcYvnuLL7 Anupam Kher (@AnupamPkher) June 14, 2016 Talking about reaching the milestone, Anupam said, It has taken me 32 years to achieve this watershed moment, but when I look back, it is as if all that time has flashed by in a blink. As he was shooting abroad, Anupam was very conscious that with the epochal moment, he was happy to have done his nation proud. Many people have played an important role in my career. The producers and directors gave me work. But I want to dedicate this achievement to the unsung, nameless and faceless workers of our industry: the spot boys, the technicians, the assistant cameramen, the make-up artistes, the costume assistants; indeed everyone working behind the scenes to make the magic happen for the big screen. Anupam's journey in the industry began over three decades ago when he arrived in Mumbai and took up residence at 2/15 Kher Wadi, Kher Nagar, Kher Road in Bandra-East. I thought I had arrived and was Destinys child with that address, but it was not to be. It was a long haul before I bagged my first film, Mahesh Bhats Saraansh which was released on May 25, 1984. He was actually rejected by the Producers of the film, who preferred a recognised star for their project, even though he had been signed on for the role of the retired, principled school teacher B V Pradhan. But it was because of Khers insistence that no one can do the role better than me! that got him back his break. He is also gearing up for the release of Neeraj Pandeys biopic 'Dhoni' and The 'Headhunters Calling', directed by Mark Williams and starring Gerard Butler and the many time Oscar nominee Willem Dafoe. When Shanaz Rukshana, a 23-year-old based in Chennai, was desperately trying to find the perfect scarf to suit an outfit, she had to search far and wide to complete her look. Thats when it struck her, no store in Chennai sells contemporary, fashionable hijabs for women so she started making her own! One of friends Nayaab Shawl, who also shared her passion, came on board to form Hayaah, a clothing brand. Hayaah means modesty, and has nothing to do with religion it caters to women who want to dress modestly, clarifies Shanaz. An abaya or hijab is just a loose-fitting overcoat, that covers the body, while a hijab is a scarf that covers the head and neck, she explains. Islam never said that either of these garments should be black, so we decided to add a twist of colour to our products. Colourful hijabs, burqas, capes and dupattas are what they sell, through online platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. We wanted to tell our customers that traditional wear for Muslims need not be boring so we jazz up the outfits with tassles, colours, hair accessories and more, she adds. They also aim at beating the notion that people like to wear blingy clothes during festivals like Ramadan. This year, many women are opting for pastel or nude colours, as opposed to gold embroidery, says Shanaz, to which 22-year old Nayaab adds, Generations are changing and so is fashion. All our customers are fashion-conscious and want to learn how to assemble an outfit well. And since the temperatures dont seem to be dropping, they only sell clothes in fabrics that are suitable for this weather. We also teach youngsters how to tie hijabs properly, so it doesnt slip off their head, or they dont feel hot, says Nayaab. Its this extra step we take to satisfy our customers, that has gained us orders from as far as Bengaluru and New Delhi! says Shanaz. The second we uploaded the pictures, we received thank you notes from many, saying Chennai finally got a store that caters to the needs of young Muslim women who want to be fashionable yet modest, they conclude. New York: Italy's "Osteria Francescana" was crowned world's best restaurant of 2016 at an awards ceremony in New York, the first Italian establishment to win the annual accolade. Run by chef Massimo Bottura, "Osteria Francescana" pipped last year's winner, Spain's "El Celler de Can Roca," in the World's 50 Best Restaurants awards, after coming second in 2015. The Italian chef, whose world-famous restaurant in Modena came number three in 2013 and 2014, was emotional in accepting his award yesterday. "I want to thank everyone because it's been so hard, our job is all about art work," an ecstatic Bottura told the ceremony. "It's all about our work, in the kitchen everyday to work and succeed." With Spain's "El Celler de Can Roca" knocked down to second place, the third spot went to New York's "Eleven Madison Park." The top 10 was rounded out by restaurants in Peru, Denmark -- former four-time winner "Noma" -- France, Spain, Japan and Austria. Three French chefs won individual honours, with Alain Passard of Arpege given a lifetime achievement award, French-born Dominique Crenn named best female chef and Pierre Herme best pastry chef. The accolades came after critics complained last year that the system was open to abuse since the jury do not have to offer physical evidence of having actually visited any particular restaurant. The bulk of those complaints came from France, which in 2016 made it into the top 10 for the first time in three years but has never managed to win first prize. The board praised Bottura for his twists on traditional ingredients and his "Five Ages of Parmigiano Reggiano" in particular. The awards said he crafted the world-famous cheese into "forms and textures most diners will never have previously experienced." New Delhi: While the world is all set to celebrate World Blood Donor Day tomorrow with the theme "Blood connects us all," we are here to clear the air and raise awareness about blood donation. According to a 2012 World Health Organisation (WHO) report, only nine million units are collected annually, while the need is for 12 million units. Delhi NCR alone faces a shortage of 1,00,000 units per year. From 'threat of catching diseases' to 'blood donation causing weakness,' various myths keep the people from donating. To understand better, Curofy- India's largest community of verified doctors - conducted a poll asking doctors about the most common myth around blood donation. A total of 2560 doctors polled. Of them, a whopping 78.1 percent said that people believe blood donation will make them weak. "It is totally a myth and very psychological perception when a donor sees blood going out of his body" said Dr. Deepak Chauhan, Emergency Medicine, Fortis Healthcare. "Our body recovers 100 percent after blood donation, rather I would suggest that blood donation is a good activity." There is also a big misconception that blood donation causes various diseases. 18.7 percent of all the doctors who polled said that patients are concerned about contracting HIV or other communicable diseases by donating blood. Dr. Dheeraj Gautam, HOD Histopathology, Medanta, said, "There is a huge misconception that donating blood weakens your body and makes you susceptible to infections. With the new antiseptic precautions chances of any infection and other issue are negligible now." As a country that is going to be the next superpower, India is still being held back by myths like these. More people are needed to come forward and donate blood to help fellow citizens live a long and healthy life. "Blood donation is noble cause indeed and it's sad to see such a large blood deficit in our country. We tried to identify the common myths and bring them out with this poll.", said Mudit Vijayvergiya, Co-founder, Curofy. "The results clearly show that we need to educate the masses about the importance of blood donation and make them aware as to how safe it is." China has an ageing populating and diminishing workforce and state-run media have been urging people to donate sperm. (Credit: YouTube) London: Here's a call from the Chinese government to men in China in the age group of 20 to 45 years "for the sake of your country, please donate sperm". China has called for more young men to become donors to help fill sperm banks amid a shortage of volunteers in lieu of cash or iPhone, reports Daily Mail. China's sperm banks are facing severe shortages for a variety of political and cultural reasons. Now that the government policy allows more Chinese couple, including older ones, to have a second child, officials are concerned that the sperm shortages will get much worse. Hence, they are doing everything they can to find new recruits. Reportedly, the men are being targeted via social media with messages from computer-game characters and offers of cash up to 1,000 dollars in some cases and even a coveted rose-gold iPhone. A study also revealed that nearly 50 percent of the people, who do offer to donate, are 'screened out'. According to the newspaper, China has an ageing populating and diminishing workforce and state-run media have been urging people to 'show your compassion' by donating. Panaji: Three persons were injured when a Russian national allegedly went on a stabbing spree near Baga beach in North Goa early this morning, police said on Tuesday. The accused, Edward Petrovich Goryachew, was arrested after a long chase when nearly 15 policemen surrounded him at Calangute beach, a senior police official said. The accused in an inebriated condition stabbed three locals, including a shop owner and a rent-a-bike operator, at Baga beach. He later fled from the scene on his motorcycle and continued brandishing the knife. Later, he was tracked at Calangute beach by a police team, the official said. Realising that he was zeroed-in by police, the accused began rushing into the waters but was pulled out from the waves with the help of locals. "The accused is being interrogated. All the three injured were shifted to a private hospital and their condition is stable," the official said. BHUBANESWAR: Ms Lopamudra Mishra, daughter-in-law of one of Odishas top industrialists, Mr Trailokya Mishra, complained to the police on Tuesday that her husband Sabyasachi Mishra and his parents had mentally and physically tortured her since their marriage. She also complained that her husband had forced her into wife swapping. After filing the FIR at the Mahila Police Station here, Ms Mishra, 36, told reporters: Ever since our marriage, I have been mentally and physically tortured by my husband Sabyasachi Mishra, father-in-law Trailokya Mishra and mother-in-law Asha-manjari Mishra. When I resisted, my parents-in-law would tell me to tolerate everything saying these things happened in high-profile families. She added that her husband had once forced her into wife swapping with a foreigner in Port Blair during their honeymoon in 2006. In FIR, wife says husband had multiple partners Ms Lopamudra Mishra, daughter-in-law of one of Odishas top industrialists, Mr Trailokya Mishra, complained to the police on Tuesday that her husband Sabyasachi Mishra and his parents had mentally and physically tortured her since their marriage. In the FIR, a copy of which is with this newspaper, Ms Mishra mentioned that her husband had had physical relationships with multiple women prior to their marriage. He was even jailed once for having an illicit relationship with a woman, she said. With a hope that he would change after marriage, I married him. But he continued his relationships with other women. When I opposed, he would severely beat me. I have medical reports and photographs of my bruised face, she said in the FIR. She added that although she had registered a case with the Kharavela Nagar police station here in the city earlier, she had withdrawn the case after her husband assured her that he would mend his ways. Bhubaneswar deputy commissioner of police Satyabrata Bhoi said, We have registered a case against Sabyasachi Mishra under Sections 498 (A), 506 and 34 and his parents on charges of physical and mental torture. The investigating officer has been asked to thoroughly probe the case and take appropriate action. The DCP also ruled out any political pressures on the police to take a soft stand on the industrialist and his family members. Industrialist Mr Trailokya Mishra and his son Mr Sabyasachi Mishra could not be contacted as their phones were switched off. Chairman of cylinder-making ECP Industries Limited and Nayagarh Sugar Complex, Mr Trailokya Mishra is one of the leading industrialists of the state with much clout in the state administration. The incident occurred at around 3 am on Tuesday at Hotel Sitara in LB Nagar. (Representational image) Hyderabad: A hotel receptionist allegedly tried to rape a 24-year-old woman, who checked into a hotel alone at LB Nagar, early on Tuesday. Police said the suspect, Dasari Shekhar, 30, switched off lights and CCTV cameras and entered the victims room using the master key. The victim, an assistant manager at a finance firm in Mumbai, raised an alarm and escaped from the rape bid. Police arrested the culprit soon after the victim lodged a complaint. The incident occurred at around 3 am on Tuesday at Hotel Sitara in LB Nagar. The victim, who hails from Vishakapatnam, said she was sleeping when someone entered her room. She woke up realising that someone was sitting on her bed and groping her. She started screaming and tried to get out of the bed. As she started shouting the suspect ran out of the room. She alerted the hotel security and then the police. She had come from Mumbai to Hyderabad to attend official duties. She reached here at around 9 pm on Monday night and checked into the hotel, said LB Nagar ACP P. Venugopala Rao After she checked in, the TV in her room started malfunctioning. She then called hotel staff on the phone. The accused, Shekhar, himself went to the room and fixed it, and then went back to his desk. He must have planned the crime then, said the ACP. After six hours, when most of the staff were asleep, Shekhar took the master key of the victims room, switched off lights and CCTV cameras. The victims room was locked from inside. But the suspect opened it using the master key, said a police official. Police officials said that Shekhar had confessed to the offense. Hailing from Krishna district, Shekhar had been working in the hotel since two years. He is married and now lives with his wife and kids at Vanastalipuram. Police booked a case against him under Section 354 (assault or criminal force on woman with intent to outrage her modesty and 452 (trespass and assault). He was sent to judicial custody by a local court. Chennai: Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu accused the Congress, which had initially brought the GST Bill, of stalling the Parliament on the GST bill, and hurting the interest of the country. Lashing out at the Congress for blocking the safe passage of the bill, Mr. Naidu told reporters here on Friday that he hoped good sense would prevail upon the Congress. I hope the bill will be passed in the monsoon session. I hope the Congress will see reason and revise its stand, he told reporters here on Friday. Had the Congress conducted itself in a matured manner, several bills would have passed, he said and claimed the Congress made baseless allegations and diverted everyones attention whenever it could not find any answer to the problems including the AgustaWestland chopper deal scam, it was involved in. Nevertheless, he was happy that contrary to media speculation, the Centre had largely been productive and fruitful. The Lok Sabha session was adjourned on Wednesday passing ten bills and the Rajya Sabha passed 12 bills. The session was record of sorts as there was no single forced adjournment of the LS and the entire credit of successfully running it went to the Speaker and members of the House, he added. Children come out of their school on the first day after summer holidays at CBM Compound in Visakhapatnam on Monday. (Photo: DC) Visakhapatnam: The district education officials on the directions of HRD minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao, checked infrastructure, credentials and recognition of schools in the district and seized about 32 unrecognised schools on Monday. Speaking on this occasion, DEO, M.V. Krishna Reddy, requested the parents to not join their wards in unrecognised schools and check the credentials of the schools before joining them. Mr. Reddy and MEOs of various Mandals conducted the checks in various parts of the district right from Monday morning. The schools should display their recognition certificate in the notice board. Parent should be aware of the unrecognised schools as we are not allowing the students to write tenth class exams privately from this academic year. The schools are prohibited from selling books, uniforms, shoes or other stationery. The schools should drop fancy tags such as Techno School, Olympiad Schools, etc. from the school names. Following instructions of HRD minister, we formed the taskforce committee. We would intensify checks on schools in the next few days and seize all unrecognised schools in the district, he added. New Delhi: On her first visit after her second consecutive election victory, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday and submitted a memorandum demanding among other things formation of Cauvery Management Board and a water regulation committee. During the meeting at the Race Course residence of the prime minister, she presented a 29-page memorandum which also demanded the restoration of water level at Mullaperiyar dam to 152 feet. Interlinking of rivers, retrieval of Katchatheevu island and inclusion of fishermen in the Scheduled Tribes list are also listed in the memorandum. Jayalalithaa pressed the Centre for addressing the state's grievances over issues related to the implementation of GST. In the memorandum, the state has also urged for the early commissioning of Unit 2 of Kudankulam nuclear power plant. Key Points of the memorandum given by Puratchi Thalaivi Amma to PM Narendra Modi are below. pic.twitter.com/2PcwM3DtYe AIADMK (@AIADMKOfficial) June 14, 2016 Jayalalithaa, who arrived in the afternoon, met 50 of her party MPs, the largest regional group in Parliament, before she drove to Modi's residence. Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker Thambidurai, Special Advisor Sheela Balakrishnan and Chief Secretary Rama Mohan Rao accompanied her. Tamil Nadu CM had also urged the centre to set up an All India Institute of Medical Science in the state along with addressing the issues related to NEET in state. Srilankan Tamils issue, lifting of the ban on the conduct of Jallikattu and declaring Tamil as an official language were also among the demands made by the chief minister. She wanted a decision to allow use of Tamil as the language of Madras High Court. Union Minister Nirmala Sitaraman and Pon Radhakrishnan also called on the Jayalalithaa in Tamil Nadu house in the evening. The memorandum described as "meagre recompense" the release of Rs 552 crore by the Centre to Tamil Nadu from the special allocation made in the budget for schemes to be approved by Niti Aayog. "I request you to enhance the annual special grant to Tamil Nadu to Rs.2000 crore in each of the remaining four years of the 14th Finance Commission award period upto 2019-20. "We have a ready shelf of large projects that could be funded out of this special allocation including the comprehensive special package for the diversification of fisheries, desalination projects and several infrastructure projects under the Vision Tamil Nadu 2023," the chief minister said in the memorandum. Referring to release of further assistance towards restoration and reconstruction in the wake of last year's floods, it said the government of India has so far released only Rs.1,737 crore from the national disaster fund against a demand of Rs.25,912 crore for temporary and permanent restoration. Jayalalithaa had earlier met Modi in August last year when he had visited Tamil Nadu during the Chennai floods. Visakhapatnam: More firsts for Andhra Pradesh this year as the capital Amaravati is now set to be connected to the biggest city in the state, Vizag and port town Kakinada by amphibious aircraft. Logistics firm Sky Choppers Private Limited will operate the sea planes between Vijayawada (Prakasam Barrage) and Kakinada (Haritha Creek) and Vijayawada and Vizag landing at Bheemili in Vizag city in the first phase from either in September or in October this year. They also planned to operate Vijayawada to Tirupati and heli-tourism in AP for pilgrims. The journey between Vizag and the capital is expected to be around 70 to 80 minutes while travelling from Kakinada to the capital will take about half-an-hour. Heli tourism The company, which has experience in transporting pilgrims to sites as Amarnath, Kedarnath and Badrinath, had signed an agreement with the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Department and Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority (Vuda). Sky Choppers Private Limited will also operate helicopter services from Vuda Park to Kailasagiri and Araku in Vizag city. Sources said that Sky Choppers Private Limited had conducted feasibility studies for operation of helicopters to Kailasagiri and Araku following the request of APTDC, which has been chalking out plans to introduce heli-tourism in AP to attract more tourists from other parts of the country. For construction of three floating jetties for landing and takeoff at Bheemili, Prakasam Barrage and Kakinada at least Rs 4 crore is required. Dubai-based firm has completed the design work for the floating jetty and APTDC will entrust work order to someone for construction of jetties. Once the jetties completed, the private chopper will operate its services and the sea plane services will be benefit the businessmen and others. The fares are tentatively pegged at around Rs 4,000 per head per flight. Vuda has identified land for the helipad for heli tourism in Vizag. Once Vuda gives its consent, we will obtain the clearance from the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for operations. The helicopter ride to Kailasagiri and back from Vuda parks would take around 5 to 7 minutes while the ride to Araku would last for about 15 to 20 minutes. Fare for helicopter trip to Kailasagiri could be around Rs 2,000 and trip to Araku from Vizag is around Rs 5,000, said C.J. Chandrasekhar of Sky Choppers Private Ltd. Over 20,000 people are expected to take part in Yoga Day programmes to be held in Delhi, while about 16,500 in Mumbai at four venues. (Photo: Representational Image) Mumbai: Social organisation Art of Living will be holding International Yoga Day celebrations on June 21 not just in India, but across 100 countries of the world. Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar will open Yoga Day celebrations at the European Parliament, Brussels by leading the parliament members through a guided meditation at the prestigious Yehudi Menuhin Hall. Read: 30,000 paramilitary jawans to take part in Yoga Day events He will also lead a series of public events on Sudarshan Kriya, yoga, and meditation in the cities of Washington DC, Boston, Columbus, Minnesota, San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle as well as the United Kingdom," according to a statement issued by the foundation in Mumbai. It also said that over 20,000 people are expected to take part in Yoga Day programmes to be held in Delhi, while about 16,500 in Mumbai at four venues. Read: Sensitivities top priority while introducing yoga In Mumbai, a programme will be held at Borivali East on June 19, while the other three would take place on June 21 at Carter Road in Bandra, Poisar Gymkhana in Kandivali West and in CIDCO exhibition ground in Navi Mumbai. "Just like the sun, yoga is age-old and yet ever-new. It is a holistic way of life that integrates all elements to make a prayerful discipline uniting the body, mind and soul," Kamlesh Barwal, Global Head, Art of Living said. Bhopal: A chartered plane carrying Union ministers Venkaiah Naidu and Narendra Singh Tomar along with other BJP leaders was on Monday diverted to Bhopal as it could not land in Gwalior due to "inclement weather". "The plane carrying the Union ministers was scheduled to land in Gwalior but due to bad weather it was diverted to Bhopal," a senior police official told PTI. The BJP leaders were on their way to Gwalior from Allahabad after taking part in the party's national executive meeting. Besides the ministers, others on board were Madhya Pradesh state unit BJP president and Khandwa MP Nandkumar Singh Chouhan and Rajya Sabha MP Anil Madhav Dave. The ministers will now leave for Gwalior today morning, the official added. Union Minister Arun Jaitley briefing the media with West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra, and the Revenue Secretary, Hasmukh Adhia on the meeting of the Empowered Committee on GST, in Kolkata. (Photo: PTI) Kolkata: Virtually all states have supported the idea of GST except Tamil Nadu which has "some reservations", Finance minister Arun Jaitley said on Tuesday after a meeting of Empowered Committee of state FMs on the long awaited indirect tax reform. He said however that there was "no deadline as such" for the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax which aims to subsume a string of state and central level levies. The government had earlier targeted to roll out the nationwide single tax regime from April 1, 2016 but the Constitutional Amendment Bill on GST has been stuck in the Rajya Sabha due to opposition by the Congress party. "Virtually all the states have supported the idea of GST today barring Tamil Nadu which has expressed some reservations. TN has offered a few a suggestions which have been noted by the committee," Jaitley told reporters on the first day of the two-day meet. The meeting was attended by Finance Ministers of 22 states including West Bengal's Amit Mitra as well as Chief Ministers of Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya, deputy CM of Delhi and senior officials of seven others. Stating that this was a record attendance of FMs, Jaitley said that every state has given detailed views on GST. Chairman of GSTN and Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia were also present. Jaitley said the Lok Sabha had approved the GST Bill while it was pending before the Rajya Sabha. "The first thing which will have to be done is to pass the Constitutional amendment which has to be then ratified by the states. Then Parliament will have to pass the CGST Bill and states the SGST Bills" he said. Interesting, Tamil Nadus Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are scheduled to meet in Delhi today wherein she is expected to take up with him a host of state-related issues including the Formation of Cauvery Management Board and Cauvery Water Regulation Committee. Jaitley said the states' fear of loss of revenue for the first five years had also been addressed. "The Centre will compensate the loss and there should not be any cause for worry," he said. On the contentious issue of the Constitutional cap on the GST rate, the finance minister said: "There is a complete consensus on that, there should not be any such ceiling as exigencies may arise in future. Now it is left to the GST council." On the issue of additional 1 per cent tax as demanded by the producing states, he said the Centre was flexible on the matter. As GST is a consumption-based tax, the producing states had been demanding this extra tax. Regarding the future roadmap, Jaitley said: "We will try our best to bring the Constitutional amendment in the monsoon session of Parliament. Then the CGST and SGST legislations will be put in place." On calculation of the revenue neutral rate (RNR), he said Mitra will again convene a meeting of the Empowered Committee in July and the Chief Economic Advisor would give a presentation. About dual control on tax rates by the Centre and states, he said it was again up to the committee to see that it was harmonious and there was no conflict. "It will be again discussed in the next meeting." The next meeting is likely to be held in the second week of July, Mitra said. BSP supremo and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati addressing a press conference at her residence in Lucknow. (Photo: PTI) Lucknow: BSP chief Mayawati on Tuesday charged BJP with raking up the Kairana exodus issue to divert the attention of people from its defeat in Rajya Sabha and Legislative Council polls in Uttar Pradesh and made a fresh demand for imposition of President's rule in the state on law and order grounds. Mayawati alleged that by raking up the issue of exodus of Hindu families from Kairana, BJP was "conspiring to foment communal passions", but its efforts were thwarted by the media. "As a part of planned conspiracy, the Kairana issue was raised within a few hours of the biennial poll outcome and it was projected that Muslims were forcing Hindus to leave UP. This was a heinous conspiracy to fan communal passions," she told a press conference. "There has been exodus from 50 districts (of Uttar Pradesh) due to drought for which the Centre is responsible," she claimed. The BSP chief hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for slamming her party and alleged that BJP was hand in glove with ruling Samajwadi Party over the issue of corruption. She said Modi had, at a rally in Allahabad, yesterday spoken about "jugalbandi" (duet) between SP and BSP over corruption which was "completely wrong". "Inquiries into police recruitment scam and CM's discretionary fund were carried out by my government. Despite this, whatever Modi said on the issue of graft was an attempt to cover up the nexus between SP and BJP," she said. Making a fresh demand for imposition of President's rule in UP, the BSP supremo said crime is at its "peak" in the state under the SP rule and alleged that BJP and Congress are equally responsible for it. She also accused BJP of indulging in horse-trading in the just concluded Rajya Sabha and Legislative Council polls in UP. New Delhi: The Centre has sought a detailed report from Uttar Pradesh government on the alleged migration of Hindus from Kairana village in the state. In a communication, the Home Ministry asked the state government to verify the allegations and send a detailed report to it as early as possible. Official sources said the communication has been sent three days ago but no reply has been received. Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju had on Monday said it was unfortunate if people were being forced to leave their homes in their own country. "If people have to leave their homes in their own country, then the state government should take the responsibility. If the state government seeks any help, we will definitely give them," he had said. There have been allegations that Hindus from Kairana village in Shamli district in western Uttar Pradesh were forced to leave their homes by people from another community. However, UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav had accused BJP leaders of being "dishonest" and "lying" on the issue. Yadav claimed that most of the people had left the village about 10 to 15 years back while others left in search of jobs about seven or eight years ago. Minister for Road Transport and Highways and Shipping, Nitin Gadkari addressing the National Seminar on Liberating the Farmers from Debt Trap:Challenges of Policy Reforms in India, in New Delhi. (Photo: PTI) New Delhi: Weeding out ghost beneficiaries would help save the exchequer to the tune of Rs 1 lakh crore annually by linking pension, subsidy and scholarship to Jan Dhan Yojna and Aadhar, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Tuesday. "If bogus claims are removed from scholarships, pension, subsidies, ration cards and other schemes and these are linked to Jan Dhan Yojna and Aadhar, it will result in savings of Rs 1 lakh crore to the exchequer," the Road Transport and Highways Minister said at an event here. The government is trying to stamp out bogus beneficiaries, given instances of fake claims in scholarships, pension, gas subsidies and other such schemes. He regretted that "cylinders are diverted to restaurants and five-star hotels" under gas subsidy. Bank accounts in Jan Dhan Yojna, according to the minister, have swelled to 21.80 crore, from a meagre 3.5 crore, and these should be linked to all subsidies and benefits. Citing an example, he said the Shipping Ministry recently issued a directive asking for linkage of all pension accounts in ports to Jan Dhan Yojna. Terming the results as "astounding", Gadkari said "only 82 per cent people in Kolkata port took pension and 18 per cent did not turn up. It was found that fake claims were done in the name of people whose ages were shown as 103 years and 104 years. You can imagine what must be happening". In some cases, family members of beneficiaries aged over 110 years were found to be drawing money on their behalf, the minister added. Besides, 4,000 beneficiaries have not been able to submit their "life certificates" to banks. Muzaffarnagar: Making a U-turn, BJP MP Hukum Singh on Tuesday said the "migration" of Hindus from Kairana in western Uttar Pradesh was "not communal" in nature but had more to do with the law and order situation even as he claimed the number of families that had to flee can go up to 400-500. "It is not about communal incidents... It is not about Hindus or Muslims," the Kairana MP told reporters here, adding it has more to do with the law and order situation. "The list (of those who had to flee) will go on further, I believe. It can go up to 400-500. There is not one accused (who forced people to migrate), they are here in dozens," Singh said. He had earlier said that from the names of the accused, "one can grasp who are these people", hinting at involvement of members of the Muslim community. The MP had earlier released a list of 346 families who had been forced to flee the town, which has 85 per cent Muslim population. Kairana is in Shamli district which witnessed communal riots in 2013. Read: Kairana incident is an eye-opener, says Amit Shah Today, Singh released another list of 63 Hindu families and claimed that they had to flee Kandhla town in Shamli district. "These Hindu families have left under duress," he claimed. When asked that some Muslim families too have left the area, he said, "Others have gone for their (own) purposes." Shamli District Magistrate Sujeet Kumar, however, ruled out any communal and law and order issues behind some people leaving the area. "Till now we have investigated the list of 119 families. Around 10-15 families, mentioned in the list, still live in Kairana and around 68 families have migrated from the area 10-15 years ago. They moved out because of economic reasons. Till now, we have not found any case where there has been a law and order problem. "There is no communal activity, the Karaina town has always been peaceful... During Babri Masjid demolition in 1992, the area remained peaceful, and even during Muzaffarnagar riots of 2013, people here sent a strong message of brotherhood," Kumar said. Top BJP leaders, who were in Allahabad for the two-day national executive meeting, raked up the issue of alleged migration of Hindus from Kairana to attack the Samajwadi Party government in the state ahead of the Assembly election to be held early next year. BJP president Amit Shah, in his address to the National Executive on Sunday, had said, "The migration happening in Kairana due to violence is a matter of serious concern. There is an atmosphere of violence. The lack of development and the lack of governance in the largest state of India, that is Uttar Pradesh, is becoming a matter of serious concern." The party also set up a committee which will go to Kairana and study the situation. UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav accused BJP leaders of being "dishonest" and "lying" on the issue and said he would like to see "better work" from the party. "BJP is alleging that the Samajwadi Party government forced the people to flee from Kairana... BJP can be dishonest to this extent," Yadav told reporters yesterday. "We have received reports from media that BJP is sending a fact-finding committee here, but we have not received any information in writing till now. A team can come and do their investigation. We have no problem with that," the District Magistrate said. Assuring that no riots will take place because of his claim, Singh further said that he stands by the list he has produced. (Photo: Youtube) New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Hukum Singh who claimed mass exodus of Hindu families from Kairana village of Shamli district on Tuesday said that raising this issue at a time when Uttar Pradesh polls are around the corner is not a political stunt as he has been voicing his concern in this regard in the state assembly in the past as well. Addressing a press conference Singh said, "These incidents started from 2013 and since then our party MLAs have been raising our voice against this in the assembly. You can go and check the assembly record where we had raised this issue." Read: Kairana exodus: As discrepancies emerge, BJP MP makes U-turn Assuring that no riots will take place because of his claim, Singh further said that he stands by the list he has produced. "No riots will take place, I assure you following my statement. I stand by names mentioned in the list. However, I am always subject to correction," Singh Said. However, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav advised the BJP to indulge in constructive work rather than indulging in petty politics for electoral gains in next year's assembly polls. "The BJP is saying the Samajwadi Party workers are chasing away the people in Kairana. How corrupt these BJP members can be? The list provided by the BJP on Kairana must be scrutinized. Many fled years ago when the Samajwadi Party wasn't even in power," Akhilesh told the media in Delhi . Singh had earlier reportedly said that the Hindus were being forced to leave their homes in the Muslim-majority town in Uttar Pradesh. According to reports, the police have ordered a probe into the alleged migration after Singh presented a list of 346 families from the Muslim-majority town while claiming that they had to leave their homes after attacks and extortion attempts. New Delhi: Ahead of the International Yoga Day on June 21, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sought the support of all Union ministers and department heads to make yoga a "mass movement" for better physical and mental well being. In a letter to all the ministers, Modi said the International Day of Yoga was a way of making yoga an integral part of our lives. "The International Day of Yoga is not simply an event. It is a way of making yoga an integral part of our lives. It is a means of popularising yoga among the masses, across social strata, in different age groups so that we can enhance our mental and physical well being. It is towards this end that I solicit your support," he said in the letter. "It has been decided to take forward the momentum generated last year with greater and more active participation of all sections of the society, particularly the youth," the letter said. The national event of mass yoga demonstration will be held in Chandigarh on June 21. Similar events will also be held across the nation and the world. "All our efforts should be made to make it a people's programme by highlighting the benefits of yoga for better physical and mental health and social harmony," the Prime Minister said in the letter. The Ministry of AYUSH has designed a common yoga protocol for this event. Modi also enclosed with this letter, a booklet and a DVD on this protocol. He said that along with the mass yoga demonstration at Chandigarh, the Centre aims to organise similar demonstrations at the state, district, block and panchayat levels and each state has been requested to plan its activities in tandem with the national effort. "The state governments have also been requested to encourage the use of locally made yoga mats and apparel, preferably with locally available raw-material to provide employment oppoprtunities to local artisans and small entrepreneurs. Special effors would be made to involve persons with disabilities in all the celebrations. "I request you to provide your support to make yoga a mass movement so that this great heritage can benefit all of us," Modi said. Lucknow: Allahabad High Court on Monday dismissed a plea seeking a CBI inquiry into the recent Mathura violence that left 24 people dead. The Lucknow bench of the court, headed by Justice Shree Narain Shukla and Justice Suneet Kumar, dismissed the public interest litigation filed by BJP leader IP Singh. According to petitioner's counsel Ashok Pandey, a direction was sought to refer the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or a Special Investigation Team (SIT). Appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government, Additional Advocate General (AAG) Bulbul Godiyal termed the plea "politically motivated" as the petitioner was a political person and sought its dismissal. She told the court that a judicial commission has already been constituted by the state government for probing the incident. Accepting her contentions, the bench rejected the plea. Violent clashes between encroachers and police at Mathura's Jawahar Bagh left 24 persons dead, including two police officers, on June 2. Earlier, the Supreme Court had also refused to order a CBI probe into the incident. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar shakes hands with NCC cadets who successful scale Mt Everest, during a meeting in South Block, New Delhi. (Photo: PTI) New Delhi: In the coming years, the armed forces will see larger participation of women, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said on Tuesday. "This is just the beginning. Slowly, women in large numbers will be part of the armed forces," Parrikar told reporters here when asked whether more women would be encouraged to join the armed forces. He was speaking at an event where he felicitated the first ever all-girls National Cadet Corps (NCC) team which had climbed the Mount Everest. Flying Cadet Avani Chaturvedi, along with Bhawana Kanth and Mohana Singh, is on the threshold of entering history books in the country this Saturday by being the first three women cadets to be inducted for flying fighter aircraft. Thereafter, they would undergo advanced training for one year on Hawk aircraft in Bidar in Karnataka and would enter a fighter cockpit by June 2017. They will go to Bidar this month for their stage-III training for a year on Hawk advanced jet trainers, before they get to fly supersonic warplanes. Six women cadets were competing to become fighter pilots after the government, in a landmark move, approved an IAF plan in October to induct them as fighter pilots. However, only three trainees were selected for the fighter stream. The NCC Girls Mount Everest Expedition Team had scaled the world's highest peak on May 21 and 22. Parrikar said the NCC has been asked to encourage the girl cadets to take up such activities. "This is just the beginning. Many more girls will undertake such expeditions," he said. They scaled the peak after dividing themselves into two teams, where the first team led by the Expedition Team Leader Col Gaurav Karki, reached the summit on May 21 and the second team led by Lt Col Vishal Alhawat reached the top on May 22. This is the first ever successful expedition by the NCC Girls Team. All ten girl cadets of the expedition team are between the age group of 17 and 21 years. Patna: Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani and Bihar Education Minister Ashok Choudhary were on Tuesday locked in a war of words over the latter addressing her as "dear". "Dear@smritiraniji, when will we get new Education policy..? when will year 2015 end in your calender..?" Choudhary wrote in his twitter account. Dear @smritiirani ji, when will we get New Education policy..? When will year 2015 end in your calendar..? https://t.co/X20LhUsvCt Dr. Ashok Choudhary (@AshokChoudhaary) June 14, 2016 But, the use of the word "dear" did not go down well with the Union HRD Minister. "Mahilaon ko 'dear' keh ke kab se sambodhit karne lage Ashokji?" Irani replied in her tweet message. Choudhary answered to her objection by another message on his micro blogging site. "Not to disrespect but educate...professional email start with "dear". smritiraniji kabhi mudde pe jawab dijiye, don't circle around it," Chowdhary replied. Not to disrespect but educate... Professional emails start with "dear". @smritiirani Ji Kabhi mudde pe jawab dijiye, don't circle around it. Dr. Ashok Choudhary (@AshokChoudhaary) June 14, 2016 "@AshokChoudhaary all my communications to you or any other person start with 'adarniya', but since you are now communicating allow me 1/3," Irani said in another tweet. @AshokChoudhaary all my communications to you or any other person start with 'adarniya' but since you are now communicating allow me 1/3 Smriti Z Irani (@smritiirani) June 14, 2016 On the Bihar Education minister's query about the new education policy she replied "@AshokChoudhaary have not received state views on education policy neither did you in your 1 on 1 meeting with me give any suggestions 3/3." @AshokChoudhaary have not received state views on education policy neither did you in your 1 on 1 meeting with me give any suggestions 3/3 Smriti Z Irani (@smritiirani) June 14, 2016 The war of words with the Bihar Education Minister came on a day when she was on a visit to Bhagalpur in connection with "Vikash Parv" observed by NDA on completion of two years in the office. Ashok Choudhary is also the state president of Congress. Thanjavur: Ahead of Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaas New Delhi visit, farmers association in the Cauvery delta districts on Monday demanded that the region be announced as agricultural zone and all farm loans be waived off. ONGC should leave this place immediately. People of this region should be consulted by the state and Central governments on such projects. The government should ensure that rights of people dependent on farms are protected, Lenin, coordinator of Movement Against Disasters, said. The consortium of Cauvery delta farmers appealed to Ms Jayalalithaa to discuss their problems during her meeting with Mr Modi. In his letter to the CM, consortium general secretary V. Sath yanarayanan said the state government sho uld insist the Centre to fix MSP for agricultural produces based on the recommendations of Dr M. S. Swaminat han committee. Similarly, the farmers wing of the TMC also requested Ms Jayalalithaa to request Mr Modi, to waive off farm loans disbursed by nationalised banks and to establish Cauvery Management Board. Chennai: BJP state president Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan, who has been a strident critic of the AIADMK during the Lok Sabha and recently concluded Assembly election, appears to have softened her stand towards the AIADMK supremo and Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa following the latters decision to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday. Speculation is rife that the change in her stand comes close on the heels of the partys Allahabad conclave on Sunday. I welcome CM J. Jayalalithaa meeting the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Dr Tamilisai tweeted on the partys official Twitter site. The senior BJP leader also demanded that all the seven Rajiv Gandhi assassination convicts be released as per law. The convicts in the 1991 Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, Murugan, Santhan, Perarivalan, Nalini, Robert Payas, Jayakumar and Ravichandran, have completed quarter century in jail. People are reaping the full benefits from the corruption-free governance provided by the BJP, she tweeted. Police claimed that these Sambhal-based accused were motivating Indian youths to join 'jihad' and have facilitated their departure to Pakistan for arms training for terror acts. (Photo: Representational Image) New Delhi: Sambhal district in western Uttar Pradesh has come under the scanner of anti-terror agencies, with the police finding it to be the home of several alleged members of dreaded outfit Al Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) who have been providing active support for the group. This was disclosed in a chargesheet filed by the Special Cell of Delhi Police before a city court. The chargesheet was filed against 17 suspected AQIS members, of whom 12 are absconding, for allegedly trying to set up a base for Al Qaeda in India under the banner of AQIS. The police has claimed that Sambhal resident Maulana Asim Umar, who is currently in Pakistan, is the AQIS chief and six out of the 17 chargesheeted accused belonged to this district. According to the final report, while Sambhal residents Mohd Asif and Zafar Masood have been arrested in the case, the other four, Maulana Asim Umar, Syed Akhtar, Mohd Sharjeel Akhtar and Usman, who also belong to the district, are still at large, around 200 kilometres from Delhi. It claimed that these Sambhal-based accused were motivating Indian youths to join 'jihad' and have facilitated their departure to Pakistan for arms training for terror acts. The police has alleged that a number of youths from Sambhal had joined Al Qaeda cadre in Pakistan and returned here after arms training. It claimed that AQIS has received aid from several terror outfits in Pakistan and had several sympathisers and financers in Sambhal. "During interrogation, accused Mohd Asif revealed that he joined terrorist organisation Al-Qaeda following some local youths of Sambhal, who had left India long ago. He also revealed that he had radicalised a number of youth of western UP into joining Al Qaeda as he himself believed and advocated the ideology of Al Qaeda," the charge sheet alleged. "Asif, a member of AQIS, stated that from his ideology, several youth had performed 'hijrat', i.e. migrated to Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan etc for receiving 'askari', i.e. terrorist training from several terror organisations. He had joined Al Qaeda, being motivated by these terror icons of Sambhal," the police claimed in the charge sheet. It said that absconding accused Syed Akhtar alias Qasim, also a resident of Sambhal, was currently residing in Pakistan and used to motivate youths for 'jihad' and radicalised them against the "role of Americans against Muslim community throughout the world." The chargesheet claimed that a book written by the AQIS chief was used to motivate youths for 'jihad'. It said some of the persons who moved out of Sambhal earlier for terror purposes had also facilitated the training of youths from the district with terror organisations in Pakistan and other countries. "In 1995, wanted accused Sanaul Haq, a resident of Sambhal, had left India and after joining Harkat-ul- Mujahideen, had settled in Pakistan," the charge sheet said. "Asif disclosed that in January 2015, Qasim had told him to arrange a secret place in Sambhal for the stay of some AQIS members who would be coming from Pakistan. On this, Mohd Asif asked him to send Rs two lakh for constructing a place to serve as a secret hideout in Sambhal. Later, Asif collected the money from Lahori Gate in Delhi, and spent this amount in the activities of AQIS," the charge sheet said. All the 17 accused were chargesheeted for alleged offences under sections 18 (punishment for conspiracy), 18-B (punishment for recruiting of any person for terror act) and 20 (punishment for being member of terror organisation) of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). The five arrested accused in the case are, Asif, Masood, Mohd Abdul Rehman, Syed Anzar Shah and Abdul Sami. They were arrested between December 2015 and January 2016 from different parts of the country. The police had alleged that the accused were in touch with terrorists from Pakistan, Iran and Turkey via social media and mobile phones, and they had visited these countries and also financed AQIS and motivated the youths for 'jihad'. The court had earlier issued non-bailable warrant against 12 absconding accused, Syed Akhtar, Sanaul Haq, Usman, Mohd Sharjeel Akhtar, Mohd Rehan, Abu Sufiyan, Syed Mohd Arshiyan, Syed Mohd Zishan Ali, Sabeel Ahmed, Mohd Shahid Faisal, Mohd Umar and Farhatullah Ghori. Vijayawada: Noted Hindu Peetams led by seers and astrologers have once again differed on the muhurtham of Krishna pushkarams and 15 important festival schedules during the coming year. The Endowment Department controlled TTD panchangam has decided the Krishna pushkaralu start date as August 12 while Srisailam temple panchangam fixed the muhurtham for Krishna pushkarams on August 3. Both the panchangams headed by the government announced two different dates. Likewise, top peetams, Srungeri and Kanchipee-tam, announced next years Ugadi on two different dates, March 28 and March 29. People of AP will have to celebrate 18 festivals for two days during the next one year as per the panchangams. The government controlled temple institutions panchangams have anno-unced two schedules for Godavari Pushkarams as July 7 and July 15 last year. Now the scene has again reversed for Krishna Pushkarams. The government will announce Pushkarams schedule but one section of pundits and public are requesting them to evolve a policy on these differences. Panchangams written by astrologers fixed dates for 18 festivals differently. This includes festivals like Ugadi, Sri Raman-avami, Srikrishnastami, Kaveri Pushkaraalu, Kart-ika Pournami, Vaikunta Ekadasi, Mahasivaratri etc. Government urged to hold talks on dates Noted astrologers Srinivasa Gargeya, Kanchipeetam Siddh-anthi L Subramanya Siddhanthi and several pundits have asked the government to end the confusion about festival dates by holding discussions with experts. They said some of the astrologers are following Druganitham while some others are implementing Purva Paddathi. This is the reason for differences in festivals and auspicious occasions, they added. They also requested the government to announce the festivals and its schedule without any difference at least in temple panchangams, which are controlled by the Endowment Department. The Druganitha system is correct and already union government of India has accepted it officially. Andhra and Telangana Panchanga Karthala Samakya also requested the state government in past when three muhurthams were fixed for Krishna pushkarams. However, senior citizen, K. Venkata Ramaiah said government should appoint expert astrologers and Vedic pundits as temple board members, advisers, Asthana Siddhanthis. The differences could be avoided using expert pundits, he added. He said the government Agama Advisory Board should also involve actively for avoiding the confusion in festival announcements. Hyderabad: Irrigation minister T Harish Rao on Tuesday countered AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidus claim that he did not oppose T-irrigation projects in Telangana. Naidu should come clean on it or else I will release the letters written by him to the Centre opposing Palamur and Kaleswaram irrigation projects. Naidu is lying about this, Mr Rao said. He said that Mr Naidu did write letters personally to the Centre as also the Krishna Tribunal and encouraged filing of cases in the Supreme Court. Did you write the letter to the Centre seeking stalling of the Kaleswaram and Palamur lift irrigation projects or not? Let Naidu and TS TD leaders give a straight reply. If you say you did not write the letters, I will make public all the letters written by the AP government to the Centre and Krishna Tribunal, Mr Rao said. He added, The letters are personally signed by Naidu. There is none to beat Naidu in the Goebbelsian propaganda. Students and their parents seen with the CET officials for the verification of documents at CET Cell, Malleswaram, in Bengaluru on Tuesday (Photot: DC) Bengaluru: As per the calendar of events published by the Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA), entry for the allotment of various professional courses began on Tuesday. But students who visited the KEA website to check the available streams and college seats for selection were in for a rude shock. No seats were available for the selection as KEA did not publish the seat matrix! The only information displayed by the KEA on its website was the draft engineering seat matrix. The students said that they were confused with the delay in the publication of seat matrix and called the KEA office. They said KEA should have completed the process by this time. No info on Facebook page The students who visited the Facebook page of KEA found that there were no new announcements. The Facebook page was last updated in 2013. Every year, students face several problems, but officials do not bother to solve them, said Rajini Gunashekhar, a student. The students said that this year, confusion prevails over government quota seats in private medical and dental colleges. A consensual agreement between the state government and private engineering colleges over seat matrix and fee structure has been signed already. AICTE also completed the recognition process. There is clarity about the available government medical college. This is because recently, the Medical Council of India (MCI) issued permission to three more government medical colleges. All these colleges have an annual intake of 150 seats. So why is the seat matrix not prepared, he wanted to know. Soujanya Guruprasad, a medical aspirant from Malleswaram, said, I called the KEA helpline, but it was busy continuously. I have now decided to visit the KEA office. Students and their parents seen with the CET officials for the verification of documents at CET Cell, Malleswaram, in Bengaluru on Tuesday (Photo: DC) Training session KEA, which could not stick to its calendar, has provided a training link on option entry for students. KEA cannot be blamed for this fiasco. Its responsibility is only allotment of seats released by the state government. Engineering seat matrix is ready. But there is a delay on medical seats due to technical reasons, an officer said. Permission letters reach state government After the students protest, the government has released the letters written by the union health ministry to the state medical education secretary over granting permission to three new medical colleges Karwar, Chamarajanagar and Kodagu. The three colleges have been allowed to admit 150 students each. If permission is already issued to government medical colleges, why this delay, asked Anand Kumar, a medical seat aspirant. More time needed: Medical Education Minister Medical Education Minister Dr Sharan Prakash Patil said that the medical seat matrix is not ready. Officials have requested three-four more days to prepare the matrix. There will be a certain amount of delay. Students need not get tensed. A clear picture on the number of seats will be emerge soon, he said. Officials clueless over reason for delay Officials at both the medical education and technical education departments are clueless on the reason for the delay in the announcement of seats. They feel that the delay is unnecessary as everything is ready. Officials at the state directorate of technical education said that the draft seat matrix related to government and private engineering colleges, including deemed universities, was published last week. We forwarded the seat matrix to KEA, but we are not sure why it is not made public, said an officer, who wished not to be named. We are expecting the publication of the seat matrix on the KEA website any time on Tuesday, he said. We are working on the seat matrix of all the streams and everything will be uploaded on the KEA website to allow the students to make their option entries D.S. Ramesh, Executive Director, KEA Even the officials of the medical education department are not sure of the reason behind the delay in uploading the seat matrix. All the government medical and dental colleges were issued permission by the MCI and the union health ministry to admit students for the 2016-17. Officials should have completed the seat matrix well in advance to ensure that students are not put to trouble, said an officer. Mr D.S. Ramesh, Executive Director, KEA, said that the seat matrix related to all courses including pharma sciences, pharma, engineering and architecture are ready and will be uploaded by Tuesday night. Only the medical seat matrix is not available. We are working on the seat matrix of all the streams and everything will be uploaded on the KEA website to allow the students to make their option entries, he said. Hyderabad: Even though the government took steps to advance counselling, many engineering seats are likely to be go vacant this year. The not so encouraging response to the certificates verification exercise is an indication of this. Out of the 90,000 rankers who have been asked to verify certificates, only 53,000 turned up as on June 13. It may be mentioned here that 1.31 lakh candidates qualified in the engineering entrance test this year. This year the number of seats is likely to be around 1.2 lakh. According to Santhi Ramudu, President of AP Private Engineering Colleges Association, nearly 20,000 seats may go vacant this year. Nearly 70,000 to 75,000 seats of the Conveners quota of 84,000 and 25,000 seats in the management quota are likely to be filled. This is better than last year when over 45,000 seats could not be filled, he said. The AP government has rejected the proposal of colleges for a 40 per cent fee hike. Also, private managements demand to hike the fee reimbursement amount was also not accepted. With allotment of seats set to commence in a weeks time, the revised fee structure for the next three years is likely to be released in the next few days. If this is the situation in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana students are made to wait endlessly for announcement of counseling dates. The colleges affiliation list is yet to be announced. Along with JNTU-Hyderabad, Vigilance Department conducted separate inspections in engineering colleges. Both these reports will be cross-checked to announce the final list of colleges that will be given affiliation for the coming academic year. Hence, there is no clarity on first phase of counseling in Telangana. However, authorities will be going ahead with the certificates verification process from June 22 onwards. It may be recalled that 1.03 lakh engineering aspirants qualified for TS Eamcet this year. Although, final affiliated list is still being processed, private engineering college representatives stated that 75,000 seats are likely to be available this year. Big exodus to Tamil Nadu engineering colleges Engineering aspirants from AP, especially Rayalaseema, prefer institutions in Tamil Nadu. Since many years AP students have been flocking to deemed institutions like SRM University (Chennai), Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) and Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore. AP Private Engine-ering Colleges Assoc-ation attributed this trend to the negative publicity regarding teh quality of education in private engineering colleges in both the Telugu states. Reputed TN institutions are going the extra mile by sending agents to attract students from Rayala-seema and it is fetching good results. Association President Santhi Ramudu, however, stated that unlike last year, early counseling ensured there was no big exodus of students to Tamil Nadu. He explained that there are 70 to 80 private engineering colleges maintaining good standards in AP and hence students should not look for options elsewhere. Hyderabad: The century-old G-Block in the Secretariat, which has survived several demolition attempts earlier due to resistance from heritage lovers, is set to be razed soon to pave the way for construction of the new Telangana Secretariat. The design for the new Secretariat cannot be executed unless the G-Block, which lies in the middle, is demolished. Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who was keen to restore this block to its past glory, has now changed his stand to enable construction of the new integrated complex that will house the offices of all HoDs. The new Secretariat design submitted by noted architect Hafeez Contractor has apparently been approved by the Chief Minister. The U-shaped design comprises five new blocks with five floors each. The CMO block will be built in the existing location, surrounded by two blocks on either side. Mr Rao is expected to lay the foundation stone for the new Secretariat on Dasara day in October. Lucknow: The BJP in Uttar Pradesh has issued show cause notices to BJP workers who put up posters of party MP Varun Gandhi in Allahabad, promoting him as a chief ministerial candidate in Uttar Pradesh. Though the names of two party workers who had been issued notices was not known, party sources confirmed that notices had been issued. Meanwhile, Varun Gandhi reportedly skipped a meeting called by party president Amit Shah on Monday evening. Over 65 of the 71 party MPs attended the meeting. Earlier, posters of Mr Gandhi in Allahabad had become the talk of the town during the recently concluded BJP national executive. Posters of Mr Gandhi, sources said, even outnumbered the posters welcoming PM. Mr Shah also expressed his displeasure at the fact that supporters of Mr Gandhi shouted slogans for their leaders at the main entrance of the meeting venue. Sources said that a large number of Mr Gandhis supporters from his constituency Sultanpur had come to Allahabad for the party event. Meanwhile, a senior party leader in Lucknow said that there was nothing objectionable in putting up posters of a leader and issuing notices on this issue was a new trend in the party. It is common in every political party that supporters put up posters of their leaders. How can you take action on this ground unless the posters have objectionable content, the leader asked. Chennai: In a strange move akin to apartheid by gender, the co-ed school SKNS PMC Vivekananda Vidyalaya Junior College in Perambur has segregated boys and girls in classrooms and asked them to enter and leave the campus through different gates. Parents, angered by schools decision, held a protest in front of the school on Monday morning. For no particular reason, the boys and girls in the schools were separated in this co-ed school from this academic year. From UKG to Class 12 they have separated the students, a parent revealed. We don't know the reason behind this move by the school management. In each class the first two sections are for girls. The school management is even punishing students who talk to their classmates of the opposite sex, she added. Another parent said even her little boy had asked her why his friend was shifted to another class. However, she added that the separate entries might have been implemented to avoid traffic congestion in the area. The school has two entrances, one from the east side which is the main entrance and the other from the west gate on the rear. One of the protesting parents said, Before the school reopened, the management messaged the parents that there will be separate entries for boys and girls in the school. As per the message, the girls are only allowed to enter and exit through the main entrance and boys were allowed inside by only the rear. The boys' entrance was situated in a narrow lane and when we wanted to raise the issue with the school management they called police instead, he said. The Vivekananda Educational Society has more than 20 schools in the city. But in none of them have such rules segregating students by their gender been implemented, he said. When DC contacted the school authorities for their comments, they said there was no issue with parents and whatever the problem was, it was sorted out in the morning itself. After the parents protested, the school sent an SMS to all parents in the evening saying all the available gates can be used as per convenience. All the available gates can conveniently be used. However, parents are requested to utilise west gate also to avoid traffic congestion at the main entrance, Principal B.Usha Rani said in the message. The message did not, however, say anything about the segregation of boys and girls in classrooms. The government will plan a 24X7 situation room to monitor the cyber space and tackle cyber jihad (Photo: AP) Mumbai: Despite increased online surveillance, intelligence agencies and authorities have conceded that one of the most daunting challenges faced by them is tackling self styled jihadists. These jihadists carry out lone wolf attacks after being indoctrinated to extremist ideologies online. Citing credible sources, Daily Mail reported that the threat of lone wolf attacks motivated by jihadist propaganda online, similar to the recent Orlando gay club shooting, is high and the chances of detecting and preventing such attacks is minimal. Our biggest concern as of now is a lone wolf-type strike. If a person decides to get a weapon and go on a killing spree or plant explosives somewhere without involving others, chances of detection are minimal, a senior intelligence official was quoted as saying. Youth in the age group of 17 to 25 are more susceptible to falling pray to digital jihad and counter-radicalisation strategy will be most effective only if they target this section of the society, cites the Home Ministry paper on ISIS. The possibility of piggybacking on terrorist groups operating in India has opened up the possibility of ISIS-sponsored terrorist action on Indian territory, the Intelligence Bureau had earlier warned all state governments. A recent report by the Hindustan Times had revealed that the middle-class educated youth in India fall prey to the lure of ISIS in India. The government will plan a 24X7 situation room to monitor the cyber space and tackle cyber jihad, the government sources said. New Delhi: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is known for being active on her twitter page and for her quick response to those seeking her help on the micro-blogging site. So when a man faced a problem with his new refrigerator, he decided to report the matter straight to Sushma Sawraj and Union Minister for Food & Public Distribution, Consumer Affairs, Ram Vilas Paswan. A man only known as Venkat, tweeted to the ministers that he was delivered a defective refrigerator and that the company was refusing to replace it despite acknowledging the inconvenience caused to him. He added the serial number of his fridge along with the message sent to him by the company and asked the ministers to look into the matter. Please look into this issue. they delivered defective product and it stopped working in two months, he tweeted. As if the mans tweet to the senior BJP ministers was not hilarious enough, Sushma Swaraj decided to play a good sport and responded to the tweet with a honest and hilarious response. Brother I cannot help you in matters of a Refrigerator. I am very busy with human beings in distress, Sushma tweeted. Brother I cannot help you in matters of a Refrigerator. I am very busy with human beings in distress. https://t.co/cpC5cWBPcz Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) June 13, 2016 Her response went viral immediately and was re-tweeted more than 4000 times within a span of few hours. KOCHI: Based on the studies carried out on climate change scenario and its impacts on Kochi, a city resilience strategy will be drafted soon. As a follow-up action of the study jointly conducted by International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) South Asia, IIT Delhi and PIK University, Germany, a pilot intervention programme will also be held in Kochi. Ahead of drafting the resilience strategy, the civic body and ICLEI are organising a Shared Learning Dialogue (SLD) workshop on Friday attended by experts from across the world. The two-year study has identified the citys major risks regarding climate change. Even after the agencies have submitted the survey findings more than a year ago, the recommendations were put on the backburner with no steps taken to prepare project proposals based on them. Kochi was one of the cities selected for the project Asian Cities Adapt Impact of Climate Change in Target Cities in India in 2014 as part of which the studies were carried out. Now, the city corporation in collaboration with ICLEI wants to continue the project and take the studies to its logical conclusion by developing a City Resilience Strategy and conducting a pilot intervention in the city. The project would be undertaken with the technical assistance and funding of the Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network (ACCCRN) programme, which is supported by the Rockefeller Foundation, said Dr Rajan Chedambath, director of Centre for Heritage, Environment and Development (C-hed), which coordinates the project implementation for the civic body. With this, Kochi would be one of the 40 cities of four countries, India, Bangladesh, Philippines and Indonesia, under the global network. Unnao: An FIR has been registered against controversial VHP leader Sadhvi Prachi for inciting communal passion, police said on Tuesday. The FIR was registered against Prachi based on a complaint lodged by Sandeep Kumar of Bahujan Mukti Morcha who alleged that her statement in which she had pitched for a "Muslim free country" in Uttrakhand recently, hurt communal feelings, they said. The FIR has been registered under IPC 153 A (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion), IPC 153 B (Imputations, assertions prejudicial to national-integration), SHO, Unnao, Sanjay Pandey said. Known for courting controversies, the Sadhvi had claimed the mission of a Congress-free country has already been "accomplished" and it is now time to make India free of Muslims. "Now that we have achieved the mission of making a Congress-free India, it is time to make India Muslim-free. We are working on that," she said in Roorkee, where at least 32 people were injured in a clash between two communities over forcible evacuation of a scrap dealers shop, on June 7. New Delhi: Voicing her reservations over the Goods and Services Tax(GST), Tamil Nadu Chief Minister on Tuesday told Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the Centre should strive for a broad consensus on important issues like the compensation period and exclusion of commodities before enacting the Constitution amendment. In her first meeting with the Prime Minister after her election victory, she said Tamil Nadu is concerned about the impact the proposed GST will have on the fiscal economy of the states and the huge revenue loss it is likely to cause to manufacturing and net exporting state like hers. Jayalalithaa-led AIADMK has 13 MPs in the Rajya Sabha where the BJP-led NDA government is in a minority and looks to its support on crucial issues and legislations. The party has 37 MPs in the lower house. While appreciating the fact that some of the state's concerns have been addressed, Jayalalithaa said in a memorandum to Modi which held that a number of other concerns of Tamil Nadu still need to be addressed. This included the GST Council as a Constitutional body which it said impinges on the legislative sovereignty of both Parliament and state legislatures and jeopardises the autonomy of the states in fiscal matters. "We strongly object to the provision for the GST Council. The existing mechanism of the Empowered Committee of state ministers which dealt with VAT issues is adequate. Ideally, no statutory GST Council is required," it said. Jayalalithaa demanded that petroleum and petroleum products must be kept outside GST permanently in view of the revenue impact and the positive environmental and social impact of high effective taxation of these items. She said there was a need to enable the states to levy higher taxes on tobacco and tobacco products on par with the Centre. The chief minister said it is quite clear that a manufacturing state like Tamil Nadu will permanently use substantial revenue if GST is implemented. "Due to the difficulty in fixing even nominally high revenue neutral rates, it is expected that the extend of revenue loss under GST would be around Rs 9,270 crores for Tamil Nadu," the memorandum said. Tamil Nadu also reiterated its demand for a Constitutionally mandated independent compensation mechanism for full (100 per cent) compensation of revenue losses suffered by the states for a period of not less that five years. It suggested that in lieu of the proposed additional levy of 1 per cent tax on inter-state supply of goods, the origin states may be allowed to retain four per cent of the Central GST, part of the inter-state GST that would be leviable on inter-state supply of goods and services as this would ensure speedy recompense for a portion of the revenue loss and will reduce the amount of compensation payable. Further, the memorandum said, as this comes out of the CGST component, it does not affect the destination state's revenue or cause any cascading. "Hence, the stand of the Government of Tamil Nadu is that before the Constitutional Amendment Bill on GST is taken up, the Government of India should strive for a board consensus on important issues like the compensation period and methodology, revenue neutral rates, floor rates with bands, commodities to be excluded from GST, the IGST model and clarity on dual administrative control, so that the genuine apprehensions of states regarding loss of fiscal autonomy and permanent revenue loss are allayed," it said. THRISSUR: The victory of LDF candidate Mohammed Mohsin from Pattambi in the Assembly elections is a sign of the good things to come, according to Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar. Mohsins win has a lot of positives for the youth in Kerala, Mr Kanhaiya Kumar, who had campaigned for Mr Mohsin, his friend in the JNU, told DC. DC met Mr Kanhaiya Kumar at Ramanilayam Government Guest House here prior to his address at a students session at EMS Smrithi, Sahithya Akademi Hall, on Monday afternoon. He was in the midst of the activists of AISF and AIYF, CPI leaders and his diehard fans when this correspondent spoke to him. Referring to the report that the video clippings of JNU event were found to be authentic, he said that the sources from where the news came did not have any authenticity. If they have proof of anti-national slogans shouted in JNU, let them prove it in the court with these pieces of evidence. The matter is sub judice and I have full faith in the judicial system. The BJP national executive meet in Allahabad in UP and the upcoming elections in the state need to be read along with such a news suddenly coming up in the media, he said. The BJP now wanted to reactivate the JNU anti-national sloganeering allegations and Dadri incident ahead of UP elections, Mr Kanhaiya said. I have two more years to complete my PhD on the topic Social transformation in South Africa and as a student my research is my first priority. After completing it, I wish to take up teaching. But, I will still be an activist, he said. The Modi government needs to focus more on public educational institutions, he added. Despite much solemnity, last years International Yoga Day had its hilarious moments: Made-in-China mats, tubby ministers wheezing to impress their older and fitter boss, religious minorities outraging at Om, as though it were an unmentionable expletive and the Hindu Sun salutation (absurdly bestowing a rival faith upon the fountainhead of all life), the peeved Congress muttering about personality cults under a certain Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India. This year and well before millions go into synchronised contortions, the Modi government has announced that the Suryanamaskar will not be part of the Yoga Day directive. Om will be voluntary, not compulsory. Like the monsoon, the raga, the Bengal tiger and the peacock of course yoga is ours and it is high time we brought it out of the dimly-lit halls of oily, dogmatised ashrams and gave it an international airing and its rightful place as the oldest and most beneficial mind and body workout in the world. Undoubtedly and whether for 10 minutes or more, yoga both calms the mind and strengthens the body like few other regimens can. So full marks then, to Mr Modi and his enviable Gujarati canniness, that yoga has emerged as Indias most popular global soft power initiative (our Compleat Traveller has hardly a country left on his to-do list) and within but two years, already yielded multiple returns. The UN has declared June 21 as International Yoga Day. This year, and motivated perhaps by its keenness to push a stalled trade agreement with India, the European Union in Brussels too, will send hundreds into downward dogs in our honour. The World Health Organisation, which in the past chiefly issued advisories against diseased India, is now to recognise yoga and ayurveda. Pardon the analogy, but it does seem as though the world and its uncle are bending over backwards just to please us. And to someone who grew up in the decades when India was considered a filthy, sinister cliche, this is sweet, very sweet. But as youth in the 60s and 70s, we, too, thirsted to be addressed in our language, not that of doddering politicians with cobwebbed ideologies. The world is even younger today. More than 365 million Indians in the 10-24 age group give us the worlds largest youth population. And it requires no degree in demographics to know that in any country where Mr Modi has woven his yoga initiative into more serious business: the young are the future. Therefore it is they, not sadhus, maulvis, bishops and various religious votebanks, whom Indias worldwide yoga campaign must stay focused on. Mr Modi is now a world citizen who needs world-class planners. No longer must such global strides be left to the amateur designer-wives of his ministers and bureaucrats; nor to his own two in-house yogis and mascots, Baba Ramdev and the BJPs secular badge Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, both of whose stars and turnovers have seen a steady rise in the past two years. Many excellent initiatives have been put in place to protect ayurveda and yoga, even under former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, during whose tenure in 2007 a digital library of Indias ancient intellectual possessions including 1,500 to date of a presumed 10,000 yoga postures, was set up and shared with worldwide patent offices. A ministry dedicated to ayurveda has been established by the Modi government. And yet, no ruling party to date (except to an extent, the AAP), has been able to understand and appeal to the young and restless mind, which, even if religiously-inclined, is never closed to innovation and free interpretation. This years Yoga Day has already got Modi-bashers and all of Indias pseudo-liberal social media warriors working overtime again. Maulvis and bishops are dutifully raising red flags. But this knee-jerk reaction is partly also due to the BJPs most frustrating flaw, its wooden intransigence born of majority confidence in the Lok Sabha. For instance, where was the need for minister of state for Ayush Shripad Naik to spoil the assurances on the Suryanamaskar by adding a not-so-subtle corollary that it was not intended to please Indias minorities, but only because the exercise was too complicated for everyone to handle? Or to ask the administration of Chandigarh, where the flagship event will be held soon, to smother the city with lotuses (which, just by the way, happen to be the BJPs party symbol)? There is nothing wrong with offering yoga or Sanskrit in schools. It is the accompanying chirps from the BJPs hangers-on claiming both as Hindu/party property and attempts to make them compulsory subjects that act as the spoilers. Yoga is an ancient Indian idea, not an invention like Marconis radio, which is why it cannot be awarded a patent under the IPR regime. Logic and history tell us that the majority religion thousands of years ago when yoga evolved was as today Hinduism and the language used was Sanskrit. So of course it must have been a Hindu who thought up yoga and penned down its rules in Sanskrit. Over millenia, various practitioners lent that blueprint their own top-spin by adding or taking away shlokas. Does that mean yoga today is thus the intellectual property of Hindus, or worse of a single political party? And given the nature of todays cyber-global-village where the worlds young hang out around the clock, will marketing yoga as a Hindu product guarantee success? Like all successful fitness entrepreneurs, Mr Modi must urgently consider new templates. Let there be a Yoga 1.0, the traditional Hindu version. But let there also be versions 1.1, 1.2 and so on, allowing a fitness-loving Christian to pick the one for practice after Sunday mass, a Muslim, another for in between namaz and an atheist a healthy alternative to hugging trees. If all these templates were Made in India by professionals with global marketing experience, the crux of the initiative would be fulfilled to perfection. It would ensure the world embraces yoga and identifies it not with Hinduism or any faith, but with Brand India alone. The BJP is in a hurry to change the political status quo and emerge as the hegemonic party across India, as the Congress used to be a quarter century ago. Although constructed on a weak vote percentage barely 30 per cent the massive number of seats it won in the last Lok Sabha election constitutes a decent enough springboard to make its presence felt in the states, and UP is a test that must be passed after Bihar and Delhi were flunked. The urgency was evident at the meeting of the partys national executive in Allahabad recently, held with a view to mobilise political and organisational resources to prepare for the Assembly election early 2017. Potential organisational dissension was nipped in the bud. Some had sought to marginalise and not invite old-guard leader Murli Manohar Joshi, the MP from Kanpur and a former BJP president. But in the end Dr Joshi was not only accommodated but publicly mentioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his speech, although the two do not enjoy a great equation. The BJP cannot risk a social division working against it in the upper caste ranks. The party has a massive task on its hands to scale the wall from a mere 41 to 200 plus seats in the state legislature to be able to form government. With the aid of minor allies, the saffron party hopes to win over the non-Yadav OBCs and a section of the dalits, who generally go with BSP leader Mayavati. Predictably, the ruling Samajwadi Party of Mulayam Singh, as well as BSP, were targeted by Mr Modi and party president Amit Shah, as BJP is seeking to charge to the front from way behind (although the party won a record number of seats in UP for the Lok Sabha in 2014). It is interesting that the BSP was also targeted for supposedly being chummy with Congress. Once again, a division of labour was on view. While the PM promised the moon in hard-selling the development agenda, giving his own government at the Centre first class marks, Mr Shah openly promoted the communal agenda by fanning the rumour which media reports have shown to be utterly false of Hindus migrating from Kairana. The Muzaffarnagar communal riots had set the tone for the BJPs campaign in the last Lok Sabha election in UP, and the same area is being made the centre of another communal push. As BJP workers are going around investigating the so-called Hindu migration, chances of vigilante actions promoted by saffron mobs cannot be ruled out. The administration must look sharp, and political and social morality need to be underlined. Former Union minister Jairam Ramesh, author of Old History, New Geography: Bifurcating Andhra Pradesh, claims if TDP supremo N. Chandrababu Naidu had made TRS chief K. Chandrashekar Rao a Cabinet minister in 2000, the 29th state may not have come into existence. In an interview to Manish Anand, Ramesh noted how the sudden demise of Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy swung the pendulum in favour of Telangana. He also rued that PM Narendra Modi betrayed Andhra by not granting it special category status. Excerpts: Did the accusations that you had been a Cyril Radcliffe in being instrumental in bifurcating Andhra Pradesh provoke you to write the book so soon after the creation of Telangana? All sorts of accusations were hurled at me, that I was (Lord) Mountbatten, Radcliffe (the British lawyer who drew the India-Pakistan boundary line in 1947)... I was doing my job. Of course, in the process, the Congress became extinct in both Telangana as well as Andhra. History has strange ways. But as I said, Ive no regrets. I tried to be fair, honest and transparent. The bifurcation should not be seen in the context of the Congress loss. The fact that the Congress lost doesnt mean that the decision to create Telangana was wrong. You claim the sudden death of YSR swung pendulum in favour of the demands for Telangana. Did the Congress err in choosing an elderly K. Rosaiah as his successor? I think by and large the death of YSR gave KCR a life. Otherwise, KCR was history as long as YSR was alive. No doubt Rosaiah was senior, experienced and had a clean image. But YSR was YSR. He was a unique character. You have attempted a historical book, yet refrained from going beyond what transpired at the meetings of the Group of Ministers and the Cabinet. I made it very clear in the beginning that the book is not about the merits of the bifurcation. I was not involved in the decision on bifurcation, which the Congress took. When the Congress (decided) in favour of bifurcation, I was away in Copenhagen for the climate change negotiations. My involvement began from the constitution of the GoM and ends with the passage of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill 2013 in the Rajya Sabha. I was not competent to write on the political background. I could not have speculated. I just could not add value to the question why bifurcation, but I could add value to the how of the bifurcation. The book is about how. Its a book by somebody who looks at the issue from a scholarly point of view. I dont want to settle scores. Did the rebellion of Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy and his parting ways with the Congress allow the clamour for Telangana to gain strength? Jagan rebelled in 2010-11. But remember, his party gave a letter, which was approved by Jagan, to the GoM in support of Telangana. Even YSR on February 12, 2009 had supported the cause of Telangana. But I think had Jagan been in the Congress, things may have been very different. This is one of those historical ifs. But the Congress did not send Jagan out, he left. But, see, Jagans party, as is the case with the parties of Mamata Banerjee and Sharad Pawar, have the letter C (for Congress) as integral to their names. Your book claims that the December 9, 2009 late-night statement by then home minister P. Chidambaram sealed the case for the creation of Telangana... That statement made at 11.30 pm on December 9 was a decisive turning point, which gave the impression that the Government of India had agreed to the creation of Telangana. Afterwards Chidambaram, in a series of interventions in Parliament, which are all documented in the book, gave background to the statement, that KCR had been on fast for 10 days and that the situation in Hyderabad had been volatile. In fact, Chidambaram gave a contrary statement 14 days later (on December 23), but, no doubt, his first statement was decisive and the turning point. The home minister could not have made the statement on his own. Andhra Pradesh had been a bastion of the Congress. But the party seems to have handed over the political turf to three regional outfits. We were destroyed in Andhra Pradesh. It was shocking that the Congress lost heavily in Telangana and the bifurcation proved disastrous for the party. However, thats being wise after the decision was taken. But before the bifurcation, the Congress managers believed it would give electoral dividends to the party. It should be looked into in the context of socio-economic benefits and not just with the Congress loss. Looking back, if N. Chandrababu Naidu had made K.C. Rao a Cabinet minister he had not even formed the TRS then in 2000, he may not have formed the TRS. It was the sense of neglect by KCR at the hands of Naidu that he formed the TRS and launched the campaign for Telangana. Even the NDA government (1998-2004) had created three states Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand. The BJP remains a dominant player in the three states. But the same cant be said about the Congress in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Its not good. National parties must have a presence. Look at Tamil Nadu, two regional parties fighting each other. It will not be good for Telangana and Andhra Pradesh if the TDP, TRS and YSR Congress fight it out. The weakening of national parties is not good. There must be vibrant and viable national parties too. BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu had brought pressure on the Congress for special category status for Andhra Pradesh, which made then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh give such a commitment on the floor of Parliament. Yes, Dr Manmohan Singh made an intervention in the Rajya Sabha on February 20, 2014 where he committed the government to special category status for Andhra Pradesh for five years. Naidu said when his government comes to power it would be for 10 years. I think Mr Modi betrayed the people of Andhra Pradesh. Although the BJP and TDP are allies, the fact is that the TDP has not gained anything. The Act says the Centre must fund the creation of a new capital, which is not being done. The law is not being implemented in letter and spirit. The book suggests that the GoM was convinced on the proposal to add three districts to Telangana when AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi argued it would keep a check on the growth of the RSS... Yes, thats true. The GoM was quite unanimous, but the proposal came quite late, and TRS chief K.C. Rao was rabidly against the move. Among all presentations made to the GoM, the one by Owaisi was the best and well researched. The biggest improvement came to iOS with the introduction of the latest update, the iOS 10. Apple announced some big changes at WWDC 2016 in San Francisco, on June 13. The company unveiled the significant updates to be made to its four major platformsiOS, tvOS, watchOS and macOS, during the two-hour keynote. However, the biggest improvement came to iOS with the introduction of the latest update, the iOS 10. Here are all the features that Apple announced with iOS 10 that you will experience on your iPhone, post the new update. iMessage iMessage now has rich links, meaning you can stream videos or songs from within the conversation without actually jumping off to another app, to play it. The emojis have become bigger than before, now the app will prompt to emojify words, typed. Additionally, it features invisible ink, that the recipient can only read after swiping over it. Beside this, it will allow users to send payments or schedule dinner or movie, all from with the Message app. Siri In iOS 10, Siri can be extended into major new areas and do more than ever by working with the apps you love to use. For the first time, developers can build on the intelligence Siri offers and let users interact directly with apps using just their voice. SiriKit helps developers easily design their apps to work with Siri for messaging, phone calls, photo search, ride booking, personal payments and workouts, or use Siri to control CarPlay apps, access climate controls or adjust radio settings within automakers' apps. Redesigned Maps Maps in iOS 10 gets a beautiful redesign that makes it even simpler and more intuitive to use. Now open to developers with new extensions, apps like OpenTable can integrate bookings right into Maps, and services like Uber and Lyft can make it easier for users to book a ride, without ever leaving the Maps app. Maps is even smarter with new intelligence that proactively delivers directions to where you most likely want to go next, based on your routine or appointments on your calendar. Once a route is planned, Maps can search along the route for gas stations, restaurants, coffee shops and more and provides an estimate of how the stop impacts the length of your trip. Photos Photos in iOS 10 helps you rediscover favorite and forgotten occasions from your photo library by automatically surfacing them in Memories. Memories scans all your photos and videos and finds favorite and forgotten events, trips, and people, and presents them in a beautiful collection. A Memory also contains the Memory Movie, an automatically edited movie with theme music, titles and cinematic transitions. Memories uses advanced computer vision to group the people, places and things inside your images into albums with on-device facial, object and scene recognition. This intelligence brings Memories and Related photos to life in a way that's personal and meaningful to you, while maintaining your privacy. Home App The Home app is deeply integrated into iOS, delivering a simple and secure way to set up, manage and control your home in one place. Accessories can be managed individually or grouped into scenes so they work together with a single command and can be controlled by using Siri. They can be managed remotely or set up for home automation with Apple TV, and can respond with automatic triggers set by time of day, location or action. Apple Music & News Apple Music has an all-new design, it uses a new design language that allows the music to become the hero and a new structure that makes it easy to navigate and discover new music. iOS 10 features a redesigned News app with a new For You, organized into distinct sections that make it easier to find stories, support for breaking news notifications and paid subscriptions. Privacy Security and privacy are fundamental to the design of Apple hardware, software and services. iMessage, FaceTime and HomeKit use end-to-end encryption to protect your data by making it unreadable by Apple and others. iOS 10 uses on-device intelligence to identify the people, objects and scenes in Photos, and power QuickType suggestions. Services like Siri, Maps and News send data to Apples servers, but this data is not used to build user profiles. Starting with iOS 10, Apple is using technology called Differential Privacy to help discover the usage patterns of a large number of users without compromising individual privacy. In iOS 10, this technology will help improve QuickType and emoji suggestions, Spotlight deep link suggestions and Lookup Hints in Notes. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. President Yahya Jammeh announced in December that the Gambia had become an Islamic state, but stressed that the rights of the Christian minority would be respected and that women would not be held to a dress code. (Photo: AP) Banjul: The Gambia has banned music, dancing and drumming during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, on pain of being arrested -- and people are complying, police said on Monday. Ordinary citizens in the small west African country -- whose president declared it an Islamic state in December -- are being urged to report anyone seen engaging in the activities to authorities, said a spokesman. "People are complying with the police order banning drumming and dancing during the month of Ramadan and so far no one has been arrested by the police for violating it," police spokesperson Lamin Njie said. A police statement published last week warned that "all ceremonies, festivities and programs that involve drumming, music and dance during the day or at night are prohibited". "All those engaged in the practice are therefore warned to desist from such acts otherwise they will be eventually apprehended and face the full force of the law without compromise," it said. President Yahya Jammeh announced in December that the Gambia had become an Islamic state, but stressed that the rights of the Christian minority would be respected and that women would not be held to a dress code. A few weeks later it emerged that female civil servants had been ordered to cover their hair at work, according to a leaked government memo, although the presidency subsequently announced the measure had been dropped. An impoverished former British colony famed for its white-sand beaches, the Gambia has a population of nearly two million, 90 percent of whom are Muslim. Of the remainder, eight percent are Christian and two percent are defined as having indigenous beliefs. Jammeh, 50, a military officer and former wrestler has ruled the country with an iron fist since he seized power in a coup in 1994. Critics regularly accuse him of making unilateral decisions and controversial statements, notably about other countries, migrants and homosexuality. The next presidential election in the Gambia, for which Jammeh is a candidate, is scheduled in December. The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation announced in April that its next summit will be held in the Gambia, although a date has not yet been fixed. During the holy month of Ramadan, observant Muslims abstain from eating and drinking during daylight hours. Sanders said the private meeting will help him determine how committed Clinton will be to the policy issues he has staked out during his 13-month campaign. (Photo: AP) Washington: Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are ending the primary calendar with a face-to-face meeting on Tuesday that could set the tone for Democratic unity and next month's party convention in Philadelphia. Clinton and Sanders plan to meet on the night of the final presidential primary in the District of Columbia, a contest that will have no bearing on Clinton's role as the presumptive nominee but marks a transition in the lengthy primary fight between the two rivals. The Vermont senator has vowed to do all he can to prevent Republican Donald Trump from reaching the White House but suggested he will not endorse Clinton immediately. Sanders said the private meeting will help him determine how committed Clinton will be to the policy issues he has staked out during his 13-month campaign. "I simply want to get a sense of what kind of platform she will be supporting, whether she will be vigorous in standing up for working families and the middle class, moving aggressively in climate change, health care for all, making public colleges and universities tuition-free," Sanders said in an interview Sunday with NBC's "Meet the Press." After the discussion, Sanders said he will "be able to make other decisions." Sanders met last week with President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, who both later endorsed Clinton, and signaled to Democrats that he hopes to play a constructive role in helping the party regain control of the Senate in the 2016 elections. The self-described democratic socialist says he will take his campaign to the convention in July and advocate for his policy issues in the platform while urging Democrats to be more inclusive of independents, young people and working-class voters, all of whom were pivotal in his victories in 22 states. But what that will look like still remains unclear and Sanders has been soliciting advice from supporters on how he should take his campaign forward. Sanders will huddle Tuesday with Senate Democrats during their weekly luncheon, following up on meetings last week with Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the party's incoming Senate leader. Clinton will hold a rally in Pittsburgh and attend a private Washington fundraiser before her meeting with Sanders. A Clinton campaign official said the two agreed to meet when they spoke last Tuesday and the former secretary of state looks forward to discussing how they can "advance their shared commitment to a progressive agenda and work together to stop Donald Trump in the general election." The mass shooting at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida, has commanded the attention of both campaigns and prompted Democrats to point to Trump's call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the U.S., an issue they view as a key contrast in the general election. Without mentioning Trump by name, Clinton warned during a speech in Cleveland that demonizing Muslims would only empower extremist groups. "We should be intensifying contacts in those communities, not scapegoating or isolating them," she said. Sanders attended a vigil in his hometown of Burlington, Vermont, on Monday night to show solidarity with the victims. Pointing to Trump's comments about Muslims, Sanders said the shooting was conducted by "one hateful person" and not committed by the Muslim people. "Our job is not to allow politicians, Mr. Trump or anyone else, to divide us up by where our family came from, the color of our skin, our religion or our sexual orientation," Sanders said. Looking forward, Sanders has begun helping Democrats preparing for congressional races and the battle to regain control of the Senate. An early test of his clout will come Tuesday in Nevada, where a Sanders-backed congressional candidate, Lucy Flores, competes in a three-way primary. Sanders has opened up his campaign's massive email donor list to several Democratic candidates, hauling in more than $2.4 million for his allies. Flores has been the top recipient of those appeals, collecting about $390,000 from an email Sanders sent in April on behalf of her and two other candidates. The Islamic State group claimed slain shooter Omar Mateen was acting as one of the soldiers of the caliphate in America (Photo: AP) Washington: The American gunman who launched a murderous assault on a gay nightclub in Orlando was radicalized by Islamist propaganda, officials said Monday, as they grappled with the worst terror attack on US soil since 9/11. The Islamic State group claimed slain shooter Omar Mateen was acting as "one of the soldiers of the caliphate in America" when he attacked the Pulse club in the Florida resort city, an assault that ended when police stormed the venue. But investigators are probing whether he was a jihadist on a mission or a vicious "lone wolf" inspired by Islamist propaganda to carry out what President Barack Obama dubbed "an act of terror and an act of hate." Forty-nine people were killed and 53 others wounded in the attack, which was also the deadliest mass shooting in US history. Read: Orlando shooter, a 'bipolar' security guard who once wanted to be a cop "We see no indication that this was a plot directed from outside the United States, and we see no indication that he was part of any kind of network," FBI chief James Comey said, adding that investigators were looking into the possible role of anti-gay bigotry. But he also said the FBI was "highly confident" Mateen had been "radicalized" while consuming online propaganda and that he had claimed allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a series of calls during the attack. The slaughter triggered worldwide shock and outrage, but has also raised questions about US counterterror strategy and gun laws. The suspect was allowed to legally buy a rifle and handgun despite raising red flags. "We make it very easy for individuals who are troubled or disturbed or want to engage in violent acts to get very powerful weapons very quickly," Obama said. "And that's a problem," Obama said, as the White House demanded that the Republican-controlled Congress pass legislation to curb assault weapons like the one used in Orlando. Read: Orlando shooter Omar Mateen was homophobe, wife beater: reports The White House said Obama would travel to Orlando on Thursday to "pay his respects to victims' families, and to stand in solidarity with the community as they embark on their recovery." The FBI admitted it had previously investigated the 29-year-old American of Afghan descent, but had cleared him of extremist ties. Relatives and acquaintances have painted a picture of a violent and unstable young man who had beat his ex-wife and expressed homophobic views. Gay Pride month Police have identified all 49 victims -- mainly clubgoers celebrating Latin Night at one of Orlando's most prominent gay venues at the start of Gay Pride month. Many of the wounded were still in hospital. As the club was closing around 2:00 am, Mateen began a gun battle with an off-duty officer working at the club. More officers responded, and the gunman escaped to the bathroom, where he barricaded himself and seized hostages. Witness Janiel Gonzalez described scenes of mayhem as the gunman sprayed revelers with bullets. "It was like complete chaos," he said. "People were screaming 'Help me, help me, I'm trapped!'" Orlando Police Chief John Mina said he made the difficult decision to burst into the club after Mateen made comments in telephone calls about "bomb vests, about explosives." Read: ISIS claims Orlando nightclub shooter as 'soldier of caliphate' "We knew that was the right thing to do and believe we prevented a future loss of life and saved many, many lives," Mina told reporters. Police used explosives and a BearCat armored car to punch a hole in the wall and dozens more survivors surged out of the breach. Mateen opened fire and was cut down by police. 'Not a war zone' Officials in Orlando, a resort city famous worldwide as the home of Walt Disney World and other amusement parks, were stunned by the tragedy but vowed that the community would pull together. "This is not a war zone that we are living in. This is a civilized society and we had to deal with something unthinkable," Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings said. The attacks triggered solidarity vigils by gay and lesbian groups -- and their supporters -- across the country and abroad. Thousands of people marched under rainbow flags in London's Soho district, bursting into chants of "We're here, we're queer, we will not live in fear." More than 100,000 had paraded through Los Angeles on Sunday at a previously planned pride parade. But no mood of national outrage could survive long in the crucible of America's 2016 presidential race, and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump seized his chance to launch an attack on Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. Clinton pushed back by vowing to make identifying "lone wolves" a top priority and issuing a pointed warning to US allies in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, to crack down on citizens supporting extremism. Thousands of people marched under rainbow flags in London's Soho district, bursting into chants of "We're here, we're queer, we will not live in fear." More than 100,000 had paraded through Los Angeles on Sunday at a previously planned pride parade. But no mood of national outrage could survive long in the crucible of America's 2016 presidential race, and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump seized his chance to launch an attack on Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. "Clinton wants to allow radical Islamic terrorists to pour into our country," he said, as he vowed to clamp down on immigration from nations with links to terror attacks targeting the United States or its allies. Clinton pushed back by vowing to make identifying "lone wolves" a top priority and issuing a pointed warning to US allies in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, to crack down on citizens supporting extremism. "The Orlando terrorist may be dead, but the virus that poisoned his mind remains very much alive," she said. But Clinton also hit out at her Republican rival for suggesting American Muslims may be covering for extremists in their midst. "That's wrong," Clinton said. "And it's also dangerous. It plays right into the terrorists' hands." A police car was left with several bullet holes but none of the officers were hurt. The six rifles and grenade launchers were found in the two pickups along with cartridges of various calibers and a smaller gun. (Photo: AP) Ciudad Victoria, Mexico: Police killed eight gunmen who attacked them on a road in northern Mexico on Monday and they seized six high-caliber rifles and a grenade launcher after the shootout, authorities said. The federal officers were on patrol on a road in the town of San Fernando, in the violence-plagued state of Tamaulipas, when armed civilians arrived in two pick-up trucks and opened fire, a regional security task force said in a statement. "While repelling the attack in self-defense, the federal police killed eight assailants," the Tamaulipas Coordination Group said in a statement, adding that the gunmen have yet to be identified. A police car was left with several bullet holes but none of the officers were hurt. The six rifles and grenade launchers were found in the two pickups along with cartridges of various calibers and a smaller gun. San Fernando is known as the municipality where 72 migrants, most from Central America, were slaughtered by the Zetas drug cartel in August 2010. Tamaulipas, which borders the US state of Texas, is among the most violent in Mexico, with the Gulf cartel also wreaking havoc in the region. He might have been gay but chose to hide his true identity out of anger and shame, says Sitora Yusufiy. (Photo; AP) New York: 29-year-old Omar Mateen, who gunned down 49 people at a gay club in Orlando, himself might have been gay but chose to hide his true identity out of anger and shame, his former wife has said as authorities looked into reports that he had visited the Florida club several times and also used a gay dating app. Sitora Yusufiy said she had met Mateen online in 2008 and the two got married in 2009. He might have been gay but chose to hide his true identity out of anger and shame, she said. A New York Times report cited a senior federal law enforcement official as saying that the FBI was looking at reports that Mateen had used a gay dating app. Patrons of Pulse, the club where he killed 49 people in the worst shooting case in US history, were quoted as saying that he had visited the club several times. Yusufiy said that her ex-husband had told her that he frequented nightclubs before their marriage, but that he did not tell her they were gay clubs. CBS News said in a report that club-goers have told investigators that Mateen had been at Pulse previously. The Orlando Sentinel and other news organizations also quoted regular customers at the gay bar as saying they had seen Mateen there a number of times. "Sometimes he would go over in the corner and sit and drink by himself, and other times he would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent," said Ty Smith, a patron at the bar. Smith said he saw Mateen inside the club at least a dozen times. Yusufiy, during an interview at her home in Colorado, said Mateen had seemed perfect American enough for her free spirit and Muslim enough to please her traditional family. "This man was a simple, Americanized guy that was also from my culture. And, you know, had the same religion," she said. "So I was like, OK , this could potentially satisfy my parents." She moved to Florida, and they married in a quiet courthouse ceremony in 2009, but the short-lived marriage was marred by violence and isolation, she said. She had no friends or family in Florida, and Mateen preferred that she stay in the house. She said he sometimes returned from work angry and agitated, including one night when she fell asleep on the floor waiting for him to return home. "All I remember is being woken up by a pillow being taken from under my head," she said. "I hit my head on the ground and then he started pulling my hair. He almost killed me because he started choking me. And I somehow got out of it and I tried to tackle him," she said. The couple separated within a year, and in 2011 Mateen filed for divorce, the NYT report said. The report added that Mateen was one of the people the FBI had spoken to after Moner Mohammad Abusalha, a young American man from coastal Florida drove a truck packed with explosives into a hilltop restaurant in Syria in May 2014. Mateen had attended the same mosque as Abusalha and they knew each other "casually". Mateen had also been on a terrorism watch list for incendiary comments he once made to co-workers at a local courthouse. The NYT said early examination of Mateen's life "reveals a hatred of gay people and a stew of contradictions. He was a man who could be charming, loved Afghan music and enjoyed dancing, but he was also violently abusive." Mateen's family members have said he was not overly religious, but he was rigid and conservative in his view that his wife should remain mostly at home. FBI director James Comey said that Mateen had once claimed ties to both al Qaeda and Hezbollah, two radical groups violently opposed to each other. Mateen had earned an associate degree in criminal justice technology from Indian River State College in 2006, the year he began working for the Florida Department of Corrections at a facility just west of Port St Lucie. Ed Henson, center, the owner of the St. Lucie Shooting Center, makes a statement during a news conference outside his business in Port St. Lucie, Fla., Monday, June 13, 2016. Henson said Omar Mateen legally purchased a long gun and a handgun about a week or so ago but he didn't know on exactly what days. (Photo: AP) Tallahassee, Florida: As in mass shootings elsewhere, the massacre of 49 people at an Orlando nightclub is raising questions about access to guns - assault rifles, in particular. In Florida, buying one is no problem as long as youre 18, a legal resident of the United States, arent a felon or a domestic abuser and have no documented mental health or substance abuse issues. Here are the states basic rules: # All firearm purchases from federally licensed dealers require a background check, regardless of whether the buyer has a concealed weapons permit. # There is no waiting period to buy a rifle. There is a three-day waiting period to buy a handgun, and handgun buyers must be 21 or older. # People charged with or convicted of a felony cant buy guns. Neither can people who have been convicted of two or more DUIs, have been involuntarily committed to a mental health hospital or have a restraining order against them. Whether Florida gets its gun laws right depends on the perspective. Brian Malte, the national policy director for the Brady Campaign, said getting a gun is far too easy in Florida and private sales dont require a background check. The corporate gun lobby seems to use Florida as their example, and unfortunately weve seen what that example has produced, including George Zimmerman, who had a history of violence and an arrest record and yet was able to carry a concealed gun, Malte said, referring to the neighborhood watch volunteer who fatally shot unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin in 2012. Florida is certainly no shining example of gun laws. But former Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Gerald Bailey believes the state gets it right. He ran the agency that conducts background checks for gun purchases. Ive had an opportunity to look at what a lot of states are doing. Florida is ahead of the pack with what theyre doing with firearms, Bailey said. It works as well in Florida as it does anywhere else. Of course, some of the disqualifiers, like mental health and substance abuse, would have to be self-reported if theres no record of the problem. Bailey said people cant be denied a gun just because other people think theyre mentally ill. Not in a free society, he said. There has to be some sort of determination that that person is mentally incompetent. Florida also requires training and a background check before someone can get a license to carry a gun in public. But very few people are denied. There are about 1.6 million concealed weapons permit holders. In the past 19 years, only 24,713 applications have been denied, and 17,557 of those were because the application wasnt filled out properly, not necessarily because the applicant didnt qualify. Former Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Bronson, who ran the agency that issues the permits, doesnt believe gun laws need to be changed. He said assault rifles like the AR-15 Omar Mateen used in the Orlando attacks also are used for legitimate purposes. People use AR-15s to hunt deer, to hunt hogs, to hunt all kinds of game, he said. Think of the over 1 million people that have them and have never misused them, and they want to do away with certain aspects of the gun permitting or buying weapons because of one persons lawlessness. Mateen bought his gun legally at the St. Lucie Shooting Center. Owner Ed Henson declined to discuss the sale or Mateen, who was killed in a shootout with police. The judgement in Stanford sexual assault case received flak from various factions of the society. The university's students held a protest too. (Photo: AFP) Palo Alto, California: A juror who helped convict a former Stanford University student-athlete of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman complained to the judge about his "ridiculously lenient" six-month jail sentence, which the juror said made a mockery of the panel's verdict, a newspaper reported Monday. The Palo Alto Weekly published a letter that the juror sent Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky over the weekend to convey his shock and disappointment over the sentence 20-year-old Brock Turner received. "It seems to me that you really did not accept the jury's findings," he wrote to the judge. "We were unanimous in our finding of the defendant's guilt and our verdicts were marginalized based on your own personal opinion." The man is the first juror to speak publicly about the case. He wrote the letter and spoke to the Weekly anonymously to maintain his privacy in a case that has attracted intense media coverage. The names of the Turner jury's members have not been made public. Juror identities are not routinely released in California after they reach a verdict. In an interview with the newspaper, the juror said he found Turner's contention that the victim had consented to sexual content to be unpersuasive, especially compared to the accounts of the two Stanford graduate students who testified that he ran away when they confronted him on top of the motionless, partially clothed woman. The juror said he also was swayed by a slurred, unintelligible voicemail message the woman had left her boyfriend right before Turner encountered her at a fraternity party. Prosecutors played the recording in court to demonstrate that she was too drunk to give her consent. The juror described himself in his letter to the judge as a recently naturalized citizen and wrote that he took his civic responsibility seriously in what was his first experience on a jury. He said he expected the predominantly male panel's "quick and decisive finding" of guilt to yield a sentence severe enough to deter future campus sexual assaults. "But with the ridiculously lenient sentence that Brock Turner received, I am afraid that it makes a mockery of the whole trial and the ability of the justice system to protect victims of assault and rape," he wrote. "Clearly there are few to no consequences for a rapist even if they are caught in the act of assaulting a defenseless, unconscious person." The juror ended the letter with the words, "Shame on you." Washington: Terror outfits like the ISIS are "perverting" Islam to justify their "murderous, false agenda" as part of which they claim the mantle of the religion to describe themselves as "holy warriors" fighting with the US, the White House has said. "What is true that many of those organisations pervert the religion of Islam to justify their murderous, nihilistic agenda. The President has said that on many occasions. He's been very blunt about what those organisations are trying to do," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters at his daily news conference yesterday. "What they're also trying to do is to claim the mantle of Islam to describe themselves as holy warriors, or religious leaders, engaged in a conflict with the US. "They're wrong about that. That is a false agenda. That is a myth. That is not true. And this administration and the previous administration have gone to great lengths to debunk that myth and make clear that these organisations are seeking to perpetuate a perverted form of Islam," Earnest said in response to a question. His comments came a day after a self-radicalised Afghan-origin youth killed 49 people in Orlando at a gay nightclub. He added that America's "partners in the Muslim world are critical to our success in degrading and ultimately destroying ISIL". "And the fact of the matter is, most of the victims of terror attacks carried out by ISIL are, in fact, innocent Muslim men, women and children," he said, using the alternate acronym for the ISIS. Earnest said there are American Muslims who serve the country loyally, patriotically in armed forces and in the intelligence community to combat this threat and to protect the nation. "In fact, the United States of America was founded on the principle of religious freedom, where people of all religions are welcome here, which makes it impossible that the United States could be at war with any one religion," he asserted. Obama Administration, he argued, has gone to great lengths to debunk that myth, because to perpetuate that myth only gives the terrorists what they want, which is legitimacy. "It's only going to make it harder for us to mobilise the Muslim world to fight this threat. It's only going to make it harder for us to mobilise Muslim religious leaders to make their voices heard online, as they have a responsibility to do, to counter that messaging," he said. "And it's only going to make it likely that some members of the Muslim community in the United States feel isolated and feel stigmatised, which only makes it harder to confront the threat that we face from individuals who might be radicalised," Earnest said. The Obama Administration, he said, is not giving legitimacy to a terrorist organisation that would "love to advance the narrative" that they are somehow holy warriors advancing the cause of Islam by waging war against the US. "That is an utterly baseless myth. It is false. Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi gather for a family photo at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Ufa. (Photo: AFP) Beijing: India is likely to attain full membership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) within a year, Secretary-General of the six-member political, economic and military alliance led by China and Russia said. "For almost a year, we held consultations with top representatives from India. To become a full member of the SCO, the applicant states should adopt all the documents in accordance with the procedures in this country," Rashid Alimov, the Secretary-General, said on Tuesday at the SCO headquarters here. At the Tashkent summit on June 23-24, India will inch a step closer to obtaining full SCO membership, with the signing of a memorandum on the commitments of applicant states. "We have around 30 documents of this kind. The main document is about long term partnership, cooperation and good neighbourhood. In Tashkent, we are expected to sign the document that will take India to the next stage in the process," he said. He added that India will first have to accept all the documents that have been adopted by the SCO member states in the past 15 years which may take some time. "Keeping all the required documentation in mind, a concrete date cannot be set in this regard. It may take six months or a year," Alimov said. While China may be blocking India's bid to join the coveted NSG club, the prospect of its neighbour joining the six-member SCO, often touted as a counterweight to Western alliances, seems promising to the Secretary-General. "I think India is a great country, it has great culture and economy. When it joins the SCO as a full member, the organisation will grow more powerful," Alimov said. India, which has observer status, applied in 2014 for SCO membership, that is expected to allow the country greater access to energy resources in Central Asia and more say in key security initiatives in the Asia-Pacific region. The SCO summit held in Ufa in Russia last year approved inclusion of India and Pakistan to?the list. During the summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made a strong pitch to secure India's entry to SCO with visits to other SCO members Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Calling both India and Pakistan countries with "deep history", Alimov said that the decision to include both nations was a well-thought-out one. "These are both friendly states to all the founding states of the SCO. Both sides have had observer states for 11 years. The decision to grant them full membership is a well- thought conscious decision," he said. "I believe it's natural that the organisation is going to get only stronger with the addition of these two countries," added Alimov. The SCO currently has six member states - China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, with Afghanistan, India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan as observers, and Belarus, Turkey and Sri Lanka as dialogue partners. India and Pakistan are expected to be elevated as regular members. There have been no executions since April last year, with Indonesia saying it was pausing capital punishment to focus on fixing its slowing economy. (Representational Image) Jakarta, Indonesia: Indonesia plans to put 16 convicts to death after next month's Eid holiday, an official said on Tuesday, confirming executions were set to resume after a hiatus. The death row convicts will be executed "immediately after" the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, Mohammad Rum, a spokesman for the attorney-general's office, said, but he did not give a precise date. Ramadan ends with the Eid al-Fitr holiday, which falls in Indonesia on July 6 and 7. Rum did not say who would face the firing squad, but Indonesia has been waging a campaign against narcotics and in 2015 executed 14 drug convicts, mostly foreigners, sparking international outrage. There have been no executions since April last year, with Indonesia saying it was pausing capital punishment to focus on fixing its slowing economy. "We could not do it earlier because the government was trying to improve our economy, but now we will take some action after Eid," Rum said. Rum said the convicts would likely be put to death by firing squad on the prison island of Nusakambangan, off Java, where executions are usually carried out. There are scores of drug convicts on death row in Indonesia, among them foreigners including Frenchman Serge Atlaoui and Filipina Mary Jane Veloso, who were both pulled from the last round of executions. British grandmother Lindsay Sandiford is on death row in Bali after she was caught smuggling a huge stash of cocaine into the resort island. President Joko Widodo declared a war on drugs when he took office in 2014, saying that the country was facing an emergency due to rising narcotics use and traffickers should be severely punished. There were two rounds of executions last year. The second round in April, which saw two Australians, a Brazilian and four Nigerians put to death, caused the most serious diplomatic backlash. Following the executions of the Australian drug smugglers, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, Canberra temporarily recalled its ambassador from Jakarta. Hall was among four people abducted in September last year from aboard yachts at a tourist resort on Samal island in the southern Philippines by the notorious Abu Sayyaf gang. (Photo: AFP) Manila: Philippine authorities on Tuesday confirmed that Muslim extremist guerrillas had beheaded a second Canadian hostage, as they defended their inability to save him despite months of pursuit. "We strongly condemn the brutal and senseless murder of Mr Robert Hall, a Canadian national, after being held captive by the Abu Sayyaf group in Sulu for the past nine months," presidential spokesman Herminio Coloma said in a statement. A military statement also confirmed that a severed head, believed to be Hall's, was found near the Jolo island cathedral last night. "The discovery confirmed the brutal beheading by the evil, criminal ASG (Abu Sayyaf group) of a kidnap victim," the statement added. Earlier, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declared that his government has "every reason to believe" that Hall had been killed by the Abu Sayyaf, the second Canadian captive to be slain this year. Members of the notorious kidnap-for-ransom Abu Sayyaf gang had said they would murder Hall if they did not receive 300 million pesos (USD 6.5 million) ransom by on Monday. Hall was among four people abducted in September last year from aboard yachts at a tourist resort on Samal island in the southern Philippines. Another Canadian kidnapped at the same time, John Ridsdel, was beheaded in April after a similar ransom demand of 300 million pesos was not paid. The fates of the two other people abducted at the Samal resort - Hall's Filipina girlfriend Marites Flor and Norwegian resort manager Kjartan Sekkingstad - were not known. The beheadings have taken place despite the heavy deployment of military and police forces to locate them in the strife-torn island of Jolo, the largest island in the Muslim-populated archipelago of Sulu, about 1,000 kilometres from Manila. Major Filemon Tan, spokesman of military forces in the south, said today that the kidnappers were evading military pursuers with the help of the impoverished Muslim residents of the island. "They have relatives in the community. They are the ones that give them a warning when there are soldiers in the area," he told radio station DZMM. He also said the island's forested, hilly terrain, a broad coastline that allows for swift movement by boat and the kidnappers' tactic of breaking up into smaller groups, were all hindering pursuit. A military statement also confirmed that a severed head, believed to be Hall's, was found near the Jolo island cathedral. (Photo: AP) Manila: Philippine authorities on Tuesday confirmed that Muslim extremist guerrillas had beheaded a second Canadian hostage, as they defended their inability to save him despite months of pursuit. "We strongly condemn the brutal and senseless murder of Mr Robert Hall, a Canadian national, after being held captive by the Abu Sayyaf group in Sulu for the past nine months," presidential spokesman Herminio Coloma said in a statement. A military statement also confirmed that a severed head, believed to be Hall's, was found near the Jolo island cathedral on Monday night. "The discovery confirmed the brutal beheading by the evil, criminal ASG (Abu Sayyaf group) of a kidnap victim," the statement added. Earlier, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declared that his government has "every reason to believe" that Hall had been killed by the Abu Sayyaf, the second Canadian captive to be slain this year. Members of the notorious kidnap-for-ransom Abu Sayyaf gang had said they would murder Hall if they did not receive 300 million pesos (US $6.5 million) ransom by Monday. Hall was among four people abducted in September last year from aboard yachts at a tourist resort on Samal island in the southern Philippines. Another Canadian kidnapped at the same time, John Ridsdel, was beheaded in April after a similar ransom demand of 300 million pesos was not paid. The fates of the two other people abducted at the Samal resort - Hall's Filipina girlfriend Marites Flor and Norwegian resort manager Kjartan Sekkingstad - were not known. The beheadings have taken place despite the heavy deployment of military and police forces to locate them in the strife-torn island of Jolo, the largest island in the Muslim-populated archipelago of Sulu, about 1,000 kilometres from Manila. Major Filemon Tan, spokesman of military forces in the south, said on Tuesday that the kidnappers were evading military pursuers with the help of the impoverished Muslim residents of the island. "They have relatives in the community. They are the ones that give them a warning when there are soldiers in the area," he told radio station DZMM. He also said the island's forested, hilly terrain, a broad coastline that allows for swift movement by boat and the kidnappers' tactic of breaking up into smaller groups, were all hindering pursuit. Pankaj Oswal and his wife Radhika Oswal are fighting the legal battle against the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) for allegedly undervaluing shares of their fertiliser company to recoup millions in debts. Melbourne: A high-profile Indian billionaire businessman misappropriated 150 million dollars from his Australian fertiliser business for personal benefit like acquiring a mansion, luxury cars and his wifes vegetarian restaurant chain, the Supreme Court of Victoria heard on Tuesday. Pankaj Oswal and his wife Radhika Oswal are fighting the legal battle against the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) for allegedly undervaluing shares of their fertiliser company to recoup millions in debts. Philip Solomon, who represented the fertiliser company, told the court that Oswal used over 150 million dollars from the business for his and his wifes benefit, in some instances using fake invoices. Almost all of the 150 million dollars personally benefited Pankaj Oswal and Radhika Oswal, he said, adding that Radhika or management requested or demanded Pankaj pay large sums of money. Pankaj authorised payments, staff, when he clicked his fingers, jumped urgently, Solomon said. It was alleged that the misappropriation included 60 million dollars to a private Burrup trust account, 11 million dollars to a property in the exclusive suburb of Peppermint Grove in Western Australia, several million to parcels of land unrelated to the business and approximately 8 million dollars to Radhikas restaurant chain in London and New York. Solomon alleged Oswal authorised payments for an Aston Martin, 3 million dollars for a boat and 3 million dollars in air travel, including a private jet for his daughter and his daughters friends for a holiday at Monkey Mia. Theyre not fertiliser assets... theyre not for the benefit of fertiliser, Solomon told the court. The misappropriations became rampant in 2010, with over 25 million dollars allegedly misappropriated in one month alone, Solomon said. There were invoices masquerading as true business invoices that were not, on which payments were made and the payments flowed in and quickly out of these entities, he said. Earlier in the ongoing trial, the defence team of Oswal accused ANZ and its senior executives, including former chief executive Mike Smith of racial bigotry in their dealings with the billionaires. The Oswals have sued ANZ bank for 1.5 billion dollars after it allegedly seized and sold their Western Australian fertiliser company for 560 million dollars which the family claim was worth 1.385 billion dollars. The bank has denied the claims and said the Oswals misappropriated 150 million dollars from their Burrup Fertilisers for personal use. Jack Letts, 20, is suspected of being the first white Briton to join the terror group after he left his Oxford home and travelled to Syria last year. (Photo: Facebook) London: The parents of a white British Muslim convert dubbed Jihadi Jack due to his presence in Islamic State (IS) territory in Syria were on Tuesday released on bail after they were arrested on charges of terrorism offences. Justice Saunders described John Letts, 55, and Sally Lane, 53, parents of Jack Letts, at the Old Bailey court in London as two perfectly decent people who have ended up in custody because of the love of their child. Jack Letts' parents were arrested earlier this year and charged with three counts of entering or becoming concerned in an arrangement to make money available, knowing or having reasonable cause to suspect that it may be used for terrorism. Jack's mother was charged with two further counts of attempting to provide money or property knowing or having reasonable cause to suspect it could be used for the purpose of terrorism. John Letts and Sally Lane had been remanded in custody on Thursday after denying they provided money for suspected terrorism and have previously maintained they sent their son money to buy a new pair of glasses. Justice Saunders warned the couple that if they breached the terms of their bail it would be "extremely unlikely" for it to be renewed. Jack Letts, 20, is suspected of being the first white Briton to join the terror group after he left his Oxford home and travelled to Syria last year. His parents are next due to appear at the Old Bailey on June 23. Baghdadi died in an air strike on IS's stronghold of Raqqa in northern Syria in a US-led air attack. (Photo: PTI) Rome: The leader of Islamic States so-called caliphate, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has been killed in an air raid in Syria. Baghdadi died in an air strike on IS's stronghold of Raqqa in northern Syria in a US-led air attack, Iranian state media said. The Iranian media quoted a report from IS-affiliated Arabic news agency al-Amaq. Read: US, Iraqi officials can't confirm reports on ISIS leader Baghdadi's injury "Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed by coalition airstrikes on Raqqa on the fifth day of Ramadan," said the statement. But the US-led coalition did not immediately comment on the report. On Monday, Iraqi TV channel 'Al-Sumaria' had said that Baghadi had been wounded on Sunday in a coalition air strike on a location 65 kilometres west of Mosul, which is held by ISIS terrorists. Western media reports have suggested that Baghdadi has been moved around over the past several months, and had travelled to Mosul. There is a $25 million bounty on his head. The medicines are available to patients battling health problems linked with cancer, multiple sclerosis and epilepsy. (Photo: file) Skopje: Marijuana-derived medicines became legal today in Macedonia, which joined over a dozen European countries that have already authorised the products for certain patients. Medicines containing less then 0.2 per cent of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the plant's main psychoactive ingredient, can now be prescribed by doctors and bought in pharmacies, the head of Macedonia's agency for medicines Marija Darkovska-Serafimovska told reporters. "This will help a huge number of Macedonian citizens that are fighting serious illnesses and have a need for treatment with nature-based products," Darkovska-Serafimovska said. The medicines are available to patients battling health problems linked with cancer, multiple sclerosis and epilepsy. The marijuana-derived products are, however, only accessible under doctors' supervision and with a prescription. "This is not a replacement for medical treatment," Health Minister Nikola Todorov said after parliament passed in May the new law allowing the sales following months of public debate. Other marijuana use remains illegal under Macedonian law. So far 13 European Union nations have legalised marijuana-derived medicines including Austria, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain. London: An Indian-origin employee claims he has been sacked for speaking out against his employers attempts to dodge paying staff the new National Living Wage in the UK. Kumaran Bose, an employee with Kettleby Foods for 12 years, has been backed by his Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) this week over his whistle-blowing. What his managers particularly disliked was his brave decision to stand up for his rights and refuse to accept that he and his fellow workers should be treated so appallingly, BFAWU regional organiser George Atwall said. The Leicester-based firm owned by Samworth Brothers is at the centre of a scandal in which companies have reacted to the introduction of the higher minimum wage in the UK from April 1 this year by cutting workers terms and conditions. The food giant has allegedly slashed overtime, night shift and Sunday rates even cancelling paid tea breaks. The strict rules are set to be highlighted in a television expose by Channel 4s investigative Dispatches programme, which will be broadcast next week. I was the voice of the union, they set me up as an example. This is what will happen to you [if you join]. I feel Ive been dismissed for union activities, Bose told The Times. Bose and union officials say that in some cases workers could be denied up to 2,000 pounds a year in wages. Many were hacked to death with machetes. (Representational Image, Photo: AP) Dhaka : Bangladeshi clerics said on Monday they have issued a fatwa against the killings of minorities and secular campaigners in the mainly Muslim country, where police have arrested over 10,000 people in a crackdown on militancy. Nearly 50 people have been killed over the last three years in a wave of gruesome attacks by Islamist militants targeting Hindus, Christians, Sufi Muslims, activists and foreigners. Many were hacked to death with machetes. Farid Uddin Masuod, who heads the Council of Bangladesh Clerics, said over 100,000 clerics had signed the fatwa, or religious edict, which will be made public on June 18. "The fatwa unequivocally said these killings of non-Muslims, minorities and secular activists are forbidden in Islam," he told AFP. "We've said these killings are illegal and are crimes against humanity," Masuod added. Last week an elderly Hindu priest was found nearly decapitated in a rice field and a Hindu monastery worker was hacked to death, while a Christian grocer was murdered near a church. Other victims have included liberal activists and secular bloggers along with two foreigners and two gay rights activists. The Islamic State (IS) group and a South Asian branch of Al-Qaeda have claimed responsibilities for many of the murders. But the police and the government say they have no presence in the country. The fatwa announcement came as police said they had detained 3,115 people on the fourth day of a nationwide anti-militant drive aimed at stopping the killings, taking the total number to 11,307. Bangladeshi authorities had faced criticism for failing to tackle the violence, but Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina vowed at the weekend to catch "each and every killer". She has accused the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its Islamist party ally, Jamaat-e-Islami, of orchestrating the killings to destabilise the country. 'Acts of terrorism' However, the BNP says 2,100 of its activists have been arrested and accuses the government of using the crackdown to suppress political dissent. Most of those arrested are wanted for criminal offences unconnected with militancy. Deputy inspector general of Bangladesh police A.K.M Shahidur Rahman said just 145 of those arrested were members of Islamist militant groups. Police said they had detained two local leaders of the Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) on the outskirts of the capital with a meat cleaver and some Jihadi books in their possession. Police have blamed the ABT and another homegrown militant group, Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), for most of the murders. Many of the ABT's leaders are highly educated and the group has a reputation for sophistication. The crackdown comes after five suspected Islamist militants were shot dead in gunbattles with police in recent days. It is thought to have been triggered by the murder this month of Mahmuda Begum, wife of a top anti-terror police officer. The officer had led several high-profile operations against the JMB, scores of whose members were among those arrested in the latest sweep. Masuod said the police crackdown was important, but the clerics' fatwa would discredit any Islamist groups that tried to defend the killings. "The fatwa clearly says these killings are not a just part of Jihad, but mere acts of terrorism," he said. Hassan Khan shows the picture of his wife Zeenat Rafiq, who was burned alive, allegedly by her mother, brother at his home in Lahore, Pakistan. (Photo: AP) Lahore: Police on Tuesday arrested the brother of a Pakistani woman for alleging burning her to death in an honour killing here last week. Anees and his mother Parveen allegedly tied Zeenat, 18, to a bed, doused her with petrol and set fire to her on June 8 in Lahore's thickly-populated factory area on Ferozpur Road, for marrying a man of her choice. As her daughter burned, Parveen ran into the street shouting that she had killed Zeenat for "bringing shame on her family". Parveen had told police in custody that her daughter had committed an "unforgivable" crime by marrying a man, Hasan, after eloping with him. "Police today arrested Anees, brother of Zeenat from Lahore," Lahore police spokesman Nayyab Haider said. Parveen and Zeenat's brother-in-law are already in police custody and facing a murder case under terrorism charges. "Anees denied his involvement in the murder. He told police that his mother torched Zeenat while she (Parveen) shut her in a room. I loved my sister," Haider quoted Anees as having said. Zeenat reportedly fell in love with Hasan Khan, who lived in her locality, and asked her parents to accept the marriage proposal. On their refusal, Zeenat eloped with him and contracted a court marriage on May 29. Khan is an ethnic Pashtun while Zeenat was a Punjabi that was said to be the main cause of her family's disapproval. Khan said the two had been "in love since our school days" but the family had rejected several marriage proposals, forcing them to elope. "After living with me for four days following our marriage, her family contacted us and promised they would throw us a proper wedding party after eight days. Then we would be able live together. Zeenat was unwilling to go back to her home and told me that she would be killed by her family, but later agreed when one of her uncles guaranteed her safety," Khan said. Khan said "Parveen told her that she and other family members had forgiven her and she should return to take the blessing of her family. But it was a trap". Last month police arrested five men including a suitor for torching a 19-year-old school teacher in Murree, 35 kilometres from Islamabad, for refusing to marry him. Similarly, police arrested 13 members of a local tribal council including the parents of a teenage girl for first strangulating and later torching her body in Abbotabad for marrying a man of her choice. Some 1,100 women were killed in the name of honour in Pakistan last year. The SCO summit held in Ufa in Russia last year approved inclusion of India and Pakistan to the list. (Photo: AP) Beijing: India is likely to attain full membership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) within a year, Secretary-General of the six-member political, economic and military alliance led by China and Russia has said. "For almost a year, we held consultations with top representatives from India. To become a full member of the SCO, the applicant states should adopt all the documents in accordance with the procedures in this country," Rashid Alimov, the Secretary-General, said yesterday at the SCO headquarters here. At the Tashkent summit on June 23-24, India will inch a step closer to obtaining full SCO membership, with the signing of a memorandum on the commitments of applicant states. "We have around 30 documents of this kind. The main document is about long term partnership, cooperation and good neighbourhood. In Tashkent, we are expected to sign the document that will take India to the next stage in the process," he said. He added that India will first have to accept all the documents that have been adopted by the SCO member states in the past 15 years which may take some time. "Keeping all the required documentation in mind, a concrete date cannot be set in this regard. It may take six months or a year," Alimov said. While China may be blocking India's bid to join the coveted NSG club, the prospect of its neighbour joining the six-member SCO, often touted as a counterweight to Western alliances, seems promising to the Secretary-General. "I think India is a great country, it has great culture and economy. When it joins the SCO as a full member, the organisation will grow more powerful," Alimov said. India, which has observer status, applied in 2014 for SCO membership, that is expected to allow the country greater access to energy resources in Central Asia and more say in key security initiatives in the Asia-Pacific region. The SCO summit held in Ufa in Russia last year approved inclusion of India and Pakistan to the list. During the summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made a strong pitch to secure India's entry to SCO with visits to other SCO members Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Calling both India and Pakistan countries with "deep history", Alimov said that the decision to include both nations was a well-thought-out one. "These are both friendly states to all the founding states of the SCO. Both sides have had observer states for 11 years. The decision to grant them full membership is a well- thought conscious decision," he said. "I believe it's natural that the organisation is going to get only stronger with the addition of these two countries," added Alimov. The SCO currently has six member states, China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, with Afghanistan, India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan as observers, and Belarus, Turkey and Sri Lanka as dialogue partners. India and Pakistan are expected to be elevated as regular members. Last week, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi embarked on a diplomatic journey, travelling halfway across the world with his top goal to garner support for his country's entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group. (Photo: PTI) Beijing: Vehemently opposing India's Nuclear Suppliers Group( NSG) bid, Chinese official media in first comments since China's objection said on Tuesday that New Delhi's membership will not only touch a raw nerve in Pakistan and increase a nuclear arms race but also jeopardise Beijing's national interests. An op-ed commentary in state-run Global Times titled "India mustn't let nuclear ambitions blind itself" said New Delhi's NSG membership will set off a nuclear confrontation in the region. Read: India must engage China for NSG berth "India and Pakistan, both nuclear powers in the region, keep alert to each other's nuclear capabilities. India's application for NSG membership and its potential consequences will inevitably touch a raw nerve in Pakistan, its traditional rival in the region. As Pakistan is not willing to see an enlarging gap in nuclear power with India, a nuclear race is a likely outcome. This will not only paralyse regional security, but also jeopardise China's national interests," said the commentary, the first write-up on the issue since Beijing's opposition to India's bid. Last week, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi embarked on a diplomatic journey, travelling halfway across the world with his top goal to garner support for his country's entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) ahead of the plenary meeting of the group expected to be held in Seoul on June 24. Read: China opposes India's entry into NSG, wants Pakistan too "The US and some NSG members have given a push to India's membership bid, but the reported opposition from most countries, especially China, seems to have irritated India," it said. Reports from Vienna where the NSG is based said that while majority of the 48-member group backed India's membership, China along with New Zealand, Ireland, Turkey, South Africa and Austria were opposed to India's admission. The NSG looks after critical issues relating to nuclear sector and its members are allowed to trade in and export nuclear technology. The group works under the principle of unanimity and even one country's vote against India will scuttle its bid. Read: Pakistan to persuade other members to stop Indias NSG bid: Sartaj Aziz "Beijing insists that a prerequisite of New Delhi's entry is that it must be a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) while India is not. Despite acknowledging this legal and systematic requirement, the Indian media called China's stance "obstructionist"," the commentary said. "India has its own calculations for joining the NSG. Eyeing retaining the fastest growing economy tag, India's access to the NSG, a body that regulates the global trade of nuclear technology, is expected to open up the international market for India's domestic nuclear energy programme. Meanwhile, with the support of the US, India can advance its development in this regard," it said. Read: As Modi comes calling, Mexico backs India's bid to join NSG "The deliberations of the US are also clear. With India's NSG membership, the US, the world's largest producer of nuclear power, can sell its nuclear technology to India. A US company is set to build six nuclear reactors in India, an agreement made between the two countries during Modi's recent visit to the US," it said. Beyond cooperation in the nuclear sector, the US views India as a "balancing actor in its pivot to the Asia-Pacific strategy". Its supply of nuclear technologies to enhance India's deterrence capability is to put China in check, it said. "What is missing in US and Indian motives are concerns for regional security. So far, South Asia is still facing the harsh reality that the region is mired in nuclear confrontation," it said. "China insists on peaceful development. A peaceful regional and global environment is in the interests of all stakeholders. China's concern about India's inclusion into the NSG comes out of the security dynamic in South Asia. "Only when New Delhi and Islamabad take another step forward in their non-proliferation commitments can the region avoid being dragged into a nuclear confrontation," it said. On Sunday, China had said members of the elite club remain divided on the issue of non-NPT countries joining it and insisted that there was no deliberation on the bid by India and other nations at the Vienna meeting. Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz has said that the government's "active and successful foreign policy" has blocked India's entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). He added that New Delhi would not be able to join the group alone. "We have been successful in preventing India from gaining access to the NSG and I am hopeful that whenever it happens, we will both join it together and India will not be able to join the NSG alone," the Dawn quoted Aziz as saying on Monday during a debate in the Senate on an adjournment motion regarding the agreement signed by India, Iran and Afghanistan for development of the Chabahar Port. He also said that he had recently approached many countries, including Russia, Mexico, South Korea and New Zealand, to gain their support on Islamabad's viewpoint that there should be a criteria-based approach while deciding about inclusion of any country into the NSG. Read: Pak seeks Austria, Turkey support for NSG membership On Sunday, Aziz had said that his country has stronger credentials than India for a membership to the 48-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) if they decide to form a uniform criteria for non-NPT states. "If the group forms such a uniform criteria, then Pakistan has stronger credentials for NSG membership than India," said the top minister in an exclusive interview to Dawn. With Prime Minister Narendra Modi building up more support for India's NSG bid, an alarmed Pakistan has been lobbying hard to ensure that India is not allowed into the exclusive nuclear group. Aziz had said the US has formed a policy to 'build up India' as "their entire attention is towards containing the Islamic world and China". The US has been pushing for India's NSG membership while China has been reportedly backing Pakistan's bid to join the nuclear trading club. India, though not a member, enjoys the benefits of membership under a 2008 exemption to NSG rules for its atomic cooperation deal with the US. The NSG looks after critical issues relating to nuclear sector and its members are allowed to trade in and export nuclear technology. The NSG works under the principle of unanimity and even one nation's vote against a country could scuttle its bid. military said. The death of Maj. Ali Jawad Khan was the second fatality from the artillery exchanges at the Torkham crossing on the Afghan-Pakistan border that erupted late Sunday. (Photo: AFP) Peshawar: A Pakistan army major wounded in cross-border clashes near Afghanistan died of his wounds at a military hospital on Tuesday morning, the military said. The death of Maj. Ali Jawad Khan was the second fatality from the artillery exchanges at the Torkham crossing on the Afghan-Pakistan border that erupted late Sunday. The clashes have killed an Afghan border guard and left 18 wounded on both sides. Pakistan's powerful army chief Gen. Raheel Sharif joined Khan's family and relatives for his funeral service in Peshawar later Tuesday. TV footage showed Sharif praying for Khan and consoling with his relatives. Khan's body was to be returned to his hometown of Quetta, the provincial capital, where he will be buried later in the day. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also paid a tribute to Khan, saying he sacrificed his life in defence of his country. Pakistan and Afghanistan have blamed one another for initiating the violence. The Torkham crossing has been closed since the violence erupted and tensions have escalated between the two neighbors. Afghanistan does not recognize the present boundary, the so-called Durand Line, as an international border, and has denounced Pakistan's plans to erect a fence at the crossing. Pakistan's military has said it is "constructing a gate on its own side of the border as a necessary measure to check for unwanted and illegal movement." On Monday, Islamabad summoned Afghanistan's charge d'affaires, Syed Abdul Nasir Yousufi, to complain about the incident, according to Pakistan's Foreign Ministry. Last month, the Torkham crossing was closed over a similar incident and reopened following a meeting between Sharif and Afghan Ambassador Omar Zakhilwal. Police said security forces overnight detained 3,115 more people, claiming 26 of them being militants, as part of the nationwide anti-militant drive aimed at stopping the killings, taking the total number of arrests to 11,648. (Photo: Representational Image) Dhaka: A top militant leader associated with banned Islamist group, JMB was on Tuesday arrested in Bangladesh where over 11,600 have been detained in a nationwide crackdown to halt a spate of deadly attacks on minorities and secular writers in the Muslim-majority nation. The 60-year-old extremist, identified as Garibullah Akand, was arrested in Muktagachha of northern Mymensingh area along with 26 suspected militants, police said. Akand was a close associate of Jamaatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh's executed leader Siddikul Islam Bangla Bhai, Muktagachha police station's chief Fazlul Karim said. Akand was being looked for a number of murder and terrorist charges as an associate of Bangla Bhai, who was executed in 2007 after trial along with three other top leaders of the militant outfit. The arrest was made as police in the capital Dhaka said their detectives nabbed two more militants belonging to banned militant group Ansarullah Bangla Team. Police said security forces overnight detained 3,115 more people, claiming 26 of them being militants, as part of the nationwide anti-militant drive aimed at stopping the killings, taking the total number of arrests to 11,648. "If tallied the number of people detained in the crackdown since Thursday midnight stands at 11,648. Around 145 among them are suspected militants mostly belonging to JMB," a police headquarters spokesman said. Authorities in Bangladesh are under mounting international pressure to halt the violence, which in the past three years have claimed nearly 50 people, Hindus, Chiristians and secular bloggers many of them by machete-wielding attackers. Though most of the attacks were claimed by the Islamic State or its affiliates and other similar extremist groups, the Bangladesh government has repeatedly dismissed the claims and said the attacks were carried out by homegrown outfits linked to the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has vowed to catch "each and every killer". She has accused the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its Islamist party ally, Jamaat-e-Islami, of orchestrating the killings to destabilise the country. However, BNP accused the government of using the crackdown to suppress political dissent. The BNP claimed that more than 2,000 of its leaders and activists have been arrested during the anti-militancy drive. While AAP MLAs have been raising eyebrows over the distribution of pensions by the municipal corporations, the city government's social welfare department is yet to begin a survey verifying the pensioners registered with the three municipalities despite a High Court order. To clear the air about the presence of bogus old age pensioners, the Delhi High Court had asked the city government's social welfare department to start a verification process from June 6. The Social Welfare department of the government of NCT of Delhi shall form a committee of at least five officers apart from the support staff who shall start the verification process from June 6, the June 1 court order had said. A senior official with the Social Welfare department confirmed that the Aam Aadmi Party government has not started the verification process even a week after the date it was supposed to begin. Forming the committee and other preparations for conducting a survey take time, the official told Deccan Herald. The verification process is likely to begin within two weeks, he added. The official said that the department will finish the survey within the deadline, which is six months. Advocate Ashok Agarwal has filed a petition in the High Court seeking old age pensions for over two lakh beneficiaries registered with the Bharatiya Janata Party-run municipal corporations. The High Court had ordered to commence the verification process from June 6, and those verified should be given pension without any delay (on the same day). But the AAP government has not yet started the verification process. This is clear breach of High Court order and amounts to contempt of court, said Agarwal. This shows the government's apathy towards the destitute who depend on the Rs 1,000 amount to make both ends meet, he added. The High Court in its order had said that the municipal corporations should produce all the relevant documents related to old age pensioners before the committee. Each corporation should depute at least two officers and three employees as support staff to assist the committee till the verification process is completed, the court said. Recently, AAP legislator Alka Lamba had alleged in the Delhi Assembly that ghost pensioners were getting pensions. Lamba had alleged that wife of Leader of Opposition in Assembly and municipal councillor Shobha Vijender Gupta had recommended a woman for getting pension when she was not eligible for it. 29-year-old Omar Mateen, who gunned down 49 people at a gay club in Orlando, himself might have been gay but chose to hide his true identity out of anger and shame, his former wife has said as authorities looked into reports that he had visited the Florida club several times and also used a gay dating app. Sitora Yusufiy said she had met Mateen online in 2008 and the two got married in 2009. He "might have been gay but chose to hide his true identity out of anger and shame", she said. A New York Times report cited a senior federal law enforcement official as saying that the FBI was looking at reports that Mateen had used a gay dating app. Patrons of Pulse, the club where he killed 49 people in the worst shooting case in US history, were quoted as saying that he had visited the club several times. Yusufiy said that her ex-husband had told her that he frequented nightclubs before their marriage, but that he did not tell her they were gay clubs. CBS News said in a report that club-goers have told investigators that Mateen had been at Pulse previously. The Orlando Sentinel and other news organizations also quoted regular customers at the gay bar as saying they had seen Mateen there a number of times. "Sometimes he would go over in the corner and sit and drink by himself, and other times he would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent," said Ty Smith, a patron at the bar. Smith said he saw Mateen inside the club at least a dozen times. Yusufiy, during an interview at her home in Colorado, said Mateen had seemed "perfect American enough for her free spirit and Muslim enough to please her traditional family. "This man was a simple, Americanized guy that was also from my culture. And, you know, had the same religion," she said. "So I was like, OK , this could potentially satisfy my parents." She moved to Florida, and they married in a quiet courthouse ceremony in 2009, but the short-lived marriage was marred by violence and isolation, she said. She had no friends or family in Florida, and Mateen preferred that she stay in the house. She said he sometimes returned from work angry and agitated, including one night when she fell asleep on the floor waiting for him to return home. Welcoming the High Court's verdict in favour of their film, "Udta Punjab" co-producer Anurag Kashyap today sought censor board chief Pahlaj Nihalani's removal and overhaul in CBFC. "We have a humongous problem with Mr Nihalani but if he goes who will come in? What's the guarantee that if someone comes in, he will not interpret the Cinematograph Act and the law the same way, or may be worse or better. The system needs overhaul. It is not just Nihalani, who needs to be replaced, which we want," he told reporters here. Kashyap was at the forefront of the fight against the board, which had asked for multiple cuts in the drug-themed drama, directed by Abhishek Chaubey. The producers had moved the Bombay High Court against the the Central Board of Film Certification's decision (CBFC). The court cleared the film for release with just one cut. Kashyap said they were careful in not letting the film get dragged into politics while they were fighting the censorship. "Something that we have consistently seen that in such cases, the issue always gets lost, gets too political and people get too defensive. It kind of loses scope. This fight was about the film, about what we believed in. I think it stayed singular and the industry joined in," Kashyap said. The filmmaker said he has realised that they can win such fights if the industry comes together. "I have never seen so many people come together. Seeing that response somewhere, they have also realised that industry always needed to come together. It became one this time. That has put pressure on them." Kashyap said people get offended easily nowadays and the industry becomes a soft target. "We are soft target and we should stand against this and say 'Stop making us a soft target'." When asked why they were not as vocal as Kashyap on the issue, film's lead star Shahid Kapoor said they were relatively new to the problem and wanted a more experienced voice to defend the film. "I think me and Alia are still new to the censorship issue... So we chose to do it in a way that was as balanced as possible. I think the representation was not from the point of view of what will get more headlines but who will speak better and represent the film better. I have to thank Anurag for doing that," said Shahid. He praised Kashyap for fighting for the movie at a time when he was busy on his own directorial venture's release. "It is a very busy time for a filmmaker. It is very selfless on his (Kashyap's) part," he said. Alaska looked magical. As it was the fall season, most trees in Fairbanks had turned a golden-russet colour and were snow-topped. We stayed in a cottage called Knoll House, 40 km from the Fairbanks city, perched on a small hill and surrounded by the forest, and had lovely views and walkways to ourselves. Our first trip was a cruise ride to take a look at the life of an Alaskan tribe called Athabaskans. It was amazing to note how people adapt to harsh climatic conditions. During winters, when the whole countryside got inundated with snow, they used sled helmed with Alaskan huskies for transport, as without their help, people can easily get lost in the snow wilderness. Moose flesh and other meat was dried and stored for winter. The next trip was to Chena Hot Springs. It was a 2-hour-drive from Fairbanks. Here hot water from very deep was brought up to form a pool. So we had the experience of sitting in a naturally warm pool. As the Aurora Ice Museum was at the same venue, we went in wearing parkas to withstand the extreme temperatures inside. The sculptures took our breath away. There was a huge bar with all paraphernalia completely made of ice! We also went for a dog sledding expedition, experiencing the ride on a sled pulled by a pack of Alaskan huskies, which obeyed the commands of the handler. Later, we spent some time petting the puppies and the handler told us a fascinating fact that psychology plays an important role in the mental makeup of dogs. We spent a whole day at the University of Alaska, enjoying the fine arts complex, especially the native art. We bought mugs of hot chocolate and enjoyed sipping on them, sitting outside the building and looking at the hills tinted golden brown, stretching faraway. Next on our itinerary was a trip to the Arctic Circle, travelling along the Dalton Highway. First we reached the Santa Claus House, North Pole, where Its Christmas everyday. This place is marked for Christmas fun. There is a 42-feet-tall Santa Claus statue, which is the tallest in the world. As we drove across the mighty Yukon River, we saw a herd of caribou crossing. We saw the first signs of snow, got out of the vehicle and clicked several photographs on the snow. The Trans-Alaska Pipeline dominated the view along this highway. At last, we reached the Arctic Circle. We took a long while clicking pictures standing, sitting and climbing on the board saying Arctic Circle. Our driver/guide prepared some hotdogs for us, setting up a temporary table and some chairs, tut-tutting about our being vegetarians and teetotallers and missing out on the wines and non-vegetarian delicacies that Alaska offered. So we had those hotdogs, semi-warm tea from a flask sitting in darkness lit only by some torches. As we travelled back from the Arctic Circle to the Fairbanks city, we could see the violet sky, lit by stars and the snow covered trees glinting silver in the moonlight. This is the image of Alaska that I will always carry in my mind. (The author can be reached at sudharamnath2@rediffmail.com) Filipe Graca hovered over an espresso machine at the British food chain Pret A Manger and frothed out a cafe latte for a customer. Until last year, he had struggled to find any kind of a job in his native Portugal. But when he arrived in London, he was able to work almost right away. So were the young women from Hungary, France and Albania who cheerfully tended the cash registers. And the staff from Poland, Spain and Italy cleaning tables and preparing sandwiches for the lunch crowd. Only one thing seemed to bother them: the prospect that Britain might actually leave the European Union. I dont think the UK will vote for a Brexit, but if they do, it would be bad, said Graca, who was working to help finance his studies for a computer science degree. Look around, he added, gesturing to colleagues who hailed from 10 nations across Europe. Everyone here is from another country. Step into nearly any London restaurant, hotel or retail shop and chances are that most people serving your meal, checking you in or ringing up your sale are not British. Peer inside a construction site, and a hive of nationalities is busy building. Even the British farm vegetables on your plate were probably harvested by European immigrants. As Britain prepares to vote on whether to retain its membership in the European Union, dire warnings have been multiplying about the punch to the British economy, and especially the vaunted financial industry, should the so-called Brexit happen. But some of the hardest-hit businesses are likely to be in the goods and services that Britons deal with every day. For decades, the hospitality, retail, food and construction industries in particular have taken advantage of the blocs rules allowing freedom of movement, meaning Europeans like Graca can work legally in any of the 28 countries that are members. Non-Europeans must obtain work visas under immigration rules that require graduate-level skills and a minimum annual salary of 20,800 pounds. Should Britain leave and start requiring European citizens to clear the same visa hurdles as other foreign workers, three-quarters of the 2.2 million people from other EU countries currently working in Britain wouldnt make the cut, according to the Migration Observatory at Oxford University. More than 90% of the 4,42,000 European migrants working at British hotels and restaurants also would not qualify. While European nationals working in Britain make up just 5% of the 31.5 million-strong workforce, compared to 11% from overseas, they have become a visible flash point in the overall debate about whether and what type of immigration really works for Britain. The leave camp argues that it has been too easy for migrant workers from Europe to waltz into the country and take British jobs. We have absolutely no power to control the numbers who are coming with no job offers and no qualifications from the 28 EU countries, Boris Johnson, the former London mayor, said in a recent speech rallying for a Brexit. British businesses have faced a backlash for hiring them. Greencore, Britains biggest sandwich maker, drew fire for seeking hundreds of Hungarian employees for a new sandwich factory in Northampton, an hour north of London. Pret A Manger, whose stores dot street corners across Britain, has been faulted for employing relatively few British workers. Critics also point to the low wages that many EU workers seem willing to take in labour-intensive industries, especially people fleeing struggling economies. Nearly 40% of the more than 2 million European workers in Britain hail from low-wage nations such as Poland and Romania. And since a debt crisis struck the European south, growing numbers of Italians, Greeks, Spanish and Portuguese have left for a chance at a job in Britain. But for many Europeans grateful to have a job, what is considered a low wage in the eyes of some British is better than what they would get back home. There are no jobs in Portugal, said Graca, who was hoping to be promoted to barista, which pays 9.20 pounds an hour, more than Prets base pay of 8.50 pounds and higher than the 7.20-pound rate considered a living wage. Im here to work and earn money, he said. Any out vote would not force Europeans to leave Britain, at least not right away. For the next two years, the British government would negotiate new treaties with the European Union over labour movement and other matters. Still, with the referendum looming, thousands of workers across the city are bracing for a potentially murky future. Employers are grappling with uncertainty about whether they will be able to hire Europeans as easily as before. Hugely destabilising What we dont know is what is going to be the status of those people going forward, said Keith Howells, the chief executive of Mott MacDonald, a major construction services firm with projects in Britain and worldwide. Around 20% of his workers in Britain are from elsewhere in the EU. Will they be welcome or not? Will they be subject to quotas or wont they? he said. Its potentially hugely destabilising. Around the corner at Suvlaki, a Greek restaurant specialising in grilled meat skewers and stuffed pitas, the owner, Yannis Theodorakakos, was preparing to tally the impact if he needed to obtain work visas for the 13 European citizens working on his staff. It wouldnt be the end of the world, Theodorakakos said. A former banker, he expects that an independent Britain would start operating like Switzerland, whose relationship with the EU is framed by bilateral treaties giving it greater control over immigration. But if I had to use visas in the future to hire from the EU, it would cost us money as employers, he said. That argument riles backers of the leave lobby, who argue that European citizens distort the labour market in part because they are able to come into Britain with virtually no checks and start looking for a job. Recently, Britains popular curry houses aligned themselves with pro-Brexit campaigners, complaining that skilled chefs from places like Bangladesh must get expensive, time-consuming visas while Europeans with little restaurant expertise can work right away. A Brexit would even an unfair playing field, they say. But to those who claim their business could be crippled without European labour, such talk is a feeble diversion from the elephant in the room in the Brexit debate. The fact is were doing jobs that most British people dont want to do, said Anna Pawelec, the manager of Pillars of Hercules, a 150-year-old pub near Soho that has British owners but is run almost entirely by Poles. Most of them wouldnt get out of bed for the money we earn, added Pawelec, standing behind a row of beer taps as the song We Didnt Start the Fire blared from loudspeakers. Foreign people work hard, she added. We contribute hugely to this country. So everyone is thinking the same thing: Dont tell me to leave. With 30,000 cases ready to go to market, Sula Vineyards has announced the launch of Indias first 100% grape brandy JANUS in Karnataka, which will be followed by a launch in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The company initiated the creation of JANUS in 2010, as a part of its joint venture with French winemaker Remy Martin. Having bought out Remy Martin last year, the companys investment in its brandy business is up to Rs 60 crore as on today. Last year, the company made a soft launch of the brandy in Puducherry and Goa, and has sold 1,600 cases of the same between September 2015 and March 2016. Having launched the brandy at Rs 1,999 for 750 ml in Karnataka, the prices in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and the biggest brandy market in India Tamil Nadu are estimated to be at Rs 2,265, Rs 2,390, and Rs 2,500, respectively. The company plans to launch the brandy in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and the North Eastern states by September this year. JANUS is not a volume-driven brand, but a quality-driven one. It has been priced at par with a Black Dog or a Teachers bottle because the taste is also at par, said Yogesh Mathur, Vice President (Manufacturing), Sula Vineyards. Brandy claims about 5% of the liquor market in India, and the companys focus is now on creating a market for 100% grape brandy, where patrons are accustomed to variants with minimal grape content, he added. These markets are heavy on whisky, but we are hoping that owing to its superior tase, JANUS will be able to convert a good portion of it. The brand has performed really well in blind tastings, when compared with whisky, he added. Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said that the country is talking to other gas consuming countries to have a reasonable pricing mechanism. We must have a co-operation between all the LNG and gas consuming countries, we must create a situation for a reasonable, rational and affordable price. India is taking the lead to create a network between these major gas consumers, Pradhan said on the sidelines of the Gateway of India dialogue. According to Pradhan, India is looking to be an energy hub for itself as well as its neighbouring countries. India wants to have an energy base for its own consumption and neighbouring Asian countries, Pradhan added. We are preparing ourselves as an energy hub for a lot of Asian countries. We are already connected to Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan and are now talking to Myanmar, Pradhan said. It is not going to be an easy task for Chief Minister Siddaramaiah when he goes for a rejig of council of ministers. While the muhurat for the reshuffle is yet to be finalised, many senior ministers have already begun lobbying to somehow retain their position. Political circles are abuzz with speculation on the ministers who are going to be axed and those who are going to make it to the ministry. But neither Siddaramaiah nor State Congress chief G Parameshwara has dropped any hints as to who would be shown the door. However, Siddaramaiah on Wednesday ruled out seeking resignation of all the ministers at Wednesdays council of ministers meeting which he has convened. He insisted that the meeting would focus only on policy matters. There is no Kamaraj or Anna Dorai plan to take mass resignation of ministers, he told reporters on Tuesday. Ministerial aspirants are many and incumbents are in no mood to step down to make way for others. All the 33 berths are full. The chief minister while picking his team has considered various factors including his likings, caste and regional representation. Going by the reports, Siddaramaiah is not too keen on continuing Labour Minister B T Parameshwar Naik and Minor Irrigation Minister Shivaraj Tangadagi. Both belong to the Scheduled Castes. But it would be difficult to remove both of them at once because of caste considerations. It is said that senior leader Mallikarjun Kharge wants the newly elected MLC R B Thimmapur to be made a minister. But that would be difficult because Social Welfare Minister H Anjaneya as well as Thimmapur belong to the SC (left). Anjaneya is close to another senior leader Oscar Fernandes. The list of non-performer ministers who may be shown the door include Qamarul Islam, Baburao Chinchansur and Kimmane Ratnakar, it is said. But even senior ministers H K Patil, R V Deshpande, S R Patil and Roshan Baig are on tenterhooks and were in Delhi to convince party leaders as to why there should be no large-scale changes. RD&PR department headed by H K Patil has witnessed major financial irregularities, while Ratnakar had to face tough time due to PU chemistry question paper leak. It is said that Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa and senior legislator K R Ramesh Kumar, who have been nurturing the hope of becoming ministers, may meet their goal. It is also said that Siddaramaiah has sought the high commands approval for roping in some senior ministers for party work and induct youngsters in the council of ministers. Among the youngsters, the names of newly elected MLC Rizwan Arshad and MLAs Dr K Sudhakar, Priya Krishna and Priyank Kharge are doing the rounds. The reason for convening the council of ministers meeting (wherein those with minister-of-state rank also attend) on Wednesday instead of the state Cabinet (where only Cabinet ministers attend) is to ensure participation of all ministers. Six subjects including supplying fortified rice to schoolchildren under the mid-day meal scheme are on the agenda. Siddaramaiahs weekend visit to Delhi to meet Congress chief Sonia Gandhi stays, according to the sources in the Chief Ministers Office. BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa on Tuesday denied the BJP had entered into an understanding with the Congress for the Legislative Council polls. Yeddyurappa was reacting to JD(S) leader H D Deve Gowdas comment on Sunday that just to win a single Council seat, the BJP had tied up with the Congress. Gowda had added that the BJP did this while Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been saying India would be free of Congress. The BJP leader said there was no understanding with the Congress to ensure the BJPs second candidates win in the Legislative Council polls. We had an understanding with the Independents for our second candidate for the Council polls. We had no tie-up with the Congress. I do not know on what basis Gowda made the statement, Yeddyurappa stated in a press release. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah visited more than nine places in the city covering almost 50 km in less than three hours, leading to trafficf snarls. At Kanteerava Studio, an ambulance that was stuck was freed after the police diverted the CMs convoy. Meanwhile, the chief minister said he would go on city rounds once a month. Book BBMP Meanwhile, the chief minister said cases could be registered against BBMP or any government agency, if potholes claim lives. There are many reasons for accidents and potholes account for some of them. Sometimes, it could be due to speeding and negligent driving. Between 1972 to 1980, I used to ride on my Vespa scooter in Mysuru and Bengaluru. I met with no accidents and it does not mean there were no potholes, he quipped. He also said he would talk to the police if a family member of an accident victim is sent to jail. Projects CM inspected Retaining wall for drain in front of Mysuru Road satellite bus stand being built at a cost of Rs 6.5 crore. Raising height of bridge near Gali Anjaneya Temple, Mysuru Road to flyover level to prevent water flow into temple. CM sets 20-day deadline and prays at temple. Remaining portion of bridge at KAVIKA junction, on Mysuru Road, which is delayed because of a rock. Siddaramaiah orders completion of work by July-end. SRS road to Peenya Industrial area, where the BBMP has acquired land to widen road. This will reduce distance between Tumakuru Road and Peenya industrial by 10 km. The Rs 5-crore project to be ready by August. Delayed Jalahalli flyover, where BDA needs 10.5 guntas for the down ramp. The project hads been delayed by more than eight years. Flyover will connect Tumakuru Road and Hebbal. Siddaramaiah asks DC (Land Acquisition) BDA Vasanth Kumar to hand over compensation to residents and threatened to suspend him. Hennur overbridge: Chief Minister hoped to complete land acquisition in a month Telecom Layout near HRBR layout: Remodelling of storm water drain at a cost of Rs 540 lakh. Hennur tree park: Chief Minister said the 32-acre park is being developed at a cost of Rs 5 crore. More than 75% of work, including planting saplings, laying pathways and benches complete. He said the government would celebrate Environment Day here on July 15. On public demand, Siddaramaiah proposed to name it after Basavalingappa. Challakere in KR Puram constituency: Siddaramaiah said the government has released Rs 25 crore to develop the lake. Spurred by the national award for its solar rooftop installation project, Bescom has set a target of generating 50 MW through installations by year end. Bescom consultant Satish Kumar, who received the award on behalf of the company, from Minister of State for Power, Coal and New and Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal in New Delhi recently, told Deccan Herald, The state was selected for the award because the installation and power generation is purely done by people,without any government support. Of the 7 MW being generated by rooftop installations, 80% of it is generated in Bengaluru while the remaining is from the installations in Kolar, Chikkaballapur, Ramanagaram and Channapatna. The Bescom has set a target of generating 50 MW by year end and hopes to reach 100 MW in next three years. Interestingly, the demand for the installations from poultries in rural areas is very high. The company wants to tap the potential in this sector and aims to generate one MW from this sector, he said. The Bescom consultant added that it would take at least six months to generate one MW of power, and one 10X10 feet rooftop installation can generate 1kW power. Kumar said, Bescom won the award because the rooftop installation project is driven by the people and like in other states, no government funds are involved in it. Tamil Nadu Electricity Board generates 30 MW but it is funded by the state government under various government schemes. In Bengaluru, the installations at St Jospeh's College is generating 100 kW. About 30 to 40 kW power is being generated by the installations on the residence of Energy Minister D K Shivakumar. The installations at Chinnaswamy Stadium generates 400KW, he added. Scientists at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru have proposed a new force sensor that can detect changes in forces as small as 10 nano-Newtons - thats 100 millionth of a Newton, the unit of force. The proposed sensor uses a special crystal with specific resonation characteristics that can sense these tiny forces. Sensors that detect small forces are used in the fields of chemical sensing, bio-sensing, temperature sensing, humidity sensing, pressure sensing and stress sensing. An eight-member team from the Department of Electrical Communication Engineering and the Center for Nano Science and Engineering headed by Prof T Srinivas, associate professor, Department of Electrical Communication Engineering, IISc, is behind this innovation. Though not the first of its kind, it is a novel innovation nevertheless. It is better than the existing ones as it has greater sensitivity, said Prof Srinivas. With the right additions and refinement, this proposal can be adopted to any field that requires sensing nanoscale forces, said a release from IISc. A chargesheet was filed against 12 students late on Monday night for staging a protest against the attempts at saffronisation of Rajasthan University recently. The students, including those from National Students Union Of India (NSUI), held a protest on June 6 outside the university main gate against the 'saffronisation of education and change in question paper pattern in examination by the BJP-led state government. The protesters cited as example question number 16 of the MA Rajasthan Literature, Language and culture paper, which asked students to Discuss the ideology and policies of BJP. Shocked over the prompt police action, Satveer Choudhary, President of NSUI and one of the accused, said: We were waiting for compilation of the report by the investigation committee formed by the university. The early charge-sheet suggests that the BJP wants to shut the issue. The charge-sheet has been filed under Sections 143 (punishment for unlawful assembly), 180 (refusing to sign statement) and 283 (danger or obstruction in public way) of the Indian Penal code. The accused, however, have been granted bail. According to the sources, the grievance committee is yet to meet and hence the investigations into the incident is yet to begin. J P Singhal, vice-chancellor of Rajasthan University, told DH: Such matters are solved by the grievance cell comprising syndicate members. I am not updated on this front. Calling it the BJPs tactic to curb the silent protest, state Congress committee vice-president Archana Sharma said: The BJP wants to impose its ideology on students. The question paper of MA II semester clearly suggests that the party wants youngsters to write and focus on its created icons hence leading to saffronisation. Shashi Sahay, Dean, Student Welfare of Rajasthan University, told DH: We are keeping a tab on the activities taking place within the student groups and making it a point to maintain peace in the university. Earlier, too, the Congress and many social groups of Rajasthan held the BJP responsible for saffronising higher education by deleting references to former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, and even Mahatma Gandhi, from history books. The Centre has decided not to release any financial assistance, including student scholarships, to universities and colleges not registered with the public finance monitoring system (PFMS). The University Grants Commission (UGC) has toughened its stand as a large number of higher educational institutions were yet to join the system despite repeated requests since April last year. The system has been created by the Finance Ministry for online transfer and management of funds to ensure transparency. Henceforth, beneficiary institutions will not receive any financial assistance from the UGC unless registered on PFMS portal, vice chairman of the higher education regulator H Devaraj said. The Centre decided to bring all universities, colleges and other higher educational institutions under the PFMS from April 1, 2015 for timely release of funds to state governments as well as beneficiaries of various central sector schemes. Disbursal of student scholarships directly to their bank accounts under direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme was also brought under the ambit of PFMS. To bring all the higher educational institutions on board, the UGC requested them to digitize records of all the students availing scholarships under various schemes of the commission. It also held at least two interface meetings with the universities in last seven months for collection of the students details, including their bank account information. A number of grant-in-aid bills related to old manual cases are still lying pending as the beneficiary university and institutions are still not mapped or registered on the PFMS portal, a UGC official said. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was afraid of the AAP and blamed him for the Presidents decision to deny assent to a bill that protects 21 MLAs appointed as parliamentary secretaries. Modi is scared of the AAP and not afraid of the Congress, said Kejriwal, adding that parliamentary secretaries in Delhi alone were being targeted while those in other states were permitted to function. Selective targeting of parliamentary secretaries in Delhi shows political motives, the Aam Aadmi Party leader said. Modis strategy is to not work himself and not let others work, he said. If we are extracting additional work from the 21 legislators without paying an additional penny, what is wrong in it, Kejriwal said. If people are disqualified and made to sit at home, what will they (Centre) gain, the chief minister said. There are 24 parliamentary secretaries in Punjab and they get a salary of Rs 1 lakh, car and bungalow. Our parliamentary secretaries get nothing, he said. The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party were quick to demand Kejriwals resignation over the controversial appointment of parliamentary secretaries. Kejriwal should cast away the pretence of honesty and integrity as he has no right to remain in power, said Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken. Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Vijender Gupta said: Kejriwal should resign on moral grounds for the unconstitutional appointment of parliamentary secretaries." Kejriwal said President Pranab Mukherjee was being presented as the face behind the decision to reject the bill, but the real brain behind it was the Union Home Ministry. I doubt if the documents even reach the President, he said. The name of President is used in the decision as a formal practice that is done even in the appointment of IAS officers whose appointment letter says that President is pleased to appoint so and so, he said. Mukherjee has refused to give assent to the Delhi Members of Legislative Assembly (Removal of Disqualification) Act, 1997 that aims to protect with retrospective effect the party MLAs appointed parliamentary secretaries from disqualification under office of profit provisions. In her first meeting with PM Narendra Modi after her re-election, Jayalalithaa has urged the Centre to constitute the Cauvery Management Board and restrain Karnataka from building dams across the river at Mekedatu. The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister presented a 29-point memorandum containing all major demands of the state during Tuesdays meeting with Modi in New Delhi. She pointed out that on February 19, 2013, the Centre notified the final order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal dated February 5, 2007. The Tamil Nadu government has since been urging the Centre to set up the CMB and Cauvery Water Regulation Committee to effectively implement the Tribunals final order, Jayalalithaa noted in the memorandum. On the Mekedatu Scheme, the Chief Minister said Karnataka has called for an expression of interest to construct two reservoirs in total violation of the Cauvery Tribunals final order. "I request Government of India to advise Government of Karnataka not to proceed with the project as this would violate the Final Order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal", she said. With the President declining assent to a bill passed by the Arvind Kejriwal government enabling it to appoint 21 Delhi MLAs as Parliamentary Secretaries, a long legal battle is likely. All eyes for now is set on the Election Commission for it has to decide a petition seeking disqualification of those MLAs for enjoying the Office-of-Profit. Though the AAP government claimed that the MLAs, appointed Parliamentary Secretaries, were not taking a single penny, there are many apparent legal deficiencies as the Delhi government brought the bill in this regard with retrospective effect. The Delhi Members of Legislative Assembly (Removal of Disqualification) Bill, 2015 was passed by the Delhi Assembly in June 2015 with effect from February 2015. The bill intended to amend the provision that the office of Parliamentary Secretary, hitherto, provided to the chief minister, would also include other ministers and would be exempt from disqualification. The main arguments against such appointment is that it went against Article 239 AA of the Constitution, which fixed ceiling of 10% on the number of ministers of the total number of seats in the Assembly of a state and Union territory. It is also seen as nothing but extending the privileges to some of the Members of Legislative Assembly who could not make it to the Council of Ministers. It is also argued that the move is nothing but elevating a good number of MLAs to the position of ministers under the guise of Parliamentary Secretary in violation of the Constitution. Notably, similar decision by other state governments to appoint MLAs as Parliamentary Secretaries faced legal challenge. The Karnataka governments move to appoint 10 Parliamentary Secretaries and Punjab and Haryana governments decision to give such posts to 19 and 4 MLAs, respectively, in the past were challenged in the court. The Goa (2009) and West Bengal governments decision (2015) were quashed by the high courts. Union Minister for Environment and Forests Prakash Javadekar on Tuesday promised to extend all help to rejuvenate the lakes in Bengaluru and asked the Karnataka government to complete the task in a time-bound manner. Reviewing the progress of the lake revival programme in Bengaluru, along with the officials of the Ministry of Environment and the state government, Javadekar advised Karnataka to take steps to block the entry of sewage water into lakes by setting up sewage treatment plants and de-silt water bodies frequently. The government should involve local communities for the maintenance of lakes, he said. In the meeting attended by Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Ananth Kumar and Karnataka Forest and Environment Minister Ramanath Rai, state officials made a detailed presentation on the steps taken to rejuvenate the lakes. Emerging from the meeting, Javadekar said that in the first phase, the state government will rejuvenate Agara, Puttenahalli and Madivala lakes as a model project in two years. On its successful completion, other lakes in the city will be developed in a phased manner. The Union government will provide funds for the project under the Centrally-sponsored Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation, he said. Karnataka Forest Minister Ramanath Rai said the government had suggested to the Centre to amend the law suitably to punish those who pollute lakes by dumping residential and industrial waste. The state government changed the nomenclature of Lake Development Authority to Lake Conservation and Development Authority by giving more powers to the agency and bringing more lakes under its ambit, Rai explained. He said the state government plans to utilise a portion of the Rs 5,100-crore loan borrowed from Japan International Cooperation Agency for providing drinking water in the 110 newly added villages under the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike and to set up sewage treatment plants at lakes. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Tuesday reiterated her stand on Goods and Services Tax by saying that it would impact the fiscal autonomy of states like Tamil Nadu. Jayalalithaa called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on her first visit to New Delhi after winning a second consecutive term. The Centre, however, looked for AIADMKs support for the passage of GST Bill in the Rajya Sabha. But, the AIADMK chief raised her state's objection saying: ...expect big revenue loss for manufacturing state like Tamil Nadu. Jayalalithaas comment came hours after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said after a meeting of state finance ministers in Kolkata that virtually all states except Tamil Nadu have supported the idea of GST. In a memorandum handed to the Prime Minister, Jaya said, "A number of concerns of Tamil Nadu need to be addressed by the Centre on GST... petroleum products must be kept out of GST." The PM is keen on AIADMK's support for the GST as it has 13 MPs in the Rajya Sabha. The bill for a pan-India GST for overhauling India's indirect tax regime has been passed by the Lok Sabha but is stalled by the Congress in the upper house where the ruling NDA lacks a majority. The Finance Minister is counting on persuading the AIADMK chief to facilitate the passage of the bill during the monsoon session next month. The BJP is hoping that her party will abstain during the voting so that the bill is passed with enough numbers as the Trinamool Congress, Biju Janata Dal, Janata Dal (United), Samajwadi Party and the Left are willing to back the legislation with some changes. Jayalalithaa, who arrived in the afternoon, met 50 of her party MPs, the largest regional group in Parliament, before she drove to PM's 7, Race Course Road residence. Israeli operator Cellcom is demanding ILS900 million ($233 million) from smaller competitor Golan Telecom as compensation after it pulled out of merger talks to work with another company. Last year, Cellcom attempted to negotiate a merger with Golan but a potential deal was stymied by opposition from the countrys regulators as well as its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, as it ran against attempts to foster greater competition in the market. After this setback, Cellcom was trying to negotiate an arrangement whereby Golan could continue to use its networks. However, Golan has now opted to partner with cable TV provider Hot, which is also Israels fourth largest mobile operator. Owned by French cable firm Altice, Hot has stated that it is looking to sign a ten-year agreement with Golan. Cellcom confirmed that it has taken note of the deal Hot has made for the provision of hosting services to Golan Telecom on the network used by Hot, and financing arrangements to be provided by Hot, adding that the agreement essentially violates the share purchase agreement (SPA) and national roaming agreement (NRA) that Cellcom has in place with Golan. Such a violation resulting with the transfer of any of Golans customer traffic on Hots network, if not cured would mean that Cellcom was within its rights to terminate the SPA and claim compensation. While it did agree to acquire Golan for ILS1.17 billion, Cellcom stipulated at the time that if the deal did not close then Golan would have to pay it a ILS150 million termination fee on top of ILS450 million for the use of its network. Factoring in ILS300 million that Golan received from Cellcom as part of the roaming agreement, the total due is ILS900 million. Cellcom stated that should Golan fail to remedy all such breaches within the time frame set in the agreement, the company will take all actions available to it under the SPA, NRA and applicable law, against them. A substantial reduction of the future revenues from Golan Telecom will have a material adverse effect on the companys revenues and results of operations. Launched in 2012, Golan is an ultra low-cost operator, with a market share of around 10%. It is aiming to leave the market; to that end, Leader Capital Markets analyst Sabina Levy was quoted as saying that the agreement with Hot is just part of the negotiation process with Cellcom that is meant to strengthen Golans bargaining position. Cellcom leads the Israeli market with a share of around 27%, while Golan is the markets smallest operator, behind Hot Mobile as well as numbers two and three, Orange (Partner) and Pelephone (Bezeq). China Mobile has signed a 1.36 billion ($1.5 billion) one-year contract with Nokia. The agreement will see the Finnish vendor deploying its latest AirScale base stations across the country as it aids China Mobiles transition to a flexible cloud architecture for its network. China Mobile will be the first operator to deploy these base stations, which enable the simultaneous function of several radio technologies, as well as purportedly delivering scalability for 5G speeds and IoT functionality. Nokia will also provide additional elements of its mobile radio access and core portfolio in addition to fixed access, IP routing and optical transport, customer experience management, operational support system (OSS) and third party products as well as its global Services expertise. Following its acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent for $17.6 billion, Nokia has seen a 9% drop in Q1 revenue, with the mobile networks revenue for the combined entity falling 15% year-on-year. The vendor is reportedly implementing a global redundancy programme in which it will cut as many as 15,000 jobs. The deal is therefore timely for Nokia, and going on past form, the contract has been awarded early China Mobile has signed $1 billion deals with Nokia for the past few years every October. Nokia noted that the firms have worked together since 1994. Nokia Networks China president Mike Wang said that the deal strengthens Nokias position as a leading provider of next-generation technologies in China, and reflects our larger footprint in the country following the acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent. China Mobile is the worlds largest mobile operator, with around 634 million connections in its home market. As a tech journalist, it is very hard to fanaticise over a particular brand, a company, or a technology platform. On one hand, objectivity is key to our profession, but on the other, when it comes to technology, its tough not to judge. That is exactly why, a long time before I made a career out of my love for technology, I became an Apple fan. Like most other Apple loyalists, I have owned/used almost everything the company made after the iPod. I studied their timeline of products, their elaborate history of evolution, and of course, I admired (no matter what anyone would say about him) the ingenious Steve Jobs. Yes, I was an Apple fan, but now, I am slowly losing faith in the Cupertino tech giant, especially after everything that was announced at this years Worldwide Developers Conference. To add to Apples (and my) woes, WWDC 2016 was streaming live at the same time as E3, the worlds biggest gaming event of the year, and unfortunately, WWDC was a yawn fest in comparison. The keynote kicked off by Apple CEO, Tim Cook, setting the agenda for what was to follow - a spate of 'not so amazing' announcements across the companys various operating systems. To start with, watchOS3 was hyped up as a game changer, and it was actually said that you will have an all new watch after the proposed update. Yes, app loading will be 7 times faster on the Apple Watch, the new Scribble keyboard will let you reply to messages directly from the watch, the SoS feature will allow users to call emergency services and navigating the tiny square is now easier. But, in all honesty, I still dont feel I will have an all new watch thanks to these minor UI, navigation tweaks. I was happy with the pre-determined suggestions for replying to messages. How many of us will actually sit down and draw out single characters on the watch screen, in hopes of the watch recognising them to form a word, and then a message. Whats also important to note here is that using the Scribble feature would actually require you to stop, scribble and then resume whatever you were doing, taking away from the core functionality of using the watch on the go. I was happy with voice replies and would have liked to see that getting smarter, with the integration of bots for predictive responses, like the one introduced in the QuickType Keyboard for iOS. What irked me the most was a sort of insensitive and obviously not well researched claim made the company about wheelchair users. Many wheelchair users already have an Apple Watch, said, Jay Blahnik, Director of Fitness and Health technologies for Apple. I for one would love to see some data supporting this claim Apple. I dont know about wheelchair users in the US, but I can assure you that the percentage of wheelchair users sporting the Apple Watch in India is below 1%. I imagine the scenario is similar if you look at wheelchair users across the world. Secondly, changing Time to Stand to Time to Roll, for wheelchair users definitely does not deserve a drum roll, especially given the unreliability to fitness data from the watch in general. Try this, wear an Apple Watch and move your hand around while you sit comfortably. Now check your step count. You will notice that your step count has gone up considerably, without you even moving an inch. One day, I was literally lying in bed having an animated conversation, and the watch informed me that I achieved my days goal of walking! But enough about the watchOS3. Lets move on to some other announcements on iOS and Siri. Siri is getting smarter, is now open to developers and is all set to make its debut on the newly names macOS. So, you will soon be able to call an Uber or reply to a WhatsApp message using Siri, but thats so Google in 2015! Whats sad is that Apple is making all these upgrades as a follow up to what companies like Google, Facebook have already done. Viv, the new personal assistant created by Siri Co-Founder, Dag Kittlaus, can easily beat Siri at complicated queries even now. Predictive type on the QuickType keyboard is also a leaf taken from the Google Assistant and GBoard for iOS. Yes, allowing third-party apps to post GIFs, stickers and emojis on iMessage is a good business decision for Apple, but hardly a revolutionary upgrade for the iOS user. Even when it comes to Maps, Apple patted its shoulder for the ability to zoom out and see traffic conditions ahead on a route. Really Apple! What about improving and growing the reach of Maps first? Theres nothing Apple has done with maps that Google has not already mastered. I want my Apple Maps to function before I start ordering Ubers through it and pay for them using Apple Pay. Infact, dont even get me started on the slow, phased rollout of the Apple Pay service. Apple has made it quite clear that it wants to find firm ground in India (thanks to Tim Cooks repeated India visits), but clearly we arent good enough for Apple Pay, which our other Asian neighbours can now enjoy. Whats even more ironic is that Apple actually has a Maps development center in India, and I cant navigate from my house to my office using the same. All in all, I now have to admit something with a heavy heart. Apple has proved this time, a statement I have been defending for the past 5 years - Apple is no longer leading innovation, its just following it. Google's latest Android Wear 2.0 will not be available to some of the first generation Android Wear smartwatches People who purchased first generation Android Wear smartwatches are in for some bad news. Recently, Google announced Android Wear 2.0 at its developer conference, I/O, with various new features. While Google has not yet made any official announcement regarding which smartwatches will receive the new Android Wear 2.0 upgrade, it seems like some of the first generation Android Wear smartwatches will be missing out on the it. Korean OEM LG has stated that the original LG G Watch is not on the current software list, and wont be receiving any updates. Motorola, too, has stated that its first generation Moto 360 smartwatch will not be receiving the update as well. Although Samsung hasnt spoken about the Gear Live yet, one can assume that it will be going the same route as other OEMs. Considering the LG G Watch has the same Snapdragon 400 SoC as most newer smartwatches like the Huawei Watch, this comes as a bit of a surprise for most people. Recently, it was found that fitness bands were primarily driving the wearable market in India, and smartwatches have seen limited acceptance. In other news of innovation among smart wearable gadgets, Microsoft has recently spoken about opening up Windows 10 to be unlocked by wearable devices made by third party manufacturers, and not just the Microsoft Band. This move has reportedly been undertaken to improve user experience by using wearable gadgets at hand. Such functionalities are also expected to gradually increase the market share that smartwatches and fitness bands hold. @konrad_it Sorry it's not on our current software update list and it's been discontinues. ^JK LG USA Mobile (@LGUSAMobile) May 24, 2016 Recent opinion polls reignited market concerns about a Podemos-led government in Spain, but that was still far from a done deal, although the possibility did exist now of a costlier budget battle with Brussels , strategists at SocGen said. Nevertheless, should those polls prove correct then Spains Socialist party, which is known by the acronym PSOE, could see itself pushed into the role of king maker and be made to choose between supporting Podemos or a Grand Coalition, the broker said. In turn, the likelihood that PSOE would end up as a minority partner meant it faced significant risks of its base of support being weakened at the next elections. In any case, the formation of a new government in Madrid was likely to be a drawn-out process and would likely to take a few months, SocGen analyst Yvan Mamalet said in a research report sent to clients. That would add to the uncertainty-induced economic slowdown in the country and lead to a more challenging showdown with Brussels on the Spanish budget, the broker said. Note that the lack of stable government (or lack of government at all) in the context of the looming EU Commission decision on the Spanish budget (due during the summer) will no doubt add to the uncertainty shock and hence negatively impact GDP growth further. The political instability will make any adjustment to the 2016 and 2017 budgets challenging, further increasing the chance of sanctions from the EU Commission. The man who killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida was reportedly a regular at the club and used gay dating apps. Omar Mateen, 29, opened fire at Pulse nightclub on early Sunday morning, killing dozens and injuring about 53 people. The massacre was the deadliest shooting in US history. Former customers at Pulse said they had seen Mateen drinking at the nightclub on several occasions. Ty Smith told the Orlando Sentinel on Monday: "Sometimes he would go over in the corner and sit and drink by himself, and other times he would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent. "We didn't really talk to him a lot, but I remember him saying things about his dad at times. He told us he had a wife and child." Kevin West, a 37-year-old Navy veteran and regular at the nightclub, told the LA Times that Mateen had messaged him on gay dating app Jackd, but they never met. When West saw photographs of Mateen after the shooting he went straight to the police station and identified Mateen to FBI officers. Cord Cedano, 23, told to the Washington Post that he had also seen Mateen at Pusle and was contacted by him a year ago, It was definitely him. Hed come in for years, and people knew him. He was open with his picture on the sites; he was easy to recognise. Mateens former classmate Samuel King also told the Washington Post that Mateen had known that he was gay and many of his friends were but he never said anything. He had to know it, but I never got any sense of homophobia or aggression from him. Mateens father, Seddique Mateen said to the Palm Beach Post that he was not gay.If he was gay, why would he do something like this? Sitora Yusufiy, Mateens ex-wife told reporters that Mateen had been violent and abusive towards her and she believed him to be mentally ill. When CNN asked her if she thought Mateen was gay she said that she did not know. On Monday several vigils across the world were held for the victims of the massacre. Thousands gathered outside the Dr Phillips centre in Orlando. President Obama is due to visit Orlando on Thursday to visit victims families. In London, a huge crowd gathered in Old Compton Street, Soho on Monday waving rainbow flags. Losses in lenders' shares weighed on the main European equity benchmarks, as investors continued to move to factor-in a greater risk of Brexit as the latest poll results continued to roll-in. The pan-European Stoxx 600 finished down by 1.84% or 6.12 points at 326.80, with banks leading industry decliners, ending down by 2.7%. In London, the FTSE 100 lost 1.16% to finish at 6,044.97, Frankfurts DAX was lower by 1.80% at 9,657.44 and in Paris the CAC 40 slipped 1.85% to 4,227.02. An ORB poll for The Independent, released early in the evening on 10 June, put support for the 'Leave' camp. at ten full percentage points ahead of 'Remain'. Soon afterwards, Betfair announced the chances of the UK remaining inside the EU had shifted from 75.0% at the end of the previous week to 68.5%. The declines in Europe followed on from a dire day in Asia, where Japans Nikkei 225 ended the session in the red by 3.51%, alongside another 0.75% drop in the US dollar/yen to 106.17. Asian markets were tattered as investors are concerned about the spike in volatility, and this has impacted the mood in Europe, noted Think Forex UK chief market analyst Naeem Aslam. There are a few reasons for this - the strength in the Japanese yen has spooked investors over in Asia, while, the [Brexit] referendum is pressing investor appetite for riskier assets in Europe, and traders are wary about the upcoming Fed meeting this week in the US. Investors were increasingly seeking shelter, rushing to both the safe-haven yen as well as government bonds in recent sessions, with prices pushing higher and yields much lower for the latter. Falling bond yields are increasingly highlighting concerns over the profitability of the banking sector, with shares in Banco Popolare di Milano down 10.08% and Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena falling 9.14% in Italy. Germanys Commerzbank lost 3.99% and in France, Credit Agricole was off 3.34%. The ten year German bund yield was up by less than one basis point on Monday at 0.024%, having hit fresh record lows of 0.01% in Friday trading. Crude prices were also declining, with Brent crude last off 0.58% at $50.25 and West Texas Intermediate down 0.574% at $48.79. In corporates, security firm G4S was down 5% after it emerged that Omar Matteen, the attacker in Sundays shooting at a Florida nightclub, was an employee. The company told the market it is cooperating with law enforcement in their investigation of the shooting, which left at least 50 people dead. Deutsche Bank lost 3%, with a Frankfurt court expected to rule on carousel trade in emission certificates, with two Deutsche Bank employees accused of evading taxes when buying and selling certificates. The worlds largest cement maker LafargeHolcim lost 3.84% after it said it has identified another nine countries where it will make divestments it it can achieve favourable valuations, though it did not name the locations. Julius Baer was off 1.65% after chief executive Boris Collardi told Swiss newspaper Schweiz am Sonntag that the company will focus on organic growth this year, as well as Asia, and he is confident it will reach new money growth targets of 4-6%. Interim results from Crest Nicholson saw profits grow by a quarter as the housebuilder and said demand for new homes was remaining strong despite the clamour around a potential Brexit. Revenue in the six months to 30 April of 408.1m were up 22% on the same period last year, as house sales rates and average selling prices both improved. Operating margins were maintained at 19.1% with falling gross margins from the diminishing benefit of old written down land being offset by better cost efficiency. Profit before tax jumped 25% to 72.6m, with basic earnings per share up by the same rate to 23.3p. An interim dividend of 9.1p per share was proposed, up 42% as part of the board's target to reduce dividend cover to 2.0 times by 2017. Net debt at the half year was 26m. House sales rates averaged 1.06 per outlet per week, an increase of 4%, while legal completions increased 7% to 1,206. Sales per outlet week excluding PRS slipped 6% to 0.87 from 0.93 a year ago, largely due to the increase in average selling prices of new reservations taken 24% higher at 387,000. Most of those figures had been pre-released in a pre-close trading update, while fresh information included forward sales at mid-June of 520.8m, which were 19% ahead of last year. "Whilst the debate about the forthcoming referendum on UK membership of the European Union continues to dominate the headlines and the board notes the risk of business disruption in the event of a vote to leave, purchaser demand for new homes remains strong," said chief executive Stephen Stone. The nascent move into PRS saw the company deliver 173 units in the first half, on schemes in Bath, Bristol and Southampton. During the period, planning was granted for Crest Nicholson's first purpose-designed, suburban PRS scheme, being delivered for M&G at Faygate, near Gatwick Airport. Shares in Premier Farnell rocketed on Tuesday after the electronic component distributor agreed to be bought by Swiss-based Daetwyler Holding AG for 165p per share in cash. The price represents a premium of around 51% to Premiers closing price on Monday and gives an enterprise value of 792m. Premier said its directors intend to unanimously recommend that shareholders vote in favour of the deal. Chief executive officer Jos Opdeweegh said: I am pleased we have reached an agreement with Daetwyler Holding Inc on the terms of a recommended offer for Premier Farnell. I believe the combination of the two companies represents a strong strategic fit and is highly attractive for customers, shareholders and colleagues." Meanwhile, Daetwyler said: The combination of Premier Farnell and Daetwyler creates a leader in high-service distribution of electronic components and in doing so realises significant value for the shareholders of both companies. The companies expect to achieve total earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation run-rate synergies of CHF50m-CHF70m by the end of 2019. Also on Tuesday, Premier Farnell put out its first quarter results, which showed revenue of 247.2m for the period from 1 February to 1 May, up from 240.5m the previous year. Chief executive officer Jos Opdeweegh said: The sales trends of 2015/16 continued into the first quarter of this financial year, with strength in Continental Europe and Asia Pacific and difficult trading conditions in North America and UK. We remain on track to make progress in this financial year, as we increase our operational efficiency and relevance to customers, and we implement the outcomes of our operational review. RBC Capital Markets downgraded the stock to sector perform from outperform but lifted the target price to 165p from 155p following the deal announcement. Given our view that this is a fair price, we downgrade to sector perform and increase our target price to 165p, in line with the offer. RBC said that given weak trading, historic issues, management change and gross margin pressures, this is a good price, but it wouldn't rule out a counterbid. The bank said the new rating reflects its belief that the 165p per share offer from Daetwyler will go through. At 1222 BST, Premier Farnell shares were up 50% to 164.10p. Save my User ID and Password Some subscribers prefer to save their log-in information so they do not have to enter their User ID and Password each time they visit the site. To activate this function, check the 'Save my User ID and Password' box in the log-in section. This will save the password on the computer you're using to access the site. Note: If you choose to use the log-out feature, you will lose your saved information. This means you will be required to log-in the next time you visit our site. RSV: Nationwide Children's Hospital helping find new treatments Experimental RSV vaccines and possible treatments are being tested in preclinical studies at Nationwide Children's Hospital and other hospitals. Advertisements Eduardo was working from a two-man bell, attached by an umbilical supplying his gas and with a Divex SLS rebreather bail-out set on his back. The swordfish launched itself at him but its bill became jammed in the SLS and it thrashed about violently in an attempt to free itself. The divers gas supply was undamaged but, unable to deal with the situation behind his back, Eduardo managed to get back to the bell. It was only as he was preparing to enter it that the swordfish managed to extricate itself and swim away. Advertisement Advertisement The diver was unharmed, although his SLS was damaged, but the whole incident had been captured on video by an accompanying ROV that was monitoring his safety. The footage was subsequently released and went viral on YouTube. At around 1.5m the swordfish was relatively small Atlantic swordfish typically grow to around 3m. Tending to be loners and rarely seen by divers, they are among the oceans fastest-moving fish and an apex predator. The extended bill that gives the fish its name is used to attack prey with a side-slashing movement. Eduardo was working from the diver-support vessel Wyatt Candies for an arm of the Dutch multinational Fugro when the incident occurred in mid-April. It was a very unusual operational incident and we were relieved that both the guy and the fish were swimming around at the end of it, Fugro Brasils Subsea Services Director Andy Seymour told Divernet. We think the fish was attracted by a combination of the lights because at that depth it would of course normally be pitch-black possibly in conjunction with the shiny things. Weve seen similar behaviour on our ROVs from time to time in the past, but its hard to say what goes through a fishs head! The diver reacted very properly, and thats where the training comes in. Diver gets attacked by a swordfish at 220m (721 feet) below surface #scubadiving #undersea Youtube Short Video can be seen here https://youtube.com/shorts/1GpLdYIvpnM Subscriber content preview OLYMPIA (AP) State and federal inspectors are inspecting railroad tracks along the Columbia River Gorge this week after the fiery crude oil train derailment in Oregon this month. The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission said Monday it has sent two track inspectors to work with the Federal Railroad Administration to inspect BNSF Railway's tracks along the Washington side of the Columbia River, between Vancouver and Pasco. . . . Criminal charge in teen worker death SEATTLE (AP) An Everett company fined $199,000 for safety violations related to a worker's death in 2014 is now facing a criminal charge. KOMO-TV reports that King County prosecutors charged Pacific Topsoils willfully and knowingly violated health and safety laws that resulted in the death of Bradley Hogue of Lake Stevens. The crime is punishable by a fine up to $100,000. The 19-year-old was killed by a rotating auger while working inside the hopper of a bark-blower truck at a Duvall home. Afterward the state sent out an alert to warn of the danger of working in hoppers while the equipment is running. Pacific Topsoils says it is disappointed that charges were filed and that they've worked to ensure something like it never happens again. A company representative must appear in court for arraignment June 27. The company has appealed the previous fine. Subscriber content preview BELLINGHAM (AP) A large debris flow is visible on Washington's Mount Baker as a gray streak on the volcano's east side. Western Washington University geologist Dave Tucker told the Bellingham Herald that the debris slide is a scientific curiosity. He says debris flows occur occasionally and are not a concern to anyone except mountaineers. . . . Havells hikes stake in Promptee Renewable Energy to 70% Electrical products maker Havells India Ltd has decided to raise its stake in Bangalore-based Promptec Renewable Energy Solutions Pvt Ltd to 70 per cent for an undisclosed amount, as per a stock market disclosure. Havells currently owns a 51 per cent in the maker of light-emitting diodes (LED) and solar lighting products, the filing said. Promptec was founded by Joshy P P, Kiran Moras and Nikhil Das in 1998. Besides LEDs, it makes street lights, solar lanterns, solar charge controllers and other products at a 30,000-square-feet manufacturing facility at Peenya, near Bangalore. Havells had bought a 51 per cent stake in Promptec in April last year for about Rs65 crore. Promptec was previously backed by Blume Ventures, which had invested almost Rs2 crore in the company in 2011 to pick up a 19.9 per cent stake. It scored a multi-bagger exit when Havells bought into Promptec last year. Meanwhile, Havells said in a separate filing it is launching a solar solutions business that will include solar power generating systems, home lighting kits, solar pumps and solar street lights. ''The products will be assembled/manufactured in Neemrana and will be rolled out pan India in phases starting from June 2016, catering to the domestic market,'' it added. Havells India produces various consumer home appliances, lighting products, and electrical products such as switchgear and cables. The state of Alabama began taking a shower Friday night after a Lee County jury handed down 12 guilty verdicts on felony ethics violations against Speaker of the House Mike Hubbard. While it may take more of a Brillo pad than your normal washcloth to cleanse the greasy mess Hubbard left behind as one of the most corrupt political figures in a state's history where the past is littered with shady individuals, at least we can move forward with Hubbard now rightfully removed from office. Its hard to take pleasure when a man, particularly a father and husband such as Hubbard, is removed so distastefully Did you see the pictures of him at the Lee County Jail awaiting bond? but there is no one here to blame but one person. His name is Mike Hubbard. Theres not another clique out there wanting to get into Hubbards now former power. Theres not anyone with the Alabama Education Association, as many are so pathetically grasping, to blame. Theres not a bunch of Democrats wanting to knock down the person many believe was the most powerful politician in the state. It was a matter of right and wrong. Hubbard chose wrong often. Therefore, he is paying dearly. Perhaps now that he has seen a jail from the inside looking out and he very well could return there for a far more lengthy stay following a July 8 sentencing he will finally admit to himself that all of his bad deeds were just not worth what he has done to his wife and kids, let alone the people that entrusted him into public office with their votes. Meanwhile, he seems to be admitting nothing, only saying he did nothing wrong. As someone else said, the word allegedly does not have to be used any longer regarding Hubbards misdeeds. He is guilty, and was found so in a court of law. Thats why when the verdict came down late Friday the first thought that hit me was, Wow, they got it right. The guy has to pay for his total disregard of public office. I guess its too much to hope that his minions scattered across the state that supported Hubbard realize they have supported a snake. In the meantime, they just look foolish after 12 -- thats one dozen -- guilty verdicts on felony ethics violations and they were determined by a jury in Lee County. Had it been in the counties of Montgomery or Jefferson, its quite likely there would have been closer to 23 guilty verdicts. Lee County is Hubbards neighborhood. I would venture to guess many of the jurors even travel on or across Mike Hubbard Boulevard on a daily basis. Speaking of which, that roads name should come down quicker than the epaulets and buttons were ripped off Chuck Connors in Branded, the 1960s television show. Yes, Hubbard will have an appeal, but if ever a guy needed to be removed from public office the way he mistreated it, its Mike Hubbard. Hopefully, this will end a long and sordid tale of the Mike Hubbard years in public office. Hopefully, no one will ever abuse any public office again such as he did with such callousness. The first step to recovering is to admit your mistakes. It will take a while to admit to all of his, but he will have time on his hands, so I know, Im dreaming, but it sure is nice to know for the first time in years Alabama has taken a step forward rather than two steps back. We should all feel a little cleaner today. The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. Martin Luther King, Jr. Two men are in jail facing trafficking in synthetic marijuana charges related to a search warrant executed by state and local police on June 10. Aaron McCray and Taryll McCray were arrested on June 10 and charged with trafficking in synthetic marijuana, Houston County Sheriff Donald Valenza said. The two men were arrested after the Houston County Sheriffs Office and the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency executed a search warrant at a residence on Carl Street in Dothan. Valenza said the search turned up 21 pounds of synthetic marijuana, $2,800 in cash and multiple weapons. Aaron McCray is a convicted felon, so police may pursue federal charges related to his possession of a handgun, Valenza said. Valenza said less synthetic marijuana than natural marijuana is needed to make a trafficking charge because possession of synthetic marijuana is considered the same as possession of a controlled substance. Suspects only need to have 56 grams of synthetic marijuana for police to be able to make a trafficking charge. dpa ElectionsData With dpa ElectionsData you get access to a unique collection of data. Via a programming interface (Rest-API), your developers can access detailed information, candidate profiles and live results for all national elections in the European Union and important international elections, like the US Midterm elections etc. The data pool also includes all heads of state and government as well as about 20,000 elected members of parliament throughout the EU. In addition to their data (name, party, constituency or list position), we collect social media profiles and official websites of individuals and parties. Renault has pulled the covers off its refreshed Clio small car, which is due to lob in Australian showrooms early 2017. The lightly updated hatch features cosmetic updates that share parallels with the Clio RS 16 Concept that was unveiled last month. Chiefly, the overall profile and shape of the Clio remains unchanged, with the extent of revisions based around a new-look front bumper, new LED headlamps that incorporate C-shaped running lights and a lightly updated bumper insert at the rear. The changes are paired with new alloy and wheel trims, and four new exterior colours. Inside, the facelifted Clio is all virtually carryover with the exception of higher quality cabin plastics that raise the feel and ambience of the baby Renault. The Clio will be fitted a choice of three infotainment systems available with Bose audio. Base models get a smartphone app that uses your phone as an infotainment panel, while higher-spec versions get conventional touchscreen displays (known as R-Link Evolution and Media Nav Evolution). The full details of these systems is not yet available. The Clio will continue to be offered with a two petrol engines: a 66kW/135Nm 900cc three-cylinder unit and a 88kW/190Nm 1.2-litre four-cylinder. The light upgrades will likely extend to the Clio RS, which is yet to be unveiled in 2017 guise. At present, the RS' 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine makes 147kW and 240Nm in RS200 guise and 162kW and 260Nm in RS220 guise. Meantime, Renault is yet to shed any further details on the RS 16 Concept - a car driven by the larger Megane RS' 201kW/360Nm 2.0-litre turbo petrol engine specifically, whether it will ever make production. Read the latest Renault news and reviews here With Australia still in the grips of Mustang-mania, there's another new pony car about to gallop into town. Chinese brand Great Wall has confirmed its new dual-cab ute will wear the name Steed when it goes on sale in Australia later this year. It's a much tougher badge than the one it wears in its home market, where it is called Wingle which Great Wall claims translates to horse in Chinese. The Steed will be available in three dual-cab models, two diesel-powered variants in either four-wheel drive or rear-drive and a single petrol-engined version offered exclusively in two-wheel drive. Great Wall, which recently confirmed a settlement with its previous importer to take full control of the brand from July 1 alongside sister operation Haval, has yet to confirm full pricing and specification details for the Steed models but says all will come standard with six airbags and stability control. Read all the latest Great Wall news and reviews here Toyota has added a dedicated hybrid model to its popular Corolla small car range, which gives customers a cheaper entry-point to hybrid motoring compared to the Japanese brand's Prius. Offered in a single specification level the Corolla Hybrid hatch is priced from $26,990 plus on-road costs, which places it between the petrol-powered SR and range-topping ZR hatches. Standard features include 16-inch alloy wheels, fabric upholstery, dual-zone automatic air conditioning, bi-LED headlights, LED daytime running lights, keyless entry and ignition, in-built satellite navigation and a 4.2-inch digital instrument display. The Corolla Hybrid also gets a range of standard safety equipment which includes seven airbags, reversing camera, stability and traction control and ABS. Powered by a combination of a 1.8-litre four-cylinder petrol engine that is good for 73kW and 142Nm and a 60kW electric motor, the Corolla Hybrid generates a combined power output of 100kW. Like the Prius, it is also paired to a CVT transmission that drives the front wheels. The Corolla Hybrid can work in both petrol and electric only mode for short periods of travel or with a combination of both. However, like the Prius, the Corolla Hybrid still uses an older Nickel-metal Hydride battery instead of the more contemporary lithium ion batteries. Toyota claims that the new Corolla Hybrid will offer class leading fuel efficiency with claimed combined fuel use of 4.1L/100km, which compares favourably to the 6.1L/100km of the petrol only Corolla. The Corolla Hybrid will be the Japanese brand's fifth hybrid model in its Australian line-up joining the three Prius models and the locally built Camry hybrid. Home Four wheelers Data Analysis: The Largest Auto Export Market For India Revealed oi-Irwin Mills India's largest auto export market is no longer Africa. Export data shows that Latin America has overtaken Africa, and 25% of vehicles exported in 2015 went to Latin America compared to 21 % in the year 2014. And for the first time in a decade, exports to Africa witnessed a downfall. Exports to Latin America has cost $2.26 billion which is an increase of nearly 19% in logistics cost compared to 2015. The logistic costs are huge as Latin America is some 15,000 km away from India. But, government incentives under the 'Make in India' campaign and highly cost efficient manufacturing capabilities are playing a significant role in offsetting some of the impacts. The overall exports were led by Volkswagen (now that's a huge surprise!). Even though the company was involved in an emission scandal, the European automaker shipped out 70,000-odd vehicles, out of which 63,000 mostly the Polo and Vento was shipped to Latin America. Concerning this, Lauermann of Volkswagen explained: "Mexico offers exemption of duties on imported cars for a number equivalent to 10% of the total production of cars done by the brand in Mexico. So, number of cars up to 10% of Volkswagen production in Mexico can be imported by Volkswagen into Mexico, without having to pay import duties on it. Add to that the good cost and quality position of our manufacturing in India, and it forms a good business case." Source A man with 152 previous convictions drove off without paying for diesel, after filling up at a service station on the M1, Dundalk District Court heard last week. In imposing a one month sentence, Judge Conall Gibbons said there was 'something miserable' about the offence. John McDonagh (44) with an address at St. Margaret's Park, Dublin 11 pleaded guilty to driving off without paying for 50 worth of diesel from the southbound Applegreen at Whiterath, Castlebellingham on the morning of January 20th last. The court heard he was stopped later that night and arrested. The Defence barrister said her client has been in custody for 13 months and is serving a five year sentence imposed by the Circuit Court, with a release date in January 2019. She said he is very apologetic and fully accepts what he did. The counsel added that the defendant's wife passed away in 2007, a year after they lost one of their sons. Insp. Martin Beggy confirmed that the majority of the accused's 152 previous convictions were for road traffic offences. Judge Gibbons who noted the defendant's record is not very good added "It's not the amount. It's the nature of the offence....there's something miserable about it". He also pointed out that there would be cameras at the scene and on the M1 and said it's not the smartest of criminal endeavours. Explore Georgia in 12 days Discover the charms of Georgia on Travel The Unknowns 12-day small group Georgia Explorer trip, departing 13 October 2016. The itinerary is perfect for the first time visitor and gives a chance to discover Georgias stunning landscapes, myriad of churches, sprawling medieval fortresses and UNESCO world heritage sites; not forgetting its great cuisine and generous hospitality. Georgia has endured a diverse and, at times, painful history. It was the target of many invading armies, from the Persians to the Ottomans, and the more recent imprints of Soviet occupation. All of this will be explained throughout the holiday. The itinerary will also provide an opportunity to get under the skin of the local culture by learning how to write your name in Georgian, making traditional breads and sweets and cooking some traditional Georgian recipes. On day five of the itinerary, the group will drive to Mtskheta and visit Jvari Monastery and Svetitskhoveli Cathedral. Mtskheta is one of Georgias oldest cities and is located a short drive north of the capital, Tbilisi. Located within the city (which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site) is the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, one of Georgias largest places of worship. The site, surrounded by a defensive wall, has housed churches since the 4th century, but the standing building was constructed in the early 11th century and artfully restored in the 1970s. According to Biblical canon, Christs robe was carried to Mtskheka after his crucifixion and is been buried beneath the cathedral. Inside, a painting illustrates the buried garment and the miracle of a pillar rising into the air during the churchs construction. Other highlights will include: A guided walk through the picturesque narrow streets of Tblisis old town Exploring the beautiful wine-country of Kakheti Listening to traditional Georgian polyphonic singing A drive to just south of the Russian border for panoramic views of Mount Kazbek The holiday costs from 1995 pp (two sharing) a reduction of 200 pp. This includes international flights, all transportation, 11 nights half-board accommodation (plus one lunch), entrance fees, guide and drivers. For more information, visit traveltheunknown.com/georgia. Yesterday, women from Eaton County held a press conference to highlight efforts by Republican Rep. Tom Barrett (MI-71) to deny women reproductive justice in their lives. In conjunction with the press conference, they released an issue guide (HERE) that details bills sponsored and supported by Barrett and two of his colleagues, John Bizon and Holly Hughes, that serve to impede a womans ability to obtain a safe and legal abortion and to access other reproductive healthcare services. Every woman has the right to make decisions about her own body, whether it is to have a healthy pregnancy or to choose not to have a pregnancy. A woman should have the ability to do whats best for her and her family, said Lansing resident Bilky Joda-Miller. Representative Barrett should be working to ensure that women have the resources they need to make the best, most informed choice about when and how to have children or not, and empower women to be the best parents they can be. The guide shows seven different bill co-sponsored and/or supported by Barrett with his votes that limit womens access to reproductive healthcare, making it very clear that he puts his personal beliefs over the health concerns of women in Michigan. He even co-sponsored legislation that prohibits sex education teachers from providing information on the correct way to use contraception. Given his history, one would think that Rep. Barrett actually WANTS women to become pregnant, the living embodiment of the stereotypical male who wants his women barefoot and pregnant. Margaret Keeler, FNP, BC, and Eaton County resident put it this way: As a family nurse practitioner, I know firsthand how important it is for women to have access to a full range of reproductive healthcare. Its deeply concerning to me that Representative Barrett has taken actions that aim to restrict access to reproductive healthcare. We need elected leaders who will work to make sure that women have affordable and accessible healthcare including access to a full range of reproductive services from contraception to pre- and post-natal healthcare. Look for more of these sorts of events in the coming weeks as women across the state stand up to be heard and to shine a light on the anti-women, anti-Choice, forced-birth actions being taken by their legislators. The following guest post was written by Jen Eyer, Vice President of Vanguard Public Affairs. Jen has spent many years in the world of journalism and most recently managed the newsroom for The Ann Arbor News, part of the MLive Media Group. You can read her full bio HERE. Enjoy. As Michiganders, we should all be concerned about the way House Republicans rammed through their compromise legislation revamping Detroit Public Schools. Last week, it was Detroit. But pay attention because your city, your school district could be next. In the business world our Republican leaders are so fond of, a compromise is a mutually agreeable solution between conflicting stakeholders. But missing from this compromise were the biggest stakeholders of all: Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and the Detroit lawmakers who represent the citys students, teachers, parents and taxpayers not to mention the lawmakers who represent taxpayers around the entire state. This so-called compromise was struck purely between Republicans. Its a sad testament to the dysfunction in their own party that they cant get on the same page. But it also throws into stark relief the lack of representation experienced by anyone in this state who isnt a member of the DeVos family. The Senate, to its great credit, worked for 15 months to craft and pass a bipartisan plan that had the support of Duggan and other elected officials in Detroit, as well as Gov. Rick Snyder. House leaders, to their great shame, subsequently shut out their Detroit and Democratic colleagues and passed a package that none of the above stakeholders supported. Critically missing from the House package was the creation of a Detroit Education Commission that would regulate the opening and closing of public and charter schools in the city. House leaders framed their opposition to the DEC as a principled stand for the education of children. In reality, it had nothing to do with the education of children and everything to do with the wishes of their wealthy, conservative, anti-union financial backers from west Michigan. In their political zeal to bust the unions who provide support for Democrats, they abandoned fiscal responsibility and common sense. The unrestrained proliferation of charter schools in Detroit has led to worse educational outcomes for countless Detroit children, according to Ed Trust-Midwest, with 65 percent of charter schools in Detroit performing worse than Detroit Public Schools among African-American students in eighth-grade math. An investigation of charter schools by the Detroit Free Press chronicled the failings. They detailed a litany of terrible outcomes: Wasteful spending and double-dipping. Board members, school founders and employees steering lucrative deals to themselves or insiders. Schools allowed to operate for years despite poor academic records. No state standards for who operates charter schools or how to oversee them. House leaders and their friendly charter school lobbyists also portrayed their opposition to the DEC as a principled stand for school choice. No one on either side of the aisle argues that parents should have not have choices. Quality charter schools can be a wonderful thing; thats not in question. The real issue, the issue the DEC would address, is that Detroit has a huge problem with schools opening and closing haphazardly across the city, leaving some areas with a glut of choices and others with few to none. The city needs a governing body vested with the authority to evaluate where schools should be placed to ensure all children geographically are served, to oversee the quality of those schools, and to close those that consistently fail students. This is not a pie-in-the-sky wish; it is a constitutional mandate that the state provide all children with equal access to a quality public school education. Think the problems are exaggerated? Consider this: In one Detroit neighborhood, the only option for high schoolers is a charter school whose chief financial officer and dean have both been found guilty in scandals elsewhere involving misappropriation of public funds. Whats more, the school opened in 1997, and only two of its students have ever been deemed college ready by ACT benchmarks. Who is holding that school accountable for educating children? Apparently, no one. Its initial charter school authorizer eventually abandoned it, but another one quickly stepped in to provide the same, in-name-only oversight. Gov. Snyder has indicated he will sign this plan into law, thereby ignoring the wishes of the community whose fate it affects and ignoring the fiscal responsibility he has to the rest of the state. By not insisting on instituting a strong system of checks and balances for all schools, Snyder is being reckless with the states tax dollars. Already, those who support unrestrained charter schools are attempting to rewrite history. They ran away from the burning building while yelling insults to those running in to help. Theyd have more credibility if they supported something, MIRS quoted former Republican House Speaker Jase Bolger as saying, referring to Democrats and Detroit lawmakers who railed against House Republicans for their plan. Putting aside the richness of slamming people for not supporting something when they werent even invited into the negotiations, Democrats and Detroit lawmakers did support the aims of that bipartisan Senate plan. Quite loudly, in fact. They did so in news articles. They did so on their social media accounts, and in videos. The fact that even Sen. Geoff Hansen (R-Hart), the chief architect of the Senate plan, could not bring himself to vote for the compromise plan should tell you everything you need to know. In a statement on the Senate floor, Sen. David Knezek, D-Dearborn Heights, said the plan that eventually passed appears to be specifically designed to set DPS up for failure. Without an authoritative body like the DEC the same old problems will continue to gnaw away at the district. Once the money runs out, the district will plunge back into debt, Knezek has predicted. If and when that happens, Michiganders should remember who is responsible and hold them accountable. Facebook this week said it would make several procedural changes to its Trending Topics feature to quell concerns that the results could be steered in a particular political direction, even though it has found no evidence of bias. The company will retrain workers in the Trending Topics department and institute additional oversight and control to make sure trending stories are selected fairly, said Facebook General Counsel Colin Stretch. Our investigation has revealed no evidence of systematic political bias in the selection or prominence of stories included in the Trending Topics feature, he noted. Our data analysis indicated that conservative and liberal topics are approved as trending topics at virtually identical rates. Facebook will update the terminology in its guidelines to make it clearer, provide refresher training to emphasize that Trending Topics should not be selected based on ideology, provide additional oversight of the review team, and add rapid escalation should a problem arise, Stretch said. The company no longer will rely on outside websites and news outlets to validate whether a story is worthy of inclusion, he added. It also will remove the ability to assign importance levels to certain stories and will expand the help desk to provide more information on that. Insider Claims Conservative topics often were suppressed in the Trending Topics section, according to a report published earlier this month by Gizmodo. Stories about Facebook also were discouraged. Sen. John Thune, chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, wrote to CEO Mark Zuckerberg, demanding a response to the allegations. That led to ahigh-profile confab between Zuckerberg and some of the leading figures in conservative media, including The Blaze founder Glenn Beck. As part of Facebooks public response, Stretch sent an extensive defense of its practices to Thune. Id call it fence mending, said Rick Edmonds, media business analyst at thePoynter Institute. Facebook wanted to show that it was open to dialogue with critics and will re-examine business practices, he told the E-Commerce Times. Thune was not seeking to provide any legislative solution to the problem, just more transparency into the process, he said, praising the companys response to his concerns. Private companies are fully entitled to espouse their own views, so I appreciate Facebooks efforts to address allegations of bias raised in the media and my concern about a lack of transparency in its methodology for determining trending topics, he said. Facebook has offered a more detailed description of the methodology it uses to come up with Trending Topics, Thune noted. We now know the system relied on human judgment, and not just an automated process, more than previously acknowledged. Transparency Needed Facebook is in a very difficult situation because members always will see it as tainted, and if it tries to correct the problem, members from the left will accuse it of overcorrecting, said Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group. Honestly, I dont see an easy way out of this now, he told the E-Commerce Times. The only way you can possibly try to prove nonbias is have somebody create an algorithm that is truly independent. The companys prior arguments that it was unbiased based on the use of computerized algorithms are not bulletproof because, depending on how they are written, they can tilt in a more liberal or conservative direction, he added. The ACLU has questioned whether Facebook needed to be more transparent about how it decides what is trending. When I see a list on the side of a newspaper site that says most read or most shared, I assume thats a relatively dumb algorithm that is simply counting up clicks, said Jay Stanley, senior policy analyst, ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project. Overstepping the First Amendment The Electronic Frontier Foundation has called Thunes inquiry into question on First Amendment grounds. Its commendable that Facebook is making internal changes and being more transparent about how it produces the Trending Topics section, but it remains improper under the First Amendment for a senator to inquire into what amounts to Facebooks editorial practices, said Sofia Cope, an EFF staff attorney. So while some good appears to have come from Sen. Thunes letter, that shouldnt give other government officials the green light to do the same thing in a similar situation, she told the E-Commerce Times. Facebooks editorial decisions are protected under First Amendment case law, Cope said in a blog post published earlier this month. In a 1974 case, Miami Herald Publishing Co. v. Tornillo, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the government cannot tell a private publisher what to print or not print, nor can the publisher be punished for making certain editorial decisions. However, it would behoove the company to be more transparent about its content policies, she said. The EFF has criticized Facebook in the past for how it enforces its terms of service, including which posts it chooses to delete, images it censors, or users who are tossed from the service because of some violation. The organization tracks the actions of various social media companies atonlinecensorship.org. An appellate court on Tuesday handed a major victory to the Federal Communications Commission by upholding the agencys watershed Open Internet Order, which ensures equal access to the Internet. By a 2-1 vote, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld the FCCs right to impose Net neutrality rules that essentially prevent big telecom and broadband companies from slowing down, speeding up, or blocking service based on content providers market power or willingness to pay. Todays ruling is a victory for consumers and innovators who deserve unfettered access to the entire web, and it ensures the Internet remains a platform for unparallelled innovation, free expression and economic growth, said FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. The plaintiffs almost certainly will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, according to FCC Commissioner Mike ORielly, who criticized the ruling. We all will rue the day the commission was confirmed to have nearly unmitigated power over the Internet and all based on unsubstantiated, imaginary harms,' he wrote. Gearing Up for a Challenge U.S. Telecom, which led the suit against the FCC, will leave all legal options on the table for a possible challenge, said President Walter McCormick, who expressed disappointment in the decision. Two judges on the court have unfortunately failed to recognize the significant legal failings of the Federal Communication Commissions decision to regulate the Internet as a public utility, he maintained, leaving in place regulation that we believe will replace a consumer-driven Internet with a government-run Internet, threatening investment and innovation to come. Other telecom and broadband firms have indicated they intend to pursue a reversal. We have always expected this issue to be decided by the Supreme Court, and we look forward to participating in that appeal, said David McAtee, senior executive vice president at AT&T, which claims to be the worlds largest communications firm. Its high-speed mobile Internet network covers 365 million people in North America and 25 million video subscribers in the U.S., including DirecTV customers. The major broadband companies have complained of being at a disadvantage because they have to lay out billions of dollars to develop high-speed networks, which smaller, outside competitors then get to share, noted telecom analyst Jeff Kagan. Many of those companies want to ride that investment at no cost, he told the E-Commerce Times. If carriers decided to slow down their investment because it wasnt worth their while any longer, that would be a real problem. The fight is likely to drag on for years, Kagan predicted. Stay tuned for the next decade of legal battles. Equal Access In the eyes of Net neutrality proponents, the FCCs latest victory is critical to maintaining an open and fair system that allows communities of different incomes and content providers of different sizes to get access to high-speed Internet. The fear has been that big telecom providers would be able to bias their data speeds or content quality toward the most powerful players as one way to recoup the costs of laying down cables to different communities of various economic status. The rules will keep providers from blocking or slowing traffic and stifling innovation by speeding up traffic for those who pay, said Corynne McSherry, legal director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, one of a number of open technology advocates that urged the FCC to defend an open Internet. The industry is likely not only to appeal the decision, but also to attempt to persuade Congress to upend the FCCs rules through legislative means, McSherry added. The ruling will ensure that all parties will be protected both in terms of underserved communities having access to service and smaller firms competing against large broadband providers, according to the Open Technology Institute, another group that intervened in the case last year. The courts decision recognizes the value of an open platform over which all voices have a space and ideas can flourish where even the smallest startups can grow, all users access the content of their choosing, and communities can organize without interference from their ISPs, said Sarah J. Morris, senior policy counsel at OTI. FCCs Bold Move This decision provides a major victory for advocates of net neutrality, said William K. Norton, an associate at Baker Donelson. In 2002, the FCC decided not to make Internet providers subject to common carrier requirements under its Brand X decision. It took public interest groups to petition the FCC to stop Comcast from discriminating and degrading Internet traffic in 2008 to get the FCC to consider Net neutrality regulations, he told the E-Commerce Times. When the Open Internet rules were struck down in 2014, it was seen as a major blow to the Net neutrality movement. The FCCs response in 2015 to cover broadband under Title II was a bold move that actually gave it more authority to regulate the Internet than the Open Internet rules that were struck down the year before, he pointed out. So I think many were concerned that that decision would be struck down, as well. Google on Thursday filed an appeal with Frances supreme administrative court over an order from a privacy regulator requiring it to scrub certain search results around the world under a law called the right to be forgotten. The March order from the CNIL requires Google and other search engines to delist the information of Europeans that shows up in searches for their name, even if the link points to truthful information and lawfully published websites referencing newspaper articles or government websites, according to Google. The company complied by delisting search information on sites available from the country of origin of person who makes the request, as well as other EU country domains, it said. The order to delist that information from all of Googles global search capabilities is a bridge too far, general counsel Kent Walker said in an op-ed in Le Monde. Race to the Bottom As a matter of both law and principle, we disagree with this demand, Walker said. We comply with the laws of the countries in which we operate. But if French law applies globally, how long will it be until other countries perhaps less open and democratic start demanding that their laws regulating information likewise have global reach? Enforcing such a law could lead to a global race to the bottom that potentially would block from French citizens information that is perfectly legal in France, he said. Googles concern is not just hypothetical; it has resisted similar demands from other countries and has in some cases led to the blocking of its services, Walker noted. Global Information Police Such a requirement would place Google in an untenable position, according to theElectronic Frontier Foundation. CNILs specific demand that search engines modify their results universally to comply with a uniquely French administrative decision would set an extremely damaging precedent, said Danny OBrien, international director of the EFF. If every country demanded the same, it would transform what you see on the Worldwide Web into the sorry remains, after every countrys censorship policies had been subtracted, he told the E-Commerce Times. It feels like Google has it about right: The EU can police and regulate itself, but not the rest of the globe, said John Carroll, mass communications professor atBoston University. That said, there seems to be a discrepancy in the number of removals that have occurred over the past two years. Google says it has reviewed almost 1.5 million requests, with 40 percent resulting in the removal of a search result. Other data suggests that the denial rate is closer to 75 percent, he told the E-Commerce Times. Regardless, the EU might more profitably address its criteria for removal: that search results appear to be inadequate or irrelevant. That gives Google an awful lot of wiggle room. Maybe before trying to widen the geographic scope of RTBF, the EU should attempt to narrow its criteria, Carroll added. Spanish Origin The order in March followed a 2014ruling by the European Court of Justice in a case involving Google and Google Spain against the national data protection agency of Spain. In 2010, a Spanish citizen, Mario Costeja Gonzlez, filed a complaint with the agency against a large newspaper in Catalonia alleging that a search of his name resulted in a 1978 real estate auction to recover social security debts allegedly owed by him, according to the 2014 ruling. The Spanish agency initially ruled against him, arguing that the newspaper had published the information lawfully, but the complaint was upheld with regard to Google. Google and Google Spain went to the National High Court of Spain to fight the order requiring Google to scrub the information. The company decided in 2014 to scrub a blog post by TV journalist Robert Peston regarding the case of Merrill Lynch chief Stan ONeal, who was pushed out of the company after it took massive losses on reckless investments a year before the 2008 economic collapse. The experience with the implementation of Google v. Spain is that the vast majority of requests were made by private people concerning private matters, said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of theElectronic Privacy Information Center. And Googles unwillingness to delist globally, he told the E-Commerce Times, is both illogical as a matter of harm and inconsistent with its treatment of similar delinking requests for copyright violations. Microsoft on Monday announced an agreement to buy LinkedIn, the worlds largest professional social media network, for US$26.2 billion in cash. The acquisition furthers Microsofts effort to extend the breadth of its content portfolio and to integrate its offerings into its platform of cloud services. The companies jointly announced the deal: Microsoft will pay $196 a share in cash for LinkedIn, which will retain its brand, culture and independence under the new structure. CEO Jeff Weiner will remain at the helm, reporting to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Both Weiner and Reid Hoffman LinkedIn chairman and controlling shareholder fully support the deal, and the both companies boards have agreed to the acquisition. Microsoft will report LinkedIn as part of its Productivity and Business Process segment. The companies share a mission to empower the global workforce, Nadella said in a Monday morning conference call. When we talk about Microsofts mission, we talk about empowering every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more, he remarked. There is no better way to really realize that mission than to connect the worlds professionals to make them more productive and successful. Professional Network LinkedIn has grown its membership about 19 percent year-over-year to 433 million members worldwide. The network has 105 million unique members on the site per month, and 45 billion quarterly page views. However, the company has seen its stock price falter in recent months in response to its warnings of shortfalls in projected revenue. By combining professional social media with their Web-based business offerings, they have the potential to develop an extremely powerful collaborative environment that crosses business lines, said Mike Jude, a program manager at Stratecast/Frost & Sullivan. Microsoft can benefit by adding new business features to LinkedIn, but it could alienate LinkedIn members if it should push too hard to leverage their data for marketing and sales opportunities, he told the E-Commerce Times. Many professionals use LinkedIn as their homepage similar to the way hardcore Facebook users begin and end their days, noted Jeff Kaplan, managing director of ThinkStrategies. Salespeople often use LinkedIn as the default application for pursuing new business even more than they use CRM or other sales or marketing automation tools, he told the E-Commerce Times. Creating tighter linkages between LinkedIns capabilities and Microsofts Office 365 productivity/collaboration and its Dynamics CRM will [demonstrate] immediate benefits of the acquisition, Kaplan said. In addition, it will encourage more developers to build applications on Azure PaaS that leverage the LinkedIn and Microsoft functionality, and store the data in the Azure IaaS. Despite the potential benefits of combining LinkedIns social network with Microsofts cloud infrastructure, its questionable whether Microsoft can pull off a successful integration. The company has fallen short with some recent acquisitions. Poor Track Record Im usually skeptical of big deals like this, said Kevin Krewell, principal analyst at Tirias Research. The last huge acquisition by Microsoft was Nokia, he told the E-Commerce Times, and that didnt end well, with Microsoft eventually writing down most of the value of the deal. However, Nadella may avoid some of the mistakes of previous executives, Krewell suggested, adding that there are synergies between the Office 365 cloud base and LinkedIn that can be exploited. In addition, Linkedin has in-app messaging capabilities that could be integrated into Microsofts Skype video, phone and messaging application, Tirias Principal Analyst Paul Teich told the E-Commerce Times. The deal also provides Microsoft with a network of business influencers to analyze with its deep learning tools. Edward Snowden made a greater effort than originally believed to raise his concerns within the NSA before releasing thousands of classified documents detailing programs that allowed the agency to spy on U.S. citizens. The truth is more complex than the NSA let on, according to Vice News, which published a report based on documents it secured through two years of Freedom of Information Act litigation. In the aftermath of Snowdens release of a cache of stolen NSA documents, he claimed that he had exhausted all official avenues available to him before going public. I had reported these clearly problematic programs to more than 10 distinct officials, none of whom took any action to address them, he said in testimony before the European Parliament in March 2014. However, the NSA maintained then and still maintains that it could find only one email message from Snowden that touched on the subject. Snowden did much more than send a single email warning, Vice found. He had an in-person interaction with one of the people who responded to his email, for example. The NSA, the administration and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., all made efforts to discredit him, the FOIA documents revealed. After releasing the documents to Vice, the NSA posted them to its website, along with a reaffirmation of its original position. The agency found no email records of Snowden raising concerns about its programs with senior leadership, the agency insisted. Snowden Mum on Docs Snowden declined to comment to Vice about its story, according to ACLU attorney Ben Wizner, who noted that his client was ambivalent about issues raised in the declassified documents, because he didnt trust the NSAs motives for releasing them. Whether the new document cache will alter Snowdens status remains to be seen. It certainly hasnt changed his former employers attitude toward him. Edward Snowden was an employee of Booz Allen for less than two months, and his behavior in releasing national security information was illegal, unethical and not reflective of our firms values and ethical standards, Booz spokesperson Misty Holbert told TechNewsWorld. The single letter claim could be a distraction from the larger issues raised by Snowdens revelations. The government is attempting to try and convict in absentia Edward Snowden for revealing information about the NSA, said Richard Stiennon, chief research analyst with IT-Harvest. One way to do that is to sully his character by making it look like he didnt follow proper procedures, he told TechNewsWorld. Theyre trying to paint him as a villain and criminal, Stiennon said. One of the ways to do that is to demonstrate that were so open to internal criticism, all he had to do is come to us and we would have listened to him. We know thats ridiculous because the NSA isnt prepared to change. Denying Facts The NSAs stance on the single letter reflects its position on the larger issue of surveillance, maintained Shahid Buttar, director of grassroots advocacy for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Snowden has claimed from the beginning that he shared word in official channels that there were oversight problems, he told TechNewsWorld. The agency denied he shared word and now there are documents showing he did. That reflects the narrative of the underlying abuses themselves, which the agency denied and said didnt exist, Buttar added. Its part of a continuing cycle of official denial of fact. Snowden isnt the only whistle-blower the government has targeted during the Obama years. Despite claiming to be the most transparent administration in history, the Obama administration has actually prosecuted more people under the Espionage Act an act frequently used to criminalize whistle-blowers than any other administration in history, said Evan Greer, campaign director of Fight for the Future. There is a general culture of suppressing dissent in these institutions. Whistle-blowers are needed because theres a lack of oversight and accountability particularly of intelligence agencies, he told TechNewsWorld. Although Congress is supposed to exercise oversight of those agencies, it hasnt done so to any significant degree. You have to follow the money, Greer said. If you look at the votes around legislation that affects our privacy and civil liberties over the last decade, the members of Congress who have consistently voted to expand mass government surveillance to undermine our Fourth Amendment rights have received disproportionately larger contributions from [firms in] the defense industry, which by and large profit from this mass surveillance system. Snapchat recently began rolling out its redesigned Discover page. It now displays images and headline previews of the content inside Discover channels and Live stories on the Stories page. It previously displayed only logos for publishers or events on those sites. Publishers now can include an image and a headline to promote each days story. Their stories will run beside user-contributed Live Stories on both the Discover and Stories pages. The Discover page has a grid of tiles, similar to Pinterest. The Stories page combines the rows of static Discover channels into one scrollable row. Snapchat users now can tap and hold to subscribe to their favorite Discover channels, instead of having to pull them up out of the entire Discover list as before. Subscribing will place unread stories below updates from users friends on the Stories page. The redesign could help with the number of hits a publisher gets, since it will put the content in the same context as Live Stories, noted Mike Jude, a program manager at Stratecast/Frost & Sullivan. The subscribe feature is kind of nice too, because then if you see something on your Stories, its because you put it there, he told the E-Commerce Times. Looking for the Gold Snapchats redesign may help it take on the competition YouTube and Facebook more effectively. The tiled view could help draw more advertisers to Snapchat, which reportedly has hit 150 million users daily, up from 110 million in December. Thats still a far cry from Facebooks 1.1 billion daily active users worldwide, though. On the other hand, consumers viewed 3 billion videos on Snapchat daily last July, while Facebook chalked up about 4 billion. YouTube hit the 4-billion video view mark in 2012. Big brands reportedly are paying millions of dollars for video ads on Live Stories or in Snapchats Discover network in an effort to reach young people. More than 60 percent of smartphone users aged 13 to 34 use Snapchat, the company has claimed, and advertisers are hungry for access to that demographic. Advertising is primarily a push dynamic, [but] Snapchat is more of a pull dynamic, Jude remarked. As an advertiser, you always look for the people who are clicking into your copy. You want active readers rather than passive ones. Content Marketings Rosy Future Content marketing will be a US$300 billion industry by 2019, PQ Media has predicted. Engagement with branded content is significantly higher on smartphones than on desktops and tablets, according to the Polar report for April 2016. The big opportunity for publishers and advertisers is clearly on mobile, the Polar report points out. Advertising Success Is Ephemeral Snapchat is crossing that dangerous chasm from social media site to viable business, Jude cautioned. Monetization is hard and demands that the basic social model change to either capture more advertising attention or more subscription revenue and getting the balance is critical. Snapchat is trying to steer clear of subscriptions, he said, but as an advertising channel, it must demonstrate that it can capture and hold peoples attention long enough for advertising to stick. However, Snapchat moments are very brief and focused on a communication that lasts for a matter of seconds, said Larry Chiagouris, professor of marketing at Pace University. Snapchat and media partners will need to train an entire generation to get news from the Snapchat ecosystem, he told The E-Commerce Times. This is doable, but not in the near future, and could take years. Until Snapchat moments can be proven to impact consumer behavior, Chiagouris said, advertisers will not jump on board beyond a little experimentation. With its US$26 billion purchase of LinkedIn, Microsoft may be setting itself up to tackle Salesforce head-on for CRM dominance. The purchase, announced Monday, also might help Microsoft compete more aggressively with other major CRM providers, such as SAP and Oracle. The LinkedIn purchase is key to our bold ambition to reinvent productivity and business processes, CEO Satya Nadella told Microsoft employees. How people find jobs, build skills, sell, market and get work done and ultimately, achieve success, requires a connected professional world, he said. It requires a vibrant network that brings together a professionals information in LinkedIns public network with the information in Office 365 and Dynamics. This combination will enable new experiences, such as a LinkedIn newsfeed that serves up articles based on the project you are working on, and Office suggesting an expert to connect with via LinkedIn to help with a task youre trying to complete, Nadella suggested. The acquisition will create new opportunities for monetization through individual and organization subscriptions and targeted ads, Nadella noted. Kurt DelBene, Qi Lu and Scott Guthrie will lead Microsofts work on integrating LinkedIns technology with Microsoft Dynamics and Office 365. The Benefits to Microsoft By acquiring a social networking property with actual business value and clear links with CRM, Microsoft gains a huge stream of unstructured data about business professionals, said Rebecca Wettemann, vice president of research at Nucleus Research. Leveraged within CRM efficiently with Azure machine learning, [this] could be really powerful for business-to-business sales and marketing, she told CRM Buyer. One of the biggest uses of LinkedIn is to help sales people find the right people and organizations to approach, noted Denis Pombriant, principal at Beagle Research Group. I dont think thats going to change. Advertising is really in the business-to-consumer space, he told CRM Buyer. So, using LinkedIn to serve up ads, as Nadella foresees, will be a new twist, Pombriant said. I think theres an opportunity there that could be a very good approach. Tangling Head-On With Salesforce Whether Microsoft can then tackle Salesforce is the question. Salesforce has the dominant position in CRM, and in order for another company to overtake them, they have to falter and do something silly, Pombriant maintained. I dont see that happening. Further, Salesforce is moving aggressively in the app development space to compete with Microsoft there, he said. At the end of the day, I think well see everybody competing with everyone else for everything until theres a shakeout. Keeping Faith With Nadellas Vision Microsofts mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more, Nadella repeatedly has emphasized, and the purchase of LinkedIn appears to be in line with his vision. It also might be tied to Microsoft taking its partnership with Xiaomi worldwide. Under that agreement, Xiaomi will ship Microsoft Office and Skype on its Android devices. Its possible that through the partnership Xiaomi could offer corporate customers in the Asia-Pacific region where it is strongest access to Microsoft Dynamics CRM on mobile devices. Ultimately, the relative success or failure of the acquisition will depend on what Microsoft brings to the table not just what it gets from LinkedIn, Nucleus Wettemann said. This means going beyond the shiny-object syndrome that sometimes happens with things like big data, she explained, to identify how Microsofts analytics and machine learning capabilities can be applied to LinkedIn in ways that have a direct impact on sales, in the case of CRM. That should be done in a way thats applicable not just in Microsoft labs or with developers, said Wettemann, but with a broader business user population. Execution is everything. 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The Russian Orthodox Church has said it will not attend a historic meeting of all of the world's Orthodox churches calling for a postponement as other churches have pulled out. Discussion on the Holy and Great Council, or the Pan-Orthodox Council, to have been held on the Greek island of Crete began first in 1961. It was due to take place from June 16-25 as the first council of its kind since the eighth century. "There are many problems among various Orthodox churches... These disagreements might seem small but, for historical churches, these are important issues," the head of external church relations and member of the Holy Synod of the Moscow Patriarchy, Metropolitan Hilarion, told Russia Today June 14 The council was supposed to bring together all 14 "autocephalous" Orthodox churches, the largest number ever to have come together. But after the Bulgarian church pulled out for reasons which remain unclear, the Moscow Patriarchate said the meeting could not go ahead unless all the churches were present, the Catholic Herald reported. Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk gave comments at a media briefing on the decisions of the Holy Synod of the church. "All churches should participate in the Pan-Orthodox Council, and only in that case its decisions will be legitimate," he said. The landmark meeting of the heads of all Orthodox Christian churches could be postponed as five out of 14 churches have pulled out, Russia Today reported. Pope Francis was to have sent a high-level observers to the Crete meeting as a gesture of support for the Orthodox Church, the Catholic Herald reported. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople invited Pope Francis to send observers to the meeting and the pontiff chose Cardinal Kurt Koch and Bishop Brian Farrell of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. In the meantime 50 Orthodox scholars have signed an open letter to Orthodox leaders, urging them to come together for the Pan-Orthodox Council. The scholars, many of them from U.S. universities and part of the Orthodox Church in America sent their open letter sent to the 14 Primates of the churches. In it they wrote, "The Holy and Great Council occasions an opportunity to commence a new phase of Orthodox witness. As the eyes of the whole world are upon the Orthodox Church, we beseech all of our leaders to hear the Spirit's call to conciliar unity." BULGARIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH The Bulgarian Orthodox Church's leadership was widely seen as strongly influenced by their Russian co-religionists, with the Moscow church seen by critics as determined to spoil a council decades in preparation, the Sophia Globe reported. But a Bulgarian metropolitan denied that his church's position was taken under external influence. "The Bulgarian Orthodox Church takes its decisions completely independently and not under external pressure," Antonii, Bulgarian Orthodox Church Metropolitan of Western and Central Europe, told a television interviewer earlier in the week. The Russian Orthodox Church is said to have 100 million followers making it largest church among some 300 million Orthodox believers, The Moscow Patriarch Kiriill is close to President Vladimir Putin. Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew is often described as as "the first among equals" among Orthodox Christians and is senn by many as the spiritual leader. Bartholomew has met Pope Francis a number of times and Kirill met the Catholic leader at a historical Havana encounter in Feburary. WASHINGTON BMW of North America is recalling 188,668 2011-'17 BMW X3 and X4 crossover SUVs because of a problem with the Isofix child-restraint anchors, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Included in the recall are: 2011-'17 BMW X3 sDrive28i 2011-'17 BMW X3 xDrive28i 2011-'17 BMW X3 xDrive35i 2015-'17 BMW X3 xDrive28d 2015-'17 BMW X4 xdrive28i 2015-'17 BMW X4 xDrive35i 2015-'17 BMW X4 xDriveM40i "The affected vehicles have lower anchor bars for securing child-restraint seats that may become damaged when using the European-Isofix-type rigid-style connector child-restraint system," NHTSA said in its recall summary. "Damaged lower anchor bars may increase the child's risk of injury in the event of a crash." BMW told federal safety regulators it is not aware of any injuries or fatalities linked to the recall. The company became aware of the problem in March 2015 from a field report on a 2011 BMW X3 in Europe. "The customer noticed that his unoccupied child restraint moved sideways when the vehicle traveled along a curve and that one of the lower anchor bars was damaged," BMW said in a chronology of the recall filed with NHTSA. BMW dealers will weld a reinforcing bracket to the lower anchor bars and the vehicle body. The recall is expected to begin on July 12. Owners can contact BMW customer service at 1-800-525-7417. Edmunds says: Parent and child caregivers will want to schedule a service appointment with their dealer once they receive their official recall notice. Two radically different narratives are emerging about the federal guidance over transgender students and restrooms. President Barack Obamas administration asserts that its guidance calling for schools to allow transgender students to choose restrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender identity is an interpretation of long-standing regulations under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the federal law barring discrimination based on sex in federally funded education programs. This guidance does not add requirements to applicable law, but provides information and examples to inform recipients about how the Departments [of Justice and Education] evaluate whether covered entities are complying with their legal obligations, those departments said in a May 13 Dear Colleague letter. Meanwhile, about a dozen states, several school districts, and two parents groups have filed lawsuits painting the guidance in different terms. The new rules, regulations, guidance, and interpretations described herein are rules under the federal Administrative Procedure Act, or APA, says the suit against the Obama administration filed last month by Texas and 10 other states or their officials. Such broad new rules must at the very least go through notice-and-comment procedures under the APA, the suit says. But the suit quickly adds that the transgender guidance goes so far beyond any reasonable reading of the relevant Congressional text such that the new rules, regulations, guidance, and interpretations functionally exercise lawmaking power reserved only to Congress. Byzantine Rulemaking A separate suit filed by parents in Palatine, Ill., against the U.S. Education Department and the local school district alleges that the informal guidance suffers from numerous procedural defects, and it is, in reality, a new legislative rule. A legislative rule has the force of law, and can be a drastic departure from what the law said, argued J. Matthew Sharp, a Lawrenceville, Ga., lawyer for the Alliance Defending Freedom, the group that brought the Illinois suit, in an interview. Those are the ones that have to go through the process of notice-and-comment rulemaking. Of course, much more is at stake in the transgender guidance battle than the niceties of administrative law. Schools have a responsibility to provide a safe and nondiscriminatory environment for all students, including transgender students, says the May 13 Dear Colleague letter from the Education and Justice departments. A school may not require transgender students to use [restroom and locker room] facilities inconsistent with their gender identity or to use individual-user facilities when other students are not required to do so. Scott Pruitt, the Republican attorney general of Oklahoma, explained in an opinion essay in The Wall Street Journal last week why his state joined with Texas and the other states (Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Maine, Utah, West Virginia, and Wisconsin) in suing the administration. In addition to unilaterally and unconstitutionally rewriting a statute enacted by Congress, the Obama administration failed to follow even the basic legal procedures for altering agency rulesprocedures that are meant to inject into the Byzantine rulemaking process some democratic participation, Pruitt wrote. None of what the Education Department has mandated is in Title IX, he added, and no one can seriously argue that this is what Congress had in mind when it wrote the law or when President [Richard] Nixon signed it. New Contexts The transgender issue is casting light on the Byzantine rulemaking process Pruitt referred to. Amy Wildermuth, a law professor at the University of Utah and an authority on administrative law, noted that as Congress has become gridlocked on many issues, federal agencies have asserted their administrative authority. Agencies filling the gaps are looking to the tools they have available to them, she said. Richard J. Pierce Jr., a law professor at George Washington University and another expert on administrative law, said the key issues in the transgender lawsuits are whether the guidance from the Education Department is a substantive, or legislative, rule, on the one hand, or a less formal interpretative rule. Legislative rules are usually authorized by the act of Congress itself, and typically fill in many gaps in a statute. The Education Departments recent proposed regulations for the Every Student Succeeds Act would be an example of such a rule, which under the APA must go through a notice-and-comment procedure and meet other requirements. The transgender guidance is an example, at least in the administrations view, of an interpretative rule. The Education Department is interpreting is own regulations under Title IX, in this instance a 1975 regulation making clear that schools could keep separate bathrooms for girls and boys. Dorie Nolt, a spokeswoman for the Education Department, said officials would not be available to expand on the May 13 Dear Colleague letter, but in an email, she emphasized that in policy guidance, complaint resolutions, and briefs filed in recent years, the Justice Department and the Education Departments office for civil rights has consistently interpreted Title IX as protecting all students, including LGBT students, from discrimination based on sex, including discrimination and harassment based on gender identity and sex stereotypes. The Justice Department put it another way in a brief filed in a Virginia case, G.G. v. Gloucester County Schools, in which a transgender student who identifies as a boy sought to be able to use the boys restroom at his high school. The department, in siding with the boy who has been publicly identified as Gavin Grimm, said that for most of its existence, there was no dispute about [the 1975 Title IX regulations] meaning; it was understood simply to mean what it says, i.e., that Title IX recipients can provide separate boys and girls facilities. It is only in recent years, as schools have confronted the reality that some students gender identities do not align with their birth-assigned sex, that schools have begun citing [the regulation] as justification for enacting new policies restricting transgender students to facilities based on their birth or biological sex, the department continued. It is to those newfound policies that EDs interpretation of the regulation responds. Providing guidance on how its regulations apply in new contexts is precisely the role of a federal agency, the brief said. French Philosophy 101 The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, in Richmond, Va., sided with the transgender student and the Obama administration in its April 19 decision, saying the Education Departments guidance on the issue was owed deference under principles of administrative law. The court applied what is known in administrative law as Auer deference, based on a 1997 U.S. Supreme Court known as Auer v. Robbins. Auer requires that an agencys interpretation of its own ambiguous regulation be given controlling weight unless the interpretation is plainly erroneous or inconsistent with the regulation or statute, U.S. Circuit Judge Henry F. Floyd wrote for the 4th Circuit court panel in the Gloucester County case. Agency interpretations need not be well-settled or long-standing to be entitled to deference. They must, however, reflect the agencys fair and considered judgment on the matter in question. The Education Departments interpretation, which at that point consisted of various policy pronouncements that preceded the May 13 Dear Colleague letter, met the standard for Auer deference, the majority concluded. Auer deference is pretty deferential to federal agencies, said Wildermuth of the University of Utah law school. The 1997 Auer decision was written by the late Justice Antonin Scalia, in a case about the U.S. Department of Labors interpretation of its overtime-pay regulations. Scalia would go on to have second thoughts about the principle of the case. For decades, and for no good reason, we have been giving agencies the authority to say what their rules mean, under the harmless-sounding banner of deferring to an agencys interpretation of its own regulations, Scalia wrote in a concurrence in a 2013 case about environmental regulations. The justice, who died this past February, was generally concerned about the growth of the administrative state, and he expressed fears that according federal agencies the power to interpret their own regulations would harm the constitutional separation of powers. He quoted the 18th Century French political philosopher Montesquieu: When the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person . . . there can be no liberty; because apprehensions may arise, lest the same monarch or senate should enact tyrannical laws, to execute them in a tyrannical manner. Not a Lay-Down Hand The standard argument against Auer deference is that too much power is being given to the agency, said Lisa Soronen, the executive director of the State and Local Legal Center, a Washington organization serving local government associations, which has filed briefs seeking to limit or undo Auer deference. Just last month, the Supreme Court declined an invitation to use a case about the Education Departments interpretation of its student loan rules to do away with Auer deference. Justice Clarence Thomas, in a dissent from denial of review, claimed that the doctrine is on its last gasp because several justices have questioned it. Last week, the full 4th Circuit court declined to rehear the Gloucester County case. But Judge Paul V. Niemeyer, who was in dissent on the panel, also wrote a short opinion last week challenging the Obama administrations stance. (He also said he did not seek a rehearing vote among his colleagues so the school districts appeal could reach the Supreme Court faster.) Without citing any French philosophers, Niemeyer said the panel majority in the case deferred to the administrations novel position [on the transgender issue] with a questionable application of Auer. The administrative-law experts gave slightly different takes on the legal challenges to the transgender guidance. Pierce, of George Washington law school, said he was a bit surprised at how aggressive the administration was with its interpretation, and that its not a lay-down hand that the guidance would be considered interpretative in nature and deserving of deference. Wildermuth, who has criticized Auer deference, nevertheless said that while the Supreme Court has indicated some skepticism, I dont see it eliminating deference for agencies interpretations of their own regulations. We have an agency jumping in to take action on a big, important issue for our nation, and it is looking around at the tools that will allow it to do it, she said. Unless youve been living under a rock, you have likely been privy (pun intended) to discussions and debates about who should be allowed to use which restroom. This conversation has been bubbling beneath the surface of mainstream media attention for years, but it exploded into public conscience with the speedy passage of North Carolinas House Bill 2, or HB2. Under a special legislative session in March, the North Carolina General Assembly introduced and passed a bill in one day that repealed current protections and prohibited future nondiscrimination laws or ordinances for LGBT people across the state. The bill requires that restrooms in government buildings and public schools be divided by biological sexdefined in HB2 as "[t]he physical condition of being male or female, which is stated on a persons birth certificate"rather than by gender identity. On May 9, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch gave a landmark speech in which she announced that the U.S. Department of Justice would be suing the state of North Carolina, the University of North Carolina, the states Department of Public Safety, and Gov. Pat McCrory for violations of civil rights laws because of HB2s new bathroom requirements. By the end of the week, the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Justice issued joint significant guidance that Title IX requires public schools that receive federal funding to treat students in accordance with their gender identity. This includes allowing students to use the restrooms that are consistent with their gender identity and not requiring transgender students to use single-stall or separate restrooms from other students. The clearest impact that laws like HB2 have on transgender people is a legislative approval of the harassment and intimidation that transgender and gender-nonconforming people already face when trying to access public restrooms. For example, under HB2 and other new state restroom laws, most transgender women would routinely be required to use the mens restroom. Additionally, gender-nonconforming cisgender people (such as masculine-presenting women) are likely to face increased state-approved harassment where laws mandate restroom use by biological sex. A 2009 survey of 93 transgender and gender-nonconforming adults living in the nations capital were asked about their experiences using public restrooms. Overall, 70 percent of the respondents reported experiencing denial of access to facilities, verbal harassment, or physical assault at some point in their lives while trying to use public restrooms. These incidents ranged from being told they were in the wrong restroom to being verbally threatened, hit, or kicked and even sexually assaulted. While everyone may occasionally find themselves in a situation where they have to hold it when they cant find a restroom, restroom access can be a daily struggle for transgender people. A 2013 national school climate survey of nearly 8,000 LGBT youths between the ages of 13 and 21 found that 63 percent of transgender students avoided school bathrooms, and 52 percent of transgender students avoided school locker rooms because they felt unsafe or uncomfortable. In the Washington, D.C., survey, 58 percent of respondents reported that at some point they avoided going out in public because of a lack of safe restroom facilities. Many respondents reported planning their days and travel routes to ensure access to gender-neutral restrooms, friends homes, or other safe restroom options. Because of the daily struggle of restroom access, 54 percent reported some sort of health-related impact, including dehydration, urinary-tract infections, kidney infections, and weakened bladders. Social acceptance of transgender youths and adults ... will likely save lives." In a school context, lack of regular access to restrooms can have a direct impact on academic participation and performance. In 2011, a transgender student filed a complaint against the Arcadia Unified School District in California, for refusing him access to restrooms in accordance with his gender identity. The school required that he use the nurses office restroom, which was a distance from his classrooms, causing him to miss a significant amount of class time. The Washington, D.C., survey found that, among respondents who had been denied access to restrooms in a school context, 10 percent reported it had a negative impact on their education, including causing excessive absences and poor performance. One respondent even reported dropping out of school. Most importantly, the general stigma against the transgender community that is highlighted and exacerbated by laws such as HB2 can have a detrimental impact on the mental health of transgender youths and adults. While the American Psychological Association has confirmed that gender nonconformity is not in itself a mental disorder, the stigma and discrimination that transgender people, especially transgender youths, experience can lead to disparate mental-health outcomes. An analysis of data from a 2009 report of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey , or NTDS, which collected data from over 6,000 transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals across the country, found that 41 percent of participants reported attempting suicide at some point in their lives, compared to 1.6 percent of the overall U.S. population. A recent analysis of NTDS data found that among those who had been denied access to restrooms in a postsecondary educational context, 61 percent reported attempting suicide. And in the month after HB2 was passed, the co-founder of Trans Lifeline, a crisis hotline for transgender people, reported that their call-volume nearly doubled, outpacing even the normal upswing of seasonal fluctuations. While these are correlations and not definitively causal, a recent study of prepubescent transgender youths ages 3 to 12, who had socially transitioned, found that those with supportive families reported depression levels similar to those of their cisgender siblings and other cisgender youths. All of these studies indicate that social acceptance of transgender youths and adults can lead to improved mental-health outcomes and will likely save lives. Finally, there is the question of whether opening the bathroom doors to transgender youths and adults may inadvertently open them to sexual predators and voyeurs. While no empirical data have been analyzed to date on this question, there is currently no evidence of any increase in sexual assaults or other criminal behavior in restrooms in the 18 states and Washington, D.C., that have enacted gender-identity-inclusive public-accommodations nondiscrimination laws. Researchers at the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, where I am based, have begun to analyze the effects of these laws on public safety more empirically. Anecdotally, all of the police departments with gender-identity nondiscrimination laws in public accommodations that have responded to our public records requests to date have reported that such laws have had no effect on public safety. This research, along with the research that has studied the impact of public-restroom use on transgender youths and adults, indicate that the only people likely to be seriously and concretely affected by school restroom policies are the transgender students who are in need of these protections. To build the largest and most complete Amateur Radio community site on the Internet - a "portal" that hams think of as the first place to go for information, to exchange ideas, and be part of whats happening with ham radio on the Internet. eHam.net provides recognition and enjoyment to the people who use, contribute, and build the site. This project involves a management team of volunteers who each take a topic of interest and manage it with passion. The site will stand above all other ham radio sites by employing the latest technology and professional design/programming standards, developed by a team of community programmers who contribute their skills to the effort. The site will be something of which everyone involved can be proud to say they were a part. We welcome your comments. The eHam.net Team, Revision 07/2020. Tributes after death of former Mayor Tributes are being paid to a former Mayor of Douglas who died on Sunday. Douglas Borough Council has confirmed Stan Cain died as a result of injuries sustained in a fall whilst visiting family in the UK. He served as the Mayor for the 2014-2015 civic year and was a council employee from 1989 to 2008. Council leader David Christian has described him as a "devoted family man" and says he took on the role as Mayor with "boundless enthusiasm". Infrastructure Minister 'slammed' for treatment of horse trams The Infrastructure Minister has been slammed by a local society which wants to protect the horse trams. The Manx Electric Railway Society has issued a critical release regarding its opinions on the 'self-styled champion of the horse tramway' - Phil Gawne. It's again questioning the planning application to tear up the tramway from the war memorial to the Sea Terminal - a track which it says would go from 'nowhere to nowhere'. Society members claim the DoI is ignoring the fact it'll be disposing of 'a priceless asset which exists nowhere else in the world' and say Mr Gawne is obsessed with carrying out the agenda. The society says it's sent an email detailing the problems and potential solutions to Mr Gawne but has not heard back from him or any other politicians. Island's LGBT community pay tribute after American shooting People on the Isle of Man are being urged to help the victims of America's worst mass shooting. Last night the Manx Rainbow Association held a vigil to pay tribute to the 49 people who were killed in Orlando in the early hours of Sunday morning. The group says it wanted to show solidarity with the LGBT community in Florida after gunman Omar Mateen opened fire. 'Go Fund Me' page has been set up to assist the victims of the attack - Lee Vorster is the press officer of the Manx Rainbow Association and says it's important everyone reflects: Media Lee Vorster Doctor Who's Class will take a leaf from Torchwood's playbook; the spinoff will feature an LGBT character in a lead role. The nation is reeling from Sunday's Orlando massacre, but the creative minds behind the next Doctor Who adventure wants fans the world over to remember that the Whoniverse is a safe an inclusive environment. Although Class showrunner Patrick Ness was keeping the news under wraps, he felt the announcement needed to be made sooner rather than later. "Been asked if Class will have LGBT representation in it. Will a lead character with a boyfriend who he kisses & sleeps with & loves do?" Ness tweeted on Monday. "We were keeping that secret, but today that secret doesn't seem very important. #lovewins." "So I can't wait for you to meet the characters of Class, all of em, all their sorrows & joys & goofiness & loves & losses. Roll on Autumn..." Ness added. Been asked if Class will have LGBT representation in it. Will a lead character with a boyfriend who he kisses & sleeps with & loves do? Patrick Ness (@Patrick_Ness) June 13, 2016 We were keeping that secret, but today that secret doesn't seem very important. #lovewins Patrick Ness (@Patrick_Ness) June 13, 2016 So I can't wait for you to meet the characters of Class, all of em, all their sorrows & joys & goofiness & loves & losses. Roll on Autumn... Patrick Ness (@Patrick_Ness) June 13, 2016 Class will focus on a group of students (played by Vivian Oparah, Greg Austin, Sophie Hopkins and Fady Elsayed), who, together with their teacher, will battle Coal Hill's latest bout of chaos. "Coal Hill School has been a part of the Doctor Who Universe since the very beginning, but that has come at a price. All the time-travelling over the years has caused the very walls of space and time to become thin," the BBC teased last year. "There's something pressing in on the other side, something waiting for its chance to kill everyone and everything, to bring us all into Shadow. Fear is coming, tragedy is coming, war is coming. Prepare yourselves, Class is coming." Find out more when Class comes to the BBC and BBC America later this year. A study of sewage workers and toilet cleaners employed with the Pune Municipal Corporation shows how solid waste management is narrowly focused on dry latrine cleaning. One needs to urgently reform solid waste management system and improve the working conditions of people who are employed in cleaning our cities. There are about 1.8 lakh households across India still engaged in manual scavenging, according to the Socio Economic and Caste Census 2011. Maharashtra has the highest number of manual scavengers at 63713. The census defines manual scavenger as someone who cleans a dry latrine or carries human waste to dispose it off. This definition, like much of the discourse on manual scavenging in India, is centred upon dry latrine cleaning (Government of India 2014). Even the Safai Karmachari Andolan (SKA), one of the largest organisations campaigning against manual scavenging in India, gives primacy to dry latrine prohibition followed by septic tank cleaning. Though the SKA has made important interventions and argued for a broader definition of manual scavenging in the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act 2013, it may not have worked in reality. Local body authorities, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and even the United Nations (UN) still associate manual scavenging with dry latrines and open defecation. This leaves out the mechanisms and practices of waste disposal and manual scavenging in civic municipalities where dry latrines do not exist. Therefore it is important to investigate the condition of sewage workers in urban municipalities in Indiaparticularly in Maharashtra. This piece presents the findings of a survey conducted in 2015 for 1091 workers (sewage cleaners and toilet cleaners) of the Pune Municipal Corporation. The study[i] found that government agencies or contracts under government agencies are the largest beneficiaries of manual scavenging. Though the case of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) was taken up for the study, the purpose was not to take one particular city corporation to task, as these conditions prevail in most corporations. The case study of PMC was taken to stress that if the third best functioning corporation in the country (Press Trust of India 2011) cannot ensure eradication of manual scavengers and better working conditions for sewage workers, then the situation in the rest of the country could be worse. Working Conditions The workers were asked about the process of cleaning waste. They were also asked whether they came into direct contact with human excreta or not. Most of the sewage workers said that they come into direct contact with human waste during the course of their work. Some of them said that they have even cleaned manual waste with bare hands though most of the workers use basic equipment like spade and baskets allotted for these tasks. When we visited a choked sewage at Ashoknagar in the Yerwada slum area we saw how the workers struggled for two hours to find the blockage. When they finally opened the blocked sewage, they discovered that it was a large mass of human excreta, which had blocked the sewerage line. The workers had to clean the waste with help of a rod, but not without using their bare hands substantially. They said they were lucky that the waste had floated and accumulated at the mouth of the sewage manhole, otherwise they would have to descend into the hole to remove it. The workers were also asked which of the 44 mandatory protective equipments they were provided and which ones they used. We realised that even when some safety measures such as soap or gloves are given, very few actually use them. It was the poor quality of the equipment provided that deterred most of the workers from using it. For example, the soaps that were bought by the municipal corporation at an exorbitant price were of extremely poor quality. The workers union had also staged an agitation protesting the purchase of such substandard soaps. One worker said that he had hurt himself after a rod slipped from his hand because the gloves provided by the corporation were too large and inflexible for the nature of his work. Lack of Training In what is a categorical violation of the 2013 Act, most of the sewage workers have not received any form of training regarding their work whatsoever. Even in case of the few respondents who said they have received training, the training is informal. This is in clear contravention of the Central Government Notification on Rules and Obligations to the 2013 Act[ii]. Some of the workers are exclusively engaged in cleaning of round chambers. This involves cleaning of chambers that have a depth of anything between 6 ft to 14 ft. Most of the workers said they have to enter sewers on a regular basis thus proving that the governments claims that these processes have been mechanised are untrue. There are strict provisions in the act to not allow persons to enter the sewer manually even with protective gear and safety devices. The rules also specify that there should be a minimum of three employees present during sewage cleaning, one of whom should be a supervisor. The workers said that they were occasionally accompanied by a co-worker and a supervisor but most of the time had to perform the tasks unsupervised. There are also detailed rules about the procedure to be followed before opening the drainage network. The rules are clear that the atmosphere within the confined space should be tested for oxygen deficiency and toxic and combustible gases including but not limited to poisonous gases. Not only are these rules not followed, but workers do not even know that such procedures are required. The rules state that workers should test if the chamber is full of inflammable or harmful gas by holding a lead acetate paper. In reality, most workers just hold a lighted matchstick at the mouth of the sewer to confirm the presence of combustible gases. Toilet Cleaners Toilet cleaners were the next category of workers amongst whom the survey found the highest incidence of manual scavenging. Apart from the 436 toilet cleaners working with the PMC on both permanent and contractual basis, 69 workers from Sulabh Shauchalayas across Pune and 95 workers from Sassoon General Hospital and College of Nursing, Pune were also interviewed. The workers from medical facilities were included because dealing with biomedical waste can be relatively more dangerous and required specialised training, procedure and equipment. The survey asked similar questions to toilet cleaners and inspected their conditions of work. It was found that most of the toilet cleaners working with the PMC come in contact with manual waste. In a few cases they used specialised equipment provided to them by the municipal corporation. Figure 1: Category-wise distribution of sewage workers in PMC. Role of Caste The toilet cleaners suffer humiliation not just at their place of work but also where they stayed. Rajesh Santu, 36-year-old man from the Valmiki caste lived in the Pashan Kothi area of Pune. He had been working as a toiler cleaner for the last 10 years and has been made the caretaker for the Sulabh Shouchalaya in his area. This meant that he had also received a house above the toilet complex. He receives no salary or equipment for cleaning and is supposed to collect money from the residents of the slum. The slum dwellers think they are under no obligation to pay Rajesh as he has been given a free house above the toilet. At times brawls among drunk men spill onto his house as they fail to make a distinction between the toilet and Rajeshs house in an inebriated state. He himself is an alcoholic and blames the work for his addiction. The family is treated as untouchables, have no social life in the slum and verbal abuses are a regular affair. People from the slum often defecate in front of his house. He thinks that could be because the people are trying to teach him a lesson but its also true that the slum is over populated. Most of the times water supply is erraticthe stench in the toilet as well as his house above it is unbearable. The only thing that motivates him to work every day he says is the future of his daughters. Figure 2: Caste-wise distribution of sewage workers in PMC. Involvement of Family Most of the toilet cleaners and sewage workers employed with the municipal corporation were from the scheduled castes, predominantly Valmikis, Mehtars and Bhangis. This also led the government to employ people only from these castes for manual scavenging. The ones who had received jobs under the open (general) category were largely from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Most of workers who were surveyed said that there were from a family that was traditionally involved in manual scavenging. This is almost institutonalised as a system called varsa hakka or hereditary right system which the class IV workers can avail. Under this system an employee can get his or her offspring/close relative appointed in their own place in case of retirement or injury. Though there is a provision that if the dependant is educated he or she may be appointed to higher posts such as mukkadam, peon, and clerk etc, in reality most children of these workers take up the profession of their parents. Figure 3: Caste-wise distribution of toilet cleaners in PMC. Way Forward It is clear that manual scavenging is an everyday reality of civic municipalities. The problem of sole insistence on the abolition of dry latrines and open defecation however is a mere symptom of a larger malaise. If these derogatory practices are to be abolished only to be replaced by equally dehumanising and, at the same time, legalised systems of manual scavenging then the cause is already lost. The larger goal should be to identify and accept loopholes in the states approach towards the management of solid waste produced in cities from its very inception. This state of permanent exception is the accepted norm necessary for our normal civic life to run by making permissible manual scavenging under the agencies of the state. No amount of new toilets we manage to build can create a Swaccha Bharat unless the state agencies themselves reform the way they imagine the sphere of human solid waste management and the work remains relegated to certain caste groups that continue to remain pools from which manual scavengers are drawn generations after generations. The first step in the direction is identifying manual scavenging even outside the sites where dry latrines exist. This means a strict adherence to the definition of the 2013 Act, scrutiny mechanisms for the way municipalities work, arresting contractualisation, rehabilitation and special assistance to children of these workers. In the long run the talk about smart cities must imply smart not only in terms of concrete sky scrapings above the ground but also smarter and humane systems below it; through which our waste runs. Notes [i] The survey for 491 sewage cleaners and 600 toilet cleaners was conducted from 25 May 2015 to 23 June 2015 in all 14 wards of the Pune Municipal Corporation by a team of 20 trained investigators under the supervision of 5 research officers of the institute. The survey was conducted across 161 kothis (primary work units of PMC) and personal interviews were conducted for all 1091 workers. [ii] The Central Government Notification on Rules and Obligations to the 2013 Act, ChapterII Obligations of Employer towards Employees engaged in the cleaning of Sewer or Septic tank dated 12th December, 2013 says All employees who are present on-site during cleaning work are given training and adequately familiarised with the knowledge to operate all equipment involved in cleaning work, to avoid injuries or diseases associated with such work and to take necessary steps in case of emergency arising at the place of work and the training shall be conducted every two years and the employees shall be familiarised with any changes in method and technique with respect to the above. The ACMG Foundation for Genetic and Genomic Medicine announced that it has received a $165,000 commitment from Pfizer to provide funding for education and training in clinical genetics in the form of fellowship grants for 2017-2019. The ACMG Foundation/Pfizer Clinical Genetics Training Fellowship Award will provide funding for the salary and research of fellows selected by the ACMG Foundation. Bruce R. Korf, MD, PhD, FACMG, president of the ACMG Foundation said, "We are grateful to Pfizer for their continuing commitment to supporting the training of the next generation of medical geneticists. This is an investment that will help ensure that the rapid advances in genetics and genomics are quickly translated into the better care of our patients." "Pfizer has generously supported the training of future geneticists since 2013 through the ACMG Foundation," says ACMG Foundation Executive Director, Michael S. Watson, PhD, FACMG. "Together, with Pfizer's support we are working to overcome the shortage of laboratory and clinical geneticists in the United States. These fellowships will ultimately improve access to specialists with advanced training in genetics and genomics, improve care for patients with both rare and common diseases, and develop clinician scientists." Michael P. Wajnrajch, MD, MPA, Pfizer's Senior Medical Director/Global Medical Affairs Lead said, "Pfizer is proud to partner with ACMG to promote greater education and awareness in the field of Medical Genetics." More information about applying for the ACMG Foundation/Pfizer Clinical Genetics Training Fellowship Award will be available during the summer of 2016 at http://www.acmgfoundation.org. ### About the ACMG Foundation The ACMG Foundation for Genetic and Genomic Medicine, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is a community of supporters and contributors who understand the importance of medical genetics in healthcare. Established in 1992, the ACMG Foundation for Genetic and Genomic Medicine supports the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics; mission to "translate genes into health" by raising funds to attract the next generation of medical geneticists and genetic counselors, to sponsor important research, to promote information about medical genetics, and much more. To learn more about the important mission and projects of the ACMG Foundation for Genetic and Genomic Medicine and how you too can support this great cause, please visit http://www.acmgfoundation.org or contact us at acmgf@acmgfoundation.org or 301-718-2014. WASHINGTON, June 14, 2016 -- You might have seen this wacky experiment in a chemistry class or on late-night TV. Dropping a mixture into some hydrogen peroxide produces a huge foamy flume. But what's actually causing that big mess? Turns out it's a great illustration of a key concept in chemistry. In this week's video, Reactions teams up with chemistry professor Matt Hartings, Ph.D., to explain the Elephant Toothpaste experiment. Check it out here: https://youtu.be/PX7TIqAJRSY. ### Subscribe to the series at http://bit.ly/ACSReactions, and follow us on Twitter @ACSreactions to be the first to see our latest videos. The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 158,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio. To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org. Follow us: Twitter Facebook Washington, DC - June 9, 2016 -The microbial mix found in grape juice during the winemaking process may help shape the terroir of a finished wine, report food scientists at the University of California, Davis. In a study published in the May/June issue of mBio, an online open-access journal from the American Society of Microbiology, the researchers found that the microorganisms found in must - freshly-pressed grape juice, before fermentation - can be used as biomarkers to predict which metabolites will be found in the finished wine. Metabolites are chemical compounds that help shape the flavor and texture of a wine. In the future, winemakers might use microbial analyses to improve their products by identifying bacteria and fungi associated with desirable metabolites, or by finding troublesome taxa before they cause spoilage or other problems during fermentation The process of making wine begins when grapes are harvested and pressed into must. David Mills, senior author on the new study, says he and his collaborators wanted to know if the microbes in must - as well as in later stages of fermentation - could be used to describe a winery-specific microbial population. "We were curious about the 'house microbiome,' as it were," he says. They used high-throughput gene sequencing to identify individual microbiomes in each of nearly 700 samples of must and wine, collected in 2011 from eight stages of the fermentation process. Far Niente and Nickel & Nickel, neighboring wineries in Oakville, California, provided the samples, and Mills says was acquiring those was a Herculean undertaking for the wineries. "Literally every production lot from the 2011 was sampled," he says. "They had to do an incredible amount of sampling to make this project possible." Winemaker Greg Allen, who collected the samples, is a co-author on the paper and a former graduate student in Mills' lab. The study grapes included those used for Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon wines and had been harvested from vineyards throughout Napa and Sonoma counties. The researchers measured changes in the abundances of particular bacteria and fungi taxa during the fermentation process and correlated the microbiome of the must to the metabolome of the finished wine. Their results corroborated previous studies that identified some bacterial families - including Enterobacteriaceae, Pseudomonas, Sphingomonas, and Methylobacterium - that increase during fermentation. These microbes don't have a well-known role but may still contribute to fermentation performance and wine flavor. Nicholas Bokulich, Ph.D., a former graduate student in Mills' lab, led the study, which built on his previous work. In 2013, he and his collaborators showed that microbial populations on the surface of wine grapes vary from region to region, in patterns consistent with climate variation. Grapes grown for Cabernet Sauvignon in the Central Coast have different microbes than those grown in Sonoma or the North San Joaquin Valley, for example. Researchers have long sought to understand the science underlying a wine's terroir - how the climate, soil, and other environmental factors influence the regional characteristics of a wine. In the last few years, many scientists have turned their attention on non-pathogenic bacteria and fungi, either in the soil or on the grapes. "This is an area that is developing fast, and lots of other wine researchers around the world - in Australia, France, Chile - are following these kinds of leads and looking at their own microbial terroir," says Mills. "That's a good thing." He cautions that the new study suggests - but doesn't prove - a microbial influence on the terroir of a wine. "We don't know the relative contribution that the microbes play in the eventual flavor and sensory characteristics of the wine," he says. At the same time, it does represent a step toward that effort, by demonstrating how microbial populations can predict metabolite abundances - even before fermentation. It's unlikely that bacteria and fungi could ever be used to completely synthesize every aspect of terroir, Mills says, since a wide variety of known and unknown environmental factors leave their fingerprint on a wine. But "maybe we can modulate flavor simply by finding the right correlated microbes." ### Bokulich received financial support from the American Wine Society Educational Foundation Endowment Fund, the American Society of Brewing Chemists Foundation, and Wine Spectator. The American Society for Microbiology is the largest single life science society, composed of over 47,000 scientists and health professionals. ASM's mission is to promote and advance the microbial sciences. ASM advances the microbial sciences through conferences, publications, certifications and educational opportunities. It enhances laboratory capacity around the globe through training and resources. It provides a network for scientists in academia, industry and clinical settings. Additionally, ASM promotes a deeper understanding of the microbial sciences to diverse audiences. CINCINNATI - A study in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology suggests a new therapeutic approach to treat the development of chronic kidney disease secondary to chronic heart failure, known as cardiorenal syndrome type 2. In the journal's June 13 online edition, researchers at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center suggest inhibiting G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) could prevent renal damage in cardiorenal syndrome type 2 (CRS2), and could also prevent acute kidney injury (AKI). According to the researchers, chronic stimulation of GPCR receptors, specifically G-protein (G) subunit signaling, plays a major role in chronic kidney disease (CKD) and AKI. In the study, researchers used a novel small molecular inhibitor (gallein) to target and block G signaling and protect renal function. Prior to this study, GPCR-G signaling was connected to heart failure, but little was known about the role of GPCR-G signaling in kidney injury. All patients, adult and pediatric, who have any sort of invasive cardiac procedure that requires them to go on a heart-lung bypass are at significant risk for cardiac injury and kidney injury. According to the National Kidney Foundation, CRS2 costs the healthcare system $30 billion each year. "Developing chronic kidney disease secondary to chronic heart failure is clinically associated with organ failure and reduced survival," said Burns Blaxall, PhD, FAHA, FACC, FAPS, lead author of the study and director of Translational Science at the Cincinnati Children's Heart Institute. "GPCR-G inhibition therapy could prevent both chronic and acute kidney damage in chronic heart failure patients, thereby improving their chances of survival and quality of life." The researchers used two mouse models during the study-- a model of CRS2 they generated and an AKI model. Study data shows that the CRS2 model developed by the researchers most accurately simulates the disease progression affecting patients. Previous studies have shown that elevated neurohormonal signaling of the sympathetic nervous system and vascular endothelin (ET) system play a key role in kidney and heart damage in cardiorenal syndrome. The sympathetic nervous system and endothelin system (which is important to the circulatory system) utilize adrenergic and ET receptors respectively, both of which are GPCRs. Study results show that using gallein to inhibit GPCR-G signaling in mouse models reverses CRS2 disease progression and AKI, including ET system activation, fibrosis, inflammation, tissue damage and renal dysfunction. "The future direction of this research will be to further investigate whether this approach applies to both pediatric and adult patients and to figure out the best time to deliver the therapy," said Prasad Devarajan, Director of the Division of Nephrology at Cincinnati Children's and co-lead author of the study. "The goal is to one day use this therapeutic approach for anyone going on heart-lung bypass in addition to anyone who has heart failure to prevent acute and chronic kidney injury." ### Funding support for this studied was provided by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (1 R01 HL091475, 1R01 HL089885, 1R0 HL132551), American Heart Association Postdoctoral Fellowship, PhRMA Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship, and the National Institutes of Health (P50 DK096418-01). About Cincinnati Children's Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center ranks third in the nation among all Honor Roll hospitals in U.S. News and World Report's 2015 Best Children's Hospitals. It is also ranked in the top 10 for all 10 pediatric specialties, including a #1 ranking in pulmonology and #2 in cancer and in nephrology. Cincinnati Children's, a non-profit organization, is one of the top three recipients of pediatric research grants from the National Institutes of Health, and a research and teaching affiliate of the University of Cincinnati's College of Medicine. The medical center is internationally recognized for improving child health and transforming delivery of care through fully integrated, globally recognized research, education and innovation. Additional information can be found at http://www.cincinnatichildrens.org. Connect on the Cincinnati Children's blog, via Facebook and on Twitter. CLEMSON -- Clemson University scientist Cheryl Ingram-Smith has been awarded a three-year, $424,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study the inner workings of a parasite that causes 50 million cases of amoebic dysentery each year and kills 50,000 to 100,000. Entamoeba histolytica, an amoeba that is found worldwide, causes amebiasis, a parasitic infection of the intestines. About 50 million people get dysentery from the infection. Another 450 million who become infected do not develop this form of dysentery but are still carriers of the disease and can contribute to its spread. In rarer cases, the parasite can move to the liver and cause death if left untreated. Entamoeba histolytica is most prevalent in developing nations and may also be a problem in those undergoing civil unrest where barriers between human feces and food and water supplies are inadequate. It is not considered a serious threat to nations like the United States where sanitation standards suppress the pathogen's ability to spread. Ingram-Smith has been studying the microscopic parasite for several years. The NIH grant will accelerate her efforts by funding the purchase of new equipment and supplies and also by paying the salaries of full-time graduate research assistants. Ingram-Smith's team will focus its research on a pair of unusual enzymes that the parasite uses to overcome its lack of the energy-producing processes that fuel the cells of most animals and plants. "Entamoeba histolytica is an amoeba, so it just kind of oozes around. It's actually fun to watch under the microscope," said Ingram-Smith, assistant professor in Clemson's genetics and biochemistry department. "But its metabolism is really unusual. Most organisms can make their own building blocks. But Entamoeba species lack many of the metabolic pathways that are typically found in cells. Most eukaryotes (cells containing membrane-bound compartments) are able to convert glucose into energy very efficiently. But though Entamoeba's cells are eukaryotes, they lack mitochondria, which are the power generators of most cells. Thus, they have to find other ways to make sufficient amounts of energy to thrive." One way the amoeba compensates for its deficiencies is by devouring the cells of its host, which contain many of the compounds necessary for survival, such as amino acids and nucleic acids. "We eat meat, they eat cells. And that's where they get a lot of the materials they need," said Ingram-Smith, who in addition to this NIH grant is also one of the investigators for a recently announced $10.5 million NIH grant focused on fighting organisms responsible for infectious diseases. "But the Entamoeba don't derive enough energy from just eating cells. They still need more. That's where the enzymes we're studying enter the equation." Through a series of pathways, cells with mitochondria generate 30-32 adenosine triphosphates (ATPs) per unit of glucose. ATPs, which are often called the "molecular units of currency," transport chemical energy within cells and are vital for growth and replication. However, since Entamoeba lack mitochondria, they can't break down glucose nearly as well as other cells. Entamoeba can only use one of the pathways, called glycolysis, which is the enzymatic breakdown of a carbohydrate. Glycolysis normally produces just two ATPs per unit of glucose. "We're studying a couple of enzymes that we think help glycolysis work better within the parasite," Ingram-Smith said. "One of the enzymes I'm working on enables the amoeba end up with five ATPs instead of two. Compared to mitochondria, this still isn't much. You're talking minimum wage versus a CEO's salary. But two to five is still a relatively large increase. The second enzyme we're studying may help the parasite ramp up glycolysis even further." When outside the human body, the amoebas are encased in a tough, protective cyst. Once ingested, the cysts help them survive their journey through their host's acid-laden stomach until they reach the upper intestines, where they cast off the cysts and begin to feed and replicate. Eventually, they settle in the lower intestines. Current medicines are effective in preventing death, but their availability is severely limited in many parts of the world. "Countries where this is most prevalent don't usually have sufficient or readily accessible medical facilities," Ingram-Smith said. "More importantly, Entamoeba causes 50 million cases of dysentery every year. Even though the recovery time is usually only one to two weeks, when you're talking tens of millions of people, you're talking a potentially huge economic impact in certain areas of the world." Though Entamoeba kills only a small percentage of the people who become infected, the NIH still lists it as a potential agent of bioterrorism. "If a large part of a nation's population is sick from dysentery, you can seriously cripple its operational abilities," Ingram-Smith said. "Is Entamoeba being used like this now? Not to anyone's knowledge. But there is that potential, because it's something that can easily get into a water system by various means. And if you're having problems with your water system breaking down because of wars, it would not be difficult for an enemy to spread the parasite and wreak havoc." Thus far, two graduate students have played significant roles in Ingram-Smith's research: * Thanh Dang - who was born in Vietnam but who grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, after his family immigrated there - is a fourth-year graduate student in Clemson's biochemistry and molecular biology Ph.D. program. Dang received a Bachelor of Science degree in microbiology in 2009 from Louisiana State University. His project at Clemson has been to study the biochemistry of the two enzymes in terms of their growth and metabolism. Dang will be fully supported by the NIH grant as a graduate research associate. "Entamoeba is a really fascinating organism in that it lacks many essential metabolic pathways commonly seen in other organisms," Dang said. "However, it has found ways to adapt, some of which might be novel to the world. Our work hopes to elucidate further on this neglected parasite and its mysteries." * Cheryl Jones, who was born and raised in Anderson, graduated this past May with her Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology. Jones received her bachelor's degree in biochemistry in 2009 from Clemson. She was a recipient of the prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship as well as a Wade Stackhouse Fellowship. While still at Clemson, she studied how one of the enzymes functions biochemically. Jones has one publication from this work and another that will be submitted this summer. She is currently a postdoctoral research associate in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's cellular biology and physiology department. "Working on this project has awoken a passion in me for exploring the fascinating biology of parasites," Jones said. "Yet, it also opened my eyes to the millions of people suffering from devastating diseases like amoebic dysentery. Global health is a global responsibility, and I've been fortunate to make my contributions here at Clemson." Ingram-Smith said her research is unlikely to lead directly to a cure, but what her team uncovers will add to a database of knowledge that will increase the chances of developing a vaccine or medication that could eventually rid the world of one of its most widespread and aggressive pathogens. "The goal of this research is to determine what roles these two enzymes play and understand how that fits in with the overall growth of Entamoeba," Ingram-Smith said. "A better understanding of how Entamoeba survive under different conditions should prove helpful in discovering ways to combat this disease. It's always better to be proactive than reactive." ### Chemically the same, graphite and diamonds are as physically distinct as two minerals can be, one opaque and soft, the other translucent and hard. What makes them unique is their differing arrangement of carbon atoms. Polymorphs, or materials with the same composition but different structures, are common in bulk materials, and now a new study in Nature Communications confirms they exist in nanomaterials, too. Researchers describe two unique structures for the iconic gold nanocluster Au144(SR)60, better known as Gold-144, including a version never seen before. Their discovery gives engineers a new material to explore, along with the possibility of finding other polymorphic nanoparticles. "This took four years to unravel," said Simon Billinge, a physics professor at Columbia Engineering and a member of the Data Science Institute. "We weren't expecting the clusters to take on more than one atomic arrangement. But this discovery gives us more handles to turn when trying to design clusters with new and useful properties." Gold has been used in coins and jewelry for thousands of years for its durability, but shrink it to a size 10,000 times smaller than a human hair, and it becomes wildly unstable and unpredictable. At the nanoscale, gold likes to split apart other particles and molecules, making it a useful material for purifying water, imaging and killing tumors, and making solar panels more efficient, among other applications. Though a variety of nanogold particles and molecules have been made in the lab, very few have had their secret atomic arrangement revealed. But recently, new technologies are bringing these miniscule structures into focus. Under one approach, high-energy x-ray beams are fired at a sample of nanoparticles. Advanced data analytics are used to interpret the x-ray scattering data and infer the sample's structure, which is key to understanding how strong, reactive or durable the particles might be. Billinge and his lab have pioneered a method, the atomic Pair Distribution Function (PDF) analysis, for interpreting this scattering data. To test the PDF method, Billinge asked chemists at the Colorado State University to make tiny samples of Gold-144, a molecule-sized nanogold cluster first isolated in 1995. Its structure had been theoretically predicted in 2009, and though never confirmed, Gold-144 has found numerous applications, including in tissue-imaging. Hoping the test would confirm Gold-144's structure, they analyzed the clusters at the European Synchrotron Radiation Source in Grenoble, and used the PDF method to infer their structure. To their surprise, they found an angular core, and not the sphere-like icosahedral core predicted. When they made a new sample and tried the experiment again, this time using synchrotrons at Brookhaven and Argonne national laboratories, the structure came back spherical. "We didn't understand what was going on, but digging deeper, we realized we had a polymorph," said study coauthor Kirsten Jensen, formerly a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia, now a chemistry professor at the University of Copenhagen. Further experiments confirmed the cluster had two versions, sometimes found together, each with a unique structure indicating they behave differently. The researchers are still unsure if Gold-144 can switch from one version to the other or, what exactly, differentiates the two forms. To make their discovery, the researchers solved what physicists call the nanostructure inverse problem. How can the structure of a tiny nanoparticle in a sample be inferred from an x-ray signal that has been averaged over millions of particles, each with different orientations? "The signal is noisy and highly degraded," said Billinge. "It's the equivalent of trying to recognize if the bird in the tree is a robin or a cardinal, but the image in your binoculars is too blurry and distorted to tell." "Our results demonstrate the power of PDF analysis to reveal the structure of very tiny particles," added study coauthor Christopher Ackerson, a chemistry professor at Colorado State. "I've been trying, off and on, for more than 10 years to get the single-crystal x-ray structure of Gold-144. The presence of polymorphs helps to explain why this molecule has been so resistant to traditional methods." The PDF approach is one of several rival methods being developed to bring nanoparticle structure into focus. Now that it has proven itself, it could help speed up the work of describing other nanostructures. The eventual goal is to design nanoparticles by their desired properties, rather than through trial and error, by understanding how form and function relate. Databases of known and predicted structures could make it possible to design new materials with a few clicks of a mouse. The study is a first step. "We've had a structure model for this iconic gold molecule for years and then this study comes along and says the structure is basically right but it's got a doppelganger," said Robert Whetten, a professor of chemical physics at the University of Texas, San Antonio, who led the team that first isolated Gold-144. "It seemed preposterous, to have two distinct structures that underlie its ubiquity, but this is a beautiful paper that will persuade a lot of people." ### A copy of the study, "Polymorphism in magic sized Au144(SR)60 clusters," is available from Nature Communications or the authors. The study's other authors: Pavol Juhas, Brookhaven National Laboratory; Marcus Tofanelli and Christine Heinecke, Colorado State; and Gavin Vaughan, European Synchrotron Radiation Facility. ClinicoEconomics and Outcomes Research has published the original research "Scaling up health knowledge at European level requires sharing integrated data: an approach for collection of database specification". As corresponding author Dr Enrica Menditto says "Healthcare-related databases have been widely described as an excellent opportunity for research secondary data for both academic and policy research. Under the umbrella of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP-AHA), collaborative work conducted by the partners of the Adherence Action Group identified the use of observational databases to monitor medication-taking behavior in the elderly. A collection of databases characteristics was devised to collaborate in building consensus on the use of common elements and measures to facilitate data sharing." Dr Menditto continues "Combining databases from multiple countries exploiting common structural elements will help increasing the cohorts both on numerical and geographical coverage aspects. At the moment there is not a gold standard to perform multiple healthcare database integration among different countries and different health systems. The EIP-AHA represents an opportunity to compare practices, identify common needs and establish good practices and harmonized approaches with a view to maximize the effective exploitation of large data sets and provide the basis for studying population cohorts at European level. This paper analyzed a limited number of databases, those available by the members of EIP-AHA Adherence Group. They represent a cluster of data from three different countries (Italy, Spain, Republic of Ireland). However, the methodology used can be easily expanded to other interested stakeholder for future data integration." As Professor Giorgio Colombo, Editor-in-Chief, explains "The availability of 'big data' has brought about a wave of innovation in projects when conducting health services research. Most of the available data sources are restricted to the geographical scope of a given country and present heterogeneous structure and content. This paper describes the methodology used to gather the information from available databases among the Adherence Action Group partners with the aim of improving data sharing on a European level." ### ClinicoEconomics and Outcomes Research is an international, peer-reviewed open-access journal focusing on Health Technology Assessment, Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research in the areas of diagnosis, medical devices, and clinical, surgical and pharmacological intervention. The economic impact of health policy and health systems organization also constitute important areas of coverage. Dove Medical Press Ltd is a privately held company specializing in the publication of Open Access peer-reviewed journals across the broad spectrum of science, technology and especially medicine. DURHAM, N.C. -- Fungal infections can be devastating to human health, killing approximately 150 people every hour, resulting in over a million deaths every year, more than malaria and tuberculosis combined. Unfortunately the antifungal drug arsenal is limited, with many of the best drugs more than 50 years old. The search for new antifungals has recently alighted on a simple biological pathway, the production of trehalose, a chemical cousin to table sugar that pathogenic fungi need to survive in their human hosts. A team of Duke researchers has solved the structure of an enzyme that is required to synthesize this fungal factor. When the enzyme is blocked, pathogenic fungi are unable to endure the stressful leap from the outside world into the human body. The research, appearing this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, paves the way for designing new antifungal drugs against an enzyme that is essential to the three most deadly fungi: Cryptococcus, Candida, and Aspergillus. "We found that the active site of this enzyme is identical in each of these pathogenic fungi, so they all use the same mechanism and have the same residues that are necessary for the production of trehalose," said senior study author Richard G. Brennan, Ph.D., professor and chair of biochemistry at Duke University School of Medicine. "By targeting those active sites, we hope to create a drug with broad-spectrum effects," Brennan said. "If you could kill one fungus, you're going to kill them all; at least if you can get the drug inside." The development of antifungal drugs has lagged far behind that of other antimicrobials. Because fungi are eukaryotic multicellular organisms like humans, they share a lot of the same genes, proteins, and pathways. As a result, drugs that go after a fungal protein can also harm the human, triggering devastating side effects. These drug toxicities are one of the main reasons that antifungal therapies ultimately fail, either in the clinic or earlier in development. Luckily, the enzymes for synthesizing the trehalose sugar aren't present in people, so scientists can target them with less concern for collateral damage. Pathogenic fungi use trehalose as a kind of molecular heat shield. Organisms like Cryptococcus, Candida, and Aspergillus spend most of their time either down in the dirt or out on the laboratory bench, where the temperature is a comfortable 30 degrees Celsius. But when they move into an unlucky host, they are suddenly exposed to a steamy 37 degrees. Trehalose protects the fungi's delicate proteins and membranes from falling apart in all that heat. Brennan and his colleagues, including John R. Perfect, M.D., Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Duke University Medical Center, figured that if they could stop trehalose from being made, they could eliminate the pathogen's protection, such that every time the fungi jump into a host they are sending themselves to a fiery death. Trehalose is a disaccharide or a double sugar, two sugar molecules that are made and linked together by two enzymes called Tps1 and Tps2, which do their jobs one after the other. Before the scientists could target either of the biosynthetic enzymes, they needed to know its structure. Yi Miao, PhD, a graduate student in Brennan's lab, followed the instructions written in the genetic sequence of Cryptococcus, Candida, and Aspergillus to build Tps2 (the latter of the two biosynthetic enzymes) from scratch. Then he used a technique called x-ray crystallography to produce an atomic-level three-dimensional structure of the essential molecule. Miao took several pictures of Tps2 to produce a kind of time-lapse video of the molecule in action: first, as it sat idle; next, as it bound a precursor molecule called trehalose-6-phosphate, popping off its phosphate group to create trehalose; and finally, its job done, as it released trehalose and was alone again. Afterwards the researchers generated a series of mutations in Tps2 to see if they could impair its ability to produce trehalose, and as a result render pathogenic fungi susceptible to heat shock. They showed that a wide variety of mutations could inactivate the enzyme and create fungi unable to survive the jump from 30 to 37 degrees. "It appears that this enzyme has become so specific that it has basically evolved itself into a corner." Brennan said. "That's good for us, because if it tries to evolve resistance to an antifungal drug, it will likely lose its activity in the process, so the drug might not be able to destroy it but it will be a lousy enzyme, and the pathogen will die anyway." Brennan says he and his colleagues are now using their structures of Tps2 to conduct "rational" drug design to create new antifungals that can kill a broad spectrum of pathogenic fungi. They are also performing high-throughput screening for small molecules or other pharmaceuticals that can generate the same effect. ### This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (1P01 AI104533, R01 AI073896, and R01 AI093257), and the American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. CITATION: "Structures of Trehalose-6-Phosphate Phosphatase From Pathogenic Fungi Reveal the Mechanisms of Substrate Recognition and Catalysis," Yi Mao, Jennifer L. Tenor, Dena L. Toffaletti, Erica J. Washington, Jiuyu Liu, William R. Shadrick, Maria A. Schumacher, Richard E. Lee, John R. Perfect, and Richard G. Brennan. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Online June 13, 2016. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1601774113 FMAO Researchers at Durham University, UK and the University of Jyvaskyla, Finland, said their findings could have implications for how music therapy and rehabilitation could help people's moods. The musicologists looked at the emotional experiences associated with sad music of 2,436 people across three large-scale surveys in the UK and Finland. They identified the reasons for listening to sad music, and emotions involved in memorable experiences related to listening to sad music. Writing in the prestigious scientific journal PLOS ONE, the researchers said that the majority of people surveyed highlighted the enjoyable nature of such experiences, which in general lead to clear improvement of mood. The researchers said that listening to sad music led to feelings of pleasure related to enjoyment of the music in some people, or feelings of comfort where sad music evoked memories in others. However, a significant portion of people also reported painful experiences associated with listening to sad music, which invariably related to personal loss such as the death of a loved one, divorce, breakup, or other significant adversity in life. The research was funded by the Academy of Finland. Lead researcher Professor Tuomas Eerola, Professor of Music Cognition in the Department of Music, Durham University, said: "Previous research in music psychology and film studies has emphasised the puzzling pleasure that people experience when engaging with tragic art. "However, there are people who absolutely hate sad-sounding music and avoid listening to it. In our research, we wanted to investigate this wide spectrum of experiences that people have with sad music, and find reasons for both listening to and avoiding that kind of music. "The results help us to pinpoint the ways people regulate their mood with the help of music, as well as how music rehabilitation and music therapy might tap into these processes of comfort, relief, and enjoyment. "The findings also have implications for understanding the paradoxical nature of enjoyment of negative emotions within the arts and fiction." Study co-author Dr Henna-Riikka Peltola from the University of Jyvaskyla, in Finland said sad music led to mixed emotions. Dr Peltola added: "There seem to be two types of enjoyable experiences evoked by sad music listening. "In these instances, music is typically the central source of these experiences, and aesthetic qualities were very much involved in the experienced pleasure. "Alternatively, sad music is also associated with a set of emotions that give comfort to the listener, and where memories and associations play a strong part of making the experience pleasant. These experiences were often mentioned to confer relief and companionship in difficult situations of life. "However, a large number of people also associated sad music with painful experiences. Such intense experiences seemed to be mentally and even physically straining, and thus far from pleasurable." The three types of experience associated with listening to sad music (pleasure, comfort and pain) were found across the different surveys. The researchers added that experiences of enjoyable sadness were not affected by gender or age, although musical expertise and interest in music seemed to amplify these feelings. Older people reported stronger experiences of comforting sadness, while strong negative feelings when listening to sad music were more pronounced for younger people and women. Each type of emotional experience associated with sad music could be connected to a distinct profile of reasons, psychological mechanisms, and reactions, the researchers added. Professor Eerola added: "We think that this demonstrates well the functional nature of these experiences. "Although the positive experiences seemed to be the most frequently associated with sad music, truly negative experiences are not uncommon in any of the samples in our research." Commenting on the study Professor Jorg Fachner, Professor of Music, Health and the Brain, at Anglia Ruskin University, who was not part of the research team, said: "This study confirms that music therapists can work with authentic experiences when using music representing the sorrowful and painful content of sad life events such as the death of a spouse or child. "Some people enjoy sad music and derive a lot of comfort out of such music in certain situations but when a particular piece of music becomes a container for a negative emotion related to a personal or environmental challenge, a music therapist would carefully start working on its representations. "A skilful, trained music therapist can sense and adapt to the individual meaning of the sad music representing negative experiences and memories as described in this study." ### Scientists at EPFL have found a way to starve liver cancer cells by blocking a protein that is required for glutamine breakdown -- while leaving normal cells intact. The discovery opens new ways to treat liver cancer. Primary liver cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, with current treatments being very limited. Liver cancer cells are particularly addicted to the amino acid glutamine, which fuels their proliferation. EPFL scientists have now found that a liver protein called "liver receptor homolog 1" (LRH-1) is responsible for the digestion of glutamine into smaller molecules, which are avidly consumed by liver cancer cells. Therefore, blocking LRH-1 causes cancer cells to starve and greatly reduces the development of liver cancer in mice, while preserving normal cells. The discovery is published in Genes & Development, and can introduce new drugs that target LRH-1 to effectively treat liver cancers. LRH-1 is a receptor in the cell nucleus, where it regulates the expression of various genes. In this study, scientists from different groups at EPFL led by Kristina Schoonjans, discovered that LRH-1 coordinates several key genes that are involved in the metabolism of glutamine -- an amino acid to which liver cancer cells become addicted. The researchers found that LRH-1 drives the development of liver tumors by helping cancer cells to convert glutamine into molecules that are directly needed for proliferation. This would also mean that disrupting the function of LRH-1 in the liver of mice would protect against the development of liver cancer. That is exactly what the scientists found when they studied mice that had been genetically modified to not express LRH-1 - so called "knockout" mice. After exposing them to chemical carcinogens, the livers of knockout mice showed dramatically less development of tumors. "Shutting down this pathway by inhibiting LRH-1 abrogates the utilization of glutamine as a fuel and brings the cancerous cells in tremendous metabolic distress," says Pan Xu, the first author of the study. Based on the study, LRH-1 could be a new drug target to prevent the development of liver cancer. Because cancer cells, unlike normal cells, are very often addicted to glutamine, drugs that inhibit glutamine metabolism have been proposed as new highly efficient chemotherapy agents. "Inhibiting LRH-1 can thus be an effective way to starve only liver cancer cells, while leaving normal cells intact," says Kristina Schoonjans. Her lab is now actively trying to identify new chemotherapeutic agents to treat liver cancer by developing specific compounds that inhibit LRH-1. The researchers also hope that these findings may extend to other types of cancer, since LRH-1 is also abundant in the pancreas and ovaries. ### This work involved a collaboration of Kristina Schoonjans' lab with EPFL's Institute of Bioengineering and Institute of the Physics of Biological Systems, and the University of Groningen. It was funded by EPFL, the Swiss Cancer League, the Swiss National Science Foundation, and the Novartis Consumer Health Foundation. Reference Xu P, Oosterveer MH, Stein S, Demagny H, Ryu D, Moullan N, Wang X, Can E, Zamboni N, Comment A, Auwerx J, Schoonjans K. LRH-1-dependent programming of mitochondrial glutamine processing drives liver cancer. Genes & Development 13 June 2016. DOI: 10.1101/gad.277483.116 The first days after HIV infection are very important because sexual partners are exposed to extremely high risks of infection due to the subsequent high viral load in the infected person. Additionally, this period of time determines the further course of HIV infection. DZIF scientists from the Department of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine at the Medical Center of the University of Mu-nich (LMU) and DZIF African partner institutions in Tanzania participated in a pro-spective, multinational study which investigated virological and immunological changes due to HIV - prior to the onset of clinical symptoms and commercial HIV testing windows. Over several years, more than 2,000 people exposed to high risks of HIV infection were tested twice-weekly in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Thailand. A specific, highly-sensitive method called APTIMA, which is able to detect very low concentrations of around 20 copies of HIV ribonucleic acid (RNA) per millilitre of plasma, was used to detect newly acquired HIV infections. By means of this method, a total of 112 people were confirmed positive only a few days after HIV infection. The study results of 50 patients from this cohort are now described in the New England Journal of Medicine. These very early-stage cases of HIV infection had an average of five days between the last negative and the first positive blood test. Analysing cases at such early stages of infection has been unique up to now, because earlier studies only included patients who already had symptoms or had contracted the infection several weeks earlier. Longstanding international collaborations pay off "Conducting this study was very challenging", says Dr Inge Kroidl, clinical research coordinator of "RV 217", as the study in Tanzania is called. "We had major doubts about whether the study participants who were members of very mobile and partially stigmatised high-risk groups would be willing to participate in such a complex study." Previous studies, conducted within the longstanding collaboration between the Munich Institute of Tropical Diseases, headed by Prof Michael Hoelscher, and the Mbeya Medical Research Center in southern Tanzania, laid the foundation for conducting a study of this kind. The other three countries also benefited from many years of research experience contributed by Dr Merlin Robb, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, who led the study. Acute stage of HIV infection provides information about immune defence mechanisms The data on early-stage HIV infection collected during this study contributes to a better understanding of immune defence mechanisms and should result in opti-mising vaccination strategies. In the RV 217 study, the scientists collected data on the course of viraemia and immune reactions during the acute stage of infection. In doing so, the period of time between contracting the infection and peak viraemia could be described more precisely. Here, cell types which are critical to the further course of HIV infection start spreading2. The period of time between the first confirmation of HIV-RNA and peak viraemia lasted an average of 13 days. On the other hand, the so called viral-load set point, meaning the period of time be-tween the highest and lowest values, was 31 days. For HIV patients, the further course of disease is determined by the set point because viral load values remain constant over a long period of time after this. The level of viraemia at this point in time determines whether the course of HIV infection will be rapid or slow. The set-point is defined in the first days after HIV infection, and the course of chronic HIV over the course of years is determined during these first days. Information about interactions between the immune system and the virus, which influence the set point level are therefore of crucial importance. The goal is curing HIV The RV 217 study was initiated in 2009 and is still recruiting participants. Approximately half of the newly infected HIV patients were treated with antiretrovirals during the acute stage. A comparison between patients who were treated early and the above-mentioned 50 patients who had newly acquired infections permits researchers to draw conclusions about the possible effects of this therapy. In ad-ditional studies (RV 398 amongst others), innovative treatment concepts, e.g. with monoclonal antibodies, are being tested. "Long-term goals of these investigations, which we are also conducting with a German cohort at the DZIF, is to develop strategies to eradicate HIV from the body and to achieve long-term HIV remission, and possibly even a cure," says Dr Arne Kroidl, who is responsible for clinical HIV research at the DZIF International Clinical Trials Unit at the Munich Department of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine. ### Publications 1 Robb ML, Eller LA, Kibuuka H, et al.: Prospective Study of Acute HIV-1 Infection in Adults in East Africa and Thailand. N Engl J Med 2016;374:2120-30. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1508952. 2 Eller MA, Goonetilleke N, Tassaneetrithep B, et al.: Expansion of Inefficient HIV-Specific CD8 T Cells during Acute Infection. J Virol 2016;90:4005-16. doi: 10.1128/JVI.02785-15 A new study from the Georgia Institute of Technology finds that older people struggle to remember important details because their brains can't resist the irrelevant "stuff" they soak up subconsciously. As a result, they tend to be less confident in their memories. Researchers looked at brain activity from EEG sensors and saw that older participants wandered into a brief "mental time travel" when trying to recall details. This journey into their subconscious veered them into a cluttered space that was filled with both relevant and irrelevant information. This clutter led to less confidence, even when their recollections were correct. Cluttering of the brain is one reason older people are more susceptible to manipulation, the researchers say. The study appears online in the journal Neuropsychologia. Researchers showed older adults (60 years and up) and college students a series of pictures of everyday objects while EEG sensors were connected to their heads. Each photo was accompanied by a color and scene (e.g., living room). Participants were told to focus on one and ignore the other. An hour later, they were asked if the object was new or old, and if it matched the color and the scene. Neither age group was very good at recalling what they were told to ignore. Both did well remembering the object and what they were supposed to focus on. "But when we asked if they were sure, older people backed off their answers a bit. They weren't as sure," said Audrey Duarte, the associate professor of psychology who led the Georgia Tech study. She and the researchers noticed differences in brain activity between the young and old. Older adults' brains spent more time and effort trying to reconstruct their memories. "While trying to remember, their brains would spend more time going back in time in an attempt to piece together what was previously seen," she said. "But not just what they were focused on -- some of what they were told to ignore got stuck in their minds." Duarte uses a cocktail party as an example. Two older people are talking to each other. And even though they're only concentrating on the conversation, their brains absorb the other noise in the room. "When it's time to remember the conversation, they may struggle a bit to recall some details. That's because their brains are also trying to decipher the other noises," she said. "What music was playing? What was the couple next to them saying? That extra stuff shouldn't be in their memories at all, but it is. And it negatively impacts their ability to clearly remember the conversation." Younger people were quicker to recall details and used less brain power. The irrelevant information was never stored in the first place, which kept their memories relatively clutter-free. And that's why they were more confident than the older participants when remembering relevant details. A lack of confidence, Duarte said, can lead to manipulation. "If someone tells you that you should remember it one way, you can be more easily persuaded if you lack confidence," she said. "This memory clutter that's causing low confidence could be a reason why older adults are often victims of financial scams, which typically occur when someone tries to trick them about prior conversations that didn't take place at all." ### The study, "Age-related deficits in selective attention during encoding increase demands on episodic reconstruction during context retrieval," was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1125683. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. This paves the way to fast and energy efficient ultrahigh density data storage. The results are published now in the new journal Physical Review Applied. To increase data density further in storage media, materials systems with stable magnetic domains on the nanoscale are needed. For overwriting a specific nanoscopic region with new information, a laser is used to heat locally the bit close to the so called Curie-Temperature, typically several hundred degrees Celsius. Upon cooling, the magnetic domain in this region can be reoriented in a small external magnetic field, known as Heat Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR). In industry, Iron-Platinum materials are currently used as magnetic media for the development of such HAMR-data storage devices. Magnetic signals mapped at BESSY II before and after heating A HZB team has now examined a new storage media system of Dysprosium and Cobalt, which shows key advantages with respect to conventional HAMR materials: A much lower writing temperature, a higher stability of the magnetic bits, and a versatile control of the spin orientation within individual magnetic bits. They achieved this by sputtering a thin film of Dysprosium and Cobalt onto a nanostructured membrane. The membrane was produced by scientific cooperation partners at the Institute of Materials Science of Madrid. The system shows a honeycomb antidot pattern with distances of 105 nanometers between nanoholes, which are 68 nanometers in diameter. These nanoholes act themselves as pinning centers for stabilizing magnetic wall displacements. The magnetic moments of DyCo5 are perpendicular to the plane and stable against external magnetic fields. Energy efficient process HZB-physicist Dr. Jaime Sanchez-Barriga and his team could demonstrate that warming the system to only 80 degrees Celsius is sufficient to tilt the magnetic moments in the DyCo5 film parallel to the surface plane. With measurements at the PEEM and XMCD instruments at BESSY II they could map precisely the magnetic signals before, during and after warming. After cooling to room temperature it is then easy to reorient the magnetic domains with a writing head and to encode new information. "This process in DyCo5 is energy efficient and very fast", states Dr. Florin Radu, co-author of the study. "Our results show that there are alternative candidates for ultrahigh density HAMR storage systems, which need less energy and promise other important advantages as well", adds Sanchez-Barriga. ### Publication: Ferrimagnetic DyCo5 nanostructures for bits in heat-assisted magnetic recording. A. A. Unal, S. Valencia, F. Radu, D. Marchenko, K. J. Merazzo, M. Vazquez, and J. Sanchez-Barriga DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.5.064007 June 14, 2016, Baltimore, MD, Following the publication of the first proof of concept of predicting the functional properties of drugs by their transcriptional response signature, scientists at Insilico Medicine developed a multimodal input drug discovery engine capable of predicting therapeutic use, toxicity and adverse effects of thousands of molecules. Several of these advances will be presented at the Re-Work Machine Intelligence Summit Berlin, June 29-30. Drug discovery processes within the pharmaceutical and even biotechnology companies is generally very slow, takes decades and usually results in failures with less than 1 in 10 drugs in clinical trials reaching the market. There are many reasons for high failure rates: irreproducible experiments published in top peer-reviewed journals, poor choice of animal models or inability to translate the results from animal models directly to humans, high heterogeneity of diseases and heterogeneity of the patient population and asymmetry of information among scientists, managers, venture capitalists, pharmaceutical companies and regulators. Another reason is the slow-paced and bureaucratic culture within the pharmaceutical companies. Insilico Medicine aims to address all of these reasons by developing multimodal deep learned and parametric biomarkers as well as multiple drug scoring pipelines for drug discovery and drug repurposing, hypothesis and lead generation. Many leading company scientists are hired through exhaustive hackathons and competitions. One of these scientists is Polina Mamoshina, senior research scientist at the Pharmaceutical Artificial Intelligence division of Insilico Medicine. "At Insilico, we want to radically transform the pharmaceutical industry and double the number of drugs on the market using artificial intelligence and deep understanding of the pharmaceutical R&D processes. We decided to start with nutraceuticals and cosmetics, but soon we will be announcing our cancer immunology concomitant drug discovery engine, to boost the response rates to checkpoint inhibitors in immuno-oncology", said Polina Mamoshina, senior research scientist at Insilico Medicine, Inc. Earlier this month Insilico Medicine signed an exclusive agreement with Life Extension, a major nutraceutical product vendor to collaboratively develop set of geroprotectors, natural products that mimic the healthy young state in multiple old tissues. This products are able to increase rejuvenation rate of human body and slow down or even reverse aging process. Polina Mamoshina was the lead author on paper, "Applications of Deep Learning in Biomedicine" in Molecular Pharmaceutics and contributed to another publication, "Deep learning applications for predicting pharmacological properties of drugs and drug repurposing using transcriptomic data" also in Molecular Pharmaceutics. The later paper received the Editors' Choice Award from the American Chemical Society. She also co-authored a paper, "Deep biomarkers of human aging: Application of deep neural networks to biomarker development" in Aging, one of the highest-impact journals in aging research. "Using our drug discovery engine we made thousands of hypotheses and narrowed these down to 800 strong molecule-disease predictions with efficacy, toxicity, adverse effects, bioavailability and many other parameters. We added many drug scoring mechanisms that further validate the initial predictions and put together a team of analysts to research and evaluate individual molecules. We are now partnering with various institutions to validate these predictions in vitro and in vivo", said Alex Aliper, president of Insilico Medicine, Inc. Insilico Medicine previously presented the deep learned biomarkers of aging at the Re-Work Deep Learning in Healthcare conference in London before the publication of the research paper. "We really like Re-Work conferences as they bring together machine intelligence experts from many industries and focus on applications and benefits of various approaches. Previously we managed to meet both research and industry partners. At Insilico, we are trying to encourage women in science, especially young female scientists. This makes events run by all-female Re-Work team special for us. I highly recommend anyone interested in practical applications of AI to attend their events. ", said Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD, CEO of Insilico Medicine, Inc. Machine Intelligence Summit Berlin conference will transpire 29 - 30 of June 2016 at a unique church turned conference venue that is more than 100 years old located at Umweltforum, Pufendorfstr. 11, 10249 Berlin. https://www.re-work.co/events/machine-intelligence-berlin-2016 ### About Insilico Medicine Insilico Medicine, Inc. is a bioinformatics company located at the Emerging Technology Centers at the Johns Hopkins University Eastern campus in Baltimore with R&D resources in Belgium, Russia and Poland hiring talent through hackathons and competitions. It utilizes advances in genomics, big data analysis and deep learning for in silico drug discovery and drug repurposing for aging and age-related diseases. The company pursues internal drug discovery programs in cancer, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, sarcopenia and geroprotector discovery. Through its Pharma.AI division the company provides advanced machine learning services to biotechnology, pharmaceutical and skin care companies. Brief company video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l62jlwgL3v8 About Re-Work RE* WORK is an all-female run events organising company that brings together breakthrough technology, cutting-edge science and entrepreneurship shaping the future of business and society. At each event, it showcases the opportunities of exponentially accelerating technologies to positively disrupt industry and society. Leading technologists, entrepreneurs, innovators, and industry leaders on such events come together to share case studies, research and technological innovations to integrate cutting-edge technology and science into human lives. For media enquiries, interviews and images, please email: Sophie Curtis scurtis@re-work.co or call +44 203 287 0590 A team of researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the Rowland Institute at Harvard University have used a specialized nanoprobe developed by the Harvard/Rowland investigators to directly measure levels of key proteins within living, cultured cells. As described in the journal Nano Letters, the investigators used the device to track levels of the Alzheimer's-disease-associated proteins amyloid-beta (A-beta) and tau in neurons and other cells exposed to an anesthetic known to produce Alzheimer's-like changes in the brains of mice. Their results support the view that the generation of A-beta is among the first steps leading to the characteristic neurodegeneration of Alzheimer's disease. "To study the dynamics of A-beta and tau, we needed a way to trigger the expression of both proteins and a tool to track dynamic changes of protein expression," says lead author Feng Liang, PhD, a research fellow at the Rowland Institute. In 2008, some of the MGH members of the current team showed that the anesthetic isoflurane induced characteristic changes seen in Alzheimer's disease - including activation of cell-death enzymes and generation of A-beta - in cultured cells and in mouse brains. In 2014, the Harvard/Rowland researchers demonstrated the ability of their nanodevice to detect levels of intracellular proteins in living, cultured cells. The current study merges both of these accomplishments to investigate a key question regarding the mechanism of Alzheimer's disease - whether generation of A-beta precedes or follows the generation of the abnormal form of tau that characterizes the disease. The tip of the device developed by the Harvard/Rowland investigators is around 50 nanometers (billionths of a meter) across, about 200 times smaller than a single cell. An integrated gold nanorod serves as the biosensor for what is called surface plasmon resonance - an oscillation of electrons in response to a light signal that can generate an optical readout reflecting protein binding signals. Antibodies targeting specific proteins can be integrated into the probe to give specific measurements of protein levels. The team first demonstrated that it was possible to use the nanoplasmonic fiber tip probe (nFTP) to quantify protein levels in individual cells without affecting their vitality and viability. Using the nFTP device the investigators then tracked the changing levels of A-beta and the Alzheimer's-associated form of tau, which is characterized by excess phosphate molecules, in cultured cells that had been treated with isoflurane. The readings indicated that the increase in A-beta expression preceded the rise in phosphorylated tau levels by several hours. The team then showed that, while blocking A-beta expression reduced tau levels, blocking tau did not prevent the initial rise in A-beta. However, without phosphorylated tau expression, A-beta levels eventually began to drop, suggesting a sequence in which A-beta generation stimulates tau phosphorylation, which promotes further generation of A-beta. "We have brought the traditional immunoassay into living cells with exquisite sensitivity," says Qimin Quan, PhD, a junior fellow at the Rowland Institute and co-corresponding author of the Nano Letters report. "The device is still limited in its ability to measure a large number of single cells, requiring further improvement. But its high-sensitivity, label-free and single-cell capability make it a unique tool for diagnosing clinically obtained limited samples." Zhongcong Xie, MD, PhD, director of the Geriatric Anesthesia Research Unit in the MGH Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine and co-corresponding author of the study, adds, "Each year approximately 8.5 million patients with Alzheimer's disease need anesthesia and surgical care worldwide. Learning how anesthesia affects the mechanisms behind Alzheimer's will require collaboration among specialists in anesthesia, neurology and engineering. Moreover, this use of both an anesthetic and the nFTP device to measure interactions between A-beta and tau is just a first step." Xie is a professor of Anesthesia at Harvard Medical School. ### Additional co-authors of the Nano Letters study are Yiying Zhang, MD and Yuanlin Dong, MD, MGH Anesthesia; Wooyoung Hong, PhD, Harvard Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology. Support for the study includes a Rowland Junior Fellowship award and National Institutes of Health grants R01 GM088801, R01 AG041274 and HD 086977. The Rowland Institute was originally founded by the late Edwin H. Land in 1980 as The Rowland Institute for Science, a privately endowed, nonprofit, basic research organization, conceived to advance science in a wide variety of fields. The Rowland Junior Fellows Program lies at the heart of the Institute: A program dedicated to experimental science over a broad range of disciplines for young investigators. Current research is carried out in physics, chemistry, biophysics, and biology, with an emphasis on interdisciplinary work and the development of new experimental tools. The Institute is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts near the Longfellow Bridge. Massachusetts General Hospital, founded in 1811, is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. The MGH Research Institute conducts the largest hospital-based research program in the nation, with an annual research budget of more than $800 million and major research centers in HIV/AIDS, cardiovascular research, cancer, computational and integrative biology, cutaneous biology, human genetics, medical imaging, neurodegenerative disorders, regenerative medicine, reproductive biology, systems biology, photomedicine and transplantation biology. Like a pair of human hands, certain organic molecules have mirror-image versions of themselves, a chemical property known as chirality. These so-called "handed" molecules are essential for biology and have intriguingly been found in meteorites on Earth and comets in our Solar System. None, however, has been detected in the vast reaches of interstellar space, until now. A team of scientists using highly sensitive radio telescopes has discovered the first complex organic chiral molecule in interstellar space. The molecule, propylene oxide (CH3CHOCH2), was found near the center of our Galaxy in an enormous star-forming cloud of dust and gas known as Sagittarius B2 (Sgr B2). The research was undertaken primarily with the National Science Foundation's Green Bank Telescope (GBT) in West Virginia as part of the Prebiotic Interstellar Molecular Survey. Additional supporting observations were taken with the Parkes radio telescope in Australia. "This is the first molecule detected in interstellar space that has the property of chirality, making it a pioneering leap forward in our understanding of how prebiotic molecules are made in the Universe and the effects they may have on the origins of life," said Brett McGuire, a chemist and Jansky Postdoctoral Fellow with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Charlottesville, Virginia. "Propylene oxide is among the most complex and structurally intricate molecules detected so far in space," said Brandon Carroll, a chemistry graduate student at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. "Detecting this molecule opens the door for further experiments determining how and where molecular handedness emerges and why one form may be slightly more abundant than the other." McGuire and Carroll share first authorship on a paper published today in the journal Science. They also are presenting their results at the American Astronomical Society meeting in San Diego, California. Forming and Detecting Molecules in Space Complex organic molecules form in interstellar clouds like Sgr B2 in several ways. The most basic pathway is through gas-phase chemistry, in which particles collide and merge to produce ever more complex molecules. Once organic compounds as large as methanol (CH3OH) are produced, however, this process becomes much less efficient. To form more complex molecules, like propylene oxide, astronomers believe thin mantles of ice on dust grains help link small molecules into longer and larger structures. These molecules can then evaporate from the surface of the grains and further react in the gas of the surrounding cloud. To date, more than 180 molecules have been detected in space. Each molecule, as it naturally tumbles and vibrates in the near vacuum of the interstellar medium, gives off a distinctive signature, a series of telltale spikes that appear in the radio spectrum. Larger and more complex molecules have a correspondingly more complex signature, making them harder to detect. To claim a definitive detection, scientists must observe multiple spectral lines associated with the same molecule. In the case of propylene oxide, the research team detected two such lines with the GBT. The third was at a frequency difficult to observe from the Northern Hemisphere due to satellite radio interference. Carroll, McGuire, and their colleagues used the Parkes telescope to tease out the final spectral line needed to verify their results. The current data, however, do not distinguish between the left- and right-handed versions of the molecule. In additional to the same chemical composition, chiral molecules have the same melting, boiling, and freezing points, and the same spectra. "These spectra are like your hands' shadows," said Carroll. "It's impossible to tell if a right hand or a left hand is casting the shadow." This presents a challenge for researchers trying to determine if one version of propylene oxide is more abundant than the other. Chirality in Space, a Helping Hand to Biology on Earth Every living thing on Earth uses one, and only one handedness of many types of chiral molecules. This trait, called homochirality, is critical for life and has important implications for many biological structures, including DNA's double helix. Scientists do not yet understand how biology came to rely on one handedness and not the other. The answer, the researchers speculate, may be found in the way these molecules naturally form in space before being incorporated into asteroids and comets and later deposited on young planets. "Meteorites in our Solar System contain chiral molecules that predate the Earth itself, and chiral molecules have recently been discovered in comets," noted Carroll. "Such small bodies may be what pushed life to the handedness we see today." "By discovering a chiral molecule in space, we finally have a way to study where and how these molecules form before they find their way into meteorites and comets, and to understand the role they play in the origins of homochirality and life," McGuire said. The researchers believe it may eventually be possible to determine if there is an excess of one handedness of propylene oxide over the other by examining how polarized light interacts with the molecules in space. "The Prebiotic Interstellar Molecular Survey is the culmination of a nearly decade-long research campaign with the GBT," said Anthony Remijan, an astrochemist with the NRAO and head of the research team. "It is an invaluable resource and helps us understand the cosmic origins of this and other similarly elusive molecules." The 100-meter Green Bank Telescope is the world's largest fully steerable radio telescope. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation, operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc. ### Reference: "Discovery of the interstellar chiral molecule propyleneoxide (CH3CHCH2O)," B. McGuire & P.B. Carroll et al., Science, June 2016. [http://science.sciencemag.org/] The team is composed of Brett A. McGuire (NRAO, Charlottesville, Va., and Caltech, Pasadena, Calif.) and P. Brandon Carroll (Caltech, Pasadena, Calif.), Ian A. Finneran (Caltech, Pasadena, Calif.), Philip R. Jewell (NRAO, Charlottesville, Va.), Anthony J. Remijan (NRAO, Charlottesville, Va.), and Geoffrey A. Blake, Caltech, Pasadena, Calif.) The new and sixth volume of Research on Chrysomelidae consists of five research articles devoted to the latest findings about the amazing family of over 37,000 leaf beetle species from more than 2,500 genera. Among the studies, conducted by authors from all around the world, there is a new species of potentially dangerous legume-feeding pest, as well as new information regarding the life cycle, ecological interactions, species richness factors and taxonomy of some leaf beetles. The latest volume devoted to one of the most intriguing beetle families also marks a turning point for the entomologists sharing special fondness for the leaf beetles. While the "spiritus rector" of the Chrysomelidae research community, Prof Pierre Jolivet resigned from his position last year, now Dr Jorge Santiago-Blay is also stepping down from the editorial board. The third of the original trio, Prof Michael Schmitt, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universitat, takes the opportunity to look back to the beginning of the community and pay tribute to his long-year colleagues in his Editorial. He also confirms that the series, by now traditionally published in the open access journal ZooKeys, is far from over. "I thank Jorge Santiago-Blay from the bottom of my heart for his tireless engagement in fostering leaf beetle research and his friendship, and wish him All the Best for whatever he may entertain in the future," read his words. In his short publication accompanying the five-piece issue, Prof Michael Schmitt recalls the very beginning of his team's existence, started in 2001. He does not omit to note the numerous obstacles surrounding the first issues. At a point, having completed the enormous book "The green book - New Developments in the Biology of the Chrysomelidae", comprising 62 chapters by 111 authors, as well as the first two volumes of Research on Chrysomelidae, they were made to drop the series due to unsatisfying selling numbers. However, everything changed after the conversation Prof Pierre Jolivet and Prof Lyubomir Penev, Pensoft Publishers, had at the 9th European Congress of Entomology, held in Hungary in 2010. There they agreed to publish the next Research on Chrysomelidae volume as a special issue in ZooKeys, one of Pensoft's journals. Shortly after, the collaboration turned out so successful that it is now resulting in a fourth consecutive special issue. In the meantime, last December, the 30th anniversary of Symposia on Chysomelidae was celebrated in another leaf beetle-themed ZooKeys issue. Moreover, the next issue is already planned. It will cover the proceedings of the 9th International Symposium on Chrysomelidae and will be edited by Prof Michael Schmitt and Dr Caroline Chaboo, University of Nebraska State Museum, USA. "The present volume is the fourth, but certainly not the last, published by Pensoft. Although the pullout of Pierre Jolivet and Jorge Santiago-Blay marks a crucial cut in the history of Research on Chrysomelidae, I understand the reasons of their decision to step down," concludes Prof Michael Schmitt. "I hope and wish that the series will prosper and remain accepted as a forum of leaf beetle research by the community of Chrysomelidae enthusiasts all over the world." ### Research on Chrysomelidae 6 Special Issue is available to read and order from here. Original source: Schmitt M (2016) Editorial. In: Jolivet P, Santiago-Blay J, Schmitt M (Eds) Research on Chrysomelidae 6. ZooKeys 597: 1-2. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.597.8618 Prathapan KD (2016) Revision of the legume-feeding leaf beetle genus Madurasia Jacoby, including a new species description (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae, Galerucinae, Galerucini). In: Jolivet P, Santiago-Blay J, Schmitt M (Eds) Research on Chrysomelidae 6. ZooKeys 597: 57-79. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.597.7520 Shameem KM, Prathapan KD, Nasser M, Chaboo CS (2016) Natural history of Javeta pallida Baly, 1858 on Phoenix palms in India (Chrysomelidae, Cassidinae, Coelaenomenoderini). In: Jolivet P, Santiago-Blay J, Schmitt M (Eds) Research on Chrysomelidae 6. ZooKeys 597: 39-56. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.597.6876 Freijeiro A, Baselga A (2016) Spatial and environmental correlates of species richness and turnover patterns in European cryptocephaline and chrysomeline beetles. In: Jolivet P, Santiago-Blay J, Schmitt M (Eds) Research on Chrysomelidae 6. ZooKeys 597: 81-99. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.597.6792 Gomez-Zurita J, Cardoso A, Coronado I, De la Cadena G, Jurado-Rivera JA, Maes J-M, Montelongo T, Nguyen DT, Papadopoulou A (2016) High-throughput biodiversity analysis: Rapid assessment of species richness and ecological interactions of Chrysomelidae (Coleoptera) in the tropics. In: Jolivet P, Santiago-Blay J, Schmitt M (Eds) Research on Chrysomelidae 6. ZooKeys 597: 3-26. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.597.7065 Magoga G, Sassi D, Daccordi M, Leonardi C, Mirzaei M, Regalin R, Lozzia G, Montagna M (2016) Barcoding Chrysomelidae: a resource for taxonomy and biodiversity conservation in the Mediterranean Region. In: Jolivet P, Santiago-Blay J, Schmitt M (Eds) Research on Chrysomelidae 6. ZooKeys 597: 27-38. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.597.7241 Penn State College of Medicine faculty are helping shape the "third science" of medical education by defining what health systems science is and how student perception of it should be addressed in designing curriculum. Two recent College of Medicine research studies address health systems science, the study of methods and principles for improving quality, outcomes and costs of health care delivery for patients and populations within medical care systems. Health systems science is often called the third science that complements the traditional pillars of basic and clinical science, and has as its primary goal the education of systems-ready physicians. Penn State was an early adopter of adding health systems science to its program, and has developed a curriculum that is a model for other medical schools. In 2013, the College of Medicine was one of 11 U.S. medical schools to receive a five-year, $1 million Accelerating Change in Medical Education grant from the American Medical Association (AMA). The grant funded a new component called the Systems Navigation Curriculum in which students learn health systems science while also serving as patient navigators in the health system. This allows them to assist patients in a meaningful way during their education and prepare them to work within all aspects of the nation's evolving health care system. Although medical schools are beginning to incorporate aspects of health systems science into coursework, a comprehensive curricular framework does not yet exist, said Jed D. Gonzalo, assistant professor of medicine and public health sciences and associate dean for health systems education. "Basic and clinical sciences are important, but they're not enough," said Gonzalo. "In the past couple of years there has been an increasing focus in medical schools on the health care delivery system. This raises the question: What is the learning that all medical students should know about health systems science to better prepare them for practice?" To answer this question, Gonzalo led a study with faculty at the 10 other original Accelerating Change in Medical Education grant recipients, as well as with leadership from the medical education arm of the AMA. The group looked at 30 Accelerating Change in Medical Education grant submissions and health systems science curricula at the 11 grant-recipient schools. Based on this analysis, they identified 12 domains split into three categories that should be included in comprehensive health systems science curricula. The core curricular domains align directly with health systems science. These topics include health care structures and processes; health care policy, economics and management; clinical informatics and health information -- the electronic medical record, data protection and use of data in real time; population and public health; value-based care; and health system improvement. The cross-cutting domains are areas that have been traditionally included in undergraduate medical education curricula, but were emphasized within the context of health systems science for the study. These include leadership and change agency, which looks at types of leadership and the ability to make change in an organization; teamwork and interprofessional education, which includes how to communicate as a team and the understanding of the different roles in the system; evidence-based medicine and practice, which includes integrating appropriate guidelines with cost-conscious decision making; professionalism and ethics, which includes understanding what professionalism is and awareness of it in the context of social media and care delivery; and scholarship, which includes opportunities for population-based research and scholarly projects associated with patient safety and care quality. A linking domain connects core curricular and cross-cutting domains to each other or to other areas of curriculum. Systems thinking involves an awareness of the larger social and economic context in which health systems exist. The researchers published their results online in the journal Academic Medicine. "With this study, we are placing a stake in the ground that says: This is the third science and these are the components that fit into it," Gonzalo said. In a second study, published online in the journal Medical Education in May, Gonzalo and co-authors found that medical students do not yet prioritize health systems science because it's not a key part of board examinations and residency placements. The findings were based on focus groups conducted at the medical school. "An important reason for this is that health systems science is not yet rigorously tested on board exams, but this is changing," Gonzalo said. He hopes that an increasing focus on health systems science in medical school curricula and on board exams will help medical students prioritize the third science alongside basic and clinical sciences. The AMA consortium is working to develop both of these areas. The curricular framework established in the study published in Academic Medicine will be used as the basis for one of the first health systems science medical school textbooks, written by AMA consortium members and co-led by Penn State faculty. It is also guiding the development of new medical board exam questions on health systems science. "Many medical students believe health systems science is important for their careers, but they often struggle with balancing this area of study with their active workload," Gonzalo said. "We have to think about how our educational programs are designed, and we have to work with the learners to make sure they're fully engaged." ### Other investigators on the Medical Education article are Dan Wolpaw, Paul Haidet and Barbara Blatt, Penn State College of Medicine. Other investigators on the Academic Medicine article are Michael Dekhtyar, American Medical Association; Stephanie R. Starr, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine; Jeffrey Borkan, Alpert Medical School of Brown University; Patrick Brunett, Oregon Health and Science University School of Medicine; Tonya Fancher, University of California Davis School of Medicine; Jennifer Green, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine; Sara Jo Grethlein, Indiana University School of Medicine; Cindy Lai, University of California San Francisco School of Medicine; Luan Lawson, Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University; Seetha Monrad, University of Michigan Medical School; Patricia O'Sullivan, University of California San Francisco School of Medicine; Mark D. Schwartz, New York University School of Medicine; and Susan Skochelak, American Medical Association. The American Medical Association, through the Accelerating Change in Medical Education Initiative, funded this research. HOUSTON - (June 14, 2016) - In 1988, scientists in Switzerland looked through a microscope and saw something they didn't expect: two sections of an X-shaped chromosome spiraling in opposite directions. Now scientists at Rice University have confirmed that such anomalies are indeed possible. Peter Wolynes, a theoretical biological physicist, and Bin Zhang, a postdoctoral associate, saw the same phenomenon in their sophisticated computer models of DNA, a finding they said should encourage deeper investigation of a basic biological process. Understanding such processes is important as researchers seek new ways to fight cancer and other diseases. Their work is described today in Physical Review Letters. Wolynes said biologists are learning much about how a cell functions during interphase -- the workaday part of its existence when it makes proteins and regulates other processes necessary to life. They also know much of what happens to a cell in the final stages of mitosis, when it divides. Between those extremes lie mysteries. At the onset of mitosis, the meter-long strand of DNA in a cell's nucleus condenses into a pinpoint-sized blob. Microscope images show frantic activity as the DNA pushes, pulls and pulses, eventually organizing itself into 23 recognizable, X-shaped chromosomes before splitting. The Rice scientists developed their simulation software to help understand these hidden phases as DNA folds into chromosomes, which they believe plays a central role in gene regulation, DNA replication and cell differentiation. The simulation models probable crosslinks between genetic sequences in DNA to see how they interact. The researchers used experimental data that details likely contacts between the sequences. They believe these contacts play a critical part in mitosis, but the details remain hidden inside the compressed blob. They were surprised when their simulations - based on "unbiased" experimental data - showed superhelices in the chromosomes that emerged from the blob that curled both to the right and to the left, matching the 1988 observation of sister chromatids (the original chromosome and its centrally joined copy) with opposite helical "handedness." "That's why this was particularly cool to us," Wolynes said. "The handedness result just sort of fell out of the data even though we weren't looking for it. "Think of the chromosome at mitosis as a bit like what would happen to a piece of sewing thread if you doubled it up and rolled it between your finger and your thumb," he said. "Depending on how you rolled your fingers, you would get right- or left-turning structures." The thread itself has a helical arrangement of even smaller fibers, though the twist at one scale doesn't necessarily determine the twist at the larger scales. "But bundles of threads usually get twisted somehow," Wolynes said. That "somehow" remains one of the mysteries, he said. Since Crick and Watson described DNA's basic twisted-ladder form, the double helix has always turned to the right - and woe unto those who flipped the image. But DNA is far more complex. The twisted ladder further coils around histone proteins to form nucleosomes. The strand of nucleosomes twists again, forming a cylindrical coil. And then those coils form coils, the superhelices that fold into recognizable chromosomes. With the exception of Z-DNA, which turns to the left, it was commonly thought that evolution dictates the helix and its larger-scale structures always go right. That is possibly still the case, but unlikely, Wolynes said. The Rice model didn't take into account the influence of proteins or other molecules in the nucleus that influence DNA organization, any of which may nudge the coils' chirality into right-handed compliance. In a subsequent simulation, they increased the agitation of the DNA and saw a quite different result. Raising the temperature in the model forced the DNA to become solidly cylindrical rather than left- or right-handed. "The chirality was lost," Wolynes said. "That raises an interesting question: Does the cylinder form without chirality at first when the chromosome is duplicated and only later pick up its handedness?" He and Zhang hope their technique will help find the mechanism that gives the superhelix its handedness and determine whether it makes any functional difference. The study of DNA at Rice's Center for Theoretical Biological Physics is a natural extension of the center's groundbreaking work on proteins, Wolynes said. DNA during interphase is a single long molecule, and molecules and their constituent atoms always seek the easiest path to their natural structures, also known as their lowest energy states. Wolynes and his colleagues have led the study of energy landscapes; they pioneered the model to predict how a protein will find its lowest energy state based on the interaction energies -- the "folding funnel" -- of its components. Now the lab has extended these ideas to study entire chromosomes. The task is much more difficult for the chromosome than for analyzing a protein, because there are billions of subunits in a strand of DNA as opposed to hundreds for a protein. For that reason, the simulations are "coarse-grained" and take into account only a fraction of the atoms rather than the whole set. Computations are faster this way, yet they retain an accurate view of the entire system because the forces are based on experimental input data, the researchers said. They expect their method will be a useful tool in their continuing study of cellular processes. Wolynes said the helical formation of the "X" chromatids -- the original target of the study -- can be traced back to the liquid crystalline nature of DNA. "Liquid crystals are oriented but remain fluid," he said. "The twist transition in the mitotic chromosome resembles what happens when a pixel in a liquid crystal display on your computer changes color." The National Science Foundation (NSF) supported the research. Wolynes is the D.R. Bullard-Welch Foundation Professor of Science, a professor of chemistry, of biochemistry and cell biology, of physics and astronomy and of materials science and nanoengineering at Rice and a senior investigator of the NSF-funded Center for Theoretical Biological Physics at Rice. Zhang will join the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as an assistant professor in July. The researchers used the NSF-supported DAVinCI supercomputer administered by Rice's Ken Kennedy Institute for Information Technology. ### Read the abstract at http://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.248101. This news release can be found online at http://news.rice.edu/2016/06/14/dna-in-unbiased-model-curls-both-ways/ Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews Video: https://youtu.be/EnwoU8DI4yM Animated GIF: http://news.rice.edu/files/2016/06/0613_CHROMOSOMES-animgif-vsackv.gif Related materials: Chromosome-folding theory shows promise: http://news.rice.edu/2015/04/28/chromosome-folding-theory-shows-promise-3/ Molecular visualizations of DNA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjPcT1uUZiE Wolynes Research Lab: http://wolynes.rice.edu/node/129 Center for Theoretical Biological Physics: https://ctbp.rice.edu Rice Department of Bioengineering: http://bioe.rice.edu Images for download: http://news.rice.edu/files/2016/06/0613_CHROMOSOMES-1-web-21o5wps.jpg Peter Wolynes, left, and Bin Zhang. (Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University) http://news.rice.edu/files/2016/06/0613_CHROMOSOMES-2-web-1qzeijw.jpg A coarse-grained model shows DNA forming a helical chromosome during mitosis. Rice University scientists are using computer models to determine the forces that take place as DNA duplicates itself during cell mitosis. (Credit: Illustration by Bin Zhang/Rice University) http://news.rice.edu/files/2016/06/0613_CHROMOSOMES-3-web-1vridkh.jpg A simpler version of the chromosome model produced by a simulation at Rice University shows how the energies at work in the process of mitosis lead DNA to take a helical form. (Credit: Illustration by Bin Zhang/Rice University) Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation's top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,910 undergraduates and 2,809 graduate students, Rice's undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for best quality of life and for lots of race/class interaction by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger's Personal Finance. To read "What they're saying about Rice," go to http://tinyurl.com/RiceUniversityoverview. Prescription of long-acting opioids for chronic noncancer pain was associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality, including deaths from causes other than overdose, compared with anticonvulsants or cyclic antidepressants, according to a study appearing in the June 14, 2016 issue of JAMA. The increase in prescribing opioid analgesics for chronic noncancer pain has led to escalating concern about potential harms. Long-acting opioids increase the risk of unintentional overdose deaths but also may increase mortality from cardiorespiratory and other causes. Wayne A. Ray, Ph.D., of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tenn., and colleagues compared the risk of death among patients initiating long-acting opioid therapy for moderate to severe chronic noncancer pain with that for matched patients initiating therapy with either an analgesic anticonvulsant or a low-dose cyclic antidepressant (medications that served as a control arm). The study included Tennessee Medicaid patients with chronic noncancer pain and no evidence of palliative or end-of-life care (1999 - 2012). There were 22,912 new episodes of prescribed therapy for both long-acting opioids and control medications. The long-acting opioid group was followed up for an average 176 days and had 185 deaths and the control treatment group was followed up for an average 128 days and had 87 deaths. Analysis indicated that patients prescribed therapy for a long-acting opioid had a risk of all-cause mortality that was 1.6 times greater than that for matched patients starting an analgesic anticonvulsant or a low-dose cyclic antidepressant. The absolute risk difference was modest. The difference was explained by a 1.9 times greater risk of out-of-hospital deaths. More than two-thirds of the excess deaths were due to causes other than unintentional overdose; of these, more than one-half were cardiovascular deaths. The increased risk was confined to the first 180 days of prescribed therapy but was present for long-acting opioid doses of 60 mg or less of morphine-equivalents. "These findings should be considered when evaluating harms and benefits of treatment," the authors write. ### (doi:10.1001/jama.2016.7789; this study is available pre-embargo at the For The Media website.) Editor's Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc. In an analysis that included nearly 30,000 overweight or obese adults, compared with placebo, orlistat, lorcaserin, naltrexone-bupropion, phentermine-topiramate, and liraglutide were each associated with achieving at least 5 percent weight loss at 52 weeks, and phentermine-topiramate and liraglutide were associated with the highest odds of achieving at least 5 percent weight loss, according to a study appearing in the June 14 issue of JAMA. Approximately 1.9 billion adults are overweight and 600 million are obese worldwide. Identifying effective long-term treatment strategies for overweight and obesity is of paramount importance. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved 5 weight loss drugs (orlistat, lorcaserin, naltrexone-bupropion, phentermine-topiramate, and liraglutide) for long-term use in obese (body mass index [BMI] ? 30) or overweight (BMI ? 27) individuals with at least 1 weight-associated condition (type 2 diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia). Data on the comparative effectiveness of these drugs are limited. Siddharth Singh, M.D., M.S., of the University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, and colleagues conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials that included overweight and obese adults treated with FDA-approved long-term weight loss agents for at least 1 year compared with another active agent or placebo. Twenty-eight randomized clinical trials with 29,018 patients (median age, 46 years; 74 percent women; median baseline body weight, 222 lbs.; median baseline BMI, 36.1) were included. The researchers found that a median 23 percent of placebo participants had at least 5 percent weight loss vs 75 percent of participants taking phentermine-topiramate, 63 percent of participants taking liraglutide, 55 percent taking naltrexone-bupropion, 49 percent taking lorcaserin, and 44 percent taking orlistat. All active agents were associated with significant excess weight loss compared with placebo at 1 year: phentermine-topiramate, 19.4 lbs.; liraglutide, 11.7 lbs.; naltrexone-bupropion, 11 lbs.; lorcaserin, 7.1 lbs.; and orlistat, 5.7 lbs. Compared with placebo, liraglutide and naltrexone-bupropion were associated with the highest odds of adverse event-related treatment discontinuation. "Ultimately, given the differences in safety, efficacy, and response to therapy, the ideal approach to weight loss should be highly individualized, identifying appropriate candidates for pharmacotherapy, behavioral interventions, and surgical interventions. Historically, concerns regarding the long-term safety profile of pharmacotherapy for weight loss have limited their clinical use, particularly among medications with significant adrenergic actions or central appetite-suppressing actions. Short-term clinical trials may not provide comprehensive information on the long-term safety of these agents, and prospective postmarketing surveillance studies are warranted," the authors write. ### (doi:10.1001/jama.2016.7602; this study is available pre-embargo at the For The Media website.) Editor's Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc. New research shows that targeting each crime 'hot spot' in a city with 21 extra minutes of daily foot patrolling by Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) could save the justice system hundreds of thousands of pounds through prevented crime. Working with Cambridgeshire Constabulary to conduct a year-long experiment in Peterborough, researchers from the Institute of Criminology at the University of Cambridge randomly allocated 34 crime-prone areas to get 21 minutes of extra PCSO patrols a day. They compared offences before and after the experiment between 38 hot spots with no increased patrol and the 34 with the increase using the Cambridge Crime Harm Index: a new tool that measures "harm caused to victims" by modelling severities in sentencing for different offences, rather than just totting up overall crime figures. The research team calculated that targeted patrol time equal to two full-time PCSOs would prevent 86 assaults a year, or incidents of the equivalent crime 'harm value', saving potential costs to the public of eight years of imprisonment. The findings, published in the Journal of Experimental Criminology, suggest that every 10 spent on targeted foot patrols prevents a further 56 in prison costs - a five-to-one return on investment. While modern policing is characterised by a "reactive, fire-brigade" approach, usually vehicle-based, the researchers say their evidence strengthens support for the historic "bobbies on the beat" mode of policing focused on crime-prone areas. "By working with us to conduct this experiment, Cambridgeshire Constabulary has set the standard for cost-effectiveness in policing," said study co-author Professor Lawrence Sherman, Director of the Cambridge Institute of Criminology and its Jerry Lee Centre for Experimental Criminology. "Any other investment in policing can now be challenged to match the benefits of foot patrols in preventing the equivalent of either 86 assaults, or six burglaries, or six sexual crimes." 'Hot spots' are small urban areas, streets or intersections, where there is a concentration of crime - usually offences such as theft, burglary, violence and criminal damage. During the experiment, 72 of Peterborough's 'hottest' hot spots randomly received either standard patrols (the control) or an average extra 21 minutes PCSO foot patrol per day (the treatment) over the course of a year. In the 'treated' hot spots, these additional patrols - combined with vehicle patrols by Police Constables (PCs) these areas already received - amounted to an average increase of 56% in daily patrol time. GPS devices embedded in the radios of both PCs and PCSOs were used to track time spent in each location, a precise measure of the "treatment dosage" of police presence. The researchers found that, on average per hot spot, 39% fewer crime incidents were reported by victims and 20% fewer 999 emergency calls to the police occurred in the 34 treated hot spots compared with the 38 control hot spots. The extra 21 minutes of PCSO time per day for each of the hot spots amounts to 3,094 hours across all treatment areas, roughly equivalent to two fulltime PCSOs - no more than 50,000 on current salaries. The Cambridge Crime Harm Index analysis suggests that, across all 34 treated hot spots, the equivalent of these two extra officers prevented crime amounting to 2,914 days - around eight years - of imprisonment, at a potential cost to the public of 280,000 under English sentencing guidelines. "The use of the Cambridge Crime Harm Index and the Peterborough cost-effectiveness results provides a like-for-like metric to challenge those who demand more PC or PCSO time in patrolling schools, low-crime neighbourhoods, or traffic accident hot spots." Sherman said. "This study should give both Police and Crime Commissioners and Chief Constables a benchmark for evaluating any other uses of police time other than hot spots patrols." PCSOs are civilian members of police staff, used to bolster police presence and support PCs. They have no power of arrest, and cannot investigate crimes, but have specific powers to deal with minor public order offices - what's known as "soft policing". Budgetary constraints in British policing mean PCSOs are the only officers who now conduct proactive and visible foot patrols. During the experiment, the PCSOs were told to concentrate on being visible to the exclusion of any other task. The researchers' experimental evidence showed that every additional PCSO visit per day to the treatment hot spots decreased calls for service by approximately 34, with the number of crimes declining by around four. "The experiment suggests that the number of visits to each hot spot may matter more than the total minutes - as if each time the police arrive they renew their deterrent effect on crime," said Dr Barak Ariel of the Lee Centre of Experimental Criminology, who was lead researcher on the Peterborough experiment. Sherman says the latest results show that, if deployed tactically and proactively, 'soft' policing can achieve comparable crime reductions to the 'hard' threat of immediate physical arrest. "These findings suggest that the probability of encountering an officer is more important than the powers that officer has, and that the frequency and duration of proactive patrolling deserves far more attention," said Sherman. "More experiments like this one can produce an even more general estimate of the value of foot patrol activity, to make that value the 'gold standard to beat' in selecting cost-effective policing strategies," he added. Professor Lorraine Mazerolle of the University of Queensland and Editor of the Journal of Experimental Criminology said that the Peterborough experiment showed "The deterrent role of police and PCSOs patrolling crime-harm hotspots is now indisputable: the police can, and do, prevent crime, they just need to be appropriately deployed to crime-harm hotspots." Cambridgeshire Constabulary's Assistant Chief Constable Mark Hopkins said: "We're pleased to have worked with the Cambridge Institute of Criminology to conduct this research and we welcome the outcomes. "We're keen to look at the findings in further detail and explore how they could help to influence our future policing plan." ### PHILADELPHIA, PA - Imagine you're ordering lunch from your favorite online delivery spot, and just before submitting your order, you notice that the club sandwich in your cart is marked with a red stop light signifying high calorie content. Would you keep it in your cart? New research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania suggests you might switch to a lower-calorie option. When researchers added color-coded or numeric calorie labels to online food ordering systems, the total calories ordered was reduced by about 10 percent when compared to menus featuring no calorie information at all. The study is the first to evaluate the effect of "traffic-light" calorie labeling - where green labels signal low calorie content, yellow labels signal medium calorie content, and red labels signal high calorie content - in the increasingly common setting of ordering meals online. Results are published online in the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing. "Calorie labeling appears to be effective in an online environment where consumers have fewer distractions, and the simpler traffic-light labeling seems as effective as standard calorie numbers," said lead author Eric M. VanEpps, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has said that in May 2017 it will begin mandating numeric calorie labeling for restaurants, movie theaters, vending machines, and food delivery services -- including delivery services with online ordering. States such as Vermont and cities including New York and Philadelphia also have begun to implement broad calorie-labeling mandates. For the study, VanEpps and colleagues from Carnegie Mellon University set up a system in which corporate employees ordering lunch from a cafeteria via a newly-developed online portal were presented with the calorie information for menu items via numeric or traffic light calorie labels, both together, or none at all. Over the six week study period, 803 orders were placed by the 249 study participants. The team found that each of the three calorie labeling conditions - numbers alone, traffic lights alone, or both labels together - reduced calories ordered by about 10 percent, compared to orders involving no calorie labels. "The similar effects of traffic light and numeric labeling suggests to us that consumers are making decisions based more on which choices seem healthier than on absolute calorie numbers," VanEpps said. As expected, the simple traffic light labeling of calorie content had a particularly strong impact among the subset of participants who scored poorly on a simple test of math ability (numeracy). Calorie labeling overall also had a stronger impact among obese participants than among non-obese participants. Results of the study add to ongoing research from the team examining calorie labeling's impact in different meal-ordering settings. "Future studies looking at different menu types and sets of participants are necessary, but this study on its own provides clear evidence that both calorie labeling methods can be effective when ordering meals online," VanEpps said. "It's important that research be conducted in all ordering contexts where calorie labeling mandates might be applied." ### Penn Medicine is one of the world's leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and excellence in patient care. Penn Medicine consists of the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (founded in 1765 as the nation's first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System, which together form a $4.3 billion enterprise. The Perelman School of Medicine has been ranked among the top five medical schools in the United States for the past 17 years, according to U.S. News & World Report's survey of research-oriented medical schools. The School is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $392 million awarded in the 2013 fiscal year. The University of Pennsylvania Health System's patient care facilities include: The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania -- recognized as one of the nation's top "Honor Roll" hospitals by U.S. News & World Report; Penn Presbyterian Medical Center; Chester County Hospital; Penn Wissahickon Hospice; and Pennsylvania Hospital -- the nation's first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional affiliated inpatient care facilities and services throughout the Philadelphia region include Chestnut Hill Hospital and Good Shepherd Penn Partners, a partnership between Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network and Penn Medicine. Penn Medicine is committed to improving lives and health through a variety of community-based programs and activities. In fiscal year 2013, Penn Medicine provided $814 million to benefit our community. A few weeks ago, the biologist Juliano Sarmento Cabral (33) celebrated a handsome success. Together with former colleagues from the University of Gottingen, he published an article in the journal Nature. One finding: In order to understand the diversity of species on islands such as Hawaii, Galapagos or the Canary Islands, you have to look far back into the past - at least as far as the last ice age 21,000 years ago. During the ice ages, the sea level dropped by 120 metres. As a result, many islands became larger and better connected to each other or to the mainland. "The Seychelles, for example, were many times bigger," Cabral says. This promoted the diversity of species, especially of endemic species that occur exclusively on these islands: It is much higher than on islands whose size and isolation has remained more or less the same. Simulating nature in virtual worlds "Mountains on the mainland and on islands are very interesting for ecology research for a number of reasons," the new junior professor explains. "They often accommodate the development of new species unique in the world. And because these species are limited to a small geographical area, global change such as global warming and habitat loss can cause their extinction." Reason enough for the biologist to focus his research on the subject. Anyone who wants to research ecosystems and their dynamics needs a thorough understanding of the processes inside the systems. Sarmento Cabral collects the required knowledge during field research but also using theoretical computer models and simulations. "In the simulation experiments, we create a virtual world inside the computer," he explains. The simulations are used to determine how varying temperatures, humidity or other environmental factors affect plants and animals. Orchids and other epiphytes under the microscope An example: Cabral's former doctoral student from Gottingen, Gunnar Petter, developed a model for epiphytic plants - including orchids, bromeliads and other plants that grow on trees in tropical rain forests. The model can be used to study the consequences of climate change, for example. When temperatures rise, forests will grow more quickly. This comes at a great cost for the epiphytes: Their number and diversity declines, because it spreads rather slowly and is therefore unable to keep pace with the forest. Field research and computer modelling The new junior professor will contribute to teaching by organising events about ecology and ecological modelling. Students wishing to join him in order to study such topics should take pleasure in ecological theories and in building computer-based models of ecosystems. They should also be willing to do field research. Juliano Sarmento Cabral's career Campina Grande is the second largest city in the state of Paraiba in the north-east of Brazil. Juliano Sarmento Cabral was born there in 1983. "In my country, even when you go for a short walk or hike, you already see many different plant and animal species," he says. Driven by a desire to understand this lush biodiversity, he studied biology at the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco in Recife, the capital of adjacent state Pernambuco. How he ended up in Germany? "I was eager to learn about ecological modelling. But back then, this area was practised by very few Brazilian researchers." As an exchange student in the US, he heard of a research group at the University of Potsdam which was right up his alley. So he relocated to Potsdam where he did his PhD in 2010. The universities of Gottingen and Leipzig were his next stops. At the start of the summer term 2016, Sarmento Cabral took on the newly created junior professorship for ecosystems modelling at the University of Wurzburg. He is also a member of the new "Center for Computational and Theoretical Biology" (CCTB). ### In its Renewable Energy Directive, the European Union has set a 10% goal for the use of renewable energy in transport by 2020. Only biofuels meeting certain sustainability criteria are included in the renewable energy goals and are allowed to take advantage of national support systems. In her doctoral dissertation, VTT's Research Scientist Kati Koponen proposes several areas of development for the greenhouse gas assessment method of the criteria. The calculation of greenhouse gas emissions from biofuels is based on life cycle assessment. It is often used for defining the sustainability of biofuels. In her doctoral dissertation, Kati Koponen has studied how a tool, based on life cycle assessment, can be applied to policy-driven decision-making related to biofuels and what challenges the assessment entails. While life cycle assessment has been widely used for assessing the environmental impacts of products, the method still entails challenges related to, for instance, system boundary setting, allocation of emissions between different products as well as the definition of calculation parameters. When life cycle assessment is used in political decision-making, the required simplifications may cause further method-related problems. The research results show that the current EU calculation method alone cannot ensure the climate benefits of biofuels. In her dissertation, Kati Koponen proposes that the sustainability criteria should be developed as follows: The calculation method presented in the current sustainability criteria does not take into account emissions due to indirect market impacts that may result from an increase in biofuel production. These include, for instance, indirect changes in land use and impacts on the fuel market. To simplify the determination of sustainability criteria, these impacts should be comprehensively evaluated when bioenergy goals are set. Currently, the calculation method ignores uncertainties related to greenhouse gas calculation, stemming from, for instance, deficient background information or poor knowledge of emission impacts. These uncertainties should be identified and taken into account as life cycle assessment is only an assessment of the reality. In many cases, the production of biofuels creates by-products. Currently, emissions are divided between products on the basis of their energy content, even if the by-product is utilised as, for instance, animal feed. Price-based allocation would clarify the economic cause and effect relationships between products as well as the double counting rule that is proposed in the directive for raw materials based on waste and residues. The double counting rule means that biofuels produced from waste and residue based raw materials may be counted as double in the national biofuel goal. The calculation of greenhouse gas emissions due to biofuel production should identify possible decreases in ecosystem carbon stocks, as well as forgone carbon sequestration. These impacts can be identified by including land use reference system in the life cycle assessment of bioenergy. The EU sustainability criteria should be further developed, to ensure the use of bioenergy systems that most effectively support climate change mitigation. Kati Koponen, M.Sc. (Tech) and Research Scientist at the Technical Research Centre of Finland, will present her doctoral dissertation, Challenges of an LCA based decision making framework - the case of EU sustainability criteria for biofuels (Elinkaariarviointiin pohjautuvan paatoksenteon haasteet liittyen EU:n biopolttoaineille asettamiin kestavyyskriteereihin), for public examination on 15 June 2016, at 12.00 noon, at the Aalto University School of Engineering. ### The dissertation can be found online at: http://eng.aalto.fi/fi/current/events/2016-05-30/ For more information, please contact: VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd Research Scientist Kati Koponen Tel. +358 40 4878123, kati.koponen@vtt.fi Further information on VTT: Olli Ernvall Senior Vice President, Communications +358 20 722 6747 olli.ernvall@vtt.fi http://www.vtt.fi VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd is the leading research and technology company in the Nordic countries. We use our research and knowledge to provide expert services for our domestic and international customers and partners, and for both private and public sectors. We use 4,000,000 hours of brainpower a year to develop new technological solutions. VTT in social media: Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter @VTTFinland. WELLESLEY, Mass./SAN DIEGO, Calif.--Professor Chris Arumainayagam will announce findings from his research conducted at Wellesley College today, Monday, June 13, as part of the annual press briefings kicking off the American Astronomical Society (AAS) national conference in San Diego, Calif. Arumainayagam, a professor of chemistry at Wellesley, will discuss his work--the first systematic study to demonstrate that early building blocks of life may be produced when low-energy (< 20 eV) electrons interact with cosmic (interstellar, planetary, and cometary) ices. His recently published results suggest that low-energy, electron-induced condensed phase reactions may contribute to the interstellar synthesis of prebiotic molecules previously thought to form exclusively via UV photons. In the simplest possible terms, his work is consistent with the idea that we really do come from stardust and is relevant to the first unambiguous detection of glycine in a comet, reported in May 2016. Arumainayagam is the only professor representing a liberal arts college at the press briefing. The goal of the research is to understand the "chemistry of the heavens" by recreating what happens in interstellar space when high-energy cosmic rays (some with energies much higher than could be produced by the Large Hadron Collider) impact ices (containing water, methanol, and ammonia) surrounding micron-size dust grains in dark dense molecular clouds, where the pressure is ten trillion times lower than that of atmospheric pressure. The interaction of high-energy cosmic rays with matter produces copious numbers of low-energy electrons. Arumainayagam's results demonstrate that low-energy electron and UV irradiation of methanol ices yield essentially the same reaction products. However, his studies to date have also identified one possible electron-induced cosmic ice chemistry tracer, methoxymethanol, a "complex" organic molecule not identified in UV laboratory photolysis studies of condensed methanol. Future astronomical identification of methoxymethanol within interstellar and/or circumstellar clouds could provide additional evidence for the role of low-energy electrons in astrochemistry. His findings illustrate an urgent need for astrochemical models to include the details of low-energy electron-induced reactions in addition to those driven by UV photons. Jyoti Campbell, a Wellesley College sophomore, will give an oral presentation at the conference entitled "The Role of Low-Energy Electrons in Astrochemistry: A Tale of Two Molecules." Campbell has had access to a caliber of technology and equipment rarely available to undergraduates. To attend the conference, she will be taking a break from her summer work at the Jet Propulsion Lab (NASA). Arumainayagam's research has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, American Chemical Society, Research Corporation, and the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation. The majority of his research is done entirely at Wellesley College with undergraduate students using a state-of the-art ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) chamber, which incorporates many custom-built components. He is currently upgrading his UHV chamber to explore fundamental differences between chemical reactions initiated by photons and electrons. ### Reference: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.susc.2016.03.012 About Wellesley College Since 1875, Wellesley College has been a leader in providing an excellent liberal arts education for women who will make a difference in the world. Its 500-acre campus near Boston is home to some 2,400 undergraduate students from 49 states and 58 countries. Webcast opportunities Briefings from the 228th AAS meeting in San Diego, California, will be webcast Monday- Wednesday, 13-15 June 2016, at 10:15 am and 2:15 pm Pacific time (UTC - 7 hours) each day. See the AAS 228 briefing schedule for more details. Live webcasts are for accredited journalists only; for the password, please contact AAS Press Officer Dr. Rick Fienberg, +1 202-328-2010 x116. Archived webcasts are freely available without a password. Press Contacts Chris Hennessy, Associate Director, Media Relations, chenness@wellesley.edu, 781-283-3201 Sofiya Cabalquinto, Director, Media Relations, scabalqu@wellesley.edu, 917-691-7558 Contact Information for Corresponding Author and Collaborators: 1. Chris Arumainayagam (Wellesley College, 781-283-3326, carumain@wellesley.edu 2. Michael Boyer (Clark University, 508-793-7470, mboyer@clarku.edu 3. Leon Sanche (University of Sherbrook, 819 821-8000, leon.sanche@USherbrooke.ca) 4. Andrew Bass (University of Sherbrook, 819 821-8000, Andrew.Bass@usherbrooke.ca) A large number of expats end up being freelance in their new country especially if their spouse or partner is moving abroad to work but finding their feet can be difficult, and many end up creating their own business.So it is good news that more than half of entrepreneurs globally expect to increase their workforce in 2016, more than double the proportion of large businesses expecting to do so, according to the EY Global Job Creation Survey 2016.Some 59% of the entrepreneurs from 12 key markets surveyed expect to increase their total global workforce in the next 12 months, up from 47% in 2015, a jump of 25% year on year.Taking into account all anticipated workforce changes for 2016, entrepreneurs expect to grow their overall global workforce by 9.3%, and expect 12% of new hires to be young people in their first jobs.India, China and Brazil top the leader board in terms of the proportion of their entrepreneurs anticipating growth. Indian and Brazilian entrepreneurs also expect to hire at a faster rate than anywhere else, but Chinas rate of growth is slower than the global average of 8.5%.France, Canada, the UK and the US follow closely behind in hiring expectations, with entrepreneurs in the UK leading the developed markets by rate of growth, at 10.5% but entrepreneurs in the Middle East/North Africa (MENA), Japan and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are least likely to anticipate growing their overall workforce in the year ahead.The research report says that this hiring is driven by strong confidence levels in the economic direction of their domestic market and the global economy, up slightly year on year at 72% and 67% respectively overall.However, there are interesting variations by country and region. Confidence is up on both counts year on year in the US, the UK, Canada, Brazil, France and Australia. Confidence is down in China, India, SSA, Germany and Japan.The survey also shows that the more disruptive and innovative the company, the more they hire and the faster they do it. The most disruptive entrepreneurs, the 17% of respondents who say they have changed all or many of the rules in their sector, are 58% more likely to forecast an increase in their overall workforce in 2016 compared to their more conventional competitors.Innovative entrepreneurs, those who say they have created an entirely new product or service in the past year, have similar hiring plans. They are 95% more likely to expect to grow their workforce in the next year compared to those who have not created a new product or service. Their net workforce growth levels at 18%, like their disruptive counterparts, are also twice the global average figure.The numbers validate what we have known for some time: the majority of entrepreneurs do well in business by challenging the status quo, asking difficult questions of incumbents and redefining the boundaries of sectors and industries, said Uschi Schreiber, EY global vice chair.What is encouraging is that these disruptors are blazing a trail of growth in todays fast moving and transformative business environment, spotting opportunities and relentlessly executing on them, very often blind to existing sector or industry boundaries, he pointed out.In our view, the findings could be something of a stark warning to businesses that are not embracing innovation, change or disruption, as they risk being left behind by disruptors who, we know from the survey, are focused on attaining the talent that will allow them to attract customers and drive growth. Governments too need to focus on fostering an environment in which innovative and disruptive entrepreneurs can flourish, he added. I have meet others out here from many origins also , no issue with race ect . Not come across any Pakistani or indian from the Uk here . So thought I'd try here on the expat forum ??? The Internal Revenue Service is warning tax professionals that next year, a new law will require the IRS to hold all Earned Income Tax Credit and Additional Child Tax Credit refunds until Feb. 15 as a safeguard against identity theft and tax fraud. The IRS pointed out the new law is likely to affect some returns submitted early in the tax filing season. The IRS is encouraging tax professionals to begin preparing for the change now. Planning is also underway for a wider communication effort this summer and fall to alert taxpayers. The action is driven by the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015, or PATH Act, which was enacted Dec. 18, 2015. Section 201 of the new law mandates that no credit or refund for an overpayment for a taxable year shall be made to a taxpayer before Feb. 15 if the taxpayer claimed the Earned Income Tax Credit or Additional Child Tax Credit on the return. The change begins Jan. 1, 2017 and may affect some returns filed early in 2017. To comply with the law, the IRS said it will hold the refunds on EITC and ACTC-related returns until Feb. 15. This allows additional time to help prevent revenue lost due to identity theft and refund fraud related to fabricated wages and withholdings. The IRS plans to hold the entire refund until that time. Under the new law, the IRS cannot release the part of the refund that is not associated with the EITC and ACTC. The IRS advised taxpayers to file as they normally do, and tax return preparers should also submit returns as they normally do. The IRS will begin accepting and processing tax returns once the filing season begins, as we do every year. That will not change. The IRS still expects to issue most refunds in less than 21 days, though IRS will hold refunds for EITC and ACTC-related tax returns filed early in 2017 until Feb. 15 and then begin issuing them. Different kines have different ways of handling these things. When I went for kine, we settled up after the prescribed number of sessions had been completed. (Or rather, at the last session.) They may still want you to pay and then claim back from your CPAM and mutuelle. Personally, I wouldn't change kines in mid-treatment. However the next time you go to a kine (or if you renew your round of treatment through your medecin traitant) you're free to go to whoever you like. But don't be afraid to ask how the payment is handled. My dentist has his own way of handling payment - he takes the carte vitale each time to log the appointment, but you don't pay until you're "done" (say, initial exam, then return exam for whatever needs to be done). Cheers, Bev My wife brings me as the interpreter... she speaks Illongo, but does not speak bureaucratic. It helps if you know both ha haI just got all my paperwork gathered for my 13a. I will turn it in after the first (payday). Glad we can do it in our local office (Iloilo) although the website says they do not do it. The website also says the letter has to be notarized... local office said it does not... but since it is called a "joint letter" it means we both have to sign it.One thing you will find here is every office, sometimes every clerk, has their own set of rules. And they are ALL right! For many of us, our job demands extend past the traditional 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. workday. With mobile devices, its easy to respond to work email or complete a project while out and about. However, working on mobile devices creates risks for companies and employees. This risk publicly came to a head recently in a case involving Apple and the FBI arguing over whether Apple could be forced to unlock an iPhone issued to a terrorist by his San Bernardino, California, employer. That phone didnt have mobile device management software, or MDM, which would have made it easier for the FBI and the employer to access the device. Employers who allow their staff to use their personal phones should look into MDM software. Its a step toward securing sensitive company data in our highly mobile work environment. Just consider: Data breaches can cost millions of dollars along with damaging a companys reputation but replacing phones might only cost several hundred dollars. Mobile device management software can encompass everything from remotely wiping phones if they are lost to tracking the physical location of devices to providing remote updates. In addition, a company can also take steps with this software to allow employees to access only certain portals on its intranet sites, or allow workers to access its networks only via secured virtual private network settings. In the case of the San Bernardino shooter, the county the shooters employer had MDM software but had not installed it on his phone. It is not alone. A recent survey by the International Association of Information Technology Asset Managers Inc. of 177 companies, trade associations and government agencies found roughly 9 of 10 respondents provide mobile devices to employees. However only 70 percent require installation of MDM software across all departments. The association warned that thousands of U.S. corporations, federal agencies, and state, local and city government units have the same kind of sloppy and dangerous approach to mobile device management as San Bernadino. Implementing MDM software entails more than just installing it on all devices. It also requires educating employees about the risks to the company and their personal devices if they use their own equipment. For instance, its not uncommon for some MDM software to access personal data from an employee-owned device. Moreover, wiping a lost phone to delete company information could delete personal information. On the other hand, if the employer issues company-owned phones to its workers, it has the power to add tighter restrictions, such as prohibiting certain apps. Voter Guide: What to know for the midterm election Your guide to the Texas and San Antonio races and candidates on the Nov. 8 ballot. Its wise for companies to create an MDM policy that employees must acknowledge prior to being allowed to conduct company business via their own or one of the companys mobile devices. Employers also should be aware that some MDM software may not meet the requirements for industries that have strict compliance standards, such as financial services and health care. Also, too many restrictions on employee-owned phones could set up the company for privacy lawsuits. Before buying MDM software, an employer should make sure to thoroughly research the options or get help from an MDM expert. Tim Knifton is owner of Invisible Technology, a San Antonio-based managed IT services and server-support company. Christopher Dilts /Bloomberg Target permanently closed its store in Northwest San Antonio after an April hail storm and flood left the building with extensive roof and HVAC damage, said Kristy Welker, a spokesperson for Target. Remodeling and repairing this store is something we did consider, she said in an emailed statement. However, in this case, we have determined that because of the significant damage, coupled with the long-term financial performance of this store, the costs to remodel would not sufficiently improve the stores projected performance. South Texas residents may have to delay planned elective surgery because of a lack of blood, officials said Monday. Tragedies highlight the need, but the need is there every single day, said Julie Vera, South Texas Blood and Tissue Center spokeswoman. This is one of the toughest summers weve had to face. The San Antonio-based center, which serves 40 counties, sent emergency blood units to Orlando early Sunday in the wake of the worst mass shooting in U.S. history, despite the local shortage. Whenever a blood center needs assistance, others always step up to help, Vera said. Despite the publicity and scale of the tragedy, Vera said she didnt notice an uptick in the number of people donating blood in Texas after the tragedy. The South Texas Blood & Tissue Center has seen a 21 percent drop in donations since 2012. There are many reasons for blood-donation shortages in summer. High school and college students make up 25 percent of blood donors, and there arent as many blood drives at schools in the summer. A new Food and Drug Administration guideline prohibits anyone from donating if he or she has traveled to Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, the Pacific Islands, South America, or parts of south Asia in the last 28 days to help prevent the spread of the Zika virus. After 28 days, the person can donate again. Even though there are no reported cases of Zika (in Texas) it is still affecting blood supply, Vera said. In addition to the new FDA regulations that keep more people from donating blood, Vera said, there have been an unusual number of organ transplants in the last few weeks. Transplants require a great deal of blood. It takes about 45 minutes to donate blood and about two hours to donate platelets. There are seven donation centers in addition to mobile blood drives the center hosts. To donate, check southtexasblood.org for local blood drives or make an appointment at the website or by calling 210-731-5590. kcarlson@express-news.net This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate WASHINGTON - An alliance of Democratic state lawmakers representing border districts has joined local partisan critics of International Bank of Commerce CEO Dennis Nixon for backing Donald Trump. In a letter addressed to the IBC Bank board of directors, state Rep. Cesar Blanco, a Democrat from El Paso who chairs the House Border Caucus, referred to Nixons unwavering support of Donald Trumps bigotry. The letter, dated June 11, calls Trump the first racist presidential candidate since Reconstruction, alluding to the presumptive GOP nominees comments since last year about people from Mexico and his proposal to build a security wall along the Southwest border. The IBC bank has a large Latino constituency and has many banking institutions throughout the Texas-Mexico border. Latinos in this country are a growing constituency and IBC bank only stands to gain from this growth, Blanco wrote. "We will not stand quietly as Mr. Nixon allows this un-American hatred to permeate into the lives of Texans and damage the positive image of IBC Bank. We leave it in the hands of the IBC Board of Directors to take action and correct this unacceptable representation of your institution, he wrote. Nixons support of Trump has drawn pointed criticism from U.S. Rep Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, and Ramiro Cavazos, who heads the local Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. In a June fundraising letter addressed to friends and colleagues reported by Express-News columnist Brian Chasnoff, Nixon wrote: Donald Trump is not my ideal candidateMy hope is that his success in business will drive him to common sense business-based decision-making. Staying home will get Hillary elected, Nixon added. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate AUSTIN Hillary Clinton may have raised the idea that she can win Texas, but Democrats on the ground in the Lone Star State arent building expectations. Were not a battleground state, said former Texas Land Commissioner Garry Mauro, representing Clintons campaign at a show of unity with Bernie Sanders forces heading into the partys state convention this week. Neither Democrats nor Clintons camp will spend big money here, Mauro said at a news conference Tuesday. But the Sanders campaigns Jacob Limon said that doesnt mean Texas Democrats arent fighting to win. Were going to have to do it ourselves, said Limon, who cited voters energized by Sanders idealistic campaign. He said there is broad agreement on issues between those voters and those in the camp with Clinton, presumed to be the Democratic nominee after a long fight with the Vermont senator. The prospect of a Clinton race against billionaire Donald Trump who has offended a variety of groups including Latinos and women with his intemperate comments will make it easier to get out the Democratic vote, Mauro agreed. With Donald Trump on the ticket, we now have a way to get our voters out, he said. Clinton touted her Texas chances in an interview with New York Magazine that appeared late last month. When asked which states Trump puts in play, she said, Texas! Challenged by the articles author, she said, If black and Latino voters come out and vote, we could win Texas. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott sent out fundraising pleas using the specter of Clinton working to turn Texas blue, but many see that as unlikely in 2016. The last time a Democratic presidential candidate lost to a Republican by only single digits in Texas was the 1996 Bill Clinton-Bob Dole race, and Ross Perot that year got nearly 7 percent of the vote. Its hard for me to see how Hillary breaks a 45 percent ceiling, said Republican consultant Matt Mackowiak. I would tend to respect Garry Mauros expert opinion about Texas a hell of a lot more than I would respect Hillarys. Abbott spokesman John Wittman also said his boss believes Trump will win Texas. The governor is confident Donald Trump will trounce Hillary Clinton in Texas, Wittman said. Seeking to remove intraparty obstacles to voter turnout, Mauro and Limon earlier asked thousands of delegates to the state convention to remain united and prevent the nightmare of Trump becoming president. Trump has planned a Texas swing to raise money this week and is scheduled to be in San Antonio for a fundraiser Friday, when the Texas Democratic State Convention will be in full swing in the Alamo City. Scheduled convention speakers include U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela from Brownsville, who recently got national attention with an open letter telling Trump in raw terms where he could shove his proposed wall on the Mexico border. The convention also will highlight U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro and his twin brother, U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro. The Castro brothers have long been seen as Democrats hope to once again win statewide office in Texas. Joaquin Castro is state convention chairman; Julian Castro has a featured speaking role. The HUD secretary will be introduced by former state Sen. Wendy Davis of Fort Worth, who lost big to Abbott in the 2014 race for governor. Davis has since started a gender-equality initiative, and she has been campaigning for Clinton. The Obama administrations efforts to comply with a judges order over the treatment of immigrant children suffered a setback Monday when Jim Wells County commissioners rejected a proposed holding center for immigrant families. The proposed 400-to 450-bed facility in San Diego, which straddles Jim Wells and Duval counties, would have been the first of its kind, an open facility in which families would be allowed to come and go as they pleased. The two existing family detention centers in South Texas, one in Karnes County and one in Dilley, are closed facilities, meaning detainees may not leave. Also unlike the Karnes County and Dilley facilities, 25 percent of the families would include adult male heads of household, said county commissioner Emede Garcia. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement wouldnt give details about the proposal, but it appears to be an effort to come into compliance with a court ruling last year that found the South Texas facilities violate a 1997 settlement governing the treatment of immigrant children. U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee found that the Karnes County and Dilley detention centers were in violation of the settlement, called the Flores Agreement, in part because they are closed facilities, were not at the time licensed by the state and detainees were held for months at a time. Immigration officials have said they have come into compliance with Gees ruling, which theyre appealing, by reducing the amount of time detainees are held before theyre released or deported. Most detainees are released to pursue their immigration cases. They have also requested licenses for the centers, but an Austin activist group has sued the state to stop the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services from issuing them. In March, ICE issued a request for information, a preliminary step in the contracting stage, letting private prison operators know it was interested in adding 1,000 family detention beds. According to the request, ICE preferred opening two facilities of 500 beds each. That same month, ICE director Sarah Saldana told a congressional committee that the agency was considering holding only adults in Karnes County. The promises of an open facility didnt satisfy opponents of family detention, who say any government-run holding center is a violation of families rights. They prefer the government support privately run facilities that are more like shelters and provide help integrating and finding legal aid. We don't think that there is any way that women and children can be kept in a government facility, said Alejandro Caceres, the immigration organizer at the Austin advocacy group Grassroots Leadership. The fact that the center would have been open was part of what made county officials concerned, Garcia said. Commissioners were told families would stay 18 to 20 days and be allowed to come and go as they please, he said. They cant put a fence around it and secure it or lock it, Garcia said. Its a new type of facility that the governments saying, We want mothers and kids to think that theyre not being incarcerated, that theyre in a facility here pretty much like your house, you come and go. During a hearing last week, he said, everyone who spoke some county residents addressed county officials, but they were outnumbered by activists from out of town opposed the detention center. Garcia said he was also given pause by the terms of the contract. ICE officials said they are still selecting a contractor, but Garcia said it appeared the agency had already worked out the details of the contract with government outsourcing and private prison contractor Serco Inc. ICE is still developing its acquisition strategy based on the responses the agency received to the request for information posted (online) for a detention facility in South Texas, the agency said in a statement. The decision to move forward with a request for proposal is pending. Garcia said ICE and Serco had the deal ready to sign and commissioners had until Wednesday to agree to it. The deal would have been struck through whats called an intergovernmental service agreement, a contract between two government entities that doesnt require formal proposals or bids. The county would have been the operator of the detention center and subcontracted to Serco. ICE received criticism in 2014 when it made the city of Eloy, Arizona, the operator of the $300 million detention center in Dilley. Jim Wells County would have received up to $90,000 a year act as the middleman between ICE and Serco, but it wasnt worth the risk, Garcia said. The county right now, with the oil and gas situation the way it is, is in no position to be taking on responsibilities like that, Garcia said. For its part, Serco said the facility would have created 200 jobs and the company was disappointed with the commissioners decision. jbuch@express-news.net Twitter: @jlbuch San Antonios Muslim community joined many across the nation in expressing solidarity with the LGBT community and with the families and victims of the Orlando, Florida, shooting that took place Sunday. The LGBT community has always been a strong advocate of tolerance toward Muslims, and the acts committed in Orlando do not represent a shred of Islamic values, said Sakib Shaikh, spokesman for the Muslim Children Education and Civic Center. Forty-nine people died Sunday after Omar Seddique Mateen of Fort Pierce, Florida, opened fire in a crowded nightclub. Mateen, who was killed by police, had called 911 during his attack, pledging his allegiance to the Islamic State. However, law enforcement officials called Mateen, who was born in the United States, a home-grown extremist who didnt have direct ties to the militant organization. Mateens comment to the dispatcher about ISIS drew immediate reaction, including from presumptive Republican candidate Donald Trump. He once again called for a temporary ban on Muslim immigrants to the United States. What has happened in Orlando is just the beginning. Our leadership is weak and ineffective. I called it and asked for the ban. Must be tough, Trump tweeted on Sunday. Anti-Muslim attitude has caused numerous problems for Muslims who have nothing to do with extremists. Last year, a 14-year-old boy in Irving was put in handcuffs because officials suspected a homemade clock he brought to school for a science project was a bomb. Situations like this are tricky to deal with, Shaikh said. We want to send good vibes to everyone, he said Monday. At the same time, there is an organized campaign against us. Ever since 9/11, Shaikh said, he and other leaders have been trained to deal with maintaining good relations between the Muslim community and outside groups. Peggy Starkey, co-founder of the Interreligious Council of San Antonio, said the council stands with its Muslim sisters and brothers and that the organization condemns acts of terrorism. The council has members from 11 different religions. Every time something (like the shooting in Orlando) happens, I know our Muslim members will be (targets for discrimination), she said. Starkey recalled when one of her Muslim students in a religion class she teaches at the University of the Incarnate World told her about being in a restaurant where she was called a terrorist by another patron. Despite the heightened amount of discrimination Muslims face after terrorist attacks occur, Shaikh said that, in his experience, San Antonio seems to be one of the best major cities in the country in terms of tolerance. For every threatening email we get, we do get supportive emails, he said. Although he believes that overall things will get better in time, he said every Muslim community across the country experiences a different level of tolerance. The national political atmosphere continues to promote an us versus them mentality, Shaikh said. Shaikh said the center has regular talks to help people learn about the Muslim religion and culture. Information also is available at mcecc.com. kcarlson@express-news.net This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Eddie Gutierrez knew about the Blue Hole growing up and heard it referenced in classes at the University of the Incarnate Word. It was only while visiting the spring on the campus Monday that he saw firsthand how the clear, cold water rises from the depths of the Earth and pours itself across a once-dry streambed. The Blue Hole was just some San Antonio lore that youd hear, he said. You dont understand the story of what it was. Since it began flowing again this spring, the Blue Hole has drawn a small but steady stream of visitors. From a parking lot, they cross a bridge over the San Antonio River and follow the path that runs between a gazebo and a sand volleyball pit. They stand around a circular rock wall, roughly 8 feet across, and peer into the depths. Minnows dart in the upper reaches, but the deeper levels fade into darkness. Once known as part of the San Antonio Springs, the main spring and its confluence with Olmos Creek are considered the headwaters of the San Antonio River, called Yanaguana by the Native Americans present at the time of the Spanish conquest. The Spanish christened the river San Antonio 325 years ago Monday. The springs are flowing again thanks to the heavy rains that recharged the Edwards Aquifer over April and May. The level of the aquifer in the San Antonio Pool reached 686 feet above mean sea level June 6, the highest since 2007. As of Monday, it had dropped 2 feet. These measurements come from another gateway to the underground water world a little more than 2 miles from the Blue Hole: the J-17 well, which the Edwards Aquifer Authority uses to monitor the pool below San Antonio. On Monday, EAA hydrogeologist Rob Esquilin opened the metal doors on a small cinder-block shed near Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston. Inside was a table, a set of instruments and a metal pipe sticking out of the floor. The instruments measure the aquifers level every 15 minutes, he explained, though the EAA backs this up with manual readings during dry times when pumping by most users has to be restricted. The federal government once managed the J-17 well, whose records go back to the 1930s, he said. Today marks the anniversary of the highest 10-day average level ever recorded: 703 feet in 1992. Thanks to human development and pumping of the aquifer, much of what the Blue Hole used to be has been lost. Early visitors often remarked on its clear water bursting forth from the earth like a fountain and the surrounding tapestry of plant and animal life. When landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted visited the spring in 1857, he called it the first water among the gems of the natural world. The whole river gushes up in one sparkling burst from the earth, Olmsted wrote. It has all the beautiful accompaniments of a smaller spring, moss, pebbles, seclusion, sparkling sunbeams, and dense overhanging luxuriant foliage. The effect is overpowering. It is beyond your possible conceptions of a spring. But the spring is not dead. On Monday, it inspired poetry after a visit by Lou Taylor, Lois Heger and Patricia Osoria. The three friends were among those peering into the water. Afterward, they planned a stop at San Pedro Springs Park, where another historical spring has begun flowing again. The color is just amazing, Heger said. Last time she was here, the bottom was filled only with yucky mud, she said. After a previous visit, she wrote a poem about both springs she titled Yanaguana Whispers. Helen Ballew, who recently hung up (her) spurs after six years as executive director of the Headwaters at Incarnate Word group that manages the preserve, said in an email that she is one of many in the community with strong ties to the spring, especially indigenous groups. The springs are sacred to many in our community (and beyond), and I have no doubt many interesting things rituals, prayers, meditations, celebrations happen at the Blue Hole that no one ever sees or knows about, she said. bgibbons@express-news.net, Twitter: @bgibbs This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Its difficult to express anything but sorrow in reaction to the slaughter in Orlando, Florida, where a gunman early Sunday stormed a gay nightclub and shot to death 49 people and wounded 53 in the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. For many in Texas, though, that sorrow was spiked with sudden outrage at reports that Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, just hours after the massacre, had posted to social media that man reaps what he sows. The Bible verse was posted at 7 a.m., then removed a few hours later. Patricks adviser, Allen Blakemore, issued a statement saying the posting had been pre-scheduled, an unfortunate coincidence. As Democrats plan to gather in San Antonio this week for their state convention, the chairman of the local party, Manuel Medina, is giving Patrick the benefit of the doubt. Weve got to take his word for it that it was a mistake, that it wasnt referring to Orlando, Medina said of Patrick, a tea party Republican who has made restricting transgender rights a priority in the upcoming legislative session. More illuminating than the accidentally outrageous tweet, though, was a statement released by Patrick shortly afterward, a 13-paragraph response thats notable mostly for what it omits: any gesture of solidarity with the LGBT community. Even Donald J. Trump, who argued incoherently Monday that excluding Muslim immigrants would make the nation more inclusive, managed to muster that. The LGBT community, what happened to them is just so sad, Trump said. Hillary Clinton was more explicit. You have millions of allies who will always have your back, she said of the LGBT community. And I am one of them. Patrick, on the other hand, mentioned gays in his statement only as sinners. (He also stated that Americans and Christians do not believe in the killing of gays, hardly a statement of solidarity.) We are all sinners, straight or gay, and we all fall short of heaven and eternal life unless we accept Christ as our Savior, Patrick stated. He died on the cross for all of us. Let me repeat that. He loves us all and died for all of our sins. Instead of proselytizing, Patrick should focus on those who died at the hands of Omar Mateen, an American-born Muslim who voiced hatred for minorities, gays and Jews. Mateens father has said his son was enraged at the sight of a same-sex couple kissing. What happened in Orlando was one part terrorism, but also one part hate, said state Rep. Diego Bernal, D-San Antonio, who fought for LGBT rights here as a councilman before joining the Legislature. I dont think (Mateen) was just looking to kill Americans, Bernal said. I think he was also looking specifically to kill gay people and members of the LGBTQ community. I can accept that (Patricks tweet) was auto-scheduled, he added. Im not that politically bloodthirsty. But a lieutenant governor has an armada of people to help with communications, and thats true for the follow-up message, too. At the end of the day, the Pulse nightclub was attacked not simply because it was full of Americans, and as a nation we have to acknowledge that, and any failure to do so fails them. Patrick, though, has talked himself into a box. Any compassion shown for gays would contradict his core political message. Last month, he attacked the Fort Worth Independent School Districts accommodation of transgender students as social engineering. Last year, he invoked the Holocaust to explain how the legalization of same-sex marriage affects his religious liberties. What about the rest of us and Im an unabashed Christian what about the rest of us who have religious beliefs? Patrick said. Would we force an Orthodox Jewish baker to have to go and participate in a Neo-nazi rally and provide a cake with a swastika on top? Of course we wouldnt. As a man who compares gay people to Nazis, and who compares opponents of gay marriage to the victims of Nazis, Patrick just isnt the sort of person to summon solidarity with the LGBT community, even after Sundays massacre. In many ways, thats even worse than an ill-timed tweet. Heres a political Rorschach test for you: Which of the following sentences is true? 1. The tragic shooting in an Orlando gay nightclub was a hate crime committed by a lone wolf. 2. The Orlando shooting was an attack by radical Islam against the United States. One interpretation enables you to blame the shooting on conservative intolerance of LGBT rights, while the other provides you an opportunity to pin the whole thing on President Barack Obama. Of course, its possible for both interpretations to contain truth at the same time. While we still have much to learn about Orlando gunman Omar Mateen, there is compelling evidence based on statements by FBI Director James Comey and people who knew the killer that he was a lone wolf, albeit one whose alienation from American society was so deep that he took solace in the nihilistic extremism of ISIS; a homophobe (or a self-loathing, self-denying gay man) who embraced the Islamic State group because it shared his hateful views. Regardless of Mateens motivations, 49 people were killed and 53 were injured in the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. Nothing can change the horrific reality of that. But if people are going to make assessments of what this tragedy means, they should consider that theres an important distinction between a killer who sympathizes with a political/religious sect and one who works in coordination with them. For example, Lee Harvey Oswald was a sympathizer of Fidel Castros Cuban regime, but that doesnt mean Castro worked in coordination with Oswald to assassinate John F. Kennedy. On Monday, conservative commentator Mark Steyn, guest-hosting on Rush Limbaughs radio show, blasted the American media for framing Mateens killing spree as an anti-LGBT hate crime while European newspapers defined it as a jihadist attack. A Muslim of Afghan heritage guns down 49 gays in a nightclub, and the ACLU tells us its the fault of the Christian right, Steyn said. In fact, the American Civil Liberties Union did not target Christian conservatives but merely encouraged people to stand against any reaction to this horrific event that is rooted in hatred or bigotry in any form. Steyn apparently was alluding to tweets by two ACLU staff attorneys, who called out conservatives for repeatedly supporting anti-LGBT legislation. Its a testament to the peculiarly polarized nature of our society that so many of us retreat to our ideological talking points within minutes of a tragedy. We not only differ on the solutions to mass violence (assault-weapons ban vs. Muslim ban), we cant even agree on how to define whats happening. In the wake of the Orlando shooting, presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump said Obama should resign unless he is willing to utter the phrase radical Islamic terrorism. Within hours of the shooting, Trump also took a Twitter victory lap: Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism. Gun-rights advocates often note that stricter gun laws wouldnt have prevented particular incidents of mass violence. So its worth pointing out that Trumps proposed Muslim immigration ban (now expanded to include all people in areas of the world where there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe or our allies) would have done nothing to prevent the Orlando shooting. Mateen was a New York-born American citizen, just like Donald Trump. Trump obsesses over the phrase radical Islamic terrorism, as if its mere utterance is a policy solution, as if Obama has avoided it out of denial or political expediency. In fact, it should be obvious that the president eschews the term because he doesnt want peace-loving people who make up the great majority of the worlds 1.6-billion Muslims to believe that we regard them as the enemy. Its common sense. But fear has a way of clouding rational thought. Fear is the reason that rational people thought it was acceptable to intern 120,000 Japanese-Americans during World War II; its the reason that people accepted the blacklists of the 1950s; its the reason that Congress passed the Espionage Act in 1917, making it punishable (by up to 20 years in prison) for expressing a dissenting view about American participation in World War I. Contrary to what Trump argues, political correctness wont destroy us. But our fears just might tear us apart. ggarcia@express-news.net Twitter: @gilgamesh470 A partnership affiliated with San Antonios Galo Properties filed for bankruptcy protection last week after its lender moved to foreclose on more than 1,150 acres in the Water Oak at San Gabriel development in Georgetown. Laredo WO Ltd., the Galo Properties partnership, listed $69.6 million in assets and $36.5 million liabilities in its bankruptcy petition. Filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in San Antonio on June 6, the case put a halt to a scheduled foreclosure auction that had been set for the following day. Its a great piece of property, a great development, said Raymond Battaglia, a San Antonio bankruptcy lawyer for Laredo WO. But the development started pre-2007, so you can imagine property values then versus now, and the softness of the market in these kind of developments for a period of time kind of put this development behind the eight ball. Brad Galo, Galo Properties chairman and CEO, did not respond to a message. Galo Properties describes itself on its website as one of the largest developers of master-planned communities and single-family lot developers in South Central Texas. Among its master-planned communities in San Antonio are the 3,000-acre Alamo Ranch on the far West Side and the 326-acre Arcadia Meadows on the Northeast Side, according to the website. As for the Water Oak development, Laredo WO acquired a total of 1,900 acres from six private sellers in 2007, a company news release reported at the time. Water Oak was billed it as the first environmentally sensitive residential development in Williamson County, with 35 to 40 percent of the development set aside for parks, hiking trails and open spaces, the release added. The project was expected to be completed over the course of a decade and features 4,000 single-family lots and 100 acres devoted to commercial/mixed-used development. Home prices were expected to range from $250,000 to $1 million. San Antonios Sitterle Homes is among the home builders currently operating in Water Oak. Laredo WO acquired the land about 10 months before the start of the Great Recession. The sales were financed through Hillcrest Bank, based in Overland Park, Kansas. But about 3 years after the sale, Hillcrest was seized by bank regulators, costing the Federal Deposit Insurance Co. nearly $330 million. Hillcrest was acquired by Colorados National Bank Holdings Corp., which holds the note for Water Oak under a subsidiary, NBH Bank. A National Bank Holdings spokeswoman didnt immediately respond to a request for comment. In its bankruptcy filing, Laredo WO reported that an appraisal valued its 1,159 acres in the Water Oak development at $56.1 million. Thats well above the nearly $36.2 million owed to the bank. Laredo WO was current on the loan, Battaglia said. Though not certain of the details, he suspected that the loan had matured. We think this is a piece of property that, given the opportunity, we can get the bank paid in full (and) get all of the creditors paid in full, Battaglia said. When youre talking a raw piece of land and developing, they take time. Its expensive. Its wonderful if you have the cooperation of the lender, and were not on the same page with our lender right now. Laredo WO has received interest on the land, though Battaglia wasnt sure whether that was in total or in part. Well ferret through those and see if something makes sense, he said. If not, then well proceed with a proposal to continue to sell tracts and develop the property and pay off the bank over time. pdanner@express-news.net Twitter: @AlamoPD Pig producers who are blocked by clunky planning procedures from reinvesting in new buildings will gradually become less viable and will have to reduce pig numbers significantly or exit the industry. National Pig Association policy services officer Lizzie Wilson told BBC's Yorkshire Farming programme: "There is a growing disconnect between modern farming techniques and the general public. "We find that when producers apply for planning permission, the amount of detail required and the resultant delays, make the whole process slow, and not really fit for purpose," she said. "We are finding quite simple planning applications are taking up to two years to go through the process, because they are repeatedly deferred for more detail." Lizzie Wilson explained new buildings were more efficient, hygienic and easy to keep clean, thereby reducing the need for antibiotics. "Older buildings are generally less fit for purpose. The ventilation may not be as good and they can't be cleaned as well when the pigs are moved out, and therefore they can harbour diseases and are a reservoir for reinfection." 'Appreciation of modern farming isn't there' She told Radio York listeners, "If you go back 30 or 40 years, there was a person in every family who was connected to farming in some way. "Today the knowledge base and appreciation of particularly modern farming techniques just isn't there any more. "So when local residents are presented with a planning application, even if it's just a modest bed-and-breakfast facility for 1,500 pigs, they can't imagine what it will look like." There were obviously concerns about smell, noise, flies, additional traffic and environmental pollution, she said "We quite appreciate that. We just ask that people do their homework. "We quite often invite local residents to visit a very similar unit, to talk them through what the proposed building would look like, how it would be managed, how it would work on a day-to-day basis, and try to allay their fears." British exit from the European Union must bring a reversal of policies from the main parties to prevent a decimation of Welsh agriculture, Farmers' Union of Wales President Glyn Roberts said. Roberts said Brexit could leave rural areas in Wales facing levels of poverty not seen since the 1930s. "I make no apology for having repeatedly highlighted the Unions policy that we should remain within the EU," said the FUW President. "However, we are anything but Europhiles or apologists for the EU and all its flaws and failings. Quite the contrary, our criticisms have been consistent." Rapid changes Roberts said that if the electorate voted to remain in the EU, it should not be seen as a 'seal of approval' for the current EU model. "We must see rapid changes which move us away from the precipice. "Put simply, the vast and slow-moving machine which is the EU must find a reverse gear, which takes us back to something which is acceptable to a far greater proportion of its population. "Whichever way the vote goes next week, we remain dedicated to fighting for the interests of not only our members but our entire rural economy, our environment, and the very heart of Wales' culture." Help unleash the talent and ambition Earlier this month EU agricultural commissioner Phil Hogan said there was no guarantee British farmers would be able to get money elsewhere. Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss said: "Unlocking access to our share of 360 billion of European funding will help unleash the talent and ambition across our world-leading food and farming industry, from supporting punchy start-ups to developing the very latest technology in production methods. "Last year our dairy exports hit 1.4 billion so we know theres a growing appetite for quality British dairy products. "The funding will help innovative businesses produce more high-demand products such as yoghurts and cheeses in the UK, creating more jobs, increasing productivity and making the sector more resilient." Organic farmer Rhodri Lloyd-Williams said: "Over 80 percent of my produce gets exported to a market that has access to over 500 million customers why would I want to put that at risk? "I feel responsible for Moelgolomen farm it has been in our family for over 400 years. And whilst we look at all options to be sustainable and profitable, we are just like many other family farms in Wales, reliant on not just the Single Farm Payment but also access to the European market. "I would almost certainly be worse off. In all honesty, leaving the EU is not going to be a smart move for agriculture and for the economy as a whole." Jobs linked to trade with EU Lucy Thomas, deputy director of Britain Stronger In Europe, said: Over 76,000 jobs in British agriculture are linked to trade with the EU. "These jobs rely on the ability to sell goods to 500 million consumers within the single market. A vote to leave would hit the pockets of UK farmers and have a devastating impact on the UKs rural economy. "Leaving the EU could see tariffs of up to 40% on wine and cheese and up to 90% on meat. It would be a damaging hit to Britains farmers and consumers back pockets. "Over 80 percent of my produce gets exported to a market that has access to over 500 million customers why would I want to put that at risk?" Just a few days remain for farmers, butchers and others in the red meat industry to apply for the prestigious 3000 annual scholarship offered by Hybu Cig Cymru Meat Promotion Wales (HCC). Now in its nineteenth year, HCCs scholarship is a respected and well-established vehicle for people to visit other countries, and learn lessons which can be used to improve the red meat industry in Wales. Recent scholarship winners have visited counties such as the USA, Norway, New Zealand, Australia and France, and have gone on to make a major contribution to the industry in Wales. Huw Williams, who farms near Talley, Carmarthenshire, was one of the successful scholars in 2015-16. "I used my HCC scholarship to visit Australia and New Zealand, comparing different methods of DNA shepherding and EID tracking as cost-effective methods of recording parentage" said Huw. He added: "I would advise anybody to think about a topic which is of interest to them, and go for the scholarship." Alan Gardner is another recent scholarship winner to have visited New Zealand. "It was a trip of a lifetime for me," said Alan, of Plas Newydd Farm, Pontblyddyn, Flintshire. He emphasised that lessons learned from the scholarship can be applied at home: "My project was to see what we as Welsh sheep farmers could learn from our New Zealand equivalents. "We need to put into practice what theyre doing to produce lambs as economically as possible." The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) was established more than fifty years ago to increase agricultural productivity, thereby ensuring that farmers received a fair level of income and that consumers had access to safe and secure sources of food at reasonable prices. The CAP is one of the few policies agreed at EU level and almost entirely funded by the EU budget. Appearing on the BBC programme Countryfile, former Mayor of London Boris Johnson said the government would be mad not to continuing support farmers if the UK voted to leave, but refused to say whether that support would be greater than what is currently available through EU membership. How much money does UK farming receive through the CAP? In 2015 UK farmers received 3,084bn in pillar 1 direct support, also known as Basic Payment Scheme (BPS). In England and Wales this equates to an average payment of 235 and 179 per hectare respectively. In addition to the basic payment, UK farmers will also have access to 5.2bn that has been allocated to the UK for rural development projects over the period 2014-2020. This figure includes 2.3bn that has been transferred from the BPS to the UK rural development programmes. The Tenant Farmers Association (TFA) issued a draft of potential agricultural policies which could be implemented by the government in the event of a vote to leave. "As I travel around the country, many farmers in their heart of hearts would like to see Britain leave the EU," said TFA Chief Executive George Dunn. "Perhaps the choice to leave would be made easier if they knew that this would also lead to a change in Government to deliver a pre-agreed agricultural policy for Britain. However this is not on offer." If the UK pulled out of the EU, what would it mean for a typical farmer? If the UK decided to leave the EU after more than forty years of being a member, it would have to negotiate an agreement with the EU defining the arrangements for its withdrawal and its future relationship with the EU. Its impossible at this stage to foresee what the future relationship between the UK and the EU would look like given the high degree of uncertainty surrounding the negotiation process. There are a number of existing agreements in place as alternatives to EU membership, including the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the European Economic Area (EEA). However, neither of these agreements covers the agricultural sector. "I can assure you Defra will be Brexit ready if we vote to leave," said George Eustice at the Royal Bath and West Show. ""And if we do vote for change the Prime Minister will lead the reconciliation to that new reality the entire machine of government will be committed to withdrawal from the EU in the best possible way." TFA Chief Executive George Dunn said: "We should be looking at many other areas including developing fairer supply chains, ensuring protection against inappropriate trading practices, creating a proper and progressive farming ladder and protecting the British brand." Former Defra minister Owen Paterson said farmers would in fact benefit from leaving the EU as they would be free from EU directives and subsidy policies. Paterson said money could be better used in a targeted and efficient manner. "I believe that the United Kingdom has a great future beyond the political arrangements of the European Union," Paterson said at the Oxford Farming Conference. "Agriculture and food production is hampered by our membership of the Common Agricultural Policy. CAP negotiations between 28 countries inevitably mean that we have to accept compromises, these are at best deeply unsatisfactory and at worst actively damaging to UK farmers." Government should give commitment to farmers if electorate vote to leave The inability to give long term commitments is perhaps understandable, but the National Sheep Association believes the current Government, at the highest level, should give firm indications of how farming and food production would be treated if the country was to vote to leave. Phil Stocker, NSA Chief Executive says: "Many people directly involved in agriculture are supportive of remaining in the EU but, increasingly, I am talking to sheep farmers who are somewhat attracted to leaving, remembering that the UK joined a common market and not a super state. "However, the politicians running the out campaign can only give a personal opinion of what they might like to see in terms of investment and support for farming and food, not solid commitments. "The farming industry needs firm assurances to base their decision on, not just opinion and ideas. "Defra is currently working on its 25 Year Food and Farming Plan, which NSA believes should include a commitment to support and nurture agriculture in order to deliver that plan, With reference to a future in and out of the EU. We would like to see clear and committed plans and intentions for both options. "Evidence over the last decade or more suggests the Treasury would reduce funding for agriculture, even if there was an overall saving made by exiting the EU. "Therefore the absence of any guarantee to maintain support, in particular to upland farms in marginal situations, means Brexit is of real concern to many NSA members. "While the farming vote overall will be small, and outweighed by people more generally making decisions based on the economy and immigration, farmers are faced with making an uninformed vote. "This is incredibly disappointing given the significance of the vote on the sheep sector and agriculture in general." What was it like to be an Oath Keeper? John Zimmerman can tell you John Zimmerman said he was active with the Oath Keepers from September to November 2020, then left after a falling out with founder Stewart Rhodes. A former chief administrative law judge pleaded guilty in federal court Monday for conspiracy to retaliate against an employee of the Social Security Administration who provided information to federal investigators about potential corruption and fraud. Charlie Paul Andrus, 66, of Huntington, West Virginia, pleaded guilty in federal court in Kentucky to a one-count information. Andrus had been an administrative law judge with the Social Security Administration or SSA for nearly 28 years. He heard and decided claims for disability benefits on behalf of the SSA. In 1997, Andrus was promoted to the position of chief administrative law judge for the hearing office in Huntington. In May 2011, federal agents went to the Huntington office as part of an investigation into allegations of potential corruption and fraud. They began gathering evidence and interviewing witnesses. The investigation focused on another administrative law judge, David Black Daugherty, and an attorney in Kentucky, Eric Christopher Conn. The day the investigation started, the Wall Street Journal published an article critical of the Huntington hearing office. Andrus admitted in his guilty plea Monday that the article was personally embarrassing. It cast him and the Huntington hearing office in a bad light. Because of the article and the criminal investigation, Andrus was demoted from his position as chief administrative law judge. At the time of his demotion, Andrus knew an SSA employee from the hearing office was giving investigators information about potential federal offenses. According to his plea agreement, Andrus met with Conn soon after the WSJ article appeared. The two came up with a plan to discredit the informant. The plan involved filming the informant while violating a program that allowed employees to work from home, with the hope that the informant would be terminated as a result, the DOJ said. Andrus said he wanted to retaliate against the informant by interfering with his or her job and livelihood. He admitted in Mondays plea that he knew the SSA employee was telling federal investigators the truth. In April, the DOJ charged Conn and Daugherty in an 18-count indictment. The charges include conspiracy, fraud, obstruction, false statement, and money laundering. That case involves an alleged scheme to fraudulently obtain more than $600 million in federal disability payments for thousands of claimants. The Conn and Daugherty indictment included allegations related to the plot against the informant. _____ Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog. Hell be the keynote speaker at the FCPA Blog NYC Conference 2016. Netherlands-based oil and gas services firm Franks International NV said in an SEC filing Monday that its conducting an internal investigation of certain foreign subsidiaries in West Africa for possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The company said it self disclosed the investigation to the SEC and DOJ this month and the investigation in ongoing. Franks provides and handles the pipes used to drill oil and gas wells. It trades on the NYSE under the symbol FI. It has about 4,000 employees in 60 countries. Revenue last year was $975 million. Franks said it intends to fully cooperate with the DOJ and SEC. It said it cant yet predict the ultimate resolution of these matters with these agencies. * * * The full FCPA disclosure in the Form 8-K filed by Franks International NV with the SEC on June 13, 2016 said: The Company is conducting an internal investigation of the operations of certain of its foreign subsidiaries in West Africa including possible violations of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the Companys policies and other applicable laws. In June 2016, the Company voluntarily disclosed the existence of its extensive internal review to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the United States Department of Justice. It is the Companys intent to fully cooperate with these agencies and any other applicable authorities in connection with any further investigation that may be conducted in this matter. While the Companys review does not indicate that there has been any material impact on the Companys previously filed financial statements, the Company continues to collect information and is unable to predict the ultimate resolution of these matters with these agencies. The Companys board and management are committed to continuously enhancing the Companys internal controls that support improved compliance and transparency throughout its global operations. ____ Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog. Hell be the keynote speaker at the FCPA Blog NYC Conference 2016. Anderson Cooper broke down in tears as he read out the names of the victims of the Orlando massacre. Anderson Cooper The veteran CNN broadcaster wept as he told brief stories about each of those identified as having lost their lives in a mass shooting at gay nightclub Pulse on Sunday (12.06.16) morning - but refused to mention shooter Omar Mateen, who was killed by police, by name. He said: "We begin tonight with their names. The names of the 48 out of 49 people who have so far been identified. "The victims of the deadliest mass shooting in American history. A massacre that happened in a gay nightclub ... just two nights ago. "There is one name I want to tell you that you will not hear in this broadcast tonight. One picture of a person you will not see. We will not say the gunman's name or show his photograph. It's been shown far too much all ready. We want to try to keep the focus where we think it belongs - on the people whose lives were cut short." Meanwhile, America's late-night talk show hosts all weighed in on the tragedy on their programmes. Jimmy Fallon - who has daughters Winnie, three, and Frances, 18 months, with wife Nancy - worried about how to explain what had happened to his children and urged viewers to use the massacre as a "lesson in tolerance". He said: "I, as a new father, am thinking, 'What do I tell my kids? What do I tell them about this? What can we learn from this? What if my kids are gay? What do I tell them?' "Maybe there's a lesson from all this. A lesson in tolerance. We need to support each other's differences and worry less about our own opinions. Get back to debate and away from believing or supporting the idea that if someone doesn't live the way you want them to live, you just buy a gun and kill them. Bomb them up. That is not OK." 'Daily Show' presenter Trevor Noah devoted eight minutes of his programme to talking about the attack, admitting he was "sad and sickened" by what had happened. He added: "The president, he made a powerful point. America has to decide if this is the kind of country that it wants to be. Every time this happens, it feels like America has already decided, this is exactly the kind of country it wants to be. "Because we know how this always plays out. We're shocked, we mourn, we change our profile pics and then we move on. It's become normal. But I'm sorry, maybe it's because I'm new, but it's not normal. "We shouldn't allow this to be normal. It's not normal thing. It's like milk from almonds or sushi from Walgreens. It's not normal, people." Stephen Colbert dispensed with his usual opening sequence, with him simply seated at his desk when the show opened. Like Trevor, he emphasised how gun crime happens "too many times" in the US. He said: "We each ask ourselves what can you possibly say in the face of this horror? But then sadly you realise, you know what to say, because it has been said too many times before." Seth Meyers also scrapped his opening monologue on 'Late Night', instead showing footage of people waiting in Florida to give blood, and of strangers helping one another. He also blasted members of Congress for doing "nothing" about tightening gun control laws. He said: "This was an attack on LGBT people fueled by bigotry and hatred. And the shooter was apparently inspired by ISIS. But we're gonna talk about guns "Because whether the shooter was a homophobe, mentally ill, a terrorist inspired by ISIS or all three, what allowed him to kill so many people on Sunday was his gun. And that means we're likely about to enter yet another contentious national debate about gun control... "When given a chance, Congress consistently chooses nothing as a course of action." Kim Kardashian West says being a mother is better than she ever imagined. Kim Kardashian West The 35-year-old reality TV star has daughter North, who will turn three on Wednesday (15.06.16) and son Saint, six months, with husband Kanye West and Kim couldn't be happier. When asked by a fan on Twitter if parenthood was what she thought it would be, Kim replied: "Beyond what I imagined in the best way possible." Kim previously admitted she was worried when she found out she was pregnant with North, because she was still going through a divorce from her second husband Kris Humphries and her relationship with Kanye was still quite new. She said: "[Motherhood] really changes you. When I found out I was pregnant, I was going through an awful divorce, Kanye and I had just been dating for seven months - granted, we knew each other for a decade-- and I was like, 'I can't do this. It's not the right time.' But then I figured, If I'm in my thirties and I'm not ready, I'll never be ready. So it's been the biggest lesson, and the biggest joy of my life." While getting pregnant with North was a surprise, Kim struggled to conceive a second time and opened up about her issues in order to help other people. She said: "I didn't know that I was going to be so open with [my fertility challenges] But meeting people at my fertility doctor's office who are going through the same things I'm going through, I thought, 'Why not share my story?' It's been really emotional. One doctor told me I would need my uterus removed after I had another baby - I could only have one more." Meanwhile, Kim also revealed she is planning a number of trips this year, including a vacation in Dubai for her birthday in October. She tweeted: "Planning out my travels for the rest of the year and I think see a birthday trip to Dubai!" And when asked about a possible return to Australia, she replied: "I think I saw some Australia tour dates floating around so if it's all still the same, this year for sure! (sic)." Lil Wayne reportedly suffered a seizure during a flight from Wisconsin to California on Monday (13.06.16). Lil Wayne The 33-year-old rap star was forced to make an emergency landing in Omaha, Nebraska, because of concerns over his health, according to TMZ. Wayne had apparently blacked out during the flight, but once paramedics had reached him, he reportedly refused their help. Wayne has a history of medical problems and it had previously been reported he had adjusted his lifestyle in order to take better care of himself. A source previously said: "It's more of a history of him having seizures more than it is him partying and drinking and doing things that would trigger a seizure. He's been very open and upfront about his seizures and has been suffering from those types of episodes since he was a kid." Wayne was reportedly concerned for his life when he suffered similar problems back in 2013. A source previously explained: "I know that when he was in the hospital back in March [2013], that was an eye opening experience for him and changed the way he sees life. "He's young and a lot of people depend on him so it was important for him to keep a brave face but deep down, he was scared. That was a case of him being neglectful toward his health." Following his six-day stay in hospital back in 2013, Wayne said he suffers from epilepsy, a condition which is noted by seizures. He said at the time: "This isn't my first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth or seventh seizure. I've had a bunch of seizures. Y'all just never hear about them. But this time, it got real bad because I had three of them in a row." Scottish alternative three-piece Twin Heart are to release their debut EP later this year, with the record focusing closely on the setbacks and successes the band have faced during the time they've been together. Twin Heart We got the opportunity to chat to Dawn from the trio a little more about their music, inspirations and more - find out what they had to say below... For those who may be new to your music, how best would you describe your sound? I would say we are a mixture of rock, alternative and emo with a little bit of metal thrown in there. Our sound is very unique. What challenges have you faced in the music industry so far? Throughout my time in the music industry I have definitely learned a lot. Bad and good. I find what has challenged me the most is being a female playing music in a mostly male dominted field. I think as a female you have a lot more to prove when playing and performing music which is sad really sad when you look at all the amazing female artists out there and what they have achieved already in the music industry. I think personally when I get on stage holding a guitar most people make up their mind about you right away. 'Awww look, shes playing guitar I bet you she knows nice chord melodies and sings all sweet.' With my time in music I have also found people expect females to look a certain way, I will always remember a time when I came off stage and a gentlemen came up to me and said he loved my set but, if you had dressed more sexy I would have liked it better. This pissed me off because this is exactly what it is to be female in a mostly male industry. I have always been true to myself and have strived to not be changed of who and what I am. I think this is important. How difficult would you say this career path is in terms of making a name for yourself? I think now it is very difficult. There are so many amazing unsigned bands out there. Each doing their own thing. I think it is difficult in respect of knowing how to get your name out there and knowing the right people to contact to progress as a band. There are no outlets for unsigned bands anymore. Everything has become digital, everything is so expensive. Recording music, promoting music, touring etc all of these things takes a lot of hard work as I have learned. There is a lot of sacrifice in music also. Personal things that you give up in order to try your very hardest in making a name for yourself and the music that you essentially put your heart and soul into. I think the hardest hurdle is a starting point and knowing where to go and how to continue. How important is it for you to have creative control over the work you produce? For me this is the most important. My work is my life and the thought of this ever being taken away from me upsets me. I write the songs for the band and to think that someone might take your work and claim it as their own makes me sick. I think also signing your work over to someone else to have control of what happens to your music is also a big worry if the right terms and conditions arent in place. Being the main songwriter in the band I feel like I have most control and the most say of what and how I want a song to become. I will write the main structure of a song, lyrics and guitar. Start to finish and then let the other members of the band here it. They will obviously have their own say and can make changes accordingly. But if there is something I do not like or I do not agree with I still feel I am most in control because I am the producer of the song. We work well as a band because I am open to change if it helps the flow of my songs. Where do you draw influence and inspiration from for your work? Influences are a big thing in my songs. Whether it be from other bands and artists or personal things happening in my life. I am always influenced by something. I am a very emotional and connected person. I find that personal influences touch me more and inspire me to make beautiful music. I am influenced by day to day life. I have always been a person who is full of empathy and love for other people and find this to be the best kind of emotion to draw influences from. My biggest influence of ever wanting to be a performer in music was Kurt Cobain. My absolute idol. I wanted to be in every way like him musically. His songs and personal troubles inspired me completely. If you could collaborate with anybody going forward, who would you choose and why? Right now, thinking of bands and artists in the music scene I would have to say Sia. She is so relevant right now. Her videos, her image, her music, her voice. She has it all. Everything she has done in the past has taken her to this point. I remember hearing Sia before she was super famous and not really engaging with her. I liked the music, I liked her lyrics. I think when I saw her fully as the complete package I was blown away. She continued to impress. She has also collaborated with a lot of artists and the outcome has been amazing. I think I see a little of myself in her too. She comes across very shy, afraid to be in the spotlight, in the public eye. But when she gets on stage, when she sings and performs, something else is there. A spark. Something special. Someone transformed by what they love. Do you have definitive aims or goals for your career? I think at the start off when I was new to the music industry and knew what was involved, when I was very young and in experienced I wanted the fame, I wanted the fashion, I wanted the tv documentaries about me and my band. But now, and throughtout and actually experiencing my first gig and everything else that comes with giving everything you are to a career in music. I am humbled to have what I have experienced so far. The aim has been, and always will be to push forward and keep making good music, and to work my hardest to perform in bigger venues, to play on the same bill as my favourite bands. Mostly to not have world fame but to let my music be heard to people further afield in the industry and to make a living doing what I enjoy the most in the world. What should we expect from you in the coming weeks and months? We have a lot of plans. We are touring the UK in the summer. We release our new single along with our new video. Our EP 'Progress: Decline' will also be released on July 1. Debut EP 'Progress: Decline' is released via Rip It Up Records on July 1. by Daniel Falconer for www.femalefirst.co.uk find me on and follow me on Sweden's Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia celebrated their first year of marriage on Monday (13.06.16). Princess Sofia and Prince Carl Philip The 36-year-old prince married the former reality star, 31, in Stockholm last June, and after a lavish honeymoon in Fiji, the brunette beauty fell pregnant with the couple's first child Prince Alexander. Since becoming husband and wife, the pair have taken their first royal tour together to visit a nature reserve in Arvika and also to the town of Alvaden, where Sofia grew up. Sofia struggled to hold back tears of happiness during the visit and said: "I'm glad that so many have come, I really appreciate that. I was not sure if any would come. "I must admit that I was pretty nervous to come here in a complete new role, but your warm reception made it much easier." Meanwhile, during his wedding speech a year ago yesterday, the prince recalled to guests how he had driven to see Sofia's father, who works in a job centre, to ask permission to propose and thanked her family for their support. He also hailed the former model as his "role model" and praised the citizens of Sweden for accepting their union. He said: "We never chose the tough way - it chose us. "You fill my life with love and happiness. Today we prove that love conquers all. "Sofia - you've enriched our family. Your family has received me with equally open arms. I've got another family." Sofia - who is now known as Her Royal Highness Princess Sofia, Duchess of Varmland - gave birth to Prince Alexander in April and afterwards posed for pictures with her husband, who told photographers: "For me and my wife, this is obviously a great day with a lot of emotion." Britain's Prince Harry introduces girlfriends who "mean something" to the Duchess of Cambridge. Prince Harry The 31-year-old royal - who reportedly locked lips with pop star Ellie Goulding at the Audi Polo Challenge recently - romanced Chelsy Davy for five years and Cressida Bonas in 2014 and both women met his sister-in-law because he saw a future in each relationship. Royal expert Ingrid Seward, editor in chief of Majesty Magazine, told The Daily Mirror newspaper: "I know that he introduces Kate to all his girlfriends who mean something to him. She was friendly with Chelsy and Cressie." The flame-haired royal is said to be sympathetic to the 34-year-old Duchess, who is married to his 33-year-old brother Prince William, because she wasn't born into the royal family but is managing her role very well. Ingrid added: "Harry is very sensitive to the fact that Kate had to come into this role and wasn't born into it... He empathises with Kate and what she is going through. We know it is not as easy for her as it looks. She finds it quite difficult although she would never let on as she is too much of a pro. Kate and Harry giggle about silly things together and he is very gentle with her." And he once referred to her as "the sister" he's never had and is delighted to have her in the family. Prince Harry said previously: "To have a big sister is very, very nice. I've got to know Catherine pretty well, but now that she's becoming part of the family, I'm really looking forward to getting her under my wing - or she'll be taking me under her wing probably." Nepal has requested the US to adopt further flexibility in the duty-free market access facility the country has offered to Nepali readymade garment products.The request was made by a Nepali delegation in the US for the Joint Nepal-US Trade and Investment Framework (TIFA) Council meeting, Nepal has requested the US to adopt further flexibility in the duty-free market access facility the country has offered to Nepali readymade garment products. The request was made by a Nepali delegation in the US for the Joint Nepal-US Trade and Investment Framework (TIFA) Council meeting, Although the US has offered the facility to 66# Although the US has offered the facility to 66 garment items under the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act, Nepali garment manufacturers are disappointed that most of the items listed under the facility are not produced in Nepal.Nepal's garment sector has been on a nosedive since 2005 after the US removed a quota system for its RMG products. In 2000-01, Nepal's garment exports reached an all-time high of Rs13.12 billion, with the US accounting for 86.49 per cent of the exports. But it slumped to Rs5.28 billion in fiscal 2014-15.During a public hearing in Washington on the Act on June 10, the Nepali delegation which included representatives of the Garment Association of Nepal raised the concerns of Nepali garment manufacturers.A member of the Nepali delegation said the US side advised that Nepal utilise the available facility for greater benefit of the garment sector for now. They were of the view that there remains the possibility of resistance in the US if the product list was extended, said the Nepali delegation member.The US facility announced in December 2015, and effective from February, provides duty free market access to Nepal on selected garment products until December 2025. With the presidential election approaching, the US officials were of the view that Nepal should wait for the new administration's policy if any change is sought in the Act.The public hearing was organised under the theme of Nepal: Advice Concerning Whether Certain Textile and Apparel Articles Are Import Sensitive, in which Nepali officials and garment exporters made it clear that the 66 items don't fall under the category of sensitive list of the US.During the TIFA Council meeting, Nepal requested the US for technical assistance to help it further integrate into global value chains, address supply capacity constraints, and maximise its utilisation of US trade preferences.The US took note of this request and agreed to explore the possibility of extending trade capacity building support to Nepal, the joint statement released after the meeting read.According to a press release issued by the Nepali embassy, Nepali Commerce Secretary Naindra Prasad Upadhaya said the 66 items are not import sensitive and that they do not harm the US industries producing the similar items. Under the provisions of the federal law, the US International Trade Commission (USITC) is required to conduct an investigation to determine product eligibility. (SH) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India In a first of sorts, more than 50 per cent of the world's leading retail chains now operate in Russia. This has taken the country to an exclusive club of nations that command such attention from global merchandisers, with the existing members including the UK, the US, the UAE and China.According to HKTDC Research, this is the second positive development for the country's beleaguered economy is as many months. Back in April, the World Bank predicted that Russia would return to growth albeit by a modest 1.1 per cent in 2017. In something of a caveat, however, it also forecast that the country's economy would shrink by a further 1.9 per cent in 2016 before tempered growth resumed.A total of 52 global retail chains launched their first stores Russia in 2015. Forty of these outlets were opened in Moscow, with the remainder opting for one of the country's less expensive cities for their initial venture into the market. Regardless of location, it is believed that all of these retailers succeeded in renegotiating their rental terms to their own advantages by the end of last year. This was largely because the availability of commercial property still continues to considerably outweigh demand across Russia, the HKTDC Research report said.Aside from Moscow, the most popular cities with multinational retailers proved to be St Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod and Samara. All of these cities are home to international standard shopping malls complete with globally significant anchor retailers, including Ikea (Sweden), OBI (Germany) and Auchan (France). Among the retailers making their Russian debut in 2015 were Tsumori Chiasto, MCS, Malo, Nelva and Henry Cotton's. Overall, the most significant proportion of these newcomers some 25 per cent came from Italy. Balanced against these arrivals, however, was the departure of number of familiar names from the Russian High Street. In total, 11 retailers exited the market, primarily those in the clothing, footwear and accessories sectors. These closures were headlined by several British retailers, most notably Laura Ashley, New Look, Esprit, OVS and River Island. Another high profile casualty came in the form of Finland's Stockmann Department Stores, which sold its retail operation to Debenhams' Russian franchisee. Sadly, the more recent news has also been less than reassuring. Finland's Kesko Group has announced it is to sell its Intersport sporting goods and sportswear stores. While the company has been developing the brand as a licensee in Russia for several years now, it has pulled out following falling sales and increased competition from two rival chains France's Decathlon and Russia's Sportmaster. In a similarly disappointing move, UK-owned Monsoon Accessorize has sold its Russian operation to Podium Market, a domestic fashion and accessories retailer. Despite these mixed signals, a number of commentators see this as the ideal time for new brands and overseas retailers to enter the Russian market. This could see such operators take advantage of the depressed property market and the competitively priced promotional and logistics support available across the country. In terms of an added incentive, hard-pushed Russian consumers are said to be extremely open to new but competitively-priced brands. (SH) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India Saif Ali Khan's gorgeous daughter Sara Ali Khan was recently spotted attending the screening of Marathi movie Sairat. Sara Ali Khan looked gorgeous in her white dress and open hair. We have to say that she is blessed with great looks and does not need any make-up to look good. Click on VIEW PHOTOS to see Sara Ali Khan's latest pictures and her other gorgeous pics. According to the recent reports, the diva is all set to make her Bollywood debut with Shahid Kapoor's brother Ishaan Khattar in Karan Johar's movie Student Of The Year 2. Also Read: Post Break-up With Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif To Get Married Soon! In one of his interviews, Saif Ali Khan revealed that he does not have any problem with Sara joining Bollywood but he wants Sara to finish her education first, ''Of course, I won't have any problem. It is a wonderful profession. But I would have a problem with her leaving the college and getting into movies.'' Saif Ali Khan further added, ''One day, she messaged me saying she wants to join movies. It was a slightly strangely-worded message but I replied, 'Yes, but after college.''' And now Sara Ali Khan has finished her graduation and is gearing for her big Bollywood debut. Unlike other star kids, Sara has managed to keep a low profile on social media. Not so long ago, she grabbed headlines for her amazing transformation and now we know why she is focussing so much on her looks. So readers, are you excited for Sara Ali Khan's debut film? Please tell us by commenting below. Hatrick Hero Shivanna's Shivalinga completed 100 days in 6 theaters last month. The movie is biggest hit of 2016 and was appreciated by critics and audiences for its different narration and screenplay. Producer K A Suresh of Suresh Arts has planned grand event for celebrating 100 days of Shivalinga and event will take place in Banaglore on June 19. Shivanna's film journey started on June 19, 1986 when his debut movie Anand was released. So he will be completing 30 years on June 19, 2016. Apart from Shivalinga 100 days celebration, Shivanna will be felicitated for completing 30 years successfully in namma industry by dignitaries from different industries. The event is being planned at Town Hall, Bangalore and fans have been invited to witness this memorable event. The team has invited stars of other industries to be a part of this event. Super Star Rajnikanth, Stars from Tollywood - Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna, Balakrishna, Mammootty and Mohanlal from Mollywood have been invited for the event. According to the team, Balakrishna has confirmed his presence at the event. Apart from Balakrishna, Rebel Star Ambareesh and Rocking Star Yash have confirmed their presence from the Kannada Film Industry. Given Shivanna's popularity, many other stars from Kannada and other industries will surely be a part of the event. The movie is still running successfully in a few multiplexes and looking at the response in the last few weeks, movie will complete 25 weeks in the multiplexes. Apart from 100 days celebration, teaser of Shivanna and KA Suresh's next Khadar, will be launched in the same event. Mammootty, the big M is extremely busy with a handful projects in his kitty. Reportedly, Mammootty is planning to take a short break, after completing the shooting of Thoppil Joppan. The actor was initially supposed to begin the final schedule of his Tamil movie Peranbu, after completing Thoppil Joppan. But, according to the latest updates, he will join the project only after the break. Reportedly, Mammootty is planning to go for a vacation with wife Sulfath, during the break period. The actor's next release is Kasaba, the police story which marks the directorial debut of Nithin Renji Panicker. Kasaba is slated to release on July 7th. Another upcoming Mammootty project White, will be released on July 29th. The movie, which is directed by Uday Ananthan, stars Huma Qureshi in the female lead. After completing Peranbu, Mammootty is expected to start filming for actor Prithviraj's upcoming production venture, directed by debutante Mohammed Haneef. The movie is said to be a stylish entertainer. It was reported that the project has been titled as My Dad David. But the team recently confirmed that it is not the title of the project. The rest of the star cast, crew, and the title of the movie will be announced soon. The Philippines has become one of the best-regarded economies in Asia. But what it has not become, despite the best attempts of bankers inside and outside of the country, is a major source of capital market revenues. The easy availability of bank loans, bolstered by steady flows of remittances from overseas workers, puts many local companies off the rigours of bond registration. The most recent initial public offering was paltry: a $4 million listing by Italpinas Development Corp. Block trades are patchy too, as they are elsewhere in the region. But opportunity lurks on the horizon, with the Philippines Stock Exchange expected to facilitate deals worth Ps200 billion ($4.26 billion) this year, its president and chief executive Hans Sicat told FinanceAsia. Thats a big leap from the $316 million that Dealogic reckons was raised in the first five months of 2016. However some of the biggest deals on the horizon are coming from the subsidiaries of foreign companies and these are difficult for bankers to replicate. The IPOs of Cemex Holdings Philippines, and possibly Shell Philippines are more likely to be exceptions than the start of a trend. It is not normal to see a lot of spin-offs of international companies in the Philippines, said a Southeast Asian ECM head. I'm not aware of any outside of these two. RELUCTANT SELLERS Philippine companies tend to get by with reasonably small IPOs. According to Dealogic data, the average listing size since the start of 2010 has been around $119.2 million. The countrys largest IPO last year was Metro Retails $77 million deal, according to Dealogic. That which was just a fraction of the size of Jasmine Broadbands IPO, which raised $1.1 billion in Thailands largest deal last year. So, aside from the rare eye-catching IPO by a local company, the best hope for bankers is to help foreign companies raise money from their local units. But that is not as easy as it sounds. These deals are few and far between because foreign companies often see little upside to selling stock in their Philippine businesses. The potential jumbo listing from Shell Philippines should also be regarded as an anomaly, and a long overdue one at that. The company has been flirting with a listing for more than 15 years, after the signing of the 1998 Oil Deregulation Law instructed oil companies to float at least 10% of their stock. The local unit of Royal Dutch Shell had previously attributed the repeated delays in the listing process to unfavourable market conditions and the need to upgrade its local refinery. Yet, it has recently mandated JP Morgan and BPI Capital as lead underwriters of the IPO, suggesting this year could finally be the one. Cemex's decision to list its Philippine subsidiary, meanwhile, has less to do with that business and more to do with the parent company, bankers say. Cemex, a Mexican cement producer with operations in more than 50 countries, was an investment grade company in 2007. But in the wake of the global financial crisis, amid fears about the company's high debt levels, Standard & Poor's and Fitch cut its rating to junk. The company has since been carefully trying to clear a path back up the credit quality rankings, offloading some US properties, selling some businesses in Thailand, Bangladesh, and Latin America and now looking to list its Philippine subsidiary. Cemex is still rated just B+ by S&P and BB- by Fitch, deep in non-investment grade territory. Neither Cemex nor Shell, potentially, are typical sellers. Cemex, which will use the proceeds to pay off inter-company loans, is being motivated by the need to improve its credit rating; Shell by regulations. The steady growth of the Philippines, its low-cost base, and the prospect of rising infrastructure investment are all factors that could stop other foreign companies following suit, making them reluctant to share the spoils when there is so much potential growth. Foreign companies also tend to postpone floatations until local businesses bulk up. Holcim Philippines, the local unit of Swiss cement giant Holcim, was a rare case that chose to list at a relatively early stage of the businesss growth. The decision to take the company public at a market capitalisation of $215 million in 1996 means it has given up the huge upside over the past two decades, during which the business expanded to a market size of $2.1 billion. The good news is that these same factors should ensure strong demand for those sellers who do overcome their reluctance. Cemex, in particular, offers foreign investors a good bet on one of the hot topics in the Philippines at the moment: the need to improve the country's infrastructure. Hans Sicat The deal fits the Philippine demographic sweet spot, PSEs Sicat said. There's going to be a lot of infrastructure being built in the country over the next few years. That's going to be a key theme going forward. Philippines president-elect Rodrigo Duterte has pledged to increase spending on infrastructure projects and accelerate the public-private partnership scheme initiated by outgoing president Benigno Aquino III. Duterte announced plans in late May to build a new railway system to connect Manila to three locations in Luzon: Nueva Ecija, Sorsogon and Batangas. He has also unveiled plans to establish a railway system in the southern island of Mindanao. An ECM banker working on the Cemex Philippines IPO said the initial feedback from pre-deal meetings has been positive and that investors are upbeat on the companys prospects because the surge in infrastructure spending will boost demand for cement, Cemexs main product line. CLOSER TO HOME Cemex Philippines, which is in the middle of premarketing the IPO when this article was being written, is planning to offer up to 2.33 billion shares, including the greenshoe, at a maximum price of Ps17 per share. That means the deal could be worth as much as Ps39.7 billion ($853 million), although bankers familiar with the matter have told FinanceAsia that a deal of around $500 million is more likely. In either case, it will be the biggest listing since Robinson Retail Groups $621 million IPO in 2013, and is likely to hold its record at least until Shell Philippines finally comes to the market, bankers familiar with the market said. There is one local deal that could challenge for the title. Philippine food and beverage company Monde Nissin has become a global player through a series of acquisitions, including the purchase of UK meat substitute manufacturer Quorn last year. The deal, if it comes, could be a record-breaker, said a head of ECM in Southeast Asia. That deal will be also be backed by a spate of smaller, local listings. Golden Haven Memorial Park, which is likely to come to market after Cemex, is planning a deal worth just under $17 million. Renewable energy company Green Power Panay Philippines, miner TVI Resource Development (Philippines), and construction companies Datem and DM Wenceslao are others that could follow. These deals will keep bankers busy, or at least busier than they have been. They will be supplemented by the occasional big IPO from a local firm. But bankers are realistic enough to know that a deal like Cemex is a rarity. Foreign companies, by and large, will keep their stock to themselves for the time being. When leaders from 175 countries signed the historic Paris climate accord at the UN headquarters in New York on April 22, Chinese entrepreneur Alan Li was among many hailing the move and eying arguably the greatest business opportunities the world has ever seen in renewable energy. For Li, chief executive of Hong Kong-listed United Photovoltaics (United PV), the unprecedented international deal is a major step forward that will catalyse new energy investment globally. A new era is coming as the whole society starts to embrace new energy, Li told FinanceAsia. The commitment [to tackle climate change] made by China and the US, the worlds top two carbon polluters, is a milestone in the development of new energy such as solar power. China and the US together account for more than 40% of global emissions, according to the Global Carbon Project, a scientific organisation that tracks the carbon cycle. Set up in 2013, United PV is the solar farm subsidiary of state-owned conglomerate China Merchants Group and has grown quickly through aggressive acquisitions. It now owns 28 solar power plants with an aggregate installed capacity of around 1 gigawatt across China. United PVs bigger domestic rival, the loss-making GCL New Energy, owned 41 solar power stations in China with an installed capacity of 1.6 gigawatts as of the end of last year, according to the companys annual result. United PVs fast development comes at a time when Beijing is pushing hard to reform the countrys energy portfolio through the rapid adoption of renewable energy, to help build a greener economy and cut chronic pollution levels. The countrys solar power plants generated 38.3 billion kilowatt hours (kwh) of energy last year, an increase of 64% year-on-year. But that represented less than 1% of Chinas total power consumption of 5.56 trillion kwh, according to the Chinese National Energy Administration (NEA) and the semi- official China Electricity Council. Last June, China pledged that by 2030 it would cut its carbon emissions per unit of GDP by 60-65% compared with 2005 levels, peak its carbon emissions, and derive 20% of its primary energy consumption from non-fossil sources. This requires strenuous efforts but we have confidence and resolve to fulfil our commitments, Chinese President Xi Jinping said at the opening ceremony of the initial Paris Agreement intergovernmental negotiations on November 30, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. According to Li, United PV plans to invest a further $1.3 billion this year snapping up solar plants, not just at home but also overseas in Europe, the US, and Australia and is targeting an internal rate of return of about 8%. With a cash balance of Rmb947 million ($144 million) at the end of last year and short-term debt, mainly bank loans and convertible bonds, of Rmb1.63 billion, that means United PV will look to raise additional capital in the coming months. The companys annual report also shows that it helped to save about 740,000 metric tonnes in carbon emissions by generating about 859,730 megawatt hours of solar power, 77% more than in the previous year. United PV recorded a net profit in 2015 of Rmb373 million, up 43% year-on-year, while its income from power generation increased by 66% to Rmb631 million. ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT While renewable energy, such as solar power, only accounts for a small fraction of Chinas entire energy portfolio, the country has been acting on its promise to cut carbon emissions. Last year alone China added a record 15.1 gigawatts of new installations, making for a total solar capacity of 43.2 gigawatts and outstripping Germany with 38.4 gigawatts as the nation with the most installed solar capacity globally, according to the NEA. Under the 13th five-year plan (2016-2020), a national policy blueprint, China aims to more than triple the countrys solar power capacity by 2020, adding an average of 20 gigawatts of photovoltaic power each year for the next five years, according to the NEA. If that goal is met, solar capacity will represent 15% of new power installations from 2016 to 2020. Developing one gigawatt of solar power capacity requires about Rmb8 billion in investment, meaning a potential Rmb800 billion in total investment over the five-year period. It would see a huge expansion [in Chinas new energy] and so there would be an opportunity for investors, Roberto Bocca, head of energy industries at the World Economic Forum, told FinanceAsia. Still, as elsewhere, increased solar power capacity does not always equate to increased consumption and efficiency. What is important, Bocca said, is not just to invest more in capacity but also to alter the energy value chain. Otherwise [even if] you add [new energy] production, it is not usable in some part or not optimised, he said. For instance, 31% of photovoltaic capacity in Gansu and 26% in Xinjiang, two major solar producing regions, was forced to sit idle last year as Chinese power demand growth decelerated to just 0.5%, also making it difficult for coal-fired generators to run at full capacity. The curtailment ratio further advanced to 39% and 52% in the first quarter of this year, data from the NEA shows. In addition, poor transmission capabilities meant solar power could not be transferred from where its generated usually remote areas of western China to densely populated coastal cities in the east where demand is stronger. The idle solar capacity cut into the government subsidy payments solar power operators rely on and which can often be delayed as a result of lengthy and complicated application procedures. This sector still largely counts on the government support, said Robin Xiao, an energy analyst at China Merchants Bank International Securities, who estimates subsidies make up about 60% to 70% of total revenues earned by photovoltaic companies and are liable to delays lasting up to 18 to 24 months. That would have an impact on their cash flow and cause some uncertainties" for their businesses, he said. Alan Li speaks in Paris But with coal-fired pollution choking the air and a top source of public dissatisfaction, some industry participants and analysts said transformation of the countrys energy structure remains a must for Beijing, in spite of the financial pressures. The cost of thermal power is indeed lower than solar power but its hidden costs havent been reflected in the price. The damage it brings, such as hazardous smog, has increasingly become an unbearable burden on the countrys healthcare system, United PVs Li said. In a long awaited announcement in late May, the National Development and Reform Commission, Chinas top pricing regulator, and the NEA jointly set out the minimum guaranteed utilisation hours for solar and wind power plants in those areas affected by curtailments up to 1,500 hours and 2,000 hours annually, respectively. It is good news for renewable energy companies as it can at least guarantee these companies will receive a minimum return and can help their power projects survive, Xiao, the analyst, said. Longer-term, United PV is confident the economics of solar energy will pay for itself as the necessary infrastructure for transmission catches up with generating capacity, betting on the completion of ultra-high-voltage electricity transmission circuits by 2020, in which, according to the official newspaper Economic Information, Beijing will have invested Rmb700 billion. The problem of curtailment is just temporary, Li said. Any new industry, when it comes out, its like an ugly duckling which requires a lot of fixes. But you cannot stop it from becoming a swan eventually. ABC Leasing, the leasing unit of Agricultural Bank of China, made its international bond debut on Monday with a $500 million deal that slipped into the market at the beginning of a potentially tricky and volatile week. Central bank meetings for the US Federal Reserve, Bank of England and Bank of Japan all have the potential to surprise the market, particularly the Bank of Japan, which could prove to be the wild card of the pack if it announces further easing measures. ABC Leasings five-year offering also had to contend with a big move in US Treasuries over the weekend. At 1.64% 10-year Treasuries are now 6bp wider than they were a week ago and are touching 2012 levels. However, bankers said that even though there was further selling pressure on Asian credit on Monday, particularly at the 10-year point of the curve, spreads continue to outperform Treasuries. In part this has been thanks to onshore Chinese demand. This demand has propelled Chinese banking and leasing spreads ever tighter and ABC Leasing had a good springboard for its deal even though there has been a lot of paper in the market recently. Three of its major competitors the leasing units of Bank of China, ICBC and China Construction Bank have raised a combined $3 billion in the past two months, while China Aircraft Leasing, partly owned by state-owned conglomerate China Everbright Group, raised $300 million from a debut issue in late April. Another deal is also on the cards after BoCom Leasing announced that it had mandated Standard Chartered for a deal on Monday. Nevertheless, ABC Leasing attracted a peak order book of $2.4 billion before dropping to $2.1 billion, with participations from 66 investors. This is less than the $3.75 billion and $3 billion peak order books that CCB Leasing and ICBC Leasing attracted in mid to late May. However, ABC Leasing only offered one five-year tranche compared to others split three- and five-year offerings. By investor type, 73% went to banks, 23% to asst managers/ fund managers, 2% to sovereign wealth fund and insurance companies, and the remaining 2% to private-banking accounts. By geography, Asian investors accounted for 98%, while European investors represented 2%. One fixed income investor told FinanceAsia the leasing company was able to price the new bonds at the tight end of price guidance thanks to a direct guarantee from Agricultural Bank of China Hong Kong branch. By contrast CCB Leasing used a Cayman Islands SPV with a keepwell and liquidity support undertaking from CCB Leasing. As a result, ABC Leasing priced closer to its parents senior debt than CCB Leasing. Initial price guidance was pitched at 170bp over Treasuries before being tightened to 5bp either side of 150bp over. Final pricing of a June 2021 note in the name of ABCL Glory Capital Ltd was fixed at 99.543% on a coupon of 2.5% to yield 2.598%, or 145bp over Treasuries, according to a term sheet seen by FinanceAsia. The closest comparables were Agricultural Bank of Chinas outstanding 2.75% May 2020 and 2.75% October 2020 bonds, which were trading on a G-spreads of 115bp and 109bp respectively. This means the new deal has come at a 30bp premium to ABCs senior debt. This is 7bp tighter than the level CCBL achieved relative to its ultimate parent in late May when it completed its $600 million 2.75% 2020 bond. This latter deal was priced at 98.477% to yield 3.081% or 168bp over Treasuries. On Monday it was trading on a mid-price of 102.355% to yield 2.64% or 160bp over Treasuries. This also means that ABC Leasings deal has priced at a roughly 15bp premium to CCB Leasing. Given there is about 8bp between the two credits senior debt this suggests the new deal has offered a fairly decent, but necessary, 7bp to 8bp new issue premium. Besides aircraft leasing, the company is also engaged in shipping and port leasing businesses, according to its website. Its online roadshow flags its unique niche in sannong leasing (agriculture) including cotton picking machine leasing, sugar cane machine leasing and tractor leasing. At the end of 2015 its leasing business had total assets of Rmb36 billion ($5.47 billion). In February, Beijing tapped Liu Shiyu, chief of Agricultural Bank of China, the country's third biggest lender by assets, to head the China Securities Regulatory Commission, replacing the embattled Xiao Gang. Joint global coordinators for the bond deal were: ABC International, Agricultural Bank of China Hong Kong Branch and CICC Hong Kong, while ANZ, DBS Bank and Wells Fargo Securities joined as joint bookrunners. The story has been updated since first publication with final deal stats. Hyundai Mipo Dockyard raised W142.1 billion ($121 million) through a clean-up trade in chemical and auto parts manufacturer KCC Corp on Tuesday, extending Korea's strong run of secondary share sales so far this year. Driven by a number of follow-on offerings from affiliates of Samsung Group as well as Korea Aerospace Industries, South Korea has been a hot spot for Asian equity capital markets this year, especially in the first quarter when deal volume reached a 10-year high of $3.9 billion, according to Dealogic. Attention in the past two months has shifted to Southeast Asia, where a number of transactions were completed after a prolonged drought last year. They include the $470 million listing in Singapore of Manulife US Reit and CVC Capital Partnerss $227 million block trade of shares in Indonesias Matahari Department Store. Yet Asian deal flow has returned to Korea towards the end of the second quarter. Japans Nippon Steel raised $139 million from the sale of shares in state-owned steel maker POSCO last week, while Standard Chartered cashed in $95 million through the sale of shares in Innocean Worldwide. As such, Hyundai Mipo Dockyards KCC exit is the third transaction within the last fortnight. That has perhaps provided some relief to Korean investment bankers after Hotel Lotte, which was preparing for the countrys largest ever initial public offering, decided to pull the transaction following investigations related to bribery and embezzlement allegations. Details Tuesdays Reg S only deal, which was conducted after the market close, saw Hyundai Mipo Dockyard offload all of its 397,000 shares in KCC at W358,000 per share, representing a 5.5% discount to the stocks W379,000 Tuesday close, according to a source familiar with the situation. The shares equated to 3.7% of KCC's outstanding share capital. Credit Suisse, sole bookrunner for the transaction, guided investors to bid within an indicative range of W356,500 to W371,000 per share, or a discount range of 2.1% to 5.9%. The timing of the transaction was less than ideal for the seller, with KCC shares trading near its 52-week low of W348,500. But it has effectively simplified a network of circular shareholding between Hyundai Mipo Dockyard, KCC, and Hyundai Heavy Industries. After the transaction KCC continues to own 7.01% of Hyundai Heavy Industries, which is the majority shareholder of Hyundai Mipo Dockyard with a 43% interest. Hyundai Mipo Dockyards sale of KCC was part of the restructuring programme of Hyundai Heavy Industries, which announced last month that it is considering selling some of its non-shipbuilding business. Apart from KCC Corp, Hyundai Heavy Industries also contemplates trimming its stake in Hyundai Motor as well as unlisted finance subsidiaries Hi Investment & Securities and Hi Asset Management. According to local reports, Hyundai Heavy Industries has submitted to its main creditor bank KEB Hana a restructuring plan that includes laying off roughly 10% of its 3,000 staff. Mitsubishi Corporation Telephone:+81-3-3210-2171 Facsimile:+81-3-5252-7705 TOKYO, June 14, 2016 - (JCN Newswire) - Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) has been awarded a full turnkey contract by Taiwan Power Company (TPC) for the renovation of boilers and environmental facilities at TPC's Taichung Power Plant (Units 1 to 4) in Taiwan. MC will serve as the main contractor while Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems, Ltd. (MHPS) will supply the main components. CTCI Corporation (CTCI), a Taiwan-based engineering and construction company, will supply ancillary equipment and undertake installation work.This renovation project is aimed at enhancing the plant's capacity to comply with tighter emissions regulations for NOx (nitrogen oxide), SO2 (sulfur dioxide) and particulate matter. Work is scheduled for completion in November 2019.In Taiwan, the balance between electricity demand and supply has been in a critical state for the past several years, with a growing fear that electricity reserve margins will enter negative territory if current trends continue. While it is necessary to improve the work load ratios of power plants, environmental regulations have also been getting strict, making the upgrading of environmental equipment an urgent requirement for existing power plants to continue operating. This project is therefore regarded as an important one for the stable supply of electricity in Taiwan going forward.MC has previously been awarded a series of contracts from TPC, including the construction of a natural gas-fired gas turbine combined cycle (GTCC) power generation facility for the Dah-Tarn Power Plant in 2003, a thermal power plant for the Linkou Power Plant in 2011 and a GTCC facility for the Tunghsiao Power Plant in 2013. Through this new project, MC is aiming to continue contributing to the stable supply of electricity and to economic growth in Taiwan, while at the same time pursuing its goal of expanding its power generation business across Asia.About Mitsubishi CorporationMitsubishi Corporation (MC; TSE: 8058) is a global integrated business enterprise that develops and operates businesses across virtually every industry including industrial finance, energy, metals, machinery, chemicals, foods, and environmental business. MC's current activities are expanding far beyond its traditional trading operations as its diverse business ranges from natural resources development to investment in retail business, infrastructure, financial products and manufacturing of industrial goods. With over 200 bases of operations in approximately 80 countries worldwide and a network of over 500 group companies, MC employs a multinational workforce of nearly 60,000 people. For more information, please visit www.mitsubishicorp.com.Source: Mitsubishi CorporationContact:Copyright 2016 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved. CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - The New Zealand dollar weakened against the other major currencies in the Asian session on Tuesday. The NZ dollar fell to a 6-day low of 74.44 against the yen, from yesterday's closing value of 74.97. Against the U.S. dollar, the euro and the Australian dollar, the kiwi dropped to 5-day lows of 0.7022, 1.6083 and 1.0517 from yesterday's closing quotes of 0.7059, 1.5989 and 1.0459, respectively. If the kiwi extends its downtrend, it is likely to find support around 73.00 against the yen, 0.68 against the greenback, 1.64 against the euro and 1.08 against the aussie. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. MANAMA, Bahrain, June 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- An announcement was made in the Kingdom of Bahrain with respect to the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Supreme Council for Women in the Kingdom of Bahrain and UN Women regarding Her Royal Highness Princess Sabeeka Bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa Global Award for Women Empowerment, in the context of the pursuit of the Kingdom of Bahrain to highlight the successes achieved reflected in the status of women at the national level, and in effort to circulate active best practices to enhance the status of women at the global level, while striving towards achieving the development goals related to gender justice. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160614/809449 ) The Wife of the King of Bahrain, President of the Supreme Council for Women, Her Royal Highness Princess Sabeeka Bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa, attended the signing ceremony which was signed on behalf of the Kingdom of Bahrain by, H.E. Hala Al Ansari, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council for Women, and on behalf of UN Women, H.E. Yannick Glemarec, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Policy and Programme of UN-Women, in the presence of senior officials and the press. The Supreme Council for Women had taken the initiative to contact UN Women to launch Her Royal Highness Princess Sabeeka Bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa Award for Women Empowerment globally to coincide with the 10 year anniversary of the launch of the National Edition of the Award, and the success it has managed to attain in reinforcing the importance of the support and empowerment of women in both the public and private sector, giving countries worldwide the opportunity to benefit from this experience. The official announcement, however, of the start of the registration process for the award, will take place during the participation of the Kingdom of Bahrain, in the 61st session of the Commission on the Status of Women, to be held in New York in March 2017. The opportunity to compete for the award is open to public, private and civil society institutions, and individuals all over the world; where monetary budgets have been allocated for the award and its details will be announced at a later date showing the breakdown of the award as well as its requirements in order to ensure proper allocation of the budgets towards programs and projects geared to the development and empowerment of women. The award aims to ensure the commitment of countries, official agencies and organizations through their legislative, public and private executive authorities, civil society in addition to individuals to adopt non-discriminatory policies against women; to achieve justice in equal opportunities between women and men in various fields; show appreciation to institutional and individual efforts, initiatives and projects that target mainstreaming women's needs and include the contribution to the positive change in the status of women towards more stable and productive lives; encourage the adoption of methodology to achieve sustainable impact in the development of the status of women in order to ensure they become value-added members within the family and community as well as encourage communities to stimulate their intellectuality and creativity in the field of women empowerment in order to achieve for women, their family and community, more social, and economic security. BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - Japan is set to release its preliminary Industrial production data for May at 12:30 am ET Tuesday. Industrial output gained 0.3 percent on month, while it fell 3.5 percent on year in April. Ahead of the data, the yen showed mixed trading against its major rivals. While the yen rose against the pound and the Swiss franc, it held steady against the euro and the greenback. As of 12:25 am ET, the yen was trading at 119.70 against the euro, 150.37 against the pound, 109.99 against the Swiss franc and 106.01 against the U.S. dollar. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS -- (Marketwired) -- 06/14/16 -- Ingenico ePayments, the online and mobile commerce division of Ingenico Group, today announced general availability of Ingenico Connect and its developer hub. Now, any online business has access to the same integration and checkout solutions that are already used by leading eCommerce companies such as the global video game marketplace G2A, to optimize the payment checkout experience for mobile or any other connected device. Ingenico Connect is available on Ingenico's GlobalCollect platform, where online businesses will also automatically benefit from the award-winning international coverage in terms of payment methods, multi-currency management and language on checkout. As part of the announcement, the company also opened its new developer hub to all interested parties. This is a central repository of information, resources, and support that developers need to integrate with Ingenico Connect. This means any developer can sign up for free and immediately access the full range of services, such as a sandbox environment for easy testing and validation, full API referencing, a wide range of SDKs, test cases, best practices, FAQs and support. Ingenico Connect offers online businesses multiple integration paths. They can select the technology that best fits their existing infrastructure, user experience approach and PCI compliance requirements. These include a REST API with dedicated SDKs for online businesses that wish to host and retain full control over their checkout experience, a Javascript SDK that encrypts payment data on the user side to reduce merchant PCI compliance requirements, and iOS and Android SDKs for native, in-app payments. Online businesses that wish to minimize their PCI compliance requirements can opt for the new, mobile-optimized Ingenico MyCheckout hosted payment pages. With the unique MyCheckout editor, they still retain control over the look and feel of these pages, even when they are hosted by Ingenico. MyCheckout editor enables online businesses to test different versions of the checkout page to optimize conversion, and offer customers a localized experience with easy access to 50 different languages and 150 different payment products. Because Ingenico MyCheckout pages are hosted by Ingenico, online businesses are insulated from the sensitive consumer payment data that hackers want, and minimize their PCI compliance requirements accordingly. "With Ingenico Connect, we have made integration with our platform easy, fast and secure for our clients. And with our mobile-first approach, they have all the tools and services they need to optimize the checkout experience and drive conversion," said Ludovic Houri, Vice President, Product at Ingenico ePayments. "Many online businesses struggle to convert traffic -- particularly mobile traffic -- into sales. That is why we designed Ingenico Connect, and it is very rewarding to see the results our clients are achieving with it." Ingenico Connect is available to all online businesses integrating with Ingenico ePayments' GlobalCollect platform, and will be extended to Ingenico ePayments' Ogone platform next. Company logo http://release.media-outreach.com/i/Download/4170 About Ingenico ePayments Ingenico ePayments is the online and mobile commerce division of Ingenico Group. We connect online businesses and consumers, enabling businesses everywhere to go further beyond today's boundaries and creating the future of global commerce. As industry leaders since 1994, our innovative spirit drives us forward across all channels. We are the trusted partner of over 65,000 small and large online businesses who rely on us to make payments easy and secure for their customers. With advanced data analytics, fraud management solutions and cross-border commerce expertise, we help online businesses optimize their business and grow into new markets around the world. For more information, visit www.ingenico.com/epayments or follow us on Twitter or LinkedIn. Ingenico / Press Marisa Rijpkema Communications and Social Engagement Manager Email Contact +31 6 10558517 Ingenico ePayments / Asia Pacific Fionn Lai Regional Marketing Manager Email Contact +65 6408 8226 Siemens and Federated Wireless, Inc., a subsidiary of Allied Minds (LSE: ALM), announced today that the companies signed a partner agreement to provide spectrum access and management to current and future Siemens customers in the 3.55 3.7 GHz Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) frequency band. Siemens, which supplies rugged wireless broadband solutions for harsh environment applications, provides its WiMAX radio equipment in this, as well as other, bands. The partnership will make Siemens one of the first companies to use a Spectrum Access System (SAS) and Environmental Sensing Capability (ESC). Federated Wireless' SAS and ESC are currently being reviewed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for commercial approval. Federated Wireless' CINQ XP platform is built on a foundation of shared spectrum and utilizes the SAS to dynamically allocate and manage spectrum resources. The ESC is essential to open access to the 3.65 GHz band nationwide in order to ensure interference free operation for federal incumbents and other users. The CINQ XP platform provides a range of shared spectrum services, enabling OEMs with the tools needed to operate wireless equipment on shared spectrum. In addition, users connecting to a SAS, which will ultimately be required by the FCC, will: Continue to deploy networks and related services with improved quality of experience with interference free operations Access up to five times the amount of spectrum allowed under the current regime Experience a significant increase in the power of their radios in the band As part of this agreement, Federated Wireless and Siemens will also jointly develop shared spectrum solutions for the 3.55 3.7 GHz CBRS frequency band. In April 2015, the FCC enacted rules for the CBRS frequencies. As a result, existing wireless broadband products, such as those provided by Siemens in the 3.65 GHz band, are required to transition to the new CBRS rules. During the transition period to the new CBRS rules, existing users will also receive protection from radio frequency interference due to the new users of the band if they register their sites with the CBRS database administrator and secure a protection zone for their grandfathered operations. While grandfathered licensees of the 3.65 GHz band can continue to operate their networks in their current state for several years, there are many reasons why Siemens would want to transition to the new CBRS rules. At the heart of the CBRS rules, the FCC has required employment of a SAS to authorize and manage the use of CBRS spectrum. The SAS will protect higher tier operations from interference while also maximizing frequency capacity for all CBRS operators. "With a SAS connection through our CINQ XP platform, Siemens customers and other grandfathered licensees can continue to expand and evolve their networks and related services; for example, moving or adding a new radio outside their current protection zone," said Ken Stewart, Federated Wireless' SVP of Sales and Business Development. "Additionally, connection to our CINQ XP platform would provide interference-free managed access to spectrum resources ensuring high service levels with more efficient and reliable operations." There are many companies currently operating in the 3.65 GHz band, most of which are utilities providers, oil and gas companies, and rural telecommunications operators. "Siemens is dedicated to serving all of its critical infrastructure customer segments by ensuring early compliance with the new FCC CBRS rules," said Jeremy Bryant, business segment manager, Industrial Communication and Identification, Siemens. This new technological capability will be compatible and available for implementation in the many WiMAX radios currently deployed in mission critical networks. Efforts are currently underway for final certification and interoperability verification with the anticipated commercial SAS availability date for the market to come in 2017. More information about Federated Wireless, including the company's recent filings to the FCC, can be found at www.federatedwireless.com. More information on Siemens WiMAX solutions can be found at: http://bit.ly/WiMaxRC. About Federated Wireless Formed in 2012, Federated Wireless, Inc. is developing scalable wireless infrastructure solutions to extend the access of carrier networks. The company's dynamic Spectrum Access Service (SAS) platform focuses on the distribution of licensed shared spectrum. Its approach incorporates a neural network of radio sensors that allow for interference-free access to low-cost, high-quality licensed spectrum, and breaks down traditional barriers of high-cost, exclusive spectrum. The company's differentiated business model creates opportunities for more efficient approaches to spectrum. Federated Wireless is headquartered in Arlington, VA with offices in Boston, MA. More information can be found at www.federatedwireless.com. About Allied Minds Allied Minds is a diversified holding company focused on venture creation within the life science and technology sectors. With unparalleled access to hundreds of university and federal labs across the U.S., Allied Minds forms, funds, and operates a portfolio of companies to generate long-term value for its investors and stakeholders. Based in Boston, with offices in Los Angeles and New York, Allied Minds supports its businesses with capital, central management, and shared services. For more information, please visit www.alliedminds.com Allied Minds Forward-Looking Statement This press release contains statements that are or may be forward-looking statements, including statements that relate to the company's future prospects, developments and strategies. The forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance and achievements to differ materially from current expectations, including, but not limited to, those risk and uncertainties described in the risk factors included in the company's regulatory filings. These forward-looking statements are based on assumptions regarding the present and future business strategies of the company and the environment in which it will operate in the future. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as at the date of this press release. Except as required by law, regulatory requirement, the Listing Rules and the Disclosure and Transparency Rules, neither the company nor any other party intends to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Siemens Process Industries and Drives helps its customers increase productivity, safety, reliability, efficiency and time-to-market for plants and processes with innovative, integrated technology across the entire lifecycle. Siemens Corporation is a U.S. subsidiary of Siemens AG, a global powerhouse focusing on the areas of electrification, automation and digitalization. One of the world's largest producers of energy-efficient, resource-saving technologies, Siemens is a leading supplier of systems for power generation and transmission as well as medical diagnosis. With approximately 348,000 employees in more than 190 countries, Siemens reported worldwide revenue of $86.2 billion in fiscal 2015. Siemens in the USA reported revenue of $22.4 billion, including $5.5 billion in exports, and employs approximately 50,000 people throughout all 50 states and Puerto Rico. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160613006398/en/ Contacts: Federated Wireless Ravi Pimplaskar, 703-593-1040 rpimplaskar@federatedwireless.com or Siemens Hollie Davis, 770-751-4882 Hollie.Davis@siemens.com AMSTERDAM, June 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Constellium N.V. (NYSE and Euronext: CSTM) is showcasing its innovative aluminium defense solutions at Eurosatory 2016, the world's largest exhibition of land and air-land defense and security. The exhibition is currently being held in Paris, France. Logo- http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130624/NY37453LOGO For the last four years, Constellium has been expanding its global armor portfolio. Thanks to a tireless focus on research and innovation, Constellium now offers an extensive aluminium product range for armored vehicle and turret hulls, applique armor kits, underbelly armor kits as well as bridging and pioneering vehicles. As an illustration, the KEIKOR Suite is, today, the highest performance solution on the market combining extreme protection level and vehicle mobility. In addition, Constellium established a dedicated team of technical armor experts supporting the defense customers from all around the world. Constellium's customers can benefit from its global presence, with a network of plants in North America and Europe, allowing reliable sourcing and supply chain flows. "We have worked hard to develop best-in-class armor solutions around two pillars. First, we offer new materials solutions, which deliver enhanced performance and contribute to improve protection for personnel and vehicle mobility. Second, we have a fully dedicated team of armor experts to support our customers," says David Meacham, Vice President of Sales Transportation, Industry and Defense at Constellium. "In 2016, we are proud to say that we have the broadest global offering of specialized aluminium alloys for armor applications." The Constellium booth is located at Hall 5 booth 761. About Constellium Constellium (NYSE and Euronext: CSTM) is a global sector leader that develops innovative, value added aluminium products for a broad scope of markets and applications, including aerospace, automotive and packaging. Constellium generated 5.2 billion of revenue in 2015. www.constellium.com LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Electra Private Equity PLC (ELTA.L) announced Tuesday that it has decided to cancel its existing 275 million pounds multi-currency revolving credit facility or RCF, after carefully reviewed the firm's cash position. The Board believes that the RCF is now surplus to the Company's requirements. The RCF is currently undrawn and therefore no repayment is required as a result of the cancellation. As of March 31, 2016, the Company had gross cash balances of 321 million pounds and net cash was approximately 185 million pounds. This was after giving effect to pending investing activities, the interim dividend, and the redemption of the Zero Dividend Preference shares that mature in August 2016. The company noted that the cancellation of the RCF is expected to result in annual savings to the Company of approximately 3.3 million in commitment and amortised arrangement fees. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. NEW YORK, June 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- After traversing the United States, Solar Impulse arrived in America's largest city to deliver a message that the "Future is Clean." To view the Multimedia News Release, please click: http://www.multivu.com/players/uk/7813551-moet-hennessy-solar-impulse/ As an Official Partner of Solar Impulse and Host Partner of the Mission Control Center in Monaco, Moet Hennessy accompanies Solar Impulse at every moment of its round-the-world tour. Jim Clerkin, President and CEO of Moet Hennessy North America, greeted pilot Andre Borschberg on the tarmac at New York's John F. Kennedy airport. He presented him and Bertrand Piccard with a custom "Solar Impulse" golden jeroboam of Moet & Chandon champagne to celebrate his arrival and all of Solar Impulse's accomplishments thus far. "Celebrating Sustainability" Solar Impulse and Moet Hennessy seek to raise awareness of the vast potential of clean technologies. Together they celebrate a leap towards a better world. Moet Hennessy Chairman and CEO Christophe Navarre explains: "Like the visionaries behind Solar Impulse, we see not only a duty but also opportunities for improvement through protecting the environment. We rely on nature to create our luxury wines and spirits and promise to nurture her and leave her in a better place for the next generation. Our environmental policy sets high standards, with even higher ambitions." All Moet Hennessy wines and spirits are fruits of the earth. Their excellence results from the quality of the soil, the attention to the land and the craftsmanship of the men and women who create them. Moet Hennessy embraces a proactive environmental policy to preserve this heritage. As an example of sustainable agriculture, all of Moet Hennessy's Champagne Maisons achieved recognition as Sustainable Vineyards. Here in the United States, California wineries Domaine Chandon and Newton Vineyards obtained Napa Green Winery certification. Pioneer Spirit In addition to being an innovator in sustainable development, Moet Hennessy is defined by breaking boundaries, both geographic and human. From the beginning, each brand sought to attain higher levels of excellence and share their products with new consumers across the world. Moet Hennessy North America President and CEO Jim Clerkin explains: "Moet Hennessy brands have long been associated with innovation and a pioneering spirit. We are incredibly proud to be a part of the Solar Impulse journey and are thrilled to welcome the aircraft to New York City. As the United States is home to some of the greatest inventors in aviation, hosting the aircraft here further solidifies Solar Impulse's place in American history." (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160613/378414 ) Video: http://www.multivu.com/players/uk/7813551-moet-hennessy-solar-impulse/ German IT consulting firm has chosen Deltek's integrated ERP and Talent Management suite to increase efficiency, profitability and the overall performance of the company LONDON, June 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Deltek, the leading global provider of enterprise software and information solutions for project-based businesses, today announced German IT consulting firm, PRODYNA has chosen Deltek's integrated ERP and Talent Management suite over offerings from multiple competitors to increase efficiency, profitability and the overall performance of the company. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160406/352355LOGO PRODYNA is an innovative consulting and software company specialising in digital business transformation. It offers consulting, design and implementation of complex business, mobile and web applications as well as application management. Headquartered in Frankfurt, the firm operates across Germany, as well as in Switzerland, Austria and Serbia. Due to extensive growth in recent years, the company historically ran upwards of 10 disparate systems to manage its business, which meant a significant amount of work was required from the PRODYNA team to merge data together - making it hard to gain real-time insight into business performance. As a result, the company looked for an integrated solution that could unify its operations across more than 250 employees who sit within five different legal entities in ten offices across four countries. Following a comprehensive evaluation process that began with 12 vendors, PRODYNA chose Deltek. Together, the integrated ERP and Talent Management solutions will help the company manage its projects and employees. The Deltek ERP solution is purpose-built for firms like PRODYNA, and will integrate its projects and finances for optimal efficiency and project management. The unified Talent Management solution will help PRODYNA improve the process of hiring, engaging and retaining its employees, and streamline the onboarding process. "We wanted an integrated system and increased functionality, but more than that, we wanted a partner who would support us strategically. Having explored the market extensively, it became clear that Deltek was best positioned to improve our operations and enable our ambitious growth plans. Deltek's understanding of - and experience partnering with - project-based businesses both here in Germany and globally set them apart from more generalist vendors. Now that we no longer have to manage multiple, disparate systems, we expect to see an increase in efficiency which in turn will have a positive impact on our bottom line," said Christoph Korner, COO, PRODYNA. "PRODYNA ran a very competitive selection process, and we are thrilled to have been chosen to work with them moving forward. The company's growth plans are ambitious but completely achievable, and it is exciting for us to be involved at such an early stage - where we can see our solutions making a real difference. We look forward to using our expertise to help them achieve more growth and profitability in the marketplace," said Fergus Gilmore, VP & Managing Director UK & CE, Deltek. About PRODYNA PRODYNA is an innovative IT consultancy specialized in the area of digital business. We consult companies through the processes of digital business transformation, and develop the custom software applications required by your company to remain competitive in the age of the customer. Founded in 2000, with corporate headquarters in Frankfurt am Main, six regional offices in Germany and organizations in Switzerland, Austria and Serbia, PRODYNA is a privately held and internationally active company with currently 260 employees. About Deltek Deltek is the leading global provider of enterprise software and information solutions for government contractors, professional services firms and other project- and people-based businesses. For decades, we have delivered actionable insight that empowers our customers to unlock their business potential. Over 22,000 organizations and millions of users in over 80 countries around the world rely on Deltek to research and identify opportunities, win new business, recruit and develop talent, optimize resources, streamline operations and deliver more profitable projects. Deltek - Know more. Do more. www.deltek.com MEBANE, North Carolina, June 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Purchase Unites Manufacturing And Production Operations in Italy ARCA, a leading provider of cash automation technology, announced today that it has entered into purchase agreements to acquire Mavimec S.r.l., Prosecure S.r.l. and Sumotec S.r.l. in Bollengo and Ivrea, Italy. The companies have been operating as third party resources supporting ARCA's technology manufacturing facilities in Italy. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150219/731012 ) These acquisitions will improve productivity within the company by creating a singular, streamlined organization. ARCA will now have complete control from initial concept design through final product assembly. "The Mavimec, Prosecure and Sumotec teams have long been part of the success of ARCA and the legacy CTS Group companies that we acquired in 2014." said Mort O'Sullivan, ARCA's Founder and CEO. "Bringing them into our family is a natural progression and will streamline operations and improve lead times-allowing us to better meet our customer's needs." About ARCA Since 1998, ARCA has been committed to helping people control and streamline cash operations in bank branches, retail stores and self-service kiosks. By focusing on technology and services, ARCA delivers thoughtful solutions to make transactions simpler, more efficient and more secure. Today, ARCA provides the largest selection of cash handling devices of any manufacturer in the world. To learn more about ARCA's innovative culture and commitment to our customers, please visithttp://www.arca.com Eurobank Ergasias S.A. will streamline its technology operations and pursue a digital transformation using a new infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) technology platform provided by Accenture (NYSE:ACN) under a ten-year agreement that involves the bank's subsidiaries in Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia and Ukraine. Accenture will provide technology transformation and delivery services for an "intelligent infrastructure" based on an advanced IaaS platform that will support the bank's core functions, including deposits and loans, online banking, transaction processing, and credit card and debit services. The initiative is designed to support the group's digital transformation program and enable the its growth in Southern and Eastern Europe by strengthening service levels and reducing the costs of its subsidiary infrastructure. The agreement deepens a longstanding relationship between Eurobank and Accenture in IT infrastructure services. Accenture has provided consulting and outsourcing services to Eurobank for over 15 years. "This upgrade and transformation of Eurobank Group's IT infrastructure is part of our strategy to enhance our operational efficiencies and effectiveness by adapting our broader digital transformation program to support all the European markets we serve. In this innovative project we have joined forces with a world leader, Accenture," said Stavros IoannouDeputy CEO, Group COO International Activities, Eurobank Ergasias S.A. "By undertaking this initiative, Eurobank shows strong foresight in the digital era," said Lambros Tsolkas, a managing director in Accenture's Financial Services group. "Infrastructure-as-a-Service can help banks reduce the costs of a physical technology footprint, increase automation and support new digital innovations now and well into the future." About Accenture Accenture is a leading global professional services company, providing a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. Combining unmatched experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries and all business functions underpinned by the world's largest delivery network Accenture works at the intersection of business and technology to help clients improve their performance and create sustainable value for their stakeholders. With approximately 373,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries, Accenture drives innovation to improve the way the world works and lives. Visit us at www.accenture.com. About Eurobank Eurobank group is a dynamic banking group active in eight countries, with total assets of 72.9 billion and c. 17.000 employees. With a total network of over 970 branches in Greece and abroad, the Group offers a comprehensive range of financial products and services to its retail and corporate customers. In Greece, Eurobank is one of the four pillars of the banking system. With two distinct retail branch networks, the Eurobank Network and the New TT Branch Network, business specialized centers, a dedicated private banking network and electronic service channels, the Group's philosophy focuses on high quality services to its clientele. The Group also holds a strategic position in retail and business banking in Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia, offers distinguished Wealth Management services in Cyprus, Luxembourg and London and is also present in Ukraine. Visit us at www.eurobank.gr View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160614005460/en/ Contacts: Accenture Armando Barone, 39 3485608969 armando.barone@accenture.com or Sean K. Conway, 1 917-592-5744 sean.k.conway@accenture.com LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto Plc (RTNTF, RIO, RIO.L, RTPPF) Tuesday announced that Rio Tinto Finance (USA) plc and Rio Tinto Finance (USA) Limited have accepted for purchase a total of $1.747 billion in debt pursuant to their Any and All Offer. The company said the offer commenced on June 7 and expired on June 13. The purchase is under Rio Tinto's plan to reduce gross debt as part of its ongoing capital management. Rio Tinto said that $943 million in aggregate principal amount of 6.500 per cent Notes due 2018 will be purchased at a price of $1,108.33 per $1,000 principal amount of notes. Further, $804 million in aggregate principal amount of 2.250 per cent Notes due 2018 will be purchased at a price of $1,024.36 per $1,000 principal amount of notes. These exclude $1 million of Any and All Securities that remain subject to the guaranteed delivery procedures described in the Offer to Purchase. The Any and All Securities purchased will be retired and cancelled and no longer remain outstanding. The settlement date for the Any and All Offer will be June 14, or June 16 in the case of Any and All Securities delivered pursuant to the guaranteed delivery procedures. In London, Rio Tinto shares were trading at 1,928.50 pence, down 1.18 percent. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. SAN DIEGO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/14/16 -- Fresh Healthy Vending International, Inc. (OTCQB: VEND), the nation's leading vending franchisor, today announced the debut of an interactive website for their newly launched franchise concept, Reis & Irvy's Frozen Yogurt. The fully-automated vending kiosk is the market's first frozen yogurt robot, dispensing nine different flavors of yogurt with a choice of six delicious toppings in 60 seconds or less. The recently designed site showcases the groundbreaking kiosks and marks the launch of a newly designed look for the brand that was launched this past April. ReisandIrvys.com, which features an overview of the exciting new Reis & Irvy's franchise opportunity, was created with the intent to mimic and recreate the fun, excitement and interaction that the revolutionary kiosk creates with customers and within the locations in which it is placed. Fresh Healthy Vending, International, Inc., negotiated exclusive rights to distribute the product domestically earlier this year. With that move, the company felt that the time was right to revamp and reposition the identity of the brand. Adapting it to a new and ever-changing market, but also communicating the experience and interaction of the product. The new website itself clearly showcases that very experience. "The design of this particular website and the overall look and feel of the brand itself were created strategically and by design with the sole intention of communicating the experience of how we think frozen yogurt should be," says Paul Schmidt, Chief Marketing Officer for Reis & Irvy's. "Customers and locations alike are drawn to these machines because of the excitement and fun they generate. We wanted the website and all brand communication vehicles moving forward, to mimic and communicate that same exact feeling. A fully interactive, engaging and exciting energy that defines what we like to call, the future of frozen yogurt." With the April launch well under way, that experience seems to be resonating within the franchise market, with interest and demand for the ground-breaking machines growing and the benefits speaking to audiences everywhere. The Reis & Irvy's "FroYo Kiosk" is the first fully-automated frozen yogurt robot to the market. The automated kiosk is fully enclosed, eliminating the possibility of spillage and drastically improving food safety conditions. The FroYo Kiosk serves up nine flavors and a choice of six delicious toppings, allowing dozens of possible combinations, and its interactive, robotic design makes it a visual spectacle for consumers of all ages. The touch screen ordering process accepts all major debit and credit cards, Apple Pay, and Google Wallet. With a new identity, demand and interest growing daily and a core focus on changing the way potential franchisees and consumers experience frozen yogurt, the company believes Reis and Irvy's is poised for success. "We have a strong solid brand that delivers a unique and exciting customer experience," Schmidt added. "People are going to recognize, love and remember Reis and Irvy's as the company that changed the future of frozen yogurt." Fresh Healthy Vending, based in San Diego, is North America's leading healthy vending franchisor. Fresh Healthy Vending pioneered the concept of vending machines stocked with tried-and-tested fresh, healthy snack options and capitalizes on a growing market of health-conscious consumers. The Company has more than 250 active franchisees throughout the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and the Bahamas, and continually looks to partner with like-minded entrepreneurs who share its vision. The Company has booked more than 3,000 machines for placement in schools, universities, hospitals, community centers, military bases, airports, fitness facilities, YMCAs, libraries and many other locations. Using its current infrastructure, the franchisor will replicate its franchise model and apply it to Reis and Irvy's, offering a comprehensive, turnkey model consisting of kiosk supply, location procurement, national service infrastructure and best in class franchisee support. Reis & Irvy's kiosks are available for pre-order as of today. Potential franchisees can find more information by contacting Reis & Irvy's directly at 855-385-5333 or by going to http://www.reisandirvys.com. This information is not intended as an offer to sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy, a franchise. It is for information purposes only. No Reis and Irvy's franchises will be sold to any resident of any state until the offering has been exempted from the requirements of, or duly registered in and declared effective by, such state and the required FDD (if any) has been delivered to the prospective franchisee before the sale in compliance with applicable law. Currently, the following states in the United States regulate the offer and sale of franchises: California, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. If you reside in one of these states, or even if you reside elsewhere, you may have certain rights under applicable franchise laws or regulations. About Fresh Healthy Vending Fresh Healthy Vending, based in San Diego, California, is North America's leading healthy vending franchisor. Fresh Healthy Vending pioneered the concept of vending machines stocked with tried-and-tested fresh, healthy snack options to serve the growing market of health-conscious consumers. The Company has over 250 active franchisees throughout the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and the Bahamas, and continually looks to partner with like-minded entrepreneurs who share its vision. The Company has booked over 3,000 machines for placement in schools, universities, hospitals, community centers, military bases, airports, fitness facilities, YMCAs, libraries and many other locations. Fresh Healthy Vending's stock is traded on the OTC Markets, Symbol: VEND. Cautionary note on forward-looking statements Except for historical information contained in this release, statements in this release may constitute forward-looking statements regarding assumptions, projections, expectations, targets, intentions or beliefs about future events that are based on management's belief, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, management. While the Company believes that expectations are based upon reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurances that goals, results and strategy will be realized. Numerous factors, including risks and uncertainties, terms and availability of financing, may affect actual results and may cause results to differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements made by the Company or on its behalf. In addition to statements, which explicitly describe risks and uncertainties, readers are urged to consider statements labeled with such terms as "believes," "belief," "expects," "intends," "feels," "anticipates," "proposes," "proposed," or "plans" to be uncertain and forward-looking. More detailed information on these and additional factors that could affect Fresh Healthy Vending's actual results are described in Fresh Healthy Vending's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Form 10-Q's for the quarterly periods ended March 31, 2016, December 31, 2015 and September 30, 2015, and its annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2015. All forward-looking statements in this news release speak only as of the date of this news release and are based on Fresh Healthy Vending's current beliefs and expectations. Fresh Healthy Vending undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. MEDIA CONTACT: news@reisandirvys.com Transaction accelerates Broadridge's front-to-back office securities financing footprint globally LAKE SUCCESS, New York, June 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: BR) today announced that it has expanded its global securities financing and collateral management capabilities through the acquisition of 4sight Financial Software Limited, a leading provider of securities finance and collateral management systems to financial institutions worldwide. 4sight will be integrated as part of Broadridge Securities Financing and Collateral Management solutions, helping clients optimize financing decisions across different asset categories, automate the securities financing lifecycle and control risk. 4sight's proven solutions and global client footprint complements Broadridge's strong North American presence in the securities financing market. Through this acquisition, Broadridge now offers banks, broker-dealers, agent lenders, asset managers and other buy-side firms best-in-class global Securities Finance and Collateral Management solutions that include front-to-back office securities lending, repo processing, synthetic financing and enterprise-wide collateral management. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Broadridge Securities Financing and Collateral Management offers a holistic approach to support the full securities financing lifecycle, from front-office trading automation to back-office clearance and settlement. Its global multi-asset support delivers an aggregated real-time view of collateral and positions across the enterprise, enabling efficient deployment of assets and greater control of risk, while improving operational efficiency and reducing the cost of disparate systems. "The greater demand for collateral driven by the regulatory agenda has raised the need for a global approach to the multi-asset securities financing lifecycle," said Michael Hopkins, president of Fixed Income, Financing and Risk at Broadridge. "Following the recent expansion of our North American securities lending capabilities through the acquisition of Anetics, this transaction marries 4sight's proven global capabilities and 13 years of experience in securities financing with Broadridge's market-leading securities processing solutions, broad global client relationships, and operational expertise to deliver best-of-breed, fully integrated Securities Financing and Collateral Management solutions. We are delighted to welcome the talented 4sight team, who have built an exceptional solution and have deep domain experience in this market," Hopkins said. "For decades, Broadridge has been focused on helping companies transform their operating models to gain operational and cost efficiency by providing proven yet innovative, market-leading technology solutions. We are excited to join the Broadridge team and bring our capabilities to Broadridge Securities Financing and Collateral Management solutions," said Alastair Chisholm, founder of 4sight and VP, general manager at Broadridge. "Through a holistic, global and multi-asset view of collateral and positions integrated across an enterprise, banks, broker-dealers, agent lenders and buy-side institutions can truly manage collateral and optimize financing decisions, while gaining a greater control of risk and improving balance sheet management," said Chisholm. Broadridge Securities Financing and Collateral Management, including 4sight, complements Broadridge's recently-announced Global Post Trade Management (GPTM) solution and market leading Managed Services capabilities for business process outsourcing. Broadridge enables front-to-back office operational transformation across asset classes, markets and business entities globally, delivering enhanced financial and risk management and regulatory compliance capabilities. Quayle Munro Limited acted as 4sight's financial advisor in this transaction. About Broadridge Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: BR) is the leading provider of investor communications and technology-driven solutions for broker-dealers, banks, mutual funds and corporate issuers globally. Broadridge's investor communications, securities processing and managed services solutions help clients reduce their capital investments in operations infrastructure, allowing them to increase their focus on core business activities. With over 50 years of experience, Broadridge's infrastructure underpins proxy voting services for over 90% of public companies and mutual funds in North America, and processes on average $5 trillion in equity and fixed income trades per day. Broadridge employs approximately 7,400 full-time associates in 14 countries. For more information about Broadridge, please visit www.broadridge.com. About 4sight Financial Software Limited 4sight Financial Software is an independent software solutions provider founded in 2003, with offices and clients worldwide. 4sight's customer base includes a full spectrum of financial market participants from global broker dealers and custodial banks to asset managers, insurance companies and pension funds. Clients in 16 countries on four continents use 4sight's software to meet their business needs and 4sight offers the reliability and experience of a company with a proven track record. 4sight's product range includes Securities Lending and Repo systems, Collateral Management and Collateral Optimisation solutions, a Synthetic Finance software product and a Settlement system. 4sight's software helps financial institutions to improve efficiency, reduce costs, automate manual processes and control risk. 4sight also provides project management, consultancy services and customer support through its global network of offices. Forward-Looking Statements This press release and other written or oral statements made from time to time by representatives of Broadridge may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements that are not historical in nature, and which may be identified by the use of words such as "expects," "assumes," "projects," "anticipates," "estimates," "we believe," "could be" and other words of similar meaning, are forward-looking statements. These statements are based on management's expectations and assumptions and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed. These risks and uncertainties include those risk factors discussed in Part I, "Item 1A. Risk Factors" of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June30, 2015 (the "2015 Annual Report"), as they may be updated in any future reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release and are expressly qualified in their entirety by reference to the factors discussed in the 2015 Annual Report. These risks include: the success of Broadridge in retaining and selling additional services to its existing clients and in obtaining new clients; Broadridge's reliance on a relatively small number of clients, the continued financial health of those clients, and the continued use by such clients of Broadridge's services with favorable pricing terms; changes in laws and regulations affecting Broadridge's clients or the services provided by Broadridge; declines in participation and activity in the securities markets; any material breach of Broadridge security affecting its clients' customer information; the failure of Broadridge's outsourced data center services provider to provide the anticipated levels of service; a disaster or other significant slowdown or failure of Broadridge's systems or error in the performance of Broadridge's services; overall market and economic conditions and their impact on the securities markets; Broadridge's failure to keep pace with changes in technology and demands of its clients; Broadridge's ability to attract and retain key personnel; the impact of new acquisitions and divestitures; and competitive conditions. Broadridge disclaims any obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances that arise after the date made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, other than as required by law. Media Contacts Kate McGann Broadridge Financial Solutions Katherine.mcgann@broadridge.com +1 212 981 1395 Brett Philbin Edelman Brett.philbin@edelman.com +1 212 704 826 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110920/MM71626LOGO Application for Sunquest Integrated Clinical Environment (ICE') optimizes bed usage, reduces discharge delays and automates patient tracking TUCSON, Arizona, June 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --Sunquest Information Systems today announced the acquisition of innovative electronic patient flow management technology developed by The Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust (the Royal). This software application is used with Sunquest Integrated Clinical Environment (ICETM) and allows hospital staff to effectively and efficiently manage bed usage, reduce discharge delays and assist clinical staff with tracking clinical results by patient. As part of the agreement, Sunquest will market the solution as a value-add module for the ICE platform, which currently provides electronic ordering and results reporting for 50% of NHS Acute Trusts and 75% of General Practitioners in England. The application was developed by members of the Royal's information management and technology group, with input from the Royal clinicians. "This acquisition represents a fantastic opportunity for Sunquest and our clients," said Matt Hawkins, president of Sunquest Information Systems. "Sunquest works with many of the finest healthcare institutions in the world. Occasionally, we see our clients create and implement novel solutions that improve care for patients. The Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen Trust team of technologists and clinicians collaborated to create this innovative and easy-to-use technology, which will benefit our clients and their patients. We are grateful to acquire this technology and share it broadly with our clients." The newly acquired technology is touch-screen-based and enables real-time tracking of patient admissions, discharges and transfers. Rather than rely on traditional whiteboards, staff can quickly and easily locate and track a patient's location anywhere in the hospital and see the real-time status of relevant key clinical indicators, including bedside observations and an early warning system. The digital dashboard provides overall bed information and a holistic organizational view of wards, specialties and patients. When integrated with Sunquest ICE, staff has expanded access to critical clinical information. The electronic patient flow management functionality is designed to improve bed efficiencies and reduce length of stays. This is a critical benefit, especially in light of the recent King's Fund finding that discharge delays were up 15% over the year. The extended ICE functionality has been well-received by the Royal clinicians and staff since its deployment last year. "Since its implementation the management of the medical intake has significantly improved," said Dr. Holly Metcalf, a Royal consultant in acute medicine. "The application provides us with a list of medically referred patients - with important information such as their current location, diagnosis, NEWS (National Early Warning Score), and time of referral. This allows us to prioritize sicker patients, and ensure all of our referrals are seen and treated in a timely manner, ultimately optimizing the safety of our patients." Sunquest will feature its new Sunquest ICE value-add module at the International Sunquest User Group Conference Oct. 19-20 in London. About The Royal Liverpool & Broadgreen University hospitals NHS Trust The Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust is one of the largest and busiest hospital trusts in the North of England, with an annual budget exceeding 470 million. It delivers services across two sites and three hospitals, the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, Broadgreen Hospital and Liverpool University Dental Hospital, and employs more than 5,500 people. In the past year the Trust cared for over 90,000 people in their emergency department, around 95,000 day case and inpatients and over 587,000 outpatient appointments.. It is one of the top teaching trusts in the UK with well-established links to the University of Liverpool, Liverpool John Moores University and international institutions. The Trust is building a brand-new Royal Liverpool University Hospital, which is due to open in 2017. To find out more about the Trust, visit www.rlbuht.nhs.uk or follow us on Twitter: @RoyalLpoolHosps or Facebook: www.facebook.com/royalliverpoolhospitals About Sunquest Information Systems Sunquest Information Systems Inc. provides laboratory information systems to more than 1,700 laboratories. Since 1979, Sunquest has helped laboratories across the world optimize financial results, enhance efficiency and improve the quality of patient care. The company's singular focus on diagnostic innovation has delivered solutions that offer unique support for complex testing, enable community-wide connectivity and can be used at the point-of-care. Headquartered in Tucson, AZ, with offices in the United Kingdom and India, Sunquest is a global leader in healthcare information technology. For more information, visit www.sunquestinfo.com. MUNICH, June 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Card and App combination enables spending abroad without bank card roaming charges Wirecard acts as issuer and acquirer Wirecard and the leading foreign exchange provider, Travelex today announces the launch of Supercard. A new MasterCard card and app combination for UK travellers to avoid overseas debit and credit card roaming fees and charges when spending abroad. Last year, Travelex introduced Supercard on a pilot basis to help solve traveller spending woes. After a successful pilot, Supercard is now offering the product to the UK public. Within this cooperation, Wirecard acts as the technical service provider and takes over the whole acquiring processes as well as the risk management. In addition, Wirecard Card Solutions Ltd, a Wirecard Group company, is the issuer of the Supercard. Supercard connects all existing credit and debit cards in one card solution which will be chip and pin protected. There are no application, registration, administration or usage fees for spending overseas. Customers simply link their credit or debit card via an app to their Supercard - with almost instant updates through the app, travellers can keep track of how much they spend and approximately how much they save. The application process is simple with no credit checks are involved. Plus, they still benefit from any card reward points they usually earn. With Supercard, travellers get the MasterCard wholesale exchange rate. This means Travelex do not add any additional fees or charges when the card is used for spending in other countries. Supercard is accepted wherever MasterCard cards are accepted. Sean Cornwell, Travelex's Chief Digital Officer says: "At Travelex we're on a mission to create innovative financial products to help our customers' break down the borders that limit them from living internationally. Supercard provides them with the power to remove the boundaries they face when spending abroad, meaning they can travel with the peace of mind of knowing they're not getting charged fees and charges for spending with their UK bank cards abroad." Jack Harris, Vice President Financial Institutions Europe adds "The Supercard product is great news for UK travelers and we are delighted to be collaborating with Travelex, the world's leading foreign exchange specialist, on its launch. The card solution is highly innovative and Wirecard are providing all aspects of the payment, risk management and processing technology. This launch further highlights Wirecard's ability to deliver complex and innovative solutions into the Financial Technology arena." To get Supercard simply go to http://www.travelex.co.uk/Supercard to download the app and register. Once successfully registered the card will be sent via post. When the card arrives, use the app to link existing UK debit or credit cards to it. The app is available for iOS and Android phone devices. About Wirecard: Wirecard AG is a global technology group that supports companies in accepting electronic payments from all sales channels. As a leading independent supplier, the Wirecard Group offers outsourcing and white label solutions for electronic payments. A global platform bundles international payment acceptances and methods with supplementary fraud prevention solutions. With regard to issuing own payment instruments in the form of cards or mobile payment solutions, the Wirecard Group provides companies with an end-to-end infrastructure, including the requisite licences for card and account products. Wirecard AG is listed on the Frankfurt Securities Exchange (TecDAX, ISIN DE0007472060, WDI). For further information about Wirecard, please visit http://www.wirecard.com or follow us on twitter @wirecard. About Travelex: Travelex is the world's leading foreign exchange specialist with more than 1,500 stores and 1,250 ATMs across 29 countries, at key airport, seaport, rail and tourist locations. Over 40% of travellers - 1.7 billion passengers a year - pass through airports where Travelex operates including the major gateways at Amsterdam, Beijing, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, London, Mumbai, New York, Paris, Sydney & Tokyo.Every hour Travelex provides foreign currency to more than 2,000 customers. Wirecard media contact: Wirecard AG Jana Tilz Tel.: +49-(0)89-4424-1363 E-Mail: jana.tilz@wirecard.com Travelex media contact: Megan Landauro, Global PR Manager Tel.: +44-(0)20-7812-5603/ (0)7748-933811 E-Mail: megan.landauro@travelex.com DUBLIN, IRELAND -- (Marketwired) -- 06/14/16 -- Host in Ireland, a strategic global initiative created to increase awareness of the benefits of hosting digital assets in Ireland, today announces that Datacloud Europe 2016 has awarded Ireland the Innovative Data Center Location Award. The Continent's premier global IT infrastructure and cloud event, Datacloud Europe 2016 took place June 8-9 in Monaco and winners of the Datacloud Awards were announced during the 9th annual pre-conference dinner on June 7 at Le Meridien. The inaugural award for data center locations in the EMEA signifies industry recognition on an international level and the win by Ireland was further distinguished by Host in Ireland's position as the only non-governmental organization in competition. "Speaking on behalf of our partner companies, esteemed advisory council and the executive committee members of Host in Ireland, we graciously accept Datacloud's Innovative Data Center Location of the Year Award recognizing Ireland," states President and Founder of Host in Ireland, Garry Connolly. "This honor caps a year of notable accomplishments for Host in Ireland, including the addition of several new member companies, the launch of the 'Irish Pavilion' at Datacloud Europe and a host of multinational enterprises across diverse industry sectors selecting Ireland to host their digital assets." Ireland's data center landscape has changed dramatically in the past decade as enterprises' business requirements and the pivotal role of cloud and content providers continue to drive the global digital economy. Variously characterized as the "Home of the Hybrid Cloud," "Data Capital," and "Data Center Hub" of Europe, Host in Ireland has worked to shape and authenticate these global industry perceptions through timely and accurate information concerning the benefits of hosting digital assets in Ireland. As global enterprises seek security, renewable energy, connectivity and cost control in their data center hosting environments, Ireland is well-equipped to meet these requirements. Host in Ireland raises awareness of the benefits of Ireland as an optimal location for hosting digital assets through its "5 Ps" - Policies, Pedigree, People, Power and Pipes. To learn more about the Host in Ireland, please visit www.hostinireland.com About Host in Ireland Host in Ireland is an industry-led marketing initiative that provides timely and accurate information on Ireland's digital asset hosting ecosystem at all times, including demonstrating why Ireland is more cost-effective, efficient, reliable, secure and accessible than most other regions across the EU. There's a reason companies like Microsoft, Zendesk, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Adobe and beyond have sought to host their solutions in as well as to / from Ireland. Many of these reasons are immediately realized due to access to affordable power, redundant network and bandwidth capacity along with a variety of data center providers that offer an array of services sustained by the 5 Ps: Policy, People, Pedigree, Pipes, and Power. On top of that is a very attractive business management structure, implemented by Ireland, which is keenly interested to bring new businesses into the market. Ireland supports this initiative through attractive fiscal structures, access to a skilled workforce and full support of the U.S. Safe Harbor and Patriot Acts -- ensuring data asset compliance for companies large and small. For more information about Host in Ireland, visit www.hostinireland.com. Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3021143 Cavotec's innovative MoorMaster automated mooring technology has registered two major breakthroughs - completion of At Sea Demonstrations of the US Navy's Advanced Mooring System for ship-to-ship operations; and a second order for a combined MoorMaster and battery charging system for a hybrid passenger ferry application in Finland - underscoring the acceptance of MoorMaster in the industry, and the technology's substantial potential in the market."These latest breakthroughs for MoorMaster are important milestones for the Cavotec Group. Crucially, they highlight this unique technology's growing acceptance by the market," says Cavotec CEO Ottonel Popesco.The US Navy's Advanced Mooring System, (AMS), employs MoorMaster to control vessel movement and eliminate the need for conventional mooring lines. MoorMaster units typically deploy and detach in less than 30 seconds.Previously, MoorMaster units have been mounted on the quay face, onto the berth surface, or built into lock walls. AMS is the first version of MoorMaster specifically designed for use at sea and for ship-to-ship mooring operations.Shore-based MoorMaster units have performed some 200,000 mooring operations to date at ferry, bulk handling, Ro-Ro, container and lock applications worldwide, dramatically improving safety, operational efficiency, and in many cases enabling ports to make infrastructure savings.AMS MoorMaster MM200E60 units, integrated into reinforced 20ft ISO shipping containers and installed on US Navy vessels, are intended to enable "sea-basing" operations such as the transfer of personnel and materiel at sea.The At Sea Demonstrations were conducted at Naval Base Coronado in California, during which a total of between 40 and 50 mooring operations were completed over the course of several days. Tests were also performed in the presence of a number of guests, including representatives from the US Navy, the US Marine Corps, and the Office of Naval Research.Meanwhile, Cavotec has won an order for an electric hybrid passenger ferry application in Finland, for which the Group will manufacture, install and commission a combined MoorMaster and battery charging system.This system integrates MoorMaster to moor the ferry; Cavotec's Alternative Maritime Power, (AMP), cable management systems to connect the ferry to electrical power; and the Group's Automatic Plug-in System, (APS). APS automates the connection of cranes, ships and other mobile equipment using cable reels."APS enables the fully automated connection of electrical power to the vessel at the touch of a button, and MoorMaster holds the ferry in position allowing the captain to switch off its thrusters while the ferry is loaded and unloaded," explains Benny Tornroos, Managing Director of Cavotec Finland.Two MoorMaster MM200 units will be installed at the Parainen and Nauvo berths, (one unit at each berth), in southwest Finland, along with two AMP charging towers. As with the installation in Norway that already uses the system, the MoorMaster units signal to the AMP units when the ship is securely moored, before laser sensors then guide the AMP connector to a hatch in the side of the vessel where it connects to the ship's battery unit to begin charging.The electric hybrid ferry, operated by FinFerries, will be approximately 90m long, 16m wide, and will be able to carry up to 90 cars, and is due to enter service in summer 2017. The vessel will make crossings - at 15-minute intervals during the day, and one round trip per hour at night - throughout the year and in all weather conditions.In recent months Cavotec has also reported MoorMaster orders for the US side of the St. Lawrence Seaway, (locks on the Canadian side of the seaway having already being fitted with the system), and its first MoorMaster orders in the UK.ENDSMedia & investor contact:Michael Scheepers, Chief Communications Officer & IRmichael.scheepers@cavotec.com or +41 795 024 010The information in this release is subject to the disclosure requirements of Cavotec SA under the Swedish Securities Market Act and/or the Swedish Financial Instruments Trading Act. This information was publicly communicated on 14 June 2016, 11:00 CEST.Attachment:https://cns.omxgroup.com/cds/DisclosureAttachmentServlet?messageAttachmentId=575516 NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwired) -- 06/14/16 --Balabit, a leading provider of contextual security technologies, is pleased to announce that Shell Control Box (SCB) 4 F2 was the winning solution in the EXCELLENCE AWARDS: THREAT SOLUTIONS IDENTITY MANAGEMENT category at the 2016 SC Magazine Awards Europe. The announcement was made on Tuesday, 7th June at the awards presentation held at the stunning new venue Old Billingsgate, London. Shell Control Box is an enterprise-level activity monitoring appliance that controls privileged access to remote IT systems, records activities in searchable, movie-like audit trails, and prevents malicious actions. It offers integration with leading SIEM and password management solutions and can be deployed within Microsoft Azure to make the cloud safer, providing real-time monitoring of user activities. Each year, hundreds of products are entered in the EXCELLENCE AWARDS: THREAT SOLUTIONS categories. Each product is judged by a panel representing a cross-section of SC Magazine readership, which is comprised of large, medium and small enterprises from all major vertical markets including financial services, healthcare, government, retail, education and other sectors. Entrants are narrowed down to a select group of finalists before undergoing a rigorous final judging process to determine the winner in each category. Zoltan Gyorko, CEO at Balabit, commented: "We're extremely honoured to have been named as a winner in these highly respected awards. It's a great commendation of our flagship solution, Shell Control Box, which has been developed to meet the real challenges and growing threats that businesses face today from the misuse of privileged and high-risk accounts. Our focus is to continue to innovate and deliver excellence in this area so that organisations have the best possible protection from attacks within the perimeter, without slowing down their day-to-day operations." Tony Morbin, Editor in Chief, SC Magazine UK, commented: "Cash and IP are being stolen every day with values over the year running into hundreds of millions of pounds, while many millions of individuals' credentials continue to be illegally obtained. And we have come to accept that the attacker is most likely already in our network, and if not, the chances are that they soon will be. But this situation would be far worse were it not for the information security industry and products such as Shell Control Box by Balabit." The SC Magazine Awards Europe are well known as one of the most prestigious awards for information technology (IT) security professionals and products. The awards recognise the best solutions, services and professionals that work around the clock to defend against the constantly shifting threat landscape in today's marketplace. For more information and a detailed list of categories and winners, please visit scawardseurope.com/winners. About Balabit Balabit -- founded in Budapest, Hungary -- is a leading provider of contextual security technologies with the mission of preventing data breaches without constraining business. Balabit operates globally through a network of local offices across the United States and Europe together with partners. Balabit's Contextual Security Intelligence Suite protects organizations in real-time from threats posed by the misuse of high risk and privileged accounts. Solutions include reliable system and application Log Management with context enriched data ingestion, Privileged User Monitoring and User Behavior Analytics. Together they can identify unusual user activities and provide deep visibility into potential threats. Working in conjunction with existing control-based strategies Balabit enables a flexible and people-centric approach to improve security without adding additional barriers to business practices. Founded in 2000 Balabit has a proven track record including 23 Fortune 100 customers amongst over 1,000,000 corporate users worldwide. For more information, visit www.balabit.com. About SC Magazine UK SC Magazine provides IT security professionals with in-depth and unbiased information through timely news, comprehensive analysis, cutting-edge features, contributions from thought leaders and the best, most extensive collection of product reviews in the business. By offering a consolidated view of IT security through independent product tests and well-researched editorial content that provides the contextual backdrop for how these IT security tools will address larger demands put on businesses today, SC Magazine enables IT security pros to make the right security decisions for their companies. Besides the monthly print magazine and vibrant daily website, the brand's portfolio includes the SC Congress (Chicago, London, New York, Toronto), SC Awards (US and UK), SC Marketscope, SC Magazine Newswire and SC Magazine IT Security Executive Forums. Join us on Facebook: facebook.com/scmagazineuk Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/scmagazineuk Media Contact Dan Chmielewski Madison Alexander PR 1-714-832-8716 1-949-231-2965 dchm@cox.net VIENNA (dpa-AFX) - German shares extended recent losses on Tuesday as risk-off sentiment continues to haunt investors. Two ICM polls, one online and one conducted by telephone, showed on Monday that Britain appears poised to leave the European Union with just over a week to go before referendum day. The British pound hovered near a two-month low and yields on the 10-year government debt of Germany dipped below zero for the first time ever, reflecting growing anxiety over the prospect of the U.K. exiting the European Union. Amid lack of positive triggers, investors await monetary policy decisions from the Fed, the Bank of England, Swiss National Bank and the Bank of Japan this week for further direction. The benchmark DAX was down 120 points or 1.25 percent at 9,537 in late opening deals after declining 1.8 percent on Monday. Stocks pared some early losses after Eurostat figures showed Eurozone industrial output rose for the first time in three months during April, aided by a surge in the output of durable consumer goods. Industrial production rose 1.1 percent from the previous month when it fell by revised 0.7 percent. Production was forecast to expand 0.8 percent. On a yearly basis, growth in industrial output improved to 2 percent, beating forecasts for 1.4 percent growth. Allianz, BASF, Bayer, BMW, Daimler, Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Boerse, Deutsche Post, E.ON, Lufthansa, RWE, SAP, Siemens, ThyssenKrupp and Volkswagen were among the worst hit, with losses ranging between 1 percent and 4 percent. Kuka dropped half a percent on a report that Chinese home appliance maker Midea Group is seeking a 49 percent stake in the German robot company. Gerry Weber also slid half a percent after reporting in-line results in the first half of 2015/16. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de LONDON and CENTENNIAL, Colorado, June 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Liteye Systems' Role as Integration and Support Partner Grows to Include Local Manufacturing as Well as Development and Customisation of the AUDS Counter-UAS Platform; AUDS Mobile Trailer Platform Developed by Liteye for Rapid Deployment Purposes to Support National Security Applications The British team that created AUDS (Anti-UAV Defence System), the world's first production-ready and fully integrated counter-unmanned aircraft system (C-UAS) has extended its exclusive partnership in North America with Liteye Systems, Inc., in Centennial, Colorado. Liteye has been leading the AUDS sales drive in the USA and Canada since the beginning of 2015 as the exclusive integration and support partner for the region. However, as interest in the AUDS system has grown, and following multiple government-sponsored trials, the partnership agreement has now been extended to include local manufacturing as well as local development and customisation of the AUDS platform. Mark Radford, speaking for the AUDS team, said: "We have worked with Liteye for a number of years now and it has become an invaluable part of the AUDS group. We are delighted to now extend our strategic partnership with the company. We believe there is huge potential for our system in the North American market and Liteye's selection by the FAA for US airport trials (see link to Liteye's FAA release below) is testament to both the system's capabilities and their hard work. Liteye has the knowledge and skills to manufacture, support and develop the AUDS platform for the US and Canadian markets and to provide full customisation where needed." [Liteye FAA press release - http://www.liteye.com/news.html] Liteye will be responsible for manufacturing and supporting major components of AUDS including the radar, turret, thermal camera system, inhibitor and command and control (C2) system. Liteye will also be involved in designing and manufacturing the various platforms necessary to support a diverse range of end-users within the North American market. This will include the military, critical infrastructure providers such as airport operators, and other government agencies. "Liteye is already providing development effort for US-specific C-UAS programs allowing us to integrate AUDS into and alongside other military and government assets," added Mark Radford. "We have also worked with their engineers to enhance our system's detect-track-disrupt-defeat capabilities by integrating a new 'friendly asset' into the platform. This allows us to use a drone as part of the AUDS remote observation and enforcement capabilities providing the ability to search out enemy UAS operators." Thomas Scott, president of Liteye Systems, said: "We are proud to be spearheading the AUDS North American operation to establish this highly effective counter-UAS system in the US and Canadian markets. Over the last 18 months, Liteye with AUDS has been at the cutting edge of counter-UAS development in this region, witnessing the proliferation of UAS use, both the bad and the good, from the front row. We are excited to expand our relationship with our UK partner companies in developing capabilities to meet this growing challenge." "The AUDS production-ready system is field proven in multiple trials to detect, track, identify, disrupt and defeat a wide range of unmanned systems - day and night whatever the weather," added Thomas Scott. "And our new AUDS mobile trailer platform - an example of our integration capabilities - was developed and built at our Colorado site for rapid deployment purposes in national security applications and is already receiving much interest." Liteye's 'AUDS 360 Trailer' system features a fully integrated AUDS system comprising Blighter Surveillance Systems' 360 fully electronically-scanned A400 radar system, Chess Dynamics' precision turret with thermal camera system, and Enterprise Control Systems' directional multiband RF inhibitor system. This is a robust, go-anywhere rapid deployment system typically of the type used by the military. Other configurations of AUDS include a portable, quad-pod mounted rapid-deployment package and a fixed system that is compact enough to be installed on rooftop locations, remote masts or even on the ground. The AUDS counter-UAS system was developed by a trio of British companies including Blighter Surveillance Systems, Chess Dynamics and Enterprise Control Systems. AUDS can detect a drone six miles (10km) away using electronic scanning radar, track it using precision infrared and daylight cameras and specialist video tracking software before disrupting the flight using an inhibitor to block the radio signals that control it. This detect, track, disrupt, defeat process is very quick and typically takes 8-15 secs. Using AUDS, the operator can effectively take control of a drone and force a safe landing or send it back home. For more information about AUDS, please contact any of the partner companies: For North America contact: Liteye Systems: visit http://www.liteye.com , telephone Kenneth Geyer at +1-720-974-1766 ext. 155 or email kgeyer@liteye.com. For rest of the world contact any of the following: Blighter Surveillance Systems: visit http://www.blighter.com , telephone +44-(0)-1223-491122 or email auds@blighter.com. Chess Dynamics: visit http://www.chess-dynamics.com , telephone +44-(0)-1403-249888 or email auds@chess-dynamics.com. Enterprise Control Systems: visit http://www.enterprisecontrol.co.uk , telephone +44-(0)-1327-860050 or email auds@enterprisecontrol.co.uk. High resolution photographs of the AUDS system are available via the links below: http://www.blighter.com/images/images/pr/auds-on-tower-high-res.jpg http://www.blighter.com/images/images/pr/auds-with-drone-high-res.jpg A promotional video of the AUDS system can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8aZ0zWX3SA About Liteye Systems (http://www.liteye.com) Liteye Systems, Inc. is a leader in surveillance systems for protection of critical infrastructure. Products include radars, covert thermal cameras, tactical displays, and the new AUDS counter-UAS system. All of its cutting edge solutions feature revolutionary designs that enable a broad range of military and commercial applications. Headquartered in Centennial Colorado, the company has a 24,000 sq.ft. manufacturing/assembly facility with on-site engineering and test services, as well as state-of-the-art production and prototype manufacturing capability. Liteye has been designing and manufacturing defence and surveillance products since 2000. About Blighter Surveillance Systems (http://www.blighter.com) Blighter Surveillance Systems Ltd. is an independent electronic-scanning radar and sensor solution provider. It delivers an integrated multi-sensor package to systems integrators comprising the Blighter e-scan radars, cameras, thermal imagers, trackers and software solutions. Blighter radars combine patented solid-state Passive Electronically Scanned Array (PESA) technology - utilising digital beamforming (DBF) on transmit and receive - with advanced Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) and Doppler processing to provide a robust and persistent surveillance capability and an unmatched combination of high reliability, accuracy and performance with a low cost of ownership. Products are manufactured under a BS EN ISO 9001:2008 certified management system. Blighter Surveillance Systems Ltd. is based at Great Chesterford on the outskirts of Cambridge, England. About Chess Dynamics (http://www.chess-dynamics.com) Chess Dynamics is an entirely UK owned British company providing end to end electro-optic and video tracking solutions. Its platforms and cameras are in service with military forces around the world. From the range of Hawkeye electro-optic surveillance systems, the Hawkeye Deployable System (DS) is at the heart of AUDS, combining the proven Viper dynamic positioner (VDP), cooled IR camera, Chess Piranha 46 high resolution daylight camera and video tracking and Graphical User Interface (GUI). All of the elements of the Hawkeye DS are already in service with the Royal Navy and British Army and have been used and supported on operations in Afghanistan. Chess Dynamics' products and EO systems are manufactured on site to BS ES ISO 9001, Mil-Std-461 and 810C. Chess Dynamics is based in Horsham, West Sussex in the UK. About Enterprise Control Systems (http://www.enterprisecontrol.co.uk) For over 25 years Enterprise Control Systems Ltd (ECS) has been supplying mission critical RF inhibition systems and surveillance data links in support of security services around the world. ECS is a proven and trusted British supplier to the UK MoD, the UK Police and to specialist military and government users in over 40 other countries. ECS designs and produces a range of programmable jammers (RF Inhibitors) to counter a variety of threats. ECS understands the complex integration necessary between equipment performance, training, tactics, techniques and threat assessment needed to achieve optimum user capability in demanding and dynamic situations. ECS also designs and produces specialist COFDM data links optimised for use in high level military and security domains. ECS data links are fully secured (encrypted), optimised for long range performance and are designed to be robust in complex RF environments. ECS brings together their expertise in data link technology and RF Inhibition to provide a highly effective RF Disruptor for AUDS. ECS is based in Wappenham, Northamptonshire in the UK. WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - DST Systems, Inc. (DST), a provider of specialized technology, strategic advisory, and operations outsourcing, announced Tuesday that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its North American Customer Communications or NACC business to Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (BR). The cash consideration is $410 million, subject to customary working capital and other closing adjustments. The deal is expected to close in July, and follows the completion of a sale and leaseback transaction of three of DST's U.S. production facilities and its Canadian production facility announced in October 2015 for pre-tax proceeds totaling $129.0 million. NACC, with over 2,300 employees and four production facilities is the largest transactional printer in North America. Steve Hooley, Chairman and CEO of DST stated that the sale is an important step in executing the company's well-defined strategy of focus and growth within its financial and healthcare services segments. DST estimates that the pending sale of the NACC business will result in after-tax proceeds of approximately $310.0 million. The Company intends to use its net after tax proceeds in accordance with its capital plan including investments in the business, share repurchases, strategic acquisitions, debt repayments and other corporate purposes. Once completed, the North American Transaction is expected to result in a reduction to DST's earnings per share of approximately $1.15 on an annual basis, excluding any impacts of the use of proceeds from the sale. Concurrent with the approval of the transaction, the Board of Directors of DST authorized a new $300.0 million share repurchase plan. BofA Merrill Lynch is acting as financial advisor to DST and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP is serving as legal counsel. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de FXPRIMUS The Safest Place To Trade has announced the launch of new popular tradable instruments: Brent Crude Oil (UKOIL) and WTI (OIL), and Spot Oil which is non-expiring (USOIL.sp and UKOIL.sp). This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160614005702/en/ Competitive Market Spreads with FXPRIMUS on oil, starting from just $0.02. Visit www.FXPRIMUS.com/oil This move follows the launch of FXPRIMUS' new three pillar strategy1 to provide SAFETY through EDUCATION and TECHNOLOGY, whereby the company places greater emphasis on the provision of the highest quality services and products to its clients. Brent Crude and WTI known respectively as sweet light crude and Texas light sweet have been identified by the Company as tradable instruments of significant popularity further to increased demand from clients to trade on the oil rally. www.fxprimus.com/en/oil In response to the growth in popularity of trading on oil and other commodities during this time, clients can register to trade both on futures and spot oil which is non-expiring, in order to benefit from competitive trading conditions including some of the industries tightest spreads from $0.02. Director CEO of FXPRIMUS The Safest Place To Trade, Terry Thompson commented "Our decision to extend our range of tradable instruments evidences our determination to provide the most relevant products to our traders who are both interested in commodities and in diversifying their trading portfolio." ABOUT FXPRIMUS, The Safest Place To Trade FXPRIMUS offers one of the most secure online trading environments available anywhere in the forex industry. Its industry-leading safety mechanisms are built to withstand any unexpected market volatility and to fully protect client funds. The company enables clients of all experience levels to trade multiple instruments including forex, commodities, energies and indices, via a range of advanced web and mobile trading platforms. Clients of FXPRIMUS are supported through their unparalleled trading experience with the most innovative tools and resources, and best financial education, supported by our celebrated Head of Investment Research, Marshall Gittler. The company also actively empowers traders of all experience levels, with the skills and the knowledge to make effective trading decisions, helping them to achieve sound financial success. See more: www.FXPRIMUS.com 1 Press release announcing 3 pillar strategy: http://goo.gl/DZtV5W View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160614005702/en/ Contacts: FXPRIMUS Helen Astaniou, +357 25 262 081 PR Marketing Communications Manager marketing@fxprimus.com BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - China-based solar panel maker Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd (YGE) reported Tuesday first-quarter net income of 79.6 million Chinese yuan or $12.3 million, compared to net loss of 363.2 million yuan last year. Earnings per ADS was RMB4.4 or $0.7 in the first quarter of 2016, compared to loss per ADS of RMB20.0 in the first quarter of 2015. On an adjusted basis, adjusted net income was 73.3 million yuan or $11.4 million, compared to adjusted net loss of 353.0 million yuan last year. Adjusted earnings per ADS was RMB4.0 or $0.6, compared adjusted loss per ADS of RMB 19.4 in 2015. Total net revenues were 2.35 billion yuan or $364.6 million, compared to 2.91 billion yuan last year. Total PV module shipments were 508.1 MW in the first quarter of 2016, compared to 754.2MW in the first quarter of 2015. Liansheng Miao, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Yingli Green Energy, said, 'We are glad to announce that we achieved profitability in the first quarter of 2016, which was our first profitable quarter since the third quarter of 2011.' Looking ahead, for the second quarter, the Company expects its PV module shipments to be in the estimated range of 580MW to 620MW. The Company also expects its gross margin in the second quarter to be in the estimated range of 18% to 20%. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de JUPITER, FL--(Marketwired - June 14, 2016) - GelTech Solutions, Inc. (OTCQB: GLTC), an innovator in the use of environmentally-friendly polymers for fire suppression and prevention, announced today the company is actively preparing its operations support team in the Western United States for what is anticipated to be another busy wildland fire season. In addition to supporting current customer agencies, the FireIce wildland fire division has acquired another Western state agency and a Western Canadian province to utilize FireIce this summer. The FireIce wildland fire division will be installing permanent infrastructure designed specifically to support a variety of airtankers for several current and new customer agencies. In a larger effort across the industry, FireIce personnel are working closely with government agencies that have wildland fire protection responsibilities, supporting firefighting operations across state and international lines. These important improvements come at a time when wildland fire season is starting earlier and lasting longer than historical averages. "With fluctuations in climate and prolonged, higher than average temperatures, the needs of wildland fire agencies are changing. A slow season start may now mean having the resources available to handle large fires, including fixed-wing firefighting aircraft," stated Ed Kleiman GelTech's wildland fire coordinator. "GelTech is actively pursuing new markets and customers in the western United States and Canada, while also standing by our commitment to provide the highest level of service and support in the industry to our existing customer agencies," said Matt Struzziero, GelTech's director of sales and strategic operations. "It is our job to make sure each of our customers has the right training, equipment and products to support their aviation and engine operations. We have an increasingly broad footprint of personnel and network of support centers across North America to ensure these agencies are provided with everything their firefighters, pilots and support staff need to be successful." So far in 2016, the spring wildland fire season proved to be busy for the FireIce wildland fire division, as Minnesota, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin all had average to above average spring fire activity. While reporting is still incomplete, it is confirmed that at least one agency saved multiple structures, including homes, with aerially applied FireIce HVO-F. "As we reported to our shareholders this past January, our FireIce wildland fire division is on track for a record 2016 fire season, and we are confident our aggressive strategic plan will meet or exceed our goals," added Mike Reger, GelTech's president. FireIce Wildland Fire Division The GelTech Solutions FireIce Wildland Fire Division specializes in providing cutting-edge fire chemicals and equipment, as well as industry-leading training and support, to wildland fire agencies around the world. Our talented team has a combined 100 years of wildland fire and aviation experience in federal, state and Canadian government agencies, allowing us to understand the specific needs, challenges and goals of our customers in the wildland fire industry. As an agile organization, our ability to be fast moving, flexible and robust -- capable of rapid response to unexpected challenges, events, and opportunities in a wildland fire environment where the "new normal" is unprecedented. With fire seasons starting earlier and running longer than in past decades, providing wildfire response has become far costlier and more difficult to manage. GelTech Solutions also provides fixed and mobile airtanker and helicopter bases which can be rapidly deployed with our FireIce products to accommodate additional firefighting resources in a cost effective and timely manner, with expert support available at all times. GelTech Solutions, under the guidance of chief technology officer Peter Cordani, developed the original FireIce product as a next generation, environmentally-friendly firefighting agent in 2007. Over the last ten years, GelTech has expanded the original FireIce product to a family of products, equipment and services that are designed to help fire agencies and departments around the world fight fire in a safer, more effective, less costly and more environmentally friendly way. For more information on FireIce, visit: www.fireice.com. For more information on GelTech, visit: www.geltechsolutions.com. Media Contact: Paul Christle Director of Media and Communications GelTech Solutions 844-367-4582 Email contact Investor Relations Contact: Michael Porter Porter, LeVay & Rose 212-564-4700 Email contact Industry Leader in Global Secondary Private Equity, Real Estate and Real Asset Investments Will Broaden and Diversify OMAM's Portfolio OM Asset Management plc (NYSE: OMAM) today announced that it signed a definitive agreement to acquire a 60% equity interest in Landmark Partners, a leading, global secondary private equity, real estate and real asset investment firm. Under the terms of the purchase agreement, OMAM will pay approximately US$240 million in cash at closing with the potential for an additional payment based on the growth of the business through 2018. The overall investment is expected to result in a purchase multiple of 8-10x Economic Net Income (ENI)** generated by the Landmark transaction, prior to financing costs. OMAM intends to fund the closing payment using available capacity on its existing revolving credit facility or may seek alternative sources of debt financing depending on market conditions. OMAM expects the transaction to be up to 12% accretive to 2017 ENI per share. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2016. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160614005722/en/ "Landmark Partners has built a dominant position in the secondary private equity, real estate and real asset space, having delivered close to three decades of excellent results for their clients," said James J. Ritchie, OMAM's Chairman. "Landmark fits comprehensively into our stated acquisition strategy, providing a leading platform in an increasingly important asset class, leveraging the strength of our global distribution group, expanding our range of active strategies for investors, and further diversifying our earnings base by broadening our participation in alternative investment strategies." "Landmark is precisely the kind of industry leader with whom we seek to partner," said Peter L. Bain, OMAM's President and Chief Executive Officer. "The depth and breadth of their management team are exemplary and we look forward to collaborating with them to grow their existing product set and further diversify their business into emerging secondary asset classes. Our global distribution team is excited about bringing Landmark into certain domestic channels as well as new markets outside the U.S. Further, Landmark enhances the quality of our earnings through the stability of its committed capital-based revenue stream, and generates significant accretion to our ENI per share. In sum, we are delighted to partner with the team and look forward to working together to enhance the growth of their business." Landmark has a strong track record of successful innovation in secondary private investments. The firm expanded from private equity secondary investments to include real estate in 1996 and real assets in 2015. Landmark is distinguished by its long track record, proprietary transaction sourcing capabilities, and the competitive results it has generated for investors. Landmark has completed over 500 transactions with committed capital of US$15.5 billion since its founding in 1989, and has acquired interests in over 1,900 partnerships, managed by over 700 general partners. The firm is led by its Managing Partners, Francisco L. Borges and Timothy L. Haviland, with a senior team averaging 17 years of experience with Landmark. The firm's 89-member team operates through locations in Boston, London, New York, and Simsbury, Connecticut. Landmark's global client base includes institutional investors in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, continental Europe, the Middle East, Asia and South America. "We are pleased to partner with OMAM," said Francisco L. Borges, Managing Partner of Landmark. "OMAM's partnership orientation combined with our management team's retention of substantial equity in perpetuity, and ability to offer both growth capital and a strong, broad-based global distribution network were particularly attractive to us. We look forward to working with Peter and the team to continue to grow our business." Separately, in order to advance the ongoing separation of OMAM and Old Mutual plc, OMAM has negotiated an acceleration and subsequent termination of the Deferred Tax Asset Deed and Seed Capital Management Agreement with Old Mutual, the result of which is that OMAM's ongoing liabilities to Old Mutual under both agreements shall be satisfied earlier than expected. OMAM will host a conference call to discuss the transaction at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time today. Participants may dial (877) 201-0168 (domestic) or (647) 788-4901 (international) and use the Conference ID 30514227. A link to the live audio webcast will be available at http://ir.omam.com In addition, a copy of the presentation slides to be presented on the conference call are available at http://ir.omam.com About OMAM OMAM is a global, multi-boutique asset management company with US$218 billion of assets under management as of March 31, 2016. Its diverse Affiliates offer leading, alpha generating investment products to investors around the world. OMAM's partnership approach, which includes equity ownership at the Affiliate level and a profit sharing relationship between OMAM and its Affiliates, aligns the interests of OMAM and its Affiliates to work collaboratively in accelerating their growth. OMAM's business model combines the investment talent, entrepreneurialism, focus and creativity of leading asset management boutiques with the resources and capabilities of a larger firm. For more information about OMAM, please visit OMAM's website at www.omam.com. About Landmark Partners Landmark Partners specializes in secondary market transactions of private equity, real estate and real assets investments, with approximately US$15.5 billion of committed capital as of March 31, 2016. Founded in 1989, the firm has one of the longest track records in the industry and is a leading source of liquidity to owners of interests in real estate, real asset, venture, mezzanine and buyout limited partnerships. Landmark has completed over 500 transactions in more than 25 years and acquired interests in over 1,900 partnerships, managed by over 700 general partners. Landmark Partners has 89 professionals across four offices in Simsbury, Boston, New York and London. Forward Looking Statements This press release includes forward-looking statements, as that term is used in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including information relating to anticipated growth in revenues, margins or earnings, anticipated changes in OMAM's business, anticipated future performance of OMAM's business, anticipated future investment performance of OMAM's Affiliates, expected future net cash flows, anticipated expense levels, changes in expense, the expected effects of acquisitions and expectations regarding market conditions. The words or phrases ''will likely result,'' ''are expected to,'' ''will continue,'' ''is anticipated,'' ''can be,'' ''may be,'' ''aim to,'' ''may affect,'' ''may depend,'' ''intends,'' ''expects,'' ''believes,'' ''estimate,'' ''project,'' and other similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to various known and unknown risks and uncertainties and readers should be cautioned that any forward-looking information provided by or on behalf of OMAM is not a guarantee of future performance. Actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking information as a result of various factors, some of which are beyond OMAM's control, including but not limited to those discussed above and elsewhere in this press release and in OMAM's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 15, 2016. Due to such risks and uncertainties and other factors, OMAM cautions each person receiving such forward-looking information not to place undue reliance on such statements. Further, such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release and OMAM undertakes no obligations to update any forward looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Distribution activities conducted by OMAM outside of the United States are centralized through OMAM International Limited ("OMAM International"), an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of OM Asset Management plc. OMAM International is authorized and regulated by the United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority with FCA register number 515302. This press release references a non-GAAP performance measure referred to as economic net income ("ENI"). OMAM uses ENI to represent its view of the underlying economic earnings of the business. ENI is used to make resource allocation decisions, determine appropriate levels of investment or dividend payout, manage balance sheet leverage, determine Affiliate variable compensation and equity distributions, and incentivize management. OMAM's ENI adjustments to U.S. GAAP include both reclassifications of U.S. GAAP revenue and expense items, as well as adjustments to U.S. GAAP results, primarily to exclude non-cash, non-economic expenses, or to reflect cash benefits not recognized under U.S. GAAP. For a further discussion of how OMAM uses ENI and why ENI is useful to investors, along with various U.S. GAAP to ENI reconciliations, refer to OMAM's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed on May 10, 2016 and Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on March 15, 2016. OMAM-201668.1 View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160614005722/en/ Contacts: OMAM: Dukas Linden PR Ted Smith; Shree Dhond +1 212 704 7385 omam@dlpr.com or Landmark Partners: Emily-Jane Finigan +1 212 468 5668 emily-jane.finigan@landmarkpartners.com With energy storage looking like it will be able to solve a lot of electricity headaches, German company Tesvolt has raised the bar for off-grid systems, by agreeing to supply the world's largest off-grid battery system to Rwanda. It will be used as a mini-grid during power cuts, which are common in Rwanda. Tesvolt signed the contract to supply the decentralized system to an agricultural project in Rwanda's Eastern Province. It will be used to create a mini-grid, during power cuts, to supply 44 water pumps. The array is made up of 134 lithium storage systems, with a combined capacity of 2.68 MWh. The system will be connected to ... Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. CHARLESTON, SC -- (Marketwired) -- 06/14/16 -- WHO: PeopleMatter, a powerful and complete workforce management platform designed to fit the specific hiring, training, scheduling and performance management needs of service-industry brands, and Catch Talent, a recruiting and employer brand agency that delivers talent attraction and marketing services to growing technology, manufacturing and government contracting companies. WHAT: Will present a complimentary webinar titled, "Finding Your People Story: How to Develop an Employer Brand That Attracts Talent and Customers." WHEN: Tuesday, June 14, 2016 at 1:00 p.m. EDT (12:00 p.m. CDT / 11:00 a.m. MDT / 10:00 a.m. PDT) WHERE: For registration and additional details, visit: https://www.peoplematter.com/business-management-resources/webinar/finding-your-people-story. DETAILS: Research indicates that 90 percent of adults hired within the past year took action to find a job within just six months of being hired. For employers, this means that there are lots of candidates looking, however, attracting the right people, with the right values and goals, remains a challenge. Enter the Employer Value Proposition (EVP) -- which highlights what's in it for employees in exchange for their performance, time and effort -- and how this impacts the ability to attract and retain great people. During this webinar, Tim Dillon, director of Workforce Management Solutions at PeopleMatter, will join Catch Talent's CEO and talent recruiter, Christina Lock, and chief marketing officer, Chad Norman, to discuss defining the EVP as part of an organization's people story. Throughout the presentation, Dillon, Lock and Norman will focus on the three key steps needed to determine an organization's true EVP and how to leverage it. In addition, the presenters will explore the impact that benefits have on attracting and retaining top talent, including formal and informal, tangible and intangible. Session attendees will learn why each part of the talent attraction lifecycle is critical to hiring strategy success and will take away nine must-haves for their company career sites. Human resource professionals, recruiters, hiring managers and business leaders interested in improving and effectively communicating their company's EVP are encouraged to attend this session. This webinar is approved for HRCI and SHRM credit. For additional details and registration information, please visit: https://www.peoplematter.com/business-management-resources/webinar/finding-your-people-story. About Catch Talent Catch is a recruiting and employer brand agency that delivers talent attraction and marketing services to growing technology, manufacturing and government contracting companies. Based in Charleston, S.C., Catch brings over 35 years of technical recruiting and marketing expertise to both local and national clients. Catch specializes in the full talent attraction lifecycle by recruiting, screening and qualifying the best candidates, then developing employer brands that attract the next wave of talent and customers. The candidate journey never ends, and Catch finds the stars that make a business shine -- learn how at www.catchtalent.com. About PeopleMatter PeopleMatter is a powerful and complete workforce management platform designed to fit the specific needs of service-industry brands. Our complete set of mobile, workforce solutions and business analytics tools connect processes, employees and customers in entirely new ways. Automating and optimizing people processes since 2009, PeopleMatter helps more than 47,000 service-industry locations thrive through better efficiency, engagement and customer satisfaction. PeopleMatter is headquartered in Charleston, S.C. and on online at Website | Twitter | LinkedIn | Facebook. REDWOOD CITY, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/14/16 -- Host Analytics, the leader in cloud-based enterprise performance management (EPM), announced today that Network Products Guide, a leading technology research and advisory publication, has selected Host Analytics for two awards in the 11th annual 2016 IT World Awards. Host Analytics CEO Dave Kellogg was awarded a Silver in the category of CEO of the Year and the Host Analytics Modeling won a Silver in the category of New Products or Services. These industry and peer recognitions from Network Products Guide are the world's premier information technology awards honoring achievements and recognitions in every facet of the IT industry. Winners from all over the world will be honored in San Francisco, California on Monday, June 27, 2016 during the 2016 SVUS Red Carpet Awards Ceremony Dinner in San Francisco. "Host Analytics is honored by these awards and would like to thank the selection committee," said Ben Plummer, CMO, Host Analytics. "While we're certainly proud of these achievements, we know they would not be possible without our successful customers who have leveraged cloud-based EPM to transform their organizations, drive greater efficiencies, and achieve their business goals." In addition to these two awards, Host Analytics Modeling was recently named a winner of a People's Choice Stevie Award for Favorite New Products in The 14th Annual American Business Awards. More than 26,000 votes were cast in 38 people's choice categories this year. Click to Tweet: Host Analytics Wins Two Silvers In 11th Annual IT World Awards http://ow.ly/dRnR301dSMa epm cloud via @host_analytics About NPG's IT World Awards As industry's leading technology research and advisory publication, Network Products Guide plays a vital role in keeping decision makers and end-users informed of the choices they can make in all areas of information technology. The Annual IT World Awards is part of the SVUS Awards recognition program from Silicon Valley in the United States of America which also includes other programs such as CEO World Awards, Consumer World Awards, Customer Sales and Service World Awards, Golden Bridge Awards, Globee Fastest Growing Private Companies Awards, Info Security PG's Global Excellence Awards, Pillar World Awards, PR World Awards, and Women World Awards. To learn more, visit www.networkproductsguide.com About Host Analytics Host Analytics is the leader in cloud-based enterprise performance management (EPM), offering a suite of financial applications for modeling, planning, consolidation, reporting, and analytics. World-class companies like NEC, Burlington Coat Factory, and Jazz Pharmaceuticals trust Host Analytics to power their strategic financial processes. Host Analytics is a fast-growing, private company backed by leading venture capitalists and is headquartered in Silicon Valley with customers in over 90 countries. For more information about Host Analytics, please visit www.hostanalytics.com Follow @host_analytics on Twitter Read the Host Analytics blog at www.hostanalytics.com/blog Follow Host Analytics on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/host-analytics-inc Become a fan of Host Analytics on Facebook:www.facebook.com/HostAnalyticsInc MEDIA CONTACT: Jason "JT" Tidwell jtidwell@hostanalytics.com 650.264.7509 OTTAWA, ON -- (Marketwired) -- 06/14/16 -- Cornerstone Capital Resources Inc. ("Cornerstone" or "the Company") (TSX VENTURE: CGP)(FRANKFURT-GWN)(BERLIN: GWN)(OTCBB: CTNXF)announces that its Ecuadorean subsidiary, CESA, has signed a definitive agreement (the "Agreement") with Ecuador's State Mining Company, Empresa Nacional Minera Empresa Publica("ENAMI"), replacing the letter of intent announced April 14, 2015, and creating a structure to jointly prospect and explore for mineral deposits in Ecuador. The principal terms of the Agreement can be read at www.cornerstoneresources.com/i/pdf/NR16-12EnamiTerms.pdf. Cornerstone's CEO, Brooke Macdonald, said: "This Agreement gives Cornerstone and its funding partners the opportunity to explore highly prospective ground throughout Ecuador, the most under-explored country in the Andes. The Ecuadorian State will benefit through ENAMI's 16% equity participation in any joint venture companies created to pursue commercial production, in addition to the collection of taxes and royalties, plus the transfer of technical knowledge from Cornerstone to ENAMI staff seconded to the projects. While this is not an exclusive arrangement and ENAMI is free to enter into similar arrangements with other companies, Cornerstone is, to our knowledge, the first non-State owned company to enter into a such an exploration alliance with ENAMI. Cornerstone has received indications of interest from several major mining companies active in early stage exploration in South America and we expect to be able to attract one or more funding partners in the near future. CESA has identified several highly prospective areas using the extensive proprietary geological data base gathered since Cornerstone began exploring Ecuador in 2005. Three such areas are being considered for joint exploration, and others may be added in the future." Thanks to changes in the taxation of mining projects implemented by the Government on the advice of international consultant Wood Mackenzie, summarized at the following link www.cornerstoneresources.com/i/pdf/NR16-12WoodMacSlides.pdf, Ecuador has become a more competitive destination for mining investment. Evidence of this includes the recent start of construction on the Mirador copper mine, the finalization of the terms of the development agreement and the announcement of a positive feasibility study for for the Fruta del Norte gold mine, the planned construction of the Rio Blanco gold-silver mine, and the fact that in recent weeks a number of other Canadian mining companies, including Cornerstone, have been successful at raising significant funds to explore and develop projects in Ecuador. About Cornerstone: Cornerstone Capital Resources Inc. is a well-funded mineral exploration company with a diversified portfolio of projects in Ecuador and Chile, and a proven ability to identify, acquire and advance properties of merit. The company's business model is based on generating exploration projects whose subsequent development is funded primarily through partnerships. Among its interests in the country, Cornerstone holds a 15% interest in the Cascabel copper-gold project in northern Ecuador, where drilling is ongoing. Eight high-priority porphyry centres are now recognized on the property, and ten porphyry targets have been identified to date in the Cascabel cluster. See NR-16-11 dated May 16, 2016 - Cascabel Exploration Update - Hole 17: www.cornerstoneresources.com/s/NewsReleases.asp?ReportID=749195, and also NR 15-23 dated October 20, 2015 - Cornerstone announces longest and highest grade intercepts to date in Hole 12 at Cascabel Project - 1312m @ 0.67% Copper, and 0.63 g/t Gold, for 1.05% CuEq: http://www.cornerstoneresources.com/s/NewsReleases.asp?ReportID=726615. SolGold Plc owns 85% of the equity of Exploraciones Novomining S.A. ("ENSA"), an Ecuadorean company that holds 100% of the Cascabel concession. Cornerstone owns the remaining 15% of ENSA, which also holds the rights to the La Encrucijada gold-silver project. SolGold is funding 100% of the exploration at Cascabel and is the operator of the project. Cornerstone's 15% interest is financed through completion of a feasibility study. Cascabel is located in north-western Ecuador in an under-explored portion of the Andean Copper Belt and 60 km northeast of the Llurimaga (formerly Junin) copper project where an inferred resource of 982 million tons at 0.89% Cu has been defined (0.4% Cu cut-off grade; Micon International Co. Ltd. Technical Report for Ascendant Exploration SA, August 20, 2004, pages 28 & 29). SolGold has announced it is planning a resource statement at Alpala, the most advanced target at Cascabel, during 2016, in addition to drill testing the other key targets at Aguinaga, Trivino, Alpala NW, Hematite Hill, Alpala SE, Cristal, Tandayama America and Chinambicito within the Cascabel concession. By the end of 2016 SolGold has reported it is planning further metallurgical testing, and completion of early stage mine and plant design and a scoping study (which may or may not be the approximate equivalent of a preliminary economic assessment as defined under National Instrument 43-101) for an economic development at Cascabel. Further information is available on Cornerstone's website: www.cornerstoneresources.com and on Twitter. Qualified Person: Yvan Crepeau, MBA, P.Geo., Cornerstone's Vice President, Exploration and a qualified person in accordance with National Instrument 43-101, is responsible for supervising Cornerstone's exploration programs and has reviewed and approved the information contained in this news release. Cautionary Notice: This news release may contain 'Forward-Looking Statements' that involve risks and uncertainties, such as statements of Cornerstone's plans, objectives, strategies, intentions and expectations. The words "potential," "anticipate," "forecast," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "may," "project," "plan," and similar expressions are intended to be among the statements that identify 'Forward-Looking Statements.' Although Cornerstone believes that its expectations reflected in these 'Forward-Looking Statements' are reasonable, such statements may involve unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors disclosed in our regulatory filings, viewed on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com. For us, uncertainties arise from the behaviour of financial and metals markets, predicting natural geological phenomena and from numerous other matters of national, regional, and global scale, including those of an environmental, climatic, natural, political, economic, business, competitive, or regulatory nature. These uncertainties may cause our actual future results to be materially different than those expressed in our Forward-Looking Statements. Although Cornerstone believes the facts and information contained in this news release to be as correct and current as possible, Cornerstone does not warrant or make any representation as to the accuracy, validity or completeness of any facts or information contained herein and these statements should not be relied upon as representing its views subsequent to the date of this news release. While Cornerstone anticipates that subsequent events may cause its views to change, it expressly disclaims any obligation to update the Forward-Looking Statements contained herein except where outcomes have varied materially from the original statements. On Behalf of the Board, Brooke Macdonald, President and CEO Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Contacts: Investor Relations: ir@cornerstoneresources.ca (613) 421-6923 The main gold target is the largely untested northwestern section of the Porphyry Zone; the southern portion of which contains lower grade Mineral Resources estimates* of 55.1 million tonnes at 1 g/t (at a 0.5 g/t cut-off) in the Inferred category Overall potential of the northwestern section of the Porphyry is significant, additional drilling could potentially add to the current Mineral Resource estimates* Priority Targeting Program planned with airborne geophysical survey, core re-logging and eventual drilling Montreal, Quebec--(Newsfile Corp. - June 14, 2016) - Aurvista Gold Corporation (TSXV: AVA) (OTC: ARVSF) (FSE: AV2) ("Aurvista" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that following the closing of a C$1.1 million financing (refer to the Company news releases dated May 3 and May 30, 2016), the Company plans a two-staged exploration program on the Douay Gold Project (the "Project") for the period June to September 2016 with the prime objective of determining the best of the 25 defined targets (as outlined in the Company news releases dated December 17, 2014, and April 8, 2015) with a view of significantly increasing the current Mineral Resource estimates*. The first stage work will complete the Priority Targeting Program in two areas where management is confident additional gold mineralization will be uncovered. The areas include the: (1) 10 km by 3 km wide (at its longest and widest points) SE-tilted parallelogram-shaped Douay-Style Mineralization ("DSM") containing all the known gold zones ("Douay West", "10", "20", "531", "Central", "Main", "NW", "Porphyry" and the "South Porphyry") and current Mineral Resource estimates*; and the (2) 6 km by 1 km wide cluster of EM INPUTTM anomalies or conduit ctors running along the southeast boundary of the DSM that have affinities to Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide or VMS mineralization associated with gold. The second stage will consist of a 4,000 meters of drilling to delineate additional gold and/or copper-gold mineralization on the best targets. Priority Targeting Program Now with funding in place, the Company intends on completing the Priority Targeting Program. This will involve: Completing an airborne geophysical Magnetic, Electromagnetic and Radiometric survey of the central portion of the Douay Project to define key contacts, faults and porphyry linked to the gold and any potential base metal bearing massive sulphide lenses within the 6 km by 1 km Copper-Gold corridor to a depth of -150 metres; Re-logging selective previous and historical drill core for litho-geochemical and thin section work along key gold mineralized and non-mineralized sections across the Douay Project, all to define the chemical signatures and alteration mineralogy of the known gold and/or base metal mineralization, helping with the airborne geophysical survey in the vectoring towards additional mineralization; and Drilling of the best priority targets that could potentially lead to the expansion of, and better quality, mineral resources. The main gold target at this time is the Porphyry Target that extends some 8 km in length, of which 3 km to the NW of the Adam Porphyry Zone, bordered by the Douay West Zone and the NW Zone, is largely untested. The Porphyry Target, encompassing the Adams Porphyry contains lower grade Mineral Resources estimates* of 55.1 million tonnes at 1 g/t (at a 0.5 g/t cut-off) in the Inferred category; whereas the NW Zone contains one million tonnes grading 2.71 g/t (at a 0.5 g/t cut-off) in the Inferred category. The overall gold potential of the Porphyry Target is significant and Aurvista is committed to drilling this sector potentially adding to the current Mineral Resource estimates*. Drilling success could potentially increase the size and quality of the Mineral Resources and subsequently the new DWGP production profile, this could result in a higher Net Present Value and extended mine life. The Douay Gold Project Mineral Claims and Location Aurvista's only asset is the Douay Gold Project ("Douay" or the "Project"), consisting of a 100% owned interest in 250 contiguous claims totaling 13,310 hectares or 133.1 km2, plus a 90% interest in 5 contiguous claims totaling 23 hectares or 0.2 km2 and a 75% interest in 32 contiguous claims totaling 1,194 hectares or 11.9 km2. In total there are 287 claims covering 14,527 hectares or 145.3 km2 located along a 20 km segment of the Casa Berardi Deformation Zone ("CBDZ") in the prolific Abitibi Greenstone Belt of northern Quebec. The 32 joint venture claims are with SOQUEM and occupy the central northern portion of Douay. Such ownership is subject to Aurvista completing a further $175,000 of approved work with no time limitation on this work. Douay is located approximately 40 km SW of Matagami and 110 km N of Amos, Quebec. It is accessible by paved Provincial Highway #109, which is the major N-S regional road linking the towns of Amos (Val-d'Or) and Matagami (James Bay). Access to the Project is via the public road network that extends to the Douay West Zone. This network could be used to haul mineralized material off-site to nearby toll processing facilities. Utilities are available on site including electricity provided directly from Hydro-Quebec's power grid to the Company's on-site substation. The Host Abitibi Greenstone Belt - the Land of Large Gold Deposits Gold mines of the Abitibi Greenstone Belt have already produced close to 200 million ounces of gold (6,000 tonnes of gold) since the early 1900's. The more recently developed gold mines include Yamana's and Agnico-Eagle's Malartic Gold Mine estimated at 11.1 million ounces of reserves, is located 155 km S of the Project, and Detour Gold's Detour Lake Gold Mine with an estimated 15 million ounces of gold in reserves is located 120 km NW of the Project. Hecla Mining's Casa Berardi Mine (4 million ounces of combined production, reserves and resources) sits on the same CBDZ as Douay, 70 km to the NW. The Douay Gold Project Current Mineral Resources* In August, 2012, independent consultant Cliff Duke, P. Eng., of Riverbend Geological Services, completed a NI 43-101 technical report on Mineral Resources estimates for Douay. The updated Mineral Resources estimates* included all drilling completed to the end of March 2012, and comprised results from 657 holes in more than 185,000 metres drilled on Douay since its discovery (refer to the Company news release dated July 3, 2012, and the filing of the Company's technical report dated August 16, 2012, on www.sedar.com). Riverbend estimated that 8 gold zones on Douay contained Mineral Resources estimates* of 2.7 million tonnes of Indicated Resources at 2.76 g/t gold for 238,000 ounces (above a 0.3 g/t gold cut-off grade) or 3,458,000 tonnes grading 2.98 g/t gold (at a 0.5 g/t gold cut-off grade) for 235,500 ounces. There were additional Inferred Resources of 115 million tonnes at 0.75 g/t gold for 2.75 million ounces (above a 0.3 g/t gold cut-off grade) or 62 million tonnes grading 1.06 g/t gold for 2.1 million ounces (above a 0.5 g/t cut-off grade). The bulk of the lower grade gold mineralization is contained in the Main Porphyry area encompassing the Adam-Porphyry zone containing Mineral Resources estimates* of 55.1 million tonnes at 1 g/t (at a 0.5 g/t cut-off) in the Inferred category. Whereas at the 3 g/t gold cut-off, Douay contained an estimated 855,000 tonnes at 5.82 g/t gold of Indicated Resources for 160,000 ounces, and additional 1,317,000 tonnes at 10.55 g/t gold for 446,700 ounces, really demonstrating once and for all the presence of both higher grade and lower gold zones at Douay, unlike the other bulk gold deposits in the Abitibi Greenstone Belt, such as the Dome, Canadian-Malartic and Detour Lake mines, which dealt and have to deal exclusively with lower grade gold closer to 1 g/t gold since all the higher grade gold zones were historically mined out via underground mining. There has never been any underground mining at Douay and hence the Company jewelry box of higher grade gold lenses remains intact. The Higher Grade Douay West Gold Zone and the New Douay West Gold Project According to a 2014 NI 43-101 technical report on a Preliminary Economic Assessment (the "PEA") of the Douay West Zone (refer to the Company news release dated December 14, 2014, and the filing of the Company's technical report dated January 22, 2015, on www.sedar.com) by P&E Mining Consultants, both open pit and underground production options were used for a production profile of the Douay West Zone. Both options were considered viable. Some 419,000 tonnes of mineralized material would be mined from the open pit at an average grade of 3.16 g/t gold (using a cut-off of 1.17 g/t gold), mineralized material is contained within the mineral resources estimated to be hosted on the Project. The PEA economics showed a pre-tax Net Present Value ("NPV") of C$ 25 million at a discount rate of 5% and post-tax NPV (5%) of C$ 16.6 million using an approximate two-year average gold price of US$ 1,350 per ounce (as of the date of this news release the gold price is US$ 1,260 per ounce) at an exchange rate of $C 1 = US$ 0.95 or a Canadian equivalent of $C 1,421 (the current exchange rate is $C1 = US$ 0.7840, for an equivalent Canadian gold price of $C 1,607). The pre-tax internal rate of return ("IRR") for the project is 55%. The initial preproduction expenditures were estimated at C$ 12.2 million to achieve first production from the open pit. The project life was 3.7 years, after approximately one-year of open pit pre-stripping. The Life of Mine ("LOM") cash operating cost was estimated at C$ 800 per ounce of gold, and the LOM all-in sustaining cost is C$ 1,195 per ounce of gold. In 2014-2105, Aurvista recognized the possibility of combining two higher grade gold zones, the Douay West and Adam-Porphyry zones (the "new DWGP"), situated along the same geologic corridor over 1.5 km length (refer to the Company news release dated June 17, 2015). The net effect of combining both zones into the new DWGP could potentially have a positive impact on the economics of a potential mining project due to the higher grades of the Adam-Porphyry Zone. The combined new DWGP has current Mineral Resource estimates* of 828,000 tonnes @ 5.78 g/t gold for 153,890 ounces in the Indicated category, with an additional 564,000 tonnes @ 16.69 g/t gold for 302,620 ounces in the Inferred category, all at a 3 g/t cut-off (refer to the Company news release dated August 16, 2012). The mineralization is open at depth beyond -300 meters vertical at Douay West and -400 meters vertical at the Adam-Porphyry. Combining both zones offers an immediate upside by demonstrating a larger higher grade mineral resource base for any future underground selective and/or bulk open pit mining scenarios. The technical contents in this news release have approved by Mr. Jean Lafleur, M. Sc., P. Geo., President and CEO for Aurvista Gold Corporation, a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101. * Mineral Resource estimates reported in this news release were previously estimated in accordance with the definitions contained in the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) Standards on Mineral Resources and Reserves Definitions and Guidelines that were prepared by the CIM Standing Committee on Reserve Definitions and adopted by the CIM Council on November 27, 2010. Of note, tonnes and ounces have been rounded as per NI 43-101 standards. About Aurvista Gold Corp. Aurvista Gold Corporation is a junior gold exploration and development company with 85,689,121 shares shares outstanding trading on the TSX Venture Exchange in Canada, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and OTC Pink Sheets in the U.S. Aurvista's only asset is the Douay Gold Project totaling 287 claims for 145.3 km2. The project is located along the gold-bearing Casa Berardi Deformation Zone in northern Quebec. Details can be viewed on the Company's website at www.aurvistagold.com. For further information please contact: Mr. Jean Lafleur, P. Geo. President and CEO, Director Cell +1 514 927 3633 Mr. Bryan Keeler Chief Financial Officer +1 416 504 4126 NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS PRESS RELEASE. Forward-Looking Statements This news release may contain forward-looking statements based on assumptions, uncertainties and management's best estimate of future events. Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company's expectations and projections. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. When used herein, words such as "anticipate", "will", "intend" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. For a more detailed discussion of such risks and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, refer to Aurvista Gold Corporation's filings with Canadian securities regulators available on www.sedar.com or the Company's website at www.aurvistagold.com. VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/14/16 -- Radius Gold Inc. (TSX VENTURE: RDU) is pleased to provide an update on recent activities including ongoing target generation and exploration work, the status of the Tambor gold mine in Guatemala in which Radius holds a royalty interest, and the value of present equity and cash holdings and other royalty interests. Tambor Gold Mine On May 11, 2016, KCA informed Radius that mining operations were suspended by the Supreme Court of Guatemala reportly due to a lack of consultation by the Government with local indigenous peoples when the mine was permitted in 2011. The Supreme Court is now evaluating the issue, but pending the Court's decision the mine has remained closed. The suspension was in response to an Amparo (essentially a lawsuit brought as a guarantee of protection of an individual's constitutional rights) brought against the mine by CALAS (Centro de Accion Legal Ambiental y Social de Guatemala), an NGO focused on environmental and social issues. To date, the Supreme Court has still not made a decision on when the mine may re-open. An unfortunate consequence of the delay in delivering a final decision is that KCA, which has been left with no choice in the absence of cash flow from gold sales, has now given lay-off notices to hundreds of local employees. KCA have retained a small crew on-site to maintain the plant. More than 300 employees recently travelled to the offices of the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court, and the President of Guatemala, to deliver the message that they want and need the jobs provided by the Tambor mine. Ironically, CALAS's legal action for "social justice" has now resulted in the loss of hundreds of permanent jobs at a fully-permitted mine that was regularly inspected by the Guatemalan government and was operating in full compliance with the local mining and environmental regulations. KCA and Radius have invested many millions over the years on this property, establishing a significant gold resource and a fully permitted mining operation. Unless some clarity on the situation is given soon by the courts, KCA and Radius will be seeking legal advice on restoring operations, including the much-needed jobs, at Tambor. Exploration Update Spring Peak Property, Nevada We are pleased to announce that Radius has acquired an option to earn a 100% interest in the Spring Peak gold property in Mineral County, Nevada, from Kinetic Gold (US) Inc. The Spring Peak Property consists of 37 contiguous US Federal Mineral Claims comprising 309 hectares located approximately 37 km southwest of the town of Hawthorne, NV; access is good. The Property is situated in the historic Aurora-Borealis-Bodie mining district which lies within the Walker Lane gold trend of western Nevada. The gold deposits in the Aurora-Borealis-Bodie district occur as both high grade vein-hosted low sulphidation deposits (Aurora, Bodie), and as high-sulphidation alunite-kaolinite gold-deposits (Borealis). Total historical precious metal production along this trend, from the mid-19th century to the mid-1990s, has been estimated at 4.0 million ounces Au, and 11.2 million ounces Ag (MDA, 2002). The Spring Peak Property is approximately 6 km southeast of the historical open pit mines at Aurora. At Spring Peak, a sinter terrace is exposed overlying altered volcaniclastic deposits and basement Cretaceous granites (USGS, 2012). The sinter system contains anomalous concentrations of Au, Ag, Hg, Sb, and As. Recent ash fall deposits cover much of the area, but frequent vein float with multi-ppm gold concentrations can be found across the Property. The area was drilled with shallow holes in the 1980s, the majority of which were vertical. The sinter terrace and potential structures beneath it were never adequately drill tested. Radius believes the Property has the potential to host subvertical high grade veins as feeders to the sinter terraces. Radius plans to conduct a CSAMT geophysical survey over the Property to test the hypothesis that subvertical high grade vein deposits may exist in 'feeder' structures below the sinter terraces. Spring Peak Option Terms The Company can earn a 100% interest in the Spring Peak Property by making a cash payment to Kinetic of US$15,000 on signing (paid) and further expenditures as follows: -- cash payments to Kinetic totalling US$430,000 over the first five years following the issuance of a drill permit for the Property, and then US$250,000 in each subsequent year until the option is exercised or terminated; and -- a total of US$725,000 in permitting and exploration work on the Property, over three years following the issuance of the drill permit. At any time while the option is in good standing, the Company may elect to deliver to Kinetic a technical report, complying with NI 43-101 standards, which documents a minimum 500,000 ounce gold equivalent inferred resource on the Spring Peak Property, and upon said delivery, the Company will have the right for one year thereafter to purchase from Kinetic an outright 100% interest in the Property for the sum of US$500,000. If the Company completes the purchase of the Spring Peak Property, a combined 3.0% net smelter returns royalty will be granted to Kinetic and the underlying property owner. Up to one-half of the royalty may be purchased for up to US$1.5 million. Other Properties The Company continues to evaluate projects in various jurisdictions and with various commodities but with a focus on gold and silver in Nevada and Mexico. Our Guatemala concession holdings at Banderas remain in good standing and the exploration potential on those properties is high, but with recent developments at Tambor, it appears the pro-mining rhetoric of the new government is yet to be confirmed. In Mexico, Radius has a silver project optioned to Fortuna Silver Mines. Equity and Other Holdings Radius currently has just over $5 million cash in the treasury. Present equity holdings are listed below: No. of Shares Current Value --------------- --------------- B2Gold 300,000 $834,000 Focus 3,433,406 $274,000 Medgold 8,040,000 $924,000 Southern Silver 2,000,000 $880,000 Rackla 2,973,275 $237,000 --------------- $3,149,000 $3,149,000 Radius also holds a 2% NSR on 70% of the Bayovar12 Phosphate deposit owned by Focus Ventures Ltd. Qualified Person David Clark, M.Sc., P.Geo., is Radius's Qualified Person under the terms of National Instrument 43-101, "Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects" and has approved the technical information in this news release. About Radius Radius has been exploring for gold in Latin America for over a decade. The Company has a strong treasury and is looking for investment and project acquisition opportunities across the globe. Please call toll free 1-888-627-9378 or visit our web site (www.radiusgold.com) for more information. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD Simon Ridgway President and CEO Symbol: TSXV-RDU Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements contained in this news release constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. All statements included herein, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements which include, without limitation, statements about the Company's intentions respect to the Tambor mine; the Company's plans for the Spring Peak Property; the Company's business strategy, plans and outlook; the merit of the Company's investments and properties; timelines; the future financial performance of the Company; expenditures; approvals and other matters. Often, but not always, these forward looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "estimate", "estimates", "estimated", "potential", "open", "future", "assumed", "projected", "used", "detailed", "has been", "gain", "upgraded", "offset", "limited", "contained", "reflecting", "containing", "remaining", "to be", "periodically", or statements that events, "could" or "should" occur or be achieved and similar expressions, including negative variations. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by forward-looking statements. Such uncertainties and factors include, among others, the status of the Tambor mine; the plans for exploring the Spring Peak Property; changes in general economic conditions and financial markets; the Company or any joint venture partner not having the financial ability to meet its exploration and development goals; risks associated with the results of exploration and development activities, estimation of mineral resources and the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; unanticipated costs and expenses; and such other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's quarterly and annual filings with securities regulators and available under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. Forward-looking statements contained herein are based on the assumptions, beliefs, expectations and opinions of management, including but not limited to: that the Company's exploration plans for the Spring Peak Property will proceed as planned; that the Company's activities will be in accordance with its public statements and stated goals; that all required approvals will be obtained; that there will be no material adverse change affecting the Company or its investments or properties; and such other assumptions as set out herein. Forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, except as required by law. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Contacts: Simon Ridgway 200 Burrard Street, Suite 650 Vancouver, BC V6C 3L6 Tel: 604-801-5432 or Toll free 1-888-627-9378 604-662-8829 (FAX) Email: info@goldgroup.com Website: www.radiusgold.com VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/14/16 -- SALAZAR RESOURCES LTD. (TSX VENTURE: SRL)(FRANKFURT: CCG) (the "Company") - Mr. Fredy Salazar is pleased to provide this update on the Company's recapitalization plan first announced on April 6th 2016 and then updated on April 27th 2016. The Company has completed the first two elements of its recapitalization plan with the closing on April 27th 2016 of the private placement and debt settlement transactions. As a result of the private placement the Company welcomed Resource Capital Fund VI L.P ("RCF VI") to its share registry. The Company and RCF VI have now agreed upon a work program to be implemented on closing of the Royalty Sale. As a result of this agreement on the work program the Company will not be amending the terms of the warrants issued to RCF VI on closing of the Private Placement. The third part of the recapitalization plan involves the sale of a 2% net smelter returns royalty ("NSR") interest in its Curipamba project for US$4,750,000 (the "Royalty Sale"). The Royalty Sale is being completed in two tranches of 1% for US$2,375,000, with closing of each tranche being subject to satisfaction of conditions precedent. The Company had announced that closing of the first tranche of the Royalty Sale was expected at the end of May; however, due to the complexity of the transaction with multi-jurisdictional corporate and tax issues to address, the closing has been delayed and is currently not expected until late June. The Company is working with RCF VI to finalize and close on the first tranche of the royalty sale as soon as possible. There remain a number of contractual matters to be finalized to ensure the transaction is properly implemented. Said Mr. Fredy Salazar "We look forward to finalizing the Royalty Sale and to immediately begin work on the approved work programs. With the proceeds from the first tranche closing of the royalty sale we have planned a drill program of 10,000 meters." About Salazar Resources Limited Salazar Resources Ltd. is a publicly-listed (TSX VENTURE: SRL)(FRANKFURT: CCG) mineral resource company engaged in the exploration and development of new highly-prospective areas in Ecuador. Led by a senior Ecuadorian management team and most notably by its namesake Fredy Salazar, this team has been instrumental in other major discoveries throughout Ecuador. Being based in Ecuador, thus having thorough knowledge of local human and environmental issues, gives the company a strategic advantage, enabling it to complete exploration at a rapid pace. With an excellent property portfolio (3 projects- 42,900 hectares), good geopolitical positioning and a number of strategic corporate and financial partnerships, Salazar has positioned itself to be a strategic player in Ecuador and throughout South America. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF SALAZAR RESOURCES LIMITED Fredy Salazar, President & CEO Salazar Resources Limited Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. All statements included herein, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking information and such information involves various risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking information herein includes, but is not limited to, statements that address activities, events or developments that the Company expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future, including such things as the successful completion of the Royalty Sale. Such forward-looking information is based on a number of material factors and assumptions, including that the parties will be able to negotiate a definitive agreement in respect of the Royalty Sale, and that the Company will be able to satisfy the conditions precedent to closing of such transaction. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. A description of assumptions used to develop such forward-looking information and a description of risk factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking information can be found in the Company's disclosure documents on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Contacts: Salazar Resources Ltd. ir@salazarresources.com www.salazarresources.com NORWALK (dpa-AFX) - Xerox Corp.(XRX) Tuesday announced that it has appointed Ashok Vemuri as chief executive officer of the Business Process Outsourcing or BPO company upon the completion of the separation of Xerox into two publicly-traded companies. Vemuri will join Xerox effective July 1, and serve as chief executive officer of Xerox Business Services, LLC and an executive vice president of Xerox Corp. until the separation is complete. After the completion of Xerox's planned separation, Vemuri will serve as the chief executive officer and a director of the new BPO company. Vemuri served as president and chief executive officer of IGATE Corporation from September 2013 to October 2015. Prior to joining IGATE, Vemuri was a senior executive at Infosys where he served as a Board member, head of Americas and the global leader of Manufacturing and Engineering Services. Prior to joining Infosys in 1999, he worked in the investment banking industry at Deutsche Bank and Bank of America. It was on January 29 that Xerox announced its plans to separate into two independent, publicly-traded companies - a Document Technology company comprised of its Document Technology and Document Outsourcing businesses and a BPO company. Xerox is targeting to file its initial Form 10 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in July. The transaction is on track to be completed by the end of 2016. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. FRANKFURT AM MAIN, Germany, June 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Referendum in Great Britain / Impacts on the chemical-pharmaceutical industry Leaving the EU would be a fatal signal for the economic development in Europe Consequence: a drop in chemical exports and direct investments Current trade volume in chemical goods with Great Britain : 18.5 billion euros : Investments of well over 2 billion euros by British investors in the German chemical industry If the majority of British voters decide, in the referendum on 23 June, that their country should leave the European Union, it would have noticeable negative effects on Germany's third largest industry, according to the German chemical industry association Verband der Chemischen Industrie (VCI). In case of a Brexit, the VCI anticipates in the mid-term a weakening of the chemical-pharmaceutical industry's exports to Great Britain and a drop in direct investments on both sides of the Channel. VCI President Marijn Dekkers states: "We hope that a clear majority of British voters will want to remain in the EU. Especially now, at a time when the economy in Europe is undergoing a timid recovery, a withdrawal from the European Union would be a bad signal for the further economic development." Great Britain is an important trading partner and one of the biggest markets in the EU for the German chemical-pharmaceutical industry. Last year, the industry sold goods worth 12.9 billion euros to Britain (7.3 percent of all exports). Specialty chemicals and pharmaceuticals accounted for the largest share. During the same period, German chemical companies imported goods to the value of 5.6 billion euros from the island (see chart). These mainly included pharmaceutical inputs and petrochemicals. Great Britain is also immensely important as a production and distribution location. At present, 63 subsidiaries of German chemical companies are active in Britain. Overall, they employ around 6,000 staff and realise sales of 4.1 billion euros. The stock of direct investments on the island totals roughly 1.6 billion euros. British investors have invested well over 2 billion euros in the German chemical industry (see chart). From the VCI's perspective, the most serious negative economic effects of a Brexit would have to be borne by the British themselves. But a withdrawal from the European Union would bring losses in gross domestic product and falling exports also for the remaining EU Member States - and especially for German companies. Cross-border investments would be impaired too, so the VCI. The likely devaluation of the British pound and the uncertainty that comes with exit negotiations would give reason to German investors to reconsider their commitment to the location Great Britain and to possibly withdrawal capital. The distortions of financial markets triggered by a Brexit would be difficult to quantify. Note: Files and data from two charts are available athttp://www.vci.de/infografiken (in German language) Great Britain is an important trading partner and one of the biggest markets in the EU for the German chemical-pharmaceutical industry. Precisely 7.3 percent of exports of chemical products go there. British investors have invested well over 2 billion euros in German chemistry. Direct investments on the island by German companies amount to 1.6 billion euros . In the event of a Brexit, a reduction in the stock of FDIs is likely on both sides of the Channel. The VCI represents the politico-economic interests of over 1,650 German chemical companies and German subsidiaries of foreign businesses. For this purpose, the VCI is in contact with politicians, public authorities, other industries, science and media. The VCI stands for over 90 percent of the chemical industry in Germany. In 2015 the German chemical industry realised sales of around 189billion euros and employed over 446,000 staff. Please note: VCI news about the chemical industry is also available via Twitter (http://twitter.com/chemieverband) Contact: VCI Press Dept. Phone: +49-69-2556-1496 E-Mail: presse@vci.de Ameresco, Inc. (NYSE:AMRC), a leading energy efficiency and renewable energy company, today announced that the Company will attend the ROTH Capital Partners Cleantech Industrial Growth Day on Tuesday, June 21, 2016 at the Dorchester Hotel in London, U.K. The format of the conference is one-on-one meetings only. Chief Financial Officer, John Granara, will participate in one-on-one meetings throughout the day. Attendance at the conference is by invitation only for clients of ROTH Capital Markets. Interested investors should contact your ROTH sales representative to secure a meeting time. About Ameresco, Inc. Founded in 2000, Ameresco, Inc. (NYSE:AMRC) is a leading independent provider of comprehensive services, energy efficiency, infrastructure upgrades, asset sustainability and renewable energy solutions for businesses and organizations throughout North America and Europe. Ameresco's sustainability services include upgrades to a facility's energy infrastructure and the development, construction and operation of renewable energy plants. Ameresco has successfully completed energy saving, environmentally responsible projects with Federal, state and local governments, healthcare and educational institutions, housing authorities, and commercial and industrial customers. With its corporate headquarters in Framingham, MA, Ameresco has more than 1,000 employees providing local expertise in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit www.ameresco.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160614005235/en/ Contacts: Ameresco, Inc. CarolAnn Hibbard, 508-661-2264 news@ameresco.com or Investor Relations Gary Dvorchak, CFA, 323-240-5786 ir@ameresco.com TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 06/14/16 -- Arbitrage Exploration Inc. ("Arbitrage" or the "Company") (CSE: AEA) is pleased to announce that, further to its press releases dated May 18, 2016 and May 20, 2016, the Company has completed the second tranche ("Second Tranche") of a private placement (the "Offering") for gross proceeds of $37,450 through the issuance of 749,000 Units, of which 149,000 Units have been subscribed for by Ms. Judy Baker, a director, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company. Each Unit consists of one common share in the capital of the Company (each, a "Common Share") and one-half of one Common Share purchase warrant (each whole warrant, a "Warrant"). Each Warrant shall entitle the holder thereof to purchase one Common Share at a price of $0.10 per Common Share for a period of twenty-four (24) months from the date of issuance. Gross proceeds raised from the Offering will be used for general operating expenses. The securities issued upon closing of the Second Tranche are subject to a hold period until October 14, 2016, pursuant to applicable securities laws. The participation by Ms. Baker in the Second Tranche constitutes a "related party transaction" as defined under Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). Such related party transaction is exempt from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 as neither the fair market value of securities being issued to the related party nor the consideration being paid by the related party will exceed 25% of the Company's market capitalization. The participants in the Second Tranche and the extent of such participation were not finalized until shortly prior to the completion of the Second Tranche. Accordingly, it was not possible to publicly disclose details of the nature and extent of related party participation in the Second Tranche pursuant to a material change report at least 21 days prior to the completion date. NEITHER THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATIONS SERVICES PROVIDER HAVE REVIEWED OR ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE. Forward-looking Information Cautionary Statement Except for statements of historic fact, this news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities law. Forward-looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates at the date the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements including, but not limited to delays or uncertainties with regulatory approvals, including that of the CSE. There are uncertainties inherent in forward-looking information, including factors beyond the Company's control. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change except as required by law. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties that could affect financial results is contained in the Company's filings with Canadian securities regulators, which filings are available at www.sedar.com. Contacts: Arbitrage Exploration Inc. Judy Baker President (416) 786-7860 judybakertoronto@gmail.com Ideal Cures Private Limited, announces the appointment of Mr. Mike Easterbrook as Chief Technical Officer, a stalwart in the Film Coating technical arena with more than 40 years of experience. His addition strengthens the existing team of professionals at Ideal Cures and its aggressive strategy to support its international customer base with best-in-class products, technologies, services and sales. "Customers want to have choices, Ideal Cures wants to be the choice that the industry is waiting for with high quality products supported by personnel with the right credentials. Mike with his strong background in film coating and excipient technologies will elevate the technical support experience of our customers globally" says Suresh Pareek, Managing Director. "Ideal Cures is standing up to be counted as an emerging innovative global supplier of services and coatings by bringing Mike on board" stated Kamlesh Oza, President Global Business Development. "The strategy to be a global supplier of reckoning is playing out with our enhanced technical services support for the product portfolio" Mike Easterbrook is a business savvy technical executive in the global pharmaceutical and excipient industry. He has held various positions at Colorcon from 1983 to 2006 such as Technical Manager in the UK responsible for Europe, Africa and Asia Pacific; Technical Director in Singapore responsible for the Asia Pacific region. Mike in his new role will not only interact with customer's senior management but also achieve business success by providing technical information, training and support. About IDEAL CURES: Ideal Cures Pvt. Ltd. is a self-sustaining organization with global reach with offices in the USA, Italy, Spain, Turkey and Israel. It has three EXCiPACT certified cGMP manufacturing plants providing world-class support to pharmaceutical organizations globally. With over 11 patents in India and many more pending grant, the company is determined to bring new coating products and technologies to the market. Ideal Cures Pvt. Ltd. is perceived as a preferred supplier for film coating systems by the Pharmaceutical Industry, which offers them superior technical services and support with competitive prices. The company has spent over a decade and half in its relentless pursuit of excellence in providing tailor made excipients and coating solutions for solid dosage forms. The product range of Ideal Cures comprises Ready-to-use Film Coating Systems, Modified Release Technologies, Acrylic Pharma Polymers to Extended Cooling Boosters and Neutral Spheres. India HO and R&D Centre A-223 to 229, Virwani Industrial estate Off western express highway Goregaon (east), Mumbai 4000063 India. This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160614005815/en/ Contacts: Ideal Cures Pvt. Ltd. Tel: 912242688711 Email: pareeksaryu@idealcures.co.in Web - http://www.idealcures.co.in SEATTLE, WA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/14/16 --SinglePoint Inc. (OTC: SING) engages Milost Advisors Inc. to pursue acquisitions and raise equity and debt capital facilities to fund acquisitions, as well as provide working capital. Milost Advisors, as a lead advisor, has stated they will assist Singlepoint Inc in the acquisition of undervalued companies with annual revenues in excess of $50m. Milost Advisors' senior partners have each over 20 years international investment banking experience, having worked for investment banking firms in Johannesburg, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, London and New York. In addition, they have also held corporate leadership positions in the industry and combine crossover skills in restructuring, legal advisory, capital markets, and funding activities. They will assist SinglePoint in identifying undervalued target companies for acquisition. Stated below are some of the services that the Milost Advisors team will be providing, including: Restructuring SinglePoint into a holding company Identifying prospective candidate acquisition targets Conducting due diligence Modelling, structuring and facilitating M&A transactions Raising buyer capital Raising working capital Negotiation and drafting of corporate contracts and agreements SinglePoint CEO Greg Lambrecht has signed a non-exclusive agreement with the firm and anticipates announcement of one or more identified targets in the coming days, along with an actionable plan to finance the acquisition. "I feel that we can bring significant value to shareholders, given the acquisition targets discussed with Milost Advisors and their experience in assisting with leveraged buyout opportunities that are in line with our plans to uplist to a higher market segment, should provide tremendous opportunity for all of us shareholders." SinglePoint Inc. began as a full-service mobile technology and marketing provider. Through diversification of its own model into horizontal markets, SinglePoint recognized the strength in acquiring interest in undervalued subsidiaries in other markets, such as Daily Fantasy Sports, to create a diversified holding base. We are currently exploring the benefits of taking controlling interests in undervalued cash-flow positive, yet high potential companies and assets where we have the ability to be active and influence strategy and direction. Milost Advisors is a global investment banking firm for mid to large market clients and entrepreneurs. Our team experience continues to help us to offer our clients comprehensive advisory services including M&A, capital markets, Research as well as restructuring and strategic advisory. Our senior partners have each over 20 years international investment banking experience, having worked for investment banking firms in Johannesburg, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, London and New York as well as on transactions in most geographies. In addition, they have also held corporate leadership positions in the industry. They combine cross over skills in restructuring, legal advisory, capital markets, and funding activities. The firm and its partners have a broad network in the business and funding community both locally and in other financial centres. We combine relationships with corporates with access to specialist equity and debt investors, be it private or public markets capital. We draw on these networks to craft bespoke as well as innovative financing and funding solutions free of potential conflicts. Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements in this news release may contain forward-looking information within the meaning of Rule 175 under the Securities Act of 1933 and Rule 3b-6 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and are subject to the safe harbor created by those rules. All statements, other than statements of fact, included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding potential future plans and objectives of the Company, are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Technical complications, which may arise, could prevent the prompt implementation of any strategically significant plan(s) outlined above. The Company undertakes no duty to revise or update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this release. Contact: Investor Relations SinglePoint, Inc. Greg Lambrecht 602-481-1544 The St. Regis Florence and The Westin Excelsior Florence Will Continue to be Operated by Starwood Hotels Under a Long-Term Management Contract Starwood Hotels Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:HOT) today announced that it has closed on the sale of The St. Regis Florence and The Westin Excelsior Florence to Nozul Hotels Resorts, the owner of The Gritti Palace, Venice and W Doha Hotel, and a wholly owned subsidiary of "Jaidah Holdings" for 190 million (approximately $213 million USD). Starwood will continue to operate the hotels under the St. Regis and Westin brand flags under new long-term management agreements. Thomas Mangas, Chief Executive Officer of Starwood Hotels Resorts Worldwide, Inc. said, "As we work to prepare for the close of our merger with Marriott International, we continue to vigorously compete in the market, grow our brands, and execute against our strategy to create value for Starwood's shareholders. Asset dispositions remain a key part of that strategy and, following a year where we exceeded our target, we have already disposed of nearly $500 million of assets this year, including this sale, the sale of Hotel Imperial, and the transfer of five properties as part of Vistana Signature Experiences' separation from Starwood." Simon Turner, President of Global Development for Starwood said, "The sale of The St. Regis Florence and The Westin Excelsior Florence hotels following our recent sale of The Gritti Palace in Venice to Jaidah Holdings highlights our ongoing commitment to dispose of our owned assets to the right long-term partners to create both immediate and long-term shareholder value. We see strong interest in our remaining assets from a diverse array of investors worldwide with other potential transaction discussions ongoing." Dr. Mazen Jaidah, the Executive Chairman of Jaidah Holdings stated that "Based on our long-term value creation strategy, we continue to invest in high quality assets that are resilient to market fluctuations. As with our previous acquisition in Venice, the Florence properties are destinations for their cultural and historical values." Nawaf Jaidah, the Executive Vice Chairman of Jaidah Holdings added, "We are very pleased to expand our presence in Italy with Starwood by acquiring these two beautiful properties. The addition of the St. Regis and Westin in Florence to the Gritti Palace in Venice emphasizes our commitment to establish a portfolio of trophy assets in major European destinations." "I am delighted that Jaidah Holdings have purchased these landmark Florentine assets as they have proven to be excellent owners and partners with whom we now collaborate on four wonderful hotels, including W Doha, the first W Hotel in the Middle East, and The Gritti Palace in Venice," said Michael Wale, President, Europe, Africa and the Middle East for Starwood. The St. Regis Florence was originally built in 1432 by Filippo Brunelleschi and is considered to be one of the most significant buildings in the city for its artistic and historical value. The hotel on the banks of the Arno River was converted from a Luxury Collection to a St. Regis Hotel in November 2011. It features 99 guestrooms, including 19 suites, approximately 6,500 square feet of meeting space, the Iridium Suites Spa My Blend by Clarins and three restaurants and lounges. Partially renovated in 2014 and again in 2016, The Westin Excelsior Florence features 171 rooms, including 15 suites, approximately 5,700 square feet of meeting space, a WestinWORKOUT fitness center and two food and beverage outlets, including the rooftop bar and restaurant SE-STO on Arno. About Starwood Hotels Resorts Worldwide, Inc. Starwood Hotels Resorts Worldwide, Inc. is one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world with more than 1,300 properties in some 100 countries and approximately 188,000 employees at its owned and managed properties. Starwood is a fully integrated owner, operator and franchisor of hotels, resorts and residences under the renowned brands: St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, W, Westin, Le Meridien, Sheraton, Tribute Portfolio, Four Points by Sheraton, Aloft, and Element, along with an expanded partnership with Design Hotels. The company also boasts one of the industry's leading loyalty programs, Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG). Visit www.starwoodhotels.com for more information and stay connected @starwoodbuzz on Twitter and Instagram and facebook.com/Starwood. About Jaidah Holdings Jaidah Holdings is a Qatar based conglomerate, whose main focus is the long-term investment in the sectors of energy engineering services, real estate development and hotels. In addition to The St. Regis Florence and The Westin Excelsior Florence, Jaidah Holdings also owns the W Doha Hotel Residences, the first W brand hotel in the Middle East and North Africa, and The Gritti Palace, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Venice. For more information, please visit www.jaidahholdings.com. Note: This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities regulations. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated at the time the forward-looking statements are made. Further results, performance and achievements may be affected by general economic conditions including the impact of war and terrorist activity, natural disasters, business and financing conditions (including the condition of credit markets in the U.S. and internationally), foreign exchange fluctuations, cyclicality of the real estate (including residential) and the hotel and vacation ownership businesses, operating risks associated with the hotel, vacation ownership and residential businesses, relationships with associates and labor unions, customers and property owners, the impact of the internet reservation channels, our reliance on technology, domestic and international political and geopolitical conditions, competition, governmental and regulatory actions (including the impact of changes in U.S. and foreign tax laws and their interpretation), travelers' fears of exposure to contagious diseases, risk associated with the level of our indebtedness, risk associated with potential acquisitions and dispositions and the introduction of new brand concepts and other risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties are presented in detail in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160614005833/en/ Contacts: Media: Starwood Hotels Resorts Worldwide, Inc. Carrie Bloom, 203-964-5755 carrie.bloom@starwoodhotels.com TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 06/14/16 -- Oban Mining Corporation (TSX: OBM) ("Osisko" or the "Corporation") announces that it has changed its name to "Osisko Mining Inc." (the "Name Change"). The Corporation has adopted the name "Osisko Mining Inc.", and will formalize its re-branding initiatives in the near future, to reflect the evolution of the Corporation since the beginning of 2015 as a result of its consolidation activities in Ontario and Quebec. The original Osisko Mining Corporation earned international recognition with the successes of its exploration and development team - a team that included several current members of the Corporation's board and senior management - crowned by the discovery, development and operation of the Canadian Malartic mine in the Abitibi region of north-western Quebec, until the joint acquisition of Osisko Mining Corporation in June 2014 by Agnico Eagle Mines Limited and Yamana Gold Inc. The Corporation wishes to reintroduce the Osisko Mining name to the mining and investment communities to better reflect the Corporation's current management, board and technical teams that were responsible for much of the success of the original Osisko Mining Corporation, and the highly prospective mineral project portfolio in Quebec and Ontario that management believes will allow the Corporation to continue the fulfilment both of the Corporation's potential and its commitments to all of its stakeholders. At the annual and special meeting of shareholders of the Corporation held on June 7, 2016, shareholders of the Corporation representing approximately 98.99% of the votes cast on the matter overwhelmingly approved the special resolution to change the name of the Corporation from "Oban Mining Corporation" to "Osisko Mining Inc.". Subject to Toronto Stock Exchange ("TSX") approval, it is expected that the common shares of the Corporation will commence trading on the TSX under the Corporation's new name and new stock symbol "OSK" at the opening of business on or about June 21, 2016. It is also expected that, subject to TSX approval, the common share purchase warrants of the Corporation which trade on the TSX under the symbol "OBM.WT" will commence trading on the TSX under the new symbol "OSK.WT" at the opening of business on or about June 21, 2016. About Osisko Mining Inc. Osisko is a mineral exploration company focused on the acquisition, exploration, and development of precious metal resource properties in Canada. Osisko holds a 100% in the high-grade Windfall Lake gold deposit located between Val-d'Or and Chibougamau in Quebec and holds a 100% undivided interest in a large area of claims in the surrounding Urban Barry area (82,400 hectares), a 100% interest in the Marban project located in the heart of Quebec's prolific Abitibi gold mining district, and properties in the Larder Lake Mining Division in northeast Ontario, including the Jonpol and Garrcon deposits on the Garrison property, the Buffonta past producing mine and the Gold Pike mine property. The Corporation also holds interests and options in a number of additional properties in northern Ontario. Osisko is well financed with approximately $74 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of the applicable Canadian securities legislation that is based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. The information in this news release about the re-branding of the Corporation; management's beliefs about the Corporation's mineral projects; the timing relating to the trading of the common shares and common share purchase warrants of the Corporation under the Corporation's new name and any new trading symbols; and any other information herein that is not a historical fact may be "forward-looking information". Any statement that involves discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as "expects", or "does not expect", "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans", "budget", "scheduled", "forecasts", "estimates", "believes" or "intends" or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results "may" or "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking information and are intended to identify forward-looking information. This forward-looking information is based on reasonable assumptions and estimates of management of Osisko, at the time it was made, involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Osisko to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such factors include, among others, risks relating to property interests; ability of Osisko to complete further exploration activities, including drilling; the results of exploration activities; risks relating to mining activities; the global economic climate; metal prices; dilution; environmental risks; and community and non-governmental actions. Although the forward-looking information contained in this news release is based upon what management believes, or believed at the time, to be reasonable assumptions, Osisko cannot assure shareholders and prospective purchasers that actual results will be consistent with such forward-looking information, as there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended, and neither Osisko nor any other person assumes responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of any such forward-looking information. Osisko does not undertake, and assumes no obligation, to update or revise any such forward-looking statements or forward-looking information contained herein to reflect new events or circumstances, except as may be required by law. Contacts: John Burzynski President and Chief Executive Officer (416) 363-8653 MILWAUKEE, WI--(Marketwired - June 14, 2016) - Midwest nonprofit IFF surpassed providing $100 million in loans and new markets tax credits to Wisconsin nonprofits and affordable housing developers since bringing its financial and real estate services to the state in 2006. In honor of this milestone, IFF will hold a celebration Tuesday, June 21, from 4:30 to 7 p.m. at St. Ann Center for Intergenerational Care's Bucryus Campus in Milwaukee at 2450 W. North Ave. "We made our first loan to Seeds of Health and have financed nearly $9 million in capital projects for the school over the years -- a testament to the longstanding relationships we form in the community," IFF CEO Joe Neri said. "While reaching a $100 million milestone in Wisconsin, we remain committed to making a difference in neighborhoods in Milwaukee and across the state." In Wisconsin, IFF has made nearly 130 loans to organizations including CORE/El Centro in Milwaukee; Globe Apartments in Watertown; Jewish Family Services in Brown Deer; and Partnership Community Health Center in Appleton. With lending and real estate staff in its Milwaukee office, IFF continues to enhance the expertise and resources for nonprofits in such sectors as affordable housing; arts and culture; child care; and public charter schools and private schools in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program. IFF recently financed the following projects in Milwaukee: Gerald L. Ignace Indian Health Center -- $3.4 million loan to acquire and renovate a new home for the health center Guest House of Milwaukee -- $1.5 million in loans to expand its shelter for homeless men Next Door -- $1 million in loans to acquire and renovate an additional early education center and refinance existing debt Sojourner Family Peace Center -- $10 million in NMTCs to build a domestic violence shelter with multiple services under one roof St. Ann Center for Intergenerational Care -- $10 million in NMTCs and a $1.5 million loan to build a second facility on Milwaukee's south side "Through consistent leadership, IFF has developed a solid track record of providing opportunities that help neighborhoods flourish and grow," said Wyman Winston, executive director of the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority. "I congratulate IFF, a valued WHEDA partner, for its incredible achievements and quality work in the state of Wisconsin." About IFF IFF is a mission-driven lender, real estate consultant and developer that helps communities thrive by creating opportunities for low-income populations and individuals with disabilities. From child care to senior housing, IFF works closely with clients from every sector, offering affordable, flexible financing; full-scale real estate consulting; and community development services. Since 1988, we have made over $620 million in loans, leveraged $1.7 billion in community investments and grown our total managed assets to $498 million. CONTACT: Jose Cerda III jcerda@iff.org 312-629-0060 GRANDE PRAIRIE, AB--(Marketwired - June 14, 2016) - ANGKOR GOLD CORP. (TSX VENTURE: ANK) ("ANGKOR") is pleased to announce that it has entered into a Joint Exploration Agreement ("JEA") with Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation ("JOGMEC") to explore ANGKOR's 100% owned Oyadao South license. The agreement gives JOGMEC the option right to acquire 51% of the Oyadao South license for a total investment of US$3 million in exploration expenditures over a 3 year period. The JEA will be executed after necessary procedure according to the Cambodian related regulation. JOGMEC's mandate is to invest in early-stage exploration projects around the world to secure viable future natural resources for Japan's growing economy. "We have worked tirelessly to secure the most appropriate partner to bring this copper/ gold/moly porphyry prospect on Oyadao forward," stated Mike Weeks, CEO and President of ANGKOR. He continued, "JOGMEC's reputation is second to none. We are keen to work with them and to further identify and explore additional targets. JOGMEC illustrates great confidence by assigning ANGKOR as operator; we will combine the best expertise from both teams to fast-track this project." "This news is particularly gratifying to me," stated Dr. Adrian Mann, former VP of Geology for ANGKOR. He continued, "Seven years ago, when Mike Weeks and I first started exploration in Cambodia, this was the vision we saw. The country was then (and still is) obviously underexplored; and, despite being contrary to conventional wisdom, we could see that there was every potential for a major mineral occurrence on the ground Angkor Gold then acquired. That this view is now shared by a serious, major international mining investor like JOGMEC is vindication of that faith. It is also a testament to the years of hard grinding work put in by the field staff of Angkor Gold, to their loyalty to the vision, and to the incredible tenacity and ingenuity displayed by that team." Upon aggregate expenditure of US$3 million by JOGMEC, JOGMEC will be granted the option right to acquire an indirect initial 51% interest in the Oyadao South license. From that point on, JOGMEC and ANGKOR will fund the project expenditures on a pro-rata basis. "The Halo Prospect, within Oyadao South, is a very large copper/gold/molybdenum hydrothermal porphyry system and is the cornerstone of ANGKOR's top prospects," stated JP Dau, VP of Operations for ANGKOR. He continued, "Working alongside JOGMEC's geological team, we will grow exceptional value from the Oyadao South license and this partnership. We continue to work towards building a suite of long-term revenue streams for the company." Key Highlights: JOGMEC has been granted the option right to earn a 51% in the Oyadao South Project located in the Kingdom of Cambodia and will fund US$3.0 million during the Farm-In Period of 3 years or less. During the Farm-In Period, ANGKOR shall conduct all exploration activities on behalf of the Parties and JOGMEC shall fund 100% of the Programs. During the Pro Rata Funding Period, each Party shall fund the cost thereof in proportion to its existing actual and deemed entitlement to a Participating Interest in the Joint Venture If the Participating Interest in the Joint Venture of any Party is diluted to less than 15%, then such Non-Participant will no longer be a party to the Joint Venture, and will be automatically converted to a 1.5% NSR. At such time, the other Party may at any time purchase 0.5% of the NSR out of 1.5% at a one-time cash payment of US$1,500,000. "In addition to our work commitments with JOGMEC, ANGKOR has plans to focus its 2016-17 work programs on another key property, Andong Meas," stated Kurtis Dunstone, Senior Project Manager and QP for ANGKOR. "We have already identified 5 significant gold anomalies on the Andong Meas license and believe there's significant opportunity for more given the geology and historical small-scale workings across the area." "Today's announcement ensures that ANGKOR's project generation model continues to expand as JOGMEC is keen to look at other potential opportunities alongside ANGKOR that may be present in Cambodia," claimed Weeks. In addition, ANGKOR's management has been working in concert with MESCO Gold to finalize the issuance of MESCO's mining license for the Phum Syarung mine, a milestone for the entire mineral sector of Cambodia. "MESCO has shown that Cambodia has the makings of a viable, world-class mining sector, and there are many serious players looking in from the sidelines," stated Weeks. The QP for this release, which he wrote and approved, is Kurtis Dunstone, BSc Geology, Senior Project Manager for ANGKOR. Mr. Dunstone has fifteen years post graduate mining and global exploration industry experience, across Australia, Canada, Papua New Guinea and Cambodia, and is a current member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists. ANGKOR's seven exploration licences in the Kingdom of Cambodia cover 1,448 km 2 , which the company has been actively exploring over the past 6 years. The company has now covered all tenements with stream sediment geochemical sampling; the company has flown low level aeromagnetic surveys over most of the ground; drilled 21,855 metres of NQ core in 190 holes; and has collected in excess of 110,000 termite mound, and 'B' and 'C' zone soil samples in over 20 centres of interest over a combined area of over 140km 2 , in addition to numerous trenches and detailed geological field mapping. Exploration on all tenements is ongoing. About ANGKOR GOLD CORP. ANGKOR Gold Corp. is a public company listed on the TSX-Venture Exchange, is Cambodia's premier gold explorer with a significantly large land package and a first-mover advantage with excellent relationships at all levels of Government (local to national). About JOGMEC JOGMEC was established in February 2004, following the integration of the former Japan National Oil Corporation and Metal Mining Agency of Japan. It is an Independent Administrative Agency under the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, with a mandate of investing in exploration minerals projects worldwide to help secure a stable supply of natural resources for Japanese industry. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This press release contains forward-looking statements or information (collectively referred to herein as "forward-looking statements") relating to the option agreement for the Oyadao South license. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance or developments to differ materially from those contained in the statements and are not guarantees of future performance of the Company. No assurance can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will occur or, if they do occur, what benefits the Company will obtain from them. These forward-looking statements reflect management's current views and are based on certain expectations, estimates and assumptions which may prove to be incorrect. A number of risks and uncertainties could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including: (1) a downturn in general economic and business conditions in Cambodia and internationally, (2) the inherent uncertainties and speculative nature associated with mineral exploration, development and production, (3) the price of and demand for minerals and their effect on the economics of mineral exploration, (4) any number of events or causes which may delay or cease exploration and development of the Company's property interests, such as environmental liabilities, weather, mechanical failures, safety concerns and labour problems, (5) inability to finance operations and growth, (6) the Joint Exploration Agreement may not be completed for a number of reasons including factors beyond the Company's control. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of the Company's assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary in material respects from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of risks, uncertainties and other factors is not exhaustive. Unpredictable or unknown factors not discussed could also have material adverse effects on forward-looking statements. The impact of any one factor on a particular forward-looking statement is not determinable with certainty as such factors are dependent on other factors, and the Company's course of action would depend on its assessment of the future considering all information then available. All forward-looking statements in this press release are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements. Except as required by law, the Company assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements should circumstances or management's estimates or opinions change. THESE SECURITIES HAVE NOT BEEN, AND WILL NOT BE, REGISTERED UNDER THE UNITED STATES SECURITIES ACT OF 1933, AS AMENDED, OR ANY STATE SECURITIES LAWS. Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/6/14/11G102759/Images/Oyadao_South_Prospect_Map-2f37faa9c6fd93588109a30a8bcf5309.jpg Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/6/14/11G102759/Images/Andong_Meas_Map-2e6e80984322b06eb405d1161229d168.jpg FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: ANGKOR GOLD CORP. Stephen Burega, Vice President of Corporate Development Telephone: (647) 515-3734 Email: sb@angkorgold.ca SASKATOON, SASKATCHEWAN -- (Marketwired) -- 06/14/16 -- Western Economic Diversification Canada The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development and Minister responsible for Western Economic Diversification Canada, announced funding of $15,000 to support the University of Saskatchewan's Global Institute for Food Security as they deliver the 2016 Emerging Technologies for Global Food Security Conference this week. The Global Institute for Food Security is focussed on enabling innovation, multidisciplinary research, training and technology development to achieve sustainable crop production, enhanced human and animal nutrition and a prosperous bio-economy in Western Canada. Stakeholders will collaborate to improve agricultural productivity through innovation in bio-science, crop breeding, genomics, and clean technologies that focus on bio-materials, carbon and greenhouse gas reduction, and other innovative practices. Quotes "The Government of Canada is committed to supporting emerging technologies in agricultural research. Participants in the Emerging Technologies for Global Food Security Conference will contribute to discovery science and innovation in the agriculture and agri-food sectors that will help feed the world for generations to come." - The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development and Minister responsible for Western Economic Diversification Canada "The Global Institute for Food Security is pleased to have Western Economic Diversification involved in bringing international researchers, and policy makers to Saskatchewan to discuss how to mobilize advances in agricultural research to the developing world. Canada is a leader in global food production and in agricultural research, and this is a problem worthy of the truly global conversation that we're facilitating here." - Dr. Maurice Moloney, CEO and Executive Director, The Global Institute for Food Security at the University of Saskatchewan Additional Links - Emerging Technologies for Global Food Security Conference - Global Institute for Food Security - University of Saskatchewan Subscribe to news releases and keep up-to-date on the latest from WD. Follow us on Twitter at @WD_Canada. IF THERE IS A DISCREPANCY BETWEEN ANY PRINTED VERSION AND THE ELECTRONIC VERSION OF THIS NEWS RELEASE, THE ELECTRONIC VERSION WILL PREVAIL. Contacts: Rhonda Laing Director, Policy, Planning and External Relations Western Economic Diversification Canada 306-975-5944 rhonda.laing@canada.ca Sara Alexander Director, Marketing & Stakeholder Relations Global Institute for Food Security 306-250-9910 sara.alexander@gifs.ca WD Toll-Free Number: 1-888-338-WEST (9378) Teletypewriter (TTY): 1-877-303-3388 Website: WD is online at www.wd-deo.gc.ca TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 06/14/16 -- CST Trust Company (CST) and its affiliates hosted their second annual Executive Forum meeting last week in Toronto at the Ritz Carlton hotel. Clients, partners and industry experts attended the event, which featured several educational sessions. The keynote speakers included Andrew Grantham, Senior Economist, CIBC Capital Markets and Wendel Clark, former Team Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs. "We were very pleased with the turnout at our second annual forum," commented Margot Jordan, President and Chief Executive Officer of CST. "The event allows us to personally connect with our clients and partners. This interaction and feedback is critical to driving growth and a key component to our company initiatives." The Executive Forum is an event for CST's clients and partners that serves as both an educational and networking platform. The program offers informational sessions on prevalent industry topics and issues, as well as several opportunities for attendees to connect with their industry peers. "The Executive Forum was great on many levels," said Dexter John, Executive Vice President of D.F. King. "Attendees had a wonderful time sharing best practices and industry knowledge. The Forum provided a great combination of educational components in a social atmosphere." About CST Headquartered in Canada, with offices in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver, CST Trust Company (CST) provides issuers global solutions through local access points. CST and its affiliate, American Stock Transfer & Trust Company (AST), provide comprehensive stock transfer and employee plan services to more than 8,000 public issues and over five million shareholders. Together, CST and AST serve clients located throughout North America that range in size from initial public offerings to Fortune 100 companies. The organization provides fully integrated services to financial market participants around the globe. Contacts: CST Trust Company 888.444.0055 www.canstockta.com WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - In a major speech within hours of the deadly mass shooting in Orlando, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has outlined a radical rewriting of U.S. counterterrorism policy. The speech on terrorism, immigration and national security also responded to criticism from his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. Trump began by saying that this was going to be a speech on how bad a President would Hillary Clinton be, but he would deliver it later, and focus on the growing threat of terrorism inside US borders. The GOP candidate said, if elected, he would suspend immigration from 'areas of the world where there's a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe or our allies, until we fully understand how to end these threats.' He stressed the need to control the amount of future immigration into this country to prevent large pockets of radicalization from forming inside America. He told the gathering at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at St. Anselm's College that he will not allow America to become a place where gay people, Christian people, and Jewish people, are the targets of persecution and intimidation by Radical Islamic preachers of hate and violence. Hillary Clinton's catastrophic immigration plan will bring vastly more Radical Islamic immigration into this country, threatening not only our security but our way of life, according to Trump. He questioned the Clinton plan to admit hundreds of thousands of refugees from the Middle East with no system to vet them, or to prevent the radicalization of their children. He insisted that its time to change the US foreign policy. Trump noted that the decision to overthrow the regime in Libya, then pushing for the overthrow of the regime in Syria, among other things, without plans for the day after, have created space for ISIS to expand and grow. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de Technavio has announced the top five leading vendors in their recentoral care market in APACreport. This research report also lists 11 other prominent vendors that are expected to impact the market during the forecast period. Competitive vendor landscape The oral care market in APAC is intensely competitive with a few large- and medium-size players accounting for a significant share of the market. Private label players also operate in the market. However, with the growing presence of international players, regional vendors find it increasingly difficult to compete in terms of pricing. According to Brijesh Kumar Choubey, a lead analyst at Technavio for research oncosmetics and toiletries, "The key market players compete in terms of quality, pricing, and innovation. New product innovations are a commonly used strategy to maintain the demand in the market. These vendors also depend on market conditions, government support, and industry development for growth. The market is expected to be more competitive during the forecast period, with several product launches, price discounting, and mergers and acquisitions." The report highlights Colgate-Palmolive as the largest player in the market in 2015. The company's oral care segment contributed approximately 47% of the company's global revenue in 2015. The majority of the sales in its APAC segment comes from Asia, which generated 86% of the net sales in 2015. The increase in organic sales in 2015 was driven primarily by demand for toothpaste, manual toothbrushes, and mouthwashes. Request for sample report: http://goo.gl/PzMR1n Top five oral care market vendors in APAC Colgate-Palmolive Colgate-Palmolive was founded in 1923 and is headquartered in New York, US. The company designs, manufactures, and markets consumer products in the oral, personal, and home care, and pet nutrition segments. In FY2015, it reported revenue of USD 16.03 billion. As of December 2015, the company had 37,900 employees. The company manufactures and markets oral care products such as toothpaste and toothbrushes. Its principal products in the toothpaste category include Colgate Total, Colgate Sensitive Pro-Relief, Colgate Optic White, and Colgate Luminous White. Its key toothbrush products include Colgate 360, Colgate Slim Soft manual toothbrush, and Colgate Optic White. The segment also offers Colgate Plax mouthwash and other dental pharmaceutical products. GlaxoSmithKline GlaxoSmithKline was founded in 1999 as a result of a merger between SmithKline Beecham and Glaxo Wellcome. The company is headquartered in Middlesex, UK. It manufactures and markets pharmaceutical products worldwide. In FY2015, the company reported USD 36.46 billion in revenue. Johnson Johnson Johnson Johnson was incorporated in 1887 and is headquartered in New Brunswick, New Jersey, US. The company, along with its subsidiaries manufactures and sells an extensive range of products in the healthcare and consumer industries. As of December 2015, it had approximately 126,100 employees across the world. The company spent USD 9 billion on R&D in FY2015. It reported net revenue of USD 74.33 billion in FY2014 and USD 70.07 billion in FY2015. Procter Gamble (P&G) P&G was founded in 1837 and is headquartered in Ohio, US. The company offers consumer products through high-frequency stores, grocery stores, e-commerce platforms, membership club stores, department stores, drugstores, and mass merchandisers. In FY2015, the company reported revenue of USD 76.27 billion. As of June 2015, it had 110,000 employees. Unilever Unilever was established in 1894 and is headquartered in London, UK. The company provides foods, beverages, cleaning agents, and personal care products. As of December 2015, the company had 171,000 employees. In 2015, it reported revenue of USD 59.09 billion. The company's products in the market include Close-Up and Pepsodent. Browse Related Reports: Global Oral Hygiene Market 2016-2020 Global Teeth Whitening Products Market 2015-2019 Global Electric Toothbrush Market Study 2015-2019 Purchase these three reports for the price of one by becoming a Technavio subscriber. Subscribing to Technavio's reports allows you to download any three reports per month for the price of one. Contact enquiry@technavio.com with your requirements and a link to our subscription platform. About Technavio Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies. Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users. If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at media@technavio.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160614005069/en/ Contacts: Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media Marketing Executive US: +1 630 333 9501 UK: +44 208 123 1770 www.technavio.com FREDERICK, MD--(Marketwired - June 14, 2016) - College H.U.N.K.S. Hauling Junk and Moving -- which has been featured on "Blue Collar Millionaire," "Shark Tank," and other primetime shows -- has expanded into Frederick. The company provides local moving, junk removal, donation pickups and more. Dana Burton will lead the H.U.N.K.S. team. (H.U.N.K.S. stands for Honest, Uniformed, Nice, Knowledgeable Service.) She is a 55-year-old former project manager with an MBA from the University of Maryland, and has called the area home since 1985. The junk removal and moving business will serve New Market, Mt. Airy, Woodbine, Cooksville, Sykesville, Ellicott City, Columbia and Clarksville, in addition to many other cities and towns in Frederick and Howard counties. Professional service Burton decided to open a College H.U.N.K.S. moving and junk removal business after leaving a career as a project manager in the aviation industry. She was impressed by the company's professionalism, its commitment to incredible stress-free customer service and its entrepreneurial ethos, which encourages team members to be much more than brawn by offering them opportunities to learn about marketing, accounting, customer service and management. She's excited to help build leaders, especially by providing a launch platform to highly motivated individuals who have great attitudes but haven't had a lot of opportunities. "College H.U.N.K.S. Hauling Junk and moving is a place where you can learn about business, marketing and customer service and get some ideas to help you build the next phase of your life," Burton says. College H.U.N.K.S. employees are encouraged to move up the ranks and to learn entrepreneurial skills so they can become a general manager or own their own business one day. "I want you to succeed in life, not just as a College H.U.N.K.S. employee." Putting a "WOW" in moving and junk removal Barton's career also included a stint working at CitiBank, where she was part of a team that was focused on creating what she calls a "customer service factory" -- a regimented process for anticipating customer needs and delivering consistently outstanding service. One of the remarkable things about College H.U.N.K.S., which she is eager for customers to experience, is the way the company has brought high-level customer service to the moving and junk removal industry. Barton's business is open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday. You can reach her at (410) 246-1530 or http://locations.collegehunkshaulingjunk.com/md/frederick.html. To learn more about College H.U.N.K.S. Hauling Junk franchise opportunities, visit www.collegehunksfranchise.com. Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/6/13/11G102585/Images/20160510_142921-cd39a12452e9aed99b80efb9b14eb95f.jpg Embedded Video Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mry7vNbXPpQ Embedded Video Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZLNFSMSELM College H.U.N.K.S. Hauling Junk 866-766-0540 Danielle Wright Kimble Danielle.wright@chhj.com Frank Morrison frank.morrison@chhj.com MISSION, KS -- (Marketwired) -- 06/14/16 -- (Family Features) Consumers today increasingly rely on connected devices to research products and services before making purchases -- so it's no secret that small businesses need to focus more of their marketing resources than ever before on online strategies. As the journey from consumer query to purchase becomes more complex -- incorporating multiple devices, websites, apps and offline activities -- so too do the options for tracking consumer behavior and leveraging online media for targeted advertising. There are companies today specializing in almost every aspect of online marketing, leaving business owners with a dizzying array of options. For many the question is not the value of online marketing, but rather where to start and how much they need to do to accomplish their marketing objectives. Fortunately, there are some foundational activities that are effective, manageable and comprise an important starting point for leveraging digital media to grow your business. Here are four basics you can focus on right now to promote your business and grow your customer base online: Mobile mindset Mobile is quickly becoming the device of choice for consumers to search the web. According to research by International Data Corporation on behalf of YP, nearly one in three consumers uses two or more devices when looking for information about products and services; and in 2015, Google announced that it receives more searches from smartphones and tablets than from computers. Yet many businesses are slow to adapt. If your website is difficult to navigate from a mobile device, you can lose business to your competitors -- especially since mobile searches are often about more than finding information. Consumers are using their mobile phones to take action after visiting a site, including calling a business, checking store hours and mapping directions. Make sure your site is mobile-friendly and easy to use from a variety of devices so you don't miss out on potential customers. Simple search Search marketing is a powerful tool to drive quality leads. At minimum, you need to optimize your web presence to make sure people who are looking for the types of products and services you sell can find you through the major search engines. After that, you can supplement your organic search engine traffic with paid search ads during peak seasons, special promotions or when you have budget to invest. In any case, the first step is to form a clear vision of your target consumers and the keywords that drive searches in your industry. For additional ideas, consult others, such as customers, relatives, competitor websites and industry news. The time and money you invest in search marketing can be undermined if you neglect the basics such as making sure your company contact information is accurate, consistent and easy to find on your website, in online directories and anywhere else your business appears on the web. Think about what makes your life easier when you're searching for a product or service that you need and then strive to provide that same experience on your own website. Social graces Social media is a great platform to connect and engage with potential customers. The key to making it work for your business is to listen first. Look for social media groups related to your industry, the services or products you provide, or the interests of your target consumers, and observe conversations to find out what's important to the people you need to reach. Avoid promoting your business in these settings, but look for opportunities to add value and expertise to the discussion. In time, this will help to build a community of followers. Keep in mind that each social media channel has its own rules and user base, and not all may be a fit for your business. Find the channel(s) that makes the most sense for you and your business, and be sure to incorporate social links in all of your marketing efforts to further grow your network. Content and character In the age of information, every small business needs to be a content publisher. Good content serves many purposes, from attracting higher search engine rankings to helping prospects choose your products or services, and reinforcing your brand. A good start is to look for opportunities to educate and share your expertise. How-to videos, FAQs or links to informative resources about your industry are great ways to add value and encourage people to come back to your website. Other content, such as seasonal greeting videos or stories about work you're doing in the community, may serve to humanize your brand and build authentic connections with your customers. Does a local business really need a website? When your business is primarily focused on local clients and you don't sell products online, you may wonder whether your business even needs a website. The answer is unequivocally yes. Websites are how local businesses get found via directories and search engines. It's the "home base" for pertinent information about your business, including hours, location, products, services and more. Remember that keeping your website information current and correct is extremely important. Inaccurate information can get picked up by other sites and directories, which, in turn, makes it harder for your potential customers to find and engage with your business. Summit fuels growth For business owners looking to grow their businesses, the Local Breakthrough Summit organized by YP may deliver the knowledge and tools they need. The series of nationwide events brings together leaders in digital marketing, including Bing, Google, Verve and Yahoo, while also giving small business owners the opportunity to share best practices and gain insights about their communities. For more information on YP's Local Breakthrough Summit, visit adsolutions.yp.com/breakthroughsummit. About Family Features Editorial Syndicate Established in 1974, Family Features is a leading provider of free food and lifestyle content for print and online publications. Our articles, photos, videos and web content solutions save you time, money and help create advertising opportunities. Registration is fast and free -- with absolutely no obligation. Visit editors.familyfeatures.com for more information. Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3021641 Michael French mfrench@familyfeatures.com 1-888-824-3337 editors.familyfeatures.com WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - As voters in Washington, D.C. go to the polls for the final Democratic primary contest, Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is due to meet with presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton. The meeting between the two candidates in Washington on Tuesday comes as Sanders is facing increasing pressure to drop out of the race. Clinton secured the delegates needed to clinch the nomination in last week's primaries and is now seen as the likely Democratic nominee. In an appearance on NBC's 'Meet the Press' on Sunday, Sanders indicated he would use the meeting to determine whether Clinton supports a platform that benefits working families, addresses climate change and takes on Wall Street. 'After we have that kind of discussion and after we can determine whether or not we are going to have a strong progressive platform, I will be able to make other decisions,' Sanders said The meeting between Sanders and Clinton comes after the Vermont Senator met with President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden last week. A Clinton campaign official said the former Secretary of State called Sanders last Tuesday to set up the meeting. 'She looks forward to the opportunity to discuss how they can advance their shared commitment to a progressive agenda, and work together to stop Donald Trump in the general election,' the official said. In addition to the meeting with Clinton, Sanders is also scheduled to meet with Senate Democrats during their weekly luncheon. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. DUBAI, UAE and SYDNEY, June 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Innovative Qurban (Adahi) Solutions and Halal Relief in Syria made possible by Tayyib Ready to Eat Meals. Muslim Aid Australia, established in 1989 and projects in 50 countries, has chosen Saahtain Foods to manufacture ready to eat meals for its 2016 Qurban (Adahi) project. Saahtain Foods is the regions first and only manufacturer of Halal Ready to Eat meals. Tayyib is the world's first Halal Brand for Humanitarian and Disaster sector. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160613/378522 ) One key driver for Muslim Aid Australia for partnering with Saahtain Foods is the highest international standards of food safety and quality as well as the overall reputation of the food industry in the United Arab Emirates. The animals will be sourced locally and regionally, giving boost to local and regional businesses. The by-products of the sacrificial animal such as wool, skin, etc are sold separately to generate funds that result in sustainable cost effective price for Muslim Aid Australia. As UAE is the hub of humanitarian efforts and Halal certified meat and other products, this partnership and delivery of food aid, has created an effective and efficient food supply chain that will serve the humanitarian sector in most part of the world. Saahtain Foods leads in the competitive advantage over other supplier due to its Halal authentication, culturally sensitive meals and strategic location to provide Halal Relief. Muslim Aid Australia sent tens of thousands of highly nutritional chicken and beans based Tayyib Ready to Eat Meals to Aleppo in April 2016 where they were distributed among the most vulnerable. Their ground work in Aleppo highlighted the fact that the daily struggle to source basic food and to live a marginal life continues for the people of Syria. About Saahtain Foods LLC Saahtain is a UAE based producer of 100% halal meals that are ready to eat, nutritious and produced in the UAE. Our aim is to provide high quality, tasty, balanced and nutritious food to our customers. We service a wide customer base globally in this sector. Our products offer convenience to food service, institutional catering, disaster food relief, Hajj pilgrimage and military rations. In addition, we also support individual donors and corporations in their philanthropic and CSR efforts. About Muslim Aid Australia Muslim Aid Australia is an international relief and development agency working to support and assist the world's poorest and most needy communities regardless of race, creed or nationality. Muslim Aid Australia supports projects in over 50 countries spanning Africa, Asia, and Europe. By responding quickly to emergencies, Muslim Aid Australia provides relief to survivors of natural disasters, and human-caused disasters (war, civil-strife, displacement). Muslim Aid Australia also undertakes long-term development projects on education and training, provision of clean water and healthcare, and re-establishing livelihoods to break cycles of endemic poverty. Toll free: +1-800-100-786 Phone: +61-2-8016-9500 E-Mail:mail@muslimaid.org.au Contact Zahra Mahmood press@saahtain.com P O Box 6701, Dubai, United Arab Emirates Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 14, 2016) - American CuMo Mining Corporation (TSXV: MLY) (OTC Pink: MLYCF) ("CuMoCo" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has agreed to appoint Mr. He Yu, President and CEO of MCC8 Capital Limited, as Non-Executive Chairman of Idaho CuMo Mining Corporation. Mr. He's role will be to represent Idaho CuMo Mining in China and to provide project management services for accessing large Chinese financial institutions and private investors for funding, and for strategic off-take sales agreements. Mr. He earned his LL.B and Juris Doctor (JD) equivalent degrees from two of the most prestigious law schools in China respectively and graduated from a Post-JD Program at Harvard University. Mr. He's background with MCC8 Capital Limited has been as the Co-Founder and Managing Director in Hong Kong since April 2011 to date. MCC8 Capital (http://www.chinamcc8.com) is the investment banking arm of MCC8 Group Company Limited (MCC8 Group) - a Multi-Billion USD mining and infrastructure development company, managing over one billion USD of capital from a diverse group of Chinese investors, including private equity, mining, real estate, clean technology, structured investment and project finance, and asset management. MCC8 Group is formerly a division of Jinchuan Group (JNMC), the world's top three nickel, cobalt and copper multinational. Since January 2008, Mr. He has been a Director of ZTE-Lemna Environmental Protection Co., Ltd., China. ZTE Corporation is a 16 Billion USD company and a global-leader provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions. With operations in 160 countries, the company is a leader in technology innovation, delivering superior products and business solutions to clients all over the world. CuMoCo's President and CEO Shaun Dykes stated: "We are very pleased to have Mr. He join our highly experienced team in Idaho. Mr. He has extensive worldwide experience in construction and project financing and I am confident that he will prove to be an invaluable asset for our Company and for the CuMo Project." Mr. Shaun M. Dykes, M.Sc. (Eng), P.Geo., President and CEO of the Company is the designated qualified person for the CuMo Project, and prepared the technical information contained in this news release. About CuMoCo CuMoCo is focused on advancing its CuMo Project towards feasibility and establishing itself as one of the largest and lowest-cost molybdenum producers in the world as well as a significant producer of copper and silver. Management is continuing to build an even stronger foundation from which to move the Company and the CuMo Project forward. For more information, please visit www.cumoco.com and www.cumoproject.com For further information, please contact: American CuMo Mining Corporation Shaun Dykes, President and Chief Executive Officer Tel: (604) 689-7902 Email: info@cumoco.com Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this new release. Forward-looking information This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation including, but not limited to, statements that address activities, events or developments that the Company expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future, such as the Company's ability to successfully negotiate the Definitive Agreement with the Chinese Partners, the Company's ability to move the CuMo Project through development to feasibility and production, and for the Company to become one of the largest and lowest-cost molybdenum producers in the world as well as a significant producer of copper and silver. Forward-looking information is based on a number of material factors and assumptions, including the result of exploration activities, the ability of the Company to raise the financing for a feasibility study and to put the CuMo project into production, that no labour shortages or delays are experienced, that plant and equipment function as specified that the Court will not intervene with the Company's proposed exploration activities at the CuMo Project, and the ability of the Company to obtain all requisite permits and licenses to advance the CuMo Project and eventually bring it into production. Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, future events, conditions, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future prediction, projection or forecast expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such factors include, among others, the interpretation and actual results of current exploration activities; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; future prices of molybdenum, silver and copper; possible variations in grade or recovery rates; labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry; delays in obtaining governmental approvals or financing, as well as those factors disclosed in the Company's publicly filed documents, including the Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis for the period ended March 31, 2016. There may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information. NEW YORK, June 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Surging Automotive Sales and Favorable Trade Environment Anticipated to Drive Sales of Tire in Philippines Through 2021 According to TechSci Research report, "Philippines Tire Market Forecast & Opportunities, 2021", the country's tire market is forecast to cross $ 900 million by 2021. Major factors positively influencing demand for tires in the Philippines include rapid infrastructure development, implementation of favorable policies by the government coupled with growing disposable income of vehicle owners, which increased from US $ 6,890 in 2011 to US $ 8,450 in 2014. Moreover, rising vehicle sales in the country on the back of introduction of a wide variety of new vehicle models in the domestic market, is anticipated to fuel growth in demand for tires in the country over the next five years. With a volume share of over 50% in the Philippines tire market, two-wheeler tire segment dominated the overall tire market in the Philippines in 2015, followed by commercial vehicle tires and passenger car tires. Due to availability of the easy finance options, demand for two-wheelers as well as passenger cars in the country grew during 2011-2015. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140117/663730 ) Browse 15 market data Tables and 23 Figures spread through100 Pages and an in-depth TOC on "Philippines Tire Market " http://www.techsciresearch.com/report/philippines-tire-market-forecast-and-opportunities-2021/696.html As of 2015, tire market in the Philippines was majorly concentrated in three provinces, i.e. National Capital region, Southern Tagalog region and Central Luzon region. With a cumulative volume share of more than 55% in 2015 in the Philippines tire market, these regions dominated the country's tire market and a similar trend is expected to continue during 2016-2021. Moreover, with implementation of the Motor Vehicle Development Plan (MVDP), OEMs are being offered various incentives, as well as tax and other fiscal benefits to establish automotive manufacturing / assembling plants in the country, on the back of which, a growing number of companies are setting up their assembling plants in the Philippines. Few of the leading tire manufacturing companies operating in the country include Bridgestone, Goodyear, Yokohama, Michelin, Toyo, Kumho, Cheng Shin, Zhongce Rubber, Federal, etc. However, as only one tire manufacturing facility is present in the country, the domestic demand for tires in the Philippines is majorly met through imports. Download Sample Report @ http://www.techsciresearch.com/sample-report.aspx?cid=696 Customers can also request for 10% free customization on this report. "With surging GDP, Philippines is expected to attract huge foreign investments in the coming years. Moreover, government spending on the country's construction as well as infrastructure sector is expected to grow through 2021. With anticipated growth in the country's infrastructure sector, demand for commercial vehicles is expected to increase in the coming years, which is forecast to further boost sales of tires in the country over next five years.", said Mr. Karan Chechi, Research Director with TechSci Research, a research based global management consulting firm. "Philippines Tire Market Forecast & Opportunities, 2021" has analyzed the potential of Philippines tire market, and provides statistics and information on market sizes, shares and trends. The report would suffice in providing the intending clients with cutting-edge market intelligence and help them in taking sound investment decisions. Besides, the report also identifies and analyzes emerging trends along with essential drivers and key challenges faced by the industry in the Philippines. Browse Related Reports Global OTR Tire Market, By Vehicle Type (Mining, Construction and Industrial Equipment, Agriculture Vehicles, and Others), By Demand Category (OEM Vs. Replacement), By Region, Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011 - 2021 http://www.techsciresearch.com/report/global-otr-tire-market-by-vehicle-type-mining-construction-and-industrial-equipment-agriculture-vehicles-and-others-by-demand-category-oem-vs-replacement-by-region-competition-forecast-and-opportunities-2011-2021/637.html Thailand Tyre Market Forecast and Opportunities, 2020 http://www.techsciresearch.com/report/thailand-tyre-market-forecast-and-opportunities-2020/160.html Malaysia Tyre Market Forecast and Opportunities, 2020 http://www.techsciresearch.com/report/malaysia-tyre-market-forecast-and-opportunities-2020/246.html About TechSci Research TechSci Research is a leading global market research firm publishing premium market research reports. Serving 700 global clients with more than 600 premium market research studies, TechSci Research is serving clients across 11 different industrial verticals. TechSci Research specializes in research based consulting assignments in high growth and emerging markets, leading technologies and niche applications. Our workforce of more than 100 fulltime Analysts and Consultants employing innovative research solutions and tracking global and country specific high growth markets helps TechSci clients to lead rather than follow market trends. Contact Mr. Ken Mathews 708 Third Avenue, Manhattan, NY, New York - 10017 Tel: +1-646-360-1656 Email: sales@techsciresearch.com Connect with us on Twitter - https://twitter.com/TechSciResearch Connect with us on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/techsci-research Workshop will be held at the North American Adoptive T Cell Therapy Congress in Boston on June 28, 2016, from 9am to 12pm Regulatory News: TxCell SA (Paris:TXCL) (FR0010127662 TXCL), a biotechnology company developing innovative, personalized cellular immunotherapies using regulatory T cells (Treg) to treat severe chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, today announces that Arnaud Foussat, Chief Scientific Officer of TxCell, will chair the world's first workshop dedicated to adoptive T cell therapy with Tregs for treating autoimmunity, inflammation and transplantation. The panel of speakers at the workshop includes world-leading authors on the pioneering field of Tregs and CAR-Tregs. This includes Zelig Eshhar, the inventor of the CAR concept, Kate MacDonald, who recently published a unique preclinical proof-of-concept with human CAR-Treg cells, James Riley, co-founder of Tmunity, Qizhi Tang, a pioneer in the translation of Treg cell-based research to the clinic, and Ignacio Anegon, an expert in immuno-regulation. The workshop will be held at the North American Adoptive T Cell Therapy Congress in Boston on June 28, 2016, from 9am to 12pm. The panel will discuss the progress and challenges of clinical development of Treg cell-based therapy as well as new evidence for Treg cell therapeutic efficacy in preclinical settings. Topics will include manufacturing of Treg cell-based products, clinical trials with Tregs in autoimmunity and transplantation, generation and therapeutic efficacy of CAR-Treg cells, and new Treg subtypes showing therapeutic benefit in transplantation. The panel will also be answering questions from delegates. The full summary is available at http://tcellcongressusa.com/workshop-day. About TxCell - www.txcell.com TxCell is a publicly listed biotechnology company that develops platforms for innovative, personalized T cell immunotherapies for the treatment of severe chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases with high unmet medical need. TxCell is the only clinical stage cellular therapy company dedicated to the science of regulatory T lymphocytes (Tregs). Tregs are a recently discovered T cell population for which anti-inflammatory properties have been demonstrated. Ovasave, TxCell's lead drug candidate, is currently in a Phase IIb clinical trial in refractory Crohn's disease patients. Col-Treg, its second drug candidate, is in preclinical development for the treatment of autoimmune uveitis. Based in Sophia-Antipolis, France, TxCell is listed on Euronext Paris and currently has 50 employees. Forward-Looking Statements TxCell This press release contains certain forward-looking statements relating to the business of TxCell, which shall not be considered per se as historical facts, including TxCell's ability to develop, market, commercialize and achieve market acceptance for specific products, estimates for future performance and estimates regarding anticipated operating losses, future revenues, capital requirements, needs for additional financing. In addition, even if the actual results or development of TxCell are consistent with the forward-looking statements contained in this press release, those results or developments of TxCell may not be indicative of their in the future. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by words such as "could," "should," "may," "expects," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "aims," "targets," or similar words. Although the management of TxCell believes that these forward-looking statements are reasonably made, they are based largely on the current expectations of TxCell as of the date of this press release and are subject to a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievement expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. In particular, the expectations of TxCell could be affected by, among other things, uncertainties involved in the development of the Company's products, which may not succeed, or in the delivery of TxCell's products marketing authorizations by the relevant regulatory authorities and, in general, any factor that could affects TxCell capacity to commercialize the products it develops, as well as, any other risk and uncertainties developed or identified in any public documents filed by TxCell with the AMF, included those listed in chapter 4 "Risk factors" of the 2015 document de reference approved by the AMF on May 24, 2016 under number R.16-048. In light of these risks and uncertainties, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking statements made in this press release will in fact be realized. Notwithstanding the compliance with article 223-1 of the General Regulation of the AMF (the information disclosed must be "accurate, precise and fairly presented"), TxCell is providing the information in these materials as of this press release, and disclaims any intention or obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160614006044/en/ Contacts: TxCell Caroline Courme, +33(0) 4 97 21 83 00 IR Communication Director caroline.courme@txcell.com or Image Box Press relations Neil Hunter Michelle Boxall, +44(0) 20 8943 4685 neil.hunter@imageboxpr.co.uk michelle.boxall@imageboxpr.co.uk or NewCap - Investor relations Julien Perez Pierre Laurent, +33 (0)1 44 71 98 52 txcell@newcap.eu Commenting on the markets, Will Landers, representing the Investment Manager noted; Performance For the month of May 2016, the Company's NAV fell by 8.7% and the share price fell by 4.2% while the benchmark, the MSCI EM Latin America Free Index, fell by 10.2% (all in sterling terms). Positive contributions to performance stemmed primarily from stock selection in Brazil. An allocation to off-benchmark Argentina also added to returns as policy normalization continues. The largest individual contributor to performance was a lower than benchmark weighting to Vale, which suffered as iron ore prices fell by over 21% during the month. Brazilian pulp stock Fibria added to returns as the stock benefited from a weaker currency and the relative outperformance of pulp prices during May. A lack of exposure to Brazilian steel stock CSN also contributed positively. A lower than benchmark weighting to Chile weighed on returns as the country was a relative outperformer given its defensive characteristics. Brazilian bank Itau Unibanco was the largest individual detractor from returns. Itau Unibanco was negatively impacted by uncertainty regarding the reforms outlook in Brazil, instability in the newly formed cabinet and external factors such as the potential for a Fed rate hike in June. Cemex and Grupo Aeroportuario also weighed on returns. Transactions/Gearing During the month we reduced exposure to Petrobras due to potential capitalization concerns under Brazil's new administration. We introduced Mexican food stock Grupo Bimbo given attractive valuations and the deleveraging of their balance sheet. We added to our position in toll road operator CCR as the company looks attractive from a top-down perspective. Net gearing was approximately 0.7% at the end of May. Positioning We continue with our more constructive view on Latin America developed over the past two months. Government changes in Brazil are opening up the opportunity of improving fiscal numbers over the next two years. This should have a positive impact on investor confidence and eventually lead to a pick-up in investment activity in the country. Mexico continues to post gradually improving domestic figures, with the caveat being a potential headwind from the US election in November. Peruvian elections in early June should usher in another move to the center-right in the region and spur another round of investments in that country. Off-benchmark Argentina also continues with its gradual normalization program. The underweights to Chile and Colombia remain given sub-par growth in Chile and fiscal headwinds expected in Colombia. 14 June 2016 ENDS Latest information is available by typing www.blackrock.co.uk/brla on the internet, "BLRKINDEX" on Reuters, "BLRK" on Bloomberg or "8800" on Topic 3 (ICV terminal). Neither the contents of the Manager's website nor the contents of any website accessible from hyperlinks on the Manager's website (or any other website) is incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement. NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - June 14, 2016) - Estate jewelry auctioneer Joseph DuMouchelle will sell the Maples - Trump Harry Winston engagement ring for the second time at its June 29th auction being held at New York City's Lotte Palace Hotel. In 1991, Presumed Presidential Candidate, Donald Trump proposed to Dancing With the Stars contestant Marla Maples with the 7.45-carat emerald-cut diamond ring by renowned jeweler Harry Winston. Following the couple's divorce in 1999, Maples selected Joseph DuMouchelle to auction the ring and donated a portion of the $110,000 June 2000 sale proceeds to charity. The same private buyer has returned to trusted estate source, Joseph DuMouchelle to sell the engagement ring at auction. "Provenance is often hard to come by when jewelry or artwork changes hands. The Harry Winston ring has multiple levels of provenance including the fact it was made by Winston and owned by Marla Maples and Donald Trump. Fortunately, this ring has it all. The pieces included in this sale are heirlooms of investment quality," says Owner, President and jewelry expert Joseph DuMouchelle, who worked with Maples on the first auction of the ring sixteen years ago. The Maples - Trump diamond ring will be sold alongside estate pieces from Verdura, Cartier, David Webb and Tiffany & Co. Bidding To bid on the Maples - Trump Diamond, attend the auction or consign pieces to be included in this sale please contact: Joseph DuMouchelle 1-800-475-8898 About Joseph DuMouchelle Headquartered in Birmingham, Michigan with offices in New York City, Palm Beach and Naples, Joseph DuMouchelle has more than 30 years of expertise and experience specializing in the appraisal and sale of fine gems and jewelry. Joseph DuMouchelle, G.G., President, holds the legacy of being a third generation auctioneer. He is a Graduate Gemologist, G.I.A., Senior Gemologist, AGA and has A.S.A. and I.S.A. training and education. Mr. DuMouchelle is a leading industry expert in the evaluation, sale and appraisal of fine and estate jewelry and gems. Mr. DuMouchelle is responsible for the sale and appraisal of thousands of pieces of fine and estate jewelry every year, assisting individuals, banks, wealth managers, accountants, estate representatives, jewelers and appraisers in getting the most in return for their valuable assets. As a leader in the auction world, he guest lectures to a global audience of professional groups and organizations. In addition to his professional work, Mr. DuMouchelle has donated his expertise as an auctioneer for numerous charitable organizations including: Red Cross, Shoot For A Cure and Jack's Place For Autism. www.josephdumouchelle.com Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/6/1/11G101010/Images/diamond-ring-9c9fb08cbef29b1b9f6882044fd00e4f.jpg Media Requests For exclusive interview access with owner auctioneers Joseph DuMouchelle and Lindy Adducci please contact: Katie Reed 917-975-2928 Katie@ReedBranding.com Shannon Adducci 313-657-6280 shannonadducci@gmail.com WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Chris Christie was once seen as a rising star in the Republican Party, but the New Jersey Governor has now reportedly been relegated to the role of presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump's manservant. The suggestion that Christie serves as an errand boy for the Trump campaign was offered in a New Yorker article published online on Monday. 'Governor Chris Christie, of New Jersey, another of Trump's opponents early in the campaign, has transformed himself into a sort of manservant, who is constantly with Trump at events,' wrote Ryan Lizza, the Washington correspondent for The New Yorker. He added, '(One Republican told me that a friend of his on the Trump campaign used Snapchat to send him a video of Christie fetching Trump's McDonald's order.)' The claim comes in a broader article about the Republican elite's struggles over whether to resist Trump or capitulate. However, Christie spokesman Brian Murray said the governor's office categorically denies the claim, calling it 'pure trash.' 'We categorically deny this ridiculous, completely invented scenario, which the writer attributed to an unnamed source's anonymous friend,' Murray said. He added, 'The fact the writer relegated this bit of sleaze between parenthesis certainly indicates he knew it was pure trash that had to be carefully separated from the rest of the story.' Christie endorsed Trump back in February, although his blank stare at an event on Super Tuesday led the internet to jokingly suggest he was actually the billionaire's hostage. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de IWSC Group, a world leading events company in the food and beverage sector, continues its successful business expansion with a foray into the arts world through a joint-venture with London-based curator Tina Ziegler, founder of The Art Conference (TAC). Bringing together leaders in technology, art and culture, TAC will act as a meeting point for the creative community encouraging dialogue, critical reflection and inspiring immediate action through its London-based conferences. Allen Gibbons, Group CEO of the UK-based IWSC Group, comments, "Moving into the arts sphere is an incredibly exciting move for the IWSC Group. Our portfolio of events is all about the finer things in life and enabling people to explore them in new and interesting ways which is exactly what TAC is about." "TAC is all about collaboration, networking and the sharing of ideas," Allen continues. "Working in partnership with Tina Ziegler, creator of TAC, someone with huge passion and industry knowledge, gives me great confidence in our move to this new sector." Each conference that TAC hosts promises to offer more than just a discussion. "My aim is that TAC will be a platform to educate and engage with creatives in London, allowing the worlds of art and technology to meet and inspire each other," Tina Ziegler, creator of TAC explains. "Throughout the conference event, there will be a number of extra activities taking place to make the conference a truly memorable day. This includes film presentations, art exhibitions, food and drink catering and an after conference evening drinks event with live DJ's, all taking place at London's Ugly Duck." "We are incredibly eager to work with IWSC Group. Being the first non-food and drink event they are developing means not only will fresh ideas be brought to the table from them, but solid business acumen will come our way, too," Tina continues. "We have a wide demographic ranging from 18-year-old creatives, either studying or interested in developing their careers, to 50-year-old creative directors, business owners and designers on the hunt for new talent. Because of this widespread reach, we are lucky to partner with an events company like IWSC Group that has experience of creating events for a diverse age range." The launch of The Art Conference will take place on July 23 24, 2016 at the Ugly Duck, 47/49 Tanner Street near London Bridge, starting as a two-day conference event presenting 15+ international keynote speakers, film screenings, panel discussions, exhibitions and digital art installations. For more information and images please contact Tara Murphy, 360 Media at (404) 577-8686 or tara@360media.net. About IWSC Group IWSC Group is a world leading events company whose goal is to become the most innovative and diverse events business offering original, high quality occasions for brands to meet customers. The company is headquartered in the UK with its North American office in Atlanta, GA, USA. Founded as the International Wine and Spirit Competition in 1969, the company's expertise spans the alcoholic beverage and culinary sectors, including wine, spirit and beer events, as well as food and drink festivals. IWSC Group's business strategy has been built on developing and operating industry-leading events in collaboration with some of the world's biggest brands industry including Amazon, Coca-Cola, Stella Artois, William Grant Sons, and Lexus. IWSC Group created the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong IWSC in 2009 and in 2011 acquired the Spirits of Mexico agave spirits festival. Subsequently the group has formed partnerships with US-based Whiskies of the World and the Atlanta Food Wine Festival, and UK-based The Whisky Lounge. The latest additions to the group's portfolio are The Drop, an online media platform for those who want to learn more about alcohol products; The Beer Awards, and most recently a partnership with Cochon555 US Tour, a travelling culinary competition and tasting event that celebrates heritage breed pork. About Tina Ziegler The Art Conference (TAC) is created by Californian contemporary art curator Tina Ziegler. With over 12 years' experience in the art market, Ziegler has created a name for herself through exhibiting the work of some of the most renowned international proponents of the Urban Contemporary art movements, and she has exhibited over 300 international artists and curated more than 55 art exhibitions. Ziegler is the author of Hunt and Gather Art a hardcover art book that features the work of 45 international artists, published and distributed by Mark Batty NYC. Ziegler brings her passion, art market knowledge and a global network of creatives to TAC, creating a platform to educate and engage people with arts, technology and culture. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160614006130/en/ Contacts: 360 Media, Inc Tara Murphy, 404-577-8686 tara@360media.net Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 14, 2016) - Galileo Petroleum Ltd. (TSXV: GPL) (FWB: P5HH) ("Galileo") announces the appointment of Mr. Marc G. Blythe, P.Eng. to the Board of Directors. Mr. Blythe has extensive international mining and mineral exploration experience for gold, copper, silver, nickel and zinc. He holds a Master of Business Administration degree from La Trobe University in Melbourne and a Bachelor of Mining Engineering degree from the Western Australian School of Mines. He has evaluated numerous projects worldwide, providing advice on project transactions and the associated debt and equity financing, to buyers, sellers and financial institutions. Mr. Blythe has managed mines for both Placer Dome and WMC Resources (formerly Western Mining Corporation) during his 22 year mining career. He has a strong understanding of mine feasibility and led two feasibility studies which resulted in successful operating mines; the Raleigh Mine and the Bullant Mine, both located near Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. The Raleigh Mine exceeded its projected production rate, in part due to the development of innovative mining methods by Mr. Blythe. During his tenure as Corporate Senior Mining Engineer for Placer Dome Inc. based in Vancouver he completed internal and external mine evaluations, including advising on potential acquisitions and mining technology implementation. Recently Mr. Blythe was President & CEO of Tarsis Resources Ltd. until its merger with Alianza Minerals Ltd. in 2015. Mr. Blythe holds a Western Australian First Class Mine Manager's Certificate of Competency and is a member of The Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia, the British Columbia and Yukon Chamber of Mines and a director of the Yukon Minerals Advisory Board which gives advice to Yukon Government on mining and exploration matters. "We look forward to working with Mr. Blythe on business opportunities; Marc is an enthusiastic, motivated and a determined individual, stated David Hottman, CEO. ON BEHALF OF GALILEO PETROLEUM LTD. "Ron Rieder" Ron Rieder President Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this News Release. This news release has been prepared by management and no regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein. For further information contact: David Hottman, CEO at 604-629-1929 E-mail: info@galileopetroleum.ca Integrated weapons package could be adapted to customer preferences MIELEC, Poland, June 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- A weaponized version of Sikorsky's Polish-built S-70i' BLACK HAWK helicopter will be on display at the 'Anaconda 2016' NATO exercises in Drawko Pomorskie, Poland this week. Representative of how a future European-built BLACK HAWK helicopter could be configured for the armed mission, the display is designed to showcase the ease by which the proven multi-role helicopter could be adapted to meet the defense needs of Poland and other NATO allies. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20141118/159313LOGO Featuring a selection of latest-generation NATO missiles, rockets, guns and a targeting sensor, the aircraft on display will underpin how PZL Mielec, a Sikorsky company, could meet the region's requirement for a multi-purpose, combat proven helicopter that can defend itself or perform an armed assault mission in support of ground troops - in addition to carrying troops and cargo, providing combat search and rescue, customs and border protection, marine surveillance and coast guard operations. "Lockheed Martin is exploring additional ways to add advanced offensive weapons technology to Sikorsky's multi-role BLACK HAWK helicopter," said Janusz ZakrAcki, President PZL Mielec. "Our goal is to provide militaries with the flexibility to quickly convert their Sikorsky aircraft into a weaponized platform to meet our customer's needs." The BLACK HAWK helicopter's open systems architecture will enable Lockheed Martin to integrate onto the platform those armaments currently in the inventory of potential export customers, including the Polish armed forces. New-generation sensors and weapons also could be integrated when they become available. The PZL Mielec-built BLACK HAWK helicopter's appearance in Drawsko Pomorskie comes ahead of its air show debut at the Farnborough International Air Show in Hampshire, U.K. from July 11-17. U.S. Army BLACK HAWK helicopters have taken part in the Anaconda training exercises. The aircraft also is well known to the Polish armed forces from their recent deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq. PZL Mielec is among Poland's top defence systems exporters. Depending on customer specifications and timing of contract signature, the PZL Mielec team could deliver baseline BLACK HAWK helicopters in less than 12 months. Earlier this year, the team shipped its 300th helicopter cabin to Sikorsky in the United States for integration onto U.S. Army Black Hawk aircraft. About Lockheed Martin Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 125,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. PUNE, India, June 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Global Circuit Breakers Market 2016 Industry Research Report is spread across 158 pages, profiles 20 companies and the market analysis in this study is supported with 276 tables and figures on the industry and its players. This is the latest Circuit Breakers industry study that is comprehensive in nature, details the current state of the market while providing a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The Circuit Breakers industry analysis is provided for the international markets, including development trends, competitive landscape analysis, and key regions development status. The complete report is available at http://www.deepresearchreports.com/154081.html Development policies and plans of Circuit Breakers industry are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures are analyzed. This report also states import/export consumption, supply and demand Figures, cost, price, revenue and gross margins. The report focuses on global major leading industry players of Circuit Breakers industry providing information such as company profiles, product picture and specification, capacity, production, price, cost, revenue and contact information. Upstream raw materials and equipment and downstream demand analysis is also carried out for the Circuit Breakers market. The Circuit Breakers industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed. Finally the feasibility of new investment projects are assessed and overall research conclusions offered. With 276 tables and figures to support the Circuit Breakers industry analysis, this research provides key statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market. The 17 companies profiled in this Circuit Breakers market research include Schneider, ABB, GE, Eaton, Mitsubishi, Siemens, Maxwell, Toshiba, Fuji Electric, Alstom, Pennsylvania Breaker, Legrand, Schurter Holding, Hager, Hyundai, CHINT Electrics, DELIXI, Changshu Switchgear, Shanghai Renmin and Liangxin. Order a copy of this 2016 Market Research Report on Global Circuit Breakers Industry at http://www.deepresearchreports.com/contacts/purchase.php?name=154081 A dedicated chapter on development trend of Circuit Breakers market for 2016-2021 in this report covers data and information on capacity and production overview, production market share analysis, sales overview, supply, sales, and shortage, import, export and consumption as well as cost, price, revenue and gross margin of Circuit Breakers. Explore more reports on the Electronics market at http://www.deepresearchreports.com/cat/electronics-market-research.html Related research titled'2016 Market Research Report on United States Circuit Breakers Industry' forecasts the market analysis provided for the United States markets including development trends, competitive landscape analysis, and key regions development status. With 207 tables and figures the report provides key statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market. This report focuses on United States major leading industry players providing information such as company profiles, product picture and specification, capacity, production, price, cost, revenue and contact information. Upstream raw materials and equipment and downstream demand analysis is also carried out. The Circuit Breakers industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed. Finally the feasibility of new investment projects are assessed and overall research conclusions offered. The 17 companies profiled in this Circuit Breakers market research include Schneider, ABB, GE, Eaton, Mitsubishi, Siemens, Maxwell, Toshiba, Fuji Electric, Alstom, Pennsylvania Breaker, Legrand, Schurter Holding, Hager, Hyundai, CHINT Electrics and DELIXI. Order a copy of this 2016 Market Research Report on United States Circuit Breakers Industry at http://www.deepresearchreports.com/contacts/purchase.php?name=142196 About Us: Deep Research Reports is digital database ofsyndicated market reports for global and China industries. These reports offer competitive intelligence data for companies in varied market segments and for decision makers at multiple levels in these organizations. We provide 24/7 online and offline support to our customers. Connect with us: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/deepresearchreports Twitter: https://twitter.com/DResearchReport Google+: https://plus.google.com/117151957945248166335 Contact: Ritesh Tiwari UNIT no 802, Tower no. 7, SEZ Magarpatta city, Hadapsar Pune- 411013 Maharashtra,India. +1 888 391 5441 sales@deepresearchreports.com LYNCHBURG, VA--(Marketwired - June 14, 2016) - Sitestar Corporation (OTC PINK: SYTE) ("Sitestar" or the "Company") today announced the creation of the HVAC Value Fund LLC ("HVAC Value Fund") along with JNJ Investments. Sitestar has committed an initial $1 million investment to the HVAC Value Fund for the purpose of acquiring and managing Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) companies in Arizona and throughout the Southwest. This investment will be managed by Nathan Reid and JNJ Investments. Mr. Reid is the managing member of JNJ Investments and a portfolio manager with Bridge Reid Funds, a value-oriented investment partnership. He previously founded Southwest Realty & Property Management, a property management company with 1,200 residential units under management. This company was sold earlier this year to Property Frameworks, a subsidiary of Realogy Holdings Corp. (NYSE: RLGY). "We could not be more excited to join forces with Nathan on this investment. His unique experience coupled with a value philosophy makes him a perfect fit for Sitestar," said Steven Kiel, Sitestar's CEO. "I am looking forward to working with Steve and Sitestar to build a strong subsidiary focused on generating cash flow and high returns on equity. I am in the process of putting together a solid team to execute the strategy, and I am excited about our prospects," said Nathan Reid. HVAC Value Fund expects to close on two acquisitions shortly. Separately, Sitestar is diligently working to release its 2015 10-K and its 10-Q for the period ending March 31, 2016. The specific reasons for the delay will be included in the 10-K once it is released. In general, the delay has been caused by the necessity to correct a multitude of accounting items, to the reevaluation and correction of a range of accounting schedules, and to the decision to have Sitestar's current auditors re-audit 2014. A shareholder meeting will be scheduled once the company becomes current in its filings. "The directors and I are disappointed by the delay in the issuance of our 10-K. However, our first priority is to make sure the financials we report are correct. I appreciate the understanding of our shareholders as we continue to review and correct various accounting items. We will schedule the shareholder meeting as soon as we are able to. We are excited to meet with shareholders and provide an update on our results and future plans," said Kiel. About Sitestar Sitestar is an Internet Service Provider (ISP) that offers consumer and business-grade internet access, Web hosting, and other ancillary services. Sitestar is also a real estate investment entity carrying out the orderly liquidation of its assets. In addition to these two segments, Sitestar holds investments in marketable securities and in HVAC Value Fund LLC, an entity focused on the acquisition and management of HVAC companies in Arizona and throughout the Southwest. For more information regarding Sitestar, go to: www.sitestar.com Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date they were first issued and are based on current expectations as well as the beliefs and assumptions of management. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which involve factors or circumstances that are beyond Sitestar's control, including worldwide and local economic conditions and the specific risks associated with the very competitive ISP and real estate sectors. Sitestar expressly disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements except as required by law. Copies of Sitestar's press releases and additional information about Sitestar are available at www.sitestar.com. Contact: Steven Kiel 434-239-4272 Email contact TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 06/14/16 -- Harbour Equity Capital Corp. ("Harbour Equity") is pleased to announce that it has raised $50,150,000 for its third joint venture development Fund and is now accepting new investment opportunities to deploy this capital. Over the last few years, Harbour Equity has invested over $100 million in joint venture opportunities across Canada within a broad range of asset classes, including for-sale and for-rent residential, retail, office, and industrial developments. These investments provide developers an opportunity to leverage their capital in order to better scale their operations and execute multiple projects concurrently. Harbour Equity invests in both ground-up development and value-add opportunities either at time of acquisition of project or later in the development process. Harbour Equity will consider various joint venture structures with the goal of providing its development partner with patient capital and flexibility to achieve maximum profitability for its project. About Harbour Equity Capital Corp. Harbour Equity provides equity capital to experienced real estate developers across Canada with a history of achieving above-market risk-adjusted development returns. Harbour Equity is part of The Harbour Group, a multi-dimensional real estate investment platform. For more information please visit our website at: www.harbourequity.com. Contacts: Harbour Equity Capital Corp. Ari Silverberg President (416) 361-3315 x238 asilverberg@harbourequity.com The Harbour Group Alan Winer Chief Executive Officer (416) 361-3316 alan@theharbourgroup.com TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 06/14/16 -- Cogeco Peer 1, a global provider of essential business-to-business products and services, today announced a collaboration with Microsoft that will integrate Microsoft's security enhanced, enterprise-grade, hyper-scale cloud services with Cogeco Peer 1's global cloud infrastructure, to better serve customers. "At Cogeco Peer 1, we are committed to providing customers with choice and flexibility, supporting their distinct business needs," said Philippe Jette, President, Cogeco Peer 1. "Broadening our capabilities and extending our data center architecture with the Microsoft Cloud means customers can leverage the benefits of the hyper-scalable Azure and Office 365 cloud services and the enhanced support, control, and compliance of Cogeco Peer 1's integrated Hybrid IT solutions." With an already robust global cloud infrastructure supported by 17 data centers, an extensive FastFiber Network and more than 50 points of presence in North America and Europe combined, the addition of the Microsoft Cloud enhances Cogeco Peer 1's multi-cloud portfolio. "In today's landscape, businesses are facing an increasingly complex IT environment fueled by the rapid shift to cloud, social, mobile, big data and the Internet of Things (IoT). The addition of the Microsoft Cloud, paired with our existing robust cloud solution set, enables Cogeco Peer 1 to deliver a precisely tailored cloud solution, nurturing our customers' digital transformation and allowing our clients to focus their energy on what matters most to their business: growth and innovation," added Jette. The rapid adoption of cloud services has been driven by a desire to increase business agility and reduce IT complexity. Cogeco Peer 1 accelerates the realization of these benefits through its deep integration capabilities that support not only cloud, but also infrastructure, network, security, data protection, managed services and application migration. "It is great to see businesses like Cogeco Peer 1 help global companies move to intelligent cloud solutions, empowering them to ultimately achieve more and help drive business innovation," said Janet Kennedy, president, Microsoft Canada. These new capabilities build on Cogeco Peer 1's ability to provide highly flexible, tailored and secure solutions that enable business leaders to select the right mix of services and environments. The new platform will be available to customers by the Fall of 2016. ABOUT COGECO PEER 1 Cogeco Peer 1 is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cogeco Communications Inc. (TSX: CCA) and is a global provider of essential business-to-business products and services, such as colocation, network connectivity, managed hosting, cloud services and managed services, that allow customers across Canada, Mexico, the United States and Western Europe to focus on their core business. With 17 data centers, extensive FastFiber Network and more than 50 points-of-presence in North America and Europe combined, Cogeco Peer 1 is a trusted partner to businesses small, medium and large, providing the ability to access, move, manage and store mission-critical data worldwide, backed by superior customer support. More information visit: www.cogecopeer1.com Contacts: Shawna Gee Director, Communications and PR (416) 903-2025 shawna.gee@cogecopeer1.com WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Despite a last-minute dispute over amendments, a massive defense policy bill easily cleared the Senate with bipartisan support in a vote on Tuesday. The Senate voted 85 to 13 in favor of the National Defense Authorization Act, which authorizes $602 billion in defense spending in fiscal 2017. Six Republican Senators and seven Democratic Senators voted against the legislation, while two Senators did not vote on the bill. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ken., said the bill will better prepare the current administration and the next one to deal with threats like the terrorist group known as ISIS. 'It will provide our men and women in uniform with more of the tools they need to take on these threats,' McConnell said. 'It will strengthen our military posture.' He added, 'In short, it will enhance our ability to take on the challenges currently facing us and better prepare us for those we'll face in the future-all while supporting our soldiers with better benefits, improved health care, and pay raises they've earned.' Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., also praised passage of the bill but expressed regret that the Senate was unable to debate and vote on several critical amendments. McCain said he was particularly disappointed the bill did not include an amendment that would have increased the number of special immigrant visas for Afghans who worked with U.S. forces. 'Too often throughout this process, a single senator was able to bring the Senate's work on our national defense to a halt,' McCain said. 'This was a breakdown in the decorum of the Senate, and one that will have serious consequences.' While the Senate bill received bipartisan support, the legislation still faces a number of hurdles, including a veto threat from President Barack Obama. The White House said the administration strongly objects to many provisions in the bill that would hinder the Defense Department's ability to execute the president's defense strategy. A separate bill was also approved by the House last month, requiring lawmakers to reach an agreement on how to merge the competing proposals. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de DUBLIN, June 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Global Flight Management Systems Market 2016-2020" report to their offering. The global FMS market is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 7.24% during the period 2016-2020. The report has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market. One trend that is expected to propel market growth is the emergence of the auto-ground collision avoidance system (GCAS). Automated piloting system monitors the aircraft position and distance from the ground in real time, and drives the plane out of danger when the aircraft is about to crash, and there is no positive response from the pilot. In 2014, the Auto-GCAS developed by NASA, introduced in US Air Force (USAF), saved an F-16 fighter jet and its pilot during combat operations against extremist forces in Syria. Installation of this technology in commercial aircraft can avoid similar tragedies in the future. According to the report, a key growth driver for this market is the improvement in safety standards. Further, the report states that one challenge that could hamper market growth is the safety hazards related to digital cockpit systems. Key vendors: Honeywell International Lufthansa System Rockwell Collins Thales Group Universal Avionics Key Topics Covered: PART 01: Executive summary PART 02: Scope of the report PART 03: Market research methodology PART 04: Introduction PART 05: Market landscape PART 06: Global aerospace and defense supply chain system PART 07: Global aerospace and defense value chain system PART 08: Market segmentation by aircraft type PART 09: Geographical segmentation PART 10: Market drivers PART 11: Impact of drivers PART 12: Market challenges PART 13: Impact of drivers and challenges PART 14: Market trends PART 15: Vendor landscape For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/s7j2nf/global_flight Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 Technavio analysts forecast the curriculum and data management market in the US 2016-2020to grow at a CAGR of close to 13% during the forecast period, according to their latest report. The research study covers the present scenario and growth prospects of the curriculum and data management market in the US for 2016-2020. The report also lists higher education institutes and K-12 schools as the two major end-user segments curriculum and data management. The higher education segment accounts for approximately 56% of the market and the K-12 segment accounts for the remaining 44% of the market share. Technavio education analysts highlight the following three factors that are contributing to the growth of the curriculum and data management market in the US: Enables effective monitoring by education institutions Improvement in teaching methodology Enhances time management Enables effective monitoring by education institutions Curriculum and data management enables educational institutes to maintain a central control of curriculum mapping process while decentralizing content development authorities to individual functionalities. By using these tools, school and college authorities are able to review and approve the workflow of the process of content editing and the final sign off in an automated manner. The software is known for easing the workload of designated staff members, who are responsible for designing, restructuring, reviewing, rejecting, and archiving all edits. In addition, it lets education institute authorities track active course proposals and progress through workflow approvals, and check if they meet the deadlines. The system is supported by e-mail notifications, which are sent to the person responsible for taking a desired action. All the edits and comments are recorded with color coding so as to ensure easy visibility of changes incorporated at each stage in the workflow. Many schools and colleges are readily adopting curriculum and data management software. For instance, medical schools across North America and APAC have adopted curriculum management facilities of One45, which also offers program evaluation, clinical scheduling, and assessment. The company has helped over 25 medical schools and has successfully completed their data uploads for the AAMC Curriculum Inventory Initiative. Improvement in teaching methodology Curriculum management is most useful in helping schools and universities with high proportions of under-performing students, which show traces of knowledge gaps in the level of achievement of learning among educators. A curriculum management strategy can help in improving the situation by offering an in-depth knowledge of topics to the teachers so as to prepare them to meet the learners' requirements at classroom level. Curriculum management tools go beyond content delivery and cater to the difficulties that may occur in the teaching methodology. By offering better assessment of how a student is responding to a class session, the curriculum and data management software enables teachers and education institutes to make positive changes in the classroom. As the software clearly defines the working and non-working elements in class, the software is believed to help students gain success. For instance, build your own curriculum (BYOC), makes use of innovative technology in order to make the teaching and learning experience an evolving process. The idea behind this offering is to provide a software that is of value to teachers and is easy to use, readily accessible and aligned to the common district-wide curriculum. BYOC disables the need to recreate the curriculum from scratch for each course every year, thus allowing teachers to focus on teaching. However, once the curriculum has been designed, an option of continuous assessment and improvement is also made available. Enhances time management Time is the most essential aspect in reference to curriculum delivery and management.The allocation of time for teaching and imparting knowledge on a particular topic is useful in determining the total length of the course duration. Due to this reason, the effective planning of teaching and learning is of utmost importance. Moreover, linking time taken for task completion, such as particular chapter in a course structure, enables schools to monitor the learning methodologies in each class. However, one of the challenges that mentors often faces is aligning their teaching time table with the stipulated schedule given by the school authorities. The evidence of this challenge is often visible in the quality of syllabus coverage done in a class. The ease in mentoring is often dependent on the response given by the set of students while learning a new topic. As each teacher teaches different set of students with varied grasping abilities, the degree of time taken in completion of a particular topic may vary. However, adoption of curriculum and data management tools, assesses the students' performance after mapping the basic curriculum requirements of a course for each grade. This enables calculative decision-making in the allocation of time for a task and offers a systematic way of learning and minimizes the probability of ineffective learning of important topics. Browse Related Reports: Global Classroom Collaboration Management Systems Market 2015-2019 M-education Market in the US 2016-2020 Education Data Security Tools Market in the US 2016-2020 Purchase these three reports for the price of one by becoming a Technavio subscriber. Subscribing to Technavio's reports allows you to download any three reports per month for the price of one. Contact enquiry@technavio.com with your requirements and a link to our subscription platform. About Technavio Technaviois a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies. Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users. If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at media@technavio.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160614005081/en/ Contacts: Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media Marketing Executive US: +1 630 333 9501 UK: +44 208 123 1770 www.technavio.com TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 06/14/16 -- Toronto, Ontario - Nutritional High International Inc. (the "Company" or "Nutritional High") (CSE: EAT)(OTCQB: SPLIF)(FRANKFURT: 2NU) is pleased to announce the appointment of Amy Stephenson as the Company's Chief Financial Officer. As former CFO of Bedrocan Cannabis Corporation, Ms. Stephenson has a strong familiarity of the cannabis and hemp industries. She has more than 20 years senior management and capital markets experience, 10 of which were spent in the CFO position for various public companies, including Ceres Global Ag Corp., Goldeye Explorations Ltd., Petroworth Resources Inc., and Augen Capital Corp. She has also worked as a business valuator at Evans & Evans, focusing on capital markets and M&A transactions. Ms. Stephenson's involvement as a principal and consultant M&A and project financing extends beyond North America to include Australia, China, Western Europe and Latin America. Ms. Stephenson obtained her MBA in Finance from California State University, Sacramento, and her BA from the University of Hong Kong. She is a CFA Charter holder, a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CMA) and a member of the Financial Executive International (FEI). As CFO, Ms. Stephenson replaces Al Quong as the Company's Chief Financial Officer. The Company thanks Mr. Quong for his service and wishes him well in his future endeavors. David Posner, CEO of Nutritional High commented: "We are very pleased to have Amy join Nutritional High's team. Amy's solid understanding of the cannabis market is undoubtedly an asset to the Company. We look forward to working with Amy, as we continue to advance the Company's business plan." Corporate Update The Company is pleased to announce that the Company has entered into a media dissemination agreement with Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Wertpapieranalyse GmbH ("DGWA"). The Company's board has approved the issuance of an aggregate of 250,000 Shares to DGWA in the capital of the Company at a price of CDN$0.05 per Common Share.The Company's board has also approved the issuance of 240,000 stock options ("Stock Options") to a consultant. Each Stock Option is exercisable into Common Shares at a price of $0.07 per Common Share for a period of two years from the date of issuance. About Nutritional High International Inc. Nutritional High is focused on developing, manufacturing and distributing products and nationally recognized brands in the hemp and marijuana-infused products industries, including edibles and oil extracts for nutritional, medical and adult recreational use. The Company works exclusively through licensed facilities in jurisdictions where such activity is permitted and regulated by state law. For updates on the Company's activities and highlights of the Company's press releases and other media coverage, please follow Nutritional High on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Google+. About Branson Corporate Services Branson Corporate Services Inc., provides outsourced CFO and corporate services without a permanent financial commitment. Its team of professionals provides accurate, effective services at a reasonable cost, providing issuers with peace of mind in order to focus on core matters within their business. NEITHER THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE NOR OTC MARKETS GROUP INC, NOR ITS REGULATIONS SERVICES PROVIDER HAVE REVIEWED OR ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE. This news release may contain forward-looking statements and information based on current expectations. These statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those implied by such statements. Such statements include submission of the relevant documentation within the required timeframe and to the satisfaction of the relevant regulators, completing the acquisition of the applicable real estate and raising sufficient financing to complete the Company's business strategy. There is no certainty that any of these events will occur. Although such statements are based on management's reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that such assumptions will prove to be correct. We assume no responsibility to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. Company's securities have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or applicable state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold to, or for the account or benefit of, persons in the United States or "U.S. Persons", as such term is defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act, absent registration or an applicable exemption from such registration requirements. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in the United States or any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. Additionally, there are known and unknown risk factors which could cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information contained herein. All forward-looking information herein is qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement, and the Company disclaims any obligation to revise or update any such forward-looking information or to publicly announce the result of any revisions to any of the forward-looking information contained herein to reflect future results, events or developments, except as required by law. Contacts: Branson Corporate Services Inc. Margaret (Kookie) Miller President and CEO (416) 840-3798 kmiller@bransonservices.com Transcend Capital Inc. Etienne Moshevich Investor Relations 604-681-0084 et@transcendcapitalinc.com Nutritional High International Inc. David Posner CEO 647-985-6727 dposner@nutritionalhigh.com WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - President Barack Obama was highly critical of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's rhetoric in response to the mass shooting in Orlando in remarks on Tuesday, calling the real estate tycoon's mindset 'dangerous.' After a meeting with his National Security Council, Obama argued that abandoning America's democratic values would make it easier for terrorist groups to radicalize people around the world. Obama specifically targeted Trump's controversial proposal to temporarily ban all Muslim immigration to the United States. Trump doubled-down on the proposal in remarks on Monday and suggested the ban could be expanded to areas of the world where there is a proven history of terrorism against the U.S., Europe or allies. 'Where does this stop?' Obama asked. 'Are we going to start treating all Muslim Americans differently? Place them under special surveillance? Discriminate against them because of their faith?' 'Do Republican officials actually agree with this? Because that's not the America we want,' he added. 'It doesn't reflect our ideals.' Trump's plan to ban Muslim immigration has also drawn criticism from some members of the GOP, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis. Obama also addressed his refusal to use the term 'radical Islam,' which has led Trump to call for his resignation. The president argued that painting all Muslims with a broad brush and implying that the U.S. is at war with an entire religion does the terrorists' work for them. 'There's no magic to the phrase radical Islam. It's a political talking point,' Obama said. 'The reason I am careful has nothing to do with political correctness and everything to do with defeating extremism.' Obama is scheduled to travel to Orlando on Thursday to visit with surviving victims of the attack, which left 50 people dead and dozens of others injured. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. This comprehensive report forecasts the global industrial automation control market to grow at a CAGR of 7.59% during the period 2016-2020. Commenting on the report, an analyst from the research team said: The demand to automate factories or create smart factories is increasing globally and this trend is expected to gain considerable traction during the forecast period. Already the countries, whose GDP contribution is largely from manufacturing industries, such as Germany and China, have begun the automation process in their existing factories to cut competition. According to the report, the governments in countries such as the US, China, and Europe have imposed GMP on manufacturing industries such as automotive, food and beverages, consumer packaged goods, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals. GMP helps regulatory authorities to ensure public safety and to meet international quality standards. The governments of various countries have also imposed stringent regulation to curb carbon dioxide emission, lower power consumption, and wastage. And to meet such stringent regulations the industries across the world are using automation technologies. Questions Answered: Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. COLORADO SPRINGS, CO -- (Marketwired) -- 06/14/16 -- Gold Resource Corporation (NYSE MKT: GORO) (the "Company") today announced drill highlights from its first drill campaign at the Gold Mesa exploration property located in Mineral County, Nevada. Gold Resource Corporation is a gold and silver producer with operations in Oaxaca, Mexico and exploration in Nevada, USA. The Company has returned $108 million to shareholders in monthly dividends since commercial production commenced July 1, 2010, and offers shareholders the option to convert their cash dividends into physical gold and silver and take delivery. Gold Resource Corporation acquired an option on the Gold Mesa, Nevada property in December 2015. The Gold Mesa property covers an area of approximately 4,580 acres in south central Nevada's Walker Lane Mineral Belt in Mineral County, Nevada. A small portion of Gold Mesa property claims were mined historically as an underground mine in the early 1900's and as a small open pit mine in the late 1980's. Historic drill results from Gold Mesa include 2.42 g/t gold and 94 g/t silver over 9.1 meters starting 7.6 meters downhole, 1.72 g/t gold over 18.3 meters starting 36.6 meters downhole, and 2.34 g/t gold over 6.1 meters starting 3.0 meters downhole (see Gold Resource Corporation's news release dated December 1, 2015 for additional details on historic drilling). The Company commenced phase one of its drill campaign in April 2016 and a portion of the initial drill results are discussed below. Gold Mesa Reverse Circulation (RC) Drill Highlights include (m=meters, g/t = grams per tonne) See full table below. Hole GMR-014 ------------------- 33.54 m of 1.89 g/t gold, 16 g/t silver incl. 3.05 m of 5.07 g/t gold, 40 g/t silver incl. 9.15 m of 1.83 g/t gold, 18 g/t silver incl. 3.05 m of 2.27 g/t gold, 25 g/t silver incl. 4.57 m of 3.97 g/t gold, 19 g/t silver Hole GMR-024 ------------------- 15.24 m of 6.27 g/t gold, 68 g/t silver incl. 4.57 m of 19.92 g/t gold, 72 g/t silver Hole GMR-014 intercepted 33.54 meters grading 1.89 g/t gold and 16 g/t silver, with mineralization beginning 62.50 meters downhole; including 3.05 meters grading 5.07 g/t gold and 40 g/t silver, and 9.15 meters grading 1.83 g/t gold and 18 g/t silver. Hole GMR-016 intercepted 4.57 meters grading 2.02 g/t gold and 8 g/t silver, with mineralization beginning just 7.62 meters downhole. Hole GMR-022 intercepted 6.10 meters grading 1.10 g/t gold and 119 g/t silver, with mineralization beginning just 7.62 meters downhole. Hole GMR-023 intercepted 10.67 meters grading 1.17 g/t gold and 72 g/t silver, with mineralization beginning just 9.15 meters downhole. Hole GMR-024 intercepted 15.24 meters grading 6.27 g/t gold and 68 g/t silver, with mineralization beginning just 9.15 meters downhole; including 4.57 meters grading 19.92 g/t gold and 72 g/t silver. Hole GMR-030 intercepted 7.62 meters grading 1.23 g/t gold and 20 g/t silver, with mineralization beginning just 18.29 meters downhole. Hole GMR-032 intercepted 7.62 meters grading 1.23 g/t gold and 6 g/t silver, with mineralization beginning just 7.62 meters downhole. -------------------------------------------------------------- GOLD MESA DRILL HIGHLIGHTS - JUNE 2016 -------------------------------------------------------------- Hole # Angle From Interval Au Ag ------------------------------------------------------ deg Meters Meters g/t g/t -------------------------------------------------------------- GMR-014 -60 62.50 33.54 1.89 16 --------------------------------------------- Incl. 62.50 3.05 5.07 40 --------------------------------------------- Incl. 65.55 9.15 1.83 18 --------------------------------------------- Incl. 85.37 3.05 2.27 25 --------------------------------------------- Incl. 88.41 4.57 3.97 19 --------------------------------------------- Incl. 92.99 1.52 1.07 7 -------------------------------------------------------------- GMR-016 -90 7.62 4.57 2.02 8 --------------------------------------------- Incl. 9.15 1.52 3.25 15 --------------------------------------------- Incl. 10.67 1.52 1.95 1 -------------------------------------------------------------- GMR-022 -90 7.62 6.10 1.10 119 --------------------------------------------- Incl. 9.15 3.05 1.67 203 -------------------------------------------------------------- GMR-023 -45 9.15 10.67 1.17 72 --------------------------------------------- Incl. 9.15 3.05 2.59 122 -------------------------------------------------------------- GMR-024 -70 9.15 15.24 6.27 68 --------------------------------------------- Incl. 9.15 4.57 19.92 72 -------------------------------------------------------------- GMR-030 -45 18.29 7.62 1.23 20 --------------------------------------------- Incl. 19.82 1.52 3.65 79 --------------------------------------------- Incl. 21.34 1.52 1.02 7 -------------------------------------------------------------- GMR-032 -65 7.62 7.62 1.23 6 --------------------------------------------- Incl. 7.62 1.52 2.84 13 --------------------------------------------- Incl. 9.15 1.52 2.10 10 -------------------------------------------------------------- GMR-034 -60 7.62 7.62 0.70 6 --------------------------------------------- Incl. 9.15 3.05 1.33 11 -------------------------------------------------------------- Assays by ALS Chemex, Vancouver, BC Canada. Meters Down Hole, Not true width. -------------------------------------------------------------- The phase one drill results reported in this press release confirm the high-grade nature of the Gold Mesa property. The property has potential for a high grade gold open pit, or multiple gold open pits, with mineralization at shallow depths below surface. A phase two drill program is currently being evaluated for the second half of 2016, with a goal of expanding the high-grade gold zones reported in this press release and testing new areas of the property. Mr. Barry Devlin, Vice President of Exploration, stated, "We are quite pleased with the results of our first round of drilling at Gold Mesa. We were drawn to this property because of the historic high-grade gold drill intercepts, and this first round of drilling has confirmed significant intervals of high-grade gold occur at shallow depths at Gold Mesa. A second phase of drilling is currently being evaluated to follow-up on four high-grade gold zones established during this first round of drilling, as well as to test new areas of the property that have seen little or no previous drilling." "Fifteen meters of over six grams per tonne gold, starting just nine meters down hole delivered the high-grade gold open pit potential we were looking for," stated Gold Resource Corporation's CEO and President, Mr. Jason Reid. "We look forward to building on these initial drill results with the goal to delineate enough mineralization to ultimately make a future production decision." About GRC: Gold Resource Corporation is a mining company focused on production and pursuing development of gold and silver projects that feature low operating costs and produce high returns on capital. The Company has 100% interest in six potential high-grade gold and silver properties at its producing Oaxaca, Mexico Mining Unit and exploration properties at its Nevada, USA, Mining Unit. The Company has 54,266,706 shares outstanding, no warrants, no long term debt and has returned $108 million back to shareholders since commercial production commenced July 1, 2010. Gold Resource Corporation offers shareholders the option to convert their cash dividends into physical gold and silver and take delivery. For more information, please visit GRC's website, located at www.Goldresourcecorp.com and read the Company's 10-K for an understanding of the risk factors involved. Cautionary Statements: This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. The statements contained in this press release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Exchange Act. When used in this press release, the words "plan", "target", "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "intend" and "expect" and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements include, without limitation, the statements regarding Gold Resource Corporation's strategy, future plans for production, future expenses and costs, future liquidity and capital resources, and estimates of mineralized material. All forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon information available to Gold Resource Corporation on the date of this press release, and the company assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties, and there can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate. The Company's actual results could differ materially from those discussed in this press release. In particular, there can be no assurance that production will continue at any specific rate. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed in the Company's 10-K filed with the SEC. Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3021611 Contacts: Corporate Development Greg Patterson 303-320-7708 www.Goldresourcecorp.com HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/14/16 -- Note to editors: There are four maps associated with this press release. Erdene Resource Development Corp. (TSX: ERD) ("Erdene" or "Company"), is pleased to announce additional results from follow-up drilling on the recent high-grade discovery at the Company's 100%-owned Bayan Khundii Gold Project ("Bayan Khundii") in southwest Mongolia. Today's results are for the third batch of drill results (9 holes; 1,403 m) from the Company's Q2-2016 drill program. A fourth and final batch of results for the final five holes is expected to be released before the end of Q2-2016. Included with this release, for reference, are a plan map and three cross-sections. "Today's results confirm our stated objectives of confirming continuity of gold mineralization in the main zones, including the Striker Zone, and extending mineralization through reconnaissance drilling outside the previous known limits. The results confirm the extension of significant gold mineralization at depth in the Striker Zone, the identification of a new zone at surface and the discovery of broad zones of mineralization under cover," said Peter Akerley, President and CEO. "We will now dedicate additional resources to improving our understanding of the controls on mineralization in this large system prior to a return to drilling in mid third quarter." Highlights (i) -- High grade gold ranging from 11.2 to 30.3 g/t was returned from multiple step-out and extension holes and surface trenching -- BKD-34, 40 m south of BKD-28 (23 m of 2.0 g/t gold within 70 m of 1.1 g/t gold) has provided the deepest continuity of the Striker Zone to date with a 66 m section of 1.0 g/t gold, including 26 m of 2.0 g/t gold (hole ended in 2 m of 0.4 g/t gold at 200 m depth (140 m vertical depth)) -- Intense alteration and gold mineralization under younger cover, 140 m northwest of Striker (BKD-32) with 115 m of 0.43 g/t gold from 65 m to bottom of hole at 180 m depth (126 m vertical) -- Gold discovered in overlying younger sediments: 2 m of 4.1 g/t gold (BKD-32) -- High grade gold under younger cover in BKD-40, 180 m west of Striker Zone, with 2 m of 15.3 g/t gold at 124 m depth (vertical hole) and 18 m of 0.4 g/t gold -- Hole extension in northeast Striker Zone returns 2 m of 10.0 g/t gold (BKD-20) -- Trenching in new zone northwest of Gold Hill returned 7 m of 8.7 g/t gold within 37 m of 2.1 g/t gold (BKT-17) (i) Reported intervals are not true width. They represent drill intersection widths from holes drilled at 45 to 90 degree angles and horizontal trench intersections. The mineralization at Bayan Khundii is interpreted to be moderately dipping (approximately 40 to 50 degrees to the southwest), approximately perpendicular to drill hole angles. Table 1 - Bayan Khundii drill results (BKD-32 to BKD-40) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Drill Hole From (m) To (m) Interval (m)(i) Gold (g/t) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Testing extension of the Striker Zone to the northeast ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- BKD-20 ext. 50 52 2 10.0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- and 72 88 16 0.31 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Testing western extension, 150 m northwest of Striker Zone under overlying younger rocks ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- BKD-32 52 54 2 4.20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- and 65 180(ii) 115 0.43 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Testing eastern extension of Striker Zone ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- BKD-33 162 170(ii) 8 0.20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Testing deeper western extension of Striker Zone ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- BKD-34 24 30 6 0.45 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- and 76 142 66 1.01 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- incl 116 142 26 2.15 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- incl 118 120 2 14.8 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- and 198 200(ii) 2 0.36 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Testing Stockwork Zone ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- BKD-35 31 100(ii) 69 0.20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- BKD-36 60 62 2 3.59 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- BKD-37 10 14 4 1.56 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tested geophysical anomaly 260 m east of Striker Zone under BKD-38 cover; no anomalous assays ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Testing area under cover 160 m northwest of Striker Zone ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- BKD-39 89 98 9 0.21 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- and 111 125 14 0.25 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Testing target 180 m west of Striker Zone ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- BKD-40 32 50 18 0.41 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- And 124 126 2 15.3 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- And 134 150(ii) 16 0.14 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (i) Reported intervals are not true width. They represent drill intersection widths from holes drilled at a 45 to 90 degree angle. The Bayan Khundii mineralization is interpreted to be moderately dipping (approximately 40 to 50 degrees) perpendicular to the drill hole angle. Holes BKD-39 and BKD-40 were vertical holes. The location of holes BKD-38 and BKD-39 are not shown on the accompanying 'Plan Map of Drill-Trench Locations' as they are located outside the map area. (ii) End of hole Ext.: Extension of previous hole Table 2 - Bayan Khundii trenching results (BKT-16 and BKT-17) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Interval Trench ID From (m) To (m) (m)(iii) Gold (g/t) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- BKT-16 4 29 25 0.57 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- incl 4 6 2 1.11 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- incl 15 24 9 0.98 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- BKT-17 7 44 37 2.12 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- incl 24 31 7 8.68 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (iii) Reported intervals are not true width. They represent intersection from horizontal trenches on surface. The Bayan Khundii mineralization is interpreted to be moderately dipping (approximately 40 to 50 degrees) perpendicular to the trend of the trenches. Bayan Khundii Exploration Program Q2-2016 The Q2-2016 exploration program, which included 3,845 m of diamond drilling in 30 drill holes, was designed to test both the continuity and extent of mineralization in the main zones, including the Striker Zone, and to explore the possible limits of mineralization through reconnaissance drilling. Today's results include up to hole BKD-40 with five holes remaining to be reported. Initial drill results and program details are included in Erdene's May 9, 2016 and May 24, 2016 press releases (click here for link). Partial results for the 2016 trenching program have also been received. Key technical observations since the May 24, 2016 press release update include: -- High grade gold in multiple new holes and trenches, ranging from 11.2 to 30.3 g/t gold; -- BKD-34, collared approximately 40 m south of BKD-28 (23 m of 2.0 g/t gold within 70 m of 1.1 g/t gold) has provided the deepest continuity of the Striker zone to date with a 66 m section of 1.0 g/t gold to 142 m with increasing grade at depth; -- A step-out hole (BKD-32), collared approximately 140 m northwest of the westernmost drilling in the Striker Zone, returned a broad, gold mineralized zone totaling 115 m of 0.43 g/t gold (ranging up to 1.3 g/t gold) and ending at 180 m depth with 2 m of 0.73 g/t gold; -- Step-out drilling (BKD-39), further northwest, 170 m from the next nearest hole (BKD-29) returned anomalous gold intervals confirming the continuation of the gold-bearing alteration system (e.g. 14 m of 0.25 g/t gold); -- Trenching intersected a new zone near the top of holes BKD-17 and BKD- 28, with 7 m of 8.7 g/t gold within a 37 m interval of 2.1 g/t gold; -- Drilling in the Stockwork Hill area returned multiple gold zones in holes BKD-35, -36 and -37 including greater than 3 g/t gold over 2 m in both BKD-36 and BKD-37 and broad low-grade mineralization in BKD-35 with 60 m of 0.22 g/t gold to the end of hole at 100 m depth; and -- The extension of BKD-20 in northeastern Striker Zone returned a high- grade interval of 2 m of 10.0 g/t gold. Geology Bayan Khundii is a low sulfidation epithermal gold system with all of the primary lithologies (volcanic tuff and andesite) pervasively altered by multi-stage, locally intense, silica and sericite alteration. The locally intense silica-sericite alteration (SS2) overprints the pervasive silica sericite alteration (SS1) and commonly forms selvages (halos) around quartz veins, fractures, and hematite/specularite veinlets, as well as selvages surrounding disseminated hematite and other inclusions. Extensive hypogene hematite and specularite mineralization occurs as veinlets, mineralized fractures, locally disseminated, and infilling of breccia zones, including common hematite-quartz breccias. Quartz veins and breccias occur within all altered lithologies and include comb textured quartz, saccharoidal (sugary) quartz, recrystallized quartz (intensely silica altered) as well as chalcedonic quartz. The gold mineralization is associated with quartz veins, quartz breccias, within hematite-specularite veins and fractures, within altered host rocks including along margins (alteration selvages) of quartz veins and disseminated within the altered host rocks, often, but not always, associated with disseminated hematite-specularite mineralization. Gold grades within the host rocks, excluding the greater than 1 g/t material, average 0.1 to 0.2 g/t gold. The recent drilling supports much wider zones of gold mineralization than previously recognized, including previously untested gold mineralization west of the Striker Zone with 66 m of 1 g/t gold in hole BKD-34. Gold mineralization is generally observed to be fine grained. Initial Metallurgy Initial independent metallurgical test work, completed by Erdene in February 2016, indicates the gold mineralization at Bayan Khundii is very amenable to conventional processing techniques involving a combination of gravity and cyanide leach of gravity tails, yielding 99% gold recovery for the high-grade composite sample (24.9 g/t gold) and 92% gold recovery for the low-grade composite sample (0.7 g/t gold). Blue Coast Research Ltd. of Parksville, British Columbia, carried out the metallurgical testing program, the details of which can be found in Erdene's February 16, 2016 news release (click here for link). Future Plans and Results The results of the recently completed drill program will be received prior to the end of Q2-2016 at which time a compilation and interpretation program will take place that will evolve into additional field studies in July and August. This work will include 3-D modelling, structural mapping and interpretation, petrographic studies and spectral analysis. These studies will be reviewed and drilling plans established in mid Q3-2016 to be immediately followed by the commencement of a third round of drilling. About the Bayan Khundii Gold Project In Q2-2015, Erdene conducted an initial exploration program on the southern portion of the Company's 100%-owned Khundii license. This reconnaissance work led to the discovery of the Bayan Khundii ('Rich Valley') gold prospect, located 20 km southeast of the Company's flagship Altan Nar gold-polymetallic project. Subsequently, gold mineralization at Bayan Khundii has been identified in three separate prospect areas over a 1.7 km trend, with detailed exploration only taking place over a 500 m by 350 m zone in the southwest prospect area, where the Company's Q4-2015 and Q2-2016 drill programs have focused. Visible gold has been observed in multiple drill holes and results include several high-grade intersections within a series of parallel structures exposed at surface. Results include up to 35 m of 5.9 g/t gold in hole BKD-10 (including 12 m of 16.2 g/t gold) from surface to the bottom of the hole, and 63 m of 5.3 g/t gold in hole BKD-17 from 50 to 113 m depth. Initial drill results and program details are included in Erdene's May 9, 2016 and May 24, 2016 press releases (click here for link). The license has a 2% net smelter returns royalty ("NSR Royalty") in favour of Sandstorm Gold with a buy-back option to reduce the NSR Royalty to 1%. Qualified Person and Sample Protocol Michael MacDonald, P.Geo. (Nova Scotia), Director of Exploration for Erdene, is the Qualified Person as that term is defined in National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this news release. All samples have been assayed at SGS Laboratory in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. In addition to internal checks by SGS Laboratory, the Company incorporates a QA/QC sample protocol utilizing prepared standards and blanks. Erdene's sampling protocol for drill core consisted of collection of samples over 1 m or 2 m intervals (depending on the lithology and style of mineralization) over the entire length of the drill hole, excluding minor post-mineral lithologies and un-mineralized granitoids. Sample intervals were based on meterage, not geological controls or mineralization. All drill core was cut in half with a diamond saw, with half of the core placed in sample bags and the remaining half securely retained in core boxes at the Company's Bayan Khundii exploration camp. All samples were organized into batches of 20 samples including a commercially prepared standard and blank. Sample batches were periodically shipped directly to SGS in Ulaanbaatar via Erdene's logistical contractor, Monrud Co. Ltd. About Erdene Erdene Resource Development Corp. is a Canada-based resource company focused on the acquisition, exploration, and development of base and precious metals in underexplored and highly prospective Mongolia. The Company holds four exploration licenses and a mining license in southwest Mongolia. These include: Altan Nar - an extensive, high-grade, near-surface, gold-polymetallic project that the Company is advancing toward a production decision, however the Company has not yet completed a mining study to support the technical feasibility and economic viability of Altan Nar; Bayan Khundii - an earlier-stage, high-grade gold discovery made in Q2-2015; Khuvyn Khar - an early-stage, copper-silver porphyry project with multiple drill targets and significant copper intersections; Zuun Mod - a large molybdenum-copper porphyry deposit; and Altan Arrow - an early-stage, high-grade, gold-silver project. In addition to the above properties, the Company has an Alliance with Teck Resources Limited on regional, copper-gold exploration in the prospective Trans Altay region of southwest Mongolia. For further information on the Company, please visit www.erdene.com. Erdene has 121,040,992 issued and outstanding common shares and a fully diluted position of 132,432,906 common shares. Forward-Looking Statements Certain information regarding Erdene contained herein may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements may include estimates, plans, expectations, opinions, forecasts, projections, guidance or other statements that are not statements of fact. Although Erdene believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to have been correct. Erdene cautions that actual performance will be affected by a number of factors, most of which are beyond its control, and that future events and results may vary substantially from what Erdene currently foresees. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration results, continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions. The forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The information contained herein is stated as of the current date and is subject to change after that date. The Company does not assume the obligation to revise or update these forward-looking statements, except as may be required under applicable securities laws. NO REGULATORY AUTHORITY HAS APPROVED OR DISAPPROVED THE CONTENTS OF THIS RELEASE To view the maps associated with this press release, please visit the following links: http://www.marketwire.com/library/20160614-1058950_1_800.jpg http://www.marketwire.com/library/20160614-1058950_2_800.jpg http://www.marketwire.com/library/20160614-1058950_3_800.jpg http://www.marketwire.com/library/20160614-1058950_4_800.jpg Contacts: Erdene Contact Information Peter C. Akerley, President and CEO (902) 423-6419 Erdene Contact Information Ken W. MacDonald, Vice President Business Strategy and CFO (902) 423-6419 info@erdene.com www.erdene.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/ErdeneRes In this A.M.BestTV episode from the annual Bermuda Captive Conference in Bermuda, attendees discuss innovation with cyber insurance and employee benefits, but also say that the upcoming U.K. vote on its staying in the European Union is also weighing heavily on their minds. Click on http://www.ambest.com/v.asp?v=bcc1616 to view the entire program. "With 800 attendees, it really is a conference with people from across the industry," said David Gibbons, chairman, Bermuda Captive Conference. "They are here to discuss captives and how Bermuda is innovating the market, through things like cyber and employee benefits," continued Gibbons. "Here in Bermuda, we have been watching over the last couple of weeks the debate concerning the U.K. vote, which does have some implications for Bermuda, since we are a U.K. territory," said Michael Dunkley, premier of Bermuda. Dunkley said he also believes that if the United Kingdom stays in the European Union it would be of great benefit to Bermuda, since he sees the world as a "big global village" with opportunities and challenges. Other people who appear in this episode include: Steve Horton, financial lines manager, Iron Starr Excess Agency; Joe Flower, chief executive, The Change Project; John Berger, chairman and chief executive officer, Third Point Reinsurance Ltd.; and Ross Webber, chief executive officer, Bermuda Business Development Agency. Full-length interviews are available as well. Go to http://www.ambest.tv/bcc16 to see all the interviews, which include discussions with Craig Swan, managing director, supervision, Bermuda Monetary Authority and Janita Burke, client director, insurance services company, Estera. A.M.BestTV covers exclusive A.M. Best information and reports, targeted topics and key developments in the (re)insurance industry every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Sign up for alerts of episodes at http://www.ambest.com/multimedia/ambtvsignup.html. View A.M.BestTV episodes at http://www.ambest.tv. A.M. Best is the world's oldest and most authoritative insurance rating and information source. For more information, visit www.ambest.com. Copyright 2016 by A.M. Best Company, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160614006426/en/ Contacts: A.M. Best Lee McDonald, +1 908-439-2200, ext. 5561 Group Vice President, Publication and News Services lee.mcdonald@ambest.com Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - June 14, 2016) - EnerDynamic Hybrid Technologies Corp. (TSXV: EHT) ("EHT" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has reached an agreement to settle obligations (the "Shares for Debt Transaction") owed to its creditor in the amount of $547,500.00 through the issuance of 3,650,000 common shares of EHT to such creditor at a deemed price of $0.15 per common share. The Shares for Debt Transaction principally represents a payment for outstanding rent obligations. Completion of the Shares for Debt Transaction will allow EHT to preserve its existing cash balances. All securities issued in connection with the Shares for Debt Transaction will be subject to a statutory hold period of four months plus a day from the date of issuance in accordance with applicable securities law legislation. The Shares for Debt Transaction remains subject to final TSX Venture Exchange approval. About EnerDynamic Hybrid Technologies EHT delivers proprietary, turn-key energy solutions which are intelligent, bankable and sustainable. Most energy products and solutions can be implemented immediately wherever they are needed. EHT stands above its competitors by combining a full suite of solar PV, wind and battery storage solutions, which can deliver energy 24 hours per day in both small-scale and large-scale format. In addition to traditional support to established electrical networks, EHT excels where no electrical grid exists. Through its recent acquisitions and new product developments, the organization now supplies advanced material solutions for various industries in combination with energy saving and energy generation solutions. EHT's core expertise lies in the development of innovative composite material systems with a full integration of smart energy solutions, which are processed through the use of EHT's proprietary production technologies into attractive applications- primarily modular homes, cold storage facilities, modular hospitals, schools, hotels and residential and commercial buildings. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. The statements herein that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking information involves risk, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects, and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking information include, but are not limited to, regulatory approval processes. Although EHT believes that the assumptions used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, including that all necessary regulatory approvals will be obtained in a timely manner, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, which only applies as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. EHT disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by applicable securities laws. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: PERTH, AUSTRALIA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/14/16 -- Mawson West Limited (TSX: MWE) ("Mawson" or the "Company") wishes to announce that the ordinary share purchase warrants (the "Warrants") issued by the Company to Galena Private Equity Resources Fund LP ("Galena") on March 2, 2016 in connection with the provision of a US$20.0 million interest free, secured loan (the "Loan") on the same date from Galena to Mawson's subsidiary, Anvil Mining Congo SA ("Anvil"), have been exercised in part. To date, Anvil has drawn down US$12.0 million, or 60%, of the Loan. In accordance with the terms of the Warrants, Galena has exercised 60% of the Warrants to acquire 1,646,520,000 ordinary shares of the Company at the Warrant exercise price of C$0.01 per share for gross proceeds to Mawson of C$16,465,200. Galena continues to hold Warrants exercisable to acquire a balance of 1,097,680,000 ordinary shares of the Company at the exercise price of C$0.01 per share until December 31, 2017. The proceeds from the exercise of the Warrants have been applied and set-off against the US$12.0 million drawn down under the Loan to date and such amount has been repaid and satisfied in full as a result. The balance of proceeds has been used to repay an additional US$569,534 of debt owed to Galena under previous loans. The exercise of the Warrants follows the receipt of disinterested shareholder approval for the issuance of the ordinary shares issuable upon exercise of the Warrants at the shareholders meeting of the Company held on May 31, 2016. The Loan and the issuance of the Warrants and underlying ordinary shares upon exercise of the Warrants constitute related party transactions for purposes of Canadian Multilateral Instrument 61-101 as Galena is an insider of Mawson, having owned 579,530,761 ordinary shares of Mawson, representing approximately 77.1% of the issued and outstanding shares of the Company prior to the provision of the Loan and the issuance and exercise of the Warrants. The Company is relying upon the "financial hardship" exemption to the valuation and minority approval requirements under MI 61-101 in relation to the Loan and the issuance of the Warrants, and the Company's independent directors have determined that the Company is in serious financial difficulty, the transaction is designed to improve the financial position of the Company, and the terms of the transaction are reasonable in the circumstances of the Company. The Company is also relying on the "financial hardship" exemption to the valuation requirement under MI 61-101 in relation to the issuance of the underlying ordinary shares upon exercise of the Warrants. As noted above, however, such issuance was subject to disinterested shareholder approval and the Company also obtained an independent expert's report in connection with seeking such approval. Galena Early Warning Reporting As noted above, Galena (whose address is Maples Corporate Services Limited, PO Box 309, Ugland House, South Church Street, George Town, Grand Cayman KY1-1104, Cayman Islands) acquired ownership and control of 1,646,520,000 ordinary shares of Mawson upon exercise of the Warrants, representing approximately 68.0% of the issued and outstanding ordinary shares of Mawson post-exercise. As a result, Galena now owns and controls a total of 2,244,050,761 ordinary shares of Mawson, representing approximately 92.7% of the issued and outstanding ordinary shares of Mawson. Galena continues to hold Warrants exercisable to acquire a balance of 1,097,680,000 ordinary shares of the Company at the exercise price of C$0.01 per share until December 31, 2017. In the event that Galena exercises these Warrants, it would have ownership and control over 3,341,730,761 ordinary shares of Mawson West, representing approximately 95.0% of the ordinary shares of Mawson West post-warrant exercise. In addition, Galena holds previously issued warrants of Mawson exercisable to acquire 83,333,334 ordinary shares of Mawson (the "2014 Warrants"). In the event that Galena exercises the 2014 Warrants, it would have ownership and control over 3,425,064,095 ordinary shares of Mawson, representing approximately 95.1% of the ordinary shares of Mawson post-warrant exercise. Galena acquired these securities for investment purposes. As a result of the exercise of the Warrants resulting in Galena owning more than 90% of the issued and outstanding ordinary shares of the Company, Galena intends to consider alternatives for taking Mawson private, including the possible acquisition of all of the ordinary shares of the Company not owned by it pursuant to compulsory acquisition provisions available under Australian corporate law. In addition, subject to applicable law, Galena may in the future acquire or dispose of securities of the Company, through the market, privately or otherwise, as circumstances or market conditions warrant. A copy of the early warning report required to be filed by Galena with applicable securities commissions in connection with this acquisition will be available for viewing under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and a copy of the early warning report may be obtained by contacting media relations for Galena, at +41 (0) 22 592 4528 or media@galena-invest.com. About Mawson West Limited Mawson West is a copper and silver-focused resource company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and based in Perth, Australia. The Company's two key projects are the Dikulushi copper-silver mine and the Kapulo copper mine located in the South Eastern province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), both of which are currently on care and maintenance. Mawson West also has a significant land holding of approximately 7,300km2 in the DRC's rich copper belt. About Galena Private Equity Resources Fund Galena Private Equity Resources Fund LP is a US$400 million closed end Cayman Islands limited partnership designed to invest in the natural resources sector. Galena is managed by Galena Asset Management S.A., a Switzerland based fund manager operated by independent specialist management as part of the Trafigura Group. Galena seeks to draw on the commodity, metals and mining and technical expertise of the Trafigura Group, investing in late stage and producing assets in a variety of jurisdictions and commodities around the globe. Forward-looking statements This news release contains certain "forward looking statements". These statements reflect management's current beliefs with respect to future events and are based on information currently available to management of the Company. Forward-looking statements involve significant risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors could cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including (without limitation) the risks identified in the "Risk Factors" section of the Company's Annual Information Form and other public filings (copies of which may be obtained at www.sedar.com). The results or events depicted in these forward-looking statements may differ materially from actual results or events. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this news release and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. The Toronto Stock Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this press release. Contacts: Mawson West Limited Anthony Lloyd Non-Executive Chairman and Acting CEO +61 8 9389 2111 alloyd@mawsonwest.com CARDSTON, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/14/16 -- American Creek Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE: AMK) ("American Creek") is pleased to announce that it has now completed the sale to Tudor Gold Corp. (TSX VENTURE: TUD) ("Tudor") of certain of its interests in the Electrum property and the Treaty Creek property, both of which are located in the "Golden Triangle" in NW British Columbia (refer to our previous news release dated May 11, 2016). Pursuant to a joint venture agreement entered into with Tudor, American Creek sold an undivided 60% interest in its Electrum property in consideration for 1,000,000 Tudor shares and the payment of $500,000 cash. Tudor also invested $250,000 into American Creek by way of a private placement under which American Creek issued 3,125,000 shares at a price of $0.08 per share to Tudor. All shares issued under this agreement are subject to both a 4 month statutory/regulatory hold period as well as a voluntary hold period which expires May 10, 2017. A 60/40 joint venture has now been formed and Tudor is the operator of the project. Pursuant to a separate joint venture agreement entered into with Tudor and Teuton Resources Corp. ("Teuton"), American Creek sold an undivided 31% interest in its Treaty Creek property to Tudor in consideration for 500,000 Tudor shares. A joint venture has now been formed with Tudor holding a 60% interest and each of American Creek and Teuton holding a 20% interest in the joint venture. Both American Creek's and Teuton's 20% interests are fully carried during the exploration period until a production notice is given. Thereafter, each will be responsible for 20% of the costs under and subject to the terms of the joint venture. Tudor is the operator of the project. Under the terms of the agreement, Tudor has agreed to complete a minimum of $1,000,000 in exploration expenditures on the Treaty Creek property during 2016. All shares issued under this agreement are subject to both a 4 month statutory/regulatory hold period as well as a voluntary one year hold period. Darren Blaney, American Creek's CEO, states: "We are pleased to have closed these two JV transactions with Walter Storm's Tudor Gold Corp. We are very much looking forward to the advancement of both the Treaty Creek and Electrum projects." The Treaty Creek property is located immediately adjacent to, and on geological trend with Seabridge Gold's KSM project and north of the Pretivm Resources Brucejack project. The Sulphurets Thrust Fault, which has been identified by BC government geologists as being related to all of Seabridge's KSM property gold-copper deposits, continues northeast through the Treaty Creek property. The Electrum property is located approximately 45km north of Stewart, British Columbia, near past operating mines including the Riverside, Scotty Gold, Granduc, Big Missouri and Silbak-Premier. The Electrum is road accessible and is only 45km from recently upgraded concentrate shipping port facilities located in Stewart. A new electrical power line currently being constructed by Pretivm Resources runs right up the valley beside the Electrum project and may provide a future source of power. The Electrum property encompasses the historic East Gold Mine which has produced extremely high grades of gold, silver and electrum in the past, over 25 years of small-scale hand mining. Past work completed by American Creek has identified several areas on the property which contain very high grade gold and silver vein systems. About American Creek American Creek Resources Ltd. is a Canadian junior mineral exploration company focused on the acquisition, exploration and development of mineral deposits within the Province of British Columbia, Canada. Further information relating to American Creek is available on its website at www.americancreek.com This press release was prepared by management who takes full responsibility for its contents. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary Statements This news release may contain forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Readers should not place undue importance on forward-looking information and should not rely upon this information as of any other date. Actual results could differ materially because of factors discussed in the Company's management discussion and analysis filed with applicable Canadian securities regulators, which can be found under the Company's profile on www.sedar.com. The Company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements. Contacts: Kelvin Burton 403 752-4040 info@americancreek.com www.americancreek.com Corporate Communications Dept Tel: +62 21 2560 1069 Fax: +62 21 2560 1068 Email: corpcomm@garuda-indonesia.com SINGAPORE, June 14, 2016 - (ACN Newswire) - Indonesia's award-winning national airline, Garuda Indonesia, today launched the re-operation of a daily flight between Singapore and Medan. The flight reopening is in line with the airline's future expansion plan, and the continuously commitment as the flag-carrier to help boost Indonesia's economic, business, and tourism growth, as well as part of its effort to further strengthen the backbone of its connectivity in Southeast Asia region in line with the Open Sky policy.The relaunches ceremony was located at the Changi International Airport, and proudly unveiled by Indonesian Minister of Tourism Mr Arief Yahya, President & CEO Garuda Indonesia M. Arif Wibowo, Indonesian Ambassador for Singapore H.E. Ngurah Swanjaya, VP Airline Development Changi Airport Group Damon Wong, along with other officials of Garuda Indonesia Board of Director and Tourism Ministry of Indonesia.President & CEO Garuda Indonesia M. Arif Wibowo stated that aside from the airline's expansion program, the reoperation of the flight is also a commitment to support Indonesian government program in boosting the Top 10 Priority Destinations in which one of them is Lake Toba."We believe this new service will stimulate growth of business and trade in the region, more so as Medan is strategically located as the gateway to Sumatera and the rest of Indonesia's western regions. The new service will offer passengers a wider choice of destinations as well as greater flexibility and convenience when travelling between Singapore and cities in Sumatera, such as Palembang, Banda Aceh, Sabang, Lheuksmawe, Gunung Sitoli, and Pinangsori," he added.Apart from business and leisure travel, many visitors from Singapore come to Medan as the city is quite well known for its vibrant mix of cultures and reputation as a culinary paradise as well as popular tourism attractions.Commenting on the airline's strategic initiative, Indonesian Minister of Tourism Arief Yahya explained that Singapore is considered as an international transportation hub, as well as the tourism hub for Indonesia. Furthermore, the Minister also promotes Lake Toba, one of the Top 10 Priority Destinations in Indonesia."Toba is the largest and deepest volcanic lake in the world. Lake Toba is a giant caldera, with crater formed by the eruption of a super volcano 74,000 years ago. Experts believe that huge explosion of Toba volcano was the largest in the last 2 million years, and had triggered a dramatic volcanic storm. As an attraction, Lake Toba is a very distinctive, world-class natural landscape," he added.The Medan-bound service will run daily and will be operated by Garuda's Boeing 738 aircraft with a two-class cabin configuration featuring its globally praised Business Class service concept and the World's Best Economy Class (Skytrax Global Airline Awards 2013).The service will depart from Changi Airport at 11.15am and arrive at Kualanamu International Airport at 11.45am local time. The return flights to Singapore will depart Kualanamu International Airport at 13.30pm and arrive at Changi Airport at 16.00pm local time.Garuda Indonesia had also launched the Wonderful Indonesia Travel Pass last January in an effort to promote Indonesia's tourist destinations beyond its main hub, as well as to boost travel, by making travelling within Indonesia a truly affordable and seamless experience.The launch of this service is part of Garuda Indonesia's 50th Anniversary in Singapore. The airline's presence in Singapore, for over 50 years, marks Singapore not only as one of the airline's most important markets, but also as a symbol of an even better relationship between the two countries in the next fifty years. Ever since the first day of its consecutive operations in Singapore 50 years ago, the airline has grown considerably and transformed into one of Asia's most successful airlines.To celebrate this launch, Garuda Indonesia is running a promotion on all-in economy fares from Singapore to Medan from S$108 for one way trips and S$188 for return flights. Business class tickets will also be on sale from S$328 one-way and S$538 for return. Valid for travel from 14 June until 06 July 2016 and fares will be on sale from now up until 06 July 2016.The fares are available for purchase online from www.garuda-indonesia.com or the Garuda Indonesia sales office from 9am - 5pm at United Square, 101 Thomson Road, #12-03. Terms and conditions apply. Please call the reservation department at +65 6250 2888 for more details.About PT Garuda Indonesia (Persero) Tbk.Garuda Indonesia currently operates over 90 weekly direct flights from Singapore to three Indonesian destinations including Bali, Jakarta and Surabaya and 2 European destinations namely Amsterdam and London. The Indonesian carrier was recently awarded a five-star rating by Skytrax, making it the seventh airline to earn this prestigious award. After winning the title "World's Best Regional Airline" in 2012, Garuda Indonesia was named "World's Best Economy Class" in 2013 and 'World's Best Airline Cabin Crew' by Skytrax in 2014 and 2015 for the second year running. Garuda Indonesia officially became the 20th member of the SkyTeam alliance in March 2014.Garuda Indonesia is listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange [IDX:GIAA]. For further information, please log on to www.garuda-indonesia.com, follow @IndonesiaGaruda on Twitter, like our Facebook page at PT.GarudaIndonesia, or subscribe to youtube.com/GarudaIndonesia1949.Source: PT Garuda Indonesia (Persero) Tbk.Contact:Copyright 2016 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved. Global wind employment grew 5% last year to reach 1.1M BRUSSELS, June 15, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --Record wind industry growth was reflected in a 5% increase in employment in the sector, which now employs 1.1 million1 people. Today, on Global Wind Day, GWEC highlights the socio-economic benefits generated by the global wind industry, in addition to supplying clean power. Global Wind Day is a worldwide event that occurs annually on 15 June: a day for discovering wind energy, its power and the possibilities it holds to reshape our energy systems, decarbonise our economies, build new industries and create new jobs. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160613/378311LOGO The increase in employment figures is mainly due to strong installation rates in China, the US and Germany. New job creation is being driven by declining renewable energy technology costs and enabling policy frameworks. As governments continue to struggle with high unemployment rates in many parts of the world, both the current reality and future potential for employment in the wind industry has become increasingly significant. "We are getting bigger, better and cheaper. The wind industry has witnessed record growth in recent years which not only helps the world to meet the climate goals agreed in Paris but also generates much needed new jobs and boosts local economies, to the tune of about US$ 110 billion last year," said Steve Sawyer, GWEC Secretary General. In the meantime, corporations are increasingly investing in wind energy. Clean energy procurement is standard practice for some of the largest and most profitable companies in the world, including Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Google, Lego, AT&T, DuPont, General Motors, HP, Sprint, and Walmart. "We are thrilled to see the rapidly growing number of companies opting to source their power from wind. These globally leading companies show that wind makes economic sense, as well as protecting the environment; and it's what their customers want to see. While government action is needed, the real change happens when investors make economic decisions which lead us in the right direction," said Steve Sawyer. Wind power was the largest source of new power generation in 2015. Led by wind, renewables are transforming the power sector bringing along a host of other environmental, social, and economic benefits across the globe. The macroeconomic effects are increasingly a factor in political decision making about our future energy choices. 1 IRENA: Renewable Energy and Jobs - Annual Review 2016 Singapore, Singapore--(Newsfile Corp. - June 14, 2016) - Zecotek Photonics Inc. (TSXV: ZMS) (FSE: W1I), a developer of leading-edge photonics technologies for medical, industrial and scientific markets, today announced that the Company has increased the non-brokered private placement, announced on May 9, 2016, to $1,574,799. Each unit consists of one common share and one common share purchase warrant. Each warrant entitles the holder to acquire one common share at an exercise price of $0.43 per common share at any time on or before the 24-month anniversary of the closing of the offering. As previously announced on May 26, 2016, the Company closed the first tranche of the private placement for gross proceeds of $678,000. Net proceeds from the funds raised will be used to complete the transfer of technology for the purpose of immediate commercialization, strengthen and maintain patents of the Company's IP portfolio, and used for purchase order financings and general working capital purposes. Pursuant to the financing, the Company may pay a finder's fee. All shares and warrants are subject to a four-month hold period. About Zecotek Zecotek Photonics Inc (TSXV: ZMS) (FSE: W1I) is a photonics technology company developing high-performance scintillation crystals, photo detectors, positron emission tomography scanning technologies, 3D auto-stereoscopic displays, 3D metal printing, and lasers for applications in medical, high-tech and industrial sectors. Founded in 2004, Zecotek operates three divisions: Imaging Systems, Optronics Systems and 3D Display Systems with labs located in Canada, Korea, Russia, Singapore and U.S.A. The management team is focused on building shareholder value by commercializing over 50 patented and patent pending novel photonic technologies directly and through strategic alliances, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (Switzerland), Beijing Opto-Electronics Technology Co. Ltd. (China), NuCare Medical Systems (South Korea), the University of Washington (United States), and National NanoFab Center (South Korea). For more information visit www.zecotek.com and follow @zecotek on Twitter. This press release may contain forward-looking statements that are based on management's expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks and uncertainties, which are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual future results and trends may differ materially from what may have been stated. For Additional Information Please Contact: Zecotek Photonics Inc. Michael Minder T: (604) 783-8291 ir@zecotek.com Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this news release. If you would like to receive news from Zecotek in the future please visit the corporate website at www.zecotek.com. Gilde Healthcare, an Utrecht, The Netherlands and Cambridge, Massachusetts-based venture capital firm, closed its fourth fund, at 250m ($285m). Gilde Healthcare IV is backed by a mix of international investors including cornerstone investor Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA)), Johnson & Johnson Innovation JJDC, and fund-of-funds, sovereign funds such as Danish Growth Fund, endowments, family offices, entrepreneurs and Gilde partners. The European Investment Fund participated through several of its funding programs including the European Recovery Program and Dutch Venture Initiative II. A later stage and growth capital fund, it targets investments in innovative private scale-up opportunities in medtech, digital health and therapeutics both in Europe and North America. It will make equity investments in a single portfolio company of between 15-25m. Led by Pieter van der Meer, Managing Partner, Gilde Healthcare is organized along two business lines managing separate funds for innovative healthcare technology companies and lower mid-market healthcare services companies. The firm has raised over 800m ($910 million) in dedicated healthcare funds and is actively looking to lead new private investments in medtech, digital health, therapeutics and healthcare services. In the last three years, Gilde exited 14 portfolio companies across its healthcare funds including: Definiens, a provider of image analysis software for digital pathology; Inovalabs, which markets portable oxygen concentrators for patients with respiratory conditions; ProFibrix, which developed a novel topical hemostatic agent to treat fast bleeding wounds; Prosonix, a speciality pharmaceutical company developing a portfolio of inhaled respiratory medicines by design; Santaris, which develops RNA-targeted drugs and Sapiens, a Dutch neuro-modulation company focused on deep brain stimulation for patients suffering from Parkinsons disease. FinSMEs 14/06/2016 Aunt Bertha, an Austin, TX-based social services search and referral platform, raised $5m in Series B funding. The round was led by Techstars Ventures (TSV). In conjunction with the funding, Jason Seats, partner at TSV, will join Aunt Berthas board. The company intends to use the funds to expand operations. Led by Aunt Bertha CEO Erine Gray, AuntBertha.com is a search platform for finding and applying for social services in the United States. To date, it has been used by more than 207,500 people. The company also sells a premium version of the platform to employers of large groups of social workers and case managers. FinSMEs 14/06/2016 Suggesting a stricter regulatory regime for app-based taxi aggregators like Ola and Uber, a high-level government-appointed panel on Monday recommended capping of their fares. "Liberalise city taxi permit scheme. They (aggregators) should follow the rules relating to fares, fuel and safety as mandated by transport department. Upper cap for the fares be fixed by transport department," the panel of state transport ministers, set up by the Centre to frame stricter traffic and road safety rules, recommended Monday. After the two-day meeting at Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh, the group of ministers also said that such taxis may be permitted but they have to aggregate only those taxis which have legally valid permits. Taxi aggregators have often faced criticism for excessive charging of fares during peak hours in the name of surge pricing. The ministers' panel also recommended steps like reserving "at least 20 percent space in public parking lots for taxis" for improving parking facilities and other public transport vehicles in the cities besides promoting low-cost last mile connectivity solutions that include allowing e-rickshaws and two wheeler taxis "as they are safe and low cost solutions" for the passengers. The panel, headed by Rajasthan Transport Minister Yunoos Khan, also suggested allowing "seat sharing in taxis & auto rickshaws" besides strengthening rural transportation that include launch of scheme by the Centre for rural transport vehicles and permits to them. The Centre has formed the panel for framing stricter traffic and road safety rules under the new road safety bill with a view to check road accidents which claim over 1 lakh lives every year in the country. The panel has unanimously agreed to framing steeper penalties that include imprisonment for offences like driving by minors, crossing speed limits, drunk driving, talking over phone while driving and jumping traffic lights. The final recommendations of the panel are expected to be in place later this month. For strengthening public transport systems the panel recommended that the Centre may introduce scheme to strengthen state transport undertakings (STU) and exempt STU buses from taxes. "Deregulate luxury segment to motivate people to shift from personalised transport to public transport," it said and stressed the need to address the problems of insurance in STU sector. For public transport in hilly terrains it emphasised the need for creating a sub group to address the problems. At the same time the GoM advocated higher compensation in case of accidents that include accidental insurances for drivers in third-party insurance and rationalisation of insurance provisions in accident cases besides covering loss to property in cases of accidents. The recommendations hold much significance as a report on accidents released last week said that an average of 400 persons die every day in road accidents in India which translates i into 17 deaths in 57 crashes per hour and over 54 per cent of those getting killed being in the age group of 15-34 years. In 2015, there were about 5 lakh road accidents in the country, of which 1.46 lakh people were killed. The ministers' panel has already recommended jail of up to a year in addition to a penalty of Rs 10,000 for those driving with fake licenses -- up from the current penalty provision of Rs 500 and a maximum jail term of three months. In case of juvenile drivers, the owner of the vehicle or the driver's guardian will face stricter penalties of up to three years in jail and fine of up to Rs 20,000, while their vehicle registration certificate may also be cancelled. After failing to push new Road Safety Bill in Parliament, the Centre had constituted the group of ministers (GoM) for further consultation and reaching a consensus on stricter traffic rules. Besides recommending hefty penalties for traffic offenders the GoM had recommended stringent fine of Rs 100 crore and compulsorily order a recall for faulty designs and absence of necessary safety features in vehicles by automakers. The new Road Safety Bill may also provide for a penalty of up to Rs 5,000 on individuals for use of unauthorised components and other manufacturing or maintenance-related violations, such as in fog lights, pressure horns, extra lights, roof-top carriers and metallic protectors. NEW YORK Gawker Media LLC asked a U.S. bankruptcy court judge on Monday for permission to borrow up to $22 million from an affiliate of buyout firm Cerberus Capital Management LP to help it through its sale process, according to a court filing. The online publishing pioneer filed for bankruptcy last week after it failed to secure a postponement on paying $140 million to Hulk Hogan after it lost a lawsuit involving the publication of excerpts from a sex tape of the former pro wrestler. Media company Ziff Davis LLC has entered into an agreement to buy Gawker for $90 million, setting the floor for an opening bid in a court-supervised auction expected to take place at the end of July. The loan from Cerberus, which often invests in companies in financial distress, will help Gawker continue to operate through bankruptcy. Gawker and its bankers reached out to 37 different potential investors in May to see if they had an interest in backing the loan, according to the filing. Gawker is known for running salacious stories, and Cerberus has a history of controversial investments. One of its investments, Freedom Group Inc, is the maker of the Bushmaster rifle that was used by Adam Lanza when he killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012. The families of the victims subsequently sued Freedom Group. Cerberus declined to comment. Billionaire investor Peter Thiel, an early backer of Facebook Inc (FB.O) and PayPal Holdings Inc (PYPL.O), bankrolled Hogan's lawsuit. Gawker had posted a 2007 article about Thiel entitled "Peter Thiel is totally gay, people." (Reporting by Jessica DiNapoli in New York; Editing by Cynthia Osterman) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. SEOUL/LAKE CHARLES, La South Korean prosecutors expanded their investigation into Lotte Group on Tuesday with raids on at least ten firms including its biggest listed unit Lotte Chemical (011170.KS), heaping further pressure on the country's fifth-largest conglomerate. The probe, which included raids by a 200-strong team on the group's headquarters and other firms last week, ranks as the largest into a South Korean family-run "chaebol" in terms of the number of investigators mobilised, analysts said. Prosecutors are looking into a possible slush fund as well as breach of trust involving transactions among the group's companies, people familiar with the matter said on Friday. The fallout from the probe has already seen the derailment of a planned initial public offering worth up $4.5 billion for Lotte's hotel and duty free unit, as well as Lotte Chemical bowing out of bidding for a U.S. company. But Lotte Group will revive Hotel Lotte's IPO plans with an aim to list around the end of this year, the group's chairman, Shin Dong-bin, told reporters on Tuesday in Lake Charles, Louisiana, at an event to mark work starting on the construction of a chemical plant. The IPO would potentially have been the world's biggest this year. "I am really sorry to cause everyone concern. I feel accountable, and am telling all companies to cooperate," Shin said, in his first public remarks on the investigation. Analysts said deal-making for Lotte, one of the country's most acquisitive conglomerates, is likely to be on hold for some time. A potential acquisition of a U.S duty free operator worth 1.7 trillion won ($1.5 billion) is in doubt now that the IPO has been pulled, a Lotte Duty Free official told Reuters on Tuesday. The investigation is also expected to hit investor confidence not just towards Lotte, one of the country's more opaque conglomerates, but all chaebol, fund managers said. The probe is "a confirmation of governance problems within Korea Inc," said Park Yoo-kyung, a Hong Kong-based director at Netherlands-based APG Asset Management. A source at the Seoul Prosecutors' Office with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters the investigation had been underway for some time, and that the raids had been prompted by signs that Lotte officials were attempting to conceal evidence. "We couldn't delay anymore," said the source, who declined to be identified as the investigation was ongoing. Asked to respond to the source's remarks, a Lotte Group spokesman said the conglomerate would cooperate fully with the investigation but declined to comment further. FAMILY FEUD Ordinary business may also take a hit at Lotte firms raided. Three officials at Lotte group firms told Reuters that some operations were severely hampered, with computers and documents needed to conduct business having been removed by investigators. The IPO for Hotel Lotte had been intended to simplify the ownership structure and improve corporate governance at the group after a feud over succession among the founding Shin family last year drew wide public criticism. Shin Dong-bin, the younger son of the group's founder, prevailed over his older brother to head the group. He said he planned to remain in the United States for the near future, and expected to return to South Korea around the end of this month. Named after the heroine of an 18th century Goethe novel, Lotte has grown from its founding in Japan 68 years ago as a maker of chewing gum to a corporate giant with interests ranging from hotels and retail to food and chemicals. The group, which has more than 90 firms, spent 7.6 trillion won ($6.5 billion) to buy 21 businesses in the past five years - the most acquisitions among South Korea's 30 largest conglomerates, according to research firm CEO Score. Shares in Lotte Group firms fell again on Tuesday. Lotte Chemical slipped more than 1 percent while Lotte Confectionery (004990.KS) and Lotte Chilsung Beverage Co Ltd (005300.KS), which were also raided, lost 3 percent and 4 percent respectively. The broader market edged 0.4 percent lower. ($1 = 1,171.2400 won) (Reporting by Joyce Lee and Hyunjoo Jin; Additional reporting by Jee Heun Kahng and Se Young Lee; Editing by Tony Munroe and Jane Merriman) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's Telecom Commission wants a higher number of slots to be auctioned in an upcoming sale of second generation (2G) radio airwaves than that proposed by the sector regulator, in what could provide some respite to carriers protesting regulatory recommendations. The commission wants at least 10 mega hertz (MHz) of airwaves to be auctioned in each telecom zone, Telecoms secretary R. Chandrashekhar said, higher than 5 MHz suggested by the sector regulator. The commission is yet to take a decision on the auction base price and will meet again on Saturday, said Chandrashekhar, the top bureaucrat in the telecoms ministry, who also chairs the Telecom Commission that is the highest decision-making body within the ministry. In case of the upcoming auction, a panel of ministers has the final say on pricing and other rules. India will sell 2G radio airwaves for the first time through an auction to redistribute them among carriers. The auction, due by August, follows a Supreme Court order to revoke a total 122 zonal telecom permits awarded to eight carriers in a scandal-tainted 2008 state grant process. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had last month suggested an auction starting price that is nearly 10 times what carriers had paid in a 2008 state grant process and also proposed limited number of slots in the auction. The regulator's proposal for a limited number of slots risks driving up bid prices, as was the case in an auction of 3G airwaves in 2010. The regulator this month reaffirmed most of its proposed rules, which mobile carriers have slammed. The auction will be the last chance for international carriers including Norway's Telenor (TEL.OL) and Russia's Sistema (SSAq.L), as well as fourth-biggest Indian carrier Idea Cellular (IDEA.NS) to win back their permits that are set to be revoked after the court order. Telenor and Sistema have threatened that they will pull out of India if the government goes ahead with the regulator's proposals. The proposals have also drawn protests from market leaders Bharti Airtel (BRTI.NS) and Vodafone's (VOD.L) local unit, which are not affected by the court order but were looking to buy more airwaves in the auction to feed their overstretched networks. The companies are also fighting another regulatory proposal to refarm, or switch, their superior-quality airwaves with a relatively-inferior band before their permits are renewed starting in 2014. Carriers say the proposals, if implemented, will add billions of dollars to their costs, hurting profits, and will force them to increase tariffs. India is the world's second-biggest mobile phone market with more than 900 million customers. But carriers operate under wafer-thin margins as a fiercely-competitive market has forced them to offer one of the world's cheapest call prices. The industry's profit margins have been falling for the past several years amid competition and also due to a steep increase in debt especially after a $19 billion payout for buying 3G and 4G airwaves in a 2010 state auction. On Thursday, Chandrashekhar, said the Telecom Commission had agreed that all airwaves assigned to companies in the future would be "liberalised". (Writing by Aradhana Aravindan) New Delhi: The gruesome accident in Janakpuri area on Monday, in which two persons were killed by a drunk driver, was the second such case in the city this year in which the accused was slapped with a more stringent charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder instead of charge of causing death by negligence, which is bailable in nature. Earlier this year, in the Mercedes hit-and-run incident reported in north Delhi's Civil Lines area, the accused, who was four days short of 18 years on the day of the accident, was slapped with the same charge in the case which was initially registered under IPC Section 304 A (causing death by negligence). In Monday's incident, police claimed that they have adequate ground to register a case under IPC Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder). "In this case, the 21-year-old accused, who was in a highly inebriated state, was driving at a very high speed and did not stop his car after hitting the first person, who later died. "He did not stop even after hitting two others and pulled over only after reaching a certain distance, chased by a patrol team, suggesting that the act was done with the knowledge that it is likely to cause death, but without any intention to do so," Joint Commissioner of Police (southwest) Dependra Pathak said. IPC Section 304 is a more stringent charge as it is non bailable and punishable with imprisonment for life or for a term which can extend upto 10 years, apart from fine, unlike IPC Section 304 A which is bailable in nature and punishable with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or both. However, in Janakpuri case, police have so far not come across any record of traffic violation against the accused, Rishabh, unlike the Mercedes case in which the 17-year-old boy was found involved in at least four cases in one year. But in the Mercedes hit-and-run matter, the minor, whose father was also booked for abetment to his crime, was not suspected to be driving under the influence of alcohol unlike Monday's incident. In that case, the relatives of the 32-year-old business consultant who died in the incident, met Delhi Police Commissioner Alok Kumar Verma, following which the investigating officer of the case was changed and the charge was altered from causing death by negligence to culpable homicide not amounting to murder. Two persons, including an elderly man, who were out for morning walk were killed and another was critically injured after they were knocked down by a speeding car being allegedly driven by a 21-year-old student in a highly inebriated state in Janakpuri area. New Delhi: A Vietnamese diplomat was booked for rash and negligent driving in south Delhi's Vasant Kunj area, police said on Tuesday. The incident took place in the wee hours of Sunday, when the Vietnamese diplomat, Nguyen Duy Khanh, was returning from a party, suspected in an inebriated state, in his Toyota car and hit the vehicle of a 42-year-old woman. Delhi Police have also sent a report to the Union Home Ministry in connection with the incident. The vehicles of both the diplomat and the woman, identified as Arti Gupta, were damaged but nobody was injured, a senior official said. "A case under Section 279 of IPC has been registered in connection with the matter at Vasant Kunj (South) Police Station," additional DCP (South) Nupur Prasad said. Khanh cannot be arrested as he enjoys diplomatic immunity, senior officials said. Patna/New Delhi: Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani and Bihar Education Minister Ashok Choudhary were on Tuesday locked in a bitter war of words on Twitter after the Congress leader addressed her as "dear". Issues of etiquette in official communication also cropped up during the barrage of tweets unleashed against each other. Choudhary in a tweet on Tuesday referred to the Human Resources Development (HRD) minister as "Dear" Smriti Irani ji and said that rather than focus on politics and speeches, she should pay attention to the New Education Policy (NEP). Irani, who is currently touring Bihar, shot back asking Choudhary that since when did he begin addressing women as "dear". "Mahilaon ko 'dear' keh ke kab se sambodhit karne lage Ashokji?" @AshokChoudhaary mahilaon ko 'dear' keh ke kab se sambodhit karne lage Ashokji ? Smriti Z Irani (@smritiirani) June 14, 2016 Choudhary, who is also the state president of Congress, responded that it was "Not to disrespect but educate... Professional emails start with "dear"." In his tweet, he asked Irani to answer the real issue and not "circle around it." "@AshokChoudhaary all my communications to you or any other person start with 'adarniya', but since you are now communicating allow me 1/3," Irani said in another tweet. "Bihar is possibly the only state which has not done grass root consultations for the education policy 2/3." "@AshokChoudhaary have not received state views on education policy neither did you in your 1 on 1 meeting with me give any suggestions 3/3," Irani tweeted. Yadav, however, launched a counter-attack, tweeting, "@smritiirani ji has learnt a lot from Modiji...Fake promises and shifting blames to others for non-delivery is lesson1 in Sangh's book." Choudhary also wanted the minutes of his meeting with Irani be made public so that "Doodh ka doodh, paani ka paani ho jayega (the truth comes out in the open)." Irani again fired another tweet, saying "Sir I hope you do find time in your busy schedule to contribute to the education policy. Await state feedback." The Bihar minister then responded with a jibe, tweeting "Thx for the high honor, glad to know delivery and non- delivery of NEP is on me. Hope Modiji shares the credit with me too." The battle of the ministers did not stop there with Irani asking the Bihar minister to "fill 2 lac teacher vacancies, land for KVs, CU Motihari." Choudhary responded, saying "I know how to deliver on my promises. Request you to deliver on what you have promised". The war of words erupted on a day when Irani was on a visit to Bhagalpur in connection with "Vikash Parv" observed by BJP-led NDA on completion of two years in the office at the Centre. In The Tragedy of Macbeth, the ghost of Banquo a character the Bard may have borrowed from Holinshed's Chronicles haunts the King of Scotland during the infamous banquet scene in Act III, Scene IV. The blood drains from his cheeks as a terrified Macbeth sees Banquo occupying the chair meant for the king while the apparition is invisible to everyone else. It would seem that Arvind Kejriwal sees Narendra Modi as the illegal occupant of a chair which he so wishes for himself. Nothing else explains the Delhi Chief Minister's single-minded obsession for the Prime Minister. In a long line of such ad hominem attacks where the pretense varies from fulmination over a degree to outrage over choosing bureaucrats the latest is over the issue of President Pranab Mukherjee's refusal to sign a bill which sought to retrospectively allow 21 Aam Admi Party MLAs to hold a second paying position as parliamentary secretaries. The bill, which was passed last year, was aimed at validating the post of the legislators who now face possible disqualification. The MLAs' fate depends now on the Election Commission that is considering a petition seeking their disqualification. Were such a thing indeed to happen, there could be fresh bypolls in Delhi and a major political showdown between the AAP, BJP and Congress. To understand why Kejriwal dragged Modi into the picture and blamed him for a decision that was taken by the President and will ultimately rest in the hands of the EC, we must first take a look at whether Kejriwal has a case for outrage. To the point, was the President wrong in withholding his assent to the amendment which the Delhi Government had sought to the Delhi Members of Legislative Assembly (Removal of Disqualification) Act, 1997, to exclude the post of parliamentary secretaries from the list of "office of profit"? The simple answer is, no. Here's why: President Pranab Mukherjee was acting in consonance with the Indian Constitution which prohibits legislators or parliamentarians from holding any positions with monetary or other benefits. This clause known as office of profit is aimed at reducing conflict-of-interest situations for public representatives. Section 15 of the government of NCT of Delhi Act, 1991, clarifies that a person shall not remain an MLA if he/she holds any office of profit under the Centre or government of a state or Union Territory. In 2006, Sonia Gandhi had to resign as a Lok Sabha MP from Rae Bareilly as well quit National Advisory Council (NAC) chairperson's post after TDP petitioned President A P J Abdul Kalam demanding that Congress president be disqualified for holding the position, which they alleged was an ''office of profit''. The MP or MLA is already entitled to a remuneration. The AAP, in fact, last December passed a bill approving a 400% hike in the basic monthly salary of Delhi MLAs besides significant hike in a slew of allowances. The monthly package of MLAs was increased from Rs 88,000 to Rs 2.10 lakh per month, while their annual travelling allowance was increased from Rs 50,000 to Rs 3 lakh per year. Now if the same MLA also becomes a parliament secretary, they are entitled to office rooms, vehicles and other perks. Since one person cannot hold two "office for profit", any such appointment can be considered illegal unless it has prior legal sanction. The law is clear that what constitutes an "office of profit" and what does not must be pre-defined. This means Arvind Kejriwal is on a sticky wicket here and this explains why the Delhi Chief Minister sought to give a political reply (by blaming Modi) to a technical issue. Any back dated change in law to protect a neta is corruption and against constitution. No vendetta here. https://t.co/2MeGGjWRFt Yogendra Yadav (@_YogendraYadav) June 13, 2016 The Delhi Chief Minister claimed on Tuesday that Modi is still unable to "digest his defeat in Delhi" and is therefore indulging in political vendetta to stop AAP MLAs who are apparently "working for free." "What problem does PM Modi have if our MLAs are willing to work for free of cost as Parliamentary secretaries? Our notification to them very clearly stated that they wont get any salary nor special privileges?" Kejriwal asked. In a series of tweets on the issue, he also suggested that the "Prime Minister doesnt respect democracy. He is only afraid of AAP. Modi ji says neither I will work, nor will allow others to work. Aside from the fact that not having a parliamentary secretary's post should not hinder any MLA from carrying out her/his duties, it can be argued that if anyone is showing disrespect to democratic proceedings here, it is Kejriwal, not Modi. By blaming the Prime Minister for a decision taken by the President and which now rests with the EC, the Delhi CM is insinuating that all constitutional posts are subservient to the PM. He is demeaning both the President's chair and the EC's post. By his political bluster, the Delhi Chief Minister is also undermining democratic proceedings and is looking for clemency from Constitutional and legal bindings almost as if he is the Emperor or Rome who writes his own law. Kejriwal's provocative comments, that Modi is scared of AAP and haunted by his apparition, are a blatant attempt to divert attention from his government's ill-advised move. Bill to provide Car, Office &amenities to 21 AAP MLAs was not only ethically but also procedurally wrong. Thus Bill rejected. We welcome it! Ajay Maken (@ajaymaken) June 13, 2016 If Kejriwal wants to be taken seriously as a politician and a leader, he will have to do much better than show schoolboyish disregard for Constitutional proceedings. Else he will remain a caricature trapped in his own image. Auto refresh feeds The crowd in Allahabad erupted in loud cheers when Prime Minister Narendra Modi attributed to India's growth and development to its citizens. The Prime Minister invoked the Ganga river, Triveni sangam and said the BJP needs people's support for the development of Uttar Pradesh. Development in UP will happen when there is no corruption, goondaraj, nepotism, communalism and there is law and order in the state. UP will be on the path of development Modi is in campaign mode in Uttar Pradesh and asked the crowd that if you want change in Uttar Pradesh and go in the path of development, then BJP should form the government in UP. He said the difficulties our elders went through, the youths of the country should go through the same difficulties. The solution to all problems is development. Youths will not get jobs without development. Without development, how can the youth of India get employment opportunities: PM @narendramodi We decided on abolition of interviews for Class III and Class IV. This is an effort to end corruption: PM @narendramodi in Allahabad Modi made an important announcement at the rally. He said for government jobs, the process of interview will be removed. Talking about corruption, he said earlier, youths had to pay to get through interviews for government jobs. UP is troubled by nepotism, casteism, criminalisation...and a Vikas Yagya will remove these evils: PM @narendramodi in Allahabad #UPWithNaMo There seems to be a contract in UP. SP & BSP make serious allegations against each other but they do nothing about it when in power: PM Prime Minister Modi said that kick us out of Uttar Pradesh if in five years BJP doesn't change the state. He said that UP cannot be ruined. If there is progress in Uttar Pradesh, nobody can stop India from surging ahead. What has not happened in 50 years, Modi said he will try to accomplish it in five years. When Kalyan Singh ji and Rajnath Singh ji served in UP, the state developed greatly. Development is our priority: PM @narendramodi Even after so many years of Independence, 1,529 villages in Uttar Pradesh didn't have electricity. But 1,352 villages have electricity now and work is progressing in rest of the villages, said Modi to the excited crowd. Since Independence, the most farmer friendly crop insurance scheme has been initiated by this Government: PM @narendramodi in Allahabad After Independence, the BJP government is the only government who has produced maximum electricity and coal. The pace of building roads, railway infrastructure is the highest, said Modi at the rally. This government has brought the maximum Foreign Direct Investment in the country. With eye on Uttar Pradesh assembly election which is slated for 2017, BJP chief Amit Shah attacked the Samajwadi Party government on Sunday over the atmosphere of violence in the state. The BJP chief cited recent Mathura clashes and "migration" of Hindus from western Uttar Pradesh town Kairana. In his inaugural speech at the partys two-day national executive, Shah also stressed on the challenges before the party in 2017, when elections are due in UP, Punjab, Gujarat, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, as he exhorted the party workers to rise to the occasion by taking the Modi governments successes to the masses. With the entire party leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, present, he also trained guns on the Congress, saying it is increasingly weakening and its atrophy is growing at an alarming pace due to its policy of repeatedly obstructing the governments path to development in the last two years. He also expressed confidence that the party will return to power in Uttar Pradesh in 2017 and the Centre in 2019 as well. Briefing reporters about Shah's speech, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the National Executive will not name any chief ministerial candidate for the UP polls, noting that such a decision can be taken only by the partys Parliamentary Board, its highest decision-making body. Prasad also faced a barrage of questions on whether the saffron party was attempting at communal polarisation with Shah raking up issues like migration of Hindus from Kairana, a contention he vehemently denied. He insisted that the BJPs foremost commitment was to UPs development but made it clear that the Akhilesh Yadav governments law and order failures be it in Mathura or Kairana were a matter of deep concern. "We don't speak about communalism but about national interest." Prasad quoted Shah as saying, the migration happening in Kairana due to violence is a matter of serious concern. There is an atmosphere of violence. The lack of development and the lack of governance in the biggest state of India that is Uttar Pradesh is becoming a matter of serious concern. The party president also referred to the highest civilian honours accorded on Modi by two prominent Islamic countries, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan, in a clear message to Muslims who continue to be wary of BJP due to its Hindutva agenda. Shah referred to the Modi governments foreign policy achievements and made a special reference to the unique thing of the two Islamic countries awarding him with their highest civilians honours. While some people are running a campaign against Modi, this is an evidence of his international image as all Islamic countries where he visited spoke in one voice against terrorism and recognized India as a source of stability in Asia, Prasad said when asked if Shahs mention of these awards was an attempt to reach out to Muslims. The national executive on its first day and Shah in his speech did not refer to the partys core issue of Ram Temple with Prasad saying that it was not necessary to take it up in every meeting but it was a matter of faith not elections for the party. Hindutva bodies affiliated to RSS have been clamouring for an early construction of the temple in Ayodhya. The party chief described its win in the recent Assam assembly polls and rise in vote share in states like Kerala and West Bengal as happy beginning for a good future. He spoke about the partys focus on increasing its strength in Coromandel states like Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha and Tamil Nadu besides Bengal. BJP had not won many Lok Sabha seats from these states in 2014 and Shah has focused on them with 2019 Lok Sabha polls in mind. The gateway to the northeast has opened to BJP, he said while referring to the Assam victory. Shah also drew a contrast between the two years of the Modi government and the UPA rule of 10 years, saying that the latter was full of scams and policy paralysis while BJP has given a corruption-free and accountable government aimed at public welfare. In the UPA, all ministers considered themselves prime ministers but did not treat the Prime Minister as one while in the NDA there is a decisive leadership which had struck a balance between rural and urban development, reform and public welfare and foreign and defence policies, the BJP President said. The massive publicity and public outreach launched by the government following its two years of power was termed by him as the new standards of democratic accountability as he noted that union ministers and partys office bearers travelled to over 250 places to give people an account of its work. "Its a unique example of public contact, he told the Executive. Modi also spoke briefly and is believed to have praised the partys growing strength. He is set to deliver the concluding speech tomorrow and then address a rally. Shah spoke about the rise in the growth rate under the BJP government and listed various pro-people schemes like Swachh Bharat and Skill India to project its economic agenda as GDP with a human face. Shah flayed Samajwadi Party over the Mathura incident saying it shows the Akhilesh Yadav government was encouraging land-grabbing. "We will fight elections with full preparedness and form a government with a majority You should take our developmental agenda to villages. The way the party is expanding we should pledge and make efforts to forming the government in 2019 at the Centre with a bigger majority, he said. Asked about more details of deliberations on UP elections, Prasad said the matter could be taken up in detail tomorrow. He also spoke against electoral violence against party workers in Kerala and West Bengal. "There is no place for violence in a democracy," Shah said. He emphasised that the entire BJP was with its workers who had faced political attacks in Kerala. To a question about lack of prominence given to senior leader Murli Manohar Joshi in various posters put up by party leaders, he said posters should not be used to make comments about veteran leaders and BJP respected them. Joshi is a former MP from Allahabad. He said India had once again become the centre of worlds hope and emerged as a very strong force under the Modi government after it had fallen off the global map under the UPA as he referred to the rise in GDP growth to 7.6 per cent in two years. Against the backdrop of BJP aggressively wooing Dalits, Shah spoke about Modis reference of Dalit icon B R Ambedkar in his address to the US Congress. He also made a reference to Modis successful five-nation tour. Among them, the US, Switzerland and Mexico extended their support to India's entry to the 48-member Nuclear Suppliers' Group, he said. Prasad also referred to the recently-held Rajya Sabha elections, which saw the BJP marginally improving its tally in the Upper House and the Congress performing badly in a state like Haryana, saying Congress-Mukt Bharat echoed in RS also. "We had not even imagined that the Congress will fall apart like this. The elections on the one hand confirmed the soundness of our party and on the other signalled that our mission of Congress-Mukt Bharat was finding its echo in the Upper House of the Parliament as well. "The BJP is moving from strength to strength by virtue of the spotless conduct of its party workers and its governments as well as the party's firm commitment to ideology," he said. Taking a dig at the manner in which several members of the UPA cabinet acted contrary to the advice of Manmohan Singh, Prasad remarked "in the previous regime, there were many ministers who acted as if they were the Prime Minister. "And nobody paid heed to what the Prime Minister actually said". "Compared with the earlier situation, we have in Modi a leader who is strong and decisive", Prasad remarked. The Congress is prone to describing the ongoing rebellion in its ranks, as also the departure of leaders from its fold, as glowing examples of opportunism bedevilling Indian politics. What the Congress fails to comprehend is that opportunism is inevitable in a system which privileges dynasty over ideology. The Congress does indeed have an ideology, nebulous though it may be seem to observers. The problem, however, arises from the fact that the Gandhis personify the party ideology. It is consequently subordinated to the family in the hierarchy of importance, exposing the Congress to the perils inherent to any dynastic rule. For one, the dissidents in the Congress frame their rebellion against the wrong choices of the dynasty. What constitutes a wrong choice is defined by whether a particular strategy of the Gandhis has led the party to victory or defeat. It mounts pressure on the Gandhis to deliver, to not fail pressure under which Rahul Gandhi palpably finds himself. Only victory can enable him to shepherd the flock together. Parties that do not have dynasts leading them the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Left parties for instance do not encounter such problems. Defeat is considered a function of both the leadership failure and ideological failings. This is why dissidence in such parties usually involves rebels accusing the leadership of deviating from the partys ideology, to which they promise to adhere. No doubt, their motivation too is personal gain acquisition of greater power and influence but the recourse to ideology to justify their rebellion ensures internecine battles do not get unduly personalised. The Gandhis dont have such comfort. Since they personify the party ideology, every rebellion, willy-nilly, gets directed against them. The defiance of the Gandhis will continue to grow unless they bring a turnaround in the electoral fortunes of the Congress. As such, the Congress has been moribund in several electorally-crucial states. Defeat in other less significant states dashes the hope of Congress leaders that the Gandhis can help the party to stage a comeback. Regional leaders in the Congress, therefore, have little incentives in remaining loyal to the Gandhis. They feel they can better embody the Congress ideology in their personalities and enhance their power on their own. Mamata Banerjee has demonstrated this in West Bengal, as has Himanta Biswa Sarma in Assam, albeit by switching to the BJP. Sharad Pawar has illustrated this partially in Maharashtra. Ajit Jogi and perhaps even Bhupinder Singh Hooda think they can do this in Chhattisgarh and Haryana, respectively. The defeat of the Congress in the 2014 Lok Sabha, and a clutch of state Assembly elections thereafter, has sped up the breakdown of the dynastic arrangement that the Congress under Indira Gandhi had put in place. Under it, a Gandhi is to lead the Congress and become prime minister in case the party wins the Lok Sabha election. Sonia Gandhi is the only exception to this rule. PV Narasimha Rao became prime minister because no Gandhi was in active politics then. The political families in the states are allowed carve out their pockets of influence, their little fiefdoms, so to speak. They are given ample leeway to field their relatives or candidates of their own choice in the electoral fray, subject to the formal approval of the high command. On the death of the local dynast, one of his or her children usually inherits his or her constituency. This dynastic arrangement is symbiotic because of the charisma of the Gandhis the state-based dynasts are empowered. In turn, they organise the machinery to mobilise people and their votes for the Congress. They also accept the right of the Gandhi leading the Congress to decide who among them is to become the chief minister. But this dynastic arrangement has come under crisis because the Gandhis have lost their earlier dominance and, therefore, the power to impose their will on the little dynasts. Thus, whenever the Gandhis seek to impose their will on them, the more ambitious among them dont hesitate to rebel. They often invoke the dynastic principles, not ideology, to justify their rebellion. Take the example of YS Rajasekhara Reddy in Andhra Pradesh. Not only did he vanquish N Chandrababu Naidu, he ensured a rich harvest of seats for the Congress in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections that enabled it to unexpectedly return to power at the Centre. He repeated the feat in the 2009 elections, as well. His death in a plane crash in 2009 prompted Rajasekharas son, Jagan Mohan, to demand he succeed his father. The Gandhis blanched at his demand how could a regional political family make such a demand on the Gandhis? After all, it is their right to choose who rules the Congress-ruled states. But Jagan Mohan Reddys argument was that if the Gandhis could invoke the dynastic principle to preside over the Congress, why couldnt he over Andhra Pradesh? The Congress refused to acquiesce and paid a heavy price for it in 2014. The Gandhis cant but accept the demand of regional leaders or else they must countenance rebellion. This is because the Gandhis of today, unlike Indira Gandhi, cant guarantee victory to their regional satraps, who believe they have a better chance to succeed without the interference from the family. This is the reason why Mamata Banerjee established her own party, reposing more faith in her ability rather than relying on the Gandhis to dislodge the Left. She is now grooming her nephew for politics. You cant push Sharad Pawar around unless you have it in you to weaken him on his home turf. He has his own party, which one from his family will inherit. But the logic of dynastic rule cuts the other way round, too. Once the Gandhis throw their weight behind a regional leader, they accept others to accept the decision. Rahul Gandhi backed Tarun Gogoi, triggering the departure of Sarma who was, in a way, opposing the extension of hereditary rule to Assam. Rahul Gandhi had brought Gogois son, Gaurav, into politics, and given him the ticket to fight the 2014 Lok Sabha election. Sarma feared his chance of becoming chief minister was now remote the baton from Tarun would be eventually passed to Gaurav. Sarma was sagacious enough to figure out that a weak high command couldnt possibly disallow Tarun from anointing Gaurav as his successor. It could undermine the very legitimacy of Rahuls leadership, based as it also is on the hereditary principle. Sarmas departure had disastrous consequences for the Congress in the recent Assembly election. The Gandhis expect loyalty from those whom they back in the states. But regional satraps now think this endorsement is the compulsion of the Gandhis, who cant win the states for the party on their own. They, therefore, feel offended whenever Sonia or Rahul seek to impose decisions on them that are not to their liking. Call it a case of the Gandhis spoiling the regional chieftains. Jogi perhaps became too accustomed to having his way to tolerate interference from the Congress high command, bruised and battered now. In addition, Jogi has a son to bequeath his political legacy. Under the dynastic system of the Congress, it makes sense for Jogi to float his own party. Former Uttarakhand chief minister Vijay Bahuguna smarted under the humiliation of having been deposed for mishandling the floods in Uttarakhand. As the eldest son of Congress veteran HN Bahuguna, he must have grown with a sense of entitlement. His logic to leave the Congress must have been thus if Rahul cant be asked to step down despite the many defeats he has suffered, how can a Bahuguna be removed from the chief ministership? No doubt, the Gandhi must be feeling let down at Hoodas rebellion which has yet to become a full-fledged one. After all, they supported him right through his two tenures as chief minister. Hooda, however, thinks he has built his own support base and, anyway, he cant blindly hitch his future to the Gandhis whose clout is rapidly diminishing. Hooda must protect his interests. So if the Congress is unravelling, it is because the dynastic arrangement has begun to come apart. The glue holding the party together is undeniably the Gandhis. But the adhesiveness of the glue depends on whether or not the Gandhis can script victories for the party. Until then, the dynastic arrangement of the Congress will continue to disintegrate, regardless of pundits claiming that the party won more seats than the BJP in the recent Assembly elections. Worse, at every regional satraps rebellion, it will become even more difficult for Rahul to discover the winning touch. Even Rahul will admit that he isnt interested in increasing the number of Congress MLAs as he is in counting the states in which his party in power. This is because only through acquisition of power can he keep the dynastic arrangement of the Congress intact. The author is a journalist in Delhi. His novel, The Hour Before Dawn, has as its backdrop the demolition of the Babri Masjid. It is available in bookstores. Had Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal taken a lesson from his predecessors both from his staunch opponent BJP and the Congress on appointment of Parliamentary Secretaries, it could have been a smooth ride for him. But he followed what former CMs Sahib Singh Verma and Sheila Dikshit did during their respective tenures. With President Pranab Mukherjee refusing to give his assent to the proposed legislation that sought to protect with retrospective effect 21 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs from disqualification for occupying additional posts that deemed unconstitutional, once again Delhis AAP government and the Centre are at loggerheads. Losing no opportunity, Kejriwal in his inimitable style has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of creating obstacles in Delhi governments functioning by targeting AAP MLAs. But, lets not forget Pranab Mukherjees decision not to give assent to The Delhi Members of Legislative Assembly (Removal of Disqualification) (Amendment) Bill 2015 is not under Modis influence, but purely on the basis of existing law. A flashback 1996: The then Delhi CM Sahib Singh Verma from the BJP wanted to appoint Nand Kishore Garg as his parliamentary secretary, and for this he sought permission from the then Leader of Opposition and Congress leader Jag Pravesh Chandra. Permission was given and Garg was appointed. 1998: Similarly, Congress CM Sheila Dikshit after assuming power wanted to appoint Ajay Maken as parliamentary secretary. She followed the steps of her predecessor, sought permission from the Opposition leader and got Maken appointed. There is no law made by the Parliament or Delhi assembly that would authorise appointment of a parliamentary secretary. It was mutually agreed both during Sahib Singh Verma and Sheila Dikshit on the appointment of parliamentary secretaries. No one objected to it. Even, former PM Rajiv Gandhi got Arun Nehru and Arun Singh as his secretaries. But, the way AAP government wants 21 MLAs to be appointed is illegal. These MLAs may get disqualified, said SK Sharma, constitutional expert and former secretary, Delhi Assembly. According to constitutional experts, presidents decision not to accord assent to the bill is final. The bill sought exemption and shielding 21 MLAs from getting disqualified under Office of Profit rules. What the PM has to do on this issue? Even if we hypothetically think that the PM had tried to exercise his influence, in true sense its not possible. He cant even access the file related to disqualification of legislators, as the entire matter is between Rashtrapati Bhawan (president) and the Election Commission (EC). Its only the EC that will advise the president, who takes the final decision. The AAP government hurriedly wanted to amend the 1997 bill to give retrospective exemption to 21 parliamentary secretaries from getting disqualified, said Sharma. Controversy over Office of Profit The AAP government argues that the post of parliamentary secretary is not an office of profit, as the MLAs do not receive any financial benefit and are not entitled to any perks. No MLA was given a single paisa, car or bungalow in their capacity as parliamentary secretary and they were giving the service free, Kejriwal reportedly remarked, after Mukherjee refused to sign. However, earlier in a notification, the government had mentioned, They (parliamentary secretaries) may use government transport for official purposes and office space in the minister's office would be provided to them to facilitate their work. This makes it open to interpretation and could be interpreted as office of profit. The term office of profit is not defined nowhere in the constitution and it is left on the judiciary to interpret the term, the term profit means some pecuniary gain attached to the office. The Supreme Court of India, in plethora of cases, issues guideline to consider whether a given office is an office of profit or not. For constituting office of profit, it is not necessary that pecuniary benefit should be derived from it. The MLAs may be disqualified depending on what the EC says, said constitutional expert and author, Subhash C Kashyap. Office of Profit: A few cases in point On March 2006, actress-turned-politician Jaya Bachchan was disqualified as a member of Rajya Sabha with retrospective effect from 2004. The Supreme Court had dismissed Jaya Bachchan's petition challenging her disqualification as Rajya Sabha MP by the then President APJ Abdul Kalam on the recommendation of the EC for holding an office of profit. Her plea that she never made actual pecuniary gains from the alleged office of profit in her position as Chairperson of Uttar Pradesh Film Development Corporation (UPFDC) failed to convince the apex court. Besides, Jaya Bachchan, Congress president Sonia Gandhi too got embroiled in office of profit controversy. She immediately resigned and got re-elected as an MP from Rae Bareli. The AAP government needs to take a lesson from this. They cant function arbitrarily, added Sharma. In 2012, Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal appointed 23 parliamentary secretaries. The appointment was challenged and in 2015, Calcutta High Court declared the appointments as illegal. Similarly, last year, the Telangana government was forced to scrap appointments after the Hyderabad HC declared it as illegal. The TRS government had notified the appointment of six MLAs as parliamentary secretaries through a government order and had also passed an Act related to it, like the West Bengal government. Bill doesn't say if parliament secretary is office of profit or not - that is for the EC to decide. Once president withholds his assent, bill cannot become a law, observed PDT Achary, former Secretary General of Lok Sabha. What Constitution says The Constitution has set a limit for the total number of cabinet ministers including the chief minister. In the case of Delhi, the cabinet has to be within 10 percent of the total number of MLAs in the state or seven ministers. This is to avoid burdening the state exchequer. The Delhi cabinet, including Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, has seven members. But when the 21 parliamentary secretaries are included, this number goes up to 28, far exceeding the constitutional mandate. Wait and watch The 21 AAP MLAs will have to wait with their fingers crossed, as the president has sought opinion from the EC, as the latter has already issued notices to the MLAs seeking explanation on their appointment. According to experts, the president can disqualify based on ECs advice. Though there wont be any danger for the AAP government if 21 seats fall vacant, Kejriwal government will have to again prove its mettle by facing a re-election for these 21 seats. Congress has taken yet another beating with its Telangana state Congress members leaving its fold to join the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) on Monday. Senior Congress leaders, Miryalguda MLA Bhaskar Rao, former MP G Vivekanand and former MLA G Vinod, Nalgonda MP G Sukhender Reddy and Congress leader Juvvada Narsing Rao, along with a CPI MLA, Ravindra Kumar Ramavath will be joining Telangana's ruling party on 15 June. The leaders claim that they switched loyalties as they were impressed by the Chief Minister KCR's initiatives and they wanted to support his efforts to build a 'golden Telangana'. They praised his welfare schemes for the weaker sections of the society like the SCs and STs. According to a report in The Times of India, three-time MP Reddy's exit from the Congress will have huge repercussions for the party in the Lok Sabha, where it will be left with only 44 seats now. Further Telangana Congress will now be left with only one MP in the Lok Sabha, as the party won just two seats in the 2014 elections, as a report mentions in The News Minute. In contrast, TRS will now have 13 seats, says an NDTV report. Deccan Chronicle quotes Reddy, I decided to join the TRS impressed by Mr Raos developmental works in the past two years and to be a part of it. I am also pained at the internal squabbles in the Congress which led to issuing of show-cause notices to some leaders. The recent crossover can help TRS easily win the three Rajya Sabha seats in July. While leaving Congress, the members expressed their gratitude to party president Sonia Gandhi for Telangana's formation. Sukhender Reddy went a step ahead and called her a Devatha (God). This form of crossover has been the trend for quite sometime now in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. In April this year, Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu managed to pull out a dozen MLAs from the YSR Congress, while in Telangana, 21 MLAs shifted from various parties to TRS, including five from the Congress. Last week Congress saw a similar situation in Tripura when six Congress legislators crossed over to Trinamool Congress. All is not well for Congress in Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh as well. In a major setback for the party in Maharashtra, veteran Congress leader and a Gandhi family loyalist, Gurudas Kamat resigned from the party. In Chhattisgarh, Ajit Jogi, the first chief minister of the state, quit Congress to form his own party. Much like Moses' 10 commandments or Buddha's five precepts, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday laid down a seven-point code of conduct for BJP leaders to follow ahead of the crucial UP polls in 2017. According to The Times of India, Modi became emotional for a few seconds during his speech and said, "For us, power is not happiness, but responsibility. For that... every moment, every bit of our lives should be dedicated to achieve this. Shivaji's life was selfless... his commitment was real, I draw my inspiration from Shivaji. I have pledged to devote every bit of my body to the country." Another Indian Express report said that the prime minister even read out a letter which Bharatiya Jana Sangh leader Deendayal Upadhyaya had written to his uncle, asking his family not to criticise him for devoting all his time to service for the nation. "The country needs to be strengthened. People are not happy with mere slogans, their concern is about the country being strengthened," the reported quoted the PM as saying. Modi's remarks come at a time when Maharashtra minister Eknath Khadse's resignation due to corruption charges caused a lot of embarrassment to the BJP. Here is a look at what the seven points of Modi's code of conduct are and how BJP leaders had earlier violated those points: Sevabhav (service) When one talks about service for the nation, one imagines a leader with humility who genuinely works for the welfare of the people. But BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj is anything but humble. In May, he had been booked for allegedly using foul language and threatening police officials while addressing a rally in Mainpuri. Maharaj had allegedly used abusive language against police officials and had threatened to "take revenge" if BJP came to power in the state after the 2017 Assembly polls. Santulan (Balance) If you thought Sakshi Maharaj asking Hindu women to bear four women children was the very opposite of 'balance' in a country with a population crisis, Birbhum BJP joint district president Shyamal Goswami went even a step further. He had asked Hindu women to bear five children to protect Hinduism. "I want to tell my Hindu mothers and sisters that if they dont have five children, there will be no equilibrium in India in future. Dont misunderstand me. To protect Hinduism and Sanatan Dharma, it is necessary for all Hindus to give birth to five children," PTI had quoted him as saying. Saiyam (Restraint) The serious allegations against Eknath Khadse which led to his resignation show that he maybe did not really understand or give importance to restraint. Khadses wife and son-in-law reportedly acquired a three-acre plot in Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC), Bhosari, from Abbas Ukani, a 90-year-old resident of Kolkata for just Rs 3.75 crore. The compensation was fixed, by Khadses own earlier admission, by him at a meeting in his office between the buyers and seller as, per the ready reckoner rates. Samanvaya (Coordination) One of the most hilarious incidents of lack of co-ordination had actually taken place between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a teleprompter. While greeting visiting Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena and his wife in February 2015, Modi had committed quite a gaffe, by calling the visiting first lady, M.R.S. Sirisena, not realising that the teleprompter was actually to trying tell him about Mrs Sirisena. Sakaratmak (Constructive) Last year, after 48 deaths connected to the Vyapam scam had been reported, instead of actually providing some constructive assurance to the people, Madhya Pradesh BJP chief Nandkumar Singh Chauhan had been quoted by The Times of India as saying, "Hamey Vyapam ko lekar koi afsos nahi hai (we've no regret over the Vyapam scam)." Samvedana (Sensitivity) Some of the most insensitive remarks were made by BJP leaders after the infamous Dadri incident, in which a man was killed by a mob on rumours of cow slaughter. One of most outrageous remarks was made by Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar. "Muslims can continue to live in this country, but they will have to give up eating beef," Indian Express had quoted Khattar as saying last year. He also said that the Dadri incident was the "result of a misunderstanding" and "both sides" were at fault. Samvad (Communication) BJP faced a lot of criticism related to lack of communication after the suicide of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula, which led to a series of anti-government protests in the country. In fact, Vemula's mother herself had claimed that Smriti Irani had lied in the Parliament while making a statement on the research scholar's suicide. "Smriti Irani, this is not a serial, this is real life. Bring out the facts, don't fabricate them," NDTV had quoted Vemula's mother as saying. She had also accused Irani of deliberately not talking about a letter which Vemula had written to the Hyderabad University days before his suicide, in which he had alleged discrimination and asked for poison. These commandments, if implemented by the BJP, could truly herald the start of acche din. Or not. Whatever. With inputs from agencies MANCHESTER, N.H./WASHINGTON Republican Donald Trump on Monday placed responsibility for a mass shooting in Florida squarely at the feet of radical Muslims, who he said were entering the country amidst a flood of refugees and "trying to take over our children." The presumptive Republican presidential nominee drew on the country's deadliest mass shooting to sharpen his vow to ban Muslim immigrants, proposing that the United States suspend immigration from areas of the world where there is "a proven history of terrorism." In his national security speech, Trump said it was time to "tell the truth about radical Islam," the day after 49 people were killed at a gay nightclub in Orlando by a gunman, likely self-radicalised, who had sworn allegiance to the rebel group Islamic State. His comments contrasted sharply to those of Hillary Clinton, the wealthy businessman's likely Democratic rival in the Nov. 8 election, who urged increased intelligence gathering and more airstrikes on Islamic State territory, and cautioned against "demonising" American Muslims. "If we want to protect the quality of life for all Americans - women and children, gay and straight, Jews and Christians and all people - then we need to tell the truth about radical Islam and we need to do it now," Trump told the crowd in New Hampshire. He went on to lambaste Clinton's policies, saying they would allow "hundreds of thousands of refugees from the Middle East" to enter the United States without adequate security measures. There would be "no system to vet them, or to prevent the radicalisation of... their children," he said. "Not only their children, by the way. They're trying to take over our children and convince them how wonderful ISIS is and how wonderful Islam is, and we don't know what's happening." Trump said that, if elected, he would use the executive authority of the presidency to impose stronger controls on immigration to protect Americans from attacks, fine-tuning his earlier campaign promise to temporarily ban the entry of foreign Muslims to shore up national security. "When Im elected, I will suspend immigration from areas of the world where there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe or our allies until we fully understand how to end these threats," he said. He noted that the parents of the Florida gunman, Omar Mateen, 29, were born in Afghanistan. Pointing to specific incidents such as the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Trump said threats were posed by people with roots in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Somalia. The immigration ban, he said would last until "we are in a position to properly screen these people coming into our country. They're pouring in, and we dont know what were doing." Trump's hard-line proposals on immigration have helped fuel his surge in popularity among some conservative voters. But they have also triggered heavy condemnation from minority and human rights activists, and his political opponents - many of whom have called his rhetoric racist. Trump has rejected the criticism, and has said he is often misunderstood by the media and his opponents. 'ANTI-WOMAN, ANTI-GAY' In her response to the Florida massacre, Clinton, warned against demonising Muslim Americans and called for increased efforts to remove Islamic State propaganda from the internet, more air strikes in areas held by the group and better coordination with allies in the region. "The Orlando terrorist may be dead, but the virus that poisoned his mind remains very strong, and we must attack it," she said in a speech in Cleveland. She specifically criticized three U.S. allies - Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait - for allowing its citizens to fund mosques and schools that train jihadists. She also proposed stricter gun control laws, reiterating previous calls to prohibit people on terrorism watch lists from buying firearms. She pointed out that while the Federal Bureau of Investigation was aware of Mateen as a possible threat, he was still able to purchase a gun legally. "Its important that we stop the terrorists from getting the tools they need to carry out the attacks, and that is especially true when it comes to assault weapons like those used in Orlando and San Bernardino," California, Clinton said, drawing a standing ovation from the crowd. Trump challenged Clinton to explain why she favoured letting Syrian civil war refugees into the United States. He said his policies would better protect American women, gays and lesbians, Jews and Christians. Trump's support among women and gay voters lags far behind that of Clinton. "Radical Islam is anti-woman, anti-gay and anti-American," said Trump. He accused her of having ties to Saudi Arabia. "Saudi Arabia and many of the countries that gave vast amounts of money to the Clinton Foundation want women as slaves and to kill gays," he said in a Facebook post. "Hillary must return all money from such countries!" (Additional reporting by Susan Heavey and Alana Wise in Washington; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Mary Milliken) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Manila, Philippines: Philippine officials confirmed Tuesday that Abu Sayyaf militants beheaded a Canadian man, the second Canadian hostage to be killed in two months after their demands for a large ransom were not met. The hostage, Robert Hall, was abducted from a marina last September along with another Canadian, a Norwegian and a Filipino. The other Canadian, former mining executive John Ridsdel, was beheaded in April. Presidential spokesman Herminio Coloma condemned "the brutal and senseless murder" of Hall. He had been held by the Abu Sayyaf in the jungles of southern Sulu province for nine months. "This latest heinous crime serves to strengthen our government's resolve to put an end to this reign of terror and banditry," he said in a statement. A militant video obtained by Philippine police officials and seen by The Associated Press showed Hall in an orange shirt and kneeling in front of a black Islamic State-style flag before he was killed in a jungle area. An Abu Sayyaf deadline for the payment of a large ransom lapsed Monday and police later found a severed head of a Caucasian man outside a Roman Catholic cathedral in Sulu province's main Jolo town. In Ottawa, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there was "compelling reason to believe" that Hall had been killed by his captors, and that the Canadian government was working with Philippine authorities to confirm his death. "We have every reason to believe that the reports are unfortunately true," Trudeau said. He said he was "horrified" by the killings and reaffirmed Canada's refusal to pay ransoms. "The government of Canada will not and cannot pay ransoms for hostages to terrorist groups, as doing so would endanger the lives of more Canadians," Trudeau said in a statement. "We are more committed than ever to working with the government of the Philippines and international partners to pursue those responsible for these heinous acts and bring them to justice, however long it takes." Trudeau recently urged leaders of other members of the Group of Seven rich nations to reiterate their opposition to paying ransoms. After being abducted from the marina on southern Samal Island last September, the hostages were taken by boat to Sulu, where the Abu Sayyaf has held hostages for years in mountainous jungle camps. Ridsdel was beheaded on 25 April after a ransom demand of 300 million pesos ($6.3 million) was not paid. In an Abu Sayyaf video posted on YouTube after Ridsdel's death, Hall and the two other hostages, Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad and Filipino woman Marites Flor, pleaded to Canadian and Philippine officials to negotiate their release. "We live like this every day, go to bed like this," Hall said, raising his arms to show that he was handcuffed. We have a hundred people heavily armed around us all the time that dictate to us and talk to us like children. We've been humiliated in every way possible. One of us has already been murdered." Hall spoke later in the video for a second time, sounding resigned to a tragic fate. "I would also like to thank my family for the effort they put in my family and friends for the effort they put in to get me out of here. I know you did everything you can, and I truly appreciate it. I'm sorry I got you in this mess," he said. Trudeau extended his "heartfelt condolences" to Hall's relatives and friends. The United States and the Philippines have both listed the Abu Sayyaf as a terrorist organization for kidnappings, beheadings and bombings. The group emerged in the early 1990s as an extremist offshoot of a decades-long Muslim separatist rebellion in the country's south. Melbourne: Almost 600 Australians, including five persons of Indian origin (PIO), have been recognised for their contribution to the community in this year's Queen's Birthday honours. Over 550 recipients who were honoured on Monday came from all walks of life from musicians to politicians, governors, sports persons, artists, law enforcers and philanthropists. New South Wales-based professor Nalini Joshi received the top honour of Officer of the Order of Australia in general division for her distinguished service to mathematical science and tertiary education as an academic, author and researcher, to professional societies, and as a role model and mentor of young mathematicians. New South Wales-based Darshak Hasmukh Mehta received the medal of Order of Australia award for his services to the community through charitable organisations, while Adelaide-based Mallika Prasad-Chowta also received the medal for her service to the multicultural community in South Australia. From Queensland, Professor Prasad Kanaka Yarlagadda was given the medal for service to the Indian community and to engineering. Ivan Trayling, holding PIO card, received the medal for his services to the People and parliament of Victoria including promoting closer ties between Australia and India in the 1970s, both cultural and economic. Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, who turned 90 on 11 June, always has two birthdays, the official one on the second Saturday of June and her real birthday, which falls on 21 April as part of a tradition dating back nearly 250 years to try to ensure good, sunny weather for the monarch's official celebrations. WASHINGTON Democratic President Barack Obama assailed Donald Trump's proposed U.S. ban on Muslim immigrants on Tuesday in an angry denunciation of the Republican presidential candidate's response to the Orlando nightclub massacre. Obama and Hillary Clinton, the Democrat he has endorsed to succeed him in a Nov. 8 election, made nearly simultaneous speeches responding to Trump, the New York mogul who is soon to become the Republican Party's presidential nominee. Clearly annoyed, Obama used a speech at the U.S. Treasury Department to respond to Trump's proposed suspension of immigration from countries with a "history of terrorism" in response to the killing of 49 people early on Sunday in Orlando, Florida. The gunman was U.S.-born Omar Mateen, 29, whose parents immigrated from Afghanistan. The president, without identifying Trump by name, dismissed the Republican's criticism of Obama for not using the term "radical Islamic terrorism" to describe Islamic State militants. "What exactly would using this label accomplish, what exactly would it change?" Obama said. "Someone seriously thinks we don't know who we're fighting? ... There's no magic to the phrase 'radical Islam.' It's a political talking point." "Calling a threat by a different name does not make it go away. This is a political distraction," said Obama, criticizing the "yapping" and "loose talk" he said he hears from Republicans. TRUMP UNRELENTING Obama, who cancelled a joint campaign appearance with Clinton planned on Wednesday in Wisconsin due to the events in Orlando, appeared to be enjoying his role in the campaign to select his successor. He tangled with Trump in 2011, producing his birth certificate to refute Trump's claim that the president was not born in the United States. "We now have proposals from the presumptive Republican nominee for president of the United States to bar all Muslims from immigrating to America. We hear language that singles out immigrants and suggests entire religious communities are complicit in violence," Obama said. "Where does this stop?" Trump was unrelenting on Tuesday in his criticism of Obama, saying in a statement that Obama "claims to know our enemy, and yet he continues to prioritize our enemy over our allies, and for that matter, the American people." "When I am president, it will always be America first," said Trump. Aides said Trump, who on Monday said Obama should resign for failing to handle the threat properly, would have more to say at a rally later in Greensboro, North Carolina. Clinton, Obama's former secretary of state, addressed supporters in Pittsburgh. The candidate said Trump's proposal bolstered her case that he was temperamentally unfit to serve as president, saying the commander in chief "is a job that demands a calm, collected and dignified response" to events like the Orlando massacre. Clinton noted that Trump seemed to suggest on Monday in a television interview that Obama might have somehow been responsible for the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, a point that Trump said he did not make. "I have to ask: Will responsible Republican leaders stand up to their presumptive nominee or will they stand by his accusation about our president?" she said. The biting criticism was likely to increase the discomfort among many establishment Republican leaders about Trump with little more than a month until party figures gather in Cleveland July 18-21 to formally nominate him. RYAN CRITICAL House Speaker Paul Ryan, the top U.S. elected Republican who was his party's 2012 vice presidential nominee, on Tuesday distanced himself from the proposed Muslim ban in a further sign of establishment unease with Trump's agenda. Ryan endorsed Trump two weeks ago but subsequently chided him for calling a federal judge biased because of the U.S.-born jurist's Mexican heritage. "I do not think a Muslim ban is in our country's interests," said Ryan, who last year criticized Trump's original proposal for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States. Ryan and like-minded leading Republicans have struggled to reconcile their desire to unify the party before a tough fight against Clinton while at the same time separating themselves from some of the positions and rhetoric of Trump, who defeated 16 rivals to win the presidential nomination battle. U.S. Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, who sources say is among the Republicans that Trump is considering for his vice presidential nominee, said he was "discouraged" by the way the Trump campaign was going. "It wasn't the type of speech one would expect," Corker said of Trump's Monday speech in New Hampshire. Trump has been resolute in demanding tighter immigration policies, and the Orlando attack has prompted him to intensify his rhetoric as he tries to win more support from Americans with deep security fears. Trump noted that Mateen's parents were born in Afghanistan. Pointing to specific incidents such as the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, he said threats were posed by people with roots in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Somalia. Trump on Tuesday met at Trump Tower in New York with a host of Republican governors, including Oklahoma's Mary Fallin, who a source close to the campaign said was also on Trump's short list to be his vice presidential running mate. A Republican official said others in the meeting included the governors of Mississippi, Arizona, Arkansas, Nebraska and Tennessee, as well as New Jersey's Chris Christie, a close Trump adviser and former presidential rival. Trump was celebrating his 70th birthday on Tuesday. Clinton is 68. (Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell, Amanda Becker, Susan Heavey and David Alexander in Washington and Emily Flitter in New York; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Howard Goller) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. WASHINGTON President Barack Obama and French President Francois Hollande discussed on Tuesday a knife attack outside Paris and the mass shooting in Orlando, Florida - attacks for which Islamic State claimed responsibility, the White House said. "Both leaders reaffirmed their shared commitment to degrading and destroying ISIL and standing against the broader scourge of terrorism," the White House said in a statement, using an acronym for Islamic State. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Chris Reese) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. WASHINGTON President Barack Obama will deliver a statement to the press on Tuesday morning following a meeting of his National Security Council on the attack in Orlando, Florida, and efforts to defeat the Islamic State militant group, the White House said on Monday. (Reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by Eric Walsh) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Peshawar: A Pakistani army officer died on Tuesday after being shot by Afghan forces in a border clash, Pakistan's military said, a development likely to ratchet up tension between the neighbours who sources said, were beefing up troop numbers on either side. The main gates at Torkham, the most frequented official border crossing at the end of the Khyber Pass, stayed closed for a third day, leaving thousands stranded on either side. Firing between Pakistani and Afghan forces first broke out on Sunday at the crossing, about 45 kilometers west of Peshawar, over the construction of a new border post on the Pakistani side. Pakistan's army chief attended funeral prayers on Tuesday for Major Jawad Ali Changezi, who was among nine Pakistani and six Afghan troops wounded in the fighting, security officials said. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's office and the Pakistani military's press wing also confirmed Changezi's death. One Afghan soldier was killed, Afghan officials had said on Monday. Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have been strained for months. Kabul says Pakistan harbours militants seeking to overthrow the Afghan government, among them the Haqqani network and the leadership of the Afghan Taliban. Pakistan denies it supports militants and says it is building the gate to stop militants from crossing the border. "This gate (is) considered essential to check and verify documentation of all border crossers," Asim Bajwa, chief spokesman for the Pakistani military, said on social media website Twitter on Monday. Afghanistan summoned the Pakistani ambassador on Tuesday to register its protest at the violence, Afghanistan's foreign ministry said. Pakistan had similarly summoned the Afghan charge d'affaires in Islamabad on Monday, the Pakistani foreign office said. The Pakistani army had moved heavy weaponry and additional troops to the Afghan border on Monday night, said Pakistani security officials, who asked not to be identified because they were not authorised to speak to the media. On Monday, an Afghan border police commander also confirmed that reinforcements had been deployed to the Afghan side of the border. In Afghanistan's eastern city of Jalalabad, more than a thousand mourners attended funeral prayers on Tuesday for the dead Afghan soldier. Angry protesters chanted "Death to Pakistan". Hundreds of demonstrators burned Pakistani flags at another protest in the southern Afghan city of Lashkar Gah. The Pakistan-Afghanistan border has long been porous and disputed. Afghanistan has blocked repeated attempts by Pakistan to build a fence on sections of the roughly 2,200-km (1,370-mile) -long frontier, rejecting the contours of the boundary. So Donald Trump has won the primaries in US. Wait, didn't someone say Hillary Clinton has won the primaries in the US? Ok, got it. Both Trump and Clinton have won the elections. But wait, how is that possible? Only one person is supposed to win the election, right? If both have won, then who is the president of America? Well, Barack Obama is the president of America. He had defeated Clinton in similar primaries eight years ago. Now wait, Obama defeated Hillary? But aren't they from the same party? Yes, they are. Then how...? Did Clinton change her party? This is so confusingjust let me know who has won the election to become next president of USA: Trump or Clinton? Answer is, neither of them. Obama remains the president till the next president is elected in November. Trump and Clinton have won the primary elections and they are their parties' presumptive presidential nominees. They still have to contest the US presidential elections. But if they are just candidates, then what the hell were they contesting so far? #FacePalm and #BackToSquareOne. All of us have an idea about elections. Most probably the first one you remember must be the one in your school or college. If not, then maybe you have seen the Resident Welfare Association elections where two of your quarrelling neighbours contested for the same post and then stopped talking to each other altogether. If not, then I am sure you remember the 2014 Lok Sabha elections for sure when Narendra Modi became Prime Minister of India. So, how is the election of Modi different from the election of Barack Obama? Very simple. India is a parliamentary form of democracy while USA is a presidential form of democracy. In India, we vote to elect a member of parliament and those MPs decide who will become the Prime Minister. So, even though Narendra Modi was the PM candidate of BJP/NDA, actually voters of India didnt vote for Modi. They had to vote for the local candidate of their choice. Once the BJP/NDA combine won the majority in the Lok Sabha, they selected Modi to be the Prime Minister. This is called Indirect Democracy. On the other hand, in the US, there is this Presidential system where people voted directly for Obama in order to make him the president. This is called Direct Democracy. But there is a brilliantly unique aspect of US elections, which is called primaries. Lets say primaries are elections before the election. These primaries are held by each of the two political parties (US has a two-party system) to select their presidential candidate. So American voters not only have a choice to directly elect their President, they also have a choice to decide who they wish to contest the election altogether. For example, if we had the same system in India, then Congress/UPA would be running a primary election to decide who would be their presidential candidate: Rahul Gandhi or Manmohan Singh. Now suppose Rahul Gandhi wins that primary election where only Congress/UPA supporters get to vote, then he becomes the presidential candidate of Congress/UPA. Now imagine, the BJP will similarly run a primary election to decide who will be their presidential candidate: Modi or Sushma Swaraj or Rajnath Singh. Now imagine Modi wins that primary election where only BJP/NDA supporters get to vote, then he becomes the presidential candidate of BJP/NDA. Similarly, AAP supporters can vote in their party's primary election to decide whether Arvind Kejriwal or Ashutosh should be their presidential candidate. Every party can do this. Finally, if we had the same system in India, the final election will become a contest not just between Rahul and Modi but many such 'presidential candidates' and every Indian will get the chance to vote for who should be the president. The candidate that gets the most number of votes will be elected president. This is called a presidential form of election. Suppose 2014 Lok Sabha Election was a 'presidential election'. Then, based on the votes polled, this would have been the result: This is how a 'normal' presidential election works. But apart from the primaries, the US presidential system has another unique proposition called WTA (Winner Takes All). But more on that later. For now, let's stick to part one of the US elections. There are two main parties in US: The Democrat and the Republican. The Republican is also known as the Grand Old Party (GOP). Current POTUS Obama is a Democrat. The previous US President, George W Bush, was a Republican. This year, the frontrunner among Republican candidates is controversial billionaire Donald Trump. He is the party's presumptive nominee for president (the formal declaration will be made during the party's meeting in July). The contest within the Democratic was between Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Clinton is most likely to be the party's presidential candidate - the formal acknowledgement will be made during the party's meeting in July). Once that is done, then on 8 November, the American voters will vote for one of these two candidates to be their next president. India has 29 states, but the US has 50 states. Each state has been allocated Electoral College Delegates proportional to their population size. In all, there are 538 such delegates in the American Electoral College. Let's look at it from an Indian perspective. Imagine that the 543 Lok Sabha seats are the Electoral College Votes of India. Now anyone who wins 272 of these 'Electoral College Votes' becomes the PM of India. Similarly, imagine that 538 Electoral College Votes are at stake in USA. A majority of 270 Electoral College votes is required to become the President of USA. BUT the big difference is that in India, we have elections in each of the 543 Lok Sabha seats and each seat has different candidates and thus different winners. But in the US presidential system, its the same candidate in all the 'seats' and all the 'states'. They of course, do have the Congressional elections, but that's a whole different ballgame. In parliamentary democracies, there are generally two kind of elections: First Past The Post (FPTP) system which is the simplest form of election and the Proportional Representation (PR) System. It will take only two minutes to understand the difference. Lets take the example of Uttar Pradesh. It has 80 Lok Sabha seats. In 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP and allies won 73 out of these 80 seats. Five seats were won by SP and two seats (Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi) were won by the Congress. The BSP got nothing. This is called the FPTP system. Here are the results: Now in the PR system, the elections are at state level and there are no candidates. Only parties contest the elections on their symbol. The seats are then distributed in proportion to the votes different parties have polled. So, in Uttar Pradesh, if it was an election according to the PR system, then the 80 seats would have been distributed like this: But the Americans have their own unique system called the Winner Takes All (WTA). In this system, the party which gets the majority of the votes in any state, gets ALL the seats in that particular state. For example, if WTA system was applied in Uttar Pradesh, then because BJP and allies got majority of votes in the state, they would end up getting ALL the 80 seats in UP. Let's compare the outcome of the Lok Sabha election of 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh when each of the three electoral systems are applied: Now imagine the WTA system being applied to all states in India in the 2014 elections. Here's what it would have looked like: But as you will realise while going through this table, we may have started out not with two but at least presidential candidates as we have many strong regional parties and leaders instead of only two as is in the US: Thus, if India had a presidential system along the lines of the one in US, following the model of WTA, then Modi would have become a president with an even bigger landslide. He would have got 414 Electoral College Votes while he would have needed just 272. During the presidential election on 8 November in the US, the WTA will be applied to each of the 50 states. Any candidate who wins majority of votes in one state, gets all the electoral college votes of the state. For example, Florida has 25 Electoral College Votes. The candidate who wins even 13 votes in Florida gets all the 25 votes. The winner for each state is declared separately. With each state's final results, the Electoral College Votes from that state are added to the kitty of the winner. The WTA system is generally aimed at getting a clear mandate and clear majority for leading candidates. However, more often than not, the American elections end up being a very close race. As we saw in the controversial election of 2000 when the Republican candidate George W. Bush barely managed to defeat Democrat Al Gore. Let's see how that happened: Out of US' 50 states, 22 are generally known as Red States, because the Republican candidates have never lost in these states in the last four presidential elections. Similarly, 18 states where Democrats have won are called Blue States. The other 10 states are called Swing States or Battleground States or Purple States because these are the states which have swung between the two parties and the results in these states practically decide the final winner. These 10 states are Ohio, Colorado, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan and Florida. Mostly, the elections become too close to call in these states. Now a candidate needs atleast 270 Electoral College votes to become the US president. In 2000, Bush just barely managed to win 271 electoral college votes, while his rival Gore won 266 electoral college votes. It all came down to one single state of Florida Bush polled 48.85 percent votes while Gore polled 48.84 percent votes. Thus Bush became president winning Florida by a razor thin margin of 0.01 percent votes. This is how close it can get. But elections are all about winning and winner takes all! Keep an eye on the American elections as whoever wins it will be the most powerful person on Earth. You can follow me on Twitter @cvoter #USAtracker polls or at @UPI or also at Pollster.com and FiveThirtyEight.com. Social media lit up Monday with statements of love and images of #TwoMenKissing in defiance of what the Orlando gunman's father described as his son's strong anti-gay feelings. The Afghan-born father of Omar Mateen, the 29-year-old gunman who killed 49 people at the packed Pulse nightclub in Florida on Sunday, told NBC News that his son had become angry recently after seeing two men kissing in Miami. The interview prompted Twitter user Shadi Petosky (@shadipetosky), who identifies herself as a showrunner for Amazon, to post a collage of male couples kissing. here While Petosky claimed her post immediately lost her 200 followers on Twitter, it was liked more than a thousand times. The hashtag #TwoMenKissing began to trend on Twitter on Monday and also crossed over to Facebook, where more than 1000 people were discussing it. "Seeing #TwoMenKissing should never be an excuse for violence or bigotry," tweeted Stephen Wood (@StephenWood_UK) on Monday, sharing an image of two men embracing on a subway car. "It should warm our romantic hearts." here "#TwoMenKissing...Best way I know how to respond today. With love. #Orlando," tweeted Carl Sciortino (@CarlSciortino), the executive director of the AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts, alongside a black and white intimate photograph. here Daniel MacKinnon, creative director of Glow magazine, shared an up-close image of him kissing a man on his Instagram (@danielmackinnon) with the caption "#twomenkissing #loveislove #orlando." According to Amobee Brand Intelligence, a marketing technology company, the #TwoMenKissing hashtag has been tweeted more than 3,500 times. (Reporting by Melissa Fares) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. WASHINGTON U.S. President Barack Obama may not decide before a NATO summit next month whether to alter plans to nearly halve America's forces in Afghanistan, a diplomat and a U.S. official said. A decision had been expected at or before the summit in Warsaw on July 8-9 on whether to stick to plans to slash the 9,800 troops to 5,500 before Obama leaves office next year. Former commanders and envoys have warned that it would be a mistake. And with preparations in full swing for the summit, the timing of any decision by Obama remains unclear. U.S. Defence Secretary Ash Carter flies to Brussels on Monday to meet NATO counterparts, with Afghanistan expected to be high on the agenda. One reason to decide on slowing the U.S. drawdown before the summit might be to encourage NATO allies to keep their troops in Afghanistan, where President Ashraf Ghani's government is battling a Taliban insurgency that has gathered fresh momentum. NATO allies seem less intent on cutting their troop presence, which could give Obama more time to formulate and telegraph his own plans. "We have been moderately, pleasantly surprised at the willingness to stay at current levels of most other allies, and some willingness to consider increasing," said the diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "Just because there is a summit doesnt mean (you) need a decision," he added. To be sure, Afghanistan will be a major issue at the summit and Obama still could make a decision before then. "It does not have to happen by Warsaw but it certainly will be a topic there," said a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity. "The size and scope of other nation contributions are a logical consideration in our decision-making." The White House has yet to receive the recommendations from its new commander in Afghanistan, General John Nicholson, who conducted a comprehensive security review during his first 90 days on the job. The review's results have not been made public. In a sign of his willingness to broaden the U.S. role in Afghanistan, Obama last week approved giving the U.S. military greater ability to accompany and to enable Afghan forces in offensive operations, including carrying out air strikes. Speaking on Friday, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters the decision to broaden the remit "does not limit in any way our ability to follow through with the plan to draw down our troops at a level of 5,500 troops by the end of this year." Obama would consider changing the troop numbers if Nicholson recommended that, Earnest said. Speaking to reporters as he flew to Brussels on Monday, Carter declined to speculate on when Obama might make such a decision, but stressed that the president has been open to considering recommendations from the military. "I don't know the answer to your question, 'When?', and I don't think the President's made a decision in that regard," Carter said during his flight to Brussels, when asked if a decision might come by the Warsaw summit. Nicholson's predecessors and former U.S. envoys to Afghanistan urged Obama earlier this month to keep troop levels steady at near 10,000 through the remainder of his term. "This approach would also allow your successor to assess the situation for herself or himself and make further adjustments accordingly," the letter read. It can be viewed here: bit.ly/1RT87FS Cutting the forces to 5,500, in turn, would erode the morale of Afghan government forces and bolster the Taliban, they wrote. Obama has already scaled back the troop withdrawal plans he laid out in May 2014, when he pledged to cut to roughly 5,000 by end 2015 and to "a normal embassy presence ... with a security assistance component, just as we've done in Iraq" by the end of 2016. Among the factors weighing in his troop decision include how much, if any, additional support he may get from other NATO nations; the signal that a cut will send to Ghani and to the Taliban; and what kind of legacy he leaves his successor. (Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore and Alan Crosby) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. There had been rumours that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been wounded during the coalition attacks on Mosul in Iraq on Sunday. From the way statements are firming up from various sources, it is uncertain whether Baghdadi succumbed to these injuries or was tracked and killed in an air raid in Syria by the US-led coalition. This 'death' comes as a major reversal for the Islamic State as the US-led coalition in Iraq ups the ante. The statement by the Islamic State voice and affiliated radio station al-Amaq pretty much confirms that Baghdadi is dead. But the coalition is saying nothing can be formally announced until a body is seen or there is enough evidence. Till then it has to be assumed that one of the scenarios could entail sending out an announcement to this effect to disarm the coalition and slow its offensive while taking advantage of the situation and smuggling Baghdadi out to safety especially if he is in a critical state. There is not much more information coming out at present regarding coalition forces seeking confirmation of the statements. "Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed by coalition airstrikes on Raqqa on the fifth day of Ramadan," was the only announcement made by al-Amaq. It is likely that the assault on Mosul was done using satellite flyovers and by airdropping on Baghdadis location. With the US-led coalition making inroads into Mosul and the incapacitation of their rallying point and 'icon' if not his death, the Islamic State is on the back foot. While the US will see this as a bonus, the putsch comes as no surprise. The not-so-veiled threat by US President Barack Obama, in his address following the Orlando massacre, will certainly be interpreted as an upscale in the offensive. When Obama said he would go where he had to go, as things became clearer, it would not take much to see that the Islamic State strongholds are going to be further targeted with the specific intent of targeting the front-line leadership. Intensifying the campaign is the first step in the reprisal and the nations in the coalition seemed up for it. With Mosul now being the major city to be rescued from the Islamic State, the coalition forces have made tremendous inroads in this past week. The taking of the village of Haj Ali will certainly increase pressure on the Islamic State inside the confines of Mosul and the loss of much of the occupied territory in Iraq is pushing them further away. Indeed, there is a price to pay but all the restraint the coalition has shown seems to have been misunderstood as an encouragement by the Islamic State to take inhuman liberties with civilian life. But what they interpreted as weakness is now manifesting itself as strong resolve to break through the ranks of the Islamic State and weaken it from within. Having lost even Tikrit, without a semi-urban base the militants will find both funding and logistics for supplies much more difficult to maintain. The idea clearly is to isolate the last pockets of resistance and then clear the region and perhaps even push towards Syria and repeat the strategic maneouvers. As it is coalition forces have begun their offensive in that country and made concerted moves towards the town of Manij, all these concerted steps indicate that an all-out offensive is becoming a reality. While there is deep regret for the casualties both military and civilian that itself is the price to pay not just for freedom but for saving two major nations from the grip of extremism. Beijing: Voicing its strong opposition to President Barack Obama's proposed meeting with the Dalai Lama and the upcoming maiden US visit by Taiwan's new President Tsai Ing-wen, China on Tuesday said that America should keep its promise to abide by the 'One-China' policy. "The 14th Dalai Lama often puts up the facade of religion to peddle internationally his political position of splitting China," Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters, replying to a question on the Tibetan spiritual leader's comments that his meeting with US president is likely. "We demand no country or government give him any space for such activities and should certainly not do anything the 1.3 billion people of China would resolutely oppose," he said. Despite China's opposition, Obama had met Dalai Lama in the past. Beijing considers 80-year-old Tibetan monk as a separatist who is attempting to split Tibet from China. On Tsai's transit visit to US, Lu said: "the US government has made serious commitments to 'One-China' Policy and against Taiwan's independence". "Hope the US will fulfil its commitment and deal with relevant matters in accordance with the 'One-China' policy and do not send wrong signal to those who try to split China," he said. Tsai, who is opposed to reunification of Taiwan with China, is due to transit in Miami on her way to Panama, which still holds diplomatic ties with Taipei despite opposition from Beijing. China considers Taiwan as a rebel province and claims it as part of its mainland. Report said Tsai would also make a stopover in Los Angeles on her return. digital and print publisher. digital and print publisher. We are Americas largest We are Americas largest The brands you love. The experiences you want. Click HERE for a list of our other web sites Click HERE to get filtered opportunity reports by email, starting at only $21.95/month. User login is required to use this feature. Register here Contact us if you like to have a single PDF file with each report send in your email each day. Apple has finally renamed its desktop OS X to macOS for streamlining the naming convention across all other Apple operating systems iOS, watchOS and tvOS. The Cupertino giant has also announced the next version of its Mac operating system called macOS Sierra. The macOS Sierra includes Auto Unlock functionality which works in tandem with all Apple devices, just like Google has Smart Lock on Android that can add Trusted devices and these will let you unlock the phone. In Sierra, you will not need to type in password to unlock your Mac as it will automatically unlock it the machine for you if there is any authenticated device in proximity such as your iOS device (iPhone, iPad) or your Apple Watch. Apple has brought its digital personal assistant Siri to Mac too with macOS Sierra. So now Siri will be docked to your Macs desktop menu bar and will be able to take your voice commands to search through your files on laptop or web, can create reminders, send messages, open up apps and more. With next version of macOS Sierra, Apple Pay will also come to Macs. Well, what this means is Mac users can pay through Apple Pay via Safari browser for online shopping, for which company has partnered with various brands for online store shopping. So now when you will shop and pay on those particular online brand store, you will also have an option to pay via Apple Pay. But whats even more interesting in using Apple Pay online is that it will allow users to authenticate the transaction via TouchID on their iPhone or through the Apple Watch using Apples Continuity feature in the background. Also, Apple has improved and expanded iCloud sync features, now allowing you to move files between Macs or Mac to iOS. You even can see your one Mac desktop on another Mac or on your iPhone. There is a new Optimized Storage feature that automatically removes old files from your Mac and stores it to iCloud, clearing up the local disk space up to another 130GB free space, so now if your Mac could get rid of 20GB in a click then the new macOS Optimized Storage feature will help you to make this space up to 150GB. Lastly, macOS Sierra now has a new picture in picture feature and the Universal Clipboard too. Picture in picture as the name explains and we know it already as well, allows you to place a video anywhere on the desktop and it remains on top of your other opened up apps. The Universal Clipboard allows you to copy something on your iPhone and lets it paste to your Mac without having to do anything else. This also uses Continuity feature in the backdrop. The macOS Sierra Developer preview is available today, public beta release will be available in July, and final update will come this fall, which is likely to be around September. Just yesterday, a teaser image hinted at dual edge display for the Samsung Galaxy Note 7. Now another image has surfaced which hints at official announcement date of the next flagship from Samsung. The leaked image of the Galaxy Unpacked event 2016 invite suggests that Galaxy Note 7 and Note 7 edge will be announced on August 2, 2016. In addition, the invite has a graphic image which depicts the number 7 and it also has a tagline below that reads The next edge is just around the corner. Samsung is tipped to release an edge variant of the Note 7 as per earlier rumors. The company has decided to go directly with Note 7 this year in order to bring the device in current Galaxy S7 and S7 edge smartphone in terms of branding According to earlier reports, the next Note device is expected to come with a 5.8-inch QHD curved display, 6GB RAM, 4000mAh battery and USB Type C. It could sport 12-megapixel Dual Pixel cameraused in the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge smartphones with IR autofocus. The phone is expected to feature an iris scanner. via Demand for natural gas produced in the U.S. is expected to grow by 27% through the end of this decade. However, what most investors overlook is where an outsized portion of this demand growth is coming from. While LNG exports, electric power, and industrial demand grab all of the headlines, U.S. natural gas exports to Mexico are an often-overlooked demand-driver. That's despite the fact that Mexican demand for U.S. natural gas is expected to double over the next decade. That demand growth will drive strong expansion opportunities for pipeline companies, including Kinder Morgan (KMI 1.33%) and TransCanada (TRP 0.78%). $5 billion platform and growing Just this week, TransCanada was able to capture one such opportunity after its joint venture with Sempra Energy (SRE 1.44%) subsidiary IEnova was chosen to build the Sur de Texas-Tuxpan natural gas pipeline in Mexico. The $2.1 billion project is supported by a 25-year natural gas transportation service contract to transport 2.6 Bcf/d for Mexico's state-owned power company. Under the terms of the agreement, TransCanada will develop, operate, and own 60% of the project, while the Sempra Energy subsidiary will own the other 40% of the project. The project is expected to be in service by the end of 2018. This project brings TransCanada's footprint of existing assets and development projects in Mexico up to more than $5 billion. Further, all of its projects are backed by 25-year agreements with Mexico's state power company. That's important for the company because these long-term, fee-based contracts lock in the company's cash flow, providing a solid foundation for its dividend. That being said, the company is currently planning to sell up to a 49% stake in its five natural gas pipelines in Mexico in order to help pay for a recent acquisition. However, it's unwilling to part with its entire Mexico pipeline business because of the fee-based cash flows and growth opportunities. Leading the way to bring gas to the border Natural gas pipeline kingpin Kinder Morgan is also working to expand its capacity to capture Mexican natural gas demand growth. Just last year, the company signed an agreement with a private equity company to form a Mexican natural gas marketing company. That was just the latest in a series of moves to position Kinder Morgan to capture growth opportunities south of the border. One other emerging growth opportunity is a potential capacity expansion of the company's 85-mile Meir-Monterrey pipeline, which stretches from the Texas border to Monterrey, Mexico. The pipeline connects to a natural gas power plant as well as to a natural gas transportation system. Kinder Morgan is currently exploring the possibility of doubling that pipeline's capacity, a project that could be in service by the end of next year. Meanwhile, the company has a number of connections along the Texas and Arizona borders, with plans to continue to expand its connectivity along the border in order to supply Mexico's growing gas demand: As that slide notes, the company has a couple of projects coming online this year, with others coming online early next decade. Importantly, all are supported by strong long-term contracts, with an average contract length of more than 13 years, which provides great cash flow visibility for the company. Investor takeaway Mexico is a bigger driver of demand growth for natural gas than most investors realize. In particular, it should fuel strong growth opportunities for pipeline companies, with Kinder Morgan and TransCanada among the best positioned to capture these opportunities because of their already strong footprints. According to a report, ConocoPhillips (COP -0.96%) turned down a $2 billion-plus takeover approach for its UK assets in the North Sea. The bid was reportedly made by Jim Ratcliffe, the billionaire founder of chemical group Ineos. It's a bid Ratcliffe made on the heels of his company's purchase of a number of gas fields in the region last year. That said, production from those fields was threatened by ConocoPhillips' reported desire to shut down a key pipeline and gas terminal, which likely prompted Ratcliffe to attempt to buy out the U.S. energy giant's operations in the region. Why did ConocoPhillips turn down the offer? The reasoning behind the oil giant's rejection of the offer is interesting, with the company reportedly turning it down amid a boardroom shakeup. It's not yet known what that shakeup entails, other than the likelihood that some on the board didn't want to part with these assets at the low point of the oil cycle. Further, while $2 billion sounds like a lot of money, it likely wasn't nearly enough for the company's entire operations in the UK. For perspective, ConocoPhillips' UK operations produced 88,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, or BOE/d, last year, which was roughly 6% of the company's average daily output. As such, with an enterprise value currently sitting at $79 billion, Ratcliffe's bid implies that ConocoPhillips' UK assets were worth just 2% of the company's total value. While those assets don't have the upside nor the margins of some of the company's other assets, their value is likely much more than $2 billion, especially with oil moving higher. What's next for the oil giant? While ConocoPhillips is no stranger to asset sales, and has pledged to sell additional assets in order to strengthen its balance sheet, it's in no need to sell assets at fire sale prices. In fact, the company put a number of asset sales on hold last year amid falling prices, choosing instead to reduce its dividend this year rather than sell assets at the low of the cycle in order to bridge the growing gap between its cash flow and cash requirements. That said, it's still quite possible that the company will sell assets, including some or all of its ownership interests in the UK North Sea, which is a region that's under a lot of pressure due to weak oil prices. However, ConocoPhillips has shown no signs that it wants to give up on the region. In fact, it has been working with its Britannia joint venture partner Chevron (CVX 1.04%) to take over Chevron's ownership interest in the field's operator. Further, ConocoPhillips and Chevron brought several Britannia satellite projects online over the past year, including the Adler satellite project, which is delivering first oil this year. Instead of exiting the UK North Sea, the company's main divestiture focus right now is to complete the phased exit of its deepwater exploration portfolio. This includes its acreage position and development prospects in the Gulf of Mexico as well as those in Senegal, Angola, and the Canadian Atlantic. That said, it still has some ongoing appraisal activities to complete in order to maximize the value of these assets in the current low oil price environment, so it's not in a rush to unload these assets either. Investor takeaway ConocoPhillips is always open to asset sales to strengthen its balance sheet, but it won't do so at fire sale prices. That's apparently what it was offered for its UK North Sea assets, which is why it rejected the overtures of billionaire Jim Ratcliffe. Instead, the company will continue to focus on its current plan, which includes completing its expansion projects in the UK and elsewhere, while also continuing to take the necessary steps to trim its exposure to deepwater exploration as it refocuses the company for the new normal it sees in the oil market. Over the past year and a half, Macy's (M 3.37%) financial performance has been sobering, to say the least. Like fellow department store companies Kohl's (KSS 4.49%) and Dillard's (DDS 0.72%), Macy's has reported a double-digit drop in earnings per share since the beginning of 2015. Macy's revenue has declined by more than 5% in that time span, which was worse than either Kohl's or Dillard's. Due to this rapid reversal in EPS, shares of all three companies have plummeted by 40% to 50% since the beginning of 2015. However, in the case of Macy's, this huge stock decline looks like an overreaction. That's because Macy's owns a large portfolio of real estate, which now accounts for the vast majority of its value. A retail turnaround could be tough to execute Not surprisingly, executives at Macy's, Kohl's, and Dillard's are promising to get earnings back on track in the next couple of years. Despite its falling margins, Macy's has repeatedly affirmed that it will eventually return to its target EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) margin of 14%. Unfortunately, it's not clear that retailers will ever be able to sustain the margins they earned in the past. Amazon.com is making a big push into the fashion market, with considerable success. This development will pressure department stores' profitability for the foreseeable future. That's not to say that department stores with solid franchises like Macy's, Kohl's, and Dillard's are doomed. Nevertheless, given Jeff Bezos' "your margin is my opportunity" philosophy, they will probably need to accept lower margins to avoid massive market-share losses. There's more to the story than retail Thus, just based on Macy's recent financial results and the future prospects for its retail business, the company's stock price decline seems well deserved. However, analysts who examine only Macy's current sales and profitability trends are overlooking the company's key source of value: its real estate. Hedge fund Starboard Value published an analysis earlier this year valuing Macy's real estate at nearly $21 billion. That's 20% above Macy's current enterprise value (the total value of its stock and outstanding debt). Real estate valuation is a somewhat subjective process. The value of Macy's mall-based stores in particular could be impacted by the ongoing shift of retail sales to the Internet. Still, about 35% of the estimated real estate value comes from stores in A, A+, and A++ rated malls -- the top-performing malls in the country. Moreover, another 35% of the estimated real estate value comes from eight "downtown" stores, mainly in major cities like New York, Chicago, Minneapolis, and San Francisco. Much of this real estate could be more valuable if it is repurposed for office or residential use. That means a retail downturn wouldn't hurt its value. Other department stores like Kohl's and Dillard's have much less valuable real estate than Macy's. That means they must revitalize their underlying retail businesses to create value for their shareholders. Macy's is taking action Of course, Macy's valuable real estate might not be worth much to shareholders if the company's management were adamantly opposed to monetizing it. Yet that's not the case. Macy's has shown in the past year or so that it is determined to extract value from its real estate -- it's just going to take time, due to the complexity of most real estate deals. In April, Macy's hired real estate industry veteran Douglas Sesler to fill a new role as its executive VP for real estate. Furthermore, Macy's has announced a handful of real estate deals in the past couple of years. It closed stores in Cupertino, California, and Pittsburgh and sold them to third parties. Meanwhile, it sold the underutilized upper floors of two downtown stores in Brooklyn and Seattle. Just last week, Macy's sold a downtown location in Spokane, Washington, just a few months after closing that store. This was a relatively small transaction -- the Spokane building's assessed value is $6.8 million -- which may have helped Macy's close the sale quickly. Still, it provides another example of Macy's increased focus on monetizing its real estate. Value will shine through soon Thus far, Macy's shareholders haven't really benefited from the company's real estate initiatives. Macy's stock remains near a multiyear low. But it has only been seven months since Macy's announced plans to explore real estate monetization strategies. From the beginning, Macy's management has suggested that it would take a year or two to nail down any major real estate transactions. As Macy's announces larger real estate sales or joint ventures -- something that will hopefully begin in the next six to 12 months -- investors may finally look beyond the company's subpar sales and earnings results and recognize the value of its real estate. That should help Macy's stock get back on track. The terror attack in Orlando is a too-familiar tragic event, reminiscent of countless others, for one nation thats been under siege since 1948. Israels survival in the Middle East is a daily battle and security is of the utmost importance for the nation surrounded by its enemies. During an interview with FOX Business Networks Countdown to the Closing Bell, former Prime Minister of Israel, Ehud Barak, discussed Sundays Orlando shooting in the U.S., gun laws and some of the lessons the United States can take from the Israelis when it comes to national security. Barak said in Israel, the Orlando shooter could have never obtained the assault rifle that killed at least 49 and wounded 53 people at the Pulse nightclub. A guy like this wouldnt be able to get permission to get any gun. And not mention in Israel, no one, including myself, I cannot get more than a simple hand gun. People probably understand American ethos about having weapons, but foreigners cannot understand why the hell you have to equip them with assault rifles, Barak told host Liz Claman. Israeli gun laws are relatively strict, banning assault-weapons and requiring gun owners to register ownership with the government. A licensed gun owner in Israel must at be least 21 years old and an Israeli citizen or permanent resident. Despite the countrys strong gun regulations, Israel recently experienced a violent attack in which two Palestinian gunmen killed four people in a popular Tel Aviv area using handmade guns. Israeli security forces are cracking down on metal shops in the West Bank suspected of manufacturing the handmade weapons known by their street name, Carlo. But, could such measures be taken by terrorist sympathizers in the United States? Barak said the FBI needs to delineate the balance between the private rights of its citizen and the public safety in a different manner under congressional supervision. Israels secret services are allowed to profile. They are not looking the same way at a group of a Buddhists living in Israel, Barak said. When it comes to facing the reality of terrorism, the former prime minister said you cannot demonize the whole region -- there's no sense in doing it. But there's no sense to ignore reality, that at the present time in 2016, most of terror comes abroad, comes through radicalized Muslims." Google is looking to expand its gigabit home Internet service in Texas, and Dallas might be its next fiberhood. Google Fiber is up and running in Austin and rolling out to San Antonio. Full city expansions can take years to finish, though, because Google builds much of its Fiber infrastructure from scratch. Dallas is no different, with Google only saying that it's "exploring the possibility" of adding the city. "Bringing Google Fiber to Dallas would be a huge undertaking," Google wrote in a blog post, "so we want to make sure we're prepared. Working alongside Mayor Mike Rawlings and local leaders, we'll use our Fiber checklist to learn more about local topography, existing infrastructure, and other factors that may impact construction." Coordinating with city officials has been a critical part of Fiber's expansion, especially in light of the hostile reception Google sometimes gets from its utility company competitors. Google last year benefitted from a city ordinance in Louisville, Kentucky, that allowed it to access already-installed utility poles, but it prompted a lawsuit from AT&T. The Louisville mayor pledged to vigorously defend the suit so that Google Fiber installation can proceed. In Dallas, Rawlings is similarly friendly to Google Fiber, and his administration is already working with the company to answer questions about city infrastructure, according to the Dallas Morning News. Rawlings told the paper he'll "be pushing for [Google's] product to be accessible to a great amount of our citizens, including those who are not on the higher end of the economic spectrum." Google has already demonstrated a commitment to connect lower-income communities with Fiber. In Kansas City, it brought the gigabit Internet service to 100 homes in a low-income housing development. It has pledged to do the same for other Google Fiber cities by partnering with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. At the same time, Kansas City residents have also experienced what many have feared: lower-speed Fiber won't remain free forever. As of May 19, residents there now have to pay $50 or more a month, depending on what tier they use. This article originally appeared on PCMag.com. Google on Monday unveiled a new digital assistant for enterprise customers. Dubbed Springboard, the program helps businesses "find the right information that you need at the moment that you need it." A sort of Google Now for businesses, Springboard uses artificial intelligence to search all information across Google AppsGmail, Calendar, Docs, Drive, Contacts, etc. Looking for last month's sales strategy? Type the query into Springboard and you'll be greeted with emails, documents, videos, and more saved content relating to the search. "It's no secret that the growth of information inside the enterprise continues to accelerate," Prabhakar Raghavan, vice president of engineering for Google Apps, wrote in a blog post. "In fact, today the average knowledge worker spends the equivalent of one full day a week searching for and gathering information." Springboard is more than a search engine, though. It serves as an all-day companion, "providing useful and actionable information and recommendations" to users throughout the workday. During this week's Google Atmosphere global enterprise event series in Tokyo, the tech titan also announced a revamped Google Sites. Customers can now tap into drag-and-drop editing and real-time collaboration by multiple editors, as well as access to content from Calendar, Docs, Drive, Maps, and more. The new Sites, Raghavan boasted, includes themes and layouts designed to fit any screen, "so they're as useful when you access them on the 30-inch monitor at your desk or your smartphone on your commute," he said. Already previewed by "a small set of customers," Springboard and the updated Sites are now available through an Early Adopter Program. Company admins that run Google Apps for Work can sign up online to join. This article originally appeared on PCMag.com. Back in January, Israeli financial newspaper TheMarker claimed that firewall and security software vendor Check Point Software was in "initial talks" to buy privileged accounts protector CyberArk Software . At the time, JPMorgan analyst Sterling Auty claimed that combining both companies made sense since they had complementary technologies and were both based in Israel, and Check Point's wider distribution channels could boost CyberArk's sales to a "new level of scale."CheckPoint finished last quarter with $3.7 billion in cashand equivalents, which would easily cover CyberArk's enterprise value of $1.1 billion even after factoring in a hefty acquisition premium. But Oppenheimer analyst Shaul Eyal claimed that the buyout had a "low probability" of happening, since Check Point generally buys much smaller companies andCyberArk would be its biggest acquisition ever. CyberArk CEO Udi Mokady then told Reuters that the company was interested in growing "independently", which doused hopes of a quick takeover. Nonetheless, Check Point investors should understand the benefits that a potential buyout might offer. Image source: Getty Images. Boosting sales and earnings growth Check Point's sales have risen 8% to 9% annually over the past few quarters, while CyberArk has been posting over 40% sales growth. Analysts expect Check Point's sales to rise7% to $1.75 billion this year, and improve another 7% to $1.87 billion next year. CyberArk's sales areexpected to grow 31% to $211 million this year, and another 22% to $258 million next year. If Check Point buys CyberArk today, its annual revenue this year would rise 12%. Sales for fiscal 2017 would also be 14% higher than Check Point's own estimated revenue. Unlike many other cybersecurity companies, CyberArk is profitable by both non-GAAP and GAAP measures. CyberArk is expected to post 22% annual earnings growth over the next five years, while Check Point's earnings are expected to improve just 11%. CyberArk expects to generate up to$33 million in non-GAAP net income for 2016, which would add an average of $8 million per quarter to Check Point's bottom line. That would be equivalent to about 4% of its non-GAAP earnings fromthe first quarter of 2016. That boost could be much higher after redundancies between the two companies are eliminated and Check Point invests more heavily in expanding CyberArk's business. CyberArk controls a valuable niche market Check Point's flagship firewall product faces many challengers in the perimeter security market, including next-gen firewall player Palo Alto Networks and networking giant Cisco. Check Point is still the market leader in firewalls and controls over 20% of the market, but that's down fromabout 40% two decades ago. Check Point has done a sound job of adding more security services to its firewall to retain customers and boost sales, but it would make sense to widen its moat by buying smaller cybersecurity players that dominate specific niche markets that larger companies can't touch. CyberArk is one such company, because it dominates the privileged account management (PAM) market, which prevents hackers and disgruntled employees from stealing data through high-level internal accounts. 40% of the Fortune 100 companies and 17 of the 20 biggest banks in the world currently use CyberArk's PAM solutions, and research firm IDC calls it the "big gorilla" of the PAM market. While the overall PAM market is much smaller than the firewall and threat prevention market, it's one with fewer competitors. CyberArk also previously stated that its growth is ultimately limited by its ability to hire newsales and marketing representatives. Check Point's deeper pockets could shatter that bottleneck and enable CyberArk's PAM solutions to reach a much wider range of customers. It makes more sense than treading water Check Point stock has stayed nearly flat over the past 12 months due to its tepid sales growth and concerns that slower enterprise spending would throttle cybersecurity demand. Yet the company has repurchased more shares over the past 12 months than it ever has before. Source:YCharts. I believe the $888 million it spent on buybacks over that period (equivalent to over 90% of its free cash flow) could arguably have been better spent on strategic acquisitions like CyberArk. I also don't think that the current lull in cybersecurity stocks will last much longer, due to the rise of increasingly sophisticated hacks and data breaches.Weaker companies with unjustified valuations and narrow moats could get flushed out, but stronger names like CyberArk -- which has fallen more than 30% over the past 12 months -- could be smart buyout targets at current prices. The article Will This Company Ever Buy CyberArk Software? originally appeared on Fool.com. Leo Sun owns shares of CyberArk Software. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Check Point Software Technologies. The Motley Fool recommends Cisco Systems, CyberArk Software, and Palo Alto Networks. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Britannia Satellites North Sea, U.K.Image source: ConocoPhillips. According to a report, ConocoPhillips turned down a $2 billion-plus takeover approach for its UK assets in the North Sea. The bid was reportedly made by Jim Ratcliffe,the billionaire founder of chemical group Ineos. It's a bid Ratcliffe made on the heels of his company's purchase of a number of gas fields in the region last year. That said, production from those fields was threatened by ConocoPhillips' reported desire to shut down a key pipeline and gas terminal, which likely prompted Ratcliffe to attempt to buy out the U.S. energy giant's operations in the region. Why did ConocoPhillips turn down the offer? The reasoning behind the oil giant's rejection of the offer is interesting, with the company reportedly turning it down amid a boardroom shakeup. It's not yet known what that shakeup entails, other than the likelihood that some on the board didn't want to part with these assets at the low point of the oil cycle. Further, while $2 billion sounds like a lot of money, it likely wasn't nearly enough for the company's entire operations in the UK. For perspective, ConocoPhillips' UK operations produced 88,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, or BOE/d, last year, which was roughly 6% of the company's average daily output. As such, with an enterprise value currently sitting at $79 billion, Ratcliffe's bid implies that ConocoPhillips' UK assets were worth just 2% of the company's total value. While those assets don't have the upside nor the margins of some of the company's other assets, their value is likely much more than $2 billion, especially with oil moving higher. Image source: ConocoPhillips. What's next for the oil giant? While ConocoPhillips is no stranger to asset sales, and has pledged to sell additional assets in order to strengthen its balance sheet, it's in no need to sell assets at fire sale prices. In fact, the company put a number of asset sales on hold last year amid falling prices, choosing instead to reduce its dividend this year rather than sell assets at the low of the cycle in order to bridge the growing gap between its cash flow and cash requirements. That said, it's still quite possible that the company will sell assets, including some or all of its ownership interests in the UK North Sea, which is a region that's under a lot of pressure due to weak oil prices. However, ConocoPhillips has shown no signs that it wants to give up on the region. In fact, it has been working with its Britannia joint venture partner Chevron to take over Chevron's ownership interest in the field's operator. Further, ConocoPhillips and Chevron brought several Britannia satellite projects online over the past year, including the Adler satellite project, which is delivering first oil this year. Instead of exiting the UK North Sea, the company's main divestiture focus right now is to complete the phased exit of its deepwater exploration portfolio. This includes its acreage position and development prospects in the Gulf of Mexico as well as those in Senegal, Angola, and the Canadian Atlantic. That said, it still has some ongoing appraisal activities to complete in order to maximize the value of these assets in the current low oil price environment, so it's not in a rush to unload these assets either. Investor takeaway ConocoPhillips is always open to asset sales to strengthen its balance sheet, but it won't do so at fire sale prices. That's apparently what it was offered for its UK North Sea assets, which is why it rejected the overtures of billionaire Jim Ratcliffe. Instead, the company will continue to focus on its current plan, which includes completing its expansion projects in the UK and elsewhere, while also continuing to take the necessary steps to trim its exposure to deepwater exploration as it refocuses the company for the new normal it sees in the oil market. The article ConocoPhillips Turns Down a Billionaire's $2 Billion Offer originally appeared on Fool.com. Matt DiLallo owns shares of ConocoPhillips. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Chevron. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Microsoft has not gone into its $26.2 billion decision to acquire LinkedIn without having a detailed plan for integrating the company deeply into its portfolio of products. In fact, just after the company announced the all-cash deal, which is the biggest in its history, CEO Satya Nadella and other Microsoft executives conducted a conference call with analysts in which they laid out some of Microsoft's plans for the company. In addition to noting that the business/work-related social media company will continue to operate independently and that its CEO, Jeff Weiner, would retain that position, reporting to Nadella, the executives talked about the synergies that could be created. In addition, Nadella wrote an email to employees that raised some possibilities as to what might happen The call, which was accompanied by a presentation, expanded on a comment Nadella made in the press release announcing the deal. "The LinkedIn team has grown a fantastic business centered on connecting the world's professionals," Nadella said in the press release. "Together we can accelerate the growth of LinkedIn, as well as Microsoft Office 365 and Dynamics as we seek to empower every person and organization on the planet." But what are some specifics of that bold goal? LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, and LinkedIn Board Chairman Reid Hoffman (left to right) all signed off on the deal. Image source: Microsoft. It's partly about the cloud Microsoft sells cloud services, as do a number of its chief rivals. One of the problems of being in that space is that it's essentially a commodity, which makes winning at anything other than price a challenge. "This deal brings together the world's leading professional cloud with the world's leading professional network," wrote Nadella in his email. "I have been learning about LinkedIn for some time while also reflecting on how networks can truly differentiate cloud services. It's clear to me that the LinkedIn team has grown a fantastic business and an impressive network of more than 433 million professionals." Essentially, Microsoft believes it can leverage the connection some of those users have with LinkedIn to get them to use the company's cloud products. Nadella does not say it quite that directly, but it's clear what he's implying. Cortana is coming It's fair to say that Microsoft's voice/digital assistant, Cortana, remains a work in progress, which can really be said about the entire category. That said, the company envisions Cortana as being integrated into all its products, including LinkedIn, where in theory it could act like a sort of digital personal secretary. "Today Cortana knows about you, your organization, and about the world," the company wrote in the presentation. "In the future, Cortana will also know about your entire professional organization to connect dots on your behalf so you stay one step ahead." In an example next to that write-up, the company showed Cortana not only telling someone about who her next meeting is with, but also sharing details about the person being met. In addition it suggests the digital assistant could let the user know about mutual friends, and even shared interests. LinkedIn can help Microsoft know you better In the presentation, Microsoft introduced the idea that LinkedIn profiles, which contain a person's resume, as well endorsements, school information, and more, could also be made visible in Office, Outlook, and Skype. "Today there is no one source of of truth for an individual profile -- the data is scattered across many endpoints often with outdated or incomplete information," the company wrote. "In the future, a professional's profile will be unified and the right data at the right time will surface in an app, whether Outlook, Office, Skype, or elsewhere." That's a smart play because by the nature of it being a professional network which people use for jobs, it would make sense that their LinkedIn profiles would be more up to date than those used on other social media sites. It's about getting things done Nadella wrote in his email that Microsoft and LinkedIn are pursuing a common mission to empower people and organizations. He mentioned part of his company's "bold ambition" is to "reinvent productivity and business processes." He clearly believes that this acquisition helps it do that. "How people find jobs, build skills, sell, market and get work done and ultimately find success requires a connected professional world," he wrote. "It requires a vibrant network that brings together a professional's information in LinkedIn's public network with the information in Office 365 and Dynamics. " The CEO suggested that one way that might work would be leveraging what Microsoft's products know about a person to deliver more targeted experiences in their LinkedIn news feed. He suggested that might include serving up articles "based on the project you are working on and Office suggesting an expert to connect with via LinkedIn to help with a task you're trying to complete." Those are just initial thoughts and Nadella expects the effectiveness of the marriage of Microsoft and LinkedIn's knowledge of its users to become better over time. "As these experiences get more intelligent and delightful, the LinkedIn and Office 365 engagement will grow," he wrote. "And in turn, new opportunities will be created for monetization through individual and organization subscriptions and targeted advertising." The article Here's How Microsoft Plans to Integrate LinkedIn originally appeared on Fool.com. Daniel Kline owns shares of Microsoft. His LinkedIn profile is mostly up to date. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends LinkedIn. The Motley Fool owns shares of Microsoft. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. A funny thing happened to TASER International stock last week: nothing. In Great Britain, Big Brother is always watching you -- now more than ever. Image source: Getty Images. This was strange because, on Thursday, TASER reported a big contract win in the United Kingdom, an order for 1,600 Axon Body 2 cameras, along with a multiyear contract to provide Evidence.com data storage services for said cameras. Instead of TASER stock leaping higher, however -- which happened when TASER reported an Axon sale, of 1/32 the size, to Canadian police forces last month -- TASER stock actually lost a few pennies worth of market cap. Why? Third time's no charm for TASER As TASER detailed in its press release, Britain's West Midlands Police ordered its new Axons following a 12-month trial pitting TASER's body cameras for police against an unnamed rival device. Summarizing its finding, West Midlands Police described TASER's Axon as "cost effective, flexible, secure" and said it "provides an opportunity for us to present better evidence in the courtroom." That all sounds good, and adds to the drumbeat of support TASER has been accumulating in the U.K., which began with a big Axon buy by the London Metropolitan Police last year (22,000 Axons) and a smaller purchase by the Greater Manchester Police (3,148 units). It does, however, also paint TASER's West Midlands Police contract in a somewhat dimmer light, as the smallest of the three U.K. contracts won over the past six months. How much is it worth? As the cameras are priced at $399 each, the sale of 1,600 Axon Body 2 cameras is likely to bring in less than $640,000 in incremental revenue for TASER -- just 0.3% of the company's annual sales. As such, you wouldn't expect this sale to move TASER's stock price much (although TASER investors have been known to overreact to similarly small news items in the past). In the longer term, it's the Evidence.com contracts, which are attached to the Axons TASER sells, that are the real driving force behind TASER's growth. As we outlined last year, TASER offers six levels of Evidence.com service for customers purchasing its Axons: a "Basic" plan costing $15 per user, per month a "Standard" plan costing $25 a "Pro" plan at $39 "Ultimate" level starting at $55 (includes camera upgrades every 2.5 years) "Ultimate" plus unlimited storage for $79 and $99 for all the above, plus upgrades to actual TASER Tasers -- the stun guns that were the company's initial claim to fame The 1,600 Axons being purchased by West Midlands Police therefore have the potential to generate anywhere from $288,000 to as much as $1.9 million in annual Evidence.com revenue-- or up to three times the value of the underlying sales contract. And this is revenue that would likely recur year after year after year. What it means for investors Granted, even $1.9 million is less than 1% of TASER's annual revenue stream. But at least it's something, and it's certainly something positive. TASER's stock should have gone up last week, not down. The article How TASER Conquered the U.K. originally appeared on Fool.com. Fool contributorRich Smithdoes not own shares of, nor is he short, any company named above. You can find him onMotley Fool CAPS, publicly pontificating under the handleTMFDitty, where he's currently ranked No. 292 out of more than 75,000 rated members.The Motley Fool recommends Taser International. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Social Security is a valuable safety-net for tens of millions of Americans and many of those Americans rely heavily upon the program to pay for their daily living expenses. If, however, you've accumulated enough in retirement savings, or have other sources of retirement income, such as a pension, you may be considering investing your Social Security income rather than spending it. If that's the case, thenfocusing on high-quality dividend-paying stocks could pay off. Historically, dividend-paying stocks have outperformed their non-dividend paying peers and given that retirees are living longer than ever before, a long-term dividend strategy may be the best approach. With that in mind, here are three high-qualify dividend stock ideas to consider owning in your retirement portfolio. Image source: Microsoft Corp. Dividend stock idea number one Microsoft Corp. may be best known for software used to run PCs (Windows 10 is installed on 200 million devices worldwide), but it's quickly transitioning itself into a major player in online cloud-computing too. Demand for online access to Microsoft's various business productivity tools has already turned cloud-computing into a $10 billion per year business for the company, but Microsoft's C-suite believes that cloud-computing revenue can grow to $20 billion by 2020.A doubling in cloud-computing revenue could pay off handsomely for the investors because the subscription models used in cloud-computing provide a steady stream of high-margin cash flow. Couple Microsoft's cloud-computing opportunity with its leading position in gaming, via Xbox, and online search, via Bing, and you have a company offering far more upside opportunity than the slowing PC market would seem to indicate. If so, then retirees with Social Security income to invest might want to consider owning Microsoft as a core holding in their dividend portfolio. Microsoft's already got a cash stockpile that's north of $100 billion (yes, with a "b") and its dividend has increased steadily since its inception in 2003. Currently, Microsoft shares yield a healthy 2.76%. Dividend stock idea number two ExxonMobil might not be the bargain it was last August when crude oil prices per barrel were nose-diving, but its shares are still trading more than 10% below their 2014 peak and global demand for crude oil and natural gas products isn't shrinking. Image source: ExxonMobil Despite the drop in commodity prices, broad-based exposure to energy and industrial production still allowed it to deliver $16.2 billion in earnings last year and $1.8 billion in earnings during the first quarter of 2016. While smaller independent oil & gas companies may offer more dynamic opportunities for return, they also come with substantial risk. Commodity prices are exceptionally volatile and energy projects are costly, so many of these companies are highly leveraged. Because those smaller companies' balance sheets can be stretched thin, they're often forced to sell prime assets when commodity prices fall and that can be a boon to big players with rock-solid balance sheets like ExxonMobil. In those instances, ExxonMobil is perhaps the best positioned in the industry to hunt for bargains. Importantly for income investors, ExxonMobil also ranks as one of the best dividend-paying stocks in the industry. Over the past 33 years, its dividend payout has climbed by an average 6.4% annually. Currently, shares yield 3.36%. Image source: Pfizer, Inc. Dividend stock idea number three After years of struggling to offset the loss of revenue stemming from the patent expiration on Lipitor in 2011, Pfizer Inc. appears to be back on a growth track, and that could mean investors are about to be rewarded with steady dividend increases. Prior to its patent expiration, Lipitor was bringing in peak annual sales of more than $13 billion. Once generics became available, sales steadily declined to less than $2 billion per year. Unable to make up for that drop-off, Pfizer was forced to get lean by cutting costs and shedding non-core assets. Today, those restructuring decisions position it perfectly to benefit as sales head higher. Now that Lipitor headwinds have faded, recent acquisitions and new product launches have led to Pfizer reporting six consecutive quarters of operational growth. Recently, management cited its growth as the main reason behind increasing its full year sales guidance for this year by $2 billion. The company now expects revenue to be at least $51 billion in 2016. Additionally, leveraging growth against its fixed costs is translating into earnings upside too. Pfizer's EPS forecast for this year is $2.38 , up from $2.20 last year. Because Pfizer's got over $30 billion in cash and investments on its balance sheet and new fast-growing medicines, such as the cancer drug Ibrance and the anticoagulant Eliquis, there's good reason to think that dividend increases are coming. Especially, since Pfizer's management steadily increased its annual dividend payout despite its post-Lipitor expiration struggles. Currently, shares yield 3.44%. PFE Dividends Paid (TTM) data by YCharts Tying it together Because of the time value of money, investing Social Security income now can go a long way toward increasing the size of your estate later. For example, someone who invests $1,000 per month in Social Security income and earns a hypothetical 6% return annually for 20 years could end up with a nest-egg worth $441,430. If you find yourself in a position where you're able invest your Social Security income, then you might want to consider it. And, if you do, then investing in Microsoft, ExxonMobil, and Pfizer could be a good place to start. The article If I Plan On Investing My Social Security, What Dividend Stocks Can I Buy? originally appeared on Fool.com. Todd Campbell owns shares of Microsoft.Todd owns E.B. Capital Markets, LLC. E.B. Capital's clients may have positions in the companies mentioned. Like this article? Follow him onTwitter where he goes by the handle@ebcapital to see more articles like this.The Motley Fool owns shares of ExxonMobil and Microsoft. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Image source: NXP. Two months ago, rumor had it that NXP Semiconductors was planning to sell its standard products division for about $2 billion. Today, the rumor has become solid news -- but the price tag turns out to be higher. The rumored buyer, Chinese investment firm JAC Capital, turned out to be one half of an all-Chinese consortium making the bid. JAC is expanding a long-running interest in NXP, which included buying its RF signal amplifier operations in 2015. The other firm in the upcoming deal is a less familiar name. I was unable to gather any information about Wise Road Capital, short of reading news posts in the original Mandarin. According to NXP's press materials, it's an equity fund focused on building smart and green cities around the world. Together, these firms scrounged up $2.75 billion to pry the standard products segment away from NXP. The unit will be rebranded as Nexperia, a moniker it pulled from a line of NXP's media processors. The unit will keep essentially all of its 11,000 employees worldwide. Headquarters will remain in Nijmegen, Netherlands, and Nexperia also gets the manufacturing and research assets that NXP holds under the standard products division today. The separation is about as clean as possible, though the Nexperia unit also will hold on to a handful of key products in NXP's current laser focus on the automotive computing market. You win some, you lose some -- and these are simple, industry-standard components that NXP can easily source right back from Nexperia or from plenty of other companies. Standard product sales declined 3% in 2015, representing about 20% of NXP's total revenue. In the recently reported first quarter, segment sales fell 15% year over year and only accounted for 12% of NXP's overall sales. The division's operating margins also tend to run lower than the high-performance mixed signal segment's, where the rest of NXP's operations are reported. To sum up, NXP is spinning off a low-margin business that largely does not fit with the company's newfound focus on automotive and security products. The recently closed acquisition of Freescale Semiconductor should not hider the Nexperia agreement in any way, since Freescale's products fell cleanly into the high-performance sector. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2017, subject to the usual battery of regulatory approval and shareholder votes. NXP is likely to sink the funds into retiring more of the Freescale merger's debt. NXP shares fell as much as 1.8% on the news, but quickly recovered to a 0.5% decline that was right in line with the S&P 500. The article NXP Semiconductors NV Slims Down: What You Need to Know originally appeared on Fool.com. Anders Bylund has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends NXP Semiconductors. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. More than half a century after the U.S. banned commercial airline flights to Cuba, scheduled service between the two countries is on the verge of resuming. Last Friday, the U.S. government awarded the first set of U.S.-Cuba route authorities. American Airlines , Southwest Airlines , JetBlue Airways , Frontier Airlines, Sun Country Airlines, and Silver Airways were all awarded routes to Cuba. However, all of these routes serve secondary cities in Cuba. Routes to Havana -- which are the real prize -- won't be allocated until later this year. JetBlue was one of six airlines to be awarded routes to Cuba last week. Image source: JetBlue Airways. Everyone gets what they want -- for now The new U.S.-Cuba aviation treaty allows U.S.-based airlines to operate up to 110 daily flights to Cuba: 20 to Havana and 10 each to nine other international airports in the island nation. Havana is Cuba's political, cultural, and economic hub -- and its largest city by far -- so airlines are extremely eager to fly there. When the U.S. government began the application process for allocating routes to Cuba, airlines requested nearly three times as many flights to Havana as the 20 daily frequencies that are available. By contrast, airlines are a lot less interested in operating routes to Cuba's secondary cities. Some major airlines didn't even bother bidding for any flights other than to Havana. As a result, the Department of Transportation didn't really have to decide anything in awarding the non-Havana routes. Every airline got what it wanted. (The only exception was Eastern Airlines, a start-up carrier that isn't yet certified to operate scheduled commercial flights.) How the flights shake out American Airlines, which operates a large hub in Miami -- less than 200 miles from the northern shore of Cuba -- requested the most non-Havana flights of any airline. American plans to operate eight daily flights to secondary cities in Cuba. It will fly twice a day to Holguin, Matanzas, and Santa Clara; and once a day to Camaguey and Cienfuegos. American Airlines will launch eight daily flights to Cuba this fall. Image source: American Airlines. Tiny regional airline Silver Airways will operate 39 weekly flights from Fort Lauderdale to Cuba -- an average of five or six per day -- spread across all nine of Cuba's secondary international airports. That will give it the second largest number of frequencies. However, it will use 34-seat turboprops for its flights, giving it a smaller market share than its rivals. JetBlue Airways and Southwest Airlines both plan to fly three times a day from Fort Lauderdale to secondary airports in Cuba. JetBlue will operate one flight each to Camaguey, Holguin, and Santa Clara. Southwest plans to fly twice a day to Matanzas and once a day to Santa Clara. Ultra-low cost carrier Frontier Airlines will operate a total of 16 weekly flights from Chicago and Philadelphia to a handful of cities in Cuba. Finally, Sun Country Airlines will fly once a week from its base in Minneapolis to Matanzas and Santa Clara. Now comes the hard part Most airlines are likely to launch their recently awarded routes to Cuba's secondary airports sometime this fall. The beginning of scheduled service to Cuba should stimulate strong growth in passenger traffic, as the flights will be cheaper and more convenient than charter flights. On the other hand, the U.S.-Cuba air travel market is still undeveloped. Havana is arguably the only "slam dunk" destination. Furthermore, travelers still need to provide proof that they fall within one of a dozen categories of approved travel. Pure tourism is still banned by the U.S. government. Thus, some of the flights launching this fall may fail. That's just the nature of opening a new market. However, other routes could be unexpectedly successful, prompting capacity increases. Airlines will have to learn a lot about the U.S.-Cuba travel market in the coming years in order to fully capitalize on this enticing opportunity. The article The U.S. Awards Airlines Routes to Cuba: The Big Prize Is Still Up for Grabs originally appeared on Fool.com. Adam Levine-Weinberg owns shares of JetBlue Airways and is long January 2017 $17 calls on JetBlue Airways and long January 2017 $30 calls on American Airlines Group. The Motley Fool is long January 2017 $35 calls on American Airlines Group. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Image source: Verizon. The demise of smartphone subsidies has led to a lot of changes in the financials of U.S. wireless carriers. While the cash coming in is roughly the same as before, the accounting is totally different. Subscriber's on Verizon's Edge, or AT&T's Next, plans put $0 down and pay off the phone over 18 to 30 months, but they're still technically paying for the device in full when they receive it. The wireless carrier is simply financing a loan for the phone. So, while carriers used to book a $450 loss on the sale of a new iPhone, they now book a much smaller loss from their financing activities. To make the accounting work, carriers have taken to securitizing their equipment installment plan receivables and selling them to banks. The carriers have been accounting for the securitization from their balance sheets, but the cash shows up in their cash flow statements, providing a nice boost to cash flow in the near term. Where iPhone sales used to be a drag on cash flow, they now become a boon. The only problem is the credit rating agencies see those equipment installment plan securities and view them as extra unsecured debt. That gets lumped in with other debt and reduces the credit ratings for Verizon or AT&T. That's why Fran Shammo is exploring an alternative method to getting cash out of those receivables. An $8 billion "drop" in cash flow Don't be surprised when Verizon reports operating cash flow for the second quarter about $2 billion lower than expected. Shammo isn't planning to securitize any of Verizon's receivables this quarter. Instead, he plans to start the process of selling asset-backed securities on the receivables -- the devices supposedly being the assets. These securities will be sold on the public market instead of negotiated privately with the banks Verizon currently works with. Additionally, since they're backed by assets, the debt will be rated AAA, probably lowering the cost to Verizon. Best of all, the ratings agencies won't see it as unsecured debt, saving Verizon's credit rating for when it needs to tap the debt market. But while Verizon will see cash coming in -- possibly even more than before because of lower debt costs -- it won't be able to count that on its cash flow statement. It will show up under short-term debt on the balance sheet. More equipment installment plans coming Last quarter, 68% of devices activated on Verizon's network were on equipment installment plans. It expects that number to climb to 70% this quarter. Overall, 48% of customers are on unsubsidized service plans. AT&T, comparatively, sold 90% of its smartphones without a subsidy, and about half of its total subscribers are on Next installment plans. Overall, Jefferies analysts expect total equipment installment receivables to climb to about $40 billion next year. As more customers switch to installment plans, the new securitization method will become increasingly important. There's potential for Verizon's $8 billion in annual receivables to double as it moves consumers off its subsidized plans. With the typical upgrade cycle now slightly longer than two years, it's looking at carrying more than $32 billion in potential equipment installment receivables. With over $110 billion in debt on its balance sheet already, Verizon will greatly benefit from recategorizing its equipment installment plan securities. Investors should expect the other wireless carriers, like AT&T, to follow suit. The article Verizon Is About to Change This $8 Billion Piece of Its Business originally appeared on Fool.com. Adam Levy owns shares of Verizon Communications. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Verizon Communications. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Billionaire George Soros sees an economic storm gathering. Image source: Flickr/Carl Milner. George Soros doesn't like what he sees in today's global economy. The billionaire investor, who is estimated to have a $25 billion net worth, has made his position clear this year in quotes, stock picks, and other portfolio holdings. He thinks the economy is in trouble, and he's putting his money where his mouth is. To understand what he's doing and why, let's break down what he's said about today's market and how he has positioned his fund to capitalize on these trends. George Soros' quotes present a clearly bearish worldview The last time George Soros took an active role in the day-to-day trading at his firm, Soros Fund Management LLC, was in 2007. At that time, he stepped in to bet against the housing market, a move that would eventually net the firm over $1 billion in profits at a time when the rest of the financial system teetered on the edge of collapse. His views today are once again bearish, though this time he sees problems coming from abroad, rather than at home. The biggest problem, in his view, comes from China. He told The Wall Street Journal: "China continues to suffer from capital flight and has been depleting its foreign currency reserves while other Asian countries have been accumulating foreign currency. ... China is facing internal conflict within its political leadership, and over the coming year this will complicate its ability to deal with financial issues." More tangibly, Soros sees Chinese problems as a catalyst for deflationary pressure that could spread around the world, causing havoc in all major economies. He's also pessimistic about the European economic-political situation, with continued concerns over Greece, the ongoing migration crisis politically dividing the region, and the possible British exit from the euro. According to Soros, the political discord coupled with an economic shock from the so-called "Brexit" could be enough to collapse the eurozone. He said, "If Britain leaves, it could unleash a general exodus, and the disintegration of the European Union will become practically unavoidable." At this point, however, most experts predict that Britain will remain in the euro economic zone. Soros recognizes this, citing strength in the British pound as a sign the country will remain. Even so, the problems are sufficient in his mind to take a bearish position with his billions of stock holdings. George Soros' stock holdings for 2016 Soros has always been one to back up his opinions with his cash, and today is no different. In the first quarter he purchased over 19 million shares of gold miner Barrick Gold and loaded up on exchange-traded funds tracking the price of gold. The stock purchase, his top stock pick of the quarter, made him the largest Barrick Gold shareholder at quarter end. Barrick is the Soros Management LLC's second largest holding. The fund also purchased over a million shares of silver miner Silver Wheaton Corp. in the first quarter, stocking up on precious metals typically considered safe havens during economic turmoil. Silver Wheaton's stock, for example, increased 292% from year-end 2006 to year-end 2010, a period where the S&P 500 declined over 11%. Soros likewise has built a sizable derivatives portfolio of instruments that will profit from a decline in the S&P 500. The nature of those investments is less transparent than his common stock purchases, making it impossible to know exactly when and how much the fund has invested. Required regulatory disclosures do reveal large increases in options linked to ETFs tracking the S&P. Year to date, both Barrick Gold and Silver Wheaton have made sizable jumps higher. Barrick is up over 165% since Jan. 1 alone. The S&P 500 has put up marginal gains, rising just over 2.5% over the same period. ABX data by YCharts Can Barrick Gold continue its climb? Will Soros' negative expectations come to fruition, sending the S&P lower? It's impossible to know. However, Soros track record speaks for itself, and if nothing else, investors should remain vigilant. The article What George Soros' Quotes and Stock Holdings Say About the Future originally appeared on Fool.com. Jay Jenkins has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of Silver Wheaton. (USA). Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Image source: Exact Sciences. What: After announcing recently that management hired a former Baird research analyst in a key role, and a day before presenting at William Blair's 36th annual growth stock conference, shares in Exact Sciences surged 33% higher today. So what: Exact Sciences shares are gaining ground, but today's rally follows a significant decline in the company's share price since the launch ofCologuard, the company's colon cancer screening test. EXAS data by YCharts. The company didn't report any news today, but it didannounce the appointment of Jeff Elliott to a senior role earlier this month, and management's calendar has been packed with investor conferences that could be factoring into the move higher. Elliott,a former senior research analyst who covered the diagnostic and lab industries for Baird,is being tasked with identifying and pursuing strategic business opportunities for Exact Sciences, and while management didn't specifically say what opportunities Elliott will be evaluating, it could be that he's pursuing collaborations, licensing, or a business combination. The company's Cologuard does very good job at screening for colon cancer, but winning reimbursement has been more challenging than expected, and despite a significant increase in screenings, spending continues to significantly outpace revenue. It's possible the hiring of Elliott signals that the C-suite is willing to entertain deals that could take some of the burden off of the company's balance sheet. Exact Sciences has also been aggressively making its case with investors this month. On June 8, the company was at Goldman Sachs' 37th Annual Global Healthcare Conference, and on June 9, management presented at Jefferies Healthcare Conference. Tomorrow, CEO Kevin Conroy is scheduled to appear at William Blair's 36th Annual Growth Stock Conference in Chicago. Now what:Sellers were holding 22% of the company's share float short entering today, and given today's move, it wouldn't be surprising if some sellers have decided to cover their positions ahead of tomorrow's presentation. At this conference, management will probably reinforce the potential for a more than doubling in Cologuard tests and sales this year. Last year,the company completed 104,000 tests, and this year, management expects to complete more than 240,000 screenings.If Exact Sciences completes that many tests, it expects sales will reach at least $90 million, up from $39.4 million last year. Overall, the potential to provide regular screenings to an increasingly larger and longer-living population of baby boomers has management pegging Cologuard's addressable market at $4 billion. That's undeniably a big market opportunity, but investors might want to temper some of their enthusiasm, because even if the company executes on its sales goals for 2016, it will still lose money.Total operating costs exited Q1 at an annualized $216 million. The article Why Exact Sciences Stock Is Soaring 33% Today originally appeared on Fool.com. Todd Campbell has no position in any stocks mentioned.Todd owns E.B. Capital Markets, LLC. E.B. Capital's clients may have positions in the companies mentioned. Like this article? Follow him onTwitter where he goes by the handle@ebcapital to see more articles like this.The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Rendering of Wynn Palace in Macau. Image source: Wynn Resorts. Despite all of the bad news coming out of Macau in the past two years, it still dwarfs Las Vegas from a gaming standpoint. Macau's gaming market generated $29.9 billion in revenue over the past year, which is down from $45.2 billion in 2013, but it significantly surpasses the $6.3 billion on the Las Vegas Strip. It's that sheer scale that makes Macau so important for Wynn Resorts and competitors like Las Vegas Sands , MGM Resorts , and Melco Crown . A look at the eye-popping numbers in the city shows why it's key in gaming. Macau's incredible revenue generators Everybody knows the casino is a huge moneymaker for gaming companies. But just how much money is made may surprise you. Below is a look at slot machine and table game win at Wynn Resorts' two properties in the first quarter of 2016. Data source: Wynn Resorts first-quarter 2015 earnings report. You can see that a table game in Macau generates nearly double the revenue it does in Las Vegas, and a slot machine brings in more than double the revenue. This same dynamic shows up at MGM and Las Vegas Sands, which have exposure to both Macau and Las Vegas. But the success of Macau investments also relies on limited supply that could cause table and slot machine win to fall if competition intensified. Limited supply is key to Macau investments What makes this kind of gaming numbers possible is the appetite of Chinese gamblers and the limit on supply in Macau. The government closely regulates how many resorts, table games, and slot machines there are in the region, and that helps protect profits in the long term. As Wynn Resorts, Las Vegas Sands, and MGM Resorts all complete new projects to compete with Melco Crown's newly completed Studio City, over the next two years supply will increase, but there will be a cap long-term. So any future growth in Macau will be contained to the existing players in the market. In the long run, that puts Macau gaming companies in a strong position to reap the benefits of the highly profitable gaming market. As long as Macau's revenue doesn't keep falling like it has the past two years, there's plenty of profit to go around. How gaming will become a winning investment The one thing holding back Macau gaming stocks from great returns is market growth in general. But if China's economy returns to more solid growth, and new resorts attract new customers to the region, we could see a surge in gaming stocks. And the incredible amount of money made at each gaming table and slot machine is a big reason why. The article Wynn Resorts' Future Is Still in Macau originally appeared on Fool.com. Travis Hoium owns shares of Wynn Resorts, Limited. The Motley Fool owns shares of Wynn Resorts, Limited. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Russian hackers have breached the computer systems of the Democratic National Committee, enabling them to access research on presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump. One cybersecurity expert says this type of behavior is not uncommon in todays tech world. This isnt the first time the DNCs been hit; Its not going to be the last time, Tim Summers, an ethical hacker and University of Maryland professor, told the FOX Business Networks Charles Payne. Summers said other groups have been using the cyber world to hack into ordinary Americans lives, as well as the political sphere. Groups like ISIS, for example, also use their cyber capabilities to collect information on American civilians, he said. Donald Trump just happens to be an incredibly notable American civilian, but in this case were seeing that hackers are being utilized in the political space and in the terror space. However, Summers said not much can be done to try to curb these types of cyber-attacks because in cyberspace its fair game. He also commented on what the Russia-tied hacking group could do with the information it obtained on Trump. I suspect theyre going to use this to understand Donald Trumps foreign dealings, theyre going to try to understand his negotiating tactics, theyre going to try to understand what kind of a president he would make. The world's most disruptive entrepreneur doesn't live in Silicon Valley. He visits Washington and New York this week amidst growing friction with his Middle East homeland's longtime ally the United States. Saudi Arabia's Princely Disrupter Meet Saudi Arabia's Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, favored son of 80 year old Saudi King Salman. No 30 year old anywhere is a bigger threat to the world's status quo. He controls more assets than any entrepreneur on the planet (think trillions of dollars), but he's plagued by a burgeoning financial strain which is likely making it hard to put on a great face. His swift accumulation of power has earned him the behind-the-back moniker "Mr. Everything". Despite legions of detractors he is on a mission to transform his nation. As a part of his quixotic vision he is solidifying relationships with diverse world leaders from President Obama, to France's President Hollande, to Russia's Vladimir Putin. Mohammed bin Salman is the world's youngest Minister of Defense. He has already taken the Kingdom to the number three nation globally in defense spending. But his portfolio vastly exceeds the military, everything and everyone oil related in the country reports to him. As oil prices plummeted from the record $100+ level in 2014 all of OPEC expected him to reduce supply and support prices. Instead he broke with Saudi tradition and opted for greater market share. The prince continued to pump record amounts leaving oil nations groaning as prices collapsed to $27 a barrel earlier this year. The Ultimate Irony As disruptor-in-chief the prince plans to end the Saudi economy's dependence on oil. This activist investor speaks staccato statistics supporting his "Vision 2030". He's exploring taking the state oil company Aramco public--probable valuation approaching $3 trillion--making it the most valuable corporation in the world. Armed with a massive $2.5 trillion war chest his vision is to invest in technology and industrial opportunities everywhere. Heas just getting started with the recent $3.5 billion bet on Uber announced in early June. Harsh realities confront the prince's bold ideas. In bordering Yemen the Prince's forces fight Houthi rebels backed by Iran. Steadily an arc of Shiite dominated nations-- Iran, Iraq and Syria coalesce against Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia. Iran has staged an extraordinary oil production comeback to 3.5 million barrels per day since America lifted the sanctions with the nuclear accord. Saudi Arabia's record production as prices plummet has caused enormous local pain. Last year the Kingdom posted a $100 billion budget deficit. Credit watcher Moody's cut Saudi's ratings and the Kingdom considers IOU's for more than $40 billion in unpaid obligations to contractors. 70% of Saudi's are under 30, most are under-employed and unemployed. In December King Salman unveiled an austerity program involving $10 billion of budget cuts. Fuel and utility subsidies have been slashed and there is a proposal to reduce public sector wages. And OPEC faces more dysfunction, Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed to cap production as long as others followed. Incensed, Iran skipped OPEC's Doha meeting altogether. Recent sessions in Vienna proved no more fruitful. But to the prince's good fortune, oil prices lifted anyway because disruptions elsewhere caused world production to drop by millions of barrels a day. On cue prices jumped 90% in 90 days and continue to hover near the $50 per barrel level. But many oil producing nations are addicted to oil revenues--and even at lower prices Iran, Iraq, Russia, Venezuela and others intend to pump, pump, pumpa. So being prince of Saudi oil hardly gives you the last word. And it can't be lost on our disruptive visionary that the US Senate just unanimously passed a bill to hold the Kingdom accountable if it's found complicit in the 9/11 attacks. It could be a long pressured filled week for Mr. Everything as he makes the rounds in America. Peter D. Kiernan is an award winning New York Times bestselling author who is also an entrepreneur, venture capitalist and philanthropist following a multi decade career on Wall Street. Today he spends much of his time fighting poverty as a 26 year member and former Chair of the board of the Robin Hood Foundation. He is a regular contributor to the FOX Business Network and appears frequently on national TV and radio talk shows, as well as many different public forums. next Image 1 of 2 prev Image 2 of 2 For East Tennessee native Tara Thompson, a career in country music wasn't just a career choice; it's the family business. Thompson, whose grandmother is first cousins with country legend Loretta Lynn, draws influence from her famous family member and prides herself on her traditional sound. The country great has taught Thompson many things over the years but her most important lesson is "be yourself." "We're a close family and she's given me great advice," Thompson told FOX411 Country of Lynn. "When I opened up for her one time and told her I'm putting together an album, I told her, 'Don't worry, I'm keeping it really country.' She told me, 'Don't worry about keeping it country, just be you.' And I just so happen to be really country!"She added, "Loretta told me to be as real as I can and I really took that advice because I think she's the realest person I've ever met. I get a lot of my sassiness from her." No one was happier than Lynn when Thompson signed with Big Machine, the same label as pop star Taylor Swift. "I told Loretta I got my record deal and she told me, 'It's about damn time!'" Honesty and a knack for storytelling are traits she learned from Lynn. "All of my songs are my own stories," Thompson told us. "I don't sing love songs because [my influence] goes back to my life experiences and right now I'm single and the only love in my life are my dogs and my family so I don't want to sing about love songs. I don't want to be that girl." Thompson's lyrics sometimes get her into trouble. Her song "Vows" which describes how she thought her sister's wedding would go was anything but PC. "I'll give you a years supply of cigarettes if they make it past Labor Day," she sings. "Hey I just saw the groom making out with a bridesmaid/ If she's still got a ring by Halloween, I'll throw in a case of Crown/ This blessed union is destined to go down/ Yeah, we're all taking bets while they're saying vows." While she admits to embellishing the story slightly, her song is truthful to her life; including "Vows" which was a tough one to explain to her sister. "That wedding never happened," Thompson, whose EP "Someone to Take Your Place" is out now, shared. "I thought it would get me in trouble because I am brutally honest. But I learned it's always better to ask for forgiveness than permission. If it upsets [some], I want people to think, 'At least she's being real and honest.' Oh well." Follow FOX411 Country's Sasha Bogursky on Twitter @SashaFB. A photograph of a grandfather holding his infant grandson while baring their open heart surgery scars is touching hearts, as one life begins and one nears its end. Allen Halstead, of Phenix City, Alabama, has had two open heart surgeries, 18 stents, and a massive stroke, among other health conditions, according to a Facebook post by his daughter, Brandy Gregware. Halstead, whose age was not disclosed, was put on medication to maintain his heart. Once the medicine is no longer effective we will be saying our goodbyes [sic], Gregware wrote. Gregwares son, Kolbie, is 10 months old and has spent seven months in the hospital. His mother said he was born with a heart defect, pulmonary vein stenosis, pulmonary hypertension, chronic lung disease, kidney disease and Down syndrome. This past year has been extremely hard for our family because BOTH have been in and out of the hospital and us not knowing if they would make it home! There was several times my dad refused to go to the hospital til his Kolbie [sic] Lee came home, Gregware wrote. In the picture, taken by Sunshine Moody, a Phenix City, Alabama-based photographer, Halstead is holding Kolbie and both of their scars are clearly visible. As you can see, Kolbie loves looking at his grandpa and his grandpa sure loves him! It's moments like these that make what I do worth it, Moody wrote in her Facebook post. Whenever we are forced to bring you news about a terrible tragedy, and the ever increasing dangerous world we live in; its hard to find much of anything positive to tell you about. However, today we're going to do that, and tell you about the goodness of people in the face of horror. This is Josh McGill, who after hearing gunshots inside the Pulse bar, ran out into the back parking lot where he saw a victim limping and mumbling. The victim was 27-year-old, Rodney Sumter, a bartender, who was shot in both arms. McGill then discovered a third gunshot wound in Sumters back. So what did Josh do? He took off his shirt, applied as much pressure as he could, and found the closest police officer who rushed them both to the hospital. During the ride, the police officer told McGill to give the victim a bear hug to try and stop the bleeding in his back. To keep Sumter conscious, McGill also asked him if he could pray with him saying, "Stick with me. You're going to be fine. I promise you, everything is going to be okay." Sumter -- the father of two -- is now going to live -- and has the goodness and kindness of Josh McGill to thank. Tuesday, our president came to us live from the Treasury Department. Allegedly, the purpose was to update Americans on the horrific Islamist terrorist attack at an LGBT club in Florida, as well as offer an update in the war against ISIS. But Obama reserved the second half of the speech for a vicious partisan diatribe. It would be as if FDR, partway through his Day of Infamy speech, began bashing Republicans for not supporting lend-lease. The first sign that the presidents remarks were headed south came when he lapsed into yet another tired attempt to link effective counterterrorism with the debate on gun control. Hijacking a tragedy to press a political agenda, however, is pure opportunism. The Orlando attack is as much about a mass shooting as 9/11 was about a plane crash. Terrorists use all kinds of weapons to kill. If government banned everything that can be used to kill people in great numbers, we would all have to live in empty rubber rooms. Childproofing the world to make us safe from terrorists is not a responsible strategy. If Obama wanted to debate gun control, and not look like a partisan hack, he would have chosen another time to make his case, and he would have started with the facts. He could begin by explaining why data from Pew Research Center, the FBI and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention find that gun violence is at a 30-year low, even as gun ownership in America has expanded. Obama saved his greatest invectives for attacking anyone who criticized him for not naming the enemy and anyone using the term radical Islam. In the most superficial way, he is right. Mouthing those words doesnt shift the calculus of war any more than calling the German war machine Nazis got GIs up the cliffs at Normandy. But Obamas verbal assault was pure bait and switch. What has Americans really upset is not whether he mouths particular words, but the belief that the debate over words reflects a deeper concern. Their concern is that Obama is not prosecuting a winning war. He ignores the fact that his counterterrorism strategy has been off course since 2010. Worse, Obama implied that disagreeing was un-American and anti-Muslim. He ignored the fact that many who use the term radical Islam add the qualifier radical to differentiate the Islamist threat from the global Muslim community. By labeling his detractors racist and know-nothings, he simply reinforces what many Americans already believe: Obama is divider, not a uniter. The United States is in the midst of a constitutional crisis. The lines that clearly delineate the boundaries of the three branches of government, specifically, the executive and legislative branches, have become blurred. Presidents have claimed powers that far exceed what the framers intended, and Congress has been complicit by its failure to reestablish itself as the rightful and sole lawmaking authority. House Speaker Paul Ryan, however, unveiled a plan this week that begins the process of reclaiming the ground Congress has ceded to the executive branch and its ever-growing army of unelected bureaucrats. The regulatory state -- which has become an unconstitutional fourth branch of the federal government -- has been a serious problem for years. Notably, President George W. Bush aggressively expanded the regulatory state. The Bush team, Veronique de Rugy wrote in January 2009, spent more taxpayer money on issuing and enforcing regulations than any previous administration in U.S. history. But it has only come into focus under President Barack Obama, who, boastfully, with his pen and phone, has frequently circumvented Congress to create law, and his regulatory agenda pales in comparison to his predecessor. Left to pick up the cost are businesses and consumers. Regulations are the silent killer. In its most recent annual report, Ten Thousand Commandments, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) estimated that rules and regulations cost Americans nearly $1.9 trillion each year. At a cost of roughly $15,000 per family, regulations dwarf ordinary household expenditures, save for the cost of housing. In fact, these hidden taxes cost more than food, clothing, and health care, combined. This $1.9 trillion in 2015 regulatory spending, not including the cost of state and local regulations, is a staggering 11 percent of of the $17.95 trillion U.S. GDP. If the regulatory state were its own country, it would have the tenth largest economy in the world, ahead of the Russian Federation, Canada, and Australia. Ryans regulatory reform agenda takes aim at the regulatory state in several ways, such as enhancing congressional involvement and oversight of the rulemaking and regulatory process, ending the judiciary branchs deference to executive-level agencies, and asserting more control over agencies in the appropriations process, and increasing oversight of the executive branch. Another part of the Speakers agenda is the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act, or REINS Act, which mandates that any major regulations, those with an annual cost of $100 million or more, must be approved by Congress. The Obama administration has a particular proclivity for major regulations. As CEI noted, President Obamas seven years so far have averaged 81, or a 29 percent higher average annual output than that of Bush. Obama has already issued 570 major rules during his seven years, compared with Bushs 505 over eight years. This administration owns six of the seven highest annual numbers of pages added to the Federal Register, which documents all proposed and final rules and regulations. The red tape of the regulatory state is strangling the economy, preventing Americans from experience the benefits of the prosperity and opportunity that would come if the economy were allowed to achieve its full potential. The problem, of course, is that President Obama and Democrats, as well as many big government Republicans, view the government as what makes America great. If the Speaker and House Republican leadership can successfully move this regulatory reform agenda through the lower chamber, it would be a victory for grassroots conservatives, who are anxious for Republicans in Washington to fight back against the regulatory state. Lets hope that when this agenda clears the House, that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell acts to send it President Obamas desk. Even if Obama vetoes these reforms, passage out of both chambers of will show that Republicans are serious about taking one of the real threats to our prosperity head on. Its not all that unusual in the Christian faith to express sympathy and compassion by preparing a country ham or a batch of biscuits or a peach cobbler. Its how we show folks that we care we feed them. Click here to join Todds American Dispatch: a must-read for conservatives! Honestly, I think we do a better job communicating love with a sweet potato pie than we do with words. Or if you are Chick-fil-A you communicate love through a chicken sandwich. And that brings me to a heartwarming story that has emerged from the aftermath of the Islamist terrorist attack in Orlando. Now, I should tell you that the folks over at Chick-fil-A are going to be mighty upset with me. They did not want me to tell you what Im about to tell you. But its a story you really need to hear. Its a story we all need to hear a chicken sandwich for the soul kind of story. Click here to get Todds latest book - your primer on how to restore traditional American values! Normally Chick-fil-A is closed on Sunday so workers can go to church or spend time with their families or just sit on the front porch in a rocking chair and wave to passersby. So when I received word through some of our readers that several Chick-fil-A restaurants in Orlando had opened their doors on Sunday I was a bit intrigued. Hours after the gunman had massacred 49 people and wounded dozens more in the Pulse nightclub, the community sprang into action. One of the most inspiring photographs showed hundreds and hundreds of people waiting in long lines for hours to donate blood. Team members at two nearby Chick-fil-A restaurants figured those folks must be getting hungry. So somebody flipped on the lights and they started frying chicken. Before long they were serving sandwiches and nuggets and sweet tea to all the folks waiting to donate blood along with a host of law enforcement personnel. We love our city and love the people in our community, a team member wrote on the restaurants Facebook page. The following day many of their restaurants provided free chicken biscuits and orange juice to firefighters and police officers and first responders. We are appalled by the senseless crime that was committed this weekend, but we are part of a community that stands strong and stands together, they wrote on Facebook. So why is Chick-fil-A so generous? Its because Chick-fil-As number one priority is not to make a profit (which they do.) And its not to make the best chicken sandwich in the world (which they do). Their number one corporate priority is to glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us. To have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A. Chick-fil-A declined to comment on their activities in Orlando. We are just honored to be one of many organizations that are helping our friends and neighbors in the Orlando community during this difficult time, a spokesperson for their central Florida stores told me. Now, I would be remiss if I didnt mention the giant egg in the room. Back in 2012, Chick-fil-A was targeted by leftwing bullies after CEO Dan Cathy made comments supporting traditional marriage. They were accused of making hate chicken. They were accused of being anti-gay. And they were castigated by the mainstream media. In May a New York City councilman objected to the Southern restaurant chain opening a store in Queens. Mayor Bill de Blasio urged New Yorkers to boycott Chick-fil-A and Councilman Daniel Dromm accused them of spreading a message of hate. I suspect if you asked folks around Orlando would strongly disagree with that sentiment. If you asked them, I bet they would tell you that Chick-fil-A doesnt just serve chicken, they serve a community. As we say back home in Tennessee those folks at Chick-fil-A theyre good people. America needs more job creation, which by definition means it needs entrepreneurs. Meanwhile, the rising generation is living with mom and dad. When the Pew Research Center recently announced that living-with-their-parents is the most popular living arrangement for 18-34 year olds for the first time in 130 years, reactions ranged from concern to eye rolling. But the societal and economic ramifications of this phenomenon are quite serious. For example: To maintain economic strength and stability, the American economy needs a healthy percentage of each generation to do something bold, independent and important: Leverage their accumulated assets (usually home equity), embrace productive risk and become business owners. Can we expect that enough basement-dwelling millennials will become entrepreneurs? The American economy needs a healthy percentage of each generation to do something bold, independent and important: Leverage their accumulated assets (usually home equity), embrace productive risk and become business owners. Think of the headwinds they face, beginning with student debt a key driver of the living-at-home phenomenon: Higher education and student loan expert Mark Kantrowitz says this years college graduates will have an average student loan debt of over $37,000 the highest ever. This staggering level of debt sets up a financial domino effect that puts the American Dream of home ownership further out of reach and, in turn, the even-bigger dream of business ownership on ice. The decline and disappearance of small, community banks create another headwind for would-be entrepreneurs, as these institutions have been the traditional lending source for small business. The complexity of Dodd-Frank rules are often cited as a cause for small bank closures one of many examples illustrating the fact that Millennials live in an economic and business environment made hostile by their own government. Another example: Since the ironically named Affordable Care Act has taken effect, the cost of health insurance for the self-employed and small-business owners has increased, in many cases dramatically. According to the National Federation of Independent Business, 63 percent of small-business owners experienced premium increases between mid-2014 and mid-2015. The result, among other things, is a powerful dis-incentive for entrepreneurship and job creation. More evidence of a hostile environment can be found in punishing tax and regulatory policies particularly at the federal level which continue to send a message that our government may care about jobs, but it doesnt care (and/or understand) about job creators. The Department of Labors recent overtime rule provided a particularly clear look into the mindset of regulators: This single rule, with its astronomical salary threshold, is onerous enough to rob some small firms of any profit at all. If you are unable to profit, there is little point in starting or staying in a business. The final headwind of note is one without a clear source of blame: Our culture. Millennials have grown up in a culture that is increasingly risk-averse. We see it in everything from helicopter parenting to the extremely cautious savings-and-investment behavior that has followed the financial crisis. The millennial generation dreams big, sure. They have an easy time imagining themselves as the next tech mogul because so many tech ventures are low-risk. Mark Zuckerburg didnt need good credit, equity in his home or a business loan to start Facebook. He just needed a laptop something his parents had already bought for him. But who will be willing to take the risk needed to start a small manufacturing facility? A restaurant? A construction business? Who is dreaming of the kind of small business that requires the less exciting, traditional combination of collateral and skill, vision and guts? The kind that creates so many, necessary jobs? For entrepreneurship to bloom, we need the millennial generation to be even more bold than their entrepreneurial forebears. They must embrace productive risk, move out of the basement, pay off their student loans on an aggressive schedule, and change their government to one that understands and appreciates the fact that job creation requires an environment favorable to small, new businesses. Its a tall order, but this generation will also have terrific health and longevity on their side, not to mention the gifts of technology and a tolerant society that does not judge them on anything other than their merits. If they are to become entrepreneurs and reverse the dangerous trend line of shrinking business dynamism in America, millennials will have to leverage their considerable gifts to break through daunting economic and situational barriers. If they can do it and I hope and believe they can they will save the American economy and change the world. Last Wednesday night I was at a Beach Boys concert near Tel Aviv when the cell phone in my pocket vibrated. It was not a good vibration. The Israeli government was informing the public that two Palestinian Arab gunmen had just fired into a crowded market in the center of Tel Aviv. Three civilians were already dead, and many more were seriously wounded. It was the second day of Ramadan. Two weeks earlier, ISIS spokesman Sheikh Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, had called on devout Muslims everywhere to celebrate by killing their enemies. Ramadan is coming, the month of attacks and jihad, the month of conquest, he said. Allah willing, it will be a month of calamity on the non-believers anywhere. The Sheikh was issuing an all-fronts attack order to individual hitmen around the world. The smallest action you do in their heartland is better and more enduring to us than what you would [do] if you were with us, he said. If one of you hoped to reach the Islamic State, we wish we were in your place to punish the Crusaders day and night. You may recall that at the start of the Second Gulf War, there was much hand wringing in the western media about the impropriety of waging war during the Islamic holy month. These experts confused Ramadan with the Christmas season. War and Ramadan go together like humus and pita. The Prophet Mohammed won his first victory in 624 AD at the Battle of Badr, during Ramadan. Eighty four years later, a Muslim army invaded Spain during the holy month, inaugurating the European caliphate that lasted eight hundred years. In 1187, in the midst of Ramadan, Saladin scored the greatest military victory in Muslim history by destroying the Frankish Crusader army at the Battle of Hattin. The tradition has reached modern times. In 1973, Egypt and Syria launched their coordinated surprise attack on Israel during Ramadan. In the war between Shiite Iran and Sunni Iran, both sides routinely attacked in Ramadan. And in 2014, Hamas began firing rockets at Israeli border towns in the holy month. For Islamic extremists, Ramadan is celebrated with big bombs and warm guns. This year is not an exception. In fact, it is has been especially violent. On the day after the massacre in Tel Aviv, the third day of Ramadan, ISIS blew up dozens of Iraqi civilians in a Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad (you dont have to be a Christian, a Jew, a Hindu, Buddhist or atheist to be a target. Belonging to the wrong Muslim denomination is good enough). On the fourth day of Ramadan, Syrian president Bashar Assad (with the backing of his Iranian bosses) played a small holiday trick on the eight thousand people of Daraya, an embattled rebel town near Damascus. For the first time in four years, in the spirit of Ramadan, Assad gave permission for an international aid convey to bring supplies to the starving townsfolk. No sooner did the food arrive than the Syrian air force bombed the town. On the fifth day of Ramadan, the fireworks shifted back to Iraq. The Islamic State dispatched suicide teams to the capital, Baghdad. They celebrated the holiday by blowing up two dozen Shiites and wounding fifty more. And then, on the sixth day of Ramadan, Omar Mateen, a self-proclaimed ISIS holy warrior, following the distant voice of Sheikh Al Adnani, earned himself a place in jihadi military history by gunning down a hundred dancing infidels in the Islamic heartland of Orlando, Florida. Mateen's father--who, it turns out, is a fan of the Taliban--said that his son wasn't even a devout Muslim (the families of the two Palestinian killers said the same thing). Get the Ramadan spirit and anyone can be a martyr. The good news, if there is any good news, is that Ramadan will be over on July 6th. At least thats what the calendar says. But really, until the west finds the courage to fight back, every day is going to be Ramadan. If Omar Siddeque Mateen turns out to have been wrestling with his own homosexuality, the gay rights movement in America may very well mourn him as "one of our own" and blame the entire massacre on "homophobia." Monday, as I surfed gay websites and gay voices on Facebook, I found no mention of the role that Islam plays in homophobia; no mention of radical Islamic terrorism; no mention of the fact that a war has been declared against Western freedoms. People wrote about "hate" and the importance of "love" triumphing over "hate." People deplored "homophobia" as a "hate crime." Some blamed the massacre on the availability of "guns." One woman insisted that "right wing Christians" are more dangerous, more "homophobic," and have killed more people when they attacked abortion clinics than Mateen did in Orlando. When challenged--by no lesser a man than my colleague, author and gay rights activist, Bruce Bawer, his opponent insisted that "misogyny" and "homophobia" must be called out no matter where it exists--and it exists everywhere, among all religions. No one religion should be singled out. Tragically, gay communities, along with political correctniks everywhere, do not understand that homosexuality is banned within Islam and is punishable by death--but that male homosexuality is nevertheless rampant throughout the Muslim world. Married fathers have male sexual partners. Many Taliban leaders are pedophiles and keep young boys as sexual slaves. A 2010 documentary exposed this: "The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan." More recently, American Marines could no longer bear to hear the cries of a young boy, chained to a Taliban commander's bed, being raped nightly. They intervened. They rescued the boy and beat up his rapist. No, they received no medals for doing so. Two Green Berets were reprimanded. Captain Dan Quinn was relieved of his post, pulled from Afghanistan. He left the military. First Class Charles Martland joined Quinn in beating up the rapist. The Army has been trying to force him out as well. A third man, Lance Corporal Gregory Buckley Jr. also complained about the rape of boys and girls by the Taliban with whom he was quartered. One of the child sex slaves, a "tea boy," shot Buckley to death. Buckley's dad believes that the boy had been ordered to shoot him. The Army's position is no different from what I ran into when I was held captive in Kabul so long ago. Back then, the American Embassy, like the American Army today, believed that America was a guest in someone else's country and that our job is not to criticize local customs. On Monday night, my dear friend Ibn Warraq came to call. He is working on a book about Islam and why it is totally incompatible with democracy. Individual Muslims may be secular and moderate; individual Muslims may not practice (or even know) what Islam commands them to do. Individual Muslims may wish to reform Islam--but paradoxically, in the name of Islam. "But the Islam that ISIS and the Orlando shooter are following is the real Islam. Of course, there are passages which one can take out of context to prove that Islam tells us to be kind to strangers--but not if they are infidels, definitely not if they are homosexuals. Then, Muslims are commanded to kill them." In Tuesday's Wall Street Journal, Ayaan Hirsi Ali refers to "Islam's Jihad against homosexuality." Orlando is a "hideous reminder" that "homophobia is an integral part of Islamic extremism....(such homophobia) is institutionalized." Laws exist which "criminalize and punish homosexuals in line with Islamic law;" the attitudes of most Muslims in Muslim countries are "homophobic" and they bring this prejudice with them when they immigrate to the West; and finally, the "rise of modern Islamic extremism has worsened the intolerance towards homosexuality." But what can we say when a Muslim Jihadist is ambivalent about his own homosexual longings? When his father is, ostensibly, strongly opposed to homosexuality? Do we blame his murderous massacre on self-hate, the frustration of being "closeted," on "homophobia" writ large? Or do we begin to understand that Jihad is the approved and all-purpose solution (as has been suggested) to poverty, severe and normalized child abuse, unemployment, heterosexual frustration, homosexual frustration, an abiding sense of "shame," etc. Perhaps--but these conditions exist in non-Muslim cultures and do not lead to Jihad against infidels. Bottom line: The terrorists motives don't really matter if they are shooting at us. They must be stopped. The EU suffers from chronic slow growth thanks to a smothering bureaucracy and single currency that fits the needs of the continental economy like stilettos on a ballerina. Consequently, the UK is shackled to a European economy locked in ruinous cycles of debt crises and high unemploymentespecially among young people and immigrants. Resentment towards Brussels undemocratic and dysfunctional decision making processes makes genuine reforms all but impossible. To the extent the UK has thrived it is because it has managed to opt-out or avoid some of the most damaging elements of Brussels imperial charadethe euro and Schengen Area. The latter establishes passport free travel and removes border checks on the continent, but still imposes on all EU members the immigration policies of the most open or least capable EU states. Greece and Hungary have been unable to effectively limit and process Syrian and other Middle East refugees, and Germanywhich profits immensely from the euro at the expense of its southern neighborsis in the unusual position of having labor shortages. Once in Germany, immigrants can pretty much go where they pleaseincluding the UKafter they have been granted papers. Londons financial center is the heart of the UK economy, and it is increasingly handicapped, like Wall Street, with an overreaction to the financial crisis by EU regulators. Berlin, not Brussels, makes Londons immigration policy! Divorces are tough. Being the smaller party, the UK has been threatened, if it leaves, it will be denied free access to EU markets on the favorable terms enjoyed by non-EU members Norway and Switzerland. President Obamawho favors stability over sorting out new relationshipshas warned the UK it would have to wait until after a pending free trade agreement with the EU is completed to negotiate with the United States. These are ill-conceived threats. The UK is the second largest and most open market in Europe. It is decidedly freer of informal nontariff barriers to imports commonplace in Germany. It is a vitally important export market for Ireland, the former Eastern Bloc EU states and even Spain and Portugal. Anti-EU sentiment in Spain and elsewhere would fire up if the German impulse to punish the UK prevailed in Brussels. Among former Eastern Bloc states, the blow of losing the UK market and Brussels ear turned deaf by Berlin would make them more vulnerable to Moscows power and influence. The United States has a strong security interest in a united and prosperous UK. A policy to cut it out of trans-Atlantic free trade discussions would encourage nationalism in Scotland and weaken the UK economy, its capacity to sustain its military and support Washington, for example, in the Middle East. Londons financial center is the heart of the UK economy, and it is increasingly handicapped, like Wall Street, with an overreaction to the financial crisis by EU regulators. While London might bleed some business on the continent to Dublin, its infrastructure of knowledgeable bankers and institutional relationships across the globe are not easily duplicated in Ireland. On the continent, banks are still saddled with bad loans from the financial crisis that Brussels and the European Central Bank are too inept to address. Londons financial sector has reinvented itself beforenotably after the demise of the British Empire following World War II. Going forward, its real opportunities and competitors are in Asia and New York. UK financial houses have done so well, not because of moribund EU markets and burdensome bureaucracy, but because its regulators are less politically motivated and radicalized by anti-capitalist sentiment than for example, Elizabeth Warren, and are simply more transparent and reliable than their counterparts in Asia. In the end, the UK is too important to be genuinely punished for exercising its sovereign prerogative to leave the EU and as history has proven time and again, too savvy once focused on a challenge to be denied a successful and prosperous future. Hillary Clinton is facing Republican criticism for seeming to take a sharper tone on terrorism as she leaves the primary race behind not only in her willingness to invoke the term radical Islamism, but her calls for a more aggressive anti-ISIS campaign and her criticism of Gulf allies. Republicans specifically pointed to the contrast between her point-by-point strategy detailed Monday and her stance just six months earlier during a primary debate in New Hampshire. At that forum, she voiced utmost confidence in the Obama administration's approach for confronting ISIS and pursuing political transition in Syria. We now finally are where we need to be, she said at the time. We have a strategy and a commitment to go after ISIS which is a danger to us as well as the region, and we finally have a U.N. Security Council resolution bringing the world together to go after a political transition in Syria. On Monday in Cleveland, however, she said while the Obama administration's coalition effort in Syria and Iraq has made gains, more needs to be done to combat the growing threat around the world. As ISIS loses actual ground in Iraq and Syria, it will seek to stage more attacks and gain stronger footholds wherever it can, from Afghanistan, to Libya, to Europe, Clinton said. The threat is metastasizing. She also called for an intelligence surge, along with renewed efforts to work hand-in-hand with allies to dismantle networks that move money and fighters. She added, Here at home, we must harden our own defenses. On another front, Clinton took a firm line on Gulf allies, saying it is long past time for the Saudis, the Qataris and the Kuwaitis and others to stop their citizens from funding extremist organizations. And they should stop supporting radical schools and mosques around the world that have set too many young people on a path towards extremism. Presumptive Republican rival Donald Trump fired back, noting her family foundations ties with those same allies runs deep. Saudi Arabia reportedly has donated millions to the foundation. Trump said on Facebook: Saudi Arabia and many of the countries that gave vast amounts of money to the Clinton Foundation want women as slaves and to kill gays. Hillary must return all money from such countries! Meanwhile, Clinton also responded Monday to Trumps criticism that she doesnt use the term radical Islam by openly addressing the religious factor. To me, radical jihadism, radical Islamism, they mean the same thing. I'm happy to say either but that's not the point, Clinton told NBC News. Trump later claimed credit for Clinton using that terminology but contrasted it against the language she used during the primary campaign last year. During Mondays speech, he read aloud part of a November 2015 tweet from Clinton that said: Lets be clear: Islam is not our adversary. Muslims are peaceful and tolerant people and have nothing to do whatsoever with terrorism. Trump said Monday, Hillary Clinton, for months, and despite so many attacks, has repeatedly refused to even say the words radical Islam. The dynamics for Trump have not changed as much as they have for Clinton as the candidates shift from primary to general election. On the Democratic side, the former secretary of state spent much of the primary race battling allegations from her left flank that she took too hawkish a view toward foreign intervention while in the Obama administration. In the December debate, she was responding to criticism from then-candidate Martin OMalley about traveling the world looking for new monsters to destroy. Now, Clinton turns to the general election trying like Trump to assure the country that her administration would be tough on the terror threat. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest on Monday denied that there was any daylight between Clinton and Obama in how they now describe the threat. She is somebody who agrees strongly with the president's approach to ensuring that we are not giving legitimacy to a terrorist organization that would love to advance the narrative that they are somehow holy warriors advancing the cause of Islam by waging war against the United States. That is an utterly baseless myth, he said. He later added, I am confident that she agrees 100 percent with the president's approach to fighting ISIL and strongly supporting this goal of making clear that Muslims in the United States should not be stigmatized or marginalized. The debate over how to stop attacks like the terror massacre in Orlando erupted on the House floor late Monday as Democratic lawmakers loudly criticized House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and other GOP leaders for taking no action on the nations gun laws. The disruption underscored the political divide in the wake of the attack, with many Democrats looking to tighten gun laws in response and Republicans looking to crack down on the strain of radical Islam that seemingly motivated the shooter. The flare-up on the floor erupted when Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., attempted to ask Ryan when bills curbing gun use would be considered after the House paused for 16 seconds to honor those killed in the terror attack. Clyburn was going to note that Friday is the one-year anniversary of the Charleston, S.C. mass shooting. Before Clyburn could finish, Ryan ruled his question out of order and directed the House to move to the next vote. Some protested by leaving the House floor during a moment of silence honoring the victims, while other Democrats yelled "Where's the bill?" and "No leadership!" After the disruption, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi told reporters Democrats have "had enough" of moments of silence after mass shootings when Congress does not act to tighten gun laws. A handful of Democrats left the House floor during the moment of silence, including Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes. Himes said earlier Monday in an interview that he's done with the moments of silence typically held on the House floor after mass shootings, calling them "obnoxious expressions of smug incompetence." His district is close to Newtown, where a gunman killed 20 first-graders and six adults at an elementary school in 2012. Leaving the House chamber, Ryan, R-Wis., declined to comment on the exchange. But he had earlier issued a statement stressing that a hateful ideology not guns is to blame. "As we heal, we need to be clear-eyed about who did this, Ryan said. We are a nation at war with Islamist terrorists. Theirs is a repressive, hateful ideology that respects no borders. It is a threat to our people at home and abroad. Our security depends on our refusal to back down in the face of terror. We never will." Lawmakers and presidential candidates have pointed to a range of culprits in responding to the attack. Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has renewed his concerns about Muslim immigration, while presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton renewed her concerns about the proliferation of assault weapons and wants to ban them. President Obama has made a fresh argument for gun control in the wake of the shooting, but has also called it an act of terror and an act of hate as the attack targeted a gay nightclub. Obama has not used the phrase radical Islam, though Clinton has since described that as a factor. Moments of silence in the House have a history of prompting outbursts on the floor. When a moment was held to honor victims of a deadly shooting rampage in San Bernardino, California, in December, several Democrats criticized it. "We need to stand up, speak up, and take actions rather than another moment of silence," said Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Ill., in a House floor speech at the time. "It is deafening, and it is killing us." Fox News' Chad Pergram and the Associated Press contributed to this report Congressional Democrats are renewing their push for gun control measures in the wake of the Orlando terror massacre, arguing the best way to prevent suspected terrorists from carrying out acts of violence is to legally limit their access to firearms. Republicans have their own proposals for confronting the terror threat, and warn that certain gun control measures could make Americans less safe. House Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday touted proposals to improve refugee screening and other measures to deal with homegrown terrorism. But while some Democrat-backed gun proposals have little chance of passing -- like a reinstated assault-weapons ban, a move President Obama endorsed Tuesday -- others could gain traction in Congress. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., specifically are pushing a proposal to the top of the Democratic agenda that would bar suspected terrorists from purchasing guns and explosives. The bill would allow federal authorities to block gun sales to anyone on a government watch list or whom federal officials believe might use the gun in a terror attack. If the FBI believes there is a reasonable chance someone is going to use a gun in a terrorist attack, it should be able to make that determination and block the sale, Schumer said. If it had that belief about the shooter in Orlando, it should have had the authority to act. But it couldnt, so we will never know what could have been. Its unclear whether such measures would have prevented the Orlando massacre. The shooter, according to the FBI, was on a watch-list between May 2013 and March 2014 but apparently just bought two guns, legally, in the week before the attack. Republicans, meanwhile, have warned that one incorrect entry on a watch list could deprive someone of their Second Amendment rights. But Democrats contend the measure, which was initially proposed by President George W. Bush, would include an appeals process for anyone who thinks they were unfairly put on a watch list or denied a gun. The measure is attracting some support outside the Democratic ranks. On Tuesday, Maines Republican Sen. Susan Collins and independent Sen. Angus King said theyd be ready to support the measure. I dont know why we have a process that would not let people buy a ticket for an airplane, but would allow them to buy a gun, King told The Press Herald. Collins, who had voted against a similar measure Feinstein introduced last year because it cited an overly broad terrorist screening database, said in a written statement that she would be in favor of using a much more targeted No Fly List, with due process protections. Feinsteins December measure came after the San Bernardino shooting and failed mostly along party lines. In that tragedy, California couple Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik killed 14 people and seriously wounded 22 others. Schumer claimed if Feinsteins policy had been in place, it might have prevented Omar Mateens bloody weekend rampage at Orlandos Pulse nightclub where he brutally killed 49 people and injured dozens more in the worst mass shooting in modern American history. Currently, there is no legal prohibition barring someone on a terror watch list from purchasing a firearm. In September 2014, the FBI told a congressional subcommittee there are about 800,000 names on the official government terror watch database. Names on the list contain both Americans and foreigners who pose a threat to the U.S. We are looking for needles in a nationwide haystack, FBI Director James Comey said Monday. There are other Democratic proposals in the works, including their frequently revived call to reinstate the assault-weapons ban. We have to make it harder for people who want to kill Americans to get their hands on weapons of war, Obama said Tuesday. But most Republicans say stopping similar tragedies has nothing to do with cutting off access to guns. "We should not make it harder for law-abiding Americans to defend themselves when radical Islamic terrorists are successfully launching attacks on U.S. soil," Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said in a statement. On Monday, presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump said fighting off future attacks would involve a temporary ban on Muslim immigration. Trump also called for an expansion to encompass areas of the world where theres a proven history of terrorism against" the United States and its allies. Trumps comments drew fresh criticism from House Speaker Paul Ryan, who said a security test, not a religious test was needed for immigrants. "I do not think a Muslim ban is in our country's interest," he said. "I do not think it is reflective of our principles, not just as a party but as a country." Last week, House Republicans released a 23-page proposal on how to protect the homeland. A New York City union violated federal labor law when it threatened to sue members petitioning to withdraw their membership. The New York regional office of the National Labor Relations Board, the top federal agency that oversees labor law and union elections, ruled that Communication Workers of America Local 1109 committed an unfair labor practice in reaction to an effort to decertify the union. By threatening to sue employees for their activities in soliciting signatures for a decertification petition Respondent Communication Workers of America Local 1109, AFLCIO has engaged in unfair labor practices affecting commerce, administrative law judge Mindy Landow said in the ruling. A union official confronted one of three workers who solicited member signatures on a petition to withdraw from the union at a company barbecue. The woman insisted that people signed [the petition] of their own fruition, leading the union official to threaten her. I just want you to understand, to be perfectly clear that CWA were probably going to personally sue yall, the official said. Its not yall. Yall are suing Cablevision. I dont give a f--- about Cablevision, the worker responded. No, no, were not going after Cablevision, were going after yall personally, the official responded. The union argued to the agency that the threat of lawsuit was an isolated incident. It also asked for the case to be thrown out after the official at the center of it penned a letter saying the dispute was a matter of obvious confusion. Union president Tony Spina told the Washington Free Beaconthat he was unaware of the decision, saying that local attorneys were handling the matter. Click for more from The Washington Free Beacon. After years of brushing off criticism for avoiding the term radical Islam, President Obama fired a point-blank broadside Tuesday at his critics, calling the debate a political distraction that will do nothing to combat terrorism. Speaking during what was expected to be an update for the public on the fight against the Islamic State, Obama lit into his critics and specifically presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump. Their criticism has mounted in the wake of the Orlando terror attack, which Obama declined to publicly link to radical Islam. Calling a threat by a different name does not make it go away. Theres no magic to the phrase of radical Islam, Obama countered Tuesday. Its a political talking point. Trump and Capitol Hill Republicans swiftly pushed back on the president's remarks. Trump said Obama "claims to know our enemy, and yet he continues to prioritize our enemy over our allies, and for that matter, the American people." He also said: "When I am president, it will always be America first." Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., said earlier: With all due respect Mr. President, youre wrong. ... Telling the truth about violent Islam is a prerequisite to a strategy -- a strategy you admitted you dont have. It is the commander-in-chiefs duty to actually identify our enemies and to help the American people understand the challenge of violent Islam. Obama, though, went on to warn of a slippery slope in this debate, citing Trumps call for a temporary ban on Muslim immigration a proposal many in Trumps party do not support, including House Speaker Paul Ryan. We dont have religious tests here, Obama said, without attacking Trump by name. But answering one of Trumps most frequent accusations, the president said his reluctance to use the phrase radical Islam has nothing to do with political correctness and everything to do with actually defeating extremism. He said groups like ISIS want to claim that they are the true leaders of over a billion Muslims who reject their crazy notions, and a move to single out Muslims in America betrays the very values America stands for. A day earlier, during a speech in New Hampshire, Trump had doubled down on his call for a Muslim immigration ban. It we dont get tough, and we dont get smart -- and fast -- were not going to have a country anymore. There will be nothing left, Trump said. Ryan, however, said Tuesday he does not support that proposal. "I do not think a Muslim ban is in our country's interest," Ryan said. "I do not think it is reflective of our principles, not just as a party but as a country." Before tackling the radical Islam debate, Obama was speaking Tuesday to deliver a status report to the public on the fight against the Islamic State, after meeting with his National Security Council. He claimed that campaign is making gains and ISIS is on defense. A day earlier, presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton also claimed ISIS is losing ground in Iraq and Syria -- but addressed other concerns about the groups reach. As ISIS loses actual ground in Iraq and Syria, it will seek to stage more attacks and gain stronger footholds wherever it can, from Afghanistan, to Libya, to Europe, Clinton said. The threat is metastasizing. Further, Clinton referred openly in a TV interview to the threat from radical Islamism. Obama, though, joined Clinton Tuesday in pushing for gun control measures to thwart terror attacks including renewing the assault-weapons ban. Make it harder for terrorists to use these weapons to kill us, Obama said. On that point, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said, We should not make it harder for law-abiding Americans to defend themselves when radical Islamic terrorists are successfully launching attacks on U.S. soil. John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. under the George W. Bush administration, said Tuesday that Obama's remarks were like a lecture and urged Clinton to break with the president on the terminology issue. It shows the president to be a small man, Bolton told Fox News. Presumptive presidential nominee Hillary Clinton defeated Sen. Bernie Sanders on Tuesday in the Washington, D.C., Democratic primary -- marking the end of the presidential primary season and bringing the two candidates together for a face-to-face meeting to discuss whats next for the party in the general election. The Associated Press said with 99 percent of the precincts reporting, Clinton has 74,566 votes, compared to 19,990 for Sanders. Neither candidate spoke to reporters Tuesday night after their roughly 90-minute meeting in a Washington hotel. However, the campaigns released separate, but nearly identical statements saying that Clinton and Sanders had a positive discussion about their primary race, unifying the party and their mutual desire to stop presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump from winning in November. The campaigns also said the candidates discussed issues in which they share common goals, including increasing wages for working families, eliminating undisclosed money in politics and reducing the cost of college. The meeting, which included the candidates' campaign managers, concluded with the sides agreeing to continue to work on a shared agenda that includes developing a platform for the upcoming Democratic National Convention, each campaign said. Sanders said hell tell supporters his next steps Thursday via a live, online video. After today, the voting is done, but our political revolution continues, Sanders said in an email Tuesday to supporters. Clinton clinched the nomination last week by getting the requisite 2,383 delegates -- a combination of superdelegates and pledged delegates awarded to her in 56 primary and caucus wins, including those in Puerto Rico and six U.S. territories. Sanders has so far refused to end his campaign despite pressure to do so, suggesting he will keep trying to persuade Clinton superdelegates to instead vote for him at the Democratic convention in July, in a long-shot bid to take the nomination. However, the Sanders campaign has occasionally suggested that the candidate could end his bid if Clinton, and the entire Democratic Party, embrace key parts of his agenda including better universal health care, a $15-an-hour minimum wage and free tuition at state colleges and universities. Clinton said earlier Tuesday in an interview with Telemundo that she was very much "looking forward to having (Sanders') support in this campaign, because Donald Trump poses a serious threat to our nation." Democratic National Committee Chairman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz said after the D.C. primary, "Democrats are ready to unify and take on both Trump and the Republican Party that he represents. At our convention in July, were going to nominate a qualified, capable candidate who will build on the hard-won progress of the last seven years." I think the time is now. In fact, the time is overdue, for a fundamental transformation of the Democratic party, Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, said Tuesday on Capitol Hill. We need a party which is prepared to stand up for the disappearing middle class. Before Tuesday, Clinton had 2,784 delegates, compared to 1,877 for Sanders. On Sunday, Sanders told ABC News that the meeting with Clinton will be about what kind of platform we have and what kind of administration she will have. Sanders also told ABC that he wants Clinton to also specifically commit to a progressive tax system that makes big banks and corporations pay their fair share of taxes. That Sanders, 74, even challenged the better-known and better-funded Clinton this far is a remarkable political feat. The former first lady and secretary of state was expected to breeze through the primary. But Sanders, appearing to tap into voters frustrations with established candidates and money-driven politics, took the race until the second-to-last week of the Democratic primary season. Along the way, Sanders won 21 primaries or caucuses, backed by legions of young voters and others excited by his promises of higher wages, free college and limiting the influence of big money in elections. Sanders long-shot bid began with a key win in New Hampshire, an early primary that Clinton had won in her failed 2008 White House bid. He showed his campaign was for real in March by managing seven straight victories, putting the Clinton campaign on its heels until late April, when Clinton won her home-state of New York. Clinton nearly put the race out of reach with a series of early wins, including first-in-the-nation Iowa, and in delegate-rich states such as South Carolina, Georgia, Massachusetts, Texas and Virginia. But Sanders scored a big comeback victory March 8 in Michigan that stopped Clintons decisive run across the South. However, he failed to sustain momentum, with Clinton winning the next seven state contests. Fox News' Mike Emanuel and Lauren Blanchard and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton each struck a very different tone yesterday in response to the Orlando massacre. Trump, calling into several morning shows, said Hillary Clinton should drop out of the race if she cant bring herself to use the phrase radical Islamic terrorism. He said President Obama should resign unless he too could utter those words. In a New Hampshire speech, Trump said of Clinton: She has no clue, in my opinion, what radical Islam isShes in total denial. He also said, overstating Clintons position, that she says the solution is to ban guns, disarm law-abiding Americans and abolish the Second Amendment, and that he plans to meet with the NRA. Clinton gave a speech in Cleveland in which she did not mention Trumps name. She called for an intelligence surge to catch murder-minded lone wolves, and repeated her call for stricter gun control. She did, after being challenged by Trump, use the phrase radical Islam, which she generally avoids. One candidate vowing to shake up a terrible system, the other calling for unity and bipartisanship: thats the campaign in a microcosm. But it didnt end there. What riled up Trumps detractors were these comments on Fox & Friends about Obama: We're led by a man that either is, is not tough, not smart, or he's got something else in mind. And the something else in mind, you know, people can't believe it. People cannot they cannot believe that President Obama is acting the ways he acts and can't even mention the words radical Islamic terrorism. There's something going on. It's inconceivable." What was Trump insinuating? Its certainly fair to criticize that line of attack, given that the billionaire became a high-profile voice in the birther movement five years ago. But it led to this remarkably unfair headline in the Washington Post: Donald Trump seems to connect President Obama to Orlando shooting. No, he didnt. In an earlier call to the Today show, Clinton called Trump obsessed with name-calling and spoke of how she had worked with a Republican president, governor and mayor after 9/11. The day of dueling speeches underscored how each political party is trying to seize control of the debate. But the heinous attack in Orlando doesnt entirely fit either presidential candidates narrative. It was inevitable that the worst mass shooting in American history, coming in the midst of the 2016 campaign, would become political fodder in a country that has suffered too many tragedies of this nature. Before proceeding, I plan to follow the lead of FBI Director James Comey in refusing to use the killers name, as some journalists have done after past shootings. The point is to send a signal to other potential terrorists and crazy people that such violence wont be followed by the eternal infamy they crave. Clinton, in her initial statements on Orlando, spoke of the need to strengthen gun control. But the killer had a Florida gun license and bought his AR-15 rifle legally, so stricter background checks or gun-show restrictions would not have prevented him from acquiring the weapon. Trump, in his initial statements, referred again to his plan to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States. But the killer was an American citizen already living here and would not have been affected by such a ban. There is, quite obviously, no one-size-fits-all approach to combating the scourge of terrorism, especially in an era when a lone wolf like this killer can announce his allegiance to ISIS and inflict mass casualties without the command and control of the terrorist organization. But the responses of Trump and Clinton will resonate with many voters, even if the specifics dont match what happened at the Pulse nightclub. When Trump argues that Muslim immigrants must be banned for now because federal authorities cant effectively screen them, well, the killer was a Muslim of Afghan descent who had become radicalized. Trumps pitch is that there are many more radical Islamic extremists just like this killer who would love to get inside this countrys borders and wreak havoc. And while he is making that case, Hillary Clinton and President Obama would not call the murder of 50 people Islamic terrorism. I have never fully understood their reluctance to do so. Trump pounced on the issue, saying the president should resign and Clinton should quit the race unless they are willing to use those words. Clinton told the Today show that it is pointless to argue over labels, that she has referred to radical jihadists and radical Islam, but that she doesnt want to smear an entire religion because of those who pervert it for violence. In a similar vein, when Clinton and Obama renewed their call for tighter gun controls, that will appeal to those who believe deadly weapons are too readily available in America, even if such laws would not have stopped this killer. Some people will wonder how a guy who was under FBI investigation for possible ties to terror was able to legally purchase an assault-style rifle and a handgun. The Washington Post noted that assault-style rifles have been used in 14 public mass shootings over the last decade, half of them since last June. Bill Clinton successfully pushed for a ban on such weapons in 1994, but Congress let the ban expire in 2004, during the Bush administration. One other undeniable factor is that this killer, reflecting radical Islams hatred of homosexuality, targeted a gay bar. Most of the gay community has been in the Democratic fold, with Clinton and Obama, among others, reversing their earlier positions and strongly backing same-sex marriage. This may matter less than it did a decade ago, though, when George W. Bush and other Republicans were supporting a ban on gay marriage. And it is true that an attack on a gay nightclub is an attack on all Americans, just as the attack in a Charleston church was an attack on all Americans, not just Christians. Trump, unlike some Republicans, said the killer had targeted the Orlando nightclub in order to execute gay and lesbian citizens because of their sexual orientation. He said Clinton could never claim to be a friend of the gay community as long as she backs immigration policies that allow Islamic extremists to slip into this country. Earlier, Trump drew some flak on Sunday for tweeting: Appreciate the comments for being right on radical Islamic terrorism. I dont want congrats, I want toughness and vigilance. In another tweet he said: I said this was going to happen- and it is only going to get worse. It probably would have been better if Trump had let one of his aides or surrogates make those points, as he seemed to make it about himself. Politico said the Orlando attack exposed Donald Trumps penchant for behaving reality-show small during moments that historically demand the stature of a president. But is the press holding Trump to a different standard? A New York Times story led off yesterday by saying Trump sought to capitalize on a mass shooting, and demonstrated his willingness to flout convention and engage in a style of demagogic politics rarely displayed by a presidential nominee. Okay. But the story later noted that Clinton, after initially responding with restraint, said that we need to keep guns like the ones used last night out of the hands of terrorists or other violent criminals. Is that not capitalizing on a mass shooting as well? Clinton effectively used the gun control issue against Bernie Sanders in the primaries. And Obama has openly said after Newtown and other mass shootings that he wants to seize the moment to pass tougher gun legislation. That, after all, is how the 1968 gun control law was passed, after the assassinations of Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. Others are just interested in playing the blame game. New York's increasingly left-wing Daily News, which wants assault weapons banned, blared this insensitive headline on the cover: "THANKS, NRA." With the country still numb from the shock of so many innocent people slaughtered in Florida, there is also a weariness that sets in as each political party reprises its standard attack lines on terror, guns and immigration. But its not reasonable to expect either Trump or Clinton to refrain from addressing what has sadly become the new normal in the age of terror. Locust and frog plagues could have nothing on the winged critters that have researchers in the U.K. scrambling to find a solution to a forthcoming moth problem. The BBC reports that tens of millions of plutella xylostella, or diamond back moths, are presumed to have arrived in the U.K. over the past week, 100 times the normal amount. Researchers at the Rothamsted Research in Harpenden, Hertfordshire issued an alert in reaction to the pests, which reportedly formed a two-mile moth cloud, on Saturday, according to the Twitter feed @migrantmothUK. Steve Nash, who runs the Twitter feed, told the BBC that the swarm was just the beginning. Related: Why some flies have mega sperm Once the progeny of this influx arrives in mid-July, numbers could be biblical," he said. The diamondback moth is considered a super pest because of its bionic capabilities. It is one of the first crop insects to develop resistance to DDT, according to CABIs Invasive Species Compendium. Steve Foster of Rothamsted Research told the BBC that finding the right insecticide to contain the moth population is the next crucial step. One challenge lies in finding the appropriate insecticide for the moths while sidestepping potential harm to other insects. If the right pest killer cant be found, the countrys cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and oil seed rape crops lie directly in harms way, as the pests will feast on them. Related: Bizarre ant life rafts have assigned seating "Hopefully there will be an Achilles heel and one of the insecticides available to growers will work out," he said. "But if you haven't got anything available what you can do apart from sit down and pray, because they are just going to destroy your crops?" The BBC noted that moth traps have been working overtime. In, Oxfordshire, a trap collected 173 moths in one night, while in Berkshire, over 1,000 moths were trapped over a three-night period. Hackers affiliated with the Russian government have breached the Democratic National Committees computer network, gaining access to opposition research on presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump. DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz called the incident "serious" and says the committee moved quickly to "kick out the intruders and secure our network. The chairwoman says the DNC reached out to the cyber firm CrowdStrike to help with the hack. The DNC says financial and personal information does not appear to have been accessed by the hackers. Related: America's nuke program runs on floppy disks The Washington Post, which first reported the incident, says that it was one of several targeting political organizations in the U.S. Citing committee officials and experts, the Washington Post reports that some of the hackers had access to the DNC network for about a year, but were all expelled over the past weekend. CrowdStrike told FoxNews.com that its Services team was engaged by the DNC to investigate an intrusion into its networks. Following our investigation, weve determined that this was a sophisticated attack, conducted by adversaries affiliated with the Russian government, with the purpose of intelligence collection, it said, in an emailed statement. CrowdStrike has concluded with a high degree of confidence that the identified adversaries, Fancy Bear and Cozy Bear, are known perpetrators of cyber espionage and have previously targeted the White House, the State Department, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, it added. According to CrowdStrike, the hackers used advanced intrusion techniques to avoid detection and were looking for information in areas such as policy, political campaigns and strategies and foreign policy. Related: Senators move to block FBI from expanding hacking powers Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied Russian government involvement in the DNC hacking incident. State Dept. spokesman John Kirby told reporters that he only has press reports to go off of with respect to allegations that Russians hacked into the DNC for material related to Donald Trump so he would not confirm any hacking attempts. He would only talk broadly about cyber hacks, saying the U.S. government is the subject of countless cyber intrusions every day and its a concern we take seriously and its a concern we raise. But Kirby said he was not aware of any conversations that had taken place on this topic. He refered reporters to the DNC and law enforcement. Related: Teen hacks into North Korean Facebook using the password 'Password' "We have long seen that other nations have an acute interest in our Presidential campaigns and candidates, and are not above using clandestine means to gather intelligence on a prospective U.S. Commander in Chief," said Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, in a statement. "Such campaigns are very attractive targets for cyber espionage, particularly by those countries that are most capable and determined." Schiff said that he was unable to get into the specifics of any individual hacks, but warned of an ongoing Russian hacking threat. "In light of our increasingly adversarial relationship with Russia after their invasion of Ukraine, we must expect that Russia, in particular, will target our institutions relentlessly and for those that are not well defended, successfully." Cybersecurity issues, from Apples recent encryption battle with the FBI, to hacking, have swirled around the Presidential election. Earlier this year hackers describing themselves as part of the Anonymous hacking group claimed to have leaked Donald Trumps personal information, including his Social Security number. This is quickly becoming the cybersecurity election, with Hillary Clintons email server issues, the ongoing debate about encryption and privacy, and now this [DNC] breach, said Paul Martini CEO of iBoss Cybersecurity, in a statement emailed to FoxNews.com. This is another example of how even advanced networks holding very sensitive information can be breached. All organizations need to do a better job in the post-infection phase by catching hackers in the process of stealing data, instead of only focusing on trying stop the initial infection." Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers Fox News' Anne Marie Riha and the Associated Press contributed to this report. Police are searching for a gunman who shot and wounded five teenagers at a New York City playground. It happened just before 5 p.m. at Harry Maze Playground in Brooklyn. Police say the male victims, ages 15 to 18, were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. Police say the teens were at the playground in East Flatbush when an unknown person approached them and started shooting. Two of the teens were struck in the hand, one was struck in the leg and another in the cheek. Police say a fifth teen suffered a gunshot wound on the side of his stomach. There have been no arrests. The South isnt hurting when it comes to fried chicken places. There are hundreds of local restaurants, regional chains and roadside shacks that could lay claim to title of best fried chicken in the U.S. There are even gas stations that put chicken joints north of the Mason-Dixon Line to shame. So when people in Atlanta, Memphis and Nashville speak reverently about Mrs. Winners Chicken & Biscuits, it means something. Since 2009, however, its all been a memory. Thats when the 30-year-old franchise declared bankruptcy, customers licked their last finger and the 184-unit chain closed its doors. Franchise brands go out of business all the time, done in by unrealistic franchise concepts or poor infrastructure. Some simply lose their relevance -- think Blockbuster Video and Radio Shack. But many older brands go bankrupt, stall or seemingly evaporate overnight, not because their products arent popular or their model isnt working but because they are sold to new owners who saddle them with excess debt and provide poor or indifferent management. Sometimes they are taken in the wrong direction, or they get caught in the crossfire of corporate machinations like mergers or restructuring. Yet for many shuttered brands, theres still plenty of value and customer loyalty in their good name. Luckily, there are entrepreneurs out there who are savvy enough to understand when a brand is still viable. Thats what happened with Mrs. Winners. In 2006 a private equity firm bought the chicken brand with the idea of combining it with another regional chicken chain. But the investors miscalculated. They financed the purchase with a debt so large that they were left with almost no operating capital. When the recession hit and sales took a dive, they couldnt keep Mrs. Winners afloat and declared bankruptcy. Minneapolis business attorney John Buttolph, who was involved in restructuring the brand while it was in Chapter 11, had a ringside seat for the collapse. He was surprised by how popular the brand was, even with its creditors. When I was working with the management team, I discovered that the people who were owed money -- vendors, bankers and real estate owners -- had an almost visceral affection for the brand, he remembers. And theres still affection for the brand. It was even more pronounced after it went through bankruptcy. When Id tell people in Atlanta or Nashville that I was involved in Mrs. Winners, theyd sigh and say, I love Mrs. Winners. Despite having zero experience in the food service industry, those responses gave Buttolph an idea. I felt I had to take what was a handful of seed corn and plant it and nurture and grow another crop or cycle of Mrs. Winners, he says. So in 2012 he bought what was left of the brand, which was essentially some trademarks, and then purchased a former Mrs. Winners location in Tennessee. He worked for two years re-creating the brand and updating it for the 21st century. Now hes hired a team of franchise professionals and executives from the restaurant industry to help him relaunch the chicken chain. So far theyve opened three franchise units and brought eight former Mrs. Winners licensees who were operating independently back into the fold. Buttolph has updated the logos and the brands color scheme, and his prototype stores are smaller than the previous incarnation. But the chicken and beloved super cinnamon swirls have stayed the same. Buttolph gets messages and emails from former customers all the time telling him they cant wait for the fried chicken to return. He thinks that by the end of 2016 hell have five new stores up and running and could add 50 more in the Southeast by 2020. In 2008 Bennigans restaurant, one of the pioneer brands in casual dining, shuttered more than 150 company-owned stores after years of bad management and excess debt led the brand off course. The remaining 130 franchisees were left in limbo with no corporate support, and slowly but surely the lights started to go out for them as well. In 2011 the remaining franchisees banded together and hired Paul Mangiamele, a seasoned franchise executive, to come in and try to salvage the brand. Mangiameles first order of business: to trim the 20-page menu, which had become bloated by trying to chase dining trends, down to a manageable two. He reinvigorated the bar area, emphasizing the brands original concept that Every day is St. Paddys Day. And most important, he pushed the staff to go ABCD (above and beyond the call of duty), a philosophy that helped improve the overall atmosphere. It was a lot of work, but in many ways it was just a matter of bringing the aging brand up-to-date, improving social media communications, designing a more profitable footprint and balancing the brands nostalgia with contemporary customer demands. So far Bennigans is up 100 units, with another 150 under contract. Mangiamele bought the brand outright in 2015 and even wrote a book about the turnaround. This brand always had phenomenal DNA, he says. It just took a keen focus on the essentials of restaurateuring to revive it -- a focus on people and guests. For Mangiamele, turning Bennigans around was just the start. Now hes trying to do the same with Steak and Ale, a chain that went bankrupt around the same time as Bennigans. Launched in 1966, Steak and Ale was the original casual-dining steakhouse, which at its peak counted more than 110 locations. Mangiamele has spent months perfecting the new Steak and Ales flagship location in Dallas, which he plans to open in early 2017. The brand will trade on Steak and Ales traditional signatures -- the giant salad bar, Hawaiian chicken dinner and Kensington Club steak. But there will be new touches. Well have a prime rib carving station and these big cast-iron doors where the prime rolls out, Mangiamele says. The optics will be impressive. It will smell great, look great, sound great. He believes that a laser focus on what Steak and Ale does best will give the brand an advantage. Whats happening right now with other brands is an insidious disease called brand drift, he says. These places get new CEOs and new owners with their own ideas who dont appreciate or respect the culture and components that made these brands highfliers at one time. Were taking dead aim at Outback Steakhouse because I think their brand is drifting. People are tired of the Bloomin Onion. Theyre looking for something else in a value-priced steakhouse. Brand drift, more than anything else, was the problem John Maguire, the former COO of Panera, saw when he joined Friendlys in 2012, a year after a bankruptcy shuttered 100 of the brands units and there were murmurings that the classic restaurant was going down for good. When he was a kid in the Boston suburbs going to Friendlys to get ice cream, Maguire could have never imagined that the shop would one day sell shrimp and chicken stir-fry. But when the brand brought him onboard to try and straighten things out, those items were on the menu, along with many other offerings that didnt belong. Since its founding in 1935, Friendlys has been known for value-priced fried seafood, ice cream, burgers and breakfast, Maguire says. Their menu had expanded into too many areas without ever really doing testing. There are two big mistakes brands make. They add to the menu out of haste to drive sales, or they have a me-too strategy where they copy other brands. But many of those things just dont fit. Maguire knew from experience that the brands original concept was beloved. So he started the rehab by paring down the menu by 40 percent. Friendlys switched to fresh, never-frozen beef, began sourcing larger eggs and switched to real ice cream in its shakes and treats instead of using cheaper soft-serve. Maguire also had much of the breakfast menu repriced. The second step was to refurbish the restaurants, many of which hadnt been updated in decades. Maguires team developed an affordable $125,000 remodel package, which updates the outside signage and building exterior and also refreshes the dining area. A bolt-on drive-thru can add $400,000 worth of annual sales to some units. So far 95 percent of company-owned stores have been rehabbed, as have 40 percent of franchisee stores; the rest are committed to a remodel by the end of 2017. Were relevant and competitive again, Maguire says. We had negative sales at Friendlys for nearly two decades. Im happy to say weve had positive sales and customer traffic for the last 14 months. In fact, he says the brand is ready to grow again, and may begin expanding out of its East Coast stronghold. Even more important, Friendlys is seeking experienced franchisees to help pioneer new territories. Franchisees want success, Maguire says. We have some who have been with us for decades who saw nothing but decline. Now theyre seeing a lot of success with the remodel, and theres a lot of excitement. Its now our responsibility to keep up the momentum. A juror who helped convict a former Stanford University student-athlete of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman thinks the "ridiculously lenient" six-month jail sentence imposed by the presiding judge has made a mockery of the jury's verdict, a newspaper reported Monday. The Palo Alto Weekly published a letter that the juror sent Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky over the weekend to convey his shock and disappointment over the sentence 20-year-old Brock Turner received. "It seems to me that you really did not accept the jury's findings," he wrote to the judge. "We were unanimous in our finding of the defendant's guilt and our verdicts were marginalized based on your own personal opinion." The man is the first juror to speak publicly about the case. He wrote the letter and spoke to the Weekly anonymously to maintain his privacy in a case that has attracted intense media coverage. The names of the Turner jury's members have not been made public. Juror identities are not routinely released in California after they reach a verdict. In an interview with the newspaper, the juror said he found Turner's contention that the victim had consented to sexual content to be unpersuasive, especially compared to the accounts of the two Stanford graduate students who testified that he ran away when they confronted him on top of the motionless, partially clothed woman. The juror said he also was swayed by a slurred, unintelligible voicemail message the woman had left her boyfriend right before Turner encountered her at a fraternity party. Prosecutors played the recording in court to demonstrate that she was too drunk to give her consent. The juror described himself in his letter to the judge as a recently naturalized citizen and wrote that he took his civic responsibility seriously in what was his first experience on a jury. He said he expected the predominantly male panel's "quick and decisive finding" of guilt to yield a sentence severe enough to deter future campus sexual assaults. "But with the ridiculously lenient sentence that Brock Turner received, I am afraid that it makes a mockery of the whole trial and the ability of the justice system to protect victims of assault and rape," he wrote. "Clearly there are few to no consequences for a rapist even if they are caught in the act of assaulting a defenseless, unconscious person." The juror ended the letter with the words, "Shame on you." A Texas judge on Monday tossed out a key charge against the pro-life activist whose undercover video rocked Planned Parenthood. A misdemeanor charge of purchase and sale of human organs was dropped in the case against David Daleiden, founder of Center for Medical Progress, apparently due to a technicality in the Harris County prosecutor's indictment. The move leaves Daleiden still facing a felony charge of tampering with a government ID. [The dismissal] of trafficking human organs is the latest confirmation that the indictments from a runaway grand jury in Houston were a politically-motivated sham all along, read a statement posted on CMPs website. The dismissal of the first indictment today sends a strong message to Planned Parenthood and their political cronies that colluding to suppress the First Amendment rights of citizen journalists will never work. On Tuesday, the Harris County District Attorney's Office said it will not fight the judge's decision and will instead focus on prosecuting the felony charge, according to KHOU. A hearing has been set for this July. The dismissal was based on the prosecution's failure to prove that any fees offered or paid for aborted fetal parts as part of the sting operation were not covered by exceptions like physician or transport fees. The indictments failure to negate this exception renders it void, reads a copy of the judge's decision obtained by FoxNews.com. A void indictment confers no jurisdiction to this court. Daleiden took to Twitter on Tuesday to share the latest developments. Pleased to announce the first sham indictment against me in Houston, TX has been dismissed, he wrote. It was back in January when a Houston grand jury investigating criminal allegations against Planned Parenthood stemming from the CMPs series of undercover videos instead indicted Daleiden and a colleague who shot the footage. The grand jury declined to indict officials from the abortion provider, and instead handed up felony charges of tampering with a government record against Daleiden and center employee Sandra Merritt. "We were called upon to investigate allegations of criminal conduct by Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast," Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson said at the time. "As I stated at the outset of this investigation, we must go where the evidence leads us. All the evidence uncovered in the course of this investigation was presented to the grand jury. I respect their decision on this difficult case." Making matters worse for Daleiden, in April, his home in California was raided by state law-enforcement officers and videos and other personal effects of the CMP founder were seized. Daleiden has maintained that the raid was politically motivated due to California Attorney General Kamala Harris accepting campign contributions from Planned Parenthood in the past. A Michigan dog lover was cited by police Monday for allegedly violating his town's ban on keeping pit bulls after he posted a photo of him and the animal on Facebook. After 100 days in the shelter, Sir Wiggleton got his home. This photo is breaking the Internet! #DetroitDogRescue pic.twitter.com/7H6WuEf704 Detroit Dog Rescue (@313dogrescue) June 7, 2016 MLive reported that Dan Tillery, of Waterford Township, posted a picture of him and his dog, Diggy, to the Detroit Dog Rescue Facebook page. The photo was shared nearly 5,000 times, but also caused several complaints that Tillery was breaking the local ordinance. On Thursday, Tillery was visited by township police, who determined that Diggy was in fact a pit bull and not, as Tillery and Detroit Dog Rescue claim, an American bulldog. Detroit Dog Rescue says Diggy has paperwork from a veterinarian and animal control to prove he is not a pit bull. According to a police report, Tillery told police he'd find a new home for the dog by Monday. However, when police came back, Diggy was still at Tillery's house. According to MLive, the fine for violating the town's pit bull ban can rise as high as $500. Tillery was given ten days to set a court date and appear. The officers left Diggy in his possession. Tillery will have an opportunity to present to the court, confirmation from a licensed veterinarian indicating the actual breed of the dog," police wrote in the report. "The court will make a determination regarding the validity of such confirmation. The animal shelter is asking Waterford Township residents and businesses to urge officials to allow Diggy to stay with Tillery. Click for more from MLive.com. The hurt, tears and love have been flowing from around the world to Orlando. So has the money. The crowdfunding campaign set up on GoFundMe has raised more than $3.3 million from almost 75,000 donors since it was created on Sunday. It has become the fastest growing and largest crowdfunding campaign in GoFundMe's history, according to the San Diego and Menlo Park, Calif.-headquartered company. The comments of support and love have also been pouring in from all over the world. I'm donating because there are probably kids killed or hurt in this shooting who have no health insurance or have no family supporting them. My donation is given for my two gay sons who are lucky enough to have insurance, great jobs and supportive families. -- Karen Pearsall Orange I am a victim of this horrific thank god I was discharged with minor injuries. Physically I'm ok but mentally and emotionally a wreck. Please pray for my friends. -- Letti Amador My brother was one of the victims that lousy his life in this horrific tragedy..... He didn't have life insurance and we are trying to find a way to pay for his funeral service... Please if anyone will help my family out in any way with information or whatever they can donate... His name was Eddie Justice... thank you! -- Lakitra Justice From France - We are standing with you Orlando ! We are shocked and we are sharing your pain. Our thoughts to the victim's family! No words can describe how painful this must be: we all are mourning with you ! We are sending you all the strength we can from Europe. With love love love, A french citizen. -- Alan Consonne Thank you for doing this. I am beyond happy to contribute. I am very glad that there's a way that I can help my fallen friends, even from thousands of miles away. -- Zachary Jaydon I'm really glad I found this page because I've been feeling so helpless about the shooting. I'm a broke college kid, so I couldn't donate more than $5. However, I still feel better after donating and sharing. Thank you for setting this up. -- Moe Schlichter I am a native Floridian. I value all people, but am especially protective of my fellow Floridians. My heart is breaking for the victims, families, and friends. I will only speak of them, and not the person who did this. I love you Orlando, and Florida. -- Elaine Cyr The crowdfunding campaign is being organized by Equality Florida, a 501c3 nonprofit organization that serves the state's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. Ida Vishkaee Eskamani, an Orlando resident and a development officer with Equality Florida, is listed as the crowdfunding campaigns organizer. Related: Tech, Business and Culture Leaders React to the Orlando Tragedy on Social Media In the early hours of Sunday, June 12, a gunman killed 49 people at the gay Pulse Night Club in Orlando, Fla., in the largest mass shooting in U.S. history and what President Barack Obama called a horrific massacre. Gay clubs hold a significant place in LGBTQ history. They were often the only safe gathering place and this horrific act strikes directly at our sense of safety, says Equality Florida on its homepage. Obama said, quite poignantly, that the violence perpetrated on the LGBTQ community was a violation of all of humanity. This is a sobering reminder that attacks on any American -- regardless of race, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation -- is an attack on all of us and on the fundamental values of equality and dignity that define us as a country. And no act of hate or terror will ever change who we are or the values that make us Americans. The crowdfunding campaign gives mourners a way to lend tangible compassion, even if they are half a world away. In the comment section of the campaign, there is some question as to the legitimacy of the campaign. Equality Florida has partnered with the National Center for Victims of Crime, the same organization that deployed funds raised in the wake of both the Chattanooga and Aurora shootings, according to the crowdfunding page. That partnership lends credibility to the crowdfunding campaign and give backers confidence that their dollars will go to the victims and their families. Related: Former Senior Advisor to President Obama Joins GoFundMe GoFundMe itself has donated $100,000 to the campaign. With the donation, the platform is essentially waiving their transaction fee and ensuring that every single penny donated will go towards supporting the victims and their families, according to the crowdfunding campaign page. Typically, GoFundMe charges a 5 percent transaction fee on donations. To be sure, money will not bring back the victims of the Orlando Pulse mass shooting, but it will help the families in these tragic times. Also, in a time when its hard to feel optimistic about humanity, its helpful to see that at the same time that there are deranged murderers, there are also thousands upon thousands of human beings who are empathetic, compassionate and loving. Sheila Reiman, who recently contributed $50 to the campaign, says it well. As inhumane as this act of violence was, it is with acts of humanity such as this fundraiser that we move forward with hope. A Navy helicopter crashed in Virginia's James River Tuesday during a training mission and crews rescued three people on board, officials confirmed. The MH-60S helicopter crashed north of the James River Bridge outside Norfolk. Fox News is told a boater picked up the three crewmembers from the helicopter and helped get them to Naval Medical Center Portsmouth. Photos from the scene show the crewmembers walking on their own after making it back to land. Initial reports indicate none of the injuries was life-threatening. Navy officials said investigators would look into what triggered the crash. The Coast Guard was sending a small boat out to the area to assess the situation, according to John Miller, a spokesman for the Coast Guard's 5th District. The helicopter was assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron Two based at Norfolk Naval Station Chambers Field. Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson and The Associated Press contributed to this report. The bodies of two men and two women were found Tuesday as firefighters searched a burned out two-story vacant office building near downtown Los Angeles, bringing the death count in the blaze to five. One man was declared dead at the scene while the blaze was still burning on Monday night. The Fire Department said that all five of the dead appeared to be homeless. Los Angeles police arrested a homeless man on suspicion of murder for intentionally starting a fire with the intent of killing at least one person. Billy Hayes, commanding officer of LAPD Robbery-Homicide, said Tuesday that 21-year-old Johnny Sanchez was among a group of homeless people who had been living in the building and was in a dispute with the others. Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey said the blaze broke out at approximately 7 p.m. local time in the Westlake section of the city, Fox 11 reported. Approximately 145 firefighters battled the blaze, which was declared a major emergency. Humphrey told reporters that firefighters had to assume a defensive posture due to the intensity of the blaze. Firefighters rescued three people from the building during the fire. The building was officially vacant, but neighbors say they saw homeless people coming and going from there. Click for more from FoxLA.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Federal prosecutors have convened a grand jury to investigate the wife of the Orlando nightclub shooter, seeking to charge her as an accessory to 49 counts of murder and 53 counts of attempted murder as well as with failure to notify law enforcement about the pending terrorist attack and lying to federal agents, a federal law enforcement source confirmed Tuesday to FoxNews.com. FBI agents have interviewed Omar Mateen's wife, Noor Salman, in the days since Sunday's massacre that killed 49 and wounded 53 more. A federal law enforcement source additionally told Fox News that Salman knew of her husband's deadly plans and did nothing to stop him. Mateen died in a shootout with police early Sunday morning. While Salman has been widely referred to as Mateen's wife, the only proof of their marriage is her listing as his wife on a 2013 mortgage document and family members who said the two were married and had a 3-year-old son. Salman told investigators that Mateen shared his plans with her to carry out an attack and Mateen may have even called her from the gay club Pulse during the slaughter, a source told Fox News. Salman also confirmed details of Mateen's gun purchases prior to the assault. A separate source told Fox News that Salman was cooperating with investigators and had shared information about her husband's violent aspirations. She had taken a polygraph, CBS reported. Salman is likely to be arrested, a source told Fox News. Mateen allegedly scouted an alternate location for the shooting -- Downtown Disney -- in April and again in early June, CBS reported. Fox News also learned on Tuesday that investigators seized two phones that belonged to Mateen, one of which was a Samsung mobile device. A law enforcement source told Fox News the FBI was able to access both devices, and that investigators are currently going through the data on the phones. The second device was described to Fox News as an older model, although the exact make could not be specified. Fox News reported previously that investigators had been scrubbing computers in Mateen's possession for evidence of any communications with individuals known to FBI, photos and video of areas he may have been scouting for attack, as well as traces of terrorist propaganda. Meanwhile, the FBI is investigating reports that Mateen visited Pulse several times before the attack, a U.S. official told The Associated Press on Tuesday. A law enforcement source told Fox News that Salman drove Mateen to Pulse on at least one prior occasion. One man also said he recognized Mateen from an app used to arrange dates and hookups for gay men, adding a new layer of complexity to the investigation of the worst mass shooting in modern American history. The U.S. official said the FBI would look into that claim as well. The Orlando Sentinel cited four Pulse regulars who said they had seen the 29-year-old Mateen there before. "Sometimes he would go over in the corner and sit and drink by himself, and other times he would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent," said Ty Smith, who claimed to have seen the gunman at Pulse at least a dozen times. "We didn't really talk to him a lot, but I remember him saying things about his dad at times," Smith added. "He told us he had a wife and child." Smith's husband, Chris Callen, told the Canadian Press that Mateen had been to Pulse regularly for "at least three years." Jim Van Horn, 71, told the Associated Press he was a frequent patron at Pulse and said another "regular" there was Mateen. "He was trying to pick up people. Men," Van Horn said late Monday outside the Parliament House, another gay club. Van Horn said he met Mateen once. He said the younger man was telling him about his ex-wife. "My friends came out from the back and said, 'Let's go take pictures on the patio,'" Van Horn said. "So I left. And then they told me they didn't want me talking to him, because they thought he was a strange person." At around 1 a.m. Sunday, Kevin West was dropping a friend off at Pulse when he saw Mateen crossing the street. West told the Los Angeles Times Mateen had messaged him on and off for the past year using the gay chat and dating app Jack'd. "He walked directly past me. I said, Hey, and he turned and said, Hey,'" West said. I could tell by the eyes." About an hour later, wielding an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and a handgun, Mateen began a three-hour shooting rampage and hostage siege that ended with a SWAT team killing him. During the attack, he called 911 to profess allegiance to the Islamic State (ISIS) group. In contrast, the Wall Street Journal reported that Mateen had expressed anti-gay views that horrified his classmates at Indian River State College, where he received an associate's degree in 2006. A person who worked at the school during that time said some students would try to "educate" Mateen on his views. The Journal also reported that Mateen never discussed religion during class. At Pulse, Smith and Callen told the Canadian Press they had decided to keep their distance from Mateen after an incident during which he pulled out a knife after taking offense to a joke told by one of the couple's friends. "He said if [the friend] ever messed with him again," Callen said, "you know how it'll turn out." Fox News' Rick Leventhal and Matt Dean, FoxNews.com's Malia Zimmerman, and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Police in Connecticut said they would search for new clues Wednesday into the death of a 31-year-old hiker, one day after they found her body near train tracks. Officers said they believed an eastbound train struck Sarah Addy Monday night, killing her. They found her body around 7:15 p.m. Tuesday. "Theres nothing investigatively that would lead us to believe" foul play was involved, Branford Police Capt. Geoffrey Morgan told the New Haven Register. Police initially said she vanished Monday after going for a walk in the woods. Amtrak officers had been assisting in the search. Shoreline trains in the state were delayed for nearly two hours Tuesday night before full service was restored at about 9 p.m., according to WFSB-TV. Police launched their search earlier Tuesday after they said they tried and failed to contact Addy on her phone. Branford police asked anyone with information on her death to call 203-481-4241. The Associated Press contributed to this report. It seems like it should be common knowledge, right? I mean, more than 3 billion of us are online every day. So, how does the web work? Lets use some simple web browsing to break it down. When you visit a website such as Entrepreneur.com for instance, the web server hosting that site can be anywhere in the world. For you to find the location of the web server, your devices browser will first connect to a Domain Name System, commonly referred to as a DNS server. The DNS acts like a phone book, which tells your device the IP address associated with the requested domain name of the web page you want to visit. Related: Are You Living in a Digital Bubble? This Flowchart Will Tell You. (Infographic) The IP address that the DNS returns to your computer allows your browser to contact the web server that hosts the website you requested. For example, lets say youre in San Francisco, and the Entrepreneur.com site is hosted in New York. The browser in SF contacts the DNS server, which then tells the browser the location of the web server in N.Y. Then, that web server sends that webpage that you requested back to your device through the browser, and voila, youre surfing the net! (Yes, that term is from the late '90s, but its just so good.) There you have it. To help clarify, lets break down some terms real quick: Web server A web server is a computer that hosts websites. There are companies such as Facebook and Google that have their own web servers, but most companies use a third-party service such as Godaddy, MediaTemple and Cloud9 hosting that charge a service fee to host your site. Related: Study: Americans Are Ditching Home Internet for Mobile Domain Name System (DNS) A network of servers that act as phonebooks. They organize and maintain a list of domains and IP addresses, which computers and machines use to recognize different web pages, computers and users. IP address A unique number that identifies each unique computer over a certain network. Webpage When viewing a website, your browser will be receiving HTML and CSS from the web server that hosts the site. The web browser translates the HTML and CSS code to create the page that is viewable to an internet user. Related: The Evolution of New Generic Top-Level Domains Device People access the internet all over the world, across a number of devices including laptops, mobile phones, desktops and tablets. Keep in mind, devices range in different dimensions, computing capacity and connection time. There are many subscription-delivery success stories, like BarkBox (a monthly shipment of dog treats) and BirchBox (for makeup samples). Dallas couple Blake and Taylor Davis tried to follow with The Jerky Box, promising handcrafted beef jerky from three vendors each month. Eight months later, it was dead. Time to debrief. So, what went wrong? Blake Davis The business relied heavily on the jerky companies -- seeking them out, explaining why it was smart to sell us x amount of their jerky at wholesale. There were not enough craft jerky companies to make it work. Taylor Davis We had a couple months where we had to send three bags of jerky from the same company to our subscribers. We couldve gotten 10,000 subscribers, but without having enough jerky companies to consistently supply us, it was no good. Did you try to fix the problem? T.D. We thought about adding nuts or different specialties from other artisanal companies, but that would have added to the shipping, cutting into our profits. Howd you finally decide to call it quits? B.D. Our margins were pretty low. The cost of shipping was never consistent. If we had a customer in Maine versus somebody local, the shipping ranged from $3 to $8. We were pretty much just breaking even. We couldnt scale it. So in summer of 2014, we realized the business was way too much work for what we got out of it. What did the experience teach you? B.D. We didnt want somebody elses input or product to define our success. Thats why we moved into the service model, so we could be in full control of our success. T.D. Now everything we do to make a profit comes down to us. A Muslim radical who was being investigated for terror ties stabbed a French police chief to death outside his home, then tortured the man's wife in front of their toddler son -- all while livestreaming his rampage on Facebook. The shocking attack in Magnanville, 35 miles north of Paris, ended after a three-hour standoff, when French commandoes stormed the home, rescuing the boy and killing Larossi Abballa, 25. Later in the day, police carried out several hours of raids in the Paris suburb of Mantes-la-Jolie, where Abballa lived. A young pregnant woman wearing a hijab and an Islamic robe said her husband had been taken into custody from the building in the Musiciens neighborhood as police searched her home. The woman, who refused to be identified, said her husband knew Abballa, though police at the scene would not say whether the raids were linked directly to the police attack. The Islamic State's Amaq news agency released a video that showed Abballa confessing, "I just killed a police officer and his wife," warning that attackers would launch other "surprises" during the ongoing Euro 2016 soccer tournament. The video appears to have been recorded inside the home of the couple as security forces closed in. Before the standoff ended, Abballa, a French national with a prior terrorism conviction and ties to jihadists based in Pakistan, made a horrific appeal to his Facebook followers, writing, "I don't know what I'm going to do with the boy." Jean-Baptiste Salvaing, 42, was not in uniform when he was ambushed and stabbed repeatedly in the stomach outside of his home shortly before 8.30 p.m. on Monday. His wife, a 36-year-old secretary at a local police station, was killed with a knife inside the residence while the couple's 3-year-old son hid behind a couch. The French interior minister called the slaughter "an abject terrorist act." Three men believed to have close ties to Abbala were brought in for questioning by French police shortly after the attack, officials said. Word that Abbala had recorded the 12-minute video of the attack and posted it on Facebook Live shocked the nation Tuesday morning. Abbala also tweeted twice during the killings. "The toll is a heavy one," Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet told reporters at the scene, his voice heavy with emotion. Authorities found a Koran, headscarf and two other books in a vehicle used by Abbala, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said, and a list of other targets -- including police officers and journalists -- was found at Abbala's home. Abbala was sentenced in 2013 to three years in prison, including six months suspended, for trying to recruit jihadists to fight in Pakistan, the BBC reported. But Abbala had also been the subject of a more recent terror investigation and was allegedly on a government list of individuals seen as a danger to the state, the BBC reported. French police had recently wiretapped Abbala, but had not found anything incriminating by the time of the attack, officials said. Abbala pledged allegiance to ISIS three weeks ago and reportedly did during the filmed portion of the attack, too. The Islamic State's Amaq news agency later cited an unnamed "source" as saying an ISIS fighter carried out the attack and the jihadist group claimed responsibility for the assault on its Albayan Radio, Reuters reported. Molins said Abballa's attack was a response to ISIS calls to "kill non-believers where they live" during Ramadan. On Abbala's Facebook page, which was later taken down, the terrorist wrote that "the Euros will be a graveyard," according to the BBC. French media, some of them citing unnamed neighbors, reported that the attacker was heard shouting "Allahu Akbar" Arabic for "God is Great" during the attack. Abballa stayed at prayers so long at his neighborhood mosque the day of the attack that mosque employees had to make him leave. The rector of the small mosque said Abballa attended services rarely in recent months, but showed up to pray a few hours before the killings. Rector Mohamed Droussi said Abballa was reading the Koran for a long time, and was the last one to leave. "I took the key and I said, 'we are closing,'" Droussi said. Speaking after an emergency meeting convened Tuesday morning by French President Francois Hollande, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said more than 100 people seen as potential threats have been arrested in France this year, including in recent weeks. Cazeneuve also warned that the threat of terrorism "is high in France, it's high in Europe, it's high in the Western world as shown by the events that happened 48 hours ago in the United States," a reference to the attack on an Orlando night club early Sunday. Hollande himself said Monday's murders were "incontestably a terrorist act and warned that France was facing a terror threat "of a very large scale." France, like other countries in Europe, has seen a series of stabbings aimed at police officers or soldiers and carried out by Muslim radicals. ISIS has encouraged its supporters to stage such attacks. "Today every police officer is a target," Yves Lefebvre of police union Unite SGP Police-FO told The Associated Press, adding that attackers are "professionalizing" and can now find police in their homes. Cazeneuve said Tuesday that police officers would now be allowed to take their service weapons home. France has been under a state of emergency since a series of co-ordinated shootings and bombings by ISIS terrorists killed 130 people in Paris this past November. The country is currently hosting the European soccer championship, and stadiums and other public places are under tight security. There was no indication that the murders would affect either of the two matches scheduled to take place Tuesday. Fox News' Cicely Medintzeff and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Click for more from SkyNews.com Pentagon officials said Tuesday they were "skeptical" about reports that an airstrike from the U.S.-led coalition in Syria killed Islamic State terror leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. "We have seen these types of reports before, here in Iraq and in other operations, and until we have confirmation, we are going to practice healthy skepticism," Col. Christopher C. Garver, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, told Fox News. Similar claims have emerged in the past only for officials to debunk them later. "We've seen the reports and are looking into them," White House National Security Council Spokesman Ned Price added. ISIS-linked news agency al-Amaq reported the airstrike killed al-Baghdadi in Raqqa on Sunday. He had declared himself the leader of the terror group in June 2014. Fox News' Kristin Brown and Lucas Tomlinson contributed to this report. 1000 Degrees Neapolitan Pizza Heats Up Gilbert with New Location New Option for Customizable Fast-Casual Pizza Offers Free 10 Pizza for All Guests, Plus Chance to Win Free Pizza for a Year June 14, 2016 // Franchising.com // Gilbert, Ariz. 1000 Degrees Neapolitan Pizza, a fast-casual American spin on authentic, hand-tossed Neapolitan pizza, is coming to SanTan Village with the opening of its Gilbert location on Thursday, June 16. The new restaurant is located at 2224 East Williams Field Road, Suite 112, next to Chipotle. To celebrate the new restaurant, the first 10 guests through the doors on Thursday, June 16 at 11 a.m. will win free pizza for a year. In addition, all guests who visit the grand opening between 11 a.m. and 10 p.m. and like 1000 Degrees on Facebook or follow on Instagram or Twitter will receive a free 10 pizza of their choice 1000 Degrees serves beer and wine in addition to personalized, made-to-order authentic Neapolitan pizza, including a gluten-free option. Each pizza starts with fresh, never frozen, hand-tossed dough, created with authentic Neapolitan 00 flour and available in both a personal 10 and shareable 14 sizes. Guests then choose to create their own pizza or order one of the 1000 Degrees Favorites. The Gilbert 1000 Degrees location is the second location to open in Arizona and is operated by Randy and Ban Kassab of Capital Pizza Ventures. The group owns an additional location in the Scottsdale 101 Shopping Center, and plans to open a third location within the next year. Ban and I look forward to opening our doors in SanTan Village and continuing to share our love for pizza with the metro Phoenix area, said Randy Kassab. Customizing a 1000 Degrees pizza is truly a unique experience, as guests can choose to top theirs with any of the more than 50 high quality cheeses, sauces, meats, vegetables and other toppings all for one flat price. While choosing their toppings, customers are guided down an assembly line of pizza consultants to create a pizza that is totally unique to them. Outside of the build your own option, there are more than 12 varieties of specialty pizzas including favorites like The Smokey Pollo, also known as Barbecue Bourbon Chicken, which features sweet and smokey bourbon barbecue sauce, roasted chicken, red onion, pineapple, shredded Grande brand mozzarella and blue cheeses, and The Philly, which is a cheese steak pizza topped with thinly sliced rib-eye, caramelized Spanish onions, balsamic glaze, shredded Grande brand mozzarella and provolone cheeses. Pizzas are then fired to perfection at 1000 degrees in a custom, handmade, revolving Neapolitan brick oven in just two minutes. 1000 Degrees is on fire and were certainly heating up the Phoenix area with the opening of our second location in Arizona, said 1000 Degrees CEO and Founder Brian Petruzzi. Im confident that we serve the best hand-tossed Neapolitan pizza in the area and provide an unparalleled customer experience that will keep people coming back for more. Unlike traditional Neapolitan pizza which has a slightly undercooked center and requires a fork and knife to eat, 1000 Degrees Neapolitan Pizza has fused this classic style with American flare. The result is a thin crust pizza that maintains the light and airy appeal of a Neapolitan style pizza. 1000 Degrees pizza captures American appeal and old world Neapolitan flavor. The company currently has more than 15 domestic restaurants open and one international location in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 1000 Degrees is growing at a rapid pace, estimating it will open more than 80 units by the end of this year, and projecting an additional 170 units by 2017. 1000 Degrees in Gilbert is open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. To learn more about 1000 Degrees Neapolitan Pizza or to be part of its daily free pizza contests, please visit www.facebook.com/1000degreesgilbert/ or call (480) 398-7141. About 1000 Degrees Neapolitan Pizza 1000 Degrees Neapolitan Pizza brings guests the finest hand-tossed Neapolitan pizza. Founded in 2014, the international franchise has experienced unparalleled growth and is on target to have more than 80 units open by the end of this year, and projects more than 170 units by 2017. For more information on the 1000 Degrees Neapolitan Pizza brand, or for franchise or investor relations, please visit the company website at www.1000DegreesPizza.com. SOURCE 1000 Degrees Neapolitan Pizza Media Contact: Cassidy Obis Fishman Public Relations 847-945-1300 cobis@fishmanpr.com ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus Card Connection is Sole Supplier for Netto June 14, 2016 // Franchising.com // United Kingdom - Leading greeting card publisher and franchisor, Card Connection, has been selected as sole supplier for Netto in the UK. Netto currently have 16 UK stores based around the M62 corridor and plan to add more before the end of the year. Hannah Woodcock, buyer for non-food, Netto comments: We had space in our new stores and were considering the best way to utilize that. Card Connection came up with a strong proposal as their network of franchisees manage the displays and merchandising in-store for us so this makes it very easy to maintain. Following a pilot, we have now rolled out Card Connection in all our 16 UK stores. Displays are regularly kept up to date by Card Connections franchisees and the product range is fantastic, continues Woodcock. I have a greetings card background so appreciate the feedback we are getting from customers which has been great. There is a card for every occasion and the ranges and designs resonate with our customers. John Coe, regional sales manager, Card Connection confirms: We supplied Netto before the buyout to Asda in 2010, so it is exciting to be working with the company once again, now own brand stores are being opened once more. Our franchisees have done a super job creating some compelling displays of our greetings cards, and sales are thriving. It's an exciting phase in the Netto/Card Connection relationship.' Card Connections franchisees use a proven system to place quality greeting cards and ancillary products in retail outlets on a consignment basis. This means the stock and display equipment are installed on free loan to the retailer. This is one step beyond sale or return as Card Connections customers never have to buy the stock initially, only paying for what they sell. The award winning merchandising service provided to retailers by local franchisees has proved popular with retailers all over the UK and Ireland. Card Connection is part of UK Greetings, which is a subsidiary of American Greetings Inc., one of the largest greeting card publishers in the world and has limited vacancies for franchisees that are keen to run an expanding business. Since the franchise network in the UK is complete, the available opportunities now consist of acquiring an already-established territory from an existing franchisee. These vary in price according to their level of development, but start at 7k + Stock + Card Connection fee with earnings potential in excess of 50k per annum. Territories currently available include: Bath, Coventry, Bournemouth, Northampton, Liverpool, Croydon, Windsor, Brighton, Plymouth, Edinburgh and Ireland South. For further information about franchises for sale, please see: www.card-connection.co.uk About Netto https://www.netto.co.uk/about-us/the-company/ About Card Connection Card Connection is one of the UKs most successful card publishers and is the market leader in the franchised distribution of greeting cards. The company was established in 1992 and became a Full Member of the British Franchise Association in 1995. It now distributes greeting cards to around 13,000 outlets through its network of 67 franchisees. www.card-connection.co.uk SOURCE Card Connection Contact: Mel Betts Grapevine PR Ltd 01544 318546 melanie.betts@grapevinepr.com ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus Masons Famous Lobster Rolls Announces Launch of Franchise Program Masons makes the increasingly popular lobster roll available to franchisees in a Fast Casual format. June 14, 2016 // Franchising.com // Annapolis, MD Masons Famous Lobster Rolls announces it is now offering franchises to entrepreneurs in major metro markets in eastern and Midwest states. Founder Dan Beck, a seasoned restaurateur and seafood expert, has brought lobster to the fast casual segment with a business model that requires only a small footprint and a modest investment, which is less than half the that of the typical fast casual offering. The lobster industry has grown exponentially in the past 20+ years due to increasingly popular demand, and the increasing presence of lobster roll shops suggests that lobster is no longer the exclusive province of full service restaurants or just for New Englanders. Beck has engaged the services of FranPoint Partners, a well-regarded Maryland based franchise development firm which has supported and helped launched many successful Fast Casual restaurant concepts to help put the proper underpinnings in place and to ensure easy adaptation for franchisees, even those without restaurant experience. FranPoints senior partner, Richard J. Sharoff, also serves as the firms EVP of Franchising. The prototype location in Annapolis, Maryland has grown quickly and received numerous accolades in the press and social media. Dan Beck is a life-long restaurateur has spent a number of years as a seafood buyer. His experience and connections allow Masons to efficiently source quality Maine lobster which is key to the success of the concept in order to ensure its premium quality and affordable price point to consumers. Beck points out his preferred vendors are certified sustainable and lobster is a healthy, low cholesterol food option, with fewer calories and saturated fat than both chicken and turkey. Beck has worked to keep the menu simple and satisfying, complementing only several classic lobster rolls variations with lobster salad, shrimp salad, lobster bisque, and New England clam chowder. There are also cleverly added New England favorites like whoopie pies and organic Maine Root soda. Beyond the menu, Beck developed and refined his Re-Maine TRUE brand to create a striking visual impact. Masons is a modern twist on the traditional Maine lobster shack. There are natural wood finishes, large stenciled lobsters and a chalkboard menu, with a few floats and lobster pots strewn about. But the result is decidedly fresh and modern, not retro. According to Beck, thats exactly what Masons is going for a nod to traditional Maine values, but a clean, new offering for todays consumer. The fast casual segment is a fantastic format for todays consumer, but it is desperately needed a fresh concept beyond the typical burgers, pizza, Mexican and sub shop concepts which have dominated the category says Sharoff. Masons Famous Lobster Rolls TM is a highly compelling franchise opportunity because it makes this ever popular, aspirational seafood item easily accessible to consumers and is affordable and easy to execute for franchisees. Masons franchise team believes they have a winning combination: a bold brand and a streamlined business model that takes a seafood delicacy and makes it affordable and easy to eat all within 700-1200 square feet. Sharoff says the business systems are equally streamlined with all the requisite documented procedures in place. Easily executable marketing strategies are also developed for franchisees to grow and maintain their business. It is fitting that Masons franchise announcement comes as they gear up to celebrate National Lobster Day June 15. If youre in the Annapolis, Maryland area stop in for a free lobster hat and show off your hat on Facebook or Twitter to win a free lobster roll. If youre interested in the potential of a longer-term lobster reward, direct franchise inquiries to Richard Sharoff, richard@masonslobster.com, 410-216-9001. About Masons Famous Lobster Rolls Masons Famous Lobster Rolls is a fast casual restaurant concept that makes the delicacy of lobster an affordable, easy lunch and dinner option for everyone. Launched in Annapolis, MD, Masons franchises are now available in major metro markets across the eastern United States. Masons is built on the integrity and simplicity of Maine values, from a simple, delicious menu to small footprint shops and a streamlined business model for franchise owners. SOURCE Masons Famous Lobster Rolls ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus sweetFrog Set To Make Big Splash in The Big Apple at Franchise Expo Leading National Frozen Yogurt Franchise Revealing Multiple Unique Franchise Ownership Opportunities at International Franchise Expo. RICHMOND, VA (PRWEB) June 14, 2016 - sweetFrog Enterprises, named by The Daily Meal as Americas Best Frozen Yogurt, has announced that it will unveil multiple new franchise ownership opportunities, including a brand new sweetFrog mobile unit/food trailer, during the International Franchise Expo (IFE), June 16-18, at The Javits Center in New York, NY. sweetFrog will be putting non-traditional build-out options, such as kiosks, food courts and airport locations, and the newly designed food trailer (now available as a full mobile unit franchise opportunity) on full display throughout the IFE show the largest annual franchise expo in the country. sweetFrogs CEO, Pat Galleher, says these new franchise ownership opportunities are custom-built for modern franchise buyers looking to capitalize on an increasingly mobile society. Non-traditional franchise locations allow new owners to capitalize on a mobile and active customer base at a fraction of the cost while still benefitting from the same brand recognition and corporate support traditional franchise owners receive, said Galleher. And after the success weve enjoyed testing our newly designed food trailers and our kiosk model found in Yankee Stadium and Richmond Coliseum we are perfectly positioned to recruit new sweetFrog franchise owners eager to capitalize on proven, non-traditional franchise opportunities. Alex Tosta, sweetFrogs Director of Franchise Development, says the International Franchise Expo is the perfect venue at which to highlight these new non-traditional franchise ownership opportunities as they will be attractive to prospective international and domestic owners. We have successfully expanded the sweetFrog concept in the Dominican Republic and Egypt since our 2009 inception and we have our eye on the Middle East, Asia and Latin America as our next target areas of expansion, said Tosta. On the home-front, were looking to connect with potential franchise owners in key states, like New Jersey, and target areas of expansion throughout the country, including the Midwest and west coast. We are confident all of our non-traditional franchise options will be appealing to prospective franchisees seeking fast-growing and innovative franchise concepts with proven success in a variety of markets. sweetFrog will have a number of key staff members on hand at the 2016 IFE show, including: CEO Patrick Galleher Director of Franchise Development Alex Tosta Manager of Franchise Development Casey Cooley Manager of Franchise Marketing & Sales Shemar Pucel Director of Operations Adam Silverman Manger of Supply Chain Gibson Gahan For more information on sweetFrog, please visit http://www.sweetfrog.com. About sweetFrog Frozen Yogurt sweetFrog (http://www.sweetfrog.com) is the fastest growing premium, all natural, self-serve frozen yogurt restaurant company in the country. With a wide selection of premium frozen yogurt flavors and fresh topping choices, sweetFrog was named Best Frozen Yogurt in the USA by The Daily Meal in 2014 and 2016. sweetFrog has 340 stores including both company-owned, franchise and independently licensed locations either open or under contract in twenty-four states in the U.S, Dominican Republic, United Kingdom and Egypt. The company was founded in 2009 and is based in Richmond, Virginia. sweetFrog prides itself on providing a family-friendly environment where customers can enjoy soft-serve frozen yogurt, gelato and sorbets with the toppings of their choice. The company was founded on Christian principles and seeks to bring happiness and a positive attitude into the lives of the communities it calls home. SOURCE sweetFrog Frozen Yogurt Contacts: Matt Smith Chief Marketing Officer matt.smith@sweetfrog.net (804) 835-6796 Pat Galleher sweetFrog Enterprises LLC +1 8043433441 ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus Zaniac Launches 3D Game Design Program for Kids After-School STEM Enrichment Franchise Teaches Students to Design and Program Custom 3D Video Games SALT LAKE CITY - June 14, 2016 - (BUSINESS WIRE) - Zaniac, a national STEM education franchise, is encouraging kids to create the video games they love to play with the introduction of its newest STEM course, 3D Game Design, which launches nationwide June 20, 2016. In 3D Game Design, fourth through eighth grade students will learn to design and program every element of their own game, including game mechanics, three-dimensional animations, character models and more. The 3D Game Design course will also allow students to gain experience using modeling software, Gimp image editing software, the Unity game engine and the C# programming language. Students who fall in love with 3D Game Design can expand their skills by participating in Zaniacs Mastery Progression Program. To earn a Certificate of Mastery, students must complete all three 3D courses, including 3D Character Design, 3D Environment Design and C# Fundamentals. At Zaniac, one of our core principles is to teach children how to create the technology and games they play with every day and to expose them to skills that will help prepare them for the jobs of tomorrow, said Sidharth Oberoi, Zaniac President and Chief Academic Officer. Were excited to introduce 3D Game Design to our course list to teach children the fundamentals of what goes into the creation of their favorite games. The new 3D Game Design course will join the several other Computer Programming courses already offered at Zaniac. The program is a 90-minute class that meets once a week for six weeks, and the five-to-one student to instructor ratio ensures a personalized, peer-based education experience and also meets for five days in a single week during school breaks such as summer vacation and other holidays. In addition to Computer Programming courses, Zaniac offers a multitude of STEM learning programs that get kids excited to learn math and science while preparing them for 21st century jobs, including Zaniac Robotics: LEGO, App Creation, 3D Printing, Fashion Design and Game-Based Learning: Minecraft. The after-school STEM enrichment franchise currently has corporate campuses open in Salt Lake City and Park City, Utah, in addition to eight franchises in California, Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina and Texas. The fast-growing franchise plans to reach 50 campuses by 2017. For more information about Zaniac or how to enroll in the 3D Game Design program, visit www.zaniaclearning.com. About Zaniac Zaniac, based in Park City, Utah is a national science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education franchise with more than nine campus locations in eight states. Founded in 2011 by New York Times bestselling author, economist, social entrepreneur and Professor Paul Zane Pilzer, Zaniac aims to make after-school learning fun, helping K-8 children become engaged, develop confidence and measurably improve academic performance. For more information, visitwww.zaniaclearning.com. SOURCE Zaniac Contact: Ellen Panther Fishman PR (847) 945-1300 epanther@fishmanpr.com ### Comments: Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Disqus Ikea Furniture Assembly Service Alternative Launched By Furniture Assembly Experts. Furniture Assembly Experts provide on-site furniture assembly service of Ready-to-assemble furniture for residential and commercial clients (after delivery) in Washington DC, Maryland, and northern Virginia. -- As the premier furniture assembly service company in Washington DC, Maryland and northern Virginia, Furniture Assembly Experts know the ready to assemble furniture from top to bottom, which allows them to assembly all types of furniture from a wide variety of different manufacturers and brands. Recently, the company launched ikea furniture assembly service. The Swedish home and office furniture manufacturer ikea is known for revolutionizing the furniture industry through its modern, ready to assemble furniture, appliances and home products. The company expanded from being a small mail order furniture seller to the largest furniture retailer in the world, as of 2008. The company's products are popular around the globe, especially in the US. Their modern designs have allowed buyers to tell their own personal story through home furniture, their furniture is stylish, versatile and affordable which has made it the number one choice among buyers. Anticipating the need of ikea furniture buyer, Furniture Assembly Experts launched an independent ikea furniture assembly service that provides people the convenience of getting their ready-to-assemble furniture assembled by professionals. "Our assemblers provide on-site furniture assembly service of Ready-to-assemble furniture at your home or office after delivery in Washington DC, Maryland and northern Virginia. We service both residential and commercial customers. With our extensive training in furniture assembly; our ikea furniture assemblers specialize in the installation of ready to assemble home furniture, and office furniture from all furniture name brands Manufacturers. Our current coverage is Washington DC, Maryland and Northern Virginia." The Furniture Assembly Experts spokesperson said about their ikea furniture assembly service. Affordable, reliable and quick, the furniture assembly services are available for residential and commercial clients in Washington DC, Maryland, and northern Virginia. Since, the company's inception 3 years ago, they have served hundreds of clients in their service areas. "I cannot speak highly enough about Furniture Assembly Experts. From scheduling to project completion, everything went smoothly and seamlessly. I was extremely happy with the outcome. Kevin arrived on a Sunday afternoon and put together 7 different ikea products in less than 4 hours - That would have taken my husband and I 4 weekends. So happy with the outcome. Thanks Kevin and Furniture Assembly experts!!! Another satisfied customer in Northern Virginia.": Cindi Thomas, a highly satisfied customer of Furniture Assembly Experts services. About us: Furniture Assembly Experts provide on-site furniture assembly service of Ready-to-assemble furniture for residential and commercial clients (after delivery) in Washington DC, Maryland, and northern Virginia. For further details, log on to www.furnitureassemblyexperts.com For more information, please visit http://www.FurnitureAssemblyExperts.com Contact Info: Name: Furniture Assembly Experts Organization: Furniture Assembly Experts Address: 9418 annapolis rd, suite 204 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/ikea-furniture-assembly-service-alternative-launched-by-furniture-assembly-experts/119269 Release ID: 119269 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Steakhouse Sponsors Luncheon For Near West Side Partners Popular steakhouse sponsors luncheon for Near West Side Partners in a joined effort to address development and security of the west side of their beloved city of Milwaukee -- MAY 26 2016 - The Five O'Clock Steakhouse located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has once again joined local forces in support of the area and the city of Milwaukee. The restaurant is well-known throughout the area, having appeared on both local and national television, the Travel Channel, Rachel, Ray and various social media outlets. The steakhouse is known for its award-winning steaks, and the restaurant as well as its staff are constant participants in local fundraisers, benefits, and charitable causes. Recently, the Five O'Clock Steakhouse was a sponsor of the Near West Side Partners Awards Luncheon and Raffle. The luncheon was held for the Near West Side Partners, an organization in Milwaukee that addresses the development and security aspects of the west side of Milwaukee. The luncheon also presented awards such as the "Impact Award" presented to Harley-Davidson, Inc., and the "Community Investment Award" presented to Marquette University High School. Many local celebrities attended the sponsored luncheon for the Near West Side Partners, including Mayor Tom Barrett, and the President and CEO of Harley Davidson Motor Company. The steakhouse helped sponsor the luncheon has appeared as a constant force in several other neighborhood initiatives including one that improved security, lighting, landscaping, and building facades in the immediate area. Currently, the supper club-style steakhouse is fighting hunger in the city and has teamed with the Hunger Task Force of Milwaukee. The Five O'Clock Steakhouse has been in business and part of the community since the 1940s. New ownership has seen the supper club-style restaurant and its famous Alley Cat Lounge renovated and opened to the public. The steaks haven been nationally praised and the lounge has live music every Friday night. Current promotions including fundraisers, menu items, and benefit are available on the restaurant's website. For more information on current promotions, menu items and events visit www.fiveoclocksteakhouse.com For more information, please visit http://www.fiveoclocksteakhouse.com/wi/ Contact Info: Name: Stelio Kalkounos Email: dine@fiveoclocksteakhouse.com Organization: Five O'Clock Steakhouse Address: 2416 West State Street Phone: 414-342-3553 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/steakhouse-sponsors-luncheon-for-near-west-side-partners/119307 Release ID: 119307 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Free Freightnet Membership List your company in the Freightnet directory. It's Free, it's Easy and your company can be displayed in front of potential freight buyers within 24 hours. Using data from Morningstar, we looked at all the funds in the Investment Association UK All Companies, Europe ex UK, Japan, Global Emerging Markets, North America, Asia Pacific ex Japan and Global sectors to identify actively managed funds with an annualised R-squared value of 0.95 or more for the three years to April 30 2016. This limit is based on the average R-Squared value for all passive funds within the sector. The annualised tracking error for the same period was added to show how closely aligned the funds have been to their respective benchmarks. The cut-off point was based on the average tracking error of tracker funds in that IA sector. The funds were then analysed using active share. In this report, portfolios with an active share of 60 per cent or less are considered to be potential closet trackers. Investment Adviser compared the average three year performance of these funds with their tracker peers, sector and index. Individual funds can outperform or underperform for a variety of reasons such as stock selection, fees, cash holdings and manager changes. The funds in the table are sorted by sector, and efforts have been made to remove funds with the stated aim of tracking an index or any institutional funds, although some may have an institutional bias. All companies on the list were given the opportunity to respond. Zurich has named Anne Torry as head of its UK life business and chief executive of its legal entities Zurich Assurance and Sterling Investment Managers. Ms Torry has been with Zurich since 1995 and will begin the new role on 1 July. She will be based in Swindon and report to the UK country head, Vibhu Sharma. She has been managing director of the public sector insurance arm of Zurichs UK general insurance business for the last five years. Ms Torry takes over from Jim Sykes, who has been interim chief executive since Gary Shaughnessy left in January to become chief executive of Zurich Global Life. Mr Sykes will now return to his role as UK Life chief operating officer and head of in-force management. Im joining UK life at a very exciting time as it faces all the opportunities and challenges in the market driven by both customer demand and regulatory and government changes. Ann Torry Ms Torrys permanent replacement as Zurichs Municipal managing director will be Andrew Jepp, who has been with Zurich for 22 years and is currently her deputy and director of public sector. As director of public sector, Mr Jepp has been responsible for delivery of the Zurich Municipal customer proposition as well as financial and business plans across all areas of the public sector, including local government, emergency services, social housing, education, health and charities. Mr Shaughnessy said: Her leadership experience in the UK market, combined with her background running both businesses and functions within them, make her the ideal choice. Ms Torry said: Im joining UK life at a very exciting time as it faces all the opportunities and challenges in the market driven by both customer demand and regulatory and government changes. Richard Ross, director of Norfolk-based Chadwicks, said: I think it is an interesting appointment at a time when the government is looking to the private sector generally, and pension funds in particular, for infrastructure investment as a politically acceptable alternative to the fiscal stimulus the economy desperately needs. During her time at Zurich Municipal, Anne was at the forefront of the drive to persuade local authorities to confront the challenges of cuts with increased and intelligently applied outsourcing. This experience will be invaluable as the emphasis moves from delivering services to creating a more efficient environment. ruth.gillbe@ft.com The Lifetime Isa could pass into law without being subject to the scrutiny of the House of Lords, former pensions minister Steve Webb has warned. Mr Webb, who is now director of policy and external communications at Royal London, said if the bill containing the Lifetime Isa is classed as a money bill as many Treasury bills are it would bypass the House of Lords. That means it wont even be considered by the House of Lords, which is the only place the government can be defeated on it, Mr Webb told pension experts at the ILC-UK Retirement Income Summit in London yesterday (13 June). So it might be great, or it might be something that should have been strangled at birth, one might think. Whichever it is, it is not going to be scrutinised, a) by the extremely knowledgeable expert members of the House of Lords, but b) by a place where the government can lose votes, except if the party were to fragment. The biggest change I can see in pensions government policy since the election is the almost total takeover by the Treasury. Steve Webb He said this danger was a result of HM Treasury taking absolute control of pensions, resulting in retirement policy that was not subject to review in the upper house. The scrutiny of pensions policy in the last parliament was particularly done in the House of Lords, where the government doesnt have a majority, he said. Now, the biggest change I can see in pensions government policy since the election is the almost total takeover by the Treasury. It was always there, it was always a battle a partnership, sorry. But now it has become almost absolute. Mr Webb said this was particularly concerning because the Treasury sees itself as a savings ministry rather than a pensions ministry that is, it is concerned with taking pressure off the budget, rather than achieving the best outcomes for retirees. A Treasury spokesperson told FTAdviser that the Lifetime Isa would be included in the Lifetime Savings Bill announced in the Queens Speech, rather than the Finance Bill announced in the Budget. The Speaker of the Commons will decide whether this bill is classed as a money bill, the spokesman noted, declining to comment on Mr Webbs accusations of taking absolute control of pensions, but pointing out the position of pensions minister was held within the Department of Work & Pensions. Robin Melley, a chartered financial planner and director of Matrix Capital, said he supported the idea of a Lifetime Isa in principle, but added it potentially creates some confusion. He continued that constant changes to pension policy were unhelpful. I wish the government would just leave pensions alone for a while, because continuing to move the goalposts puts people off saving. Responding to Mr Webbs comment that the Treasury was more concerned with budget savings than retirement outcome, he said the cynic in him was inclined to agree. Rizzoli and Isles Season 7 Episode 4 Spoilers, News & Update: Who Killed The Mailman? Rizzoli and Isles is counting down its episodes and from the looks of it, each one has a special link to the other. But while the first two episodes are over and one with, the shows stars may be in for a gripping plot by the time the fourth episode comes around. While episode 3 tackles on a murder at a Zombie convention, the fourth episode involves another murder that, at first, seems less complicated. But based on the synopsis from Spoiler TV, there could be more to the simple killing of the mailman, with the injection of a postal inspector who believes the death is tied up to something bigger, a conspiracy. Jane Rizzoli (Angie Harmon) is likely to be at the head of the investigation though her partners role (Dr. Maura Isles (Sasha Alexander)) on the issue seems a bit undefined for now. With Maura still struggling with her injuries, it will be interesting how the show producers will get the two onboard. The whole plot could start off on episode 3 where the curious question of whether there is actually a zombie roaming around exists per Design & Trend. The episode will see Vince Korsak (Bruce McGill) explaining to Rizzoli that they were costumes to hide their true identities. Further to that, the blood will be hard to figure out from real and fake, bringing up that angle of a zombie in the mix. The scenario isnt new anymore, having seen it from other shows that there will eventually be a culprit that they may have not double checked. Could there be a connection between episode 3 and 4? Probably, probably not. A point for consideration that being the last season following the shows cancellation, anything is possible including tying up the cases for one bigger evil ahead. There will only be 13 episodes for this one before curtains fall so for the Rizzoli and Isles fan, it may be best not to miss them per USA Today. Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia was among the right people enshrined on the memorial wall on Saturday, Oct. 21. When it came time for Corvallis High Schools 10 valedictorians to address their classmates at the schools graduation Monday night, they took the opportunity to share lessons they had learned in their time at the school. High school is about learning and in spite of what our parents may think, we have learned so much, said the groups first speaker. If you work hard and persevere you can achieve anything, said one of the valedictorians about what he learned at CHS. What I learned in high school is Im not very good at public speaking, said one of the valedictorians in a single sentence address that earned some laughter from the audience. I learned its important to not stretch yourself too thin, said another, saying she enjoyed her senior year more when she cut back on activities. I learned it matters less the road you travel than the people you travel it with, said another. A successful education teaches you how to think. At CHS I learned to think, said another. This is only the start of our education, said the last of the valedictorians. These lessons were given during the schools celebration of the more than 280 students in its graduating class of 2016. Matt Boring, the schools principal, also spoke during the event, offering one last lesson of his own to the class. He described how as he was trying to write his address Sunday he was seeing news about the mass shooting in Orlando, Florida, which left 50 people dead. Like a lot of you on the night before an essay is due, I was looking for a prompt, he said. I plumbed the depths of my wisdom, which really only took about 15 seconds. And he described looking at the class graduation announcement as he was looking for inspiration. And he found the class motto: Dont let your dreams just be dreams just do it. Boring said the Just do it culture originated with Nike adopting that as its slogan in 1988, and that the culture of acting without thoughtfulness has resulted in poisoning of the environment, politics that have ground to a halt, and allowing things like the shooting in Orlando to happen. Our version of Just do it isnt working, he said. Sorry. However, he said the class of 2016 is the best he has seen in 27 years of working in high schools and was optimistic about what they would do in the world. But he offered alternatives to Just do it. Just fix it, he said. Just listen. Just respect yourselves and others, he said. He also called the class the most tolerant he had ever seen. Its been a pleasure being your principal. I just hope some of your traits have rubbed off on me. Three of the events speakers gave parts of their address' in Spanish, including Brian Ixtlahuac and Jonathan Rodriguez, the co-presidents of the senior class. In a part of his address in English, Rodriguez said he was proud of his Mexican-American heritage and was excited to show what Latinos can do. Many of our parents crossed the border so we could cross the stage, he said. That day is today. This log includes incidents in which there might have been a public disturbance or a risk to the public. Information comes from the Corvallis Police Department, the Benton County Sheriffs Office and Oregon State Police. It does not include all calls for service. The status of incidents might change after further investigation. Locations are approximate. People arrested or suspected in crimes are considered innocent until proven otherwise. Corvallis Police Department SUNDAY, JUNE 12 BURGLARY: 9:50 p.m., 1651 N.W. Taylor Ave. Officers arrested Patrick Carrol Hummel, 38, of Albany, after he allegedly committed two burglaries and fled from officers on foot. He was charged with two counts of first degree burglary, first degree theft, two counts of criminal mischief, second degree criminal trespassing and interfering with a peace officer. DUII: 4:15 a.m., Northwest Harrison Boulevard and Northwest Fourth Street. An officer arrested Hunter Morris Walker, 18, of Newport, for charges of DUII and minor in possession of liquor. He reportedly had a blood alcohol content of 0.09 percent. SATURDAY, JUNE 11 DUII CRASH: 11 p.m., Northwest 15th Street and Northwest Monroe Avenue. Officers responding to a report of a hit and run allegedly stopped a vehicle with plates matching a witness report, and arrested its driver, Arie Jon Robinson, 21, of Colton, for charges of DUII, reckless driving, reckless endangering and failure to perform the duties of a driver. He reportedly had a blood alcohol content of 0.10 percent. No injuries were reported. INTERFERING WITH A PEACE OFFICER: 10:33 p.m., 347 N.W. 12th St. An officer arrested Chase Allen Hubbard, 20, of Corvallis, after he dropped some beer cans and ran when an officer asked him to stop. The officer caught him and arrested him for charges of interfering with a peace officer and minor in possession of liquor. Benton County Sheriffs Office SATURDAY, JUNE 11 DUII: 3 a.m., Northwest Fifth Street and Northwest Harrison Boulevard. A deputy arrested Kanin Charles Campbell, 23, of Corvallis for charges of DUII and driving while suspended. He reportedly had a blood alcohol content of 0.19 percent. Tenants have won a major victory in a case involving excessive rental fees charged by landlords. A class-action case that includes two Corvallis apartment complexes has been settled in favor of residents, with the defendant, Horizon Realty Advisors of Seattle, ordered to repay tenants who were affected by the excessive charges. Horizon Realty was charging incoming tenants a $400 restoration fee for carpet cleaning and touch-up painting that would not be undertaken until the tenant departs. The case, which was settled in Lane County Circuit Court on May 31, included three apartment complexes in Eugene plus the Union and Grand Oaks facilities in Corvallis. All three of the facilities in Eugene and the Union are described on the Horitzon Realty Advisors as student housing. The Grand Oaks caters to general tenants. This is a huge deal, said Dawn Duerksen of Duerksen & Associates Inc., a longtime Corvallis property management firm that has played a leading role in the Corvallis Rental Property Managers Group, which is working to help solve tenant-landlord issues via training and outreach. I bring this up at our meetings all the time because there are a lot of people in town that still do it. This is an ongoing problem. Duerksen and city housing officials noted that a 2010 state law put limits on the fees that property managers and landlords can charge. Basically, Duerksen said, landlords only can charge refundable security deposits. The class action affects tenants who paid the nonrefundable restoration fee between Dec. 23, 2014 and Dec. 22, 2015 at the Union, the Grand Oaks and the Chase Village, Stadium Park and Forest Hills complexes in Eugene. Those affected by the fee have until July 15 to apply for a refund (see this story online for information on how to apply for a refund). Horizon is required under the terms of the settlement to notify the affected tenants in writing with information on how to get their refunds. Frank Gibson, an attorney with Hutchinson Cox in Eugene, handled the case. and noted that "class-action notices are often discarded as junk mail. Anyone who rented in one of these complex between Dec. 23, 1014 and Dec. 22, 2015 should keep an eye on their mail for the notice." The case was initiated by Liz Miller, a third-year University of Oregon law student who was confronted with the fee when she moved into Chase Village last August, Gibson said. When Liz told me about the charge, he said, I wondered who was charging the fee and how many other tenants had to pay it. Miller chose not to participate in the suit and instead found two Chase Village residents, Lane Community College students Dillon Redican and Jessica Gold, who were willing to serve as the class-action plaintiffs. Gibsons complaint alleges that Horizons policy violated the state law on landlord fees (ORS 90.302) by both charging and requiring the fee and by not describing the restoration charge in their rental agreements. Horizon did not admit that the fees were illegal, Gibson said, but the company has agreed not to charge them in the future. More than $245,000 has been refunded to tenants covered by the litigation, with another $44,000 still uncashed said Gregory Beckel of Horizon in a court filing. Horizon representatives did not respond to an email and a phone message seeking comment on the case, and local representatives at the Union and Grand Oaks also declined comment. City of Corvallis officials have been kicking around a variety of different ideas to try to raise more revenue for city services; its all part of the work that a city task force has been tackling in its attempts to build a sustainable city budget. The list of potential revenue enhancements, as government officials like to call them, includes some items about which we are skeptical, including a local income tax or a sales tax. Why we would want to do anything to increase the cost of living in Corvallis while, at the same time, continuing to gnash our teeth about how expensive it is to live in Corvallis escapes us. But there is a revenue enhancement that we can endorse with enthusiasm, and we suggest that the City Council move with haste to place it on the November ballot: a 3 percent local tax on the sale of recreational marijuana. The statewide ballot measure that legalized recreational pot in Oregon was fairly specific about where tax revenue from sales would be spent, but it does allow an option for local governments to levy a tax of up to 3 percent. Its not clear how much money Corvallis would raise from a 3 percent pot tax, but one thing has become apparent since recreational marijuana sales became legal: Its more money than officials originally thought. For example, officials say that in January and February, the state collected a total of $6.8 million in taxes from the sales of recreational pot. State economists earlier had estimated that recreational pot sales might bring in some $2 million to $3 million each year. (To be fair, the economists were working in uncharted territory.) But the implications here that the amount of potential tax money from pot sales might be more than 10 times what economists originally expected have been sufficient to garner renewed interest from local governments, including Corvallis. Now, an overly large tax burden on marijuana runs the risk that of driving recreational marijuana users to the black market, but theres isnt any evidence thats happening yet. And the total tax that Oregon has slapped on recreational pot sales is less than in other states that have legalized recreational pot, such as Oregon and Washington. (In fact, the state rate in Oregon is scheduled to eventually drop from 25 percent to 17 percent.) Its worth noting that medical marijuana remains untaxed, so those users would not be burdened by a tax on recreational pot. Taxing recreational marijuana wont by itself solve all of the citys fiscal woes, unless the market in Corvallis is much bigger than we thought. But some extra change flowing into the citys coffers from this source wont hurt anyone. And who knows? It might add up to something more substantial than just some extra change. Welcome to my genealogy blog. Genea-Musings features genealogy research tips and techniques, genealogy news items and commentary, genealogy humor, San Diego genealogy society news, family history research and some family history stories from the keyboard of Randy Seaver (of Chula Vista CA), who thinks that Genealogy Research Is really FUN! Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2006-2021. Electric cars : Proposed free parking for electric cars Bonn Bonn wants to improve support for electric vehicles. Teilen Teilen Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Tweeten Tweeten Weiterleiten Weiterleiten Drucken In a draft resolution to the implementation of the electric mobility law, the city is proposing free parking as well as more parking spaces and charging stations for electric vehicles. It is proposed that in future, electric cars with the E number plate will be able to park for free in city car parks. It is also proposed to provide parking spaces at charging stations and to extend the charging infrastructure in cooperation with the public works department (SWB). The council will make a decision in its September sitting. The electric mobility law agreed last year allows electric vehicles with E number plates to be prioritised in traffic. Those vehicles which are exclusively electric or which operate on hydrogen, ethanol or methanol can have E number plates. The law applies in a limited way to hybrid cars. The law applies until the end of 2026. In 2021 there will be review of how electric mobility in Bonn has developed and whether further measures need to be taken. There are currently 72 cars, six motorcycles and 603 trucks registered as purely electric vehicles in Bonn. The city says a further 687 vehicles fulfil the requirements for an E number plate. A total of 1368 vehicles could therefore make use of the proposed special laws. There are currently 155,000 vehicles registered in Bonn. There are a total of 38 charging stations for electric cars in Bonn and the Rhine-Sieg area. Five more are planned. SWB currently operates six charging stations in Bonn. In cooperation with the city, this year SWB wants to set up the first charging stations in public places. More details will follow. An opportunity for foodies and beer lovers to get lost in a world of food and drink from a hand-selected range of food trucks and breweries from around New Zealand. 'Feels Like Home Season 2' offers something real and tangible to think about; takes home a pertinent point - if your intentions are good, there is nothing in life that isn't achievable. N Korea Hackers Steal Wing Blueprints for US F-15 Fighters Sputnik News 19:01 13.06.2016(updated 19:02 13.06.2016) Pyongyang hackers stole defense documents including US F-15 fighter jet designs in the latest of its cyberattacks on Seoul, media reported Monday, citing the South Korean police. MOSCOW (Sputnik) According to The Wall Street Journal, the North Korean hackers have stolen over 40,000 defense industry documents in attacks on two companies beginning in 2014 and were discovered earlier this year. One of these companies, Korean Air Lines Co., reportedly said that the wing blueprints for an F-15 jet fighter, used by the country's military, as well as pictures of parts of unmanned spy planes, were among the documents stolen from it. "North Korea turns out to have been preparing for a long time to try to launch a countrywide cyberattack," the Korean National Police Agency said, as quoted by the paper. The police reportedly said that by detecting the cyberattack they prevented the alleged start of a larger-scale attack. The attack was carried out from the same Pyongyang internet address that was used in a 2013 cyberattack on South Korean banks and television stations, the paper reported, citing police. South Korea's military has been targeted by hacker attacks since 2014. The North has been suspect of carrying out the attacks, but no decisive evidence has been uncovered. Seoul believes that Pyongyang operates a 6,000-strong special hacker unit. In March, South Korea's spy agency, the National Intelligence Service, reportedly said that North Korea had stolen information from dozens of Seoul top government officials' smartphones. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address A backseat view of combat airstrikes By Capt. Sybil Taunton, 380 Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs / Published June 13, 2016 SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFNS) -- Throughout the month of May, the air coalition has been able to strike lucrative targets including: logistics lines, command and control and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant financial resources through more than 1,800 strike sorties. "My goal as the air component is to actually put pressure on (ISIL) wherever they are," said Lt. Gen. Charles Q. Brown, the U.S. Air Forces Central Command commander, during a recent press briefing in Washington D.C. "I'm always pressing pretty hard to use our airpower as much as possible." The air coalition has an array of precision capability available to strike targets and defend the region. Weapon systems officers assigned to the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing discussed their combat role and the importance of teamwork when flying and employing precision ordnance from the vantage point of the two-seat F-15E Strike Eagle. "The great thing about a two-seat aircraft is that we can divide out duties and be more effective," said Capt. Dan, a WSO assigned to the 380th AEW. "The pilot in the front seat can coordinate for airspace and refueling, while the WSO in the backseat can talk to the joint terminal attack controller on the ground, find a target and have a weapon ready to drop." Maj. Justin, also a WSO assigned to the 380th AEW, explained how various organizations work together to successfully destroy a target. JTACs determine target locations from strike cells, while unmanned aerial vehicles and intelligence personnel deliver imagery and situation updates. Weather personnel provide updated briefings, maintainers work day and night to prepare the jets to fly, and airfield management Airmen clear the airfield for appropriate munitions, according to Justin. "The aircrew specifically will talk to a half-dozen agencies before even getting to an area where a strike can take place," Justin said. "In the end it is a very complicated process that takes everyone doing their part to get the bomb on target." According to Dan, once in flight, a WSO has several things running through their mind in preparation for strike operations. There are a number of checklist items that must be calculated to ensure precision and accuracy. "There are dozens of 'what ifs' you must consider as well," Dan said. "You must always be prepared and thinking ahead because it can go from zero to 100 in a split second." Justin also discussed the precision and care that is taken when employing targets. "The targets I'm assigned to destroy have been vetted through the most professional members of our armed services, and (I know) that others are taking their jobs as seriously as I am," Justin said. Dan said destroying critical targets that diminish the capabilities of terrorist organizations and protecting ground troops are critically important mission areas. "We are here to provide support to (indigenous) troops on the ground," Dan said. "So it is a good feeling to know that we can help keep them safe." Editor's note: Due to safety and security concerns, some names were removed. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Counter-ISIL Strikes Hit Terrorists in Syria, Iraq From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release SOUTHWEST ASIA, June 13, 2016 U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Syria and Iraq yesterday, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today. Officials reported details of the latest strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports. Strikes in Syria Attack, fighter, and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 13 strikes in Syria: -- Near Abu Kamal, a strike destroyed two ISIL oil well heads. -- Near Ayn Isa, five strikes struck five separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed an ISIL fighting position, five ISIL vehicles, an ISIL command and control node and an ISIL front-end loader. -- Near Manbij, six strikes struck five separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed four ISIL fighting positions, an ISIL cave entrance, an ISIL weapons cache, an ISIL vehicle and an ISIL light machine gun. -- Near Mara, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL fighting position and an ISIL tactical vehicle. Strikes in Iraq Bomber, ground-attack, attack, fighter, and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 19 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq's government: Near Beiji, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed two ISIL fighting positions, an ISIL vehicle and an ISIL heavy machine gun. -- Near Fallujah, three strikes struck three separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed 11 ISIL fighting positions, two ISIL vehicles, two ISIL heavy machine guns, an ISIL anti-air artillery piece, five ISIL light machine guns, three ISIL tunnel systems and an ISIL recoilless rifle and damaged a separate ISIL fighting position and denied ISIL access to terrain. -- Near Haditha, a strike destroyed an ISIL vehicle. -- Near Kisik, a strike suppressed an ISIL mortar position. -- Near Mosul, six strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and an ISIL oil tanker storage area and destroyed an ISIL fighting position and an ISIL vehicle and suppressed an ISIL machine gun position. -- Near Qayyarah, seven strikes struck two separate large ISIL tactical units, an ISIL vehicle bomb-making facility and three ISIL-used bridges and destroyed an ISIL vehicle, seven ISIL assembly areas, two ISIL artillery pieces, an ISIL tactical vehicle, three ISIL mortar systems, an ISIL mortar position, an ISIL rocket rail, four ISIL vehicle bombs and 18 ISIL boats and suppressed a separate ISIL tactical unit. Task force officials define a strike as one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative, effect. Therefore, officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets harder or impossible for ISIL to use. Accordingly, officials said, they do not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target. Ground-based artillery fired in counterfire or in fire support to maneuver roles is not classified as a strike. Part of Operation Inherent Resolve The strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to eliminate the ISIL terrorist group and the threat they pose to Iraq, Syria, and the wider international community. The destruction of ISIL targets in Syria and Iraq further limits the terrorist group's ability to project terror and conduct operations, officials said. Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Iraq include the United States, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Syria include the United States, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, France, Jordan, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address NATO Defence Ministers to pave the way for decisions at the Warsaw Summit NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organisation 13 Jun. 2016 NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg briefed media on Monday (13 June 2016) on the agenda of this week's meetings of NATO Defence Ministers. "Over the next two days, we will take a series of important decisions to strengthen our collective defence and enhance our cooperation with partners," said Mr. Stoltenberg. He stressed that these decisions will pave the way for the Warsaw Summit in July. "We will agree to deploy by rotation four robust multinational battalions in the Baltic states and in Poland," said the Secretary General. He underlined that these battalions are part of a much bigger shift in NATO's defence and deterrence posture, including a larger NATO Response Force, a new Spearhead Force and 8 new small headquarters in the eastern part of the Alliance. "All together this strikes the right balance between a greater ability to reinforce, and boost our forward presence," he added. NATO has also taken action to ensure that Allied troops can move faster across Europe, for exercises or reinforcements, if needed. "Last month, the Spearhead Force conducted an exercise which showed how far we have come. One thousand troops and four hundred military vehicles moved from Spain to Poland within four days," said Mr. Stoltenberg. He stressed that NATO will continue to work to improve freedom of movement for Allied troops and equipment, because speed can make the difference when a crisis emerges. The Secretary General underscored that Allies must spend more on defence to sustain this shift in NATO's defence posture. He highlighted that, following a long decline in defence spending, 2015 was the first year after many when the Alliance registered a small increase in defence spending. "Our estimates for 2016 show a further increase," said Mr. Stoltenberg. The annual real change stands at around 1.5 percent, an increase of over 3 billion dollars, with twenty Allies planning to spend more on defence in real terms this year. "So this is real progress. After many years of going in the wrong direction, we are starting to go into the right direction," he said. This week, Defence Ministers will also discuss how NATO can expand its efforts to project stability beyond its borders, strengthening local forces in the fight against terrorism. "We will also consider providing AWACS surveillance planes to support the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL," said the Secretary General. He added that ministers will assess what more NATO can do in the wider Mediterranean Sea, for instance in support of the European Union's Operation Sophia. On Tuesday, Ministers will discuss the future of cooperation between NATO and the European Union, together with High Representative Mogherini and Ministers from Finland and Sweden. Mr. Stoltenberg noted that ministers will also explore additional assistance for Ukraine and Georgia. "On Wednesday, we will meet the Ukrainian Defence Minister in the NATO-Ukraine Commission. We are concerned about the security situation, amid continued ceasefire violations in eastern Ukraine," said Mr. Stoltenberg. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Deputy Secretary General stresses the importance of Alliance partnerships NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organisation 13 Jun. 2016 In a keynote speech at the International Security Forum in Geneva on Monday (13 June 2016), NATO Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow discussed NATO's response to current security challenges, the agenda for the Warsaw Summit, and the significance the Alliance attaches to partnerships with non-NATO members. Ambassador Vershbow underlined the important contributions Switzerland is making to the Alliance, including to the NATO-led KFOR mission in Kosovo, to capacity building in the Republic of Moldova, and to efforts by other NATO partner countries to demilitarize. Switzerland has also been a driving force behind the development of NATO's policy on wide range of human security issues. Ambassador Vershbow noted that "as a result of its partnership with NATO, I believe that Switzerland has profoundly enhanced its influence on, and contribution to, international security". Regarding the current security challenges, Ambassador Vershbow said that the biggest challenges we face are "the actions of a more aggressive and assertive Russia, and the tide of violence and instability which has swept across the Middle East and North Africa". NATO's Deputy Secretary General noted that two themes will define the upcoming Summit in Warsaw. "NATO has taken the view that we must protect our nations by strengthening our collective defence and we must project stability beyond our borders", Ambassador Vershbow said. Deputy Secretary General also noted that at the Warsaw Summit Alliance will take next steps to enhance partnerships, especially with the European Union: "Closer cooperation between the two - on hybrid threats, cyber defence and maritime security, among many other things - is frankly, a no-brainer". NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Frank Cable Arrives in Puerto Princesa, Philippines for Port Visit Navy News Service Story Number: NNS160613-02 Release Date: 6/13/2016 8:45:00 AM By Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Alana Langdon, USS Frank Cable (AS 40) Public Affairs PUERTO PRINCESA, Philippines (NNS) -- Submarine tender USS Frank Cable (AS 40) arrived in Puerto Princesa for a scheduled port visit June 11. The port visit will allow Frank Cable Sailors and Military Sealift Command mariners to enjoy some rest and relaxation and allow them to experience the Philippine culture. Frank Cable's Commanding Officer, Capt. Drew St. John said these opportunities to enjoy liberty in a country with a close and historic relationship with the United States are important to the mission of the United States Navy and Frank Cable. "Our two countries have strong ties we trace back to the shared sacrifices of World War II," said St. John. "This visit is special to my crew, including many who have close personal ties to the Philippines. Our Sailors act as diplomats for the United States every day, and through their varied interactions with the local population they strengthen the bonds of friendship and cooperation between our two countries." One way Sailors will interact with the local community is through various community service projects, sponsored by the ship's religious ministries. "Doing [community service projects] is one of my favorite parts of visiting foreign ports," said Hull Maintenance Technician 2nd Class Caleb Bednarz, a native of Chesapeake, Virginia. "We are here on liberty to experience the culture and make a positive impact with the local community. I think there is no better way to do that than by giving some personal time up." Many Sailors will also be able to spend time with their families and friends who are residents of the Philippines. "It has been truly a blessing going back to my homeland," said Machinery Repairman Fireman Carl Paguirigan, whose family lives about three hours away. "The last time I [was] here was December 2014 when I spent Christmas with my family. I plan on surprising my mother; she's dying to know when I'll be coming back. I cannot wait to taste my mother's home cooking again." Frank Cable is on a scheduled deployment in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations to conduct maintenance and support deployed U.S. naval force submarines and surface vessels in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Mississippi Visits Busan during Western Pacific Deployment Navy News Service Story Number: NNS160613-01 Release Date: 6/13/2016 8:35:00 AM By Lt. j.g. Tamsyn Thompson, USS Mississippi (SSN 782) Public Affairs BUSAN, Republic of Korea (NNS) -- Virginia-class fast attack submarine USS Mississippi (SSN 782) arrived at Busan for a routine visit as part of its maiden Indo-Asia-Pacific deployment, June 13. With a crew of approximately 141 Sailors, Mississippi is conducting a multitude of missions while maintaining proficiency of the latest capabilities of the submarine fleet. "This port call to Busan is a great opportunity," said Cmdr. Eric Rozek, Mississippi's commanding officer. "The visit allows the crew to contact their loved ones back home following several weeks at sea. At the same time, my Sailors will also get the unique opportunity to experience the heritage, culture and history of Korea and continue to strengthen our relationship with one of our Western Pacific partners." Mississippi's visit is essential to the strengthening and broadening of the U.S. and Republic of Korea bilateral relationship, while expanding on the existing strong naval bond. While in port, Sailors will volunteer some of their off-duty hours in support of a joint military-to-military community relations engagement, which includes recreational activities with children from a local orphanage and facility maintenance. For many of the crew members, this is their first time traveling outside of the U.S. "I'm extremely excited to visit Busan," said Culinary Specialist 3rd Class Adam E. Esaw, native of Sarasota, Florida. "I'm looking forward to immersing myself in the South Korean culture and experiencing the indigenous food and local market life." Measuring more than 360-feet-long and displacing approximately 7,000 tons when submerged, Mississippi is the one of the most technologically advanced and stealthiest submarines in the world, and has the capabilities of supporting a multitude of missions. She adds tremendous capabilities from the undersea domain to provide the United States and allies and partners with anti-submarine, anti-surface, strike, naval special warfare involving special operations forces and mine warfare. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Afghan soldier killed in exchange of fire along border with Pakistan Iran Press TV Mon Jun 13, 2016 3:28PM At least one Afghan soldier has been killed and more than a dozen people injured in an exchange of fire between border guards of Afghanistan and Pakistan, amid tensions between the two countries over Islamabad's decision to tighten its border controls. The clash erupted near the Torkham border crossing, which connects Afghanistan's eastern province of Nangarhar to Pakistan's northwestern Khyber tribal district, at around 9 p.m. local time on Sunday night and continued for over seven consecutive hours. Pakistan confirmed that two of its border guards and nine civilians were injured in what it called "an unprovoked shooting," while Afghanistan said one of its soldiers was "martyred" and six other Afghans were wounded in the incident. Both sides blamed each other for starting the fighting in the mountainous region. "Afghan security forces resorted to unprovoked firing on Pakistani side at Torkham Gate," said a statement by Pakistan's Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR). The incident happened when construction work to build fences and installations began on a new gate on the Pakistani side, the statement added. The Afghan officials, however, blamed Pakistan for starting the clash. "The current fight Pakistan started doesn't help anyone's interest," said Abdullah Abdullah, Afghanistan's chief executive, adding, "Pakistan wanted to build new installations and Afghan border forces didn't allow it. Pakistan went further and fired towards Afghan forces." Pakistan says it wants to erect a gate on its own side of the border so as to check unwanted and illegal movement, and to block the entry of possible terrorists to the country, while Afghan officials say the additional gate is in an area which is a no man's land. Afghanistan and Pakistan share a 2,500-kilometer frontier, known as the Durand Line. The two neighbors are involved in a dispute over the British-era border demarcation. Pakistan calls in Afghan envoy Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday summoned the Afghan charge d'affaires to convey Islamabad's strong protest to Kabul over the overnight clash. The Afghan diplomat was told that the firing incident was "contrary to the spirit of friendly relations" between the two countries. The Afghan side was urged to "thoroughly investigate" the incident and share the findings with the Pakistani authorities, a Pakistani Foreign Office spokesperson said, adding that the firing was aimed at "disrupting the construction of a gate well inside Pakistani territory at the border." Torkham is the most frequently used crossing gate at the common border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Islamabad claims the crossing gate has been recently used by terrorists to enter Pakistan. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Baltics, Poland push for more NATO buildup to 'deter Russia' Iran Press TV Mon Jun 13, 2016 10:27AM Leaders in the Baltic countries and Poland fear the force that NATO plans to deploy on their territory is unable to confront Russia. NATO ministers are set to agree on deploying a new contingent of 4,000 troops to the Baltics and Poland at a summit in Brussels on Tuesday and Wednesday. The deployment, expected to be approved in a July summit in Warsaw, will be led by the United States, Germany, Britain and possibly Canada. Once the decision is made, Britain is expected to deploy troops to Estonia, Germany to Lithuania, the US to Latvia and Canada possibly to Poland. Ministers of Baltic countries and Poland, however, say the measure would not be enough "to deter Russian action." "We need to stop possible air aggression," said Lithuania's Defense Minister Juozas Olekas. His country, Olekas said, was discussing creating a regional medium-range air defense system together with the Latvians, the Estonians and the Poles. They seek medium-range missile interceptors from Norway's Kongsberg Gruppen and US contractor Raytheon. The Baltic counties have so far relied on their NATO allies' aircraft to patrol their skies. Four British Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets and four Portuguese F-16 fighter jets are currently carrying out the air mission. Officials, however, say a lot more would be needed for air defense. Russia is wary of the increased presence of NATO troops close to its borders and has pledged to respond accordingly to any threats posed by the alliance. Russia's Ambassador to NATO Alexander Grushko said last week that NATO's plan for more deployments in Poland and the Baltic states "changes the regional situation in the sphere of security qualitatively." Such a move, he said, will "surely require not only a political response but also the appropriate military precautions." NATO has stepped up its military buildup near Russia's borders since it suspended all ties with Moscow in April 2014 after Crimea re-integrated into the Russian Federation following a referendum. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Over dozen Daesh terrorists slain in eastern Afghanistan Iran Press TV Mon Jun 13, 2016 7:18AM More than a dozen members of the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group have been killed in operations by Afghan security forces against the extremists in the country's eastern province of Nangarhar. In a statement released on Sunday, the Afghan Ministry of Defense announced that the operations were carried out in the Achin and Dih Bala districts of the province, located some 150 kilometers (86 miles) east of the capital, Kabul. The statement added that 13 Daesh Takfiris were killed during the operations, while seven more sustained injuries. Daesh militants had killed six police officers, including a district police chief, in the same Afghan province a day earlier. Attaullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said the terrorists attacked the administrative headquarters in Haska Mina district early on Saturday, and shot the policemen dead. On April 14, Afghan military aircraft carried out an airstrike and killed dozens of Daesh members in Nangarhar, which borders Pakistan. The Afghan army's public relations directorate said 42 Daesh militants were killed in the raid and a training center was destroyed. Nangarhar has been witnessing a rise in the number of Daesh terrorists in some of its districts in recent months. Afghanistan faces a security challenge years after the United States and its allies invaded the country in 2001 as part of Washington's so-called war on terror. The offensive removed the Taliban from power, but many areas in the country are still beset with insecurity. There are currently some 10,000 foreign forces in Afghanistan despite the end of the US-led combat mission on December 31, 2014. The forces, mainly from the US, are there for what Washington calls a support mission. NATO says the forces focus mainly on counter-terrorism operations and training Afghan soldiers and policemen. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address The Changing Face Of Kabul: After Years Of Foreign-Fueled Growth, An Uncertain Future June 13, 2016 by Charles Recknagel and Mustafa Sarwar On the eastern edge of Kabul is a modern housing development that once embodied everything the city hoped to become as international aid and investment poured into the Afghan economy. The neat rows of trim bungalows and towering villas, dotted with a high-rise complex and a new mosque, went up quickly, with 500 construction workers and plenty of buyers. But now, property developer Haji Hafizullah Karwan sits in his office surrounded by advertising materials for his still mostly uninhabited development and frets over how Kabul's economy has collapsed since most foreign troops and much foreign aid left Afghanistan at the end of 2014. The loss of the country's economic backbone has left many of his customers without an employer and unable to move into their finished homes because they cannot afford the installment payments that are part of their purchase agreement. "Most of our customers have bought units by paying 20, 30, or 50 percent in advance," he says. "The units have been completed for three years, [but] now, when we demand payments from them, they don't answer when they see it's a call from our office." Karwan's construction force has dwindled to just 100 men and his prospects for selling any more homes in the development, even after slashing prices by half, look bleak. The deserted new township is just one side of the rapidly changing face of Kabul as the city and the country adjust to some hard economic realities. For more than a decade, from 2001 to 2012, Afghanistan posted an average annual growth rate of 9 percent. But that fast growth rate slowed to just 1.5 percent in 2015. The precipitous drop is the direct result of the withdrawal of foreign troops, whose presence injected billions of dollars into an economy whose own economic motors of agriculture and manufacturing still barely turn. "Afghanistan's economic growth has been based on the service sector, which the presence of foreign troops created," says Economy Minister Abdul Satar Murad. "With the withdrawal of foreign troops, service, especially in the transportation sector, sharply decreased and caused a big drop in economic growth." In 2010, when there were 130,000 foreign soldiers in Afghanistan, total foreign aid including military and reconstruction spending was $15.7 billion according to the World Bank. But today, just 14,000 NATO troops remain and total spending is reportedly down to $8 billion. At the same time, Afghanistan has suffered a downturn in private investment as most foreign troops have left, but the Taliban insurgency continues with no end in sight. According to the World Bank, registrations of new commercial firms in 2014 shrank by nearly half compared to 2013. The scale of the economic downturn has left Kabul with a list of problems that goes far beyond simply unfinished dream homes. Kabul's relative stability and security after 2001, coupled with its booming economy, turned it into a magnet for people fleeing violence elsewhere in Afghanistan and those simply seeking a better economic future. The influx has made it one of the fastest growing capitals in the world, ballooning from some 500,000 people to 2001 to 5 to 7 million today. That growth has put enormous strains on the city's infrastructure as it has created an urban sprawl of mostly unplanned new neighborhoods that now fill the broad valley in which Kabul sits. Many of the new neighborhoods started off as encampments of internally displaced persons (IDPs) who have settled on vacant land, usually on the outskirts of the city or on the slopes of the hills that ring it. Over time, the residents have built simple mud-brick homes, but their settlements remain unconnected to the city water supply, sewer system, or bus lines. The Institute of Afghan Studies, a private institution that promotes Afghan-U.S. ties, has estimated that up to 50 percent of the city's burgeoning population lives in such settlements, creating a stark contrast to the older areas of the city which remain the center of business. "The influx of IDPs to Kabul has been a big problem for the city," says Khozhman Uloomi, the former deputy head of urban services at the Kabul Municipal Office. "They have put burdens on all the city's facilities, not only in terms of [housing] but also creating problems in the areas of providing jobs, health and education, and sanitation and drinking water. Unfortunately, the government, including the municipality, is unable to solve these problems." In reaction to the influx, the municipal office began developing plans in 2008 to accommodate population growth up to 8 million people. But Uloomi says the planning is being outstripped by strongmen putting up townships when and where they wish and by IDPs occupying hillsides and other vacant areas. He says the lack of facilities means that the children of IDPs most study outdoors under tents. As for sanitation, the waste produced by Kabul's burgeoning population is more than the city can collect and clean, leaving debris to accumulate and spread disease. As fighting continues in many parts of Afghanistan, more people keep coming to Kabul and the problems keep growing. On the other side of the city from the modern township Karwan is building, still another makeshift camp is taking shape as a new wave of people arrives from the northern province of Kunduz, where the Taliban this year launched a new offensive. Ghulam Ali sits in a tent he has placed on a vacant lot near an established older neighborhood. The new arrivals have been warned by people he does not identify that they are on land destined to be a construction site and that they can only stay there only temporarily. But Ali, who is a cobbler by trade, and his family of eight have laid down a carpet and made their tent as neat and comfortable as possible in the meantime. "We thought there would be work, work for cobblers, that our economic situation would be better, that's why we came to Kabul," he says. Ali says his home in Kunduz now looks like "a black crow" after it was burned down during fighting. Each day, he walks to a nearby square with his tools and waits for women and children to bring him shoes to repair. He says he earns 10 to 50 Afghanis ($0.14 to $0.72) a day, then buys bread in the evening with nothing left over. With nearby schools too overcrowded to accommodate his children, Ali says his only wish is to go back to his home village one day. But many others who have been displaced to Kabul, or come seeking a better life, have ended up staying, swelling the city with millions of dispossessed people. Unable to afford property of their own, they pay rent to one, and sometimes, multiple people who claim to own the land they occupy, risking eviction if they refuse. Some analysts warn that as the face of Kabul changes, the deepening income gaps between residents are creating the ingredients for social instability that will last long after any peace deal with the Taliban ends security problems. "Even if peace negotiations -- and we are nowhere near them -- will succeed in ending the war, we will still face all these social problems here," says Thomas Ruttig, of the Kabul-based Afghan Analysts Network. "Afghanistan will still be one of the poorest countries in the world and there will be a lot of conflicts which, because during the war society has been so militarized, might be fought out with weapons." Many foreigners who have visited the capital over the years recall that in 2001 one could see the city limits from the rooftop of any tall building in the center. Today, the uncontrolled sprawl of the city extends far out of view. Radio Free Afghanistan correspondents in Kabul Tameem Akhgar, Elyas Saleh, and Wali Sabawoon contributed to this story Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/changing-face-of-kabul- uncertain-fututure-foreign-troops-leaving/27795414.html Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address NATO Chief Says Four Battalions Going To Baltics, Poland June 13, 2016 NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says the military alliance will agree this week to send four multinational battalions to Poland and the Baltic states to boost their defense and show that NATO is "ready to defend any ally." Stoltenberg said on June 13 the new plans are due to be formally approved at a NATO defense ministers' meeting that begins in Brussels on June 14. "NATO has taken robust action to protect our nations and to contribute to stability in our neighborhood," Stoltenberg said. "But the challenges we face are enduring, so we need to be prepared for the long haul." Stoltenberg said the battalions will be deployed on a rotational basis rather than being based permanently in countries. The easternmost of NATO's 28 members, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland have said they feel threatened by Russia in light of its illegal annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and support for separatists in eastern Ukraine. U.S. NATO Ambassador Douglas Lute said details of the number of troops to be deployed and from which countries will be announced at the July NATO summit in Warsaw. NATO officials say some 4,000 troops will be involved in the new deployments. The United States, Britain, and Germany have committed to acting as so-called framework countries for three of the battalions. Based on reporting by AP and dpa Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/nato-baltics-poland- russia-ukraine-battalions/27795258.html Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address NATO Force Integration Unit in Tallinn Operates at Full Capacity - Official Sputnik News 22:04 13.06.2016 The opening ceremony of the new headquarters of the NATO Force Integration Units (NFIUs) took place on Monday in the Estonian capital of Tallinn and the NFIU is now ready to operate at full capacity, the Estonian Defense Forces' General Staff said. TALLINN (Sputnik) In September 2015, the Alliance activated six NATO Force Integration Units, special command centers designed to facilitate the deployment of the bloc's forces in the region and coordinate the reaching, if necessary, in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria as part of NATO's Readiness Action Plan agreed on at the 2014 Wales Summit. According to Lt. Gen. Manfred Hofmann, the commander of the Szczecin-based Multinational Corps Northeast, the opening of the new command center and the confirmation of its full readiness to operate is a clear signal of NATO's unity and determination to protect both Estonia and the entire European northeastern border region. About 20 officers out of 40, working at the headquarters, are Estonian soldiers, and the rest are members of the Armed Forces of the United States, the Netherlands, Canada, Norway, Poland, France, Germany, Denmark, the United Kingdom and Hungary. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address NATO Chief Reveals Buildup in Eastern Europe, Increased Defense Spending Sputnik News 17:43 13.06.2016(updated 17:47 13.06.2016) NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, has told a meeting of European defense ministers that next month's Warsaw summit will agree four new battalions which will be established in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Poland, as well as an overall increase in defense spending. Ahead of the meeting, he told reporters that NATO is set to reinforce its forces in Eastern Europe. He said: "NATO has taken robust action to protect our nations to contribute to stability in our neighborhood." In November 2015, the leaders of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Poland and Slovakia called for an increased NATO presence in Eastern Europe and the Baltic. A decision over stationing four battalions in Eastern Europe will be taken at the Warsaw summit in July. "The challenges we face are enduring. Over the next two days, NATO defense ministers will pave the way for decisions we will take at the Warsaw summit. First, we will bolster our deterrence across the alliance against threats from any directions," Stoltenberg said. NATO chiefs agreed in February 2016 to base four new rolling battalions in Eastern Europe, but he announced Monday (June 13) the location of the forces to be confirmed in Warsaw. "Based on the advice of our military planners, we will agree to deploy, by rotation, four robust, multinational battalions in the Baltic States and in Poland. This will send a clear signal that NATO stands ready to defend any ally. "These are part of a much bigger shift in our posture in response to the challenges we face. We have tripled the size of the NATO Response Force to 40,000 troops. We have put up a new Spearhead Force at its core around 5,000 troops ready to move within days and we have set up eight new small headquarters in the eastern part of our alliance to coordinate planning, exercises and reinforcements," he said. Increased Spending Stoltenberg also announced an overall increase in military spending within NATO. He said that defense spending around the world had decreased since the end of the Cold War. At its 2014 summit in Wales, NATO members agreed to spend two percent of GDP on NATO, but the results have been "mixed," he said. However, in 2015 there was a 0.5 percent increase in the budget and there would be a further increase of 1.5 percent in 2016, he said. NATO has been gradually building up its forces in Europe for over a decade, but has recently undertaken a huge increase in its presence in the Baltic region and Eastern Europe. The NATO Response Force (NRF) was originally set up following the Prague summit in 2002 as a multinational force made up of land, air, maritime and Special Operations Forces (SOF) that could deploy quickly. Since then, there has been a steady build-up of forces, particularly around Russia. NATO Allies decided to enhance the NRF in 2014 by creating a "Spearhead Force" within it, known as the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF). In June 2015, the alliance held a huge exercise in the Baltic, with 49 ships, 61 aircraft, one submarine, and a combined amphibious landing force of 700 US, Finnish and Swedish troops alongside NATO partners Finland, Georgia and Sweden. Overall, 5,600 troops took part. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Kenya assures head of UN refugee agency that rights obligations will be followed for Somali returns 13 June 2016 On his first visit to Kenya, the chief of the United Nations refugee agency received assurances from the African country that the return of refugees to Somalia would not contravene international obligations. The visit came as the Kenyan Government announced plans to close the Dadaab refugee camp, home to nearly 350,000, mostly Somali, refugees. Kenya has been hosting the world's largest refugee camp for a quarter century, and has consistently welcomed refugees from other conflicts, most recently from South Sudan. UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi met with Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta to discuss solutions for Somali refugees in Kenya. The UN official welcomed Mr. Kenyatta's assurances that the country would uphold its long-standing reputation for respecting the rights of refugees. "I was very happy to hear the President say emphatically that any solution and repatriation is obviously the best solution has to be conducted in a manner that is humane, dignified, safe and respects international law and principles," said Mr. Grandi. He noted that the international donor support to Kenya and especially the local hosting communities has been generous, but insufficient to cover all the needs, pledging continued engagement by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). In 2013, Kenya, Somalia and UNHCR signed a tripartite agreement to help Somali refugees from Dadaab begin voluntarily returning home to nine designated areas in South Central regions and in Puntland and Somaliland that are deemed relatively safe. More than 14,000 have returned so far and thousands more have signed up to leave. However, many other refugees cite concerns about not having the means to rebuild their homes and start businesses. They are also worried that sufficient education and healthcare would not be available in their home communities. In response, Mr. Grandi is proposing to increase the repatriation package for returning refugees and to provide them with support to pay for basic services. During a visit to the Dadaab Refugee Camp, refugees told him that they would like to go home, but only when their towns were safe. "There is no one who can give up on his country," said Habiba Abdullahi, a refugee at the camp. "We are ready to go back, but it is not the time [] because the challenges and the reasons we fled from Somalia are still there." Calls for massive investment in Somalia to enable more refugees to return On Saturday, the High Commissioner travelled to Somalia, where he met Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. The President said all Somali refugees are welcome back and confirmed his commitment to an "orderly, humane and dignified repatriation" of his citizens as specified under the tripartite agreement. The President concurred with the need to improve conditions in places of return. He also emphasized the need to do more for the over one million internally displaced people in Somalia, who are unable to return home because of ongoing instability and presence of Al Shabaab. Mr. Grandi also visited Baidoa, Somalia, to meet with former refugees from the Dadaab Camp who recently returned home. Though most said they are glad to be back, they also acknowledged their homecoming was difficult. Maryan Hassan moved back to Baidoa with her seven children after eight years in exile. Her house was destroyed during the conflict, and she is working to rebuild it but has no means. Although the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) has made significant gains, Al Shabaab is still posing a major security threat to the country, and after more than two decades of war, Somalia has little to offer in terms of opportunities for people moving back. "We have youths that have graduated from high school, from Dadaab. Before the children were busy in school and now they are idle," Hassan told the High Commissioner. "They need to be helped to get opportunity here or they are in danger of joining the bad guys." Still, she urged her compatriots to return: "There have been a lot of improvements here. To those suffering [in Dadaab], I tell them, come back to your country." Mr. Grandi encouraged development actors like the World Bank to invest in rebuilding Somalia, stressing that Maryan's resilience is a strong example of why the international community must invest in Somalia to ensure that refugees have a basic infrastructure to enable them to restart their lives. "Returns have to be sustainable. That means having houses, but also health facilities, education, employment," he said. At a conference last year in Brussels, countries pledged $110 million to fund the sustainable return and reintegration of Somali refugees. To date, only $7.2 million of those funds have been received. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Border Clashes Between Pakistan and Afghanistan Resume After Brief Cease-Fire by Ayaz Gul June 13, 2016 Border clashes have resumed between security forces of Pakistan and Afghanistan after a short-lived ceasefire on Monday, officials said. Overnight skirmishes killed at least one person wounded 18 others, according to officials, forcing around 200 Pakistani families to relocate to safer areas. "Pakistan wanted to build new installations and Afghan border forces didn't allow it. Pakistan went further and fired towards Afghan forces," Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah told a meeting of ministers in Kabul. He confirmed the exchange of fire, which lasted seven hours, left one Afghan soldier dead and six others wounded. The Pakistani side also suffered casualties at the Torkham crossing clash. Abdullah insists bilateral understandings bind the two countries to seek mutual consent before constructing new installations near the border. "The Afghan security and defense forces retaliated to safeguard the territorial integrity and defend the country and its people ... armed forces are always ready to defend their country and people and to react against any kind of threats," the Afghan Foreign Ministry said in a separate statement. But officials in Pakistan rejected Afghan assertions the construction activity was illegal and blamed Afghan security forces for resorting to "unprovoked firing" that wounded 12 people, including a Pakistani border guard. Pakistani security forces responded to Afghan firing effectively, according to the military's media wing. It noted Torkham is the most frequented crossing point between the two countries and terrorists have also been found using this gate for entry. "In order to check movement of terrorists through Torkham, Pakistan is constructing a gate on its own side of the border as a necessity to check unwanted and illegal movement," the statement noted. Porous, disputed border Pakistan and Afghanistan share a more than 2,500-kilometer porous frontier, but Kabul disputes the border and has opposed repeated fencing attempts by Islamabad. Both sides say militants use the border to conduct anti-state acts in their respective countries. "We consider these unprovoked attacks unhelpful in Pakistan-Afghan relations and expect from the Afghan government to investigate this incident immediately," said a spokesman for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's office in a separate statement, expressing Pakistan's "deep concerns" over the incident. Pakistan also Monday summoned the Afghan Charge d'Affaires in Islamabad to convey its "strong protest" over what it called the unprovoked firing by the Afghan forces it said wounded two soldiers and nine civilians, including women and children. "It was further emphasized that all steps should be taken for avoiding recurrence of such incidents in the future," the Foreign Ministry said. Afghanistan also summoned the Pakistani ambassador in Kabul to protest the firing incident. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Heavy Fighting Reported Along Ethiopia, Eritrea Border by Salem Solomon June 13, 2016 The Eritrean Ministry of Information issued a statement Sunday accusing the Ethiopian government of launching a military attack against the country. Ethiopia denies initiating the attack, accusing Eritrean forces of prompting a counterattack by Ethiopia. The brief statement from the Eritrean Ministry of Information said the attacks occurred on the Tsorona Central Front. Tsorona is a village located near the border, a little over 35 kilometers from Adigrat, an Ethiopian town in the Tigray region. Ethiopian Communications Minister Getachew Reda said Eritrean forces from around the Tsorona region made unusual, aggressive movements, eliciting a response from the Ethiopian side. He denied it was a significant battle. "It's just a skirmish because Eritrea's side moved in a fashion that is unusual under the circumstances because it's been a long time since Eritrea's regular army even ventured outside of their ditches, their trenches," Reda told VOA, speaking from Germany. "But this time around," he added, "they launched what appears to be a serious attack, but our forces had launched a counterattack which right now has managed to neutralize the threat emanating from the other side of the border." Reda confirmed that Ethiopian authorities have asked civilians to evacuate or seek shelter due to artillery fire. "The Eritrean artillery units are making indiscriminate bombardment of the area so it will be a very responsible move for us to tell some of our people, especially those who are close the border, to evacuate, not to evacuate in a sense of leaving their village but to a safer area," he said. Unilateral aggression alleged The Eritrean Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel tweeted that the aggression came from the Ethiopian side and that it should be "condemned unequivocally," he wrote on his Twitter account. "Bland statements calling on 'both sides to show restraint' [are] unwarranted and toothless." Eritrea and Ethiopia fought a border war from 1998 to 2000, with significant fighting occurring between the towns of Tsorona and Zalembessa. Thousands died, and animosities continue to this day, with a heavy military buildup along the unmarked border. When the war ended, the international community formed a boundary commission to delimit and demarcate the countries' shared border. The commission was responsible for issuing a final ruling after hearing each side's border claims. Both sides agreed to abide by the 2002 ruling of the EritreaEthiopia Boundary Commission (EEBC), but Ethiopia stonewalled after the border had been defined. The border has never been demarcated, and it remains a source of tension. The contested town of Badme, the town at the center of the border conflict, was awarded to Eritrea, but Ethiopia continues to occupy the town and Reda confirmed there are sufficient troops stationed there to "thwart any potential attack." Mirjam Van Reisen, the director of the Europe External Policy Advisors (EEPA), a Brussels-based group of consultants focusing on EU development policy, said that if the issue is about border demarcation between the two countries, "they have to follow the international agreement, there is no question about that." The incident comes in the wake of a June 8 United Nations report accusing Eritrean leaders of committing crimes against humanity. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address DRC Opposition Unites Against President Kabila by James Butty June 13, 2016 Leading opposition parties in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) say they have organized themselves under one umbrella called "Rassemblement" or "Rally" to force President Joseph Kabila to leave power. Kabila's second term concludes at the end of this year. New coalition united in opposition to 3rd term The new coalition was formed last week in Belgium and includes the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) led by veteran opposition figure Etienne Tshisekedi; the Dynamic Opposition, and the G7, which recently chose the governor of Katanga Province, Moise Katumbi, as its presidential candidate. Vidiye Tshimanga is Vice President of Alternative 2016, one of the groups making up the new coalition. He said the new alliance will be led by veteran politician Tshisekedi. "A lot of people thought some time ago that Mr. Katumbi was the leader of the opposition, but finally everybody knows and understands that he is really new in the opposition and he cannot handle all the opposition and this very important role. But Mr. Tshisekedi who is an opponent not only of Mr. Kabila the son, but also Kabila the father, and before that an opponent of Mobutu. Finally, we all recognize in him the leadership that we need today to lead all of us," he said. Disunity has hurt opposition in the past The political opposition in DRC has been plagued by disunity since 1960. For example, Vital Kamerhe, leader of the Union for the Congolese nation (UNC) did not attend the Belgium meeting. Tshimanga said Kamerhe was represented at the Belgium meeting by two of his top lieutenants. "Mr. Kamerhe did not come himself, but he sent his vice president and second vice president. So, the number two and number three of his party they came at this meeting in Belgium, and they signed this agreement with us. So, I supposed this means the UNC of Mr. Kamerhe is with us and understands that we have to be together in a common fight," Tshimanga said. Demonstrations are underway Opposition groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been holding almost weekly nationwide rallies to force President Kabila to respect the constitution and step down at the end of his second term. Kabila has been in power since 2001. The opposition has accused the president of purposely blocking elections so that he may stay in power. Tshimanga said the new opposition agrees to talks with President Kabila if the president would respect UN Resolution 2277, which calls on the government and its national partners, including the Independent National Electoral Commission, to ensure a transparent and credible process towards holding presidential and legislative elections in November. "We agree to sit with the Kabila camp if they will respect the UN Resolution 2277 and we will respect that also, and together we will find the solution to bring our country out of the mess we are in today because we don't want any more wars," Tshimanga said. In addition to respecting UN Resolution 2277, Tshimanga said President Kabila must release all political prisoners and agree not to run for a third term. He said both the government opposition and officials of the current government will discuss when to hold the election during the proposed "national dialogue" that President Kabila himself has been pushing. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address NATO's Defense Spending Rises, Secretary General Says By Jim Garamone DoD News, Defense Media Activity WASHINGTON, June 14, 2016 Overall NATO defense spending has reversed trends of past years and is rising, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in Brussels yesterday. The secretary general spoke on the eve of a two-day NATO defense ministers conference, the last such meeting before the NATO summit in Warsaw, Poland, next month. Defense Secretary Ash Carter is attending the meetings. After the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, NATO defense spending dropped, Stoltenberg said. NATO's goal, he said, was for allies to spend about 2 percent of gross domestic product on defense, but few countries did so. The rise of a revanchist Russia and its actions in Georgia and in annexing Crimea from Ukraine shocked Europe, Stoltenberg said. At the last NATO summit in Wales, NATO members vowed to increase defense spending in response. Last year saw was a small uptick in defense spending across Europe and Canada, Stoltenberg said. "Our estimates for 2016 show a further increase across NATO's European allies and Canada," said he added. "These are only estimates. But they are encouraging." The annual real change in NATO defense spending, he said, currently stands at around 1.5 percent, which represents an increase of more than $3 billion. Plans to Boost Defense Spending Some 20 NATO allies plan to spend more in real terms on defense this year, Stoltenberg said. "So, this is real progress," he said. "After many years of going in the wrong direction, we are starting to go into the right direction." With more money comes increased capabilities, Stoltenberg said, noting that NATO has agreed to place four battalions in the eastern nations of the alliance. "Based on the advice of our military planners, we will agree to deploy by rotation four robust multinational battalions in the Baltic states and in Poland," he said. "This will send a clear signal that NATO stands ready to defend any ally. The alliance has tripled the size of the NATO Response Force to 40,000 troops, Stoltenberg said, and has at its core a new Spearhead Force of 5,000 troops ready to move within days. The alliance will place more pre-positioned equipment in the region, striking the right balance between "a greater ability to reinforce and a boost to our forward presence," he said. NATO member nations also have worked to speed up troop transport in Europe, the secretary general said. Making Progress "National governments and parliaments have worked very hard to update procedures and remove hurdles, and we have made significant progress," he said. "Last month, the Spearhead Force conducted an exercise which showed how far we have come. One thousand troops and 400 military vehicles moved from Spain to Poland -- within four days. We will continue to work to improve freedom of movement for our troops and equipment, because when a crisis emerges, speed can make a difference." Still, the alliance needs to do more, Stoltenberg said, "both to increase the level of defense spending towards 2 percent, and to spend on the priorities we have identified as an alliance." During their meetings, NATO defense ministers will discuss Afghanistan, the Middle East, Libya, NATO transformation and other issues in the run-up to the Warsaw Summit. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address U.S. Department of Defense Press Operations News Release No. NR-213-16 June 14, 2016 Readout of Secretary Carter's Meeting with Turkish Minister of Defense Fikri Isik Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook provided the following readout: Secretary of Defense Ash Carter met with Turkish Minister of Defense Fikri Isk today on the sidelines of the NATO Defense Ministerial in Brussels, Belgium. They discussed a number of security issues and highlighted the close friendship between the two countries. Secretary Carter reaffirmed the United States' and NATO's steadfast commitment to Turkey's security in the face of Russian aggression and a range of terrorist threats. He emphasized Turkey's important role in the Counter-ISIL Coalition, including Turkey's increased border security efforts, and the two leaders discussed their countries' cooperation on countering terrorism. In addition, Secretary Carter thanked Minister Isk for Turkey's efforts to address irregular migration to Europe and its ongoing commitment to Afghanistan's security. http://www.defense.gov/News/News-Releases/News-Release-View/Article/798513/ NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Doorstep statement by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the start of the meetings of NATO Defence Ministers NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organisation 14 Jun. 2016 (As delivered) Good morning. In just a few weeks, we will hold our NATO Summit in Warsaw. And our countries face unprecedented security challenges. From the east and from the south. So at this landmark Summit, we will take decisions to strengthen our deterrence and defence across the Alliance against threats from any direction. And we will also step up our efforts to project stability beyond our borders. Over the next two days, we will pave the way for Summit decisions. We will agree on the deployment by rotation of four robust multinational battalions to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. We will take decisions on a tailored presence for the south-east region, with a land element built around a multinational framework brigade in Romania. We will also adopt a framework for NATO's further adaptation to the challenges from the South. We will look at ways to further improve the freedom of movement for NATO forces across Europe. We will strengthen our cyber defences. And we will review progress on ensuring the necessary resources for our defence. For the first time in many years, in 2015 we registered a small increase in defence spending amongst European Allies and Canada. And our estimates for 2016 indicate a further increase of 1.5 % in real terms this year. This is progress. But I will call on Allies to keep the momentum, and to do more. Because we need to match our defence spending with the security challenges we face. Tonight, we will meet with the EU High Representative Mogherini, as well as our partners Finland and Sweden, to discuss how we can make our cooperation even stronger. For instance, to boost maritime security and to fight hybrid threats. Tomorrow we will look at the broader arc of instability beyond our borders. And consider what more NATO can and should do to project stability. For instance in Iraq. In providing further direct support to the Global Coalition fighting ISIL. And in the Central Mediterranean. We will also meet in the NATO-Ukraine Commission. We will assess the latest security developments, Ukraine's progress on the path of reforms, and stepping up our support. So we have a very full agenda at this ministerial. And I am confident that the decisions we take will pave the way for a successful Summit. And with that, I'm ready to take a few questions. Oana Lungescu: We will start with Reuters over there. Question [Reuters]: Secretary General, what additional measures is the Alliance willing to take to discourage Russia in the Black Sea area, Romania, and Bulgaria? Thank you. Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg: We are looking into how we can increase our presence in the Black Sea region. We have already increased our presence with more air-policing, with assurance measures, with more naval presence and more exercises. But we are also looking into what more we can do. And we are discussing and addressing an offer from Romania that they can provide the framework, the headquarters for brigade which can then organize and facilitate NATO activities in the region, including exercises and also assurance measures. So this is on the agenda, this is something we are addressing, but the details have to be decided later. Oana Lungescu: ANSA, Italian News Agency. Question: SecGen, last week Italy announced that it will deploy missiles in Turkey in the framework of reassurance measures decided for this crisis. And Italy is by the way also one among the less spending countries for defence in NATO. During your recent visit in Rome to Premier Renzi did you get reassurances that Italy will take a different trend in defence spending? Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg: First of all, I welcome that Italy is going to deploy SAMP/T missile defence system to Turkey. They have started to do so and I welcome that because this is yet another example of how we show solidarity inside NATO with all Allies. And NATO has decided to have assurance measures, we they have already deployed different assurance measures to Turkey because they are bordering all the instability, all the violence to the south, Iraq and Syria. And therefore we have different kinds of assurance measures in Turkey. AWACS surveillance planes, we have Spanish Patriot batteries and have more naval presence in eastern Mediterranean. And the Italian deployment of SAMP/T will add and augment these efforts and this is something I welcome very much. It shows the NATO solidarity. Defence spending was an issue I discussed with the Prime Minister Remzi when I met him in Rome recently. I expect of course all Allies to make good on the pledge we all made together two years ago to stop cuts in defence spending and gradually increase and then move towards spending two percent of GDP on defence. Italy is committed NATO Ally. They contribute to many operations and missions but of course it is important that also Italy delivers on defence spending as it is important that all Allies deliver on defence spending. Oana Lungescu: Gentleman over there. Question: Secretary General, do you see a necessity of cooperation, NATO cooperation, with the EU mission Sophia in Mediterrenean Sea? And what would be the distinctive role of this mission, NATO mission? Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg: We need to enhance the cooperation between the EU and NATO. And we are actually doing that now. We have step up our efforts to enhance our cooperation. Just over last months we have been able to agree on an arrangement between the EU and NATO on cyber and we have also been able to agree on all the operational issues related to our cooperation in the Aegean Sea, where NATO vessel ships work together with Frontex and the Greek coastguard. So actually over last few months we have been able to agree more formal arrangement with the EU than in the previous thirteen years. So we are making progress and I would like to see also more progress in the Mediterranean. And that is exactly what we have asked our military planners, to come up with recommendation, with an assessment what more we can do building on experience from the Aegean Sea and then possibly moving to the Central Mediterranean. NATO has we have assets, we have ships, we have capabilities, we have intelligence, we have surveillance capabilities which can be useful in support of the EU mission Sophia. Exactly how we are going to cooperate and exactly what we are going to do are among the issues we will discuss tonight with High Representative Mogherini and the Defence Ministers of NATO. Oana Lungescu: Lady over there. Question [BBC]: Secretary General, what message are you going to give Russia as you are going to this important summit? Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg: Our message is that NATO will continue to protect and defend all Allies against any threats coming from any direction. And that is the reason why we implemented the biggest reinforcement to our collective defence since the end of the Cold War and at this meeting and at the Summit we will take new decisions, particularly related to forward presence of our forces in the Eastern part of the Alliance with battalions in the Baltic countries and in Poland and also with tailored presence in the south-east of Europe. At the same time we convey a very strong message about that we don't seek a confrontation with Russia, we don't want a new Cold War. We will continue to strive for more constructive and cooperative relationship with Russia and especially when tensions are high as now, I think it's important that we continue to keep channels for political dialogue, but also military contacts because we have to avoid incidents, accidents like for instance the downing of the Russian plane over Turkey. So, we will continue to keep channels for political dialogue open to try to manage relationship with Russia in the best possible way. Oana Lungescu: One last question. Gentleman in the center. Question [Gazeta.ru]: Has NATO as an organization any plans to place some extra nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles in European countries, maybe in Eastern Europe? Thank you. Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg: We are going to have a meeting in the NATO nuclear planning group today. And we will assess and make sure that we will continue to have a credible, safe, and secure nuclear deterrent. And we will also welcome updates from both the UK and the US on their contributions to the NATO's nuclear deterrent. But I am not going to any specifics. We will continue to have credible and safe and secure nuclear deterrent as part of NATO's defence posture. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address NATO and Baltic States sign Agreement to enhance air training opportunities in the Baltic region NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organisation 14 Jun. 2016 Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow met with the Defence Ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on Tuesday (14 June 2016) to sign a new Letter of Agreement on airspace management arrangements in support of NATO's Air Policing mission and other air activities in the Baltic Sea region. During the signing ceremony, Ambassador Vershbow stressed that this agreement between NATO and the three Baltic states will facilitate more air training opportunities in the Baltic region. He added that this sends a clear message of the Alliance's shared responsibility and resolve to protect NATO's territory and populations. The newly signed agreement will also improve civil-military coordination, ensuring the safe and efficient use of airspace. It contains a comprehensive set of provisions for the execution of the NATO's Air Policing mission, taking into account the evolution of national regulations for airspace management in the three Baltic States. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Caracas asks top court to block recall referendum Iran Press TV Tue Jun 14, 2016 5:5AM The Venezuelan government has started a legal action at a top court to block what it calls a fraudulent opposition bid to hold a referendum aimed at removing President Nicolas Maduro. Jorge Rodriguez, the head of a commission to oversee the recall push, said on Monday that he has filed a complaint with the Supreme Court of Justice, asking the tribunal to intervene. "We have found a huge fraud against the Constitution," he said, adding it would be "perpetrating a brutal fraud to authorize [the opposition] to proceed to the next stage." Venezuela's right-wing opposition coalition, the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD), is racing to call a referendum by the end of the year. To fulfill the requirements of the process, it has submitted a petition with 1.8 million signatures to the National Electoral Council (CNE). The electoral commission, however, announced on Friday that more than 600,000 signatures are invalid. Rodriguez had said in late May that more than 40 percent of the signatures were fraudulent as 10,000 of them belonged to the dead people. On Monday, he called on the opposition to "stop lying to the international community and stop lying to the Venezuelan people," reiterating that it would not be possible to hold the referendum this year. Maduro also ruled out the possibility of holding a referendum anytime sooner than 2017. He said, "If the recall referendum's requirements are met, it will be next year, and that's it." The president has so far successfully blocked previous bids against him in the National Assembly by appealing to the Supreme Court. He denounced the opposition's plans as a US-backed attempt to bring about a coup d'etat in the oil-rich country that is home to some 31 million people. Since 2014, Venezuela has been grappling with protests against Maduro who is under fire by his critics, most notably the opposition, amid shortages of food, water, medicine and electricity. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Vietnamese Fighter Jet Missing in the South China Sea Sputnik News 22:00 14.06.2016(updated 22:02 14.06.2016) A Vietnamese fighter jet is missing after vanishing from radar during a training flight along the South China Sea coastline. "We haven't found the jet yet, we are still looking," according to Senior Lieutenant General Vo Van Tuan, deputy armed services chief of staff. The aircraft is a Sukhoi Su-30 MK2, and was flying some 30-40 km off the coast of Nghe An province. The reason for the disappearance is unknown. "We have to find it to know it," Tuan said. State-run Tuoi Tre news reported that a fisherman in the area identified as Le Van Cuong saw a jet fighter crash near an island just off the coast. The paper also reports that rescuers found traces of oil near the island. Vietnam has experienced a number of military mishaps in recent years in relation to its aging military hardware. Two helicopter crashes in the past two years have killed 24 people. Hanoi has attempted to modernize its military in light of ongoing tensions in the South China Sea. Beijing's construction of artificial islands in the region has angered Vietnam and other territorial claimants in the region, though China maintains it has every right to build within its own territory and that the islands will be used primarily for humanitarian purposes. Although the United States has no territorial claim to the region, it has pushed Pacific allies to counter China's growing influence. Last month, Washington lifted a decades-old arms embargo against Vietnam and will soon begin providing Hanoi with military equipment. "The Vietnamese would like to focus on developing joint venture partnerships with the United States to ensure technological progress over the next 10 to 20 years. The idea would be to gain access to US and Western technology on a reliable and sustained long-term basis," Eurasian Business Coalition (EBC) Vice President Ralph Winnie told Sputnik. As part of the embargo removal, Hanoi will likely acquire F-18 fighter jets and naval combat ships. President Barack Obama has stressed that the new arrangement has nothing to do with countering Chinese influence. "Our growing partnership with Vietnam is happening entirely independent of China," he told reporters last month. "The fact that China would perceive that [cooperation with Vietnam] as some sort of provocation to them I think says more about Chinese attitudes than it says anything about our [US] attitude." Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address NATO to Step Up Military Presence in Black Sea Region Stoltenberg Sputnik News 21:39 14.06.2016 NATO plans to further increase its military presence in the Black Sea region, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The NATO chief noted that the Alliance had already increased its presence in the region while conducting air policing, stepping up naval presence and carrying out more military exercises. "We will further increase and step up our efforts in the Black Sea region," Stoltenberg said at a press conference in Brussels, as broadcast on the Alliance's website. According to the NATO secretary-general, the Alliance is also considering the establishment of a multinational framework brigade in Romania, proposed by Bucharest. "We have decided to implement tailored measures for Black Sea region there will be more NATO presence, and I also welcome the initiatives and the proposals from Romania making that possible," Stoltenberg added. NATO has been bolstering its military presence in Eastern Europe and the Black Sea since the outbreak of the conflict in southeastern Ukraine in April 2014, in response to what it considers to be Russia's aggressive foreign policy. Russia has repeatedly dismissed the Ukraine-related accusations leveled at it, warning that increased NATO activities near the country's borders could undermine regional and global stability. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Encirclement Continues: NATO Pressuring Russia in the Black Sea Sputnik News 20:43 14.06.2016(updated 21:27 14.06.2016) NATO is continuing its eastward expansion - this time to Romania - thus increasing the pressure on Russia and raising security concerns in the Moscow government, German newspaper Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten (DWN) reported. In addition to the deployment of battalions in the Baltic States and Poland, NATO also seeks to exert pressure on Russia from the Black Sea, the newspaper wrote. NATO defense ministers are planning to meet on Tuesday to make a decision concerning the deployment of troops in Southeastern Europe, in particular in Romania, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said. According to the newspaper, "the purpose of the increased military presence in Romania is to cause nervousness in Moscow." Romania is located on the Black Sea and is only about 200 kilometers away from the Crimean peninsula which reunified with Russia in March 2014. Stoltenberg has not made any statements on the extent to which NATO forces will be active in Romania. Military details will be clarified later, he said in Brussels, but according to preliminary reports, the battalion is likely to include Romanian and Bulgarian soldiers. NATO's activities near Russian borders might signify the military alliance's plans to "quietly" surpass the NATO-Russia Founding Act, the newspaper argued. "It actually prohibits a permanent presence, which is why NATO wants to formally deploy battalions on a rotational basis," the article said. "Poland has been repeatedly stating that the NATO Founding Act is only a political document with no legally binding effect." NATO has been gradually building up its forces in Europe for over a decade, but has recently undertaken a huge increase in its presence in the Baltics and Eastern Europe. Russia has repeatedly stated that it views NATO's moves as a threat to its national security and promised to react in response if the military alliance doesn't stop its expansion. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US Multiple Rocket Launchers Delivered to Estonia for Saber Strike Drills Sputnik News 19:26 14.06.2016(updated 19:28 14.06.2016) Two US M124 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) were delivered to Estonia on Tuesday to participate in the ongoing Saber Strike military drills, the Estonian Defense Forces said. TALLINN (Sputnik) Military exercises dubbed Saber Strike 2016 started on Monday at Estonia's Tapa training base. Over 10,000 service personnel from 13 NATO and partner nations are taking part in the drills. Participating nations include the three Baltic states, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Slovenia, the United Kingdom and the United States. "This morning for the first time two US rocket batteries M124 HIMARS have arrived at Tallinn airport to participate in the Saber Strike [drills]" the Estonian Defense Forces said in a statement. The aim of using the HIMARS multiple rocket launchers is to boost military cooperation between the allies as well as training Estonian soldiers, according to Maj. Patrick Vardaro, who is a staff officer with the US 2nd Cavalry Regiment. "The rocket complexes will participate in shootings at the central range of the [Estonian] Defense Forces. Special attention will be paid to exchange of information between us and the allies as well as to directing fire procedures," he said. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Uganda Tensions Rise as Presidential Challenger Tried for Treason by Lizabeth Paulat June 14, 2016 In Uganda, tensions continue to simmer, four months after the country's disputed presidential poll. A wave of arrests, including those of current and former military officers, followed by an armed attack on a police station in the north, have sparked concern this week as the runner-up in the vote goes on trial for treason. Ugandan police have sought to downplay the attack late Sunday on the police station in the northern town of Gulu. According to official reports, 10 to 12 suspects opened fire, attempting to rescue Dan Oola Odia, an official of the Uganda People's Congress, an opposition party. Inspector General of Police Kale Kayihura told the media not to sensationalize the incident. "We wish to assure the country that Uganda is peaceful and stable and condemn those who quickly rush to post messages on social media after the attack exaggerating the situation, the magnitude of the incident and even giving their own version," Kayihura said. Police say the attackers in Gulu used guns stolen from a local defense unit last month. The firefight, which left one soldier dead, lasted 30 minutes. The suspects escaped, but police have since reported several arrests. A new group calling themselves the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) took responsibility for the attack on social media. Little is known about them. More violence feared Dickens Okello, a local journalist currently in Gulu, told VOA residents are concerned about the possibility of more violence. "You remember this is the area that had two decades of rebellion. Like yesterday in the evening, that was Monday evening, there were two incidents where some bullets were released and the whole town went into panic mode again. It was at 5 pm when children were returning back from school and people were retiring from work... and you could see cars and motorcycles rushing just like on Sunday night when the incident happened," Okello said. The gunfire was later attributed to police, who upon arresting several suspects, were attempting to control the crowd. Sunday's attack came on the heels of reports that around 30 people, including military veterans and officers, have been arrested for suspected anti-government activity. Local media are talking about an alleged coup plot, although Defense spokesperson Paddy Ankunda called this a mischaracterization. "We are conducting a joint operation with police on tip-offs and very reliable information that some of these characters were planning subversive activities in the country that may jeopardize peace and security for other people. And therefore we have arrested some of them and they are helping us with investigations and we will continue to update the country on what is happening," Ankunda said. And tensions could continue to rise. Opposition leader Kizza Besiyge is expected to appear in court Wednesday on treason charges. Many of those arrested this week have ties to one of Besiyge's allies, leading to speculation that their arrests could be related to the case against him. Besiyge has been detained since the February 18 presidential poll. He was charged with treason after he declared himself the rightful president of Uganda in April as President Yoweri Museveni was inaugurated for his fifth term in office. The opposition had contested the election results. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Obama: No Clear Evidence That Orlando Massacre 'Directed' From Abroad June 13, 2016 by RFE/RL WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Barack Obama says there is "no clear evidence" that a gunman who carried out the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history -- killing 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida -- was "directed" by a broader extremist organization. Obama said on June 13 that Omar Mateen, a U.S.-born citizen of Afghan descent identified by U.S. authorities as the shooter in the June 12 massacre, was likely influenced by extremists but that no direct evidence suggests he was acting under instructions or was part of a larger plot. Speaking to reporters at the White House, Obama warned that the investigation was at a "preliminary stage" but said it appears that the 29-year-old Mateen, who proclaimed allegiance to the extremist Islamic State (IS) group during a call to emergency dispatchers made from the nightclub, had been "inspired by various extremist information that was disseminated over the Internet." "One of the biggest challenges that we are going to have is this kind of propaganda and perversion of Islam that you see generated on the Internet, and the capacity for that to seep into the minds of troubled individuals or weak individuals and seeing them motivated then to take actions against people here in the United States and elsewhere in the world that are tragic," Obama said. He added that the country must also consider the risks of "lax" laws allowing easy access to "very powerful firearms." Mateen was shot dead by police who stormed the Pulse nightclub three hours after the killings began there, bringing the total number of dead to 50. Following the attack, IS called Mateen one of its "soldiers." The IS-linked news agency Amaq, meanwhile, said the attack had been "carried out by an Islamic State fighter." Despite the statements, however, IS has not officially claimed responsibility for the attack. Police said the attacker opened fire with an AR-15 assault rifle and a handgun in the nightclub shortly before 2 a.m., and then held a group of club patrons hostage for three hours before he was killed in a shoot-out. Fifty-three people were wounded, and many remain in critical condition with multiple gunshot wounds. Obama also said that investigators are examining the gunman's potential motives, including whether he deliberately targeted the nightclub because it was a gay venue. He was speaking in the Oval Office after being briefed on the investigation by top law enforcement officials, including FBI Director James Comey and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson. Comey said authorities are "highly confident" that Mateen was "radicalized" at least partially through information he obtained on the Internet. It remains unclear whether he belonged to an established extremist group or what organization he may have been inspired by, he added. "We'll leave no stones unturned and we'll work all day and all night to understand the path to that terrible night," Comey said. Authorities said they are investigating whether Mateen may have had assistance in carrying out the killings but emphasized that they believe he was the only attacker in the massacre and that there is no evidence that the public is currently in danger. "There is an investigation of other persons. We are working as diligently as we can on that," Lee Bentley, the U.S. attorney for the middle district of Florida, told a June 13 news conference. "If anyone else was involved in this crime, they will be prosecuted. The presumptive presidential candidates of the two main U.S. political parties weighed in on the mass killing in television interviews. The Democratic Party's Hillary Clinton called for more stringent gun-safety measures and increased security efforts, while warning against demonizing Muslims. "What I don't do, because I think it's dangerous, is to demonize an entire religion, and that plays into Islamic State's hands," Clinton told CNN on June 13. Her Republican rival, wealthy businessman and reality TV star Donald Trump, reiterated his support for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States and criticized U.S. Muslims for not alerting authorities of suspicions about Mateen. "You look at the people that have come to the country, and are here, and for that we need intelligence-gathering," Trump told CNN. "We have to look at the mosques. The [Muslim] communities know the people that have the potential for blowup." Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warned against attempts to "point fingers at one group or one form of sectarianism or another, or one religion or another" over the killings. "Those are not the values of our country," Kerry said on June 13. "What we need to do is bring people together and work to forever prevent this kind of hate and terror from playing out as it has so horribly in the last day." Statements of sympathy and condemnation have been pouring in from around the world. In a statement, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani condemned the attack, saying that "targeting civilians is not justifiable under any circumstances whatsoever," while Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah told the country's cabinet that the incident "tells us that terrorism knows no religion, boundary, and geography. Terrorism must be eliminated." Paris city hall said the Eiffel Tower will shine in the colors of the rainbow on the night of June 13 to honor the victims of the Orlando tragedy. U.S. and rainbow flags will fly. The rainbow flag is the symbol of the LGBT community. In November, 130 were killed when IS extremists carried out attacks on a music hall, restaurants, and bars in the French capital. Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister David Cameron have sent messages of condolence from Britain, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said it's important to continue with "our open, tolerant life" following the Orlando attack. China's President Xi Jinping has telephoned Obama to express his condolences over the shootings. Iran, where homosexuality is illegal and can be punishable by death, also condemned the massacre, calling it an "evil... terrorist attack." "The Islamic Republic of Iran, based on its principled policy of condemning terrorism and its strong will to seriously confront this evil phenomenon, condemns the recent terrorist attack in Orlando," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari was quoted by state news agency IRNA as saying on June 13. Mateen, the son of Afghan immigrants to the United States, was born in New York and moved to Florida at a young age with his parents. He had been an armed guard at a gated retirement community and worked for the global security firm G4S for nine years. G4S said he had cleared two company background screenings, the latest in 2013. G4S said in a statement that it was "cooperating fully with all law enforcement authorities, including the FBI, as they conduct their investigation." G4S has 623,000 employees worldwide and describes itself as "the largest security solutions provider in the world" on the company website. Florida state records show that Mateen held a firearms license since at least 2011. Authorities also say Mateen legally purchased at least two firearms within the past week or so. Mateen married a woman in March 2009 named Sitora Alisherzoda Yusufiy who was born in Uzbekistan and immigrated to the United States. They became separated after just a few months and were legally divorced in 2011. Yusufiy told the media she had met Mateen online and moved to Florida where she lived with him from April to August 2009. She said he beat her regularly. "He was mentally unstable and mentally ill," Yusufiy told reporters in Boulder, Colorado. The suspect's father, Seddique Mateen, said early on June 12 that he believed his son was motivated by hatred of homosexuals -- not by his Muslim religion. Seddique Mateen said his son got angry when he saw two men kissing in public in Miami several months earlier in front of his 3-year-old son. "This had nothing to do with religion," Mateen's father told the media. "I don't know what caused it," Seddique Mateen said. "I never figured out that he had a grudge in his heart...I am grief-stricken." "We are saying we are apologizing for the whole incident," Seddique Mateen said. "We are in shock like the whole country." The FBI said its agents twice investigated Mateen for alleged Islamist links but closed those cases after interviewing him. Special Agent Ronald Hopper said Mateen was first investigated in 2013 after he made inflammatory comments to co-workers alleging possible ties to terrorists. In 2014, the agency looked into potential ties between Mateen and Moner Mohammad Abusalha, a resident of Fort Pierce, Florida, who carried out a suicide truck-bomb attack in Syria and had appeared in a video released by the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Nusra Front. Hopper said the FBI determined that contact between Mateen and Abusalha "was minimal and did not constitute a substantive relationship or a threat at that time." With reporting by RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal, AP, Washington Post, NBC, Reuters, AP, AFP, BBC, and the Orlando Sentinel Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/orlando-suspect-claimed-by- islamic-state-soldier-caliphate/27795065.html Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US Democratic National Committee Network Hacked by Wayne Lee June 14, 2016 The U.S. Democratic National Committee (DNC) said Tuesday its computer network was breached by Russian government hackers who gained access to opposition information on presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz described the incident as "serious" and said the committee moved quickly to "kick out the intruders and secure our network" with the help of a cyber company called CrowdStrike. The hacking incident, first reported by The Washington Post, does not appear to have yielded financial or personal information, said the DNC. The paper, citing committee officials and security expects, said the hackers had access to all emails and chat exchanges and to the DNC network for about a year. The top Democrat on the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff, said Tuesday he would not elaborate on the incident, but that Russian targeting should be expected. "While I cannot get into the specifics of any one attack or hack, in light of our increasingly adversarial relationship with Russia after their invasion of Ukraine, we must expect that Russia, in particular, will target our institutions relentlessly - and for those that are not well defended, successfully," Schiff said in a statement. A Russian embassy spokesman told the The Washington Post he had no knowledge of the breach. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Belarus Holds Military Exercises in Grodno Region Involving 2,100 People Sputnik News 16:50 13.06.2016(updated 16:51 13.06.2016) More than 2,000 servicemen and over 70 units of equipment will take part in the joint drills in Belarus. MINSK (Sputnik) Joint command-and-staff and territorial defense forces' exercises kicked off on Monday in the Belarusian Grodno Region, the country's Defense Ministry announced. "According to the Defense Ministry's training plan for 2015/2016, the command-and-staff exercises with the territorial defense forces of the Grodno Region were launched on June 13. The drills are mainly aimed at boosting the level of the [military] readiness and ability of the governing bodies and territorial defense forces to carry out the tasks in conditions of rapidly changing situation," the ministry's press service said in a statement. The drills imply testing skills of protection of territorial defense objects, maintenance of a martial law, blocking and destruction of armed gangs. According to the press service, military units of the Western Operational Command, the Air Force and Air Defense Forces, the Special Operations Forces, as well as the representatives of almost all law enforcement agencies, including the Interior Ministry, the State Border Committee, the State Security Committee and the Emergency Situations Ministry will take part in the drills. A total of 2,100 personnel and over 70 units of equipment will participate in the military exercises, the ministerial press service said. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran security forces kill 5 terrorists in southeastern province Iran Press TV Mon Jun 13, 2016 2:45PM Iranian security forces have killed five members of the so-called Jaish-ul-Adl terrorist group in the southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan, a police spokesman says. General Saeed Montazer-al-Mahdi said on Monday that the terrorists were killed during clashes with police forces in Khash region of the province. He added that the terrorists sought to conduct acts of terror inside the country, noting that a huge amount of ammunition was confiscated from them. An Iranian police was also killed in the clashes, reports say. The so-called Jaish-ul-Adl group, which translates as Army of Justice, was formed in 2012 by members of the Pakistan-based Jundallah, another terrorist group which was dismantled by Iranian intelligence forces in 2010 after its ringleader, Abdolmalek Rigi, was executed. Jaish-ul-Adl has claimed responsibility for a number of criminal activities in Pakistan and Iran in recent years. On February 6, 2014, the terror group abducted 5 Iranian border guards in the Jakigour region of Iran's southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan and took them to Pakistan. On March 23, 2014, the terror group said that it had killed one of the hostages named Jamshid Danaeifar. The other four were freed and reunited with their families two months after their abduction. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Daesh attack kills 5 Iraqi forces in Ramadi Iran Press TV Mon Jun 13, 2016 12:48PM An attack by Daesh Takfiri terrorists has killed five members of security forces in Iraq's western city of Ramadi months after the Takfiri group was purged from the area. Army officers said on Monday that the Iraqi forces were killed in the capital city of of Anbar province after several explosives-laden vehicles were detonated at the entrance of a major military base and during the ensuing clashes. "Our forces killed all the attackers and destroyed all the car bombs but there were a number of killed and wounded among army ranks," Major General Ismail al-Mahalawi said, adding that fierce gunfire erupted after the explosions but the soldiers managed to bring the situation under their control. Other sources confirmed the death of five soldiers, saying 11 others were wounded in the attack. Mahalawi, as the head of the operations command for Anbar, is currently supervising Iraq's battle on the ground against Daesh in Fallujah, another city in the province, which is located around 60 kilometers from the capital Baghdad. Fallujah has been under the control of militants for the past two years. Iraqi forces have already liberated key cities like Ramadi and Hit in the sprawling province. Iraqis have also begun preparations for a highly-anticipated offensive against Daesh in Mosul, the capital of Iraq's northern Nineveh province. However, the Monday attack in Ramadi indicated that people and security forces are still vulnerable to Daesh threats in the areas that have been retaken from the terrorists. Since Ramadi's liberation in December, the Iraqi government has been facilitating the return of local population to the city while operations have begun to rebuild the city's civilian infrastructure. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Daesh executes 19 of own members in Iraq's Fallujah Iran Press TV Mon Jun 13, 2016 5:39AM The Takfiri Daesh terrorist group has killed 19 members of its own for allegedly escaping the battlefields where they were supposed to face off with Iraqi security forces in the city of Fallujah. Daesh executed the 19 individuals for fleeing the battlefields in the neighborhoods of al-Shuhada and al-Nasaf, an informed source told Iraq's al-Sumaria news website on Sunday. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, further said that the terrorists were shot in the head in a square in the center of Fallujah. On May 22, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the start of the liberation operations for the Daesh-held Fallujah. Nearly 70 kilometers west of the capital Baghdad, the strategic city has been under the Takfiris' control since 2014. Iraqi forces advance in Nineveh Meanwhile, an Iraqi security source said military forces and allied volunteer forces from the Hashd al-Shaabi have managed to retake the village of Haj Ali near the al-Qayara district of Mosul, the provincial capital of Nineveh Province which is also held by Daesh. The source, who did not want to be named, further said the Iraqi forces also regained control of a crossing at the threshold of the town of al-Shirqat in Salahuddin Province as well as the road connecting it to Haj Ali village in neighboring Nineveh. "This road was used by Daesh to provide its members with weapons," the source said. The news came hours after Iraqi forces retook the village of Kharaib Jabr south of Mosul as the liberation operations continue in the area. The village is located near the southern outskirts of Mosul, which has served as the main stronghold of Daesh terrorists in Iraq since 2014. Fighters from the Hashd al-Shaabi, which is Iraq's Popular Mobilization force, and Kurdish forces are also involved in the liberation operations being carried out in the embattled Nineveh Province. In another development, the Iraqi War Media Cell said Iraqi warplanes have dropped thousands of leaflets on the district of Kawir, southeast of Mosul, informing the residents that the Iraqi troops will be entering the district soon. The leaflets identified safe routes for civilians to exit the district and urged the residents to keep away from the positions of Daesh, which are legitimate targets. The northern and western parts of Iraq have been plagued by gruesome violence ever since Daesh terrorists mounted an offensive in the country in June 2014. The Iraqi army together with fighters from the Hashd al-Shaabi has been engaged in operations to liberate militant-held regions. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Thousands Flee Fallujah as Iraq Army Secures Safe Exit by Sharon Behn June 13, 2016 Thousands of refugees are pouring out of Fallujah through a safe exit corridor secured by the Iraqi army as the fight to retake the city from Islamic State extremists rages into its third week. According to Lise Grande, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, 3,300 people fled Monday, joining another 4,000 who escaped during the weekend. Thousands more are expected to make the journey in the coming days, overwhelming humanitarian efforts to help them. Most of the civilians fleeing the fighting are going into 27 camps housing displaced people from other parts of Iraq's Anbar province. "The problem is, the camps are full," Grande said. There is a massive effort underway to catch up, with various U.N. agencies and non-governmental organizations working to build new camps, while providing food, safe drinking water, latrines, mobile clinics, and help for women who have suffered violence by IS extremists. "We underestimated how difficult conditions were in Fallujah itself," Grande said, adding there were reports that "families have been brutalized, women have been brutalized, children have been brutalized." More refugees expected According to the United Nations, 43,000 people have run away from the city, despite the dangers of roadside bombs or being killed by Islamic State fighters. The sudden rush out came after Iraqi forces, working with local tribal fighters, opened one safe exit corridor for civilians. They are now fighting to open up a second. Between 40,000 and 50,000 additional people could still be trapped in the city center, Grande told reporters in a live broadcast from Baghdad. According to the Norwegian Refugee Council, some families have been trying to escape by leaving at night and making their way to the Euphrates River, some paying IS roughly $130 to allow them to take small boats across the water. Families have lost children on the way, some have drowned on the river crossing, others have been executed by Islamic State. Many are facing starvation. Nuriya is a refugee who managed to escape on a boat across the Euphrates. "It was total chaos," she told the Norwegian Refugee Council. "When the boat I was on reached the middle of the river, I heard a lot of screams; another boat was sinking. People were shouting, 'Save us, save us.'" She said people jumped in to try to rescue those who were drowning, but came too late for her son's two daughters and young son. "Their mother was holding onto two of them, one of them was still alive, the other was already dead, until she lost them," she said. Help needed Humanitarian agencies are calling for more help from the international community. "The needs are great, the resources are limited, and the time to meet their needs is limited because they have gone through an enormous time of deprivation before reaching here," said Bruno Geddo, the UNHCR representative in Iraq. For those who escape, the UNHCR has said there are credible eyewitness reports that some men and boys are facing physical abuse by armed militias operating in support of the Iraqi security forces. Those groups are "separating the men and teenage boys from the women and children, and detaining the males for 'security screening,' which in some cases degenerates into physical violations and other forms of abuse, apparently in order to elicit forced confessions," said the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein. "There are even allegations that some individuals have been summarily executed by these armed groups," al-Hussein said in a statement from Geneva last week. The governor of Anbar province, where Fallujah is located, said Sunday that 49 displaced civilians who had reached areas controlled by the Shi'ite militia had been killed. Hundreds more were missing, Suhaib al-Rawi told reporters. Some Sunni tribal fighters are battling alongside the Iraqi army and counterterrorism forces, as are a number of Shi'ite militia who operate under the umbrella name of Hashd al Shaabi. Grande said 7,200 men and boys had been separated from their families to be screened. About 2,000 are still being held. "There is a big backlog," Grande said. Fallujah is a traditionally Sunni stronghold that has been under IS control for more than two years. There have long been concerns the sectarian nature of the war against Islamic State extremists could be exacerbated by the presence of the Shi'ite militia. Al-Hussein says Iraqi security forces have a legitimate interest in vetting those fleeing IS-controlled areas to ensure they don't pose a security threat, but he says that screening has to be done legally. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iraq recaptures Fallujah Barrage from Daesh Iran Press TV Tue Jun 14, 2016 2:8PM Iraq's army and volunteer fighters have recaptured a major water facility from the Takfiri Daesh terrorists as the fight continues against the militants west of the capital, Baghdad. Iraq's police chief said on Tuesday that the forces cleared the Fallujah Barrage of Daesh and hoisted the Iraqi flag on the crest of the dam. Brigadier Shakir Jawdat said Iraqi forces are now in full control of the barrage, which is located south of Fallujah on the Euphrates River. The Iraqi forces also seized control over three villages of Za'anatha, Ziban and Atr east of Fallujah. They also recaptured Abbas Jamil Bridge to facilitate the advance on the eastern neighborhoods of the city. Earlier on Tuesday, Jawdat had briefed the media about the liberation of a neighborhood in Fallujah, saying his forces freed several residential blocks in the area. The recaptures are the latest in a series of advances made by Iraqi forces against Daesh in Fallujah, a city in the western province of Anbar which has been in the hands of the militants for the past two years. The massive operation, which was delayed several times due to the situation of civilians and the weather condition, is of high significance to the Iraqis, as the liberation of the town, located west of Baghdad, would seriously boost the morale of the military as it prepares for a final push against Daesh in Mosul, Iraq's second largest city in the north. Concurrent with the Fallujah offensive, contingents of the Iraqi army are trying to approach the outskirts of Mosul. A senior military source said that troops recaptured the village of Nasr south of the city earlier in the day. Also on Tuesday, the United Nations hailed efforts made by Baghdad to ease concerns about the safety of civilians during the Fallujah operation, saying 7,000 people have managed to flee the Daesh-held city via a safe corridor set up by Iraqi forces. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Kazakh Minister Says Possible Syria Link In Aqtobe Attacks June 14, 2016 by RFE/RL's Kazakh Service Kazakhstan's top law enforcement official says authorities believe that suspects in deadly June 5 attacks in the northwestern city of Aqtobe were instructed or inspired by a militant Islamist leader based in Syria. Interior Minister Qalmukhanbet Qasymov said on June 14 that some 45 people gathered in an Aqtobe apartment shortly before the attacks on two gun shops and a National Guard base. "They heard an appeal from a so-called imam who told them to carry out a holy jihad and suggested that they act right now," the minister told reporters in Astana, adding that "the so-called imam apparently is from Syria." Officials say the death toll in the attacks and subsequent police operations is 26, including suspected assailants. The attacks raised concerns about the potential for further violence and added to the troubles of President Nursultan Nazarbaev's authoritarian government, which faced major protests in April and May against planned land reforms in the oil-rich, former Soviet Central Asian republic. Qasymov said that the suspects had already been plotting the attacks and "knew the potential targets, and knew how and where to go" before hearing the audio message ahead of the attacks. He did not say whether the "so-called imam" was believed to be affiliated with Islamic State or any other extremist group with a presence in Syria, or exactly how the message was delivered. The Reuters news agency described it as an audio address. Nazarbaev has said the attackers -- whom he described as members of "pseudo-religious radical movements" -- had received instructions from abroad. Reiterating previous official figures, Qasymov said that 45 people were initially involved in plotting the attacks but that 20 of them changed their minds at the last minute and refused to take part. Kazakh officials say five civilians and three national guardsmen were killed in the attacks. The Committee for National Security has said that 18 suspected attackers have been killed by government forces and nine arrested. There have been no credible claims of responsibility. Qasymov said that in questioning suspects, the authorities have established that the aim of the Aqtobe attacks was to obtain sophisticated weapons and target government institutions. He said seven of the suspected attackers had been known to the authorities because of previous criminal records, while Kazakh media said one suspect -- Alibek Berdybaev -- had been linked to a 2011 suicide attack in Aqtobe. Tengrinews.kz reported that in December 2011, Berdybaev was found guilty of participating in a terrorist organization and was sentenced to three years in prison. He was sentenced along with 12 other defendants. Kazakh authorities say the suicide attack on May 17, 2011, that targeted the headquarters of security services was carried out by local man linked to Islamic extremists. They say the bomber was killed in that attack, which wounded two other people. With reporting by Tengrinews.kz and Reuters Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/kazakhstan-imam- syria-deadly-attacks/27797100.html Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Security Council extends mandate of UN mission in Libya for six months 13 June 2016 The Security Council today decided to extend until 15 December 2016 the mandate of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), encouraging the operation to re-establish a permanent presence in the country through a phased return. The current mandate was set to expire on 15 June. In its resolution, the Council expressed its support for the ongoing efforts of UNSMIL and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General to facilitate a Libyan-led political solution to the challenges facing Libya. The 15-member body also recalled its resolution 2259 (2015), which endorsed the Rome Communique of 13 December 2015 to support the Government of National Accord as the sole legitimate Government of Libya, and welcomed the arrival in Tripoli on 30 March 2016 of members of the Presidency Council of the Government of National Accord, led by Prime Minister Fayez Serraj. Further to the text of the resolution, the Council welcomed the endorsement in principle of the Libyan Political Agreement by the House of Representatives on 25 January 2016 and further welcomed the meeting of the Libyan Political Dialogue on 10 March 2016, which reaffirmed its commitment to uphold the Libyan Political Agreement. Recognizing the importance of continued inclusiveness, the Council strongly encouraged the Government of National Accord to support reconciliation and enhance political outreach throughout Libya, as well as emphasized the importance of all parties in Libya engaging constructively with the Libyan Political Agreement in good faith and with sustained political will. In the resolution, the Council also urged the full, equal and effective participation of women in all activities relating to the democratic transition, conflict resolution and peacebuilding in line with relevant Security Council resolutions. Expressing grave concern at the "rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in Libya," the Council also encouraged the Government of National Accord to finalize interim security arrangements for stabilizing Libya as a critical step towards tackling the country's political, security, humanitarian, economic and institutional challenges and to combat the threat of terrorism. Recalling its determination in resolution 2213 (2015) that the situation in Libya continues to constitute a threat to international peace and security, the Council decided that UNSMIL, within operational and security constraints, will undertake human rights monitoring and reporting; provide support for securing uncontrolled arms and related material and countering its proliferation; provide support to key Libyan institutions; provide support, on request, for the provision of essential services, and delivery of humanitarian assistance and in accordance with humanitarian principles; and coordinate international assistance. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia Expects to Reach $13-Bln Goal on Military Equipment Sales Abroad Sputnik News 14:19 13.06.2016(updated 14:22 13.06.2016) Sales of Russia's state arms exporter Rosoboronexport are strictly in accordance with the schedule, according to Director General Anatoly Isaykin. PARIS (Sputnik) The company expects to complete its sales plan for 2016 in amount of $13 billion. "We are strictly on schedule, no delays, the plan is due to be fulfilled," Isaykin told RIA Novosti. The director also confirmed that Rosoboronexport's sales plan for 2016 corresponded with a previously announced amount of $13 billion. According to toe company, Russia has also started pre-contract work on the delivery of Varshavyanka-class diesel-electric submarines (NATO reporting name Improved Kilo-class) to Indonesia. "The depth of interest will depend only on the Defense Ministry. There were official statements by the Indonesia Defense Minister [confirming] that they are interested in this project <> The interest expressed by the official representative of the Defense Ministry, I think that it is the pre-contract work," Isaykin said. He added that many countries are interested in Varshavyanka-class submarines, as the vessels demonstrate unprecedented level of silence and powerful equipment. According to the businessman, it is possible that Russia and France will resume cooperation on ATOM Infantry Fighting Vehicle should relations with EU partners soon improve. "Hypothetically, the continuation of the cooperation is always possible, but if this pause, that arose due to the sanctions, continues for another couple of years, then what's the point of cooperation," Isaikin told RIA Novosti. He added that the Russian defense industry with its new developments simply will not wait for the improvement of the geopolitical situation, as it is economically disadvantageous. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address S Arabia's weapons imports lead surge in global arms sales: Report Iran Press TV Mon Jun 13, 2016 4:31PM A surge in purchasing weapons by Saudi Arabia helped push global arms sales up more than 10 percent last year, according to annual Global Defense Trade Report. The consulting company, IHS Inc., in its Global Defense Trade Report published Sunday noted that arms imports by the Persian Gulf region's Arab monarchy jumped from USD 6 billion in 2014 to USD 9.3 billion in 2015. According to Ben Moores, a senior defense analyst at IHS who wrote the report, Saudi Arabia's weapons purchases last year included Eurofighter Typhoon jets, F-15 warplanes and Apache helicopters, as well as precision-guided weapons, drones and surveillance equipment. "The combined value of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates' defense imports is more than all of Western Europe's defense imports combined," Moores said, adding, "Saudi Arabia's imports grew from six billion US dollars to 9.3 billion US dollars , an increase that is three times that of the entire sub-Saharan Africa market." The report, which examines the defense market across 65 countries, said the arms market jumped to USD 65 billion in 2015, up by USD 6.6 billion from 2014, and is expected to hit USD 69 billion in 2016. Moores noted that the United States, Britain and some other Western countries have largely benefited from the arms exports to the troubled Mideast region, adding, "The US, Canada, France and the UK are the main exporters of defense equipment to the Middle East and beneficiaries of this spending boom." According to the figures released by the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) NGO in early January, the UK licensed the sales of over eight billion dollars of military hardware to Saudi Arabia since British Prime Minister David Cameron took office in May 2010. The US and its allies have been under pressure to halt arms sales to Saudi Arabia which faces massive criticism from the international community for launching a violent war against the impoverished Yemen, its growing number of beheading and other forms of execution, cracking down on political dissidents and the most stunning atrocity of the mass execution of Shia cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, and 46 other people. In October last year, during an interview with the UK's Channel 4, Cameron suggested that London's "relationship" with Saudi Arabia supersedes its human rights record. A recent report by the UN holds Riyadh responsible for 60 percent of child deaths and injuries in Yemen last Year. The report attributed 510 child deaths and 667 injuries to Saudi aggression in Yemen. More than 9,400 people have been killed and at least 16,000 others injured in Yemen since last March, when Saudi Arabia launched its military aggression against the country. Riyadh has been backed by Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Sudan, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain in the military campaign. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address China promotes unification, condemns Taiwan's new government ROC Central News Agency 2016/06/13 16:02:17 Taipei, June 13 (CNA) China has stepped up efforts to promote cross-Taiwan Strait unification after the May 20 inauguration of the new government under Tsai Ing-wen (), the head of Taiwan's Overseas Community Affairs Commission said Monday. Wu Hsin-hsing () said that China has reactivated the China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification (CCPPNR), an organization that has government backing, and it has recently convened a series of meetings of overseas leaders and compatriots in different regions and "openly condemned" Tsai's government. "The Overseas Community Affairs Commission has taken note of the trend and its development, and is mapping out contingency plans," Wu said. He made the remarks at a legislative hearing in which Legislator Lo Chih-cheng () asked if China has been actively wooing overseas Chinese. The CCPPNR is chaired by one of China's top leaders Yu Zhengsheng (). Yu is also a member of the Standing Committee the Communist Party of China's Central Committee Political Bureau, and is chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. Tsai's government of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party has refused to recognize the "1992 consensus," which, according to the previous administration under Ma Ying-jeou () of the Kuomintang (KMT), refers to a tacit understanding that there is only China, with both sides free to interpret the meaning of the term. (By Tai Ya-chen and Lilian Wu) ENDITEM/J NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Car bomb rocks eastern Turkish town, nine injured Iran Press TV Mon Jun 13, 2016 11:24AM A car bomb explosion has hit the Turkish town of Ovacik in the eastern province of Tunceli, injuring several people. Early reports said that nine people, including a police officer, have been injured in the Monday blast, which hit near a housing block for civil servants working at a local courthouse at about 1.30 p.m. local time, security sources said. Three of the injured are said to be in critical condition. The bomb was detonated near the lodgings in the district of Ovacik, about 800 kilometers (500 miles) east of Turkey's capital city, Ankara, the sources added. Firefighters managed to extinguished a blaze caused by the blast, according to the Dogan news agency There has been no immediate claim of responsibility for the incident, but Turkish officials usually blame such attacks on militants affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Turkey has suffered a spate of bombings this year, including two attacks in tourist areas of Istanbul blamed on Daesh and two car bombings in the capital, Ankara, which were claimed by the Kurdish militant group. Last Tuesday, the Turkey's government introduced PKK as responsible for a bomb blast that rocked a central district in the port city of Istanbul near a bus stop, killing at least 11 people and leaving 36 others injured. This came after a splinter group of the PKK, the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), claimed responsibility for Istanbul bomb attack. Bombings in Turkey's heartland have had a dire effect on the tourism industry. According to the Tourism Ministry, some 1.75 million foreigners came to Turkey in April, down by more than 28 percent compared to April 2015. The fall was the steepest monthly decrease for 17 years and raised fresh concerns about the health of the industry heading into the crucial summer season. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Israeli, Turkish Officials say They are Close to Repairing Relations by Dorian Jones June 13, 2016 Turkish and Israeli ministers say they are close to mending relations that were severely strained after the 2010 killing of nine Turkish activists on a boat seeking to break Israel's economic blockade of Gaza. In the latest negotiations to thaw bilateral relations, Turkish and Israeli diplomats are reportedly due to meet this month. Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus last week announced that a deal was close to being reached. Political columnist Semih Idiz of Turkey's Cumhuriyet newspaper says there is powerful political momentum behind rapprochement efforts with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan backing the process. "... First with Erdogan coming out and saying, 'Whether we like it or not, we have to have this' and then various ministers saying it is about to happen, it is on the verge of happening. I think it is actually on the way. I think they are probably working out the fine points," said Idiz. Israel has already met one of Ankara's demands, by apologizing for the killing of the nine Turkish activists aboard a boat seeking to break Israeli's economic blockade of Gaza. Turkish media are reporting agreement has been reached over the amount Israel will pay in compensation to the families of those killed. Columnist Idiz says a compromise is close to being reached over the blockade. "I think the way the Gaza blockade demand by Turkey will be overcome, is that the blockade is not necessarily raised, but that Turkish companies and Turkish aid groups have access to Gaza and that would be solved in that way," said Idiz. Differences remain Rapprochement efforts come as deep differences remain politically between the leaders of both countries, who observers point out make little secret of their dislike of one another. Political scientist Cengiz Aktar of Istanbul's Suleyman Sah University says with both countries isolated in the region, pragmatism is driving the effort. "The deal between Turkey and Israel is between the two loneliest states in the Middle East. This is a typical convergence of interests, that does not mean, that suddenly Israel and Turkey love each other, far from it," said Aktar. Distrust could still jeopardize rapprochement efforts. Western media reports say Israel is demanding Ankara expel leading Hamas members in exchange for concessions over Gaza. The recent appointment of Avigdor Lieberman, a well known critic of Ankara, as Israeli defense minister further complicates bilateral negotiations, says political consultant Atilla Yesilada of Global Source Partners. "I am quite skeptical, given the fact that Hamas is still in Turkey, and according to the Turkish press, the appointment of Mr. Lieberman as the defense minister, who is a known Turkophobe, does not make matters easier," said Yesilada. "This reconciliation has been in the agenda, since the turn of the year. And every time an authority is asked when is it going to happen? 'It is only a meeting away;' but that meeting never happens." Deepening economic ties are widely cited as a powerful driving force behind rapprochement, particularly in the field of energy, with Turkey seen as an ideal market for Israel's newly discovered natural gas reserves. Observers point out shared concerns over Iran's rising influence and power in the region are also powerful forces to bring Israel and Turkey closer. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UK military to take massive hit if Leave campaign wins: Osborne Iran Press TV Tue Jun 14, 2016 9:46AM British armed forces are going to face major cuts if Britons vote to leave the European Union (EU) in a referendum later this month, UK Chancellor of Exchequer George Osborne has warned. In an interview with the Sun, Osborne said that up to 1.5 billion in cuts were awaiting the country's military forces which would result in ditching plans to purchase a modern generation of warships, fighter jets and other gear. "I'd have to start cutting key budgets like defense. I've looked at the numbers and it looks like defense would have to be cut by between 1 billion and 1.5 billion," said Osborne, who is the country's chief financial minister. He said cutting the country's budget would be "the last thing I want to do," but if the Leave campaign prevails in the June 23 vote "Britain is smaller and so our Armed Forces will be smaller and that means fewer planes, ships and personnel to defend us." The head of the UK treasury said the cuts will be applied in order to plug a 20 billion to 40 billion hole in public finance that will emerge after leaving the EU. "You can't leave the defense budget untouched. We would have to look at the kit and the personnel. In the end, you have to make your budget fit the money coming in," he noted. Describing the issue as "an entirely self-inflicted wound," Osborne further warned that leaving the bloc would take the UK "straight back into the darkness." The chancellor's warnings against leaving the EU fall in line with similar statements made by Prime Minister David Cameron and other government officials who unanimously say the move would weaken the country's economy and undermine its security. However, there are key political figures, like former mayor of London Boris Johnson, who say leaving the EU would allow Britain to take back control over major issues like immigration. A poll, carried out by YouGov in The Sunday Times until June 10, showed that 50% of respondents wanted the UK to leave the EU and 49% voted to remain in the bloc. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Flood Of Weapons Makes Eastern Ukraine Ripe For Arms Trade June 14, 2016 by Tony Wesolowsky Awash with arms and facing a breakdown in law and order, war-torn eastern Ukraine has all the elements required to become a major illicit international weapons market. Long a nexus in the global arms trade, Ukraine is already witnessing a boom in black-market sales of arms seeping out of the conflict zone, fueling what authorities say is a wave of violent crime in the country. "Everyone knows about the weapons market in eastern Ukraine, it's no secret," Myroslav Hay, a former Ukrainian volunteer who fought in the east. Speaking to RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service recently, he described an enormous illegal-arms trade, with weapons and ammunition changing hands in some cases for merely a few bottles of alcohol. For now, most of the illicit weapons trade appears to be isolated inside Ukraine, but there are worrying signs that could soon change. Trade-Expansion Fears Fears that at least some of those arms could end up in Western Europe, already on edge since attacks by Islamist extremists in 2015 in Belgium and France, were heightened after the Ukrainian Security Service announced earlier this month that it had nabbed a suspected French extremist with a cache of weapons who was allegedly bent on unleashing mayhem back home. The man, identified as 25-year-old Gregoire Moutaux, was stopped on the Polish-Ukrainian border on May 21 with 125 kilograms of explosives, five AK-series assault rifles, two antitank grenade launchers, some 5,000 rounds of ammunition, and 100 detonators. Ukrainian officials claimed he was a hard-core nationalist who had planned more than a dozen attacks. According to French media reports on June 6, Moutaux has no previous criminal record and had entered Ukraine as a "volunteer," using this guise to make contact with military units in eastern Ukraine. Experts are concerned that the market for illicit arms in Europe could be flooded with weapons from Ukraine, much like 6 million guns from the Balkan wars of the 1990s that are still believed to be circulating in Europe. They see a major difference in the number and firepower of weapons, however. "There is a threat of more substantial weapons coming out of Ukraine," explains Nic R. Jenzen-Jones, a weapons expert and director of Armament Research Services (ARES), a technical intelligence consultancy. "What's perhaps different in this situation is the large number of light weapons, the large number of antitank weapons, and heavy antipersonnel weapons, that are outside of state control and remain outside of state control in Ukraine," he said. "And that poses, I think, a different caliber of threat to the EU." Jenzen-Jones says most of the weapons ARES has catalogued being used in the fighting in eastern Ukraine between government forces and Russia-backed separatists were already on the territory and were either seized in raids on government arsenals or taken in battle. Kyiv claims that Moscow, which the West and Kyiv have accused of supplying fighters and weapons to the separatists, is adding to the stockpile of weapons. Cheap Guns, Costly Effect According to Ukrainian media reports and government estimates, some 500,000 firearms (including assault rifles, machine guns, and pistols) have been smuggled into the Donbas since fighting erupted in eastern Ukraine in April 2014 in a conflict that has claimed more than 9,300 lives and displaced tens of thousands more. Many of those weapons eventually end up on the black market, authorities say. And with weapons plentiful and cheap, violent crime is on the rise in Ukraine. A report from July 2015 showed that the number of gun crimes in Ukraine had increased dramatically since the conflict erupted in the east. Beset by a culture of corruption and struggling to end the conflict in the east, Kyiv is ill-equipped to handle the problem, argues Mark Galeotti, a professor of global affairs at New York University. "The depressing truth is that although the Ukrainian government has begun enacting new laws to address corruption and smuggling, at present the country's ports, airports, and borders are under-controlled," he says. "The country has been a smuggling hub for illicit commodities of all kinds -- from drugs and guns to people and counterfeit -- too long for this easily to be addressed." Global Smuggling Hub Ukraine has been a key link in the global arms trade for some time. In September 2013, the Washington-based Center for Advanced Defense Studies released a report detailing a network of individuals and companies it said were responsible for shipping weapons to global conflict zones from the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odesa, which it dubbed the "Odesa Network." Reports suggest mounting attempts to smuggle arms out of eastern Ukraine, in particular to neighboring Poland and Belarus. Polish border guards said in January 2016 they had seized 53 weapons from smugglers over the 18 months after fighting broke out in eastern Ukraine in early 2014. That compares to only three seized smuggled arms for 2013, according to the border guards. A Polish border-guards spokeswoman told IBTimes UK in January that border security was to be bolstered, including the building of 11 observation towers along the border. In Belarus, arms-smuggling attempts from Ukraine are up as well. In December 2015, Leanid Maltsau, the chairman of the State Border Committee, said border guards had seized 53 weapons, as well as 500 rounds of ammunition in 2015. The trend seems to have worsened in 2016. On April 5, Belarusian Interior Minister Ihar Shunevich, announced that Belarusian police were to carry out a "special operation" aimed at curbing the growing flow of weapons from neighboring Ukraine. Shunevich said Belarusian police had confiscated some 20 small arms from Ukraine since the beginning of 2016. He said more weapons from Ukraine were reaching Belarus. "Unfortunately, the trend is positive. We are registering numerous facts of arms contraband from Ukraine through various channels," he said. Reverse Weapons Flow Ironically, Russia, accused of providing arms and fighters to separatists in eastern Ukraine, is dealing with an influx of arms as well from the separatist-controlled areas. In May 2015, the Federal Security Service (FSB), which oversees border security, said it had dug 100 kilometers of ditches and put up 40 kilometers of fences in the Rostov region, which borders territory held by Russia-backed separatists in Ukraine's Luhansk and Donetsk regions. The measures have been implemented "to ensure the stability of [the Rostov region] as well as to stop illegal weapons trafficking," the border service said in a statement published by Rossiiskaya Gazeta, the government's official newspaper. About 60 attempts at incoming arms smuggling have been foiled this year, resulting in the detention of more than 130 people and the confiscation of about 30 land mines, 40 firearms, 100 artillery shells, and 200 grenades, according to the daily. And with Russia continuing to fuel the conflict in eastern Ukraine, arms smuggling will continue to pose a threat, argues John Herbst of the Washington-based Atlantic Council. He says the Donbas could become more of a risk than Transdniester, a breakaway region in Moldova that is backed by Moscow, and has become a hub for illicit trade of all types, including weapons. "The situation in Transdniester at the present time is better than the situation in eastern Ukraine, in the Donbas, because in Transdniester it is a frozen conflict, but in the east [of Ukraine] Russia is still conducting a low-intensity war against Ukraine." Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/ukraine-flood-of-arms- east-conflict-smuggling/27797454.html Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Ukrainian Says 'Tortured' In Russia As Moscow, Kyiv Exchange More Prisoners June 14, 2016 by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service Two Ukrainians have lambasted Russia after being freed from jail there and flown home in the second high-profile prisoner exchange in weeks, with one saying he was tortured and another predicting the two countries would be "enemies" as long as Vladimir Putin is in the Kremlin. Hennadiy Afanasyev and Yuriy Soloshenko arrived in Kyiv on June 14 three weeks after an exchange that brought Nadia Savchenko back to Ukraine after nearly two years in custody in Russia, whose jailing of the military aviator and other Ukrainians has been criticized by the United States, the European Union, and international rights groups. They were pardoned by Putin and exchanged for two people -- also Ukrainians -- who were in Ukrainian custody on charges related to their alleged support for pro-Russian separatism. The releases could suggest that Moscow is seeking to erode support in the West for the continuation of sanctions imposed on Russia over its seizure of Crimea from Ukraine and its support for separatists in a still-simmering conflict that has killed more than 9,300 people in eastern Ukraine since April 2014. "I have endured torture and pain like many others," Afanasyev, 25, told journalists at the entrance to a hospital where he and Soloshenko were taken for check-ups after their plane landed. He appealed to Western governments by addressing foreign journalists, saying, "I ask you not to lift the sanctions [against Russia], continue the policy of sanctions." Afanasyev is a Crimean photographer who was arrested months after Russia annexed the peninsula and sentenced to seven years in jail after being convicted of plotting a terrorist act against the Russian-imposed authorities. Soloshenko, 73, is a former electronics-plant chief who was arrested by the Russian authorities in Moscow in August 2014 and accused of trying to buy restricted components for the S-300 air-defense missile system. He was sentenced in October to six years in prison. "I think that while Putin's regime is running Russia, it will remain our enemy, and therefore we will have to do everything [we can] to release all our friends from Russian jails.... They are waiting for our help and I believe they will join us," Soloshenko said. He said that while he was in custody, investigators promised he would be released if he renounced his Ukrainian citizenship and obtained a Russian passport, but he refused. Reports from Russia said that Olena Hlishchynska and Vitaliy Didenko -- two Ukrainian journalists from the Black Sea port city of Odesa who were jailed in Ukraine last year for organizing separatist activities -- arrived in Moscow on June 14. Ukranian President Petro Poroshenko, who spoke to the media along with Afanasyev and Soloshenko, said that their release was made possible by the Minsk accords -- agreements signed by Ukraine, Russia, and the separatists and aimed to resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine. He vowed that all Ukrainians remaining in the Russian custody will be returned home. Savchenko was exchanged for two Russians sentenced to long prison terms in Ukraine, where they were accused of fighting alongside separatists in the Luhansk region and convicted of conducting "terrorist" and "aggressive military activities" against Ukraine. Savchenko, who became a national symbol of defiance in the face of Russia's military intervention in Ukraine during her captivity, emerged from her ordeal urging Ukrainian authorities to continue their efforts to free "every single...prisoner of the Kremlin." Afanasyev's case attracted particular attention due to the prominence of one of three alleged co-conspirators, Oleh Sentsov, a film director whose jailing drew appeals from prominent figures in international cinema. A Russian court sentenced Sentsov in August to 20 years in prison and another defendant, Oleksandr Kolchenko, to 10 years in prison. They remain in Russian custody. According to the Moscow-based Memorial Human Rights Center, more than 20 Ukrainian nationals are being held in Russia on politically motivated charges. Russia denies involvement in the conflict in eastern Ukraine despite what Kyiv and NATO say is overwhelming evidence that it has supported the separatists with troops and weapons. With reporting by UNIAN, TASS, Interfax and Espreso.tv Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/ukraine- russia-prisoner-exchange/27797209.html Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Report: U.S., Russia Slowly Reducing Nuclear Arsenals June 13, 2016 by RFE/RL A Sweden-based nonproliferation think tank says the world's biggest nuclear powers, the United States and Russia, are slowly reducing their nuclear arsenals but are modernizing their capacities. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) says in its annual report on June 13 that there were 455 fewer nuclear warheads at the start of 2016 among nine nuclear states than a year earlier. It said the United States, Russia, Britain, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel, and North Korea had a total of 15,395 nuclear warheads at the start of 2016, including 4,120 that were deployed operationally. It said the total number of nuclear warheads in those countries at the start of 2015 was 15,850. Researchers Shannon Kile and Hans Kristensen wrote in the report that global nuclear-weapon inventories "have been declining since they peaked at nearly 70,000 nuclear warheads in the mid-1980s." They said the decline has been due primarily to cuts made by Russia and the United States. But they said "the pace of their reductions appears to be slowing compared with a decade ago, and neither Russia nor the United States...has made significant reductions in deployed strategic nuclear forces since the bilateral New START treaty" came into force in 2011. SIPRI estimated that Russia had 7,290 nuclear warheads, including tactical, at the beginning of 2016, and the United States had 7,000. It said that accounts for 93 percent of the nuclear weapons in the world. It estimated France has 300 nuclear weapons, followed by China with 260, Britain with 215, Pakistan with 110 to 130, India with 100 to 120, Israel with 80, and North Korea with 10. SIPRI also said that "None of the nuclear weapon-possessing states are prepared to give up their nuclear arsenals for the foreseeable future," and that Washington and Moscow both have "extensive and expensive nuclear modernization programs." SIPRI said India is strengthening its nuclear-capable ballistic-missile program and speeding up its production of plutonium while its regional rival, Pakistan, is developing battlefield nuclear weapons in response to India's stronger conventional forces. The SIPRI report said Pakistan's nuclear arsenal "may increase significantly" during the next decade. The report concluded that the prospects worldwide for "genuine progress towards nuclear disarmament remain gloomy." SIPRI's report was based on open sources, including data from governments and the International Atomic Energy Agency. But SIPRI said many nuclear-capable states were "nontransparent." The report said SIPRI was unable to verify whether the secretive country of North Korea, which conducted its first nuclear test in 2006, has been able to produce or deploy operational nuclear weapons. With reporting by AFP and dpa Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-us-nuclear- weapons-sipri-pakistan-india/27794278.html Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Updated at 1:23 p.m. REIDSVILLE A court document released today revealed that Rontae Devore Hayes had a first-degree murder charge dropped Tuesday. According to a dismissal notice of reinstatement, the charge was dropped because one witness' statement was tainted during investigation. Also, another witness' identification of Hayes in a photo line-up was deemed "completely unreliable," according to the document. Hayes, 37, of Fewell Road, Greensboro, was charged in the April 26 death of 25-year-old Larry Bud Alexander Settle Jr. in Eden. Updated at 12:44 p.m. REIDSVILLE Rontae Devore Hayes was charged today with two counts of murder in the deaths of two people found dead at 1290 Grooms Road early Sunday morning. In addition to the murder charges, Hayes, 37, of 4704 Fewell Road, Greensboro, is charged with attempted first-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, first-degree sexual offense, kidnapping, first-degree burglary, first-degree arson, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. REIDSVILLE A Greensboro man was captured Sunday after an overnight crime spree in Rockingham County that left two people dead and four others injured. Rontae Devore Hayes, 37, was captured at 9:18 a.m. Sunday about 12 hours after a shooting, an assault with a beer bottle and a stolen car set off a countywide manhunt. Hayes has been charged with attempted first-degree murder and two other felonies. Authorities in Rockingham County say other charges will be filed today. Two men found dead inside a burning house on Grooms Road were not immediately identified. The Rockingham County Sheriffs Office gave this account of the crime spree that included two shootings, two intentionally set fires and a report of a peeping Tom. About 9 p.m. Saturday, Reidsville police said three people were injured in an incident in the 100 block of Madison Street. Someone hit a person with a beer bottle and shot a second person in the leg. The assailant stole a car and hit a third person, the vehicles owner, as he drove off. Police didnt identify the victims but said all three were treated at a local hospital for injuries that were not life-threatening. About 10 minutes later, Rockingham County deputies were called to 735 Knowles Road, which sits about 7 miles from the Reidsville incident. There, a 49-year-old man had been shot. Deputies also found the stolen car, which was on fire nearby. The wounded mans condition was unknown late Sunday. As authorities searched for the suspect, they got a call about 1:30 a.m. Sunday about a house fire. Authorities found two men inside the burning single-story ranch house at 1290 Grooms Road, about a mile south of Knowles Road. Rockingham County Fire Marshal Robert Cardwell said efforts to revive the unidentified men were unsuccessful. There was right much fire showing when the fire department arrived, Cardwell said. Also at the Grooms Road house, authorities found a woman lying outside with serious injuries. The sheriffs office said the unidentified woman had been assaulted. Authorities caught a break about 2:30 a.m. when the sheriffs office got a call about a man reportedly looking into the window of a house at 121 Jacks Trail in Reidsville, about a quarter mile away from the burning home on Grooms Road. Surveillance video captured an image of a man in his underwear. As the night went on, Rockingham County authorities issued alerts to area residents. They called in State Bureau of Investigation agents, the N.C. Department of Corrections bloodhound team and a Highway Patrol helicopter. The sheriffs office said they found the man they were looking for shortly after 9 a.m. Sunday. The man tried to run, but authorities caught him near Busick Road and Grooms Road. Initial charges against Haynes include attempted murder, felony possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, felony larceny of a motor vehicle and three counts of misdemeanor assault with a dangerous weapon. More charges are pending. Hayes is being held without bail in the Rockingham County jail. His Greensboro address was not immediately available. Hayes served eight years in prison after he was convicted of manslaughter, robbery and assault with a deadly weapon in 2000, according to the N.C. Department of Correction website. He was released from prison in 2010. New U.K. Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt has reversed most of an economic package announced by the government just weeks ago, including a planned cut in income taxes. Hunt said Monday he was scrapping almost all the tax cuts announced last month by the Conservative government of Prime Minister Liz Truss, and also signaled that public spending cuts are on the way. It was a bid to soothe turbulent financial markets spooked by fears of excessive government borrowing. The move raises questions about how long the beleaguered prime minister can stay in office, though Truss insisted she has no plans to quit. She vowed to lead the Conservatives into the next general election, but many in the party want her gone. VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - June 14, 2016) - Unity Energy Corp. (TSX VENTURE:UTY)(FRANKFURT:UJN2) "Unity" or the "Company" is pleased to announce that it has commenced drilling at its 100% owned Miller's Crossing Lithium Project in the South Big Smoky Valley, Nevada. The Company intends on completing up to 18 holes, utilizing NQ rods (47.6mm core diameter) as well as AQ rods (27.0mm core diameter) for superior sample recovery and is expected to reach depths of up to 50m, depending on ground conditions. The purpose of the drilling will be to test subsurface layers for lithium and other commercial elements. The Miller's Playa Lithium Project fits well into the playa-type brine deposit model as it is located adjacent to, and shares geological similarities with the Clayton Valley, home to the only lithium producing brine operation in North America. A playa is an internally drained brine deposit, the surface of which is primarily composed of silts and clays in which lithium can accumulate from the surrounding source rocks during successive evaporation and concentration events. Evaluation of regional gravity data has led to the hypothesis that the Big Smoky Valley has been in-filled with an estimated 2000-2500m of alluvial fill and may have the potential to host a significant mineral deposit. Regarding the commencement, CEO Ian Graham commented: "The board is very pleased to be finally drilling at Miller's, especially given the anomalous lithium values obtained through the previously reported surface sampling program." Unity is also pleased to announce that it has reacquired its 100% interest in the Carter Lake Uranium Project (West Athabasca Basin) through the termination of an earn-in agreement with Aldever Resources Inc. The project covers ~1113 hectares on the Carter Lake Corridor, an exploration zone adjacent to the Patterson Lake Corridor, which hosts two of the most significant recent discoveries in the basin, some 21km to the southwest: Nexgen's Arrow Prospect and Fission's Patterson Lake South Deposit. The project also lies within ALX Uranium Corp.'s Hook-Carter Project. Depths to basement at Carter Lake are estimated at between 400-500m, directly comparable with the depth to mineralization at the McArthur River mine. The principal exploration target at Carter Lake is ~4.7km of subsurface conductive anomalies, identified in a 2006 MegaTEM survey and a 2008 VTEM survey, both completed by ESO Uranium Corp. The anomalies are interpreted as a possible conductive horizon, at or adjacent to the sandstone-basement unconformity, and which may be indicative of localized hydrothermal enrichment in uranium. About the acquisition, Dr. Peter Born commented, "Given the tremendous success of Nexgen, the board is very enthusiastic about our reacquisition of Carter Lake and is in the process of designing Phase 1 ground work for the 2016 season." The technical contents of this news release have been prepared under the supervision of Dr. Peter Born, P. Geo. Dr. Born is a Qualified Person, as that term is defined in National Instrument 43-101, and has approved this news release. For more information, visit www.unityenergycorp.com. On Behalf of the Company, Anita Algie, President Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 14, 2016) - American CuMo Mining Corp. (TSXV: MLY) (OTC Pink: MLYCF) ("CuMoCo" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has agreed to appoint Mr. He Yu, President and CEO of MCC8 Capital Limited, as Non-Executive Chairman of Idaho CuMo Mining Corporation. Mr. He's role will be to represent Idaho CuMo Mining in China and to provide project management services for accessing large Chinese financial institutions and private investors for funding, and for strategic off-take sales agreements. Mr. He earned his LL.B and Juris Doctor (JD) equivalent degrees from two of the most prestigious law schools in China respectively and graduated from a Post-JD Program at Harvard University. Mr. He's background with MCC8 Capital Limited has been as the Co-Founder and Managing Director in Hong Kong since April 2011 to date. MCC8 Capital (http://www.chinamcc8.com) is the investment banking arm of MCC8 Group Company Limited (MCC8 Group) - a Multi-Billion USD mining and infrastructure development company, managing over one billion USD of capital from a diverse group of Chinese investors, including private equity, mining, real estate, clean technology, structured investment and project finance, and asset management. MCC8 Group is formerly a division of Jinchuan Group (JNMC), the world's top three nickel, cobalt and copper multinational. Since January 2008, Mr. He has been a Director of ZTE-Lemna Environmental Protection Co., Ltd., China. ZTE Corporation is a 16 Billion USD company and a global-leader provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions. With operations in 160 countries, the company is a leader in technology innovation, delivering superior products and business solutions to clients all over the world. CuMoCo's President and CEO Shaun Dykes stated: "We are very pleased to have Mr. He join our highly experienced team in Idaho. Mr. He has extensive worldwide experience in construction and project financing and I am confident that he will prove to be an invaluable asset for our Company and for the CuMo Project." Mr. Shaun M. Dykes, M.Sc. (Eng), P.Geo., President and CEO of the Company is the designated qualified person for the CuMo Project, and prepared the technical information contained in this news release. About CuMoCo CuMoCo is focused on advancing its CuMo Project towards feasibility and establishing itself as one of the largest and lowest-cost molybdenum producers in the world as well as a significant producer of copper and silver. Management is continuing to build an even stronger foundation from which to move the Company and the CuMo Project forward. For more information, please visit www.cumoco.com and www.cumoproject.com For further information, please contact: American CuMo Mining Corporation Shaun Dykes, President and Chief Executive Officer Tel: (604) 689-7902 Email: info@cumoco.com Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this new release. Forward-looking information This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation including, but not limited to, statements that address activities, events or developments that the Company expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future, such as the Company's ability to successfully negotiate the Definitive Agreement with the Chinese Partners, the Company's ability to move the CuMo Project through development to feasibility and production, and for the Company to become one of the largest and lowest-cost molybdenum producers in the world as well as a significant producer of copper and silver. Forward-looking information is based on a number of material factors and assumptions, including the result of exploration activities, the ability of the Company to raise the financing for a feasibility study and to put the CuMo project into production, that no labour shortages or delays are experienced, that plant and equipment function as specified that the Court will not intervene with the Company's proposed exploration activities at the CuMo Project, and the ability of the Company to obtain all requisite permits and licenses to advance the CuMo Project and eventually bring it into production. Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, future events, conditions, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future prediction, projection or forecast expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such factors include, among others, the interpretation and actual results of current exploration activities; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; future prices of molybdenum, silver and copper; possible variations in grade or recovery rates; labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry; delays in obtaining governmental approvals or financing, as well as those factors disclosed in the Company's publicly filed documents, including the Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis for the period ended March 31, 2016. There may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information. Former Fish Face and Cafe Nice chef Josh Niland is set to open his own restaurant on Oxford Street in Paddington this year, but the lower north shore has snared his services until mid-August. The rising star of the Sydney food world has taken a consultant chef gig at Willoughby's The Incinerator cafe, which recently opened for dinner on Friday and Saturday nights. Niland's relationship with Incinerator's owner, Jono Slingo, started when both worked for Merivale, Niland in the kitchen at est and Slingo running Establishment. "I'll do the dinners at Incinerator and help out with a few [daytime] dishes," he says. Niland says reports of Luke Mangan's involvement in his eastern suburbs restaurant start-up have been misconstrued. "I am doing it with my wife Julie as the only other partner. It's our gig," Niland says. "I've found the site, it ticks the boxes. The lease just needs to be signed." Do not adjust your screens. Melbourne coffee pioneer Salvatore Malatesta and effervescent celebrity nutritionist Lola Berry are set to open Happy Place, a holistic lifestyle cafe at South Melbourne Market (opens Tuesday June 14). What is a holistic lifestyle cafe? I hear you ask. Well, it's gluten-free, dairy-free, refined sugar-free and FODMAP friendly. But let's not focus on what you can't have. Beetroot lattes at Happy Place. Photo: Supplied The cafe part is geared towards take away (although there are eight or so window seats); think chia puddings in the AM and mix-and-match salads throughout the day: a rotation of vegetable-based dishes (how about a sweet potato and broccoli salad with a poached egg, green hummus and sauerkraut?) to pair with protein options such as poached chicken, seared tuna or kangaroo meatballs. Oh, and there's bone broth. Did we mention it's paleo? Drinks-wise there's "crystal infused water" for aligning those chakras, kombucha on tap courtesy of Sydney-based Wild Kombucha, cold-pressed juices and smoothies using Berry's recipes (mostly fructose free) and hot drinks in the form of turmeric, carob and mushroom lattes from the "alternative brew bar". It's caffeine free too; if that's a problem, Clement Coffee is two doors down. The space is as good for you as the food; designed by architect Fiona Lynch (who did an excellent job on Jess Ho's Smalls bar) there's more crystals, this time mixed with quartz in the floor, a fluid concrete bar, a mirrored ceiling as a centrepiece and a glass-fronted cool room for vegie-gazing. Don't worry, being healthy isn't boring a sweets counter stacked with a raw take on favourites such as mint slice, key lime pie and snickers bars will put a pep in your step. Open daily 7am-5pm. Shop 56 South Melbourne Market, 117 Cecil Street, South Melbourne The Australian assault on the Bali food scene continues, with a sourdough bakery the latest arrival. Former Pier head chef Steven Skelly has just opened Farine. Relocating to the island a few years ago, Skelly says he was surprised to discover Bali didn't have a dedicated sourdough bakery. Tonic Lane, a gin bar meets cafe, slid into the former site of Local at Neutral Bay on the weekend. An eclectic duo is behind the venture. Julian Brenchley, the architect who built a public profile with his work on Channel Nine's The Block, has teamed up with Lain Tapsall (ex Bourke Street Bakery) on the project. It's been a bittersweet year for Australia at the World's 50 Best Restaurants awards, with two major players slipping down the list, and Melbourne being crowned as host city for 2017 - the second city, after New York, to ever host the awards outside London. Osteria Francescana, in Italy's Modena, won number one position, accepted by an emotional Massimo Bottura. El Celler de Can Roca, in Spain, dropped from 1st to 2nd position, New York's Eleven Madison Park came in 3rd, followed by Peru's Central. Copenhagen's Noma, which spent the first half of 2016 in Sydney, slid from 3rd position in 2015 to 5th. Neil Perry with Ben Shewry (centre) and Dan Hunter (right) at this year's World's 50 Best 'Chef's Feast' event in New York. Photo: World's 50 Best Restaurants Attica won best restaurant in Australasia, but slipped down one place from 32nd to 33rd position, while Australian David Thompson's Nahm, in Bangkok, placed 37th, down from 22nd in 2015. Newcastle export Brett Graham's London restaurant The Ledbury rose from 20th position to 14th. Chef Isaac McHale, who is an alumni from Sydney's Marque restaurant, had the highest new entry with The Clove Club in London coming in at 26. Restaurants ranking 51-100 were announced last week, with Victoria's Brae jumping an impressive 22 positions from 87th to 65th position. Sydney's Quay slid from 58th to 98th. Pears and Maidenii at Attica, Victoria. Sydney's Sepia, which clicked in at 84th position last year and also scooped the coveted 'One to Watch' award, failed to make this year's top 100 list. Sepia chef and owner Martin Benn spoke to some of the issues facing top chefs in an interview with Fairfax Media earlier this year. Sepia co-owners Martin Benn and Vicki Wild said that they felt the omission came down to the tyranny of distance, and that not enough of the voters visited Sydney before the voting deadline. "We were devastated, to be honest, and were really disappointed because we feel like we're in a better place now than where we were two years ago. Clearly, everyone that was voting went to Melbourne but not Sydney," Wild said. "Martin is an English-born, French-trained, Australian-chef embracing Asian ingredients, that's something to celebrate - that's what Australia is." "We haven't come this far to just come this far," Benn said. "We're determined to make Sydney proud and put it back on the map." Vicki Wild and partner, Martin Benn at Sepia, Sydney. Photo: Dallas Kilponen The list's editor William Drew controversially described Melbourne as "Australia's food capital", which was reflected by Victoria's dominance over the Australian-contigency of the awards. Award-winning chef Ben Shewry took full ownership of Attica last year. Photo: Pat Scala Brae's impressive 22 position climb reflects 12 months of hard work for the Victorian team, according to operations manager and partner of chef Dan Hunter, Julianne Bagnato. "We're relieved and excited," Bagnato said. "You don't expect to move up; you hope to stay where you are and if you are lucky you move up. "It's a great time to be a regional restaurant. Food is becoming so much more culturally significant in Australia and people are designing their holidays around it." The best-of-the-best crowded into Cipriani Wall St, in Manhattan, for the prestigious awards ceremony, attended by more than 800 chefs, restaurateurs and members of the global food media. This is the first year that the awards have left London, which has acted as host city for the past 14 years. It's the beginning of the awards' "global tour" of host cities, beginning with New York City this year, and heading on to Melbourne for 2017. Not all of the London touches were removed, with British-expat April Bloomfield catering the ceremony and UK television presenter Mark Durden-Smith acting as master of ceremonies. The ceremony kicked off with a food-porn-heavy video spruiking Australia as one of the world's greatest food destinations, with Rene Redzepi and Heston Blumenthal, along with Peter Gilmore, Neil Perry and Ben Shewry waxing lyrical about the country's bounty. Those at this year's awards will be treated to an Aussie barbecue brunch, manned by Neil Perry, Dan Hunter, Peter Gilmore and Ben Shewry, planned to help ease the hangovers tomorrow morning. The list is determined by an independent "academy" of 1000 members around the world, who are allowed seven votes each, which are overseen and calculated by 27 academy chairs and audited by Deloitte. This year's 'One to Watch' was awarded to Toyko's Den, which made it's debut at 77th place. Dominique Crenn, who runs San Francisco's Atelier Crenn and Petit Crenn, was awarded the World's Best Female chef. French chef Alain Passard received the 2016 Lifetime Achievement award. Last year the first, second and third positions were taken by Spain's El Celler De Can Roca, Modena's Osteria Francescana and Copenhagen-via-Sydney's Noma respectively. Rene Redzepi at Noma, Sydney. Photo: Supplied. The awards are still underway in New York. Watch the live stream here. BELOW: Amanda Evans-Clark reads a book with her daughter, Mira, 2, in Carmel, Ind. The book features voice recordings from her husband, Joe Clark. He died of advanced colon cancer at 31, after a year of chemotherapy and last-ditch major abdominal surgery. Michael Conroy/ Associated Press SHARE Allen G. Breed/Associated Press Dr. Ronald C. Chen consults with colleague Misty Lehman-Davis on a cancer patient's scans at the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center in Chapel Hill, N.C. Chen is the lead author on a new study of aggressive cancer treatment in the last month of a patient's life. Treatment or comfort for late-stage cancer? By Lindsey Tanner, Associated Press CHICAGO Two months before Joe Clark died of colon cancer at age 31, a doctor gently told him it was time to stop treatment. He had suffered through more than a year of chemotherapy that produced painful sores in his mouth, last-ditch major abdominal surgery had left behind excruciating scar tissue, and hope had dried up. But the end of treatment had a surprise effect on Clark and his wife. "It was a whole new way of thinking to wrap our minds around," his widow, Amanda Evans-Clark recalled. No more "fight mode," she said. "We finally felt like we were allowed to live." When to stop aggressive treatment is one of the most wrenching decisions in cancer care. Medical guidelines say dying cancer patients shouldn't get harsh and painful treatment, but new research suggests it happens almost all of the time. During their last month alive, three out of four cancer patients younger than 65 got too-aggressive treatment and only a handful got comfort-based hospice care instead, according to the recent study. There are many reasons why, but one of them is this, said University of Chicago palliative care specialist Dr. Monica Malec: "There's nearly nothing harder than being faced with a patient who's begging you not to give up on them." Dying patients and their families are sometimes in denial about their illness, and sometimes don't understand the limitations of medical treatment, the researchers and other specialists say. Those misunderstandings can often be avoided if doctors begin end-of-life conversations early in the process of treating patients whose cancers are likely to be deadly. But those talks often never happen, Malec said, or they don't happen until the situation has progressed to crisis, because they're just too difficult. The new study is an analysis of health claims data involving more than 28,000 cancer patients who died between 2007 and 2014. Their end-of-life treatment included hospitalizations, chemotherapy and invasive procedures. Fewer than one in five patients received hospice care. "There are hundreds if not thousands who undergo too much therapy and too much suffering for every one person that we have who ends up having a miracle," said Dr. Otis Brawley, the American Cancer Society's chief medical officer. The study was presented Monday in Chicago at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's annual meeting. Dr. Ronald Chen, the study's lead author and a cancer specialist at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, said the decision is still a struggle, even when he knows hospice might be the right choice. "If I can offer chemotherapy or if I can offer radiation treatment, then I'm not giving up hope," he said. Wendy Sparks of Oklahoma City says watching her elderly mother and younger sister both die of cancer within the last three years changed her thoughts about end-of-life treatment. Her mother stopped chemo after her doctor assured her that ending treatment didn't mean giving up. But her sister, Nikki Stienman, kept up the treatment and suffered severe side effects from what her sister thinks was a needless final round of chemotherapy before she died at 38 of metastatic lung cancer in 2013. "You're not giving up if you don't do treatment," Sparks said. "You're still fighting for your life, in a different way. You're fighting to have good days." Dr. Andrew Epstein, a palliative care expert with the oncology society, said the new research, which echoes studies in older cancer patients, is important because less is known about end-of life care for younger patients. Too few doctors know about hospice, which is among the best but most underused resources, he said. But abandoning treatment and seeking hospice care is sometimes seen as surrendering, especially with young patients, said Brawley. "When you're dealing with young people, in their 40s, 50s, even 60s, it's just so difficult to accept that this person is going to die," he said. Joe Clark, an Orlando, Florida businessman, was diagnosed in 2011, two days before his 28th birthday and two months before his wedding. Instead of a honeymoon, he had chemotherapy. The treatments seemed to work, until a year later, when shortly after his wife learned she was pregnant, tests showed the cancer had spread aggressively. "No one uses the words like, 'incurable,'" Evans-Clark said. "We said what's next, and I remember hearing, 'you're going to be on chemotherapy, and we said, 'How long?' And they said, 'indefinitely.' " She recalls turning to look at her husband, "and he just broke down crying." The couple created a blog detailing their cancer ordeal. In an entry four months before he died, next to a photo of nine pill bottles on his night table, Clark wrote, "I don't want to take any of them, but the doctor says I have to ... This isn't what they said was supposed to be! I'm supposed to enjoy all the small moments; all the ones that seem to matter the most, yet we let them slip from our attention so quickly. Because of the treatment plan, I can't even do that." Evans-Clark remembers agonizing discussions with her husband about quantity versus quality of life. Major abdominal surgery failed to stop cancer's spread. Chemo had caused mouth sores and there were problems with the ostomy bag that replaced his diseased intestines. "I remember looking at him and he was so thin, and he was so depressed, and everything that made him a man ... had been taken from him," she said. They moved to Indianapolis, where a doctor finally sat them down and said, "I don't think this is worth it anymore." It was an epiphany. Clark starting receiving comfort care at a hospice center that felt more like home than a hospital, where he could finally focus only on spending time with his wife and baby daughter. "I was able to be his wife versus being the one pushing all the meds," Evans-Clark said. "I was only given two more months with him but I would say they were some of the best months I had with him." SHARE Watching Our Water By Rashda Khan, Rashda.Khan@gosanangelo.com The San Angelo Water Advisory Board meetings, originally scheduled for Tuesday, has been postponed to June 20. Chairman Mike Boyd said the change was necessary because three of the board members couldn't make the meeting. The agenda items included expansion of the Hickory aquifer groundwater project to maximum capacity and an update on area lake levels, as well as discussion and possible action on withdrawing the city's application for the Texas Water Development Board SWIFT funding for a 2016 low-interest loan for a proposed direct potable reuse plant. These items were requested by Councilwoman Elizabeth Grindstaff for the June 21 City Council agenda. Grindstaff, who is facing challenger Lane Carter for the Single Member District 5 council seat in the July 2 city runoff election, said this next meeting may be her last. The items were also added to the Water Advisory Board agenda because the City Council likes to have the board's input when considering water-related matters, according to city staff. Grindstaff said her requests stemmed from the May Neighborhood Chat she hosted featuring Boyd and some city staff and attended by about 25 people. "After I listened to people and studied the issue, I don't believe that we do have an urgent situation (with getting the DPR project up and running). I'm not opposed to the science behind the reclamation, but I'm not ready to commit to $136 or $150 mill expenditure that simply may not be necessary," she said. "I think what we've also learned in the course of last several months is that the city has a water treatment facility that's antiquated, and perhaps needing attention, OK, let's address that. Let's not force the issue of a reclamation facility if that's not what we need right now." She said in the end it all boiled down to dollars and effective service. "I don't know if we're out of a drought, I don't know what our weather patterns are going to be in the future, and I want this city to stay healthy," Grindstaff said. "But we also have to be financially healthy, and so I think it just begs the question where are we, what is our (City Council's) policy going forward. "Lets have that public discussion, let's not be in a hurry," she added. "Our elected officials will make sure that San Angelo has water." SHARE CHICAGO Imagine that: Donald Trump and Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor now agree on the role of heritage in a judge's ability to be impartial. They both say it's a nonissue. After a surprising and reassuring display of bipartisan disgust at Trump's recent comments that Indiana-born federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel is biased because his parents are Mexican immigrants, Trump had to backpedal. He released a statement that said his words had been "misconstrued," adding: "I do not feel that one's heritage makes judges incapable of being impartial." Even many of Trump's supporters had denounced him. Speaker Paul Ryan called the candidate's original comments about Curiel "the textbook definition of a racist comment." Newt Gingrich noted, accurately, "If a liberal were to attack Justice Clarence Thomas on the grounds that he's black, we would all go crazy." Speaking of crazy, there was plenty of that too. President George W. Bush's disgraced Attorney General Alberto Gonzales came out of the woodwork to support Trump. In a Washington Post opinion piece that underscored several salient points why Curiel is beyond reproach namely that while Curiel may be a member of a group called the San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association, it is not in any way affiliated with the National Council of La Raza, an advocacy organization Gonzales sought to explain Trump's unease. "If ... Trump is acting from a sincere motivation to protect his constitutional right to a fair trial, his willingness to exercise his rights as an American citizen and raising the issue even in the face of severe criticism is surely also something for voters to consider," he wrote, sending judiciary experts across the country into a tizzy. During a recent telephone news conference, Thomas Saenz, president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said, "Suggesting that a judge is disqualified from presiding over a matter because of his or her racial or ethnic heritage could ultimately bring our judiciary system to a halt. "Judges are randomly assigned to cases in their district, which is a system that has served us throughout our entire history. And, in fact, 30 years ago this year, the Supreme Court ruled, in Batson vs. Kentucky, that it is unconstitutional for anyone to peremptorily challenge a juror based on race or ethnicity, due to the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment." Yet despite the many statements about how ridiculous Trump's remarks about Curiel were, at midweek his apologists were still sticking their feet in their mouths as they attempted to stay in the presumed Republican presidential nominee's good graces. New York state Rep. Lee Zeldin, a Republican, went on CNN and declared, "You can easily argue that the president of the United States is a racist with his policies and his rhetoric." And then, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, went for the jugular. He told reporters in his home state, "I think that you don't have any more trouble with what Trump said than when Sotomayor said that when she was found saying in speeches that, quote, 'A wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male.' I don't hear any criticism of that sort of comment by a justice of the Supreme Court." Grassley is wrong on two counts. First, everyone and their mother heard the criticism over that comment during Sotomayor's confirmation hearings it, apparently, still haunts her to this day. Second, Sotomayor herself has, on many occasions, taken pains to clarify her stance on race and ethnicity as a judicial lens, most notably during the second day of her confirmation hearings. "I want to state upfront, unequivocally and without doubt: I do not believe that any ethnic, racial or gender group has an advantage in sound judging," she told senators. "I do believe every person has an equal opportunity to be a good and wise judge, regardless of their background or life experience. ... The words I chose, taking the rhetorical flourish, it was a bad idea. I do understand that there are some who have read this differently, and I understand why they might have concern." So there it is: Sotomayor and Trump agree that a judge's heritage shouldn't imply an inability to be impartial. And for anyone to suggest that it should is, as even Trump's supporters have made clear, racist. Worse, as other Republicans have noted about this latest Trump offense, it's un-American. Esther Cepeda is a Washington Post columnist. Contact her at estherjcepedawashpost.com. Graphic Illustration SHARE Conversations! Glorious conversations! What more can you ask for? The other day, former CBS News darling Katie Couric was speaking at an event organized by something called "TheWrap." Specifically, at its "Power Women Breakfast" in New York. (That is exactly the kind of event I'd expect Couric to be at, and I don't even know what it is.) She was asked about the scandal swirling around her anti-gun-documentary specifically, the fact that she deceptively edited a gun rights group's response to a question to make the members seem like dangerous idiots. Her response was amusingly revealing. "I can understand the objection of people who did have an issue about it," Couric said. (The "it" here is the deliberate falsifying of the truth). "Having said that, I think we have to focus on the big issue of gun violence. It was my hope that, when I approached this topic, that this would be a conversation starter." Well, OK then. After all, who denies that starting conversations or, as they often call them in academia, "dialogues" is the highest aspiration there is? For instance, a Central Michigan University professor claimed last year that she was punched in the face at a Toby Keith concert for being a lesbian. She later admitted that she actually punched herself, but said it was worth it because she wanted to start a dialogue. As the Washington Examiner's Ashe Schow recently chronicled, this sort of thing is common on college campuses. Students and professors initiate or exacerbate a hate-crime hoax or a false rape accusation. The orchestrators are perfectly happy to pretend the fraud is real. Then, when the facts come to light, instead of apologies we're saturated with a fog of pomposity and self-justification: We were just trying to start a conversation. Raising awareness of the larger issue is more important than the mere facts. That was the excuse offered by a herd of academics on the 10th anniversary of the Duke University lacrosse rape hoax. Professors there had taken out ads suggesting the exonerated attackers were racists. In response to criticism, they insisted that they just wanted to get a good discussion going. We've heard similar prattling about the University of Virginia rape hoax and many other fabricated events on college campuses (and off) going back decades. I started writing about such instances of "lying for justice" 20 years ago, and it has only gotten worse. I don't think people appreciate how pernicious and widespread this crowdsourced totalitarianism really is. Routine lies in the service of left-wing narratives are justified in the name of "larger truths," while actual truth-telling in the other direction is denounced as hate speech or "triggering." Even when liberals call for an "honest conversation" about this, that or the other thing, what they really mean is they want everyone who disagrees with the prevailing progressive view to fall in line. Almost invariably, when I hear calls for "frank talk," ''honest dialogue" or a new "national conversation," I immediately translate it as, "Let the next chapter of indoctrination begin." Remember, behind every obvious double standard is a hidden single standard. For instance, earlier this year, The New Yorker's Jane Mayer came out with a book attacking libertarian philanthropists Charles and David Koch called "Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right." When asked by NPR's Steve Inskeep what the nefarious supervillains of her screed were really up to, she ominously explained, "What they're aiming at is changing the conversation in the country." Well, so are left-wing billionaire George Soros and his minions. So is Mayer herself. So are all of these campus fraudsters and activists. And so is Katie Couric. But when someone on the other side of the ideological chasm questions the official narrative, they must be demonized or otherwise silenced. Why? Because the last thing progressives want is to start an honest conversation. They want to have their conversations and only their conversations. Jonah Goldberg is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a senior editor of National Review. Contact him at goldbergcolumn@gmail.com. More than half of the states have disclosed just how much higher their health care premiums could be next year under the Affordable Care Act, and some of the potential increases are jaw-dropping.But Illinois residents won't get their first look at proposed 2017 premiums until Aug. 1, and that has consumer advocates frustrated.Insurance companies had to submit rate plans for Illinois in April, but the state doesn't require the proposals to be made public upon filing, according to the Department of Insurance. In addition, the director of the department considers health plan filings confidential and exempt from Freedom of Information requests.The Aug. 1 publication date is about a month before the Insurance Department has to complete its review of rate information, giving policyholders and consumer groups little time to review health plans and challenge any proposed premium hikes. Greater transparency has helped roll back requested rate increases, even in states that, like Illinois, have limited authority to push back on insurers, consumer advocates said."We would like to participate in a public discourse about rate plans," said Stephani Becker, a senior policy specialist at the Chicago-based Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law. "Right now there is no public discourse."Kathy Waligora, director of the health reform initiative at EverThrive Illinois, added, "We have opportunities to have more transparency in the rate review process. We think people will benefit if they have information earlier."Insurance Department acting Director Anne Melissa Dowling declined to be interviewed for this story.In response to emailed questions, department spokeswoman Anjali Julka said that until a health plan has been approved by the federal government, the state agency considers rate proposals and related documents to be preliminary and "pre-decisional," and therefore withholds such filings.Twenty-eight states have disclosed rate proposals to the public as of Monday through ratereview.healthcare.gov. Several, including Indiana, Oregon and Washington, also post the information on their insurance websites. Some of the filings contain trade secrets that are blacked out but rate information is available.The spotlight is more intense on state insurance regulators as consumers seek protection from soaring insurance premiums on ACA policies. Heading into the fourth year of coverage under the health law, insurance companies in some states have proposed rate increases of 20 percent or more. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas, one of the nation's largest plans, requested an average hike of 53.7 percent.When asked about 2017 rate proposals, the Illinois Department of Insurance would only confirm that 11 companies have submitted a total of 470 health plans -- 321 individual and 149 small group.States historically have had exclusive authority to regulate rates for private health insurance, and the 2010 Affordable Care Act did little to change that authority. But the law requires review of proposed premium increases of 10 percent or more to make sure they are reasonable and fair to consumers. The provision included the public disclosure of such rate hikes.Since Illinois doesn't have its own disclosure law, the Insurance Department follows the federal government's timeline for making rate information publicly available. And this year, Illinois rate filings will made available Aug. 1 on the federal website.The Aug. 1 federal deadline was pushed back two months this year after insurance commissioners in some states said they didn't have enough time last year to prepare rate filings for public disclosure.The later publication date, though, is a disservice to policyholders in some states like Illinois where regulatory review is already well under way, said Dena Mendelsohn, a staff attorney at Consumers Union, the advocacy and policy division of Consumer Reports.Consumer groups would like more transparency in Illinois' rate review process because health insurers hold all the cards in the state. Unlike about three dozen other states, Illinois does not have the legal authority to reject excessive health insurance rate increases.Illinois is what is known in regulatory jargon as a "file and use" state. Under this framework, rates will go into effect after a certain period of time, but a state can take action later if the rates are found to be unreasonable.States that have the power to approve and deny proposed premiums are using their authority to hold down rate increases, according to a study of 2015 ACA rates by PricewaterhouseCoopers' Health Research Institute. States with prior approval authority saw a median drop of 2.9 percentage points between the proposed and approved rates, while carriers' rates in file-and-use states dropped less than half as much, with a median 1.3 percentage point decrease.In 2011, the Illinois Department of Insurance pursued a bill to strengthen its oversight authority over health insurance premiums. But the legislation didn't receive enough support and died without being called for a vote, said Rep. Greg Harris, D-Chicago, who introduced the bill.Legislation in 2014 that would have made rate-related information public after it is submitted to the Insurance Department didn't make it out of the rule committee.Under the ACA, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services provided $250 million in grants to state insurance departments to strengthen their regulatory capabilities and make rate filings more accessible and understandable to consumers.Illinois received two grants totaling $4.5 million in 2010 and 2011. The Insurance Department used the funds to start actuarial review on all premium increases of more than 10 percent and hired additional staff, including one staffer dedicated to making rate information available to the public, Julka said.Even as a file-and-use state, the Insurance Department is able to negotiate rates with insurers, Consumers Union's Mendelsohn said. She pointed to the example of another file-and-use state, California, where the department's actuaries analyze rate filings.The insurance commissioner has criticized health plans for imposing "excessive and unreasonable" rate increases. While such findings are not binding on insurers, the scrutiny and public shaming has pushed carriers to reduce or withdraw rate increases. The California Department of Insurance estimates that it has saved consumers $316 million in health insurance premiums since 2011."It's not as if Illinois does not have to power to protect consumers," Mendelsohn said.According to consumer advocates, Illinois considers the rate review process as a confidential time of negotiation with insurers."I do think that this (regulatory framework) comes from a well-intentioned perspective of wanting to help consumers," said Waligora of EverThrive, a health advocacy organization.But she also says it's time for consumers to have more input in the rate review process. And that starts with making the rate proposals public earlier in the review.Consumer advocates in Illinois acknowledge that in the first three years of the health law, their top priority was enrolling residents in coverage either through Medicaid or private insurance, not reviewing rate filings. The Sargent Shriver center, for example, helped train enrollment counselors to assist consumer in buying insurance."Now that we have more than 1 million people enrolled, we're more focused on the quality of the plans," said Becker of the Sargent Shriver center. "I think you're going to see a groundswell occurring of people demanding more transparency and consumer input." Hundreds of Ohio's most traumatized and vulnerable teens should soon have the chance to tap into a few more years of support before they have to make it on their own.Gov. John Kasich signed a bill into law Monday that extends foster-care eligibility to age 21, adding Ohio to the growing number of states that have decided teens shouldn't automatically age out of the system when they turn 18.More than 1,000 Ohio foster youths exit foster care each year after their 18th birthdays, with many quickly falling into poverty and homelessness, early parenthood or legal trouble."There's a lot of dismal statistics," said Worthington resident Jamole Callahan, who spent six years in foster care. "But we can help improve outcomes for these youths who are aging out. I'm elated."The Ohio Association of Child Caring Agencies and other advocates worked for three years to secure the change, which gives foster youths the option of deciding whether they want additional guidance and assistance as they transition to adulthood. It also applies to teens who are adopted after age 16."Many of them really need a plan, not a program," said Sean Reilly, executive director of UMCH Family Services. "They need a plan that is comprehensive and that talks about their housing needs, school needs, trades whatever that might be. And it needs to include a recognition and supports for what they've been through in their lives."The law takes effect in 90 days and provides $550,000 for Ohio Department of Job and Family Services to gather recommendations and develop a plan. Implementation is expected in about 18 months, with funding to be determined in the next budget.First-year costs for the state, not including federal foster money, are estimated at about $9.7 million."I will be ever-vigilant about this law," said state Rep. Dorothy Pelanda, R-Marysville, who introduced the bill along with Republican Rep. Cheryl Grossman of Grove City. "We need to advocate and remind legislators and, of course, the administration. The most important thing will be the funding in the next budget."Kasich did not sign the bill in public but spoke at length with Callahan, 36, and with two other former foster youths 31-year-old Kevinee Gilmore of Cleveland and East Side resident Jermaine Ferguson, 25, who was featured in a recent Dispatch story.Ferguson and his siblings suffered horrific abuse in Clark and Union counties after they were adopted from foster care as infants and young children. After their adoptive parents were arrested, the children were separated and scattered to different foster homes with varying degrees of support."It's sad when you see your sister and you want to help, and there's not even a house for her," Jermaine said of his 20-year-old sibling, who has struggled after aging out of foster care. "I get it; there are funding and other issues. But you're asking kids who are weak financially and emotionally to just move on. It's too much."The law signed Monday also includes a provision aimed at improving protections for some 67,000 wards who are under court-appointed guardianship. It requires clerks of Ohio's probate courts to give new and current guardians a copy of the guardianship guide that explains the rights of wards.The guardianship part of the law was prompted by a 2014 Dispatch investigation that uncovered abuses and problems in that system. Sunday's early morning mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., has once again stirred up a national debate about gun laws, which differ from state to state.Could laws in any state have prevented Omar Mateen from killing at least 49 people and wounding at least 53 others?In some parts of the country, Mateen couldn't have purchased his weapons legally and conceivably might have been forced to give up his guns before the massacre. But in Florida, which ranks high in protecting gun owners' rights, Mateen was able to acquire a rapid-firing assault-style weapon outfitted to draw on extra rounds of ammunition without breaking any laws.Semi-automatic rifles like the one Mateen used are illegal in seven states and the District of Columbia. High-capacity ammunition magazines are illegal in eight states and D.C. But both Mateen's weapon and the magazines are legal in Florida.Compared with the rest of the nation, Florida has relatively lax gun laws.magazine last year ranked Florida the 12th best state in the country for gun owners. The rankings took into account the state's laws affirming the right to carry concealedhandguns and its absence of restrictions on semi-automatic assault-style rifles.(Every state allows concealed handguns, but Florida is among a subset of "shall issue" states that further limit government's discretion to deny conceal-carry permit applications.) The high ranking also reflects the state's preemption of local gun regulation: Like 42 other states, Florida law prohibits cities in the state from enacting ordinances that deal with the ownership or sale of guns.The magazine, however, did dock the state some points for failing to pass legislation that would have explicitly allowed Floridians with concealed-carry permits to bring guns onto college campuses -- something that nine states already allow.Also last year, the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence gave Florida an F for its gun laws. Unlike eight states and D.C., Florida doesnt require criminal background checks for all private firearm sales (online and at gun shows). It doesnt have a ban on certain kinds of especially lethal guns, such as semi-automatic assault-style rifles. It doesnt have a ban on large-capacity magazines. Some states have enacted laws to prevent people from buying guns while they have a domestic violence restraining order against them, but again, Florida isnt among them.Whether any of these laws would have prevented the Orlando shooting is, of course, impossible to know. If Florida did have tighter gun restrictions, Mateen might simply have bought his weapons in a neighboring state with more permissive laws. And stricter gun controls certainly don't protect against all shootings. California, after all, has the nation's toughest gun restrictions, according to the Law Center, but that didn't prevent last December's mass shooting in San Bernardino, in which 14 people were killed and 22 injured.But there is one California law that advocates say could have helped stop Mateen. It's the only state in the nation where mental health professionals, law enforcement, friends and family members can petition a judge to issue a court order removing guns from a potentially dangerous person. If Florida had such a law, Mateen might have fit the bill: He reportedly had a history of spousal abuse and claimed in 2013 to have ties to terrorist organizations.If anyone had gotten wind that this person was armed and dangerous to himself or others, that would be a way to disarm someone like him, said Laura Cutilletta, a managing attorney at the Law Center. That law was contemplated for exactly for that kind of thing.Even if the state did have such a law in place, though, it's impossible to say whether Mateen's ex-wife or his coworkers at the security firm -- to whom he reportedly bragged about his terrorist affiliations -- would have taken advantage of it.In the wake of the nightclub shooting, Florida state Sen. Geraldine Thompson, who represents the Orlando area, said she hopes to speak with Gov. Rick Scott about gun reform.Im a supporter of the Second Amendment. I think, however, there ought to be limits, she said. Why should a private individual need so many rounds of ammunition?But state Sen. Arthenia Joyner, the Senate's Democratic minority leader, said any bill relating to restricting gun rights would be "dead in the water" with the Republican-led legislature. After the mass shooting in 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., Joyner introduced a bill that would ban semi-automatic rifles and high-capacity magazines in Florida. But it didn't get a committee hearing. This year, she filed a bill that would have required criminal background checks for private sales at gun shows. It also didn't get a hearing."We had a chance to change something to prevent another Sandy Hook," said Joyner. "This thing is devastating. It hurts everybody." At 2:02 a.m. on a muggy night in central Florida, a gunman traded shots with an off-duty police officer, slipped into a nightclub with a rifle and killed at least 50 people in the most lethal mass shooting in U.S. history.At 5:05 a.m., a tactical unit stormed the club and the shooter was killed. The intervening three hours required responding officers to choose a strategy: Do they charge in on a barricaded suspect, risking hostage lives? Or do they negotiate with a mass shooter, hoping to save those still inside?Police training on the subject has evolved since 13 people were killed by a pair of teenage gunmen at Colorado's Columbine High School in 1999. At that time, many officers were taught to respond to a mass shooting by simply containing the scene, preventing violence from spreading.But for many departments, the high death toll at Columbine prompted a re-evaluation, with officers often opting to confront a shooter on the rampage as soon as possible, before he or she can inflict further carnage.When the Bataclan theater in Paris was attacked by three heavily armed gunmen in November, tactical police units raided the hall within 35 minutes.Now, the Orlando, Fla., Police Department is facing questions about the length of time it took to end a shooting at the Pulse nightclub early Sunday morning. Police said they treated the incident as a hostage situation for two hours before a police tactical unit arrived.When they first arrive at an active shooting scene, police face a quick decision, said Suffolk County, N.Y., Chief of Patrol Stuart Cameron, who has written several academic journal articles about police protocol when faced with an active shooter.If police rush in on a barricaded suspect, they risk the lives of their officers and the hostages. But if they delay in responding to an active shooter, that can also be risky: Analyses of past shootings suggest that one person is killed every 15 seconds in a typical mass-casualty shooting, Cameron said.The onus for early action falls on the first officers to arrive. According to FBI statistics, in 57 percent of active shooting incidents, police were at the scene before the shooting ended.The intent of the shooter is also critical, Cameron said, and he teaches officers to distinguish among suspects looking to knowingly commit a crime against an individual or small group; the mentally ill; and terrorists."If the shooting crosses into terrorism," Cameron said, "that changes the equation."Terrorism suspects are less likely to let their hostages live, and may tell police during a mass-casualty incident _ such as those in Mumbai in 2008 and in Paris last year _ that they are willing to negotiate, only to prolong the media exposure of a terrorist attack."An important initial decision is, what are the consequences of taking action (or) not taking action," wrote Leroy Thompson, paramilitary trainer and author of "The Hostage Rescue Manual.""Unless hostages or bystanders are being killed, once the incident is contained, the initial responders should try to slow things down."The guideline to officers Cameron trains is to run toward gunfire, Cameron said."But when the gunfire stops, you stop," Cameron said. "You don't know what's going on inside there. He could have hostages, he could have killed himself or he could be waiting for you to come charging in without a plan."Orlando police referred questions about their protocol for responses to an active shooter to the FBI, which then referred specific questions back to the Orlando police.The first reports of a shooting came at 2:02 a.m., when suspect Omar Mateen is alleged to have fired on an off-duty Orlando police officer working security, and then ran into the club, which held more than 200 people.After the initial gunfire, police made contact with Mateen while he was inside the club, but police have not said what was discussed. At 3 a.m. Sunday, the nightclub posted on its Facebook page: "Everyone get out of Pulse and keep running."Details about exactly what happened inside the club were unclear, but police waited outside. Some media reports suggested that police were waiting to get armored vehicles on the scene and to make sure they had enough personnel to storm the nightclub.At 5:05 a.m., police distracted Mateen with an explosive device and plowed into the building with a vehicle. Inside, they found 53 injured people, and 50 dead. On Monday, in the morning, at St Johns Anglican Cathedral, Brisbane, His Excellency the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC, Administrator of the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia and Mrs Kaye de Jersey attended the funeral service for Sir John Pidgeon. In the afternoon, at Government House, the Administrator received Mr Sang-soo Yoon, Consul General of the Republic of Korea. In the evening, at The Queensland Club, Brisbane, the Administrator and Mrs de Jersey attended a dinner to celebrate the 90th birthday of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II hosted by the Victoria League for Commonwealth Friendship in Queensland and the Order of Australia Association, Queensland Branch, where His Excellency addressed guests. Also in the morning, at the Queen Elizabeth II Courts of Law, Brisbane, the Honourable Chief Justice Catherine Holmes, Acting Governor of Queensland, signed messages recommending appropriation bills be placed before the Legislative Assembly of Queensland. Description GIS - 14 June, 2016: A plaque marking the inscription of the Indenture Immigration Records of the Republic of Mauritius on UNESCOs Memory of the World International Register was unveiled last week by the Minister of Arts and Culture, Mr Santaram Baboo, at the Aapravasi Ghat World Heritage Site in Port-Louis. The inscription of the Indenture Immigration Records of the Republic of Mauritius in the Register places Mauritius on the World Documentary Heritage Map, and will among others, lead to improved conservation of the documentary heritage; encourage its preservation and digitisation; and promote its dissemination by making the documents accessible to users. The Indenture Immigration Records of the Republic of Mauritius, covering the period 1834 to 1930s, provide a unique and comprehensive documentation of the Great Experiment undertaken in Mauritius by the British, during the 19th Century. In his address on the occasion, the Minister of Arts and Culture, Mr Santaram Baboo, emphasised the importance of the Indenture Immigration Records which bear testimony to the making of our history and to the arrival of almost half a million men, women, and children who consist more than 80% of our ancestors who passed through the Aapravasi Ghat World Heritage Site. He further underlined that the Indenture Immigration Records should be preserved as they have an invaluable role to play in our history and are also considered as priceless assets adding that over the past 30 years or more, these records have played a key role for tens of thousands of Mauritians who have retraced their ancestry and origins. Minister Baboo recalled the inscription of Aapravasi Ghat and Le Morne Cultural Landscape on the World Heritage List and the inscription of the Sega Tambour on the UNESCO Masterpieces of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity which he said shows the special place that Mauritius occupies in modern world history. He also placed on record the election of Mauritius to form part on the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO, owing to the work achieved on the protection and preservation of the countrys cultural heritage and commitment to the registration of property, tangible and intangible, on the World Heritage list. According to him, this election is a success for Mauritius recognising culture and heritage as an example for regional, continental and Small Island States. This recognition has also put the country on the international map of cultural heritage and international tourism as tourists and even Mauritians are more and more willing to discover and share our rich and diverse heritage, he concluded. Aapravasi Ghat was inscribed on UNESCOs World Heritage List on 16 July 2006. It is among the oldest surviving immigration depots associated with indenture. This architectural ensemble stands for the Great Experiment initiated by the British Government to demonstrate the superiority of free over slave labour after the abolition of slavery in the British Empire in 1834. The Aapravasi Ghat symbolises the Great Experiment and the first large-scale use of indentured labour in the modern world. The World Heritage Site is associated with the story of more than 457,000 indentured labourers from China, the Comoros, India, Madagascar, Mozambique and South East Asia who were recruited to work on Mauritiuss sugar plantations between 1834 and 1910. 1. Build it, then hand it off 2. Use it for government as much as possible 3. Emphasize economic development COLUMBUS, OHIO A funny thing happened when Chattanooga, Tenn., set out to create the fastest municipal broadband service in the country: Telecommunications firms got angry and sued the city. Four times.That was many years ago, but cities in Ohio have found out more recently that when a government entity wants to set up a high-speed network, dealing with telecommunications firms is still a tricky business.Access rights and all that, those we can overcome because we have the right of way, we have permits, we can do all kinds of things, recalled Moez Chaabouni, former deputy chief information officer for the city of Columbus, Ohio, at a roundtable discussion at the 2016 Intelligent Community Forum Summit on June 14. Probably the biggest hurdle we faced was organizations like AT&T, Verizon, Sprint. And I only mention these guys because theyre great at what they do, but they were incredibly opposed to us putting up anything in the downtown area, or anywhere for that matter, that was going to compete with their business.In Ohio, telecommunications firms lobbied the state government and went to the state CIO instead of taking the fight to the courts. But it was still conflict that the cities setting up broadband networks did not want.But Columbus found a way around the problem, and government entities around the state have followed suit. Today Ohio has perhaps the biggest high-speed Internet network in the U.S., offering speeds up to 100 gigabits per second compared with common household connection speeds in the megabit range.In fact, the state has more fiber-optic, cable-based Internet than it knows what to do with.Theres no connectivity issue in Columbus. Theres no connectivity in probably the vast majority of Ohio, Chaabouni said. The issue is accessibility to those connections.Here are three of the ways Chaabouni and his contemporaries in Ohio set up broadband networks.Instead of trying to sell connectivity directly to businesses and residents, Chaabouni decided to pursue a new strategy. He went to Connected Nation Exchange, the for-profit arm of the Internet development advocate Connected Nation, and asked them to take the network off the citys hands.We turned over these assets to Connected Nation Exchange and said, Go ahead and market these to the private sector, because we cannot do it. We cannot go out and compete with the AT&Ts of the world, thats not our business. Our business is fiber, dark fiber, infrastructure, getting to places where organizations cannot go in and drill and have conduit. We have the conduit, we have the fiber, its dark, its there, its ready to be developed, its high quality, go ahead and market it, Chaabouni said during the roundtable.The city was still able to reap the benefits of having laid the fiber, but it was no longer acting as a direct competitor to telecommunications firms.Dublin, a suburb of Columbus, took a slightly different approach. Rather than selling to citizens, that city decided to sell to the telecommunications firms themselves. That means attaching a revenue stream to the project, which could help justify the initial financing.If you put enough fiber in the ground that it will last for a long, long time, then the companies that want that fiber will have to lease it from you, Dublin CIO Doug McCollough said. So you can then go back to your public entity and say Were going to put [a] $5 million investment in, but were going to lease it for this amount back to the telecommunications carriers, and it will pay for itself.In Dublins case, its a double benefit because the city doesnt have to pay taxes on the money it gets from leasing the fiber to the telecommunications companies.When Columbus handed off its fiber network, it made sure there was an asterisk in the agreement.All we [asked] in return is the ability to connect our schools, our libraries, our communities and our [services], Chaabouni said.And there was far more of the fiber than Columbus needed for all those purposes according to Chaabouni, the city laid down well over 100 strands of fiber. It needed perhaps six to service its own operations.Having such speedy Internet is extremely handy for public uses, for a number of reasons. With so many services becoming digitized, higher speeds allow many things to function better. Ervan Rodgers, CIO for the Ohio Attorney Generals Office, pointed to the routine police traffic stop as one example.We have officers that are looking up your information from the records we need information at the speed of light, because lives are at stake, he said.There are other benefits than simply making the government run better. McCollough said telecommunications firms cant complain when the government is using its own fiber network for what essentially amount to internal operations so in a sense, using it for those purposes minimizes conflict.Telecommunications carriers have a very difficult time going to the statehouse and saying, The city of Dublin has connected a 911 center, McCollough said. Well, so what? They can do that, get out of their space. So we stay out of their space and they stay out of ours.Cities that have laid down fiber can then use the networks cooperatively to achieve efficiencies, and ultimately, cost savings. Thats what Gahanna, another suburb of Columbus, did with its own network.We, the city of Gahanna, the city of Whitehall and the city of Bexley, recently submitted for a million dollars in state capital dollars, and this was several years ago, that was to build a fiber extension from the city of Gahanna to those other two municipalities so we can continue to do municipal sharing, said Tom Kneeland, Gahannas mayor. And that alone is going to save us time, and it will actually have a very tangible financial return based on our ability to utilize resources in different cities for things like 911 service providing.The ultimate benefit to the city may also be the most roundabout one. Most of the roundtable participants described broadband as an economic development tool: By offering high-speed Internet, the city empowers existing businesses to do more and draws new businesses in. Those companies pay taxes, and they pay employees who also pay taxes. So at the end of the day, if broadband is indeed functioning as an economy booster, the city should see more revenue.Nothing says relevance like a paycheck, said Stu Johnson, vice president of Connected Nations Digital Works initiative.Though businesses today often operate using Internet speeds far lower than Ohios best, McCollough said that companies who suddenly have access to faster connectivity and perhaps other services will find innovative ways to use it.We started giving our business community a gig, and access to OARnet and access to the Ohio supercomputer , and all of a sudden you see them reach to fill it in, he said.High-speed Internet can also serve as a convincing pitch for businesses the city wants to draw in, he said or, perhaps, for those companies telecommuters. Done right, it might even lead to a snowball effect of economic development.What happens is you create a center of gravity, McCollough said. And when one company is able to do R&D with the supercomputer, three technology companies come in to serve them. And they may be consulting and contractors, but when they come in, two telecommunications companies come in to serve them.Transformation or otherwise, Ohio state CIO Stu Davis said high-speed Internet is a public service.Its all about the public good at the end of the day, and if we can stimulate that activity then thats really what the state is trying to do, he said. (TNS) Private personal information of potentially thousands of people was unintentionally available on public access computers in the Sutter County Superior Courthouse on Monday.The data breach occurred when a new case management system went live Monday morning. The system was taken down the same afternoon after an Appeal-Democrat reporter alerted Court Executive Officer Stephanie Hansel that sensitive and private information was viewable to the public.For about six hours, anyone who searched for a criminal or traffic case on public access computers could view the defendant's Social Security number, birthday, driver's license number and home address. State court rules clearly say such data should be redacted by court clerks for the protection of privacy."We shut it down as soon as I found out about it," Hansel said in a telephone interview Monday afternoon.She said privacy settings hadn't properly been set up for public users. The system will remain down until successful security settings are tested."We're concerned about privacy," she said.Both Yuba and Sutter county courthouses are transitioning to a new case system, called "Odyssey," which is managed by private company Tyler Technologies."The transition has been very challenging. We are trying really hard to meet everyone's needs," Hansel said. "This is a huge project." Santa Monica Riverside A problem: There is a pothole on a busy city street, one that services small, local businesses that pay money into city coffers. There's also a leaky pipe in the library, growing rustier by the month. There isnt enough money to fix both.Which does the city fix?Such is the problem for many local governments around the U.S. They have deferred maintenance backlogs, and constantly have to decide between addressing issues that really needed fixing five years or ago or problems that really, really needed to be solved three years ago. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, the countrys infrastructure needs in the span of 2013 to 2020 total $3.6 trillion almost as much as the entire U.S. federal government spent in fiscal 2015.Keep that in mind the next time you take a stroll through the alleys of Santa Monica, Calif. The city has become so consistent at keeping up with issues like sidewalk and street repair, its actually started looking to places that dont normally get as much maintenance attention like alleyways to get out ahead of problems before they happen.The philosophy in Santa Monicas government goes something like this: Put resources in now for something that doesnt quite need fixing yet, and over the course of many years, a city will save itself a lot of trouble.Rick Cole, Santa Monicas city manager, compares that to a more common cycle present in many similar cities. In years of scarce funding, cities cut back their efforts in areas like capital improvement and deferred maintenance. In good years, they try to catch up.If the rest of the U.S. put as much funding toward infrastructure as Cole says, the nation would be spending about $387 billion per year on it about $67 billion more than the status quo for state and local budgets, according to Congressional Budget Office numbers.Not that spending more is something to be proud of. Rather, according to Cole, the level of investment the city puts in its streets, sidewalks, lights, technology it all comes back around. The citys approach means it has little deferred maintenance, and by keeping that backlog small and focusing on preventive work, he said Santa Monica avoids a lot of future expenses for when aging systems break down.Not every community has financial resources like Santa Monica. But I think I can say with real credibility that infrastructure investment pays off, Cole said. And the better you do at investing in your infrastructure, the more resources you have to continue investing in your infrastructure. And the opposite is just as true: The more you skimp on your infrastructure, the fewer resources you have to invest in your deferred maintenance.One easy example: that ever-present pothole.There is simply no more hellish way to maintain your streets than to send out an old truck with two unionized civil servants with a load of hot asphalt to dig out a pothole, pour in asphalt, roll over it and come back in six months and do the exact same thing," he said, "versus having a pavement management program that keeps your streets in such good repair that a pothole is an event rather than routine.On top of that, keeping things in good order is itself a public benefit perhaps even an economic one.You become a more attractive location for people to operate businesses, to live and to visit, said Cole. You reduce the friction that comes with a degraded infrastructure. Your transportation works better, your daily life works better, and your parks are greener and your water is cleaner.Theres a small catch to Santa Monicas system, and it slips in when it comes time to build the municipal budget: Because the city puts so much emphasis on keeping up with capital improvements and maintenance, its staff is forced to look for efficiencies. That means, for one thing, that not everybody gets what they want every year. So there is something of a delicate balance for the city to maintain between the needs of various departments, one involving assuring staff that if they dont get what they need this year, they are quite likely to get it the next.To address that problem and help identify ways to complete work more efficiently, Santa Monica has taken to breaking down interdepartmental silos when it comes to budgeting. Department heads will gather together and review one anothers budgeting proposals, find common needs and come up with solutions that any one department head might not have thought of on his or her own.A common example of departments working together might be identifying opportunities to lay down Internet fiber under a road while the city has it opened up to replace a pipe. Santa Monicas been doing that since the 1990s, and now it sells 100 gigabyte-speed Internet to commercial clients.I think that you have people around the table that are accountable, that need to work together every day, that can understand someone elses perspective, said Gigi Decavalles-Hughes, Santa Monicas finance director. In the past, many years ago, we would pretty much have a smaller team look at all the projects and have managers or people responsible for the project come in and present. Now by having the decision-makers, the managers, come to the table that are aware of all the things that are happening, they are much more informed and they can make decisions on the spot.It all comes together in a place like Santa Monicas alleyways. Literally hidden in shadows, the alleyways might not otherwise be a place that get a lot of attention when it comes to city budgeting. And yet they support many of the citys goals so, with a desire to address potential problems early on, the city has set a target of spending $200,000 on its alleys annually and visiting every alley every two years.Particularly in our downtown area, theyre used by residents, theyre used by our businesses, and theres also been a desire to incorporate arts programs in the alleys. Theyre heavily used, said Susan Cline of the citys Public Works Department. Were a tourist destination city, so our downtown services a large influx of people every day, and our alleys are critical to maintain the services, so for trash, utilities, all of the above.But what about the cities that havent been keeping up with maintenance for decades? What about those that have backlogs of needed capital improvements sitting uncomfortably atop a pile of holey roads, leaky pipes and burnt-out lights?Enter the Riverside Renaissance.The citys timing was impeccable: It was 2006 and the elected leaders of Riverside, Calif., had no way of knowing about the threatening clouds hanging just on the edge of their vision. Together they decided that it was time to catch up with all the work theyd been putting off for years. Working with city staff dealing with everything from parks to police, Riversides government machine came up with an ambitious plan to issue public bonds funding $1.6 billion in city work during a five-year stretch.And it wasnt just deferred maintenance, though the city had a healthy $629 million backlog it incorporated into its plans. Riverside was and still is one of the fastest-growing cities in the country, and city services hadnt kept up with the growth of its population. Riverside needed new parks, new libraries, more playgrounds, more of the things cities do for their citizens.I would say it was, for lack of a better term, the [Capital Improvement Plans] on steroids, said Riverside Public Utilities Staci Sullivan. So if you normally constructed one park in three years, we were doing six, seven parks.Only about a year in, somebody pulled a wooden block out of the rickety tower that was Americas inflated housing market, and the countrys economy came crashing down. For retirement plans, it was dire news.For Riversides plans, it turned out to be quite the opposite. Here we are in an economic recession and we are, in a way, using that to our advantage. Because instead of a park costing $13 million, were getting extremely competitive bids, and now its $9 million, Sullivan said. Now those savings can be used for something else, and thats how we were able to do so much with it. A sampling of what came out of the initiative: a new skate park, a youth opportunity center, a number of street rehabilitation projects, a lake rehabilitation here, a new playground in a park there, a couple of parking garages, a couple of interchange projects all said and done, the initiative encompassed 185 projects in a span of five years.It touched everything, she said. You couldnt drive the city in those five years without seeing something having been improved.But there is no happily ever after for Riverside. The renaissance put the city in a place where it was able to catch up with years of pent-up work, and now it needs to decide how it will approach that work in the future. Its a big question the city manager is wrestling with, Sullivan said: How can Riverside make sure it doesnt fall behind on its maintenance, especially now that it has all this new infrastructure?We did all this amazing work and transformed the city in a very positive way, and now theres a job of going back and making sure that everything is staying up to par, she said. (TNS) A federal appeals court Tuesday upheld tough new regulations for online traffic in a major victory for President Barack Obama and a blow to telecommunications companies, which challenged the net neutrality rules.The District of Columbia U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the rules approved by the Federal Communications Commission last year on a partisan 3-2 vote after Obama urged their passage.Two previous attempts by the FCC to set net neutrality regulations were thrown out by federal judges.The regulations were proposed by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and strongly backed by Obama, who publicly interjected himself into the independent agencys deliberations.The rules prohibit broadband providers from blocking, slowing or selling faster delivery of legal content flowing through their networks to consumers.Twice before courts have thwarted the FCCs efforts to establish net neutrality rules. So this time the FCC decided to classify high-speed internet as a telecommunications service under Title 2 of the federal Communications Act, subjecting it to utility-like oversight and giving the agency more enforcement authority.Wheeler promised a light-handed approach, and the rules exempt broadband providers from rate regulation and other more onerous provisions of Title 2 that apply to conventional phone service providers.But companies have complained that the door is open for tougher regulation, which they warn would hinder investment in expanded networks.Among those who challenged the rules are AT&T, CTIA, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, CenturyLink, the American Cable Association., U.S. Telecom and the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association. Jorge Lorenzo flew to Kazakhstan to visit the new Sokol circuit, or to at least get an idea of how it will be once it's completed. The track, designed by Hermann Tilke (and that will measure 4495 metres) is still under construction, though work should be completed shortly. The track will be able to host international competitions including MotoGP and SBK and Lorenzo has said he can't wait to try it on a bike. The circuit is located close to Almaty, the largest city in Kazakhstan where Jorge was welcomed for a meeting with fans and local members of the press. My happiest day would be the day criminals will be arrested and there would not be a single Muslim among them, he said. Mr Sarpong who is the current Managing Director for State Housing Company also presented some items such as mats, ablution cans, bags of sugar and an undisclosed sum of money to the Imam at the Kaase mosque to help them during the fasting period. He appealed to security agencies, particularly the police, to allow political parties to submit the names of members of their election task force for accreditation. This, he said would enable the police to know who is where at what time as this would help in the identification of people who foment troubles during the polls. He said it was practical for all political parties to form election task force during general elections and dispatch them to the various polling stations during the polls. According to him, accrediting the members will help educe the incidence of violence during the polls since the police would have the information of the people dispatched to the various communities by the parties. For his part, the Imam of Kaase Mosque, Sheikh Mohammed Sualch, expressed appreciation for the gesture. More than 500 people attended the West Point Society Piedmonts commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War, held June 1 at the Grandover Resort in Greensboro. Joe Galloway, co-author of We Were Soldiers Once ... and Young, delivered the keynote address. He talked about the Battle of la Drang, the first major battle of the Vietnam War, and how he was the only war correspondent on the ground during the battle. For his bravery in rescuing wounded soldiers under fire, the Army awarded him a Bronze Star. June 14, 1979 A century ago, Gen. George Custer paid with his life for the governments policy of uprooting the Sioux Indians from land in the Black Hills of South Dakota. A century later, a federal court says Uncle Sam should pay the Indians for the land. The U.S. Court of Claims ruled, 5-2, Wednesday that the Sioux are entitled to $17.5 million for their land and 5 percent interest dating back to the seizure 103 years ago. A panel discussion last week on being LGBT in the Triad, and co-hosted by a white Muslim heterosexual woman, was eerily prescient. During the Friday night session at Scuppernong Books in downtown Greensboro, someone raised a growing sense of dread that more people are openly expressing their hostility toward the gay community. Others agreed. But no one could have predicted the gruesome horror that would unfold in Orlando, Fla., less than two days later. Omar Mateen, 29, walked into a popular gay nightclub 18 miles from Disney World and opened fire. By the time police killed Mateen, he had fatally shot 49 people and wounded 53, in the worst mass shooting ever on U.S. soil. Its kind of surreal, Deonna Kelli Sayed, who co-hosted Fridays panel in Greensboro, said Monday of Mateens motivations such as we know them. Im baffled. Its almost like a language for it doesnt exist because Islamophobia and homophobia are connected at the root. Mateen was a U.S. citizen who was born in New York and whose parents immigrated from Afghanistan. He also was a Muslim who had declared his allegiance to the terrorist movement called ISIS in a 911 call from the club. Mateens father says he expressed hostility toward gay people and had been especially disturbed by the sight of two men kissing. Only he could know, however, whether it was homophobia or a twisted brand of Islam that prompted his senseless actions. Or both. What we do know is that the FBI had interviewed Mateen twice as a possible terrorist suspect, yet he was able to buy his weapons, legally, only days before the shooting. In December, the Senate voted down an amendment that would ban suspected terrorists from purchasing guns and explosives. We know he used a handgun and the same type of semiautomatic rifle used in mass shootings in Newtown, Conn., Aurora, Colo., and San Bernardino, Calif. We know Sundays shooting came less than two days after the fatal shooting, also in Orlando, of Voice singer Christina Grimmie, and five days before the one-year anniversary of the shooting of nine in a Charleston, S.C., church. Yet Congress seems paralyzed with fear at the prospect of even studying the rash of gun violence in the nation. We know Mateen was employed by an international security company, of all things, that seems to have ignored a co-workers complaints about his racist and homophobic language and talk of killing people. We know the bloodshed in Orlando involves a tragic intersection between two marginalized groups: the LGBT community and Muslims in America. And it again tests our ability as a free and diverse society not to ascribe the actions of a few to the many. In a season of especially coarse and divisive political rhetoric, thats been made even harder. All you need is humanity, Dr. Mohammed Abu-Salha said during a discussion of Islam in Chapel Hill on Sunday. He speaks from experience. He is the father of Yusor and Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, who were fatally shot, as was Yusors husband, Deah Barakat, in February 2015 by a neighbor in their condominium complex. Meanwhile, it was heartening in Greensboro to see members of the Muslim community grieve with and support their LGBT friends. A candlelight vigil attracted 350 of various races, faiths and sexual orientations Sunday night. Such hopeful scenes were repeated in communities across the country. In Orlando, people of all walks of life stood in long lines in brutal heat to donate blood to those wounded in the shooting. These are among the best and most powerful responses to yet another attempt to rip apart what truly makes us great. And we wont stand for it. Together. Try these alcoholic frozen treats for a cool summer. Photo: Dean Belcher Summer is the perfect excuse to give in to your hedonistic side. After youve worked your way through our fried-food bucket list, treat yourself to an 80-proof milkshake, spiked snow cone, or frozen Red Bullandvodka. Here are eight excellent summer treats with a decidedly grown-up twist. 1. Salvation Burger Grasshopper Milkshake 230 E. 51st St.; $14 A New Orleans cocktail becomes a shake with housemade mint ice cream, creme de menthe, and chocolate liqueur. Alcohol content: approx. 2 oz. 48-proof liqueur. 2. Sincerely Burger Salted-Caramel-and-Maple-Bacon Milkshake 41 Wilson Ave., Bushwick; $9 As if caramel and bacon werent indulgent enough, the bar adds bourbon. Alcohol content: 1.5 oz. 86-proof Evan Williams. 3. Clean Shave Ice Riis Park Beach Bazaar, Rockaway Park; $9 These snow cones may be all-natural, but theyre not health food try adding whiskey from the adjacent bar to the orange-ginger. Alcohol content: 1.5 oz. 80-proof whiskey. 4. OddFellows Vodka-Red Bull Popsicle Freehold Brooklyn, 45 S. 3rd St., Williamsburg; $8 In ice-pop form, the drink of college is better than the sum of its parts. Alcohol content: 30 to 40 percent ABV (Equivalent to a cocktail, warns a staffer). 5. Milk Bar Fancy Shakes 382 Metropolitan Ave., Williamsburg; $10 The Birthday Cake Fancy Shakes decadence is near obscene: Its Cereal Milk soft-serve, whole milk, cake truffles, and spiced rum. Alcohol content: 2 oz. 70-proof rum. 6. Lo-Ress Root-Beer Float 163 Metropolitan Ave., Williamsburg; $11 Beer floats with stout are common; less so the root-beer-and-whiskey float served at the bar beneath Nitehawk Cinema. Alcohol content: 1.5 oz. 80-proof Zackariah Harris bourbon. 7. Rocka Rollas Frozen Coffee Thing 486 Metropolitan Ave., Williamsburg; $7 This creamy drinks made with milk and Oslo coffee and topped with a hit of Evan Williams. Alcohol content: approx. 1.5 oz. 80-proof bourbon. 8. The Gatehouses at Kings County Distillerys Whiskey Pop 299 Sands St., Brooklyn Navy Yard; $12 The strawberry pops made with chocolate whiskey and served in a glass add a pour-over ounce of bourbon. Alcohol content: approx. 2.5 oz. 90-proof whiskey. *This article appears in the June 13, 2016 issue of New York Magazine. Workers had this sense of anger. A family of Donald Trump supporters says its time to make America great again for people who want to eat at the southern burger chain Cook Out. Shannon Riggs and her cousins apparently worked up an appetite cheering at a Trump rally Friday night in Richmond, Virginia, so on the way home they stopped for fast-food burgers a meal thatd get their candidates enthusiastic stamp of approval while still dressed in campaign T-shirts and Make America Great Again hats. They got harassed because they were dressed in full-on Trump-campaign garb, they say. As soon as we got to the window, it was Oh hell no, Im not serving them, Riggs tells WTVR. They kind of shuffled back and forth with three people to take our order. Everybody was laughing, giggling, and they went and got the people from the back. The three women were eventually allowed to order, but Riggs says it was a fake-out: When an employee yelled out that the order was ready, her teenage cousin walked over to grab the food but was told, Oh not for you! More chuckling followed, and at this point the family just demanded a refund and called up the corporate offices to complain. A Cook Out rep released a statement assuring customers that theyre a politically neutral company, and that the incident was resolved that night per Cook Out policy (that is, apparently, free food coupons that Riggs rejected). Riggs hopes the Cook Out workers at least learned a valuable life lesson that you should not be discriminated based on who you support, whether it be Bernie, Hillary or Mr. Trump. [WTVR] Speech! Speech! Speech! Photo: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images Last night, Massimo Botturas Osteria Francescana, located in Modena, Italy, won the top honor at the Worlds 50 Best Restaurants competition the first time he has ever placed first. Though the system is certainly questionable (voters arent anonymous and can accept free meals and trips), theres no doubt that this list has a strong impact on which chefs become internationally renowned. Booking a table at 2015s winner, El Celler de Can Roca, requires advanced planning of an entire calendar year. At 21-year-old Osteria Francescana, 53-year-old chef Massimo Bottura has slowly worked to reinvent the traditional and conservative cuisine of his home country. In July, when he came to New York to cook at Momofuku Ko for the Gelinaz! Shuffle, he said his ragu preparation, with bone marrow and kimchee, would never be accepted in Italy. He added, Italy is such a traditional place that if you think about these kinds of flavors, they would never understand, you know? But New York is New York. Its a place of open minds, so for me, its okay. Oops! I Dropped the Lemon Tart. Photo: Paolo Terzi Back home at his 12-table restaurant, his current menu includes a simple tagliatelle with hand-chopped meat ragu; ravioli filled with leeks, foie gras, and truffles; suckling pig with local balsamic vinegar; and five ages of Parmigiano Reggiano in different textures and temperatures. Unlike the majority of the Worlds 50 Best honorees, he offers both an a la carte option as well as two tasting menus (180 and 200, before wine pairings). Bottura is also an art aficionado: The restaurant features his impressive collection, including one of Damien Hirsts Spin paintings. Hirst, Ai WeiWei, and Pablo Picasso have even inspired a few of Botturas artfully composed dishes. The Hirst-inspired Beautiful Psychedelic Spin-painted veal, not flame grilled is perhaps Botturas most famous plate. Sometimes Mallard, Sometimes Partridge, and Even Bollito. Photo: Paolo Terzi And beyond Osteria Francescana, Bottura is cementing his legacy as one of the worlds leading chefs by fighting food waste. He wrote an article for The Wall Street Journal asserting, Chefs have greater social responsibility than ever before, and created a soup kitchen called Food for Soul as part of Milans 2015 Expo. When Grub asked Bottura in July if he had his eye on the top Worlds 50 Best spot, he played coy. Me? Never, he said. We just enjoy what we do, and I think the Roca brothers deserve to be No. 1 again. We dont cook to be No. 1. We dont cook to be No. 2 or 3 or 4. Still, the chef seemed quite pleased with his success last night, when Daniel Boulud and Alain Ducasse showered him with Champagne inside Eleven Madison Parks kitchen. The Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge are a hit - analysts expect the duo will sell a combined 25 million units worldwide. Daishin Securities estimate that around 15 million of those were sold in Q2. All this is expected to push Samsung's profitability above even the spike in Q1, with operating profitability reaching an estimated $3.63 billion for the last three months. The high sales of the flagship duo increased the average selling price - from $217 in the first quarter to $228 in the second. It helps that the Galaxy S7 edge reportedly outsells its smaller (and cheaper) S7 sibling. The success of the S7 is partly due to Samsung's strategy. It launched the S7 and S7 edge three weeks before the LG G5, the HTC 10 came later still, Sony took its sweet time to put the Xperia X Performance on sale and Apple's launch cycle meant its newest product was the 4" iPhone SE. Source 1 Source 2 | Via These are the best offers from our affiliate partners. We may get a commission from qualifying sales. Haiti - Politic : D-Day for Privert Monday the session in National Assembly scheduled for 11 a.m., was finally held at 5:30 pm after stormy times where ro-Privert senators try to include in the agenda the prior election of a President in the Senate to preside over this meeting... Finally, the quorum was meets 87 deputies and 18 senators who responded to the roll call [the quorum requires was 16 senators and 60 deputies] Besides the speech of the Prime Minister who seized the opportunity to tout his record, insisting on an ""improved security climate (!)" since his since installation, while the situation continues in contrast to deteriorate a little more each day, an intervention of Deputy Antoine Rodon Bien-Aime, presenting a crisis exit proposal signed by 53 deputies which provides, inter alia to extend the mandate of the President Privert caused even before the end of the reading of this resolution, the output of the Chamber of Senators Carl Murat Cantave, Youri Latortue and Ricard Pierre who felt that it was an irregular proposed resolution... In the absence of a President at the head of Senate it is Cholzer Chancy President of the Chamber of Deputies, which has assumed the role of President a.i. of the National Assembly. In his speech he expressed concern in particular about the protective safeguards of democratic institutions that are jumping one after the other and that threatens even of institutions to disappear. "[...] We live, fellow Parliamentarians, a particularly troubled economic climate, one of the worst of our recent national history. The protective safeguards of democratic institutions, patiently implemented since three decades are jumping after each other, threatening to undermine the credibility of these institutions and even make them disappear [...]" Wanting reassuring with the elected officials who are qualified to rightly or wrongly of badly elected he reiterated firmly the independence of the three powers "[...] I reaffirm a position already expressed, namely that the recommendations of this Commission [the CIEVE] cannot not in any way be imposed to Parliament [...] However, although it is not bound by the report, being sovereign in its actions and positions, as an entity responsible, Parliament had a duty to meet eminent jurists and other experts within the framework of consultations around this thorny issue on the challenge of elected parliamentarians. All have concluded that in electoral matters, the decisions of the BCEN are not subject to appeal." On the eve of the meeting that should decide the fate of President a.i. Privert he held to recall "The protection and defense of the higher interests of the nation require the taking large and compelling decisions. Now we are the first protectors and defenders. I invite you, honorable parliamentarians, to elevate yourself above the fray to move smoothly, this piece of history. This date [June 14 2016] that promises to be pocalyptic for many, must pass in peace, calmness, as it has been for several dates in the past, for in the end the institutions come out more strengthened than ever. [...] Colleagues Parliamentarians, let us be careful to leave the country slipping further; let us avoid that the solutions envisaged in the perspective of solving problems, escalate and produce results contrary to those previously envisaged. [...] We, the citizens, we engage in politics is to solve problems, not to make new ones. Politics must offer solutions to the problems of the country. On the sidelines of this meeting, Senator Youri Latortue continues to be in favor of dialogue, though he admits that he is for the non-extension and the departure of the temporary President, saying "Privert will not be President from Tuesday midnight." Questioned about what would happen if Tuesday there was no quorum, he replied, "if the quorum is reversed Tuesday 14, then Privert will be a de facto president." Ronald Lareche, Vice-President of the Senate wants to appear confident speaking of an agreement Tuesday between the two groups of the Senate (?), That agreement does not seem to acquired, minority senators do not agree to concede on the non-extension of the mandate of Joclerme Privert... To be continued... HL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - Politic : Michaelle Jean calls for dialogue and restraint Michaelle Jean, the Secretary General of the International Organization of the Francophonie (OIF), following with the greatest attention the developments in Haiti appealed for restraint to all political actors "The stability of the transitional institutions is necessary for the resumption and conclusion of the electoral process. I urge all stakeholders to promote dialogue and a peaceful environment in all circumstances. The holding of elections, in compliance with the rule of law and democracy is crucial to the revival of the country to which legitimately aspires the Haitian people." The Secretary General recalled that the OIF, in collaboration with its international partners, will continue its support to the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) for the holding of free, democratic, inclusive and reliable elections. HL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - News : Zapping politics... Pro-Privert take the street Monday, supporters and sympathizers of President a.i. Jocelerme Privert demonstrated in Port-au-Prince to demand the extension of the mandate of the Head of State. Former Sen. Lavalas Louis Gerald Gilles, that manifested ruled "against a transition in the transition." For him the transition should be made with Privert whose administration must organize good elections. Throughout the march, protesters advocated the need to preserve stability, essential for achieving good elections. Another demonstration of support is planned Tuesday as the National Assembly has to decide on the polongation or not of the mandate of the Provisional Head of State. The Democratic Entente warns the DG a.i of the PNH The Democratic Entente has written to the Director General a.i. of the National Police of Haiti (PNH), for drawing his "ttention to the fact that the mandate of the temporary President of the Republic, Jocelerme Privert ending June 14, 2016 [...]" reminding "the legal obligation made to him to not obey any order from a person devoid of legality and legitimacy; that any execution of order manifestly unlawful, commits only one that execute it." Moise Jean Charles calls for caution Saturday, Moise Jean Charles, presidential candidate under the banner "Pitit Dessalin" has once again called on President Privert to sit with different sectors to find a new political agreement because of the situation that will presented Tuesday, June 14, calling on parliamentarians to act with caution, given their fragility... Withdrawal of weapon carry permit unconstitutional In a press note from the Institute of Democratic Education Mobile (IMED) wishes to draw the attention of each other on the unconstitutional nature of the withdrawal, even temporary, of the weapons permit, as guaranteed in Article 268-1 of the Constitution. In these times of uncertainty and growing insecurity, such a decision does not come appease, but reviving the fear and threat of age time on individual freedoms, only acquired in our long journey towards democracy and the rule of law. Meeting on Public Security and petroleum products Friday, Camille Junior Edouard, the Minister of Justice and Public Security met with members of the Board of the National Association of Oil Products Distributors (ANADIPP) around the Public Security issues. Privert surprise visit to HUEH On Monday, President a.i. Jocelerme Privert, paid a surprise visit to the Hospital of the State University of Haiti, in order to meet with officials of the institution around the crisis of the medical sector that persisted since 28 March and he has been able to resolve since taking office : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-17531-haiti-flash-strike-a-3-year-old-girl-died-for-lack-of-care.html NOTICE : Soon the withdrawal of CIN to the Consulate General of Haiti in Higuey (DR) Jean Alexis Tholbert, the counselor-minister of the Consulate General of Haiti in Higuey, met with the Technical Director of the National Identification Office (ONI). He announced that "soon" Haitians living in the Eastern Region of the Dominican Republic, will be able to withdraw their National Identification Card (CIN) to the Consulate General of Haiti in Higuey. HL/ HaitiLibre Login or sign up to follow actresses, movies & dramas and get specific updates and news Login Sign Up New Ad-free Subscriber Login Email Password Password Username Your E-mail will only be used to retrieve a lost password. Stay logged in Help Harlow is a former New Town in Essex with a population of 86,000. Located in the upper Stort Valley, it was built in the decades after the Second World War to ease overcrowding and London and provide homes for people bombed out during the Blitz. It includes Britain's first pedestrian precinct and first modern residential tower block, The Lawn. Old Harlow, the historic part of the town, was mentioned in the Domesday Book. David and Victoria Beckham's former home, Rowneybury House, nicknamed 'Beckingham Palace', is nearby. 11:52, 25 OCT 2022 ecent report from the Work + Family Roundtable (W+FPR), a national network of 34 academics, recommended firmer restrictions on maximum working hours, in order to allow men to spend more time with family and for women to participate more in paid work.In delivering the report, co-convenor of the W+FPR Sara Charlesworth stated that Australian women who become mothers tend to work less while conversely men work increased hours, leading to an unbalanced, polarised workplace.HR professionals can play an important role in countering this disparity, believes Alan McDonald, managing director of employment law firm McDonald Murholme.HR managers can ensure that an employment contract contains a provision that the employee is expected to work a small amount of overtime in accordance with the needs of the employer, McDonald told HC Online. That immediately alerts the parties that the expectation in writing is that the overtime will be small. It also covers the situation when employees require some overtime to meet peak loads, etcetera.Secondly, a company policy can be implemented that covers excessive overtime, by providing an employee with a day or so of recreational leave to allow the employee to revitalise.Australians work some of the longest hours in the world (an ABS report of 2015 found that more than 300,000 people in the national workforce were working 70 hours per week or more), with McDonald pointing to such factors as technology and the high cost of living as among the reasons for this.The culture of long hours and being always on was perhaps reflected recently by noted businessman Solomon Lew, who praised ANZ CFO Michelle Jablko for being available seven days a week for 18 hours a day. Lews view on working hours is widespread, believes McDonald.Solomon Lews attitudes are very common, and he felt proud to espouse them. It is old fashioned and unprofitable to think that you should be reluctant to call an employee during after hours or on the weekend, outside of working hours.It would be interested to see a university conduct a study on whether or not the rise in social media conduct, so commonly discussed in the media, is in any way correlated to this change in behaviour towards work.McDonald added that some of the worst cases of excessive hours are in those roles where wages and salary are related to hours worked.Whenever there is an incentive-based remuneration plan, there is an inducement to an overambitious employee to work excessive hours, he said.These hours can extend to the early hours of the morning and to public holidays. It is very tempting for some employees to become addicted to work, lose other interests and become over-dependent on work as their only mainstay in life. Raise a Pint for the Parkway at AMB The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation is proud to participate in Appalachian Mountain Brewerys Pints for Nonprofits Program during June. Stop by this month to show your support for the Parkway. For more information, check out brpfoundation.org and appalachianmountainbrewery.com. Shelly Johnston Named Director of Development for Grandfather Mtn. Stewardship Foundation After a three-month search, the Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation board of directors has named Shelly Johnston director of development for the nonprofit organization. Johnston will be the first to serve in this newly created position, the duties for which include managing the engagement of donors and supporters of Grandfather Mountain. Jesse Pope, executive director of the Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation, said the position was created for someone to dedicate his or her efforts toward helping Grandfather Mountain sustain the funding needed to successfully achieve its mission: to inspire conservation of the natural world by helping guests explore, understand and value the wonders of Grandfather Mountain. While Grandfather Mountain does generate its own revenue to cover operating expenses, we must rely on grants and private donations to enhance the educational opportunities in the park, Pope said. Shellys role will help us work toward finding the resources to advance our mission and make a greater impact on our education and conservation efforts. Johnston, who previously worked as a volunteer at Grandfather Mountain, has 10 years of experience in nonprofit work. She first served as a volunteer manager assisting with marketing and development for Hospice & Palliative Care Charlotte Region in its Lincoln County office. Later, she worked as the director of the Arts Council of Lincoln County. In coming to work for the Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation, Johnston is returning to her naturalist passions. Johnston holds a bachelors degree from Pfeiffer University in Misenheimer and a masters degree from N.C. State University in parks, recreation and tourism management with a focus in environmental education. Johnston originally planned for a career as a naturalist, but instead began work in the nonprofit sector. A native of Matthews, N.C., Johnston has lived mostly in the Lincolnton area, where she previously worked in various nonprofits. Johnston first came to Grandfather as a part-time resident and fell in love with the area. At the beginning of 2016, she decided to seek full-time employment in the area, particularly at a nonprofit with an environmental focus. Johnston said that after volunteering at Grandfather Mountain, she watched the Foundations website for job listings and came upon the position. After Grandfather Mountain founder Hugh Mortons death in 2006, the Morton family sold two-thirds of the Grandfather Mountain property to the state of North Carolina. These 2,600 acres of land make up the Grandfather Mountain State Park. The Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation maintains and preserves the remaining third of Grandfather Mountain. The Morton family established a nonprofit organization in 2009 to manage the scenic travel destination and the 700 acres that include the Mile High Swinging Bridge, the Nature Museum and Animal Habitats. The foundation is dedicated to the conservation of the mountain and the education and inspiration of visitors. When you work for a nonprofit, theres an investment of yourself. You have to love it, Johnston said. You have to have an investment in the mission, and going up the mountain every day is an inspiration for the work. As director of development, Johnston will be working primarily on engaging donors and serving those donors better, as they are the main supporters of the mountain. We are really trying to focus on and grow our donors. We want to expand our reach, Johnston said. We want to engage those who are visiting the park so that they will continue to support Grandfather Mountain. Jesse Pope also acknowledged the need for a director of development to improve the quality of visitor experience and to preserve the natural resources in the park. Shelly, along with the rest of the team, will help create the community partnerships and relationships with our donors that will help us accomplish our goals, Pope said. Johnston will sustain current projects like the field trip scholarship fund, which provides resources for underfunded schools to plan field trips to Grandfather Mountain. Currently, Johnston said the biggest project is raising money to restore and enlarge the cougar habitat. The restoration project follows the recent arrival of two cougar cubs to Grandfather Mountain. The duo was found orphaned in Idaho last January and found a home at Grandfather. The foundation is also working on developing an elk habitat, to be completed by the fall of 2017. We received a generous grant from the A.J. Fletcher Foundation to help us with making the elk habitat a reality, Pope said. We are excited Shelly is here to help us find more champions to step forward and help us preserve Grandfather Mountain for future generations. Pope said he has enjoyed working with Johnston during her first few days as the director of development. She is a wonderful new addition to the Grandfather Mountain family, Pope said. She loves Grandfather Mountain and believes in our mission. A long-time advocate for environmental education, Johnston said she understands the importance of the Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundations work and admits it is a large project to tackle. The foundation has a monumental job maintaining and preserving the mountain, Johnston said. Its a worthwhile job, and its a great team. But we have a huge project ahead of us. The mountains alive, the animals are alive, so our work is ongoing. Its important work to maintain the mountain. To read more about the arrival of the cougars to Grandfather Mountain, visit www.grandfather.com/cougar-cubs-arrive-at-grandfather-mountain/. The not-for-profit Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation strives to inspire conservation of the natural world by helping guests explore, understand and value the wonders of Grandfather Mountain. For more information, call (800) 468-7325, or visitwww.grandfather.com to plan a trip. Toe River Arts Council Benefit Auction June 18 On Saturday, June 18, the doors of the Spruce Pine TRAC Gallery will swing open and Live Auction viewing and Silent Auction bidding will begin. Once a year, the Toe River Arts Council showcases our regional artists who support TRAC by donating some of their best work. Monies received go to fund operationsby coordinating school programs that create that imaginative spark to ignite the critical thinking so necessary in todays world, by offering exhibition and sales venues to many of the over 400 artist residents, and by keeping the lights on in both TRAC facilities. These piecesfrom clay to glass, fiber to wood and beyondrepresent the artists in our region, some of the best in the nation. The Silent Auction bidding that will continue through July 9th, is free and everyone is invited to come and take a chance at winning that one great work of art. As an adjunct to the Silent Auction, a section of the gallery walls has been cordoned off and will display a special 88 Exhibit. In February, TRAC gave out 8x8 wood frames to artists and art teachers from both counties and asked to create art on either side of the frame. The teachers took them into their classrooms where students created collages and paintings, some abstract, some edging toward realism, but all imaginative. Completed works were donated back to TRAC and will be on sale for $50 (student work) and $75 (adult work) first come, first served. The sale beginning June 18 will continue through the day of the Live Auction, July 9. To thank those local visitors who have shown their support by participating in the bidding, TRAC will host a free wine and cheese reception at the Spruce Pine Gallery from 4:30 to 6:30pm. And for the kids and kids young at heart only, glass artist Rick Beck will be making root beer floats. The Silent Auction will end sequentially beginning at 6pm and continue until all the tables close at 7pm. The community is invited to come and share in a toast to another year of successes for TRAC. At 7pm, the Live Auction and ticketed party begins upstairs with a down home feast featuring last years Spruce Pine Barbeque Festival winner, Wayne Jackson. He will be serving up BBQ as auctioneer Jeff Goodman prepares to take it away at 7:30pm. Guitarist Jared McQueen and Bill Gerhardt on keyboards will provide the music. Live Auction seating is limited, so please reserve yours now. But for those who cant make the event, sealed bids can be placed anytime until 6pm on the 9th in the gallery. And for those who just dont want to take a chance on missing one of the auction pieces, a select few are online at the website for a Buy-It-Now price. For more information about the Auction or to make a reservation, please call 828.682.7215 or visit the website, www.toeriverarts.org/benefit-auction. To place a sealed bid, call 828.765.0520. TRAC is a non-profit organization founded in 1976 to promote the arts in Mitchell and Yancey Counties and funded in part by people who believe in the benefit of the arts for a growing a community. For more information about the Arts Councils programs, visit the website, www.toeriverarts.org or call 828.682.7215. CCC&TI Celebrates Graduation of 10 Truck Driver Training Students Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute celebrated the graduation of 10 students from the Caldwell Campus Truck Driver Training program during a ceremony on Thursday, June 9 at the J.E. Broyhill Civic Center in Lenoir. The graduates included, pictured from left to right: (front row) Steven Hedrick of Connelly Springs; Simon Shew of Lenoir; Brandon Evans of Hickory; Robert Franklin of Hildebran; and Chad Warren of Sawmills. (back row) Cynthia Linney of Hickory; Philip Hoyt of Mooresville; Tabitha Garrison of Granite Falls; Richard Setzer of Granite Falls; and Matthew Whisnant of Morganton. The next Truck Driver Training class for the Caldwell Campus in Hudson starts Aug. 9. CCC&TI Truck Driver Training classes also are available in Gaston, Iredell, Richmond, Rowan, Rutherford, Union and Yadkin counties. Tuition assistance is available for those who qualify. For more info about Truck Driver Training at CCC&TI, call 828-726-2380. Share this: Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Reddit Pocket (HedgeCo.Net) The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced fraud charges and an asset freeze obtained against a Connecticut man accused of misleading people into investing in his company and then taking their money for his personal use. His victims include several women he met through an online dating website. The SEC alleges that Thomas J. Connerton told investors that his company Safety Technologies LLC was developing a material to make surgical gloves better resistant to cuts or punctures. He claimed that several major glove manufacturers wanted the technology and Safety Technologies was on the brink of imminent deals that would result in large payouts for investors in his company. But no deals have ever been anywhere close to materializing, and Connerton has emptied the companys bank account by writing a series of checks to himself and using investor funds for his own expenses. According to court documents filed by the SEC, among Connertons improper spending of investor funds was $20,000 for an engagement ring for his latest online date turned investor. There are more than 50 investors in Safety Technologies, including six women Connerton met through online dating and 14 others who are family or friends of those women. We charge Connerton with lying about the state of his business and exploiting personal connections to lure in investors, said Paul G. Levenson, Director of the SECs Boston Regional Office. Investors beware: a rosy picture of a business thats about to take off could still lead to a total loss of investment. According to the SECs complaint, Connerton failed to comply with the requirements for private offerings exempt from registration under the federal securities laws, such as providing investors with appropriate financial information and confirming that they have sufficient knowledge and experience to evaluate the merits and risks of the investment. Connerton also is not registered to sell investments. Investors can quickly and easily check whether people selling investments are registered by using the SECs investor.gov website. (Bloomberg) The University of Michigan plans to invest $126 million in four funds, including one that focuses on private, mid-sized companies in the Nordic region and another that bets on Latin American agribusinesses. The school, with a $10 billion endowment as of June 30, is set to wager $30 million with AMERRA Agri Fund III, which invests primarily in secured private debt of agribusiness companies in Latin America, according to an agenda for the Board of Regents meeting on June 16. Another $35 million is earmarked for FSN Capital V LP, a private equity fund with offices in Oslo and Stockholm that will invest in companies in the region. To read this article: We want a Finland that encourages employment by investing in its strengths: a skilled workforce, education, green technology and renewable energy. The employment policies of the 2010s must be based on the prevention of climate change and considerations of environmental capacity, she stated in her victory speech to the party faithful on Sunday. The Left Alliance is responsible for updating the labour market policy of Finland, states Li Andersson, the newly-elected chairperson of the opposition party. Andersson proposed, for example, that a six-hour workday trial be launched, that the regulations governing collective agreements be specified and that those governing parental leaves be overhauled. She also stated that small business owners and other self-employed people should be able to accept short-term job offers without the risk of losing unemployment benefits. The divide between various groups of employees is widening, and even the definition of employment relationship has become unclear. If we are to be the labour movement of the future, we must base our policy decisions on what working life is truly like in the 2010s. The division of the labour force is the greatest future challenge for both the left wing and trade unions, she said. We must therefore communicate clearly that everyone who have to sell their input is a part of today's labour movement. Andersson also expressed her disapproval with the competitiveness pact by predicting that it will be remembered as a historic agreement that weakened the position of wage earners in Finland. It's about nothing more than the age-old goal of the right wing to make more income transfers to employers. Finland won't recover if each of us sticks around at the workplace for an additional six minutes or if the holiday bonuses of over-employed practical nurses are slashed while cutting from the very thing we're known for internationally: expertise, she analysed. Aleksi Teivainen HT Photo: Timo Heikkala Lehtikuva Source: Uusi Suomi Alice Cairns hopes that new leads into the disappearance of her son Philip will solve the 30-year-old mystery. Photo: Julien Behal/Maxwells The mother of missing Dublin schoolboy Philip Cairns hopes fresh leads that notorious paedophile Eamon Cooke may have been involved in her son's disappearance will end of the 30-year mystery. Even after all this time, Alice says she still holds out hope of resolution. "You always have to have hope," she told the Herald from her home in Dublin. However, she has seen false dawns in the past where new leads have led to digs and excavations, but her son remains missing. Speaking to the Herald from her home on Ballyroan Road in Rathfarnham, Alice said news that Cooke, who died in recent weeks aged 79, was to be interviewed, came as a bolt from the blue and gave her family hope of a resolution. Shocked However, after three decades of praying for an answer as to why Philip walked out the front door but never got to his school on an October afternoon in 1986, Alice also knows that new enquiries do not always lead to answers. Philip, who was due to turn 14, vanished after leaving his home on the busy road to walk the short journey to Colaiste Eanna secondary school. Despite intensive searches, no trace of him was ever found. His schoolbag was found dumped in a laneway six days later, minus two school books. The lane had been searched earlier and gardai know the bag was dumped there afterwards. Thirty years on, Alice spoke for the first time about how the latest developments unfolded. "The gardai came to me a number of weeks ago and told us that they were examining a new line of inquiry, but did not mention Eamon Cooke by name," she said. "They said they were going to interview this person, and I think it was a few days later they came back and said that the first day they went to him he said he knew Philip or had been in his company, but then when they went back again a second time he denied knowing him at all. "They said they weren't sure if there was anything credible in the information, or if this man was just leading them on, but they are still investigating it," she added. Cooke became a suspect when a former victim of his went to a care worker in May who worked with many of his victims. This victim said she was around nine years old at the time and had seen a person she thought was Philip in the Radio Dublin studios that Cooke ran in Inchicore. She claimed she saw Cooke hit Philip with an implement and that she had fainted, and when she woke up she was being driven away by Cooke and there was no sign of Philip. Guilty Gardai decided they would interview Cooke, the pirate radio DJ who went by the name Captain Cooke and founded Radio Dublin in the 1980s. He had been found guilty of 42 counts of sexual assault following a trial at the Central Criminal Court in 2007. During his trial, the court heard his young victims dubbed him the 'Cookie Monster'. When gardai went looking for him in Arbour Hill Prison they found that he had been transferred to a hospice as he was in failing health. It is understood that when they interviewed him, he admitted that he knew of Philip and he said he had been in his radio station, but did not admit to killing him and did not reveal where Philip's body was. "Philip's disappearance remains under active investigation and they are now looking at two particular aspects that still need to be corroborated," said a source. "One of these aspects is the DNA that was left on Philip's schoolbag." It is understood that three DNA profiles have been obtained from this bag. The schoolbag that was dumped in the lane not far from the Cairns home is still in the possession of gardai in Rathfarnham, and Det Sgt Tom Doyle has previously told the Herald that he believes it could hold forensic and DNA evidence which could be the key to finding out what happened to the teen. The woman who went to gardai in recent weeks with information told them Cooke that had ordered one of his victims to dump the bag in the lane, and it is unclear if gardai have any immediate plans to analyse the bag again to establish if that could be proven. Alice Cairns has told the Herald she still uses the laneway as a short cut to the church and shops, and often wonders about the bag and who put it there as she passes the spot where it was found. Alice said she is not aware that Philip knew Cooke at all. "He never mentioned him and as far as I know he didn't know him. I never saw him before and never heard Philip talk about him," she said. At her quiet kitchen table at the back of the house where Philip was last seen on October 23, 1986, Alice sat with rosary beads in front of her and a pot of tea on a low heat on the cooker. Dignity A private woman, she spoke with patience, dignity and a quiet anxiousness. Thirty years of searching for answers have not dulled her spirit, and her faith in God and the gardai remains strong. "Philip was only sort of getting into music but he wouldn't have been that involved that he would be going to radio stations," Alice said. "He'd hardly ever been in the local record shop. He was just starting secondary school and left here to go back to school, after that we just don't know still. "I'm glad the gardai are following any line of investigation, because it shows they are determined to find out what happened. I'm open-minded about it (the Cooke development)," she added. "You're always hoping there will be something, a new lead, but then when it happens you have more questions," she said. "I would be concerned that if this new lead didn't amount to anything, then people might still think that the case is kind of closed and they might not come forward with information. "Then a person who might be really responsible for it [Philip's disappearance] might be more likely to get away," Alice added. Philip's father, Philip senior, died a number of years ago before the mystery of his son's vanishing could be solved. Housing Minister Simon Coveney says he is willing to "change" his department's approach in order to ease the housing crisis. Speaking at a meeting with Dublin city councillors, Mr Coveney said he wished to engage in a cross-party dialogue with local authorities to ask for their assistance. "But I also expect that if systems need to change within local government, that you'll use the opportunity to do that, too," he said. "That's why I'm here: to ask for your help, not to come and lecture you on housing policy and certainly not to come and lecture you on Dublin." The minister also indicated that there would be a "significant announcement" in relation to the housing action plan after Cabinet meets today. Mr Coveney was facing questions from Dublin city's elected representatives over the lack of accommodation and reliance on emergency accommodation to house homeless families. Cllr Daithi Doolan, chairperson of the Housing SPC for Dublin City Council, said a lack of funding was a major issue in being able to provide housing on council land. "We have the land, we need the funding to carry out the actions to build homes on that land," he said. "DCC (Dublin City Council) has land zoned for 53,600 houses. We could seriously tackle if not wipe out the housing crisis within 12 to 18 months in this city." "We have the land, we have the plans. What we lack is funding, Minister - simple as that." While the minister said he understood the problem of scarce resources, he pointed out that significant funding was being given to local authorities. Money "If you look in the last 12 months, less than 75 houses were built by local authorities and that was not because of lack of money," he said. He also added that the money available for DCC amounted to 300m. Meanwhile, Christy Burke told the minister that 145 people were sleeping rough on the streets of Dublin last week. He also passed on a message from Brother Kevin, of the Capuchin friars in Dublin, inviting the minister to visit his homeless service, which feeds 1,500 men and women each day. On May 23, I was on North Main Street in Marion, Virginia, making a left turn when I saw her. Her staff was broken and she was laying in the street with vehicles running over her. I immediately rescued her from further indignity. She had a large rip and a very large smear of grease. I wrapped her around what was left of the broken shaft. I took her to the VFW Post 4667 Marion, of which Im a lifetime member. I gave her to the Post quarter master and told him the story. The VFW Post works with the Boys Scouts of America; in turn, the Boys Scouts gave her a proper ceremony. On June 22, 1942, the Pledge of Allegiance was recognized by Congress. In school at a young age, I learned the Pledge of Allegiance to her. In February 1955, I took a sworn oath to protect her with my life, from February 1955 to September 1995, on military assignments. I traveled to 42 countries and all 50 states. In late December 1970, I was returning from my second tour of duty in Vietnam. I landed at Travis Air Force Base just north of San Francisco, California. We were briefed -- if you are going to the San Francisco Airport, remove military uniform and put on civilian clothing. Sure enough, when I arrived there were people showing great disrespect to the military personnel in uniform and some disrespected Old Glory. So, its no wonder that on May 23, 2016, the people who ran over Old Glory showed no respect. I did not expect that in my hometown. Washington County Football: What to watch and who will win in Week 9 This domain has expired. If you owned this domain, contact your domain registration service provider for further assistance. If you need help identifying your provider, visit https://www.tucowsdomains.com/ The office of profit law is a bit of a half-wit provision that needs updating. Read it together with the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, popularly called the anti-defection law of 1985, and youd know. If the former seeks to insulate an elected member from the executives influence, the latter makes him a veritable vassal of the government if the party to which hes aligned happens to be in power. Nothing illustrates the contradiction more than the foremost provision of the 10th schedule rooted in the Constitution (52nd Amendment) Act. It says: An elected member of Parliament or a State Legislature, who has been elected as a candidate set up by a political party. would be disqualified on the ground of defection if hevotes or abstains from voting in the House contrary to any direction of such party. Now where does that leave the spirit of the prevention of disqualification act--applicable to parliament and state assemblies and predicated on the separation of powers in the constitutional scheme of the legislature, the executive and the judiciary? Also coming a cropper in the light of the law against defections is the logic that a legislator, if obligated by an office of profit, would be prone to the executives influence in discharge of his duties. Times have changed since the profit concept inspired by the British Morley-Minto reforms proposals of 1909 found a place in our constitution. Temptations on offer by the executive to the legislators arent confined today to offices of profit. There are countless other ways to win over or make legislators act under duress-- including the transfer of excess votes by ruling parties to candidates of other parties for elections to Rajya Sabha and Legislative Councils in bicameral assemblies. Can there be a bigger trap than a legislator owing his membership to a party other than his own? We saw it happening in the recent round of elections to the Upper House. Expediently vitiated by many parties, the process made a mockery not just of the constitutional office of profit regulation. It exposed simultaneously the morally brittle plinth holding up the anti-defection law! The influence principle guiding the office of profit law stands diluted. Its not as valid as it was at the time of its framing, agreed former Lok Sabha secretary general G C Malhotra. There is a need to change the lawbut so long as its there, it has to be enforced. Governments indeed can dole out many favours. But influence peddling is greater these days by private commercial interests with their beachheads in provincial and central legislatures. How effectively is that being dealt with amid the somewhat legitimate ease of business clamour? Even the mad race one sees between legislators to get nominated to influential parliamentary panels has to it the downside of compromise; of remote control by vested interests. In short, the Augean stables needs better cleaning. Read| Kejriwal gets 21-MLA headache as President withholds AAP govt bill Read| Dont question Presidents credibility, stop obsessing over PM: BJP to Kejriwal As the world observes World Blood Donor Day on June 14, Bhopal sees a rise in number of groups dedicated to blood donation. Around 90% of blood donors in Bhopal belong to the age group of 20-35 and all the donations are voluntary in nature. We receive enthusiastic young participants whenever we organise camps in colleges and hostels, says Dr Manisha Shrivastav, blood bank officer, Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre (BMHRC). People willingly approach us for donation. We remain in regular contact with social workers and donor organisations besides various companies, colleges and offices who excitedly participate. In fact we have many families registered with us who donate blood on their important days like anniversaries and birthdays. This is motivating, she adds. In Bhopal, besides the blood banks, there are many groups, formed and maintained by youngsters, holding awareness drives and camps across the city in collaboration with hospitals and blood banks. Experts say it is a positive trend youngsters are picking up. We keep holding blood donation camps in different colleges of Bhopal. We have also launched an online project www.rotaractmanit.com which will come into force from July,shares Rupesh Vishwakarma, final year engineering student at MANIT who leads an enthusiastic group of 40 youngsters from across Bhopal. This will maintain a database of all the donors in town, with their respective blood groups and contact numbers. The head of department of pathology, Gandhi Medical College, Bhopal Dr RK Nigam says, I do not remember a single case in past three years where a death has been recorded due to non-availability of required blood, thanks to the donors. Monika Verma, a literature student shares, My mother died due to scarcity of blood 10 years back and since then I pledged to donate blood once in two months. I have never backed out from that and seeing me, my friends also have started doing the same and the chain goes on. Hamidia hospital, the teaching hospital of Gandhi Medical College will organise a poster competition at NCC headquarters along with three blood donation camps in different parts of the city on Tuesday. Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) chief Pahlaj Nihalani said post Bombay high courts order clearing Udta Punjab, doors for films with obscene, vulgar content are open now. On Monday, the Bombay HC had cleared the Shahid Kapoor-starrer with one cut and advised CBFC to stop acting like a grandmother. CBFC had demanded 94 mammoth cuts based on 13 suggestions, which included demand that name of the state and its cities should be removed from the film. The row about Udta Punjab, based on Punjabs drug problem, had quickly snowballed into a political controversy. Read: Bombay HC clears roads for Udta Punjab with one cut and a revised disclaimer Nihalani, while claiming to be is absolutely in-sync with the HC decision, said CBFC has lost meaning after the verdict. He was speaking to Economic Times. It is undoubtedly a good judgement for the producers. I have been a producer too, so I am glad everyone is relieved today. From now, producers will start approaching the court for every single cut suggested by the CBFC, Pahlaj said while asserting he was not angry or disappointed. Read: We have a lot to do to ensure Udta Punjab releases on time, says Anurag Udta Punjab stars Shahid Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Diljit Dosanjh in lead roles. The CBFC chief further told ET that the board was only implementing the act framed for CBFC to function with full honesty. He said: But the CBFC has lost its meaning today. As the chairman of the CBFC, I have come to know that the board is not here to censor movies. I just want to point out that when the name of the board was changed from censor to certification, the 1952 Cinematograph Act that it follows, and its rule book were not changed. We were just following those, and doing our job. I had put in place a proper system. We were doing what was expected of us to ensure films are free of content that is unnecessarily abusive and defamatory. But from today, the producers are free to produce anything they want. Read: How CBFC made Udta Punjab bleed Watch Shahid Kapoor in the title song of Udta Punjab Pahlaj had earlier told Hindustan Times that the CBFC was happy with whatever theyve (HC) decided. He had also said that the board had been non-partisan in its decision. If we had a problem with the drug problem in Punjab being shown on screen why would we clear the Punjabi film Dhee Punjab Dee which deals with the same issue? Its producer Baljeet Singh has gone on record to condemn the strong language in Udta Punjab. We at the CBFC are not against the film, he had said. Follow @htshowbiz for more Welcoming the Bombay high courts verdict in favour of their film, Udta Punjab co-producer Anurag Kashyap sought censor board chief Pahlaj Nihalanis removal and overhaul in CBFC. We have a humongous problem with Mr Nihalani but if he goes who will come in? Whats the guarantee that if someone comes in, he will not interpret the Cinematograph Act and the law the same way, or may be worse or better. The system needs overhaul. It is not just Nihalani, who needs to be replaced, which we want, he told reporters in Mumbai on Tuesday. Kashyap was at the forefront of the fight against the board, which had asked for multiple cuts in the drug-themed drama, directed by Abhishek Chaubey. The producers had moved the Bombay high court against the the Central Board of Film Certifications (CBFC) decision. The court cleared the film for release with just one cut. Kashyap said they were careful in not letting the film get dragged into politics while they were fighting the censorship. Something that we have consistently seen that in such cases, the issue always gets lost, gets too political and people get too defensive. It kind of loses scope. This fight was about the film, about what we believed in. I think it stayed singular and the industry joined in, Kashyap said. The filmmaker said he has realised that they can win such fights if the industry comes together. I have never seen so many people come together. Seeing that response somewhere, they have also realised that industry always needed to come together. It became one this time. That has put pressure on them. Kashyap said people get offended easily nowadays and the industry becomes a soft target. We are soft target and we should stand against this and say Stop making us a soft target. When asked why they were not as vocal as Kashyap on the issue, films lead star Shahid Kapoor said they were relatively new to the problem and wanted a more experienced voice to defend the film. I think me and Alia are still new to the censorship issue... So we chose to do it in a way that was as balanced as possible. I think the representation was not from the point of view of what will get more headlines but who will speak better and represent the film better. I have to thank Anurag for doing that, said Shahid. He praised Kashyap for fighting for the movie at a time when he was busy on his own directorial ventures release. It is a very busy time for a filmmaker. It is very selfless on his (Kashyaps) part, he said. Actor Chitrangda Singh walked out of director Kushan Nandy and his business partner Kiran Shroffs film, Babumoshai Bandookbaaz, claiming she was traumatised on the sets. According to an interview on entertainment website SpotboyE.com, the actor explains how she was asked to reshoot an intimate scene with her co-actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui several times despite being uncomfortable. Here are some excerpts from the interview: Lets quickly go to the all-important question. Kiran says that you werent performing well in the intimate scene with Nawaz... We finished the shot and Kushan said that he didnt like it. He wanted me to lie on top of Nawaz. Now let me tell you that I was wearing a petticoat for that scene.I turned around to tell Kushan about my predicament. I told him: Ho toh gaya. Kyun kar raha hai aise? Please try to understand that I am wearing a petticoat. But, he was in no mood to listen and we ended up having a big, loud argument. A few minutes later he went and told Nawaz that we had shot the intimate scene very well, can you beat that? Kushan wanted you to shoot the intimate scene again? Yes. And he said that I should do it bindaas. What is a bindaas woman? One who wears a petticoat and jumps on a man?(pauses)...Kushan argued that my character in the film is that of a poor woman who goes a tad wild. Does being wild mean that she will start humping her man every time she sees him?...And I surely couldnt have been doing that again and again and again. What does that again and again and again mean? We had already shot a montage where Kushan wanted me to do something similar. Nawaz and I had also kissed in that montage, and now Kushan wanted a seve-second kiss in the intimate scene. Even Nawaz told him Kiss kiya toh hai, ab kya chahiye Kushan? Kiran interfered and I turned around to tell her: Who are you to explain my scene to me? That woman decided almost everything on the set, even the nose ring that I wore. She takes the final call on clothes too. She interfered in the intimate scene and said that she wants a long smooch between Nawaz and me. I couldnt take it lying down and I questioned them that whos the director: Kushan or Kiran? Kushan became embarrassed and asked her to leave. She is mighty pissed with me, I guess. Read: Chitrangada Singh walks out of film over intimate scene with Nawazuddin Would you term Babumoshai Bandookbaaz as a traumatic experience? Yes. Kushan and I were so good with each other before we started the Lucknow schedule. I stood by him when the film ran into rough weather in West Bengal last year. Some payments have still not been made on that front. I even got to know that the think tank of the film felt that I shouldnt have been told what they were expecting me to wear, but rather given the outfits only an hour or two before the shot. Oh, why were they so fishy? Actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui, along with his co-actor Chitrangdha Singh, objected to a kissing again during an intimate scene for the film Babumoshai Bandookbaaz. (Hindustan Times) Here is the directors version Kushan and Kiran claim that Chitrangda has been spreading lies about them, after returning to Mumbai. In her interview to SpotboyE.com, Kiran gave the directors version. I think that I need to speak out now. I am going on record. Chitrangdas allegations are untrue, she says, adding that the actor was keen to make changes in the script. Let me emphasise that we will not change the climax as per anybodys demand. Add this to the fact that she started reporting late on the set from Day 3. I had no problems with her last year when we shot a schedule with her in West Bengal. If I had, I wouldnt have brought her to Lucknow. Talking about Chitrangdas claims about being uncomfortable in the clothes she was made to wear, Kiran says that it was the actors idea. In fact, Chitrangda was the one who suggested that she wanted to wear a low-cut blouse. She told us that it would be apt for the scene where Nawaz sees me for the first time and gets enamoured by me. She also said that she wanted to tear off one button from her blouse and fix a pin there. Read: I like it when Anurag Kashyap puts me in an uncomfortable zone: Nawazuddin The actor also claims that Kushan was not happy with an intimate scene and kept coaxing her to get on top of Nawaz. However, Kiran says, The worst is her allegation against Kushan that he told her Get on top of Nawaz, Tange ragdo. It was just that Chitrangda wasnt getting the scene right. We have a great script and for Chitrangdas information, we are not making any erotic film as shes imagining. We never made one till date, so why make one now? Even as the world grieves for the loss of innocent lives in the tragic shooting in a gay club in Orlando on Sunday, filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma has unleashed a series of communal, divisive tweets. Extending support to the Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, RGV said that Orlando shooting proved Trump was right all along. @realDonaldTrump Orlando clearly proves u were right all along..Both Obama and Hillary should touch ur feet and apologise to America, he wrote. Read: Orlando shooting give Trump a chance to play his Islamophobic card @realDonaldTrump Orlando clearly proves u were right all along..Both Obama and Hillary should touch ur feet and apologise to America Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) June 12, 2016 American-born Omar Mateen, whod pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS), opened fire at a gay night club in Orlando, Florida early Sunday, leaving 50 people dead and 53 wounded before he was killed in a shootout with SWAT team members. Read: How Trump cant help being Trump Claiming that Trump was the only hope for America and the world, he tweeted, Even though I belong to a community who @realDonaldTrump hates, only hope for America in particular nd world in general is @realDonaldTrump. Even though I belong to a community who @realDonaldTrump hates,only hope for America in particular nd world in general is @realDonaldTrump Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) June 12, 2016 I honestly think,If Trump was president,I do not think 9/11 wouldn't have really not happened Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) June 13, 2016 If at random Isis can kill 50 gays it can strike anywhere anytime n kill any ppl for any reason bcos it hates everything about America Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) June 12, 2016 He also had a piece of advice for those slamming Trumps anti-Islamic stance: Its a joke ppl are praying for victims of Orlando shootings when its same God who couldnt stop it..Hes lesser God than God of Isis. Only @realDonaldTrump can do to the terrorists what the incompetent @BarackObama and @JesusHChrist had already failed to do. Hey @realDonaldTrump ,I luv u for saying this....If bad things happen to good people,you should do worse things to bad people. Americans have only two choices..Either let @realDonaldTrump bless them or @allah bless them. Since Jesus Christ repeatedly proved that he cant May Allah Bless America, RGV further wrote on his Twitter timeline. Hey @realDonaldTrump ,I luv u for saying this...."If bad things happen to good people,you should do worse things to bad people" Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) June 12, 2016 Americans have only two choices..Either let @realDonaldTrump bless them or @allah bless them Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) June 12, 2016 Since Jesus Christ repeatedly proved that he can't "May Allah Bless America" Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) June 13, 2016 Orlando killings prove that terrorists biggest weapon is surprise and no one can predict a surprise because if predicted,it's not a surprise Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) June 13, 2016 The filmmaker, best known for neo-noir movies like Satya and Company further wrote that 9/11 wouldnt have happened if Trump was the US President. If killing is on his mind even without a gun,a man can bring down planes with just box cutting knives as witnessed in the 9/11 attacks, he wrote. If killing is on his mind even without a gun,a man can bring down planes with just box cutting knives as witnessed in the 9/11 attacks Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) June 13, 2016 That,they were shot like sitting ducks strengthens @realDonaldTrump 's argument if victims also were armed this massacre wouldn't happen Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) June 13, 2016 The only way to defeat terrorism is by refusing to be terrorised--Donald J Trump.. Hey @realDonaldTrump I love u for this quote Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) June 13, 2016 RGV even advised those blaming Americas gun culture for the violence. Follow @htshowbiz for more Talking about the Udta Punjab controversy, Central Board Of Film Certification (CBFC) chief Pahlaj Nihalani says he was just following guidelines set for censorship. There are talks that the Central Board Of Film Certification (CBFC) may go to the Supreme Court to contest the high courts verdict? As far as we are concerned our job was finished after the film was viewed by the Revising Committee and cuts were advised. It was the producers decision to go to court. I am sure theyre happy with the honourable High Courts verdict. The honorable high court thinks the CBFC should not act like a grandmother to the censor board? With due respects to the honourable court I love my grandmother and always wanted to be like her. I cant speak for the entire CBFC. But I was all along following the guidelines for censorship. If those guidelines are outdated it isnt my fault. By calling me names and by questioning my sexuality , you are not going to change the rules. Read: CBFC has no meaning now, doors opened for vulgar films, says Pahlaj Nihalani Read: We respect courts verdict on Udta Punjab: Pahlaj Nihalani Who is questioning your sexuality? An anchor on a TV news channel.I believe he was heard wondering about my sexual preferences just because he felt I was strict with Aligarh. But I am not here to judge people or insult them. In the last two weeks the criticism against you reached a crescendo, thanks to Udta Punjab? Theyve got their clearance from the honourable High Court and we completely respect the courts decision. But contrary to the lynch-Pahlaj campaign I was never against Udta Punjab or any other film. Do you know, during my tenure as chairperson of the CBFC so far 72% films have been passed without a single cut? What went wrong with Udta Punjab? Nothing went wrong. We were following the guidelines given to us . That is exactly what weve been doing all along. It is unfortunate that though the Censor Board is now called the Censor Board Of Film Certification the guidelines remain the same as before.This is the rootcause of all the problems that have cropped up between the CBFC and the film industry.We are following outdated guidelines. Now after the honourable Bombay High Courts verdict on Udta Punjab the CBFC guidelines need immediate revision.If we continue to follow the existing guidelines the CBFC will now be reduced to a state of mockery and redundancy. Read: Lets have a vote of thanks for Pahlaj Nihalani Read: We have a lot to do to ensure Udta Punjab releases on time: Anurag Kashyap Why do you say that? Now with the honourable high court having upturned most of the CBFCs cuts in Udta Punjab filmmakers can go to the courts to get the cuts restored. Are you saying that the Bombay High Courts decision on Udta Punjab has forever changed the equation between the CBFC and the film industry? Yes. The guidelines must now be revised, maybe as per the recommendation of the committee set up by Shyam Benegal. But the changes have to be implemented immediately. Many in the film industry are asking for you to step down? I am not answerable to the film industry.If the government asks me to step down Ill do so most happily. Ive been doing my job honestly and sincerely.No producer can claim his film was delayed because of the CBFC.At times weve certified films in as little time as 24 hours so that the producer doesnt suffer for submitting his film late for certification. There is zero corruption in the CBFC and we are working towards online certification of films.I am happy with my performance in the CBFC. For those who are unhappy with what Ive done Ive no apology to offer. Dont target me for doing my job. Follow @htshowbiz for more. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday relaxed guidelines for restructuring of large stressed assets by lenders, in a move that would allow banks to more effectively manage bad loans on their books. The new norms, which applies to companies with debt of over Rs 500 crore and to projects that are already in operation, will allow promoters to hold majority stakes in companies even after restructuring, which was not allowed by the strategic debt restructuring (SDR) mechanism set up by the central bank last year. There will be no extension for repayment of principal or interest amount, or any moratorium for unsustainable debt. However, the Scheme for Sustainable Structuring of Stressed Assets (S4A) will determine the sustainable debt level for a stressed borrower, and allow banks to convert the unsustainable part of the debt on a companys books to equity/ quasi-equity instruments. For banks, it will mean that accounts, which were on the brink of turning into bad loans, will now have a chance of revival. For companies, since the debt level will come down, it will make it easier for them to turn around businesses. Projects in the power sector are not likely to come under this scheme, since most of them are yet to begin operations. The resolution plan will be prepared by professional agencies, while an overseeing committee, set up by the Indian Banks Association, in consultation with the RBI, will independently review the processes involved in preparation of the resolution plan. Banks were earlier wary of taking hits and the new guidelines provide legitimacy to banks to do that, said Abizer Diwanji, partner and national leader, financial services, EY. Up to 50% of the debt is acceptable to let go and banks can take up to 50% provision as long as 50% of it is sustainable debt. Banks are saddled with Rs 6 lakh crore in bad loans, and RBI governor Raghuram Rajan has set a deadline of March 2017 to clean up balance sheets. This is a fine balance between provisions and forgoing debt, said RK Bansal, executive director, IDBI Bank. Basically now, banks will need to work out the viability of what debt is sustainable and unsustainable and provide for that which is not, and restructure which is sustainable. There is also an upside in taking equity of the unsustainable debt. The only flip side is that banks will now try to fit their debt into the 50% sustainable model, and hence, effective monitoring must be maintained, Bansal added. Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa on Tuesday as finance minister Arun Jaitley pushed to build consensus over the long-pending Goods and Services Tax bill and seek its passage in the monsoon session of Parliament. After a meeting with state finance ministers in Kolkata, Jaitley said, virtually all states, except Tamil Nadu, have backed the proposed national goods and services tax (GST), signaling that support may have broadened among states for Indias biggest tax reform. In her first meeting with the PM after winning the assembly polls, Jayalalithaa placed a slew of demands and maintained that manufacturing states like Tamil Nadu should be compensated for its revenue loss under a GST regime. Read: Jaya meets Modi, says GST impacts fiscal autonomy of states like Tamil Nadu The outcome of the meeting was not immediately known but government officials were optimistic that the southern state will come on board. Tamil Nadu has offered a few suggestions which have been noted, Jaitley told reporters after the Kolkata meeting, which was attended by finance ministers of 22 states. The Congress maintained that the government must take on board Opposition parties and its suggestions. We are not opposed to the concept of GST. We created the bill. We only want some amendments. If the government takes us and some other opposition parties on board, the GST bill can be passed in two minutes, said Ghulam Nabi Azad, leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha. FM @ArunJaitley briefs press today after a meeting on #GST in which 29 States/UTs participatedhttps://t.co/j7IWmNV0zN PIB India (@PIB_India) June 14, 2016 Opposition parties such as Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, JD(U) and Biju Janata Dal are likely to support the proposed tax. Getting the southern state on board could give the government the required strength and may force the Congress to soften its stand, say government managers. While the Congress alone cant stop the passage of the GST bill, government managers want to take the principal opposition party also on board as any ruckus or disruptions can prevent the passage of the Constitutional Amendment bill. In a sign that he may have mustered enough support for the GST, Jaitley said the tax bill could be presented for approval in Rajya Sabha during the July monsoon session of parliament. The bill has already been approved by the Lok Sabha. Azad also indicated that there will be further negotiations with the government. The session is more than a month away. The subject is pre-matured now, he said. Political differences have held up the GST, with the Congress refusing to allow it through parliament unless the government agreed to cap the tax rate at 18% and create an independent mechanism to resolve disputes on revenue sharing between states. Jaitley said after Tuesdays meeting that the states had agreed no cap should be put on the tax rate because exigencies might arise in future to revise the rates. He has already agreed to allow states to impose a 1% additional levy on cross-border transport of goods, an idea rejected by the Congress. Jayalalithaa also told the PM that petroleum products should be left out from the GSTs ambit. The proposed tax seeks to replace a slew of central and state levies, transforming the nation of 1.3 billion people into a customs union. This could boost the rate of growth by two percentage points, economists say. But for the measure to become a reality, Jaitley needs not only the backing of states but also of the Opposition to secure the required two-thirds majority needed to pass a key constitutional enabling amendment in Rajya Sabha. The GST ministerial panel is likely to meet again in the second week of July. The government has already missed its initial rollout deadline of April 1, 2016. Read | Mamata backs BJP on GST, calls it pro-people Finance minister Arun Jaitley hints at GST rollout next year Gunit Chadha, chief executive officer of Deutsche Bank in Asia-Pacific, has decided to quit the lender, joining a long list of the banks senior executives who have stepped down from their posts, after CEO John Cryan initiated a management revamp. Asia-Pacific is one of the German banks fastest-growing markets. According to information posted on the banks website and confirmed by a spokesperson, Chadhas exit will be effective from July 17. The bank did not offer any reasons for Chadhas decision to leave. Chadhas resignation follows the exit of Quentin Price, a Deutsche Bank veteran and head of its asset management business, last week. Its previous CEO Anshu Jain had also stepped down last year. According to people familiar with the bank, the revamp by Cryan is aimed at bringing in new people to oversee the Asia-Pacific business. In the last four years, I am privileged to have had a myriad of experiences across 16 countries in the region that have impacted my professional life in most memorable and meaningful ways, Chadha said. Chadha joined Deutsche in 2003 as the banks India CEO, overseeing its growth across multiple business divisions, developing its position as a leading investment and transaction bank in Asias third-biggest economy. In 2012, he was appointed as co-CEO for Asia-Pacific and sole CEO in 2015. Under Chadha, Asia Pacifics pre-tax profit grew 26% annually since 2012. I am grateful to Gunit for his contributions to Deutsche Bank, and especially for his role in developing our valuable presence across 16 countries in Asia-Pacific, Cryan said. We will announce Gunits successor in due course. Moodys Investors Service has put Microsoft Corporations rating under review for downgrade following its announcement to acquire professional networking platform LinkedIn Corp for $26.2 billion in cash. The review will focus on the strategic fit and monetisation opportunities of LinkedIn with Microsofts software offerings, Moodys said in a statement. Moodys Investors Service placed the Aaa senior unsecured rating of Microsoft Corporation under review for downgrade following the announcement that the company has agreed to buy LinkedIn Corporation for $26.2 billion in cash, it said. Meanwhile, Standard & Poors has affirmed its AAA rating and stable outlook on global software and hardware provider Microsoft. Our rating affirmation on Microsoft Corp reflects our view that the companys acquisition of LinkedIn Corp adds to its diversified product portfolio to include a high-growth professional social networking company, despite LinkedIns relatively small revenue base, at about 4% of Microsofts total revenues, S&P Global Ratings credit analyst David Tsui said. S&P said its stable outlook is based on the belief that Microsoft will remain committed to maintaining high credit quality by sustaining its net cash position. The company has a diverse software and hardware product portfolio and a long track record of maintaining leadership in its Office and Windows operating systems, leading to significant free operating cash flow to meet its acquisition and shareholder return needs. The companys long history of making investment and acquisition decisions in a fiscally prudent manner is a positive factor in determining its credit quality, and we expect that to continue, S&P Global Ratings said. Microsoft on Monday announced it will pay $196 per share in an all-cash transaction, a 49.5% premium to LinkedIns closing price on Friday. Moodys said the acquisition could provide meaningful benefits to the ecosystem surrounding Microsofts cloud based services platform and LinkedIns network that connects professionals, recruiters and companies. Funding the acquisition entirely with debt, however, will increase Microsofts gross debt to EBITDA to approximately 2 times, in excess of 1.5 times leverage Moodys has previously noted could pressure the rating, said Moodys Richard Lane. In another statement, S&P said it has placed its unsolicited ratings on LinkedIn Corp on CreditWatch with positive implications. We will resolve the CreditWatch placement once the acquisition is completed and raise our ratings on LinkedIn to the level of those on Microsoft, S&P said. The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has slapped show-cause notices on 10 top drugmakers, including Sun Pharma and Lupin, for not submitting relevant information about the names of formulations manufactured and marketed by them. Sun Pharma and Lupin are Indias top two pharma companies by market value. Show cause notices are generally issued by a court or a person in authority, which requires a party to appear and explain why a certain course of action should not be taken against it. If the party cannot convince the authority issuing notice or fails to appear, then the further course of action is taken. In this case, the NPPA and companies are the party. Around 95% of the top 10 drugmakers in India have not complied with integrated pharmaceutical database management system, Bhupendra Singh, NPPA chairman, told HT. The NPPA is now constrained to issue show-cause notices to individual companies for not having registered their products under IPDMS and for not having filed the mandatory returns in form II, III and V. The countrys 10 top drug makers include Sun Pharma, Lupin, Dr Reddys, Cipla and Cadila Healthcare, among others. We have sent show-cause notices to all of them and it may take two to three days to reach them. However, Dr Reddys, Cipla, Glenmark, Abbott, GlaxoSmithline, among others, denied receiving any such intimation from the NPPA yet. Sun Pharma and Lupin didnot reply to HTs requests for comments. Around 646 companies out of a total 5,000, and 56,400 formulations out of a total 1,00,000, have registered with the NPPA. The drug regulator has sought detailed information for its latest online platform IPDMS, designed to monitor prices and availability of drugs across the country. In May last year, the NPPA had issued notices to all pharma associations, warning them of appropriate action against their member companies, who were yet to register into the same system. The Drug Price Control Order (DPCO), 2013 makes online submission of data mandatory for pharma companies. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Venezuela is in talks with China to obtain a grace period in its oil-for-loans deal that would improve the OPEC nations capacity to make bond payments amid an economic crisis, sources briefed on the proposal have told Reuters. Venezuela has borrowed over $50 billion from China under the financing arrangement created by late socialist leader Hugo Chavez in 2007, in which a portion of its crude and fuel sales to the worlds second-biggest economy are used to pay down loans. The two-year rout in oil markets has left the government of President Nicolas Maduro struggling to meet the original terms of the agreement, which require that state oil company PDVSA set aside more barrels for debt services when prices fall. Venezuela is now seeking a one-year grace period in which it would only pay interest on the loans, according to two oil industry sources and one finance industry source who asked not to be identified because they are not authorized to speak about the issue. The sources said state oil company PDVSA would receive cash payments for shipments that currently go to pay principal. The change would improve PDVSAs 2016 cash flow by $3 billion if it took effect this month, two of the sources estimated. That would make it easier for PDVSA to meet heavy bond payments this year amid an ongoing collapse in a socialist economy facing Soviet-style scarcity and daily food riots. It could also ease investor concerns of a default that have made its paper the riskiest of any emerging market debt. Maduro denies his government will default and accuses adversaries of spreading rumors to that effect in order to destabilize his government. The potential cash-flow benefits of the proposed deal, however, could be offset by Venezuelas falling oil output. Consulted by Reuters about the proposal, PDVSA President and Oil Minister Eulogio del Pino responded: Were working on all of this. He added that he planned to travel to China following a trip to Russia, which is expected this week. He declined to provide additional details. Chinas foreign ministry did not respond to an email seeking comment. BETTER TERMS Economy Vice President Miguel Perez said in an interview last month Venezuela had reached a deal to improve the terms of the arrangement, but declined to provide details. Under the proposal, the interest-only payment terms would remain in place as long as Venezuelan crude is below $50 per barrel, according to the three sources. If crude prices continue to rise, China would apply a sliding scale under which Venezuela would steadily increase payment on the principal portion of the loans, one of the sources said. Venezuelas basket of oil and fuels this year has traded at a discount of around 25 percent to the benchmark Brent crude price, which was trading around $49.55 a barrel on Tuesday. The proposed change in terms of the agreement has not derailed negotiations for the renewal of a $5 billion tranche of the financing deal, according to two of the sources. The proposal has been slowed in part because China has requested that the change be approved by Venezuelas Congress, according to one of the sources. The legislature has been locked in a power struggle with Maduro since January, when an opposition majority took control of parliament following a sweeping electoral victory in December. Venezuela in 2014 shipped 630,000 barrels of oil and fuel to China according to PDVSAs 2014 financial results, which are the most recent available. Around 45 percent of the value of those shipments was used to pay down debt, with PDVSA receiving the remainder in cash, according to Reuters calculations based on information released by PDVSA. Rising oil prices have boosted investor optimism that PDVSA will be able to pay off $3 billion in bonds that come due in October and November, helping fuel a rally in PDVSA and Venezuela bonds in recent months. Venezuelas debt nonetheless remains the riskiest of any emerging market paper, yielding some 28 percentage points more than comparable U.S. Treasuries, according to the JPMorgan EMBI Diversified Index. NEW DELHI: Six intoxicated criminals fired indiscriminately at a house in east Delhis Geeta Colony area in the early hours on Monday, injuring a 12-year-old boy. Police said the criminals attacked the house because they were annoyed with the elder brother of the victim for not calling their leader Bhai or don of the area. An officer said the assailants fired 15 bullets at the house, one which pierced the gate and hit Asghar Ali. The boy was coming outside thinking somebody was burning firecrackers. Asghar was rushed to Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital where his condition was stated to be serious. The bullet hit the boy between the chest and ribs, said police. Asghars family alleged that the firing lasted for around 20 minutes but the police did not reach the spot even though they had alerted the police control room. Panicked residents locked themselves in their homes. A local resident said the attackers also banged at Asghars house and challenged the family to come out and face them. A police officer said on Sunday Asghars elder brother, Mukhtar, had an argument with his friends -- Manni, Billa and Shivam, all allegedly involved in petty crimes in the area. One of them asked Mukhtar to address Billa as Bhai or don of the area but Mukhtar refused. My son left the place in his car but the goons followed him on their motorcycles. They followed him till Chandni Chowk area but lost track of him after which my son returned home around 10.30 pm and we all went to sleep after dinner, said Haider Ali, Asghars father. A case was registered and one of the attackers has been identified as Rahul, who was recently released from jail in a murder case, said a police officer. GURGAON: An 81-year-old ailing woman was killed when the ambulance in which she was being escorted to the hospital collided with a speeding Toyota Fortuner near Huda City Metro Station, police said on Monday. The black-coloured Fortuner had a national political party flag mounted on it. Identified as Sawri Devi, a resident of Sector 17 A, the deceased was being rushed from one private hospital to another near the Metro station crossing, when the SUV with Delhi s registration number hit the ambulance near Plaza Hotel. The driver fled leaving the SUV at the accident site. The SUV is registered in the name of Delhi resident Kuldeep Lamba. Devi, who was suffering with a chest disease, got injured in the accident that took place at 5.30am on Sunday morning. She succumbed to her injuries three hours later at the private hospital, police said. Her grandson, Hemant Yadav a contractor, who was also in the ambulance, lodged a police complaint in which he told police that the unidentified driver of the SUV with a Delhi registration number was driving at a very high speed and fled from the accident spot. Based on his complaint, a case was lodged against the unidentified driver of the SUV under sections 279 (rash driving) 304 A (causing death due to negligence) of Indian Penal Code at DLF City Sector 29 police station. The woman was being shifted to the private hospital when the SUV, driven by an unknown person, hit the ambulance injuring her. The driver is at large and we are trying to procure CCTV footage, if any, to further investigate the case, said assistant sub-inspector, Kanwar Singh, the investigation officer. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON NEW DELHI: Delhi Universitys teachers refusal to check answer sheets is likely to delay results this year, especially leaving final year students in the lurch. The boycott is likely to go on at least till Thursday when teachers take stock of the situation again. It began on May 24 a few days after the evaluation began. DU admissions also may get affected because of the agitation. Teachers have said they wont evaluate answer sheets unless UGCs new norms are rolled back. Some students had written to Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) president Nandita Narain requesting that evaluation be resumed. On Monday, Narain wrote an open letter to all students saying they were keen as well to go back to evaluation, but the government left them with no choice. The ongoing battle against degradation of public-funded higher education cannot be won without active participation by students, said Narain in the letter. Evaluation is a long process in DU which has more than 160,000 students. At least 800,000 papers have to be checked. Close to 3,000 teachers evaluate these answer sheets every day at 13 evaluation centres over two months. Results usually start coming out by last week of June. With 20 days of evaluation already lost, delays this year are certain. MAY AFFECT HIGHER EDUCATION Students are worried that the delay in publishing results may hamper their higher education prospects as most institutions require them to submit marksheets and a provisional degree by August at the latest. I have applied for masters in colleges across the country and most of them want me to submit my final marksheets by August. I have also applied in foreign universities and they also want my final score as soon as possible, said Devika Sharma, a third-year student at Miranda House. DUs academic year is to start by July 20. After the evaluation process is completed the examination department requires 25-30 days to complete the process. So we are already far behind schedule, said an official of the examination department. The teachers will protest again on Tuesday with a Satyagraha. We were to hold the Satyagraha at Rajghat but were not given permission. So we will sit in protest at Jantar Mantar on Tuesday, said Ashwini Shankar, associate professor history at Deshbandhu College The teachers are protesting against UGCs notification that will, teachers say, bring down the number of teaching positions by 50% with unreasonable terms of promotion. The notification also increases the assistant professors workload from 16 hours per week to 22 hours per week. Nearly a third of Aam Aadmi Party legislators in Delhi might face disqualification after President Pranab Mukherjee refused to sign a bill that allowed the 21 MLAs to hold a second paying position as parliamentary secretary, officials said on Monday. The Constitution prohibits legislators or parliamentarians from holding any positions with monetary or other benefits. This clause known as office of profit is aimed at reducing conflict-of-interest situations for public representatives. Rashtrapati Bhavan sources said the Union home and law ministries told the President the Delhi government bill allowing the MLAs appointment as parliamentary secretaries and exempting them from office-of-profit regulations retrospectively violated existing laws. The President has withheld his assent to the bill and it has been conveyed to the lieutenant governor, said a home ministry spokesperson. Sources from L-G Najeeb Jungs office said the President s decision had been communicated to the Delhi governments law secretary. The AAP government fumed at the development, saying that no MLA received any benefits vehicles, bungalow or extra money from the parliamentary secretary position. Modi ji doesnt respect democracy. He is only afraid of AAP. Modi ji says neither I will work, nor will allow others to work, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted as the party called an emergency meeting. If the MLAs are disqualified, it will be a major setback for Kejriwal, who stormed to power two years ago on an anti-corruption plank but has repeatedly clashed with the Centre over officers appointment, files and governmental jurisdiction. It is a moral defeat for Kejriwal and the AAP. It is a fallout of the partys dishonesty, anarchist mindset and undemocratic endeavour to keep its flock together by rewarding MLAs, said Vijender Gupta, BJP leader and leader of Opposition in the assembly. The election commission is expected to take a final call on the disqualification issue. The MLAs have already responded to notices sent by the poll panel after lawyer Prashant Patel complained to the President and EC, sources said. Moreover, the appointment of the legislators as parliamentary secretaries has been challenged in the Delhi high court. But Delhi government sources said the AAP administration will first review the reasons behind the withholding of assent and indicated all option, including sending the bill back to the President, were open. On March 13, 2015, the Kejriwal government passed an order appointing the 21 party MLAs as parliamentary secretaries, saying they wont take remuneration and hence didnt fall under the office of profit regulations. Subsequently, the AAP government sought an amendment in the form of a bill the Delhi Members of Legislative Assembly( Removal of Disqualification) Act, 2015 passed it in the assembly last June on the back of its brute majority of 67 MLAs in the 70-member House. Bill to provide car, office and amenities to 21 AAP MLAs was not only ethically but also procedurally wrong. Thus bill rejected. We welcome it! Congress leader Ajay Maken tweeted. This is the second controversy to hit AAP legislators after the assembly agreed last December to a four-fold salary hike for MLAs along with a substantial increase in allowances that made them among the highest-paid lawmakers in India. The practice of appointing multiple parliamentary secretaries gained popularity after a 2003 constitutional amendment capped the number of ministerial berths to 15% of the House strength, forcing parties to think of alternatives to keep large numbers of legislators happy. In Delhi, an earlier provision only allowed one parliamentary secretary position to the chief minister. The position was kept out of the purview of the office of profit rules after a 2006 amendment bill, when the Congress was in power. The amendment passed by the AAP government clarified that parliamentary secretaries to ministers shall also not be disqualified. Read | AAP holds emergency meet, discusses rejection of bill by President GURGAON: The Haryana government on Monday issued a notification stating that Mangar Bani is a no-construction zone now and it will soon be included in the sub-regional plan. The 677.12 acres of Mangar Bani and its buffer area of 1,266.91 acres are now free from encroachment. A senior official said that the Haryana forest department recently undertook a demarcation exercise in Mangar close to Faridabad-Gurgaon road and it was only after the exercise that the proposal for approval was forwarded to the chief minister. The demarcation process has been completed and it was on the basis of this demarcation in Mangar Bani that the government approved the proposal, said Anil Dabas, district town planner, Faridabad. We have issued notification for Mangar Bani and we will make some amendments in the Mangar Development Plan 2031 before making changes in the sub-regional plan, said P Raghavendra Rao, additional chief secretary of the government of Haryana. Mangar Bani is considered to be the last and the only remaining virgin forest area of Delhi-NCR. Bani is a block of forest area with dense tree cover that falls within Mangar and Bandhwari villages. We are on the right direction and we welcome the move, said Col SS Oberoi, an activist. Since the area is also connected with Sariska Tiger Reserve that is about 100 km to the south and Asola Wildlife Sanctuary across the Gurgaon Faridabad highway, there was a dire need to preserve the forest area, said an activist. Expressing a similar opinion, environmentalist Chetan Agarwal said, This is a welcome move to notify the Mangar Bani and its buffer on scientific principles as a no-construction zone. The time has come to notify Mangar Bani as a sanctuary or national park to accord permanent protection for future generations. Many green crusaders maintained that this is a positive step. It is a move to save Mangar Bani. It might seem like a small step if we look at the area of the Aravallis. However, these actions pave way for a better future. The government should take immediate action to increase the green cover, said Vivek Kamboj, environmental activist. Some environmentalists also said that the government needs to focus on protection and preservation of the complete area of the Aravallis. We want that the government take whatever measures possible to ensure protection of the entire Aravalli area, said Jitender Bhadana of Save Aravalli Trust. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON ALLAHABAD: Prime Minister Narendra Modi set the tone on Monday for the BJPs campaign for the 2017 Uttar Pradesh election, asking voters to choose his development agenda over politics of dynasty and rule of corruption. His remarks were viewed as a three-pronged attack against the ruling Samajwadi Party and the opposition Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Congress in the state, where the BJP is trying to wrest power after doing remarkably well in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. His party won 73 of the 80 parliamentary seats two years ago. The state is afflicted with the evils of dynastic rule, favouritism, casteism and communalism. There is a solution to every problem and that solution is development, Modi said, addressing a huge crowd at the BJPs Parivartan rally after its two-day national executive meet here. He directed his firepower against the party headed by Mulayam Singh Yadav, whose son Akhilesh is the chief minister, accusing the SP government of goonda raj or lawlessness. The Prime Minister asked the people of the state to adopt vikasvaad, meaning development, which is the BJPs primary calling card for this election. If UP is developed no one can stop India from reaching the number one spot in the world, he said, promising to take the state 50 years ahead in five years of BJP rule. The message follows a publicity blitzkrieg by Indias ruling party and the government to showcase its welfare schemes and the country emerging as a bright spot in the world economy despite global recession. Modi accused the SP and Mayawatis BSP of fooling the people by conniving with each other to rule the state alternately every five years. This is their jugalbandi (duet), he said. Mayawati, whose government was besieged with corruption charges, ruled the state for two terms before the SP. Modis blistering attack against the Akhilesh Yadav government comes in the backdrop of a bloody clash in Mathura after police action against a land grabber and the alleged exodus of Hindu families from Kairana town. It was clear from the Prime Ministers speech that the BJPs campaign for next years election will also revolve around the alleged lawlessness in the state. Party chief Amit Shah said as much at the national executive on Sunday that increasing violence in Uttar Pradesh was a serious concern. Modi didn t spare the Congress either, referring obliquely the alleged policy paralysis during the previous UPA government. In the past two years, the BJP government launched several schemes and took major decisions, which the previous government failed to do as corruption and loot were on its agenda, he said. The Prime Minister also played the BJPs conscious keeper, preaching seven mantras for party leaders at the national executive. He suggested Sevabhav (service), Santulan (balance), Sanyam (patience), Samanvay (coordination), Sakaratmakta (positivity), Samvedna (sympathy) and Samvad (dialogue) to define their conduct and policies. People are not satisfied with mere sloganeering. They are concerned about how the country is being strengthened, Modi told BJP members at the national executive. The sermon on personal conduct coincides with the resignation of senior Maharashtra politician Eknath Khadse over corruption charge, division in the Uttar Pradesh BJP over chief-ministerial candidate and controversial statements by senior leaders embarrassing the party. Khadse is the first casualty to corruption charges in the BJP camp after Modi swept the 2014 polls, riding high on the promise to deliver a corruption-free government. He is aware any slip could be detrimental for him in 2019. (With inputs from Kumar Uttam and K Sandeep Kumar) SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON NEW DELHI: The Delhi government on Monday recommended the Centre to initiate a probe against former chief minister Sheila Dikshit in connection with an alleged water tanker scam to the tune of Rs 400 crore. Delhi water minister, Kapil Mishra, informed Delhi assembly on Monday that he had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung, urging them to order either a CBI or an ACB probe into the matter as both investigative agencies directly come under the Centre. Mishra said he had also sent a copy of the fact-finding report, prepared by an empowered probe committee constituted by him, which clearly mentions the names of politicians and bureaucrats involved in the alleged scam. The move came after leader of opposition, Vijender Gupta, while moving a calling attention motion demanded chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to make public the report of the committee submitted to the CMs office by Kapil Mishra in August 2015. The report indicated that Dikshit, as the then chairperson of Delhi Jal Board, and other DJB members had indulged in grave irregularities. Gupta had raised the issue in the assembly on June 10 as well and had created uproar by scaling atop a desk of the Delhi Assembly alleging the treasury bench was gagging oppositions voice. Taking a dig at Gupta, Kejriwal said that the opposition leader can take credit for forcing the Delhi government to release the report but dared him to get the FIR registered against Dikshit within next two months. If he (Gupta) fails to do so, he should then shave off half of his moustache and sit on dharna against the PM, Kejriwal said. Reacting to the development, Gupta said Kejriwal has denigrated the offices of Prime Minister and the chief minister by dragging them in a state subject for which he himself is entirely responsible. The government kept sitting on the file for 10 months and suppressed the report, Gupta said. NEW DELHI: About 66 children from a slum cluster in the Capital didnt return from a nearby forest where they had gone to answer the call of nature because their shanties lacked lavatories. They were among 171 children who went missing in the forest near Shahbad Dairy, a slum in outer Delhi, between December 2013 and March 2015. More horrifying is the fact that five children four of them below 10 were killed; 28 girls have been raped and another 17 sexually abused. Saksham, an NGO, arrived at the disturbing figures by analysing RTI replies for missing children of the slum during the 15-month period. There is not a single toilet for the 500 families living at Shahbad Dairy, forcing every resident to rush to the adjacent forest to defecate, where children and women become vulnerable to attacks. Overcome by fear, residents have stopped feeding their children after sunset an ineffective attempt to prevent nature from calling at night. We have no choice but to ask our kids not to eat after evening. We have seen cases where children did not return after going to the forest to relieve themselves, said 45-year-old Raj Kumari, a resident of Shahbad Dairy. We are always tense there have been cases of women being dragged into the forest. Middle-aged Sarita, who has been living in the slum since 1986, vouched that the area was crime-free until a year ago. But not anymore. My daughter-in-law doesnt go there alone she was harassed by men a few months ago. My grandchildren are underweight but at least they are with us. We dont feed them at night for their safety, she said. Soha Moitra, the regional director of CRY, an NGO for children, warned that the practice of skipping meals could lead to long-term health problems in children. It is shocking that children go to sleep hungry not because of lack of food but because of lack of toilets. Women too skip dinner at night. At times, men guard women and children in the woods. Our husbands cannot be with us all the time. There is no toilet in the 2km area and despite requesting authorities, we dont see any hope. We have complained to police but they react only after a crime is committed. There is no sense of security at all, said Khushboo, a slum resident. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON NEW DELHI: A 66-year-old retired manager of Bank of Maharashtra has been sent to four years in jail in a corruption case by a special court, which termed him as the kingpin of the fraud. The court awarded the jail term to Vinay Kumar Jain after holding him guilty for various of fences, including criminal conspiracy, forgery, cheating, falsification of accounts, using as genuine forged documents under the IPC and abusing his official position by obtaining pecuniary advantage. Special CBI judge Sanjeev Aggarwal also sentenced Praveen Kumar Gupta, proprietor of M/s Pragati Conductors and partner in M/s Kamal Enterprises to three years of imprisonment for various offences, calling him cohort of Jain in the crime. Gupta was granted bail for two months to file an appeal against his conviction and sentence. Accused number 1 (Jain) was working as Branch Manager, Mukherjee Nagar branch of Bank of Maharashtra, Delhi in a position of trust i.e. he was in fiduciary relationship with regard to the funds of the bank of which he was the custodian. By abusing his official position as a public servant in conspiracy with accused number 4 (Gupta) and other accused persons (who are proclaimed offenders) allowed them to enjoy the bank funds to the tune of Rs 20 crore without any sanction thereby causing loss of interest to said bank branch, the court said, adding that interest of justice shall be met, if Jain, the kingpin of this fraud, is sentenced to rigorous jail. NEW DELHI: The Delhi government on Monday decided to accord martyr status to Mohammed Moin Khan, the legal adviser of New Delhi Municipal Council, who was murdered for allegedly refusing to take bribe from a hotel owner. The hotelier allegedly wanted help in getting the lease of his hotel renewed. A similar resolution was also passed in the Delhi Assembly. Khans family members, including his two daughters, who were present in the House during the discussion broke down repeatedly as the chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and other AAP legislators spoke over the issue. Demanding a fair probe in the Kejriwal alleged that a person related to the murder of MM Khan was being shielded due to his proximity to a Union minister. Police have no courage to call him as he is friends with Home Minister Rajnath Singh. Fair probe is not being done in the case Had the police been with us, the killers would have reached the gallows. I am not saying the individual is accused but at least call the person concerned, Kejriwal said. Other AAP legislators, however, demanded that the police probe the role of former BJP MLA and vice chairperson of NDMC, Karan Singh Tanwar. NEW DELHI: The Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) has issued notices to PWD and BSES over non-functional street lights on Nelson Mandela Marg and Aruna Asaf Ali Marg after the SHO of that area complained to the commission. Several safety audits have pointed out that many crimes against women occur on dark stretches of road. In a complaint to the commission, the SHO of Vasant Kunj North police station said the two roads become dark after sundown and could result in crimes. Despite repeated written and telephonic requests to BSES officials as well as the PWD executive engineer, nothing concrete has been done so far, the letter said. Officials of the womens panel said the SHO requested the commission to intervene to get the street lights fixed. The SH O informed the commission that the area was not safe for women at night. Police officials are finding it difficult to do their duties in the area at night. Furthermore, the area is not safe for women, DCW chief Swati Maliwal said in the notice. The womens commission said both the power discom and the PWD had been asked to reply within 48 hours. The Delhi Commission for Women has taken cognisance of the complaint. It has issued notices to the BSES and the PWD. It has asked them about the action taken and the reasons behind the lights not functioning, a DCW official said. MUMBAI: The drug-themed film Udta Punjab will be released with just one cut, the Bombay high court ruled on Monday, asking the censor board to stop acting like a grandmother in a case that has sparked a debate on creative freedom. The ruling overturned a controversial suggestion by the censor board seeking 13 cuts to the movie which it had deemed offensive to peoples sensibilities and a threat to the countrys integrity. Besides asking the producers to delete a scene which shows the lead character, a drug-addicted rock star played by Shahid Kapoor, urinating in public, the court also ordered modification of a disclaimer by deleting a reference to Pakistan. Do not act like a grandmother. Change as per the times now, a bench of SC Dharmadhikari and Shalini Phansalkar-Joshi said in its order, which was hailed by the film fraternity as a landmark judgment. The CBFC (Central Board of Film Certification) cannot stop creative people abruptly as it may discourage them. This will kill creativity. These days filmmakers are brutal, direct and straightforward. One need not treat them harshly just because of this. Set against the backdrop of the northern state that goes to the polls early next year, the film has also triggered a political row with the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) accusing Punjabs ruling BJP-Shiromani Akali Dali (SAD) of influencing the boards decision. The film is scheduled to be released on June 17. The court said filmmakers should be allowed to choose the backdrop for movies, ruling that the censor boards exercise of power should not violate the constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech and expression. It over ruled the boards demand that the words election, MP, parliament, and party should be cut and said a scene where a character injects himself with drugs could be shown. References to a dog called Jackie Chan were also allowed to remain. The films co-producer Anurag Kashyap, at the centre of the fight against the censor board, hailed the verdict in a tweet. Thank you to the honourable Judge, thank you all for the faith and support. Time to get back to work (sic). Censor board chairman Pahlaj Nihalini, facing allegations of following the governments agenda in films, said the CBFC respects the courts verdict but hinted that the ruling could open the floodgates for filmmakers moving courts over its decisions. It has never been the CBFCs endeavour to obstruct a films creativity or to be a stumbling block to its release. Kashyap had called Nihalani an oligarch, while the latter responded by suggesting that the filmmaker had taken money from the AAP to make Udta Punjab to tarnish Punjabs image. AAP leader and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal described the verdict in a tweet as a tight slap on Modi regimes intolerance. Shortly after the ruling, the the Punjab and Haryana high court ordered a special screening of the film on Tuesday before a panel which will ascertain if it was fit for public. The panel will submit a report to the court on Thursday. Indias censors have a long history of barring movies and cutting scenes, including those deemed too racy or capable of causing religious offence. The CBFC last year blocked the release of a toned-down version of the erotic Hollywood film Fifty Shades of Grey and deemed two James Bond kissing scenes unsuitable for an Indian audience. NEW DELHI: Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday once again accused lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung of interfering in the Delhis governments functioning, ratcheting up his long-running power tussle with the Centres representative in a letter laced with sarcasm. Kejriwal, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor, mocked the lieutenant governor saying that Jung will never become the vice-president despite all the illegal, anti-people and unconstitutional things you might do on (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi jis instructions. The chief minister said he was offering a small suggestion to the L-G as his younger brother. The lieutenant governor , who denies working at the behest of the Centre, said in response to Kejriwals fresh barb: I feel sorry for his paranoia. Ever since returning to power with a landslide victory, Kejriwal has attacked Jung for allegedly interfering in and impeding the Delhi governments work on the instruction of the BJP-led government at the Centre. Key departments of the national capital are under the L-G, who reports to the Union home ministry. The friction between Kejriwal and Jung centres on administrative jurisdiction clearing of files, appointments and transfers. Last month, the AAP government unveiled a draft bill seeking full statehood for Delhi, seeking to take control of departments like police and land records. In the letter, Kejriwal also asked Jung to direct the anti-corruption branch (ACB) to file an FIR against Delhi government officials after the inauguration of the 100-bed Bhim Rao Ambedkar Hospital on Sunday. These days, you and Modi sahab get every little project of the Delhi government scrutinised by the ACB and CBI, irrespective of whether there are irregularities or not, the chief minister said. Please also ask PM Narendra Modi ji to order a CBI raid at health minister Satyendra Jains place for the crime of completing the construction of the hospital in record time, Kejriwal said in an apparent reference to an ACB raid at the office of one of his key aides on charges of corruption. Kejriwal said there were a few people who serve the mankind, struggle and construct while others are tasked with destructing and putting spanners on every good work. The letter went on to say that the Delhi government is fulfilling its responsibilities and the L-G and PM are only creating roadblocks on its way. Till a few years back, Aravalli Biodiversity Park housed a number of ponds. However,a walk here this summer yields dry water bodies, signalling a sharp decline in the regions water table. These ponds were formed due to the deep depressions left by mining in the park region and used to brim with water throughout the year. Now, with the decline in water table the biodiversity park is dependent on water from private tankers. Several pipes can be seen running all through the forest. A biodiversity park means that the natural diversity should be so rich that it should not be dependent on water from tankers or other sources. If this is the condition of a biodiversity park, one can assume what would be the condition of the groundwater level in residential areas, said environmentalist Anil Sood. The Aravalli Biodiversity Park is located on the South Central Ridge and spreads over an area of 692 acres. The area is surrounded by JNU (Nelson Mandela Marg), Mehrauli-Mahipalpur road and southern boundary of Vasant Vihar. The landscape is undulating with gentle slopes and dotted with numerous clay mined pits of different sizes, depths and shapes. The park was created with the purpose of conservation and preservation of the ecosystem of Aravalli hills, conserve keystone species and other threatened plant and animal species, preserve the biodiversity of any habitat , develop mosaic of wetlands that sustain the rich aquatic flora and fauna of the Yamuna and monitor short- and long-term changes in the ecology of Delhi region. Till 2003, the ponds at Aravalli Biodiversity Park were brimming with water. (Photo courtesy: Vinod Jain) The website of the park claims that the biodiversity park enhances groundwater recharge and augments fresh water availability, acts as sinks for CO2 and other pollutants, ameliorates local weather conditions and buffers ambient temperatures, promotes eco-tourism and social connectivity across the urban community, serves as gene pools and represents unique ecological models possessing not only wildlife and natural values but also aesthetic, environmental and educational values. Diwan Singh, of Ridge Bachao Aandolan, said till few years back the water bodies in the park were brimming. But the construction of several hotels and malls nearby has led to a steep fall in groundwater level. These new structures were using borewells (to augment flow of water) to extract water, he said. The condition of the water table in south Delhi is alarming and a recent report by Central Ground Water Board found that between November 2013 and November 2014, 53% of all wells in the city showed a drop in the water level. Of these, the drop was up to 2m in 40% of wells and more than that in the rest. A recent study by the earth sciences department of Delhi University also found the rate of decline in water levels to be as high as 1.7 to 2 metres per year in some areas of south and southwest Delhi. The water level in localities like Tughlakabad and Pushp Vihar has gone down to below 60m. Water activist Vinod Jain said, One of the prime reasons behind creation of these parks is to enhance groundwater recharge of the area. I, however, since the beginning of the creation of this biodiversity park, believe that the best way to allow greenery to prosper is minimum interference of human beings. There has been over-extraction of groundwater in south Delhi as Delhi Jal Board pipelines have not reached several colonies and farmhouses, he said. However, ecologist and the scientist in charge of the park, M Shah Hussain, has a different take on the issue. He said, One needs to understand that from a barren piece of land in 2004 this park has been converted into a lush green sanctuary hosting birds, mammals, reptiles, rare ayurvedic plants, butterflies and other insects. The pits used to be filled with water earlier because there was no greenery to act as water shed; but, now as there are so many plants here, these act as water sheds. As a reason, water does not flow all the way to the water bodies. Hussain also said that the reason why pipes and water tankers are being used to water plants is because young saplings need water for at least two years before they are self-dependent upon ground water, he said. In some years from now when we will plant more native trees here replacing the weeds, this forest would be self self-sufficient and one would not need any tanker water, he added. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Three days after a 25-year-old woman filed an FIR and accused two youths of allegedly abducting, drugging and gang-raping her in their moving Swift Dzire car, the police on Monday arrested the woman and her live-in partner on the charges of extorting money from the youths. Police said all the charges the woman allegedly made against the two youths, who are pursuing their MBA courses from different universities in Australia and India, were false and premeditated with the intention to extort money from their families. The arrested live-in partner of the woman, identified as Kishan Kumar, is a resident of Jagatpuri in east Delhi. Mandeep Singh Randhawa, DCP (southeast), said the arrested couple ran a gang that targeted innocent youths and extorts money from them after registering false gang rape cases against them. Apart from the Saturdays incident in which the woman had claimed that she was thrown out of the moving car after being gang-raped, the gang allegedly extorted Rs 5 lakh from three youths from east Delhi after implicating them in a similar crime in February this year. In the latest case, a sting operation was done on the couple while they were accepting Rs 9.50 lakh as extortion money from the two youths. A sum of Rs 50,000 was already paid to them as token money on Sunday. Kishan used the token money to purchase an air-conditioner soon after they got the money, said police. According to Randhawa, the arrests came following information that the complainant in the gang-rape case registered at the Sunlight Colony police station was frequently contacting the alleged suspects and striking a deal with their families in lieu of withdrawing the case. Since there were discrepancies in the womans statements, we got suspicious. Our teams did a background check on her and found that she had filed a similar case in February at the Anand Vihar police station. Further probe revealed that the woman had turned hostile when her statement was recorded under section 164 of CrPC in that case. We learnt that she had extorted Rs 10 lakh from the three youths for turning hostile, said Randhawa. The couple purchased a secondhand Hyundai i10 car and an I-phone 6 with the ill-gotten money. Once again, the couple went out on Friday night looking for another target, said a police officer. The couple was roaming in Hauz Khas area when they spotted the two youths in a Swift car outside a nightclub. They followed the youths till Mukarba Chowk during which they noted down their car registration number. The couple returned to ITO where Kishan dropped her near the Delhi Police headquarters and returned home. A few minutes later she called the police and alleged she was abducted, drugged and gang-raped by two men. She also provided the police the car registration number, the officer said. A team of three IIT Delhi students have come up with a prototype called FAME One. Their innovation can help small-scale hotels, restaurants and households to convert waste cooking oil into biodiesel. Their innovation, which looks like a washing machine, is not only eco-friendly but also affordable. Taking roughly an hour to complete the process, it can be used in rural setups to convert oil seeds into diesel. We read somewhere that India generates the highest amount of waste cooking oil and this is what drove us towards creating a technology that could actually compensate for more that 30% of the countrys energy deficit. If people adapt to this change we can have a better India, said Mohit Soni, a student. The students have tested the product for feasibility and said this is an efficient way to not only cut down on diesel usage, but also sustainably dispose of the waste oil that hotels generate every day. The project in its current state is suitable for big hotels while for an individual consumer, this technology may need further development. The demand for eco-living is not every high in the Indian setup as of now but people will gradually realise its value, said Harshit Agarwal, who worked on the innovation. The project is being taken forward under the guidance of Prof Ashok N Bhaskarwar, department of Chemical Engineering, who is helping the students develop it further from the first version prototype that they have produced. Abhishek Sharma (left) and Harshit Agarwal (right) along with Mohit Soni have come up with this idea. (Tribhuwan Sharma / HT Photo) The professor will help the students add automation, generate possible sources of Intellectual Property Rights and most importantly conform to the global quality standards. There is a dire need for the product to find its use beyond the hotel industry so that people can use this technology as an eco-friendly, energy efficient and easily adaptable source to our existing energy scheme, said Abhishek Sharma, another innovator. Despite having the potential of a biodiesel producer, India hardly contributes to 0.1% to global biodiesel production. Students feel that hours spent in collecting waste cooking oil from their own homes and the hostel mess was finally worth the trouble. If India produces so much waste cooking oil, we thought that there has to be a way to use it in a productive manner. So we connected with hotel chains and utilised the oil that gets wasted every day, said Mohit. The students say the technology is simple and adaptive. The process, known as trans-esterification, converts carboxylic acid ester into a different carboxylic acid ester. Apart from the waste cooking oil, it requires water, alcohol and a catalyst. The amount of biodiesel generated is the same as the amount of oil fed into the system. The system cost them Rs 30,000. The students, who recently won the GE Edison challenge and a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh, plan to utilise the amount on further research on the product and its market launch. Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of political vendetta on Tuesday, escalating the Delhi governments fight with the Centre over 21 AAP legislators facing disqualification for holding multiple paying positions. The BJP hit back at the AAP, saying Kejriwal was obsessed with attacking the Prime Minister. The ruling party at the Centre also accused AAP of lying under oath to the Election Commission by saying that no perks were given to the 21 MLAs who are serving as parliamentary secretaries, specially created official posts to help ministers discharge their duties. The latest confrontation between the Centre and the AAP government was sparked by President Pranab Mukherjees refusal to sign a bill that would allow the 21 MLAs to hold the second paying position, paving the way for their possible disqualification. The Constitution prohibits legislators or parliamentarians from holding any positions with monetary or other benefits. This clause known as office of profit is aimed at reducing conflict-of-interest situations for public representatives. A 2003 constitutional amendment capped the number of ministerial berths to 15% of the House strength. Since then several states started appointing parliamentary secretaries, using the posts to keep legislators without ministerial berths happy. Kejriwal, who saw the BJP-led governments hand in the issue, questioned why similar action was not taken in other states such as Haryana, Nagaland and Rajasthan which too have parliamentary secretaries. There are Parliamentary Secretaries in Haryana, Punjab, Gujarat, West Bengal and across the country. Those in Punjab get Rs 1 lakh per month, car and bungalow as well. But they have not been disqualified. Why only Delhi? Because he (Modi) is scared of Aam Aadmi Party, the chief minister said. Modiji says that Sonia Gandhiji isnt allowing the Parliament to function because she cant digest defeat. Want to ask Modiji, is he not allowing Delhi government to function because he is unable to digest defeat in Delhi? The BJP deployed two of its leaders to counter the AAP charges. In its affidavit to the Election Commission, AAP had said no emoluments, perks or facilities were provided to the parliamentary secretaries. That amounts to perjury, said party MP Meenakshi Lekhi who released a list of rooms purportedly allotted in the assembly building to the 21 MLAs. Questioning the AAPs move to retrospectively amend the law to exempt the parliamentary secretaries from the office of profit rule, Lekhi charged the Kejriwal government with making 21 appointments against an existing position of one parliamentary secretary. If you were so sure of the legal position, why did you not move the amendment before making the appointment? BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra too attacked Kejriwal for questioning the decision of the President. You (Kejriwal) have certain political ambitions, rightly so under a democratic system, but for gods sake dont demean the credibility of the President of India because in the end you are demeaning the democracy of this country, Patra said told reporters. Disqualification of the MLAs would come as a major setback for Kejriwal who stormed to power two years ago on an anti-corruption plank. In December, Kejriwal had come under flak for a four-fold salary hike along with a substantial increase in allowances for Delhi MLAs. Kejriwal has also repeatedly clashed with the Centre over officers appointment, files and governmental jurisdiction. The Congress too attacked the AAP over the parliamentary secretary issue, seeking Kejriwals resignation for making false claims. Parents across many Indian cities have organised themselves to fight against private schools over unregulated fee hikes during the last three or four months. They have staged protests against schools in Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Kerala and recently, in Hyderabad. In many cities, the school fee issue has reached judicial corridors this year. Hyderabad School Parents Association (HSPA) received support from parents across India, when they launched a missed call campaign last month. The association gave a call to all parents to dial a number on a given day if they wanted school fee to be regulated. It reportedly received 1.3 lakh calls, of which 17,800 were from Delhi, 14,994 from Maharashtra and 10,550 from Karnataka, reflecting the kind of frustration that parents across the country are probably experiencing. In Bengaluru, while a group of parents are already fighting it out in the court, the newly-formed Karnataka School Parents Association (KASPA) too has decided to file a public interest litigation in the high court, demanding school fee regulation. They are up in arms against schools for hiking fees by 20-30%. Fee doubled in five years In 2012, a private unaided CBSE school was set up in an area in Bengaluru where a majority of IT employees live. The fee was Rs 45,000 per annum and affordability was one of the factors that influenced parents choice. This academic year (2016-17) the same school has imposed an annual tuition fee of Rs 82,000, almost twice what it used to charge four years ago. We are unhappy over the ways in which schools are manipulating parents by hiking admission and transportation fees every year. The CBSE and ICSE by-laws clearly state that the school management should consult parents through chosen parents representatives before revising the fee. But we are not convinced about the selection process of the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) itself. Often, parents are unaware of the PTA selection process and are never informed about it, KASPA vice-president Selvaraj says. Karnataka, like several other states, has not fixed any fee limit for schools. In 2014, the department of public instruction drafted a policy to fix the fee per student in Bengaluru schools. But the draft reportedly received 7,000 objections and suggestions from the public and was shelved. The proposal also received strong opposition from school managements. The government and the parents consider just the salaries and maintenance cost while calculating the fee, but what about the initial establishment cost? Dr M Srinivasan, founder-chairperson of GEAR International School in Bengaluru, asks. So whats the establishment cost incurred by a school? There is no single criteria to measure the establishment cost, K Satyanarayan, director at Chennai-based New Horizon Media Pvt Ltd and an education blogger, says. The schools initial expenditure depends on how the land, on which it was established, was sourced. For example, if the land was bought at market value or taken on a lease, the management will most likely have the burden of a loan incurred to purchase or take it on lease. In fact, in Bengaluru most of the franchise schools or group of institutions are built on leased property, Sawal Das Jethani, founder and managing trustee of the Chrysalis High chain of schools, points out. If the private school has obtained the land at a concessional rate then, of course, it is even easier for the school to make a substantial profit. In Bengaluru, the Bangalore Development Authority reserves land for educational institutions, but how much of it is actually sanctioned to schools? D Shashi Kumar, general secretary of the Karnataka State Private School Managements Association and the founder of Blossoms School, asks. He says the government used to sanction land in the past for educational institutions, but that has not happened in a decade or so. According to Jayaraman S, a chartered accountant who used to audit private schools in Delhi and is a governing body member of several schools, the Delhi government sanctions land to private school managements at a relatively cheap Rs 45 lakh per acre. Unlike in Bengaluru, land availability is still not an issue in Delhi, which could be a reason for much higher fees in Bengaluru, even when compared to the best schools in the national capital. Apart from land cost, school managements also incur the cost to build the school and provide infrastructural facilities. Reasonable surplus This brings us to the question of schools making reasonable surplus. The Indian law makes it mandatory for educational institutions to be registered under the Indian Societies Registration Act or Indian Trusts Act. Naturally, these institutions are meant to be non-profit organisations. In various court cases, the apex court has passed judgement stating that educational institutions do have the freedom to make a reasonable surplus. However, the court was clear that there cannot be any profiteering in education and the surplus fee collected should be used only for the schools development activities or expansion plans. Regulations and litigation Every state has its own fee regulation policy for schools. But the policy itself has become a point of an altercation between school managements and parents. The Andhra Pradesh high court in 2010 limited the admission fee for private schools to Rs 5,000 per student, following which the government enforced an order the same year. But parents in Hyderabad say schools have been violating these norms. Schools collect non-refundable admission fees, ranging anywhere between Rs 25,000 to Rs 2,50,000, Seema Agarwal, an executive member of HSPA, says. In Mumbai, Private Schools of Maharashtra (PoP SoM) is a group thats fighting unjustified fee hikes. The Maharashtra Educational Institutions (Regulation of Fee) Act allows for a 15% fee hike once in two years, but parents allege that schools have been hiking their fee every year. If there is one major city where parents havent been very vocal about the fee hikes, it is Chennai. Tamil Nadu was a sort of pioneer when it came to regulating the fee structure in private schools, a model that other states are now trying to replicate. The Tamil Nadu Schools (Regulation and Collection of Fees) Act, 2009, paved the way for the establishment of the Private School Fee Fixation Committees, who calculated fees based on the schools locality, the strength of students, classes of study and status of the school. But some CBSE and ICSE schools approached the Supreme Court questioning the powers of the Fee Fixation Committee, leading to the issue of an interim order by the Supreme Court in January 2016. The order said that the power of the committee is limited only to verifying the fee collected by schools and checking if it is commensurate with the facilities provided; they could not impose any fee ceiling. Lack of clarity Satyanarayan feels that the crux of the problem lies in the lack of clarity on what is allowable and non-allowable expenditure for schools. Dissecting the Chennai model, he says there are two glaring faults in its fee fixation policy. First, the policy doesnt leave any scope for the schools to experiment. For example, according to the Right to Education Act, the student-teacher ratio per class should be 30:1. But if a school tries to improve educational outcomes by deploying more teachers, the committee considers it as inflating the expense. Second, the members of the committee are not auditors, but officers of the education department. They cannot actually gauge the cost and expense of the school, Satyanarayan observes. He believes that the problem lies in the absence of a separate authority to regulate the education sector and emphasises that fee regulation has to be viewed holistically. Urban expert and CEO of social technology company Mapunity, Ashwin Mahesh, too echoes his opinion. He says an independent regulator to monitor private and government schools would be better. Schools should be given the liberty to fix the fee, but they should be subjected to auditing as well. The proposed amendment to the Delhi Education Act is a right step in this direction, Ashwin says. Along with it, there should be transparency in the school accounts. Schools should be mandated to make their expenditures public, Satyanarayan says. This story has been published through an arrangement with Oorvani Foundation/Open Media Initiative The State Bank of India is expected to announce the results of its Clerk 2016 preliminary examination on its official website soon. The bank website says that candidates who have passed the exam can download their call letters for main exam soon. The exam was held between May 22 and June 5 this year for the recruitment of 18,000 junior associates and junior agricultural associates in the state-run bank. Lakhs of students applied for the exam from across the country. Read more: SBI Clerk 2016 preliminary exam results declared, download call letters here Applicants can check their results on the official website after it is declared. HT does not have any independent confirmation about the date of the announcement of results of SBI Clerk 2016 preliminary examination. However, the notification for recruitment clearly says that the candidates should download their call letters and an acquaint yourself booklet for main examination from June 17 (tentatively). This indicates that the Prelims results will be announced by then. Some media reports are also saying that the SBI Clerk Prelims results will be announced soon. Read more | SBI PO prelims exam 2016 notification: Download call letters from June 22 Those who qualify in the preliminary will be allowed to appear in the main, which is the second stage of the exam. The preliminary exam is of qualifying nature and its score will not be included in the final selection of the candidates for the job after the interview. The final merit will be prepared on the basis of the candidates performance in the main examination and the interview taken together. Read more: Madras HC orders issue of notice to Centre, SBI on recruitment The number of candidates selected for the main examinations will be approximately 20 times the numbers of vacancies. The candidates should download their call letter and an acquaint yourself booklet for the main examination from June 17 (tentatively). They can access it from the banks website by entering their registration number and password/date of birth. PIL seeking quashing of recruitment notification In May, the Madras High Court bench had ordered issue of notice to the Centre and the chairman of State Bank of India (Central recruitment and Promotion) on a PIL seeking to quash notification for recruitment of 18,000 Junior Associates and Junior Agricultural Associates. Justices R Mahadevan and S S Sundar also sought the Centres explanation within two weeks on the PIL filed by S Gurukrishna Gokul, an aspirant. In his PIL, Gokul had opposed the recruitment notification on the ground that it did not allow candidates to apply for exam if they had record of default in repayment of loans/or in whose name an adverse report in Credit Information Bureau Limited is available. He said that this condition would prevent a large number of economically and socially backward candidates from applying for the posts. In his plea he contended that if such candidates get selected for the job they would be in a position to repay the loans. He also opposed the notification saying that the application for the posts had been invited only by online registration without giving wide advertisements in newspapers, which is against the dictum of the Supreme Court. The PIL filed by S Gurukirshna Gokul was heard by a bench comprised of Justices Nooty Ramamohana Rao and SS Sundar on June 7. The Justices said that the SBI could proceed with the recruitment process as several candidates had already filed their applications for the clerk positions, and would therefore be adversely affected if the examinations were cancelled. However, the Justices also said that their final judgement, which is still pending, would have an impact on the results of the entire recruitment process. (With inputs from Aditya Iyer) SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON In what can come as a relief to the five Gurgaon police cops accused in alleged fake encounter of slain gangster Sandeep Gadoli, the Punjab and Haryana high court has directed the Mumbai police not to use coercive steps against the accused cops. The Court has also directed the accused cops, the petitioners of the case, to join investigations between 11 am to 5 pm everyday from June 15. Respondents No 4 to 6 (Mumbai Police officers) are directed not to embark upon coercive steps against the writ petitioners, ordered a vacation bench headed by Justice M Jeyapaul on Monday. The bench was hearing the petition filed by sub-inspector Pradyuman Yadav and other accused cops seeking directions for quashing suspension order passed by the Gurgaon police on May 30. The writ petitioners shall join the investigation from June 15 between 11 am and 5 pm every day, the order added. The court issued notice of motion in the case for June 22. The petition also sought directions to transfer the investigation to the Haryana police. The petitioners counsel, senior advocate Vikram K Chaudhary informed the court that his petitioners (the accused cops) had been cooperating in Mumbai polices investigation. He said that the petitioners, accused in the alleged fake encounter of the dreaded gangster, were facing the threat of arrest after they were named in the FIR last month. On May 30, Gurgaon police suspended five cops including Yadav, booked by the Mumbai polices special investigation team (SIT) probing the case, in the encounter. The step came three days after SIT informed the Supreme Court that five Gurgaon police personnel have been booked in the alleged encounter. The Mumbai and Gurgaon police have been contesting each others claims over the authenticity of the encounter that killed Gadoli at a hotel in Andheri East of Mumbai on February 7. The Gurgaon police officials maintain that they killed him in retaliatory fire. The Mumbai police, based on the familys claim, allege that the encounter was staged. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Hollywood actor Amber Heard, who obtained a temporary restraining order against husband Johnny Depp, reportedly called the police suggesting that the Pirates of the Caribbean star was violating the order. Depp reportedly violated the order by sending his team to remove items from the former couples home here on Monday, reports tmz.com. Amber Heard submitted pictures to the court showing a bruise on her face that she claims was inflicted during a fight with Johnny Depp on Saturday and said she feared Depp might harm her. (Reuters) Sources said that Los Angeles Police Department officers who had been called to the scene responded to a possible violation of a court order. Read: Johnny Depp physically abused me throughout marriage, claims Amber Heard On the same day it was also reported that Heard has made clear in court documents that she is withdrawing her request for temporary spousal support. Depp was ordered to stay 100 yards away from Heard, due to the temporary restraining order. Nevertheless, it includes a move-out order, which allows the actor to pick up personal clothing and belongings needed until the next restraining order hearing on Friday. Depp was hit with a restraining order in May after Heard appeared in court with a black eye, accusing the Oscar-nominated star of assaulting her. Amber, who filed for divorce in Los Angeles, claimed she is the victim of repeated attacks by Depp. Titanic director James Cameron is heading back to the high seas to executive produce a documentary about the mythical island of Atlantis. The Avatar filmmaker, 61, is re-teaming with bosses at National Geographic Channel to develop expedition documentary Search for Atlantis, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Finding the historical and archaeological truth behind the Atlantis myth has always been a fascination of mine, a statement from Cameron reads. Read: Expect an epic! James Cameron announces four sequels for Avatar Our exploration team will investigate several new theories about where the real Atlantis was, who these mysterious people were, and what disaster wiped them from the Earth over three millennia ago. The two-hour documentary will be shot in Sicily, Malta,Crete, Santorini, Sardinia and off the coast of Spain. It will premiere in the winter. Follow @htshowbiz for more Government has banned 240 websites offering escort services on the recommendation of an expert committee under the ministry of home affairs, an IT ministry official said. He said that as per the process, complaints or representations are made by aggrieved persons or party before the expert committee, which then takes a call on it. However, industry sources criticised the move, calling it directionless. Read: Now, escorts hook up with clients on Twitter Content of all the websites cannot be blocked. The order has been issued without going into technical nitty gritty around it. If a website changes the name or link slightly, it will again start working, said an executive of an internet service provider (ISP). He said there are mobile numbers on the websites which should be tracked and culprits nabbed to control such activities. The industry source said most of the websites in the order are somewhere linked to Mumbai. Government should also make efforts to stop escorts advertisements in newspapers. It is a half-hearted approach to resolve a real problem. Only Indian websites have been asked to be blocked, as per my observation, the ISP executive added. Read: Police have court orders to block 316 obscene sites, govt tells HC In a bid to counter the misuse of social networking sites by militants, the armys Northern Command on Tuesday joined social media platform Twitter to interact with people of Jammu and Kashmir. In his first tweet from the handle NorthernComd.IA, Northern Command General-officer-commanding-in-chief (GOC-in-C) Lt Gen DS Hooda wrote: Presence of Northern Comd on Twitter is a step towards involving our citizens in activities of Indian Army in J&K. I look forward to a positive interaction through this forum, he tweeted next. The army has reached out to the masses in Jammu and Kashmir through Twitter and Facebook to generate awareness about public welfare initiatives such as Operation Sadbhavna earlier. However, with the new Twitter handle, people can directly interact with the most senior army officer in the state. FLEDGLING FIRST STEP Appreciating the move, Lt Gen HS Panag (retd), who is a former army commander of the Northern Command, said: This is a positive development and the army must make the most of it. Active on Twitter himself, he said, It is important that the armys social media reach be used effectively to share basic information, if not everything. Similarly, Lt Gen Ata Hasnain (retd), a former commander of Srinagar-based 15 Corps, sees this as a fledging first step but adds that this should have happened some light years ago. Physical outreach has limitations and time constraints. Social media is the enabler which facilitates interactive outreach to millions at the press of a button, said Lt Gen Hasnain. There is much to be learnt about strategic communication where your message reaches the people you want it to reach. Being on social media is insufficient; being there with the right focus, aim and intent is the necessity, he said. The officers said that the initiative should not remain limited to the Northern Command headquarters. It must go down to the corps and divisions, he added. The office-of-profit law that forced Congress chief Sonia Gandhi to resign her Lok Sabha seat in 2006 is back in news, with 21 Aam Aadmi Party MLAs, also serving as parliamentary secretaries, staring at disqualification. President Pranab Mukherjee has refused to give his assent to a bill passed by the Delhi assembly in 2015 to shield these lawmakers from the office-of-profit law. Had the bill been cleared, it could have led to the dismissal of petitions pending with the President and the Delhi high court for the MLAs to lose their seats for holding a position that profits them -- in form of perks, position, monetarily or otherwise. Though the 70-member assembly, where the AAP has a brute majority of 67, still has the option of returning the Delhi members of legislative assembly (removal of disqualification) amendment bill, 2015 to the President with or without amendments, it is highly unlikely that it would get a favourable response the second time around. Office of profit The idea behind the concept of office of profit which evolved in England is to preserve the independence of the legislature by keeping the members away from any temptations from the executive that can come in the way of independent discharge of their duties. It also seeks to enforce the principle of separation of power between the legislative, the judiciary and the executive a basic feature of the Constitution. Office of profit under Indian Constitution The term office of profit has not been defined in the Constitution. But, articles 102 (1) and 191 (1) which give effect to the concept of office of profit -- prescribe restrictions at the central and state level on lawmakers accepting government positions. Any violation attracts disqualification of MPs or MLAs, as the case may be. According to Article 102 (1) (a), a person shall be disqualified as a member of Parliament for holding any office of profit under the government of India or the government of any state, other than an office declared by Parliament by law not to disqualify its holder. Article 191 (1) (a) has a similar provision for the members of state assemblies. Ministers exempted However, articles 102 and 191 clarify that a person shall not be deemed to hold an office of profit under the government of India or the government of any state by reason only that he is a minister. Further, the last part of the two provisions protects a lawmaker holding a government position if the office has been made immune to disqualification by law. Office of profit under NCT Act, 1991 Section 15(1)(a) of the government of national capital territory of Delhi act, 1991, says a person shall be disqualified for being chosen as, and for being, a member of the legislative assembly if he holds any office of profit under the government of India, a state or a union territory other than an office protected by law. Like articles 102 (1) and 191(1), Section 15(2) of the NCT act also protects ministers at the Centre, in states or union territories from disqualification. Section 15(3) of the NCT act says in case of a dispute over disqualification of an MLA, the matter would be referred to the President, whose decision would be final. But, before deciding on a petition seeking disqualification, the President, says the NCT act, has to get the opinion of the election commission which is binding on him. Financial benefit not necessary What is important is that an office of profit does not necessarily mean financial benefits. Even an administrative position without any financial entitlements can fall foul of this law. In Guru Gobind Basu vs Sankari Prasad Ghosal & others, the Supreme Court ruled in 1964 that the test for determining whether a person holds an office of profit is the test of appointment. Several factors such as appointing authority, the authority vested with the power to terminate the appointment, the authority that determines the remuneration, the source of remuneration and the power that comes with the position have to be considered. The shield The Parliament (prevention of disqualification) act, 1959 declares that certain offices of profit under shall not disqualify their holders. The act has been amended several times to exempt holders of various offices from the mischief of the office of profit law. Sonia Gandhis case Sonia Gandhi, a member of Lok Sabha, was appointed the chairperson of national advisory council by the UPA 1 government. After the issue of office of profit was raised, she quit as an MP and sought re-election. The prevention of disqualification act was amended in 2006 to add the position of NAC chairperson to the list of exempted posts. The then Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, too, faced disqualification but was saved by amending the act. Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachachan lost her seat for holding the post of chairperson of the Uttar Pradesh Film Development Federation. The act was again amended in 2013 to save the chairpersons of the national commission for the scheduled castes and national commission for the scheduled tribes from disqualification. But, with the President turning down the Delhi assemblys attempt to amend the law, the fate of 21 AAP MLAs hangs in balance. Read | Kejriwal gets 21-MLA headache as President withholds AAP govt bill Dont question Presidents credibility, stop obsessing over PM: BJP to Kejriwal Hours before Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually sounded the Uttar Pradesh election bugle in Allahabad on Monday, Congress vice-president set the tone of the upcoming Punjab polls in his anti-drugs rally at Jalandhar. Close on the heels of the Udta Punjab controversy with the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) accusing Punjabs ruling BJP-Shiromani Akali Dali (SAD) of influencing the censor boards decision, Gandhi on Monday accused the ruling leadership of not wanting to end the drug menace in the border state because it was benefiting them hugely. Read: Akali govt benefits from drug trade in Punjab: Rahul Gandhi He didnt stop there. In what sounded like a perfect poll pitch, the Congress VP added that if elected to power, his party will wipe out the drug problem within a month by putting upright police officers at the helm of affairs. Besides this, he said it will also enact a law to sell the properties of drug peddlers and distribute the funds raised among affected people. Gandhis speech makes it clear he wants to put the long-standing drug issue in the core of his Punjab campaign. The election in Punjab, along with Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand are due in early 2017. But Gandhi, possibly wary of the BJPs powerful campaign machinery, wants to hit the ground early to pick up the first movers advantage. Gandhi, who only tweets about social and political issues, recently made a departure and tweeted in support of Anurag Kashyaps Udta Punjab and slammed the government. He tweeted that censorship of films is not a solution to solve the drug problem in Punjab. Gandhi, according to his party colleagues, understands that just like prohibition, the drug menace is a major social issue in Punjab and a political party willing to address the problem can also gain electoral benefits. In attacking the Akali Dal while talking about the Punjabs drug menace, Gandhi tried to kill two birds with one stone. Labelling the ruling party as the villain in the states biggest social problem, that affects thousands of youth, is also the best weapon as on date against the Akalis who are in power for last nine years in Punjab. Indias first recorded case of a baby born with Harlequin Ichthyosis - a rare genetic disorder - died on Monday morning after it developed breathing problems at a private hospital in Nagpur. The baby was born to a 23-year-old woman from Amravati in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra on Saturday. Here are answers to some questions regarding the most severe and devastating skin disorder. Read | Harlequin baby dies two days after birth Harlequin fetus. (Wikimedia commons) What is it? Harlequin Ichthyosis is a rare genetic skin disorder. Infants who are affected by this condition are born with thick, yellow and very hard skin. The skin has large, diamond shaped plates separated by deep fissures. The disorder affects shapes of all the organs. How rare? The disease is very rare and the exact incidence is unknown. However, according to a 2014 paper written by Ahmed H and OToole EA, two researchers from Department of Dermatology, Barts Health National Health Service Trust, one in 3,00,000 babies get this disease. What causes it? Mutations in the ABCA12 gene cause the disease. The ABCA12 protein plays a major role in transporting fats in cells that make up the outermost layer of skin. Severe mutations in the gene lead to absence or partial production of the ABCA12 protein. This results in lack of lipid transport and as a result the skin development is affected by varying degrees according to the severity of the mutation. How is it inherited? For a baby to inherit this condition, both father and mother, should be carriers of the mutated ABCA12 gene. This type of inheritance is called autosomal recessive pattern. Can it be cured? There is no cure for the disorder but it can be managed with treatment. In the past the disease was considered fatal. But with advanced technology improved survival rate has been achieved with intense neonatal care. First known case A researcher called J I Waring in a paper titled early mention of a harlequin fetus in America, quotes a diary entry from Oliver Hart, a pastor of a Baptist church in Charleston. This is allegedly the first recorded case of the disorder On Thursday, April ye 5th, 1750, I went to see a most deplorable object of a child, born the night before, of one Mary Evans, in Chas: town. It was surprising to all who beheld it, and I scarcely know how to describe it. The skin was dry and hard, and seemed to be cracked in many places, somewhat resembling the Scales of a Fish. The Mouth was large and round, and wide open. It had no external nose, but two Holes where the Nose would have been. The Eyes appeared to be lumps of coagulated blood, turned out, about the Bigness of a Plumb, ghastly to behold. It had no external ears, but holes where the ears should be. People who survived the disorder The Daily Mail profiled 24-year-old Stephanie Turner who was affected by Harlequin ichthyosis and is now living in the US with her two-year-old son - first person with the condition to have a baby. Here is another profile about a 21-year-old woman Hunter Steinitz who inherited the disease. Another profile of Nusrit Shaheen, 32-year-old woman, living in the UK. Source: National Library of Medicine, medscape.com SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Commuters faced problems on Tuesday morning after employees of the state-run Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC), which has a fleet of more than 2,500 buses, went on a two-day strike late on Monday night. The employees are demanding the regularisation of the services of the contract staff and pension benefits, among other things. The strike hit the commuters, especially tourists, hard with connectivity between cities and towns affected. The employees said no corporation buses were plying in the state. However, some of the buses of Punjab, Haryana and Uttarakhand state roadways are functional but they were overcrowded. Officials of the HRTC said the employees on strike would resume work from Wednesday midnight. The HRTC has been making losses but has been important to the state as it connects far-flung villages with cities across the state. The Himachal Pradesh high court on Monday asked the roadways employees to call off their strike. The court asked the state to look into their demands. Its the law of the land that employees cannot go on strike to press for their demands. The court has already declared the strike of doctors illegal. Accordingly, we deem it proper to issue notice, said the bench. It asked the transport secretary and the HRTC managing director to have a joint meeting with the employees and try to redress their grievances by June 20, the next date of hearing. Transport minister GS Bali said that 90% of demands of the employees had been accepted. Many Hindu families left western Uttar Pradeshs Kairana town not because of Muslim criminal threats but in search of jobs five years ago, an HT investigation found on Monday, indicating mass exodus allegations may have been made to fan communal passions ahead of state polls. Local BJP member of Parliament Hukum Singh has dominated headlines for the last week after alleging that Muslim gangs -- including that led by the alleged ringleader Mukhim Kala -- issued extortion threats to 350-odd Hindu families and drove them out of town, with cover from the Samajwadi Party. But when Kala was arrested last October, he had 14 murder charges against him, 3 Hindus and 11 Muslims. The BJPs list doesnt mention 115 Muslim families who also migrated from just one locality of Alkala in the town. The local administrations verification of 119 names given by Singh found that 66 of them left their homes five years ago, way before Kala was active or the SP was in power. Read: Kairana migration: BJP promises proper action after probe by a party team Moreover, the list of people isnt typical of those who get extortion threats. 34 of them owned small shops, 55 were laborers, 13 farmers, five lawyers, two school teachers and three clerks. But what the BJPs charges appeared to have done is inject communal feeling in the Muslim-majority town that has otherwise always remained peaceful, even in the midst of the Muzaffarnagar riots two years ago that killed 60 people. Kairana is also just 10 kilometres away from Panipat, a thriving business hub. We are verifying the complaint by Hukum Singh, and so far we have found these are instances of migration. Shamli does not have any industries so approximately 8000-10000 people go to Panipat and other places in Haryana, district magistrate of Shamli, Sujeet Kumar said. Muslims tenants living near shops adjacent to Pawam Dham Temple at Kairana. (HT Photo) Kala struck terror in Kairana two years ago by killing two businessmen. A few weeks later, one more businessman Vinod Kumar was shot dead in broad daylight. After Kumars death, the town locked down in protest for 12 days. In the weeks preceding Kumars murder, 200-300 Muslims volunteer helped the Hindu Kawaria pilgrims, a tradition in the area. Read: 2017 a year of challenge, declares Shah as BJP sets sights on UP victory In Kairanas Peepthothala, two blocks of a house that lawyer Anshuman stays is remain locked. These two blocks belong to his brothers who left in 2010 to start cosmetic shops in Meerut and Delhi. There are no jobs here, no facility, I cannot move so I stayed back, but yes safety is a concern, Anshuman said. But Vinod Kumars brother Varun thought differently. Only one community received the demands for extortion and another community was spared, he said. The buzz in district headquarters of Shamli is that the immediate provocation of the controversy is the upcoming assembly polls. Singh might have been worried about the loss of his nephew to SPs Nahid Hasan in the local bypolls last year. The controversy threatens to rupture the fabric of communal harmony in the town. The Muslims are mostly converted from the Gujjar community, so in a multi-pronged poll contest, a fractured electorate improves the chances of non-Muslim candidates. The BJPs national executive meet in Allahabad also indicated the party intends to highlight the alleged communal problem in Kairana during the UP polls campaign. Back in the 100,000-strong town, a lack of jobs appears a bigger problem than communal ill-will. A quick check of employment under MNREGA shows there are not many takers for the scheme. Kumar has the explanation, In Shamli Mnrega gives Rs 172 whereas in Haryana its Rs 262. So even for Mnrega people from Kairana prefer Panipat. In Alkala the neighbourhood where many Muslims migrated from -- Mohammed Khursheed said, We are four brothers and I am the only one here. My brothers left in search of job several years ago and settled there. In this lane of two dozen houses, seven are locked because the inhabitants have migrated in search of job. Jobs are the main concern here. Otherwise Kairana is a communally peaceful block with all its complexities, says Sujeet Kumar. Read: Hindu exodus in Kairana town not all true: UP police SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The BJP virtually kicked off its campaign for the next years Uttar Pradesh election with its top-decision making body holding a two-day conclave in Allahabad. The national executive meeting that ended Monday not only spelt the BJPs plans for the state but also offered a glimpse of what to expect from the party and its government at the Centre in the coming days. Here are the 5 takeaways from this crucial meet: Poll pitch Addressing the parivartan (change) rally at the end of the two-day meet, Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered his development model as an alternative to what he called the rule of corruption and dynasty in the state. This is the second time in recent days that Modi, who rode to power on the promise of a clean government, raised the issue of corruption. Speaking at a function at India Gate on May 28 to celebrate two years in office, the Prime Minister talked about the string of scandals that battered the previous government. This, after a long silence on alleged scandals that have hounded the BJP from Vyapam in Madhya Pradesh to the alleged links between IPL founder Lalit Modi and Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhra Raje. Earlier this month, the BJP forced out its senior leader and Maharashtra revenue minister Eknath Khadse following allegations that he swung a land deal in favour of his wife and son-in-law. Goonda Raj vs parivartan The BJPs focus, however, will be the Goonda Raj under the Samajwadi Party government and the governance deficit in the state while making a pitch for Modis development model. If UP is developed no one can stop India from reaching the number one spot in the world, Modi said in his speech. It was his 11th visit to the countrys most populous state in a year, underlining the seriousness the party accords to the assembly election. Cornering SP Amid allegations -- since proven wrong -- by one of its lawmakers that Hindu families are leaving Kairana in western Uttar Pradesh, a communal flashpoint since 2013 riots, party president Amit Shah said, Do you want such exodus from UP? If not, then remove the SP government from power. Finance minister Arun Jaitley gave a call for making the assembly election a referendum on the law-and-order situation. In targeting the SP as its number one opponent, the party is hoping for polarisation to make electoral gains. Third party The BJP will continue to attack the SP and the Mayawatis Bahujan Samaj Party. Uttar Pradesh politics has been bipolar, with the two parties, who depend on identity politics, taking turns to rule the state. The BJP, which won 71 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state, has set a target of 265+ for the state polls and is hoping to repeat the 2014 feat if the election becomes a triangular contest. It has 47 seats in the 403-member assembly. Word of mouth The high command has asked party leaders to aggressively publicise the achievements and welfare programmes of the Modi government. The partys strategy, first laid out in the Bengaluru national executive in 2015, is to drown out the opposition through effective publicity via the now-extensive network of its legislators and parliamentarians across the country. Read more: Modi govt model right blend of welfare, growth measures: BJP national executive SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Hukum Singh, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Kairana in Uttar Pradesh, triggered a political storm after he alleged last week that there has been an exodus of Hindus from the Muslim-dominated town of Kairana in Shamli district. He likened it to the migration of Pandits from Kashmir. His claim has since been found to be incorrect by the local administration. Many Hindus he claimed had fled the town in recent times on allegedly being targeted by Muslim criminal gangs were found to have left more than five years ago. Most appear to have left in search of jobs. Many Muslim families were also among those who left Kairana. The controversy over his claim continues to rage and the spotlight remains firmly on Singh. He spoke to Hindustan Times: Q. What is the issue and how and when it came to your notice? A. Kairana is a town which has experienced a drastic change in the ratio of population in the past few decades. It is now dominated by Muslims and for the past few years people approached me with complaints of deteriorating law and order situation with frequent demands of extortion by different criminal gangs. When they refused to fulfil their demands, criminals killed a few in broad daylight and police did nothing to nail them. As a result many families migrated from here especially in the past three years in search of a safe place. Read: Doubts over the communal angle in Kairana exodus Q. You released a list of 346 families who migrated from Kairana in the past few years and your rivals are criticising for not mentioning the names of Muslims who also have moved out. A. My party workers have prepared the list on the basis of door-to- door survey . I came to know about the family of Naushad who migrated from here after receiving a demand for Rs 10 lakh from a gang. He refused to pay the money and opted to go out leaving his Rs 2 crore-house behind. If there were other Muslims who left because of fear , I am ready to release their list too. Q. Your rivals say that you have raised the issue for extracting political benefit during assembly elections in 2017. A. They may think in their own way but how they can ignore the naked fact of exodus? Moreover, I am in politics for over 40 years, been elected MLA 7 times, had been a minister for 12 years and now I am an MP only because of politics. Doing politics is not a sin. Those who are saying such things don`t know that I have been raising the issue since 2013 and my ill-informed opponents are misleading people. Read: Kairana is an expression of State failure Q. Questions have been raised over the credibility of your list after verification by district authorities who claim that people have moved out in search of jobs and other reasons. Besides, a few families mentioned in your list, are still living in Kairana. A. That is what the officials are doing on the direction of the state government. They have been adopting everything possible to prove my list and claims wrong. Teams of civil officials and police are visiting door-to-door for spot verification and mounting pressure on people to issue statements to discredit the list. They are even planting fake persons before media. I still stand by my list and challenge the outcome of their verification. They are government`s employee and will say what the government wants. Q. What is your demand? A. Its not a communal issue but a serious law and order problem. The state government should ensure infusing a sense of security among the people and should direct their officials to nail criminals. The superintendent of police and other officials should work instilling confidence among people instead of pleasing their political bosses by trying to contradict my list through so-called verification drive. Q. Is there any political patronage to criminals? Who are behind them? A. Yes, they can`t be so fearless without having political patronage. Police have been acting as puppets and are therefore not able to take effective actions against criminals. The local leaders of the ruling party and the family of MLA Naved Hasan are giving patronage to the criminals. Read: BJP raked up Kairana issue to divert attention from its defeat: Maya BJP parliamentarian Hukum Singh, who had alleged an exodus of Hindus from Kairana in western Uttar Pradesh, released on Tuesday a list of 63 families that have apparently migrated out of neighbouring Kandhala town. He alleged that these Hindu families of Kandhala, located 12km from Kairana in Shamli district, have moved out in the past three years because of fear from growing population of Muslims. These Hindu families have left under duress, he alleged. There were more than 100 families but I released a list of only those who contacted me and narrated their reason for migration. Police verified Singhs new list and found that it contains nine farmers; five artisans; 18 shopkeepers; 19 small-time traders; six labourers; two doctors; an engineer and a contractor each; and three others. The parliamentarian for Kairana alleged that not a single town in western UP is safe, including the Muslim-majority Kandhala. Singhs remarks were viewed as an attempt to ratchet up the issue of alleged Hindu migration from western UP before next years assembly election, which was a talking point at the BJPs two-day national executive meeting in Allahabad. Top BJP leaders used the issue to accuse the states Samajwadi Party government of promoting lawlessness. The migration in Kairana because of violence is a matter of serious concern. There is an atmosphere of violence. The lack of development and the lack of governance in the largest state of India, that is Uttar Pradesh, is becoming a matter of serious concern, party president Amit Shah told delegates at the meeting on Sunday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi too accused the SP government of goonda raj or lawlessness at a party rally in Allahabad, though he didnt mention Kairana in his speech. For his part, UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav accused BJP leaders of being dishonest and spreading lies. The BJP is alleging that the Samajwadi Party government forced the people to flee from Kairana ... BJP can be dishonest to this extent, he said. The Union home ministry apparently sought a detailed report from the state government three days on the alleged Hindu exodus but has yet to get a reply. Junior home minister Kiren Rijiju called the incidents unfortunate, if they are true. BJP parliamentarian Singh has been criticised for trying to incite communal tension in the sensitive state before the crucial assembly election, which his party is looking to win after its remarkable feat in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. The BJP won 71 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state. Singh was undaunted by the criticism and declared that another list of Hindu families that have fled other towns would be released soon. The MP had earlier released a list of 346 families who he said were forced to flee Kairana town in Shamli district, which witnessed communal riots in 2013. Also, he compared the exodus from Kairana with that of the Pandits who left Kashmir during the height of militancy in the 1990s. The chief minister responded angrily when some television channels picked Singhs remarks to give Kairana a Kashmir twist. May you have your face blackened if you are saying that Kairana has become Kashmir, he said. BJP MP Singh accused the state government of sending officials couched as teams to verify his Kairana list to intimidate people into giving contradictory statements. The entire government machinery was being misused to twist the matter to prove me wrong, he said. I stand by the list I released. Singh asked if police and district administration officials have contacted the migrated families. Shamli district magistrate Sujeet Kumar ruled out any communal as well as law-and-order issues behind some people leaving the area. Till now, we have investigated the list of 119 families. Around 10-15 families, mentioned on the list, still live in Kairana and around 68 families have migrated from the area 10-15 years ago. They moved out because of economic reasons, he told PTI. Chinas official media went public over Indias NSG bid for the first time on Tuesday, saying New Delhis membership of the elite club will not only touch a raw nerve in Pakistan and increase a nuclear arms race in the region but also jeopardise Chinas national interests. An op-ed commentary in state-run Global Times, the first write-up on the issue since Chinas opposition to Indias bid, said New Delhis NSG membership will set off a nuclear confrontation in the region. India and Pakistan, both nuclear powers in the region, keep alert to each others nuclear capabilities. Indias application for NSG membership and its potential consequences will inevitably touch a raw nerve in Pakistan, its traditional rival in the region. As Pakistan is not willing to see an enlarging gap in nuclear power with India, a nuclear race is a likely outcome. This will not only paralyse regional security, but also jeopardise Chinas national interests, said the commentary titled India mustnt let nuclear ambitions blind itself. Last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi embarked on a diplomatic journey, travelling halfway across the world with his top goal to garner support for his countrys entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) ahead of the plenary meeting of the group expected to be held in Seoul on June 24. The US and some NSG members have given a push to Indias membership bid, but the reported opposition from most countries, especially China, seems to have irritated India, it said. Reports from Vienna where the NSG is based said that while majority of the 48-member group backed Indias membership, China along with New Zealand, Ireland, Turkey, South Africa and Austria were opposed to Indias admission. The NSG looks after critical issues relating to nuclear sector and its members are allowed to trade in and export nuclear technology. The group works under the principle of unanimity and even one countrys vote against India will scuttle its bid. Beijing insists that a prerequisite of New Delhis entry is that it must be a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) while India is not. Despite acknowledging this legal and systematic requirement, the Indian media called Chinas stance obstructionist, the commentary said. India has its own calculations for joining the NSG. Eyeing retaining the fastest growing economy tag, Indias access to the NSG, a body that regulates the global trade of nuclear technology, is expected to open up the international market for Indias domestic nuclear energy programme. Meanwhile, with the support of the US, India can advance its development in this regard, it said. The deliberations of the US are also clear. With Indias NSG membership, the US, the worlds largest producer of nuclear power, can sell its nuclear technology to India. A US company is set to build six nuclear reactors in India, an agreement made between the two countries during Modis recent visit to the US, it said. A high-profile Indian billionaire businessman misappropriated 150 million dollars from his Australian fertiliser business for personal benefit like acquiring a mansion, luxury cars and his wifes vegetarian restaurant chain, the Supreme Court of Victoria heard on Tuesday. Pankaj Oswal and his wife Radhika Oswal are fighting the legal battle against the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) for allegedly undervaluing shares of their fertiliser company to recoup millions in debts. Philip Solomon, who represented the fertiliser company, told the court that Oswal used over 150 million dollars from the business for his and his wifes benefit, in some instances using fake invoices. Read: Indians with no moral compass: How ANZ described Oswals who sued the bank Almost all of the 150 million dollars personally benefited Pankaj Oswal and Radhika Oswal, he said, adding that Radhika or management requested or demanded Pankaj pay large sums of money. Pankaj authorised payments, staff, when he clicked his fingers, jumped urgently, Solomon said. It was alleged that the misappropriation included 60 million dollars to a private Burrup trust account, 11 million dollars to a property in the exclusive suburb of Peppermint Grove in Western Australia, several million to parcels of land unrelated to the business and approximately 8 million dollars to Radhikas restaurant chain in London and New York. Solomon alleged Oswal authorised payments for an Aston Martin, 3 million dollars for a boat and 3 million dollars in air travel, including a private jet for his daughter and his daughters friends for a holiday at Monkey Mia. Theyre not fertiliser assets... theyre not for the benefit of fertiliser, Solomon told the court. The misappropriations became rampant in 2010, with over 25 million dollars allegedly misappropriated in one month alone, Solomon said. There were invoices masquerading as true business invoices that were not, on which payments were made and the payments flowed in and quickly out of these entities, he said. Read: Indian tycoon accused in 113 mn dollar corp fraud Earlier in the ongoing trial, the defence team of Oswal accused ANZ and its senior executives, including former chief executive Mike Smith of racial bigotry in their dealings with the billionaires. The Oswals have sued ANZ bank for 1.5 billion dollars after it allegedly seized and sold their Western Australian fertiliser company for 560 million dollars which the family claim was worth 1.385 billion dollars. The bank has denied the claims and said the Oswals misappropriated 150 million dollars from their Burrup Fertilisers for personal use. In what may add to troubles of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Haryana, Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and Congress on Tuesday extended support to Jat protesters over their demands for quota in education and jobs and release of youths held in cases registered after the stir-related violence in February. The two parties voiced their support at a time when the Khattar government has invited the agitators belonging to All India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS) for a dialogue on their demands. The dialogue between representatives of agitators and top functionaries of the state government, which was originally scheduled for Wednesday, is now expected to take place at Panchkula on Friday. The protesters, however, said that they would hold talks with the government only if AIJASS chief Yashpal Malik, who is facing sedition charges, is invited. Malik denied having received any communication from the government for talks. The support from leaders of Congress and INLD came on the 10th day of the ongoing agitation after members of the organising committee had written to 10 MPs and legislators, inviting them to join their dharna and support their demands. The letters were sent to former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Rohtak MP Deepender Singh Hooda among others, according to sources. While INLD leader Abhay Singh Chautala announced his support for the protesting Jats and plans to travel to protest sites in Jind and Kaithal districts on Wednesday, Anand Singh Dangi and Sri Krishan Hooda, both considered close to Bhupinder Singh Hooda, went to Jasia the epicentre of the ongoing protest in Rohtak to express solidarity with the protesters. Dangi and Sri Krishan Hooda lashed out at the BJP government for mishandling the quota stir and blaming the protesters for the February violence in several districts of the state. The two leaders were soon shouted down. Their political statements did not go down well with the AIJASS members, who maintained that they would not let any party make their protest a battleground to settle scores with political rivals. We will not let any political party take advantage of our dharna to fulfil their political motives. For us, all leaders are same, except (BSP chief) Mayawati, who has supported the reservation demand of the Jat community, AIJASS district president Ashok Balhara said. Meanwhile, Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar said: It is wrong for them(protesters) to hold protests now because the matter is in the court and even administrative officers had started a dialogue with them. . Even as farmers in drought-hit Maharashtra prepare for the sowing season, the weather department has issued a go slow advisory over the delay in the arrival of monsoon in the state. The Agrimet section of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) asked farmers to till their land, but to defer sowing until the onset of monsoon to ensure that the seeds are not wasted for want of water. Do not undertake sowing operations till the onset of monsoon, which has not yet arrived in the state, N Chattopadhyay, deputy director general of Agrimet, told reporters. It is necessary to have good monsoon rainfall consistently for a few days for the seeds to grow into a good crop. The IMD will release a second advisory on the arrival of monsoon in Maharashtra for the farmers to start sowing. The Agrimet advisory was issued to avoid wastage of expensive seeds, particularly of soybean, cotton and pulses, in parched areas of Marathwada, Vidarbha and Madhya Maharashtra. Some areas, however, have received pre-monsoon showers in the last few days. Monsoon is expected to hit Maharashtra only after June 16. A consumer court in Thane has ordered the Union Bank of India branch at Dombivali and Punjab National Bank at Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh to pay a compensation of Rs 100 per day from June 7, 2014 to a complainant for deficiency in services. Thane District Consumer Redressal Forum president Sneha Mhatre and member N D Kadam also directed the banks to re-credit by July 31 an amount of Rs 20,000 wrongly debited from the complainants account and also pay Rs 2,000 towards his expenses in pursuing the complaint. Samokhoo Prajapati, a resident of Nandivili in Kalyan township of Thane, informed the forum that during a tour of UP on June 7, 2014, he tried to withdraw Rs 10,000 from an ATM machine of PNB at Shahganj in Jaunpur but the cash was not dispensed. A second attempt to withdraw the cash also failed, but he received an SMS of Rs 20,000 debited from his account even when the cash was not dispensed by the ATM. Prajapati immediately informed his Union Bank home branch at Dombivali on telephone of the cash not dispensed by the ATM and that the amount had been debited from his account. He was informed by the branch that the amount would be credited to his account within the next 7 to 8 days. After his return, he made a written complaint to the branch but did not receive any response even after reminders. Hence, he filed the complaint with the consumer forum and sought re-credit of Rs 20,000 wrongly debited with an interest at 18 per cent and also Rs 45,000 compensation for mental harassment and Rs 5,000 towards the legal expenses. Both the respondents failed to respond, and hence the matter was decided ex-parte against them. The forum, in its order, noted that even though the complainant has not produced any documentary evidence of the cash withdrawal transactions, he filed the copies of the correspondence between him and the bank and this is enough to decide the complaint. Relying on a notification of the RBI in this connection, the forum recently asked the two banks to pay Prajapati a compensation of Rs 100 per day from June 7, 2014.PTI CORR GK DV SDM A man who slept with 55 brides before decamping with their jewellery died alone in Nimbalkot village of Sindhari, close to the international border in western Rajasthans Barmer district. He never married and lived alone. Jiyaram Jat, 54, had 18 cases against him in various police stations of Barmer, a record of which was maintained at Sindhari police station since 1994. He died on Saturday and was cremated by police. Sindhari station house officer Ramniwas Bishnoi said Jat was arrested in 2004 in molestation case, and at the time he had preyed on 55 brides, as he revealed nine years later. During interrogation, Jat said he only targeted dhanis small houses on farmlands usually occupied by a single family where a girl married as a child was ready for gauna, Bishnoi said. Child marriage is still prevalent in several parts of India, including in western Rajasthan. The practice of sending child brides to their husbands when they become adults is called gauna. Jat would only strike when women were alone in the house. He would walk into such households after nightfall and introduce himself as the girls husband. Since she was married in childhood, she wouldnt recognise him, the officer said. He would then copulate with the bride, and decamp with the jewellery to be sent with the girl to her in-laws before daybreak. Bishnoi said most families didnt inform the police for fear of ignominy in society. However, some did file molestation and cheating cases against him. After his 2004 arrest, Jat lay low until 2013, when he was back on the prowl for his 56th victim but was caught. In December 2013, HT reported how Patodi police caught him near Chilanadi village, where was stalking a prey in Bheelon Ki Dhani. Jats long criminal record of targeting child brides earned him the sobriquet Jamai Raja in police files. A militant and a civilian woman were killed and three security personnel injured critically as a paramilitary camp at Kud on the Jammu-Srinagar highway came under attack at about 5pm on Monday. The militant is reported to have opened fire from a bus the moment it reached a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) check post about 45 kilometres from Udhampur. The bullets hit three jawans of the CRPFs 84 battalion and a woman passenger, and she succumbed to her injuries later. Udhampur-Reasi deputy inspector general Surinder Kumar Gupta said the encounter had ended with the killing of the lone militant aboard the bus. The three injured security personnel were shifted to the district hospital. Police and the CRPF were searching all the Jammu-bound vehicles near the Kral Nullah at Kud when they flagged down this bus and the armed passenger, who remains unidentified, opened indiscriminate fire at them, director general of police (DGP) K Rajendra Kumar told PTI. In Jammu, Chenani sub-district magistrate Devinder Sharma said the woman victims body had been shifted to the Chenani sub-district hospital for autopsy but her identity was yet to be ascertained. A man from her family had escorted her to the bus that had 22 passengers, said the officer. Among the injured, Rubin Thappa of Gurdaspur in Punjab and Balbir of Krishna Nagar in Jammu were moved to Udhampurs Military Hospital. Their condition is stated to be critical. A search for more militants is on in the area. The attack comes roughly a year after militants ambushed a Border Security Force (BSF) convoy on the Jammu-Srinagar highway in Udhampur, killing two personnel and injuring a dozen soldiers. In that operation, the army captured one of the two attackers, identified as Mohammed Naved of Pakistans Faisalabad, only the second Pakistani terrorist to be captured alive after Ajmal Kasab was caught during the 2008 Mumbai attacks. In the coming years, more women would join armed forces, defence minister Manohar Parrikar said on Tuesday. This is just the beginning. Slowly, women in large numbers will be part of the armed forces, Parrikar told reporters in New Delhi. He said this at an event where he felicitated the first ever all-girls National Cadet Corps (NCC) team which had climbed the Mount Everest. Defence minister Manohar Parrikar pose for a group photo with NCC cadets and officers. (PTI) Flying Cadet Avani Chaturvedi, along with Bhawana Kanth and Mohana Singh, will enter the history books this Saturday, by becoming the first three women cadets to be inducted into fighter aircraft squadron. They will go to Bidar this month for their stage-III training for a year on Hawk advanced jet trainers, before they get to fly supersonic warplanes. Six women cadets were competing to become fighter pilots after the government, in a landmark move, approved an IAF plan in October to induct them as fighter pilots. However, only three trainees were selected for the fighter stream. Everest expedition The NCC Girls Mount Everest Expedition Team had scaled the worlds highest peak on May 21 and 22. Parrikar said the NCC has been asked to encourage the girl cadets to take up such activities. This is just the beginning. Many more girls will undertake such expeditions, he said. They scaled the peak after dividing themselves into two teams, where the first team led by the Expedition Team Leader Col Gaurav Karki, reached the summit on May 21 and the second team led by Lt Col Vishal Alhawat reached the top on May 22. This is the first ever successful expedition by the NCC Girls Team. All ten girl cadets of the expedition team are between the age group of 17 and 21 years. Welcoming the Bombay high courts verdict on Bollywood movie Udta Punjab, Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) chief Pahlaj Nihalani on Tuesday dubbed it as the victory of democracy, adding it was not a matter of win or lose. Every producer has the right to challenge the CBFC order. Now, it is up to the administration to take a call to challenge it. Be it CBFC or the income tax, one can go to the higher authorities after an order. This is a right in a democracy. Its the victory of the producer and I congratulate him, Nihalani told the media in Mumbai. The censor board chief, who was earlier called a dictator by co-producer Anurag Kashyap for bearing down heavily upon the film, said that he acted as per the rule book. I dont watch films nor do I have the right to watch films. We respect the order, Nihalani said while avoiding posers about the topic of drug menace in Punjab. The high court on Monday cleared the release of Udta Punjab, whose makers were locked in a dispute with the CBFC. A division bench of the Bombay HC directed the CBFC to certify the film within 48 hours to enable the makers to release it on its schedule date on June 17. The bench refused to stay its order on a plea made by the CBFC counsel to enable the board to appeal against it in the Supreme Court, saying the filmmakers have already spent a lot on the movie and its promotion and distribution. Business / Economy by Staff reporter THE Government is formulating a framework to promote use of multiple currencies in its departments, municipalities and parastatals to reduce over-reliance on the United States dollar.The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe is also expected to reconfigure the local Real Time Gross Payment System (RTGS) to process multiple currencies, with the Finance Ministry saying Zimbabwe is "not a US dollar economy". And as US dollar cash shortages negatively affect livelihoods and commerce, Government wants wider use of other currencies, particularly the South African rand.Most public offices - like private enterprises - demand payment for goods and services in US dollars even though Government introduced a regime in 2009 that allowed use as legal tender of currencies from terrritories such as South Africa, Botswana, China and the European Union.But with the current US dollar cash squeeze, which has seen withdrawals drastically limited, there is renewed vigour to ensure acceptance of all currencies in the basket of legal tender approved by the Finance Ministry and Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.Notably, most Government offices reject South African rand payments in blatant disregard of official policy. Rural and urban local authorities, tax agency Zimra, roads authority Zinara, the Registrar-Generals Office, Higher and Tertiary Education institutions, public health institutions, Police, courts and the Vehicle Inspection Department demand US dollar payments. Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa told our Harare Bureau he had initiated urgent meetings with key financial partners to address "multiple currency use anomalies".He said the Government departments, parastatals and local authorities would soon be directed to respect the multiple currency regime. Minister Chinamasa said he was "surprised that our own Government departments are refusing multiple currencies such as the rand"."This is a matter that I will urgently discuss with the RBZ Governor (Dr John Mangudya) to see how we can put in place measures that will see multiple currencies being accepted at all Government and quasi-Government agencies as urgently as possible. We cannot have our own Government systems rejecting the rand or other currencies at a time we are experiencing cash challenges."Minister Chinamasa urged the public to embrace the RBZ's efforts to bolster the multiple currency regime that has been made dysfunctional by over-reliance on the US dollar. "People really need to understand that we are not a US dollar economy, but we are a multiple currency economy, so we cannot have Government departments failing to lead from the front," he said.Minister Chinamasa said the volatility of the rand was not an excuse for Government departments to reject the currency."The talk about the volatility of the rand should not be an issue that should stop our departments from accepting it. This is where the RBZ comes in. I am going to speak with the RBZ Governor so that we can come up with an approach that is not complicated, but which can be easily made use of by people to transact in other currencies. There should be a system where tariffs are pegged in different currencies to facilitate easy payments when people can bring in money such as the rand, pula, euro and British pound," he said.Economist Mr Kingstone Khanyile said Government could easily make use of the RBZ's daily exchange rates to implement multiple currency payments for public institutions."First of all Government should issue a clear directive to all payment offices under their purview that they should accept payments in the rand currency. The RBZ comes up with daily exchange rates of how the US dollar is trading with other currencies so these can be communicated to all Government payment offices, or simply set up electronic exchange boards displaying the daily value of the currencies."In a statement last month on policy measures to deal with cash shortages, the RBZ noted that it was important to "restore the fundamental principles of the multi-currency system through increasing availability and usage of the other currencies within the multi-currency basket".Last week, Bankers Association of Zimbabwe (BAZ) president Mrs Charity Jinya acknowledged that continued rejection of the rand was unsustainable. She told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Finance that the rand should be adopted as the main transacting currency to reduce concentration risk on the US dollar. The BAZ president said the US dollar should be reserved for making off-shore payments and local electronic transactions.RBZ statistics show that when the multiple currency regime was introduced in 2009, there was 49 percent usage each of the rand and US dollar, and two percent for other currencies. But now, use of of the US dollar has reached 95 percent of all transactions. Zimbabwe's basket of currencies includes the US dollar, South African rand, Botswana pula, euro, Chinese yuan, British pound, Australian dollar, Indian rupee and Japanese yen. About 12,000 Hindus, mostly migrant Kashmiri Pandits, on Tuesday gathered at the Sangam (confluence) of the Jhelum river and Sindh stream in Ganderbal district of Jammu and Kashmir to celebrate Maha Kumbh. Last time we had such alignment of celestial bodies was in 1941 and today after 75 years and 10 days the same celestial alignment is in place, said Ashutosh Bhatnagar, 44, who had come from Delhi to take part in the Maha Kumbh. The Sangam at Saidipora village in Ganderbal has always been sacred to the local Pandit community for the immersion of the ashes of their dead, he said. Maha Kumbh is an event that the devotees could not miss and that is why we have come in such large numbers to be part of this auspicious occasion, Bhatnagar said. The Maha Kumbh this year has been declared by Omkar Nath Shastri, an astrologer whose family is known for publishing Panchang (Hindu almanac) for Kashmiris before the Pandit migration took place in early 1990s. At this confluence of Jhelum river and Sindh stream Kumbh is celebrated every 12 years and Ardh Kumbh every six years, said Bharat Raina, convener of Tuesdays function at Sangam. Raina said a 12-hour long Havan (offerings to fire) was started on Monday at Sangam and will end on Tuesday. On this day, the devotees take a bath at the holy Sangam to wash away their sins and then proceed to the little island at the confluence where a Chinar tree has been growing since long, he said. This little piece of land at the confluence is the sanctum sanctorum of the holy place. Devotees offer water to the Shivling on this island. After the Havan, the devotees will take Prasad and distribute it among their near and dear ones back home, said Raina. This is the first time since the migration of local Pandits from the Valley that they have come in such large numbers to be part of the Maha Kumbh at Saidipora Sangam. However, in 2011, around 35,000 Hindus, mostly from south India, had gathered at Sangam in Saidipora village to celebrate Pushkar which is basically a south Indian Hindu celebration taking place at river banks. Authorities have made tight security arrangements for the devotees who will start leaving the Valley on Tuesday evening. Pakistan has closed the chapter of acquiring eight F-16s from the US and will now opt for Jordan-owned F-16 fighter jets, foreign secretary Aizaz Chaudhry said on Monday amid strains in bilateral ties over the scuttling of the deal and a US drone strike on its soil. Chaudhry, briefing the Senate Standing Committee on Defence and Foreign Policy, said the US seemed to be satisfied with Pakistans decision. The chapter of receiving F-16 fighter jets from the US has been closed. Pakistan will now opt for Jordan-owned F-16 fighter jets, he said. Choudhry said one of the reasons for strained relations with the US was Pakistans close ties with China. Pakistan cannot cooperate with the US on some issues. One of these issues is its sovereignty, he said. He said that strained relations with the US were nothing new for Pakistan. Condemning the US policy on the war on terror he said, The US has spent 16 years fighting the war on terror. If only it had given six years to the peace process things would have been different. The Pakistan-US ties strained after Congressional restriction on financing of F-16 fighter jets in Foreign Military Financing programme, due to which Pakistan could not buy the jets. The relationship further suffered when the US carried out a drone strike in Balochistan, killing Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour, which was termed by Pakistani leadership as a violation of the countrys sovereignty. Signalling his governments tough line on domestic black money, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has told party leaders his government would spare no one with black money once the compliance window shuts on 30 September. Our government has announced a scheme, giving an opportunity to people to declare black money by September 30. Let it be know that there will be no relaxation afterwards. There will be no distinction between people close to us and others, Modi told members of BJPs national executive at Allahabad on Monday. The two-day meeting concluded on Monday evening with PM reiterating before party leaders that people are not satisfied with mere sloganeering and they are concerned about nation building. A BJP source told Hindustan Times, The message to party leaders was loud and clear that nobody should approach him for any relaxation to those who fail to disclose within compliance window their illegally amasses wealth. Action against black money is a poll promise for him. The Centre had notified a one-time disclosure window under the Income Declaration Scheme 2016 to declare black money that opened on June 1. Under this scheme, the government gave an opportunity to domestic black money holders to come clean. Under the scheme, they have to pay tax, penalty and a surcharge of 45% of the declared amount. Those who volunteer under this scheme would be allowed to retain 55% of the declared income and get immunity from prosecution under various laws. The law to deal with undisclosed income kept in foreign banks had yielded about Rs 4,000 crore and the government had now turned its focus on domestic black money. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday left Accra after a three-day visit for Cote dIvoire capital Abidjan, to begin the second leg of his three-nation African tour that will also take him to Namibia. This will be the first ever high-level visit from India since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. The Cote dIvoire visit which is at the invitation of the Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara has has become important because of the growing trade between India and Cote dIvoire. Official figures say bilateral trade between India and Cote dIvoire has grown from $344.99 million in 2010-11 to A $841.85 million in last year. In addition, India, in the rubric of South-South Cooperation, has extended lines of credit amounting to $156.3 million to the Government of Cote dIvoire for developmental projects in diverse fields such as public transportation, rural electrification, rice self-sufficiency, cashew nut processing, vegetable oil processing, and coconut fibre processing. On arrival in the Ivorian capital, Abidjan, President Mukherjee is expected to be received by President Ouattara. Both are expected to have a one-to-one meeting followed by delegation level talks. President Mukherjee is to be honoured with the National Order of the Republic of Cote dIvoire, the highest Order of the country and would also be handed the Key to the city of Abidjan. An agreement to open then EXIM Bank Representative/Regional in Abidjan would be handed over in presence of both the Presidents and they would later address a Joint Business Forum and also interact with the Indian community. Mukherjee will depart for Namibia on June 15 for the next leg of his tour. The suspension of two professors, detained by police for allegedly indulging in vandalism on the campus in March, by the University of Hyderabad has caught the faculty and students by shock and surprise. Tathagat Sengupta of the department of English and KY Ratnam of the department of political science were arrested by police along with 25 students on the charges of vandalising the office of vice-chancellor Podile Appa Rao, when he returned to the university to resume his duties on March 22. The students were agitating for the sacking of Appa Rao, whom they held responsible for the suicide of Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula on January 17 which triggered a nation-wide uproar. The two professors received orders from the vice-chancellors office on Monday evening, stating that they were placed under suspension as per the decision of the university executive council. University spokesperson Prof Vipin Srivastava said the decision was taken at the executive council meeting held recently and orders were issued on Monday accordingly. The suspension will be in force till they are cleared of charges against them made in the first information report of the police. The incident happened in March but the suspension order was issued only yesterday though I was no way connected with the attack. Moreover, I was away in Kolkata when the suspension order was issued. I am returning to Hyderabad and will decide on future course of action after discussing with my lawyers, Sengupta told Hindustan Times. University authorities invoked a central government rule which says a government servant will be deemed to have been suspended, if he is detained by police for more than 48 hours on a criminal charge or otherwise, with effect from the date of detention. The UoH Joint Action Committee for Social Justice strongly protested the suspension of the two professors. We have been anticipating such harsh action against the professors for quite some time. For the past few days, the vice-chancellor has been selectively targeting students and university teachers. We thought the university would first serve show-cause notices on the two professors, but it straightaway suspended them, JAC leader Y Bhaskar told HT. The university authorities have waited for vacations before resorting to such actions as removal of tents at Rohith Vemula memorial and suspension of professors, Bhaskar said. Munsif, one of the students who was arrested, condemned the suspension of Sengupta and Ratnam for standing up to the students community. The students will rise in rage in solidarity with the professors, he said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Ever since the second round of Jat stir for reservation began in Haryana on June 5, the Rohtak police has not been able to make even a single arrest in the cases registered during February quota stir, when the state witnessed an unprecedented violence in which 30 people were killed while properties worth over hundreds of crores of rupees was vandalised. While the district police was making regular arrests before June, it has gone slow in action owing to its workload in preventing any new violent activities in the new stir launched by the community. Notably, the Punjab and Haryana high court on June 2 demanded reports on the 2,120 FIRs registered in the cases related to loot and violence in February. The bench will began the hearing on these cases from July 4. A police spokesperson told HT that police in Rohtak has not been able to make even half of the arrests in the cases wherein the accused have been named in the FIRs. On being asked, Rohtak range IGP Sanjay Kumar said arrests usually go slow in the later stages since not many people are left to be nabbed. However, he said, The action has gone slow because the police force is busy with controlling the second round of the agitation. Not just the cases registered in February, but other functions of the police have also got affected . SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A special court for the Prevention of Money Laundering Act declared Vijay Mallya a proclaimed offender on Tuesday on a plea by the Enforcement Directorate, which is probing the liquor tycoon in a money-laundering case. The court had issued a non-bailable warrant against Mallya on April 18 to secure his presence in the country. On Monday, the court sought to know the steps taken by the ED after the warrant was issued. The agency had moved an application to declare Mallya, who fled the country on March 2, a proclaimed offender last week. Please pass an order on the application for proclamation against Mallya so that the agency can approach the ministry of external affairs for a red-corner notice against him, the advocate for the agency had told the court. A red-corner notice is issued to seek the location and arrest of wanted people with a view to extradition or similar lawful action in a criminal case probe. Once the notice is issued, the Interpol seeks to arrest the person concerned in any part of the world and notifies that country to take his or her custody for further action at their end. Mallya on Sunday accused Indian government agencies of deeming him guilty without trial and lambasted the countrys financial crime fighters for leading a heavily biased investigation against him. The flamboyant 60-year-old beer baron left India in March for the UK, under hot pursuit from banks over loans granted to his collapsed carrier Kingfisher Airlines and yet to be repaid. He has repeatedly failed to appear before investigators at the Enforcement Directorate, a financial crimes agency, who suspect him of misusing funds loaned by a state bank. In a rare statement, Mallya responded to reports that Indias federal investigative agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation, was taking further steps to probe him and the airline. It is, indeed, sad and disappointing that the thousands of documents submitted by us and interrogation of several executives seems insufficient to convince them there has been no wrongdoing, he said. I have maintained and continue to maintain that there has been absolutely no misappropriation or diversion of funds and strenuously deny any allegation to the contrary. Mallya rejected reports he had refused to go before the Enforcement Directorate, which has issued three summons for his appearance, but said he had simply sought time to sell assets to pay employees, tax authorities and the banks. He added that he had offered to appear before officials via video conference. It surely appears as if these agencies are pursuing a heavily biased investigation and are already holding me guilty without trial after which I need to prove my innocence, he said. Purely civil matters such as loan recovery are being connected with criminal allegations without any basis whatsoever. India seeks to significantly boost domestic nuclear energy production with the support of foreign firms, while also underscoring the need for certainty in international trading norms. Membership to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) can meet these conditions and India, which has been lobbying to garner international support for the same, is confident that most countries will endorse its stake, Union Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar said on Monday. Delivering the keynote address at the Gateway of India Dialogue, Jaishankar also hinted at Indias willingness to align with international standards to reach its objective of increased civil nuclear energy production. These large anticipated investments in the nuclear energy sector can, however, only happen in a climate of predictability. In particular, it would require greater certainty of trading rules and technology access, he said. A stronger Indian nuclear industry could help make nuclear power more competitive globally. It is also in the larger interest that our practices are in conformity with global ones, he added. The race for membership to the NSG has intensified with Pakistan staking claim for an entry into the 48-nation group that effectively controls the sale and use of nuclear equipment and fissile material technology. India has conveyed to China, a member whose support will be key in its NSG ambitions, that the membership claim does not have a geopolitical dimension, but is a mandatory technical requirement in New Delhis quest for clean nuclear energy. A final decision on the issue is likely to be taken at the plenary meeting of the group in Seoul later this month. China has asked for a discussion on the process for entry of non-Nuclear Proliferation Treaty (NPT) members, such as India and Pakistan, even as a majority of the group members favour Indias entry. New Delhi, however, remains optimistic. In response to a query on whether India was hopeful of Chinas endorsement, Jaishankar quipped: Diplomacy is an optimistic profession. While India has always strived to build energy security, recent efforts have focused on renewable energy in line with the countrys commitment to shift to 40% non-fossil power generation capacity by 2030. It is this commitment that has India pushing for greater nuclear power generation. Jaishankar also pointed out the connection between business and diplomacy, saying business has driven national and group strategies over the course of human history. The issue is less about correlation and more of the extent of centrality of business to the formulation of strategy. Indian experience since independence reveals that the growing salience of business at home is reflected abroad as well, he said. An era of greater state control and direction obviously had its own particular brand of diplomacy. With changing times and higher growth, a new mindset gradually came into place. There is a sharper realisation that the real strengths of any nation are primarily economic, he added. Chief minister J Jayalalithaa is set to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Tuesday in what will be her first official visit since her triumph in Tamil Nadus assembly elections, held last month. In addition to presenting a 32-page document outlining her official queries, the AIADMK leader is expected to discuss, among other things, the formation of a Cauvery Management Board and Cauvery Water Regulation Committee, as well the issue of Tamil Nadu fishermen being held by Sri Lankan naval authorities. It is also expected the Bharatiya Janata Partys (BJP) willingness to court the AIADMK, which is buoyed by its resounding victory and its majority status in the Tamil Nadu assembly, may figure in the talks scheduled to begin at 4:30 pm. But an alliance seems unlikely. With 37 MPs in the Lok Sabha, the third-largest of any party, as well as 12 MPs in the Rajya Sabha, Jayalalithaas support in pushing several pending bills in both Houses will certainly be of interest to the PM. However, the BJP government had heavily criticised the six-time CM in the months leading up to the elections. Union power minister Piyush Goyal said he was unable to meet with Jayalalithaa during his 22-month tenure, and BJP president Amit Shah accused her of corruption. While the PM avoided naming her directly during his election speeches in Chennai, he spoke about how the centre was the only one to help those affected in last years floods. Jayalalithaa is expected return to Chennai by 9:00 pm after a 50-minute meeting with the Prime Minister. Entertainment / Celebrity by Bongani Ndlovu A NEW show, Wedding Diaries on which Zimbabwean couples share their experiences, frustrations and memorable moments before and after their wedding day, has begun airing on DStv's Zambezi Magic, channel 160.The first episode aired on June 5 and the show's 13 episodes will be aired every Sunday. This week's second episode featured Charles and Shingi Mugaviri who celebrated their silver jubilee by sharing pictures of where they met and got married and people got to know that Charles met Shingi in a shop in Gweru while buying shoes.Wedding Diaries' first segment kicks off with the featured couple sharing about how they met, how they fell in love, how the husband proposed and how she felt. Also in the first segment, the couple talks about their wedding, like what where the high and lows of the day.In the second segment it's "The Couple's Game" where they ask each other questions that they have to answer truthfully. In the last segment there's advice that's given to the couple by a wedding planner Kevin Zhou and relationship advice by Evan Mawarire.The show's producer Blessing Chinanga said: "Wedding Diaries is about highlighting couple's wedding stories in a light, fun way. We've mixed old and new couples to show how marriage is and those watching can get tips on hour to find love," said Chinanga. He said the show has no celebrities as they want to tell the story of ordinary Zimbabweans who are married."For the first season the couples were handpicked. They came to the studios in Mount Pleasant in Harare and we shot their stories. I believe for the next season we shall ask people to write in and tell us their stories about their weddings," said Chinanga.He said there were many interesting and diverse views by people on marriage. "Happy couples are always eager to share their life journey together. You'll be surprised to know one or two things from these people who have been married for a long time," said Chinanga.Maybe taking a cue from South Africa's Our Perfect Wedding that is very popular, Wedding Diaries has the potential to have a lot of followers in the country as it will tell stories of people that they can identify with.For those who may have missed the show it will rerun on the same channel at 6:30PM tonight. Next week the show will feature Tanaka and Tafadzwa. Assam Police have recovered tiger skin, deer skin, ivory, Rs 2 crore in cash and about 1kg of gold jewellery from the residence of a divisional forest officer who was caught accepting bribes from truck owners. Mahat Chandra Talukdar, the divisional forest officer in northern Assams Dhemaji, was arrested on Tuesday and taken to Guwahati, where his house at Geetanagar area was raided. Police have yet to open two more lockers belonging to Talukdar. A tiger skin seized from the officials house. (HT Photo) Many officials of the Assam forest department faced corruption charges in the third term of the Tarun Gogoi-led Congress government, which was ousted by the Bharatiya Janata Party in the recently held elections. The new government took a tough stand on graft charges in the forest department, with state minister Pramila Rani Brahma promising action against errant officials. The raid has been carried out by the anti-corruption wing of Assam Police and till now over Rs 2 crore cash has been recovered, an official said. It was not immediately clear how Talukdar acquired the animal skins and ivory. Republican presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump has revoked press credentials of The Washington Post, a leading American daily, accusing it of writing falsely about him. Winner of several Pulitzer prizes and considered to be the flag bearer of journalism standards and ethics, The Washington Post is one of the most influential global newspapers. Based on the incredibly inaccurate coverage and reporting of the record setting Trump campaign, we are hereby revoking the press credentials of the phony and dishonest Washington Post, Trump wrote on his Facebook page. I am no fan of President (Barack) Obama, but to show you how dishonest the phony Washington Post is, they wrote, Donald Trump suggests President Obama was involved with Orlando shooting as their headline. Sad! he wrote in another post. However, The Post, as the leading daily is popularly known as, said in a statement that it would continue to cover Trump as usual. Donald Trumps decision to revoke The Washington Posts press credentials is nothing less than a repudiation of the role of a free and independent press, said The Washington Post Editor Martin Baron. When coverage doesnt correspond to what the candidate wants it to be, then a news organisation is banished, he alleged. The Post will continue to cover Donald Trump as it has all along - honorably, honestly, accurately, energetically, and unflinchingly. Were proud of our coverage, and were going to keep at it, Baron said in a statement. The Trump Campaign stood by its decision. The Washington Post unfortunately covers Mr Trump very inaccurately, the campaign said in a statement. Todays headline, Donald Trump Suggests President Obama Was Involved With Orlando Shooting is a perfect example. We no longer feel compelled to work with a publication which has put its need for clicks above journalistic integrity, the campaign said. They have no journalistic integrity and write falsely about Mr Trump. Mr Trump does not mind a bad story, but it has to be honest, the brief statement said. The fact is, The Washington Post is being used by the owners of Amazon as their political lobbyist so that they dont have to pay taxes and dont get sued for monopolistic tendencies that have led to the destruction of department stores and the retail industry, the Campaign alleged. A war of words has erupted in the BJP over projecting Varun Gandhi as the partys face in the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh after he skipped a meeting called by party chief Amit Shah for lawmakers from the state. Gandhi, who was here to attend the BJPs national executive, was conspicuous by his absence at the meeting of Lok Sabha MPs, which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi among others. When asked about it, partys state unit president Keshav Prasad Maurya, who is himself an MP from Phulpur, said, We have more than 70 MPs in the state and out of them at least 13 could not take part. This was not due to any resentment on their part but because of their personal reasons. He said the meeting went off peacefully, without any tensions and was attended by Modi and also a number of Union ministers. A second-term MP, Gandhis absence at the meeting had given rise to speculation that he was miffed at the reluctance of the partys central leadership to grant him a prominent role in the UP assembly polls due in less than a year. In 2013, the then party president had appointed Gandhi as one of the national general secretaries, making him the youngest person to hold the post. However, when Shah took over and Singh moved to the Union cabinet, Gandhi was stripped off the post. Meanwhile, firebrand MP from Bihar Shatrughan Sinha, who had reportedly voiced his support for Gandhi at the national executive, on Tuesday defended his stand when a number of party colleagues criticised him. I stand by what I had said at the national executive. And let me make it clear, I never said it should only be Gandhi. My point is, name anybody, be it Gandhi, or Yogi Adityanath, Rajnath Singh or even Keshav Maurya. But please give the people an idea of who could be the chief minister if the party came to power in UP, he told reporters. He was replying to queries about the statement of Allahabad MP Shyama Charan Gupta, who had reacted strongly to reports about the formers vocal stance saying he is an MP from Bihar. Who is he to comment on UP politics. Claiming he was not even aware that Gupta was a BJP MP, Sinha said, Everybody has a right to voice his or her opinion in a democracy. I exercised my democratic right. Now let others do the same. Sinha has been particularly vocal about BJPs strategy in the Bihar assembly polls last year after the party suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the Grand Alliance of JDU, RJD and Congress. A Trinamool Lok Sabha MP and a former lecturer at Visva-Bharati was on Tuesday allegedly manhandled by a few employees of the university and party supporters in West Bengals Birbhum district. Anupam Hazra was sacked by university authorities in June 2015 for taking an unauthorised leave. Hazra, who did not join even after his lien was over, asked for leave after he became an MP from Bolpur parliamentary seat. In June last year, the then varsity registrar-in-charge asked Hazra to revert to his parent organisation Assam University and did not allow him to rejoin VB. Hazra then raised the matter with the Union ministry of human resource development. In August 2015, the Joint Committee of Parliament ruled he could join his classes. On June 3, he and his father Debnath Hazra staged a sit-in protest in front of the vice chancellors office demanding that the university reinstates him. Authorities, however, asked him to vacate the place. On Monday, Hazra protested for more than eight hours disrupting the functioning of the office. Tuesday was the third day when Hazra came to demonstrate in front of the VCs office. The employees of the university heckled him when he came back on Tuesday at around 11:30am with his father, a retired police officer. They also raised slogans like Anupam Hazra go back and We dont want Anupam. The acting VC has instigated the employees to descend on me. The employees were led by Debabrata Sarkar, the president of Karmisabha (employees union), Hazra alleged while leaving the spot where he staged a protest. Security officials and policemen rescued the MP from the attack. Sarkar, president of Visva-Bharati Karmi Sabha (employees union) and a Trinamool leader, denied having any knowledge about the MP being manhandled by university employees. I dont know anything about this. I was not present there. I dont even want to react on what Hazra, who seems to be speaking through his hat, has alleged. Perhaps locals, who are angry with him for lack of development work and participation in local projects, have expressed their anger, Sarkar said. He accused Hazra of maligning the image of the party and acting against the dignity of Parliament. Anupam should first clarify whether he is coming to the university as an MP, or a sacked employee. He is using government facilities for his interests. Our leader Mamata Banerjee is aware of everything, Sarkar said. There are many issues in Visva-Bharati that need an early solution. According to which MHRD guidelines, an acting VC and acting registrar cant take any major decision. But a sacked employee of varsity, who is incidentally MP of this place, is making a drama to get his job back, he said. Birbhum district Trinamool Congress president Anubrata Mondal also accused Harza of creating a nuisance saying it was not a party matter. We have informed him that his matter is now under the approval of varsitys highest body executive council. As soon as the EC takes a decision on his issue, we will inform him, a VB official told HT earlier this month. Hazra joined Visva-Bharati as an assistant professor in the department of social work on December 4, 2013. He worked at Assam University before being appointed by the only central university in West Bengal. Two key suspects in the 2009 Margao blast case might have executed the killing of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar, CBI sources said on Monday after interrogating Sanatan Sanstha activist Virendra Tawade. Dabholkar, a staunch anti-superstition crusader, was killed by two unidentified motorbike-borne people on August 20, 2013 in Pune. CBI sources told Hindustan Times that Tawade had planned the murder, while it was executed by Sarang Akolkar and Rudra Patil. Both Akolkar and Patil are on the run. He (Tawade) appears to be the mastermind as he has played an important role in the planning of the murder, said a CBI source. The source said: There is a strong possibility that the Goa (Margao) blast suspects are behind executing it. The agency is also probing if same people were behind communist party leader and rationalist Govind Pansares murder. Tawade, an ENT specialist, was arrested by the CBI on Friday from his Panvel residence around three years after Dabholkar was shot dead. On October 16, 2009, two Sanatan Sanstha activists were killed in Margao when they were allegedly transporting a bomb. A special court in Margao acquitted six of the 11 people associated with the Sanstha, citing lack of evidence, while others, including Akolkar and Patil, are still at large. The CBI official said the emails they exchanged among Tawade, Akolkar and Patil showed they were closely associated. Hindustan Times was the first to report email exchanges between Tawade and Akolkar. The CBI officials said Tawade was in touch with Akolkar over phone too. On June 1, the CBI had raided houses of Tawade and Akolkar. The central probe agency recovered documents, mobiles and other material. The emails exchanged between Tawade and Akolkar, scrutinised by the CBI, suggest that they, along with others, wanted to set up an army of 15,000 armed men to establish Hindu Rashtra. According to CBI officials, Akolkar hailed Tawade as his mentor. Sanatan Sanstha has denied involvement of Tawade in the murder, saying his arrest was a conspiracy to malign the image of the group. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON NEW DELHI: Almost six years after a pact was signed for the same, India is moving to build Nepal Bharat Maitri Polytechnic at Hetauda in Nepal, as the two countries work on ways to address the mistrust and spruce up their strained ties. The two sides are also working on a plan for a presidential visit to each others country in a bid to have more visits as neighbours, sources said. India and Nepal will hold Surya Kiran joint military exercise, which will take place in October or November. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for building the institute was inked when Nepal President Ram Baran Yadav visited India in 2010. As India and Nepal try to address their political differences, China has stepped up its ties with Nepal recently. For the first time, China and Nepal have been connected with an optical fibre network via Tibet, according to Chinese media reports. This is with a view to bring down Nepals dependence on India for Internet connectivity. China has extended its optical fibre network to Nepal via Geelong (Keyrong)-Rasuwgadhi border point, which has ended Nepals sole dependence on India, Xinhua news agency had reported. State-owned Nepal Telecom (NT) said its optical fibre network has been connected to China Telecom Corporation Limited. After establishing a connection, we conducted technical test about two weeks ago, Dilliram Adhikari, joint spokesperson of NT, was quoted as saying in same the report. The Nepal government too has been responding positively to the ties. The bilateral relations between the two countries are getting consolidated and they have not been impeded as talked and guessed, Nepals deputy prime minister and foreign minister Kamal Thapa said after his recent visit to India. India was peeved at Nepals new constitution not factoring in the aspirations of its Madheshi population. Nepal government is now looking into the issue, which meanwhile had vitiated the ties between the neighbours. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON NEW DELHI: The BJP-led NDA government should not overlook the fact that past attempts to broker peace with Pakistan have been reciprocated with aggression and terror strikes, RSS joint general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale said here on Monday. While he clarified that the Sangh is not opposed to the governments engagement with the neighbour, he underlined the need to maintain vigil as Pakistan is administered by the army generals and not an elected government. The ideological mentor of the BJP, the Sangh has in the past spoken about the possibility of an Akhand Bharat (unified India), but wants the Government not to lose sight of the fact that Kargil war and the recent attacks in Pathankot, closely followed Indias overtures for peace. Describing Pakistan, as a rogue nation where state power buckles under street power Hosabale, speaking at the launch of journal Pakistan Watch, said the two nations do not share cultural but civilizational ties. He said Pakistan is a nationless state, which has failed to help its people stand on its own feet. It has only manufactured Taliban terroristsno other manufacturing takes place there, he said, taking a swipe at Pakistan. Sangh ideologue Rakesh Sinha, who is the editor-in-chief of the first edition of Pakistan Watch said, Pakistan is an idea, a discourse and it is imperative for Indian policy makers to keep an eye on the nation that was an experiment and will continue to remain one. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Police have booked Bharatiya Janata Partys (BJP) Kabir Sharma and Youth Akali leader Rajbir Singh Bhullar and their accomplices for opening fire at city-based gastroenterologist Dr Gurbilas P Singh late on Sunday night. The Amritsar police are yet to make arrests in the case. Kabir is said to be an associate of local bodies minister Anil Joshi. Though the police have identified the two accused, they are yet to ascertain the identities of their accomplices. Talking to Hindustan Times on Monday, police commissioner Amar Singh Chahal said, Kabir and Rajbir have been charged with attempt to murder. However, the police are yet to identify their accomplices. The complaint was lodged by the doctor. The number of unidentified accused is still not clear, it may be three or four, but we will identify them soon. He added, No arrests have been made so far, but we have started the investigation into the case. We have also conducted raids at several places, the commissioner said, adding that the accused were under the influence of alcohol. Such cases take place when the youths have no fear of consequences. In the past, we have taken steps to check the increasing crime rate in the city. Installation of CCTV cameras has helped keeping vigil on anti-social activities. Strict action against people indulging in such criminal activities would be taken, Chahal said. At a time when such incidents are taking place in the city, it came as a surprise that assistant commissioner of police (ACP) (crime) Bal Krishan Singla, when contacted, said he had no knowledge about the case and therefore Civil Lines station house officer could be contacted. The incident took place when Dr Gurbilas, on Sunday, drove towards Basant Avenue and was obstructed by a white Toyota Fortuner (PN-02-0047)) whose driver reportedly did not allow him to overtake. He honked twice and the SUV suddenly came to a halt, resulting in a collision. According to reports, as Dr Gurbilas was parking his car at the roadside, a turbaned youth came out of the SUV and opened fire. Terrified, the doctor sped away. He was reportedly chased by the SUV occupants. As suggested by his friends, the doctor drove towards the DCs residence and honked frantically to attract the attention of the police personnel there. Reports added that the accused, meanwhile, reached the spot too and pointing a revolver at the doctor, they pulled him out and allegedly thrashed him. However, a policeman, who came out of the DCs residence, took him and his friends inside to save them. Amritsar DC Varun Roojam, when contacted, said, The doctor and his friends were helped by my security personnel. The doctor was brought to my residence and the personnel made him relax and helped him change his clothes and tie his turban. He added, This is an unfortunate incident. The FIR has already been lodged against the accused and others involved. I have spoken and discussed the cased with the police commissioner and I am sure he will be taking strict action as per law. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Condemning the appointment of the 1984 antiSikh riot accused Kamal Nath as the in-charge of Congress affairs in Punjab, former state BJP chief and member of the BJP national executive Kamal Sharma on Monday said the Congress should tender an apology to the people of Punjab. He also demanded cancellation of Naths appointment. Read: SAD flays Kamal Naths appointment in Congress In a release issued here on Monday, Sharma said: The appointment of Kamal Nath, who is accused of rioting, only reflects that the Congress has no regrets over the 1984 Sikh genocide. Expressing his dismay over the development, Sharma said it was unfortunate that instead of bringing the guilty to the book, the Congress was rewarding them with plum posts. Read: No FIR against Kamal Nath for 1984 riots, say Cong MLAs Till last year, the Punjab government employees and pensioners could get treatment from any hospital and claim reimbursement. This year, after the government replaced that system with cashless health insurance, they are sick of harassment. Even empanelled hospitals complain of delayed settlement of claims and reduction in assessed cost of surgery without intimation. Punjab Government Pensioners Joint Front leader Mohinder Singh Parwana told HT that delayed authorisations that held back treatment were order of the day. Many hospitals have even charged patients full treatment cost, based on a false promise of repayment once the insurer settles the claim. The state health department is sitting on two of these complaints filed last month, said Parwana. Jalandhar patient Sushil Kataria claimed that he was entitled for treatment worth Rs 3 lakh under this scheme but forced to pay Rs 85,000 for surgery to a local hospital that had declined to deal with the government insurer, claiming it was bad with giving approvals. Still waiting for the reimbursement, he said the earlier system of clearing bills based on entitlement was better. The scheme launched on January 1 and outsourced to Oriental Insurance has nearly 4 lakh subscribers, most yet to receive their e-cards, guidebooks, and list of empanelled hospitals. India Medical Associations Punjab chapter senior executive Dr Rajinder Sharma said hospitals alone were not to blame. About 40% of the empanelled hospitals are eye centres, all irked by the insurers new approved cost of cataract surgery down from Rs 10,000 to Rs 6,000 without notice. A quality cataract operation cant be done in this meagre amount, he said. Another issue is the delay in settling claims. Corporate hospitals can absorb the pressure, as their immediate aim to increase the footfall. Small health enterprises, however, cant afford two-to-three-month delay in payment when the settlement period is 30 days under the scheme, Dr Sharma added. Asked to react, Vipan Sharma, project director in Punjab Health System Corporation, said the insurance company had blamed the delays on a software glitch. In the past five months, we have settled most of the 300 complaints we received, with action against some of the empanelled hospitals. That the insurer has settled claims worth more than Rs 70 crore reflects the success of the scheme, he said. I dont claim there are no teething problems but we are bound to take corrective measures, review the policy, and seek feedback from stakeholders for constant improvement, said the project director. Double standards? All employees and pensioners now are required to enrol under the Punjab Government Employees and Pensions Health Insurance Scheme (PGEPHIS) that was earlier optional, on the lines of the benefit extended to all-India-service officers; serving and former legislators; and past and present judicial officers, including the Punjab and Haryana high court judges. The state government has double standards. If this scheme was good for all employees, why only a certain class has the choice of remaining in the old system? asked Sangrur private medical practitioner Dr Amandeep Aggarwal. The scheme Launched on: January 1 Outsourced to: Oriental Insurance Subscribers: 4 lakh, most yet to receive their e-cards, guidebooks, and list of empanelled hospitals SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Entertainment / Music by Agencies Karizma is a young male established artist based between London, England and Harare who is celebrating the 10th year anniversary of his debut album this year.Born and bred in Harare, Zimbabwe.Karizma has been one of the pioneers of urban Zim Hip-Hop across the borders.Shisha Pipe is a tongue-in-cheek, playful song about how a regular day turned into an unforgettable story.The song emphasises how not all girls are looking for love, but rather a good time instead. Karizma worked on the song with producer Yung Nash who is a rising star in his own right in the regional Hip Hop Arena.This is a layed back song you can bop to, laced with a sinister, foreboding edge that reminds you that, amidst the fun, Karizma isn't playing games. As an introduction to the South African market.The single is light in contrast to some of his previous work.This song displays strong personality that demands your full attention. This is one artist you need to pay attention to in 2016. The counter intelligence (CI) wing of Punjab police has seized huge quantity of suspected fake blood plasma and arrested five persons in this connection from a house near Behman Dewana village here. As many as 21752 packs of suspected fake blood plasma, worth Rs 1.25 crore, were recovered from a truck with refrigeration facility. The fake plasma, as per police has been manufactured using protein rich items such as eggs, milk and soyabean and accused aimed to cheat a private firm by supplying it fake plasma. The accused had taken advance of Rs 20 lakhs from the private firm for providing it blood plasma. Fresh Frozen Plasma was written on each pack which also bears the name of person from whose blood it has been extracted with the date of extraction and expiry date. A team of health officials took samples of seized fake plasma for lab testing. Those arrested persons include Dilbagh Singh employed as head lab technician in a medical college, his associate in lab Paramjit Singh, Paramjit Singh a lab technician in a private hospital in Bathinda his brother Narinder Singh from Behman Dewana village and Lal Bahadur Singh driver of truck. A case under section 420, 120 B IPC and drugs and cosmetics act has been registered against all five. Assistant inspector general of CI wing Ajay Maluja said that they had got a tip off that the accused were involved in manufacturing of fake blood plasma which they had to sell to a private firm. The police have recovered 21,752 packs of suspected fake plasma kept in refrigeration facility in truck with the refrigeration facility bearing Maharashtra registration number MH 46 AF 6137. Accused Dilbagh worked as head lab technician in a medical college from where he got to know that private firms need blood plasma whose expiry date should be near. The accused started manufacturing of fake blood plasma using protein items such as milk, egg and soyabean. He also had inked an agreement with the firm for sale of the same, said Maluja. Maluja said that accused aimed to cheat the private firm by supplying fake plasma. The accused had got an advance of Rs 20 lakhs from the firm. Using that they had purchased blood packs from Ludhiana spending amount worth Rs 12 lakhs. The manufactured item was to be sold for about Rs 1.25 crore, expressed Maluja. A truck was hired from Mumbai and same was loaded with the product in Behman Dewana village. A doctor at Bathinda Civil hospitals blood bank said that it was impossible to manufacture 21,752 packs of plasma as many number of persons blood had to be used and it would have taken months for the process. Director higher education (officiating director school education) Jitender Yadav on Monday issued an order to deputy director (school education) Chanchal Singh to ask the five-member committee, which was set up to look into parents complaints in the forced stationery purchase issue, to rework on their report and submit a fresh one at the earliest. Talking to HT, Yadav said, I did not find the report too clear and felt it lacked concrete measures or suggestions for action to be taken. It included observations and appeared as though we are passing the buck to other departments instead of taking action ourselves, wherever possible. Hence, I have asked the deputy director, school education, to tell the committee members to review the report, he added. The five-member committee, comprising deputy DEO-2, subject experts of home science and commerce, had received about 78 complaints, alleging that these were making profit through sale of textbooks, uniforms and other stationery items, against citys 37 private schools. The committee was to suggest suitable action in this regard, keeping in view the existing rules and provisions of the Punjab Education Code, CBSE guidelines, provisions of the RTE Act and judgments by various courts as well as instructions issued by the ministry of human resource and development. Despite repeated efforts, deputy director, school education, Chanchal Singh could not be reached for comments. Last week, the education secretary had written to the DSE to speed up the process and take action against erring schools. Chandigarh Parents Association president Nitin Goyal said, It appears as though the department has done a clerical job or else they could have at least initiated some action or explanation from schools they have already received plaints about. Meanwhile, the DSE will meet education secretary Sarvjit Singh on Tuesday to discuss the issue. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON With a hope to bring back their loved ones captivated in Lahore central jail back, the kin of 1971 war prisoners will be holding a candle march on June 17 here. They are also likely to block the Attari-Wagah border on July 23. Speaking at a press conference organised by the United Ex-servicemen Front here on Monday for the release of the prisoners of the war (PoW) languishing in Pakistan jails, the kin of the prisoners addressed their concerns and expressed their displeasure over the sequence of events. Baljinder Kaur, whose father Sepoy Balwinder Singh of the 10 Sikh Regiment had gone missing in the 1971 Indo-Pak war, said, This is not the right way. We have written various letters, but we did not receive a satisfactory answer. The front had written to defence minister Manohar Parrikar, seeking release of Balwinder, who according to Surjeet, one of the released PoW is lodged in Lahores Kot Lakhpat jail. Besides Baljinder, relatives of other PoW Havildar Dharampal Singh of the 4 Sikh Regiment from Bathinda district and Nayak Bir Singh from the 15 Sikh Regiment from a village in Mansa, along with Seepoy Jograj Singh from Bathinda were present. Paramjit Kaur, daughter Jograj Singh said, We came to known about him in 2012 from Surjeet Singh. Since then, I am fighting the battle to get my father back. I have a hope and would keep putting efforts till he is back. Chairman of the front Captain CS Sidhu (retd) said: The government should step and speed up efforts to ensure release of prisoners of war. There is a need to go international court of justice. I will take this matter to Supreme Court. But we are blocking the Wagah border if we dont get any response from the central government. Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday accused chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of playing cheap politics by linking his partys state in-charge Kamal Nath with 1984 anti-Sikh riots. Public perception should be based on truth and not myth, Amarinder said while replying to a question that there was a public perception about Naths alleged involvement in the 1984 riots. Addressing a press conference, Amarinder made it clear that the Congress was not going to be cowed down by the fake and fictitious allegations against its leaders by people such as Kejriwal, Badal or Phoolka. Will Phoolka, Badal and Kejriwal decide who is guilty and who is not? he asked. Congress general secretary, incharge of Punjab unit, Kamal Nath. (HT File Photo) Also read I 1984 riots: I went to gurdwara to save Sikhs, not attack them, says Kamal Nath He said Nath was the general secretary in-charge of Delhi in 1998 when Sheila Dixit formed the government. The local bodies were also swept by the Congress under Naths stewardship. This could not be possible without the support of Sikhs. No Sikh in Delhi ever complained against him, except Phoolka, who has his own axe to grind, he added. The former CM added that Phoolka and his patron Kejriwal have mastered the art of mudslinging and levelling false allegations against people and then trying to get away with everything. There has to be a stop to it, he added. Stating that Kamal Naths name was deliberately dragged by Phoolka into the controversy in 2006, he said the Congress general secretary was exonerated by the Justice Nanavati Commission, which had been constituted by the BJP-led NDA government to probe into the anti-Sikh riots. Earlier, Amarinder said, the Justice Rangnath Mishra Commission made no mention of Nath about his alleged involvement in the riots. Referring to CM Parkash Singh Badals criticism of Nath, Amarinder said: Till now, neither Badal nor any Akali leader doubted Naths credentials. But now, Badal has woken up to the charges that Nath was involved in the anti-Sikh riots, he said, adding that when Nath was a minister, Badal was a frequent visitor to his office. FAZILKA JAIL MEET: CONG TO SEEK CBI PROBE AGAINST AKALIS The Punjab Congress on Tuesday sought a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the alleged meeting held by Akali leaders inside the Fazilka jail to broker peace between two warring gangs. The Akalis have now opened extension counters in jails to carry out their favourite activities, state Congress vice-president Sunil Jakhar said in a press conference addressed along with Amarinder and other senior party leaders. The Congress leaders said they would meet Union home minister Rajnath Singh in Delhi and apprise him about the happenings in Punjab and press for a CBI probe into the incident. The meeting in the Fazilka jail for brokering peace between two criminal gangs was held under the patronage of deputy chief minister Sukhbir Badal. Rozy Barqandi and Satinder Manta, who arranged the meeting, are close to Sukhbir, Jakhar alleged, reiterating that Fazilka jail incident was just a tip of the iceberg as the entire law and order system had collapsed in the state. Also read i Capt cites new study, says 78% of Punjabs population hooked to drugs A local court on Monday sent three accused to judicial custody a day after they allegedly attacked a preacher of the Damdami Taksal at Gurdwara Ram Singh in Vishwakarma Colony in Ludhiana. The police have booked eight people, five of whom are absconding. On Sunday, two factions entered into a violent clash in the gurdwara over siropa row. One of the group honoured Sandeep Singh, a preacher of Damdami Taksal led by Harnam Singh Dhumma, while the other group opposed it. The police have denied any links of the incident with the attack on Sikh preacher Ranjit Singh Dhadrianwale last month. Sandeep Singh, the Damdami Taksal preacher, alleged he was also robbed in the attack and his car was also damaged. The police have booked eight persons and arrested three of them, identified as Joga Singh, Harsimrat Singh and Gurdeep Singh. Police investigations revealed that there was an ongoing dispute over taking control over Gurdwara Ram Singh. The committee had approached Damdami Taksal to solve the issue following which preacher Sandeep Singh had arrived on Sunday. As the members of gurdwara management committee announced the name of preacher of the Damdami Taksal to honour him, some persons present in the function opposed his name. The situation took an ugly turn when around 10 persons allegedly attacked Sandeep Singh and dragged him outside the gurdwara. An eyewitness said the accused opposed giving siropa to Sandeep during the function and entered in a scuffle. The accused were of the view that activists of Damdami Taksal were involved in attack on Sikh preacher Ranjit Singh Dhadrianwale and they should honoured.Sandeep, who received injuries, claimed that the accused have also snatched `2 lakh from him. The special screening of Udta Punjab movie was held at Nehru Planetarium in Mumbai on Tuesday evening. The screening organised by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) started around 4pm. Bombay high court lawyer Sujay N Kantawala, who has been appointed the amicus curiae (adviser) by the Punjab and Haryana high court, said over phone that he along with petitioner Wattan Sharma and lawyers of the CBFC and movie producer attended the screening. Refraining from commenting on the movies content, Kantawala said: There was no acrimony. It was a good experience. A report (about the movie) will be submitted before the high court on Thursday. The Punjab and Haryana high court on Monday had ordered a special screening of the film before a panel to examine its content. The order had come on the petition of high court lawyer and Jalandhar resident Wattan Sharma, who had stated that Punjabi culture had been portrayed in a bad light in the movie and its unedited version be examined by court. The films cast - Diljit Dosanjh, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Alia Bhatt and Shahid Kapur - at a promotional event. (HT File Photo) The petitioners lawyer, Karan Bharihoke, also refused to comment on the movie, and said they are yet to decide whether to file any objections or not. It is too early for us to comment. We are examining (the content of the movie). Let him (amicus curiae) file a report, he said. A day after executive engineer was suspended to suspend was given, better sense prevailed on Monday at the yoga camp as the authorities acted on yoga guru Ramdevs request to take back the suspension of executive engineer of power department. The health minister Anil Vij had announced Rangas supension on Sunday, first day of the yoga camp, as the sound system and display on giant screens was disrupted twice. The camp has been projected as training ground for Haryana CM, ministers, MLAs, MPs and top bureaucrats in view of International Yoga Day on June 21. While the yoga exercise was going on, Ramdev told Vij from the stage that yogas job was to connect people and the mistake on the part of B S Ranga should be forgiven. After that Vij took back the suspension. Though on Sunday a committee was formed to look into the lapses too. STRAY DOG ENTERS VENUE ON DAY 2 The second day of yoga camp was also anything but a perfect show. When the yoga exercise was going, a stray dog intruded into the parade ground and had come close to Vij. The ministers head was down at that time and cops managed to shoo away the dog on time. It is learnt later deputy commissioner of police, Panchkula, Anil Dhawan expressed his displeasure with the policemen guarding the venue. He questioned them on their alertness and how did the dog managed to sneak in. A police personal said that fortunately Vij remained unaware otherwise today could have also witnessed suspension of officials. POOR SHOW AGAIN The second day of yoga camp at parade ground in Panchkula drew lesser people than the first day. For the second day, ministers, MLAs, MPs gave the function a miss. Along with Vij, just food and supply minister Karandev Kamboj and social justice minister Krishan Kumar Bedi were present. Chief parliamentary secretary Shyam Singh Rana and local MLAs Gian Chand Gupta and Latika Sharma also were present. Among top bureaucrats jadditonal chief secretaries Sunil Gulati and PK Mahapatra were present. A senior officer said on Tuesday a good number of ministers, MLAs and top bureaucrats will come here as CM Manohar Lal Khattar will be in attendance. News / National by Stephen Jakes A political commentator Obert Mundevere Ncube has challenged President Robert Mugabe to go around the country's industries to see how he has destroyed the industries."Can the people around the president, I know he is old to walk but my sister (Grace) can take him around in a wheelchair to see the destroyed industry in Zimbabwe," Ncube said."This is Kadoma Cold Storage that used to supply meat to every country in Africa including European countries."Ncube said that is when people hear someone in the government, one of his handpicked ministers, saying the economy and industry is getting better in the country."Please don't make the president and citizens fools by stealing in his name. This is brutality. The cattle pans and farms are now full of grass and weed which they smoke before going to parliament and tell citizens lies," he said.Calls for Mugabe to step down are continuing to get louder as he is being accused of running down the country. LONDON: The number of nuclear weapons in the world is declining but China is increasing and modernising its arsenal, a new report by a Stockholm-based military think-tank said on Monday. The report estimates the number of Pakistans nuclear weapons to be between 100 and 130, as against the 100 to 120 nuclear weapons in Indias arsenal. It also estimates China has 260 nuclear weapons as of 2016. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in its annual nuclear forces data that at the start of 2016, nine countries possessed 4,120 operationally deployed nuclear weapons. The data shows that while the overall number of nuclear weapons in the world continues to decline, none of the nuclear weapon-possessing states are prepared to give up their nuclear arsenals for the foreseeable future, SIPRI said. The report said the worlds nine nuclear weapon states the United States, Russia, Britain, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea together possess approximately 15,395 nuclear weapons compared with 15,850 in early 2015. China appears to be gradually increasing its nuclear forces as it modernises its arsenal. India and Pakistan are both expanding their nuclear weapon stockpiles and missile delivery capabilities, the report said. North Korea is estimated to have enough fissile material for approximately 10 nuclear warheads. However, it is unclear whether North Korea has produced or deployed operational weapons. Shannon Kile of SPRI said, Despite the ongoing reduction in the number of weapons, the prospects for genuine progress towards nuclear disarmament remain gloomy. All the nuclear weapon-possessing states continue to prioritise nuclear deterrence as the cornerstone of their national security strategies. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON PESHAWAR: Afghan border guards and Pakistani security forces exchanged fresh rounds of artillery on Monday after an overnight exchange of gun fire at a border crossing killed one Afghan guard and wounded 19, officials said. Mohammad Ali Hazarat, head of the provincial council in Afghanistan s Nangarhar province, said the Pakistani army resumed firing artillery and Afghan forces responded in kind. The Torkham crossing was closed following the incident and talks were underway to defuse the situation and reopen it. Ghuncha Gul, a Pakistani official in the region, said earlier the Afghan side started shooting late the previous night when construction work began on a gate on the Pakistani side. He said the gunfire ended around 4am but the Afghans started firing artillery rounds hours later, and that the exchange of fire was continuing. President Barack Obama assailed Donald Trump and the Republican party for loose talk and anti-Muslim rhetoric Tuesday, warning their populist campaign platform was dangerous and un-American. Tearing in to politicians who tweet and appear on cable news shows, a visibly angry Obama said that right-wing bombast had whipped up anger but done nothing to prevent terrorism. The death of 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando attacked by a self-described Islamic State sympathizer has poured kerosene on an already angry election-year debate over guns, counterterrorism, sexuality and faith. Obama took specific aim at Trumps controversial proposal to ban all Muslims from entering the United States on counterterrorism grounds. Read| Trump sharpens attack on Muslims after Orlando shootings Where does this stop? Obama demanded, shedding his usual no drama Obama public persona to denounce language that singles out immigrants and suggests entire religious communities are complicit in violence. Are we going to start treating all Muslim Americans differently? Are we going to start subjecting them to special surveillance? are we going to start discriminating them because of their faith? Were starting to see where this kind of rhetoric and loose talk and sloppiness about who exactly were fighting, where this can lead us. Not a strategy Trump and his fellow Republicans regularly assail Obama as being weak on terror, citing his refusal to describe the Islamic State as radical Islamic terrorists. What exactly would using this label accomplish? Obama asked. What exactly would it change? Would it make ISIL less committed to trying to kill Americans? he said, using an alternate acronym for the Islamic State group. Would it bring in more allies? Is there a military strategy that is served by this? The answer is none of the above, said Obama. Theres no magic to the phrase radical Islam. Its a political talking point. Its not a strategy. Not once has an advisor of mine said, man, if we really use that phrase, were going to turn this whole thing around. Read | You are not alone: Barack Obama to Orlando gay community Trump -- who has long raised questions about Obamas birth -- has appeared to suggest that the president may even be in league with jihadists. Look, were led by a man that either is not tough, not smart or hes got something else in mind, Trump told Fox News. He doesnt get it or he gets it better than anybody understands -- its one or the other, and either one is unacceptable, he added. Obama said the idea that the administration is confused about the enemy would come as a surprise to the thousands of terrorists who weve taken off the battlefield. While parrying his political foes, Obama also sought to show Americans that the war against the Islamic State in Syria, Iraq and Libya, while slow, was being won. He said the number of foreign fighters joining the extremists was plummeting. ISIL lost nearly half of the populated territory it had in Iraq and it will lose more. ISIL continues to lose ground in Syria as well, Obama said after a meeting of his National Security Council. In short, our coalition continues to be on offense. ISIL is on defense. Read| Orlando shootings: How Trump cant help being Trump Read| Orlando massacre gives Trump a chance to play his Islamophobia card Australia is urgently reviewing the visa of a British Islamic scholar who toured Orlando earlier this year and had preached in 2013 that death is the sentence for homosexual acts. Farrokh Sekaleshfar, a senior Shia Muslim scholar, is currently giving a series of lectures at an Islamic centre in Sydney on the topic of spirituality. Sekaleshfar said in a lecture in Michigan in 2013 that in an Islamic society, the death penalty should be carried out for homosexuals who engaged in sodomy. Out of compassion, lets get rid of him now, because hes contaminating society, he said, according to a recording available online. There is no evidence of any link between his comments and the American Muslim man who killed 49 people in a gay nightclub in Orlando on Sunday, the deadliest mass shooting in the United States. Sekaleshfar told Reuters on Monday that he condemned the Orlando shooting as a barbaric act of terror that was in no way justified. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told reporters on Tuesday he has zero tolerance for people to come to Australia who preach hatred and his government was reviewing Sekaleshfars visa as we speak. The immigration office did not immediately respond to a query about how long that review would take, while Sekaleshfar could not immediately be contacted after Turnbulls comments. Sekaleshfar said his comments in 2013 were made in the context of a lecture on Islamic law and homosexuality, and should not have been interpreted as a call for any Tom, Dick, or Harry to carry out a sentence wherever, whenever they like. In the lecture, Sekaleshfar said: There is nothing to be embarrassed about this. Death is the sentence. Islam doesnt accept peoples faith to be compromised, to be threatened and it has to be taken seriously, he said. With homosexuals it is the same. Sekaleshfar gave a different lecture in Orlando in March. As many as 190 gay rights organisations from across China on Tuesday released a joint letter condemning terrorism and sexuality-based violence following the massacre in Orlando, where a gunman killed 49 people before being shot dead. It is rare for Chinas gay rights groups to make high-profile statements and even rarer for them to show solidarity with a cause involving foreigners. State media called it the largest coordinated effort by the countrys gay rights groups, which usually maintain a low profile while fighting for their own rights. We, the members of China's lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community, wish to express our deepest sympathies to the victims and their families, friends, and loved ones, and all those affected by this monstrous act, read the letter released by the organisations and quoted by state media. Together with them, we grieve the loss of so many innocent lives and strongly condemn terrorism and all forms of violence based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression, the letter said. Investigators in the US are probing terror links and whether the gunman, 29-year-old Omar Mateen, was homophobic. Reports said Mateen was himself a regular at the gay club where the massacre took place on Sunday. But the worst mass shooting in the US often considered as Chinas adversary in world affairs and international diplomacy touched a chord among many in this country. Homosexuality is not illegal in China but same sex marriages are, and people with alternative sexual orientation continue to be harassed and discriminated against. Homosexuality was removed from the list of mental illnesses in 2001. The massacre is a reminder that homophobia and transphobia are still prevalent and causing devastation throughout our world today. Although private ownership of guns is banned in China, other forms of violence, such as conversion therapies, bullying of LGBTQ youth in schools and other discriminatory treatment occur on a daily basis, Peng Yanhui, director of LGBT Rights Advocacy China, told Global Times newspaper. We haven't made specific plans but we would like to take this opportunity to participate in future initiatives proposed by US LGBTQ groups as part of a global campaign, Peng said. Chinas top leadership, including President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang, has expressed condolences over the shootings. On Monday, Xi called his American counterpart Barack Obama to express sympathy. Voicing its strong opposition to President Barack Obamas proposed meeting with the Dalai Lama and the upcoming maiden US visit by Taiwans new President Tsai Ing-wen, China on Tuesday said that America should keep its promise to abide by the One-China policy. The 14th Dalai Lama often puts up the facade of religion to peddle internationally his political position of splitting China, foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters, replying to a question on the Tibetan spiritual leaders comments that his meeting with US president is likely. We demand no country or government give him any space for such activities and should certainly not do anything the 1.3 billion people of China would resolutely oppose, he said. Despite Chinas opposition, Obama had met Dalai Lama in the past. Beijing considers 80-year-old Tibetan monk as a separatist who is attempting to split Tibet from China. On Tsais transit visit to US, Lu said: the US government has made serious commitments to One-China Policy and against Taiwans independence. Hope the US will fulfil its commitment and deal with relevant matters in accordance with the One-China policy and do not send wrong signal to those who try to split China, he said. Tsai, who is opposed to reunification of Taiwan with China, is due to transit in Miami on her way to Panama, which still holds diplomatic ties with Taipei despite opposition from Beijing. China considers Taiwan as a rebel province and claims it as part of its mainland. Report said Tsai would also make a stopover in Los Angeles on her return. NATOs chief said Tuesday the alliance is reinforcing its defenses against Russia from the Baltic to the Black Sea, but keeping all possible contacts with Moscow open to avoid any unwarranted escalation of tension. Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO secretary-general, confirmed previous statements that alliance defense ministers gathered in Brussels for a two-day meeting will back a deployment plan to send four multinational battalions to the Baltic states and Poland. He also said decisions are expected on forming a new multinational unit of ground forces in Romania. Defending our territory and protecting our people that is NATOs primary responsibility, Stoltenberg said as he opened the ministers first working session Tuesday afternoon. In a written statement, NATO deputy spokeswoman Carmen Romero said, We will decide to establish a framework brigade with a Romanian HQ and a Romanian and Bulgarian battalion as a framework for training and exercises with other Allies units. The brigades strength is expected to be roughly 3,000-5,000. The U.S., Britain and Germany have already committed to spearheading the development of three of the four battalions that would go to Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. A senior US official said Canadian leaders are currently meeting to discuss the possibility that they would coordinate the development of the fourth battalion. Canadian defense spokeswoman Ashley Lemire said that, Unfortunately, we are not in a position to provide any additional details at this time. As a committed NATO ally, Canada is actively considering options to effectively contribute to NATOs strengthened defense and deterrence posture. US officials said its not yet clear whether the Pentagon will use troops currently in Europe to form the battalion or bring in others. US Defense Secretary Ash Carter told reporters Monday that the US may well contribute most or all of the 800-1,000 troops needed for that battalion. British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon told reporters that in early 2017 Britain will deploy one of the framework battalions designed to beef up the defenses of the Baltic republics and Poland. Thats around 500 British personnel rotating on a continuous basis, Fallon said. He said other countries will contribute to the multinational unit, including France, which will chip in a company. Additionally, he said, Britain will send a company of between 150 and 200 troops, plus vehicles and equipment, to train and operate alongside Polish soldiers. Fallon called the British moves a very clear message that we are committed to defend the eastern flank. NATO is strong and united. ...We are ready to respond to any threat. The new military plans, said one senior U.S. defense official, are key to putting some teeth behind talks with Russia, which have centered on concerns about Moscows military actions in Crimea and eastern Ukraine. NATO officials also predicted support for a Romanian proposal for a joint training initiative that focuses on specific operational requirements of the southeastern European region and promotes interoperability of NATO forces through training and exercises. Additional proposals are also being considered to increase air and naval defenses in the Black Sea, where a Russian naval fleet based at Sevastopol in Crimea is a major player, NATO officials say. Speaking to reporters before ministers met, Stoltenberg said that even as NATO reacts to what it sees as a potent security threat from a newly resurgent and unfriendly Moscow, at the same time we convey a very strong message that we dont seek a confrontation with Russia. We dont want the new Cold War. He said it is important that we continue to keep channels for political dialogue open, but also military contacts. Last month, NATO foreign ministers expressed broad support for convening a new meeting of the NATO-Russia Council, a forum that brings together ambassadors from NATOs 28 member states and Russia. So far, there has been no public response from the Kremlin. The defense ministers wide-ranging agenda is designed to set the stage for NATOs summit taking place in roughly three weeks time, on July 8-9 in Warsaw. US NATO Ambassador Douglas Lute on Monday called the meeting the final tuneup for the alliance before US President Barack Obama and the other leaders meet in Poland. On Tuesday and Wednesday, ministers are also expected to agree to cooperate more closely with the European Union in security affairs, discuss how to improve NATO cyberdefense, intelligence-sharing and decision-making to face current challenges, and meet with Ukraines defense minister. Without disclosing details, Stoltenberg said we will establish a framework to deal with threats and challenges from the south NATO speak for the Islamic extremist violence that has become widespread in the Middle East and North Africa. US Defense Secretary Ash Carter and his counterparts from Canada and NATOs European members are also expected to consider providing AWACS surveillance planes to support the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State organization in Iraq and Syria, discuss how to support countries in the Middle East and North Africa threatened by extremist violence and assess what NATO can do to assist an EU operation attempting to stop people smuggling in the Mediterranean. The FBI is investigating the possibility of Omar Mateen visiting the nightclub where he killed 49 people multiple times before the massacre and using dating apps for gay men. Investigators are also looking closely at Mateens relatives especially his father and current wife to ascertain if they had noticed signs of his radicalisation but failed to speak up. The wife, Noor Zahi Salman, knew, according to some source-based media reports, and tried to talk him out of it. In the wake of the worst mass shooting in US history, the White House is pushing Congress to legislate common-sense steps to curb access to weapons and make it harder for any individual to get their hands on a weapon of war. Mateen, a 29-year-old American of Afghan descent, gunned down dozens using an assault rifle at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, before being killed in a gunfight with a SWAT team. In 911 calls from the club, Mateen professed allegiance to the Islamic State, the Boston bombers and a fellow Floridian who travelled to Syria to fight for a local affiliate of Al Qaeda. Investigators believe Mateen was self-radicalised and influenced by multiple individuals and entities with incongruent beliefs and goals, but he was not directed by any outside force. Mateens father, Seddique Mateen, and former wife Sitora Yusufiy have said he was not religious in the least. The father has claimed Mateen was a homophobe, thus the targeting of the gay club. An FBI official told NBC news that investigators are reviewing reports and statements by members of Orlando's gay community who said they recall having seen Mateen at the LGBT club several times. Yusufiy has said Mateen might have been gay or had gay tendencies but hid that out of shame. According to one report, Mateens father called his son gay in front of her. She has also said Mateen was bipolar, a mental disorder, and would beat her. They divorced in 2011. He went on to marry Noor Zahi Salman, his current wife. But other accounts were more definitive about his sexual orientation. He's a homosexual and he was trying to pick up men, Jim Van Horn, a patron of Pulse, told Daily Mail. He would walk up to them and put his arm around them or something and maybe try to get them to dance a little bit or something and go over and buy them a drink. Ty Smith, another patron, told the Orlando Sentinel he had seen Mateen at the club multiple times. Sometimes he would go over in the corner and sit and drink by himself, and other times he would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent. Kevin West, another Pulse regular, told the Los Angeles Times that Mateen had messaged him multiple times over a dating app for gay men. Though West knew Mateen by sight, they met for the first time an hour before the son of Afghan immigrants started shooting. West had gone to drop a friend at the club when he saw the shooter crossing the road in a dark cap. He walked directly past me. I said, Hey, and he turned and said, Hey, and nodded his head," West told the Times. I could tell by the eyes. German President Joachim Gauck joined a Ramzan dinner on Monday, warning against demonising Muslims a day after a man pledging allegiance to Islamic State (IS) shot dead 49 people at a US nightclub. Germany is at the front line of efforts to integrate migrants into Europe after more than 1 million arrived there last year, most of them Muslims fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere. The influx has raised tensions in German society. Refugee shelters have been attacked and the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has become a political force, describing Islam as incompatible with the Constitution and calling for a ban on minarets and the burqa. Gauck, a former Lutheran pastor from East Germany, joined an iftar dinner to break the Ramzan fast in Moabit, a poor district of Berlin with a large migrant population. The Muslim holy month revolves around daily fasts from sunrise to sunset, and then favourite meals with family and friends during the night hours. Promoting encounters is particularly important at a time when mutual mistrust is spreading, Gauck said, according to an advance text of his speech. He said many Germans were anxious after recent Islamist attacks in Paris and Brussels. And for some, the fear of Islamist terrorism has become a fear of Muslims, Gauck said. He warned against a polarisation of society and urged Germans to seek regular encounters with Muslims in their neighbourhoods. Gauck said that integration efforts in Germany were paying off and a growing number of Muslims were speaking out against fundamentalist interpretations of the Koran. All who celebrate the iftar together today can attest: Living together is possible, Gauck said. Simply being together can sometimes even replace long discussions - especially if we let ourselves be guided by the golden rule that is common to all major religions and simply says: Treat others as you want them to treat you. 29-year-old Omar Mateen, who gunned down 49 people at a gay club in Orlando, himself might have been gay but chose to hide his true identity out of anger and shame, his former wife has said as authorities looked into reports that he had visited the Florida club several times and also used a gay dating app. Sitora Yusufiy said she had met Mateen online in 2008 and the two got married in 2009. He might have been gay but chose to hide his true identity out of anger and shame, she said. A New York Times report cited a senior federal law enforcement official as saying that the FBI was looking at reports that Mateen had used a gay dating app. Patrons of Pulse, the club where he killed 49 people in the worst shooting case in US history, were quoted as saying that he had visited the club several times. Yusufiy said that her ex-husband had told her that he frequented nightclubs before their marriage, but that he did not tell her they were gay clubs. CBS News said in a report that club-goers have told investigators that Mateen had been at Pulse previously. The Orlando Sentinel and other news organizations also quoted regular customers at the gay bar as saying they had seen Mateen there a number of times. Sometimes he would go over in the corner and sit and drink by himself, and other times he would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent, said Ty Smith, a patron at the bar. Smith said he saw Mateen inside the club at least a dozen times. Simple, Amercanised of same religion Yusufiy, during an interview at her home in Colorado, said Mateen had seemed perfect American enough for her free spirit and Muslim enough to please her traditional family. This man was a simple, Americanized guy that was also from my culture. And, you know, had the same religion, she said. So I was like, OK , this could potentially satisfy my parents. She moved to Florida, and they married in a quiet courthouse ceremony in 2009, but the short-lived marriage was marred by violence and isolation, she said. She had no friends or family in Florida, and Mateen preferred that she stay in the house. She said he sometimes returned from work angry and agitated, including one night when she fell asleep on the floor waiting for him to return home. All I remember is being woken up by a pillow being taken from under my head, she said. I hit my head on the ground and then he started pulling my hair. He almost killed me, she said. Because he started choking me. And I somehow got out of it and I tried to tackle him. The couple separated within a year, and in 2011 Mateen filed for divorce, the NYT report said. On terror watch The report added that Mateen was one of the people the FBI had spoken to after Moner Mohammad Abusalha, a young American man from coastal Florida drove a truck packed with explosives into a hilltop restaurant in Syria in May 2014. Mateen had attended the same mosque as Abusalha and they knew each other casually. Mateen had also been on a terrorism watch list for incendiary comments he once made to co-workers at a local courthouse. The NYT said early examination of Mateens life reveals a hatred of gay people and a stew of contradictions. He was a man who could be charming, loved Afghan music and enjoyed dancing, but he was also violently abusive. Mateens family members have said he was not overly religious, but he was rigid and conservative in his view that his wife should remain mostly at home. FBI director James Comey said that Mateen had once claimed ties to both Al Qaeda and Hezbollah two radical groups violently opposed to each other. Mateen had earned an associate degree in criminal justice technology from Indian River State College in 2006, the year he began working for the Florida Department of Corrections at a facility just west of Port St Lucie. News / National by Staff reporter TWO members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police have landed themselves in trouble after they allegedly intercepted President Robert Mugabe's motorcade in Harare on Saturday and assaulted two of his outriders after being ordered off the road.The suspects, Munyaradzi Chivengwa (34) and Lubelihle Nyathi (26), appeared before magistrate Tendai Mahwe yesterday charged with assaulting or resisting law officers.Chivengwa is stationed at Criminal Investigations Department (CID) in Hwange, while Nyathi is attached to CID headquarters in the capital.The biker, identified as Stanley Chimoto is the complainant in the matter.The court heard that on Saturday, Chimoto was leading a team of six outriders providing escort to Mugabe as the Zanu-PF leader was driving to his rural home in Zvimba.The court heard Chimoto stopped at the intersection of Samora Machel and Tredgold Road in Belvedere and started controlling traffic to pave way for the motorcade.Chivengwa and Nyathi then arrived in their private car. When Chimoto instructed Nyathi to stop, the latter allegedly ignored the order and proceeded into Samora Machel Avenue.As Nyathi was driving away, Chimoto jumped onto his motorbike and blocked him.In a fit of rage, Chivengwa allegedly jumped out of the car and confronted Chimoto, grabbing him by the collar of his jacket and shoving him around.At that time, the fourth outrider, Fortune Sibanda, arrived at the scene and tried to restrain Chivengwa by corking his service pistol.Chivengwa left Chimoto and vented his anger on Sibanda as Mugabe's motorcade drove through.Members of the public then assisted the two riders to arrest Chivengwa and Nyathi and escort them to Harare Central Police Station where they were detained.The court remanded them in custody to today pending bail ruling.Prosecutor Francesca Mukumbiri said the accused had no right to disturb the flow of the Presidential motorcade. A man who survived the nightclub shooting in Orlando by pretending to be dead said on Tuesday he thought Im next, Im dead as the gunman aimed at his head. Two bullets fired by the attacker, Omar Mateen, hit his hand and hip. Appearing in a wheelchair with the doctors and nurses who treated him, Angel Colon described hearing gunfire and falling to the floor, shot in the left leg. I couldnt walk at all. All I could do was lay down. People were running over me. Colon said he had a hopeful moment when the gunman, Omar Mateen, went into a bathroom - where he later took hostages - but then emerged, systematically making his way through the club, shooting people who were already down, apparently to ensure they were dead. I look over and he shoots the girl next to me and I was just there laying down and thinking, Im next, Im dead, Colon said. Mateen shot him twice more, one bullet apparently aimed for Colons head striking his hand, and another hitting his hip, Colon recalled. I had no reaction, I was just prepared to stay there laying down so he wouldnt know I was alive, Colon said. When police drove Mateen back into a restroom, an officer dragged Colon to safety, he said. Read: Hundreds attend Orlando shooting vigil in Singapore amid tensions Asked his thoughts on the shooter, Colon said: This person had to be heartless. ... This person is just enjoying doing this. He thanked the hospital staff and said I will love you guys forever. US law enforcement officials are investigating reports that Mateen may have been gay himself, but not openly so, two officials said on Tuesday, with one describing the massacre as a possible self-hate crime. Mateen left behind a tangled trail of possible motives. He also called police during his rampage to voice allegiance to various militant Islamist groups. Gunshot survivor Angel Colon speaks at a news conference at the Orlando Regional Medical Center. (Reuters) Federal investigators have said Mateen was likely self-radicalised and there is no evidence that he received any instruction or aid from outside groups such as Islamic State. Mateen, 29, was a US citizen born in New York to Afghan immigrant parents. Mateens wife attempted to talk him out of the attack, MSNBC reported on Tuesday, citing officials familiar with her comments to the FBI. President Barack Obama has called the attack a case of homegrown extremism. He has also called it both a terrorist act and a hate crime - or one targeting a specific community. Read: FBI investigates reports Orlando shooter Omar Mateen was gay The attack on the Pulse nightclub in the central Florida city was the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history, and the worst attack on the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Soon after the attack, Mateens father indicated that his son had harboured strong anti-gay feelings. He recounted an incident when his son became angry when he saw two men kissing in downtown Miami while out with his wife and young son. Read: Americas favourite rifle: AR-15 used by Orlando shooter has bloody history Coloradans Randy and Tammy Harris had been planning the trip for 10 months. Seven-year-old son Jackson had his heart set on Space Mountain; his 4-year-old sister, Anabelle, was hoping to meet her namesake from Beauty and the Beast. Theyd come to experience whats billed as the Happiest Place on Earth. And then, just a few miles away, there was another superlative: The deadliest mass shooting in modern US history. The Harrises are certainly not insensitive to tragedy. They live in Aurora, Colorado, where a man dressed in black body armor rampaged through a movie theater in July 2012, killing 12 and wounding 70 others. There is no place thats completely safe anymore, said Tammy Harris, a middle school writing teacher. Absolutely no place. These things happen in theaters, in schools, etc. It is just pervasive, unfortunately. Sundays massacre at Pulse Night Club in downtown Orlando was another reminder. Thats what shell think about as she remembers this trip, she said as she slathered her daughter with sunscreen in the Magic Kingdoms parking lot. Unfortunately, its just becoming a bit of the norm now where these tragedies happen. Though they didnt know anyone killed or wounded in the Aurora shootings, as members of the community, they felt the effect. Randy Harris said it takes time to absorb what happens in mass shootings. And for people from Orlando, maybe even a year from now, would give more insight. From all over the world, people come to central Floridas theme parks to enjoy themselves and to escape from reality, if just for a few hours. But around 2 a.m. Sunday, police say, Omar Mateen entered the Pulse club, a gay venue, with a rifle and pistol and opened fire. When the shooting was over, Mateen and 49 others were dead, and 53 more were wounded. Like any other major US city, Orlando is no stranger to violence. In December, leaders created the City of Orlando Nightclubs Task Force to study the sometimes unruly crowds spilling from its venues. Two months later, two people died and 10 were injured when a gang feud erupted in shooting at another nightclub packed with 300 patrons. Not long before the Pulse incident, 22-year-old singer Christina Grimmie, a former contestant on NBCs The Voice, was shot dead while signing autographs. The shooter then killed himself. Items are seen in a memorial setup in front the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts for the victims of the Pulse gay nightclub shooting where Omar Mateen allegedly killed 49 people on June 14, 2016 in Orlando, Florida. (AFP Photo) But to people around the world, Orlando represents America at its most fun. In 2015, a record 66 million people visited Orlando, making it the most visited tourist destination in the US. Laura Hakami of Norton, England, said her family had saved three years for their dream vacation to the Magic Kingdom. They followed the news all day Sunday, but they never even considered not going to Disney World on Monday. Oh its horrible, isnt it? Hakami said as her children, Oliver, 7, and Amelia, 5, fidgeted by the car. But I think our good memories will still stand out more than what happened. Despite the blistering heat Monday morning, Jessica Gunter of Teaneck, New Jersey, stood in line dressed in an orange and black Tigger costume. Hes my favorite character, she said of Winnie the Poohs bouncy buddy. I like to go as full Disney as I can. But behind her beaming smile and blue-green hair was a faint shadow of guilt. She confessed to worrying that the park might be closed because of the shootings, or that the experience might be somehow changed. Not to make it all about us and, I dont want our trip to be ruined, she said. Its a horrible thing to have happened. Even these purveyors of fantasy and magic were not immune. Luis Vielma, 22, worked at Universal Studios Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Author J K Rowling tweeted a photograph of Vielma wearing a sweater vest and tie of a student at her fictional Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I cant stop crying, the author wrote. Whether Mateens rampage was born or radical Islam, mental illness, anti-gay feelings or some combination of the three remains unclear. But Orlando has wrapped its arms around the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Sunday night, the Orlando Eye the Florida citys answer to Londons Thames-side Ferris wheel was bathed in rainbow light in honor of the Pulse victims. Inside, security guards passed wands over visitors, a new measure in reaction to the shootings. Ray and Cecile Berthiaume wondered if it was the right time to be out enjoying themselves. But their 10-year-old grandson, Will, was visiting from Connecticut, and they wanted to let him ride the Eye and experience Disney World. Were going to go into our own world tomorrow and forget about it for a few moments and maybe a few hours, Ray Berthiaume said. You cant dwell on it, his wife agreed. Because, if you do, youd never have any life at all. Youd have nothing. Afton McCall and Elizabeth Jennings wrap flowers for the grieving outside the GLBT Center for Central Florida in Orlando, Florida on Monday, June 13, 2016. (AP Photo) At the GLBT Community Center of Central Florida, a few blocks from Pulse, volunteers loaded a truck with pallets of water and other donations for their grieving extended family. Out front, the US and rainbow flags flew at half-staff and a handwritten sign on the front door warned visitors, Please be prepared to open your bags + purse. Volunteer Elizabeth Jennings, dressed in rainbow pants, squatted in the grass out back as she helped wrap roses and lilies for distribution to the mourning. The miracle to her was that Orlando had been spared such tragedy for so long. These things are happening, like, once a day, it seems like, she said. So if you put it in that perspective, then you cant really ever celebrate, because someones getting killed somewhere. Inside, a harried-looking Russell Walker worked to marshal volunteers and field media inquiries. Walker, community development director for the Hope and Help Center, which provides services for people with HIV/AIDS, said it is difficult dealing with such sadness in such a happy town. He says that notion of this being the worlds happiest place seems lost right now. But he is confident that sense of joy will return someday. I know its something I personally look forward to being able to say again, he said. Without the pangs coming when you say that kind of thing. Read| Shooter, weapon, victims, motive, legacy: 5 things about the Orlando carnage Read| He might have been gay but hid it out of anger, shame: Orlando shooters ex-wife Indias bid for membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) will touch a raw nerve in Pakistan and jeopardise Chinas national interests, the Chinese state media said on Tuesday against the backdrop of Beijings opposition to New Delhis candidature. Making India a member of the elite nuclear trading club could also trigger a nuclear race in the subcontinent, the state media said. China has spearheaded the move to block Indias bid to become a member of the NSG, a group of 48 countries that control access to sensitive nuclear technology. The state media piece said Chinas reason to block the move is to maintain peace or the security dynamic in the region. Without saying it officially, China has clubbed Indias bid with the application of its all weather ally Pakistan to become an NSG member. If India as a non-signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) can become an NSG member, so can Pakistan - that is probably Chinas not-so-subtle argument. Expectedly, the state-controlled media are talking about Indias NSG bid in not very enthusiastic terms and clearly supporting Chinas and Pakistans argument against New Delhi joining the club. India and Pakistan, both nuclear powers in the region, keep alert to each other's nuclear capabilities. India's application for NSG membership and its potential consequences will inevitably touch a raw nerve in Pakistan, its traditional rival in the region, said an opinion piece in Global Times, a tabloid from the stable of the Communist Party of Chinas mouthpiece, Peoples Daily. It added: As Pakistan is not willing to see an enlarging gap in nuclear power with India, a nuclear race is a likely outcome. This will not only paralyse regional security, but also jeopardise China's national interests. The piece said Indias motive behind joining the NSG and the USs reason to support the bid miss concerns about regional security. Beyond cooperation in the nuclear sector, Washington views New Delhi as a balancing actor in its pivot to the Asia-Pacific strategy. Its supply of nuclear technologies to enhance India's deterrence capability is to put China in check, the piece said. What is missing in US and Indian motives are concerns for regional security. So far, South Asia is still facing the harsh reality that the region is mired in nuclear confrontation. The author, Wang Wenwen, did not mention how China has been instrumental in building Pakistans nuclear sector and Islamabads role often termed dubious by experts in the proliferation of sensitive nuclear technology. The article also did not mention Indias main argument for joining the NSG to meet its increasing need for clean energy. India has its own calculations for joining the NSG. Eyeing retaining the fastest growing economy tag, India's access to the NSG, a body that regulates the global trade of nuclear technology, is expected to open up the international market for India's domestic nuclear energy program. Meanwhile, with the support of the US, India can advance its development in this regard, the article said. China insists on peaceful development. A peaceful regional and global environment is in the interests of all stakeholders. China's concern about India's inclusion into the NSG comes out of the security dynamic in South Asia. Only when New Delhi and Islamabad take another step forward in their non-proliferation commitments can the region avoid being dragged into a nuclear confrontation, it said. The Islamic State (IS) terror groups leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed in an air strike in Syria by US-led coalition forces, media reports have said. Baghdadi died in a strike on the IS stronghold of Raqqa in northern Syria, the Turkish daily Yeni Safak and Iranian state media reported on Monday. The reports cited the IS-affiliated Amaq News Agency. The reports could not independently verified. Yeni Safak quoted a statement from Amaq about the death of the so-called caliph of the IS on Sunday. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed by coalition airstrikes on Raqqa on the fifth day of Ramadan, the statement said. The US-led coalition did not immediately comment on the reports. On Monday, Iraqs Al-Sumaria TV channel said Baghadi had been wounded on Sunday in the coalition air strike at a location 65 km west of the IS-held city of Mosul. CNN had on Monday cited US defence officials as saying they had received credible intelligence that Baghdadi, who has a $25 million bounty on his head, has moved around within the past six months and had recently travelled to Mosul. There have been several reports about Baghdadis death in the past but they were all proved to be incorrect. A Mexican state government official was fired from his job on Monday after he posted a homophobic comment on social media about the massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Jose de Jesus Manzo Corona, a coordinator at the development and social integration agency of western Jalisco state, was sacked at the request of Governor Aristoteles Sandoval, the government said in a statement. The statement said Manzo made homophobic posts on social media related to the carnage at the Pulse club in the Florida city, where 49 people were slaughtered by American gunman Omar Mateen, who was killed by police. The government did not disclose the offensive post, but newspapers said the officials Facebook page had a message saying too bad it was 50 and not 100. Sandoval wrote on Twitter that he had asked for the official to be fired and that discriminatory expressions will not be tolerated under any circumstances. Three of the 49 victims were Mexican nationals and another was among the 53 people wounded in the worst mass shooting in US history. On Sunday, June 5, hundreds crowded into a Louisville, Kentucky mosque to celebrate the life of boxer Muhammad Ali in an interfaith service. Dr Muhammad Babar began the service with a poem: You were the true face of faith, he read. The vibe, he said, was one of peace and compassion. A week later, Babar, a local physician and community leader, attended a vigil for fifty people killed in a gay nightclub in Florida by a 29-year old American of Afghan descent. Its like somebody has punched us in the gut, he said. Last week, we thought, finally this monkey is off our back, but now it seems the burden is back on us to prove our innocence for something a criminal who claims to be Muslim has done. Across the US, Muslim Americans were quick to condemn the attack, and some mosques took extra security measures to protect against backlash. Imam Syed Shafeeq Rahman, the Imam of the mosque that mass shooter Omar Mateen attended, speaks to the media in Fort Pierce, Florida on Sunday. The imam of the mosque where the Orlando nightclub shooter worshipped said that the suspect never gave any indication he was capable of such violence. (AFP) On the presidential campaign trail, presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump called for a ban on immigration from countries with a history of terrorism. Weve got to get smart, and tough, and vigilant, and weve got to do it now, because later is too late, Trump said in a New Hampshire speech on Monday. In her response to the massacre, the presumptive Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, warned against inflammatory anti-Muslim rhetoric and said she would make identifying and stopping lone wolves a top priority. In Louisville, mosque officials contacted a police officer to provide security at their Ramadan dinners, held every Friday, Saturday and Sunday during the Muslim holy month. After anti-Muslim messages were spray-painted in red on the Louisville Islamic Centers walls in September, it upgraded security technology, including wirelessly controlled locks, and arranged for an off duty police officer to keep watch during Friday prayers. On Sunday, the Islamic Center of Long Island, New York contacted their local precinct chief to arrange police presence at the mosque during the evening prayer service. Weve had backlash before, especially with irresponsible rhetoric from politicians, said Isma Chaudhry, president of the Islamic Center of Long Island. After the San Bernardino shooting in December, the community was harassed, she said, with obscenities yelled at students and cars trying to run people over who were crossing the road, she said. Were hoping this time will be calmer, she said. Worshippers listen as Imam Syed Shafeeq Rahman of the Islamic Center of Fort Pierce offers a prayer for victims of the Orlando shooting. (Reuters) The Islamic Center of Orlando on Sunday told congregants to avoid praying outside a practice that is common during Ramadan, when mosques are often over capacity for evening prayers. Local law enforcement is sending patrols to the neighbourhood, and the mosque is hiring extra security at night, according to Fatima Rami, an administrator. The centre has called on local congregants to donate blood to victims of the shooting, even if it means breaking their Ramadan fasting for a day. A broken fast can be made up, a life lost is gone forever, it posted on its website. Some mosques have been working with federal authorities on assessments to increase their preparedness for attacks, and said they would maintain already higher levels of security implemented after the San Bernardino shootings in December. The Islamic Community Center of Phoenix has received multiple hate emails since the Orlando shooting, its chairman Usama Shami said, and had already been working with local law enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security. One email, from CJ, said: Do you also refute the Quran when it tells you to lie to the infidel and pretend to be his friend, so that you can betray him. Worshippers pray during a prayer service at the Baitul-Aafiyatr Mosque in Orlando, Florida. (AFP) The All Dulles Area Muslim Society in Virginia, which Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson visited in December, had carried out multiple security assessments with national and federal law enforcement agencies in the past few months on how to improve security around the community centre. The sad thing is, were almost used to it now, said Rizwan Jaka, chairman of the organisation. In Louisville, the LGBT community has been supportive of the Muslim community in its fight against Islamophobia, Babar said. In March, when Donald Trump held a rally in Louisville, LGBT activists and the Muslim community stood together in protest against the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, who has proposed a ban on Muslim immigration. Racism and bigotry is the same, whether its against one group or another, Babar said. We hope our fellow citizens will see us through the lens of Muhammad Ali, rather than this deranged soul, though our hopes are dampened by this senseless tragedy. The gay community worldwide has been hit by a number of vicious and sometimes deadly hate attacks, but Sundays massacre at an Orlando nightclub was one of the worst. Here is a list of several of the more high-profile attacks: Dhaka, Bangladesh April 26, 2016: Two leading gay rights activists are hacked to death inside an apartment in Dhaka by a group of men carrying machetes. Police have arrested a suspected Islamic militant over the attack in this deeply-conservative, Muslim-majority nation where the gay community has been heavily persecuted. Read: Russian gay couple arrested for Orlando tribute Jerusalem July 30, 2015: A 16-year-old girl dies after being stabbed at a Gay Pride march in Jerusalem, where five other revellers were also wounded. The attack was carried out by an ultra-Orthodox Jew called Yishai Shlissel who was released from prison three weeks earlier after serving 10 years for a similar attack at the same event in 2005. In a posting online, Shlissel had lashed out at the abomination of a Gay Pride parade being held in the Holy City. Tel Aviv August 1, 2009: A teenage girl and a man in his 20s are killed and another 15 people wounded in a shooting attack on a gay youth centre in Tel Aviv. Although the suspected gunman was later arrested, the case against him collapsed in 2014. Roanoke, Virginia September 22, 2000: Ronald Edward Gay went on a shooting rampage at a bar frequented by homosexuals, killing one person and injuring six others. The gunman later told police he had wanted to get rid of faggots with media reports suggesting his actions were motivated by long-simmering anger over jokes people made about his surname. Read: After Orlando shooting, White House demands Congress curb weapons of war London April 30, 1999: An explosion rips through the Admiral Duncan pub, which was popular with gays, killing three people, including a pregnant woman, and wounded 65 others. It was the third in a series of racist and homophobic bomb attacks on the British capital, with a self-confessed Nazi sympathiser named David Copeland jailed for six life terms over the blasts. New York November 18, 1980: Two people are killed and six others wounded when Ronald Crumpley opens fire on a gay bar in New Yorks Greenwich Village. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity, and sent to a psychiatric institution after testifying that he felt gay men were stalking him and trying to steal my soul just by looking at me. New Orleans June 24, 1973: Thirty-two people die in an arson attack on the Upstairs Lounge gay bar in New Orleans French Quarter. Almost all of the victims were male, and until the Orlando massacre, it was the deadliest attack on homosexuals in the US. Public reaction was extremely subdued however, and the citys Catholic archbishop remained silent, something for which the church has since apologised. The main suspect killed himself about 18 months later, and the case was closed. Read: Did Orlando gunman get help? US agencies probe after nightclub massacre Luis Burbano felt his bones shake when the bullets started flying early Sunday morning in the Orlando gay nightclub where a gunman opened fire and killed 49 people while wounding 50 others. Read: Did Orlando gunman get help? US agencies probe after nightclub massacre A little more than a day later, Burbano was unable to sleep and was dealing with a crippling guilt about being one of those who lived. About 2 a.m. Sunday, Burbano heard gunshots. He was in a smaller side room at Pulse, and the gunfire matched the beats coming from the speaker. He and his friend thought it was part of the music theyd been enjoying all night. It was bah, bah, bah, bah. But then we all looked around and said it sounded weird, Burbano said, sitting on his front porch Monday afternoon in the Avalon Park community of Orlando. When I heard those bullets being fired, I knew those werent small handgun bullets, he said. The music in the back area of the club called the Adonis room stopped after the shots started, Burbano said. The gunfire sounds started getting closer. He fell to the floor. He grabbed his best friend and a girl standing next to him and forced them down, too. After the initial gunfire burst, he said there was a break of about 10 seconds. He jetted toward an employees only side door to get out. Behind that door, about 20 people were stuck in a narrow hallway trying to get out. At that point, the gunshots started getting louder and closer as if (the shooter) was getting closer, Burbano said. He closed the door and held it for a few seconds to let the people stuck in the hallway clear out. Burbano made it out a few seconds later, and realized he was covered in blood. Near him was another man, his arm destroyed by the gunfire. Burbano made a tourniquet out of his T-shirt and tied it around the mans dangling arm. He saw other patrons with bullet wounds fall to the ground in anguish. Soon the police were telling him to run. He did. Until it happens to you one day, you never know how youre going to react, he said. Burbano said he has been unable to sleep since. He cant do anything but watch the news. He feels guilty for surviving. Tearing up, Burbano said he doesnt feel lucky for making it out alive. Someone told me I got a second chance at life, and I say Is that what this is? I regret it. I regret that second chance, he said. An armed man who held two people hostage at a Wal-Mart store in Amarillo, Texas, on Tuesday was shot and killed by officers, while the hostages in the incident were unharmed, police said. Amarillo police described the case in the Texas panhandle city as workplace-related violence and said the suspect was shot by its SWAT unit. The man fired a shot when he entered the store and took two people hostage. The three then moved to an office inside the store, said deputy danny Alexander, a spokesperson for the Randall County Sheriffs Office. Police were working to find out more about the suspect, who has not yet been named. There were no reports of anyone else being injured in the incident, which triggered a scare two days after a man who reportedly pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Florida before being shot dead. All customers and our two associates who were held hostage are safe. This was a very difficult situation and we are thankful for the quick response from law enforcement, said Deisha Barnett, a spokesperson for Wal-Mart. Read: FBI investigates reports Orlando shooter Omar Mateen was gay Read: Shooter, weapon, victims, motive, legacy: 5 things about the Orlando carnage A Russian gay couple were arrested Monday while trying to leave a tribute outside the US embassy in Moscow to victims of the Orlando shooting rampage, the RBK newspaper reported. Islam Abdullabeckov, a social media editor for the newspaper, and his boyfriend Felix Glyukman were trying to leave flowers and a sign reading Love wins - Stay with Orlando outside the embassy when they were detained, they told RBK. The police arrested us straight away and put us in their car for so-called unauthorised action, Abdullabeckov said. We only wanted to express our condolences for the murder of these people and we had not at all planned any kind of political act, he added. The two men, who list themselves as being in a relationship on Facebook, posted photos on the website that they took inside the police car. This is completely surreal, Abdullabeckov wrote in a caption. Glyukman added: We tried to leave flowers and a sign at the embassy -- we did not succeed. He also posted a photo of himself in detention on Instagram with his sign fallen to the ground. A pile of flowers and candles have been left outside the US embassy in Moscow, a day after Omar Mateen gunned down 49 people in a gay nightclub in the Florida resort city of Orlando. The attack, which the Islamic State group says was carried out on its behalf, has sparked an outpouring of grief and anger around the world, with Russian President Vladimir Putin branding the killings a barbaric crime. But gay rights demonstrations are systematically banned in Russia, where homosexuality was a criminal offence until 1993 and categorised as a mental illness until 1999. The LGBT community in Russia continues to suffer widespread homophobia. News / National by Peter Chazunguza Sin number one Sin number two Sin number three Sin number four Sin number five Sin number six May I greet you in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, my brother and former Prime Minister of this beautiful country, Zimbabwe. I know that you are not feeling very well but I am happy that you are recuperating following your visit down South on health grounds. Please get well soon.I am writing this letter to inform you that I am praying for you dear Morgan; just like I pray for myself so that my sins might be forgiven by the Almighty. Morgan, lets pray for we are all sinners. All human beings are tempted to sin. However, sinning against one's country and nation has other dimensions bordering on high treason even against the creator. So dear Morgan, please join me in prayer so that the Almighty may forgive you for the following sins you committed against your fellow Zimbabweans.Morgan, you instigated politically motivated industrial strikes and food riots in the late 1990s to please your foreign handlers. You even connived with employers to stop production by sending away workers who reported for duty. Your actions then contributed immensely to our economic difficulties.After forming your political group you called for economic sanctions, which you later nicknamed "restrictive measures", to be imposed on your country by your western handlers. A sin by any other name is still a sin. Morgan, we all heard you shouting on top of your voice that there are no sanctions against Zimbabwe forgetting that you and your colleagues in sin against this country helped to draft the cruel United States of America's Zimbabwe Democracy Economic Recovery Act (ZIDERA), which was later cosmetically changed to Zimbabwe Transition to Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZTDERA). During his motion to put Zimbabwe under economic sanctions in the USA Congress in 2001, the then Assistant Secretary of State, Chester Crocker croaked, "To separate the Zimbabwean people from ZANU (PF) we are going to have to make their economy scream, and I hope you, Senators, have the stomach for what you have to do." I am sure that you are very aware of the harmful provisions of the devilish Act on the welfare of your fellow Zimbabweans. Morgan, just to refresh your memory, do you remember calling on South Africa to cut electricity exports to Zimbabwe so that the economy would suffer, leading to people rising against their government so that you could sneak into the State House through the back door?In your rabid and treasonous intention to remove President Mugabe from power at all costs, you hatched a plan to assassinate the President with the help of assassins from Israel. You had to hire some of the most experienced and expensive lawyers found on the African soil, who resorted to a legal technicality, to save your head from the hangman. Morgan, on this one you were acquitted on a technicality but the truth is that you wanted to have the President assassinated.You used your position as Prime Minister of this country to abuse women and girls. Some of these innocent souls are still nursing their emotional wounds as I write to you. Morgan, you caused serious heartbreaks in your quest to please your zip; hence, you need to sincerely ask for forgiveness from these humble souls.You created a group of hired henchmen who meted untold violence on fellow Zimbabweans, including members of your political association. I think you still remember the cruel bashing of Trudy Stevenson and petrol bombing of buses and police camps at the hands of your henchmen.You are lying to Zimbabweans that the introduction of bond notes marks the return of the Zimbabwe dollar, thereby causing unnecessary national panic and speculative tendencies to the detriment of the economy. Soon after waking up from your hospital bed in South Africa you quaked criticising the intended introduction of the notes without proffering an alternative solution to the liquidity crunch. Your political group is full of educated people including economists like Dr Mashakada who should school you on some of these national issues before you resort to making a total fool out of yourself.Morgan, before concluding this letter, I again implore you to join me in prayer, ask for forgiveness from your fellow Zimbabweans for causing a lot of their suffering. Most importantly, ask for forgiveness from the Almighty for causing pain to his subjects. Take my advice and repent so that our Lord, the all merciful, will forgive you. However, if you continue on your wayward path then the path to hell is waiting for you. Amen. Minutes before Omar Mateen opened fire with his fast-loading AR-15 assault rifle, he called 911 -- a lifeline for Americans in distress -- to profess allegiance to Islamic States Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. He also referred to Boston bombers, who had nothing to do with IS, and a fellow Floridian who travelled to Syria to fight with Jabhat al-Nusra, the al Qaeda affiliate in Syria. The New York-born 29-year-old who was all over the map with his proclaimed links to jihadists, it seems, could barely tell one group from the other. And his target was an Orlando, Florida nightclub catering exclusively to gay people -- a top target for hate-crimes in the US, according to the FBI on a special Latin night. Was Mateen, whose parents are Afghan-born, just an average American hater whose personal religious beliefs mischaracterised him a terrorist only because the case checked all the relevant boxes? President Barack Obama called the carnage an act of hate and an act of terror on Sunday. A day later, he ruled out any outside role, calling the worst mass shooting in the US history a case of homegrown extremism. Five things you need to know about the case: The Shooter: Unlike 9/11 terrorists, all of whom came from other countries (mostly Saudi Arabia), Omar Mateen was born in New York and grew up in the United States. And, with the likes of another locally born terrorist Syed Rizwan Farook, Mateen presents the biggest terrorist threat faced by the US, called -- as President Barack Obama put it on Monday -- homegrown extremism (often times called homegrown terrorism). The US has not allowed a single terrorist attack by outsiders since 9/11 but has a new worry --- homegrown attacks carried out by groups of individuals or lone-wolf strikes inspired by jihadi propaganda, especially on social media. Read | Omar Mateen: How a playful child became Orlando shooter His motivation: A 9/11 call Mateen made before going on the rampage, professing allegiance to Islamic State is the only evidence available yet of his motivation. He radicalised much before, according to the FBI, but not enough to be considered a threat. His former wife has said he wasnt very religious when they were still together. Was he just a homophobe, as his father has claimed, much like many Americans, especially those on the Right he did choose a gay nightclub as his target after all? Or, was it a mix of both Obama described the massacre as both an act of hate and an act of terror. His weapons: An assault rifle AR-15 and a Glock handgun. Its not just coincidence that AR-15s have been used in some of the worst shootings in recent US history the Colorado theatre shooting, Newtown School massacre and San Bernardino terrorist strike. After the killing of 20 first graders in Newtown in 2012, the Obama administration pushed for a ban on assault rifles but gave up in the face of fierce resistance from the powerful National Rifle Association, the leading gun lobby that pressured even Democratic lawmakers to come out in opposition. Gun-control supporters have since lowered expectations considerably to push only for commonsense measures, including background checks to ensure guns dont fall into wrong hands. Read | Americas favourite gun: AR-15 used by Orlando shooter has bloody history His victims: All guests at Pulse on a designated Latin night -- which is why victims were mostly Hispanics. But that may or may not have been Mateens motivation nothing in his background revealed in the hours since the carnage points to an antipathy for Hispanics, though a colleague from work has said Mateen could get racist during his periodic outbursts. Sexual-orientation, on the other hand, accounts for the largest chunk of hate-crimes in the United States 20.8% in 2013, according to the FBI -- more than religion and ethnicity. Was he just an average American homophobe, and there are plenty around despite apparently long strides light years ahead of India, which has re-criminalised homosexuality in recent years made by the country in accepting, recognising and legitimising LGBT relationships. His legacy: Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, is using the shooting to stoke fears about Muslims, calling for a ban on Muslims from countries of origin of those who have targeted the US for terrorist attacks. And there are plenty of those. Would that include Pakistan, the country of origin for San Bernardino attackers and many others before and now on a long and growing list? Neither he nor his campaign had answers. But, the shooting could play on latent fears about another 9/11 terrorist strike that Trump has clearly spotted and is trying to exploit. A man suspected to have killed a French policeman and his partner in a terror-linked attack had been sentenced in 2013 for taking part in a jihadist organisation with links to Pakistan, sources close to the probe said on Tuesday. They identified him as Larossi Abballa, 25, adding that he had been sentenced to a three-year term -- six months of which were suspended -- for criminal association with the aim of preparing terrorist acts, in a trial with seven other defendants. A policeman and his partner were killed at their home in the northwestern Paris suburb of Magnanville late Monday. The stabbing attack was carried out by a man claiming allegiance to the Islamic State (IS), sources close to the investigation said earlier. The Elysee presidential palace said President Francois Hollande was meeting Prime Minister Manuel Valls, interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve and justice minister Jean-Jacques Urvoas. Witnesses told investigators the man may have shouted Allahu akbar (God is greatest) as he stabbed the policeman repeatedly outside his home before holing up inside with the woman and the couples three-year-old son. Loud detonations were heard at the scene as elite RAID police moved in following failed negotiations with the attacker, who claimed allegiance to IS while talking to officers, sources close to the inquiry told AFP. The couples toddler son was in shock but unharmed, a prosecutor added, saying the boy was receiving medical attention. A news agency linked to IS said the attack had been carried out by an Islamic State fighter, days after posting a similar claim following the massacre at a gay club in Orlando, Florida. Social media lit up Monday with statements of love and images of #TwoMenKissing in defiance of what the Orlando gunmans father described as his sons strong anti-gay feelings. The Afghan-born father of Omar Mateen, the 29-year-old gunman who killed 50 people at the packed Pulse nightclub in Florida on Sunday, told NBC News that his son had become angry recently after seeing two men kissing in Miami. The interview prompted Twitter user Shadi Petosky (@shadipetosky), who identifies herself as a showrunner for Amazon, to post a collage of male couples kissing. Two men kissing. ?? pic.twitter.com/XSzQry1x4Q Shadi Petosky (@shadipetosky) 12 June 2016 While Petosky claimed her post immediately lost her 200 followers on Twitter, it was liked more than a thousand times. The hashtag #TwoMenKissing began to trend on Twitter on Monday and also crossed over to Facebook, where more than 1,000 people were discussing it. Seeing #TwoMenKissing should never be an excuse for violence or bigotry, tweeted Stephen Wood (@StephenWood_UK) on Monday, sharing an image of two men embracing on a subway car. It should warm our romantic hearts. Seeing #TwoMenKissing should never be an excuse for violence or bigotry. It should warm our romantic hearts :-) pic.twitter.com/xrthrK3vyk Stephen Wood (@StephenWood_UK) 13 June 2016 #TwoMenKissing...Best way I know how to respond today. With love. #Orlando, tweeted Carl Sciortino (@CarlSciortino), the executive director of the AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts, alongside a black and white intimate photograph. #TwoMenKissing ... Best way I know how to respond today. With love. #orlando pic.twitter.com/WLVCN6b45d Carl Sciortino (@carlsciortino) 13 June 2016 Daniel MacKinnon, creative director of Glow magazine, shared an up-close image of him kissing a man on his Instagram (@danielmackinnon) with the caption #twomenkissing #loveislove #orlando. #twomenkissing #loveislove #orlando A photo posted by danielmackinnon (@danielmackinnon) on Jun 12, 2016 at 5:55pm PDT According to Amobee Brand Intelligence, a marketing technology company, the #TwoMenKissing hashtag has been tweeted more than 3,500 times. Read: Im gonna die: As Orlando shooting unfolded, horror for a mother via text British support for leaving the European Union stood at 46%, ahead of the 39% who want to remain part of the bloc, according to a YouGov poll for The Times published on Monday. Britons will vote on June 23 on whether to remain part of the EU, a choice with far-reaching consequences for politics, the economy, defence and diplomacy in Britain and elsewhere. The same pollster found the Leave campaign had a one-point lead over the Remain side in a poll published on Saturday. Separately on Monday an ORB poll for the Daily Telegraph newspaper showed 49% of Britons would opt to leave the EU, with 48% opting to remain. UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage (R) campaigns for Brexit in Sittingbourne on June 13, 2016. (AFP) Meanwhile, Britains most-read newspaper The Sun urged readers to vote to leave the EU in an editorial splashed across its Tuesday front page in the colours of the Union Jack. BeLEAVE in Britain read the headline in large letters. We are about to make the biggest political decision of our lives. The Sun today urges everyone to vote LEAVE. The editorial argued the vote was a chance for Britain to reclaim its mantle as a great nation and control immigration into the country. US Apache helicopters have struck an Islamic State target for the first time in Iraq, the Pentagon said Monday. The sophisticated attack choppers destroyed an IS car bomb Sunday near Qayyarah, which is about 80 km south of Mosul, the groups main stronghold in Iraq. The government of Iraq approved the use of Apaches in support of ISF (Iraqi Security Forces) operations, defense department spokesperson Christopher Sherwood said. The strike was vetted and approved through the same process the (US-led) coalition uses for all strikes. Pentagon chief Ashton Carter has since early December made it clear to the Iraqi government that the US military is willing to use its Apaches based in Iraq to support local forces. But the government had until now declined. US officials say this is because Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi didnt want to anger Shia militias, who oppose the ramping up of US combat operations in Iraq. Still, coalition warplanes and drones have since August 2014 been bombing IS targets in Iraq and Syria after the jihadist group overran large parts of the two countries. The Apache strike came as Iraqi forces advanced towards Qayyarah with the eventual aim of retaking Mosul. Iraqi forces are also battling IS fighters in Fallujah, which lies roughly 50 km west of Baghdad and is the groups other main Iraqi bastion besides Mosul. US President Barack Obama on Tuesday voiced solidarity with the LGBT community after the shooting rampage at a Orlando gay nightclub, calling the gunman an angry, disturbed, unstable young man who became radicalized. Investigators were working to untangle the complicated motive of Omar Mateen, as witnesses said the 29-year-old American of Afghan descent -- who was married with a child -- frequented the popular nightspot and used gay dating apps. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the shooting in Orlando early Sunday. The FBI said Mateen pledged allegiance to the IS leader in 911 calls made during the killing spree -- the worst mass shooting in US history. Forty-nine people were killed and another 53 wounded after Mateen opened fire early Sunday at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, a resort city in central Florida mainly known as the home to Walt Disney World and other amusement parks. After a meeting of his National Security Council, Obama said the countrys thoughts were with survivors and relatives of the dead, as well as the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community who were targeted. You are not alone. The American people and our allies and friends all over the world stand with you, Obama said. He reiterated the official belief that Mateen -- a practicing Muslim -- had absorbed extremist propaganda online, noting: He appears to have been an angry, disturbed, unstable young man who became radicalized. Obama will travel to Orlando on Thursday to pay his respects to victims families. - Did his wife know about attack? - MSNBC and ABC News, citing unnamed law enforcement officials, reported that Mateens wife may have had prior knowledge of her husbands plan and could face criminal charges. Noor Mateen, who is 30, was cooperating with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and claims she tried to convince her husband not to go through with the shooting, the networks said. When asked about the reports, an FBI spokeswoman told AFP: I wouldnt confirm that. We are not going to talk about any ongoing matter or any parts of the investigations. - Club regular - The investigation took a new turn after witnesses said Mateen -- who was killed in a shootout with police when they stormed the venue -- had been a regular at Pulse. Sometimes he would go over in the corner and sit and drink by himself, and other times he would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent, Ty Smith told the Orlando Sentinel, noting he had seen Mateen at the club at least a dozen times. Another Pulse regular, Kevin West, told the Los Angeles Times that Mateen messaged him on and off for a year using a gay chat app. Clubgoers told local media and MSNBC that Mateen had been using multiple gay apps, including Grindr, with mutual acquaintances to hook up. And a man who attended law enforcement training classes with Mateen in 2006 told the Palm Beach Post that the slain gunman had once asked him out on a date. We went to a few gay bars with him, and I was not out at the time, so I declined his offer, said the former classmate, who asked not to be identified to protect his privacy. Mateens ex-wife, Sitora Yusufiy, who has said he beat her, told CNN on Monday that he had confessed to me about his past that was recent at that time and that he very much enjoyed going to clubs and the nightlife. I feel like its a side of him or a part of him that he lived but probably didnt want everybody to know about, she said. - Im next. Im dead - Police have now identified all 49 victims, who ranged in age from 18 to 50. Of the 53 people wounded, 27 remained in hospital Tuesday, with six of them in critical condition, doctors at Orlando Regional Medical Center said. Survivor Angel Colon, who suffered three bullet wounds to his leg, which was shattered as people trampled him to escape Pulse, offered a harrowing account of the carnage to reporters. I can hear the (gunshots) closer, and I look over and he shoots the girl next to me. And Im just there laying down. Im thinking, Im next. Im dead, Colon said. And hes just doing this for another five, ten minutes. Hes just shooting all over the place. The shooting hit Orlandos Latino community hard -- the club was hosting a Latin Night when the attack occurred. Thousands joined a vigil late Monday. - Where does this stop? - The slaughter has raised questions about US counterterror strategy -- the FBI said it had investigated Mateen but cleared him of extremist ties. But in his noon press conference, a fiery Obama lashed out at Republicans, especially presidential hopeful Donald Trump, for anti-Muslim rhetoric that he said was counterproductive to the fight on extremism. Where does this stop? The Orlando killer, one of the San Bernardino killers, the Fort Hood killer -- they were all US citizens, he said. Are we going to start treating all Muslim Americans differently? Are we going to start subjecting them to special surveillance? Are we going to start discriminating against them because of their faith? The rampage has also raised questions about gun laws. Mateen legally bought the assault rifle and handgun used in the attack. Obama has demanded that the Republican-controlled Congress pass legislation to curb the sale of assault-type weapons like the one used in Orlando -- a measure that conservatives say violates their constitutional right to bear arms. April 17, 1863, dawned with the promise of an almost perfect spring day. The Federal cavalry camp at La Grange, Tennessee, had been alive with activity since early morning. Anxious soldiers awaited the arrival by train of Colonel Benjamin H. Grierson, commander of the 1st Brigade of the Cavalry Division, XVI Corps, Army of Tennessee. Summoned back from a visit to his family, Grierson had spent the late evening hours conferring with his superiors in Memphis. When he arrived in camp, he brought welcome news: the long inactivity of winter would soon be relieved, and not merely by the tedium of scouting and reconnaissance. His orders included nothing less than an invasion of Mississippione of the most daring cavalry raids of the Civil War. Griersons men were not the only ones preparing to march that day. Federal forces were in motion across the entire Western front from Memphis to Nashville. Major General Ulysses S. Grant planned to move his army across the Mississippi River from Louisiana to gain a better position from which to assault the Confederate stronghold of Vicksburg, Mississippi. To mask this movement, he ordered infantry and artillery from Tennessee to push south into northwestern Mississippi along the Coldwater River. At the same time, Colonel Abel Streight and 1,000 mounted infantry were sent to disrupt Confederate communications in northern Alabama. While these maneuvers occupied Confederates, Grant proposed to send a strong mounted column into the heart of Mississippi to smash railroads and divert the attention of Confederate cavalry from his attempt to cross the river. To execute this thrust, Grant selected Grierson, a 36-year-old former music teacher and storekeeper from Jacksonville, Illinois. Grierson had proven himself a reliable and resourceful cavalry commander while fighting guerrillas in west Tennessee. Major General William T. Sherman had recommended him as the best cavalry commander I have yet had. Tall and lean, the bearded Grierson possessed an iron constitution and a modest and unassuming demeanor that earned him the respect of men under his command. That command consisted of 1,700 veterans from the 6th and 7th Illinois and the 2d Iowa Cavalry regiments. For speed and surprise, Grierson stripped his command down to essentials. The haversacks his men carried across their saddle pommels held five days light rations of hardtack, coffee, sugar, and salt. He instructed company commanders to make those rations last at least 10 days. Each soldier also carried a carbine, saber, and 100 rounds of ammunition. The only carriages were those bearing the six two-pounder Woodruff guns of Captain Jason B. Smiths Battery K of the 1st Illinois Artillery. Griersons chief concern was the broken-down condition of his horses. Some men in the 2d Iowa rode mules appropriated from the brigades wagon train. The expedition would rely heavily on the Mississippi countryside for new mounts, as well as food and forage. Despite Griersons worries, a lighthearted mood prevailed among his Yankee horsemen. The men seemed to feel highly elated, and, as they marched in columns of twos, some were singing, others speculating as to our destination, recalled Sergeant Richard Surby. They would have been surprised to learn their commander had only a vague notion of their goal. Grierson had orders only to disable the section of the Southern Railroad that ran east from Jackson to an intersection with the Mobile & Ohio Railroad at Meridian, just north of Enterprise. Beyond that, his movements had been left to his own discretion. He carried in his uniform pocket a small compass, a map of Mississippi, and a written description of the countryside. Success or failure would depend largely on his skill and ingenuity. The Federals crossed the Tallahatchie River on April 18 and pressed south through torrential rains the following day. They encountered almost no resistance at first, but news of the raid soon reached Confederates in the state. Lieutenant Colonel C.R. Barteau raced north along the Mobile & Ohio Railroad with the 2d Tennessee Battalion, Colonel J.F. Smiths militia regiment, and Major W.M. Inges battalion. Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton, commanding the defense of Vicksburg, called on district commanders James R. Chalmers and Daniel Ruggles to mobilize Confederate cavalry in northern Mississippi. The Federals plodded southward on the 19th over roads that were fast becoming quagmires. That evening they reached Pontotoc, where they halted only long enough to destroy government property and sift through captured documents abandoned by a retreating militia company. They went into camp about five miles south of Pontotoc. Despite the deteriorating roads, the hard-riding horsemen were maintaining a brisk pace of 30 miles per day. To help keep up that pace, Grierson stripped his command of dead weight. In a midnight inspection he personally weeded out 175 of the least effective troopers. At 3:00 a.m. on April 20, Major Hiram Love of the 2d Iowa led this Quinine Brigadealong with prisoners, broken down horses, and a single artillery pieceout of the Federal camp toward La Grange. By moving in columns of fours under cover of darkness, Grierson hoped Love would deceive local residents into thinking the entire command had turned back. With Love on his way north, the main column resumed its march. The force encamped shortly after dark on the 20th. In four days the raiders had encountered only token resistance, but Barteaus Confederate cavalry was fast closing in. They had entered Pontotoc well behind the Federal force on the morning of the 20th, but closed the gap with hard riding that night. By daybreak on the 21st they were scant hours behind the Union horsemen. Grierson did not know how close his pursuers were, but he certainly expected pursuit. To obscure his trail, he detached Hatchs 500-man 2d Iowanearly a third of his commandand a gun from Smiths battery. Hatch, a bombastic 31-year-old former lumberman, left the main column with instructions to strike the Mobile & Ohio Railroad near West Point, destroying its tracks as far south as Macon, about halfway between West Point and Meridian. He was then to swing through Alabama, doing further damage to rail and telegraph lines during his return to La Grange. Before joining Hatchs detachment, Company E of his 2d Iowa and the two-pounder artillery piece followed the main column three or four miles toward Starkville. There the Iowans wheeled about and returned in columns of fours, obliterating hoofprints in the opposite direction. They turned the tiny cannon at four different spots in the road to leave distinct sets of wheel impressions, suggesting that four different cannon had turned. With a little luck, pursuing Confederates would pick up the freshest tracks in the thick mud and conclude that Griersons entire force had turned east toward the Mobile & Ohio. Hatchs diversion worked flawlessly. Barteau, arriving at the junction shortly before noon, reported, My advance guard fired upon a party of 20 of the enemy, supposed to be the rear guard. This party fled and took the Starkville road. The enemy had divided, 200 going to Starkville and 700 continuing their march on the West Point road. Barteau turned eastward in pursuit. At 2:00 p.m. Barteau fell upon the Iowans flanks and rear two miles northwest of Palo Alto. After a fierce skirmish, the Confederates withdrew. Their position, however, covered the road leading south to West Point and Macon, compelling Hatch to reevaluate his orders. He believed it was important to divert the enemys cavalry from Colonel Grierson, so his Hawkeyes began a slow withdrawal northward, drawing the pursuing Rebels along with them. Barteau would finally break off contact on the 24th. Meanwhile, the 950 troopers of the 6th and 7th Illinois and Smiths four remaining guns raced southward. Shortly after noon on the 21st, a half-dozen horsemen at the head of the column shed their Union blue in favor of civilian garb. Each cradled a shotgun or long rifle. The brainchild of Lieutenant Colonel William D. Blackburn of the 7th and commanded by Quartermaster Sergeant Richard W. Surby, this unit of Butternut Guerrillas would serve as the eyes and ears of the Yankee raiders. The next day Grierson again focused his attention on the Mobile & Ohio Railroad that paralleled his line of march 25 miles to the east. Uncertain of Hatchs fate, he dispatched Captain Henry C. Forbes and 35 men of the 7ths Company B to disrupt the tracks at Macon. Forbes found both Macon and the tracks outside it too well guarded for his small band to approach. He turned back in search of Griersons trail, leaving the railroad intact. Although his mission failed, it drew attention away from the main body of Federals and focused Rebel eyes on the railroad. During the night of April 22, 2,000 troops moved north by rail from Meridian to protect Macon from assault by a force estimated at 5,000 Union troops. While the Confederates rushed to protect Macon, Grierson passed swiftly south. News of the Yankee raid had not yet reached the region, and townspeople cheered the dust-covered horsemen who galloped through Louisville shortly after dark on the 22d, mistaking them for Confederate cavalry. Grierson was almost within striking distance of the Southern Railroad by the night of the 23d. After conferring with his field officers about 10:00 p.m., he sent Blackburn and about 200 officers and men to seize the depot at Newton Station, just south of Decatur, tear up the track and telegraph line, and inflict all the damage possible upon the enemy. The main column followed in Blackburns trail within an hour. Blackburns troopers approached Newton Station just as the first rays of sunlight spread across the eastern horizon on the morning of the 24th. Surby and two butternut-clad companions casually slipped into the outskirts of town, where they learned a train was expected soon. The shrieking whistle of a westbound freight train sent one of the scouts speeding back to alert Blackburn, who had barely concealed his men behind the depot buildings when the 25-car freight puffed laboriously into the station. As the locomotive drew abreast of the depot, blue-clad soldiers burst from the shadows and bounded into the cab. With pistols drawn, they ordered the startled engineer to stop the engine. No sooner had they diverted the train from the main track and scurried back into hiding than a second locomotive pulled slowly into the depot from the west. Using the same tactic, the raiders seized 13 cars crammed with weapons, ammunition, and supplies. A passenger car disgorged several distraught civilians fleeing from besieged Vicksburg with their furniture and other personal belongings. After removing the private property, Blackburns jubilant soldiers sent flames dancing down the length of both strings of captured cars. Soon, the deep reverberations of shells erupting in the intense heat reached Griersons ears five miles away and brought the main Federal column charging briskly to the rescue. Grierson was happy to find the noise was caused not by a pitched battle, but by the destruction of Rebel ammunition. He was less pleased to observe many of his troopers filling their canteens from a captured whiskey barrel. In addition to the 38 railroad cars and their contents, 500 stand of arms and a large quantity of clothing went up in flames at Newton Station. Explosions ruptured the captured locomotives, and fire consumed the depot. Amid the smoking ruins, Grierson paroled 75 prisoners. After spreading the false rumor that the raiders were headed for Enterprise on the Mobile & Ohio Railroad, Grierson was back in the saddle and southbound by 2:00 p.m. The riders would not reign up to sleep until near midnight, about 48 hours after their last bivouac. During the night, Grierson contemplated his next move. Aware that Rebel forces were converging to block his escape through northern Mississippi, he decided to feint westward and then proceed south slowly, resting his men and animals, collecting food, and gathering information. He would then make up his mind whether to return to La Grange by way of Alabama, or to drive south and try to join with Union forces on the Mississippi River. The band spent April 25 on the march, stopping near nightfall. Grierson learned from informants that a Rebel force was en route from Mobile to intercept the Yankee raiders. To verify the report and further confuse the enemy, Grierson sent Samuel Nelson, one of Surbys resourceful scouts, to cut telegraph wires near Forest Station on the Southern Railroad and perhaps destroy a railroad bridge or trestle. Slipping out of camp around midnight, Nelson approached within seven miles of the railroad, where he stumbled upon a regiment of Confederate horsemen on the trail of Griersons column. With his benign disguise enhanced by a slight stutter, Nelson passed himself off as an unwilling guide for the Yankee cavalry. He told the Rebels they faced a unit that was 1,800 strong and headed east toward the Mobile & Ohio Railroad. Satisfied with Nelsons story, the Confederates released him and headed off in pursuit of the phantom force. In fact, Grierson had decided to continue southwest and strike the New Orleans, Jackson & Great Northern Railroad at Hazelhurst, disrupting the movement of troops and supplies between Vicksburg and Port Hudson. Following a good nights rest and with a full supply of forage and provisions, Griersons raiders broke camp at 6:00 a.m. on April 26. At Raleigh, Surbys scouts surprised the sheriff and confiscated $3,000 in Confederate currency. After struggling through a torrential downpour in nearly impenetrable darkness, the sodden troopers halted on the banks of the Strong River outside Westville, 40 miles from their previous nights encampment. While the weary main column paused for a rest, Colonel Edward Prince and four companies of his 7th Illinois raced ahead to seize the Pearl River Ferry. Rested and fed, the main column broke camp about midnight. As the clatter of iron-soled hooves echoed across the wooden planks of the Strong River bridge, a wave of shouts and cheers rolled up from the tail of the long column. Grierson shifted in his saddle just as three beaming horsemen reined up sharply at his elbow. Captain Forbes presents his compliments, an excited trooper blurted out, and begs to be allowed to burn his bridges for himself. Astonished and amused, the smiling colonel posted a guard to meet the lost souls of Company B. Forbes had spent the previous five days engaged in a frantic attempt to overtake the main body of Federal cavalry. He had been misled by the false information planted at Newton Station and veered eastward. At Enterprise, on the Mobile & Ohio, Forbes bluffed his way out of a tight spot by demanding the surrender of the garrison in the name of Major General Grierson. Confederate reports of the number of the Federal cavalry raiders had varied widely; the presence of a major general would have meant it was quite a large force. As the Rebel commander weighed his options, the Yankee captain backed out of harms way. Forbes later learned his gambit had drawn Major General W.W. Loring to Enterprise, pinning down three regiments of potential pursuers while Grierson escaped in the opposite direction. The unexpected presence of Confederates in Enterprise had alerted Forbes that Grierson had not taken that path. After a 34-hour ride through rain-shrouded forests, fording swollen streams and following a trail of fire-blackened bridges, Forbes miraculously found his way back to the column. While guards awaited his company at the Strong River crossing, the advance force under Prince approached the Pearl River at two oclock that morning. Finding the ferry swinging from its mooring on the opposite shore, Prince summoned his best Southern accent and commandeered the flatboat. The last of Princes horsemen clambered up the steep opposite bank of the river as day broke, and Colonel Grierson arrived at the landing with the rest of the Federal column. Learning that Prince had intercepted a courier bearing orders for the destruction of the ferry, Grierson hurried up the crossing by crowding men and mounts 24 at a time onto the flatboat. As soon as the first boatload touched the opposite shore, a detachment rushed several miles upstream to lie in ambush for an armored transport rumored to be anchored in the vicinity. The Rebel gunboat failed to appear and, with the arrival of Captain Forbess errant company, the entire force was safely across the river by early afternoon. Suspecting that Confederate authorities in Jackson, barely 40 miles to the north, were aware of his presence, Grierson had started Princes battalion toward Hazelhurst while he personally supervised the Pearl River crossing. Surbys scouts led the way and directed a steady stream of prisoners back to Princes trailing column. Four miles outside Hazelhurst, Prince handed Surby a dispatch addressed to Pemberton, informing him that the Yankees had advanced to Pearl River and finding the ferry destroyed they could not cross and had left taking a northeasterly course. Minutes later, two butternut-clad strangers strode confidently into a circle of Rebel officers idling away time in the Hazelhurst depot. They calmly handed their message to the operator and watched as the misleading telegram raced across the wires to Confederate headquarters. The pair pressed their luck, though, when they decided to take a meal at the hotel. As they approached the square, a prisoner who had been captured and released by the raiders on the previous day suddenly appeared brandishing a sword and a pistol, and shouting for help in stopping them d-d Yankees. With revolvers drawn, the unmasked scouts wheeled in their tracks and spurred their mounts into a blind dash out of town. Collecting the rest of Surbys Butternuts, they raced back through a torrential midday downpour to the Hazelhurst depot, only to discover its occupants had scattered, taking the telegraph key with them. In their haste, however, the Confederates had neglected to countermand the forged dispatch. Following closely behind Surby, Princes vanguard thundered down the empty streets. In a familiar movement, the blue-coated troopers fanned out to seal escape routes. At that moment, the southbound Jackson train chugged slowly into the outskirts of Hazelhurst. The conductor sounded the alarm at his first glimpse of a blue-clad picket posted at the bridge north of town. Brakes screeched and the engineer brought the locomotive to an abrupt halt and reversed its course. Prince watched in agonized frustration as the train backed rapidly up the tracks, carrying its cargo to safetya cargo that included seventeen commissioned officers and eight millions in Confederate money, which was en route to pay off troops in Louisiana and Texas. After discharging ineffectual shots at the fast-retreating train, Princes men turned to matters close at hand. Gathering together commissary and quartermaster stores, along with four carloads of powder and ammunition, the Yankee raiders ran their captured booty a safe distance out of town and ignited it. Other squads of Federal soldiers raced north and south along the tracks tearing up rails, demolishing trestlework, and disrupting telegraph wires. The thud of captured artillery shells exploding in the bonfire startled Grierson as he approached Hazelhurst from the east. With orders to trot, gallop, march echoing down the column, the horsemen flew to the aid of their comrades, only to discover they had been sold again. Sharing a good laugh, Griersons troopers broke ranks and retired to the hotel, where they partook of a banquet of captured food. With full bellies, they remounted and rode westward out of town, toward the river. All evening they fended off Rebel vedettes who harassed the front and flanks of their column. That night and the following morning, Confederate forces converged on the Yankee horsemen from the north and west. Learning of Griersons appearance at Hazelhurst, Pemberton threw his forces into action. He most feared that the enemy would swing back to the northwest, cross the Big Black River, and strike again at the Southern Railroad, interrupting communications between Jackson and Vicksburg. Unable to second-guess the elusive Grierson, he restlessly maneuvered far-flung cavalry in a fruitless effort to defend all possible targets at once. He dispatched a battalion of cavalry under Captain W.W. Porter south from Jackson along the New Orleans, Jackson & Great Northern Railroad. He ordered Colonel Wirt Adamss cavalry at Grand Gulf to move eastward to cut the Federals off from Port Gibson. Until Adams arrived on the scene, Colonel R.V. Richardson, the unorthodox leader of the 1st Tennessee Partisan Rangers, would hold overall command of the operation. Another courier carried orders to Barteau at Prairie Mound to move without delay to Hazelhurst. With Confederates closing in, Grierson broke camp at 6:00 a.m. on the 28th. Dry, hard roadbeds were a welcome change from the muddy quagmires of the past several days. Near mid-morning, he sent Captain George W. Trafton and four companies of the 7th east to strike the railroad at Bahala. Traftons detachment returned before dawn on April 29, bringing Grierson the dismaying news that he was poised in the jaws of a Rebel trap. Its mission of destruction at Bahala completed, the battalion was approaching the Federal camp at Union Church around 1:00 a.m. when Sergeant Surby and Private George Steadman stumbled upon Rebel pickets belonging to old Wirt Adams cavalry. The soldiers revealed that when reinforcements arrived in the morning, Adams intended to give the Yanks h-l between Union Church and Fayette, a few miles to the west. Grierson summoned Colonel Prince, Lieutenant Colonels Blackburn and Reuben Loomis, and Adjutant Samuel Woodward to a council of war. Surby estimated Confederate forces in the vicinity at 400 cavalry, supported by a battery of artillery. Even as they conferred, Adams was passing around the Union flank to join with Captain S.B. Clevelands 100-man cavalry force west of Union Church. The trap was closing, but Grierson and his officers had a daring response in mind. At 6:00 a.m. the Yankee troopers boldly rode into the teeth of the Rebel ambush. Then, a short distance outside Union Church, the main column veered sharply from its westward course toward the Mississippi River and headed southeast toward Brookhaven, leaving behind a small company to occupy the Rebels on the westward road. After waiting several hours, Adams realized his trap was sprung. The frustrated colonel informed Pemberton he was marching from Fayette with five additional companies to intercept the enemys southward movement. While Adams stewed in his embarrassment, the Federal raiders followed a confused maze of back roads through piny woods. Considerable dodging was done the first three or four hours march of this day, Surby recalled. I do not think we missed traveling toward any point of the compass. In the western distance, the Yankee soldiers could hear the leaden reverberations of Union Rear Admiral David Dixon Porters gunboats bombarding Grand Gulf. With Adamss cavalry squarely between him and the river, however, Grierson could not join Porter. Instead the raiders pushed south and thundered down the dusty streets of Brookhaven, startling dazed residents. While the 7th rounded up prisoners, Loomiss 6th charged a conscript camp concealed in a grove of live oak a mile and a half south of town and found it vacant. The previous day, Pemberton had ordered Major M.R. Clark to evacuate the camp. As the 6th destroyed abandoned arms, ammunition, and stores, Captain John Lynchs two companies tore up track and trestlework. Loomiss troopers returned to Brookhaven just as flames enveloped the depot, a railroad bridge, and a dozen freight cars. An officer and 20 men armed with buckets prevented fires from spreading to civilian property. Some of the hardest work of the day fell to Lieutenants Samuel L. Woodward and George A. Root, the young adjutants of the 6th and 7th Illinois regiments. Civilian morale, never high in some of Mississippis southern counties, bordered on open disloyalty. After paroling over 200 officers, soldiers, and able-bodied citizens, Woodward was astonished to see a flood of military-age men lining up to receive paroles: slips of paper that would exempt them from military service until exchanged. Many who had escaped [conscription] and were hiding out were brought in by their friends to obtain one of the valuable documents, Woodward recalled. The Yankee raiders had covered almost 40 miles since dawn and were happy to bed down outside town that night. The next morning, still uncertain about events along the river, Grierson decided to continue tearing up track along the New Orleans, Jackson & Great Northern. An easy two-mile ride brought him to Bogue Chitto, a forlorn cluster of perhaps a dozen buildings straddling the railroad. In short order, his raiders destroyed the depot and freight cars, ripped out rails and trestlework, demolished a bridge across Bogue Chitto Creek, and returned to the saddle to head south. From Bogue Chitto, Grierson pushed on toward Summit, some 20 miles south. To the raiders surprise, that small community welcomed them with open arms. Surby judged Griersons popularity at least equal to Pembertons, and the colonel himself recalled a local woman who promised that if the north should win and I should ever run for president, that her husband should vote for me or she would certainly endeavor to get a divorce from him. The blue-coated soldiers lingered most of the afternoon among these congenial civilians. After the townspeople had helped themselves to government supplies, the troopers rolled 25 freight cars a safe distance out of town and put them to the torch. Noticing the depots proximity to private residences, Grierson ordered the building spared. As at Brookhaven, the regimental adjutants handed out paroles to prisoners captured during the day and to civilians eligible for conscription into Confederate service. At this seemingly harmless village, Grierson confronted an enemy more dangerousthan Wirt Adams Cavalry. Several enterprising troopers had uncovered a cache of Louisiana rum hidden in a swamp about a mile outside of town. Grierson dispatched an officer and a squad of men to investigate. They staved the heads of 30 or 40 barrels of the potent brew and watched the balm of a thousand flowers mingle with the Mississippi clay. Near sunset, the raiders filed out of Summit. Having learned nothing of Grants army, Grierson had finally concluded to make for Baton Rouge. His men moved southwest, away from the broken railroad and toward Liberty. They bivouacked near midnight, 15 miles southwest of Summit. While the Federal troopers caught a few fitful hours of sleep, Confederate cavalry struggled desperately to overtake them. After an agonizing nine-hour delay in leaving Jackson, Richardson had finally locked onto Griersons trail near Hazelhurst on the 29th. Following a path of burned depots and twisted rails, the Rebel colonel reached Summit at 3:00 a.m. on May 1, nine hours behind his prey. The Yankees had planted the suggestion there that they were headed for Magnolia and Osyka, the next stations on the railroad. Receiving that news, the eager Confederates pressed southward in the hope of falling upon the Union columns rear. Wirt Adams, meanwhile, had marched to Liberty after failing to trap the Yankees at Union Church. On the evening of April 30 his men were camped within five miles of Grierson. Like Richardson, he hoped to do battle with the Federals near Osyka. At the same time, other Confederate units were riding northeast from Port Hudson. Colonel W.R. Miles transferred his Louisiana Legion to Clinton on the 29th and set out for Osyka the next day. Lieutenant Colonel George Gantts 9th Tennessee Cavalry Battalion had been ordered to the vicinity of Tangipahoa. For several days, Gantt responded to one contradictory report after another regarding the Yankees position and destination before finally settling in near Osyka, covering the roads to Liberty and Clinton. In the midst of all this confusion, it would be easy to overlook a small detachment of Wingfields Battalion of the 9th Louisiana Partisan Rangersa mere 80 men under the command of Major James De Baun. On the 28th De Baun had moved to intercept the Union cavalrymen at Woodville. Two days later, he was ordered to reinforce either Miles or Gantt at Osyka. Augmenting his command with 35 men of Gantts battalion, De Baun set out immediately and by 11:30 a.m. on May 1 was camped at the Walls Bridge crossing of the Tickfaw River, eight miles west of Osyka. Only vaguely aware of the Rebel forces closing in on him, Grierson woke his men to a breathtaking dawn on May 1. As the first narrow slivers of sunlight sliced through the branches of towering pines, the Illinois troopers mounted their horses and resumed their march. The command felt inspired, Surby recalled, and various were the conjectures as to what point on the Mississippi we would make. Oblivious to the glories of nature, their commander concentrated on throwing his pursuers off the scent. He ordered an abrupt turn to the south, and his raiders disappeared into the dense woods. After an arduous ride, interrupted by frequent halts to lift the small cannon over fallen timbers, the bruised and scratched horses and men finally stumbled onto a little-used path and resumed their march at a brisk trot. Near midday, they emerged on the Clinton and Osyka road just west of the point where Walls Bridge crossed the Tickfaw River. Fresh hoofprints indicated a large body of cavalry had passed east just a short time earlier. Dense underbrush, however, obscured the Tickfaw crossing a few miles distant, and the road itself disappeared from view beyond a sharp bend approaching the bridge. Suspecting an ambush, Grierson sent his Butternut Guerrillas to scout the bridge, while the main column remained concealed behind the tree-covered bend in the road. Surby learned from Confederate pickets that a cavalry force was bivouacked along the river bank. At that moment, a shot rang out behind him. Seizing the disconcerted Rebels, Surby rushed them to the rear, where he learned that the alarm had sounded during a chance encounter between Union and Confederate stragglers at a nearby plantation house. Undaunted by the close call, Surbys scouts returned to the place where they had stumbled upon the Rebel outpost. With similar luck, they captured Confederate Captain E.A. Scott and his orderly, who revealed that De Bauns 115-man battalion had reached the river crossing scarcely 15 minutes before the raiders arrival. Alarmed by the same shot that had alerted Surby, De Baun had deployed his dismounted troopers in an ambush. Although aware of each others presence, Grierson and De Baun both maneuvered blindly because of the sharp bend in the road. Grierson hoped to avoid an engagement; much of his success so far had been the result of surprise and subterfuge. Reluctant to waste precious time and lives, he planned to approach, show a bold front, feel out the enemys strength, and then pass rapidly around his flank. He erred, however, in choosing Blackburn of the 7th to execute this delicate maneuver. Itching for a fight, the brash and excitable officer called to Surby: Bring along your scouts and follow me, and Ill see where those Rebels are. Spurring their horses, Surby and three Butternuts dashed off in pursuit. Dressed in full Federal uniform and rapidly outpacing his escort, the burly Blackburn seemed oblivious to the scattered gunfire his approach to the Tickfaw crossing summoned. The fire increased as the Federal horses pounded across the narrow plank bridge. Blackburns mount, pierced by a dozen balls, collapsed, pinning its wounded rider to the ground. Close behind Blackburn, another horse reeled and fell, throwing a butternut-clad Yankee hard against the wooden planks. A ball burned across the neck of Surbys mount and buried itself in the sergeants thigh. Clinging desperately to his reins, he wheeled around and retreated across the bullet-pocked bridge. In his dash to safety, Surby passed Lieutenant William H. Stiles racing forward with the 12-man vanguard of the Federal column. Charging blindly, the group made it to the opposite bank of the river before reeling under a deadly volley from unseen carbines. A second assault likewise withered under the galling enemy fire, and the battered Yankee troopers scrambled back across the river. Grierson soon arrived on the field, dismounted and deployed companies A and D of the 7th to the left and right of the bridge. While those men pinned down the Rebel marksmen, Smiths artillery began firing round shot and canister into the woods. When the replying volleys abated, Union skirmishers advanced across Walls Bridge. The outnumbered Confederates had abandoned their position. The fierce skirmish had cost Grierson one dead and five wounded. Two of the latter, including the overzealous Blackburn, were mortally wounded. De Baun placed the Confederate loss at 1 captain, 1 lieutenant, and 6 privates, all captured by Surbys scouts. As a burial detail interred Private George Reinhold of the 7th regiments Company G, soldiers carefully removed the wounded to the nearby Newman plantation. Surgeon Erastus D. Yule of the 2d Iowa helped Surbys comrades replace the injured sergeants butternut garb with a proper Federal uniform, at least ensuring the clever scout would not be executed as a spy. By crossing the Tickfaw at Walls Bridge and recrossing it again at a ford some six miles downstream, Griersons men were able to cut diagonally across a westward bend in the river. After they made the second crossing and turned southeast, just two major obstacles stood between them and the Union lines at Baton Rouge: the rain-gorged Amite and Comite Rivers. The troopers reined up that evening a mile short of the Amite River bottom as two butternut-clad riders advanced toward them along the darkened road. A calm whisper identified the grime-covered scouts as Confederate couriers bearing dispatches for Port Hudson. In an instant, the pair of chagrined Rebels slipped silently and securely into Union hands. With a bright moon lighting the way, the Federal cavalrymen crossed the Amite River at the Williams Bridge. Grierson urged the column steadily forward while a company of the 6th filed off to disperse enemy cavalry camped nearby. An ear-shattering volley sent 75 partially clad Confederates scrambling for their lives. After collecting a handful of prisoners, the troopers raced to overtake the moving column. As they pushed on through the early morning darkness toward the Comite River, the jaded cavalrymen began to drift off to sleep. Men by the score, and I think by fifties, were riding sound asleep in their saddles, Captain Forbes recalled. The horses, excessively tired and hungry, would stray out of the road and thrust their noses to the earth in hopes of finding something to eat. A handful of officers and enlisted men passed up and down the flanks of the ragged column, riding herd on straying men and mounts. Daylight on May 2 found the Yankee raiders approaching Big Sandy Creek, seven miles east of the Comite River ford. As sleeping soldiers jerked stiffly upright in their saddles, the scouts spotted 150 tents dotting the opposite bank. A quick charge by two companies of the 6th secured the camp. Most of the men were off in Mississippi looking for Griersons raiders; of the 40 who had remained to guard the crossing, all but one fell into Yankee hands. While the 6th stayed behind to destroy tents and equipment, Grierson pressed on with the 7th toward the Comite. Captured officers told Grierson of the Confederate guard at Roberts Ford on the Comite. Yankee scouts confirmed the presence of an encampment amidst a cluster of trees on the rivers eastern bank. The Rebels seemed oblivious to the approach of Yankee cavalry. On the morning of May 2, at about 9 a.m., I was surprised by a body of the enemy, under command of Colonel Grierson, numbering upward of 1,000 men, wrote Captain B.F. Bryan, the Confederate commander at Roberts Ford. They made a dash and surrounded me on all sides before I was aware that they were other than our own troops, their advanced guard being dressed in citizens garb. A dozen shots from Yankee carbines transformed the tranquil grove into a scene of chaos. In the confusion, Bryan escaped by hiding in the moss-draped branches of a nearby tree. Most of my men being on picket, and having only about 30 of them immediately in camp, he reported, there was no possible chance of my making a stand. Few of his soldiers escaped; he assessed his loss at 38 men, 38 horses, 2 mules, 37 pistols, 2,000 rounds of cartridges, and our cooking utensils. The Yankee raiders forded the swollen Comite half a mile upstream, and Grierson ordered them into bivouac four miles outside the Union lines at Baton Rouge. Sleep came easily to the exhausted troopers, but their commander, having come this far, felt he could hardly afford to relax his vigilance. After posting a guard, the former music teacher proceeded to a nearby house, where he astonished the occupants by sitting down and playing upon a piano which I found in the parlor, Grierson recalled. In that manner, I managed to stay awake, while my soldiers were enjoying themselves by relaxation, sleep, and quiet rest. A breathless orderly interrupted his recital with news of enemy skirmishers advancing from the direction of Baton Rouge. Confident that the enemy must be part of Major General Nathaniel Bankss Federal command in that city, Grierson rose from his piano stool and rode out to meet his visitors. Dismounting and pulling a handkerchief from his pocket, the mud-spattered Grierson hailed Captain J. Franklin Godfrey and two companies of the Federal 1st Louisiana Cavalry. The raiders had reached Union-controlled territory. At 3:00 p.m. on May 2, a cloud of dust rose over the Bayou Sara Road. Citizens and soldiers flocked to the streets of Baton Rouge, eager to catch the first view of the daring raiders. With sabers drawn, the dusty troopers of the 6th Illinois Cavalry rode four abreast through the crowd-lined avenues. Close behind, the four guns of Smiths battery wobbled ludicrously on makeshift wheels that had been improvised to replace those broken during the expedition. A hundred or more morose prisoners trudged in the wake of the swaying artillery pieces and, behind them, 500 former slaves in every conceivable style of plantation dress and undress, each one mounted, and leading from two to three other horses, and many of them armed with shotguns and hunting rifles. Behind the contrabands (slaves who had fled from their owners to Union lines) lumbered a ragtag assortment of wheeled vehicles. Aboard were the sick and wounded, most suffering from painfully swollen legs caused by extended riding. Colonel Princes 7th Illinois, also in columns of fours and with drawn sabers, brought up the rear. With the cheers of the flag-waving crowd echoing off the cobblestones, Griersons motley band circled the city square and proceeded to water their horses in the Mississippi. As the sun descended, the tired, dirty cavalrymen settled into camp in a fragrant blooming magnolia grove. Grierson slipped off to well-earned rest. In 16 days of nearly continuous riding, he had led his men on a 600-mile path down the length of Mississippi. They had disrupted between 50 and 60 miles of vital rail and telegraph lines leading from Confederate headquarters at Jackson east to Alabama and Georgia and south to the river strongholds of Port Hudson, Grand Gulf, and Port Gibson. Grierson estimated the cost to the enemy at 100 dead or wounded, 500 prisoners captured and paroled, 1,000 horses and mules confiscated, 3,000 stand of arms, and huge quantities of army stores and other government property seized and destroyed. Even the Federal raiders were astonished at the relative ease with which they had passed through what was presumed to be the armed heartland of the Confederacy. In spite of the enemys superior numbers and intimate knowledge of roads and terrain, Griersons cavalry had encountered only token resistance. The entire loss sustained by the two Illinois regiments amounted to three killed, seven wounded, and five left along the route. All the while, Griersons mysterious movements had confounded Confederate commanders and diverted cavalry to the states interior during the Union armys crucial movement across the Mississippi for the final assault on Vicksburg. Notified of Griersons success through Southern newspapers, Grant pronounced the expedition one of the most brilliant cavalry exploits of the war and predicted that it will be handed down in history as an example to be imitated. Equally important was the effect of Griersons raid on Confederate morale. The Federal invasion heightened popular distrust of military and civilian authority and threw Mississippians into a frenzy. Grierson has knocked the heart out of the State, an anonymous Unionist reported. To a Northern public weary of a long winter of inactivity, news of the brilliant cavalry feat came from the west like an invigorating breeze of spring air. You have only yet received the first installment of events that will electrify the world, announced the New Orleans correspondent of the New York Times. I should not be surprised if the Mississippi should prove, at last, the base of operations by which we can most instantaneously reach the innermost heart of the mighty rebellion. Fresh from a firsthand tour behind the Rebel lines, Grierson spoke directly to the earnest hopes of his fellow citizens when he informed a New England chaplain, The Confederacy is an empty shell. Two more years of bloody warfare lay ahead before the Union armies would finally pierce that shell, but Griersons remarkable raid showed the way. This article was written by JBruce J. Dinges and originally published in the February 1996 issue of Civil War Times Magazine. For more great articles, be sure to subscribe to Civil War Times magazine today! In the almost 150 years since she belatedly committed herself to the revolt known as the Indian Mutiny, Lakshmi Bai, the rani (Hindu queen) of Jhansi, has been the only leader to be described in positive terms by her adversaries. True, some reviled her as a villainess, but others admired her as a warrior queen. Indian nationalists of the early 20th century were less divided in venerating her as an early symbol of resistance to British rule. The future rani was born to a high-caste prominent Brahmin family in Benares (now Varanisi) in northern India on November 19, 1827. Formally named Manikarnika, she was called Manu by her parents. Her mother, Bhagirathi, died when she was 4. Under the care of her father, Moropant Tambe, her education included horsemanship, fencing and shooting. In 1842 she became the second wife of Gangadhar Rao Niwalkar, the childless raja of Jhansi, a principality in Bundelkhand. Renamed Lakshmi Bai, the young rani bore one son in 1851, but he died four months later. In 1853, following a serious illness, Gangadhar Rao adopted a distant cousin named Damodar Rao as his sonsimilarly, Gangadhar and the brother who had preceded him on the throne were adopted heirs. The adoption papers and a will naming the 5-year-old boy as Raos heir and the rani as regent were presented to a Major Ellis, who was serving as an assistant political agent at Jhansi on November 20, 1853. Gangadhar Rao died the following day. Ellis forwarded the information to his superior, Major John Malcolm, a Scottish soldier and the East India company representative in charge of the region, then controlled by Britains East India Company. Ellis was sympathetic to the ranis claims, and even Malcolm, who did not support her regency, described the young widow in a letter to Indias Governor-General James Andrew Broun-Ramsay, 1st Marquess of Dalhousie, as a woman highly respected and esteemed, and I believe fully capable of doing justice to such a charge. Under Lord Dalhousie, the British government had adopted an aggressive policy of annexing Indian states. Charges of mismanagement often offered an excuse. Another justification, applied with increasing frequency after 1848, was the Doctrine of Lapse, which placed any sovereign Indian state as a vassal state under British rule through the East India Company. The British already exercised the right to recognize the monarchical succession in Indian states that were dependent upon them. As a corollary, Dalhousie claimed that if the adoption of an heir to the throne was not ratified by the government, the state would pass by lapse to the British. In spite of the ranis arguments for the legality of the adoption and Ellis statements on her behalf, Dalhousie refused to acknowledge Damodar Rao as Gangadhar Raos heir. The new British superintendent, Captain Alexander Skene, took control of Jhansi under the Doctrine of Lapse without opposition. The rani was allowed to keep the town palace as a personal residence and received an annual pension of 5,000 rupees, from which she was expected to pay her husbands debts. Damodar Rao inherited the rajas personal estate, but neither his kingdom nor his title. On December 3, Lakshmi Bai submitted a letter contesting the Doctrine of Lapse with Ellis approval, but Malcolm did not forward it. She submitted a second on February 16, 1854. After a consultation with British counsel John Lang, during which she declared Mera Jhansi nahim dengee (I will not give up my Jhansi), she submitted yet another petition on April 22, and she continued to resubmit petitions until early 1856. All her appeals were rejected. Meanwhile, discontent had been building among the Indian soldiersknown as sepoyswithin the British East India Companys army. The General Services Enlistment Act of 1856 required all recruits to go overseas if ordered, an act that would cause a Hindu to lose caste. Rumors spread that the cartridges for the newly issued Enfield rifles were greased with either cow or pig fat, regarded as abominations by the Hindu or Muslim sepoys who would tear them open with their teeth. Assurances that the cartridges were in fact greased with beeswax and vegetable oil were not as effective as rumors of a systematic British effort to undermine the sepoys faith and make it easier to convert them to Christianity. In Meerut on May 9, 1857, 85 sepoys who refused to use the Enfield cartridges were tried and put in irons. The next day three regiments stormed the jail, killed the officers and their families and marched on Delhi, 50 miles away. The incident started what became known as the Indian Mutiny. Thousands of Indians outside the army had grievances of their own against British rule. Reforms against the practice of suttee (the act of a widow throwing herself onto her husbands funeral pyre) and child marriage, permitting widows to remarry and allowing converts from Hinduism to inherit family property were seen as attacks on Hindu religious law. Land reform in Bengal had displaced many landholders. Violence spread through north and central India as leaders whose power had been threatened by the British took charge and transformed the mutiny into organized resistance. On June 6, troops at Jhansi mutinied, shot their commanding officers and occupied the Star Fort, where the garrisons treasury and magazine were stored. The citys European populace took refuge in the fort under the direction of Captain Skene. The fort was well designed to withstand a siege: It included an internal water supply, but food was limited, and about half of the 66 Europeans were women and children. On June 8, Skene led the British out of the fort, but they were massacred. On June 12, the mutineers left Jhansi for Delhi. Given Lakshmi Bais long-standing grievances against the government, the British were quick to blame the rising in Jhansi on her, but evidence of her involvement was thin. Skenes deputies and personal servants reported that when the British asked the rani for assistance, she refused to have anything to do with the British swine. A Eurasian clerks wife who claimed to have escaped from the fort with her children reported that the rani had promised the British safe conduct. Her testimony has since been thoroughly debunked by prominent Indian history S.N. Sen in his thoughtful study titled 1857, but the idea that she had betrayed the community inflamed British imaginations. Lakshmi Bai herself sent an account of the massacre to Major Walter Erskine, the commissioner at Sagar and Narbudda, on June 12: The Govt. forces, stationed at Jhansi, thro their faithless, cruelty, and violence, killed all the European Civil and Military officers, the clerks and all their families and the Ranee not being able to assist them for want of Guns, and soldiers as she had only 100 or 50 people engaged in guarding her house she could render them no aid, which she very much regrets. That they, the mutineers, afterwards behaved with much violence against herself and her servants, and extorted a great deal of money from her.That her dependence was entirely on the British authorities who met with such a misfortune the Sepoys knowing her to be quite helpless sent me messages []to the effect that if she, at all hesitated to comply with their requests, they would blow up her palace with guns. Taking into consideration her position she was obliged to consent to all the requests made and put up with a great deal of annoyance, and had to pay large sums in property as well as cash to save her life and honour. Knowing that no British officers had been spared in the whole District, she was, in consideration of the welfare and protection of the people, and the District, induced to address Perwannahs to all the Govt. subordinate Agency in the shape of Police, etc. to remain at their posts and perform their duties as usual, she is in continual dread of her life and that of the inhabitants. It was proper that the report of all this should have been made immediately, but the disaffected allowed her no opportunity for so doing. As they have this day proceeded towards Delhi, she loses no time in writing. In a subsequent letter, the rani reported there was anarchy and asked for orders from the British. Erskine forwarded both letters to Calcutta with a note saying her account agreed with what he knew from other sources. He authorized the rani to manage the district until he could send soldiers to restore order. Faced with attacks by both neighboring principalities and a distant claimant to the throne of Jhansi, Lakshmi Bai recruited an army, strengthened the citys defenses and formed alliances with the rebel rajas of neighboring Banpur and Shargarh. Her new recruits included mutineers from the Jhansi garrison. The positive assessment of local British officials was not enough to overcome the British belief in Calcutta that Lakshmi Bai was responsible for the mutiny and the massacre. Her subsequent efforts to defend Jhansi confirmed their beliefs. In January 1858, Major General Sir Hugh Rose marched toward the city. As late as February, the rani told her advisers that she would return the district to the British when they arrived. On March 25, Rose laid siege to Jhansi. Threatened with execution if captured by the British, Lakshmi Bai resisted. In spite of a vigorous defense, by March 30, most of the ranis guns had been disabled and the forts walls breached. On April 3, the British broke into the city, took the palace and stormed the fort. The night before the final assault, Lakshmi Bai lashed her 10-year-old adopted son to her back and, with four followers, escaped from the fortress. Her father was less fortunate. He was captured and summarily hanged by the British, who sacked Jhansi for the next three days. After riding some 93 miles in 24 hours, Lakshmi Bai and her small retinue reached the fortress of Kalpi, where they joined three resistance leaders who had become infamous in British eyes for the atrocity at Cawnpore: Nana Sahib, Rao Sahib and Tatia Tope. The rebel army met the British at Koonch on May 6 but was forced to retreat to Kalpi, where it was defeated again on May 22-23. On May 30, the retreating rebels reached Gwalior, which controlled both Indias major thoroughfare, the integral Grand Trunk Road, and the telegraph lines between Agra and Bombay. Jayaji Rao Scindhia, the maharaja (grand ruler) of Gwalior, who had remained loyal to the British, tried to stop the insurgents, but his troops went over to their side on June 1, forcing him to flee to Agra. On June 16, Roses forces closed in on Gwalior. At the request of the other rebel leaders, Lakshmi Bai led what remained of her Jhansi contingent out to stop them. On the second day of the fighting at Kotah-ki-Serai, the rani, dressed in male attire, was shot from her horse and killed. Gwalior fell soon after, and organized resistance collapsed. Resistance leaders Rao Sahib and Tatia Tope continued to lead guerrilla attacks against the British until they were captured and executed. Nana Sahib disappeared and became a source of legend. British newspapers proclaimed Lakshmi Bai the Jezebel of India, but Sir Hugh Rose compared his fallen adversary to Joan of Arc. Reporting her death to William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, he said: The Rani is remarkable for her bravery, cleverness, and perseverance; her generosity to her subordinates was unbounded. These qualities, combined with her rank, rendered her the most dangerous of all the rebel leaders. In modern India, Lakshmi Bai is regarded as a national heroine. Statues of her stand guard over Jhansi and Gwalior. Her story has been told in ballads, novels, movies and the Indian equivalent of Classics Illustrated comics. Prime Minister Indira Ghandi appeared as Lakshmi Bai in a political commercial in the 1980s. Although she was a lady, Rose wrote, she was the bravest and best military leader of the rebels. A man among the mutineers. His praise is echoed in the most popular of the folk songs about her: How well like a man fought the Rani of Jhansi! How valiantly and well! This article was written by Pamela D. Toler and originally published in the September 2006 issue of Military History magazine. For more great articles be sure to subscribe to Military History magazine today! In a ceremony that took place at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, Va., on Feb. 11, 2011, Vietnam veteran Lance Cpl. Ned E. Seath was awarded the Navy Cross and the Bronze Star Medal with V Device for his actions 45 years ago in Vietnam, when he helped save Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines, as hundreds of NVA soldiers massed on their position while clearing Quang Tri Province during Operation Hastings. In the darkness of an assault on July 16, 1966, as the NVA was bearing down on his unit, Seath took the parts from two damaged M-60s and started reassembling one operable gun. A rifle squad leader firing an M-79 over my left flank yelled, I cant hold em much longer.Hurry up, Ned, said Seath. About then, he took shrapnel in the shins, but finally he had a working gun. Firing first from a prone position and then from a standing position, Seath continued the withering fire ultimately repelling the enemys assault, according to the citation. I cut loose, he said, I was moving the NVA down like a weed whacker. The men Seath saved had children and grandchildren, and there is no greater legacy than that, said Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, who presented the services second-highest award to Seath. The ceremony was the culmination of a seven-year effort by Seaths fellow Marines to secure him the recognition they felt he deserved. Had it not been for Ned Seath getting that machine gun started, there is no doubt in my mind we would have been overrun, said Bill Hutton, who fought in a foxhole next to Seath during the attacks. When Hutton discovered in 2003 that Seath received only the Purple Heart for his actions that day, he approached and worked with retired Maj. Gen. David Richwine, who at the time of the fight was their company commander, to submit a Navy Cross recommendation. Hutton spent years tracking down former 3/4 Marines, and in 2008 he and Richwine submitted the recommendation to the Marine Corps for consideration. At the awarding ceremony, Seath was also presented the Bronze Star Medal with V Device, a medal for which he was approved in the 1960s but never received. Seath earned the medal for his actions the previous day, July 15, 1966, when he crawled under sniper fire to pull a wounded Marine, Corporal Blake, to safety. I crawled out, grabbed him by his good leg and dragged him back. About halfway, that sniper grazed my helmet, and the round went in at the bottom of my spine about a half-inch, Seath said. I got Blake back, and now I knew where that sniper was, so I got on the M-60 and almost cut him in half. Randy Jerral, Frank West and I then rushed the position, and from there we protected our flank and corpsmen. To read more about Ned Seath, see My War in the June 2011 issue of Vietnam magazine. To view more photos from the ceremony click here. News / National by Tawanda Musarurwa Zimbabwe's Credit Reference Bureau (CRB) is set to be fully operational by the end of next month, an official has said.The chief bank examiner at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Mr Ruzayi Chiviri said a Czech firm, Creditinfo, that was engaged to set up the CRB's soft infrastructure had so far made significant strides.The central bank engaged Creditinfo to set up the country's CRB at a cost of $1, 8 million."We expect the Credit Reference Bureau to online by 31 July. We have been able to procure the soft infrastructure to run the Credit Registry.When we engaged them (Creditinfo) they came to inspect the hardware at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and they were satisfied. And we signed a contract with them on April 14, 2016."Subsequent to that we were then supposed to define the data that we should collect from industry and the banking sector."We have had several consultative meetings with banking institutions in order to make sure they understand because the users of the system are the banking institutions and other credit providers and they have indicated to us to the sort of reports that they want to see coming from the system."Creditinfo has now used that information to come up with the templates in the system that will be able to generate the reports. They have indicated that they will give us a customised version of the system on June 16 (Thursday), and we will run a test on the same day," said Mr Chiviri.According to the World Bank, credit registries generally developed to support the State's role as a supervisor of financial institutions.Experts says the bureau should enhance the verification process of borrowers, enabling bankers to assess credit risk and reduce the level of non-performing loans (NPLs) in the banking sector.And it will also allow lenders to determine how much and at what rates to lend, as well as promote transparency in the economy to the extent of greater sharing of information, making financial institutions aware of their customers' financial exposures.Significant progress in the development of the CRB comes as the Banking Act has been amended to provide backing for its establishment."We sought to finalise the amendments to the Banking Act, which provides the legal backing to provide for the setting up of the Credit Reference Bureau. The law is now in place. We have a banking amendment Act No. 12 of 2015 which was gazetted a few weeks ago," he added.RBZ to licence private credit bureausMr Chiviri said with the CRB coming on board, the RBZ will also establish an internal unit that will licence and monitor private credit bureaus."The technical assistance mission from the World Bank shall come back in July to assist us because as part of the legal framework we must work with the private credit bureaus that are already operating in our market."The RBZ will have a unit that will licence them, so we need to do an assessment of the operations of the private bureaus and prescribe the standards which they should follow and we need them to scale up their operations." For the better part of that bloody April 6 at the Battle of Shiloh, Union Brigadier General W.H.L. Wallace and his embattled troops in the Army of the Tennessees 2nd Division had held their own in the Hornets Nest. Time after time they managed to shoot up, beat down and turn back the onrushing Confederate columns. But as dusk approached, the regiments on their flanks crumpled, and Southern fury raged unabated in the center of the Union line. Having surrounded the exposed Federals in the Hornets Nest, the Rebels laid down a murderous crossfire on any who tried to flee. The Federal situation had worsened when, about 5 p.m., a Confederate bullet plowed into the head of Wallace, the primary organizer of the Hornets Nest defense. Wallace lived for a timehe would finally succumb on April 12, 1862but at that point he was incapable of further command. Brigadier General Benjamin Prentiss was the only general left standing by virtue of the gory process of elimination that had taken place within the battered Union position. Prentiss was actually a Southerner fighting for the North. He was born in Virginia in 1819, but his family soon moved west, and he grew up in Missouri and Illinois. While serving in the Illinois militia in the 1840s, he fought against Mexicans and Mormons. He eventually started practicing as an attorney, but remained a militia colonel. His Civil War career began in 1861 when he was named colonel of the 10th Illinois, and by August he had been promoted to brigadier general and sent to Missouri to combat irregular Confederate operations. On April 1, just days before the Battle of Shiloh, Prentiss joined Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grants Army of the Tennessee as commander of the 6th Division. With the army camped around Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee River, Prentiss and his men took up an exposed position near Barnes Field, about two miles from the landing, and he set about organizing and getting to know his 5,400 mostly untested charges. Early on the morning of April 6, General Albert Sidney Johnstons Rebel army burst forth from the Tennessee woodlands and headed straight for Prentiss overwhelmed greenhorns. By 9 a.m., most of the rookies had broken under the Confederate onslaught, but the general managed to rally about 500 soldiers and at 9:30 planted his ragged force along a section of a sunken farm road that ran through a dense forest in the Union center. Wallaces men were already there, fighting hard to hold onto a key swatch of land that would eventually be known to history as the Hornets Nest. Prentiss set up on Wallaces left and was soon reinforced by roughly 575 men of the 23rd Missouri arriving from Pittsburg Landing. That put Prentiss in command of about 1,100 soldiers, a relatively small chunk (12 percent) of the approximately 8,850 Federals currently in the Hornets Nest. When Wallace was mortally wounded at 5 p.m. while leading a retreat to Pittsburg Landing near a deadly stretch of land known as Hells Hollow, Prentiss was left as the senior commander in the Hornets Nest. Earlier in the day, General Grant had personally instructed him to hold his position at all hazards, but by 5:30 Prentiss could see he had no alternative save outright slaughter. He raised a white flag and surrendered the 2,250 soldiers who remained in his charge. As the conquering Confederates shouted in triumph, Prentiss quickly bellowed, Yell, boys, you have a right to shout, for you have captured the bravest brigade in the U.S. Army. With those two actsthe reluctant surrender and his decision to make that boastful retortBenjamin Mayberry Prentiss was on his way to undeservedly earning the weighty sobriquet Hero of Shiloh. Every war produces its false heroes, men who claim they did much more than the actual records validate. Stories have recently popped up in the news about Vietnam veterans wearing medals they bought at surplus stores, for example, unscrupulous behavior that insults the soldiers, sailors and Marines who have put forth the true measure of heroism. Sometimes these frauds are found out, but it seems just as often they manage to get away with their deceit. As awareness of the determined defense of the Hornets Nest grew in the decades after the war, Prentiss fame increased by leaps and bounds. He was helped considerably, of course, by the fact that Wallace was dead and unable to vouch for himself. For Wallace there would in fact be no martyrdom like that accorded Albert Sidney Johnston, struck down at Shiloh, or Thomas Stonewall Jackson, mortally wounded at Chancellorsville. In the case of the Hornets Nest, selective memory would side with Prentiss. When it comes to Civil War historyor any history for that matterthere is often a vast difference between what actually happened and what people believe happened. In the case of Shiloh, Prentiss has received great praise for holding the Hornets Nest long enough to allow Grant to patch together a defensive line at Pittsburg Landing, which ultimately allowed his army to win the battle on April 7. Historians have also given star treatment to Prentiss and have typically ignored Wallace. No fewer than 15 major Civil War authors credit only Prentiss with having defended the Hornets Nest (a few mention W.H.L. Wallace in passing, but the emphasis is clearly on Prentiss). In Battle Cry of Freedom, for instance, James McPherson never even mentions Wallace in conjunction with the Hornets Nest, writing: Although 18,000 Confederates closed in on Prentiss 4,500 men.Prentiss surrendered his 2,200 survivors at 5:30, an hour before sunset. Their gritty stand had bought time for Grant. Bruce Catton states in Grant Moves South that Prentiss had done precisely what he had been told to dohold on at all hazardsand so had his men. Most tellingly, in P.G.T. Beauregard: Napoleon in Gray, T. Harry Williams wrote: Prentiss, under orders from Grant to hold to the last, fought on with 2,200 men.If any one man saved the Federal army at Shiloh, Prentiss was the man. In reality, Wallace was in the Hornets Nest the whole time, longer than Prentiss, commanding his division from 8:30 a.m. until he was mortally wounded. The early historiography of Shiloh sheds critical light on how and why historians have wrongly shaped the story of the Hornets Nest. In the years immediately after the war, Prentiss and the Hornets Nest were not the focus in accounts of the battle. When early authors did deal with the action in the center of the battlefield, they gave credit to Wallace. That view began to change in the mid-1880s. Prentiss himself had a lot to do with the shift in public opinion about Shiloh, and he played a major role in swaying later historians into inaccurately chronicling what had occurred during the battle. Not long after being released from Confederate custody in October 1862, he wrote an after-action report that provided a fairly accurate representation of the events in the Hornets Nest; he even gave Wallace full credit for his actions. During a subsequent round of speaking engagements, however, the general began making more grandiose claims about his own role. On his way back home to Quincy, Ill., following his release, Prentiss spoke in Washington, D.C., Chicago and many other cities, always to huge crowds that hung on his every word. In a number of essentially similar speeches, Prentiss recounted his capture and captivity, and was extremely critical of the treatment he and his men received in Confederate custody. Playing on the emotions of the crowd, Prentiss began a speech in Chicago with, My friends, I feel free to-night; I am at home in Illinois. Near the end of his oration, Prentiss spoke of meeting with Wallace. We had determined to hold our position, he thundered, We determined to sustain our government; we determined there to save the army of Gen. Grant. I think we did it. Loud applause filled the building. Prentiss gained even more adulation as time wore on and the story of the Hornets Nest became the centerpiece of the battle, thanks in large part to several famous paintings. In 1885 artist Theophile Poilpot and 12 assistants produced a Hornets Nest panorama in Chicago that prominently featured Prentiss, and the general himself gave lectures there. An accompanying publication, Manual of the Panorama of the Battle of Shiloh, testified that the Hornets Nest was The Thermopylae of modern timesthe turning point in the battle. The inclusion of several panels of the painting as illustrations in Century Magazine made Prentiss name familiar to even more Americans, and Thure de Thulstrups 1888 L. Prang and Company lithograph centered on the Hornets Nest, with Prentiss an obvious focal point. That brought the general additional attention. W.H.L. Wallace was not prominently featured in the Poilpot panorama, and he was not even included in the Thulstrup painting. By the 1890s, Prentiss was well on his way to being viewed as the key defender of the Hornets Nest. In 1900 the Shiloh National Military Park gave another boost to the generals inflated reputation by placing an iron marker that read, Brig. Gen. B.M. Prentiss surrendered here at 5:30 p.m., April 6, 1862. When Prentiss died in February 1901, the Washington Post headline on his obituary read Hero of Shiloh Passes Away. Later that year the Missouri legislature passed a resolution stating, On the pages of history his name will appear as one on whose bravery and indomitable courage hung the fate of Shiloh battle field and perhaps the fate of a nation. Prentiss apparently had saved more than just the Union army at Shiloh. Many later authors simply picked up and continued the Prentiss myth. For example, in The Story of Shiloh (1946), Otto Eisenschiml wrote, For hour on hour, Prentiss here held up the bulk of the Confederate army; when he finally did surrender, he had saved the day for Grant. He later added more detail, stating that Grant owed his own military survival and subsequent Presidential honors to Prentiss stubborn and sacrificial resistance. After the National Park Service took control of the Shiloh battlefield in 1933, the agencys historians institutionalized Prentiss supposed heroics. The text on the parks visitors brochure mentioned Prentiss but not Wallace, and the Thulstrup painting showing Prentiss in the Hornets Nest was later used as the brochures cover image. Likewise, the parks 1954 film Shiloh: Portrait of a Battle heavily concentrated on Prentiss in the Hornets Nest, leaving other significant actions relatively untouched. At one point, after only mentioning Prentiss, the films narrator states, The troops in the Sunken Road held the key to the battlefield. Later the narrator notes that Prentiss sacrifice had indeed not been in vain, that his stand had allowed Grant time to build a last line of defense. At another point the narrator refers to veterans who claim they would never be ashamed to say, I fought with Prentiss in the Sunken Road at Shiloh. The film, still being shown at the Shiloh visitor center, never mentions that 75 percent of the troops Prentiss surrendered were not under his command when the battle began. Prentiss overblown reputation simply does not fit with the facts. His postwar heroic status is demonstrably the result not of heroic action at the Hornets Nest or anywhere else, but of battlefield mythologyhype or spin, as we would call it today. And while the general himself was not solely responsible for mistakes propagated in the early historiography of the conflict, we can see that Prentiss took advantage of those skewed reports to enhance his status as well as his income. Benjamin Prentiss courage in helping Wallace to defend the Hornets Nest cannot be debated. But perhaps Prentiss honor as an officer and a gentleman should rightfully be questioned when we come to examine the battles storied aftermath. By John M. Priest While Union commander George McClellan fumed and the Battle of Antietam hung in the balance, a handful of Rebels held off Federal troops at Burnside Bridge. The daySeptember 17, 1862promised to be long and hot, and the regimental commanders in Brigadier General Samuel Sturgis division of the Union Army of the Potomac, now tramping along the Porterstown Road southeast of Sharpsburg, Maryland, ordered their men out of line by squads to fill their canteens from nearby wells. Hundreds of thirsty, dry-mouthed men broke ranks and streamed like blue-jacketed cockroaches toward the wells. The rapid exodus quickly attracted the malign attention of Confederate batteries several hundred yards away, on the western bank of Antietam Creek. The Rebel gunners aim, though largely inaccurate due to the extreme range, put the divisions ambulance train to flight, but did not discourage the parched infantrymen from their much-needed water details. Two privates from the 9th New Hampshire Regiment almost bought the farm in a small orchard near the ambulance park when an incoming shell burst directly in front of them. The projectile hurtled over their heads with a horrendous scream and splintered surrounding apple trees. Hard green apples pelted the men like hail, forcing them to dive for cover. Crawling from beneath their blanket of apples, the two men limped after their water, filled their canteens and returned, bruised but successful, to their admiring regiment. Across Porterstown Road, directly opposite the 9th New Hampshire, the untried soldiers in the 35th Massachusetts Regiment almost joined the dash for water too late. Their runners, loaded down with canteens, finally returned to the regiment slightly before 10 a.m. The sweating men received the warm, muddy water as if it were priceless. They were lucky to have itthe ravening hordes of their fellow soldiers had nearly emptied the wells. The men in Sturgis division were luckier by far than many of the roughly 100,000 Union and Confederate soldiers already scattered about the sunken roads, orchards and cornfields that ringed the Maryland-Virginia border town of Sharpsburg. The entire IX Corps, of which Sturgis division was a part, had been lurching about since daylight on the eastern side of Antietam Creek, but had taken few casualties from the Confederate batteries in the vicinity of Boonsboro Pikemost of the Rebel projectiles had turned out to be duds. Indeed, the monotonous whizzing of the shells had lulled some of the men to sleep. A little over a mile to the north, above Sharpsburg, it was a far different story. Major General George B. McClellans Union army had been attacking General Robert E. Lees outnumbered Confederates for four hours, slashing through woods and cornfields toward the Rebel position on the high ground near a small German Baptist meetinghouse, the Dunker church. Fighting had been horrificwhole rows of opposing soldiers scythed down like new-mown wheatbut nothing had been settled. The fate of Lees ambitious invasion of Maryland, and perhaps of the Union itself, remained very much in the balance. Lee had invaded western Maryland two weeks earlier, intent on relieving the Union pressure on Virginia, particularly during the crucial harvest season. He envisioned thousands of fresh Confederate recruits rushing to his banner from occupied Maryland, which, though officially neutral, had widespread Southern sympathies. A dramatic battlefield victory on Northern soil might also force European recognition of the Confederacy. Audaciously, Lee divided his army, sending Maj. Gen. Thomas J. Stonewall Jackson southeast to converge on Harpers Ferry, while Maj. Gen. James Longstreet moved north toward Hagerstown. The chance discovery of a copy of Lees orders gave McClellan the opportunity to destroy the Rebel army while it was dangerously divided, but the overly cautious Little Mac delayed long enough for the Confederates to make a stand at South Mountain on September 14, salvaging their supply trains and giving Lee time to plan his next move. Lee gathered his two wings together on the outskirts of Sharpsburg, along Antietam Creek. There he determined to fight it out, depending on McClellans inherent timidity to compensate for the nearly 2-to-1 advantage the Union commander had in troops. The Battle of Antietam had opened at dawn on the 17th. At 10 a.m., Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside, commanding McClellans left wing, received the order to assault Lees right. The movement would necessitate taking the 125-foot-long Rohrbach Bridge, a triple-arched stone span crossing Antietam Creek between two steep banks. Within an hour, 350 Georgians, under the command of Colonel Henry L. Old Rock Benning, repelled two assaults by Brig. Gen. James Nagles brigade to storm the bridge. While Nagle made his second futile charge against the entrenched Confederates on the west bank of the creek, Sturgis placed Brig. Gen. Edward Ferreros brigade along the creek bank south of the bridge. Three times, Sturgis ordered the former New York City dance instructor to take the bridge along Nagles line of approach. Ferrero formed his brigade in a cornfield near a bend in the creek, immediately west of the Lower Bridge Road. The 51st Pennsylvania was in front, followed by the 51st New York, 21st Massachusetts and the untried 35th Massachusetts. It is General Burnsides special request that the two Fifty-firsts take the bridge, Ferrerro shouted. Will you do it? Corporal Lewis Patterson of Company 1, 51st Pennsylvania, a known teetotaler, shattered the ensuing silence with, Will you give us our whiskey, Colonel, if we take it? (The Pennsylvanians had had their liquor ration cut for misconduct on the march.) Yes, by God! cried Ferrero. You shall have as much as you want, if you take the bridge. He added that he would see to it if he had to send back to New York to get the whiskey and pay for it out of his own pocket. Tension rippled through the line as the brigade moved out. The 51st Pennsylvania, following the diagonal approach used by Nagles men earlier, passed northeast behind the 9th New Hampshire toward the right rear of the twin knolls overlooking the creek and bridge. The 51st New York stayed in place while the smaller 21st Massachusetts filed right into the plowed field the New Hampshire men had formerly occupied. The Massachusetts regiment behaved poorly while moving out. Singly and in small groups, rattled soldiers rose up sporadically from their line and shot wildly through the brush toward the opposite creek bank. Lieutenant John W. Hudson, one of Ferreros aides, later observed wryly that the men were firing by guess, and that some had gotten back a good rifle ball to pay for their wisdom. Ferrero posted the 51st New York at right angles to the 21st Massachusetts in the field facing the bridge, then he and his staff moved behind the first knoll to direct the assault of the 51st Pennsylvania. Only the 35th Massachusetts remained undeployed, standing in the middle of the road at the creek bend. Ferrero ordered Hudson to send for the regiment. While the green troops of the 35th Massachusetts double-quicked obliquely to the northeast, the 51st Pennsylvania made its move toward Rohrbach Bridge. Hudson, who had been watching the 21st Massachusetts waste a good quantity of ammunition on the brush-covered western bank, turned his head to the right as a half-hearted cheer reverberated from the crest of the knolls. The already exhausted Pennsylvanians walked and staggered by platoons toward the creek. Tired or not, however, the hard-drinking bunch dove for cover behind the bridge abutments and the stone wall that paralleled the creek north of the bridge. Simultaneously, the 48th Pennsylvania made for the bridge with a small part of the 6th New Hampshire, both units from Nagles brigade. All four regiments started to pour a terrific fire into the opposite bank. They could see the Rebels, in pairs and threes, dodging about through the smoke to escape their bullets. Captain James Wren of the 48th Pennsylvania ordered his men to lie prone alongside the 51st New York, and they cut loose at will into the leafy foliage and Rebel barricades across the stream. Wren was coolly directing their fire when an enlisted man from the 6th New Hampshire wandered over to complain that the Rebels had shot off the trigger finger of his right hand. The wounded man shouted that he still had 40 rounds in his cartridge box and did not want to go to the rear. Wren, succumbing to the thrill of the moment, turned to the man and blurted, Now you bite the ends off these cartridges and I will fire them cartridges of yours. Putting down his sword, Wren took the mans musket and carelessly stood up to shoot. Three balls in rapid succession zinged close by the captains ears. His men shouted to him to get downthe Rebs had his range. At the same moment, Wren saw a Confederate leisurely step from behind a large tree next to the bridge, take careful aim and squeeze the trigger. The bullet whistled just above Wrens head. Wisely, he ducked for cover. Steadying the musket on a fence rail, Wren sighted on the tree. As the Confederate exposed himself for another shot, the captain jerked the trigger and missed. Hastily reloading, he sighted again, determined to draw blood. The next time the graycoat stepped out to shoot, Wren fired. When the smoke cleared, he thought he saw his target double over and drop. Wren promised himself to check his kill if he lived to cross the creek. The noise at the bridge reached a nerve-shattering crescendo as rifle fire, shrieks and curses mingled with the exploding shells and rattling canister from Simmonds Kentucky (Union) Battery, which was firing over the Federals heads into the Confederate positions. Colonel John Hartranfts men in the 51st Pennsylvania scrambled over the fence bordering both sides of the road south of the bridge, and took cover behind the lower wing of the abutment. The colonel, who was with his colors, used the upper abutment for shelter; he ordered his men to tear out the fence rails directly across the mouth of the bridge. From behind the knolls, Ferrero, who had caught up with the 35th Massachusetts, could not understand why the 51st Pennsylvania had not crossed the stream as ordered. The dapper dancing master snapped at the ever-present Hudson to go down and find out why Hartranft had not done as commanded. Before trotting out into the corn-stubbled valley, Hudson pointedly asked the New Englanders not to shoot him in the back. Taking off at a steady trot, Hudson dashed into line just south of the bridge. The men pointed him in the direction of the northern parapet, where he found Hartranft and his color guard huddled below the bridge wall. Hudson screamed for the colonel to cross the bridge. Does he desire it? an incredulous Hartranft shouted back. Yes, sir, Hudson replied. Very well. The two officers headed south together. Hartranft and his color guard worked their way into the crowd on the bridge, while Hudson sought out Colonel Robert B. Potter of the 51st New York and told him to follow the Pennsylvanians across. Potter shouted at his men to move and bolted onto the parapet, where he stood shouting and swearing like a madman. Hudson, for his part, hurriedly raced back to the safety of the knolls. As he explained later, Having on straps & sword & pistol, I was willing to keep moving, lest he prove to be a prize target for some Confederate sharpshooter. Confederate Colonel Benning, commanding the Georgians at the bridgehead, found his position, which his soldiers had held so valiantly for so long, now becoming untenable. The morning attacks had left his men physically exhausted. Their fire dwindled perceptibly as the Yankees down at the bridge began to stir. He passed word along the crest for the men to fall back. At the bridge, Captain William Allebaugh, Sergeant William Thomas, three color-bearers and a member of the color guard bolted across the span and planted the regimental standard in the road at the mouth of the bridge. Simultaneously, Hartranft, hat in hand, rushed to join them, screaming at the top of his lungs. His men followed his excited example, clogging the 12-foot-wide roadway as individuals halted to shoot at Rebel snipers in the opposite treetops. The incoming rifle fire ceased suddenly as the Pennsylvanians reached the middle of the bridge. A short distance to the left, some men of the 51st New Yorkwho had forded the stream and scaled the quarry at the crest of the hillhad outflanked the re-forming 2nd Georgia, which had pulled back from the crest. Union fire cut down Lt. Col. William R. Holmes, Jr., of the Georgia regiment, who died, sword in hand, while attempting to fulfill his vow to hold the bridgehead or die in a ditch trying. Hudson, in the meantime, had reported to Ferrero, who directed him back to the bridge with orders for each regimental commander to form in the road along the western bank of the creek, then occupy the crest above the bridge. By the time Hudson responded, the scene at the crossing had become thoroughly muddled. The 51st Pennsylvania halted in the road at the entrance of the bridge to volley at an enemy that was no longer there. Hartranft leaned against the upper abutment, weakly fanning his hat to speed his men forward. Come on, boys, he panted, for I cant halloo any more. The 51st New York jammed the entire length of the bridge. Men shouted and screamed at one another as they pushed and shoved like so many runners on a giant treadmill. Individual soldiers halted to load and fire into the treetops. There was a great deal of motion, but no headway. To the left rear, the 48th Pennsylvania and 21st Massachusetts, along with a company of the 35th Massachusetts, continued to volley into the far bank. Hudson got hopelessly stuck in the middle of the mob. As he elbowed his way through the frantic herd, he repeatedly bellowed, Make way for an aide! The struggle so exhausted him that when he came within hailing distance of the acting lieutenant colonel of the New York regiment, he blurted the commands to him along with the request, Will you pass it to your colonel along the line? The officer, a new acquaintance of Hudsons, politely but with a hint of exasperation in his voice replied, That is part of your duty, sir. Hudson continued to worm his way through the human roadblock, eventually finding the commanders of both lead regiments, then made his weary way back to Ferrero, who was still at the knolls. Ferrero appeared rather piqued. When Hudson returned from the creek, the tail end of the 51st New York still clogged the bridge, while the rest of the regiment, along with the 51st Pennsylvania, blocked the road on the western bank. Dense, sulfurous clouds engulfed the entire creek bank as the frustrated Federals repeatedly fired at random at any individual Rebel who happened to pop from cover. Corpses, wounded men and piled-up fence rails marked the former presence of the opposing force. Occasional potshots still came from the trees, but there was no genuine Confederate opposition left at the bridge. The 78th Ohio, unknown to the men of Ferreros brigade, had forded the creek above the bend in the Lower Bridge Road in an effort to flank the retreating Georgians from the north. At the same time, a large number of impatient Union troops forded the stream at the big bend and scaled the quarry south of the 2nd Georgia. Meanwhile, the 51st New York and the 51st Pennsylvania retired below the creek bank to the waters edge to avoid enfilading fire from the heights above Boonsboro Pike. Hartranft, who was about 300 feet up the road, sent Lt. Col. Thomas Bell south to fetch reinforcements. Ferrero fumed as he watched his lead regiment, the 51st Pennsylvania, move upstream and lie down under the shelter of the creek bank instead of ascending the heights. Coffee fires with their telltale smoke were being kindled. Hudson, cried Ferrero, tell your colonel to cross the bridge immediately, move along the road to the right, form in line and advance up the hill. The exhausted lieutenant delivered the order to Lt. Col. Sumner Carruth, who immediately got the 35th Massachusetts to its feet. The regiment double-quicked in column through the saddle between the two knolls, down to the creek. The 6th New Hampshireand what could be found of the 2nd Marylandjoined the advance, which almost was trampled to death when Carruth, in a moment of indecision, tried to front his regiment to fire across the creek. He changed his mind in midcommand and unexpectedly moved his herd by right flank onto the bridge. The tumult at the bridge disturbed a large sow and her litter. Bounding over corpses, the pig made straight for the 9th New Hampshire, charged through a gap in the rails and tried to negotiate the opening between the legs of one of the advancing New Englanders. She was too wide and he was too lowthe sow plucked the startled soldier off his feet and carried him, screaming for his life, toward the rear. The 35th and 21st Massachusetts hurried onto Lower Bridge Road and formed along the western bank. During the ensuing crossing, a couple of men dropped snipers out of the trees near the bridge. One sharpshooter, in particular, left an indelible impression on them. As he fell from his perch, one arm snagged a branch and he dangled piteously before plummeting into the creek. Second Lieutenant Farquhar McCrimmon of the 20th Georgia, with 16 survivors from his own regiment and the 2nd Georgia, realized that he could not withstand the onslaught of the two Federal brigades. As the 35th Massachusetts came up the hill, the Confederate remnant raised their hands, waving filthy white rags and pieces of newspaper from their ramrods. They were herded toward the bridge, where Lt. Col. Bell had to calm his angry men, who had surrounded the bested Rebels. After struggling over the fence along the road, the men of the 35th Massachusetts wheezed and crawled part way up the hill toward the crest. Climbing over a split-rail fence on the hilltop east of Ottos Farm, the regiment continued to advance to the right, in full view of Sharpsburg. A shellburst from a Confederate battery in the field beyond plowed into the regiment, killing two. The regiment halted momentarily, then started to withdraw. At the same time, a Rebel battery on the heights along Boonsboro Pike also fired. Hudson, once again on an errand for Ferrero, sauntered across the bridge with an order for Hartranft when a shell exploded and sent fragments whizzing along the steep hill in front of him. Two more shells burst nearby. The barrage caught Bell about 50 yards from the bridge. He had just slapped Private Hugh Brown on the shoulder as he passed, exclaiming, We did it this time, my boy! Barely two steps away, a ball from the second case shot glanced off his left temple. The impact whirled Bell around in a circle and slammed him on his side. Men rushed to his aid as he rolled down the creek bank into the regiments stacked muskets. Concerned, they asked if he was badly hurt. Bell, the left side of his face quickly reddening with blood, put his hand to his temple and calmly replied, I dont think it is dangerous. He paused. Boys, never say die, he added. Hudson found the left wing of the 51st Pennsylvania sprawled along the creek bottom. He asked, Where is your lieutenant colonel? There he is, sir, wounded. Hudsons gaze fell on a stretcher being borne toward the bridge. The officer being carried stared fixedly in Hudsons direction as he was carried south. His dimming glance hurt Hudson badly. An ugly blue bruise was on Bells left temple. Bell, a newly made friend, was dying. Hudson abruptly turned to meet Hartranft, who was coming down the road. Hudson asked why he had not advanced to support the 35th Massachusetts. Ive no ammunition, Hartranft snapped. The two frustrated officers stood there in the road, at a loss for words. They both had to answer to the moody Ferrero. Eventually, Hudson ventured, Shall I tell the colonel so? If you please, said Hartranft. Hudson jogged toward the bridge. He saw three men from his old company struggling with a very heavy man on a blanket. A quick glance at the hat and the way the men tried to tenderly treat the officer told him that the fellow was Lieutenant James Baldwin. You must excuse me, Hudson called out. Ive got something to do across the bridge. With that, he hurried to deliver his latest message to Ferrero. Lieutenant Colonel Joshua K. Sigfried of the 48th Pennsylvania, upon crossing the bridge, immediately detached Captain Wren and his B Company as skirmishers, with orders to cover the quarry and the ridge to the right. The plucky captain and a couple of his people detoured slightly to check on the Confederate that Wren had shot. They found a dead man lying beside the same tree. Captain, one of the men chimed in, that is your man. Wrens men fanned out and began to scramble up the hill. As the ground widened, the captain sent back for more skirmishers. Brigadier General Sturgis personally sent more men to assist. The skirmishers scrounged the far hillside for souvenirs as they proceeded. They discovered the remains of the 2nd Georgia in a slight entrenchment near the top of the hill. Over 40 Rebels had fallen as a unit in near-perfect formation. Lieutenant Colonel Holmes lay five paces behind his color guard, riddled with bullets. Union soldiers set upon the colonels beautiful dress uniform; one stole Holmes expensive gold watch, others cut the gilt buttons off his tunic. Captain Joseph A. Gilmour claimed a shoulder knot. Two men pulled the polished boots off his feet, then callously flipped a coin to see who would have the matched pair. Corporal Dye Davis of Company B happened upon a dead Confederate whose haversack bulged with johnny cakes. Dye coldly jerked the haversack free from the dead man and poured its contents into his own sack. He started to munch a chunk of the captured cornbread as the company moved out. A friend reprimanded him, commenting that he could not eat anything that came from a corpse. Damn em, man, Dye retorted through a mouthful of bread. The Johnny is dead, but the johnny cakes is no dead. He kept eating away. The Federal regiments down by the creek, on the other hand, acted like vanquished troops. The stubborn Georgians, besides holding the entire corps at bay, inflicting severe casualties and causing the frustrated Yankees to needlessly expend an inordinate amount of ammunition upon inferior numbers, had scored an emotional victory. General Burnside had won his bridgeever after to bear his namebut the crossing had been so delayed as to render his victory meaningless. John M. Priest teaches at South Hagerstown High School and resides in Boonsboro, Md. He is the author of the recently published Antietam: The Soldiers Battle by White Mane Publishing Company, from which the article was adapted. As supplemental reading, try Landscape Turned Red, by Stephen W. Sears or The Gleam of Bayonets by James V. Murfin. [ Top | Cover Page ] The wall dematerializes as a form and allows the names to become the object.Designer Maya Lin The sheer tenacity of Jan Scruggs and fellow Vietnam veterans pushed an improbable idea from misty conception to real possibility, and ultimately to law, in just a years time. When President Carter signed legislation in July 1980 authorizing the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, not a soul knew what a monument to the fallen in a war that had so recently torn the nation apart would look like. The four criteria laid out to potential designers were both vague and precise. The first two, that the monument should be reflective and contemplative in character, and harmonize with its surroundings were clear enough. The third, contain the names of those who had died in the conflict or who were still missingthe point of Scruggs conceptwould pose an interesting challenge. The final dictum, make no political statement about the war, seemed inconceivable. Into this void entered a vision from a most unlikely source. Among some 1,400 entrants, a young architecture students simple yet ingenious design had an instant impact on the jurors. Acclaim for Maya Lins design was far from unanimous, of course. As Lin wrote about those times in 2000 in an eloquentand rareexposition in the New York Review of Books, It was extremely naive of me to think that I could produce a neutral statement that would not become politically controversial simply because it chose not to take sides. Today, it is hard to comprehend the controversy and angst that engulfed the design of the memorialwhose healing effect on Vietnam veterans and the nation as a whole has truly been immeasurable. The Building of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Timeline 1979 Vietnam vet Jan Scruggs conceives the idea of a memorial to those killed in the Vietnam War that would serve several purposes: that their names would not be forgotten, that society would recognize that their sacrifices were honorable, and to help heal the wounds of veterans and the nation. He announces the founding of the nonprofit Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund on Memorial Day. While few take note and fundraising is slow, a committed group of veterans build an organization and set Veterans Day 1982, as their goal for dedicating the memorial. In November, after vowing to raise the funds for building the memorial, Scruggs enlists the support of Sen. Charles Mathias (Md.), who had been an opponent of the war, and Sen. John Warner (Va.). They announce plans to introduce legislation that would grant two acres of land near the Lincoln Memorial for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. 1980 President Jimmy Carter signs legislation in July that had unanimously passed in Congress providing the site for the memorial. A design competition launches after architect Paul Spreiregen is hired as an adviser, design criteria are established and an eight-member design jury selected. By the end of the year, 2,573 registrations had been received. 1981 After five days of winnowing 1,421 design entries, the jury selected entry number 1026, noting its a design which will stimulate thought rather than contain it. The design belongs to 21-year-old Yale architecture student Maya Ying Lin. A press conference is held on May 6 to unveil the design and introduce Maya Lin to the public. Controversy builds over the summer as prominent veterans protest the designs minimalist approach and what they regard as an unsuitable tribute to Vietnam veterans. The wall creates a magical moment of the living and the dead touching, and it is still as potent as the first time you saw it 1982 In February, the Memorial Fund and design opponents reach a compromise and agree to add an inscription to the memorial, along with a flag and statue, as yet designed. Maya Lin regards the changes as violations of the integrity of her work. A groundbreaking ceremony on March 11 marks the start of construction. Sculptor Frederick Hart is chosen to design the statue. As frenzied construction moves ahead, a model of Harts statue is unveiled. Controversy over the placement on the site continues, and Maya Lin resigns from the project. A decision is made October 12 to locate the statue and flagpole away from the memorial, giving the appearance of the soldiers walking from a grove of trees toward the memorial. It will be dedicated two years later. On November 13, after a march to the site by Vietnam War veterans and supporters, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is dedicated, culminating a week of events honoring Vietnam veterans. 1983 Diane Carlson Evans, a nurse who served in Vietnam, proposes that a statue be added to the memorial site to honor the nearly 10,000 women who served in Vietnam during the war. Eight nurses were killed and their names appear on The Wall. The Vietnam Womens Memorial Project is formed. 1984 Frederick Harts statue, The Three Servicemen, is unveiled November 8. During a Veterans Day ceremony at The Wall, President Ronald Reagan officially accepts the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on behalf of the people of the United States. 1986 Visitors to The Wall hit a record high, topping 5 million. 1992 To mark the 10th anniversary of the memorial, the first Reading of the Names at The Wall takes place over the course of 72 hours prior to Veterans Day. President George H.W. Bush and First Lady Barbara Bush make a surprise late-night visit to join in reading the names of the fallen. 1993 After a decade-long struggle, the Vietnam Womens Memorial statue, designed by Glenna Goodacre, is unveiled on November 11 near The Wall and The Three Servicemen statue. 1999 The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund inaugurates its annual Memorial Day ceremony to recognize veterans who have died since the war ended as a direct consequence of their service in Vietnam. 2003 President George W. Bush signs legislation into law on November 18 that authorizes the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Center to be built near The Wall and the Lincoln Memorial. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund begins a campaign to raise private funds for the construction of the center. 2004 A granite plaque is dedicated near The Three Servicemen statue on November 10, In memory of the men and women who served in the Vietnam War and later died as a result of their service. 2006 The site location for the Education Center at The Wall is approved by the National Capital Planning Commission. 2007 The Wall receives the American Institute of Architects Twenty-Five Year Award, which notes that it creates a magical moment of the living and the dead touching, and it is still as potent as the first time you saw it. 2012 The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund announces in February that the planned Education Center has expanded its scope to include an exhibit that will also honor veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In a Memorial Day address at The Wall, President Barack Obama makes a presidential proclamation commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War. In July, the National Capital Planning Commission gives preliminary approval to the site and building plans for the underground Education Center. Following the Flint water crisis, state environment officials in Michigan crafted a new 30-year water plan aimed at protecting the state's "globally unique water resources." The Michigan water stewardship plan is designed not only to address the government's pressing environmental concerns but also the state's overall economic and social objectives. The water strategy starts with state-wide awareness campaign in protecting and rehabilitating Michigan's various waterways (including dilapidated ones that date back to the mid-1800) which involves community participation in the attainment of goals. "There's a framework here for long-term success," Governor Snyder said Friday as quoted by Christian Science Monitor. "If there's one thing that binds Michiganders together, as much or more than anything, it's a love of the Great Lakes and the wonderful water resources we have in this state." On June 10, the state chief executive identified five key priorities that should be properly addressed in the new water plan in a meeting with Michigan's top policymakers in Harrison Township. The priority actions laid out in the new water strategy are as follows (via Michigan State's Department of Environmental Quality's official website): 1. Ensuring access to clean and safe drinking water for all the residents of Michigan. 2. Achieving the 40% phosphorous reduction goal in the western Lake Erie basin. 3. Halting the introduction of new invasive species that upset the balance of the ecosystem 4. Encouraging and supporting investments in commercial and recreational harbors. 5. Developing and improving the quality of Michigan's water trails system. According to state officials, the 30-year approach has long been compiled since 2006 but was largely unimplemented due to lack of funding. With the Flint crisis, the urgency of putting forward a viable strategy for the future has forced the state government to fine-tune and streamline the water plan in consultation with civilian stakeholders. "We believe this strategy is not only the vision of, or solely the vision of, government," Office of the Great Lakes director Jon Allan said as quoted by Detroit News. "But we believe it to be the vision of the people of Michigan... We've tried to reflect on is what the state (residents) had told us they want us to work on and what they want to work on." @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A new study published in Nature Communications revealed that the rising temperature in the Arctic is linked to summer ice melt in Greenland. Climatologists seemed to have found traces of Arctic amplification- a faster warming of the Arctic region than any other place in the Northern Hemisphere causing sea ice to gradually disappear. The study showed that the effects of Arctic amplification occurred in Greenland in 2015 leading to record summer ice melt as a northern swing of jet stream reached further north at that time of the year. Greenland holds the Earth's second largest ice sheet after Antarctica. If the ice it holds were melt entirely, it would significantly raise the world's sea level by 7 meters (22.9659 ft.) on average. By identifying the factors that drive massive ice melting near the earth's polar ice caps, scientists would be able to discern how freshwater runoff from Greenland's melted ice will impact the global ocean circulation. "If loss of sea ice is driving changes in the jet stream, the jet stream is changing Greenland, and this, in turn, has an impact on the Arctic system as well as the climate," said lead author Marco Tedesco, research professor at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and adjunct scientist at NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) as quoted by Global News. The report also noted that the jet stream has reached 76 degrees latitude up north, nearly two degrees than the 2009 record. As indicated in the NOAA's Arctic report card compiled by the study's authors, the ice melt in Greenland reached summer record levels that "exceeded more than half of the ice sheet." The findings also mentioned that as increasing global temperature melts the sea ice in the Arctic, the open water is exposed to greater solar radiation which only exacerbates the warming in the region. However, the effects of Arctic amplification remains highly debated among scientists. It may not provide an exact explanation of how the ongoing ice melts and temperature shifts affect the planet for the years to come but it does uncover a climatic phenomenon that should be a cause for concern for generations. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A new study published in the journal of Science Advances says that more than a third of the world's population, including 80% of Americans and 60% of Europeans, can no longer view the Milky Way as a result of man-made light pollution. The research also noted that more than four-fifths of Earth's inhabitants now live under the hazy skies polluted by artificial light which effectively obstructs a third of humanity's population to see the Milky Way galaxy. "This is a huge cultural loss with unforeseeable consequences in the future generations. Pristine night skies are a precious merchandise. The entire population lives under skies so bright that the eye cannot fully dark-adapt to night vision," scientist and lead author Fabio Falchi said as mentioned in a CNN report. An international group of scientists created a new global atlas of artificial light pollution that details how man-made light permeates the planet. The scientists claim that light pollution obscures humanity's vision of celestial entities and events in the solar system and the entire Milky Way. "The new atlas provides a critical documentation of the state of the night environment as we stand on the cusp of a worldwide transition to LED technology," said Falchi as quoted in a press release. "Unless careful consideration is given to LED color and lighting levels, this transition could unfortunately lead to a 2-3 fold increase in skyglow on clear nights." The study also revealed that the tiny city-state of Singapore is the most light-polluted country on the planet with its entire population missing out the chance of experiencing a true night. Trailing closely are Kuwait and Qatar, Sky News reported. On the other hand, Chad, Central African Republic and Madagascar are countries with populations least exposed to artificial light. To minimize the obstruction caused by man-made light pollution, Dr. Falchi suggests the use of Light- Emitting Diode (LED) light bulbs in lighting installations- a conversion proposal the US Department of Energy supports. "If all U.S. lighting installations were replaced overnight with the best LED technologies available in 2014, our nation would save 4,896 trillion Btu of energy," the department says as quoted by Christian Science Monitor. "That is MOST of the 7,000 trillion Btu we now use for lighting." @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The Orlando shooting, which constitutes the biggest attack on US soil since 9/11, has again brought to the fore the tortutous argument about the right to bear arms as specified in the 2nd Ammendment of the constitution. However, that has not deterred people from backing firearm making companies in the stock market since they believe that gun sales are going to soar just like it did after the gruesome Sandy Hook shooting. The Orlando shooting at a gay night club in the city resulted in 50 deaths and has brought the nation to a standstill has triggered another furious debate among pro-gun lobby and those who call for strict gun controls across the country. However, the stock market shows that investors believe that gun sales are going to go through the roof in the near term. In fact, last January, when US President Barack Obama had stated that the government would call for greater checks. the sales of guns across the country had soared as well. According to a report on Reuters, "Smith & Wesson Holding Corp's shares rose as much as 11.6 percent, while those of Sturm Ruger & Co Inc. jumped 10.7 percent." The report further added, "The Orlando shooting is also expected to reignite emotional debates over American gun laws and homeland security in what is shaping up to be a vitriolic U.S. presidential campaign between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump.However, several gun shop owners and managers interviewed by Reuters said they were yet to see an increase in gun sales or ammunition following Sunday's shooting." According to most industry watchers, the recent tragedy has not yet resulted in a spike in sales like in case of Sandy Hook but comments by people in positions of influence has resulted in the rise in stock prices of major firearm makers. The Reuters report stated, "Smith & Wesson shares were up 6.6 percent at $22.82 in late afternoon trading, while Sturm Ruger's shares were up 8.3 percent at $62.16. Up to Friday's close, Smith & Wesson's stock had risen 39 percent in the past 12 months, while Sturm Ruger's shares had risen about 6 percent." @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. News / National by Staff reporter PDP President Tendai Biti today visited 11 human rights activists that are in remand prison at Harare Central Prison and Chikurubi Women's Prison facing charges of robbing two women in central Harare.The 11 were part of 15 human rights defenders who were arrested last week in central Harare on charges of robbing two women.They were part of hundreds youths who had camped at the Africa Unity Square for a 16-day vigil against Robert Mugabe's dictatorship and misrule of the economy.Among those he visited today are; Linda Masarira, Tatenda Mombeyarara, Pride Mkono, Pamela Mawire and Makomborero Haruzivishe, Irene Takavada, Shadreck Dhliwayo and Brian Kansunzuma.However, the activists complained about the lack of food as the prison officials were denying visitors to bring them food from outside the prison complex citing health reasons.The food and other drinks sold in prison, President Biti was told was going for that a two litre plastic bottle of Coke, which is sold outside for $1, 20 is going for $4 while a one litre bottle of water, which is sold for $0.75 in supermarkets is going for $1,50.These astronomical prices, the activists said, were forcing most of the inmates to go hungry most of the times as prison food was inadequate and poorly prepared.The activists, however, told Biti that despite the unlawful arrests and unfavourable living conditions, they were determined to see that the evil Zanu-PF was brought to an end.Biti urged the activists to remain focused and strong despite the attempts by Zanu-PF to use state machinery to clamp down on opposition forces.He said he was working hard in ensuring that they were released from remand prison as a matter of urgency.Biti was accompanied by the PDP secretary for international relations Willias Madzimure. London -- Launching this June is M Social Singapore, a new lifestyle design hotel situated along the historic and picturesque Singapore River. Overlooking the vibrant Robertson Quay enclave, the hotel is part of an integrated development which includes [email protected] Quay, a luxury apartment project developed by City Developments Limited. Representing the first hotel for the new brand, M Social Singapore is the work of world-renowned designer Philippe Starck. Emphasising community experience in a contemporary yet casual setting, the new hotel features 293 guestrooms, a restaurant and bar and rooftop pool. The creative vision behind M Social Singapore's imaginative interiors, Philippe Starck, has used a 'democratic design' concept, where spaces around the hotel are designed to be accessible and flexible to guests' needs, with an underlying theme of comfort. On the project, Starck commented "M Social will be the new and vibrant place in Singapore where elegance, creativity and technology meet to offer a unique experience to our global smart tribe." The hotel features a selection of open spaces where guests can socialise, all embellished by fully customised art and design elements. The entrance to the hotel is marked by sculptures of two bronze peanuts while patterned tiles create a sense of playfulness upon arrival. The front of house team is dressed in Uniqlo; the first time the Japanese brand has collaborated with a hospitality brand. The design-led guestrooms span 10 floors and are available in four different categories: The Nice Room, The Nicer Room, The Big Room and The Bigger Room. Kitted out with luxurious pashmina throws and deluxe carpets, each room provides a stylish sanctuary in which guests can relax, the neutral hues a contrast to the vibrant communal spaces downstairs. High ceilings characterise all rooms, with additional features including the leafy terraces that come with The Nicer Room and duplex-style Bigger Room, the creepers and shrubbery standing out against the concrete backdrop. Another distinctive feature is the signature V-shaped ceilings of The Nice and Nicer Rooms. M Social Singapore embraces technology. It is the first hotel in Singapore to offer a self-check-in kiosk in to ensure a quick, streamlined process, and located within each guestroom is a complimentary smartphone amenity that comes with unlimited data and calls both locally and internationally. Guests are welcome to take this out with them, exploring the city using the preloaded city guide. Located within M Social Singapore is Beast & Butterflies, a restaurant and bar with an open kitchen, big communal tables and striking artwork designed to stir conversation. The menu has influences from East and West, with dishes including Great Rack of Lamb, marinated in Sichuan spices; and the Beast Burger, grilled Wagyu beef accompanied by garlic cheese fries and a mesclun salad with sesame dressing. Overlooking the Singapore River, the bar offers a range of expertly mixed artisanal cocktails. More than a hotel, M Social Singapore has put together a committee of key opinion leaders, responsible for curating a digital guide to Robertson Quay and attractions around Singapore for millennial travellers. The Committee, made up of personalities such as Lim Sek, CEO of Music & Movement, Timothy Go, Founder of Tech360.TV and TV presenter and popular Singaporean band The Sam Willows, plays a hand in curating the I M Social Series, a programme that reinforces the hotel as a lively hub and host of activities such as tai-chi sessions and yoga on the pool deck. Paul James, Senior Vice President of Global Marketing and Branding at Millennium Hotels & Resorts commented, "We're delighted to be launching M Social in Singapore, it's great for the millennial market and reflects our departure into lifestyle hotels. As the first hotel for the new brand and with plans to expand in Asia and beyond, it's a really exciting time for us." M Social Singapore is offering special launch rates from 112+VAT, including breakfast for two and Wi-Fi. For further information and hotel reservations, visit www.millenniumhotels.com. About Millennium & Copthorne Hotels Millennium Hotels and Resorts (MHR) is the global brand of Millennium & Copthorne Hotels Limited (M&C), a global hotel company which owns, manages and operates over 145 hotels across some 80 locations. It has several distinct hotel brands, including Grand Millennium, Millennium, M Social, Copthorne and Kingsgate, throughout Asia, Europe, the Middle East, New Zealand and the United States. Its properties are in key gateway cities such as London, New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Dubai, Beijing, Shanghai, Seoul, Tokyo, Singapore and Hong Kong. Occupying the best locations around the world, MHR has the perfect address for business and leisure travellers. M&C is the hotel arm of Singapore-listed global real estate company City Developments Limited and is a member of the Hong Leong Group. Visit www.millenniumhotels.com for more information. Lucy Fotheringham Hue & Cry +44 (0) 20 3829 5690 Millennium It looks like you've reached a page that doesnt exist (anymore). Please use the navigation or search above to find content on Hospitality Net. Go back to home According to STR analysts, Singapores decline in ADR can be attributed to an overall slowdown in economic growth. However, arrivals to the market remain strong, up 14.1% year to date through April, according to the Singapore Tourism Board. As a result, occupancy levels continue to grow, albeit marginally. STRs preliminary May 2016 data for Singapore indicates steady occupancy and lower rates. Based on daily data from May, Singapore reported the following in year-over-year comparisons: increases in supply (+2.3%) and demand (+3.0%); a 0.7% increase in occupancy to 80.5%; a 1.9% decrease in average daily rate (ADR) to SGD274.63; and a 1.2% decrease in revenue per available room (RevPAR) to SGD221.05. According to STR analysts, Singapores decline in ADR can be attributed to an overall slowdown in economic growth. However, arrivals to the market remain strong, up 14.1% year to date through April, according to the Singapore Tourism Board. As a result, occupancy levels continue to grow, albeit marginally. STR will release May 2016 results later this month. The May edition of STRs Market Forecast is now available. About STR STR provides clients from multiple market sectors with premium, global data benchmarking, analytics and marketplace insights. Founded in 1985, STR maintains a presence in 10 countries around the world with a corporate North American headquarters in Hendersonville, Tennessee, and an international headquarters in London, England. For more information, please visit str.com. Hotel room rates in the top-25 most popular U.S. destinations are averaging $216.25 this May, up from $213.85 in April, according to trivago hotel price indices (tHPI) released today. The U.S. online average daily rate (oADR), the industrys best analytic for competitive pricing, currently ranges among the top-25 destinations from a high of $380 to a low of $123 this May. Hotel room rates in the top-25 most popular U.S. destinations are averaging $216.25 this May, up from $213.85 in April, according to trivago hotel price indices (tHPI) released today. The U.S. online average daily rate (oADR), the industrys best analytic for competitive pricing, currently ranges among the top-25 destinations from a high of $380 to a low of $123 this May. Based on industry surveys, eforecasting.com estimates that in 2016 about 65% of all reservations are made online via brand websites and travel agent merchant websites, compared with only one-fourth eight years ago. On year-over-year basis, the U.S. average online ADR is up (+1.5%) in May from a year ago, lower than the previous month's year-over-year growth rate of (+12.2%). This May, the average trivago online room rate in Boston, despite a dip of (6.4%) from last year, hit $380 a night, making the city the most expensive destination among the top-25 U.S. hotel markets. New York takes the second place in May with an online room rate of $359, after a drop of (3.2%) from a year ago. In Washington D.C., the online room rate in May is growing (+6.7%) from last year to $350 a night, ranking the city in the third place of the most expensive destinations in the United States. At the bottom of the list, the three least expensive, or most affordable, cities to visit this May are: Salt Lake City recording a trivago online ADR of $130 a night after a (+0.8%) change from a year ago; Phoenix posts an online ADR of $123 following a (+3.4%) change from last year; and lastly, the most affordable popular destination in the country is San Antonio with an online ADR of $123 after a nil change from a year ago. With a median online ADR of $183 amongst the top-25 most popular U.S. destinations, Denver is the country's average affordable city to visit this May. Moving from data to hotel-biz-analytics, eforecasting.com's Smoothed Seasonally Adjusted (SSA) U.S. average online room rate has hit $199 in May. On a month-over-month basis - the hoteliers' analytic for tracking changes of what's now vs. what's happened in comparison to twelve months ago - the SSA online ADR this May is up (+0.2%) from the previous month, which is the same percent change as in the previous month. Looking at the top-25 hotel destinations, the month-to-month percent change in May ranges from a high of (+2.0%) in Phoenix to a low of (1.0%) in Washington D.C.. Amongst the top-25 destinations, the SSA online monthly room rate is growing in 14 cities; and is falling or staying flat in 11 cities. "The latest US Monthly Hotel Forecast predicts profits per online room rates to decline on a year-over-year basis in the second half of 2016," said Maria Sogard, CEO of eforecasting.com. For a complimentary copy of the full US Monthly Hotel Forecast with two-year predictions of occupancy, ADR, RevPAR, online ADR, costs per room, profitability and predictive analytics for investing in hotel properties, email us at info@e-forecasting.com with subject: USHOTfcast. Looking at profitability, hoteliers' ultimate gauge for decision-making, profits per room are flat on a year-over-year basis in May, since U.S. trivago's average online room rate has gained (+1.5%) while eforecasting.com national unit (per room) cost index is up (+1.3%). For U.S. hoteliers, year-over-year profit margins posted a reading of (+10.1%) in the previous month (April), compared to a mark of (+2.5%) a year ago (May 2015). Using trivago's online hotel room rates for the top-25 U.S. destinations and eforecasting.com's city-centric hotel unit (room) cost indices, year-over-year percent change in profits per room currently range from a high of (+10.6%) in Los Angeles to a low of (11.4%) in Houston in May. Amongst the top-25 destinations, profits per room are up in 14 cities; they are down or are flat in 11 cities. On tracking monthly the risk for business losses in providing services per room, the probability for U.S. hoteliers being in a negative profits (losses) phase of the industry's business cycle hit 27% in May, which is higher than April's reading of 24%. In the top-25 hotel destinations, the risk for hoteliers being in a period of losses per room in May ranges from a high of 99% in Seattle to a low of 1% in Indianapolis. The probability of losses per room is above 50% in 11 cities; it is 50% or below in 14 cities. About e-forecasting.com Founded in Durham, NH in 1994, e-forecasting.com is a predictive intelligence consulting firm offering to clients customized solutions for whats next. For over 15 years, its hotel insights division has focused on hotel predictive analytics and forecasting products for the top destinations around the world to enhance its clients competitive advantage and improve their bottom line. About trivago Founded in Dusseldorf in 2005 with operations in 39 countries, trivago is the worlds largest online hotel search site, comparing room rates from over 700,000 hotels on over 200 booking sites worldwide. Each month, more than 45 million visitors use trivagos unique online technology, which compares 5 billion hotel deals a day - more than a trillion a year - and saves them an average of 35% per booking. Visit online http://www.trivago.com. News / Press Release by Bekezela Maduma Fuzwayo Gwanda Residents Association being a legal representative of the residents of Gwanda here by joins the majority of Zimbabwean residents and indeed parliamentarians across political divides to condemn the proposed Local Government Amendments Bill as presented to Parliament by the Ministry of Local Government and currently going through public consultations.As residents of Gwanda we are particularly not happy with the attitude behind the production of the proposed amendments which is nothing more than using our country's local government spaces to fight political wars between political parties in the determination of who should run the country's two major cities of Harare and Bulawayo.As residents of the so called small towns that are continuously disregarded in the formulation of local government policies we can not on this matter yet again agree to be the grass that suffers when two elephants engage.Zimbabweans and indeed us the residents of Gwanda overwhelmingly voted for a new constitution three years ago on the motivation that the new constitution was to give us an opportunity to decide how we want to be governed in our localities and more importantly by who.We therefore view the proposed amendments which give the Minister sweeping powers to decide who should run our local authorities and how totally against the spirit of the constitution we voted for.It is there of with all certainty that we can state that we would not have so overwhelmingly voted for the new dispensation had it not been of the appetising provisions of Chapter 14 that guarantee us self determination and immunity on us catching a cold every time Harare sneezes.It is therefore in that regard that we can not find ourselves sitting aside endorsing the deliberate manipulation of our country's statutes to suit fights targeted at individuals who have their own political wars to fight.We are also disturbed with the inconsistencies that are being exhibited by the Local Government Ministry regards the aligning of the local government statutes to the constitution.Former Minister Honourable Ignatius Chombo had gone to an extent pushing his own Devolution Bill which as residents bodies and citizens were in the process of challenging, mid way through without conclusion, new Minister Honourable Saviour Kasukuwere is introducing the proposed amendments bill which does not at all make any reference to the previously proposed bill to an extent of the two contradicting each other.This then leaves us residents who are the key stakeholders to the local government adminstration confused as to exactly what is happening in our local governance.We therefore by means of this statement call upon our parliamentarians to move for the rejection of the proposed Local Government Bill.We call on the parliamentarians to continuously push for the implementation of the devolution of power principles as provided for in Chapter 14 of the constitution and not allow to have the laws of the country to be crafted around individuals and personality clashes.Bekezela Maduma FuzwayoSecretary GeneralGwanda Residents Associationgwandaresidentsassociation@gmail.com First Dates offered a glimpse into the way people behave when they are looking for a romantic liaison - and maybe some sex into the bargain. But how different was the TV version from people's pursuit of a good time - and what does the history of dating tell us about how we view this ritual? This article can only be read with a Premium Account Please Log In or Subscribe to continue reading The rapper was immediately brought to hospital as his flight was forced to emergency land. Lil' Wayne suffers with epilepsy making him prone to seizures. Yesterday morning, whilst on a flight the Louisiana native suffered from a seizure attack. The flight was forced to emergency land in Nebraska and he was rushed to hospital. Lil Wanye's rep released a statment on Wayne's behalf and told the press that he is now 'recovering' from the event. "Under the guidance of his own doctors, he is now in stable condition and good spirits. He thanks his fans for their everlasting support, prayers and well wishes," the statement reads. Lil' Wayne has suffered four in the last four years. The epileptic seizures are brought on by lack of sleep, stress and overworking so hopefully this will be an indication to Wayne that he needs to take it easy and rest up for a while. The Co. Down trio will share their first new music from their upcoming third album. Two Door Cinema Club have confirmed they will drop their new single later this evening on Annie Mac's BBC Radio 1 Show. The indie rockers had been teasing at new material on social media saying a new album was recorded back in April, four years since Beacon came out. We're looking forward to hearing the latest offering. Valmie Resources Inc. (OTCBB:VMRI, VMRI message board) managed an impressive 20% jump yesterday, carried up by the hype that followed its latest announcement. Truth be told, this state of developments is somewhat baffling. On one hand, it doesn't look too likely that an announcement that the company's joint venture partner met with its drone hardware manufacturer this week in Arizona could propel the ticker 30% up the charts over three trading sessions. However, there seems to be no other even remotely reasonable explanation for the surge that VMRI is currently experiencing. VMRI's newsfeed is mostly barren, insignificant news about joint venture partners notwithstanding. The company doesn't seem to have any new paid pumps targeting it, and as far as new and improved financial reports that could have captivated the interest of investors are concerned no, there are none of those, either. And while on the topic of financial reports, one would be remiss not to mention what a hot steaming mess the last one VMRI filed looked like: Cash and cash equivalents - $24 thousand Total Assets - $58 thousand Total Liabilities - $268 No Revenues Net loss - $83 thousand One look at the soul-crushingly mediocre numbers revealed by a cursory glance seems to be discouraging enough but, rest assured, there is more than meets the eye at first glance here, and none of it is for the better. Suffice it to say that making an effort to read a bit further leads to the staggering realization that in the last 2 years or so, the company has issued about $300 thousand worth of stock at rates of a dime per share. For comparison, VMRI's stock is worth $0.78 at the moment. Further, a bit of due diligence reveals that this is not something new. Suffice it to say that a couple of years back VMRI issued 59 million shares for less than $10 thousand. This should be enough of an indication of the company's dubious nature, as well as an unsubtle hint pointing at the attitude one should adopt towards it. Long story short caution and extensive due diligence is advised when dealing with VMRI. Let the buyer beware. To see the headquarters in Google Street View &trade, drag this yellow guy:over to the red pointer: JPMorgan Chase is closing its Houston auto loan collections unit and laying off 90 workers. The unit performed back-office operations for Chase Auto Finance, the auto lending arm of the New York-based bank. The employees, who worked in a downtown office at 1111 Fanin Street, were notified of the layoffs on June 8, but they can work through Aug. 7, JPMorgan said in a layoff notice sent to the state last week. Greg Hassell, a JP-Morgan Chase spokesman, on Monday blamed the layoffs on business "streamlining." He said the laid-off workers will be able to move into other positions within Chase, and 52 of them have already found new jobs with the company, in auto loans. Chase still has about 200 openings among its 6,900 Houston area employees, Hassell said. The oil drilling company Hercules Offshore, which recently filed for bankruptcy for the second time, also told the state last week that it was laying off 60 workers in Houston as it anticipates "a complete shutdown of all of its facilities will eventually be necessary as part of the bankruptcy process." Hercules reported at the end of 2015 that it had 1,000 workers worldwide, but did not disclose how many were in Houston. The company did not Monday respond to a request for comment. Several large law firms in Houston have boosted starting salaries of first-year associates to $180,000 a year as they try to compete with firms in New York, Chicago, and other major cities for top talent from top law schools. Houston's biggest law firm, Vinson & Elkins, said last week that it would increase the pay for attorneys fresh out of law school by $20,000 a year to match Cravath, Swaine & Moore, a New York firm that recently announced a similar increase to $180,000 a year. Other law firms with a large presence in Houston, including Winston & Strawn and Willkie Farr & Gallagher, have followed with their own pay raises. "There is a lot of pressure coming from partners to think there is no way that we will let Cravath out-recruit us when we're just as good as they are," said William C. Cobb, president of Cobb Consulting in Houston, which designs compensation plans for law firms. More firms will fall into line, he added. "It will be ego." The big law firms are raising their starting associates pay for the first time in nine years, said Milan Markovic, associate professor of law at the Texas A&M University School of Law. It's the result of several factors, including healthier profits for the firms, higher costs and college debts for newly minted lawyers, and tougher competition among leading firms for the best and the brightest. To be sure, only a tiny sliver of law school graduates - the top 1 or 2 percent - are benefiting from the higher pay offered by elite firms, some legal experts say. Overall, the market for new lawyers remains glutted. Only 60 percent of the class of 2014 were employed in full-time jobs that required bar exam passage, according to the American Bar Association. Those able to get jobs at small firms with 10 or fewer lawyers earn $55,000 to $60,000 to start, said Markovic. Midsized firms start associates at about $75,000 to $80,000 a year. After Cravath announced higher starting salaries on June 6, other big law firms were quick to match them. Vinson & Elkins, which has about 650 lawyers, nearly 300 in Houston, made its move three days after Cravath, noting "recent changes in associate compensation nationwide." In addition to boosting pay of the 65 incoming lawyers from the class of 2016, it said it would increase salaries of about 300 experienced associates in the United States, including those who graduated between 2008 and 2015. Those who graduated in 2008 or earlier would receive $315,000. Both Tom Fitzgerald, managing partner at Winston & Strawn, a Chicago firm with 43 lawyers in Houston, and Steve Gartner, chairman of Willkie Farr & Gallagher, a New York firm with 17 in Houston, said they were determined to attract top talent. Some smaller firms are feeling the pressure, too. Ahmad, Zavitsanos, Anaipakos, Alavi & Mensing in Houston, a firm with 45 lawyers, said it is considering matching the $180,000 salaries. "We're studying it very closely," said John Zavitsanos, who has hired three associates this fall, two from the University of Texas and one from Harvard. Legal experts say higher salaries for associates will play out in several different ways. Law firms could pare back overall hiring to offset the added costs. New lawyers hired for the bigger salaries will likely feel more pressure to prove themselves immediately - and likely get jettisoned more quickly if they don't perform. And higher salary scales will also make firms reluctant to take smaller cases, which are usually assigned to younger lawyers, said Zavitsanos, who began his career in 1987 at Baker Botts at $48,000 a year. With the energy downturn, Houston firms might find it difficult to pass along the increased costs to clients, said Susan Pye, president of the Pye Legal Group, a recruiting firm in Houston. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Are we experiencing an affordable housing crisis? That was the question posed at a national conference last week, where experts from around the country analyzed how public officials and the development community are grappling with stagnant incomes and skyrocketing cost of living. "Housing costs are going through the roof," said Frances Ferguson with NeighborWorks America. "Particularly as more cities densify, instead of sprawling out, they tear down the old to build new, which are not affordable." Plus, wages are dropping, housing prices are increasing and a larger portion of the market is living on fixed incomes. All this creates a "perfect storm for affordability at the bottom of the market." Housing has long been expensive in markets such as Washington, D.C., New York City and San Francisco. But now markets like Denver, Nashville, Austin and even Houston are confronted with how to house people across income brackets, experts on a panel at the National Association of Real Estate Reporters and Editors said. The Houston Chronicle has been reporting on the impact of rapidly rising rental and home costs in recent years and whether that puts the region's reputation as affordable at risk. See stories here, here here and here. There are some signs of this dynamic slightly changing with slipping oil prices. But it's become clear that the need for low-income housing and workforce housing is also high on the minds of public officials as well, as we wrote this in recent story here. This month marks a year since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that concentrating public housing in areas with high poverty rates and crime could violate the Fair Housing Act. These types of distressed neighborhoods have seen clusters of public housing over the years. White, affluent neighborhoods have largely kept such housing at bay. The housing authority has argued that limiting where housing can be built has "essentially halted" the ability to build subsidized units. Other cities facing these problems are coming up with creative solutions to the problem. One way is known as inclusionary zoning, a popular tactic to require developers to include affordable units in new projects. The Downtown Living Initiative, an incentive program under Mayor Annise Parker's administration, has been criticized for providing funds to spur development without considering a requirement for workforce housing. City Observatory wrote a piece on the inclusionary zoning practice, identifying the shortfalls of relying on the private market. Mayor Sylvester Turner told the Chronicle he'd like to focus on workforce housing and providing single-family homes. He said he plans to address the rising income and housing inequality in the region. "The rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer," said Tim Leonhard with JLL Capital Markets at the conference. "We are seeing this even in places like Texas, a place you never thought of as a place needing affordable housing because it can grow and grow and grow as far as the eye can see. ... We are trying to find creative ways to gentrify under-utilized neighborhoods." Leonhard said people such as teachers, firefighters and government workers, "need to live in the city to make the city alive." He said these types of workers are at the mercy of the marketplace without policies in place to protect. Linda McMahon of the Dallas Real Estate Council said bad transportation systems can also create problems for people living close to their jobs. A study from Rice University found that paired with transportation costs, Houston's affordability is much closer to that of the larger cities. "We've got a long road to hoe," said McMahon. "It's a critical time. There are some great things being done and we have a long way to go." In Austin, affordable, subsidized units are being built in high-opportunity areas, Ferguson said. She said officials want to ensure that housing is supported in all parts of the city. The city also created programs to keep workforce in neighborhoods. Dallas created a similar program. "You very typically had to buy the cheapest land and less desirable locations and build in the least expensive way," Ferguson said. "The dynamics of it economically better construction and some degree better locations." While some new markets are working to identify strategies, places like New York, Boston and some cities in California already have a sophisticated model, said Leonhard. The experts also pointed to Portland, Seattle, Boulder and Minnesota touting creative solutions to the affordability crisis. "The highest cost markets have the most sophisticated agencies," he said. "...The government has to lead the charge." Does Houston's hesitancy to include government in land-use matters and traditionally affordable market may explain why we're behind the curve? Peter Brown, former city councilman and director of Better Houston, told the Chronicle that Houston is behind other cities in terms of income equality and diversification of neighborhoods. He said in big cities policies helped create mixed-income neighborhoods that do not further concentrate poverty. "We have not evolved that kind of policy," Brown said. "We have enormous segregation in Houston. We are the most diverse city in America and the most segregated. You want to use (housing) investment to promote more civic diversity where people of different means live in different size houses and different size lots." Brown said it is failed policy to simply create housing in the outlying areas. "We've got to be a more sensitive selection of sites than just a technical definition of high opportunity," Brown said. "We need a finer-grain approach to building strong, diverse neighborhoods." A crude-talking business man tries to have his way with Washington so he can enlarge his already obscene fortune. Sound familiar? Just as the dramatic season of presidential primaries comes to a close so too does the Alley Theatre's regular season, and with the canny choice of Garson Kanin's 1946 "Born Yesterday," which runs through July 3. Partly a drama of political corruption, partly a rehashing of Pygmalion, "Born Yesterday" offers audiences a little philosophy, a little patriotism and, in spite of some uneven performances, a lot of laughs in an energetic, well-paced production crafted for a crowd eager for summer. The story revolves around the plans of Harry Brock, a man who always gets what he wants. He's risen from the ghettos to the grand hotels, from collecting junk on the streets to making millions from mining junk yards for scrap metal. Brock's a man with a heart made for gold, and he's salivating over all the salvage profiteering made possible in Europe in the wake of the devastation of World War II. His $50 million fortune - the equivalent of roughly $600 million today - allows him the luxury of living in a swank D.C. hotel where Brock settles in with his brother and lawyer Eddie to bribe a senator to craft legislation to allow him ever greater profits. "I'm gonna fix it so I can do what I want where I want when I want!" he cries. More Information 'Born Yesterday' When: 8 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays, 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Sundays, 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays through July 3 Where: Alley Theatre, 615 Texas Tickets: $26-$100; 713-220-5700, alleytheatre.org See More Collapse Brock may not actually be the Donald Trump of 1946, but he does travel with his former chorus girl paramour, Billie, who needs social graces to fit in with senatorial society. To acclimate her to the scene, Brock hires journalist Paul Verrall to tutor her. Let's just say she really takes to her education. Much humor in the play rests in malapropisms and other moments of Billie's, or Brock's ignorance. You can only take the mistaking of peninsula for penicillin so far, but this also is where the primarily light-hearted play is perhaps most political. After one character insists, "A world full of ignorant people is too dangerous to live in," a little murmur arose in the audience. And there was a good measure of laughter when Eddie insists there are "too many honest men" in Washington D.C. to suit Brock's agenda. "Born Yesterday" has a very complete look and feel largely thanks to the opulent scenic design of Hugh Landwehr. The two-level hotel room has the bronze and brazen glamor of mid-20th century America. The production also has a great sound thanks to Cliff Caruthers. As we waited for the performance to start, we were serenaded by Ivory Joe Hunter's "It's a Doggone Crying Shame," and a series of big band favorites. Stephen Pelinski plays with gusto the crass Brock, who is a slap-first-and-ask-questions-later kind of guy with a short temper and a taste for booze. With a name like "Harry Brock" it's hard to see why he would go so Mafioso, but whether this is indicated in the play script or is a directorial choice, it seemed not ideal and resulted in some unstable diction. Melissa Pritchett, the alluring Billie, too suffered from what seemed to be directorial choices about diction. She plays the part with that high-pitched 1940s dame sort of voice immortalized in "Guys and Dolls." This was impossible to sustain throughout the performance. Where Pritchett exceled was when she maximized the physical comedy in "Born Yesterday." When Brock and Billie sit down to play gin rummy, she is irresistible. She swirls the ice cubes in her glass and flourishes it excessively, several times. Silently, she counts out the cards as she deals, mouthing "1 and 1 and 2 and 2," as Brock's frustration mounts. Suddenly she's humming "Anything Goes" in the most irritating and appealing manner. Jay Sullivan makes an endearing Verrall who, though immediately attracted to Billie, comes to fall in love with the curiosity and passion awakened in her as she learns his ways of higher society. And the Alley can always rely on Jeffrey Bean who exposes the moral conflict in Eddie, a man who drinks constantly to assuage the guilt of enabling his brother's scams. Emily Trask, as Helen the hotel maid, proves the truism that no part is a bit part. Although rarely present, she manages to be the soul of the working people, slinging out a great line about disliking novels built around the problems of rich people while serving drinks, fluffing cushions and scurrying away from the escalating melodrama. "Born Yesterday" ends with an easy victory for its idealistic lovers and some facile political platitudes: "When you steal from the government you steal from yourself, stupid." Sadly, stupid still plays in politics. If only some candidates were as well read as Billie. News / Press Release by PDP The controversy in the awarding of the Dema Diesel Power Station multi-million dollar tender by the Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) to Robert Mugabe's son-in-law is disturbing news of how senior Zanu PF and government officials' cronies continue looting billions of dollars from the country's coffers at the expense of the people and improved service delivery.As the People's Democratic Party (PDP), we strongly condemn how the $200 million tender, which was awarded to Sakunda Holdings and Derrick Chikore, will result in the increase in electricity tariffs while leaving the financially burdened ZPC and the ordinary people in a worse of position.Derrick Chikore is the brother of Simba Chikore who is married to Bona Mugabe the daughter of Mugabe.The Dema project, which is under the direct supervision of the Office of the President and Cabinet, has all the hallmarks of a corrupt arrangement as Sakunda Holding and Chikore were awarded the project without going through the tender process thereby disregarding the country's statutes.As PDP, we directly hold Mugabe guilt of nepotism and we denounce such cronyism when the country's economy is struggling. It is clear that Mugabe is behind the illegal awarding of the tender to Derrick Chikore in order for his in-laws to join the looting gravy train.It is also clear that Derrick is being used as a front to protect Simba and Bona's financial interest.However, it is worrying that instead of benefitting the people better access and affordability to power, the Dema power project will instead see the already suffering majority being charged more in electricity charges.We are further concerned with the links that the First Family has with dubious characters such as Wicknell Chivayo. Recently, Grace Mugabe was pictured having dinner in Dubai with Chivayo, a convicted fraudster and director of Intratek, a company which was awarded $400 million worth of tenders by ZPC.Chivayo is also embroiled in another ZPC scam in which he is being investigated for unprocedurally receiving a down payment of $5 million for pre-commencement works on the $200 million, 100 megawatt Gwanda solar power project without a performance guarantee.As PDP, we find it not normal for Mugabe and his wife to be involved in such murky deals and interacting with shady characters such as Chivayo at a time when reports of high level corruption are on the increase.We also find it strange that with the high level of corruption taking place in government and parastatals, the government through the permanent secretary of information, media and broadcasting is trying to block the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) from investigating them.It is therefore clear that despite Zanu PF leaders appearing in public and in the media condemning all forms of corruption, they are instead indicating left but turning right.Another Zimbabwe is Possible!!! A Houston judge dismissed misdemeanor charges of attempting to buy human organs against an anti-abortion activist who secretly videotape Planned Parenthood officials in Houston. David Robert Daleiden of Davis, Calif, was charged with the misdemeanor as well as a second-degree felony of tampering with a governmental record, for using a fake identification to gain access to the facility. That felony is pending and will be considered by a different judge. When a mass shooting in Orlando became the deadliest in the nation's history on Sunday, communities turned out to mourn the lives lost. But even those who sidestep death where a gun goes off don't often come out unscathed. For survivors, life is changed by scars in the body and the mind. RELATED: Houston grieves after massacre at Orlando's Pulse nightclub A bullet wound does damage far beneath the skin, and memories of folks gunned down linger. The wounded may need hundreds of thousands of dollars in treatment, and many witnesses need drugs to sleep at night. John Gaspari needed both. More than a year after he took two bullets in the abdomen and back, he still takes sleeping pills. In part, that's thanks to the haunting memory of the February 2015 attack, when Gaspari said men tried to run him over then shot him twice because he was gay. More so it's thanks to the physical pain from having his body brought back from the brink of death. For the 53 wounded survivors of the Orlando shooting, a similar fate may await. Bullets, small though they be, can do a lot of damage. "The zone of injury is much greater than the zone of the bullet itself," said Carlos Jimenez, a trauma surgeon at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. "These can be really, really long-term problems." Some gunshot wounds prove triviallittle more than a puncture through the flesh. But others change lives. A bullet in the spine or neck often causes permanent paralysis. One in the shoulder or knee will shatter very complex joints, requiring very expensive surgery and leaving chronic pain and limited motion for the rest of a patient's life. Gaspari suffered a shot the abdomen. That's about the worst non-fatal injury a gunshot can cause, Jimenez said, because the bullet enter the body with a "blast zone," sending shockwaves through the sensitive organs in the belly. For Gaspari, that injury required five surgeries and $700,000 of treatment, which included his bowels being removed and cleaned after some were punctured. He lived for months with his abdomen packed with foam and held together by plastic wrapping while he was hooked up to a machine. "It was the worst pain I had ever felt in my life," he said of the recovery. "I used to cry and wish that I'd just die because I didn't know what the long-term effects would be." When the surgeries ended and the pain subsided, Gaspari still felt the mental reverberations. There are haunting memories of the feeling that night he was attacked, anger at the attackers and at the Houston Police Department, who he feels didn't do enough to catch them. And there's a lingering fear that often keeps him out of public. Even for mere witnesses of fatal shootings or other traumatic events, the impacts can be far-reaching, said Anka Vujanovic, director of the Trauma and Stress Studies Center at the University of Houston. Typically, someone should recover within a month, she said. But in some cases, the effects persist and the victim can't lead a normal life. "We often talk about a just world, good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people," Vujanovic said. "Then when a traumatic event happens where bad things happen to good people we're left trying to figure out what that means about our core beliefs, about society, about human nature." Sometimes that leads to depression, anxiety, drug abuse, trouble sleeping, trouble concentrating and being constantly on-edge. People might change their beliefs about the world, finding it more dangerous than before, or they could blame themselves for not doing anything to stop the traumatic event. Some will try to avoid the memories of that event, avoiding external reminders. Two witnesses to fatal shootings declined to discuss their recollections for this article. Gaspari said he recalls his trauma every day, though he's taken steps to leave it behind. He moved from Houston to Denver. He paid $65,ooo for plastic surgery to reduce his 11-inch scar, he said, "so I didn't have to see it, because it was a constant reminder." He imagined that some of those wounded in Orlando would weather a similar fate. Dozens of witnesses to the carnage will also struggle to overcome the trauma. "When a tragedy happens like what happened in Orlando, everybody says that's so terrible and that's so sad," Gaspari said. "But nobody does anything about it." When floods hit Texas, neighbors are quick to offer prayers, solidarity and a help hand. But one thing always seems to come up short. Money. Only money can replace carpet steeped in mold, or buy new sheetrock for the water-soaked walls of homes ravaged by disaster. For that, Texans turn to the feds when things get bad. On Saturday, President Barack Obama's declarations of disaster in 12 flooded Texas counties opened the spigot for federal funds. It was the 13th federal disaster declaration for Texas since the start of the current administration in 2008, collectively bringing almost $3.3 billion to clean up from floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, hail storms, wildfires and more in the Lone Star State. That's excluding the most recent costs, which are yet to be fully tallied. RELATED: Flooded homeowners face steep costs to rebuild One could just imagine how parts of the state would look today without that federal help. So where does all that money come from? And how does it get to Texas? And what is it used for anyway? It comes from the federal Disaster Relief Fund, which is administered by the Federal Emergency Management Association, said Rafael Lemaitre, a spokesman for FEMA in Washington, D.C. That public fund, with a balance of $5.8 billion as of May 31, 2016, gets annual deposits from Congress, as well as supplemental contributions when it runs low, like it did after Hurricane Sandy hit the upper East Coast. "Short of a catastrophic event, there is sufficient funding in there to support a wide array of disaster," Lemitare said. The process for tapping that funds begins when local authorities realize that damage from a recent disasterlike Texas floods this springis too much for them to handle, said Bettina Hutchings, a FEMA Region Six spokeswoman stationed in Austin. Those authorities appeal for help from the state, and if the state can't foot the bill, the governor can ask the president for money, like Gov. Greg Abbott did most recently on June 9. "He decides whether to request a disaster declaration or not," Hutchings said. That request lands on the president's desk, who evaluates it based on two programs of FEMA disaster relief: public assistance (PA) and individual assistance (IA). PA covers costs to public infrastructure like roads, storm drains or government buildings damaged by weather. To qualify, a county's estimated damage must exceed $3.57 per resident. IA funds emergency basic repairs to homes. Criteria to qualify are less precise than for PA, Hutchings said. The president will consider the big picture of overall destruction, including the number of homes damaged, lives lost and the community's history of similar disasters. The maximum grant per household is $33,000. If approved, residents in afflicted counties become eligible for federal grants, but only after a FEMA-contracted inspectors stops by to evaluate the costs for home repairs. Hutchings and Lemitare stressed that the objective of FEMA's individual assistance is not to rebuild homes back to marketable conditionsit's to restore a basic livable space for the residents of a household. That may mean just fixing one bedroom and one bathroom in a three-bedroom house. "We don't make you whole, that's not our job. We're not the insurance company. We just get you in a safe functional spot," Hutchings said. "We would not repair your man cave." For further repairs, FEMA refers homeowners to the Small Business Administration, another federal agency, which offers ultra-low interest loansup to $200,000 at 1.625 percent for 30 yearsto cover restoration for homes and businesses. The loans do not come from the disaster relief fund. "It makes recovery very affordable for survivors," said SBA spokesman Kevin Wynne. RELATED: Lots of anger, few solutions at Houston flooding town hall SBA evaluates applicants based on their income and their likely ability to repay the loan. Those who do not qualify are sent back to FEMA, which may provide grant money to replace property like cars and furniture through its Other Needs Assistance program. Only people who have applied for an SBA loan are eligible for ONA money. The last thing FEMA does after fixing in flooded home is to buy three years of federal flood insurance for the property. That property must carry flood insurance forever after, and the property owners are responsible for renewing the policy. If the owners fail to renew their insurance then get flooded again, they will not be eligible for money from the disaster relief fund. Today my son, Ben, had surgery to remove the metal bar that's been in his chest for three years. Taking the bar out is far less painful than putting it in but it's still thoracic surgery, with anesthesia and meds and a fretful mother. Here's the 2013 column I wrote about that first surgery. WE ARE trying again, everyone said on Ben's fourth day in the hospital. The pain team, the surgical team, the nurses: They all said it. Even I said it, as I updated people about my boy. We, we said, as if all of us were trying to wean ourselves off the powerful epidural pain-relief meds, as if all of us expected to lie in bed, stock-still and silent because we hurt so much. We: The pronoun bugged me, but I used it anyway. Ben is 14, and before the hospital, I'd been acutely aware that he and I were becoming ever more separate, that he was growing up and away from me. After years of being the smallest kid in his class, he was suddenly my height. His cute overbite was disappearing, vanquished by hormones and orthodontia. His sense of humor was sly and teenage-boy crude. "Mom," he'd bellow on the phone, not in the flute-y voice I recognized, but in a baritone like a bawling calf. Sometimes, before I caught myself, I told him he'd got the wrong number. Everything was different during his week in the hospital. On good, heavily medicated days, I read him long books about epic battles and fantasy creatures; or we watched hours of police shows, the electronic monitor showing his heart speed up during action scenes. On bad days, I watched him sleep with an oxygen mask, or checked constantly with the nurse to see whether he could have more drugs pain drugs, Valium, anything at all to help him forget the feeling that his chest was exploding. For the first time in a long time, I was surprised not by how big he seemed, but how small. We, I said. I didn't want him to be alone. "PECTUS EXCAVATUM," Ben's problem is called or, in the more pungent old-fashioned term, "funnel chest." A little over a year ago, soon after a growth spurt, he developed a deep dent over his sternum. His ribcage curved in, not out, squeezing his heart and lungs. In an appointment before the operation, the surgeon told us that correcting pectus was no big deal "as thoracic surgery goes." The hard part wouldn't be using a camera to insert a curved metal bar into Ben's chest, where it would stay for a few years; the hard part would be the slow recovery as the body adjusted to its new shape. That recovery would involve two rounds of weaning: the first, from the super-powerful epidural drugs in the hospital; and the second, from the oral pain meds at home. As I write this, Ben has been out of the hospital almost three weeks. At first he couldn't sit up, couldn't walk. Even croaking a few words hurt his chest. Instead of his bedroom, he asked to be installed amid a heap of pillows on the living-room futon, where he'd be less isolated. I started sleeping in the living room too. Sometimes at night, he'd wake up hurting, and I couldn't stand the idea that he'd be in pain, in the dark, alone. If all went well, though, I'd wake him at least every four hours, nudging him in the dark, putting a pill in his mouth and enticing him to suck liquid from a straw. The next morning, he wouldn't remember taking that pill. It was like having an infant again. Sleep-deprived, I drifted through days as if moving underwater, numb and mean to everyone but my boy. I worked at home, where I could check on him every few minutes or, when I had to leave, made sure Ben's dad or my husband would be with him. Sometimes at night, I checked whether he was breathing. We ticked off milestones: The day he ripped hospital monitors' adhesive mounts from his skin, the day he sat up alone, his first shower, the first night that he ate dinner at the table, upright in a chair. My pain-med notes showed ups and downs, but the pattern was clear: He needed less as the days went by. Perkier, he began to take advantage of his situation, ordering sodas and deluxe popsicles, demanding that I stay awake to read yet another chapter of the book, refusing to take his own turn reading aloud. "I'm still weak," he'd say. Or: "I am king. Obey." Lisa Gray/Houston Chronicle YESTERDAY WAS his first real outing since surgery. His friend Ryan is moving to London, and Ben insisted that he couldn't miss the going-away party. We strategized about medications and timing. As I drove, I reminded him that, if he needed to bail out in less than the two hours we'd planned, he could call me, and I'd swoop in sooner. At Ryan's house, I insisted on accompanying him to the front door. The July sun was blistering, and he hadn't been outside in weeks. He looked skinnier than ever. I was afraid he wouldn't be able to make it up the stairs to the door. He did fine, and after ringing the bell, he turned to me. "Mom," he said, in that bawling-calf voice, "you can go now." I went. I drove away exhilarated, but also sad. We are no longer an inseparable we, I realized. My boy doesn't need me the way that he did when he was a baby, the way that he did only last week. This tall, joke-cracking person in hipster clothes is almost old enough to drive. Suddenly, it seems all too soon that he'll leave for college, get a job, have kids. These days, the heart that is squeezed is my own. Lisa Gray runs Gray Matters, a vertical for HoustonChronicle.com. She wrote this story for the Chronicle eons ago, before "verticals" were even a thing. Bookmark Gray Matters. I am king. Obey. A Nigerian woman admitted to a federal judge in Houston Monday she had conspired with others to commit marriage fraud in order to attain permanent residency status. Ifeoma J. Adamolekun, 40, of Houston, told U.S. Magistrate Judge Mary Milloy in her guilty plea that she was still married to her husband in the Federal Republic of Nigeria in November 2014 when she married an American citizen named Charles R. Warren. A suspected serial rapist linked to as many as 15 sexual assaults is believed to have targeted women for the past four years in the Houston area and beyond, Houston police said Monday. Marquis V. Tate, 33, of Houston, is charged with eight counts of aggravated sexual assault and may face additional charges, said officer Monica Fortson, the lead investigator in the case. Tate is accused of approaching the women with offers of money and a ride, then forcing them into his vehicle with a knife or gun when they wouldn't cooperate. The door handles inside his car were removed so the women could not escape, according to court records. "I currently have 15 reports we possibly believe he's linked to," Fortson said. "He was getting violent with these women in every case, punching them in the face." Tate may have committed other assaults while living outside the Houston area in 2013 and 2014, Fortson said, and she encouraged law enforcement officers elsewhere to consider him a suspect. Fort Worth officials already are investigating whether he may have committed assaults while living there for several months, and he also lived in the Philadelphia area and in Ohio, police said. "Looking at what he was doing here in the Houston area, I would strongly encourage any agency that possibly believes he might be linked with them to reach out to us," Fortson said. Investigators are also asking anyone who may have been sexually assaulted by Tate to contact the Special Victims Division-Adult Sex Crimes Unit at 713-308-1180. Tate was arrested June 1 without incident in Houston after DNA linked him to the cases, police said. He is being held in the Harris County Jail without bail, according to court records. Tate's defense attorney said he is still in the early stages of investigating the allegations. "We understand that he has been identified. We're checking into that," attorney Tom Radosevich said Monday. "I expect to be sitting down with the prosecutors tomorrow and looking at their files." Tate was previously arrested in May 2015 for solicitation of prostitution after propositioning an HPD officer in disguise, Fortson said. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 20 days in jail. Police identified Tate as a suspect while investigating a series of 13 sexual assaults in the Fifth Ward area. The rapist appeared to target prostitutes in northeast Houston in late evening or early morning hours, and descriptions of the suspect, the suspect's vehicle and the neighborhood where the attacks occurred were similar, police said. One woman told investigators that he pulled a knife on her and threatened to cut her abdomen when she told him she was pregnant. "Yeah, right, I don't believe you," he reportedly said, according to a sworn statement from Fortson used to obtain an arrest warrant. "I'm going to cut you right here if you decide to move. I'm going to stab you." One lead took investigators to Fort Worth, where a registered sex offender told them he had sold a car that matched the description of one being used in several of the attacks. The man gave police the name of the person who bought it, which led investigators to Tate, police said. He is charged with sexual assaults at seven locations, including two assaults on Oct. 4, 2015. The earliest assault was about 10 p.m. on Feb. 10, 2012, in the 1100 block of Greens Parkway. He then is charged with five assaults in 2015, from February to December, and one assault earlier this year, on Jan. 9. Brian Rogers contributed to this report, which contains material from the Associated Press. ANGLETON - An Angleton man has been arrested in the mysterious death of a Port Arthur man found decapitated in his pickup near a boat ramp more than a month ago, the Brazoria County sheriff's office announced. Zachary Lyn Foyt, 24, was arrested in Lakewood, Colo., and charged with murder after investigators received a tip that he may have been involved in the death of Jubal Dee Alexander, also 24, of Port Arthur. Foyt is awaiting extradition to Brazoria County in the Jefferson County, Colo., jail. His bail has been set at $5 million. Brazoria County Sheriff Charles Wagner said investigators had not determined a motive, but that the killing may have been an effort to hide evidence. Wagner declined to provide further details. The sheriff said there is no indication that Foyt and Alexander knew each other. Records show Foyt had one prior conviction - a misdemeanor for possessing drug paraphernalia. He originally was charged with possession of marijuana but reached a plea deal with prosecutors for the lesser charge. He was fined $500. During the investigation into Alexander's death, authorities learned that Foyt had fled to Colorado after the killing, and they went there to question him. Other witnesses were questioned in Texas while Foyt was being questioned, giving investigators enough information to charge him with murder, Wagner said. Deputies discovered the body of Alexander on May 3 in a blue Chevrolet pickup parked at the Austin Bayou Boat Ramp on FM 2004 near the Austin Bayou Bridge in Angleton. Wagner said Alexander was employed as a contractor at the Ineos chemical plant on FM 2004 near Chocolate Bayou. Although employed, he lived in his truck, normally parking it under the Austin Bayou Bridge. "The investigation determined that Alexander was living out of truck in order to save money," Wagner said. His body was identified through fingerprint analysis, the sheriff's office said. Wagner said officials still have not determined whether he was dead before he was decapitated. Officials still have not found the man's head. A Harris County judge has dismissed a misdemeanor charge of attempting to buy human organs against an anti-abortion activist who secretly videotaped Planned Parenthood officials in Houston, the activist's lawyers said Tuesday. David Robert Daleiden of Davis, Calif., will still face a second-degree felony charge of tampering with a governmental record for allegedly using a fake identification to gain access to the facility during an undercover investigation. His attorneys, Jared Woodfill and Terry Yates, praised the judge's decision to dismiss the misdemeanor in a Tuesday news conference that Daleiden did not attend. "This a real victory for the pro-life movement," Woodfill said. "Essentially the indictment was fatally flawed." The news of the dismissal was welcomed by Daleiden, who sent out a fundraising email blast Tuesday minutes after the decision was made public. Daleiden, who heads the advocacy group The Center for Medical Progress, has said he is an investigative reporter for the group. "Judge Diane Bull's swift dismissal of the bogus charge against CMP founder David Daleiden of trafficking human organs is the latest confirmation that the indictments from a runaway grand jury in Houston were a politically motivated sham all along," he said in the solicitation. Officials with the women's health organization encouraged prosecutors to continue pursuing charges. "The people behind this fraud lied and broke the law in order to spread malicious lies about Planned Parenthood to advance their extreme anti-abortion political agenda," said Melaney Linton, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast. "It's become totally clear that the only people who engaged in wrongdoing are the criminals behind this fraud, and we will allow the court to hold them accountable." Daleiden was charged with the misdemeanor after he was heard negotiating on the video for fetal material, apparently in a bid to show that officials of Planned Parenthood of the Gulf Coast would sell. It is illegal to buy or sell human organs or tissue, but his attorneys said Daleiden was working undercover, not attempting to buy illicit material. The Harris County District Attorney's Office said it will not appeal or try to remedy the technicality in the document and instead will put resources toward pursuing the felony charge. "We do not intend to appeal the judge's decision," District Attorney Devon Anderson said in a brief statement. "Our office remains focused on the felony charge pending in the 338th District Court." An investigation into the videos led a Harris County grand jury to clear Planned Parenthood of wrongdoing while indicting Daleiden and his colleague, Sandra Merritt, 63, also from Davis, Calif. They both are charged with tampering with a governmental record, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Daleiden's lawyers said they hope the felony charges will also be dismissed when the issue goes before state District Judge Brock Thomas in a hearing next month. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A South Texas man is among the 49 victims who were killed at an Orlando night club early Sunday morning that has been categorized as the deadliest mass shooting in the nation's history, officials confirmed Monday. RELATED: Former S.A. TV anchor talks about horror in Orlando According to the City of Orlando's victim identification website, Frank Hernandez, a 27-year-old from Weslaco, was killed in the attack carried out by what FBI Director James Comey called a "homegrown extremist." Hernandez's death was announced in a Facebook post by Aqui Estamos RGV, an organization that promotes equality for members of the LGBT community, on Monday and confirmed by his aunt in an interview with ValleyCentral.com. RELATED: San Antonio's Bonham Exchange will donate weekend cover charges to victims of Orlando massacre "It breaks our hearts to announce that we have received confirmation that Frank Escalante, a member of our LGBTQ Rio Grande Valley family, lost his life at the #OrlandoShooting yesterday," the post said. "Rest in power, Frank. We will shine light on your life tonight at Orlando Shooting Vigil: Stand with LGBTQ Community." No further details were immediately available regarding the circumstances of Hernandez's death and it's unclear whether he was visiting or lived in Orlando. Hernandez was one of 49 people killed by Omar Mateen, 29, who used an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and a handgun in his attack on the Pulse Orlando club. While the initial post by Aqui Estamos RGV cited Hernandez with a different last name, causing some confusion, his aunt told ValleyCentral.com he went by the last name Escalante. RELATED: SAPD to increase security after shooting at gay club in Orlando The Associated Press contributed to this report. MMedina@mySA.com Twitter: @MariahMedinaaa Opinion / Columnist The call by the ZANU-PF National Consultative Assembly members to decisively deal with corrupt party officials is long overdue process as the economy is drained mercilessly to the drying point by wicked bigwigs who abuse their offices. These predators are motivated by the desire to satisfy their selfish egos to accumulate wealth by devious means to flood their insatiable granaries booty. Never should our society allow this unpleasantness to live another day.The level of impunity enjoyed by such corruptionists in the face of law enforcement and the anti-corruption investigation institutions is amazing. Is this the evidence of a collapsed nation state whose systems are no longer working efficiently and effectively to nub the ravenous and gluttonous citizens that are ravaging national resources unbridled?They are looting openly with no due care on the probable consequences of their actions. The local press is always awash with stories of corruption in public institutions that is characterising Government Ministries, local authorities and parastatals. This is really absurd!What hell has entered into our society that people are no longer scared of committing this scandalous sin of embezzling public resources without conscience?In the recent weeks it was really mind-boggling to read a series of stories about misappropriation of funds in the Ministry of Energy and Power Development in which the responsible Minister, Dr Samuel Undenge, is allegedly fingered as the protagonist of the all the shoddy deals threatening to collapse the whole ministry. But alas! No significant reactions to these issues have been applied to stop the whirl-wind minister who is in successive blames making him guilty of failing to run the corporation efficiently for the good of the nation.Dr Undenge's ministry controls the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) which is infamous for under-performance on its mandate. ZESA fails on all its primary responsibilities which among other things include; perennial load shedding for both household and industry, thereby assassinating efforts to resuscitate industry.It is a hub for criminal insiders who are selling household electricity meters through back-door at a whooping cost of $200 - $350 per unit to poor needy consumers, especially in new locations like Glenwood Park in Harare. Most people cannot afford such expensive deals, and this result in most households failing to utilise power for the benefit of the utility through pay as you go facility. This means ZESA continues to fall while they allow corrupt workers to exploit the corporation's business opportunities. The workforce is not willing to expand business for ZESA, allegedly due to poor management poised to loot company resources for their personal use.ZESA is in incessant cash deficit as most of their projects lose more resources to corrupt activities. Its Minister, Dr Undenge is accused of engaging a bogus Public Relations Consultant Company to drain cash when the corporation has a fully fledged Internal Public Relations Department. One wonders why the whole minister chooses to hire an expensive consultant that guzzles thousands of dollars for tasks which can be done internally. Possibly, he is a beneficiary of the proceeds.The same minister is also accused of force-marching ZESA to make an advance payment of US$7 million to the controversial businessman, Wicknel Chivhayo, as part payment for a solar power generation plant poised to be established in Gwanda. This deal was done under obscured circumstances which left the whole nation dumb-struck.Surprisingly, Dr Undenge is still in charge of the ministry despite all this bad track record. Assuming that what is happening is also a replication of what is happening in some other government departments, certainly this is too ugly for us all to swallow as citizens. Ideally, the populace expects immediate action to be taken to mitigate further damage to public interest. The best to be done was possibly to suspend the minister to pave way for thorough investigations to the allegations to done and ascertain the reality of issues.This is time for the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) and the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) to step-up efforts in chase of all smokes of corruption that are bringing tears to our eyes daily. There is an immediate need to exorcise our society of corruption and cleanse all ugly parts for public good. This exercise should target all public institutions in the spirit of safe-guarding public resources against deceitful officials in public organisations that are converting them to private usage.The public should be ready to supply information to the relevant organisations through the toll-free numbers to assist acceleration of investigations and the ultimate full course of justice. Russian government hackers penetrated the computer network of the Democratic National Committee and gained access to the entire database of opposition research on GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, according to committee officials and security experts who responded to the breach. The intruders so thoroughly compromised the DNC's system that they also were able to read all email and chat traffic, said DNC officials and the security experts. The intrusion into the DNC was one of several targeting American political organizations. The networks of presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were also targeted by Russian spies, as were the computers of some GOP political action committees, U.S. officials said. But details on those cases were not available. A Russian Embassy spokesman said he had no knowledge of such intrusions. Some of the hackers had access to the DNC network for about a year, but all were expelled over the past weekend in a major computer cleanup campaign, the committee officials and experts said. The DNC said that no financial, donor or personal information appears to have been accessed or taken, suggesting that the breach was traditional espionage, not the work of criminal hackers. The intrusions are an example of Russia's interest in the U.S. political system and its desire to understand the policies, strengths and weaknesses of a potential future president much as American spies gather similar information on foreign candidates and leaders. The depth of the penetration reflects the skill and determination of the United States' top cyber adversary as Russia goes after strategic targets, from the White House and State Department to political campaign organizations. "It's the job of every foreign intelligence service to collect intelligence against their adversaries," said Shawn Henry, president of CrowdStrike, the cyber firm called in to handle the DNC breach and a former head of the FBI's cyber division. He noted that it is extremely difficult for a civilian organization to protect itself from a skilled and determined state such as Russia. "We're perceived as an adversary of Russia," he said. "Their job when they wake up every day is to gather intelligence against the policies, practices and strategies of the U.S. government. There are a variety of ways. [Hacking] is one of the more valuable because it gives you a treasure trove of information." Russian President Vladimir Putin has spoken favorably about Trump, who has called for better relations with Russia and expressed skepticism about NATO. But unlike Clinton, whom the Russians probably have long had in their spy sights, Trump has not been a politician for very long, so foreign agencies are playing catch-up, analysts say. "The purpose of such intelligence gathering is to understand the target's proclivities," said Robert Deitz, former senior councillor to the CIA director and a former general counsel at the National Security Agency. "Trump's foreign investments, for example, would be relevant to understanding how he would deal with countries where he has those investments" should he be elected, Deitz said. "They may provide tips for understanding his style of negotiating. In short, this sort of intelligence could be used by Russia, for example, to indicate where it can get away with foreign adventurism." Other analysts noted that any dirt dug up in opposition research is likely to be made public anyway. Nonetheless, DNC leadership acted quickly after the intrusion's discovery to contain the damage. "The security of our system is critical to our operation and to the confidence of the campaigns and state parties we work with," said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), the DNC chairwoman. "When we discovered the intrusion, we treated this like the serious incident it is and reached out to CrowdStrike immediately. Our team moved as quickly as possible to kick out the intruders and secure our network." The Clinton campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokeswoman for the Trump campaign referred questions to the Secret Service. DNC leaders were tipped to the hack in late April. Chief executive officer Amy Dacey got a call from her operations chief saying that their information technology team had noticed some unusual network activity. "It's never a call any executive wants to get, but the IT team knew something was awry," Dacey said. And they knew it was serious enough that they wanted experts to investigate. That evening, she spoke with Michael Sussmann, a DNC lawyer who is a partner with Perkins Coie in Washington. Soon after, Sussmann, a former federal prosecutor who handled computer crime cases, called Henry, whom he has known for many years. Within 24 hours, CrowdStrike had installed software on the DNC's computers so that it could analyze audit data that could indicate who had gained access, when and how. The firm identified two separate hacker groups, both working for the Russian government, that had infiltrated the network, said Dmitri Alperovitch, CrowdStrike co-founder and chief technology officer. The firm had analyzed other breaches by both groups over the last two years. One group, which CrowdStrike had dubbed Cozy Bear, had gained access last summer and was monitoring the DNC's email and chat communications, Alperovitch said. The other, which the firm had named Fancy Bear, broke into the network in late April and targeted the opposition research files. It was this breach that set off the alarm. The hackers stole two files, Henry said. And they had access to the computers of the entire research staff an average of about several dozen on any given day. The computers contained research going back years on Trump. "It's a huge job" to dig into the dealings of somebody who has never run for office before, Dacey said. CrowdStrike is not sure how the hackers got in. The firm suspects they may have targeted DNC employees with "spearphishing" emails. These are communications that appear legitimate often made to look like they came from a colleague or someone trusted but that contain links or attachments that when clicked on deploy malicious software that enables a hacker to gain access to a computer. "But we don't have hard evidence," Alperovitch said. The two groups did not appear to be working together, Alperovitch said. Fancy Bear is believed to work for the GRU, or Russia's military intelligence service, he said. CrowdStrike is less sure of whom Cozy Bear works for but thinks it might be the Federal Security Service or FSB, the country's powerful security agency, which was once headed by Putin. The lack of coordination is not unusual, he said. "There's an amazing adversarial relationship" among the Russian intelligence agencies, Alperovitch said. "We have seen them steal assets from one another, refuse to collaborate. They're all vying for power, to sell Putin on how good they are." The two crews have "superb operational tradecraft," he said. They often use previously unknown software bugs known as "zero-day" vulnerabilities to compromise applications. In the DNC's case, the hackers constantly switched tactics to maintain a stealthy presence inside the network and used built-in Windows tools so that they didn't have to resort to malicious code that might trigger alerts. "They flew under the radar," Alperovitch said. The two groups have hacked government agencies, tech companies, defense contractors, energy and manufacturing firms, and universities in the United States, Canada and Europe as well as in Asia, he said. Cozy Bear, for instance, compromised the unclassified email systems of the White House, State Department and Joint Chiefs of Staff in 2014, Alperovitch said. "This is a sophisticated foreign intelligence service with a lot of time, a lot of resources, and is interested in targeting the U.S. political system," Henry said. He said the DNC was not engaged in a fair fight. "You've got ordinary citizens who are doing hand-to-hand combat with trained military officers," he said. "And that's an untenable situation." Russia has always been a formidable foe in cyberspace, but in the last two years "there's been a thousand-fold increase in its espionage campaign against the West," said Alperovitch, who is also a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. "They feel under siege." Western sanctions, imposed after Russia's annexation of Crimea in Ukraine, have hurt the economy and led the government to increase its theft of intellectual property to limit the impact of import restrictions, he said. And Russia's growing isolation has increased the need for intelligence to understand and influence political decisions in other countries, he added. CrowdStrike is continuing the forensic investigation, DNC lawyer Sussmann said. "But at this time, it appears that no financial information or sensitive employee, donor or voter information was accessed by the Russian attackers," he said. The firm has installed special software on every computer and server in the network to detect any efforts by the Russian cyber spies to break in again. "When they get kicked out of the system," Henry predicted, "they're going to try to come back in." Tom Hamburger contributed to this report. Patrick Semansky/STF BATON ROUGE, La. - The state of Louisiana's refusal to install air conditioning on death row has cost taxpayers more than $1 million in legal bills, according to records obtained by the Associated Press. The state could spend roughly the same money - and possibly much less - on an air conditioning system that would satisfy a federal judge's order to protect death-row inmates from dangerous heat inside Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Pakistani and Afghan forces exchanged heavy gunfire Sunday and Monday in an unusually serious escalation of tensions at the border, leaving at least 13 people wounded on the Pakistani side and killing at least one Afghan police officer, according to the police and military officials in both countries. The fighting, which began Sunday night and resumed Monday, forced the closing of the Torkham border crossing, the busiest between the two countries. The escalation followed the closing of the Torkham crossing last month after Afghan border security guards objected to the construction of a gate on the Pakistani side. That objection also apparently contributed to the conflict Sunday, according to official accounts from both sides. The border remained closed for five days last month but was opened after a meeting between the Afghan ambassador to Pakistan, Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal, and Pakistan's army chief, Gen. Raheel Sharif. A senior civil officer of the Khyber tribal region of Pakistan, the site of the Torkham crossing, claimed the Afghans had fired mortars, rockets and artillery into Pakistani territory starting at 9:20 p.m. local time Sunday. "Shortly before beginning the construction work, we duly informed the Afghan side, although we are under no obligation to do so under international law," the top civilian administrator in Khyber, Khalid Mehmood, said by telephone from the area. "The Afghan commander went back, switched off the lights on the other side and, before we could figure out what had happened, they started shelling and firing in our direction." A mortar shell hit a house in a nearby Pakistani village, wounding six civilians, the administrator said. Two more civilians were hit by splinters and two paramilitary soldiers were also wounded in the exchange of fire, he added. After a lull of several hours Monday, fighting resumed in the late afternoon. Zarawar Zahid, the police chief of Nangarhar province, on the Afghan side of the crossing, posted a video on Facebook saying he was ordering a mortar barrage against Pakistan. He appears next to two mortars shouting to his men, "Strike hard enough to blow up Nawaz Sharif's home," referring to the prime minister of Pakistan who lives in Islamabad, the capital, 150 miles from the border. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate WASHINGTON - Donald Trump vowed Monday to impose a broad ban on immigration from areas of the world with a history of terrorism and suggested some Muslims in the United States turn a blind eye to unfolding plots, as he outlined an aggressive response to the deadly attack in Orlando. Hillary Clinton, Trump's presidential rival, was more measured in her remarks, warning that demonizing all Muslims for the actions of a few would only benefit extremist groups. She blamed American partners in the Middle East - Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar - for not stopping terror funding emanating from their countries and called for tougher gun control legislation in the U.S., including outlawing assault weapons like one used by the Orlando shooter. "I believe weapons of war have no place on our streets," Clinton said. She never mentioned Trump by name, saying "Today is not a day for politics." Election's clear choice Trump clearly disagreed, criticizing Clinton harshly and often. The two candidates' dramatically different proposals - as well as their contrasting styles - underscored the clear choice Americans face in the November election. Clinton's vision builds on President Barack Obama's campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and expands on his gun control executive orders; Trump is calling for a different national security posture. Though the Orlando shooter was born in the U.S., Trump continued to propose sweeping changes to the nation's immigration rules as the cornerstone of his anti-terror plan. He redoubled his call for a temporary ban on Muslims coming to the U.S., saying that policy would stay in place until the government can "properly and perfectly" screen immigrants. He also said he would use presidential discretion to "suspend immigration from areas of the world where there's a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe and our allies." The businessman did not specify the countries. Clinton said such proposals would only make it more difficult for law enforcement to work with Muslim communities. "Inflammatory anti-Muslim rhetoric and threatening to ban the families and friends of Muslim Americans, as well as millions of Muslim business people and tourists from entering our country, hurts the vast majority of Muslims who love freedom and hate terror," she said. Though the Orlando shooter - 29-year-old Omar Mateen - was born in the United States, Trump said he was "born an Afghan" and was "born to Afghan parents who immigrated to the United States." He said Muslim communities must turn over to law enforcement "people who they know are bad," adding "they do know where they are." He also said gays and lesbians are often discriminated against in the Muslim world, and said Clinton could not claim to be an ally of the LGBT community if she supports immigration from such countries. "Ask yourself, who is really the friend of women and the LGBT community: Donald Trump with actions, or Hillary Clinton with her words?" Trump said. Same-sex unions The businessman has said he opposes gay marriage - the official position of the Republican Party; Clinton and Democrats back same-sex unions. The Republican did not repeat suggestions he had made in earlier interviews that Obama might not be taking tougher action against terrorism because he might sympathize with the perpetrators. "He doesn't get it or, or he gets it better than anybody understands," Trump said on Fox News Channel's "Fox and Friends." ''It's one or the other. And either one is unacceptable." Clinton said her anti-terror efforts would center on identifying "lone wolf" attackers - those who might be radicalized but not connected to a broader network. Clinton also reiterated her call for tougher gun control measures, a policy proposal that has been a centerpiece of her presidential campaign. In addition to her support for an assault weapons ban, she also said Americans should be able to agree that "if the FBI is watching you for a suspected terrorist link, you shouldn't be able to just go buy a gun with no questions asked." Mayor Sylvester Turner and the leaders of the city's three pension boards made clear to a visiting group of state lawmakers on Monday that they agree a fix to the city's growing pension burden must be found, perhaps by the mayor's deadline of year's end. The state House committee on pensions set up camp at City Hall Monday to hear testimony from the mayor, his rival in last fall's mayoral contest, Bill King, city workers and various pension experts about the challenges presented by Houston's retiree benefits. The event brought little new information and few showdowns (save, perhaps, for one audience member shouting "time is up" when King's comments slightly exceeded his allotted three minutes), but was notable for the relative cohesion of the key stakeholders' talking points. Houston owes its three pensions $5.6 billion, retiree costs are rising, and Houston faces broad layoffs and service cuts a year from now if reforms are not achieved, Turner said while repeating his call for reforms that bring down the city's annual and long-term costs and for a reform deal before the Legislature meets in January. The chairs of the municipal (Sherry Mose), police (Terry Bratton) and fire (Todd Clark) pension boards all stressed their commitments to continuing to work with Turner in the coming months. Even Clark, who rarely missed an opportunity to accuse former mayor Annise Parker of "attacking firefighters," struck a conciliatory tone. "We will continue the dialogue going forward, and we do believe by the end of the year we will have an agreement," Clark said. "We agree that the city should be healthy and we're willing to do our part." Granted, the pensions' leaders pushed back a bit. Municipal and police leaders stressed that the city must be forced to meet its obligations, since the city's failure to make its full payments has helped create those plans' poor funding levels. Both also stressed that they already have sacrificed by cutting benefits for new hires, with Mose saying, "Reform plus time equals success." Bratton, for his part, pointedly noted that firefighters have not been similarly accommodating. Clark declined comment on that. Clark, for his part, noted that firefighter retirement costs amount to only a few percentage points of the $2.3 billion general fund budget. In general, however, it was clear the pension boards planned, at least publicly, to embrace "change" at the hearing. "We see this as an opportunity. We really don't want to come back in 2019," Bratton said. "Our members have worried too long about the most important benefit they have and it's time to allow them peace of mind in knowing that their benefits are secure and the plan is sustainable." Turner, in his closely watched comments, sought to balance an emphasis on the urgency of reform with his commitment to his "friends," the city's three employee groups, all of whom supported his candidacy last fall. The eight rounds of applause he received during the morning from the employee-heavy crowd suggest he negotiated that tightrope well. Annual cost of living adjustments, the level of employees' contributions and worker retirement ages are all on the table, he said. "They all three have worked with me and we are making progress and we are moving forward," Turner told the committee. "Are we where we need to be? The answer is no. We're not there yet. Are we moving in the right direction? We are. And no matter how slow it may be and no matter how painful it may be, the reality is, it is better for us to reach a solution here than to have to have you make the final call." Pension committee chair Rep. Dan Flynn, R-Canton, echoed those thoughts "If the Texas Legislature ends up having to solve your problem, you may not like what we come up with," Flynn said. "We feel like the solutions are right here." To that point, Turner joined the leaders of the three pension boards in saying he would not consider a switch to defined contribution plans -- similar to a 401(k) -- something he said he knows some committee members favor. Most public sector pensions are in the form of defined benefit plans, which replace a specified share of workers' salaries based on their age and years of service, among other factors. That issue was well discussed during last fall's campaign, and King rehashed many of the points he made on the stump last fall when it was his turn to speak, saying he was convinced defined contribution plans are the only solution. Defined benefit plans risk letting politicians give workers benefits that do not have to be fully funded right away, King said, which he said is partly why Houston taxpayers owe city pension plans more than $5 billion in debt that was never approved by voters. "The mayor mentioned the amount they are contributing this year is $404 million -- that's 40 percent of all the property taxes the city of Houston will collect this year," he said. "It is not a sustainable system." Daniel Box, a city Public Works employee and active union member, spoke of needing to be able to retire in dignity. "City workers pay their part out of their paycheck every time it comes out. We don't miss a payment. Unfortunately, the city, when they went to do their part, they put IOUs into the system," Box said. "They're trying to drive it back onto the city worker. Nobody ever mentions all the sacrifice the municipal workers have done. Out of all the pension systems, our people are going to be paid the least when they retire." Some of Turner's comments, however, were aimed at the scores of employees watching, as he cast the need for reform as a way to ensure their benefits would not need to be slashed at a later date. "I certainly hope that seven months from now that people who are applauding for me today," he said, smiling, as he was again interrupted by applause, "I hope they will applaud for me seven months from now. It may not be as loud. I am not naive. What I will say to them is that what they do today in terms of making this system sound and securing their pensions, their retirement, for the future, will benefit their families and benefit themselves down the road." AUSTIN -- The Texas Association of Business wants the state to offer a full school day of taxpayer-funded pre-K and plans to push lawmakers in that direction next year, the group announced this week. TAB board members voted unanimously in favor of expanding its policy platform to include full-day pre-K at its national affairs conference in Washington, D.C., in May, adding to its agenda of increasing the quality of pre-K programs. "It will be a difficult issue, but it doesn't lessen its importance," said Bill Hammond, the group's CEO. "The cost of remediation is enormous and can be a detriment to the other children who come to kindergarten prepared to do that level of work. Ensuring that every child, who is currently eligible for public Pre-K, is enrolled in a high quality, full-day program will help close that gap." ON TOP: This school district ranked best in the state of Texas Hammond said he brought the issue to the board after hearing Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath explain the average kindergartner is 12 to 18 months behind and takes at least six years of excellent teaching to catch up to grade level. The state currently pays about $1.7 billion in this biennium for half-day pre-K programs for more than 220,000 students and is handing out some $118 million in additional pre-K grants to beef up programs next school year. Eligible students are three to four years old and are either poor, do not speak English, have been in foster care, are homeless or come from military families. Many school districts use local tax dollars to fund full-day programs. WHERE TO GO IN HOUSTON: The top school districts in the Houston area While Republican Gov. Greg Abbott is a supporter of pre-K, his focus is on boosting the quality of programs rather than lengthening the school day. Democrats have urged lawmakers to expand the state's program to a full day, but that issue has been a non-starter in the Republican-led Legislature. "The problem we face is, there's a lot of mediocre pre-K out there today," Hammond said. The strategy to selling hesitant lawmakers on extending the pre-K school day and approving the money to fund it requires proving to legislators that quality pre-K works, said Hammond whose association is philosophically aligned with Republicans on many other issues. Focusing on pre-K is not only altruistic, he said, but works to narrow the skills gap to increase productivity when students enter the workforce. He said TAB will partner with organizations that think similarly about expanding the pre-K school day ahead of next year's legislative session. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate AUSTIN - Hillary Clinton may have raised the idea that she can win Texas, but Democrats on the ground in the Lone Star State are not holding similar expectations. "We're not a battleground state," said former Texas land commissioner Garry Mauro,representing Clinton's campaign at a show of unity with Bernie Sanders forces heading into the party's state convention this week. Neither Democrats nor Clinton's camp will spend big money here, Mauro said at a Tuesday news conference at state Democratic headquarters, That does not mean Texas Democrats are not fighting to win, said Jacob Limon, state director for Sanders' campaign in Texas. "We're going to have to do it ourselves," said Limon, who cited voters energized by Sanders' idealistic campaign. He said there is broad agreement on issues between those voters and those backing Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee following her long primary duel with the Vermont senator. The prospect of a Clinton race against billionaire Donald Trump, who has offended a variety of groups, including Latinos and women with his sometimes caustic comments, will make it easier to get out the Democratic vote, Mauro agreed. "With Donald Trump on the ticket, we now have a way to get our voters out," he said. Clinton touted her Texas chances in an interview with New York Magazine that appeared late last month. Asked which states Trump puts in play, she said, "Texas!" Challenged by the article's author, she said, "If black and Latino voters come out and vote, we could win Texas." Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has sent out fundraising pleas using the specter of Clinton working to turn Texas blue, but many see that as unlikely as a practical matter in 2016. The last time a Democratic presidential candidate lost to a Republican by only single digits in Texas was the 1996 Bill Clinton-Bob Dole race, and Ross Perot that year got nearly 7 percent of the vote. "It's hard for me to see how Hillary breaks a 45 percent ceiling," said Republican consultant Matt Mackowiak. "I would tend to respect Garry Mauro's expert opinion about Texas a hell of a lot more than I would respect Hillary's." Abbott spokesman John Wittman also said his boss believes Trump will win Texas. "The governor is confident Donald Trump will trounce Hillary Clinton in Texas," Wittman said. Seeking to remove intraparty obstacles to voter turnout, Mauro and Limon earlier asked thousands of delegates to the state convention to remain united and prevent the "nightmare" of Trump becoming president. Trump has planned a three-city Texas visit to raise money this week and is scheduled to be in San Antonio for a fundraiser Friday, when the Texas Democratic State Convention will be in full swing there. Scheduled speakers at the state party convention include U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela, D-Brownsville, who recently garnered national attention with an open letter telling Trump in raw terms where he could shove his proposed wall on the Mexico border. The convention also will highlight U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro and his twin brother, U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro. The Castro brothers long have been seen as Democrats' best hope as they look for a way to once again win election to statewide office in Texas. Joaquin Castro is state convention chairman, and Julian Castro has a featured speaking role. The HUD secretary will be introduced by former state Sen. Wendy Davis of Fort Worth, who lost big to Republican Greg Abbott in the 2014 race for governor. Davis since has started a gender-equality initiative, and she has been campaigning for Clinton. It's usually Republicans who talk about trickle-down prosperity. This presidential election year, though, Texas Democrats are hoping they can get a little of the magic, but it will take a lot more than an epic Hillary Clinton-Donald Trump clash. With the number of delegates already allocated to both candidates, Texas Democrats, days away from kicking off their convention, are hoping for a unifying experience when they gather in San Antonio this week. An issues-based convention should be the focus, Clinton and Bernie Sanders campaign representatives have agreed, though that is in no way a call for supporters to let their enthusiasm wane. Items such as a $15 minimum wage and opposition to the Trans Pacific Partnership topped the list for Jacob Limon, Sanders Texas state director, when a reporter asked what the Vermont senators backers want in a party platform. Lets start at $15 and see where we end up, responded Garry Mauro, the Clinton campaigns authorized agent in Texas. I have written about the challenges and opportunities this years convention presents to state Democrats, especially as it involves offering an effective counter-narrative to the Republicans who control the state. Crystal Perkins, the partys executive director, underscored a few of those goals, including highlighting elected officials the party has deemed rising stars. Who will Democrats put up in 2018 against Gov. Greg Abbott, who sits on a multi-million-dollar campaign war chest, and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick? The eventual candidates most likely will have a speaking slot at the convention, which Perkins said will focus on local Democrats who hold power in the states largest cities. People know their mayors, she said. The presidential race, of course, hangs over the convention. Democrats want only to take action that reflects the best of the campaigns, as one party official said Tuesday, and this year that includes echoing the ways Clinton and Sanders have pushed back against Donald Trump. That also means hoping that the fire national Democrats will throw at Trump will work its way to Texas and energize Democratic voters and some GOP moderates who categorically oppose the idea of a President Trump. Maybe this presidential election could be a turning point in Democrats effort to make Texas competitive, or at the very least hospitable to their statewide candidates, but they know they cant rely solely on November. Were not a battleground state, Mauro said, adding that Clinton will not spend $100 million here like she would in, say, Ohio to make it one. Yes, Mauro continued, maybe if Trump continues to alienate non-white voters, Texas will see a boost in Latino, Asian and African American voters, but it will not be enough to turn Texas blue this time. Were going to have to do it ourselves, he said. Opinion / Columnist President Mugabe's use of gukurahundi genocide as a point of reference in the Zanu-PF succession wars has raised glorification of this unjustifiable gruesome act to new unacceptable levels in Zimbabwe.As MLO we condemn such insensitive statements by gugurahundi genocide perpetrators. This shows without any doubt that the security of gukurahundi genocide victims is very compromised under the rule of unrepentant genocidaires like Mugabe. This is synonymous with Hitler himself boasting about killing millions of innocent Jews and using the same genocide to threaten his political enemies. This happens when murderers of innocent people are left to rome the streets. Power and Guns in the hands of blood thirst ethnic killers are dangerous.Our silence must not by any means be mistaken to cowardice. We are watching intently as the oppressor who seems to be so addicted to genocide threats is abusing our people.Matebeles have the right to live in a free environment where there are no threats of second genocide, intimidation, political persecution, marginalisation and tribal hatred.Once you hear perpetrators of genocide showering themselves with praise for their gory dids then you know its time to take action. Therefore we believe that the process to restore the statehood of Matabeleland should be sped up.Mugabe's utterances are of an ignorant, heartless and reckless man who obviously cannot differentiate between fighting and pure barbaric acts of genocide. A man who feels completely justified in his actions.Gukurahundi caused untold pain and suffering in Matabeleland- permanent divisions and animosity between the people of Matebeleland and Mashonaland. No wonder why majority shonas support gugurahundi genocide. What can they do when their leader, a prime perpetrator who should be apologising is standing on the mountain top to announce acts of genocide as the best achievement of his life?Since President Mugabe has confirmed by word of mouth that he is the onewho unleashed National Army 5 brigade code named gukurahundi on innocent people of Matabeleland. MLO would like to know if the young children some of them embryos that were violently reaped out their mother's wombs using bayonets and eventually killed by the 5 brigade were dissidents?If the unarmed and defenceless women and school going girls who were force marched to public meetings to be beaten rapped and later shot to death were dissidents?If the old and frail men and women who needed the support of sticks to walk who were killed in cold blood were dissidents?If more than 40 000 innocent civilians who were killed brutally and dumped in old mine shafts, shallow graves and caves were dissidents?And we demand to know why we are not allowed to group and hold memorial services for the gukurahundi victims or rebury our loved ones in a dignified way?In all this there is one Matebele sellout from Nkayi who has been exposed big time. Most people in Matabeleland know and hate him for spreading falsehoods that gukurahundi is a conspiracy of the West. We wonder what Vp Mphoko is saying now that the father of gukurahundi genocide has announced himself. The traitor's lies and cheap political spin have come down tumbling.To hell with the so called Truth and Reconciliation Commission! What reconciliation when perpetrators are openly showing no remorse for their crimes against humanity? The truth is already known, documented and still coming out what we only need now is for the arrogant butchers of innocent people to be tried in the court of law and freedom for the people of Matabeleland. Finish en Klaar!When heartless perpetrators of gukurahundi genocide perpetually dance on the skeletons of their victims without regret or remorse, MLO has no choice but to consider building defence systems to protect traumatised and defenceless citizens of Matabeleland. People of Matabeleland should be afraid not. We stand by you all the way until the independence and sovereignty of Matabeleland is achieved. We are not apologetic about that. Why should we be when killers of innocent people are not?Izenzo Kungemazwi!Israel Dube Subscribing to our services is a three step process. First you have to create an account and then you have to pick if you want to subscribe to digital and or print. Some people only want to be a digital subscriber to get access online and others want to also receive the print edition. If you are already a print subscriber and want online access, it is free, you simply have to create an online account and then attach your print subscription account number to the online account you create. Zealands largest rail operator has found itself before the Employment Relations Authority after a union complained the company unfairly outsourced work to a Chinese firm instead of turning to its own employees."We're concerned that the decision to bypass KiwiRail workers in favour of CNR workers from China is a breach of our collective agreement," said Todd Valster, a spokesperson for the Rail and Maritime Transport Union.Twenty-seven workers were brought to New Zealand from China to fix asbestos found in 40 locomotives built by Chinas state-owned CNR Dalian Locomotive.Where workers from China are used, KiwiRail must ensure in its contract with CNR that workers' pay and conditions meet New Zealand standards, he added.Valster said the union had made multiple attempts to get the locomotive company to disclose how much the overseas workers were being paid but to no avail.A KiwiRail spokesperson rejected the union's characterisation of the events and told HRM that it had not breached any of its responsibilities as a state owned employer.Given the matter is currently before the Employment Relations Authority, it would not be appropriate for KiwiRail to comment further.The hearing begins in Wellington today and is scheduled to run until Thursday. Opinion / Columnist Mugabe Gukurahundi threats revealing, Mugabe evokes Gukurahundi memories, ZimPF, MDC slate Mugabe Gukurahundi threats on war vets, Peace watchdog worried by Mugabe Gukurahundi threats, Parties rip Mugabe over Gukurahundi threats, Most irresponsible for Mugabe to evoke Gukurahundi There have been frantic efforts by the opposition, civil society organisations and some section of the media to politically profit from on the Zanu PF internal tiff. They have overdone it to an extent that they have forgotten to deal with their own affair.Acres of pages have, since last week, been dedicated to stories that berated President Mugabe over his statement on war veterans during his address to the Central Committee last Thursday in Harare. Some of the headlines that were subsequently awash in the private media were as follows:and so many other sensationalized headlines that did not tally the content in the body of the stories.While addressing the Central Committee, President Mugabe said: "The dissidents tried it. They were war veterans, fighters and you know what happened. Lots of trouble, lots of fighting, lots of suffering caused to our people and dissent activities cannot be allowed again."This is the statement that triggered the hullabaloo. We saw for the first time the private media shedding crocodile tears for the war veterans. The Shona elders would say inyasha dzei tsvimborume kubvisa mwana wemvana madzihwa. There is nowhere in the speech where the President threatened Gukurahundi on war veterans or whoever.The President's statement was a reaction to allegations that the war veterans had threatened to spill blood if anyone dared block the ascension of their preferred candidate to presidency. The war veterans vehemently refuted that statement. President Mugabe has also refuted that he never said he wanted to crush the war veterans, arguing that he was also a war veteran, making it impossible for him to crush himself.The rebuttals by both the President and war veterans are quite telling. They only serve to tell us that the private media is exaggerating on statements given by any Zanu PF official to fuel antagonism. Their agenda is to see a disintegrated Zanu PF that will be effortlessly thrashed by MDC-T or ZPF in the 2018 polls. Zanu PF officials must be careful, lest they fall into the detractors' trap. As officials fight each other over the exaggerated media reports, they are in a way assisting the fulfillment of their agenda. These media are on cloud nine as they see Zanu PF officials fighting.As the President always say, Party cadres must avoid entertaining the private on party issues. Now that these officials are being deliberately misquoted, it is hoped that the officials have learnt, the hard way though, that these media are not to be trusted.There is nothing sinister in what the president said about Gukurahundi. He only reminded the war veterans that if they are indeed plotting to spill blood, that would definitely lead to what happened with dissidents. When national security is threatened as what happened in the 1980s, the normal reaction by any responsible government is to do what President Mugabe's government did. Who would want to see the dissident activities again? This is exactly what the President is saying when he said "dissents activities cannot be allowed again."He said nothing but facts. There were lots fighting, lots of trouble and lots of suffering caused to the people.Instead, those sensationalized headlines are the ones that are unnecessarily revoking Gukurahundi memories. Gukurahundi is a closed chapter that only those with sinister motives continue to harp on. That part of history ceased to be on the national agenda when the late Vice President Joshua Nkomo and President Mugabe joined hands and put their hearts together and made commitment that the fighting would never happen again. People must respect that Unity Accord of 1987 and this is exactly what the President was telling the war veterans. Nobody is qualified to end that unity except those who appended their signatures on it.In any case, the opposition political parties and their sympathizers in the media and civic society must come to the realization that Gukurahundi issue will never help them win the election. It is now a fated and tired campaign trump card that will not take them anywhere.--------------John Sigauke Conservatives believe they caught their Liberal rivals attempting to force Canadians to donate to the party before they can have their say on electoral reform. It was an allegation that caught Democratic Institutions Minister Maryam Monsef by surprise in question period Monday. Advertisement Democratic Institutions Minister Maryam Monsef speaks in the House of Commons on Monday, June 13. (Photo: Adrian Wyld/CP) Tory MPs rose to blast a panel discussion to be hosted this Sunday by the Dufferin-Caledon Federal Liberal Association. The group promoted the event online by noting how Monsef "challenged all 338 ridings in Canada to engage in active discussions" on Canada's electoral system this summer. But the riding association initially charged tickets to the event, stating that since the meeting is "not sponsored by the Party or Government there will be a cover charge of $10 to cover facility and other costs." The riding association made that fee "optional" shortly after question period. Advertisement Conservative House Leader Andrew Scheer told MPs that he now understands why Monsef has "been pushing town halls so hard," and dismissing the Tories' calls for a referendum. It's not because she wants input from Canadians, Scheer charged, but rather their donations. "Is the reason the minister is so opposed to holding a referendum because her party cannot make money off one?" Scheer asked. A screengrab of the Dufferin-Caledon Liberal website before it was changed. Monsef said all MPs are tasked with ensuring that their constituents' voices are reflected in the report that will be put forward by the all-party committee studying changes to the electoral system. "I want to ensure that all members are following all of the rules and regulations put forward by this House to make sure that we carry ourselves with integrity," Monsef said. Advertisement 'What a sham' Tory MP Blake Richards also hammered the government over the event. "It turns out Liberals are even charging Canadians to attend their town halls," he said. "What a sham." Monsef told the House she was "surprised to be made aware" of the development. "We will be looking into this matter," she said. "If the minister wants to get to the bottom of it, she does not have to look very far," Richards said. "It is right there on the Liberal website." Scott Reid, the Tory critic for democratic institutions, later said Liberals were giving a new meaning to the phrase: "penny for your thoughts." Tory MP was invited But a member of the riding association says the event was put together by local members solely to foster discussion on electoral reform. George denHaan, vice-president of the Dufferin-Caledon Federal Liberal Association, told The Huffington Post Canada via email that the riding's MP Conservative David Tilson declined an invitation to participate in the panel. Two political science professors and a local business leader are poised to discuss the merits of the ranked ballot system, proportional representation, and the status quo of first-past-the-post. Advertisement "While we initially opted to charge a very modest fee of $10 to help cover the costs, we have decided to make this optional to ensure that everyone can come and participate," denHaan said in the email. "We are looking forward to the forum and invite all local residents to come and engage in the discussion." ALSO ON HUFFPOST: Bike thieves, beware. This cowboy is coming for you. Witnesses outside a Walmart in Eagle Point, Ore. were stunned to see Robert Borba lasso an alleged bike thief Friday while on horseback. He did it so well, I thought, man, he must be in a rodeo or something. It was perfect, Rob Roque, who was landscaping at the store at the time, told NBC5 News. Advertisement Borba told the station he had been at Walmart to pick up dog food when he heard a woman yell that someone was taking her bike. The rancher could see the man getting away. "I wasn't going to catch him on foot," the 28-year-old rodeo cowboy told the Medford Mail-Tribune. "I just don't run very fast." He freed his horse, Long John, from his trailer, and chased after the suspect, who eventually ditched the bike and started to run away on foot. Advertisement Borba said he managed to lasso the man around his legs, and he fell to the ground. I just roped him and the rope went down around his feet and I just rode off like I would if Id roped a cow or something by myself, he told NBC5. The thief grabbed a nearby tree to try to free himself, but no luck, according to the Mail-Tribune. He looked utterly surprised to see Borba, the rancher told the outlet, asking if he had a badge to do what he did. I just roped him and the rope went down around his feet and I just rode off like I would if Id roped a cow or something by myself." The cowboy held the suspect until the cops arrived on scene, according to CBS 4 WCCO Minnesota. "He thought I was going to rip his legs off, so he told me to let him go, and I didn't let him go because I figured if you stole a bike, you're not very trustworthy," Borba said. Police told KTVL they've arrested 23-year-old Victorino Arellano-Sanchez in the theft and that he's being held in a county jail. Advertisement Borba, who witnesses dubbed "The Lone Ranger," was apparently keen to get back to work after the dramatic capture. While still on the horse, he reportedly asked, "Can I have my rope back? I gotta go." Also on HuffPost A tough little Chihuahua managed to survive nearly a week in the wilderness of the Rocky Mountains. Bitzy, who weighs just two pounds, was travelling with her owners in Banff National Park last week. When they pulled over at a rest stop near the border between Alberta and B.C., Bitzy decided to take off. Her owners searched for her for hours with no luck. After five days of surviving without food, water or shelter, an official spotted the dog. Bitzy the chihuaha was missing for five days in Banff National Park. (Photo: Parks Canada) "It took five people to catch Bitzy and the first food she ate was a tiny piece of fortune cookie with a very appropriate message," Banff National Park posted on its Facebook page. Advertisement The message read: "The bad is finally over. All the good stuff is waiting for you." A staff member took her home before she could be reunited with her happy family back in Calgary. Bitzy's owners shared a video of her back home doing tricks. I couldnt believe that she had survived. I couldnt believe that she had survived five nights out there. She was licking, licking, licking and wagging her tail. She was thrilled," owner Shauna Traub said in an interview with CTV News. Bitzy must be tougher than she looks Banff National Park has recently issued warnings as aggressive wolves and bears in the park have been looking for food. Although Bitzy survived unscathed, Parks Canada officials want to remind visitors that it's important to keep dogs on leash so they don't run off. Advertisement "If they do run away, it's a challenge to find them again and find them healthy," James McCormick, resource management officer with Parks Canada, told the Calgary Herald. Also on HuffPost: OTTAWA MPs can now call on Mrs. Doubtfire and Mary Poppins types to take care of their young ones. The House of Commons launched a new child-care service Monday, ahead of a much-anticipated report on making Parliament more inclusive and family-friendly. The Short-Term Child Care Program is being offered by Andrew Fleck Child Care Services and is available for children from age three months to 12 years while MPs are working in Ottawa. Any MP who uses the service must pay the $14.44/hour out of their own pocket. Advertisement NDP MP Christine Moore holds her daughter Daphnee just outside the House of Commons,on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Tuesday, March 8, 2016. (Photo: Fred Chartrand/CP) NDP MP Christine Moore, the poster child for working mothers on Parliament Hill, told The Huffington Post Canada Monday she had used the service for about a week as a test case and was incredibly happy with it. Her nine-month-old daughter, Daphnee, is usually a fixture by her side in the halls of Parliament, either in a stroller or in Moore's arms. Sometimes you can hear Daphnee's soft wailing in the Commons. Monday afternoon, however, Moore was baby-free. Looking relaxed, she explained she had just left Daphnee in her office with a caregiver who would be there from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. while Moore attended question period and went about her parliamentary duties without worrying about her child or having her arms full. Advertisement "She takes care of my daughter, she plays with her. I'm able to work and I can be in question period without any stress," she said, smiling. "If you just learn in the morning that you will sit until midnight, it's those times that you get screwed." NDP MP Christine Moore Moore pressed for the short-term, on-call service because of the unpredictability of her working hours, she said. "If you just learn in the morning that you will sit until midnight, it's those times that you get screwed," she said. "For me, it's not the price, it's just to make sure that I don't have to worry. If I have to pay, I will pay, it's a reasonable price for a nanny. It's a market price and it's tax deductible. It's fine." Advertisement Before Monday, there were no services on the Hill that could help, she said. The Children on the Hill daycare, located in one of the Parliamentary buildings, doesn't have extended hours and only takes children older than 18 months. Now, the Commons takes care of security clearances and finds her a nanny with just one phone call. "I don't need to search, I just say I need these hours and it's really easy for me." Unlike some of her former colleagues in the NDP who gave birth during the last Parliament, Moore said her partner isn't able to take parental leave and join her in Ottawa because his school-aged daughter needs to remain her Abitibi-Temiscamingue riding. So every week, Moore makes the six-plus-hour drive alone, not including breastfeeding breaks, each way. Sometimes she sleeps en route as she did on Sunday night, stopping in Maniwaki, Que. NDP MP Christine Moore holds Daphnee as she votes for the new speaker of the House of Commons on Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015. (Photo: Sean Kilpatrick/CP) Advertisement "I was the only one for a long time who lives far away from Parliament, couldn't have access to her husband, so it is really different. Maybe it makes the people realize that we have to organize services to make sure that we can continue to do our work. I think it is why there is a big difference right now. "But when you don't work with a little baby, there are thousands of stuff you don't notice," she said. A change counter in the women's washroom is situated right next to an electrical plug, she notes as an example. "If you've never been with a baby to the cafeteria, you will never notice that the high chairs are not there or not appropriate," she added. Moore pushed for many changes with the help of her party's whip, Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet, and Commons Speaker Geoff Regan. Advertisement Other changes on the Hill In March, reserved parking spots were set aside for pregnant MPs and those with babies. A new family room with a crib, small bridge, bottle warmer, change table, diaper disposal unit, high chair, reclining chair, work area, microwave and skink was established for MPs, their spouses and young children. There could be bigger changes coming when the Commons' procedure and House affairs committee tables its report on making Parliament more efficient, inclusive and family-friendly, as early as Wednesday. MPs have discussed using a second chamber to use for debates in order to speed up the House business, implementing electronic voting to reduce hours spent in the chamber, and getting rid of Friday sittings to help parents spend more time in their ridings with their children. 'I'm the one who really pushed for it' But Moore isn't convinced the committee's report will change the way the Commons functions for now. "The committee's scope was really large so I think the report will discuss areas in which the committee can move forward," she said. Advertisement What she hopes to see is action on sick leave, parental leave, and adoption leave, that allows MPs to recuperate or spend time in their riding while still fulfilling many of their parliamentary duties, such as voting. But for the moment, Moore is just pleased to have the nanny service. "I'm the first one who tried it because I'm the one who really pushed for it. But I figure in the fall, much more people will use it," she said. Also on HuffPost: If you havent heard that house prices in Toronto and Vancouver are going insane, welcome back from under the rock where you were hiding. But what you may not know is that much of the rest of Canada is seeing a very different situation, one where price growth has halted and sales are stagnant. Advertisement National Bank economist Marc Pinsonneault broke down data from the Teranet house price index to separate the Toronto and Vancouver areas from the rest of the country, and found that, in the rest of the country, prices are falling on average. The dichotomy continues on the Canadian home resale market, Pinsonneault wrote Tuesday. The massive gains in Toronto and Vancouver contrast sharply with other regions, he added. Pinsonneault noted that four of the 11 major cities tracked by the Teranet index have shown price declines over the past year. Here are the four cities where the housing market is tanking. Advertisement Quebec City House price change in past year: -3.61% Home sales change in past year: +1% Sales are stable in Quebec Citys housing market, but there was a steep, seven-per-cent drop in condo prices in the first quarter of this year, pulling down the average house price. Halifax, N.S. (sort of) House price change in past year: -4.67% Home sales change in past year: +19% This one deserves a "sort of" qualifier because, despite prices falling nearly 5 per cent in a year, there's been a solid 19-per-cent increase in home sales. Calgary Advertisement House price change in past year: -0.22% Home sales change in past year: -12.03% Despite the continuing decline in home sales in Calgary, prices are holding up relatively well, barely down in the past year. Some have suggested that foreign buyers of real estate are helping to prop up Calgary house prices, despite the oil price collapse. Edmonton House price change in past year: -1.67% Home sales change in past year: +3.8% Even though prices are down over the past year, sales are actually up almost 4 per cent, including an 18-per-cent spike in sales just in May, suggesting the worst may be over for Edmontons housing market. *Home price data is from the Teranet house price index. Sales data is from local real estate boards. SAN FRANCISCOSex worker organizations today condemned provisions in SB 1110, a bill moving into the California Assembly Public Safety Committee , that establishes Law Enforcement Diversion Programs (LEADs) for sex workers. The bill gives police new powers to redirect sex workers into "diversion programs," allegedly as an alternative to arrest. But it allows police to decide who is diverted and who is not, creating an arbitrary process that circumvents the courts and denies sex workers due process. Diversion programs are just another form of surveillance and criminalization, said Maxine Doogan of the Erotic Service Providers Union. Just changing the form of police harassment and criminalization from arrest to diversion doesnt protect our constitutional and human rights. SB 1110 was developed without input from sex worker organizations, such as the Erotic Service Providers Union (ESPU). And similar programs in New York City, Seattle, and the UK did not stop the harassment and criminalization of sex workers. Instead, they increased arbitrary police powers, cut into the ability of poor people who were trying to earn a living, and disproportionately impacted poor women, women of color, and trans people. We dont trust the police to protect us, said Claire Alwyne of the Erotic Service Providers Union. The police abuse their powers, whether it is the kind of corruption we see in Oakland, where police officers were trading sex with under age sex workers, or the callous disregard for the victims of the Grim Sleeper in LA, where law enforcement referred to the murders of prostitutes and drug addicts as NHI (No Humans Involved). The ESPU calls on California legislators to remove the clauses in SB 1110 that affect sex workers, and to instead move forward with legislation to decriminalize sex work in California. The Erotic Service Providers Union (ESPU) is an organization by and for those who labor erotically to gain agency through industrial organizing for their occupational, social, and economic rights through affiliating with organized labor. It was founded November, 2004 in San Francisco, California. Dear Prince William: We here at HuffPost Canada Style would like to apologize to you. You've had a busy week. Your "granny" turned 90 years old and you've been busy celebrating with the family (your children Prince George and Princess Charlotte looked adorable at the Trooping of Colours, by the way). But when you do step into the public eye with your royal clan, we fashion journalists tend to overlook your style. It's your wife Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge who we admittedly flock to. We're accustomed to hunt down what labels she's wearing and idolize her perfectly blown-out hair. Even your brother, Prince Harry, catches our eye very often. We know you have a lovable sibling rivalry, but can you blame us? Advertisement However, things were different this time, Prince William. It's you who stood out from the rest. On Monday, at the annual Order of The Garter Service at St. George's Chapel in Windsor, you, the Duke of Cambridge, arrived in your official uniform for Knights of the Garter. After your knighting in 2008, you obtained the ceremonial and traditional garments which consist of a blue velvet cape, gold badge, tassel and black ostrich plume hat. The Duke and Duchess today joined The Queen and members of @theroyalfamily for the annual #GarterDay service at St George's Chapel, Windsor. The Order of the Garter is the oldest and most senior Order of Chivalry in Britain, established by King Edward III nearly 700 years ago - The Duke became the 1000th Knight in the Register in 2008 PA A photo posted by Kensington Palace (@kensingtonroyal) on Jun 13, 2016 at 8:59am PDT Advertisement Exquisite. So exquisite in fact, Wills, that many are now comparing you to a real-life Disney Prince. Sigh. Kate is only lucky lady. So forgive us, Prince William, for we need to pay a bit more attention to your style and fashion choices. You're a fan of slightly unbuttoned shirts, white jeans and fancy top hats, all incredible choices that we hope to see you wear more often. Yours, HuffPost Canada Style Follow Huffington Post Canada Style on Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter! Also on HuffPost Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rose in the House of Commons Tuesday to vote against a Conservative motion declaring that the atrocities of the so-called Islamic State constitute genocide. His decision appeared to back up what Trudeau told the House minutes earlier: that partisan politicians shouldn't determine what is or isn't genocide. Advertisement Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks in the House of Commons on Tuesday, June 14, 2016. (Photo: The Canadian Press) The Opposition motion tabled by interim Tory leader Rona Ambrose won the support of New Democrats, Bloc MPs, and four Liberal backbenchers: Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, Anthony Housefather, Borys Wrzesnewskyj, and Karen Ludwig. It was defeated by the Grit majority in a vote of 166 to 139, sparking shouts of "Shame!" from some Tories. Advertisement In a heated question period shortly before the vote, Ambrose hammered Trudeau for hiding behind "weasel words" and lacking "moral clarity" when it comes to the terror group. She said that while allies in the U.S. House of Representatives and European Union state the obvious that "ISIS' crimes against religious minorities, women and children, gays and lesbians" are genocide the Liberal government refuses do the same. "If all our allies can find the moral resolve why can't our prime minister?" she asked. 'Objective' determination needed: Trudeau Trudeau responded that Liberals "strongly condemn" the actions of the terror group and have "formally requested" the United Nations Security Council make a determination if they constitute genocide. "We don't feel that politicians should be weighing in on this first and foremost," he said. "Determinations of genocide need to be made in an objective, responsible way." Ambrose called that position a "low-point" for the Liberal party and a "dark spot" on Canada's human rights record. Advertisement When he was pressed again on the case of thousands of Yazidi girls being murdered or turned into sex slaves, the prime minister was resolute that determinations of genocide must be done objectively on the international stage. "We will not trivialize the importance of the word genocide by not respecting formal engagements around that word," he said. Rona Ambrose is shown challenging Liberals in the House of Commons on Tuesday, June 14. (Photo: The Canadian Press) But Trudeau also added a dig at the Tories who have long argued he is soft on this issue. "I will take no lessons in playing politics from a former government that used footage of ISIL executions in an attack ad against me," he said, referencing a wildly controversial 2015 video that appears to have since been scrubbed online. Advertisement "Mr. Speaker, this isn't actually about him," Ambrose shot back. "If all our allies can find the moral resolve why can't our prime minister?" Rona Ambrose The interim Tory leader wondered aloud how far ISIS would need to go before the prime minister would recognize what's happening is genocide. Trudeau warned against playing petty politics with atrocities. Perhaps the most heated exchange came when Ambrose reiterated that the federal government should ensure Yazidi girls are placed in Canada's joint sponsorship program, following Germany's example of providing "safe haven" for 1,000 girls. Trudeau said his government has "re-opened" this country after 10 years of cuts to immigration and refugee programs from the Tory government. He noted, by way of example, the 25,000 Syrian refugees welcomed to these shores. A Kurd Yazidi holds a sign in northern Germany in 2014 during a rally in solidarity with Kurds trapped in Syria. (Photo: Ingo Wagner/AFP/Getty Images) Advertisement "The prime minister doesn't get it," Ambrose shot back. "These girls are not refugees. They are not considered refugees. They're languishing in camps as displaced people but we have a special program that he has power to use to bring these girls to Canada. "So I ask him again, when is he going to take direction and help these girls?" she shouted. The remark sparked applause from the Tory benches. Trudeau, again, responded that while the last government "did a lot to diminish our capacity to welcome people from around the world," his was restoring Canada as a country that welcomes the vulnerable. He did not respond directly to the plight of Yazidi girls. The full text of Ambrose's defeated motion: That the House agree that ISIS is responsible for: (a) crimes against humanity aimed at groups such as Christians, Yezidis, and Shia Muslims, as well as other religious and ethnic minorities in Syria and Iraq; (b) utilizing rape and sexual violence as a weapon of war and enslaving women and girls; and (c) targeting gays and lesbians who have been tortured and murdered; and, as a consequence, that the House strongly condemn these atrocities and declare that these crimes constitute genocide. ALSO ON HUFFPOST: By John Sinclair In late May, Turkey, despite security worries and about 3 million Syrian refugees, was the well-organized host to the UN's mid-term review of the 2011 Istanbul Program of Action (IPoA) for Least Developed Countries (LDCs). It additionally financed the participation of all 48 LDCs (including 18 "fragile" states) plus the Landlocked (e.g. Nepal and Small Islands, Vanuatu), threatened by rising oceans. The political leadership role of Turkey reflects that it, like Mexico and Korea, is an OECD member as well as a recent developing country. It is a country transitioning to becoming another middle power, already a substantial donor in its own right not too dissimilar in scale to Canada. (Turkey this year spent about US$4 billion.) Advertisement Antalya was a well-scripted event, even if it followed the unfortunate habit of many events, including G7/G20, to have an outcome document painfully pre-negotiated in another world -- in this case, by diplomats in New York. Donors and G77 took over a month to blink and agree: no retreating from old promises, no mention of enhanced aid or trade. The discussion in Antalya contrasted with that seemingly tense pre-negotiation. It was largely open and inclusive as it exposed diverse perspectives from political leaders and engaged professionals in plenaries, round tables and side-events, plus a parallel civil society programme. Nothing changed in the Antalya outcome document, but hopefully participants, notably those LDC leaders and major donors, took back new real-world insights into the effort needed to defeat global poverty. The image above replaces a hundred words. Among the top participants talking global poverty were: the head of UNDP, the Turkish foreign minister and senior officials from the still-fragmented UN family. Leading at ministerial level for the LDCs was Bangladesh, a major recipient of Canadian bilateral aid from its birth. Of course the major Western donors were there, but only senior officials, almost no ministers. The meeting was understandingly dominated by mellowed-but-still-demanding LDC voices, notably from Africa, home to 36 of 48 LDCs. While mainly still weak performers, they asked for attention and inclusion. They questioned unfulfilled promises. They wanted to have both more aid and more job-intensive foreign direct investment. They were worried to see the same shaky promises in the Addis Agenda (AAAA) that set out how the more ambitious UN Agenda 2030 might be financed. LDCs want help big-time with innovation, so they were encouraged by the naming of a first head for a new technology bank for the LDCs, but nobody seems to know how patented technologies would be transferred from corporate owners. Advertisement Reflecting the unhelpful silos within the UN, some LDCs and CSOs feared the new UN Agenda 2030 might diminish "their" Istanbul programme. Unsaid, but more realistic in UN turf terms, Istanbul ideas should be melded into Agenda 2030 as an essential step in meeting the latter's challenge of "no one left behind." Western donors should equally understand that the LDCs/fragile countries would inevitably be the centerpiece of any pro-poor strategy, with their growing share of the world's population and thus as home to most of the world's poorest. CSOs were present with their own program addressed by many of the senior UN officials present and some key Western donors. They were invited to speak formally with other top table dignitaries at the opening and closing plenaries. They were the voice of a new generation of NGOs -- overwhelmingly from Africa, with some Asians. They were there as independent voices, watching both donors and their own governments to see what was overlooked from the original Istanbul pledges. They firmly demanded more aid as well as recognizing that their own countries needed better governance, private sector investment and enhanced market access. Their outcome document produced in situ, not New York, was wary; they feared much of Istanbul remained a distant dream. They cautioned that there can be "No SDGs without LDCs." Canada was of course present, no doubt assuring leading LDC voices and other donors that we were "back," but still trying to define how best to move forward with the challenge of enhanced support for the poorest. It was perhaps also noting that the 48 LDCs represent about a third of the total UN vote pool needed to be persuaded to support Canada in the 2021 UN Security Council election. Advertisement Looking forward, will Antalya now stir our pro-poor Canadian government into moving from talk to walking via a new focus on aid for the LDCs/fragiles? The immediate option is easy and cheap -- to shift a small percentage of existing Canadian ODA to meet the UN LDC ODA target of 0.15 to 0.20 per cent of GNI. But a real partnership requires more than funding. We will also need a stronger programming presence on the ground to work on increasing their absorptive capacity, to share in improving their governance and making our own rules less onerous. LDCs made very clear that they also want more quality private investment -- but have we over-promised on our capacity to leverage our companies? Reversing the often weak resource situation of LDCs and fragile states is not easy. Are we ready to commit for that longer haul... or will we fail in the challenge of ensuring "no one left behind?" John Sinclair was a development practitioner with the former CIDA and World Bank. He is a member of the McLeod Group and was a senior fellow in the University of Ottawa's School of International Development and Global Studies. The views expressed in this blog are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the positions of CCIC or its members. Advertisement Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook MORE ON HUFFPOST: Andrew Gunners via Getty Images England is a country more famous for its capital city and royal family than its rugged scenery and outdoor adventures. However, that doesn't mean adventures don't exist in the North Atlantic country. In fact, England's location, surrounded by water and home to some of the U.K.'s best beaches and jagged coastline, makes it an ideal place for your adventure-based summer getaway. The following are six adventures you can only have in England this summer. Advertisement Try Paragliding Near Eastbourne Head to the coast of East Sussex, and you'll find some of England's most stunning natural scenery. And there's no better way to dive head first into the beauty of the Sussex Heritage Coast than to do just that -- dive into it. Beachy Head is the United Kingdom's highest chalk sea cliff, standing a mesmerizing 162-meters tall, and the Airworks Paragliding Cenre in Eastbourne is ready to help you take the leap with an unforgettable paragliding experience. Zip Over the Sea in Bournemouth Photo credit: Lets Go Out Bournemouth Embrace the sought-after feeling of flying in a different (and less terrifying) way in Bournemouth. The PierZip experience -- the very first pier-to-shore zip wire in the world -- takes visitors on a scenic, adrenaline-charged flight from the end of the Bournemouth Pier, over the waves and into shore. Even better, the PierZip experience includes dual zip lines, which means you can experience the thrill of flying simultaneously with a friend or loved one. Take a Surf Lesson in Newquay Surfing is one of the world's fastest growing water sports, and once you experience the feeling of "the glide," you'll understand why. The Escape Surf School in Newquay, Cornwall, offers a selection of surf lessons for all levels of surfers, from first-timers to advanced wave riders. As one of the longest running surf schools in the U.K., Escape Surf School's knowledgable guides will have you experiencing the thrill of standing up on a surfboard during your first day in the water. Advertisement Explore the Countryside on Bicycle Photo credit: Peter Turvey Forget about sightseeing the countryside of southwest England in a rental vehicle or tour bus. Rent a bicycle and head to the Wiltshire Cycleway to spend a day exploring some of England's most peaceful natural scenery while feeling the wind in your face and a slight burn in your thighs. Visitors can attempt the 257-kilometer long-distance route or opt for a number of much shorter routes to visit the quaint, historic towns (and villages) of Bradford on Avon, Marlborough, Castle Combe and so many more. Get Dirty with a Bushcraft Adventure Seeking a summer adventure that will truly test your endurance and survival skills? Head to Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, to try your hand at the one-of-a-kind jungle assault course in Sherwood Forest or take part in a number of other survival classes and tests. Sherwood Bushcraft allows you to choose from overnight survival drills, shelter building activities, fire lighting lessons, team challenges and many other activities to help improve your survival skills and put them to the test in a picturesque outdoor atmosphere. Adventure then Relax at Alpamare Scarborough Photo credit: RamseyCountyMN The brand-new Alpamare Scarborough water park will be opening for the summer of 2016, and that means you can be one of the first to enjoy this new English adventure experience. The Alpamare is gearing up to be a water park unlike any other in England, with a massive wave pool, state-of-the-art water slide, whirlpool attractions, steam baths and more. Located on Scarborough's North Bay, this water park, combining thrilling rides and relaxing spa-like features is ideal for families seeking summer fun, rain or shine. Advertisement r_drewek via Getty Images Rainbow flag symbolizing and celebrating gay rights and freedom of expression. When it comes to standing up for gay rights, corporate outrage is rather selective. Large companies that have publicly denounced new laws in several southern U.S. states as "anti-gay" are quite happy to remain silent as they carry on business in countries that criminalize gay sex. After North Carolina passed a law upholding separate male and female public washrooms, PayPal publicly cancelled its plans to build a new operations centre in that state, citing that law. Advertisement This kind of hypocrisy is widespread among major corporations. Netflix offers services in Mauritania, Yemen, Somalia and other countries where homosexuality may be punishable by death. General Electric does business in Saudi Arabia, where in 2014 a gay man was sentenced to three years in jail and 450 lashes for using Twitter to arrange to meet other men. Time Warner, Live Nation and Unilever operate in countries that outlaw gay sex, such as Tunisia and Algeria. The aforementioned companies have not made a public denunciation of the anti-gay laws of these countries, yet they all have publicly denounced new laws in U.S. states that are intended to protect religious freedom. Advertisement Hypocrisy aside, it's worth considering what, exactly, these corporations are opposing. Since the U.S. Supreme Court imposed same-sex marriage on every state, several states have now passed laws that, consistent with this same Supreme Court ruling, specifically protect the freedom of all citizens not to be compelled by government to participate in what they believe to be wrong. Hysteria aside, new laws in some states are simply implementing the U.S. Supreme Court's recognition that freedom of religion protect people from being compelled by government to support, or to participate in, same-sex marriage. That includes florists, photographers and cake-bakers who do not want to play any role in same-sex wedding ceremonies. The suggestion that new state laws will allow businesses to post signs saying "We don't serve gays" is simply untrue. The U.S. and Canada share a commitment to maintaining a free society, including religious freedom. It is no coincidence that the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the first "fundamental freedom" in our Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantee people the freedom to hold, and act in accordance with, their sincere beliefs. A free society allows adherents of all religious and non-religious faiths (including agnostics, atheists, and people who believe in God without adhering to any particular religion) to proclaim what they believe to be true, and to put their beliefs into practice by acting on their conscience. No government, no matter how oppressive, can actually prevent people from believing what they wish. However, what distinguishes a free society from a tyranny is that the former allows people to actually practice their beliefs. Advertisement Both the U.S Constitution and the Canadian charter protect minorities from being coerced, by government's threat of penalty, into complying with majority opinion. As Canada's Supreme Court once explained in R. vs. Zundel: "The view of the majority has no need of constitutional protection; it is tolerated in any event." The U.S. Supreme Court applied this same principle when it declared that those who oppose same-sex marriage must be given "proper protection." Disagreement and hurt feelings are the unavoidable result of life in a free society, which is not for the faint-hearted. Tolerating each other's beliefs and lifestyles does not mean approving of each other's beliefs and lifestyles. Legalizing the purchase of pork is one thing. Forcing Muslims and Jews to handle and sell pork is quite another. Protecting your unpopular neighbour's freedoms today helps you to preserve your own freedom tomorrow A government that today violates one person's freedom not to participate in, or approve of, a gay wedding can easily direct that same coercive power toward someone else who defies different majority sentiments tomorrow. That's why protecting your unpopular neighbour's freedoms today helps you to preserve your own freedom tomorrow. Before jumping on populist bandwagons to support a vague notion of "gay rights," corporations -- as well as individuals -- on both sides of the border would be well-served to consider the crucial role that freedom of conscience and religion plays in protecting the free society, for the benefit of everyone. Calgary lawyer John Carpay is president of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (www.jccf.ca). This column first ran in the National Post, May 25, 2016. Advertisement Milan Marjanovic via Getty Images Picture of a grandfather playing with his two grand children a five year old granddaughter and three year old grandson in the park. The old man is wearing a khaki sweater and a blue shirt with long sleeves. The little girl is wearing a pink blouse and pink sweatpants and boy is wearing blue blouse. They are smiling and having fun. The lens flare is behind them. "You don't know what you got till it's gone." Joni Mitchell's words are a maxim in my life. As midnight chimed on the clock and Saturday turned to Father's Day 1969 I was a very few minutes into being fatherless. What I know today and didn't realize then was that I had the most remarkable father any child could ever have. He was a farm boy who left high school to go to work as the Depression loomed. Within a few years he was swinging in his hammock in the bowels of a corvette patrolling the North Atlantic on convoy duty, taking supplies to England. Advertisement He married my mother at the beginning of the Second World War. My oldest brother was born in the darkest days of the war in 1942. At that time the sailors in the Canadian Navy got a rum ration. My dad, who did like rum, sold his daily ration in order to send more money to my mother living in a little cottage in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. That selfless willingness to sacrifice was a trait inherent in him. His commitment to being a father was an example to others. Life after the war was like that of every other returning serviceman. Busy times setting up house and babies in quick succession. When all was done, there were five children around the table. Most families operate without a spotlight, behind closed doors. My family life -- five siblings in a small town -- was, by today's standards, about as normal as it gets. Advertisement "Do good for goodness' sake" was his unwritten motto, and a life lesson I learned from my dad. In retrospect, it was rather idyllic. Big old house, huge back yard. He was always coming home with some new offbeat delicacy he'd picked up in his travels. Chocolate-covered ants was one I recall. Other small things I remember: He never swore, at least not a home. "Golly" was as severe as it got. After his business grew to something of substance, Dad became a bit of a local philanthropist. More often he was an anonymous benefactor. "Do good for goodness' sake" was his unwritten motto, and a life lesson I learned from my dad. He quietly did his good deeds and got on with life. In retrospect, he was unobtrusively being a model, someone to look up to as a parent. This is where the idyllic life starts to go sideways. Easter weekend of 1969 he got sick. He never got sick. But he was very sick. He had been slightly out of sorts for a few months, behaving in an uncharacteristic way. Easter weekend he went to the local hospital. They, in turn, sent him to a larger city for more tests. The family huddled and held onto the fact that he was strong as a bull -- invincible, the family hero. Advertisement The doctor arrived in the hospital room with the grim news. We listened as he told us that Dad had a fatal illness and probably only had six weeks to live. The pillar of our family was crumbling. Those stages of grief were experienced quickly and we found ourselves, as Father's Day approached, wondering how much longer we would have a complete family unit. Just before midnight Saturday night he died. In a few minutes it was Father's Day and we were experiencing our first fatherless Father's Day. Forty-seven years later, his life lessons are with me every day of my life. My sons did not have the opportunity to know him. In one of those cruel ironies of life, their paternal grandfather was cold, aloof, disinterested and had minimal involvement in their lives. They missed having the unconditional love of a grandfather. In many ways, Dad's spirit lives on in my sons and grandchildren. One grandson is a namesake. Almost by osmosis, my sons have gathered the goodness of my father. His picture hangs in both homes. When my grandchildren come to the family cottage, they snuggle under their great grandfather's 1940 navy-issue Hudson's Bay blankets with his name still printed on them. Time has probably dimmed his imperfections, but his life lessons continue to have a very bright patina in my life. Good parenting "sticks" no matter how long they are with you. Advertisement There have been thousands of pages devoted to the skills necessary to raise a child. I am quite sure my father never read one book about parenting. Common sense was his guiding force. He was a humble, compassionate man who knew right from wrong, and good from bad. Dorothy Law Nolte wrote the definitive ode to parenting in 19 lines. My dad lived these words: "Children Learn What They Live." Take heed, follow those lessons and it's really all you need to know to raise a child. "Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts." -- Charles Dickens Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook MORE ON HUFFPOST: The pride flag flies following a raising ceremony on Parliament Hill Wednesday June 1, 2016 in Ottawa. It was just two weeks ago that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau raised the Pride flag on Parliament Hill for the first time. Gathering with colleagues from all sides of the House of Commons, I thought we were at the joyful end of a long human rights journey. To raise a symbol of the long struggle for LGBTQ rights and inclusion in front of the Peace Tower was literally a dream come true. Advertisement My dream was shattered by the tragedy in Orlando this past weekend, when 49 gay people were murdered and even more injured in a horrific gun attack in a gay nightclub. The human rights, criminal and marriage laws of Canada may have changed since I frequented my first gay nightclub almost four decades ago, but the scourges of homophobia continue still, now coupled with a new brand of American home-grown and well-armed terrorism. Orlando drove this message home in a deeply personal way. Despite the huge advances in human rights and public acceptance, LGBTQ people still need safe places to gather and today we all feel greatly shaken by what happened in Orlando. I went to my first gay bar when I was in my early 20s. I went in search of belonging, in search of friendship, in search of community. I went to be around people like me, hoping I would find a safe place and strength in numbers. Finding the courage to walk into that nightclub was no small feat, but once inside I knew that I was not alone. And I felt a rare sense of freedom and a great sense of safety. Despite the huge advances in human rights and public acceptance, LGBTQ people still need safe places to gather and today we all feel greatly shaken by what happened in Orlando. In the middle of this tragedy, I was moved by how many people, both LGBTQ community members and our allies, came together with just a few hours' notice on Sunday night in Toronto for a vigil in remembrance of the Orlando victims. I joined Premier Kathleen Wynne and Mayor John Tory, along with many of my colleagues from the House of Commons, as we stood with Orlando and against homophobia and hate. Similar vigils were held in several other Canadian cities. Advertisement Noticeable were the Muslims among us lighting candles, holding hands and standing in solidarity with their LGBTQ friends and neighbours. The only way to defeat hate is with love. We have to continue to trust each other, and to see the world through each other's eyes as we build a more peaceful, more just society. Then we will all be safe. And friends and neighbours we are. This is the holy month of Ramadan, and while many Muslims fast, they will also be called upon to engage in acts of charity, generosity and spiritual enrichment. This has become part of my life in Don Valley West since I have the unique privilege to be an openly gay Member of Parliament representing one the largest Muslim populations in Canada. I knocked on every door in Thorncliffe Park in the last election, and the support I received from the communities there demolishes any misguided belief that Islam or Muslims in general are to blame for the horrendous attack in Orlando. As a United Church minister, I have worked with Muslims, Jews, and Christians of all denominations to build bridges and recognize that what we share is far more important than where we might differ: love for God, and love for one another. Muslims are no different from any other people of faith in this regard. The government of Canada is committed to combating terrorism and keeping Canadians safe. It is equally committed to ensuring that communities are brought together, rather than being split apart. The only way to defeat hate is with love. We have to continue to trust each other, and to see the world through each other's eyes as we build a more peaceful, more just society. Then we will all be safe. Advertisement This article first appeared in the June 14 edition of the Ottawa Citizen. ALSO ON HUFFPOST: Vigils In Canada For Orlando Shooting Victims See Gallery CHATSWORTH, Calif.Diamond Products, parent company of Pipedream, Jimmyjane and Sir Richard's, has returned from this weekend's successful ETO Show where it pleased crowds with its award-winning brands and solidified King Cock as one of the premier lines in the industry. This was our best ETO Show ever! said Pipedream VP of Sales Steve Sav. We are always excited to return to the ETO Show to help our UK partners continue to grow their businesses with our award-winning brands, cutting edge marketing resources and unmatched customer service." At Sunday night's awards show, Pipedream was recognized in two big categories. The mega-manufacturer took home ETO's Best New Product Range Award for King Cock and Best Fetish Products Brand for Fetish Fantasy Series. "Pipedream is proud and honored to acceptthank you all!, said Pipedream Chairman and CEO Nick Orlandino. Recognition from our customers and peers only validates the innovation, hard work and effort our team puts into every product. Thanks to our customers, retailer partners and everyone at ETO for another great show." "Having sold well over a million pieces since King Cock's debut just a year ago, we continue to grow and expand our U.S. manufacturing facilities to keep up with the relentless demand," Orlandino stated. "We're very excited about the future of the King Cock brand as it becomes a cornerstone of the industry going forward." Customers may contact their Pipedream sales executive to stock up on award-winners King Cock and Fetish Fantasy Series. You'll no doubt be aware that the U.K referendum on remaining in the European Union is near, June 23rd to be precise. While there's a lot of propaganda floating around for reasons to leave and stay, we're looking simply at facts about what would happen to our environment either way. Information, research and context for this article it should be stressed has come from a number of sources, some openly lobbying to remain, some not. The point here is definitely not to sway anyone, just to set out a sort of timeline both past and future as to what it means for the U.K to be both in and out of the EU. Advertisement One of the most notable areas of environment influence the EU has is on European fisheries. The Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) sets out quotas for how much of each fish each state can catch, in an effort to ensure that fish are caught at limits that make them sustainable. This has brought with it a major loophole however, that in turn causes a lot of issues with the public. As a result, fishing boats have little choice but to dump back in the ocean any fish that exceed their quota for the catch. This can often be tons and tons of perfectly good fish. Along the sequence this means that the fish cannot breed and contribute to the replenishing numbers, causing the species to be put under huge pressure. Advertisement This issue is being caught between and rock and a hard place, as the EU prevents you catching too much, but not having that regulation might mean over fishing and depletion of an entire species. With the EU policy, businesses and whole communities that rely on the fishing industry are given a glass ceiling for their economy. Without it it's pretty obvious that we'd over fish our seas completely anyway. See what we mean about the rock and hard place? Our membership of the EU has been influencing our environment since day one of us being a part of it back in the 1973. Back then, the UK was lovingly known as the 'dirty man of Europe' thanks to policies in the country that had led to the highest rate of sulphur dioxide emission on the continent with seas that were little better than open sewers thanks to a mentality of 'dilute and disperse'. The seas were so full of filth and muck that people wouldn't dare to roll up their trouser legs for a paddle. Joining the EU however meant that these issues were slowly but surely reversed. The environmental pioneers of Europe were Germany, the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden and Denmark, who between them began to drive up environmental standards for the whole EU. The continent's impact on UK environment meant that emissions have been capped, sewage systems have been more efficiently managed and more hygienically dealt with and the waste and nitrates have been lessened. Leaving the EU wouldn't necessarily undo all of these things in a heartbeat, but certainly they're not worth dismissing as EU dominance over the UK. Who's going to dispute that cleaner water and cleaner air is a good thing? The knock on from this EU driven clean-up of our oceans has been a dramatic flourishing in sea life. Waters flooded with toxins and waste quite obviously cause wildlife issues, but limiting that gives them breathing space and allows steady growth that isn't stifled by poor conditions. Advertisement The European habitats directive is another aspect of our membership that has shaped the UK countryside. It's an old and long servicing piece of the EU's structure, that protects (you guessed it) hundreds of different European habitats. Under its guidelines, each country must take steps to ensure to continued prosperity of its habitats, through national parks, volunteering and pretty much any other means necessary to preserve them. Leaving the EU would allow the UK to work towards its own conservation efforts that are specific to their needs, rather than overhauled ideas that may not be fit for purpose in each individual case. Each struggling habitat is its own case with its own problems, meaning it needs its own special treatment, something that is somewhat difficult to give as part of a broader scheme for protecting habitats. However, having that legislation in place does put the initial pressure on the UK to at least do something. If you take that away, would enough initiative be taken to act on the issues such as rising sea levels, expansion of farm land or over fishing? Again, there's no intention here to make the reader lean one way or another on the referendum, but simply to present some instances on where the EU and UK have collaborated on matters of the environment. It's about considering instances, not persuading voters. We'll leave that for the politicians. Advertisement By Guy Bezant - Online Journalism Intern Frontier runs conservation, development, teaching and adventure travel projects in over 50 countries worldwide - so join us and explore the world! Jeremy Corbyn will never get the chance to veto TTIP. There, I've said it. Earlier in the referendum campaign he made a bold promise to veto TTIP, but it is a promise that he won't be given the opportunity to keep. Anyone versed in the history of the European Union, nee the European Economic Community, nee the European Coal and Steel Community, will know that it is an institution that has pursued a slow, steady, but relentless campaign to grab power from member states, and it will not be thwarted by a well-meaning socialist and erstwhile Eurosceptic. Jeremy Corbyn's promise is going to be dashed against the rock that is the Lisbon Treaty, and the tiny hopeful splinters of that broken promise will be left to drift across a vast sea of futility. The Lisbon Treaty established the EU as a legal entity capable of negotiating international treaties on its own behalf, and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union established two types of authority for such negotiations; exclusive competence and mixed. Exclusive competence means areas where the EU alone has the ability to negotiate treaties or legislate. Treaties categorised as being within the definition of exclusive competence do not need to be sent to national parliaments for ratification, and simply pass through the EU's own ratification process. In other words, the EU does not have to ask national parliaments for permission before signing the treaty and making it law, even though all member states will be bound by whatever is signed. Exclusive competence means the EU is boss. Advertisement The second category of treaty is one where there is mixed competence. These treaties are negotiated by the EU, but are then sent to each of the member parliaments for ratification. Any one nation state can prevent a mixed competence treaty from being ratified, effectively exercising a veto and killing the treaty on the floor of its national parliament. The treaty is then dead EU-wide. TTIP is currently classified as a mixed treaty, so in theory Jeremy Corbyn could kill it in the House of Commons. Only, he'll never be given the opportunity. And here's why: the EU will never let TTIP progress as a mixed treaty. Anyone who has ever worked in Brussels will simply shrug at this point and say, "of course." Most normal, non-Brussels people will think I'm being paranoid. The last time people accused me of being paranoid during this campaign was when I alleged the existence of secret Civil Service plans for Brexit. Those plans turned out to be real. The idea that the UK will never be able to vote on TTIP is not paranoia and here's why. TTIP has a baby sister called CETA, a comparable trade deal that the EU is currently negotiating with Canada. Like TTIP, CETA is supposed to be a mixed deal, but as Roland Smith revealed, reports in the German press have made it clear that the EU intends to reclassify it as an exclusive treaty, giving the EU sole jurisdiction over its ratification. It simply will not be sent to national parliaments and will pass into law before any of our pesky democratically elected representatives have the chance to examine or veto it. How can this happen? How can a treaty change classification? Article 3 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU includes five broad categories that delineate the EU's exclusive areas of competence, but clause [e] is perhaps the broadest; 'common commercial policy'. An international trade deal would almost certainly fall within this clause, and even if the national governments were minded to challenge the EU, they'd need a unanimous vote to overrule it. In other words, all 28 member states would have to agree that the treaty shouldn't be reclassified as exclusive. So the presumption is in favour of reclassification unless all 28 member states agree otherwise. In other words, the EU isn't boss only when it doesn't want to be boss. Advertisement According to Die Zeit, Italy has already signalled it is in favour of reclassifying CETA as an exclusive treaty, so the battle for any national parliaments to be given the opportunity to veto that treaty already seems to have been lost. See how quickly things can change when you have no say in them? If the EU is proposing to exclusively negotiate and ratify CETA, what are the chances that the national parliaments will be allowed anywhere near the real jewel, TTIP? Almost zero. There has been a lot of talk during the referendum campaign suggesting that TTIP is dead and that the French will veto it. TTIP is nowhere near dead, it's just being very, very quiet, and if it follows the same path as CETA, no one, neither the French, nor Jeremy Corbyn will be able to veto it. Some people seem to take comfort in Jeremy Corbyn's promised veto. If you are one of those people, I don't mean to sound rude, but please be assured that you are fooling yourself. If we remain in the EU, this treaty will never be allowed to darken the doors of the House of Commons. In the eyes of people intimately familiar with the workings of the European Union, Jeremy Corbyn might as well be promising to build a marshmallow staircase to the moon. Jeremy, if you or your advisers stumble upon this piece, please do look into the matter. Your inability to block TTIP may make you go from 30% leave to 70% leave. With leave leading the polls, and the remain camp in panic mode, I feel it is time members of the government started to tell us how they will implement a leave vote. Since the Leader of the Opposition won't do his job and put the government on the spot, it's up to we, the people, to act. Read my previous article on the issue here and if you agree, sign this petition. Advertisement Let's not rely on people like Jeremy Corbyn to keep promises that can't possibly be kept. Let's take charge of our own affairs and reclaim the power that has been so calculatingly taken from us. While attending a recent EU Referendum debate organised by the Universities for Europe campaign and held at Regent's University London, I came to recognise that many of the personalities and much of the strategy heralded by the Brexiteers have parallels with Game of Thrones. At the end of the on-stage discussion between Ken Clarke, Chris Patton and Robert Winston, or 'The small Council' as I like to think of them, Chair Daisy McAndrew asked an audience of around 300 guests how many would vote for Britain to remain in the EU? Everybody, bar one brave individual, supported the Remain campaign. After the event, the 'brave one' came over to explain his position to the Small Council. He told Chris Patten that he felt himself to be European but would vote to leave the EU because it was a loss of sovereignty that most concerned him. Advertisement During the debate, Ken Clarke had explained that in a modern world no nation, with the possible exception of North Korea, possesses absolute sovereignty. Every defence, climate change or security agreement means a slight reduction in sovereignty, but the benefits far outweigh the loss. It's all ultimately a trade-off. It was the isolated individual's view that made me think of Game of Thrones - unrealistic demands for total sovereignty and continual competition for the best position in the Kingdom. Firstly one has the unpredictably and inconsistent evil blonde, King Joffrey, of the House Baratheon, who possesses little understanding of reality and is effectively controlled by vested interests. The character is easily aligned with King Boris of the House Johnson. Of course, Joffrey is recognised as too dangerous and is ultimately killed by those closest to him. Then, of course, there are all the others who aspire to the Iron Throne, or Number Ten, as it might be known in the real world. Advertisement Firstly there are the Lannisters, led by the controlling Tywin Lannister, John McDonnell perhaps, as one who appears intent on bankrupting the Kingdom while paying no attention to the Iron Bank and its leaders - Christine Lagarde, the IMF and the World Bank. Then there is the ineffective Stannis Baratheon - a Jeremy Corbyn lookalike - who is uncertain about any course of action and is led into developing plans based upon his memories of how the old world worked. It may be unfair to compare Theresa May with Daenerys Targaryen, Mother of Dragons, but I'm unsure which of them this is being unfair to? If I were Theresa, I would be flattered - great leadership, decisive, supported by her 'unsullied' (the staff of the UKVI who are scared of nothing and strike without warning) and three dragons, although they become increasingly unpredictable and dangerous as the story progresses. Theresa, beware your friends! Ian Duncan Smith bears an uncanny resemblance to the diminished Lord Varys, a well-connected and potentially self-serving individual who manipulates others behind the scenes. Michael Gove, through his constant association with the undead (his close set of supporters who have effectively lost any political influence but are still there causing problems regardless) bears a passing connection to Samwell Tarly who, despite good intentions, normally messes up the important duties of the Night Watch. Advertisement In many ways, Nigel Farage is similar to King Robert Baratheon. He likes to be front of stage, has no policies, enjoys his ale, and is eventually betrayed by his apparent supporters, including the Douglas Carswell-like 'Littlefinger - Lord Petyr Baelish.' Then, of course there are all those 'North of the Wall' whose support is needed for long-term stability. There live the "free folk," known by the people of the Seven Kingdoms as "Wildlings." I cannot quite spot an identifiable character from the Westminster cast who fits neatly into this category, but given the geography of Holyrood, maybe Nicola Sturgeon or possibly Ruth Davidson can be cast as the rising and rebellious star of the North? So, where is David Cameron in this cast? Well, like Ned Stark, some see him as a decent man and a good leader and consequently he has to go. When replaced as the 'Hand of the King' and summarily executed, everything started to fall apart at Winterfell and King's Landing. Perhaps we should beware the downfall of the House of Cameron? It could presage the end of Westeros. While it is entertaining to consider the fictional parallels, I fear that we may be watching nature mirroring art. If we are not careful and don't stop the bickering to maintain our membership of the EU, we may well see a genuine descent into chaos that will dwarf the problems experienced by the inhabitants of the Seven Kingdoms. The deeply shocking tragedy of the Orlando shooting has brought up two big issues confronting the leading power of the liberal western world: gun control and prejudice against LGBT people. It's a grave reminder that LGBT people face danger from prejudice even in the places where we feel safest. We are incredibly lucky in the UK - we have progressive LGBT legal protections as well as strict gun control laws that mean US-style gun attacks are proportionally much less likely. We are world leaders when it comes to both of these issues and we are a safer, better place because of it. We should provide a leadership role on LGBT issues for other countries, and we will not do that by isolating ourselves from them and diminishing our own power in the process. If nearly every economic expert and academic that has commented on the EU referendum is right, and we struggle economically post-Brexit, it is hard to imagine that we will be prioritising a leading charge for LGBT rights and protections worldwide. Advertisement To articulate the case for why we should stay in the EU to promote our world leadership role on LGBT equality I will use this statement taken from Out and Proud, the 'LGBT campaign to leave the European Union': 'We have a duty to protect and promote those (LGBT) rights around the world. The European Union has failed in that task - whether in improving attitudes to LGBT people in Eastern Europe, or fighting for equality in the rest of the world. The European Union is too insular, too bureaucratic and too indifferent to injustice. A more internationalist, globally-engaged UK will be an even more effective champion of LGBT rights around the world. As we will be able to sign our own free trade deals, we will be better placed to put pressure on countries to improve LGBT rights, especially within the Commonwealth.' This collection of simplistic and naively hopeful statements assumes far too many things, including that a UK government post-Brexit would even want to prioritise LGBT rights and equalities around the world. David Cameron has said that he wants to be at the forefront of improving protections for LGBT people globally. But we aren't sure if Cameron will stay if we leave the EU, and if Boris Johnson has anything to do with it, we're in trouble. He's courting our vote now of course, but we cannot ignore the fact that he once said: 'If gay marriage was OK - and I was uncertain on the issue - then I saw no reason in principle why a union should not be consecrated between three men, as well as two men; or indeed three men and a dog.' The assumption that the UK would be better placed, on its own, to improve LGBT protections everywhere is misplaced. The EU, within which the UK has a very powerful voice, offers a proven and legitimate base from which to demand conditions from its member states as well as those outside it. It is more powerful base than the UK alone on the back of bilateral trade agreements. As well as this there is a lack of general public support for LGBT rights in those countries which currently offer little or no protection. Again, best practices and conditions that have been established by stable, multi-state consensus probably have more power to persuade than the perceived wants of a single country. And yes, these conditions take time, but regional agreements that have been through the required checks and balances do not happen overnight. Advertisement It's also unfair to say that the EU courts have failed. The EU, through the European Court of Justice, has provided important protections for citizens within all of its member states, such as the legalisation of same sex sexual activity, and a ban on employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. There is clearly a huge amount that still needs to be done, but more protections are on the way. There are also less visible implications of a Brexit outcome for European LGBT families. Specialist family lawyer Natalie Gamble says: 'We desperately need some law which recognises the parentage of same-sex parents across Europe (and the world) consistently so that families which move around Europe have secure family status. We currently see quite a few LGBT parents choosing to settle in the UK from other European countries in order to raise their families because the UK laws and our social attitudes are so progressive, and they see the UK as the best place for their children. Without free movement, it may significantly restrict the freedom of parents (and would-be parents) to make those kinds of choices.' Ulrike Lunacek, Austrian MEP and Vice President of the European Parliament, says: 'The UK at the moment and for a number of years has been a leading figure.. I mean to have a Conservative government who have introduced gay marriage, in Austria we just couldn't imagine that...It might be the case that a government in the future repeal anti-discrimination laws, but as an EU member you have to have them.' "Intelligence agencies such as GCHQ need to enter the public debate about privacy. I think we have a good story to tell." - Robert Hannigan, Director of GCHQ Myths & legends For decades, few people knew how the British Intelligence services worked. How did one even become a spy? Did it really involve a tap on the shoulder and a discreet conversation about Northern Ireland or the Soviet Union? A vacuum of information led to many myths and legends, fuelled by James Bond films, stories of mysterious deaths and people's unchecked imaginations. Advertisement But then came the Snowden revelations about mass surveillance, resulting in a fierce debate about privacy, transparency and international law, which rumbles on in different ways. Others, in effect, seized the story - and ran away with it. Stung, British Intelligence has increasingly sought to regain control of its own reputation. Director of GCHQ Robert Hannigan, chief of MI6 Sir John Sawers and others have gone on the record to explain some of their thinking. Adoration of the Shepherds In one example of this new openness, GCHQ released a Christmas card with a cryptographic twist. It featured the 'Adoration of the Shepherds' by a pupil of Rembrandt and involved a brain-tease open to the public. Players could send their answers to GCHQ by email and stay informed of the winner. The intention was obvious: look, we have fun with quizzes; we're not as bad as all that. Hello, world In the last month, however, GCHQ has opened up in a more significant way: it launched a Twitter account, the first of the British secret services to do so. Advertisement Its first tweet, Hello, world, contained a link to GCHQ's website, where a short announcement explained its desire "to reach out to the technical community and add our voice to social media conversations about technology, maths, cyber security, and other topics where we have a view." Noting the popularity of the Christmas card quiz, the statement also said the agency would continue with "puzzles...questions and codes to work your grey matter." No polemics here However, anyone expecting polemical engagement is in for disappointment. A cursory trawl through GCHQ's Twitter feed quickly shows its real purpose. Tweets are tightly managed around a few key themes: the agency's history, its claims to diversity, job opportunities (Arabic and Russian language graduates are in particular high demand), technological innovation, and support for the British establishment (one recent tweet celebrating the Queen's birthday). Liberals & patriots In just a few days after its first tweet, GCHQ amassed 34k+ Twitter followers (its growth has stabilised since). Broadly speaking, followers fall into six groups: news media & journalists (probably hunting for stories), tech sites (ditto), other intelligence services (e.g. the CIA and NSA), privacy groups & NGOs (perhaps keen to see slip-ups), and what one might call liberals (of the anti-authoritarian kind) and patriots (flag, faith and family types). In other words, the liberals and patriots are the only two significant groups of individuals rather than organisations. Both groups are typically male, young, urban and educated. Advertisement Even though GCHQ isn't on Facebook, it's interesting to see the results from a Facebook Audience Insights check on people interested in 'Edward Snowden', 'counter-terrorism', 'cyber security' and 'espionage'. Some 80% are male; 53% under the age of 44; and typical other interests include the military, government and technology. Clearly, GCHQ has found a ready audience among social media users, who hold opposing views about authority and power, national defence and whistle-blowers. It should be noted, however, that it hasn't explicitly acknowledged these people on Twitter, where it follows a mere 164 users: nearly all news media, universities and tech sites. In contrast with GCHQ's surveillance work, on Twitter it seems far more interested in broadcasting its identity and attracting recruits, instead of open discussion. Balance of power Parliamentary select committee hearings, speeches and interviews - and now social media. British Intelligence's reputation management has been careful and considered. Advertisement If a Facebook page, YouTube channel or other social media activity is still to come, it seems unlikely it will lift the veil in a more dramatic way. Several things strike you on arriving in Rwanda. First there is the heat, which hits you like a wall as you step off the plane. Once clear of the airport the next thing you notice is how clean the streets are. Plastic bags are illegal in Rwanda and it shows. I am here to meet some men and women I first met two years ago, men and women who are part of a joint program between Hand in Hand International and CARE International. The program brings together savings groups and then gives members business training so they can start their own small businesses and work their way out of poverty. We set off early this morning from our base in Kigali for a three-hour drive to the Kirehe region of Eastern province. As we drove up and down hills and along winding roads it occurred to me that Rwanda is aptly known as the land of 1,000 hills. Advertisement Everywhere in the gently rolling countryside you see small homes and villages nestled in amongst lush green vegetation. Although as we headed east and away from Kigali the land became much drier - still lots of hills though. First we met Gloria. It was like meeting an old friend. Two years ago this formidable woman had expanded her farming business to such an extent she was able to afford a water reservoir and a biogas facility to provide fuel for her stove and light for her home. As we chatted in the shade outside her small one-storey home, she told me that in the past two years the business had expanded even more to include a greenhouse for tomatoes. In other words, she has definitely moved beyond subsistence farming. When I asked her what difference the income from her business had made to her life she said, "We all eat properly now. We used to only eat beans and bananas but now we have much better nutrition." Advertisement Photograph L-R: Ann Dickinson, Gloria and her husband, Geresim (photograph by Georgina Goodwin). After I said goodbye to Gloria and her husband we drove on to meet Rahabu. I remember her well: she ran the local shop and had big plans for the future. Today, I found her in a new shop. She explained that she had rented the previous shop and felt it was a waste of money, so had been saving hard to build her own shop. It was clear this was her biggest achievement, and she was justly proud of this small but bustling building. Business had suffered a little because she had been so busy with the build, but Rahabu has already taken the first steps to build the business back up again. For one, she has taken advantage of a government program to develop a nearby valley by growing rice. The first crop is due in December and she plans to invest the estimated 400,000 RWF (US $530) in profit into stock for her shop. Before we left, Rahabu took us to see her home and to meet her husband who, it turns out, is a thoroughly modern man. They work in a real partnership that sees him help with the cooking and cleaning so she can run the shop. They also work together on the farm. When I said she was lucky to have such a wonderful husband, he replied he was lucky to have met Rahabu. They have been married for 25 years and it was obvious they couldn't be happier. Photograph: Rahabu (photograph by Georgina Goodwin) As we left, Rahabu gave us a gift of papayas from her own farm. It is an honour to count Gloria and Rahabu as my friends. Advertisement Reuters Photographer / Reuters The UK/EU debate is a confusing acrimonious mess because it suits the two sides to avoid tackling on one big core question: what is the strategic vision for the UK within Europe? The nervous Remain camp frames the issues in terms of pessimism. They scurry from focus-group to focus-group to find new ways to alarm people. Jobs lost! House prices fall! And pensions! Putin will be happy! It's all too risky! Don't trust Boris! Advertisement The emboldened Leave camp in turn emphasises optimism. Take back control! Don't listen to Project Fear! More trade, less Brussels! Fewer immigrants! Yes, leaving is risky - but we Brits like risks! Don't trust Dave! As all the below-the-belt punches and faux facts fly thick and fast, neither side finds it easy to talk convincingly about the strategic dimension. We can barely predict next week's weather. Why waste time arguing about wider trends shaping years and decades? Nonetheless, our decisions today are part of bigger trends, even if in all the noise it's hard to spot them. Here are three. First, the European Union is like every other attempted pan-European project of the past 1000 years. It will rise then fall and vanish. It's safe to say that in the lifetime of our children (and perhaps far earlier) it will change beyond recognition if not disappear entirely. The EU eerily resembles Tito's Yugoslavia: a bizarre experiment in 'brotherhood and unity' that proved unable to resolve the contradictions it created for itself, and ended in disaster. Advertisement Second, the EU was created amidst machine-age conditions that no longer exist, to deal with problems that no longer exist. It's machinery and general logic are anachronistic: much too heavy, slow, wasteful and inflexible to deal with today's dangerously speedy problems. The EU delivers Mass. Real life demands Velocity. Third, and most important, the EU can not answer the great challenge of this century: reconciling pell-mell technological transformation with the popular legitimacy that comes from institutional acknowledgement of shared identity. The 'migration' issue is all about this, as Joris Luyendijk recently pointed out: What if the European project is an edifice with fatally flawed foundations? How does an open society based on equality survive, when every year it takes in tens if not hundreds of thousands of immigrants from countries with no tradition of openness, equality or democratic debate? No mainstream EU leader has any convincing answer to this question. David Cameron gives an increasingly eccentric impersonation of fat boy Joe in Pickwick Papers: "I wants to make your flesh creep". Sweden's foreign minister Margot Wallstrom frets that too much democracy is a bad thing: a Brexit vote might lead to a domino effect of other member states wanting a vote and opting out. German finance minister Wolfgang Schauble asserts that a post-Brexit UK would not have access to the Single Market, but also warns that whatever the result, "we have to take a serious look at reducing bureaucracy in Europe." As anyone who has worked in the labyrinths of EU process knows, that is simply not deliverable. The rest of Europe's mainstream leaders would much rather the question was never posed. It's no surprise that different forms of 'populism' are tapping in to public unease around this issue, both in Europe and beyond: Geert Wilders, Nigel Farage, Marie Le Pen, Donald Trump and many others are all selling themselves as strong leaders willing to 'do what it takes' to give answers. Advertisement Vladimir Putin presents himself as the ultimate Strong Leader, winning weird admiration in unexpected Western circles for 'standing up for his country's interests'. Putin's supposed glee at the prospect of exploiting Brexit as part of wider European disarray is thrown at the Leave campaign as a key reason to vote Remain. But Putin too has to reckon with nimble networked challenges to identity and legitimacy. He keeps an uneasy eye on demands for Siberian autonomy and other anti-Moscow tendencies within Russia. And his crass Russia-first power-plays in Ukraine have wrecked wider ideas of Slavic solidarity. Right at the heart of all these questions today are rival incompatible models of integration in a European context. One is based on the Eurozone: radical pooling of sovereignty and risk-sharing that can work only within something like a new state with strong central institutions moving taxpayers' money across the zone to manage asymmetric problems. The other is a notably less prescriptive free trading space run by intelligent intergovernmentalism. The current EU is a confusing hybrid of both, a doomed attempt to reconcile the irreconcilable. It's no surprise that not one other regional economic grouping on Earth accepts the EU's surrender of sovereign decision-making to a powerful centralised bureaucracy within a supranational legal order. In short, the EU has attempted to climb the steep sand dune of history and is now stuck - any movement sideways or upwards risks uncontrolled sliding backwards. Politicians struggle to make sense of this dynamic insecurity. The costs of that self-absorbed approach are now apparent across much of the European space, above all in southern Europe where losses caused by the Eurozone crisis are now incalculable. The pro-EU Financial Times grasps this: "We are close to the point where globalisation and membership of the Eurozone in particular have damaged not only certain groups but entire nations". Advertisement The biggest strategic advantage of a Leave vote in the UK referendum is that it compels Europe's leaders to look anew at first principles: to start working out a new strategic framework for the continent's shared policies in the coming decades as Asia and Africa exert their fast-growing economic weight. At a conference last week in Fukuoka Japan, I was invited to describe the European approach to workforce ageing, for an audience of, in the main, members of the world's first super-ageing society. If this sounds like the conference speaker's equivalent of bringing coals to Newcastle, it was and it wasn't. Japan is ageing faster than any other country and, as always, has lessons to teach the West. Life expectancy at birth has increased from 64 for men and 68 for women in 1956 to 80 and 87 respectively in 2013, so the Japanese are clearly getting things right on the health front. For all that, there are bizarre contradictions between Japan's demographic trajectory and its national employment policies. While Japan's stratospheric old age dependency ratio will have profound consequences for labour supply and the economy, Japanese politicians are suspicions of younger "foreigners" who could make a difference and fill many of the hardest to fill job vacancies. Japan's population is shrinking - by 950,000 in the last five years. Surely, being "anti-migrant" is a policy to avoid. Advertisement Such attitudes remind one of the debate in the current Brexit referendum. The inflows of largely younger migrants from Europe are rebalancing the UK's demographic profile, filling skills gaps and supplying much needed committed workers. No matter, an anti-migrant invective paints the country as "swamped" by foreigners "draining our resources", "clogging up our schools" and "overwhelming our transport infrastructure." Awareness of demographic change can provide a useful counter argument. Looked at relative to most other European countries, migration has been good for the UK's demographic profile and old age dependency ratio. We are not ageing nearly as fast as Germany for example, and migration is part of the reason. One disturbing feature of Japan's labour market is that it tolerates both age and sex discrimination. (There are no effective equal pay laws for example - though court cases are raising challenges to this state of affairs.) I was happy to mention our laws prohibiting discrimination on grounds of gender, ageism, disability, sexual orientation and religious belief to my Japanese audience, whilst conscious that back home some describe these as "EU meddling" and "excessive regulation". Having (it seems like yesterday) supported removal of the UK's default retirement age of 65, I found Japan's present rules around retirement a disappointing revelation. 94 per cent of Japanese private sector employers have a designated (that is, mandatory) retirement age, mostly age 60. Advertisement Article 8 of Japan's "Employment Stability for Older Persons Act," (an interesting concept!) makes age 60 the minimum age for compulsory retirement. Article 9 of the same law obliges employers to provide workers with employment stability up to 65. This seems confusing. This legislation was enacted in 1986 following the declining financial health of the Japanese public pension plan. Reforms (including cutting benefit levels and raising the pension age from 60 to 65) were introduced, to avoid a massive increase in premiums. At the same time firms were encouraged to raise their retirement ages to 60 - previously they were 55 or lower. Hence, nowadays people "retire" at 60 and are then rehired on completely different employment conditions, sometimes in a different (but associated) company set up expressly for the purpose of employing "elderly persons." The status, employment security and remuneration of these post retirement jobs is significantly worse than the regular jobs that employees have been forced to quit on retirement. I struggle with the cultural differences here, but it seems an odd way to carry on. Surely, such arrangements will have to change as society ages. It makes no real sense to employ people in jobs where they are operating below their capacity, simply to satisfy some image of what kind of work is "suitable" for an "elderly person" to do. This is particularly so when the workforce is shrinking and ageing. On the other hand, people are encouraged to continue working beyond 65. In Fukuoka, the part of Japan where I was staying, the Prefectural Government has an action plan "to realise the Active at Age 70 society." "Two out of three older people are willing to work to 70 or over," they claim. Women, two thirds of whom give up their jobs on childbirth, are being encouraged back into the workforce. Equality and family friendly employment policies could make a big difference. Advertisement People in Japan continue working beyond 60 for varied reasons; supplementing inadequate pension incomes, giving meaning to their lives or keeping in touch with society are some of them. However, to be "retired" and not yet entitled to draw a pension provides a powerful impetus to accept work in some lower capacity in the hiatus between forced retirement and pension age. These policy paradoxes affect Japanese women in particular. The subject matter of the conference, Working Women in an Ageing Society, was indeed timely. Women, it should be said are less likely to acquire employment on "regular" (that is to say, secure) conditions anyway, and even if they do, they can be paid as much as 30 per cent less than a male doing comparable work. By 2030, 60 plus people will account for 1.4 billion people globally or 16.5 per cent of the world population. By 2050, it will be 2.1 billion or 21.5 per cent of the global population. France, Germany, Italy, Sweden and Finland are among the European countries with 25 to 29 per cent of their people over 60. Japan is already in the oldest population category, with more than 30 per cent 60 plus. There are big issues of attitudes. When employers, and even older people themselves, believe decline in old age to be the "natural" state of affairs, they may be creating the very scenario of their own despair. In Japan I found the apogee of this mind-set in the expectation that workers must wind down towards compulsory retirement on lower status jobs with less pay and protection. Advertisement The belief that the ageing workforce will inevitably be a source of lower productivity and economic decline, provides support for employers who don't invest in training older workers or bother with the long term impacts of health on older workers' efficiency because doing so is "a waste of resources." But who are we to criticise? Many employers in the UK still accept - even welcome - retirement as inevitable in one's early sixties. If employers expect less efficiency, they may well get it. Our old friend the self-fulfilling prophesy, comes into play. Hence, I argued in my conference speech, the policies needed are the very same pro-active age management approaches which have been advocated by European policy makers and employers, together with legislation against age discrimination, now widespread across Europe. I don't imagine that in the event of Brexit we would necessarily abandon all that we have adopted from this agenda, but the European Union has been a positive force for changes in employment conditions and hopefully will continue to be so. And while aspects of Japanese society, such as its encouragement of healthy living and life-long learning, seem to provide support for the successful super ageing workforce, it would seem there are gaps to be filled by new policy measures. Such policies should be designed to maintain workers' capacity and extend their working lives. Really, it is hard to see that we have any alternative. Advertisement Last week saw the UKs first infant mental health awareness week which sought to unpack the critical social currency of earliest relationships and why this matters for supporting good mental health outcomes for children. Parent Infant Partnership (PIP) UK is a not-for-profit organisation which has been set up to support vulnerable infant-family relationships throughout the UK, through a network of community therapeutic services in villages, towns and cities across the country. We have brought together national institutions and organisations for this critical community topic. Alongside Public Health England (PHE), Royal College of Midwives (RCM), Institute of Health Visiting (IHV) Community Practitioners Health Visiting Association (CPHVA), Association for Infant Mental Health (AIMH), Zero to Three and over 100 organisations, the week highlighted the importance of the first 1001 days of a child's life. Advertisement What is infant mental health? Whenever I mention the phrase 'Infant mental Health' to anyone that hasn't heard it before a look of dismay comes over their face - how can infants have mental health? Observing the puzzled look I continue to put into context and explain that we all have physical and mental health which begins in infancy. Part of the conversation entails differentiating between mental health and mental illness which are so often lumped and stigmatised together to mean the same thing in so many people's minds. Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge recently highlighted this for children's mental health. No health without mental health - we all have mental health to look after as with physical health. Infant mental health then in its simplest form takes us back to the origins of the mind in which our mental health is contained, beginning in infancy. Most of us would acknowledge we don't have conscious memories of that time in our lives and yet this critical period of human development continues to shape us today. Infant mental health is concerned with babies, toddlers and their relationships - relationships being the context in which a babies' mind is built. Earliest relationships cultivate social and emotional development, cognitive and mental development in which the ideal environment in which to grow a babies' brain for healthy outcomes, is through sensitive and responsive caring experiences. Advertisement Why does it matter? Infant and early mental health development is an opportunity in which to lay the foundations of the mind for good mental health, using a strength based approach to family and community life for babies, toddlers and their relationships. It matters because prevention is cure. If we extrapolate the incontrovertible science and economics of the first 1001 days: conception to age 2 into the real world of family and community relationships, we can grow and evolve our knowledgebase as a society, in order to take collective responsibility for our youngest citizens - strengthening together the village around the infant-family. Science and economics show us that: Supporting emotional health in pregnancy has high social and financial returns Understanding the first 1001 days is an opportunity to address health inequalities Investing in infancy as the fastest period of growth for brain development matters Acting on key statistics that impact on infant and early mental wellbeing 26 per cent of babies in the UK have a parent affected by domestic violence, mental health or substance misuse Domestic violence affects 39,000 babies Mental health problems affect 144,000 babies Substance misuse affects 109,000 babies 36 per cent of serious case reviews into deaths or serious abuse involve a child under one Depression and anxiety affect 10-15 out of every 100 pregnant women Over a third of domestic violence begins in pregnancy Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) occurs in about 8 per cent of pregnant women One million children in the UK suffer from the type of problems (including ADHD, conduct disorder, emotional problems and vulnerabilities to chronic illness) that are increased by antenatal depression, anxiety and stress Suicide is one of the leading causes of death for women during pregnancy and in the year after giving birth Advertisement Earlier this year, only 3 per cent of local areas had a perinatal infant mental health strategy Growing the social brain Key statistics above demonstrate the need to support the earliest foundations of infant-family-community relationships where challenging contexts of mental distress are demonstrated to have a profound impact upon infant and early childhood development. The positive vision for early relationships however despite some of the family and community challenges we face in the UK around mental health, is one where future generations can have the possibility and potential for strong, secure relationships, strong families and strong community life to produce a strong mindful society if we make that choice. Growing the social brain through sensitive and responsive relationships in infancy supported by a culture of a village around the infant-family is a choice we can make collectively. It is our choices that affect their life chances. A common theme surrounding the fourth industrial revolution is the death of consumer demand. Today, we work and earn and spend. Our spending fuels the businesses that we work for, and the public services that we use. But is that about to change? It was about this time two years ago that the "Cost of Living Crisis" soundbite, from the UK Labour General Election campaign, started to come under scrutiny. The then Labour Leader, Ed Miliband, had correctly spotted a problem: people were earning less than they were spending. This problem had been rumbling on for some time, of course, but in the run up to the General Election the issue became highly discussed. The error, however, was that it was being examined within the context of a twelve month period - would there still be a Cost of Living Crisis on polling day in May 2015? Advertisement On the issue of a Cost of Living Crisis, much like the issue of the future of work and the impact on our economy, a longer term view is essential. As I campaigned in the General Election, I met lots of families who were struggling to keep up. It was heartbreaking. How is it fair that Mum and Dad are both in work, yet unable to afford food and fuel at the same time? Why should the young mum be victimised as a layabout when the only work she can get doesn't even cover the cost of childcare and the bus ride to work? For many families - especially those who had purchased their council houses on the cheap and borrowed against their out of control value - family debt was beginning to take a toll too. Increasing percentages of income was and is being spent on servicing debt for fear of losing the family home. Mum and Dad would be working to keep the ship afloat whilst the two point four kids left school with little hope of finding a job and affording a home of their own. The increased presence of technology in the workplace had already started to have an impact, especially on those entry level jobs that school leavers might traditionally take. The local supermarket with its self-checkout tills, the closure of the local bank because everyone is online, the loss of jobs at the major retailer because of the automated warehouse. Advertisement Traditionally, technological advancement would lead to new job creation and the transition of workers from the jobs of today to the jobs of tomorrow. I'm not convinced, however, that this will continue to be the case. And I'm convinced that it'll be an issue not just for young people entering the workforce for the first time, but for those already within it too. The doom-mongers predict the collapse of work as we know it, and with it the ability for consumers to spend. Our modern economy would need to be re-wired. But I, for one, am unwilling to agree that it has to be that way. That's why the British Government needs an active industrial policy. An approach that invests in the creation of new jobs, whilst investing in the training and skills required of the workers of today and of tomorrow. But investment in new business and education is nothing new. Will it be enough or do we need to be more radical in our approach? A few weeks ago, I was interested to read about the vote in Switzerland for the introduction of a Universal Basic Income (or "UBI"); a flat, un-meanstested payment to each individual from the state. My initial reaction was to write it off, we'd never be able to afford it and it denigrates the "contract" of social security: that you get support because you've paid in. It also worried me that it might be a proposal that moves consumer spending from what we earn, to what we borrow to what we now receive from the State. A state subsided consumer demand led economy would not be the answer. Advertisement Proponents of UBI argue that it provides an economic safety net for everyone, allowing individuals to work how and when they want to. A modern reform of the ageing welfare state. A proposal fit for the future of work. The Swiss proposal was, however, pretty generous. At a suggested SFn30,000 per year - costing the state an estimated SFn208bn - it was no surprise that the bill didn't pass. However, much like the Cost of Living Crisis, I think we need to consider these issues with a longer time frame in mind. We ought to start thinking now about what our sensible and costed response would be to increasing mass unemployment (or underemployment) in the next two decades, or how we reform the tax system and minimum wage legislation or pension reforms to meet the increasing numbers of people working "freelance" at home for many different businesses. Perhaps UBI is part of the solution. I'm not yet convinced, although it's been recommended that I read the recent report on the issue by the RSA (which you can read here). What is clear is that a free market neo-liberal approach is most likely not the answer. In the weeks following the collapse of British Home Stores - a business that failed to keep up with the market - and the loss of 11,000 jobs, it seems to me that we need a different answer. An answer that provides a competitive marketplace, investing in the benefits of technology, but gently guided by a strategic state with the interests of its people at heart. Advertisement Darren Jones is the Director of Future Labour, a volunteer powered platform to debate the future of work within the digital economy, which will launch later this year. He was the prospective Labour MP for Bristol North West at the 2015 General Election and works as a Legal Counsel at a FTSE15 communications company. CHATSWORTH, Calif.Fresh from its award-winning UK appearance this weekend, Pipedream announces that King Cock has sold over one million units since it first debuted in 2015. Its very rewarding for Pipedream to hit that millionth cock milestone in such a short time, said Pipedream Chairman and CEO Nick Orlandino. Thanks to all our retailer partners for running with King Cock and already making it a household name in the industry. We know that great customers are the key to our success and were working harder than ever to help them continue to thrive. Made from phthalate-free, latex-free, hypoallergenic PVC rubber, the original King Cock collection features 18 unique styles available in three colors. Each piece is handcrafted and sculpted with attention to detail to offer the most lifelike experience possible. Every vein, shaft, bulge, and head is carefully reproduced by hand. After the success of the first King Cock line, the mega-manufacturer quickly expanded the 54-piece collection with King Cock variations for harnesses, squirting dildos, dual density dildos and the upcoming Vibrating King Cocks. Since the King Cock release early last year, they've been selling like crazy, said Pipedream sales executive Mona Madrigal. Our customers really couldnt be happierthe packaging, the branding, the namethis line really does sell itself, all retailers need to do is hang it on the wall and watch it move. King Cocks "platinum" landmark validates the companys strategy of shifting operations stateside and opening multiple state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities to better control quality and efficiency. With its newest building, Pipedream now owns over 220,000 square feet dedicated to manufacturing, distribution, and logistics in the US. "We continue to grow and expand our American manufacturing facilities to keep up with the relentless demand," Orlandino remarked. "We're very excited about the future of the King Cock brand as it becomes a cornerstone of the industry going forward." Customers may contact their Pipedream sales executive to stock up on the entire King Cock collection. They've been around for more than a decade, yet the past few years have seen a marked increase in Veja soles on the ground. If you're unfamiliar with the name, you're certainly not alone. They're known for operating below the radar. Unlike their competition, they do not engage in any form of traditional advertising, relying mainly on word of mouth from their devoted fan base. Having successfully navigated the warren of outside corridors and coded doors of Paris's 4th arrondissement, I found myself at their headquarters, eager to discover their story... Veja was founded in 2004 by two 'normal' French guys, Sebastien Kopp, co-founder of the brand tells me. What exactly does he mean by 'normal', I asked? 'We're not mathematicians, scientists, philosophers - we are kind of normal guys', he explained. They began their brand with neither a huge amount of knowledge of the industry nor a lot of money, but simply a good dose of strong will and belief in their project. Advertisement And 10 years on, the brand is stronger than ever. But, he assures me, like any company, they've had their ups and downs. Most notably they have managed to weather the waves of greenwashing that have seriously damaged some of their peers. In a nutshell, 'greenwashing' is essentially when you pretend to be, or pretend to be doing something that you're not. More specifically, from an environmental standpoint. 'We were not hurt' Sebastien said, 'because we were not saying very loudly what we were doing - the information was there, but we never pushed it.' Their idea from day one was to merge 'social impact, economical impact and environmental impact in one project'. Today another wave of greenwashing has arrived. 'In the economy, in the society, in the social world we live in, everything is linked. And this idea has grown a lot in the heads of the public in the last years.' This wave 'is bigger and faster', he adds. Advertisement Communication levels have moved on considerably since the brand launched 10 years ago. Today you cannot say one thing and do another without being exposed, and fast. They created Veja to inspire others to believe that this concept of the triple bottom line (people, planet and profit), was possible. So successful have they been that the great and the good are knocking at their door for advice. But success has by no means blinded them to their shortfalls. 'What we are, what we want to do, is to stay very strong in our principles - to go always further than the day before', Sebastien adds. Case in point: their journey to discovering an alternative to using leather. When they first designed their sneakers, they used only organic cotton but soon realised that it wasn't ideal for the winter months. Their latest development to keep our feet warm but sweat free is their B-mesh fabric. Made using 100% recycled plastic bottles, (the equivalent of 3 bottles are used for the B-mesh panels of an adult shoe) it is both breathable and insulates at the same time. Better than cotton for colder weather but less so than leather, as it stands. 'We know leather is not an ecological product but we have not found a really ideal replacement yet - this is one of the limits of Veja.' Advertisement V-10 B-mesh sneakers, image courtesy of veja-store.com As a vegan himself, Sebastien is keenly aware of the challenges of working with leather. But he's also aware of the statistics. Leather is a "by-by-by-product" of the meat industry. It is the end of the chain and if it remains unused, it's simply thrown out. 'If you want to change the world, you stop eating meat. You will change it... Not wearing leather is a symbol, it is not a means to change the planet.' The construction of Veja sneakers from raw material to finished product is a fascinating one, from their encouragement of agroecology and employment of traditional farming methods at the start of the chain, to their zero stock strategy at the end. The manufacturing cost of Veja sneakers is 3 to 4 times higher than their market competitors, but we get to buy them at the same price. How? It's all in the advertising, or lack thereof. They prefer to invest in their production chain rather than in a glossy ad. The company is not large. They directly employ about 20 people. And there is a reason for this. Sebastien says 'We don't want the company to be bigger than the project - because then you lose everything.' They strive to grow organically and they do not look for investors which, he concedes, makes them a 'strange' type of entrepreneur. While they directly employ only a small group, they collaborate with many more worldwide, from cotton farmers in north east Brazil, seringeiros (or rubber tappers) in the Amazon and shoe manufacturers in the south of Brazil, to working with the Atelier Sans Frontieres association in Paris. And the word 'collaborate' is important here. I mistakenly said their model had scope to 'help' people. 'We do not help people', said Sebastien (this point is emphasised by a fairly uncomfortable silence). They all work together, and this is a very strong principal inside Veja. Advertisement Always a fan of a classic, my Veja choice 'Veja' means 'look' in Portuguese. Look at what you are buying. How is it made? Who made it? Under what conditions? 'Invest yourself in the looking and you will see' Erik Joule recently said, and trust me, there is always so much more beneath the surface. 1. You worry about what to wear on the plane so you invent some weird new style. Involving 'cold weather' clothes for getting to their airport combined with flip flops. At any one point parts of your body are too hot or too cold. But it doesn't matter. YOU'RE ON HOLIDAY! 2. You consume 162 lollipops on the plane before take off. Stating that to anyone that listens it will help for when "your ears pop". 3. Most of the plane journey involves you discussing the weather, worrying about if your suitcases will be lost, how warm it is going to be when you get off the plane and if anyone ears have popped yet. Advertisement 4. When leaving the plane you all exclaim "IT'S SO MUCH WARMER THAN ENGLAND!". Even if it's raining. This weather comparison is a constant companion throughout your stay. 5. Upon arrival at the hotel, before you do anything else, you rush out to buy oversized bottles of water for fear of dying from some horrific water poisoning. You live in fear this will happen the whole holiday. Keeping your mouth shut whilst showering but not thinking once about the ice in your all inclusive cocktails. DRINK ALL THE COCKTAILS 6. You wonder where you will be able to buy a UK newspaper. And can't settle until you find out. 7. You hit the all inclusive buffet. And marvel at how much meat other European countries eat and that how their cornflakes taste weird. You avoid anything that doesn't look British. But if you do try something new? You feel dead posh and continental. Advertisement 8. You wear clothes you would not be seen dead in in the UK. Including bizarre aztec smock things from Primark, brightly coloured swimming costumes and bejewelled flip flops. You think you look cool, hip and trendy, boho chic even. In reality you look like you have raided an insane persons dressing up box. 9. From the moment you wake up you worry continuously about if you will get a place around the pool. And then are fuming when someone takes "your space" (which is where you have sat once the day before). 10. Despite vowing not to buy an inflatables for your children you end up buying EVERY inflatable known to man and spend the remainder of the holiday making sure they don't blow away. I WILL NOT BUY YOU AN INFLATABLE. OH F*CK IT! 11. It doesn't matter if it is gale force winds. You WILL sit round the pool. You WILL enjoy it and you WILL have an ice lolly. Even if you're freezing. YOU ARE ON HOLIDAY FOR GODS SAKE! Advertisement 12. You will burn day one. But somewhere weird like the top of your foot. Or left ear. Which will leave you in immense pain for the remainder of your holiday. 13. British people should not be allowed to have all inclusive bars. We can't cope. We end up drinking pina coladas at 10am and falling into a deep cava induced slumber by 9pm. 14. You take on any new dance routine at the mini-disco with gusto. Excited to tell your friends about the hot new dance craze sweeping the Spanish nation. Not realising it is their version of the Hokey Cokey and is meant purely for four year olds. 15. Your children will have tantrums about the following; wanting cake for every all inclusive meal, not wanting sun tan lotion on, the pool is too cold, the floor by the pool is too hot, not wanting to wear a hat, anger over you not letting them slide around on their knees at the mini disco and the lack of routine leaves everyone frazzled and on edge. Advertisement LOST HIS TINY MIND 16. You MUST buy perfume at Duty Free. You MUST buy your favourite bottle of booze and you even toy with the idea of buying fags despite you not smoking them. IT'S JUST TOO CHEAP NOT TO! YUI MOK via Getty Images "Stay in the EU permanently?" or "Vote Leave and take back control". Again I woke up to find another referendum leaflet posted through my letterbox. "THE UK AND THE EUROPEAN UNION: THE FACTS" boldly stated at the top, followed by a compilation of statements and supporting evidence for the "safer option to Vote Leave". Advertisement This entire debate has escalated into a riot of 'he said, she said' and deteriorated into a total shambles of politicians throwing conflicting figures at each other. Throughout the campaign we have been bombarded with overwhelming numbers and elusive facts about the EU, so tremendous in scale that they are impossible to relate to our daily lives. Quite frankly, politicians are 'putting the people off politics'. I've had enough of trying to make sense of intangible migration statistics and arguments over the prospects of striking fabulous trade deals versus forecasts of a severe economic downturn. I don't want to get caught up in a Tory civil war, scaremongering and shouting matches. As a young voter I am one of thousands who, if turn up on polling day, could reportedly 'hold the key' to sway the nation's ultimate decision. Now I feel even more pressure to get the vote right, and truly understand what leaving the EU could mean. For me the EU Referendum is about defining what this generation wants from the 21st Century. This century is ours more than anyone else's, we'll be the ones who see it through and these potentially radical changes in policies will shape our future. For better, for worse- who knows? Only time will tell. Advertisement What's best for Britain? Of course there's a great element of uncertainty. Nobody can predict the full extent of consequences, liberation or reclaiming independence, because no country has ever left before. It sparks an endless stream of thoughts and raises points I'd never even considered. Why are we favouring some over others with the right to live, work and settle here, purely because of their geographical proximity? What about those outside the EU? How can we be certain that the government will successfully find a solution to reform the migration system? Do we trust our politicians to implement changes that reflect our society's wants and needs? After feeling a mixture of doubt, hope and confusion about the choice Britain faces, I ask myself, what does it mean to be a European citizen? In fact, what does it even mean to be a British citizen? We live in a global society, with global competition, global challenges, international politics, and sharing diversity and cultures. Perhaps being a Global citizen is more appropriate. I recently participated in the International Citizen Service (ICS) programme with Restless Development, and returned from working in rural India, living and volunteering in a village called Alangayam that lacked access to basic services.. Advertisement Alongside local Indian volunteers, we delivered sessions engaging young people to address the most urgent issues they face within their communities and country such as sanitation, health and employment. In a sense, the EU Referendum holds an element of similarity to our sessions. British people are addressing the issues they face with Europe, their country and community such as the NHS, wages and jobs. Yet, these 'issues' are put into perspective when reliving the stark poverty I saw in an area where 75% of households do not have toilets and 54% of people live on less than 68p a day. So what's this got to do with the Referendum? Learning about a different reality, so far removed from my own, has shaped my outlook on things. I developed a greater worldview. It undoubtedly taught me the importance of young people in our society today, and as the world's future and current leaders we deserve the right to choose our own paths and challenge the issues affecting our lives. By all means, the EU certainly has its flaws and there are many things I disagree with. However, I feel that with the heightened threat of global issues we face, international cooperation is vital now more than ever. Whether this is in response to security, the migration crisis, human rights, conflict or climate change, global issues are something a young person in particular has to think about. We will grow up and witness how these international crises unfold and how such challenges are dealt with. For sure, they cannot be resolved by any one country acting alone. We will still have to address these matters, regardless of remaining in the EU or not, and look beyond Britain's borders. Trying to shut out these issues only aggravates the situation, right up until the impact of war, poverty or mass migration (whatever it may be) arrives quite literally on our doorstep. The effects will undoubtedly influence our living conditions, work, spending, and daily life in general. It is in our interest how we respond with our allies, working together, and it concerns every individual. Advertisement So I believe, that in our current, ever increasing globalised and connected world, we should remain in. Flo Savage has recently returned from a volunteering programme in India with Restless Development. An enthusiast for international development, community action and the arts, she will begin studying at Edinburgh University this Autumn in Social & Political Sciences Feeling confused? With the EU referendum less than a month away, I'd hardly blame you after all the misinformation of the last few weeks. As a business person who isn't in politics but has been campaigning to keep Britain in the EU I've been shocked at just how much rubbish is being spoken in this debate. Before I share my view of what the referendum really is about, the case to remain if you like, I'd like to clarify some of the things it really isn't about, at least in my view. I shall do my best to be even handed in this. Advertisement It's not about saving 350m per week and spending the proceeds on the NHS. Vote Leave insist on quoting our gross contribution to the EU's budget (it's even on their Boris Battle Bus). This ignores our rebate which is netted off our contribution before it even leaves the Treasury (a discount if you like) and the money we get back in grants and subsidies to things like farming, regional aid and infrastructure. So the real cost is less than half Vote Leave's figure. It's true that if we leave we could spend whatever we save on different priorities but does anyone really think they would differ hugely from how the money is spent today? And since Norway and Switzerland have to pay more per capita to access the European Free Trade Area than we pay for full voting membership of the EU we can't be certain we would make any savings at all. Having said that, it's clearly wrong to argue that we have to stay in the EU because of their subsidies, since those payments are made with OUR money! And we do pay a large net contribution which would be great to keep if we could. Secondly, it's not really about de-regulation. Tales of bendy bananas and under-powered vacuum cleaners may be amusing but in reality Vote Leave can't articulate which regulations might be ditched if we leave - I suspect very few. Can you imagine a British government organising a bonfire of health and safety or employment laws? They shouldn't and they won't. Climate change legislation may be controversial to some but the UK has been a prime mover in bringing about emissions reduction targets. So energy efficient lightbulbs are here to stay. Advertisement Equally, it's rather odd for remain campaigners to argue we need to stay in to protect employment rights for example. Surely the British government is perfectly capable of devising and maintaining good regulations for itself and if you're not sure they will it's hardly democratic to hope that a supra-national body will do it for them! But it is true the EU ensures there is no "race to the bottom" among members of the single market. Immigration may well be the number one issue on people's minds even if not everyone feels comfortable saying so. Yet all the evidence is that EU migrants contribute more to our country than they take out. As we actually take in more people from the rest of the world than from our European neighbours it's hard to imagine much will really change if we leave. Norway and Switzerland both take more migrants per capita from the EU than we do and of course freedom of movement is a cornerstone of their membership of the European Free Trade Association. Like Boris Johnson I think we need foreign engineers, bankers, nurses and plumbers so we can and should live with the current levels of immigration. But where David Cameron slipped up is not to have agreed better interim controls if new members join the EU in future. New members shouldn't get free movement until their GDP reaches a given percentage of the EU average. The referendum can't be about securing freer trade since if we leave we'll be the first country in modern history to negotiate a worse trade deal than the one we have now - with the customs union that takes 44% of our exports. The re-imposition of customs barriers, with extra costs of about 50 per shipment and risk of delays, is an inevitable consequence if we leave. All the suggested models for a post Brexit deal would have them, whether based on EFTA, Canada, Albania or the WTO. The latter has onerous tariffs. Of the rest, none other than Norway's cover service industries, a hammer-blow to our banking and professional services sectors. Advertisement The idea that we can make up for this by signing a deal with the likes of China is plainly wrong - we can't allow the Chinese free access to our market in their current guise. Think of Port Talbot if you're not sure. We would obviously continue to trade with the EU. It's true that we don't yet have a free trade agreement with the United States, even if TTIP is being negotiated, which whilst less important than the EU as a whole is still our biggest bilateral trading partner. So there are things we could do to mitigate the lost trade with the EU if we leave. But I'd rather not have this damage to repair in the first place. Next, the referendum is clearly not about the Euro or a federal Europe. I know the Euro is a disaster (I campaigned with Business for Sterling to keep us out) but we aren't in it and we have disavowed the commitment to ever closer union. So we're being asked to vote on the deal we have now. We already have an Act of Parliament that requires approval of any further treaty change by a referendum. People often say that when we joined the Common Market Britain signed up to a free trade deal only. That's true and in fairness the EU has more than delivered on that as we are now members of the biggest single free trade area in the world with 500m people and British exports worth 229bn in 2014. That's 44% of our total exports. Three million jobs are sustained by this trade so I'd argue its benefits are clear. Vote Leave cannot tell us how this business will be protected if we leave so I'm concerned leaving would have a significant impact on British jobs with a trickle down consequence for everyone. Our economy relies on foreign direct investment of which we are the leading recipient in the EU. I'm not saying foreign companies will all pack their bags if we vote Leave on 23 June but I do think such a vote places future investments in jeopardy. Whilst there are many fantastic reasons for companies to invest in Britain, free access to the single market has to be one of the most significant. If I'm right many future opportunities will be thrown away. Advertisement A leave vote would send shockwaves through our economy with multiple credible forecasts estimating we'd be materially worse off. Brexiteers sometimes gleefully say its knock on effects might cause the EU itself to collapse. They might be right. Such an outcome would trigger an economic tsunami making the 2008/9 financial crisis look like a walk in the park. Whether you worry about the worst case scenario or think the consequences will be much less I think it's pretty clear that leaving the EU won't be in our economic interests in the short, medium or long term. Lastly, we have to ask ourselves what kind of country we want to be. It's true that being in the EU necessitates the making of some common rules, so we have to pool some sovereignty if we want to be in. Vote Leave have based their campaign on ending this and taking back "control". That sounds attractive until you look into the detail. First of all, if we leave, we will give up any say or control over the EU's rules. But as they're our biggest trading partner we will inevitably have to accept at least some of those rules anyway whether in competition, product specification or financial services regulation. Secondly, if we want to benefit from cooperation on things like security and the environment we will have to agree a common approach with the rest of the EU. Sure we will be able to throw our toys out of our pram in negotiations but so will they. And instead of being an insider in discussions we will be on the outside dealing with some pretty upset neighbours for years to come. The EU's not the only area where we pool sovereignty, NATO membership means we will go to war if any fellow member is attacked. In both cases we have made such an agreement believing it to be in our interests, that we are safer and more prosperous as a result. Advertisement I fully accept the EU is far from perfect but we have to consider how we should respond. Is it right for Britain, yes Britain, to walk away and opt out of building a new future for Europe in our interests and those of all Europeans? To sit on the sidelines whilst massive decisions which will affect us whether we like it or not are decided? Ultimately I don't think so. You see I believe in a Britain that is outward looking, collaborative and cooperative, that wants to lead in Europe not leave that job to others. A country that wants to promote free trade, cooperate on issues like the environment and migration and work together to make our continent more secure. Overall, the public must not be bullied by the agenda of political leaders. With such a big decision, so closely run in the opinion polls our leaders and campaigners have a duty to educate and inform the voting public fairly and without scaremongering. This referendum can't be about the careers of David Cameron or Boris Johnson, it has to be about the futures of all our children instead. The Prime Minister is bound to defend the deal he negotiated and I'd be amazed if Mr Johnson has never noticed that a majority of the voters in the next leadership election back Vote Leave. Both of their campaigns have put forward some pretty extravagant claims in support of their positions which really don't help the public come to a well-informed view. I vote for a fair fight and hope the public can see past the headlines when they make their choice on June 23rd. Violence. Discrimination. Sexual harassment, violent control over women's sexual behavior and murder. All words that come to my mind after my most recent visit to northern Iraq. Learning about violence against women in some of the more volatile regions of the world is an extraordinarily experience. Extraordinary in the sense that it is extraordinarily painful. As a woman, it is no easy task to listen to the suggestion that women are second-class citizens or to know that the rights of women are undermined, abused or just simply non-existent. Nor is it easy to hear tales of fathers shooting their daughters, just because she wanted a boyfriend. The killing of a woman or a girl and in rare cases a boy, is justified in the name of restoring family honor in northern Iraq as well as other parts of the Middle East and south Asia. Family honor can be destroyed by a woman engaging in sexual activity with a man who is not her husband or maybe for something as simple as being seen talking to a man on the street, according to traditional Kurdish beliefs. Beyond honor killings, women face blatant discrimination and violence from men, all of which have come to be justified under the banner of 'culture.' Advertisement Yet, not everyone in the region agrees that such levels of violence and harassment of women are acceptable. In a small cafe in the center of Erbil I met with Osman Ocalan, a founding guerrilla leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK and brother of Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned leader of the PKK. Apart from rejecting Islam and other Kurdish cultural codes such as honor killings, the PKK has criticized the low status of women in Kurdistan. The PKK emerged as a socialist movement in 1974 and aims to establish an independent Kurdistan through revolution. Part of that transformation includes reforming the violent attitudes towards women in Kurdistan. After asking what led the PKK to reject Kurdish discriminatory attitudes towards women, Osman leans back in his chair and calmly narrates the story of how women's rights became embedded in their Kurdish liberation movement. His brother wanted to help the most helpless in society he told me, which has usually been women who have been shamed. His brother has been imprisoned since 1999 in Turkey, which considers the PKK a terrorist faction. Women who have been shamed are usually women who have engaged in sexual activity with a man who is not their husband or in certain cases, women who have been raped. In line with their socialist principles Ocalan tells me the PKK sees women as the class who should be freed. Their attitudes were very much shaped by their mother who was a strong authority in their lives and influenced most of what they came to know about the world. They learned respect for women, through her. However, their sister was later married off against her will which Ocalan recalled deeply hurt his brother Abdullah. It was these two factors that led both of them to speak out for women. Advertisement 'My brother understood that taking away women's sexual rights is violence,' said Ocalan. Violence it is. He recounts a story of when their younger brother was planning to get married and was questioning whether his potential wife had honor. Abdullah told his younger brother that all women have honor and if anybody doesn't have honor it is him. Challenging traditional Kurdish cultural codes that link a woman's sexuality to her honor has been a central tenet of the PKK according to Ocalan. The PKK have also rejected honor killings. 'The first women who became involved with the PKK were women who had been sexually assaulted and would have been killed by their families,' Ocalan said. When they joined the PKK they were respected. The PKK has created all female guerrilla units, a process in which Ocalan was largely involved. The PKK now has one of the largest amounts of female militants in the world. A stark contrast to many of the other insurgent movements in the region. With the entrance of ISIS to the region I asked him about his views on ISIS and women, Ocalan responded, 'ISIS is Islam. This is how Islam sees women. They have enslaved women and are now using women as sexual objects. This is how Islam has always been. It is completely unacceptable.' Advertisement My meeting with Osman Ocalan was for me, truly revolutionary. In the midst of this tremendous violence facing women not just in Iraqi Kurdistan but throughout the world, there are men who choose not to conform to the discriminatory attitudes that promote the rights of men and limit those of women. There are men that would instead stand up against their culture and fight for a new one that is fairer and freer for everyone, not just for one half of the population. Change can always be fought for and there is no excuse for a single member of the global population, male or female, to not be part of the resistance movement against the violent attitudes towards women that are so prevalent around the world. What Osman and his brother have attempted to do in the PKK is an example of that. 'Women must free themselves to be free,' says Ocalan at the end of our interview. Phones were ringing in the pockets of dead bodies this weekend, as people tried to contact their loved ones amidst breaking news of a shooting at an Orlando gay bar. That's how one witness described the scene: the indelible sound of various ringtones buzzing simultaneously on the dance floor - calls that would, ultimately, never be answered. The heartbreaking massacre at Pulse nightclub will inevitably be used as an evidential tool to further various ideologies and political stances (which may often act in contradiction to each other), but that is to be expected. What has been particularly disappointing, for me at least, is the blatant attempt by several media outlets and social commentators to misconstrue this incident and rewrite it's narrative into one which does not place the LGBTI community - that is, the victims - at the centre, where they belong. The most blatant example of this was during Sunday night's Sky News Press Preview, which featured Guardian columnist Owen Jones and radio presenter Julia Hartley-Brewer. When Jones described the attacks as "one of the worst atrocities committed against LGBTI people in the Western world for generations" (which I wholeheartedly agree with), the conversation descended into a flustered debacle which culminated in Jones walking off of the set following comments from Hartley-Brewer that he did not have "ownership on the horror of this crime" because he was gay. Rather, both Hartley-Brewer and host Mark Longhurst argued, this was an attack on all human beings - that is, this was not targeted at a single community, but rather an assault on the freedom to enjoy oneself in a nightclub. Advertisement To argue that this was an attack on all of humanity, while attempting to abjectly erase the LGBTI community from the discussion, is akin to declaring that "all lives matter" when presented with the realities of systematic injustice against black Americans. While I certainly understand that we live in a society which continually fails to acknowledge the layers of sociocultural privilege that it has bred and perpetuates, I refuse to remain silent when faced with a rapidly emerging trajectory which is turning this incident into something that it was not. Let's also be clear on one thing - there is no binary in whether this was homophobia or terrorism. In this case, the two are not mutually exclusive and should not be treated as such. This was both. Omar Mateen, clearly, had a problem with the LGBTI community and that is irrefutable. According to his father, Mateen "got very angry" when he witnessed two men kissing. Fast forward - he walks into a nightclub with a name that denotes life, and starts killing. To even question whether this attack was homophobic is pitiable - unlike most ideologically driven attacks that occur in the West, this was discriminatory with the lives that it claimed. Mateen cared about who his victims were. He chose them because of their identity. Advertisement We must be careful that we do not rewrite the narrative here; that we do not forego vital parts of this story when we speak of the atrocity at Pulse nightclub with future generations. Because, on June 11, 2016, the LGBTI community came under attack from a twisted ideologue - and the best way to remember those who lost their lives at his hands is to acknowledge who they were. This editing process is not only apparent in the media, however, but also in the sudden outpouring of grief from notoriously anti-LGBTI politicos - who, unsurprisingly, have glossed over the fact that the victims they are "thinking of" were patrons of a gay bar and have instead chosen to compartmentalise the incident to suit their own agenda by focusing on Mateen's alleged links to Daesh. Alas, we reach a deeper conversation. For Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and their ilk to sombrely declare that their prayers are with the victims and their families is astoundingly benighted considering that these individuals have spent their political careers spouting their poisonous, anti-LGBTI opinions to anyone who will listen. If you would consider yourself to be cut from the same cloth as Rubio and Cruz; that is, if you seek to regulate access to restrooms for transgender individuals, if you oppose marriage equality, if you believe that being LGBTI is a lifestyle choice and that those of us who engage in same-sex relations are on a one way trip to hell - then you can keep your condolences, because your dogma is the very reason that 49 people are dead and a further 53 are injured. Until we can overturn the belief that LGBTI people are immoral, unnatural, deficient or perverse - we will not move beyond these episodes of targeted hate - and, so, we have to start having serious conversations about how we approach such views. For as long as we allow bigotry to prevail under the guise of free speech or religiosity, then "equality" will stumble on as a rhetorical buzzword and not a lived experience. Advertisement The truth is that social justice will never claim victory if we continue to dismiss, whitewash or blatantly ignore the existence of marginalised communities and their experiences. This is why coverage is important - this is why we must be true to the reality of the Pulse shootings, this is why we must acknowledge that this was an act of terrorism driven, at it's core, by one man's ideological hatred of the LGBTI community. YUCAXIT, YONXIT, YOLOEXIT. Fighting your way through the myriad of potential abbreviations to denote a 'Youth Case for Exit' or a 'Young Left Wing Exit' can be surprisingly complex. In fact much more complicated than explaining the merits for leaving the EU to a young audience. There is one overriding sentiment which pervades many young people's feelings towards the European Union: a bleary-eyed romanticism that a unified continent under the auspices of the EU and its blue flag must necessarily be a good thing. This is perhaps the main stumbling block to an argument as to the merits of Brexit. Advertisement Our generation's love affair with the EU stems from a misguided romantic notion that any continent-wide organisation -whether that is NATO or the EU - must be 'internationalist', preaching solidarity and a mutual coexistence between its peoples. Up until recently, with the ascendancy of Corbyn to the leadership of the Labour Party, progressive politics had been so far removed from the mainstream that our generation looked to a vision of a social EU, rather in vain, to provide us with a glimpse of something positive, however vague and misguided. Britain's youth is enamoured with a false vision of a cross-border, free market EU love-in. A recent survey by Opinium found that 53% of young people (18-34 year olds) have favourable opinions towards Brussels, against 29% who will vote to leave. Crucially, the EU achieves its social and cultural acceptability within the youth demographic, and liberal and progressive thought, by laying claim to idea that the European Union = Europe. Advertisement Europe, if it needed to be said, is made up of a set of countries which undoubtedly share strong social, geographical and historical bonds. This does not mean, however, that these countries should be joined in a warped economic union which increasingly is in need of further political union to survive. The symbolic representative of Europe on the global stage ought not to be an undemocratic organisation working at the behest of the estimated 30,000 corporate lobbyists that circle Brussels. Nor should an enlightened Europe represent austerity and corrective fiscal and legal mechanisms on countries unwilling to comply with austerity, as dictated by the European Budgetary Treaty. To take a recent example of the routine humiliation imposed by Brussels, the EU Commission has threatened to sanction Spain with a fine of up to 2.1 billion for its inability to get its deficit down. In response, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy drafted a letter to EU Commission President Jean Claude Juncker, begging for a temporary reprieve and promising further cuts to public services should his party win the forthcoming elections. The irony is of course that the Spanish Populist government has been a model pupil of European austerity. What is clear is that any further cuts or reforms to the labour market will principally Spain's youth, who at the last count could boast an unemployment rate of 46.5% for those under the age of 25. Advertisement The shared values of Europe - if we are even to subscribe to the existence of such a thing - are surely not these same values of austerity and heavy handed intervention in the economic affairs of sovereign states. If the progressive youth really wants to realise its romantic vision of a Europe which places solidarity at the heart of its functioning and encourages growth, investment in public services and jobs it must accept the end of the European Union. Many young people, especially progressives, might agree with many Eurosceptic arguments but will still opt to vote to remain, citing the possibility of reforming the EU and all of the institutions which comprise it. An appealing stance perhaps but there has been no effort to convince the public at large how this could be done, and whether there are any existing mechanisms for enacting change at an EU level. In Britain, there are established ways of protesting against injustices and changing things - and not just through the ballot box. At a street level there are tangible focal points for political events and demonstrations; whether they be town halls, Downing Street or Westminster. Protesters can rally and or congregate round spaces that are not only symbolic of power, but are the actual seats of power too. The ability to express and congregate in or around our politicians' spaces is a key aspect of a functioning democracy - and one which is largely respected in Britain. EU institutions, however, are largely shrouded in mystery, even amongst supposedly educated classes. The differences between the European Council, the European Union and the European Central Bank are intricate, and would give any activist deciding where complaints or protests should be directed a serious headache. That's without mentioning the impracticality of arranging a demonstration at, or taking a train to Brussels. Or is it Strasbourg? Advertisement In general terms, Britons are among the least well educated about the European Union. A 2015 survey has shown that a mere 27% of Britons are able to correctly answer three basic questions about the EU, while younger participants fared even worse. But the real interest in this survey is that we're not alone - most European youths remain relatively uneducated about the workings of the European Union. There has been a void created between elites who purport to have the facts about Europe, and as such are 'involved' in European-wide democracy, and those that don't. This issue over our access to power brings us on to the question of whether we can make the EU not only more accountable, but also more democratic. For instance, could the British populace eliminate the corrective arm of the Stability and Growth Pact, which penalises countries for pursuing what is deemed to be an excessive budget deficit? Could we reject the Lisbon Treaty (bearing in mind other countries have already attempted to reject EU treaties through popular referendums, only to be told to vote again)? Could EU-enforced privatisations of public services be reversed by a Corbyn government? Could a sovereign electorate veto an economic decision made by the Commission or the European Central Bank? It is highly doubtful. Change is so often aspired to, and can sometimes appear to be elusive. This referendum provides an opportunity for the very real possibility of positive change. It is bewildering to see that so much of the left has a sudden knee-jerk reaction to preserve the establishment. Of course there are the breadcrumbs of 'social policy' provided by the EU to consider, but one wonders whether there is a deeper issue in play: a deep-seated conservativism at heart of those English middle-classes which purport to be radical. Make no mistake, progressive change will be a difficult, terrifying process that might also be accompanied by a rise in the far right. But a preservation of the status quo is the most counterproductive method of dealing with far right popular discontent in the long term. Advertisement The left remain camp accepts as an inevitability the deep flaws of the EU, but argues that they can be changed. But in the event of a remain vote it is doubtful whether the same activists so enthusiastically cheering for 'Another Europe' will really stick around in their positions, hoping to achieve this vision of a progressive EU. For those concerned about the future of Greece, Spain, Portugal or Ireland a vote for Brexit would really represent a huge fillip for these economically subservient nations, affording them the long term courage to push for abandoning the EU and pursue their own independent futures. Above all this can be a step forward for all of Europe's youth. A youth-driven Brexit could play the initial role in dismantling the EU, and without this disintegration any hope for social progress may become much more distant. For the sake of the youth, you only live once: vote for exit! Or as I should say, YOLOEXIT. The Eurovision Song Contest, a flashy, riotous and at times absurd jamboree, has ceased to be about talent and the enjoyment of friendly competition. Instead, national bias and geopolitical interests have come to dominate the annual event. Ukraine's win last month means that even the debate on the validity of Australia's inclusion has been eclipsed by intra state rivalries. These new and fierce contentions are among the countries of the ex-Soviet Union, who did not participate in the Eurovision Song Contest until the 1990s. Even when they did join, in the hopeful years following the collapse of the Berlin Wall, performers from these countries failed at first to generate the enthusiasm of the voters .It is worth remembering that commercial pop music had a head start of forty years in the West and it took a while for the old Eastern Bloc to catch up. Meanwhile, the mainstream tastes of countries such as the UK, Ireland and the Netherlands had long ago begun to weary of the glamour and pageantry of the annual European contest. Indeed, British participation has become something of a joke to average UK citizens and the whole competition is seen as something to be satirised. Today it is among the 'new' Eastern nations who are most the passionate for Eurovision. Of these, the rivalries between Ukraine, Russia and Azerbaijan have become the most significant. Advertisement It was not always like this. When Ruslana won for Ukraine in 2004, her song drew huge support in Russia. Then Russia won in 2007 and hosted a spectacular Eurovision Contest the following year, which was celebrated all across the countries of the Eastern Europe . In fact the balance and flavour of the whole contest was shifted by these two events. For years we had been used to the overtly political voting of Greece and Turkey, but now an even more keen antagonism has arisen within in the context of the Ukrainian/Russian conflict. 1944, Jamala's winning song this year for Ukraine, pulls at the wounds of history. She gave a powerfully simple performance with no extravagant effects and created an atmosphere of tangible and dignified sorrow. 1944 is a song about deportation of the Crimean Tartars by Stalin. This remains a controversial and much contested episode. The song is a stone dropped into the lake of memory and the ripples disturb the sacred sanctity of Great Patriotic Patriotic War. Yet the reasons the song won Eurovision have as much to say about international sympathy for Ukraine's current struggles against Russia as they do about historical events. Voters and the jury seem to have been energised by the plight of Ukraine. Now, I really do not believe that cultural events, particularly of this type should be clouded by politics. For my part, I liked the Russian entry and also that of Australia, both of which seemed to be in the mainstream of what the public expects from Eurovision - strong, yet mainstream performances. Naturally the mood in Ukraine, following the Eurovision win was joyous. Yet even some Ukrainians think that the choice of song was divisive. Moreover, many Russians also voted for the song. Likewise, Many Ukrainians also voted for this year's Russian entry. This shows that enthusiasms and loyalties are not so easily defined, even in the context of the present conflict. I believe that the new jury voting system was in part responsible for this year's decision. Ukrainians naturally accept the new system. Russians do not accept it and there has been much talk about sabotage in the Russian media. There are already over three hundred thousand signatures on a petition in Russia calling for the decision to be nullified. Advertisement Meanwhile, Ukraine is turning its eyes to its hosting of next year's competition. However, even this is problematic. Ukraine's finance minister announced recently that the country will not be able to afford 40 million dollar price tag for staging Eurovision 2017. The funding will have to come through loan credit/aid, with private parties to contributing for sponsorship. Russia has also declared that unless the security situation improves in Ukraine it will not send performers to Kiev next year. Sadly, instead of the traditional glitz and glamour, Eurovision 2017, looks set to be riven by the fault lines of conflict that are in danger of fracturing our continent. By Mahommad Zahoor Russia hacked the DNC, which is precisely what we said would happen when Debbie Wasserman Schultz tried to obtain the GoldenEye. Washington Democrats grumbled about their meaningless presidential primary, but took solace in being able to vote in their non-voting delegates uncontested reelection. And reporters continued to raise concern over the Trump campaigns media blacklist -- the campaign's clear objective to have the only things covering their events be a Breitbart reporter and a comb with several tendrils of Sean Hannitys hair stuck to it. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Tuesday, June 14th, 2016: DEM PRIMARY WRAPPING UP, UNCLEAR IF HILLARY HAS IT ALL - John Wagner, David Weigel and Abby Phillip: "Bernie Sanders declined Tuesday to endorse Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, saying that he would continue to push for a 'fundamental transformation' of the party up until its convention next month in Philadelphia. 'The American people are hurting, and they are hurting badly,' Sanders said during a news conference outside a campaign office off Capitol Hill. 'They want real change, not the same ol, same ol.' His comments came as voters in the District were casting the final ballots of the long Democratic nominating contest, and as Sanders and Clinton were preparing for a highly anticipated meeting Tuesday night to discuss the partys agenda heading into the fall election against presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump." [WaPo] Advertisement Clinton has a big lead over Trump in this new Bloomberg national poll. GOP LAWMAKERS NOT KEEN ON TRUMP'S ANTI-MUSLIM BAN Elise Foley, Jen Bendery and Laura Barron-Lopez: "The Huffington Post asked a number of Republicans on Tuesday if they thought a President Trump could unilaterally ban Muslims from entering the country. Most of them bristled. 'The Constitution is the Constitution it doesnt work that way,' Rep. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.) said. 'As a member of Congress, we are going to, whether it be a Republican president or a Democratic president, I think we will vigorously defend the fact that were Article I, he added, referring to the statute of the Constitution that puts legislative powers in the hands of the House and Senate. Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) said he didnt know whether Trump would have that kind of power as president and emphasized that he opposed the president doing something like that. Kinzinger also said it would run counter to what he called one of Republicans 'big hopes: reclaiming Article I of the Constitution.' 'At the end of the day, I hope he respects the role of Congress and assume he will,' Kinzinger said." [HuffPost] @ericawerner: "We don't have a nominee" Sen Alexander says in response to question on Trump. Informed he's the presumptive nominee: "That's what you say." Be sure to read all of Sam Stein's interview with campaign gurus for three vanquished GOP candidates. I AM INVINCIBLE!!! RUSSIA HACKS DNC - We're waiting for President Trump to fix this with some zoom and enhance. Ellen Nakashima: "Russian government hackers penetrated the computer network of the Democratic National Committee and gained access to the entire database of opposition research on GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, according to committee officials and security experts who responded to the breach. The intruders so thoroughly compromised the DNCs system that they also were able to read all email and chat traffic, said DNC officials and the security experts. The intrusion into the DNC was one of several targeting American political organizations. The networks of presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were also targeted by Russian spies, as were the computers of some GOP political action committees, U.S. officials said. But details on those cases were not available." [WaPo] Advertisement Please join The Huffington Post and many other media outlets on Donald Trump's media blacklist! DELANEY DOWNER - Give poor people bigger food stamp benefits and theyll buy more veggies and lean meats, according to a new study. An extra $30 worth of monthly Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits would also result in beneficiaries eating fewer fast food meals and spending more time cooking at home, according to the statistical analysis of federal survey data by researchers working for the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. "Most notably, consumption of tomatoes and yellow vegetables would increase by almost 3 percent and green vegetables by just over 2 percent, while consumption of fast food would fall by over 2.5 percent, Patricia Anderson of Dartmouth College and Kristin Butcher of Wellesley College wrote in their report. Most of the political conversation around food stamps, however, is about nudging people off the program. [HuffPost] Does somebody keep forwarding you this newsletter? Get your own copy. It's free! Sign up here. Send tips/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to huffposthill@huffingtonpost.com. Follow us on Twitter - @HuffPostHill Advertisement APPEALS COURT UPHOLDS NET NEUTRALITY - While the eight-member Supreme Court will flail about impotently, like Leonardo DiCaprio on quaaludes in "Wolf of Wall Street." Dana Liebelson and Cristian Farias: "In a long-awaited decision, a federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld the Obama administrations net neutrality rules, dealing a punishing blow to telecom and cable companies that have sought to overturn the regulations. Characterizing the governments net neutrality effort as an 'attempt to achieve internet openness' and 'the principle that broadband providers must treat all internet traffic the same regardless of source,' the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit concluded that the rules are authorized under current law. The Obama administrations rules prevent internet service providers, or ISPs, from charging content producers for faster or more reliable service, a practice known as 'paid prioritization. Th' rules also ban blocking and purposefully slowing the traffic of lawful services, and apply to both mobile and fixed broadband service." [HuffPost] PRESIDENT RIPS TRUMP AND GOP OVER TERRORISM - Lame Duck Obama is so much more fun though it'd be nice if he sang more. Jessica Schulberg "President Barack Obama on Tuesday forcefully rebuked Republicans who have berated him for refusing to characterize lone wolf terror attacks by Muslim individuals as acts of 'radical Islam.' Obama stood firm. 'Not once has an adviser of mine said, "Man, if we really use that phrase, were gonna turn this whole thing around."Not once,' he said...Without mentioning the reality star by name, Obama homed in on Trumps proposed ban on Muslim immigration to the U.S., warning of sloppiness about who, exactly, we are fighting. Noting that both Mateen and Syed Rizwan Farook, one of the San Bernardino shooters, were U.S.-born citizens, Obama questioned whether Trump would eventually resort to treating Muslim Americans differently as well, possibly subjecting them to extra surveillance or discriminating against them based on their religion." [HuffPost] RYAN JUST CAN'T DENOUNCE TRUMP - We imagine that every meeting between Trump and Ryan begins with Ryan reenacting Lando Calrissian's first lines from "Empire Strikes Back." Matt Fuller: "Committee headquarters and called out Donald Trump for his proposed ban on Muslims coming into the United States. 'This is not conservatism,' Ryan said in December. 'What was proposed yesterday is not what this party stands for, and more importantly, its not what this country stands for.' Six months later, with Trump seeming to have secured the Republican nomination, Ryan stood in the very same lobby and took a very different tone[Ryan] was far less sharp-tongued about it. He wasnt even willing to say that Trump would not, as the presumptive nominee contended on Monday, have the authority to prohibit Muslims from entering the country if he were president." [HuffPost] Advertisement Well, that's sure nice of him: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) criticized presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trumps views of Muslim Americans, saying most Muslims living in the U.S. are 'patriotic.' 'One of the points I think hes missing is, there are an awful lot of patriotic, loyal American Muslims,' McConnell told HuffPosts Howard Fineman. 'In fact, they are the best sources we have to find these lone wolves in our country.'" [HuffPost] WORK ON YOUR CREEP, HILL STAFFERS - Dear Colleague discipline doesn't end at properly faking your boss' signature. Bend Adler: "With the home solar panel industry and the electric utility industry at war, you might expect a liberal Democratic congresswoman from New York City to support the solar side. But thats not what happened recently when Rep. Yvette Clarke decided to wade into this fight. Instead, she signed her name to a letter apparently written by utility lobbyists that warns about the risk of solar companies duping consumersBut it appears that Clarke and her staff didnt write the letter; utility industry reps did. Grist has obtained the letter that Clarkes office distributed to other members of Congress, and the metadata on the Microsoft Word document show it was created by Eric Grey, director of governmental relations at the Edison Electric Institute, the trade association representing investor-owned electric utility companies. The last person to save changes to the document was Vincent Barnes, a lobbyist for Gray Global Advisors, which has EEI as a client. The letter makes no reference to EEIs role in its creation." [Grist] ALAN GRAYSON'S COLLEAGUES REALLY DON'T LIKE ALAN GRAYSON - Matt Dixon: "On the campaign trail, Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson is taking full credit for language in the Houses proposed defense budget that gives financial help to surviving military spouses a contention congressional staff from both political parties involved with the negotiations said is 'inaccurate.'...Those involved in the process of crafting the NDAA say several people helped get the extension language, and that no one member of Congress can take credit, and particularly not Grayson, who is not a committee member...A Democratic staffer for one of the committee members said that their boss and others involved in the process have no recollection of Grayson being directly involved with the NDAA negotiations." [Politico] BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Here's a dog mastering steps. Advertisement COMFORT FOOD - An evolution of Donald Trump's hair. - A Chrome extension for Donald Trump's birthday. - Why the 5K is the ideal race. TWITTERAMA @reuterszengerle: Reporters asked @LindseyGrahamSC about report that Russians hacked DMC Trump research. He laughed, asked: "Are you making that shit up?" @BenjySarlin: In general, Congress feels like an alternate reality now where Donald Trump is a guy who says things on TV and not the presumptive nominee. @gwenifill: "Oh, right, it's election day," said distracted DC reporter. Four years ago, I attended an HIV conference in the United States. At one session, we were discussing how best to reach out to gay men about getting tested and connected to care. Most people in the room were from places like New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. We were all challenging each other, as public health stalwarts, to have our HIV outreach staff be more forward and directly engage men that were perceived to be gay, bisexual, and/or same-gender loving. The conversation continued as normal until one man who hailed from Indiana angrily stood up. He was clearly agitated by the entire conversation. He stated with no uncertain terms: "What you people from these big cities fail to realize is that what you are saying is unrealistic for the majority of us who work in the rest of America. In most parts of America, you will be beaten or worse yet killed if people even think you are gay. What you all are suggesting is absolutely unrealistic!" This Hoosier was right. LGBTQ-identified people or even those who are perceived as Queer live in constant danger. The stories that make the national papers are ones like the young men who were killed in Seattle or the man who was killed in the middle of Greenwich Village in NYC. Only particularly heinous acts against the Queer Community in non-urban America make the news like the tortures and eventual deaths of Matthew Shepard or Brandon Teena. This weekend's massacre in Orlando is no different. Advertisement But I can't help but think that this will be different for a slew of other reasons. As the man from Indiana stated, Queer folks have to live in the shadows throughout the majority of the U.S.A. Many hide that aspect of their lives from their family and friends for fear of being ostracized or even attacked. They fear losing their jobs because they can still be fired simply because they are gay or trans*. This is the unrelenting reality for LGBTQ people in the Land of the Free. Even in the face of the greatest tragedies that most of us can imagine, we know that we will not receive the love and the support of the people that we most love in the world. Those of us who are from the South or have family therein already know what will be the next steps for many of those injured or even worse killed. No one outside of the Community knows that they identify as LGBTQ. Many people who "know" them will learn for the very first time that their son, daughter, colleague, friend or even spouse is gay, bisexual, and/or trans*. Many of the survivors will be re-traumatized by those that they need most at this horrible time. The blame game began immediately from hateful community "leaders" who alluded that the victims were complicit in their own injuries or deaths because they refused to live every moment of the day in the shadows cast by their hate. We cannot be quiet when this disenfranchised are attacked in so many ways each and every days of their lives. We will not accept the hate spewed from the mouths of people who state that we are pedophilic predators in the restrooms of America when each and every day I see cis-gendered heterosexual men being accused of actually molesting children. We will not accept the hate being spread that we are destroying the fabric of America when seemingly every other day I hear about cis-gendered heterosexuals attacking and sometimes murdering LGBTQ people while they are walking down the street or spending time with friends and loved ones. Advertisement It is past time that we shine a light on the shadows by ensuring that LGBTQ adults feel safe at work through passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), feel safe in their communities by ensuring all states pass Hate Crime legislation inclusion of sexuality and gender identity, and that LGBTQ children are not harassed at school by bullies in the classrooms including those who are their teachers and administrators. People embrace during a candlelight vigil at a memorial service for the victims of the shooting at the Pulse gay night club in Orlando, Florida, June 13, 2016. REUTERS/Jim Young Sadness, fear, helplessness, and anxiety are all natural responses to the shooting in Orlando. You may be feeling all of these things or you may be feeling something completely different. Everyone feels and reacts to hate crimes and terrorist attacks differently and we want you to know there's no right or wrong way to feel right now. But, if you feel overwhelmed by the event, we've put together a list of things that may help you cope with whatever you're feeling. Tips for Dealing with Disaster (adapted from the National Association of Social Workers, Coping with Terrorism): Identify and acknowledge the feelings that you may be experiencing. Understand that these feelings are a normal reaction to this event. Remember that you have overcome adversity and trauma in the past. Try to remember what you did that helped you overcome the fear and helplessness in that situation. If it makes sense, do those things now. Talk to others about your fears. Reach out to people who make you feel safe. If you want to be around people who are feeling similar things to you and you're in a city that has vigils or other gatherings about the Orlando shooting, attend these events. On the other hand, if you do not feel like talking, that is alright too. Some people find exercise and other active ways of releasing feelings more helpful. Make efforts to maintain a usual routine. Realize that the things you're feeling now are not permanent. They will change. Also, try to be realistic about the time it takes to feel better. It may take a while and that's okay. Recognize that the nature of terrorist attacks and hate crimes create fear and uncertainty about the future. Continue to do enjoyable things. Avoid preoccupation with the things you cannot control to the extent that they prevent you from living your normal life. If you are unable to avoid preoccupation, consider seeing a mental health provider. Limit exposure to media coverage. By getting some distance from the event, by turning off the television or not logging onto Facebook as much, you give yourself a chance to catch our breath and refocus our attention. During times of stress, people who have depression and other mental illnesses may see their condition worsen. These people should contact their mental health care provider, if they feel it is necessary. If you don't have a mental health care provider and are in New York City. Consider becoming a patient of Apicha Community Health Center. Statement by Apicha Community Health Center CEO, Therese Rodriguez: Like you, at Apicha Community Health Center we grieve our dead and injured brothers and sisters--this weekend's victims of a heinous act of violence. Like you, we are sorting through our emotions, in what seems like a futile attempt to make sense of an act of hate and terror. The sadness. The anger. The helplessness. The fear. Like you, our dull grief sharpens into something very real as details of the tragedy emerge. Our hearts ache as we learn the names and see the young, smiling faces of the men and women gathered to celebrate Puerto Rican Pride at Pulse Nightclub. They remind us of our patients, our friends, and ourselves. Advertisement We remember last year at this time we were celebrating momentous victories for the LGBT community and the milestones reached by steadily breaking down the barriers that marginalize us. Just as we reached the height of intense joyful moments from last year's Supreme Court's decision on marriage equality, this weekend's tragic events show that those victories can easily be snatched away and bring us down the depths of pain and sadness. But as we have always done in the past, we will not allow the senseless loss of those who died and those who continue to fight for their lives in the hospital's operating rooms to be in vain. We have gone this far, we must go on. While this without a doubt is a hate crime directed at the LGBT community. It is as much an assault on everyone who believes in freedom, diversity and an inclusive society. This was a direct challenge to every civil rights victory and an affront to everyone who believes in the intrinsic humanity in all people. Candles lit by members of the LGBTQ community burn as they pay tribute to the victims of the mass shooting at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando, U.S., in Kenya's capital Nairobi June 14, 2016. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya The day after the shooting at Pulse I was scheduled to teach a section on terrorism and mass murder in my Introductory Sociology class at Valencia College. Valencia, like Pulse, is located in Orlando, Florida. As I went over my notes before class, I considered not covering the material. My first concern was the topic, it was obviously close to home. The second was my own ability to make it through the lecture. When I discuss terrorism and mass murder I share my story of being a graduate student at Virginia Tech in 2007 when my campus became the site of the worst school shooting in U.S. history. This is the second time a city I live in has been labeled the "worst" shooting site. It is the second time I have watched as images from my community are splashed across national news outlets. The second time I have had to wonder if my husband, a respiratory therapist, will have to treat victims and take care of their families. It is the second time I have had to call my parents to tell them I am fine and to please turn off the T.V. Advertisement For the second time, I have watched as my phone lit up with calls from people wondering if I am safe. This is the second time I have watched a body count rise in a familiar area of town and have seen the shocked faces of people in my community who have little to say to each other except "Are you ok?" I have already written op-eds, blogs and been interviewed by various news media about my experience as a community member during a time of tragedy. I have done the vigils, signed memorial walls, donated money and my time to help people heal. I wrote my dissertation on music as a healing mechanism after experiencing tragedy. As the events have unfolded over the last few days, it is clear that what happened at Pulse was motivated by hate. The shooter sought out a group of people whose oppression has been rooted in hate and ignorance. It's amazing to see our nation gathering around the LGBT community and supporting them. But, as I watch this unfold for the second time, I am reminded of the work of friends of mine. So many scholars and community leaders have dedicated their lives and careers to studying the roots of hate, inequality, violence and terrorism. We all stress that each does not exist in a vacuum. Yet we are shouted down as too liberal, not liberal enough, too educated, not educated enough, too political, not political enough. The only way these events will cease from repeating is if we look at these problems from as many angles as possible and pay attention to the questions raised by people whose knowledge and experience make them experts. Violence and terrorism thrive on our continued inability to find common solutions. Advertisement Watching my community attempt to rise up after violence, for the second time, reminds me that our national challenge lies in filtering out the noise manufactured by those who revel in distraction. Instead, let's focus on the people who are trying to bring about change. Let's support those who study these issues or work with people who have survived tragedy. The people who break down hate, inequality, violence and terrorism to their core and try to solve the problem from the inside out. Let's listen to them. I did teach the terrorism section in my class. I stopped outside the classroom door and said out loud to myself "I can do this" before walking in. The students needed to talk about what happened and I needed to let them know that I am here for them. Because I have been through this for the second, and hopefully last, time. by Margaret Huang, interim executive director of Amnesty International USA It's been a couple of days since the horrific shooting in Orlando, and it's still impossible for any of us to fully comprehend the magnitude of what happened. Forty-nine people - many of them LGBT people and people of color - were killed in a place where they came to find community and joy. Scores of others were injured. Dozens were held captive for hours, their lives forever changed. As a mom, I can't stop thinking about Brenda Lee Marquez McCool, who was at the Pulse nightclub dancing with her son, Isaiah, when the shooting started. She did what most of us hope we would have done, too - she put her body between the shooter and her son. She saved her son's life, but she died. Advertisement And I can't stop thinking about Juan Ramon Guerrero, a 22-year-old who had just come out to his family last year. He was afraid they would reject him, but they embraced both him and his boyfriend, who died with him on Sunday morning. All of the 49 people who were killed had a future that was taken from them. The entire world is standing in solidarity with them this week. We owe it to them to mourn their deaths, honor their lives, and take action in their names. It is not enough - not nearly enough - to keep people in our thoughts. We have to back our thoughts up with actions to protect people from violence. All people should be able to live safely and without fear of violence, and no one should face discrimination or violence because of who they are. Our elected officials should respond to this tragedy by protecting human rights. Advertisement Gun violence is a human rights crisis in this country. The entire discussion about people's rights when it comes to guns has been focused on people's ability to possess guns. It's long past time for a conversation about the rights of all people to live in safety and security - rights that gun violence threatens daily in this country. We also need to ensure that local, state, and federal laws protect people from hate crimes and discrimination based on who they are. The shooting in Orlando is a harsh reminder that, for all the progress we've made toward LGBT equality in the U.S., we still have much to do. Some public officials are already drawing exactly the wrong lessons from Orlando - trying to use this horrific crime to fuel more hatred, this time directed at immigrants and Muslims. Far too often, this country has responded to tragedy with fear, bigotry, and scapegoating, and we can't let that happen again. In the short-term, we all need to express our solidarity with the victims, survivors and their families while calling on public officials to take action. That's just a start. In the months ahead, Amnesty International USA will redouble our efforts, working hand-in-hand with local and national organizations, to address the human rights crisis of gun violence in the U.S. while demanding that all people be protected from violence and discrimination. Somewhere, somehow, amidst his decadent cavorting with 72 virgins, Osama bin Laden must be smiling. Smiling like a man who's finally seeing his master plan come to fruition. In the wake of the horrific mass killing at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando, FL, where 50 people died in the the deadliest shooting in United States history, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has been spewing newly amped up nativist racist rhetoric against refugees, immigrants and Muslims in particular. Advertisement Trump early Monday disingenuously attempted to conflate the attack by 29-year-old American Omar Mateen with what he called the threat from Syrian refugees entering the country, going so far as to lie in his claim than Mateen was "born in Afghan." Hours later in a speech in Cleveland, Trump offered an even more outrageously offensive line of attack: "The bottom line is that the only reason the killer was in America in the first place was because we allowed his family to come here." Mateen's parents are immigrants from Afghanistan. Mateen was born in New York. Trump also reiterated his plan to temporarily ban Muslim immigration, specifically from countries where he believes the threat of terrorism was greatest. "We cannot continue to allow thousands upon thousands of people to pour into our country, many of whom have the same thought process as this savage killer," Trump said, promising to only lift the ban "when we as a nation are in a position to properly and perfectly screen these people coming into our country." Advertisement He continued, "Many of the principles of Radical Islam are incompatible with Western values and institutions... Radical Islam is anti-woman, anti-gay and anti-American" (many, by the way, would argue this could also be said about Trump himself). When bin Laden masterminded the horrific September 11 attacks which killed 3000 people on U.S. soil, he of course sought to kill Americans and cause catastrophic destruction in the process. But there was a more likely goal: to forever change America. To turn American against American. American against immigrant. American against Muslim. bin Laden's aim was to prove to the Muslim world that America was in fact as ugly, ignorant, racist and anti-Islam as he preached to his jihadis. Give America time, he believed, and everything it stands for, everything it believes in, its core tenets, its morality, its free press and even its precious rule of law, will be turned on its big fat arrogant head by scapegoating, hatred and violence. The bullies and fascists will take over, and democracy as we know it would be corrupted forever. Jonsson told the cops that movement by a dumpster caught his eye, and he saw a guy on top of a female who was lying on her back, according to a police report. At first, Jonsson and Arndt assumed the interaction was consensual. But Jonsson said he noticed that the female wasn't moving as he peddled by. "Something seemed weird," he told police, because the woman appeared to be unconscious. Jonsson and Arndt approached the dumpster and yelled "Hey" to the guy who was later revealed to be Turner. He took off running, according to the police report. Jonsson realized the woman was passed out and chased after Turner, eventually catching and tripping him, the police report said. Officers responded to a call about an unconscious female near the Kappa Alpha fraternity about 10 minutes later, according to the report, and found Jonsson and Arndt holding Turner on the ground. Witnesses told police that Turner had possibly sexually assaulted the woman who was lying next to the dumpster. Rainbow flag isolated on white How can one comprehend the tragedy that occurred in Orlando? A normal Sunday morning checking social media to discover a mass murder. Unfortunately, this has become common place in our America. Columbine, Aurora, Boston and Sandy Hook to name a few. The media covers extensively for a few days, social media pictures are changed and for the majority of us, life goes on. Advertisement Orlando is different. This is my community. This is the family that embraced me when I choose to come out three years ago. These were people out having a good time, being themselves during a Saturday night during Pride month. This was officially war on the LGBT community. Throughout the day I had to sit back and hear people like Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz speak about prayer for those affected. The same people who didn't see the dead as equals and didn't believe they should be treated as so, now wanted to turn to prayer to honor them. The religious right consistently attacks the LGBT community as a group that shuns family values. They portray us as a boogeyman. Sexual deviants who disobey the law of god. Yet, when tragedy occurs and the public outcry demands it, they pray for us. Save your prayers. The rhetoric and hate that the right spews on a daily basis leads to this kind of violence. It doesn't matter that this particular killer was Muslim. On the same day, a white male from Indiana headed to Pride in Los Angeles to cause the same type of carnage. Spare me that this is about Islam. This is about hate for people who aren't like you. A radical islamic terrorist in Florida or a Christian in Los Angeles with the same ideology. Advertisement In the three years that I've been out I have undergone a remarkable transition. For 35 years I lived a fake life out of fear. I sat around and listened to blatant homophobia and even participated. Every time I've gone out with friends my mom has said, "be careful there are crazy people out there." This because I was gay. I'm tired of my community being treated differently. I'm tired of groups like the NCAA protecting schools who allow blatant homophobia in the name of autonomy. I'm tired of religious leaders and politicians speaking out against the LGBT community. All this leads to actions like today. It lead to countless number of transgender people being murdered. Its led to countless number of hate crimes. It led to the murder of an innocent kid named Matthew Shepard. Our community needs to heal and that will take time. As we do, these 50 souls need to be honored. The community needs to be as visible as ever. We are not going away and we will not lay down. What's the secret to healthy living? A good start would be by replacing negativity and any harmful elements in your life with positivity and beneficial, healthy options. Sounds easy, right? If it were, everyone would be in perfect mental and physical health. By now, we all recognize the direct connection between mental and physical wellbeing. One impacts the other, for better and for worse. The question is how to achieve -- and maintain -- balance between our mind and body in today's fast-paced world, where stress is a top global health concern. The New Normal? Approximately 1 in 75 people may experience panic disorder at some point throughout their lives, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Mental health is such a top concern around the world today that the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank Group (WGB) recently co-hosted an event in Washington, D.C. on the issue. The two-day conference focused on making mental health a global health and development priority. Advertisement International government and business leaders, technological innovators and health advocates and experts all discussed how to increase access to mental health services and improve the services themselves in primary care and community settings. According to the WHO, the economic consequence of disregarding mental health, i.e., not treating depression and anxiety disorders, costs the world $1 trillion a year. They state that for every $1 that is spent on treatments for mental health, governments could receive a return on investment of $4. Healthy Mind, Healthy Body In other words, prioritizing mental health is a vital part of promoting and achieving overall health. You don't have to be a global expert to invest in your own mental health. Simply recognizing the intimate relationship between the human body and mind goes a long way in successful treatment and preventative health care. For instance, scientific research shows that a positive, self-empowering mindset not only greatly impacts how we feel, but also the way we move and how we live our daily lives. In turn, negative, self-limiting thoughts can be both mentally and physically crippling. Exercise has been proven to nurture and strengthen both our mental and physical health. Scientific studies have shown that for those suffering from depression, exercise is an effective long-term alternative to medicine. Even if you aren't suffering from depression, exercise releases endorphins, which elevate our mood. The better you feel, the more likely you are to keep physically active. The more exercise and physical activities you do on a regular basis, the better physical and mental shape you will be in. Advertisement Religion and politics don't mix. I'm sure you've heard the phrase before. And yet, Freedom of Religion is the first amendment to our Constitution. I don't believe it means you can't be religious and political but, you shouldn't force either onto others. (photo by Barbara Hammond) We're all entitled to our own beliefs and, for me, that's what makes America great. If you've read this blog before you probably know where I stand politically. Religion and I have had an on-again, off-again history. Let me explain. My grandfather was a Southern Baptist minister. I adored my grandfather and he adored me. He was the only male who was constant in my life growing up. Stepfathers came and went but, Granddaddy was always there. Advertisement When they started singing the hymn, "Just as I Am," he would put his big hand on my tiny shoulder and ask, "You been saved girl?" I would shake my head vigorously yes because there was no way I wanted to walk up that aisle and sacrifice my young soul. Somehow faith and anger seem at odds to me still, yet we see it when religion and politics try to mingle. I'm no religious scholar by a long stretch but, if you believe in Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, Confucianism, (go ahead, look it up), or any other faith, hate is not a tenet. Over the years, I've been exposed to several religions, including a crazy gymnastical snake worshipping holy roller service once. I know gymnastical isn't a word, but it describes the experience perfectly. When I was five I lived with a lovely older couple who went to a Lutheran church. I found it to be very peaceful, unlike my other experiences. Advertisement At 16 my fourth stepfather, Scotty, introduced me to the Episcopal religion. He had a friend who was an Episcopal minister. He also introduced me to Dave, my future husband, who happened to be Episcopalian. This all led up to our wacky and amazing wedding, which you can read about here. With a young family and moving annually, we didn't go to church much early on. I remember going to an Episcopal church in Long Island at Easter and being totally turned off. It was big, beautiful and full to the max. As we left and shook the minister's hand I asked what the regular congregation was like, knowing Easter is not a good barometer. He looked me up and down and said, "Wealthy. Very wealthy." Sooo, we opted to never go back there again. A year later we moved to New Jersey and found a church we liked. The minister was nice and had a young family. I joined their play group for the kids and enjoyed being with other young mothers. But annual moves made it hard to get attached to any church so we rarely went after that. By the time we landed in Massachusetts it had been a few years since we'd attended church. Feeling the urge to give it a try we went to an Easter service in a neighboring town. Our oldest, Jeff, was in fifth grade then and didn't have much experience with church. Our bad. Advertisement Toward the end of the service, the minister invited the kids to come and take an Easter plant. I felt he was referring to the Sunday School kids who had planted them, so when Jeff, started to go up I stopped him and said, "We're not members here, I don't think you should go." As we were leaving his teacher recognized him and asked why he didn't have a plant. He said, "I can't. We're not joiners." I was mortified and began rushing him out the door. We laugh about it now but, it was our fault our kids had no spiritual direction. Which is not funny. Dave and I had opposite experiences with religion but, we had experiences. Our kids did not. Fast forward about 30 years to our introduction to Gloria Dei, Old Swedes, in Philadelphia. (art by Barbara Hammond) The irony of our introduction to this church is it came through our youngest son, Greg, who is totally agnostic. He knew the minister's son and was invited to direct the Easter play. I went up to watch a rehearsal and met some of the members. When I was introduced to a lovely woman I reached to shake her hand and she opened her arms and said, "We hug here!" It was welcoming. It's a beautiful old building over 300 years old. I'm a sucker for historical buildings and, the vibe in this one was ethereal. It drew me in. Advertisement After Dave's near death experience with lymphoma, we started going to Old Swede's fairly regularly. Facing death head on has a way of making you look at life in a new light. I remember one particular sermon that resonated with me and as we left I shook the minister's hand and said, "I really enjoyed that." "Well," he said, "I try not to preach." We knew this was the church for us and, even though I didn't go as often as Dave it holds a special place in my soul. When the minister retired I wasn't sure I would like it as much. They went through a long vetting process and finally chose a woman to replace him. It was hard for many of the parishioners who had been lifelong members to accept someone else. I understood that. Change is hard and when it involves your spirituality it involves soul searching. Advertisement It took me a while to warm up to her, I'll admit. When you finally find a church you feel comfortable with and the leadership changes it creates some anxiety. She has been there for 15 years now. And, even though we are two hours away, we go back whenever we can. We haven't found a church we feel comfortable in here, yet. We'll keep exploring but, honestly, Old Swede's will always be my spiritual home. Where do you stand on religion and spirituality? Earlier on Huff/Post50: In the United States, the Filipino American community celebrates Philippine Indpendence Day with all the flourish of an immigrant community proud of its roots and eager to share them in its adopted home. This June 12 marks the 118th anniversary of the day that Andres Bonifacio and fellow revolutionaries declared the Philippines to be independent from Spain. The idea of celebrating Philippine independence in the United States has some degree of irony, given the Treaty of Paris signed later that year where Spain ceded the Philippines, along with Guam and Puerto Rico, to the United States, resulting in the Philippine American War and the beginning of America's first experiment in colonialism. Despite this history, or in many ways, because of it, there is a strong tradition of loyalty to the United States for many Filipinos. When President Franklin D. Roosevelt raised the call on July 26, 1941 creating the United States Army Forces of the Far East, more than 250,000 Filipinos ultimately served under U.S. command, standing shoulder to shoulder with Americans in World War II. The 1946 Rescission Act that revoked their status as U.S. veterans after the war also prevented them from getting citizenship. Their decades long struggle for equal treatment and the discrimination they faced got its first victory on the immigration front in 1990, when they were able to become U.S. citizens. The struggles they have faced since on their journey to equal treatment received an important victory this week when the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) launched their Filipino WWII Veterans Parole (FWVP) Program that will allow eligible veterans and their families to be reunited with their children in the Philippines. To mark the occasion, Senators Harry Reid (D-NV), Mazie Hirono (D-HI) and Tim Kaine held a press conference with USCIS, advocates for the community, and veterans Mr. Celestino Almeda and Mr. Rudy Panaglima. Mr. Panaglima spoke with excitement about the prospect of reuniting with his two sons after decades apart. Advertisement As an Executive Committee Member of the Filipino Veterans Recogniton and Education Project, I'm proud that one of the advocates who joined Mr. Panaglima was FilVetREP chair Maj. Gen. Tony Taguba (Ret.). Invoking the memory of his father, a veteran and Bataan Death March survivor, General Taguba thanked the policymakers for their work on the FWVP program. He thanked Senator Hirono for her support of the Filipino WWII veterans through other legislation, including the Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2015. As I've written elsewhere, this legislation will provide a Congressional Gold Medal for these veterans, and in a polarized political climate where other legislation for our veterans remains stalled, this bicameral bipartisan legislation may realistically be the last victory we can win for them. Chris Kang from the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans did not mince words and called on the Senators in the room, their colleagues, and members of the House of Representatives to pass this bill so that the legacy of soldiers like Mr. Panaglima and Mr. Almeda will remain a part of the fuller American story. Caption: Back Row (L-R)- Maj. Gen. Tony Taguba, Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), Chris Kang; Front Row (L-R)- Marita Etcubanez, Mr. Celestino Almeda, Mr. Rudy Panaglima, Senator Mazie Hirono (D-HI), USCIS Chief of Staff Juliet Choi Advertisement As we remember our history on Philippine Independence Day, and as we celebrate the victory that will allow Mr. Panaglima the chance to reunite with his children, we fight for the Congressional Gold Medal that will recognize these veterans and their contributions to our country. I hope you can join us by signing our petition online, learning more on our website at wwwf.filvetsrecognition.org, and following us on Facebook or Twitter. When President Obama and the First Family visit Carlsbad Caverns National Park this week, it will be the first time in my memory that a sitting president visited a cave. Certainly other presidents descended into the depths of the earth to view wondrous stalactites and stalagmites, but it is hard to imagine Richard Nixon, George W. Bush, or Bill Clinton crawling through muddy caverns during their times in the Oval Office. The President's visit provides an opportunity to expand on a national conversation on cave and karst landscapes. Karst, a term that originated in southeastern Europe, refers to the landscapes that result when soluble rock--typically limestone--dissolves slowly over time. Roughly 20% of the earth's surface is covered by these types of landscapes and about 50% of our drinking water comes from karst aquifers. What is so unusual about karst landscapes compared to other landscape types is that there is very rapid drainage from the surface to the subsurface via conduits that form as the rock dissolves. These conduits range in size from a few millimeters to expansive spaces the size of Carlsbad Caverns. They connect with each other to form sponge-like conditions in the subsurface. Advertisement There are many problems that those that live on these landscapes face that are not regularly part of the national conversation on environmental issues, especially in the area of pollution, water management, and ground stability. Water pollution in karst areas is of growing concern in karst regions. The interconnected nature of the subsurface means that a single pollution event can disperse harmful chemicals very quickly over vast distances. While we know that dilution can help reduce impacts, many aquifers in karst areas are in serious trouble because of regional pollution problems. In Florida, for example, nutrient pollution levels of the Floridan Aquifer, the most productive aquifer in the southeastern United States, are increasing seemingly everywhere due to the interconnected nature of the subsurface. There is concern over the long-term sustainability of many important aquifers around the world due to similar regional pollution problems. Unlike many other landscape types where water pollution is seen as a local problem, water pollution in karst landscapes leads to long-term subtle degradation of the entire aquifer. Advertisement These boom/bust cycles are caused, in part, by the lack of normal surface streams in karst areas. Surface flow moves quickly to the cavernous depths and there is limited surface water in many karst regions. When droughts occur, entire regions are impacted as thirsty cities and agricultural enterprises pump their interconnected aquifers. When heavy rains come back, the lack of surface streams tends to cause regional flash floods that wreck havoc--especially in urbanized landscapes. We have not come to terms with how best to plan and manage our water resources in karst regions of the country. Finally, ground stability is a significant issue of concern in karst regions. Sinkholes cause millions of dollars in property damage each year throughout the country. In Florida, it is very difficult to get appropriate sinkhole insurance coverage for homes. Sinkhole formation is a slow geologic process that often culminates in spectacular and sometimes deadly collapses. The collapse of a portion of the famous National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky, in 2014 showed us how dangerous collapses can be. We have not yet had a thorough national conversation on how we can deal with the scientific and policy issues associated with sinkholes. Thus, as President Obama visits Carlsbad Caverns, one of the most beautiful places in the world where one can see the subsurface expression of the solution of soluble rock, it is a good time to consider how we can elevate cave and karst science within the national research agenda. June 8th was World Oceans Day. It was celebrated with a reception at U.N. Headquarters in New York City. The Empire State Building was lit in white, blue and purple representing different layers of the ocean. The day started in New York's Long Island City, where the UN Secretary-General greeted the Hawaiian boat Hokule after two years at sea without motors or GPS. BostonGlobe.com ran stunning photos of oceans. Capitalists played their part too. In his World Oceans Day blog for Huffington Post, Richard Branson dressed up as a Merman to announce that as part of the 2016 Virgin Strive Challenge, he would swim from the southern tip of Italy to Sicily. The challenge sponsor is Virgin Money. That's corporate social responsibility the Branson way. Advertisement In the real world, aquariums put on special shows. Citizens participated in symposiums and beach clean-up. All of this to raise appreciation of our oceans and awareness of both ocean wonder and degradation. But what excites me most are the younger surfers around the world who are taking action. The best known is of course Boyan Slat, the now 21-year-old Dutch aeronautical engineer who two years ago raised $2.2 million via crowd-sourcing for his non-profit Ocean Cleanup. After witnessing garbage despoiling Greek waters when he was 16, Slat asked the question, "Why don't we just clean it up?" He didn't know why that's an impossible task -- even if he could overcome technological, territorial and funding issues. But his naivete turned out to be a strength as compelling as his persistence. Slat's system uses ocean currents to concentrate garbage where it can more easily be picked up. (For a description of how it's done, read The Guardian's look at feasibility and links to technical papers.) After five years of relentless pushing and the help of top engineers and scientists, Slat's ocean cleaning system is going into trial this month. Anther solution to ocean garbage is the SeaVax, a solar and wind-powered, self-driving ship that sucks up plastic. Invented by a young British trio, the ship has special sensors to detect trash and sonar technology that protects marine and bird life. The first ship is ready and looking for a launch site. Advertisement And another: Designed by two Australian surfers from recycled material, the Seabin is an automated trash receptacle for marina docks. Much like Seavax, funding was cobbled together from seed money plus crowd-sourcing. Despite lack of experience and limited resources, these young social innovators are part of a passion-driven force that is taking center stage. In an interview with the Chairman of C2 Montreal JF Bouchard, the annual conference on innovation, journalist Ali Velshi maintains that individuals -- "the Many" --not policies or institutions hold the key to society's greatest challenges. In his words: "I used to lament the end of programs like NASA, where a government took charge of a problem, or things like Bell Labs, where somebody was just working on stuff that wasn't for commercialization. But you know, what's better than the government and these labs is people, regular people." Surely Velshi goes too far. One (ironic) example: another significant problem, rising ocean temperatures, was confirmed in 2015 by a collaboration that included Bell Labs' underwater radar arrays...and NASA scientists. Fixing problems is exciting stuff. Yet in the end, it's less complicated than measuring problems or preventing them in the first place. That's where you need big institutions. Cities like Seattle and San Francisco banned plastic bags; Congress passed a ban on microbeads to take effect in July 2017. Since 1972, the Ocean Dumping Act has reinforced no-dumping laws with stiff penalties. Advertisement Branson's stunts and the surfer dudes who develop their fantastical gizmos give us hope for a quick solution to environmental devastation. With institutional support, we might just get there. Apple kicked off WWDC (World Wide Developers Conference) today, with a Keynote that showcased some of the upper tier of talent and management within Apple. As a former WWDC speaker, I watch the keynote and most sessions through the remainder of the week religiously. Here, you see what's coming in the fall releases of the four operating systems: macOS, watchOS, iOS, and tvOS (for Macs, Apple Watches, iPhones and iPads, and Apple TVs respectively). In the fall, Apple will release macOS Sierra (the name for the new version of the operating system that powers the Mac). But macOS is the new name for OS X, which has likely been obvious to anyone that pays attention to such things for months. And macOS isn't just about new branding, it's now using Continuity, a feature that syncs data between all your devices, to provide users with lots of great new options when using iPad, iPhone, and a Mac together. It's all about Continuity. The desktop now syncs across Macs (e.g. home and work), to a folder on an iOS device, and you can unlock your Mac with your watch (similar to the Knock app that's been around for awhile). You also get Apple Pay on supported websites, using your fingerprint on an iPhone to authenticate and complete transactions (the whole process can take seconds). Advertisement With macOS you also now get Picture-in-Picture, multi-tabbed apps, and Siri. Overall, some impressive new features that will likely delight users in the fall, when macOS Sierra ships. The Mac isn't the only operating system in Apple's lineup to get new options. iOS 10, the operating system that powers iPhone and iPad, comes with a new lock screen and home screen experience that can play live video, has better music controls, and more. Siri, which processes 2,000,000 requests per week, is now getting opened up to developers, providing voice control options within applications, a potentially powerful option for developers to tap into. QuickType now has more relevant, contextual options. We also get new facial recognition technology for Photos in a feature simply called People. That same deep learning technology also provides object and scene recognition which is either super-cool, or if you forgot to leave your tin foil hat at home, creepy. I like it myself. You also get Moments, which are similar to Facebook's Moments app. There were other new app options mentioned, that are applicable to both macOS and iOS: Notes collaboration, live photo editing, and split view on Safari on an iPad. Maps is now proactive and has a few great new usability options, like zooming ahead to see traffic. You can search along a route to see food and gas stations. These are also available in car play, so you can see maps on your instrument panel rather than looking at a phone. But most importantly, Maps is now open to extensions from third party apps, like Uber or Open Table. Music got an update, getting clearer, and easier to use. One great option is to browse downloaded music, rather than all music in playlists. This means that you won't kill your data plan to stream music when, for example, you're in a foreign country. And you can see lyrics. News got prettier and now looks like Flipboard. Subscriptions are added, and you can get notifications on the screen of your watch. When iOS 10 ships, the Phone app will get voice mail transcription. And there's a VoIP API, so you can have an app like WhatsApp run when the phone is locked. Cisco brings Spark to the iPhone using this API, so that enterprises can replace desk phones with iPhones, the way many high tech companies have already done. Messages is the most popular app used on an iPhone. Rich links, which have been available in Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and HipChat will come to Apple devices in the fall. As will bigger emoji (cause you need larger icons to display that poop emoji). Messages will also highlight text that can automatically be converted to emoji and do so if you tap the text before you send the message. You'll also be able to use Bubble Effects to display emotion, and be able to do hand written texting (including over photos, which brings features from popular apps like Skitch to Messages), as well as full screen animations (called Effects) and drawings (as was already possible on Apple Watch). You'll also be able to play Music that people send you straight from your Messages screen. And Messages gets an API, which includes an App Drawer so you can put things like JibJab and Giphy images straight into Messages using Apps and artwork. Then there's HomeKit, which competes in a rapidly changing ecosystem of solutions. Apple has a new Home app in iOS, which shows you your house, and all the compatible devices within your home. Unlike with an app like Wink, you can then control items when the screen is locked, rather than launching an app. This also give Siri the ability to control your home, and to make use of geofencing to control scenes around your home for supported types of devices. The watchOS will also ship in the fall with some new features. These included faster app launches, a Dock (all Apple tools need a Dock), new app controls, a Breathe app to help you breathe better, the SOS app to contact emergency services and update your emergency contacts, and of course better fitness tracking. AppleTV gets some fun new options, most notably single-sign and better Siri. Swift, now the number one project on Github, will also come to the iPad in the fall with Swift Playground, a new app that "will revolutionize the way people learn to code" and expands the ability to ship apps without a desktop. This comes with eBook types of apps to learn to code. And Byte, a new character that is reminiscent of Logo for anyone who learned to write code in the 1980s. Byte does expand options the way developers do in IDEs, and hopefully makes getting into writing apps a more inviting process for those who've never used, for example, a case statement. Apple also touted differential privacy as a stark differentiator between them and the competition. Coming on the tail end of their standoff with the US government to unlock that iPhone recently, this is sure to strike a cord with some users. Overall, my favorite thing is that so many previously closed apps got APIs. Sure there are tons of enhancements that will improve usability and basic workflows on devices. But a number of apps now have API integration, and with Siri able to access the inside of 3rd party apps, voice control and interoperability over secure channels will unlock so much potential for apps in the future. You'll be able to control your home with your voice using HomeKit, have developers integrate with your favorite Apple apps (like Maps), and be able to exchange data more freely on devices. For example, a demo was provided with a group food order so each person could complete their own order for a meeting (a specific pain point I've had over the years). Advertisement Political consultant and former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Newt Gingrich attends the third Annual Champions of Jewish Values International Awards Gala in New York May 28, 2015. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz Newt Gingrich is a smart guy, Washington insiders will tell you. He's certainly smarter than Donald Trump, based on nothing more than vocabulary and the complexity of ideas he is able to comprehend. Newt is currently on Trump's vice-presidential shortlist, which makes sense if you believe what Trump's been saying about his veep pick for months now -- he wants someone with experience dealing with Congress. Newt, being a former Speaker of the House, certainly fits that bill better than most. But Newt Gingrich's supposed smartness is rather indiscriminate, when examined closely. Newt has what he considers ten or twelve brilliant ideas each day, which he is in the habit of just tossing out for discussion. These ideas are presented in scattershot fashion, and most of them never go anywhere (even Newt admits this, when he's being honest with himself). However, every once in a while Newt will follow through on one of his proposals, so you can't just discount everything that comes out of his mouth. Advertisement Newt apparently woke up and just had what he considers another brilliant idea. Let's hope this becomes one of those that wither on the vine (rather than grow in influence), because it is truly a monstrously bad idea. Here's Newt, on Fox News, explaining his idea: Let me go a step further, because remember, San Bernardino, Fort Hood, and Orlando involve American citizens. We're going to ultimately declare a war on Islamic supremacists and we're going to say, if you pledge allegiance to ISIS, you are a traitor and you have lost your citizenship. And we're going take much tougher positions. In the late 1930s, President Franklin Roosevelt was faced with Nazi penetration in the United States. We originally created the House Un-American Activities Committee to go after Nazis. We passed several laws in 1938 and 1939 to go after Nazis and we made it illegal to help the Nazis. We're going to presently have to go take the similar steps here. For those unfamiliar with the name, the House Un-American Activities Committee, or "HUAAC" (sometimes spelled "HUAC") was one of the most disgraceful episodes in all of American history. In fact, I consider the entire concept of the committee to be one of the most un-American and tyrannical overreaches of the federal government of (at the very least) the entire twentieth century. I'm not alone in this, either, as in 1959 none other than Harry Truman (after he left the presidency) called HUAAC the "most un-American thing in the country today." If you never learned about HUAAC in school, think Joe McCarthy and all the red-baiting anti-communist fervor. Think Hollywood blacklists. Think Japanese internment. Some of the most shameful events of the century either came straight out of HUAAC or were closely linked to the hysteria it generated. Advertisement The committee and its predecessors all were born out of war fever. The first came into being in 1919, to investigate German-Americans. Other early forerunner House committees investigated such "enemies of the state" as the American Civil Liberties Union. In 1938 the committee was revived to look into the Nazi threat. A report on Japanese-Americans soon followed (called the "Yellow Report," in those pre-politically correct days). This report argued the case for internment, based partly on the fact that Japanese-Americans had suspect loyalties due to their Buddhist faith. Anyone who is astonished that Donald Trump would go after an entire religion doesn't really know their own history, to put it bluntly. Post-war, the committee (now officially named HUAAC) pivoted back to red-baiting. Communists were everywhere, apparently. They even might be (gasp!) lurking under your bed! This is not a gross overstatement of the hysteria which gripped the country in the days of Joe McCarthy. Red-baiting on HUAAC not only created the Hollywood blacklist, but also (just for good measure) served as the launchpad for Richard Nixon's political career. Notable Hollywood stars such as Charlie Chaplin and Orson Welles had their careers destroyed by HUAAC. Of course, they were discerning about which threats to American-ness they chose to target. From Wikipedia: In 1946, the committee considered opening investigations into the Ku Klux Klan but decided against doing so, prompting white supremacist committee member John E. Rankin (D-Miss.) to remark, "After all, the KKK is an old American institution." The desire to root out un-American influences wasn't limited to just HUAAC, it's worth noting. Joe McCarthy was a senator, and his hearings were held on the other side of the Capitol. In the 1950s, the Senate also had a committee that investigated the pernicious effects of comic books on America's youth (you just can't make this stuff up). It's kind of a stretch from Nazis (or even Commies) to comic books, but that stretch was indeed made, complete with testimony about how comics were a worse influence than even Adolph Hitler's propaganda machine. Advertisement In the 1960s, HUAAC also widened its scope. Suddenly the "enemies of America" became America's own youth. College campus organizations were targeted, anti-war groups were targeted, and the Youth International Party (the "Yippies") was targeted (both before and after the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago). Abbie Hoffman was, in fact, on his way to a HUAAC appearance when all the panic over him "wearing a U.S. flag" happened (he was actually wearing a flag motif shirt, not an actual flag, but this quickly got lost in all the hysterical outrage). The concept of HUAAC was born of wartime fears. But when the wars were over, it conveniently became a tool to grill any person or any group that right-wingers disapproved of as being "un-American." This smear was a lot more potent than you might think -- not only were the person or group's ideology examined under a very skeptical public microscope, but their patriotism and national loyalty were also deemed suspect. This is what Newt Gingrich thinks we need, right now. HUAAC was renamed in 1969, and disappeared altogether by 1975. It deserves to stay dead. It should not be revived under any circumstance. We already have plenty of antiterrorism laws on the books, and if more are needed then Congress can pass them without the aid of a committee dedicated to political witch-hunting. Newt is no fool -- he knows his history. So he likely knows full well what would happen to such a committee, especially if Republicans retain control of the House (and get to appoint committee chairs and members). First, it would focus on Islamic terrorist infiltrators in America. Then it would broaden its scope to include any "fellow travelers" (a phrase right out of the red-baiting era). This would likely lead in short order to investigating every mosque that was deemed suspect by its neighbors, anywhere in the country (remember the "Ground Zero mosque" hysteria?). If America ever got back into a boots-on-the-ground war again, with hundreds of thousands of U.S. soldiers in a Muslim land (a distinct possibility no matter who becomes president), then the committee would easily shift gears to begin investigations of any groups opposed to such a war (remember Code Pink and other anti-war groups being targeted, roughly 10-15 years ago?). Who knows where a new HUAAC would stop? Again, if controlled by Republicans, they could easily make the case that pretty much any liberal group they didn't agree with was, by their definition, "un-American." This is why a new HUAAC is such a monstrously dangerous idea. Its very existence -- right there in the name of the committee for all to see -- would be to determine what was acceptably "American" and what was "un-American." That very concept is about as un-American as can be imagined. What gives some right-wing politician (or, for that matter, some left-wing politician) the right to determine what is acceptably "American" and what is not? You won't find that anywhere in the text of the Constitution, that's for sure. America has cycled through this debate many times, almost all of them with a war threat looming or an actual war being fought. The first was in a war fever in the 1790s, in fact, and led to the Alien and Sedition Acts (the very first of several such monstrously un-American and shameful pieces of legislation in our history). One draft of these acts would have given the president sole discretion over which immigrants would be allowed into the U.S., and which should be summarily deported. Again, Donald Trump's immigration ideas are not exactly unprecedented in our history. We've already got several House committees dedicated to witch-hunts. Trey Gowdy's investigation into Benghazi springs immediately to mind. These would be a walk in the park compared to a permanent committee designed to ferret out "un-American activities." Imagine who would chair such a committee -- Steve King, maybe, or Jeb Hensarling? No matter who got the plum assignment, it's easy to see that whatever the stated reason for the reinstitution of the committee would almost immediately be overreached. The committee would soon be targeting anyone it had a mind to, and it's a pretty safe bet that wouldn't include the Bundy family out West, or any other right-wing group that openly defied federal law or advocated for the overthrow of the current national government. The country is already divided politically. Giving the House of Representatives a mandate to harass anyone they feel like certainly isn't going to help. The very concept of a "House Un-American Activities Committee" is about as un-American as you can get. I would urge all who value the Constitution and who also remember the days of Joe McCarthy to speak out forcefully against Newt Gingrich's idea of reviving HUAAC. Let's all hope this is one of those ideas Newt continually spews forth which will die before it even gains any traction. HUAAC is not going to stop a single lone-wolf terrorist attack. It's not going to solve the problem Newt identified. And it most certainly will expand its scope almost immediately to include anyone Republicans take a dislike to -- Planned Parenthood, for example, or ACORN, or any number of other organizations they don't agree with. Journalists printing stories from documents leaked by whistleblowers would almost certainly be on that list, somewhere. HUAAC, thankfully, is dead -- and therefore wasn't involved in these recent political battles. Bringing it back would be monstrously dangerous to American democracy. Newt's suggestion, to me, is even more horrifying than anything Donald Trump has yet proposed -- and that's a low bar indeed. Chris Weigant blogs at: Photo courtesy of Flickr. Yet another peer-reviewed article has assessed the stock-picking ability of Mad Money's Jim Cramer and found it lacking. Cramer underperformed the S&P 500 index The paper was co-authored by an MBA candidate and a Ph.D. candidate in statistics at the prestigious Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. They studied the complete historical performance of Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS portfolio from 2001 to 2016, which reflects many of the stock recommendations made on his Mad Money television program. All you really need to know is their conclusion: "We find that Cramer has underperformed the S&P 500 since the inception of his portfolio and the inception of Mad Money even when controlling for leverage and other academic factors." Advertisement According to an article commenting on the study in Kiplinger's (aptly headlined "Jim Cramer's Stock Picks Stink"), from Aug. 1, 2001 through March 31, 2016, Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS portfolio returned a cumulative 64.5 percent, compared with 126.1 percent for the S&P 500 index, including dividends. Cramer's portfolio was also about 5 percent more volatile than the S&P 500. The Action Alerts PLUS portfolio is sold through TheStreet.com and was established in August 2001. Cramer is listed on the website as its co-founder and "one of its largest shareholders." Subscribers are promised access to Cramer's personal charitable trust portfolio and to email alerts that notify them of recommended stock moves before he acts. Paying for bad advice The reported cost for a subscription to Action Alerts PLUS is $59.95 monthly or $299.95 a year. Hapless followers who paid for Cramer's advice got the worst of two worlds: Significant underperformance with greater volatility. The pitch for subscribers clearly indicates the purported benefits of learning about Cramer's stock-picking "insights." Here are some statements from the website: Advertisement "Want to know where a stock will go? Learn how we analyze price targets at Action Alerts PLUS." "Jim Cramer shocked the investing world in March 2005 when he converted his Action Alerts PLUS portfolio into a charitable trust, with the goal of giving investors an invaluable real-time, real-world education. In one move, he allowed the average investor to see exactly how a Wall Street legend analyzes the market and what moves he makes." "TheStreet's team of pros consistently provide the kind of insights, trade ideas and market calls that help investors like you stay ahead of the pack, no matter what." Old news The fact that Cramer has no stock-picking skill that could help investors "beat the market" is not new. My colleague, Larry Swedroe, wrote about it in May 2013, referencing another study. I have written about this issue many times, including in this blog. What's the harm? Cramer apologists don't argue with the data (because they can't), but often claim he is "just an entertainer." The implication is that no one should take his stock-picking advice seriously. This argument ignores the undeniable facts. Studies have shown that a buy or sell recommendation from Cramer affects the price of a stock in the short term. Clearly, at least in 2011 when the study was authored, some investors were following Cramer's stock-picking advice. Advertisement Cramer's celebrity status as a featured "expert" in the financial media is a constant infomercial for his subscription-based products. The prime motivation for subscribers to fork over almost $300 a year is their misguided belief that Cramer's "insights" can help them "beat the market." Cramer has First Amendment rights Cramer has the same First Amendment right to express his opinions that we all enjoy. There's nothing to stop him from asserting he has an expertise (or "insight") that could benefit investors -- even when this claim is demonstrably false. Cramer appears indifferent to the harm his "advice" has caused investors. As he once stated, "God knows why, but there seems to be a market for this kind of idiocy." There's also a market for (and money to be made selling) many other things that could cause people harm -- like addictive drugs and alcohol -- but most of us wouldn't provide those things to drug addicts or recovering alcoholics. Questionable ethics It's been shown that Cramer has no stock-picking expertise (other than what you would expect from random chance). Yet he continues to feature his stock picks on Mad Money and to peddle his lucrative Action Alerts PLUS subscription service. At the very least, the disclaimer on Mad Money should be amended to include the following: "There is no evidence that Jim Cramer's stock picks have outperformed a low-management-fee S&P 500 index fund for the period from 2001 to 2016 and significant evidence to the contrary." Advertisement While some may find his antics entertaining, the harm (and potential for harm) his advice causes is ample reason for not giving him a bully pulpit. Dan Solin is a New York Times bestselling author of the Smartest series of books, including The Smartest Investment Book You'll Ever Read, The Smartest Retirement Book You'll Ever Read and his latest, The Smartest Sales Book You'll Ever Read. He is a wealth advisor with Buckingham and the Director of Investor Advocacy for The BAM ALLIANCE. Madonna. Apple. Pepsi. What do these things have in common? A knack for reinvention. Artists and corporations alike know that the key to longevity is in adaptability. Sometimes a business needs to change its image. It might be that the branding no longer truly represents what your business does, or it might be simply to change with the times. In order to successfully rebrand, the organization must ask itself why it's doing a rebrand. What is the goal? What is the brand trying to convey? For small businesses, rebranding can be an important step in the growth of a company. If the existing brand awareness is fairly low, rebranding is a way to create a new first impression. It can bring a sense of renewal, leaving behind an outdated or poorly-designed image. While large corporations have to pour millions of dollars into a rebrand - which, of course, they are more than willing to do - small businesses are able to implement changes quickly and see results just as fast. There are a few reasons a business may want or need to rebrand. The importance of a logo A company's logo leaves a huge impression on clients or consumers. Sagi Haviv, partner at New York graphic design firm Chermayeff & Geismer & Haviv (CGH), asserts that a logo should be appropriate to the business, memorable and uncomplicated. Most importantly, it should be original. A good reason to rebrand is to increase clarity and visibility. For example, Mega!, a Wisconsin co-op with around 66,000 members, increased the legibility of its logo by making small changes to character spacing and just slightly altering the typeface. The new logo became pivotal to a rebranding effort, which aimed to more clearly establish that Mega! is in fact a co-op dating back to 1935. Even large corporations adapt their logos, even if for the sole purpose of modernity. Earlier this year, Google made the largest change to its logo in the company's 17-year history. Companies like eBay and Microsoft, too, nixed logos harking back to the '90s in favor of clean sans serif fonts and simplified trademarks. The new Windows logo looks less like wavy Word Art and more like the symbol of a tech conglomerate. Pepsi simplified its recognizable red, white and blue globe. Utilizing more capable technology Rebranding also creates the opportunity for a brand to make technological strides. A new logo may mean a revamped website or a glossy new look on social media pages, but rebranding can also be a lot more than that. Let's look at Enjoy the Arts, an Ohio-based non-profit that aims to promote the arts to younger audiences. Founded in 1981, Enjoy the Arts rebranded with an energetic new image in 2014 to forge a stronger connection with its target demographic. The non-profit rolled out an innovative technology platform, turning a simple website into a user-friendly, smartphone-accessible events portal. Apple was once just another computer company, falling behind Microsoft for years in terms of popularity and market share despite its reputation for innovation. When the company began selling iPods (remember those?) and eventually iPads and iPhones, Apple evolved into something financially greater and culturally more significant. Originally incorporated as Apple Computer, Steve Jobs announced that the company was ditching "Computer" in 2007. Apple now sits at the pinnacle of the tech world, like the Greek gods overlooked Athens from Mt. Olympus. Each Apple keynote is a much-hyped event, prompting live blogs and millions of tweets. Keeping up with the times - and the competition As technology advances, some services become products of the past. There was a time, for decades even, when essentially every household in the United States had a copy of the Yellow Pages - then came the Internet. Still, the Yellow Pages managed to survive the Digital Revolution. Recognizing a need for change, the Yellow Pages (now known interchangeably as YP) aligned itself with the likes of Google, Yahoo and, more recently, Yelp. It receives over 80 million monthly hits at YP.com and has over a billion dollars in digital revenue. The Berry Company, founded by Yellow Pages pioneer Loren Berry (and owned by AT&T South), now provides content marketing services and mobile-responsive sites to small businesses. Rebranding isn't just a sign of the times, either. The presence of competition forces like-minded businesses to evolve and innovate - hence the rivalry between Coke and Pepsi, even after all these years. The past few years has seen the public play witness to Apple, Google and Microsoft battle one another for domination of the tablet market. In such a case, rebranding can be a useful way for a business to distance itself from the competition and come out ahead of the pack. Of course, rebranding does not always go as planned, but there is a certain inevitability to it. In the long run, a business that remains stagnant will not survive the free market. When a business reevaluates its image, its online presence and its main contenders, it can use that information to realign itself at the forefront of its industry. As long as consumers are in no danger of alienation, rebranding is often one of the most successful things a business can do for itself. Another avoidable mass casualty event has been visited upon innocent Americans. This time 49 lives have been claimed with 53 others suffering severe injuries in a Bataclan-style act of domestic terror carried out by Omar Mateen. The targets of this heinous attack were primarily celebrants marking Pride festivities throughout the night at the Pulse night club in Orlando. The senseless bloodshed in Orlando has the dubious distinction of being the worst case of gun violence in the U.S., marking the 16th time President Obama has had to console the nation in a sign of frustrating political futility to enact sensible gun reforms. Chillingly, Orlando was one of two plotted attacks on America's LGBT community on one of their most important days. The second act of mass violence was planned in West Hollywood, California, where the would-be perpetrator, Wesley Howell, was thwarted by law enforcement officials with a large cache of guns and explosives. Mass casualty events like these, whether they occur in elementary schools, movie theaters or night clubs, and the impotence in our political system to respond affirmatively, call for a new social compact in the U.S. The usual prayers, vigils and consolation icons that replace Facebook photos are now farcical with how quickly they change to recognize the latest atrocity. It is time to move from indignation and reverent solidarity, to concerted political and social action. This is the only way to do justice to the thousands of victims of gun violence and to ensure they did not die in vain. Rampant gun violence and the inability of elected officials at the local, state and Federal levels to keep their citizens' safe is but one example of our eroding social compact. Others include the ZIP code lottery that dictates whether children will get an adequate public education or not. Crumbling infrastructure punishes all sides of the political spectrum (and all races) as wantonly and indiscriminately as gun violence. Over Labor Day weekend, more than 60 people were shot in Chicago, whose persistent violence barely registers on the national radar. In short, we are at war with ourselves and no foreign-borne threat can sow the type of chaos on the U.S. like our home grown variety. Advertisement Many people have grown tired of futile calls for gun reform and long term investments to begin arresting the tragedy of the commons that has gripped the country and seized many a great community like Detroit and Puerto Rico in its grasp. For serious change to occur, we the people must de-industrialize political influence on our elected officials. In Washington, D.C. there is a 12:1 ratio of lobbyist to elected officials. This type of paycheck persuasion, private jets and political favors can no longer get people elected or keep them in office if we are to have serious change in the country. While mass casualty events like Orlando, which will certainly not be the last, command our attention, albeit in a brief search for causality and motives, there are many long range attritional threats facing the country that are equally dire and neglected. Our internally displaced people (IDPs) from post-Katrina New Orleans and the fact that D.C.'s public schools graduate 64% of their high school students are but two examples of how long range preparedness is woefully lacking. Renewing America's social compact between and among its citizens and their elected officials requires a generational change in our leadership and an awakening in our public. The pathways to the middle class have been persistently shut over the last decade. Wages have stagnated, while the rungs of progress and education have grown farther apart and slipperier than ever before, requiring usurious student debt to see a graduation - with little guarantee of workforce mobility. In fact, we are now saddled with the lowest degree of economic mobility in a generation and the American Dream looks increasingly fleeting. The largest of our companies fly flags of convenience sheltering more than $2 trillion overseas, due in part to our byzantine corporate tax code and double taxation on repatriated earnings. The concept of Fortress America, building walls, xenophobia and economic retrenchment are of little use in the era of man-made risk. Zika, cyber threats and hateful ideologies promulgated by Daesh or other groups, do not recognize national borders and can propel lone wolves as we have seen in San Bernardino and Orlando. Instead, these amorphous threats are effectively combated by a strong, fair and engaged U.S. One that recognizes the double standard of telling countries like Egypt to curb police brutality while Baltimore and Ferguson are alight. One that is not afraid of tough diplomacy, where values, such as not torturing prisoners of war, are consistently upheld even when it is inconvenient. All of these elements that shape our domestic environment make up 'Brand America' and collectively they are our most important deterrents. Following another senseless mass casualty event, where tragically some in our country applaud the divine retribution against the LGBT community, Brand America is severely tarnished adversely affecting our domestic and international security. As long as it costs billions of dollars to occupy the Oval Office and there are no term limits or consequences in representing the people, we are assured a very sad, uneven and increasingly violent status quo. This great country can change if its great people find the will and common ground to do so. Like universal suffrage, the civil rights movement or, more recently, marriage equality, there are times when the U.S. can leap forward. Now is the time for demanding a new social compact on national public safety, quality education, reliable and safe infrastructure and a business environment where global competition and workforce mobility move in lockstep. Co-Authored by Maclen Zilber, Democratic Strategist and Campaign Consultant based in Hollywood, CA Public safety -- both domestically and abroad -- holds a special place in American discourse. Without a secure homeland and safe neighborhoods, bread and butter issues like the economy, our education system, or healthcare, all fall by the wayside. When nations face security problems, businesses can't operate properly or thrive, consumers will stay home, and a myriad other things we take for granted become less of a given. We've never experienced that in the United States, but we can't be so sure of that if Donald Trump becomes our next President. Just imagine how the world would be if, on January 20, 2017, billionaire Donald Trump raised his right hand, took the oath of office at his inauguration, and was sworn in as America's 45th President. Advertisement Now visualize how Trump would respond, as President, to a horrific tragedy as the one we witnessed this past weekend at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Would a President Trump call for more universal background checks to reduce the likelihood that those who purchase guns, like Orlando terrorist Omar Mateen, receive an intense screening prior to legally buying the weapons he used to commit mass murder? What would a commander-in-chief Trump do to minimize the ease in which terrorists can slaughter nearly 50 innocent victims using a military grade assault rifle in a matter of minutes? Given his past comments, Trump's answer would probably be more guns, bigger guns, "the classiest guns you've ever seen." Rather than enacting tougher laws to make it more difficult for terrorists, like Mateen, to purchase guns through additional background checks, Trump has made it clear he would like less oversight, not more, on gun purchases. He says the current background checks on the books are sufficient and also supports the use and sale of military grade weaponry, the type of weapons that are necessary to carry out such a large-scale mass shooting. Advertisement Trump sees nuclear weapons the same way he sees guns. For both, he believes more is better. In Trump's mind, giving more people guns will prevent further acts of carnage. At least that's what he said after the terror attacks in Paris. Likewise, Trump believes nuclear proliferation is inevitable, and that's why he'd prefer that more of America's allies have nukes, rather than not. Giving them these capabilities, Trump suggests, will help to minimize the risk of nuclear war. Here's the rub when it comes to Trump and nukes. Since the 1960s when President John Kennedy initiated negotiations for the Non-Proliferation Treaty, the U.S. has heavily prioritized reducing the number of nuclear weapons around the world. It's been a longstanding pillar of America's bipartisan foreign policy. President Obama has made nonproliferation a priority even back when he was a rank-and-file U.S. Senator. Trump, however, has made comments suggesting as President, he'd support a 180 degree reversal of this well-established objective by calling for more nuclear weapons, specifically in Japan, South Korea and in Saudi Arabia. Think of it as the Strangelove Doctrine. Perhaps what Trump fundamentally misunderstands, is that by allowing more nations to stockpile nuclear arsenals, he will help to spur a domino effect where bordering countries of those nuclear armed nations will feel compelled to build up their own cache of nukes, thus creating a world-wide ripple effect. It is a minor miracle that nuclear weapons haven't been used since World War II, but that would almost certainly change in a world where the "nuclear states club" has no bouncer at the door. Trump's dual philosophy of more guns and more nukes represents an opening for Hillary Clinton, as she seeks to peel away some of his support from moderate Republicans. Here's how: Even 2nd Amendment loving Republicans support more common sense background checks. They believe Americans ought to be able to bear arms, but that those who seek to harm others should be prevented from purchasing guns. There's even data to prove this. Advertisement A poll highlighted by the Center for American Progress released late last year by Public Policy Polling showed that, "83 percent of gun owners nationally support criminal background checks on all sales of firearms, while only 14 percent of gun owners oppose them. There is strong bipartisan agreement on the issue, with 90 percent of Democrat and 81 percent of Republican gun owners in support of background checks. Additionally, 72 percent of NRA members support them." Even if you believe most people should be allowed to have guns, we can all agree that suspected terrorists shouldn't be allowed to purchase them. Orlando terrorist Mateen was on the FBI's terror-watch list back in 2013. Had there been a more vigorous and thorough background check on him prior to the recent massacre, it's plausible that some of his gun purchases could have been thwarted. When it comes to who voters trust to oversee America's nuclear arsenal, according to a recent May FOX News poll, 49% of registered voters trust Clinton to do a better job of making decisions about using nuclear weapons, compared to 38% for Trump. Some of the nation's top national security experts, such as Republican and former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, have criticized Trump's calls for more nukes around the globe. Donald Trump's most potent electoral weapon is fear, but fear is a double-edged sword for him. Many people support Donald Trump because they're afraid and they see him as somebody who is willing to loudly combat what they're afraid of. If they start to see him as a catalyst of chaos, of instability, of uncertainty, then the very fear that has given him his electoral base could deal him his electoral demise. By standing with the NRA, however, Trump's strength is sapped, because he begins to look like a typical politician. Standing against something as popular as common sense gun safety regulations, like more background checks, because a special interest group tells him so cuts against his brand as a plain-speaking truth teller. Advertisement Furthermore, Trump's strength comes from his appeal to peoples gut emotions, and right now one of the strongest visceral emotions many Americans are feeling is that something must be done about gun violence. Trump is like a shark that must keep swimming to stay alive - he needs to keep gobbling up news cycles to remain relevant. If he refuses to offer a realistic and meaningful plan to reduce gun violence, he risks relegating himself to the dustbin of "past viral phenomena" like Herman Cain or Rick Astley. Even worse, Trump's pursuit of delusional conspiracy theories by suggesting that President Obama had anything to do with the Orlando shooting makes him come off not as a strong nominee of a major political party, but instead as unhinged and unstable. Trump's failure in response to the Orlando catastrophe coupled with his spine-chilling approach to nukes are both wedge issues that can start to peel away some of the very traits that give him strength, and Hillary Clinton has every moral and political justification to begin hammering away at them. Who knows, Trump is so impulsive and rash that if he begins feeling the heat over these issues, he may well switch his position on them (one could only hope!). A few weeks before I participated in the gentrification of Bushwick, a livery cab driver was shot and killed outside my new apartment. The murder received little attention. I only learned about it because I decided to investigate the makeshift memorial I passed each day. Fake red and blue flowers spelled out the word "DAD" on a pallet perched atop a chain link fence outside a vacant lot. A small Dominican Republic flag flapped above the flowers, which gradually faded as the years passed. Recently, I realized that the memorial had disappeared. I do not remember when I last noticed it because, to me, it had receded into the landscape long ago. I often encountered it but rarely considered its meaning. Advertisement My experience reflects a pervasive attitude toward urban gun violence. Newspapers devote a couple paragraphs to some shootings. Homemade memorials fall to the ground where they become garbage for the street sweepers to churn up. We forget about the victims. We ignore the incidents or consider gun violence an inevitable urban reality. Speaking to gentrifiers, like me, who want to stop gun violence Mass shootings, like the weekend massacre in Orlando, dominate the national conversation about gun violence. Indeed, I considered gun violence through a lens of "no more Newtowns" until I realized that prominent attacks - the incidents that provoke the most media attention - almost always involve white, middle-class victims unless the shooter was motivated by extreme hatred. We ignore the daily gun violence in communities of color. Meanwhile, such communities have experienced an influx of young, white, upwardly mobile newcomers like me. You know us as hipsters, yuppies and gentrifiers. Our arrival makes once-neglected communities palatable to real estate interests, attracts high-income development, inflates rents and constructs a new community on top of an existing one. Thus, gentrification alienates, squeezes and displaces long-term residents. These forces further exacerbate problems like gun violence. Although I am ambivalent about gentrification, I nevertheless participate in the process. I wanted to learn how I could best support constructive, inclusive change in and around my community. Therefore, I reached out to Crown Heights Save Our Streets Executive Director Amy Ellenbogen and Program Manager David Gaskin. Crown Heights S.O.S. members adhere to the motto "Stop Shooting. Start Living." They host events that foster unity among neighborhood residents, engage in street outreach and provide conflict resolution to stop violence. Gaskin leads a team of outreach workers who identify and support individuals at a high-risk for gun violence. The workers all hail from the same communities as the people they serve. Their experience and willingness to engage with individuals twenty-four hours a day enables them to connect with young people. Advertisement First, examine your behaviors and role Because gun violence arises from a confluence of social factors, we must first consider the drivers of violence in urban areas, Ellenbogen explained. These drivers include poverty, alienation, reduced access to opportunity and deliberate disinvestment. At the same time, we must examine our own role in upholding such trends and resist behavior that promotes oppression. "[Gentrifiers should] get involved in whatever they can do to keep the rent down [and join] whatever organizing is going on in your neighborhood," she said. "You're helping the long-time residents stay in their neighborhood and deflecting real estate practices that push out people of color and that contribute to an erasure of the people who live there." Unfortunately, gentrifiers tend to isolate themselves from neighbors who have lived in the area for years. They seem to replace the existing neighborhood rather than engage with the community. Ellenbogen said that such behavior alienates community members and "creates a feeling of toxicity among long-term residents." Neighbors, especially those from different racial and socioeconomic backgrounds, often exist in separate silos devoid of meaningful interaction. Ellenbogen suggested that new residents engage with the original community members to limit a sense of "invisibilization." "Patronize the long-term businesses, learn the history of the neighborhood and meet your neighbors," she said. "It can seem like all the younger, lighter-skinned residents all know each other and go to certain places and don't see the rest of the neighbors who have been there forever." "Know your neighbors," Gaskin added. "Greet your neighbors. I personally shouldn't move into a block [without wanting] to get to know what's going on. A simple hello. This is how I make my inroads." Join the existing community Ellenbogen also encouraged newcomers to donate money and time to the organizations and activist networks that already function in the community "People will say, 'I don't want to just donate. I want to volunteer' and that's great, but you really do need to donate and donate locally to the places that have been there and that have been contributing to the strength of the community," she said. She advocated for newcomers to engage in existing organizations rather than spearhead solutions to perceived problems without community input. "[The community] did not just come into existence when you moved in," she said. "Offer your services in the back seat . . . Get involved in a way where you're listening and taking leadership from the long-time leaders of the neighborhood. They've been working hard and they were working hard before you came." Utilize your talents Ellenbogen encouraged individuals to exploit their skills and interests in order to build community, promote conflict resolution and help spread the movement's message. For example, she said, a graphic designer could create appealing t-shirts that young people will embrace. A computer programmer could help an organization bolster its website, she added. "You don't have to change yourself in order to work in this movement," she said. "We just need to think creatively about how to plug in." In addition to channeling their skills, she advised that individuals who want to get involved must be willing to perform the laborious tasks of organizing, such as unfolding chairs for an event. Such activity creates buy-in among new members and enables an organization to more easily achieve its goals. Work to construct a healthier, more equitable society Finally, Ellenbogen and Gaskin explained that reducing gun violence involves overcoming inequities in other social systems and creating an environment where young men feel comfortable expressing emotions besides anger, a concept which Gaskin calls "healthy masculinity." An AR-15 rifle with bullets on an American flag, a symbol of the right of patriotic Americans to bear arms, guaranteed by the Second Amendment. In January, I learned through a Washington Post essay that Norah, a woman I shared several classes with in grad school, had a secret life. When she was four years old, she and her mother were shot. Norah recovered. Her mother didn't die right away...she lingered for 20 years, paralyzed, before finally dying from complications of her injuries. This reminded me of an incident from Lucille Ball's memoir, Love, Lucy. When Lucille was young, her little brother was given a gun as a gift, and he accidentally shot the little boy next door. The boy didn't die. Like Norah's mother, he was paralyzed for life. His family sued the Ball family into bankruptcy, ruining the until-then happy childhood of history's favorite comedienne. Advertisement I wrote this essay simply because I had never really thought before about the non-fatal effects of shootings. It was kind of a revelation. We hear about mass shootings more and more all the time. They've become so commonplace that we have established protocols for reacting nowadays: Right now #Orlando and #OrlandoShooting are trending. That's doing something. We don't know all the facts about the shooting at a gay nightclub during LGBT Pride week yet, but we do know this: there will be vigils. The news media will detail every increasingly gruesome and anxiety-inducing aspect for weeks to come--the bloodier the photos the better, it seems. We will assume terrorism has something to do with it. And by terrorism, we mean fundamentalist Islam because today, on our televisions, terrorism has no other meaning. If this shooting is related to the Islamic State, then it's "that" terrorism. But most of the mass shootings in this country have nothing to do with "that." As I write this, the president of our nation is speaking about the shooting. "This could have been anyone of our communities," he just said. I've seen this speech before, many times, most memorably after the shootings at Sandy Hook elementary school. I think President Obama meant what he said. Advertisement The individuals who do the shootings change, and so do the locations, and so do the victims. And also the numbers: those keep going up. "Biggest mass shooting in history" is an undeniably powerful headline, isn't it? What really changes? Nothing but our indifference. A hashtag is sentiment, not action, and a trending hashtag does not constitute success when it comes to doing something to bring an end to this bizarre and particularly American brand of domestic terrorism. Until today, we could count on celebrities and especially politicians expressing dismay and sympathy for shooting victims. We did get plenty of that, and plenty of websites are already at work collecting such pronouncements as Hillary Clinton's: Woke up to hear the devastating news from FL. As we wait for more information, my thoughts are with those affected by this horrific act. -H Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 12, 2016 Measured and appropriately sympathetic. To my great relief, Clinton's statement in no way takes advantage of the tragic circumstance to stump for more votes. Advertisement But we have something new now. We have a politician who had this to say: Really bad shooting in Orlando. Police investigating possible terrorism. Many people dead and wounded. Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 12, 2016 If you can find a modicum of sympathy here, much less any suggestion of how this is a problem in the United States and how a "Make America Great Again" platform can change this, then you must contact me immediately and tell me what I've missed. What is it about America that's not great right now? If you asked me, "mass shootings" would top the list. So would "an increasingly inhumane culture of disrespect." Trump is not referring to these things. It's troubling, to write perhaps the greatest understatement I've uttered in my lifetime, that what has been widely reported as "the biggest mass shooting in U.S. history" elicits zero emotional reaction whatsoever from one of our two presidential contenders. This is striking. It is a remarkable change in our national values and standards. Once upon a time, if you asked any given American citizen whether this country would do nothing about frequent and consistent mass killings of people on the streets and children in their schools, just about everyone would have said, "not in this country." We now live in a country in which this is the norm. We are accustomed to it. We hold vigils, and we discuss it in the office, and the news keeps up updated with shooters' selfies and tales of people cowering and screaming and being splattered with blood. We tolerate it. Advertisement When I wrote an article about nonfatal gun violence injuries, I frankly didn't think anyone would read it. I admit it wasn't the greatest thing I have ever written--heartfelt, but hardly "writerly." Yet it was read, and by far received the greatest number of comments of anything I have ever written, at over 900. These comments included: "This is in violation of our 2nd. Commandment. Washington wrote that we Americans have the right to have guns to protect our family and friends." That one made me do a double take, and made me double check some things I've been taught. For example, I thought that the second amendment to the U.S. Constitution dealt with gun laws, not the Old Testament's wrathful God's second commandment. Having attended a university named for George Mason, I also picked up somewhere that George Mason and James Madison drafted the Bill of Rights, not George Washington. (The "Bill of Rights" is the first 10 amendments to the United States Constitution--unless I am wrong about this, too.) It is possible that my elementary, middle and high school teachers and textbooks indoctrinated me into a far-left world view, although Virginia isn't exactly known for its far-left tendencies. Aside from the blatantly (in my opinion) ignorant comments were others that were striking in the same way Donald Trump's is: "Here is a news flash: The biggest cause of death is dying, most of which is not gun related. You will die too, because no one gets out of here alive. Hard to believe huh?" "The liberals have NO sense of humor. They are forever miserable unhappy people. Levity will not sway them. They are hopeless." I am liberal--though more of a centrist than my mother would like me to be, and certainly not a card-carrying member of either party due to my preference for independent thought rather than dependent following--but I really hope that is why I don't have any sense of humor about mass killings. Or why I feel as if there is an extreme and obvious logical flaw in drawing the conclusion that gun violence is not a problem because "the biggest cause of death is dying, most of which is not gun related." The 900-plus comments, which mostly read this way certainly made me question how I came to feel so strongly that whenever possible, human lives should be protected from mass executions when so many are so unconcerned with this. The most disturbing thing about those comments, and now Trump's, isn't illogic, though. It's a lack of humanity. Yes, it's disturbing that Congress bans the CDC from collecting data about the prevalence of gun violence. But to me--call me crazy--even though this is the era of big data, microdata, and All Things Data, I can't understand why it takes a ton of research for people to take action to stop these shootings from repeating. Every time there's a mass shooting, it makes headlines for weeks or months. Every time it makes headlines, copycat shooters repeat the crimes, and the cycle continues. This happened in the era of "going postal," and then following Columbine, school shootings became a fad as American as the pet rock. Now I fear LGBT people will be the next regular target. And then who will be after that? This is what I always wonder. I don't have children. People who do have children, aren't you scared sh!tless that yours will be mown down by bullets at school? Yes? Well, then what are you doing about it? Or does the Russian roulette wheel hold enough rounds of bullets for you to be a little concerned, but not so much as to do anything to keep them from spinning it? I just can't understand it. Call me gay; I am. Call me liberal; I am, to an extent. Call me crazy...as am able to make less and less sense of the inhumanity of our country, I am starting to wonder if perhaps I am crazy for thinking that mass murders should be prevented when possible. Advertisement Still, sane or not, crazy or not, I am certain of certain things: There will be candlelight vigils. All the news, and particularly the cable news networks, will invent slick graphics about "Orlando 2016: An American Tragedy" or something like that, and they will relay every horrifying, trauma-inducing detail they can get on camera or audio. Politicians--some politicians--will publicly mourn the loss with platitudes that "we musts" that to date have accomplished nothing and likely never will accomplish anything. And I am certain that this is one of those conversations that is not a conversation. Trump wants to build a great wall: there is already a great wall built between the two parties in this country, one that prevents any sane discourse about issues such as abortion rights, LGBT civil rights, institutionalized abuses against darker-skinned people, and gun violence. You're on your side, I am on mine. That's a tragedy, because when legislators won't do anything to change things, the news media has control over national conversations, and this conversation has become nightmarishly pre-ordained. Selfies of the shooting suspects will be flashed. Victims lying on the ground in body bags will be shown. Police lights, crowds of onlookers, hysterically mournful loved ones will lament the violence, lawyers, judges, police officers and other shooting victims' relatives will chatter about the tragedy. And nothing will change. I wonder if anyone actually wants it to. On my TV right now, ABC News is showing a group of young people carrying shooting victims down the street, illuminated by alternating red and blue lights. Lately it seems like this scene is playing every time I turn on my television. The eastern hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis) is America's largest salamander. Like many amphibian species around the world, hellbenders are in trouble as human activity has degraded and destroyed their habitat. But hellbenders are getting some help. Thanks to an innovative conservation project spearheaded by the Ohio Division of Wildlife along with Toledo Zoo and other partners, the future of these slimy, prehistoric-looking creatures is looking a little brighter in Ohio. Growing to a length of up to two feet, these mottled brown salamanders are fully aquatic, living permanently in clear, swift-moving streams. Though broadly distributed throughout the Appalachian region from southern New York to northern Georgia, with populations in Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri, their stream habitat is under threat and the species has steeply declined. Hellbenders have strong legs to crawl around on stream bottoms and a large tail used to swim against robust currents. They also have folds of skin on their sides to increase their surface area, maximizing oxygen absorption as they primarily breathe through their skin (they use their lungs for buoyancy rather than for breathing). Advertisement Hellbenders spend most of their time under large rocks with little cave-like openings. They feed on invertebrates such as crayfish, insects and snails but will also munch on small fish. Hellbenders are very territorial and will fiercely defend their rocks against other hellbenders or fish. Since these animals need quality underwater rocky habitat, siltation is one of their biggest enemies. Siltation occurs when trees are cut down along stream and river banks and significant soil erosion occurs, spilling sediment into the water. This sediment fills in the crevices under the rocks and reduces quality habitat for the hellbenders. In addition, heavy mining also pushes soil into these streams, which reduces water quality. As a result, hellbender populations have declined significantly in recent decades. In response to this decline, conservationists have stepped in to help the hellbender. I spoke with Justin Grubb, biologist with the Toledo Zoo (and recent winner of NatGeo WILD's "Wild to Inspire" film competition), who shared this video about a great conservation project to help these fascinating salamanders in Ohio. Advertisement Both liberal and conservative writers express amazement over Donald Trump's consistent inconsistencies - even incoherencies - regarding the positions he voices. But in fact there are no contradictions at all - once you realize there's a larger theme, connecting them. It's an overall, consistent mentality. To explain, let's look at the apparent discrepancies. One that's particularly baffling is a seeming disconnect within Trump's attitudes and behavior towards women. A recent New York Times story highlighted this. It described blatant, sexist objectification of women in his private relationships, relating to them as objects to seduce and possess as romantic conquests -- until he becomes tired of them. And yet, he's also promoted women to positions of management and responsibility in his business entities. So on the one hand, Trump looks like a conventional, though somewhat exaggerated, sexist skirt-chaser. But on the other hand, a modern, equality-promoting executive. More broadly confounding are Trump's multiple, ever-changing positions on policies, both domestic and foreign. They, too, appear incomprehensibly inconsistent from one moment to the next. Now you could explain that incoherency as the behavior of a more extremely bombastic, highly narcissistic politician. One who often expresses unanchored, off-the-cuff thinking. After all, narcissism is almost a job requirement for politicians, as Harold Lasswell described decades ago in his seminal book, Power and Personality. Advertisement But most narcissistic, power-seeking politicians want to garner enough broad support to get elected. Typically, they do that through charisma, crafted positions and calculated posturing for maximum appeal. That's what doesn't mesh with Trump's emotionally unregulated -- and ultimately self-undermining -- indiscriminate attacks on others. Including needed allies or potential supporters, even. That latter, destructive mentality is more reminiscent of one of Gore Vidal bon mots: "It's not enough that I succeed; others must fail." So on the surface, Trump's attitudes and behavior don't appear to reconcile, whether about women in particular or his political aims. But they really do. There's an overriding theme that ties them all together: An overall mentality - an emotional and mental perspective and attitude. It's that of an unbridled, unquestioned sense of personal greatness; of total power to control, possess and dominate as one wishes; for whatever purpose desired, at any moment. It forms a caricature of a Conquistador, set in 21st Century USA. It's an authoritarian who can do whatever he wants as it pleases him or serves his interest at the moment, or given a particular situation. It reflects high intelligence and savvy about finding the right vulnerability of others in order to exploit them for one's benefit. It embodies unquestioned belief in one's entitlement to take all for oneself; and destroy any who are in the way or who oppose you. So: promoting or seducing women? It's all the same, really: "You're my possession, and if you do what I want you do to, whatever it is, I'm good to you, will take care of you. But if you don't; or you cross me, I'll destroy you." Advertisement And incoherent inconsistencies about policies? No problem: "I change my mind in any direction I choose, and I will make it happen. My unbridled sense of greatness, power and control makes that possible. It's all good. It will be great." A recent TV interview of Shark Tank star and successful real estate entrepreneur Barbara Corcoran described the essence of this mentality from the inside: Both she and Trump started out in the business during their 20s, and she's known him through the decades since. She describes him as a master salesman -- for himself. ... hasn't changed one inch... he's your best advocate when you're on his side (but) if you ever differ with him, he was your worst nightmare. Traits like fairness, fair play, no bullying don't exist. You can't believe in anything he says, that he will actually do it... Is The Trump Mentality A Mental Disorder? Psychologically, this Trump mentality of a modern-day conquistador is the connecting thread throughout all his apparent inconsistencies of positions and attitudes. I've been asked, does this warrant a psychiatric diagnosis? One could go there, but I think doing so narrows and limits our understanding. That is, any innate tendencies we have can be shaped and strengthened - for better or for worse - by the social and cultural forces we experience. In my view, a broader understanding is important, given that we're in the process of choosing the next President. Of course, the sources of the Trump mentality and the reasons for its emotional appeal are complex; they warrant another discussion. But two are worth highlighting: One reflects a more extreme version of behavior displayed by many men who face steady erosion of traditional male power and status in society, a position which has rewarded them handsomely. They are so self-identified with it that they respond with vigorous efforts to hold on to their power and perks - even increasing it as much as possible, through whatever means necessary. Corrupt behavior, outright lying; whatever "works." Their attempts to preserve that sense of malehood - essentially extreme self-interest - is a form of psychological denial. They can't believe that the world could ever cease to be as it's always been for them. Advertisement A current, sad example of this is visible in the Houdini-like contortions many Republican politicians leaders are now going through - voicing support for Trump's election, while also rejecting his racist, bigoted views and dog-whistle appeals to the GOP's base. No surprise, really: We know from research that an increase of power tends to diminish your empathy towards others. And, that embracing high status and material success are linked with attitudes of entitlement and narcissism. But the inconvenient truth is that societal transitions require letting go of rigid attachment to things for the self, and supporting only the privileged few - whether in the form of money, power, or material acquisitions. That means relinquishing some of that self-interest to provide support for the common good. The latter is the basis for increased wellbeing, security and enhancement for all lives in today's world. Another source of the Trump Syndrome and its emotional appeal stems from pervasive social and political shifts, demographic and economic. They have unleashed fears, insecurity and anger among many Republican voters, and towards the Republican establishment. The GOP has long-sought their support via direct or indirect appeals to racism, bigotry, fears of gays, dislike of abortions and fears that guns will be taken away; arguing that the future those voters desire lies with keeping the Republicans in office. But many realize they've been duped. They got nothing in return, while the GOP establishment continued to profit, for themselves. That's fueled resentment. And it creates receptivity to someone who can express and exploit their anger about their situation. Someone who can direct it towards the establishment. And, who can confidently claim to be able to fix everything through sheer personal power. Hence, the emotional appeal of an authoritarian conquistador: He's going to solve everything through the strength of his power and authority. Many are now acknowledging the role of the GOP in "creating" the Trump mentality, especially the former Reagan and George H. W. Bush senior official, Bruce Bartlett, a vociferous critic of what's now the Republican Party. There's also a larger backdrop to both the erosion of traditional male power and status, and the GOP strategy that's come home to roost: The rise of unpredictability and continuous uncertainty about what will happen next in the world at large. Trump's erratic and incoherent positions look like an increasing norm. In the past, events could be unpredictable, but relatively stable in the sense that you could anticipate that things would return to "normal;" to some kind of familiar equilibrium. But today, we live in a non-equilibrium world. There's no previous, stable state to return to. Advertisement In effect, we're becoming more numb to erratic, unpredictable and frightening change. The columnist Walter Shapiro recently described this in Roll Call: In a sense, the incoherence of the world -- when Americans can't decide whether to worry more about Iran, China, Russia or North Korea -- protects Trump from the incoherence of his policy prescriptions. If no one has figured out a way to eliminate terrorism, then maybe, voters might figure, Trump has a point when he suggests committing war crimes against the families of ISIS fighters. Palazzo Pitti photographed for Pitti Immagine by Vanni Bassetti Florence is one of the most welcoming cities in the world. It's not just its perfect street layout that allows for an easy walk to any of the city's historic destinations; it isn't only the quality of the food offered here, always with a smile and a pretty decent bill to follow; and it isn't the shopping, that although phenomenal, is so plentiful that at times it's downright overwhelming. No, Florence offers something more. Yesterday afternoon, I met one woman visiting from New Jersey, on her way up to the rooftop of my hotel. She was glowing, and gushed, "I keep getting lost in Florence, in the most wonderful of ways." Perhaps that woman has uncovered the secret of this magical city. Florence may just be the one place on earth where getting lost is allowed, it's actually required and encouraged, and the only repercussion of losing one's way here, will be the priceless adventures gained. As Pitti Uomo kicks off its 90th edition, we mourn the outrageous loss of life in Orlando. There are reminders everywhere that we live in uncertain times. In front of the Uffizi Gallery, an armored car, and a soldier with the same kind of machine gun that the murderer used in Florida. The mere sight sent shivers up my spine, I can't even begin to imagine the terror the countless victims felt. This one carried by the soldier, is here to protect me, I thought, and it's still scary. Advertisement In front of the Palazzo Vecchio, where the opening ceremony of Pitti Uomo was held on Tuesday morning, an installation by artist Jan Fabre of his 1998 "Man who measures the clouds" golden statue, framed by an American flag and rainbow flag of LGBT pride. A classy tribute, by a classy city. As they say, the show must go on. And in Florence it does, because ultimately fashion and culture are the best antidotes to hatred and insanity. There has never been a fashionable killer. Or one that could hold an interesting conversation about the latest world cinema trends. In an Al Jazeera segment I heard while searching for news this morning, a NYC psychologist mentioned that at the root of all mass murderers is a deep sense of non-belonging, and misogyny. It's the reason women don't usually kill. And members of the global fashion tribe that has descended on Florence for Pitti Uomo never will. But there is still plenty of security to keep them feeling safe. The night before the fashion fair started, a few lucky invitees were treated to the most coveted ticket in town, the "Palazzo Pitti: Sounds and Lights" event. Hosted by Andrea Cavicchi, president of the Centro di Firenze per la Moda Italiana (the Florentine Center for Italian Fashion) and Eike Schmidt, the director of the Uffizi Gallery and the iconic Palazzo Pitti, the evening turned out to be a mystical trip down memory lane for me. During my family's entire stay in Florence, while I was a child, my father worked right across from the terrace where the dinner was held. I could see the small window that hovered high above the Pitti Square, I remembered the endless ramp of steep stairs that were required to reach the paintings conservation laboratory, where I first discovered a real talent for painting mustaches on antique paintings (preferably of ladies). But don't worry, my father only allowed me near the disposable works of art... Yes, Florence has some of those. Because art here, as fashion too of course, is not an occasional thing, it's a way of life. Advertisement The dinner itself was courtesy of some outstanding catering by Guido Guidi, with wines that included Ruinart Champagne and a Muffato della Sala by Antinori accompanying a fantastic champagne risotto with asparagus, a veal fillet with a fig sauce and potato millefoglie, and ending at a table of cakes, sweet delicacies and fresh fruit. A food lover's dream come true. But the highlight of the evening for me was the piano concert, courtesy of the Ensemble Piano Twelve and later, the maestro Giovanni Allevi. If you've always wondered what "Viva La Vida" by Coldplay would sound like on twelve synchronized pianos in a grand plaza, as the lights went down over the Florentine monuments... Well, it was incredible. At the opening ceremony slash press conference to kick off this 90th edition of Pitti Uomo -- the most respected menswear fair in the world which this time around celebrates 45 years since its inception and more than 60 years of the "Made in Italy" concept -- Florence Mayor Dario Nardella offered some of the wisdom I've come to associate with him. He said, "there can be no great fashion strategies without youths who can hold a needle and thread. Because you can't create, without being able to make." And that's what Florence is best known for, its world-class artisans, those who for centuries have made the city a pioneer in style, class and fashion. Pitti Uomo runs at the Fortezza da Basso in Florence through June 17th. Two important events will occur this November: The United States will elect its 45th president and I will reach the normal retirement age for Social Security. There is, I respectfully suggest, a connection between these two events. Never in my (now considerable) lifetime has the American electorate been as dissatisfied as it is today with the major parties' apparent presidential nominees. Indeed, there is an argument that never in American history has the electorate been this unhappy with the choices it confronts. The conventional wisdom is that an independent candidate must run to provide an alternative to the major parties' candidates. I instead suggest another course: Bring back the Electoral College as the active chooser of the 45th president. We should assemble and mount in every state where it is feasible bi-partisan slates of uncommitted electors who will actively deliberate and choose the next chief executive. The term "Electoral College" does not appear in the Constitution. The Constitution provides that "Electors shall meet in their respective states" and forward to Washington ("the seat of the government") their "ballots" for President and Vice-President. Advertisement Much sophisticated opinion views the Electoral College as an unwarranted anachronism. This year, they are wrong: This is the presidential election in which the electors should take seriously their obligation to pick the President of the United States. The Electoral College has never met as a collective body. As a constitutional matter, the electors of each state cast their votes in their respective state capitals to be sent to Washington. However, modern communications could make the electors a truly deliberative body. Electors from different states could meet and debate openly the merits of different presidential candidates. Some of us had hoped that such debate would occur at the national conventions this summer. The Constitution provides us with another opportunity for such a deliberative process by electing uncommitted electors who could then meet and select the 45th president. As part of this process, electors could use social media to communicate among themselves and with their constituents. Thus the old and new would combine to elect the 45th president. I would urge that these slates of independent electors be bi-partisan and that the members of such slates should pledge that none would accept any appointment or other largesse from the new president. That would help ensure that these electors would be genuinely disinterested. However, they would and should bargain among themselves and with potential candidates over personnel and policy. Advertisement Secretary Clinton and Mr. Trump will try to win over enough of the independent electors to prevail in the Electoral College. Fair enough. But these electors would be free to recruit and vote for anyone they choose. My personal hope would be that the independent electors would consider bi-partisan alternatives as a cure for the excessive partisanship which plagues Washington today. Biden-Romney? It is possible that an Electoral College with a significant bloc of independent electors would fail to elect a president as no candidate would obtain a majority. In that case, under the Constitution, the selection of the 45th president would devolve upon the House of Representatives while the next Vice-President would be chosen by the Senate. This process would lead to further bargaining and deliberation. Vintage, textured effect to image. The extra essays colleges and universities ask you to write, beyond the Common Application essay, contain a wealth of information -- for you, not just the colleges. And the most demanding and unusual questions invariably come out of the University of Chicago, where learning for its own sake is valued above all else. Now and then the students I work with have Chicago on their lists, until it's time to write the supplementary essays, and there's a moment of reckoning. The questions they encounter lead to a lot of head scratching and anxiety. Many find them too cerebral, too quirky, too impractical. This is exactly the process the university wants you to go through: if these questions thrill you, Chicago might be a great fit. If they don't, maybe this isn't your dream school after all. Maybe it's not even one you want to consider. Advertisement Now that the 2016-'17 questions are out, take a look and see what they do to your applause meter. You can read the University's essay page here or below. Remember, the Common App essay is the centerpiece of the application essays. Whatever else you write should not repeat what's in that essay. As you read through these, ask yourself what the university is hoping to learn about you through the questions. I'd say they're curious about your creativity, your analytical skills, your capacity to innovate, your willingness to engage in complex thinking, the degree of your intellectual curiosity - and maybe even your sense of humor. If the questions land with a thud, move on. There are hundreds more colleges and universities, and dozens of supplementary essays that might be much more to your way of thinking and moving through the world. Question 2 (Optional): Share with us a few of your favorite books, poems, authors, films, plays, pieces of music, musicians, performers, paintings, artists, blogs, magazines, or newspapers. Feel free to touch on one, some, or all of the categories listed, or add a category of your own. Advertisement Extended Essay Questions: (Required; Choose one) Essay Option 1. What is square one, and can you actually go back to it? --Inspired by Maya Shaked, Class of 2018 Essay Option 2. Once, renowned physicist Werner Heisenberg said: "There is a fundamental error in separating the parts from the whole, the mistake of atomizing what should not be atomized. Unity and complementarity constitute reality." Whether it's Georges Seurat's pointillism in "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte," the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls, quantum physics, or any other field of your choosing, when can the parts be separated from the whole and when can they not? --Inspired by Ender Sahin, Class of 2020 Essay Option 3. The ball is in your court--a penny for your thoughts, but say it, don't spray it. So long as you don't bite off more than you can chew, beat around the bush, or cut corners, writing this essay should be a piece of cake. Create your own idiom, and tell us its origin--you know, the whole nine yards. PS: A picture is worth a thousand words. --Inspired by April Bell, Class of 2017, and Maya Shaked, Class of 2018 (It takes two to tango.) Essay Option 4. Alice falls down the rabbit hole. Milo drives through the tollbooth. Dorothy is swept up in the tornado. Neo takes the red pill. Don't tell us about another world you've imagined, heard about, or created. Rather, tell us about its portal. Sure, some people think of the University of Chicago as a portal to their future, but please choose another portal to write about. --Inspired by Raphael Hallerman, Class of 2020 Essay Option 5. It has been said that it is unfortunate that mathematicians do not have any procedures in place for revoking theorems once their validity is established because sometimes our results would be nicer without them. If you had the power to obliterate any known truth for the sake of getting nicer results, what truth would you choose to obliterate and why? This power cannot be used as a Ctrl-Z on events in your own life. --Inspired by Erin Horning, Class of 2016 Advertisement Essay Option 6. In the spirit of adventurous inquiry, pose your own question or choose one of our past prompts. Be original, creative, thought provoking. Draw on your best qualities as a writer, thinker, visionary, social critic, sage, citizen of the world, or future citizen of the University of Chicago; take a little risk, and have fun. View past prompts here. Well? What did you think? The conference takes place at the Park Hyatt hotel in Zurich on the 29th of June 2016, starting at 2pm and ending at 7:30pm. Managers in financial institutions and investors in FinTech and innovations often lack the time to search for innovative companies. Our target audience are therefore managers and experts who are looking for innovative solutions and investors who are interested in investing in innovative solutions and companies. As we are going to introduce a number of local start-up companies, the intention is to support these companies in getting the attention that will help their business to continue to develop. As technologies are growing fast, a conference focused on innovations in technology for banking and finance deserves a fast process in order that the topics remain up-to-date. This is the reason why a shift in our culture is necessary in order to be able to adapt to the quick changes and cope with the speed of innovations in the markets. AGENDA Advertisement The central topics are FinTech, WealthTech and Blockchain. Furthermore, we will introduce a number of other innovative solutions and 10 local start-up companies. The content of the presentation of each speaker can be found HERE Price: CHF 243. (Quote Huffington Post as the source when registering and get a 50% discount) Attendants are limited to 350; therefore, first come first serve. Register here via online banking and send us an email afterwards to let us know that you have registered. Founded in 2010 by the vision and mission of Abhishek Syal, ARISE Impact is changing the world as we know it. Act to Rise for Innovation in Special Education (ARISE) is a non-profit organization that is transforming the education of differently-abled children, empowering them to envision a future beyond their homes and classrooms. Through innovative technology and resources, ARISE Impact has developed self-learning solutions for the visually challenged, thereby increasing employability and instilling confidence. Abhishek's visions of innovative technology has now transformed into a mission to make a difference in the lives of differently-abled children. To date, ARISE has impacted over 1000 visually challenged children with their SPECIAL Education Modules (SEMs), based on their SPECIAL (Specialized, Perceptive, Experiential, Concept, Instruction, Augmented, Learning) methodology. Through extensive field surveys and in class research from 2010-2011, the SPECIAL methodology led to the development of the capstone project that tested the content methodologies for engaging the visually challenged children. As a part of the SPECIAL methodology, they have developed proprietary content development techniques for representing map and diagrammatic information in textbooks in audio format. Focusing on a human-centric design, they actively involve the end users, the visually challenged children, in the content development process thus making the Special Education Modules (SEMs) more applicable and easy to understand. Advertisement The SEMs are also bilingual, helping the visually challenged children develop English fluency as well as their self-confidence while conversing in English. Impact studies have demonstrated an increase in the engagement levels for audio-based SEMs to 95-98% against traditional audio resources which are around 30-40%. ARISE Impact has garnered recognition across the globe for its imaginative approach to create highly engaging self-learning resources for the visually challenged children. This year, ARISE Impact will be showcasing their innovations in the global arena at the 6th Annual Classy Awards and The Collaborative conference, rubbing shoulders with other major social innovators such as charity:water. Presented by Classy, The Collaborative is a conference that brings together the leaders who are fighting on the front lines of social change. The prestigious 3 day event that is held in Boston, MA from June 14th to 16th brings together prominent players in the field of social impact, making it an incredible platform that gives rise to discovering, learning and collaborating. Under the leadership of Abhishek Syal, a talented team of individuals including: Himani Singh (CMO), Arnav Pandey (Product Manager), Erandi Palihakkara (Content Manager), Lavina Bijani (HR Manager), Aakriti Sharma (Content Writer), Maya Levy Meruk (Salesforce Specialist), Shruthi Shashidhar (Business Development Officer), Moustafa Ishak (Salesforce Specialist) and Sean Meininger (IT Manager) strive to bring ARISE Impact's vision to reality. ARISE Impact's board of advisors comprise of Rohit Lall (Strategy), Gary Drescher (Cognitive Learning and Artificial Intelligence Scientist), Professor Surekha Bhanot (Computer Vision) and Dr J.S. Jayara (Headmaster at the Institute for the Blind in Chandigarh). Following the remarkable success of the Special Education Modules, ARISE Impact has set its sights on collaborating with partners around the world, virtually, to develop and implement new online and offline learning programs to scale up the impact on the education of visually challenged children. With these programs, coupled with on the job training for companies who employ visually challenged individuals, they intent to propagate self-learning for higher employability outcomes in the differently-abled. Advertisement "But let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'" records Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist (5:37). Five short months ago a Synaxis of Primates of the Orthodox Autocephalous Churches took place in Chambesy, Geneva. At that time, all autocephalous churches agreed to convene the Holy and Great Council. They said 'Yes.' They said 'Yes' to unity. They said 'Yes' to conciliarity. But the 'Yes' of all has unfortunately become the 'No' of some. Advertisement Now, the Holy and Great Council - which begins this week on the island of Crete in Greece - is being held hostage by whimsical arbitrariness. Beginning with Bulgaria earlier this month, a number of local churches began reversing course, letting their 'Yes' become 'No.' As one church mused about not participating, another would say the same thing, creating a negative narrative about the Holy and Great Council. The timing and message alignment mimicked the exquisite choreography of a St. Petersburg ballet performance. Under demanding circumstances - and despite continued criticism - the Ecumenical Patriarchate and His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew calibrated a careful response. Advertisement In short, Constantinople called for previous agreements and procedures - note agreement, not imposition - to be respected and followed. The Ecumenical Patriarchate, which has responsibilities unlike no other local church, focused its efforts to safeguard the unity of Orthodoxy, especially with the world watching. The Holy and Great Council will proceed as normal; whether it is actually 'Holy' and 'Great' will be determined only after the Council - not necessarily by who is present but by what is decided. It is not enough for Councils to follow formal regularity; moreover, participation by all autocephalous churches does not make them automatically valid. One of the shortcomings of the entire pre-conciliar process was the rigid requirement for unanimous consent from all local churches thus giving each of the fourteen Primates a veto over pan-Orthodox decisions - which is inconsistent with the tradition and spirit of Orthodoxy. "Indeed, those Councils which were actually recognized as "Ecumenical," in the sense of their binding and infallible authority, were recognized, immediately or after a delay, not because of their formal canonical competence, but because of their charismatic character: under the guidance of the Holy Spirit they have witnessed to the Truth, in conformity with the Scripture as handed down in Apostolic Tradition." -Georges Florovsky Orthodoxy's Opportunity: Creative Destruction There are six agenda items to be discussed in Crete, each having its own supporting document adopted with unanimous approval (with the exception of the document dealing with marriage). Setting aside some serious theological concerns that have arisen, the documents themselves are rather unexciting, dare I say uninspiring. This should not come as a major surprise. Most of them have been developed over decades, by a relatively small group of church representatives, each, presumably, with their own contributions, with compromises made along the way in order to reach consensus. In their current form, some of the documents - even those pre-approved - will not receive unanimous support. A number of local Synods have formally suggested changes even before the Council begins. The texts, therefore, will have to be updated; and, contrary to some who suggest otherwise, the Council's Organization and Working Procedure - despite being rather rigid - do allow for "Modifications of Texts" under Article 11. Advertisement Enter "Creative Destruction," an idea popularized by Joseph Schumpeter in the mid-twentieth century. An economic theory originally developed for industry, its premise is simple: destroying an old structure to create a new one. Applied to the Holy and Great Council, the proposal for creative destruction is to amend (read: strikethrough) the pre-conciliar documents (they can be used as reference and/or building block language, where appropriate). The creative part will come in Crete, where the assembled bishops would discuss and draft one inspiring, authentically Orthodox, spiritually relevant document that will truly make a mark in an increasingly fragmented, distracted, and dangerous world. A rejoinder to this proposal is how could 300 or so individuals, including about 200 bishops (depending on how many actually attend), develop such a document in one short week? It would be a formidable task indeed, and not without its challenges; but, there are two points worth mentioning. Advertisement First, Council participants will have the world watching them and, most acutely, missing Orthodox sister churches. They will not be isolated, working with no specific deadline. Instead, bishops will have to collaborate with no time to dawdle. Second, and most importantly, participants will be under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Instead of only making minor, albeit important, changes and having the hierarchs then rubber-stamp the existing texts, let them, together with their chosen consultants, be inspired and guided by God the Holy Spirit to develop a document worthy of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church which alone possesses the fullness of truth. Church leaders should set the prepared texts aside and use their freedom to draw attention to and stress the uniqueness of Orthodoxy, its freedom-granting ascetical and spiritual life, in addition to resolving matters of Church administration. The Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church is decades in the making, and without precedent for centuries: therefore, Church leaders should not be held captive by discord and dissension but instead put their trust in God to guide them to develop a document that seems good to the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 15:28), is a witness to the Truth and is received by the Body of Christ, that is, the entire Church. According to many observers, the Supreme Court is struggling to do its job. It is "diminished," "hobbled," perhaps even "crippled." The death of Justice Antonin Scalia has left the country with an eight-member Court that split 4-4 in an important case involving forced public-employee contributions to unions and may split in other high-profile, politically controversial cases as well, leaving the state of the law (as construed by the highest court in the nation) unsettled. There is no indication that the void left by Scalia's absence will be filled anytime soon. Senate Republicans have firmly adhered to their commitment not to hold hearings or vote whether to confirm Judge Merrick Garland, who President Barack Obama nominated to replace Justice Scalia. In a recent New York Times op-ed, Professor Barry McDonald argues that we should not be "overly trouble[d]" by this state of affairs. Professor McDonald claims that a Court that decides fewer consequential cases may actually be more consistent with the Framers' vision than a Court that resolves "many politically charged and contestable questions." Specifically, he avers that "the judicial branch was something of an afterthought for [the Framers], because they believed that in a democracy the elected branches would be responsible for governing the country." Accordingly, McDonald advocates "restraint in deciding important issues of constitutional law" and expresses hope that an eight-member Court will avoid "bold, sweeping and highly debatable proclamations about the meaning of the Constitution." Advertisement Professor Michael Ramsey and Professor Vikram Amar have made powerful--to my mind, persuasive--arguments that the Senate has no constitutional duty to hold hearings or vote on the Garland nomination. But the eight-member status quo cannot be defended on the grounds advanced by McDonald. McDonald proceeds from false premises about the Constitution's substantive mission and the constitutional role of the judiciary, and he arrives at conclusions that are incompatible with judges' constitutional duty. Professor McDonald's analysis is driven by what I have referred to as the "myth of majoritarianism"--the belief that the Constitution's primary substantive mission is the facilitation of majority rule. Gallons of scholarly ink have been spilt in the course of efforts to reconcile the Constitution's purportedly majoritarian character with the existence of an independent judiciary, staffed by unelected judges who are empowered to give authoritative expositions of law that bind elected officials. The myth of majoritarianism is responsible for an enduring academic obsession with the "countermajoritarian difficulty" that judicial review supposedly poses in a majoritarian democracy. Although it has many adherents, the myth of majoritarianism is both false and pernicious. The Constitution authorizes and circumscribes government power in order to protect individual rights from the minoritarian tyranny of the few and the majoritarian tyranny of the many. No more does the government created by "We the People" have the authority to deprive individuals of the "blessings of liberty" that (according to the Preamble) the Constitution was "ordain[ed] and establish[ed]" to "secure," than does the Declaration of Independence, by stating that governments derive their "just powers" from the "consent of the governed," confer legitimacy upon governments that systematically violate "unalienable rights." The Constitution's mission of rights-protection is evident in both its explicit protections for individual rights and its structural limits on democratic decision-making, which create numerous chokepoints through which legislation must pass and which serve to prevent any government entity from attacking individual rights unopposed. Advertisement Once we understand the function of the Constitution's architecture, we can appreciate how an independent judiciary serves as its keystone. The lack of a "known and indifferent judge" to give effect to "an established, settled, known law" was among the principal defects that John Locke identified in the "state of nature" absent government. People in the state of nature act as judges in their own cause--and because people are "biassed [sic] by their interest[s]," the danger that one's life, liberty or property might be taken away through force backed only by will leaves individual freedom "very unsafe, very unsecure [sic]." Far from being an "afterthought," the establishment of an independent judiciary was prompted by a perceived imperative to ensure that a "known, indifferent judge" stood ready to (as Alexander Hamilton put it) "guard the Constitution and the rights of individuals." As Professor Philip Hamburger has demonstrated, the judicial duty to exercise independent judgment--judgment free from the influence of either internal or external will--and give effect to the law of the land, even if that means invalidating assertions of government power, was not invented in Marbury v. Madison. It was a component of an ideal can be traced back through hundreds of years of Anglo-American law. In 18th-century America, it was an ideal with decidedly countermajoritarian implications. The principal threats to liberty in 18th-century America came not from the executive but from state legislatures and popular majorities that (as Hamburger explains) "repeatedly threatened the freedom of various racial, religious, political, and propertied minorities." It is telling that "Anti-Federalist" opponents of the proposed, unamended Constitution expressed concerns that federal judges would be less willing to oppose unconstitutional acts than state judges, who had shown their "firmness to counteract the Legislature in some cases." By authorizing "The judicial Power" and vesting it exclusively in "one Supreme Court, and in Such inferior Courts as the Congress may . . . ordain and establish," Article III of the Constitution incorporates the duty of independent judgment as an essential feature of the judicial office. Judges who draw their power from Article III must evaluate politically controversial assertions of government power to determine whether they are consistent with the law of the land and invalidate them if they are not. The question is thus how judges should evaluate such assertions of government power, not whether they should do so. More specifically, the question is whether they have a duty of judicial engagement--a duty to impartially pursue the truth concerning the lawfulness of the government's true ends and means, without deference to government officials' beliefs, desires or unsupported factual assertions--or whether they should systematically defer to the government in some (or perhaps all) cases. Advertisement The duty of independent judgment imposed upon judges by Article III, as well as the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment's guarantees of due process of law, forbid systematic judicial deference to the government. The duty of independent judgment--judgment free from will--is incompatible with systematic deference to the will of one party in a given dispute when that party (here, the government) seeks to impose its will upon the other. Failure to exercise independent judgment has the effect of depriving the party challenging an assertion of government power of due process of law. Due process of law requires not just any kind of decision-making process but a process that is impartial, grounded in reliable evidence and governed by the applicable legal principles. A judge who understands him or herself to be obliged to defer to the government is necessarily partial to the government. Further, the experience of the last several decades has demonstrated that systematic judicial deference is a recipe for constitutionally unconstrained government. Court-fashioned doctrines of judicial deference have enabled federal executive agencies to wield regulatory power over what often seems like every facet of our lives; state licensing boards to impose protectionist restrictions on myriad harmless occupations, from floristry to eyebrow-threading to African hair-braiding; and land-hungry developers to bulldoze working-class homes for "economic development." Owing to the fact that the default standard of review in constitutional cases, the "rational-basis test," has been described by the Supreme Court in terms that when taken literally confer an effectively irrebuttable presumption of constitutionality upon assertions of government power, the only constitutional contexts in which government power is subjected to meaningful judicial scrutiny are those in which one of a handful of rights that the Supreme Court has deemed "fundamental" are burdened or which involve the targeting of "discrete and insular minorities." Wherever we find it, systematic judicial deference has enabled government officials to exercise arbitrary power--power that rests upon the mere will of those who hold it, rather than any constitutionally proper reason. Thus, proponents of constitutionally limited government and individual freedom should reject McDonald's case for a Court that steers clear of controversy. Regardless of its composition, the Court cannot perform its constitutional function and its justices cannot discharge their constitutional duty without carefully and conscientiously evaluating controversial assertions of government power over private citizens. The Court must not avoid controversial cases nor meekly defer to the will of government officials in resolving them. Anything less than consistent judicial engagement is a betrayal of the people's trust. It certainly felt like I was back in the Middle East when I woke up yesterday in Washington DC to the dreadful news of the Florida nightclub shooting. After all, when one arrives in America, they expect to escape awful headlines of bigotry, discrimination and hatred. Yet, the United States bleeds sometimes... just like the rest of us! Although it is geographically far from the complexities of the Middle East, yesterday's atrocity has proven - just like 9/11 did 15 years ago - that terrorist ideologies know no boundaries. Before I carry on, I must express my sincere condolences to all my American friends, and to members of the LGBT community who have lost loved ones and family members in this horrendous attack. Advertisement However, while Muslims in the US and around the world as well as the Saudi ambassador to Washington were quick to condemn this act of terrorism, all that one can tell Americans is that they are not alone in this fight. Sunday's atrocity has proven - just like 9/11 did fifteen years ago - that terrorist ideologies know no boundaries. (Photo: Faisal J. Abbas/ Al Arabiya English) Terror knows no boundaries!Just yesterday, a bomb - linked to Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah - exploded in a heavily-populated civilian area in Beirut. Upon hearing the news and just like the late Eddie Justice, who sent his mother Mina a heart-breaking text message right before he was killed in Florida, I feverishly reached out to my mom (who resides near the explosion site in the heart of the Lebanese capital) to make sure she is alright. Luckily, no causalities were reported in Beirut but I still grieve for those who lost loved ones in Orlando, New York, Paris, London, Madrid, Riyadh, Baghdad, Amman, Cairo, Bali... to name a few cities that suffered at the hands of terrorists in recent years. Advertisement What we should certainly remember is that before the attack on the gay nightclub in Orlando, ISIS-affiliated terrorists also attacked worshipers praying in mosques in Saudi Arabia! What this means is that the good news (in the worst sense of "good") is that no particular group is targeted individually; the bad news is that we are ALL targets of the evil and absurdity of clans such as ISIS. Indeed, all one could say on such a sad occasion is that there can be no justification for acts of madmen. Whether he turns out to have been directed by the likes of ISIS, Hezbollah or not, Omar Mateen, the shooter identified in Florida attack - certainly displayed early signs of being unstable and had been interviewed by the US authorities (Which raises questions as to how he was able to buy a gun). As such, Mateen is certainly no different (perhaps except in color and religious beliefs) than other terrorists, such the 1995 Oklahoma bombing's Timothy McVeigh or the 1996 Olympic Park bombing's Eric Rudolph who was convicted for anti-gay and anti-abortion attacks in the US. In light of the rise of Islamophobia, presidential candidates who exploit the politics of fear and recent official revelations by the CIA on the strategic importance of US-Saudi coordination in the fight against terror, let us make sure that the perpetrators of the Florida attack don't succeed in their aim of planting fear and hatred. Advertisement If anything we - as aspirers of stability, peace and prosperity - should now stand together, perhaps more united than ever! This story first appeared on Ecosystem Marketplace. By Allie Goldstein In 2006, the nonprofit organization World Vision started helping people in Ethiopia plant trees, and it funded the project by selling carbon offsets for the roughly 22,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide that those trees mop up each year. But World Vision isn't an environmental group; it's a humanitarian aid organization, and it launched the forest-carbon project as an environmental means to achieve humanitarian ends. It worked. The organization's new impact report finds the tree-planting effort has created more than 2,000 jobs while restoring 12 water springs and increasing soil fertility for four out of five families. The result is a dramatic increase in food security. "Now we eat three times [per day]," explained one cooperative member. "We used to eat twice." For More on the Sustainable Development Goals... ...check out the latest episode of Bionic Planet, a new podcast of the Anthropocene, to hear why Unilever CEO Paul Pullman, UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon and the Prime Ministers of both Norway (Erna Solberg) and Ivory Coast(Daniel Duncan) are treating the SDGs as a sort of global business plan. Advertisement Those non-carbon "co-benefits" have long been a key selling point of forest-carbon projects like this one, and scores of developers have designed their efforts in accordance with Plan Vivo or the Carbon, Community, and Biodiversity (CCB) Standards in hopes of earning a premium that is often funneled back into those communities. Our research, however, shows mixed results as to whether the premium is materializing on a meaningful scale, despite the fact that companies investing in forest-carbon offsets tell us they explicitly do so to have a positive impact on biodiversity and local communities. We examined this disconnect for our latest report, Not So Niche: Co-benefits at the Intersection of Forest Carbon and Sustainable Development, and we found that most developers see this as a communications and benchmarking challenge, and they see a potential solution in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The SDGs are 17 goals and 169 targets aimed at solving today's biggest social and environmental problems, and project developers tell us they have already been working towards many of those targets, and they argue that with more finance, they could do more. Advertisement World Vision's Soddo reforestation project is a case in point: when German climate consultancy CO2OL mapped the impacts of that against the SDGs, they found that it contributed to 11 of the 17 SDGs. For a deep dive into the state of voluntary carbon offsetting, join Forest Trends' Ecosystem Marketplace and the Climate Markets and Investment Association for a webinar built around the findings of "Raising Ambition: State of the Voluntary Carbon Markets 2016" - Ecosystem Marketplace's annual survey of the voluntary carbon markets.You can register HERE and then join us live on Wednesday, June 15 at 11am Eastern Time/4pm Greenwich Mean Time.Speakers will include: Kelley Hamrick , Senior Associate at Ecosystem Marketplace and the lead author of the report, presenting on the macro trends we're seeing, including growing voluntary demand for offsets (but at lower prices); buyer preferences by location, standard, and project type; and how voluntary offsetting fits into a post-Paris world. , Senior Associate at Ecosystem Marketplace and the lead author of the report, presenting on the macro trends we're seeing, including growing voluntary demand for offsets (but at lower prices); buyer preferences by location, standard, and project type; and how voluntary offsetting fits into a post-Paris world. Sean Penrith , Executive Director of The Climate Trust, will give us his take on carbon market dynamics in North America, and how his organization is helping to tackle the challenge of upfront carbon financing. , Executive Director of The Climate Trust, will give us his take on carbon market dynamics in North America, and how his organization is helping to tackle the challenge of upfront carbon financing. Marc Baker, Director of Carbon Tanzania, will provide an on-the-ground perspective on carbon project development in East Africa, including commentary on benefits sharing, securing land rights, and working with government on avoided deforestation. A Common Measuring Stick? Julian Ekelhof, a senior carbon management consultant at CO2OL, touched on this during an Ecosystem Marketplace webinar in March. "In our experience, it's crucial to talk about this in a terminology that is understood by the general buyer in the marketplace," he said. "For us, this would include the Sustainable Development Goals." Advertisement CO2OL and World Vision are not alone. As average prices for offsets on the voluntary carbon markets continue to fall, project developers and retailers are looking for new ways to earn the finance they need to endure in a difficult marketplace. For some, this means trying to quantify and monetize the multiple impacts they have been achieving all along. Of course, that's easier said than done. Carbon and co-benefits standards currently provide frameworks for tracking beyond-carbon impacts, but they more or less leave it up to project developers to figure out what, specifically, they're going to measure. For some impacts, such as employment, the common metrics are relatively straightforward, but for others, such as targeted benefits to marginalized groups, they are anything but. Towards a Common Language Many standards on the voluntary carbon markets are grappling with how best to quantify multiple impacts. The American Carbon Registry, for instance, is working on new metrics to quantify water savings and habitat creation alongside the greenhouse gas reductions associated with its rice cultivation methodology. The Gold Standard is perhaps the most direct about its goal to drive results-based finance for sustainable development outcomes. In the third iteration of its methodologies set to begin piloting at the end of 2016, the standard aims to quantify water, health, gender, and other outcomes and actually get buyers to pay for them, separately from the climate impacts. Gold Standard 3.0 is poised to be less carbon-centric, and its masterminds hope that diversification will inject new finance into the markets. "Carbon-based results-based finance is tried and tested," said Peter George, who directs development at the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves and spoke at the Gold Standard conference in Zurich in April. "Our new innovation is to look at health benefits such as the reduction of household air pollution." Advertisement One potential Gold Standard 3.0 metric is DALYs, or disability adjusted life years. The concept of DALYs was first developed by the healthcare industry in the 1990s to describe a year of healthy life lost and to compare health outcomes across countries. After touch-and-go success with quantifying the climate impacts of cookstoves projects (offset sales from cookstoves surged in 2012, then faltered), cookstoves developers are wondering if defining common health outcomes might attract new buyers - especially if the metric implies "years of life saved." For some companies, new metrics for carbon projects could help make the case that their investment checks off multiple boxes. French beauty brand L'Oreal recently announced its intent to become a "carbon balanced" company, which means offsetting the emissions it cannot reduce by other means. But the company also has additional goals for environmental and social impact: they have a no deforestation commitment; they aim to reduce their industrial footprint across water and waste by 60%; and they want to positively impact the lives of 200,000 marginalized people. Accordingly, L'Oreal has chosen to work with producers within their supply chain - shea butter makers in Burkina Faso, patchouli producers in Sumatra, and quinoa farmers in Bolivia - to reduce emissions while also delivering other benefits. The Politics of Measuring However, at the same time as the merging of the climate and sustainable development agendas may create opportunities for the voluntary carbon markets, it may also pose challenges. No one knows for sure how above-and-beyond emissions reductions will or should be "counted" in a world in which (practically) every country has a UN-regulated climate target. "We can't say if Gold Standard VERs and CERs will be fungible post-2020," admitted Gold Standard CEO Marion Verles in Zurich. "But we can't stop working." Advertisement Emerging compliance markets have historically taken cues from voluntary carbon market participants, and in this sense the experimentation that's going on now could be informative. Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, the article that sets the stage for transferring "mitigation outcomes" between parties, makes it clear that the goal of any transfers would be "to promote the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions while fostering sustainable development." The mention of both climate and sustainable development in the same breath within the Paris text is seen as a breakthrough for those who have watched contentious negotiations about joining the two. Karen Holm Olsen, a researcher who was involved with the effort to (optionally) incorporate sustainable development reporting within the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), said that only about 40 projects out of more than 8,500 registered have used the reporting tool, which some countries found threatening. Even the 2014 press release about the tool assures that sustainable development reporting will maintain "the host countries' prerogative to define their criteria for sustainable development" - a statement that doesn't exactly lend itself to common metrics. "When you talk to governments, it's so diverse what people think about this topic," Olsen said. Christof Arens, a researcher at the Wuppertal Institute, agreed that the sustainable development-inclusive Paris text is only the starting line as countries determine what the successor to the CDM will look like. "This is just a headline for now," he said. "How to operationalize it is up to negotiations." And perhaps there is only one place to start. "We need to start at the end," said Martin Hiller, Director General of the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership. "What kind of results do we actually want to achieve?" There's no good excuse for Congress's disgraceful delay in responding to the dangerous Zika virus. But the worst excuse of all is that we can't afford to act. In fact, we can easily pay for a comprehensive response to this public health threat simply by closing a single corporate tax loophole. Each chamber of Congress has passed its own version of legislation--neither offering the full funding the Administration sought--but members left town without reconciling the two bills, ensuring more delay. One leading House Republican claimed the slow and incomplete Zika response was due at least in part to the GOP's desire to "pay for it and not add to the national debt." Advertisement How ironic? Congress showed no such concern for fiscal prudence just six months ago, when it passed a $400 billion corporate tax cut without paying for any of it. Every dime went straight to the deficit. Apparently, deficits are no bar to ladling out tax breaks to corporations, but can block efforts to protect the physical health of the American people. Operating under this double standard, the House decided to fund the Zika emergency response at about one-third the level proposed by President Obama and to pay for it by draining funds intended to pay for an earlier but still potent Ebola threat. (In the face of Congressional foot-dragging, the Administration has already been forced to tap Ebola funds, but would replenish them in its Zika funding request. The House bill would not.) Instead of stealing from one vital medical effort to pay for another, we should raise the funds needed to effectively address all our public-health needs. One easy way to cover the cost of the Zika response is to close a corporate tax break that facilitates excessive CEO pay. The stock options loophole lets corporations claim on their taxes a much higher expense for options (stock-based compensation mostly granted to top executives) than they really cost. Artificially inflating expenses cuts corporate tax bills. This blatant corporate giveaway costs us $25 billion in lost revenue over 10 years or around $2.5 billion a year, according to a Congressional estimate. Advertisement That $2.5 billion would fully fund President Obama's Zika response plan, with plenty to spare. And this is one of the smaller corporate tax loopholes. The biggest one allows American firms to indefinitely avoid paying almost $700 billion they owe in U.S. taxes on $2.4 trillion in offshore profits, according to Citizens for Tax Justice. Corporations dodge tens of billions of dollars in taxes a year through other loopholes as well. Even though corporations and their army of lobbyists loudly complain about the official U.S. corporate tax rate of 35%, the real problem isn't that corporate rates are too high. It's that corporations aren't paying their fair share of taxes. Thanks to deductions, credits and other loopholes, few companies actually pay the official rate. A government study recently reported that large, profitable U.S. corporations paid an average federal tax rate of just 14% between 2008-12. Due in part to this low effective tax rate, the share of total federal revenue coming from corporations has shrunk over the past 65 years from one in three dollars to just one in ten. Meanwhile, urgent public needs go unmet. The nation's civil engineers give our infrastructure--highways, bridges, waterworks, transit--a dismal grade of D+, figuring we need to invest $3.6 trillion over the next four years to make them safe. Families in Flint, Michigan, still can't drink their tap water. And now we're nickel-and-diming our response to a major public health threat. The slow and stingy reaction to the Zika emergency by conservatives on Capitol Hill is just the most extreme example of skewed priorities favoring the wealthy and big corporations. Congress should be shielding the American people from public health threats, not shielding corporate tax loopholes from long-overdue reform. Carting like a boss through Shibuya. Photo by Shu Nakada. Tokyo is like a genie in a bottle for gamers. You say you want to dress up like characters from Nintendo's Mario Kart racing game and haul tail through the streets in a souped-up go-cart? Boom! Wish granted. This group of drivers and their alter-egos take on Tokyo. Photo by Shu Nakada. Visitors shed their inhibitions (and dignity) to suit up as iconic characters from the Super Mario franchise or comic and anime legends like Dragonball and Marvel's Avengers. Carters can choose a guided tour or pick their own routes. This group is checking out Tokyo Tower. Photo by Shu Nakada. Advertisement Disguised as Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Yoshi, or whoever - Ironman, Captain America, and Spiderman are also always welcome in Tokyo - they play follow the leader on a street-level, open-air tour of the town. Whizzing through Akihabara and Shibuya, drivers become instafamous. Onlookers clap, cheer, wave, and snap pictures because everyone loves these guys! Become instafamous and make everyone happy. Photo by Shu Nakada. The whole experience is fun and pretty affordable. Half-hour cart rentals at several places start from just one thousand yen. But, the basic fee covers only cart and insurance. Costumes are a small surcharge of generally 700-800 yen. Gas is a charge of around 750 yen. There are other optional extras and add-ons. An English-speaking guide is an additional fee. Most visitors opt for a two-hour tour to see more of the city. At MariCart, for example, the basic two-hour fee is 3500 yen, plus 750 yen for gas. An English-speaking guide is an additional 2000 yen per hour. One guide can cover a group of up to five people. Bluetooth headsets, so you can talk to each other, are 250 yen an hour. A GoPro camera to immortalize the event is 300 yen an hour. Advertisement Visitors must have a valid international driving license to rent a cart. These are easy to get before you leave home. If you are an American, apply at either an AAA (American Automobile Association) or NAC (National Automobile Club) office, not the Department of Motor Vehicles. You will need two passport-sized photos and a valid diver's license. It is an easy, quick process with no test. On the day of your rental, also bring your passport for I.D. purposes. In safety-obsessed Japan, oddly, go-carts do not legally require drivers to wear a helmet at this time. Photo by Shu Nakada. Cart rental websites are largely in Japanese and require advance reservations. Here are a couple of places to give readers an idea of what to expect. Maricar Japan has an English Website with all their details. They are located near Kita-Shinagawa or Shinagawa stations. AkibaCart's website is only in Japanese, at least at the time of this writing. This popular rental agency is right in Akihabara electric town. Website. Advertisement If language is a problem, which - duh - it is for most tourists, another option is to visit the Tokyo Tourist Information Center across the street from the Takeshita Dori exit of Harajuku Station. This center is run by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. Their staff is multi-lingual and a great resource for tours and fun things to do. Since they are run by the government, there is no commission-based agenda. English Website Also, try online searches for 'Mario go-carts Tokyo' or 'dress up like Mario and drive go-carts'. These will give you some local tour companies that offer to arrange the package and book the date and time for an extra fee. Cruise into your pixelated dreams but please, drive safely. Photo by Shu Nakada. Currently, Voyagin Tours and Activities, for example, will reserve a basic two-hour tour (just cart and insurance) for around $40. Separate charges for an English speaking guide, costumes, and extra fuel are paid to the cart rental company but your reservation is in and they will be expecting you or your group. If there is one topic that has ushered in the most divisiveness of the 2016 presidential election, it is immigration. Ideological territory is marked along partisan lines: almost four-fifths of Democrats believe that immigrants strengthen the country, while 65 percent of Republicans feel the opposite, according to a poll conducted by Pew Research. Questions surrounding comprehensive immigration reform also push the two sides further apart, with disagreement abound on pathways to citizenship and the construction of Donald Trump's proposed wall. Millennials, however, overwhelming feel that immigrants are a positive force in modern America. More than three quarters of young people believe immigrants are overall beneficial. Public opinion aside, immigrants are facing a harsher reality than they did only a few years ago. For Juan Carlos Ramos, a 22-year-old immigrant from El Salvador, a forced return to his home country could mean certain death. "You can die. They can ask you to join a gang," Ramos told GVH Live. "I personally identify as gay so that's another persecution I could have." Ramos came to the United States when he was 15 years old and was detained immediately after crossing the border into Texas with his younger brother. His story, along with many others, show just how big an impact current immigration policy can have on a millennial's life. But the solutions are complicated and in the frenzied 2016 presidential race, it is difficult to untangle policy from political reality. Rep. Robert Pittinger, R-N.C., who co-sponsored legislation to block President Obama's executive order on immigration issued in 2014, believes the rhetoric heard today amounts to little more than partisan pandering. "Bernie and Hillary say one thing because they want open and free everything for everybody," the congressman said. "And then there's the other voices, 'throw the rascals out!' Well, how are you going to throw the rascals out? How are you going to deport 11 or 12 or 13 million people? Please, tell me how you're going to do that. That's not real logical." Regardless of the challenge, millennial leaders are ready to offer new ideas on how to address the large number of undocumented immigrants even as America deals with a tough political climate. With threats to deport illegal aliens and bar Muslims from entering the nation, Donald Trump appears intent on repeating some of the worst horrors in American history. After the discovery of gold in Georgia in 1830, Andrew Jackson climaxed his first term as America's seventh president by ramming the Indian Removal Act through Congress, expelling Native Americans from the deep South and leaving the gold for white men to recover. After Chief Justice John Marshall's Supreme Court ruled the act unconstitutional, Jackson scoffed, responding as Trump might, "John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it!" Outraged by Jackson's contempt for the high court and constitutional law, Kentucky Senator Henry Clay called Jackson's Indian Removal Act a "most flagitious measure, which threatens to bring a foul and lasting stain upon the...nation." While the press caricatured Jackson as "King Andrew," Clay accused the President of assuming "authority and power not conferred by the Constitution," and moved to censure the President in the Senate--the only such censure in American history. After the Jacksonian majority in the House of Representatives rebuffed the censure, Clay responded by trying to unseat Jackson in the 1832 presidential elections--only to be swept away by a wave of xenophobic sentiment that Jackson's irresponsible rhetoric had implanted in American minds. Advertisement When Jackson returned to the White House, he ordered troops into the South, where they forced more than 60,000 Native American men, women, and children, whom Jackson deemed "illegal aliens," from their centuries-old ancestral homes and the gilded land on which they stood. Forced at bayonet point onto a deadly 2,200-mile "Trail of Tears"--without enough food or water to sustain them--more than 16,000 women, children, and old men collapsed and died before reaching their destination across the Mississippi River in Oklahoma. Although Henry Clay had gained renown as "The Great Compromiser" for negotiating the famed Missouri Compromise that prevented civil war between North and South, he was unable to sway Andrew Jackson. As thousands of Jackson's supporters swarmed across 25 million acres of gold-flecked Indian lands, survivors of the Trail of Tears languished in Oklahoma, condemned to poverty on barren reservations, isolated to this day from normal American life. Fifty years later, Congress went a step farther, passing the Chinese Exclusion Act, the first U.S. law barring a specific ethnic group from entering the United States. As with Jackson's Indian Removal Act, greed was the motivation--this time, the California Gold Rush. White prospectors had already slaughtered hundreds of Chinese miners, confiscating their gold and claims. To survive, many became indentured servants, laundering miners' clothes and cooking their food--inadvertently laying the foundations of the ubiquitous Chinese Laundry and Chinese Restaurant in America. In 1924, a xenophobic Congress extended the Chinese Exclusion Act to Asians of all nationalities--until China, a critical American ally in the war against Japan, demanded and won repeal in 1943. Advertisement Trump has pledged to outdo Andrew Jackson and other American xenophobes by deporting more than 11 million illegal aliens from the United States--many of them U.S.-born, many knowing no language but English, many children not knowing they are "illegal aliens," and many married to American citizens with children born and raised as American citizens in this country. "They came in illegally," Trump bellowed last November, pledging to assemble a "massive deportation force" to put his plan into action. He did not say how he would round them up or where he would send them. Where can 11 million people go? Who will transport them? How? Who will resolve lawsuits over property confiscation? Trump tried justifying his plan: "Dwight Eisenhower...moved 1.5 million illegal immigrants out of this country...beyond the [Mexican] border." Unfortunately, Trump had a point. President Eisenhower did indeed deport more than 2 million illegal Latino immigrants, and his predecessor Harry Truman deported 3.4 million--ostensibly to protect vacant jobs for returning veterans of World War II. And President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered displacement of more than 100,000 Japanese-Americans to internment camps during World War II. More than 60 percent were American citizens. So if Donald Trump wins the election, he would not be the first American President to order mass deportations and resettlements or ban entry of specific ethnic groups. Some of his predecessors in the White House have done worse. In 1939, with the Asian Exclusion Act still in effect, President Roosevelt condemned 937 Jews to death in Hitler's gas chambers by preventing the transatlantic liner St. Louis to put into American ports. Shortly thereafter, Roosevelt concurred with Congress by refusing to allow 20,000 Jewish refugee children to enter the United States. Advertisement When the German Protestant pastor Martin Niemoller emerged from a Nazi concentration camp, he described how Germany had dealt with similar problems: First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out-- Because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out-- Because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out-- Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me--and there was no one left to speak for me. Pastor Niemoller's words will echo around the world if Mr. Trump goes after the 11 million he claims are illegal aliens. ### I want to make sure you saw the news about Sheldon Adelson. This guy is an infamous conservative casino magnate, and this week, he pledged to raise ungodly amounts of money for Donald Trump -- maybe more than $100 million, according to The New York Times. $100 million! And right now, we're assuming that a big chunk of that money is going STRAIGHT to funding vicious ads against Hillary in places like Ohio and Florida. While Trump takes mammoth checks from billionaires who'd get mammoth tax cuts if he became president, we're building our campaign a different way: ...we need everyone to step up to take on Trump and his army of billionaires. Can you help right now (and claim your free Team Hillary sticker!)? Last month, along with my colleagues in the Syrian opposition, we made an official visit to Rome for a series of high profile meetings with the Italian Government and the Vatican. Our all-women delegation included Syrians from many different backgrounds: Sunni, Druze, Christian, Alawite, a politician, an activist and former detainee. We had one clear message - we are committed to a political transition in Syria but we need help from our European friends to make it a reality. The current Geneva political process is at a critical juncture. The humanitarian situation for millions of Syrians is dire and continues to worsen daily. There is no need for me to repeat the harrowing statistics. We are all now sadly familiar with the Syrian crisis. Outside of the Middle East, Europe has endured the largest share of the fallout from this crisis. Despicable terrorist attacks in Brussels and Paris illustrated the clear threat of extremism in Europe. Equally, the mass exodus of Syrians to Europe in search of safety from the Assad regime and ISIS has proved a major challenge. I know some in Europe are worried about what will happen if Assad is removed. Who will protect Syria's mosaic of ethnic and religious minorities? Who will work with Europe in the fight against ISIS? These are valid questions, but a regime which has systematically killed, detained, and tortured its people is not the answer. Europe cannot ignore the demands of a vast majority of Syrians from all backgrounds who refuse to live under Assad's rule or that of ISIS: Syrians who reject both tyranny and extremism. As we said throughout our meetings in Rome, a credible alternative to the Assad regime can be formed through an inclusive transitional governing body. This would include a meshing of elements of the Syrian army and our Free Syria Army as partners with the West against extremism. We are actively developing plans for the reform and integration of existing civilian state-infrastructures: a critical step for maintaining stability during the political transition and to ending the humanitarian suffering. However - sadly - we have yet to see any serious progress to ease the human suffering of so many innocent civilians. There are currently over 1 million Syrians living under sieges across Syria under the Assad regime. Everyday I receive messages from inside Syria how the threat of starvation is widespread and imminent. Countless UN Security Council Resolutions have established the legal grounds for delivering humanitarian assistance without the consent of the regime. Requesting permission to deliver vital humanitarian aid from those using starvation as a weapon of war is immoral, and only further fuels the crisis. Breaking these sieges is not about taking sides. It is about saving lives and the protection of humanity. This is why I plead with our international allies to execute airdrops to all areas where land access remains restricted. There is no clearer need for a last resort than hundreds of thousands of civilians facing starvation. On par with humanitarian access, is accountability and justice in our efforts towards a political solution. The HNC, and in particular the women members of the opposition, have ensured the need for accountability has not been separated from diplomatic efforts. Hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians are being held in brutal conditions, often in undisclosed detention centres, by the Assad regime. Throughout the Geneva process, the regime has refused to release a single detainee, including the thousands of women and children being held. The release of detainees is vital for the Geneva process to be able to progress, and the contribution of their testimonies to an accountability process as part of a political transition. Credible pressure, including at the UN Security Council, must be applied to the regime and its core backers to release detainees, and immediately halt its systematic mass detentions policy. As we concluded our visit in Rome, I asked Cardinal Paul Gallagher, the Vatican Foreign Minister, to pray for the Syrian people and give the HNC delegation a personal blessing. As my women colleagues approached the Cardinal and leaned their heads for the blessing, I could not hold back the tears, and think of a future democratic, pluralistic and inclusive Syria for all Syrians. This is my Syria and the free Syria that my colleagues and I will not give up securing for the Syrian people. Jamie Oliver loves food so much he started a global initiative to share his passion for food education with others around the world! The third annual 'New Canaan Food Revolution', in (New Canaan) Connecticut, part of Oliver's program, brought families together to try different foods from local restaurants and food vendors to open their culinary horizons! The event has grown to become a local family favorite. The Bravery Passport, which was designed to encourage children of all ages to visit local eateries and sample small bites, breaks down barriers about unfamiliar foods. This event hopes to open kids up to new HEALTHY possibilities! This year, the event was hosted by Food Network star and local celebrity Chef Plum. There was also performances by Dre Towey, Mind The Gap and the New England Academy of Dance to make it a well-rounded, fun event for all! This video was shot and edited by Mark Belden. To see more uplifting videos, visit our HooplaHa YouTube page! An unidentified man, wrapped in a Rainbow Flag, lights a candle during a vigil in Washington, Monday June 13, 2016, hosted by the Muslim American Women's Policy Forum, in memory of the victims of the Orlando mass shooting. A gunman opened fire inside a crowded gay nightclub early Sunday, before dying in a gunfight with SWAT officers, police said. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen) It was during the most sacred month that, once again, the greatest of all sins took place. Ramadan is intended to be a period of meditation and inward reflection. As a Muslim, as soon as I heard about the Orlando shooting, I felt the need to speak out and denounce the obvious. Then I started thinking: When will this series of attacks stop? Since 2001, the Muslim community has had to deal with an unfortunate association: For the past 15 years of our lives, bombings and Islam have been viewed side by side. And there seems to be no end in sight. Advertisement We are completely fed up with the crimes committed by the likes of Al Qaeda and the Islamic State. These people turn into monsters, and decide to terrorize the planet. And we watch on as the media sheds its lights on their heinous crimes. What are we supposed to do? Stop putting them in the spotlight and hide them from the public? Continue to denounce their actions until the end of time? This is what my religion commands me: I must love my neighbor, regardless of their sexual orientation. As we read the news, we feel an intense hatred for these people and, more specifically, their actions. But I believe that certain people end up that way due to ignorance. So, what do we do? How can we make sure that they have a better understanding of their religion? This is what my religion commands me: I must love my neighbor, regardless of their sexual orientation. Their ideology and their beliefs shouldn't matter to me -- we just need to learn to live together in peace. Advertisement Islam constantly preaches peace and tolerance. But what happens when the actions done in the name of Islam contradict all the work it has done? We are paying the price for this global crisis. We must come together. We have no other choice: Our future cannot be plagued with the same fate. It feels as if the attacks won't stop -- from Baghdad to Brussels to Yemen to the U.S., it is as though not one single heart will be left beating. All I can do now is denounce the violence, but the people in power should do something to stop further hatred and death. My thoughts go out to the victims of Orlando during this blessed month of Ramadan. I will pray for them, and for people across the world. Advertisement The massacre of patrons in a Florida nightclub at the hands of a Muslim homophobe shines a harsh spotlight on Islamic beliefs about homosexuality and concomitant bias against the LGBT community. This topic is controversial and difficult for many Muslims because of conditioned views, inculcated by social and religious institutions, that same-gender sexual relations are perverse and wrong. Like their Christian counterparts who cite the Bible to condemn homosexuality, many Muslim fundamentalists quote the Qur'an to the same end. Yet the overriding message of both Bible and Qur'an is that we are all children of the same loving and compassionate God, called not to condemn but to love and support each other in the life journey to our common Source. The simple truth is that if our relationships with our holy books get in the way of our relationships with each other, they will surely be in the way of our relationship with God. The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) famously advised, "Even if the religious judge advises you about earthly matters, first consult your heart." As a young Muslim, I was taught that homosexuality was an unnatural "addiction" but that one should be compassionate toward homosexuals. In my early years as a spiritual counselor, I thought it could be cured by a combination of divine grace and persistent inner work. One day a Muslim family brought their gay son to my office, hoping I could help heal him through spiritual practices. With great fervor I worked with him for many weeks to set him on "the right path," but to no avail. Our work seemed to bring him closer to God, but he still felt the same-sex attraction. At a certain point, sensing his pain, I let go of my agenda and was finally able to listen to him. For the first time I heard the depth of his anguish: His mother wanted to commit suicide; his father was ready to move the family to another state; he agonized over the pain he was causing his loved ones; he did not want to be gay but could not help himself despite heroic efforts. Something opened in me: I moved, as Sufis say, from knowledge of tongue to knowledge of heart. I finally recognized that his sexual orientation was not a matter of choice but a natural disposition. Advertisement The refusal to countenance anything but heterosexual love has caused deep anguish to countless generations of people whose God-given natures simply don't conform to the "norm." The rate of depression and suicide in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender population is unusually high, as is the incidence of crimes against them. The violence perpetrated against them in the name of religion and righteous indignation is horrific and absolutely un-Islamic. It is our spiritual duty to become mindful of the consequences of our homophobic biases. For my part, I came to realize that whereas I had been advising my gay client to apply himself diligently to seek help from God and do the inner spiritual work to overcome his dysfunction, it was I who needed to heed my own advice. I needed to pray in the words of the Qur'an, "Open for me my heart" (20:25) and "O God, advance me in knowledge" (20:114). Expansion of consciousness is a sacred duty and there can be no limit to our capacity for compassion. How do we accomplish this? The first step is to put aside the hurtful stereotyping of homosexuals as people who are damaged and perverted. We need to connect with them on a human level and make space in our hearts to acknowledge that all humans long for love and relationship in different ways. Advertisement It is also important to let go of exclusive interpretations of our sacred texts and ask how gay Muslims interpret verses of the Qur'an about homosexuality. Like their Jewish and Christian counterparts, they point out that the story of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Qur'an is not about homosexuality but about male assault and rape. And, like all decent people, they condemn these acts of violence. Like most heterosexuals, they also believe in the sacredness of union based on love, respect, and tenderness with their same-sex partners. They believe that out of a need for diversity, God created them as they are. They did not choose their orientation; God chose it for them. Over the past few decades, American society has evolved to a similar viewpoint, that sexual orientation is inborn and morally neutral. Poll numbers show that even some fundamentalists have modified their views and now accept gay people's rights to same-sex marriage. What has led to such a profound shift? Social scientists Robert Putnam and David Campbell, in their groundbreaking book titled American Grace, attribute the change to a "bridge" formed by a gradual realization among conservative Christians that they have been working and socializing with gays, sometimes for years, without realizing it. As political and social conditions changed and homosexuals felt safer in disclosing their same-sex orientation, the rigid moral judgments of their heterosexual friends and colleagues lost their harshness because personal relationships of mutual respect had already been established. People all over America found that they knew and liked gay and lesbian people--they just hadn't known them as such. Thus, although verses in their scripture have not changed, attitudes have shifted. In a New York Times op-ed commenting on the authors' findings, Robert Wright writes, "The meaning of scripture is shaped by social relations." By now, you've definitely heard of the rape case that has the whole country talking. Last March, former Stanford student Brock Turner was convicted of sexual assault after being found "thrusting" on top of a half-naked, unconscious woman behind a dumpster. Last Thursday, he was sentenced to 6 months in county jail -- a lenient sentence because prison would have a "severe impact" on him. Let's get straight to the point: from the light sentence to the media coverage, the handling of this rape case is utterly inexcusable. We wonder why sexual assault survivors don't come forward; well, this is a textbook example. If you haven't read the victim's heartbreaking, eloquent, and extremely powerful statement to her attacker, stop what you're doing and read it in full here. She bravely describes the physical and unending emotional trauma that she's battled since the attack, including how she's been consistently re-victimized and how Turner changed his entire story over the course of the case. She writes: Advertisement You took away my worth, my privacy, my energy, my time, my safety, my intimacy, my confidence, my own voice, until today. As if the act itself wasn't horrifying enough, Turner's father's response to his son's conviction is beyond sickening -- a slap in the face to women everywhere. In his statement, after spending an inordinate amount of time lamenting the loss of his son's appetite -- he no longer enjoys ribeye steaks, chips, or pretzels! -- he continued: His life will never be the one he dreamed about and worked so hard to achieve. That is a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action out of his 20 plus years of life. I shouldn't have to explain how ridiculously misogynistic that last sentence is. 20 minutes of action?! Let's get one thing straight: your son demonstrated a horrifying, evil, and in all ways inappropriate CHOICE of ACTION -- and yet here you are minimizing that criminal act by talking about how his life is ruined. Advertisement RAPE CULTURE: Brock Turner's dad is sad he only got "20 minutes of action" & doesn't even like eating steaks anymore pic.twitter.com/eQswM8Lb11 Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) June 5, 2016 Here's a thought. Instead of worrying about what steak to cook up for his son, maybe Turner's father should have taught him how to treat women. Maybe he should have taught him to take responsibility for his actions, instead of brushing them aside as if a lack of appetite is punishment enough for convicted sexual assault (it was only 20 minutes!). No where in Turner's or his father's statements is there a shred of sympathy for the victim. Turner regrets the incident only in the way it has affected him, not her. After violating her and stripping away her dignity, security, and privacy, apparently genuine remorse would be too much to ask for. Yes, Turner is young, but not that young as to not to know better, not young enough for the malicious nature of his actions to go unrecognized and unpunished. Yes, he was drunk, yet he wasn't too drunk to try to have sex -- to commit sexual assault, to know that it was wrong enough that he tried to flee the crime scene. The media can't be let off the hook either. As many have rightfully pointed out, instead of a mugshot, we've gotten smiley Stanford yearbook photos. Instead of labelling Turner for what he is -- a RAPIST -- we've read headlines and long profiles of "the all-American swimmer," the Stanford student, who, we are consistently reminded, lost his precious scholarship. Advertisement It's past time to call these men and their defenders out, and women can't be the only ones to do it. As men, we need to stand up and voice that this behavior is not acceptable, disgustingly all too common, and diminishes women's worth and rights. If we don't speak up now, if we don't start teaching our sons respect, honesty, and accountability, this cycle of violence and toxic rape culture will only continue. Instead of telling girls to dress and act like nuns, we need to teach boys that they're not entitled to someone just because of the way they dress and act. And this message needs to come from both women and men, so we can set an example for future generations. The sad thing is we might not be even talking about this case at all if the victim's letter wasn't so gut-wrenching, well-written, and emotionally powerful. We need to do better for women, and, as men and fathers, we need to start being better role models for our sons. Written in collaboration with Connor Zickgraf. When will the Presidential candidates address the biggest economic crisis nobody's talking about? The vast majority of Americans can't retire--and that includes those who are covered by a 401(k) plan, public pension OR employer-based pension. That's the reason why nearly 20% of Americans over 65 are still working -- the highest percentage since the 1960s. And that percentage will get closer to 70 or 80% once the already-retired realize that they will soon run out of money unless they go back to work. Social Security is only meant to replace about 40% of the average person's pre-retirement income. This year, the average monthly Social Security check is $1,345, which works out to a little more than $16,000 per year. President Obama's recent call to expand Social Security highlights a populist shift propelled by Senator Bernie Sanders. While just five years ago, Obama called for reducing future Social Security benefits his change of heart may have been driven by a 2014 Federal Reserve Survey finding that 42 percent of American workers earning under $40,000 a year, and a quarter earning between $40,000 and $100,000, have zero retirement savings. In March 2015 Senator Sanders pushed for a vote on an amendment by Senator Elizabeth Warren proposing expanded Social Security benefits. Advertisement But even if Social Security is expanded it won't make up for the shortfall that most Americans are facing. Not only are fewer Americans "covered" by a pension, but most of them change jobs so frequently they are unlikely to be "vested" or "own" benefits even if they work for a company with a pension. Why? For a traditional defined benefit plan, you've got to stay on the job for 5 years until you are entitled to the benefits; in another version you "gradually" own them--20% after 3 years, going up 20% per year until you're100% vested at 7 years. These vesting rules would deprive the majority of Baby Boomers of pension income according to 2015 research by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The average person born between 1957 and1964 held 11.7 jobs from age 18 to age 48, leaving his or her job about every two years. While you would expect job tenure would increase once people reach middle age it didn't increase by much--among jobs started by 40 to 48 year olds, a whopping 69 percent of these jobs ended in fewer than 5 years. What's even more tragic is that even those workers who spend an entire career at a company offering a pension are likely to end up on the short end of the stick as Wall Street Journal reporter Ellen Schultz observed in her book, "Retirement Heist." Despite the fact that two decades ago, these plans were generally well funded, thanks in large part to rules enacted in the 1970s that required employers to fund the plans adequately and laws adopted in the 1980s that made it tougher for companies to raid them, they figured out to make the plans disappear. While by the end of the 1990s pension plans at many large companies had such massive surpluses that they could have fully paid their current and future retirees' pensions--even if they lived to age 99--many of the companies siphoned billions of dollars in assets from their pension plans. Many, like Verizon, used the assets to finance downsizings. Others, like GE, sold pension surpluses in restructuring deals, indirectly converting pension assets into cash. Advertisement As a retired pension actuary who would prefer to remain anonymous told me "Employers have fairly consistently shown that they are driven by profit motives and not by what is best for their employees." Then we've got the leadership of the public sector pensions, many of whom put the money in risky investments to address longer life spans, rather than require increased contributions. They also assumed that while companies may go bankrupt states and cities would be there forever. Now, a long-living baby boom generation and municipal bankruptcies are blowing holes in that notion. According to the National Association of State Retirement Administrators, virtually all public pension funds are in what is called a ''cash-flow negative'' state, meaning that they pay more in benefits than they collect in contributions. Enacting legislation to reform the public pension system would be difficult, if not impossible, but what about 401(k) plans in the private sector? Clinton's only proposal for reform that I've seen was co-authored by Teresa Ghilarducci, a professor at the New School for Social Research and Hamilton James, the President of Blackstone, an asset management group. The first major flaw in their proposal is that it would actually REDUCE the typical employee contribution of 5 percent of pay and employer contribution equal to 3 percent of pay--adding up to 8% of pay-- to a mere 3 percent split between the employer and employee. In addition, the authors have proposed requiring employers to offer a 401(k)-style "Guaranteed Retirement Account" that "could be invested in opportunities typically reserved for institutional investors...including real estate, hedge funds, managed futures and commodities." Why they consider real estate "risk reducing," since you can't reap any returns unless the property is sold at a profit, is beyond me. As for "managed futures," during the decade ending in 2012, more than 30,000 investors entrusted Morgan Stanley with $797 million in a managed-futures fund that made $490.3 million but investors reaped none of it because the profits were consumed by $498.7 million in commissions, expenses and fees. Bottom line: we have a huge economic crisis that nobody is addressing: the vast majority of Boomers cant afford to retire, which will not only force them to keep working during what are supposed to be their "golden years" but will wreak havoc on the job prospects for their Millennial kids. From a young age my relationship with my parents and grandparents has been incredibly important to me, and it's the reason I founded Wish of a Lifetime (WOL), an organization that grants wishes to seniors. I have always found inspiration from the generation of men and women who have experienced so much and can share their wisdom and stories. Through my journey with WOL, I have had the opportunity to visit many of our nation's historical sites alongside these inspirational men and women. I've listened to countless stories and memories, and through our partnership with Brookdale Senior Living, I am proud to say that WOL is helping to preserve memories and helping many to relive their historic moments. Since 2008, Wish of a Lifetime (WOL) and our founding corporate sponsor Brookdale Senior Living, has granted over 1,000 individual wishes throughout all 50 states. For this month, I wanted to pay tribute to three courageous women who share a common bond and champion inspiration and hope. Lina Maddox, 92-years-old, is a Brookdale Cedar Hill resident in Richmond, CA and is the epitome of perseverance. Lina grew up in rural Mississippi as 1 of 10 children and considered herself the "champion cotton picker." Growing up in a sharecropping family was not easy. Her family was looked down upon and she and her siblings were referred to as "the kids from across the railroad tracks." Advertisement Lina has accomplished so many things in her life, but becoming a Rosie the Riveter was a catalyst for everything that followed. Lina graduated high school at the age of 16 and within two years of graduating, she became a "war-wife" and saw her husband immediately sent overseas. At the time, she was working as a cashier, but she stumbled upon a plane building demonstration at the Jackson State Fair. Shortly after, Lina applied for a job with North American Airlines in Dallas, TX. She was hired on and tasked with building P-51 fighter jets. Lina worked 12-hour night shifts until the war ended on December 29th, 1945. Lina remains a proud Rosie the Riveter and symbolizes everything the Rosie's are about. Ever since the Rosie the Riveter Museum opened in 2000, Lina has dreamed of visiting the museum and sharing her story. On April 28th, WOL and Brookdale Senior Living were honored to send Lina along with her son, daughter in law and sister to the Rosie Museum in Richmond CA on April 29th. Lina toured the museum, met other Rosie's and stated, "You could never in 1000 years know how much this meant to me." Lina Maddox visits the Rosie the Riveter Museum in Richmond, CA on April 29, 2016. Photo Credit: Lydia Daniller Photography Another wish I'd like to share with you is that of 80-year-old, Patti Harris, of Brookdale Scotts Valley in California. Patti is known among her Brookdale residents as an extremely caring and involved community member who is dedicated to her family and friends. Patti has always put other's needs in front of her own. She helped put her three daughters through college working as a waitress, before finishing college herself. While working and going to college as an older adult, Patti volunteered for Meals on Wheels and the Red Cross to help those who are less fortunate in her community. Advertisement Patti enjoys doing research and learning about her family's genealogy. Through her research, Patti discovered that her grandparents and mother used to live in the historic Frank J. Baker House in Wilmette, IL, and that the house was built and designed by the famous architect, Frank Lloyd Wright. Her wish of a lifetime was to visit the home. After Patti's mother passed away in 1965, Patti found a photo of the Frank J. Baker house. She knew that was the house where her mother and grandparents lived, but she did not realize that it was a work of the famous architect, Frank Lloyd Wright. The house was named after Patti's grandfather, Frank Baker, who commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to have it built. According to family lore, her grandmother Gayle Nelson Baker and Frank Lloyd Wright would often bicker about the design of the house. The house stayed in her family until her grandmother sold the house, when her grandfather passed away. In 1974, the family who owned the Frank J. Baker House had it added to the National Register of Historic Places. Patti's wish was granted on April 23, 2016 when WOL and Brookdale Senior Living worked with the Sobel family to send Patti to visit her family's home. The Sobel family also made arrangements for Patti and her daughter to meet with other Baker relatives, and visit St. Augustine's church, where a stained-glass window stands in memory of Frank Baker's civic contributions. Patti Harris visit's her family's home, the Frank J. Baker House designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, in Wilmette, IL on April 23, 2016. Photo Credit: Digital Image Nursery The final wish I'd like to share is that of Jo Byrnes, 89-years-old, a Brookdale resident from Denver, CO. Byrnes' world was turned upside down when her husband returned from serving with the US Army on "The Manhattan Project" at the Trinity Atomic Bomb Site in New Mexico. Sam Levy Jr., her husband, worked under the famed Italian scientist Enrico Fermi. There were 500 soldiers who were ordered to stand at attention as the bomb was being prepared for detonation approximately 9 miles from Ground Zero in the desert of New Mexico. They were told by their commanding officer that they would probably not survive, but all were willing to give the ultimate sacrifice for their country. Advertisement Sam did survive and upon his return, says Jo, his entire demeanor and attitude had changed and he suffered from severe brain damage. He died at 59-years-old from complications related to the Trinity Atomic Bomb site. Psychologically it was hard for her husband to cope, knowing that his actions led to the demise of so many people at once. This event not only impacted Jo's life negatively, but left their daughters questioning what happened to the father they once knew. Jo's wish of a lifetime was to have the opportunity to visit the historical Trinity Atomic Bomb Site in New Mexico with her two daughters to pay respect to her late husband and his service. On April 2, 2016, thanks to WOL and Brookdale Senior Living, they took the emotional trip. Jo was able to locate a picture of her husband that she had never seen before. She was also able to tour the McDonald Ranch House which is the exact site where the assembly of the atomic bomb took place. As expected, the trip was quite overwhelming but Jo feels as if she has "finally found some peace and closure" for a life-changing event in all of their lives. Jo Byrnes visits the Trinity Atomic Bomb Site in New Mexico on April 2, 2016. Photo Credit: Karina Schuh Photography Coral on Australia's Great Barrier Reef can be seen suffering from bleaching. The world's largest coral structure is experiencing its worst ever case of bleaching, with Australian marine scientists saying 60 percent of 3,000 coral reefs along the reef's 2,000 kilometres (1,284 miles) has been effected. Scientists fear it could threaten the fragile marine environment. Picture taken 25APR98. After centuries of exploration, we are yet to fully understand the vastness of the ocean space. We have better maps of the surface of Mars than we do of the ocean floor. Just a generation ago, we believed the infinite oceans would simply take all we threw at them -- pollution, waste, overfishing. But we can no longer take the world's largest ecosystem for granted. Many marine and coastal zones are on the brink. Around 30-35% of critical marine habitats have been overused or destroyed and ocean dead zones are expanding. In April, researchers reported that almost all of the Great Barrier Reef has suffered coral bleaching due to record warming, exacerbated by burning fossil fuels. Advertisement With the current unsustainable trajectory, most of the world's fisheries could have collapsed beyond recovery by the middle of the century and there will be more plastic in oceans than fish by weight in 2050 according to new research. However many of the drivers of ocean decline are reversible and the solutions will lead to greater long-term benefits for everyone. The ocean economy is growing fast: a recent report from the OECD estimates that the economic output from oceans will outpace global economic growth in the next 15 years. Already today the ocean economy provides livelihoods for more than 10% of the world's population and it is worth $1.5 trillion. Particularly strong growth is expected in aquaculture, offshore renewable energy, fish processing and shipbuilding. The oceans are key to the future of food production, shipping and renewable energy. The predicted growth must not come at the expense of the planet or the next generation. We believe a healthy ocean -- and healthy planet -- is every child's birthright. The right institutions, science and technology to succeed are now within our grasp. Meeting the Protein Challenge Take the extraordinary growth in aquaculture. In the past two decades, no other food production sector has grown as fast. Today, aquaculture makes a major contribution to human nutrition by providing animal protein consumed in countries like China and Indonesia. Advertisement The sustainability of fish farming has come under intense scrutiny due to its use of feed derived from wild fish, destruction of mangrove forests and antibiotic application. However technological breakthroughs are allowing for more sustainable production, which is essential if we are to meet the growing demand for protein. A good case study is Norwegian fish farms, which are among the most sustainable in the world, proving that large-scale fish farming with reduced impacts on the environment is possible. Further steps are needed to truly operate fish farming using sustainable fish feed and zero pollution. Sustainable growth in aquaculture in Norway is enabled by a cohesive science-policy-business interface. The model is a blueprint for success: strong academic institutions, robust policy making mechanisms and cooperation with the private sector. A Global Partnership for Ocean Health World oceans are largely poorly managed and weakly governed. Marine stewardship is essential to protect future food supplies. This requires political leadership to set a global agenda for ocean health. We call for a set of interconnected actions to achieve this. First, there is a need for coherent governance and more robust multilateral mechanisms to protect ocean health. The economic signal that a marine catastrophe is looming is largely invisible. The oceans Sustainable Development Goal can provide momentum for sustainable use of oceans. We call for a global partnership to implement this goal. Second, much fishing takes place away from prying eyes on the high seas. However, technology is opening up new opportunities for greater transparency. For example, SkyTruth is using big data from satellites and publicly available radar to identify illegal fishing boats worldwide. Advancement of monitoring and surveillance technology, coupled with better governance, can prevent illegal overfishing. This is imperative to stop the declining of fish stocks worldwide. Advertisement Third, in order to foster collaboration and generate new knowledge, we need global knowledge-action networks and increased investment in research for marine stewardship. The right networks are already emerging. The EAT Initiative is an ideal place to bring together different sectors to drive change. In three years it has emerged as the leading forum in the global food dialogue. The Stockholm Resilience Centre is leading research on food security, global economic dynamics and ocean health. The Nordic region -- led by Norway, with its long history of research excellence in sustainability and marine and maritime science -- has the skills to lead this initiative for ocean health. Clearly, the oceans are no longer infinite: we are now a big world on a small planet. This requires a dramatic shift in worldview for a transformation. A healthy ocean will have more than just economic benefits. It will improve our health and wellbeing, and enhance the resilience of Earth to support our long-term future. Barack Obama has called the Orlando shooting a "hate crime" against the LGBTQ community. But for LGBTQ folk, it's just another day of violence against our tribe. As the world expresses shock and horror over the massacre in Orlando, the LGBTQ community responds with sadness, but not with surprise. Violence against LGBTQ people is a depressingly common part of our lived experience. From our earliest years, we are policed and criticized for inappropriate gender behavior, and subject to physical and psychological violence, often before we have an awareness of what our sexuality is. Every grade school has them: the sensitive, unsporty boys who get beaten up for being a "faggot", or the short-haired tomboys who are called "dykes". This isn't just kids being mean in the playground -- it's a product of growing up in a homophobic society that can't tolerate sexual difference. Advertisement There are few LGBTQ people around, even in large cities like London, New York and Sydney, who don't have some personal experience of homophobic violence. Parents and caregivers who beat us and throw us out of home; strangers who attack us; employers and landlords who refuse us jobs and accommodation; and lawmakers who do nothing to safeguard our safety. We become experts at monitoring ourselves to ward off the threat or fear of violence -- screening our dress and mannerisms, being careful not to camp/butch it up in unfamiliar surroundings, and interrogating newcomers before deciding to disclose our sexuality. Often this strategy works, but even then we're not safe. To be LGBTQ is to live in a body that is prone to abuse. The recent blooming of trans consciousness has highlighted the especial vulnerability of trans people to attack. As the heartbreaking story of Brandon Teena reminds us, a trans body is more often than not a dead one. Psychologist Alan Downs has written about the devastating psychological toll this vigilance places on LGBTQ people, resulting in disproportionately high incidences of drug and alcohol abuse and suicidal behavior. It's not surprising that the mainstay of gay male culture and pornography is the hyper-masculine aggressive top: he represents a fantasy of strength and invincibility against abuse that many gay men long to live in. As the shooting in Orlando proves, LGBTQ people aren't even safe in spaces they have claimed for their own -- violence can come from within members of our community. Perhaps the most disturbing new development from the aftermath of the killings were reports that the gunman was a regular visitor to Pulse nightclub, had a profile on gay hook-up app Grindr and had allegedly messaged other gay men for nearly a year before the attack. Advertisement The implications of this news are still unclear, and may never be fully understood. But this means that our earlier understanding of the gunman as a violent fanatic who reacted in disgust to the sight of two men kissing now needs to be rethought. The killer was, in some sense, one of our own. It's possible that the gunman was simply researching his targets, like the serial killer who stalked leather bars in William Freidkin's 1980 film Cruising -- posing as gay just long enough to lure his victims into a trap. It's also just as plausible that he was a closeted gay or bisexual man who struggled with his sexuality, and whose self-loathing erupted in an orgy of violence. This, again, is nothing new to LGBTQ people. Every nightclub, bar, sauna and internet chatroom has a version of this type of character -- though admittedly most of them don't tot assault rifles. There's the married man who claims that he's "straight" but who likes to fool around with other guys; or the man who's managed to tiptoe out of the closet but who says he's "straight acting", expressing distaste for the "feminine" or camp aspects of LGBTQ culture, and insisting on taking the active role in sex because only "faggots" get penetrated. The shame created by the social unacceptability of being different leeches into our souls; sexuality becomes something to be muffled or avoided, and those of the same persuasion become enemies who must be repelled. Our criminal law courts are filled with cases of men who have justifying the murder of LGBTQ people as a legitimate response to a real or perceived sexual advance. In British and American law, this defense was traditionally known as a crime passionel. A robustly heterosexual man comes home to find his wife in bed with another man. Shocked by this affront to his honor (or this misuse of his property), he picks up the nearest gun and shoots them both dead. Male violence was justified and partially condoned by the law as a reasonable and forgivable response to slights on a man's heterosexual honor, or the abuse of his (female) property. Unsurprisingly, the defense was extended to include a partial defense to men complaining of unwelcome sexual advances from LGBTQ people. The cases were nearly always the same: a young man, often a sex worker, attacked and killed an openly gay man. The cases were characterized by brutal and extreme violence, entirely out of proportion to the sexual proposition complained of. When charged with murder, the defendants would employ the legal defense of "provocation" or "diminished responsibility" to reduce their convictions from murder to the lesser crime of manslaughter. Advertisement This argument became so prevalent in murder trials in Australasia in the 1980s, that it was given a name: "Homosexual Advance Defense", or the more insightful alternative, "Homosexual Panic Defense". (In the UK, it was known as "the Portsmouth defense" or "the guardsman's defense", suggesting an over-subscription of extremely attractive guardsmen in the UK armed services). One of the most high-profile American cases to attempt to use HAD was the 1995 murder of Scott Amedure in Michigan. Amedure appeared as a guest on TV chat show The Jenny Jones Show, admitting he had a secret crush on his (reputedly straight) friend Jonathan Schmitz. Three days after the recording, Schmitz fatally shot Amedure with a shotgun he'd purchased that morning. In his defense, Schmitz's lawyers argued that the combination of being exposed to a gay man's desire and the humiliation of public exposure on TV caused him to -- slowly -- unravel. The argument largely didn't wash in court, and Schmitz was convicted and sentenced to 25-50 years in prison. It's notable, though, that he was charged with "second degree murder", which didn't require proof of pre-meditation. Schmitz' murderous intent was obvious, but appears to have been partially excused in yet another round of Blame It On The Gay. Many critics of HAD noted the sexist and homophobic assumptions implicit in its argument. One commentator noted pithily that if women were able to employ the same defense every time they were the object of an unwanted sexual advance, there would be no straight men left alive. The defense inscribed heterosexual male identity as a sacred space in which any attempted breach or violation would reasonably be met by further violence. The rise of the HAD underscored what LGBTQ people have always known -- that violence is a fundamental part of living in a homophobic society and the primary means by which "normal" heterosexuality can be separated from "abnormal" homosexuality. Advertisement Another more disturbing theory, which might shed some light on the motives of the Orlando gunman, is that the attacker's violence is a response to an internal fear. The "panic" of "Homosexual Panic Defense" comes not from the panic of being hit on by a LGBTQ person, but the panic that the subject himself might be gay or perceived as being gay. Could it be that this was the Orlando gunman's strategy? From what we know of his life, he appeared to live under a social code in which homosexuality was an abomination, and an impossible basis for living an authentic life. Was the massacre his attempt to push away any confusion or fear about his own sexuality with a hail of bullets? We may never know the answer to this question. The gunman is dead, and any discussions of the massacre as a hate crime must also contend with discussions of terrorism. (Isis have, somewhat confusingly, claimed the attack as their own, despite an apparent lack of evidence connecting them directly to the gunman.). HAD has been chipped away at over the years. After a number of brutal and high-profile cases, legislatures in New Zealand and some Australian states have repealed the defense of provocation. In 2014, California became the first and only U.S. state to ban HAD; recommendations by the American Bar Association for other states to follow suit have not as yet been taken up. What this history and the tragedy of Orlando remind us is that we live in a society where violence against LGBTQ people is normalized, and the law will not provide LGBTQ from the protection they deserve. More distressingly, homosexuality is still so reviled in our culture that even the possibility of a non-straight identity is enough to encourage young men to hit the destruct/self-destruct button. Advertisement Ryan McIntosh's new gallery show, "Relentless Envy," opened at Stone Malone Gallery on Friday, featuring a multimedia installation of disquieting works exploring the experience of disasters through photography, survival imagery, and artifacts from the World Trade Center. The show runs June 11-23, at 7619 1/2 Melrose Ave., in Los Angeles. McIntosh explains, "It's a rather dark and uneasy show about how fears and insecurities push artistic creativity. Contained within the show are numerous artifacts from the 9/11 World Trade Center, along with a sculpture that continuously burns coal that was recovered from the 1912 Titanic shipwreck." How do viewers react to this work? There's a general sense of artificial joyfulness and optimism that exists heavily in the LA art scene, especially when compared to New York, which is much darker and melancholy. Some people here can't handle loaded work like I make and just want a little chuckle when looking at art, so they turn a blind eye. Advertisement I've always had a sinister side in my work, but there's also quite a bit of humor mixed in... This often provides an entry point for the viewer. A guy came into the opening and looked at the "Jet Fuel Can't Melt Steel Beams" piece which has an actual World Trade Center key on it, and he just started cracking up laughing, but then something else hit him and all of a sudden he was like "ohhhh shit" and he stood there for several minutes quietly contemplating the work, contemplating his relationship to it, contemplating himself. He came up and thanked me immensely afterwards and shook my hand. What draws you to plan crashes and ship wrecks? There's this photo I saw from 1919 of dead whale that washed up on a beach. There's like a dozen people standing on top of the dead whale posing for pictures and kids playing all around it. There's also writing painted all over the whale, advertising, like "Joes Cafe.. Great Food.. Music... Seafood and Crabs". This was revolutionary in terms of advertising, because someone realized that this is where people's eyes and attention go. Death is so far removed that it just becomes a spectacle. The same goes for ship wrecks. Before the internet and cell phones, people would drive hours to see a ship wreck they heard washed ashore. People still do actually! There's this awe and wonder of disasters that has always captured peoples hearts. Who isn't enchanted by the story of the Titanic? There's a sculpture in the show that contains a large piece of coal that was recovered from the Titanic wreck. The sculpture has a propane tank and torch on it, and it is slowing burning away the coal until there's nothing left. Scientist say the Titanic wreck is only going to exist for another 20-30 years before it fully decomposes and is just a rust stain on the ocean floor. However the 6,600 tons of coal from the ship will not dissolve as it's pure carbon. Maybe in millions of years they will all turn into diamonds. There's something really romantic about that. Advertisement What feelings do you want the viewer to leave with? If the viewer can walk away with ANY type of feeling, then my job as an artist is complete. There's a lot of contemplative objects and images in this show that have an intrinsic relationship to the individual and society. For me at least, the work articulate the restless human search for certainty in the face of a constant fluctuation between states of hope and fear. There's a feeling of uneasiness in the show, but it's all relatable. It reminds people they're not alone in this struggle. What are some of your influences? Here's a newsflash, everyone. Telling Bernie Sanders supporters that they're idiots if they don't vote for Hillary is not what's going to get Bernie supporters to vote for Hillary. A demonstrated, consistent commitment to the progressive agenda on Hillary's part is what is. Virulent supporters of Hillary Clinton have wasted very little time in the last few days since their candidate officially became the presumptive Democratic nominee in going after Bernie Sanders' supporters full force, basically saying, 'Ok, fun's over, can we all get in line now?' The frustration-tinged discourse is clearly born of having had to endure a much longer, grueling campaign than they'd anticipated, and out of an understandable panic that having such division in the Democratic party only benefits Donald Trump. Advertisement Yet the rhetoric has been pretty harsh. While Bernie's supporters are still licking their wounds after the California primary, Hillary's base is basically saying either get on board, or you're an idiot who is going to end up putting Trump in office. There seems to be a deep sense of indignation and disbelief that anyone, anywhere could not see that the most important thing in this election is stopping Trump at all costs and therefore voting for her. Leaving aside the question of whether she is actually the best candidate to run against Trump (I guess we'll find out in November), this rhetoric misses the mark for several reasons. Most importantly, it further divides rather than unites. Those on the left side of the political spectrum have been blamed for the Democratic Party's own problems for a very long time now. In 2000, it was the 2% of the population that voted for Nader that were clearly the problem, not the fact that the Democratic party, starting with Bill Clinton, had made a calculated move to the right, had adopted policies that were disturbingly Republican in their overtones, and so inevitably and understandably lost a chunk of their voter base. Now, it's Sanders supporters who are apparently the divisive ones, too caught up in their pesky idealism to see reality for what it is. Personally, over the years, I -- like most progressives -- have been labeled idealistic, naive, radical, too emotional, and out of touch, simply because I want Americans to have the basic societal supports that all of my European and Canadian friends already enjoy. It is tiring and demoralizing to have your views treated this way, when for most of the developed world, they are the norm. Advertisement We on the left have been derided enough. We don't need, at this critical point in history, to be dismissed as idiots for not supporting Hillary Clinton. There are extremely valid reasons why we haven't (yet) supported her. And there are a whole lot of us. What we need is for the Democratic party to start listening to us. This Democratic race is not divided because Bernie is being divisive. The party is divided as a direct result of the Democratic party's own actions. In the 1990s the Democratic party made a calculated move to center, and basically vowed to avoid any position too 'pure'. As Matt Taibbi points out in his brilliant Rolling Stone piece, which should be required reading for Hillary supporters, the party mantra became 'center wins elections.' The problem with consistently taking the center, is that when one side moves deliberately and pro-actively to the right each election cycle, it takes the center along with it. The center of 2016 looks a lot like the far right of 1992. This does not sit well with millions of Democratic party voters, and that unease has reached a boiling point. But the Democratic party has not effectively listened. Even with clear signs that a growing number of people on the left are becoming disenchanted by the party's move to the right, the party continues to rely heavily on the 'at least we're not them' platform. Advertisement The core problem is that the Lesser of Two Evils is not a foundation for a political party. It is not a platform. You may be able to shame some people into voting that way. You may appeal to their common sense in the short term. Many people in this election of course will take an 'anyone but Trump' stance, as they should. But in anything other than the shortest of terms, Lesser of Two Evils is not any type of solution. When people repeatedly see their vote doing nothing but empowering their party's movement away from its core principles, the argument loses steam, no matter how inane the opposition is. When I was a kid, my parents voted Carter because 'anyone but Reagan', even though who they really supported was Barry Commoner. They couldn't believe that a Hollywood actor like Reagan, who spoke in childish soundbites, could run for high office and win. Then it was Bush senior. Then W. It couldn't possibly get worse. Then Sarah Palin. Now, the Orange-ocalypse. Why does it keep getting worse? Because rather than provide the counterpoint, the Democratic party has let the Republicans set the agenda, has moved to the right along with them, and alienated millions of people along the way. It is time for the Democratic Party to listen to its liberal base. If Hillary wants unity, she needs to forge it by paying more than lip service to the 40% of the registered Democratic voter base (and even more independents) that support real, progressive change. We need to see a progressive agenda. The Democratic party needs to demonstrate that it takes the left seriously, in a big way. Let's see if Hillary is our candidate. Let's see who she'll fill those cabinet positions with. Let's see if this can be the party it once claimed to be. Advertisement Calm down, everyone. I'm not encouraging people to not vote for Hillary in November. I'm trying to help you understand what's going to get people to. Surrounded by young people--"middle-class, long-haired, restless, searching"--the candidate is the progressive candidate for President of the United States. Alienated by the Democratic establishment, angry about poverty and income inequality, he insists that the industrialists who pay for the election of public officials must go. "We can't do what has to be done, as long as the old parties dominate the system...." He is not Bernie Sanders running for the Democratic nomination in 2016. He is Dr. Benjamin Spock running on the People's Party platform against Richard Nixon and George McGovern in 1972. Spock was not a spoiler responsible for the defeat of McGovern--he only won about 72,000 votes. But he was the voice of a more radical anti-war movement than George McGovern, and he never pretended to be a Democrat, running instead as a third party candidate to build a movement. Continuing Spock's campaign, in 1973 Spock and radical attorney Arthur Kinoy set out to build a larger, more universal People's Party. In the days before Twitter and the celebrity-focused media, Arthur Kinoy wrote a complex and intricate position paper that proposed a grassroots party of the people, a party that at its core would be an understanding of the "unique quality of the struggle for Black freedom in this country." Kinoy believed that only by understanding the role of slavery in the origins of American capitalism could the enslavement of Blacks be finally eradicated and the inequality engendered by capitalism overcome. Advertisement In 1973 it would have been very hard for a Progressive to have ignored the vibrant and largely successful Civil Rights Movement which ushered the Civil Rights Act (1964) and the Voting Rights Act (1965) into being. Kinoy was brought up short, however, when he did ignore another struggle for equal rights--the women's movement. Anti-war, Civil Rights activist Barbara Deming had worked with Arthur Kinoy and Dave Dellinger and A.J. Muste, all stalwarts of the anti-war movements following World War II. And she had been on combined anti-war and civil rights walks through the south, ending one such demonstration in prison in Albany, Georgia, for the crime of walking next to a Black man (Prison Notes, 1966). But by 1973 Deming was newly involved in the struggle for women's rights, and she was offended that Kinoy's analysis of the origin and oppression of U.S. capitalism did not mention the struggle of women. Deming maintained that any analysis a People's Party put forward must not slight the struggle of women or it would be "fatally weakened." Kinoy listened. He read Deming's long letter and insisted that it be published in Liberation, a progressive movement magazine, as an article, "You are forgetting women" in 1974. Kinoy wrote back to Deming that it had taken him a while to respond to her challenge because of "a recognition of an ignorance deeply rooted in years of blindness to the dimensions of the question" of women's oppression, women's rights. Kinoy found reading the feminist theorists that Deming had suggested--Rowbotham, Firestone--"mind-blowing." Advertisement Even as a well-intentioned and intelligent person, Kinoy was a creation of his culture and the role of women in society was something that he took for granted as "fixed" in her biology as a child-bearer. The unpaid labor that women did, the labor that shored up capitalism, was invisible to him. The consequences, Kinoy believed, were enormous: From this failure in analysis flow many serious problems which if unrecognized and uncorrected can result in the derailing and destruction of any efforts, no matter how well-meaning or otherwise thoughtful, to build a social movement powerful enough to destroy the last stronghold of world imperialism....This failure...consciously aids and perpetuates the domination of the present system not only upon women themselves, but upon all humanity. Fast forward. It is no longer 1973. We have had more than four decades to understand what Kinoy was suggesting--that no one can be "liberated" until we can see the exploitation and oppression of everyone, no matter how ingrained in social norms that may be. Why is that so hard? I confess. I want a vibrant progressive movement that will change the trajectory of politics as usual. I want to be part of the excitement and sense of possibility that I felt in the 1970s. Those years were hard. The Vietnam War was winding down with excruciating slowness, nonetheless swamping Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty and ushering Richard Nixon into the presidency for just over two years before he was forced to resign for malfeasance. Advertisement In 1973 it seemed as though there might be room for a People's Party that short-circuited the "business as usual" attitude of the two party system. And then there wasn't room. In-fighting, bitter rivalries, and a government that targeted protesters from every group--anti-war activists, Black Panthers, feminists, gay activists. The energy dissipated as progressives turned on one another--you aren't progressive enough, you aren't a true radical. The 2016 presidential campaign is also difficult time. A candidate who has lowered the level of dialogue to epithets on Twitter. Media that distorts positions and incidents to pander to the most extreme interests. And vicious sexist attacks on a woman candidate who could rightly be criticized for her positions on issues, policy choices that were mistakes, but is instead criticized for her looks, her voice, her husband's behavior. And 40 years after Arthur Kinoy's epiphany, why do we still have a progressive candidate running for president who sees only income inequality, the corporate structures of capitalism? He has to be reminded that, yes, Black lives matter. That, yes, women deserve equal rights, equal pay, reproductive freedom. That the hidden labor of women is part of the structure that depresses economic mobility and oppresses millions of us. Advertisement I don't call that progressive. I call it a failure of analysis. And once again progressives are turning on one another with vicious insults and a promise to "never vote" for the candidate who isn't their candidate. Once again, we are right on track to derail any progressive movement at a time when we need all of the momentum we can create in order to start the pendulum swinging in a progressive direction. When he was 10 years old, Audley Lyon moved from Jamaica to the United States. He grew up here, fell in love, married a U.S. citizen, and served honorably in the U.S. Air Force. Then Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) locked him up. It should have been simple for Mr. Lyon to obtain the certifications he needed to begin to fight the deportation charges and return home to his family. He just needed a few government documents, all within reach with a little phone tag and a little patience. But ICE placed such heavy restrictions on telephone use that Mr. Lyon found it virtually impossible to place a call -- any call -- that connected to the outside world. He was held in a California jail where ICE rented beds. Guards kept Mr. Lyon and other detainees in their cells 19 hours a day, severely limiting their ability to make calls during business hours. The phone system automatically disconnected whenever he tried to leave a voicemail or navigate an automated phone system, and did not permit anyone to return calls or leave a message for him. Even when he was able to reach someone, the jail's collect-call-only system required recipients to accept prohibitively expensive phone rates and fees that added up to $5.50 for a 10-minute call, automatically dropped calls after 15 minutes, and provided no private space for making a confidential call. In the end, Mr. Lyon caught a lucky break because he managed to secure an in-person meeting with an immigration attorney from a nonprofit organization, and she agreed to represent him. He is now out of detention. But many others continue to face a grim choice between giving up and signing deportation papers, or asking the court to keep them in detention longer so they can keep trying to play a rigged, high-priced, high-stakes game of telephone tag. The barriers to telephone access that Mr. Lyon faced are not unique. Across the country, ICE holds hundreds of thousands of immigrants each year in a mish-mash of approximately 250 county jails, private prisons, and federally-run facilities -- often in remote locations, far from immigration attorneys. Like Mr. Lyon, every person isolated in detention must find an attorney (there is no public defender system for immigration court) and gather evidence to pursue legal relief from deportation. That's a tall order when you can't even leave voice mail for anyone. ICE's internal standards for its facilities' operations prohibit many of the telephone limitations that Mr. Lyon faced, but ICE rarely enforces them. In fact, those assigned to oversee ICE's Northern California facilities didn't even know what the phone standards required, probably because ICE's system-wide inspection checklists for monitoring compliance omitted key parts of the standards, like the requirement that facilities have a system for routinely taking and delivering phone messages to detainees. As the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and organizations like the ACLU have documented, ICE has a pattern of letting its standards go unenforced, not only with phones but with medical care and suicide prevention. This week, Mr. Lyon and ICE reached a settlement in a class action lawsuit filed on his behalf by the ACLU of Northern California, the ACLU National Prison Project, and the law firms Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe and Van Der Hout, Brigagliano & Nightingale. Under the agreement, ICE will finally provide immigrants in Northern California detention facilities the basic telephone functionality we take for granted outside the fence. Detained immigrants like Mr. Lyon will be able to make calls during business hours, leave voicemail messages, and receive messages in return; make case-related calls to both attorneys and non-attorneys using free, private telephone rooms; and have access to international calling and other features necessary for their cases. Additionally, ICE will change its auditing forms so that the detention facilities across the country will be inspected for compliance with key telephone access standards. If you're locked in a jail cell under threat of being sent out of the country, a telephone may be your only hope of clearing your name and returning to your job and your family. Thanks to Mr. Lyon's lawsuit, detained immigrants will finally be able to work on securing the documents and support they need, rather than grasping at a lifeline that is always just beyond their reach. Julia Harumi Mass is a senior staff attorney with the ACLU of Northern California. Carl Takei is a staff attorney with the ACLU's National Prison Project. People march during a demonstration organised by the Greek LGBTQ community in support to the victims of June 12 Orlando shootings, on June 14, 2016 in Athens. On June 12, a man opened fire in Orlando gay club Pulse during a Latin themed night killing 49 people and injuring 53 others in Florida. The most deadly shooting in the history of the US shook up the LGBTQ community with many worldwide expressing their shock and sympathy. / AFP / LOUISA GOULIAMAKI (Photo credit should read LOUISA GOULIAMAKI/AFP/Getty Images) "One city. One family. One love. One heart. One pulse." - The new Pulse nightclub Facebook cover image. (Facebook) Fifty dead. 53 injured. Dozens of families and groups of friends in unimaginable pain. Americans -- especially those in the LGBTQ community -- left afraid and confused. Advertisement Those are some of the effects of Saturday night's shooting at a popular gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. The tragedy was this country's 173rd mass shooting of 2016 and the worst gun massacre in US history. The #Orlando shooting is the 173rd US mass shooting within 164 days in 2016 (via @erinruberry): pic.twitter.com/lj2p6yR73g Mic (@mic) June 13, 2016 This was not an indiscriminate massacre: A homophobic gunman specifically targeted the gay community. Advertisement What happened at Pulse Pulse nightclub posted this image to Facebook to promote their Latin night last night. (Facebook) Saturday was Latin flavor night at Orlando's "hottest gay bar," Pulse. Around 2 am there were about 300 people in the club, including many patrons from the Hispanic and LGBTQ communities. Every shooting hurts, but a shooting at a Latino night at a gay bar during Immigrant Heritage Month and Pride Month stings a salty sting. Hispanic Pixie Dream Girl (@mathewrodriguez) June 12, 2016 Much like November's Paris attacks at a concert at the Bataclan hall, several clubgoers initially thought the shots were part of the show. Guns traced in #Orlando shooting: .223 caliber AR type rifle and 9mm semiautomatic pistol. Similar to those pictured pic.twitter.com/Ao5pcLtwBg ATF HQ (@ATFHQ) June 12, 2016 Advertisement Despite the fact that Mateen had been under FBI surveillance for possible terrorist ties, he had just bought his guns legally, days earlier. In video from the scene, you can hear the gunman firing 24 rounds in only nine seconds. At 2:09 am, Pulse's Facebook page posted a simple, chilling status: Some club patrons were trapped inside in a tense hostage situation for a full three hours, until police broke the front door down with an armored vehicle, stormed the club, and took Mateen out. Dozens were dead inside, and others died on the way to the hospital. It was the deadliest shooting in American history. The shooter targeted the LGBTQ community A vigil for Orlando at the White House. (vpickering/Flickr) What's not clear is how dedicated Mateen was to the Islamic State. (He swore allegiance to ISIS in a phone call to 911, moments before the attack.) It's not clear how fully radicalized he was, though he'd been investigated by the FBI. It looks like that Mateen worked alone, without support or training from ISIS. BREAKING: Obama says no clear evidence #Orlando shooter was directed or part of larger plot (via @AP) Mic (@mic) June 13, 2016 Advertisement I really don't get gun control vs terrorism, hate crime vs terrorism debate. #OrlandoShooting is all of the above. Max Boot (@MaxBoot) June 13, 2016 Not sure who this is addressed to. I don't make distinctions of people. We are Americans, people... DSM (@Raugravine) June 13, 2016 What is clear is that he targeted the LGBTQ community. He obviously chose Pulse deliberately. Please do read @DPD_ on what it means that a gay bar was targeted by a mass killer https://t.co/LJTnMidXSH pic.twitter.com/5L0Khell7Z Alex Fitzpatrick (@AlexJamesFitz) June 13, 2016 Some context Orlando isn't the first time a gay bar has been targeted. Here's a brief history of other violent anti-LGBT attacks. https://t.co/Fiy7ahgyBm Liam Stack (@liamstack) June 13, 2016 Before the Orlando shooting, the fight over North Carolina's discriminatory bathroom law (and other anti-transgender and anti-LGBTQ rights laws) reminded us just how far away LGBTQ equality really is in this country. Advertisement A gay man who survived #orlando hate crime can STILL show up to work in FL tomorrow and have his boss fire him simply because he is gay. Clay Aiken (@clayaiken) June 12, 2016 It's possible Mateen was inspired by Muslim Sharia law, which explicitly states that homosexuality is a sin punishable by death. Mateen's father said that his son wasn't motivated by religious extremism. He did say his son became upset after seeing two gay men kissing in Miami. June is Gay Pride month THIS is why we have #Pride. Because everyday there is someone who wishes we didn't exist, and yet we do, with love and joy. #Pride2016 rhea butcher (@RheaButcher) June 12, 2016 June is LGBTQ Pride month, commemorating the Stonewall riots, late 1960s demonstrations that some consider to be the most pivotal moments in the fight for LGBTQ equality and gay liberation in America. Advertisement And while June is all about celebrating the LGBT community, the month has taken a tragic turn. The Pulse shooting is a sobering reminder of the dangers the LGBTQ community faces simply for existing. It's nearly one year since the Supreme Court affirmed marriage equality nationwide, a giant leap forward for LGBTQ equality in the US. The bathroom wars and the Orlando attacks painfully demonstrate that the community is still very much subject to hate and discrimination in 2016. Also, "don't politicize this"? Really? You've politicized queer people using bathrooms and having jobs, you can't depoliticize their deaths. Amy's prepping for NYCC. But Halloween-ly. (@spooloflies) June 12, 2016 Advertisement I've spent an hour trying to sum up how I feel in 1 tweet. im exhausted. im queer. And we deserve so much more than this. We deserve to live Lane Moore (@hellolanemoore) June 12, 2016 In fact, many gay men who hoped to donate blood following the Pulse massacre were banned from doing so because of longstanding guidelines that started in the wake of the AIDS crisis -- rules that experts believe are outdated. So while men and women flocked to blood donation centers in Orlando, many gay men were unable to support their own community. It's worth noting that all blood is screened for HIV and AIDS after it's donated. When you realize all straight people's blood is screened for AIDS/HIV before being used, this gets more insulting. https://t.co/ksCQptl5Yd A Princess (@KivaBay) June 13, 2016 Hate groups and bigots are applauding the shooting A small but vocal group of homophobes are applauding Omar Mateen's actions. Notorious hate group the Westboro Baptist Church sent out a sickening message after news of the shooting broke: "God sent the shooter." Advertisement Many Christians and Muslims have loudly denounced homophobia and the Pulse attacks The attack on gay Americans in Orlando was an act of bigotry and terror that Christians reject as antithetical to our faith. Ralph Reed (@ralphreed) June 12, 2016 I'm so proud to be apart of a multicultural Christian church that prays for those who need help and support no matter who they are #Orlando Stivs (@keltronnn) June 12, 2016 I'm a straight white christian male. I would gladly donate blood to the LGBT community right now because we are here together. #Orlando Eugene Capon in #XR (@CaponDesign) June 12, 2016 As a Christian woman, I'm still saying pray for Orlando! No one deserves to lose their life over gun violence and hatred. Sammy Sosa (@SkinTanHairLong) June 12, 2016 Advertisement As a man of God, a follower of Jesus, and as a Christian, my heart is broken by the mass assassination of gays today in #Orlando. I'm sorry. Rev. Stephen M Leach (@revstephenleach) June 12, 2016 millions of my Muslim sisters & brothers are queer & millions more of us believe in equality this scumbag & his bullets don't speak for us Saladin Ahmed (@saladinahmed) June 13, 2016 I'm gay and Muslim. I want to tell the Muslim community the Islamophobia being spewed now doesn't reflect my values as a gay man. #Orlando Shawn Ahmed (@uncultured) June 12, 2016 I'm a muslim, condemn the attack! Islam is perfect, but I am not. If I make mistake, blame me. But not My Religion!#IslamIsClean#Orlando Abdullah (@a_istanbulluogl) June 12, 2016 I'm a Muslim. I respect people's right to fulfill their lives peacefully. I stand in solidarity with #Orlando. Everyone deserves to live. Maria Munir (@Maria_Munir) June 12, 2016 Advertisement As an American Muslim, I'm saddened that innocent lives have been taken by someone who claims Islam. Praying for #Orlando. #StandWithLGBTI Amanda Quraishi (@ImTheQ) June 12, 2016 I'm a Muslim. This is wrong. Your community doesn't deserve this. This is horrific. #orlando Jawaad Ahmad Khan (@JawaadAhmadKhan) June 12, 2016 Are some politicians being hypocritical? Some are pointing out a clear disconnect: some politicians who are offering their thoughts and prayers have refused to support measures designed to reduce gun violence. you signed more pro-gun bills into law in 1 TERM than any Governor in Florida history. this blood is on your hands. https://t.co/TkkPLTQAJg david ehrlich (@davidehrlich) June 12, 2016 Advertisement .@KellyAyotte voted against expanding background checks after Newtown. Now she's back to just thinking & praying https://t.co/7ofKPwholg igorvolsky (@igorvolsky) June 12, 2016 Especially damning are criticisms of politicians who have taken intolerant stances on the LGBTQ community in the past, and who now voice support in the wake of the Orlando massacre. Shoutout to pro-gun Republicans who took a break from passing anti-LGBT laws to offer thoughts and prayers to LGBT victims of gun violence. Wil Wheaton (@wilw) June 12, 2016 In 2016 I still feel unsafe holding my partners hand sometimes. The GOP created this homophobia, and now blood is on their hands..#Orlando Heather Matarazzo (@HeatherMatarazz) June 12, 2016 ...says Christian extremist, anti-LGBT politician who used "divide & conquer" as the basis of his miserable career. https://t.co/ln9E6IHBhB Redpool (@BadgerStew) June 12, 2016 Advertisement But for the most part, the US (and the world) is uniting in grief And so we marched with love, with compassion, with solidarity. Hate and fear cannot win. pic.twitter.com/sNfMKKuenu Jordan Shalhoub (@jordLS) June 12, 2016 Many organizations have denounced Saturday's attacks, from the Vatican to the Council on American-Islamic relations. There has been an outpouring of support from coast to coast. People around the world are holding vigils in solidarity with #Orlando.https://t.co/HbPS5RLDfZ AJ+ (@ajplus) June 13, 2016 Buildings and monuments were lit with rainbow colors, the colors of the LGBTQ community. On Sunday, we lit City Hall the colors of #LGBT Pride to pay tribute to the lives lost in the #Orlando shooting. pic.twitter.com/QWv7TYInnA NYC Mayor's Office (@NYCMayorsOffice) June 13, 2016 The Empire State building went dark in a display of mourning. Tributes to the victims have begun Advertisement Among those killed were Juan Ramon Guerrero, who had only just come out to his family. And Luis Vielma, who worked on the Harry Potter ride at Universal Studios. Luis Vielma worked on the Harry Potter ride at Universal. He was 22 years old. I can't stop crying. #Orlando pic.twitter.com/Nz2ZCWxNsS J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) June 13, 2016 Now, dozens of families have been ripped apart by gun violence and hate. These are the last text messages from an #OrlandoShooting victim to his mother before he died.https://t.co/BhDD5OqCm2 Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) June 13, 2016 A more comprehensive list of victims can be found here. They hate us because they know we're magic and it terrifies them, but being gay is an extraordinary gift. Shine brighter today Sam Lansky (@samlansky) June 12, 2016 There's a lot of talk about how "love will always win" In the words of Grammy winner and Broadway star du jour Lin-Manuel Miranda: "Love is love is love is love is love." We are not just gay, lesbian, bi, trans, etc. We are all gifted human beings that have a lot to offer a world who dehumanizes us #LoveIsLove (@SIDETOSIDEMANI) June 12, 2016 Advertisement I had relatives who died in the concentration camps of WWII Germany. And as a younger Jewish man I moved to Munich, Germany. I met a musician who's grandfather was in the the Nazi elite guard- The S.S. Here we were, two human beings who only 40 years earlier would have been sworn enemies to the death. This musician let me join his band, move into his apt for free, he fed me and literally gave me the shirt off his back. I must admit that at one point we even had a one armed drummer (think Def Leppard) named Adolph in the group, and this did freak out my mother a bit. We kept him simply because he kept good time. When I moved to London, my friend came to live with me, record, make a new life, have a hit, fall in and out of love, and he became a father. I feel by coming together; that we served the healing of the world. I love all people- Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Jew, Atheist until I have a direct first hand experience informing me other wise. No left or right leaning media outlet form my facts, only life itself. After the recent devastating tragedy in Orlando gay bar I have had a few people tell me I should be wary of ALL Muslims. I'm sorry but I can't lump a billion Islamic people into a category. Muhammed Ali who we all agree symbolizes the best best of what the human spirit represents- was a follower of the Muslim Brother hood. Not many haters on Ali, are there? Advertisement The Blog From NPR's Latino USA: Out of Focus A look at some of the political stories that aren't as obvious, from the difference in coverage between English and Spanish language reporting to why it's hard to accurately gather data about Latinos. Plus, a report on the overlooked state races in Florida. Mom & Me 2011 A DEEP & PURE LOVE -- ALZHEIMER'S Many moons ago my mom's world was sunny and bright. It was filled with excitement, love and joy. She had no idea that one day her entire life would vanish, as if it never existed. Truth be told, neither did I, for I had never heard of Alzheimer's. Mom as a child loved to read and as I was growing up she always stressed this to me. Even into her later years mom yearned to continue learning. Her passion for knowledge was important to her. She loved to read and, through reading, taking college courses, she continued to stimulate herself. Sadly enough she can no longer do either of these things. Today, because of this dreadful disease, almost everything she learned has disappeared. She has been robbed, even more, by having the memory of her entire life swept away as if it never existed. Advertisement My brother just returned to Florida after visiting me in New York. As he was here I continued to place my daily calls to the nursing home. With each call I reminded the nurses that my mother would not be having any family visitors for the next two weeks. I was well aware of her being all alone and somehow I was trying to protect her. Yet in her world she had no awareness of this. This realization had me wondering about all the other people who live in a nursing home (especially those with Alzheimer's), and have no family or friends who come to visit them. Perhaps they are "locked away" without any key to free themselves from this awful world they now live in. Although the facility my mom now resides in has no fancy hallways, activity rooms or bedrooms, the nurses and aides all seem to be committed and happy. When I think of the kindness and care that my mother is receiving I feel a sense of security, and know that this is what is most important. My heart could easily break in two, if I allowed myself to think how my mom just wanders the hallways alone each day. She appears mesmerized, lost in her world, not knowing where to go and what to do. Advertisement After hearing that someone from my Alzheimer's support group mom just passed away I was filled with many different emotions. Some wanting my mom to be at peace while at the same time realizing how final that would be. I do know that in some ways I am fortunate that my mom is still alive for the love I feel for her is deep and pure. I also know that each day I lose my mother a little more yet at the same time I also get to love her more. "When I was 18, I was a victim of female genital mutilation. When I was 21, I had my first orgasm!" This was just the beginning of an astonishing story told by one woman who travelled over 5,000 miles to tell it to a room full of strangers. Flying from Africa to Denmark to speak at the Women Deliver 4th Global Conference last month, she was only one of many women who revealed their challenges, and triumphs, in being able to experience sexual pleasure, each to a full round of applause. Why is this important? Because doing so can help save lives. 'Sex sells, but women aren't supposed to talk about it," says Anne Philpott, Founder of The Pleasure Project. "When we do, however, we are more apt to protect ourselves from sexually transmitted diseases." Pleasure is the single most powerful motivating factor for sexual behavior. And since HIV is spread primarily through sexual transmission, efforts to prevent HIV need to consider the role that sexual pleasure and desire play in sexual behavior. "Unsafe sex is the highest risk factor for girls, but girls need self-esteem to make the right decisions for themselves," says Hannah Bowmen, of Love Matters. Essentially, we need to make safe sex sexy. It is not at all coincidental that the Conference was held in Denmark, labeled the 'Happiest Country in the World,' as well as the 'Best Country for Women.' The Dutch even have its own unique word for sexual pleasure, Hygge. If you need any further proof, just consider the results of a recent study that compared Dutch and American teenagers and found that while American girls felt a lack of control over sexual experiences, Dutch girls usually described their sexual experiences as being wanted, mutually decided, and enjoyed. Not surprisingly, Dutch teenagers also have higher rates of contraceptive use and lower rates of unwanted pregnancy, abortion and STIs than their American peers. Advertisement And here lies the reason. Dutch teens were more likely to have received comprehensive sexuality education that includes a focus on relationship skills that foster mutually consensual, pleasurable and responsible sex. Conversely, it has been found that sexual education programs for young people which focus solely on risks and negative outcomes of sexual activity, while ignoring pleasure or desire, tend to put-off adolescents rather than capturing their attention. And the global impact of these results should not be underestimated. "When we talk of married adolescent girls, we need to remember that they are engaging in sex that may not be consensual, pleasurable, or safe," said Conference Panelist Dr. Venkatraman Chandra-Mouli, who works on Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health (ASRH) in the World Health Organization's Department of Reproductive Health and Research. "So rather than focusing only on their 'uptake' of family planning, or when they 'switch' their contraceptive methods, or whether the reason for using contraception is 'spacing' between births, if we also focused on their sexual well-being, provided them and their spouses with sex-positive education that helps them develop mutually respectful, loving relationships, we may be contributing significantly to these young girls' lives and addressing their realities. After all," Chandra-Mouli continued, "We know that a majority of married adolescent girls' experience of sex within marriage is violent, scary, and unwanted." And unwanted sex is rampant in many parts of the world. A study in northern Ethiopia revealed that 81% of child brides interviewed described their sexual initiation as forced. In India, they were three times as likely to report being forced to have sex than girls who married later. Studies have also found that child brides typically continue to experience non-consensual sex throughout their marriage. "Believe it or not, porn is more accessible to young people than is contraception," Chandra-Mouli added. Advertisement But by linking pleasure with safer sex, women and girls can become more confident in their choices. The Pleasure Project even provides an online tool to help women and organizations that are working to promote, advocate and campaign for pleasurable ways to have safer sex, map their progress. "That's why we've been putting the sexy into safer sex for over a decade." Philpott says, "One is only so effective without including the other." As President Obama and his family plan a summer vacation this month, it seems only natural they would tour two of America's most iconic national park sites: the stunning Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico and the breathtaking Yosemite National Park in California. After all, the President just proclaimed June as his eighth straight Great Outdoors Month, urging all of us to enjoy our Nation's natural bounty in this year of the National Park Service's 100th birthday. As the President takes a memorable public lands holiday during his last summer in office, it's also fitting to reflect on the enormous legacy of conservation that he has ensured will pass to the next generation. By good measure, President Obama has protected more public lands and waters than any other president before him. What makes his national monument designations particularly special is that he has protected landscapes and sites that directly respond to the requests of local communities. He has also greatly increased the diversity of stories and sites protected by our public land management agencies to ensure a broader representation of America is honored and reflected in our system of public lands. For example, the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument on the outskirts of Los Angeles responded to the needs of millions of Angelenos for outdoor recreation access, especially for the city's sizable Latino population, and enabled better protection for the drinking water utilized by 30 percent of the city. In addition, the President created the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument, honoring one of America's greatest labor and human rights leaders; Browns Canyon in Colorado, the most popular destination for whitewater rafting in the country and a monument designation greatly influenced by input from Latino groups; and Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument, the nation's newest monument and only the 9th that commemorates women's history and the struggle for women's rights. Advertisement Equally as impressive in accomplishment is the vast improvement for all Americans to be able to access the Great Outdoors and recreate in our public lands. President Obama has supported reauthorization and full funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the nation's premier program for land conservation, and which provides grant funds for communities nationwide. He has also spearheaded the Every Kid in a Park initiative, so that fourth graders and their families can discover the wildlife, resources, and history available in our federal lands and waters at no cost, focusing on schools with high numbers of children from low-income families, and aiming to cultivate the next stewards of our natural and cultural heritage. In total alignment with the President, the National Park Service created the Latino Heritage Internship Program, in partnership with Hispanic Access Foundation, to engage young people with the skills of cultural, historical, natural resource management and connect them with internships in national parks nationwide. Our program is not only helping to diversify the agency's workforce, but also inspire new stewards and visitors to these parks. As it stands, Latinos are the most underrepresented group in the agency's workforce. Through our collaborations with the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, it's clear that the President's great success in championing public lands protection, enhancing access to the outdoors, and realizing the need for a more diverse representation in public lands has benefited from a hugely talented staff. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and Robert Bonnie, the Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment at USDA, have done an outstanding job engaging with and responding to local communities, and conducting public listening sessions about many issues. In addition, Secretary Jewell and National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis have been astute in recognizing the importance of engaging youth in a Park Service career path and taking the action to work with our organization to foster an internship program. Advertisement In announcing "Every Kid in a Park," President Obama eloquently communicated his connection and promise to provide universal access to America's Great Outdoors: "Because no matter who you are, no matter where you live, our parks, our monuments, our lands, our waters -- these places are your birthright as Americans." Thank you President Obama, for leadership that unites Americans in appreciation for our heritage. For the remainder of your presidency, we are with you in your commitment to protect and enhance the diversity of our public lands for the enjoyment of generations to come. "Attempting to punish doctors who provide abortion care is not a new strategy, but it is dangerous. As more pragmatic anti-choice extremists are forced to acknowledge that attempts to directly ban abortion are a dead end, they have found greater success in deceptive efforts to cut off access to abortion care. One of the most damaging ways they do this by going after doctors, making them targets of anti-choice violence and bullying them out of providing care. History shows us that just because abortion is illegal or inaccessible, women do not stop seeking that care. We talk about back-alley abortion as if it's a pre-Roe relic, but women in hostile areas of the country without real access to abortion care will tell you that's not the case. 2016 will go down as a turning point for our nation, and as women, our collective destiny hangs in the balance. On one hand, this year is yet another where historic numbers of bills have passed through state houses limiting our freedom to make our own decisions about abortion care and contraception, while we have witnessed the sexist rhetoric in the presidential race reach an all time low. Both houses of Congress have held bogus hearings motivated by universally discredited videos and junk science. We've seen arguments in cases at the Supreme Court that will determine the future of abortion and contraception access in this country. On the other hand, we have a vibrant and energetic movement making policies like paid parental leave and equal pay a political reality. We stand on the cusp of electing our first female President whose vision and hard work has broken barriers and expanded what's possible and whose interests are served in our country. Hillary stands among a long line of women known and unknown, sung and unsung who have, are, and will continue to make America great again and again." The announcement that Microsoft is acquiring LinkedIn makes good business sense for Microsoft. This gives Microsoft direct access to hundreds of millions of LinkedIn members, who are essentially "customers" in the business world - individuals, entities, etc. And Microsoft has plenty to sell them. On the other hand, Microsoft also has hundreds of millions of customers - from licensees of Office 365 to corporate customers using Yammer, and from countless other sources. In one fell swoop this becomes a massive customer base. While perhaps not a monopoly, the combination of the two companies certainly provides Microsoft with a huge marketplace to serve and sell their wares. What gives pause, however, is the heretofore vast gap between the privacy philosophies of the two companies. LinkedIn has privacy policies that eschew the name "privacy" while Microsoft has repeatedly positioned itself as the company consumers could trust. Indeed even today Microsoft states unequivocally in their Privacy Policy "we do not use what you say in email, chat, video calls or voice mail, or your documents, photos or other personal files to target ads to you."https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement Advertisement This is in remarkable contradiction to the company they just acquired, as LinkedIn tracks everything their members do and targets ads to them, "on and off our Service." Read that again - on and off their service. Take a look: After you create an account [at LinkedIn] you may choose to provide additional information on your LinkedIn profile, such as descriptions of your skills, professional experience, and educational background. You can list honors, awards, professional affiliations, Group memberships, networking objectives, companies or individuals that you follow, and other information including content . . . Providing additional information enables you to derive more benefit from our Services . . . It also enables us to serve you ads and other relevant content on and off of our Service. The fundamental question to pose Microsoft with today is whether they have thrown in their proverbial towel of privacy protection for people of the world? While admittedly they weren't great at it, they certainly were legions ahead of their new division. Most of us can easily remember Microsoft's Google-bashing "Sgroogled" campaign of the past few years (terminated in 2015) on the web, on television, and across media channels: "The multi-million dollar multi-year campaign -- which had appeared on TV, in newspapers, online and even extended to a merchandise range -- mocked everything from Google's Shopping search rankings allegedly being dictated by how much advertisers were willing to pay to boost themselves up the search results page, to a major push claiming Gmail violated users' privacy by scanning emails for key words in order to serve targeted ads." Advertisement Today Microsoft has convincingly back-pedaled. Their statements about the merger proclaim a 100% hands-off approach - LinkedIn will operate as it always has. Perhaps taking a page from the recent trends in social media, where all the giants (Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and yes, even WhatsApp) are now actively using algorithms, advanced tracking methods, and targeted ads on and off their sites, Microsoft has seen that dollars are to be made to pad their coffers (currently estimated to be about $105B, and of course one can never have enough). So who loses today? This is an interesting question. Paradoxically, TechCrunch recently published a convincing piece titled: "Why You Should Bet Big on Privacy." The article opens with the author (Rand Hindi) stating: "Ever felt like you were being watched online? You know, like when you read something about New York, and the next site you visit shows you ads for New York hotels? As it turns out, on my computer, there were more than 130 companies tracking my every move . . ." In recent weeks, people have been turning out by the hundreds at public hearings demanding reform of the federal coal leasing program. For decades now, coal mining companies have ripped more than 400 million tons of coal from public lands every year. In fact, nearly 40 percent of all coal mined in the United States comes from land owned by the American people, and it's given to coal companies at far below market value. Fortunately, in January the Secretary of the Interior, Sally Jewell, ordered an immediate halt to all new leases for coal mining on federal land (with a few exceptions) pending a review of how, when, and where the government should allow companies to extract coal from land that belongs to all Americans. The next step in that process, now underway, is a series of six public hearings being held across the nation this spring and summer. President Obama's Administration has acknowledged the sorry truth behind the current state of the coal leasing program. Simply put, it's broken and badly in need of updating. The government's current program for leasing land to coal companies is more than 30 years old and ignores many of the critical risk factors now associated with mining, transporting, and burning coal for electricity. Advertisement While it's clear today that burning coal pollutes our air and water and is the single biggest contributor to climate disruption, there are other, hidden costs to subsidizing coal mining on federal lands. Federal underwriting of coal production shorts taxpayers millions of dollars each year on a bad economic bet, slows the transition to a clean energy economy and undercuts opportunities for economic diversification in coal communities. In fact, the Department of the Interior coal leasing program has left money on the table for years, costing taxpayers $30 billion over the last thirty years, and effectively subsidizing mining in the Powder River Basin, a region which is the source of 13 percent of US climate emissions. The threat to our national treasures -- our parks, forests, and other special places -- is very real. For example, in Utah, the Federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is preparing to open more than 3,500 acres of land near Bryce Canyon National Park to coal strip mining. Expanded coal strip mining would harm the region's clean water and air, mar Bryce Canyon's world-famous dark night skies with light, destroy habitats, create noise disruptions. Yet the current coal leasing programs fails to adequately take these threats into consideration during the decision-making process. It also fails to consider the impacts on Utah's vibrant tourism and outdoor recreation economy that generates $12 billion in consumer spending and creates 122,000 direct Utah jobs. That's why the current set of coal leasing hearings are so critical. This process is an opportunity to make smart choices about the future of U.S. energy policy, and to fix some of the broken policies of the past, by pressing decision makers to protect the health of more families, save taxpayers money, and deepen investments in our clean energy energy future by creating a plan to end much of the federal government's underwriting of coal mining. That's a critical step in protecting the health of our families, our wallets, and our planet. Across the country we're working hard alongside supporters, members, allies and others to ensure that federal coal leasing reforms benefit communities, workers, and our environment. At the most recent hearing in Knoxville, Tenn., those in support of coal leasing reform made up 90 percent of the people who spoke at the hearing. Folks came in from not just around Tennessee but around the region, including community leaders from Kentucky, Alabama, Virginia and even as far away as Montana to speak in favor of strong reforms to the coal leasing process. Advertisement "We are building new power for a bright future in Appalachia and it is working." said Eric Dixon, a Kentuckians For the Commonwealth member and staff member at Appalachian Citizens Law Center. Opinion by Reboot Illinois' Madeleine Doubek How about some good news about citizens taking control of their own government? The citizen-led Independent Map Amendment initiative easily cleared hefty signature requirement hurdles, was deemed valid and won tentative approval Monday to appear on the Nov. 8 ballot, pending the outcome of a lawsuit filed to try to thwart it. In a first for an Illinois redistricting attempt after two previous attempts in 2010 and 2014, commissioners on the Illinois State Board of Elections declared the signatures valid, giving a tentative green light to the ballot question that would ask voters if they want an 11-member independent commission to design state legislative districts rather than letting ruling politicians draw them. "This is a huge hurdle that we've cleared and it's one that no redistricting amendment has so far cleared in Illinois, so we're very excited," said Dave Mellet, campaign manager of the Independent Map Amendment. When this was tried in 2014, "they realized this is a pretty massive undertaking and there's a lot you need to learn about duplicate signatures," he added, "so to get to 290,000 valid signatures is a huge step." Advertisement Steven Sandvoss, executive director of the elections board, told commissioners a random sample of 5 percent of the voter signatures the group turned in showed map workers had far surpassed the minimum required number of 290,216 valid Illinois voters' signatures, so a second, random sample was not needed. A similar citizen effort in 2014 failed at this stage when the sample showed problems with many of the signatures. Two years ago, Cook County Circuit Court Judge Mary Mikva ultimately ruled the previous independent redistricting effort unconstitutional because it would have banned commissioners from running for public office for 10 years after serving on the commission. The new redistricting proposal does not include that restriction. A lawsuit filed by a group calling itself the People's Map and made up of Chicago-based minority business and advocacy executives suggests the Independent Map group's efforts are unconstitutional, contending it has not met the requirement to change both the process and structure of legislative mapmaking. The People's Map group hired Michael Kasper, the same lawyer who blocked the last independent redistricting effort and who has long been connected to Democratic Party of Illinois Chairman and House Speaker Mike Madigan. Madigan's spokesman Steve Brown previously has denied Madigan is behind the People's Map objections. Kasper did not return a call for comment Monday. The ballot question asking voters if they want to create an independent commission to draw maps could be officially certified for the ballot at the election board's August meeting if the court challenge is resolved. Cook County Circuit Court arguments over the constitutionality of the citizen redistricting effort are expected June 30. Advertisement Further, Sandvoss noted there has been no sign of any attempt at a line-by-line thorough review of the redistricting petition signatures and elections board General Counsel Kenneth Menzel said it "bodes well" that no one has asked for a copy of the petitions to examine them for problems. "I think they understand that I think it was 73 percent of our signatures were found to be valid by a random sample," Mellet said. "The last attempt, they went through the 5 percent sample and they were found to have, I think, a 45 percent validity rate, so we're talking about almost 30 percent higher. We learned a lot of great lessons from the previous amendment and we had a lot of the same great volunteers. We had over 2,000 people, individual circulators, so it is a huge difference from that." With the help of prominent citizens and strong donations, more than 2,000 Illinoisans did the tough work to try to change their state government and make it less political. Nearly 300,000 validated Illinois voters said all of us should have that chance to change the map rigging that occurs when politicians of one party or another draw districts after each census. That power grab and political mapmaking is where corruption is born in Illinois. The 11-member commission would have Democrats and Republicans on it and likely won't be entirely free from political influence, but it is a giant step forward toward fairness and it just took one big leap toward a ballot near you. With luck, and perhaps providence, the amendment will move past the courts and to your ballot. Illinois citizens are standing up and attempting to own their government. On Tuesday the Senate passed their version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) without an increase in visas for Afghans who supported U.S. troops in battle. The problem is that these allies of the U.S. military were already promised refuge in America if they were threatened, and they and their families are now being targeted for their faithful service. Debate on the more than 500 amendments to the annual spending bill was blocked, and the visa increase was left out of the final version. This was the wrong decision; one that disrupts our ability to fight the enemy effectively, and puts the estimated 10,000 Afghans and their family members awaiting visas in a tremendously perilous position. Thousands of local Afghans worked alongside U.S. troops by translating for them, helping work with local populations, and providing intimate on-the-ground knowledge of villages and cities. They were, in the words of Senator McCain, "essential to battlefield success". Advertisement In exchange for a year of their faithful service to the U.S. government, they were promised visas for themselves and their families, and refuge in America if they were targeted by the Taliban or other groups. This simple agreement helped the war effort, and claimed bipartisan support in Congress. But this year's NDAA deliberations in the House didn't include an increase in visas to continue bringing over the 10,000 Afghans that are still being processed. Without any increase in total visas and with new restrictions for applying, the program is basically defunct for those already in line. The Senate version wasn't much better. Senator Chuck Grassley blocked visa additions in the Senate Armed Services Committee markup last month. And without amendments, the 85-13 vote closes the door on the program during these negotiations. There will be drastic implications without a well-functioning visa program for our military allies. First, the human toll will likely be staggering. Examples of Afghans being tortured and killed for their service are tragically commonplace. This is why resettling our allies here in the United States is essential. Advertisement Second, this forces the U.S. military to basically turn its back on the allies that helped us in battle. This sends the message that America will not honor its promises. The credibility of the American military, in the place that needs it most, will take a hit. Third, current operations require translators and allies to provide information about the local culture. Local allies are invaluable. If we cannot guarantee the safety of allies and their families, the interest in helping America diminishes. And without that on-the-ground help, our ability to conduct our missions falters, subsequently producing national security risks. Two U.S. soldiers that fought in Afghanistan wrote in Politico last month that cutting off the SIV program,"will cost us our moral credibility and hurt U.S. military operations for years to come." Moreover, the top American commander in Afghanistan endorses the program. Senators McCain and Shaheen lead the bipartisan effort to preserve this vital program through the end of 2017, increase the number of available visas, and save the lives of American allies and their families. The amendment was going to taken up individually, but was halted when Senator Mike Lee objected and wanted a vote on his own amendment as well. The opposition argued that there are possible security risks with resettling these Afghans. But the individuals in question are the friends, confidantes, and colleagues of American soldiers. They are not threats. They risked death daily on behalf of the American government. They were hired by the U.S. military, screened by various intelligence agencies, underwent a security check every six months, and again approved and vetted before arrival in the United States. Advertisement Moreover, a SIV application requires sign-off from the U.S. troops that were with the ally on the ground. No program is without any risk, but those who have put their life on the line to help the U.S. and pass security clearance deserve to call the U.S. home. Senator Jeff Sessions argued taking in more of our allies would result in brain-drain in Afghanistan. But the brain drain argument holds little water considering the only alternative to escape for these Afghans is to go into hiding. Abandoning them there won't help Afghanistan; it will just undermine future efforts to win future allies on the ground. Congress has a decision to make: it can honors its promises to our allies or set the dangerous precedent that our friends around the globe can't trust the word of the U.S. military. UNITED STATES - JUNE 14: Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Wis., speaks during the House Republican leaders' media availability immediately after the Republican Conference meeting on Tuesday, June 14, 2016. (Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call) This post first appeared in the Wisconsin State Journal and is reprinted here with permission. Thirty-six years ago this summer, Ronald Reagan asked me to assemble and chair a group of advisory task forces made up of Republican members of Congress from both the House and Senate. The members had expertise in each of the major policy areas the next president would have to address -- tax policy, spending programs, health care and defense issues, energy and transportation. It was the sort of approach to governing one would imagine Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin would have loved. Advertisement I don't know Ryan, R-Janesville, as well as I'd like. But I knew Reagan well. I campaigned for him in state after state, had long talks with him as we drove from place to place when he came to Oklahoma to campaign with me. I sat with him in his hotel room in Manchester watching the New Hampshire primary returns that rejuvenated his campaign after a surprise loss in the Iowa caucuses. As the national chairman of the American Conservative Union and a founding trustee of the Heritage Foundation, I sat with him at his annual appearances at the Conservative Political Action Conference. I saw his instinctive compassion as, at my request, he diverted Air Force One to fly us over the city of Bartlesville, in my congressional district, after it had been heavily damaged by a tornado. As a member of the Republican congressional leadership, I met with him in the Oval Office every week of his presidency. I know Ronald Reagan would never have endorsed Donald Trump for the presidency. Not ever. No matter what. I had assumed and was enthusiastic about Ryan being the next link in the chain for conservatives from Reagan to Congressman Jack Kemp, the man Ryan has called his role model. Kemp was a champion of outreach to the poor and minorities. Kemp supported restructuring the tax code because he really believed a rising tide lifts all boats -- and that it was the lifting of all boats, not just the idea of lower tax rates, that drove his policy ideas. Advertisement Ryan was to be next. I campaigned and traveled with Kemp, spending hours together in long policy discussions. Ryan may consider Kemp his hero, but Kemp would never have endorsed Trump for the presidency. Not ever. No matter what. If Speaker Ryan had concluded Trump was the right man for the presidency -- smart, knowledgeable and mature enough, with the right kind of temperament, judgment and values to be president -- I would have had no problem with him endorsing Trump. I would have disagreed with him -- strongly -- but nobody made me king. People who support Trump have as much right to their opinion as I do. But Ryan doesn't believe those things. He has made it clear he doesn't think Trump is fit to be president. And yet because Trump is of his political party -- his club -- Ryan is now urging the American people to give Trump access to the nuclear codes, the power to use the veto to override the decisions of Congress, and the sole ability to nominate Supreme Court justices and the heads of the departments of Justice, State and Defense. Ryan hopes his endorsement of Trump will help his club win. It's my club, too. But it's also my country, which means more to me than my political party. Ryan hopes his support of Trump will help Republicans keep control of Congress. But it will do the opposite. Those Republican members of Congress whose constituencies are not likely to support Trump might have previously been able to run independently of him. Ryan has tied Trump's hatreds to every Republican member of the House and Senate. Advertisement Trump is no longer the immature buffoon who captured the nomination with the support of roughly one in nine registered Republicans. Trump is now, because of Ryan, the anointed and endorsed national personification of the Republican Party. With his endorsement, Ryan has done to the party of Reagan and Kemp what the political left had never been able to do. Yes, a divided Republican Party might have lost the next election and even lost control of Congress for a while. But this is a Republican-leaning country. Republicans control most of the governorships, most state legislative seats and both houses of Congress. We would have come back as the party that turned its back on the worst major party nominee for president in the history of the country. We would have come back as the party that put the interests of America ahead of the interests of its club. We would have come back as a party whose leaders could look at themselves in the mirror and not be ashamed. Ryan has taken that from us. It is a mid-June evening in Belgrade and in the National Library of Serbia there are almost hundred young people, still learning for the exam period and seizing the day to the fullest. The bells of the neighbouring St. Sava Temple, the biggest Orthodox church in the world, have just rang the 10-second chant, reminding us how this moment is precious and how we belong to this sacred area. Belgrade is the city that rose from ashes over 30 times throughout its history from the era of Celts to the age of Zika virus. We are here and now, learning, connecting, existing. And as I write this in solemn silence, surrounded by the energy of brilliant minds and the abundance of books available to us for such a minimal fraction of the cost, I cannot help but remember my biggest learning in life so far and my biggest youth mistake. I realized that the ultimate joy in life comes from understanding that life is a process, the tapestry of threads bound together, where some fit in and some fall out of place: people come and go, events do not turn out as we would like to, we plan for the best, yet have to set for the worst. If we try to rush life, control it, get angry about it, it will run away from us. If we embrace life, breathe deeply into it and accept it as a wonder, we will be the richest people in the world in a split second. Advertisement The only certainty in life is uncertainty, and I who did not choose to be born and you dear reader, who did not choose that either, have been given the most precious present: the life, without even asking for it. And yet we squander it too many times every day: when we complain over the things we cannot change such as weather or other people; or when we worry about the future instead of setting out with determination that we will give our 100% best and that we will leave the rest to Fortune. In early 2000s when Australian diva Kylie Minogue was back on the world-class stage, she said in one of the interviews that if she had asked for a coin every time somebody commented how short she is, she would become a millionnaire even without focusing on her career so much. I wanted to conclude a similar experiment, and maybe this article would trigger the movement, yet this time people would need to donate a coin in case they complained. Just imagine: you complain about the things beyond your control or you complain just for the sake of complaining and you need to donate. And here is the most compelling cause to crowd source our resources and potential complaints, helping another human being continue her life. Lizzie Park is an exceptional Australian business woman, the mother of two children and three times cancer survivor who now embarks on the next adventure: collecting USD 60.000 to continue the life-saving treatment in Germany. She managed in a week to collect half of the money and to reach her ultimate goal she needs your help. Advertisement I encountered Lizzie over the screen when we connected to help her with crowd funding strategy. As I was running in one of Belgrade parks and reading her message during the rest time, I have realized that the secret to living is giving and that I must help this woman so that she continues living and giving to family, friends and community. This precious gift of life we have is so much important that if we have the health we are the richest people in the world and Lizzie taught me that, exemplar and virtuous in her actions. How to Prevent Falls in Older Adults As a hospital-based geriatric specialist for several years, I frequently provided care to older adults who were hospitalized after falling, having sustained devastating injuries such as fractures, head trauma, and internal bleeding. Many patients improved and were able to return home, but others quickly declined, going from hospital bed to rehabilitation facility to long-term care, where they eventually died. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one out of three people age 65 or older falls each year, and more than 700,000 are hospitalized due to a fall injury, most often a head injury or hip fracture. The risk for falls and fall injuries accelerates after the age of 75. Since many older adults have little physiologic reserve to start with, these injuries often lead to debilitation and death. In fact, nearly 35 percent of patients age 60 and over die within one year following surgery for hip fracture. Advertisement Fortunately, many of these falls and related injuries can be prevented. Addressing Risk Factors Is Key Now that I provide house calls to older adults, I recognize why so many of them fall and end up in the hospital. The minute I step into their homes, I often see modifiable risk factors that make falling more likely. Older adults, families, and caregivers can take simple steps to address these risk factors and reduce the chances of falling. Doing so can go a long way toward helping seniors maintain their independence and quality of life. First, let's look at some common risk factors: Visual and hearing impairments. When you can't see or hear well, it takes longer to react to changes in your environment. This general lack of awareness of one's surroundings can increase the risk of tripping, losing balance, and falling. Medication side effects. Polypharmacy--the use of multiple medications or taking more than are medically necessary--can lead to falls and is a common issue in geriatric patients. Medications that cause drowsiness, such as antipsychotics, antidepressants, sedatives, and opioid painkillers, tend to be widely prescribed in older patients, and are associated with greater risk of falling. Physical decline. Decreased strength in the lower extremities and poor balance stack the deck toward taking a tumble. Advertisement Hazards in the home. Clutter, loose rugs, poor lighting, and lack of safety supports (e.g., grab bars) can all contribute to falls in the home. Fear of falling. After falling, many older adults develop an intense fear of falling again. In response, they become less and less physically active, leading to debilitation and, indeed, increased likelihood of falling. Simple Prevention Measures Countering these risk factors with the following interventions can help older adults decrease their chances of falling, boost their confidence and help them overcome the fear of falling. 1. Get vision and hearing checked annually and take steps to improve any correctible deficits. 2. Always store glasses and hearing aids in the same place when not in use, such as on a bedside nightstand, so they are readily accessible when needed. 3. Ask a primary care physician or pharmacist to regularly review medications and assess whether any of them are causing side effects, such as dizziness or somnolence, which could cause one to fall. Advertisement It may be possible for the doctor to modify the medication regimen. 4. Work with a physical therapist to increase strength and improve balance. 5. Modify the home environment to make walking and transferring from one position to another safer: Remove clutter; Remove loose throw rugs; Install grab bars in the bathroom, including the shower and tub; Install railings on both sides of the stairs; Keep the home adequately lit for easy navigation; a night light in the hallway leading to the bathroom can be especially helpful. Evaluating Fall Risk Another key thing older adults can do is ask a primary care physician to evaluate their fall risks and recommend specific interventions. Patients, families, and even doctors often overlook this aspect of medical care. In the Medicare population, less than half of patients who fall discuss fall prevention with their doctors. Aiming to address this shortcoming, a nationwide, multisite clinical trial is currently testing how to effectively integrate fall risk assessment and prevention strategies into primary care practices. Called the STRIDE study, for Strategies to Reduce Injuries and Develop Confidence in Elders, it uses a co-management model where specially trained nurses evaluate patients older than age 75 and develop individually tailored fall prevention plans. They then work with the patients and primary care physicians to implement the interventions in hope of reducing fall-related injuries. Additional Resources As you can see, there is plenty that older adults, families, and caregivers can do to help prevent falls and related injuries. It's largely a matter of common sense and making changes that can be implemented fairly easily. A multi-pronged approach that addresses all the risk factors could have a very positive impact on older adults' safety, health, and quality of life. Mr. Mateen, You took it upon yourself to rent a vehicle, drive from your home in Port St. Lucie to Orlando, and commit the largest mass shooting in our Nation's history. And when I say our Nation, I mean mine and everyone else's. You do not deserve to call this Nation devoted to freedom and diversity, your nation. You failed to represent this country for what it is. This country provides to its citizens the liberty to live their lives as they please, so long as they're not infringing upon the rights or safety of others. Pure hate triggered you to commit such an egregious crime in the beautiful city of Orlando, but know that this city is too strong to let you render it one of violence and senseless murder. Orlando is home to over two million people of different religious upbringings, national origins, and racial classifications. Despite these differences, Orlando came together as one and provided the love and support needed to overcome the tragedy you've brought upon it. Lines to donate blood were quickly formed, and donations of food and water were made before they could even be requested. Counselors dropped everything they were doing to volunteer and provide an outlet for those grieving the loss of loved ones and friends. It is those citizens that will forever represent Orlando, your night of selfish and hate induced attacks, will not. Advertisement Your actions fail to represent not only the regions that you have impacted, but also the family that raised you. From what I have come to learn about your family, your sisters are the sweetest girls, and your mother has the kindest of hearts. Mutual friends of ours have expressed pure disbelief. They're unable to make sense of what you've done and the lives you've taken. Your family's reputation as a respectable and loving family has been tarnished, and although they've publicly expressed their condolences and apologized for what you've done, nothing will rid them of the pain you have caused each of them. They will forever live with the guilt and everlasting impact of your repulsive hate crime. My only hope is that the World recognizes them for who they are individually, and not for the infamous title that you've consequently given to them. You, Omar Saddiqui Mateen, do not represent your family, nor do you represent Islam and the Muslim community. Islam provides guidance to its followers and teaches us how to respect and live amongst others, regardless of our differences. Islam teaches us how to love, despite the hate and ignorance that plagues the world today. You chose to hate. You decided to attack the LGBT community, rather than to show them the true meaning of Islam. You failed to lead by example. You failed to demonstrate the values that are instilled in us as Muslims. As Muslims, we are expected to understand that Islam, like Christianity, prohibits acts of homosexuality. However, we are also expected to understand the sensitivity surrounding one's sexuality, and to pray for those that we believe are in need of Allah's (SWT) guidance. It was not your job to judge the lives of others. Islam does not issue a pass to harm those that sin differently than you do. Islam does not promote senseless acts of violence and hate through its prohibitions. During the holy month of Ramadan, Muslims all around the world were displaying acts of genuine kindness and humility. You chose to do the opposite. You chose to hate and in doing so, you've misrepresented this Nation, my city, your family, and the entire religion of Islam. Advertisement YOU do not represent US, Omar Mateen. Countless communities will continue to come together and set aside their differences to assist in any way that we possibly can. We will do what you could not. We will combat hate with love, and defy it against all odds. It's hard to find the words to properly praise Indecent and its co-creators Pulitzer Prize playwright Paula Vogel and Director Rebecca Taichman, except to declare it a brilliantly conceived, superbly written, imaginatively staged, exquisitely performed, bi-lingual magnum opus with an intricate, convoluted plot in which six exceptional actors slither between time past and time present, assuming 40 different personally and professionally linked characters. To sum it up: Indecent is a factually accurate, intriguing, intimate, heartfelt, and totally unforgettable Tour de Force! It's a play about the unfortunate history of another play, God of Vengeance, a first play, written in in Yiddish in Warsaw in 1904 by 24-year old Sholem Asch, an audacious Polish-Jew with a worldview. God of Vengeance is a moral melodrama, which, according to Indecent, had its first reading at the Warsaw literary salon of I. L. Peretz, the most profound and mystical of the founding fathers of modern Jewish literature who wrote in the Yiddish vernacular. The plot of God of Vengeance was a far cry from the tales of upright, worthy, long-suffering, shtetl martyrs preferred by the religious status quo. The central character is a successful Jewish entrepreneur/brothel owner (Feh! Feh!) whose aim in life is sheltering his still-pure-enough-to-sleep-with-the-$10K-Holy-Scroll-Dad-commissioned-as-a-tradeoff-for-her-marriage-to-a-pious-scholar daughter Rivkele from his crass and corrupt enterprise operating 24/7 in the cellar beneath the family manse. But even as Yekel grovels and attempts to confess his sins to a Rabbi more interested in arranging a match for a rich man's daughter than the rich man's remorse, Rivkele was in the arms of her beloved Manke, one of her father's sex-workers. Religious hypocrisy and domestic violence soon ensue and you don't need Einstein to tell you that there ain't gonna be a happy ending. Yekel is infuriated enough to banish Rivkele to the spiritual and sexual defilement of toiling beside beside her beloved in the brothel. Advertisement God of Vengeance was considered a bold, seminal work by some, an act of traitorous libel by others. It was first performed in Yiddish in Poland, followed by a successful production in German in Berlin starring Matinee Idol Rudolph Schildkraut. Within months it was playing in Russian in Moscow. Then New York beckoned, where starring Rudolph Schildkraut, God of Vengeance struck a chord with the baseborn Eastern European immigrants who attended the theater on the Lower East Side. An English translation presented at Greenwich Village's gay-friendly Provincetown Playhouse ruffled no feathers. Then it moved Oy Vay! Uptown to the Apollo Theater where, even though the producers had themselves pre-censored the lesbian love scenes, deleting all the tenderness and leaving just the lust, the play's money-buys-absolution theme upset the upward mobile, uptown-bound, Yankee-fied German Jews, incensed that a play that "aired our dirty laundry," could be seen and understood by Christians. Rabbi Joseph Silverman of Manhattan's prestigious Temple Emanuel lodged a complaint about the play for libeling the Jewish religion and 15 days after it opened, the vice squad arrived, arrests were made and the production was shut down. Could nothing save the day? Maybe the appearance of Sholem Asch, but he was contending with more threatening fish. "There are massacres right now all over Europe!! And I'm supposed to care about what I wrote when I was in short pants?" Indecent's remarkable script, unflinching direction and outstanding music instead confront what most concerned its playwright. The actual greatest indecency of the 20th Century -- the systematic murder of six million Jews. Indecent opens with the players dangling like marionettes at the rear of the stage. The first to come to life is a dusty figure in an old suit with Holocaust ashes pouring from his coat sleeves and trouser legs when he moves. He's Lemml, the stage manager, who introduces himself first and then the other five actors and three musicians -- a fiddler, a clarinetist, and an accordionist, who lead the cast in singing a merry Socialist folksong about how they are all brothers and band together. I'm always stunned by the joy of klezmer music, that a group of people who have suffered as much as the Jews have can produce such happy melodies. The joy of the music was reflected in the faces of audience members seated near me, as they recalled fiscally more impoverished but emotionally wealthier times. Advertisement Our next stop is at the bedroom of newlyweds, Sholem Asch and his bride Madja, who recognizes the words in the love scene between Rivkele and Manke as the ones spoken by her to Sholem the night he seduced her. Writing about Indecent has reminded me how very decent I found Indecent. I've decided to see it once more before it closes on June 19 and believe me, I almost never see anything twice. The performances by all of the performers, particularly Richard Topol as Lemml but also Mimi Lieber, Max Gordon Moore, Tom Nelis, Steven Rattazzi and musicians Michael Cohen, Lisa Gutkin and Aaron Halva were outstanding, but the intimate scenes between Katrina Lenk and Adina Verson demonstrate again that love is humanity's common denominator. Vineyard Theater 108 East 15th St. 10003 323-353-0303 www.vineyardtheatre.org MANHATTAN, NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES - 2016/06/12: Hundreds of thousands filled the streets of Manhattan & Brooklyn to celebrate NYC's 59th annual Puerto Rico Day starting with a parade led by mayor Bill de Blasio, who later held a brief press conference to discuss potential terrorism issues in light of the Orlando nightclub massacre. (Photo by Andy Katz/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images) Today colonialism stands exposed in its unrelenting and unapologetic display of dominance and control. As Congress prepares to vote on a restructuring package for Puerto Rico that includes the imposition of a federal fiscal control board that will be composed primarily of bankers, financial sector "experts" and lawyers and will retain powers far greater than democracy itself, the Supreme Court has just made clear for the first time in 100 years that Puerto Rico has no sovereignty, save that granted to it by Congress. And the Obama administration has expressed its support for both positions, having advocated for the control board and against any notion of dual sovereignty for the island. All branches of the federal government have made it explicitly clear recently that in case you believed otherwise, Puerto Rico is in fact a colony of the United States, despite colonialism being illegal and immoral. Advertisement Ironically, the Court's decision in Puerto Rico v. Sanchez Valle retraces the colonial history of Puerto Rico under United States control, in painful and painstaking detail, describing how any semblance of self-governance exercised by the people of Puerto Rico was only allowed because Congress permitted and approved of it, including the creation of the island's constitution. That constitution was drafted to recognize social and economic rights a few years after they had been established by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and recognized by the international community as being essential to the realization of all rights. Yet, as the Court reminds us, when the constitution was submitted for ultimate approval -- not to the people of Puerto Rico, but to Congress -- those rights (and any amendments that could have led to establishing them) were removed and instead replaced with the right of children to attend private school and protections that prioritize the payment of general obligation bonds (i.e. private creditors such as hedge funds) above the provision of public services. The creation of Puerto Rico's constitution created a "new kind of political entity," which is the legal fiction known as the Free Associated State (Estado Libre Asociado), or a Commonwealth, in order not to refer to Puerto Rico as what it continued to be -- a colony. The Supreme Court said as much, noting that "Puerto Rico's transformative constitutional moment does not lead to a different conclusion" that its status as a colony, both before and after U.S. acquisition, changed. Former Supreme Court Justice Frankfurter called this "inventive statesmanship." Advertisement The international community still calls it colonialism. The United Nations has repeatedly affirmed its position with regard to the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples in General Assembly Resolution 1514 (XV), which states that the continued subjugation and domination of a people by a foreign nation violates their fundamental human rights and the United Nations Charter. The United Nations Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples reaffirms in its resolution each year, as it has done in 33 independent resolutions, the right of the people of Puerto Rico to self-determination. And that colonial status is nowhere more evident than in the vote taken by Congress recently to pass the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act ("PROMESA"). PROMESA, which means "promise" in Spanish, offers the island the chance for full debt restructuring, but at the extremely high price of relinquishing self-governance. The bill would impose a federal fiscal control board that would be composed of seven federally-appointed persons with banking, finance and legal backgrounds and who would have the authority to approve, or not, fiscal plans proposed by the Governor and legislature. In other words, a seven-member federal panel composed of private sector bankers and lawyers will be able to determine the fiscal priorities, budgets, funding and establishment of policies over the elected members of Puerto Rico's legislature and its Governor. They will be able to hold secret, closed-door meetings, veto budgets approved by the legislature and order reductions in spending. Advertisement They will be able to reduce the role of government -- which is fundamentally to act in service of the needs of its citizens in the protection, respect and fulfillment of their rights - in order to prioritize payment of a debt larger than Puerto Rico's Gross National Product (GNP) to private investors. Investors who engaged in financially risky transactions, refused to negotiate, launched a campaign to discourage any federal government assistance (which they called a "bailout") and who have openly advocated for continued austerity measures, such as the closure of schools, hospitals and cutting the minimum wage almost in half for young workers. The Congressional Budget Office itself stated that "the bill would give the oversight board certain sovereign powers over the Puerto Rican government and its instrumentalities." In essence, the federal fiscal control board will serve as a supra-legislative and executive body, the ultimate privatization of government that is not accountable to the people of Puerto Rico, the very citizenry they are purportedly protecting. Instead, the legislation only requires that they report to Congress, a body where Puerto Rico is not represented by any voting members. And all of this at a bill of $370 million in annual administrative costs to the people of Puerto Rico who never sought an oversight board, nor support it. Colonialism is one of the worst forms of violence because it inflicts itself relentlessly, willfully and repeatedly. Present in every aspect of one's life and for generations, colonialism intentionally attempts to strip away the dignity of a people and nation in order to serve the economic, military and political interest of another. We witness colonialism and its brutal impact day in and day out, but often stand by silently while our government violates the most basic and fundamental rights of millions of citizens -- the right to autonomy, to freedom to sovereignty and to dignity. The same autonomy and self-determination we demand for our bodies, our families, and our political system is also applicable at the nation level. Sovereignty is a fundamental principle and requirement of the most basic of all rights - the right to live a dignified life. It is the very action and policy President Obama assured Cuba - the island neighbor of Puerto Rico with a shared history, flag and struggle - that he would promote in a path towards normalization. He assured the Cuban people that "we will not impose our political or economic system on you. We recognize that every country, every people, must chart its own course and shape its own model." And yet nearby, the oldest colony in the hemisphere is still denied what the Supreme Court points out as "the principle of government by consent." Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst introduced legislation this week to ban "Meatless Mondays" from the military. Sen. Ernst--who represents the No. 2 meat-producing state--says that "our men and women in uniform should have the option to consume the protein they need, including meat, on a daily basis." But banning Meatless Mondays and promoting the protein myth is a disservice to service members, increasing their risk for obesity, diabetes, and early death. The military has seen a 61 percent rise in obesity since 2002, according to the nonprofit Mission: Readiness. Protein from meat is one of the causes. A recent study found that people who ate large quantities of protein and a small amount of carbohydrates were almost twice as likely to gain more than 10 percent of their body weight and experienced a 59 percent increase in all-cause mortality during the study. Of course, protein is an important nutrient required for the building, maintenance, and repair of tissues in the body. But replacing protein from animal products with a variety of grains, legumes, and vegetables can provide all of the essential amino acids our bodies require--without the risks associated with meat and dairy products. Advertisement In fact, switching from beef to beans can actually reduce diabetes risk. A recent study found that those who consumed the highest amount of animal protein increased their risk for type 2 diabetes by 13 percent, but found that participants who replaced 5 percent of their protein intake with vegetable protein, including potatoes, legumes, and grains, decreased their risk for diabetes by 23 percent. Meatless meals can also mitigate the risk for early death. Another study found that people younger than 65 who ate the most animal protein had a 74 percent increased risk for death from any cause and a four-fold increase in death related to cancer. Risks for death were diminished or absent when protein sources were plant-derived. PARIS, FRANCE - JUNE 13: A man draped with the flag of the United States near candles attends a vigil in front of the Eiffel Tower for victims of a shooting inside a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida on June 13, 2016 in Paris, France. Forty-nine people were killed and at least as many injured during a Latin music event at the Pulse club in the deadliest mass shooting in the United States. The American-born gunman Omar Mateen, who had recently pledged allegiance to ISIS, died after killing 49 people early morning on June 12. The massacre was the deadliest mass shooting in the United States. (Photo by Chesnot/Getty Images) I heard about the shooting at Pulse nightclub at around 10am on Sunday, when a notification from CNN appeared on my smartphone screen. I had never heard of that gay club in Orlando; in fact, I was barely familiar with the city. The sky was grey on June 12 in Paris -- adding to the feeling of isolation that such situations tend to bring. CNN showed several photographs that stroked memories of the attacks that took place in Paris on November 13, 2015. After we saw the photos, we were confronted with the chilling testimonies of survivors. On a Saturday night -- Latin night -- there was music, followed by bullets. One witness said that the rhythm of gunfire initially followed that of the music. Then, we heard from the mother of one the patrons at the club, who said she had been seeking information. She knew that her son's boyfriend was carried away by an ambulance, but she had no news about her son. Another survivor's testimony explained how he was able to escape from the nightclub by crawling on the floor as deadly missiles split the air above him. Advertisement Pulse is a gay club. The patrons at the club that night were gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgenders, heterosexuals, as well as people who do not identify as any of the labels I just listed. A man driven by mad hatred for the LGBT community decided to show up at a gay club, heavily armed to kill. He was efficient, methodic, and determined: For three consecutive hours, he cold-bloodedly massacred people at the club. How can we not be surprised by the silence of French media, which decided it would be better to wait until the end of the day before it could establish a link between the attack and the site of the attack, or the link between homophobia and the massacre? We get the sense that French media treated the massacre with indifference, and dealt with it as just another shooting in the United States, without placing the facts or motives in context. How can we not revolt against the incapacity of the political class to use the term "homophobia"? Monday's national press headlines, with the exception of the daily newspaper Sud-Ouest, failed to mention the term "gay" or the expression "gay club." Yet it was the LGBT community of the city that was targeted -- in fact, it was the LGBT community at large that was hit. Advertisement Ultimately, we get the sense that French media treated the massacre with indifference, and dealt with it as just another shooting in the United States, without placing the facts or motives in context. The point here is to realize that society must recognize the presence of lesbophobia, homophobia, biphobia and transphobia. Among the victims of attacks on the LGBT community are journalists, Jews, Muslims, agnostics, Africans, Europeans, Asians, Americans, as well as lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgenders. We've seen how homophobic and transphobic hatred can also lead to mass massacres. Masking the homophobic motivation of the attack has allowed the most fervent enemies of the LGBT community in France, such as Christine Boutin, Robert Menard, La Manif Pour Tous, and many others to play the emotional card. Full of hypocrisy, enemies of the LGBT community pretend to be different from the hate that they helped to create. Religious leaders, who condemned LGBT people for centuries, have often provided the ideological basis on which LGBT-phobes draw their hatred. The Islamic State quickly claimed responsibility for the Orlando massacre. The investigations will confirm the ties between the alleged killer and the terrorist organization, but one thing is certain: The massacre reflects the ideology of the Islamic State. Advertisement There were plenty of warning signs. In Raqqa, suspected gays are thrown to their death from building rooftops. Furthermore, the LGBT community constitutes only one target; the Islamic State blindly massacres all those who live by rules that deviate from their own. Their rules, meanwhile, are inspired by an imagined version of religion. We will proudly roam the streets. We will not give in to darkness: We will have the audacity to go on living. There are fanatics in every religion. However, if fanatics can become inspired by religion to promote their destructive ideologies, it may be because their interpretation of religion allows them to do so. The three religions that have been dominating society for centuries and centuries condemn LGBT people. This fact became evident during the "marriage for all" debate in France. The Catholic Church of France issued a "prayer for France" on August 15, 2012, defending the male/female couple as the single acceptable family model. Rabbi Gilles Bernheim released a letter that discusses "the harm that the [gay marriage] law would cause to the whole society." Dalil Boubakeur, the president of the Great Mosque of Paris, declared on Europe 1: "We condemn homosexuality, but we do not want to be homophobic." The LGBT community has been humiliated in every way possible. How can we be surprised by the hatred that the LGBT community faces when we know that religious scriptures condemn its members? Advertisement This is why religious institutions must realize the scope of the responsibility they carry in the institutionalized discrimination against millions of people, century after century. It is easy to show a benevolent stance by sending out a tweet of support and love, while insisting on inciting the hatred that leads to such massacres. All we can do now is mourn the victims. We take comfort in silence and recall happy memories. After the mourning is over, we will continue to honor the memory of those we lost. We will proudly roam the streets. We will not give in to darkness: We will have the audacity to go on living. Hala Khouri explains how combining yoga's ancient wisdom with a modern psychobiological understanding of trauma can help people heal. Omega: How do you define trauma? Hala: Trauma is anything that overwhelms our capacity to cope and respond, and leaves us feeling helpless, hopeless, and out of control. Trauma is a continuum, and this general definition includes what we call "big T" traumas and "little t" traumas. Big T traumas are the things we typically think are traumatic, like abuse, violence, a car accident, natural disasters, war, or witnessing violence. Trauma can also be divorce, immigration, and even other overwhelming things we don't typically think about. A little t event might not seem traumatic from the outside but can overwhelm someone, especially a child. Advertisement I often joke that I have hair trauma because I grew up with really curly, frizzy hair in Miami, Florida. When you're 13, a bad hair day is overwhelming because for adolescents, social acceptance is an important part of that developmental stage. Even though I would never compare that to someone who was abused, it's an experience that shaped my identity and, at the time, was intolerable--it made me feel isolated and depressed. To an adult, a bad hair day may not be a big deal, but for an adolescent looking for acceptance from her peers, it's a lot. Omega: What makes yoga such a powerful practice for working with trauma? Hala: The yogic practice of finding presence with our sensations is the key to learning to self-regulate, which is the goal of dealing with trauma. We define self-regulation as being able to be grounded, centered, and in present time. Our body is our GPS system, and in order to let it guide us in the proper way, we have to be willing to feel it and not just try to manage it. We have to be able to tolerate uncomfortable sensations and know that we can move through them. Omega: How did you start working with trauma, and how has it changed your teaching? Hala: I had been teaching yoga for a long time when I got a master's degree in counseling psychology. Right out of graduate school I did a training in a technique called Somatic Experiencing, which is a body-based therapy that addresses how trauma lives in the body, and it changed everything for me. The trauma framework gave me a language for why the yoga works. Before that I knew yoga worked, but I couldn't explain why, other than in esoteric terms. When I realized most of us have some sort of trauma or stress, I wanted to make sure I was teaching in a trauma-informed way. So whether I'm working with somebody with PTSD, or somebody with regular anxiety, the language of connecting to sensation in a compassionate and safe way is important in order to self-regulate. All my yoga became trauma-informed after training in Somatic Experiencing. Advertisement Omega: Are different trauma-informed approaches needed for different traumas, ages, or genders, or are there principles that can be applied across trauma-affected populations? Hala: I often say that what's medicine to one person can be poison to another. There is not one way to deal with trauma symptoms. One person might become anxious and hypervigilant. That person is ready to fight and can get stuck on "on." And then there are people who get stuck on "off." They tend to get depressed, dissociated, tired, or act spacey. These two physiologies look really different--one person who has so much energy in their body they can't manage it, and one who's not in their body, and is off floating on cloud nine. But beneath both of those physiologies is a nervous system that can't handle all the energy it has to manage. Some people look like they're full of energy, and some people disassociate. I liken it to electric wires in a building--if there's a surge, either there's a big explosion or the surge protectors shut everything off. A trauma-informed approach does its best to include these two very different ways people relate to their traumas. Omega: Can you share a story that particularly moved you where you saw trauma-informed yoga change someone's life? Advertisement Hala: I gave a short talk once as part of a prison program, and a year later I got a letter from someone who had been at that talk. He was a Vietnam vet who had been incarcerated for many years and felt a lot of shame that his body trembled and he would rage and feel out of control. He had supposedly been in trauma therapy and was heavily medicated. He told me that he never realized or understood that what he had was trauma. He connected his behavior to his childhood experience of his father taking him out in the woods where he would beat him if he didn't kill animals. He started meditating and doing mindfulness practice after my talk, and a year later was off his meds. It's not like my session healed him, but it gave him a framework and opened him up to what he needed to do to heal. There is also a story from when I was doing this work with a group of gang interventionists. This was a group of former gang members who worked in their community, in the places of their original traumas. One man had been shot on a particular street corner, and whenever he would near that corner he would start to tremble and he couldn't breathe. When I explained to him what was happening, he was so relieved. He said, "Oh my God, Hala, I thought I was crazy." He wasn't crazy. Trauma symptoms are an attempt of the body to self-regulate unsuccessfully. I might try to self-regulate by doing drugs or overeating because I'm afraid of the sensations. Or my body might try to self-regulate by shaking uncontrollably. Yoga can help us be in the body with whatever is happening so we can eventually move beyond it and not need to run away anymore. The land of the rising sun has seen a dramatic increase in tourism over the past year with Americans flocking to its islands in record numbers. While Europe, the Middle East and South America have seen tourism plummet due to safety and Zika fears, in February, March and April alone, almost 200,000 Americans visited Japan - up 16 percent from last year. And for good reasons. The country is safe, beautiful, clean, has great food, an abundance of culture and history and, thanks to the strong dollar, won't break the bank. But, as with every place, you're going to have a better time if you know the local customs, the (mostly unspoken) rules and particular peccadillos before you go. Don't worry - I got you. In March, I went on a walking tour of the UNESCO sanctioned Kumano Kodo pilgrimage trail in the Kii Peninsula with Walk Japan and here's what I learned: 1. Forget the bank - head to a 7-Eleven. Forget the fact that your bank is an international one or that you can take cash out on your Visa almost anywhere in the world, in Japan, the only place you will be able to take out cash is a 7-Eleven. No, really. Even if you, like me, are an HSBC customer and there is an HSBC branch right there - you still won't be able to take money out. And in Japan, you need cash - especially if you are traveling outside of Tokyo or Kyoto to places like Ise, where almost no one will accept credit cards. So when you find a 7-Eleven, get a decent amount out, because you never know when you'll find another one. On the bright side, your chances of being mugged for the decent amount of cash you are now carrying are very low. Advertisement 2. Keep Your hands to yourself. There are a lot of rules in Japan, including no geisha fondling (in Kyoto); No selfies; No eating and drinking while walking; No littering; No sitting on the steps... While this sign is from the Gion Geisha District in Kyoto, a lot of these rules are still applicable in the whole of the country. Japan is a restricted society, so, unlike Americans, Japanese do not hug (especially in public), they don't touch (often), and they are much more reserved in general. 3. There are serious rules when it comes to footwear. Japan is a very clean country and they have rules to help keep things clean - like the slipper rules, which include: never wear your outside shoes inside a house, you will be given house slippers to wear instead. But take care to not wear the house slippers into a bathroom as there are toilet slippers for that special dirty room. And never forget that you are wearing toilet slippers and start roaming the inside of the house or hotel. 4. Do not point. Pointing with one finger is considered incredibly rude. Instead, use your whole hand, fingers together with your palm upwards to gesture towards something. Advertisement 5. Do not freak out in public. Neil deGrasse Tyson was once asked about his thoughts on the cosmos. In a slow, gloomy voice, he intoned, "The universe is a deadly place. At every opportunity, it's trying to kill us. And so is Earth. From sinkholes to tornadoes, hurricanes, volcanoes, tsunamis." Tyson humorously described a very real problem: the universe is a vast obstacle course of catastrophic dangers. Asteroid impacts, supervolcanic eruptions, and global pandemics represent existential risks that could annihilate our species or irreversibly catapult us back into the Stone Age. But nature is the least of our worries. Today's greatest existential risks stem from advanced technologies like nuclear weapons, biotechnology, synthetic biology, nanotechnology, and even artificial superintelligence. These tools could trigger a disaster of unprecedented proportions. Exacerbating this situation are "threat multipliers" -- issues like climate change and biodiveristy loss, which, while devastating in their own right, can also lead to an escalation of terrorism, pandemics, famines, and potentially even the use of WTDs (weapons of total destruction). The good news is that none of these existential threats are inevitable. Humanity can overcome every single known danger. But accomplishing this will require the smartest groups working together for the common good of human survival. Advertisement So, how do we ensure that we have the smartest groups working to solve the problem? Get women involved. A 2010 study, published in Science, made two unexpected discoveries. First, it established that groups can exhibit a collective intelligence (or c factor). Most of us are familiar with general human intelligence, which describes a person's intelligence level across a broad spectrum of cognitive tasks. It turns out groups also have a similar "collective" intelligence that determines how successfully they can navigate these cognitive tasks. This is an important finding because "research, management, and many other kinds of tasks are increasingly accomplished by groups -- working both face-to-face and virtually." To optimize group performance, we need to understand what makes a group more intelligent. This leads to the second unexpected discovery. Intuitively, one might think that groups with really smart members will themselves be really smart. This is not the case. The researchers found no strong correlation between the average intelligence of members and the collective intelligence of the group. Similarly, one might suspect that the group's IQ will increase if a member of the group has a particularly high IQ. Surely a group with Noam Chomsky will perform better than one in which he's replaced by Joe Schmo. But again, the study found no strong correlation between the smartest person in the group and the group's collective smarts. Instead, the study found three factors linked to group intelligence. The first pertains to the "social sensitivity" of group members, measured by the "Reading the Mind in the Eyes" test. This term refers to one's ability to infer the emotional states of others by picking up on certain non-verbal clues. The second concerns the number of speaking turns taken by members of the group. "In other words," the authors write, "groups where a few people dominated the conversation were less collectively intelligent than those with a more equal distribution of conversational turn-taking." Advertisement The last factor relates to the number of female members: the more women in the group, the higher the group's IQ. As the authors of the study explained, "c was positively and significantly correlated with the proportion of females in the group." If you find this surprising, you're not alone: the authors themselves didn't anticipate it, nor were they looking for a gender effect. Why do women make groups smarter? The authors suggest that it's because women are, generally speaking, more socially sensitive than men, and the link between social sensitivity and collective intelligence is statistically significant. These data have direct implications for existential riskology. Given the unique, technogenic dangers that haunt the twenty-first century, we need the smartest groups possible to tackle the problems posed by existential risks. We need groups comprised of women. Yet the existential risk community is marked by a staggering imbalance of gender participation. For example, a random sample of 40 members of the "Existential Risk" group on Facebook (of which I am an active member) included only 3 women. Similar asymmetries can be found in many of the top research institutions working on global challenges. Advertisement This dearth of female scholars constitutes an existential emergency. If the studies above are correct, then the groups working on existential risk issues are not nearly as intelligent as they could be. The obvious next question is: How can the existential risk community rectify this potentially dangerous situation? Some answers are implicit in the data above: for example, men could make sure that women have a voice in conversations, aren't interrupted, and don't get pushed to the sidelines in conversations monopolized by men. Leaders of existential risk studies should also strive to ensure that women are adequately represented at conferences, that their work is promoted to the same extent as men's, and that the environments in which existential risk scholarship takes place is free of discrimination. Other factors that have been linked to women avoiding certain fields include the absence of visible role models, the pernicious influence of gender stereotypes, the onerous demands of childcare, a lack of encouragement, and the statistical preference of women for professions that focus on "people" rather than "things." No doubt there are other factors not mentioned, and other strategies that could be identified. What can those of us already ensconced in the field do to achieve greater balance? What changes can the community make to foster more diversity? How can we most effectively maximize the collective intelligence of teams working on existential risks? As Sir Martin Rees writes in Our Final Hour, "what happens here on Earth, in this century, could conceivably make the difference between a near eternity filled with ever more complex and subtle forms of life and one filled with nothing but base matter." Future generations may very well thank us for taking the link between collective intelligence and female participation seriously. Advertisement No, I do not feel safe in this world. Granted, I don't feel like a target every single moment. Even as I sit here dictating in a brightly lit room with no shades drawn, and a large empty parking lot behind me, I know that I'm more likely to be injured in a drive-by shooting than in a homophobic rage. These are not events that I particularly like to dwell on, but since you ask, and given the day on which you ask (the night after the Orlando shootings), I feel compelled to a painfully complete disclosure. Advertisement When I came out of the closet in my senior year of college, my dorm mate tried to have the University of Pennsylvania expel me from student housing. After an extensive investigation in which she reassured them that I had not "made a pass" at her; she was just uncomfortable sharing housing with a gay person (and I should mention that we had separate one-person bedrooms), the University of Pennsylvania felt that she was the one who should leave the co-housing. But that was one long and ugly month in 1974. In 1975, a gay rights bill was introduced to Philadelphia City Council. At some point, the head of the Council ordered that the Gay Activists be removed. And removed they were, frequently by being dragged by their hair or their shirt collar down four long flights of steps. I'm a coward at heart, and when the police said go, I went. I did remain at the bottom, and saw what would've happened to me had I not been a coward. Around that time, I was applying to law school. I had taken the LSAT and received a score in the 97th or 98th percentile; I had good grades at the University of Pennsylvania with a difficult double major (molecular biology and political philosophy), and I attended a seminar in New York on gays in the professions. I found out that no gay person could be a lawyer, because we were of unfit moral character to be a member of the bar in 49 states. (Illinois was the outlier, which is why both Playboy and Hustler were printed there). I walked away from a full tuition scholarship to NYU law school and devoted the next five years of my life to changing the law for gay people, out of purely selfish motives. In 1976 or 1977, I was on a local news commentary show. The next morning, I was riding the trolley car to work. If you're familiar with trolley cars and buses, I was standing up holding on to an overhead strap, because the seats were already filled. The woman sitting at my knees looked up at me and said, "didn't I see you on TV last night?" I said that she very well may have, because I was on TV last night. She then went on a long, loud rant against homosexuality which captured the attention of increasingly more of the passengers. Eventually, the trolley driver stopped right in the middle of the street. I did fear that he was going to eject me in a not very safe neighborhood, but instead, he demanded silence on the issue so that he could pay attention to his driving. Whether that was company policy or personal courage, I thank him to this day. Advertisement In 1978 I was working as an auditor for the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. I closed the audit with stellar results, the best the hospital had ever received, and asked for transfer into another department now that the audit was over. My boss, Bob Staeger, told me he was going to have to lay me off because the people in that department didn't want to work with me. When I challenged him on the unfairness of his decision, he very correctly informed me that it was not his job to be fair; it was his job to run the office as smoothly as he could, in keeping with the law, and discrimination against gay people was legal. He not only fired me, but I was denied unemployment for the same reason. In 1980 I started law school, and in 1981 I organized the founding of "Law Students for Lesbian and Gay Rights," a typically closeted umbrella name that a person could join and still claim heterosexuality. And in fact, in a legally brilliant move, the co-founder of the group, Richard Brown, made sure that the first five or ten names on the petition were of people of impeccable character and heterosexual references. In our first year of existence, we had our bulletin board slashed with knives, set on fire, spray-painted with swastikas, and other lesser, sometimes comedic events. I tried to brush it off as the cost of starting a controversial group, but fires and knives did make me very nervous. I bet you're getting sorry you asked by now! You can take a break and visit the restroom and grab a drink. In 1982, the law school was hosting its annual "Barristers' Ball," the equivalent of a prom. When the student government president tried to sell me a ticket, I laughed, telling her that there was no way I was coming without my lover, and no way that I was coming with her. She said she would take it is a great personal favor if we came as a couple, and since I knew that she was a lesbian deeply in the closet, I asked Connie and she agreed to go. We were very carefully seated for dinner at a table with some very liberal faculty members and other liberal student groups. When the dance music started, Prof. Traylor and his wife asked me and Connie to join them on the dance floor, so we did. About the end of the first song, the vice president of the Student Council came over and told us that he'd been assigned as our security, and if there were any problems we should let him know. Since the only problems were bombardment with ice cubes and peanuts, we decided that silence was the best course. Advertisement In 1985, I graduated law school, but I didn't sit for the bar. My Dean said that I was of unfit moral character to be a member of the bar, and I had to go to a hearing, which takes a full year. I won the hearing, and the Dean was fired, but I wound up taking the bar exam two years later than my class, and was unable to get a job. That's when my business started. Around that time, I was visiting one of my professors at the law school; it was a lovely spring night, and we were sitting outside on a bench, enjoying the breeze. When it was time to say good night, we stood up and hugged each other. Some guy started yelling in the background, and I eventually realized that he was yelling at us, screaming, "You can't do that out here in public! I know who you are! I'll have you arrested!" I got pretty scared, because big men screaming at me frightens me. Sharon, my professor, nearly fell on the ground laughing. I tried to explain to her that this was really a serious situation and I couldn't see anything funny in it. She responded, through gasps of laughter and tears, "He knows who you are, but he doesn't know that I'm his professor." At that point I also fell over laughing. Sharon had a wonderful time in class the next day explaining about the odd event that had occurred the night before. I'm sure there are 10 or 20 more; after all, that's only brought us up to 30 years ago! There are stories of landlords and evictions, homophobic bullying of the trolley car sort, being banned by various student groups on college campuses. Advertisement The scariest of all didn't involve me. I was in ceramics class, probably in 2006. One of the regular students didn't show up for the quarter; in the second week of class, the teacher and some of the other students realized that she had been murdered while camping over Labor Day weekend. The terror that I felt all the time was brought home to many people in the class, because the young lady was not a lesbian; the person she was camping with was her mother. Revellers take part in a LGBT Pride Parade in Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, November 15, 2015. REUTERS/Pilar Olivares The last couple of times I shared news about or denounced cases of LGBT-phobia on my Facebook page, I was attacked. The first time this happened, one of my acquaintances stated that this type of prejudice is "common," and asked why we found acts of discrimination outrageous. She claimed that I was overreacting to a mundane, everyday occurrence. She even added a personal anecdote, arguing that she was bullied as a child, but turned out just fine. She concluded by saying that sharing news about such cases of prejudices only makes the issue more prevalent, and could generate further events of the same kind. Advertisement The second time I was attacked for speaking out against LGBT-phobia was when I posted a link about the terrible shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, which killed 50 people. A commentator challenged my position, and claimed that the attack wasn't an act of LGBT-phobia, since the "Islamic State had claimed responsibility for the act." How can anyone in Brazil claim that we are overreacting, when we live in a society in which people get killed for being gay, lesbian, transgender, black, or poor. She said the attack wasn't homophobic even though the nightclub was not chosen at random, even though it was frequented by a specific clientele, and even though the shooter, according to his father, said that he hated gay people. How can she claim that there's no discrimination here? How can anyone in Brazil claim that we are overreacting, when we live in a society in which people get killed for being gay, lesbian, transgender, black, or poor. Who is overreacting here? Those who share the story or those who are committing murder? Who is the aggressor? Those who condemn the atrocities or those who don't care? Advertisement Before embracing my identity as a gay man, people said I suffered from depression. They said I was anti-social. They said I was "different." All these diagnoses came from family members who didn't accept the fact that I did not conform to societal standards. I was called names on the streets and chased away merely for speaking, for walking, for laughing, and for hugging or holding hands with someone. Because being what I am upsets some people. "My existence is a form of resistance." I first read this statement in a text by the transgender activist Daniela Andrade. How can you disagree with that? How can you say: "No, you are wrong," while those who don't fit in are oppressively crushed on a daily basis? Yesterday I woke up to the news that 50 people had died because they dared to live according to their choices. And there are more people out there wishing for death for LGBT people; they are out there, putting people in boxes, trying to prohibit gay people from adopting children, and withdrawing rights. It is not an "overreaction" to denounce the existing violence. It is an overreaction to ignore the fact that the targets of hatred and intolerance are people who simply wish to live like human beings. This post first appeared on HuffPost Brazil. It has been translated into English and edited for clarity. Rainbow peace flag, three dimensional render, satin texture No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite. ~Nelson Mandela Advertisement Hate and violence hath no bounds. Early morning June 12, 2016 50 people were killed and more wounded at Pulse Nightclub, a gay night club in Orlando, Fl. As parents and family members wait to hear the fate of their loved ones and as the gun violence toll continues to climb in America, I am left wondering the plight of our values as a country. Values have been a heavy dividing factor in society; they have been instrumental in formulating strong ideological basis for the inner workings of society. However, certain values are not only serving to infringe on different individuals' value systems but are inciting hate that ignites unsafe and unequal climates. While there are plethora of different value systems worldwide and in the United States, it seems that the intrinsic value placed on the equality of all human life has been repeatedly ignored throughout history in the United States. About 148 years ago religion served as a reason to enslave millions, involving years of public lynchings that went unpunished. Advertisement Prior to 1920 values prevented women from voting. Prior to 1965 black people had unequal rights to vote due to certain values. Prior to June 26, 2015, gay marriage was not legal in all 50 states. To this day, loud declarations have to be voiced that black, transgender, gay, Native American, and other disenfranchised people's lives matter because society is entrenched with values set on separation instead of equality. Even when progress has been made toward equality for all human beings, many resist this, fighting strongly to hold on to often discriminatory value systems. This holding on to value systems can be seen in Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again"--a message that harkens back to a time when discrimination lived freely. It can be seen in Christian groups boycotting gay pride parades, gay marriage, and transgender bathroom rights. Imposed personal value systems can be seen in Brock Turner's rape culture influenced sentencing where the life quality of the sexual assaulter was considered more than the extremity of the crime and the safety of other women. Advertisement Having personal values are not the problem. The problem lies in individuals seeking their value system as the standard for governing a country that is based on freedom and equality of its citizens. Upholding personal value systems as if they are law only perpetuates an "us against them" mentality that often leads to reasons to hate groups of people that exercise their right within the law to live by their values as human beings. Speech does not have to be overtly hateful to perpetuate hate. And continually accepting and perpetuating a culture of intolerance based on individual value systems will only continue to breed the type of hate and disregard for life that was displayed toward people at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando. As a philosophy, liberalism is more inward looking and hence does not try to shift blame on the outside forces. By its orientation, it also does not have an overly negative assumption about human nature and consequently is not obsessed with crime and punishment. It believes in the rationality of humans and further assumes that human intelligence is capable of creating an artifice where ethnic, linguistic and other such "natural" differences can be accommodated without creating rift. Its emphasis and belief on human rationality rather than instinct logically lead it to being more fluid and progressive. Conservative points of views by and large are grounded on instincts (which are permanent) and it is no surprise that conservatives are traditionalists. Yes, within conservative side, there will be variations but by and large they have a static view of issues. However, on some issues unfortunately those claiming themselves as liberals also have a tendency to take fixed positions. But worse still, in their zeal to just criticize the state, they end up supporting the non-state actors of the opposing camp. In my opinion, people like Arundhati Roy and Mr. Noam Chomsky have at times ended up doing more harm than good though it was not their original intention. I have very high respect for their courage but at the same time, I think on some issues their stances have been problematic. For example, Ms. Roy has always been a raving critic of the Indian state. Though I agree, self-introspection and ability to be critical of one's own state is a great virtue, it should not be coming at the cost of credibility. I can understand that perhaps her opinion state is just the tool of oppression, which enables the "privileged" classes to exercise hegemony (a Marxist kind of view) over ordinary people. This is a view I personally also subscribe to though with several qualifications. However, this should not essentially mean that every nonstate actor is the "representative" of the oppressed and that violence needs to be romanticized, the case in point her support for Naxalites. Same can be said of some of the Western liberals. One position, which I have often found as somewhat of an anomaly, is the stance of some western liberals on the war in Afghanistan. Their stance does not stop at opposing the war but stretches to paint Taliban as some kind of "victim." Likewise prominent liberals/left wingers like Tariq Ali and Noam Chomsky in their zeal to criticize the US for its imperial designs often cross the line and end up sounding like apologists for Taliban in a twisted way. Particularly interesting was Tariq Ali's speech at Marxist convention 2009 where he blatantly criticized the US war in Afghanistan and also the drone attacks. Predictably the rationale given for the war was US business and imperial interests. What Tariq Ali failed to really appreciate was that there is much more to the war than mere "grand" conspiracy to maintain US military bases. And even if it is assumed that the sole purpose of the war was for maintaining US's hegemony as well as protection of its strategic interests, the implications for the area would be weakening of the Taliban. The policy of appeasement as well as negotiation has repeatedly failed with the Taliban. Even if you have to ultimately negotiate, you have to negotiate with a position of strength and that won't be possible without some acts of aggression. Yes you can argue over the modus operandi of the war but there is much more to the rationale and outcome of the war than mere US capitalist greed. I think the central issue is that some positions, due to historical baggage, have become too entrenched and consequently such anomalies often arise. For example US aggression has been historically viewed as for maintaining its hegemony (there is a strong element of truth in it) and over time this image has become synonymous with virtually every act of aggression. I am not suggesting that Bush initiated war in Afghanistan as purely a noble war but at the same time to interpret that Afghan Taliban militants are "nationalists" and mere victim of adverse circumstances is stretching it too much. What these leading liberals of the West do not know is that their stance actually becomes a credible propaganda weapon in the hands of right wingers in our side of the world who actually cite these intellectuals in support of their own antiwar arguments. In fact Mr. Zaid Hamid -- a famous conspiracy theorist from Pakistan -- has a regular tendency to quote Noam Chomsky (without crediting him of course) and give mind boggling spins to his views to align them with his own right-wing non sense about US grand conspiracy to destabilize Pakistan. It is a funny sight to find western ultra-liberals and local conservative conspiracy theorists actually in the same bed. I think a major problem is the excessive usage and in fact abuse of the concept of self-introspection. Self-introspection is a great virtue but it should not come at the cost of credibility. People like Arundhati Roy, Tariq Ali and Noam Chomsky in their zeal to show hypocrisy in their own societies do end up becoming less credible and even counterproductive. Instead of taking a case by case approach and evaluating the overall impact of particular acts on the ideological fabric of the society, the need to be self-critical in order to be politically correct (according to liberal criterion) overrides everything. Our national fortitude and belief in ourselves are being tested once more. The massacre in Orlando defies explanation and plainly reminds us that evil exists. It also raises important questions: How does the Orlando community now find a way to pick itself up after such a horrific incident has knocked it down? And what is our response as a nation? This shooting is yet another defining moment in our country's history--along with similar tragedies that have occurred in places such as Columbine, Virginia Tech and, more recently, San Bernardino. In the last 30 months alone, mass shooters have murdered at least 1,105 people and wounded nearly 4,000 people. Such acts need not define us as a nation. But they do test our resolve. And we have a choice as to how we move forward. Advertisement There are those political leaders in the midst of the carnage, who are already seeking personal and political gain--before the dead have been identified, and their next of kin notified. There are those who are already using this occasion to pass judgment on the sexual orientation of those who were murdered, or somehow avoid mentioning it at all. There are those who are already rushing to judgment about what precipitated this event so as to advance their own pre-fixed agendas, without leaving room for the facts to emerge. When our nation is visited by such acts of hate and terror, fear ripples throughout media coverage and daily conversations and the world around us can seem immeasurably unsafe, unsound and unreliable. Advertisement The choice before us as a nation--and as individuals--is will we continue down this path, or will we pursue an alternate path of possibility and hope. I know we can choose the latter path. I have worked in many communities traumatized by all sorts of shocks, from massive job layoffs to mass shootings. One such place was Newtown, CT, where a 19 year old gunman named Adam Lanza took the lives of 20 first-graders and six adults. There, I helped the community decide what to do with the Sandy Hook Elementary School and make an all-important pivot from trauma and despair to healing and hope. More than anything I did personally, I learned first-hand from the good and brave people of Newtown what it means to stand back up and put one foot in front of the other despite untenable pain and raw anger. In Newtown, a special task force of 28 elected leaders was created to make the decision about the school's future and that of the community. I remember at the last of our meetings, one task force member said that, upon reflection, she had come to a basic but profound belief: "We must move forward as best we can." Indeed there is no perfect solution for an imperfect situation. What the people of Newtown demonstrated time and again--as I believe the people of Orlando will also show--was a willingness to listen to different points of view about how to move forward. They showed a deep compassion for one another, even as they wrestled with competing ideas about what to do. And they mustered a collective sense that they were all in the same boat. Advertisement Amid the tragedy in Orlando, will we, as Americans, join together in the same boat? Will we debate the issues at hand with a sense of compassion, especially for those with differing views? Will we afford people who may be different from ourselves the dignity they deserve? There will be a robust debate in the days ahead--as there should be. Our differences on how to address this tragedy are real and we shouldn't gloss over them. But that does not mean that the debate must be riddled by gratuitous divisiveness and acrimony. Nor that political posturing and pontificating should rule the day. A close reading of 19th and early 20th Century history shows that anti-black racism was commonplace and acceptable even among the most 'liberal' and 'enlightened' members of polite (white) society. It didn't look like bigotry to them, of course, but rather seemed like a simple acknowledgment of black people's ''shiftlessness" and idle nature. Today's politically correct form of bigotry is prejudice against Islam. One billion Muslims are slandered daily in 'polite discourse' throughout the Western world - that 'civilization' that we're told is at war with a more barbarian Islamic culture. If we want to claim the mantle of civilization, isn't it time we started acting civilized? The Pope's speech is the most prominent example of the week and, while it's not the only one, it's a good place to start. I read both the speech and the so-called 'apology' carefully. (Update: The Pope issued another apology today, but I haven't been able to locate the entire text.) Advertisement Here's what the Pope did: he inserted an extremely harsh denigration of Muhammed and the entire Islamic faith into an otherwise interesting discussion of the conflict between faith and reason. You know the details: that he quoted these words of a Byzantine emperor with approval (in context, there was no other way the words could have been intended): " "Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new," the Pope quoted, "and there you will find things only evil and inhuman." Since the entire Muslim faith is based on Mohammed's utterances, there could be no more categorical and scathing indictment of the religion. That's not all the Pope said. He also dismissed the fundamental tenet of Islam expressed in the Quran, "there should be no compulsion in religion." This statement, which directs Muslims to be as tolerant as any human beings on earth, is dismissed by the Pope. "According to the experts," he said, "this is one of the suras of the early period, when Mohammed was still powerless and under threat." Advertisement He went on to refer to later injunctions to holy war. The Pope's implication (and his error of exegesis) is two-fold: First, no major Muslim scholar or imam believes that suras written later supersede earlier ones. They are all the word of God, according to Muslims, to be equally respected. Secondly, according to most experts, those injunctions to holy war were specific to the place and time of the battle, much as they are in other holy texts from the Gita to the Bible. (In other words, when it reads "strike the infidels to their fingertips" the word infidels refers to the combatants in the specific battle being described, not non-believers in general. See Reza Azlan's "No God But God" for details.) The Pope attempted to use an academic argument to dismiss the notion that Islam is a peaceful religion. This aspect of his attack on the faith has been under-reported. It is also a major tactical problem for those of us concerned with reducing Islamic terror. Not only is it false, it supports the arguments of radical Muslim extremists who make similar arguments to support the notion that it is permissible to kill civilians in a holy war. The Pope's "apology" was no such thing. Although he claimed that the emperor's words were not his own, he alternate explanation for his use of them made no sense. More importantly, he did not withdraw his challenge to the notion of Islam as a peaceful religion. His apology essentially said, reading between the lines, that "Muslims believe in God, but I don't retract my statement that their religion is one of hate." (Again, I have not been able to review the Pope's second apology in full. It may be more comprehensive and effective.) Advertisement There is ample evidence to support the argument that all faiths are religions of hate, just as there is evidence that all are religions of love. We don't need religious leaders inflaming sentiments against other faiths with inflammatory statements they refuse to retract. Needless to say, no statement justifies violence. Muslims should follow the injunctions of those religious leaders that encourage them to be patient in the face of prejudice. "Jihad" as inner struggle calls them to exercise greater forbearance and tolerance than the violent actors of the last few days have displayed. As I pointed out elsewhere, less than one Muslim in 43,000 has ever joined a public demonstration or reacted violently against anti-Muslim statements, whereas one American Catholic priest in 20 has been accused of molestation (and protected by his Church.) Yet I would fight any broad characterization of Catholics based on the child abuse scandal, just as I fight the Pope's outrageous statements about Muslims this week. I hope his most recent statement is sincere and healing. And in response to those predictable comments, already coming in, that say "Where are the Muslims who object to terrorism?" I offer this as a start: Here I describe the fatwa against terrorism issued by American Muslim leaders, and this article describes a similar fatwa endorsed by over 500 British imams. There are many more such rulings and statements throughout the world, some of which were issued at personal risk - but you don't hear about them in our society's biased climate. Makes you wonder what else we're not hearing, doesn't it? Advertisement And the Pope was not the only person spreading prejudice this week. Christopher Caldwell, reviewing Ian Buruma's new book in the New York Times, makes a statement that is breathtaking in the breadth and casual nature of its bigotry. Caldwell recounts the very abusive and ugly acts of Theo Van Gogh, the anti-Islamic activist murdered by Muslim extremists. He notes that Buruma compares Van Gogh unfavorably to Voltaire, since Voltaire challenged the Catholic Church while Van Gogh attacked a small, powerless, already-disliked group. Caldwell then adds: "That is unfair. Voltaire did not risk, with his every utterance, making a billion enemies who recognized his face and could, via the Internet, share information instantaneously with people who aspired to assassinate him." This is as bigoted a statement as can be imagined. To Caldwell, a billion people are all willing to slaughter a stranger because of his hate speech. Every Muslim a murderer. Caldwell goes on to say, "We need a much more flexible definition of the word 'minority' in a world thus networked." In other words, despite the fact that people are now spitting on Muslims in the streets of Denmark and burning their mosques in the US, it doesn't matter. They're not members of a despised minority in those countries, despite all appearances. They're part of a worldwide community of crazed would-be killers. By Caldwell's logic Jews aren't a minority either, since they can connect to Israel through the Internet, and the assassinations conducted by the Jewish Defense League should reflect badly on all Jews. Advertisement The Times informs us that Caldwell is a contributing writer to the Times Magazine and is writing a book on "immigration, Islam, and Europe." That means we can look forward to more biased rhetoric in the near future. That's unfortunate, to say the least. Andrew Sullivan was eager to jump on the hate bandwagon in his TIME blog, too. "What's striking to me about Benedict's account of Islam is his suggestion that compulsion and violence are not extrinsic to Islam but intrinsic to its vision of humankind's relationship with the divine," he writes, correctly discerning the Pope's meaning. "In the current climate," adds Sullivan, "it is an inflammatory but courageous one." That's far from true. No particular courage is required to denigrate a despised people from the safety of the Vatican or the American media. Haters offer each other a lot of support and comfort, and will always have cheerleaders like Sullivan. Catholics like Sullivan are able to find common cause with atheists like Sam Harris who use cheap appeals to anti-Muslim bigotry to promote their diminished conception of atheism. Sullivan closes with a call for an "Islamic reformation," but how can a fundamentally violent faith reform itself? His call rings of hypocrisy. His ugly distortions of the faith undercut those who are already struggling to reform the faith, by confirming Muslims' worst fears about Western bigotry - on the website of America's famous news magazine. The mentality of Caldwell, Sullivan, and the Pope is more appropriate for a slave ship than for the world we share today. Their politely phrased statements might as well use the "n" word, for all the bigotry they contain. This form of prejudice has no place in modern society. Advertisement Polish movie director Andrzej Zulawski (1940-2016) is best known for his 1981 freak-out, Possession, about a bored housewife (Isabelle Adjani) who leaves her husband for an octopus-like creature. How do you say "tentacle sex" in Polish? (The creature was designed by Carlo Rambaldi, the same guy who did E.T.!) Zulawski died earlier this year of cancer at age 76; his final film, Cosmos, is being released posthumously. You can see it from June 17th through the 24th at the Metrograph. So what kind of parting gift did Zulawski leave us? Cosmos is based on the novel of the same name by Witold Gombrowicz, the bad boy of Polish literature. Gombrowicz is best known for his 1937 freak-out, Ferdydurke, about a grown man who regresses to a childish schoolboy. Despite the sci-fi title, there are no tentacled creatures in Cosmos, but there are plenty of other monsters. Advertisement Two young men--one a would-be writer named Witold--stay in a bed-and-breakfast run by a dysfunctional family. There's an alcoholic father, a dotty mother (she freezes in place when over-excited, and likes to chop wood in the middle of the night), a bland adult son, a seductive daughter-in-law, and a tragic maid with a hair lip. Witold, of course, falls for the seductive daughter-in-law. There is also a murder mystery, of sorts: somebody is strangling small animals in the neighborhood--birds, chickens, cats--and leaving them dangling from tree branches like evil talismans. The two young men decide to play detective and solve the mystery. Eventually, after one too many animals are strangled, the household decamps to a home by the seashore, where they are joined by another young couple--the man looks like Tintin, the woman looks like the housemaid without the hair lip--and a mute, crazy priest. Along the way there are references to Stendhal's The Red and the Black (didn't read it) and Pier Paolo Pasolini's Teorema (saw it). Zulawski described Cosmos as a "metaphysical noir thriller," but something gets lost in translation. Maybe you have to be Polish to fully understand it. Or at least a creature with tentacles. Advertisement The Metrograph is located at 7 Ludlow Street in Manhattan. *** If Polish enigmas are not your thing, maybe you would prefer Italian existentialism. Film Forum is bringing back both Antonio Pietrangeli's I Knew Her Well (1965) and Mario Monicelli's The Passionate Thief (1960) for return engagements. The films are well matched. Both are alternately funny and sad. Both feature women striving to make it in fantasy industries: Anna Magnani, the slightly over-the-hill actress in The Passionate Thief; Stefania Sandrelli, the would-be fashion model in I Knew Her Well. Both women come to a bad end, although The Passionate Thief offers some glimmer of hope, whereas I Knew Her Well infamously does not. Both movies are shot in beautiful black and white, capturing an Italy that no longer exists. Both are indispensible. Seven years ago, two tall Lithuanians, with their video camera, arrived in our SoHo loft. They were sent by filmmaker Jonas Mekas to shoot a video clip of my husband, Shael Shapiro, a SoHo architect who had been instrumental in the neighborhood's historic evolution as an artist community. The video was to be shown at "George Maciunas: Father of SoHo," an exhibit at the Jonas Mekas Visual Arts Center (JMVAC) in Vilnius, Lithuania's capital. Arturas Zuokas, former mayor of Vilnius and a television war correspondent (1989-1994) and Kristijonas Kucinskas, director of the JMVAC arrived at a strange moment. After many years, we were nearly finished researching and writing Illegal Living: 80 Wooster Street and the Evolution of SoHo, http://www.illegalliving.com, the story of SoHo told through the biography of one building where Jonas Mekas had his theater on the ground floor, George Maciunas had his office in the basement, and Shael Shapiro lived in a dark, third-floor loft facing back. We had traveled across the country and even to Hawaii to interview former residents and done extensive research at the Smithsonian and the Getty Museums. There was only one problem: we did not yet have a publisher. Within seconds of hearing about the book, Zuokas extended his hand in a handshake and said: "We will publish it." What followed was a mad dash to the finish line with the book, published by the Jonas Mekas Foundation, arriving in time for a May 2010 launch in Vilnius, followed by a second book launch in SoHo in the fall in 80 Wooster Street. Advertisement Early on, it was clear that Zuokas was a man who made things happen: creative, inventive, unorthodox, charming, and even whimsical: a man who scooted around town on a Segway, a man who sailed his boat on the Mediterranean, Adriatic, Baltic and North Seas. A man who opened the first McDonald's in Vilnius. A man who led plans for the historical preservation of Vilnius' Old Town. A man who spearheaded large scale projects of economic and cultural significance including the European Capital of Culture 2009 program, and the founding of the JMVAC, with its collection of Fluxus art. So it was no surprise that when we found ourselves back in Vilnius this May for the launch of the Lithuanian Edition of Illegal Living. Zuokas was there, hosting in his SoHo T-shirt, as was Gintaras Sodeika, the new Director of the JMVAC and Rasa Razgaitis, Zuokas's assistant during his years as mayor, who is now the Project Manager for the JMVAC. After the launch, which featured horn players and champagne and a cube sculpture of boxes of books in the middle of the gallery, I sat down with Zuokas (a three-term mayor) who is currently running for Parliament in the October 2016 elections and who served there previously from 2008-2009. Zuokas had something on his mind: the newest global trend -"where politicians are trying to act like stars. "Politicians are on the wrong path," Zuokas explained, "They are all trying to be heroes. They are always trying to have more likes on their Facebook site or more clicks on the Internet." As an antidote to Donald Trump's show-biz theatrics, Zuokas believes that countries should focus on the economics of happiness. A recent visit to Bhutan where he met with local officials, reinforced this principle. "It is not only a measure of society's achievement, of how much money a nation has-- its GDP--"it is more appropriately a measure of how people feel." Even the UN has begun to assess this with their World Day of Happiness. Advertisement Why do Denmark, Norway, Holland, Finland and Sweden lead the globe in world happiness? Zuokas asks? The answer, he says, is partly due to their well-developed public services and their focus on long-term goals. But it is also because their government officials do not focus on themselves. There are, Zuokas said, many way to increase happiness. One way is to do an analysis, when adopting a new law, to see how the new regulation will affect not just the economy but how people feel about it. If you increase GDP by cutting down a forest, will that make the people happy? Another example, if you bring in a foreign businesses, say from China, and Lithuanians become their labor force, will that increase their happiness. A member of the Lithuanian Liberty Alliance, one of two liberal parties in the country, Zuokas wants his party to be to first to ask people, are you happy or not? To answer the question, though, he believes that people need education. "We have one of the lowest GDPs in the EU. Our median salary in Lithuania is 760 Euros including taxes a month, behind only Latvia and Poland. Among the 28 countries in the EU, Lithuania's GDP is 26th, only Bulgaria and Romania are behind us." Zuokas, the magician, has several remedies up his sleeve. Different countries have different systems for paying politicians, he said. In Lithuania, for example, salaries are fixed and paid for by collecting enough taxes. Zuokas would like to change this model. Why not have salaries that are half fixed and half linked to real results? "Every year when the budget is approved, if everything has grown according to plans, politicians will get the other half of their salary. This goes for Mayors, too." The premium will be paid in the beginning of the next year, only after the country measures the national index of happiness. "It's not very different than tourist hotels," he said. "They are always surveying guests and asking how good is our services?" Another area that Zuokas would like to transform is the attitude of young people in Lithuania who, perhaps as an inheritance from the Communist system, aspire to become public servants rather than to start their own businesses. "It is not trendy to do something by yourself. We need to motivate them," he said. Advertisement Beyond Lithuania, Zuokas believes that the happiness factor can have a major effect on global conflicts. Everywhere, in Russia, in the Middle East, in ISIS, even in America with its strange election campaign. "It's hard," he said "to see a person like Donald Trump as a candidate for president of a great country." Zuokas believes that the reason for all of this conflict is "bad education, plus the fact that it is now fashionable to be powerful, to be aggressive, to have a gun in hand." As a first step, Zuokas's party is thinking about preparing a special book for the African continent where harmony is often illusive. "The idea is to present an integrated book for the younger generation which would help teachers in schools understand the value of peaceful neighborhoods. The goal would be to learn to live with differences." Zuokas admits that Europe faces many dilemmas. "We need a strong, united Europe," he said, "based on the principle of our joint history. In Lithuania, we don't have many immigrants but we have agreed to receive 1200 and take care of them. Immigration is a big issue." Admitting immigrants is not easy for Lithuania. "We are not a well-developed country to provide services." Zuokas would like to push bigger countries -the United States, France, Great Britain, even Germany, maybe less so. It's easy to send fighter jets to bomb countries but what comes after that? Tom Cruise, in the 2007 movie, Lions for Lambs, pushed Congress for hundreds of millions to finance fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan but, at the end of the film, Cruise came back to Congress and asked for $500,000 to build a school and they said no." It has been an evolutionary process for Zuokas who introduced the idea of happiness in Vilnius in 2008. At the time, one component of the sharing economy, where citizens use government resources equally, was an orange bike-sharing system, which has since become one of the city's most valued modes of transportation. A May 2011 Public Service Announcement Don't Make Me Get the Tank! featured Mayor Zuokas riding over a Mercedes that was illegally parked in a bike lane. Advertisement Zuokas said that he was deeply influenced by one sentence of the Dalai Lama, who has visited Zuokas's home in the Uzupis neighborhood of Vilnius twice. "There doesn't exist a path to happiness," the Dalai Lama said. "The path is the happiness." Zuokas with Orange Bikes At home with the Dalai Lama and the former President of Lithuania, Valdas Adamkus. Zuokas with Jeremy Irons Yoko Ono, Jonas Mekas, and Zuokas In New York with Illegal Living Tee-shirt On his Segway Tauhdedah El-Saadiq, of Louisville, reads a Koran while waiting for the ticket office to open for tickets to boxing legend Muhammad Ali's "jenazah" (Muslim funeral prayer) service at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky, U.S., June 7, 2016. REUTERS/John Sommers II Being Muslim in America is watching the country praise Muhammad Ali one day and an outpour of racist comments the next. It's seeing how quickly smiles can morph into scorn. It's watching everything you are dragged through the mud headline after headline. It's turning off the television for the sake of your sanity. It's my little sister not wanting me, in hijab, to take her to the local fair because she "wasn't ready" for her friends to know that she was Muslim. Because that's something that takes time, that takes preparation, that takes guts. Advertisement It's being "almost Muslim" or "kind of Muslim" but "not really Muslim." Not "bad Muslim," not "conservative Muslim", not like that or those or them. Not us. Being Muslim in America is wondering if your neighbor secretly has a red hat sitting on their kitchen table. It's wondering if their idea of Making America Great involves you at all. Being Muslim in America is watching person after person move through an airport security detector, then being caught mid stride and told, "Miss, that was the random. Please step to the side." Being Muslim in America is wondering whether anything is ever random. It's paranoia. It's wondering who is sitting in your Masjid, camouflaged in attar and Arabic, taking tally of every reference to Syria and Palestine. Advertisement It's being asked "Where are you from?" followed by "No, where are you really from?" New York. New York. New York. Oh. Well, my parents are from India. Being Muslim in America is numbing. It's getting angry, then thinking maybe you shouldn't be angry because you don't want to be an "angry Muslim." It's being shy, then thinking maybe you shouldn't be shy because you don't want to be an "oppressed Muslim." It's trying to be yourself while jumping to escape being shoved into boxes and labeled and silenced. It's being told you don't belong. You'll never belong. It's peeling away hijabs and beards and layers of yourself and still being just not quite right. Because if it's not your head, it's your skin. It's what you are or what you've been. It's seeing Muslims on television only to talk about Muslims, as if the only thing worth hearing from us is a list of everything that we're not. It's being armed with defenses. Just in case. "No, all Muslims are not terrorists." "No, not all terrorists are Muslim." Armed with Quranic verses. Just in case. 5:32 Advertisement It's being told to educate, having to prove and re-prove you, too, have a heart rate. It's wearing bright colors, talking a little louder about Game of Thrones because "Hey, look, we're just like you." Being Muslim in America is making excuses for hate because "Maybe they just don't know any better." As if ignorance is excuse enough for being treated less-human. It's standing a little further away from the edge of the subway platform. It's avoiding the comment section. Always avoiding the comment section. Being Muslim in America is wrapping your body in flags, hand over heart pledging loyalty, constantly trying to prove your American pride all while knowing that a part of you bleeds with every drone strike in Pakistan, with every military invasion, with every war on terror that instills in you terror. Being Muslim in America is living in the shadow of 9/11 despite not remembering 9/11, of reliving its aftermath a thousand times over. It's freedom of speech against you, freedom of religion except you. Advertisement It's figuring out who the shooter was and if he was "Muslim" because I have to know whether to maybe swap my hijab for a hat tomorrow. It's messages from friends to "stay safe" or "be careful.' A Bernie Sanders for President campaign event held at Creative Visions, an organization in Iowa founded by former Des Moines School Board member and current State Representative Ako Abdul-Samad. Photo by Phil Roeder / Flickr. What will become of the political revolution launched by the campaign to elect Bernie Sanders? We may find out soon. In Chicago from June 17 to 19, progressive groups that align with the Sanders agenda will meet in a People's Summit to plan next steps. Among them are National Nurses United, National People's Action, the Working Families Party, 350.org, Million Hoodies, and others, along with speakers such as activists Dr. Cornel West and Naomi Klein. Sanders is invited, but has not said whether he will attend. "They are frustrated with the direction of the country and want to see a more humane society." "We know what the issues are," RoseAnn DeMoro, executive director of National Nurses United, said last week. "Nurses see the health effects of bad policy. They see the people who suffer from asthma, malnutrition, and homelessness. They talk to the elderly who are cutting pills in half, and to the jobless. They are frustrated with the direction of the country and want to see a more humane society." Advertisement For the political revolution to take off beyond the Sanders candidacy, though, it will have to avoid mistakes too often repeated by progressives. Here are a few places to start: Lift up the leadership of women, people of color, and young people: There is more diversity in the Bernie movement, and the progressive movement more generally, than in the roster of progressive leaders and elected officials. The energy, the creativity, and the future lie in diverse, young, and female leadership. The speaker lineup at the People's Summit is a good start in that direction. Find places of unity, even when there is division. Progressives will disagree on many things--whether to actively support Clinton among them. But that shouldn't keep the movement from setting ambitious, disruptive, transformational goals that people can work on together. Vote anyway. There's a danger that voters turned off by the Trump-versus-Clinton race will stay away from the polls. But down-ticket races and ballot initiatives deserve attention, as does electing a progressive Congress, no matter who is president. A new group of progressive candidates, many of them people of color and women, could ride the coattails of the Bernie Revolution, even if he isn't at the head of the ticket. It's important to keep voters fired up. Advertisement Reach out to everyone, including Trump supporters. Many progressives ridicule and exclude working-class white people. It is both dangerous and ignorant to stereotype them--or any demographic group. Some Trump supporters have said they could also support Bernie (and vice versa), and the movement should work to draw them into the political revolution. Break out of issue silos. Too often, big single-issue groups talk past each other at events like the summit, and leave with the same single-issue agenda they came with. For a political revolution to succeed, there will need to be a willingness to work for across-the-board change. Instead of one inspirational speech after another, can the summit be used to come together on a strategic focus, to plan collaborations, and to build power? And one other thing: If this is to be a real political revolution, it will need to engage ordinary Americans who don't go to national conferences, and it will have to be grounded in local communities. Local is where we are unstoppable, where corporate money has less influence and we can do more with volunteers and our own $27 contributions. That is where we can build the foundations of a movement that extends from our communities to Washington, D.C., and brings about real change, while holding those we send to D.C. accountable to we the people. Sanders' call for a political revolution ignited Americans. "We have a community coming together like I've never seen before," DeMoro said. Advertisement If the summit can build on the momentum of the Sanders campaign and make the leap to a broad, sustained people's movement, it has the potential to transform possibilities for a deeply troubled country. To ensure students and families have the support they need to make literacy a priority this summer, the Georgia Department of Education is working to get books in the hands of as many students as possible, through summer reading events, resources, and the donation of more than 100,000 books. Literacy is a top priority for my administration and a core focus in our agencys strategic plan, State School Superintendent Richard Woods said. Summer reading is critically important for maintaining and growing reading abilities, so we strongly urge every Georgia student to read this summer. However, we didnt want to make that recommendation without providing the resources to make it a reality and Im grateful that, with the help of many generous partners, well be able to get books into the hands of Georgias kids this summer. I also encourage students and parents to go to their local library and take advantage of the resources they have available and read all throughout the summer. Students can visit summerreading.gadoe.org to log the books they read this summer. Well keep track of books read and recognize winning students, schools, and districts. Georgias public libraries also have summer reading programs and activities throughout the summer, and we encourage students to utilize this resource and sign up for a library card. Click here to find your local library. For those who have access to a digital device, students also have access to more than 10,000 free e-books all summer, thanks to a partnership between myON and Get Georgia Reading. Visit getgeorgiareading.org/myon2016 for directions on how to access these books. Thanks to a partnership with Change 4 Georgia, Better World Books, and Scholastic, the GaDOE is donating 100,000+ books to Georgia students this summer. Of that total, 25,000 books will go to Georgias 21st Century Community Learning Centers, community centers that operate outside of school hours, including during the summer. The remainder will be distributed through the Georgia Food Bank Association and other organizations, as well as through summer reading events hosted by the GaDOE. The GaDOE is hosting summer reading events for students at several public libraries throughout the state this summer. Members of the public are encouraged to attend these events, which will feature summer reading activities and programming along with an opportunity to receive free books Thursday, June 2 in Macon 10 to 11 a.m. Washington Memorial Library 1180 Washington Avenue Macon, GA 31201 Wednesday, June 15 in Dalton noon to 1 p.m. Dalton-Whitfield County Library 310 Cappes Street Dalton, GA 30720 Friday, June 24 in Fitzgerald 10 to 11 a.m. Fitzgerald-Ben Hill County Library 123 North Main St. Fitzgerald, GA 31750 *This event will also feature information on summer meals through GaDOE and the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL) Friday, June 24 in Bainbridge 1 to 2 p.m. (Bookmobile) Bainbridge Middle School 1301 East College Street Bainbridge, GA 39817 1:00 2:00 pm The GaDOEs summer reading events and initiatives are possible thanks to the collaboration of generous partners throughout the state, including Change 4 Georgia, the Get Georgia Reading Campaign, the Georgia Public Library Service, and the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning. The Superintendents Student Advisory Council, a group of 120 middle and high school students from across the state, is helping to coordinate this summers events so they are truly by students, for students. With the release of such cultural touchstones as Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma and Robert Kenner's Food, Inc., the late-aughts of this century saw interest in food systems make the leap from middle-America ag-extension stations to parental gossip sessions in playgrounds from coast to coast. A keyword search for "sustainable agriculture" on the New York Times' website yields 1,366 results since 2000, covering subtopics that range from locavorism to cover-cropping to Walmart's sourcing practices. In this unlikely intersection of agricultural science and popular culture, certain questions seem to dominate the discussion: Pesticides or no pesticides? Local or organic? USDA-certified or farmer's word? Natural or hormone-free or cage-free or free-range? This is a consumer-oriented discussion, designed to answer the (not-uncomplicated) question of, "What should I buy?" And although media coverage of grower-oriented sustainability metrics does exist, there's one factor that's been largely missing from this chemicals-are-killing-our-planet vs. chemicals-are-feeding-the-world broken record of a debate. It's a factor so big and so obvious that its omission feels like a symptom of some weird post-industrial amnesia. That factor is the weather. When you work in an office, the weather is the difference between a 30-minute and a 45-minute commute. But when you work on a farm, the weather is the difference between a decent harvest and a terrible one. Between paying your mortgage and foreclosure. Between making a living and--not. So it's no wonder that while metropolitan farmers market clientele talk themselves blue over the value (or lack therein) of a carbon footprint label, when you ask farmers what they need to know more about in order to improve their operations, they say the weather. Advertisement Energy company Schneider Electric has been providing services to farmers for over 20 years through its agricultural brand, DTN/The Progressive Farmer. When they introduced weather forecasting as part of their platform, it quickly became one of their most popular services. Up until this time, farmers relied on regional weather forecasts from airport weather stations that were updated once or twice a day. So in order to provide farmers with a more accurate and specific forecast, Schneider created the WeatherSentry program, which relies on sensors the company installs in farmers' fields. According to Ron Sznaider, Vice President of Schneider Electric's weather division, WeatherSentry now has more than 4000 subscribers. With an average farm size of 1500 acres, that's six million acres that are now managed with an eye to the particular microclimate--not just of each farm--but of each field where a WeatherSentry Weather Station is installed. And because the WeatherSentry platform pulls data hourly from those sensors, subscribers can now make operational decisions that reflect what are often rapidly changing conditions. "Rainfall in particular can vary so much over relatively short distances," Sznaider says, so a farmer relying on the regional airport forecast might decide to fertilize his fields in the morning, only to see it all washed away in the afternoon by a storm that those sensors didn't pick up on: money down the drain. Advertisement For a one-time installation fee of $500 and an ongoing service fee of $50 a month, WeatherSentry subscribers gain access to an online platform that pulls the data from their field sensors onto the internet. The website features weather forecasts, rainfall over time, wind conditions, temperatures, and evapotranspiration rates specific to the farmer's land; historical weather data is also provided, as well as regional trends, to provide temporal and spatial context. This information allows subscribers to use their time more wisely and save money on inputs by reducing waste, Sznaider says. But this isn't just about farming's economic viability--it's a matter of environmental sustainability as well, with the potential to mitigate agriculturally-associated ecological damages over millions of acres in this country's heartland. In order to understand how that might be, we need to take a quick look at the nitrogen cycle. Farms like those that subscribe to the WeatherSentry program tend to amend the soil of their corn and soy fields with synthetic nitrogen-based fertilizers. Once the nitrogen is on the fields, it can either be taken up by the plants and used for growth or lost through leaching and denitrification. This loss is where environmental damage happens: contaminated drinking water and eutrophication from leaching; increased atmospheric nitrous oxide (a greenhouse gas that is 300 times more potent per pound than carbon dioxide) from denitrification. Two factors that have a big impact on how much nitrogen is lost from a given fertilizer application are temperature and rainfall. Without a highly localized, highly accurate weather forecast, it can be very difficult to predict how these factors will play out, so farmers tend to apply more nitrogen than would be strictly necessary under ideal conditions in order to make sure that at least some of it gets to their plants. But if farmers had access to precise weather data, they would be able to schedule their fertilizer applications for times when there would be minimal loss. Less uncertainty, less fertilizer in the fields, less nitrogen in the ecosystem. Whether you're a corn farmer trying to save money on inputs or an organic proponent advocating for reduced agricultural chemicals, pretty much everybody agrees that less nitrogen fertilizer would be better--except, perhaps, the fertilizer companies. But as agricultural operations become increasingly vertically integrated, finding an agricultural company that still focuses on only one product - in this case, anhydrous ammonium fertilizer - is getting more and more rare. And if farmers are more interested in buying weather IT than they are in buying fertilizers--or tractors, or herbicides, or whatever else--then it's in the interest of agricultural companies to diversify their offerings and meet that demand with a supply. Advertisement This may have been part of the thinking behind agribusiness giant Monsanto's 2013 acquisition of the San Francisco-based weather information company Climate Corporation. Unlike WeatherSentry, Climate Corporation doesn't install hardware in farmer's fields, but rather pulls data from external sources in order to create a similar value proposition: field-level weather forecasting delivered to a frequently updated online platform designed to help farmers maximize efficiency of both time and inputs. And despite the reputational risk of fraternizing with the much-hated Monsanto, the nearly one-billion dollar deal has afforded Climate Corp the opportunity to scale its impact to an acreage the size of which dwarfs WeatherSentry's current reach by two orders of magnitude. Potentially, that's a lot of nitrogen fertilizer saved. Mark Bomford, director of the Yale Sustainable Food Program, considers Monsanto's purchase of Climate Corp to be a telling barometer-reading for the future relevance of agricultural weather services--emphasis on services. "Precise weather data is good, but does very little on its own. It's the prescriptions that emerge from this information that are really important." He maintains a certain wariness regarding the inevitable intersection of corporate and agricultural interests. "Who's doing the prescribing? What are the prescriptions worth? Who owns them? That's likely where the value proposition is, as well as the locus of power." So how to avoid a collision of competing stakeholders: farmers versus shareholders? One way is to eliminate shareholders from the picture by implementing open-source versions of weather sensing technologies and leaving it to farmers to maintain and interpret the data themselves. Bomford came to Yale by way of the University of British Columbia, where he worked with Davis Vantage Pro2 weather stations on the university's farm. But while he was impressed by the hardiness and accuracy of the sensors, the instruments were expensive and the associated software nonintuitive. "My experience with this makes me skeptical of claims for turnkey, user-maintained climate data." Instead, Bomford says, "If I were to turn distributed climate data into some kind of social enterprise, I would offer open-source hardware so that those who want to maintain their own equipment could if they wanted to, but the core value proposition would be climate monitoring services with a prescription package that promises to reduce purchased material inputs, not increase them." Advertisement While Schneider Electric is making no such overt promises to WeatherSentry subscribers, it did recently commit to open the use of its weather data to the global research community. Speaking at COP21 in Paris this December, Schneider pledged to grant researchers access to what Ron Sznaider calls the company's "emerging rural climatological record" as part of the UN's Data for Climate Action campaign. According to the company's data, "the weather is becoming more volatile and more dynamic," Sznaider explains. "Individual storm events are becoming more intense. High temperatures are higher, low temperatures are lower. Heat waves and cold arctic blasts are lasting longer." And it's not just what is changing, but how: "total rainfall amounts over a long period appear to be the same, however the rain is happening in shorter bursts," which causes more flooding. With it's accuracy and richness--both spatially and temporally--Schneider's WeatherSentry data offers a remarkable window into the evolving climate of the North American interior. Through research partnerships, its applications need not be limited to agriculture. They also need not be limited to North America. In addition to promising to share data with researchers, Schneider announced plans to develop WeatherSentry platforms for use in developing nations. "Developing nations are frequently lacking in both availability of accurate weather information as well as capabilities to mitigate adverse effects," Sznaider says. How, exactly, the weather stations might need to be adapted to meet the needs of different farming and infrastructure conditions is still an open question. Ultimately, Sznaider hopes, this expansion could help support a safer and more productive food system throughout the world. Whether it's at a field-by-field scale or international scale, the systems-level change proposed by weather information technology does seem stylistically out of step with the food movement's usual MO. These technologies aren't radical or romantic. They're incremental. They're patentable. They're geeky. And they come with some serious corporate baggage. All of which might make some in the sustainable ag old guard nervous--and understandably. Agribusiness does not have a tremendous track record when it comes to ecological (or social) responsibility. But luckily, there is room in the food system for more than one kind of change to be taking place at the same time. In fact, simultaneous change along multiple pathways might be an imperative in the struggle to fix what's broken about current methods of global food production. Some strategies will peter out, and some will stall, and some will backfire. Hopefully, though, some will work. Advertisement Work for whom? is an important question to keep asking. There's nothing inherently oppressive about technological solutions to environmental questions, but the possibility for manipulation and co-optation is ever-present. Opening up data access to external researchers is a good step toward encouraging the use of agricultural weather platforms for positive outcomes at the community, not just the corporate, level. But to ensure that the innovations generated in the corporate sphere are used in a responsible manner requires constant engagement--not just from producers, but from consumers as well. Rather than demanding organic at all costs, we can become flexible enough in our buying habits to create a market for lower- (as opposed to zero-) input agriculture. And once we're willing to buy produce that occupies this middle ground, we can use our buying power to hold growers accountable for reducing their fertilizer applications. Stanford studies on design quality and entrepreneurial risk show that the sweet spot for startups is right in the middle of Market and Technology Risk. This entails: 1. Taking new technology and applying it 2. Meeting needs that have already been identified by the market Observing these criteria reduces the risk of developing unproven new technology and selling into a market that does not exist. Studies of pitches from Techsparks Pasadena show that most startup pitches take on far too little Market and Technology Risk. Advertisement If one has an idea for a new business that falls in the Sweet Spot, at some point, investors will need to be convinced that they should invest. This may be much easier said than done since entrepreneurs can be pigheaded and the longer they have worked their plan, the harder it is for them to abandon it. In Behavioral Economics, this is described as the "Endowment Effect" and "Sunk Cost Effect." So, how can entrepreneurs learn quickly before their journey becomes too costly? The answer is to pitch and pitch again. Tyrone Howard served as an Organizer/Facilitator and Strategic Partnerships & Public Relations liaison for Innovate Pasadena and has observed thousands of pitches - some great, some awful. He noticed that his wife could watch "American Idol" and judge whether a song was good or bad within the first 15 seconds. Was the crowd cheering, did the judges jump up and were there tears in her eyes? A winning investor pitch has similar requirements: - Know yourself and your audience - Grab the audience's attention at the start - Finish strong Let's explore these requirements in greater detail. Know Yourself and your Audience Without knowing their audience, entrepreneurs are flying blind. Advertisement Entrepreneurs usually pitch to one of the following audiences: - Scrappy fellow entrepreneurs at a Startup Weekend - Young investors in a sophisticated angels group - Retired doctors and lawyers with money - Venture Capital firms - Large companies looking to fill a technical weak spot Each of these audiences has different knowledge, assets, and goals and an entrepreneur must learn how to successfully pitch to each of them. Grab the Attention of Your Audience Plan and rehearse your first 15 seconds. Be yourself. If you can't tell a joke, please don't try. One of the best ways to start a pitch is by telling the story of how you first realized there was a problem to solve. Or you could get the audience involved by asking a question to draw them in. Paint a clear picture of the problem you are solving. Describe vividly the negative impact it has on people, business, or society. Then describe the positive benefits your solution will provide. Advertisement Remember that the benefits must be significant since no one starts a company just to shave fifteen percent off the cost of the current solutions. The goal is to be disruptive! Finish Strong Remind your audience how your company can solve the problem and greatly benefit those in need of your solution. Close with a simple sentence, such as, "I'm George Putney, our company is Purple Lion and we are "Building your Place in Space." When your audience wakes up the next morning they need to be thinking about your presentation and talking to their investor friends about what they just heard. How Can I Create a Great Pitch? Be clear about what to do and why to do it. Think back to the moment when you first came up with that great idea for a new business. Clearly explain how you have a solution that people will pay for and share your plan for building and selling that solution. Share your pitch with different types of audiences over and over again. If pitching to an audience of friends or colleagues, ask them afterwards for their feedback. Was anything confusing? Were some sections too long? Did they have unanswered questions? Would they invest in your venture? Advertisement The winners on American Idol don't just go on stage and wing it. They only finally perform live after many hours of rehearsal, practice and making numerous small changes to their presentation. So, continue to practice and improve and you too can give a killer pitch. presidential candidate barack... By Dylan Scott WASHINGTON -- The US Department of Health and Human Services and the Cuban government on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding to encourage cooperation between the two countries on health matters, another step in the Obama administration's efforts to normalize America's diplomatic relations toward its island neighbor. The long-estranged countries will work together on global health issues, including infectious diseases like dengue fever, and the medical challenges that come with aging populations, the department announced. Advertisement "Cuba has made significant contributions to health and science, as evidenced by their contribution to the Ebola response in West Africa and becoming the first country to eliminate mother-to-child HIV transmission," HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell said in a statement. "This new collaboration is a historic opportunity for two nations to build on each other's knowledge and experience, and benefit biomedical research and public health at large." A Cuban delegation, led by the country's health minister, is visiting Burwell this week. The memorandum is an umbrella agreement, which will allow the countries to undertake more specific activities in the future. Health officials in the two countries have talked in the past, when necessary, before the Obama administration started to normalize relations, Jimmy Kolker, who leads the HHS global affairs office, told STAT. The new agreement, he said, "will allow [us] to build on that platform, but to do much more." More detailed discussions have already been held about allowing scientists to stay abroad for a longer period than previously possible. For example, the National Institutes of Health or Centers for Disease Control and Prevention could have Cuban researchers in residence, Kolker said. Cuba has also expressed an interest in having American scientists come to the island for medium-term projects. Advertisement Kolker singled out Zika as another area for cooperation. Cuba is the home of one of the World Health Organization's collaborating centers on dengue fever, a close relative of the Zika virus that has sparked global fears this year. The island nation has seen comparatively few indigenous Zika cases, which they credit to their mosquito-control programs aided by that dengue work. US officials could study Cuba's mosquito programs and dengue research as summer arrives and concerns over Zika escalate, Kolker said. "That's of immediate relevance to us," he said, "and we think sharing information between countries will be mutually beneficial." Those following the talks were enthusiastic about the potential for the United States and Cuba to work together on issues like Zika, drug development, and medical training. "We're at about 5 percent" of the potential for US-Cuban collaboration, Gail Reed, executive director of Medical Education Cooperation with Cuba, which was founded in 1997 to facilitate work on medical subjects between the two countries, told STAT. "It doesn't mean that there has been no collaboration, but I think it's been very difficult for many institutions to thread this needle." Advertisement There is precedent for such an agreement: US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and his Cuban counterpart, Agriculture Minister Gustavo Rodriguez Rollero, signed a memorandum of understanding in March. It set a broad framework for the two countries to share ideas and research on issues like nutrition, water safety, and the agricultural problems caused by climate change. Reed also cited the potential in pharmaceuticals, pointing to a Cuban drug for treating diabetic foot ulcers that has been used to treat more than 100,000 patients since it was put on the market in 2007. More than 100 members of Congress in 2013 urged the Treasury Department to allow the drug to be tested in the United States, but it so far has not been made available. Since the passing of Muhammad Ali, the establishment has been working in overdrive to convince us that the great boxer was a member of their club. In doing so, the wisdom and wit of Ali has been on display. Muhammad Ali's lessons on economics, however, have been absent. Economics? Yes. The lessons were developed in a most edifying book by Donald Sull, The Upside of Turbulence: Seizing Opportunity in an Uncertain World. New York: Harper Collins, 2009 - a book that Mohamed El-Erian recommended to me. The economic lessons are summarized in "The Boxer Matrix." A boxer's fate is determined by a combination of his absorption capacity (read: can he take a punch?) and agility (read: can he avoid a punch?). In the Boxer Matrix, the ideal position to be in is the Northeast quadrant: where Ali and Joe Louis boxed. But, while Ali always had terrific agility, he had to train and think his way to an above average absorption capacity. This capacity was on display in his "Rumble in the Jungle" bout with George Foreman. It was then that Ali's "rope-a-dope" tactic was executed to perfection. Advertisement This brings us to Ali's message on economics, with particular reference to countries that are heavily dependent on the production of oil. In turbulent times (read: oil price plunges), countries like Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, and Nigeria experience a great deal of pain because their oil-dependent economies aren't diversified. In short, they lack agility. This is reflected in their position in the lower half of the Boxer Matrix. Saudi Arabia is able to use its huge stash of foreign reserves (high absorption capacity) to countervail its lack of agility. But, reserves can only go so far. What the Saudis need is more agility. The Vision 2030 project is intended to do just that. Whether the Saudis can endure the "training" required to achieve Vision 2030 is another matter. My grandparents grew up in a small village in southern China, and raised my mother and her siblings in Hawaii. My grandparents might have thought of themselves as very open-minded about marriage when they told my mother she did not have to have an arranged marriage -- all they asked was that she marry a man who spoke their same village dialect of Cantonese. But my mother had ideas of her own, and she looked far beyond the family village when she married my father, who is of English and Irish descent. Our family has a history of working for marriage equality, and it wasn't until 1967 that interracial marriages like my parents' were legal in all 50 states. Although John and I have been together over 29 years now, our marriage has been legal in all 50 states for less than a year, yet we are already looking forward to a day when our marriage will be legal in China as well. Marriage equality activists across the U.S. used to ask for marriage licenses every year as a way to demonstrate the unfairness of marriage discrimination, and to put a human face on the issue as a way to open hearts and change minds. Ultimately, when our marriage license was taken away, we joined others and sued the government. After many ups and downs, we prevailed. Advertisement We are heartened to see how couples in China and elsewhere in Asia have adopted this strategy of asking for marriage licenses. One brave couple in Changsha, China, asked for a marriage license, and when they were turned down, they sued the government. Sun Wenlin and Hu Mingliang filed the first lawsuit in China for equal marriage rights. When they arrived at their hearing before Changsha Furong People's Court, they were greeted by cheers from hundreds of supporters waving rainbow flags. Although they lost the first legal round this past week, their case has generated tremendous public interest and support, demonstrating how quickly times are changing. As they plan their appeal, China is engaging in a national conversation about LGBT rights and marriage equality like never before. The New York Times noted that when the People's Daily wrote and tweeted about the case, they even included a photograph of the plaintiff couple holding hands, which was a big step for the official newspaper of the Communist Party. LGBT life is becoming increasingly visible in China, where homosexuality became legal in 1997 -- several years before the last sodomy laws were overturned here in the United States. Shanghai has vibrant annual Pride celebrations, PFLAG chapters are active from Guangzhou to Beijing, and rising support in opinion polls show an unmistakable trend towards equality. Advertisement In his majority Obergefell opinion for marriage equality, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote, "Confucius taught that marriage lies at the foundation of government." This led to a nationwide social media conversation in China last year, and prompted one Chinese scholar to say that he thinks "the ruling will have a big impact on China and may promote the legalization of same-sex marriage in China." Although my grandparents did not live to see this day, I hope they would have been proud. This is what I read on a friend's Facebook page on Sunday. She was responding to the mass murder at Pulse in Orlando, but she's no stranger to the reality of violence against the LGBTQ community. As a trans woman and Board President of the Metro Trans Umbrella Group in St. Louis., Jaimie Hileman receives a glut of hate mail and death threats. "I am receiving many more than before, that's why I started saving them, so if I'm murdered the FBI has something to work with." She wrote this while talking to me about the death threats that -I- recently received in response to a satirical post I wrote titled Jesus: The First Transgender Man, which points out the problem of biblical literalism when used to deny LGBTQ rights. I'm not sure what sorts of groups are targeting Hileman, but in my case, the threats came solely from Christians. Advertisement The mass murder at Orlando's Pulse was an action of hate and of terror, apparently driven by fundamentalist religious ideology. The same sort of fervor that drives Hileman's need to save copies of threats for the FBI, and that I saw snaking its way through comments on the Christian news sites and YouTube channels which lambasted my post. And that made me wonder about something. I know little about the Muslim faith. But stored in the small collection of things I do know is that it is one tine in the trident of religions which sprung from Abraham's loins. I did some googling and discovered that the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures, called the Torah by Jews) is considered a holy book of Islam. This means that all three Abrahamic faiths rely on this collection of scripture as foundational. The third chapter is Leviticus; a collection of laws containing the primary "clobber passages" which Christians use to declare same-sex relationships to be sin. There are two of these passages in Leviticus. Here's the second: Leviticus 20:13 (RSV) If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death, their blood is upon them. And there we have it, the root of it all; scriptural proclamation that homosexual behavior is punishable by death. This is where it begins, and why it continues to thrive in fundamentalist followers of all three Abrahamic faiths. Advertisement I wrote my first piece for the Huffington Post a little more than a year ago. It described a young man's experience at the 2015 pride parade in Jerusalem. He'd come out to his dad two days before, and then marched joyfully with the crowd. Joyfully, that is, until a girl walking a few feet in front of him was viciously stabbed to death by an ultra-Orthodox Jewish man. The perpetrator committed the same crime some years before, and was imprisoned for it. But the manic drive to kill gays because of the Leviticus passage was strong enough to overcome his fear of returning to jail. This morning I nearly vomited while watching a video of a Christian "pastor", Steven Anderson, celebrating the death of the Pulse victims as good news, calling them pedophiles and deviants. YouTube had the good sense to remove the video from his page because it violated their community standards, but it's been mirrored: If the mirrored video gets pulled, you can read excerpted text from it here. This ungodly hatemonger covers his butt by saying that Christians should not become vigilantes and shouldn't murder gays. Instead he proclaims that homosexuality should be illegal, and that guilty people should be executed. It's the same concept that this Muslim scholar recently discussed during a speech near Orlando a few weeks ago: Advertisement Anderson considers himself to be uniquely religiously authentic in contrast to moderate Christians. Many of the people who commented on my transgender Jesus post also considered themselves to be more religiously authentic Christians. Strictly orthodox Jews consider themselves to be the most religiously authentic form of Judaism. I don't know how the Pulse shooter viewed his own version of faith. Perhaps he too believed himself to be a member of the religious elite. Brave enough to do what Leviticus 20:13 demands. Muslim. Christian. Jew. All believing the same thing; that a single line in the book of Leviticus warrants the death of those who have physical relations with a person of the same sex. There are other Levitical laws demanding death; for adulterers and disobedient children, for example. But for some reason "Pastor" Anderson and his ilk don't demand that those sinners be executed. I don't know why. I'm a Christian woman, married to a Christian woman. We revere the scriptures and consider them holy. We are speechless and gutted by religions which proclaim a basis of peace while acting as incubators for hatred and violence. And we don't know what we can do about it. All we can do is repeat what Hileman said. Child's hands holding an HIV awareness ribbon, Cape Town, South Africa The clock is ticking. The UN General Assembly has just wrapped up a high level meeting to rededicate the world to controlling the HIV/AIDS epidemic by 2030. Now, you might wonder why such a meeting was needed at all, since HIV/AIDS is often wrongly regarded as a crisis of yesteryear and rarely grabs headlines these days, partly because huge strides have been made in fighting the disease. Life-saving anti-retroviral drugs have meant that a diagnosis of HIV is no longer a death sentence and now we know these same drugs prevent HIV transmission in the first place. Advertisement But that doesn't mean the fight against the disease is over -- and there are still places in Africa and Eastern Europe where the blight of AIDS continues to grow, not decline. Aside from assessing how the front lines have shifted in the battle against HIV/AIDS, there's another good reason to reflect on the more than three decade-long struggle against the disease. That's because it shows us what can be done when governments, the private sector, civil society, and health NGOs work together. Tackling HIV/AIDS has forced us to muster one of the most comprehensive and successful international public health operations in human history - one that can be a blueprint for the fight against future epidemics and pandemics like Ebola and the current threat very much in the public eye: Zika. As President Barack Obama said in a statement ahead of the UN meeting: "The past 35 years tell a story that bends from uncertainty, fear, and loss toward resilience, innovation, and hope." It has taken resources, research and hard work. But for me, the most important watchword is: Perseverance. Advertisement There were times when the battle against HIV/AIDS looked dark indeed. But the many health professionals, governments, and NGOs, including Project HOPE, that were involved in the effort to combat the disease have never given up. And this is what they have achieved. According to new UN figures released ahead of the conference, the number of HIV-positive people taking antiretroviral medicines more than doubled to an estimated 17 million people from 2010 to 2015, including two million people who were started on the lifesaving treatment last year alone. Global coverage of antiretroviral medicines hit 46 per cent at the end of 2015 and progress was most notable in eastern and southern Africa, where coverage increased from 24 percent in 2010 to 54 per cent in 2015, reaching a total of 10.3 million people. AIDS-related deaths fell from 1.5 million in 2010 to 1.1 million in 2015. But as deaths decline, we mustn't forget the staggering mortality during the era when treatment was not available. We must persevere. One of the most important cogs in the anti-AIDS machine, in addition to The Global Fund, is a U.S. effort: The President's Emergency Plan or AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) -- which debuted under President George W. Bush and has continued under President Obama. The program has provided lifesaving antiretroviral drugs to 9.5 million people. It has delivered HIV testing and counseling to more than 14 million pregnant women. And thanks to PEPFAR, more than one million babies have been born HIV free. It has also done vital work in establishing sustainable public health systems that will be the backbone of improving health care -- especially in Africa for generations. Just as importantly, governments and politicians, perhaps slowly at first but later with the full force that only coordinated international action can bring, recognized the danger from HIV/AIDS and the need to tackle it aggressively. That aspect of HIV/AIDS coordination provides a model for how bipartisan political efforts and diplomatic coordination actually work well to advance global health issues. It's important that when we look back at the 35 years of fighting HIV/AIDS that we consider our successes -- that's how we can summon up the motivation to carry on the struggle. We must still help vulnerable people and people living with HIV/AIDS to overcome stigma and discrimination, poor access to services, and lack of sustainable financing. Advertisement NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 13: People pause in front of the iconic New York City gay and lesbian bar The Stonewall Inn to lay flowers and grieve for those killed in Orlando on June 13, 2016 in New York City. An American-born man who had recently pledged allegiance to ISIS killed 50 people early Sunday at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. The massacre is the deadliest mass shooting in United States history. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Donald Trump wasted little time after the news broke of the Orlando shootings. He took to Twitter to pat himself on the back "for being right on radical Islamic terrorism" and to take President Obama and Secretary Clinton to task for avoiding the language of "radical Islamic terrorism." The uncomfortable truth is that Trump's hostility toward Islam resonates in the U.S. Plenty of ordinary Americans equate Islam with terrorism and violence, which explains not only Trump's success as a presidential candidate but the host of programs since 9/11 that have singled out Muslims for "special treatment," including the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS), FBI and police surveillance, anti-sharia legislation, detentions, deportations, and torture. Advertisement If you factor in other proposals from this year's presidential campaign, including more expansive registration programs and the patrolling of "Muslim neighborhoods," it's clear that Muslims are presumed guilty of terrorism until proven otherwise. In this regard, Orlando provides yet another opportunity to reinforce our prejudices toward Muslims. Is Islam responsible for what happened in Orlando? To address this question, we must tackle two prevalent myths circulating in the aftermath of Orlando concerning Islam's role in the tragedy. The first has to do with Islam's alleged hostility toward the LGBTQI community, the second with assumptions about the religious motivations of the perpetrator. News articles appeared quickly exploring whether Islam's lack of acceptance of LGBTQI persons influenced Omar Mateen to target the Pulse nightclub. This raises the question about whether homophobia is a widespread problem in the Muslim community. There's no denying it. Some Muslims are homophobic. But this is not a remarkable admission in light of the fact that most endeavors to restrict the civil liberties of the LGBTQI community in the U.S. have been led not by Muslims but by Christians. Most major religions have some homophobic members, just as most religions have members who may not be homophobic but who have difficulties with accepting same-sex marriage. Islam is not unique in this regard. Advertisement The picture becomes even more complicated when you look at what American Muslims actually believe. According to the Pew Survey in 2014, 45% of Muslims believe that homosexuality should be accepted by society. In fact, Muslims are almost evenly split on the question. Their acceptance of homosexuality is lower than Catholics (70%) and mainline Protestants (66%) but higher than evangelical Protestants (36%), Mormons (36%), or Jehovah's Witness (16%). Muslims, in other words, are less accepting of LGBTQI persons than some religious communities, more accepting than others. It's also important to stress that the only two Muslims in Congress, Keith Ellison of Minnesota and Andre Carson of Indiana, are fierce advocates of LGBTQI rights. Last year, Carson helped to introduce the Equality Act, which would extend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity. For his part, Ellison was named by ThinkProgress in 2012 as one of the most pro-LGBTQI members of the House of Representatives. In the aftermath of Orlando, one Muslim organization after another stepped up to the plate to condemn the massacre and to proclaim solidarity with the LGBTQI community. One of the strongest statements came from the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Nihad Awad: For many years, members of the L.G.B.T.Q.I. community have stood shoulder to shoulder with the Muslim community against any acts of hate crimes, Islamophobia, marginalization, and discrimination. Today we stand with them shoulder to shoulder. The liberation of the American Muslim community is profoundly linked to the liberation of other minorities - blacks, Latinos, gays, Jews, and every other community. We cannot fight injustice against some groups and not against others. Homophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia - we cannot dismantle one without the other. All of this points to one simple fact: Islam does not program Muslims to be hostile, hateful, or violent toward the LGBTQI community. This is true even for Muslims with reservations about same-sex marriage. The responsibility for Sunday's shooting spree lies not with the religion called Islam but with an angry young man named Omar Mateen. Advertisement The other assumption that must be exposed is the widespread belief that Mateen, like many terrorists, must have been inspired by deeply held religious convictions. I don't deny that religion factored into what transpired on Sunday. But was religion the driving force in what took place in Orlando? Doubtful. Most scholars who study terrorism argue that religion is not the primary motivating factor for terrorists. Many of the young Muslims who become terrorists or join terrorist networks often do so despite the fact that they are religiously illiterate. Marc Sageman, a former CIA analyst and psychiatrist with decades of experience interviewing terrorists, has found that very few terrorists know the Qur'an or other Islamic texts and traditions. This is not to say that terrorists are unintelligent or uneducated, only that their engagement with Islam is shallow and uninformed. Plenty of stories of ISIS fighters corroborate Sageman's findings. When two young Muslims from Birmingham (UK) decided to head to Syria to fight for ISIS, they logged onto Amazon to order some books that might help them learn about the cause for which they were supposedly fighting: Islam for Dummies and The Koran for Dummies. In his ten months as an ISIS prisoner in Syria, the French journalist, Didier Francois, discovered that his captors were far more willing and able to discuss politics than religion; they did not even possess a copy of the Qur'an, much less a knowledge of it. Lydia Wilson, a research fellow at Oxford University, interviewed imprisoned ISIS fighters and found that most of them could not answer straightforward questions about Islam, including questions on Islamic law, the caliphate, or militant jihad. How does Omar Mateen fit into this picture? Conflicting reports about his religiosity are circulating in the media. The imam of Mateen's mosque portrayed him as a regular worshiper who nonetheless had few friends and who did not interact with the congregation. Mateen's ex-wife, who described him as abusive, said he was not particularly devout and gave no indication of an affinity with religious extremism during their marriage. Other friends suggested Mateen became more religious after making the hajj or pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia. Then there is Mateen's claim of allegiance to ISIS, made by phone to 911 as he began his attack. ISIS was more than happy to claim responsibility for Mateen's shooting spree, but U.S. officials insist there is no indication that ISIS had any role in planning or carrying out the attack. What we do not have is evidence that Mateen was a knowledgeable, learned, and invested interpreter of Islamic texts and traditions. None. This fits with the pattern established by many scholars about Muslim extremists in the West. This may change as we learn more, but we shouldn't hold our breath. It's unlikely that when the dust settles from this tragedy, we will discover that Mateen was a walking encyclopedia of Islam. What we are more likely to find is an angry, unsettled, and incredibly bigoted man whose hostility, resentment, and sense of alienation and moral outrage boiled over into a violent rampage that left almost fifty people dead. Islam is not the culprit behind the Orlando shootings. If anything, greater literacy concerning Islam and stronger relationships with the larger Muslim community may have prevented Mateen from carrying out the attacks. According to a 2016 poll conducted by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, Muslims who are observant and who are connected with the Muslim community are more likely to have a strong American identity and to be engaged in civic life. Islam does not undermine patriotism; it enhances it! This means that Islam does not make Muslims more hostile toward other Americans; it facilitates more meaningful relationships between Muslims and other Americans. What is it with casinos and the presidency these days? I'm thinking, of course, about the version of casino capitalism being played out in American politics at the moment by two men who made fortunes in the casino business. One is running for president on the Republican ticket as the Billionaire Populist, while the other, a fervent supporter of Israel, in a typical twenty-first-century move of the ultra-wealthy recently added his hometown newspaper to his holdings. He's evidently planning to support his fellow billionaire's presidential campaign with an investment -- and such things always are investments -- that may exceed $100 million. I hardly need mention that their names are Donald Trump and Sheldon Adelson. And mind you, that may be the least bizarre thing about billionaires and this election. How about, for instance, the Koch brothers, those dark money champs, whom every Republican candidate -- except the one who took the nomination -- seemed to pay homage to in person last year? Now, they find themselves on the sidelines in frustration, their presidential investments having come up as empty as a hole in a doughnut. (What if you could return to the Supreme Court of 2010 and argue before the justices that their future Citizens United decision would not only send a tidal wave of 1% money into American politics but, within half a decade, help loose the strangest, least filtered billionaire on Earth into the ring?) I'm still only scratching the loony surface of big-money politics in this country. I mean, here we are in our second gilded age, an era so ripe for the 1% (or maybe the .001%) that even the billionaires underestimated their potential power and appeal. Until The Donald came along, they assumed that, like so many puppeteers, they would have to manage things from backstage. Now, we know that, in our unique historical moment, a billionaire can be both puppeteer and puppet, that he no longer needs to take a backseat to anyone. Of course, it took a particular shape-shifting billionaire, whose fortune -- $10 billion? $4.5 billion? $3.72 billion? None of the above? -- has a spectral quality to it, and who for years had turned Americans into abused apprentices, to make that point. Add in this irony, if such a word even applies: the man who made out like a bandit in this era is now leading a movement of white guys who think they lost out to the billionaires, the rest of the 1%, and the political system in those same years (as indeed they did). Advertisement Monday morning, State Treasurer David H. Lillard, Jr. announced the opening of ABLE TN, Tennessees own Achieving A Better Life Experience program, a program to help those with disabilities plan and save for the future. A program of the Tennessee Treasury Department, ABLE TN will allow account holders the opportunity to save and invest with tax-free earnings to help individuals with disabilities maintain independence and quality of life, officials said. "Tennessee is one of the first states in the nation to offer these savings accounts. ABLE TN accounts are easy to set up and manage at AbleTN.gov. Earnings on investments in an ABLE TN account will be tax-free as long as the funds are used to cover the cost of qualified disability expense," officials said. I commend the Tennessee General Assembly for passing legislation that positively impacts our most vulnerable citizens, Treasurer Lillard said. As with all of the programs in the Treasury Department, we will remain dedicated to those who participate and those who wish to join us in educating communities on how these programs can make a difference in the lives of Tennesseans. Treasurer Lillard was joined by Representative Debra Moody (R) of Covington, Commissioner Many-Bears Grinder of the Department of Veterans Services, and some of the families who are excited to open ABLE TN accounts in Tennessee. The Tennessee ABLE Act was passed by the 109th General Assembly. The legislation was sponsored by Senator Becky Duncan Massey (R) of Knoxville in the Senate and by Representatives Steve McManus (R) of Cordova and Kevin Brooks (R) of Cleveland in the House. The Act was cosponsored by Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris (R) of Collierville, Senator Ken Yager (R) of Kingston, and Senator Steve Dickerson (R) of Nashville in the Senate and Representative G.A. Hardaway (D) of Memphis. As Executive Director of the Sertoma Center, I work with over 100 adults who live with intellectual disabilities. I know the families that will greatly benefit from the savings possible in an ABLE TN account, Senator Massey said. I am so proud that Tennessee is one of the first states in the nation to offer these accounts. My wife and I are parents, and we know what its like to worry about your children and their financial future. We wanted this resource to be available to help the thousands of Tennessee parents who need more help to save for the costs of care for their children, said Representative Brooks. Treasury manages our state pension, a top-funded public pension plan in the nation, and TNStars, which receives national accolades for its investment performance, Representative McManus said. I have confidence that Treasurer Lillard and our Treasury Department will offer and sustain a strong ABLE program. In the immediate aftermath of the Orlando massacre, some commentators have been quick to focus on the shooter's declaration of allegiance to ISIS. "Surely, this terrorist attack provides yet another example of a young Muslim man embracing radical Islam and murdering on its behalf," they argue. Perhaps, but considerable evidence suggests something else may have been at work. Omar Mateen's ex-wife has spoken of his violent, erratic behavior, and family members have said he exhibited no signs of increased religious devotion, which often accompanies radicalization. He had also sworn allegiance to two diametrically opposed groups, Shi'a Hezbollah and Sunni ISIS. These behaviors suggest that his attack stemmed more from personal pathology than from radical Islamist ideology, which served as the lightning rod for the undifferentiated anger he focused on a Gay and Lesbian nightclub. In many respects, Mateen's attack is reminiscent of that carried out by Anders Breivik. In 2011, The Norwegian extremist detonated a bomb outside government buildings in Oslo and then went on a shooting rampage at a youth camp, killing 77 people in the two attacks. He published a rambling manifesto extoling his hatred of Muslim immigrants. Advertisement The night club rampage also recalls the Oklahoma City bombing in which Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols blew up the Murrah Federal Building in April 1995, killing 168. McVeigh had an irrational fear of the government and was angry over the storming of the Branch Dravidian compound in Waco, Texas the year before. All three men had several things in common. None of them was clinically diagnosed as mentally ill, but all three exhibited aberrant behavior that, by any reasonable standard, marked them as unstable. Each latched on to an extremist ideology that allowed him to focus his rage on an available target. All three showed no regard for human life. Combating these lone wolves is much harder than fighting terrorist groups as such individuals often operate below the radar of law enforcement. Even when they draw the attention of authorities, as Mateen certainly did, their bizarre ideas often get them dismissed as harmless eccentrics. The curious blend of mental instability and ideological conviction such people exhibit does, however, suggest how and how not to counter the threat they pose. Mateen's status as a natural U.S. citizen should put to rest the argument that immigrants pose a serious threat. McVeigh's worldview reminds us that radical Islam alone is not the problem, though it must be countered. Advertisement After facing discrimination over taking family leave, more men and women are choosing to sue their bosses--and in some cases, winning substantial amounts. That's the main takeaway from the Center for Worklife Law at the University of California's Hastings law school, which recently released an analysis of litigation trends. The lawsuits are stemming from discrimination for being pregnant, having children or facing caregiver responsibilities for a sick relative. And unlike typical employment cases, where about 10 percent of employees win, the aggregate win rate is over 50 percent. Advertisement That is good if you're a worker who's recently faced what you believe is discrimination. But this is a tricky area of the law. Here are a few things you need to know. 1. Family-leave laws protect more than just parents. People tend to think of family leave laws as centering on maternity leave. And as the Center for Worklife Law reports, cases involving pregnancy discrimination and discrimination against mothers make up the majority of these lawsuits. But those laws are written broadly. They don't just protect moms: fathers facing paternity leave discrimination can sue (and more are choosing to). And people with elderly parents or disabled relatives are also protected. Here's what this might look like: You have an elderly parent who suffers from Alzheimer's. He requires continuous care. You have worked at the same job for five years with a strong, positive work history. To better care for your father, you move him out of assisted living into your house. A paid caregiver takes care of him during the day, but leaves at 6, which means that you have to be home then. Advertisement Your performance at work remains strong, but you are no longer able to take part in the informal after-work-get-together frequently arranged by your boss. After missing these for a month, your boss stops by your office to ask why. You tell him. He responds "How long will this go on." You tell him maybe years. After this, things change at work. For no apparent reason, your boss begins to criticize your work. At one point HR puts you on a performance improvement plan. Although you do everything they ask and more, nothing seems good enough. One day, your father falls at your house, breaking an arm. You have to leave work early to get to the hospital and miss work the next day. You call HR letting them know what happened and put in for FMLA leave to cover the absence. When you return, the axe falls; you get fired. The last communication you receive from your boss is an email: "I'm sorry it had to end like this. You will be missed. I hope that this gives you the time that you need with your father." That would be discrimination under the Family Medical Leave Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. 2. You'll need an attorney to sort through the complex laws. Yes, I'm an attorney who specializes in family discrimination law, so this may sound self-interested, but it's still true. There is no single law that deals with family-leave discrimination. Instead, there's a patchwork of federal laws, as well as state laws and even city ordinances that can play a role. You can't count on your boss to understand the law. You can't even expect your HR department to get it right. Even a lawyer who does not follow this area of the law may not be able to get you the help that you need. Most workers are in the dark about their rights in this area. The Center for Worklife Law found only 88 paternity leave claims and only 46 suits alleging discrimination related to breastfeeding. Advertisement You can educate yourself by doing some preliminary research. Organizations like the Center for Worklife Law, A Better Balance, First Shift and the National Women's Law Center provide excellent online resources with information specific to family leave discrimination. For more general legal information, you could look at the National Employment Lawyers Association, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the U.S. Department of Labor. State and county offices for human rights can also be good sources of information, for instance, in the District of Columbia the D.C. Office of Human Rights, and in Fairfax County Virginia, the Fairfax Office of Human Rights. For more general information about the law written for non-lawyers, try Avvo and Nolo.To find a good lawyer, check out Worklife Law, A Better Balance, First Shift and the National Women's Law Center as well as the National Employment Lawyer's Association, or one of the state affiliates.3. When possible, take action before you get fired. Family leave laws offer protection to employees while still at work in two ways. First, the American's with Disabilities Act, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act (for women needing to breastfeed at work) may require your employer to make reasonable workplace changes to allow you to continue to work. But the key here is that in most instances, you have to ask in order to receive the protection. For instance, if you suffer from postpartum depression, you may have to make changes to how you work that allow you to recover: a quiet work place, regular hours or even time away from work, for example. But to achieve that protection you have to put your employer on notice that you suffer from depression (best to put in writing to your boss or HR) and then you have to ask for the help that you need. Advertisement Second, like many other anti-discrimination laws, many family leave laws make it unlawful for an employer to take action against you if report discrimination to your boss. But like the laws on reasonable accommodation, anti-retaliation laws only apply if you directly raise the issue of discrimination while you are still at work. Let me give you an example. Suppose that your boss says that you are a shoo-in for a promotion. Before things become official, you announce your pregnancy. Next thing you know, the promotion goes a man who is your junior. When you confront your boss, she shrugs and says, "Them's the breaks. Next round." Let's suppose things only go downhill from there and you get fired, even though your performance remained unchanged. Here's the thing: If you had complained about being skipped over for the promotion because you were pregnant before you were fired, you'd have a second claim of retaliation, which is easier to prove and gives you more leverage. There's also a chance that by reporting your concerns you might get the problem fixed. Sometimes companies do the right thing when they learn that a rogue manager is violating the law. By reporting what happened, you give the company a chance to fix it. 4. The Americans with Disabilities Act also offers protection. When they think of the Americans with Disabilities Act, people tend to think of things like elevators and wheelchair ramps. But the ADA also protects pregnant women and people with disabled relatives. If you suffer from postpartum depression, you may be protected by the ADA. Or if you had a family member with special needs, you might be covered by the law's association clause. Advertisement Before 2009, many courts narrowly defined disability under the ADA, but Congress has since expanded the definition and courts have now found that temporary conditions like pregnancy-related health problems and depression are covered. Again, as we noted above, it doesn't matter if your condition is covered if you can't prove that your employer is aware of your disability. This weighs in favor of letting your boss know about an issue--especially in writing, with a copy in a secure place--even if you do not need an accommodation right now. 5. You are covered even if you've never had any trouble before.Suppose you've worked at a company for years without incident. You've even had a child before without a problem, but suddenly you're facing what you believe is discrimination. You might worry that your company's previously good record will hurt your case, but it's irrelevant. Worklife Law in its analysis noted a pattern of second-child and new boss discrimination. Our experience supports this finding. We have seen a number of cases where new bosses or even new management brought in after a merger or other business change cause problems for new parents and those with other family responsibilities. We've also seen discrimination related to the number of children an employee chooses to have. The boss was fine with the first child--maybe even threw a baby shower--but their attitude is that one child should have been enough. ORLANDO, FLORIDA - JUNE 13, 2016: Geoffrey Brooks, 12, of Orlando, holds a sign declaring 'We are Orlando' at a press conference Monday at the Hispanic Federation, which encompasses several latino organizations including the Asociacion De PuertorriqueAos, a group that his mother is a member of. 'I was surprised when I found out what happened.' said Brooks. 'My mom told me to look at the news, then she told me just to listen. We came out today to support both Orlando and the latino community.' A gunmen opened fire in a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla. early Sunday morning killing 49 people and wounding 53 more. It's being called the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.(Photo by Melissa Lyttle for The Washington Post via Getty Images) It is understandable why most early news coverage of the massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando characterized it unidimensionally as a massive anti-LGBT hate crime. Reports were that the popular gay nightclub was the site of the deadliest mass shooting in United States history. A terrorist act executed by a deranged shooter motivated, his father surmised, by his disgust at seeing two men kiss in public in Miami some weeks earlier. A revulsion that later accounts tied to the shooter's own apparently repressed homosexuality. Early reactions from some Republican politicians failed to acknowledge the LGBT connection to the massacre, opting instead to generalize the event as an apparent incident of domestic terrorism. Some in the media also seemed intent on minimizing or ignoring the gay angle. Nevertheless, the antigay character of the story was clear from the start. And the particular terror it visited upon lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people of all ethnicities and races in Orlando, across the U.S. and around the world, was unquestionable. Advertisement I'm a Cuban-born gay man, an immigrant. These were my hermanos y hermanas. But then, yesterday evening, the full list of those who were slain was released. Some anchors and reporters opted to read their names on the air. Sotomayor, Martinez, Velasquez, Rios... Most of the surnames had something unmistakable in common. Guerrero, Torres, Rosado, Perez... This was not solely a mass shooting that slaughtered 49 young LGBT people. Fernandez, Flores, Barrios, Ayala... Each name hit me like a body blow, knocking the wind out of my gut. I'm a Cuban-born gay man, an immigrant. These were my hermanos y hermanas. This was a massacre of mostly Latino/a LGBT people, at what the Pulse nightclub called its regular "Latin Night." Why should this additional nuance matter? And why is it important that the Latino/a angle to the story not be erased? Nightclubs and bars have long figured prominently in the lives of LGBT people of all racial and ethnic backgrounds. The Stonewall Rebellion of 1969, marking for many the start of the modern LGBT rights movement, took place at New York City's Stonewall Inn - a gay bar. As Richard Kim eloquently observed, "Gay bars are therapy for people who can't afford therapy; temples for people who lost their religion, or whose religion lost them; [...and] homes for folk without families." Gay bars and nightclubs are all of these things for LGBT Latinos/as too. And much more. For LGBT people of color, and Latinos/as especially, gay bars and nightclubs -- and particularly Latin nights in these spaces, like Saturday night at the Pulse -- have figured prominently as safe havens, as spaces for creative expression, and as refuges from a hostile world. Advertisement Latino/a LGBTs are a minority within a minority, doubly disadvantaged and especially vulnerable. To many of us, coping with alienation from our own intersecting and often conflicting minority communities is an everyday reality. We are pushed out for being "too Hispanic" by our fellow LGBTs, and ostracized for being "too queer" in our Latino communities and even our own birth families. Whereas we are equipped by our parents with the tools for coping with discrimination aimed at us for being Hispanic, and while our birth families typically are havens from Anglo bias against our ethnicity and culture, these same families prove often to be hostile and toxic territory for those of us who are LGBT. Higher rates of religiosity among Hispanics, and especially adherence to faith traditions that are particularly intolerant of homosexuality and gender non-conformity, have exiled countless LGBT youth from our own birth families. In addition, for many LGBT Latinos/as new to the United States, English is still too foreign and confusing a code to decipher -- nevermind speak confidently -- and immigration status a topic too dangerous to disclose or even discuss in mixed company. In the wee hours of Sunday morning, what was a precious sanctuary became a site of torture and mass murder. To these LGBT Latinos/as, gay bars and clubs are sanctuaries of safety, understanding and fellowship with people who look and sound like us, and who live with many of the same challenges that we do. They are havens from harm, and safe harbors from the storms and dangers of an intolerant and often dangerous world. They are spaces for political and social organizing. They are catalysts of identity, of dignity. And they are fertile spaces of freedom and of creative license. Voguing, a decidedly Black and Latino gay artform, was born of the gay dancehall. Advertisement These spaces provide a very special kind of safety, and a very precious and rare kind of comfort, of comunidad. For many of us, these spaces are home. In the wee hours of Sunday morning, what was a precious sanctuary became a site of torture and mass murder. It became a place of danger. It was desecrated. This is why the erasure of the Latino/a angle to this story misses much of it. It grossly underestimates the destruction, and understates the harm caused by Omar Mateen -- both to the scores of victims he tortured, killed or injured, and to the countless people he traumatized and terrorized across the U.S. and around the world. The Latino/a angle to the story not only informs its assessment and magnitude, but also should educate our response as Americans. It should impel us to double down on efforts to make our families, our schools, our workplaces, our communities, and our nation as a whole safer for all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people -- regardless of race or ethnicity. It should urge us to protect, preserve, and recognize the value of community spaces like Pulse, in Orlando and in all locales. It should encourage us to recognize the special burdens borne by Latino/a LGBT youth, and to do what we can to lessen the trauma that this horrific act no doubt has thrown against the psyches and souls of these already vulnerable and already multiply traumatized people. And, for the sake of all of us as a nation, it must spur each of us to do what we can to ensure that the 49 people who lost their lives on Sunday morning, so violently, viciously and needlessly, did not die in vain. Advertisement ______________________ Politicians of integrity and sincere conviction can be arrogant after all. The UK's Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn's battle-axe belief in a non-nuclear world, equality of humankind and worldwide conflict resolution is egotistically unhelpful when he half-heartedly campaigns for Britain to remain inside the European Union. He delivers his party's pro-EU message like a surly postman at the end of a long working week. For Corbyn, supporting the EU is the pill he must swallow, caustic side-effects and all. Bernie Sanders, ex-presidential candidate for America's Democratic Party, is equally reticent to round up his troops, and in this case, to help fight the bigger cause that is the election of a qualified Democratic president. Sure, he is right to want to redress the skewed "super-delegate" voting system and to let down his ardent supporters gently, but not by waving this as a ransom note at the Democratic Party, when an onslaught of undiluted Trump still threatens Hillary Clinton's chances of winning the presidency. At this stage of the contest,Trump cannot be relied upon to implode, despite comments that would incarcerate an ordinary member of the public, or, as likely, allow someone to buy a semi-automatic, military-style weapon on main street, USA. 20% of Sanders supporters, according to a poll in May, cannot bring themselves to vote for Hillary and would be willing to switch to Trump. Now is not the time to teach Hillary a lesson for thoughtless and greedy personal decisions that do not endanger the nation's future. And he would do well to take a deep breath before releasing the brain fart of embarking on a third-party presidential bid. Advertisement Politicians of earnest conviction have enjoyed the ride of new-found admiration, and are now having trouble jumping the hurdle of compromise. The endorphin-driven slug-fest of campaigning and feel-good acknowledgement from the crowds is hard to beat. Sharing the mantle of responsibility and deferring to the bigger picture seem dull and annoying in comparison. Both men have been unexpectedly successful in re-kindling socialist ideals once relegated to back rooms of subversion. Their ideas have been hope-enhancing to many, just as the accolades have been life-affirming for these two individuals who are now enjoying the fruits of the dogged and unrewarded labours of their last thirty years. At odds with the slickness of today's capitalism, these men in their sixties and seventies have captured the youth vote. In Sanders' case, it is a remarkable achievement that, given the historic opportunity to elect the first ever woman to the presidency of the United States, a majority of young, modern and empowered American women chose a dynamic yet elderly man instead. And Corbyn is no slouch. His mandate to become leader of Britain's Labour Party was affirmed by the significant number of young new voters who supported him. They were given the microphone, and their voice was heard loud and clear. "I've started to pay attention to the news a lot more", says a 27 year old software engineer, describing himself as now being "permanently...more politically engaged" through his support of Sanders. In an age when selectively chosen social media news feeds can amplify a sense of self-righteousness, their rise has forced us to consider new ideas and question the best paths to good governance. Future voters will be smarter and, hopefully, less vulnerable to populist platitudes from either side of the political spectrum. Advertisement Yet two leaders who do not care about the price of their business suit, nor appear to succumb to alliances offering personal or financial gain, hang on to their own intractable mind-set to their country's cost. Sanders feels he has the right to squeeze the nuts of the Democratic party in an effort to retain influence and stem the sense of voter disappointment, while Corbyn softens his hold on EU campaigning in distaste at his exertions for a flawed but preferable political structure. Both men's frustration at what they see as faulty political systems in their fight for universal free education and health care, is deterring them from supporting blurrier versions of similar goals. Even before the bodies of those slain were identified by their families, closet homophobes, evangelical Christians, and radical Muslims all had something they could together rejoice about: LGBTs were dead. Long before the bullets of the mass murderer tore through the bodies of 102 human beings, mostly, but not all, LGBTs, at Pulse in Orlando, our community has faced violence. Viciousness is something we are well aware of. Even more painful, something that makes me downright mad, is this happened in a safe space. We cannot hold our partner's hand in public without worrying about our safety. That fear was not created by a terrorist, but by our families, neighbors, pastors, and politicians. A safe place where all could be themselves, an establishment for LGBTs, was violated in the worst mass shooting on U.S. soil. Advertisement The bodies were still lying lifeless in the club, when the arguments from those who are afraid that their semiautomatic weapons would be taken away took off. The NRA remained woefully silent. The loss of life that was made possible by a semiautomatic assault rifle splashed on every news channel offering obvious proof of the need for gun control. However, for those so concerned about rights, the right to bear arms seems to be the only right that matters. The need for civil rights and the right to our lives apparently doesn't matter. And others find themselves in a bind. They, and by "they" I mean the ultra-religious right, have to figure out how to reconcile believing killings like the ones at Sandy Hook to be deplorable, while dubbing this mass murder justifiable in the eyes of their loving god. Instead of using this historically horrific moment to unite the country and start real dialogue, we are in the same place we've always been. Our friends, allies, and those who accept us are by our side. The pain we in the community live with unconsciously on a daily basis has been pushed to the forefront of our minds. There is anger, fear, pain; so much pain. Like racism, denying that homophobia exists will not make it go away. Like all human beings, we bleed blood, we are covered in skin, we love, and we exist. However, when you treat a community as if they are garbage, you embolden the same reckless insanity that accompanied the killer into Pulse Nightclub in Orlando. You cannot differentiate between what happened in Orlando and what happens across this country on a daily, weekly basis. Years and years of institutional bigotry manifests into a horrible act. Instead of an apology, we are shattered to pieces as the religious right continue to spew their poison and point the finger at Islam. Truth be told, they are no better. Advertisement With each religious zealot, with each lawmaker and talking head who insists on robbing our community of rights, our community is under siege. Pointing the finger at radical Islam will not wipe the blood from their hands. With each moment of harmful rhetoric comes fatal consequences, only it is not those who create it who pay the price. This conduct does not originate across the world in Islamic countries. This conduct is occurring in our own backyards. Hindu Sena If you have not been living under a rock, you know who Donald Trump is. You may have heard some of his speeches too where he declares that a wall must be built around America to keep Muslims and immigrants away. For most rational individuals, Trump is part meme, part joke, and completely stuff liberal nightmares are made of. Racist, misogynist, liar, caricaturethese are the words that are frequently used in the same breath as Trump. Like some people from across the world, most of us Indians too regard Trump as a ridiculous example of what happens when endless privilege meets endless ignorance. Advertisement No, we don't particularly relish the idea of celebrating Trump's birthday, but we must have wondered what kind of people celebrate the birth of this strange piece of work? Today, I was presented the opportunity of finding that out and decided to not miss it for anything. That's how I found myself among a mob of people celebrating Donald Trump's 70th birthday in New Delhi, 14,000 kilometres away from the Republican presidential candidate's home. Two weeks ago, when I was talking to Vishnu Gupta, National President of a fringe right-wing organisation, regarding their plans to hold an armed training camp in New Delhi to "fight against Islamic terrorism," he seemed more upbeat about a party. So what was this party that got Gupta more excited that the prospect of shooting dolls in skull cups? Donald Trump's birthday, he told me. "Didi, don't tell anyone now but we are planning to celebrate Trump ji's 70th birthday. We will get a big cake," he said, emphasizing the word 'big'. "Will it be 70 kilograms, Vishnu ji?" I asked. "Yes Didi," he responded. Advertisement As promised, the Hindu Sena leader sent me a WhatsApp invite for Trump's 'birthday party' that he was hosting at Jantar Mantar. "Please come and celebrate with us," he added. This was the first time I was invited to a celebrity's birthday, so what if the man of the hour wasn't present himself? By the time I managed to reach the venue, the grand celebration had already begun. Gupta, who was arrested last year for allegedly making a false complaint about beef being served at Kerala House, was wearing a blue coloured party hat. He also looked very pleased celebrating the birthday of a man, reviled by most, and who had no clue that Gupta existed. He was surrounded by some ten workers, all of them wearing saffron coloured mufflers around their neck. The more adventurous ones wore party hats too. A banner in the background read, "Hindu Sena celebrates birthday of Donald Trump." Advertisement The little tent was filled with blue and orange balloons and there was a three tier cake placed on the table. To my disappointment, it was only a seven-kilogram cake, not seventy. But what caught everyone's attention was a large cut out of Trump, holding a gun. After observing a minute's silence for the victims of last weekend's shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, the leaders cut the cake, singing the 'Happy Birthday' song, which sounded nothing like the one you have been hearing at birthday parties: "Happy Birthday Trump ji, Trump ji Zindabaad," the right-wing leaders shouted, scarring every memory I had of birthday songs. As soon as the cake was cut, someone from the crowd asked Gupta to 'feed' Trump. "Trump ji ko cake khilao." Gupta, turned towards Trump ji - the menacing gun wielding cut-out - and smeared his face with cake. What is more fearful? A gun-holding bigot or a gun-holding bigot with a big blob of vanilla cream on his face? I am still figuring out. Donald Trump is speaking the entire worlds mann ki baat against Islamic terror and we support it," he announced. Prime Minister Modi's may want to cringe at the insinuation, but Gupta seemed mighty pleased to have brought his 'idols' together in one sentence. In what must have been a clever tribute to Trump's ridiculousness, Gupta spouted one gem after another, nearly threatening to pale the Republican politician's ignorance with his own. Advertisement "Trump is about to become the king of the world," Gupta said. "How will we attack Pakistan without his support?" "So, are you saying you want Trump to remove Islamic terrorism with that gun he is holding? What about gun control laws?" someone from the crowd asked. "No. I don't know anything about gun control," Gupta responded. "I found this picture on Google, and I really liked it. So we decided to get a big print out of it and keep it here," he said. The crowd burst into laughter, but Gupta continued. "If Trump supports India, Prime Minister Modi can go to Pakistan and kill all the terrorists there, just like how the US killed Osama," he said. Advertisement ALSO READ: Hindu Outfit Prays For Donald Trump When asked about the support he was getting from other leaders or political parties, he said that no political leader was ready to speak against Trump because they are afraid of him. The BJP used to speak against Islamic terror, but after coming to power it has also become a secular party. Gupta also said they plan to organise events in support of the New York businessman outside the American embassy in New Delhi and JNU campus soon. "If I ever meet Trump, I will ask him to remove Islamic terrorism from India too. I am sure if he reads news and he knows that we are praying for his win," Gupta said. Earlier this month, the Hindu Sena leaders conducted prayers in the capitals Jantar Mantar to show support for Donald Trump and pray for his win. While Gupta mentioned 'Islamic terrorism' about fifty times, a few steps ahead of this celebration venue, The Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) staged a protest against the University Grants Commission (UGC). "UGC, down down," the sloganeering continued. Advertisement Also See On HuffPost: The India Today Group via Getty Images NEW DELHI, INDIA JUNE 13: Transport Minister Gopal Rai addressing a Press Conference at Delhi Vidhan Sabha in New Delhi.(Photo by K Asif/India Today Group/Getty Images) Senior Delhi minister Gopal Rai was relieved of the charge of the Transport department as sought by him on health grounds, even as the Opposition BJP and Congress termed it a fallout of an ACB probe into the AAP government's app-based premium bus service scheme. The portfolio of the transport department has now been given to his cabinet colleague Satyendar Jain, who already holds key portfolios of PWD, Health, Power and Home. Advertisement Jain, the Shakur Basti MLA, is considered close to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Rai refuted the allegations levelled by the opposition parties saying that he has quit solely on health grounds. Last week, he had requested Kejriwal to relieve him as Transport Minister as he had recently undergone a major surgery to remove a bullet lodged in his spine. "Some people are spreading rumour that I have resigned due to Premium Bus Scheme. There has been no corruption in this scheme and my resignation has no connection with it," the former transport minister tweeted. The departments left with Rai now are Labour, Irrigation and Flood Control, General Administration Department (GAD), Development and Employment. Advertisement "The Lt Governor of National Capital Territory of Delhi with Chief Minister of National Capital Territory of Delhi is pleased to allocate portfolio of Transport Department to Satyendar Jain, Minister," a notification issued by GAD yesterday said. Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly, Vijender Gupta alleged that Rai has resigned due to corruption in the bus service scheme, in issue raised by him earlier this month. "There has been corruption in this scheme following which he has resigned as the transport minister. It is an eyewash. I want to ask why Jain has been given transport department despite the fact that he already holds key portfolios. The move indicates something wrong in the scheme," Gupta said. DPCC chief Ajay Maken alleged that Rai was either guilty in the premium bus service matter, or has been relieved because of inefficient public transport system in the city. "Only Transport department has been taken away from Rai while allowing him to look after five other departments which exposes the excuse that the move was due to his bad health," Maken said. Advertisement Jain had temporarily taken care of the transport department for about 20 days when Rai had undergone a surgery and subsequently physiotherapy treatment in Hyderabad. Rai yesterday said he had requested the Chief Minister to relieve him from the Transport Department portfolio as it had a very heavy workload. His physiotherapy is expected to last three months at the Indian Spinal Injuries Centre in South Delhi's Vasant Kunj. The two phases of the odd-even scheme were implemented under the leadership of Rai as Transport minister. Last month, he had announced a Premium Bus Service Scheme to encourage the car users to leave their vehicles and use public transport. Advertisement However, the scheme came under scanner of Delhi Government's Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) as Lt Governor Najeeb Jung had refused to give his go-ahead to the scheme. Contact HuffPost India Also See On HuffPost: ASSOCIATED PRESS Hardik Patel, center, 22-year-old firebrand leader of Patidar Andolan Samiti addresses a press conference in New Delhi, India, Sunday, Aug. 30, 2015. Patel is leading an agitation for members of Gujarat state Patel community demanding government benefits for them under the Other Backward Class (OBC) quota. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri) While the makers of Udta Punjab celebrate their momentous victory against the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC, commonly referred to as the Censor Board), a regional film on a sensitive topic has run into trouble with the government body. The makers of a Gujarati movie Salagto Sawaal Anamat (Burning Question of Reservation) have hit a roadblock as the Censor Board has demanded as many as 100 cuts in the film that talks about the reservation controversy that hit the state in July last year. Advertisement The Board has questioned the motive of the makers behind the film and has also said that the film's protagonist has a strong resemblance to the firebrand leader at the forefront of the quota war, Hardik Patel. Patel is currently in jail as he faces two different charges of sedition. The Board's contention also rested in its observation that the film glamourises Patel. Jaypratapsinh Chauhan, the film's co-producer told The Times of India that they immediately filed an appeal against the decision before a review committee of the board, which is likely to hear the plea today. Among the cuts recommended by the Board are the removal of the word 'Patidar' or 'Patel' from every scene as well as portions of the film that are 'evocative' of the recent quota agitation. Advertisement The Board has also asked Gohil to remove references to BR Ambedkar, the principal architect of the Constitution of India who campaigned against social discrimination of Dalits. "This is an attempt to curb the freedom of expression and creativity. I tried to convince them that the film is not exactly based on Hardik Patel. But they argued that the protagonist looked similar to the jailed quota leader," Gohil said. Like the Udta Punjab producers, Gohil too is prepared to move court against the Censor Board. "If I will remove the word 'Patidar', the soul of the film will be gone," Gohil told TOI. The film was slated to release on July 17, the same day as Abhishek Chaubey's Udta Punjab.. But now the makers aren't hopeful of making it on time. The film's director Rajesh Gohil told the newspaper that he will now have to delay the film's release till a clearance from the censors is secured. Also see on HuffPost: ASSOCIATED PRESS Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Akhilesh Yadav gestures to his supporters during his oath taking ceremony as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh in Lucknow, India, Thursday, March 15, 2012. Yadav, 38, who played a major role in revival of socialist Samajwadi Party fortunes in the recently concluded state elections, is the youngest chief minister of India's most populous state. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh) An initial probe into the alleged migration of Hindus from Kairana in Shamli district of western Uttar Pradesh under "jihadist threats" has revealed that among the list of names submitted by a Bharatiya Janata Party MP, are of those who are still living in the town, have died 20 years ago or have moved for better opportunities, a report in the Indian Express stated. "Four persons named in the list died around 20 years back, 13 people were found staying at home, and 68 had left Kairana several years ago for better life. The process of verifying other names is still on, the paper quoted Shamli SP Vijay Bhushan as saying. Advertisement The Shamli District Magistrate has asked the SDM and Circle Officer to probe into the allegations that "jihadi elements" had forced the migration of Hindus from there. They have been asked to verify the list of 346 families handed over by local MP Hukum Singh, who have allegedly migrated. BJP President Amit Shah had attacked the Samajwadi Party government at a recent rally over the atmosphere of violence in the state, citing recent Mathura clashes and migration of Hindus. Teams headed a tehsildar-rank officer will go for door-to-door inspection in Kairana, according to the Express report. Singh has alleged that 346 families have been forced to flee the town, which has 85 per cent of Muslim population. The state governments action came after VHP joint general secretary Surendra Jains today said, "Jihadis are being encouraged to carry out their activities...VHP calls upon the state government to rein in jihadi elements who are responsible for this exodus and tighten law and order in the state." Advertisement He termed the migration of Hindus from Kairana as "unfortunate" and said the township, which was a Hindu majority 40 years ago, now has only eight per cent Hindus left. Sharma said further details will be known only after the report is received from the district officials. Last week, National Human Rights Commission had issued a notice to the UP government in this regard. While observing that the allegations made were serious in nature, the NHRC also directed the states DIG (Investigation) to depute a team of officers for a spot enquiry in the matter covering all the allegations made in the complaint and submit a report within two weeks. STR via Getty Images Indian Bollywood film producer and present Chairperson of the Central Board, Pahlaj Nihalani attends the funeral of the late Bollywood music composer and singer Aadesh Shrivastava in Mumbai on September 5, 2015. AFP PHOTO (Photo credit should read STR/AFP/Getty Images) By the time you read this, you will most likely be aware that a landmark judgement of sorts was awarded by the Bombay High Court to the makers of the upcoming drama Udta Punjab in their much-publicised fight against the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). The producers of the film directed by Abhishek Chaubey and featuring marquee stars such as Shahid Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Kareena Kapoor, and Diljit Dosanjh, a huge star in his home state Punjab have been combating the CBFCs draconian order of a jaw-dropping 89 cuts (13 orders amounting to 89 instances, to end the confusion) in court for the past week. These cuts included visual cuts and references that set the film in Punjab, on grounds that they defamed the state, and audio cuts of profanity. Oh, and they also wanted a film about drugs to not show people doing drugs. Advertisement On Monday afternoon, Justice SC Dharmadhikari delivered a verdict that brought much joy to the film fraternity: Udta Punjab will now release in theatres this Friday with 88 of those proposed cuts retained, barring one shot of Kapoor, who plays a rockstar named Tommy Singh in the film, urinating in front of a crowd during a concert. Clearly, the Bombay High Court isnt hot on the idea of cheeky references to real-life incidents involving real-life rockstars. Sure, its a relatively small price to pay, given that the films colourful language (as seen in its trailer), among other things, has been left completely untouched. An ecstatic Chaubey, during a chat with HuffPost India Bollywood Editor Ankur Pathak at the court premises, said: I am not gonna be able to sleep tonight. The happiness hasn't sunk in yet. This is the film I wanted the audience to see." But even as sunlight bursts through dark clouds, the horizon remains overcast. As the Udta Punjab battle went down to the wire, another one came up: Haraamkhor, an indie drama starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Masaan actress Shweta Tripathi, has been denied a certificate by the boards Examining Committee. The reason: its objectionable theme, which depicts an illicit relationship between a 14-year-old girl and her teacher. Meanwhile, a Gujarati film based on the reservations agitation led by Hardik Patel last year faces 100 cuts on grounds of verisimilitude. Advertisement Meanwhile, amidst celebratory tweets, filmmaker Hansal Mehta, whose acclaimed drama Aligarh went through the CBFC rigmarole just a few months ago, asked a pertinent question. Must we always have to approach the courts for redressal of our grievances when there is a body appointed by the govt. to perform the very same task? he tweeted. If the CBFC is unable to interpret the guidelines without restricting artistic freedom, then why does the CBFC exist at all? He also drew attention to the plight of smaller filmmakers, some of whom may not have the resources or the time to fight legal battles. Not every producer can afford excellent legal assistance like the producers of #UdtaPunjab, nor do they have the requisite strength to garner industry/media support, he reasoned. Let the #UdtaPunjab case not be a one-off incidence of collective outrage resulting in a positive outcome. We must rally behind the weak when they need it. Let the CBFC not exercise its autocracy on hapless and helpless producers who have no means or clout to fight. Dushyant Arora, a lawyer and columnist for Mumbai Mirror, tweeted: We shouldn't be celebrating a court going through a movie with a comb and deciding what we should watch.The whole thing is bloody depressing Dushyant (@atti_cus) June 13, 2016 And its true the whole situation, for all its immediate feel-good value, is depressing if you really think about it. For while the Bombay HC judgement sets many good precedents such as a definitive idea of what the CBFC should and should not be doing it also does the same thing at a higher level: playing a cooler 'nanny', which could change depending on the individual sitting on the judge's chair. To complicate matters, Justice Dharmadhikari seems to have contradicted himself during the proceedings. On one hand, he berated the CBFC for censoring films and for doubting the maturity of young audiences, he still conceded to the addition of three disclaimers to the film: that the makers do not promote the use of drugs (ironically the film itself condemns it), use of expletives and cuss words, and neither is it made with the intention to malign a particular state. Advertisement He reportedly also said something along the lines of this head-scratcher. You cant censor but you can suggest cuts, says the Bombay High Court. pic.twitter.com/N1elfNjQeb Nitin Pai (@acorn) June 13, 2016 Everyone, from the Minister of Information & Broadcasting Arun Jaitley to his Minister of State Rajyavardhan Rathore has spoken about how the CBFC needs to be a certification body, not one that censors. Its an exasperatingly generic quotable quote, one that makes headlines and generates social media buzz every time its said. However, months pass by and nothing happens. A Spectre (2015) happens, we outrage and call for his resignation, and it doesnt happen. Then an Angry Indian Goddesses (2015), where the CBFC insisted on blurring out images of actual Hindu goddesses because they were in the same frame as girls wearing tank-tops and shorts. Then an Aligarh, whose trailer got an A certificate (preventing it from being shown on TV) simply because the film was about a homosexual man, not that the trailer itself had anything that could be considered 'objectionable'. ... while the judgement might force Nihalani to curb his ways and stop imposing his own brand of morality upon the cinema of this rapidly changing nation, it also gives CBFC the power to know that they still neednt fear repercussions unless the courts get involved. Ironically, Nihalani himself seems to understand the heart of the problem better than many. An Economic Times report published Tuesday quotes him as saying: I just want to point out that when the name of the board was changed from 'censor' to 'certification', the 1952 cinematograph Act that it follows, and its rule book were not changed. Advertisement He added: We were just following these and doing our job. In the same piece, the CBFC chairman has also, in an aggressively sarcastic manner, said: We were doing what was expected of us to ensure films are free of content that is unnecessarily abusive and defamatory. But from today, the producers are free to produce anything they want. They will now have the liberty to have obscenity, vulgarity in their movies. But whos to say Nihalani will actually follow this order with every film unless he anticipates being taken to court? Not only does his track record show that he is supremely autocratic in his functioning, but despite multiple missteps and easily garnering the worst press any CBFC chairman has in the bodys history, the Ministry has made no moves to dismiss him from his position (ecstatic reports about his sacking in November last year turned out to be rumours). And thats all it comes down to, really. Because while the judgement might force Nihalani to curb his ways and stop imposing his own brand of morality upon the cinema of this rapidly changing nation, it also gives CBFC the power to know that they still neednt fear repercussions unless the courts get involved. Let's not forget that this is a man who proposed an infamous 'cuss word list' for films last year, which, despite many reports saying it had been rejected by the Ministry, was still being used in practice until some people finally decided to challenge the CBFC's authority in court last week. The Planning Commission on Monday recommended approval for a development on 7.5 acres along South Broad Street. The project by South Broad LLC and DEW LLC includes a three-story U-shaped apartment building with ground floor retail at the north end of the block between South Broad, Cowart Street, and West 26th Street. Also within that block is a proposed two-story mixed use building fronting South Broad and four townhomes fronting Cowart Street. The rest of the proposed development on Cowart Street, Williams Street, and Long Street includes 34 lots for single-family homes. Proposed density for apartments and townhomes is 20 dwelling units per acre (56units on 2.7 acres) and for single-family homes is seven dwelling units per acre (34lots on 4.8 acres). Buhler JV and freshman football will not be defeated The Buhler JV squad capped its unbeaten season with a 34-22 victory at McPherson Monday night with help from members of the freshman team. The Honest Pint will host Bloomsday 2016 on Sunday from 6-10 p.m., featuring the music of The Red Rogues and The Molly Maguires. "Bloomsday is an annual celebration of the literature of James Joyce and in particular, the epic novel, Ulysses which takes place entirely within a 24-hour period, June 16, 1904 in Dublin and its surrounds. Ulysses is widely considered among the very best if not the best novel in Western literature. This event is designed to engage Irish literature and music aficionados, as well as those simply looking for an entertaining evening out," officials said. Building upon its Bloomsday celebrations in recent years, The Honest Pint will add several new features this year including: ? An entertaining introductory orientation to the novel Ulysses by a UTC Honors English student Reid Elsea; ? Several dramatic readings from sections of the novel by UTC English professor Dr. James Arnett, English student Patrick Bevin and other local actors Tim Newland and Judy Lamance; ? Special food offerings related to Ulysses, including the gorgonzola sandwich, ala Davy Byrnes Pub; ? Competition and prizes for Best Edwardian period costumes (male and female) and Best James Joyce Look-Alike; and ? Irish music by two top local Celtic music groups: The Red Rogues and The Molly Maguires. Their performances will include songs that are referenced in Ulysses or related to James Joyce, like The Croppy Boy, Loves Old Sweet Song, and Finnegans Wake. Beside its long-standing annual celebration in Dublin, Bloomsday is observed in many cities around the world. "The Honest Pint is very pleased to be hosting this celebration in Chattanooga. The Honest Pint will observe Bloomsday this year on June 19 to avoid conflicts with Riverbend events," officials said. Admission is $5 per person. No cover for those attending in Edwardian period dress or attempting their best James Joyce impression. All ages welcome. Bloomsday 2016 at The Honest Pint is sponsored by Star Line Books. Remixing Not A Right In this piece, Stephen Carlisle weighs in on several recent court cases revolving around remix artists and their right, or lack thereof to take another artist's note for note material, and use it in their own work. ______________________________ Guest Post by Stephen Carlisle on Nova Southeastern University UPDATE: Arrghh! The dangers of writing a topical law blog on copyright is that new court opinions are issued every day. This blog post was published just before the 9th Circuit issued its ruling in the Madonna Vogue sampling case. I will discuss that case at the end of the blog post. Two events popped up this week in the never-ending quest of people seeking to use the creative works of others without showing the simplest kind of consideration: asking for permission and paying a license fee. The first was a reversal by the German Constitutional Court of a lower Courts determination prohibiting the distribution of the 1997 song called Nur mir (Only to me) because it included a two second sample of the 1977 song Metall auf Metall by the German electronic pioneers Kraftwerk. Though only two seconds long, the sample was looped so it played throughout the resulting song. The second was a post on MTVs website titled Steal This Riff: How To Fix Copyright Law And Set Musicians Free, calling again for the passage of legislation forcing musicians to give up their rights to control derivative works. Both of these events suffer from the same illogical mindset: that musicians cannot be creative unless they can make note for note copies of something another composer has already done. The Kraftwerk case is the perfect example. In the court battle, [producer and composer Moses] Pelham argued that sampling is common practice in the hip hop genre. He said he works from a set of interesting music sequences and was not aware at the time that the sample in question stemmed from Kraftwerks work. Germanys constitutional court acknowledged sampling as one of the style-defining elements of hip-hop in overturning the previous court verdict that was in favour of Kraftwerk. It noted that imposing royalties on composers could be crippling as copyright owners can demand any amount, or they can simply reject the request for usage. Think about this for a second. Someone who claims to be a music producer and composer states, in effect, that he cannot work unless he can copy note for note what others have already done. And also, that one of the style-defining elements of hip-hop is copying what others have done, without permission or payment, but claiming the resulting song is 100% your creation. If thats the only way you can work, then youre not much of a composer, are you? If Pelham was not aware that the sample came from Kraftwerk, then the simple thing would be once he had found out, and Kraftwerk had lodged their objections, to take the loop out and create a new loop to replace it. Thats what people who are composers do. Even if Pelham was not aware that the sample came from Kraftwerk, it had to come from somewhere. Unless it was composed by him, the sample did not just magically appear in his computer. So yes, German Constitutional Court, the royalties could be crippling on a composer. Why? Because the composer is not composing. Hes just copying note for note what someone else has already done. Yes, the copyright owner could reject the request for usage. Why? Because someone took the time and effort to sit down and compose something and then take the time and effort to generate a recording of it. Thats what musicians and composers are supposed to do. This is the mindset of people who spend too much time fiddling with their computers and mistaking it for the creation of music. Which leads us to the MTV blog post. It has all the earmarks of tired tech talking points. The U.S. copyright system is hopelessly broken. Its an outdated regime, completely unequipped to deal with the realities of a modern world where cheap audiovisual software has made remix artists out of everyone from grade school kids to multiplatinum pop stars. Ah, yes, the remix artist. Whose first step of creation is to make a note for note copy of a song someone else composed and recorded. And of course, like all tired tech talking points, it confuses the ability to do something with the right to do something, and everyone elses rights are an inconvenience that needs to be swept out of the way as soon as possible. In effect, artists are being forced to choose between having their music zapped off the most popular listening hubs on the Internet, or hiring a lawyer to sort out clearances for them. If clearing a sample were as easy and affordable as buying an audio plug-in, owners of desirable sampling material could make up for a drop in individual unit price by selling in bulk. Its not hard to see where this is going. The solution, of course, to making it easy and affordable is to have the government step in and force songwriters to allow their creative efforts to be placed in a digital blender for a below market rate, a/k/a the compulsory license. This idea was already considered and rejected by the U.S. Commerce White Paper report earlier this year. As I noted in this blog post: [T]he record has not established a need to amend existing law to create a specific exception or compulsory license for remix uses, [the study said] noting that one comment called it a solution in search of a problem. And, as I said back then: [M]y speech is my speech. Copying my speech does not make it your speech. And you have no absolute Constitutional right to make my speech. Plus, according to the Constitution, I have the exclusive right in my writings. So, no you dont have a right to take my speech in order to make it yours. Plus, if you have sampled so many different artists that the licensing fees exceed 100% of your revenues, the failure is not in the copyright laws, but instead is the logical consequence of your failure to do anything creative. Slapping together a bunch of segments you copied from other peoples musical compositions does not make you Mozart. And here: If you as a re-mixer, wish to use my song, you want it for two reasons; first, its a good song or its a popular song, perhaps both. Neither of these values were created by you, the re-mixer, they were created by me, the composer. So in essence the re-mixer wishes to take advantage of the value of a song without being the cause of the creation of that value in the first place. Put more succinctly, the re-mixer seeks to reap where they have not sown, which is why we have laws against common law misappropriation, as well as laws protecting copyrights. So my permission to lend my valuable property to your project should absolutely be required. Dont like that you need to get my permission? Then go write your own song. Get creative. Make no mistake. As an attorney, I have many times licensed client material to hip-hop artists. One became a #1 rap hit and as I sit here typing, I am finalizing a new license with a famous hip-hop artist. But in each case the artist took the time to acknowledge the source and properly license the material they did not compose. Which is exactly what Mr. Pelham did not do with Kraftwerk. Should we be buying into his argument that stealing is some kind of art form? I dont think so. And the Court in Germany should have known better. Certainly courts in the U.S. faced this question head on in Grand Upright Music Ltd. V Warner Bros. Records, way back when, in 1991, over 25 years ago: Thou shalt not steal. has been an admonition followed since the dawn of civilization. Unfortunately, in the modern world of business this admonition is not always followed. Indeed, the defendants in this action for copyright infringement would have this court believe that stealing is rampant in the music business and, for that reason, their conduct here should be excused. The conduct of the defendants herein, however, violates not only the Seventh Commandment, but also the copyright laws of this country. Exactly. Copyright is my right. Remixing is not a right. UPDATE: Just after this blog post was published, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals published its opinion in VMG SALSOUL, LLC, v. CICCONE, et al. a/k/a the sampling which occurs in Madonnas Vogue. Though the reasoning of the court does not contradict the views expressed in the initial blog post, it does bear explaining. In the Cicconne case, the reasoning of the court was that the sample, a .23 second sample of a horn blast, was too small to be actionable copyright infringement, invoking the long standing principal of de minimus non curiat lex or the law does not concern itself with trifles. It did so in the face of a case directly on point from the 6th Circuit Bridgeport Music, Inc. v. Dimension Films, which adopted a bright-line rule: For copyrighted sound recordings, any unauthorized copyingno matter how trivialconstitutes infringement. In doing so, the Court intentionally creates a direct split with another Circuit Court, a point that is not lost on the dissenting opinion: The majority chooses to follow the views of a popular treatise instead of an on-point decision of the Sixth Circuit, a decision that has governed the music industry in Nashville Music City and elsewhere for over a decade without causing either the sky to fall in, or Congress to step in. And just exactly what is the Sixth Circuits radical holding in Bridgeport Music, Inc. v. Dimension Films that the majority finds so distasteful? Its this: if you want to use an identical copy of a portion of a copyrighted fixed sound recording were not talking about substantially similar tunes or rhythms, but an actual identical copy of a sound that has already been recorded in a fixed medium get a license. You cant just take itIn this case Bridgeport has not been hiding out in the woods, waiting to be found: it has been governing the music industry in Nashville and elsewhere for eleven years. The majority now proposes to introduce a different rule for this circuit, creating a circuit split, and providing a lower level of protection for copyright holders in a different area of the country.(emphasis supplied and citation omitted) This inconsistent approach is plainly in contravention of Congressional intent that copyright laws be predictable and uniform, yet the majority defends its rogue path on the ground that Congress must have intended something other than what the Sixth Circuit has concluded, even though weve heard not a peep from Congress, or for that matter the Supreme Court, in the eleven years since Bridgeport has been on the books. So the blog posts main point remains intact: there is not, nor should there be, an absolute right to copy anothers musical composition or sound recording, regardless of the fact that it is a common practice in hip-hop music, or that someone with a computer finds it inconvenient to write their own song. Whether that copy is too small to be legally actionable apparently is an issue for the Supreme Court of the United States to decide. Share on: As weve said before, we believe the Internet is perhaps the greatest vehicle for disseminating the ideas of Liberty ever made available to mankind. Perhaps were biased, being an Internet publication, but we dont think were overstating things. Thats why Internet governance and regulation is so critical. Indeed, thats why conservatives view with alarm any headlines about the U.S. relinquishing control of the Internet. No conservative wants to trust other nations or the UN to control something so fundamental, and any time Barack Obama is part of the discussion, its bound to be a bad idea. But whats really happening? A Los Angeles-based private nonprofit group called the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, is a U.S.-government-chartered nonprofit corporation established in 1998, and it manages the Internets domain name system (DNS). DNS is what causes typing patriotpost.us into your browser to bring up our website. ICANN has been moving toward a multi-stakeholder community since its founding in 1998 it was never intended to stay under U.S. government oversight forever. The Obama administration has now officially backed the plan after signaling for two years that it would. George W. Bushs administration worked toward the same goal. But congressional Republicans want to know how it serves U.S. interests to cede control, or whether control could be regained once given away. Several in Congress are working to stop this transition. Maintaining a free and open Internet is important, but Russia and China already dont need to have any say in regards to ICANN in order to create Great Firewalls and digital Iron Curtains. The Internet cannot be centrally controlled thats the point. The question is whether it will remain generally free and open if ICANN isnt under U.S. government oversight. There are reasons to think it will, and reasons it might not. Internet inventors like Vinton Cerf still think the Internet is too centralized, and he, for one, thinks this ICANN move is a good one. Source: https://patriotpost.us/posts/43152 The mother of all controversies about the Internet is about its global governance; neatly polarized between those who believe that it is time to herald a new international institutional response adequate to our collective predicament as 'things of the Internet', and status quoists who believe that the Internet-mediated world order is serving us well, and any change will portend ominous consequences for the Internet's future. Status quoists have good reason to stall change. The breakneck and almost sinister speed at which global digital capitalism has risen together with its intimate US foreign policy connection reveal the force majeure that the Internet is. For the US state and US Internet corporations Google, Facebook, Twitter protecting the US government's unilateral control over Internet governance is thus critical. The US state has repeatedly deployed the political discourse of Internet freedom to assert an a priori legitimacy to be the primary manager of the extraterritorial Internet. This has also meant tactics to undermine emerging economic powers that challenge its dominance, discrediting them for a poor human rights record. The crisis of 'platform society' An enabler of rights, the Internet is seen as foundational to the achievement of other rights. Some governments have begun to guarantee, in varying degrees, access to the Internet itself as a right. It is clear, even though the marginalized in most developing countries still do not have access to connectivity or are not connected in quite the same way as the privileged to the gains of the Internet, that full participation in society is a function of Internet enfranchisement. Meanwhile, state surveillance on the one hand and corporate tracking on the other, are constructing an all-pervasive datafied society. Reaffirming the human right to privacy, the UNGA 's Second Committee, which deals with economic and social issues, noted in 2014, that unlawful or arbitrary surveillance as well as the collection of personal data are highly intrusive acts, violating rights to privacy and antithetical to the tenets of a democratic society. While critiques of the informational state and its excesses are easily grasped, the magnitude of corporate surveillance is hardly recognized. Partly, this is owing to the fact that each of us has almost voluntarily relinquished information about our private lives in return for free access to the goodies of the 'platform society' from social media to search, news feed and more. But, Internet platforms wield far-reaching power. This is the power to discipline social behaviour nudging our likes, aggrandizing control to frame the rules of social interaction, and to dictate and adjudicate morality. Google not only manipulates algorithms for its own commercial gain. It also sits on judgment about violations of intellectual property rights. FaceBook is not just personalizing newsfeeds, but randomly deleting pages on 'grounds' of decency and more. Uber not only exploits customers and drivers, but runs massive political campaigns holding city regulators to ransom, seeking complete immunity from law. Alibaba is not just in the business of e-commerce, it has declared a new business-led initiative for framing global e-commerce rules, the World e-Trade Platform (WeTP). These developments signal a momentous challenge for the global and open nature of the Internet and its potential to be a driving force in accelerating progress towards development, underlined by the UNHRC, in 2012. It exhorts us to embark on an urgent recasting of the Internet and human rights debate, through the lens of the right to development. An Internet that serves development Thirty years ago, the Declaration on the Right to Development (DRD) broke new ground in the universal struggle for greater human dignity, freedom, equality and justice. It appealed to the urgent need to empower all people, so that they can participate fully and freely in vital decisions. It demanded equitable distribution of economic resources; highlighting the marginalization of women, minorities, indigenous peoples, migrants, older persons, persons with disabilities and the poor. The DRD redefines development as far deeper and more complex than a growth and for-profit focus, recognizing the limits of the current international economic framework in realizing the participatory parity of all people and all countries. The DRD however has been a contentious instrument. Rich countries have systematically dismissed any obligation for international co-operation (inscribed in Article 6 of the DRD), using the red herring of a rights-based, individual-focused development model, where provisioning of needs is seen as the responsibility of country governments. Resolutions in the Human Rights Council, promoting a democratic and equitable international order are seen as inadmissible by the rich countries. The US state has repeatedly asserted that the right to development should be the obligations states owe to their citizens and not the obligations of multilateral institutions, stalling consensus on the possibility of negotiating a binding international agreement on this topic. The DRD's call for states to take steps, individually and collectively, to formulate international development policies with a view to facilitating the full realization of the right to development encapsulates the directions that must be taken if the DRD's conception of "active, free and meaningful participation" can be realized at national and international levels. US posturing, and its anti-institutional stances on global democracy are a key impediment in pushing the envelope for discussions on global justice. The global governance of the Internet seems to be the latest addition to this extreme and self-serving intransigence. As the Internet reconstitutes society, the ideas of self-determination and equality of opportunity, enshrined in the DRD, become deeply tied to the Internet. To tackle national level obstacles to the complete fulfillment of human beings and of peoples, constituted, inter alia, by the denial of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights....", access to the Internet may thus be argued as non-negotiable. Conversely, in a world where morality, ethics and justice must be urgently reclaimed from runaway digital capitalism and reinstated within the idea of a global democracy, we need to turn to the DRD. In 1990, the Global Consultation on the Right to Development as a Human Right observed that above all, "the concentration of economic and political power in the most industrialized countries" is an obstacle to development and is "perpetuated by the non-democratic decision-making processes of international economic, financial and trade institutions." Today, economic and political power is highly concentrated in one country, the US, as never before. Digital capitalism is pivotal to this dominance. The corollary is that legitimate global governance of the Internet must be thwarted. The default governance regime of the Internet has therefore used powerful discursive devices mainly, the smokescreen of multistakeholder participation (to legitimize the social power of the corporation) and the subterfuge of failed multilateralism (to delegitimize people's aspirations towards a more just global order) to perpetuate a unilateral, undemocratic, global Internet arrangement. The Global Consultation had also proposed a decentralized, participatory process for the design of indicators and review of programmes. The emphasis would be on direct involvement, in UN programe evaluation, of "the people and groups directly or indirectly affected through their own representative organizations," including "indigenous peoples, workers' organizations, women's groups," peasants and other so-called "grassroots" organizations, without regard to their accreditation by the UN Economic and Social Council. This treats the right to development and its core emphasis on people's right to participation, as a programmatic norm of international law, akin to the principle of self-determination. Participants in the Global Consultation believed, that such a bottom-up, people's participation was non-negotiable to build political pressure on international economic institutions. In their avowal of multistakeholderism and an equal footing for business in global decision-making, the slippery purveyors of Internet freedom seem to blissfully disregard this foundational concern about the balance of power. Participatory democracy has been hijacked by business-led multistakeholderism, and 'presence and power' are replaced as tokens of people's political involvement. The undemocratic nature of global Internet governance is bound to spiral into a multi-dimensional civilizational crisis. The Internet redefines the experience of and claims to human rights not only to the rights to freedom of expression, association, privacy, security, information and knowledge, but also rights to education, health and livelihood. While it can potentially expand these, the reality is that it has served as an instrument of authoritarian excesses and neoliberal capital. Without international norms and a treaty on the Internet, it is unclear how the rights to enjoy Internet access, claim its open and public interest spaces and protect self-determination against data tyranny will materialize in a seamless, post-national Internet-mediated world. Meanwhile, the cyborgism of the present is already generating debates on the human condition the alienation of the dispossessed and marginal communities in the current economic order and the rights of those who choose not to have Internet access. The current human rights quandary is therefore not only about asserting a liberal, I-shall-have-my-Internet ideal; it is also very much the subaltern, republican, a-better-world-is-possible dream. Source: https://www.opendemocracy.net/anita-gurumurthy/internet-governance-as-seen-from-right-to-development Its no secret that insurance professionals and insurance agents in particular are an older bunch. The average age of an agent today is 59, and most offices struggle to bring on younger employees.Even by that standard, however, Pennsylvania insurance professional Don Ruschak is in his golden years.The 85-year-old who opened Ruschak Associates Insurance & Real Estate nearly 60 years ago still wakes up each morning at 6AM and heads into the office. Even though Ruschak turned over his business to his sons years ago, he says he just cant keep away.I love helping people, especially those who are going through a difficult time, Ruschak told the Herald-Standard, which covers local news in Ruschaks Charleroi, Pennsylvania hometown. Thats what attracted me to the insurance business initially, and thats what keeps me going today.Ruschak didnt start out in insurance, however. Like many other industry professionals, he came into the business rather by accident.After serving in the Korean War, he earned his degree in teaching at California State Teachers College and began teaching English and history at Bethlehem-Center High School. Shortly after taking this position, he bought a car but had trouble finding coverage for it.I couldnt find anyone in Charleroi to write a policy for me. I had to drive to Donora to find someone to help me, he said. Thats when it occurred to me that there was a need in Charleroi. And someone had to fill that need.When he began thinking about a career change, the memory stuck. Ruschak eventually earned his insurance license and started selling insurance policies for a small agency during his summer breaks from school. After 11 years, he decided to take it full-time.His wife, Betty Jane, was concerned that he was giving up an established teaching job to enter a new field, but Ruschak was sure of his decision.I wanted to be my own boss, he said. And I wanted to live my dream.In 1957, he opened Ruschak Associates Insurance & Real Estate in downtown Charleroi. The agency grew quickly and Ruschak earned a reputation for caring, efficient customer service. Betty Jane eventually earned her licenses as an insurance agent and real estate broker, and began handling the agencys bookkeeping. Sons Don Alan and David also became certified as insurance agents, and went on to become co-owners of the business.Its certainly a busy operation. Since it was launched 59 years ago, Ruschak Associates Insurance & Real Estate has expanded from selling home, auto and life insurance to selling business and surplus lines insurance. The agency also appraises and sells homes.And Ruschak is still involved at every level.Age doesnt hold me back, he said. I still go out and inspect homes, and I help with appraisals. Working helps me to stay youthful. I tell other seniors to keep working as long as they can. The longer you work, the better you feel. Joe Decosimo was honored by Southern Adventist University during a luncheon at the Mountain City Club on Friday. Friends and colleagues were on hand to celebrate the Doctor of Laws honorary degree presented to Dr. Decosimo at Southern's spring Commencement service. The event was hosted by Chris McKee, executive vice president for McKee Foods and board trustee for Southern. David Smith, Southern's new president, gave Dr. Decosimo a commemorative photo and spoke about the value and impact of his community leadership. Dr. Decosimo, a World War II Navy veteran, completed his bachelors degree in business administration at the University of Georgia and a masters degree in business administration at Northwestern University. He is senior partner emeritus for Elliott Davis Decosimo, one of the top 30 accounting, tax, and consulting services firms in the U.S. Dr. Decosimo has long been dedicated to civic involvement. His chairmanship roles and participation with numerous charitable and nonprofit organizations include the United Way of Greater Chattanooga, the Tennessee Aquarium IMAX 3D Theater, Alexian Brothers of the Southeast Foundation, and the Tennessee Board for Economic Growth. He also has a history of supporting education, both at UT Chattanooga and Southern. Most recently Dr. Decosimo has been active in guiding Southerns Advancement team to gather Chattanooga community leaders for presentations about the universitys Campaign for Excellence in Faith and Learning, a $50 million endeavor. Dr. Decosimo and his wife, Rachel, have been married for 66 years. They have nine children, 26 grandchildren, and 13 great-grandchildren. We work towards an equitable, gender-just, self-reliant and sustainable fisheries, particularly in the small-scale, artisanal sector We work towards an equitable, gender-just, self-reliant and sustainable fisheries, particularly in the small-scale, artisanal sector We work towards an equitable, gender-just, self-reliant and sustainable fisheries, particularly in the small-scale, artisanal sector We work towards an equitable, gender-just, self-reliant and sustainable fisheries, particularly in the small-scale, artisanal sector Supporters of preserving Signals 90-year old grammar school building showed up in force at Mondays council meeting to urge the town not to demolish the historic but dilapidated structure. They won the day. Council members voted 4-0 to issue the RFPs. The fifth councilman, Bill Lusk, was not present at the meeting. Many of the supporters were longtime residents who told council members the former school played an important role in their town and in their own lives. Others were newer residents who never attended the school, but are convinced the buildings unique architectural design and make it an asset that should not be sacrificed. I may be a relative newcomer, one man said, but I have eyes. That building is the heart of the town, another told the council. Supporters vastly outnumbered the handful of speakers who urged the council to tear down the old school and build something new and save money doing it. I am supporting Tiffanie Robinson for Hamilton County Board of Education in District 4 because she is both passionate about our public schools and highly qualified to serve. Our current School Board is often focused on the wrong things. Tiffanie will focus on making our schools safe for all students. Tiffanie will focus on building equity in our school system so that geography and a parents income level dont define a students chances of success. Tiffanie will focus bringing resources to bear on the fact that only 1 percent of students graduating from Howard High School will hit ACT College Ready Benchmarks. Tiffanie will bring students, teachers, parents and community members together to focus on the things that matter most to bold change in our system. Tiffanie is also uniquely qualified to serve as school board member for District 4. She has experience managing complex project with million-dollar budgets. She has experience working with and bringing together diverse groups of people. She has experience managing and leading staff and volunteers. She is also a smart, hard-working mother with young children who will attend soon our public schools. I hope youll join me in supporting Tiffanie Robinson on Aug. 4. Heather DeGaetano Chattanooga Alinea Is Named The 15th Best Restaurant In The World By Anthony Todd in Food on Jun 14, 2016 2:55PM Chef Grant Achatz. Photo via Alineas Facebook. Every year, San Pellegrino sponsors the World's 50 Best Restaurants, a listing created by over 1000 voting judges who include food writers, chefs and restaurant owners. Chicago only got one entry on this global list, and no surprise, it's Alinea. The acclaimed restaurant, which recently re-opened after a total overhaul (which makes the ranking perhaps slightly less-current, since most of the judges probably hadn't tried the new version) is number 15 on the list. The top position is now held by Ostera Francescana in Modena, Italy. The top American restaurant is Eleven Madison Park in New York, which took the #3 spot. Alinea has bounced around the list in recent years. In 2015, it dropped to number 26, while in 2014, it was number 9. The restaurant hit its peak, at least as far as this award is concerned, in 2011, when it rose to the #6 restaurant in the world. Congratulations to the winners! The content you are trying to view is exclusive to our subscribers. To unlock this article: This Isnt Our Last Love Letter Dear Don Don, Way back in 92 I walked into the room and knew Never felt this way before I shook your hand while gazing into your eyes And the feeling grew As I took a seat I knew A love that would have my heart Forever I knew Way back in 92 They say love at first sight doesnt always last or isnt true We were the exception to that rule Our love had no where to hide A spark set fire As if this is how the universe started I never doubted our love or what we could do Together we grew Forming a bond everlasting That became our glue My euphoria was YOU Im eternally grateful for the love and life we shared For how fortunate we were : to have and to hold through sickness and in health Til death do us part Until we are together again This isnt our last love letter I love you with all my heart and soul Yours forever, Deirdre (Mrs. Hank Snow) Im fortunate to have fallen in love with, marry and make a life with the sharpest, coolest, funniest, most rare, bad ass, tender loving, loyal man on the planet, my husband Don Imus. A True American Hero I dont know why it has been so hard for me to write about my dear friend Don Imus. I certainly know what he meant to me, my family, my charity, my hospital and the millions of fans that listened and loved him for so many years. I keep reading all the beautiful condolences that people are writing about how much a part of their lives were effected by listening to him over the years. But what most people dont talk enough about is what he did for all of us. In every sense of the word, he was an American Hero. His work with children with so many different illnesses and his dedication to their future was unmatched by anyone I have ever known or heard about. Besides raising over $100,000,000 for so many causes, he took care of young people for over 20 years in a state where he could not breathe. Along with his incredible wife Deirdre, he created a world where children were not defined by their disease. That was a miracle! He was a miracle. I will miss him ever day for the rest of my life. I was blessed to be a part of his and Deirdes life. No one will ever do what he did. I love you Don Imus - A TRUE AMERICAN HERO David Jurist IMUS IN THE MORNING FIRST DAY BACK! 'Rashi Sanook': Joe Biden Mispronounces New UK PM's Name in Latest Gaffe Screenings of the sci-fi classic "Independence Day" at the Shanghai International Film Festival were all sold out and the director will come to Beijing to promote its sequel. A poster for "Independence Day" [Photo / China.org.cn] 20th Century Fox, working with film festival organizers, brought in a series of award-winning films to the ongoing event for special screenings. "Independence Day" was one of them and will have 5 sold-out screenings from June 16 - 18. "It is a rare opportunity for die-hard fans to see the film for the first time on the big screen, which compensates those who had no chance to see the classic 20 years ago," said Sirena Liu, managing director of 20th Century Fox China. "Independence Day" grossed over US$817.4 million worldwide in 1996, becoming that year's highest-grossing film and the second highest-grossing film of all time at that point. It also won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. It was not imported to the Chinese market, but many Chinese fans watched it on VHS, VCD and DVD, stunned by the world landmark explosions and wide scale of the story in the film -- many saw it as one of the greatest eye-opener films and feel a sense of nostalgic fondness for the film. Its sequel "Independence Day: Resurgence," also directed by Roland Emmerich, will hit Chinese theaters on June 24 and the director and Chinese actress Angelababy, who has an important role in the new film, will start their promotional tour in Beijing on June 22. Rain Lao, played by Angelababy, is the best Chinese pilot working on a moon base featured in the film. Despite the prominent absence of Will Smith, old cast members Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Judd Hirsch and Vivica A. Fox will return and work with new stars such as Liam Hemsworth in the film. Fox executive Liu revealed that 20th Century Fox also have other award-winning films to screen for Chinese audiences in the Fox Searchlight Film Celebration selection at the Shanghai festival, including Academy Award-winning "Birdman" (2014), "Little Miss Sunshine" (2006), "The Descendants" (2011), "The Last King of Scotland" (2006), "Black Swan" (2010), "The Grand Budapest Hotel" (2014) and "Waking Life" (2001). The 19th annual Shanghai International Film Festival will be held from June 11 - 19, 2016. There are many special screening selections this year, including Pixar animations, the Harry Potter series, "Tribute to Masters," "Classic 007 Films Screening," "Oscar Film Panorama," "Jackie Chan Action Movie Week," "New Works of Renowned Japanese Directors," "Korean Films," "Retrospective of the Recent Works of Woody Allen," "4K Restored Classic Film Panorama" and others. Forty-five cinemas in Shanghai will participate in the film screening. The online ticketing system crashed due to heavy traffic for an entire hour after the film tickets started selling on June 4. The eye-catching, futuristic Transit Elevated Bus (TEB) that is allegedly scheduled to be launched in August is shrouded in mystery, as the construction of the project has yet to begin. Journalists visit the workshop of the prototype of the Transit Elevated Bus on June 6. [Photo from China News Service] What makes it even more mysterious is that several government departments in Qinhuangdao City, where the project is supposed to be carried out, denied any knowledge of the project, the National Business Daily reported. "The [municipal] development and reform commission hasn't received any official information or documents on the bus project," said an anonymous employee from the commission, which is in charge of making economic plans for the city. Two offices affiliated to the commission, responsible for overseeing transportation projects and evaluating and approving project proposals, also denied knowledge of the project. "So far, all we knew about the project was learnt from the social media platform WeChat and the press, so we are not quite clear about it," the employee said. The news about the launching of the project spread recently after the model of the bus captured large public attention at the 19th China Beijing International High-Tech Expo in May. A spokesperson from the Beijing-based Huaying Group, one of the project's investors, told media shortly after the expo that the bus would be tested in the Qinhuangdao City in early August and that the whole line would extend one kilometer. In January, the Huaying Group also announced on its website that its chairman of the board, Bai Zhiming, had signed a framework agreement with the Qinhuangdao authorities. However, an industry insider said that the agreement was more likely to be a letter of intent, which "was not legally binding" and was signed with the business promotion department of the local government. Moreover, it was said that the group had also signed an agreement on the TEB project with the authorities of Tianjin City in north China. "Such an agreement is not legally binding, so it's up to them if they really want to start the project, and even if they quit, you have nothing to do about it," the industry insider said. So far, the Huaying Group and the business promotion department haven't responded to questions about the agreement's legal effect. Nonetheless, the construction of the prototype bus is under full swing. On June 6, journalists from several media outlets were invited to see the prototype bus built by the KTK Group based in Jiangsu Province. The framework of the prototype bus, 22 meters long, 7.8 meters wide and 4.5 meters high, has been built. The TEB bus is designed to span two lanes and carry 1,200 to 1,400 people in a carriage raised several meters above the ground to allow vehicles drive underneath it. It was listed among the 50 Best Inventions of 2010 by the Times. Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the IndyArts email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Geoffrey Chaucers Canterbury Tales have been given a modern reboot to share the harrowing real-life experiences of Europes refugees. Refugee Tales will be published next week, featuring 14 short stories written by reputed authors including Ali Smith, Patience Agbabi and Chris Cleave. The writers have collaborated with anonymous refugees and immigration workers to tell compelling, shocking and truthful stories based as closely as possible on actual events. Stories among the collection include The Detainees Tale, about an orphaned human trafficking victim detained indefinitely by the Home Office after seeking help, and another about a 63-year-old man who finds himself cast into the detention system despite paying his taxes for 28 years after border officers receive a tip-off. The tales are intended to offer rare, intimate glimpses into otherwise untold suffering as many asylum seekers struggle with the frustration of being voiceless. Refugee crisis - in pictures Show all 27 1 /27 Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugee crisis - in pictures A child looks through the fence at the Moria detention camp for migrants and refugees at the island of Lesbos on May 24, 2016. AFP/Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Ahmad Zarour, 32, from Syria, reacts after his rescue by MOAS (Migrant Offshore Aid Station) while attempting to reach the Greek island of Agathonisi, Dodecanese, southeastern Agean Sea Refugee crisis - in pictures Syrian migrants holding life vests gather onto a pebble beach in the Yesil liman district of Canakkale, northwestern Turkey, after being stopped by Turkish police in their attempt to reach the Greek island of Lesbos on 29 January 2016. Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees flash the 'V for victory' sign during a demonstration as they block the Greek-Macedonian border Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants have been braving sub zero temperatures as they cross the border from Macedonia into Serbia. Refugee crisis - in pictures A sinking boat is seen behind a Turkish gendarme off the coast of Canakkale's Bademli district on January 30, 2016. At least 33 migrants drowned on January 30 when their boat sank in the Aegean Sea while trying to cross from Turkey to Greece. Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A general view of a shelter for migrants inside a hangar of the former Tempelhof airport in Berlin, Germany Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees protest behind a fence against restrictions limiting passage at the Greek-Macedonian border, near Gevgelija. Since last week, Macedonia has restricted passage to northern Europe to only Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans who are considered war refugees. All other nationalities are deemed economic migrants and told to turn back. Macedonia has finished building a fence on its frontier with Greece becoming the latest country in Europe to build a border barrier aimed at checking the flow of refugees Refugee crisis - in pictures A father and his child wait after being caught by Turkish gendarme on 27 January 2016 at Canakkale's Kucukkuyu district Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants make hand signals as they arrive into the southern Spanish port of Malaga on 27 January, 2016 after an inflatable boat carrying 55 Africans, seven of them women and six chidren, was rescued by the Spanish coast guard off the Spanish coast. Refugee crisis - in pictures A refugee holds two children as dozens arrive on an overcrowded boat on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugee crisis - in pictures A child, covered by emergency blankets, reacts as she arrives, with other refugees and migrants, on the Greek island of Lesbos, At least five migrants including three children, died after four boats sank between Turkey and Greece, as rescue workers searched the sea for dozens more, the Greek coastguard said Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants wait under outside the Moria registration camp on the Lesbos. Over 400,000 people have landed on Greek islands from neighbouring Turkey since the beginning of the year Refugee crisis - in pictures The bodies of Christian refugees are buried separately from Muslim refugees at the Agios Panteleimonas cemetery in Mytilene, Lesbos Refugee crisis - in pictures Macedonian police officers control a crowd of refugees as they prepare to enter a camp after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A refugee tries to force the entry to a camp as Macedonian police officers control a crowd after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees are seen aboard a Turkish fishing boat as they arrive on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing a part of the Aegean Sea from the Turkish coast to Lesbos Reuters Refugee crisis - in pictures An elderly woman sings a lullaby to baby on a beach after arriving with other refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A man collapses as refugees make land from an overloaded rubber dinghy after crossing the Aegean see from Turkey, at the island of Lesbos EPA Refugee crisis - in pictures A girl reacts as refugees arrive by boat on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees make a show of hands as they queue after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures People help a wheelchair user board a train with others, heading towards Serbia, at the transit camp for refugees near the southern Macedonian town of Gevgelija AP Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees board a train, after crossing the Greek-Macedonian border, near Gevgelija. Macedonia is a key transit country in the Balkans migration route into the EU, with thousands of asylum seekers - many of them from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia - entering the country every day Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures An aerial picture shows the "New Jungle" refugee camp where some 3,500 people live while they attempt to enter Britain, near the port of Calais, northern France Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A Syrian girl reacts as she helped by a volunteer upon her arrival from Turkey on the Greek island of Lesbos, after having crossed the Aegean Sea EPA Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees arrive by boat on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Beds ready for use for migrants and refugees are prepared at a processing center on January 27, 2016 in Passau, Germany. The flow of migrants arriving in Passau has dropped to between 500 and 1,000 per day, down significantly from last November, when in the same region up to 6,000 migrants were arriving daily. These are not fictions. Nor are they testimonies from some distant, brutal past, but the frighteningly common experiences of Europes new underclass - its refugees, says Manchester publisher Comma Press. While those with citizenship enjoy basic human rights (like the right not to be detained without charge for more than 14 days), people seeking asylum can be suspended for years in Kafka-esque uncertainty. Here, poets and novelists retell their stories of individuals who have direct experience of Britains policy of indefinite immigration detention. Presenting their accounts anonymously, as modern day counterparts to the pilgrims stories in Chaucers Canterbury Tales, this book offers rare, intimate glimpses into otherwise untold suffering. Refugee Tales arrives on 23 June, with all profits going to Kent Help for Refugees and the Gatwick Detainee Welfare Group. The latter charity organised a Dover to Crawley walk last summer, with the authors reading their stories at evening events. It will be repeated in July, from Canterbury to London, before ending with a series of events in the capital, including a music performance involving Billy Bragg and a reading of Shakespeares Thomas Mores appeal for mercy in the treatment of refugees by actor Jeremy Irons. Sign up to our free fortnightly newsletter from The Independent's Race Correspondent Nadine White Sign up to our free fortnightly newsletter The Race Report Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the The Race Report email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Sir Ben Kingsley has revealed that he was once told he would always play servants by a senior Royal Shakespeare Company director. The 72-year-old actor, who won an Oscar for his performance as Gandhi in 1983, was born Krishna Bhanji to a British mother and Gujarati Indian father. He changed his name in the late Seventies, around the time that his stage acting career kicked off, after fearing that an Asian name could hold him back. Kingsley, known for Schindlers List and Iron Man 3, has faced criticism and discrimination throughout his career, but finds proving people wrong motivating. I was told by a very senior director at the Royal Shakespeare company that he felt that I would always play servants, and never play kings and leading men, politicians, leaders of their country, he told the Press Association. Im ticking all the boxes here because Ive played them all. You know, I think the best service somebody can do to me as an individual is tell me what I can't do, and I'll do it. If you are aware that people might have limits on your expectations, personally Ive found that exciting and a great spur because I will always say, Oh yes I can. Ive always found that a joyful experience. Hollywood whitewashing controversies Show all 11 1 /11 Hollywood whitewashing controversies Hollywood whitewashing controversies Scarlett Johansson cast as Motoko Kusanagi in Ghost in the Shell Blonde, white US actress Scarlett Johansson was announced to be playing the clearly Japanese character Motoko Kusanagi in Hollywood's Ghost in the Shell remake, much to the dismay of Asian film fans Hollywood whitewashing controversies Tilda Swinton cast as The Ancient One in Doctor Strange Marvel sparked outrage when Anglo-Scottish actress Tilda Swinton was cast as Tibetan mystic The Ancient One alongside Benedict Cumberbatch in Doctor Strange Hollywood whitewashing controversies Zoe Saldana was criticised for 'blacking up' to play the considerably darker-skinned soul singer Nina Simone in Nina AP Hollywood whitewashing controversies Jake Gyllenhaal stars in Prince of Persia The half Jewish, quarter Swedish actor was cast to play a Middle Eastern Prince in Disney's 2010 film Hollywood whitewashing controversies Rooney Mara as Tiger Lily in forthcoming film Pan Mara was been cast in the role of American Indian Tiger Lily, sparking an online protest from angry film fans Warner Bros Hollywood whitewashing controversies Christian Bale plays Moses in Ridley Scott's Exodus: Gods and Kings Ridley Scott claimed he would never cast 'Mohammed so-and-so from such-and-such a country' in a lead role in his Biblical epic, and went on to cast an entirely white cast instead Hollywood whitewashing controversies Jim Caveziel plays Jesus in Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ Catholic star Mel Gibson chose to cast a Caucasian American actor in the role of Jesus for his controversial film AP Hollywood whitewashing controversies Micky Rooney plays a Japanese neighbour in Breakfast at Tiffany's Who better to play Holly Golightly's Japanese neighbour IY Yunoishi than American actor Mick Rooney. At least Hollywood has come some way since 1961 YouTube Hollywood whitewashing controversies Ben Affleck as Tony Mendez in Argo Ben Affleck became the subject of a few editorials in Latin American newspapers for casting himself (an American with English, Irish, Scottish and Swiss ancestry) as a Mexican CIA operative Hollywood whitewashing controversies Jennifer Connelly plays Alicia Nash in A Beautiful Mind Alicia Lopez-Harrison de Larde was a naturalised US citizen from El Salvador, but was played by an actress of Jewish, Irish and Norwegian descent YouTube Hollywood whitewashing controversies Chinese actresses cast in Memoirs of a Geisha What better way to alienate Japanese cinemagoers than to cast three Chinese actresses in the lead roles in a film about Japanese culture REUTERS Kingsley is currently starring as Sikh taxi driver and driving instructor Darwan Singh Tur in Learning To Drive, alongside Patricia Clarkson as his student and friend. Ive never seen it at all, he said when asked about the lack of Sikh main characters. I don't think Ive even seen it on the screen in India, in an Indian film, a leading character who is a Sikh. So for it to be that specific, I thought was a great choice. Kingsley found the Sikh community hugely helpful while playing the role. Gracious, unassertive, proud, very secure in their skin, he said. Wonderful people. Yes, I learnt a lot from them. Learning to Drive is in UK cinemas now Sign up to Roisin OConnors free weekly newsletter Now Hear This for the inside track on all things music Get our Now Hear This email for free Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Roisin OConnors email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Massive Attack are putting on a fleet of buses to take local Bristol fans to their upcoming London gig for free. The British band will headline a night of British Summer Time Hyde Park on 1 July, before playing at Bristol Downs on 3 September. Tickets for the latter homecoming show sold out in less than an hour and the group are concerned that devoted fans who missed out will pay over the odds to get in. We wont be adding another date in Bristol this summer but we dont want people to pay touts over the odds, they said in a statement. The unbelievable demand from Bristol meant that we looked for a way to help everyone to see us this summer. So were arranging for a fleet of buses to take people from Bristol to our show in Londons Hyde Park...at no extra charge. Itll be great to have some of our fellow Bristolians up in London with us. Music festivals guide 2016 Show all 20 1 /20 Music festivals guide 2016 Music festivals guide 2016 Horizon Where: Bansko Ski Resort, Bulgaria When: 12-17 March Price: From 175 Line Up: Ame, Goldie, Nina Kraviz, John Talabot, Lady Leshurr, Craig Charles Music festivals guide 2016 Live At Leeds Where: Leeds, UK When: 30 April Price: 32.50 Line Up: Jess Glynne, Circa Waves, Mystery Jets, Band of Skulls, We Are Scientists Music festivals guide 2016 Primavera Sound Where: Barcelona, Spain When: 1-5 June Price: 175 Line Up: Radiohead, LCD Soundsystem, Sigur Ros, PJ Harvey, Tame Impala, Beach House, Suede, The Last Shadow Puppets Primavera Music festivals guide 2016 Best Kept Secret Where: Hilvarenbeek, The Netherlands When: 17-19 June Price: 147.50 Line Up: Beck, Editors, Two Door Cinema Club, Beach House, Bloc Party, Caribou, Half Moon Run Best Kept Secret Festival Music festivals guide 2016 Glastonbury Where: Worthy Farm, Somerset When: 22-26 June Price: 220 Line Up: Coldplay, Muse, Jeff Lynnes ELO, PJ Harvey, Jess Glynne (TBC) Music festivals guide 2016 Roskilde Where: Copenhagen, Denmark When: 25 June-2 July Price: 2,020 DKK Line Up: LCD Soundsystem, New Order, PJ Harvey, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foals, Tame Impala, Savages, Skepta, Tenacious D Simon Frsig Christensen / Roskilde Festival Music festivals guide 2016 Hideout Festival Where: Zrce Beach, Croatia When: 26-30 June Price: From 152.90 Line Up: The Martinez Brothers, Joris Voorn, Waze & Odyssey Hideout Festival Music festivals guide 2016 Bilbao BBK Where: Bilbao, Spain When: 7-9 July Price: From 69 Line Up: Arcade Fire, Pixies, Tame Impala, Foals, New Order, Hot Chip, Father John Misty, Years & Years, Wolf Alice Music festivals guide 2016 Open'er Where: Gdynia, Poland When: 29 July-2 August Price: From 130 Line Up: Bastille, Florence + the Machine, Foals, LCD Soundsystem, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The 1975, The Last Shadow Puppets, Wiz Khalifa Open'er Festival Music festivals guide 2016 Electric Love Where: Plainfeld, Austria When: 7-9 July Price: 119 Line Up: Alesso, Zedd, Tiesto, Chase & Status, Steve Aoki, Knife Party Music festivals guide 2016 Melt! Where: Ferropolis, Germany When: 15-17 July Price: From 136 Line Up: Two Door Cinema Club, Disclosure, Jamie xx, Sleaford Mods, Skepta, Jamie Woon Music festivals guide 2016 Sziget Where: Budapest, Hungary When: 10-17 August Price: From 215 Line Up: Bastille, Bloc Party, M83, Sigur Ros, Bring Me the Horizon Music festivals guide 2016 Flow Where: Helsinki, Finland When: 12-14 August Price: 165 Line Up: Sia, New Order, The Last Shadow Puppets, Jamie xx, M83, Chvrches, Four Tet, Stormzy, Daughter, The Kills Flow Festival / Jussi Hellsten Music festivals guide 2016 Rock En Seine Where: Paris, France When: 26-28 August Price: From 119 Line Up: TBC Music festivals guide 2016 Oasis Where: Marrakech, Morocco When: 16-18 September Price: From 110 Line Up: Bicep, Derrick May, Tale of Us, Dixon, Dusky, Hunee Music festivals guide 2016 Latitude Where: Henham Park, Suffolk When: 14-17 July Price: 205.50 Line Up: The Maccabees, The National, New Order, John Grant, Beirut, Father John Misty, Chvrches, Grimes Music festivals guide 2016 Bestival Where: Robin Hill, Isle of Wight When: 8-11 September Price: 190 Line Up: The Cure, Major Lazer, Hot Chip, Fatboy Slim, Craig David, Years & Years, Wolf Alice, Tourist, Katy B Music festivals guide 2016 Isle of Wight Where: Newport, Isle of Wight When: 9-12 June Price: From 186 Line Up: Queen + Adam Lambert, Stereophonics, Faithless, Iggy Pop, Adam Ant, Buzzcocks, Sigma, Jess Glynne Music festivals guide 2016 Citadel Where: Victoria Park, London When: 17 July Price: From 54 Line Up: Sigur Ros, Caribou, Lianne La Havas, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats Music festivals guide 2016 End of the Road Where: Larmer Tree Gardens When: 2-4 September Price: 195 Line Up: Joanna Newsom, The Shins, Animal Collective, Bat for Lashes, Teenage Fanclub, Devendra Banhart, Savages, Cat's Eyes Sonny Malhotra Massive Attack will be supported at Hyde Park by Warpaint, Patti Smith, Ghostpoet and TV on the Radio. Carole King, Mumford & Sons, Stevie Wonder, Florence and the Machine and Take That all headline other nights of the concert series, with tickets starting at 59.50. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A US federal appeals court has backed the principle of net neutrality, upholding the so-called Open Internet Rules enforced by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The two-to-one decision, made on Tuesday by a three-judge panel from the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, reaffirms FCC regulations mandating that cable and telecoms companies treat all Internet traffic equally, neither blocking their rivals nor selectively speeding up service to sites that pay for the privilege of preferential treatment. The case against the regulations was brought by a collection of telecoms firms and their trade associations, including AT&T and Verizon, who claimed the FCC had overstepped its authority by classifying broadband Internet as an essential public utility that ought to be equally accessible to all Americans similar to landline telephone service, electricity or water. The Open Internet rules, which deny Internet Service Providers the opportunity to create a two-speed internet, were backed by President Barack Obama and passed by the Commission in February 2015. Telecoms companies said the measures would damage their business; their opponents said the alternative would stifle competition and innovation. The FCC received a record number of public comments some 4 million as it considered the issue. The Commissions Chairman, Tom Wheeler, said the ruling was a victory for consumers and innovators who deserve unfettered access to the entire web, and it ensures the Internet remains a platform for unparalleled innovation, free expression and economic growth. Telecoms providers said they would continue to challenge the FCCs net neutrality rules all the way to the US Supreme Court. David McAtee, a lawyer for AT&T, said in a statement: We have always expected this issue to be decided by the Supreme Court, and we look forward to participating in that appeal. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Stress has been linked with a string of issues including depression, dementia and cancer. But Professor Ian Robertson, the author of the book, The Stress Test: how pressure can make you stronger and sharper, out on June 16 argued that the right amount of stress can actually increase our productivity. Stress causes an area in our brain to create neodrenaline, which eases the communication between the different parts of our brain. As long as we have the right amount of the chemical, stress can push us to perform better. Theres a sweet spot in the middle where if you have just the right amount, the goldilocks zone of noradrenaline, that acts like the best brain-tuner, Professor Robertson told Quartz. As long as its not too stressful, we can build stronger brain function. If we have stronger brain function well be happier, well be less anxious, less depressed and well be smarter, he added. Robertson, a professor of psychology at Trinity College Dublin and a cognitive neuroscientist, added that our approach to stress is what will likely determine the effect it will have on us. Many people currently being medicated for depression could do without antidepressants, according to Robertson. We can change the chemistry of the brain just as much as any antidepressant or anti-anxiety drug can, but we have to learn the habits to do that, he said. 1. Dont accept fixed thinking Professor Robertson argues that we should stop thinking of ourselves as victims and avoid fixed thinking. Fixed thinking means that when adversity strikes we dont feel we can do anything to help ourselves. This can be fatalistic Robertson told Quartz, which is why it is important to examine the source of our beliefs about emotions or capacities (e.g. I am going to fail my exams, I am bad at my job) and take control to change them. 2. Transform stress into excitement A person experiencing stress is likely to have the same symptoms as someone who is excited dry mouth, sweating, racing heart and this can be used in our advantage. Individuals feel anxious often, especially prior to important tasks like speaking publicly or meeting with a boss. Rather than calming down, which doesn't always work, they could overcome the situation by tricking themselves into thinking they are excited, according to a study conducted by Alison Wood Brooks a professor at Harvard Business School. Professor Robertson said stress should be seen as a challenge instead of being a threat. Making that mental switch, just re-framing it reduces stress and improves performance, he said. If you adopt the external manifestation of confidence and positivity, you can trick your brain into creating the mental correlates of that fake external posture, he added. 3. Parents should not shield their children from stressful situation Children need to experience a certain amount of challenges so that both their body and mind become more resilient, according to Robertson. Theres a sweet spot of adversity that someone can have, particularly in the first two decades of their life that seems to make them emotionally robust, Robertson said. In line with this, a study showed that children adopted at a young age, which is considered to be a moderate stress, had lower level of cortisol in stressful situation later in life when compared to children who had not yet experienced adversity. The worst jobs for your health Show all 10 1 /10 The worst jobs for your health The worst jobs for your health 10. Surgical and medical assistants, technologists, and technicians Overall unhealthiness score: 57.3 What they do: Assist in operations, under the supervision of surgeons, registered nurses, or other surgical personnel and perform medical laboratory tests. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to disease and infections: 88 2. Exposure to contaminants: 80 3. Exposure to hazardous conditions: 69 The worst jobs for your health 9. Stationary engineers and boiler operators Overall unhealthiness score: 57.7 What they do: Operate or maintain stationary engines, boilers, or other mechanical equipment to provide utilities for buildings or industrial processes. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to contaminants: 99 2. Exposure to hazardous conditions: 89 3. Exposure to minor burns, cuts, bites, or stings: 84 The worst jobs for your health 8. Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators Overall unhealthiness score: 58.2 What they do: Operate or control an entire process or system of machines, often through the use of control boards, to transfer or treat water or wastewater. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to contaminants: 97 2. Exposure to hazardous conditions: 80 3. Exposure to minor burns, cuts, bites, or stings: 74 The worst jobs for your health 7. Histotechnologists and histologic technicians Overall unhealthiness score: 59.0 What they do: Prepare histologic slides from tissue sections for microscopic examination and diagnosis by pathologists. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to hazardous conditions: 88 2. Exposure to contaminants: 76 3. Exposure to disease and infections: 75 The worst jobs for your health 6. Immigration and customs inspectors Overall unhealthiness score: 59.3 What they do: Investigate and inspect people, common carriers, goods, and merchandise, arriving in or departing from the US or between states to detect violations of immigration and customs laws and regulations. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to contaminants: 78 2. Exposure to disease and infections: 63 3. Exposure to radiation: 62 The worst jobs for your health 5. Podiatrists Overall unhealthiness score: 60.2 What they do: Diagnose and treat diseases and deformities of the human foot. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to disease and infections: 87 2. Exposure to radiation: 69 3. Exposure to contaminants: 67 The worst jobs for your health 4. Veterinarians, veterinary assistants, and laboratory animal caretakers and veterinary technologists and technicians What they do: Diagnose, treat, or research diseases and injuries of animals and perform medical tests in a laboratory environment for use in the treatment and diagnosis of diseases in animals. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to disease and infections: 81 2. Exposure to minor burns, cuts, bites, or stings: 75 3. Exposure to contaminants: 74 The worst jobs for your health 3. Anesthesiologists, nurse anesthetists, and anesthesiologist assistants Overall unhealthiness score: 62.3 What they do: Administer anesthetics or sedatives during medical procedures, and help patients in recovering from anesthesia. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to disease and infections: 94 2. Exposure to contaminants: 80 3. Exposure to radiation: 74 The worst jobs for your health 2. Flight attendants What they do: Provide personal services to ensure the safety, security, and comfort of airline passengers during flight. Greet passengers, verify tickets, explain use of safety equipment, and serve food or beverages. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to contaminants: 88 2. Exposure to disease and infections: 77 3. Exposure to minor burns, cuts, bites, or stings: 69 The worst jobs for your health 1. Dentists, dental surgeons, and dental assistants Overall unhealthiness score: 65.4 What they do: Examine, diagnose, and treat diseases, injuries, and malformations of teeth and gums. May treat diseases of nerve, pulp, and other dental tissues affecting oral hygiene and retention of teeth. May fit dental appliances or provide preventive care. Top three health risks: 1. Exposure to contaminants: 84 2. Exposure to disease and infections: 75 3. Time spent sitting: 67 4. Accept challenges and use stress as a motivator Accept the idea that controlled stress can be used as a motivator. "Many comedians and performers worry if they dont feel that edge of anxiety before a performance, Robertson said. Tiger Woods says if he doesnt feel anxious before a match, he knows hes going to do badly, he added. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} An emotional CNN journalist struggled to finish a broadcast on the Orlando nightclub shooting as he read all 49 names of the people brutally killed in an LGBT nightclub. In a powerful seven-minute address, Anderson Cooper highlighted the devastating scale of the attack on Pulse nightclub committed by Omar Mateen, a US citizen who was killed by police after taking those inside hostage. Fighting back tears, Anderson read the names and poignant descriptions from loved ones of the victims who died in the worst shooting in modern US history. In a heavy address, Cooper vowed not to show the face of Mateen, which he said has been shown far too much already. Instead, he called for the focus to be on remembering those who lost their lives. Where possible, the persons name was read out alongside an image. In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Show all 44 1 /44 In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Frank Escalante AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Luis Daniel Conde AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Brenda Lee Marquez McCool In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Yilmary Rodriguez Solivan AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Joel Rayon Paniagua AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Jerald Arthur Wright AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Paul Terrell Henry AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Shane Evan Tomlinson AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Antonio Davon Brown AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Jason Benjamin Josaphat AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Enrique L. Rios, Jr. AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Darryl Roman Burt AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Cory James Connell REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Tevin Eugene Crosby AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Jonathan Antonio Camuy-Vega AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Rodolfo Ayala-Ayala AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Leroy Valentin Fernandez AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Christopher Andrew Leinonen AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Angel L. Candelario-Padro AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Simon Adrian Carrillo-Fernande AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Christopher Joseph Sanfeliz REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Javier Jorge-Reyes AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Gilberto Ramon Silva-Menendez AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Juan P. Rivera-Velazquez AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Miguel Angel Honorato AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Jean Carlos Mendez Perez REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Mercedez Marisol Flores REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Xavier Emmanuel Serrano Rosado REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Anthony Luis Laureano Disla REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Franky Jimmy De Jesus Velazquez REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Oscar A. Aracena-Montero REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Martin Benitez Torres REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Stanley Almodovar Facebook/Stanley Manolo Almodovar III In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Eddie Justice Faebook/ Eddie Justice In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Luis Vielma Twitter/@jk_rowling In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera Facebook/ Eric Rivera In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Juan Ramon Guerrero Facebook/ Juan Ramon Guerrero In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Peter O. Gonzalez-Cruz Facebook/ Peter Gonzalez Cruz In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Amanda Alvear Facebook/ Amanda Alvear In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Anthony Disla Facebook/ Anthony Disla In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Edward Sotomayor Twitter/@ryanraiche In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo Facebook/Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Kimberley Morris Twitter/ @katiezavadski We think it is important that you hear their names, he said. They are more than a list of names. They are people who loved and who were loved." Anderson found it particularly difficult to read out the name of the youngest victim, Akyra Monet Murray, who was just 18 and had recently graduated high school. Murray had contacted her parents at 2am begging for them to come and collect her from the club because of a shooting, calling them again just a few moments later and screaming that she was losing blood. Recommended Read more Adele cries as she pays tribute to victims of Orlando nightclub Coopers tribute was echoed by Lady Gaga, who also read out the names at a vigil in Los Angeles overnight. This is an attack on humanity itself, she told the crowd. This is an attack on everyone. On Sunday, Adele burst into tears during a concert in Belgium as she paid tribute to the victims and the LGBTQ community, describing them as like my soulmates. JK Rowling also told her seven million Twitter followers how she was unable to stop crying after learning one of the victims, Luis Vielma, was an operator on a Harry Potter-themed ride at the Universal Orlando Resort theme park. Vielma was 22-years-old. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Dana Giacchetto, the disgraced former stockbroker to the stars who worked with Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz before pleading guilty to securities fraud, was found dead in his Manhattan apartment on Sunday. He was 53. Police told New York Daily News that Giacchetto was found by his roommate face up in bed and foaming at the mouth in their Upper West Side apartment late Sunday morning. He called 911 and paramedics pronounced Giacchetto dead at the scene at 12.02pm. A cause of death has yet to be released. According to sources quoted by the paper, his death follows a weekend of heavy partying. Notable deaths in 2016 Show all 42 1 /42 Notable deaths in 2016 Notable deaths in 2016 Debbie Reynolds was an American actress, singer, businesswoman, film historian, and humanitarian. She died on December 28 in Los Angeles Rex Notable deaths in 2016 Actress Carrie Fisher died on December 27 aged 60 Rex Notable deaths in 2016 Comedian and Actor Ricky Harris died on December 26 aged 54 Rex Notable deaths in 2016 British singer George Michael died on 25 December aged 53 Getty Notable deaths in 2016 Rick Parfitt OBE was an English musician, best known for being a singer, songwriter and rhythm guitarist in the rock band Status Quo. He died on December 24 in Marbella, Spain Rex Notable deaths in 2016 Lord Jenkin of Roding died at the age of 90 on the 21 December PA wire Notable deaths in 2016 Rabbi Lionel Blue died on the 19 December Rex Notable deaths in 2016 Zsa Zsa Gabor died on December 18 Getty Notable deaths in 2016 Leonard Cohen died on 7 November Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Grand secretary of the Orange Order Drew Nelson died on 10 October aged 60 after a short illness PA Notable deaths in 2016 Aaron Pryor, the relentless junior welterweight died Sunday, Oct. 9, at the age of 60 at his home in Cincinnati after a long battle with heart disease AP Notable deaths in 2016 Polish Director Andrzej Wajda died on October 9, aged 90 Reuters Notable deaths in 2016 Stylianos Pattakos has died following a stroke on 8th October. He was 103 years old. AP Notable deaths in 2016 Dickie Jeeps, was an English rugby union player who played for Northampton. He represented and captained both the England national rugby union team and the British Lions in the 1950s and 1960s. He died on 8th October. He was 84 Getty Notable deaths in 2016 Duke of Westminster Billionaire landowner the Duke of Westminster, Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor has died on 9 August, aged 64 Rex Features Notable deaths in 2016 Christina Knudsen Sir Roger Moores stepdaughter Christina Knudsen has died from cancer on 25 July at teh age of 47 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Caroline Aherne The actress Caroline Aherne has died from cancer on 2 July at the age of 52 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Christina Grimmie Christina Grimmie, 22, who was an American singer and songwriter, known for her participation in the NBC singing competition The Voice, was signing autographs at a concert venue in Orlando on 10 June when an assailant shot her. Grimmie was transported to a local hospital where she died from her wounds on 11 June Getty Notable deaths in 2016 Kimbo Slice Former UFC and Bellator MMA fighter Kimbo Slice died after being admitted to hospital in Florida on 6 June, aged 42 Getty Notable deaths in 2016 Muhammad Ali The three-time former heavyweight world champion died after being admitted to hospital with a respiratory illness on 3 June, aged 74 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Sally Brampton Brampton who was the launch editor of the UK edition of Elle magazine has died on 10 May, aged 60 Grant Triplow/REX/Shutterstock Notable deaths in 2016 Billy Paul The soul singer Billy Paul, who was best known for his single Me and Mrs Jones, has died on 24 April, aged 81 Noel Vasquez/Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Prince Prince, the legendary musician, has been found dead at his Paisley Park recording studio on 21 April. He was 57 Notable deaths in 2016 Chyna WWE icon Joan Laurer dies aged 45 after being found at California home on 20 April Notable deaths in 2016 Victoria Wood The five-time Bafta-winning actress and comedian Victoria Wood has died on 20 April at her London home after a short illness with cancer. She was 62 Notable deaths in 2016 David Gest The entertainer and former husband of Liza Minnelli, David Gest has been found dead on 12 April in the Four Seasons hotel in Canary Warf, London. He was 62-years-old PA Notable deaths in 2016 Denise Robertson Denise Robertson, an agony aunt on This Morning for over 30 years, has died on 1 April, aged 83 Notable deaths in 2016 Zaha Hadid Dame Zaha Hadid, the prominent architect best known for designs such as the London Olympic Aquatic Centre and the Guangzhou Opera House, has died of a heart attack on 31 March, aged 65 2010 AFP Notable deaths in 2016 Ronnie Corbett British entertainer Ronnie Corbett has passed away on 31 March at the age of 85 2014 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Imre Kertesz Hungarian writer and Holocaust survivor Imre Kertesz, who won the 2002 Nobel Literature Prize, has died on 31 March, at the age of 86 REUTERS Notable deaths in 2016 Rob Ford Rob Ford, the former controversial mayor of Toronto, has died following a battle with a rare form of cancer. The 46-year-old passed away at the Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto on 22 March Notable deaths in 2016 Joey Feek Joey (left) passed away in March after a two-year cancer illness. She was part of country music duo, Joey + Rory, with her husband Rory (right) Jason Merritt/Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Umberto Eco Italian writer and philosopher Umberto Eco died 19 February 2016 aged 84 EPA Notable deaths in 2016 Harper Lee Harper Lee, the American novelist known for writing 'To Kill a Mockingbird', died February 19, 2016 aged 89 2005 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Vanity Vanity, pictured performing in 1983, died aged 57 REX Features Notable deaths in 2016 Dave Mirra The BMX legend's body found inside truck with gunshot wound after apparent suicide aged 41 Notable deaths in 2016 Harry Harpham The former miner became Sheffield Labour MP in May after many years as a local councillor. He died after succumbing to cancer, at the age of 61. Notable deaths in 2016 Dale Griffin The Mott the Hoople drummer died on January 17, aged 67 REX Notable deaths in 2016 Rene Angelil Celine Dion's husband and manager Rene Angelil has lost his battle with cancer on 14 January, aged 73 2011 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Alan Rickman Legendary actor Alan Rickman has died on 14 January at the age of 69 after battle with pancreatic cancer. He is largely regarded as one of the most beloved British actors of our generation with roles in Love Actually, Die Hard, Michael Collins, and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and an illustrious stage career 2015 Getty Images Notable deaths in 2016 Maurice White The Earth, Wind & Fire founder died aged 74. The nine-piece band sold more than 90 million albums worldwide and won six Grammy awards Notable deaths in 2016 Lawrence Phillips Former NFL star found dead in prison cell on 13 January in suspected suicide, aged 40 AFP/Getty Images Giacchetto lived a colourful life of highs and lows. Although he adopted the same glamorous club-hopping lifestyle of his Hollywood clients, he was later imprisoned for defrauding them. He was arrested in April 2000 on fraud charges, and in 2001 was sentenced to nearly five years in prison for stealing $10m (7.1m) from his clients. He won an early release from prison for good behaviour and had two years wiped off his sentence. Giacchettos clients included Alanis Morisette, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and many others. The business magnate was known for sparking up friendships with young Hollywood stars who would spend nights at his SoHo home in lower Manhattan. Prior to his arrest, he carried out a number of successful business deals, such as brokering the sale of 49 per cent of Seattle-based Sub Pop Records to Warner Music Group for $20m. While awaiting trial in 2000, Giacchetto was apprehended in Las Vegas, Nevada, with substantial amounts of cash on him and airline tickets. He claimed he was flying to Rome to propose to his girlfriend. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Donald Trump may have turned 70 on Tuesday but the presumptive Republican nominee shows no sign of subduing in old age. No stranger to controversy, the billionaire-turned-politico has landed himself in hot water for his incendiary comments on more than one occasion. But there is one person who has disagreed with Mr Trump more than anyone else, and that is Mr Trump himself. The Donald is rarely afraid of changing his mind or shifting positions, whether it be the Iraq war, his political orientation, his stance on abortion or on guns. Here is a selection of just some of the times Mr Trump has contradicted himself. People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Show all 8 1 /8 People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Miley Cyrus 'God he thinks he is the f***ing chosen one or some shit! Honestly f*** this sh*t I am moving if this is my president! I dont say things I dont mean!' Jemal Countess/Getty Images People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Whoopi Goldberg 'I dont think thats America. I dont want it to be America. Maybe its time for me to move you know' People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Samuel L. Jackson 'If that mother**er becomes president, Im moving my black ass to South Africa' People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Raven Symone 'My confession for this election is, if any Republican gets nominated, Im gonna move to Canada with my entire family. Is that bad? I already have my ticket. I literally bought my ticket, I swear' People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Cher 'If he were to be elected, I'm moving to Jupiter' People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Neve Campbell 'Im terrified. Its really scary. My biggest fear is that Trump will triumph. I cannot believe that he is still in the game ... [I'll] move back to Canada' People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Jon Stewart 'I would consider getting in a rocket and going to another planet, because clearly this planets gone bonkers' People who will flee America if Donald Trump wins Randy Blythe 'He could just be a clown. If he is the president, though, I am leaving America 'till he's gone' Iraq War Mr Trump may often tout his opposition to the Iraq War as a cornerstone of his campaign but an old 2002 interview with Howard Stern reveals a somewhat different picture. In the past interview, Stern asked him if he supports invading Iraq. Yeah I guess so, Mr Trump replied. I wish the first time it was done correctly. But this hasnt stopped the politician plugging his long-running opposition to the war. I was totally against the war in Iraq, saying for many years that it would destabilise the Middle East, Mr Trump said in April while laying out the fundamentals of his foreign policy in a Washington hotel conference room. Political orientation It is difficult to keep track of Mr Trumps remarks about his political standpoint over the years. While most people would consider him a staunch Republican, he has, on occasion, considered himself more affiliated with the Democrat Party. Here is a brief timeline of his changing views. If I ever ran for office, Id do better as a Democrat than as a Republicanand thats not because Id be more liberal, because Im conservative, he told Playboy in March 1990. But nine years later Mr Trump changed his mind, telling CNN in October 1999, Im a registered Republican. Im a pretty conservative guy. Im somewhat liberal on social issues, especially health care. In 2004, he told CNN: Youd be shocked if I said that in many cases I probably identify more as a Democrat. Abortion The issue of abortion is another issue on which Mr Trumps views can be somewhat difficult to follow. In March of this year, he stirred controversy for saying women who receive abortions once the procedure is illegal will face punishment. Following this, a spokesperson for Trump changed the issue is unclear and said Mr Trump was pro-life. He later said the doctor would be punished for illegal abortions not the woman. Over the next few days, he continued to qualify his statements. Nuclear weapons Mr Trump pulled something of a U-turn on his position on nuclear weapons. First, he suggested Japan and South Korea should build nuclear weapons or pay protection fees to the US. However, at a later date, he claimed his biggest fear was the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Look, nuclears a horror show The single biggest problem the world has is nuclear, Trump told CBS in April. Recommended Read more Hillary Clinton orders Donald Trump to delete his Twitter account Marriage The politician has contradicted himself on his view on marriage. I think Ive been a very good husband, he told CNN in February of 2011. While in 2007, he wrote in his book Trump: Think Big: "What the hell do I know, Ive been divorced twice? Gun policy At a January rally Mr Trump said he would get rid of gun-free zones in schools...and on military bases. After being attacked by Clinton in May, he clarified his position and told CNN that school resource officers or trained teachers should be the ones carrying guns. He stood by his rebuking of gun free zones but moved away from his broader call to eliminate all gun free zones in schools and instead said they would only be eliminated in some cases". For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Sir Ian Mckellens trip to China has involved him visiting many of the traditional tourist spots. The veteran actor is in the country with the British Council and British Film Institute to celebrate the work of William Shakespeare and during his trip hes shared photos from his typical tourist visits to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square in Beijing and the Great Wall of China. However, somewhere less likely for the 77-year-old to be spotted was Shanghais marriage market, yet visit he did and advertise himself he did. The citys marriage market is where parents go to post their sons and daughters details in a bid to find them a suitable spouse. In the picture, Sir Ian can be seen holding a sign which jokingly showcases what he has to offer a potential spouse. Ian, 511, 77 years, Cambridge University, House in London, Still active, the sign said with a self-portrait added in for good measure. Ian McKellen on stage and screen Show all 10 1 /10 Ian McKellen on stage and screen Ian McKellen on stage and screen Ian McKellen on screen Ian McKellen plays Gandalf in 'The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug' AP/Warner Bros Ian McKellen on stage and screen Ian McKellen on stage and screen Ian McKellen playing Richard III (1995) Alamy Ian McKellen on stage and screen Ian McKellen on screen Ian McKellen, left, with Derek Jacobi, ham it up in the strangely un-British Vicious ITV sitcom Brown Eyed Boy ITV/Brown-Eyed Boy Ian McKellen on stage and screen Ian McKellen on stage Ian McKellen in Waiting For Godot by Samuel Beckett Geraint Lewis Ian McKellen on stage and screen Ian McKellen on stage Actors Ian McKellen and James Laurenson playing a love scene between Edward II and Gaveston during a dress rehearsal of Marlowe's 'Edward II' at London's Piccadilly Theatre (1970) Getty Images Ian McKellen on stage and screen Ian McKellen on stage Ian McKellen in Aladdin AP Ian McKellen on stage and screen Ian McKellen on screen Sir Ian McKellen as a nonagenarian Sherlock Holmes in the upcoming film Mr Holmes AP Ian McKellen on stage and screen Ian McKellen on screen Ian McKellen in X-Men: The Stand AP Ian McKellen on stage and screen Ian McKellen on stage Ian McKellen in 'King Lear' in 2007 RSC Ian McKellen on stage and screen Ian McKellen on screen Ian McKellen as Gandalf in the Hobbit AP/Warner Bros Sir Ian has already visited India in a bid to promote the works of the Bard on the 400th anniversary of his death. His next stop will be Russia. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Julia Hartley-Brewer has penned a scathing response to Owen Jones - and claimed he had "more in common with Isis than he thinks". The talkRADIO presenter and Telegraph columnist said she would not say sorry to Jones and criticised Sky News for apologising to him. Jones, who writes for the Guardian and is a former Independent columnist, clashed with co-panelist Hartley-Brewer and host Mark Longhurst on Sky News Press Preview on Sunday night. Jones stormed out of the discussion about the mass shooting in Orlando in protest at the interviewers refusal to name the atrocity as an assault on LGBT people. In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Show all 44 1 /44 In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Frank Escalante AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Luis Daniel Conde AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Brenda Lee Marquez McCool In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Yilmary Rodriguez Solivan AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Joel Rayon Paniagua AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Jerald Arthur Wright AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Paul Terrell Henry AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Shane Evan Tomlinson AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Antonio Davon Brown AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Jason Benjamin Josaphat AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Enrique L. Rios, Jr. AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Darryl Roman Burt AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Cory James Connell REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Tevin Eugene Crosby AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Jonathan Antonio Camuy-Vega AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Rodolfo Ayala-Ayala AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Leroy Valentin Fernandez AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Christopher Andrew Leinonen AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Angel L. Candelario-Padro AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Simon Adrian Carrillo-Fernande AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Christopher Joseph Sanfeliz REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Javier Jorge-Reyes AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Gilberto Ramon Silva-Menendez AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Juan P. Rivera-Velazquez AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Miguel Angel Honorato AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Jean Carlos Mendez Perez REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Mercedez Marisol Flores REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Xavier Emmanuel Serrano Rosado REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Anthony Luis Laureano Disla REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Franky Jimmy De Jesus Velazquez REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Oscar A. Aracena-Montero REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Martin Benitez Torres REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Stanley Almodovar Facebook/Stanley Manolo Almodovar III In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Eddie Justice Faebook/ Eddie Justice In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Luis Vielma Twitter/@jk_rowling In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera Facebook/ Eric Rivera In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Juan Ramon Guerrero Facebook/ Juan Ramon Guerrero In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Peter O. Gonzalez-Cruz Facebook/ Peter Gonzalez Cruz In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Amanda Alvear Facebook/ Amanda Alvear In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Anthony Disla Facebook/ Anthony Disla In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Edward Sotomayor Twitter/@ryanraiche In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo Facebook/Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Kimberley Morris Twitter/ @katiezavadski Writing in a comment piece for The Telegraph, Hartley-Brewer said she did not understand what Jones found unpleasant about the discussion and called his decision to walk out a childish tantrum. She emphasised the fact she had also described the killing as homophobic during the on-air conversation. Neither the Sky presenter Mark Longhurst nor I said anything that was offensive, wrong or bigoted in any way, she said. By lunchtime on Monday, OfCom had received almost 60 complaints about the programme, saying Hartley-Brewer and Longhurst had been dismissive of Joness argument that the attack was one on the LGBT community. Longhurst issued a statement expressing "regret" over the incident, saying: "As the presenter responsible for chairing the conversation, I regret that the segment ended as it did. "I absolutely accept the atrocity in Florida was, of course, an attack on LGBT people, but I was also trying to reflect what was on the newspaper front pages. It was never my intention to offend Owen Jones and I very much look forward to working with him again in future. While the statement was labelled a "non-apology" by Jones, Hartley-Brewer wrote: Sky News have chosen to try to dampen down the hysteria by releasing an apology for any offence caused by Mark Longhurst. I believe they were quite wrong to be bullied into doing this. Owen Jones does not deserve an apology and he certainly wont be getting one from me. And neither does anyone else who has jumped on the perpetually offended bandwagon. She concluded the piece by comparing her co-panellist to Isis, the Islamist extremist group also known as Islamic State. "If Owen Jones wants to live in a world where people can only say what is on the officially approved list of platitudes, then perhaps he has more in common with Islamic State than he thinks," she wrote. Writing in a Guardian column on Monday, Jones expanded on his reasons for walking out, arguing that some people will do all they can to ignore homophobia. He asserted that it was possible for the killing to be simultaneously described as more than one thing at the same time. He also argued that if a terrorist carried out an attack on a synagogue it would rightly be labelled it as both terrorism and antisemitism. He also referred to host Longhurst, saying: He not only refused to accept it as an attack on LGBT people, but was increasingly agitated that I - as a gay man - would claim it as such." On Twitter, Jones also asked the public to leave co-panelist Hartley-Brewer alone. None of the abuse directed at her is in my name, he wrote. Patrick Strudwick, the LGBT editor of BuzzFeed News UK, refused to speak to Hartley-Brewer in a phone interview about the Orlando killing, saying she had failed to show respect to the LGBT community in the wake of the tragedy. Mr Strudwick posted his reply to the email request on Twitter. A total of 49 people were killed and 53 were injured after Omar Mateen, apparently inspired by Isis, stormed LGBT nightclub Pulse in Orlando, Florida, in the early hours of Sunday morning. It was the biggest mass shooting in modern US history. In the initial interview on Sunday night, Jones disagreed with both Hartley-Brewer and Longhurst after arguing there had been a lack of LGBT voices in mainstream news commentary of the killing. It is one of the worst atrocities committed against LGBT people in the western world for generations and it has to be called out as such, he said. Longhurst interjected and said the killing had been committed against human beings who were trying to enjoy themselves, whatever their sexuality. Later, Jones claimed Longhurst could not understand because he himself was not gay. The situation quickly escalated with Jones saying, Ive had enough of this, and removing his microphone before walking off the set., leaving the pair to continue their discussion without him. Jones and Sky News did not immediately respond to request for comment. Sign up for a full digest of all the best opinions of the week in our Voices Dispatches email Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Voices Dispatches email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Scientists have discovered the largest planet yet orbiting a two-star system. The planet, named Kepler-1647b, has been compared to Jupiter due to having a near-identical mass and radius. It is in a star system located 3,700 light-years from Earth and is almost as old, having an estimated age of 4.4 billion years. The discovery was announced at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in San Diego. A team of international researchers worked to identify the new planet, using data from the Kepler space telescope. Jerome Orosz, study co-author, said: Its a bit curious that this biggest planet took so long to confirm, since it is easier to find big planets than small ones. But it is because its orbital period is so long. Artist's impression of the simultaneous stellar eclipse and planetary transit events on Kepler-1647 (Lynette Cook) The planet takes just over three years (1,107 days) to orbit its host stars. It is believed that this is the longest transit of any exoplanet confirmed so far. Co-author William Welsh said: Finding circumbinary planets is much harder than finding planets around single stars. Habitability aside, Kepler-1647b is important because it is the tip of the iceberg of a theoretically predicted population of large, long-period circumbinary planets. A visitors guide to the International Space Station Show all 8 1 /8 A visitors guide to the International Space Station A visitors guide to the International Space Station The training's over, Tim next stop: the greatest lab in the universe! (NASA) NASA A visitors guide to the International Space Station Your sleep pod don't forget your sleeping bag (NASA) NASA A visitors guide to the International Space Station Alcohol is barred on the ISS, but you won't escape daft initiations such as drinking a blob of floating water (NASA) NASA A visitors guide to the International Space Station Keep your fingers crossed for a pop at a spacewalk: repairs are scheduled for January (Getty/NASA) Getty/NASA A visitors guide to the International Space Station Floating about is a joy, but it takes about a month to crack it (NASA) NASA A visitors guide to the International Space Station There's work to do, including 300 ongoing experiments and repairs to billion-dollar devices (NASA) NASA A visitors guide to the International Space Station Wash down the spicy prawns with some recycled urine (NASA) NASA A visitors guide to the International Space Station Savour every second; soon enough, you'll be brought back down to Earth (NASA) NASA In a statement, NASA said: Like Jupiter, however, Kepler-1647b is a gas giant, making the planet unlikely to host life. Yet if the planet has large moons, they could potentially be suitable for life. Once a candidate planet is found, researchers employ advanced computer programs to determine if it really is a planet. It can be a grueling process. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Sun has come out in resounding support of the Leave campaign in the bid to swing British voters in the last nine days before the EU referendum. Rupert Murdoch's flagship populist newspaper has run the headline "BeLEAVE in Britain" as its front page splash and accompanied it with a lengthy editorial saying that ending the 43-year relationship will "make Britain even greater". The move from the most read print title in the UK comes as several polls increased anxiety for the Remain camp, with ICM putting Leave on 53 per cent against 47 per cent when "don't knows" are excluded, in a survey that combined results for online and phone polling for the first time. A YouGov poll for The Times, meanwhile, put Brexit at 46 per cent and Remain at 39 per cent, while an ORB poll for The Daily Telegraph put Brexit on 49 per cent and Remain on 48 per cent. Both the latter two papers - owned respectively by Mr Murdoch and billionaire brothers Sir David and Frederick Barclay - have arguably shown support for the Leave campaigns as led by right-wingers Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, John Whittingdale and others. But neither have yet directly urged its readers to reject the arguments to remain in the European Union, unlike The Sun, which tells its readers the EU is "greedy, wasteful, bullying and breathtakingly incompetent in a crisis." Its editorial reads: "Outside the EU we can become richer, safer and free at long last to forge our own destiny - as America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and many other great democracies already do. And as we were the first to do centuries ago. "If we stay, Britain will be engulfed in a few short years by this relentlessly expanding, German-dominated federal state." 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Show all 21 1 /21 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Portugal drinks more wine than France Tindo - Fotolia 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Young Italians, by some distance, are the most likely to live at home with their parents 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Britain is on course to overtake Germany as Europes most populated country 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Greek workers work the longest hours in the EU 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Estonia has, per capita, more drug-related deaths than anyone else 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe The fastest download speeds are to be found in Romania 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Slovenia, Malta and Poland have the smallest gender pay gaps 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe France hates its leader more than other European countries 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Eastern and Western Europe are very divided on the issue of gay marriage 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Germany has the most millionaires 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Everyone likes Christmas, apart from France 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Germany accepts by far the most asylum applications 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe The UK and France have some of the most positive views of Muslim people 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Europe's largest Muslim population is in Germany 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Danes are the most trusting Europeans, and Cypriots the least 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Finland has the worst economy in the EU 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Italy has cut back its military spending more than any other major European Nato member 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Everyone is sad about the refugee crisis 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe People in Spain are also the most likely to live in flats (Brits are most likely to live in houses) 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Spain is the most likely to feel neighbourly 21 maps and charts which will challenge perceptions of Europe Luxembourg is home to the highest proportion of foreign nationals The significance of the move partly lies in that Mr Murdoch, its 85-year-old Australian proprietor, has a long history of successfully campaigning for political positions among his British readers. Robert Peston, political editor for ITV, tweeted: "What will worry David Cameron and Remain is Rupert Murdoch does not typically back the loser - and this is his call." Many years ago, journalist Anthony Hilton asked Mr Murdoch why he was so opposed to the European Union. He replied: "That's easy. When I go into Downing Street they do what I say; when I go to Brussels they take no notice." David Cameron asked if he is 'finished as PM' after EU referendum Mr Murdoch owns newspaper and publishing mass media company News Corp, and broadcasting company 21st Century Fox, which are two of the largest media conglomerates in the world. He created right-wing TV channel Fox News in the US and owns The Sun, The Times, The Sunday Times, has a share in UK news wire the Press Association, along with The Wall Street Journal and National Geographic. He owns more than one hundred newspapers across Australia. Having inherited newspaper holdings from his father, who was also a relatively successful media mogul, he has since amassed a wealth of more than $12 billion. One of his flagship titles, News of the World under Rebekah Brooks, was closed in 2011 following its practice of hacking the phone voicemails of murder victims and then deleting them. Despite appearing before MPs, Mr Murdoch was cleared and Ms Brooks is now CEO of News UK. News UK had been engulfed in accusations of irresponsible reporting before, when The Sun told its readers that Liverpool fans had thieved and urinated on victims of the Hillsborough stadium disaster in Sheffield in 1989 - with the effect that the paper is boycotted by many Liverpudlians to this day, vindicated by the recent ruling that police were largely at fault for the event and the headline was completely false. But such incidents have not stopped Mr Murdoch's paper - which now has 13.6 million readers in print and online - and it is widely credited for leading British voters to reject Labour's Neil Kinnock and reinstate Margaret Thatcher and the Conservative Party in 1992. The result was even acknowledged by Mr Kinnock as a significant reason for his defeat, leading The Sun to run its now infamous headline: "It's The Sun Wot Won It." Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} An unprecedented number of people have gathered in Old Compton Street, Soho, to remember the victims of the Orlando massacre. Thousands of people lined the streets and sang songs to remember the victims of the attack on Pulse, a gay nightclub in the Floridian city. Soho is the historic heart of Londons gay scene and has also suffered attacks at the hands of homophobic extremists. Mourners also gathered in major cities across the country, including Birmingham, Bristol and Manchester. Old Compton Street fell silent at 7pm as a sign of respect for the partygoers killed on Sunday morning. Flags bearing messages of hope fluttered in the wind and a number of the fists were raised defiantly in the air during the two-minute silence. After the people gathered on the packed road - home to a number of prominent gay clubs - finished observing the two minutes of respectful quiet, 49 balloons - one for each person killed - were released into the air. In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Show all 30 1 /30 In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People gather at a vigil in solidarity for the victims of the Orlando nightclub mass shooting, at Taylor Square in Sydney EPA In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Brett Morian, from Daytona Beach, hugs an attendee during the candlelight vigil at Ember in Orlando AP In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People and members of the gay community holding the peace rainbow flag gather for a vigil near the Beaubourg art center in downtown Paris AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A man places a hand print on a makeshift memorial in a parking lot near the Pulse nightclub in Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People attend a candlelight vigil for the victims of the Orlando attack against a gay night club, held in San Francisco REUTERS In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People place candles by a statue of Abraham Lincoln during a candlelight vigil for the victims of the Orlando attack against a gay night club, held in San Francisco REUTERS In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Tel-Aviv city hall lit up with rainbow flag colors in solidarity with Florida's shooting attack victims AP In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Juan Mantilla (L) stands with his partner during a vigil in memory of the victims of the Orlando mass shooting, in Miami Beach AP In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A couple shares a kiss as they embrace each other under a pride flag while residents of San Francisco and the Bay Area gather to mourn, honor, and remember the victims of a mass shooting at a LGBT nightclub in Orlando EPA In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Austin Ellis, a member of Metropolitan Community Church, carries a cross with a sign in memory of the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting as he marches in the 2016 Gay Pride Parade in Philadelphia Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A rainbow flag flies at half mast on the Space Needle in Seattle, in honor of the victims of the nightclub shooting in Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People at the LA Pride event in West Hollywood, write signs and light candles showing solidarity with victims of the mass killings in Orlando AP In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims In reaction to the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida people hug outside the Stonewall Inn near a vigil for the victims in New York AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A woman offers free hugs in Washington, in reaction to the mass shootings at a gay club in Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A U.S. flag is flown at half staff at the White House after the Orlando mass shooting Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A man lays flowers on a rainbow flag in front of the embassy of the United States in Madrid, to pay tribute to the victims of the shooting of Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims The Michael Fowler Centre is lit in rainbow colours by the city council during a candle lit vigil across the road at Frank Kits Park in Wellington, in remembrance of victims after a gunman opened fire in a gay nightclub in Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Participants hold candles during a vigil at Frank Kits Park in Wellington, in remembrance of victims after a gunman opened fire in a gay nightclub in Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Vixon Noir (R) consoles Trashina Cann, both of San Francisco, during a vigil at Harvey Milk Plaza in the Castro district of San Francisco AP In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People gather in the Castro District for a vigil for the victims of the Orlando shooting at a gay nightclub, in San Francisco REUTERS In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A couple joins residents of San Francisco and the Bay Area to mourn, honor, and remember the victims of a mass shooting at a LGBT nightclub in Orlando EPA In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Mourners pay tribute to the victims of the Orlando shooting during a memorial service in San Diego AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims The Orlando Eye observation wheel lights up in rainbow colors, to remember the people killed and injured in the Pulse nightclub shooting AP In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People sit by the water with candles during a vigil in a park following a mass shooting at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando REUTERS In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Members of The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence carry a sign of remembrance for mass shooting victims in Orlando, at the 46th annual Los Angeles Gay Pride Parade in West Hollywood REUTERS In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Former Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra and Shawn Lang of Hartford embrace after Segarra spoke, during a vigil organized by the state's Muslim and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities, on the steps of the state Capitol building in reaction to the mass shooting in Orlando AP In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims The City Hall Building is lit in the rainbow colors in New York, in reaction to the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims One World Trade Center is lit in the rainbow colors in New York, in reaction to the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People hold a vigil after the worst mass shooting in U.S. history at a gay nightclub in Orlando, in front of the White House in Washington REUTERS In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A man lays down 50 roses to honor each victim of the gay Orlando night club shooting as people gather outside of the Stonewall Inn as a vigil is held following the massacre Getty Images A rendition of Simon and Garfunkel's hit Bridge Over Troubled Water was sung by London Gay Men's Chorus as the silence came to an end, followed by the road chanting: "We're here, we're queer, we will not live in fear." Dozens of candles laid by mourners illuminated the St Anne's churchyard in the early dusk, while flowers were piled up at their side. Thousands, including Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn, lined the streets of Soho for two minutes silence (Jack Taylor/Getty Images) Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, mayor of London Sadiq Khan and Education Secretary Nicky Morgan were among a cross-party group of politicians at the event. Mr Corbyn said: "Its an extraordinary turnout of people showing their solidarity against this awful crime and there is an amazing sense of coming together and unity here in London tonight, indeed as it is all over the world. People gather outside the Admiral Duncan pub in Old Compton Street in the Soho district of London for a vigil in commemoration and solidarity with the victims of the Orlando massacre yesterday (AFP/Getty) "We have to live in a society where homophobic hate crime is a thing of the past and the deaths that happened in Orlando are a sign of something deeply awful. "We're here in Old Compton Street because of what happened here and it's that sense of solidarity that we've got. Vigil in Soho for victims of Orlando shooting "Love, in the end, defeats this crime, because it's stronger." In 1999, a nail-bomb was detonated on the street, killing two people and injuring dozens more. Following the two minutes of silence, the group - which also featured shadow chancellor John McDonnell and Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson - laid flowers at St Anne's Church to those killed in the atrocity. Ms Morgan, who is also equalities minister, said of her decision to appear alongside members of opposing parties: "I think this sort of tragic, horrific event in Orlando transcends normal party politics and we all wanted to be here to offer our solidarity with the people of Orlando who have suffered the most awful hate crime, fuelled by prejudice. "I think it is very important - and quite moving - that the streets of London were filled with so many people who wanted to pay their tribute." Press Association contributed to this report. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The organisers of Pride in London have asked attendees to be "vigilant" after the shooting that killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando. Concerns for the London event were raised after lone gunman Omar Mateen, 29, attacked the Pulse nightclub in the Florida city. Organisers of the London celebration for the LGBT community have insisted they are working closely with police and are reviewing the security situation. On Monday, hundreds of mourners gathered in the heart of London's LGBT community for a vigil to commemorate the victims. In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Show all 30 1 /30 In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People gather at a vigil in solidarity for the victims of the Orlando nightclub mass shooting, at Taylor Square in Sydney EPA In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Brett Morian, from Daytona Beach, hugs an attendee during the candlelight vigil at Ember in Orlando AP In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People and members of the gay community holding the peace rainbow flag gather for a vigil near the Beaubourg art center in downtown Paris AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A man places a hand print on a makeshift memorial in a parking lot near the Pulse nightclub in Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People attend a candlelight vigil for the victims of the Orlando attack against a gay night club, held in San Francisco REUTERS In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People place candles by a statue of Abraham Lincoln during a candlelight vigil for the victims of the Orlando attack against a gay night club, held in San Francisco REUTERS In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Tel-Aviv city hall lit up with rainbow flag colors in solidarity with Florida's shooting attack victims AP In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Juan Mantilla (L) stands with his partner during a vigil in memory of the victims of the Orlando mass shooting, in Miami Beach AP In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A couple shares a kiss as they embrace each other under a pride flag while residents of San Francisco and the Bay Area gather to mourn, honor, and remember the victims of a mass shooting at a LGBT nightclub in Orlando EPA In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Austin Ellis, a member of Metropolitan Community Church, carries a cross with a sign in memory of the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting as he marches in the 2016 Gay Pride Parade in Philadelphia Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A rainbow flag flies at half mast on the Space Needle in Seattle, in honor of the victims of the nightclub shooting in Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People at the LA Pride event in West Hollywood, write signs and light candles showing solidarity with victims of the mass killings in Orlando AP In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims In reaction to the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida people hug outside the Stonewall Inn near a vigil for the victims in New York AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A woman offers free hugs in Washington, in reaction to the mass shootings at a gay club in Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A U.S. flag is flown at half staff at the White House after the Orlando mass shooting Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A man lays flowers on a rainbow flag in front of the embassy of the United States in Madrid, to pay tribute to the victims of the shooting of Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims The Michael Fowler Centre is lit in rainbow colours by the city council during a candle lit vigil across the road at Frank Kits Park in Wellington, in remembrance of victims after a gunman opened fire in a gay nightclub in Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Participants hold candles during a vigil at Frank Kits Park in Wellington, in remembrance of victims after a gunman opened fire in a gay nightclub in Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Vixon Noir (R) consoles Trashina Cann, both of San Francisco, during a vigil at Harvey Milk Plaza in the Castro district of San Francisco AP In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People gather in the Castro District for a vigil for the victims of the Orlando shooting at a gay nightclub, in San Francisco REUTERS In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A couple joins residents of San Francisco and the Bay Area to mourn, honor, and remember the victims of a mass shooting at a LGBT nightclub in Orlando EPA In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Mourners pay tribute to the victims of the Orlando shooting during a memorial service in San Diego AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims The Orlando Eye observation wheel lights up in rainbow colors, to remember the people killed and injured in the Pulse nightclub shooting AP In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People sit by the water with candles during a vigil in a park following a mass shooting at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando REUTERS In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Members of The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence carry a sign of remembrance for mass shooting victims in Orlando, at the 46th annual Los Angeles Gay Pride Parade in West Hollywood REUTERS In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Former Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra and Shawn Lang of Hartford embrace after Segarra spoke, during a vigil organized by the state's Muslim and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities, on the steps of the state Capitol building in reaction to the mass shooting in Orlando AP In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims The City Hall Building is lit in the rainbow colors in New York, in reaction to the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims One World Trade Center is lit in the rainbow colors in New York, in reaction to the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People hold a vigil after the worst mass shooting in U.S. history at a gay nightclub in Orlando, in front of the White House in Washington REUTERS In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A man lays down 50 roses to honor each victim of the gay Orlando night club shooting as people gather outside of the Stonewall Inn as a vigil is held following the massacre Getty Images Old Compton Street in Soho fell silent at 7pm as a sign of respect for the murdered revellers, and candles, flags and flowers were laid at nearby St Anne's churchyard. Earlier in the day at the launch of Pride in London's No Filter campaign, mayor Sadiq Khan insisted he was "not complacent" about the threat of a similar attack and said he was working to keep Londoners safe. In two tweets, the official Pride in London account responded to a question about security at the event saying: "We continue to review situation with the police and security to provide a safe event. We ask everyone to be vigilant. "As a large scale event we work with the metpoliceuk who continue to assess intelligence and plan accordingly." Pride in London is a two-week festival from 10 June and more than a million people are expected to attend events which culminate in a parade in London's West End on June 25. A minute's reflection will be led from the main stage in Trafalgar Square after the parade and Pride in London's chairman Michael Salter-Church said attendees would "stand united in a moment of solidarity, peace and remembrance". The Metropolitan Police's hate crime lead, Commander Mak Chishty, said the force has a "current robust, visible policing plan" for the Pride events. He encouraged the LGBT community to report any fears but said: "There has been no specific threat whatsoever, the level of threat has not changed." Press Association Sign up to our free fortnightly newsletter from The Independent's Race Correspondent Nadine White Sign up to our free fortnightly newsletter The Race Report Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the The Race Report email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A man convicted of the racist killing of a Bangladeshi father in east London 15 years ago has been employed as an assistant at a special needs school just yards from where his victims dying appeal to live was met with shut up, you Paki. Ian Devlin was 17 when he and two others were found guilty of killing Shiblu Rahman, whose last desperate words before being stabbed and beaten were, Why me, what have I done to you, help, help. Devlin and one other were convicted of manslaughter at the OId Bailey in 2001, while a boy aged 15 at the time of the killing was found guilty of murder. Rahman was 35 and had two young children. His wife found him dying on the doorstep of their home in Bromley-by-Bow. Devlin was sentenced to nine years at a young offenders institution, but was released in 2005. He then spent time working as a construction worker before securing a job at Ian Mikardo High School in 2010, which caters for vulnerable, excluded and sometimes troubled pupils with special needs in Tower Hamlets. It is understood he declared his background to the school, which also carried out formal criminal records checks and took legal advice from HR professionals over whether his conviction was spent under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act. But due to the length of the sentence, the conviction will remain unspent indefinitely, and because of the nature of the role, the Act would not apply His appointment was deemed so sensitive it had to be confirmed by the schools governors. Although two of the governors were senior local Labour Party officials, it is not clear if the controversy was flagged up to the councils education chiefs. In fact, last August, the councils former weekly newspaper East End Life ran a front page article on Devlin, hailing him a good Samaritan and a man on a mission for his community work with neighbours. Front page of Tower Hamlets council newspaper showing Ian Devlin, August 2015 However, his employment has only just been discovered by the wider community and the council is now aware of the mounting public outcry. Large protests have been planned throughout the borough with demands that borough mayor John Biggs investigates. Mayor Biggss allies are pointing out that the hiring happened under his predecessor, the now-disgraced Lutfur Rahman, but there is no evidence he was aware of the decision. Anti-racism campaigners claim vulnerable students at the school could be in danger. But the schools headteacher Claire Lillis is worried the anger and outcry is more of a threat to the students and called for calm. In a strong defence of her staff member, she said: Ian Devlin has worked at the school for the last five years. He has been an excellent example of how a rehabilitated offender can contribute to his community and he is a valued member of our school community. The school took all appropriate checks and advice in appointing Mr Devlin and wish to support him in continuing to do the work which he has been legally appointed to perform. I am concerned that the reaction of the community to this news presents more of a safeguarding risk to our vulnerable children than his presence at the school and would urge local people to react in a calm and measured way. However, Helal Abbas, a former leader of Tower Hamlets council and who attended Mr Shiblus funeral in 2001, said: We fought racism in the Seventies and Eighties and to now have a racist killer back working with children within a few hundred yards of where it happened is simply appalling. Of course, Im in favour of rehabilitation but some things have to be handled sensitively and we have to find out how this decision was taken and why it was kept quiet for the past few years. Labour mayor John Biggs has been urged to investigate (PA) Murder victim Mr Rahman, who came to Britain in 1995, was found on his hands and knees by his wife Noma. He had been stabbed in the chest and died short time later in hospital. The crime is said to have had a profoundly devastating effect on the family. A witness at the trial said she had heard a squealing noise like a dog being kicked. The trial judge said at sentencing: I am in no doubt that this was a racially motivated attack by each of you. He said Mr Rahman and had been a loving husband and father. The Independent contacted Devlin for comment, but he referred calls to Tower Hamlets council. He denied the charges at his trial and any racial motive. He does not appear to have made any public comment on his role in the killing since then. A spokeswoman for Tower Hamlets council said: "Ian Mikardo School has employed a rehabilitated offender who was subject to enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check and subsequent risk assessment. This helps employers make safe recruitment decisions and prevents unsuitable people from working with vulnerable groups, including children. The member of staff has worked satisfactorily in his role and without incident for a number of years. The council recognises that this issue is one which is causing concern within the wider community. We are confident that the relevant checks were made prior to the individuals appointment and there is no risk to children at the school. Families with children at Ian Mikardo school are welcome to discuss any concerns they may have with the head teacher or chair of governors. Under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act, some crimes committed at a young age can become spent with the passage of time, meaning employers cannot discriminate against the individual. However, sentences of more than four years in prison remain unspent indefinitely. Many roles, including those in schools, are exempt from the legislation meaning employers can also consider spent convictions and then come to a view about whether to employ an individual. Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Independent Climate email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The British government will move to ban harmful plastic microbeads from cosmetics products, ministers have announced. The Government previously rejected the idea of banning the water pollutant and said it favoured a voluntary approach of negotiating with industry over any changes. An environment minister has now said they will bring Britain in line with other countries such as the US and Sweden and impose a ban. Microbeads are solid plastic balls less than 5mm wide. They are found in some toothpastes, body scrubs and other cosmetics and give products a speckled appearance. The beads serve an aesthetic purpose but some manufacturers also claim they can help with exfoliation or cleaning. The solid plastic particles however do not biodegrade and so can cause environmental damage when washed down the drain. The beads are not filtered out by water treatment plans and it has been suggested that they can carry toxins once they themselves become contaminated. Wildlife Photographer of the Year Show all 26 1 /26 Wildlife Photographer of the Year Wildlife Photographer of the Year A polar bear's struggle - Highly Commended Justins whole body pained as he watched this starving polar bear at an abandoned hunter's camp, in the Canadian Arctic, slowly heave itself up to standing. With little, and thinning, ice to move around on, the bear is unable to search for food. Justin Hofman / Natural History Museum Wildlife Photographer of the Year Curious Encounter - Shortlisted Cristobal Serrano, Spain. Any close encounter with an animal in the vast wilderness of Antarctica happens by chance, so Cristobal was thrilled by this spontaneous meeting with a crabeater seal off of Cuverville Island, Antarctic Peninsula. These curious creatures are protected and, with few predators, thrive. Cristobal Serrano / Natural History Museum Wildlife Photographer of the Year Bond of brothers - Winner David Lloyd, New Zealand / UK. These two adult males, probably brothers, greeted and rubbed faces for 30 seconds before settling down. Most people never have the opportunity to witness such animal sentience, and David was honoured to have experienced and captured such a moment.The picture was taken in Ndutu, Serengeti, Tanzania. David Lloyd / Natural History Museum Wildlife Photographer of the Year Fox meets fox - Highly Commended Matthew Maran, UK. Matthew has been photographing foxes close to his home in north London for over a year and ever since spotting this street art had dreamt of capturing this image. After countless hours and many failed attempts his persistence paid off. Matthew Maran / Natural History Museum Wildlife Photographer of the Year Three Kings - Highly Commended Wim Van Den Heever, South Africa. Wim came across these king penguins on a beach in the Falkland Islands just as the sun was rising. They were caught up in a fascinating mating behaviour the two males were constantly moving around the female using their flippers to fend the other off. Wim Van Den Heever / Natural History Museum Wildlife Photographer of the Year One toy, three dogs - Highly Commended Bence Mate, Hungary. While adult African wild dogs are merciless killers, their pups are extremely cute and play all day long. Bence photographed these brothers in Mkuze, South Africa they all wanted to play with the leg of an impala and were trying to drag it in three different directions! Bence Mate / Natural History Museum Wildlife Photographer of the Year Clam Close-up - Shortlisted David Barrio, Spain. This macro-shot of an iridescent clam was taken in the Southern Red Sea, Marsa Alam, Egypt. These clams spend their lives embedded amongst stony corals, where they nest and grow. It took David some time to approach the clam, fearing it would sense his movements and snap shut! David Barrio / Natural History Museum Wildlife Photographer of the Year The Orphaned Beaver - Shortlisted Suzi Eszterhas, United States. A one-month-old orphaned North American beaver kit is held by a caretaker at the Sarvey Wildlife Care Center in Arlington, Washington. Luckily it was paired with a female beaver who took on the role of mother and they were later released into the wild. Suzi Eszterhas / Natural History Museum Wildlife Photographer of the Year Ice and Water - Shortlisted Audun Lie Dahl, Norway. The Brasvellbreen glacier moves southwards from one of the ice caps covering the Svalbard Archipelago, Norway. Where it meets the sea, the glacier wall is so high that only the waterfalls are visible, so Audun used a drone to capture this unique perspective Audun Lie Dahl / Natural History Museum Wildlife Photographer of the Year Teenager - Shortlisted Franco Banfi, Switzerland. Franco was free diving off Dominica in the Caribbean Sea when he witnessed this young male sperm whale trying to copulate with a female. Unfortunately for him her calf was always in the way and the frisky male had to continually chase off the troublesome calf. Franco Banfi / Natural History Museum Wildlife Photographer of the Year Resting Mountain Gorilla - Shortlisted David Lloyd. The baby gorilla clung to its mother whilst keeping a curious eye on David. He had been trekking in South Bwindi, Uganda, whenhe came across the whole family. Following them, they then stopped in a small clearing to relax and groom each other. David Lloyd / Natural History Museum Wildlife Photographer of the Year Painted Waterfall - Shorltisted Eduardo Blanco Mendizabal, Spain. When the sun beams through a hole in the rock at the foot of the La Foradada waterfall, Catalonia, Spain, it creates a beautiful pool of light. The rays appear to paint the spray of the waterfall and create a truly magical picture. Eduardo Blanco Mendizabal / Natural History Museum Wildlife Photographer of the Year The Extraction - Shortlisted Konstantin Shatenev, Russia. Every winter, hundreds of Steller's sea eagles migrate from Russia, to the relatively ice-free northeastern coast of Hokkaido, Japan. They hunt for fish among the ices floes and also scavenge, following the fishing boats to feed on any discards. Konstantin took his image from a boat as the eagles retrieved a dead fish thrown onto the ice. Konstantin Shatenev / Natural History Museum Wildlife Photographer of the Year Shy - Shortlisted Pedro Carrillo, Spain. The mesmerizing pattern of a beaded sand anemone beautifully frames a juvenile Clarkii clownfish in Lembehstrait, Sulawesi, Indonesia. Known as a 'nursery' anemone, it is often a temporary home for young clownfish until they find a more suitable host anemone for adulthood. Pedro Carrillo / Natural History Museum Wildlife Photographer of the Year Red, Silver and Black - Shortlisted TinMan Lee, USA. Tin was fortunate enough to be told about a fox den in Washington State, North America, which was home to a family of red, black and silver foxes. After days of waiting for good weather he was finally rewarded with this touching moment. Tin Man Lee / Natural History Museum Wildlife Photographer of the Year Isolated - Shortlisted Anna Henly, UK. Snapped from a helicopter, this isolated tree stands in a cultivated field on the edge of a tropical forest on Kauai, Hawaii. The manmade straight lines of the ploughed furrows are interrupted beautifully by natures more unruly wild pattern of tree branches. Anna Henly / Natural History Museum Wildlife Photographer of the Year Sound Asleep - Shortlisted Tony Wu, USA. This adult humpback whale balanced in mid-water, headon and sound asleep was photographed in Vavau, Kingdom of Tonga. The faint stream of bubbles, visible at the top, is coming from the whales two blowholes and was, in this instance, indicative of an extremely relaxed state. Tony Wu / Natural History Museum Wildlife Photographer of the Year All That Remains - Shortlisted Phil Jones, UK. A male orca had beached itself about a week before Phils visit to Sea Lion Island, Falkland Islands. Despite its huge size the shifting sands had almost covered the whole carcass and scavengers, such as this striated caracara, had started to move in. Phil Jones / Natural History Museum Wildlife Photographer of the Year Ambush - Shortlisted Federico Veronesi, Kenya. On a hot morning at the Chitake Springs, in Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe, Federico watched as an old lioness descended from the top of the riverbank. Shed been lying in wait to ambush any passing animals visiting a nearby waterhole further along the riverbed. Federico Veronesi / Natural History Museum Wildlife Photographer of the Year Gliding - Shortlisted Christian Vizl, Mexico. With conditions of perfect visibility and beautiful sunlight, Christian took this portrait of a nurse shark gliding through the ocean off the coast of Bimini in the Bahamas. Typically these sharks are found near sandy bottoms where they rest, so its rare to see them swimming. Christian Vizl / Natural History Museum Wildlife Photographer of the Year Otherworldly - Shortlisted A school of Munk's devil ray were feeding on plankton at night off the coast of Isla Espiritu Santo in Baja California, Mexico. Franco used the underwater lights from his boat and a long exposure to create this otherworldly image. Franco Banfi / Natural History Museum Wildlife Photographer of the Year The Bats Wake - Shortlisted Antonio Leiva Sanchez, Spain. After several months of field research into a little colony of greater mouse-eared bats in Sucs, Lleida, Spain, Antonio managed to capture this bat mid-flight. He used a technique of high speed photography with flashes combined with continuous light to create the wake. Antonio Leiva Sanchez / Natural History Museum Wildlife Photographer of the Year Under the Snow - Shortlisted Audren Morel, France. Unafraid of the snowy blizzard, this squirrel came to visit Audren as he was taking photographs of birds in the small Jura village of Les Fourgs, France. Impressed by the squirrels endurance, he made it the subject of the shoot. Audren Morel / Natural History Museum Wildlife Photographer of the Year Unique Bill - Shortlisted Rob Blanken, The Netherlands. The pied avocet has a unique and delicate bill, which it sweeps like a scythe, as it sifts for food in shallow brackish water. This stunning portrait was taken from a hide in the northern province of Friesland in The Netherlands. Rob Blanken / Natural History Museum Wildlife Photographer of the Year Family Portrait - Shortlisted Connor Stefanison, Canada. A great grey owl and her chicks sit in their nest in the broken top of a Douglas fir tree in Kamloops, Canada. They looked towards Connor only twice as he watched them during the nesting season from a tree hide 50 feet (15 metres) up. Connor Stefanison / Natural History Museum Wildlife Photographer of the Year A dog jumps to catch a disc during a dog frisbee competition in Poznan via REUTERS Aquatic creatures have also been known to mistake the particles for food. In December last year Green Party leader Natalie Bennett told the Independent that the Government should follow the US example and move to legislation. George Eustice, a minister at the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs, announced the change of policy at the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee this week. I think what has happened in the US has changed the dynamics of this, and we do think it's right now for us to say, well let's progress and proceed with a ban instead, he said. Some manufacturers have voluntarily removed microbeads from their products after consumer campaigners but they remain in others. Colgate-Palmolive, the makers of Colgate toothpaste, Sanex sanitary products and Palmolive soap has said it would be voluntarily removing the balls from its toothpastes after criticism. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The British Government is within its rights to restrict benefits to some EU migrants, the European Court of Justice has ruled. In a move that will be greeted with profound relief by David Cameron and the Remain campaign, the court threw out a challenge by the European Commission to the Governments benefits crackdown. The Commission had argued that the UK's decision to restrict payment such as child benefit and tax credits to migrants who were "economically inactive" on the grounds that they did not have the right to live in the UK was discriminatory. Cameron on refugee policy However, the court agreed with the British Governments position that it was lawful for the UK to withhold benefits to migrants if they did not have the right to reside in the UK. Such "unequal treatment" was justified on the basis of "protecting a member state's finances", the court ruled. It concluded: "There is nothing to prevent the grant of social benefits to EU citizens who are not economically active being made subject to the requirement that those citizens fulfil the conditions for possessing a right to reside lawfully in the host member state." The ruling means EU citizens who have been in the UK for less than five years are not entitled to welfare benefits if they (and their family members) are not economically active and not able to support themselves. What has the EU ever done for us? Show all 7 1 /7 What has the EU ever done for us? What has the EU ever done for us? 1. It gives you freedom to live, work and retire anywhere in Europe As a member of the EU, UK citizens benefit from freedom of movement across the continent. Considered one of the so-called four pillars of the European Union, this freedom allows all EU citizens to live, work and travel in other member states. What has the EU ever done for us? 2. It sustains millions of jobs A report by the Centre for Economics and Business Research, released in October 2015, suggested 3.1 million British jobs were linked to the UKs exports to the EU. What has the EU ever done for us? 3. Your holiday is much easier - and safer Freedom to travel is one of the most exercised benefits of EU membership, with Britons having made 31 million visits to the EU in 2014 alone. But a lot of the benefits of being an EU citizen are either taken for granted or go unnoticed. What has the EU ever done for us? 4. It means you're less likely to get ripped off Consumer protection is a key benefit of the EUs single market, and ensures members of the British public receive equal consumer rights when shopping anywhere in Europe. What has the EU ever done for us? 5. It offers greater protection from terrorists, paedophiles, people traffickers and cyber-crime Another example of a lesser-known advantage of EU membership is the benefit of cross-country coordination and cooperation in the fight against crime. What has the EU ever done for us? 6. Our businesses depend on it According to 71% of all members of the Confederation of British Influence (CBI), and 67 per cent of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the EU has had an overall positive impact on their business. What has the EU ever done for us? 7. We have greater influence Robin Niblett, Director of think-tank Chatham House, stated in a report published last year: For a mid-sized country like the UK, which will never again be economically dominant either globally or regionally, and whose diplomatic and military resources are declining in relative terms, being a major player in a strong regional institution can offer a critical lever for international influence. The ruling is important because it strengthens the argument of Remain campaigners that the future reforms to free movement and welfare rules as agreed in the EU renegotiation will not be rolled back by the EU court. However, for the Leave campaign, the judgment also reminds voters that aspects of the UKs welfare system are subject to EU law. Marley Morris, Research Fellow at the IPPR think tank, said the ruling was a sign that the court was more prepared to give national government freedom to interpret European treaties. This decision by the European Court of Justice is another sign on top of other recent judgments that it is becoming more sympathetic to the UKs interpretation of free-movement rules, he said. But there are no guarantees this will last forever, and future judgments may go against the UK. Conversely, a vote for Brexit on 23 June is likely to create its own legal quagmire, as the subsequent negotiations will have to resolve the free movement rights of EU citizens currently living in the UK, and UK citizens currently living in other EU countries, in a fair and consistent way. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Britain appears poised to leave the European Union with just over a week to go before referendum day. Two new polls released on Monday night from the ICM and YouGov firms show significant leads for the Leave campaign after weeks of tightening. Following on from and Independent/ORB survey late last week showing a 10-point lead for Leave, ICM gave Leave a six-point leave and YouGov a 7-point lead. Recommended Read more Pound drops to lowest level against the yen since 2013 on Brexit fears The morning after shift was reported The Sun newspaper, the highest circulation print paper in Britain, announced on its front page that it would back Leave. A polling average calculated by the Britain Elects website found Leave narrowly ahead overall on 46.7 per cent and Remain on 44.5 per cent. As ever, a breakdown of age groups by YouGov shows the elderly driving support for Brexit, with young people strongly opposed. 75 per cent of 18-24 year olds want to remain in the EU, and 50 per cent of 25-49 year olds. However just 38 per cent of 50-64 year old and 34 per cent of the 65+ age group wish to do so. The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit Show all 7 1 /7 The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit 22 May 2015 In his regular column in The Express Nigel Farage utilised the concerns over Putin and the EU to deliver a tongue in cheek conclusion. With friends like these, who needs enemies? PA The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit 13 November 2015 UKIP MEP for Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire Mike Hookem, was one of several political figures who took no time to harness the toxic atmosphere just moments after Paris attacks to push an agenda. Cameron says were safer in the EU. Well Im in the centre of the EU and it doesnt feel very safe. Getty Images The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit 19 April 2016 In an article written for The Guardian, Michael Gove attempts to bolster his argument with a highly charged metaphor in which he likens UK remaining in the EU to a hostage situation. Were voting to be hostages locked in the back of the car and driven headlong towards deeper EU integration. Rex The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit 26 April 2016 In a move that is hard to decipher, let alone understand, Mike Hookem stuck it to Obama re-tweeting a UKIP advertisement that utilises a quote from the film: Love Actually to dishonour the US stance on the EU. A friend who bullies us is no longer a friend The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit 10 May 2016 During a speech in London former work and pensions secretary Ian Duncan Smith said that EU migration would cause an increasing divide between people who benefit from immigration and people who couldnt not find work because of uncontrolled migration. The European Union is a force for social injustice which backs the haves rather than the have-nots. EPA The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit 15 May 2016 Cartoon character Boris Johnson made the news again over controversial comments that the EU had the same goal as Hitler in trying to create a political super state. Napoleon, Hitler, various people tried this out, and it ends tragically. The EU is an attempt to do this by different methods. PA The most scaremongering arguments for Brexit 16 May 2016 During a tour of the womens clothing manufacturer David Nieper, Boris had ample time to cook up a new metaphor, arguably eclipsing Goves in which he compares the EU to badly designed undergarments. So I just say to all those who prophecy doom and gloom for the British Business, I say their pants are on fire. Lets say knickers to the pessimists, knickers to all those who talk Britain down. Getty Images Pollsters currently believe that the traditionally far higher turnout amongst the old will see Britain leave the EU, barring any changes in the final week of the campaign. Later in the week Survation, Ipsos-MORI and ComRes polls are expected to shed further light on the state of the race. In recent weeks the Leave campaign has increasingly focused on immigration as a reason for wanting to leave the EU, while the Remain campaign has warned of the economic risks of Brexit. Vote Leave claimed today that EU subsidies to farmers, culture, and other areas worth millions of pounds would be continued to 2020 in the event of Brexit. Alan Johnson, the head of Labour In, said this morning that the Brexiteers were practicing fantasy economics. The European Union in-out referendum will take place on 23 June 2016. The deadline to register to vote has now passed. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} With the European Union referendum looming, polls show Britain on the verge of leaving. EU citizenship comes with significant advantages notably the ability to live and work anywhere across the bloc. There are also other benefits like being able to set up a business anywhere on the continent and getting full access to other countries' public services like healthcare when youre abroad. If Britain leaves the EU these advantages will disappear for British citizens but there are some ways you could keep them. Check your Irish ancestry A man wearing an Irish flag hat t and four-leaf clover sunglasses attends a St Patrick's Day parade in Central London on March 16, 2014. Some 400,000 people are expected to line the streets of Dublin on March 17 for the annual Saint Patricks Day parade. The parade is the culmination of a weekend of festivities in the Irish capital and across the country to celebrate Irelands national holiday. (ANDREW COWIE/AFP/Getty Images) Around 10 per cent of people living in the UK have a grandparent born in Ireland, according to census data. If youre one of them and want to keep your EU citizenship, youre in luck. Ireland has very welcoming rules on granting citizenship to people with Irish heritage. This rule applies even if your parents arent Irish. The rules are a bit complicated, and the first step is signing to up to Irelands foreign births register. You dont need to actually move to Ireland to become a citizen but your Irish passport will by extension make you an EU citizen and give you freedom of movement across all EU countries. Ireland also recognises dual citizenship so you dont have to give up your British passport. More information can be found here. Other countries have similar ancestry schemes, so check the policies of your parents' and grandparents' homelands. What to believe about the EU referendum Use Estonias e-residency programme The internet has revolutionised travel (AFP/Getty) Estonia made waves in technology circles in 2015 when it launched its so-called e-residency programme. People living anywhere in the world can sign up over the internet to receive an Estonian government ID and gain a special category of residency. This scheme doesnt give you Estonian citizenship or even proper rights to live in the country but there are some advantages. If youre worried about losing your European Union citizenship for business reasons, you can use the e-residency to set up an Estonian company. This will by extension be an EU company and allow you to trade in all EU countries. You dont have to actually physically go to Estonia to do it and you can administer your Estonian company from anywhere in the world including the UK. More information can be found here. Pay Cyprus two million pounds Some pro-Remain companies previously advocated joining the euro (Getty) If youre really keen on keeping your EU citizenship and have an absolute ton of cash to spare, Cyprus may be the place for you. The EU island nation of a million people is ready and willing to grant you Cypriot and EU citizenship at a price. Under the Naturalization by Exception programme, the Cypriot government will nautralise you as a citizen if you help them out with their budget. A purchase of 2.5 million euros in government bonds will do, as will the purchase of similarly priced financial assets in the country, or contributions to major infrastructure projects. No actual residency is required to take advantage of the scheme, but youll become an EU citizen. Malta also has a similar, lower priced, scheme though it recently relented under EU pressure and now requires one year of residency to gain its citizenship. You can also become a citizen by owning property on the island. Marry an EU citizen from another member state Newlyweds walk among blooming lavender in Cheshire (Getty Images) If your partner is from another EU country you might be worried about losing your EU citizenship. Whether thats because youre wont be able to settle down in their home country or that they might get sent home, its worth checking what effect getting married might have. Most EU countries have more relaxed laws for gaining their citizenship if youre married to one of their citizens compared to if you just turn up there by yourself. Some countries like the Netherlands and France dont require you to actually live in their country to apply for citizenship as long as you are married to one of their citizens for a few years (and everything is registered properly). After that period has elapsed, even if youve never visited, youre elegible. For instance, if you get married to your Dutch partner in London the day after the EU referendum, youll be able to get Dutch citizenship by June 24 2019. The negotiations for leaving the EU might not even be done by then. Other countries like Italy and Germany can require some residency to naturalise as a spouse, but this is usually significantly reduced compared to what a non-married person requires typically around two years compared to the more usual five. Study abroad Top ranking universities under the new framework will be granted permission to raise tuition fees for undergraduate students (Getty) Britain may aggressively chase international students out of the country after theyve finished studying, but other countries actively court people theyve spent years educating to stay and contribute to their societies. France, for instance, normally requires someone to be a resident for five years before they can become a French citizen. This is however cut to two years if you study at a French university for two years. This effectively means that if you take that Masters degree youve always wanted to do in France, youre on your way to naturalization and EU citizenship. As an EU citizen (for now) British citizens are currently entitled to study at French universities as if they were a home students. Fees there are typically counted in the hundreds of euros rather than thousands of pounds typical of British universities. Some French courses are even taught entirely in English, though it isnt the most Anglophone friendly country in Europe. Some other countries have similar rules for retaining graduates of their universities, so it's worth looking around. Just move to another country for five years Passengers could arrive at Paris Gare du Nord as late as midnight (Simon Calder) If all other options fail, the most basic route for gaining EU citizenship is to move to an EU country, stay there, and then apply for citizenship. In most European countries, continuous residence for five years and a working knowledge of their language and culture will get you their passport. Britain is still in the EU and the process of leaving is expected to take years. This means youve got some time to use your freedom of movement and move out there. While theres a risk that you might get sent home once Britain officially exits, its more likely that your new homeland will let you stay rather than actively deport you. This approach means uprooting your entire life and leaving behind your family and friends so its probably not something youd casually consider for the sake of a passport. But if you were looking for a change anyway, it may be the way to go. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Ken Livingstone has denied accusations of being anti-Semitic and defended his claim that Hitler supported Zionism during a parliamentary inquiry into anti-Semitism. Giving evidence to the inquiry on Tuesday, the former London mayor said he stood by his comments, adding he absolutely felt his suspension from the Labour party was the result of MPs seeking to undermine Jeremy Corbyns leadership. If I had said that Hitler was a Zionist, I would apologise for that because its rubbish, Mr Livingstone told the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee. What I said was he wanted all the half million German Jews out. If Id said it, I would agree it was abhorrent. But I didnt say it, I was stating simple historical fact. Mr Livingstone was suspended from the Labour party in April after he said during a radio interview: Lets remember, when Hitler won his election in 1932, his policy then was that Jews should be moved to Israel. He was supporting Zionism this before he went mad and ended up killing six million Jews." Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said Show all 14 1 /14 Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On Israel and Palestine The simple fact in all of this is that Naz made these comments at a time when there was another brutal Israeli attack on the Palestinians; and theres one stark fact that virtually no one in the British media ever reports, in almost all these conflicts the death toll is usually between 60 and 100 Palestinians killed for every Israeli. Now, any other country doing that would be accused of war crimes but its like we have a double standard about the policies of the Israeli government Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On Antisemitism in the Labour Party As Ive said, Ive never heard anybody say anything antisemitism-Semitic, but theres been a very well-orchestrated campaign by the Israel lobby to smear anybody who criticises Israeli policy as antisemitic. I had to put up with 35 years of this Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On Naz Shah Its completely over-the-top and rude, but who am I to denounce anyone with all of that. It was wrong. I dont think she is antisemitic, it was incredibly rude but I dont believe she is an antisemite. When the NEC investigation is finished they'll say it was rude and over the top but they wont find any evidence that she actually hates Jews. Weve got to investigate all these charges and the context in which they are made. If she is antisemitic like the other three or four members weve found who are antisemitic, shell be expelled Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On other alleged antisemites in Labour That is part of the classic antisemitic thing about an international Jewish conspiracy that is the reason we need to have an investigation. Ive got an open mind. Ive seen nothing to suggest to me that she is antisemitic. I wouldnt have supported her if I [thought] she was antisemitic Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On whether what Hitler did was legal, as stated by Naz Shah Thats a statement of fact Hitler, Im sure, passed all those laws that allowed him to do that its history literally, Hitler was completely mad, he killed six million Jews. Shes not saying its legal to kill six million Jews: what they were doing in that country allowed them not just to kill six million Jews, kill all the communists, kill all the leftists like me, my father almost died when a Nazi sub sank his boat. I have no sympathy with Hitler Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On another alleged antisemite in Labour No, that is, and thats why shes been suspended or expelled. What Ive said is that in 47 years of the party in all the meetings Ive been in Ive never heard anyone say anything antisemitic. There are bound to be in a party of half a million people youll have a handful of antisemites, youll have a handful of racists. Youve managed to dig out virtually every antisemitic comment that Labour members have made out of half a million people. Ive never met any of these people. Theres not a problem. Youre talking about a handful of people in a party of half a million people. Jeremy Corbyn has moved rapidly to deal with them Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On Jeremy Corbyns response to the allegations He met with Naz and she agreed she would stand down while the investigation is going on. He called her in to see her. Theres been a huge investigation of virtually everything that anybody put on the internet many of these people are quite new and recent members of the party that joined in the big influx. 300,000 new people came in Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On his meeting a man accused of antisemitism in London This is the man who called for Muslims around the world to donate blood after the attacks of 9/11 when he came to London I went with him to the Regents Park mosque where he said no man should hit a woman and you should not discriminate against homosexuals. So I cant equate what I heard him say he made no antisemitic statement while he was here in London. I dont investigate people. Ive simply said what I believe to be true which is that Naz was not antisemitic. She was completely over the top, very rude, but that does not make her an antisemite Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On John Manns comments He went completely over the top. I was actually doing a radio interview at the time that he was bellowing that Im a racist antisemite in my ear. Ive had that with John Mann before a few weeks ago screaming that I was a bigot down the phone. Im not an apologist for anyone who makes antisemitic statements. What Im saying is dont confuse antisemitism with criticism of the Israeli government policy Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On calling a Jewish journalist a concentration camp guard whilst Mayor of London I cant tell if a journalist is Jewish or Catholic or anything. If a journalist is chasing you down the street at nine of clock at night you might be rude to them. Some people might have hit him! He said he was just doing his job. We went all the way to the High Court and the judge opened his judgement by saying I hope no one here is going to suggest that Mr Livingstone is antisemitic. We won the case Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On claims about Hitler and Zionism I cant tell if a journalist is Jewish or Catholic or anything. If a journalist is chasing you down the street at nine of clock at night you might be rude to them. Some people might have hit him! He said he was just doing his job. We went all the way to the High Court and the judge opened his judgement by saying I hope no one here is going to suggest that Mr Livingstone is antisemitic. We won the case Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On John Mann Id simply say to John Mann go back and check. Is what I say true, or is it not? The BBC, youve got a huge team of researchers, it will take just an hour or two to go back and confirm. I was asked a question, I answered it. I have never in 45 years since I won my first election, I have never lied. I have always answered the question Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On raising the issue if Hitler It lays you open to people smearing and lying about you. Ive always answered the questions put to me and that simple fact is weve had a handful of people saying antisemitic things in the Labour Party, theyve been suspended, some of them are on their way to being expelled, some of them have been expelled already Labour antisemitism row: What Livingstone said On people calling for him to be suspended All my usual critics but the simple fact is I agree with them; there is no place for antisemitism in the Labour party. For them to suggest I am antisemitic is a bit bizarre considering we worked with Jewish groups and put on exhibitions about the scale of the holocaust, we worked with Jewish groups to tackling the scale of antisemitism back in the 1970s. Ive always opposed every form of racism whether its against black people or Jews. Im going to stay in the Labour party and continue to fight against all forms of racism and discrimination as I have my entire life Mr Livingstones comments came amid a string of suspensions of Labour party officials and activists for allegedly making anti-Semitic remarks over social media. The comments led Mr Livingstone to become involved in an angry dispute with another Labour MP, John Man, who accused him of being a disgusting racist and a Nazi apologist, which was captured by television cameras. Mr Livingstone insisted he was right to say Hitler had, at one point, supported Zionism as a way of "getting rid" of Jewish people from Germany. He repeatedly told the cross-party committee he had been approached in the street by Jews agreeing with his comments. In a written statement to the committee, he said: "I detest racism and condemn anti-Semitism. Indeed my political career has totally opposed any such views concerning any religious or ethnic group." When asked if he would like to apologise for his comments, he said: "If I had said something that was untrue and caused offence, I would have apologised, but what I said was true. "What caused offence was a group of embittered old Blairites running around lying about what I said." "The MPs who smeared me have been criticising Jeremy Corbyn and stabbing him in the back for the last nine months. "What I find appalling about the motivation of these MPs is they are prepared to cause worry and doubt and confusion amongst our Jewish community in this country for short-term political gain." Livingstone on anti-semitism Labour committee member Chuka Umunna told Mr Livingstone he was an "embarrassment" to the party. The Streatham MP said: "By needlessly and repeatedly offending Jewish people in this way, you've not only betrayed our Labour values, you betray your legacy as mayor, because all you are now going to be remembered for is becoming a pin-up for the kind of prejudice that our party was built to fight against." Keith Vaz, HASC chairman, said the committee found Mr Livingstone's evidence "unconvincing". The president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, Jonathan Arkush, told the committee he regarded Mr Livingstones comments as hateful and that Labour's shift to the left under Mr Corbyn had "emboldened" anti-Semites on the far left to voice their prejudices. "The election of a leader who is associated with the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, with Stop the War, with a very, very hostile position on Israel has clearly sent the wrong sort of message to some people," said Mr Arkush. Some people feel that a space has been opened up for them, or they feel emboldened to say things which previously they felt they couldn't say in polite society, he added. Additional reporting by Press Association Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} For the purposes of a juvenile joke, I started a stopwatch when Ken Livingstone began to speak, with the intention of stopping it when he first said the word Hitler. It stopped on 1.8 seconds. Seven words were all it took. Had I a second stopwatch, I might have started it with the intention of stopping it when Ken Livingstone finally apologised for his suggestion Hitler was a Zionist, you wont be shocked to learn it would still be running now. He was before the Home Affairs Select Committee, who are producing a report into anti-Semitism, chiefly in response to Kens own suspension from the Labour Party for bringing it into disrepute. To say he sounded like a stuck record would be to pay him a compliment. A stuck record stops on a piece of music you must at some point have found enjoyable. Listening to a whiningly nasal pleurodeline narcissist saying the name of the Leader of the Third Reich over and over again is significantly more distressing than any acoustic malfunction resulting from a rogue Dandelion and Burdock spilt over the turntable. If you can recall the scene in 1999 Spike Jonze cult movie Being John Malkovich, in which the actor John Malkovich enters a secret portal behind a filing cabinet and is supplanted into a world in which the only word anyone can say is Malkovich, you might be able to imagine the life of Ken Livingstone in the month and half since he appeared on the Vanessa Feltz Show and entirely unprompted began an explanation of Hitlers policy towards Germanys Jews in 1932. There has, since then, not been any a TV or radio station, YouTube channel, Google Hangout or string-linked pair of plastic cups in all the land that has not at some point emitted the sound of Mr Livingstone saying the word Hitler at least three times a second while gallantly refusing to apologise for "telling the truth" that absolutely nobody ever asked him to tell. Did he have anything he wanted to say to the committee at the beginning? Committee chair Keith Vaz asked him, still wearing his Leicester City scarf. Well if I had said that Hitler was a Zionist I would apologise for that but I didnt, Ken told them. Which is partly true. He merely said that, Hitler was supporting Zionism. The SNPs Stuart McDonald, who in the interest of clarity is the Stuart McDonald of the SNPs three Stuart McDonalds, and is not Stewart MacDonald or Stewart McDonald, made the gentle point that Hitlers policy - the forced repatriation of Jews from their home in order to remove their assets is not quite the same as the Return to the Promise Land stuff of twenty first century Zionism, to which Ken replied, Youll have to speak up Ive left my hearing aid at home. One would have thought he might have brought it with him. Either way, he never gave an answer. The cross that must be borne by those who speak up for Hitler in his pro-Zionist early phase is a heavy one, but it is not borne alone. I cannot walk down the street without people stopping me and saying We know what you said is true. Dont give in, he said. We can only assume these are the same people who constantly tell Donald Trump he has the most beautiful hands, though an extensive investigation by several leading US newspapers has been unable to unearth any of them. With nine days to go until the UK becomes arguably the first in history to voluntarily send itself into recession, its arguable it's at best a waste of resources that one of its best known faces was sitting in Parliament quoting from "a speech Hitler gave on the 6th July 1920 in which he said that Jews belong to Palestine". But it wasnt he that had caused offence. What caused offence was an embittered old group of Blairite MPs running around stirring up trouble, he said, at which Chuka Umunna struggled to contain a laugh. Its no use you wriggling away Mr Umunna, he was told. What followed was a speedy runthrough Kens 'Anti-Semitic' Greatest Hits. Yes, hed compared a Jewish reporter to a Nazi concentration camp guard. He "didnt know he was Jewish. Yes, hed told the property developer Ruben Brothers to go back to where they came from. But he didnt know Mr Ruben and Mr Ruben were Jewish. Ive been an atheist since I was twelve, he said. If you want a confession, often in my life Ive been rude to people. Theyve deserved it. The Conservative and Muslim MP Nusrat Ghani suggested he mentioned the war, and compared people to Hitler, rather more often than most. I was born in 1945, he said. There is a spot opposite my house where a German V2 bomb fell. Asked the straightforward question as to whether he was anti-Semitic himself, his answer began with the word, "Well". It lasted an hour. It ended with Mr Livingstone saying: "Ive enjoyed it". The truth, as far as those who know him better can tell, is that hes not anti-Semitic. Its just what he has to do to get out the house. He could just apologise, of course, but then the phone would stop ringing, and the stopwatches would never start. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A visibly exasperated President Barack Obama has torn into the presumptive Republican nominee, Donald Trump, for demonstrating what he called a dangerous mindset in the wake of the Orlando massacre, saying it peddles the notion that entire religious communities are complicit in violence. We've gone through moments in our history before when we acted out of fear and we came to regret it, Mr Obama offered. We've seen our government mistreat our fellow citizens and it has been a shameful part of our history. This is not the America we want, it does not reflect our democratic ideals. It wont make us more safe, it will make us less safe, he said. It may be the first time that a sitting US president has openly implied that a candidate to succeed them in the White House constitutes a national security threat to the nation. Where does it stop? President Obama demanded to know in an unusually raw and scathing appearance before the press after a meeting at the US Treasury with top aides and officials to discuss the fight against Isis that became dominated by the response to the Orlando shooting. We hear language that singles out immigrants and suggests entire religious communities are complicit in violence, Mr Obama said. Mr Trump this week appeared to double down on his proposals to close borders to Muslims and has also reiterated his support for more intrusive police monitoring of the entire Muslim-American community. Are we going to start treating all Muslim-Americans differently? Are we going to start subjecting them to special surveillance? Are we going to start discriminating against them because of their faith? Mr Obama said, before going on: Do Republican officials actually agree with this? It was Mr Obamas most aggressive assault on Mr Trump yet, apparently triggered also by the Republican candidates continued contention that the President is somehow missing in action on the fight against terror because of his failure to utter the words radical Islam. President Obama, who cancelled plans to campaign on Wednesday with Hillary Clinton in Wisconsin and will instead head to Orlando to pay tribute to victims on Thursday, called the argument over phrasing a political distraction that has no basis in his administrations record of attempting to thwart extremism and protect the country. Its a political talking point, not a strategy," he said. What exactly would using this label accomplish; what exactly would it change? he asked. Would it make terrorists less committed to trying to kill Americans? Would it bring along more allies? Is there a military stagey that is served to say this? The answer is none of the above. What Mr Obama did not directly address though it had quite possibly got under his skin were remarks made by Mr Trump in a Fox interview on Monday that seemed to suggest his failure to say radical Islam was because he harboured secret sympathy for terrorists. Before letting loose on his Republican critics, and in particular politicians who tweet and appear on cable news a clear jibe against Mr Trump he again laid out his strategy to defeat Isis, insisting that while the campaign was difficult, progress had been made, notably in Iraq. He also rehearsed his well-known position that attacks like the one in Orlando demand that the US finally does more to reduce the availability of high-powered guns, including measures to renew a ban on the sale of assault weapons. Enough talking about being tough on terrorism, Mr Obama said. Actually be tough on terrorism and stop making it as easy as possible for terrorists to buy assault weapons. Nicole Edwards and her wife Kellie Edwards observe a moment of silence during a vigil outside the Dr Phillips Center for the Performing Arts for the mass shooting victims at the Pulse nightclub, 13 June 2016 (Getty) Mr Obama said his reluctance to use the same phraseology as Mr Trump was precisely because he did not want to encourage the notion that the West is at war with Islam as a religion. To do so would play directly into the hands of Isis and other extremist groups. They want to make this war a war between Islam and America, or a war between Islam and the West. They want to claim they are the true leader of over a billion Muslims around the world who reject their crazy notions. They want us to validate them by implying that they speak for these billion-plus people, that they speak for Islam. Thats their propaganda, that is how they recruit. There's no magic to the phrase 'radical Islam,'" Mr Obama insisted. If someone seriously thinks we don't know who we're fighting, if there's anyone out there who thinks we're confused about who our enemies are, that would come as a surprise to the thousands of terrorists we've taken off the battlefield. At a campaign event in Pittsburgh, Hillary Clinton likewise dismissed Mr Trump's focus on two single words. "He is fixated on the words radical Islam, Clinton said. Now, I must say I find this strange. Is Donald Trump suggesting that there are magic words that once uttered will stop terrorists from coming after us? There is growing evidence that many top Republicans do not, in fact, agree with Mr Trumps logic. One of Mr Obamas strongest Republican critics on foreign policy, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, made his own denunciation of his partys new standard-bearer on Tuesday. Mr Trump's idea that we're going to win the war against radical Islam by banning all Muslims, I guess now American citizens, Muslims, makes it harder to win the war, he said. I've been to Iraq and Afghanistan 37 times. Most Muslims are not buying what radical Islam is selling. And he balked at Mr Trumps insinuations about Mr Obamas commitment to stopping terror attacks inspired by radical Islam. He loves his country, President Obama, but he is doing a very poor job at defending it, Graham said. Mr Trump seems to be suggesting the President is one of them. I find it highly offensive. I find that whole line of reasoning way off base. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Donald Trump is attempting to project a disciplined message in the wake of the Orlando shootings, outlined in a speech on Monday and set to be pursued at campaign appearances all week: President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are responsible for loose immigration policies that are endangering America. The strategy that has worked before - his call for a ban on Muslims entering the country in response to the Paris attacks turbo-boosted his ratings among Republican primary voters. But discipline is not easy for Mr Trump; in this time of tragedy he may be jumping his own tracks. Recommended Read more Washington Post not welcome on the Trump campaign bus A new furore is now growing around him following remarks he made to Fox News on Monday in which he appeared to insinuate that Mr Obama isnt just weak on immigration policy and domestic terror but may in some way harbour sympathy for terrorists inspired by radical Islam. Not for the first time in the last few weeks a question arises: is Mr Trump, who will use a string of campaign appearances across the country the week to further hammer away at Ms Clinton and Mr Obama on security, sabotaging his own narrative by polluting it with too much crazy? Were led by a man that either is not tough, not smart, or hes got something else in mind, he said. The something else in mind - you know, people cant believe it. People cannot, they cannot believe that President Obama is acting the way he acts and cant even mention the words radical Islamic terrorism. Theres something going on. Its inconceivable. Theres something going on. Mr Trump pretends not to know what he is doing. When the Washington Post ran a story saying that he had implied to Fox that Mr Obama has secret sympathies for the terrorists - hardly the only outlet to do so - he feigned shock and summarily banned it from covering his campaign events. But scholars of Trump might not be surprised. When Mr Obama was in his first term, the billionaire spawned the so-called birther movement, the main premise of which was Mr Obama had not released his full birth certificate because he was really a Muslim born in Kenya. It remains possible the Orlando crisis will end up propelling Mr Trump still closer to his goal of winning the White House. The country is anxious and never more so than this week and his projection of himself as a strong leader will clearly continue to resonate with many. People take part in a candlelight memorial service the day after a mass shooting at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando (Reuters) Many believe the screening process now in place for immigrants is inadequate. In the meantime, the Obama administration has said that it will accept some 85,000 refugees this year, up from about 70,000 last year, including 1,682 Syrian refugees. Out of about 70,000 refugees the accepted last year, about 28,300 identified as Muslim, according to State Department statistics. American (sic) must now get very tough, very smart and very vigilant, Mr Trump said in a Twitter message on Tuesday. We cannot admit people into our country without extraordinary screening. In his New Hampshire speech, he named Ms Clinton 15 times. He even attempted to turn her record of supporting LGBT rights on its head. Hillary Clinton can never claim to be a friend of the gay community as long as she continues to support immigration policies that bring Islamic extremists to our country who suppress women, gays and anyone who doesnt share their views, he said, while doubling down on his proposal to close US borders to immigrants from any country with a record of supporting terrorism. But Mr Trump is ignoring the records of the leaders he attacks. Mr Obamas record includes the killing of Osama bin Laden and the regular extra-judicial killing of Jihadist leaders through drone attacks. It is hardly one of a Jihad sympathiser. Ms Clinton meanwhile has for years carefully cultivated her image as a foreign policy hawk, for instance backing military action in Iraq and Libya. The White House issued a rebuke after Mr Trump's remarks to Fox, saying the President's record on fighting terror speaks for itself and includes a lot of dead terrorists. John Podesta, the Clinton campaign manager, said Mr. Trumps speech offered some disturbing insights into the dangers of a Trump White House. Nothing in his rambling remarks came close to resembling a real strategy for fighting terrorists and keeping our people safe. It maybe those departures into crazy land that eventually trips Mr Trump. He showed signs of it two weeks ago when he assailed the judge presiding over the civil cases against his former Trump University for being unfair to him on account of his being Mexican. His remarks drew widespread opprobrium including from his own party. (Aside form anything else, the judge is not Mexican.) Now comes the notion that Mr Obama is weak on immigration because he likes people who want to shoot up Americans. It might be that Mr Trump is firming up support among those primary voters that responded so well when he first suggested shutting out Muslims from America. But they are not a broad enough coalition of voters to win him the general election against Ms Clinton. While some 75 per cent of primary voters agreed with the plan in individual primary states, nationwide only 40 per cent of Republicans approved, according to a Wall Street Journal/NBC survey in December. To win the White House he needs to broaden his base of support and attract moderate Republicans and independents to his cause. So far he has shown no sign that he is either willing, or politically capable enough, to do that. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The phrase rule of thumb comes from the 1300s, when courts ruled that men could no longer beat their wives with a rod of a larger circumference than their thumb. It was a powerful metaphor from US vice president Joe Biden to illustrate the gender inequality that continues today. Its no longer socially acceptable for a man to grab his wife at a dinner party. It doesnt mean it still doesnt happen, he said. Recommended Read more Joe Biden writes open letter to Stanford rape case victim We have to change a culture which too often promotes a culture of violence against women. We have to take away the social blinders that make us overlook violence rather than confront it. Mr Biden, who passed the Violence Against Women Act in 1990, talked against victim blaming and a culture of misogyny among locker room talk, bar banter and rape jokes where men, even if they were silent or uncomfortable when they heard this talk, became accomplices. Mr Biden has been a strong voice behind the "Its On Us" campaign, which has shone a spotlight on the epidemic of sexual assault on student campuses. He penned an open letter last week about the case of Brock Turner, the Stanford student who sexually assaulted an intoxicated and unconscious woman behind a garbage bin. He was given just a few months in jail and denied assault. The countries with anti-women laws Show all 5 1 /5 The countries with anti-women laws The countries with anti-women laws The countries with anti-women laws The countries with anti-women laws The countries with anti-women laws The countries with anti-women laws Mr Biden did not mention Turners name at the summit, but alluded to the case when he said: Sex without consent is rape. And if you cant consent because youre unconscious, it is rape. It is rape. Period. The survivors statement, which was read out in court and went viral online, spurred Mr Biden to write: I am in awe of your courage for speaking out - for so clearly naming the wrongs that were done to you and so passionately asserting your equal claim to human dignity. "And I am filled with furious anger. Both that this happened to you and that our culture is still so broken that you were ever put in the position of defending your own worth. Meghan Yap, a Champion of Change from the Its On Us Campaign who introduced Mr Biden to the stage, said that she developed post-traumatic stress disorder after she was raped and her world fell apart. I am not powerless in ending rape culture. I realized that I can do something about it and to prevent it from happening to other people, she said. Research from Nielsen, Consumer Insights, mentioned at the summit, showed that less than half of women believe there will be less protection against violence for the next generation of women. One in five women and one in 16 men will be raped or assaulted during their time on campus in the US, prompting Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to president Obama, to call it an epidemic. Instances of rape on campus, as well as the rate of violence against women between 14 and 24 years old has not decreased, said Mr Biden, figures which were the most disappointing of his career. Mariska Hargitay, founder and president of the Joyful Heart Foundation, said at the summit that there is a backlog of hundreds of thousands of untested rape kits, representing all the women that deserve justice. Mr Biden said he remained an optimist, and thanked social media for bringing certain abuses to light, whether it was an NFL player [Ray Rice] dragging his wife out of the elevator by her hair, or a celebrated - I say celebrated in the worst way - rape, that everyone in the country knows about, alluding to Turner at Stanford. Mr Biden has traveled to colleges and universities across the US, asking men and women to take the pledge to confront misogyny and to not look the other way when they see something wrong. We will succeed when not a single man raises a hand or takes violence against a woman and says that she deserved it, he added. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} President Barack Obama is fed up. On Tuesday, he tore into Republicans by saying that their presumptive party nominee has a dangerous mindset representative of the most "shameful" times in US history. President Obama condemned Republican lawmakers who have backed Donald Trump, and questioned if they honestly plan to discriminate against Muslim-Americans for their religion. He also chided pundits who criticize him for not using the phrase "radical Islam," saying that only a talking point and not at all a strategy. Read President Obama's speech in full below: I just met with my National Security Council as part of our regular effort to review and intensify our campaign to destroy the terrorist group ISIL. Our meeting was planned before the terrible attack in Orlando. But obviously that tragedy the awful loss of life shaped much of our work today. In all of our efforts, foremost in our minds is the loss and the grief of the people of Orlando those who died, those who are still recovering, the families who have seen their loved ones harmed, the friends of ours who are lesbian and gay and bisexual and transgender who were targeted. I want to remind them that they are not alone. The American people, and our allies and friends all over the world, stand with you and are thinking about you, and are praying for you. As Director Comey has said, we currently do not have any information to indicate that a foreign terrorist group directed the attack in Orlando. It is increasingly clear, however, that the killer took in extremist information and propaganda over the Internet. He appears to have been an angry, disturbed, unstable young man who became radicalized. As we know all too well, terrorist groups like ISIL have called on people around the world and here in the United States to attack innocent civilians. Their propaganda, their videos, their postings are pervasive and more easily accessible than we want. This individual appears to have absorbed some of that. And during his killing spree, the shooter in Orlando pledged allegiance to ISIL. As Ive said before, these lone actors or small cells of terrorists are very hard to detect and very hard to prevent. But across our government, at every level federal, state and local, military and civilian we are doing everything in our power to stop these kinds of attacks. We work to succeed a hundred percent of the time. An attacker, as we saw in Orlando, only has to succeed once. Our extraordinary personnel our intelligence, our military, our homeland security, our law enforcement have prevented many attacks and saved many lives. And we can never thank them enough. But we are all sobered by the fact that, despite the extraordinary hard work, something like Orlando can occur. In our meeting today, Director Comey updated us on the investigation in Orlando. Secretary Johnson reviewed the measures we continue to take on behalf of our homeland security. Secretary Carter and Chairman Dunford reviewed the military campaign against ISIL. And I want to thank Secretary Lew and his team here at Treasury for hosting us and for their tireless efforts to cut off the money that ISIL relies on to fund its terror network. At the outset, I want to reiterate our objective in this fight. Our mission is to destroy ISIL. Since I last updated the American people on our campaign two months ago, weve seen that this continues to be a difficult fight but we are making significant progress. Over the past two months, Ive authorized a series of steps to ratchet up our fight against ISIL: additional U.S. personnel, including Special Forces, in Syria to assist local forces battling ISIL there; additional advisors to work more closely with Iraqi security forces, and additional assets, including attack helicopters; and additional support for local forces in northern Iraq. Our aircraft continue to launch from the USS Harry Truman, now in the Mediterranean. Our B-52 bombers are hitting ISIL with precision strikes. Targets are being identified and hit even more quickly so far, 13,000 airstrikes. This campaign at this stage is firing on all cylinders. And as a result, ISIL is under more pressure than ever before. ISIL continues to lose key leaders. This includes Salman Abd Shahib, a senior military leader in Mosul; Abu Saad al-Sudani, who plotted external attacks; Shakir Wahayb, ISILs military leader in Iraqs Anbar province; and Maher al-Bilawi, the top ISIL commander in Fallujah. So far, weve taken out more than 120 top ISIL leaders and commanders. And our message is clear: If you target America and our allies, you will not be safe. You will never be safe. ISIL continues to lose ground in Iraq. In the past two months, local forces in Iraq, with coalition support, have liberated the western town of Rutbah and have also pushed up the Euphrates River Valley, liberating the strategic town of Hit and breaking the ISIL siege of Haditha. Iraqi forces have surrounded Fallujah and begun to move into the city. Meanwhile, in the north, Iraqi forces continue to push up the Tigris River Valley, making gains around Makhmour, and now preparing to tighten the noose around ISIL in Mosul. All told, ISIL has now lost nearly half of the populated territory that it once controlled in Iraq and it will lose more. ISIL continues to lose ground in Syria as well. Assisted by our Special Operations Forces, a coalition of local forces is now pressuring the key town of Manbij, which means the noose is tightening around ISIL in Raqqa as well. In short, our coalition continues to be on offense. ISIL is on defense. And its now been a full year since ISIL has been able to mount a major successful offensive operation in either Syria or Iraq. As ISIL continues to lose territory, it also continues to lose the money that is its lifeblood. As a result of our strikes against its oil infrastructure and supply lines, we believe that weve cut ISILs revenue from oil by millions of dollars per month. In destroying the storage sites where they keep their cash, weve deprived ISIL of many millions more. Thanks to the great work of Secretary Lew and many others here today and working with nations and financial institutions around the world ISIL is now effectively cut off from the international financial system. Cutting off ISILs money may not be as dramatic as military strikes, but it is critically important. And were seeing the results. ISILs cash reserves are down. It has had to cut salaries for its fighters. Its resorting to more extortion of those trapped in its grip. And by ISILs own admission, some of its own leaders have been caught stealing cash and gold. Once again, ISILs true nature has been revealed: These are not religious warriors, they are thugs and they are thieves. In continuing to push on this front, I want to mention that it is critical for our friends in the Senate to confirm Adam Szubin, my nominee for Under Secretary of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. Adam has served in Democratic and Republican administrations. Everyone agrees hes eminently qualified. He has been working on these kinds of issues for years. Its now been more than a year since I nominated him more than 420 days and he still has not been given a full vote. There is no good reason for it. It is inexcusable. So its time for the Senate to do its job, put our national security first, and have a vote on Adam Szubin that can lead our financial fight against ISIL and help keep our country safe. ISILs ranks are shrinking as well. Their morale is sinking. As one defender as one defector said, ISIL is not bringing Islam to the world, and people need to know that. Thanks to international efforts, the flow of foreign fighters including from America to Syria and Iraq has plummeted. In fact, our intelligence community now assesses that the ranks of ISIL fighters has been reduced to the lowest levels in more than two and half years. Even as we continue to destroy ISIL militarily, were addressing the larger forces that have allowed these terrorists to gain traction in parts of the world. With regard to Iraq, this means helping Iraqis stabilize liberated communities and promote inclusive governance so ISIL cannot return. With regard to Syria, it means our continued support for the fragile cessation of hostilities there. The cessation of hostilities has not stopped all or even most of the hardship on the Syrian people, the hardship on civilians. And the Assad regime has been the principal culprit in violating the cessation of hostilities. ISIL and al Nusra, which is al Qaeda's affiliate in Syria, also continue to terrorize Syrians. But as fragile and incomplete as the cessation is, it has saved lives and it has allowed the delivery of some lifesaving aid to Syrians who are in desperate need. And as difficult as it is, we will continue to push for a political process that can end the civil war and result in a transition away from Assad. Beyond Syria and Libya beyond Syria and Iraq, ISIL is also losing ground in Libya. Forces of the Libyan unity government are going after ISIL in their stronghold in Sirte. And well continue to assist the new Libyan government as it works to secure its country. Lastly, here at home, if we really want to help law enforcement protect Americans from homegrown extremists, the kind of tragedies that occurred at San Bernardino and that now have occurred in Orlando, there is a meaningful way to do that. We have to make it harder for people who want to kill Americans to get their hands on weapons of war that let them kill dozens of innocents. It is absolutely true we cannot prevent every tragedy. But we know that, consistent with the Second Amendment, there are common-sense steps that could reduce gun violence and could reduce the lethality of somebody who intends to do other people harm. We should give ATF the resources they need to enforce the gun laws that we already have. People with possible ties to terrorism who aren't allowed on a plane shouldn't be allowed to buy a gun. Enough talking about being tough on terrorism. Actually be tough on terrorism, and stop making it easy as possible for terrorists to buy assault weapons. Reinstate the assault weapons ban. Make it harder for terrorists to use these weapons to kill us. Otherwise, despite extraordinary efforts across our government by local law enforcement, by our intelligence agencies, by our military, despite all the sacrifices that folks make, these kinds of events are going to keep on happening. And the weapons are only going to get more powerful. And let me make a final point. For a while now, the main contribution of some of my friends on the other side of the aisle have made in the fight against ISIL is to criticize this administration and me for not using the phrase radical Islam. Thats the key, they tell us we cant beat ISIL unless we call them radical Islamists. What exactly would using this label accomplish? What exactly would it change? Would it make ISIL less committed to trying to kill Americans? Would it bring in more allies? Is there a military strategy that is served by this? The answer is none of the above. Calling a threat by a different name does not make it go away. This is a political distraction. Since before I was President, Ive been clear about how extremist groups have perverted Islam to justify terrorism. As President, I have repeatedly called on our Muslim friends and allies at home and around the world to work with us to reject this twisted interpretation of one of the worlds great religions. There has not been a moment in my seven and a half years as President where we have not been able to pursue a strategy because we didnt use the label radical Islam. Not once has an advisor of mine said, man, if we really use that phrase, we're going to turn this whole thing around. Not once. So if someone seriously thinks that we dont know who we're fighting, if there's anyone out there who thinks we're confused about who our enemies are, that would come as a surprise to the thousands of terrorists who we've taken off the battlefield. If the implication is that those of us up here and the thousands of people around the country and around the world who are working to defeat ISIL aren't taking the fight seriously, that would come as a surprise to those who have spent these last seven and a half years dismantling al Qaeda in the FATA, for example including the men and women in uniform who put their lives at risk and the Special Forces that I ordered to get bin Laden and are now on the ground in Iraq and in Syria. They know full well who the enemy is. So do the intelligence and law enforcement officers who spend countless hours disrupting plots and protecting all Americans, including politicians who tweet and appear on cable news shows. They know who the nature of the enemy is. So theres no magic to the phrase radical Islam. Its a political talking point; it's not a strategy. And the reason I am careful about how I describe this threat has nothing to do with political correctness and everything to do with actually defeating extremism. Groups like ISIL and al Qaeda want to make this war a war between Islam and America, or between Islam and the West. They want to claim that they are the true leaders of over a billion Muslims around the world who reject their crazy notions. They want us to validate them by implying that they speak for those billion-plus people; that they speak for Islam. Thats their propaganda. That's how they recruit. And if we fall into the trap of painting all Muslims with a broad brush and imply that we are at war with an entire religion then were doing the terrorists' work for them. Now, up until this point, this argument about labels has mostly just been partisan rhetoric. And, sadly, we've all become accustomed to that kind of partisanship, even when it involves the fight against these extremist groups. And that kind of yapping has not prevented folks across government from doing their jobs, from sacrificing and working really hard to protect the American people. But we are now seeing how dangerous this kind of mindset and this kind of thinking can be. We're starting to see where this kind of rhetoric and loose talk and sloppiness about who exactly we're fighting, where this can lead us. We now have proposals from the presumptive Republican nominee for President of the United States to bar all Muslims from emigrating to America. We hear language that singles out immigrants and suggests that entire religious communities are complicit in violence. Where does this stop? The Orlando killer, one of the San Bernardino killers, the Fort Hood killer they were all U.S. citizens. Are we going to start treating all Muslim Americans differently? Are we going to start subjecting them to special surveillance? Are we going to start discriminating against them because of their faith? Weve heard these suggestions during the course of this campaign. Do Republican officials actually agree with this? Because that's not the America we want. It doesn't reflect our democratic ideals. It wont make us more safe; it will make us less safe fueling ISILs notion that the West hates Muslims, making young Muslims in this country and around the world feel like no matter what they do, they're going to be under suspicion and under attack. It makes Muslim Americans feel like they're government is betraying them. It betrays the very values America stands for. We've gone through moments in our history before when we acted out of fear and we came to regret it. We've seen our government mistreat our fellow citizens. And it has been a shameful part of our history. This is a country founded on basic freedoms, including freedom of religion. We don't have religious tests here. Our Founders, our Constitution, our Bill of Rights are clear about that. And if we ever abandon those values, we would not only make it a lot easier to radicalize people here and around the world, but we would have betrayed the very things we are trying to protect the pluralism and the openness, our rule of law, our civil liberties the very things that make this country great; the very things that make us exceptional. And then the terrorists would have won. And we cannot let that happen. I will not let that happen. Two weeks ago, I was at the commencement ceremony at the Air Force Academy. And it could not have been more inspiring to see these young people stepping up, dedicated to serve and protect this country. And part of what was inspiring was the incredible diversity of these cadets. We saw cadets, who are straight, applauding classmates who were openly gay. We saw cadets, born here in America, applauding classmates who are immigrants and love this country so much they decided they wanted to be part of our armed forces. We saw cadets and families of all religions applaud cadets who are proud, patriotic Muslim Americans serving their country in uniform, ready to lay their lives on the line to protect you and to protect me. We saw male cadets applauding for female classmates, who can now serve in combat positions. Thats the American military. Thats America one team, one nation. Those are the values that ISIL is trying to destroy, and we shouldnt help them do it. Our diversity and our respect for one another, our drawing on the talents of everybody in this country, our making sure that we are treating everybody fairly that were not judging people on the basis of what faith they are or what race they are, or what ethnicity they are, or what their sexual orientation is thats what makes this country great. Thats the spirit we see in Orlando. Thats the unity and resolve that will allow us to defeat ISIL. Thats what will preserve our values and our ideals that define us as Americans. Thats how were going to defend this nation, and thats how were going to defend our way of life. Thank you very much. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} They came as couples, in groups or by themselves. Gay and straight, old and young, black and white. They had plenty of different things to say, but they were united in expressing solidarity with a community that had been left reeling. On Monday evening, not 48 hours since gunman Omar Mateen had stormed an LBGT nightclub and left 49 people dead in his wake, thousands turned out for vigils to deliver the message that the city would be known by more than his deadly actions. After so many vigils around the world after so many tragedies marked by candles, it might have sound trite or cliched, but the people of Orlando were determined hate would not prosper. My message tonight is love, not hate, said 48-year-old Leslie Smith. He had lost three friends in the attack, one of whom was very close, and he was struggling to take in the enormity of what had happened. I saw them two or three weeks ago and they hugged me. Now, I wont be able to say goodbye. Mourners embrace during a candle-lit vigil, in memory of the victims of the gay nightclub mass shooting in Orlando, at St Anne's Church in the Soho (Reuters) There were at least half a dozen vigils in Orlando, some at churches, another at a Muslim prayer centre, with others in almost every state across the country. In Florida, there were events in cities such as Miami. In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Show all 30 1 /30 In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People gather at a vigil in solidarity for the victims of the Orlando nightclub mass shooting, at Taylor Square in Sydney EPA In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Brett Morian, from Daytona Beach, hugs an attendee during the candlelight vigil at Ember in Orlando AP In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People and members of the gay community holding the peace rainbow flag gather for a vigil near the Beaubourg art center in downtown Paris AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A man places a hand print on a makeshift memorial in a parking lot near the Pulse nightclub in Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People attend a candlelight vigil for the victims of the Orlando attack against a gay night club, held in San Francisco REUTERS In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People place candles by a statue of Abraham Lincoln during a candlelight vigil for the victims of the Orlando attack against a gay night club, held in San Francisco REUTERS In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Tel-Aviv city hall lit up with rainbow flag colors in solidarity with Florida's shooting attack victims AP In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Juan Mantilla (L) stands with his partner during a vigil in memory of the victims of the Orlando mass shooting, in Miami Beach AP In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A couple shares a kiss as they embrace each other under a pride flag while residents of San Francisco and the Bay Area gather to mourn, honor, and remember the victims of a mass shooting at a LGBT nightclub in Orlando EPA In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Austin Ellis, a member of Metropolitan Community Church, carries a cross with a sign in memory of the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting as he marches in the 2016 Gay Pride Parade in Philadelphia Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A rainbow flag flies at half mast on the Space Needle in Seattle, in honor of the victims of the nightclub shooting in Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People at the LA Pride event in West Hollywood, write signs and light candles showing solidarity with victims of the mass killings in Orlando AP In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims In reaction to the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida people hug outside the Stonewall Inn near a vigil for the victims in New York AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A woman offers free hugs in Washington, in reaction to the mass shootings at a gay club in Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A U.S. flag is flown at half staff at the White House after the Orlando mass shooting Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A man lays flowers on a rainbow flag in front of the embassy of the United States in Madrid, to pay tribute to the victims of the shooting of Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims The Michael Fowler Centre is lit in rainbow colours by the city council during a candle lit vigil across the road at Frank Kits Park in Wellington, in remembrance of victims after a gunman opened fire in a gay nightclub in Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Participants hold candles during a vigil at Frank Kits Park in Wellington, in remembrance of victims after a gunman opened fire in a gay nightclub in Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Vixon Noir (R) consoles Trashina Cann, both of San Francisco, during a vigil at Harvey Milk Plaza in the Castro district of San Francisco AP In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People gather in the Castro District for a vigil for the victims of the Orlando shooting at a gay nightclub, in San Francisco REUTERS In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A couple joins residents of San Francisco and the Bay Area to mourn, honor, and remember the victims of a mass shooting at a LGBT nightclub in Orlando EPA In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Mourners pay tribute to the victims of the Orlando shooting during a memorial service in San Diego AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims The Orlando Eye observation wheel lights up in rainbow colors, to remember the people killed and injured in the Pulse nightclub shooting AP In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People sit by the water with candles during a vigil in a park following a mass shooting at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando REUTERS In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Members of The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence carry a sign of remembrance for mass shooting victims in Orlando, at the 46th annual Los Angeles Gay Pride Parade in West Hollywood REUTERS In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Former Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra and Shawn Lang of Hartford embrace after Segarra spoke, during a vigil organized by the state's Muslim and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities, on the steps of the state Capitol building in reaction to the mass shooting in Orlando AP In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims The City Hall Building is lit in the rainbow colors in New York, in reaction to the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims One World Trade Center is lit in the rainbow colors in New York, in reaction to the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People hold a vigil after the worst mass shooting in U.S. history at a gay nightclub in Orlando, in front of the White House in Washington REUTERS In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A man lays down 50 roses to honor each victim of the gay Orlando night club shooting as people gather outside of the Stonewall Inn as a vigil is held following the massacre Getty Images Thousands of people poured into the centre of Orlando for the OneOrlando Vigil on the grass in front of an event at the Dr Phillips Centre for the Performing Arts. They listened to songs, speeches, held placards, left flowers and accepted - and offered - free hugs. The Orlando Gay Chorus performed shortly after the event got under way at around 7pm. Amal Mahmoud, a Muslim woman from the city, said she had been determined to attend the event. Its just to show support and think of others, she said. This is very shocking. This city is usually very peaceful. Asked about the controversial comments made by individuals such as Donald Trump, who have called for Muslims to be barred from the US, she said: He needs to be positive, not negative. We dont want to think about negative things. People were encouraged to write messages of support (Andrew Buncombe ) (Andrew Buncombe) Many people knelt to write messages on large sheets of paper that had been left out on the ground. One of many read: I live my city and we will be strong and get through this together. Kaitlin Daniels, a 20-year-old student, said her friends regularly visited the Pulse club. On this occasion none were caught up in the mayhem that played out in the early hours of Sunday, but it had struck close to home. People are just feeling sad, she said. Carlos Rivera, who was with his partner, Chris Osborn, said that for all the progress made by the LGBT community, it was wrong to ever take anything for granted. Its never over, but it does get easier, he said. He said he believed it was time for the government to take tougher action to enforce gun regulations. There were simply too many such incidents. Patrice Rene, who lives outside of Orlando, had attended with a friend, Melissa Alexander. They both said that Orlando was supportive of the LGBT community. "I have lots of freinds within the commuinty," said said. "For those that were there, my heart goes out." In the wake of the largest mass shooting in U.S. history, the BBB Serving Central Florida and the BBB Wise Giving Alliance, the national charity monitoring arm of the Better Business Bureau, caution donors about potential red flags in fund raising to help Orlando victims and their families, and to be aware of the different circumstances that often emerge in tragedy-related philanthropy. Tragedy inspires people to give, and this terrible tragedy is drawing incredible response already from people all around the world said H. Art Taylor, President & CEO, BBB Wise Giving Alliance The best way to help the victims, their families, and the people of Orlando is to make sure that donations end up where they belong. We are already hearing about click-bait schemes and questionable solicitations, and we expect there will numerous scams and frauds. We urge those generous donors to give wisely so their gifts can do the most good. Holly Salmons, President & CEO of the Better Business Bureau Serving Central Florida, notes, The world has rushed to support the City Beautiful and the victims on this heinous crime. We encourage those who want to show their support through donations to do so with caution. Scammers depend on heightened emotion and often follow closely behind tragic events. BBB Wise Giving Alliance urges donors to give thoughtfully and avoid those seeking to take advantage of the generosity of others. Here are Ten Tips for Giving with Confidence. Thoughtful giving: Take the time to check out the charity to avoid wasting your generosity by donating to a questionable or poorly managed effort. The first request for a donation may not be the best choice. Be proactive and find trusted charities that are providing assistance. State government registration: About 40 of the 50 states require charities to register with a state government agency (usually a division of the State Attorney Generals office) before they solicit for charitable gifts. If the charity is not registered, that may be a significant red flag. Respecting victims and their families: Organizations raising funds should get permission from the families to use either the names of the victims and/or any photographs of them. Some charities raising funds for the Colorado movie theater victims did not do this and were the subject of criticism from victims families. How will donations be used?: Watch out for vague appeals that dont identify the intended use of funds. For example, how will the donations help victims families? Also, unless told otherwise, donors will assume that funds collected quickly in the wake of a tragedy will be spent just as quickly. See if the appeal identifies when the collected funds will be used. What if a family sets up its own assistance fund?: Some families may decide to set up their own assistance funds. Be mindful that such funds may not be set up as charities. Also, make sure that collected monies are received and administered by a third party such as a bank, CPA or lawyer. This will help provide oversight and ensure the collected funds are used appropriately (e.g., paying for funeral costs, counseling, and other tragedy-related needs.) Advocacy organizations: Tragedies that involve violent acts with firearms can also generate requests from a variety of advocacy organizations that address gun use. Donors can support these efforts as well but note that some of these advocacy groups are not tax exempt as charities. Also, watch out for newly-created advocacy groups that will be difficult to check out. Online cautions: Never click on links to charities on unfamiliar websites or in texts or emails. These may take you to a lookalike website where you will be asked to provide personal financial information or to click on something that downloads harmful malware into your computer. Dont assume that charity recommendations on Facebook, blogs or other social media have already been vetted. Financial transparency: After funds are raised for a tragedy, it is even more important for organizations to provide an accounting of how funds were spent. Transparent organizations will post this information on their websites so that anyone can find out and not have to wait until the audited financial statements are available sometime in the future. Newly-created or established organizations: This is a personal giving choice, but an established charity will more likely have the experience to quickly address the circumstances and have a track record that can be evaluated. A newly-formed organization may be well-meaning but will be difficult to check out and may not be well managed. Tax deductibility: Not all organizations collecting funds to assist this tragedy are tax exempt as charities under section 501(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Donors can support these other entities but keep this in mind if they want to take a deduction for federal income tax purposes. In addition, contributions that are donor-restricted to help a specific individual/family are not deductible as charitable donations, even if the recipient organization is a charity. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} It was around 2am when staff at the Orlando Regional Medical Centre got word of ambulances heading in bearing gunshot victims. They had no idea that within moments their hospital would be transformed into what one doctor likened to a war zone We got word that there was a shooting. We didnt know what was about to hit us, said medical director Dr Gary Parrish. On Tuesday, Mr Parrish and others revealed for the first time the extraordinary efforts made in the early hours of Sunday morning, as the medical team battled to save the lives of those shot and hurt in the Pulse night club. The challenge the team confronted was unprecedented at the hospital, and the doctors and nurses worked endlessly to try and save lives and treat injuries. The medical team said they had never dealt with such a situation (AP) One thing that was of benefit to both the medical staff and the victims, was that the hospital was located just a few streets from the night club where Omar Mateen launched his attack and took on police. On the other hand, this also meant that the doctors and nurses had no time to prepare for a night they had never before experienced. There had been Saturday nights when the hospital had treated half-a-dozen gunshot victims. There had been one night when staff had to treat 12 such cases. But there had never been something of this magnitude, they said. Dr Kathryn Bondani said the first patient had been relatively stable and able to talk. The staff hoped that the remainder would be like that as well. It was not to be. They were dropped off in truckloads, in ambulance-loads, she added. It was like, another patient is here, another patient is here, another patient is here. Angel Santiago listens as Patience Carter recounts her story (Reuters) She added: Our amazing nurses and techs were putting them on stretchers and rolling them into us and telling us, Another patient is here, another patient is here, another patient is here. Chadwick Smith, the on-duty trauma surgeon, had been resting in a room at the hospital. He had completed four operations and admitted 20 people during his shift when his phone rang. It was a trainee in the emergency room asking that he come straight away. When Dr Smith arrived he could see that he alone would not be able to deal with the scale of the attack. He called for back up, waking Joseph Ibrahim and then fellow doctors Michael Cheetham and Matt Lube. This is not a drill, Mr Smith told them. This is not a joke. We have twenty plus gunshot wounds coming in. I need you here as fast as [possible]. He said that the response from people was stunning. You can imagine people getting a call at two or three oclock from work, he said. But I think that everyone I asked answered their phones. I told them I need you here right now, he said. Every answer I got was, Ill be right there. Orlando survivor: There were bodies everywhere The medical staff said that within an hour, the hospital was running six operating rooms, compared to the normal two that would be running during a usual overnight shift. The staff had difficulty decisions to make. The trauma bay quickly overflowed with patients with serious wounds, forcing doctors performing triage to move critically injured people elsewhere and focus on those whose lives were most in danger. Reuters reported that nurses and technicians also arrived, many without being told to come, turning much of the hospital into emergency response areas. Trauma surgeon William Havron was one of those called in, and found a hospital flooded with bloody victims with severe wounds. He called it a surreal experience. The Orlando Regional Medical Centre was placed under police guard after the shooting (Reuters) We were just given patient after patient after patient, he said. We'd literally walk from that operation room to another operating room and just do it again and again. Joseph Ibrahim said the hospital looked like a war scene with patients in every corner. Some had wounds from both large and small ammunition, suggesting the gunman used both his assault rifle and pistol. He said smaller ammunition had the ability to move inside a body, creating additional damage. Among the injured was Angel Colon, 26, who had been shot three times in his leg, and his bones shattered as he was trampled in the crowd. Then he was hit again, in the hand and hip, as the gunman shot the injured, apparently making sure theyre dead. Appearing in a wheelchair Tuesday at the hospitals news conference, Mr Colon turned to the doctors and nurses and said: I will love you guys forever. A memorial near the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando (Reuters) Mr Smith said the team worked through the early hours of Sunday morning when it received word, with the gunman having been killed and police entering the nightclub, the hospital was set to receive 20 more victims. They were forced to send to another hospital for medical supplies. There was a second wave, he said. And it was basically a repeat of the first. The medics said that 44 people were brought to their hospital on Sunday morning, with 11 taken to another facility in Orlando. Nine could not be saved. As of Tuesday, 27 remained in hospital with six in intensive care, including one who was shot in the head. Two of patients in the ICU may be permanently disabled, but no patient has succumbed since the nine who were pronounced dead on arrival. It was singularly the worst day of my career and the best day of my career, said Mr Smith. And I think you can say that of pretty much every person standing up here. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The former wife and acquaintances of the gunman who massacred 49 people at a gay club in Florida have suggested he may have been questioning his sexual orientation. Omar Mateen pledged allegiance to Isis during the shooting in Orlando in the early hours of Sunday morning and authorities are treating the atrocity as a terror attack inspired by the group. His father claimed he had become angry after recently seeing two men kiss but others said Mateen visited gay clubs and used same-sex dating apps. Sitora Yusufiy, his ex-wife, reportedly told her fiance the shooter had gay tendencies. Who is Omar Mateen? In an interview with SBT Brazil television, Marcio Dias said she recalled Mateens father accusing him of being homosexual several times in front of her before they divorced in 2011. A man who was Mateens class at the Indian River Community College police academy in 2006 said he showed romantic interest. The man, who did not want to be named, told the Palm Beach Post: We went to a few gay bars with him, and I was not out at the time, so I declined his offer. He believed Mateen was gay but was not open about his preference, describing him as socially awkward. Mateen did not become a police officer and was working as a G4S security guard at the time of his attack. Another man said Mateen had messaged him for a year on the gay chat and dating app Jackd but that they never met up. Kevin West told the Los Angeles Times he was dropping off a friend at Pulse at 1am on Sunday morning when he recognised him crossing the road. He walked directly past me. I said, Hey, and he turned and said, Hey, and nodded his head, West said. I could tell by the eyes. In pictures: Orlando nightclub shooting Show all 30 1 /30 In pictures: Orlando nightclub shooting In pictures: Orlando nightclub shooting Friends and family grieve after a list of hospitalised victims was released, implying the death of those who weren't on the list and hadn't been heard from, outside a Hampton Inn & Suites hotel near the Orlando Regional Medical Center AP In pictures: Orlando nightclub shooting People mourning for victims of the mass shooting near the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Orlando nightclub shooting Mina Justice speaks to a reporter discussing texting with her son Eddie who was in a bathroom at Club Pulse in Orlando. It has now been confirmed that Eddie Justice was among the 50 people killed in the massacre AP In pictures: Orlando nightclub shooting FBI agents investigate near the damaged rear wall of the Pulse Nightclub Getty Images In pictures: Orlando nightclub shooting Terry DeCarlo, executive director of the LGBT Center of Central Florida (C) is comforted by Orlando City Commissioner Patty Sheehan (R) after a shooting involving multiple fatalities at a nightclub in Orlando AP In pictures: Orlando nightclub shooting FBI agents investigate the damaged rear wall of the Pulse Nightclub Getty Images In pictures: Orlando nightclub shooting Police officials investigate the back of the Pulse nightclub after a shooting involving multiple fatalities at the nightclub in Orlando AP In pictures: Orlando nightclub shooting A member of the Medical Examiners office wheels a body to a vehicle from the mass shooting at Pulse Nightclub Getty Images In pictures: Orlando nightclub shooting A photograph posted by the Orlando Police Department on Twitter with the words, "Pulse shooting: In hail of gunfire in which suspect was killed, OPD officer was hit. Kevlar helmet saved his life", in reference to the operation against a gun man inside Pulse night club in Orlando REUTERS In pictures: Orlando nightclub shooting FBI, Orlando Police Department and the Orange County Sheriff's Office personnel investigate the attack at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando AP In pictures: Orlando nightclub shooting Annette Stubbs, a pastor at a local church, prays for victims a few blocks from a crime scene at the nightclub where a mass shooting took place AP In pictures: Orlando nightclub shooting Aimee McCarthy from Jacksonville, gives blood at the oneblood facility, to help the victims from a mass shooting at a nightclub in Orlando AP In pictures: Orlando nightclub shooting Police forensics investigators work at the crime scene of a mass shooting at the Pulse gay night club in Orlando REUTERS In pictures: Orlando nightclub shooting An injured person is escorted out of the Pulse nightclub after a shooting rampage AP In pictures: Orlando nightclub shooting An injured man is escorted out of the Pulse nightclub after a shooting rampage AP In pictures: Orlando nightclub shooting An injured man is escorted out of the Pulse nightclub after a shooting rampage AP In pictures: Orlando nightclub shooting Law enforcement officials work at the Pulse nightclub following a fatal shooting AP In pictures: Orlando nightclub shooting Orlando Police officers direct family members away from the nightclub AP In pictures: Orlando nightclub shooting The scene outside the Orlando gay club where multiple people have been shot AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Orlando nightclub shooting The injured are treated in the street outside Pulse in Orlando following the shooting EPA/Univision In pictures: Orlando nightclub shooting Two witnesses, Jermain Towns (left) and Brandon Shuford, wait down the street for news following shooting and hostage stand-off at the Pulse nightclub. Mr Towns said his brother was in the club at the time AP In pictures: Orlando nightclub shooting Emergency services at the scene. Ambulance crews and firefighters were outside the club alongside police. EPA In pictures: Orlando nightclub shooting People treating the wounded on the street EPA In pictures: Orlando nightclub shooting Friends and family members embrace outside the Orlando Police Headquarters during the investigation of a shooting at the Pulse night club Reuters In pictures: Orlando nightclub shooting Law enforcement agencies and local city representatives give a news conference in the wake of a mass-casualty shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando Rex In pictures: Orlando nightclub shooting Orlando police officers seen outside of Pulse nightclub after a fatal shooting and hostage situation in Orlando, Florida Getty In pictures: Orlando nightclub shooting Friends and family console one another outside the Orlando Police Headquarters In pictures: Orlando nightclub shooting U.S. President Barack Obama speaks about the worst mass shooting in U.S. history that took place in Orlando REUTERS In pictures: Orlando nightclub shooting Imam Syed Shafeeq Rahman, the Imam of the mosqe that mass shooter Omar Mateen attended, speaks to the media in Fort Pierce. The imam said that the suspect never gave any indication he was capable of such violence.Omar Mateen attended evening prayers three or four times a week at the Islamic Center of Fort Pierce, bringing his son who is about four or five years old AFP/Getty Images In pictures: Orlando nightclub shooting Omar Mateen has killed 50 people at a gay nightclub after pledging allegiance to Isis in the deadliest mass shooting in US history Myspace Several regulars at the club told the Orlando Sentinel Mateen had visited before and told drinkers he had a child, as well as talking about his father. Sometimes he would go over in the corner and sit and drink by himself, and other times he would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent, Ty Smith said. Another frequent patron at Pulse, Jim Van Horn, described Mateen as a regular. He was trying to pick up people. Men, he told the Associated Press, saying the man had once told him about his ex-wife. The FBI said it was investigating whether Mateen had visited venues to scout them out for a possible attack. We are working to understand what role anti-gay bigotry may have played in motivating this attack, director James Comey said. But we are highly confident that this killer was radicalised and at least in some part through the internet. Police at the scene of the attack (Getty Images) He said Mateen had made supporting multiple armed Islamist movements and people, which adds a little bit to the confusion about his motives. Isis claimed responsibility for the shooting, calling Mateen a soldier of the Caliphate, but there was no indication that the terrorist group had contact with the gunman or directed the atrocity. It does appear that at the last minute he announced allegiance to Isil (Isis) but there is no evidence so far that he was in fact directed by Isil or that it was part of a larger plot, Barack Obama said. The 29-year-old was shot dead in a gun battle with police who stormed Pulse with armoured vehicles after a three-hour siege. Mateen called 911 as he held hostages in a bathroom, pledging allegiance to Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and talking about the Boston bombers and a man who became a suicide bomber for the al-Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra in Syria. Co-workers reported him to the FBI in 2013 after he had made inflammatory and contradictory statements, including a claim that he had family connections to al-Qaeda and Hezbollah but investigators found no evidence of a link. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Disney has donated $1 million to help victims of the deadliest mass shooting in US history. Orland Mayor Buddy Dyer made the announcement on Tuesday revealing that The Walt Disney Company donated money to the OneOrlando organization, established to help victims of the shooting at the Pulse nightclub this week. We are heartbroken by this tragedy and hope our commitment will help those in the community affected by this senseless act, Chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Bob Chapek said in a statement. With 74,000 cast members who call Orlando home, we mourn the loss of the victims and offer our condolences to their families, friends and loved ones. Forty-nine people were killed and 53 others injured after the 29-year-old shooter opened fire inside the LGBT nightclub. Mayor Dyer also thanked the company for their donation on Twitter. Thank you Walt Disney Co. for donating $1 million to One Orlando, he wrote. Mayor Dyer also announced that JetBlue contributed $100,000 to the fund. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The presumptive presidential nominees Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump gave dueling speeches on June 13 in the aftermath of the Orlando mass shooting. We combed through the speeches to find factual assertions that were worthy of fact checking. There were many more such claims, of dubious provenance, in Trumps speech, so his section of the fact check is longer. The quotes are in the order in which they were delivered. As is our custom in such roundups, we do not provide a Pinocchio rating. Hillary Clinton "If youre too dangerous to get on a plane, you are too dangerous to buy a gun in America." There's a renewed push among gun-control advocates to ban known or suspected terrorists from buying guns. This phrase has been used to explain provisions in the February 2015 amendment introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) in the Senate, and Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) in the House. Clinton has repeated it on the trail since the San Bernardino, Calif., shooting. Weve explored this rhetoric in the past and found it misleading when referring to the proposal that Feinstein introduced. The no fly list is a database that the Transportation Security Administration uses to screen passengers, and people on the list are deemed a threat to commercial aviation or national security. This list is a subset of a larger watch list, the FBIs Terrorist Screening Centers consolidated Terrorist Watchlist. The Feinstein amendment applied to the people in the larger consolidated list, not directly tied to the no-fly list. The government uses a reasonable suspicion standard to nominate and include someone in the Terrorist Watchlist. Belonging to a terrorist organization, or being listed on one of the watch lists, does not automatically stop someone from buying a gun. If a person on a watch list tries to buy a gun, the FBI is notified. There has to be another factor that disqualifies the person from buying a gun under federal or state law, such as a felony conviction or illegal immigration status. According to FBI Director James Comey, the gunman in the Orlando shooting was once on a terrorism watch list. But he was taken off the list after FBI officials did not find enough evidence to charge him. Its unclear how the proposal that Clinton has supported would have intervened in this case. "I know some will say that assault weapons and background checks are totally separate issues having nothing to do with terrorism. Well, in Orlando and San Bernardino terrorists used assault weapons, the AR-15. And they used it to kill Americans. That was the same assault weapon used to kill those little children in Sandy Hook." Many of our readers have inquired about the difference between assault weapon and assault rifle, given media reports using the terms interchangeably. This line by Clinton refers to the weapon used in Orlando and San Bernardino: the AR-15. Clinton has called for a new ban on assault weapons, after the previous assault-weapons ban expired in 2004 after 10 years. There is mixed evidence as to how effective that ban was, and dispute over the efficacy of bans on certain weapons and large-capacity magazines in general. (Related: See our fact-check on whether proposed gun-control laws since the Newtown shooting in 2012 would have affected those shootings.) Our colleague Thomas Gibbons-Neff on Checkpoint has a helpful explanation of the history of the AR-15. The AR-15 is the civilian version of the M-16, the Armys standard issue rifle. Its commonly referred to as an assault rifle, but that term doesnt apply to all AR-15s since not all are fully automatic. As Gibbons-Neff explained: Known to the masses as an AR-15 assault rifle and frequently misnamed as a machine gun, the AR-15 is sold mostly as a semiautomatic weapon only, meaning one pull of the trigger equates to one bullet leaving the barrel. An assault rifle, by definition, means that the weapon is fully automatic. Fully automatic AR-15s are available in the United States, but they require extensive paperwork from the bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and are exponentially more expensive than their single-fire counterparts. That being said, certain modifications to the weapons trigger assembly can enable some semiautomatic AR-15s for fully automatic fire. "For starters, it is long past time for the Saudis, the Qataris and the Kuwaitis and others to stop their citizens from funding extremist organizations." This has long been an issue for the U.S. government, which has jawboned these countries to little effect. A 2009 State Department cable, issued when Clinton was secretary of state and later released by WikiLeaks, detailed the talking points that were to be delivered to officials in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait, urging yet again that action be taken to stem the financing of terror groups through private donation. We should also note that such concerns did not prevent the Clinton Foundation from accepting millions of dollars from these countries $10-25 million from Saudi Arabia, $5-10 million from Kuwait and $1-5 million from Qatar. "Its no coincidence that hate crimes against American Muslims and mosques have tripled after Paris and San Bernardino." Clinton suggests this is a current statistic, but it is based on just one month of data after the Paris and San Bernardino attacks, collected by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University. Brian Levin, the centers director, told The Fact Checker that the center did not collect data after Jan. 1 and he acknowledged that it represents a small data set. But he noted that it reflected a trend of anti-Muslim actions that have spiked after previous instances, mostly notably after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Clinton: We must 'stop terrorists from getting' assault weapons Embed Share Play Video3:47 Speaking in Cleveland, Ohio, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called for unity in the wake of the tragic shooting in Orlando. Here are key moments from that speech. (Reuters/Associated Press) Donald Trump Even her former Secret Service agent, whos seen her under pressure and in times of stress, has stated that she lacks the temperament and integrity to be our president. There is a book by a former Secret Service agent due to be released on June 28 that supposedly makes this allegation. The killer, whose name I will not use, or ever say, was born in Afghan, of Afghan parents, who immigrated to the United States. Twitter commentary quickly noted that Trump was wrong, that the shooter was born in the United States. But Trump, using a teleprompter, misspoke. His prepared text correctly stated that Omar Mateen was born an American citizen. Even our own FBI director has admitted that we cannot effectively check the backgrounds of people were letting into America. Trump overstated what FBI Director James Comey said in congressional testimony. Comey made his remarks in response to a bill that would have required the FBI chief to personally certify that every single refugee admitted into the country was not a security threat. Could I certify to there being no risk associated with an individual? Comey said on Dec. 9. The bureau doesnt take positions on legislation, and we dont get involved in policy decisions. But that practically would be impossible. Comey has made it clear that the process in place to vet refugees has gotten better but there is nothing that is risk-free. All of the September 11 hijackers were issued visas. Large numbers of Somali refugees in Minnesota have tried to join ISIS. Trump is correct that the 19 hijackers in the 9/11 attacks had visas though some of them had overstayed their visa. Five other co-conspirators applied for visas, but were denied. Two others also obtained visas, but were not a part of the actual attacks, according to the 9/11 Commission staff report. There is a concentration of ethnic Somalis in Minneapolis who have joined known terrorist groups, like al Shabaab and Isis. But numbers are not large. According to the George Washington Universitys report on U.S.-grown extremism, at least 15 individuals since 2014 have traveled or tried to travel out of America to join ISIS, relying on a well-worn recruiting apparatus that leveraged deep personal, familial and community relations. Minnesota had the second highest number of arrests (11) made in a state connected to ISIS-related activities in 2015 alone, behind New York. Immigration from Afghanistan into the United States has increased nearly five fold five fold in just one year. According to Pew Research, 99 percent of the people in Afghanistan support oppressive sharia law. Trump may be referring to the increase in grants of legal permanent residents to Afghans from fiscal 2013 (2,196) to fiscal 2014 (10,527). The increase resulted in additional visas granted through the Special Immigrant Visa Program for Afghans who were interpreters for the military or worked for the U.S. government, according to the Migration Policy Institute. Congress allowed this fix due to backlogs in processing the cases. In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Show all 44 1 /44 In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Frank Escalante AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Luis Daniel Conde AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Brenda Lee Marquez McCool In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Yilmary Rodriguez Solivan AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Joel Rayon Paniagua AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Jerald Arthur Wright AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Paul Terrell Henry AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Shane Evan Tomlinson AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Antonio Davon Brown AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Jason Benjamin Josaphat AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Enrique L. Rios, Jr. AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Darryl Roman Burt AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Cory James Connell REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Tevin Eugene Crosby AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Jonathan Antonio Camuy-Vega AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Rodolfo Ayala-Ayala AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Leroy Valentin Fernandez AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Christopher Andrew Leinonen AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Angel L. Candelario-Padro AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Simon Adrian Carrillo-Fernande AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Christopher Joseph Sanfeliz REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Javier Jorge-Reyes AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Gilberto Ramon Silva-Menendez AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Juan P. Rivera-Velazquez AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Miguel Angel Honorato AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Jean Carlos Mendez Perez REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Mercedez Marisol Flores REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Xavier Emmanuel Serrano Rosado REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Anthony Luis Laureano Disla REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Franky Jimmy De Jesus Velazquez REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Oscar A. Aracena-Montero REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Martin Benitez Torres REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Stanley Almodovar Facebook/Stanley Manolo Almodovar III In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Eddie Justice Faebook/ Eddie Justice In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Luis Vielma Twitter/@jk_rowling In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera Facebook/ Eric Rivera In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Juan Ramon Guerrero Facebook/ Juan Ramon Guerrero In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Peter O. Gonzalez-Cruz Facebook/ Peter Gonzalez Cruz In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Amanda Alvear Facebook/ Amanda Alvear In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Anthony Disla Facebook/ Anthony Disla In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Edward Sotomayor Twitter/@ryanraiche In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo Facebook/Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Kimberley Morris Twitter/ @katiezavadski Trump cites Pews research that 99 percent of Muslims in Afghanistan support sharia law as the official law. But Pew also notes that nearly 30 percent of Muslims in Afghanistan say sharia should be open to multiple interpretations, and that people often disagree on what sharia law means. Here is what she [Clinton] said, exact quote, Muslims are peaceful and tolerant people, and have nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism. That is Hillary Clinton. He is referring to this tweet, which prefaced the comment with the observation that Islam is not our adversary: Lets be clear: Islam is not our adversary. Muslims are peaceful and tolerant people and have nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism. Her plan is to disarm law abiding Americans, abolishing the Second Amendment, and leaving only the bad guys and terrorists with guns.She wants to take away Americans guns and then admit the very people who want to slaughter us. Nope, Clinton does not want to abolish the Second Amendment. Our friends at FactCheck.org and PolitiFact both debunked this. Clinton has consistently said she supported protecting Americans constitutional right to bear arms. Her gun violence prevention proposal includes plans to make certain gun purchases a federal crime, and ban certain type of guns (assault weapons). Lets not forget that Trump himself used to support an assault weapons ban, as he wrote in his 2000 book, The America We Deserve: I generally oppose gun control, but I support the ban on assault weapons and I support a slightly longer waiting period to purchase a gun. Hillary Clintons catastrophic immigration plan will bring vastly more radical Islamic immigration into this country, threatening not only our society but our entire way of life. The burden is on Hillary Clinton to tell us how she will pay for it, her plan will cost hundreds of billions of dollars long term. We cant fact-check whether Clintons plan is catastrophic; well let readers judge that for themselves. Its unclear where Trump is getting the cost estimate on the hundreds of billions of dollars, but it seems wildly exaggerated. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget found that the immigration reform component of Clintons plan would save the federal budget $100 billion over 10 years. Trump calls for massive shift in immigration policy Embed Share Play Video3:21 Each year the United States permanently admits 100,000 immigrants from the Middle East and many more from Muslim countries outside of the Middle East. Trump overstated the figure here. The number of people seeking lawful permanent resident status (a green card) adds up to about 76,000 people if you include the Arab countries in the Levant, Persian Gulf and North Africa, according to 2014 Department of Homeland Security figures. You get to around 100,000 only by including Afghanistan and Pakistan, which of course are outside the traditional Middle East. Other Muslim countries, such as Indonesia (2,139) and Somalia (5,190), do not significantly add to the total. Clintons State Department was in charge of admissions and the admissions process for people applying to enter from overseas. This is a strange and false claim. The vetting of immigrants is done by Homeland Security, specifically its arm known as U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Only after USCIS approves a petition for an immigrant visa does States National Visa Center get involved to complete the paperwork for final processing. Having learned nothing from these attacks, she now plans to massively increase admissions without a screening plan including a 500 percent increase in Syrian refugees coming into our country. President Obama (not Hillary Clinton) has directed that 10,000 refugees be admitted from Syria in this fiscal year, up from under 2,000 the previous year. Thats where Trump gets his 500 percent, though the raw numbers are not that big. But then he greatly inflates the figure in his next statement. Under the Clinton plan, youd be admitting hundreds of thousands of refugees from the Middle East with no system to vet them, or to prevent the radicalization of the children and their children. Trump has repeatedly made this hundreds of thousands claim, usually referring to Syria, but its false. The Obama administration said it would accept a total of 85,000 refugees in 2016 and 100,000 in 2017. Thats from all countries, of which 10,000 would be from Syria in 2016. In fiscal 2013, about 30 percent came from the Middle East, mostly from Iraq. So no matter how you calculate it, it does not add up to hundreds of thousands. Trump also falsely claims there is no system to vet refugees. The process actually takes two more years, after vetting that starts with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and then continues with checks by U.S. intelligence and security agencies. (Our colleagues at PolitiFact did a good look at this process.) We have to stop the tremendous flow of Syrian refugees into the United States. There is no tremendous flow, as we have noted. About 1,800 Syrian refugees were admitted to the United States from the beginning of the civil war in Syria to November 2015. The United States is actually behind on its goal of settling at least 10,000 Syrian refugees this year. Americans already admitted four times more immigrants than any country on Earth, anybody in the world. This is a statistic touted by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), a close adviser to Trump. But its a dubious one, as it appears based on raw numbers and inconsistent data sets among countries, making it difficult to make an apples-to-apples comparison. The United States is also one of the largest countries in the world in terms of population, so its immigration figures are bound to be among the highest in raw numbers. A better way to examine this question across large and small countries is net migrants per 1,000 people. On that score, the United States does not rank very high only 34th in the world in 2015, according to the CIAs World Factbook. Not surprisingly, wages for our workers havent budged. In almost 20 years. Trump is correct. As we noted recently in another fact check, since 2000, the last year of the Bill Clinton administration, median household income has been largely flat $57,576 in January 2000 and $57,243 in April 2016. They [Muslims] knew the people in San Bernardino were bad. But you know what? They didnt turn them in. There is no evidence this was the case. There have been unconfirmed second- or third-hand reports a friend of a friend of a neighbor that a neighbor claimed to have noticed suspicious activity but did not report anything for fear of doing racial profiling. The religion of this supposed neighbor is unknown, but presumably a fear of racial profiling would suggest the neighbor was not Muslim. Weve spent almost $5 trillion over the years on trying to nation build in the Middle East and it has been complete and total disaster. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have cost a lot of money about $2 trillion in direct costs but nothing close to $5 trillion has been spent on nation-building. The number climbs to between $4 trillion and $6 trillion when future costs for providing medical care and disability benefits for veterans is added, as well as the future cost of servicing the national debt. But Trump suggest the money has already been spent and specifically for nation-building. He [Obama] gave the world his apology tour. An oldie but goodie! Republicans claimed in the last election cycle that Obama went on an apology tour, but that was deemed false by fact checkers. We gave the claim Four Pinocchios in 2011. Copyright: Washington Post Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} On this World Blood Donor Day, congressional Democrats are pushing for the removal of a decades-old ban on blood donations from gay and bisexual men. Recommended Read more Blood donors to receive a text before their blood is used in hospital The immediate aftermath of the massacre in Orlando that claimed the lives of 49 LGBTQ people at the Pulse nightclub exposed the discrepancy in how blood donations are regulated in the US. During the 1980s AIDS crisis, the Food and Drug Administration indefinitely banned blood donations from gay and bisexual men to protect against transmitting the immunodeficiency virus that was significantly impacting the population. The imposed rule prohibited men from donating blood for 12 months after they had sex with other men. But after the Pulse nightclub shooting that killed 49 and wounded 53 more, hundreds of people lined up to give blood - only gay and bisexual men were barred from donating to their community that was now suffering. Orlando survivor: There were bodies everywhere We find it unacceptable that gay and bisexual men are banned from donating desperately needed blood in response to this tragedy, Democrats led by Illinois representative Mike Quigley, vice chair of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus, said in a statement. However, the FDA said that it did not have enough scientific evidence to support the removal of the ban. Along with Mr Quigley, Massachusetts Sen Elizabeth Warren, Wisconsin Sen Tammy Baldwin, and California Representative Barbara Lee co-signed the statement. The lawmakers called the ruled outdated and discriminatory, adding that it assumes that all gay and bisexual donors pose a risk regardless of their behaviour. This revision does not go far enough in ending an outdated policy that is medically and scientifically unwarranted and that perpetuates inaccurate stereotypes, the lawmakers added. The FDA say it will re-evaluate its policies as more scientific information becomes available, but they say they have enough blood in stock for the time being. We empathize with those who might wish to donate, they wrote, but reiterate that at this time no one who needs blood is doing without it. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Indonesia is to perform a wave of executions after the end of Ramadan, meaning two British people on death row may face the firing squad sooner than expected. The countrys government announced it plans to put 16 convicted prisoners to death after Eid holiday in early July, the first executions since the start of a hiatus in April last year. Lindsay Sandiford, a grandmother from Teeside convicted of trafficking cocaine with a street value of 1.6 million, was given the death penalty in August 2013 and remains on death row. A British man was also convicted for smuggling drugs into the country and has been in custody since September 2012. It is not yet clear whether the pair will be among the group of prisoners executed next month. A spokeswoman from the Foreign & Commonwealth Office told the Independent: "We oppose the death penalty in all circumstances and have made repeated representations on the issue to the Indonesian government at the highest levels." Mohammad Rum, spokesman for the Indonesian attorney-general, told AFP the executions would take place soon but refused to specify who would face the firing squad or on what date. We could not do it earlier because the government was trying to improve our economy, but now we will take some action after Eid, he said. Executions were temporarily halted in the spring last year after the Bali Nine drug-traffickers including two Australians were killed by firing squad in April, a case which caused international outrage and criticism of the Indonesian government. The island of Nusakambangan near Java, where executions are typically carried out (Getty Images) Indonesia claimed at the time the countrys economic troubles had forced the suspension of executions, although many argued the true motivation was political. Twelve foreigners were executed in 2015 in total, all on drugs charges. Ms Sandiford, 59, has repeatedly insisted she was manipulated and used as a mule to transport the cocaine as a means to protect her sons, aged 22 and 24. She launched an appeal to have her sentence reduced but it was rejected, as the majority of appeals for drug offences are. Bali Nine pair executed Show all 22 1 /22 Bali Nine pair executed Bali Nine pair executed Bali Nine pair due to be executed People attend a vigil for the prisoners to be executed in Indonesia at Martin Place on April 28 Getty Images Bali Nine pair executed Bali Nine pair due to be executed Crosses for condemned drug convicts (from L-R) Australians Andrew Chan (L) and Myuran Sukumaran (C), and Nigerian Okwudili Oyatanze AFP/Getty Images Bali Nine pair executed Bali Nine pair due to be executed Brintha Sukumaran, a sister of Australian death row prisoner Myuran Sukumaran's screams as she arrives to see him for a final time Getty Images Bali Nine pair executed Bali Nine pair due to be executed Brintha Sukumaran, the sister of Myuran Sukumaran, cries during her final visit to see him in prison on 28 April AP Bali Nine pair executed Bali Nine pair due to be executed Michael Chan, brother of Australian drug convict and death row prisoner Andrew Chan, arrives at Nusakambangan island on 28 April AFP/Getty Images Bali Nine pair executed Bali Nine pair due to be executed The back of a painting by Australian death-row prisoner Myuran Sukumaran is shown, signed by the eight other condemned people EPA Bali Nine pair executed Bali Nine pair due to be executed A lawyer carries a painting by Myuran Sukumaran at Wijayapura port in Cilacap on 28 April Getty Images Bali Nine pair executed Bali Nine pair due to be executed A woman places a tribute on a flower wall that reads '#keephopealive' as part of an Amnesty international vigil for the pair Bali Nine pair executed Bali Nine pair due to be executed People at a vigil in Sydney on 27 April against the execution of Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran Amnesty International/Sitthixay Ditthavong. Bali Nine pair executed Bali Nine pair due to be executed Activists hold a banner during a protest in front of the Indonesian embassy in Manila on April 27, 2015 AFP/Getty Images Bali Nine pair executed Bali Nine pair due to be executed The lawyer for Australian death row inmates Myuran Sukumaran carries a painting after visiting Indonesia's Nusakambangan island on April 26 AFP/Getty Images Bali Nine pair executed Bali Nine pair due to be executed A lawyer carries a self-portrait drawn by Myuran Sukumaran after visiting the prison island of Nusakambangan on 27 April AP Bali Nine pair executed Bali Nine pair due to be executed Workers load coffins into a lorry ahead of the execution of nine prisoners in Indonesia Getty Images Bali Nine pair executed Bali Nine pair due to be executed Indonesian soldiers stand as guard at Wijayapura port near the prison island of Nusa Kambangan on Monday Reuters Bali Nine pair executed Bali Nine pair due to be executed Chintu Sukumaran (L), brother of Myuran Sukumaran, stands next to Michael Chan, brother of Andrew Chan in Indonesia on 26 April, 2015 Reuters Bali Nine pair executed Bali Nine pair due to be executed Raji Sukumaran (R) and Brintha Sukumaran (L) family members of death-row prisoner Myuran Sukumaran cries as they talks to media after visiting Myuran at Kerobokan Prison in Bali, Indonesia EPA/MADE NAGI Bali Nine pair executed Bali Nine pair due to be executed Indonesian police stand guard as the Bali Nine duo Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran arrive at Wijaya Pura Port where they will be transferred to Nusa Kambangan prison ahead of their execution in Cilacap, Central Java, Indonesia Getty Bali Nine pair executed Bali Nine pair due to be executed Halen Chan, the mother of death-row prisoner Andrew Chan, wipes away tears during a press conference in Jakarta, Indonesia EPA/MAST IRHAM Bali Nine pair executed Bali Nine pair due to be executed Andrew Chan, right, and Myuran Sukumaran, centre, talking to their lawyer EPA Bali Nine pair executed Bali Nine pair due to be executed Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, the two members of the Bali nine who could be executed within days, appear at court in 2006 Jason Childs/Getty Images Bali Nine pair executed Bali Nine pair due to be executed Two Australian drug traffickers Andrew Chan (L) and Myuran Sukumaran (R) were sentenced as the ringleaders of the "Bali Nine" drug ring in 2006 JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images Bali Nine pair executed Bali Nine pair due to be executed Myuran Sukumaran is due to be executed EPA Despite the attempted intervention of prime minister David Cameron during a visit to Jakarta in 2014, Ms Sandifords position remains unchanged. Prosecutors meanwhile said the British man on death row had been attempting to transport crystal meth worth up to 800,000 when he was arrested at Soekarno-Hatta Airport. Rum confirmed the executions would take place on the island of Nusakambangan near Java, where they are typically carried out. Indonesian president Joko Widodo says the policy of executing drug smugglers is "necessary" because of the mounting problem with substance abuse in the country. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A gay Chinese man is suing a mental hospital, alleging that staff detained, drugged and beat him in an attempt to cure him of his homosexuality, according to a news report. The man said he had been taken by force in October to a government-run hospital in central Henan province by his wife and other family members last year after she discovered he was gay. Although he asked to be released, the hospital diagnosed him as a having a sexual preference disorder that needed treatment, China News Service reported. Over the next two weeks he was regularly drugged and sometimes beaten, he said, adding he was only released after a friend reported the case to the police. "The hospitals forced treatment restricted my freedom and severely tarnished my reputation," he was quoted as saying, adding that he now moves from city to city like a fugitive for fear of being kidnapped again. In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Show all 44 1 /44 In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Frank Escalante AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Luis Daniel Conde AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Brenda Lee Marquez McCool In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Yilmary Rodriguez Solivan AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Joel Rayon Paniagua AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Jerald Arthur Wright AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Paul Terrell Henry AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Shane Evan Tomlinson AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Antonio Davon Brown AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Jason Benjamin Josaphat AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Enrique L. Rios, Jr. AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Darryl Roman Burt AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Cory James Connell REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Tevin Eugene Crosby AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Jonathan Antonio Camuy-Vega AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Rodolfo Ayala-Ayala AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Leroy Valentin Fernandez AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Christopher Andrew Leinonen AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Angel L. Candelario-Padro AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Simon Adrian Carrillo-Fernande AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Christopher Joseph Sanfeliz REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Javier Jorge-Reyes AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Gilberto Ramon Silva-Menendez AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Juan P. Rivera-Velazquez AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Miguel Angel Honorato AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Jean Carlos Mendez Perez REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Mercedez Marisol Flores REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Xavier Emmanuel Serrano Rosado REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Anthony Luis Laureano Disla REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Franky Jimmy De Jesus Velazquez REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Oscar A. Aracena-Montero REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Martin Benitez Torres REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Stanley Almodovar Facebook/Stanley Manolo Almodovar III In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Eddie Justice Faebook/ Eddie Justice In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Luis Vielma Twitter/@jk_rowling In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera Facebook/ Eric Rivera In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Juan Ramon Guerrero Facebook/ Juan Ramon Guerrero In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Peter O. Gonzalez-Cruz Facebook/ Peter Gonzalez Cruz In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Amanda Alvear Facebook/ Amanda Alvear In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Anthony Disla Facebook/ Anthony Disla In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Edward Sotomayor Twitter/@ryanraiche In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo Facebook/Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Kimberley Morris Twitter/ @katiezavadski The man said he decided to sue the mental hospital after learning last month that a court in Beijing had ordered another clinic to pay compensation to a gay man in 2014 for administering electric shocks in an attempt to make him straight. That man, Yang Teng, said he had undergone the therapy voluntarily following pressure from his parents to marry. The Beijing court ruled there was no need to administer electric shocks because homosexuality does not require treatment, and awarded Yang 3,500 yuan ($530) as compensation for the cost of treatment, according to his lawyer. China legalized homosexuality in 1997 and declassified it as a mental disorder in 2001. The man from the city of Zhumadian in Henan province said his wife had agreed to end their marriage after discovering he was gay, only to kidnap him on the day he was due to sign divorce papers. A district court in the city agreed to hear his case on Monday, the news report said. In 2015, a documentary made by Britains Channel Four discovered that Chinese hospitals were still offering painful electroshock therapy and drugs to cure homosexuality, even though the treatments have no scientific basis, and despite the Beijing court ruling. Copyright: Washington Post For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Malaysia has barred the country's first Islamic-compliant airline from flying for breaching aviation regulations. The Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) said it revoked Rayani Airs operation certificate, stopping it from flying as a commercial airline, over concerns of its safety and administration. The decision followed an investigation launched in April which led to a three-month suspension. The airline, which operated two Boeing 737-400s, launched in December and only served halal food on board and did not serve alcohol. Muslim flight crew wore the hijab and non-Muslim members of staff were required to wear modest clothing. Rayani Air was based in Langkawi and flew to the countys capital Kuala Lumpur and to the northern city of Kota Bahru. It had planned to schedule flights to Mecca for the Hajj and Umrah pilgrimages. But passengers had criticised Rayani Air over severe delays and last-minute cancellations which led to the investigation. Pilots of the carrier also went on strike during April over unpaid wages. The DCA said the airline lacked financial and management capacity to continue operating as a commercial airline. DCA director-general Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said the government took the step to cease Rayanis operations because safety and security of the aviation industry is of paramount importance. Rayani Air founder, Ravi Alagendrran said: The revocations came at the peak of our negotiations with investors for the acquisition of equity in Rayani Air on realisation that the present owners and their management are no longer fit to revive the airline. He added the qualified and strong management team of its new investors would revive and manage the airline much better than us. The decision comes after two Malaysian Airlines disasters in 2014 after the Beijing bound flight MH370 is believed to have disappeared in March with all 239 passengers and 12 crew. Flight MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine, killing all 283 passengers and 15 crew on board. Speaking to the Malay Mail, Mr Alagendrran said he started the airline to tap into the growing Muslim travellers market, but wanted it to appeal to all travellers. This is not a matter of segregation. Anyone wishing to travel I a modest and alcohol free environment will feel right at home, he said. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The beheading of a Canadian man by Islamist militants in the Philippines has sparked outrage, with the countrys president describing the murder as brutal and senseless. Robert Hall was the second hostage from Canada in two months to be executed by militants from the Abu Sayyaf extremist group after the multi-million dollar ransom for his return expired. Mr Hall had kidnapped in September last year alongside fellow countryman John Ridsdel and three others from the Philippines and Norway. In a statement, Philippines President Benigno Aquino confirmed the killing, saying: "This latest heinous crime serves to strengthen our government's resolve to put an end to this reign of terror and banditry. We strongly condemn the brutal and senseless murder of Mr Robert Hall, a Canadian national, after being held captive by the Abu Sayyaf group in Sulu for the past nine months. The militant group asked for 300 million Philippine pesos (4.5 million) in ransom per hostage to be paid by 25 April. They began carrying out the executions, starting with Ridsdel, after no money was forth-coming. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau meanwhile wrote on Facebook: The vicious and brutal actions of the hostage-takers have led to a needless death. Canada holds the terrorist group who took him hostage fully responsible for this cold-blooded and senseless murder. Canada will not give into their fear mongering tactics and despicable attitude toward the suffering of others. Today marks yet another difficult day for Canada and for Canadians as we grieve as a nation for the loss of both John Ridsdel, who was killed on 25 April, and Robert Hall. The two Canadian men were taken hostage following a raid on the Oceanview Resort on southern Samal Island which Hall and his partner Flor were visiting on their yacht, according to CNN. Several captives are still being held by Abu Sayyaf, including a Dutch birdwatcher taken while visiting the Philippines in 2012. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} An unprecedented 11 million people have signed a petition demanding the forthcoming Yulin Dog Meat Festival is banned. Observers have said sentiment in China is turning against the controversial annual event, in which thousands of dogs are slaughtered. The festival has been derided as cruel and barbaric by critics, but eating dogs is relatively common in China, where the animals are not universally viewed as pets in the same way they are in the West. Calling for an outright ban on the festival, the petition was handed in by campaigners from Human Society International into the Yulin government office in Beijing. However, at a demonstration in Britain, the same petition was rejected by the Chinese Embassy in London. Directly addressing President Xi Jinping, the petition urges him to end the mass slaughter and consumption of dogs. It cites concerns over the welfare of the animals and hygiene concerns, particularly over rabies. In pictures: Yulin Dog Meat Festival 2016 Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Yulin Dog Meat Festival 2016 In pictures: Yulin Dog Meat Festival 2016 Dog meat market, Yulin In pictures: Yulin Dog Meat Festival 2016 Dogs in holding pen at slaughterhouse, Yulin In pictures: Yulin Dog Meat Festival 2016 Cats crammed in wire cage, delivered to slaughterhouse in Yulin In pictures: Yulin Dog Meat Festival 2016 Dogs held at slaughterhouse, Yulin In pictures: Yulin Dog Meat Festival 2016 Cat looks out from its crate as arrives at slaughterhouse, Yulin In pictures: Yulin Dog Meat Festival 2016 Dogs in blood-covered holding pen at slaughterhouse, Yulin In pictures: Yulin Dog Meat Festival 2016 Dogs at slaughterhouse, Yulin In pictures: Yulin Dog Meat Festival 2016 Dog meat market, Yulin In pictures: Yulin Dog Meat Festival 2016 Dog meat market, Yulin In pictures: Yulin Dog Meat Festival 2016 Cat slaughterhouse, Yulin The petition said: These dogs and cats will suffer enormously packed tightly together in tiny cages and driven for days without food or water on the arduous journey to Yulin, they will then be subjected to the terrifying and painful ordeal of being beaten to death in front of each other. However, the petition also raised concern over the effect Yulin had on the perception of China internationally. Banning the festival would show leadership, the petition said, and demonstrate that Chinas global reputation as a progressive nation will not be besmirched by such activities. Supporters of the festival say dog meat is healthy at the hottest time of the year and eating the animals is no different from consuming any other meat. But pictures of caged or slaughtered dogs posted online have outraged many people, with domestic and international organisations behind the petition calling for the festival to be stopped. The campaign to end the festival has received high-profile and political backing, with celebrities like Ricky Gervais and Carrie Fisher, and Labour MP Rob Flello all galvanising opposition. In 2014, the Yulin government distanced itself from the festival, saying it was staged by private business people and did not have official backing. Thomas Beranek was just getting crowned and sashed as Mr. Gay Chippewa Valley for the USofA pageant at Scooters Bar late Saturday night when first word of the Orlando shooting broke. It was around 9 a.m. when the 28-year-old Chippewa Falls man woke up to news across social media that 49 people died, with 53 more injured, during a shooting at Pulse, a gay nightclub. June is considered to be LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) Pride month. It is when cities around the country are hosting Pride parades and events to celebrate gay rights and the community. This past weekend was designated for Chippewa Valley Pride, where events like the pageant were taking place at Scooters, a gay bar in Eau Claire. Not knowing what else to do after hearing of the Florida massacre, Beranek said that he went back to Scooters on Sunday with his husband, Mike, to watch the news and be with other gay people, feeling that was the right thing to do. Then the stories came out with the faces of the victims, Beranek said. You saw the reaction on a couple peoples faces as they recognized one of the victims, and that was really hard. He said its too early to tell what sort of impact this will have on the gay community in the Chippewa Valley, as many people are still in a state of shock over the largest mass shooting to ever take place on U.S. soil. Beranek said this was the most anger he has ever seen from the LGBT community not so much an anger of violence, but more how could this have happened? Security measures were tightened at gay pride events across the country Sunday due to the shooting in Orlando. The extra precautions being taken at these events is the right course of action, Beranek said, because that in and of itself justifies what pride is: something worth protection. The couple still plan on going to the Twin Cities Pride Festival at the end of June. Both the Twin Cities Pride and Milwaukee Pride festivals are planning events to memorialize the shooting. This year more than any other you go because thats what you need to do, Beranek said. Q2, an LGBTQA Youth Group in the Chippewa Valley, held a Chippewa Valley Stands with Orlando vigil in Eau Claires Phoenix Park Monday night to show solidarity with LGBTQ communities near and far. The Chippewa Valley also offers support at the LGBT Community Center of the Chippewa Valley. For the LGBT community, Beranek said they have a unique fear in their demographic: The fear of coming out. The fear of being hated like what was shown in Orlando. And as the Pride motto goes, love wins. Love them, and dont tolerate hate, Beranek said. Dont be a passive observer. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Australia is urgently reviewing the visa of a British Islamic scholar who toured Orlando in March and had preached that death is the sentence for homosexual acts. Farrokh Sekaleshfar, a senior Shi'ite Muslim scholar, is currently giving a series of lectures at an Islamic centre in Sydney on the topic of spirituality throughout the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Sekaleshfar said in a lecture in Michigan in 2013 that in an Islamic society, the death penalty should be carried out for homosexuals who engaged in sodomy and that in Islam this was nothing to be embarrassed about. Recommended Read more Pride in London organisers urge vigilance after Orlando shooting We have to have that compassion for people. With homosexuals its the same. Out of compassion, let's get rid of him now, because he's contaminating society, he said in a lecture. There is no evidence of any link between his comments and the American Muslim man, Omar Mateen, who killed 49 people in a gay nightclub in Orlando on Sunday the deadliest mass shooting in the United States or that Mateen attended Sekaleshfars lectures. Sekaleshfar said he condemned the Orlando shooting as a barbaric act of terror that was in no way justified. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he has zero tolerance for people to come to Australia who preach hatred and his government was reviewing Sekaleshfar's visa as we speak. In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Show all 30 1 /30 In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People gather at a vigil in solidarity for the victims of the Orlando nightclub mass shooting, at Taylor Square in Sydney EPA In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Brett Morian, from Daytona Beach, hugs an attendee during the candlelight vigil at Ember in Orlando AP In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People and members of the gay community holding the peace rainbow flag gather for a vigil near the Beaubourg art center in downtown Paris AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A man places a hand print on a makeshift memorial in a parking lot near the Pulse nightclub in Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People attend a candlelight vigil for the victims of the Orlando attack against a gay night club, held in San Francisco REUTERS In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People place candles by a statue of Abraham Lincoln during a candlelight vigil for the victims of the Orlando attack against a gay night club, held in San Francisco REUTERS In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Tel-Aviv city hall lit up with rainbow flag colors in solidarity with Florida's shooting attack victims AP In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Juan Mantilla (L) stands with his partner during a vigil in memory of the victims of the Orlando mass shooting, in Miami Beach AP In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A couple shares a kiss as they embrace each other under a pride flag while residents of San Francisco and the Bay Area gather to mourn, honor, and remember the victims of a mass shooting at a LGBT nightclub in Orlando EPA In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Austin Ellis, a member of Metropolitan Community Church, carries a cross with a sign in memory of the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting as he marches in the 2016 Gay Pride Parade in Philadelphia Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A rainbow flag flies at half mast on the Space Needle in Seattle, in honor of the victims of the nightclub shooting in Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People at the LA Pride event in West Hollywood, write signs and light candles showing solidarity with victims of the mass killings in Orlando AP In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims In reaction to the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida people hug outside the Stonewall Inn near a vigil for the victims in New York AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A woman offers free hugs in Washington, in reaction to the mass shootings at a gay club in Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A U.S. flag is flown at half staff at the White House after the Orlando mass shooting Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A man lays flowers on a rainbow flag in front of the embassy of the United States in Madrid, to pay tribute to the victims of the shooting of Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims The Michael Fowler Centre is lit in rainbow colours by the city council during a candle lit vigil across the road at Frank Kits Park in Wellington, in remembrance of victims after a gunman opened fire in a gay nightclub in Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Participants hold candles during a vigil at Frank Kits Park in Wellington, in remembrance of victims after a gunman opened fire in a gay nightclub in Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Vixon Noir (R) consoles Trashina Cann, both of San Francisco, during a vigil at Harvey Milk Plaza in the Castro district of San Francisco AP In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People gather in the Castro District for a vigil for the victims of the Orlando shooting at a gay nightclub, in San Francisco REUTERS In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A couple joins residents of San Francisco and the Bay Area to mourn, honor, and remember the victims of a mass shooting at a LGBT nightclub in Orlando EPA In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Mourners pay tribute to the victims of the Orlando shooting during a memorial service in San Diego AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims The Orlando Eye observation wheel lights up in rainbow colors, to remember the people killed and injured in the Pulse nightclub shooting AP In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People sit by the water with candles during a vigil in a park following a mass shooting at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando REUTERS In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Members of The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence carry a sign of remembrance for mass shooting victims in Orlando, at the 46th annual Los Angeles Gay Pride Parade in West Hollywood REUTERS In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Former Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra and Shawn Lang of Hartford embrace after Segarra spoke, during a vigil organized by the state's Muslim and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities, on the steps of the state Capitol building in reaction to the mass shooting in Orlando AP In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims The City Hall Building is lit in the rainbow colors in New York, in reaction to the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims One World Trade Center is lit in the rainbow colors in New York, in reaction to the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People hold a vigil after the worst mass shooting in U.S. history at a gay nightclub in Orlando, in front of the White House in Washington REUTERS In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A man lays down 50 roses to honor each victim of the gay Orlando night club shooting as people gather outside of the Stonewall Inn as a vigil is held following the massacre Getty Images His visa is a legal matter and has to be dealt with in the appropriate way, but his visa is being reviewed at the direction of the minister, even as we speak. Australias immigration department has previously cited character grounds to cancel or deny visas to pick up artist Julian Blanc, US anti-abortion campaigner Troy Newman the neo-masculinist Daryush Valizadeh. Opposing leader, Bill Shorten asked how on earth he got a visa. Weve got a character test in our visas. I dont see, if this person here, and hes said these things how this fellow got a visa, he said. Sekaleshfar said his comments in 2013 were made in the context of a lecture on Islamic law and homosexuality and should not have been interpreted as a call for any Tom, Dick, or Harry to carry out a sentence wherever, whenever they like. In his 2013 lecture, Sekaleshfar said: There is nothing to be embarrassed about this. Death is the sentence. Islam doesn't accept people's faith to be compromised, to be threatened and it has to be taken seriously, he said. With homosexuals it is the same. Sekaleshfar gave a different lecture in Orlando in March. Since being in Sydney, Sekaleshfars Facebook page has been removed and his name has been removed from the speakers list on the website of the Muslim Group of USA and Canada. Additonal reporting by PA For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The EU's top envoy to Turkey has resigned after less than a year in the job following a breakdown in relations with the Turkish government. Hansjoerg Haber had publically criticised the conduct of the Turkish leadership over a landmark deal to tackle the Mediterranean refugee crisis. His decision to stand down represents yet another milestone in Europe's failure to move towards a solution to prevent the deaths and abuse of those fleeing conflict in the Middle East and north Africa. Recommended Read more Turkey recalls German ambassador over Armenian genocide It also shows just how far Turkey has to go before it will be accepted into the EU fold. Mr Haber, an experienced German diplomat who was first assigned to Turkey from 1993 to 1996, had only just returned to the country as an EU ambassador in September 2015. His decision to step down was confirmed by his office in Ankara, which provided no reason. But Mr Haber had been highly critical of the way Turkey has implemented - or failed to - the deal to stop refugees making dangerous illegal boat crossings into Greece. At a meeting with reporters on 13 May, he was quoted as telling Turkish media: "We have a saying 'Start like a Turk and end like a German. But here it is the other way round.'" Mr Haber's resignation is a bad sign ahead of the scheduled publication of a European Commission report on the implementation of the EU-Turkey agreement. Due to be released on Wednesday, it is expected to be critical of Ankara for refusing to meet all the terms laid down by Brussels, while also commented on the progress towards visa-free travel for Turkish citizens to parts of the EU. Turkey's attempts to secure access for its citizens to Europe, and its expressed aim of one day joining the EU as a full member, have featured prominently in the EU referendum debate in Britain. Yet David Cameron says Turkey has opened just one chapter in 36 required to meet the demands for membership, stating the country is on course to join the bloc in "the year 3,000". For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Eleven German MPs have been placed under 24-hour police protection due their involvement in a dispute with Turkey which dates back to the First World War. The politicians have received thousands of death threats after voting for citizens to be allowed to describe the massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in 1915 as genocide. They have also been warned by Germanys foreign ministry not to travel to Turkey, or face risking their personal security. Last weeks vote in German parliament has created deeper tensions with Turkey, with the latters President Recep Erdogan reacting angrily to the decision and the country recalling its ambassador from Berlin. One of the MPs in question, Green Party leader Cem Ozdemir, told the Local: This genocide was waiting to be worked through. There is never a favorable time to speak about something as dreadful as genocide. He also confirmed he had been sent multiple messages from Turkish protesters, including some saying: We will find you anywhere. In reaction to the announcement, Mr Erdogan accused the MPs of backing the terrorism of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has campaigned to have the massacre reclassified. Armenians mark 101 years since genocide Show all 10 1 /10 Armenians mark 101 years since genocide Armenians mark 101 years since genocide Armenian people carry torches during a march to commemorate the mass killings of Armenians Getty Armenians mark 101 years since genocide Armenian people take part in a march in commemoration of the 101th anniversary of the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman forces in 1915 Getty Armenians mark 101 years since genocide People hold a flag during the laying of the flowers at the Genocide Memorial in Yerevan Getty Armenians mark 101 years since genocide President Serzh Sargsyan and actor George Clooney attend the laying of the flowers at the Genocide Memorial in Yerevan Getty Armenians mark 101 years since genocide Armenian clergymen, US actor George Clooney, center, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, second right front, and guests attend a ceremony at a memorial to Armenians killed by the Ottoman Turks, in Yerevan AP Armenians mark 101 years since genocide Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian (C,R) and US actor George Clooney (C) attend a ceremony at the Genocide Memorial in Yerevan Getty Armenians mark 101 years since genocide A general view of attendees and mount Ararat during the laying of the flowers at the Genocide Memorial in Yerevan Getty Armenians mark 101 years since genocide Lebanese of Armenian descent burn an effigy of Turkish president Erdogan during a protest in front the house of Turkish Ambassador to mark the 101st anniversary of the mass killing of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in 1915, near Beirut, Lebanon EPA Armenians mark 101 years since genocide Activists hold portraits of victims during a silent demonstration to commemorate the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in Istanbul Reuters Armenians mark 101 years since genocide Activists hold portraits of victims during a silent demonstration to commemorate the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in Istanbul Reuters He continued by demanding that the MPs have blood tests to see what kind of Turks they really are as he suspected they had "impure blood". Armenia claims as many as 1.5 million of its people were murdered during the atrocities, although Turkey says the number of deaths was far fewer. Turkey argues many of the dead were killed in combat during the First World War and were not innocent people slaughtered by troops, although this account has been disputed by Germany, France and Russia. The UK, the US and most other countries are yet to adopt an official position on the matter For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Natos secretary general has confirmed it will bolster its defences against Russia, while attempting to avoid any unwarranted escalations in tension with Moscow. On Tuesday, Jens Stoltenberg confirmed a Nato deployment plan to send four multinational battalions to the Baltic states and Poland, following backing from defence ministers who gathered for a two-day meeting in Brussels. Recommended Read more What would happen if NATO went to war with Russia Decisions are also expected on forming a new multinational unit of ground forces in Romania. "Defending our territory and protecting our people - that is Nato's primary responsibility," said Mr Stoltenberg as he opened the ministers' first working session on Tuesday afternoon. Even as Nato reacts to what it deems a potent security threat from Russia, Mr Stoltenberg stressed there was no intention of creating conflict with the country. Speaking before ministers met he said: We convey a very strong message that we don't seek a confrontation with Russia. We don't want the new Cold War." Tensions between Russia and the Western world Show all 8 1 /8 Tensions between Russia and the Western world Tensions between Russia and the Western world Russia Vladimir Putin leaves G20 early after criticism from world leaders over Ukraine. David Cameron warned Vladimir Putin, face to face, that Russias whole post-Cold War relationship with the West is at a fork in the road over Ukraine Getty Tensions between Russia and the Western world Russia A mysterious Russian object is being tracked by space agencies, giving new life to fears about the increase of space weapons. The satellite, dubbed Object 2014-28E, has grabbed the interest of official and amateur satellite-watchers because it is taking a confusing path and its purpose has not been identified Getty Images Tensions between Russia and the Western world Russia Russian warplanes are risking the security of civilian passengers as they play a dangerous game designed to test Western air defences, according to Natos secretary general FRA Tensions between Russia and the Western world Russia Russia has warned Ukraine that a resumption of hostilities against pro-Russian separatists in the east would be catastrophic for Ukraine Reuters Tensions between Russia and the Western world Russia A Swedish minesweeper searches for suspected "foreign underwater activity" near Stockholm. A Russian sub in Swedish waters has slipped away into the sea...leaving recriminations in its wake Reuters Tensions between Russia and the Western world Russia Sberbank, Russia's largest lender, is taking the European Union to court in an attempt to loosen Western sanctions imposed over the Ukraine crisis GETTY IMAGES Tensions between Russia and the Western world Russia Russian government agencies have been accused of editing a Wikipedia article to suggest the Ukrainian military was responsible for shooting down the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, a Twitter account monitoring state IP addresses has claimed AFP Tensions between Russia and the Western world Russia Australias prime minister Tony Abbott has promised he will shirtfront Vladimir Putin over the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which killed 38 Australian citizens AP The United States, Britain and Germany have already committed to acting as so-called framework nations to furnish core forces for three of the four battalions that would go to Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. A senior US official said Canadian leaders are currently meeting to discuss the possibility they would coordinate the development of the fourth battalion. Between 3000 and 5000 troops are expected to be part of the brigade with a Romanian HQ and a Romanian and Bulgarian battalion, NATO deputy spokeswoman Carmen Romero said in a statement. Mr Stoltenberg explained how the four battalions, each consisting of 800 to 1,000 troops, would deploy on a rotational basis, rather than being based permanently in the host countries. British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon said Britain will deploy one of the "framework battalions" in early 2017. "That's around 500 British personnel rotating on a continuous basis," Fallon said. He said other countries will contribute to the multinational unit, including France. Additional proposals are also being considered to increase air and naval defenses in the Black Sea, where a Russian naval fleet based at Sevastopol in Crimea is a major player, NATO officials say. Last month, NATO foreign ministers expressed broad support for convening a new meeting of the NATO-Russia Council, a forum that brings together ambassadors from NATO's 28 member states and Russia. NATO allies launch annual war games exercise So far, there has been no public response from the Kremlin, who has previously accused Nato of increasing military forces near its borders, saying the country would do whatever is required to protect its interests. Last month, General Sir Richard Dhireff, who served as Natos Deputy Supreme Allied Commander in Europe between 2011 and 2014, warned of nuclear war with Russia. He said the alliance must increase its capabilities in the Baltic States or risk potential catastrophe. The general said: The chilling fact is that because Russia hardwires nuclear thinking and capability to every aspect of their defence capability, this would be nuclear war. We need to judge President Putin by his deeds not his words. He has invaded Georgia, he has invaded the Crimea, he has invaded Ukraine. "In a period of tension, an attack on the Baltic states is entirely plausible. Additional reporting by Associated Press For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Isis-inspired attacker who stabbed to death a French police commander outside his home had compiled a number of targets including "rappers, journalists, police and public figures". Police found the list of six names on Larossi Abballa's personal computer, prosecutor Francois Molins revealed. The targets were found after police stormed the victims' home in Manganville, a suburb 35 miles west of Paris. Abballa reportedly shouted "Allahu Akbar" as he stabbed a policeman nine times in the stomach before holding the officer's wife and three-year-old son hostage in their home. After negotiations failed, an armed RAID unit stormed the house and shot him dead. The chief's wife was found dead but their child was rescued unharmed. It has also emerged the killer broadcast the attack live on Facebook, a source close to the anti-terrorism investigation revealed. During the live broadcast, Abballa was allegedly shown to consider what to do about the couple's son, according to French jihad expert David Thomson. The 25-year-old attacker was being monitored by security and anti-terrorist services after he received a three-year prison sentence in 2013 for recruiting Islamist militants to go to Pakistan. Three other people linked to Abballa have been arrested and placed into custody, Prosecutor Molins said. Armed police officers at a security perimeter near the house where the double murder and hostage situation took place (EPA) The attack has been claimed by Isis, according to the website of the Amaq agency. French authorities have said they have "no reason" to doubt the claim. If the link is confirmed, it would be the first militant strike on French soil since the government imposed a state of emergency after the Paris attacks in November that killed 130 people. French newspaper, Le Parisien, has reported the 42-year-old police commander was Jean-Baptiste S, deputy chief of judicial police at the nearby Les Mureaux police station. It has also been reported he previously worked at a station in Mantes-la-Jolie where Abballa lived. In pictures: Paris attacks Show all 25 1 /25 In pictures: Paris attacks In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks French police with protective shields walk in line near the Bataclan concert hall Reuters In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Rescuers evacuate an injured person on Boulevard des Filles du Calvaire AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks French Vigipirate troops mobilize next to Place de la Bastille AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks French soldiers mobilize near to the Place de la Bastille AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Wounded people are evacuated outside the scene of a hostage situation at the Bataclan theatre EPA In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks People react as they gather to watch the scene near the Bataclan concert hall Reuters In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks French police secure the area outside a cafe near the Bataclan concert hall Reuters In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Rescuers workers evacuate victims near the Bataclan concert hall AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks French Prime Minister Manuel Valls and French President Francois Hollande attending an emergency meeting at the Interior Ministry AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Spectators invade the pitch of the Stade de France after explosions were heard outside AP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks A man lies on the ground as French police check his identity near the Bataclan concert hall Reuters In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Police officers man a position close to the Bataclan theatre AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Wounded people are evacuated from the Stade de France in Paris EPA In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Two men evacuate the Place de la Republique square in Paris as a police officer looks on AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Football fans are evacuated from the Stade de France stadium In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks An armed police officer Dan Gabriel In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks The Stade de France is evacuated after reports of an explosion In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks A member of the French fire brigade aids an injured individual near the Bataclan concert hall In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Wounded people are evacuated from the Stade de France in Paris In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Police are seen outside a cafe in 10th arrondissement of the French capital Paris, In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Rescuers assist an injured man on Boulevard des Filles du Calvaire, close to the Bataclan concert hall AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks The scene at a restaurant in 10th arrondissement In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks The Bataclan theatre - where around 100 people are thought be held hostage In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks The Stade de France as it was evacuated In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Forensic experts inspect the site of an attack outside the Stade de France stadium in Saint-Denis AFP President Hollande described the murder of policeman and his 36-year-old wife Jessica S. as "unquestionably a terrorist act", adding that France was facing "a very significant threat". On a Facebook account said to belong to the attacker, a post announces his "success" in killing a police officer and his wife at their home, claiming that "the brothers in Sham [Isis territories]" are in contact with him. The post continues: "I declare loudly and strongly my allegiance to the Emir Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. "I have responded to the call of Sheikh Abu Muhammad al-Adnani." A local resident giving flowers to Police officers standing guard at a security perimeter near the home in Manganville (EPA) Isis spokesperson Abu Muhammad al-Adani has called for a series of lone wolf attacks during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Acknowledging possible defeat in the groups strongholds of Mosul, in Iraq, Sirte, in Libya and Raqqa, in Syria, he urged followers to create a month of calamity for infidels. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The man who stabbed a French police chief outside his home reportedly broadcast the attack live on Facebook. The attacker, who has been named in unconfirmed reports as Larossi Abballa, was given a prison sentence in 2013 for jihadi activities. He reportedly shouted "Allahu Akbar" as he stabbed a policeman nine times in the stomach before holding the officer's wife and three-year-old son hostage in their home in the Paris suburb of Magnanville. When negotiations failed, an armed police unit stormed the house and shot him dead. The chief's wife was found dead but their child was rescued unharmed. It has also emerged the killer broadcast the attack live on Facebook, a source close to the investigation told CNN. During the live broadcast, Abballa was allegedly shown to consider what to do about the couple's son, according to French jihad expert David Thomson. The attack has been claimed by Isis, according to the website of the Amaq agency. If that link is confirmed, it would be the first militant strike on French soil since the government imposed a state of emergency after the Paris attacks in November that killed 130 people. Police vehicles at the scene near where a French police commander was stabbed to death in front of his home in the Paris suburb of Magnanville (Reuters) The 25-year-old attacker was being monitored by security and anti-terrorist services after he received a three-year prison sentence for helping Islamist militants go to Pakistan, police and government sources said. After an emergency cabinet meeting chaired by President Francois Hollande, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve told reporters: "An appalling terrorist act was committed yesterday in Magnanville by an individual who attacked a police officer and his wife, who was herself an official in a police station." The attacker struck in the Paris suburb of Magnanville, about 50 km (30 miles) northwest of the French capital and about 20 km from Les Mureaux, where the police commander was stationed. On a Facebook account said to belong to the attacker, a post announces his "success" in killing a police officer and his wife at their home, claiming that "the brothers in Sham [Isis territories]" are in contact with him. In pictures: Paris attacks Show all 25 1 /25 In pictures: Paris attacks In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks French police with protective shields walk in line near the Bataclan concert hall Reuters In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Rescuers evacuate an injured person on Boulevard des Filles du Calvaire AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks French Vigipirate troops mobilize next to Place de la Bastille AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks French soldiers mobilize near to the Place de la Bastille AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Wounded people are evacuated outside the scene of a hostage situation at the Bataclan theatre EPA In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks People react as they gather to watch the scene near the Bataclan concert hall Reuters In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks French police secure the area outside a cafe near the Bataclan concert hall Reuters In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Rescuers workers evacuate victims near the Bataclan concert hall AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks French Prime Minister Manuel Valls and French President Francois Hollande attending an emergency meeting at the Interior Ministry AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Spectators invade the pitch of the Stade de France after explosions were heard outside AP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks A man lies on the ground as French police check his identity near the Bataclan concert hall Reuters In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Police officers man a position close to the Bataclan theatre AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Wounded people are evacuated from the Stade de France in Paris EPA In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Two men evacuate the Place de la Republique square in Paris as a police officer looks on AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Football fans are evacuated from the Stade de France stadium In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks An armed police officer Dan Gabriel In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks The Stade de France is evacuated after reports of an explosion In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks A member of the French fire brigade aids an injured individual near the Bataclan concert hall In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Wounded people are evacuated from the Stade de France in Paris In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Police are seen outside a cafe in 10th arrondissement of the French capital Paris, In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Rescuers assist an injured man on Boulevard des Filles du Calvaire, close to the Bataclan concert hall AFP In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks The scene at a restaurant in 10th arrondissement In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks The Bataclan theatre - where around 100 people are thought be held hostage In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks The Stade de France as it was evacuated In pictures: Paris attacks Paris attacks Forensic experts inspect the site of an attack outside the Stade de France stadium in Saint-Denis AFP The post continues: "I declare loudly and strongly my allegiance to the Emir Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. "I have responded to the call of Sheikh Abu Muhammad al-Adnani." Isis spokesperson Abu Muhammad al-Adani has called for a series of lone wolf attacks during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Acknowledging possible defeat in the groups strongholds of Mosul, in Iraq, Sirte, in Libya and Raqqa, in Syria, he urged followers to create a month of calamity for infidels. French prosecutors have launched an anti-terrorism investigation into the double murder. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Fake reports of the death of Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi are spreading as the terrorist group continues battles to hold territory in Syria and Iraq. Media outlets in Iran, Iraq, Russia and Turkey appeared to have fallen for a digitally altered image claiming to be a media statement from the so-called Islamic State. The supposed missive was quoted as saying: Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed by coalition air strikes on Raqqa on the fifth day of Ramadan (10 June). The report spread around the world as it was picked up by media in India, the UK and elsewhere but was swiftly discredited, while conflicting accounts said al-Baghdadi had been injured in an air strike on his convoy in Iraq. There was no statement from Isis via its Amaq news agency, which it used to claim responsibility for the Orlando massacre and stabbing in Paris. News bulletins from Isis al-Bayan radio station also had no mention of an air strike affecting its self-declared caliph. There have been several false reports of al-Baghdadis death in the past, although he was said to be severely injured in air strikes early last year. Timeline: The emergence of Isis Show all 40 1 /40 Timeline: The emergence of Isis Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2000 Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (pictured here) forms an al-Qaeda splinter group in Iraq, al-Qaeda in Iraq. Its brutality from the beginning alienates Iraqis and many al-Qaeda leaders. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2006 Al-Zarqawi is killed in a U.S. strike. Al-Zarqawis successor, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, announces the creation of the Islamic State in Iraq (ISI). Reuters Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2009 Still al-Qaeda-linked ISI claims responsibility for suicide bombings that killed 155 in Baghdad, as well as attacks in August and October killing 240, as President Obama announces troop withdrawal from Iraq in March. Getty Images Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2010 Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi becomes head of ISI, at lowest ebb of Islamist militancy in Iraq, which sees last U.S. combat brigade depart. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2012 In Syria, protests (pictured here starting in Daree) have morphed into what president Assad labelled a real war with emergence of a coalition of forces opposed to Assads regime. Syria group Jabhat al-Nusra are among rebel groups who refuse to join, denouncing it as a conspiracy. Bombings targeting Shia areas, killing more than 500 people, spark fears of new sectarian conflict. Sunni Muslims stage protests across country against what they see as increasingly marginalisation by Shia-led government. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2013 Al-Baghdadi renames ISI as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or Isis, as the group absorbs Syrian al-Nusra, gaining a foothold in Syria. In response, al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri (Bin Ladens successor) concerned about Isis expansion orders that Isis be dissolved and ISI operations should be confined to Iraq. This order is rejected by al-Baghdadi. AFP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - January Isis fighters capture the Iraqi cities of Fallujah and Ramadi, giving them base to launch slew of attacks further south. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - June Isis declares itself the Caliphate, calling itself Islamic State (IS). The group captures Mosul, Iraqs second largest city; Tal Afar, just 93 miles from Syrian border; and the central Iraqi city of Tikrit. These advances sent shockwaves around the world. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - June Around the same time Isis releases a video calling for western Muslims to join the Caliphate and fight, prompting new evaluations of extremists groups social media understanding. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - June Isis take Baiji oil fields in Iraq - giving them access to huge amounts of possible revenue. EPA Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - August James Foley is executed by the group as concerns grow for second American prisoner, fellow reporter Steven Sotloff. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - August Obama authorises U.S. airstrikes in Iraq, helping to stall Isis along with action by Kurdish forces following the deaths of hundreds of Yazidi people on Mount Sinjar. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - September Isis release video showing Steven Sotloffs murder prompting Western speculation his executioner is same man who killed Mr Foley. EPA Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - September Obama tells us that America will hunt down terrorists who threaten our country EPA Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - September Isis release a video appearing to show David Haines, who was captured by militants in Syria in 2013, wearing an orange jumpsuit and kneeling in the desert while he reads a pre-prepared script. It later shows what appears to be the aid worker's body. Rex Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - September Peshmerga fighters scrabble to hold positions in the Diyala province (a gateway to Baghdad) as Isis fighters continue to advance on Iraqi capital. AFP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - October Aid worker Alan Henning is killed. Self-imposed media blackout refuses to show images of him in final moments, instead focuses upon humanitarian care. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - October Isis raise their flag in Kobani, which had been strongly defended by Kurdish troops. The victory goes against hopeful western analysis Isis had overextended itself, while alienating much of the Muslim population through the murder of Henning. Victory causes fresh waves of Kurdish refugees arriving in Turkey. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - November American hostage, who embarced values of Islam, Peter Kassig and 14 Syrian soldiers are shown meeting the same fate as other captives. But intelligence agencies will be poring over the apparently significant discrepancies between this and previous films. Seramedig.org.uk Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February Isis has released a video revealing the murder by burning to death of a Jordanian pilot held by the group since the end of December 2014. Reuters Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February Isis militants have released videos which appear to show the beheading of Japanese hostages Haruna Yukawa and Kenji Goto. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February American aid worker, Kayla Mueller was the last American hostage known to be held by Isis. She died, according to her captors, in an airstrike by the Jordanian air force on the city of Raqqa in Syria, though US authorities disputed this. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February Isis militants have posted a gruesome video online in which they force 21 Egyptian Coptic Christian hostages to kneel on a beach in Libya before beheading them. Egypt vowed to avenge the beheading and launched air strikes on Isis positions. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February The British Isis militant suspected of appearing in videos showing the beheading of Western hostages has been named in reports as Mohammed Emwazi from London. Rex Features Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - March Isis triple suicide attack has killed more than 100 worshippers and hundreds of others were injured after the group members targeted two mosques in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - April Iraqi forces have claimed victory over Isis in battle for Tikrit and raised the flag in the city. EPA/STR Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - April Isis has claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack in Afghanistan that killed at least 35 people queuing to collect their wages and injured 100 more. EPA Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - April Isis media arm released a 29-minute video purporting to show militants executing Ethiopian Christians captives. The footage bore the extremist groups al-Furqan media logo and showed the destruction of churches and desecration of religious symbols. A masked fighter made a statement threatening Christians who did not convert to Islam or pay a special tax. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of Isis has been "incapacitated" by a spinal injuries sustained in a US air strike in Iraq. He is being treated in a hideout by two doctors from Isis stronghold of Mosul who are said to be "strong ideological supporters of the group". Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Isis has also claimed responsibility for killing 300 of Yazidi captives, including women, children and elderly people in Iraq AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Isis attack on Prophet Mohamed cartoon contest in Texas was its first action on US soil. Two gunmen were shot and killed after launching the attack at the exhibition. Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi have been named as the attackers at the Curtis Culwell Centre arena in Garland. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Isiss deputy leader, Abu Alaa Afri, a former physics teacher who was thought to have taken charge of the deadly terrorist group, has been killed in a US-led coalition airstrike. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May US special forces have killed a senior Isis leader named as Abu Sayyaf in an operation aiming to capture him and his wife in Syria. Getty Images Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Iran-backed militias are sent to Ramadi by the Iraqi government to fight Isis militants who completed their capture of the city. Government soldiers and civilians were reportedly massacred by extremists as they took control and the army fled. Charred bodies were left littering the city streets as troops clung on to trucks speeding away from the city. Ramadi is the latest government stronghold to fall to the so-called Islamic State, despite air strikes by a US-led international coalition aiming to stop its advance in Iraq and Syria. AFP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Isis rounded up civilians trapped in Palmyra and forced them to watch 20 people being executed in the historic citys ancient amphitheatre. The Unesco World Heritage site was overrun by militants, threatening the future of 2,000 year-old monuments and ruins. Thousands of Palmyras residents fled but many are still living within the city walls, while the UN human rights office in Geneva said it had received reports of Syrian government forces preventing people from leaving until they retreated from the city. Getty Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May A group of Isis-affiliated fighters have captured a key airport in central Libya. The militants took control of the al-Qardabiya airbase in Sirte after a local militia tasked with defending the facility withdrew from their positions. Affiliates of Isis, already control large parts of Sirte, the birthplace of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and a former stronghold of his supporters. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - June The US Air Force has destroyed an Isis stronghold after an extremist let slip their location on social media. According the Air Force Times, General Herbert "Hawk" Carlisle, commander of Air Combat Command, said that Airmen at Hulburt Field, Florida, used images shared by jihadists to track the location of their headquarters before destroying it in an airstrike. Reuters Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - June Kurdish forces captured a key military base in a significant victory in Raqqa as well as town of Tell Abyad. YPG fighters, backed by US-led airstrikes and other rebels, consolidated their gains, when they seized the key town on the Syria-Turkey border. They are now just 30 miles to the north of Raqqa and have cut off a major supply route deep inside Isis-held territory. Ahmet Silk/Getty Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - June Isis has released gruesome footage claiming to show the murder of more than a dozen men by drowning, decapitation and using a rocket-propelled grenade as it seeks to boost morale among its fanatical supporters. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - June Isis has begun carrying out its threat to destroy structures in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, blowing up at least two monuments at the Unesco-protected site as Syrian government troops made advances on the Islamists positions. AFP A spokesperson for US Central Command, which is co-ordinating air strikes in Iraq and Syria, told The Independent it was aware of media reports but had no information to provide. The American Department of Defense routinely announces successful strikes targeting high-profile extremists swiftly, such as in the death of "Jihadi John" in Syria and Afghan Taliban leader Akhtar Mansour. Isis is currently facing an advance from both rebels and the Syrian army near its de-facto capital of Raqqa and is fighting to hold the Iraqi city of Fallujah, as well as its Libyan stronghold of Sirte. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The award-winning editor of a Syrian newspaper known for its open criticism of Isis has been shot by members of the terrorist group. Ahmed Abdel Qader, 33, a prominent campaigner and founder of the Eye on the Homeland newspaper, was attacked by two gunmen during a drive-by shooting in Sanilurfa on Sunday afternoon. The newspaper reported the incident on its Facebook page, confirming Mr Qader had been shot three times during the assassination attempt. Isis immediately claimed the attack in a statement through its propaganda channels. Qader survived the shooting and remained in hospital in a stable condition, according to ABC News. Qader also founded the campaign group Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently (RBSS), which has been awarded for its on-the-ground reporting of the conflict. The newspaper and its sister radio station have repeatedly expressed strong opposition to the actions of Isis on the Syria-Turkey border in print and broadcasts. He claimed in an interview with AP after his brothers death that he had been receiving threats from Isis regularly for a while. World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty One of Qaders colleagues, who requested anonymity, said the gunmen had used silencers and escape quickly on a motorbike. The shooting follows the death of two other Syrian journalists at the hands of Isis over the past six months. Online broadcaster Mohammed Zahir al-Sherqat was shot in the neck in April and anti-IS filmmaker Naji Jerf was gunned down in Gaziantep in December. Several members of RBSS have been killed by Isis members in Raqqa. In May 2014 Al-Moutaz Bellah Ibrahim was kidnapped by the group and later murdered. In July 2015, Isis released a video showing two men from the organisation being strung up on trees and shot. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Oscar Pistorius defence lawyer and his prison nurse have clashed over whether the athlete was a violent, difficult prisoner. Charlotte Mashabane told the High Court in Pretoria, where Pistorius is being sentenced for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, that she had been at the receiving end of the paralympians tantrums on three occasions. Ms Mashabane, the assistant health manager at Kgosi Mampuru II prison, where the paralympian was jailed for a year, claimed that one incident occurred in March 2015 when he screamed at her as she approached his cell while doing her morning rounds on the prisons hospital wing. A more serious incident occurred, she said, in January 2015 when a family member brought in medication for Pistorius. Ms Mashabane said that she did not immediately give Pistorius the medication because the correct procedure was for it to be approved by the prison doctor first. She told the court that Pistorius responded by shaking with anger and banging on the duty room table. He started again with the anger, that I must give him the medication, with this face, with this anger, Ms Mashabane said. But Pistorius defence lawyer Barry Roux accused the nurse of embellishing her account, suggesting that in fact the paralympian had just been sad that he couldnt have the medication when what the prison was giving him wasnt working. Oscar Pistorius: Career in pictures Show all 34 1 /34 Oscar Pistorius: Career in pictures Oscar Pistorius: Career in pictures Oscar Pistorius in Greece Oscar Pistorius wins the 200m T44 for Men during the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in Athens, 2004 Oscar Pistorius: Career in pictures Oscar Pistorius in Greece Oscar Pistorius at the Olympic Stadium in Athens, 2004 Oscar Pistorius: Career in pictures Oscar Pistorius in Manchester Oscar Pistorius celebrates winning his second gold medal during the VISA Paralympic World Cup Athletics at the Sport City Stadium in Manchester, 2006 Oscar Pistorius: Career in pictures Oscar Pistorius in Manchester Oscar Pistorius shows his gold medal after winning the T44 200 m for men at the Visa Paralympic world cup at the Manchester Regional Arena, 2007 Oscar Pistorius: Career in pictures Oscar Pistorius competes in race Oscar Pistorius competing in the men's 400m race B, 2007 Oscar Pistorius: Career in pictures Oscar Pistorius in Rome Oscar Pistorius settles in the blocks before winning the Mens 400m 'B' race during the IAAF Golden Gala at The Olympic Stadium in Rome, 2007 Oscar Pistorius: Career in pictures Oscar Pistorius in Rome Oscar Pistorius poses during the broadcast 'Piazza grande' on Italian TV state channel 'Rai 1' in Rome, 2008 Oscar Pistorius: Career in pictures Oscar Pistorius in St.Petersburg (L to R) Bryan Habana, Cuba Gooding Jr and Oscar Pistorius during the Laureus welcome reception at Gimnazya in St.Petersburg, 2008 Oscar Pistorius: Career in pictures Oscar Pistorius arrives at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne Oscar Pistorius arrives at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne to appeal his case on the second day of his hearing as he was told by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) that he could not compete in their events because the artificial legs he uses gives him an unfair advantage, 2008 Oscar Pistorius: Career in pictures Oscar Pistorius runs during a training session Oscar Pistorius runs during a training session on the track of Emmeloord, 2008 Oscar Pistorius: Career in pictures Oscar Pistorius in Germany Oscar Pistorius compete during the 400 meter race at the German disabled athletics championships in Berlin, 2008 Oscar Pistorius: Career in pictures Oscar Pistorius in Italy Oscar Pistorius of South Africa relaxes prior to the 400m race in his quest to make the Olympic qualifying time of 45.55 during the Notturna di Milano International Athletics Meeting at the Arena Gianni Brera in Milan, 2008 Oscar Pistorius: Career in pictures Oscar Pistorius in China Oscar Pistorius speaks at a press conference for the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games in Beijing, 2008 Oscar Pistorius: Career in pictures Oscar Pistorius in China Oscar Pistorius of South Africa celebrates after winning the gold medal in the Men's 100m T44 Final Athletics event at the National Stadium during day three of the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing, 2008 Oscar Pistorius: Career in pictures Oscar Pistorius in China Oscar Pistorious (L) leads Heros Marai (C) of Italy and Christoph Bausch (R) of Switzerland in the heats of the men's 100 metre T44 classification race at the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games in Beijing, 2008 Oscar Pistorius: Career in pictures Oscar Pistorius and Nelson Mandela in South Africa Oscar Pistorius and former South African President, Nelson Mandela in South Africa, 2009 Oscar Pistorius: Career in pictures Oscar Pistorius in Norway Oscar Pistorius looks on prior to the 400m B-final during the IAAF Golden League Bislett Games in Oslo, 2009 Oscar Pistorius: Career in pictures Oscar Pistorius in London Oscar Pistorius reacts after winning the men's 400 metres T44 final race with a new world record time of 47.04 sec during the Diamond League athletics meeting at Crystal Palace in London, 2010 Oscar Pistorius: Career in pictures Oscar Pistorius in New Zealand Oscar Pistorius of South Africa celebrates receiving his gold medal after winning the Men's 200m T44 final during day three of the IPC Athletics Championships at QE II Park in Christchurch, New Zealand, 2011 Oscar Pistorius: Career in pictures Oscar Pistorius in New Zealand (L-R) Arnu Fourie, Henry Roos, Oscar Pistorius and Mike Samkelo Radebe of South Africa celebrate after winning the Men's 4x100m Relay T42-46 final during day eight of the IPC Athletics Championships at QE II Park in Christchurch, New Zealand, 2011 Oscar Pistorius: Career in pictures Oscar Pistorius in New Zealand Oscar Pistorius of South Africa poses with his medals during day eight of the IPC Athletics Championships at QE II Park in Christchurch, New Zealand, 2011 Oscar Pistorius: Career in pictures Oscar Pistorius in South Africa Oscar Pistorius in action during the 400m during day 5 of The Nedbank National Championships for the Physically Disabled from Olympia Park Stadium in Rustenburg, 2011 Oscar Pistorius: Career in pictures Oscar Pistorius in Czech Republic Oscar Pistorius warms up before the men's 400m event at the Zlata Tretra (Golden Spike) athletics meeting in the eastern Czech city of Ostrava, 2011 Oscar Pistorius: Career in pictures Oscar Pistorius in New York Oscar Pistorius attends the Eva Mendes launch of her new campaign for Angel by Thierry Mugler at IAC Building in New York, 2011 Oscar Pistorius: Career in pictures Oscar Pistorius in South Korea Oscar Pistorius of South Africa speaks with Olympic gold medalist Michael Johnson of the United States during a media gathering at the Novatel Hotel prior to the 13th IAAF World Athletics Championships Daegu 2011 in Daegu, South Korea, 2011 Oscar Pistorius: Career in pictures Oscar Pistorius in South Korea Oscar Pistorius prepares to settle into the blocks to compete in the men's 400 metres heats at the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Championships in Daegu, 2011 Oscar Pistorius: Career in pictures Oscar Pistorius in London South African sprint runner known as 'Blade Runner' Oscar Pistorius (C) poses for photographers with Paralympians ahead of the international Paralympic Day in central London, 2011 Oscar Pistorius: Career in pictures Oscar Pistorius in London Oscar Pistorius poses in the press room with his Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability trophy at the 2012 Laureus World Sports Awards at Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in London, 2012 Oscar Pistorius: Career in pictures Oscar Pistorius in London Oscar Pistorius of South Africa competes in the Men's 400m Round 1 heat on Day 8 of the 2012 London Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in London, 2012 Oscar Pistorius: Career in pictures Oscar Pistorius receives his honorary doctorate Oscar Pistorius holds his scroll after receiving his honorary doctorate from Strathclyde University in the Barony Hall in Glasgow, 2012 Oscar Pistorius: Career in pictures Oscar Pistorius with his girlfriend Oscar Pistorius posing next to his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp at Melrose Arch in Johannesburg, 2013 Oscar Pistorius: Career in pictures Oscar Pistorius in court Oscar Pistorius hides his face in his hands in the court room during his hearing on charge of murdering his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp at the Magistrate Court in Pretoria, 2013 Oscar Pistorius: Career in pictures Oscar Pistorius in court Oscar Pistorius stands in the Magistrate Court in Pretoria after appearing for the first time since being freed on bail over the Valentine's Day killing of his model girlfriend, 2013 Oscar Pistorius: Career in pictures Oscar Pistorius in court Oscar Pistorius appeared on charges of murdering his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, 2013 Mr Roux first asked Ms Mashabane: Are you going to tell the court that this is a violent person? Ms Mashabane initially said: I am not going to tell that he is violent. But when Mr Roux immediately asked her to clarify whether she considered Pistorius violent, the nurse said: Yes, sometimes he could [be violent]. This drew a withering response from Mr Roux. Oh, he is violent? Now you realise your answer is not good, its OK to change? Ms Mashabane insisted Pistorius had threatened her: You will be frightened, with the anger, shaking, when he was banging on the table. Had earlier got Ms Mashabane to clarify that when she referred to Pistorius banging on the table, she meant with a notebook that was in his hand, not with his fist. Taking the nurse through her evidence, he asked about the March 2015 incident when Pistorius complained about being disturbed by Ms Mashabane while the paralympian according to Mr Roux was still in his underpants. Mr Roux asked Ms Mashabane: That surprised you, because before that he had been a kind person? Ms Mashabane replied: Yes, we never had a problem. Mr Roux asked the same question for a second and third time, on each occasion getting the response that until that March 2015 incident, Ms Mashabane had regarded Pistorius as kind. The lawyer then reminded Ms Mashabane that the March 2015 incident came after the alleged January 2015 table banging. Which meant, Mr Roux suggested, that when Pistorius was supposedly banging on the table, Ms Mashabane had actually regarded him as a kind person: Because we know that before March 2015 he was a kind person. As Ms Mashabane insisted, No, no, Judge Thokozile Masipa interrupted to warn the defence lawyer: Mr Roux, that is trapping the witness. She also told those watching in the public gallery to refrain from laughing, saying: This is not a picnic. Sometimes things said by witnesses are funny but just restrain yourself. This was a reference to the laughter that granted the nurses claim that Pistorius had been happy for her to treat him with Rub Rub, an ointment, after he injured his hand in the gym. Mr Roux had been suggesting Mr Pistorius had been unhappy about being denied an X-ray, a claim denied by Ms Mashabane. She also denied the defence teams earlier claim that Pistorius had overheard the rape of another inmate, who subsequently hanged himself. Ms Mashabane said the ward where the incident occurred had been very far from where Mr Pistorius was staying. Ms Mashabane said that because of Pistoriuss clashes with her, she was eventually asked by her superior to avoid interacting with him. The sentencing hearing continues on Wednesday. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Isis will benefit from the slaughter carried out by Omar Mateen in Orlando regardless of how far it was involved in the massacre. It will do so because Isis has always committed very public atrocities which dominate the news agenda, spread fear and show its strength and defiance. So far there is strong evidence that Isis motivated Mr Mateen in his attack, but not that it played a role in organising it as it did in the killings in Brussels and Paris. Isiss Albayan radio station based in Iraq, is saying that God allowed Omar Mateen, one of the soldiers of the caliphate in America, to carry out an attack entering a crusader gathering in a night clubin Orlando, killing and wounding more than 100 of them. The FBI says that he made an emergency call just before he started shooting claiming allegiance to Isis. Western media are likely to emphasise the Isis angle because it feeds into popular fear of a vast Isis-led conspiracy that menaces every home in the US and Europe. This is scarcely surprising since it is the worst terrorist attack in the US since 9/11, but it is worth keeping mind that the casualties in Orlando are much less than the 200 killed last month by Isis suicide bombers in and around Baghdad over a four day period and a further 150 in the Syrian cities of Tartous and Jableh on 23 May. These massacres were barely reported by the Western media which tends to under-cover or over-cover Isis actions, depending on whether Americans or Europeans are among the dead. This gives a distorted picture of the degree of danger posed by Isis, which at times appears to be on the wane and at others is exaggerated by round-the-clock news coverage to seem like a threat to our very existence. These exaggerations play into the hands of Isis, a prime example being the infamous tweet from Donald Trump about the Orlando killings asking if President Obama is going to finally mention the words radical Islamic terrorism? If he doesn't he should immediately resign in disgrace! This is the sort of hysterical and divisive response that Isis likes to provoke and Mr Trump is being rightly castigated for making such a comment. But recall that David Cameron did much the same last December before the House of Commons vote on extending British airstrikes to Syria by warning MPs not to vote with Jeremy Corbyn and a bunch of terrorist sympathisers. In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Show all 30 1 /30 In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People gather at a vigil in solidarity for the victims of the Orlando nightclub mass shooting, at Taylor Square in Sydney EPA In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Brett Morian, from Daytona Beach, hugs an attendee during the candlelight vigil at Ember in Orlando AP In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People and members of the gay community holding the peace rainbow flag gather for a vigil near the Beaubourg art center in downtown Paris AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A man places a hand print on a makeshift memorial in a parking lot near the Pulse nightclub in Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People attend a candlelight vigil for the victims of the Orlando attack against a gay night club, held in San Francisco REUTERS In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People place candles by a statue of Abraham Lincoln during a candlelight vigil for the victims of the Orlando attack against a gay night club, held in San Francisco REUTERS In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Tel-Aviv city hall lit up with rainbow flag colors in solidarity with Florida's shooting attack victims AP In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Juan Mantilla (L) stands with his partner during a vigil in memory of the victims of the Orlando mass shooting, in Miami Beach AP In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A couple shares a kiss as they embrace each other under a pride flag while residents of San Francisco and the Bay Area gather to mourn, honor, and remember the victims of a mass shooting at a LGBT nightclub in Orlando EPA In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Austin Ellis, a member of Metropolitan Community Church, carries a cross with a sign in memory of the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting as he marches in the 2016 Gay Pride Parade in Philadelphia Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A rainbow flag flies at half mast on the Space Needle in Seattle, in honor of the victims of the nightclub shooting in Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People at the LA Pride event in West Hollywood, write signs and light candles showing solidarity with victims of the mass killings in Orlando AP In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims In reaction to the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida people hug outside the Stonewall Inn near a vigil for the victims in New York AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A woman offers free hugs in Washington, in reaction to the mass shootings at a gay club in Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A U.S. flag is flown at half staff at the White House after the Orlando mass shooting Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A man lays flowers on a rainbow flag in front of the embassy of the United States in Madrid, to pay tribute to the victims of the shooting of Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims The Michael Fowler Centre is lit in rainbow colours by the city council during a candle lit vigil across the road at Frank Kits Park in Wellington, in remembrance of victims after a gunman opened fire in a gay nightclub in Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Participants hold candles during a vigil at Frank Kits Park in Wellington, in remembrance of victims after a gunman opened fire in a gay nightclub in Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Vixon Noir (R) consoles Trashina Cann, both of San Francisco, during a vigil at Harvey Milk Plaza in the Castro district of San Francisco AP In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People gather in the Castro District for a vigil for the victims of the Orlando shooting at a gay nightclub, in San Francisco REUTERS In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A couple joins residents of San Francisco and the Bay Area to mourn, honor, and remember the victims of a mass shooting at a LGBT nightclub in Orlando EPA In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Mourners pay tribute to the victims of the Orlando shooting during a memorial service in San Diego AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims The Orlando Eye observation wheel lights up in rainbow colors, to remember the people killed and injured in the Pulse nightclub shooting AP In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People sit by the water with candles during a vigil in a park following a mass shooting at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando REUTERS In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Members of The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence carry a sign of remembrance for mass shooting victims in Orlando, at the 46th annual Los Angeles Gay Pride Parade in West Hollywood REUTERS In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Former Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra and Shawn Lang of Hartford embrace after Segarra spoke, during a vigil organized by the state's Muslim and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities, on the steps of the state Capitol building in reaction to the mass shooting in Orlando AP In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims The City Hall Building is lit in the rainbow colors in New York, in reaction to the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims One World Trade Center is lit in the rainbow colors in New York, in reaction to the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People hold a vigil after the worst mass shooting in U.S. history at a gay nightclub in Orlando, in front of the White House in Washington REUTERS In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A man lays down 50 roses to honor each victim of the gay Orlando night club shooting as people gather outside of the Stonewall Inn as a vigil is held following the massacre Getty Images An all-too-successful motive for Isis atrocities, whether they are carried out around Baghdad or the boulevards of Paris, is to provoke communal punishment whether it is against Sunni Arabs in Iraq or Muslims in general in the US or Europe. All sense of proportion is lost in what politicians in Northern Ireland forty years ago used to call the politics of the last atrocity. Isis gains because excessive and all-embracing retaliation becomes the unwitting recruiting sergeant for the very movement it is supposedly trying to suppress. The dangers of over-reaction and collective punishment are widely recognised at least in theory, though this may lapse on the day that there is blood on streets. But there is also a risk that good-hearted people will respond in precisely the opposite way and say that the butchery in Orlando, Brussels, Paris, Baghdad and Tartous has nothing to do with Islam, which it has. US Muslim leader addresses Isis after Orlando shooting - 'You do not represent us. You are an aberration Much of what Salafi-jihadi movements such as Isis and al-Nusra believe about gays, women, Shia Muslims and Christians comes out of Wahhabism, the extreme variant of Islam that is effectively the state religion of Saudi Arabia. The Saudis likewise punish homosexuality and transgenderism with death, whipping and imprisonment. In 2014, for instance, a man in Saudi Arabia was reportedly sentenced to three years in prison and 450 lashes for using Twitter to arrange dates with other men. Wahhabi beliefs are close to the Salafi-jihadi ideology and over the last fifty years Wahhabism has become an increasing influence over mainstream Sunni Islam. Sunni who once saw Shia merely as a different type of Muslims now often view them as heretics who are outside Islam. Supported by the vast oil wealth of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf those trained to preach and oversee mosques have become increasingly extreme and, while they may not support terrorist attacks, their beliefs provides fertile soil for those who do. Here we touch on the reasons why Western leaders in the US, France and Britain have so entirely failed to win the War in Terror which they have supposedly been fighting at vast expense since 9/11. Few wars have been quite so demonstrably unsuccessful given that in 2001 al-Qaeda had only a few hundred fighters at most in camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan, while today their militants rule millions in swathes of territory across the Middle East. This has happened because the US and EU states have not wanted to acknowledge the link between the terrorism and their strategic Sunni allies such as Saudi Arabia, the Gulf monarchies, Turkey and Pakistan. Fabrice Balanche of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy writes that the jihadists who hit Paris and then Brussels on 22 March, 2016, had been indoctrinated in the Salafi ideology sponsored by Saudi funded mosques, indirectly financed by private donors in the Gulf, and tolerated by Turkey the country through which they pass to Europe. A further sign of the extent to which Western security services are wedded to their alliance with Saudi Arabia came this week when the CIA director John Brennan went out of his way to deny that the Saudi government or senior Saudi officials were involved in the 9/11 attack and that the 28 redacted pages of the 9/11 Commission report did not implicate them. Saudi Arabia has repeatedly denied any involvement. The link between an unstable security guard in Orlando and Isis may be limited, but it is still there and such attacks will continue to be inspired or organised by Isis so long as it exists. As has been the case since 9/11, Western states are refusing to confront their Sunni allies in the Middle East whose well-funded ideology creates the conditions in which terrorism flourishes. Until they do, Orlando will only be the latest in a string of atrocities. ALBUQURQUE, N.M. Kenneth P. Walton, retired Special Agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 76, formerly of Chippewa Falls, died May 25, 2016, at his home in Albuquerque. He was born in 1939, to Alvina (Schnese) and Kenneth A. Walton. He graduated from Chi-Hi in 1957. During high school, Ken enlisted in the National Guard and served for two years before serving in the U.S. Air Force from 1957 until his honorable discharge in 1961. After his military service, Ken continued his education at UWEC, where he graduated at the top of his class. In 1985, he received the Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award from the University. Ken had a notable career working in the FBI. His career spanned over 24 years, and many states. He was key in many high-profile investigations during his tenure, including the 1981 NYC Brinks robbery, and the indictment of many crooked judges in Detroit. He had his own style which earned him respect from his colleagues and because of his tenacity, he quickly climbed in rank. For many years, he worked as the deputy director and was the No. 2 man at FBI headquarters in New York City. He was later assigned to be the director of the Detroit FBI, where he was nicknamed The Cape Crusader. He retired in 1989. He is survived by his wife, Charlotte of Albuquerque; sons, Paul and Grant Walton; a daughter, Samantha Walton; a brother, Jim Walton of Chippewa Falls; grandchildren; and nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents; and a brother, Terry. A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 18, at Zion Lutheran Church, Chippewa Falls, with the Rev. T. Clint Stark officiating. Military honors by the Chippewa Falls Patriotic Council will take place immediately following the service at the church. Interment will be at a later date in Forest Hill Cemetery, Chippewa Falls. Visitation will be held one hour prior to the service Saturday at the church. Memorials in Kens honor may be designated to Zion Lutheran Church, Chippewa Falls. Pederson-Volker Funeral Chapel & Cremation Services, Chippewa Falls is serving the family. Visit pedersonvolker.com to express online condolences. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} This Referendum is in serious danger of being hijacked: the arguments of the 'Remainers' and of the 'Leavers' are almost all about who can promise the greater material benefit and ensure control over our own affairs. Surely we should recognize just how selfish and dangerous these objectives are. We grew up, all of us in our generation, in the shadow of the Second World War. Our parents spent years in the struggle to win it, likewise our grandparents during the First World War. The 19th century was also a succession of bitter conflicts. We supposed it had ever been thus, but believed that it should not be true for the future, hence the enthusiasm at one time for the League of Nations, then for the United Nations Organization. But Homo sapiens is still a fiercely competitive creature: therein lies the threat that is largely being ignored in this campaign. With the awesome power that humankind has developed, conflict and destruction are already proving catastrophic. Now is not the time to loosen our ties within Europe and worldwide. We trust it never will be. This debate should focus on the society to which we wish to belong and to bequeath to following generations, not the antagonistic concerns about who is going to be better. Surely we don't really want to go it alone as Little Britainers. We wish to play our full part within this continent of ours that we share with 50 other countries, and as international partners with a worldwide responsibility. Prof & Mrs Matthews Perth & Kinross You constantly put forward arguments for staying in the EU based largely on economic factors in which you stress the difficulty in trading into the EU markets from outside. What you fail to balance that argument with is that the UK is a large and generally wealthy area, a market that many EU-based companies see as a major part of their business. Do you think that any of these trading units would want to see trade barriers put in place to stop the UK importing? I could highlight several large manufacturing companies who, until recently, were major employers in the UK until they moved their production into this so called expanding low cost area of the EU, but still rely on sales in the UK to maintain and improve their profitability. Apart from the economic arguments that are put forward from both sides (each with their own sleight of hand), there is the concern that as the EU expands it becomes less European than many people would expect or feel comfortable with and that the expansion is based more on a political desire to expand the empire regardless of the consequences. Many of the people who state that we need to remain in the EU if we want to change this organisation should and I am not being flippant here look at that other strange European organisation, the European Song Contest, to see the basic block-voting system that would constantly ensure that the UK could never obtain a position of meaningful influence. Harry Craig Wigan I am voting in this referendum with environmental concerns uppermost in my mind. While I fully support everything that the Green Party claims are essential protections that our countryside gets from the EU, I am still very concerned that the huge increase in our population can only put enormous pressure on our remaining green spaces. I have visions of a future of the UK being one giant housing estate with a few parks in between. I exaggerate, of course, but the pressure to release land that previously had protection will grow and as we all know, humans always come first. Wildlife and the countryside it lives in will be the sacrificial lamb. I will vote to stay in with a very heavy heart and feel neither cheerful nor triumphant with a remain outcome. Lynn Brymer Ashford, Kent. Some years ago a daily paper ran a picture of Neil Kinnock with the caption: "If this man wins tomorrow, will the last person in Britain turn off the light?" If Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage and their supporters win on June 23 there will be no need to switch off the light. The power will already have been disconnected. Robin Cooper Address withheld On June 23, my wife and I will celebrate nine years of marriage. What I have learned, more than anything, is that if you work together through life's challenges (mental health problems, moving countries, dealing with a child with special needs and ill parents, to name but four), you get a better result for all. I pray that the people of the UK will realise that, just as is the case with marriage or any relationship, isolating ourselves, putting up barriers and blaming everyone else for our problems solves nothing and in fact only makes things worse. We simply cannot tackle the big current issues of the world like climate change, terrorism, inequality and refugees on our own. Now is not the time to walk away. Christopher Key Address withheld Two minor points on Brexit. In a mature democracy a major change to the status quo would require the support of at least half the electorate, after informed discussion. Brexit intends to spend the putative billions it might save on the NHS, but, after they have removed all the non-British staff, there will be no NHS to spend it on. Les Galloway Ulverston, Cumbria When you vote, please reason, don't emote. Elizabeth Fussell Southgate Orlando killings were undoubtedly homophobic I'm a huge supporter of The Independent and its tradition of not following the mainstream pack when espousing its political view. Therefore, I am particularly shocked to find that today your paper, like so many others, seems incapable of acknowledging a sickening and clear case of homophobia. To describe the recent killings in America as a crime carried out on blameless people in a club in Orlando, Florida is as astonishing as it is disingenuous. The attack was carried out on blameless LGBTQ people in a LGBTQ club in Orlando, Florida, by a man clearly perpetrating a hate crime (whatever else it was, too). Why did your leader writer struggle to acknowledge this simple fact? Of course we cannot get into the mind of the man who carried out this awful crime but to say, why he chose that particular place at that particular time, while again failing to announce the club's orientation, once more shows a level of disingenuousness which I find puzzling. William Ivory Address withheld One of the things that really bothers me is when commentators and pundits try to associate every criminal act perpetrated by a Muslim lunatic with Islam. In these times of great peril, voices of peace, reconciliation and unity should prevail over those of fear, prejudice and division. It is true that Islam forbids homosexuality and so does Christianity and Judaism and other religions. Homosexuality is still a crime in 74 countries, and is punishable by the death penalty in 12. Omar Mateen is an American citizen. It is racist and bigoted to associate him with his cultural and religious heritages. Who murdered Gianni Versace on the steps of his Miami beach mansion? Just last week, a gay couple were attacked in Brighton and one of the victims has lost his vision. Who does not remember the uproar that coincided with the winter Olympic Games in Sochi, when President Putin warned gay visitors not to spread their gay propaganda and not to approach children? Who does not remember Margaret Thatcher when she considered the promotion of homosexuality in schools as a criminal activity? It is time to reflect on the Orlando tragedy and break the cycle of unjustifiable hatred towards people of diverse cultures, religions, creeds and sexual orientations. Dr Munjed Farid Al Qutob London School uniforms should encourage play I note the initiative to make school uniforms non-gender specific. However, skirts and dresses are not suitable attire for any child. As a society we want to encourage all children to take exercise and enjoy physical play activities. Young girls get very self-conscious, for example, climbing on apparatus in a school playground and are frequently teased by the boys for showing their knickers. The result is that girls soon learn to limit their play activities. Isn't it about time we recognise this and have uniforms which are fit for the purpose of raising fit and healthy children? Elizabeth Storey Brighton Homes for profit under the hammer How pleased I was to read of the proposed demise of programmes like Homes under the Hammer and Escape to the Country, both of which promote an increase in property prices and encourage people to move to villages at the expense of locals who simply cannot compete with generally well-heeled townies. Unlike most of Europe we seem to be obsessed with property as a product and investment rather than place to live. Programmes such as these do not help matters and it is about time they were axed Chris Hunt Winchester Bear hunt Four people may have been killed by a bear, or bears, in Japan. Could you perhaps now print an estimate of the number of bears killed by humans? Penny Little Great Haseley Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} How many times must a man go beserk/ Before you ban the means of mass death? The answer, my friends, isnt the majestically vague one Bob Dylan gave to the questions he posed on the cusp of a more peacenik American age. Yes, how many deaths will it take till he knows that too many people have died? mused Dylan in 1962, sagely concluding that the answer was blowin in the wind. Today, in the context of US gun law reform, that is a non-rhetorical question with a simply literal answer: the number of deaths till the men (and women, but mostly men) of the National Rifle Association know too many have died is infinite. No amount of body bags, distraught parents, grieving children and unbearably poignant reports from perimeter fencing in front of schools, churches or gay nightclubs has any discernible impact at a legislative level. Jeremy Joseph, owner of G-A-Y, talks about Orlando mass shooting What happened at Pulse, Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook and in so many other buildings and regions across the United States could recur monthly for decades, and it would still it would be sanctioned by a force that no US President however eloquent, determined and committed to change can defeat. That force is democracy. Or, more accurately, the mighty part of democracy that is a lobbying system of sufficient amorality and blithe indifference to suffering to reduce democracy to a filthy little joke. Just as that maniac did on the weekend, the NRA surely the most disgusting outfit in western democratic history long ago took Washington hostage. The death of every innocent killed by a semi-automatic weapon would be on its conscience if it had one. It doesnt, of course. While one might imagine some of those politicians (primarily Republicans, but also some Democrats) who cravenly kiss the gun lobbys ring being woken at 3.30am, sobbing with guilt over their role as enablers, those who run and support the NRA are sealed within a bubble. Nothing penetrates the cocoon of self-righteousness. No horror pierces the titanium shell of indifference. Monuments light up for Orlando The likes of Wayne LaPierre, the NRAs most reliably repellent voice, are smugly impervious to human suffering. The response to each outrage is so predictable, there might as well be a script. The NRA and its untold millions of fans parrot the ritual gibberish about the right to bear arms as sanctified by the Second Amendment. Why should responsible gun owners be penalised, after all, purely because of a few thousand maniacs out there who want to gun down children and gays? An ashen President Obama addresses the nation, drawing on his capacious stores of self-control to speak with calm reasonableness about the need to solve the problem. While his dignified restraint is heroic, his weary defeatism bespeaks painful experience of the domestic limits on presidential power. For the next fortnight, America and the world beyond speak in traumatised disbelief of little else. Then it takes its place on the groaning pile of atrocities, and all falls quiet for a few months until the next one begins the cycle again. The combination of the NRAs wealth and Americas cultural addiction to guns comfortably trumps (no pun meant; well touch on the narcissists narcissist below) all sense, logic and decency. Obama, Hillary Clinton and others can remind Americans that for 10 years, until 2004, semi-automatics were largely banned until the relevant legislation vanished by way of a sunset clause and was not revived under George W Bush. In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Show all 30 1 /30 In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People gather at a vigil in solidarity for the victims of the Orlando nightclub mass shooting, at Taylor Square in Sydney EPA In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Brett Morian, from Daytona Beach, hugs an attendee during the candlelight vigil at Ember in Orlando AP In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People and members of the gay community holding the peace rainbow flag gather for a vigil near the Beaubourg art center in downtown Paris AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A man places a hand print on a makeshift memorial in a parking lot near the Pulse nightclub in Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People attend a candlelight vigil for the victims of the Orlando attack against a gay night club, held in San Francisco REUTERS In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People place candles by a statue of Abraham Lincoln during a candlelight vigil for the victims of the Orlando attack against a gay night club, held in San Francisco REUTERS In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Tel-Aviv city hall lit up with rainbow flag colors in solidarity with Florida's shooting attack victims AP In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Juan Mantilla (L) stands with his partner during a vigil in memory of the victims of the Orlando mass shooting, in Miami Beach AP In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A couple shares a kiss as they embrace each other under a pride flag while residents of San Francisco and the Bay Area gather to mourn, honor, and remember the victims of a mass shooting at a LGBT nightclub in Orlando EPA In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Austin Ellis, a member of Metropolitan Community Church, carries a cross with a sign in memory of the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting as he marches in the 2016 Gay Pride Parade in Philadelphia Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A rainbow flag flies at half mast on the Space Needle in Seattle, in honor of the victims of the nightclub shooting in Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People at the LA Pride event in West Hollywood, write signs and light candles showing solidarity with victims of the mass killings in Orlando AP In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims In reaction to the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida people hug outside the Stonewall Inn near a vigil for the victims in New York AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A woman offers free hugs in Washington, in reaction to the mass shootings at a gay club in Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A U.S. flag is flown at half staff at the White House after the Orlando mass shooting Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A man lays flowers on a rainbow flag in front of the embassy of the United States in Madrid, to pay tribute to the victims of the shooting of Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims The Michael Fowler Centre is lit in rainbow colours by the city council during a candle lit vigil across the road at Frank Kits Park in Wellington, in remembrance of victims after a gunman opened fire in a gay nightclub in Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Participants hold candles during a vigil at Frank Kits Park in Wellington, in remembrance of victims after a gunman opened fire in a gay nightclub in Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Vixon Noir (R) consoles Trashina Cann, both of San Francisco, during a vigil at Harvey Milk Plaza in the Castro district of San Francisco AP In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People gather in the Castro District for a vigil for the victims of the Orlando shooting at a gay nightclub, in San Francisco REUTERS In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A couple joins residents of San Francisco and the Bay Area to mourn, honor, and remember the victims of a mass shooting at a LGBT nightclub in Orlando EPA In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Mourners pay tribute to the victims of the Orlando shooting during a memorial service in San Diego AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims The Orlando Eye observation wheel lights up in rainbow colors, to remember the people killed and injured in the Pulse nightclub shooting AP In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People sit by the water with candles during a vigil in a park following a mass shooting at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando REUTERS In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Members of The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence carry a sign of remembrance for mass shooting victims in Orlando, at the 46th annual Los Angeles Gay Pride Parade in West Hollywood REUTERS In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims Former Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra and Shawn Lang of Hartford embrace after Segarra spoke, during a vigil organized by the state's Muslim and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities, on the steps of the state Capitol building in reaction to the mass shooting in Orlando AP In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims The City Hall Building is lit in the rainbow colors in New York, in reaction to the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims One World Trade Center is lit in the rainbow colors in New York, in reaction to the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims People hold a vigil after the worst mass shooting in U.S. history at a gay nightclub in Orlando, in front of the White House in Washington REUTERS In pictures: The world mourns Orlando shooting victims A man lays down 50 roses to honor each victim of the gay Orlando night club shooting as people gather outside of the Stonewall Inn as a vigil is held following the massacre Getty Images They can reiterate that the Second Amendment (as adopted in 1791 a little before the invention of the machine gun) refers to the rights of not private citizens but a well-regulated militia. They can gently point out that a citizens need for self-protection is adequately met by non-automatic weaponry. You might add that it seems a touch peculiar that someone on the FBIs radar can stroll into a supermarket and pick up an assault rifle in a two-for-one deal with a cantaloupe melon. Such compelling points and others, as recited after each Orlando, fall on ears deafened by the thrilling rat-a-tat-tat of semi-automatic gunfire. One day, God willing, America will join the supposedly civilised world in regarding the easy accessibility of semi-automatics, in a country more laden with sociopaths than most, as an act of collective madness on a par with the enslavement of human beings. Meanwhile, with that day seemingly as far off as ever, Donald Trump accepts the congrats of those praising him for foreseeing the dangers posed by Muslim extremists with typical sensitivity. Trump, we must remember, was once a champion of gun law reform himself, as a trip to YouTube attests. Just as he was once pro-choice over abortion rights. Privately, he probably still is. But a RepubIican could no more be elected president were he for banning semi-automatics than if he supported partial birth abortion. Whoever wins the White House in November, however many massacres follow this one, nothing will change so long as the NRA has the money and power to mow down the careers of Republicans and Democratic members of congress in Republican-leaning states. This, like Trumps proximity to the Oval Office (and like the mounting prospect of Brexit here), is democracy in the raw. Anyone else for benign dictatorship? Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} This weekend, thousands of us had our eyes trained on the Euros of 2016, hoping and praying against a terror attack. What we didn't know is we should have been watching the town of Orlando, Florida, home of Disney World - and a gay club by the name of Pulse. In the early hours of Sunday morning, Omar Mateen, 29, entered the Pulse nightclub, where around 350 people were dancing and enjoying themselves. Using an assault rifle and a handgun, he murdered 49 of them and wounded 53 more. He was later killed by police at the scene. Isis has claimed responsibility for the murders, though Mateens connection with the terror group is still unclear, and its been confirmed that the gunman was known to the FBI. There are reports that Mateen was enraged by a gay couple he saw kissing in public, and that this one glimpse at a homosexual relationship led him to the catastrophe in Orlando. But the real reasoning behind the Pulse shooting is still foggy. And of course it is. This sort of thing defies reason. This was the worst mass shooting in US history; the deadliest terror attack on American soil since 9/11. Nothing can take away the grief of the friends and families who have lost their loved ones. So what happens next? How can we take anything positive away from something so incomprehensibly cruel? This tragedy has led to one of the most amazing displays of love for the LGBT community Ive seen in years, if ever. Somehow, some way, the world has managed to unite. There has always been hate and theres no denying that pockets of homophobic hatred rage; theyll continue to rage long after Orlando. The Turkish newspapers headline 50 perverts killed in bar is testament to that. But theres also been an astounding outpouring of grace and support. Take a look around the world. People who have never set foot in America, let alone Orlando, are grieving with the US - and for the gay community as a whole. The Eiffel Tower in Paris was illuminated in brilliant rainbow colors; same with the city of Melbournes Town Hall, the One World Trade Center in New York City and the Tel Aviv City Hall. Others are holding candlelight vigils and services across the world: in New York City, Chicago, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Boston, New Orleans, San Diego, Glasgow, Sydney, London, Paris, Rome, Sao Paulo, Bangkok, Mumbai, Berlin, Seoul - need I go on? Social media is aflame too - thousands of pictures are being shared with the hashtag #TwoMenKissing - men of all ages, ethnicities and backgrounds. And another trending topic: #GaysBreakTheInternet, a celebration of the ability for this marginalised group to overcome adversity. People are using the rainbow filter on their profile pictures, signaling a message to the gay community: Im with you. Youre not alone. And others are actually coming out as LGBT in response to the shooting. In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Show all 44 1 /44 In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Frank Escalante AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Luis Daniel Conde AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Brenda Lee Marquez McCool In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Yilmary Rodriguez Solivan AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Joel Rayon Paniagua AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Jerald Arthur Wright AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Paul Terrell Henry AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Shane Evan Tomlinson AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Antonio Davon Brown AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Jason Benjamin Josaphat AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Enrique L. Rios, Jr. AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Darryl Roman Burt AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Cory James Connell REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Tevin Eugene Crosby AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Jonathan Antonio Camuy-Vega AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Rodolfo Ayala-Ayala AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Leroy Valentin Fernandez AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Christopher Andrew Leinonen AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Angel L. Candelario-Padro AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Simon Adrian Carrillo-Fernande AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Christopher Joseph Sanfeliz REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Javier Jorge-Reyes AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Gilberto Ramon Silva-Menendez AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Juan P. Rivera-Velazquez AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Miguel Angel Honorato AP In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Jean Carlos Mendez Perez REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Mercedez Marisol Flores REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Xavier Emmanuel Serrano Rosado REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Anthony Luis Laureano Disla REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Franky Jimmy De Jesus Velazquez REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Oscar A. Aracena-Montero REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Martin Benitez Torres REUTERS In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Stanley Almodovar Facebook/Stanley Manolo Almodovar III In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Eddie Justice Faebook/ Eddie Justice In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Luis Vielma Twitter/@jk_rowling In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera Facebook/ Eric Rivera In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Juan Ramon Guerrero Facebook/ Juan Ramon Guerrero In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Peter O. Gonzalez-Cruz Facebook/ Peter Gonzalez Cruz In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Amanda Alvear Facebook/ Amanda Alvear In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Anthony Disla Facebook/ Anthony Disla In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Edward Sotomayor Twitter/@ryanraiche In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo Facebook/Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo In pictures: The victims of the Orlando shooting Kimberley Morris Twitter/ @katiezavadski Hundreds came together outside New Yorks iconic Stonewall Inn, a national symbol of LGBT rights, to proclaim both their grief and their message. We come today because we are a community that will never be silent again! shouted Queer Nation organiser Ken Kidd during the gathering. Then there are all those donating blood for the wounded, many of them Muslim because, whatever Donald Trump would have you believe, most Muslims are good people who would save your life rather than take it. After the attacks, Islamic groups encouraged one another to show who you really are after the shooting and give blood. Hassan Shibly, executive director of the Florida branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned the crime, saying there was never any justification for such an act. And Carlos Guillermo Smith, a representative of Equality Florida, an LGBT advocacy group, stated Equality Floridas solidarity with both Shibly and the entirety of the Islamic and Muslim community. Theyre together. Theyre strong. Theyre not alone. In his Tony acceptance speech Sunday night, Hamiltons Lin Manuel Mirandas voice shook as he summed it all up with this: Love is love is love is love is love is love Tonys mark Orlando shooting This horrible act of hatred exposed Americas weakness: its pathetic gun control, its in-your-face anger, its hardly-repressed homophobia and Islamophobia. But it also revealed Americas strength, and the strength of the world: the way we can unite, despite miles and miles between us, to honour the lives of those lost and strengthen the community from which they came. Omar Mateen unleashed despicable violence, but he was one man. We are millions. And if we can come together after the Orlando shooting, if we can celebrate love and advocate policy change, if we can see past the fear, then people like him will never win. The pound weakened to almost 80 pence against the euro and the cost of hedging rose as investors grew more concerned about the outcome of next weeks EU referendum. It could mean bad news for retail businesses in border areas in the Republic, as shoppers may capitalise on the weaker pound and shop in Northern Ireland. UK voters head to the polls on Thursday week in a poll that will decide the future of the country in the European Union. Polls indicate the decision is on a knife edge, with a lead for the remain camp switching to gains for those in favour of a so-called Brexit. A weakening UK currency is bad news for Irish exporters as it increases their margins. By late afternoon yesterday, the euro was worth around 0.7889, up from the 76 pence mark it had strengthened to in recent weeks. But earlier in the day it had reached 0.7986. Investors have grown increasingly jittery, and sterling volatility has increased, as the opinion polls suggest momentum is growing for the leave camp. I would expect volatilities to rise further and the markets will become even bleaker as we head towards the referendum, said Koichi Yoshikawa, executive director of finance at Standard Chartered Bank. Investors are choosing to put their money into both the US dollar and the Yen, with the pound falling to a three-year low against the Japanese currency. UKIP leader and Brexit advocate Nigel Farage said the prospect of a fall in the value of the pound is nothing to worry about. Mr Farage said people should not be worried by ludicrous scare stories, adding that a weaker pound would benefit UK exporters. The pound tumbled the most since February on Friday after an ORB/Independent poll showed a 10-point lead for leave. Surveys at the weekend were less stark, with one online poll by Opinium for the Observer newspaper showing 44pc support for Britain staying in the EU and 42pc against. Britains hefty current account deficit 7pc of output in the last quarter of 2015 makes the economy, and the currency, vulnerable to any pull-back in investment flows. Worries about Brexit have also contributed to the UK economy losing momentum in recent months, and investors have pushed back rate hike expectations to the end of the decade. UBS, a leading foreign exchange player, said there were signs that growth may slow further in the second quarter and some policymakers on the Bank of Englands monetary policy committee could consider rate cuts. Meanwhile, research conducted by the ESRI found that Ireland and the UK are perceived to be similar as alternative locations for FDI in particular by investors from outside the EU and for FDI in the services sector. This result suggests that a possible redirection of FDI from the UK to Ireland in the case of Brexit would be more likely by investors from outside the EU and in the services sector, said Dr Iulia Siedschlag, ESRI associate research professor. But the report warned that a more competitive tax rate in the UK would hinder Irelands ability to attract foreign direct investment. The research said that a reduction in the UKs corporate tax rate by 1 percentage point, from 20pc to 19pc, would reduce Irelands attractiveness to new FDI projects from non-EU countries by 4.3pc. (Additional reporting agencies) An Irish-born UK Conservative Party councillor has described the Irish governments push to get out the Irish vote in Britain as desperate. Taoiseach Enda Kenny and several ministers have been in UK cities engaging with the Irish community ahead of the EU referendum on June 23. The Taoiseach returns this week. The Governments message is that Britain should remain as an EU member, amid arguments that a withdrawal could cause severe economic consequences for both countries, and spell a potential return to border controls with Northern Ireland. But Michelle Donohue-Moncrieff, a pro-Brexit Conservative councillor for Scarborough in Yorkshire, has said successive Irish governments have been too unquestioning of the EU. Im deeply uncomfortable with the Taoiseach running around in a rather desperate way. To most English people who see it, it doesnt look very good. It looks like we dont have any confidence in ourselves. It looks like were so desperate to get these Irish people to vote to stay, Ms Donohue-Moncrieff told the Irish Independent. My concern about the whole political dialogue in Ireland is that for the best part of 30 years there has been no critical thinking on the European Union, or the EEC as it was then. Weve never had a proper critical debate. The whole body politic, the civil service, works on the basis that the EU is good no matter what it does. Carlow-born Ms Donohue-Moncrieff moved to the UK at 22, after graduating from UCD with a degree in engineering. She has worked with various companies in the UK, including British Steel and Kingspan. She said the area she represents will be voting overwhelmingly out, with immigration the big issue. Immigration, in voters minds, is more important than the economy. Its palpable, particularly in northern England. Its the Eastern European migration. Working-class people, particularly traditional Labour voters, in areas like this, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, the real traditional old school Labour voters, are voting to leave. And thats all to do with immigration. And she dismissed the prospect of some form of border being reintroduced between the north and south. Ireland is not legally obliged to join Schengen, so under a Brexit Irelands position would have a special status, she argued. There would have to be an arrangement that would deal with the border. It is perfectly possible for the EU to come up with an arrangement for Ireland and Britain, particularly as Ireland and Britain are islands, and the only land border is the land border between the two countries. Beef farmers have been offered a lifeline with the news that Turkey has given the green light to live cattle imports from Ireland. The announcement comes when Irish beef farmers were fearing the worst from a boom in the national herd numbers, with an extra 80,000 head of cattle threatening to collapse prices this autumn. Hopes were beginning to fade that no live export openings would materialise this year, despite a series of diplomatic pushes by the Department of Agriculture. Live export agents bought thousands of cattle in anticipation of the massive Turkish market opening up following visits by Turkish veterinary officials here in the spring. Last year Turkey imported 380,000 head of cattle, with about one third of this sourced in France. However, the outbreak of Bluetongue forced the Turkish authorities to look further afield, with Ireland's disease-free status and surplus of stock providing a ready substitute. Live exports are seen by beef farmers as a crucial alternative to the dominant buying might of a handful of powerful beef processors such as Larry Goodman's ABP, Dawn Meats and Kepak. However, the trade had slumped by over 25pc this year as demand dropped in traditional live export markets such as France and north Africa. The latter region is dependent on high oil prices, while the French market is renationalising as the industry there promotes domestic product over imports. "This is a positive development and brings much needed competition to the trade," said the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) president Joe Healy. Wicklow beef farmer Angus Woods said it was a big achievement by the Irish authorities to secure a health certificate within three months of the first approach from Turkish officials. "This market is paying about 900 for yearling stock from the suckler herd weighing 300kg, which may not suit every beef producer out there, but it will have positive knock-on effects for every class of stock," said Mr Woods. However, farm leaders also warned that the development was no silver bullet. "Weanlings weighing less than 300kg and under 12 months of age are already a strong seller and the 21-day holding requirements are also problematic," said the Irish Cattle and Sheep Association's Edmond Phelan. The caller at the other end of the phone was in a highly distressed state. The bank was foreclosing on his loans and his tractor was going to be repossessed. The advice he got was, "Let them take it. You'll get another one down the line". A few days later the young man ended his life. The tractor is still in his farmyard, untouched. He was one of the people Seamus Sherlock couldn't help, out of the countless who contact him each week, having reached rock bottom, looking for help or advice. The Life After Debt campaigner and ICSA rural affairs chairman has been there himself. In August 2012 he barricaded himself and his five children into his home at Appletown farm in Feohanagh, Co Limerick after he was threatened with eviction from his bank due to outstanding mortgage repayments. But he came out the other side and following negotiations with the bank, remains on his property. He says financial pressures are one of the main factors in the growing suicide epidemic in rural Ireland and when you're the one under those pressures it's a lonely place to be. Seamus puts his salvation down to community and the countless people who travelled from all over the country to stand shoulder to shoulder with him in his time of need. "I said to myself, 'if these people are willing to do this for me, I must be worth something'," he told the Farming Independent. His story inspired fellow Tipperary native, Gda Edel Burke, to contact him when she set about trying to combat the sense of isolation she felt people were experiencing in west Clare where she's stationed in Kildysart. She says she needed to do something about the growing sense of isolation and the breakdown in community, not helped by the closure of rural garda stations. In the six months leading up to May, she organised five public meetings in Co Clare to address the issue. Seamus Sherlock was the guest speaker at all of these forums and she also receives support from her garda colleagues, Teagasc and the farming organisations. She is planning more this autumn and already has been liaising with colleagues in Donegal who are keen to copy the idea. "Seamus's message is one of hope and he was the first person I approached," she said. Fear "He had hit rock bottom and come out of it and I thought this might inspire other people who are feeling isolated," she said. Gda Burke says money has been the big issue in the last few years, along with loneliness, fear and the isolation that comes from a lack of connectivity. "They are not even getting out to the pub to meet people and no one really visits houses anymore. "During the boom years we lost the run of ourselves but I think maybe we're getting that sense of community back now, slowly." Another key component of the Clare meetings has been Sgt Joe Downing, the Crime Prevention Officer for the district. "Not knowing who their local garda is has had a huge impact on people and makes them more likely not to report a crime. And if we don't know a crime has been committed how can we do anything about it? "It's a pity so many rural garda stations were closed, especially when there hasn't even been any money saved by doing this." Encouraging people to attend has not been as difficult as she thought, given how private country people can be. There's always a cup of tea afterwards and this is when people can really open up. Usually, the person they seek out is Seamus Sherlock. "I have been approached by so many people who say, 'You were speaking about me there', because they recognise the situation," Seamus added. "All people want is to hear someone talk who might understand what they're going through." However, he firmly believes loneliness is not just experienced by the bachelor farmer living alone in a cottage at the side of the mountain. "With a lot of the people who contact me their marriages have broken down and because they don't have the financial means, they're still living under the one roof with their spouse and a word hasn't passed between them in years and these are the people telling me they're desperately lonely," he says. He firmly believes many farm accidents and fatalities are linked to people who are under stress and overtired because they're not sleeping or eating properly. Regardless of the cause of the stress, the common thread is shame and a feeling of worthlessness. Now that a new Minister for Rural Affairs has been appointed, Seamus says the first words he'd say to her is to switch the lights back on in rural Ireland. "I'm going to be meeting Minister Heather Humphreys very soon as part of a delegation and I'll be telling her I don't believe rural Ireland is dead at all. "It's only smoldering and what it needs is a spark. Broadband is a huge issue and we can't wait another five years for it," he says. He'd also like to see a reversal of the decision to close rural garda stations to renew a sense of security. These are also the issues that keep on coming up at the meetings. For Gda Edel Burke the purpose of holding these meetings is simple. "It's only to try to reach out to people and let them know you're there for them. "There are plenty of men and women too out there who are equally isolated and these meetings are all about getting people talking," she says. Young farmers are being treated as the "sacrificial lambs" when it comes to schemes to funding the sector, the Macra president has warned. Sean Finan hit out at the confirmation there would be no Basic Payment National Reserve in 2016 for young farmers. The Central Bank has said it accepts that its tough mortgage deposit rules have impacted the ability of people to buy a property, but stressed the measures are designed to protect the system and limit the risk of another credit boom. And deputy governor Sharon Donnery insisted again that the evidence needed to change the rules would be "significant " as she set out details of a public call for evidence into their impact. The Central Bank said it welcomes data-based and other analytical submissions to inform its assessment. MS Donnery said they would look at house prices and credit dynamics, as well as other side effects. Submissions will be open from tomorrow and will close on August 10. At the publication of its latest Macro Financial Review, the bank highlighted the uncertainty around the EU referendum vote in the UK It said a so-called Brexit could cause market volatility in the short term for Ireland. The bank said there would also be a negative impact on Irish exports to the UK. "The Central Bank has been engaging with firms across all parts of the financial sector, with a particular focus on the firms with the largest UK exposures, to ensure that they are prepared for risks associated with a potential Brexit," the bank said. MADISON After years of complaints about tainted drinking water and weed-choked waterways, proposals for tighter state restrictions on industrial-scale dairy operations are in the works, the Department of Natural Resources disclosed in a letter appended to a 124-page audit report that was released earlier this month. But clean-water advocates werent celebrating. Last week they were still digesting the audit findings, which raised new doubts about Wisconsins ability to enforce laws protecting its drinking water, lakes and streams from the manure the dairy industry generates. One leading lawmaker is worried that without adequate law enforcement, the state could slide back toward the polluted conditions that existed before enactment of the federal Clean Water Act in 1972, and hes not sure the Legislature is prepared to make needed changes. State Sen. Robert Cowles, who initiated the audit in his role as co-chairman of the Legislatures audit committee, wants laws changed so more of the fee revenue the DNR collects from polluters stays with the department to pay for more enforcement staff. The Green Bay Republican said Wisconsin residents have a right to be upset about the report compiled June 3 by the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau that detailed shortcomings in the DNRs enforcement of laws limiting water pollution. My constituents who saw the story wondered What the heck is going on? Cowles said. The people of this state believe in water quality. We brag about our lakes and rivers and having great places to fish in and swim in. The audit provided the clearest picture to date of deficiencies raised previously by conservation advocates and the federal government about DNR environmental enforcement, inspections and the writing of permits aimed at limiting pollution from sewage treatment plants, large farms and private manufacturers. Inadequate staffing and heavy turnover appeared to contribute to the problem, auditors said. Cowles said more money for staff is needed and it could come from fee revenue. But its far from clear that Gov. Scott Walker and Republicans who have controlled the Legislature since 2011 will agree. Agency full-time staffing has been in a general decline since at least the 1990s under both parties. Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle oversaw reductions in full-time staff in water pollution regulation programs after the 2008 recession hit. Staffing levels increased in 2011 when Walker and his fellow Republicans took control of state government, but two years later cuts resumed. DNR leaders said they are currently reorganizing in response to elected officials who want the department to focus on an unspecified core mission. The DNR collects $5 million to $7 million annually in fees from concentrated animal feeding operations, known as CAFOs, municipal sewer plants and private industry, but it typically keeps less than $90,000, with the rest going to the states general fund. Cowles said lawmakers are giving their attention to fall elections, and he hasnt been in contact with the Legislatures top leaders about the audit. He said he would like the Legislature to provide the DNR with more enforcement dollars as soon as possible, but he isnt confident. Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, hasnt read the audit and wasnt available for comment, his spokeswoman said Thursday. A spokeswoman for Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, didnt respond to emails. Any specifics related to the DNRs budget will be presented in the governors budget proposal next year, said Walker spokesman Tom Evenson. DNR spokesman Jim Dick said Friday that after the audit was completed, department employees were able to find documents indicating the agencys performance in assuring that permit holders were in compliance with regulations may not have been as poor as it appeared in the audit report. As the Wisconsin State Journal previously reported, auditors found no documentation that the DNR took enforcement action for months or even years in five incidents where monitoring wells showed CAFOs were contaminating groundwater with substances harmful to human health. Auditors found violations were issued to private industry and sewage treatment plants in just 33 of 558 instances serious enough for such citations under DNR policies over the last 10 years. Municipal and industrial dischargers submit monthly electronic monitoring reports that DNR uses to identify violations, but auditors said when it came to CAFOs, problems with DNR record-keeping made it impossible to determine how often violations led to enforcement action. CAFOs are expected to notify the DNR if they spill manure or apply it to fields in a way that endangers groundwater or threatens to run off into streams and lakes where it can cause beach closings and unnatural growths of weeds and algae. Violations also can be discovered through citizen complaints and DNR inspections. The DNR has increased the number of CAFO inspections it conducts, but often their value was questionable because they were performed so far in advance of or in some cases after a permit was renewed, auditors said. And even after average annual inspection numbers peaked from 2010 to 2014, fewer than half of the large livestock feeding operations were being inspected twice during each five-year permit term, the goal the state set for itself. In a letter responding to the audit findings, DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp said the department is reducing that goal to once every five years to mirror the less stringent national standard recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The change may mean fewer opportunities for the department to have contact with permit holders and, when there are problems, learn about them early enough to informally obtain compliance with regulations without formal enforcement action, Dick said. A law firm that has challenged the DNR said low enforcement standards were an open invitation to polluted water. Safe water is too important to bet on industries maintaining compliance even when its well-known that the responsible regulatory agency is inspecting less, enforcing less, and charging fewer fines when violations do come to light, said Tressie Kamp of Midwest Environmental Advocates. Particularly for industries like CAFOs where the permitting system is set up for self-regulation and self-reporting, add decreased state monitoring on top of that and it becomes clear that were just not doing enough to protect our states water resources. Stepp also disclosed a series of changes DNR has begun aimed at better protecting the aquifer that supplies drinking water to many people in places like Kewaunee County, where a shallow layer of topsoil and porous bedrock can allow manure to taint groundwater. Pollutants associated with animal waste have been found in 30 percent of wells tested in the county, which has a high concentration of CAFOs. Last summer, after citizens groups and conservationists complained to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the DNR formed a series of work groups made up of farmers, other residents, conservation advocates and government officials to study the problems. The DNR has adopted a recommendation to set tighter restrictions on spreading of manure in places like Kewaunee County, Stepp said in the letter. Farm operators have been asked to follow the restrictions voluntarily while the department begins its rule-making process, she said. The process can take months or years, depending upon several factors, including how long the governor and lawmakers take to review the changes. The department hasnt decided if it will use emergency rule-making authority to speed up the process, Dick said. State Dairy Business Association lobbyist John Holevoet said he wasnt close enough to the work groups to be able to comment on the recommendations, but he said its possible some of the unfavorable audit findings are misleading. Acting on other work group recommendations, the DNR has already begun to perform more audits of manure-spreading practices, has reallocated staff to fill CAFO program vacancies and formed internal teams to consider changes in the way the department responds when new contamination of drinking water is discovered, Stepp said. Several recommendations from the Legislative Audit Bureau regarding CAFO enforcement noted DNR employees didnt have time to adequately review annual reports submitted by CAFOs or plans describing how they will spread manure without polluting. Stepp said in the letter the equivalent of 10.5 full-time employees in regional offices handle permitting and compliance duties that auditors said needed improvement. Currently, there are 31 CAFO permits for each staff member. The ratio needs to be reduced to 20-to-1 for required work to be accomplished, Stepp said. She didnt include an estimated cost. Healthy fast food chain Chopped has opened a new outlet in Rathmines in Dublin 6, creating 20 new jobs. The new outlet will be followed up by new stores in Tallaght and Sandyford. The Rathmines store is the latest in an aggressive rollout strategy that has seen the firm open in Mulhuddart and Grafton Street. The company aims to employ 320 by the end of 2016. Chopped co-founder Brian Lee expressed his delight at the opening of the new store. "Its a great location in the heart of Rathmines and will serve as yet another proof point of the demand for healthy food in Ireland. This new Chopped will serve everyone in Rathmines, from people commuting to work, to soldiers in the nearby army barracks to students in the neighbouring school," he said. Over the last year Chopped has been named Ireland's "Best Emerging Franchise" at the Irish Franchise Awards in April. Mr Lee also hopes that the new store will provide a healthy alternative for nearby schools. Weve seen parents across the country campaigning against fast food near schools and for better lunch options for students so were delighted to be so close to St. Marys secondary school. "Chopped Rathmines will provide the students with healthy fast food thats not a dodgy chicken roll! Eating well is vital for young people and were confident our healthy options will go down very well with local students and their parents. Breege ODonoghue, who was recently honoured with the Chevalier de la Legion dHonneur by the Ambassador of France to Ireland, Jean-Pierre Thebault, in Dublin Retail veteran Breege O'Donoghue is retiring from Dublin-based Primark after 37 years with the company, which trades as Penneys in Ireland. As group director of new markets and business development, Ms O'Donoghue (71) has overseen dramatic expansion of the group, which was founded in Dublin in 1969. Primark is owned by Associated British Foods. A native of Boston, Co Clare, Ms O'Donoghue recalled last year that she joined Primark in 1979, on the last day of Pope John Paul's visit to Ireland. Back then, she said the group had just 17 stores. It now has more than 300 in 11 countries, having opened its first store in the United States last year. In its last financial year, Primark generated sales of just under 5bn (6.3bn), and operating profits of 662m (834m). The profit was 30pc higher than the previous year. Ms O'Donoghue joined the group to establish its human resources department, having previously worked with the Great Southern Hotel group for 17 years. She rose up the ranks, becoming one of the gang of four that for years plotted the rise of the cut-price retailer that had been founded by billionaire Galen Weston and his wife, Hilary. Mr Weston's family owns Arnotts, Brown Thomas, Selfridges and Fortnum & Mason, and has a large stake in Associated British Foods. Ms O'Donoghue oversaw the current expansion into the US, as well as Primark's foray into Italy. Just recently, it opened its first store in Milan. She will step down from her executive role in September, but will continue to support the retailer as an ambassador, and in her role as a pension trustee. Primark chief executive Paul Marchant said that Ms O'Donoghue has been part of the board that led to the transformation of the company into one of the most successful retailers in Europe. "Her contribution has without doubt significantly helped to make Primark the business that it is today," he said. Mr Marchant said Ms O'Donoghue has "always led from the front" and displayed "tenacity, drive and a determination to succeed". Ms O'Donoghue, who is also a non-executive board member of C&C, has received a number of business accolades. "For 21 years I was a member of the well documented Primark gang of four - the only female board member for 26 years and which was not without its challenges," she recalled in a 2014 speech when she received one of her awards. She grew up on what she called an "idyllic" dairy farm that demanded hard work. She miked goats before going to school, carried water from the well, picked potatoes and walked miles to school. Her family travelled to mass and the seaside on a horse and trap. She attended secondary school in Gort, but said when she finished she didn't have an opportunity at that stage to pursue a degree (she later did, as a night student in UCD). One of the big changes during her career, according to Ms O'Donoghue, is the opportunities that opened up for women. "During my continuing working years there have been many positive advances for women and others, for example, implementation of equal pay, improvement in the status of women, equality recognised and discrimination on the base of sex, race or otherwise all unacceptable in principle," she said. "In fact were it otherwise, I might not have not had this career." Here are the main business stories from this morning's papers: Irish Independent * A man who lost his house, his partner and had to go bankrupt is considering suing Permanent TSB. Joseph Wallace, of Mahon, in Cork, claims he was overcharged when he lost his tracker mortgage and was put on a much higher rate by the bank. * A $26.2bn (23.3bn) takeover of LinkedIn by Microsoft will see the combined entity employ over 2,000 people in Ireland. The two companies are unlikely to combine operations or shed jobs as a result of Microsoft's biggest ever acquisition, with both having just invested in major new buildings around Dublin. * An Irish-born UK Conservative Party councillor has described the Irish governments push to get out the Irish vote in Britain as desperate. Taoiseach Enda Kenny and several ministers have been in UK cities engaging with the Irish community ahead of the EU referendum on June 23. The Taoiseach returns this week. The Irish Times * Taoiseach Enda Kenny has deemed Britain's decision on whether or not to remain within the EU as the most important for Ireland since the Belfast Agreement back in 1988. Mr Kenny was speaking at Ulster University's Belfast campus on Monday where he encouraged Britain to vote to remain within the EU. * Shares in online professional platform LinkedIn soared by 49pc on Monday after it was announced the company was to be acquired by Microsoft. Microsoft announced yesterday that it would acquire LinkedIn in a deal worth $26.2bn in what is the firm's biggest acquisition to date. * Irish shares have been hit by the continuing uncertainty surrounding a Brexit vote after hitting a four-month low in the midst of investor concern. According to a report in The Irish Times, the Iseq was hit by a 2.3pc decline, which brings losses on the market to up 6.2bn over the last four sessions. Irish Examiner * Ireland's attraction of foreign direct investment is most from outside of the EU is very vulnerable to changes in corporation tax, new research has shown. According to a report in the Irish Examiner, research from the ESRI points to Ireland being more vulnerable than any other member state to changes in corporation tax. * Microsoft is to buy LinkedIn in a $26.2bn cash deal with the offer representing $196 per share, which in turn boosted LinkedIn's share price by just shy of 50pc. The deal is seen as the most major acquisition of Microsoft's and the biggest tech deal of the year. * Seventy-three movie productions that availed of State tax reliefs last year produced over 1,200 jobs. That is based on an analysis by the Revenue Commissioners which show that the estimated expenditure on employment from the movies was 97m. Minister for Finance Michael Noonan said the estimated expenditure on goods and services from the productions was 70m. Irish employers have reported their strongest labour market forecast in nine years with firms expecting to increase staff numbers by 9pc in the third quarter of 2016, new figures show. The ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey found that employers are predicting an increase of 4pc on the previous three-month period in their hiring strategies. The recruitment firm surveyed businesses across 11 sectors with seven reporting a double-digit net employment outlook figure. "This is only the second time since 2008 that we are seeing a positive net employment outlook across all 11 sectors surveyed, meaning that employers in all sectors expect to grow staff numbers over the coming months," ManpowerGroup Ireland sales director Cara O'Leary said. Employers in the electricity, gas and water sector forecasted the strongest intentions. Almost a third of employers in the sector signalled their ambitions to increase their workforce with the overall employment outlook in the sector standing at 20pc. The hotels and restaurants sector came in second with an outlook of 13pc for the next quarter. Dublin reported the strongest intentions of all the provinces polled with an outlook of 15pc. Ulster was the only region to report negative intentions with an outlook of minus 1pc. "The transport, storage and communications sector is reporting the strongest growth year on year as well as quarter on quarter, which will be of interest to any graduates moving into the working environment in the coming months. "Recent job announcements from companies like Ryanair, who plan to fill 1,000 new positions for pilots, cabin crew and engineers this year, are contributing to the strong results for this sector," Ms O'Leary said. The wholesale and retail sector is expecting to accelerate hiring in the third quarter of the year. The pharma sector also registered a strong increase of 11pc. Seventy-three movie productions that availed of State tax reliefs last year produced over 1,200 jobs. That is based on an analysis by the Revenue Commissioners which show that the estimated expenditure on employment from the movies was 97m. Minister for Finance Michael Noonan said the estimated expenditure on goods and services from the productions was 70m. In figures provided by Minister Noonan to Peader Toibin (SF), the Revenue analysis shows that the actual amount eligible for relief in 2015 was 161m while the amount of relief authorised was 51m. "Production activity levels remain high across the independent film, television, drama and animation sector and we expect production levels to increase significantly in 2016," Irish Film Board ceo James Hickey said yesterday. The makers of the new Pierce Brosnan Hollywood thriller, 'I.T.', shot in Dublin, were the biggest beneficiaries of the Government's new tax relief for movie and TV productions last year. According to figures provided by Revenue, the production firm behind the movie, Woodside Pictures Ltd, last year received 2.4m in tax reliefs under the Section 481 Film Relief Scheme. The overall value of the productions availing of the scheme in 2015 totalled 118m while the total cost of the 'I.T.' movie, that also stars Anna Friel, in 2015 amounted to 11.2m. Chief executive Tim Cook said Apple Pay could be introduced in Ireland soon. Photo: Bloomberg Apple Pay will continue to launch across Europe but there is no disclosed launch date for Ireland, according to Jennifer Bailey, the companys boss for payments. We are continuing to roll out across European and other counties, Ms Bailey told Independent.ie. We intend to keep expanding. Apple is expected to name more countries for the payment system, which allows users to swipe an iPhone or Apple Watch against contactless payment terminals, later this year. It is currently available in six countries, including the UK, with France, Switzerland and Hong Kong recently named as the next three markets to see a roll out this summer. Asked about fraud levels affecting Apple Pay transactions, Ms Bailey said that they were very low. We believe it is very low, she said. Its impossible to know for sure as we don't have all the data. But we believe it is lower [than for conventional credit cards]. At its Worldwide Developer Conference in San Francisco this week, Apple extended the payment technology by making Apple Pay work in the Safari browser with some websites. The move means that users can now pay for things online and validate the payment with a Touch ID press on aniPhone. Apple's move means that it is stepping up its competition with other online payment systems. "We view this as the first concrete step into direct competition with PayPal," said the Apple analyst, Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray. Apple Pay, he said, is "a superior point-of-sale mobile payment solution and, with the dawn of availability in online channels, a legitimate threat to PayPal's staying power." GOOGLE Doodle is celebrating the man who discovered blood groups in 1901 - Karl Landsteiner. The Austrian and American biologist would have been 148 years on June 14. Before Landsteiner's discovery, blood transfusions had been attempted as early as the 17th century with some success. However, attempts to conduct transfusions between animals and humans proved fatal and transfusions between incompatible humans were also problematic. So when Landsteiner identified the A, B and O blood groups, he made transfusions much safer. A Nobel Prize winner, he also collaborated with Dr Erwin Popper, to isolate the virus that causes polio and helped create the vaccine. Traders gather for the opening of LinkedIn Corp at the post where it is traded on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Microsoft announced the biggest tech deal of the year after it agreed to acquire LinkedIn in a deal worth $26.2bn (23.2bn) but sums this size are sometimes categorised amongst the "mad money" sector. What does the size of the deal actually mean and where does it place LinkedIn amongst the biggest deals in tech? To give some initial context when Facebook set its eyes on instant messaging app Snapchat it tabled a $3bn bid. That bid was subsequently rejected and following a recent capital raise Evan Spiegel's disappearing picture app is now valued at around $18bn. The cynic in us might point out that Microsoft announced the deal on the day of Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference but nonetheless here are the five biggest deals in tech to date. 1) Dell buys EMC The biggest deal to date. Michael Dell announced last year that his company would be snapping up data storage maker EMC for a measly $63bn, pittance really. The deal was particularly poignant here in Ireland as Dell at the time employed around 2,300 people here while EMC boasted a headcount of around 3,000. Expand Close Dell founder Michael Dell speaking at the three day Web Summit which opens at the RDS in Dublin: Niall Carson/PA Wire / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Dell founder Michael Dell speaking at the three day Web Summit which opens at the RDS in Dublin: Niall Carson/PA Wire 2) HP scoops Compaq Back in 2002, which is 14 years ago just to make you feel old, Hewlett Packard added Compaq to its portfolio in a deal valued at around $25bn. Like most mergers there was a culling and the company said it would look to let around 15,000 people go. HP has a similar origins story to Apple, kicked off in a garage in Silicon Valley it didn't quite end up endearing itself to the masses quite like Mr Jobs' Apple. Expand Close HP Ireland / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp HP Ireland 3) LinkedIn gets picked up by Microsoft Ah here it is. Third on the list of the biggest acquisitions in tech history Monday's announcement has place both companies in tech folklore, well even more so than they currently are. The deal has been met with a lot of curiosity but with a track record of Nokia's smartphone division in Microsoft's recent past there may too be a smidgen of doubt. Expand Close Bill Gates / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Bill Gates 4) Facebook and WhatsApp Mark Zuckerberg picking up WhatsApp for $19.1bn is proving to be a real coup for Facebook, which leaves the company in control of two of the world's biggest messaging apps. With bots on the way and plenty of plans to make Messenger the one stop social media shop we shouldn't be surprised if this deal turns out to be a shrewd one. Expand Close Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg 5) HP and EDS Not as far back as the Compaq deal but in 2008 HP splashed out on another major acquisition. This time it paid $13.9bn for tech services firm EDS. Expand Close HP / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp HP Read More When Gov. Scott Walker signed three bills into law from the Wisconsin Cares legislative package this spring, they were the result of work done by the Speakers Task Force on Alzheimers and Dementia. One of those bills, Assembly Bill 787, was authored by state Rep. Kathy Bernier (R-Lake Hallie), doubling the funding to the Alzheimers Family and Caregiver Support Program for respite care. The work of the task force was on display at a press conference Monday at Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire, as Bernier and Chairman Mike Rohrkaste (R-Neenah) released the report that included recommendations for future legislation. Bernier was one of 11 legislators on the bipartisan task force, and she said they all had one thing in common. Every single one of us who served on the task force had had a family member with Alzheimers or dementia, she said. In Berniers case, her late mother was diagnosed with dementia. She used her parents as an example for how the caregiver respite funding can make a difference. If my dad was homebound taking care of my mom, and unable to leave her alone for any time, respite care can give him the ability to get out of the house for a few hours to meet with other people, to go shopping, give him a little reprieve, she said. The bill awards caregivers up to $4,000 a year in services such as respite care, adult day care, supportive home care or other services, with the idea that additional support will allow people with memory-care issues to remain in their home longer and to avoid burning out the family member in charge of their care. Wisconsin had awarded $1 million annually for this purpose for the past three decades, Bernier said, with the amount never increasing. Her bill awards an additional $1 million, expanding the maximum joint income eligibility from $40,000 to $48,000, and will also be available to Native American tribes. Respite care in my mind was one of the most important aspects for families with individuals who have dementia, and will help getting people to stay in their homes, she said. The task force was formed in 2015 and held six hearings, including one Dec. 9 in Eau Claire. What emerged was a package of 10 bills, but only three made it through to the governors signature. We promised we would continue to work on these things, said Bernier, who served on the states Committee on Aging and Long-Term Care for three terms. The task force plans on reintroducing the seven bills from the package that were not enacted, and also unveiled several other goals. Rohrkaste recommends the Legislature: review all suggestions for addressing the dementia-capable health care provider shortage, and supports efforts to offer specialized training; review dementia-related crisis issues; explore ways to fund dementia research; review other states guardianship laws; and support the Department of Health Services efforts to strengthen the states dementia-care system. The point is we have an aging population. The percentage of population beyond retirement age is significant in northern Wisconsin, simply because we dont have enough young people to offset the people who are living longer, Bernier said. She added that is a recipe for substantially increased care costs in this area of the state. We need to understand the challenges of the elderly. With dementia, these individuals do much better at home in a familiar environment and our goal is to educate business people and family members, and train them in how to work with people who suffer with dementia. I think we were very successful in bringing this to light. This is something that is not certainly going to go away, she said. On June 23rd the British people will vote on whether or not to leave the European Union. Its a fairly gripping political drama anyway, but Brexit could also have practical (and enormous) implications for Ireland. In tonights TV3 show, Matt Coopers Brexit Dilemma, the Today FM broadcaster examined what a Brexit might mean for us. It was a good, informative hours telly, which showcased Coopers top-class command of political and economic briefs. And here are seven interesting things we heard and, perhaps, learned: 1 Britain joined the then-EEC in 1973 same year as us. Their Prime Minister David Cameron won certain concessions from the EU earlier this year, but these may not be enough to overcome, as Matt phrased it, deep-seated opinions, and in some cases, prejudices over in Blighty. 2 The euro has been a nightmare for us since 2002, Cooper reckoned, while Britain is booming economically. So membership of the EU isnt automatically, or totally, a good thing? 3 There are 1billion of goods and services exchanged every week between our two nations; the UK is our biggest trading partner by far, according to Peter Sutherland. And this flow goes both ways: Ireland is, for example, the biggest market for British food and drink. However, theres a caveat here: according to Eamon Walsh of UCD, a lot of this isnt actually trade between Britain and Ireland. For instance, French champagne moving from Dublin to Belfast is counted statistically as an Irish export to the UK. 4 Michael Carey of Bord Bia reckoned that Brexit would make the cost of doing business much higher, due to tariffs and so on. And Sutherland added that, while the EU would take great steps to facilitate us in the event of Brexit, that will not be at the expense of damaging Europe as a single trading bloc. 5 There are no external borders in the entire EU that dont have concrete border controls. Which means that our border with Northern Ireland would have to change drastically no more nipping up to Newry for cheap fuel and deals on toilet paper, without passing border control first. And the EU has also funded a lot of cross-border and peace process projects. Ruth Tallion, Director of the Centre for Cross-Border Studies, says the North has been a net beneficiary of some 10billion from EU membership. On the other hand, one of the Leave campaigns big arguments is that Britain pays too much into the EU so this is money Northern Ireland would be getting anyway. 6 MEP Mairead McGuinness reckoned that citizens across Europe are questioning many aspects of the EU. There wont be a rush towards further referendums, she reckons, but states might want to negotiate for new deals on a raft of issues. And the conditions of Britains exit would be difficult, which might dissuade others. 7 Will we finish with a Michael OLeary quote? Ah yeah, why not: Its important from an Irish perspective to keep the UK in, because theyre one of the sensible voices around the European tablethe French are adopting the same economic policies as North Korea. Classic OLeary. Please, someone make this man King of Europe already. A DUBLIN man, accused of endangering the lives of five passengers by driving into the side of a campervan, has been sent forward for trial. Bernard McDonagh (29) is alleged to have struck the side of a Fiat Ducato campervan while he was behind the wheel of a silver Nissan Almera. It is alleged that there were five people in the campervan at the time. He was served with a book of evidence when he appeared before Blanchardstown District Court. Mr McDonagh is facing trial in the circuit court after the DPP ruled that matters were too serious for the district court. The accused is charged with endangerment. The incident is alleged to have taken place at Blanchardstown Retail Park on September 2 last year. It is alleged Mr McDonagh struck the side of a Fiat Ducato campervan. It is also alleged that he caused a substantial risk of death or of serious harm to the five people who were in the van at the time. The accused, with an address at St Marys Park, Dunsink Lane, in Finglas, is also charged with criminal damage to the campervan at Blanchardstown Retail Park on the same date. He is also facing a second count of endangerment. A State solicitor said that the book of evidence was ready and had been served on the accused, who goes forward to the present sittings of Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. Judge David McHugh gave the accused the formal alibi caution, warning him he had 14 days to provide to the State details of anyone he proposed calling as a witness. The judge also assigned defence solicitor Simon Fleming and one junior counsel on free legal aid. Judge McHugh further ordered that a video copy of an interview which gardai conducted with the accused be furnished to his legal team. Mr McDonagh has not yet indicated a plea to the charges. He was remanded on continuing bail to appear before the circuit court in two weeks. A number of summary traffic offences were adjourned to November so they can be added to the indictment. A MAN who travelled to Ireland on holidays where he sexually abused a boy has been jailed for eight and a half years for the assaults. The 76-year-old man had groomed the boy and sexually abused him over a five year period at a number of locations in the west of Ireland. He pleaded guilty to five charges before Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court today. The abuse occurred between 2000 and 2005 when the abuser would travel annually to Ireland on summer holidays. Gardai became aware of the abuse when the victim made a complaint in 2010. The defendant was arrested abroad and extradited back to Ireland in 2014 where he has remained in custody. The court heard the defendant would take photographs of the crimes as he carried them out. In a victim impact statement, the victim, now 27, said he had been robbed of a normal childhood and had been left haunted into his adult life. He said he had been under the control of his abuser from the age of 12 to 17. The young man, who has since moved abroad, said he had contemplated throwing himself into a river or crashing his car as a result of the abuse. He told the court he had been left feeling lonely, depressed and suicidal as a result of the years of abuse. He described his abuser as a larger than life figure who had manipulated his family into trusting him. The young man only told his family about the abuse after he became concerned that another young relative may have been at risk from the same man. Defending barrister Eoin Garavan described the case as extremely difficult and tragic. He said his client had a number of medical conditions, was immobile and had no one to care for him. Judge Rory McCabe said the charges were of a most serious nature, describing the grooming as careful and calculated. He said the length of time the abuse had occurred was a significant aggravating factor. He imposed sentences ranging from 20 months to eight and a half years for the five charges and ordered that these be served concurrently. He added that the lack of remorse shown meant there was no scope to suspend any portion of the sentence. The judge backdated the sentence to January 2014, when the accused was initially arrested. The seven-year sentence handed to Dave Mahon for the manslaughter of Dean Fitzpatrick is not long enough, his father has said. However, Christopher Fitzpatrick and his sister Christine Kenny said the sentencing brought closure to the case and gives them a chance to refocus their efforts in searching for Dean's missing sister Amy who vanished in Spain on January 1, 2008. Expand Close Dave Mahon and Audrey Mahon during his trial. Pic Collins Courts / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Dave Mahon and Audrey Mahon during his trial. Pic Collins Courts Mahon (45) was found guilty of the manslaughter of Dean Fitzpatrick last month. He had denied murdering the father of one on May 26, 2013. Yesterday he was sentenced to 10 years in prison, with three suspended, at the Central Criminal Court. Read more: 'I wouldn't accept his apology under any circumstances' - Dean Fitzpatrick's dad reacts to sentence for Dave Mahon Dean (23) received a single stab wound to the stomach outside the apartment his mother Audrey shared with Mahon at Burnell Square, Northern Cross in Malahide. When Ms Justice Margaret Heneghan handed down her sentence, Mahon, dressed in a navy suit with an open-necked pink shirt, glanced over at his wife Audrey who battled back tears. The Central Criminal Court previously heard that Mahon accepted the jury's decision, and would not be appealing the verdict. However, Mahon's legal team now looks likely to "take the matter upstairs" and appeal the severity of his seven-year jail term to the Court of Appeal, the Irish Independent understands. Mahon's lawyers are expected to study the sentence in the next few weeks, but sources have already indicated that Mahon will appeal the severity of it. Ms Justice Heneghan noted that even a long sentence will end at some point while the "suffering and deprivation of the victim's family will sadly be permanent". Afterwards, Dean's aunt Christine said: "A life for a life. I know that sounds bad but that's the way I feel about it." "We are relieved that this process is over as it has been a long road to get here. Today has given us some closure but we still have a long road ahead of us in the search for Amy. "We have some hope now for Amy with this person coming forward in this other case," she added in reference to recent developments in the search for missing Dublin schoolboy Philip Cairns. "We will fight to the bitter end to get truth for Amy. Hopefully somebody will come forward with information of where Amy was that night and pleased God we find her." Christopher Fitzpatrick added: "I just thought it would have been a longer sentence than what he got. "Dean was a nice young man, only growing up. He was a young man when he died, far too young to die." Christopher said he would never accept the apology offered by Mahon in court. "I wouldn't accept his apology under any circumstances. He done what he done. We know what he done, and everybody is aware of what he done." In May, a jury took eight hours and 16 minutes to reach a verdict that Mahon was not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter. Mahon had claimed that Mr Fitzpatrick's death was an accident. Read more: 'I've forgiven Dave but not forgotten,' says Audrey Alex first attended his GP before being taken to Our Ladys Childrens Hospital, Crumlin, Dublin A four-year-old schoolboy, who suffered a crush injury to his right index finger while attending a Dublin creche, has been awarded 20,000 damages in the Circuit Civil Court. Barrister John Nolan told the court that Alex Orsi was almost two-years-old in April 2014 when his finger got caught in the hinge of a door at Giraffe Childcare creche, Charlemont Street. The court heard that Alexs finger was lacerated in the incident and had been bleeding. His nail had also been damaged. Mr Nolan said Alex first attended his GP before being taken to Our Ladys Childrens Hospital, Crumlin, Dublin, where X-rays revealed no fracture to his finger. Circuit Court President Mr Justice Raymond Groarke today heard that Alex suffered a partial amputation to the pulp of his finger. Alex, of Merlyn Park, Ballsbridge, Dublin, had been referred to the Plastic Surgery team at the hospital and had the next day undergone surgery under general anaesthetic. Through his father Sebastian Orsi, a stock broker, Alex sued Giraffe Chilcare, with a registered address at Adamstown Avenue, Castlegate, Adamstown, Lucan, Co Dublin, for negligence. Mr Nolan, who appeared with Peter Morissey & Co solicitors, said the creche had admitted liability and had made a settlement offer of 20,000 damages which he recommended to the court. Judge Groarke, hearing that Alex had made a full recovery and the wound had left a minor scar on his finger, approved the offer. Students at Colaiste Chroi Mhuire, An Spideal in Galway were delighted with the Higher Level Irish Paper 1 as the exam failed to throw any curveballs - apart from a lack of sport. A total of 30 students out of the 170 pupils attending the Gaeltacht school sat the first Irish paper yesterday, with only one or two opting not to take the higher level option. Evan Coyne (17) from Moycullen revealed he was happy with the first Irish Higher Level Paper, even if the expected sport question failed to make an appearance. "It was very nice, I liked it a lot. I was hoping sport would come up. It didn't but I was happy with the short story," he added. His classmate Ruadhan O Curraoin (18) from Spiddal, who hopes to study in Mary Immaculate in Limerick, was also relieved. The native Irish speaker said: "It was easy enough. Everything that we had prepared for came up." Meabh Ni Dhonnacha (17) from Baile na hAbhann, said she had plenty of time to complete the paper. "Everything that came up we had covered. It had 1916 and young people issues, there was no sport but I wasn't going to do that anyway," she said. Sarah Casburn (18) from Moycullen said the exam had left her confident about the next Irish paper. "There was nothing really surprising at all. It was the one I was least worried about and I'm more confident going into the next one," she added. Higher level Irish teacher Siobhan Ni Fhatharta described it as a topical paper with a nice range. "There was a wide range of topics from 1916 to youth culture, international problems and issues from throughout the year. It's a very, very nice paper. There isn't really anything I wouldn't have been happy with," she added. Students at the school were also more than happy with the Maths Higher Level Paper 2. Daniel Faherty (18) from Moycullen and Niall Cox (17) from Furbo were delighted to have both maths exams behind them with no nasty surprises. LC Irish Higher & Ordinary P1 There was a sense of deja vu about Leaving Certificate Irish Higher Level Paper 1 which featured topics that had appeared in the 'mocks', and subjects students would have prepared for the orals. Essay titles were a perfect balance, providing both a challenge for high-achieving students and being accessible to all, said teacher Ruth Morrissey of St Michael's Community College, Kilmihil, Co Clare and the TUI. The essays included what Ms Morrissey felt was an obligatory topic this year: 1916. "Their hearts lifted when they saw it", she said. At ordinary level, Ms Morrissey said there was also a correlation between the topic prepared for the orals and what appeared on the paper. All in all she was "very happy" even if there were "one or two tricky questions on the tape". Robbie Cronin of Marian College, Ballsbridge, Dublin and the ASTI, regarded the questions in the ordinary level listening as "quite difficult". "My students said this part of the exam was very difficult." At higher level, he said the listening comprehension questions were "as you'd expect." He said some students had difficulty with the word 'aifeala', which means regret. However, he said the written comprehensions were not difficult with plenty of essay choice. Leaving Certificate maths papers included some surprises but were completed without any major controversy LC Maths Higher P2 - While Leaving Certificate Maths Higher Level Paper 2 was harder than Paper 1 and challenging in some respects, it was fair, according to teacher Robert Chaney. "It was one that meets the standards that we would expect at this level," he said. Mr Chaney, of CBS Secondary School, Thurles, Co Tipperary said there was an interesting balance, or perhaps imbalance, in the selection of questions. "There was an awful lot of trigonometry in particular, while statistics were only treated in a very light way. That was a slight surprise," he said. But overall, in terms of the questions themselves, there were no big surprises. "Some students would have found part of the statistics question, on inferential statistics, a challenge, but that would be expected." He said Question 4, on construction, made students think. Aidan Roantree of the Institute of Education, Dublin, expressed surprise that the difficulty in the paper lay mainly in Section A, rather than in the traditionally more daunting Section B. In particular, he said, Question 2 (B) on co-ordinate geometry was among the most challenging in recent years. Overall, he thought students would be reasonably happy. LC Maths Ordinary P2 Students were very happy coming out of the Leaving Certificate Maths Ordinary Level Maths Paper 2, according to teacher Robert Chaney. There was one very topical question about water consumption. Overall, Mr Chaney of CBS Secondary School, Thurles, Co Tipperary said that there was a good selection of, and a nice graduation within, questions. He said the examiner had taken on board criticism made in the past of questions that were very restricted in terms of how students could answer them. JC CSPE The Garda Commissioner, refugees, 1916, the census and dog fouling were among the topics on a well-received CSPE paper. But on 1916, Brendan O'Regan of the CSPE Teachers' Association said that asking for six steps to organise a parade was "stretching it". Brendan Greene of St Clare's Comprehensive School, Manorhamilton, Co Leitrim, and the TUI, described it as a "very positive paper". JC Maths Higher & Ordinary P2 True to its Project Maths philosophy, the Junior Certificate Maths Higher Level Paper 2 was a good test of understanding and problem-solving, according to teacher Tony McGennis. It integrated various parts of the course in single questions, such as the co-ordinate geometry question, usually strictly demarcated, but this year also including trigonometry and area, he said. Mr McGennis, of St Laurence's College, Loughlinstown, Dublin and the ASTI, said there were two questions where students mentioned having difficulties with. One was about female parliamentarians where, he said, students could "have gone down the wrong routes" in the (b) part. The other involved a 3D visualisation of two cubes. At ordinary level, Mr McGennis praised the visual cues but said students had difficulties with the question where they had to draw a pie chart, based on the results of a survey of 300 people. After a challenging Maths Higher Level paper yesterday, Leaving Cert students faced more surprises today in the second Irish paper. Maths Paper 2 caused concern among pupils from Loreto on the Green, who expressed disappointment that the exam was missing familiar theorems. Instead, the paper asked a question about cotan, one of the more obscure concepts in the maths tables. I was really disappointed that the things I had prepared for didnt come up, one student said. It was nothing like the previous papers, she continued, noting that she hoped the marking scheme would work in students favour. I definitely thought it was a lot harder than Maths Paper 1. There was no theorem, which was weird, and everyone found the construction quite hard, that was a bit of a curveball, another added. There were more surprises ahead in a very strange Irish Higher Level Paper 2 that contained a prose question based on a text many students hadnt anticipated. It was quite unexpected, everyone expected An Gnathrud to come up and both the set drama and the set poem were ones no one expected, so it kind of threw you off, one student said. At this point, we just want to get through, keep going and then enjoy summer. After three decades of dashed hopes and false dawns, the mother of missing schoolboy Philip Cairns hopes that new leads will finally bring some closure. However, after 30 years of praying for an answer as to why Philip walked out the front door but never reached school on an October afternoon in 1986, Alice Cairns knows that new inquiries do not always lead to answers. She says the news that the notorious paedophile and radio DJ Eamon Cooke was involved in her son's disappearance came as a bolt from the blue - and gave her family fresh hope of resolution. Alice is speaking from her home on the Ballyroan Road in Rathfarnham, Dublin, where she has lived ever since Philip's disappearance on October 23 that year. Expand Close Philip Cairns, who went missing 30 years ago. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Philip Cairns, who went missing 30 years ago. At her kitchen table at the back of the house where Philip was last seen, Alice sits with rosary beads in front of her and a pot of tea on the cooker. A private woman, she speaks with quiet patience and dignity - yet with a tangible anxiety. Philip's disappearance shocked the country. The schoolboy, who was about to turn 14, vanished after leaving his home on the busy road to walk the short journey to Colaiste Eanna secondary school. Expand Close Philip's mother Alice, pictured at her home in Rathfarnham, Dublin shortly after her sons disappearance / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Philip's mother Alice, pictured at her home in Rathfarnham, Dublin shortly after her sons disappearance Despite intensive searches, no trace of him was ever found until his schoolbag was found dumped in a laneway six days later - minus two schoolbooks. The lane had been searched earlier, so gardai know that the bag was dumped there afterwards. Read More Alice Cairns still uses the laneway as a shortcut to the church and shops. She often wonders about the bag and who put it there as she passes the spot where it was found. Speaking for the first time since the revelations of the new line of investigation emerged, Alice says she was not aware that Philip knew Eamon Cooke at all. Expand Close Eamon Cooke: paedophile / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Eamon Cooke: paedophile "He never mentioned him and as far as I know, he didn't know him. I never saw him (Cooke) before and never heard Philip talk about him," she said. Investigation Thirty years of searching for answers have not dulled her spirit and her faith in both God and the gardai remains strong. "Philip was only sort of getting into music but he wouldn't have been that involved that he would be going to radio stations," Alice says. "He'd hardly ever been in the local record shop. He was just starting secondary school and left here to go back to school. After that, we just don't know still. "I'm glad the gardai are following any line of investigation because it shows they are determined to find out what happened. I'm open-minded about it (the Cooke development). "You're always hoping there will be something, a new lead, but then when it happens, you have more questions. "I would be concerned that if this new lead didn't amount to anything, then people might still think that the case is kind of closed and they might not come forward with information and then a person who might be really responsible for it (Philip's disappearance) might be more likely to get away." She reveals that the first hints that there may be a breakthrough in the case of her missing son came several weeks ago. "The gardai came to me a number of weeks ago and told us that they were examining a new line of inquiry, but did not mention Eamon Cooke by name. "They said they were going to interview this person. I think it was a few days later they came back and said that the first day they went to him he said he knew Philip or had been in his company, but then when they went back again a second time he denied knowing him at all. "They said they weren't sure if there was anything credible in the information or if this man was just leading them on, but they are still investigating it." Cooke became a suspect back in May when a former victim of his went to a care worker who worked with many of his victims. This victim said she was around nine years old at the time and had seen a person she thought was Philip in the Radio Dublin studios that Cooke ran in Inchicore. She claimed that she saw Cooke hit Philip with an implement, that she fainted and when she woke up, she was being driven away by Cooke and there was no sign of Philip. Gardai decided they would interview Cooke, the pirate radio DJ who went by the name Captain Cooke and founded Radio Dublin in the 1980s. He had been found guilty of 42 counts of sexual assault following a trial at the Central Criminal Court in 2007. During his trial, the court heard that his young victims dubbed him the "Cookie Monster". When gardai went looking for him in Arbour Hill Prison, they found that he had been transferred to a hospice as he was in failing health. It is understood that when they interviewed him, he admitted that he knew of Philip and said the boy had been in his radio station. However, he did not admit to killing Philip and so would not reveal where his body was. "Philip's disappearance remains under active investigation and they are now looking at two particular aspects that still need to be corroborated," said a source. "One of these aspects is the DNA that was left on Philip's schoolbag." It is understood that three DNA profiles have now been obtained from this bag. The schoolbag that was dumped in the lane not far from the Cairns home is still in the possession of gardai in Rathfarnham. The woman who went to gardai in recent weeks with information told them that Cooke had ordered one of his victims to dump the schoolboy's bag in the lane. Detective Sergeant Tom Doyle has previously said he believes it could hold forensic and DNA evidence which could be the key to finding out what happened to Philip. "At the time it (the schoolbag) was found in 1986, DNA profiling was a limited concept," Det Sgt Doyle said in October last year. "I am convinced that this schoolbag holds the answers as to what happened to Philip." The missing schoolboy's father, Philip senior, died a number of years ago, before the mystery of his son's disappearance could be solved. But Alice says that despite the passage of time she, still holds out hope of resolution. "You always have to have hope," she says. On Thursday, staff and parents of students at Chippewa Falls Area Unified School District received a letter from Jeffrey Holmes, Superintendent about active shooter swatting calls taking place at multiple school districts across the state. Swatting calls are hoax reports of threats made to police which insight panic. Police say similar types of false threats have occurred at multiple schools across the state Thursday. These threats included 911 calls to police across the state claiming that schools had an active shooter. Criona Ni Dhalaigh, the lord mayor of Dublin signs a book of condolences for the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Florida in the Mansion House in Dublin. Picture credit; Damien Eagers Tributes have poured in from across Ireland for the victims of the Orlando massacre. Taoiseach Enda Kenny wrote to US President Barack Obama to express his sympathies on behalf of the Irish people following the "shocking loss of life". "Once again we have witnessed the horror of young people being attacked as they enjoy themselves in their own community," the Taoiseach said. President Michael D Higgins said the incident was "truly shocking and challenges us all". Minister for Social Protection Leo Varadkar has described Donald Trump's comments following the massacre as "crass" but stressed that politicians still have to meet with Trump later this month. Mr Trump tweeted on Sunday that he appreciated the "congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism". "I thought it was pretty crass and I thought it was pretty tasteless and it's unfortunate to see anyone from any political perspective trying to exploit an event like this," said Mr Varadkar. Minister for Children Katherine Zappone said the LGBT community "will feel under attack" after the atrocity and added it was "a terrible day for America". Thousands signed a Book of Condolences at the Mansion House yesterday. Meanwhile, a 'rainbow vigil' was held beside Dublin's City Hall by the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network (GLEN), BeLong To and the Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI). Read more: 'Rainbow vigil': Thousands turn out in Dublin to honour those killed in Orlando shooting Director of GLEN Brian Sheehan said: "I think LGBT people in Ireland and across the world felt attacked because it was an attack of hatred on them. This vigil is a gesture of support and solidarity towards them." Meanwhile, Chris Sarafan, a Florida man living in Dublin, has paid tribute to his friend Chris 'Drew' Leinonen after discovering he was among those killed in the mass shooting. "He was the type of guy you could meet wherever and have a conversation with him like you were friends for years," he said. Panti Bliss, owner of Dublin's Panti Bar, was "shocked, horrified, heartbroken" at the tragedy. "Having spent so much of my life and so many of my best happiest times in gay clubs, I can't even grasp the horror of it," he said. The George bar has set up a fundraiser to help the victims and families. Met Eireann has issued a status yellow rainfall warning for parts of the country today after Dublin was hit by flash floods. Areas in Dublin 8 were particularly badly affected, where Green Party councillor Ciaran Cuffe captured video of the red line Luas passing through floodwater outside the Ashling Hotel on Parkgate Street at around 1pm today. "There was a real downpour around Stoneybatter and the area outside the Ashling Hotel flooded for a while. The Luas was going through about a foot of water, he said. Weve always had downpours but this was pretty extreme today. Forecasters have warned that further downpours are expected across the country this evening, with a risk of rainfall accumulations up to 30mm. The weather warning applies to Connacht, Dublin, Carlow, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Longford, Wexford, Wicklow, Offaly, Westmeath, Clare, Cork, Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford, and is valid until 8pm tonight. AA Roadwatch has advised motorists to slow down and drive with care as further flooding is expected to take place in Dublin and Wicklow, with diversions in place in some areas. The Cabinet is today expected to hold a discussion on the contentious issue of the Eighth Amendment - just days after a highly critical UN report on Ireland's restrictive abortion laws. Children's Minister Katherine Zappone is likely to raise the issue. Last week, the UN found the treatment of a woman carrying a foetus with a fatal abnormality as cruel, inhuman and degrading. But Ms Zappone is seeking that Mr Kenny correct the Dail record after he claimed incorrectly that Irish voters voted to keep the Eighth Amendment part of the Constitution on three occasions. There were three referenda after that, and in each case, in each of those referenda, by the people, not just by any parties, the people decided to keep that reference in the constitution," Mr Kenny said on June 1 - a statement that Ms Zappone wants corrected. Read More Separately, Finance Minister Michael Noonan is due to bring a memo to Cabinet on the issue of the upcoming Summer Statement. The statement will outline the parameters for the upcoming Budget, which is due to be split 2:1 spending and tax cuts. As part of the agenda for the Cabinet meeting, ministers are also due to discuss housing. Housing Minister Simon Coveney and Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe will bring details of a 200m infrastructure fund, sources have confirmed. Health minister Simon Harris will table proposals aimed at clamping down on the misuse of drugs that are not prescribed. Taoiseach Enda Kenny is scheduled to visit Dublin's north inner city tonight to discuss the fallout from the recent gangland murders. Mr Kenny is planning to visit the Sheriff Street area in what political sources have described as a 'listening exercise'. The Fine Gael leader is due to meet community activists, teachers and local residents. The meeting itself will be held in private and away from the media spotlight, sources have said. It's understood the visit is scheduled for around 7:30pm. Read More The north inner city remains on edge following the recent murder of Gareth Hutch. Mr Kenny recently announced a new task force for the area. TAOISEACH Enda Kenny has warned that a referendum to repeal the Eighth Amendment would fail if it was held as early as October. He said that a vote to get rid of the law that gives equal status to the life of a woman and her unborn child would not pass until the public knew what would replace it. Mr Kenny was responding to criticism from AAA-PBP Deputy Ruth Coppinger who argued that the governments planned citizens assembly to discuss the Eighth Amendment is a delaying tactic. He said he will be bringing a memo to Cabinet next week to start the process of setting up the assembly. Ms Coppinger said it is unbelievable that the government is continuing with the idea given the stern rebuke delivered by the United Nations last week. The UN Human Rights Committee found that a women, Amanda Mellet - who was told by doctors that her foetus would die in the womb or shortly after birth - was subjected to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment due to Irelands abortion laws. Ms Coppinger said the Eighth Amendment has been discussed for many years and that consensus already exists on the matter. The consensus has always been to get the Eighth Amendment out of the constitution because it never should have been put there in the first place, she said. Mr Kenny responded saying: I think if you were to say ok lets have a referendum to repeal the Eighth Amendment in October, my view is that it would not be passed. And Ill tell you why because there needs to be a real discussion here and people would want to know if youre going to attempt to take that out of the constitution what are you going to replace it with. Its a very genuine question. Its one Ive had problems with myself. So I dont accept from you at all, with respect, that this is a case of where you make a rush to judgement because this sensitive and distressing case has come from the UN Committee. He added that its right and proper to have the citizens assembly to reflect on the Eighth Amendment. This matter divided Irish society for over 30 years. Believe me its not a question of a lack of courage its a question of understanding that the entire population have a responsibility and a role in this. But it is not as simple as saying have a referendum, he said. Post-mortem results have revealed that Dublin Zoos gorilla Harry died from a stroke. Harry had been unwell for a short time before he passed away at Dublin Zoo last month. Harry, who also known as the 'silverback', was the leader of Dublin Zoos gorilla troop. He was 29-years-old and during his time at the zoo he fathered six offspring. Dublin Xoo have thanked the public for their kind messages after Harry's passing. The female gorillas mourned the loss of their leader but have been doing well and are calm since Harrys passing. Harry arrived at Dublin Zoo from Frankfurt Zoo in 1995 when he was just 9-years-old. Anxiety disorders, both social and general, can be highly distressing and debilitating conditions. Dr Harry Barry explains why they occur and how to manage them 1 fear versus worry It is extremely useful to divide the world of anxiety into two - the world of 'fear' and the world of 'worry'. Fear relates to a perception that there is some immediate danger present in our environment which presents itself as an extreme threat to our safety. It is also associated with major physical bodily responses. Fear is the key to panic attacks and phobias. Worry is where we begin to reflect on and become anxious about possible dangers or unpleasant possibilities that might happen in the future. And this too can be accompanied by associated secondary physical responses. Worry is the key to general anxiety and social anxiety. 2 What is a Panic Attack? A panic attack is when a person develops a sudden bout of acute anxiety with some, or all, of the following physical symptoms: Profuse sweating Palpitations (fast heartbeat) Dry mouth, stomach in knots Weakness, feeling faint Headache, muscle tension Chest pain Hyperventilation (rapid, shallow breathing) Trembling or shaking Fear of losing control or going mad Dizziness Sensation of choking A feeling one is going to die. They usually occur in bursts, are unexpected and have, at first glance, no obvious cause. They are frightening and more common in women than men. They may be singular events but, in most cases, are recurrent in nature. 3 Why are Panic attacks a problem? People with panic attacks fail to understand that they are simply having a bout of acute anxiety. The person assumes that the physical symptoms they are experiencing are indeed precursors to some serious potentially life-threatening illnesses, such as heart attacks or strokes. Many with panic attacks cannot understand why there is no obvious trigger. The pattern of attacks may continue for a long time, until the person is convinced by somebody that the symptoms are simply due to panic attacks. Even when they do believe this to be the case, they remain constantly anxious that the panic attacks will recur. They may feel that they are either going mad, or going to lose control, if the symptoms keep happening. 4 What is the amygdala? The amygdala is an ancient little organ in our emotional brain whose job it is to see or sense danger and 'fire'. It keeps us alive when faced with danger by firing our stress system to pump out, for example, our fear hormone, adrenaline. It is this hormone that makes us feel our stomach in knots, our heart going quicker, our breathing faster, our mouth dry, muscles feeling tense and general feelings of dread. These were the symptoms this author felt when he met a leopard at night while running a hospital in rural Tanzania! 5 Why do we call it the 'gunslinger'? We call the amygdala the gunslinger of the stress system - as it shoots from the hip often without thinking and does not really worry about the consequences. The gunslinger is not particularly smart, has a long memory, does not respond to normal talk therapies and regularly disregards instructions from head office, or our logical brain. In general, if the danger is seen as major, as in panic attacks, it fires at maximum capacity and the physical symptoms generated by our stress system will be full on but of shorter duration. If the danger is lesser, as in general and social anxiety, it will fire less and the physical symptoms we experience will be lesser but more persistent. 6 Why is the amygdala the key to understanding panic attacks? Panic attacks are due to an adrenaline rush created by the gunslinger firing inadvertently and seemingly without warning. This causes all the physical symptoms of the attack. It does so because we are assigning danger to the initial physical symptoms experienced at the start of the attack. We now know that the amygdala or gunslinger only responds in panic attacks to a concept called 'flooding'. This involves learning how to go with the physical symptoms caused by the adrenaline rush. This resets the amygdala and the gunslinger settles down. Panic attacks become a thing of the past. 7 What is General Anxiety Disorder? People with general anxiety live in a world of constant worrying about what might happen in their lives. This is associated with a stream of physical symptoms such as fatigue, difficulties with concentration, irritable bowel, tension headaches, teeth grinding, sighing constantly, sleep difficulties and constantly being on edge. It can also be associated with procrastination, avoidance of tasks; trying to do everything perfectly and trying to self-manage the physical symptoms with alcohol or tranquillisers. 8 What is going on in our minds in General Anxiety? At the heart of general anxiety is a demand for complete control in our lives and a tendency to rate ourselves as failures when we cannot achieve this impossible demand. This leads us to a fruitless search for certainty, order and perfection which makes us constantly anxious and leads to all of the typical avoidant and safety behaviours. We end up worrying and catastrophising as to what might or might not happen. The difficulty lies in the power of our inner emotional mind to completely overpower our more logical mind. 9 What goes on in our brain in General Anxiety? Two parts of our brain are causing the cognitive difficulties: the right prefrontal cortex - the catastrophiser - is the part of the logical brain which creates the catastrophic visualisations that are so common in anxiety. Meanwhile, the left prefrontal cortex - the worrier - is the part of the logical brain creating all the worrying possibilities of what might happen in the future, for example, where I am excessively worrying about developing some major illness with little or no evidence to back this up. Both cause the amygdala (particularly the catastrophiser) to fire. 10 How can we reshape our anxious mind and brain in General Anxiety? Apart from the usual lifestyle changes of exercise, nutrition, alcohol moderation, yoga and mindfulness, some simple CBT (cognitive behaviour therapy) exercises can teach us to challenge our demands for control and our tendency to rate ourselves. It can also help us to completely change our behaviours when we do get very anxious. This will involve challenging avoidance, procrastination, seeking perfection and avoiding Dr Google. 11 What is Social Anxiety? In social anxiety, we are anxious and embarrassed in case people will pick up some signs that we are anxious and end up judging us as inferior as a result. Once again, it is associated with very distressing catastrophic visualisations in our mind and with physical symptoms which are very uncomfortable. 12 What is going on in our mind in Social Anxiety? Typical thoughts/beliefs might be: 'I have nothing interesting to say and I am boring' 'I will make a fool of myself. They will all notice and judge me' 'I will be paralysed with fear' 'They will see me blushing or sweating' 'They will see in my eyes I am anxious' 'They will see me fidget with my hands or feet' 'They will see that I am an anxious person because of the above signs and judge me accordingly as weak and socially inept'. 13 What are the typical behaviours in Social Anxiety? The list of possibilities can be extensive: Trying to remain anonymous by saying nothing controversial Staying close to the exit door Trying to cover up blushing or excess sweating Avoiding eye contact Checking you are coming across well - constant self-monitoring Gripping glasses or cups tightly Continuously rehearsing what one is going to say before an event Doing a post-mortem when home from a social gathering. 14 How to reshape our anxious brain and mind in Social Anxiety? Again, the two key players are our catastrophiser and our amygdala. We can use specific CBT exercises to reshape the thinking and behavioural difficulties in social anxiety. By challenging many of the catastrophic visualisations and in particular the erroneous beliefs that we can be rated or that people can see the physical symptoms of anxiety, we lay the groundwork for challenging the negative behaviours which drive this condition. We can reshape our socially anxious mind and brain in around six sessions if the person is committed to real change. 15 What is a phobia? A phobia is where we become acutely fearful or panicky when exposed to a particular situation or thing. Good examples are fear of motorways, fear of flying, fear of crowded spaces, fear of blood, fear of open spaces and so on. Once again some simple CBT exercises and hard work can teach a person how to deal with these phobias. * Dr Harry Barry's book 'Flagging Anxiety and Panic - how to reshape your anxious brain and mind' (Liberties Press) is available now Michael O'Leary, chief executive officer of Ryanair Holdings Plc, gestures as he speaks during a Bloomberg Television interview in London, U.K., Nov. 3, 2014. Photo: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg via Getty Images Ryanair has announced its latest step towards becoming 'the Amazon of air travel' - a low-cost accommodation service. Ryanair Rooms will launch on October 1, offering customers the chance to book hotel, hostel, B&B, villa and homestay options on Ryanair.com. Ryanairs low fares revolutionised air travel for Europes passengers," said Kenny Jacobs, the airline's Chief Marketing Officer (pictured below). "Now, with Ryanair Rooms, were going to transform booking accommodation." Ryanair customers are currently able to book hotel rooms via a partnership with Booking.com, which is reportedly set to expire on September 30. Contacted by Independent.ie Travel, Booking.com declined to comment on 'Ryanair Rooms', but other potential competitors welcomed the announcement. Expand Close Kenny Jacobs, Ryanair's Chief Marketing Officer / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Kenny Jacobs, Ryanair's Chief Marketing Officer "The Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) welcomes initiatives that can help increase overseas visitors numbers and the attractiveness of Ireland," it said - though it advised customers to shop around, including checking hotels' own websites, before booking. "We welcome the move," said Alan Clarke, CEO of the Irish-based website, Homestay.com, which connects guests with local hosts worldwide. "With over 50,000 homestays across 150 countries, we see this trend only increasing over time. Consumers demand more choice when travelling, and homestays have now firmly landed as a category of accommodation. Ryanair Rooms will range from five-star hotels to hostels, the airline says. It has called on interested parties to submit proposals to become partners in the service (or "to help us disrupt the travel industry") before October 1st. The announcement follow's Ryanair's launch of a new car hire service with CarTrawler last year, and the forthcoming Ryanair Schools Travel, a fully-bonded "travel agency for school tours" that has been criticised by Irish travel agents, this summer. Nor is it likely to stop at accommodation. Now serving some 116 million customers a year, Ryanair has its sights set on events, restaurants, theatre tickets and even holidays in the future. "More and more customers are looking to Ryanair for products other than flights, and we see this as a natural progression towards Ryanair.com becoming the Amazon of air travel," Kenny Jacobs said. If passenger numbers and ancillary revenues continue to grow, CEO Michael O'Leary has even said that in future, flights could be free. One of the manifold tragedies of the Orlando mass murder is how difficult it is for us to experience it and mourn it together. This killing lies at the intersection of so many deep emotions and personal equities: The war against terrorism. Resentment against Islam. Gay rights and pride. Gun control. Many Americans immediately claimed that the shooting justifies their pre-existing beliefs, not just about the threats to America, but about the nature of evil. It is totalitarian ideology. Or someone elses religion. Or religion itself. Or homophobia. Or gun lovers and their political defenders. How can we possibly learn anything under these circumstances? But learning is needed. A friend refers to this type of attack as the price of living in a free society, comparing it to the situation in London during the years of IRA terror bombings. And there is truth to this. America free and vast is a massive soft target. But conceding that future attacks are likely is very different from viewing them as normal. In Orlando, we saw the horrifying failure of a valid expectation of security. We should fight this. But everyone, it seems, has chosen different battlefields. It is as if, following Pearl Harbor, some had urged a campaign against Japan, others against Canada, still others against Paraguay. How can any society as polarized and politicized as our own diagnose and oppose a common threat? This was once the role of political rhetoric to find shared lessons and common purpose following the shattering of the peace. But it is difficult, at least in this case, to imagine the unity of Dec. 8, 1941, or even Sept. 12, 2001. President Obamas speech following the Orlando attack asserted a unity in grief, in outrage and in resolve but also touched on gun control themes that immediately angered many in the redder portion of his audience. The presumptive Republican nominee felt obliged to provide his own version of public grief. It was utterly typical for Donald Trump to seek shameless political advantage during a tragedy, and to take shameful credit for past anti-Muslim sentiments. But this involves more than Trumps classlessness. A significant portion of Americans now expects the equivalent of a rebuttal at a funeral. In some ways, Russell Moore of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission told me, tragedies now have less the feel of the JFK assassination and more of the feel of the George Wallace attempted assassination in 1972. Nixons first response is to plant McGovern literature in Arthur Bremers apartment. We are all Nixon now, seeking to plant ideologies in the place of horror, for our political benefit. At a time when we need to listen to and learn from others, our strong tendency is to employ events to reaffirm our convictions. I suspect I am as susceptible to it as others are. How do we remain open to listening, really listening, to people who have a different angle of vision? Isnt it possible for a single event to prove various points about law enforcement, national security and the terrible harvest of hatred against our LGBT neighbors and family members? Our political leadership has lost the ability to focus on shared tasks and express the moral stakes. The president, it seems, is just one more voice in a chorus where everyone is singing a different piece of music. What Franklin Roosevelt called the warm courage of national unity seems remote. Maybe silence is the best tribute or the only one we can manage to offer together. But I hope we do not give up on language so easily. The Orlando slaughter caught in a horrible lightning flash of violence the human reality of death and loss. The answer, the alternative, is simple and difficult: Empathy, even across the widest differences. When you visualized a man or woman carefully, concludes the Whiskey Priest in Graham Greenes The Power and the Glory, you could always begin to feel pity that was a quality Gods image carried with it. When you saw the lines at the corners of the eyes, the shape of the mouth, how the hair grew, it was impossible to hate. Hate was just a failure of imagination. We are called to imagine both the last, terrible moments of unjustly shortened lives, and the pain sudden, unearned, unending of those they left behind. And to hope, not only in this life but beyond it, against all the evidence of our grief, that love wins. Premium Colette Browne Opinion Every effort must be made to retrieve oral histories of mother and baby home survivors With three days to go until the Mother and Baby Homes Commission ceases to exist as a legal entity, we are being told that audio recordings of hundreds of witnesses which were deleted may not actually be gone forever. It is another usual twist in a most emotional saga. For decades, survivors of mother and baby homes have been denied a voice and denied autonomy. When they fell pregnant, many through rape and abuse, they were marched to the doors of religious institutions. Premium Ian O'Doherty Opinion For once, the UN is right were standing on the edge of a deadly nuclear precipice For those of us of a certain age, the last few months have felt as if we have somehow time-warped back to the 1980s. Stranger Things, which is set in that decade, has been the biggest show on TV. Kate Bush thanks, incidentally, to Stranger Things is now regularly played on the radio and she has reached number one in 2022 with the re-release of her 1985 hit, Running Up That Hill. Omar Mateen - who shot dead 50 people in an Orlando gay nightclub -was both an Islamist terrorist and a violent homophobe. These things are not mutually exclusive. They are concomitant. Mateen attacked the West in general but targeted gay people in particular. Inevitably, some people say Islam is incompatible with Western life because it is incompatible with our attitudes towards sexuality. Are they right? Well, it's complicated. And on a matter as sensitive as this, there is nothing wrong with admitting it's complicated. Don't expect Donald Trump to do that, of course. He responded to the Orlando shootings by repeating his call for a ban on Muslim immigration. The fact Barack Obama is reluctant to use the words "radical Islam" when talking about atrocities perpetrated by radical Islamists riles American conservatives. They see the politicians' constant refrain that "Islam is a religion of peace" as dishonest, even treacherous. Liberals, say the Right, must find themselves in a terrible quandary. As supporters of both gay liberation and multiculturalism, how do they process the fact that many Muslims believe homosexuality is a crime? Conservatives insist their confident defence of Western history and philosophy is more gay-friendly than liberal multiculturalism. But when, Liberals would counter, did Western conservatives suddenly become fans of sexual freedom? Haven't they spent decades fighting gay rights? Marco Rubio, the Florida senator, was one of the first Republicans to say that Orlando was an attack on gay people - and good for him. But Left-wing critics argued his outspoken opposition to gay marriage was part of the cultural environment in which Mateen's bigotry grew. Islam wasn't the only religious authority that Mateen would have encountered in Florida telling him that gay people are going to Hell. He could have tuned in to any evangelical radio show to hear that. When we ask Muslims to interrogate attitudes towards sexuality in their community, we do so assuming that our own culture is 100pc gay-friendly. It is not. Polls suggest around a third of Americans still believe that homosexuality should be discouraged. Homosexual acts have only been legal in the West since the 1960s. Gay marriage has only been on the agenda for a decade and is still bitterly resented by social conservatives. Because TV is awash with the liberal values of its producers, it can appear as if our entire hemisphere has embraced sexual liberty. That's a conclusion many conservative Muslims resent - but they're quite wrong: not everyone in the West sees homosexuality and heterosexuality as equal. The average Dominican friar has far more in common with a typical imam than he does with a liberal Conservative politician. And so long as neither Christian nor Muslim breaks the law, we probably wouldn't expect the state to go out of its way to challenge them. Sexual privacy is now widely regarded as a Western principle - but so is freedom of religious conscience. Both those principles can be summed up as the freedom to be left alone by the state. And this is where radical Islamism really does clash with predominant Western values. It's taken us centuries to get here, but Westerners now generally concede that states and churches both benefit from some degree of separation - and that religious belief is stronger and purer when it is reached through education and reasoned debate, rather than forcible official indoctrination. Islamists believe it is the command of Allah to remake the world in their own image, according to a reading of the Koran that the vast majority of Muslims do not recognise. Not Sufis, of whom Muhammad Ali was one. Not Ahmadiyya Muslims, one of whom, Asad Shah, was murdered in Glasgow in May simply because he wished his Christian friends a happy Easter. Not those Muslims who comprise the majority of victims of Islamist violence worldwide. And not almost three million American Muslims, whose near-invisibility as a community shows how well integrated they are. The conservatives are right: Islam does have a problem with homosexuality. Yet so do many conservatives. And it would be an inversion of Western values to insist that any individual suddenly rethink their religious beliefs if they want to be accepted into society. But Muslims, I'm sure, would welcome a social contract requiring everyone to obey the law and respect the distinction between church and state. And, most of all, to live and let live. ( Daily Telegraph, London) As the largest lender to the Irish economy, Bank of Ireland is continually striving to make it easier for customers to manage and grow their enterprises. Through their Direct Lending channel, customers can now apply online anytime from the comfort of the office, home or farm for credit up to 100,000. Specialist Business Advisers are also available by phone from Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Declan Galvin, Head of Small Business at Bank of Ireland said; At Bank of Ireland, we understand the importance of credit for sustaining business growth and development. In fact, Bank of Ireland is the main provider of new SME lending to the market, providing more than 50% of new non-property lending. Through our direct lending channel we have created a service which enables business and agri customers to apply for credit in a convenient manner. We understand the time pressures faced by business owners and being able to apply for credit online or over the phone can make a real difference. We also offer a broad range of supports to business startup customers who face the day-to-day demands of managing a business. Expand Close Apply for credit online up to 100k with BOI / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Apply for credit online up to 100k with BOI Seymours Irish Biscuits Seymours Irish Biscuits is an artisan biscuit company producing sweet and savoury shortbread biscuits, run by Philip OConnor in Bandon, West Cork. Using fresh local creamery butter made from milk supplied by Philips own farm the product is truly homemade with each biscuit individually hand cut. Philip started the business in 2008 and after some tough years with the downturn, the business has moved past start up and into growth phase. The business now employs four people. Expand Close Phillip O'Connor, Seymours Biscuits, Bandon, Cork / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Phillip O'Connor, Seymours Biscuits, Bandon, Cork Philip applied to Bank of Ireland for credit through the Direct Lending channel which enabled him to purchase a chocolate enrobing line machine which was an important business development. Once my application had been submitted I quickly received a phone call from BOI Direct Lending confirming approval, which was good as I was able to proceed immediately with ordering the equipment and carrying on with normal day-day business operations, says Philip. Seymours is currently the only Irish biscuit maker with this machine and it has been crucial to developing and growing our business. We have been able to innovate by creating new products and it has contributed to enabling us move into mass market production of biscuits. In addition to supplying Artisan biscuits to retailers like Avoca, Blarney Woollen Mills and Dublin Airport, Seymours was recently accepted into the Supervalu Academy and is now stocked in 12 Supervalu stores with the intention to grow this distribution in the year ahead. It takes a lot of hard work but seeing our products stocked extensively on shelves around the country is very rewarding. Philip is also exporting produce to Germany, Italy, the US and most recently, Japan. It is very exciting to see our biscuit range become more widely recognised both within Ireland and internationally. In terms of the business and how we are doing, well we are already seeing an improvement on this time last year and we are confident about the year ahead. Bank of Ireland's loans are structured with your business in mind so whether you require lending support to expand and grow the business or to meet seasonal cashflow requirements, visit www.bankofireland.com/100k or phone 1890 365 222 to speak with a specialist Business Adviser. Bank of Ireland offers the following Top Tips to SMEs seeking credit approval: Experience Be sure the Promoter highlights own track record and abilities as a business owner Business Plan A detailed business plan will strongly assist to ensure proper understanding of the business, the product/service and the market dynamics. Lending Needs Be clear on how much the Enterprise needs to borrow and what the funds will be used for Repayment Capacity Applicants must show that the business has the means to repay the finance facility Up-to-date financials and management accounts Analysing how the business has performed in the past will help the Bank to support you into the future Security Applicants should be aware that security may be requested to support borrowing requirements Sponsored by: Pictured is Rachel Purcell and Roz Purcell after battling it through the gruelling obstacles at the Tough Mudder event which takes place over the weekend in Loughcrew Adventure Centre, Co. Meath. Top model Roz Purcell has praised her beloved dog Wilko with helping her sister's leukaemia. The 25-year-old food guru lives in Dublin city centre with the 28-year-old and their miniature Jack Russell Wilko, who she says has helped her sister's condition. "When my sister Rachel was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukaemia earlier this year, one of the things she was advised to do was to keep her stress levels down, and it was suggested to us that we get a dog. Rachel and I live together in Dublin, so it made sense because we love dogs and had wanted one for a while," she told the Irish Independent. Roz and Rachel have lived together for the last number of years and are famously close completing physically challenges around Ireland and travelling the world together. Expand Close Roz Purcell and her sister Rachel. Picture: Instagram / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Roz Purcell and her sister Rachel. Picture: Instagram "We chose to rescue a pup because there are so many dogs out there that need really good homes, and because I've done lots of work with animal charities, I always said I'd go to one when the time came to get my own dog." "Having Wilko has helped Rachel so much because having a pet there really encourages you to go out every day walking. CML is a long term illness, but Rachel is very positive about it and has been reaching health milestones since her diagnosis in January. Wilko is such good company, so full of energy and always so happy which is contagious. It's the ultimate distraction and de-stresser." "We'd always really wanted a Jack Russell because we had one growing up and he was like a brother to us. They're so smart with really great personalities. Then when Pawsitivity in the City was on a few months ago, the organisers told me that they just got a litter of little Jack Russells in, and it was perfect timing. "We wanted a boy for no reason really, other than we had the name picked. It turned out though that all the other pups died in that litter, so Wilko was the only survivor. Expand Close Roz Purcell and her sister Rachel. Picture: Instagram / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Roz Purcell and her sister Rachel. Picture: Instagram "I feel like he's my child and I'm very protective of him. If someone didn't like him, or dogs in general, I would definitely judge them." Full interview in today's Irish independent Video of the Day The mental state of Oscar Pistorius is "too severe" for him to defend himself against a life sentence and he should be sent to hospital rather than prison, a court heard yesterday. The former South African Paralympian suffers more pronounced post-traumatic stress disorder and depression than at his trial two years ago for the murder of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, said a clinical psychologist. He is "despondent and lethargic, and leaves his future in the hands of God", said Prof Jonathan Scholtz, called to give evidence for the defence. Read more: Psychologist deems Oscar Pistorius unfit for testifying at sentencing hearing for Reeva Steenkamp murder The Pretoria court must decide if there are "substantial and compelling" reasons why the 29-year-old should not be sentenced to 15 years' jail for murdering the model in 2013. Prof Scholtz said he believed prison would have a "detrimental effect" on Pistorius. He said that as well as studying law by correspondence, Pistorius had been offered a job by his uncle, Arnold Pistorius, working in child development. "It would be better if he gave back in constructive ways - using his skills to enhance the lives of others," he said. After shooting the model, whom he claimed to believe was a burglar in his home, the athlete had suffered enough, he argued. "His fall from grace was enormous," Prof Scholtz said. "He was vilified. He was unable to properly mourn her loss." Judge Thokozile Masipa, who is hearing the case, originally delivered a manslaughter verdict, but the conviction was upgraded to murder by the court of appeal last December. The athlete served 12 months' imprisonment before he was released on parole. He has since been living under house arrest at his uncle's Pretoria mansion, wearing an electronic tag and carrying out community service. The Pistorius family said yesterday they hoped he might escape with a non-custodial sentence because of his disability and the time he had already spent in prison. The case continues today. ( Daily Telegraph, London) Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022] At least four patrons of the Pulse bar have said they saw the gunman Omar Mateen drinking at the gay nightclub several times before the shooting. Ty Smith told The Telegraph that he saw Mateen inside at least a dozen times. "Sometimes he would go over in the corner and sit and drink by himself, and other times he would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent," he said. "We didn't really talk to him a lot, but I remember him saying things about his dad at times. He told us he had a wife and child." Chris Callen, who performs under the name Kristina McLaughlin and is married to Mr Smith, told the Canadian Press he had also seen Mateen there. Hes been going to this bar for at least three years. Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Stanley Almodovar III Edward Sotomayor Jr. Luis Vielma Juan Ramon Guerrero Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Stanley Almodovar III Both Callen and Smith say they stopped speaking to Mateen after he threatened them with a knife, apparently after someone made a joke about religion. Read More He ended up pulling a knife, Callen said. He said if he ever messed with him again, you know how itll turn out. As well as frequenting the gay nightclub before the attack, the gunman Omar Mateen is said to have used a gay dating app. Nightclub regular Kevin West said Mateen messaged him on and off for a year before the shooting using the gay chat and dating app Jackd, according to the LA Times. Mr West turned over his phone and Jackd log-in information to the FBI, which still had the phone late Monday, he said. Mr West said was dropping off a friend at the club on Saturday night when he noticed Mateen whom he knew by sight but not by name crossing the street wearing a dark cap and carrying a black mobile phone about 1 am, an hour before the shooting. Read More He walked directly past me. I said, Hey, and he turned and said, Hey, and nodded his head, West said. I could tell by the eyes. Cord Cedeno also said he saw him on the dating app, the Washington Post reports. Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Police continue to investigate a shooting at the Pulse night club following an early morning shooting attack in Orlando, Florida, U.S June 12, 2016. REUTERS/Steve Nesius Julissa Leal displays a cellphone image of her missing brother, Frank Hernandez, as she speaks with the media outside a family reunification center Emotional family members of the victims of the Orlando nightclub shooting leave a family reunification center set up at the Beardall Senior Center, / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Police continue to investigate a shooting at the Pulse night club following an early morning shooting attack in Orlando, Florida, U.S June 12, 2016. REUTERS/Steve Nesius He was open with his picture on the sites, he was easy to recognise, said Cedeno, 23, of Orlando, who said he was also contacted by Mateen at least a year ago on a dating app. More to follow... Pigs are the smartest of the animals. Elephants always remember. A tail-wagging dog is a friend indeed. So are they human? Some persons say yes, while others are reluctant to bring them up to our human level. Brett, our fourth Airedale, fluctuated between yes and no. Ive always enjoyed a dog as a companion. Zippy, a cross between a collie and a police dog, was the most human. It came natural to her. She knew her place during our family activities. Her participation was a given. She guarded us well and would let us know when strangers were around. And she sure hated snakes. Her vigilance often detected a snake before we did. She would dispatch the snake with a vigorous head shake. The one creature she didnt do well with was a skunk that took shelter from her teeth under my car. I spent a good portion of the morning driving through every water and mud puddle I could find. Two of our boys even made a departure from home on our two-seated Schwinn bike. They didnt return until later that day. Why fight the smell, I guess. Dogs and horses have something in common. They provide me with a barrel of laughs whenever Im privy to seeing them lying on their backs and kicking their legs in the air. Its something that Id like to do on occasion. Its an excellent stress reliever. The lure of the West Only a select few will receive this exclusive invitation Oh sure, once I registered for a magazine I wanted, my name must have been passed along to every known publishing company. Yes, I do like to read. And when it comes to the West, my ears and eyes perk up. A recent free preview offer of the prairie magazine of the west entitled Cowboys and Indians, plus a FREE gift offer inside has been sitting on my desk for weeks. I really dont need another magazine to entice me to live the luxury Western lifestyle. After all, my days of playing Cowboys and Indians is a thing of the past. Even the phrase, Go West Young Man, never fully captured my attention when I was really into cowboys and Western movies. The Midwest is fine with me. My trip to Montana to visit and stay with an aunt of our familys between my junior and senior years of high school convinced me that I would not make for a good cowboy. The mountains were auspicious indeed, tall and with a ridge of snow on the upper peaks. What really turned my crank was when a horseback adventure was planned and I discovered two things: Riding a horse downhill called for more attention than going uphill. What shook me the most was the presence of rattle snakes. I was warned that a rattling snake could make my horse bolt, followed by a possible ejection from the saddle. Good enough lets head back to the stable. Hows this for a cleverly-worded intro: You chat with friends just back from little-known resorts and getaways. And you speak with celebrities like Tom Selleck or Kevin Costner about their deeply-rooted ties to the West. Selleck and Costner are two of my favorite stars in movies and on television, but Id rather just motor to the Field of Dreams in Iowa to prove again that if you build it, they will come. As an added bonus, Id suggest to Costner that Selleck could make a cameo appearance and come out of the corn field to add to all the drama. Boy, am I a dreamer? Closers Picture a mother bird saying to her feathered youngster while sitting on a high wire: Just hold it until we find a parked car. Sure, Ive got O.C.D. Im old, cranky and dangerous. Four out of three people have trouble with fractions. My wife says I never listen to her. At least I think thats what she said. Retirement at 65 is ridiculous. When I was 65, I still had pimples. If a man in a forest is talking to himself, with no woman around, is he still wrong? A wise man once said, Go ask a woman. An elderly couple is sitting in their living room when the old woman says to the old man: Remember when you used to hold my hand? Remember when you put your arm around me? Remember when you use to nibble on my ear? The old man gets up off the couch and starts to walk away. Honey, where are you going? she says. The old man replies, Im going to get my dentures. Donald Trump has stepped up his attacks on Barack Obama in the wake of the Orlando nightclub massacre, implying he supports Islamic extremism. Mr Trump, who has been vocal in his conspiracy theory that the US president is a closet Muslim, repeated his call after the shootings for Mr Obama to resign "in disgrace". He also renewed calls for Muslims to be banned from entering the US, saying he would "suspend immigration from areas of the world where there is a proven history of terrorism" against the US or its allies. "He doesn't get it or he gets it better than anyone understands," he said yesterday. "Either way, it's unacceptable." Pressed on what he meant, the controversial Republican presumptive nominee said darkly that Mr Obama was "either not tough, not smart, or has something else in mind". "There is something going on," he added. In Manchester, New Hampshire, Mr Trump said that, if elected, he would use executive authority to better control immigration, emphasising one of the main themes of his campaign for the November 8 general election. He noted that Orlando shooter Omar Mateen's parents had been born in Afghanistan. "I would use this power to protect the American people. When I'm elected, I will suspend immigration from areas of the world where there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe, or our allies until we fully understand how to end these threats," the wealthy businessman said. "Radical Islam is anti-woman, anti-gay and anti-American," said Mr Trump. "I refuse to allow America to become a place where gay people, Christian people, and Jewish people are the targets of persecution and intimidation by radical Islamic preachers of hate and violence." President Barack Obama has risen above the fray, speaking of the attack as a terrorist atrocity and a "hate crime" and asking Americans to pray for the victims. But Mr Trump's rival for the presidency, Hillary Clinton, said: "I'm fine with calling it radical jihadism or radical Islamism. What I am not okay with is the demonising of an entire religion." "The Orlando terrorist may be dead, but the virus that poisoned his mind remains very strong, and we must attack it," Mrs Clinton, the Democrats' presumptive nominee for the presidential election, said in a speech in Cleveland. Mrs Clinton again called for a debate on gun control, pointing out assault weapons like the one used by Omar Mateen were forbidden in the US for 10 years until the ban expired in 2004. "It's important that we stop the terrorists from getting the tools they need to carry out the attacks, and that is especially true when it comes to assault weapons like those used in Orlando and San Bernardino," California, Mrs Clinton said, drawing a standing ovation from the crowd. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said yesterday, once again, that the president had been frustrated by the Republican-controlled Congress's continued blocking of gun law reform. "There are certain common-sense things that Congress could do that would make it harder for any individual to get their hands on a weapon of war," he said. ( Daily Telegraph, London) Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022] Malcolm Turnbull says the Department of Immigration and Border Protection is reviewing the visa Australia is considering cancelling the visa of a British-born Islamic cleric who has reportedly condemned homosexuality, prime minister Malcolm Turnbull says. The Australian newspaper reported that British-born Farrokh Sekaleshfar arrived in Sydney a week ago as a guest speaker of the Imam Husain Islamic Centre. The newspaper reported that when asked about homosexuality at a lecture at the University of Michigan in 2013, Sekaleshfar said: "Death is the sentence." Mr Turnbull said the Department of Immigration and Border Protection is reviewing Sekaleshfar's visa. Minister for immigration and border protection Peter Dutton said he ordered the review after becoming aware on Monday of the cleric's presence in Australia. Robert Hall and John Ridsdel are believed to have been killed by Abu Sayyaf militants (AP) Philippine officials have confirmed that Abu Sayyaf militants have beheaded a Canadian man, the second Canadian hostage killed by Abu Sayyaf militants in two months after their demands for a large ransom were not met. Robert Hall was abducted from a marina last September with another Canadian, a Norwegian and a Filipino. The other Canadian, former mining executive John Ridsdel, was beheaded in April. Presidential spokesman Herminio Coloma condemned "the brutal and senseless murder" of Mr Hall. He had been held by Abu Sayyaf in the jungle in southern Sulu province for nine months. The government has vowed to end the militants' "reign of terror". Mr Coloma said: "This latest heinous crime serves to strengthen our government's resolve to put an end to this reign of terror and banditry." A militant video obtained by Philippine police officials showed Mr Hall in an orange shirt kneeling in front of a black Islamic State-style flag before he was killed in a jungle area. An Abu Sayyaf deadline for the payment of a large ransom passed on Monday and police later found the severed head of a Caucasian man outside a Roman Catholic cathedral in Sulu province's main Jolo town. In Ottawa, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said there was "compelling reason to believe" Mr Hall had been killed by his captors, and that the Canadian government was working with Philippine authorities to confirm his death. "We have every reason to believe that the reports are unfortunately true," Mr Trudeau said. He added he was "horrified" by the killings and reaffirmed Canada's refusal to pay ransoms. "The government of Canada will not and cannot pay ransoms for hostages to terrorist groups, as doing so would endanger the lives of more Canadians," Mr Trudeau said in a statement. "We are more committed than ever to working with the government of the Philippines and international partners to pursue those responsible for these heinous acts and bring them to justice, however long it takes." He recently urged leaders of other members of the G7 to reiterate their opposition to paying ransoms. After being abducted from the marina on southern Samal Island last September, the hostages were taken by boat to Sulu, where Abu Sayyaf has held hostages for years in mountainous jungle camps. Mr Ridsdel was beheaded on April 25 after a ransom demand of 300 million pesos (4.5 million) was not paid. In an Abu Sayyaf video posted on YouTube after Mr Ridsdel's death, Mr Hall and the two other hostages, Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad and Filipino woman Marites Flor, pleaded to Canadian and Philippine officials to negotiate their release. "We live like this every day, go to bed like this," Mr Hall said, raising his arms to show he was handcuffed. "We have a hundred people heavily armed around us all the time that dictate to us and talk to us like children. We've been humiliated in every way possible. One of us has already been murdered." Mr Hall spoke later in the video for a second time, sounding resigned to a tragic fate. "I would also like to thank my family for the effort they put in - my family and friends for the effort they put in - to get me out of here. I know you did everything you can, and I truly appreciate it. I'm sorry I got you in this mess," he said. Mr Trudeau extended his "heartfelt condolences" to Mr Hall's relatives and friends. The US and the Philippines have both listed Abu Sayyaf as a terrorist organisation for kidnappings, beheadings and bombings. The group emerged in the early 1990s as an extremist offshoot of a decades-long Muslim separatist rebellion in the country's south. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have offered drastically different proposals for stemming the threat of terrorism and gun violence following the fatal shootings at a gay nightclub in Orlando. Mr Trump focused heavily on the nation's broken immigration system in his fiery address, although the Orlando gunman was born in the United States. The presumptive Republican nominee redoubled his call for temporarily banning Muslims from the United States, saying he would lift the ban once the government could "properly and perfectly" screen immigrants. Going further, Mr Trump said he would also "suspend immigration from areas of the world where there's a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe and our allies". Mrs Clinton said she would prioritise stopping "lone wolf" attackers as president - those who may be radicalised without having direct contact or orders from a larger terror network. Overseas, the presumptive Democratic nominee called for ramping up the US air campaign targeting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and pointedly called out US partners in the region by name, saying Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar must stop their citizens from funding terrorism. Mrs Clinton also vigorously reiterated her call for banning assault weapons, like one of the guns the Orlando attacker used. "I believe weapons of war have no place on our streets," she said. Mrs Clinton's address was measured and sober. While she drew implicit contrasts with Mr Trump, she never mentioned him by name, declaring: "Today is not a day for politics." Mr Trump felt differently, hammering Mrs Clinton repeatedly in his remarks. He accused her of wanting to abolish the Second Amendment - in connection with her proposals for tougher gun laws - and said she cannot claim to be supportive of gays and lesbians when she supports allowing immigration from countries where they are discriminated against. "Hillary Clinton can never claim to be a friend of the gay community," he said. The businessman robustly defended the rights of gay and lesbian Americans, saying he would be a "better friend" to the community than Mrs Clinton. The assault at a gay nightclub was "an assault on the ability of free people to live their lives, love who they want and express their identity," he said. Mr Trump's embrace of gay and lesbian Americans was at odds with many in his own party, who oppose gay marriage and other legal protections. The Orlando attacks were the worst mass shooting in American history, leaving 49 people dead and dozens more injured. Authorities say Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old American-born Muslim, was probably inspired by foreign terrorist organisations, though there was no evidence that he had been directed by any network to carry out the attacks. Mr Trump said Mateen was "born an Afghan" despite having been born in New York. The gunman's parents came to the US from Afghanistan before he was born. The Republican did not repeat suggestions he had made in earlier television interviews that US President Barack Obama may not be taking tougher action against terrorism because he sympathises with the perpetrators. "He doesn't get it or, or he gets it better than anybody understands," Mr Trump said. "It's one or the other. And either one is unacceptable." Italian ex-PM Silvio Berlusconi is having surgery to treat a faulty heart valve Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi is undergoing heart surgery at a Milan hospital. The 79-year-old media mogul was admitted to San Raffaele hospital on June 5 suffering from what his doctors said was a potentially fatal heart-valve problem. The operation began on Tuesday morning and was expected to take about four hours. Mr Berlusconi's personal doctor, Alberto Zangrillo, was attending the operation to replace the aortic valve, which was not closing properly. French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve speaks to the media in Les Mureaux, west of Paris (AP) Police officers at the scene in Magnanville, west of Paris (AP) A Frenchman suspected of killing two police officers declared his allegiance to Islamic State (IS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and threatened to kill non-believers, according to Paris prosecutor Francois Molins. Attacker Larossi Abballa made the declaration in exchanges with police during a stand-off on Monday night at a house in the Paris suburb of Magnanville, where a police commander and his partner were found dead. Mr Molins said Abballa, who was also found dead in the house after the stand-off, responded to IS calls to kill non-believers and their families wherever they live. The couple's three-year-old child was found unharmed in the property after the stand-off. Abballa is said to have filmed the knife attack before posting it on Facebook Live. A police official said that at one point in the video, the attacker puzzles over what to do with the child. IS news agency Amaq cited an unnamed source as saying an IS fighter carried out the attack. Prosecutor's office spokeswoman Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre said French authorities have "no reason" to doubt that claim. Abballa had a list of targets, including journalists and public figures, according to Mr Molins. Searches of Abballa's home had tuned up a list of "rappers, journalists, police officers and public personalities". Mr Molins give no further detail on the list, or whether it had specific names. Mr Molins said Abballa stabbed Jean-Baptiste Salvaing, 42, a police commander in the Paris suburb of Les Mureaux, outside his home on Monday night. He then went inside and took Salvaing's partner and three-year-old son hostage. He killed the woman, who was a police administrator in the suburb of Mantes-la-Jolie, but did not harm the boy, Mr Molins said. Abballa recorded a 12-minute video related to the attack and posted it on Facebook, Molins said, but he did not provide further details. The prosecutor added Mr Molins said three people - aged 27, 29 and 44 - were detained as part of the investigation. French president Francois Hollande said earlier that the incident was "incontestably a terrorist act", and that France faces a threat "of a very large scale". The country has been on particularly high alert as it hosts the Euro 2016 football tournament, and is still under a state of emergency after the November IS attacks in Paris that killed 130 people. Mr Hollande hosted an emergency security meeting on Tuesday. He said: "France is not the only country concerned (by the terrorist threat), as we have seen, again, in the United States, in Orlando." Abballa, 25, was from Mantes-la-Jolie and was sentenced in 2013 to three years in prison for recruiting fighters for jihad in Pakistan, according to two police officials. A resident of the apartment building where Abballa lived, who did not want to give his name, said police had raided it early today. A Facebook profile bearing the name Larossi Abballa - which vanished from the internet early Tuesday - showed a photo of a smiling, bearded man. Two recent posts featured videos critical of Israel and Saudi Arabia. The last publicly available post was a mock-up of the European Championship logo, highlighting what the poster said were masonic and occult symbols. "Some will say we see evil everywhere!" Abballa said in a message posted about 18 hours before the attack. French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve visited the police station in Les Mureaux where Mr Salvaing worked. He said more than 100 people seen as potential threats have been arrested in France this year, including in recent weeks. France, like other countries in Europe, has seen a series of stabbings aimed at police officers or soldiers and carried out by Muslim radicals. Monday's attack has shaken police officers, and Mr Cazeneuve said they would be allowed to take home their service weapons. "Today every police officer is a target," Yves Lefebvre of police union Unite SGP Police-FO said. He said attackers are "professionalising" and can now find police in their homes. In Paris, the Eiffel Tower was lit up on Monday night in the colours of the rainbow to honour victims of Saturday's mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, that killed at least 49 people. The gunman in that case declared his allegiance to IS in phone calls to police, but his motives remain unclear. Mourners visit a makeshift memorial for victims of a mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida (AP) The FBI is investigating reports that Orlando gunman Omar Mateen was a regular at the gay nightclub where he killed 49 people in America's worst mass shooting. A number of possible explanations and motives for the bloodbath have emerged, with Mateen having professed allegiance to the Islamic State group (IS), his ex-wife saying he was mentally ill, and others suggesting he was driven by a hatred of gays. The picture grew more complex as patrons of the Pulse nightclub came forward to say that they had seen the 29-year-old American-born Muslim there a number of times, and that he had been using gay dating apps. Mateen had a wife and a three-year-old son. Jim Van Horn, 71, said Mateen was a regular at the club. "He was trying to pick up people. Men," he claimed. While acknowledging he did not know Mateen well, Mr Van Horn said: "I think it's possible that he was trying to deal with his inner demons, of trying to get rid of his anger of homosexuality." Wielding an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and a handgun, Mateen opened fire at the club early on Sunday in a three-hour rampage and hostage siege which ended with a Swat team killing him. It is the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history. During the attack, he called 911 to profess allegiance to IS. Six of the more than 50 people injured in the atrocity are said to be critically ill, with five others in a "guarded" condition. Dr Michael Cheatham, of the Orlando Regional Medical Centre, said at a hospital news conference that doctors recalled victims arriving in "truckloads" on the night of the rampage. Dr Chadwick Smith described calling in additional staff members and telling them: "This is not a drill, this is not a joke." He said everyone answered: "I'll be right there." US president Barack Obama will visit Orlando on Thursday to pay his respects to the victims and stand in solidarity with the community, the White House said. Asked about reports that Mateen may have been in the club before, his father, Seddique Mateen, said from his home in Port St Lucie, Florida, that his son may have been "scouting the place". Asked if his son was gay, the Afghan immigrant replied: "No." He said that he was not aware of his son having any mental health problems and that he never saw any signs he had become radicalised. If he had seen anything differently, he said, "I would have called law enforcement immediately". The elder Mateen said that apart from one time his son got angry a few months ago over seeing two men kissing, he did not witness any anti-gay behaviour from him. The White House and the FBI said Mateen appears to be a "homegrown" extremist who had expressed support not just for IS, but for other radical groups that are its enemies. "So far, we see no indication that this was a plot directed from outside the United States, and we see no indication that he was part of any kind of network," FBI director James Comey said. He added that Mateen was clearly "radicalised," at least in part via the internet. Mr Comey said the FBI also was trying to determine whether Mateen had recently scouted Disney World as a potential target. He defended the bureau's handling of Mateen during two previous investigations in 2013 and 2014 into possible terrorist ties. As for whether there was anything the FBI should have done differently, Mr Comey said: "So far, the honest answer is, I don't think so." Mateen was added to a terror watchlist in 2013 when he was investigated, but was taken off it soon after the matter was closed, according to Mr Comey. People on that database are not automatically barred from buying guns. Mateen purchased his weapons in June, long after his removal from the list. On Monday night, about a mile from Pulse in central Orlando, thousands gathered for a vigil to support the victims and survivors, with the names of the dead read aloud. The event was held on the lawn of Orlando's main performing arts venue, where mourners created a memorial of flowers, candles and notes for the victims. The states job-creation agency has an extra $8 million in refundable tax credits to award to companies this year under a request approved Monday by the Legislatures budget committee. The motion passed along party lines, 11-4, with one member absent. Democrats decried the move as a corporate giveaway that wont help the state increase funding to public education and roads, while Republicans said it was necessary because Wisconsin is competing for companies with other states. Rep. Gordon Hintz, D-Oshkosh, contrasted the state now giving out nearly half a billion dollars in tax credits a year through a 2011 manufacturing and agriculture tax credit with federal data showing the state ranked in the bottom third of states for job creation over the past five years. So far these investments have not paid off, Hintz said. Its time to stop digging and setting up our state to fail. Rep. John Nygren, R-Marinette, co-chairman of the Joint Finance Committee, knocked the Democrats for voting against attempts to invest in job creation while criticizing Republicans for the states job performance. You cant have it both ways, Nygren said. The committees action moved the tax credits from a pool of $30 million in nonrefundable tax credits available to companies involved in angel investment and early-stage seed funding for startup companies. They are now part of a new business development tax credit, which goes from $17 million to $25 million this year. Under questioning from Democrats, analysts from the Legislative Fiscal Bureau acknowledged that a manufacturer with millions of dollars in profits and little to no tax liability could theoretically receive money from taxpayers if it received a business development tax credit award, provided it created promised jobs. WEDC historically has not used all of the nonrefundable startup tax credits, which increased in 2011 to $40.5 million before dropping to $30 million last year under provisions in the state budget. Last year businesses were awarded about 61 percent of the available credits. In past years the state has reallocated nonrefundable tax credits to refundable tax credits ranging from $3.1 million 2009 to $10 million in 2012. Last year the agency asked to reallocate $15 million, but WEDC rescinded the request after an objection was raised. SHARE By Kirk Brown of the Independent Mail After some contentious debate, the Anderson City Council agreed Monday night to accept a new cost-sharing agreement involving five school resource officers. Under the agreement, city of Anderson-based Anderson School District 5 will pay 75 percent of the costs related to keeping five city police officers working as resource officers at the Anderson V Career Campus, two middle schools and four elementary schools. Anderson city officials will cover the rest of the expenses for these officers, which will add up $70,000 for the next year. District 5 previously paid the full cost for 12 school resources officers employed by the Anderson County Sheriff's Office and the Anderson Police Department that are stationed at middle and elementary schools. In recent budget deliberations, District 5 officials discussed hiring private security guards unless the Sheriff's Office and city agreed to pay the salaries of their resource officers in the summer months, when schools are not in session. Anderson County Sheriff John Skipper agreed to a similar cost-sharing agreement that was presented to city council members Monday. Councilman Steve Kirven complained that the school district was unfairly shifting costs to the city. "I want the best protection for those children," Kirven said. "But don't shift that to us, the city taxpayers, when it should be the school district's obligation. They've got the money" Councilman Don Chapman said he would be more willing to accept the new cost-sharing arrangement if the school district didn't have a surplus of money and a history of approving tax increases. "I feel like what has happened is that they are going to put the safety of the children to security officers as opposed to police officers as an option to lower a budget," he said "Most parents out there would probably say don't compromise the safety, but that is the one item on the table that they are going to try to reduce cost." Councilman Rick Laughridge supported the new cost-sharing arrangement. "The school district probably is swimming in money, but at the same time I think this is something that we need to go ahead and adopt," he said. "It is something that is good for the kids. If you look at nothing else, look at the children." Anderson Police Chief Jim Stewart said his department's school resource officers perform other duties when school is not in session. He also said he wants to keep police officers in the schools. "For me, it is kind of like insurance that they are there," he said. Councilman Tony Stewart said the council faced a difficult choice. "I think the school district needs to take responsibility and pay for these SROs," he said. But he also said that crime and gang activity in the schools would likely increase if the council rejected the new agreement. After a 45-minute debate, the council voted 6-2 to approve the cost-sharing plan. Kirven and Chapman cast the dissenting votes. In other business Monday, council members gave initial approval to the city's proposed $58.3 million budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1. The spending plans calls for no tax increase or higher fees. The vote came after no one spoke at a public hearing on the budget. Follow Kirk Brown on Twitter @KirkBrown_AIM SHARE By Wspa Stephen Grant Parten has been extradited back to Anderson County after he was arrested in Tennessee. Parten, 33, of Anderson was identified as the suspect in a shooting that happened at the White City Park Bridge on Centerville Road in Anderson. He was charged with murder, attempted murder, and having possession of a weapon during a violent crime. According to an arrest warrant, Parten shot 25-year-old Ahmen Fallous in the chest and hit Fallous' girlfriend in the head with a gun. Parten also threatened to kill her, but she was able to escape, according to the warrants. Parten was booked into the Anderson County Detention Center on Monday afternoon. He went before a judge Tuesday morning, but will have to see a higher judge for his bond to be set. Parten refused to acknowledge his name was Stephen Grant Parten. He told the judge that his friends call him by another name. He told the judge he had nothing else to say to her because she wasn't his friend. SC superintendent race: business donors, teacher's movement, fate of public schools Millions have flowed into SC's superintendent race where a teachers' movement is up against a network of politicians and business owners Prevent Unauthorized Transactions in your demat / trading account Update your Mobile Number/ email Id with your stock broker / Depository Participant. Receive information of your transactions directly from Exchanges on your mobile / email at the end of day and alerts on your registered mobile for all debits and other important transactions in your demat account directly from NSDL/ CDSL on the same day." - Issued in the interest of investors. KYC is one time exercise while dealing in securities markets - once KYC is done through a SEBI registered intermediary (broker, DP, Mutual Fund etc.), you need not undergo the same process again when you approach another intermediary. No need to issue cheques by investors while subscribing to IPO. Just write the bank account number and sign in the application form to authorise your bank to make payment in case of allotment. No worries for refund as the money remains in investor's account." www.indiainfoline.com is part of the IIFL Group, a leading financial services player and a diversified NBFC. The site provides comprehensive and real time information on Indian corporates, sectors, financial markets and economy. On the site we feature industry and political leaders, entrepreneurs, and trend setters. The research, personal finance and market tutorial sections are widely followed by students, academia, corporates and investors among others. Bharti Infratel: Kotak Mahindra Capital Company Ltd ("Manager to the Buyback Offer") has submitted to BSE a Copy of Public Announcement ("PA") in respect of the Buyback of 47,058,823 equity shares of INR 10/- each (Share) of Bharti Infratel Ltd (Company) at a price of INR 425/- per Share under tender offer route (Buyback).Coal India Ltd: Coal India has announced that the Board of Directors of Western Coalfields Limited ("WCL"), the Company's subsidiary, has considered and approved the buyback of 7,42,750 fully paid equity shares of face value of Rs.1,000 each.JSPL: Jindal Steel and Power Limited is set to get debt recast under the Reserve Bank's 5/25 scheme post deal with JSW Energy, as per media report.IVRCL: The company has allotted 6.46 lakh equity shares at a price of Rs.8.76 each to Bank of Nova Scotia. The company has informed BSE that the allotment is according to the Strategic Debt Restructure terms the company has with its lenders.Satin Creditcare: Satin Creditcare Network Ltd has informed BSE about intimation regarding allotment of preference shares of 2.5 crore with a face value of Rs 10 each.Larsen & Toubro: The company is planning to list its IT arm L&T Infotech by October this year, according to reports.Rajesh Exports: The company has announced that its Board approved acquisition in the Middle East.Man Industries (India) Ltd: The company has announced that the Company is one of the major Global player with lowest Project cost in Line Pipe Industry has achieved another land mark by successfully commissioning of state of the art 5600 Ton Hydraulic JCO press at its Gujarat Plant which has been developed indigenously with in-house research, development and technical knowhow.Oriental Bank of Commerce: The Bank intends to raise Tier II Capital through Private Placement of Basel III Compliant Tier II Bonds of Rs. 10,00,000/- each at par aggregating to Rs. 500 crore with an option to retain oversubscription of upto Rs. 500 crore.Deepak Fertilisers & Petrochemicals Corporation Ltd: The company announced that Department of Fertilizers (DoF), Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, has been withholding subsidy claims due to the Company in accordance with applicable Nutrient Based Subsidy [NBS] Scheme of the Government of India, since June, 2014 amounting to Rs. 795 crores as on March 31, 2016.Havells India Ltd: The Company is launching solar solutions including Solar power generating systems, Home lighting kits, Solar Pumps, Solar street lights etc. The products will be assembled/ manufactured in Neemrana and will be rolled out pan India in phases starting from June 2016, catering to the domestic market.ABB: The company has successfully commissioned five substations to integrate a 648-megawatt (MW) solar project at Kamuthi in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu to the national transmission grid.Omaxe Ltd: The company sold residential and commercial properties worth Rs 1,648 crore in last fiscal, up 11 per cent from the 2014-15, says report.Banking stocks in focus: Reserve Bank of India released a paper on stressed assets called Scheme for Sustainable Structuring of Stressed Assets.KPIT Technologies: KPIT will be in focus as it informed BSE that it intends to vigorously defend against Copart's alleged claims, and pursue any available claims against Copart. Sparta Consulting Inc, a 100% subsidiary of KPIT Technologies, was hired by Copart Inc (Copart), a US corporation, to design a replacement for its legacy Enterprise Resource Planning system.DLF: Blackstone Group, GIC of Singapore and Brookfield Asset Management have fired slightly over $1 bn separate bids to acquire a 40% stake in DLF's commercial property unit that owns rent-yielding assets,as per media report.Jubilant FoodWorks: Jubilant FoodWorks is planning to open 130-140 new Domino's Pizza outlets and around 20 new Dunkin' Donuts restaurants in the current fiscal to expand its footprints in the country.Delta Corp: Delta Corp has now informed BSE that Delta Pleasure Cruise Company Private Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta Corp Limited, has been granted license by the Government of Goa to operate their vessel "M V ROYALE FLOTEL -DELTIN CARAVELA" in the Mandovi River.TCS: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) announced a global partnership with Randstad Global IT Solutions, to design and deploy one of the worlds largest end-to- end public cloud marketplaces for IT infrastructure services. Investors in Ujjivan Financial can see their investment growing by 72% since the IPO got listed a month ago. Similar is the case for the Chennai-based small finance bank, Equitas Holdings, which offer a hefty return of 58% in 45 days.For CY2016, nearly 10 companies have nearly garnered over Rs.7,300 crore so far. Today, Mahanagar Gas will announce its initial public offering (IPO). The joint venture between GAIL India and Royal Dutch Shell Plc is planning to raise Rs.1,200 crore. GAIL and Shell will sell 12.5% stake each in the proposed IPO.It is pertinent to note that 2016 faced several headwinds on economic front that dented the growth of India Inc to a major extent. Despite the weak global economic cues, benchmark Sensex and Nifty offer 0.86% and 1.8% return respectively. Outpacing the benchmark indices, 7 of 10 IPOs offer significant return between 4-72% so far in 2016 at a time, when BSE IPO index has fallen by 4.5%.Furthermore, the kind of overwhelming response received by most of the IPOs in 2016 clearly indicates that primary market has defied global economic woes, including sliding crude oil prices, weakening Indian rupee against the US dollar, squeezing macro economic data, heavy FII offloading in shares.Analysts opine that investors in India are somewhat refrained from safe investment tool like gold, due to the unprecedented surge in the precious metals price that has helped the IPOs witnessing more retail as well as institutional participation. IPOs of Thyrocare Technologies, TeamLease and Ujjivan Financial were subscribed 73, 66 and 41 times respectively.If 2015 was dominated by healthcare companies like Dr. Lal Pathlabs and Alkem Laboratories, 2016 saw diagnostic chain Thyrocare Technologies IPO offering 35% return over its issue price of Rs.446 a share; and Narayana Hrudayalaya trading 27% higher than its IPO price of Rs.250. However, Ujjivan Financial leads the chart with 72% return over its issue price of Rs.210. The scrip got listed on May 10,2016.The Chennai-based small finance bank (SFB), Equitas Holdings, has taken the investors to cloud nine with an impressive return of 58% over its IPO price of Rs.110. Among other IPOs, the Ahmedabad-based e-commerce firm Infibeam Corporation offers 34% return, while dairy products major Parag Milk and staffing services provider TeamLease offer 9% and 4% higher returns respectively.The IPO of Healthcare Global Enterprise (HCG), Indias largest cancer-care chain, was subscribed 1.56 times by the retail investors, but the issue currently offers negative return of 17% over its issue price of Rs.218 at which the company raised nearly Rs.650 crore. Similarly, anti-virus services provider Quick Heal Technologies IPO disappoints the investors with -21% return despite it was subscribed 11 times. Precision Camshaft is trading 27% lower that its issue price of Rs.186 a share.Despite the post budget rally losing its charm on Dalal Street, the robust IPO pipeline for the current fiscal only adds to investors joy. With telecom major Vodafone expected to submit the IPO papers with market regulator Sebi in September and many others being in the pipeline, the golden run of IPOs is expected to continue. The stock market regulator has given its nod to as many as 25 companies, which are likely to mop up nearly Rs. 15,000 crore. L&T Infotech is expected to raise Rs.2,000 crore, AGS Transact (Rs.1,350 crore), Nuziveedu Seeds (Rs.700 crore), Paranjape Schemes (Rs.600 crore), Matrix Cellular (Rs.500 crore), among others.Sebi eased IPO norms in the interest of investors, but companies too have found them helpful in IPO fund raising. The long term bullish outlook of Indian equity markets has underpinned corporate enthusiasm to raise capital through IPOs. The robust IPO pipeline aptly reflects the positive undertone in the primary market. Every time I come across an article on how people are travelling the world on a meager budget I get amused and jealous at the same time. I mean come on, you need money for almost everything in life, especially while travelling. We live in the world where all the good things in life require money. So how does a person who works in a closed office for five days in a week feel when he/she comes across an affluent man giving up his business to go on a permanent vacation with his family? Instagram I had the exact feeling when I learnt of this family. This 25-year-old tech millionaire and his wife sold everything to travel the world with their two young kids. When I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING! Instagram Garrett Gee from Utah, made a fortune when he sold his mobile-scanning app to Snapchat last year for $54 million (Rs. 3,63,09,84,300 approx). He didnt stop at that. They then went on to sell their worldly possessions including a $48,000 Land Rover (another Rs 32,27,520 approx). The Gee family then set off last year for a six-month vacation across the globe. By now you must have been green with envy but theres more. Much more! The six-month long vacation has now stretched to nine months and might just last indefinitely! They have put their millions in the bank and have been living off the earnings from the sale of their material stuff. They have their own blog and Instagram handle called The Bucket List Family. The couple describes themselves as pretty chill folks. So far theyve been to South Pacific locales like Fiji and Hawaii, plus Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, and other bucket-list destinations. We feel like we still have so much to learn about life and happiness before we can set up our future life and home, they wrote on their blog. Their goals for travel are: become closer as a marriage and family, be good friends to the people in our lives, live a life of service and compassion, learn to find happiness with less, become more open minded and open hearted, love and respect nature and the planet, and create life long memories. Their pictures are more than enough to bring out major wanderlust in you. Love them or hate them, but we are sure you just cant copy them! Well, if you can, then good for you. Meanwhile, I am going back to my same old office-home-office life! *Goes and cries in the corner* Here are some those amazing pictures: There are some amazing movie out there which are still banned in India. They are on sensitive issues which need to be raised, some of them are educational, some bring to light certain very important issues, yet the Censor Board refused to pass them. Check out 9 movies you must watch which are still banned in the country. 1. Lipstick Under My Burkha Youtube Directed by Alankrita Shrivastava and produced by Prakash Jha, Lipstick Under My Burkha was denied certification by the censor board, which said that the story was lady oriented, their fantasy above life. Furthermore, the board also objected to the "audio pornography, sexual scenes and abusive words" in the film. Interestingly, the movie has won Spirit of Asia Award at Tokyo International Film Festival and also the Oxfam Award at the Mumbai Film Festival as well. youtube Directed by Raj Amit Kumar, and starring Victor Banerjee, Adil Hussain, and Preeti Gupta, Unfreedom is based on two parallel plots. While in New York a Muslim fundamentalist kidnaps a liberal Muslim scholar with an intent to kill him, a homosexual girl in Delhi kidnaps her bisexual lover. The film was initially advised cuts by the Censor Board which the director refused, appealed to the Tribunal. Sadly, the authorities then put a complete ban on the film. Quite ironic, considering the title! 3. Mohalla Assi youtube This one is another recent film which has been banned by the Censor Board. Starring Sakshi Tanwar and Sunny Deol, the film is based on the inhabitants of the famous neighborhood in Varanasi, and it explores the commercialization of the holy city and the foreigner tourists are being fooled there. Initially, the film's uncut trailer was leaked online, following which an FIR was lodged against the makers owing to the abusive language used in the movie. It was eventually banned in April this year. However, we hear that the entire film too was leaked online and it has touched an issue which Bollywood has ignored till date. 4. Gandu imdb Odds are that you might have heard about this brilliant Bengali film which came into the limelight in 2010. The film was basically a rap musical which captures the complicated life of the protagonist who is referred to as 'Gandu' by others. Even though the film received great critical acclaim abroad, including the Berlin International Film Festival and Slamdance Film Festival, it was banned in India. The film courted much controversy owing to certain oral sex scenes and nudity and was eventually not released in the country. 5. The Painted House youtube The Malayalam film directed by brothers Santosh Babusenan and Satish Babusenan was also banned by the Censor Board. The film is based on the life of a writer, who gets entangled into complicated circumstances and his beliefs about himself are about to be tested. Surprisingly, this film didn't even deal with a 'sensitive subject', at least not according to our sanskars, yet it was banned because there were a few scenes in the film where the female lead was shown in nude. Sigh! 6. The Pink Mirror tellystars This film is probably the only one in recent times which explores the gender issues and transsexuality in detail. Directed by Sridhar Rangayan, the film focuses on two transsexuals and a gay teenager who wants to seduce a man. Of course, the film's plot sounds like a perfect excuse for it to be banned. While the film received an amazing response and critical acclaim, and was screened at more than 70 film festivals, it was banned by the Censor Board in the country. 7. Hava Aney Dey tricycle Directed by Partho Sen-Gupta, the film has parallel plots where on one hand India is facing a war with Pakistan, while a teenage middle-class boy is trying to fix his life in the suburbs of Mumbai. The Censor Board had suggested close to 21 cuts in the film, which the makers refused. Needless to say, the film was banned in India, while it received amazing response and support from outside, winning several awards at the various international film festivals. 8. Chatrak (Mushrooms) swiftprod The Bengali film starring Paoli Dam and Anubrata Basu courted quite a lot of controversy. The film's major focus is on the issue wherein people are taken away for construction projects. But it never released a theatrical release in India owing to its sexual content. There's a scene in the film with frontal nudity and a cunnilingus scene between the lead pair, which even got leaked online. While it was banned in India, it garnered much appreciation in various international film festivals. 9. Paanch wikipedia Here's another Anurag Kashyap film which was banned by the Censor Board in India. The Censor Board had issues with the film's sexual content, and it also said that it glorified drugs and violence and hence the film received a ban from the Censor Board. Even though it was later cleared with a few cuts, the producers could never release it after the initial halt. The film captures the lives of members of a rock band who are involved in drugs, due to which they get entangled into a robbery and murder case. "Mera sense of humor bahot acha hai..aapko dheere dheere pata chalega", Raani AKA Kangana Ranaut's dialogue in Vikas Bahl's Queen won many hearts. The film was a commercial hit, critics praised the film and it ended up winning a lot of awards. At the 60th Filmfare Awards ceremony, the film won a leading six awards, including Best Film, Best Director, and Best Actress for Ranaut. At the 62nd National Film Awards ceremony, the film won the Best Hindi Film and Best Actress awards. Queen was an ultimate winner. Released in 2014, Queen made Kangana Ranaut the ultimate Queen of Bollywood and it changed the fortune of many involved in the film. 1. Despite shooting abroad, Vikas Bahl did not have a huge budget to spend on the film. While such extensive outdoor shoots usually require a crew of over 100, Vikas Bahl could manage with just about 25 people on board. 2. Vikas Bahl couldn't even afford a vanity van for Kangana. Recalling how Queen was shot on shoe-string budget, We would shoot at 3-4 locations in a day. We would quickly film a scene at a spot and then sling the camera over our shoulders and moved to the next location. Kangana would have to get dressed in public restrooms or at whichever restaurant we had stopped at for a meal." 3. Queen was not shot in a linear fashion. In order to make it look closer to reality, the color of mehendi applied to Kangana's hand was faded to match its natural fading. 4. Few of the scenes in Queen were added after Kangana's suggestion. Scenes like the kiss scene with the Italian chef, and a small scene where Rani asks a stranger to click her picture in Amsterdam were added later. 5. Kangana turned into a dialogue writer for this film. Apart from writing dialogues for the film, Vikas also allowed her to add her own dialogues so that the film could look more realistic. Kangana was also given credit for the additional dialogues. 6. The remixed version of "Hungama Ho Gaya" was shot at Club NL, in Amsterdam, where a Hindi song was played for the first time. 7. 90 percent of the film was already shot when film's cinematographer Bobby Singh died suddenly following an asthma attack on 25 December 2012, that's when Anurag Kashyap volunteered to edit the film himself. Wait, watch this hilarious making of the song 'Gujariya' which will show you the fun they had while shooting this amazing film. Campaigns warning people of the health hazards of smoking seldom address the dangers posed by e-cigarettes, which are equally harmful. However, the Karnataka government, acting on the advice of the high power committee on tobacco control, is all set to implement a ban on the product. theheartysoul A decision in this regard was taken after a series of discussion, said minister for health and family welfare U T Khader. "We have taken a decision to ban the sale and use of e-cigarettes after conducting a study through the department. We got feedback through our study that large number of youngsters in the state are being addicted to e-cigarettes. Hence, we have decided to ban e-cigarettes in the state. An order in this regard will be issued within a week," Khader said in Mangaluru. theheartysoul He said that the main aim of the department is to make youth free from all addiction-related health hazards. There is a lack of long-term scientific research that confirms whether e-cigarettes are safe. The continuous use of e-cigarettes could lead to nicotine addiction and tobacco smoking, the minister said. The state government's move to prohibit the use e-cigarettes follows a similar ban on gutkha and paan masala that contains tobacco two years ago. The state government's move also falls in line with the World Health Organisation's (WHO) regulation on use of e-cigarettes that use battery powered cartridges to produce a nicotine-laced vapour. flickr Two states and a union territory - Punjab, Maharashtra and Chandigarh - have already banned the production and sale of e-cigarettes, which also contain nicotine as the main ingredient. Principal secretary for health and family welfare, Shalini Rajneesh, confirmed the government has already issued the notification. The sale of nicotine, apart from tobacco products under Control of Tobacco Products Act (COTPA), is permitted only for tobacco cessation in accordance with the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940. "It's shocking that even medical shops sell e-cigarettes. We must curb this in the interest of public health," said health minister UT Khader. Bangalore District Chemists and Druggists Association president V Harikrishnan expressed ignorance on the sale of e-cigarettes at pharmacies. "It's not a medicine. How can it be sold at drug stores? I will look into it," he said. Read Also: India Just Made Its First Arrest for Selling E-Cigarettes, But You Can Buy Them Online! lovelites A member of the high power committee said, "In February 2016, the state drugs controller wrote to the Drug Controller General of India, seeking a ban on the sale of e-cigarettes. The sale should be regulated since the nicotine in e-cigarettes falls under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act. Unfortunately, it is not under the purview of COTPA." According to reports, about 250 Chinese troops entered Indian territory on June 9 in Arunachal Pradeshs Kameng district. The troops are believed to have spent three hours on Indian side of the border before going back to their side. Reuters This is the first transgression in the region this year, which China claims to be a part of its own territory. The transgression comes at a time when Indias membership of NSG is supposed to come up, which is also being blocked by China. Times Of India The border between India and China isnt as well demarcated as the one with Pakistan, and troops from both countries patrol areas they believe are on their side. In an incident earlier, Indian troops had formed a human chain to stop the Chinese troops from entering deeper into India. Delhi police have arrested a 21-year-old woman and her live-in-partner for filing false rape cases. The arrest was made on Monday, two days after the woman filed a complaint against two youth, accusing them of drugging and raping her in a moving car. PTI/ Representative Image However police said the allegations were later proven to be false and their motive was to extort money from the two youth who are pursuing their MBA courses from different universities in Australia and India. The duo had demanded Rs. 10 lakhs from the youths to withdraw the case. The youth had already paid them Rs. 50,000 and secretly filmed the handing over of the remaining Rs. 9.5 lakhs. Rushlines/ Representative Image Later it was revealed that the couple had earlier used the same tactics to extort money from three youths in east Delhi's Anand Vihar in February after accusing them of gangraping and throwing them out of a moving car. Film fraternity and India rejoiced Bombay high court's verdict on Udta Punjab yesterday. The Bombay High Court admonished CBFC for acting like a "grandmother" and had ordered the censor board to issue a fresh certificate to Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, Alia Bhatt and Diljit Dosanjh starrer movie within 48 hours. Passing the film with just one cut instead of 13 suggested by the CBFC, Bombay High Court passed a verdict that the film could be released on June 17. Pagalguy However, troubles are not over for Udta Punjab yet. Even when Bombay High Court has given a clean chit to Abhishek Chaubey's film, last leg of trouble is still left since a petition has been filed against the film in Punjab and Haryana High Court. Twitter The court is yet to take a call on it on June 16 after the Amicus Curiae assesses whether it is fit for release. Vacation bench of Justice M Jeyapal has now directed the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) and producer of the movie to screen the film tomorrow at CBFC's theatre in Mumbai at 4 pm. The film would now be viewed by Amicus Curiae advocate Sanjay N Kantawala and representatives of the petitioner, central government, CBFC and the producer. The Amicus Curiae has also been directed by the court to submit his report on June 16 focusing on the content of film so that the court could take a decision whether the film is fit for public exhibition. What is the petition all about? Phantom Films 1. Jalandhar-based advocate Wattan Sharma had filed a petition in the court claiming that the film has portrayed Punjab in bad light. 2. The petition has alleged that the movie has done "negative branding" of Punjab and its people and therefore the film is unfit for exhibition. 3. The case has been adjourned for next hearing to June 16 (Which is just one day ahead of the films scheduled release) The court put up a question to the counsel appearing for the petitioner whether the relief sought in this writ petition has direct bearing on the writ petition filed by the Producer before the Bombay High Court. The Bench has made it clear that only after the amicus curiae pro bono has to watch the film, along with the representatives of the writ petitioner, the Union of India, the producer and the revisional committee, before submitting his report fairly commenting on the content of the film so as to take a decision as to whether the said film is fit for public exhibition. (With agency inputs) Scientists from Indian Institute of Science Bengaluru has proposed a roadmap to revive the now infamous Bellandur and Varthur lakes in the city after they made headlines for emitting toxic foam earlier this year. citizenmatters Prof TV Ramachandra and his team from IISc Bengaluru, presented the immediate steps to be followed to reclaim the two lakes. According to them, action at war footing level is needed to make it possible. Pointing out that one-fourth of the city's population is responsible for the pollution, the experts said discharging untreated sewage and industrial effluents into these lakes should be stopped immediately as the first step. He suggested that 15 percent of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds from those companies causing the damage should be used for this purpose. He also warned that the high amount of contaminants present in the water bodies are slowly making into the human bodies through vegetables grown in the neighbouring areas. He also said that help from the likes of the "eco-battalions" would be extremely useful here and lakes should be managed together by the army, navy and various local stakeholders like residents associations and NGOs working in the localities. Bellandur lake first made headlines after it started emitting fire and foam the water body, due to the excess amount of phosphorous presence in the water. iamin Earlier this year a couple of incidents of thousands of dead fish washing ashore were also reported from the city. The levels of pollution had reached such alarming levels, that the IISc in May said Bengaluru would become uninhabitable in five years. India's Enforcement Directorate has successfully moved a special Mumbai PMLA court seeking to declare liquor baron Vijay Mallya a "proclaimed offender" in connection with its money laundering probe against him in an alleged bank loan fraud case. The agency reportedly pleaded plea to the court to issue an order under Section 82 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), as Mallya has "multiple" arrest warrants pending against him. This includes a non-bailable warrant (NBW) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). BCCL "There are multiple arrest warrants pending against Mallya in various cases like that of cheque bounce and he is also wanted in a money laundering case. The agency has briefed the court about the status of investigations in the case and the need to get Mallya join probe," they said, adding the agency has moved the same anti-money laundering court in Mumbai in this regard which had earlier issued an NBW against him. What is a proclaimed offender"? What proclaimed offender means: ED can attach personal assets, take action against ppl protecting him, pressurizes Mallya to show up Chandra R. Srikanth (@chandra86) June 14, 2016 Someone can be declared a "proclaimed offender" in a criminal case probe if the court has reasons to believe that someone with an arrest warrant against him has absconded or is concealing himself, preventing a lawful arrest. Following the declaration, Section 82 of the CrPC can have a court require Mallya to to appear at a specified place and at a specified time in 30 days from the date of publishing. They said the agency also has the option to seek action under Section 83 of the CrPC (attachment of property of person absconding) if Mallya does not comply with proceedings initiated under Section 82. It is also seeking to invoke the India-United Kingdom Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) to extradite Mallya from Britain. Mallya had left India on March 2 using his diplomatic passport.The agency has registered a money laundering case against Mallya and others based on an FIR registered last year by the CBI. CCTVs have caught the horrific visuals of a 21-year-old BBA student going on a killing spree in the early hours of Monday in Delhi's Janakpuri area. The driver identified as Rishabh Rawat, was returning home after partying at his friends home in a Honda City registered in his father's name. YEARS In less than a distance of 3 kms, Rawat mowed down three people, all of them who were out for morning walk. His first victim was 40-year-old Kameshwar Prasad, a government employee. Prasad was struck so hard that he was thrown against a tree and then hit a wall, killing him on the spot. Instead of slowing down after his first accident, Rawat continued speeding at over 100 km/h. Even as crowds started gathering near Prasad's body his car hit the second victim Santosh, who was cleaning a car. Despite suffering injuries in his abdomen and legs Santhosh survived. Rawat, who was speeding down the wrong side of the road now, hit Ashwini Anand, 67. Anand was thrown against a car parked by the road and landed about 20 metres behind it. His mad rampage ended when a police constable intercepted him and forced him out of his car. Indian Express Still under the influence of alcohol, Rawat reportedly demanded a cigarette lighter from the police constable and asked the police to get compensation for the victims from his father. The alcohol level in his body was found to be 159 mgcc, against the legal limit of 30 mgcc, almost five times higher than the permissible limits. "As soon as he got out of the car, he fell on the ground. I called up the police station and requested for backup, Parvesh Kumar, the constable who intercepted Rawat said. Rawat, the son of a Delhi businessman was arrested under sections 304 (culpable homicide) and 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) of IPC and sent to Tihar Jail in judicial custody. Ringing Bells, the Noida based startup, which shot into fame and later ridiculed after the announcement of its first smartphone, Freedom 251, touted as the world's cheapest smartphone. AP After being under fire from various corners, the company on Tuesday said they are ready to deliver the orders from June 28. What About Imitators Like This "We will start shipment of Freedom251 from June 28 to customers who paid for it earlier on COD (cash-on-delivery) basis," Mohit Goel, director of Ringing Bells said. Reuters Ringing Bells president Ashok Chaddha had explained earlier that the manufacturing cost of the phone was about Rs 2,500, which had to be recovered through a series of measures like economies of scale, innovative marketing, reduction in duties and creating an e-commerce marketplace. Ever since February when the phone was announced, the company has gone through a lot, first the website crashed due to traffic, later their made in India claim turned out to be false among other controversie it had gone through. Reuters However the company seems to be putting all the controversies behind and doing good on its promises, or is it? May be we will find out in a some days. Upon learning that a neighbour wanted to chop down a 15-year-old coconut tree at the corner of their road in a private layout near Hennur to start building a new house - despite the tree not being part of the residential plot - local resident Sasha Moses, 20, was perturbed. When polite requests to the woman to leave the tree alone went unheeded, the graduate student went out of her way to contact the concerned BBMP officials and fought to ensure the tree was not be cut down as "every one of the 50 coconut trees in the layout is precious to the residents." Much before Moses's family built and moved into a home in Trinity Orchard off Hennur main road nearly 12 years ago, the coconut tree in front of their house stood tall and proud. Almost all the other residents chose to leave the coconut trees surrounding their plots undisturbed, leaving the roads in the layout dotted with them; so imagine the family's agony when they learned that their new would-be neighbour wanted to chop the tree down. "She can do whatever she wants on her land, but this particular tree is in its prime and located at the corner of the road that leads to our house and her plot. It does not hamper the construction of her house, nor has it inconvenienced anyone else in any way. The workmen themselves have agreed to this; but when we told her there was no need to chop it down, she refused to listen. My father has stopped workers from attempting to cut it down on two separate occasions, and I am desperate to save the tree," Moses told Mirror. The gritty girl then took to social media, where she was given suggestions about whom to contact and what to do. She tried calling a few landline numbers of the BBMP forest cell but could not get through; what did work, however, was the Sahay mobile application. bangaloremirror She lodged a complaint online and was sent an SMS with details of a forest officer who was designated to handle the case, but has not called her yet. "When the woman realised that we were not going to back down, she tried instigating our other neighbours. They have been listening to both sides of the story and have told us they, too, do not see the point of cutting the tree down, even if it is just one. But nobody else has stood up to her. While I am all for living in harmony, I do not want a beautiful, healthy tree to pay the price for it," she said. To deter the woman from trying to cut the tree again, Moses printed and pasted a notice on the tree saying that cutting trees on roads is illegal without the prior permission of a forest officer. "I hope the issue is resolved soon and in favour of the tree. This may not be a big deal to many, because it is a single tree, but every tree in this layout is important to us. We want to preserve the tranquillity of this area in an age where tree cover in Bengaluru is depleting rapidly," she added. Even though the country or at least those who tweet about it, celebrate Udta Punjab being released with one cut, there is another very scary aspect to the Punjab drugs crisis that has been completely ignored. AFP Not one but several studies and reports have indicated that the merchants of addiction in Punjab are not the lone rangers, but entire families are involved in the illegal drug trade. From the farmer's families on the border who smuggle drugs across the border through buried PVC pipes to the politicians who are working to cover it up - the drug trade is not being run from people outside Punjab but by families who've lived there for many generations. In many villages along the India-Pakistan border like Toor, Chebbe, Lahsain and Bharial smuggling remains a family business and is passed from father to son - like any other business. Often the drug smuggling expands to employ several generations of the family. These smuggling families might not seem massive if you compare them to a Russian drug cartels but they're Indian drug trade's backbone. The Amritsar sector of the 553-km border, that Punjab shares with Pakistan, is one of the most sensitive areas despite having a completely fenced up border. Much of this is because generations of people involved in the smuggling on both sides that makes it simple to keep the business running year after year. Also Read: Golden Crescent - The Route Through Which Drugs Are Making Their Way Into Punjab The main occupation in the villages close to the border is farming and smugglers use these farmers to transport their consignments across the border. The farmers get hefty amounts in exchange for the favour. To the smugglers they are worth every bit and because they are locals they manage to outsmart the BSF. Many of these farmers have reportedly even created cavities in the farming equipment in which they hide the consignment while crossing the checks installed by BSF. If reports are to be believed, a farmer gets over a lakh or more depending on the size of the consignment. AFP It would have been simple to tap these villages - but there is one huge drug route which can't be tapped or fenced at all - the fast running rivers of Ravi and Satluj. The waters of the rivers make it impossible to fence these borders - which is a godsend for drug smugglers who use water weeds to move drugs which float in the river. The villages involved in this activity are Bamial, Thakurpur, Nikka and Mamiyan, all of which are situated at the convergence of the two rivers. Also Read: Inside Maqboolpura - The Village Of Widows And Orphans #PunjabDrugCrisis AFP How are drugs actually smuggled? 1. Water-weeds Water-weeds are essentially packets of cocaine, heroin or opium which are packed in plastics and arranged almost like giant sausages. These are then dumped in the rivers where they are fished out by villagers when they reach India. Weeds are tugged together and usually, within one water-weed, 15-20 packets of approximately one kg each is stored. At least one such package arrives via this route into India every week. At 20 kgs a week, it alone translates into 1040 kgs of drugs smuggled into India every year. The largest consignment that the BSF has seized was 23 such packets. The method to smuggle drugs through the land border is more complicated. 2. Code system Smugglers use coded sounds and the colour of their clothes to ensure they keep radio/cellular chatter down to a minimum. In most cases, the consignments are stored in abandoned buildings near the India-Pakistan border on the Pakistan side. At a pre-decided time these packets are thrown into the zero line (the strip of land between the Indian and Pakistan border fences) where they are picked up from and then continue their journey into Punjab's veins. 3. PVC pipes PVC pipes are one of the most commonly used things to both smuggle as well as store drugs. At several locations, PVC pipes about 10 ft long have been found buried underground running from the Pakistan border to India, the drugs which are arranged like water-weed are very simply shoved into one side and fished out from the other. Most of these PVC pipes are specific to each drug cartel. Later PVC pipes which are used to divert water meant for irrigation are also used to hide and transport the consignment. AFP Although both Gurdaspur and Amritsar sectors are vulnerable when it comes to smuggling, Amritsar sector has been the prime source for entry of drugs into India. But can such a huge racket run without the knowledge or involvement of at least some of the law enforcement units? AFP Shashi Kant Sharma Former Additional Director General of Police (intelligence) - has worked extensively with the layers of the drug addiction problem in the state agrees. Sharma had actually worked on a top secret document which lists the names of more than 80 subordinate and mid-level officers who are suspected to be working closely with the cross-border drug mafia. This in turn has its tentacles among Punjabs politicians, both in the Akali Dal and the Congress. But what normally happens in India to reports happened - nothing. The result - Rs 7,500 crore worth of drugs continue to be smuggled into India every year, youth keep getting hooked and the syringes used for drugs keep polluting land which is India's most fertile. The massacre of Orlando's Pulse nightclub led to a strong statement being made at the 46th annual Los Angeles Gay Pride Parade, apart from messages from Washington DC and New York. Members held moments of silence for those who died in the violent attack. Instead of lashing out at haters, the community has maintained a silence for the victims with messages of love and strength. The Orlando massacre is the deadliest mass shooting in American history. Reuters Members showed solidarity in Boston, Massachusetts. Reuters A parade marcher holds a sign in memory of the victims of the attack at the 46th annual Los Angeles Gay Pride Parade in West Hollywood, California. Reuters Prayers and moments of silence were the key to most parades by the LGBT community across America after the attack. Reuters Members also gathered at iconic spots of the LGBT community to send out messages of togetherness at such a sorrowful time. Reuters Peaceful marches organised through America do make a remarkable statement of forgoing hate and violence. Reuters 29-year-old Omar Mateen, the man who killed and injured over a 100 at a Florida gay nightclub might have been gay. A witness told local daily Orlando Sentinel that Mateen had had visited the club at least a dozen times before carrying out his attack, and may have used several different gay dating apps, according to reports from MSNBC and the Los Angeles Times. A male classmate of Mateen's at the police academy told another local media outlet, The Palm Beach Post, that Mateen once asked him out romantically. Witnesses claimed to have spotted Mateen at the gay nightclub many times. "Sometimes he would go over in the corner and sit and drink by himself, and other times he would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent," one witness, Ty Smith, said. Chris Callen, a performer at Pulse told the media that hed been visiting Pulse one or twice a month "for at least three years." 'He was very creepy in his messages' An Orlando man told MSNBC that hed spotted Mateens photos of gay dating apps Grindr, Adam4Adam, and Jack'd, and Mateen had contacted men on the site, with creepy messages. "He was very creepy in his messages, and I blocked him immediately," the man said. Image Credit: AP Omar Mir Seddique Mateen a New York-born American citizen went on a killing spree at Pulse, a prominent a gay nightclub and killed and maimed almost 100 Americans, making this is the biggest terrorist attack on U.S soil after 9/11, and the worst mass shooting in US history. In an interview with NBC News on Sunday, Seddique Mateen, Omar's father said his son's rampage had "nothing to do with religion." He described an incident in downtown Miami in which his son, U.S.-born Omar Mateen, 29, of Florida, saw two men kissing in front of his wife and child and became very angry. Image Credit: AP Police said Omar who was heavily armed with guns and other assault weapons had a fire exchange with the security before entering inside the Pulse night club. The hostage situation quickly developed before a squad of officers entered the club and shot the gunman dead. One police officer has also been injured in the cross fire. What You Need To Know About Omar Mateen, The Cold-Blooded Killer Behind The Orlando Shootings This video surfaced on social media showing the horrific gunfire scene from the Orlando nightclub where 49 people were shot to death by 29-year-old Omar Mir Seddique Mateen, a New York-born American of Afghan decent. The Snapchat video was captured by a 25-Year-Old named Amanda Alvear who also was at the nightclub with friends early on Sunday morning and was among the 49 people killed in the hail of gunfire. Facebook Apparently, the woman was Snapchatting when the shooting erupted and a friend, Mykol Marte, posted that video to Facebook. In the footage, the woman can be seen enjoying the clubs Latin-themed night with her friends and suddenly the gunfire starts. Reuters The horrific incident took place on Sunday when Mateen went on a killing spree at Pulse, a prominent a gay nightclub in Orlando. He killed and maimed nearly 100 Americans making this the biggest terrorist attack in US after 9/11, and the worst mass shooting in US history. The official list of victims who lost their lives in the Orlando massacre last week has been released by the city of Orlando. The list confirms the deaths of Eddie Justice, who sent tragic texts to his mother moments before his death, and the 22-year-old Luis Vielma, who had previously worked on a Harry Potter theme park at Universal Orlando. The City of Orlando has released the names and ages of the 49 victims who were killed in a nightclub shooting. AP The list was periodically updated on www.cityoforlando.net/blog/victims/ as those who died were identified and families and loved ones were notified. The city gave no additional information other than the names and ages. Edward Sotomayor Jr., 34 Stanley Almodovar III, 23 Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo, 20 Juan Ramon Guerroro, 22 Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera, 36 Peter O. Gonzalez-Cruz, 22 Luis S. Vielma, 22 Kimberly Morris, 37 Eddie Jamoldroy Justice, 30 Darryl Roman Burt II, 29 Deonka Deidra Drayton, 32 Alejandro Barrios Martinez, 21 Anthony Luis Laureano Disla, 25 Jean Carlos Mendez Perez, 35 Franky Jimmy Dejesus Velazquez, 50 Amanda Alvear, 25 Martin Benitez Torres, 33 Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon, 37 Mercedez Marisol Flores, 26 Xavier Emmanuel Serrano Rosado, 35 Gilberto Ramon Silva Menendez, 25 Simon Adrian Carrillo Fernandez, 31 Oscar A Aracena-Montero, 26 Enrique L. Rios Jr., 25 Miguel Angel Honorato, 30 Javier Jorge-Reyes, 40 Joel Rayon Paniagua, 32 Jason Benjamin Josaphat, 19 Cory James Connell, 21 Juan P. Rivera Velazquez, 37 Luis Daniel Conde, 39 Shane Evan Tomlinson, 33 Juan Chevez-Martinez, 25 Jerald Arthur Wright, 31 Leroy Valentin Fernandez, 25 Tevin Eugene Crosby, 25 Jonathan Antonio Camuy Vega, 24 Jean C. Nives Rodriguez, 27 Rodolfo Ayala-Ayala, 33 Brenda Lee Marquez McCool, 49 Yilmary Rodriguez Sulivan, 24 Christopher Andrew Leinonen, 32 Angel L. Candelario-Padro, 28 Frank Hernandez, 27 Paul Terrell Henry, 41 Antonio Davon Brown, 29 Christopher Joseph Sanfeliz, 24 Akyra Monet Murray, 18 Geraldo A. Ortiz-Jimenez, 25 The Saturday night carnage at the Pulse night club in Orlando Florida was rightly condemned across the world, in another corner of the world, a massacre is happening and no one seems to be taking note about it. Reuters May be we are too used to hearing about civilian deaths in war ravaged Syria, we might have lost count on the number of casualties. But the recently the conflict has intensified and once again unarmed civilians caught up in the crossfire are the biggest victims. In the first week of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, 224 people were killed. Majority of these deaths are blamed on the bombings by Syrian and Russian warplanes, an allegation Russia has denied. Reuters Between 6 and 12 June - the first week of the Islamic holy month of fasting - at least 148 civilians, including 50 children and 15 women, were killed as helicopters dropped "explosive barrel" bombs, The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. AP The number of civilian deaths have increased in the recent times, mainly because of the multi-faced operations going across the country including in some ISIS strongholds of Idlib where the coalition forces have made considerable progress in retaking it from the terror group. Reuters The Syrian conflict, arguably the most intertwined and confusing civil war of our times began in 2011 with a peaceful uprising against the Bashar Al-Assad government. But it soon descended into chaos after the government decided to go after the demonstrators. The situation further worsened with the presence of ISIS and other anti-government forces who are fighting against each other for control. AFP From 2011, 450,000 people have been killed across the country in various conflicts. It has also forced millions of people out of their homes, making them refugees in neighbouring and European countries. Russia seems to be paying the ultimate price for the way fans are behaving. AFP UEFA handed them a suspended disqualification and said that they would be kicked out of Euro 2016 if there was another incident by the fans. Russia have also been fined 150,000 euros. Europes governing body declared Russia responsible for the stadium disturbances, racist chanting and fireworks thrown during the Russia-England game in Marseilles on Saturday. AFP UEFA stressed that its order only applied to trouble inside stadiums where the governing body is responsible for security. Russia are playing Slovakia in Lille on Wednesday, sparking fears their fans will come into contact with English fans whose team is playing Wales in nearby Lens on Thursday. AFP After the 1-1 draw in Marseilles, Russian fans crossed security barriers inside the Stade Velodrome and attacked England fans. Dozens of English supporters, including women and children, had to flee across security barriers to escape. UEFA had already warned Russia and England that it could disqualify them if there was more trouble. But only Russia were charged over the conduct of fans. home Entertainment 'Madam Secretary' season 3 spoilers and plot rumors: Henry's opinion to greatly influence Elizabeth ultimate decision; Elizabeth to run as president instead? "Madam Secretary" returns for its third season later this year, and viewers might see Elizabeth "Bess" McCord (TAa Leoni) move up the career ladder after she was offered by President Dalton (Keith Carradine) to be his vice-presidential running mate. Will the U.S. Secretary of State be the country's next vice president? It remains to be seen if Elizabeth will accept the offer, but given her exceptional skills in problem solving and critical thinking, she can contribute greatly to address national and international issues. Moreover, she has a lot of achievements under her belt making her more than qualified to run for a much higher post, including rescuing Americans trapped in a foreign country and even preventing an impending war. As lucrative as Dalton's offer may be, Elizabeth has to discuss with her family first so she just told him that she'll think about it. The State Secretary stressed that she is satisfied and happy with her current post, but Dalton seems so sure that she will eventually say yes to him. Rumor has it that the opinion of Elizabeth's husband Henry McCord (Tim Daly) will strongly influence her decision if she will choose to accept or turn down the offer. He might prevent his wife from running for VP because it will put their whole family under a microscope, but there is also a possibility of him allowing her if she really wants to have more power in the administration. As noted by Zap2it, there is also a huge possibility that Elizabeth will climb higher up the ladder and even aspire to be the next U.S. president, going head to head with Dalton. According to a recent Twitter post from Leoni, the series will begin filming in mid-July. Keep tuning in for all-new episodes of "Madam Secretary" season 3 which premieres in September, with a new timeslot of Sunday nights at 9 p.m. EST on CBS. Authorities on Tuesday morning proceeded with an operation to evacuate another two makeshift refugee camps near the Idomeni border post in extreme northern Greece. One of the camps is located on an intersection leading to the Evzoni border crossing with the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (fYRoM) and the other is adjacent to a petrol station, also a few kilometers from the frontier. As legendary producer and musician, OJB Jezreel sadly passed on Tuesday morning following a relapse of a kidney condition, INFORMATION NIGERIA brings you 10 interesting facts about him. In 2013, OJB Jezreel suffered from a severe kidney failure which caused him to seek support from friends, family and fans. Over N20m was raised from donations from fans, celebrities and government officials. 2. His wife Mabel Mama J Okungbowa was his kidney donor at the Colombia Asian Hospital in India where he had gone for a transplant. 3. He dropped his Civil Engineering certificate to chase music and that put a big strain on his relationship with his parents. They backed away from him, hoping that he would make him change his mind, but he said it made him go further. 4.He produced Tufaces first album Grass to Grace including the widely celebrated African Queen. 5. The Delta State born entertainer was one of the founding fathers contemporary Nigerian music and pop culture. 6. Although he is originally from Delta, he grew up in a very rich family in Lagos. 7. He started out as a DJ because back then it was much easier to survive as a DJ, but says he always loved beats and sounds. 8. According to him, Jazzman Olofin is his only friend. 9. And to everyone he says, you should always keep it simple and humble, not because you are stupid or slow, but because in the end thats all that counts. 10. He has three wives and eight kids and the eldest, a boy is a graduate of Unilag. In an interview with the NET shortly after his kidney transplant at an Indian hospital, he said: It certainly feels good to be back and to still be aliveNow that the surgery has been successful, the next mission is trying to maintain the kidney so that it doesnt relapse. The doctors prescribe that I chill and relax for six months, but I cant afford to do that when I have a family to take care of. I have to get back to work. I think the help anyone can render me at this time is to give me jobs to do. I dont want to just sit down and be idle. This production thing has always been my passion and so I need to get back to it. RIP OJB The issue of unemployment in the country came to the fore again on Sunday as the Federal Governments newly launched portal for its N-Power programme, recorded over 403,528 registrations since it opened for applicants on Sunday. The N-Power programme, is a job creation and empowerment initiative of the All Progressives Congress-led federal government to help young Nigerians acquire and develop life-long skills to become solution providers in their communities and to become players in the domestic and global markets. The programme is divided into three segments namely: N-Power Teacher Corps, which aims to engage 500,000 young unemployed graduates as teachers; N-Power Knowledge that aims to engage 25,000 in the creative arts as well as technological development (hardware and software) and the N-Power Build, an accelerated training and certification (Skills to Job/Enterprise) programme that will engage and train 75,000 young unemployed Nigerians as technicians, artisans and service professionals. The Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, in a statement on Monday, quoted the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Job Creation, Afolabi Imoukhede, as saying that all together, the website had received over 35 million hits since Saturday midnight. Weve been very impressed by the enthusiastic response to the call for applications. As at noon on Monday June 13, only 36 hours after the launch of the portal, 403, 528 applicants had successfully registered on the site and were in the middle of completing the application process. Were also very pleased that the registrations have been taking place without any hitches or system failures, considering the volume of response, It also said The jobs scheme, known as N-Power, is one of the five initiatives of the Social Investment Programmes of the Federal Government of Nigeria, described by President Muhammdu Buhari in his Democracy Day Speech as by far the most ambitious social protection programme in our history. A total sum of N500 billion has been provided for the programme in the 2016 budget. The construction company handling the failed portion of the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc., on Tuesday disclosed that the ongoing rehabilitation of the Barliet to Ilasa section of the road, will be completed next week. Recall that Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State mobilized the firm to site in May following public outcry over the hardship experienced on the dilapidated portion of the road. The portion of the road was made worse by gullies, indiscriminate dumping of refuse on the median of the highway, which blocked the drainage and created no outlet for water to flow. However, a visit to the site on Tuesday by correspondents of the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, indicated that construction activities, including grading, asphalt lay, earth works and reconstruction of drainage channels were going on simultaneously. The development made the construction zone a beehive of activities with different earth moving equipment, rollers, pavers and trucks working on various stretches of the road on the Oshodi bound carriageway. A Julius Berger engineer at the site, who pleaded anonymity, told NAN that the firm was carrying out emergency repairs on the highway. This is not a contract but an emergency repair being undertaken by the Lagos State Government. We have worked on 1.5 kilometres of road so far and we are also reconstructing this drainage channels that have collapsed. We have been on site for about three weeks and should complete the work in a weeks time from now. We have no challenges because we have been able to deploy adequate manpower and equipment to site, he said. Also, an authoritative source in the Federal Ministry of Works told NAN that the ministry was working with the firm on the project. It is the governor that directed Julius Berger to carry out the work and we are supportive. It is our road and Lagos State Government needs our permission for access, the source said. Minister of Power, Works and Housing Mr Babatunde Fashola, has urged electricity distribution companies to patronise local meter manufacturers as they carry out mass metering of their customers across the country. Speaking at the 6th Power and Stakeholders Monthly Meeting held on Monday in Kano State, the Minister said the patronage of local manufacturers would help to avoid foreign exchange problem associated with the importation of meters. He stressed that it would greatly save cost if made in Nigeria meters were patronised, pointing out that it is of same quality with the imported ones. Commenting on the low supply of power currently being witnessed across Nigeria, Fashola told reporters that the activities of the Niger Delta Avengers had dropped power generation from 5,000 to about 3,000 megawatts. As of today, Nigeria rely only on hydro power from Jabba and other formations whose gas is not totally out, he said. The militant group in Niger Delta region have claimed responsibility for most attacks on oil facilities in the region, crippling exploration activities. As Gov Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos state turns 53 today, INFORMATION NIGERIA thought it wise to bring you 7 interesting things about him you probably never knew.. 1.Akinwunmi Ambode was born on 14 June 1963 in Epe Lagos 2.He was a civil servant for 27 years and a financial consultant before running for public office as Governor of Lagos State in 2015. 3.A one-time Auditor-General for Local Government in Lagos State, he was also appointed as Permanent Secretary, Lagos Ministry of Finance. 4.He later became the youngest Permanent Secretary in the civil service and only the second person to hold both positions of Permanent Secretary and Accountant-General of the state at the same time. 5.For 17 years, Ambode and his wife, Bolanle couldnt have children according to Blackbox. 6. They were only able to have a set of twins, a boy and a girl through In Vitro Fertilization(IVF) in the United States just a few years ago. 7.Akinwumi Ambode won the gubernatorial poll of Saturday, April 11, defeating the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Jimi Agabje. Out of the 20 local government areas in the state, Ambode won in 15. The immediate past Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, has denied reports that she accumulated wealth by stealing public funds. SEE ALSO: EFCC SEIZES $18m House belonging To Diezani Madueke The former minister, who is currently receiving treatment in London for cancer, was reacting to the documentary aired by the Qatar-based television channel, Al-Jazeera, in which it was reported that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, seized her Abuja mansion and expensive jewelries allegedly procured using public funds. The mansion, said to have a bulletproof gym, was valued at $18 million and had furnishings allegedly worth $2million. Mrs. Alison-Madueke, who has corruption allegations trailing her as a result of the strategic position she occupied and her perceived larger-than-life image under the past administration, is being jointly investigated by the EFCC and UK National Crime Agency for alleged for multi-billion dollar fraud and suspected money laundering. In a statement on Monday, the former minister, who has consistently denied allegations of corrupt enrichment while in office, accused Al-Jazeera and the EFCC of unprofessionalism. She said that the documentary was the latest attempt to tarnish her reputation and give a dog a bad name in order to hang it. My attention has been drawn to a report by Al Jazeera, which was released on Monday as a testament to the effectiveness of Nigerias Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in its war against corruption, she wrote. In the video report, which has been widely circulated in the social media, there are claims about me owning a property in Abuja allegedly worth $18 million. The report, which represents everything ridiculous and despicable about professional media practice and global best practices in the war against corruption, is the latest attempt to give a dog a bad name in order to hang it. She wondered why she was being painted as a common criminal in the media despite not being convicted for any crime, adding that the display of the jewelries in the said documentary was made to feed on the notion that all wealthy Nigerians are corrupt. She noted that the media has been taking undue advantage of her long-standing approach of not responding to allegations against her to continue in what she described as a propaganda to paint her black. This will not be the first time calculated attempts have been made to demonise and damage my reputation in the public space. Many times, my detractors have gotten away with these irresponsible smear campaigns because they have become accustomed to my characteristic approach of silence in the face of these callous attacks. The latest in the string of propaganda attacks launched against my person since I left government as Nigerias Petroleum Minister is this Al Jazeera report, which without any court conviction anywhere in the world attempts to dress Diezani Alison Madueke in the garb of a common criminal. This, to say the least, is the height of journalistic brigandage and a sheer mockery of Nigerias anti-corruption war before the eyes of the world who are watching and asking if the war against corruption is a circus show where suspects are prosecuted and sentenced on the pages of newspapers and video blogs without anything as remotely in the semblance of a trial in the courts of law, the former minister said. Mrs. Alison-Madueke, who enjoyed an illustrious career in the private sector before she was called to serve in the Goodluck Jonathan administration, wondered when owning properties and jewelries became a crime in the country. Reeling out a list of her academic qualifications and professional career, she said she worked her way up the ladder of success to be able to lead an affluent life. When did it become a crime to own a property in Nigeria? When did it become a crime for a woman of my status to have in her possession, jewelry? Jewelry, which women all across the world, including the woman selling tomatoes in Bodija market have in abundance in their closets? In which court of law, anywhere in the world was I prosecuted by the EFCC and found guilty of corruption? With all sense of modesty, I say this only for posterity and for the records. I have strived within my means and the blessings of God to live a decent and accomplished life. I studied architecture in England and obtained a bachelors degree from Howard University, United States of America in 1992. When I returned to Nigeria that same year, I joined Shell Petroleum Development Corporation. In 2002, I obtained an MBA at Cambridge University, United Kingdom. In April 2006, I was appointed by Shell as the companys first female Executive Director in Nigeria. In July 2007, I was appointed by the late President Umaru Musa YarAdua as Minister of Transport. The next year in December 2008 I became Minister of Mines and Steel Development. In April 2010, I was appointed as Minister for Petroleum Resources and served in that capacity till May 2015. During this period as Petroleum Minister, I had the honour of serving Nigeria and representing her in the Organization of Oil Exporting Countries (OPEC) where I was elected first female President. Describing the reports as cold-hearted and inhuman, she said they were most disturbing as they were coming at a time she was battling cancer. Coming at such a critical time in my life when I am battling cancer, this poorly executed propaganda bares on its face like tribal marks, a clearly malicious attempt to victimize an innocent woman in what appears an exaggerated plot to validate and give credibility to the anti-corruption crusade under Nigerias new regime. People who are battling cancer or those who have lost their loved ones to this medical condition understand what I am going through at this time. This is what makes me ponder at the cold-heartedness of those who will go any length to defame and destroy in the name of propaganda. What happened to our shared humanity? asked Diezani. Finally, she said the rule of law has not been adhered to in accusing her of fraud adding that her detractors are aware that she had been maliciously and wrongfully maligned. I have absolute regard for the law and believe that people who have breached the laws that govern societies should be made to face the wrath of the law. But in a civilized society, a responsible government owes its citizens absolute commitment to the principles of rule of law, equity, fairness and justice. I have been wrongfully and maliciously maligned and those behind this reckless action know it. I leave them to posterity, their conscience and above all the Almighty God who is the final judge of all, the former minister concluded. home Entertainment 'The Night Shift' season 3 spoilers: Drew comes back from Afghanistan, Topher's demanding mother pays him a visit "The Night Shift" premiered its third season earlier this month, and tomorrow's episode will see Drew's return after being deployed in Afghanistan for a while. According to the official synopsis for episode 3 titled "The Way Back," Dr. Drew Alister (Brendan Fehr) flies back home after being deployed overseas, but he might be suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome. He has been in Afghanistan for quite some time, and even if he's already home, he continues to have a hard time adjusting after everything he went through. However, he tries to shake off the stress and continue on with his work in the San Antonio Medical Center. Meanwhile, this gets crazy during her shift, as a bride (guest star Lindsey Morgan from "The 100") and some of her wedding guests were rushed into the emergency room after sustaining injuries during the party. The bride's father also needed medical help, but his presence will make the situation even more difficult. Elsewhere, TC (Eoin Macken) will help Topher (Ken Leung) in entertaining his demanding mother who happens to be in town to visit him. Unfortunately, the presence of Topher's mother will put a huge stress in the family as she extends her stay. On another note, it was announced back in April that the show will be having a new character as series regular. "The 100" alum Tanaya Beatty joins the medical drama as Dr. Shannon Rivera, who was recruited by Dr. Jordan Alexander (Jill Flint). Shannon recently graduated from med school, and while volunteering at the reservation clinic, Jordan was impressed by her. As noted by The Hollywood Reporter, Shannon is "spunky" and always speaks her mind, but her strong personality might cause some of her co-workers to dislike her. Keep tuning in for all-new episodes of "The Night Shift" which airs every Wednesday night at 10 p.m. EST on NBC. The Chairman of the Police Service Commission, Chief Mike Okiro, has appealed to militants in the Niger Delta to drop their arms and embrace dialogue in resolving whatever their grievances are. Okiro, a former Inspector General of Police, made the appeal in a statement issued by his Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mr Supreme Ibitomi, on Monday in Abuja. According to him, dialogue remains the only panacea for lasting resolution of the issues at stake and for sake of corporate existence of the nation. The PSC chairman made the appeal against the background of the recent destruction of oil and gas installations in the Niger Delta region by militant groups led by the Niger Delta Avengers, which claimed responsibility for most of the bombings that has seen crude oil production in the country drop drastically since it began its violent campaign in February codenamed Operation Red Economy. Mr. Okiro reminded the militants that their activities would hurt the interest of the region, adding the destruction of oil pipeline would leave serious effects on the already devastated ecosystem of the region. The activities of the militants is not only hurting Nigerians, but the real impact is wreaking havoc on Niger Deltans the more, he said. The former police chief said that as the scion of the soil, he was irked by the restiveness in the region and seriously disturbed by the activities of the militants. It is instructive to remember that oil is deplete-able resource. The best option for the region is to use the present window of opportunity to re-negotiate a holistic template to provide the needed critical infrastructure to realistically develop the region in view of the looming post oil era, Okiro added. He noted that the Federal Government had demonstrated willingness to address some of the major problems of the region with the launching of the Ogoniland clean-up. Okiro said with such commitment, there was the need to seek for a peaceful resolution of all grievances and urged the militants to sheath their sword and embrace dialogue. In a rare, yet commendable move, the caretaker chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Senator Ahmed Makarfi, has agreed to step aside for Senator Ali Modu Sheriff to continue in office as national chairman of the party. Makarfi was appointed by the PDP Governors Forum, National Assembly caucus of the party and other stakeholders to head a caretaker committee, pending the election of new officers for the party. The appointment of the caretaker committee followed the dissolution of the Sheriff-led National Working Committee, a move that was resisted by the embattled national chairman. Following last weeks formal handover of the Wadata Plaza National Secretariat of the PDP to the Makarfi-caretaker committee, Sheriff, who was reportedly out of the country at the time, stormed the opposition partys headquarters along with his supporters to takeover. The former Borno State governor brandished a court order affirming his authority as national chairman of the PDP. Reacting to the development, Makarfi, a former governor of Kaduna State, told newsmen in Abuja on Tuesday that if he was fully briefed on details about the crisis in the party and the status of Sheriff, he would not have accepted to head the caretaker committee. If I knew that there was a court order empowering Sheriff as the Chairman, I would not have taken the position because my interest is to see that PDP did not disintegrate. If the court said Sheriff is our leader, we will all follow him, he said. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) has claimed responsibility for the killing of a French police commander and his partner. The couple were shot at their home before by the ISIL attacker who was then killed by French forces in the aftermath of the attack. The couples three year old son escaped unscathed in the attack. French media reports that the Police commander was Jean-Baptiste Salvaing, deputy chief of judicial police and was stabbed nine times in the abdomen. President Francois Hollande who termed the attack Cowardly went on to say that France is facing a very significant terrorist threat. A former Minister of Transport and chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, has alleged that the embattled national chairman of the party, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, is being sponsored by some faceless persons to ensure the party remains in disarray. Mr. Babatope was reacting to Mondays takeover of the national secretariat of the PDP by Mr. Sheriff and his supporters despite the formal handover of the partys leadership to the Ahmed Makarfi-led caretaker committee by the partys Board of Trustees (BoT). The embattled national chairman, who was sacked during the partys controversial national convention in Port Harcourt, Rivers State last month, stormed the Wadata Plaza National Secretariat of the PDP in company of the erstwhile national secretary, Prof. Wale Oladipo and others, but was prevented from gaining entry by policemen stationed at the entrance of the building. Mr. Sheriff, who addressed a press conference outside the Wadata Plaza, insisted that a court in Lagos had already confirmed him as chairman of the PDP until 2018. Babatope, a member of the partys BoT, however, faulted Sheriff, saying he had no right to seek entry into the party secretariat since the partys BoT and supporters had handed over the leadership of the party to the Makarfi caretaker committee. The BoT has handed over the leadership of the party to Makarfi, who is the Chairman of the caretaker committee. He has the support of not only the BoT but also the support of all the sincere PDP members who are looking for justice in the party and who are looking for victory in 2019. So, it was a right for the police and other security agents to deny Ali Modu Sheriff entrance into the party secretariat. It is now clear that Ali Modu Sheriff is carrying out a mission and a sinister plan that is sponsored by his masters who dont want stability in the PDP. They will soon be exposed by the grace of God, he said. The Sultan of Sokoto and spiritual leader of Muslims in the country, Alhaji Muhammadu Saad Abubakar III, has called on the federal government to act swiftly to bring about the much desired change promised during the electioneering campaigns because the people are fast losing patience. The Sultan, who decried the hunger in the land, said while change is a process that is very difficult, there is a limit to how much pain and hunger the people can endure. Alhaji Abubakar expressed these views yesterday while receiving the Comptroller General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali (retd.) in his palace in Sokoto. He also urged the federal government to reconsider its policy on rice importation across the land borders to mitigate the hunger in the country, saying this had been the cry of the masses whom they were close to. We know that change is very difficult, especially changing things that suffered decades of negligence and destruction. We have been telling people to be patient with this government but there is limit to that appeal when there is hunger, when people are hungry, he said. In a related development, the State Governor, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, lamented the high cost of food items in the country, recommending special palliatives to cushion its effect. We support government policy and when there is difficulty we seek for its review, he told Mr. Ali. While granting interview to newsmen, the Comptroller General said calls for the review of the policy on rice importation was not something that could be changed by the Nigeria Customs Service. He, however, assured the Sultan and Gov. Tambuwal that he would take their demands to the federal government. Earlier, CG. Ali said he was in Sokoto to condole with the government and the people of the state over the killing of a 20-year old suspected smuggler, Shuaibu Lawali by a custom officer at Gwadabawa area about four months ago. Getty Images WhatsApp don come back up afta e go down worldwide. Meta, wey get... Soldiers of the Nigerian army have repelled a daring attack by the terrorist group, Boko Haram in Pulka Village, Borno state. Six Boko Haram fighters were killed in the attack on Sunday as men of the 121 Task Force if the 7 Division Nigerian Army stationed in the Gwoza Local government. Pulka was recently by the Army after it fell to Boko Haram control in 2015- it also is on the fringe of the notorious Sambisa forest. The Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Col. Sani Usman, who confirmed the development in a statement on Monday, said soldiers repelled the Boko Haram attack and recovered some high caliber weapons. Rocket Companies: Exposed To The Slow House Market Risks The Smart Investor - 6 minutes ago Summary As per the current economical situation where house financing is slowing down due to the hike in interest rates, it is expected that the company may remain in range-bound trading or lower. The... Ethereum Is Outperforming Stocks And Commodities Wavetraders - 1 hour ago Ethereum is outperforming stocks and commodities, as we see it forming bullish setup patterns against NASDAQ and GOLD. South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix worries about China future AP - Wed Oct 26, 3:54AM CDT South Korean computer chipmaker SK Hynix says it might be forced to sell its manufacturing operations in China if a U.S. crackdown on exports of semiconductor technology and manufacturing equipment to... $SPX : 3,859.11 (+1.63%) $DOWI : 31,836.74 (+1.07%) $IUXX : 11,669.99 (+2.10%) Zimbabwe's focus on wheat set to yield biggest-ever harvest AP - Wed Oct 26, 1:35AM CDT Zimbabwe says it's on the brink of its biggest wheat harvest in history, thanks in large part to efforts to overcome food supply problems caused by the war in Ukraine $SPX : 3,859.11 (+1.63%) $DOWI : 31,836.74 (+1.07%) $IUXX : 11,669.99 (+2.10%) Australian health insurer says data of all customers hacked AP - Tue Oct 25, 10:17PM CDT Australias largest health insurer says a cybercriminal has hacked the personal data of all its 4 million customers, as the government introduced legislation that would increase penalties for companies... $SPX : 3,859.11 (+1.63%) $DOWI : 31,836.74 (+1.07%) $IUXX : 11,669.99 (+2.10%) Health philanthropy is a much broader field than most people realize, and it's lately grown broader, with more funders looking upstream at the social, economic, and environmental drivers of poor health. We're not just talking about top national grantmakers like Robert Wood Johnson and Kresge, which have become well known for their wide-ranging health grantmaking. As we report often, a number of state-level health foundations are also engaged in upstream initiatives, or otherwise thinking broadly about their mandates to improve people's well-being. Just last week, we wrote about how the New York State Health Foundation is working on affordable housing. Related: Why This Health Funder Is Supporting Affordable Housing in NewYork City? Yet another case in point is the Missouri Foundation for Health, a health conversion foundation created in 2000 with proceeds from the sale related to the for-profit conversion of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Missouri. This outfit has done some notable work related to racial equity recently. The 2014 shooting in Ferguson, Missouri, of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old black man, by a white police officer, intensified debate about racism and law enforcement that's as old as the country. After the shooting, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon appointed the Ferguson Commission to develop recommendations to advance racial equity. In 2015, the commission published its report and recommendations, which involve issues of violence, justice, and other matters central to the well-being of vulnerable populations. Unfortunately, the Brown shooting was just one of many tragedies reported in the last two years. And while it's easy to question whether another commission report will make a dent in these entrenched social problems, in Missouri at least, optimism is strong. Which brings us to MFH, which has committed $6 million to address the health issues highlighted in the Ferguson Commission "Forward through Ferguson" report. Grantmaking will initially focus in six areas: grassroots advocacy, gun violence, juvenile justice and behavioral health, food insecurity, toxic stress and trauma-informed care, and school-based care. So far, MFH has approved two grants: the Regional Health Commissions (RHC) Alive and Well STL initiative, and St. Louis Universitys Shut it Down: School to Prison Pipeline project. Since its establishment, MFH has evolved beyond basic health-related grantmaking into a clearinghouse of information and a hub for community partnerships. Health-related efforts focus in four areas: childhood obesity, expanding healthcare coverage, oral health and infant mortality. The organization also works to respond to self-identified community health needs, and supports education and advocacy that figure into larger policy strategies. On that last point, MFH is not afraid to talk about using policy work to achieve systemic change or about activating ordinary citizens to engage in advocacy. This activist stance reminds us of another state health funder we follow closely, the Colorado Health Foundation. Related: Here's Another Health Funder Who Isn't Afraid of a Fight In other words, it's not surprising to see MFH really engaging with the issues raised by Ferguson and the complex problems it brought into the national spotlight. Those discussions at MFH started right after the shooting of Michael Brown. The 200-page Ferguson Commission report, which focused on the St. Louis, Missouri, region provides substantial direction. MFH's grantmaking in Missouri is important for the people in the Ferguson area. But the impact could end up being much broader, with programs in Missouri serving as a model for pretty much everywhere else in the U.S. where racism plays a role in community well-beinga depressingly large segment of the country. The more we follow medical research, the more we're struck by how a single deep-pocketed funder can revolutionize the understanding and treatment of diseases or conditions that otherwise go overlooked. For example, we've written about how the Sandler Foundation put over $100 million into asthma research, ushering in a new era of breakthroughs on that disease. We've also written about how even bigger investments by the Simons Foundation in autism research has transformed understanding of that condition. The Hutchins Family Foundation is another funder that's brought game-changing money and energy to a neglected areain this case, chronic fatigue syndrome. We should note that all these foundations are piloted by living donors. That's also true of the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Foundation, whichas far as we can tellhave quietly become the top private funder of research on Lyme disease in recent years. The couple has given some $50 million to this area, distributed over more than 20 projects. For perspective, most of the foundation grants given for Lyme disease over the past decade have been under $100,000. The NIH spends around $25 million a year on Lyme research, a rounding error for an outfit that grants billions annually. You can see why Lyme doesn't attract the big bucks, whether public or private, since it very rarely kills people. On the other hand, there are 300,000 new cases of Lyme every year, ranking it among the top infectious diseases in the country. About a half-million Americans suffer from a chronic form of the disease. And those numbers don't begin to capture the dread around Lyme in U.S. communities, especially in the Northeast. The Cohens live in Connecticut, ground zero for Lyme, and their interest in the disease is personal. Alex has written about this on her blog: Not only did I get Lyme more than five years ago, I have been suffering the side effects ever since. My life will never be the same. Through our Foundation, I am exploring ways in which we can more effectively diagnose and treat Lyme disease. I know it will be a long journey of working with leading researchers in this field, but I am up for the challenge and I am not giving up! With a fortune of over $12 billion, it's a big deal that Steve and Alexandra Cohen have developed an interest in Lyme. The Wall Street couple are active philanthropists who been ramping up their giving lately. We've highlighted their strong interest in education reform and charters, children's hospitals, as well as the arts. We've talked about their support of veterans, too, including a recent $275 million gift to establish a national effort called the Cohen Veterans Network. Alex and foundation staff also recently hit the road, traveling through America's heartland and interfacing with people and nonprofits in an often forgotten section of the country. Related: Much of the Cohen couple's philanthropy is personal. Their interest in veterans, for instance, is spurred in part by Steve Cohen's son who joined the Marine Corps and was deployed in Afghanistan for a time. Alex's experience in giving birth to five children helps explain the couple's large hospital gifts. So their interest in Lyme fits a pattern. The Cohens aren't the only newcomers to the Lyme beat. Two other funders in this space we've written about are Amazon exec Jeffrey Wilke and his wife Liesl, who suffers from the disease. The couple gave $2.13 million to launch of the Wilke Lyme Disease Project at Seattle-based Institute for Systems Biology (ISB). Recently, the Cohens directed $3 million to ISB, to support the now named Wilke Cohen Lyme Disease Project. Related: Who Will Be the Philanthropists to Emerge From Amazon? Here's One Between the Wilkes, the Cohens, as well as Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos, and the Bay Area Lyme Foundation, the project now has commitments totaling $6.1 million in pledges and cash. Apart from the recent gift to ISB, the Cohens have supported lyme efforts at Tufts University, where they've funded vaccine research, Northeastern University, Columbia University, Mt. Sinai, and elsewhere. Overall, the foundation says that it aims to "demonstrate the impact of this disease on vulnerable communities and educate healthcare providers on the latest tools to diagnose and treat Lyme disease." Related: Can One Small Foundation Turn the Tide Against Lyme Disease? We sometimes write about Michael Milken and Steve Cohen with respect to the legal controversies in which they were once mired. While both men were involved in philanthropy prior to their legal troubles, Milken went from high-profile white collar criminal to major philanthropist over the course of a few decades. And though Cohen's old hedge fund is no more, his Steven and Alexandra Cohen Foundation has really been ramping up. This brings us to West Coast financier Gary Winnick, who used to work junk bonds at Drexel Burnham alongside Milken. Winnick founded telecom company Global Crossing in 1997, and quickly amassed great wealth. He was named Los Angeles Business Journal's richest person in the city and was considered a billionaire. Winnick took the company public the following year and then sold shares worth $734 million before the company crumbled amid allegations of malfeasance. "Gary Winnick should go to jail," fumed one editorial. While Winnick was absolved by federal regulators, in addition to a $25 million payment to pension holders, he also contributed $55 million to a $324 million settlement with shareholders and former employees, according to the Los Angeles Times. After that, Winnick largely disappeared from public sight. Last time he made news, it was for putting his Bel-Air estate up for sale for a record $225 million. These days, Winnick is at the helm of Winnick & Company, a Los Angeles-based investment firm he founded. Like Milken, Winnick turned to philanthropy years ago and established the Winnick Family Foundation all the way back in 1983. Via the foundation, in recent years, the Winnicks have given in the neighborhood of $1 million annually. The family's philanthropy focuses on New York and Los Angeles, with an international component, too. The foundation has several key interests, some of which are fueled in part by Winnick's wife, Karen, a children's book author with a passion for literacy and animal rights. Other interests include healthcare and Jewish causes. The Winnicks have strongly supported Winnick's alma mater Long Island University, including with a $10 million gift last decade. The school is home to the Winnick House and Arnold S. Winnick Student Center. They've also given Karen's alma mater Syracuse millions, and have supported Stanford and Brown, as well. In terms of literacy, they've supported Wonder of Reading and helped create the Arnold & Blanche Winnick Popular Library and Karen Winnick Childrens Gallery at the Los Angeles Central Library. Winnick is a member of the boards of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and the Simon Wiesenthal Center. These two outfits have received especially strong support from the family. The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) in Los Angeles is a museum which focuses on racism in America and the history of the Holocaust. In 2000, Winnick contributed $40 million for a peace and tolerance institute being built by the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem. The Winnick Family Foundation has continued to support SWC and other Jewish outfits in the United States as well as in Israel. For a complete overview of this funder's philanthropy, click the links below. Related: Update 6/13/16 The renovation of the former Bridgeport Metal Goods factory is approximately 80 percent complete, according to U-Haul officials. Once finished, the building will comprise 68,000 square feet of space and offer 989 storage units. Itll also include 10,000 square feet of warehouse space for U-Box portable-storage containers. U-Haul plans to hire 35 to 50 employees, the source reported. The property is within the Black Rock Neighborhood Revitalization Zone (NRZ). In 2007, the city launched a renewal plan for the NRZ based on 35 recommendations in the areas of business and economic development, historic preservation and land use, and fostering and support of the arts. Its wonderful to see reputable businesses restoring and improving our beautiful buildings, investing in Bridgeport and creating jobs, said Stephanie Barnes, president of the Black Rock NRZ. Built in 1916, the factory employed up to 600 people until it closed in 1980. The building served as a warehouse until 2011, and was then vacant until U-Haul purchased it in 2014. U-Haul has several other facilities in the area, including one on Boston Avenue and another on Fairfield Avenue. U-Haul International Inc. plans to convert a former metal-goods manufacturing plant to self-storage in Bridgeport, Conn. The property at 365 Cherry St. has been rebranded as U-Haul Moving and Storage of Bridgeport. It consists of nine buildings encompassing 146,480 square feet of space on 3.22 acres of land. The facility currently features a temporary showroom offering truck and trailer rentals, and moving supplies. Early plans for the property include the addition of self-storage and U-Box moving and storage containers. Patrick Keefe, marketing company president of U-Haul Co. of Lower Hudson Valley, said the goal of the acquisition is to bring the building back to its original state. The structures interior has many industrial characteristics as well as skylights and hardwood floors. This facility is in an area of town that has been in decline for many years," Keefe said. "U-Haul is the first of many businesses helping to revitalize the area and bring it back to its former condition." The opening of the Bridgeport store is being driven by U-Hauls corporate sustainability initiatives, which support infill development to help local communities lower their carbon footprint, according to a company press release. U-Hauls adaptive reuse of existing buildings eliminates the amount of energy and resources required for new-construction materials and helps local cities diminish their unwanted inventory of unused buildings, U-Haul officials said. Established in 1945, U-Haul International Inc. has more than 40 million square feet of storage space at more than 1,000 owned and managed facilities throughout North America. Update 12/19/16 After a five-month study to learn how neighboring municipalities handle zoning for self-storage, Lincolnwood officials have passed a zoning change that bans new self-storage and warehouse developments from opening within its commercial zoning districts. The village board unanimously passed the measure, which removes self-storage as an allowable use within areas zoned for manufacturing/business and office uses, according to the source. Lincolnwood officials studied how self-storage is zoned in eight nearby communities. "In most of the communities, [storage facilities] are in industrial hubs, in areas that are completely disconnected from the major commercial corridor or commercial downtown; but that's a different story in Lincolnwood where the [manufacturing] districts are adjacent to the commercial areas," McNellis told the source. As a result of the zoning configuration, self-storage had been permitted in the middle of commercial zones, but Lincolnwood wants to reserve its main arterial streets for other types of businesses that generate more sales-tax revenue for the city, McNellis said. 6/13/16 Officials in Lincolnwood, Ill., have enacted a one-year, temporary ban on self-storage development in the villages commercial areas to preserve space for businesses that generate more tax revenue, according to the source. Recent interest from self-storage developers prompted the decision, which was made last week during a Committee of the Whole meeting. The moratorium will prevent self-storage from being built in districts zoned for manufacturing/business and office use. The restrictions apply primarily to open commercial land along North Ciero, North Lincoln, West Devon and West Touhy Avenues. At least one self-storage developer had been looking at a property on one of those streets for a possible project, according to community-development director Steve McNellis. The village currently has three self-storage facilities within its boundaries. During the ban, village officials will examine how other municipalities regulate self-storage and could decide to make permanent changes to the zoning code. "No one is saying at this point that self-storage facilities shouldn't be permitted," McNellis told the source. "The point is maybe they shouldn't be permitted on major commercial corridors." In April, the village considered levying a self-storage tax as a way to generate additional local tax revenue and help offset a $260,000 shortfall from the state this year. Although officials postponed a decision, they estimated a tax on rental facilities could generate up to $235,000 in annual tax revenue, the source reported. Although the three self-storage facilities currently operating in the village paid a combined $267,680 in property taxes in 2014, just 10 percent of that amount went to Lincolnwood, according to the Cook County, Ill., tax assessor. Several years ago, Lincolnwood officials imposed a similar ban on bank development along Lincoln Avenue until zoning changes were implemented, the source reported. Phoenix-based U-Haul International Inc. has purchased Colonial Self Storage in Smithtown, N.Y. The property at 29 Bellmeade Ave., which has been rebranded as U-Haul Storage at Bellemeade Avenue, was acquired in December and officially opened for business in February. The two-story, colonial-style building contains 41,000 total square feet of space and offers 300 climate-controlled units, a retail store selling moving and packing supplies, and cargo-van and truck rentals. It also participates in the U-Haul Take a Box, Leave a Box program, which enables customers to use recycled boxes at no charge. Instead of discarding reusable boxes and bins, the company encourages local residents to drop them off at the nearest U-Haul location, allowing other people to use them. Renovations on the property have thus far included lawn reseeding and the replacement of the sites 400 lightbulbs, according to a U-Haul press release. "This is a beautiful old building, and we're looking forward to taking it to the next level," said Michael Nadraus, president of U-Haul Co. of Long Island. "The renovations are going to lighten up the facility and provide a really clean, safe and secure place where people can store their belongings at a very affordable price." Colonial staff members were retained through the change in ownership, according to the release. "I've been at this facility since 2010, and it's been through a great change since U-Haul moved in," said Michelle Miller-Dixon, general manager. "The town's residents have been extremely welcoming of the change. It's been a pleasant experience working for an organization that values its team members." The acquisition of the Smithtown property was driven by U-Hauls corporate sustainability initiatives, which support infill development to help local communities lower their carbon footprint, the release stated. U-Hauls adaptive reuse of existing structures eliminates the amount of energy and resources required for new-construction materials and helps local cities diminish their unwanted inventory of unused buildings, U-Haul officials said. Established in 1945, U-Haul has more than 44 million square feet of storage space at more than 1,200 owned facilities throughout North America. @OhswekenSpdway OAKLAND, Ont. June 12, 2016 The Insta-Insulation Motorsports team had another exciting night as Karl Sault turned in his second straight podium finish in Thunder Stock competition and Brad Herron earned another top-five. Starting 15th in the 20-lap Thunder Stock main event, Sault had his work cut out for him to get to the front. A tacky and fast racetrack enabled him to race forward in a hurry as he drove to sixth by lap three. Sault then made the most of a lap seven restart and took the lead over the next four laps until a tough battle with Dave Bailey. The two raced door-to-door for four laps until Bailey emerged with the top position. Sault drove to a strong second-place finish. The car was handling great. Bailey got underneath me in turns one and two and I just couldnt get him back, Sault said of the winning pass. I could get there, but he had a better run coming out of the corners. He had a little higher line which was smoother. I just ran out of motor. The run was another positive step for Sault who got to the front quickly after getting stuck in traffic one week ago, but racing to a third-place finish. The openings were there this week. I was able to get past a bunch of cars and I got up front. It was a good run, Sault added. In Crate Sprint Car competition, Brad Herron emerged with a strong fourth-place finish after a challenging battle for second with Aaron Turkey and Holly Porter. Herron started on the pole for the 20-lap feature event, but a rough spot in turn one hampered his effort. I think we might have hit the rut in the centre (of turn one) and it upset the car. We went for a big slide. After that I decided we were going to the top, Herron said. We tried some different stuff this week different shock combinations to try and get a bit more drive off the corner. It worked so, it was a good night. A green-white-checkered finish nearly played in to Herrons hands as he challenged Turkey and Herron for second. We were quicker in one and two, but they were faster in three and four, so it was going to be a game of cat and mouse all night long, Herron said of the year-end battle. It was good tight racing. It was anybodys race. Alex Schuts drove to a 10th-place finish in his fifth career start after missing his heat race. Schuts was able to battle with several drivers for a spot inside the top 10 and was satisfied with another strong run as he continues to become more aggressive in the car. I was happy with the way the car was setup. Im super energized about the whole experience. I feel Im getting a little more aggressive. I know when to hit the throttle a bit more, Schuts explained. Im teaching myself to be patient a little bit more than I normally would, because I know its open wheel. Im still excited about it and Im happy. The 2016 season continues for the Insta-Insulation Motorsports team on Friday, June 17 at Ohsweken Speedway on Wall of Fame Night. Racing starts at 7:30pm. Follow the Insta-Insulation Motorsports team all season long on Facebook at facebook.com/HerronRacing. Visit the teams all new website at www.instainsulationmotorsports.ca. The Insta-Insulations Motorsports team is proud to partner with a dedicated group of sponsors, including Elastochem Insulation Extreme Spray Foam, Miska Trailer Factory, Middleport Mechanical, Climatizer Cellulose, Great Lakes Brewery, Insta-Insulation, Insta-Panels, Lake Erie Warehousing (Simcoe), Insight Graphics, Millards Chartered Professional Accountants, Expressway Volvo, Waterous Holden Amey Hitcheon LLP, Fence and Deck Perfection, Action Transmission, Baeumier Approved, Hotline Apparel, Lintec Label and Print Solutions, Brant Auto Painting, Rondex, Brantford Nissan and NAPA (Brantford, Tilsonburg, Delhi, Norwich). Prepared By Clayton Johns Media claytonjohns@hotmail.com German ten-year Bund yields fell below zero for the first time in early trading today as uncertainty over a potential exit from the European Union by the U.K. sparked a flight-to-safety rally. Pound sterling retreated versus other major currencies. The moves followed more polls showing a significant lead for U.K. voters seeking departure from the EU on the June 23 referendum. While European market narratives remain fixed on the U.K., in the U.S., investors main focus will be on the Federal Open Market Committee meeting, which kicks off today. Although Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen signaled that a rate hike is unlikely in comments last week, when the central bank will act remains a topic of debate as the pace of improvement in the U.S. labor market appears to slow. Supreme Court rules against Puerto Rico restructuring law. Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a law introduced by Puerto Ricos legislature in 2014 that was intended to allow agencies of the territory to seek court protection from debtors. This is a victory for bondholders, because it will subject the Territorys debt to a federal oversight board currently being created under legislation before the U.S. Senate. Puerto Rico faces roughly $2 billion in payments on July 1 that Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla has said will be impossible to pay in full. IMF warns on China credit cycle. Yesterday International Monetary Fund Deputy Managing Director David Lipton issued a press statement echoing earlier public comments on dangers posed to the Chinese economy by swelling private-sector debt. According to Lipton, the near-term outlook for growth is positive due to stimulus measures initiated by the central government and the Peoples Bank of China. But reining in excessive debt levels and restructuring zombie companies will be necessary to sustain that growth in coming years. Abu Dhabi wealth fund pursues claim against 1MDB. International Petroleum Investment Co., an Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, on Tuesday filed to seek arbitration against 1Malaysia Development, Malayasias scandal-wracked sovereign wealth fund, in London. The claim relates to a $6.5 billion bond issued by 1MDB that went into default in April. An investigation by the Malaysian government has identified more than $4 billion in potentially fraudulent transactions executed by 1MDB, and a number of governments worldwide have independently launched probes. Goldman Sachs Group accused of bribery. The Libyan Investment Authority revealed salacious details in a London court complaint that alleged Goldman Sachs bankers had used inappropriate gifts and travel to convince Libyan officials to commit to inappropriate investments, which then sharply declined in value during the credit crisis. Total alleged losses to the Libyan Investment Authority exceeded $1 billion, according to the complaint. IAE says oil market has found balance. In a monthly report released today, analysts for the International Energy Administration concluded that rebounding demand in primary emerging economies combined with supply disruptions in Africa and North America have brought oil markets close to equilibrium. According to the report, supplies should increase as capacity comes back online among producers, including Libya and Nigeria. August delivery contracts for Brent crude contracted by more than 1.5 percent in early trading in London. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has acquired The Buchholz Planning Corp. (BPC), located in Madison, Wis. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Founded in 1968, BPC provides employee benefits consulting and brokerage services for middle-market and large businesses and individuals throughout the United States. The firm specializes in offering life and disability insurance products and services to healthcare organizations. William Buchholz, his partners and his associates will continue to operate at their current location under the direction of Bill Ziebell, head of Gallaghers North Central employee benefit consulting and brokerage operations. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., an international insurance brokerage and risk management services firm, is headquartered in Itasca, Ill. Topics Mergers & Acquisitions A.J. Gallagher Wisconsin A.M. Best has revised the outlook to negative from stable and affirmed the financial strength rating of C++ (Marginal) and the issuer credit rating of b of Farmers Alliance Mutual Insurance Co. (Farmers Alliance Mutual) in Coldwater, Mich. The revised outlooks are due to the companys surplus declines through the end of 2015 and beginning of 2016. These declines follow the merger of two previously independent companies, Farmers Mutual Fire Insurance Co. of Branch County and Sanilac Mutual Insurance Co. The purpose of the merger was to diversify Farmers Alliance Mutuals risk geographically in Michigan, while adding surplus to strengthen risk-adjusted capitalization. However, a majority of Sanilacs business was severely underpriced and did not result in the immediate benefit originally planned in the merger. Farmers Alliance Mutuals management is in the process of adequately pricing all of the business with stricter underwriting guidelines. The companys marginal capital position puts it at risk of dropping below the state-required $1 million surplus position. In addition, the company has produced unfavorable results over the past five years. However, the company had generally maintained surplus levels until the 2015 losses. Risk-adjusted capitalization is still adequate for the rating level but could be at risk of further deterioration unless operating results improve. Source: A.M. Best Topics Trends Agribusiness Ironshore International has announced its global Mergers & Acquisitions unit will establish an office for transactions in the North and Latin American regions. The Americas team will be led by Navine K. Aggarwal, serving as senior vice president, head of Mergers & Acquisitions of the Americas, who will be based in New York. Aggarwal most recently was vice president of Mergers & Acquisitions with Allied World Assurance Co., responsible for establishing its North American practice group. He focused on structuring Representations & Warranties and Tax and Contingent Liability coverages for private equity firms and corporate-driven transactions. In addition, Ironshore has named management appointments for the M&A teams New York, Atlanta and Toronto offices. These regional underwriting specialists also join directly from Allied World, where each served in various positions within the mergers and acquisitions sector of the insurance industry. Joining Aggarwal in the M&A practice in New York will be Patrick Ryan, vice president, and Aartie Manansingh, assistant vice president. Elizabeth Cunnane, vice president, and Andrew Stewart, vice president, will operate from the Atlanta and Toronto offices, respectively. Aggarwal will report to Rowan Bamford, global head, Mergers and Acquisitions and Tax Insurance. Ironshore International provides specialty coverages within the M&A sector, including Representations and Warranties, Warranty & Indemnity, as well as Tax Liability programs for complex corporate transactional risk. Ironshores global platform includes underwriters located in London, Sydney, Singapore and Tokyo. Topics Mergers & Acquisitions New York The internet domain extension reserved for the global insurance industry .insurance will become available starting today, June 14, at 8 p.m. ET. The new extension means an independent agency at BagadonutsInsuranceAgency.com could potentially also be found at BagadonutsAgency.insurance, or HighFlyingInsurance.com could be located at HighFlying.insurance. Registration of the dot .insurance suffix known as a gTLD (generic Top Level Domain) is being managed by fTLD Registry Services, an organization owned and operated by banks, insurance companies and financial services trade associations. The same organization launched .bank for the banking industry last year. The new gTLD would supplement, not replace, existing com, .org, .gov and other suffixes used by most organizations. Insurance companies, licensed agents/agencies, brokers/brokerages or other equivalents, trade associations, select service providers and government regulators are eligible to register domains with .insurance. Similar to the launch of .bank, were excited to provide eligible and verified members of the financial services community with new options to boost their online presence, and provide a more secure experience for their customers, said Craig Schwartz, managing director of fTLD, in an announcement. He said the global insurance community could have millions of companies, agents, and brokers participating. According to fTLD, the .bank Internet web extension, launched in May 2015, currently has more than 5,900 registrants globally. In its initial year, 45 percent (or 2,575) of banks in the U.S. have registered a total of 5,212 domain names. Domains are awarded on a first-come, first-served basis, according to Schwartz. Stuart Fuller of NetNames, an online brand protection firm, says the new domain could provide better security, credibility and searchability. Any organization, big or small, can apply but they will need to pass some quite stringent verification processes which ensure that the domain names can only be used by verified members of the insurance community, Fuller said. In addition to the higher security and credibility because it is only open to accredited members of the insurance industry, the new gTLD also promises better searchability since it already contains a high value keyword, according to Fuller. Insurance technology expert Matthew Josefowicz, president of and CEO the research firm Novarica, thinks registering probably makes sense for insurance firms even if only as a defensive move. While its unlikely consumers will trade a well-known three letter domain for a new nine letter one, insurers should probably grab their domains to avoid having to deal with squatters, Josefowicz told Insurance Journal. There are about 15 fTLD-approved sites where insurance organizations can go to register in addition to fTLDincluding encirca, 101 Domains, MarkMonitor and SafeBrands. Domain registration fees vary from registrar to registrar and can depend on additional services registrants may purchase. While company and agency names are generally available, certain common words, phrases and lines of insurance will initially not be available for registration by any third party. The complete list of terms not eligible includes adjuster, agent, auto, auto liability, car, property, casualty, malpractice, reinsurance, surplus lines and workers compensation. The group behind fTLD had to be approved by the domain-approval organization, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to operate the .insurance generic top-level domain In 2012, ICANN, under a .yournamehere program, began allowing organizations to buy up top level domains containing their own name to protect their brands. fTLD has an advisory council of insurance industry organizations that includes the American Council of Life Insurers, American Insurance Association, European Banking Federation (Belgium, HSBC Holdings (United Kingdom), Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited (China), Insurance Bureau of Canada (Canada), Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (United States), Suncorp Group (Australia) and U.S. Bancorp. Related: Topics USA Agencies Market A Central Texas chiropractor must serve 14 years in prison and repay the U.S. government nearly $18 million in a workers compensation referral scam. Prosecutors say Garry Wayne Craighead of Leander ran clinics mainly treating injured U.S. Postal Service workers covered by the Federal Employees Compensation Act. Craighead was sentenced by a federal judge in Austin. The 49-year-old Craighead in December pleaded guilty to solicitation and receipt of illegal remunerations in federal health programs and to engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity. Craighead operated clinics in Austin, San Antonio, Killeen, Corpus Christi, Dallas, Fort Worth and Weslaco. Authorities say Craighead, from 2008 through 2015, solicited and received kickbacks from health care providers in return for referring patients to those businesses for services. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Texas Workers' Compensation A massive sinkhole that went viral in 2013 swallowing trees in Assumption Parish and forcing more than 300 residents from their homes has quieted down as officials slowly allow residents to come home. The sinkhole, located in Bayou Corne about 30 miles northwest of Thibodaux, is still growing. Assumption Parish Government officials say it has grown between 1 1/2 and 2 feet since last year, now up to about 35 acres. Seismic testing has shown decreasing action over the last year. Previous tests have indicated that there are no further voids that would cause another hole in the area. Other scientific modeling has suggested the hole will not reach the nearby highway or the Bayou Corne waterway. Its that stability that has led the parish government to slowly drop mandatory evacuation orders to voluntary evacuations. So far one eastern section with a few homes and a northwestern section near La. 70 have had their status decreased. Assumption Parish President Martin Triche describes the decision to drop a hazard rating as similar to making an evacuation order when a hurricane threatens the state. Government officials try to determine which areas are low-risk and which are high-risk. Assumption Parish Director of Emergency Operations said he expects more sections to become voluntary evacuation by the end of the year. Were still waiting on some confirmation of investigations, not sure when theyll provide that to us, so its hard to say when changes are going to be made, its completely up to the responsible party, Boudreaux said. The sinkhole was caused by a failed brine cavern Texas Brine mined in the Napoleonville Salt Dome. Salt domes are naturally occurring deposits of salt, which can span for miles and stretch thousands of feet below ground. Texas Brine was originally blamed for the sinkhole but has since filed a $100 million lawsuit against Occidental Petroleum Corp., claiming their irresponsible drilling near the dome is to blame. Last year, Texas Brine agreed to a $48.1 million class-action settlement for about 269 residents involved with about 100 properties in the tiny bayou neighborhood. Scientists have found several wells, since plugged, didnt produce any gas during the initial event, while areas toward the west have had a greater depth of clay, which would block the gas from expanding in that direction. Texas Brine is still responsible for managing the sinkhole and has burned off about 40 million cubic feet of gas. The sinkhole went viral last year after video captured by the parish showed the sinkhole swallowing several trees within a few minutes. Everything is dramatically slower now, you do see some minor changes, but nothing like the earlier events, Boudreaux said. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Texas Louisiana A Lubbock, Texas-based insurance agent has been arrested on charges of defrauding elderly victims through an annuity scam. The Texas Department of Insurance reported that Joseph Allen Gaines was arrested last month on charges that he kept clients money that was intended to be used to purchase annuities. Investigators with the Texas Department of Insurance and the Lubbock Police Department are trying to determine if there are addtional victims. TDI investigators say it appears most of Gaines victims were over the age of 65, seeking investments for retirement. Gaines would sell them what he claimed were annuities, but never passed their money on to the insurance company to purchase the policies. Instead, he kept their money for himself, according to TDI. Gaines came to the attention of TDI and the Lubbock Police Department earlier this year, when a 94-year-old womans family called the insurance company to confirm her $700,000 investment. They were told there was no policy in their mothers name. TDI Sergeant Steve Richardson says its important for trusted family members to be involved when it comes to important financial decisions. We believe that Mr. Gaines had been a financial advisor for this womans family for decades, Richardson said. He took advantage of her trust and encouraged her to invest in a fraudulent annuity. We hate to see something like this happen, but when it does we need to act quickly to minimize the damage. Investigators are urging anyone who purchased annuities to call their insurance company and not the agents who sold the policies to verify that they do have a policy and that the amounts match what they were promised. If there are any problems, the next call should be to TDI at 1-800-252-3439. Source: TDI Topics Agencies Texas Rescuers have recovered the body of a second man who disappeared in a landslide at a gravel pit in southern Mississippi earlier this month. The second body was found around 9:50 p.m. Friday and removed Saturday morning, said Mississippi Emergency Management Agency spokesman Ray Coleman. The mans body was taken to the Copiah County coroners office for an autopsy. The worker was found trapped in the slurry near equipment he had been operating when he and the other man were buried in 10 feet to 12 feet of mud, slush and sluice on June 3. The body of the first worker was recovered June 9 inside a piece of equipment. MEMA director Lee Smithson has identified the two missing men in a Facebook message as Emmitt Shorter and James Dee Hemphill and offered condolences to their families. The two men had been operating heavy equipment for Green Brothers Gravel Company at a pit in Crystal Springs, according to officials from the Mine Safety and Health Administration. The federal agency will begin investigating the possible causes of the incident now that recovery efforts are over. The first priority was to get the two men out, MSHA spokeswoman Amy Louviere said Saturday. Its too early to speculate about what the cause might have been. MSHA has cited this particular mine for 26 significant & substantial violations since 1993, according to online records. Green Brothers, based in Crystal Springs, also operates other gravel mines. A state task force of emergency workers helped recover the bodies. They were unbelievable. They worked countless hours, Coleman said. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Mississippi Prepared Holdings, LLC (PHLLC), the parent company of a consolidated group of companies writing personal homeowners lines of business in Florida and Louisiana, announced its Board of Managers has authorized a review of strategic alternatives for the company. The Board of Managers and a key investor committee will review the strategic alternatives and potential opportunities. Stonybrook Capital, an affiliate of FINRA-member Weild & Co., has been retained as the exclusive financial adviser to the company. PHLLC said it does not plan to make any further statements regarding the process unless and until a definitive agreement has been reached or until the process of exploring strategic alternatives has ended. Prepared Insurance Company (PIC) is the primary operating company of PHLLC, headquartered in Tampa, Florida. Founded in 2009, the company reported total written premiums of $70M in 2015 Stonybrook Capital LLC is a specialist strategic advisory and investment banking firm focused exclusively on the insurance industry. Stonybrooks relationships include insurers, reinsurers, agents, brokers, managing general underwriters, asset managers, private equity firms, hedge funds and alternative asset managers. Securities transactions are executed through Weild & Co., member FINRA | SIPC. Topics Florida The United States Attorney for the Central District announced on Monday that former California State Sen. Ronald S. Calderon has agreed to plead guilty to a federal corruption charge. Calderon admitted in a plea agreement filed on Monday that he accepted tens of thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for performing official acts as a legislator. The plea comes nearly three years after a California Department Insurance investigation was launched to look into allegations of a workers compensation scheme that involved hundreds of millions of fraudulent charges. Calderon, 58, agreed to plead guilty to one count of mail fraud through the deprivation of honest services to resolve a case against him that was filed in 2014. The plea agreement comes weeks before he was scheduled to go on trial. In the plea agreement, Calderon admitted accepting bribe payments from the owner of a Long Beach hospital who wanted to prevent passage of a new law that would stop the hospital CEO from continuing to reap millions of dollars in illicit profits from a separate workers compensation insurance fraud scheme and from undercover FBI agents who were posing as independent filmmakers who wanted changes to Californias Film Tax Credit program. Michael Drobot, former owner of Pacific Hospital in Long Beach, a major provider of spinal surgeries billed to the workers comp system, admitted to bribing Calderon to influence lawmaking and ensure he could continue to defraud workers compensation insurers with his lucrative criminal scheme. Calderons brother is former Assemblyman Tom Calderon, who pleaded guilty last week to one felony count of money laundering as part of an agreement in which federal prosecutors offered to seek a prison sentence of no more than 12 months. Tom Calderon admitted to hiding bribes his brother reportedly accepted in exchange for supporting legislation to expand tax credits for the film industry, according to a plea agreement. The legislation was never passed. The bribes came from an undercover FBI agent posing as movie studio owner. According to an FBI affidavit from 2013, Ron Calderon concealed bribe payments from Drobot through his brother, and his son, Zachary, a student at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Tom Calderon received a monthly consulting fee of at least $10,000 from Drobot, plus a one-time payment of $1 million. The affidavit says Drobot paid $28,000 to Ronald Calderon through his son, who worked a summer job at Drobots hospital, although most of the money went directly into the state senators bank account. Drobot pleaded guilty on March 4 to allegations of conspiracy and illegal kickbacks, the L.A. Times reported. According to the report, authorities say dozens of doctors and chiropractors were illegally paid to send patients to Pacific Hospital, which resulted in $600 million in fraudulent billings over eight years, most of which was paid out in workers comp insurance. Following the Ron Calderon announcement on Monday, Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones noted that the corruption investigation began when detectives at the California Department of Insurance discovered evidence that Drobot was bribing him. Detectives from the California Department of Insurance successfully investigated the scheme whereby Drobot was paying kickbacks to physicians, chiropractors and others to send him patients on which his hospital performed back surgeries resulting in over $500 million of workers compensation fraud, Jones said in a statement. Related: Topics California Legislation Workers' Compensation Fraud San Diego, CA, June 14, 2016 Atlas General Insurance Services, LLC, a national multi-line program administrator, announced today the addition of an exclusive new workers compensation insurance program with Falls Lake Insurance Companies. Falls Lake Fire and Casualty Company and Falls Lake National Insurance Companysubsidiaries of James River Group Holdingsoperating with a group rating of A- IX (Excellent) with Positive Outlook by A.M. Best Company. This new platform includes the addition of over 400 workers compensation classes, including auto repair, construction, transportation, energy, healthcare, manufacturing, and other industry classes. Atlas supports this expanded appetite with excellent service standards, an online rater, flexible payment plans, loss control services and exceptional claims handling. California is the first state where the program is available, and Atlas is actively working with Falls Lake to expand this coverage nationwide. Atlas is thrilled to partner with Falls Lake Insurance Companies, which will continue to strengthen our diverse insurance product lines. said Bill Trzos, president and CEO of Atlas. By combining Atlas professional underwriting and marketing knowledge with Falls Lake Insurances rigorous product and exemplary services, we are confident that this new partnership will provide the highest quality workers compensation product options to our customer base. Steve Hartman, President & CEO of Falls Lake stated, We are very pleased with the ability to partner with Atlas General. As a carrier, we look to partner with select program managers which demonstrate unique capabilities in their segments. Atlas General reflects a strong partner for us in a significant market segment in California and across the U.S. Mike Mathews, president of the Workers Compensation Division at Atlas stated, Our workers compensation underwriting team is excited about the new partnership because it gives us the ability to provide even more options for our brokers. This progressive, A rated product provides a solid foundation for the expansion of our appetite. Atlas is now accepting applications for these risks. For more information, or to find out how to become an Atlas producer partner, please visit atlas.us.com or call our Business Development team at (855) 309-3310. About Atlas General Insurance Services, LLC Atlas General Insurance Services is a full service program administrator that offers a wide range of insurance solutions. Atlas has expertise in developing and underwriting programs with a variety of insurance carrier partners. Atlas has the primary goal of providing exceptional service and unique options for their clients. For more information, visit atlas.us.com. About Falls Lake Insurance Companies Founded in 2004, Falls Lake Insurance Companies (Falls Lake) are a wholly owned subsidiary of James River Group, Inc. The Falls Lake group of admitted insurance companies, comprised of Falls Lake National Insurance Company, Falls Lake General Insurance Company, Falls Lake Fire and Casualty Company, and Stonewood Insurance Company, carry property/casualty licensure in 48 states as well as the District of Columbia, and is approved for workers compensation in 40 states. As wholly owned subsidiaries of James River Group Holdings, Ltd., the Falls Lake group of companies share a group pooled rating of A-, IX (positive outlook) from A. M. Best. Falls Lake focuses on specialty admitted insurance business, including commercial property/casualty, workers compensation and commercial automobile, underwritten through select General Agency partnerships throughout the U.S. Media Contact Stephanie Bozzuto Marketing & Communications Director (858) 529-6700 stephanieb@atlas.us.com Topics Mergers & Acquisitions Carriers Workers' Compensation Talent New Markets Most tech watchers were probably surprised by yesterdays huge announcement that Microsoft Corp. is buying LinkedIn. Many were especially surprised by the reported price tag -- $26.2 billion. That makes the LinkedIn purchase one of the largest in the industrys history. So what does Microsoft expect to get from such a huge payout? One word data. That, at least, is the way that Doug Laney sees it. Laney is vice president and distinguished analyst in the Chief Data Officer Research and Advisory Group at Gartner. Clearly Laney views the world through a data filter. But in his mind, Microsoft is doing the same with this deal. First, I'm not surprised that any cash-laden company today is making an information play, Laney told Information Management. This is in line with IBM acquiring The Weather Co and Facebook acquiring WhatsApp. Microsoft clearly realizes it's late to the information party. Sure it has the Azure Data Marketplace, but it has not had access to a massive and continually fed set of global market, employment, and industry topic content. Further, while I'm not sure what degree of monetizable content Microsoft pulls from Bing searches, certainly it's a fraction of what Google has, Laney explains. But does the Microsoft/LinkedIn deal make sense in the long-term, at that price for Microsoft? What makes the most sense is the untapped value of all that content, Laney says. What makes the least sense is -- well, perhaps the price tag, but I'm no financial analyst -- is whether Microsoft is, or can be, positioned quickly enough to monetize all this content. Laney takes issue with fellow analysts that claim this deal is all about Microsofts move to the cloud. Financial analysts I listened to this morning yapping about "cloud this" and "platform that" have totally missed the big picture. It's all about the data, Laney stresses. What can Microsoft do with all this content? Almost anything, Laney says. LinkedIn Ts & C's are pretty clear (just like WhatsApps and every other social media co) that they can do almost whatever they want with the content, including transfer it. To stress his point about the real value here, Laney notes Some of my colleagues anticipate some enhanced collaboration capabilities, maybe integration with O365, or MSFTs CRM solution. But I don't think that's the big play here. Have I mentioned: it's all about the data? This strategy fits nicely into Gartners view of data value. According to our research, companies that are in the information product business have a four to five times higher market-to-book value than the average company. (Actually what's called a Tobin's q ratio), Laney explains. Information as an asset benefits from non-depletability, low creation costs -- especially when users are creating content for free -- low inventory costs, low distribution costs, and low repackaging costs -- compared to any other kind of asset, Laney says. And thankfully for info product companies, information isn't considered a balance sheet asset per GAAP, so they don't have to claim it. Too bad for the tax man, eh? PayPal Holdings Inc. (PYPL) is a dominant player in digital payments through its web and mobile app payment platforms. It's maintained its strong position against a rising number of fintech startups and technology giants such as Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Alphabet Inc. (GOOG). The company provides a variety of digital payments services to 305 million account holders worldwide, enabling them to send and receive money, hold balances, withdraw funds, and perform other functions. PayPal was first developed as a money-transfer service by startup Confinity Inc. in 1999. In 2000, Confinity merged with Elon Musk's online banking site X.com, which later changed its name to PayPal before going public in 2002. PayPal soon after was acquired by eBay Inc. (EBAY) for a reported $1.5 billion and remained part of the company for the next 13 years until it was spun off in 2015. In 2019, PayPal's revenue was $17.8 billion on a total payment volume of $712 billion. It has a market value of nearly $209 billion. PayPal has made a number of key acquisitions in recent years to fuel its growth. In most cases, these deals have expanded PayPal's customer base or its service offerings. Together, these acquisitions have helped PayPal to sharply boost its payments volume, a key metric used by investors to measure the company's health and progress. Below, we'll look at five significant PayPal acquisitions. A special note that PayPal does not provide revenue and profit figures by subsidiary. Honey Science Corp. Type of Business: Online Coupons and Discounting Acquisition Price: Approximately $4 billion Date it was Purchased: November 20, 2019 Honey is an online coupon and discounting company that provides a browser extension app that automatically applies coupons on e-commerce sites. Founded in 2012, Honey now has more than 17 million members and has provided more than $1 billion in savings to members since its launch. More recently, the company has expanded to offer a mobile shopping assistant, price-tracking tools, and other services. PayPal's roughly $4 billion purchase of Honey was its largest acquisition ever. The acquisition fulfills a double goal: to streamline the online shopping and payments experience for PayPal customers, and drive consumer engagement and sales for merchants. iZettle Type of Business: Payments Processing Acquisition Price: Approximately $2.2 billion Date it was Purchased: September 20, 2018 Sweden-based iZettle was founded in 2010 as a mobile credit card payment service. It also boasted the first-ever mini chip card reader. Over time, the company has grown to offer small businesses a gamut of services such as software support and financing solutions across Europe and Latin America. iZettle is a major competitor of PayPal rival Square Inc. (SQ). PayPal acquired iZettle mainly to expand its in-store presence with small businesses to compete with Square, and to grow its presence in the European and Latin American markets. Braintree Type of Business: Mobile Payments Acquisition Price: Approximately $800 million Date it was Purchased: September 26, 2013 PayPal parent eBay acquired Chicago-based Braintree for $800 million in cash in 2013, helping PayPal to become a global one-stop shop for merchant account services and payment processing. Founded in 2007, Braintree has developed a payments gateway that powers and automates online payments for merchants and online businesses, serving 45 countries and 130 currencies. The acquisition also included peer-to-peer mobile payments app Venmo, which Braintree had bought a year earlier. Braintree remained part of PayPal after its spinoff from eBay. Xoom Corp. Type of Business: Payment Processing Acquisition Price: Approximately $890 million Date it was Purchased: November 12, 2015 Founded in 2001, Xoom is an international payment processing company that allows users to send money, pay bills, reload phones, and accomplish other tasks for friends and family in other countries. At the time of the deal, Xoom had more than 1.3 million active U.S. customers who used its platform to send international remittances totaling $7 billion annually. PayPal's acquisition of Xoom helps it to expand into new markets worldwide, including building its remittances business. Hyperwallet Systems Inc. Type of Business: Global Payouts Acquisition Price: Approximately $400 million Date it was Purchased: November 15, 2018 Hyperwallet was founded in 2000 as a global payouts company that provides small organizations a seamless way to distribute funds to payees. Hyperwallet's unique platform allows companies to send and receive payments in any currency to nearly every country in the world. PayPal's purchase of Hyperwallet represents a key move in the company's growing efforts to streamline and enhance its e-commerce platform offerings. PayPal Diversity & Inclusiveness Transparency As part of our effort to improve the awareness of the importance of diversity in companies, we have highlighted the transparency of PayPals commitment to diversity, inclusiveness, and social responsibility. The below chart illustrates how PayPal reports the diversity of its management and workforce. This shows if PayPal discloses data about the diversity of its board of directors, C-Suite, general management, and employees overall, across a variety of markers. We have indicated that transparency with a . When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site. Brexit: Winners and Losers When the United Kingdom (U.K.) and European Union (EU) announced their trade agreement on Dec. 24, 2020, officials, business leaders, and private citizens in both areas were relieved. The worst outcomethe U.K. departing the EU without a trade deal, a no-deal Brexithad been avoided. While Brexit likely presents more challenges for the U.K. economy than for the EUs, both jurisdictions face new administrative burdens and uncertainty due to unresolved issues. With the announcement of the trade deal, the pound rose on the U.K. market by approximately 0.47% against the U.S. dollar and 0.46% against the Japanese yen. However, markets already had taken into account the expected cost of Brexit to the British economyincluding, to some extent, the possibility of a no-deal outcome. Therefore, this was less a bullish rally than markets partially rebounding after having expected the worst. It is expected that it will take years for the British markets to overcome Brexits adverse economic effects. The current economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and its accompanying restrictions on trade in the U.K. and the EU probably outweigh Brexits immediate impact. Therefore, it may be be difficult to determine the full extent of Brexits effects on different sectors of the U.K. economy. With that said, there are definitely things that we can say about which sectors are likely to be more or less affected by Brexit. The overall upshot is that there are few winners from Brexit, and not all them are in the U.K. Meanwhile, the losers economically harmed by Brexit are plentiful. Few Winners U.K. and EU Manufacturers of Specialized Machine Parts New product origin, or content source, requirements for qualifying as U.K. or EU products will require adjustment by some manufacturers, such as automakers, that currently rely heavily on other regions of the world for parts in their finished products. These businesses are likely to seek alternative European or British sources for such parts so that their products contain the mandatory content-source percentages for treaty benefits. With some companies, such as Nissan and Toyota, likely to seek qualified sources for parts currently obtained from Asian countries, local U.K. and EU manufacturers might enjoy new sales opportunities. However, nothing about the rules means that the manufacturers will need to be specifically British, so it is ambiguous if these rules of origin will help the U.K. or the EU more. U.S. Bankers Because London-based banks are losing free access to the EU market, theyll have to establish new branches or offices in the EU to operate there. Because U.S. banks never had that free access, they already have passporting rights and/or operate registered companies that have such offices set up in both the EU and the U.K. This situation leaves U.K. financial services firms at a disadvantage until they are able to fully re-establish themselves in EU markets. Therefore, U.S. financial firms may be able to draw away business and clients from U.K. firms in the meantime. Many Losers Brexit will complicate U.K.-EU cross-border relationships in every sector with new administrative and regulatory burdens. New requirementslocal licenses, visas, border checkpoints, personnel relocation, etc.affect all types of businesses, from agriculture to finance. Many sectors of the economy found themselves unprepared for the new regulations and are concerned about the costs of compliance. In addition, the trade agreement seeks to establish a level playing field to ensure fair and open competition and to prevent businesses in one area from undercutting businesses in the other. This provision requires that the two jurisdictions have similar rules relating to workers rights, social and environmental protection, taxation, and government subsidies for business. However, the rules only need to be similar, not identical. Therefore, the U.K. is unlikely to reap substantial competitive advantages but will still suffer from the increased administrative burdens of two sets of rules. Fishing Industry Despite only making up 0.1% of the U.K. economy, negotiations around the U.K. fishing industry were one of the largest obstacles to reaching a trade deal. On the surface, the trade deal would seem to be a win for the U.K. fishing industry. According to the U.K. government, the agreement will increase the quotas for British fishermen over five years by an amount equal to 25% of the value of the EU catch in U.K. waters, which is estimated to be worth 146 million ($205 million). However, to call this an unalloyed victory ignores two major factors. The first factor is that the U.K. fishing industry had expected far greater concessions from the EU. Representatives of the fishing industry say that the deal cannot be considered a success because its relatively modest gains fall so far short of what the pro-Brexit campaign had promised them. The National Federation of Fishermens Organizations, a fishing industry group, published a letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson saying that the they consider the trade deal to be a failure as far as fishing is concerned. The second factor is that the majority of seafood caught in the U.K. is exported to the EU, and the new nontariff barriers that have sprung up in the wake of Brexit make things especially hard for exporters of perishable goods. More on that below. Food and Agriculture Sector Regulations and border controls affecting agricultural exports and imports create issues for everyone in the EU and the U.K.: farmers, distributors, grocery store chains, restaurants, and consumers. In advance of Brexit, U.K. retailers and consumers stockpiled food, resulting in shortages and supply chain problems and prompting warnings about panic buying. Because the U.K. relies on deliveries of fresh food from or via the EU in the winter, delivery delays immediately created problems. Scottish exporters complained about delays in transport of fresh seafood at border controls in Scotland and France. Sainsburys supermarkets blamed the new and complex arrangements affecting Ireland for their need to obtain alternative sources of goods. Tesco supermarkets ran into shortages, leaving shelves empty. However, supply chain and logistics challenges extend beyond agriculture to all industries. Manufacturing Sector As noted, logistical challenges similar to those facing agriculture are affecting manufacturing. Because modern manufacturing uses complex supply chains that stretch across different nations, even nontariff barriers to goods can significantly complicate manufacturing. Even before the deal was concluded and tariffs were officially avoided, significant companies in automobiles, aerospace, and industrial suppliesincluding Honda, Nissan, BMW, Toyota, and Jaguar Land Roverhad to cut jobs and close plants in the U.K. Panasonic and Sony planned to move their European headquarters from London to Amsterdam. Almost two years earlier, Dutch conglomerate Phillips closed its only U.K. factory. As noted previously, the agreement imposes substantial controls on goods transported between the EU and the U.K. It establishes rules of origin mandating that goods contain a percentage of locally sourced content, generally more than 50%, to qualify for free trade and other benefits of the deal. Larger manufacturers with complex products containing parts acquired from other areas of the world likely will need to make sourcing adjustments. While this may potentially benefit some specific local manufacturers down the road, sorting out rules of origin has placed enormous administrative burdens on businesses in the EU and the U.K., which have not made sufficient preparation and auditing to establish origin of goods. This has emerged as one of the largest impediments to trade post-Brexit. Financial Services Industry Financial services companies recognized that Brexit likely would require the relocation of significant operations and personnel from London to EU locations and would mandate local registration and licensing to conduct business in the EU. Major banks, including JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, NatWest, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, UBS, and Credit Suisse, moved hundreds of employees and large quantities of assets from London to other European cities in advance of the Dec. 31, 2020, deadline for a trade deal. Similarly, insurers based in London set up EU locations, including Lloyds of London in Brussels and Aviva in Ireland. Approximately 1.2 trillion ($1.6 trillion) in financial sector assets left London between the 2016 Brexit vote and the end of 2020. More than 7,500 financial sector jobs have been relocated from London to other European cities. Brexit ended U.K. investment houses passporting rights, which permitted companies registered in one EU member to operate in the others. As a result of Brexit, to conduct EU business, U.K. investment banks will need to obtain EU equivalence rulings that recognize regulations in a companys home country as sufficiently similar to those of the EU. Although European firms will be allowed to continue using London clearinghouses at least until June 2022, the EU has not provided any plan or schedule for issuing equivalence rulings on trading of derivatives and stocks, portfolio management, investment advice, underwriting, and trade execution. Moreover, most core banking business, such as deposit-taking, investment services to retail clients, and other lending services, are not included in the equivalence system. Thus, U.K. banks must establish EU offices to continue these activities with EU clients. While London will continue to be a major financial center, its status will be diminished, especially if equivalence rulings are not soon forthcoming and clients turn to institutions in other countries, including the U.S., that already have the rights and ability to operate in the EU. Pharmaceutical Industry Pharmaceutical companies are concerned about potential differences in EU and U.K. standards for medicines. In anticipation of diverging rules, U.K. pharmaceutical firms AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline established parallel labs in the EU. For medicine, the imposition of border checks and dispersion of manufacturing are expected to cause delays in distribution. Both the EU and the U.K. reported drug stockpiling in advance of Brexit because of concerns about prompt access to medications. Transit, Transport, and Freight Industries Brexit creates legal and logistical challenges for travel and shipping. Both the EU and the U.K. have allowed a six-month grace period for flights between and within the two areas under present licensing and safety qualifications. But future flights within the EU, across and within member states borders, will be restricted. Generally, only airlines that are majority-controlled by the EU, the European Economic Area (EEA), and/or Swiss nationals will be allowed to fly between EU airports. However, a special provision allows U.K. airlines that are controlled by a combination of EU and U.K. shareholdersfor example, the Madrid-based International Airlines Group that owns British Airwaysto continue to operate in the EU. The application of this special rule to majority-U.K.-owned airlines EasyJet and Ryanair may require further study of their ownership. Movement of people and goods, whether by air, water, or Channel Tunnel, will entail time-consuming procedures. Passport requirements will apply to travelers between the EU and the U.K., and business personnel, students, and others who stay abroad for a period of time will need visas. Many U.K. freight haulers will not be able to obtain permits to operate on EU roads because the EU has authorized only 2,000 permits for 2021while 10,000 are needed. Permits and border checks could require approximately 250 million pieces of paperwork each year and 50,000 customs agentssix times the present number. Macau, known as the Las Vegas of Asia, is considered a tax haven for its advantageous personal and corporate tax structure. Residents and non-residents benefit from ultra-low taxes levied against professional and business income. Situated on the southern coast of China, Macau is the country's only jurisdiction providing legalized gambling. A Portuguese colony until 1999, Macau maintains its own stable currency, the Macanese pataca (MOP), and retains political autonomy with separate executive, legislative, and judicial powers. Key Takeaways Macau is considered a tax haven because of its tax laws and policies. Macau also is home to a thriving casino and gambling culture. Macau, like Hong Kong, is a special administrative region (SAR) of greater China that operates under the One Country, Two Systems principle. Macau does not tax foreign earnings, however residents of the SAR are subject to personal income tax. Individual Taxation Citizens and foreigners who establish residency in Macau enjoy tax rates that are significantly lower than those levied in other developed Asia-Pacific nations such as Japan. Beneficial tax rates also extend to citizens and foreign nationals who work in the city. Macaus nominal per capita GDP of $81,151 was among the highest in the world, as of 2019, trailing only Luxembourg, and Switzerland. While foreigners usually cannot become citizens, they can gain residency by investing in the local economy. Foreign earnings are not taxed, but residents are taxed on income earned from Macanese companies. The first 144,000 MOP earned is exempt from personal taxation, after which the top tier is taxed at 12%. Non-resident rates are identical to residents rates of taxation, but non-residents are subject to a 5% minimum tax rate. Property taxes accrue from ownership of all residential, commercial, and industrial properties and are dependent upon assessed value or actual rental income, whichever is higher. Rental income is taxed at 10%, and a 6% rate applies to assessed value. There is no inheritance, gift, or capital gains tax in Macau, but stamp duties are levied against transfers of tangible or intangible property. Similar to Hong Kong, the One Country, Two Systems allows Macau broad but limited autonomy in most of its governing and economic activities. Corporate Taxation Corporations benefit from conducting business on the peninsula, as capital gains and corporate income are taxed at significantly lower rates than in European nations and the United States. The preferential tax treatment attracts numerous businesses, the majority of which are casinos that comprise a large percentage of Macau's GDP. With respect to corporate taxes, the first 600,000 MOP is tax-exempt. Thereafter, income exceeding the exempt threshold is taxed at a top rate of 12%. Both residents and non-residents are treated equally with regard to corporate taxation. All profit earned is taxed within the Macau special administrative region. Corporate entities are separated into two groups. Group A companies must adhere to proper accounting measures and maintain capital levels equal to or greater than 1,000,000 MOP. Group B companies are either first-time filers or those entities that do not meet the capital requirements of group A businesses. Group B organizations are taxed on assessed profit measures, while group A entities are levied on certified tax returns submitted to the Macau Finance Bureau. Macau's Gambling Industry Macau is reminiscent of Las Vegas because of its tourism and gaming industry. The region's GDP has been supported largely by its casinos and entertainment industry. Foreign casinos were first allowed in Macau in 2003, and the industry exploded with the region exceeding Las Vegas as a gambling destination. Largely because of casinos, the GDP of Macau was $7 billion in 2002 and reached $55.1 billion in 2018, according to World Bank statistics. However, Simon Lewis of Time magazine reported in 2016 that the economy had shrunk by more than 20% after a crackdown by the Chinese President Xi Jinping on corruption and money laundering. When China tightened rules on money exiting the mainland, Macaus tax base, which was largely made up of casino revenues, began to disappear, and the economy has suffered as a result. Still, Macau is looked to It has long been rumored that Apple is working on a new file system to replace the archaic HFS+ file system that macOS currently uses. The company was expected to announce a new file system as a part of the macOS 10.12 release at WWDCs opening keynote, but that did not happen. However, Apple is indeed working on a new file system called Apple File System and it plans on using them on more than just Macs. In its documentation, the company says that AFPS is a next-generation file system that is aimed for iOS, macOS tvOS, and watchOS. The file system is optimised for Flash/SSD storage, with features like strong encryption, cloning for files and directories, snapshots, and more. Apple File System is a new, modern file system for iOS, OS X, tvOS and watchOS. It is optimized for Flash/SSD storage and features strong encryption, copy-on-write metadata, space sharing, cloning for files and directories, snapshots, fast directory sizing, atomic safe-save primitives, and improved file system fundamentals. AFPS supports nearly all the features of HFS+, and offers its own set of advantages like 64-bit inode numbers, 1 nanosecond timestamp granularity, an expansive block allocator, and support for sparse files. Apple mentions in its documentation that AFPS is being released as a Developer Preview as a part of macOS Sierra 10.12, and it is scheduled to ship in 2017. [Via Apple * Originally published on June 14 2016. Irish women have had an immeasurable impact on American history and society, and in a very necessary act of recognition, IrishCentrals sister publication Irish America magazine has launched their first-ever Womens Issue, celebrating the Top 50 Power Women in Irish America. In the mid-1800s, the Irish were the largest immigrant group entering the US. But heres a little known fact about the millions of Irish who made that journey: by the 1870s, the female immigrants outnumbered the males. As Irish Americas Co-Founder and Editor, Patricia Harty, writes, Unlike other countries, Irish women immigrated in numbers equal to men. Between 1846 and 1875, half of the 2,700,000 Irish entering the United States were female. By the 1870s, female immigrants outnumbered the males. As single women, they found jobs as live-in maids and cooks and housekeepers in New York, Boston, and other cities. The work was hard, the hours long, and the pay not great, but they had a roof over their heads, and they sent money back home to keep the roof over their parents heads, and pay for passage over for younger brothers and sisters. The Power 50 list recognizes the achievements of the most influential and innovative Irish and Irish American women across all fields. From finance and business professionals to media personalities, political figures, and healthcare workers, the women featured in the list have become leading voices in the corporate and cultural American landscape. Who are they? Theres Anne Anderson, the first woman to hold the position of Irish Ambassador to the US; Gillian Murphy, principal dancer with the American Ballet Theater; Denise Morrison, CEO of the Campbell Soup Company; Dr. Barbara Murphy, chair of the Samuel Bronfman Department of Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at the Mount Sinai Health System one of only three women to be appointed chair of medicine at a top medical school; Kathleen Kennedy of Lucafilm; fashion designer Orla Kiley; Mary Kay Henry, chair of the Service Employees International Union; Senator Susan M. Collins of Maine; Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Jennifer Egan; Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Maureen Dowd; Maureen Mitchell, president of Global Sales and Marketing for GE Asset Management; and Samantha Barry head of Social Media and senior director of Social News for CNN. The Irish America Top 50 Power Women will be celebrated with a luncheon in New York City on June 30 click here for details or to reserve tickets. IrishCentral is pleased to share with you a selection of inspiring quotes from a few of the honorees on what it means to be Irish as well as the triumphs and remaining obstacles women face today. To read the full list and more articles from the June/July issue, visit IrishAmerica.com. I think that [having a strong sense of myself] has been very important because its kept me grounded that I am always grateful for talent, for the potential that I started out with but I dont just take it for granted and I dont take the opportunities Ive been given for granted. I really just want to make the most out of this profession and art that I love so much. Gillian Murphy, Principal Dancer, American Ballet Theater "Like so many American immigrants, my parents had an unyielding focus on finding success through hard work. Ive carried that with me every day. In fact, as I progressed in my career, I developed a mindset that my success would be predicated on my ability to outwork anyone else. And they led by example. When I think about someone emigrating from their homeland, it reinforces that fearlessness is the only path to achieving great things. I brought that attitude to being a woman on Wall Street, where I was definitely in the minority." Maureen Mitchell, president of Global Sales and Marketing for GE Asset Management I have always been proud of where I came from. My color sense comes from the rich colors of the Irish landscape. My family are in Ireland and I visit them regularly, Fashion designer Orla Kiley on her Tipperary roots. I am extremely proud of coming from a long line of Irish people who leave, seek opportunities abroad, and are fearless travelers. Samantha Barry, CNNs head of Social Media and senior director of Social News I am fortunate to have grown up amid the hard work, determination, innovation, and common sense that define this great industry. To me, nothing says home like the sight of potato blossoms stretching as far as the eye can see and the heritage they demonstrate, Senator Susan M. Collins (R), Maine There are more young women than young men in third level education. One would hope that means that as those cohorts of highly qualified young women work their way through the system, we will see structures become far less pyramidal and more equal. . . We have to work very actively to make sure that what we see happening now for young women will actually be reflected in their rise through all the ranks so they get into the top positions. Anne Anderson, Irelands Ambassador to the US New Yorkers will easily talk about their rent, but never what they earn, leaving too many of us flying blind. Maureen Callahan, Editor at the New York Post, on how transparency can help narrow the gender wage gap "I sometimes feel that the longer I live, the more my Irish heritage percolates up through my DNA, she says. I recognize it in the stories I tell, the words I choose in what moves me, what haunts me, what makes me laugh." Novelist Alice McDermott Despite being one of the smallest nations on earth, [the Irish] have left an indelible mark, as many aspects of Irish culture have propagated to the four corners of the world. Cora Creed, vice president of Digital Supply Chain Management at Universal Music Group The Irish LGBT community gathered at a vigil last night to honor of the victims of Saturday nights mass shooting in Orlando. Irish gay rights organizations and LGBT support groups paid their respects to the victims of 29-year-old Omar Mateen, who opened fire in Pulse nightclub in the early hours of Sunday morning, killing 49 and injuring 53 others, some critically, at a gathering on Dublins Dame Street. A fabulous rendition of Somewhere over the Rainbow by @Gloriadlgc #Orlando pic.twitter.com/rmaja2yFO2 Dublin LGBTQ Pride (@ DublinPride ) June 13, 2016 Pulse was celebrating a Pride event as part of US Pride month and it is believed the attack was sparked by Mateens homophobia. Wielding an assault rifle and a handgun, he opened fire in the club at 2am Sunday morning. He was later killed in a shootout with officers after taking hostages. The attack was the deadliest shooting in recent US history and Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack. Mateen was an American Muslim of Afghan descent and his links to terrorist organizations are currently being investigated. In a joint statement released yesterday, Irish LGBT groups BeLongTo, GLEN and Teni said: Speaking on behalf of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in Ireland, our deepest sympathies and condolences go out to the survivors and friends, families and loved ones of those who died. The groups also called for solidarity, asking for LGBT Muslims, in particular, to be remembered. Let us remember that LGBT Muslims are equally as terrified of an indiscriminately homophobic killer as anyone else, but are now likely to face increased racism as a result of this attack, the statement said. One of the most powerful acts of solidarity we witnessed in the wake of the attack came from The Council on American-Islamic Relations in the US, an Islamic civil rights group, urging Muslims in the area to donate blood. Lets make this tragedy bring our diverse intersectional communities together, not tear it apart. Vigil being held in Dublin to remember victims of the #Orlando tragedy. Posted by Newstalk on Monday, June 13, 2016 Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Enda Kenny also expressed his condolences in a letter to US President Barack Obama. Speaking on behalf of the people of Ireland, Kenny wrote: Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of the United States, the community in Orlando and the LGBT community, and above all with the families and loved ones of those so senselessly killed and injured. Once again we have witnessed the horror of young people being attacked as they enjoy themselves in their own community. Words cannot capture the shock and revulsion felt in Ireland, and around the world, at this outrage. His words were echoed by Irish President Michael D. Higgins. Our thoughts are with the people of Florida and the community in Orlando and Orange County at this difficult time, Higgins said, according to The Irish Times. The loss of innocent life on such a horrendous scale is truly shocking and challenges us all. President Michael D. Higgins sent his condolences to the families of the victims of the shooting in Orlando: https://t.co/rIGDkcrGjP President of Ireland (@ PresidentIRL ) June 13, 2016 Sinn Fein councillor Mary Ellen Campbell, who was recently elected as Belfast citys first openly gay deputy mayor, expressed her horror at the slaughter of innocents. "This attack on a group of people enjoying a Pride event is an attack on the progress that the LGBT community globally have made in the struggle for human dignity and respect, she told The Irish News. The world needs to show its support for the LGBT community at this time." Catholic Archbishop Eamon Ryan joined those offering their condolences stating, The taking of innocent human life is always wrong. On behalf of the Irish Catholic Bishops Conference I wish to express my profound condolences and I offer prayers of solidarity from Ireland to those who have been touched by this tragedy in the United States. President of Sinn Fein Gerry Adams released a statement extending his sympathy to the family and friends of the victims. I want to extend my sincerest and heartfelt sympathy and solidarity to the families and friends of those killed and the survivors of the despicable act of brutality and hate in Orlando yesterday, Adams said. The Orlando shooting is a painful and harrowing reminder of the struggle for gay, lesbian and transgender equality the world over. My thoughts and prayers are with all of those affected at this time. Thoughts & prayers r with people of Orlando especially families & friends of dead & injured. Gerry Adams (@ GerryAdamsSF ) June 12, 2016 A Book of Condolences will be open in Dublin's Mansion House until Wednesday. I will open a Book of Condolence today at 11am at the Mansion House for those who died in Orlando. Open 10am - 4pm Monday - Wednesday. Lord Mayor of Dublin (@ LordMayorDublin ) June 13, 2016 H/T: TheJournal.ie Claudine Keane has shared a sweet photo with her son from Paris. The model is currently in France supporting Robbie, who is of course playing for Ireland during the Euros 2016. Taking to Twitter the glamorous mum shared a photo with her son Robert overlooking the Eiffel Tower. Last night the Eiffel Tower turned the colours of the rainbow in support of LGBT communities around the world after the tragic Orlando shootings. Joining Claudine and her son Robert at the Euros is her youngest son Hudson, who was born in October. Via: Goss.ie A curious phenomenon on Blarney Street has led some to believe that Cork is being given a sign from God writes Audrey Ellard Walsh. A cracked traffic light on the junction of Blarney Street and Shanakiel Road is casting an eerie glow onto the face of Christ on the cross at the adjacent grotto. Believed to have appeared on the weekend of Corpus Christi, the site has now attracted people to pray there after dark, when the light is most prominent. Local man Terry, who believes that he was the first to spot the unusual phenomenon last Monday, says that the timing is no coincidence. Years ago there were hundreds of thousands at the Corpus Cristi in Cork. Thats all gone now. On Corpus Christi now a few people show up on Daunt Square and its filled up then a lot by shoppers who out of curiosity say whats happening here? I believe it happened on Corpus Cristi Sunday and the Saturday before Father Pat McCarthy in Peter and Pauls Church called for people in the church to pray that God brings the people of Cork back to the way it used to be. I think this is God trying to give the people of Cork the green light again. The full effect of the light is most visible after nightfall, and particularly when it is raining. The light crosses the road, goes up at a 45 degree angle. It starts out as a pin and then it gets bigger like a projector and shines up onto the cross. It picks out only the figure on the cross. Over the past week, the grotto has attracted visitors who are either simply curious to see the sight for themselves, or who have come to pray the rosary. For most people they fly past theyre either going up Blarney Street and Blarney Road or down onto Sundays Well and theyre gone, Terry says. If they see the green light its still a green light to them, they dont take any notice. Youve got to stop and look at the grotto. Terry hopes that the City Council do not repair the light, which he says is not a unique incident. 2017 will be the hundredth anniversary of Fatima. Theres a lot of phenomena like this happening around the world. This isnt isolated. This story first appeared in The Evening Echo. A pedestrian was critically injured when she was hit by a car that flipped over on to the pavement in England. The incident happened in Easson Road, Darlington, just before 5pm on Monday when a Hyundai Coupe car left the road, flipped on to its side and crashed into the victim as she walked on the pavement. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have offered drastically different proposals for stemming the threat of terrorism and gun violence following the fatal shootings at a gay nightclub in Orlando. Mr Trump focused heavily on the nation's broken immigration system in his fiery address, although the Orlando gunman was born in the United States. The presumptive Republican nominee redoubled his call for temporarily banning Muslims from the United States, saying he would lift the ban once the government could "properly and perfectly" screen immigrants. Going further, Mr Trump said he would also "suspend immigration from areas of the world where there's a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe and our allies". Mrs Clinton said she would prioritise stopping "lone wolf" attackers as president - those who may be radicalised without having direct contact or orders from a larger terror network. Overseas, the presumptive Democratic nominee called for ramping up the US air campaign targeting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and pointedly called out US partners in the region by name, saying Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar must stop their citizens from funding terrorism. Mrs Clinton also vigorously reiterated her call for banning assault weapons, like one of the guns the Orlando attacker used. "I believe weapons of war have no place on our streets," she said. Mrs Clinton's address was measured and sober. While she drew implicit contrasts with Mr Trump, she never mentioned him by name, declaring: "Today is not a day for politics." Mr Trump felt differently, hammering Mrs Clinton repeatedly in his remarks. He accused her of wanting to abolish the Second Amendment - in connection with her proposals for tougher gun laws - and said she cannot claim to be supportive of gays and lesbians when she supports allowing immigration from countries where they are discriminated against. "Hillary Clinton can never claim to be a friend of the gay community," he said. The businessman robustly defended the rights of gay and lesbian Americans, saying he would be a "better friend" to the community than Mrs Clinton. The assault at a gay nightclub was "an assault on the ability of free people to live their lives, love who they want and express their identity," he said. Mr Trump's embrace of gay and lesbian Americans was at odds with many in his own party, who oppose gay marriage and other legal protections. The Orlando attacks were the worst mass shooting in American history, leaving 49 people dead and dozens more injured. Authorities say Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old American-born Muslim, was probably inspired by foreign terrorist organisations, though there was no evidence that he had been directed by any network to carry out the attacks. Mr Trump said Mateen was "born an Afghan" despite having been born in New York. The gunman's parents came to the US from Afghanistan before he was born. The Republican did not repeat suggestions he had made in earlier television interviews that US President Barack Obama may not be taking tougher action against terrorism because he sympathises with the perpetrators. "He doesn't get it or, or he gets it better than anybody understands," Mr Trump said. "It's one or the other. And either one is unacceptable." Meanwhile, it seems the Republican nominee has revoked the press credential of the Washington Post to cover his campaign events. A statement on Trumps official Facebook page criticised what it said was inaccurate coverage of his campaign. Based on the incredibly inaccurate coverage and reporting of the record setting Trump campaign, we are hereby revoking the press credentials of the phony and dishonest Washington Post, read the statement. Laboratory services company Eurofins Lancaster Laboratories is to create 165 jobs in Dungarvan, Co Waterford by 2021 as part of a major expansion in Ireland. Eurofins employs 335 staff at its campus in the IDA Business Park which is to be expanded with additions to its existing facility and the development of a new building. The co-ops figures were down slightly on 2014, when profits were at 2.175m and revenues were at 190,875. The co-op says it passed on the savings it made from savings to its 1,800 shareholders and 400 milk suppliers, to whom they also paid a competitive price for their supply. Co-op chairman Richard Donovan said: Im pleased with our product and market development in cheese and whey. The collapse in global dairy markets has been lessened for Tipperary Co-op by increased efficiency gained by processing an increased volume of milk. Commercial Mushroom Producers Co-operative Society Ltd (CMP) claims the Department of Agriculture has limited the amount of aid available to CMP on the basis of expenditure caps which, it claims, have been unlawfully applied. CMP chief executive Donal McCarthy also said that the Department had unlawfully refused EU financial aid in relation to expenditure actually incurred within budget. Paul Gallagher, for CMP, established in 1999, applied yesterday to have its case against the minister fast-tracked in the Commercial Court. Brian Kennedy, for the minister, argued CMP had failed to demonstrate sufficient urgency in bringing these proceedings such as entitled it to avail of the courts fast-track procedures. The department was also concerned about the resources implications for its small unit dealing with the claims if it had to adhere to the fast-track procedures of the court, counsel said. Paul Gallagher, for the company, disputed there was any delay on CMPs part and outlined a history of correrspondence and interaction between the department and his client concerning the alleged misadministration of the financial aid scheme. This was a very difficult matter for the producers involved who would prefer not to fight with the Department and had tried over years to resolve the matter, counsel added. Judge McGovern ruled the case had not demonstrated the necessary urgency and refused the fast-track application, meaning the action will now proceed via the ordinary High Court lists. If history is a guide, however, the opening could be as turbulent as the twists and turns on Big Thunder Mountain. Disneys past international park efforts have been marked by cultural missteps and years of losses. Shanghai represents a chance for the company to avoid those mistakes and earn a profit commensurate with the money its investing. Mr Iger said the new parks size, commitment to technology and focus on local culture to distinguish it from prior efforts. It combines all the things we have learnt over the years from all the other parks we have operated, he said. Disneys resorts division began taking steps overseas with Tokyo Disneyland in 1983. Construction of the first park there ran about 80% over budget. However, the company was insulated. Card Walker, chief executive at the time, had endured kamikaze attacks on his aircraft carrier in the Second World War and was reluctant to invest directly in Japan. So he signed a licensing deal with Oriental Land, which funded and owns what is now two parks in Japan. Oriental Land earned $692m last year on sales of $4.4bn. Disney collects a royalty that amounted to $366m in fiscal 2015, much of that profit. Things have not gone so well at the companys other international resorts. Euro Disney, the publicly traded owner of the two parks at Disneyland Paris, has been bailed out three times in three decades and hasnt made a profit since 2001. Hong Kong Disneyland, a 47%-owned venture with the local government, has been unprofitable for eight of its 11 years, including 2015. Last year Hong Kong was hurt by a decline in mainland Chinese tourists last year and the resort lost $19m. Disney has not shown a profit on its international theme park investments since 2004. * Bloomberg A study from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) estimates that Ireland would attract 4.3% less projects, from outside of the EU, per every 100 if the UK reduced its corporate tax rate from 20% to 19%. Similarly, it said that if Irelands 12.5% corporate tax rate was increased to just 13.5%, the move would reduce the countrys chance to be chosen as a location for new FDI projects from non-EU countries by 4.6%. A more competitive corporate tax rate in the UK would reduce Irelands attractiveness to non-EU investors, while the reverse would improve our attractiveness, the study said. Taken together, these research results indicate that a competitive corporate tax rate is a significant factor in attracting FDI to Ireland, especially from countries outside the EU, said ESRI associate research professor Iulia Siedschlag. This research concludes that in addition to maintaining a competitive corporate tax rate, Irelands attractiveness to FDI would benefit from policies aimed at maintaining cost competitiveness and enabling further R&D investment. EU and non-EU investors value location characteristics differently. Investors from outside the EU are mainly seeking access to the European Single Market and are more likely to choose locations with low corporate tax rates. Intra-EU investments are more likely to be located in countries where the corporate tax is high but where they benefit from other local advantages such as low production costs. Dr Siedschlag also suggested that any positive FDI knock-on effect for Ireland should Britain leave the EU, could be minimal. Ireland and the UK are perceived to be similar as alternative locations for FDI, in particular by investors from outside the EU and for FDI in the services sector, she said. This result suggests that a possible redirection of FDI from the UK to Ireland, in the case of Brexit, would be more likely [to come from] investors from outside the EU and in the services sector. Last year, the ESRI said that a Brexit could result in a minimum 20% fall in bilateral trade flows between Ireland and the UK over the long-term. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell 1.8% to 326.8 at the close of trading. On Friday, European stocks slumped the most since the nadir of the February selloff as risky assets were shunned before a slew of monetary-policy and political events. The UK holds its referendum to determine whether or not to stay in the EU on June 23. Optimism that it will choose to remain has given way to fear in global financial markets since the middle of last week as polls indicated the vote is too close to call. Investors are also bracing for the Federal Reserves rate decision and chairwoman Janet Yellens commentary afterwards, as well as looking to Spains general election scheduled for June 26. There are many uncertainties, so we could continue seeing declines and touch new lows in the days to come, said John Plassard, a senior equity-sales trader at Mirabaud Securities in Geneva. Even though nobody is expecting a rate hike, everyone will look at what Yellen will say at the press conference. We are 10 days from the Brexit vote, and also days away from the election in Spain, while oil is lower and volatility is the highest in months. Fresh surveys yesterday showed that Britains Leave campaign has widened its lead over the Remain campaign. According to two ICM polls, one online and one conducted by telephone, out held 53% support compared with 47% support for in, according to The Guardian, which sponsored the telephone poll. That compared with a 52%-48% split in favor of Out in ICM polls two weeks ago. The pound fell 0.2% to $1.4229, after earlier touching $1.4116, the lowest since April 14. Sterling tumbled the most since February on Friday after an ORB/Independent poll showed a 10-point lead for Leave. Surveys at the weekend were less stark, with one online poll by Opinium for The Observer showing 44% support for Britain staying in the EU and 42% against. The UKs currency has dropped about 3.5% this year, the worst performance among G10 peers, as investors assess the risks of an EU exit. It reached a seven-year low of $1.3836 in February after prime minister David Cameron announced the date of the vote, and has since fluctuated, often wildly, as polls suggested both sides could still prevail. Whatever the result, June 24 is likely to see further big swings in the currency. The day after the referendum, the pound will either sink to the lowest level in more than three decades or climb toward the highest this year, according to a Bloomberg survey of economists. Most see a drop below $1.35 if Britons decide to leave the EU, while the median estimate following a victory for the status quo is for it to jump to as high as $1.50. Some analysts are more optimistic on the pound. Investors should start buying the currency now, and keep the trade until after the referendum, to benefit from a likely vote for the UK to remain, according to Aurelija Augulyte, a strategist at Nordea Markets in Copenhagen. The Ftse 100 fell by 1.16% with declines of around 1.8% evident on Frankfurts Dax and the CAC 40 in Paris. Bloomberg and Reuters The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) kept estimates for world supply and demand in 2016 unchanged in its monthly market report. Disruptions in Nigeria reduced the groups output to 32.36m barrels a day last month, a little below the 32.6m average required to satisfy estimated demand in the second half of the year. The expected improvement in global economic conditions should result in a more balanced oil market toward the end of the year, the organisations Vienna-based research department said in a report. The excess supply in the market is likely to ease over the coming quarters. Oil has surged about 80% from a 12-year low in February as the global glut is trimmed by unexpected disruptions and a slide in US output. Opec did not set any output targets when its 13 members met on June 2 as the organisation sticks with Saudi Arabias strategy of pumping without limits to squeeze rival producers. Output from the 13 nations slipped by 99,800 barrels a day last month as militant attacks curbed supplies from Nigeria. Membership will swell to 14 countries in July with the readmission of Gabon, which pumps about 200,000 barrels a day. However, oil prices fell yesterday, weighed down by gloomy economic prospects in Europe and Asia and a related strengthening in the US dollar, which makes fuel imports for countries using other currencies more expensive. The softening comes a week after crude prices hit 2016 highs on the back of a quicker-than-expected rebalancing in physical oil markets. Brent crude fell to $49.74 per barrel, down 80c, after trading as low as $49.61. US crude was down 72c at $48.35 a barrel. Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch said worries that Britain will vote later this month to leave the EU, which sent stocks spiralling lower yesterday, could also erase more of oils recent gains. The most recent oil price increase was driven by bullish market sentiment, Mr Fritsch told the Reuters Global Oil Forum. A Brexit could turn market sentiment around. The ECB also said the fall in oil prices over the past two years would add less to global growth than earlier thought and the overall impact could even be negative. * Bloomberg and Reuters A number of European nations, such as France, Germany, and the UK, joined the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) as founding members early last year. Ireland took the decision to make a formal application in December 2015. The estimated cost of Irelands membership is 50m over five years. The AIIB, established to rival the likes of the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, will fund a wide range of infrastructure projects in Asia. Irelands interest in AIIB membership is primarily based on geopolitical and economic considerations, including trade relations with China and the wider Asian economy, said Finance Minister Michael Noonan. Over the past 15 years, Ireland has increased its engagement with Asia, particularly China, the worlds second largest economy, in a broad number of areas. Irelands priorities relate to bilateral trade and investment, particularly: higher education; agri-food; tourism; and aviation-financing sectors. A spokesperson for the Department of Finance could not explain the timing of Irelands application or whether officials considered founding members to be at an advantage to those countries joining at a later date. The spokesperson said Ireland is serious about the AIIB and had commenced its membership application. Irelands voting rights would be comparable to countries with a similar-sized economy, the spokesperson added. Mr Noonan confirmed that no external advisors had been appointed as part of Irelands application. Sinn Fein finance spokesman Pearse Doherty, who asked the minister for details of Irelands application, welcomed Irelands application but criticised its timing and the lack of transparency around the process. Even from the reply I have received it is clear that founding members have a status in the bank, he said. In this case, they are given oversight of Irelands membership application. Given this, we have to wonder why Ireland did not apply as a founding member last year. Most of our major trading partners have signed up for this opportunity so it seems clear-cut that Irelands best interests are served being in rather than out. I would have been interested to hear a debate before an application rather than now when the deal is done. It is clear that this was a very insular decision making process on a major decision for the State involving a commitment of 50m over the next five years. Blue Coat chief Greg Clark will take the helm of the combined corporation and join its board after the deal closes in the third quarter, both companies said in a statement. Mr Clark will become Symantecs fourth chief executive in as many years, fulfilling its search for a leader with experience running a cybersecurity company and providing what investors hope will be much-needed stability. He replaces Michael Brown, who had overseen the January sale of Symantecs Veritas data-storage division for $7.4bn to the Carlyle Group. The Mountain View, California-based company is in the midst of a major transition as it tries to recapture its momentum in the fast-growing cybersecurity market. The worlds largest developer of security software - which reduced its sales and earnings forecasts in April - is trying to reinvent itself for an industry thats now vastly different from the anti-virus software arena it helped pioneer. With this transaction, we will have the scale, portfolio and resources necessary to usher in a new era of innovation designed to help protect large customers and individual consumers against insider threats and sophisticated cybercriminals, said Symantecs chairman Dan Schulman. Mr Clark will assume leadership of a company thats fallen behind Palo Alto Networks, FireEye, and other rivals in developing technologies to detect more advanced threats. Blue Coat brings a suite of products that can make Symantec more competitive in areas such as protecting customers data in the cloud, performing digital forensics in the hunt for hackers, and managing encrypted network traffic. Symantec is understood to have had been in advanced talks to acquire FireEye earlier this year. But discussions broke down over Symantecs concerns about FireEyes future growth potential, sources said. Like Symantec, FireEye is struggling with competition and had also recently cut revenue forecasts. * Bloomberg After holding a board meeting to review second-round offers, Yahoo was expected to start reaching out to bidders as early as yesterday to notify them whether they will make it to the next bidding round, sources said. Verizon, the biggest US wireless carrier, is seeking to challenge AT&T, the second largest US wireless provider, in the third round of bidding, even though its latest offer was at the low end of the $3.5bn-$5bn (3.1bn-4.4bn) range of the second-round bids that came in last week. A consortium led by Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert, and backed by Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffett, will also make it through to the final round. Some private equity firms that had made it through to the second round will not be invited to submit third-round bids, it is understood. Not all offers involve exactly the same assets, with some bidders indicating they are not interested in some of the patents and real estate assets on offer. Verizon is primarily interested in Yahoos advertising technology tools. It has been examining how the other assets up for sale, such as search, mail and messenger services, could be combined with the corresponding businesses of AOL, which it acquired last year for $4.4bn. AT&T has been seeking to catch up with Verizon in advertising technology as it seeks to expand in mobile video offerings. Verizon is, however, still seen as being the favourite. Analysts said it can reap operational synergies that would allow it to cut more costs than private equity bidders could and submit a higher bid in the end. Also, compared with private equity firms, Verizon has a bigger cash hoard. This could become a significant factor, as second-round bids did not include committed financing. It has also been reported that many insiders remain sceptical about AT&Ts real appetite for Yahoo. A sale of Yahoos internet assets would leave the company just owning a 35.5% stake in Yahoo Japan, as well as a 15% stake in Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group, which accounts for most of its value. In December, Yahoo scrapped plans to spin off its Alibaba stake, after investors fretted over whether that transaction could have been carried out on a tax-free basis. * Reuters The 27-year-old was shot dead while sitting in his car, a VW Passat at Church Avenue, Drumcondra on Dublins northside around 11.30am on March 26 2015. The inquest into Mr Kavanaghs death, which first opened in June 2015 at Dublin Coroner's Court, heard that Gardai are still collecting evidence for a file to be submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions. It comes as a disagreement emerged between ministers over whether term limits should be included in any move to liberalise abortion in cases of fatal foetal abnormality. Social Protection Minister Leo Varadkar yesterday said that such term limits have to be part of any discussion about changing the law, but others expressed reservations about the workability of that proposal. The abortion matter is set to dominate the agenda at Cabinet today, with ministers set to discuss how to deal with the damning judgment from the UN over Irelands restrictive abortion laws. Last week, the UN called on Ireland to repeal the 1983 Eighth Amendment which gives equal status to the life of an expectant mother and her unborn child. Taoiseach Enda Kenny said last week that the Citizens Convention would be up and running within six months of the Government taking office, but ministers yesterday said it could be sorted as early as September. Mr Varadkar clarified that his call for term limits was his personal view rather than the established Fine Gael position. Thats my personal view, Im not advocating it, by the way, just that people who would have that [pro-choice] view, he said. Regardingpeople who adopt a pro-choice position and believe that abortion should be on request, Mr Varadkar said: I think before we even consider going down that route we would have to have a discussion about term limits. Other ministers speaking to the Irish Examiner, cautioned against such a move. Remember back to the 2013 Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill debate around term limits and it was made clear that a woman in danger is a woman in danger, whether that be at 12 weeks or 32 weeks. Such a limit could be problematic, said one minister. Health Minister Simon Harris said the current laws governing abortions relating to fatal foetal abnormality are unacceptable. He said the legal advice the Government has received is that the issue is a constitutional matter, meaning it would need to be resolved by way of a referendum. Mr Harris insisted the issue surrounding a decision on whether to repeal the Eighth Amendment will be the first item on the agenda for the new citizens assembly. He denied the citizens assembly was a stalling tactic. The current situation is utterly unacceptable, he said. This Government will address the issue. It is not up to me or Enda Kenny, it is for the Irish people. It is not for me to dictate the terms of the citizens assembly. If we jumped straight to a referendum, it could be very polarised. With the citizens assembly there will be an informed position. Education Minister Richard Bruton said he believes the UN committee will be satisfied that the Governments commitment to a citizens convention is progress, saying citizens decide our Constitution. So we must, as elected deputies, respect the role of citizens in this area. Figures published by the company show its Irish customers last year spent 1.36bn with their credit cards while overseas an increase of 8% on the corresponding figure for 2014. Visa Europe estimates 3.75m is spent worldwide on a daily basis by Irish Visa cardholders. The overall increase in spending across debit, credit and prepaid card was driven by a surge in spending in European countries, in particular Spain, Italy, and Germany. The amount spent by Irish people in the UK actually declined last year by 4% although, at over 400m, more Irish money was spent in Britain than any other country. The 214.6m spent in Spain in 2015 amounted to a 22% increase compared with the figure for 2014; the spend in Italy jumped by 25% to 66.5m; and the spend in Germany rose by 20% to 33m. Other countries to see a significant increase in the amount of money spent there by Irish consumers included the Netherlands and the United Arab Emirates, with more modest increases in similar spending in Portugal, France, and the US, where Irish people spent 165.7m last year using their credit cards. The amount spent in Australia last year fell by 5% to 21.7m. New flight routes led to a 97% increase in spending by Irish travellers in Iceland, albeit from a low base. The figures also show more than 40% of the spending amounting to 548m occurred when Irish tourists took holidays between June and September. A spokesperson for Visa Europe said: The increase which we have seen in cross-border spending across Visa cards debit, credit, and prepaid is, we believe, a culmination of factors. Increased spending, a higher number of holidays, and greater usage of cards all contributed to the increase. The increased number applies to Irish cards and does not differentiate from where an individual is living. Philip Konopik, country manager Ireland Visa Europe, said: We saw a significant increase in spending by Irish Visa cardholders abroad last year, highlighting the growth in foreign travel as the economy recovers. The company said it had updated its Visa Travel Tools app ahead of the summer holiday season, with the app containing information including an ATM locator, currency converter, and holiday spending tips for travellers . In a speech at the University of Ulster yesterday, Mr Kenny claimed a Brexit would create instability and uncertainty and the likely return of border checkpoints. The re-establishment of customs checks on the border, or indeed of any customs arrangements, would be a regrettable and backward step for North-South trade and co-operation said Mr Kenny. Mr Kenny said it was not credible to suggest nothing would change at the Irish border if the UK left the EU. The re-establishment of customs checks on the border, or indeed of any customs arrangements, would be a regrettable and backward step for North-South trade and cooperation, he said. Mr Kenny said there was no doubt leaving the EU would involve changes to the trading rules between Britain and Ireland. He said such a change would deliver bad news for the Northern Ireland economy. We are standing here today less than 50 miles from the United Kingdoms only land border, he told an audience at the University of Ulster. Can anyone credibly suggest that nothing would change if that became the western border of the European Union? We remember when it was a hard border. We remember the delays, the cost and the division. Stressing the Irish governments strong support for a Remain vote, Mr Kenny said, as the peace process came of age, people should take account of the risks and challenges that lay ahead. Mr Kenny added: Later this month the people of Belfast, of Northern Ireland, of the UK as a whole, are being asked to make a momentous decision. That decision is as important for the future of this island as when we all voted for the Good Friday Agreement (in 1998). Meanwhile, no assurances have been given that European money allocated to Northern Ireland would be reimbursed in the event of a Brexit, the regions deputy first minister has said. Martin McGuinness said he did not believe the Conservative Government would prioritise the North if the UK voted to leave the EU. The veteran Sinn Fein representative argued a Brexit would be bad for the local economy and could impact negatively on relations with the Republic of Ireland. He said the Tories had been ruthless when dealing with the block grant and were wedded to austerity. I have absolutely no faith that where money is lost this will be returned to us by a British Government which is totally and absolutely committed to austerity, he said. Sinn Fein, the Ulster Unionists, the SDLP and Alliance Party have all pledged support for the remain campaign. However, the Democratic Unioninsts, the largest grouping at Stormont, are backing the leave campaign. Edward Prendergast, from Selskar Road in Skerries, Dublin but living at Blackhall Green, Arbour Hill, Dublin 7 fell down 12 steps at his home around 4.10am on October 19 2014. He was rushed to the Mater Hospital but died the following day, Dublin Coroners Court heard. Described as a beautiful young man, highly educated and a fantastic worker Mr Prendergast worked as a producer on RTEs the Business Show. The young mans father, William Prendergast said he had many talents and had worked hard following his education at Dublin City University and NUI Maynooth. He did drink too much on the night, Mr Prendergast said, adding that he hoped his sons death might help prevent a similar tragedy. The family donated their son's organs in the wake of his death. Friend of the deceased Carl Reynolds said he called to Mr Prendergasts home at Arbour Hill and the pair began drinking between 8pm and 9pm on October 19 2014. They took a taxi to the Globe bar on Georges Street around midnight. They met other friends and Mr Reynolds left around 2am. He was in good humour when I left, he was drunk but coherent, Mr Reynolds said. Suzanne Brennan was a flatmate of Mr Prendergast. She and her boyfriend arrived home around 3.30am and Mr Prendergast followed shortly after, she told the court. His speech was quite slurred but he was chatting away. He was quite drunk, she said. The pair went out the front door to smoke a cigarette and Miss Brennan followed her flatmate back into the house. He fell as he walked down a two-part carpeted stairwell with two steps down followed by a turn and a further 12 steps. I heard a series of bangs and saw Ed lying at the bottom of the stairs, she said. When I called his name there was no answer. An ambulance arrived at 4.25am and Mr Prendergast was rushed to the Mater Hospital. CT scans showed he suffered a skull fracture, according to a report from Consultant Surgeon at the Mater Hospital Mr Maurice Stokes. Doctors found there was no surgical intervention they could make to improve matters. Mr Prendergasts parents stayed with him in the Intensive Care Unit until he passed away the following day, October 20. The cause of death was traumatic injury to the brain, due to a fall down stairs, due to the toxic effects of alcohol, according to pathologist Dr Megan Finan. A toxicology screening revealed a blood alcohol level of 285 mg per cent. It is a high level of alcohol, if one isnt used to drinking anything over 300 mg per cent can be fatal. Certainly it is sufficiently high to affect coordination and balance, Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane said, returning a verdict of death by misadventure. Former retained fire- fighter, Simon Potter, 35, is spearheading the drive to set up a community first responder (CFR) scheme in Ballincollig. The fact that I had to wait for an hour after calling for an ambulance recently, and the drowning of that man in Ballincollig Regional Park last week, has inspired me to make this happen. Something needs to be done. It will take a while but it is achievable, Mr Potter said. Mr OCallaghan, who was hired by Cooke to work at Radio Dublin when he was 18, and who is also a distant cousin of Philips, said that many aspects of the latest revelations did not add up. He told RTEs Liveline that Cookes house in Inchicore, Dublin, where the radio station was based, was constantly full of people and he couldnt understand how a murder could have been committed there. It was hectic. It was an open front door, 24 hours a day. It was the first station to go through the night so there was constantly people coming and going. There was a stream of people dropping in requests, there were people collecting prizes, dropping people off. The house was never empty. There was always at least 10 to 15 people buzzing around that tiny house, he said. How did Cooke hit him [Philip] over the head, knock him unconscious and kill him and then remove his body without anybody in the entire radio station being aware that anything was wrong? Mr OCallaghan said he never saw any young boys around the station. Cookes preference was young girls, he said. He said there were always schoolgirls in the 13 to 17 age group coming in to work on the telephones, but they never stayed longer than a week or two. He was very strict in the type of young girls he looked for vulnerable young teenagers, very innocent, coming from troubled backgrounds. Thats not Philip. Philip came from a gorgeous family. Mr OCallaghan said he did not doubt the personal experiences of the witness a victim of Cookes abuse who contacted gardai recently about Philip, but he questioned her account of what she said happened to the 13-year-old. It just doesnt add up. First of all, regarding her memories of Philip being hit over the head with an implement by Cooke she was nine at the time. 'Cooke was an evil monster... but... her memories don't add up' We're speaking to @GarethOCal on his recent FB posthttps://t.co/fM9kORJkix Liveline (@rteliveline) June 13, 2016 Also, Philip was on his way back to school in his uniform. How did he end up that afternoon in Radio Dublin? There were lots of other bigger radio stations he was probably listening to. Radio Dublin was on its way out at that stage. Philip disappeared in October 1986 after leaving his home in Rathfarnham, Dublin, to return to school after lunch. Eamon Cooke, 79, died earlier this month after serving almost 10 years in jail for multiple counts of sexual assault on young girls in the 1970s and 1980s. The bank can either appeal in the High Court or accept the findings. The commissioner considered that the banks position is entirely at odds with the spirit and intent of the legislation and that it would essentially allow the bank to throw a blanket over all of its records without external, independent oversight by his office, said a spokesperson for the Office of the Information Commissioner. The matter relates to an FoI request made to the Central Bank, for access to minutes of meetings. Apart from the minutes of one meeting to which access was refused, the bank informed the applicant that the Act did not apply to the remaining minutes as they contained information that was excluded from the FoI Act. Shaykh Umar al-Qadri also told the Irish Examiner that the actions in Orlando on Sunday night, where 50 people were shot dead, did not represent Islam. I stand with the LGBT community and I am against the marginalisation of any group, said Dr al-Qadri. It should not have happened. We are a minority ourselves, we understand what discrimination is. On Sunday, Omar Mateen, 29, opened fire in a gay nightclub in Florida, killing 49 people and injuring 53 more. While the attack appears not to have been orchestrated by Islamic State, Mateen rang 911 claiming allegiance to the terrorist group. This is more of a case of someone with psychiatric issues. His wife came out and said he had some issues. He may be a Muslim but he does not represent Islam, said Dr al-Qadri. The point is, first of all, 50 innocent people have lost their lives and its a tragedy. The disregard of human life is one of the greatest challenges we are facing in the world today. He may be a Muslim but he does not represent Islam, Dr al-Qadri is founder of the Irish Muslim Peace and Integration Council as well as an Islamic scholar. Our religion teaches not to be prejudicial of anyone regardless of their religion or background, he said. We are all diverse, yet we all share one thing our common humanity. Being a member of the LGBT community is not a sin, its not something you find in the Quran. We cant treat them differently. Commenting on the radicalisation of a minority of Muslims, through various terrorist organisations, he said these groupings have a radical interpretation and view, of Islam. The message we need to send out is that the majority of all communities want peace and we need to unite against these violent minorities, we must unite in peace against those who are violent, said Dr al-Qadri. It is only through dialogue and understanding others that we can get rid of the prejudices that we have. Homophobia, as well as Islamophobia, are challenges. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump, reacted to the shooting, the worst in US history, by saying: We cant let people in. He also reiterated his call for a temporary ban on Muslim immigration to America. Dr al-Qadri said he has invited Mr Trump to his centre when he visits Ireland this month. The imam told the Irish Examiner: Trumps comments are full of ignorance, he is marginalising people. I have said this before but he is more than welcome to our Islamic centre so that we can give him the message that we disagree with him but we need to get rid of the prejudices. The only way to do that is to sit down and engage. Meanwhile, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton called Mr Trumps comments plain dangerous. Her communications director, Jennifer Palmieri, said Mr Trump used the shooting for political purposes. At the White House, US president Barack Obama said: In the face of hate and violence, we will love one another. We will not give in to fear or turn against each other. Instead, we will stand united as Americans to protect our people and defend our nation, and to take action against those who threaten us. The majority doing maths took ordinary level, and Robert Chaney, of the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland, said Paper 2, which they faced in the morning, should not have been too challenging. Questions were well worded, and had nicely graduated steps, he said. He was also pleased with the accompanying diagrams or other visuals provided to aid students. Another positive aspect was the choice given to students on which mathematical methods they used, rather than the prescriptive questions on some past exams. For example, they could use either a graphic, numerical, or algebraic method to find where too lines crossed in part of one question. A question about metered water usage and billing was a relevant way to test various skills, Mr Chaney said. He thought the higher-level exam probably challenged students more than their first paper on Friday afternoon had. While he considered it fair, some questions were less straightforward and tested lesser-used skills, such as one seeking the co-ordinates of a triangles orthocentre. Similarly, students who had not practised skills might not have known how to do part of a question about trigonometric identities. However, a student who knew the rules and procedures would not have been too challenged by a probability question. Mr Chaney also considered a geometry question about a pyramid very straightforward, but felt some students might have found the final part of a question about changing income levels difficult. In the afternoon, the first of this years Leaving Certificate Irish papers were sat. Ruth Morrissey, the Teachers Union of Ireland subject spokeswoman, said the choice of essay titles at higher and ordinary levels gave students a chance to write about topics they had prepared for ahead of their oral exams. Among the subjects from which higher-level candidates could pick to compose an essay or news article were the 1916 commemorations, Irish people and emigration, youth culture, and rural life in Ireland. They had good scope to deal with a number of subjects they would have covered in class and ahead of their orals, said Ms Morrissey. Another alternative was to write a speech on the topic of elderly peoples lives, or a radio item for a newly-elected TD about their plans for the new Dail term. Astis Robbie Cronin said the choice of essays were wide ranging and fair. For the aural test, he felt the questions were as expected for students at this level, although some may have had difficulty with the word aifeala, meaning regret. Ms Morrissey said the aural test had the usual tricky dialects that may be difficult for some students but no more than in other years. She felt the questions for all levels were fair, being similar to those that come up again and again. She was equally pleased about composition choices at ordinary level. They could write about last summer or a favourite pastime, a letter or email about a school trip or sporting event, or a conversation on the differences between city and country life. Mr Cronin thought the questions on the aural test were quite difficult and he spoke to students who found the test very difficult. However, he said the written composition section was not so difficult. He felt there was plenty of choice among the essay titles. For students at foundation level, who are examined in just one paper instead of the two taken at higher and ordinary level, Mr Cronin thought the standard was very tough. He said some questions and comprehension pieces were a bit more difficult than you would see at ordinary level. A question in the listening test asked who fainted due to the heat, one which he felt some higher-level students might have had difficulty understanding. The aim of the event is to develop a deep understanding of the artistic and musical talents and traditions of the Traveller community while promoting discussions around the vision for the community going forward, according to Limerick City and County Council. The local authority is running the event in conjunction with a number of agencies, including the HSE. Joseph Doyle, aged 35, has 95 previous convictions, including 19 burglaries, five robberies, and one assault. In July 2010, he was jailed for three years after pleading guilty to ambushing a foreign national on the street and sexually assaulting her. At Dublin Circuit Criminal Court yesterday, Doyle of Haven House, pleaded guilty to five burglaries in Dublin city centre between June 1, 2014, and January 15, 2016. Judge Melanie Greally suspended the last 18 months of a four-and-a-half-year sentence on condition Doyle takes part in victim-focused relapse prevention and anger management programmes with the Probation Services. She noted that drug addiction had been a significant driver in Doyles offending. She said he had some history of violence but did not respond in a violent manner when confronted during any of these burglaries. Doyle was arrested on June 1, 2014, while breaking into a house on Camden St. He made no admissions and was released on bail after being charged with burglary. Five months later, he broke into a house on South Circular Rd. He was again charged and released. In July 2015, Doyle was arrested after being identified on CCTV breaking into the zoology department of Trinity College Dublin. The following January, Doyle broke into a residence on Dublins Morning Star Avenue and stole a glass jar filled with 200 in coins. He later told gardai the jar was only filled with buttons. Joseph Wallace, of 5 Castle Close, Mahon, Cork, was discharged from bankruptcy early by the court yesterday. It was the first case of its kind where someone forced into bankruptcy was discharged arising out of the tracker mortgage review process. Solicitor Alan McGee said his client is considering legal options, including a possible civil case against his sole creditor, Permanent TSB. Mr Wallaces debt arose after he borrowed money to buy a family home in Carrigaline, Co Cork, in 2007. A cage fighter and another man were yesterday jailed for life for murdering Polish-born Patryk Krupa. Mr Krupa drowned in the Shannon outside Athlone while incapacitated with a head injury from a violent assault on June 20, 2014. Leszek Sychulec, aged 34, a Polish cage fighter with an address at Drinan, Ballymahon, Co Longford, and Andrzej Gruchacz, aged 35, with an address in Warsaw, Poland, had pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Krupa at Bogganfin, Athlone, Co Roscommon. On April 21, a jury deliberated for five hours before finding both men guilty of murdering Mr Krupa. Garnet Orange, prosecuting, yesterday told the court he had been asked to read a victim impact statement on behalf of Mr Krupas mother. Mrs Krupa said her life has changed a lot since the death of her son and she cannot function properly anymore. Nothing is the same anymore. I cant sleep and I didnt work for a year. I now only go to work twice a week as I cannot stand being around people, she said. Mrs Krupa said the last time she saw her son was when he was walking to the gym and if she had only stopped the car nothing would have happened him. I keep playing the day over and over again in my head, nothing will turn back the time, she said. The court heard that her son really wanted to be a father but that was taken from him. I thought I saw my son in town the other day but that wasnt him. Sometimes I look around to see him but it never happens. I keep dreaming about how he was beaten and kicked and dragged into the water. The two drag marks were there for a very long time after the day, she said. Mrs Krupa cannot look at people when they are smiling and laughing. I cant look at fathers pushing their kids around town as my son cant do that now. I cant listen to music and I dont enjoy life anymore, she said. The court heard that her daughter moved out of her home a few days after everything happened as she could not stand living there as everything reminded her of Patryk. All her days now consist of going to the cemetery. I cannot forget my sons massacred face when I close my eyes. I keep seeing him in the morgue in a black bag. I still cant forget how I felt mentally and physically in the morgue. I dream of not being able to hold him in my arms again, she said. Sean Gillane, defending Sycheulec, told the court his client is a Polish national with limited English and is a parent of a two-year-old child. Conor Devally, defending Gruchacz, said his client is 35 years of age and has a mixed history, as much of his education was spent in young offenders units. Handing down sentence, Mr Justice Tony Hunt said that this was a shocking and violent event. He thanked Mrs Krupa for her very moving victim impact statement. The judge said it is a great tragedy for a parent to lose a child and her victim impact statement captures the unnatural position of a parent put in that position. Before handing down sentence, the judge told the court that no explanation into the background of what caused this to happen to Mr Krupa had been forthcoming. He said the only mitigating factors on the part of the two accused was their co-operation with the investigation, but there was very few mitigating factors beyond that. Mr Justice Hunt then gave the men mandatory life sentences and backdated them to the respective dates from when each of them went into custody. He then imposed a seven- year concurrent sentence on Sychulec for false imprisonment as well as a five-year concurrent sentence on Gruchacz for false imprisonment. The National Perinatal Epidemiology Centre in University College Cork has called for a public education programme to reduce the rate of stillbirths in Ireland. It found that almost 53% of mothers who experienced perinatal loss between 2011 and 2014 were either overweight or obese. The centres 2014 national audit shows that almost one in five (18%) women who experienced a perinatal death were smoking when they first attended the maternity hospital. The centre, based in UCC, conducts a national audit in collaboration with the medical and midwifery staff from maternity units around the country. One of the authors of the report, Dr Paul Corcoran, said preparation for pregnancy is crucial in reducing stillbirths. Addressing levels of obesity and smoking in pregnancy is important because they are risk factors for a wide range of complications, said Dr Corcoran. Anonymised data were reported by 20 Irish maternity units on 504 perinatal deaths arising from 67,663 births that occurred in 2014. There were 330 stillbirths (65%), 141 early neonatal (28%), and 33 (6.5%) late neonatal births. The perinatal mortality rate was seven deaths per 1,000 births. Similar to 2013, a major congenital anomaly was the primary cause of death in one in four of the 330 stillbirths that occurred in 2014. During 2014 an autopsy was undertaken following 52% of stillbirths and 39% of neonatal deaths. Over two-thirds of the mothers who experienced perinatal loss in 2014 had at least one previous pregnancy; nearly a third had never been pregnant before. There were 31 late neo-natal deaths reported to the centre in 2014, a number that is consistent with such deaths reported by the CSO in recent years. The director of the National Perinatal Epidemiology Centre, Prof Richard A Green, said public perception and expectation is that stillbirth is a thing of the past, yet around one baby in every 250 is stillborn. Prof Green said the public, and especially potential parents, must be made aware that stillbirth is a fact of life. Potential parents must be made aware of the lifestyle risks for stillbirth. This problem belongs to us all and is not just the responsibility of the maternity service, he said. Dr Corcoran said maternity units generally were experiencing similar rates of mortality. There is a sense that there is a lot of inconsistency across the maternity units but in terms of perinatal mortality, it is in line with what would be expected, he said. He pointed out that Irelands actual stillbirth rate was below average when compared to other high-income countries. In recent years, the decrease may have levelled off. We have had a number of decades where things had improved but in the last number of years, the decrease is not evident anymore, said Dr Corcoran The National Perinatal Epidemiology Centre said a confidential inquiry for stillbirth and neonatal death which may improve care should be considered. Officers blasted a hole in the wall of the Pulse club in Orlando, Florida, in a desperate effort to save revellers as Omar Mateen held hostages in a toilet. FBI director James Comey said Mateen had come to its attention twice before the shooting, and had been investigated for 10 months from May 2013 because he had made inflammatory and contradictory statements about ties to terrorist groups. Mr Comey said that, at the time, Mateen claimed family connections to al Qaida and said he was a member of Hezbollah, a Shia terrorist organisation that is a bitter enemy of the so-called Islamic State. Mateen admitted making the statements reported by his colleagues, but said he did it in anger because he thought were discriminating against him. Agents closed the first inquiry in early 2014, but Mateens name came up in a separate FBI probe in July that year, after he was linked to a Syria suicide bomber. John Oliver says Orlando killer targeted the 'ultimate symbol of what is wonderful about A https://t.co/AcfMjGfgfX pic.twitter.com/V81M3qvQRR Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) June 13, 2016 John Mina, chief of police at the City of Orlando Police Department, said Mateen barricaded himself in a toilet with around four or five hostages after shooting some of his initial victims and called the police, speaking in a cool and calm voice with crisis negotiators. He also confirmed that when Mateen was on the phone to officers there was allegiance to the Islamic State. Authorities confirmed 49 people were killed in the shooting in the early hours of Sunday, with 53 injured. Mateen was the 50th person to die. He was killed by Swat officers when he opened fire at police after crawling out of the hole made to rescue the nightclubbers. Orlando gunman Omar Mateen had 'strong indications of radicalisation' https://t.co/tN3jy8mLVK pic.twitter.com/IIutS8xj1m Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) June 13, 2016 US president Barack Obama called the massacre the worst mass shooting in US history an act of terror. More than 300 people were in the club when gunfire was first heard just after 2am local time. He repeatedly fired, before taking dozens of people hostage, leading to a three-hour stand-off. He fired on officers with a handgun and a long gun , before being killed. Research collated by the Institute of Public Health (IPH) shows 26 of the 31 city and county councils have implemented or agreed to implement smoke-free playground policies. It means 82% of the countrys playgrounds should be no-go areas for parents and guardians with a cigarette in hand. The IPH says the move reinforces the trend towards turning all public places into smoke-free zones with growing numbers of public bodies particular those in the health and social care sectors now also extending smoking bans to their outdoor grounds and campuses. Director of policy Helen McAvoy said: The findings in the report show that considerable progress is being made in the implementation of smoke-free spaces and places across a range of different settings. This helps to reduce exposure to second-hand smoke and to denormalise tobacco use for future generations. Challenges remain, however, and while Ireland may have been first in the world to introduce the workplace smoking ban, the North is ahead when it comes to compliance rates. A report on the North earlier this year showed that 98.9% of businesses inspected there were compliant with the ban, but the most recent report on compliance in the Republic, taken from 2014, showed 80% were completely smoke-free. Another report last year found 13% of adults in the Republic reported being exposed to second-hand smoke in the workplace, while 5% reported tobacco smoke in bars and 4% in restaurants. The IPH said it was not yet known what effect the new ban on smoking in cars carrying children, and the replacement of cigarettes with vaping, was having on exposure to second-hand smoke, although it was hoped both would help reduce the amount of smoke lingering around children. More difficult to police was what happens in the home and the IPH said there was still concern one in six children reported that adults are allowed smoke sometimes or always at home. According to the IPH: The frequency, intensity, and duration of exposure to second-hand smoke are significant in determining health outcomes for infants and children. Babies exposed to second- hand smoke are at a greater risk of sudden infant death syndrome and children who regularly breathe second- hand smoke are more likely to experience asthma, ear infections, and respiratory tract infections. The Department of Healths Tobacco-Free Ireland strategy aims to reduce smoking prevalence to less than 5% by 2025. New literacy teaching methods will be a focus of a revised plan to combat educational disadvantage which Education Minister Richard Bruton will publish later this year. National assessments of second-class and sixth-class pupils at 150 primary schools two years ago revealed all targets, set in the 2011-2020 National Literacy and Numeracy Strategy for primary level, had already been reached. As well as spending more time on literacy and numeracy, teachers must focus on integrating them into how all subjects are taught. The improvements since 2009, revealed in a report early last year, were the first significant gains in a generation on the assessments done every five years. This has been a factor in the decision to replace the existing tests carried out by all 3,200 primary schools as part of the strategy. They must administer standardised tests to second, fourth and sixth classes each year and report summary findings to the Department of Education. The analysis of results of recent years has led to a decision the tests are in need of urgent replacement, Mr Bruton was told by officials last month. A department spokesperson told the Irish Examiner tests of this type need to be revised and standardised periodically. This helps to determine performance norms for the entire student population and to allow comparison of each pupils results against those national standards. The tests used by primary schools were last standardised in 2006 and 2007, and the replacement tests are to be provided by the Educational Research Centre at St Patricks College, Dublin. We know from the results of the 2014 national assessments that average performance has increased in recent years, the department said. Revised norms will give teachers more realistic pictures of students strengths and weaknesses and, thereby, enhance planning by teachers and whole schools. The revisions have been sanctioned and funding for the work is provided for in this years education budget, but the exercise will take about two-and-a-half years. As part of the plan to revised the Deis (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) programme, which gives extra supports to 800 schools with highest numbers of disadvantaged students, Mr Bruton wants new approaches to teaching. As reported here yesterday, his officials point to major improvements in results when changes are made to the way literacy is taught. The minister also indicated the revised Deis scheme would look to improve supports for principals in disadvantaged schools. While average scores at reading and maths improved across all schools, the 2014 national assessment found there was no real reduction in the gap between pupils in disadvantaged urban schools and those elsewhere. Deis schools showed substantial improvements in reading, but there was particular concern about the large proportion of students in the most disadvantaged urban schools who can still only read at the lowest standard. Considerable scope for improvement also emerged from the results for maths in Deis schools. In the proceedings, the Data Protection Commissioner has reached a preliminary view, subject to considering any further submissions, that there are well-founded claims the personal data privacy rights of EU citizens are being breached arising from transfer of their personal data to the US where it might be accessed and processed by US state agencies for national security purposes in a manner incompatible with the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU. Commissioner Helen Dixon now wants the Commercial Court to refer key issues for determination by the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) before her office makes a final decision on the complaint by Austrian student Max Schrems alleging breach of his data protection rights by Facebook Ireland. The company denies any breach of Irish or EU law. Mr Justice Brian McGovern yesterday agreed to fast-track the commissioners case against Facebook Ireland and Mr Schrems and to hear, on June 27, the commissioners application for referral of issues to the CJEU for determination. Those concern the validity of various European Commission decisions approving standard contractual clauses (SCCs) under which Facebook Ireland and others make data available to the US. SCCs are the main channel relied on to transmit data since the CJEU ruled last year the 15-year-old Safe Harbour arrangement which allowed some 4,500 US companies transfer personal data to the US violated fundamental rights of EU citizens to privacy and data protection. Michael Collins, for the commissioner, said the case is of enormous urgency, with huge potential impact for commercial trade and the rights of parties in relation to processing of their data. As no national court can decide the validity of the commission decisions on SCCs, the CJEU must determine that, he said. Paul Gallagher, for Facebook Ireland, said the case was considerably more complicated than outlined. Eoin McCullough, for Mr Schrems, did not oppose the case being fast-tracked but said Mr Schrems has concerns about whether another reference to the CJEU was necessary. Eileen Barrington, for the US government, said it would be applying to be joined as an amicus curiae (assistant to the court on legal issues) as the case has potentially significant implications for US authorities and companies. Maurice Collins, for the ESA software alliance, representing companies including Apple, Microsoft, and Intel, said it also wanted to be joined as an amicus curiae as his clients use SCCs to transfer data to the US and elsewhere. Paul Anthony McDermott, for Ibec and the US Chamber of Commerce, said the case has significance for thousands of companies in the context of trade with the US. In proceedings initiated in 2013, Mr Schrems challenged the then-commissioners refusal to investigate his complaint against Facebook Ireland, made after former NSA worker Edward Snowden claimed Facebook and other US firms were being forced to make their personal information, including EU user data, available to US intelligence. It comes as differing opinions have emerged among ministers as to whether term limits should be included if the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution is repealed. Minister for Social Protection Leo Varadkar claimed that term limits have to be part of any discussion about changing the law, but other ministers have differed on this matter. Ms Zappone, who has been a vocal advocate of repealing the Eighth, said it would be important to determine the circumstances in which it would be ethical, right, and necessary for women to seek abortions. She said she has requested that the cabinet discuss the recent UN Human Rights Committee judgment which found Amanda Mellet, who travelled to the UK for an abortion, suffered severe emotional and mental pain after being denied an abortion here. It is likely that todays cabinet meeting will be dominated by this issue. Ms Zappone said: I do think there is a responsibility on the State to review this series of findings and to move forward with a sense of urgency to set up the citizens assembly to deal with the legislative referendum issues with that regard. She said we must listen to women who have previously travelled for abortions so that we know what to replace, or how we change our laws with regard to abortion so that there is less restriction on women when they need to make that choice. She added: I think what is most important is that the Irish people have a structured and systematic way to listen to the women who have had the experience of wanting to have an abortion and have had to travel, have had to seek information, and we need to hear from them. We need to hear from their husbands and their partners and we need to hear from their families and we need to hear all sides of the debate. She said she is absolutely in favour of repealing the Eighth Amendment and added that women are absolutely moral agents and can make ethical decisions, especially in areas relating to their bodies and that mean the most to their lives. Ms Zappone also called on Taoiseach Enda Kenny to clarify the record of the Dail after he last week made inaccurate statements on previous abortion referenda. I think that it is important that the people are aware of what the truth is in relation to how they have voted over the years on the issue of abortion and so yes I will have a conversation with the Taoiseach in that regard, I think he is aware of that. For many people the complexity and variety of the products on offer is half the problem its hard to know where to start and what products are needed for the different stages of life. The first encounter with life insurance for many is when they take out their first mortgage. I asked Nick McGowan, an independent life insurance broker with LION.ie, what is the best advice for first-time buyers. When youre taking out a mortgage youll want to keep costs to a minimum, he said. All you need to satisfy your bank is a mortgage protection policy, dont be fooled into buying a more expensive life insurance policy. Dont add serious illness cover to your policy because in the event of a claim, the bank will get the payout even if you need it for life saving surgery. If youre interested in serious illness cover, buy it on a separate policy that the bank has no claim over. An additional product worth considering if you dont have long-term sick pay through work is mortgage income protection. These policies will pay your mortgage should you be unable to work long-term due to any illness. We all know how aggressive the banks have become in regards to repossession, mortgage income protection could save your home. The insurance industry says life cover is particularly crucial while children are young; 13% of people in survey revealed that if they were to pass away their family would either live off state help, or rely on support from family and friends The reality is that family finances and the household bills will still need to be looked after even if the main breadwinner passes away, Joe said. It is important not just to have cover, but have enough of it. I worry when somebody asks me to quote for 100,000 cover and tell me they earn 50,000, McGowan said. They are covering two years income, how long do they expect to be dead for? He suggests that as a rule of thumb you should hold 10-15 times your annual income in life insurance and also recommends fixing the price of this cover until your youngest is 25. So lets say youre 35, earn 40,000 and your youngest child is three. Cover for 600,000 over 22 years costs just 37.58 per month. Thats peanuts when you think of what would happen your loved ones without life insurance. When families are no longer financially dependent, life insurance is no longer as important and it may make more sense to downgrade cover and use the funds to cover other risks. As you get older, youre more at risk of a critical illness so it could be time to consider serious illness cover, McGowan suggested. When shopping for a policy McGowan doesnt recommend buying from a bank or going direct to the insurer as they can only sell you a policy from one insurer. Instead, use an independent broker who deals with all six providers. Youll get independent advice and a better quote. I asked what were the most common mistakes people made when buying life cover. Not adding a conversion option. Always, always, always add a continue cover option to your policy, McGowan said. It guarantees you cover in the future even if your health suffers. Dont presume that all insurers and life insurance products are the same. Weight, raised cholesterol, high blood pressure, mental health and other pre-existing conditions are treated differently by the insurers. Depending which insurer to apply to, they may or may not cause an increase in your premium. Get an indicative quote taking your health into account before you apply. Apply to the insurer that is most sympathetic to your condition, dont just go for the cheapest initial quote. DEAL OF THE WEEK Music streaming service Spotify is currently offering a deal that will appeal to music lovers. They are offering their Premium service at an introductory rate of 0.99 for the first three months. The offer is available to new customers and those who currently use the Spotify Free service. It is not available to users who already tried Premium. The paid service allows you to download your music, so users can listen without a connection. It is also ad-free, so users can enjoy high-definition sound without interruption. If you have teenagers at a loose end for the summer, it could be a godsend to help keep them entertained! At the end of the introductory period, the price reverts to 9.99 per month. If you decide that you do not want to continue, you have to cancel your subscription to the Premium Service prior to the end of your trial period otherwise you will automatically become a paying user. We live in a time of mass shootings and suicide attacks. This means it is possible that, in the ordinary hours of what you view as your daily life, you are actually participating in a largely invisible war that may break out at any moment. When it does, you may find yourself on the front lines, facing the cannons. This war has no specific geography. It can erupt anywhere, as it did early Sunday morning in Orlando, Florida. Nothing can save us when these events unfold, no claim of innocence: We are cannon fodder. So are our killers. We still dont know what may have motivated the killer who attacked patrons in a packed Orlando nightclub a well-known gay club called Pulse. What we do know is that shared humanity is not on the killers agenda. Your crying out that you too are human is meaningless. Not only does the killer not care, he doesnt hear it. Put yourself in his position: Like his targets, soon hell be dead. The bomber or stabber or shooter doesnt work on the sidelines. He doesnt set remote timers. Hes right there with you. Hes literally the launcher and the weapon. Set in motion, he continues on his fatal course until his job is done. John Oliver says Orlando killer targeted the 'ultimate symbol of what is wonderful about A https://t.co/AcfMjGfgfX pic.twitter.com/V81M3qvQRR Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) June 13, 2016 He has succeeded at tearing away, bit by bit, at the fabric of our lives. Along with the killings, this unraveling of daily life is his job thats another attribute that makes these massacres like war. The implanting of terror in our day-to-day routines is part of the wartime strategy. I lived for years on the west side of divided Jerusalem the Israeli-controlled, largely Jewish neighbourhoods. We often used to be surprised by a sudden loud clap like an explosion. Sometimes, it was an attack by a suicide bomber. More often, it was a sonic boom from an Israeli air force jet. After every one of these bangs, people in the streets would look up into the sky and listen for the following sound of a military aircraft. If there was no following roar, soon we would hear sirens. The horrible litany of body parts and ruined lives and new orphans and grieving parents would recommence. Its not easy to live your comfortable life thoughtlessly, when you know that among you may lurk a person who sees your very existence as antithetical to his or her ideals or culture or religion or personhood or freedom. And who may well be willing to die to eliminate you and others like you and cause upheaval in your world, as seems to have been the case with the killer at the Pulse nightclub. All the standbys of routine bourgeois daily existence cafes, schools, supermarkets, stadiums, airports, rock concert venues, nightclubs, noodle shops and, of course, the perennial crowded favourites: shopping centres, buses and metro stations have been attacked by suicidal killers willing to die in the act. As have beach resorts, open-air markets and hotels and places of worship. In other words, no place where the targeted collective culture is manifest can be considered safe. Youre not a person to the killer, but a symbol. Just by being who you are and living where you live, and participating in the community or culture to which you belong, you are the enemy. This is true no matter where the bomber or shooter comes from, no matter what degree of oppression he or she has lived under. Nor in the moment of the attack, is the bomber or shooter himself a person, as far as he is concerned. He is a weapon in a cause he believes in. And your dead body is nothing to him but a useful tool in a much bigger battle between the society and culture that have influenced him, and the society and culture you live in. Orlando gunman Omar Mateen had 'strong indications of radicalisation' https://t.co/tN3jy8mLVK pic.twitter.com/IIutS8xj1m Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) June 13, 2016 Penned the evening before his attack, here are the words of the first suicide bomber in history, Ignacy Hryniewiecki, 25, who assassinated Czar Alexander II in 1881, also killing and wounding many in the royal retinue: It is my lot to die young, Hryniewiecki wrote, I shall not see our victory. He thought that way as he tried to bring down czarist Russia. And this is no doubt how a suicide killer thinks to this day. They leave videos behind the way young Hryniewiecki left his note. The difference between then and now, though, is that the target is no longer royal or military, but civilian. This evolved from the strategy Algerians developed during their war of independence from France, in the late 1950s. In the Battle of Algiers, the Front for National Liberation (FLN) planted bombs in attacks on milk bars, brasseries, cafeterias, a stadium and the headquarters of Air France. Suicide was not part of the Algerian bombers plans, but the FLNs methods showed how successful the mass killings of civilians could be. They focused on soft targets, as civilian targets are now known. Eventually, suicide bombers were sent into soft targets, creating the tactics we now know so well. How do people deal with this? Those who are known targets have bodyguards, like Salman Rushdie or the editors and cartoonists of Charlie Hebdo. The rest of us cope with the threat with resignation. The central idea is to go on living ones life as much as possible in the old way. There are other methods, all useless but psychologically necessary, that people use in order to go on with life under this threat. If buses are the target, you dont take buses unless you have to. You tell your children not to take the bus. They disobey; they are used to taking buses. You remind yourself that lightning does strike twice in the same place. Hamas blew up a bus on the Number 18 line in Jerusalem. Then a few days later, they blew up another bus on that line. Journalist walks off as Sky News presenters refuse to link #Orlando shooting to homophobia https://t.co/QFvcidweRR pic.twitter.com/PrIEXgomGR Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) June 13, 2016 More: You go to the local store or the bank at odd hours, when there are few customers. You decline to attend Friday evening prayers at the mosque. You avoid crowds, because its a rare suicide killer who wants to take out only one or two victims. In Paris now, you sit at the back of the cafe to avoid machine gun fire from the street, should it happen, which it wont but now you know that it could. You stop going to the shopping arcade in Brussels or you try to drop by to purchase your new sunglasses at 11am or three in the afternoon. You stop going to the big tourist attractions, if youre a tourist. No more visits to the Mona Lisa. You shop online. Maybe you dont go to the movies; you dont go to political rallies. Wherever you go where there might be a crowd, you dont linger. But you could still end up at 2am at your favourite club in Orlando, never suspecting that at this hour, in this town, this would be the target chosen by a shooter. When I used to go running in Jerusalem, a spate of terrorist knifings had been taking place. I used to say over and over to myself the Arabic words I would shout to distinguish myself from an Israeli target. Sahafi! I told myself I would shout: Journalist! I didnt really think that I would be attacked and I didnt really think this would save me if I were. I practiced the word simply as a kind of magical thinking that allowed me to keep doing my morning run. The suicide bomber, if you happen to notice him before he strikes, doesnt care if you shout Journalist! Or, preferred by many American journalists: Canadian! Worst of all in this era is that strangers are always suspect. You move through life now in a haze of suspicion. Is that quite attractive young woman carrying a purse filled with explosives and shrapnel? Why is that seeming student wearing his backpack like that? What did that smiling guy just put in the garbage can? Its not that cold, why the down jacket? Do those three men over there look, somehow, not quite right? Were no longer on our own, having fun, going about our business, living our lives, our minds elsewhere. Death stalks us. Were on guard. Thats how I lived in Israel years ago, when it was a big relief for me to return to the United States and stop my personal security scans. But now, with the outbreak of rogue cells and freelancers, an attacker (or a couple of them) can pop up anywhere, it seems. Even San Bernardino, California, or Orlando. Orlando. We go on living our everyday lives, but one eye is always on the door, looking for the fellow with the guns and bombs. The worst thing is that we no can longer imagine that this behaviour is entirely silly or foolish. Amy Wilentz served as the Jerusalem correspondent for The New Yorker. She is the author of Martyrs Crossing: A Novel, set in Israel and the West Bank, and several non-fiction books, including Farewell, Fred Voodoo: A Letter from Haiti. She teaches in the Literary Journalism program at the University of California, Irvine, where she also founded and directs the Forum for the Academy and the Public. In an interview with German newspaper Bild, Mr Tusk said a Brexit vote would provide a major boost to radical anti-European forces who he said would be drinking champagne. Why is it so dangerous? Because no one can foresee what the long-term consequences would be, he said. As a historian I fear that Brexit could be the beginning of the destruction of not only the EU but also of western political civilisation in its entirety. The post, on the official Twitter account of the Leave.EU campaign, was denounced as shameful by cabinet minister Nicky Morgan and cowardly by shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn. It contained an image of militants brandishing guns in a desert, with the warning: Islamist terrorism is a real threat to our way of life. Act now before we see an Orlando-style atrocity here before too long. The poster was attached to a tweet which claimed: The free movement of Kalashnikovs in Europe helps terrorists. Vote for greater security on June 23. Vote Leave. Within minutes of the tweet, pro-Remain education secretary Ms Morgan said: This is really shameful. Mr Benn said: Shameful and cowardly. Our best protection against terror is standing together whether in Orlando, Paris, or Brussels. Other Twitter users described the post as disgusting and abhorrent, with one demanding to know whether prominent Leave campaigner Boris Johnson a member of the rival Vote Leave group would condone it. Britain Stronger in Europe spokesman and Labour frontbencher Chris Bryant called on Leave campaigners to condemn the post. Leave.EUs tweet is completely out of order, said Mr Bryant. Do they have no sense of common decency? They should take it down and apologise immediately. The wider Leave campaign should condemn it in the strongest possible terms. If they do not, they will be endorsing the twisting of the murders of innocent people for political purposes. Mr Benn said: It takes courage to stand by your principles and your friends when they are attacked, whether in Orlando, Paris, or Brussels. Doing so makes us stronger and shows our resolve to stand up for our values and way of life in the face of those who hold both in murderous contempt. They are warning people to take precautions. The bodies of the three men and one woman had bites and scratches presumably made by a large animal, Kazuno Police Station spokesman Noboru Abukawa said. He said police heard roars of a bear or bears and saw bears from a helicopter while searching for the victims. The victims, who were aged 65 to 79, were killed in a mountainous area within a 2.5km radius since May 20. Police are not sure of the cause of the sudden increase in the number of bear attacks. Abukawa said there had been no deaths from bear attacks in the last five years in Kazuno. The city in Akita prefecture is more than 600km north of Tokyo. On Friday, hunters shot and killed a female Asiatic black bear with a body length of 1.3m about 20m southwest of where the fourth victim was found dead, but Abukawa said it was unclear whether the dead bear had attacked the victims. Police are enhancing patrols and have distributed fliers alerting residents around the mountainous area to exercise caution. Mateen shot 50 people dead in a gay nightclub, Pulse, in Florida. Mr Longhurst told Mr Jones: Clearly, there is the question of whether, as you say, there is a hate crime or somethings being done in the name of religion. Mr Jones disagreed, saying the attack should be called out for what it is a homophobic crime. He also said the panellists were trying to deflect the homophobic aspect of the attack. Santa Monica police and the FBI are examining the intentions of James Wesley Howell, 20, who told police he was going to LA Pride in West Hollywood, which annually draws hundreds of thousands of people. His arrest came just hours after 50 people were shot and killed in a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, though police said they had found no evidence of a connection. Mr Howell, of Jeffersonville, was arrested at 5am, after residents reported suspicious behaviour by a man who parked his white Acura sedan facing the wrong way. When officers arrived, they saw an assault rifle sitting in Mr Howells passenger seat, Santa Monica police Lt. Saul Rodriguez said. They then found two more assault rifles, high-capacity magazines and ammunition, and a five-gallon bucket which contained chemicals that could be used to make an explosive device. Santa Monica police chief Jacqueline Seabrooks initially tweeted that Mr Howell told officers he wanted to harm the gay pride event, but later corrected her statement to say only that Mr Howell said he was going to the parade. A Facebook page of Mr Howells includes photos of the Acura. There is no enmity toward gay people or any notable political activism. One post says he is signing a petition to legalise marijuana. The pages most recent public post, from June 3, shows a photo comparing an Adolf Hitler quote to a Hillary Clinton one. An anti-Clinton, pro-Bernie Sanders photo was posted in February. The site says Mr Howell worked as an auditor for a company that makes air filters. Mr Howell was charged in October, in Clark County, Indiana, with pointing a firearm at someone, and with intimidation. He made a deal with prosecutors, in April, to plead guilty only to the misdemeanor intimidation charge. He was given a one-year prison sentence that the judge suspended in favour of strict probation against him having weapons. A friend of Howells, Joseph Greeson, said Mr Howells parents had not seen him for days and that they called Mr Greesons parents looking for him. Mr Greeson said Mr Howell had no ill will towards gay people. The FBI and other agencies were looking at evidence inside and in the closed-off streets around the Pulse nightclub, where a shooter pledging allegiance to Islamic State (IS) carried out the deadliest mass shooting in US history, and the worst attack on US soil since September 11, 2001. The gunman, Omar Mateen, a New York-born Florida resident and US citizen who was the son of Afghan immigrants, was shot and killed by police who stormed the club early on Sunday morning with armoured cars after a three-hour siege. Officials said the death toll was 50. Yesterday they clarified that this included Mateen. All but one of those killed had been identified and about half the families of the dead had been notified, officials said. Julissa Leal, 18, and her mother drove down to the Florida city from Lafayette, Louisiana, in search of her brother, 27-year-old Frank Hernandez. They knew he was at the club with his boyfriend, who lost him in the chaos. We havent heard anything, dont know anything, Ms Leal said, fighting back tears. Im going to see him again. Im going to see him again. Law enforcement officials were looking for clues as to whether anyone worked with Mateen on the attack, said Lee Bentley, US attorney for Floridas middle district. There is an investigation of other persons, we are working as diligently as we can on that, said Mr Bentley. If anyone else was involved in this crime, they will be prosecuted. Officials stressed they believed there had been no other attackers and that they had no evidence of a threat to the public. Mateen, 29, called emergency services during the shooting and pledged allegiance to the leader of IS, officials said. His father said his son was not radicalised, but indicated Mateen had strong anti-gay feelings. His ex-wife described him as mentally unstable and violent toward her. IS reiterated a claim of responsibility. One of the caliphates soldiers in America carried out a security invasion where he was able to enter a crusader gathering at a nightclub for homosexuals in Orlando, the group said in a broadcast on its Albayan Radio Although the group claimed responsibility, this did not necessarily mean it directed the attack: There was nothing in the claim indicating co-ordination before the rampage between the gunman and IS. The attack, denounced by US president Barack Obama as an act of terror and hate, reignited the debate over how best to confront violent Islamist militancy, and immediately became a sharp point of disagreement in the campaign for the November 8 presidential election. Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton said the US should walk a fine line in bolstering security without demonising Muslims, and also called for tougher gun safety measures. The Republican candidate, Donald Trump, criticised the US Muslim population for not reporting suspicions to authorities, and reiterated his call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country. The rampage began just after 2am on Sunday at the nightclub in the heart of Orlando, about 25km northeast of the Walt Disney World Resort. Orlando is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the US, drawing 62m visitors a year. Some 350 patrons were attending a Latin music event at the club. Survivors described scenes of carnage and pandemonium as the shooter took hostages inside a bathroom. Police said the officers who responded to the attack saved dozens of clubgoers and eventually used explosives and a heavy vehicle to punch a hole in the buildings wall, through which more people escaped. Mateen also emerged through the hole and was shot dead, police said. Mateen was an armed security guard at a gated retirement community, and had worked for the global security firm G4S for nine years. He had cleared two company background screenings, the latest in 2013, according to G4S. Despite his 911 call expressing support for IS, US officials said they had no conclusive evidence of any direct connection with foreign extremists. So far as we know at this time, his first direct contact was a pledge of bayat [loyalty] he made during the massacre, said a US counterterrorism official. This guy appears to have been pretty screwed up without any help from anybody. Mateens father, Seddique Mir Mateen, told reporters yesterday he was angered by his sons actions. I am sorry, the father said. If I did know, 1%, that he was committing such a crime myself, I would have arrested him myself, I would have called FBI. In an earlier interview with NBC news, the father described an incident in downtown Miami in which his son, saw two men kissing in front of his wife and child and became very angry. Mateens former wife, Sitora Yusufiy, told reporters near Boulder, Colorado, that she had been beaten by Mateen during outbursts of temper in which he would express hatred towards everything. Outside the Port Saint Lucie gym where Mateen once worked as a security guard, member Jon Mckenzie recalled Mateen as being rude about insisting on seeing identification. Authorities said Mateen had been twice questioned by FBI agents in 2013 and 2014 after making comments to co-workers about supporting militant groups, but neither interview led to evidence of criminal activity. The attacks underlined the inherent difficulties of providing security at open public events. We are determined to continue living in an open and tolerant way even if such murderous attacks plunge us into deep mourning, said German chancellor Angela Merkel, during a visit to China, as messages of condolence poured in from around the world. The attack came six months after a couple in California a US-born son of Pakistani immigrants and a Pakistani-born woman he married in Saudi Arabia killed 14 people in San Bernardino at an office party in an shooting rampage inspired by IS. The couple died in a shootout with police hours after that attack. Authorities said Omar Mateen had been twice questioned by FBI agents in 2013 and 2014 after making comments to co-workers about supporting militant groups, but neither interview led to evidence of criminal activity His father, Mir Siddique, who saw Mateen on Saturday, said in a video posted to Facebook that he had not known of his sons plans. I dont know what happened and I didnt know he had hatred, said Mr Siddique. God himself will punish homosexuality. It is not the job for humankind. He said he had a good and educated son. I am deeply saddened and have announced this to the people of America, Mr Siddique said in the Dari language, voicing disbelief that his son carried out the killings during the holy month of Ramadan. The assault, the worst mass shooting in modern US history, triggered an outpouring of grief but also defiance in the gay and lesbian community. The father is a minor celebrity in Afghan political circles in the US, hosting an occasional television show in which he expresses hardline views dressed sometimes in a pinstripe suit and other times in military fatigues. The FBI said Mateen born to Afghan parents in New York had been investigated, but cleared, for ties to a suicide bomber. Islamic State yesterday claimed responsibility for the shooting, saying in a radio bulletin that it was carried out by one of the soldiers of the caliphate. Omar Mateen killed 50 people in a shooting spree in an Orlando nightclub. There were more than 300 people inside. Jackie Smith was sitting with two friends who got shot. She said: Some guy walked in and started shooting everybody. He had an automatic rifle, so nobody stood a chance. I just tried to get out of there. Ms Smith did not know the conditions of her wounded friends. When she came out of the hospital, she burst into tears. Christine Leinonen drove to Orlando at 4am on Sunday, after learning of the shooting from a friend of her 32-year-old son, Christopher Leinonen, who was at Pulse and was missing. Ms Leinonen had not heard from her son and she feared the worst. These are nonsensical killings of our children, she said, sobbing. Theyre killing our babies! She said her sons friend, Brandon Wolf, survived by hiding in a toilet and by running out as the bullets flew. Barmaid Tiffany Johnson said she initially thought the gunshots were music. But after a second shot, there was a pause, followed by more shots. That was when she realised something was wrong. Ms Johnson said people dropped to the ground and started running out of the club. She ran to a fast-food restaurant across the street and met one of her customers, who let her get in his car. They drove away. Clubgoer Rob Rick said the shooting started, just as everybody was drinking their last sip. He estimated that 100 people were still inside when he heard shots, got on the ground, and crawled to a DJ booth. A bouncer knocked down a partition between the club area and a staff-only area. People were then able to escape through the back of the club. Christopher Hansen said he was in the VIP lounge when he heard gunshots. He continued to hear shooting, even after he emerged and saw the wounded being tended across the street. I was thinking: Are you kidding me? So I just dropped down. I just said: Please, please, please, I want to make it out, he said. And when I did, I saw people shot. I saw blood. You hope and pray you dont get shot. The 29-year-old Paralympic gold medallist, known as Blade Runner for the carbon-fibre prosthetics he wore when racing, faces a minimum 15-year jail term after his manslaughter conviction for the 2013 killing was upgraded on appeal. The case has prompted a fierce debate in a country beset by high levels of violent crime against women. Some rights groups have said the white athlete has received preferential treatment. Jonathan Scholtz, a psychologist called by Pistoriuss lawyer Barry Roux, told the sentencing hearing that the athlete, who attended in a dark suit and at times sat with his head in his hands, was on medication for depression, anxiety, and insomnia. One would describe him as broken. In my opinion his current condition warrants hospitalisation, said Mr Scholtz, noting that Pistorius was not in the right frame of mind to testify. Since 2013, he becomes traumatised when he hears the sound of gunfire, Mr Scholtz said. He never wants to touch a firearm again. Prosecutor Gerrie Nel questioned Mr Scholtzs assertion that Pistorius was not fit to testify, saying he had given a TV interview. The hour-long interview with Britains ITV is due to air on June 24. Mr Nel told the court Pistorius had shown no remorse for the murder, and only feels sorry for himself. Pistorius had had temper tantrums in jail and had once banged a table when he got upset with a nurse, Mr Nel said, asking Mr Scholtz why he ignored Pistoriuss actions. Mr Scholtz said Pistorius may have acted violently as he was adapting to prison and affected by medication. Why would you select only positive views for your report. I find that in your report you are biased towards the accused, Mr Nel said, shortly before the court adjourned for the day. Mr Roux declined to comment on the days proceedings, as did Steenkamps family. Mr Scholtz said Pistorius had been assaulted once in jail but Mr Nel rejected this, saying the complaint register in which Pistorius often raised issues had no report of such an incident. Mr Nel also disputed a claim by the psychologist that Pistorius was traumatised after he saw a prisoner who had hanged himself, saying it was unlikely that he could have seen the victim. Luvuyo Mfaku, a spokesman for the National Prosecuting Authority, told Reuters its position was to argue for the prescribed sentence to be imposed, that is 15 years. A final decision on sentencing is expected to be delivered this week. By Sunday night, his profile had been altered to Remember Luis Vielma after police confirmed he was among the dead in the deadliest mass shooting in US history. As authorities frantically tried to notify all the relatives, the Orlando Police Department began publishing the names of victims on a city website. Among them was Mr Vielma, who worked part-time as a rides attendant at the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey theme park ride, while studying physical therapy at Seminole State College, according to his Facebook profile. Others included Edward Sotomayor Jr, 34; Stanley Almodovar III, 23; Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo, 20; Juan Ramon Guerrero, 22; Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera, 36; and Peter O Gonzalez-Cruz, 22. The sheer number of deaths appeared to overwhelm officials in Orlando, a city of 270,000 people. Police asked mourners to hold off on vigils as they were understaffed to police them. We understand our community is grieving and that vigils are being planned but PLEASE hold off on vigils they represent a serious strain on our limited resources, which we need to dedicate to law enforcement and victims, the city posted on its official Twitter handle. Mr Sotomayor was a marketing manager at a Sarasota, Florida-based gay-themed travel company. His boss, Al Ferguson, said Mr Sotomayors partner was outside the nightclub putting something in the car when the shots rang out. He got a text from Mr Sotomayor telling him he was safe in the bathroom and not to come back into the club. Mr Sotomayor texted again 20 minutes later to say he was OK. That was the last his partner heard from him, Mr Ferguson said. Mr Sotomayor was a legend in the industry, Mr Ferguson said. He booked tours for entertainer and drag queen RuPaul and put together the first gay cruise to Cuba last year. He was due to announce a second trip on Sunday, but was killed. Anyone who booked gay cruises knew Sotomayor, said Mr Ferguson. He was a great man. In an Instagram post published on Sunday, RuPauls Drag Race judge Michelle Visage called Mr Sotomayor a joy. I loved you on so many levels. You were SO SO special and will never be forgotten, she wrote. I promise you that. Neighbours of Mr Almodovar, a 23-year-old pharmacy technician, said his parents recently moved to Puerto Rico after his mother became ill with cancer. He was the youngest in the family. The Facebook page for Mr Almodovar, of Clermont, Florida, was flooded with shocked tributes. Well miss you Stanley. You made an impact on everyone that you came around. A good person and friend, wrote Mark Nielsen of Deltona, Florida. Images posted to Mr Almodovars wall over the years showed him socialising with dozens of friends. I will always remember you, Jeannette Molina wrote. Your beautiful personality and spirit. USA: A rancher jumped on his horse and lassoed a man who was trying to steal a bicycle in the parking lot of an Oregon Wal-Mart, police said. Robert Borba was at the Eagle Point store loading dog food and a camping tent into his truck when he heard a woman screaming that someone was trying to steal her bike, the Medford Mail Tribune reports. The 28-year-old said he quickly got his horse, Long John, out of its trailer. He grabbed a rope and rode over to the man, who was reportedly struggling with the bike gears and attempting to flee on foot. Mr Borba lassoed the man around the legs and dragged him to one end of the parking lot. I seen this fella trying to get up to speed on a bicycle, Mr Borba told the Tribune. I wasnt going to catch him on foot. I just dont run very fast. Mr Borba said the man tried to grab a tree and get away, but he kept the rope tight and the man in place. I use a rope every day, thats how I make my living, Mr Borba said. If it catches cattle pretty good, it catches a bandit pretty good. Eagle Point police Sgt Darin May said officers arrived and found the lassoed man and bike on the ground in the parking lot. Police arrested Victorino Arellano-Sanchez, whom they described as a transient from the Seattle area, on a theft charge. Pious punch-up Cyprus: The best man slapped the groom on the back, which is an old Cypriot wedding custom. The priest punching the best man would be an innovation. But Cyprus police that they are investigating a report that this allegedly happened at a recent wedding. Police say the victim the grooms 22-year-old brother was not seriously hurt, but his family filed a complaint. A family member said the priest had gestured for the slapping to cease, then punched the brother in the chest and face when the warning went unheeded. Bishop of Paphos Georgios backed the priest, telling the Cyprus News Agency that the backslapping custom, dating from Ottoman times, doesnt befit the islands Orthodox Christian traditions. Breeding success England: One of the worlds rarest birds has laid eggs in captivity for the first time, in what wildlife experts say provides new hope for the species tiny wild population. Only around 200 breeding pairs of critically endangered spoon-billed sandpipers remain in the wild, where they make an annual 16,000km round-trip between their Russian Arctic breeding grounds and wintering grounds in south-east Asia. Efforts began to establish a flock at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust in Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, in 2011 as a back-up to the wild population in case conservationists could not reverse declines of up to 25% a year in time to save the species. Now, seven eggs have been laid by two spoon-billed sandpipers at Slimbridge, with a further seven potential breeding pairs. Each bird usually lays four eggs, taking the mother almost a week to lay a clutch weighing a total of 32g more than her entire bodyweight, experts said. Laying eggs at Slimbridge is significant for the species, which has never bred in captivity and whose extreme lifestyle migrating between the Arctic and the tropics makes it hard to recreate conditions in captivity for successful breeding. Slithery passenger USA: An Arkansas woman escaped injury and managed to safely stop her car after a 1.2-long rat snake came out of her dashboard and slithered across her feet as she drove on Interstate 49. Rat snakes are not venomous or generally a threat to people, but Kelly Swisher says the snake she encountered gave her a nails on a chalkboard sort of feeling. It was rough and scaly, said Ms Swisher. I do not know if I had my hands on the steering wheel or not. I am not the most flexible person in the world, but I can guarantee my knees were up next to my ears. She said the snake first slithered back into the dashboard and she hoped it would stay there until she was able to get off the interstate and stop. That did not work out, she said. Here he comes, and he wound up in my back seat, before she finally could get off the roadway, stop and get out of the car. Washington County animal control officers came and captured the snake. Gun-point pup USA: A puppy stolen at gunpoint from a 14-year-old San Francisco Bay Area boy has been found safe. The San Francisco Chronicle says the boy was walking a three-month-old German shepherd named Maya in San Leandro when two men rolled up in a car. The passenger got out and tried to snatch the dog but the boy resisted. The driver then got out with a gun. The men took nothing but the dog and fled. Lt. Robert McManus, a spokesman for the San Leandro Police Department, said the puppy was found safe. He declined to provide details on her return. We cant let people in... We have to be very, very strong, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee said. The problem is we have thousands of people right now in our country. You have people that were born in this country who are susceptible to becoming radicalised, the billionaire told Fox News Channels Fox & Friends. He claimed that there are Muslims living here who know who they are and said it was time to turn them in. Mr Trump, who got embroiled in controversy early in the presidential campaign when he advocated a ban on Muslims being admitted to the US, said: There are people out there with worse intentions than the perpetrator of the shootings in Orlando. Mr Trump planned to further address the deadliest shooting in modern US history in a speech originally intended to attack Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee. The switch came a day after Mr Trump called for Ms Clinton to drop out of the race to be president if she did not use the words radical Islam to describe the Florida nightclub massacre. Mr Trumps hardline approach to fighting Islamic terrorism was a hallmark of his primary campaign. Besides proposing a temporary prohibition on foreign Muslims from entering the country, he has advocated using waterboarding and other harsh interrogation methods to try to stave off future attacks. In the hours after the Orlando shooting, Mr Trump issued a statement calling on US president Barack Obama to resign for refusing to even say the words radical Islam in his response to the attack. He said Ms Clinton should exit the presidential race if she does the same. In an address from the White House, Mr Obama called the tragedy an act of terror and hate. He did not talk about religious extremists. He said the FBI would investigate the shootings in the gay nightclub as terrorism, but added the gunmans motivations were unclear. Like Ms Obama, Ms Clinton called the shootings acts of terror and hate, but did not use the words radical Islam in a statement released by her campaign. Instead, she said the country must redouble our efforts to defend the country, including defeating international terror groups, working with allies and partners to go after them wherever they are, countering their attempts to recruit people here and everywhere, and hardening our defences at home. Ms Clinton later said she is not shying away from using the term radical Islamism to describe the attack in Orlando and that she has a plan to address the threat. However, she added that singling out a specific religion and trying to demonise its followers will not protect the US from the next attack. Ms Clinton, in a phone interview, told NBC Today that she has a plan to defend the nation from lone wolf attacks. But Im not going to demonise and demagogue like Trump because its plain dangerous, she added. Franciss visit to the World Food Program was his first to the UN agency that provides emergency food aid for 80m people in some 80 countries in the world. The Pope has repeatedly drawn attention to global indifference towards refugees, the poor, and the hungry, and has made food security one of the cornerstones of his papacy, previously visiting the World Food Programs sister organisation, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation. Asia Thai Airline Apologizes After Pilots Chat About Crashing Plane An airline in Thailand has apologized after friends of a pilot joked in a group chat about crashing a plane with a former prime minister on board. BANGKOK An airline in Thailand has apologized after friends of a pilot joked in a group chat about crashing the plane he was going to fly with a former prime minister on board. The screenshot of the chat, conducted on their phones Sunday, somehow was leaked on social media, provoking widespread criticism of the airline, Nok Air. In response, Nok Air chief executive Patee Sarasin said in a tweet that this kind of behavior is intolerable. I will personally call Yingluck and apologize, Nok Air has no politics, I wont stand this, he said. Yingluck Shinawatra came to power in a landslide election victory in 2011, but her government was ousted in a coup in 2014 after protracted political turmoil. She remains popular in the countryside but many people in cities remain opposed to her family, especially her brother Thaksin Shinawatra, a former prime minister who also was ousted in a military coup in 2006. He now lives abroad in self-imposed exile. On Sunday, Yingluck was walking on the tarmac toward the Nok Air aircraft in the provincial town of Phrae when the first officer on the plane took her picture. He posted it on a group chat with the comment: Theres a prey on board. A friend commented: Oooh, go for it. A second friend then said: please do a CFIT and a third person chimed in by saying: Very Very Important Person, land safely. CFIT is aviation jargon meaning controlled flight into terrain, or a controlled crash. It was not known if the first officers friends were also pilots or in aviation. The acronym CFIT, however, is normally used by those in the business. On her Facebook page Monday, Yingluck said she hoped this incident would be an example of not bringing in personal attitudes into professional services. Especially when it is about life and safety. Nok Air also posted an apology on the companys Facebook page, which attracted hundreds of comments. Burma Dalai Lama Urges Suu Kyi to Ease Rohingya Tensions Aung San Suu Kyi has a moral responsibility to try to ease tensions between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims, says her fellow Nobel laureate the Dalai Lama. WASHINGTON Aung San Suu Kyi has a moral responsibility to try to ease tensions between majority Buddhists and minority Rohingya Muslims, her fellow Nobel laureate, the Dalai Lama, said on Monday. The Tibetan spiritual leader said he had stressed the issue in meetings with Suu Kyi, who came to power in April in the newly created role of state counselor in Burmas first democratically elected government in five decades. She already has the Nobel Peace Prize, a Nobel Laureate, so morally she should make efforts to reduce this tension between the Buddhist community and Muslim community, he told Reuters in an interview in Washington. I actually told her she should speak more openly. Violence between majority Buddhists and minority Muslims in recent years has cast a cloud over progress with democratic reforms in Burma. Rights groups have sharply criticized Suu Kyis reluctance to speak out on the Rohingyas plight. The Dalai Lama said Suu Kyi, who won worldwide acclaim and a Nobel Peace Prize as a champion of democratic change in the face of military persecution, had responded to his calls by saying that the situation was really complicated. So I dont know, he said. There is widespread hostility toward Rohingya Muslims in the Buddhist-majority country, including among some within Suu Kyis party and its supporters. More than 100 people were killed in violence in western Arakan State in 2012, and some 125,000 Rohingya Muslims, who are stateless, took refuge in camps where their movements are severely restricted. Thousands have fled persecution and poverty in an exodus by boat to neighboring South and Southeast Asian countries. The Dalai Lama said some Buddhist monks in Burma seem to have some kind of negative attitude to Muslims and Buddhists who harbored such thoughts should remember Buddhas face. If Buddha happened, he certainly would protect those Muslim brothers and sisters, he said. The new Burmese government announced late last month that Aung San Suu Kyi would lead a new effort to bring peace and development to Arakan State. The announcement offered no details on how the group would go about addressing the states multitude of problems. Suu Kyi said during a visit by US Secretary of State John Kerry last month that the country needed enough space to deal with the Rohingya issue and cautioned against the use of emotive terms that she said were making the situation more difficult. Burma Military Chopper Crashes, Kills Three Three Burma Army officers died when a military helicopter crashed this morning in Pegu Division due to bad weather, according to the Office of the Commander-in-Chief. Three Burma Army officers died when an MI-2 military helicopter crashed today in Pegus Daik-U Township, according to the Office of the Commander-in-Chief. The offices initial report stated that the chopper, having undergone major maintenance at Meiktila air base, took off around 9 a.m. for Tenasserims Myeik air base. The chopper stopped in Taungoo, also in Pegu, to refuel and then continued toward Hmawbi, in Rangoon Division. Due to bad weather, it crashed before reaching its final destination. The pilot, Maj Yan Naing Htoo, co-pilot Capt Tun Tun Naing and Sgt Tin Tun Lwin were reportedly killed on the spot. There is an open investigation into the cause of the accident. This is the fourth known air force accident in recent months. In February, a Beechcraft airplane crashed near Naypyidaw International Airport, killing all five army officers onboard; in March, there was a runway accident at the same airport due to a mechanical failure; in April another chopper crashed in Mandalay Division. Burma NLD Looks to Win Parliamentary Seat in Election Reversal An election tribunal hears statements in an appeal by a USDP lawmaker who might lose his seat to an NLD parliamentary hopeful in an election reversal. RANGOON An election tribunal on Monday heard statements in an appeal by a Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) lawmaker who is likely to lose his seat to a National League for Democracy (NLD) parliamentary hopeful in an election reversal. In December, Khine Nyi Nyi Kyaw, who ran as an NLD candidate in the November 2015 general election, objected to Shan States Yatsauk Constituency No. 1 (Lawksawk Township) being called for the USDPs Aung Kyaw Nyunt, who in the election was said to have bested his opponent by a difference of 1,085 votes. According to Khine Nyi Nyi Kyaw, who filed a complaint with the Union Election Commission (UEC), these particular ballot results should be invalidated because votes from ineligible voters were included in the final tally. Military personnel who were attending a training course at Ba Htoo military camp [in Yat Sauk Township] were included on the voter lists, even though they were ineligible to vote because they were here for only two months, Khine Nyi Nyi Kyaw said. Election law states that a temporary resident is someone who has lived in a different constituency for at least six months and does not intend to return to his or her home constituency. To cast a ballot in the new constituency, this person must also register with local election officials. Khine Nyi Nyi Kyaw said that the final voter lists were received too late to object earlier to the inclusion of military personnel, who should have cast advance ballots in their home constituencies, or in the constituency in which their battalion is based, prior to training. The election tribunal decided to cancel these votes [in December] at the polling stations where [military personnel] had voted, he said, adding that this saw the USDP lawmaker trail him by a margin of 3,506 votes. Khine Nyi Nyi Kyaw said that during the hearing on Monday, the attorney general argued that Aung Kyaw Nyunts appeal to the tribunals decision should be dismissed. Shan State was one of the few electoral bright spots for the USDP in an election that otherwise saw the NLD win by sweeping majorities. The former ruling party won the largest number of seats in Shan State, with the NLD taking third place. If the election tribunal stands by its decision, this will be yet another seat lost by the USDP since the end of the election. In late November, the USDP lost an Upper House seat representing Shan States Kutkai, Muse and Namkham townships to the ethnic Taang National Party (TNP) after an election sub-commission found that the ballots from six polling stations in Namkham Township had not been counted in the tabulations that led to the erroneous announcement. The election tribunals final decision will be announced on July 12. Burma Rangoon Division Parliament Demands Crackdown on Drugs NLD parliamentarians cited growing youth addiction and police corruption in calls for hard measures against the drug trade, including the death penalty. RANGOON On Tuesday, more than a dozen National League for Democracy (NLD) lawmakers in the Rangoon Division parliament demanded that authorities crack down on big-time drug dealers and smugglers in the city, who keep evading arrest, citing the worsening effect of drugs on Rangoons youth. The proposal was submitted the previous week by Wai Phyo Han, representing Insein Township (2), and was approved for debate by the parliamentary speaker. Aye Aye Mar, representing Lanmadaw Township (2), presented her constituents complaints in the Tuesday parliamentary session. These centered on the targeting of university students and other young people by drug dealers. One of the students parents bared their souls to me, Aye Aye Mar said. They told me that first the students consume the drugs but later they became drug distributors. Thit Thit Myint, representing South Okkalapa Township (1), said she had heard of several massive drug seizures in Rangoon but the smugglers behind the shipments were never arrested. Drug distribution is increasing significantly day by day, she said, adding that they can even be bought at betel nut shops and small, unlicensed drinking outlets. Another NLD lawmaker in the divisional legislature, Yan Shin of Mayangone Township (2), said that punishments for dug dealers should be similar to those in China and Indonesia, which include the death penalty. Burma stops short at lifetime imprisonment for the worst drug offenses. Yan Shin thought that appropriately heavy punishment would effectively deter drug dealing. However, fellow NLD lawmaker Nay Phone Latt (Thingangyun, 1) said the government should be cautious in terms of whom and what it targets. Yan Shin added that beauty salons, unlicensed massage parlors and karaoke clubs are linked to the narcotics trade. Such businesses are protected by low ranking police officers in return for bribes. This collusion makes it harder for counter-narcotics police to get at the big drug traders. Lawmaker Than Naing Oo (Pabedan, 1) seconded these claims about massage parlors and police corruption, and suggested that the government should seek greater professionalization of the massage parlor industry, to bring it all above board. Zin Min Htwe (Dagon, 2) spoke further of police complicity in the drug trade. Last month, the lawmaker said that a police officer had reportedly been arrested with WY methamphetamine pills in the Thaketa Township police station; he was allegedly selling them to detainees. Zin Min Htwe added that many young addicts are currently admitted to Rangoons Mental Health Hospital for treatment. Its 1,200 beds have proved insufficient; three extra buildings, with 100 beds each, are now being used to accommodate the addicts. Lawmaker Thaw Tar Aung (Sanchaung 2) said he had recently witnessed many youths injecting no.4 heroin on apartment stairwells, and disposing of the hypodermic needles near buildings on Phyapon and Pathein roads. Col Tin Aung Tun, Rangoon Divisions security and border affairs minister (a military appointment), told the divisional parliament that 18 large-scale drug traders are currently on the run. He said that counter narcotics police are working with Interpol to arrest them The minister said the drug problem in Rangoon is linked to trade across the border from Bangladesh, Thailand and China. He also cited the involvement of non-state ethnic armed groups in Burma. It is very hard to solve the drugs problem while non-state armed groups continue to exist [in Burma], he said. The minister also told the divisional parliament that 717 people had been arrested with drugs within the last six months, a figure he coupled with the detention of 382 sex workers. Lawmaker Thaw Tar Aung responded that Young women [in massage parlors] are always arrested but the owner is never is. Burma Twilight Over Burma To Be Reviewed by Censorship Board The Burma debut of a film about an Austrian woman who became a Shan princess is delayed as the censors, worried about harming ethnic unity, decide its fate. RANGOON Twilight Over Burma, a film about a Shan leader and his Austrian wife, will be subjected to the scrutiny of the film censorship board before it receives permission to be premiered in Burma at the annual Human Rights Human Dignity International Film Festival, which starts Tuesday, according to a board member. The film tells the real-life tale of an Austrian woman, Inge Sargent, who became royalty when she married Sao Kya Seng, an ethnic Shan princeor saophafrom Hsipaw, Shan State. It covers the early days of Burmas independence up to the years immediately following the 1962 military coup, and is based on Sargents autobiography, Twilight Over Burma: My Life as a Shan Princess. Sao Kya Seng instituted land reforms and promoted democracy, but was arrested by the Burma Army during Gen Ne Wins coup. He was later killed in prison under mysterious circumstances. Although it was scheduled to be the Human Rights Human Dignity International Film Festivals first screening on Tuesday at Rangoons Naypyitaw Cinema, the movie has since been pulled. Phone Maw, a member of the film censorship board and a secretary of the Myanmar Motion Picture Organization (MMPO), told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that the final decision of the censorship board will be announced on Thursday after the board has its second viewing of the film. He added that the board had already given initial comments on the film but had decided to hold a second viewing as the board members were not yet ready to give permission for a public screening. The main reason [for the review] is that [the content] of the film could damage the ethnic unity of the state, Phone Maw said. The film censorship board is made up of 15 representatives from different associations including the MMPO and Myanmar Music Association. Ministries such as Home Affairs and Religious Affairs and Culture are also represented on the board. Burma UNFC Proposes More Negotiations Prior to Suu Kyi Meeting An alliance of ethnic armed groups has told Burmas peace negotiators they would like another round of talks before meeting State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi. RANGOONThe United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), an alliance of nine ethnic armed groups, has told Burmas peace delegation that it would like to hold additional talks with lead negotiator Dr. Tin Myo Win before meeting State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi. The UNFCs peace delegation, known as Delegation for Political Negotiation (DPN), reached out on Monday to the governments peace conference preparatory sub-committee 2. The committee is led by Tin Myo Win, longstanding personal physician of Suu Kyi and newly appointed government peace negotiator. Tun Zaw, the secretary of the UNFC, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday that the DPN had agreed to meet the state counselor, but wanted to first hold additional talks with Tin Myo Wins delegation in Chiang Mai, Thailand. We didnt deny their invitation. But, we want to pre-negotiate before meeting Daw Aung San Suu Kyi so that it will be smooth when we meet her. We havent yet heard a clear response to what we asked during our meeting on June 3, said Tun Zaw, in reference to the UNFCs inquiry during a previous meeting about whether Burmas current government policy aligned with that of the previous government. The former military-backed administration invited only 15 potential signatories to the so-called Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA)eight of whom opted to signand excluded the Arakan Army (AA), the Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA). The UNFC leaders also asked the sub-committee if they would need to sign the NCA prior to participating in the upcoming 21st Century Panglong Conference, a question which they also claim has yet to be clearly answered. Hla Maung Shwe, member of sub-committee 2 and former senior advisor to the Myanmar Peace Center, acknowledged the DPNs request and stated that they would likely meet again in the coming days in Chiang Mai. He said the committee has explained the governments policy, but would clarify any discrepancies at the upcoming meeting. Under the previous government led by former President Thein Sein, eight ethnic armed groups including the Karen National Union (KNU) and the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) signed the NCA. However, other powerful ethnic armed organizations like the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and the Mongla Army, did not sign. There are two government sub-committees tasked with preparations for the upcoming peace conference. One is led by Burma Army official Lt-Gen Yar Pyae and is responsible for negotiating with current NCA signatories. The other, led by Tin Myo Win, is in charge of meeting with non-signatories and intends to meet with the UWSA and the Mongla Army in the near future. Business Details on Suu Kyi-nomics Forthcoming After months of uncertainty, businessmen are eager to learn about the NLDs economic policies, the details of which will be revealed in June. RANGOON The National League for Democracy (NLD) government pledged to support the private sector to drive Burmas economy growth and lower the barriers for going into business, said Union Minister for Planning and Finance Kyaw Win on Monday in Rangoon. The NLDs economic policies will be made public this month, said the minister at a meeting with the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI). The economic policy has yet to be approved [by the cabinet]. But it will be announced soonbefore the end of the month. The new economic policy will allow all citizens to start their own businesses, he said. Despite their landslide victory in the elections last November, the NLDs economic policy remains shrouded in mystery. The minister said the economic policies would be announced soon and they would support the private sector, but he didnt give any details about how they would do that, Maung Maung Lay, vice chairman of the UMFCCI, told The Irrawaddy. There were different topics raised by various businessmen, but most of them were related to their own self-interest, so I suggested the minister make policies that are good for everyone, not just certain individuals, Maung Maung Lay said. In the past, previous governments listened to us but in the end no practical support came, he explained. Thats why we hope this government also takes action. For example, the government needs to bolster small- and medium-sized enterprises if they really want to promote the manufacturing industry and exports. It is clear the uncertainty around the NLDs economic policy is causing headaches for many in the business community. Kyaw Thu, secretary of the Myanmar Fruits and Vegetables Producers Association, said: We were not told what the [economic] policies will encompass. We only know that the policies are being drafted. We need clear economic policies because what we have now is instability. There must be a robust economic policy and development strategy. Our country is still heavily engaged in the agriculture industry, which does not create a large amount of job opportunities Greater attention should be paid to this, said Dr. Maung Aung, senior economist at the Ministry of Commerce. The GDP must be increased, but it must be growth that also benefits the lowest income earners. Min Ko Oo, secretary of Myanmar Beans and Pulses Traders Association, said the government should look for long-term strategies to drive economic growth, in contrast with previous governments that focused on short-term policies. In the past, we never knew what was allowed to be exported because the government always changed the export lists, he said. The NLD should look out for long-term interests of the country and should cut unnecessary imports and try to concentrate on exports because we have a trade deficit. Burmas trade volume increased annually after transitioning to a quasi-civilian government in 2011. It leveled off in 2016, worrying some observers. The country imported nearly US$16 billion in goods during the 2014-15 fiscal year. Meanwhile, exports totalled more than $11 billion, leaving an estimated deficit of nearly $5 billion. Additional reporting by May Soe San Editorial Cronies Still Deserve Blame for Burmas Poverty Since the early 1990s, crony-run companies have exploited the countrys resources and made away with funds from govt coffers, leaving the people in poverty. Burma was subjected to military rule for nearly five decades between the late dictator Ne Wins coup in 1962 and former Snr-Gen Than Shwes abdication in 2010. Everyone says the country was destroyed by the authoritarian rulers. Generally speaking, they are right. The military is not supposed to govern the country or manage the people. It is supposed to protect the country against external dangers and provide emergency rescue and relief in case of natural disasters. But in the case of Burma, the country descended into chaos because of the military elites gross mismanagement in politics, the economy, education, social policy, health care and diplomatic relations. Whats worse is former dictator Than Shwe adopted and carried out a policy of producing rich Burmese nationals. Dubbed by many as cronies, they achieved success during the dark era of the military junta, especially from the 1990s to the early 2000s. They won lucrative no-bid contracts from government ministries and accumulated wealth out of the countrys coffers. Some even amassed substantial fortunes and became billionaires. Most cronies, however, did not build up their fortunes through their entrepreneurial flair or years of hard work in a fair business environment. Quite the contrary, they became wealthy by exploiting the countrys natural resources and forests. Meanwhile, the country and the people today are still suffering from the consequences of over-exploitation of natural resources. The most prominent example is deforestation in northern Burma caused by the excessive logging carried out by companies close to the military and previous government. As a result, several upcountry regions faced unusually extreme floods last year, and more severe flooding is expected this year. Cronies included generals in their business dealings, further entrenching their monopolies over key government industries. The generals also pulled some of the cronies into politics, like Yuzanas Htay Myint and Zaykabars Khin Shwe. Both became lawmakers in 2010 on the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) ticket. Htay Myint represented Myeik in Tenasserim Division where his company had been running a massive palm oil plantation. Khin Shwe represented townships like Kawhmu and Kungyangon in southern Rangoon, where his Zaykabar company was building and operating roads under a government concession system. Under Thein Seins government, which ruled from 2011 to 2015, the situation was not very different from the military regime. The cronies still had their place and some who were close to then-president Thein Sein were granted even more business concessionsfrom introducing international debit cards to nationwide television and radio broadcasting. As a result of this nefarious collaboration, the country has spiraled downward into abject poverty while the generals and cronies have amassed wealth for themselves and their offspring. Burma, which was once expected to become an Asia tiger in the 1960s because of its great economic potential and quality education system, must not forget the reason behind its position today. While we need to have more clarity on the economic policies of the National League for Democracy (NLD), we also need to recognize that many people have misappropriated the countrys funds and resources over the past few decades. It is not wrong to say the cronies are among those who are mainly responsible for Burmas grinding poverty today. Tuesday, June 14th, 2016 (3:37 pm) - Score 5,613 The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales (Old Bailey) has fined a disappointed BT (Openreach) 500,000 and ordered it to pay costs of 98,913.51 after one of their engineers, David Spurgeon, fell 7 metres from a loft, shattering both ankles and suffering back injuries. According to CourtNewsUK (members only), Spurgeon was working alone in the attic space at a block of flats when he slipped and plunged through ceiling tiles on to a concrete stairwell. BT allowed the engineer to retire on medical grounds in 2013, which happened two years after the original accident in 2011. Earlier reports of the case suggested that BT could have been facing a fine worth millions of pounds and in its defence the operator is understood to have accused their former employee of being unreliable and milking his condition. But Judge John Bevan QC branded such claims as not necessary, misplaced and unfortunate. A Spokesperson for Openreach (BT) told ISPreview.co.uk: We are disappointed with this conviction. The safety of the public and BT people is always our primary concern and we have a strong track record in this area as recognised by the judge. BT is always looking for ways to improve the safety and security of our people and their work environment. Generally Openreach and other operators always put their staff through some fairly frequent safety training. As a result engineers may refuse to do a job if their Health & Safety regulations get in way, which can thus require additional support to complete. Obviously this can also cause delays and frustration. But in this case the court clearly felt as if there had been a number of failures with health and safety management. People following FromSoftware should be happy knowing that the studio is working on three new titles. Sadly, a follow up to "Dark Souls 3" will not be among those titles. Yes, the team behind the popular franchise has no intentions to release a new "Dark Souls" game in the future. According to GameSpot, "Dark Souls 3" developer FromSoftware has a lot of things to work on. The company's president Hidetaka Miyazaki broke out the news and confirmed that his team is developing three new games. Sure, fans can continue hoping for a "Dark Souls 3" follow up. However, it is best if they will not. The Tokyo-based video game company has no plans of developing another title in the highly celebrated series as of yet. Nonetheless, one of these upcoming titles is believed to be an action role-playing game. And surprisingly, it has a dark fantasy setting, which is akin to what "Dark Souls 3" has. This new title, on the other hand, is quite different from what the studio usually develops. Hence, it could offer a new perspective, one that is far from the shelves of titles the studio has. The third one is said to be part of the "Armored Core" series (a franchise that is also quite far from the structure of "Dark Souls 3"). It is worth noting that the latest installment in the "Armored Core" series was launched way back in 2013. It was called "Armored Core: Verdict Day." Meanwhile, Kotaku reports that the first "Darks Souls 3" DLC will be released in Japan this fall, with the second expansion being made available early next year. The downloadable contents are reportedly following the same pattern that FromSoftware has unleashed in the past. But then again, as for any sequels or spin-offs, none of them will be made. The good thing, however, is that Miyazaki did not fully close the doors for a possible "Dark Souls 3" sequel. He mentioned about the series being put "on hold for a while," as they are focusing on new developments. After all, they are not entirely a "Dark Souls" company. Ever since Google started to partner up with different mobile manufacturers to release their line of electronic devices, fans have gotten hooked n the Nexus phones. Previously, Google has already partnered up with Huawei, LG, Motorola, HTC and Asus. While the partner for this year is still up for guesses, details of the upcoming Nexus 7 (2016) are already available. In the Google I/O conference held in May, the company did not make any announcements on the new Nexus phone, but instead focused on the latest Android operating system, tentatively called Android N, as well as the Daydream, the Duo, Google Home and the Android Wear 2.0. According to The Christian Times, this likely means that when Google does decide to release the gadget, that it will come pre-installed with the latest operating system. The publication also theorizes that Google first wants to see how the public will respond to the Android N, before deciding whether or not to include the same in the Nexus 7. In fact, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said that the company is looking to be add more features on top of Android on the unit and that "There's a lot of software innovation to be had." The item is speculated to have either a 5-inch or 5.5-inch screen, with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 as the processor. T3 also speculates that the Nexus 7 is likely to come with 4GB of RAM. HTC and Huawei are the top contenders to partner up with Google for the next generation, with the former even claiming to the same earlier this year. The same publication also shares that apps will be available in separate windows, that the unit will sport better graphics, an improved notification system and will be compatible with Google's new Daydream VR platform. Indeed, Google has big plans for the Nexus 7 and will be putting all its best into the unit. The release date of the Nexus 7 has yet to be confirmed, but experts are saying the unit is likely to receive a September debut date. On Sunday, June 12, Facebook accidentally declared the Philippines at war by displaying an Independence Day banner with inverted colors on the Philippine flag. Facebook's banner says: "Happy Independence Day! Here's to all of the Philippines' health, happiness and prosperity." But unfortunately, social media network's good intentions were canceled by an error in the banner's design. According to The Verge, the banned created by Facebook unfortunately suggested that the country is at war. The Philippine Star reports that the image of the Philippine flag featured by Facebook had an inverted color scheme, with blue on the bottom and red on top. During peacetime, the Philippine's flag is flown with blue on top and red on the bottom, according to law. The inverted configuration displayed by Facebook's banner should only be displayed during times of war. Users of Facebook social media network were greeted with the banner at the top of their News Feeds. Many have pointed out the error. Filipino citizens were quick to inform the social media network about the mistake. The majority of commentaries have been asking Facebook to correct its error. Many Filipinos were posting on Twitter, Facebook and other social media networks requesting an apology. The Official Gazette of the Republic of Philippines reacted to the incident by posting a picture that shows the correct ways to display the flag. Since the banner was designed as a celebration of the Philippines Independence Day, the mistake has been doubly awkward. The social media network later removed the Independence Day greetings, but its mistake was far from forgotten. According to CNET, Facebook also issued an apology soon after acknowledging the mistake. The company said in a statement that they are sorry and explained that the mistake was unintentional. This is not the first time the Philippine flag has been incorrectly hung upside down. The U.S. government mistakenly displayed the inverted Philippine's flag at a meeting hosted by president Barack Obama in 2010. Director Michael Bay revealed that Barricade, a Decepticon robot who transformed into a Mustang police car will take a new vehicle form in Transformers' fifth movie. Barricade first transformed into a fifth-gen Mustang police car in the first Transformers movie. According to Motor Authority, the sidekick Bumblebee will also appear in a new vehicle form. This time, the bad guys are the focus and an old foe Barricade who dueled with Bumblebee back in 2007 will take a new vehicle mode. For its latest movie, Barricade will be featured as the sixth-gen Ford Mustang car with front protective bars, new blacked-out headlights surrounds, A-pillar-mounted spotlights, vented hood and rear fenders tagged with "to punish and enslave" label. In a related Moviepilot post, Actor Josh Duhamel also said, "Exactly how the Decepticon is making a return is unclear, but it's safe to assume that the threat is real - after all, the deadly vehicle still has the promise 'to punish and enslave' on the back, instead of the standard law enforcement pledge "to serve and protect." On a side note, the 2016 Ford Mustang recently entered Malaysia's auto market in two guises. The first is a 2.3L EcoBoost-powered Mustang that provides 317 horsepower and 432 lb.-ft. torque. The second is the 5.0L 8-cylinder-powered Mustang with a more exhilarating 416 horsepower and 530 lb.-ft. torque. According to Paultan, an image of Barricade's new look is tweeted by Josh Duhamel, the actor who reprise the role of Lt. Colonel William Lennox, on his official page on Twitter. While the fifth Transformers installment filming still happening, it seems that we can expect some heart-pounding speed chases which involves the new Barricade and Bumblebee, who was first revealed to take the form of a 2016 Chevy Camaro. Aside from Josh Duhamel, other actors that will be returning for the fifth Transformers movie include Mark Wahlberg as Cade Yeager and Peter Cullen who voices Optimus Prime plus a rumored addition of Anthony Hopkins. Video recordings may not be admissible in court after a New Zealand judge ruled that an iPhone video could not be played in court because the way it was stored was at odds with the Evidence Act and its regulations. It is all to do with the chain of custody (CoC). In the past video was taken on a dedicated video camera, downloaded to a secured PC and at the same time a CD/DVD was burned and certified all keeping the chain of evidence within police custody. In the case in question an iPhone was used, but it could equally have been any brand or any device that uploads its content to the cloud CCTV, security camera, dash cam, action camera, 180 or 360 camera and more that use the convenience of cloud storage. The CoC is broken due to sovereignty issues (being stored in another country as is likely in New Zealand) and the ability to tamper with the video before a "hard" copy is made for court use. While the chances of tampering are remote, especially if encryption is used, the sovereignty issues would require changes to the Evidence Act. "While the DVD created master copy is kept in the custody of the police, the real master copy, in this case, is the digital copy. That is not in the custody of the police but in the custody of a foreign corporation in a location outside New Zealand," the judge said in his ruling. A police spokesman said "The regulations for interviews have not kept pace with technological advancements during the past 10 years. Our primary focus is victims, and we are always looking at ways to improve their experience with police and the judicial system. Comment And what a CoC-up it is! The decision to reject cloud-stored video could have worldwide implications. Already US courts reject any video evidence that is cropped or edited or not able to be seen from the original device. There is no easy way to prove that the digital video has not been edited on that device either. CoC in a legal context, refers to the chronological documentation or paper trail, showing the seizure, custody, control, transfer, analysis, and disposition of physical or electronic evidence. The admissibility of evidence in court is predicated upon an unbroken CoC. It is important to demonstrate that the evidence introduced at trial is the same evidence collected at the crime scene and that access was controlled and documented. Quite simply the use of the cloud as an upload and editing medium breaks the CoC. That renders inadmissible crowdsourced smartphone video uploaded to YouTube et al, security video, dash cams and so many more devices that use the cloud until the law is changed. This could have an impace on the use of such video by police, television news or other sources. Just when you thought the good guys were winning, along comes McAfee to rain on that parade. Makes you want to cut the Internet cord and MacOS users need to be most concerned. The McAfee Report is based on its Global Threat Intelligence (GTI) It receives on average 49.9 billion queries per day. Every hour more than 4.3 million attempts are made (via emails, browser searches, etc.) to entice customers into connecting to risky URLs. Every hour more than 5.8 million infected files are exposed to customers networks. Every hour an additional 1.8 million potentially unwanted programs attempt installation or try to launch. Every hour 500,000 attempts are made by our customers to connect to risky IP addresses, or those addresses attempted to connect to customers networks. The Intel Securitys McAfee Labs Threat Report June 2016 has an update on cyber-attacks recognised by Intel Security during Q1 2016: Mac OS mmalware Mac OS malware grew quickly in Q1, primarily due to an increase in VSearch adware. While the absolute number of Mac OS samples is still numerically low, the total number of samples increased 68% quarter-over-quarter and 559% over the last four quarters Ransomware New samples rose 24% this quarter due to the continued entry of relatively low-skilled criminals into the ransomware cybercrime community Mobile malware New samples grew 17% quarter-over-quarter in Q1 2016. Total mobile malware samples grew 23% quarter-over-quarter and 113% over the last four quarters Macro malware Macro malware had a 42% quarter-over-quarter increase in new samples. The new breed continues to attack corporate networks primarily through sophisticated social engineering-based spam campaigns that leverage information gathered through social engineering to appear legitimate Gamut botnet The Gamut botnet became the most productive spam botnet in Q1, increasing its volume nearly 50%. Prevalent spam campaigns offer get-rich-quick schemes and knockoff pharmaceutical supplies. Kelihos, the most prolific spamming botnet during Q4 2015 and a widespread malware distributor, slipped to fourth place Intel Security's solution architect Andy Hurren said, "While sophisticated and increasingly complex attacks continue to grow, we must not forget to be cautious of familiar threats that have been reborn, repackaged and reimagined. Preparation is key. Businesses need to understand and prioritise their cyber risks, and respond by applying sound processes, user awareness and the right tools and techniques to detect familiar threats, as well as new threats such as colluding mobile apps." One other concern was the return of the W32/Pinkslipbot Trojan (also known as Qakbot, Akbot, and QBot) after three years of inactivity. This backdoor Trojan with worm-like abilities initially launched in 2007 and quickly earned a reputation for being a damaging, high-impact malware family capable of stealing banking credentials, email passwords, and significant certificates. The Pinkslipbot malware re-emerged in late 2015 with improved features such as anti-analysis and multilayered encryption abilities to thwart malware researchers' efforts to dissect and reverse engineer it. Data stolen by Pinkslipbot enables an attacker to determine the exact location of the infected machine along with the organisation and the person infected. The attacker could potentially sell this information (especially if notable organisations have been infected) to a third party and download targeted malware onto the compromised machine after payment by the third party. The Trojan is spread via carefully socially engineered emails that have a link to a website that loads a malicious JavaScript file. In turn, it connects to a Website used by the exploit kit to control redirection to the landing page. This Website returns a variable that the script decodes to get the actual URL of the landing page. The malicious JavaScript code is usually appended or prepended on a legitimate JavaScript component of the Website. The jquery.js library contains the malicious code. The exploit landing page loads a small web format file on the victims system that exploits a vulnerability in Adobe Flash, allowing it to download and execute malware. The compromised Flash file downloads an XOR-encrypted Pinkslipbot executable. Once installed, Pinkslipbot attempts to find open network shares on the local network and exploit them to remotely execute a copy of itself. This lets Pinkslipbot quickly permeate an organisation, especially if a domain administrators account has been infected. The cure is a well-patched system and removal of Adobe Flash you can read more here. Symantec will pay US$4.65 billion in an all-cash deal to buy privately-held Blue Coat to ramp up its enterprise security offerings. Symantec is best known for its Norton range of antivirus/malware products. But it has a large range of corporate/enterprise offerings that can be overshadowed by its consumer product. "Blue Coat brings capabilities from the web and for network-borne threats, which combined with what we already offer will provide better protection for our customers," said Ajei Gopal, Symantec's interim president and chief operating officer. The addition of Blue Coat offerings will boost the combined company's portion of enterprise revenue to 62% and better position it to compete with enterprise platforms such as Palo Alto Networks, FireEye, and Check Point Software Technologies. Symantec will now have $4.4 billion in combined revenue. Symantec has no immediate plans to sell its consumer unit, Thomas Seifert, the chief financial officer, said. Blue Coats chief executive Greg Clark will become Symantec's CEO. The previous incumbent, Michael Brown, left in April after the company reported disappointing quarterly results. "With employees of Blue Coat and Symantec coming together, we will be well positioned to drive meaningful growth and push the boundaries of innovation. I am very excited about the opportunity to join Symantec as CEO and look forward to working with the strongest, deepest team in security to realise the many strategic and financial benefits this transaction will create," Clark said in a statement. Together, we will be best positioned to address the ever-evolving threat landscape, the massive changes introduced by the shift to mobile and cloud, and the challenges created by regulatory and privacy concerns, Dan Schulman, chairman of Symantec, said in a statement. Blue Coat had been preparing an initial public offering. Private equity owner, Bain Capital acquired Blue Coat Systems from fellow private-equity firm Thoma Bravo for $2.4 billion last year. Symantecs stock rose more than 5% after the announcement. The transaction is expected to close by the end of Q3. Comment There is an old maxim that by combining two strong companies you make a stronger one. The fact is that Symantec is strong, and Blue Coat has lost US$289 million on top of US$598 million in sales for the 12 months that ended 30 April. That compares with a US$271 million loss on top of nearly US$569 million in sales for the corresponding period a year before. It has approximately 15,000 enterprise customers to Symantecs 370,000 enterprise customers. Cross-selling will be the key here; yes, they are banking on the combined entity doing better than they could alone. The combined organisation has little product overlap Symantec has tended to concentrate on on-premises security, while Blue Coat has emphasised web and cloud security. But the market is changing. Analyst Joel Fishbein said the deal brings immediate benefits for SYMC: increased enterprise security exposure, as pro forma enterprise security revenues increase to 62% of the base (vs. ~54% as of FY16); better focus on higher growth security segments (Gartner estimates that 85% of large enterprises will be using cloud access security brokers, vs. <5% today); significant accretion, as FY18 EPS is expected to jump to $1.70-$1.80 vs. $1.37 prior (+28%); and a new chief executive in Greg Clark with a deep software background and proven track record of turning around and growing an enterprise-focused security company. On the surface, the transformative deal looks like a good one. However, there are obvious risks around a transaction of this size, notably the product and sales integration required, and if this can truly position SYMC to achieve its goal of being the leading enterprise cyber security company, Fishbein said. Other analysts say that enterprise threats have been evolving faster than Symantec it does great, if not the best, PC/SOHO products but its end-point models were not coping with the cloud and mobility in the enterprise. Blue Coat's networking and cloud-based security software and encryption are seen as competent enterprise suites. The combined research and development budget should make a big difference to the company offerings. Scott Robertson, vice-president, Asia Pacific and Japan, Zscaler, has a different view. "While Symantecs intent to buy Blue Coat validates the need for secure web gateway solutions, it does not align with where the market is going because it is essentially just a consolidation of the old paradigm legacy appliances and on-premise software. With a distributed mobile workforce moving data and applications to the cloud, neither endpoints nor appliances are enough to keep enterprises secure today. The only viable way forward is a purpose-built cloud security platform to eliminate the need to buy, deploy and manage security appliances. Drones are increasingly becoming a mainstream business tool, and the recent relaxation of CASA regulations means more of them will be used for more applications. Respected financier and private equity investor Matthew Hunter has joined Measure Australia as chairman. He has also invested in the company through his private investment firm, Rivendell Capital. Measure Australia provides drones "as a service" to large businesses in the real estate, insurance, agriculture, infrastructure and mining industries. It uses drones to capture data more safely and efficiently than traditional aircraft or manual services. Measure Australia chief executive Mark Stevens said: We are obviously delighted to have someone of Mathews calibre join us as chairman. Im looking forward to working with him to continue to educate corporate Australia on the benefits of drones. Hunter has more than 20 years of experience in the finance industry, working with JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and private equity firm, The Carlyle Group, where he served as the firms Australian managing director. He has previously served as a non-executive director of Healthscope and Coates Hire, and is presently a non-executive director of Medi-Rent, an advisory board member of Atlas Trend and a governor of the Centennial Parklands Foundation. He has significant experience investing in private companies as well as early stage ventures. He established Rivendell Capital in 2015 to undertake venture capital and private equity investments. Measure Australia already flies for some of the countrys most respected businesses and is rapidly proving the value of drones across diverse industries. Im looking forward to using my experience and networks to help the company consolidate its position as Australias leading provider of drones services, Hunter said. Globally the drone industry has been growing at an incredible rate. A recent report from PwC valued the commercial drone industry at more than US$127 billion. Measure has developed proprietary software to securely house and deliver data to customers in a variety of formats. Photography and video are the most common, but the data might also be in the form of geographical information, heat mapping or other bespoke requirements. Measure Australia flies both rotor-copter and fixed-wing aircraft and matches the drone and data capture device to each brief. Pilots are trained for specific industries, learning what to look for on an infrastructure job or taking the best photography to sell to a commercial property. Some clients need real-time data, while others are happy to wait to review the output, so each mission requires a unique set-up. Its that level of sophistication and bespoke solutions that is gaining the attention of large corporates, Hunter added. If you bought a Toshiba branded notebook between 1 June 2011 and 30 September 2015 the chances are that it has a faulty Panasonic made Lithium-Ion battery. The models include: Brand Name Brand No. Production From PORTEGE R700 201107 PORTEGE R830 201107 Satellite C50-A 201305 Satellite C50D-A 201305 Satellite C850D 201305 Satellite NB10-A 201407 Satellite P70-A 201305 Satellite P840 201212 Satellite P870 201212 Satellite R830 201107 Satellite S70T-B 201405 Satellite Pro C850 201301 Tecra R840 201104 PORTEGE R700 201006 PORTEGE R830 201103 Satellite A660 201006 Satellite C50-A 201306 Satellite C50D-A 201310 Satellite C640 201012 Satellite C650 201106 Satellite C650D 201106 Satellite C660 201012 Satellite C660D 201101 Satellite C850 201203 Satellite C850D 201205 Satellite L630 201006 Satellite L640 201006 Satellite L650 201006 Satellite L650D 201007 Satellite L670 201006 Satellite L70-A 201308 Satellite L730 201103 Satellite L750 201103 Satellite L750D 201104 Satellite L830 201205 Satellite L840 201204 Satellite L850 201204 Satellite L850D 201204 Satellite NB10-A 201311 Satellite P70-A 201307 Satellite P750 201104 Satellite P770 201107 Satellite P840 201210 Satellite P850 201204 Satellite P870 201205 Satellite R830 201201 Satellite S70-B 201501 Satellite S70T-B 201407 Satellite Pro C50 201308 Satellite Pro C650 201104 Satellite Pro C660 201012 Satellite Pro C70 201504 Satellite Pro C850 201204 Satellite Pro C850D 201205 Satellite Pro C870 201207 Satellite Pro L640 201006 Satellite Pro L650 201006 Satellite Pro L670 201006 Satellite Pro L70 201309 Satellite Pro L730 201103 Satellite Pro L740 201108 Satellite Pro L750 201109 Satellite Pro L770 201104 Satellite Pro L850 201210 Satellite Pro L870 201301 Satellite Pro NB10 201310 Tecra R840 201102 These battery packs were sold with the above Toshiba notebooks and as optional batteries and replacement batteries during service repairs. The affected batteries carry the following part numbers. PA3817U-1BRS PA5023U-1BRS PA5024U-1BRS PA5026U-1BRS PA5108U-1BRS PA5109U-1BRS PA5121U-1BRS PA5170U-1BRS PA3831U-1BRS PA3832U-1BRS PA3929U-1BRS PA3984U-1BRS You can click here if you need help to identify the part number. Toshiba recommends users remove affected batteries and register for a replacement one. For additional information, please contact Toshiba Customer Support Australia: Call to: 13 30 70 New Zealand: Call to: 0800 445 439 e-Mail to: recall@Toshiba-TAP.com Comment The batteries were made by Panasonic a reputable company. Panasonic also supplied many other computer manufacturers including Fujitsu, HP, Sony, Lenovo, and its own Toughbooks with Lithium-Ion batteries. If you want to see more on these other brands, go to the Australian Government Product Safety Recall site. You have to have some sympathy for Toshiba as it faces what is the largest single notebook recall but one not of its making. There are few companies that can provide the volume of batteries required and it is Panasonic that needs to be held responsible. But it could not come at a worse time when the once highly praised company has been rocked by management scandals, overstated profits, and business restructures that have eroded confidence in the company and its products. Recent Jaden Smith 2016 news seems to hint at a new album by the actor. The 17-year-old took to his official Twitter account to tease fans about his next project. Earlier this month, the model tweeted about the status of his new album. It appears to be a big deal as well since he pinned it to his profile. "Finish Your Album Jaden," he wrote. In another tweet, he shared a photo of what looked like a music studio. This led to speculations that his new album will be available soon. Jaden Smith first released a mix tape last Oct. 1, 2012. It is entitled "The Cool Cafe: Cool Tape Vol. 1." It included songs such as "Pumped Up Kicks (Like Me)," "Shakespeare," "Starry Room," "The Coolest" and "Find You Somewhere," which featured his sister Willow Smith. Its follow-up, "Cool Tape Vol. 2," was released on Nov. 18, 2014. Smith released an EP named "This is the Album" on Feb. 5, 2015. Jaden Smith has also collaborated with Justin Bieber on his "Love Me like You Do (Remix)" as well as 2011's "Never Say Never," featured in his film with Jackie Chan "Karate Kid." The 17-year-old actor, who is known for his stance on gender fluidity, has also retweeted posts showing support for the victims of the Orlando shooting. "The world needs love right now," artist Harry Hudson posted. "I know most are sad and angry but this is a time where we come together for once and fight for justice now!" WSJ reported that the deadliest shooting in the history of the United States left 50 people dead and 53 injured at a popular gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. The Orlando shooting by Omar S. Mateen happened at the Pulse nightclub in the downtown part of the city. "Today we're dealing with something that we never imagined and is unimaginable," Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said. President Barack Obama deemed the Orlando shooting as an "act of terror and act of hate." Kathie Giorgio, at home, stands under a painting by Christopher Werkman, who has created cover illustrations for several of her books. Credit: Jim Higgins SHARE Oddities & Endings, the collected stories of Kathie Giorgio By of the Most of the time, Waukesha writer Kathie Giorgio goes right at a challenging or provocative subject. In her fiction, Giorgio has depicted a girl whose mother deliberately burned her arms with lit cigarettes, a woman who left her small child in a hot car, women who have been sexually assaulted. But even Giorgio blanched when she realized she would need to write a story from the viewpoint of a rapist after his release from prison. That story, "Release," is part of her new book, "Oddities and Endings: The Collected Stories" (Mint Hill Books). "I didn't want to write the story," Giorgio said during a recent interview. But while working on "Rise From the River," her novel about a woman who becomes pregnant after being raped, she realized she had to try to get into the head of a perpetrator. "I felt to give a complete picture in the novel I had to know everybody's story even if they weren't on the page. So I needed to do that." Like her hero Ray Bradbury (more about him later), Giorgio creates fiction in many moods and emotional colors, from quirky comedy to the darkest nights of the soul. What many of those tales share is Giorgio's skill in depicting characters shaped or stunted by their loneliness. Doris, the Catholic heroine of "Limbo's Gates," anguishes for decades about the eternal fate of her baby, dead from SIDS before being baptized. In a lighter tone, Audrey of "In Your Company," having never acquired a husband, applies her relationship skills to Newt, her pet iguana. Giorgio said she often sees opening lines for stories scroll across her mind's eye, like a CNN news ticker whether her physical eyes are open or not. "When I'm driving it's very distracting," she quipped. When she was getting a massage once, she saw the opening line that would lead to her novel "Learning to Tell (A Life) Time," the sequel to a novel she had decided not to write a sequel for. "Oh (bleep)," she said, startling a concerned massage therapist, who asked if she'd hurt Giorgio. "I said no, I have to go home and write a book." An enthusiastic writer since girlhood, Giorgio remembers approaching graduation from Waukesha North High School torn between the advice of her parents, who wanted her to pursue a practical career and turn writing into a hobby, and the encouragement of her teachers, who were telling her to go write. She wrote of her conundrum to Bradbury, the famed author of "Fahrenheit 451" and "The Martian Chronicles." He wrote back! She was so excited, and a bit scared of what he might say, so she opened his letter in her walk-in closet with the door shut. On his elaborately illustrated stationery, Bradbury told her if she wanted to be a writer, "to write every day of your life," and to "stuff your eyes with stories, novels, plays, essays from every field in the world." Giorgio, who went on to earn degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Vermont College of Fine Arts, not only writes every day, she teaches daily, too, through the AllWriters' Workplace & Workshop she founded in Waukesha; her faculty includes her husband, mystery writer Michael Giorgio. From another mentor, the late fiction writer Ellen Hunnicutt, Giorgio learned the value of finding something positive to say to each writing student even if it's only complimenting a font choice. "If you lead with something positive, people can hang on to that and then they can hear everything else," Giorgio said. She often refers to Bradbury's novel "Something Wicked This Way Comes" when teaching the art of characterization, pointing out the details Bradbury used to distinguish the cautious Will from the brash Jim. On the essential question of plotter vs. pantser, Giorgio lands on the side of writers who figure out the story as they go along. "I push the creative process," she said. If students wants to outline, she encourages them to "do it in pencil and don't be married to it, because an idea could come up that would be so much better." When she began her book "The Home for Wayward Clocks," the kindly clock-keeper James was going to be simply a connecting character between stories. But his sections grew and grew until he became the major figure. When Giorgio began writing stories about Fat Girls for her collection "Enlarged Hearts," she assumed she was writing about a singular woman. But the second story turned out to be about a Fat Girl who was losing weight because she had cancer. "And I got to the end of the story well now she's dead." Hmmm, she thought, that would be a very short book. Giorgio ended up writing about more than a dozen different women in this lively and compassionate (and, from a writing point of view, technically fascinating) collection: single and married, size 22 through size 50, all working in the same women's clothing boutique in a mall. IF YOU GO Kathie Giorgio will celebrate the release of "Oddities and Endings: Collected Stories" and her poetry chapbook "True Light Falls in Many Forms" with a 6 p.m. event June 16 at the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha Commons Building to raise funds for the annual Southeast Wisconsin Festival of Books. Ticket info: brownpapertickets.com/event/2555208. Sometimes readers are my best friends. Thank you, all dozen of you, who wrote me in response to last week's column on cooking hacks to share your methods for producing easy-to-peel hard-cooked eggs. I now have three count 'em, three new foolproof (and I don't use that word lightly) ways to turn out perfect hard-cooked eggs that peel like a dream. We're talking fresh eggs I just bought hours before. This after how many decades of cooking on my own? After how many batches of deviled eggs? I'd be embarrassed to admit this if I didn't know that so many other people have shared the same egg-peeling frustration. So what are these miracle techniques? We'll start with steaming. Several readers steered me to the April edition of Cook's Illustrated magazine. Based on their meticulous experiments, the folks at America's Test Kitchen assert that it isn't the age of the eggs, after all, that causes the shell to stick like glue or peel straight off. I'll hold off on the science for now and just share their new favorite method: Fill a saucepan with 1 inch of water. Bring it to a rolling boil over high heat. Place a steamer basket inside, and carefully add refrigerator-cold eggs in a single layer. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low and cook eggs 13 minutes. Shortly before eggs are done, combine 2 cups cold water and 2 cups ice cubes in a bowl. Using tongs or a spoon, transfer cooked eggs to ice bath. Let sit 15 minutes and then peel or refrigerate to peel later. The test kitchen got equally good peeling results from adding eggs to already-boiling water. I'm pretty sure this is what my mom did those many years ago. But somewhere along the line the culinary gods declared that you must start with cold water, and that method became the norm. According to the folks at America's Test Kitchen, starting in cold water actually gives the outermost proteins of the egg white more time to bond with the membrane that lines the shell. Exposing the eggs quickly to hot steam or boiling water "denatures" those proteins, causing them to shrink, and in turn causing the white to pull away from the membrane. There's your science. In their emails to me, readers shared several variations on the boiling-water method, all of which I tried: Add eggs to boiling water. Cover and boil 10 minutes, then remove to a bowl of ice water and let sit 10 minutes. Add eggs to boiling water. Cover and boil 15 minutes, then remove to bowl of ice water until cool. Add eggs to boiling water. Cover and boil six minutes, remove from heat and let sit 11 to 12 minutes. Drain off hot water and add cold water to the pot until both pot and water are cold. All three of these methods, and the steaming, produced eggs that peeled with absolutely no problem. However, I found that boiling the eggs for only 10 minutes left the yolks a bit less done than I like. All of the eggs were free of that awful green on the outside of the yolk. I probably liked the steaming method best. Readers also suggested shaking the cooked eggs in a jar or cracking them all over against the side of the sink to ensure easier peeling. In the same April article, Cook's Illustrated suggests the shaking-in-a-jar method (with water) if you're in a hurry; doing this, they were able to peel six eggs in 41 seconds. That's impressive, but a few seconds here or there don't matter to me. I'm just thrilled to know that I no longer have to plan ahead to have old eggs on hand. Spontaneous batch of deviled eggs? Coming right up! Fair cocktail update The first deadline for entries in the Wisconsin State Fair culinary contests has passed, and the counts are in. The brand-new Oh the Mighty Old Fashioned Redefined cocktail contest which generated a flood of interest on social media is up to 39 entries. That's 39 amateur bartenders lined up in the fairgrounds' Horticulture, Craft & Culinary Pavilion on Aug. 7 to mix up their version of Wisconsin's favorite cocktail. (When the count was at 17, the fair's competitive exhibits coordinator Jill Albanese said she'd already added another judge; she plans to add at least one more.) And the number may grow, fair officials say. Entrants have until June 22 to enter any of the contests and pay a late fee. Last year's first-ever cocktail contest, for the Bloody Mary, had 21 entries. It's back this year, with 10 entries so far. Rules and entry forms can be found at wistatefair.com/competitions/culinary. SHARE By of the Editor's note: This story originally was published on Oct. 21, 2007. A new crime-fighting initiative in Milwaukee Police District 5 is expected to unite the three C's community, clergy and cops to help reduce gun violence and open-air drug markets on a large stretch of the north side. The plan, called the Common Ground approach, has produced results in such places as High Point, N.C., and Boston, where homicide rates have decreased. "The most powerful people are the people in the community," said Capt. Tony Smith of District 5. "It's not the city government. It's not the police department." It is essential for members of the community to buy into the approach, he says. For example, he cites the mother who fears letting her children play outside and the older person who has watched a teenager down the block opt for a life of crime. Those are the people who have to confront offenders and let them know their activities will no longer be tolerated, Smith said. Common Ground has some residents of District 5 cautiously hopeful. Doris Owens is one of them. She has lived on the 3400 block of N. 14th St. for more than 40 years and raised nine children in the house where she now lives with her mother. Owens also owns the house next door, where two of her grown daughters live. She knows what it's like to feel unsafe in your own neighborhood. About 20 years ago, a man with a knife walked through Owens' front door, past the couch where she lay sleeping. She awoke to find him rummaging through her pantry. But she stayed. "We want the same quality of life that people in the suburbs have," Owens said. "I hope one day we'll have the same peace that they have out in Whitefish Bay; no more shooting, no more this and that." Community involvement Through her work with Incarnation Lutheran Church, just down the block at N. 15th St. and Keefe Ave., Owens has been striving toward this goal for years. Wednesday nights, she cooks dinner for dozens of children who come to the church for tutoring and to play. She goes to the District 5 crime analysis meetings, and several times a year, she joins police officers, her alderman and organizers from the city's Safe and Sound program on walks through the neighborhood to identify problems and solutions. And so, because congregants like Owens already have built such strong community ties, Incarnation is a place where the Common Ground approach could thrive. Interventions Here's how the initiative would support existing efforts: Law enforcement agencies continue to arrest and convict the truly violent offenders. But low-level offenders, often youths on the periphery of gang activity, are confronted with evidence of their criminal activity. They're told that police have what they need to put them in jail, but are steered toward community-based interventions. Often churches and engaged community members like Owens provide the mandated GED tutoring, job training or mentoring, and make sure the youths are keeping their word and staying out of trouble. The groundwork in District 5 started late this summer, Smith said. But Common Ground's proponents point to High Point, N.C., a city of about 90,000 people 20 miles southeast of Winston-Salem, for proof that the initiative works. From 2004 to 2006, police there partnered with communities to hold three intervention meetings targeting low-level drug dealers. Open-air markets dried up soon after, and the initial neighborhood targeted has sustained a 35% reduction in violent crime. High Point police report that citywide violent crime has dropped 20%. Last December, Milwaukee officials began rolling out their own plan. Mayor Tom Barrett held a press conference at New Covenant Missionary Baptist Church, 2315 N. 38th St., to announce the city's receipt of a $2.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice. Three months later, more than 300 city residents gathered to hear more about the initiative from Barrett, U.S. Attorney Steven Biskupic and David Kennedy, who directs the Center for Crime Prevention and Control at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. Getting restless Kennedy is the architect of the Common Ground approach, which is also credited with the "Boston Miracle" that brought down that city's homicides from 152 in 1990 to 31 in 1999. Kennedy returned to Milwaukee in July for another community meeting and has been a frequent visitor since the city received the federal grant. But because Common Ground has been heavy on meetings and light on measurable progress, some residents are getting restless. Delores Haslem is another of Incarnation's active congregants. She lives on the border of Districts 5 and 7, and attended one of the meetings with Kennedy. Haslem says she was struck by the success of cities in banding together to close crack houses and provide idle, rudderless youths with options. For months, she held on to the packet of materials she received at the meeting, but Haslem's excitement has waned. "About a week or so ago, I threw all those things out because nothing has transpired," she said in late September. Patience is key, and the process is organic, according to Terry Perry, a project coordinator for the city. Perry said the initiative, which is being piloted in District 2 as well, does not follow a top-down chain of command. "It's really community standards and community pressure in these two districts and eventually throughout the city," Perry said. "It's not just a program. It's a living, breathing collaboration of a lot of people who want to be serious about violence reduction." SHARE By Editor's note: This story was originally published on Jan. 26, 2001. When Assistant District Attorney John Chisholm speaks to young felons before their release from the Milwaukee County Juvenile Detention Center, he asks them how many people were shot to death in Milwaukee the previous year. "They always overestimate that number," Chisholm said. "Last year, we had 121 homicides. The year before, 124, and so on. It never fails, though, that these young people always guess in the thousands -- 1,000, 2,000, even 5,000. "That's scary to me, because what that tells me is that these kids are frightened, and they believe Milwaukee is a dangerous place. So in their minds, they're justified in arming themselves. "That's the seed of the problem right there," Chisholm said in an interview. "And that's what we have to get at. We have to physically change the environment that they're living in, so that they're not responding to these fears in this way." Chisholm joined residents, police, state and federal prosecutors and lawmakers at the United Community Center to observe the one-year anniversary of Operation Ceasefire, a program with roots in Boston and Richmond, Va. Under Ceasefire, a joint federal-state-local task force, authorities aggressively pursue and prosecute those who use a gun illegally and those who use an illegal gun in commission of a crime. Giving a report card of the program Thursday, U.S. Attorney Thomas P. Schneider told the gathering at the community center, 1028 S. 9th St., that 684 people were prosecuted under Ceasefire in state and federal courts last year. Seventy of those were federal prosecutions, which resulted in convictions and sentences averaging seven years, he said, adding that the state prosecutions resulted in sentences three times longer -- just over two years -- than those given for the same offenses in 1999. "Ceasefire is about making neighborhoods safer," Schneider said. "Three years ago, there were eight homicides in this neighborhood. Each year since, there have been homicides in this neighborhood. But within the last five months and so far this year, not one person has been the victim of a gunshot homicide in this neighborhood." Walter Sava, executive director of the United Community Center, said he's convinced the surrounding neighborhood's 80% home ownership rate is a result, in part, of people feeling safer and more at ease moving in. Ceasefire wasn't free, though. And Police Chief Arthur Jones credited State Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen (R-Town of Brookfield) with working to secure state funds in 1999 to help kick-start the program. Mayor John O. Norquist and Ald. Michael Murphy were also applauded for spearheading a drive to contribute more than $50,000 in seed money from the city. "We believe it's been successful, certainly markedly different than it was a year ago," Jones said. "And that's our goal; we're going to continue to improve and enhance our ability to remove illegal guns from the street, and to prosecute those persons who possess them." While Milwaukee's overall homicide rate fell only 2% from 124 in 1999 to 121 last year, homicides committed with guns fell 9%, from 98 in 1999 to 89 last year. "Our officers aggressively attacked the problem," Jones said, "and contrary to what anyone else tells you, we're still getting illegal guns off the street." The number of illegal guns confiscated in Milwaukee fell from about 4,500 in 1996 to about 2,500 in 1999, according to statistics released last fall. Milwaukee attorney Barbara Boxer deserves credit, Schneider said, for raising public awareness of Ceasefire. Boxer, a partner at Michael, Best & Friedrich, heads the private Ceasefire Education Fund Board, which supports the Ceasefire Education Fund. The board was chiefly responsible for the funding and prominence of dozens of billboards, bus signs and television commercials that have run in southeastern Wisconsin over the past five months, featuring courtroom celebrities like Johnnie Cochran touting the harsh penalties for gun crimes under Ceasefire. Schneider and Northcott Neighborhood House director Mac Weddle agreed that more needs to be done, though. And, said Weddle, "the public needs to remember that these numbers and these facts reflect one year. Ceasefire is just getting started, and I think I speak for all of us when I say I am excited. It's not perfect -- we have 14 murders in Milwaukee already this year. But these murders have a lot to do with young people simply not exercising common sense. Awareness is our key, and without this program, things could be much worse right now." SHARE By Editor's note: This story was originally published on May 28, 2000. Boston Now that a coalition of Milwaukee preachers, police and prosecutors has witnessed firsthand the success of a crime-fighting partnership in Boston, the local coalition is clearing its first obstacle -- putting its ideas into action at home. During a three-day mission here, members of the Milwaukee Community Safety Coalition sat through lectures from clergy and police, and toured neighborhoods once known for high homicide rates to offer help to at-risk youth. By the time they prepared to travel home Friday night, members of the Milwaukee group were already planning lunch dates and making arrangements to visit each other's ministries and agencies. Sitting in Boston's Logan International Airport weary-eyed but excited, they shared ideas over cups of coffee, brainstormed and even shared jokes with one another -- something some admitted they never thought of doing in the past. The biggest hurdle is the first few days of collaboration, said the Rev. Raymond Hammond, chairman of the Ten-Point Coalition, a union of faith-based organizations and the backbone of what's known as the Boston Plan. Having everyone contribute by "bringing something to the table" is key, Hammond said. But he didn't need to tell the Milwaukee group twice. After the fact-finding mission, the Milwaukee coalition was eager to get back home and start teamwork, said Luis Pizarro, founder and director of Homies Helping Out Milwaukee In Every Struggle, a youth gang ministry. "Everyone is excited," said Pizarro, 28, who was one of more than 30 people to make the trip. "I was amazed to see such collaboration from community leaders, clergy and police working together on saving lives in the community," Pizarro said. Milwaukee needs to develop a plan like Boston's because the number of homicides has not dipped below 100 in years, said Pizarro, who was born in Boston. Pizarro, who grew up in Jamaica Plain and Mission Hills, two of the roughest areas in Boston, said Saturday he was amazed at the difference the Boston Plan has made. When he lived there, there was "violence in every corner." "But when I walked there a couple a days ago, people were walking in the park with their kids and flowers were growing. I'm still amazed," he said. Before the visit, the Milwaukee coalition had heard for months about how Boston Ten-Point Coalition members, in their close working relationship with police, were being credited with helping lower homicides from 152 in 1990 to just 31 last year. Milwaukee reported 168 homicides in 1991. Those numbers steadily declined for more than five years, but last year still ended with 124. So far this year, Boston has reported 19 homicides, while Milwaukee has had 49. Boston and Milwaukee have similar populations and racial demographics. The Milwaukee Community Safety Coalition was organized several months ago by Police Chief Arthur Jones, after a group of clergymen offered vocal public support to Jones in the light of a political candidate's criticism. Jones encouraged the ministers to show continued support by teaming up and forming a grass-roots partnership. By its third meeting, the group had doubled in size, drawing new members such as Milwaukee County District Attorney E. Michael McCann. And even though it took Boston years to regain control of its neighborhoods through this unique partnership, the Milwaukee coalition insists it's up to the task. Mac Weddle, executive director of Northcott Neighborhood House, a multipurpose community center and Safe & Sound site, was eager to get back to Milwaukee and compile a list of every social service organization in Milwaukee. "Not just any list," Weddle said, with a sly, proud smile. "There are dozens of social service agencies around the city just like Northcott that provide day care, after-school academic programs, job training for adults and family counseling. But some of us specialize in certain things and have areas of expertise that could be useful to another agency who is trying to address a specific problem. "Now, when they have a problem that they can't deal with adequately, they'll have no excuse not to call someone else for help," Weddle said. Jack Murtaugh, executive director of the Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee, a group that represents many of the area's suburban churches, said that upon his return to Milwaukee, his group would immediately begin taking advantage of its resources by providing volunteers to work in urban church-based youth outreach programs. Murtaugh said he would also urge other churches that are members of Interfaith to contribute to economic development by investing in urban neighborhoods and businesses and helping connect teens with jobs not available in most of the inner city. "It's too easy now to say `It's not my problem because I live in the suburbs,' " Murtaugh explained. "Well, it is my problem. Like Reverend Hammond said: `There's nothing that ever came to the inner city that didn't eventually make its way to the suburbs.' " The Rev. Harold Moore, pastor of Mercy Memorial Baptist Church, said that he plans to urge other pastors to come from behind their pulpits and look for young people to help. "We have the services, food pantries, reading programs and provide child care for single parents, who need to be training for solid jobs," Moore said. However, Moore said, having the services does no one any good if they're not going to where they're needed. "And yes, to those young people who insist a life in crime is their preference, we'll let them know that we still love them and will visit them in jail," Moore said. The Rev. John McVicker, pastor of Christ the King Church, plans to spend the next few weeks calling, lecturing and generally educating the dozens of other clergy members in Milwaukee who still know nothing of the Milwaukee coalition's growing collaborative effort. Theoretically, McVicker said, the more who know, the higher the coalition's saturation in high-crime areas will be. Religious leaders were not the only ones at the table, though. McCann said that he will begin arranging ways for prosecutors in his gun court to speak regularly and directly to high-risk youths about the consequences they face if they commit violent crimes. "We can't always depend on the media," McCann said. "I really believe we have a logical message, that if you do a serious crime, you're going to do serious time. But young people are not necessarily reading the newspaper or watching public service announcements on TV. Again, we have to go to them and even meet regularly with their parents." And Karine Moreno-Taxman, chief for violent crime and narcotics in the U.S. attorney's office, announced plans to try to conduct mass public education sessions about programs in her office, such as Operation Ceasefire, which cracks down on criminals who use gun. "I realized here that we already have programs like Ceasefire and Safe & Sound, and those programs are effective," she said, "but one of our problems may be that people just don't know what they are. Sure people have seen recently the billboards and bus signs promising tough sentences for gun crimes, but we need to empower people, door to door if we have to, by letting them know `This is how this program works. It will help. Help us help you by spreading the word, the seriousness of this.' " Jones was ecstatic about the flood of ideas and his collaborators' desire to start work immediately. "I really believe that this type of collaboration could make everybody's job easier here. And if the ultimate goal is really to save lives, then why not try something that so many of us are starting to believe in?" SHARE By of the Editor's note: This story was originally published on May 29, 2003. U.S. Attorney Steven M. Biskupic defended a concentrated effort to get guns off streets Wednesday, saying his prosecutions target violent neighborhoods and people with extensive criminal records -- not African-Americans. And it focuses on Milwaukee County, Biskupic said, because gun violence is 2,000% higher there than in the rest of his eastern Wisconsin jurisdiction. The support of Operation Ceasefire came in reply to a courtroom motion from Omar K. Terry, 28, who has alleged the program is unconstitutional. Terry, who is black, faces two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm, a charge that can be brought in either state or federal court. He is being prosecuted federally under Ceasefire, a joint enforcement program between Milwaukee County and the federal government. The program aims to move defendants whom prosecutors consider more dangerous into the federal system, where they can get significantly longer prison terms if convicted. In April, Terry asked the court to dismiss his firearms charges, arguing that a disproportionate number of blacks are prosecuted under Ceasefire and that the race gap is even wider among those sent to federal court. Moving black defendants to federal court violates the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment because the decision to prosecute should not be based on "an unjustifiable standard such as race, religion or other arbitrary classification," Terry alleged. In Wednesday's response, Biskupic and Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory J. Haanstad contend "the decision to federally prosecute Ceasefire cases is based primarily on the race-neutral factor of criminal history; and . . . the United States Attorney's Office has never considered race as a factor in the charging of a gun case or any other case." Terry's motion criticized the original design of Ceasefire as racist because it focuses on Milwaukee County, which has the highest percentage of black residents in the federal court's 28-county district. The overall population, on the other hand, is predominantly white. But prosecutors point out that "gun violence, as measured by firearm-related homicides, is over 2,000 percent higher in Milwaukee County than in any other county in the Eastern District." In 1999, the year before Ceasefire began, Milwaukee County had 106 of the Eastern District's 118 gun-related homicides, according to the motion. The county with the second highest number of firearms homicides was Racine, with five. Terry's own statistics belie his other conclusions, according to the prosecutors' pleading. An analysis by one of Terry's experts, Steven Raphael, a professor at University of California, Berkeley, states that from January 2000 through March 31 of this year, blacks were most likely to be diverted to federal court under Ceasefire; then came Hispanics, then whites. Blacks were almost twice as likely to be sent to federal court as whites, according to both Raphael and Anne Morrison Piel, an associate professor at Harvard University. However, Raphael goes on to state that in the shorter period from Jan. 1, 2002, through March 31, 2003, "there was no statistically significant difference" between the rates of blacks and whites sent to federal court. Because the charges against Terry were filed in February 2003, "the defendant has not demonstrated that because of his race he was statistically more likely to be diverted to federal court." Terry faces up to 10 years in federal prison if convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm. In state court, the crime carries a maximum five-year term, plus five years of supervised release. Federal Defender Dean Strang, who represents Terry, was unavailable for comment Wednesday. SHARE By Editor's note: This story was originally published in March 22, 2001. Thirty-five of the city's most dangerous men, some stirring impatiently in their metal chairs and others staring forward intently, listened as a parade of top law enforcement personalities took them to the figurative woodshed. "I see a gentleman smiling in the back," District Attorney E. Michael McCann scolded the collection of paroled murderers, rapists and robbers ordered to attend the get-together Tuesday with some of Milwaukee's most recognizable law enforcement figures. "I don't know who you are, but I hope you don't die in the next year," McCann said, warning the assembled parolees of the dangers of a violent, gun-toting lifestyle. The parolee's smirk was gone. Jan Cummings, who directs Milwaukee's probation and parole office for the Department of Corrections, was just as direct, telling the parolees she was standing in for their mothers, grandmothers and girlfriends. "We're tired of you all," she said. But Cummings -- and the other officials present -- also left a message of hope along with the finger wagging. They told the parolees -- chosen because they are considered at high risk to re-offend -- that they would help them get a job and an education. "Our goal is to work with you to become law abiding citizens," Cummings said. Tuesday's meeting between high-risk parolees and prominent officials was the fourth in Milwaukee. Past gatherings -- limited to a couple dozen parolees to give the meetings a personal feel -- have featured talking-to's from Mayor John O. Norquist and Police Chief Arthur Jones. U.S. Attorney Tom Schneider, of the eastern district of Wisconsin, and two assistant chiefs of police from the Milwaukee department joined McCann and Cummings at Tuesday's gathering, which also featured speakers from the clergy and federal probation and parole. "I don't think it would work if you had, say, a sergeant from the police department come," said John Barian, the spokesman for the Department of Corrections in Milwaukee, which organized the gatherings. "It works if you have upper echelon people there. It's impressive to the people they are talking to. It's personalized." The meetings are the brainchild of the Milwaukee Community Safety Coalition, a group of Milwaukee preachers, police, prosecutors and Corrections officials who journeyed to Boston last spring to view that city's successful crime-fighting approach. Similar meetings are held in Boston. "We confront them (the parolees) with their behavior," Barian said of the Milwaukee approach. "We tell them they are going to be held accountable." The parolees face jail time if they don't show up. Six of the invitees were no-shows Tuesday. "We will deal with those six," Barian said. "It's extremely serious." Schneider handed each parolee an "Operation Ceasefire" pamphlet describing how the "investigation, prosecution and sentencing of gun offenders" have been stepped up in Milwaukee. "How're you doing this evening?" Schneider politely asked one parolee as he passed by, weaving throughout the ex-cons. "Sorry," Schneider said to a man he bumped into slightly, putting his hand on the parolee's shoulder. When speaking to the entire group, though, Schneider used a sterner tone. "Look at the person next you," he said. "That person is likely to end up back in jail." Penalties for felons carrying guns are stiffer than ever before, he warned, before switching to a more positive message. "If you need a job, there are people here today who can help you get a job," he said. "If you need education, there are people here who will help you. If you want to reach out to the faith community, there will be people in this community who will reach out to you. There are people here today to make sure that if you make those choices, they will be there for you. That's the reason for this meeting today." After the session concluded, about half of the parolees lingered to speak with the officials. Most seemed concerned more with nuts-and-bolts issues such as their troubles finding jobs than with those who came to speak to them. But they said they found the meeting worthwhile. "I came here, you know, because my parole agent really wanted me to come. She thought I'd be one of the people who'd be in a slaying," said Marcus Roberts, 18, who is on parole for battery by a prisoner and who has a weapons history. "I don't live my life around that kind of stuff anymore," he said, clutching the "Operation Ceasefire" pamphlet. But Roberts said he gained something from Tuesday's meeting. "Some of the stuff I already knew, but some of it I hadn't heard before," he said. Asked what he hadn't heard before, Roberts said: "Someone saying, `We do care.' " Convicted robber Richard Bohannon remained behind to get job information. "I've been on parole three times," said Bohannon. "This is the first time I'm cooperating. I've been out three weeks, and I can't find a job because of my reputation. I'm getting leery out there." But Bohannon, 43, was hopeful now. "I think I'm going to end up getting a job," he said. SHARE By of the The Milwaukee Common Council on Tuesday upheld a committee recommendation of a 90-day license suspension for a Walker's Point strip club where a patron was knocked out and seriously injured in April. But, byafternoon, a judge had issued an order that delays the suspension until Thursday at the earliest. The council voted 14-1, with Ald. Jose Perez dissenting, after his earlier motion to revoke Texas Jay's license failed on a 9-6 vote. The License Committee arrived at the 90-day punishment after an hourslong hearing May 31 that included video of the assault and testimony from the victim, Jeremy Calteux. The 27-year-old was unconscious at the club about eight minutes and was later hospitalized for 11 days. Perez and others said permanent closure was merited because no staff member at the club called 911 and the club didn't immediately supply security video when police came the next day. Other aldermen noted that the club had operated for decades under various names without a similar incident and felt that even a 90-day suspension might prove a virtual death sentence for the business, located at 813. S. 1st St. The city originally asked for the revocation, a rare sanction against a business without a history of violent incidents. The club's attorney, David Halbrooks, tried to persuade the council to send the issue back to committee, so the club could present a formalized plan of changes he said it has already made in how to handle such episodes if they reoccur. At the prior hearing, the club's manager said no one on the staff actually witnessed a customer sucker-punch Calteux, who was trying to steer his friend away from an argument. The manager said Calteux's own party asked the staff not to call police or an ambulance. The day after the incident, Calteux's father took his son to a hospital. He spent three days in intensive care, later needed speech and physical therapy, and developed Bell's palsy. He told the committee that he has not been able to return to work as a truck driver. Almost immediately after the council's vote Tuesday morning, Halbrooks filed a motion in Circuit Court seeking to block the suspension. Later in the day, Circuit Judge Richard Sankovitz granted a temporary restraining order until a further hearing on Thursday. The bottom line is that Texas Jay's can remain open at least two more nights. Attendees wave American and LGBTQ flags during a vigil held for victims of the Orlando, Fla., mass shooting at Milwaukee City Hall Monday evening. CALVIN MATTHEIS/calvin.mattheis@jrn.com Credit: Calvin Mattheis By of the Hundreds of people in downtown Milwaukee gathered in solidarity and sadness Monday evening to show their support for the victims of a mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando that killed 49 people. Members of Milwaukee's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community joined others at the main entrance to City Hall to condemn the hatred they say led to the early Sunday shooting that also wounded at least 53 people at the Pulse Orlando nightclub. Speakers at the event also called for unity, love and action. "I want us to text each other. I want us to call each other," community activist Brenda Coley told those in attendance. "I want us to tweet each other. I want us to Facebook each other and tell us that you care and for our allies to tell us that you care." Mayor Tom Barrett thanked attendees for gathering to demonstrate and display "the humanity we have in this city." "This is a time when our nation is hurting," Barrett said. "As Americans, if some of us are hurting, we are all hurting." While speaking out against the sale of semiautomatic assault-type rifles, the mayor urged people to stand in unity against hatred and extremism, and to not let "those who try to divide us" succeed. "It is so important that we tell the world, that we tell those who harbor hatred, that we will not be deterred from loving one and other as human beings," Barrett said. Karen Gotzler, executive director of the Milwaukee LGBT Community Center, said the nightclub shooting is a call to action for all Americans to look after and take care of each other. "We are all people of the world and that same motivation to support each other needs to extend throughout our country," Gotzler said. "We appeal to everyone in our movement, and to everyone who supports us to band together, to reject hatred and violence in all of its shape-shifting forms and especially this kind of violence." The Cathedral Church of All Saints and the Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee will co-sponsor an interfaith prayer service in response to the mass shooting 7 p.m. Thursday at the cathedral, 818 E. Juneau Ave., officials announced Monday. "This will be a time for the community to come together in a safe place to grieve for the deceased while sharing scripture, prayer, reflection, healing and fellowship," the Very Rev. Kevin Carroll, dean of the cathedral, said in a news release Monday. The cathedral's largest bell will be tolled once for each of the 49 people killed in the shooting and the service will end with a ringing of all of the cathedral's bells, according to the release. SHARE Government fails to protect So we are faced with another mass shooting. What is wrong with people? Why is everyone so angry? When did we lose our respect for life? And what do we do now? How do we stop this violence? I wish I knew. But our government has no idea, either. One side will talk about banning assault rifles. Maybe a good idea. The other side will talk about people's rights. Also an important issue. But this is all that our leaders will do. They simply talk but never take any action. Our leaders have no clue how to solve this issue. I expect our government to protect me. It has failed. Do we have to turn into the old West where everyone carries a gun to protect themselves? We need to demand more from our elected leaders. They must protect the public and keep us safe. If they are unable to do that, perhaps we need to elect different leaders. G. Allen Lewis Germantown Going wrong Untreated mental illness, disgracefully easy access to guns and ammunition and religious extremism. What could possibly go wrong? Barry Snider River Hills Keeping things running I study urban planning and occasionally, I despair. In the face of the world's abundant supply of hate, nihilism and cynicism, what good am I? Who would spare a thought about business improvement districts when compassion has become synonymous with weakness? Why would anyone care about bus rapid transit when one man can gun down an entire room of people? What can be done in the face of such evil? But some of us have to keep the rest of it running, don't we? Because the rest of it, flawed though it may be, can reach such dazzling heights as to leave me speechless. The rest of it reaches out to worlds we'll never see and plumbs the depths of emotions we scarcely knew we had. I think that's worth working for. I have to believe that's worth working for. I have to believe that, despite my helplessness before the enormity of the hate that bedevils us. If I can just help keep the rest of it running, someday we'll find ourselves in a better place. Christopher Hillard Shorewood System requires compromise During this primary campaign season, I've heard a number of political experts comment on the anger of today's voters. They've talked about the desire for change and the dissatisfaction with Washington. I must admit to being somewhat jaded by these comments. As to voters' anger, that seems to be pretty common around election time. If you didn't get everything you wanted since the last election and you're sure you're right, then you're probably angry and that fits most of us. But unless a critical mass of the voting public is angry about the same thing and in agreement on a course of action, you won't see much change. As an example, there are lots of angry people who want to scrap Obamacare and start over. The problem is there are also lots of angry people who want to expand Obamacare into a single-payer health care system. People are angry we didn't send more troops to the Middle East; people are angry that we sent too many troops to the Middle East. Just like always, plenty of anger, no clear direction. And just like always, we will re-elect about 90% of our incumbent politicians, thereby ensuring the status quo. I think that part of the problem is that for many voters their anger is misplaced. They think they're angry at Washington and that we need to make big changes there. But they should really be angry at Philadelphia. That's because way back in 1787 a bunch of guys got together and drafted the United States Constitution. There's lots you can say about that document, but one thing seems clear to me, the Founding Fathers did not want a system that was easy to change. They divided the power of government between the states and the federal governments and further split the power of the federal government between three separate branches. It's a system that requires compromise to work best. But that also means that things move slowly and nobody gets everything they want. Plenty of room for anger, not much room for change. Frank Schultz Milwaukee Blood donors wait in line Sunday at a blood bank near the scene following a mass shooting at the Pulse night club in Orlando, Fla. Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY First, our hearts and thoughts must go out to the families and friends of the victims of Saturday night's horrific shooting in Orlando that left 50 dead, including the gunman, and 53 more injured. We cannot imagine their pain; their soul-crushing loss. We can only stand with the mothers and fathers and siblings and others who have lost the people most dear to them. We must give them all the solace we can. Second, we must pay tribute to the law enforcement and emergency personnel who are always the first to respond and who run into danger to end the violence and help the victims. We are immeasurably grateful they are there. Third, in our search for answers, let's keep our heads clear. Let us not allow passion and outrage as justified as they are to cloud our thinking or blind our eyes. Let us not put blame where it doesn't belong. Let's ask the right questions and look for specific answers. But let's find those answers. Because we can. We have seen this too many times, especially in recent years, from the Sikh temple in Oak Creek to the school in Newtown, Conn., to the movie theater in Aurora, Colo., to a holiday party in San Bernardino, Calif. These are not acts of nature that we must somehow endure. It is not enough to throw up our hands in despair. There are specific reasons these acts of violence happen. And there are specific solutions. In Orlando, it appears to have been the act of a lone gunman, Omar Mateen, perhaps with an accomplice. Mateen was apparently poisoned by the hatred of radical Islamic terrorists such as the Islamic State, perhaps radicalized through the Internet. This was an act of hate, as President Barack Obama noted Sunday. How do we counter such hate? There reportedly is no sign of a larger plot. No indication that the absurd notion of banning Muslims from entering the country would have had any impact on an American-born extremist whose hatred extended to the LGBT community. A hatred, by the way, that is not the sole provenance of some radical Islamic terrorist movements. Others also hold such views and feed into the greater hatred felt by that community. But one question we can ask is why Mateen was allowed to legally buy an assault weapon such as the AR-15 and a handgun. The FBI had questioned him three times, but failed to keep him on a terrorist watch list because there was no evidence that he posed a threat. But he also was described as an unstable and violent young man who had expressed support for ISIS. Why is such an individual allowed to buy any weapons, let alone an AR-15? It's also legitimate to ask whether the FBI did its job properly and whether there is sufficient coordination and cooperation between the nation's security agencies. And it's legitimate to ask, as Obama did, whether it is too easy for someone to get his or her hands on an assault weapon that allows them to inflict mass casualties "in a school, in a house of worship or in a movie theater or in a nightclub." Should we consider applying the license requirements on machine guns to assault-type weapons? Such curbs would not necessarily have stopped Mateen, but they might have, and they may have lessened the body count. These are questions that need to be discussed as the investigation moves forward and as more information becomes available. This was an act by one man, as were acts in Oak Creek, Sandy Hook, Aurora, San Bernardino. And as such, they can be prevented by other men and women. We have to figure out how. And we have to figure out how to lessen the hatred, which has spilled into our communities and our politics in this election year. One sign that we can do so was found in the long lines of people waiting to donate blood for the wounded of Orlando. The donors waited for hours to give their blood to try and do what they could to make up for the blood spilled by Mateen's hatred. That's a start. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at Saint Anselm College on Monday in Manchester, N.H. Credit: Associated Press SHARE In the wake of the horror in Orlando on Saturday night, Donald Trump again showed just why he is unfit to hold the highest office in the land. Trump is in fact the best argument against Trump. He has the temperament of a child; in fact, a very specific child: the attention-seeking bully on the playground who slaps around anyone who criticizes him or gets in his way. Is this really a person who can be trusted with the nuclear codes? Responsible Republicans should refuse to support him. Not just because of his statements in the wake of Orlando, but because of his long trail of embarrassments that made the Orlando statements no surprise to anyone. In an initial tweet, Trump used Orlando to gleefully congratulate himself on his tough stance against Muslims. He then said President Barack Obama should resign because the president didn't use the words "radical Islam." He also suggested that Obama may be inviting terrorist attacks by looking the other way or because of more sinister motives. "There's something going on," he ominously said. He also used Orlando to take shots at his presumed opponent in November by suggesting that Hillary Clinton wants to take away everyone's guns and let terrorists slaughter them, and wants to open the immigration doors to more terrorists. (Trump also exaggerated the number of Syrian refugees entering the country). And on immigration, Trump reiterated his call to bar Muslims from entering the country even though Omar Mateen was born in America of Afghan immigrants and learned his extremism in the good old USA. Trump's denunciation of those radicals who are "anti-woman, anti-gay and anti-American" was on target, but he doesn't stop there, implying that the larger Muslim community shares those feelings. As CNN noted in its coverage of a speech Trump gave Monday, "he delivered some of the most explosive and forceful political rhetoric uttered by a major U.S. political figure in many years, seeming to show little regard for facts." Again. And then in one more act of petulance, Trump took away the campaign press credentials of The Washington Post because he doesn't like the coverage he's getting. As the Post said in an editorial, "If this is his inclination now, imagine how he might wield the powers of the presidency." That's a very scary thought. In response to that action, we have this to say: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel stands with the American Society of News Editors and Associated Press Media Editors against Trump's attempts to censor news coverage of his campaign by denying access to outlets providing coverage that does not correspond to his wishes. Trump's move to sanction coverage of his drive to win the presidency is a disgraceful rejection of the free flow of information essential to our democracy. The public is best served when a fearless, unfettered and independent press is present at campaign events, speeches and political forums. We urge the Republican Party, founded in Wisconsin, to return to its historical support for transparency, openness, and the principles of the First Amendment to the Constitution. We call on both the party and its presumptive nominee to reverse course on these sanctions. In the meantime, we will reject and oppose all efforts by any candidate, party or government official to curtail or eliminate vigorous coverage. That's what we're going to do. Now, it's time for responsible Republicans to do something about Trump. Will convention delegates really nominate this most un-American of candidates to be president of the United States? Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a rally at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H., on Monday. Credit: European Press Agency "The fox knows many things," Greek poet Archilochus told us 2,600 years ago, "but the hedgehog knows one big thing." Since America's inception, politicians have been foxes; candidates for office know a little bit about a great number of issues. When they hit the stump, they are expected to pirouette between questions about nuclear proliferation, when life begins and why their kids' school lunches are so greasy. Donald Trump, on the other hand, may be our first hedgehog candidate. He knows one big thing the campaign is about him and only him. He is the flaming gaseous ball around which all other planets circle. His positions aren't the story; he is. Details are for sissies. This is why, in the hours following the horrific massacre in Orlando early Sunday morning, Trump kept the focus where he believed it belonged on Donald Trump. "Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism," Trump tweeted Sunday morning. "I don't want congrats, I want toughness & vigilance. We must be smart!" Shoveling the fertilizer out of this 23-word statement requires a Hazmat suit, but for the sake of the historical record, let's dig in. For one, who are these people congratulating Trump after the deadliest shooting in American history? If you woke up on Sunday morning, saw the atrocity that had been committed, and your first reaction was "Man, I should praise Donald Trump for predicting this," you are a terrible human. And exactly what did Trump think he deserved congratulations for? Because he predicted there would be another deadly attack on American soil at the hands of someone inspired by ISIS? Did any adult in America think otherwise? But perhaps most offensive is Trump's tone, which seems to suggest that the attack wouldn't have happened if he was in charge. This is truly the lowest form of political opportunism and a slander against the men and women of law enforcement who work to keep us safe. And as for working "smarter"? Well, Trump naturally used the tragedy to push his ban on Muslims entering the country. In a follow-up tweet, Trump said he "called" the attack and "asked for the ban," adding that we "Must be tough." One small problem with Trump's ingenious plan, though: the Orlando shooter was born in America and lived here his entire life he wasn't an "Afghan," as Trump would later mistakenly claim. No ban on entering America would have prevented the tragedy, and the U.S. government can't deport American citizens. If anything, we need to stop the migration of Trump's bigotry from his brain to his mouth. On Monday, Trump doubled down in a rambling, incoherent speech he gave under the guise of "national security." The same morning, on Fox News, Trump pitched a conspiracy theory positing that President Barack Obama may be sympathetic to the radical Islamist who gunned down 49 clubgoers in Orlando. "He doesn't get it, or he gets it better than anybody understands," Trump said of Obama. "It's one or the other." Trump later went further, saying the president "is not tough, not smart or he's got something else in mind." To his supporters, Trump's primary appeal is that he will shake up the status quo in Washington. But the process of honoring the dead after a mass tragedy didn't need shaking up. And neither did the tradition of waiting until all the victims had been removed from the crime scene before accusing the sitting president of being sympathetic to the terrorist who committed the slaughter. But Trump will continue to corrode politics in America, because he knows the one big thing. And the bigger that thing gets, the smaller he becomes. Christian Schneider is a Journal Sentinel columnist and blogger. Email cschneider@jrn.com. Twitter: @Schneider_CM Milwaukee police tweeted this photo of a car involved in a fatal crash in April N. 53rd and W. Center streets. One person was killed and three others hurt in the west side crash that police blamed on an armed robbery suspect who was arrested nearby. Credit: Milwaukee Police Department The police chief, mayor and aldermen announced a traffic safety plan Tuesday to fight crime, which is a public safety issue. This is good news for a city plagued by too many reckless drivers. Police Chief Edward Flynn said in a news conference from City Hall that the spike in car thefts started in 2014 and has been going up every year since. The car thefts have resulted in innocent people being killed in violent crashes, and those cars are often used to commit other crimes, not to mention the loss of property and income to the victims. One of those violent crashes occurred just blocks away from my home when two women were charged in January for a hit-and-run crash that caused the deaths of two men in Milwaukee on Dec. 30. The women were allegedly driving a stolen SUV and were fleeing from police when they struck a car at the intersection of N. Sherman Blvd. and W. Roosevelt Drive. Killed in that crash were Terry J. Jackson, 57, and Darrell K. Thompson, 59, both of Milwaukee. According to a criminal complaint, Jasmine I. Ray, 23, told police that she has never had a driver's license. Witnesses said Ray was driving in excess of 100 mph when she was headed north on Sherman. I saw the crash after it happened and the car that the men were in was completely severed. Police said Ray and her passenger fled the scene of the crash but were caught a short time later. She initially told police that someone else was driving the stolen SUV, but after learning that two people died in the crash she admitted to being the driver. Flynn said the state awarded Milwaukee a $150,000 grant that will be used for a data-driven approach to curb the problem. "Violent crime tracks closely with stolen cars," he said. Flynn said a three-pronged approach will focus on: heavy-duty enforcement; a continued focus on areas with high-crime and accidents; and district-based approaches that will focus on speeders and reckless driving. One of the more telling parts from the news conference occurred when Flynn showed two city maps. One map indicated where the stolen cars and accidents were and the other map tracked where the violent crimes occurred in the city. The two maps overlapped perfectly. Barrett warned young people stealing cars that they will be caught. I would add that catching them is one thing, but they must be punished harshly. Too many of these youths end up right back on the street with a slap on the wrist, and they commit the same crime over and over again. James E. Causey is a Journal Sentinel columnist and blogger. Email james.causey@jrn.com. Facebook: fb.me/jamescausey.12 Twitter: jecausey SHARE By of the Madison State elections officials unanimously voted Tuesday to boot a candidate from the ballot, turning the race to replace outgoing Rep. Mandela Barnes into a two-person contest. Barnes is giving up his Assembly seat to run against a fellow Democrat, state Sen. Lena Taylor of Milwaukee. Three Democrats filed paperwork this month to run for Barnes' seat Jason Fields, a former state representative who lost his Assembly seat to Barnes in 2012; Darrol Gibson, a Democratic campaign aide and activist; and Brandon Jackson, a former aide to Taylor. Jackson gathered about 250 signatures well over the 200 needed to get on the ballot, but he did not list his party affiliation on that paperwork when he circulated it for signature. In many cases he also did not list the date of the election or listed the wrong date for the election. That information is required so voters know basic details about the candidate and election when they show support for putting a name on the ballot. The Government Accountability Board voted 6-0 to keep Jackson off the ballot because of the problems with his filing. That leaves Fields and Gibson in the race for the 11th Assembly District, which covers parts of Milwaukee's north side, Shorewood and a sliver of Wauwatosa. No Republicans or independents are running, so whoever wins the Aug. 9 Democratic primary is all but certain of winning the Nov. 8 general election. Jackson was recently fired by Taylor amid a dispute over his productivity. Before she fired him, he filed complaints saying he was targeted for termination or a demotion by her because he has Crohn's disease, a chronic inflammation of the digestive tract. Jackson started working for Taylor in August and went on paid leave in January while his complaints were being investigated. He was later fired. Through an attorney for the state, Taylor has denied making some of the claims Jackson has attributed to her and said she didn't know he had Crohn's disease until after he filed his initial complaint. She said his job performance was lacking. SHARE By of the Madison In the hours after the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, a Democratic state representative from Wisconsin questioned whether conservative Christianity enabled violence against gays. That prompted one of his Republican colleagues on Tuesday to call him a "loon" and a "laughingstock" and accuse the nation's first black president of engaging in racism and hating Christians. "How many people have been driven to hate and act violently towards the lgbt community by 'conservative Christian' ideology?" Rep. Mandela Barnes (D-Milwaukee) wrote on Twitter on Sunday soon after the Orlando shooting. Among a string of other tweets from Barnes on the issue was one that read: "So many terroristic enablers in churches, in Congress, and state houses. Whether by discriminatory policy or the love affair with guns." Rep. Jesse Kremer (R-Kewaskum) issued a statement Tuesday lashing out at Barnes, along with President Barack Obama. "This guy, a sitting Wisconsin representative, is an absolute loon of a 'leader' doing everything he can to divide and conquer, politicizing a horrific event the modus operandi of our own president," Kremer said in his statement. "The Orlando rampage was derived from pure evil and hate something that Christians and Muslims both denounce. "Our country has been torn apart by President Obama's divisive racism, hatred of Christianity and lambasting of the military and law enforcement. This terrible belief system has obviously crept into our own statehouse." Kremer has led an effort for Wisconsin to adopt a law that would require transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms for the sex listed on their birth certificates. In a tweet Tuesday, Barnes told Kremer it must be hard "playing world police & bathroom police at the same time." Barnes is giving up his Assembly seat to challenge state Sen. Lena Taylor of Milwaukee in the Aug. 9 Democratic primary. House Speaker Paul Ryan talks to reporters at the Republican National Committee headquarters on Capitol Hill Tuesday. Credit: J. Scott Applewhite SHARE By of the Washington, D.C. House Speaker Paul Ryan renewed his criticism Tuesday of a ban on Muslim immigrants, another reminder that his endorsement of Donald Trump has not put to rest their considerable differences. "I do not think a Muslim ban is in our country's interest. I don't think it is reflective of our principles, not just as a party but as a country," Ryan said at a House GOP news conference. "I think the smarter way to go in all respects is to have a security test, not a religious test." Ryan also struck a far different tone than Trump on the role of American Muslims, whom Trump accused Monday of harboring terrorists in their communities and failing to report them to authorities. Asked about those remarks, Ryan said: "I think there is a really important distinction that every American needs to keep in mind. This is a war with radical Islam. It's not a war with Islam. Muslims are our partners. The vast, vast majority of Muslims in this country and around the world are moderate, they're peaceful, they're tolerant. And, so they're among our best allies, among our best resources in this fight against radical Islamic terrorism. So I think it's very important that we hold that distinction. We honor that distinction. And let's remember, we're all in this together." In a speech and interviews Monday, Trump expanded on his call for a ban on the entry of Muslims into the U.S., proposing that America suspend immigration from all countries that have a proven history of terrorism. He broadly questioned the loyalties of Muslim Americans, and suggested that President Barack Obama was not really interested in combating the terrorist threat. Asked Tuesday for his response to Trump's remarks, Ryan restated his disagreement with Trump's immigration proposals and spoke up for the American Muslim community. But he did not criticize Trump directly. As he left the press conference, Ryan ignored reporters who asked him whether he stood by his support of Trump, the party's presumptive nominee. Trump plans to meet with House Republicans on July 7 to talk about the GOP agenda and how to come together before the November election. Ryan endorsed Trump June 2, after acknowledging serious differences and concerns about the tenor of Trump's campaign. But on the heels of that endorsement, Ryan criticized Trump for what he called "racist" comments about a judge of Mexican heritage. And their differences over immigration, terrorism, and how to bring Americans together on these issues have come to the fore again in the aftermath of the mass shooting in Orlando. Ryan also used Tuesday's news conference to reiterate his criticism of Obama's national security strategy, saying, "Right now, the president doesn't have a plan to get the job done." Trump's rhetoric and response to the Orlando attacks has appalled Democrats. "We have to come together and Donald Trump divides us and makes us weaker," Senate Democrat Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin said on MSNBC Monday night. Obama excoriated Trump in remarks Tuesday, calling his views dangerous. But Trump's statements also have divided Republicans. Some GOP lawmakers have refused to discuss Trump's comments. Others have distanced themselves from them or criticized them more directly. Wisconsin Republican Reid Ribble, a longtime Trump critic within the GOP, said Tuesday that Trump went overboard questioning Obama's desire to fight terrorism. "It's ridiculous to say that any any president of the United States would not want to combat terrorism," said Ribble, who also opposes the idea of a Muslim immigration ban. "You can't ban a religion from entering the country, it's unconstitutional," said Ribble. "What we need to do is ultimately pull the temperature down and pull everybody's intellect up, so we can have a little better conversation about this." Aside from the controversy they have sparked, Trump's rhetoric has continued to overshadow efforts by Republicans in Congress to promote their own election-year policy agenda. Ryan and colleagues held an event in D.C. Tuesday afternoon in front of the Department of Labor to promote their economic and regulatory proposals. A small group across the street chanted anti-Trump slogans throughout. And when it came time to field questions from the press, Ryan was asked again about Trump. "I am not going to get into the day to day habit of commenting on what the president says and our nominee says," Ryan said. "But you did this morning," a reporter replied. "I'm not going to do it every day," said Ryan, who then laughed and added "or every hour." SHARE By of the A dispute over the way the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs awards block grant money to county veterans service offices has been resolved. This month, representatives from the Wisconsin Counties Association, Wisconsin County Executives and Administrators Association, Veterans Affairs and the governor's office met to discuss complaints from veterans service officers whose requests for grants in a decadeslong program were abruptly being denied with no reason given. A survey found that for 40% of Wisconsin counties, more than half of the $200,000 they requested this year through the block grant program was denied. But the VA has now agreed to revert to the previous method of applying for grants by allowing veteran service office budgets approved by county executives to be submitted to show how the grant money will be spent. "From their side of things, they were responding to an audit about inappropriate expenditures, so they tightened up the process," said Ozaukee County Administrator Thomas Meaux, president of the Wisconsin County Executives and Administrators Association. "But we prevailed that if the chief executive of the county is signing off on the county veterans service officers' budget, then it should qualify" for the grants. Department of Veterans Affairs spokesman Bill Clausius said: "It was a productive meeting and we're moving forward to develop the administrative rules that cover the grant program as a result of the meeting." In past years, counties with full-time veterans service officers received $8,500 to $13,000 each year, depending on the population of the county. But starting last year, the state Department of Veterans Affairs changed from a block grant to a reimbursement system for which counties can apply twice each year. The agency also added more restrictions on the use of the money and began denying grant applications without giving a reason or outlining criteria for submitting paperwork in what had previously been a routine matter. Waushara County Veterans Service Officer Bill Rosenau said the change is a step in the right direction but he's waiting to see how the rules regarding disbursement of grants will be written. "There has been a call pretty much statewide to return it to a block-grant structure rather than reimbursement which allows for the counties to actually manage those funds to the betterment of their individual veterans service office," said Rosenau, an Iraq veteran. "Looking at the guidelines written between July and prior to this change, it certainly looked like a state agency stepping on local control issues." No verdict reached after first few hours of deliberations in Darrell Brooks trial Waukesha County Now SHARE By , Town of Menasha More than five years have passed since Larry DeWayne Hall dropped a bombshell by confessing to kidnapping and killing Laurie J. Depies. But charges have yet to be filed against the former Wabash, Indiana, man who is serving a life sentence in a North Carolina federal prison for the 1993 kidnapping of a 14-year-old Illinois girl. The lack of physical evidence to support Hall's confession is a major hurdle for authorities investigating the 1992 disappearance of the then-20-year-old Depies. Depies' body has not been found, and while her car and a cup she was drinking from shortly before disappearing were recovered by police, there is not a wealth of other physical evidence. "I don't know if there will be closure," said Jason Weber, community liaison with the Fox Crossing/Town of Menasha Police Department. "Absent any corroborating evidence, I don't know." The Wisconsin Department of Justice has been in charge of the investigation for the past few years, following the retirement of Detective Michael Krueger, who was present during a fall 2010 interview when Hall confessed to killing Depies. Police said at the time that Hall encountered Depies while she was working at Fox River Mall in Grand Chute on Aug. 19, 1992, followed her car to her boyfriend's apartment near the former Valley Fair Mall in the Town of Menasha, lured her into his van, abducted her and left the area. Authorities said Hall was in the Fox Cities at the time for a Civil War re-enactment. Attempts to find her remains at a remote site in south-central Wisconsin following Hall's confession were unsuccessful. State justice officials didn't refer to Hall's confession when responding to an inquiry by USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin this week on the status of the investigation. "The (department) is still actively involved in this investigation and we encourage anybody with information about Ms. Depies' disappearance to come forward," said Johnny Koremenos, director of communications and public affairs for the DOJ. Mary Wegner, Depies' mother, said she was informed by a special agent last fall that there was "nothing new to report on Laurie's case." "(The agent) said she continues to follow a lead or so as they come in," Wegner said. Weber said the Department of Justice pledged to inform the Fox Crossing/Town of Menasha Police Department of any developments in the investigation, but nothing new has come in lately. "Obviously, it's an open case. (The Department of Justice) is the lead agency now. But we're still associated with it," he said. Authorities tried several years ago to bring Hall from a federal prison in Butner, North Carolina, to Wisconsin to show officers where he disposed of Depies' remains, but the trip didn't materialize because it involved a complex set of travel approvals and clearances at the federal, state and local levels. Winnebago County District Attorney Christian Gossett has said on multiple occasions that charges can't be filed against Hall unless there is physical evidence to support his confession. Weber said the town police department moved some of the evidence in the case to state investigators in late 2015, including a number of file cabinets stuffed with files accumulated over the past 23-plus years. Despite the lack of corroborating evidence for Hall's confession, he remains a viable suspect, according to Weber. "That hasn't changed," he said. 06/14/2016 Theatre historian Ellen Peck, an assistant professor of drama at Jacksonville State University, has been named a Fulbright Scholar by the U.S. Department of State. She joins Guillermo Francia in becoming the second JSU faculty member awarded a Fulbright this year. It is one of the most prestigious honors one can achieve in academia. As the United States flagship academic exchange effort, the Fulbright Program was founded in 1946 by Senator J. William Fulbright to increase mutual understanding between the people of the US and other countries. More than 360,000 of the nations brightest students and professors have participated in the program over the past 70 years, 53 of whom have gone on to win the Nobel Prize. The program is administered by the US Department of States Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Peck is both a theatre historian and practitioner. As a historian, she specializes in musical theatre history with an emphasis on the early 20th century. She will use the award to travel to Romania, where she will teach classes in musical theatre and American theatre history at Alexandru Ioan Cuza University from October 2016 to June 2017. I am honored and thrilled to receive the Fulbright and represent JSU in Romania, said Peck. Im truly humbled to be included in the Fulbright community of scholars. Romania is an incredible country: vibrant, culturally-rich and beautiful. I cant wait to study its theatrical history and see some of the best theatre in Europe. Peck joined the JSU faculty in 2010. She holds a B.A. in theatre from Oakland University and a M.A. and Ph.D. in theatre history from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In April, Guillermo Francia a computer science professor at JSU was named a recipient of the Fulbright Cyber Security Award from the US-UK Fulbright Commission. Next spring, he will join a group of prominent cyber security experts at Imperial College London to perform research on critical infrastructure security as part of the 2015 Obama-Cameron bilateral agreement to strengthen cyber security research collaboration between the US and UK. Photo: Dr. Ellen Peck (courtesy Matt Reynolds/JSU). Reddit Email 0 Shares Maan News Agency | RAMALLAH (Maan) Syriza, the ruling party in the Greek parliament, told Palestinian lawmakers Saturday that the government was set to officially recognize the state of Palestine, according to a statement by the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC). Maan News Photos A Greek delegation from the Syriza party reportedly met with political parties of the PLC and confirmed that the government would recognize the state of Palestine soon, according to the statement. However, an exact timetable for the future recognition was not provided by the Greek delegates. The Syriza delegates met with Azzam al-Ahmad of the Fatah movement, Qays Abdul Karim of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Mustafa Barghouti of the Palestinian National Initiative, Bassam al-Salihi of the Palestinian Peoples Party, and the Fatah-affiliated lawmakers Najat al-Astal, Muhib Awwad, and Abdullah Abdullah. The Greek parliament voted in favor of a decision to recommend the government recognize the state of Palestine in December. However, the decision has not yet come to fruition. Due to some special circumstances, the Greek recognition of the Palestinian state has been delayed, but it will come soon, the Greek delegates stated. If implemented, Greece would become the second European country to officially recognize the Palestinian state, following Swedens decision in 2014. Via Maan News Agency Reddit Email 6 Shares By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | Regulars at Pulse Nightclub are saying that Omar Mateen, the alleged shooter in the early Sunday morning massacre there, was himself a regular! The Orlando Sentinel writes, Sometimes he would go over in the corner and sit and drink by himself, and other times he would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent, Ty Smith said. So theres just one thing about his claim to be acting on behalf of ISIL (with whom he appears never to have had any contact): puritanical Muslim fundamentalists of the ISIL sort dont behave that way. Unbalanced, disturbed young Christian Americans who want to act out power fantasies that end in murder-suicide tend to claim a KKK, neo-Nazi, Christian fundamentalist or other white-nationalist identity in a desperate bid to make their loser lives and loser behavior seem cosmically important. And, Jewish young men with mass murder on their minds tend to do so in the name of some flavor of radical Zionism (Jewish nationalism, which makes Judaism a national identity rather than a private religious one). Muslim American young men with similar power fantasies and violent impulses inflate their egos with reference to al-Qaeda, ISIL, whatever the far right fringe Muslim boogey man of the day is. As I wrote yesterday, it seems to me a distinction must be drawn between nihilism and terrorism, between the senseless action of a disturbed individual (no matter how he justifies it) and an actual political group to which a suspect actually belongs that deploys terrorism to achieve a deeply political goal. So here are some tips for recognizing a Muslim fundamentalist who has turned to terrorism, i.e. what most counter-terrrorism experts call a Salafi Jihadi (I prefer the term fundamentalist vigilante). (Note: Only 15% of Muslims are fundamentalists; only 9 million out of 1.5 billion are Wahhabis; and the vast majority of Muslim fundamentalists are peaceful. ISIL in Syria and Iraq is estimated to have on the order of 25,000 fighters). 1. Salafi Jihadis dont drink alcohol. 2. Salafi Jihadis dont hang out in bars. 3. Salafi Jihadis dont, in particular, frequent gay bars. 4. Salafi Jihadis dont text potential hook-ups using a gay dating app. 5. Salafi Jihadis arent usually clean shaven. 6. Salafi Jihadis belong to a fringe interpretation of Sunni Islam and despise Shiites; they dont typically claim to have an affiliation with a Shiite group such as Hizbullah, which is fighting ISIL in Syria. (Here typically means, like, ever.) 7. Salafi Jihadis dont express a hope that non-Muslim police will assault their wives. In fact, they wouldnt want men other than close relatives to so much as see their wives unveiled. This is what a real Salafi Jihadi looks like, ie. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi Omar Mateen was a disturbed person, likely brought up a nationalist rather than a fundamentalist, and didnt have the slightest idea of what a Salafi Jihadi was. He was a fraud in every way. Likely the failure of his first marriage came from his mistreatment of his wife because deep down he was not straight and his self-betrayal made him hate her. When he felt bullied at work for his race or religion, he talked big, invoking Salafi Jihadi groups, without any understanding of them. He never adopted that lifestyle or joined any such group. He didnt even know the difference between Sunni and Shiite. It is possible, in fact, that his psychotic break came from being jilted at the club, and the massacre was his revenge. To put all this on Muslims and Islam in general is frankly absurd. - Related video: Inside Edition: Ex-Wife of Orlando Gunman Omar Mateen: He Was Mentally Ill and Unstable Reddit Email 0 Shares By Sam Heller | ( RFE/RL) | As the extremist group Islamic State (IS) and its rival Al-Qaeda have captured pieces of Iraq, Syria, and other countries in the region, they have had to balance their global aims with the specific local concerns of the communities under their control. Al-Qaedas latest attempt to do so shows that its leaders believe they can rally Syrians to their cause by appealing to a deadly, particularly Syrian form of sectarianism. All Salafi jihadists reject the idea of al-qutariyyah, or Muslims division into what they consider artificial states. This is part of why Islamic State has been so fixated on the destruction of state borders, like the one separating Iraq from Syria. But while IS has relentlessly suppressed local difference and impressed its supranational identity on its subjects, Al-Qaeda has proved more willing to accommodate local priorities. Unlike IS, which has deployed its conquered territories and peoples in the service of its own universal war, Al-Qaeda and its affiliates like Syrias Al-Nusra Front have sought to install themselves as the vanguard of Sunnis existing national or regional armed struggles. These organizations goals are all, ultimately, global. Yet Al-Qaeda has advanced its aims by speaking the language of local conflict. Now, with the latest video address from supreme Al-Nusra Front religious official Sami al-Oreidi, we can hear an example of how Al-Qaeda argues for jihad in Syrian vernacular. Oreidis speech comes after Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahris May 8 audio message, titled Hasten To Syria, in which Zawahri emphasized the centrality of Syria within the global jihad. Sami al-Oreidis June 3 Ramadan video address, titled When The People Of Al-Sham [Syria] Have Been Corrupted, Then There Is No Good Left In You, is a sort of companion piece to Zawahris message. But where Zawahiri directed a message about Syrias factional rebel politics to a narrow audience of militants and fellow-traveling Islamists, Oreidi seems to have made an appeal for jihad to Syrias Sunni public on Syrian terms. Fueling Jihad In the video, Oreidi situates Syrias war within an overarching struggle between truth and falsehood. Yet he argues for that war in terms of Syrias special religious significance, Syrian history and, in particular, Syrias specific sectarian resentments. It turns out that, when the Al-Nusra Front and Al-Qaeda want to tap into an indigenously Syrian sentiment to fuel their jihad, they look to toxic even genocidal sectarianism. First, though, Oreidi opens by pointing to Syrias religious symbolism, citing instances in which the Prophet Muhammad attested to Syrias importance. The title of the video has itself been relayed from a saying of Muhammad. According to Oreidi, God on high made the devotion of the people of Al-Sham, or their corruption, the measure of the state of the Islamic nation. Oreidi recounts how Syria and Damascus were the center of the Umayyad Caliphate, a period he says was akin to a historical miracle, and one that witnessed the spread of Islam and a flourishing of scholarly and economic life. Syrians today are restoring that historical prestige, Oreidi says: Here is Al-Sham today, shaking off the dust of humiliation and shame, and attempting to return to its glorious history after the Nuseiri sect [a derogatory term for Alawites, the sect to which Syrian President Bashar al-Assad belongs] first surrendered Muslims land to the Jews and then seized the system of rule and power in Al-Sham to begin a new stage in the struggle between the people of Truth and the people of Falsehood. As a model, Oreidi holds out Marwan Hadid, who founded the militant Muslim Brotherhood splinter group the Fighting Vanguard and agitated for Sunni rebellion before dying in a Syrian prison in 1976. Hadid remains a symbol of Syrian Sunni militancy and, posthumously, has been adopted as one of the forefathers of jihadism. In Oreidis telling, Hadid recognized the Nuseiri [Alawite] plot to wipe out Syrias Muslims. Thus, Oreidi relates: He spoke the truth. He argued for the illegitimacy of the infidels rule over Muslims and argued for jihad against this infidel regime, and he worked to spread the spirit of jihad in Muslims hearts and those of his followers. The Al-Nusra Front has set itself apart mostly with its comparatively reasonable treatment of fellow Sunni Muslims not heterodox Islamic sects like Shia or Alawites. The Al-Nusra Front has set itself apart mostly with its comparatively reasonable treatment of fellow Sunni Muslims not heterodox Islamic sects like Shia or Alawites. Much of the upper tier of Syrian President Bashar al-Assads regime, bound together by intermarriage and kinship networks, hails from the Alawite sect, and Alawites have historically been represented heavily in the countrys elite military and intelligence services. Over the course of the countrys ongoing civil war, the regime has rallied support from the countrys Alawite community as well as members of the countrys other sects, including the Sunni majority to defend the Syrian state against what it has argued is the threat of oppressive Islamist theocracy and genocidal terror. And the verdict on Syrias Alawites, Oreidi makes clear, is death. Oreidi cites medieval Islamic jurist Imam al-Ghazali, who wrote, Proceed with [the Alawites] as you would with apostates. The land must be purged of them. He also quotes Islamic scholar Ibn Taymiyyah, himself Syrian and among the formative influences on modern Salafism: This people called the Nuseiriyyah [Alawites], along with all types of esoteric Qarmatians [a Muslim sect that fused elements of Shia Islam and Persian mysticism], are more infidels than the Jews and the Nasara [Christians]; more infidels, in fact, than many polytheists. Their harm to the nation of Muhammad, peace be upon him, is greater than the infidels waging war on it. To conclude, Oreidi warns that the struggle ahead will be costly and divisive, but that this price must be paid to distinguish the righteous. Lastly, he calls for the Islamic countrys scholars to speak the truth, as Ibn Taymiyyah once did. Oreidis call for the extermination of Syrias Alawites was the speechs most attention-grabbing element, but in many ways it was nothing new. The Al-Nusra Front has gained a reputation for moderation in large part thanks to the comparison with the hyperextreme, murderous Islamic State. Yet the Al-Nusra Front has set itself apart mostly with its comparatively reasonable treatment of fellow Sunni Muslims not heterodox Islamic sects like Shia or Alawites. Expect An Ugly Death Al-Nusra Front leader Abu Muhammad al-Jolani actually commented on Syrias Alawites in a May 2015 Al-Jazeera interview: Even after all the massacres [the Alawites] have committed against us, our religion is one of mercy, and were not criminals or murderers. We fight those who fight us, and we fight to stand up against oppression. Even the Alawites, if we clarify their mistakes to them and how theyve left their religion [Islam], and they renounce [Alawism], lay down their arms, and wash their hands of the actions of Bashar al-Assad, then we would consider them safe. In fact, we would take responsibility for protecting and defending them. Some mistakenly interpreted Jolanis remarks as newly tolerant or conciliatory, but implicit in what he said is that Alawites are apostates from Islam. The message was that if they do not repent and convert en masse to Al-Nusras vision of Islam another sort of cleansing they can still expect an ugly death. This sort of hostility to Alawites and other heterodox Muslim sects goes beyond jihadism, of course. Given Ibn Taymiyyahs foundational influence, it is arguably hardwired into Salafism, and it has resonance even among some who subscribe to less austere varieties of Sunni Islam. But in Syria, anti-Alawite antipathy is also tangled up in decades of oppression by a regime dominated by a single, largely Alawite clique. When Jolani listed Sunni Syrians grievances against Syrias Alawites, they were temporal, not theological: barrel bombs, torture, and rape. Oreidis latest address puts a scholarly sheen on the same sort of sectarian anger. Oreidi has attempted to build a bridge between Al-Qaeda and Syrias Sunni public. And between global jihad and Syrian concerns, he seems to have calculated that sectarian revanchism is the common ground. Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036. Via RFE/RL - Related video added by Juan Cole: RT from last week: Al-Nusra & Ahrar al-Sham terrorists shell Aleppos residential areas, dozens killed MoD VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - June 14, 2016) - East Africa Metals Inc. (TSX VENTURE: EAM) ("East Africa" or the "Company") is pleased to announce an updated independent mineral resource estimate for the Adyabo Project in Ethiopia. The recent 40 x 40 metre spaced infill drill program strategically targeted on the core areas of Inferred Resource gold mineralization at Da Tambuk and Mato Bula (Figure 1). A total of 4,029 metres of diamond drilling in 31 holes was completed during the infill campaign. Key highlights of the updated Resource include; The conversion of 446,000 gold equivalent ounces to the Indicated Resource classification. The gold grade for the Indicated portion of the resource has increased to 3.92 grams per tonne gold, compared with the initial overall Inferred Resource grade of 2.26 grams per tonne gold, an increase of 73%. In complement to this increased grade, over 95% of the Indicated equivalent gold ounces are recoverable via the near surface Pit Constrained model. For the Indicated Resource, Pit Constrained gold and gold equivalent grades are 3.94 grams per tonne, and 4.30 grams per tonne respectively. The mineral resources reported herein have been estimated using criteria consistent with the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy ("CIM") Definition Standards (2014) and in conformity with the CIM "Estimation of Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves Best Practice" (2003) guidelines. The disclosure of this Mineral Resource is compliant with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"). Adyabo Project Mineral Resource Estimate David Thomas, P. Geo. (Effective Date: May 31, 2016) Gold Copper Silver Gold Equivalent Gold Metal Copper Metal Silver Metal Gold Equivalent Metal Category Tonnes (Au g/t) (Cu %) (Ag g/t) ( Au g/t) (Au Ozs) (Cu Mlbs) (Ag Ozs) (Ozs) Indicated 3,215,000 3.92 0.24 1.4 4.29 408,000 16.8 132,000 446,000 Inferred 5,930,000 1.43 0.50 2.9 2.27 273,000 65.7 559,000 434,000 Footnotes to mineral resource statement: Fladgate Exploration Consulting Corporation ("Fladgate") reviewed East Africa's quality assurance and quality control programs on the mineral resources data. Fladgate concludes that the collar, survey, assay, and lithology data are adequate to support mineral resources estimation. Domains were modelled in 3D to separate mineralised rock types from surrounding waste rock. The domains were modelled based on copper and gold grades. Raw drill hole assays were composited to 2 metre lengths broken at domain boundaries. Capping of high grades was considered necessary and was completed for each domain on assays prior to compositing. Block grades for gold and silver were estimated from the composites using a combination of ordinary kriging and inverse distance weighted (power of three) interpolation method into 5 metre (along strike) x 2 metre (across strike) x 5 metre (vertical) blocks coded by domain. Dry bulk density varied by deposit area. The dry bulk densities are based on 559 specific gravity measurements at Da Tambuk, 1,755 specific gravity measurements at Mato Bula and 231 specific gravity measurements at Mato Bula North. Blocks were classified as Indicated and Inferred in accordance with CIM Definition Standards 2014. Indicated resources are classified on the basis of blocks falling within a drill hole spacing of 40 metres x 40 metres. The results of comparison with the previous mineral resource model, a drill hole spacing study and conditional simulation of gold grades were used to support the classification of Indicated mineral resources. Inferred resources are classified on the basis of blocks falling within the mineralised domain wireframes (i.e. reasonable assumption of grade/geological continuity) with a maximum distance of 100 metres to the closest composite. The mineral resource estimate is constrained within an optimised pit with a maximum slope angle of 50 degrees. Metal prices of $1,400/oz, $3.20/lb and $20.0/oz were used for gold, copper and silver respectively. Metallurgical recoveries of 97% for gold, 72% for copper and 50% for silver were applied at Da Tambuk. Metallurgical recoveries of 88.5% for gold, 87.5% for copper and 50% for silver were applied at Mato Bula and Mato Bula North. A pit constrained $/t cut-off was estimated based on a total process and G&A operating cost of $23.9/t of ore mined. An additional mining cost of $40/t was used to estimate a $/t cut-off of $63.9/t for reporting underground mineral resources. The contained gold, copper and silver figures shown are in situ. No assurance can be given that the estimated quantities will be produced. All figures have been rounded to reflect accuracy and to comply with securities regulatory requirements. Summations within the tables may not agree due to rounding. Mineral Resources which are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The estimate of mineral resources may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, sociopolitical, marketing, or other relevant issues. The quantity and grade of reported inferred resources in this estimation are conceptual in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define these inferred resources as an indicated or measured mineral resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in upgrading them to an indicated or measured mineral resource category. Andrew Lee Smith, President and CEO, stated, "Moving 446,000 equivalent ounces of gold into an Indicated Resource category with just over 4,000 metres of drilling demonstrates both the predictable and consistent nature of the mineralization targeted, and the corporate focus on results-oriented project advancement. We look forward to further adding value and building on the potential at Adyabo, and also the Harvest Project in Ethiopia." Forward Program East Africa will continue to advance both its Harvest and Adyabo resource projects in Northern Ethiopia. Identified resources at Adyabo will continue to be upgraded through further delineation and engineering work. Additional surface targets remain to be tested on the Mato Bula trend, and the development of targets to depth remains a key consideration. At Harvest, engineering and metallurgical testing is ongoing for the Terakimti Oxide deposit, and additional review is being conducted on the Supergene copper sulfide mineralization below the oxide. Additional details on the Mineral Resource update Adyabo Project Indicated Mineral Resource Estimate, David Thomas, P. Geo. (Effective Date: May 31, 2016) Pit Constrained Gold Copper Silver Gold Equivalent Gold Metal Copper Metal Silver Metal Gold Equivalent Metal Area Cut-Off ($/t) Tonnes (Au g/t) (Cu %) (Ag g/t) ( Au g/t) (Au Ozs) (Cu Mlbs) (Ag Ozs) (Ozs) Da Tambuk 23.9 775,000 4.51 0.11 2.4 4.65 112,000 1.9 59,000 116,000 Mato Bula 23.9 2,280,000 3.74 0.28 1.1 4.18 278,000 14.0 70,000 310,000 Sub-Total Pit 23.9 3,055,000 3.94 0.24 1.4 4.30 390,000 15.9 128,000 426,000 Underground Mineral Resource Gold Copper Silver Gold Equivalent Gold Metal Copper Metal Silver Metal Gold Equivalent Metal Area Cut-Off ($/t) Tonnes (Au g/t) (Cu %) (Ag g/t) ( Au g/t) (Au Ozs) (Cu Mlbs) (Ag Ozs) (Ozs) Mato Bula 63.9 160,000 3.57 0.25 1.0 3.96 18,000 0.9 3,000 20,000 Total PC + UG N/A 3,215,000 3.92 0.24 1.4 4.29 408,000 16.8 132,000 446,000 Adyabo Project Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate, David Thomas, P. Geo. (Effective Date: May 31, 2016) Pit Constrained Gold Copper Silver Gold Equivalent Gold Metal Copper Metal Silver Metal Gold Equivalent Metal Area Cut-Off ($/t) Tonnes (Au g/t) (Cu %) (Ag g/t) ( Au g/t) (Au Ozs) (Cu Mlbs) (Ag Ozs) (Ozs) Da Tambuk 23.9 35,000 4.30 0.08 3.0 4.42 5,000 0.1 3,000 5,000 Mato Bula 23.9 3,010,000 2.13 0.34 2.4 2.67 207,000 22.2 237,000 259,000 Mato Bula North 23.9 2,470,000 0.27 0.70 3.2 1.49 22,000 38.3 252,000 119,000 Sub-Total Pit Constrained 23.9 5,515,000 1.31 0.50 2.8 2.15 233,000 60.6 493,000 383,000 Underground Mineral Resource Gold Copper Silver Gold Equivalent Gold Metal Copper Metal Silver Metal Gold Equivalent Metal Area Cut-Off ($/t) Tonnes (Au g/t) (Cu %) (Ag g/t) ( Au g/t) (Au Ozs) (Cu Mlbs) (Ag Ozs) (Ozs) Da Tambuk 63.9 75,000 3.92 0.05 2.9 4.00 9,000 0.1 7,000 10,000 Mato Bula 63.9 330,000 2.77 0.65 5.4 3.82 30,000 4.7 58,000 41,000 Mato Bula North 63.9 15,000 0.75 0.79 2.6 2.10 400 0.3 1,000 1,000 Sub-Total Underground 63.9 420,000 2.91 0.55 4.8 3.80 39,000 5.1 66,000 51,000 Total PC + UG N/A 5,930,000 1.43 0.50 2.9 2.27 273,000 65.7 559,000 434,000 The initial Adyabo Resource was completed in 2015 and for comparative purposes is outlined below: Initial Adyabo Project Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate, David Thomas, P. Geo. (Effective Date: April 27, 2015) 43-101 Technical Report Filed June 17, 2015 Gold Copper Silver Gold Equivalent Gold Metal Copper Metal Silver Metal Gold Equivalent Metal Category Tonnes (Au g/t) (Cu %) (Ag g/t) ( Au g/t) (Au Ozs) (Cu Mlbs) (Ag Ozs) (Ozs) Inferred 9,315,000 2.26 0.4 2.2 2.95 678,000 82.1 648,000 885,000 East Africa requested that Fladgate update the Adyabo initial mineral resource estimate utilizing the additional infill diamond drilling and trench information collected during the fall of 2015 and winter of 2016. This drilling was concentrated on the core areas of mineralization at the Mato Bula and Da Tambuk mineralized zones. Fladgate undertook quality assurance and quality control studies on the mineral resource data for the Adyabo Project, including the comparison of 76.5% of original assays from this latest program, to original assay certificates. There are a total of 84 core diamond drill holes for 15,295.8 metres, and 2,808 trench metres within the database used to support mineral resource estimation. The drill database was provided by East Africa as a MS Access database and in MS Excel files. The database cut-off date for Mineral Resource estimate purposes was April 13, 2016. Fladgate imported the collar, survey, lithology, alteration, and assay data into MineSight, a commercial mining software program. Topographic contour lines were based on a surface supplied by East Africa with contour lines spaced 2 metres apart. The topography is based upon GeoEye images collected at a resolution of 50centimetres. Fladgate checked and compared that the drill hole collars matched the topographic surface and found only minor differences of < 1 metre in elevation between the surveyed drill hole collars and the topography. No corrections were made to the drill hole collar elevations. All data used the local grid coordinate system. The gold-copper mineralization on the Da Tambuk, Mato Bula North, and Mato Bula areas on the Adyabo Project are hosted by intensely deformed and altered sericite-altered schists and mafic meta-volcanic rocks which form prominent northeast trending ridges. At Mato Bula, the mineralization is in contact with meta-sedimentary rocks. At Da Tambuk, mineralization occurs in two sub-parallel zones with a strike length of 650 metres in a northeast-southwest direction, a vertical extent of 200 metres and horizontal widths up to 50 metres. Mineralization is enriched in gold relative to copper with a Au:Cu ratio (Au g/t to Cu %) of 24.7 to 1. At Mato Bula, mineralization occurs in three sub-parallel zones with a strike length of 850 metres in a northeast-southwest direction, a vertical extent of up to 450 metres and a horizontal width of up to 80 metres. The southern part of Mato Bula has a higher copper content relative to gold. The overall Au:Cu ratio is 8.1 to 1. Mineralization at Mato Bula North is hosted in two zones, with dimensions of 200 metres in a north-south direction, a vertical extent of 170 metres and a horizontal width of up to 60 metres. Mineralization is enriched in copper relative to gold with a Au:Cu ratio of 0.6. East Africa provided Fladgate with sectional interpretations of the mineralization based on copper and gold grades. Fladgate created wireframe models of the mineralized zones using East Africa's drill hole intercepts with Minesight's implicit modeller. Fladgate reviewed the wireframe models and found the wireframe boundaries correctly honour the drill hole intercepts and inspected drill holes displaying gold and copper grades. No significant zones of mineralization fall outside of the wireframes. Fladgate composited the assays into 2 metre composites. The length weighted mean gold and copper grades of 2 metre length composites are very similar to those of the assays; therefore Fladgate is confident that the compositing process worked as intended. Where the coefficient of variation (CV) values of the capped assays are greater than 2, further domaining of the copper and gold grades is warranted. As a result of the multiple gold composite populations and high CV in a number of zones, probability indicator models were created. At Da Tambuk, the CV of the low grade composites is highly affected by the misclassification of two high grade composites. This composite misclassification was not adjusted. Overall the indicator coding is successful in separating low grade mineralization from higher grade mineralization. At Mato Bula, minor adjustments were made to the classification of composites to avoid high grade composites coded to the lower-grade subdomain and vice-versa. Overall the indicator coding is successful in separating low grade mineralization from higher grade mineralization. Fladgate estimated grades from the 2 metre composites into regular blocks with a size of 5 metres along strike x 2 metres across strike x 5 metres vertically. At Da Tambuk and Mato Bula, Fladgate used an ordinary kriging (OK) grade interpolation method in two passes using Minesight's dynamic unfolding (DU) module to account for significant changes in the orientation of the mineralization wireframe. Global and Local bias checks were performed and reviewed, as were grade smoothing checks. Density sampling was performed at site using unsealed immersion technique to measure the weight of each sample in air and in water. Fladgate assigned Specific Gravity values ranging from 2.83 to 2.85 to blocks within the mineralized zones. The SG values have been used directly as the dry bulk density to report the tonnage estimates of the mineral resource. The rock types intercepted in the drill holes are generally not porous, therefore the amount of porosity is not expected to cause a large difference between the SG and bulk density. Block models were validated to ensure appropriate honoring of the input data through a number of methods including; 1) nearest-neighbour (NN) grade model review to validate the OK grade models, 2) visual inspection of block grade vs composited data in section and plan, 3) comparison of metal removed by capping, 4) bias checks on OK and NN estimates, and 5) grade smoothing checks. Fladgate classified blocks with a maximum distance of 100 metres to the closest composite to the Inferred category. A review was conducted of the geological model, data quality, geological continuity and metallurgical characteristics for classification of mineral resources. The mineralized zone wireframes are supported by drilling with a spacing of between 40 metres and 80 metres. This drill spacing is sufficient to assume that the mineralization is continuous between drill holes. A 100 metres maximum distance to the closest composite permits a reasonable local estimate of grades (as demonstrated by model validation). Fladgate conducted an analysis of confidence limits using quarterly panels of production for a 4,500 t/day pit constrained mine operation. The accuracy of grade estimates was then scaled to annual production. Accuracy of 15% or better at a 90% confidence limit on annual production was used as the criteria to select a drill hole spacing to be used to classify Indicated mineral resources. The results show that a drill hole spacing of 40 metres (along the easting) x 40 metres (along the northing) is sufficient to classify Indicated mineral resources. Fladgate completed an analysis of the classification categories using conditional simulation of grades for specific zones, and additionally conducted a comparison of the updated resource in the 40 metre x 40 metre spacing infill drill area. Fladgate is of the opinion that the results support the classification of Indicated mineral resources to certain areas of the Adyabo resource. Fladgate classified blocks to the Indicated category using the following criteria: A maximum distance to the closest hole of 40 metres. A maximum average distance from two holes of 31 metres (approximately the diagonal distance within a 40 metre x 40 metre grid with a 10% contingency). Quality Control The planning, execution, and monitoring of East Africa's drilling and quality control programs at the Adyabo Project has been conducted under the supervision of Jeff Heidema, P.Geo., East Africa's Vice President Exploration. Mr. Heidema is a "Qualified Person" as defined by NI 43-101, and has reviewed and approved the geological information contained in this news release. Diamond drilling and trenching was coordinated by East Africa's contract geologists who also managed the preparation, logging, and sampling of core and rock samples, in addition to carrying out bulk density measurements. During sampling, quality control standards and blanks were introduced at pre-determined intervals to monitor laboratory performance. A system of field, reject, and pulp sample duplicates was also incorporated, as were specific programs of re-assaying and umpire lab assaying to both monitor laboratory performance and also characterize potential mineralization; all consistent with industry best practice. Drill core samples and trench sample have undergone preliminary preparation at the Bureau Veritas Mineral Laboratories facility in Ankara, Turkey, and are crushed to 80% passing 10 mesh, and pulverized to 85% passing 200 mesh (PRP70-1KG package). Analyses are conducted at Bureau Veritas Mineral Laboratories in Vancouver, Canada, with diamond drill core analyses utilizing Aqua Regia digestion and both ICP-ES (AQ370 package) and ICP-MS/ICP-ES (AQ270 package) for base metal and silver analyses. Gold analyses are conducted via Fire Assay Fusion with AA finish, and gravimetric analyses are completed for over-limit samples (FA430, FA530-Au packages). Information recorded from diamond drill core assaying was integrated using industry standard data management software (Maxwell Datashed). Mineral Resource Qualified Persons David Thomas, P.Geo., of Fladgate Exploration Consulting Corporation has reviewed and approved the technical, non-metallurgical information contained in this news release. Mr. Thomas is independent of East Africa and is a "Qualified Person" as defined by NI 43-101. Jeff Heidema, P.Geo., East Africa's Vice President Exploration, has reviewed and approved the geological information contained in this news release. Mr. Thomas has consented to the disclosure of such information and his name in this news release. About East Africa The Company's principal assets and interests include both the 70%-owned Harvest polymetallic VMS exploration Project, which covers approximately 86 square kilometres in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, 600 kilometres northnorthwest of the capital city of Addis Ababa, and the Adyabo Project, covering 225 square kilometres immediately west of the Harvest Project. The Company owns 80% of the Adyabo Project, and upon execution of a NSR agreement the Company will own 100% of the Adyabo Project, subject to a 2% NSR. East Africa now has mineral resources defined at both projects in Ethiopia and continues to test priority targets. Additionally, the Company owns the 93 square kilometre Handeni Property located in north-eastern Tanzania. Handeni includes the Magambazi Project, a gold deposit discovered in 2009. East Africa has entered into a definitive agreement with an arm's length private exploration and development company to advance the project. More information on the Company can be viewed at the Company's website: www.eastafricametals.com. On behalf of the Board of Directors: Andrew Lee Smith, P.Geo., CEO Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "expect", "intend", "estimate", "forecast", "project", "budget", "schedule", "may", "will", "could", "might", "should", "indicate" or variations of such words or similar words or expressions. Forward-looking information is based on reasonable assumptions that have been made by East Africa as at the date of such information and is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of East Africa to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to: early exploration; the closing of the agreement with the exploration and development company to advance the Magambazi Project or identify any other corporate opportunities for the Company; mineral exploration and development; metal and mineral prices; availability of capital; accuracy of East Africa's projections and estimates, including the initial mineral resource for the Adyabo, Harvest and Magambazi Projects; interest and exchange rates; competition; stock price fluctuations; availability of drilling equipment and access; actual results of current exploration activities; government regulation; political or economic developments; foreign taxation risks; environmental risks; insurance risks; capital expenditures; operating or technical difficulties in connection with development activities; personnel relations; the speculative nature of strategic metal exploration and development including the risks of diminishing quantities of grades of reserves; contests over title to properties; and changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, as well as those risk factors set out in in East Africa's management's discussion and analysis for the three months ended March 31, 2016,East Africa's listing application dated July 8, 2013 and Tigray Resources Inc. Management Information Circular dated March 28, 2014. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions management believes to be reasonable, including but not limited to the successful integration of Tigray Resources Inc.'s business with the Company; the price of gold, silver, copper and zinc; the demand for gold, silver, copper and zinc; the ability to carry on exploration and development activities; the timely receipt of any required approvals; the ability to obtain qualified personnel, equipment and services in a timely and cost-efficient manner; the ability to operate in a safe, efficient and effective manner; and the regulatory framework regarding environmental matters, and such other assumptions and factors as set out herein. Although East Africa has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. The Company does not update or revise forward looking information even if new information becomes available unless legislation requires the Company do so. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information contained herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. TORONTO, ON --(Marketwired - June 14, 2016) - Primero Mining Corp. ("Primero" or the "Company") (TSX: P) (NYSE: PPP) today announced that is has acquired a large concession area adjacent to its San Dimas mine in Durango, Mexico. The Company has added 30,192 hectares substantially covering the area between the San Dimas mine and the Ventanas exploration property located 32 kilometres to the south. The newly acquired concession is not covered by the San Dimas silver purchase agreement, and brings Primero's total concession area in the district to 68,628 hectares. Highlights: Building a World-Class Mining District: Primero has acquired a significant mineral concession area substantially covering the 32 kilometres between the San Dimas mine and the Ventanas exploration property. This greenfield property ("Expanded Lechuguilla") is largely unexplored but displays similar geological characteristics as found on both the San Dimas and Ventanas properties. The acquisition reinforces Primero's dominant position in a highly prospective area, with the potential to identify mineralization on a scale potentially comparable to the current San Dimas mine. Primero has acquired a significant mineral concession area substantially covering the 32 kilometres between the San Dimas mine and the Ventanas exploration property. This greenfield property ("Expanded Lechuguilla") is largely unexplored but displays similar geological characteristics as found on both the San Dimas and Ventanas properties. The acquisition reinforces Primero's dominant position in a highly prospective area, with the potential to identify mineralization on a scale potentially comparable to the current San Dimas mine. Strong Potential for New Vein Discoveries: The Expanded Lechuguilla concession is covered extensively by the regional upper volcanic sequence, however the discovery of the Jessica vein in late-2014 demonstrated to Primero's exploration geologists that the volcanic capping was a post-mineralization event and that precious metal bearing veins continue to exist under this geological sequence. The Expanded Lechuguilla concession contains identified "geological windows" through the upper volcanic capping with multiple vein outcroppings already noted. "We are very pleased to have significantly increased our position around our flagship San Dimas mine," stated Ernest Mast, President and Chief Executive Officer. "The acquisition of this key mineral concession area further advances our strategic goal of mining outside of the original San Dimas mining concession from areas not covered by the silver purchase agreement with Silver Wheaton. This would provide significant benefit to the Company as mining from this area would increase our revenues and therefore our taxable income." Primero is pleased to have received the support of ProMexico (the Mexican government agency responsible for supporting and attracting foreign investment in Mexico) which has registered the Expanded Lechuguilla area as a recognized project and will give non-financial support to the Company in its development. 30,192 Hectares Added in the Prolific San Dimas Mining District Primero acquired the 30,192 hectare concession ("Expanded Lechuguilla") that covers the unexplored but highly prospective 18 kilometres between the San Dimas concession and the Ventanas exploration property from private vendors. This mineral concession acquisition builds on the approximately 10,000 hectares added by the Company in the second half of 2015, and reflects Primero's strategic goal of acquiring concessions outside of the original San Dimas mining area and the silver purchase agreement with Silver Wheaton. As a result of the Expanded Lechuguilla acquisition, Primero's total concession area in the San Dimas district has nearly doubled to 68,628 hectares. A map identifying the Expanded Lechuguilla concession addition is shown in Figure 1. A regional geological map is shown in Figure 2. Multiple Vein Outcroppings Identified; Large Area Unexplored The Expanded Lechuguilla property has not been the subject of a modern exploration program and remains unexplored due to its large size and the region's challenging topography. Furthermore, much of the newly acquired concession is significantly covered by the regional upper volcanic sequence, which prevents surface expressions of the mineralized vein systems hosted in the lower volcanic sequence. Through initial reconnaissance by Primero's geologists and information provided by the property's previous owner, the Company has identified a number of key "geological windows" through the upper volcanic capping, some of which are not recorded in the regional geological maps. Based on this initial work Primero has defined multiple distinct outcropping veins located in these "windows". Building a World-Class Mining District Primero believes that the Expanded Lechuguilla area could contain an extension of the San Dimas mine's prolific Central and Sinaloa-Graben mining blocks without major faulting to offset any discovered veins. One of the key indicators is that the El Cristo tunnel at the south end of the San Dimas concession and the ore-shoots of Mala Noche vein at Ventanas are at approximately the same elevation with similar mineral composition in the same host rock. This infers potential continuity of the mineralized veins system over 18 kilometres between both areas. A significant amount of future exploration is required to confirm the continuous block hypothesis, as shown by a geological cross-section in Figure 3. Primero's 2016 exploration program now includes geological field work with the goal of identifying additional "geological windows" and surface outcroppings of new veins on the Expanded Lechuguilla concession. Additionally the Company's 2016 plans include exploration diamond drilling on the Lechuguilla and Expanded Lechuguilla concessions, and extending exploration drifting from the El Cristo tunnel 3.1 kilometres to the south towards the Lechuguilla concession (refer to Figure 1). Primero expects to reach this concession boundary in 2017. Proving extensions to the San Dimas' main mining blocks could have significant implications for Primero, and as a result has become one of the Company's primary exploration targets. About Primero Primero Mining Corp. is a Canadian-based precious metals producer that owns 100% of the San Dimas gold-silver mine and the Cerro del Gallo gold-silver-copper development project in Mexico and 100% of the Black Fox mine and adjoining properties in the Township of Black RiverMatheson near Timmins, Ontario, Canada. Primero offers immediate exposure to un-hedged, below average cash cost gold production with a substantial resource base in politically stable jurisdictions. The Company is focused on becoming a leading intermediate gold producer by building a portfolio of high quality, low cost precious metals assets in the Americas. Primero's website is www.primeromining.com. CAUTIONARY STATEMENT ON FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION This news release contains "forward-looking statements", within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities legislation, concerning the business and operations of Primero Mining Corp. and its consolidated subsidiaries (collectively, "Primero" or the "Company"). All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. Generally, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "if approved", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", "believes", "in order to", "with the potential" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "are anticipated", "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will require", "will allow", "will enhance" or "will include" or similar statements or the negative connotation thereof. Forward-looking information is also identifiable in statements of currently occurring matters which will continue in future, such as "is updating", "is working" or "is also assessing" or other statements that may be stated in the present tense and are not historical facts or words with future implication such as "opportunity", "promising". Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the Company's ability to find new veins on the Expanded Lechuguilla concession; the probability of encountering high grade mineralization in, and the exploration potential of, the Company's exploration targets and plans; and the Company's intentions to become an intermediate gold producer. The assumptions made by the Company in preparing the forward-looking information contained in this news release, which may prove to be incorrect, include, but are not limited to: the expectations and beliefs of management; the specific assumptions set forth above in this news release; that Expanded Lechuguilla displays similar characteristics as found in the San Dimas and Ventanas properties; that the acquisition of the Expanded Lechuguilla advances the company's goal of mining outside the original San Dimas mining concessions; that the Expanded Lechuguilla area contain an extension of San Dimas mine's prolific Central and Sinaloa-Graben block; that the Company will receive required permits and access to surface rights; that the political environment within Mexico will continue to support the development of environmentally safe mining projects. Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Primero to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including: the Company may be required to change its development and exploration plans with a negative impact on production; the Company may not discover mineralization in minable quantities; the exchange rate between the Mexican peso and the United States dollar may change with an adverse impact on the Company's financial results; the Company may not be able to become an intermediate gold producer by building a portfolio of high quality, low cost precious metals assets in the Americas. Certain of these factors are discussed in greater detail in Primero's registration statement on Form 40-F on file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and its most recent Annual Information Form on file with the Canadian provincial securities regulatory authorities and available at www.sedar.com. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking statements. In addition, although Primero has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and accordingly are subject to change after such date. Forward-looking statements are provided for the purpose of providing information about management's current expectations and plans and allowing investors and others to get a better understanding of our operating environment. Primero does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that are included in this document, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Vancouver, BC / TheNewswire / June 14, 2016 - Dajin Resources Corp. ("Dajin") (TSX-V: DJI) (OTC: DJIFF) (Frankfurt: A1XF20) is pleased to announce that it has retained the services of Enviroscientists Inc., Reno, Nevada to prepare the base-line studies and documentation for a "Plan of Operations" (POO) to be submitted to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for the Teels Marsh Lithium brine project in Mineral County, Nevada. Dajin continues to carry out exploration on its 100% owned Teels Marsh Project under "Notices of Intent" (NOIs) to the BLM. These NOIs have included gravity, seismic and geoprobe surveys. The surveys are designed to impact less than five acres (two hectares) of land, which is the maximum amount that can be disturbed without undergoing more extensive base-line studies for biology and culture and preparation of a POO. On May 23rd, a kick-off meeting was held with the BLM and planning initiated to complete the "Plan of Operations" by the fall. This POO will address Dajin's forward planning for drilling in 2017, by permitting the construction of roads and pads sufficient to access the playa and the drilling of additional wells. It is anticipated that the POO will be awarded early to mid-2017. The POO will build upon Dajin's plans to drill two wells in the fall of this year. Dajin has engaged the California-based drilling engineering company, Capuano Engineering Corporation, to assist in the planning of these exploration wells. Should these wells be successful at identifying Lithium concentrations of economic interest, Dajin will be positioned to drill additional wells in 2017. To do this in an expeditious manner Dajin must have the aforementioned POO prepared and approved. Dajin believes that by initiating the POO process now, continued drilling in 2017 will become possible, lowering costs and minimizing the risk of permitting delays. This allows Dajin the maximum flexibility as it moves forward with its development plans. The technical information in this press release has been prepared in accordance with the Canadian regulatory requirements of National Instrument 43-101 and has been reviewed and approved on behalf of Dajin Resources Corp. by Dajin Directors Dr. Catherine Hickson, P. Geo and Dr. Mark Coolbaugh, CPG, Qualified Persons. About Dajin: (www.dajin.ca) Dajin is an early stage energy metals exploration company holding a 100% interest in 265 placer claims known to contain Lithium and Boron values in the Teels Marsh region of Mineral County, Nevada. These claims, which cover 5,282 acres (2,138 hectares), are adjacent to the birth place of US Borax Corp's first borax mine. Dajin also holds 191 placer claims covering 3,851 acres (1,558 hectares) in the Alkali Lake region of Esmeralda County, Nevada. Dajin has entered into an option agreement with Nevada Energy Metals Inc. (TSX-V:BFF) to explore these claims located 7 miles (12 kilometers) northeast of Rockwood's Clayton Valley Lithium operations. Dajin also holds a 100% interest in concessions or concession applications in Jujuy Province, Argentina that were acquired in regions known to contain brines with Potassium, Lithium and Boron values. These concessions total approximately 93,000 hectares (230,000 acres) and are located in the Salinas Grandes/Guayatayoc salt lakes basin adjacent to concessions held by Orocobre Limited (TSX-T:ORL), who is partnered with Toyota Tsusho. In July 2015, Dajin executed an agreement with the Tres Morros Cooperativa for exploration of the San Jose Project consisting of 4,400 hectares (10,873 acres) of mineral concessions (San Jose and Navidad) within the Salinas Grandes salar. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS of DAJIN RESOURCES CORP. Brian Findlay, President The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Suite 450-789 West Pender Street Telephone: (604) 681-6151 Vancouver, BC V6C 1H2 Fax: (604) 689-7654 www.dajin.ca Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Copyright (c) 2016 TheNewswire - All rights reserved. Judicial Watch [advocacy website] filed a lawsuit [complaint; press release] Tuesday challenging an executive order by Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe [official website] restoring the voting rights of certain felons. McAuliffe signed an executive order in April restoring the voting rights [JURIST report] of individuals who have completed the terms of incarceration and have been released from supervised probation or parole for any and all felony convictions. Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit in the Circuit Court of Bedford County on behalf of several voters: Plaintiffs are registered voters in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As a result of Defendants unlawful actions, 206,000 felons who, by law, should be ineligible to vote, are being, and will be, registered and permitted to vote. Unless an injunction is granted, Plaintiffs lawful votes will be cancelled out, and their voting power will be diluted, by votes cast by individuals who are not eligible to vote under Virginias laws and Constitution. This is the second lawsuit against the order, following a similar challenge [WP report] by Republican lawmakers. Voting rights have been the subject of numerous legal challenges across the US, particularly in a presidential election year. Last month a federal judge ruled that Ohios elimination of the states early in-person voting [JURIST report] was unconstitutional and in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Earlier in May a federal judge ruled that Virginias voter identification law, which requires that voters have a valid form of ID either before voting or within three days after voting, is constitutional [JURIST report]. Also in May a federal judge ruled that Kansas cannot require voters to provide proof of citizenship [JURIST report] when registering to vote. In April a federal judge upheld [JURIST report] North Carolinas voter ID law. In February the Maryland Senate overrode a veto by Governor Larry Hogan to pass a bill that will allow felons to vote [JURIST report] before they complete parole or probation. NEWSLETTER Sign up Tick the boxes of the newsletters you would like to receive. Just Drinks Daily News The top stories of the day delivered to you every weekday. Just Drinks Weekly News A weekly roundup of the latest news and analysis, sent every Monday. Just Drinks Magazine The industry's most comprehensive news and information delivered every quarter Thailand-based group Charoen Pokphand Foods has told just-food it is negotiating to supply fast-food chicken chains in India after opening a new chicken processing plant in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. Free Report Whats the forecast for the food and grocery industry? Market drivers and inhibitors Five-year forecasts and the impact of COVID-19 The performance of the online channel versus offline Major trends in the market including rapid delivery, ambient retailing, supply chain disruption, and inflation Assess developments within this sector to help your business thrive in 2022 and beyond. The food and grocery sector thrived during the pandemic, largely due to the shutdown of the food service industry and the sectors subsequent necessity, panic-induced bulk purchasing, and spending more time at home. The market has grown as a result of inflation. Consumer unwillingness to go out and socialize, and the reopening of several hospitality facilities, helped maintain the demand for groceries, particularly online, in 2021. As consumer behavior changes, we consume more food and drink at home, and inflation increases basket sizes. GlobalData predicts that the sector will continue to hold a higher share than had been predicted prior to the pandemic. This is true despite the fact that the food and grocery sector's share of overall retail will decline from its peak in 2020. This report will discuss market forecasts and key themes in the global food & grocery industry in 2022 and beyond. It covers:Assess developments within this sector to help your business thrive in 2022 and beyond. by GlobalData Enter your details here to receive your free Report. 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Visit our privacy policy for more information about our services, how we may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications. Our services are intended for corporate subscribers and you warrant that the email address submitted is your corporate email address. Thank you.Please check your email to download the Report. Sanjeev Pant, senior vice-president of the food business of CPF (India) Pvt Ltd said: This new plant has been established with an investment of around US$20m and is undoubtedly the best chicken processing plant in the country. Amid reports CPF was now talking to chicken brands in India, including KFC owner Yum Brands and McDonalds, about supply contracts, he said: CPF (India) is in discussions with many global chains to support their requirements, and we are expecting these discussions to fructify in the next few months. The company is also planning to launch a range of its own branded products in India, including chicken lines such as CP Frozen Chicken and CP Chilled Chicken. CPF (India) has been setting up breeding farms, hatchery farms, broiler farms and feed mills across southern India since the 1990s. The setting up of the processing site in the city of Chitoor chimes with Prime Minister Narendra Modis so-called Make in India deregulation policies, designed to encourage foreign companies to invest in the country. Related Companies NEWSLETTER Sign up Tick the boxes of the newsletters you would like to receive. Just Style Daily Update The top stories of the day delivered to you every weekday. Just Style Weekly Update A weekly roundup of the latest news and analysis, sent every Monday. Just Style Magazine The industry's most comprehensive news and information delivered every quarter. UN Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, caused a stir a few days ago when he admitted publicly that he had agreed to remove a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia from a list of armies attacking civilians, because the Saudi government and its allies had threatened to stop funding UN humanitarian activities in Palestine and elsewhere. The Secretary-Generals statement was quite bold, compared to his usually very low tones, and laudable in that sense. At the same time, it was insufficient and morally reproachable, the part that concerned the actual removal of the Saudi-led coalition from the list. He should have kept the coalition on that list of shame leading to possible legal prosecution? and he should also have denounced them publicly for their blackmail. That would have been the principled thing to do. But perhaps we are asking too much from one of the weakest leaders the UN has ever had. Mr. Ban certainly did not cause the actual problemthe irresponsible attitude of the Saudi-led coalition that is bombing the Houthis in Yemen without apparent respect for the welfare of civilians and notably children. Responding to a request by the ousted President of Yemen, Saudi Arabia and its Sunni Arab allies have been bombing the hell out of poor Yemen, now largely under the control of the Shiite Houthis. All this is supposedly justified by a broad claim of self-defense and restoring the legitimate government of Yemen. This has a legal basis, of course, but does not justify war crimes and crimes against humanity in any possible stretch of international law. Why is the West, including Europe, keeping quiet, turning a blind eye to these gross human rights violations? Why is the Saudi-led coalition provided with arms, logistical support and political coverage by democratic states? What do the latter have to do with the repressive kingdom? Especially after the nuclear deal with Iran, there is even less of a reason for the West to take sides in the local rivalry between the Sunni and the Shiite power centres, which is currently playing itself out in Yemen, among other places. This is sad, shameful and legally questionable by itself, but unfortunately it can be understood in the context of moral permissiveness, hypocrisy and double standards that the West also excels in. In the name of geostrategic and economic interests, countries like the US and Britain, which can certainly claim to be well-governed internally, side with regimes which stand for the exact opposite. Not only that, but they arm them, provide them with the know-how and guarantee diplomatic immunity for their destructive practices, including the killing of children and other civilians. Then they are surprised when this turns around and bites them, from those who vow to revenge the killings and even the perpetrators of the original attacks themselves, the allies that have their own, quite different agenda. The West has a lot of skeletons of its own in terms of the killing of civilians, as collateral damage during the invasion of Iraq, because of drone attacks and other such activities around the world. It is time to clean up its act, end moral permissiveness vis-a-vis its allies and itself, and live up to the standards that it professes, externally as it does internally. The citizens of our democratic countries should demand it from their elected leaders and take no excuses for an answer. LINCOLN - The mother of a former Beatrice State Developmental Center resident has filed legal claims alleging her son suffered permanent injuries because of poor care at the state institution and the local hospital.Sandra Ham of Lincoln is suing Beatrice Community Hospital and Dr. Thomas Fennessy, a former hospital employee, on behalf of her son, Ian Ham. The suit was filed Tuesday in Gage County District Court. In a statement, Beatrice hospital officials said they had reviewed Ian Ham's care and "look forward" to sharing their conclusions with the family. The statement said the hospital's objective is "to identify and meet the health care needs of all patients. The filing of a lawsuit by Ian Ham and his family makes it clear that we have failed to meet their expectations in that regard." Fennessy, who was suspended following an Aug. 27, 2008, incident involving placement of Ham's feeding tube and later resigned, could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Ham, 24, is among 47 medically fragile people ordered transferred from the Beatrice center in February. Sandra Ham also has made a claim against the state concerning her son's care at the Beatrice institution. State law requires people to file such claims before turning to the courts. The claim was filed Feb. 18. According to the lawsuit, Ian Ham was diagnosed with a swallowing disorder in November 2007 and again in June 2008, but Beatrice center employees failed to treat his disorder until he had lost a dangerous amount of weight. A feeding tube was then installed surgically. After he returned to the Beatrice center, his mother warned that he would need constant monitoring. However, he managed to pull the tube out and was taken to the Beatrice hospital for emergency care on Aug. 27 last year. There, Fennessy allegedly tried to replace the tube without using pain medication or sedation. When Ian Ham resisted and yelled, "ow," Fennessy ordered him handcuffed to the bed. The lawsuit alleges that Fennessy then did not check the placement of the tube. It was discovered during a trip to the emergency room on Aug. 28 that the tube was not in Ham's stomach. As a result, Ham had to undergo further surgery and developed pneumonia, a collapsed lung and secondary infections. Contact the writer: 402-473-9583, martha.stoddard(at)owh.com LINCOLN (AP) A taxpayer advocacy group announced plans Tuesday to campaign against a ballot measure to increase Nebraska's minimum wage, while some of the state's largest business groups remained undecided about their involvement. The president of Nebraska Taxpayers for Freedom said his group will try to defeat the measure, which is expected to appear on the November ballot. Several Nebraska business groups that oppose an increase were still deciding whether they will actively campaign against it or help finance groups that do. The measure would increase Nebraska's minimum wage from $7.25 an hour the same as the federal minimum to $9 an hour by 2016. Supporters need about 80,000 valid signatures to get the measure on the ballot, and last week they submitted nearly 135,000 for verification. Backers of the measure argue that the buying power of Nebraska's minimum wage has fallen relative to the cost of goods and services. The opposition campaign will include guest editorials in newspapers, a public speaking tour and social media to raise money and generate support, said Doug Kagan, president of Nebraska Taxpayers for Freedom. Kagan said the Omaha-based group will rely on local chapters in Columbus and O'Neill for support, but still needs to build a statewide network. Kagan acknowledged that the campaign to defeat the measure faces an uphill battle. Minimum wage proposals submitted to voters in recent years have overwhelmingly won approval, even in conservative states. I think that in those other states where it passed, the anti-minimum wage campaigns haven't been that strong, Kagan said. We're hoping to have a strong campaign so that we can explain the pitfalls of the minimum wage. Voters in New Jersey approved an $8.25 an hour minimum wage last year, and in 2006 voters approved minimum wage increases in Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Montana, Nevada and Ohio. In addition, state officials in California, Connecticut, New York and Rhode Island each raised minimum wages, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Kagan said a higher minimum wage would increase the cost of goods and services and make it harder to keep employees in industries where labor is a major cost. In addition, he said, Nebraska's relatively low unemployment has already created a state worker shortage that naturally pushes wages higher. The Nebraska Chamber of Commerce and Industry has adopted a formal position that the state's minimum wage should mirror the federal minimum wage. But Barry Kennedy, the chamber's president, said his group doesn't have any immediate plans to fight the ballot proposal. Most of the group's member businesses already pay more than the minimum wage, Kennedy said. We haven't had any of our members express concerns, Kennedy said. The Nebraska Restaurant Association opposes a higher minimum wage, but the group will wait until it knows for sure that the measure has qualified for the ballot. These signatures still have to be validated, county by county, said Jim Partington, the group's executive director. Nebraska's minimum wage was last increased in 2009. Twenty-one states have minimum wages above the federal minimum. LINCOLN Timothy Clausen and Armon Dixon were not even supposed to be in the laundry area of the Lincoln Correctional Center on Friday morning. But Nebraskas top prison official said Monday that multiple agency missteps allowed the two dangerous inmates to stow away on a laundry truck and escape from the maximum security prison. Lincoln Correctional Center Warden Mario Peart has been reassigned to the Corrections Departments central office pending completion of an investigation into the missteps. Clausen, 52, remained at large Tuesday. Dixon, 37, was back in prison as more details emerged about their escape. The Nebraska State Patrol said Tuesday that officials think Clausen is in Omaha, and officers from multiple jurisdictions are searching for him in the Omaha area, with an emphasis on the northeast part of the city. Officials said neither Clausen nor Dixon was on the roster of inmates approved to pass through a turnkey into the area. The two talked their way in, telling prison employees that they were going to start working in the laundry and that the roster had not been updated. Staffers added them to the list without getting proper approval and let them pass at 7:20 a.m. with the other inmate workers. Sometime in the next couple of hours, the two disappeared but were never noticed as missing. The last formal inmate count was at 5:15 a.m. The next one was not scheduled until the evening meal. Hourly informal checks were missed. Meanwhile, Clausen and Dixon apparently managed to sneak into laundry carts that were loaded without being thoroughly searched onto a truck bound for the prisons central laundry facilities at the Tecumseh State Prison. The truck left the Lincoln Correctional Center at 9:12 a.m. Eight minutes later, it stopped at a stop sign near the intersection of U.S. Highway 77 and Warlick Boulevard. At 12:15 p.m., Tecumseh staff called back to the Lincoln prison to report damage to a laundry cart and a hole punched through the trucks lightweight fiberglass roof. By then, two men wearing what appeared to be prison garb had stolen a truck not far from U.S. 77 and Warlick Boulevard, driven off with law enforcement officers in pursuit, crashed the truck near the State Capitol and disappeared into the neighborhood. On Monday, Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer said the search for Clausen was focused in northeast Omaha, where he was reportedly sighted Sunday night and where he has connections. Authorities set up a perimeter and searched some 30 to 40 homes without finding Clausen. The search ended about 3 a.m. Monday. In the wake of the escapes, Gov. Pete Ricketts called public safety the top priority of his administration and said he would make all necessary resources available to catch Clausen. He acknowledged that two Lincoln women who were injured when Dixon allegedly physically assaulted them on Saturday. Their actions helped lead to Dixons capture a few hours later. We had a breakdown, and two people got hurt, Ricketts said. Both Clausen and Dixon have been serving significant sentences for sex crimes and other offenses. Nebraska Corrections Director Scott Frakes said the two were able to escape because of multiple security lapses within his agency. Those he listed were: the lack of a shift supervisor at the turnkey, the failure to get proper approval for adding inmates to the laundry work roster, the failure to do informal hourly counts of inmates in each activity area, and the failure to properly supervise the loading and security of the laundry carts. What were seeing is a failure to follow procedures, written procedures, he said. I apologize to Nebraska. This should not have happened. Frakes said the investigation continues. Fred Britten, warden of the Diagnostic and Evaluation Center, will temporarily take over administration of the Lincoln Correctional Center, with help from central office staff. Prison officials already have launched a thorough review of security at the Lincoln prison. Areas of special focus include inmate counts, perimeter security, inmate movement control and facility access points. Frakes said immediate actions are being taken to correct problems. When finished at the Lincoln prison, similar reviews will be done at the other state prison facilities. The escapes are the troubled agencys most recent problems, which include a deadly riot at the Tecumseh State Prison in May 2015, the early release of inmates through sentencing miscalculations, and the handling of Nikko Jenkins, a mentally troubled prisoner who killed four people in Omaha after his release in 2013. The department also has struggled with overcrowding, along with high staff turnover and the regular use of mandatory overtime. Mike Marvin, executive director of the Nebraska Association of Public Employees, the union representing state corrections employees, blamed the breakdown on understaffing at the prison, which leads to overworked employees. Although corrections officials said the prison had a full staff the morning of the escape, Marvin questioned whether the number of employees is adequate for the number of prisoners. High levels of turnover have led to large amounts of overtime, including mandatory overtime. As a result, employees have become run down and not as sharp as they should be, he said. Eleven of the 50 employees at work Friday morning were on overtime, including four who had worked the overnight shift, corrections officials said. Marvin said those numbers dont show how many employees worked overtime hours earlier in the week. Frakes said the Lincoln prison is staffed properly based on the most recent staffing analysis, which was done in 2008. He said the agency is working on a new staffing analysis for use in crafting the next budget request. According to agency records, the Lincoln Correctional Center housed an average of 503 prisoners per day during the first three months of this year, or 163 percent of design capacity. The average population in 2008 was 472 prisoners. Frakes noted that the agency has curtailed mandatory overtime but still relies on a significant amount of voluntary overtime hours. The escape is expected to be the focal point of a special legislative committee meeting set for Thursday. The meeting of the Department of Correctional Services Special Investigative Committee, which is investigating problems within the state prison system, was on the calendar before Fridays escape. Both Clausen and Dixon have been charged in Lancaster County with felony escape. Lancaster County Attorney Joe Kelly said Monday that he expects additional charges to be filed. Dixon is being held at the Tecumseh prison, authorities said Monday. Wanda Minor, 50, of Omaha also has been arrested on suspicion of aiding and abetting the escape, according to Nebraska State Patrol Superintendent Brad Rice. She was arrested based on what Rice said was her involvement with helping Clausen leave Lincoln. OMAHA -- The widow of a man who killed a police dog during a two-day standoff with law enforcement at his home wants Douglas County to pay for damage done to the house. Ann Siewert contends that the Douglas County sheriffs deputies caused nearly $65,000 in damage to the Omaha house where she lived with her husband, Mark LHeureux, and their two children. Siewert filed a tort claim notice in the Douglas County Clerks Office seeking at least $64,667 for the damage. Under Nebraska law, people seeking such compensation from a local government first must file a tort claim. If theyre not satisfied with the governments response, then they can file a lawsuit. The Douglas County Board referred the claim to its risk managers. The claim stems from a 25-hour standoff LHeureux had with law enforcement officers Jan. 22 and 23 at his home near 83rd Street and Keystone Drive. The officers used noise grenades, tear gas and water to try to get LHeureux out of the house. He finally surrendered after allegedly shooting at officers and fatally shooting a police dog. Deputies had gone to the house to serve a Douglas County Board of Mental Health warrant ordering a psychiatric evaluation of LHeureux. Siewerts claim alleges that deputies unnecessarily, negligently, and wrongfully damaged the home through the use of numerous stun grenades and canisters of tear-gas, as well as the discharge of hundreds of gallons of water into the home. Her claim says the damage rendered the home uninhabitable indefinitely. Douglas County Sheriff Tim Dunning and Deputy County Attorney Tim Dolan declined to comment. LHeureux died 10 days after his arrest, after he was found unresponsive in his jail cell. An autopsy report attributed his death to water on the brain and low levels of sodium and chloride in his blood. The attorney who filed the tort claim, Adam Sipple, declined to comment on it. He confirmed that an investigation into liability for LHeureuxs death is underway. 1K Shares Share At our last visit, she asked me not to forget us and gave me a photograph of her family. She included a picture of her daughter, whom I had never met. I had missed her by four years almost to the day because she was shot and killed driving through her neighborhood in the middle of the afternoon. I first met Mrs. P early in my training as a physician in New Orleans, a city with a rate of gun violence on par with cities in South America. She had many uncontrolled chronic diseases, requiring over ten daily medications, and at least quarterly medical visits; she frequently missed both doses and appointments. As an eager intern, I had tried to clean up her med list, ask about transportation, and prescribe only from the $4 lists at local pharmacies in hopes of decreasing barriers to care. After a few months, it became clear that her limitation was care itself and the fact that she didnt. Since the loss of her daughter, she had stopped caring what happened to herself. Many of my patients are survivors of Hurricane Katrina, so I have a low threshold to screen for depression and its triggers. Mrs. P was indeed severely depressed, so much so that her voice was almost unchanged as she told me how her daughter had been caught in a shower of gunfire while running errands a few years prior. After three years working with Mrs. P, she is finally beginning to heal. I have treated her with enough success that she feels well enough to control many of her previously persistent physical medical problems. But she thanked me for caring only when I disclosed my personal efforts to speak out and advocate for gun sense policies. She requested only more frequent visits to discuss her suffering with someone who cared, and at our final visit my last clinic visit of all of residency the woman whose grief had prevented her from speaking more than one-word statements, brought me pictures of her entire family, so that (I wouldnt) forget them. Two weeks after that appointment, I have not forgotten the importance of speaking up for my patients and my community, but it seems like the medical world still doesnt know. A man opened fire in Orlandos Pulse nightclub, killing 50 and injuring as many more. Whatever personal healing I had facilitated with that one patient seemed to be universally negated by the devastation of an entire community. As a physician, it felt like a rigged game of whack-a-mole, in which each mind eased required triple that number to suffer. And yet part of the argument made against physicians involvement in the search for gun sense legislation is that it is not our problem. In his address the morning after the attack, President Obama said, To actively do nothing is a decision, as well. To date, the medical community has yet to unite against gun violence. This week, the American Medical Association the largest professional organization of physicians in the United States is meeting, and participants somehow still disagree about the role we play in this conversation. (Update: The AMA House of Delegates declared gun violence a public health crisis and called for an end on research ban.) As a physician, I see the physical and emotional repercussions of gun violence without having to watch the news. And yet it is difficult to screen for exposure, particularly in communities where it is prevalent and comorbid with other sources of depression and trauma. In New Orleans, there has been an average of more than one shooting each day in a city less of than 400,000 people. At the state level, Louisiana has the second-highest rate of firearm-related deaths in the country, and is one of only four states in which the majority of those deaths are homicides, not suicides. In the United States, 88 people on average die every day from gun violence. Some may say it is not my job to address gun violence. And yet, as a primary care physician, I am trained to look for patterns at individual and at population levels, to assess for risks, and to intervene early in order to prevent illness and death. I may not have pills to prevent gun violence, or tests to predict my patients or their loved ones deaths. But I do have a voice, and I have a community of colleagues whose collective voice has led the efforts to change policies and prevent deaths from other public health threats like obesity and tobacco. There is no longer any doubt that gun violence is a public health issue, costing lives and livelihood. Nationally, firearm-related violence (homicide, suicide, and unintentional shooting) is the third-leading cause of death in young people, accounting for 10.6 deaths per 100,000 people (after poisoning and motor-vehicle accidents). Evidence suggests that gun violence accounts for almost $50 billion in medical (direct) and work loss (indirect) costs annually. The issue is discussed regularly now not only in public health publications, but aggressively in flagship journals of the medical field. Death from gun violence is higher than death from hypertension and renal failure in the United States, and yet we, as primary care physicians, have no guidelines for screening or preventing that threat, nor global, concerted campaigns to take action toward risk reduction. Admittedly, there is a dearth of strong data supporting any particular public health or legal interventions to prevent gun violence primarily because of a federal ban on funding for this type of research. Observational studies suggest that the single most effective policy for keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people and saving lives is requiring a criminal background check for all gun sales. President Obamas recent executive order began this process; however, there is still work to be done. Background checks are not fully universal, nor do they ban purchases by those committing certain offenses including those with restraining orders from non-married partners, despite the fact that more women in the U.S. are killed by their dating partners than by their spouses. The executive actions are progress, but in cities like mine, more is needed from both the government and from the medical community. I cannot begin to imagine the suffering of Orlando this week. But I can say that those who survive the men and women from Pulse as well as the families and friends of those who perished, like my patient, Mrs. P are all victims. Their injuries are widespread, deep, and long-lasting. I am certain that I am not the only physician who cares that her patients are victims of preventable deaths. But the only way that our patients know we care is if we say so with our words and with our actions. Now is the time for the medical community to follow the presidents executive order with professional action: updated recommendations, guidelines, and advocacy. Like any gunshot wound that continues to bleed, even the most complex agents cannot compete with holding pressure. Sarah Candler is an internal medicine physician. Image credit: Shutterstock.com 205 Shares Share A couple of weeks ago I visited the island of Cyprus with family. Having seen a lot of mainland Europe over the last several years, I was keen for something a bit off the beaten track and away from a major city. We thought about a few possible destinations, but opted in the end for Cyprus (partly because of the desperate need for some warmer weather). Booking the trip quite rapidly, as the internet now enables one to do, I initially booked with a tried and tested hotel chain, albeit a pretty well-respected one (no names mentioned). However, upon our arrival to Paphos, the capital, we realized that the hotel we booked was not in the location we thought it was. After a slight panic and flurry of activity on my smartphone at the airport, we instead settled on a lesser-known hotel with some help from the information booth. This hotel would be much more convenient, and the old hotel was kind enough to allow us to cancel without incurring any penalty fee. I was a bit nervous about not going with a brand name hotel, especially with it being Cyprus, away from mainland Europe. However, the new hotel appeared to have some good reviews although was not quite in the same class as the one we had previously booked. I quickly realized that any fears I had were totally unfounded. Upon our arrival, we were immediately greeted by the friendliest of doormen. He seemed pleasant, sincere and eager to please. The front desk reception staff were equally welcoming, and despite us finalizing the booking only an hour before, they gave us some complimentary refreshing lemonade as soon as we checked-in, encouraging us to sit down and relax for a couple of minutes in their spacious lobby. We were then showed to our room by the doorman, who went above and beyond in talking to us, seeing if we needed help, and getting us set up with everything in our room (he fully deserved the generous tip we gave him). The room was excellent, and the stay exceeded all my expectations. Throughout it, little personal touches were added like delivering fresh fruit to our rooms, offering additional help when we needed it, and advising us on what to do and where to go during our stay. All, I should add, at a much cheaper price than the hotel we had originally booked! The main lesson I drew from this experience and I do want to bring this back to primarily being a health care blog post is that theres absolutely no substitute for personalized, genuine and unique service. As someone who travels a lot, I usually always tend to default to the bigger hotel chains (perhaps thats my bad for not being adventurous enough). But never have I received service such as in Cyprus, from a hotel that was and not bogged down by being a brand name and having the cookie cutter mentality that pervades most of the corporate world. As good as those bigger-name hotels may be, they just arent unique and personalized in the same way. As the worlds of business and medicine increasingly interlock, its worth remembering that health care, in particular, is an arena where a cookie cutter approach will actually tend to produce the worst service and experience for our patients. It may work for certain protocol-driven practices, but insofar as humans are concerned, and how we perceive our experiences it does not. The reason is quite simple, and health care administrators should take note: Human beings are not cookies, which can be defined by a one-size-fits-all approach. We value personal interactions and individualized care. And thats what any health care system also has to promote. Suneel Dhand is an internal medicine physician and author of three books, including Thomas Jefferson: Lessons from a Secret Buddha. He is the founder and director, HealthITImprove, and blogs at his self-titled site, Suneel Dhand. Image credit: Shutterstock.com 956 Shares Share As many who are pediatricians or know pediatricians are aware, the quest to end gun violence is a passion for our profession and an advocacy issue of utmost importance for our professional organization, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Having practiced in areas with a high incidence of gun violence for most of my career until recently moving to California, I have seen first-hand how this tragic issue affects the children and families for whom I care. Two years ago a teenage girl was shot and killed steps from the entrance to my North Philadelphia office in the middle of the afternoon on her way home from school. The father of a family whose children I cared for was robbed at gunpoint and killed one evening right outside of his car at a convenience store while his children watched from inside the car. Another family took in moms 4-year-old nephew after her brother, who was his sole caregiver, was caught in the crossfire of a shooting and killed. These stories that so rarely even make the news these days are no less heartbreaking than the mass shootings that do and tug at the heartstrings of the entire community. In the wake of the Sandy Hook tragedy in 2012, the AAP and its members made advocating for legislation to reduce gun violence and senseless gun related deaths one of its highest priorities. Whether via mass shootings like Sandy Hook, individual acts of violence like those mentioned above, adolescent suicide or the many accidental gun deaths suffered by children each year, we came together as an organization to collectively say enough is enough. At the 2013 AAP Legislative Advocacy Conference, pediatricians from across the country came together and met with our respective legislators attempting to garner support for the bipartisan bill proposed by Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Pat Toomey (R-PA). This bill proposed expanded background checks, a registry for those who are prohibited by law from purchasing guns, and the dedication of funds to researching gun violence. It failed. A largely inactive Congress has subsequently failed to address this issue in any meaningful way in the three years since. Pediatricians, however, are not the only group of physicians to experience the horrors of gun violence first-hand. ER doctors and trauma surgeons in many areas treat victims of gun-related violence and injury far too often. Orthopedic surgeons and plastic surgeons repair the wounds left by guns. Rehabilitation physicians treat patients through long and grueling recoveries after gun-related injuries. ICU physicians grieve with the families of victims who do not survive. Psychiatrists work to heal the emotional wounds of victims and their families. Radiologists feel the pain of this epidemic simply be reading the films that reflect these tragedies. We all see and feel this pain in our respective fields of expertise, as do the countless nurses, aides, therapists and other medical professionals who work with victims of gun violence. What we are experiencing in the United States right now with gun violence is nothing short of a public health crisis. According to the CDC, firearm homicides accounted for 11,208 deaths in 2013, making them responsible for 70 percent of all homicides. Nearly 1500 children under the age of 18 die as a result of gun-related injury every year. 2015 marked the grim year where firearm deaths became equal in number to motor vehicle deaths. This shocks me. These statistics are staggering, and if we were discussing similar results secondary to any other preventable disease process, such as a vaccine-preventable infectious disease, the medical community would be leading the charge to encourage change. That is not to say that there are not many physicians from all fields advocating for change on this very issue right now. There are many, and their efforts are heroic. However, I would like to suggest that the time has come for all of us to band together and raise our collective voices to say that we will not stand for this any longer. Lets all contact our respective professional organizations and let them know how much this issue means to us and ask them to support our group efforts to advocate for effective legislation. Lets flood the inboxes of our senators (find yours on senate.gov) and congressional representatives (find yours at house.gov) to let them know that we are holding them accountable for changing the status quo. Lets find out how our representatives voted on Manchin-Toomey and research how they are rated by groups like the NRA that work so hard to keep common sense legislation from passing. Lets tell them that we support Manchin-Toomey and that we stand united in our belief that assault weapons, like the AR-15 used in Orlando, have no place in our society. Lets contact our local representatives and let them know how we feel. Lets write op-ed pieces and teach our residents and medical students to advocate for changes in gun safety legislation. We are a respected group of professionals to whom the public often looks in times of crisis and the time has come to use our voices and positions to unite on this critical issue. The mass shooting in Orlando has left me with a profound sadness with which I have not yet come to terms. It has also left me with remarkable anger at the apathy of our leaders to effect any change that may prevent incidents such as this for continuing to happen at an astounding rate. But more than anything, it has left me motivated to raise my voice and not let it rest until change has occurred. I hope that you will all choose to channel your sadness and anger into motivation as well, because together we are so much more likely to make a change. Morgan Leafe is a pediatric hospitalist. Image credit: Shutterstock.com (Kitco News) - Market anxiety is at extremely levels with just over one week to go before the U.K. referendum on whether or not to remain part of the EU and European and British investors appear to be flocking to gold. Overnight, gold priced in pound sterling rallied to it highest point since late August 2013, hitting a session high of913.36 an ounce. At the same time gold priced in euro rallied to a session high of 1,150.20 an ounce, its highest level since early May. According to Kitco.coms currency charts gold has performed the best against the pound, rising almost 2% in the last 30 days; within the same time frame gold has gained almost 1% in euro terms, compared to 0.77% against the U.S. dollar. The leave camp received a significant boost after British Newspaper The Sun ran front-page coverage, urging Britons to vote to leave the EU. Polls ahead of the June 23 referendum show a slight advantage for the Leave side. The Financial Times Brexit poll tracker puts support to leave at 47% with 45% supporting to remain part of the EU. At the same time, the Economist poll-tracker has support for a Brexit at 44% with 42% support to remain and 10% dont know. Strong European and British gold demand is expected to filter through to North American markets, according to some analyst. Bill Baruch, senior commodity broker at iiTrader said that global gold demand is one of the reasons why gold is rallying with the U.S. dollar, which is up 0.69% Tuesday, as the yellow metal trades just below $1,300 an ounce. Analysts remain extremely bullish on gold with the growing possibility of a Brexit. Australian Bank ANZ and U.K.-based research firm Capital Economics both said last week that they could see gold futures rally to $1,400 an ounce if the referendum passes. In a report published Tuesday, analysts at ABN AMRO said they are bullish on gold but see prices capped at $1,350 in initial reaction to a Brexit with the potential for higher prices The question is if financial markets will start to anticipate contagion to the eurozone and a revival of the eurozone crisis. If there is contagion, gold prices will likely continue to rally and could move above USD 1,400 per ounce, the analysts said. By Neils Christensen of Kitco News; nchristensen@kitco.com Follow @Neils_C Pixar/Disney Dory, voiced by Ellen DeGeneres, is on a mission to reconnect with his long-lost parents in "Finding Dory." SHARE Pixar/Disney Dory with Destiny (top), voiced by Kaitlin Olson, and Bailey, a beluga whale voiced by Ty Burrell. By Jake Coyle, Associated Press In Pixar's hands, the ocean equal parts danger and wonder is a vast metaphor for the choppy waters of parenting. Cloistered coral reefs of home are surrounded by frightful drop-offs and strong currents that can sweep a little fish out to an immense sea. When the difference between survival and shark bait is flipper-thin, how much line do parents give before reeling in? "Finding Dory," a sequel to 2003's "Finding Nemo," shifts the tale from Nemo, the clownfish with a weak fin, to Dory, the blue tang with short-term memory loss or as the baby Dory seen early in the film says, "remembery loss." The adventures of both Dory and Nemo are born out of straying too far from anxious parents. The gulf of separation stretches wider and longer in "Finding Dory," but it's covered the same way: by pluckily overcoming genetic handicaps and trusting in the Pacific-sized love of family. In the Pixar brood, the sweetly sentimental "Finding" movies are the most ready-made for parent-kid bonding; they would surely inspire countless father-son fishing trips if that didn't mean hooking the movies' heroes. "Finding Dory" promotes the original's daffy supporting character (so perfectly voiced by Ellen DeGeneres) to protagonist. But it's not a simple switch in perspective: In seeing through her forgetful fisheyes, you realize how terrifyingly disorienting it is to be Dory. "Finding Dory" is "Memento" under the sea, with a much more chipper lead forever at pains to remember why and where she's going. The film, directed by Andrew Stanton, picks up six months after "Finding Nemo." Dory is living with Nemo (Hayden Rolence, replacing Alexander Gould) and Marlin (Albert Brooks), but she's nagged by flickers of memory of her family. A flashback of Dory's childhood follows. Though it doesn't reach the gentle poetry of the famous montage in "Up," it movingly reveals Dory's origins: a challenged fish whose parents (Eugene Levy and Diane Keaton) teach her mantras for coping ("Just keep swimming") but are helpless when a current sucks her away. Dory grows up a lost and confused orphan. Energized by clues of remembrance, Dory, Nemo and a reluctant Marlin travel from Australia to California, where her search leads to the Marine Life Institute. So much of the dazzle of "Finding Nemo" was the colorful richness of its aquatic life: sharks in recovery, pelicans interested in dentistry, Willem Dafoe's battle-scarred striped fish. So why, with oceans to explore, does "Finding Dory" cling so closely to the shore? The trip across the Pacific goes in a flash. The action takes place almost entirely jumping between tanks at the institute (subbed in by Pixar for an originally planned Seaworld-like location) and in a number of less exotic (and less creative) scampers on land. The sidekick here is a sullen seven-legged octopus named Hank (Ed O'Neill), who helps Dory navigate the complex to facilitate his own escape. But the movie's high point unquestionably belongs to the pair of British sea lions (Idris Elba and Dominic West, "Wire" veterans reunited) who bark at any creature that dares approach their sunning rock. "Finding Dory," bright and clever like most all Pixar releases, has the animation studio's familiar blend of wit, heart and visual detail. But it's missing its own magic. Like Dory's questions, it feels a bit like a repeat. It's certainly no "Cars 2" (Pixar's low point) but neither does it approach the glory of "Toy Story 2." Pleasant as it is, if "Finding Dory" feels a little disappointing, it's partly because the appetizer upstages the main course. "Piper," Alan Barillaro's six-minute short that precedes the film, is about a baby sandpiper learning to feed, scampering in an out of the surf. The photorealistic imagery may be the best yet for Pixar. In the 13 years from "Finding Nemo" to last year's clunky but gorgeously animated "The Good Dinosaur," Pixar all the while making us tear up has effectively mastered water. Review 'Finding Dory' Three stars out of four Cast: voices of Ellen De Generes, Albert Brooks, Eugene Levy, Diane Keaton, Ed O'Neill, Idris Elba, Dominic West, Hayden Rolence Rating: PG for "mild thematic elements" Running time: 97 minutes SHARE Michael Miglio, 19, a Central Kitsap High School graduate and Army recruit, was not allowed at commencement to wear this sash given to him be the Army recruiting center. Central Kitsap School District spokesman David Beil said the district's practice is to allow chords and other symbols of accomplishments during high school but not symbols of postsecondary plans. By Christina Henry of the Kitsap Sun CENTRAL KITSAP Michael Miglio has dreamed of joining the military since he was 6 years old. Miglio, 19, is bound for boot camp Aug. 1 in South Carolina. He and stepdad Ray Milhomme are miffed Miglio wasn't allowed to wear a sash signifying his status as an Army recruit to Saturday's Central Kitsap High School graduation. "It was kind of disappointing and a little frustrating," Miglio said. Tom Conning, a spokesman for the Seattle Army Recruiting Battalion, said this is the first year the Army has distributed the black-and-gold sashes to recognize new recruits in the Seattle battalion's region, which includes Washington, Alaska and the Idaho panhandle. CK School District officials nixed the new attire at all three graduation ceremonies, beginning with Klahowya Secondary School's Thursday. Olympic High School's graduation was Friday. Miglio and at least one other future soldier received their sashes from Principal Steve Coons after Saturday's ceremony at Central Kitsap High but were not allowed to wear them during graduation or in the class picture. "We asked students to limit celebratory attire to their high school accomplishments," district spokesman David Beil said. "Traditionally, we viewed commencement as an event to reflect on students' high school lives. We celebrate what our students have achieved so far." Students' postsecondary plans are recognized at senior night, Beil said. "We honor and respect our military families and are proud of our students who will serve our country," Beil said. "We are proud of the many paths our graduates will take." According to Conning, Central Kitsap and Orting High School are the only district and school to ban the Army sashes at graduation within the battalion's coverage area, which includes Washington, Alaska and the Idaho panhandle. A Maine high school senior opted out of his graduation ceremony Sunday after being told he couldn't wear the Army sash over his gown, the Portland Press Herald reported. Milhomme, an Army vet, thinks Central Kitsap's stance on the sashes is just plain "wrong." He made a scathing post Sunday on Facebook, and it has been widely shared. The district allows leis made of flowers, money and candy, he said, but not "this super classy Army sash given to him by his recruiter." In North Kitsap School District, the one student at North Kitsap High School who is Army-bound was allowed to wear the sash at graduation Friday. The district had no issue with the sash, spokeswoman Jenn Markaryan said. Bremerton and Bainbridge Island school districts have no policies against the sashes. Four Bremerton students who are joining the Army were allowed to wear sashes during the commencement ceremony. There were no requests on Bainbridge Island. South Kitsap High School's graduation is set for Tuesday. Principal Jerry Holsten on Monday was unaware of the flap over the Army sash. He expects the school will adhere to its limited list of approved regalia: a stole for ASB officers, a white chord for national honor students, gold chord for students with high GPAs, and silver-and-white chord for academic achievement in each department, including Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps. "We're not pushing back against any school decision, because that's their decision and they have policies they must follow," said Conning, the Army's spokesman. "The main pushback we've seen is from parents, families and future soldiers who felt like it was wrong, and they wanted their son or daughter to have that recognition." Beil said the district, which serves several military installations, has a good relationship with recruiters. But high school principals had little heads up the sashes would be given to the students. In light of complaints the district has fielded, the policy will be revisited. "We are sorry that our graduation practices have upset any of our students or families," Beil said. "This was a new request, and all our high schools responded the same way. Because of the family's concerns, we are reviewing this practice and will have a dialogue with our military community." Miglio would like to see the honor extended to recruits in all branches of the military. Local representatives of the Navy, Army National Guard and Marine Corps said they do not award sashes to recruits at this time. A developer cleared almost an acre at 15th Street and Thompson Avenue in West Bremerton without getting permission from the city or installing environmental protections to do so. SHARE By Josh Farley of the Kitsap Sun BREMERTON Several neighbors bordering a forested block in West Bremerton were recently surprised to see most of its trees felled. They weren't the only ones. The city also was in the dark regarding the logging and clearing of the nearly 1-acre site, which borders 15th Street and Thompson Avenue. Kristin Moerler, a senior planner, said city officials weren't informed of the clearing and issued a stop-work order for the site. "We have told them to do no additional (clearing) work," Moerler said. Duane Patrick, the man developing the land, said he had no idea he needed permission to log or clear the site. "We didn't think we were doing anything wrong," Patrick said. Landowners don't necessarily need permission to take down one or even a few trees in Bremerton or wider Kitsap County, if they're close to a home and might be in danger of falling. But anyone felling trees within a "critical" area wetlands, creeks or even bald eagle habitats faces regulatory hurdles, as do those with an interest in selling the lumber. In this case, the land is designated a "geologically hazardous area." Its sloping topography and soils make it a risk for slides. The city won't allow development there unless a geotechnical survey is completed and maps out a way to make the slope stable. City officials are worried that the newly cleared land will erode and slide toward Thompson. Architect Dennis Kirkpatrick, who is representing Patrick and Chien Nguyen, the owner of the property, said he's working on having a geotechnical study done as soon as possible. He also got permission from the city to install mulch and barriers at the site to prevent runoff. Patrick mentioned that some of the neighbors have told him they're pleased to have the trees and brush removed, as it has enhanced some views in the area. He added that he even offered to remove trees for those bordering the site, and some took him up on it. But others in the area expressed displeasure to the Kitsap Sun over losing the forested space, and the quickness with which it occurred. "I am perfectly aware that it's someone else's property, and they can do what they want to do," said Sarah Riley, who lives nearby on Marguerite Avenue and whose home is now more exposed to sunlight. "But it was so sudden, with zero preparation. Now, I have a spectacular view of a storage facility." City officials can shut down development there and charge double for permitting in light of the clearing, which occurred over the past three weeks. But Moerler said there isn't much else that can be done. Patrick said the clearing was necessary as many of the trees had rot issues and were being taken over by English ivy. "They were really dangerous to the lots around here," said Patrick, who also recently built a home at 15th and Henry Avenue. He hopes to develop homes or apartments on the property. For now, some construction equipment and piles of stumps and debris are all that's left. SHARE By Kitsap Sun Staff BREMERTON Kitsap Transit Executive Director John Clauson will share details about the agency's plan to offer half-hour ferry rides to downtown Seattle from Kitsap. The six events will be held on two Saturdays. Kitsap County will vote on funding for the service on the Nov. 8 ballot. June 18 9 a.m.: Bremerton Harborside Building, second floor, 60 Washington Ave. 11:30 a.m.: Bainbridge Island Library, main conference room, 1270 Madison Ave. 2:30 p.m.: Kingston, Village Green Community Center, 26159 Dulay Road. June 25 9:30 a.m.: Poulsbo City Hall, council chambers, 200 Moe St. 11:30 a.m.: Silverdale Beach Hotel, Anchor Room, 3073 NW Bucklin Hill Road. 2:30 p.m.: Port Orchard City Hall, council chambers, 216 Prospect St. Vigil attendees hold a solidarity banner for the Orlando shooting victims Monday evening at Evergreen-Rotary Park in Bremerton. SHARE Tawny Johnson (left) and Haley Woodward, both of Bremerton, hug during a vigil for the Orlando shooting victims Monday evening at Evergreen-Rotary Park in Bremerton. Katelyn O'Connell, of Port Orchard, holds a candle at the Monday evening vigil in Bremerton for the Orlando shooting victims. Sean Pederson, of Bremerton, and Makaleigh Arthur, 5, of Bremerton, sign condolences notes on a banner for the Orlando shooting victims during a vigil Monday evening at Evergreen-Rotary Park in Bremerton. Maggie Rich (left) and Eli Oldfield, both of Bremerton, hold candles at a Monday evening vigil for the Orlando shooting victims at Evergreen-Rotary Park in Bremerton. LARRY STEAGALL / KITSAP SUN By Rachel Seymour of the Kitsap Sun BREMERTON News of the country's deadliest mass shooting by a single gunman Sunday at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, tore into LGBT communities across the nation, including in Kitsap. Eli Oldfield, a board member with Q Youth Resources, which works to empower lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youths, knew the local group and its allies would need a space and place to support one another. As part Latino and self-identified queer person, Oldfield said spaces like the nightclub Pulse were always home when growing up and coming out. The club was having Latin night when the gunman opened fire early Sunday, killing at least 49 people and wounding more than 50. "For something like that to happen in a place that was home and safe, even when I wasn't out to have something like that violated, to have members of our community killed because of who they were is awful," Oldfield said. Nearly 300 people attended a vigil Monday evening at Evergreen-Rotary Park in Bremerton, while another vigil was held on Bainbridge Island. The Kitsap Pride Network and other groups like the Q Center and YWCA organized the Bremerton candlelight vigil to remember the victims of Sunday's shooting. Next month, the Kitsap community will gather at the same park to celebrate LGBT Pride. This year's international theme for Pride events is solidarity, which has taken a new meaning for the community since Orlando's tragedy. What was once pride in how far the LGBT community has come has become solidarity in the face of hate and tragedy, according to Michael Goodnow, co-chair of the Kitsap Pride Network. "We've spent so much time working to remove fear from people's lives," Goodnow said. "So they can live their lives as their genuine self and they can be free to go out and be with who they want to be." As the LGBT community and its allies have fought for equality and safe public spaces, recent controversies from "bathroom bills" are adding to what Goodnow called a brewing "hostile culture" toward the LGBT community. This year North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory signed a bill into law that effectively banned transgender people from using the bathroom they choose, causing national debates and threats. Although the U.S. Department of Justice notified McCrory that the bill likely violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the law is in place and continues to be at the center of heated discussion. With 20 Pride events planned in Kitsap, there is a heightened concern for safety. "It sickens me that we have to worry about that," Goodnow said. Bremerton Police Chief Steve Strachan said there will be additional police presence at local events, along with support. "We are all in this together," Strachan said. "Love trumps hate." SHARE By Jordan Nailon, Special to the Kitsap Sun Visitors to western Washington are quick to note the seemingly endless landscape of rolling hills covered in a verdant timber canopy. One quilted forest blanket rises up and folds back down into the anonymous recesses of the next like the layered afghans on grandma's feather bed. To homegrown western "Warsh-ingtonians" the sheet of green is a serene comfort blanket that signals the safety and lush magnificence of home. Even out of staters who have never had the pleasure of visiting our great state can imagine in their mind's eye the blue raindrops that fall from grey skies and water our expansive seas of green. While the forested hills are a joy to observe, contemplate and meditate on, they also used to be a place where lovers of the outdoors could actually go in order to be immersed in the thicket of timber and awash in the sights, sounds and smells of a living forest. Gradually though, those days are becoming a thing of the past, nothing but a wisp of a whisper of a flicker of a memory that was once experienced on blast in living color. The reason citizens are losing access to the prevailing landscape that surrounds them are the greedy timber barons that act as the modern-day gatekeeper of the King's Forest. There was a time when a person could look up into a faraway set of hills and decide to go there for no reason other than because it was there. Mountains have been summited with less explanation. The evergreen swatches of land that dot our region are interconnected by an elaborate series of dirt and gravel roads that form a backwoods byway of sorts. With the proper experience, a person could navigate from one side of the inhabited state to the other without using any of the paved state or federal highways that drain the soul of its vitality and bore the brain with banality. Now though a cascading wave of ever-tightening regulations passed down by coin-counting timber barons who are closing access gates and throwing away the key, at least until the highest bidder emerges. All across the state timber companies are closing their roads to public access and instead charging access fees for permits and keys, or even worse, leasing patches of their land to well-heeled outdoorsmen who don't think twice about paying for a right that was previously assumed. Timber companies were long ago granted sizeable tax breaks by the powers that be in Washington under the condition that the barons allow the unwashed masses access to their great holdings. That agreement held up for decades until, little by little, the gates began to close and the locks began to clinch. Timber companies claim that vandalism and illegal dumping are to blame for the locked gates, but I call cowpies on that notion. Instead, it seems all too obvious that an industry built on the exploitation of natural resources has crunched the numbers to the point that they realized they were standing on another natural resource primed for capitalization. In this case it is not the trees that are for sale. Instead, it is the right to stand in a place that has been put up on the auction block. The most recent incarnation of these dystopian policies came from the all powerful force of Weyerhaeuser. The ubiquitous timber company has instituted a new access policy that will cost families $300 a year for the right to navigate Weyerhaeuser holdings via vehicle. Last year the permits cost $160 but were only good for the most popular portion of the year. This year the permit nearly doubled in cost but they are good all year long. If that sounds like a good tradeoff, you have obviously never gone family camping in the soggy hills of western Washington in the heart of winter. Those are not trips where the reputation of "Awesome dad" can be forged. It is decidedly a loser's gamble. It should be noted, too, that those permits are good only for related adults and their under-age children. If five hunting buddies want to share an isolated chunk of Washington's bogarted forest it would cost them $1,500 for the privilege to live like a mossback. Additionally, campers are only allowed in one spot for 10 days, so the longstanding tradition of setting up a hunting camp during the heart of hunting season has been relegated to gypsy refugee status. Even worse is Weyerhauser's decision to charge a $50 walk-in fee this year. Previously there was no charge for strong-footed sojourners who wanted to skirt the yellow gate and head up into "dem-thar hills." A peaceful walk in the woods is priceless, except when it has an actual price tag. So far though the state seems to have little interest in taking any action against the timber barons that are hoarding Washington's greatest resources. After all, timber companies make campaign contributions too. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has said only positive things about the program because it makes their job easier. With fewer people in the woods there are fewer people to check up on. Ease of vigilance is a primary concern of law enforcement. Transgenerational traditions are simply collateral damage. Hunters argue that the reduced access has driven many of their ilk away from the great outdoors. Some have left as a protest of the new fees. Others tried to stick it out but the locked gates have caused a mass congregation of hunters and outdoors enthusiasts at the few gates that are left open or do not require a special pass. A clamoring thicket of hunters is decidedly antithetical to successful hunting, and moreover, it is unsafe. Eventually, the state may notice a difference in their bottom line when fewer hunters purchase licenses and permits, but for now it does not seem to be a concern. The greedy lease option for securing hunting grounds is one reason the wheels have not come to a complete halt as of yet. By putting lands up for bid access to the woods is consolidated to the wealthiest of hunters who have money to burn. As a consequence sustenance hunters who take pride in teaching their children the ways of the backwoods are priced out of the hills and sport and trophy hunters with little connection to the area wind up taking their place, and taking some of Washington home with them in the form of racks and wrapped meat. It seems what Washington needs is a modern day Robin Hood who is not afraid of the King's eyes in the forest, and who knows what is inherently right versus what is inherently greedy. In lieu of the arrow slinging man in tights, the best bet is to get the attention of our legislators through votes and money (I hear those two things are different). I encourage all who feel passionately about access to the great outdoors to write their representatives and let them know how they feel about losing their right to access and enjoy Washington's grandest natural resources. Those with the willpower should also abstain from purchasing the pricey permits in order to avoid a tumble down the slippery slope of pay-to-play access fees. Washington's greatest assets should not be for sale to the highest bidder. The woods are eternal and should remain open for everyone to enjoy. Jordan Nailon is a hog-farming, baseball-coaching, county-hopping scribe who covers sports and out-of-doors activities in Western Washington. Contact him at jnailon@hotmail.com. SHARE J. B. Holcomb, Bainbridge Island Common sense behind the wheel The television networks have run a clip about a road rage incident wherein a pickup truck forced a vehicle ahead in the left lane to the right and that vehicle then colliding with other vehicles while being totaled against a right lane barrier. Who should be ticketed? Both of them. Here in Kitsap County it is not unusual for a driver to drive in the far left hand lane, set a cruise control, and fail to yield to following traffic. This is a traffic offense known as "vehicle harassment." Nor is it unusual for a following driver to tail gate that lead car, which could lead to many other kinds of charges. My advice to the lead car is get out of the way. So what if you think you are in the right. So what if you think you do not have to yield. So what if you think that tail-gating is wrong. You may be right, but by not yielding you could be "dead" right. Be a common sense driver, a defensive driver, and don't take matters into your own hands. Move! Amy Adams announced: Communications Minister Amy Adams marked the completion of Choruss role under the Rural Broadband Initiative (RBI), saying the build would transform rural communities. Ms Adams was in Waitomo in the Waikato region to switch on the final cabinet and celebrate the successful $234 million cabinet build programme, alongside the Governments fixed line RBI build partner, Chorus. This included the upgrading of 1237 rural cabinet and exchanges, connecting priority users (including 1027 rural schools and 39 hospitals and health centres) and backhaul to 154 RBI towers. The investment in the cabinet RBI programme means around 110,000 rural households and businesses across New Zealand now have access to improved copper broadband thanks to the RBI programme, Ms Adams says. Before the cabinet upgrades, residents and businesses had speeds between 0.25 and 5 megabits per second (Mbps). Residents and businesses will now be able to experience speeds of between 10 and 20 Mbps with those living within about 1km of a cabinet able to access speeds in excess of 50 Mbps. Fusion reports: On March 29, 2016, Farrokh Sekaleshfar a British-born medical doctor and Shia Muslim scholar was invited to speak at the Husseini Islamic Center just outside Orlando, Florida. His sermon, How to deal with the phenomenon of homosexuality, at the Sanford-based center, happened behind closed doors, but it alarmed local gay and lesbian leaders. Only three years before, in another U.S. speaking engagement, the scholar and sheikh had described in characteristically sotto voce what it meant to do the compassionate thing for gay people: Death is the sentence. Theres nothing to be embarrassed about this. Death is the sentence. He continued: We have to have that compassion for people. With homosexuals, its the same. Out of compassion, lets get rid of them now. This is the different between Islam and almost all other religions. While the views of Dr Sekaleshfar are of course a minority view, you have a number of religious leaders in Islam who go around promoting these views. In other religions such as Christianity, people holding these views are deeply marginalised the Westboro Baptist Church for example. They are shunned by pretty much everyone else (and are not so much a church as one extended family). But here you have religious leaders invited to speak, and saying such things. It creates the climate for extremism. Fusion got in touch with Dr. Sekaleshfar, who lives in the holy city of Qum in Iran and is currently traveling in Sydney, Australia. Asked what his reactions are to todays attacks, he told Fusion through Facebook, I am totally against the barbaric act of violence that has happened. In no way at all can such a killing be justified Islamically. He called Orlando shooter Omar Mateen Siddiqui an ill and perverted, animalistic entity who has abused an ideology to satiate his sad, twisted desires. Asked specifically about his March comments about gays in Orlando, as well as his better-known 2013 speech, Sekaleshfar called his approach an academic discussion in which he was describing the theoretical angle as to what Islam says. I never gave the call to a death sentence, he said, adding that lines of his 2013 speech had been taken out of context. I was explaining what Islamic law in a country whose people democratically desired Islamic law to be exercised states in relation to NOT homosexuals, but rather in relation to when the act of anal copulation is executed in such an aforementioned public, he said. Now there is a difference between saying the state should executive homosexuals and that individuals should do so. But it is about the climate. When a dozen or so Muslim countries do have the death penalty for homosexuality, when some Muslim scholars do say we should get rid of homosexuals, then it is perhaps no surprise that an individual may take that to mean that God wants him to kill homosexuals. Again there is a difference between moderate Muslims, extremist Muslims and jihadist Muslims. But we delude ourselves if we think the problem is only the jihadists who actually pick up a gun. The extremist views of Dr Sekaleshfar provide a climate which fosters jihadism. Of course in this particular case, we dont know if there was a link, but the point is no religious group should invite any religious leader to spread a message that homosexual acts should result in death. Share this: Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Reddit WhatsApp More Pinterest Print Tumblr SHARE With an overhead view of the American Museum of Science and Energy on computer monitor in the foreground, Oak Ridge City Council member Rick Chinn comments during Monday's meeting. (BOB FOWLER/NEWS SENTINEL) Neil Wilson, an executive with RealtyLink LLC, talks with City Council members Monday about his company's plans for Main Street Oak Ridge. Listening in background is Councilman Kelly Callison. (BOB FOWLER/NEWS SENTINEL) photos by BOB FOWLER/NEWS SENTINEL Neil Wilson, an executive with RealtyLink LLC, discusses his Main Street Oak Ridge project while Oak Ridge City Council members Charlie Hensley, left, and Kelly Callison listen in the background. Overhead view shows the American Museum of Science and Energy property that was the subject of discussion Monday during the Oak Ridge City Council meeting. The developer of the Main Street Oak Ridge project that's nearby wants to make sure no potential competitor acquires the 17 acres of property in front of the museum that's also owned by the U.S. Department of Energy. CITY OF OAK RIDGE/SPECIAL TO THE NEWS SENTINEL) By Bob Fowler of the Knoxville News Sentinel OAK RIDGE It's crunchtime for Main Street Oak Ridge. RealtyLink LLC, the company that wants to buy the old Oak Ridge Mall and redevelop it as Main Street Oak Ridge, has cleared what an executive called the "only remaining hurdle" in its quest. A City Council resolution, approved in a 6-1 vote Monday night, authorizes the city to start talks for either the city or RealtyLink to obtain 17 acres owned by the Department of Energy in front of its American Museum of Science and Energy, across Tulane Avenue from the mall property. Mayor Warren Gooch described that resolution as "establishing a framework for negotiations going forward." RealtyLink, based in Greenville, S.C., wants first option on that DOE property fronting busy Illinois Avenue, which has been coveted for years by developers as a prime retail site. "Any redevelopment of that property that competes with Main Street either directly or indirectly will be devastating to our efforts," RealtyLink executive Neil Wilson said in a letter to city officials. The resolution approval comes as DOE has asked the General Services Administration to begin the process of deciding how best to dispose of the museum and land, a procedure that can take years as it winds through bureaucratic channels. DOE spokeswoman Claire Sinclair said the request to dispose of the museum property describes it as underused and "operationally challenging" (see separate story, this edition). Meanwhile, Wilson on Monday gave the council an overview of the company's plans, considered by many the last, best hope of reviving the blighted, 58-acre mall property. He said there's a June 28 deadline to buy the mall or face a $100,000 penalty. Courthouse records show that a $100,000 "curtailment fee" on a fifth loan extension on the property would be applied. If the mall sale closes, work on the project would start immediately, Wilson said. If it doesn't begin then, RealtyLink would miss "delivery dates" for tenants' stores, he said. Demolition of most of the mall's common areas would commence, and RealtyLink has obtained the requisite permits for that and other site work, he said. He also said a construction contract is in hand, and a bank loan has been secured. Wilson said RealtyLink has already invested $400,000 in its efforts, ranging from $140,000 for removing hazardous materials from the old mall to fees for architects and engineers. The first phase of Main Street Oak Ridge would be an estimated $41 million project, and initial stores would open in spring 2017, he said. The mayor in a recent talk announced those first tenants as T.J. Maxx, PetSmart, Dick's Sporting Goods and Ulta Beauty. Gooch also said the only two remaining mall tenants Belk and J.C. Penney have renewed their leases. Wilson said there's a possibility that RealtyLink could construct a new location for the American Museum of Science and Energy within Main Street Oak Ridge in exchange for the museum property. While RealtyLink would put $9 million of its own money into the project up front, that would be followed with $13 million in tax-increment financing, Wilson said. The city has committed $1 million for infrastructure improvements, and the city's industrial development board is adding $500,000. The tax-increment financing arrangement calls for Oak Ridge and Anderson County to keep current-level property tax revenue from the mall, and an expected increase in that levy from the project could be used to repay the loans made by a consortium of three banks. The 20-year TIF repayment schedule also includes property-tax revenue increases that could occur in another 120 acres surrounding the mall property. "We want to be paid back as quickly as possible," said David Bradshaw, an executive with the lead lender, Pinnacle Bank. Oak Ridge Mall was sold to Chattanooga developer Steve Arnsdorff for $6 million in 2003, and he and his partners tried unsuccessfully for years to rejuvenate the property as Oak Ridge City Center. At one point years ago, the mall property was on the tax rolls at $60 million. Gooch has said. Don Holecek, CEO and president of Crown Cleaners, sorts clothes brought in by first-time customer Jane Shafer at the facility on Kingston Pike on Tuesday. Holocek has owned Crown Cleaners since June 2000, and has now acquired Executive Cleaners. (SAUL YOUNG/NEWS SENTINEL) SHARE Don Holecek, CEO and president of Crown Cleaners, on Tuesday, June 14, 2016. (SAUL YOUNG/NEWS SENTINEL) John underwood, dry cleaning supervisor at Crown Cleaners, spot cleans a garment at the main facility on Kingston Pike on Tuesday. Crown Cleaners has acquired Executive Cleaners. (SAUL YOUNG/NEWS SENTINEL) By Mamie Kuykendall of the Knoxville News Sentinel Businesspeople are increasingly trading in traditional suits for a more casual look, and the changes are hitting dry cleaning companies hard. According to owners, cleaners now have two options: acquire, or be acquired. Don Holecek, president and owner of Crown Cleaners, 6300 Kingston Pike, has chosen the former. Determined to grow and flourish, Holeck this month closed his first buyout, which not only set the stage for future expansion, but also closed the doors of an interesting family feud that stretched for decades. Holecek completed the buyout on May 2, merging Crown with Executive Cleaners. Executive's clients and equipment were transferred to Crown, and the Executive building, 7118 Kingston Pike, has been closed. A second location on Parkside Drive is being rebranded. "A lot of it has to do with consolidation within the whole cleaning industry," Holecek said. "There was a 10-year trend, between 2002 and 2012, where about 10,000 (cleaning) businesses throughout the United States went out of business. "This is a very mom-and-pop type of industry, and if people who have been in this business don't have an exit plan, their plan is made for them. You need to reinvest; it's a capital-intensive business with equipment replacement. "Mom-and-pops think they have something at the end of the rope, and they almost always don't." Holecek plans to grow through further acquisitions, and a second buyout is planned in the next few months. It's been a 14-year learning curve for Holecek, a former high school history teacher, but the hard work is paying off. "I enjoy being a small-business owner, the business aspect of it," Holecek said. "Once you put procedures in, then you kind of see the fruits of things." This is the third owner of Executive, a business created under unusual circumstances. The story began when a man named Charles Rogers founded Crown 40 years ago, and promised to hand the business over to his daughter, Nancy White, who worked in the company. According to Holecek, White and her husband, Larry, grew impatient and left to found their own establishment, Frank's Executive Cleaners, which eventually became Executive. The couple brought in Larry's brother Tom to help run the business, and a sizeable number of Crown employees left to join the Executive staff. "That put a hurt on Crown, and Charles Rogers eventually sold the business to Robert Rowan," Holecek said. "Nancy and Frank actually got Executive to be larger than Crown at one point." The couple later divorced, and in 2003 the business was sold to Jin Kim. Holecek bought Crown from Rowan 14 years ago. He bought Executive from Kim this year. "It's like completing the circle," Holecek said. August 13, 2014 - Lincoln "Chips" Moman, a producer, guitarist, and songwriter, smiles as fans surround him during the unveiling of the American Studios historical marker at 831 Thomas Wednesday afternoon. Moman has worked with artists such as Elvis Presley, Carla Thomas, and B.J. Thomas. (Yalonda M. James/The Commercial Appeal) SHARE Elvis Presley and Chips Moman at American Studios in 1969. (JAT Publishing) LEFT to RIGHT: Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and producer Chips Moman sing during the recording of the "Class Of 55" in September 1985. Moman recorded the reunion album using the four legendary rock 'n rollers who got their starts in Memphis. The face between Cash and Moman is lead guitar player Reggie Young. This scene took place at Moman's old American Recording Studio on North Thomas. Copyright Dave Darnell / 1985. Elvis Presley and Chips Moman; "Elvis in Memphis" photo credit: Sony Music Entertainment By Bob Mehr of The Commercial Appeal Memphis music icon, Elvis Presley producer, country and soul-songwriting giant Lincoln "Chips" Moman has died. The 79-year-old Moman died at a hospice facility in his hometown of LaGrange, Georgia, on Monday, Moman's friend and longtime music industry associate Marty Lacker confirmed. A gifted rockabilly guitarist and band leader in the 1950s, Moman went on to become one of the architects of Stax Records and author of some of the most enduring songs in the history of rhythm-and-blues and country music from "Dark End of the Street" to "Luckenbach Texas (Back to the Basics of Love)." Besides Sam Phillips, he was arguably the only man to effectively produce Elvis Presley helping midwife The King's creative rebirth in 1969. It was Moman who helped build and shape Memphis' American Sound Studios and its house band, generating the most prolific run of chart hits ever. "He was one of the most important people ever. He started out with Stax, then all the great recordings he made at American Studios," said local Grammy head Jon Hornyak, who also worked with Moman at his own studio. "Memphis music history wouldn't be the same without Chips. To me, definitely one of the all time great music makers in Memphis." Born in Georgia in 1937, Moman hitchhiked to Memphis at age 17, where he was discovered by Sun Records star Warren Smith. Moman later joined up with brothers Johnny and Dorsey Burnette, traveling with them for sessions in California at the famed Gold Star Recording Studios. Moman watched and studied noted engineer Stan Ross behind the board. "And from what I'd learned in California, I decided to take that experience and put it to work in Memphis," recalled Moman in a 2008 interview. His chance came when he was called to do a session at a tiny garage studio in Brunswick, Tennessee, owned by Jim Stewart. Moman and Stewart hit it off, and decided to join forces to start what would become Satellite, and eventually Stax Records. Moman played a pivotal role in Stax's development. He was the one who recorded the label's initial hits by Carla Thomas, Rufus Thomas and William Bell; helped develop "Last Night," the song that would become The Mar-Keys' smash; and was the one who was musically predisposed to turning Stax from a white country music company into a black R&B label in the first place. But a rancorous split in 1962 with Stewart and his sister and co-owner, Estelle Axton, brought all that to an abrupt end. In 1965, Moman began developing a studio at 827 N. Thomas. American Sound Studios took off with the arrival of local teen garage band The Gentrys, who cut a million-selling smash called "Keep on Dancing." "They were just kids, and I wasn't much more," recalled Moman. "But that got me started to the point where I could afford to hire a secretary." That secretary, Sandy Posey, would be his next protege, and would go on to record the Top 20 Grammy-nominated hit "Born A Woman." "After that, people started calling me to produce records," Moman said. Between 1962 and 1972, American Studios was a veritable hit factory that produced more than 120 chart records. With Moman guiding them, the American house band, later known as the Memphis Boys guitarist Reggie Young, drummer Gene Chrisman, pianist Bobby Wood, organist Bobby Emmons and bassists Mike Leech and Tommy Cogbill would provide the essential ballast and delicate filigree found in the hits of Dusty Springfield ("Son of a Preacher Man"), Neil Diamond ("Sweet Caroline), Merrilee Rush ("Angel of the Morning") , B.J. Thomas ("Hooked on a Feeling"), Joe Tex ("I Gotcha"), Bobby Womack ("Fly Me To The Moon") and, perhaps most famously, Elvis Presley ("Suspicious Minds"). "He was one of the greatest record producers, musicians and songwriters. Chips was a pioneer," Lacker said. "He brought big name artists to record at American Studios because they wanted a hit. One of his specialties was an artist whose career had gone cold, and he rejuvenated their careers." Moman left Memphis in 1972 and headed to Atlanta to start a new studio, taking most of the American band with him. His tenure in Atlanta was short-lived, however. After encountering problems with the new record label he'd set up, Moman decided to get out of the music business entirely. Instead, he stopped in Nashville and wrote a hit song for B.J. Thomas ("(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song"), and decided to continue in Music City. Moman would spend the next dozen years in Nashville, where he would dominate the country field writing hits and producing albums by Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Tammy Wynette and Ronnie Millsap. Despite his success in Nashville, Moman was lured back to Memphis in 1985. Then-Mayor Dick Hackett and First Tennessee bank chairman Ron Terry, eager to re-energize a Memphis music industry that had been stagnant since the demise of Stax in 1975, offered Moman a studio site and financial incentives to return to town. At first, Moman was hailed as a potential savior of the city's music. He quickly recorded the high-profile Class of '55 album featuring Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Roy Orbison. But the hoped-for hits never materialized, and Moman eventually left Memphis again for good. RELATED: 175 Moments - Sept. 20, 1985: Chips Moman records 'Class of 55' with Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash In poor health for much of the last decade, Moman would make occasional public appearances, performing with the American Boys or at Elvis-related events. In the summer of 2014, Moman and company were finally given some long overdue recognition in the Bluff City. A Shelby County historical marker was placed on the site where American Studios once stood. Moman was also inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame that year. Speaking from Nashville, guitarist Young perhaps best summed up what his friend meant to Memphis, and to the world of popular music. "The songs he's written and recorded," Young said, "I can't imagine ever being forgotten." Moman is survived by his wife Jane, daughter Monique and son Casey. Funeral arrangements were incomplete. Commercial Appeal reporter Jody Callahan contributed to this story. Smokies' stadium could join a bigger plan to connect Knoxville Tennessee Smokies' downtown Knoxville stadium just east of the Old City has updated renderings, and a new map shows potential greenway connections. By Jamie Satterfield of the Knoxville News Sentinel He has citizenship in the U.S., but a federal prosecutor argued Tuesday that an engineer accused in a nuclear espionage case owes his pay, his profits and his familial ties to China. Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Atchley Jr. sought at a hearing Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Knoxville to keep Szuhsiung "Allen" Ho behind bars pending trial on charges he was procuring American nuclear know-how for China that the country was forbidden to access. PDF: U.S. response to Szuhsiung "Allen" Ho's motion for pretrial release Atchley argued that while Ho, who was born in Taiwan, is a naturalized citizen of the U.S. and has a home in Delaware, he spends most of his time in China, is employed by the Chinese government and has funneled $3 million through a Chinese bank during the conspiracy of which he is accused. Atchley also noted that while Ho has a wife in Delaware, he has a "second family," including a 9-year-old son. in China. "This man is not living in the U.S.," Atchley said. "He may be a U.S. citizen, but he lives in China. His family is in China." Ho, his firm, Energy Technology International, and a Chinese nuclear power plant, China General Nuclear Power, were indicted in April in an alleged plot to lure nuclear experts in the U.S. into providing information to allow China to develop and produce nuclear material based on American technology and under the radar of the U.S. government. PDF: Indictment against Szuhsiung "Allen" Ho, China General Muclear Power Co. and Energy Technology International The specific charge lodged against Ho is not the espionage of the Hollywood variety. He wasn't stealing military secrets. The information the government says Ho was buying for China is freely shared among those in the American nuclear power industry and with other countries. It just can't be shared with China and a handful of other countries the federal government has opined are not trustworthy to see it. "I think there's a real question in our minds whether a crime has even been alleged," Ho's defense attorney, Peter Zeidenberg said Tuesday. "There is no suggestion Dr. Ho is involved in terrorism, assisting terrorists." But here's the legal rub. The technology at issue is used to produce nuclear power for electricity, not build bombs but materials used to construct those bombs are a byproduct of the power generation process. As Atchley explained it at Tuesday's hearing, a government bent on making bombs could use the technology with ill intent. So Congress passed a law against sharing the information without government approval, which Atchley said Ho did not receive. "Once it leaves our borders, we can't control it," Atchley said. "We have no faith in China to control it." Atchley noted bank records show that in the seven years Ho bought technological expertise for a nuclear power plant owned by the Chinese government, he transferred $3 million from a bank in China to various banks in the U.S. He earns a paycheck from the power plant. When arrested in Atlanta in April, Ho had what Atchley said was an "encrypted" Chinese bank card that the Chinese government will not allow authorities to access. Atchley said Ho faces a possible life sentence, good cause to flee. And, Atchley added, China might just be willing to help him. "If the government of China really wants him out of the U.S., they're going to find a way to get him out of the U.S., and there's nothing I could do about that," Atchley said. "If he goes to China, we will not get him back." Zeidenberg, who also has enlisted Knoxville defense veteran Wade Davies, said Ho already has surrendered his passport and is willing to stake his home in Delaware and $1 million as guarantee he'll return for trial. U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Guyton openly voiced doubt as to the idea Ho couldn't flee the country without a passport, and he insisted on seeing an appraisal of Ho's house before deciding whether he should let Ho go free. Guyton will issue a written ruling in the coming days. He set a Jan. 24 trial date. The indictment against Ho came after former TVA senior manager Ching Ning Guey struck a secret deal more than a year ago to plead guilty to development of special nuclear material outside the U.S. and admitted Ho and the Chinese government paid him to provide technical expertise. Guey's plea deal was unsealed after Ho's arrest. At least five other engineers at U.S. power companies across the country also were paid to consult, court records state. Their names have not been disclosed, nor is it clear whether they face prosecution. SEE ALSO: Defense seeks engineers freedom pending trial in Tenn. nuclear espionage case Records: Former TVA manager admits Chinese government paid him for nuclear secrets Feds: TVA executive traded nuclear information for cash in Chinese espionage case SHARE Jodi Robicheaux LaDaniel Mitchell (KNOX COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE) By Jamie Satterfield of the Knoxville News Sentinel East Tennessee's chief federal judge on Tuesday faced the dilemma of the government's latest war on sex trafficking what to do when victim turns predator. Chief U.S. District Judge Tom Varlan wrestled with that question in the case of 25-year-old Jodi Robicheaux, who faced sentencing Tuesday for her role in luring a teenage runaway into traveling to Knoxville to engage in prostitution. Robicheaux began selling sex at age 16. A pimp who claimed he loved her fed her drug addiction while taking a cut of her prostitution proceeds. "She was being victimized for several years," defense attorney Rachel Wolf argued. "It doesn't matter if she was doing it voluntarily for drugs. She's a victim because she was 16 just like the victim in this case." Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Kolman readily admitted Robicheaux had been a sex trafficking victim but then began helping pimp LaDaniel Mitchell, 35, recruit underage runaways. "I don't care how messed up your life is you don't get to become a predator," Kolman said. Varlan rejected outright a sentencing break below the penalty range of 41 to 51 months but settled on the minimum sentence, which is just more than three years in prison. Mitchell still faces sentencing. Mitchell and Robicheaux were arrested in May 2015 in the parking lot of the Extended Stay America motel on Winston Road after the FBI received a tip they were pimping a 16-year-old girl at the motel. The girl, a runaway from Dallas, claimed she was 18 but soon conceded her real age. FBI Agent Kristina Norris said in a criminal complaint the girl continued to lie out of fear, saying she had been a prostitute since age 14 and came to Knoxville on her own "to make a lot of money." Once the adult couple was arrested, the girl admitted the pair had recruited her and took part of her proceeds. Mitchell and Robicheaux had been convicted once before in New Mexico of a similar crime, although the runaway was 18. They received probation. Varlan acknowledged Robicheaux had "a troubled past" but said that did not excuse her own poor choices. "This defendant did engage with (Mitchell) in activities that involved bringing a minor into this state to engage in sexual activity in this community," Varlan said. American Museum of Science and Energy in Oak Ridge on Wednesday, July 23, 2014. (MICHAEL PATRICK/NEWS SENTINEL) SHARE American Museum of Science and Energy in Oak Ridge Wednesday, July 23, 2014. (MICHAEL PATRICK/NEWS SENTINEL) By Bob Fowler of the Knoxville News Sentinel OAK RIDGE For years, the U.S. Department of Energy has wanted to get out of the museum business. And for all those years, DOE has provided funding to keep the aging American Museum of Science and Energy afloat. Now, DOE has asked the fed's General Services Administration to "disposition" the property both the large museum building and the property in front of it, said Claire Sinclair, spokeswoman for the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Site Office. ORNL operates the museum for DOE. That request, made last week, is seen as the most significant step to date by DOE to divest itself of the museum, and it comes at a time that a developer wants first dibs on the land in front of it to thwart any would-be competitor to the proposed Oak Ridge Main Street project that's nearby. Oak Ridge Main Street is the name for the project to raze the all-but-empty Oak Ridge Mall and replace it with a downtown mecca of new stores, shops and eateries. If the GSA disposes of the museum and its 17.12 acre front yard, it's a lengthy, "detailed effort they have to go through," Sinclair said. She said every federal agency has to be contacted and agencies that help the homeless are then asked if they're interested in the property before other options are considered. "It's a process that will look for the highest and best use of that property," she said. "The process of transferring federal property for new uses typically takes a couple of years, and if a new use for the AMSE property is proposed there will be ample public notice. For now, Sinclair said in a prepared statement, "We will continue to operate AMSE for the purposes of public education and outreach, provide space for the Manhattan Project National Historical Park's temporary Visitor Contact Center, and support the National Park's efforts to establish the permanent park in Oak Ridge." But the spokeswoman also gave a frank appraisal of the museum's current plight: It's too big "given current communication technologies," and it's "operationally challenged." DOE's operational budget for the museum this year was $1.5 million, she said, "and that money only allows us to kind of keep it limping along. There are some big operational needs that it has that we cannot address." "That is certainly not the place to do education and outreach," she said of the current building, which has been off Tulane Avenue since 1973.. While the temporary headquarters for the Manhattan Project National Historical Park are now inside the museum, "DOE also is exploring ways to better partner with NPS (the National Park Service) long term," she said. SHARE By News Sentinel Staff, mccoyl@knoxnews.com KNOXVILLE A fire caused smoke damage at a local home and damage to the front bedroom, but no one was hurt. Crews from the Knoxville Fire Department were dispatched at 1:41 p.m. Monday to a home at 2508 Shady Dell Trail, in Holston Hills, for report of a house on fire. When firefighters arrived, they found smoke coming from the front bedroom of the brick structure and flames shooting through a side window, according to a news release from Knoxville Fire Capt. D.J. Corcoran. As firefighters forced entry through the front door, neighbors told them someone might be inside, said Corcoran. But firefighters found no one after completing a search of the home, he said. Damages were limited to the front bedroom, though smoke damage is throughout the home, he said. Fire investigators are on the scene to determine the cause. No injuries were reported. Richard Cameron performs as Raz at Club XYZ on Saturday, June 1, 2013. (SAUL YOUNG/NEWS SENTINEL) By Kristi L. Nelson of the Knoxville News Sentinel Jeff Hamby was in Ohio on business when he heard about the Pulse shooting, and foremost on his mind was how quickly he could get home. Hamby, owner of The Edge nightclub in West Knoxville, knew his staff and regular customers would want a place to come to talk, to process what had happened to a group of people like them, the overwhelming shock and sorrow and senselessness of it all. "For years and years, these kinds of bars have been where people go to feel safe," Hamby said. "Sometimes, when your families don't respect who you are, or you feel like you have to hide who you are at work, you come to a place where you can be that person." For Hamby, the staff and regulars at the bar are family. "We share holidays together," he said. "We've built this family group." Pulse was not only a place they could relate to, Hamby said; some of them visited the club on annual vacations to Florida, while others knew the staff from both being at clubs that schedule the same entertainers. "That scale of disaster is just unfathomable," he said. "Just imagine that you're in a place with 300 people that you know, and 50 of them are wiped out." They considered closing The Edge on Sunday, "out of respect," he said, but instead he and the staff, save for two members left behind to man the club, accompanied customers to the vigil in downtown Knoxville. "We went to say our prayers and be with everybody," he said, "and then we immediately came back here" to talk through it. Club XYZ owner Richard Cameron saw a similar phenomenon at the North Knoxville bar, where a large crowd gathered after the vigil. "It wasn't a celebratory mood," said Cameron, who has owned the club since 2006, "but we are a place where people can gather in good or bad times." XYZ has gained a reputation for being inclusive, Cameron said, with a diverse clientele that regularly includes gay, straight and transgender people, black, white and Latino, men and women like Pulse, which was having its regular "Latin Night" when the shooting occurred. Watching the news, "it's like I'm watching my worst nightmare," Cameron said. "It is so hard not to say, 'I feel like that could have been us.'" Both Cameron and Hamby said they're always conscious of security at their clubs, and have had few problems. Club XYZ has "zero tolerance" for disruptions, predicated on its own tragedy: the club's former co-owner is serving a prison term for fatally shooting his ex-boyfriend, a much-loved local bartender, in 2011. "But I don't know how you could prepare for something like" the shooting at Pulse, Hamby said. "He hated people he didn't even know, that much; he had no concept of who they even were. How do you understand a mind that works that way, that has that much anger? You can't imagine it." But both said, in general, the Knoxville community is "open-minded" to its gay-lesbian-bisexual-transgender faction which, in turn, welcomes the community's support. The annual PrideFest, occurring this weekend, generally draws a mixed crowd, only a few of them protesters, but both expect to see even more diversity this year: a message that Knoxville is no place for hate. "We're going to stand up in unity," Cameron said. SHARE By Bob Fowler of the Knoxville News Sentinel OAK RIDGE It's official. After repeatedly checking to make sure the city's $538,048 in new funding for the school system doesn't qualify as maintenance of effort revenue, City Council approved a new budget that keeps the property tax rate basically unchanged for the ninth consecutive year. Oak Ridge Board of Education members met an hour before the council's meeting Monday to approve the school funding method as an alternative to boosting the city's maintenance of effort level, which by law can't decrease. The additional money will be used for one-time purchases, including the lease of computers for students. The council's 6-1 vote on second and final reading for the fiscal year that starts July 1 sets the city property tax rate at $2.52 per $100 assessed value. The vote also increases residents' fees for backdoor garbage pickup by $3.50 a month, easing city budget pressures by $378,000. The budgets for the city and the school system include 3 percent raises for employees, $100,000 toward a plan to move the city's senior citizens center into the Civic Center, $150,000 for needed repairs at the city's huge outdoor pool, $200,000 to replace antiquated software, and $50,000 for a study of the city's pay system. City Manager Mark Watson in a budget overview cautioned that 6 percent hikes in water and sewer rates are projected to go into effect by January 2017. The general fund budget totals $22.3 million, while the total fiscal framework, with utility budgets and special funds included, is $181.8 million. SHARE A woman attends an observance of solidarity for the Orlando community at Pellissippi State Community College on Tuesday, June 14, 2016. Students, faculty and staff were invited to show their support and to write messages on a banner to be carried in the Knoxville PrideFest parade on Saturday. (AMY SMOTHERMAN BURGESS/NEWS SENTINEL) Morgan Corum signs a banner to be carried during the Knoxville PrideFest parade at an observance of solidarity for the Orlando community at Pellissippi State Community College on Tuesday, June 14, 2016. (AMY SMOTHERMAN BURGESS/NEWS SENTINEL) Rainbow ribbon pins were passed out to the crowd during an observance of solidarity for the Orlando community at Pellissippi State Community College on Tuesday, June 14, 2016. Students, faculty and staff were invited to show their support and to write messages on a banner to be carried in the Knoxville PrideFest parade on Saturday. (AMY SMOTHERMAN BURGESS/NEWS SENTINEL) Professor Edward Francisco addresses the crowd during an observance of solidarity for the Orlando community at Pellissippi State Community College on Tuesday, June 14, 2016. Students, faculty and staff were invited to show their support and to write messages on a banner to be carried in the Knoxville PrideFest parade on Saturday. (AMY SMOTHERMAN BURGESS/NEWS SENTINEL) Related Photos Photos: Pellissippi State campus shows solidarity with Orlando victims By MJ Slaby of the Knoxville News Sentinel Roddy Biggs, president of student group Pellissippi Pride, feels tired. Since hearing the news of the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando this weekend, Biggs attended a vigil for the victims at Krutch Park downtown on Sunday and the "gathering of support, healing and peace" at the University of Tennessee to Monday to show his support and solidarity. But Biggs and others at Pellissippi State Community College also wanted a way for their campus to come together. So on Tuesday afternoon between classes, students, faculty and staff at Pellissippi gathered in the heat, heads bowed and hands clasped. Many wore rainbow ribbons pinned to their shirts as they stood in a semi-circle in the college's courtyard. As the names of the victims many in their 20s and 30s were read out loud and followed by a moment of silence, several people sniffed and choked back tears. Before the names, Edward Francisco, a professor of English, told the crowd that it stuck with him that the youngest victim on the list, Akyra Monet Murray, was just 18 years old. "Look at the faces around you," he said. "How many are approximately Akyra's age?" Francisco said he searched for ways to honor Murray after her death, and his heart led him to messages of unity and solidarity. After Sunday's shooting, Biggs said members of Pellissippi Pride wondered what to do to show solidarity and their support for Orlando. So they organized Tuesday's event. "We're all equals, we're all humans, we're all Americans," Biggs said. At the event, attendees signed a banner that read "Pellissippi State Community College supports the Orlando community" with Orlando in rainbow lettering. Pellissippi Pride members will carry the banner during the Knoxville PrideFest parade on Saturday and have invited the campus community to join them. The group will be bigger than in the past, Biggs said, noting the group will likely continue to grow from his current estimate of 30 people. He said Pellissippi President Anthony Wise will be in the parade group, sending a strong message that the college supports diversity. "It's definitely going to be very different, but I think it's going to be better," he said of this year's PrideFest. Before Tuesday's event started, speakers reminded the group why they weren't standing in the courtyard of campus. They said they weren't there for speeches or politics, to point fingers or to assign blame. They weren't there for political or cultural ideology or for political gain. Instead, it was about unity and support. It was about solidarity. Today and everyday, everyone should be protected by the law and "told you matter and you belong," Biggs told the crowd. The University of Tennessee Pride Center is is no longer under the umbrella of the Office for Diversity and Inclusion after a new state law pulled the office's funding for a year. The center remains on campus as a student meeting space. (MICHAEL PATRICK/NEWS SENTINEL) SHARE Mj Slaby Mj.Slaby@Knoxnews.Com 865-342-6305 An already-scheduled forum about ways to support the mission of the University of Tennessee Pride Center is more poignant after the shooting in Orlando this weekend, an organizer said. The UT Faculty Senate Diversity Task Force is having a forum Friday to discuss the center's role on campus and ways to continue its work after changes due to a new state law. The meeting is 1 to 3 p.m. Friday at the Hodges Library Auditorium and is open to the public. The event, which is the day before the Knoxville PrideFest festival and parade, was planned before the shooting at the gay nightclub in Orlando. But the tragedy stresses the need for the center and makes it more poignant, said Beauvais Lyons, chancellor's professor and a co-chair of the task force. "Every community needs a safe place," he said. "Hopefully, we can create safe places throughout campus where people can feel valued and can be who they are." The Pride Center gives students a place where they are understood and where they are not marginalized, said task force co-chair Professor Bonnie Ownley. Last month, a new state law pulled funding from the UT Office for Diversity and Inclusion for one year and redirected funds to scholarships for minority engineering students. The law also prevents UT from using state funds to promote gender-neutral pronouns, to promote or inhibit religious holiday celebrations and to fund Sex Week. Pulling the diversity office funding meant the Pride Center no longer had funds for a staff and was no longer under the umbrella of the now-dissolved office. The center is still a student meeting space on campus. Since the law's passage, students have raised money and been vocal about their concerns the changes will cause the center to cut programming and hours. Margie Nichols, UT spokeswoman, said administration supports the center and is working hard to have solutions that are within the law. "We're working on a plan and hope to have answers to questions by the end of the week," she said. Friday's forum by the faculty includes a presentation about the center's history as well as perspective from current and former students, faculty and staff about the center and its role. Plans also include discussing the center's future needs and what the state law means, Lyons said. He and Ownley said there is still a lot to understand about what the law will look like on campus. "What we do know is the Pride Center is in a vulnerable situation," Lyons said. The faculty senate created its diversity task force this spring to support diversity and inclusion on campus as state lawmakers proposed UT-related bills. And the group has made supporting the Pride Center a high priority since the new state law. Ownley and Lyons agreed training from the center has created awareness about bias and student interaction. Plus, they said, as UT works to be a top 25 public research university, the student population is becoming more qualified and more diverse. So now the challenge is to meet diversity goals, but stay within the law, Lyons said. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump smiles as supporters cheer during a news conference at the Trump National Golf Club Westchester, Tuesday, June 7, 2016, in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y. ( Photo/Mary Altaffer) SHARE Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, here delivering his State of the State Address Monday, Feb. 1, 2016, in Nashville. Haslam has been critical of Donald Trump, most recently criticizing Trump's comments about the New Mexico governor. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey) By Dave Boucher and Joel Ebert, The Tennessean, a USA TODAY Network paper Gov. Bill Haslam and other Republican governors are in New York City today to meet with presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump. "Gov. Haslam joined several other governors in New York today to meet with Mr. Trump and discuss state and federal issues," said Jennifer Donnals, a spokeswoman for Haslam. She didn't provide any other details about the meeting. Haslam and six other governors are set to meet with the outspoken tycoon, according to several media reports. Haslam hasn't officially endorsed Trump, instead repeatedly saying in recent weeks he'd like to meet with the likely nominee. Continue reading at The Tennessean, a USA TODAY Network partner. In front (L-R) Deputy Toby Alonso, Investigator James Sherrill, Deputy Brandon Reed, Investigator Kerry Farrar. In back Reserve Deputy Justin McIntosh, Deputy Wendell Norton and Sheriff Steve Graves. (Photo: Coffee County Sheriff's Office) By Natalie Neysa Alund, USA TODAY NETWORK, The Tennessean Law enforcement overseeing Bonnaroo in Manchester, Tenn., this year have busted what they are calling a significant drug operation on the music festival's grounds, authorities said Monday. Chattanooga residents Brian Anthony Wiley, 29, and Trevor Franklin Watson III, 24, were arrested Thursday on multiple drug-related charges after Coffee County Sheriff's Office spokesman Lucky Knott said deputies caught the men with "a very large amount of drugs" at the four-day music festival. The exact street value of the drugs was not immediately known, but Knott said the men were arrested after authorities were tipped off they were selling drugs to people, including festival attendees. Continue reading at The Tennessean, a News Sentinel partner. State Rep. Andy Holt, R-Dresden, speaks on the House floor in Nashville on April 12, 2012. (AP Photo/Erik Schelzig) By Joel Ebert, USA TODAY NETWORK, The Tennessean One day after the worst mass shooting in American history, Rep. Andy Holt firmly stood behind his decision to give away a semiautomatic rifle similar to the one used in the Orlando, Fla., shooting before receiving "death threats" from an anonymous caller. While announcing his plans last week to hold his first annual "Hog Fest and Turkey Shoot," Holt, R-Dresden, said he will give away an AR-15 as a door prize to an attendee of his June 25 fundraiser. The event is also scheduled to include a turkey shoot participants are encouraged to bring their own rifle and ammo. Holt said that despite Sunday's massacre in Orlando that left 49 people dead and 53 wounded, he remains stalwart in his belief that the weapon used in the mass shooting is not to blame. Continue reading at The Tennessean. SHARE Tony C. Parker Tony Parker By Dave Boucher, USA TODAY NETWORK The Tennessean NASHVILLE The second-in-command to outgoing Tennessee prisons chief Derrick Schofield is the next commissioner of the state Department of Correction. Gov. Bill Haslam's office announced Tuesday morning that Assistant Commissioner Tony Parker would take the lead role with the nearly $1 billion department starting Sunday. "For 33 years, I have had the privilege of being a member of that team, and I am honored and grateful that Governor Haslam has asked me to serve as their commissioner," Parker, 52, said in a news release. Haslam touted Parker's years of experience as a reason why he should lead a department that has faced criticism for months on numerous fronts. "Tony understands the department and its mission from top to bottom, and I have no doubt he will do an outstanding job leading it," Haslam said in the release. Although Schofield has fielded much of the ire of some inmates, correctional officers, their families and lawmakers, Parker also was under the microscope. After some inmates, officers and their families complained about violence and how it was classified in Tennessee prisons, Parker and others testified before state lawmakers. During that testimony, Parker told lawmakers if an inmate threw bodily fluids at an officer, and the officer was hit in the face, then that would constitute an assault. But if those fluids hit the officer in the chest, then it would constitute a "staff/inmate provocation," a lesser offense not considered violent under definitions in place at the time. During the same hearing, he told lawmakers that more incidents classified as assaults could lead to more charges filed against offenders, which could lead to more inmates staying in prison longer at the expense of Tennessee taxpayers. Those definitions have been changed, following recommendations by the American Correctional Association, an organization brought in by the department to review some of its operations. Jeannie Alexander, a co-founder of inmate advocacy group No Exceptions Prison Collective, issued a statement blasting Haslam's decision to appoint Parker. "At the highest level this is irresponsible. With this appointment the governor has shown an unflinching disregard for the safety and lives of prisoners and staff within the Tennessee prison system," Alexander said, adding the statement was made "on behalf of deeply concerned prisoners, staff, and the families of prisoners and staff." Despite some criticism of Schofield from lawmakers on both side of the aisle including Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, who recently said, "I've made no secret of the fact that I think that the Department of Correction could benefit from a fresh perspective at the top" Haslam routinely defended his commissioner. Schofield, who had served as commissioner since Haslam took office in 2011, is leaving at the end of the month to work in a leadership role with massive private prison company GEO Group. Parker has worked many of the available positions in the Tennessee prison system, starting as a correctional officer in 1983 and working his way up before eventually becoming warden of the Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville from 2003 until 2006. He served as warden of the West Tennessee State Penitentiary in Henning from 2006 to 2008. While working in the prison system Parker also earned associate's and bachelor's degrees in criminal justice. In 2013 he earned a master's degree in security studies from the Naval Postgraduate School. Law enforcement block off a street outside Pulse Orlando after a shooting involving multiple fatalities at the nightclub in Orlando, Fla., Sunday, June 12, 2016. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack) In the wake of the Orlando shootings, people are trotting out the usual post-massacre talking points about gun control, terrorism, etc. But the solutions arent so easy. Gun control is much stricter in Europe, but that hasnt stopped mass shootings like the ones at Charlie Hebdos offices or at the Bataclan concert hall. (Its also very strict in California, but that didnt stop the shootings at San Bernardino.) Talking about gun control is mostly a way of avoiding a tough problem. Donald Trump, meanwhile, was quick to tweet out that this vindicates his positions: Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism, I don't want congrats, I want toughness & vigilance. We must be smart! But Trumps proposal of a temporary moratorium on immigration of Muslims to America wouldnt have prevented shooter Omar Mateens actions. Mateen wasnt a recent immigrant but a U.S. citizen born of Afghan parents, and he pledged allegiance to the Islamic State terrorist group, according to a Department of Homeland Security report cited by Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. The thing is, proposals such as gun control are basically peacetime remedies, which dont apply in time of war. But traditional wartime remedies might not work, either, because this is not a traditional war. Instead, what we are facing is what William S. Lind calls fourth-generation warfare. Or maybe its even fifth-generation warfare: Were not fighting armies. Were not fighting guerrillas. Were not even fighting traditional terrorists. Instead, were fighting an opponent who turns apparently law-abiding citizens (Mateen was licensed as a security guard and thus had passed background checks) into killers without anyone noticing. Theyre not actually lone wolf terrorists; theyre more like human drones, attacking distant targets on command without warning. Well, that last isnt quite true. There were warning signs with the San Bernardino shooters, whose neighbors reportedly didnt want to call the cops for fear of being thought racist. And there were warning signs with Mateen, who apparently had been on security officials radar screen for some time but not enough to do anything about it. Classmates of Nidal Hassan said he regularly spouted Islamist propaganda months before he shot up Fort Hood, but the military was too politically correct to do anything and afterward tried for some time to pretend that his deliberate, jihadist attack was merely workplace violence. To prevent this sort of event in the future, we need to do several things. First, interrupt the flow of radicalizing propaganda at the source: ISIL and various other jihadist outfits need to be neutralized or destroyed. These organizations pursue a deliberate strategy of radicalizing Muslims in Western countries to turn them into terrorists, and they operate networks of sympathizers throughout the USA. We used to cozy up to the Saudis, but thanks to hydraulic fracturing we dont really need their oil anymore, so they need to be told to put a stop to this sort of support or else. We likely could have nipped ISIL in the bud a few years ago at minimal cost or kept it from sprouting in the first place by maintaining a presence in Iraq but it needs to be brought down now. We also need to be clear about what it is were fighting. Were not fighting Islam as such. Many good Muslims are horrified by this violence. But we are fighting the jihadist strain of Islam, and unfortunately quite a few Muslims view that strain as legitimate. We cant allow ourselves to be blinded to this reality, unless we want to see jihadist attacks like this which have, sadly, become normal in the past few years continue and increase. Glenn Harlan Reynolds, a University of Tennessee law professor and the author of The New School: How the Information Age Will Save American Education from Itself, is a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors. Race relations in Knoxville during the latter part of its 225-year history have been civil for the most part. But there was nothing civil about slavery and nothing equal or democratic about segregation. Yet somehow life was tolerable. For the first 74 years (1791-1865) most Knoxville blacks were slaves. For the next nearly 90 years (1875-1964) there was racial segregation. During those years there were many efforts by black and white groups to make changes for the better. The first known regulation to control blacks was the city ordinance of Feb. 6, 1817, which said: "Be it ordained that if any negro slave settle in this corporation under pretense of hiring his or her time, or shall occupy any house, or by any other means reside therein, unless in the actual service of some free white inhabitant, each such negro slave shall be taken up by the city constable, and by order of some justice of the peace be committed to jail." On Aug. 6, 1881, the University of Tennessee Board of Trustees denied entry to 12 black cadets who were appointed by state legislators to attend the university in mechanical arts. Although the Legislature endowed the university as a college of mechanical arts in 1869 and "required the education of such persons as were qualified for admission, irrespective of race or color," the board passed a resolution that said in part: "Resolved that we hereby instruct the finance committee to make arrangements with the trustees and faculty of the Fisk University, Nashville for the instruction of such colored students as may be appointed under laws by senators and representatives." That same arrangement was later made with Knoxville College. A race congress was organized in June 1916 and met for two weeks at the Stough Tabernacle near Fifth and Gay. At the close of the conference on July 12, 1916, its chairman, the Rev. W. Augustus Jones, pastor of Mount Zion Baptist Church, said, "I believe the whites who attended understood the colored people want to be allied with them in any forward movement which is for the betterment of the city. I believe that having attended our conference, they understood we want to work with them for the advancement of the city, and yet in no way wishing social equality. Our people have been taught many lessons through the speakers that have been here that are needed for the progress of any people." On Aug. 4, 1919, the Knoxville Branch of the NAACP was chartered with 85 members. They were not satisfied with race relations or with public facilities for black use. The group demanded equal restroom facilities for black women at the Market House. They petitioned the railroads about the unsanitary conditions in the colored waiting rooms. In 1939 Dewey W. Roberts Sr., a math teacher at Beardsley Junior High School, successfully completed his three-year battle to get equal teacher salaries for blacks and whites in the city school system. Knoxville was the first city in the South to do so. The policy at Chilhowee Park changed in the summer of 1949 so that blacks could go there every Thursday instead of only one day a year. In the fall of 1952 Gene Mitchell Gray became the first black graduate student to attend UT. The first black undergraduates were admitted in 1961. After the sit-in movement initiated by Knoxville College students in 1960 at lunch counters and movie theaters, virtually all of the city became desegregated in a few months, except for the school system. It was a civil rights effort that had begun with the Convention of Colored Citizens of Tennessee in Nashville on Aug. 7, 1865. SHARE Americans demand a lot from those who volunteer for military service. They are asked to kill on our behalf and to be killed if necessary, and when in combat they experience horrors civilians rarely comprehend. The least the nation can do for military veterans is to tend to their psychological needs. But the veterans' outpatient clinic in Knoxville failed for years to provide patients with access to some mental health specialists and services mandated by the federal government, a recent government report concluded. The clinic has addressed the shortcomings, according to officials, but that is cold comfort to those who went without adequate care for years. The William C. Tallent Outpatient Clinic delayed providing specialized "peer" support services for mentally ill veterans, failed to immediately follow up on patients discharged from a post-traumatic stress disorder group, and postponed offering required outreach services to incarcerated veterans, according to the inspector general's office of the U.S. Veterans Affairs Department. The clinic didn't begin offering the peer support services until June 2013, the report said, even though the VA has required that such individual or group counseling be available at all of its medical centers and large outpatient clinics since 2008. The clinic didn't make outreach services available to incarcerated veterans until August 2014, even though the VA has mandated them since 2009. According to Dan Snyder, acting director of the Mountain Home VA Healthcare System, the problems raised in the report have been addressed. The Knoxville clinic is one of nine Mountain Home operates. The Knoxville clinic now has two specialists providing peer support services, which are designed to help veterans develop skills to manage their recovery, improve their quality of life, support their personal goals and achieve independence, Snyder said. Another specialist at the clinic is responsible for offering direct outreach, assessment and case management for incarcerated veterans in East Tennessee, he said. The report noted various reasons for the delays in hiring the specialists. Snyder said providing services has remained a challenge for the Knoxville clinic, which has an enrollment of 18,000 patients and is the largest and fastest-growing of the system's nine clinics. The investigation into the Knoxville clinic began in August 2014 at the request of Tennessee's two U.S. senators, Republicans Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker, and U.S. Rep. John J. Duncan Jr., a Knoxville Republican. Duncan said he wrote to the inspector general at the request of the Knoxville Regional Veterans' Mental Health Council, which had raised concerns about the lack of services at the clinic. Because of VA patient care scandals and treatment delays in other parts of the country, and some delays locally, Duncan said he also convened a meeting with about 30 leaders of veterans groups from East Tennessee and forwarded their concerns, ideas and suggestions. The advocacy of the state's congressional delegation is commendable, but should be expected. The politicians who send men and women into harm's way should ensure their needs are met when they come back to civilian life. By Kim Jae-won LVMH, a parent company of more than 60 luxury brands including Louis Vuitton and Bulgari, topped the world rankings of luxury goods makers by sales, a global consulting company said Monday. Deloitte said in a report that the France-based company sold luxury goods worth $23.3 billion in its 2014 fiscal year which ended in May 2015, up 7 percent from a year earlier. Swiss company Richemont, which owns Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels and Montblanc among others, came second with luxury goods sales worth $13.2 billion, up 4 percent from the previous year. U.S.-based company Estee Lauder was ranked third with $10.8 billion in sales, down 1.7 percent from the year before. Italian luxury goods maker Luxottica was listed fourth with $10.2 billion won, followed by Swatch Group in Switzerland which sold $9.2 billion in luxury goods during the April 2014 May 2015 period. Among Korean companies, Sungjoo D&D, at 58th, was the only one named in the top 100 list, selling $547 million in luxury goods, up 27.9 percent from a year earlier. The Seoul-based apparel maker was one of 20 fastest-growing companies. The report said that demand for luxury goods is still growing steadily, despite economic challenges. "Sales of the world's 100 largest luxury goods companies continued to grow in 2014, although the rate of growth was less than in previous years. Profit margins were higher than in 2013," said the report, titled "Global powers of luxury goods 2016: Disciplined innovation." It noted that polarization of company performance was greater, with more high performers achieving double-digit luxury goods sales growth and profit margins, and more companies experiencing double-digit sales decline. Korea, Japan, China vying to win $15 billion Malaysia-Singapore deal By Kim Jae-kyoung / Graphic by Cho Sang-won SINGAPORE The race for the multibillion dollar Malaysia-Singapore high-speed railway project is heating up with Korea ramping up its efforts to win the project ahead of an international tender to be held early next year. Germany and France have also expressed their intentions to participate in the race for the railway project between the two Southeast Asian nations, which are expected to sign a memorandum of understanding to facilitate the project in July. However, market experts expect that the international bidding will be a three-way race as Korea, Japan and China look set for a straight fight for the project in a bid to get the upper hand in the burgeoning Southeast Asian infrastructure market. The three countries are sending their delegations to Malaysia and Singapore to promote their strengths to win the lead role in the project scheduled to start in 2017 and be completed by 2022. The 350-kilometer high-speed railway project linking the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur and the city-state Singapore, estimated to cost between $12 billion and $14 billion, is expected to cut travel time between the two cities to 90 minutes Since Sunday, Korea's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Kang Ho-in is making a four-day visit to Singapore and Malaysia with the Korean delegation to discuss cooperation on the high-speed railway and intelligent transport systems. Kang's visit shows Korea's commitment to the high-speed railway deal. It is the first visit by a minister-level official among the three nations just for the project. The delegation led by the minister was accompanied by ranking officials from the Korea Rail Network Authority, the Korea Railroad Research Institute, Korea Railroad Corporation (Korail), Hyundai Engineering & Construction, Hyundai Rotem and Lotte Asset Development. At a meeting with top-ranking officials from the two Southeast Asian nations, Kang stressed that Korea has expertise not only in high-speed railways but also in the development of regions around train stations. "Unlike other countries, Korea is able to transfer key technologies more easily because the public sector has secured most of the technologies through state-led R&D," he added. He explained that Korea has excellent technologies that are able to minimize maintenance costs not only in the construction stage but also in the operational stage. "However, it is too early to say how much we will share because details of agreement between Malaysia and Singapore have yet to be reached," Kang said. According to the European Railway Agency's data provided by Korail, Korea ranked top in high-speed railway safety, with the accident rate per 1 million km standing at a low of 0.073 in 2014, followed by Italy at 0.09, the Netherlands at 0.119, Germany at 0.166 and France at 0.188. By Kim Yoo-chul Samsung SDI recently drew the attention of investors after an earlier report in The Korea Times about Tesla Motors approaching Samsung SDI and LG Chem to purchase batteries for use in its upcoming Model 3 electric vehicles (EVs). Tesla CEO Elon Musk said it has no plans to use Samsung SDI-produced batteries for its Model 3 EVs given its "solid partnership" with Japan's Panasonic. Samsung SDI went through a volatile session as Musk's remarks dragged down its stock price on the Seoul bourse. The question is this: Are EV batteries more hype than a new market? JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley, the two major U.S.-based investment banks, have taken different approaches toward the future of Samsung SDI. First, JPMorgan reported that Samsung SDI shares were still undervalued despite hefty recent gains. The bank said the main reason that Samsung SDI experienced corrections was partly due to a decision by Beijing to stop offering subsidies to electric buses which use Korean technology. JPMorgan said such "China concerns" were reflected by the market as the policy will only impact electric buses with Samsung SDI having the capability to supply its batteries to EVs. "Samsung SDI is taking the necessary measures to recover lost sales from electric buses by addressing the non-bus segments of its business," JPMorgan reported. It has upgraded its target on Samsung SDI to 140,000 won, meaning that Samsung SDI shares could be up more than 25 percent from their current market value. Morgan Stanley negative about SDI Against the somewhat bullish outlook by JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley remained negative on its outlook of Samsung SDI citing increasing possibilities that the EV battery market may become oversupplied. Morgan Stanley said as the industry is seeing more global EV battery producers with explosive growth of EVs approaching. Still, as battery costs fall, the profitability of Samsung SDI may decrease. According to Morgan Stanley, the number of "qualified" battery suppliers rose to 30 from ten 18 months ago. Also, the demand for EV batteries is expected to rise 38 percent annually, while the battery supply is seen to expand by 45 percent during the same period, meaning the EV battery market will have an oversupply by early 2019, which will hit Samsung SDI. Morgan Stanley's target for Samsung SDI was 86,000 won and that means Samsung SDI may fall 23 percent further from its current share price level. "The difference in entry barriers between cobalt and LFP (lithium iron phosphate) cells may not be as important as pricing. Cobalt batteries have higher energy density than the less costly LFP (made primarily by Chinese companies). However, the prices of cobalt batteries (such as NCM) may decline faster than costs due to oversupply and low utilization. We believe it will soon become clear that China has learned how to move up the technology curve and develop their own EV batteries," Morgan Stanley said. "New capacity additions are coming on line all at once, driven by substantial government subsidies from the Chinese government," it added. By Kim Jae-won An average Korean household had net assets worth 360 million won last year, but only one-quarter of them are financial assets that can be managed freely, far lower than in other advanced countries, official data showed Tuesday. The nation's average household had 361.5 million won in net assets in 2015, up from 344.8 million won the previous year, according to preliminary data collected by the Bank of Korea and Statistics Korea. Net assets refer to amount of total assets excluding financial debt. Among the household net assets, financial assets accounted for 24.4 percent while nonfinancial assets, mainly housing, occupied the rest. This means that people have little money to spend because more than three-quarters of their assets are hard to liquidate. "The data show that the average Korean household has some 110 million won of financial assets on top of a home worth 250 million won," said Cho Tae-hyung, a director at the central bank. "This is because we have had a relatively short time for accumulating wealth compared to European countries and the U.S." By purchasing power parity (PPP), net assets of an average U.S. household reached $611,000 in 2014 while those of Korea marked $405,000 in 2015. In France, the figure was $486,000 in 2014, followed by Japan with $466,000 in the same year. Cho said that development of capital markets also affected the data, as more Americans invest in stock than Koreans. In Japan's case, he said that the data reflects a high level of government debt as individuals burdened through their financial assets which lenders used to buy sovereign bonds. In terms of land price by region, that of Jeju Island increased 21.5 percent in 2014 from a year earlier thanks to rising investments from China and mainland Korea. Daegu also saw its land price rise 13.1 percent during the same period while that of Sejong City hiked 12.5 percent and Ulsan's land price spiked 12.4 percent on the back of big development projects in the regions. Households, including nonprofit organizations, continued to hold the largest share of national assets, their combined assets coming to 7,176.2 trillion won or 58.1 percent of the total in 2015. The government, including provincial governments and public entities, held assets worth 3,381.7 trillion won, accounting for 27.4 percent of the total, with nonfinancial companies holding 11.9 percent and financial firms having 2.7 percent of total assets. Noh Hyeong-ouk, deputy finance minister for fiscal affairs at the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, speaks at a media briefing on the restructuring of state-run energy firms held at the Government Complex in Sejong, Monday. / Courtesy of Ministry of Strategy and Finance State-run energy companies to sell overseas assets in rationalization By Yoon Ja-young The government will open the power supply market in phases to the private sector and allow the listing of power-generating subsidiaries of KEPCO and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power on the bourse. The Korea National Oil Corp. (KNOC) and Korea Gas Corp. (KOGAS) will sell off their overseas assets, while the Korea Resources Corp. (KORES) will withdraw from overseas resources development. These come as part of a government-led plan to rationalize and reorganize its bloated state-run energy businesses, unveiled Tuesday. According to the plan, five power-generating subsidiaries of KEPCO Korea South-East Power, Korea Midland Power, Korea Western Power, Korea Southern Power, and Korea East-West Power as well as Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, KEPCO KDN and KOGAS Tech will be listed on the stock market. However, the government will hold onto its management control of the energy companies. "Even after listing, over 50 percent of the stake will be held by the government or public enterprises. It is different from privatization where managerial control is handed over," said Noh Hyeong-ouk, deputy finance minister for fiscal affairs, in a press briefing. The government hopes that the businesses will be able to invest in new energy businesses with funding acquired through the IPOs, on top of paying off their debts and enhancing transparency. Also included in the plan is opening up the electricity supply market, currently monopolized by KEPCO. New energy businesses in the private sector, such as solar energy firms, will be able to directly sell their electricity to consumers. Currently, individuals or private firms can only sell their electricity to KEPCO. Gas purchases and wholesales, which are currently monopolized by KOGAS, will also open to the private sector by 2025. The plan also calls for restructuring of unprofitable sectors. Next year the Korea Coal Corporation will start decreasing production as well as slimming down its workforce. It also plans to raise the price of briquettes to decrease demand. KNOC and KOGAS will sell most of their overseas assets while KORES will quit its overseas resources development operations step by step. The three companies became actively engaged in overseas resources development during the former President Lee Myung-bak administration, but a price plunge for global resources dealt them a blow. KNOC's debt ratio jumped to 453 percent last year from 64 percent in 2007, while KORES's debt ratio stands at a staggering 6,905 percent. According to the Board of Audit and Inspection, a total of 35.8 trillion won was invested in overseas resources development, with little gains so far. They both will be slashing jobs as well. KNOC will cut its workforce by 30 percent by 2020 while KORES will slash 118 jobs. KEPCO, which has been seeking coal and uranium development overseas to secure resources for power generation, will withdraw from the projects. They will be handed over to its power-generating subsidiaries and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power. However, some show concern that Korea will lose its competitive edge in overseas resources development. "Now could be the right time for investment. Overseas resources development should be dealt with from a long-term perspective, putting the national interest ahead of all others," said Prof. Shin Hyun-don of Inha University at a forum. Korea's military resumed its crackdown operation against Chinese fishing boats operating in neutral waters in the estuary of the Han River between South and North Korea on Tuesday, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said. "Several Chinese fishing boats entered the Han River estuary area during the night and (the military) restarted its operation this morning to drive them away," a JCS official said. As the operation kicked off earlier in the day, the Chinese boats retreated to the North Korea-controlled side of the neutral waters where they could not be followed, he said. The morning crackdown is a continuation of South Korea's joint operation with the United Nations Command they launched last Friday to kick out Chinese boats fishing without permission in the tense border area. A growing number of Chinese fishing boats had been intruding into the military buffer zone as the blue crab season get underway. The mouth of the Han River is also a largely-untouched fishing ground. Under the authorization of the UNC, which has regulated the neutral waters since the 1953 inter-Korean armistice, South Korea deployed a 24-person team of four patrol craft to eject the Chinese boats during the first operation. (Yonhap) /Courtesy of Twitter By Lee Han-soo Tobacco companies must put warning labels on cigarette packs from December 23, the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) has confirmed. The new amendment, which passed the National Assembly on Tuesday, states that cigarette packs have to show a warning picture on the front and warning phrases on the back and sides. The MOHW and cigarette companies have long feuded over the size and placement of the labels. The companies say the new amendment infringes their design rights as well as the rights of retailers and customers. The MOHW's decision was made after the regulatory reform committee changed its stance and backed warning labels. The amendment also includes warnings for electronic cigarettes and chewing tobacco. The lobby of Lotte Chemical headquarters in Seoul, which the prosecution raided in its investigation of Lotte Group's alleged slush fund creation, Tuesday. / Yonhap By Lee Kyung-min The prosecution conducted a second round of raids on 10 Lotte Group affiliates and the homes of key executives, Tuesday, as part of its widening group-wide investigation into allegations of slush fund creation, suspicious intra-group deals, breach of trust and embezzlement. The raids on the affiliates of the nation's fifth-largest conglomerate come only four days after the first round on Friday, when seven other affiliates were searched. Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office investigators went to 15 sites and confiscated computer hard drives, account books and financial transaction records among affiliates including land purchases. The affiliates included Lotte Engineering and Construction (E&C), Lotte Chemical, Lotte Chilsung, Lotte.com and Korea Seven. Prosecutors also raided two resorts operated by Lotte Hotel, on Jeju Island and Buyeo, South Chungcheong Province. Some executives were banned from overseas travel and had their homes searched, including Lotte Chemical CEO Huh Soo-young. By Jun Ji-hye Debate is heating up over whether the country should revise the Constitution after New National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun called for changing the nation's current presidential system, Monday. Politicians from rival parties mostly agree that the current presidential system, introduced in 1987, should undergo some changes. But there are various opinions regarding how to change the system some are paying attention to the need to change the current five-year, single-term presidential term, while others are focusing more on a way of decentralizing the president's power. During his speech marking the opening of the 20th National Assembly, Monday, Chung said that revising the Constitution was a "task that must be done," citing that next year will mark 30 years since the current Constitution was enacted. Chung has supported the idea of introducing a four-year, two-term presidency as a means to ensure continuity of the administration's management and to give the public a chance to make an interim evaluation. Those who support this idea include Moon Jae-in, former chairman of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK), Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon of the MPK and Jeju Governor Won Hee-ryong from the ruling Saenuri Party. During the presidential election in 2012, President Park Geun-hye, then candidate of the ruling party, also pledged to push for introducing a four-year, two-term presidency, though she reversed herself after being sworn in the following year. Former ruling party Chairman Rep. Kim Moo-sung has suggested a decentralization of power by introducing a "semi-presidential" system, under which the president would be responsible for foreign and national security affairs, while the prime minister would be responsible for domestic affairs. Gyeonggi Province Governor Nam Kyung-pil of the ruling party and former Assembly Speaker Chung Ui-hwa are among those who support this idea. For his part, the minor opposition People's Party Co-Chairman Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo told reporters, "The nation needs to overcome the old presidential system through a wide-ranging constitutional revision that deals with the people's fundamental human rights and the decentralization of power." Sohn Hak-kyu, former chairman of the Democratic Party, the predecessor of the MPK, said during a lecture at a university in Japan last month, "Presidential candidates need to present their own measures for revising the Constitution in their election pledges next year, and the next government should push for it after the next president is sworn in." Rep. Kim Boo-kyum recently told reporters that a national discussion on the issue should begin now. Meanwhile, President Park is still negative about the move, according to Cheong Wa Dae, Tuesday. "Cheong Wa Dae's position has not changed regarding the issue," said an official from the presidential office on the condition of anonymity. Park has been against any talks about changing the Constitution, saying that the nation should focus more on reviving the economy rather than being stuck on a political issue. By Kang Seung-woo Tension on the Korean Peninsula is likely to grow further in the coming months with no signs of dialogue resumption between the two Koreas. President Park Geun-hye told the National Assembly, Monday, that Seoul will continue to press Pyongyang in line with the international community to give up its nuclear ambitions, describing the North's recent dialogue offers as a deception to turn the tables. In addition, she also mentioned North Korea's human rights abuse, an issue that the repressive state usually regards as a hostile attempt to subvert its regime. "The government's hard-line stance putting pressure on North Korea may inflame tension between the two Koreas, prolonging an impasse in inter-Korean relations for a long time," said An Chan-il, the head of the World Institute for North Korea Studies. "In addition, the North is expected to take the offensive against the South, blaming the Park government's unyielding position for a failure of inter-Korean dialogue and raising tension on the peninsula." Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies, also said confrontation between the Koreas may last until President Park leaves Cheong Wa Dae. "The Park administration demands that North Korea's denuclearization come first ahead of the resumption of any inter-Korean talks, but the North does not accept that idea at all. In the worst case scenario, the two Koreas may not break the deadlock until the end of the Park government's term," he said. Currently, inter-Korean ties are probably at their lowest point. In the wake of North Korea's fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6 and long-range rocket launch on Feb. 7, South Korea has taken a "no compromise" stance on the North's nuclear weapons program, shutting down the Gaeseong Industrial Complex _ the last remaining symbol of inter-Korean reconciliation. In addition, it has cut off all humanitarian assistance to the North Korean people. However, the Kim Jong-un regime has repeatedly offered to hold talks since its Seventh Workers' Party Congress early last month to come out of diplomatic isolation and ease United Nation's (U.N.) sanctions, according to analysts. Since the sanctions in March, the government has made efforts with nearby countries, including the North's allies China and Russia, to increase pressure on the authoritarian state to abandon its nuclear weapons. Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se met his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Moscow, Monday, and they agreed to faithfully carry out U.N. resolutions to induce the North into a desirable direction. Analysts say that along with Park's hard-line stance, upcoming events, including the Ulchi Focus Guardian (UFG) exercise between Seoul and Washington in August, will add more tension to inter-Korean ties. "As of now, the planned UFG exercise as well as President Park's no sign of backing off from her stance will heighten tension on the peninsula," An said. "Approaching the UFG, the North may opt for a military provocation." By Lee Han-soo, Park Si-soo Park Kyung-sil PAGODA Academy CEO Park Kyung-sil was found guilty of embezzlement and breach of trust, an appellate court said Tuesday. The Seoul High Court sentenced the 61-year-old leader of Korea's major foreign language institute to two-years-and-six months in prison with the term suspended for three years. The ruling was made after the court reviewed the case at the request of the Supreme Court, which found faults with the grounds for the appellate court's ruling. Park was indicted in 2013 on charges of pocketing one billion won ($849,000) in corporate money and inflicting losses of 53 billion won on the company by mismanagement. She pled guilty to the embezzlement charge. "The seriousness of the crimes committed by the accused was proven to be lighter than claimed. Also she recovered the losses caused by her mismanagement," presiding Judge Lee Won-hyong said, recognizing her responsibility for the mismanagement. Prosecutors claim she inflicted the loss by making the academy share the burden of repaying 23.1 billion debt of her daughter's company, Pagoda Tower Jongro the daughter's company failed to fully repay the debt. A PAGODA spokeswoman did not say whether the CEO will appeal the ruling. "We will make a decision after reviewing the ruling with her lawyer," the spokeswoman said. Ko In-kyung, Park's ex-husband, founded PAGODA Academy in 1983 and grew it into one of the biggest foreign language institutes in Korea. PAGODA reported 56.7 billion won in revenue in 2015, down from 57.5 billion won year-on-year. Its net profit for 2015 shrank to 44.1 billion won from 59.4 billion won in 2014. The decline could be blamed on intensifying competition with its rivals, along with managerial problems caused by the CEO's involvement in the litigation, said market observers. Senior diplomats from the United States, South Korea and Japan held talks in Washington on Monday about increasing cooperation in issues related to the Middle East and North Africa, the State Department said. The trilateral dialogue "provided an important opportunity for the three governments to exchange views and coordinate policy, as well as to explore opportunities to deepen cooperation in the region," the department said in a statement without providing further specifics. Representing the three countries were U.S. Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs Anne Patterson, South Korean Director-General for African and Middle Eastern Affairs Kwon Hee-seog, and Japanese Director-General for Middle Eastern and African Affairs Tsukasa Uemura, it said. (Yonhap) Billabong women's surfer Na Eun surfs a large left-hander at the Busan Mayor's International Surfing Competition four years ago. / Courtesy of John Redmond By John Redmond Billed as one of the largest marine sporting events on the Korean calendar, the eighth annual Busan Mayor's International Surfing Competition (BISC) will be held at Haeundae Beach June 24-26. Slated as a chance for international and local surfers to go head to head in heated competition, the event promises surfers of all ages and abilities the Korean surfing experience. The sport of surfing is very new in Korea, to the point where surfers risk heavy fines venturing out to local breaks where waves reach higher than two meters, patrolled by the sea police something unheard of in South Africa, Australia, the U.S. and the north shore of Hawaii (though beaches are closed when waves exceed 15 meters in height). For many years the surfers flocked to the accessible waves, and the Korea Surfing Association together with the local business community decided to put together an international event. The Korea Times contacted Cheryl Kim from Kai Surf about how the event has grown to include skaters. "What began as a grassroots festival eight years ago has grown to attract world-class surfers. To ramp up the stoke at this year's competition, Carver Skateboards Korea will be setting up a half-pipe ramp at the venue," said Kim. "This is the first time that skateboarding will also be featured at the event, which most surfers use as a tool to keep up their skills in the offseason." International competitors will include Carver USA team rider and pro surfer Kent Nishiya from California en route to the World Surf League event in Japan to promote the sport of surf-skate. Dylan Kim of Kai Surf and distributor for Carver Skateboards said, "This event is a turning point for surfing in Korea. Carver allows surfers to skate their surf so what better venue to showcase this combination than the Busan Mayor's Competition with a pro rider the caliber of Kent Nishiya?" Also competing is Phil "Macca" MacDonald from Australia. Macca is the Ocean and Earth team rider and two-time world-ranked number 2. Kim of Kai Surf stated, "We are very excited to have Macca at the Busan event and while he's here he will be hosting surfing clinics during the week, as well as meet-and-greets and autograph signings at the competition venue." Other pro riders slated to join the lineup include Hirakawa Yoshihiro from Japan (Ocean and Earth), Mel Vin from Canada (Pine Ocean Korea), Brendon Thomas Smith from New Zealand (Rip Curl Korea) and Kazunori Suzuki from Japan (CoCo Suncream). Musicians Kim Seol-gi, left, and Jo Seon-ah perform at Unni Sarangbang in Seoul Friday evening. / Courtesy of John Redmond By John Redmond Members of Korea's foreign and local media enjoyed a Korean cultural experience hosted by the Senior Public Diplomacy Group (SPDG) at Unni Sarangbang in central Seoul, Friday. Featuring an evening of traditional Korean foods and beverages and instrumental and vocal music performances, guests were also treated to a speech on international cultural events by host Choi Ha-kyung. The SDGP, established by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in July 2013, comprises 37 members ranging from professors and CEOs to medical doctors and civil servants. The evening was attended by some 40 foreign and local guests as part of the "Getting to Know Korea" event. By Yi Whan-woo North Korean hackers are increasing their attacks on South Korean private companies. Pyongyang's latest attacks on the computer networks of KT, Hanjin Group and SK Group shows that private firms have lax cybersecurity overall compared to the government and public organizations, therefore easily falling prey to North Korean hackers. The victimized firms include Korean Air and SK Networks Service. "The media outlets and banking groups have beefed up their security accordingly since North Korea's cyberattack in March 2013 but most of the family-owned conglomerates and smaller firms still have not taken protective measures," said Shin In-kyun, a military expert who heads the Korea Defense Network (KDN). Yang Uk, a senior research fellow at the Korea Defense and Security Forum, said, "It takes less time and effort to steal confidential information concerning national security from private companies than from the government." The National Police Agency (NPA) said Monday that North Korea accessed over 42,600 files on the defense industry and telecommunications networks by compromising PCs belonging to 10 Hanjin Group affiliates and 17 SK Group affiliates since July 2014. Two of KT's PCs were also infected with malware although their data remained secure. The intrusion was uncovered in February when police carried out relevant procedures after North Korea's fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6. Investigators said most of the accessed information was not confidential and "too minor" to pose a threat to national security. But analysts disagreed. "It's possible North Korea will grasp an idea of our defense strategy if they continue to collect small pieces of information through hacking and compile them altogether eventually," Shin said. Yang speculated that North Korea may have figured out how often the United States Air Force carries out maintenance work on F-15 fighter jets. He cited that Korean Air supplies wing parts for the jet, whose blueprints were among the information copied by North Korean hackers along with photos showing parts of medium-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). More than 130,000 PCs are believed to have been affected in the latest cyberattack. Some government officials have claimed the financial damage would have reached over 2 trillion won ($1.7 billion) if North Korea had paralyzed those PCs. They pointed out that the damage cost 882.3 billion won in March 2013 when Pyongyang breached a total of 48,284 PCs at broadcasting companies and banks and stole data. North Korea initiated the cyberattack this time using malware called "ghost rat" to exploit a vulnerability in a program developed by a software company offering cybersecurity management for 160 clients. The clients other than KT, Hanjin Group and SK Group include Samsung SDS, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Seoul National University, according to police. "In this climate, it should be each private company's job to develop its own cybersecurity system to protect itself against hackers," Yang said. Shin urged the National Assembly to grant more power to the National Intelligence Service and Cyber Warfare Command concerning investigations of cybersecurity breaches. "With North Korea advancing its cyberwarfare capabilities exponentially, opposition lawmakers should consider national security first although protecting citizens' privacy is equally important," he said. By Dan Paul Rose With the American presidential campaign in full swing, I got to thinking about what the label "socialist" means, since for the first time that I recall, a formidable contender for the Democratic nomination, Bernie Sanders, is a self-described socialist. In South Korea, is it taboo to be coined a socialist? In America, very capitalistic by tradition, socialism sounds to many like the road to communism, and thus, the avenue to evil. Socialism's fundamental meaning is a theory or system of social organization that advocates the bestowing of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., to the community as a whole. This expressly discourages private ownership and enterprise for personal gain. I like to call it social sharing. That being said, I find it interesting yet predictable that most of my capitalist-minded friends are wary of the government big or small, and they generally feel that private enterprise is equipped to handle the transactions of goods and services better than any governmental department or agency. My perspective is that if you don't believe in representative government, fundamentally, then you have a cynical view of humanity. The government, any government, is comprised of ordinary citizens some, yes, who wield a great deal of power, but most are mere bureaucrats who put their pants on the same way you and I do. America is a republic and we have representatives for the sole purpose of doing the jobs which you and I don't have the time or expertise to perform. That's the basic principle. My favorite punchline to those who want to privatize every aspect of society is to ask them if they want to privatize the military, too. They often hesitate, then answer, No, of course not. This is an unequivocal example of where the federal government is absolutely paramount. And to think that private business without regulations in place will always travel the ethical path, has proven to be absurd. Look what happened in 2008 when a global bank like Lehman Brothers went bust because they took huge, unprecedented risks in the derivatives and real estate markets. Yet, because other mammoth banks Like JP Morgan Chase were too big to fail, they were bailed out by the government. Thank goodness the government was there, willing and able to come to the rescue of bankruptcy. Americans have already privatized healthcare, and it's become a convoluted industry - not efficient and everything short of cheap. For example, I recently purchased antibiotics in Bangkok, manufactured in Philadelphia, for the equivalent of $3. These very same 20 pills in a pharmacy in Seattle would cost at least fifty dollars. Why? Because in America, healthcare is a for-profit corporate industry. It's a business, but defiantly not a right. America provides two vital services to make it a functioning and stable democracy: military defense, which is tantamount to security; and free public education through high school. Why can't we complete the trinity and include healthcare as a right? Wouldn't it be a feather in our cap? I realize every society has its complaints concerning healthcare (for it can always be improved), but for a country as rich as America is, not to provide for the physical well-being of its citizens before it educates and protects them, seems ironic and backwards. It can afford it, I know for a fact. Furthermore, do you think the complete takeover of public education by private concerns is wise? Good luck. However, millions of American citizens are pushing for it every day. That's wrong. We must begin to realize, at least in principle, that citizens make up the government, and some things should not be for-profit. Profit is natural and motivating, but not when it comes to the essentials. Do we profit from the military? That's impossible to calculate, but in terms of "making money," no. The goal shouldn't be to get rid of government, but that citizens should take government back into the hands of ordinary people, and out of the control of corporate America's immense political influence. That's my take on socialism. It's not the abolishment of free-enterprise, but it is the separation of business-for-profit from government run programs. Besides, the lessons from 2008 and the start of America's recession is that free enterprise is not always so free. In this case, society's ordinary citizens paid a hefty price for corporate failure. We all paid for their bailouts. Let's learn to trust each other, have faith in our political representatives, who on average are good stewards of the people, and ask them to provide us citizens with the missing foundation block for a flowering democracy: healthcare. The writer is an English instructor at Yongin University. Write to danpaulrose@hotmail.com. Opposition should respond to Park's conciliatory gesture President Park Geun-hye highlighted her resolve to cooperate with the legislature during a speech Monday to mark the opening of the 20th National Assembly. It was her first speech at the Assembly since the Saenuri Party lost its majority in the April 13 parliamentary election. So it was expected that it would be of a more conciliatory tone than before. During the first three years of her term, she castigated the Assembly for not readily supporting her reform agenda. Her criticism of the parliament was not entirely wrong, but it was not the mark of a responsible leader to blame the legislature for the failures of her key policy initiatives. During the speech, she said that she would respect the legislature as a partner in running the state. In her previous speeches at the Assembly and meetings with party leaders, the President made similar remarks but they were not put into practice. So there is little hope that she will actually change her attitude toward the Assembly and even if she does, it is too late to expect more cooperative relations between Cheong Wa Dae and parliament in the waning months of her presidency. This dim prospect is particularly justified given the discrepancies in the priorities set by President Park and the new Assembly that is run under a three-party system. In the speech, she stressed cooperation for solutions to economic issues, such as jobs, deregulation and restructuring. But Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun, who is the first Assembly leader in 14 years to come from outside the President's party, is already focusing on issues that are far from the President or the people's list of priorities. Cheong Wa Dae should coordinate over such discrepancies and urge the opposition parties to focus solely on issues that are directly related to the economy and the people's livelihoods. The President's conciliatory gesture is meaningless unless the opposition parties respond to it. But Speaker Chung, who is formerly from the Minjoo Party of Korea, is eagerly pushing to bring a constitutional revision to the public's attention. He said that the revision was a "task that must be done," as the current Constitution enacted in 1987 does not reflect the changes in Korean society since then. Supporters of the revision are seeking to change the current single five-year presidential term to a four-year one and allow an incumbent to run for a second period in office. Chung's predecessor Chung Ui-hwa had also been a supporter of the constitutional revision but it was not discussed properly during the 19th Assembly as President Park was not forthcoming about it. It is an important issue, but not one that deserves primary attention of the Assembly amid a host of economic and social problems Korea is facing today. Chung should not waste the Assembly's time or energy on such non-urgent issues. Also, it is worrisome that the Minjoo Party of Korea's first piece of legislation is related to the investigation of the Sewol ferry sinking, which is also not an issue at the center of the people's minds. The minor opposition People's Party is vowing to hold a range of parliamentary hearings to investigate the Oxy humidifier case among other issues where the government showed negligence. While these issues are important, nothing is as important as reviving the economy and creating more stable jobs. During the remainder of Park's term, the President and the Assembly should work hand in hand on people-oriented policies. Lee Ji-sun By Kim Ji-soo Lee Ji-sun, 38, a writer and blogger who survived a seven-car collision in 2000, has earned a Ph.D. in social welfare from the University of California, Los Angeles, reports said. She graduated on June 10. Lee was a senior at Ewha Womans University in 2000 when she was in a car accident that seriously burned 55 percent of her body. She faced despair and numerous surgeries after the accident, but picked herself up with her mother's encouragement to discover one thing to be thankful for every day. She has authored a blog and an autobiography "I Love You, Ji-sun," giving hope to many. On her social media accounts, she thanked everyone for their support of her dream that started 16 years ago in the hospital. After graduating from Ewha, she continued with her studies, earning master's degrees in counseling at Boston University and social welfare at Columbia University. Children judge people by their appearances like adults, study finds. /Courtesy of Twitter By Lee Jin-a A child's perception of trustworthiness is directly linked to how attractive they find someone, and the judgment strengthens as they grow older, Chinese scientists discovered. Researchers at Sci-Tech University and Wenzhou Medical University studied 138 people, dividing them into groups of children aged eight, 10 and 12, and adults. The researchers then showed them 200 images of male faces with neutral expressions and direct gazes and asked each group to judge the trustworthiness of the person. A month later, the participants repeated the exercise, this time rating the attractiveness of the faces. After analyzing the results, the researchers found a direct relationship between the ratings of trustworthiness and attractiveness in each age group. The research, published in "Frontiers in Psychology," also said the relationship strengthened in older age groups. The SLFP does not condone the continuation of the Emergency Regulations (The Public Security Ordinance) more than a day necessary Read more PRESS RELEASE Subject of Debate: Enact Glass-Steagall or Raise Banks Requirements? June 13, 2016 (EIRNS)This is the question posed by Christopher Wood, equity strategist at the Asia-based independent brokerage and investment firm, CLSA, in his weekly "Greed and Fear" newsletter. It is also going to be the main topic of discussion at the third symposium on "Ending Too Big To Fail" in Washington, D.C. on June 20, sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis and the Peterson Institute. The seminars morning panel will review the "current framework used to evaluate proposals that increase capital requirements as a means of addressing TBTF." Neil Kashkari, head of the Minneapolis Fed, has organized these seminars. Wood takes off from recent commentary by Federal Reserve Governors Daniel Tarullo and Jerome Powell, who warned that banks may have to greatly increase their capital requirements in order to prevent possible shocks. He argues that if there is going to be intensified regulation, why not just bring back Glass-Steagall? Deregulation only makes sense, he asserted, "if banks are allowed to fail, or at least bank bondholders are forced to lose money." That hasnt been the case. Wood charges that the "Davos mob" refuses to let capitalism work in banking. So, "it follows logically that the business of deposit-taking should be separated completely from investment banking using the term in its broadest sense, in what would amount to the reenactment of a modern Glass-Steagall." Yet, he admonishes, regulators refused to take that "fundamental step," and instead, "keep adding on more and more rules." According to www.kinston.com, Wood did not, however, propose that banks be broken up. Fed Governor Powell explained that the proposal to increase capital requirements is intended to force banks to the point where they, themselves, ask whether they are too big. Reporter Akin Oyedele notes that Wood PRESS RELEASE Russias Hypersonic Answer to NATOs Missile Defense Scheme June 13, 2016 (EIRNS)One form of Russias "asymmetric response" to NATOs missile defense system will be in the form of the RS-28 Sarmat liquid fuel ISBM, now under development for deployment in the 2018-2020 time frame. News reports out of the Russian English-language media indicate that the Sarmat will be armed with Yu-74 hypersonic glide vehicles rather than (or perhaps in addition to) conventional ballistic warheads. Sputnik, citing an analytical website called Ostkraft.ru, reports that what they call a Yu-74 vehicle was flight tested from on top of an RS-18A (NATO designation SS-19) ICBM in April. The vehicle was launched from the Dombarovsky missile base and hit its target in the Kura test range in Kamchatka, the details of which remain secret. Designed to carry up to 24 nuclear-loaded Yu-74 gliders, each Sarmat ballistic missile will be able to hit any target located within a six-thousand-mile radius within one hour, Sputnik reports. Each Yu-74 glider can be equipped with a nuclear warhead, electronic warfare (EW) applications, or false target simulators. "These features guarantee penetration of any existing and prospective missile defense system of a potential adversary. By adopting such systems Russias Strategic Missile Forces will significantly increase their efficiency," the analysts emphasize. Ostkraft analysts emphasize that the Yu-74 gliders would not only evade NATOs missile defense systems but will be also capable of penetrating the U.S. THAAD shield. Volkswagen has announced an $11.3-million investment in California as the automaker works to recover from its emissions cheating scandal. On Tuesday, VW said it would spend $4.5 million on a new training center in Eastvale, a small city near Riverside. It also announced that a new $6.8-million parts distribution center in Rocklin, northeast of Sacramento, had officially opened. The Southern California training center, expected to launch early next year, will provide technology, collision repair and sales training for the companys three brands: VW, Porsche and Audi. It will be the first to train personnel from all of the brands in the same location, the company said. Advertisement See the most-read stories this hour VW didnt say how many workers the Eastvale training center will employ. In the wake of the emissions scandal that marred VWs reputation, the company is remaking itself in ways large and small. All told, it has pledged to invest $7 billion in North America through 2019. The 140,000-square-foot Rocklin distribution center will serve 94 VW and Audi dealers in Northern California and the Pacific Northwest and represents VWs seventh such center in the U.S. An existing distribution center in Los Angeles is almost twice as large. About 30 people will be employed at the Rocklin facility. California is a priority market for VW and Audi, said Jan Bures, an executive vice president at Volkswagen Group of America. Beyond Volkswagens dealer network, California is home to a regional sales operations office in Woodland Hills, a test center in Oxnard and a research lab in Silicon Valley. russ.mitchell@latimes.com Twitter: @russ1mitchell ALSO BMW wins LAPD electric car contract, beating Tesla Tesla introduces a cheaper Model S starting at $66,000 Car thieves love L.A.: California leads the nation (again) in auto thefts A massive Russian theme park designed with the help of a North Hollywood design firm has won the support of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The $4-billion Magical World of Russia, was presented to Putin last week by Anatoly Artamonov, governor of the Kaluga region, southwest of Moscow, where the theme park would be built. According to news reports, Putin gave the project his support even though the project is expected to be built with private investments, led by Los Angeles-based Moschanko Investment Group. Advertisement See the most-read stories in Business this hour >> The news comes as Walt Disney Co. prepares this week to open its $5.5-billion theme park resort in Shanghai to take advantage of the growth of the Chinese middle class. A Russian news site shows Artamonov presenting Putin with drawings and depictions of the proposed 540-acre resort on the border of the Kaluga region. The Moschanko Investment Group, headed by Gennady Moshkovich, first proposed a $2.5-billion theme park on 600 acres in Russia in 2011. Since then, Moshkovich said he has moved the site of the resort to a location slightly farther from Moscow but with better access to a rail line, a highway and an airport. The proposed resort has also expanded from seven theme parks within the complex to 10, including a science-based park, he said. The blessing from Putin is very, very, very important, Moshkovich said. Its enormous. If all goes well, construction could begin in 14 months, with completion of the entire resort taking place in about five years, he said. The project has been designed by the Goddard Group, whose founder, Gary Goddard, helped create the Jurassic Park ride at Universal Studios Hollywood as well as the Terminator 2: 3-D and the Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man attractions at Universal Studios in Orlando, Fla. More recently, Goddard helped design the $2-billion, 2,200-room Galaxy Mega Resort in Macau, which opened in 2011, and the $3.2-billion Studio City resort and casino, which opened last year, also in Macau. hugo.martin@latimes.com To read more about the travel and tourism industries, follow @hugomartin on Twitter MORE FROM BUSINESS The Lion King premieres at Shanghai Disneyland as Broadway comes to China Court upholds net neutrality rules for Internet access Stocks move lower over concerns about Brexit vote, Federal Reserve meeting How will Benjamin Millepied spend his time after he leaves the Paris Opera Ballet in July? The popular dancer-choreographer, who abruptly announced his resignation from the storied company earlier this year, wont be taking much time off. L.A. Dance Project, the artist collective that he co-founded in 2012, has landed a three-year residency in Arles, France, in partnership with the LUMA Foundation, the European nonprofit that supports arts and cultural initiatives. The partnership will include a series of performances at the foundations campus complex, known as the Parc des Ateliers, starting July 7. The initial series will include Millepieds Hearts & Arrows, set to the music of Philip Glass, as well as Justin Pecks Helix, set to music by Esa-Pekka Salonen, and a group of Merce Cunningham works set to music by John Cage. Advertisement See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour >> L.A. Dance Project will spend five nonconsecutive weeks a year in Arles, where the company will be able to work, create and produce, a spokesman for the LUMA Foundation said by email. The foundation is the brainchild of Maja Hoffmann, the cultural philanthropist and heiress of a prominent Swiss pharmaceutical fortune. Architect Frank Gehry is designing a building for the foundation that is set to open officially in 2018. Hoffmann and Millepied have known each other for nearly 10 years, according to the foundation. The two collaborated on a dance piece inspired by a work by visual artist Barbara Kruger from Hoffmanns collection. Millepied said in a prepared statement that L.A. Dance Project now has a base in Europe that will allow us to work, brainstorm and interact with other guest artists and events that are produced by the Foundation. In February, Millepied surprised the dance world when he announced that he would step down as the director of dance at the Paris Opera Ballet after having served just a little more than one year at the helm. At the time, Millepied said that his resignation was for personal reasons only. He said the consuming nature of his job at the Paris Opera was preventing him from what he loved most artistic creation and expression. Millepied, 39, hails from France but has spent much of his career in the United States. He is a former dancer with the New York City Ballet, where he rose to the rank of principal. Prior to taking the job at the Paris Opera in 2014, Millepied resided in L.A. with his wife, actress Natalie Portman, whom he met while working on the movie Black Swan. L.A. Dance Project creates works of modern and contemporary dance, performed at local venues and cities around the world. david.ng@latimes.com MORE FROM ENTERTAINMENT New TNT drama Animal Kingdom is subtler than premise suggests Hamilton, the movie? Why screen adaptions of stage musicals take so, so, so long E3, at a crossroads, brings hype, new games to Los Angeles Sumner Redstones former companion, Manuela Herzer, is renewing her legal effort to have Redstone declared mentally incompetent, comparing the ailing 93-year-old billionaire media mogul to the bumbling King Lear in the William Shakespeare tragedy. The comparison of waning Sumner Redstone to demented King Lear is apt, Herzers lead attorney, Pierce ODonnell, wrote in a motion filed late Monday. The filing demands a new trial to determine whether Redstone is in command of his faculties or whether he has been operating under the undue influence of his daughter. The move comes a little more than a month after Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge David J. Cowan dismissed Herzers lawsuit after just one day of testimony in a trial that was expected to unfold over more than a week. Advertisement Cowan stopped short of determining that Redstone was competent, but instead the judge said that it was clear the mogul wanted Herzer, his former companion, out of his life. But Herzers legal team is taking another stab. There is newly discovered evidence supporting [Herzers] claim that Shari Redstone had a two-year scheme to oust Manuela from Sumners life so that Shari could seize control of her father and manipulate him to authorize what he vehemently vowed never to do give Shari control of Viacom, Inc. and CBS, ODonnell said Monday night in a statement. The saga, he said, reads like Shakespeare. Mentally incapacitated Redstone is a demented Lear, ODonnell wrote in the filing. Ailing and easily fooled, King Lear, unable to discern false flattery from the truth, is duped into surrendering his power, land, and fortune to his two conniving daughters who ruthlessly implement their scheme to eliminate all opposition. Shari Redstone, ODonnell said, appears to be a combination of the two daughters in the play, Goneril and Regan. Nancy Sterling, a representative of Shari Redstone, said: Its not worth commenting on. Herzer has been arguing that she was wrongly removed in mid-October from a position of power overseeing Redstones healthcare and his daily activities at his sprawling mansion in Beverly Park. Herzer contends that she was ousted as part of a campaign orchestrated by Shari Redstone, the moguls daughter, to eliminate those who surrounded her father, including her longtime associate, Philippe Dauman, the chairman and chief executive of Viacom. Herzers case shined a harsh light on the family infighting and corporate intrigue among Redstones tight circle, and threw open the door for the current pitched battle for control of the two companies that the Redstone family controls, Viacom Inc. and CBS Corp. In a deposition in early May, Sumner Redstone used obscenities to describe Herzer. Redstone, who struggles to speak, also said he wanted Shari Redstone, his once estranged daughter, to be in charge of his healthcare. Two weeks after Cowans decision, Redstone took action to remove Dauman and another long-time advisor, George Abrams, from the trust that will eventually oversee Redstones controlling stakes in the two media companies. The mogul also removed Dauman and Abrams from the board of the family investment vehicle, National Amusements, that holds the controlling shares of Viacom and CBS. Dauman and Abrams filed suit in a Massachusetts court in late May, asking a judge there to block their removal from the trust and National Amusements. In Mondays motion for a new trial, Herzers attorneys said the abrupt end to the trial in Los Angeles after only one day constituted a prejudicial denial of [Herzers] unconditional right to testify and present all of the evidence in her case. meg.james@latimes.com @MegJamesLAT Sumner Redstone briefly visited his treasured movie studio Paramount Pictures in Los Angeles last week, but Viacom board members say their efforts in recent weeks to meet with the 93-year-old media mogul have been thwarted. Viacoms lead independent director, Frederic Salerno, on Tuesday sent an unusual open letter to Redstone, pleading for the opportunity to meet with the mogul. Salerno said that he wanted to check in on Redstone, and also discuss the companys controversial plans to try to sell of a stake of Paramount Pictures. Salernos letter notes that Redstone has been surrounded by a new circle of legal advisors. Some insiders believe those lawyers are aligned with Shari Redstone, who is vice chair of Viacom, and a critic of top management. Advertisement They tell us that you are well and getting better everyday, Salerno wrote in the two-page letter to Sumner Redstone. Last week they staged a drive for you, with Shari, to the Paramount studio for a brief visit in which you didnt get out of your car. During the Friday visit, Redstone and his daughter had a 10 minute conversation with Paramount Chairman Brad Grey on the studio lot, according to a person familiar with the matter. Salernos letter goes on to say that Viacoms board would not sell Paramount lock, stock, and barrel, or ...do it in the middle of the night and hide it from you, he wrote. Nothing could be further from the truth. The letter comes amid speculation that the Redstones are preparing to shakeup the Viacom board. It appears to be an attempt to put on the record a visit that Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman had with Redstone in February to discuss plans to auction off a piece of Paramount. Redstone is said to be vehemently opposed to selling the studio, which he won in a hard-fought battle in 1994. The company has said such a sale could bring investors an additional $10 a share, which means that stake might be valued at more than $8 billion. Viacom board members received no response following their most recent request to visit with Redstone, according to a person close to the company. A spokesman for Redstone declined to comment. Full Coverage: Sumner Redstones declining health Redstone has difficulty speaking, but his doctors say that he is alert and in command of his faculties. In late May, Redstone removed Dauman and another Viacom board member, George Abrams, from the board of National Amusements Inc., the Redstone family investment vehicle that holds the controlling shares of Viacom Inc. and CBS Corp. Redstone also removed Dauman and Abrams from the trust that will eventually oversee the moguls shares in the two media companies. Dauman and Abrams sued late last month to block their removal from the NAI board and Sumner Murray Redstone Trust. Sumner, they tell us they wont make you available for fear that such a meeting would become the source of more litigation, Salerno wrote. In reality, putting up a wall around you ensures more litigation and that is not what we want. We want to understand what is happening to you. meg.james@latimes.com @MegJamesLAT UPDATES: 4:50 p.m. This article was updated to include additional details. It was originally published at 4:08 p.m. Rapper Lil Wayne was taken to a hospital in Nebraska on Monday after suffering a seizure while aboard a private plane traveling to California, according to TMZ. The website said Lil Waynes plane, which had been flying from Milwaukee, where the 33-year-old rapper performed Sunday night, made an emergency landing Monday afternoon in Omaha. The rappers real name is Dwayne Carter. Paramedics met him on the ground, TMZ reported, but Lil Wayne refused treatment, and his plane took off again only to return to Omaha after the rapper suffered a second seizure in the air. Advertisement PHOTOS: Rapper Lil Wayne a.k.a. Dwayne Carter Dennis Messina, an airport operations supervisor at Eppley Airfield in Omaha, told The Times that an aircraft had made two unscheduled landings there Monday, and that an ambulance had removed a passenger after the second stop. But he declined to identify the passenger or say where the plane had been traveling from. KETV-TV in Omaha reported that Lil Wayne was being treated at CHI Health Creighton University Medical Center. The hospital didnt immediately respond to a request for information from The Times. In a statement to several media outlets, the rappers publicist said he was in stable condition and good spirits. Lil Wayne, who has described himself as having epilepsy, has suffered seizures before, including in 2012, when a plane he was traveling on made a similar emergency landing in Louisiana, and 2013, when he spent six days at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. A representative for the rapper didnt immediately return a call seeking comment. ALSO: Prince overdose: Authorities looking into how pop star obtained fentanyl Words cannot express: Christina Grimmies brother thanks fans for GoFundMe donations Did Led Zeppelin steal a riff for Stairway to Heaven? A court will decide Twitter: @mikaelwood UPDATES: 8:16 p.m.: This story was updated with a comment from Lil Waynes publicist regarding his medical condition. This story was originally published at 4:20 p.m. The Television Critics Assn. announced Tuesday morning that Jane the Virgin star Jaime Camil will host the annual TCA Awards this summer. Scheduled for Aug. 6 at the Beverly Hilton, the 32nd Annual TCA Awards will honor the programming that has made an impact on the previous TV season. The awards are chosen by the more than 220 critics and writers covering TV who make up the TCA. Previous hosts include James Corden, Conan OBrien, Craig Ferguson and Key & Peele, among others. See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour >> Advertisement With his natural charm and quick wit, Jaime Camil has quickly become one of the most likeable personalities on television, said TCA President Amber Dowling in a statement. The TCAs announcement also revealed that Rogelio De La Vega, Camils telenovela superstar character from CWs Jane the Virgin, will also be on hand to fill in for Camil as needed during his hosting duties. Camil tweeted after the announcement: Dress code for the @OfficialTCAs: #Lavender Avoid: #Peach The TCA Awards take place during the TCA Press Tour, a twice-yearly, network-by-network presentation of new and returning programming, actors, writers and executives to journalists that is in Los Angeles. The summer press tour is scheduled to run from July 27 through August 11. Follow me @chrisbarton. MORE FROM ENTERTAINMENT New TNT drama Animal Kingdom is subtler than premise suggests Hamilton, the movie? Why screen adaptions of stage musicals take so, so, so long E3, at a crossroads, brings hype, new games to Los Angeles One of those networks you might not think about much, if you think about networks at all, TBS more than doubled its original comedy programming this winter and spring with the addition of Angie Tribeca, Full Frontal With Samantha Bee, and The Detour, co-created by Bee and her husband and fellow Daily Show alum, Jason Jones, who also stars. (Already running: Conan and American Dad!, which moved over from Fox in 2014.) Notwithstanding a couple of game shows, laughter is the medicine theyre selling. Watch funny TV and movies on tbs, their website tells you. Joining this modest but estimable lineup is Wrecked, which premieres Tuesday and will be described nearly everywhere as a sort of Gilligans Island meets Lost. Not to prematurely age Bee, Jones or Angie Tribeca star Rashida Jones, but in a small way it represents a bid for younger eyes: Justin and Jordan Shipley, the series first-times-the-charm creators are in their mid-20s, as are the preponderance of their main characters. (Rhys Darby, 42, who was Murray on Flight of the Conchords and is concurrently a voice on the Netflix Voltron reboot, is the designated old guy. He is always funny.) The Shipleys were teenagers when Lost premiered in 2004, and though there is nothing supernatural in their own show apart from a metafictional nightmare sequence it has the flavor of being forged in conversations held while watching that series, of asking natural questions Lost never asked, about bathroom privacy and constipation and condoms. Advertisement Millennial rites, obsessions and occupation are at the center of the comedy. (A census of survivors the plane carrying them has gone down en route to Thailand, which feels culturally appropriate includes three baristas, one foot doctor, two lifestyle bloggers and the founder of ... an app that lets you see what you would look like with other peoples pubes.) Theres a scene with a dying satellite phone in which several characters realize that none of them knows a friends phone number by heart. At the end of the first day, someone finds the drinks cart and there is rave-ish partying; the next morning, there are hangovers. (There are also references to The Hangover.) Our guide to all the shows worth watching this summer >> Like other TBS comedies it does not so much push the envelope, as is the habit at Adult Swim and Comedy Central, as tickle it. There is a modicum of grossness blood and vomiting and dumb sex jokes (mitigated, in a way, by being put in the mouths of dumbbells we are not meant to approve of them), but the series is essentially sweet, its conflicts more affectionate than corrosive. It is largely a comedy of character and character relations, and for all that it is a collection of types, a talented cast finds the individuals within. Just as important, Wrecked looks good. That its shot and scored (and much of the time acted) as if it were a drama not exaggeratedly dramatic, with a wink, but played straight gives the silliness some substance and makes watching a pleasure. robert.lloyd@latimes.com Wrecked Where: TBS When: 10 and 10:27 p.m. Tuesday Rating: TV-MA (may be unsuitable for children under the age of 17) Ex-professional wrestler Jesse Ventura wont be awarded the $1.8-million judgment a jury decided to give him in 2014 as the result of a defamation case against the estate of Chris Kyle, who had written disparagingly about a person resembling Ventura in his memoir American Sniper. Famed for his pro wrestling career, Ventura moved on to politics; he served as governor of Minnesota from 1999 to 2003. Ventura sued Kyle for defamation in 2012, claiming the U.S Navy SEAL sniper defamed him in a passage in his memoir American Sniper, which was later turned into a film. In the book, Kyle said he punched a man he referred to as Scruff Face in a San Diego-area bar after the man made insulting comments about the SEALs. Advertisement In interviews following the books release, Kyle confirmed that Scruff Face was Ventura, himself a Navy veteran. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports that on Monday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit threw out the $1.8-million American Sniper judgment, saying that the $1.35 million Ventura was awarded for unjust enrichment did not comply with Minnesota state law. The jury in the lower court also awarded Ventura $500,000 for defamation. The appeals court also threw out that judgment, but sent it back to the lower court for retrial. Kyle was shot and killed in 2013 by a veteran with PTSD that he had taken to a shooting range. After his death, Ventura announced he would continue the lawsuit against Kyles estate. A jury ruled in Venturas favor in 2014; months later, Kyles widow, Taya Kyle, announced she would appeal the verdict. Jesse Ventura sues American Sniper publisher HarperCollins In Mondays decision, the federal appeals court held that the part of the judgment Ventura was awarded for unjust enrichment was not allowed by Minnesota law, because Ventura did not have a pre-existing contractual or quasi-contractual relationship with Kyle. In addition, the court ruled that the jury had been prejudiced by Venturas lawyers suggestions during the trial that any judgment against Kyles estate would be covered by an insurance policy held by Kyles publisher, HarperCollins. Ventura declined to comment on the appeals courts decision, as did HarperCollins, which Ventura also sued in 2014. That lawsuit is still pending. ALSO Jury awards Jesse Ventura $1.8 million in defamation case American Sniper authors widow will appeal book verdict Jesse Ventura and his case against the American Sniper book Kevin Argueta graduated Thursday from UCLA Community School in Koreatown, where he addressed his classmates in Spanish. Here is the text of his speech, which Argueta translated to English: My name is Kevin Argueta, and I am a native Salvadoran student. It is a privilege to be here and to be able to share my experiences as a Latino immigrant student on this unforgettable afternoon with all of you. My academic dream began the day that I decided to cross the desert in order to improve my lifestyle from the poverty and violence I lived through in El Salvador. Without a doubt, the desert has become a metaphor in my life. I still remember when I was 11 years old and got separated from my mother while we were both immigrating to the United States. Since then, I never really knew what the future had prepared for someone like me. But somehow, all these years after immigrating to the United States, I continue to identify as a foreign student whose mother tongue is Spanish. This desert is not only for me, but also for thousands of immigrant students that want to obtain a high level of education through a university. Anuncio To cross the border is something that many of us do not wish for but that is rather a necessity we have to face. We come from different countries, cultures and regions, but we all share something in common: our persistence, whether its in our studies or work. Sometimes as Latino immigrants, we see an arid desert, dry where dreams evaporate little by little. But every morning that I would see my father and mother get up at 6 a.m. to get ready to work, somehow, in some shape or form, that would give me strength to keep pushing forward. Then my arid desert would eventually become a sea full of life and hope. Nevertheless, the persistence of my parents, with their love and dedication, has guided me today to be here with all of you. My parents have been my superheroes because there is no better hero than that without a cape, who fights with sweat and blood for those who he or she loves. My parents taught me that if we cant fly, then we will run; that if we cant run, then we will walk; that if we cant walk, then we will crawl; but that no matter how hard things may get, we shall always keep moving forward. To the class of 2016: Anuncio I would like to invite you to walk in this desert with me and to plant the seed of hope and knowledge, wherever life may take us. And to take on our next adventure without forgetting where we came from and who we really are. Because the new generations need to learn about our legacy and hear our story. But above all else, we must stop allowing our politicians and the media from making immigrants seem like criminals. Society always judges a book by its cover. It does not take the time to read it. Today, each of us is demonstrating the strength and perseverance that determines a real Latino and Latina. From the man and woman who work as a cook or as a dishwasher, to the person who walks around the streets cleaning windows for a living, I invite you to look at your families: mothers, fathers, uncles and aunts, grandfather and grandmother, who have taught us to value each thing in our lives and the privilege that they have provided us with. I invite you to say to them, Thank you. During seven years at UCLA Community School, I have learned to be more than a student. I have learned to be a human being who deserves respect and has a voice. At the same time, I have learned the significance of true friendship, regardless if youre the only Salvadoran or the only Costa Rican in a group of four Mexicans. There is no wall, nor rivalry, nor desert that is larger than the unity of true friendship. Anuncio MORE EDUCATION NEWS Teaching financial know-how needs to be a part of L.A. Countys social safety net Less test-iness over L.A. teacher evaluations Anuncio Coalition says L.A. Unified underfunds neediest students The Los Angeles school system is improperly diverting money meant for students who need it most, including those from low-income families, according to a coalition of local groups. The criticism, which echoes that of state officials, centers on hundreds of millions of dollars in increased state funding that is supposed to benefit students who are among the most challenging to educate and who have persistently lagged behind academically: low-income students, students learning English and those in the foster-care system. Providing extra resources for these students is a centerpiece of funding reforms pushed through by Gov. Jerry Brown. Advertisement According to Communities for Los Angeles Student Success, or CLASS, these students are not getting the full benefit of the money that they are generating for L.A. Unified under the new state formulas. We have seen slight progress since last year, CLASS said in a report card released this week. Even so, schools in South L.A., East L.A., Sylmar and Pico-Union are often severely underfunded, and gaps in [academic] achievement persist due to lack of sufficient investment. Coalition members include the United Way of Greater Los Angeles, the Community Coalition, the Los Angeles Urban League and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. CLASS acknowledges that the nations second-largest school system faces long-term financial problems but challenges the districts spending priorities. Its conclusions are based on research led by Bruce Fuller, a UC Berkeley professor of education and public policy. Fuller said district officials have made it a priority to rebuild staffing to levels prior to the last major economic recession. Much of this increase is not going to the classroom but instead to cover pension and healthcare costs , Fuller said. The district has elected to move new dollars to teacher salaries and fringe benefits, rather than abide by Gov. Browns priority: narrowing persisting gaps in student achievement. District spending climbed from about $9,300 per pupil in 2006-07, just before the recession, to $12,100 in 2015-16, Fuller said. Its not the money spent, he argues. Its where it goes. Despite its criticism, CLASS praised the districts transparency with data and budget information. District funding priorities had improved since last year, said Elmer Roldan, director of education programs and policy for the United Way. Still, he said, millions of dollars need to be redirected to better serve students. He had no specific suggestions on how to achieve this end. Thats their job, Roldan said. School officials issued a statement in response to CLASS that was conciliatory but also defended the districts position. We are extremely appreciative of the acknowledgement that significant progress has been made in meeting community and state expectations, the statement said. We agree that there is more work to be done to ensure great strides are made in the outcomes for all students and especially for our neediest students. We welcome the opportunity to continue our discussions around an equity agenda that is beneficial to all students in L.A. Unified. One difference of opinion concerns staffing at elementary schools: The district used some of the disputed funds to restore assistant principals and library aides across the school system; the coalition argues that the money should have been spent instead on the specific needs of the targeted students. The district counters that these moves benefit such students, who make up about 85% of district enrollment. Another issue, according to CLASS, is that the district fails to track how programs, resources and schools are advancing students academic progress. Among other recommendations, CLASS wants the district to create a permanent position to monitor whether spending is delivering the intended results. State officials also have criticized how L.A. Unified is spending money and have ordered the school system to redirect hundreds of millions of dollars in future budgets, which the district said this week could result in a doomsday scenario. In a letter to state officials Tuesday, Supt. Michelle King warned that the school system might need to identify over $1 billion of current programmatic spending to be cancelled to generate funds for new programs, or expansions of current programs. She added: The only way to generate the funds required is to substantially increase class sizes throughout the District and [then] reassign teachers to students who qualified for the state funding. During Tuesdays school board meeting, King vowed to resist: The states decision is not legally supportable, and we intend to challenge this decision. State Supt. of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson responded in writing even before the board meeting ended, pledging to work through all of these fiscal issues very carefully. Some of the problem, he said, could be addressed by better documentation. Times staff writer Sonali Kohli contributed to this report. howard.blume@latimes.com Twitter: @howardblume MORE EDUCATION NEWS Less test-iness over L.A. teacher evaluations Parting words: the high school graduation speeches of Los Angeles State says L.A. Unified spends improperly, must redirect hundreds of millions of dollars Follow the Times education initiative to inform parents, educators and students across California UPDATES: 7:20 p.m., June 15: This article was updated with additional details. 8:20 p.m: This article was updated with details from the school board meeting. 2:30 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details. This article was originally published at 8 a.m. on June 14, 2016. A mans body was found drifting in the water at Bolsa Chica State Beach on Tuesday morning, authorities said. Huntington Beach police officers responded to a call about a naked body that had been pulled from the water near Pacific Coast Highway and Seapoint Avenue about 11:20 a.m., said Jennifer Marlatt, public information officer for the Police Department. Bystanders started CPR, but authorities determined the man was dead, said Kevin Pearsall, public safety superintendent for California State Parks. He had been dead for at least an hour by that time, Pearsall said. Advertisement See the most-read stories this hour The body had no signs of trauma, according to Pearsall, who said the man may have drowned. The case has been handed over to the Orange County coroners office, which will work to identify the man and notify his next of kin. The man was not carrying identification. Officials described him as Latino, possibly in his early 30s. Marlatt said the man did not match the description of anyone reported missing in Huntington Beach. brittany.woolsey@latimes.com Woolsey writes for Times Community News. ALSO Girl, 7, dies, mother hurt after crash into Russian River Sacramento pastor, amid backlash, defends sermon praising Orlando killings Man bound for L.A. Pride with guns, ammo and explosive chemicals is formally charged The judge who sentenced Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner to six months in jail for sexual assault is continuing to face criticism for his decision. The effort to recall Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky has gained steam, with several political groups vowing to raise money for the campaign. Two veteran Democratic political consultants, Joe Trippi and John Shallman, decided Thursday to join the effort to force a recall election. Then, one of the jurors who convicted Turner of sexual assault wrote a letter to Persky. The juror wrote of being absolutely shocked and appalled at the sentence. Advertisement After the guilty verdict I expected that this case would serve as a very strong deterrent to on-campus assaults, but with the ridiculously lenient sentence that Brock Turner received, I am afraid that it makes a mockery of the whole trial and the ability of the justice system to protect victims of assault and rape, the juror wrote to Persky. Clearly there are few to no consequences for a rapist even if they are caught in the act of assaulting a defenseless, unconscious person, the juror wrote in the letter, which was obtained by the Palo Alto Weekly. On Monday, some state lawmakers said the Turner case proves the definition of rape is out of date and needs updating. When Turner was convicted by a jury in March, he faced a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison. Prosecutors asked the judge to sentence him to a six-year prison term for the three felony counts of which he was found guilty: assault with the intent to commit rape of an unconscious person; sexual penetration of an unconscious person; and sexual penetration of an intoxicated person. Later, Turners chief probation officer, Monica Lassettre, recommended a sentence of county jail, three years of probation and sex offender treatment, according to a probation report. Clearly there are few to no consequences for a rapist even if they are caught in the act of assaulting a defenseless, unconscious person. One jurors letter to Judge Aaron Persky In the weeks following Turners sentencing, nearly a million people signed online petitions calling on the California Commission for Judicial Performance to remove Persky. Persky, who was appointed to the bench by Gov. Gray Davis in 2003, is up for reelection in November. So far, no one has submitted paperwork to challenge Persky or recall him, according to Anita Torres, spokeswoman for the Santa Clara County registrar of voters. The woman who was sexually assaulted by Turner read a 12-page letter in open court, calling the lack of a state prison sentence a soft time-out, a mockery of the seriousness of the assaults. More than 250 students signed a letter submitted to Persky before Turners sentencing, asking that he be held accountable for his actions. At Sundays commencement ceremony, several Stanford students waved signs in support of victims of sexual assault and called on university officials to publicly release names of students who were found responsible for sexual assault. Judges are rarely recalled from office in California. Most who do leave office are removed following an investigation by the state Commission on Judicial Performance with a hearing on an issue of serious abuse, Loyola Law professor Laurie Levenson told The Times last week. An effort to recall Orange County Superior Court Judge M. Marc Kelly for sentencing a child molester to 10 years instead of 25 years to life failed this year. Nancy Wieben Stock, a now-retired Orange County judge, weathered an unsuccessful recall effort in the 1990s after she awarded O.J. Simpson custody of his two children following his acquittal on charges of killing his wife and the childrens mother, Nicole Brown Simpson. Some in Santa Clara County have come to the judges defense, saying he is a strong jurist who was within his rights to hand down the sentence. Legal experts have said the sentence was within the law but lighter than normal for such cases. ALSO Juror in Stanford sex assault case appalled by ridiculously lenient sentence for Brock Turner Stanford rape sentence unusually light, legal experts say Some Stanford graduates protest during Sundays commencement ceremony I cant believe what you did. Judge in Stanford sexual assault case slammed by potential jurors UPDATES: 9:15 a.m.: The article was updated to cite supporters of the judge. This article was originally published at 7:28 a.m. The Los Angeles City Council agreed Tuesday to pay $1.9 million for the fatal shooting of an unarmed man by police. Dontaze Storeys son and the boys attorneys will receive the settlement and fees in connection with the 2008 shooting. In 2014, a civil jury found that a Los Angeles Police Department officer used excessive force and awarded $750,000 in damages to Storeys son. Another $942,000 in attorneys fees was also approved by the court. Advertisement The city unsuccessfully appealed the verdict, adding to the final cost of the settlement. The shooting occurred after a foot pursuit on Nov. 11, 2008, near 3rd Street and New Hampshire Avenue. The chase began after officers answered a 911 call of a report of assault with a deadly weapon at a Rite-Aid in the 300 block of South Vermont Avenue. The officers were warned by radio that the suspect was armed with a gun. An LAPD helicopter directed officers to Storey. Officer Daniel Bunch said he opened fire when Storey turned toward him and his partner with a silver-colored object that Bunch believed to be a handgun. Officer Oliver Malabuya said he fired after hearing a shot and seeing Bunch discharge his weapon. The object held by Storey turned out to be a cellphone. But witnesses testified that they had not seen anything in Storeys hand. His fiancee, Estaze Yankey, testified that he had nothing in his hand when he was shot. richard.winton@latimes.com ALSO L.A. agrees to pay nearly $950,000 in two cases involving the homeless Girl, 7, dies, mother hurt after crash into Russian River Man bound for L.A. Pride with guns, ammo and explosive chemicals is formally charged Firefighters have knocked down a large blaze in which one person died at an office building in Westlake, authorities said. Firefighters rescued three people from the two-story building, but one person was confirmed dead at the scene, said Brian Humphrey, spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department. The four were described as unauthorized occupants of the building, Humphrey said. Advertisement Los Angeles police have interviewed a person of interest and the fire remains under investigation, Humphrey said. Fire crews arrived just after 7 p.m. to find flames engulfing a large building at 2411 W. 8th St., Humphrey said. There were 145 firefighters on scene to knock down the blaze, which took about 2 hours and 20 minutes. UPDATES: 9:50 p.m.: This article was updated with the fire being knocked down and other details. This article was originally published at 8:41 p.m. An Indiana man who police said was bound for the L.A. Pride festival in a car loaded with weapons, ammunition and explosive chemicals was formally charged Tuesday and ordered held on $2-million bail. The Los Angeles County district attorneys office filed three felony charges against James Wesley Howell, 20, as well as one misdemeanor charge, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Sean Carney. The felony charges were possession of explosives on a highway, possession of an assault weapon and possession of high-capacity magazines. The misdemeanor charge was possession of a firearm in a car. Advertisement Howell appeared at the Airport Courthouse in Los Angeles on Tuesday and entered a plea of not guilty. The defendant appeared pale and stood in a side room where he observed the court proceedings through a large window. He spoke only when Superior Court Judge Keith Schwartz asked him if he agreed to delay his preliminary hearing so his lawyer could familiarize himself with the case. Howell said yes. Howell faces up to nine years and four months in prison if convicted on all charges. Although Howells arrest early Sunday triggered a local panic when Santa Monica Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks mistakenly tweeted that Howell intended to harm the L.A. Pride festival in nearby West Hollywood, authorities later said they did not know his intentions. They also ruled out the possibility that he was connected to the slaying of 49 club-goers at a gay nightspot in Florida just hours earlier. A bail deviation filing obtained by The Times shows that along with the weapons and explosive chemicals in the car, Howell had a black hood, a Taser, handcuffs, a Buck knife, a security badge and additional ammunition for the guns. There was also a filled five-gallon container of gasoline. Police said Howell has no known ties to California and that he admitted to officers that he fled Indiana due to his concerns over existing or pending criminal charges by the state. According to court documents, Howell was in possession of a 25-pound container of Shoc-shot, a commercially sold two-component explosive that detonates when hit by a high-velocity rifle round. Santa Monica police said that the container was three-fifths full and that the explosive chemicals had already been combined. The amount of explosives in the container would have posed a grave danger to both persons and property had the explosives been detonated, either intentionally or accidentally, wrote Santa Monica Police Detective Derek Leone. The assault rifle Howell had in his white Acura was described as an Anderson Manufacturing AM-15 .223 caliber rifle, with two 30-round magazines taped together for quick reloading. This rifle is an AR-style assault weapon, Leone wrote. The two other rifles in Howells car were a loaded .30-06 caliber bolt-action rifle and a .22 caliber Ruger semiautomatic rifle. A restraining order against Howell in Indiana prohibits him from possessing firearms, the report states. On Monday evening, the FBI and police executed a search warrant at Howells Indiana residence, according to FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller. Authorities in Kentucky have also revoked Howells bail in a pending felony case in which he is accused of evading police. On Tuesday, prosecutors asked that a judge increase his bail amount from $500,000 to $2 million on the grounds that he posed a significant danger to the community and was a flight risk. The judge agreed, saying, these arent normal things for people to carry in a car. Howell, who was represented by Deputy Public Defender Barbara Jones, was ordered to return to court on June 29. Howells past includes instances of armed intimidation and conflicts with law enforcement. Man found with weapons before L.A. pride parade has history of gun charges, records show The boy was young and dumb and had a mouth on him, said Jeremy Hebert, a former Indiana neighbor who was once threatened at gunpoint by Howell, court documents show. Howell was arrested just before 5 a.m. Sunday in the 1700 block of 11th Street in Santa Monica. A resident there had called police to say that a prowler had knocked on the front door and window. Officers had arrived to find Howell sitting in his white Acura. Upon searching the vehicle officers discovered three assault rifles, high-capacity magazines, ammunition and a bucket containing chemicals capable of forming an improvised explosive device, police said. Howell was arrested by Santa Monica police on suspicion of possessing an explosive device, possessing a loaded firearm in a vehicle and possessing high-capacity magazines. Robert Boyd, Howells attorney in a Kentucky criminal case, told The Times on Monday that his clients father and mother are struggling to get details about their sons latest arrest. His family is shocked to learn about the situation, he said. Initially, Santa Monica Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks said on Twitter that Howell told one of her officers after he was arrested that he wanted to harm the gay pride event. A department spokesman said later that the tweet was a misstatement and that although Howell told investigators he was going to the Pride festival, he did not make additional statements about his intentions. Howells family is fully cooperating with federal investigators, according to Boyd. He added that Howells family was concerned about the Santa Monica Police Department spreading misinformation about their sons arrest. Details about the case, Boyd said, may have been blown out of proportion. They are very interested to find out the true facts of the case, he said. For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna. ALSO FULL COVERAGE: Orlando nightclub shooting What we know about the armed L.A. Pride guy A night of terror: How the Orlando nightclub shooting unfolded UPDATES: 3:39: This post was updated with details of Howells plea in court. 1:10 p.m.: This post was updated with details of the weapons Howell had in his possession. 12:03 p.m.: This post was updated with charging details and comments from a law enforcement source. 9:08 a.m.: This post was updated with details on the search of Howells residence. This article was originally published at 7:14 a.m. Brendan McDonough survived one of the deadliest wildfires in U.S. history, an inferno near Yarnell, Ariz., that killed 19 of his fellow Granite Mountain Hotshots on June 30, 2013. For the next year, he went to memorials, gave speeches and raised money for wildland firefighting. But the constant reminders of the fire wore on him. He was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and had to stop making so many public appearances. I kept reliving it, kept reliving it, kept reliving it, McDonough said. Advertisement Citing his PTSD, he twice canceled depositions scheduled by the Arizona Division of Forestry, which was investigating the fire and negotiating settlements with the families of the dead. Arizonans were infuriated, then, when it was announced that McDonough would write a book about his life and the ordeal, and advise on a movie, Granite Mountain, which is set to begin filming this summer. In an interview with The Times, McDonough spoke about the controversy. His responses have been edited for clarity and length. NEWSLETTER: Get the days top headlines from Times Editor Davan Maharaj >> How many times did the Division of Forestry ask to depose you, and what happened each time? The first time they came at me, they just said come on down for lunch and lets talk. I told someone and he said, Hell [expletive] no. Even if you have nothing to hide, theyll twist your words. So he put me in touch with an attorney. The attorney said, Im not free for some time. The [Arizona Division of Forestry] scheduled the day he said he might be free. So there was no time to prep, and he said no. The second time, I was talking to my counselor, and I was just getting into some real heavy [stuff], really getting into the nitty-gritty of what makes my stress, my anxiety, my PTSD tick. Shes like, Theres no way youre doing it right now. They can come back to us in six months or a year, if they want to do it then, well do it then. While this is going on, everyone in the media is saying, Brendan is hiding, hes lying, he wont testify, yada yada yada, hes deceitful. Hes still writing a book, but hes going to write something in the book he doesnt want to testify about. We set up a third deposition. I wanted to shut these people up. I was ready to testify. The [Arizona Division of Forestry] canceled it the night before, like 8, 9 oclock. More information had come out that showed [the 19 dead firefighters] didnt make the mistakes they were accused of. I think thats why [the Division of Forestry] canceled it. (State records show that the deposition had been scheduled for late May 2015. The state reached a settlement with the families of the deceased firefighters on June 1, 2015.) Im not scared of them, I dont fear them. The worst they can do is come to my house and put a bullet in my head. These are the people who were supposed to take care of us. I dont feel taken care of. See more of our top stories on Facebook >> So why not make a bigger deal about this, hold a news conference or something of that nature? Do you care about what the public thinks outside of the small area where you live? No, I do care. I want to be mindful of how Im perceived. Im trying not to go out in the media and say they did this to me and they did that to me. But they tried making it about me when there were 200 other people who should have been looked at, people [at the Division of Forestry] who could have made better choices. Youre recognized near your home in Prescott, Ariz., and at firefighter memorials. Its a weird kind of celebrity, isnt it? Ive learned to just talk and listen, listen to peoples grief. Thats what Im famous for. Im not famous for being an Olympic gold medalist, Im not famous for inventing the cure for cancer or anything like that. Im famous for losing my brothers. Do you find people using the tragedy for their own benefit? Its one thing to continue to honor men. But theres other people, a very few people, taking advantage of what it is, taking grief and trauma thats not their own. Theyve attached themselves, leeched on to my brothers legacy. Theyll say, Oh, my car just turned over to 119,000 miles, or Oh, I just saw 19 doves fly by. How the [expletive] can you count 19 doves? I had a lady, she came to one of my book signings. She was telling me the story of how she got pulled over for speeding. She had a memorial shirt on. She played it off like she didnt use it for her advantage, but she did. She didnt get a ticket. Ive never done that. Since reliving the tragedy is difficult, how do you balance the outreach youre doing with your own mental health? [Well-wishers] want to talk. They want to say, Im so sorry for your loss. People dont understand, thats me reliving it. But Im not going to tell them, Dont talk to me. When I was first in therapy, I didnt know that it was OK to still be alive. But, I have a purpose in life. I cant let those feelings take over. ALSO Court upholds net neutrality rules for Internet access Orlando shooting investigation broadens to Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia Juror slams judge in Stanford rape case, calls sentence a mockery amid recall push Like their counterparts worldwide, many gay Muslims in the United States have long felt doubly ostracized both by the wider national culture and by their co-religionists. But in the days since the massacre of 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., there have been some signs of acceptance by Islamic organizations and religious institutions more often known for shying away from LGBT issues than for speaking forcefully in defense of gay people. The 29-year-old shooter, Omar Mateen, was a Muslim man who reportedly pledged allegiance to Islamic State in a 911 call the morning of the attack. The horror he unleashed seemed almost familiar to some gay Muslims who live in fear of violence and abuse. But it also engendered sympathy. To the surprise of many Muslims, some of the largest U.S. Islamic organizations, accustomed over the 14 years since 9/11 to quickly cobbling together news conferences and messaging against terrorism, decided to loudly, even eloquently, stand up in support of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Advertisement Homophobia, transphobia and Islamophobia are interconnected systems of oppression, Council of American-Islamic Relations national Executive Director Nihad Awad said Sunday at a Washington, D.C., news conference. Later, the organization delayed a report it planned to release on Islamophobia, saying in an email that discussion should focus on anti-LGBT hate. Gay Muslims are sending me messages, confused and afraid. Daayiee Abdullah, 62, gay imam in Washington, D.C. A United Methodist minister from a group called the Queer Faith Forum was invited to speak at a Monday vigil at the Islamic Center of Southern California, one of the largest mosques in the Western U.S. Outside Washington, D.C., the All-Dulles Area Muslim Society, another prominent mosque, released a statement saying its faith aims to reject violence, hatred, and discrimination against sexual orientation. Usually, those kinds of groups just ignore me and LGBT Muslims, said Daayiee Abdullah, a 62-year-old gay imam and Muslim activist in Washington, D.C., who was invited to join the CAIR conference where Awad spoke against oppression. He couldnt attend because he had an NPR interview scheduled, but gestures like that have made Abdullah believe the tide is slowly changing for LGBT Muslims in America. Still, he knows the picture is dire for some Muslims who saw their identities collide in Orlando. Gay Muslims are sending me messages, confused and afraid, said Abdullah, who formerly led prayers at Light of Reform Mosque, a small congregation that met in a church basement in the capital. I tell them, Dont let one event make you think there are thousands of them happening. Hurdles remain for many. When Fahd Sadiq, a 35-year-old graphic designer in Orlando, heard of the attack, it felt unusually familiar. Sadiq had often danced at Pulse since emigrating from Pakistan 2 years ago. Growing up in a conservative Muslim family, he was forced to marry a woman, then abandoned by his relatives when he divorced and came out as gay. He said his father arranged for him to be shot; he survived and left the country. Religion can instigate people to become violent, said Sadiq, who came to the U.S. seeking to be openly gay and no longer calls himself Muslim. But I dont think any religion can be used to justify killing people. Ive never felt any sort of hostility in Orlando, said Sadiq, who shares mutual friends with many of the victims, and whose roommates boyfriend, Juan Jose, is in intensive care after the shooting. But I have felt it from Muslims. Although gay rights have become mainstream among some religious groups in the U.S. -- several Christian and Jewish denominations now ordain gay clergy and officiate same-sex weddings -- gay Muslims say LGBT issues have been much harder to promote in mosques. A majority of Islamic scholars view homosexuality as sinful. Fearing criticism, some imams who are privately friendly to LGBT causes keep publicly silent. Parts of the Koran condemn homosexual acts, but their interpretation is debated. Most opposition is based on the Korans story of Lot, which is similar to the Old Testaments story of Sodom and Gomorrah. Conservative Muslims say God destroyed the cities because men were having sex with men. Progressive Muslims, like their liberal Christian counterparts, often instead see the story as condemning rape. Im openly gay and everyone in my family knows, but the culture is so conservative that they wont even mention the issue. Farah Giama, 45, of Cambridge, Mass. Since the Orlando attack, nascent groups, such as the Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity (MASGD), are also stepping forward. The organization recently held its sixth retreat for gay Muslims outside Philadelphia over Memorial Day weekend. Tragedies often lead people to seek someone or something to blame, but we ask our friends to resist this temptation, its leaders said in a statement, adding that Muslims should not be blamed for the attack. The Atlanta chapter of Muslims for Progressive Values, which runs gay-friendly prayer spaces, is hosting prayers Friday for victims and to offer support for gay Muslims. MPV, based in Los Angeles, has also issued a challenge to imams to preach against homophobia at Friday prayer services. In a 2014 Pew Research Center survey, the organization found that 45% of U.S. Muslims said homosexuality should be accepted, while 47% said it should be discouraged. Members of almost all other religious groups, except evangelical Christians, Mormons and Jehovahs Witnesses, were more accepting. Im openly gay and everyone in my family knows, but the culture is so conservative that they wont even mention the issue, said Farah Giama, a 45-year-old, Kenyan-born Muslim in Cambridge, Mass. Its a mix of culture and religion, and people sometimes confuse the two. Giama has spent many hours since Sunday talking about the attacks with his family. For Adam, a 20-year-old Somali-American who is a student at Boston University, the tension around discussing the attack with family left him grappling with his faith. He asked that his last name not be used because his family does not know hes gay. I myself being gay and Muslim was very disappointed seeing a Muslim guy kill people in the holy month of Ramadan, he said, referring to the Islamic month of fasting that began in early June. He said he told his family the news and they started preaching. They said that Allah sent the [shooter] to fulfill the job. And I was like, What job? They said killing abominations, a euphemism for gay people. Hearing that from the whole family was the worst thing I have ever heard in my life. ALSO Victims of the Orlando nightclub massacre: Who they were A night of terror: How the Orlando nightclub shooting unfolded More than 2,000 gather at L.A. City Hall for Orlando shooting vigil Jaweed Kaleem is The Times national race and justice correspondent. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. Even the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history is not likely to persuade Congress to change the nations gun laws. Democrats in the Senate said Monday that they would renew efforts to ban gun sales to terrorism suspects in the aftermath of the Orlando attack. But the bill is likely to find the same fate it did six months ago, after the San Bernardino terrorist attack, when the Republican majority opposed it on a largely party line vote. Advertisement More ambitious proposals, including one to reinstate an assault weapons ban, were not immediately on the table. The only way were going to see the kind of change to our gun safety laws that we would like to see, that the vast majority of the country would like to see will be when individual Americans make clear to their representatives in Congress that this is a top priority, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Monday. He noted that if lawmakers werent moved to tighten gun laws after the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting in Newtown, Conn., in 2012, they probably wont change their minds now. There are a lot of people who suspected that seeing 20 first-graders get massacred in their classroom, that that might have sufficient pull on the nations conscience and on the conscience of individual members in the United States Congress to get them to change some of these laws, Earnest said. And it didnt. Votes could come as soon as this week on the measure from California Sen. Dianne Feinstein to ban terrorism suspects from being able to purchase firearms. Omar Mateen, the gunman in the weekend shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., was no longer on the terrorist watch list after federal investigations of his activity in 2013 and 2014. But Democrats said the legislation would have given authorities the ability to block firearms sales because he had been under suspicion. Authorities said Mateen had recently purchased the handgun and assault rifle used in the rampage. Theres no excuse for allowing suspected terrorists to buy guns, said Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), as the Senate opened Monday, recounting the 49 clubgoers slain over the weekend, a number that could rise as many of those injured remained hospitalized. Is that enough to get our attention? Its time for Congress to do something, Reid said. Despite public outcry over mass shootings, election-year politics are driving both parties away from seriously tackling any legislative solutions. Most Americans support stricter gun laws, and believe they would help prevent gun violence, according to polling from earlier this year. But those views are not shared across party lines. Most Republicans oppose tougher gun laws, and GOP leaders are loath to risk upsetting the conservative base especially as the party is already deeply split over presumed presidential nominee Donald Trump. Gun advocates and the National Rifle Assn., which endorsed Trump, oppose measures to limit access to firearms. Democrats, meanwhile, are trying to strike a balance between their progressive base, which is ready to fight for tougher gun laws, and the more moderate wing, which they hope will attract some Republican voters this year amid the discomfort with Trump. The decision by Democrats to put forward the terrorism suspect bill appears to offer the kind of middle-ground approach that does not overreach, but could still put political pressure on Republican lawmakers. Only one Democratic senator opposed it last year. The legislation, first proposed by the George W. Bush administration in 2007, would add terrorism suspects as a new category of individuals who can be denied firearm purchases during federal background checks. It would allow law enforcement to block sales or transfers to individuals known or suspected to be or have been engaged in conduct constituting, in preparation for, in aid of, or related to terrorism, or providing material support or resources for terrorism. The bill also allows an appeals process for those who believe they were wrongly added to the list. We have to make it harder for people to have those weapons of war, presumed Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton said Monday in a speech backing the bill. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) did not address the gun legislation as he called for a moment of silence Monday in the chamber to honor the victims in Orlando. Several members of Congress, however, have said they will no longer stand for such symbolic acts as Washington refuses to fully debate the issue. Congress failed to pass a package of gun measures after the Sandy Hook school shooting, and Connecticuts two senators, Christopher S. Murphy and Richard Blumenthal, both Democrats, have called Congress complicit in such shooting deaths because of its inaction. Earlier this year, President Obama took administrative steps to require some increased background checks and other changes in the face of congressional gridlock. Asked whether Obama is resigned to the idea that hes powerless to stop more mass shootings, Earnest said he is not. The president, he said, is quite intensely frustrated. lisa.mascaro@latimes.com Twitter: @LisaMascaro christi.parsons@latimes.com Twitter: @cparsons ALSO After Orlando, California lawmakers rally for gun control bills West Hollywood gay bar considering armed guards after Orlando shooting Orlando gunman had used gay dating app and visited LGBT nightclub on other occasions, witnesses say As Patience Carter and two friends cowered inside the handicapped bathroom stall, injured and pinned by a crush of bleeding bodies, the gunman who opened fire in the Pulse nightclub kept talking. He said, Are there any black people in here? I was too afraid to answer, said Carter, who is African American. Carter continued: There was an African American man in the stall with us... he said, Yes, there are about six or seven of us. The gunman responded back to him saying that, You know, I dont have a problem with black people, this is about my country. You guys suffered enough. Advertisement Patience Carter after describing the attack on the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times ) Carter, a slight 20-year-old NYU student from Philadelphia, had just arrived in Orlando, Fla., for her first night of vacation. On Tuesday she and others who sought refuge in the side-by-side mens and womens restrooms during Sundays attack recounted how the gunman barked orders, claimed to have accomplices and laughed during the attack, which took 49 lives. They also described how those trapped in the restrooms played dead, reached out to police by phone and tried to arrange their escape. Carter and Angel Santiago, a 32-year-old sales consultant, met with reporters at Florida Hospital in Orlando to recount the events that unfolded at the gay nightclub just after 2 a.m. Sunday. Santiago, lying atop a gurney, a white sheet draped over his lap concealing his wounds, said he and a friend crammed into a stall with 15 to 20 people as the gunfire rang out. At one point, everyone was just like, Shh, shh. Be quiet, be quiet. Thats when bullets started going through the stall wall toward us, he said. Santiago was shot in his left foot and right knee, his friend in the chest. Then the shooting stopped and the gunman moved on. Santiago did not hear the gunman say anything, but Carter did. Omar Mateen, who was born in New York to Afghan immigrant parents, spoke in a foreign language, she said. Then he called 911. Through the conversation with 911, he said that the reason why he was doing this was he wanted America to stop bombing his country, she said. So the motive was very clear to us who were laying in our blood and other peoples blood who were injured, who were shot that we knew what his motive was. And he was not going to stop killing people until he was killed, until he felt that the message got out there. See the most-read stories this hour >> Angel Santiago on June 14, describes how events unfolded during the mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando two days earlier. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) Carter and a friend had gone to the bathroom in search of another friend when the shooting began and the trio fled into a stall. A man who had closed the stall door to shield the others was shot. Later, she heard the gunman complain, Damn! It jammed, as he fiddled with the gun. As the hours went by, Carter said, the gunman yelled at people to shut off their cellphones. Some phones rang but went unanswered. We were assuming because they were dead, she said. Every time a phone would go off or a text message [alert], he would say, Where is it? Give it up, and hostages would have to hand over their phones, she said. Orlando Torres, 52, one of the promoters at Pulse, was trapped in a neighboring stall of the same bathroom with a friend. Torres said he drew upon his experience as a former auxiliary police officer in Queens, N.Y., and security guard at Orlando Regional Medical Center, where he and other victims would later be treated. Three hours in that bathroom with that gunman, Im surprised that we dont have a bullet wound on us. We were protected, we were saved it was just a miracle, he said in an interview. Torres said the gunman called police to say, America needs to stop bombing ISIS in Syria. He just wanted to repeat, only to get the message across. They were trying to ask him other questions and he wasnt liking it. He wasnt ready to give answers and so he hung up on them. Later, he heard the gunman brag, Yeah, I have a lot of bullets. When Mateen started shooting into the neighboring stall, one of the wounded reached over and knocked Torres and his friend to the floor. They played dead. He felt something tap his pants pocket it felt like the tip of gun. I figured if I didnt react, Id look dead, Torres said. I thought he would shoot me after that. But he didnt. Instead, Mateen washed his hands and used the wall hand drier as they heard police arriving. Im thinking, when are they going to come in here? It took forever. Im like, did they forget about us? Torres said. Richard Aiken, 29, was also in the bathroom, and heard the gunman mention the mass shooting that killed nine African Americans at a church in Charleston last June. He was just saying that he doesnt have a problem with black people. He said, You remember the thing that happened in South Carolina at the AME church? said Aiken, who is African American and originally from South Carolina. Aiken was able to call his mother, then texted a friend at 3:14 a.m. who had escaped and was still outside near police. What are they doing to get this person? Aiken texted. Can you ask? Maybe we could help. Aiken relayed what he and Carter had heard: that the gunman claimed he had an explosive vest, that snipers were positioned around the club, that he had a female accomplice playing dead among the wounded, armed with explosives. How many gunmen are they? What they look like? Who is he? his friend texted back. One person in bathroom with us, sound like he has more than one weapon. We dont know how he looks, Aiken replied. Around 5 a.m. they heard a boom, and another boom. Aiken heard police on a loudspeaker: Move as far away from the walls as you can. About a minute later, he said, the gunman opened the stall door and looked in. We made eye contact very briefly and I just put my head back down, Aiken said, describing Mateen as having a straight face. The gunman walked away, then quickly returned and fired into the stall, shooting men and women on both sides of Aiken. Thats when the police exploded the wall, and the police and him exchanged gunfire, Aiken said. Aiken lost his best friend, Tevin Crosby, 25. He doesnt understand why police waited to confront the gunman, why the off-duty officer who police said traded gunfire with him didnt pursue Mateen when he retreated to the bathrooms. Norman Casiano, 25, another clubgoer trapped in a restroom, said hostages begged the gunman not to shoot, insisting they did not know who he was and had not seen his face. All I heard was a laugh, he said. It was like a happy villain. Carter, meanwhile, could only wait. At one point, she prayed to die. I was just begging God to take the soul out of my body, she said. As the police broke through the wall, the gunman backed toward the stall, then scooted away. He said, Hey you! and shot another person, then another person who Im told shielded me with their body, Carter said. I dont know who that was, but thank you. She asked her friend Tiara Parker, 20, if she was shot. She was. So was friend Akyra Murray, who was sprawled on Parkers lap, unresponsive. As police entered, the hostages warned them about possible snipers, Carter said. A member of the SWAT team dragged her through the grass to an ambulance. A bullet had shattered a bone in her right leg and then entered her left leg. She didnt realize her left leg was hit until paramedics cut her clothes off in the ambulance. When the shooting started, she and Murray had been standing in front of an exit and quickly stepped out. She persuaded Murray to go back in to find Parker, and they ended up in the bathroom. Murray, just 18, would die in the attack. Carter has spoken with Murrays mother, who told her, Thats OK. God has a plan. But Carter still feels survivors guilt. Of the more than 50 wounded, 33 remained hospitalized Tuesday, half a dozen in critical condition. At the hospital Carter wrote a poem in a small notebook. The guilt of feeling grateful to be alive is heavy, she wrote, recalling the other 49 who were not so lucky to feel this pain of mine. She read it and told the story of those hours in the bathroom without breaking down once. Then suddenly she sobbed uncontrollably as she was wheeled away. MORE ON ORLANDO SHOOTING How the Orlando attack could mark a shift for gay Muslims A night of terror: How the Orlando nightclub shooting unfolded Gunman had used gay dating app and visited LGBT nightclub on other occasions, witnesses say UPDATES: 9:14 p.m.: Updated with new details and changes throughout. This article was originally published at 2:37 p.m. Omar Mateen increasingly sought out Islamic State videos and other radical Islamist propaganda in the months leading up to his shooting rampage at an Orlando, Fla., gay nightclub Sunday, investigators have found. A counter-terrorism official said investigators had uncovered the material while reviewing Mateens Internet search history. Mateen, who was killed by a SWAT team, pledged allegiance to Islamic State during the attack. As the inquiry into the Orlando nightclub shooting broadened Tuesday, with investigators ranging as far afield as Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia, survivors recounted the New York-born gunman whose parents are Afghan immigrants telling them he had gone on a killing rampage because he wanted America to stop bombing his country. Advertisement Yet there has been intense speculation about Mateens motives, ranging from Islamist extremism to sexual repression. FBI officials revealed that Mateen, who killed 49 people Sunday in the worst mass shooting in modern American history, had visited Pulse and frequented other gay clubs in the past and had used a dating app on his phone to meet other men. He also made repeated visits to Disney properties in Florida during the Gay Days Orlando festivities. It is fair to say there was a considerable amount of planning involved and scouting of potential locations, Rep. Adam B. Schiff of Burbank, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said in a telephone interview Tuesday after a closed-door briefing for House members by FBI director James B. Comey and other officials. Schiff would not give further details. Investigators are also investigating whether Mateens wife, Noor Zahi Salman, assisted in organizing the attack on the Pulse nightclub or knew about the attack in advance, and whether she could have warned law enforcement. Salman drove Mateen to Pulse at least once in the days before the attack, a counter-terrorism official said. The Orlando club is about a two-hour drive from their home in Fort Pierce. Salman returned with a police escort Tuesday to the apartment she shared with Mateen, and officers were investigating a reported burglary at the home early Monday morning, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported. TV footage showed her hiding her face beneath a hoodie. Investigators are also collecting data from at least two cellphones used by Mateen, as well as other electronic media and email accounts, a U.S. law enforcement official said. So far, the official said, investigators have not encountered any data that has been encrypted, a major stumbling block in the FBIs investigation of an iPhone used by the couple who killed 14 people at a holiday party in San Bernardino on Dec. 2. Six shooting victims remained in critical condition Tuesday, said Dr. Michael Cheatham, a trauma surgeon at Orlando Regional Medical Center, adding he would be surprised if the death toll does not rise. Live updates: Orlando terror attack All 49 victims killed have been identified and their families notified, and 20 of the bodies have been released to a funeral home, the Orange County Medical Examiners Office said. The county does not have the power to release the shooters body since it is in FBI custody, said county spokeswoman Ann Marie Varga. The day after a massive candlelight vigil in downtown Orlando, city officials were able to release the names of all 49 people killed mostly Latinos in their 20s and 30s. Orlando resident Nereida Perez, a 66-year-old retiree, said her cousin Llka Aroyo, 36, underwent surgery late Monday after being shot eight times in the attack. Doctors were cautiously optimistic, Perez said, though there were still bullets inside Aroyos body, near her heart. Doctors said the volume of patients with severe gunshot wounds surpassed anything they had ever handled. Initially, it was thought many patients would succumb to their wounds, but most have stabilized, doctors said. Many of the victims were originally from Puerto Rico, and four of the dead were from Mexico. Investigators, meanwhile, are trying to retrace as much of Mateens final weeks and months as possible in an effort to understand his motivation. Mateen was the target of a 10-month FBI investigation in 2013 and 2014 after making comments expressing sympathies with rival Islamist groups al Qaeda and Hezbollah, but the case was closed when a confidential informant, surveillance and eavesdropping did not turn up evidence of illegal activity. At that point Mateens name was taken off the FBI Terrorist Screening Centers watchlist. Had his name been on the watchlist when he bought the semiautomatic rifle and handgun he used in the mass shooting, an FBI agent working the case would have been notified of the purchases. At a news conference Tuesday at Florida Hospital in Orlando, one survivor, Patience Carter, described cowering with two friends inside a handicapped bathroom stall at the club while Mateen stood nearby, chatting. Among other things, she said, he announced: This is about my country. Mateen was born in New York to Afghan immigrants. Although he was a U.S. citizen, he appeared to be talking about Afghanistan. He said that the reason why he was doing this was he wanted America to stop bombing his country, Carter said. The investigation has extended to Afghanistan, where Mateens parents were from, and to Saudi Arabia. Mateen traveled to Mecca in Saudi Arabia for 10 days in March 2011 and for eight days in March 2012 to take part in the annual religious pilgrimage made by Muslims, a U.S. law enforcement official said. In 2013, when the FBI launched a 10-month investigation of Mateen for possible terrorist ties, U.S. authorities asked Saudi intelligence officials about the two trips, officials said. The Saudis had no evidence suggesting Mateen had held suspicious meetings while in the kingdom, or engaged in any other behavior that raised any alarms. Recent news reports suggesting that Mateen may have been gay have circulated widely online, including a CNN interview with his ex-wife, Sitora Yusufiy, who said she didnt know if he was gay. She said he spoke as if he hated gays. Whether the gunmans homophobia spurred from hatred of others or hatred of himself, this is homophobia all the same, the LGBT group GLAAD said in a statement. Its sadly just the latest example of homophobia turning to horrific violence, just as it has for decades. Kevin West, a regular at Pulse, told The Times that Mateen messaged him on and off for a year before the shooting, using the gay chat and dating app Jackd. At least four regular Pulse customers told the Orlando Sentinel that they believed they had seen Mateen there before. A former classmate recalled that Mateen seemed like a regular dude until the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001. At first, I was surprised like, damn bro, I rode the bus with that kid, said Robert Zirkle, 29, who attended Martin County High School in Stuart, Fla. But then I got remembering and thinking he was crazy then, but nobody connected the dots. He started acting crazy, joking around the fact that 9/11 happened, making plane noises on the school bus and pretending he was slamming into the building, said Zirkle, who now lives in Johnston City, Tenn., where he is a manager at a McDonalds. He was happy that Americans were dying. He made that very clear. I dont know if he was always a Muslim radical, but he was excited, hyped up. We were all like, What are you talking about? Zirkle, who was a freshman at the time, said he and other students threatened Mateen to get him to stop. We told him if he didnt stop making noises, we were going to beat him up. He was really out there, he said of Mateen, who attended the Spectrum Alternative School in Stuart. He had no friends. He had people who were cordial with him or would ask him how he was doing. Only a few people spoke to him. I was one of the few who would. He was a Seinfeld kind of guy. Zirkle said he had not kept in touch with Mateen since high school and had mostly forgotten him until this weekend. On Sunday, he said, his memories were jogged as he and his former classmates gathered on Facebook chat to share stories of Mateen, along with his high school yearbook photo. If we knew this would happen, we would have stopped him a long time ago, Zirkle said. Mateen was investigated by the FBI in 2013 and 2014 after he told co-workers that he planned to kill people and wanted to die as a martyr in a police raid. He was removed from the FBIs terrorist watch list in 2014 after investigators concluded he was full of bluster and not a real threat. He was questioned again by the FBI after Moner Mohammad Abusalha joined Al Nusra Front, an Al Qaeda affiliate in Syria, and killed more than a dozen people in a truck bomb suicide attack in Syria in 2014. The FBI concluded that although Mateen and Moner had attended the same mosque, they had known each other only casually. MORE ON ORLANDO SHOOTING How the Orlando attack could mark a shift for gay Muslims A night of terror: How the Orlando nightclub shooting unfolded Gunman had used gay dating app and visited LGBT nightclub on other occasions, witnesses say Bennett and Wilber reported from Washington and Pearce from Los Angeles. Staff writers Alexia Fernandez in Los Angeles, Tracy Wilkinson and Molly Hennessy-Fiske in Orlando, Fla., and special correspondent Jenny Jarvie in Port St. Lucie, Fla., contributed to this report. UPDATES: 7:24 p.m.: Updated with new information, including more details about propaganda and injured victims. 5:57 p.m.: Updated with Islamic State videos and other propaganda found and more details about Noor Salman. 3:30 p.m.: Updated with details from the hospital news conference. 11:51 a.m.: This article was updated with new details on Disney visits. 11:14 a.m.: This article was updated with investigators speaking to Mateens widow. 9:50 a.m.: This article was updated with new information. This article was originally published at 8:57 a.m. 6:41 P.M. Orlando Orlando shooter had been removed from his job as a courthouse security guard Omar Mateen, shown in undated photograph. (AFP/Getty Images) Ken J. Mascara, the sheriff of St. Lucie County in Florida, said Thursday that the man who carried out the massacre at an Orlando nightclub was removed from his job as a security guard at the countys courthouse in 2013 after he made inflammatory comments about women, Jews and the mass shooting at Ft. Hood. Here is Mascaras statement: Omar Mateen was one of multiple contracted security guards that rotated through the St. Lucie County Courthouse as part of a contract with G4S Secure Solutions USA Inc. In early 2013, our staff was made aware of inflammatory comments made by Mateen. Our courthouse supervisor first requested that G4S management transfer him out of the courthouse rotation permanently. That was immediately granted. Our agency then made the appropriate notifications to inform our federal partners. It was at this time that the FBI began an investigation into Mateen that was later deemed inconclusive. Molly Hennessy-Fiske June 12, 2016, 4:30 p.m. Who they were: The victims of the Orlando terror attack Read more 2:06 P.M. Obama on gun violence President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden at a memorial in Orlando, Fla., for the victims of Sundays mass shooting at a gay nightclub. (Saul Loeb / AFP/Getty Images) The motives of this killer may have been different than mass shooters in Aurora or Newtown, but the instruments of death were so similar. President Obama 1:52 P.M. Watch President Obama speak in Orlando 1:28 P.M. Obama: Notion that being armed would have saved Orlando victims defies common sense President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden place flowers for the shooting victims at a memorial at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Orlando, Fla., on June 16, 2016. (SAUL LOEBSAUL/AFP/Getty Images) In Orlando, Fla., President Obama referred to Donald Trumps recent claim that more lives could have been saved at Pulse if more patrons were armed themselves. Such a notion defies common sense, he said, without naming Trump. Obama said he was pleased the Senate would hold votes on gun safety measures, one day after Democrats waged a filibuster to force the issue. Earlier, Obama met with the owners and staff of the Pulse nightclub, a place, he said, to be who you truly are. The attack, an act of hate, was an opportunity for Americans to reflect on how we treat one another, Obama said. Hatred toward people because of sexual orientation, regardless of where it comes from, is a a betrayal of whats best in us, he said. Christi Parsons 1:26 P.M. Obama: Lone wolves require different approach Obama said the nation would continue to be relentless in its fight against terrorist networks like Al Qaeda and Islamic State. But he noted that attacks in Orlando, Fla., and San Bernardino were perpetrated not by sophisticated cells but so-called lone wolves, requiring a different approach. We cant anticipate or catch every single deranged person who may wish to do harm, he said. But we can do something about the damage they do. As he embraced the victims families, Obama said they pleaded for him to do more. They dont care about the politics, and neither do I, he said. Christi Parsons 1:25 P.M. reporting from orlando, fla. Most of all, there is love, Obama says in mourning Orlando victims Orlandos response to the Pulse shooting massacre is a reminder of what is good about America, President Obama said in an emotional tribute to the victims Thursday. After hours-long meetings with their families and survivors of the deadly attack, Obama and Vice President Joe Biden traveled to a makeshift memorial to leave bouquets of 49 white roses -- one for each life lost -- among the other flowers, balloons and photos that have collected there. In brief remarks to reporters after, Obama said those lost showed us what is best about humanity. It will carry us through this atrocity and other challenges, he said as a light rain began to fall. Out of this darkest of moments, that gives us hope. Though the city was shaken by an evil, hateful act, the president added, most of all, there is love. Christi Parsons 1:06 P.M. Sen. John McCain: Obama directly responsible for Orlando shooting Sen. John McCain speaks on Capitol Hill in April. (Evan Vucci / Associated Press) Republican Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Thursday that President Obama is directly responsible for the mass shooting in Orlando, Fla,, because Obama has allowed the growth of Islamic State group on his watch. McCain who lost to Obama in the 2008 presidential election made the comment to reporters while Obama was in Orlando visiting with the families of those killed in Sundays attack and some of the survivors. Barack Obama is directly responsible for it, because when he pulled everybody out of Iraq, Al Qaeda went to Syria, became ISIS, and ISIS is what it is today thanks to Barack Obamas failures, utter failures, by pulling everybody out of Iraq, a visibly angry McCain told reporters in the Capitol as the Senate debated a spending bill. So the responsibility for it lies with President Barack Obama and his failed policies, McCain said. However, McCain later sought to clarify his comments, saying over Twitter: To clarify, I was referring to Pres Obamas national security decisions that have led to rise of #ISIL, not to the President himself. Associated Press This post was updated to reflect McCains clarification of his earlier remarks. The original post was published at 12:06 p.m. 12:04 P.M. Florida Sen. Bill Nelson also meets with victims families 11:09 A.M. Medical examiner kept gunmans body separate from victims The body of one of the Orlando massacre victims arrives at the Orange County, Fla., medical examiners office on June 12, 2016. (Alan Diaz / Associated Press) The medical examiner who oversaw the autopsies of the 49 victims in the Pulse nightclub shooting says he kept their bodies separated from the gunmans body. Dr. Joshua Stephany said in a statement Thursday that the remains of gunman Omar Mateen were being held in a building separate from the victims. He also says the gunmans autopsy was conducted in a separate building from the victims. Stephany says he decided to do that not because of any requirement but because he thought it was the right thing to do. The medical examiner says his staff was able to identify and conduct autopsies on the all victims within 72 hours after Sunday mornings shooting. Associated Press 10:59 A.M. Flags of Puerto Rico and Mexico appear in Orlando memorials Marisa Gerber 10:39 A.M. Obama arrives at the Amway Center 10:36 A.M. An Orlando cops gesture of solidarity with the citys Puerto Rican community Nearly half of those killed in the Pulse nightclub massacre had ties to Puerto Rico. 10:29 A.M. CIA director predicts more terrorist attacks like those in Orlando, Brussels and Paris John Brennan responds to a senators question during his February 2013 confirmation hearings to be director of the CIA. (Michael Reynolds / European Pressphoto Agency) CIA Director John Brennan warned Thursday that as Islamic State loses ground in Syria and Iraq, it probably will use guerrilla tactics to launch more terrorist attacks like those in Orlando, Fla., Brussels and Paris. The CIA has seen no sign that Omar Mateen, who killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, was in contact with Islamic State or any other terrorist group, Brennan told the Senate Intelligence Committee. Like the married couple who killed 14 people on Dec. 2 in San Bernardino, Mateen appears to have been self-radicalized online, in part by listening to jihadist sermons and watching videos of beheadings by militants. Brian Bennett Read more 10:26 A.M. Islamic State inspiring DIY terror Crime scene investigators search Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Maliks SUV after a gun battle with the couple in San Bernardino on Dec. 4, 2015. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) Islamic State supporters have accounted for 67 homegrown violent jihadist plots in the United States between 2014 and early June 2016, according to an analysis by the Congressional Research Service, although only a handful were carried out. The plots, in which Americans either joined terrorist organizations abroad or committed violent attacks at home or overseas, involved more than 100 individuals, the 18-page report said. A total of 13 homegrown attacks were carried out in the United States since 2001, the CRS found, five of which involved people inspired by the Islamic State. The analysis said these attackers, which include the Orlando shooter and the couple who gunned down 14 people in San Bernardino, often acted alone and did not have sustained, substantive, in-person contact with foreign terrorist organizations, rather they scraped together ideological justification from online and social media sources. In essence, these attacks involved do-it-yourself DIY terrorists, the study said. Largely isolated from the operational support of terrorist organizations, they acquired violent skills (however rudimentary) by themselves or relied on abilities that they had developed prior to becoming violent jihadists. W.J. Hennigan 10:07 A.M. Obamas Orlando visit will be different than previous trips following mass shootings (Jose Luis Magana/Associated Press) President Obama has arrived in Orlando, Fla., to meet with the family members of victims of the Pulse nightclub massacre. But unlike some of the presidents previous trips for memorial services after mass shootings, this one will be decidedly low-key: no address to a large crowd, but simply a few personal reflections to the press after spending time with mourners. The White House has worked closely with Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer to coordinate the visit, spokesman Eric Schultz told reporters traveling with the president, and did not want to overburden local law enforcement officials strained by the attacks. The quick visit, though, was a way for both Obama and Vice President Joe Biden to show that Americans stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of central Florida. Theres no more tangible way to show support than by traveling to the city where this horrific incident occurred, Schultz said. The shooting has quickly become fodder for the presidential campaign, but Obamas visit has a bipartisan note. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida joined Obama aboard Air Force One to travel to Orlando. And among those greeting Obama upon arrival was Republican Gov. Rick Scott. Michael A. Memoli 10:01 A.M. Vigil for Orlando shooting victims held in politically conservative Orange County Sisters Sarah Bryant, left, and Katy Bryant, both from Irvine, listen as the names of the Orlando shooting victims are read during a vigil at the Velvet Lounge, a gay bar and club in Santa Ana. (Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times) The comfort of words flowed, as smooth as their spirits. A vigil for the victims of the Orlando mass shooting, the largest in U.S. history, took place in a gay nightclub in Santa Ana the seat of famously conservative Orange County. This is the church of the LGBTQ community, our safe space, Sian Wiltshire of Orange Coast Unitarian Universalist Church said Wednesday night, standing under rainbow-colored spotlights at the Velvet Lounge. About 100 people, many of them holding flickering candles, intoned the names of the dead. He shattered a veneer of safety that we all had constructed. I feel like we have to go back and reclaim that. Rev. Kent Doss of Tapestry Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Mission Viejo Read more Anh Do 9:56 A.M. Obama arrives in Orlando 8:39 P.M. Orlando, fla. Thousands gather in Orlando in vigil for mass shooting victims (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) Thousands gathered in downtown Orlando late Monday to mourn those killed in a deadly shooting at a nearby gay nightclub, listening as church bells tolled 49 times in honor of the victims. Hoisting rainbow signs and flags on the lawn outside the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, the crowd heard from Muslim, LGBT and Latino community leaders, and others affected by the Sunday morning attack on Pulse nightclub. Brittany Torres, 18, of Orlando had made a sign honoring two friends killed in the shooting: Simon Adrian Carrillo Fernandez and Oscar Aracena-Montero, who had been her manager when she worked at McDonalds. As she talked about the way he encouraged her to succeed, Torres started to cry. Her sister, Lesly Colon, 26, also brought a homemade sign for the victims, and recalled Pulse as a special, safe space. It was the first club she went to when she came out five years ago. Madeline Baez, 44, said she goes to gay clubs with her daughter and accepts who she is. She knows other families have not been as accepting, but that may change in the wake of the shooting, she said. A lot of families are coming together just because, What if its my child? she said. Jaime Soto, 28, of Orlando also knew some of the victims, including a man killed with his boyfriend who left behind a 5-year-old son. He spotted the boys mother in the vigil crowd, wearing a shirt bearing a picture of the couple arm in arm. She began to cry, as did Soto, as they embraced. It really shows you its just one community. Its not just LGBT -- its affecting us all, Soto said. --Molly Hennessy-Fiske Bernie Sanders began to shift Tuesday from a campaign for votes to a bid to maintain influence in national politics, calling for a fundamental transformation of the Democratic Party as he sought to set the terms for his formal exit from the presidential race. On the day he lost the last nominating contest of the season, the District of Columbia primary, to Hillary Clinton, Sanders was clearly a man in transition. He made his first appearance in months at the Senate Democrats weekly policy luncheon and even joined his colleagues in the formal class photo in the Senate chamber. In the evening, he met with Clinton, the partys presumptive nominee, at a Washington hotel for more than 90 minutes. Advertisement And he announced plans for a Thursday online video address to his supporters, saying in an email message that while the voting may be over, our political revolution continues. In a brief news conference at his campaigns Washington headquarters, Sanders did not address his political future or offer an endorsement of Clinton. Instead, he offered what was essentially his list of demands to a party that he has belonged to for less than a year: new leadership at the Democratic National Committee, a progressive party platform, and changes to the Democratic nominating contest that would include opening up all primaries to independent voters, same-day voter registration and an end to the superdelegate system. It isnt clear to what extent the Clinton campaign is willing to accommodate Sanders wish-list. Some of the electoral reforms he proposed are subject to state law, not party policy. We share a lot of the same goals, Clinton said in an interview with Telemundo when asked about Sanders role going forward. I very much am looking forward to having his support in this campaign because Donald Trump poses a serious threat to our nation. Sanders, while stopping short of stating publicly that his candidacy is over, held out his base of support as leverage. Somewhere between 1,900 and 2,000 delegates [are going] to Philadelphia, he said, referring to the partys nominating convention next month. They want to see the Democratic Party transformed. They want to see the Democratic Party stand up to the wealthy and powerful and start representing the millions of people who are hurting. Sanders has not been an active candidate in the week since Clinton scored a decisive victory in Californias primary and secured a majority of pledged delegates. He has held only one major rally in the District of Columbia, on a day on which President Obama formally endorsed Clinton as his preferred Democratic successor. Last weekend Sanders met privately with his core supporters in his home state of Vermont, as his senior campaign officials continued to communicate with their Clinton counterparts ahead of their face-to-face meeting. And even as he has remained circumspect about the Democratic Partys leadership he has not only called for a new chairman, but expressed support for the primary election opponent of the current chair, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida he has avoided attacking Clinton personally while vowing to defeat her likely opponent in the general election. Let me make it very clear, if I havent 10,000 times previously: I think Donald Trump is totally unfit to be president of the United States, he said. Democratic senators enthusiastically welcomed Sanders back to the Capitol on Tuesday, offering three separate standing ovations for their colleague as he addressed them during a weekly lunch. Sanders outlined his proposals for reforming the party, while colleagues stressed the need to focus on the issues that unite them in the months ahead. I believe we all have to come together and support our nominee, said Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), the lone Senate Democrat to have endorsed Sanders, who now backs Clinton. This is the last day of voting, and [she has] the votes that [she] needs. But the issue of putting America on track hasnt come to an end. Sen. Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.) said that Sanders will continue to play a major role in shaping policy in the Senate. He serves on five committees; hes chaired two of them. So its not as if hes a backbencher, he said. Hes had pretty good opportunities to lead, and my guess is if he wants them, hell have plenty more. michael.memoli@latimes.com For more 2016 campaign coverage, follow @mikememoli on Twitter. ALSO Clinton or Sanders: Who did your L.A. neighborhood choose? Obama and Clinton slam Trump as out to destroy American values The Trump and Clinton responses to the Orlando shooting just reset the political norm UPDATES: 7:45 p.m.: This article was updated with information about the Clinton-Sanders meeting and comment from Clinton. 7:11 p.m.: This article was updated with the results of the District of Columbia primary. This article was originally published at 3:02 p.m. Officials say a 7-year-old California girl died after her mother lost control of her car and the vehicle plunged into the Russian River. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the California Highway Patrol said the girls mother, Luz Ramirez-Marquez, was driving on Highway 101 in Mendocino County when she crashed Sunday afternoon. CHP Officer Marian Pohl said witnesses saw the car veer off the road and plummet about 300 feet into a ravine. Advertisement Hopland Fire Department Assistant Chief Mitch Franklin said passers-by were performing CPR on the girl when firefighters arrived. Firefighters took over but the girl was pronounced dead at the scene. Franklin says it took nearly an hour to cut Ramirez-Marquez out of the car. She was flown to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital with major injuries. ALSO 3 dead, 2 wounded in possible murder-suicide in Panorama City Two Southern California residents among nine soldiers killed in Ft. Hood accident Man allegedly headed to L.A. Pride with guns and explosive chemicals due in court Officers fatally shot an armed man inside a Wal-Mart store in Amarillo on Tuesday after he took two people hostage, including a manager with whom he had a work-related dispute, according to police. Amarillo police said neither hostage was injured and identified the suspect as 54-year-old Mohammad Moghaddam. Police didnt release any details about Moghaddam, including whether he was former employee or what may have led up to the incident. See the most-read stories this hour >> Advertisement Officers responded to a reported shooting at the store around 11 a.m., amid reports that an armed person was inside and may have had hostages. Police later said that officers made their way inside the store and that a police SWAT crew shot the suspect, though they didnt immediately say whether the man had died. No other injuries were reported. In a brief statement late Tuesday afternoon, police confirmed that Moghaddam had been fatally shot. Police called the incident a workplace violence event, saying Moghaddam had a work-related dispute with a manager he took hostage. Wal-Mart spokesman Brian Nick released a statement earlier Tuesday saying all store associates and customers were safe. Nick thanked officers, saying: This was a very difficult situation and we are thankful for the quick response from law enforcement. Authorities said the investigation was ongoing in Amarillo, a city in the Texas Panhandle. Some nearby streets were closed as a precaution during the incident, including an offramp to Interstate 27. The city released a statement earlier in the day saying only that emergency officials were on the scene of an active shooter incident. MORE NATIONAL NEWS Orlando shooting investigation broadens to Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia What is the lone surviving firefighter from Yarnell, Ariz., doing to get his reputation back? What its like to live under North Carolinas bathroom law if youre transgender UPDATES: 3:38 p.m.: This article was updated with news that armed man was killed and that there were two hostages. 2:20 p.m.: This article was updated with news that at least one person was taken hostage during the incident. 12:37 p.m.: This article was updated with a statement from the city and some more details. 10:39 a.m.: This article was updated with police announcing there were no confirmed gunshot victims. This article was originally published at 10:13 a.m. A bisexual man convicted of murder as a hate crime for shooting a gay man he taunted on a New York City street was sentenced Tuesday to 40 years to life in prison. A Manhattan jury had convicted Elliot Morales in the May 2013 shooting of Mark Carson in the Greenwich Village neighborhood, a center of American gay life for decades. Prosecutors said Morales had issues with his own sexuality and was jealous that Carson and his roommate were openly gay. He yelled anti-gay slurs at the men before shooting Carson in the face at close range. Advertisement Arrested moments later, Morales began laughing and admitted killing Carson as officers held him down. Diagnosis dead, doctor, he is heard shouting on an officers video. Morales, who represented himself in court, said he acted in self-defense and couldnt be guilty of a hate crime because he is bisexual. His star witness was a transgender woman who testified that she was his ex-lover. As he cross-examined Carsons former roommate at trial, Morales blamed the two men for the conflict that led to the shooting and suggested they should have ignored the taunts and walked away. In his closing argument, he wept and told jurors that he was not a bigot of any type and that charging him with a hate crime was ridiculous. NEWSLETTER: Get the days top headlines from Times Editor Davan Maharaj The shooting happened a few blocks from the Stonewall Inn, the site of 1969 riots that helped give rise to the gay rights movement. Any life lost to gun violence is a tragedy for our city, Manhattan Dist, Atty. Cyrus R. Vance Jr. said in a statement. But homophobic, hate-fueled incidents like this one are particularly unconscionable. As we mourn the lives lost in Orlando, we remain committed to doing everything we can to combat and prevent crimes against LGBT New Yorkers. ALSO A night of terror: How the Orlando nightclub shooting unfolded French attacker streamed slaying of police officer and partner, officials say Orlando shooting investigation broadens to Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia Good morning. It is Tuesday, June 14. An Orange County-based company wants to bring nap time to you. Nappify wants employees to take power naps in its new mobile sleeping pod. One nap session costs $13. Heres what else is happening in the Golden State: TOP STORIES Political dynasty Advertisement For decades, the Calderon name carried weight and on the Eastside, it was synonymous with political power and bare-knuckled politics. But the Calderon dynasty has suffered a crushing blow now that former state Sen. Ron Calderon has agreed to plead guilty to one count of mail fraud. In exchange, prosecutors will ask that he serve no more than 70 months in prison. The longtime politician admitted to taking tens of thousands of dollars in exchange for favors. Los Angeles Times Funding help Los Angeles County officials are looking to change a state law so they can impose a millionaires tax to raise money for homeless services. Gov. Jerry Brown, however, has been reluctant to give local governments greater authority to tax residents. The proposal has also met with some skepticism from labor groups and others concerned that a county income tax measure would hurt the chances of passing an extension of Proposition 30, a statewide temporary income tax increase, to fund public schools and healthcare. Los Angeles Times Strike vote A decade after the longest supermarket strike in U.S. history, the unions representing grocery store employees are back at the bargaining table. And on June 20, 47,000 employees will vote on whether to authorize a strike. Grocery store jobs look much more like fast-food jobs than they used to. Lower pay, fewer benefits, more people part-time, said Chris Tilly, director of the UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment. Los Angeles Times DROUGHT AND CLIMATE Saving the fish: Regulators are looking at plans to prevent the extinction of two fish species in California. The proposals under discussion represent a drastic some would say desperate effort to bolster the populations of fish species that have been decimated by years of drought and environmental decline in Californias overdrafted watersheds. Sacramento Bee L.A. AT LARGE Safety concerns: The operators of the Abbey in West Hollywood are thinking about hiring armed guards in the wake of the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Florida. Were going to talk more with the sheriff and City Hall to figure out the appropriate safety precautions, according to a spokesman for the bar. Los Angeles Times Artistic memorial: One artist is remembering the victims of the Orlando shooting by placing mannequins on the roof of his West Hollywood home. It was emotional stepping over the bodies, laying them out, said ChadMichael Morrisette. Los Angeles Times Road repairs: Los Angeles would rather spend its money on maintenance than repairs when it comes to city streets. Thats why 80% of street funds go to streets in OK condition. 89.3 KPCC Musical tribute: The voice of the Dodgers, Vin Scully, will be honored next month at the Blue Diamond Gala. The event will feature a performance from Fleetwood Mac. LAist POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT Gun laws: California lawmakers are pushing for new gun control measures. A package of bills will be heard by legislative committees today. They include measures to ban the sale of semiautomatic rifles with detachable ammunition magazines and require background checks for anyone who purchases ammunition. Los Angeles Times Hillary and Bernie: In California, 6 in 10 voters who supported Bernie Sanders in the June 7 primary say they will support presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton reluctantly. A new poll finds Clinton up by 30 points in California over presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump. Los Angeles Times Dem vs. Dem: Whats going to happen to Californias Democratic Party when members start picking sides in the U.S. Senate race between Rep. Loretta Sanchez and state Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris? Ive done my best to remain neutral, but thats hard when you have friends running against friends, said Rep. Adam Schiff. Los Angeles Times No easy answers: Common myths about homelessness are floating around San Diego as city officials try to deal with the growing problem. Is it true that most homeless men and women are mentally ill individuals who dont want help? All are convenient crutches that make it easier to avoid confronting the hard work necessary to aid the homeless, especially those who seem hardest to reach. Voice of San Diego CRIME AND COURTS Scammer to the stars: Before there was Bernie Madoff, there was Dana Giacchetto, a scammer whose marks included some of Hollywoods biggest names. He was sentenced to 57 months in prison back in 2001. He died Sunday after a weekend of partying and a scuffle with security guards. Los Angeles Times Jail investigation: A former sheriffs deputy was sentenced to six months in jail for smuggling a cellphone to an inmate in exchange for a $1,500 bribe. Gilbert Michel was part of the FBIs wide-ranging investigation into the Los Angeles County jail system. Michel agreed to plead guilty in the case as part of a plea deal that called for him to testify against former colleagues. Los Angeles Times Funding public safety: Orange County could have a $20-million shortfall next year thanks to a miscalculation in sales tax revenue owed by the state. That would leave the county with significantly less money for the sheriffs department and district attorneys office. I dont know how doom and gloom this is, but it doesnt look good, said Supervisor Todd Spitzer. Orange County Register CALIFORNIA CULTURE Prince charming: Theres an entire online community devoted to helping brides plan their weddings at Disney properties. Disney weddings arent weird, weddings are weird, and not just because of all the things youre told to spend money on. Racked Shark sighting: A great white shark was spotted off the coast of Dana Point this weekend. The sighting comes two weeks after a swimmer was bitten by a shark in Corona del Mar. Orange County Register Celebrating love: Do you have a story about how an interracial relationship has shaped your life or your family? The Los Angeles Times wants to hear from you in recognition of Loving Day. Los Angeles Times CALIFORNIA ALMANAC San Diego will have low clouds and a high of 70 degrees. Los Angeles will begin the day with clouds before reaching a high of 73 degrees. Temperatures in Riverside are expected to reach a high of 83 degrees. Sacramento will be mostly sunny and 79. It will be partly sunny and 63 in San Francisco. AND FINALLY Todays California Memory comes from Ginny Stemen: When I was child during the 60s, we would travel to see my grandmother living in Oakland. In those days, you dressed up to go places. We would put on our nicest clothes and go over the Bay Bridge to the city (San Francisco). Sometimes we would go shopping for new clothes at a store called Capwells, then go out to dinner. We would also go on a Cable Car ride and usually go to the Chinese tea house at the park. Wonderful memories. If you have a memory or story about the Golden State, share it with us. Send us an email to let us know what you love or fondly remember about our state. (Please keep your story to 100 words.) Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments, complaints and ideas to Alice Walton or Shelby Grad. Much like the fabled Santa Ana winds, the California primary blew in from the east and enveloped the state in a prolonged spell of hot air. But whereas the climatological Santa Anas can spark wildfires and ruin, Tuesdays political windstorm did little to alter the California landscape. If anything, the vote served as a reminder of just how dishwater-dull the Golden State has become. Most local candidates seemed unaffected by the grass-roots revolutionaries that are Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. Looking down the ticket, there was no Feel the Bern acolyte who pulled off a primary upset. On the Republican side, 2014 gubernatorial also-ran Tim Donnelly maybe came closest to a Make America Great Again comb-over. But his border demagoguery was good for only third place in Californias 8th Congressional District. The state leadership yawned. Gov. Jerry Brown, perhaps taking his cue from changing voter habits, mailed in his endorsement of Hillary Clinton by issuing a written statement no video, no news conference, no campaign appearance by her side. The same was true for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. The only elected official not on the ballot but showing energy: the attention-hungry Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a 2018 gubernatorial candidate whos deeply involved in not one but two November ballot measures (gun control and recreational marijuana legalization). Newsoms strategy for succeeding Brown: Leave no camera behind. Advertisement As for California voters, they likewise seemed affected by June gloom. With at least 2 million ballots uncounted, turnout for this years Democratic primary may exceed the 5 million votes cast in 2008. But thats a far cry from the giddy forecasts of 8 million votes or more. So whats going on here? Try these culprits. First, theres a design flaw in local elections i.e., too little competition. Click on the close contests link on the California secretary of states election site and youll discover just nine of 53 congressional races, six of 80 state Assembly contests and 0 of 20 state Senate races to merit that distinction. In only two of those 15 close contests did the top two finishers come within 5 percentage points of each other. Second, theres the lopsided power dynamic between the two major powers. For two decades now, California Democrats have dominated state politics top to bottom. When winning is habit-forming, it also grows boring. For Team Blue, getting out the vote in California is mechanical even in an election featuring three women in the two glamour races. For two decades now, California Democrats have dominated state politics top to bottom. When winning is habit-forming, it also grows boring. As for Californias GOP, like Caesars Gaul its divided into three parts: Republicans wholl vote for Trump; those who morally object; and a third faction that cant decide whether to curl into a fetal position or start learning the rules of curling that fine line between vanquished and Vancouver. The third factor: political leadership thats far too familiar and that flies under the radar. If you have the opportunity, watch HBOs All the Way, the film adaptation of Bryan Cranstons Tony-winning Broadway show. It chronicles Lyndon Johnsons first year in office and his struggles to pass a civil rights law, earn reelection and convince his inner demons that he was more than an accidental president. The LBJ seen here is a first-class jerk. He begs, bullies and cajoles sometimes all in the same sentence. He vacillates between self-pity and paranoia. He works more angles than a pool shark. Hes also the undisputed alpha dog of the post-New Frontier Washington. Its the antithesis of Browns approach to the job in this, his second life as governor. Brown does run circles around a term-limited Legislature that cant match him for political experience. Like LBJ, Brown notoriously doesnt suffer fools gladly. But whats missing is a bully pulpit in last weeks case, a governor unwilling to interject himself into a primary and pump up the volume. Brown like Pelosi and Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer (the three have a combined seven decades of state office) took a pass on a very public conversation about the partys direction. Where will they be in November when the states pondering a host of tricky ballot measures? Trumps claims that hell turn California Republican in November notwithstanding, the reality is the June primary was Californias political high-water mark in 2016. Sure, Trump and Clinton may return to the Golden State. But they wont be here for long. It doesnt take much time to sit down with Jimmy Kimmel or Ellen DeGeneres. Californias leaders have a choice come the fall: Keep the same low profile as last week, or treat the November election as a shot at redemption. Bill Whalen is research fellow at Stanford Universitys Hoover Institution, studying California and national politics. Follow him on Twitter @hooverwhalen. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook You can take my life, but you wont stop our voice. That message was scribbled on a piece of cardboard outside New Yorks Stonewall Inn Sunday evening as mourners gathered together to honor the 49 dead and 53 wounded after a gunman opened fire at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., just hours earlier. The Florida gay bar, which was celebrating Latin Night on Saturday, is now the site of the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. For LGBT people, the horrific bloodshed was a reminder that we are not equal in a country where our safety is not considered a priority: Just 18 statesincluding the District of Columbiahave hate crime laws on the books that cover both sexual orientation and gender identity. Many law enforcement agencies routinely fail to report hate crimes to federal agencies. For the Muslim community, however, the tragedy was a sign of the probable violence to come: After every act of violence attributed to a person of the Islamic faith, violent attacks against Muslims in the U.S. skyrocket. Advertisement On Dec. 2, a young couple who authorities say became radicalized by fundamentalist Islam gunned down 14 people at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino. Following the attacks, hate crimes against Muslims soared: 19 Muslims reported being victims of harassment or violence over a single 10-day period in December. Just hours after the shooting, the Al-Huda Islamic School in Hawthorne, a K-8 institution an hour away from San Bernardino, received a phone call claiming their school would be next. The overwhelming bigotry directed at the Muslim community after San Bernardino capped what was an extraordinarily difficult time to be brown in America. The year was bookended by the attacks on Charlie Hebdo and the Bataclan Concert Hall in Paris, two tragedies that put Muslims in the crosshairs. Attacks on Muslim Americans tripled in 2015, the most violent year since the 9/11 attacks. That year saw 481 hate crimes against Muslims in the U.S. 42 percent of Muslim-Americans support legal marriage between same-sex partners, a rate more or less equal to Christians. Prior to the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, the number of incidents in the U.S. motivated by anti-Islamic hate was very lowbetween 20 and 30 each year. But in 2014, the last year for which we have solid data, there were 154 attacks on American Muslims. An overwhelming majority of these victims are not radicals; they are your next-door neighbors, your coworkers and your friends. They are the man sitting next to you on the train or the woman walking home from the grocery store in her hijab. If their attackers hope to send a message that violent extremism will not be tolerated, all these actions serve to do instead is punish more innocent people. America has a rich, vibrant Muslim communityone as enormously diverse as it is largely moderate. In 2015, a Pew Research survey found U.S. Muslims to be tolerant of LGBT people: 42% supported marriage between same-sex partners, a rate that was more or less equal to Christians (44%) and higher than evangelicals (28%) or Mormons (40%). In the wake of the Pulse shooting, many Muslim groups have already spoken out against the violence, voicing their support for the LGBT community. That hasnt stopped politicians like Donald Trump from reiterating their support for a ban on Muslims entering the United States. Some reports suggested that the Orlando shooter may have had ties to ISIS, which the Republican front-runner used to further an agenda that would outlaw immigrants from areas of the world with a history of terrorism, as the Washington Post reported. In a Monday address from New Hampshire, Trump pointed the finger at Muslims for not doing enough to stop the shooters in Orlando and San Bernardino. They know whats going on, Trump said, adding: But you know what? They didnt turn them in. The message at Stonewall on Sunday, the site of the 1969 riots that ignited the modern movement for LGBT equality, was very different. The loosely organized evening was a chance for the community to gather before politicians and entertainers flocked to the historic gay bar for a highly publicized event the following evening. Monday was for the world; Sunday was for us. The vigil was punctuated by speeches from activists, advocates and community members who argued for resilience in the face of struggle. That togetherness was briefly interrupted by anti-Muslim bigotry. Mirna Haidar, a Lebanese refugee, gave a powerful speech on the discrimination she has faced both as a gender nonconforming person and as a member of the Islamic faith. Haidar further argued that the LGBT community must stand with Muslims. During her call for solidarity, a heckler began to yell, This is a Muslim issue! The crowd, however, quickly silenced him. While politicians attempt to exploit the Orlando tragedy to create more division and intolerance, this moment is an important reminder: Love always overpowers hate. Nico Lang is the East Coast reporter for the Advocate. You can also read his work on Salon, Onion A.V. Club and the Guardian. Find him on Twitter @nico_lang. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook ALSO A night of terror: How the Orlando nightclub shooting unfolded More details about the terror databases Mateen was placed on How the Orlando attack could mark a shift for gay Muslims To the editor: Donald Trumps reaction to the Orlando attack was traitorous. By giving aid to our enemies while demanding disunity at home, he is certainly encouraging Islamic State. Trumps statement has the effect of showing our enemies that we are divided and that future attacks will have an amplified impact as long as he is in the spotlight. This is, of course, exactly what the terrorists want. Trumps reaction is historically unique. Our country has been attacked many times, from Fort Sumter to Pearl Harbor to 9/11, and each time American citizens and politicians banded together, forgot about partisan politics and showed our attackers that America was united against them. Advertisement Trump has done the opposite. He wants to amplify the effect of the Orlando attack. He speaks as if he feels future massacres will help elect him president. Imagine if after 9/11 the Democrats turned against President Bush that very day. They didnt. Only Trump would put himself before American solidarity and encourage our enemies by deeply insulting our commander in chief. Douglas Miller, Studio City .. To the editor: Trumps response to the massacre in Orlando blaming the president, Muslims and immigrants is irresponsible and callous at a time when the nation is grieving over this latest atrocity. He would do well to remember that the majority of mass shootings have not been by outside terrorists but by homegrown domestic ones, usually white males. Blaming is far easier than working to ensure this type of carnage is curtailed through responsible gun-control legislation. America is being held hostage by powerful lobbyists who are quick to state their right to bear arms is ensured by the 2nd Amendment, which was enacted when assault rifles and other weapons of mass destruction did not exist. As a nation, we have suffered the effects of obstruction politics for the last seven-plus years, and the thought of more of the same does not bode well for anyone. Doris K. Reed, Los Angeles .. To the editor: It is clear from your editorial that political correctness is more important in your way of thinking than the protection of American citizens. Far from hate mongering or the political chatter of lunatics, Trumps comments truly echo the questions that millions and probably tens of millions of Americans are asking: Why does President Obama refuse to identify radical Islam as the entity responsible for these terror attacks? Why does Obama insist on bringing in more than 100,000 immigrants from Syria and other parts of the Middle East while knowing there are almost certainly terrorists among them? And why do both Obama and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton appear to be more concerned with the opinions of Muslim leaders in other countries than with the safety of our own people? Richard Keeling, Torrance .. To the editor: As expected, Trump was quick in the aftermath of the Orlando massacre trying to score political points, claiming he was right. Right about what? Right about making assault weapons illegal? Right about calling for more thorough background checks to make it harder to obtain weapons for those not responsible enough? Right about equal rights regardless of gender, religious background, ethnicity or sexual orientation? No, Trump was dead wrong on all accounts, and more. Jorg Aadahl, San Mateo .. To the editor: Trumps message seems to be that unless I am a white, male, Christian American, I am a second-class citizen with second-class rights. This is not the America we have nor the one I want. Kersten Tanner, Point Arena, Calif. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook ALSO In aggressive speech, Donald Trump broadens his proposal to ban more foreign visitors to U.S. Congress remains unlikely to change U.S. gun laws after Orlando shooting How Trumps and Clintons claims in their speeches after the Orlando shooting stack up After Orlando, California lawmakers push for action on gun control A small but fervent cadre of Bernie Sanders partisans have convinced themselves that unnamed overlords in big corporations ordered their vassals in the Democratic Party and their minions in the corporate media to use every dastardly trick from rigging voting machines to news blackouts to snatch victory away from the senator from Vermont. They surely do not recognize it, but their paranoia is just the latest manifestation of a phenomenon that is as much a part of Americas political tradition as elephants, donkeys and red, white and blue balloons. Back in the 1830s, here is what alarmed thousands of U.S. voters: It is an ascertained fact that Jesuits are prowling about all parts of the United States in every possible disguise, expressly to ascertain the advantageous situations and modes to disseminate Popery [T]he western country swarms with them under the name of puppet show men, dancing masters, music teachers, peddlers of images and ornaments, barrel organ players, and similar practitioners. Advertisement 1 / 51 la-1491523602-y7ephyarj1-snap-image (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 51 la-1491368625-0bgh58ihw8-snap-image (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los angeles Times) 6 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 9 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 10 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 11 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 12 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 13 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 14 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 15 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 16 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 17 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 18 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 19 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 20 / 51 Trump inspires millions to take to the streets -- to oppose him. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 21 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 22 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 23 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 24 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 25 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 26 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 27 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 28 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 29 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 30 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 31 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 32 / 51 Cartoon caption contest winner at the DENT conference in Sun Valley, Idaho: Jon Duval, executive director of the Ketchum Community Development Corporation. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 33 / 51 Old radicals and big media descend on Selma (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 34 / 51 Horsey imagined the creation of the Ann Coulter phenomenon in this cartoon from 2007. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 35 / 51 This David Horsey drawing is a reconfiguration of a cartoon he first published in 2006. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 36 / 51 Donald Sterling, owner of the L.A. Clippers, should give Cliven Bundy a call. After Sterling loses his NBA franchise and the deadbeat Nevada rancher loses his cattle, the two old racists will both need a buddy. Maybe they can team up together and open an all-white rodeo. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 37 / 51 Besides sending a chill up the spine of the international community, Vladimir Putin has accomplished one other thing by seizing Crimea and threatening the rest of Ukraine: Putin has brought back the bear. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 38 / 51 The right-wing insurrection at the Bundy ranch in Bunkerville, Nev., has taken another weird turn with new revelations about the family history of Cliven Bundy. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 39 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 40 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 41 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 42 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 43 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 44 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 45 / 51 David Horsey / Los Angeles Times (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 46 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 47 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 48 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 49 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 50 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 51 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) Those overwrought words were penned by a militant Protestant who was not at all alone in his conviction that there was a vast international plot being directed by the pope and Catholic monarchs in Europe to subvert and overthrow American democracy. Lack of actual evidence for this conspiracy did not keep the anti-Catholic paranoia from spreading throughout the 19th century. Earlier generations of Americans were quite worked up about alleged conspiracies concocted by the mysterious Illuminati and the secretive Masons, with one frantic writer declaring that Freemasonry was the most abominable but also the most dangerous institution that ever was imposed on man. In the 20th century, paranoia about Communists worming their way into the highest reaches of government overtook all other fears, culminating in the excesses of Sen. Joe McCarthys witch hunts. In the fantasies of McCarthy and in the elaborate conspiracy theories promulgated by the John Birch Society, pretty much everyone in charge of the U.S. government in the 1950s was a Communist or Communist sympathizer. The list of supposed traitors included President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was a dedicated, conscious agent of the Communist conspiracy, according to Robert Welch, leader of the Birchers. All of these examples of American political paranoia are taken from historian Richard Hofstadters hugely influential Harpers magazine essay, The Paranoid Style in American Politics. The piece gained a wide audience in no small part because it was published in 1964, the tumultuous political year when right-wing insurgents took over the Republican Party and nominated Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater for president. Now, 52 years later in the context of the current outlandish presidential campaign, Hofstadters observations continue to resonate. American politics has often been an arena for angry minds, Hofstadter wrote in his opening paragraph. In recent years we have seen angry minds at work mainly among extreme right-wingers, who have now demonstrated in the Goldwater movement how much political leverage can be got out of the animosities and passions of a small minority. But behind this I believe there is a style of mind that is far from new and that is not necessarily right-wing. I call it the paranoid style simply because no other word adequately evokes the sense of heated exaggeration, suspiciousness, and conspiratorial fantasy that I have in mind. Donald Trump, the Republican Partys unexpected, outre standard bearer, seems to have never seen a conspiracy theory he did not want to retweet, but his is far from being the only paranoid mind at work on the right. The paranoid style has been in high gear throughout President Obamas years in the White House. The birthers (who Trump eagerly championed) said the president was not born in the U.S. The Tea Party said his healthcare plan would lead to death panels. Right-wing preachers intimated that he might well be the Antichrist. Reactionaries on talk radio said he had plans to confiscate everyones guns and lock up conservatives in concentration camps. Internet sites described the first black president as a Muslim who was secretly in league with terrorists. Now that Hillary Clinton has captured the Democratic nomination for president, her conservative enemies are dredging up 25-year-old conspiracy memes, from the murder of Vince Foster to Whitewater. The talk on the left is equally intense with Clinton castigated as an utterly cynical and mendacious tool of corporate interests who will rush the country into the next unjustified war. And, to attain power, conspiracists in the progressive camp say, Hillary and her confederates in the Democratic Party and the media stopped at nothing to steal the nomination from Bernie. In the paranoid mind, events cannot be explained simply as the messy product of human folly and mundane incompetence. That the final vote tally for the California primary, for example, has yet to be accomplished cannot be attributed merely to understaffing at polling stations, the complexity of voter registration categories or the cumbersome process of counting mail-in and provisional ballots. No, it must be something more nefarious, more organized, more ominous; an elaborate plot orchestrated at the highest levels to steal an election from the people. The paranoid mind needs to believe in apocalyptic struggles against insidiously clever powers. It needs to find patterns and connections in disconnected facts, even if those patterns are an illusion. And the one thing the paranoid mind can never recognize is how ridiculous are its manifestations. David.Horsey@latimes.com Follow me at @davidhorsey on Twitter Hackers affiliated with the Russian government have been tapping into the files of the Democratic National Committee for nearly a year, targeting in particular the partys opposition research about Donald Trump, officials say. DNC officials on Tuesday confirmed the break-in, which was first reported by the Washington Post. The partys research on Trump had been obtained by the hackers, they said, adding that the partys internal emails and chat communications also were accessible to them. The cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, which the DNC brought in to shore up its system once the breaches were discovered, detailed on its website how it had traced the intruders back to the Russian government. Advertisement The hackers were also believed to have targeted the Trump and Hillary Clinton campaigns. Neither campaign has publicly reported any related breaches. In an interview with Telemundo, Clinton called the incident troubling. As far as her aides are aware, her campaigns computers have not been hacked, but were obviously looking hard at that, she said, adding that the security breach at the DNC was another warning that such threats are on the rise. DNC officials said they did not believe any sensitive donor information was compromised. Instead, the hackers took aim at the thousands of pages of research DNC staffers compiled to use in attacking Trump during the presidential race. In some respects, the files are a puzzling target: The most damning information was gathered for the express purpose of being made public. But security experts said that extensive files on a potential U.S. president would be the sort of information that foreign spy agencies would devote considerable resources to obtain. Donald Trump is probably not someone the foreign intelligence services had too much of a dossier on, unlike Clinton, who has been in public life for decades, said Paulo Shakarian, a cybersecurity scholar at Arizona State University. What better database to get for someone who wants to know his dirty secrets? Robert Morgus, a cybersecurity analyst at the nonpartisan New America Foundation, noted that foreign security and intelligence agencies have always seen gathering as much information as possible on serious candidates as part of their mission, dating back to before campaigns used computers. Russia is doing exactly what wed expect them to do: looking for information on the major candidates in preparation for dealing with either of them come next year, he said. I would not be surprised if the Russians are looking for information on Donald Trump that they could use as leverage for extortion should he assume office. If thats the case, what better resource could there be than the other sides opposition research? In the last presidential campaign, Chinese hackers took aim at the systems of both President Obama and Mitt Romney. The capabilities of these hackers are very well defined and continue to increase, said CrowdStrike President Shawn Henry, who headed computer crime investigations for the FBI. Their ability to hide themselves, their ability to maintain a presence on the network, and their ability to move throughout the network are regularly increasing. The break-in is a disturbing development for the DNC, which has already been struggling with its computer systems this election. In December, the contractor that maintains sensitive voter files for candidates experienced a software glitch that allowed staffers from the campaign of Bernie Sanders to view confidential material owned by the Clinton campaign. The Sanders campaign sued the DNC after the party locked it out of its system while it investigated. The security of our system is critical to our operation and to the confidence of the campaigns and state parties we work with, the DNC chairwoman, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, said in a statement. When we discovered the intrusion, we treated this like the serious incident it is and reached out to CrowdStrike immediately. Our team moved as quickly as possible to kick out the intruders and secure our network. The latest cyberattacks follow a familiar pattern of online espionage. The Russians have been aggressively probing U.S. government and political data systems in efforts to collect any information that can help them better understand the inner workings of Washington and the motivations and vulnerabilities of the people who run it. It is textbook intelligence-gathering, which is increasingly done online. If they find something about a particular candidate of value that they can exploit, they will do it, said Henry. The extended period during which the hackers had access to the DNC files did not necessarily suggest the party had done a poor job of securing its network, Shakarian said. Such lengthy breaches have become common as sophisticated hackers develop methods that allow them to leave little trace of their activities. The Russians are generally regarded as being some of the best in the world at breaking into the systems, he said. They do things a lot more stealthy and with a lot less notice than others, such as the Chinese. The Russian government denied any involvement with the hacking incident. But in its report, CrowdStrike identified the culprits as two hacking organizations who have deep ties to Moscow. Election 2016 | Live coverage on Trail Guide | Track the delegate race | Sign up for the newsletter Experts say online espionage in Russia is often the handiwork of freelance hackers like these two groups, which CrowdStrike identified with the labels Cozy Bear and Fancy Bear. The latter group is believed to work for the Russian military intelligence agency, the GRU, while the Cozy Bear group may work for the FSB, the successor agency to the KGB internal security agency, which President Vladimir Putin once headed. Our team considers them some of the best adversaries out of all the numerous nation-state, criminal and hacktivist/terrorist groups we encounter on a daily basis, said the CrowdStrike report, written by firm cofounder Dmitri Alperovitch. Both adversaries engage in extensive political and economic espionage for the benefit of the government of the Russian Federation and are believed to be closely linked to the Russian governments powerful and highly capable intelligence services. The Cozy Bear group had earlier managed to infiltrate unclassified networks of the White House, U.S. State Department and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. CrowdStrike suggested the two groups were more likely competing than cooperating with each other. While you would virtually never see Western intelligence agencies going after the same target for fear of compromising each others operations, in Russia this is not an uncommon scenario, Alperovitch wrote. MORE POLITICS NEWS How Trumps and Clintons claims in their speeches after the Orlando shooting stack up Donald Trumps attack echoes old suggestion of an Obama secret agenda News coverage of campaign greatly aided Trump and hurt Clinton, study finds evan.halper@latimes.com Follow me: @evanhalper Loretta Sanchez will need a huge infusion of Republican votes to loft ahead of Kamala Harris in the November election and win a seat in the U.S. Senate. The early signs are not good, according to a new poll of voters who cast ballots in Californias June primary. In the race between the two Democrats, Republicans who plan to vote in November sided more with Atty. Gen. Harris, who took the top spot in Tuesdays primary, than with Sanchez, the Orange County congresswoman, according to the new USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll. The bulk of Republican respondents almost two-thirds said they would not cast ballots for the Senate seat in November. Overall, in the November runoff, Harris leads Sanchez, 47%-22%, with 26% of respondents saying they would not take part in the election. Harris led among almost all voter groups except for Latinos, who went for Sanchez, 45%-30%, the poll found. Advertisement Latinos were Sanchezs most supportive group in the primary as well. Winning almost four in 10 Latinos allowed Sanchez to grab the second of two slots in the general election, outdistancing several major Republican candidates. The resulting November race will be the first Democrat vs. Democrat contest for the U.S. Senate to face voters in state history. Its a consequence of the top-two primary system the state adopted in 2010, in which the first and second finishers move on to the general election, regardless of party. The all-Democratic lineup also reflects the greatly weakened condition of the Republican Party in the state. The GOP holds no statewide offices, and its members have declined badly as a share of the states electorate, a trend that began in the early 1990s as the party antagonized the states growing Latino population, and has only accelerated since. In theory, the odd circumstances could lead to new alliances among the left-out Republicans and different elements of the Democratic Party. But that will only happen, the poll suggested, if Sanchez can substantially redefine herself to voters. In the primary, Sanchez appeared hobbled by Harris strengths among establishment Democrats, women and voters who also had sided with presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Clinton both drew in and benefited from voters who, further down the ballot, preferred Harris. Harris won female voters, 45%-19%. She won Democrats, 60%-27%, and prevailed more narrowly among nonpartisan voters who were allowed to cast Democratic ballots, 31%-16%. Clinton supporters went lopsidedly for Harris, 67%-21%, but backers of Clinton rival Sen. Bernie Sanders supported her as well, 42%-30%. Harris, who is both Asian American and African American, won among white and black voters and also among the overall pool of minority voters that included Asian Americans. (There were too few Asian American voters in the survey to break out their responses separately.) Sanchez worked during the primary to cast herself as an experienced legislator well-versed in national security and other federal issues with which Harris has far less experience. Harris, who countered with her actions as state attorney general and considerable national star power, had the backing of the state Democratic party. Together, the two easily defeated 32 other candidates. The third-place finisher was former Republican state party chairman Duf Sundheim. The poll showed Sundheim leading among Republicans and in second place behind Harris among voters age 65 and older, a segment of the electorate that tends to be conservative. Other than that, however, he fell far below the Democrats. With the contest now tightened to a two-woman race, Harris strengths and Sanchezs difficulties expand. With Harris holding on to a lead of more than 2-1 among Democrats, Sanchez will have to look to nonpartisan voters and Republicans if she is to succeed. But Harris was winning nonpartisan voters and Republicans, albeit not by the margins she managed among Democrats. Adding to the difficulty for Sanchez: 64% of Republicans, apparently uncomfortable choosing between the other partys candidates, said they would not cast ballots in the Senate race. Sanchez would have to change their view, as well as expand the pool of voters from the primary, to succeed. As in the primary, Harris led in the November match-up among all age groups, all races and ethnicities except for Latinos, in all areas of the state and among both supporters of Clinton and of Sanders. The USC/LA Times poll questioned 1,553 registered voters from June 7-10, including 1,264 who said they voted in the June 7 primary. The poll was conducted online by SurveyMonkey for the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and the Los Angeles Times. It has a confidence interval of 4 percentage points in either direction for those who cast ballots. cathleen.decker@latimes.com Twitter: @cathleendecker. For more on politics, go to latimes.com/decker and subscribe to the free daily newsletter. ALSO Californias presidential party is over, and here are some lessons Sanders supporters look for concessions from Clinton, but most will support her--if reluctantly Updates on California politics Live coverage from the campaign trail In all political battles, theres a moment when the rhetoric turns to reality and things get serious. On several fronts in California and across the country, thats where things stand on the issue of gun violence. Good morning from the the state capital. Im Sacramento Bureau Chief John Myers and in some ways we knew this day would come. But as Sundays events showed us, debates can turn very real in a hurry. Advertisement The Orlando shootings will no doubt be talked about this morning at the state Capitol, as a package of closely watched gun violence bills faces a key hurdle. Led by the efforts of Senate Democrats, some of the bills were inspired by Decembers San Bernardino shootings and now will likely be seen through the lens of the latest incident. The bills also, in some cases, mirror a ballot measure that Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom is on the verge of qualifying for the Nov. 8 ballot. Monday saw impassioned comments from lawmakers in Sacramento about the Orlando shootings, with some focused on the perils of gun violence and others lamenting what may have been an attack on the gay community. In Washington, D.C., the chance of new laws in the wake of the weekend massacre looks less likely, given Republican opposition. THE ROAD TO THE WHITE HOUSE: DUELING SPEECHES Meantime, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump offered starkly different views on Monday of the weekends violence. Trump broke out an old attack line against President Obama, suggesting that theres something going on with an American leader who avoids blaming radical Islamic terrorism for events like the one in Orlando. And he expanded his pledge for a ban on foreign visitors to the United States. As Christi Parsons reports, the Trump comments seemed to echo ones that he made in the past about Obama remarks that were brushed off by the White House on Monday. A SECOND PLEA BARGAIN IN THE CALDERON CORRUPTION INVESTIGATION As a state senator, Ron Calderon was part of a family legacy of political service and influential positions. On Monday, though, he joined his brother in accepting a plea deal with federal prosecutors in the corruption case against him. As Patrick McGreevy and Joel Rubin report, Calderon agreed to plead guilty to mail fraud while also admitting in court documents to a series of arrangements with those who offered money in return for his legislative efforts. This closes a sad chapter in the Senates history, said state Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon. Just last week, voters approved Proposition 50, a suspension-without-pay amendment to the California Constitution inspired partly by the Calderon case. CALIFORNIAS CLIMATE AGENDA UNDER PRESSURE Now that lawmakers are wrapping up work on the state budget, some want to turn their attention to another, even thornier issue climate change policy. At the core of the issue is the future of Californias cap-and-trade program, a complex initiative for limiting greenhouse gas emissions. As Chris Megerian and Ralph Vartabedian report, there are warning signs about the long term future not only of cap-and-trade but also Californias overall climate change approach not to mention needed funds for things like high-speed rail. Keep your eye on this one as the Legislature winds down its work for 2016, especially in August as the last political deals of the year are made. TOUGH ROAD AHEAD FOR LORETTA SANCHEZ A new USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times survey conducted after the primary finds Loretta Sanchez will need a huge infusion of Republican votes to loft her ahead of front-runner Kamala Harris in the November election for a seat in the U.S. Senate. Cathleen Decker writes that early signs are not good, according to a new poll of voters who cast ballots in Californias June primary. In the race between the two Democrats, Republicans who plan to vote in November side more with Atty. Gen. Harris than with Sanchez, the Orange County congresswoman. As for the bulk of Republican voters, almost two-thirds said in the poll that they will not cast a ballot for the U.S. Senate seat in November. TODAYS ESSENTIALS State lawmakers introduced an effort on Monday to change Californias legal definition of rape, an action sparked by the sentence handed down to a former Stanford student in a brutal attack on the Bay Area campus last year. News coverage of the early months of the presidential campaign strongly boosted Trumps bid and put Clinton at a disadvantage, according to a new study from Harvard that is likely to add to the heavy volume of complaints that the media aided Trumps rise. Trump announced his campaign is revoking credentials for Washington Post journalists covering his candidacy. LOGISTICS Miss yesterdays newsletter? Here you go. Did someone forward you this? Sign up here to get Essential Politics in your inbox daily. And keep an eye on our politics page throughout the day for the latest and greatest. And are you following us on Twitter at @latimespolitics and @LATpoliticsCA? Please send thoughts, concerns and news tips to politics@latimes.com. With emotions still raw over the massacre in Orlando, Fla., tempers flared Tuesday as divided California state lawmakers advanced a dozen gun-control bills, including proposals to outlaw the sale of semiautomatic rifles with easily detachable magazines. The bills originally were introduced in response to a mass shooting in San Bernardino in December, but the killing of 49 people in an Orlando nightclub Sunday was invoked over and over Tuesday by Democrats as state legislative committees heard testimony before voting to send bills to the floor for votes. At one hearing, Assemblyman Evan Low (D-Campbell) angrily confronted National Rifle Assn. lobbyist Dan Reid, accusing his organization of being responsible for the Orlando shooting because of its lobbying against gun control. Advertisement The reason they were murdered was because of your organization. Assemblyman Evan Low (D-Campbell) to NRA lobbyist Dan Reid Less than 72 hours ago, 49 people were slain in a nightclub in Orlando, Low said during the hearing. Its very difficult for me to sit here and look you in the eye and have respect for you, Dan. Low later added, The reason they were murdered was because of your organization. Sen. Isadore Hall (D-Compton) also denounced gun-control opponents who testified that the bills would not save lives. He called them crazy, vicious, heartless people, adding that they need to wash their mouths because they are filthy. Republican state Sen. Andy Vidak of Hanford later wrote to the leaders of the Senate ethics committee asking them to review whether Halls comments violated the houses Standards of Conduct, which require members to behave in a manner that does not discredit the house. While the issue of gun control can be an emotional one, that is no excuse for Senator Hall to use such intolerant and disrespectful language aimed at those of us who dont agree with him, Vidak wrote. I leave it to your committee to hand down whatever discipline is appropriate to restore the honor and integrity of the California State Senate. Sam Paredes, executive director of Gun Owners of California, called Halls criticism misleading, arguing that many of the measures would make it harder for law-abiding citizens to protect themselves while the laws would be ignored by criminals. Reid made that argument in opposing a bill that would require those buying ammunition to show a drivers license to make sure they are not felons or otherwise prohibited from possessing guns. The bill, Reid said, will put drastic and unjustified restrictions on law-abiding citizens while doing nothing to reduce violent crime. The measure was one of several approved by either the Assembly or Senate Public Safety Committees on Tuesday as the Legislature rushed to get them to the governors desk by the end of this month. Most of the bills were approved on party-line votes, with Republicans opposed. Assemblyman Tom Lackey (R-Palmdale) said he is frustrated that sometimes our reaction emotionally has a tendency to blur our vision about the remedies. Assemblyman Reggie Jones Sawyer (D-Los Angeles), the committee chairman, said the ammo bill promotes responsible gun ownership. Inaction, he said really just helps killers and mass murderers. See the most-read stories this hour Amanda Wilcox of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence said the bill by Sen. Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) is needed to plug a loophole in the law. Many prohibited persons are buying ammunition, she said. Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez (R-Lake Elsinore) voted against the bill, saying anyone can buy bullets on the black market. It is not going to keep criminals from getting ammunition, she said. Both panels approved bills that would ban the sale of semiautomatic rifles with bullet buttons that allow the quick replacement of ammunition magazines in California. Hall, the author of one of the measures, said it addresses a type of gun that has no legitimate civilian use. They are designed only to facilitate the maximum destruction of human life, he told the panel. Reid of the NRA opposed the measure, saying it would outlaw hundreds of thousands of constitutionally protected firearms that he said have legitimate uses, including hunting and competition. The Assembly panel also approved a de Leon bill that would require those who make guns at home to register them with the state and obtain a serial number so the weapons can be tracked. Paredes said hobbyists have been making their own guns for decades, and the bill would hurt only the citizens who obey the law. Lackey voted against the bill, saying it will be ignored by criminals, who are not a respecter of rules, he said. The panel also approved a measure that would prohibit the possession of ammunition magazines that hold more than 10 rounds, building on existing law outlawing their sale. State Sen. Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley) said the mass shootings in San Bernardino, Newtown, Conn., Tucson and Orlando show the deadly impact of the devices. Join the conversation on Facebook Members, enough is enough, Hancock told the panel. There is no reason to have the possession of these high-capacity magazines. Reid opposed the bill, saying it would put average citizens in danger by limiting their ability to protect themselves. Other bills approved would: Require law enforcement officials and those with concealed weapon permits who keep handguns in their vehicles to keep them in a locked box or the trunk to prevent thefts. Allow co-workers, employers and mental health workers to petition courts to issue restraining orders to have authorities confiscate firearms for one year from persons judged to be a danger to themselves or others. Require gun owners to report the loss or theft of firearms within five days of discovering they are gone as one way to stop illegal trafficking of guns. patrick.mcgreevy@latimes.com Follow @mcgreevy99 on Twitter ALSO How the Orlando attack could mark a shift for gay Muslims A night of terror: How the Orlando nightclub shooting unfolded Gunman had used gay dating app and visited LGBT nightclub on other occasions, witnesses say UPDATES: 4:30 p.m.: This article was updated with a statement from state Sen. Andy Vidak on comments made by state Sen. Isadore Hall. This article was originally published at 2:46 p.m. New research suggests that between the years 2000 and 2013, the injuries sustained by victims of firearms violence grew both more severe and more deadly, even as mortality from other traumatic injuries declined. Just days after the nations worst mass shooting took place at a nightclub in Orlando, Fla., the Journal of the American Medical Assn. on Tuesday published the findings of a study focusing on close to 30,000 trauma patients who were treated at a single hospital system in Denver. Tracking the types and severity of traumatic injuries in patients brought to the hospital over 14 years, the new research found that the death rate for hospitalized gunshot victims climbed an average of 6% every two years. The rising fatality rates occurred against the backdrop of gunshot wounds that were also escalating in severity. Over the study period, ambulances brought in an increasing number of firearms victims with two or more bullet wounds and injuries over more regions of their bodies. Advertisement Injuries grew progressively more severe among victims of stabbing and pedestrian accidents as well. But unlike those hurt in firearms incidents, patients who were stabbed or run over were not progressively more likely to die of their injuries during the study. See the most-read stories in Science this hour >> I doubt this is a failure of the trauma or emergency medical system that transports injured patients to the hospital, said Brown University emergency physician Megan Ranney, who studies firearms injury. Physicians and policymakers have refined practices both in hospital trauma care and emergency care in the field to improve the prognosis for trauma victims, added Ranney, who was not involved in the current study. Weve decreased fatality rates from every type of injury except guns, she added, and why that is happening is a mystery, she said. The new research comes against the backdrop of growing evidence that firearms violence is not only becoming more common; it is becoming more deadly. In a 2013 study published in the journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, researchers found an increase in firearms victims between 2000 and 2011 coming in with and dying of more extensive wounds. In the same year, the Journal for Surgical Research published a 20-year retrospective of pediatric gunshot wounds, finding that in Miami-Dade County, the number of patients with multiple gunshot wounds increased. At a busy emergency department in Washington D.C., researchers writing in Archives of Surgery reported that between 1988 and 1990, the average number of gunshot entry wounds per patient brought in after a shooting rose from 1.44 to 2.04. Dr. Garen Wintemute, a UC Davis injury-prevention researcher and emergency department physician, said the trend of more severely injured firearms victims may reflect the increasing ammunition capacity of firearms used in violence. Shooters may be more heavily armed, and armed with weapons that can wreak more destruction more efficiently. As an example, military-style automatic weapons have proliferated among Americans since 2004, when Congress let a 20-year ban on civilian ownership of such guns expire. A database of mass shootings in the United States maintained by the publication Mother Jones shows that seven of the 10 U.S. mass shooting incidents with the highest number of casualties were carried out with military-style semiautomatic weapons. In addition to last weekends shooting in Orlando, those include the December 2015 San Bernardino attacks in which 14 were killed and 20 wounded; the 2012 movie theater rampage in Aurora, Colo. in which 12 were killed and 58 wounded; and the Newtown, Conn. shooting at an elementary school that claimed the lives of 28 people and wounded two more. FOR THE RECORD 11:14 a.m.: An earlier version of this article referenced a database that shows seven of the 10 U.S. mass shooting incidents with the highest number of casualties were carried out with military-style automatic weapons. The reference should have been to military-style semiautomatic weapons. Dr. Angela Sauaia, a co-author of the Research Letter in JAMA, said she could not explain why gunshot victims have been coming into Denvers Anschutz Hospital Center more extensively hurt and more likely to die. She blamed Congresss longstanding ban on federally funded firearms research for the dearth of explanatory data. NEWSLETTER: Get the days top headlines from Times Editor Davan Maharaj >> This research involved two years of very hard, unfunded work, to get this level of detail from one trauma center, said Sauaia, a physician and epidemiologist at Denver Health Medical Center. I should be able to tell you exactly the role that different weapons play in firearms injuries, she added. But congressional bans and disincentives for being a gun-related researcher preclude me from telling you what I wish I could. And the reason is not scientific: its political, she added. FOR THE RECORD 11:24 a.m.: An earlier version of this article stated that Dr. Angela Sauaia is a physician and epidemiologist at the University of Colorados school of public health. She is affiliated with the Denver Health Medical Center. Sauaia said the new study offers some evidence that while injury-prevention research has made cars and other dangerous conveniences safer and trauma care more effective, guns and firearms-related injury has been an exception. Guns are not produced to make anything safe: theyre produced to do harm. In that sense, theyre doing what they were produced to do, and doing it very well, said Sauaia. melissa.healy@latimes.com Follow me on Twitter @LATMelissaHealy and like Los Angeles Times Science & Health on Facebook. MORE IN SCIENCE In U.S., 38% of adults and 17% of kids are now obese, CDC study says Five things pediatricians want dads to know about parenting Light pollution prevents 1 in 3 Earthlings from seeing the Milky Way at night The Irvine City Council responded to a new state law related to oversight of commercial cannabis by voting 5 to 0 on Tuesday night to prohibit licensing for the cultivation, sale and delivery of medical marijuana in the city. The California Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act, which took effect Jan. 1, is intended to create Californias first statewide licensing and operating rules for pot growers, manufacturers of cannabis products and retail outlets since state voters passed Proposition 215 in 1996, allowing patients to use marijuana for medicinal purposes with the guidance of a primary caregiver. The new law requires cities to establish their own rules regarding medical marijuana cultivation and dispensation by March 1 or the state will be the sole authority for licensing and regulation. The Irvine councils discussion included Mayor Pro Tem Lynn Schotts concern over the cannabis-delivery portion of the ordinance, saying that some people with cancer or multiple sclerosis should have the right to receive medical marijuana if prescribed. How do patients get what they need without having to go out on the street and necessarily break the law? Schott said. While noting that a vote was necessary to meet the states deadline, Schott suggested modifying the delivery aspect of the ordinance in the future. Irvine, long known as one of the nations safest cities, hit a new milestone last year by notching its lowest-ever crime rate But that record appears threatened by an uptick in 2015. 2014 marked the 11th time Irvine recorded the fewest violent crimes per capita of any U.S. city with more than 100,000 residents, according to FBI statistics released Monday. The city, with a population of more than 240,000, saw only 120 violent offenses, fewer than one every three days on average. That rock-bottom number, combined with just more than 3,000 property crimes, made Irvines 2014 per-capita rate its lowest. But those numbers have started to bounce back, according to data police provided to the Daily Pilot. From January through August this year, violent crime rose almost 25%, and overall crime rose more than 26%, compared with the same period in 2014. With so few violent crimes as a baseline, even a small numerical increase can be statistically significant in Irvine. For instance, there were two homicides through August this year compared with zero last year. Year-to-date, there have also been three more rapes, 11 more robberies and two more serious assaults. Theft showed the single largest numerical increase with 2,075 through August this year compared with 1,553 during that period last year. There were 133 thefts of vehicles compared with 74 last year. Burglary was the only category that decreased, from 367 to 319 to date. Irvine police say the crime bump may have to do with California voters decision in November to reduce penalties for some nonviolent crimes. We fear that there is a relationship between the increase in property crime and Prop. 47, Irvine police spokeswoman Farrah Emami said. When Proposition 47 passed in November, it changed a swath of nonviolent felonies to misdemeanors. This meant less punishment for crimes like certain drug offenses and property crimes with a value under $950. Many of the violations for theft-related crimes would previously have been processed by the court as a felony with possible incarceration as a penalty, Emami said. And those cases are now either being handled as misdemeanors or citations, with little or no penalties. This made situations like one in February possible, when Irvine police arrested the same man twice in five hours on suspicion of heroin possession. Other California law enforcement agencies also have pointed to Proposition 47 as a possible reason for rising crime. In July, Newport Beach Police Chief Jay Johnson said officers are now working with a catch-and-release system for criminals who have benefited from Proposition 47, state prison realignment and the softening of Californias three-strikes law. But hard evidence of whats driving crime trends is scarce. UC Irvine criminology professor Charis Kubrin cautioned against drawing conclusions just from statistics. The property crime rate could be driven up by something that has nothing to do with Prop.-47ers or it could be completely driven up by Prop.-47ers, she said. It could take years to adequately analyze what effect, if any, the new laws had, Kubrin said. By day, Costa Mesa resident Alaey Kumar is a project manager for an aerospace engineering firm. But by night, and whenever he finds the time, Kumar, 26, runs a small business whose product could gain traction with consumers in light of a recent government study. The online company, SafeSleeve, which Kumar co-founded with fellow Cal Poly San Luis Obispo engineering graduate Cary Subel, sells cases for smartphones and laptops that are intended to shield users from electromagnetic radiation. The company motto: Protect the essentials. The phone cases are designed for Apple iPhones and Samsungs Galaxy devices. They retail for about $40 to $70 each. The laptop cases are $74.95. In an interview at his Costa Mesa home, Kumar said the product doesnt affect cellphone reception, only the outgoing, possibly harmful frequencies. This month, the company, based in San Diego with production done overseas, is celebrating its first anniversary of offering cellphone cases. Join the conversation on Facebook >> Since the cases went online June 1 last year, revenue has grown by 20 times, the company says. SafeSleeves anniversary comes on the heels of a federal study released in May that suggested exposure to mobile phone radiation could be harmful. Alaey Kumar of Costa Mesa is the co-owner of SafeSleeve, which makes smartphone and laptop cases designed to shield users from electromagnetic radiation. (Scott Smeltzer / Daily Pilot) According to Scientific American, the $25-million animal study tested the possibility of links between cancer and chronic exposure to the type of radiation emitted from cellphones and wireless devices. The findings, which chronicle an unprecedented number of rodents subjected to a lifetime of electromagnetic radiation starting in utero, present some of the strongest evidence to date that such exposure is associated with the formation of rare cancers in at least two cell types in the brains and hearts of rats. The study was led by researchers at the National Toxicology Program at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. SafeSleeve says its products have been independently tested in a Federal Communications Commission-certified laboratory. The cases use a proprietary technology to reduce exposure to electromagnetic radiation by up to 99%, the company says. They can block extremely low frequencies (ELF), radio frequencies (RF) and thermal energy that makes electronics heat up, according to the company. For more information, visit www.safesleevecases.com. -- Bradley Zint, bradley.zint@latimes.com Twitter: @BradleyZint ALSO Temporary bridge on Balboa Island to open Monday as old one closes Proposed city budget on Newport council agenda Classic cars go up for auction at Newport Dunes Not long ago my wife, Hedy, and I were hanging out in the town of Page. The Northern Arizona community is a quiet burg of about 7,000 near Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell, on the Arizona-Utah frontier. We stepped into a Walmart to buy a few supplies. Hedy assumed the task with gusto. I pushed the cart while she took the point and deftly navigated our reconnaissance mission around the huge store, picking off vacation snacks and other essentials. Wed never been there before. How does she do it? In one corner we encountered a party of three, speaking Dutch. Hedy is fluent in Dutch. She was raised in the Netherlands and came to this country at age 10, speaking no English at all. Six months later, as a Pasadena elementary school student, she spoke fluent English, without the hint of an accent. Young minds are amazing things. As we walked by the elderly gentleman and two ladies at Walmart, they seemed to be engaged in a rather full-throated discussion. They werent arguing, mind you, just speaking at full volume, as Euros sometimes do. Hedy looked at me and smiled. Are they speaking Dutch? I whispered after wed rolled past them. Hedy nodded in the affirmative. Join the conversation on Facebook >> I thought so, I responded, shaking my head. In out-of-the-way Page, Ariz.! There are only about 20 million Dutch speakers in the world. Thats less than half the population of California. Only 20 million out of 7 billion-plus residents of our planet. What are the odds thered be three at the same time in remote Page? Four, counting Hedy! We continued our mission. Five minutes later we saw one of the Dutch ladies animatedly trying to make herself understood to a Walmart employee. She obviously wasnt having much luck and seemed slightly exasperated. The woman spoke no English rare for a Netherlander, by the way and the clerk spoke no Dutch. As we came nearby, Hedy decided to help. She interrupted the conversation and asked the Dutch lady, in Dutch, if she could be of assistance. Yes, the frustrated lady responded, seeming not the least bit surprised that a total stranger in an Arizona big-box retailer had just spoken to her like theyd crossed paths at a Rotterdam fish market. Surely she didnt assume that most Americans speak her tongue. Because they dont. Im guessing here, but Id bet persons fluent in Dutch in this country number somewhere below 1%. By contrast, perhaps 80 percent of Dutch people speak fluent English. The Netherlands is small, Hedys cousin Gerry, a Dutch citizen, once explained to me. If we spoke only Dutch wed be in big trouble in international business. By necessity, we must have command of many languages. Gerry, a translator by profession, speaks seven languages seven and his English is impeccable. But, back to Page, Ariz., and our Dutch visitors. Im trying to ask this clerk where they keep the pate, the Dutch lady told Hedy. Pate. Hmm. Its a European concoction of cooked ground meat and fat minced into a spreadable paste. Its ghastly and brings to mind rancid liverwurst. Thats just my opinion, but most Americans avoid it. Just because we love Dodger Dogs doesnt mean we stomach pate. This lady is asking if you carry pate, Hedy redirected to the clerk in English. Pate? the clerk responded. Whats that? Exactly. The Dutch lady might as well have asked for Vegemite or minced truffles. Same result. The clerk was speaking on behalf of 320 million Americans in that moment. Lets face it; were mostly clueless about pate. Sorry, Hedy told the Dutch lady. They dont carry it here, and if they did, Im afraid it wouldnt measure up to your standards anyway. We dont do pate. How about Velveeta on a shard of rye crisp? The Dutch lady ended the cross-cultural kerfuffle with dank u wel (thank you very much) and we went our separate ways, each bemoaning the state of American pate. -- JIM CARNETT, who lives in Costa Mesa, worked for Orange Coast College for 37 years. MORE OPINION Commentary: Combining special districts warrants study Commentary: Time to address sober-living homes, homelessness, partisanship From the Boathouse: California spots make family fishing list After their surveillance photos were made public, two men suspected in a series of armed robberies reported in Glendale and Los Angeles last month turned themselves in, police said. In the early morning hours on Sept. 1, two robberies were reported within 15 minutes of each other in Atwater Village, and two days later, three armed robberies were reported within 20 minutes of each other in Glendale. Los Angeles police this week released surveillance footage of two men suspected in the robberies, which was captured when they allegedly used a victims credit card at a store. On Tuesday afternoon, the two men Sterling Jensen, 23, and Emerson Sanker, 22 surrendered at the Los Angeles Police Pacific Division station, said Los Angeles Police Det. Ken Korn. Family members were a strong influence on convincing them to turn themselves in, Korn said, adding that the two were friends from high school. Detectives had actually already identified the pair after a caller who saw the footage identified Jensen, whose information they used to find Sanker on social media. The robberies reported in Glendale occurred in the early morning hours of Sept. 3. At 5:30 a.m., a 58-year-old woman was walking near Elk Avenue and Louise Street when the suspects drove up next to her and asked her what time it was, said Glendale Police spokeswoman Tahnee Lightfoot. The driver, suspected to be Jensen, then reportedly got out of the car, pointed a gun at her and took her personal belongings. About 10 minutes later, a 30-year-old woman sitting at a bus stop in the 400 block of South Brand Boulevard was robbed at gunpoint by two men who made off with her purse, Lightfoot said. Another 10 minutes went by before a 44-year-old man was beaten and robbed on the 400 block of Colorado Street, which required him to be hospitalized. During the Atwater Village robberies, the pair allegedly stopped the victims by asking for directions before robbing them, according to Los Angeles police. Both Jensen and Sanker are being held in lieu of $200,000 bail. A woman was reportedly held at gunpoint Sunday while using an ATM machine at the Bank of America on Foothill Boulevard in La Canada, although the suspect left without taking any money, according to Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department officials. At around 2:30 p.m., the victim was attempting to deposit $45 in cash into her bank account when she was approached from behind by an unknown man, Lt. Randy Tuinstra, watch commander for the Crescenta Valley Sheriffs Station, reported Wednesday. NEWSLETTER: Stay up to date with whats going on in the 818 >> He came up behind her and put a gun to her back, Tuinstra said, adding that the woman reported hearing a sound like the slide of a gun being racked. He asked her for her balance, and she quickly canceled the transaction so he couldnt see the balance. The ATM transaction cancellation caused the $45 to be ejected from the machine, and the woman offered the money to the suspect, the watch commander said. The man refused the money and instead made a hasty exit from the area to a vehicle deputies are describing as a white, older model Toyota with red paper plates from Bob Smith Toyota in La Crescenta. Tuinstra confirmed that Bank of America was closed when the incident occurred, and said a detective from the Crescenta Valley station planned to contact bank management to access and review any video surveillance footage that may aid the investigation. In the meantime, he advised residents to be careful when making transactions outside a bank. Check your surroundings as you walk up to an ATM. Even when you are using it, continue to look over your shoulders to know if someone is near you, he advised. There are typically little wide angle mirrors on the ATMs, which are good for seeing if someone is approaching if a potential suspect thinks you saw him, he may reconsider committing that crime. Anyone with information into Sundays attempted robbery is asked to call the Crescenta Valley Sheriffs Station at (818) 248-3464. Pedal your way through Napa and Sonoma counties, visiting vineyards, redwood groves and the Northern California coast during a weeklong wine country bike tour with Backroads. Participants will visit tasting rooms throughout the region, also stopping in towns such as Sonoma, Sebastopol, Geyserville, Healdsburg and Bodega Bay. The trip is flexible to accommodate different riding levels. Beginners can take easier routes, while advanced riders tackle more miles and spots such as the Oakville Grade, a notoriously steep climb in Napa County. Advertisement There will be time for shopping, visiting spas and exploring local towns too. Dates: Twenty-six weeklong tours are available from June through November. Price: Rates from $3,198 to $3,598 per person, double occupancy. Included are lodging, meals, bikes, van transportation and trip fees. Transportation to the Napa-Sonoma area is not included. Info: Backroads, (800) 462-2848 ALSO Hilton Garden Inn comes to Waikiki Beach in a really big way Like to bike but hate traffic? Try this easy ride from the Cascades to Seattle Bike through history on this 1906 San Francisco earthquake tour Bicycling and beer tastings: 3 tough tours where spokes and suds collide The walls, they came a-tumblin down as a part of one of Las Vegas oldest resorts was imploded early Tuesday morning. As fireworks illuminated the night sky, local officials pushed the plunger at 2:37 a.m., setting off a series of explosions within the Rivieras Monaco Tower. One tower of the Riviera comes down in an implosion in Las Vegas on Tuesday. Advertisement The spectacle was free, but it was a short show. As the crowd cheered, the 24-story hotel tower was reduced to rubble in about 12 seconds. See the most-read stories this hour >> While we bid a fond farewell to a special part of Las Vegas history, we will never say goodbye to what the Riviera has meant to this city and our tourism industry. Rossi Ralenkotter, president and chief executive of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, said in a statement. The Riviera, built in 1955 as one of the first hotels along whats now the Strip, was, in its heyday, a playground for both ordinary citizens and celebrities. It closed in May 2015, just weeks after observing its 60th anniversary. ------------ FOR THE RECORD June 14, 2:40 p.m.: An earlier version of this post said the Riviera observed its 50th anniversary in 2015. It was the casino hotels 60th anniversary. ------------ MORE FROM TRAVEL $464 round trip from LAX to Hong Kong on Air China Israels Kibbutz Degania is a chocolate lovers dream See Croatias Roman ruins, beautiful beaches and more aboard a small-ship cruise 2:02 a.m.: An off-duty officer working at the nightclub responds to shots at the entrance and exchanges fire with Omar Mateen. Mateen goes inside. 2:04 a.m.: Additional Orlando Police Department officers arrive on the scene after receiving a call regarding multiple shots fired at the nightclub. Advertisement Mateen opens fire and patrons hide, duck and flee. 2:08 a.m.: Police officers enter the building and engage in a gun battle with Mateen, which they say forced him to retreat to the restrooms. Witnesses report he moved in and out of the restrooms during the standoff. 2:18 a.m.: Police and SWAT officers initiate a full call-out. 2:35 a.m.: Mateen makes a 911 calls and during the conversations, he says that he was doing this because he wanted America to stop bombing his country. 2:35 a.m.: Mateen talks for the first time to the OPDs Crisis Negotiation Team for approximately nine minutes. 2:39 a.m.: Mateen returns to the restroom. 3:03 a.m.: Second crisis negotiation call occurs and lasts approximately 16 minutes. 3:24 a.m.: Mateen talks to the OPDs Crisis Negotiation Team for the last time for about three minutes. 4:21 a.m.: Police officers pull an air conditioning unit out of a dressing room window for victims to evacuate. 4:29 a.m.: The rescued people said the shooter was going to put four vests with bombs on victims within 15 minutes, but a search of the shooters vehicle on the scene and later inside the nightclub revealed no vest or improvised explosive devices. 5:02 a.m.: Witnesses hear explosions as police attempt to breach the building with an explosive charge and armored vehicle. 5:14 a.m.: Witnesses say Mateen shoots more people, and police radio communications confirm that shots were fired. 5:15 a.m.: Police break through the walls and kill Mateen as he emerges. Sources: Orlando Planning Commission, Times reporting. Graphics reporting by Charles Minshew / Orlando Sentinel After his daughter was killed by former South African Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius in 2013, Barry Steenkamp was told the pain would gradually dull with time. But every day is still the same, he said Tuesday, choking back sobs as he testified at Pistorius sentencing hearing for the killing of Reeva Steenkamp, who was Pistorius girlfriend. Steenkamp told Pretorias High Court that he still thinks of his daughter all the time. Advertisement It was the first testimony by either of Reeva Steenkamps parents, who did not take the stand at the murder trial and generally speak to the media through a lawyer. See the most-read stories this hour >> Last year Pistorius was convicted of the murder of Steenkamp by firing four times through a toilet cubicle door at his house on Valentines Day 2013. He said he thought she was an intruder. He had been convicted in September 2014 of culpable homicide, South Africas term for a reckless but unintentional killing, and sentenced to five years in prison and served a year in the hospital wing of Kgosi Mampuru II prison in Pretoria. The Supreme Court of Appeal last year overturned that verdict, convicting him of murder. The sentencing phase began Monday, with trial Judge Thokozile Masipa hearing testimony and arguments. She is expected to hand down her new sentence this week. Prosecutor Gerrie Nel is seeking a sentence of at least 15 years. Barry Steenkamp testified Tuesday that he keeps thinking about the moment his daughter was shot. She must have been in so much fear and pain, he said. That is what I think of all the time. It must have been absolutely awful. He said he used to prick himself in the knuckles and arms with a needle, imagining her death, to see if I could feel the same amount of pain. Steenkamp said that his wife, June, has forgiven Pistorius, but that he found it very difficult. He said June Steenkamps forgiveness didnt exonerate Pistorius from serving time for murder. The appeal court based its murder conviction on its finding that Pistorius must have realized that firing four times into the cubicle would kill the person inside. Steenkamp said he often sits on his veranda at 2 or 3 oclock in the morning smoking and looking through hundreds of photographs of Reeva. He said that his wife has often been portrayed as stony-faced and strong, but that she grieves just as much as he does. I know that June grieves like I do all the time, he said. I hear her at night. I hear her cry. I hear her talking to Reeva. She feels just as much as I do. Pistorius, a double amputee who competed in the 2012 Olympics in London running on prosthetic legs, will not testify at the hearing. His lawyer, Barry Roux, told Steenkamp in court, We are so sorry, adding that he understood nothing would bring back his daughter. The prosecution called a prison nurse, Charlotte Mashabane, who testified that Pistorius became angry and threatening on three occasions when he didnt get his way. He sometimes shouted at her and other nurses when they entered his cell to do daily medical rounds, Mashabane said. He became angry. He just shouted, screaming. He said I must get out, Mashabane said. MORE WORLD NEWS In sign of chilling ties with China, Taiwan blocks ex-president from visiting Hong Kong Canadian hostage is beheaded in Philippines, officials confirm Japanese police begin crackdown on coerced sex in the porn industry In a sign of the increasing chill in relations between Taiwan and mainland China, Taiwans new government has blocked its immediate past president from traveling to Hong Kong amid concerns he might take state secrets to the semiautonomous Chinese territory. The administration of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, who took office less than a month ago, on Sunday denied a travel application to former President Ma Ying-jeou. Ma, who was termed out of office after eight years, had been invited to speak at a June 15 award ceremony in Hong Kong by the Society of Publishers in Asia, and he planned to stay in the territory for seven hours. See the most-read stories this hour >> Advertisement During his time in office, Ma, of the Nationalist Party, significantly bolstered ties with mainland China, signing 23 deals on trade, transit and investment, allowing direct flights between the two sides and fostering a tourist industry. But those policies made many Taiwanese nervous that the island was getting too close to Communist-led China. The two sides have been separately ruled since the Chinese civil war of the 1940s. Beijing views Taiwan as a breakaway province that eventually must be reunified with the mainland, while opinion polls in Taiwan show most islanders prefer autonomy, if not a formal declaration of independence. Ma is privy to confidential information, including state secrets, and his intended destination was sensitive, presidential office spokesman Huang Chung-yen said late Sunday in announcing a six-agency task forces decision to reject Mas travel application. Tsai appealed to voters ahead of the January election by advocating peaceful dialogue with Beijing without embracing its formulation that both sides belong to one country. Ma endorsed that rhetorical framework, and China has pressed Tsai to do the same. The rejection [of Mas travel application] is something that will resonate, said Raymond Wu, managing director of political risk consultancy e-telligence in Taipei. I dont think Ma was trying to use or exploit the occasion to do something else. Huang said Taiwan had no precedent for this type of travel request. The (Taiwan) National Security Bureau has no record of related cooperation with the Hong Kong government and this case was urgent, making it hard to discuss with the mainland China or Hong Kong governments, Huang said. Evaluation of this case was based on the importance of the former president toward national security, the unusualness of the case and its sensitivity. By law, for three years after stepping down, a former Taiwanese president must seek approval for travel within 15 days of a trip abroad because he or she has had access to confidential information while in office. Mas office called the travel rejection not persuasive, adding that it disrespected the former head of state and could tarnish the international reputation of Taiwans freedom and democracy, according to Taiwans semiofficial Central News Agency. Tsais administration may have used the request to mollify hardliners in her Democratic Progressive Party, Wu said. Some DPP members want Taiwan to declare formal independence or believe Ma should be kept in Taiwan in case prosecutors determine he committed crimes while in office. Former Taiwanese leader Chen Shui-bian served a sentence on graft charges after leaving office in 2008. Mas Nationalist Party accused the Tsai government of a double standard. But Tsais administration followed procedure without a political basis, said Lai I-chung, vice president of Taiwan Thinktank and former head of China policy for the DPP. Ma is not visiting the United States or the Japan or the U.K., Lai said. He was to visit Hong Kong, and the area is of special concern. Jennings is a special correspondent. MORE WORLD NEWS In Islamic State-held areas, being gay often means a death sentence Canadian hostage is beheaded in Philippines, officials confirm Japanese police begin crackdown on coerced sex in the porn industry Tensions remained strained between students, the government and law enforcement officials in Papua New Guinea following the brutal crackdown on street protests aimed at forcing the islands prime minister to resign. Since early May, students at the University of Papua New Guinea have led demonstrations, boycotted classes and submitted petitions calling on Prime Minister Peter ONeill to step down over corruption allegations. The unrest peaked when police opened fire Wednesday on a crowd of students as they tried to march to parliament to support a planned no-confidence vote against ONeill, according to Radio New Zealand and other news reports. Almost two dozen students were injured in the mayhem, including four who were shot, according to Reuters news agency. Advertisement An injured student is rushed to the emergency room at Port Moresby General Hospital on June 8, 2016 in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. (Stringer / Getty Images ) Analysts said the unrest, which by some media accounts appeared to be spreading among students, exposes deeper problems on the island of 7.3 million. It has revealed serious flaws in PNGs democracy and the increasingly authoritarian tendencies of the PNG government, Jenny Hayward-Jones, a nonresident fellow for the Melanesia Program at the Lowy Institute for International Policy in Sydney, Australia, said in an email. The anticorruption agency Transparency International Papua New Guinea said in a statement that the use of gunfire against the students signaled that the country was being dragged into chaos by people who apparently expect impunity from the law. The public must be reminded that governments power is for the people, by the people and of the people. Kenneth Rapa, president of the University of Papua New Guinea Student Representative Council that has led the protests, said in a statement published online Sunday. The public has every right to question such abuse of power. So how did it come to this? Simply put, the students want ONeill to go. The embattled prime minister came to power in 2011 pledging to tackle corruption but by 2014 a warrant had been issued for his arrest after the countrys anticorruption agency, TaskForce Sweep, accused him of authorizing millions in fraudulent payments to a leading legal firm, the BBC reported. ONeill has managed to avoid being arrested and has refused to resign. He describes the corruption allegations as being of questionable political intent, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corp. This file photo taken on May 14, 2015 shows Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter ONeill giveing a talk at the Lowy Institute for International Policy in Sydney, Australia (Peter Parks / AFP / Getty Images ) ONeill abolished the anticorruption task-force, which he established himself, as soon it began to investigate him and sacked a police commissioner and magistrate, according to Hayward-Jones. The leaders of the task force have now been reinstated by court ordertwice, but the government has since suspended parliament to block the no-confidence vote. The press has also been stifled, sometimes through self-censorship. Of the two major newspapers, one is uncritical of government and the other is often intimidated by government, Hayward- Jones said. And prominent bloggers who are critical of government have been threatened with criminal charges and censorship. So what is the standard of living in Papua New Guinea? Poverty has increased sharply since the mid-1990s and the nations level of income inequality is the highest in the Asia-Pacific region, despite the nations wealth of mineral resources, according to Oxfam Australia, an aid and development organization. This month the United Nations World Food Program, in partnership with CARE International and provincial authorities in Papua New Guinea, announced that it would distribute food in the countrys Highlands Region, which has experienced drought and periodic frost conditions that hindered families from harvesting crops. Some 180,000 people are in urgent need of food, the agency said. And as many as 60% of the people are without safe water, according to WaterAid, an international nonprofit. The poorest of the poor pay as much as 54% of their daily earnings for whats considered a minimum daily allotment 13 gallons. Papua New Guinea is considered the most linguistically diverse country in the world, with more than 800 languages spoken, according to the World Bank. But as a result, the education system faces challenges and the literacy rate is less than 60%. Nebilyer warriors in a file photo in 2006. Papua New Guinea is considered the worlds most linguistically diverse nation, with more than 800 languages spoken, according to the World Bank. (Torsten Blackwood / AFP / Getty Images ) What is Papua New Guineas record on human rights? Not good, according to human rights advocates. In general there is a high level of violence across the board, in particular gender-based, and violence related to sorcery and other cultural practices, said Kate Schuetze, Pacific Researcher for Amnesty International. Amnestys current report for Papua New Guinea notes that in recent years legal reforms have sputtered and few gains have been made in improving social services, access to healthcare and womens rights. In its 2015 world report, Human Rights Watch described Papua New Guinea as one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a woman, with an estimated 70% of women experiencing rape or assault in their lifetime. See more of our top stories on Facebook The country also has a reputation for excessive use of force by police and the military, according to Amnesty. There is not really the accountability to investigate and prosecute the police individually or to discipline them, Schuetze said. What now? The prime minister originally blamed the students for the violence, denying that police had targeted those protesting, but later acknowledged that authorities could have handled things better. The government, the police, and Papua New Guineas Ombudsman Commission--an independent body with the power to sanction government employees and elected representatives--have all promised to investigate the shootings at last weeks protests, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corp. Hayward-Jones said while the announcement was welcome, it was unclear whether the prime minister would take it seriously. And it seemed unlikely that students would change their stance that ONeill should step aside. ALSO 23 injured as police and students clash in Papua New Guinea Canadian hostage is beheaded in Philippines, officials confirm A rebellion inside a small Indian sect seeks to end a brutal custom: female genital mutilation Japans pornography industry has come under greater scrutiny after Tokyo Metro Police arrested executives of a well-known talent agency on suspicion of coercing an actress to engage in sex on camera. Human rights groups had been calling for action for months. Police announced Monday that they had arrested the president of Marks Japan and two others on suspicion that they forced a woman into appearing in adult films by threatening to punish her financially. They also threatened to force her parents to pay for contract violations if necessary, police said. The woman, described as being in her 20s, reportedly signed with the company in 2009 as a fashion model and was forced to have sex on camera in more than 100 videos before being able to cancel her contract in 2014, according to police. Advertisement The three men arrested, including company President Takashi Kozasu, were charged with breaking laws that regulate temporary employment agencies specifically, rules that prevent the agencies from sending workers into assignments that violate public morals. The assignment that led to the charges was a film shoot in September 2013. In March, the Tokyo-based advocacy group Human Rights Now issued a report (link in Japanese) charging that Japans pornography industry, which is reputed to take in $4.4 billion annually, violated the human rights of women and girls by blackmailing them and coercing them into work they didnt want to do. Shihoko Fujiwara, the founder of another group, the nonprofit Lighthouse: Center for Human Trafficking Victims, said that in the last year her group had received more than 100 complaints regarding forced participation in porn and that the industry uses tactics similar to human traffickers. Ten percent of these complaints were from young men. Japan has a shortage of men in the adult film industry, with an estimated 70 men and several thousand women. Victims are talked into signing a fashion-modeling contract, Fujiwara said. When they turn up on set they are informed that it is a porn shoot. They beg to quit or go home but are threatened to be charged millions of yen for penalties for contract violations and often end up giving in. The results are life devastating. Marks Japan did not respond to queries about its practices or the charges. Adelstein and Yamamoto are special correspondents. Special correspondent Louis Krauss contributed to this report. Philippine officials confirmed Tuesday that Abu Sayyaf militants beheaded a Canadian man, the second Canadian hostage to be killed in two months after their demands for a large ransom were not met. The hostage, Robert Hall, was abducted from a marina last September along with another Canadian, a Norwegian and a Filipino. The other Canadian, former mining executive John Ridsdel, was beheaded in April. Presidential spokesman Herminio Coloma condemned the brutal and senseless murder of Hall. He had been held by the Abu Sayyaf in the jungles of southern Sulu province for nine months. Advertisement This latest heinous crime serves to strengthen our governments resolve to put an end to this reign of terror and banditry, he said in a statement. A militant video obtained by Philippine police officials and seen by The Associated Press showed Hall in an orange shirt and kneeling in front of a black Islamic State-style flag before he was killed in a jungle area. An Abu Sayyaf deadline for the payment of a large ransom lapsed Monday and police later found a severed head of a Caucasian man outside a Roman Catholic cathedral in Sulu provinces main Jolo town. In Ottawa, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there was compelling reason to believe that Hall had been killed by his captors, and that the Canadian government was working with Philippine authorities to confirm his death. We have every reason to believe that the reports are unfortunately true, Trudeau said. He said he was horrified by the killings and reaffirmed Canadas refusal to pay ransoms. The government of Canada will not and cannot pay ransoms for hostages to terrorist groups, as doing so would endanger the lives of more Canadians, Trudeau said in a statement. We are more committed than ever to working with the government of the Philippines and international partners to pursue those responsible for these heinous acts and bring them to justice, however long it takes. Trudeau recently urged leaders of other members of the Group of Seven rich nations to reiterate their opposition to paying ransoms. After being abducted from the marina on southern Samal Island last September, the hostages were taken by boat to Sulu, where the Abu Sayyaf has held hostages for years in mountainous jungle camps. Ridsdel was beheaded on April 25 after a ransom demand of 300 million pesos ($6.3 million) was not paid. In an Abu Sayyaf video posted on YouTube after Ridsdels death, Hall and the two other hostages, Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad and Filipino woman Marites Flor, pleaded to Canadian and Philippine officials to negotiate their release. We live like this every day, go to bed like this, Hall said, raising his arms to show that he was handcuffed. We have a hundred people heavily armed around us all the time that dictate to us and talk to us like children. Weve been humiliated in every way possible. One of us has already been murdered. Hall spoke later in the video for a second time, sounding resigned to a tragic fate. I would also like to thank my family for the effort they put in my family and friends for the effort they put in to get me out of here. I know you did everything you can, and I truly appreciate it. Im sorry I got you in this mess, he said. Trudeau extended his heartfelt condolences to Halls relatives and friends. The United States and the Philippines have both listed the Abu Sayyaf as a terrorist organization for kidnappings, beheadings and bombings. The group emerged in the early 1990s as an extremist offshoot of a decades-long Muslim separatist rebellion in the countrys south. ALSO Key things to know about the British vote on whether to remain in the European Union Orlando massacre comes as Islamic State faces battlefield setbacks A rebellion inside a small Indian sect seeks to end a brutal custom: female genital mutilation The camera lingers on the jihadists suspending the man by his legs over the edge of the building. Blindfolded, his hands bound behind his back, he flails as he falls to his death, the video switching to slow motion as an Islamic chant, known as a nasheed, plays in the background. In this Oct. 22, 2015, file photo, Daniel Halaby, a gay Syrian living in southern Turkey, shows a photo from his laptop of Islamic State group militants throwing a man off a roof for allegedly violating the extremists ban on homosexuality. (Hussein Malla/Associated Press ) The clip, from a 2015 video celebrating the anniversary of the groups takeover of the city of Mosul, is one of dozens of photo reports and videos depicting the fate of those accused by Islamic State of committing the act of [sodomy]: Being thrown from a tall height, usually a building. Those who survive the fall have stones hurled at them by crowds waiting below for the coup de grace. In the almost two years since Islamic State declared its self-styled caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria, it has employed amputations, whipping and crucifixions to punish those who violate its strict reading of sharia, or Islamic law. But for gay people living in Islamic State-held areas, Sundays lone wolf attack in Orlando served as a bitter reminder of the systematic targeting they face under the groups regime of terror, where their sexuality is a death sentence -- one often carried out with the tacit approval of the community around them. Advertisement Since December 2014, the group has bragged that it has killed at least 41 individuals for what it calls sodomy, said Jessica Stern, executive director of OutRight Action International, an advocacy and monitoring group for LGBT rights. Clearly the 41 deaths are just the tip of the iceberg, and when we talk to our friends in Iraq and Syria they tell us of many other deaths that [Islamic State] didnt claim public responsibility for, she added. Like many tyrannical regimes before it, Islamic State maintains a veneer of legality, backing its persecution of gay people with arguments derived from the groups interpretation of Islamic texts. Last February, the group outlined its legal argument on how it clamped down on what it described as sexual deviance in its English-language magazine, Dabiq. The article is a jeremiad against the Wests sexual revolution, which plunged it into a downward spiral of sexual deviance and immorality where disease is rampant. In the midst of this widespread affront to the fitrah (natural human disposition), the article rails, the Islamic State continues its efforts against these deeds of misguidance which Western Civilization regards as a part of their values by implementing the rulings of Allah on those who practice any form of sexual deviancy or transgression. The body of the article is peppered throughout with quotes from both the Koran as well as sayings attributed to the prophet Muhammad to derive rulings that will protect the Muslims from treading the same rotten course that the West has chosen to pursue. The Koran discusses the issue of homosexuality in its retelling of the story of Sodom and Lot. In Arabic, the word loti is a derogatory term for homosexual, and sodomy is dubbed the act of the people of Lot. Although the Koran says both men who engage in homosexual acts are to be punished, it does not specify how, and says the death penalty can be waived if they repent. For its signature punishment, Islamic State instead relies on literature from the Hadith, a compendium of the prophets words, said Islamic State expert Aymenn Jawad Tamimi, a research fellow at the Middle East Forum. The book was very obscure until Islamic State started publicizing it. This is the way Islamic State justifies itself foremost to its supporters, by presenting a theology meticulously backed by source material so as to impress them, concluded Tamimi in a social media interview on Monday. This approach, observers say, is central to the image Islamic State hopes to create for itself as the protector of Muslims throughout the world, which serves as a powerful recruiting tool for the group. Armed with these rulings, Islamic State hunts for gay men in its midst, apprehending people and rifling through their phones for simply walking or speaking in a way that would arouse suspicion, said Subhi Nahas, a Syrian who escaped from his hometown of Idlib after it was taken over by the Al Qaeda affiliate and one-time Islamic State ally Al Nusra Front. He now resides in San Francisco, where he has become an advocate of LGBT rights for refugees. Even if you arent a homosexual you could still be walking in a different way, but this doesnt matter. You have to walk in a certain way for them to let you pass, he said. Since Nahas left, he has learned from others that Islamic States tactics have gotten uglier. The group now stalks websites that are popular with gay Arab men, setting up fake accounts to harvest information or entrap them. Some have also been betrayed by other gay people in the community who, fearing for their safety and that of their families, hope to avoid detection by giving up others while masquerading as supporters of Islamic State. But the jihadists can also rely on support for their cause from Muslim communities where intolerance of homosexuality is mainstream. There in no acceptance of [homosexuality], people arent even willing to talk about it, said Nahas, explaining that when he first participated in the 2011 uprisings against Syrian President Bashar Assad, he and his gay colleagues were told it was not the right time to advocate for LGBT rights. As Islamists gained power in the uprising, Nahas even feared his own father would hand him over to the jihadists. I always had trouble with my father because of my orientation, so I thought he would do it to get rid of me, Nahas said, recalling similar instances of families surrendering their relatives to militant factions in Iraq during the U.S. invasion of the country. These atrocious acts exist on a continuum of violence, said Stern. I think its really important to underscore that there is violence by families, killing campaigns by militias ... and there was indifference by governments even before the rise of ISIS, with not a single murderer being prosecuted. Although there are bright spots, including a thriving LGBT community in both Lebanon and one in Jordan that is somewhat tolerated, many countries across the Arab and Islamic world sentence people to death or subject them to lashings for being gay. Others, like Egypt, round them up under so-called debauchery laws and subject them to anal virginity tests. For Yusef, a gay Muslim who refused to give his full name so as to be able to speak freely, the behavior of these governments is little better than the brutality meted out by Islamic State, and is intended to do one thing: Spread fear. One is more extreme than the other, but in essence they are equally terrifying, he wrote in a Facebook chat on Monday. But the Orlando shootings have also spurred some to challenge those around them to acknowledge the prejudice against gays and lesbians. On Sunday, Murad Zagal, a resident of Jordan who volunteers with a local group promoting HIV awareness and LGBT counseling in the country, expressed his anger on Facebook after the Orlando attacks. Please dont lecture me about Islams true image that you think is being mutilated by terrorists who dont represent true Islam. Instead just show me, he wrote. The majority of Muslims are homophobic, there, I said it. Until that changes your claims of true Islam are delusional and hypocritical. For Nahas, however, the wave of Islamophobia caused by the attacks has alienated him in his new home. My feelings were that I escaped from Syria to come to [the] U.S., and [Orlando] makes me fear for our community of gay Muslims, he said. There is no place for us to call home. Bulos is a special correspondent. American toothpaste brand, Colgate has released its first gay-inclusive commercial in Mexico, a country that has been making efforts to provide equal rights for the LGBT community. The ad, shared on Colgate's Facebook account, features two men moving into their new home. They meet a father and his son who, instead of shunning the couple, welcome the couple and help them move their couch into their apartment. The company captioned the video with, "There are a lot of moments to be proud, a lot of reasons to smile." The ad features the hashtag #SmileWithPride, which is not only a reference to showing off your Colgate-clean teeth but also being proud of who you are. While same sex marriage isn't legal throughout Mexico, it is in a few states and has the support of President Enrique Pena Nieto. The president has shared his support of legalizing same sex marriage at a national level on his Twitter account. Por un @Mexico incluyente que reconoce en la diversidad, una de sus mayores fortalezas #SinHomofobia. pic.twitter.com/6ooZGuPEsD Enrique Pena Nieto (@EPN) May 17, 2016 Check out the commercial here: John Oliver wants you to know he feels your pain stemming from the deadly Orlando nightclub shooting. "Look, it's still early and details are still emerging, and right now, this just hurts," Oliver said on his "Last Week Tonight" show while weighing in on the worst mass shooting in U.S. history that left 49 dead. Still, a reflective Oliver wanted all his listeners to remember the fact that so many were able to meet and celebrate at Pulse nightclub the way they were says a lot about the country we live in. "For the record, I will happily embrace a Latin night at a gay club in the theme park capital of the world as the ultimate symbol of what is truly wonderful about America," he added. Shooter Rumored to be Homophobic Police have identified 29-year-old Omar Mateen as the suspected gunmen and a former Fort Pierce police officer and colleague has alleged he often made homophobic and racist comments. "I quit because everything he said was toxic," said Daniel Gilroy. "And the company wouldn't do anything. This guy was unhinged and unstable. He talked of killing people." Mateen's father later admitted his recently became enraged when he saw two men kissing. FBI agent Ronald Hopper said Mateen first came to the attention of the bureau in 2013 when he made "inflammatory comments" to co-workers about having ties to terrorism. "In the course of the investigation, Mateen was interviewed twice," Hopper said, adding that he insisted he only made the comments out of anger because he thought his co-workers were teasing him about being a Muslim. He again came under scrutiny in 2014 when he was linked to Moner Mohammad Abu-Salha, a U.S. citizen who who blew himself up that year in a suicide attack in Syria. Maten had License to Make gun Purchases Records show Mateen had a legal firearms license and legally purchased the guns believed to have been used in the carnage. During his telecast, Oliver show video of hundreds of people lined up across Orlando donating blood for the many victims. "It kind of reminds you that that terrorist dips- is vastly outnumbered," he said. Following the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, Donald Trump reiterated his immigration stance on Monday that would temporarily ban Muslims entering the U.S. "We Have a Dysfunctional Immigration System" Speaking from New Hampshire, Trump delivered an address about terrorism, which included his plan to reassess the country's current immigration policies, and it includes a temporary ban of Muslims entering until further notice. "If we don't get tough, and we don't get smart -- and fast -- we're not going to have a country anymore -- there will be nothing left," said Trump reading from a teleprompter, and inaccurately adding that the Orlando shooter was born in "Afghan." While the shooter's parents were born in Afghanistan, he was born in New York. "The bottom line is that the only reason the killer was in America in the first place was because we allowed his family to come here," said Trump, later adding, "We have a dysfunctional immigration system which does not permit us to know who we let into our country, and it does not permit us to protect our citizens." Trump spoke of his temporary Muslim ban, which he first pitched following the 2015 San Bernardino shootings, and acknowledged the ban would be lifted "when we as a nation are in a position to properly and perfectly screen those people coming into our country." "The immigration laws of the United States give the president the power to suspend entry into the country of any class of persons that the president deems detrimental to the interests or security of the United States, as he deems appropriate," said Trump on Monday afternoon. "I will use this power to protect the American people. When I am elected, I will suspend immigration from areas of the world when there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe or our allies, until we understand how to end these threats." He added that a responsible immigration policy will be developed after an impartial and overdue security assessment occurs. Trump said immigration into the U.S. has to be under control to prevent radicalization within the country. The Republican presidential candidate said his immigration plan is one that promotes American values and benefits the country, while Hillary Clinton's "radical" immigration policy benefits politically-correct special interests. "Immigration is a privilege, and we should not let anyone into this country who doesn't support our communities - all of our communities. America has already admitted four times more immigrants than any country on earth, and we continue to admit millions more with no real checks or scrutiny." Clinton's Terror Attack Speech Earlier on Monday, Clinton delivered her own speech against terrorism. From Cleveland, Ohio, Clinton noted that the identifying and stopping "lone wolves" is a top priority, whether or not they have any to no contact with radicalized groups such as ISIS. "The attack in Orlando makes it even more clear: we cannot contain this threat - we must defeat it," said Clinton, noting her anti-terrorism plans includes ramping an air campaign, increasing support for international supporters on the ground in the Middle East, while pushing them to do more in the region. Clinton called on assault weapon reforms, such as those used in the San Bernardino and Orlando attacks. She said if an individual is being watched by the FBI, for suspected terrorist links, then he or she should not be able to purchase a gun with no questions asked. She added that people who are deemed dangerous to board a plane shouldn't buy a gun either. "We have to make it harder for people who should not have those weapons of war. That might not stop every shooting or terrorist attack. But it will stop some and it will save lives and it will protect our first responders," Clinton said. __ For the latest updates, follow Latin Post's Michael Oleaga on Twitter: @EditorMikeO or contact via email: m.oleaga@latinpost.com. Rev. Roger Jimenez, Baptist Pastor from Sacramento, is under fire for making controversial comments about the victims of the Orlando shooting that took place on June 12. During a sermon made at the Verity Baptist Church, the same day after news of the massacre broke, Jimenez praised the attack that left 50 people dead and many others injured. "Hey, are you sad that 50 pedophiles were killed today? No ... I think that's great. I think that helps society. I think Orlando, Florida's a little safer tonight," he said Jimenez continued his hour-long sermon by stating that it's not normal for a man to like another man and added, "The tragedy is that more of them didn't die." The comments were met by plenty of criticism. Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson was one of many who shared their distaste for Jimenez's comments. The hateful comments made by a preacher in Sacramento do not reflect Christian values and have no place in our society," he tweeted. The hateful comments made by a preacher in Sacramento do not reflect Christian values and have no place in our society. #standwithorlando Kevin Johnson (@KJ_MayorJohnson) June 14, 2016 Donald Bentz, who is the executive director of Sacramento's LGBTQ Community Center also commented on the pastor's sermon. "We as the gay community support you should be able to worship as you see fit, but it's when you use the pulpit to incite violence or demean or discredit another class of people, just utter disgust," he said. While the sermon was originally shared on YouTube, the video has been removed for violating policies and promoting hate speech. While Jimenez's sermon has been removed, on June 14, the Verity Baptist Church shared a video of Jimenez, titled "Statistics on Sodomites," which continues to make claims about homosexuality and condemn members of the community. Watch the video here: A Muhlenberg College student is accused of recording a woman while she showered, then allegedly showing the video to other people. Lee Wetty, of Middle Township in Cape May County, New Jersey, was arraigned Tuesday on charges of invasion of privacy and harassment. Wetty, 22, was released on $5,000 bail. A message left at a phone number for Wetty's New Jersey address was not immediately returned. Wetty was to graduate this year, according to the the Cape May Herald. He was not listed in the student directory as of Tuesday. A message to the college's public relations department asking about Wetty's status was not immediately returned. Allentown police said a woman reported to Muhlenberg officials in February that Wetty surreptitiously recorded the victim in the shower, and that a third woman saw the video and sent text messages from Wetty about it. On March 30, Wetty met with investigators for an interview. On April 4, investigators searched Wetty's devices and home for digital evidence, police said. The next day, in another interview with investigators, Wetty admitted purchasing a small camera in the fall of 2015, and using it to record the victim in the shower, police said. Wetty took the camera to his residence and watched it on his computer, police said. Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. Bethlehem Area School District taxpayers will see their school tax bills rise by 3.2 percent this year. The school board voted 6-1 to approve a $260.7 million spending plan that relies on a 3.2 percent tax hike, lower than the almost 4 percent increase in the proposed final budget. Director Tom Thomasik cast the sole opposing vote. Directors Shannon L. Patrick and Roy Oritz were absent from the meeting. Board President Michael Faccinetto and Director Eugene McKeon praised the administration for continuing to refine the budget and look for cost savings up until the vote. Earlier in the budget process, board members thought they might be asked to support a 5 percent increase, Faccinetto said. "I'm really surprised we are down to close to 3 percent," he said. "We are in a good situation, thank you to the administration for getting us here." The 2016-17 budget means the average Northampton County taxpayer will see a $93 increase in their school tax bill instead of the previously proposed $115. And in Lehigh County it will increase the average homeowner's bill by $102, instead of $129. Superintendent Joseph Roy said Friday that the district has been able to lower the tax increase due to updated tax roll figures from the county and changes to the prescription plan. The district is exceeding its 2.9 percent Act 1 cap on annual property tax hikes by $415,764, much lower than the $2.7 million authorized by the state for allowable exceptions, he said last week. The overall budget has increased from 2015-16 by 6.5 percent and the key cost drivers are a $3 million rise in salaries, $4.8 million for employee pensions and $5.1 million for charter school tuition payments. If you take out the pensions and charter schools, it is only 3 percent, following a 1.6 percent rise last year and 0.25 percent in 2014-15, Roy said. Without the $26 million in charter school tuition and $29.9 million in pension payments, the district would not need a tax increase, the superintendent said. The spending plan cuts no jobs or major programs but does rely on $2.9 million from the district's savings to close the budget hole. It continues the district's universal full-day kindergarten program, the high school's Project Lead the Way curriculum and its push to have all students reading on grade level by third grade -- an important indicator of future student success. Sara K. Satullo may be reached at ssatullo@lehighvalleylive.com.com. Follow her on Twitter @sarasatullo and on Facebook.. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. A woman found sleeping in a car had crack on her and was high on cocaine and marijuana at the time, according to Lower Saucon Township police. Melina Miller, of Ottsville, Pennsylvania, was arrested at 8:38 a.m. May 14 after being found in a car blocking the road in the back of Saucon Valley Square off Route 378. Police said the 53-year-old Miller was under the influence of coke and pot when she was found behind the wheel, and officers found crack and "numerous" glass pipes on her. Miller was wanted on a probation violation warrant in Bucks County, and was taken there, Lower Saucon police said. Police said Miller will be charged in Northampton County with driving under the influence, possession of cocaine, possession of drug paraphernalia, and driving with a suspended license. Miller is also facing a separate charge of possession of drug paraphernalia in Lehigh County, records show. Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. Four people were arraigned Tuesday after early-morning drug raids at three residences in Easton as part of a city Vice Unit and FBI investigation into an alleged Bloods street gang heroin sales organization. Clarence Terry. Bail: $50,000 Clarence Terry was the first of four people arrested early Tuesday morning in an Easton drug raid to appear in court. District Judge Daniel Corpora asked the 25-year-old charged with delivery of heroin and possession with intent to deliver heroin when he last used drugs. Two days ago, Terry said softly, adding marijuana, then, after a pause, opiates. Terry was asked if he worked, and he told the judge he wasn't currently employed, but he did work on Monday for a moving company. The New Jersey native said he was on parole from what court papers say was a 2010 Lehigh County guilty plea for possession of a firearm when prohibited. Court papers say he also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess drugs with intent to deliver. Charges of criminal trespassing, recklessly endangering another person, tampering with evidence, firearms not to be carried without a license, possession with intent to deliver drugs and possession of a controlled substance were dropped, according to court papers. Terry, who said he has lived in Easton for about a year with his wife and children, was sentenced in 2011 to 3 to 7 years in jail on the firearm charge and 16 months to 4 years on the conspiracy charge. The sentences were concurrent. He served 203 days in jail awaiting trial after bail was set at $500,000, and he was released from prison April 26, 2014, records show. Corpora set bail on Tuesday's drug-related charges at $50,000. A preliminary hearing is tentatively scheduled 9 a.m. June 28 in Corpora's South Side court. Terry was arrested just after 6 a.m. Tuesday at 689 Ferry St. in part of an Easton police Vice Unit and FBI investigation into heroin sales by the Bloods street gang, police said. The arrest warrant was for delivery of heroin, but police said they found $6,100 of heroin in Terry's apartment, so a charge of possession with intent to deliver was added, police said. Tajhan Knox. Bail: $650,000 Tajhan Knox was charged with five counts of drug delivery, including two of the alleged deals dating to last August. The delivery charges led to a quick $150,000 bail with little discussion in District Judge Richard Yetter III's courtroom. Then came the second part of the proceeding where another case from Tuesday added charges of a felon not to possess a firearm, receiving stolen property (a .357 revolver and a .45 revolver), possession with intent to deliver heroin, possession of drug paraphernalia and conspiracy to receive stolen property. Approximately $1,100 in heroin was found where Knox was staying at 149 S. 12th St. in Easton, police said. Five guns were recovered there as well, police said. By the time the judge had listed all the charges in both cases and the potential maximum sentences, Knox was facing 131 years in jail. Sitting in court wearing a sleeveless T-shirt, sweatpants and red sneakers, Knox didn't speak much, uttering "Yeah," when Yetter asked him if he had a previous conviction. Knox had a 2011 drug conviction in Northampton County, he told the judge, but was not on probation or parole. There was some question about where he lived, Vermont Street in Palmer Township or the West Ward address. For the sake of the arraignment, they settled on the 12th Street address. "This area has an epidemic of heroin," Yetter told Knox before setting bail on the second set of charges at $500,000. A preliminary hearing is tentatively scheduled 9 a.m. June 24 in Yetter's court. Alexis Miller. Bail: $100,000 Alexis Miller wanted to know if she could ask a question during her arraignment. Yetter agreed and she said, "What if he says they were his," she said about the drugs and the guns -- five of which were found in the house. "I didn't even know ..." Yetter cautioned her," Let's not say too much. ... I have to hear the case." As the arraignment went on, Knox, in a room with a window next to the court, kept looking toward Miller, but she only once turned to returned the glance. Miler, like Knox, was wearing a sleeveless white T-shirt and gray sweatpants. Yetter learned Miller was a 2007 graduate of Easton Area High School and the only mark on her criminal record was a DUI several years ago. Her parents live in Palmer Township, she said. The judge questioned why she was living with a friend on South 12th Street if her parents were so nearby, but Miller didn't respond. She's charged with two counts of receiving stolen property, possession with intent to deliver heroin, possession of drug paraphernalia and conspiracy to receive stolen property. Yetter asked her if she had a passport, which she said she did, but wasn't sure where it was. "These are some serious charges," Yetter said. "Coupled with that it's heroin. I'm a little tired of seeing heroin." When they discussed her passport, Yetter, looking toward an Easton police officer, said, "I don't want her going anywhere," and added she'd have to surrender the document. He set bail at $100,000 and he said it again. "Couple the guns with the heroin, I don't want you going anywhere," Yetter said. Miller's preliminary hearing is tentatively set for 9 a.m. Tuesday in Yetter's court. Justin Cobb. Bail: $100,000 Justin Cobb faces three counts of delivering heroin between late March and late May. He also faces two counts of using a cellphone to commit a crime. The deliveries were in Easton and Wilson Borough, according to police. He was later charged as a felon not to possess a firearm after police allegedly found a weapon in a car to which he had access near his house. Cobb was arraigned midday before Yetter, who set bail at $100,000. When the gun charge was later added, Yetter added $50,000 to Cobb's bail. Cobb's preliminary hearing is tentatively scheduled 9 a.m. June 24. Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyRhodin. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. Children under age 2 will be required to be secured in rear-facing child seats in Pennsylvania, starting this summer. A rear-facing child seat like this one is already required for children under 2 in New Jersey, and will be starting in August 2016 in Pennsylvania. (NJ Advance Media file photo | For lehighvalleylive.com) Gov. Tom Wolf on Monday signed into law Senate Bill 1152, now Act 43, setting the requirement. The measure has Lehigh Valley roots: It was sponsored in the Senate by state Sen. Pat Browne, R-Lehigh, and in the House by Rep. Mike Schlossberg, D-Lehigh. "We have no greater responsibility as public servants than protecting our most vulnerable, including especially young children," Wolf said in a statement. "I commend Sen. Browne, Rep. Schlossberg and their colleagues for their efforts to ensure children in vehicles are safer and more secure." It takes effect in 60 days, around mid-August. Current law requires all children younger than 4 to be properly secured in an approved car seat, but the law does not specify how the car seat should be facing. Browne said numerous studies have shown rear-facing car seats do a far better job at protecting an infant's head, neck and spine. The new law amends the existing law on transporting children under 4 years of age. A violation is cause for police to stop a driver, and violators face a fine of up to $100 plus a court cost that is adjusted annually; $30 to the CAT, or Catastrophic Loss Benefits Continuation, Fund; $10 to the Emergency Medical Services Fund and $10 in administrative costs. Violators can have the fine dismissed if they show evidence at their hearing of having acquired an appropriate child seat. The rear-facing law has a grace period of one year, during which only verbal warnings are to be issued to violators. Pennsylvania will become the fourth state, after California, New Jersey and Oklahoma, to require rear-facing car seats for children younger than 2, according to the sponsors. "After hearing from health care professionals and after seeing safety studies that have shown that children under two are better protected in car accidents when they are in rear-facing car seats, it was crucial that we changed the law in Pennsylvania to better ensure the safety of young children," Browne said in a statement. Schlossberg stated: "As a father of two young children, I know parents and caregivers want to be doing the right thing for their child, especially when it involves that child's safety. The best thing we can do for our children while they are traveling with us in our vehicles is to ensure they are properly secured. "Efforts such as this, which bring together both sides of the aisle and both chambers serve Pennsylvania best. I was glad to be able to work with Sen. Browne to make that happen and as a result, Pennsylvania's children will be safer." The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recommends infants should be in a rear-facing car seat until they weigh at least 20 pounds and are at least 1. The administration also recommends that children 12 and under ride buckled up in a rear seat. Infants in rear-facing child seats should never ride in the front seat of a vehicle with passenger-side air bag. Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. Pohatcong Township police find lost dog Feb. 21, 2015 This 5-month-old German shepherd puppy was found behind Party City off Route 22 in Pohatcong Township,in 2015. (Pohatcong Township police via Facebook) Slate Belt residents will now have some added help with lost or problem dogs. The Slate Belt Council of Governments hired a new animal control officer whose duties will include rounding up runaway dogs and responding to nuisance calls regarding canines. Sue Henn, also Northampton Borough's animal control officer, will begin her role for the Slate Belt COG on Wednesday. The animal control officer's duties will at first be limited to dealing with dogs. Slate Belt COG Executive Director Scott Parsons said he would like to expand the role in the future for cats and other problem animals. The idea of a regional animal control officer has been discussed by regional officials since at least 2014. "When I took over on the first of February, it was a top priority to get this up and running," said Parsons, a former Wind Gap and Northampton County councilman. "I think it's something all the municipalities need." Slate Belt COG members include the boroughs of Bangor, East Bangor, Pen Argyl, Portland, Roseto and Wind Gap, with Plainfield, Washington, Lower Mount Bethel, and Upper Mount Bethel townships. "I think it's a long time coming," Pen Argyl Borough Manager Robin Zmoda said. "Scott's done a wonderful job." Not all of the municipalities are participating in the same way, so far. Some, such as Bangor, Pen Argyl and Plainfield, have voted to accept the animal control policies and procedures and have committed to contribute $.50 per capita toward the animal control program. Roseto decided not to commit a per capita fee but will pay per use by borough residents. Upper Mount Bethel rejected a resolution Monday to accept the policies, according to township Manager Rick Fisher. Fisher said the township supervisors would like some questions answered about the procedures residents need to follow when calling for help. Parsons said residents would call their hometown municipal offices or their local police departments when they require help. The municipal officials or police would then determine if the animal control officer needs to be called. The Slate Belt COG received a $10,000 grant from the Northampton County Community Investment Partnership Program for the animal control implementation and operations. Parsons said he plans to provide more information to the public about the new program next week. John Best is a freelance writer. Find lehighvalleylive on Facebook. Rosenallis Cystic Fibrosis sufferer Daniel McDonald is the face of a nationwide poster campaign to pressure the Health Minister to negotiate a lower price and buy a drug for CF. Out of about 1,400 Irish people with the life shortening disease, 500 people have the compatibal type, Double Delta 5508, that could potentially respond dramatically to the new drug Orkambi. Daniel, 26, had to leave college due to his illness but he could benefit from the drug.. However, the price set by the American drug manufacturer Vertex, 158,000 per patient per year, was rejected by the HSE last week. The hope now is that the company has agreed to engage in negotiations over a price reduction. We dont know how long that will take, but I hope the price gets lowered and I get access to it. It is a very uncertain time, Daniel told the Leinster Express. The Government's hope of cutting the price down to 30,000 is extremely unlikely Daniel believes, but he agrees that the current price is completely unacceptable. The poster features his face with the emotive message Minister, please dont put a price on my life. The advertising agency Rothco is doing it for free because one of their employees daughters has CF, Daniel explained. While Orkambi has had dramatic results for some of the seven Irish people undergoing a trial, the results are not guaranteed. It is very individual, I wouldnt know until I tried the drug, it may be very good, or it may be minimal, he said. The HSE has argued that funding the drug would take money away from cheaper services that help lives, such as elderly surgeries. I would answer that by asking them to look at how much CF patients cost the exchequer with long stays in hospital and intravenous antibiotics. One night in hospital can cost 2,5,000, it all adds up, he said. While he has said his life expectancy is to the age of 41, Daniel is well at the moment. My health has stabilised, I havent been in hospital for a year, I am study ing part time and hope to get a job, he said. He asks Laois TDs to help. I would ask Minister (for Foreign Affairs) Charlie Flanagan to actively advocate on our behalf, and Dep Sean Fleming as a member of Fianna Fail can also put pressure on to make a positive recommendation, said Daniel. The Minister for Health did not rule out Portlaoise hospital's downgrade and closure of its A&E in the Dail last week and much of what he said is in line with management's view. Less than a month in office Minister Simon Harris faced questions in the Dail on the hospital from Laois TDs amid dowgrade fears. While he refused to commit to what will happen, his Dail statement closely resembles the longstanding stance taken by the HSE. Sean Fleming, Fianna Fail, and Brian Stanley, Sinn Fein, raised the matter seperately with Minister Harris. However, while they pushed for a commitment to prevent the HSE downgrading, Minister Harris kicked for touch . I am committed to securing and further developing the role of the Midland Regional Hospital in Portlaoise as a constituent hospital within the Dublin midlands hospital group. Patient safety and outcomes must come first, he said. However, the minister said reports on the hospital pointed to the need for reconfiguration of some services to ensure patients are treated in the most appropriate setting by specialist staff who can safely meet their needs. He said that since 2014, the focus has been on supporting the hospital to develop and enhance management capability, on implementing the changes needed to address clinical service deficiencies and on incorporating the hospital into the governance structures of the Dublin midlands hospital group. He said governance and management arrangements in Portlaoise have been strengthened and additional clinical staff have been appointed and staff training, hospital culture and communications have improved. He confirmed that Dublin Midlands Hospital Group (DMHG) recently produced a draft plan for clinical service delivery in Portlaoise but stressed that it is the subject of further work. Any change to services at the hospital, including any plans for service reconfiguration, will be undertaken in a planned and orderly manner and will take account of current use of services, demands in other hospitals and the need to develop particular services at Portlaoise in the context of overall service reconfiguration in the Dublin midlands hospital group. It is important to note that this work is being done to strengthen services in Portlaoise from a patient safety and quality perspective and to ensure the services currently provided by the hospital that are not viable are discontinued and the services that are viable are safe, adequately resourced and developed on the basis of health needs. I am confident that any changes will improve services for patients at the Midland Regional Hospital in Portlaoise. I have to emphasise at this stage that no decisions have been made. There is quite a body of work to be done, he said. Much of what he said resembles the stance of the DMHG. A November 2015 statement is very similar to what the Minister said. Any change will be undertaken in a planned and orderly manner with a view to maximising patient safety, sustainable service and improving patient outcomes. This will take account of existing patient numbers, demands in other hospitals and the need to develop services at Portlaoise in the context of overall service reorganisation within the Hospital Group, said the statement issued on behalf of Dr Susan OReilly, CEO who wrote the draft plan for the hospital. Patient safety and outcome must come first. In this regard the DMHG is comprehensively planning how services will be delivered at the Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise into the future. It has been made clear on a number of occasions previously that any decisions taken will only follow extensive consultation and engagement with all parties concerned. The important point to note here is that this work is being done to strengthen services in Portlaoise Hospital from a patient safety and quality perspective and to ensure that services currently provided by the hospital that are not viable are discontinued and that services that are viable, are safe and adequately resourced. This is also in keeping with the recommendations of the HIQA Report into services at the hospital, she concluded. Substantial investment and enhancement measures have been put in place to ensure a safe level of services at the hospital. Maternity Services have been strengthened following the agreement of a Memo of Understanding between the HSE and the Coombe Hospital to provide a managed clinical maternity network within the Dublin Midlands Hospital Group. This will provide a single maternity service over two sites (Portlaoise and the Coombe) with clinical governance led by the Coombe. Improvements in the Midland Regional Hospital at Portlaoise include a number of additional consultants posts (anaesthetics, surgery, emergency medicine, paediatrics, obstetrics, physicians) and 16 midwifery posts. Furthermore, investment in patient quality and safety, complaints management and patient engagement have also occurred over the last year. As a consequence of these measures taken, the Dublin Midlands Hospital Group and the HSE is confident that the Midland Regional Hospital at Portlaoise provides a safe level of service to its patients in the midlands area today. Judge orders cash stolen from takeaway be returned to owners A judge has ruled that cash stolen from the owner of a Leitrim takeaway be returned to him after his employee was stopped in Dublin Airport with the money on him. A forfeiture hearing at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that Vlad Emanuel Blanaru (21) told custom officers, on August 30, 2015, that he was he bringing his girlfriend to Amsterdam to buy her an engagement ring. Affidavits before the court outlined that gardai in Carrick-on-Shannon were satisfied that Blanaru had stolen over 7,600 from the safe of Marius Takeaway in Drumshanbo, Co Leitrim the previous day. He and his girlfriend then took a taxi to Dublin Airport and bought flights to Amsterdam. They were about to board the plane at 9.15am when custom officer Keith Markey stopped them and the cash was discovered. Officer Markey's affidavit outlined that Blanaru of Carrick Road, Drumshanbo, claimed he had earned the cash through his work in the takeaway. He then pulled the officer aside, away from his girlfriend's earshot and said it was his intention to buy an engagement ring for her while in Amsterdam. The couple had no return flights booked but told custom officers that they intended to come back to Ireland within the week. Blanaru was holding over 5,000 while his girlfriend had over 1,000. She claimed Blanaru had handed her the cash and asked her to mind it. John Byrne BL, prosecuting, told Judge Melanie Greally that a total of 6,955 was seized from the couple on suspicion that it represented the proceeds of crime. The gardai in Carrick-on-Shannon then contacted Officer Markey on September 7, 2015 and informed him that Riza Calla of High Street, Drumshanbo, had alerted them to a theft at the takeaway he owned. He said 7,600 had been stolen from the safe, 3,000 of which belonged to an employee Ioannis Feidakis, also of Carrick Road, Drumshanbo. Mr Calla suspected that Blanaru had stolen the cash. Counsel asked the court to find that the cash represented the proceeds of crime in that Blanaru had stolen it but asked Judge Greally to refuse the usual application to forfeit the money to the State. Mr Byrne asked the judge to instead order that the frozen cash be released and returned to the solicitor representing Mr Calla and Mr Feidakis. Judge Greally said she had no difficulty concluding the cash constituted a theft from Mr Calla and Mr Feidakis and ordered that it be returned to its rightful owners. Tim Farron writes for the Yorkshire Post today, looking behind the Blue on Blue punch up to see what is at stake for the region. The leave campaign wants you to forget that voting to leave will endanger our access to the worlds most valuable single market. Over 250,000 jobs in Yorkshire, or almost one in 10, are linked to trade with the EU. I would never suggest these jobs would all vanish if we left, but the fact is Yorkshire remains hugely dependent on trade with EU countries. A massive 8.4bn of goods were exported from the Yorkshire and Humber region to the EU in 2014, accounting for virtually half of all exports. Four out of five of this regions top export destinations are in the EU the Netherlands, Germany, Ireland and France. The economic case for Remain until now based on theory and analysis has been bolstered by the empirical evidence of a falling pound and a falling stockmarket in response to opinion polls showing a high risk of Brexit. A weaker pound, weaker shares and weaker investment will mean higher prices, lower pensions and fewer jobs. Tim goes on to talk about the positives of EU membership for our prosperity, security, and influence in the world. But the challenges we face, from climate change to international terrorism and the refugee crisis, all demand cross border co-operation. I passionately believe we are stronger and safer when we work with our neighbours to tackle threats to our prosperity and security. As with our membership of Nato, being in the EU magnifies our influence. Turning our backs on allies, perhaps even helping the disintegration of the European Union, is not the patriotic choice. I would much prefer to see Britain being a powerful force for good. Membership of the EU provides all of us with the right to live, study and work freely across the EU. Young people in particular have told me how important this is to them, because of the opportunities and career choices it brings. I am struck, again, how only Remainers (and not even all of us) are being positive about Britains role in the world. When leavers say they want to do something positive, the method always seems to imply the opposite: boost trade by putting up trade barriers; make us safer by turning our backs on our allies; gain influence by giving up influence. I want to see a strong, confident and optimistic Britain that is working with its neighbours to help deliver prosperity, peace and a cleaner planet for future generations. This is why my party and I are campaigning for a vote to remain in the EU on June 23. Read more: www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/opinion/tim-farron-britain-braced-for-momentous-day-of-decision-1-7960418 * Joe Otten was the candidate for Sheffield Heeley in June 2017 and Doncaster North in December 2019 and is a councillor in Sheffield. LIMERICKS bid to be European Capital of Culture in 2020 will get the full programme treatment from RTEs Nationwide this Wednesday night. The full half hour programme, presented by Mary Kennedy and produced by Marian Malone, will highlight Limericks rich cultural heritage, with a specific focus on the bid. Limerick will this week lodge its second bid book, outlining its proposed plans for the year of culture, ahead of a visit by the selection panel in July. The decision will be announced on July 15, with Limerick to discover if it has been successful against fellow candidates Galway and the Three Sisters Waterford, Wexford and Kilkenny all of whom who have featured on Nationwide in recent weeks. Segments for this Wednesdays programme include an interview with playwright Mike Finn, an inside look at Troy Studios, a feature on Limerick School of Art and Design, an interview with 2020 bid director Mike Fitzpatrick, plus playwright Mary Coll, dancer Angie Smalis and businessman Ray OHalloran. We tried to get a sense from a wide spectrum of people what culture means and why Limerick deserves the title in 2020, said Ms Malone, whose husband Matt Kelly shot and edited footage for the Nationwide programme. Meanwhile, the 2020 project started sprucing up shop facades on Patrick Street this week as part of its Paint the Town initiative ahead of the jury visit in July. RACHEL Quinlivan, who has spent 11 days fighting for redundancy dues from Tic Toc nursery, abandoned her sit in protest this Tuesday to say: I do. The mother-of-three is one of 17 creche workers who were let go without warning when Tic Toc closed its Westbury centre nursery. Since then, Rachel and her colleagues have been staging a sit in protest, and have pledged to remain in the building until they get holiday pay, redundancy settlements and forms allowing them to claim social welfare support. Rachel, 40, from Westbury, decided to go ahead with her wedding to partner of over ten years, Shanagolden man Lawrence OShaughnessy because of the huge deposits she would have been unable to recover otherwise. The creche worker who had five years service with Tic Toc was set to tie the knot this Tuesday at the Star of the Sea church, Quilty. But she says the buildup to her wedding has been ruined, and many of her friends from the Tic Toc nursery will be unable to share the day with her due to fears over finances. She said: I should be relaxing and taking it easy ahead of my big day. But I dont know whether I am coming or going, trying to organise, trying to phone people and make sure everything is in place. It has been a nightmare. I am really anxious now. But I have to be here to be here with the girls to stand up for what we deserve. Due to her redundancy, Rachel mother to Reece, 16, Jody, 13 and Anna, 7 has been forced to scale back her pre-wedding plans. Her hen do a spa-day with friends at the Woodlands House Hotel, Adare has been cancelled, while a Mediterranean cruise with her partner has also been put on hold. Rachel is devastated that many of her colleagues will not be able to join her in Spanish Point, saying: I am really upset by this. It should have been an enjoyable night for them. But she is holding out hope the sit in, which has been going on since Friday, June 3, will conclude so some can attend the reception at the Armada Hotel, Spanish Point. Rachels lifelong friend Rose ODonnell, who is the spokesperson for the Westbury workers staging the sit-in, said: It is completely ridiculous. She has been here for ten days and she cannot enjoy the build-up to her wedding. She added she is angry at Tic Toc representative Peter Keogh and the liquidator for not visiting workers sooner and bringing the dispute to a close. I am very angry when I look at her so upset, and looking at her children so upset, not knowing whether it [the wedding] is going ahead. Not only that, Rachel has worked very hard to pay for the wedding. I know this, because I could see it every day. Then to have to cancel things and scale back on things she thought she was going to have for her wedding is just terrible. Former staff of Tic Toc creche are set to end the sit in after receiving assurances any monies outstanding will hit their account. They are likely to leave the premises this Tuesday. THE first of two candlelit vigils in solidarity with those killed in the Orlando shootings took place in Limerick city last night. People gathered at the Treaty Stone on Clancy Strand on Monday evening holding rainbow flags and signs stating: 'We are Orlando', plus 'Pulse', the name of the nightclub where the atrocity happened over the weekend. A total of 49 people lost their lives in the attack at the gay nightclub on Saturday, when a gunman who is understood to have had Isis sympathies opened fire, before he was killed in a battle with police. The incident, which has shocked the world, left scores more injured. Monday's vigil was organised by Eileen O Brien, Breandan O hEamhaigh and Billie. A second gathering will take place on Wednesdaynight at 6.30pm in Arthur's Quay park, while an online book of condolences has been opened this morning by Limerick City and County Council. Tributes can be left here. Mayor of Limerick, Cllr Liam Galvin has described the attacks as a disaster and a tragedy. The mayor added that if people are unable to access the internet to sign the book, they can visit the councils customer service desks at Merchants Quay or Dooradoyle to leave messages in the book. Limerick Chronicle columnist Richard Lynch, who is organising Wednesday evenings vigil, said the gathering was for all members of society. It is a chance for us to reflect on what has happened. It is not just for the LGBTQ community, he explained. All of us have been affected by this. Anyone who is concerned about humanity at all, the loss of a loved one, be it a child, a sister or a brother should attend," he added. Louise McCormack, the events co-ordinator of Limerick Pride 2016 said: The loss is felt worldwide amongst all type of communities who feel the unwarranted hatred of strangers. Imam Abdulghafur, Dooradoyle Muslim Community Centre, said: Any loss of life is a tragedy, especially innocent lives. The thing that we are scared of is the backlash. People are going to think all Muslims are the same, even though that individual is working on his own. This did not happen in the name of Islam. Mayor Galvin said the attack must throw the ownership of guns in America back into focus. This isnt a once off, this is happening far too often, and there are far too many people getting their hands on weapons and armoury too easily, he said. Meanwhile, Bishop of Limerick Brendan Leahy has urged the public to keep the people of Orlando in their prayers and has offered his and the support of the diocese to his peer, Bishop of Orlando and Limerick native John Gerard Noonan, at this tragic time. "The attack in Orlando was beyond words. With 49 innocent people killed so mercilessly, it reminds us yet again of the dreadful intent of terrorists," he explained. "Bishop Noonan, who is from Corbally, captured the sense of shock and hurt that Orlando has experienced when he said a sword has pierced the heart of our city. "He has asked for prayers for the victims, the families and first responders as well as for victims of violence and acts of terror; for their families and friends and all those affected by such acts against God's love and I know that we will all keep them in our prayers and thoughts this week. "We pray for the people of the city of Orlando that God's mercy and love will be upon us as we seek healing and consolation," he added. THE PLIGHT of a Limerick taxi firm, which has seen its insurance premium increase by 100% and now faces a risk of closure, has been highlighted in the Dail. Fianna Fail deputy Niall Collins highlighted the case of Tower Cabs, of the Garryowen Road, which has been run by Tom Hannon, 61, for the past 12 years, and his sister Rose. Deputy Collins did not name him personally or his business during the Dail debate on insurance, but Mr Hannon has since spoken about how he couldnt fathom the increase, when he has had no claims. Mr Hannon runs a taxi business with a fleet of eight taxis and has an 11-year no-claims record. There have been no claims against him, not even for a windscreen. There have been no minor pay-outs. In 2013, he paid Liberty Insurance 7,000 for his fleet renewal premium. In 2014, he paid 14,000, which was an increase of 100%. He was asked to pay 56,000 in 2015 so he found an alternative provider, a new company, and paid it 31,000. That provider is now leaving the Irish market and nobody is willing to insure this mans fleet of taxis. I realise the taxi business is a high risk industry and that there have been many high-profile cases involving taxis, but this man has an 11-year no-claims bonus, he emphasised. Deputy Collins urged for the re-establishment of the Motor Insurance Advisory Board, MIAB. He said this would give people a degree of transparency and certainty. People must have certainty about what they will have to pay for insurance and business must have certainty about its insurance costs, he said. He continued to say that the motor insurance market is also dictating very onerous terms. He said young drivers also also being hit with huge premiums. SCHUYLER John Rice didnt plan on becoming a mortician. He never even attended a funeral until college. Now hes preparing to retire after spending decades in the business. I always found it fascinating, said Rice, who owns Rice Funeral Home in Genoa and is a partner in Svoboda Funeral Home in Schuyler. But that fascination wasnt enough to make it his first career choice. Rice was a senior education major at Friends University in Wichita, Kansas, when he first dipped his toe into the funeral business. He applied for a part-time position at a local funeral home that offered a place to live and the ability to study while on the clock. It just seemed like a good fit, said Rice, whose duties ranged from assisting with body removals and funeral services to answering overnight phone calls and mowing the grass. He enjoyed the work so much that he stuck around for a few years after graduation, using the part-time gig to supplement the $6,000-a-year income he earned as a young teacher. The more I was around it, the more I was convinced that I was really interested in this field, said Rice. So he returned to his hometown of Houston to attend the Commonwealth Institute of Funeral Service, graduating in 1978. Six months later, he returned to the school as an instructor and spent the next two decades on the educational side of funeral services. Rice became president of the Houston mortician school, then transferred to a college in Indiana owned by the same company, Pierce Mortuary Colleges. Later, he relocated to the home office in Dallas, where he worked on textbooks and instructor training before taking over as president of the company that operated four funeral homes and colleges across the U.S. Although he had accomplished a lot professionally, there was one thing that bugged Rice. I always kind of regretted that I really hadnt spent more time actively practicing in funeral services, he said. That changed in 1998, when he retired from Pierce Mortuary Colleges and bought into a funeral home in Plattsmouth he operated with former students. Still unsatisfied, Rice decided in 2003 that he wanted to venture out on his own. A trade magazine ad for a funeral home in Genoa caught his eye. I knew nothing about Genoa, didnt even know where it was at, Rice said. I had to look on a map to find it. But Rice knew he wanted to be in a small town, so he bought the business and moved to Genoa with his wife Elta. Weve loved every minute of living in Genoa for the last 13 years, he said. And its been an interesting journey. In addition to running the funeral home, Rice spent about three years as Genoas city administrator and substitute taught for Twin River Public Schools. His wife, who is also retiring this year, taught in the Twin River, Schuyler and Columbus school districts. Rice, who partnered with Mark Chermok of Chermok Funeral Home in David City and a private investor to purchase Svoboda Funeral Home in Schuyler in 2011, continues to operate as a one-man show in Genoa. Running a funeral home in a small town comes with its pluses and minuses. Its been a real struggle sometimes because weve buried some very close friends up here, Rice said. But, he added, his role as a funeral home director allows him to work closely with families during a rough time and help them through the grieving process. These relationships are why hes stayed in the business for so long. To me, thats a real upper, he said. Thats what keeps me going. At age 67, though, Rice knows its time to move on if he and Elta want to execute a retirement plan that includes some foreign travel and visits to family members scattered across the country. They already purchased a home in Houston the moved is planned for this week and Svoboda Funeral Home is looking for a licensed mortician to replace Rice. Hes being more diligent with the transition in Genoa. Im looking for that perfect buyer, said Rice, who will continue to own and operate Rice Funeral Home until that person surfaces. Im comfortable with where were at until we find that right person, he said. Even in retirement, Rice plans on staying connected to his career. Hes part of an accreditation team that travels to U.S. mortician schools and on a committee that helps draft the exam students must take to become certified. He may even look for a part-time job at a funeral home down the line. I wouldnt be surprised if I keep my hand in it a little bit, Rice said. MEMBERS of the councils economic committee have passed a resolution unanimously calling for the re-start of designs for the Limerick/Cork motorway. In recent weeks, the issue of the M20 link has come back on the agenda, with the Department of Transport indicating the shelved plans could be resurrected. Now, the councils transport committee is calling on Mr Ross to make money available to Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) to get the scheme shovel ready. Committee chairman Cllr Frankie Daly, Labour, said: We are talking about a road between Patrickswell and Blarney here. The current set-up is not fit for purpose, and from an economic development perspective, to compete with the likes of Cork and compete with it as a second city and potentially overtake it we need this. The motion was unanimously adopted after the idea was initially raised by Cllr Daniel Butler of Fine Gael. The discussion came after director of services Kieran Lehane urged councillors to put forward suggestions for roads, noting very few capital projects of this nature locally are at shovel ready stage. We need to position Limerick to benefit from funding for future road investments, enhance the economic attractiveness in relation to other locations, and minimise urban congestion, he told the meeting. Looking at access to Limerick from the other side of the country, Sinn Fein councillor Seighin O Ceallaigh believes access could be improved from the M7. He pointed out entering Limerick can be problematic, as you have to drive through Annacotty and Castletroy on one hand, Ballysimon Road or Dock Road. We all know traffic can be mayhem there, he said, referring to the Ballysimon Road, There are only three exits into Limerick. There does not seem to be a main route from the motorway into Limerick. WORKERS who have been involved in an 11-day sit in at Tic Toc creche in Limerick left the premises together this Tuesday after securing their redundancy dues. The workers were sacked without warning when the operator of the nursery and montesorri school at the Westbury centre said the business was unviable. In a bid to secure all holiday pay, back pay and redundancy pay was placed in their accounts, they staged a sit in in the former dining room of the complex from Friday, June 3. The sit-in came to a close today after all workers confirmed money had hit their accounts. Staff spokesperson Rose ODonnell, Westbury, said: This has been a horrendous period. I hope none of us, or no-one in our families ever have to experience anything like this again. She said although staff have secured their redundancy dues, there is no sense of triumph. We feel we have only received what we were entitled to in the first place. We will obviously celebrate Rachel's wedding, but we won't be celebrating what we received from Tic Toc, because we should have gotten this from day one we feel, she told Live95 FM. Siptus Limerick chairman Frank McDonald, who has supported the workers throughout the sit-in, has handed over the womens details to the liquidator expected to be appointed to Tic Toc. He says he is aware of interest from three operators. Wouldnt it make sense you have a ready made team, which has a great connection with parents and the kids, with a lot of then qualified to Fetac level six, Mr McDonald said. After the workers walked out of the premises together, many journeyed up to Spanish Point to watch friend and former colleague Rachel Quinlivan tie the knot. Rachel, 40, who is wedding Shanagolden man Lawrence OShaughnessy, decided to go ahead with the ceremony otherwise she would have incurred huge losses on her deposits. But her honeymoon plans for a cruise around the Mediterranean have been abandoned, while a spa day was also shelved. COLUMBUS A proposed ordinance change would allow local residents to drive larger utility-type vehicles on Columbus streets, but the move is accompanied by a push from city officials to have the off-road vehicles registered with the state. Members of the Public Property, Safety and Works Committee voted 4-0 on Monday to recommend allowing UTVs up to 15 feet in length on local streets. Currently, the length restriction is set at 135 inches just over 11 feet but state statute allows communities to authorize the use of UTVs up to 15 feet long. The ordinance update, which was requested by a local resident, will head to the full city council for consideration. Columbus City Council members will also be asked to give city staff the authority to lobby the Legislature to change the registration requirements for UTVs. State law doesnt currently require UTVs, also known as side-by-sides, to be registered like other motor vehicles. City Administrator Joe Mangiamelli wants to see that provision changed, especially if larger UTVs can be driven in Columbus. He argued that UTVs should be registered as motor vehicles since similar-size vehicles such as compact cars, smart cars and motorcycles already fall under that classification. We dont see much difference in these vehicles, he said of UTVs. The city administrator wants to work with Sen. Paul Schumacher of Columbus on the proposed change. City council members voted in late 2011 to allow UTVs on most local streets, excluding 23rd Street, 33rd Avenue and Lost Creek Parkway. UTV drivers can cross 23rd Street and 33rd Avenue at 12 intersections throughout the city. The vehicles must be registered with the police department, covered by liability insurance and equipped with headlights, taillights, turn signals, seat belts, a roll bar and safety flag. UTVs can only be operated by someone with a valid drivers license during daylight hours at speeds not exceeding 30 mph. Despite the list of rules already in place, Mangiamelli said staff members have concerns about UTV use within the city limits, where the traffic mix includes a large number of semitrailers. The operators dont always obey the rules of the road, said Mangiamelli, who noted that the off-road vehicles arent intended for urban use. He also referenced recent issues in Schuyler, where the city council is considering banning all-terrain vehicles on city streets following a rash of problems related to speeding, reckless and underage drivers. ATVs are not allowed on Columbus streets and the issues in Schuyler arent tied to UTV operators. Police Chief William Gumm said there havent been a large number of complaints about UTVs in Columbus, and he cant recall one of the vehicles being involved in an accident. Still, hes not a proponent of their use on city streets because of the potential safety issues that come with mixing UTVs and larger vehicles. There are currently 48 UTVs registered with the local police department. Members of the Public Property, Safety and Works Committee supported Mangiamellis request to work with the Legislature on a registration change. I am concerned about vehicles operating on our streets that are not licensed motor vehicles, said committee member Prent Roth. We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. We and our partners use data for Personalised ads and content, ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page. The tallest waterfall in the world is Venezuela's Angel Falls, which plunges 3,212 feet (979 meters), according to the National Geographic Society. The falls descend over the edge of Auyan-Tepui, which means Devil's Mountain, a flat-topped elevated area of land with sheer cliff sides located in Canaima National Park in the Bolivar State of Venezuela. Angel Falls is named after an American explorer and bush pilot, Jimmy Angel, who crashed his plane on Auyan-Tepui in 1937. The waterfall is fed by the Churun River, which spills over the edge of the mountain, barely touching the cliff face. The height of the fall is so great that the stream of water atomizes into a cloud of mist, then trickles back together at the bottom of the plunge and continues on through a cascading run of rapids. Angel Falls' total height, which is more than a half-mile (almost 1 kilometer), includes both the free-falling plunge and a stretch of steep rapids at its base. But even discounting these rapids, the falls' long uninterrupted drop of 2,648 feet (807 m) is still a record breaker and is around 15 times the height of North America's Niagara Falls, according to the World Waterfall Database, a website maintained by waterfall enthusiasts. [See Stunning 360-Degree Views of Spectacular Victoria Falls (Video)] However, Angel Falls is only the tallest waterfall on land. Technically, the largest known waterfall lies underwater, between Greenland and Iceland. The Denmark Strait cataract is more than three times the height of Angel Falls, dropping water a whopping 11,500 feet (3,505 m). Niagara Falls span the border between the United States and Canada. Though remarkably wide, Niagara is not the tallest or highest-volume waterfall in the world. (Image credit: Sayran Dreamstime) The Denmark Strait cataract is also the the top waterfall in terms of volume, carrying 175 million cubic feet (5.0 million cubic meters) of water. Back on land, pinpointing the largest waterfall is a little trickier because there is no universal standard for designating what counts as a waterfall, according to the World Waterfalls Database. Some waterfalls consist of a single, sheer drop; others include a gentler cascade over rapids; and still others involve a combination of the two (like Angel Falls). The World Waterfalls Database lists Inga Falls, an area of rapids on the Congo River, as the waterfall with the largest volume. More than 11 million gallons (46 million liters) of water flow through Inga Falls each second. However, without a significant vertical drop, Inga Falls may not count as a waterfall under other classifications. Of waterfalls that do include a vertical drop, the waterfall with the greatest volume is the 45-foot-tall (14 meters) Khone Falls, on the border between Laos and Cambodia. Spilling 2.5 million gallons (9.5 million liters) of the Mekong River every second, Khone Falls' flow is nearly double the volume of Niagara Falls. This article was first published on Aug. 10, 2010. Live Science writer Kacey Deamer contributed to an update of this article. The entire silver hoard (except for the three pieces discovered in 1838) on display. More than 170 years ago, Scottish laborers clearing a rocky field with dynamite discovered three beautiful silver artifacts: a hand pin, a chain and a spiral bangle. But instead of looking for more treasures, they followed orders to turn the field into farmland, squashing hopes of archaeologists for years to come. Recently, however, archaeologists surveyed the field and uncovered a hoard of 100 silver items, including coins, and pieces of brooches and bracelets, all dating to late Roman times, during the fourth or fifth centuries AD, according to a new report of the find, which is now called the Gaulcross hoard. (In archaeology, a "hoard" is a group of valuable objects that is sometimes purposely buried underground.) "We set out, not really thinking we would find more silver," said study co-lead researcher Gordon Noble, head of archaeology at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland. "We just wanted to learn more about the context" of the original find, he said. [See Photos of the Silver from Gaulcross Hoard] Originally, in the same field where the silver treasures were found, there were also two man-made stone circles, one dating to the Neolithic and the other the Bronze Age (B.C. 1670 to B.C. 1500), the researchers wrote in the report. The three silver pieces were given to Banff Museum in Aberdeenshire, and are now on loan and display at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, the researchers said. Metal detection In 2013, two groups of researchers studied the field in northeastern Scotland, with the help of metal detectors. On their second day of fieldwork, they uncovered three late-Roman-era silver "siliquae," or coins, that dated to the fourth or fifth centuries AD. They also found a silver strap-end, part of a silver bracelet, and several pieces of folded hacksilver (pieces of cut or bent silver), the researchers wrote in the report. Archaeologists found the Gaulcross hoard in northeastern Scotland. (Image credit: Copyright 2016 Antiquity Publications Ltd. Reprinted with the permission of Cambridge University Press.) Encouraged by the finds, they ploughed on, excavating and examining the field over the next 18 months and eventually finding the 100 pieces of silver. The new findings help shed light on the date of the Gaulcross hoard, suggesting it dates to the fifth or sixth centuries AD, the researchers said. Some of the Roman-era items in the Gaulcross hoard include hacked silver dish fragments, spoon handles and a belt fitting. The researchers also found a crescent-shaped pendant with double loops. [Photos: Rubbish Piles & Roman Mosaics Unearthed in Historical English City] "Some of the objects in the Gaulcross hoard were themselves almost certainly connected to elites," the researchers wrote in the study. The silver hand pins and bracelets are uncommon finds, and were "clearly high-status objects that would have belonged to some of the most powerful members of post-Roman society," they said. Silver was not mined in Scotland during the Roman period, and instead came from the Roman world, the researchers said. "Late Roman silver was recycled and recast into high-status objects that underpinned the development of elite society in the post-Roman period," they wrote in the study. It's likely that non-Romans such as the Pict people, who lived in Scotland before, during and after the Roman era got the silver from looting, trade, bribes or military pay, they added. Some of these silver pieces, such as the chunks of silver called ingots, may have served as currency, much as a gold bar did in more modern times, Noble said. "It's a real melting pot of different objects and different cultural origins," Noble said. "It's a really fascinating hoard." The study was published in the June issue of the journal Antiquity. Original article on Live Science. A new frog mating position, only the seventh type ever observed, has been discovered in the monsoonal forests of India. Bombay night frogs (Nyctibatrachus humayuni) mate by having the male straddle the female without grasping her, and releasing sperm over her back. The female then lays her eggs, allowing the sperm to run down her back and fertilize the eggs. "Species such as the Bombay night frog, which are endemic to small regions (most often outside protected areas and threatened with anthropogenic activities), definitely require conservation prioritization," study leader Sathyabhama Das Biju, an amphibian researcher at the University of Delhi, told Live Science in an email. "Therefore, natural history studies not only provide necessary information for planning effective conservation strategies, but also highlight unique frogs, such as the ancient night frogs that exhibit highly diverse reproductive behaviors." [See Photos of the Bombay Night Frogs in Mating Positions] Wet and wild Bombay night frogs mate only during monsoon season nights, and only in the vegetation overhanging flooded forest streams in India's Western Ghats. This made fieldwork a "very challenging experience," Biju said. Researchers had to find the male frogs by listening for their calls and then standing in the fast-flowing streams with infrared camera equipment, trying to keep the electronics from getting rained on while they documented the frog sex. Often, the frogs' attempts would end with the amphibians falling into the water. They usually returned to their original spots to finish mating, Biju said, but these interruptions stretch out the mating encounter by several wet, uncomfortable hours. "Various venomous snakes" share habitat with the frogs as well, Biju said. The research team spent 8 hours a night for about 40 nights between 2010 and 2012 documenting the Bombay night frog nightlife. They successfully recorded 13 complete breeding sequences and multiple partial sequences to reveal the new mating position. New straddle The newfound mating position in Bombay night frogs is dubbed the dorsal straddle; scientists aren't sure what benefits the position may impart. (Image credit: SD Biju) Before these observations, researchers knew of six types of amplexus, the name for frog mating behavior. Very few frog species reproduce via internal fertilization; rather, most use the amplexus position (a male-female embrace) to release sperm and egg in close proximity for external fertilization. Most species use either inguinal amplexus (the male grasping in front of the female's back legs with his front legs) or axillary amplexus (the male grasping behind the female's front legs with his front legs). Other options include "straddle" (the male's pelvis over the female's head), "glued" (the male stuck to the female's rump with abdominal excretions), "cloacal apposition" (male and female rear-to-rear, facing away from one another) and "cephalic" (male on top of female, front feet grasping her throat). Researchers dubbed the new position the "dorsal straddle." It isn't clear whether this mating position offers advantages over any others; fertilization rates of inguinal amplexus (which evolved very early in frogs) and axillary amplexus are similar, Biju said, and more research is needed to determine the pros and cons of various positions. "Since genus Nyctibatrachus represents an ancient group of frogs with [the] presence of several interesting forms of reproductive behavior, it would be all the more interesting to study how such diversity may have evolved within this group," Biju said. In another first, the researchers videotaped snakes eating frog eggs a phenomenon not before observed in India. The researchers reported their findings today (June 14) in the open-access journal PeerJ. Original article on Live Science. A helmet made of Kevlar saved the life of an Orlando, Florida, police officer on Sunday (June 12) after police engaged in a gun battle with a man who killed 49 people and injured 53 others at a gay nightclub, according to news sources. Thanks to its unique chemistry, Kevlar body armor has saved the lives of countless people who were wearing it. In a tweet Sunday morning, the Orlando Police Department applauded the tough fiber: "Pulse shooting: In hail of gunfire in which suspect was killed, OPD officer was hit. Kevlar helmet saved his life." See more But how exactly does Kevlar protect people? Live Science spoke with two material scientists to learn more. [Top 10 Inventions that Changed the World] Discovered by DuPont scientist Stephanie Louise Kwolek in 1965, Kevlar is essentially "a high-performance plastic," said Richard Sachleben, a member of the American Chemical Society's panel of experts, who has worked in the pharmaceutical industry in the Boston area for 40 years as a chemist. The synthetic material is made of polymers essentially long chains of molecules. To better visualize these polymers, imagine a long beaded string, with the beads representing different molecules. Two features make this polymer ultrastrong, Sachleben told Live Science: Its molecules, or "beads," are strongly attracted to one another; and hydrogen bonds the same bonds found in DNA, as well as water molecules keep the "beaded strings" tightly interlocked with their neighboring beaded strings, Sachleben said. "When a bullet hits that piece of Kevlar, it starts pushing those molecules apart, those chains apart," he said. "But they're stuck together pretty tight." Kevlar is ultra strong because it has hydrogen bonds between separate polymer chains. The molecules on each individual chain are also strongly attached to one another. (Image credit: CC BY-SA 3.0 , https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=92688) It takes a lot of energy to push the molecules and chains apart, he said. Even a high-energy projectile, such as a bullet, has trouble punching its way through. Instead, the Kevlar absorbs the energy from the projectile and spreads it out across all of the chains that is, the energy is dissipated across the helmet, vest, or whatever protective gear the Kevlar is fashioned to be. Leo Fifield, a materials chemist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington, said that Kevlar is "like a net catching a ball." Moreover, Kevlar is lightweight and five times stronger than steel, according to DuPont, the company that manufactures it. It also has a lower density than carbon fiber, which makes it comfortable enough to wear, Fifield said. "It needs to be effective, but then, the officer also needs to be willing to wear it," Fifield said. "It's not going to be effective at all if it's sitting on his desk." However, although Kevlar is very difficult to pull apart in other words, it has high tensile strength it doesn't resist compression or squeezing, he said. That's why it's not used as a common construction material in buildings or bridges, Fifield said. Still, Kevlar is used in other materials besides body armor, including spacesuits, city roads, fiber-optic cables, high-performance sporting goods and apparel, cellphones and mining belts, according to DuPont. Original article on Live Science. In the U.S., men who are sexually active with men can donate blood only if they have not had sex within 12 months before donation. Gay and bisexual men who want to donate blood after the shooting in Orlando, Florida, are largely unable to do so, because of a federal rule that prohibits men who are currently sexually active with other men from donating blood. Now, some are suggesting that it's time for the Food and Drug Administration to reconsider the policy. See more The FDA's blood donation guidelines which all blood donation centers in the U.S. must follow mandate that men who are sexually active with other men wait at least 12 months following their most recent sexual encounter before donating blood. The rule is aimed at reducing the risk of transmitting the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) through blood transfusions. The 12-month waiting period was introduced in December 2015, replacing an earlier FDA policy established in 1985 that prohibited men who had sex with men (MSM) from ever giving blood. Gay and bisexual men in the U.S. are more severely affected by HIV than any other group of people in the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For example, in 2010, MSM accounted for 63 percent of estimated new HIV infections in the United States, but the group represents about 2 percent of the U.S. population. The reason for the change to the 12-month waiting period (also called a deferral period), according to FDA officials, was that recent research determined that the risk of HIV transmission from blood donations from MSM was comparable to that of donations from people who had accidentally been exposed to another person's blood, or had recently received a blood transfusion themselves. Both of these groups must wait 12 months before donating blood. [The 9 Deadliest Viruses on Earth] And data from other nations with 12-month blood donation deferral periods for MSM including Australia and the U.K. showed that a 12-month window did not increase the risk of HIV transmission from blood supplies, according to an FDA statement. In the statement, released Dec. 2, 2015, Stephen Ostroff, acting commissioner of the FDA, said, "We have taken great care to ensure this policy revision is backed by sound science and continues to protect our blood supply." But many are suggesting that it's time for the FDA to reconsider the MSM deferral. On June 13, California Rep. Barbara Lee tweeted her support for lifting the ban, an action she had already proposed to the FDA. "Low-risk MSM who wish to donate blood and help saves lives should not be exclusively and categorically excluded because of outdated stereotypes," Lee said in the tweet. See more R.T. Winston Berkman, a law and public policy graduate student at New York University, told Live Science, "As a public health measure, it's overly broad and casts a discriminatory net." Berkman co-authored a study published May 2015 in the Columbia Medical Review, analyzing the FDA's blood donation ban from a cultural as well as a scientific perspective. "The ban takes someone's sexual identity and associates it de facto with serious infection and risk," Berkman said. By deferring all MSM, the FDA "maintains a categorical association between gay sex, risky sex and HIV," Berkman and co-author Li Zhou wrote in the study. "Following this attack, we're seeing gay men come forward who have lost friends and loved ones or know someone who's a survivor, and they're unable to stand in line and donate," Berkman said. In Italy, blood donation centers review prospective MSM donors on a case-by-case basis, Berkman said. By identifying specific sexual behaviors, such as the number of sex partners a man has and whether he uses protection, officials get a much more accurate picture of whether a donor should be considered a high risk for HIV transmission. "So far, Italy has not had an increase in transfusion-based transmission a sign that the policy is effective," Berkman added. An FDA representative told Live Science in an email that there is currently enough donated blood to meet the needs of the Orlando shooting victims. "We empathize with those who might wish to donate, but reiterate that at this time no one who needs blood is doing without it," the FDA representative said. For now at least, the current deferral policy will stand, although the FDA will re-evaluate its policies as new scientific information becomes available, the representative said. But even if the current blood emergency is covered, removing the 12-month deferral period could greatly expand the donor pool in the U.S., Berkman wrote in his study. Based on the number of HIV-negative adult men who are eligible to give blood and who are likely to donate, the change could allow an additional 130,150 men to donate blood, bringing in an estimated 219,200 additional pints of blood per year. Original article on Live Science. A relative of the massive bird discovered in Antarctica. The relative is at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. A prehistoric seabird that was the size of a small airplane and had a mouthful of sharp teeth once soared over ancient Antarctica, occasionally stopping to snag fish and squid, a new study finds. Researchers found a broken 3.3-inch-long (8.5 centimeters) piece of the bird's humerus (upper arm bone) on Seymour Island in West Antarctica. Though small, the tiny specimen was all the researchers needed to determine that the find was record-breaking; the fossil belongs to the oldest-known Antarctic bird with so-called "pseudo teeth," or teeth made out of bone from the jaw that were covered with a beak-like material, the researchers said. They dated the bird's humerus to the Lower Eocene, between 53 million and 49 million years ago, said study lead author Marcos Cenizo, the director of the Provincial Museum of Natural History in La Pampa, Argentina. [Photos of the World's Largest Flying Bird] The bird belongs to a group of seabirds known as pelagornithids, the relatives of Galloanseres, a group that includes geese and ducks. The fossil record shows that pelagornithids lived for about 60 million years, Cenizo told Live Science in Spanish. However, pelagornithids went extinct between 2 million and 3 million years ago, and it's not clear why, he said. Researcher Marcos Cenizo says hello to baby penguins in Antarctica during the excavation of the pelagornithid fossils. (Image credit: Courtesy of Marcos Cenizo) Pelagornithids were enormous birds, with wingspans that could exceed 20 feet (6 meters). Their lightweight bones and anatomy suggest that they could fly for miles over the open sea, much like the albatross does today, Cenizo said. The largest known pelagornithid is Pelagornis sandersi, discovered in 1983 in Charleston, South Carolina, during construction for a new airport terminal. P. sandersi had a wingspan of between 20 and 24 feet (6.1 and 7.3 m) and weighed between 48.5 and 88 lbs. (22 and 40 kilograms). The researchers also discussed the remains of a younger pelagornithid found in the Antarctic, which date to 41 million to 39 million years ago. These remains include fossils of a skull, lower leg bone and a humerus that could be even larger than the South Carolina one, meaning that it may "represent one of the largest known pseudo-toothed birds," the researchers wrote in the study. These two bony-toothed birds, and perhaps others, likely coexisted in Antarctica between 50 million and 40 million years ago, Cenizo said. The study was published online on March 21 in the Journal of Paleontology. Original article on Live Science. If you do not have a current print subscription to the Lodi News-Sentinel, but want to view unlimited articles for the month, please choose this option. Check out our latest E-Edition Accessible anytime and anywhere on your desktop, tablet and smart phone devices. The Lodi News e-Edition is enhanced with the latest digital tools, including RSS feeds, social networking and much more. Check out our latest E-edition! A Leitrim man was disqualified from driving and handed down fines totalling 355 at a recent sitting of Granard District Court. Seamus Lennon, Killevehy, Mohill, Co Leitrim, came before Judge Seamus Hughes charged with having no insurance and with drink driving at Legga Cross on November 2, 2015. The court heard that in the early hours of November 2, the defendant was observed at Gaigue Cross, Ballinamuck travelling slowly. The Garda on duty signalled for the vehicle to stop but Mr Lennon failed to do so immediately. He later stopped at a place identified by the Garda as Legga Cross, about five miles from where the Garda first observed the vehicle. It was revealed that there was a strong smell of intoxicating liquor from the defendant, his speech was slurred and his eyes were bloodshot. At 2.15am, Mr Lennon was arrested . A urine sample showed 188mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood in his system. Solicitor for the defendant, Ms Brid Mimnagh said that the charges did not properly identify Legga Cross. She pointed out to the court that there are three Legga crosses in the area, and that her client would claim that he was stopped at Moyne Cross. He's a small farmer in Leitrim, Ms Mimnagh said of her client, adding that when he had been stopped by the Gardai, he had left a bar in Ballinamuck where he had consumed approximately four or five pints of Guinness. She also stated that while Mr Lennon had insurance on a commercial jeep, the jeep had broken down and he had been using his nephew's car. After hearing the details of the case, Judge Hughes disqualified Mr Lennon from driving for two years and ordered him to pay a fine of 105 for having no insurance on the date in question. In respect of the drink driving charge, Mr Lennon was disqualified from driving for two years and fined a further 250. Following a request for postponement from Ms Mimnagh, Judge Hughes then directed that Mr Lennon's disqualification be postponed until September 1. Local News, Health & Wellness, Press Releases By Long Island News & PR Published: June 14 2016 Governor Cuomo, Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie today announced an agreement to enhance access to breast cancer screenings. Albany, NY - June 12, 2016 - Governor Cuomo, Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie today announced an agreement to enhance access to breast cancer screenings and build on the Governors series of breast cancer initiatives outlined in the 2016 State of the State Address. Under Governor Cuomo, New York State is taking the most aggressive action in the nation to improve access to breast cancer screening. Together, these initiatives will build on that plan and help more women across the state gain access to the health care and services they need and deserve. This agreement includes legislation to extend hours for screening at 210 hospital-based mammography facilities across the state and to eliminate insurance hurdles for mammograms and other screening and diagnostic imaging procedures to detect breast cancer. Early detection is key to fighting breast cancer and New York State is proud to be home to the most aggressive cancer screening operation in the country, Governor Cuomo said. When Sandy was diagnosed with breast cancer, she was lucky to have caught it early. But not all women are that lucky, and many are not fortunate enough to have the flexibility in their schedule or the resources to fight this disease head on. By expanding screening hours and removing insurance barriers, this agreement will give our wives, daughters and sisters better access to life-saving health services so they too can get ahead of this disease. I thank Majority Leader Flanagan and Speaker Heastie for their partnership and strongly encourage all women to get screened because when it comes to cancer, early detection can make a lifetime of difference. Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan said, I am pleased that we have reached a three-way agreement to reaffirm the states commitment to giving women the chance to live a long and healthy life. That is why it is critical that we do everything possible to encourage New York women to get the screenings they need and deserve. I thank Governor Cuomo for shining a light on this issue and our colleagues on both sides of the isle for their dedication to getting the tools people need in the fight against breast cancer. We all recognize that early detection continues to be the best way to survive breast cancer and I am proud to be getting something so vital done for the people of New York. Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said, Breast cancer touches the lives of so many women our wives, mothers, daughters, sisters and friends. This agreement represents our commitment to limiting its impacts by increasing awareness and making sure that women have access to the affordable breast cancer screenings they need to ensure life-saving early detection. The addition of mobile mammography vans will strengthen our fight against breast cancer by offering preventative services to communities that otherwise did not have access. Through this agreement, New York will remain a progressive leader and be a model for the nation in promoting the health and wellness of women a mission that has long been a top priority for the Assembly Majority. Todays legislation builds upon $91 million in investments outlined in the Governors State of the State Address to increase awareness and screening for breast cancer, including a public awareness campaign, community outreach programs, patient navigators, and mobile mammography vans. The new legislative agreement will: Uniondale, NY - June 10, 2016 - Nassau County Executive Edward P. Mangano was joined by Legislator Rose Marie Walker, Commissioner of Social Services John Imhof, Hicksville Superintendent Dr. Carl Bonuso, Board of Education President Phil Heckler, and Hicksville High School Principal Ray Williams, to dedicate a permanent art exhibit at the Nassau County Health and Human Services Building located at 60 Charles Lindbergh Boulevard in Uniondale, on Friday, June 10th. I am delighted and proud to recognize the talents of our youth by providing them an opportunity to showcase their work, said County Executive Mangano. It is important that we take the time to honor talented young people who are willing to give of their time and energy to improving the lives of our citizens, and to bring joy to those who appreciate art. The exhibit consists of artwork created by the students of the National Art Society at Hicksville High School, and the pieces range from drawings to metal work to photographya culmination of a year-long project for the students who fashioned their pieces through the supervision of Honor Society art teacher, Ms. Angela Galante. Hicksville Schools are proud of the many accomplishments of all our students, and this exhibit is but one example of our districts talent and dedication to our local communities, said Hicksville School District Superintendent, Dr. Carl Bonuso. The National Art Honor Society is an organization in which distinguished art students are recognized and have the opportunity to share their talents and abilities within the high school, the district and the community. Nature & Weather, Local News, Home & Garden, Press Releases By Long Island News & PR Published: June 14 2016 The official start of hurricane season on June 1 should serve as a reminder to everyone that its time to prepare for the possibility of power outages caused by the high winds and torrential rains ... Long Island, NY - June 9, 2016 - The official start of hurricane season on June 1 should serve as a reminder to everyone that its time to prepare for the possibility of power outages caused by the high winds and torrential rains generated by these storms. There have already been three named storms this season and Tropical Storm Colin is moving offshore after dumping huge amounts of rain in Florida and the Carolinas. For National Grid the preparation for storms like Colin and others is a year-round responsibility that we take very seriously. We work constantly to make certain that our transmission and distribution systems will stand up to the worst weather, said Michael G. McCallan, Direct of Emergency Planning at National Grid But despite those efforts outages are bound to occur when were hit with hurricane force winds and flooding. When that happens, we know customers depend on us to get their electric service restored as quickly and safely as possible. Thats why we continue to refine our storm preparation and restoration procedures. Company preparedness Throughout the year National Grid conducts emergency exercises and drills that involve hundreds of employees in table-top, storm related scenarios to gauge the companys readiness. The company conducts in-depth analyses of each major storm and refines its processes from lessons learned. Last year National Grid completed the installation of weather stations in 30 communities in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The stations not only provide real time weather information for the communities in which theyre located, they also feed information into a storm probability software program developed with MIT to improve preparedness and speed restoration. The company also invests tens of millions of dollars each year in its electric and natural gas infrastructure to improve service and strengthen the systems against inclement weather. In addition, National Grid manages a robust tree trimming and tree removal program. Following the devastating storms that have struck New England in the past few years, the company expanded its network of contractors who can be called on to assist National Grid crews in restoring electric service following a storm. In addition, we have improved communications with emergency preparedness agencies, state police and state and local highway and public works departments to better coordinate the restoration process. What customers can do to prepare There are a number of steps customers can take before the storms hit. The best rule is to be prepared. High winds, lightning and heavy rain can cause local electrical service interruptions. Its a good idea to have a number of working flashlights, at least one battery-operated radio and an extra supply of batteries in your home. A radio is a good way to stay in touch, as National Grid provides news media with timely information regarding service restoration efforts. Also, post National Grids emergency outage reporting number, 800-465-1212, near your telephone so it will be handy if needed. Power problems can sometimes interrupt public water supply systems or disable well pumps, so its an especially good idea to keep a supply of bottled drinking water handy, as well as some canned food. People who depend on electric-powered life support equipment, such as a respirator, should let National Grid know. To register as a National Grid life support customer, call the companys Customer Service Contact Center at 800-322-3223. If you use a generator or plan to install one to supply power during an outage, be sure to operate it outdoors and remember before operating the generator to disconnect from National Grids system by shutting off the main breaker located at your electric service panel. Failure to do this could jeopardize the safety of line crews and the public. Gas Safety Flooding caused by heavy rain and high tides can also adversely impact the natural gas distribution system. National Grid asks customers to be alert for gas service interruptions caused by severe flooding. If you smell natural gas, contact us as soon as possible Massachusetts - 1-800-233-5325 Rhode Island - 1-800-640-1595 Stay out of flooded basements or standing water Energized wiring and natural gas service below the water line may pose a hazard National Grid provides multiple channels for customers to learn about service issues and interruptions during storms. Customers can follow the storm on their mobile devices by using the National Grid mobile app or texting the word STORM to NGRID (64743). The company provides real time outage information on its Outage Central web site. National Grid also provides storm and restoration updates through Facebook and Twitter. If flooding causes a loss of service and floodwaters have receded, contact National Grid and we will dispatch a service technician to your location as soon as possible For more storm information, go to here About National Grid National Grid (LSE: NG; NYSE: NGG) is an electricity and natural gas delivery company that connects nearly 7 million customers to vital energy sources through its networks in New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. It is the largest distributor of natural gas in the Northeast. National Grid also operates the systems that deliver gas and electricity across Great Britain. Through its U.S. Connect21 strategy, National Grid is transforming its electricity and natural gas networks to support the 21st century digital economy with smarter, cleaner, and more resilient energy solutions. Connect21 is vital to our communities' long-term economic and environmental health and aligns with regulatory initiatives in New York (REV: Reforming the Energy Vision) and Massachusetts (Grid Modernization). For more information please visit our website, or its Connecting website, follow on Twitter, watch on YouTube, friend on Facebook, find photos on Instagram Others, Local News, Community, Charity & Cause, Press Releases, Seasonal & Current Events By Long Island News & PR Published: June 14 2016 Earlier this evening, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo delivered remarks at a vigil for victims of the Orlando terror attack. New York, NY - June 13, 2016 - Earlier this evening, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo delivered remarks at a vigil for victims of the Orlando terror attack. The vigil was held at the Stonewall Inn in New York City. Governor Cuomo has directed the lights of One World Trade Center's 408-foot spire to again be displayed in rainbow colors in solidarity with the LGBT community tonight. Photos of One World Trade Center lit in the colors of the pride flag can be found here. Governor Cuomo has also directed New York State law enforcement to remain vigilant in the wake of this senseless attack and has increased security at high-profile locations across the state. Governor Cuomos statement and more information can be found here. A rush transcript of the Governors remarks delivered at the vigil is below: Thank you. Thank you. First, to Eunic Ortiz and all the people who worked so long and hard to organize today. Lets give them a round of applause. This is a beautiful site. This is New York at its best coming together to speak with one voice. Give yourselves a round of applause. You know, the Orlando massacre, Im sure, has stirred a cauldron of emotions in all of us. The shock, the pain. Over 100 people killed or injured. The senselessness of it is staggering. The frustration at a society that would allow a mad man to buy an assault weapon has gone on for too long. We went through it at Sandy Hook. How many people have to die before this federal government comes to its senses? We had Columbine. We had Virginia Tech. We had Sandy Hook. We had San Bernardino. We had Aurora, Colorado. When does it stop? We passed we passed gun control in this state. We outlawed assault weapons in this state. We know it can be done. We know we know it can be done. We know its controversial. We know it takes political courage, but were saying to our federal government: We want that political courage shown and dont you come home until you pass sensible gun control and it stops and it stops now. It does us no good as a state to outlaw an assault weapon when someone can get in a car and drive three hours to another state and buy it and drive it over our border. Until we have a national policy, none of us are safe and this is an American curse. It is not an international curse and we should learn and we should move forward. But my friends, its worse. This was not just a senseless act. There was literally a method to the madness. It targeted the LGBT community and that is vile and that is evil and that is hatred and we must all stand up with one voice and condemn this activity as one society. Now the question is, with all this emotion, what do we do with it? What do we do with it? And what I say to you tonight is lets take that emotion and lets make it a force for good and lets make it a positive force. And lets take that emotion and lets rise up and lets rise above and lets reject the ignorance and reject the bigotry and dont stoop to their level and lets forge a community that is actually strengthened by this attack and more unified to achieving justice for all. Let us this evening, let us follow Martin Luther Kings words, when he said Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that. Let us heed the words of James Baldwin, Love does not begin and end the way we think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war and it is a war we cannot lose. Let's do, my friends, what New York does at its best. What we do at our best is we rise to the occasion and we show the way forward. That's what we did when we were the first big state to pass marriage equality and it rippled all across this nation. That's what we did when we stood up as a state and we passed GENDA and it rippled all across this nation. When we passed a hate crimes law that is the strongest in the United States and it rippled all across this nation. When we stood up and banned conversion therapy and it rippled all across this nation. New York is not just another state, he says as an arrogant New Yorker. New York is different and New York is special and when New York talks and New York speaks and New York leads, the other states take notice. Let's say tonight with this emotion we feel, this is the day that that the federal government must promise us that they will pass sensible gun control because enough is enough. We say to our enemies tonight: you haven't caused us fear, you have caused us to be more unified than ever before and let's pledge tonight to have the largest Pride Parade in history and have the largest turnout and I will be with you shoulder to shoulder marching and let's show you our response and invite every New Yorker to the largest and the safest Pride Parade in history. Let us do what we did after 9/11 and let us build back a monument better than ever before. Let us make Stonewall not just a national monument but an international symbol for all to know that freedom started here in 1969 in the Stonewall and it moved this state and this state moved this nation and we will not stop until we have freedom for all. And, my friends, let us recommit ourselves tonight as we are here. Let us join hands one with the other and let us say to the world: We believe in New York. We are all in this together. We are all one. We are a family of New Yorkers. We are a community and there is a cord that connects you to you to you to you. Maybe you cant see it. Maybe its an invisible cord but it is there and it connects us. The cord weaves a fabric and in New York, we believe when one of us is raised we are all raised, and when one of us is lowered we are all lowered. We believe in New York that an attack on any of us is an attack on all of us and that is what you have done. We tell our enemies, We do not fear you, we pity you. You have not struck terror into our hearts, but you have unified our hearts. New York promises Orlando and every community across this globe that we stand more united today, more committed today, to the fight for individual freedom than ever before. No one is going to tell us who we are or how to live our lives, or the person we were meant to be. Thats what New York is all about and we promised to rededicate ourselves to the cause of freedom, together as one. God bless you. School & Education, Local News, Press Releases By WFSD News Published: June 14 2016 William Floyd High School junior Travis Negron has been accepted to the prestigious University of Miami Summer Scholars Program. Mastic Beach, NY - June 13, 2016 - William Floyd High School junior Travis Negron has been accepted to the prestigious University of Miami Summer Scholars Program, a program that provides an opportunity for students to explore their academic passions and experience life as a college student for three weeks this upcoming summer. Travis was awarded a full scholarship worth $7,500, which is given to only one student per specialty. He will focus on neuroscience, specifically, the physiology of the brain and can earn six college credits. He hopes to one day become an emergency room physician. Inspired by his grandmother who always told him to do well in school and be what you want to be and with the support and guidance of his family, guidance counselor, teachers and his own self-determination, Travis is extremely motivated to pursue his dream. When Travis is not hitting the books or reading up on the latest in medicine, he is involved in the Youth and Government Club and plays the alto saxophone in the high school jazz band. He also volunteers with Brookhaven Memorial Hospital and the Shirley Community Ambulance, the latter of which is helping him master the skills required for the EMT-B certification test in 2017. Since I was little, I knew I wanted to eventually grow up and make a mark on society, said Travis. The opportunity to go on a real-life EMS call sparked a tremendous amount of excitement within me and invigorated my desire even further. Not only does it provide me with the opportunity to help patients that may be in a life-or-death situation, but it also allows me to give back to the community and further enhance my medical skills, he said. As my volunteer career at Shirley Community Ambulance Company began to progress, it became extremely apparent to me that I wanted to do so much more; thus developing and contributing to my ultimate goal of wanting to become an emergency medical physician. Further research on my goal allowed me to come into contact with the University of Miamis Summer Scholars Program, which will provide me the opportunity to immerse myself in the medical field, as well as become acclimated to the college lifestyle. Travis is one of the most dedicated, driven and focused students that I have had the pleasure to work with, said Kerry Brewer, Traviss guidance counselor for the past two years. As a junior, Travis took the initiative to research various internships and summer programs in the medical field to give him a head start on his college and career goals, she said, noting that his initiative resulted in a position at Brookhaven Memorial Hospital and acceptance into the University of Miami Summer Scholars Program. Even more impressive than his academic ability, Travis is a humble, kind and respectful young man whose personal character is second to none. He always has a smile on his face and his upbeat personality is contagious. With his perseverance, I have absolutely no doubt that he will achieve all of his goals. I can confidently say that one day I will refer to him as Dr. Negron. Travis also completed William Floyd High Schools Introduction to Medicine course which offers students National Certification in First Aid, CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and use of the AED (automated external defibrillator) device. The class also introduces students to the topics and branches of gross anatomy, physiology, kinesiology, exercise science and an introduction to the medical professions. Press Releases By Long Island News & PR Published: June 14 2016 Coast Guard and local agencies suspended their search for a missing paddleboarder in the vicinity between Orient Point, New York, and Milford, Connecticut, Monday. The Coast Guard is reminding all mariners to always wear a personal floatation device, carry a hand held VHF radio, have access to flares, mark gear with reflective tape and notify someone where you are going and when you plan to return. Orient Point, NY - June 13, 2016 - Coast Guard and local agencies suspended their search for a missing paddleboarder in the vicinity between Orient Point, New York, and Milford, Connecticut, Monday. At approximately 12:00 p.m., the Clinton Fire Department located the body of the paddleboarder five miles south of the Connecticut River. Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Long Island Sound command center received a report from the Southold Police Department at approximately 4:15 a.m., Monday stating a two-person kayak was found washed ashore with a woman and her daughter. The woman reported she had left from the Connecticut coastline in a kayak with an adult male and her daughter aboard. She also stated another adult male accompanied them alongside on a paddleboard. The woman reportedly lost sight of both the men after they entered the water. The man who was reported to be in the kayak was found deceased approximately one mile from the location of the found kayak. Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Long Island Sound coordinated a Search and Rescue response with the following assets: A Coast Guard Station New London 45-foot Response Boat-Medium crew A Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter aircrew Clinton Fire Department East Hampton Police Department Guilford Fire and Police Department Madison Fire and Police Department Mattituck Fire Department Old Saybrook Fire Department Plum Island security Southold Police Department Westbrook Fire Department Both the mother and daughter have been transported to a local hospital by emergency medical services. Our Deepest condolences go to the family and friends of the two men who lost their lives, said Chief Petty Officer Frank St. Pierre, the command duty officer. This is a great example of how being prepared with the proper safety gear and filing a float can help kayakers in distress on the water. As the weather gets nicer, people need to understand that the water is still cold. Warm air temperatures can create a false sense of security for anyone who decides to go out on the water. Cool water drains body heat up to 25 times faster than cool air, which is why we encourage boaters to always dress for the water temperature and not the air temperature. The Coast Guard is reminding all mariners to always wear a personal floatation device, carry a hand held VHF radio, have access to flares, mark gear with reflective tape and notify someone where you are going and when you plan to return. It is also important to stay mindful of prevailing and forecasted winds, tides and currents, and the potential impacts they have on returning safely to shore. Looking to stay up to date about all of the news stories and local headlines that are important to Long Islanders? We've rounded up the top coverage for all of the important topics from multiple sources around Long Island, so you can be sure you've got the most recent update on the top stories for Long Island. Have an idea for a news story? Email us at news@longisland.com Columnists Press Releases The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its allies, particularly Iraqi militia Harakat al Nujaba, have been heavily engaged in combat against Jaish al Fath and Jabhat al Nusra (al-Qaedas Syria branch) in southern Aleppo in the past two weeks, with the IRGC losing at least 13 men since the beginning of June. The fighting is reportedly intense surrounding al Qarassi, southeast of Khan Touman, which the IRGC lost in an ambush last month, vowing revenge. IRGC Third Lieutenant Abbas Daneshgar and defender of the shrine [referring to the Sayyida Zeynab mosque in Damascus] was announced killed in Syria on June 10. The following day, the public relations and propaganda deputy of the IRGC Ghaem Al-e Mohammad unit (Semnan province) told the media that the 22 year-old native from Semnan was martyred during an advising operation fighting takfiri terrorists in the past few days. On Sunday, IRGC-affiliate media announced Daneshgar was killed on June 9, and that he was a student in the Imam Hossein Guardianship Training and Officer College. The college is part of the Imam Hossein University, which was designated by the U.S. Treasury in 2012 under the weapons of mass destruction designation and specifically for providing, or attempting to provide technological, and or other support for and services in support of the IRGC. Last month, the commander of the college, Brigadier General Morteza Saffari, announced 100 trainers and commanders from the college had deployed to Syria for two to three month rotations in the past year. Some returned to Iran, some were killed or injured, and others remained as necessary, according to Saffari. Daneshgar was given a funeral ceremony at the college today with full state honors. It seemed as if the heart of the sky above the officer college was also gripped with the sorrow of Abbass absence and became cloudy, wrote a reporter from the paramilitary Basijs media outlet. In attendance were his family, fellow college cadets, and senior college commanders. His last will was read out loud. During the procession, the students and commanders shouted, death to America, death to Israel, death to the infidel House of Saud, and hayhat minna zillah [slogan attributed to the third Shiite Imam Husayn before his death in the battle of Karbala: humiliation is far from us.]. Daneshgars casket was then transferred to his hometown of Semnan for burial. If we do not go to war with them in Syria and Iraq today, we must fight the takfiris in the eastern and western provinces and even in Tehran, declared Hojjat al Eslam Nosratollah Shams-Elahi, the representative of the supreme leader in the college, in an address to the mourning congregation. Per the commandment of the Quran, we will defend the oppressed in Syria, Iraq and anywhere that is required, proclaimed the political commissar, we are fighting there to implement Gods commandment. We will support the oppressed anywherewe will politically, spiritually, and operationally defend them to the best of abilities, and if we are able we will also defend the oppressed Muslims of Nigeria. If the enemy has the opportunity to get close to our borders, our honor and dignity will be stumped, he said, Our goal in addition to keeping the war far from the country is to defend the oppressed. We will give the likes of Abbas Daneshgar to preserve dignity and national and religious honor, and this is what we are seeking today, declared the cleric. Amir Toumaj is a independent analyst and contributor to FDD's Long War Journal. Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here. Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan fighters in Afghanistan A new faction of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) independent of the Islamic State has emerged and indicated that it remains loyal to the Taliban, al Qaeda, and other traditional jihadist group that operate in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia. The new faction announced its existence on June 10 in English and Arabic language statements released on Twitter and Telegram. In its first statement, the group which continues to call itself the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan said the IMU split apart after its last emir, Usman Ghazi, pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in 2015. Dear mumin [believers] and Muslim brothers! We found it to be necessary to make a statement about the latest events in our jamaah [group], the statement reads before giving a brief explanation of the groups leadership history and loyalties. The group notes that the IMUs first three leaders, Juma Namangani, Tahir Yuldashev, and Abu Usman Adil each gave an an oath of allegiance to the Talibans first leader, Mullah Omar. It also said that its last emir, Usman Ghazi, also originally pledged to Mullah Omar. However, just weeks before the Taliban admitted that it had hid Mullah Omars death for over two years, Ghazi had released a statement questioning the status of the Taliban leader and praising the Islamic State. Ghazi likely viewed the Talibans admission as confirmation that he was right to be skeptical all along, and on Aug. 6, 2015, the IMU officially pledged allegiance to the Islamic State and merged with its fledgling Khorasan province. [See LWJ report, Central Asian groups split over leadership of global jihad.] Ghazis split with his traditional allies proved destructive to his following. Shortly after siding with the Islamic State, Ghazis followers joined with Islamic State fighters in Zabul province, Afghanistan, battled the Taliban, and were defeated. Many of Ghazis followers were killed. Ghazis fate is unknown; he has been rumored to have been killed or captured during the fighting. Abdul Haq al Turkistani, the emir of the Turkistan Islamic Party, said that the IMU disappeared after it pursued the path of war with the Taliban. [See LWJ report, Turkistan Islamic Party leader criticizes the Islamic States illegitimate caliphate.] Despite Ghazis break with the IMUs traditional allies, including the Taliban and al Qaeda, a core cadre from the IMU continued to fight as a group. The new IMU faction also supported al Qaeda and the Talibans criticism of the Islamic State and its emir and caliph, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi. In a rebuke of the Islamic State, the IMU noted that several al Qaeda and other Salafi ideologues such as Abu Muhammad al Maqdisi and Abu Qatada, as well as the former emir of the Caucasus Emirate believe Abu Bakr al Baghdadi is not a caliph of Muslims but only an Emir of the Islamic State group. Previously, the core cadre of IMU fighters who sided with the Taliban and al Qaeda continued to fight in Afghanistan, but their differences were stifled because the pro-Islamic State faction controlled the IMUs official media outlets. [W]e would like to mention that the delay to our announcement to public, that activities of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan did not [stop]. Although not in a quantity as before, it still continued its work. The reason for that, the members were dispersed in many faraway fields and that Islamic Movement of Uzbekistans official media outlets were not in the hands of its members and other difficulties and we apologize for that, according to the statement. The IMU concluded by exclaiming that the anti-Islamic State IMU faction will continue business as usual and that it will continue its Islamic activities with the grace of Allah against the enemies of religion and stand shoulder to shoulder with [believers] and Muslim brothers of Afghanistan, which is a clear reference to the Taliban. To separate itself from the pro-Islamic State faction, the new IMU also clearly states its openness in continuing to work with the other jihadist groups in Afghanistan and that it would like to converge with them. The IMU faction did not name a new emir. This may be due to operational security reasons. As the statement notes, the previous two emirs, Yuldashev and Adil were attacked treacherously by unmanned drone of crusader enemies and killed. Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of The Long War Journal. Caleb Weiss is a research analyst at FDD's Long War Journal and a senior analyst at the Bridgeway Foundation, where he focuses on the spread of the Islamic State in Central Africa. Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here. Luton is a large town, borough and unitary authority area of Bedfordshire. Luton and its near neighbours, Dunstable and Houghton Regis, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area with a population of about 258,000. Luton is home to Championship team Luton Town Football Club, London Luton Airport and The University of Bedfordshire. You can find us on Facebook and Twitter. For all the latest news from Luton sign up to our newsletter here. Silversea Unveils New Galapagos Itineraries The 100-guest, all-suite Silver Galapagos will operate both itineraries sailing Saturday to Saturday, with San Cristobal as a new arrival or departure port for guests.The new north central itinerary departs Baltra for San Cristobal with a newly added circumnavigation of Isla Daphne Grande (a.k.a. Daphne Major). The voyage also explores Bahia Darwin and El Barranco in Genovesa; Galapaguera Cerro Colorado and Punta Pitt in San Cristobal; Bahia Gardner (a.k.a. Gardner Bay) and Punta Suarez in Espanola; El Eden, Fausto Llerena Breeding Center and Puerto Ayora in Santa Cruz; as well as Bahia Sullivan, Seymour Norte, Rabida, and Plazas Sur.Departing from San Cristobal for Baltra, the new western itinerary is enhanced by such new points of interest as Cerro Dragon and Playa Las Bachas in Santa Cruz and a circumnavigation of Roca Leon Dormido (a.k.a. Kicker Rock). The balance of the itinerary includes Punta Vicente Roca, Caleta Tagus and Bahia Elizabeth in Isabela; Post Office Bay, Islote Champion and Punta Cormorant in Floreana; Los Gemelos, Fausto Llerena Breeding Center and Puerto Ayora in Santa Cruz; Bartolome, Playa Espumilla, and Punta Espinoza."These new itineraries will continue to highlight the amazing scenery and wildlife of the Galapagos," said Mark Conroy, Silversea's managing director for the Americas. "For the first time, Silver Galapagos will circumnavigate iconic Kicker Rock and Daphne Major, both spectacular settings for spotting an array of exotic birds. And nature lovers will appreciate the chance to witness beautiful flamingos and sea turtles at Las Bachas Beach, also a new destination."Silver Galapagos expedition cruises offer adventurous travelers the life-enriching chance to discover a wild, pristine paradise that has long been regarded as a natural laboratory of evolution. On complimentary expeditions ashore guided by an experienced expedition team (certified by the Galapagos National Park Service), Silversea's guests may experience up-close encounters with an abundance of wildlife that includes sun-basking land iguanas, giant tortoises, blue- and red-footed boobies, colorful marine iguanas, sea lions, penguins and Darwin's famous finches. Aboard ship, guests enjoy such Silversea hallmarks as the pampering attention of a butler, sumptuous gourmet cuisine, complimentary wines and spirits served throughout the ship, and free Wi-Fi.For a complete list of Silver Galapagos itineraries, details, and fares, visit The Legendary Watergate Hotel Reopens Today An American icon situated on the banks of the Potomac River, The Watergate Hotel offers a luxurious urban resort experience for the world's most discerning leisure and business travelers. Originally designed by Italian architectin 1961 to look like a sail on the Potomac, the hotel made waves with its groundbreaking contemporary style and came to epitomize the fabulous lifestyle and sophistication of its time when it opened in March 1967. The hotel's current owners, Euro Capital Properties, tapped world-renowned designer Ron Arad and Italian designerto complement the avant-garde architecture with bold curves and mid-century modern design while restoring some of hotel's original structures such as the staircase and indoor pool. Acclaimed architectural and interior design firm BBGM was the architect for the project.The Watergate is undoubtedly one of the most glamorous and illustrious hotels in the world, said Rakel Cohen, Senior Vice President of Design and Development, Euro Capital Properties. We paid meticulous attention to every detail in its renovation and we're excited to bring our vision to life. Its intrigue is driven by evocative design, from the deep-rooted retro feel to the mystique that lies behind every curve of the hotel's architecture.The hotel consists of 336 stylish guestrooms designed for comfort and sophistication, half of which include lavish balconies. Six exquisite Diplomat Suites, 24 premier suites and two stately Presidential Suites offer the highest standard of luxury accommodations. Each guestroom features natural light that brings out the soothing color palettes along with plush bedding, floor-to-ceiling Zebrano marble bathrooms with solid granite vanities, superior in-room amenities, 24-hour in-room dining, cutting edge technology, diffusers featuring the hotel's signature Red Flower Oakwood scent, and more.Both local residents and visitors have an array of options for unapologetically luxurious gastronomy and libations on property, all overseen by Executive Chef Michael Santoro.A Kingbird , accepting reservations as of today, is a dual-concept restaurant offering a contemporary dining room with an energetic bar, riverfront outdoor seating and an elegant dining room for a prix fixe dinner. The menu features ingredient-driven American cuisine with a French twist, paired with an impressive, global wine list.A The Next Whisky Bar , seamlessly carved into the lobby, stands vertical with an undulating wall of custom whisky bottles featuring labels sculpted and stamped out of metal, bathing the space in a bronze glow. An expansive spirit list highlights whisky, bourbon and rye from small batch producers and large distillers, and a variety of cigars will be available for purchase to enjoy on the terrace or rooftop.A Top of the Gate , a palatial rooftop with 360-degree views of the Potomac River, Capitol and Washington Monument will open this summer. The hotel's first-ever rooftop lounge will be the best view in town, clad with heat lamps and a fire pit, where you can enjoy bottle service, signature cocktails and Asian street food.The Watergate Hotel will debutin early summer. The 12,000 sq. ft. facility features eight treatment suites, a unisex steam room and nail salon, male and female changing rooms, sauna and steam rooms and a relaxation area for guests to unwind pre-and post-treatment. The space also boasts an over-sized 15-yard indoor, saltwater pool as well as a whirlpool, an aqua aerobic space, barre studio and a state-of-the-art gym.Ideal for all types of events, the hotel features 27,000 sq. ft. of meeting and function space with 11 flexible indoor / outdoor spaces. A new addition to the historic property, the elegant 7,000 sq. ft., features state-of-the-art technology, LED light panels and a statement wall built from Gucci marble along with an additional 10,000 square feet of outdoor space overlooking the Potomac.The Watergate Hotel is located at 2650 Virginia Ave NW in Washington, D.C. For more information visit TheWatergateHotel.com Apple Pay is coming to Safari in iOS 10 and macOS Sierra, letting etailers and other payment-collecting sites offer an Apple Pay button that passes transaction verification to an iPhone or Apple Watch. Apple also said that iMessage apps in iOS 10 will allow payment apps, like Square Cash, to allow person-to-person payments within iMessage and via Siri; rumors of Apple directly offering Apple Pay for peer-to-peer payment so far seem misplaced. About two dozen payment platforms work with Apple Pay today, and two of them, Stripe and Shopify, confirmed on Monday they will offer Apple Pay in Safari. Apple showed a list of early adopting retailers in one slide, and those retailers use an array of payment processors that will have to enable support as well. Shopify further noted that its hosted merchants who use Authorize.Net, Braintree, FirstData Payeezy, or CyberSource would be eligible for Apple Pay. Square, so far, is the only iMessages app and Siri payment service announced. Square Cash is the merchant payment processing firms peer-to-peer payment app, requiring people sending cash to use a credit card or debit card, and those receiving it to register a debit card linked to a bank account. Apple Pay in Safari In Safari, a customer will click an Apple Pay button to opt to pay via Apples processing system. On a Mac, a request will be sent to an iPhone via Continuity, which requires proximity to the computer, and then a buyer will use Touch ID on an iPhone or double-press the side button of an associated Apple Watch. Payments through Safari on an iPhone will allow same-device confirmation via Touch ID or via a linked Watch. You can authenticate Apple Pay transactions on your Mac using Touch ID on your iPhone, or the button on your paired Apple Watch. Apple Pay offers a huge reduction in risk for consumers, sites, and credit-card networks over other Web-based payment approaches, whether directly entering your credit card details, or using a system like Pay with Amazon, which requires a Web-based login to an Amazon account. Handing over any information to a site opens a customer and the merchant up to risk at every point from the users browser to the firms servers. Keyboard-logging (keylogger) malware, browser exploits, and server-side security flaws (a la Heartbleed) can allow the interception of data. Even when payment information is securely received, companies that fail to secure it properly can allow the leak of details, such as the 40 million credit card numbers stolen from Target in 2013. (This reporter had Visa and American Express numbers stolen online from retailers earlier in 2016; security researcher Brian Krebs explains how that happens.) However, Apple Pay in Safari has several advantages. First, the proximity requirement between a Mac and an iPhone or Watch prevents effective remote attacks. Second, not having to enter credit-card information or a password keeps even an attacker with a keylogger from grabbing your details. Third, the biometric requirement of Touch ID has the same benefit for an online transaction as an in-app purchase or other purchase within Apples app ecosystem. And finally, the transaction never passes your credit-card number to the merchant, nor to Apple. Rather, the transaction uses a credit-card number proxy and other encryption details to pass from your iPhone through Apples processing network and to the ultimate payment network. The merchant receives verification that the transaction was successful or not. Apple collects a tiny sliver of the transaction fee from the processing side of the equation. Consumers and merchants dont pay extra. Payment platforms effectively handle transactions as if Apple Pay is just another way to enter or provide a credit card, rather than as a competitor. (Click to enlarge.) Dozens of department stores, publications, airlines, and others were listed in Apples keynote slide, and all of them appear to have iOS apps. A Stripe spokesperson noted that Indiegogo, Instacart, Deliveroo, Kickstarter, OpenTable, Spring, and Warby Parker, shown on the keynote slide, are Stripe customers. Many, if not all, of the featured sites offer in-app durable goods (non-digital items) for sale, so they can already use Apple Pay and avoid Apples 30-percent commission for digital goods. With back-ends already integrated with payment platforms that allow Apple Pay, extending from an app to a website is likely a small step. Most modern payment platforms that work with merchants of all sizes offer, as Stripe does, a simple method of payment that requires inserting just a few lines of code and very little back-end programming. Larger sites or those with more complicated offerings may have deeper integration with a payment platform, but it could again be as simple as adding a button, a little back-end logic, and a couple of lines of JavaScript, because most of the Apple Pay iceberg is handled on the processor side. Companies that sell via a hosting platform, like Shopify, may be able to enable Apple Pay with a clickor with no work at all. Shopify said it hosts over 275,000 merchants stores, and store owners using its in-house payment gateway or one of several others will need to click Activate Apple Pay to start accepting those payments. Apple Pay is currently available in the United States, Australia, Canada, China, Singapore, and the United Kingdom, and is coming later this year to France, Hong Kong, and Switzerland, Apple said at WWDC. Payment apps with iMessage and Siri Apple also said in its Monday keynote that Siri and Messages in iOS 10 would be opened up to third-party developers, including for payment apps. While Apple Pay allows both credit and debit cards, the system isnt designed around receiving payment. Perhaps Apple will extend Apple Pay in the future for bidirectional payments, but for now its deferring to companies like Square, which said Monday it would allow Square Cash payments through both Siri and Messages. A Square spokesperson said that an iPhone owner would simply be able to tell Siri to send someone money, and then confirm by voice. In Messages, a user can bring up Square in the list of Messages apps, select it, select a sum to send, and complete the transaction. Square requires both sides of the transaction to have registered in Square Cash, but recipients who arent yet signed up will be prompted to retrieve the app to receive funds. Mumbai: The Bombay High Court cleared the controversial Hindi film Udta Punjab for release with just one cut, a scene which the makers of the film themselves had offered to delete. The films producer had moved to the High Court against the recommendation of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to cut 89 scenes in the film and remove words like Punjab, MLA and MP. The film dealing with drug abuse in Punjab stars Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor and Alia Bhatt and is scheduled for release on June 17. Srinagar: A lone terrorist travelling in a SRTC bus attacked a CRPF camp at Udhampur in Jammu on Monday, killing one woman and injuring two others. The terrorist was killed during the retaliatory attack by the CRPF and police. The CRPF camp is located on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway. Security personnel are yet to confirm if there was more than one terrorist. Marie Claire newsletter Celebrity news, beauty, fashion advice, and fascinating features, delivered straight to your inbox! Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Thank you for signing up to . You will receive a verification email shortly. There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again. By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions (opens in new tab) and Privacy Policy (opens in new tab) and are aged 16 or over. Introducing summer's coolest denim update White jeans have a bit of a tough gig over the years - incompatible with rose, grass and, well, anything colourful that may transfer - thankfully, this one-time holiday wardrobe staple is back in a cooler new guise. Re-emerging during the demise of skinny silhouettes and the dawn of relaxed retro fits, white jeans have shaken off their high-maintenance connotations and are embracing a rebellious spirit. A quick fashion history lesson on white denim tells us that their very beginnings were born of a rebellion: 'In the 50s and 60s, many schools prohibited blue jeans, deeming them too casual for the classroom,' Levi Strauss & Co. historian Tracey Panek recently told the Wall Street Journal (opens in new tab). 'Students found a way around the ban by bleaching their jeans white.' Cue the launch of Levi's first-ever white jeans. Nowadays, think less 'sexy mum', more Scandi-blogger, and seek out roomy fits and distressed details. The key to nailing a modern version also involves veering away from Colgate-esque, socket-scorching whites and opting for creamier versions. From raw hems, slouchy dungarees, awkward (in a good way) lengths, flares and office-appropriate culottes, there are many options available right now - almost overwhelming so. Before we plundered every corner of the high street, we called upon the advice of jean geniuses Chloe Lonsdale of M.i.h Jeans, and Donna Ida (opens in new tab) Thornton. 'I prefer white denim to be textured and authentic,' Chloe told us. As such, she and her design team created a dreamy new capsule collection for summer 2016, filled with non-stretch, off-white denims and the perfect pair of high-rise, straight-cut cropped jeans with some subtle and natural-looking rips. 'Cropped and high rise is definitely the way to go with white denims, so weve done our cool, cropped slim leg, the Niki (opens in new tab), in a white denim with a bit of stretch. Its the perfect vintage high rise fit.' Other highlights from MiH this season include the white Marrakesh flare (opens in new tab) which has received a Vetements-style makeover with a new step-cut hem. Donnas shopping advice is super-useful: 'Look for a good weight of denim, you dont want it to be too thin because you can actually see through it, and you dont want it to be too thick either because it will be quite hot. Normally, with black or dark indigo jeans I would say to go as tight as you can because you will probably wear them a few times before you wash them, but with white jeans you will probably wash them every time so just go for a nice fit, and dont forget about wearing nude underwear.' So, relinquish your grass stain anxiety and make like Prince William - for those who missed it the Duke of Cambridge recently threw caution to the wind and partook in a spot of al fresco yoga in his white jeans on a polo lawn. Embrace your inner rebel because this time around white looks better the worse you behave. Marie Claire Loves: Frame Denim Le High Flare high-rise jeans, 225 (opens in new tab) ASOS denim jumpsuit in off white, 45.00 (opens in new tab) Rag & Bone crop flare jeans, 131.48 (opens in new tab) So there you have it; bonne chance with your new white denim - and steer clear of the rose. Thumbnail: @sincerelyjules Maersk Line, the world's largest container shipping company, told its clients on Tuesday it will set the freight rate from Far East Asia to Europe at $1,450 per 20-foot container (TEU) as of July 1. The announced increase, which applies to all kinds of freight, will not necessarily go through as the shipper is often forced to accept far lower rates because there are too many vessels available to ship goods. Earlier this month, data from the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index showed rates for transporting containers from ports in Asia to Northern Europe had risen to $761 per TEU. (Reporting by Teis Jensen and Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen; editing by David Clarke) The recently launched Majestic 7 is the first of four HSC catamaran passenger ferries designed by Incat Crowther to be delivered to Majestic Ferries in Singapore. Majestic 7, part of a multiple-vessel order which has been further expanded to include a pair of larger capacity vessels due to be launched in late 2016, was built at PT Cahaya Samudra Shipyard in Indonesia, and will operate between Singapore and Batam. According to Incat Crowther, the 33-meter vessel gives the operator increased capacity and speed at a fraction of the typical fuel consumption. Powered by a pair of MAN D2862 LE463 main engines, rated at 1,029kW, driving fixed pitch propellers, Majestic 7 performed well in sea trials, reaching a loaded speed in excess of 30 knots, the designer noted. The vessel will be operated at a service speed of 28 knots at a reduced MCR. All of Majestic 7s 200 passengers enter through midship boarding doors and sit in forward-facing seats. In addition, there are four seats for crew members. At the aft end of the cabin are a six-person crew room and kiosk, as well as three heads. The upper deck, free of passengers, features just the wheelhouse with excellent all-round visibility. The vessel is built to the HSC 2000 code under Bureau Veritas survey. Specifications Principal Dimensions Length Overall: 33m Length Waterline: 32.7m Beam Overall: 8.5m Draft (hull): 1.2m Draft (prop tip): 1.96m Depth: 2.8m Construction: Marine grade aluminum Capacities Fuel Oil: 7,000 liters Fresh Water: 2,000 liters Sullage: 1,000 liters Passengers: 200 Crew: 8 Propulsion and performance Speed (Service): 28 knots Speed (Max): 31 knots Main Engines: 2 x MAN D2862 LE463 Power: 2 x 1,029kW at 2,100rpm Propulsion: 2 x 5-bladed propeller Generators: 2 x Perkins 4.4W2GM 50Hz Regulatory Flag: Singapore Class / Survey: BV 1 + Hull + Mach HSC Category A Sea Area 2 Contract covers inspections from manufacturing, transport, installation and commissioning of wind farm. E.ON has awarded the project certification contract for the new Arkona offshore wind farm to DNV GL. The project covers the inspection phases, from manufacturing, transport, installation and commissioning to take the wind farm into operation. The Arkona offshore wind farm is a 385 MW offshore wind farm which is currently being developed by E.ON. The wind farm will be located 35 km northeast of Rugen Island, in the Baltic Sea, Germany. The energy company Statoil has a 50 percent stake and is involved in the project from the start. E.ON is responsible for building and operating the wind farm. Upon planned completion in 2019, the project will supply renewable energy for approximately 400,000 households and offset 1.2 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year. Having worked on the project since 2014, DNV GL was initially appointed by E.ON for the full design assessment of the windfarms turbines and the offshore substations. During the design assessment, DNV GL ensured timely delivery of the conformity statements for the basic design of the wind turbines and support structure. Currently DNV GL and E.ON are collaborating to finalise the detailed design of both offshore transformer station and turbine and support structures. Building on the successful partnership, DNV GL is now continuing its work with E.ON into the operational phase of the wind farm. Arkona marks the 14th offshore wind farm in Germany alone which DNV GL is supporting with its certification services, out of a total of 16 German wind farms currently in operation or under construction. Steffen Haupt, Global Head of Business Development and Sales at DNV GL Energy, Renewables Certification added: As the pressure to produce clean energy at a cost-competitive price is growing, ensuring that the objectives of new wind energy projects are being met at each stage in the run-up to their operation is vital. Supporting this venture from start to finish enables us to contribute best to the success of this important offshore project and we are excited to work side-by-side with E.ON to get Arkona implemented. The stringent inspections of the project certification phase are designed to ensure that the assumptions made in the design assessment phase are validated and thus support the goal to provide optimal reliability for the entirety of the project lifetime. Having type certified both the Siemens SWT-6.0-154 turbine, which will be supplied to the project, as well as other manufacturers providing components to the Arkona wind farm, DNV GLs experts provide a unique knowledge of the wind farm assets. Working with DNV GL, the worlds largest certification body, enables E.ON to tap into a global workforce of highly technical experts, ensuring that the entire project certification process will be delivered by one supplier. Subscribe for Maritime Reporter E-News Maritime Reporter E-News is the maritime industry's largest circulation and most authoritative ENews Service, delivered to your Email five times per week Ex-USS Taylor (FFG-50) was towed from Philadelphia Naval Shipyard to Detyens Shipyard in Charleston, S.C. where the vessel will be converted in preparation for delivery to the Taiwanese government as part of the U.S. foreign military sales program. The 33-year-old Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate was decommissioned at NS Mayport, Fla. in 2015, where it had been homeported since 1993. During its service, Taylor, named for Cmdr. Jesse Taylor, a naval aviator who was awarded the Navy Cross posthumously for his heroism in the Vietnam War, made six extended deployments: with NATO's standing Naval Force Atlantic in 1987, to the Arabian Gulf in 1988, in 1990 as part of Operations Desert Shield, in 1992 as part of Operation Southern Watch, in 1994 to the Mediterranean and Red Seas and in 1997 and 2002 with NATO's Standing Naval Force Mediterranean. Crowley Maritime Corporations government services group was awarded the contract by VSE Corporation for the tow. Invader class tug Monitor connected to the former U.S. Navy ship by a series of tow ropes and chains departed Philadelphia under the care and direction of her eight man crew: Captain Steve Sears; Jermain Williams, chief mate; Steven Tonn, second mate; Deck Utility Men Mario Del Morante, Hubert Joseph, and Bob Woote; Yosluvy Baro-Laza, engine utility and Connor McDaniel, deck cadet. In 1950, International Falls, Minn., native Jim Briggs, shook hands with his fellow crewmembers and stepped off the Coast Guard Cutter Eagle with his seabag packed to the brim and strewn across his back. It would be 66 years until he returned. They told me I always had a home there, and I could always come back, Briggs said. The Eagle was built in 1936 by Blohm and Voss Shipyard in Hamburg, Germany, and commissioned as Horst Wessel. At the end of World War II, the ship was taken by the U.S. as a war prize and renamed Eagle. In 1946, a U.S. Coast Guard crew, aided by the German crew still aboard, sailed the ship to its new homeport in New London, Conn., where Briggs would report aboard the following year. Thanks to Briggs children, he was finally able to come back to the ship for a visit in April, while the Eagle was moored in Baltimore, its temporary homeport. Visiting the Eagle again has been on his bucket list forever, said Sandra McCormack, Briggs daughter. He talks about the Eagle all the time. He has so many stories, and I still dont think weve heard them all yet. Briggs Coast Guard career began when he shipped out to boot camp in Mayport, Fla., in 1947. It was supposed to be 12 weeks long, but they were short on Coast Guardsman, so boot camp was only three weeks, followed by one week of mess-cooking, Briggs said. I had done well on my aptitude tests and I got my choice of schools, Briggs said. I wanted to be a flight engineer, so they shipped me over to the airport in Mayport. I flew on a PBY Catalina as an observer on coastal patrol for a few months until they sent me to the naval base in Jacksonville for my flight physical. Briggs failed his flight physical because of a heart murmur, and was sent back to boot camp to await further instruction. Soon enough, Coast Guard Cutter Campbell pulled into port and picked up nearly 100 recruits, and Briggs name was amongst those called for duty. Once Campbell arrived in Connecticut, the crew dropped anchor in the mouth of the Thames River. A cruiser from the Coast Guard Academy met the ship and picked up recruits. Briggs thought he was going to school. Briggs said one of his crewmembers jokingly pointed at the Eagle moored at the Academy and said, Theres your ship over there, to which Briggs responded with, Yeah right! Thats a sailing ship! The joke was over when Briggs and 10 other recruits boarded Eagle. Because of his fear of heights, Briggs remembered his first day aboard the Eagle as clear as glass. All of the newly reported crewmembers were required to learn how to climb the mast. The first day, they climbed up to the first stage and then back down the other side. When they were done, his supervisor asked for a volunteer to be a motor machinists mate, but Briggs wasnt fast enough. Someones hand shot up before his. The next day, we climbed to the second stage and back down, Briggs said. Climbing still wasnt for me. That day, they called for an electrician striker, and I raised my hand right away. I went into the electric crew after that. Because the Eagle was still new to the United States, the ship was covered in German writing, including all of the ships manuals. Once the English manuals were printed, Briggs helped turn them into books. That was quite a day, Briggs said. Id pick up one sheet of paper out of about 200 stacks of paper and staple them all together. That was one manual. Then, wed have to go make another one and start over again. During his free time underway, Briggs said he sun-tanned on the deck and watched a lot of movies. As an electrician, I got to be the operator of the projector, Briggs said. I had a Connecticut drivers license, so I would have to go pick up movies and bring them back the ship and show the movies to the rest of the crew. One of Briggs favorite jobs during his time on the Eagle was to stand by the cooks while they made ice cream. I had lots of ice cream underway, Briggs said. Whenever the cooks made ice cream, theyd always blow fuses out. They had to have an electrician to put in new fuses all the time. I made good friends with the cooks. Though Briggs did not leave with a belly full of ice cream after his recent visit to the Eagle, he left with a full heart. He and three of his six children were given a full tour of the ship to see all of the changes made since his time aboard, including the engine room where he spent most of his early days on the Eagle. The ship is a lot different than what I remember, Briggs said. This brought back a lot of memories. It was a good day. At the end of the visit, Briggs daughter was in tears. Hes wanted to do this for a long time, McCormack said. It means the world to him. We are all so happy to be a part of the last thing on his bucket list. Well never forget the smile the Coast Guard brings to his face. The Author Jasmine Mieszala is Petty Officer 3rd Class, U.S. Coast Guard The dry bulk shipping industry may not emerge from a protracted downturn for another two years and some smaller firms will be squeezed out, the chairman of France's Louis Dreyfus Armateurs said on Tuesday. The dry bulk sector that transports commodities like coal and iron ore has suffered from oversupply of vessels and faltering global industrial demand, pushing freight rates to a record low this year. Some ship operators had taken heart from signs of a pick-up this year in the Chinese steel sector, but the dry bulk industry needs to be prudent given the overcapacity to be cleared, Philippe Louis-Dreyfus told Reuters. "I don't see the end of the tunnel for another 18 months to two years," he said on the sidelines of a shipping conference. "It worries me that some ship owners are saying things are picking up again." Ship supply had levelled off but the industry still had to absorb capacity partly resulting from speculative orders by investors betting on a market rebound, he said. An industry-wide move to scrap dry bulk vessels that are more than 20 years old would help rebalance the market while reducing environmental and safety risks, but this view has met with opposition from some ship owners, Louis-Dreyfus said. The prolonged downturn has already caused some casualties, with Norwegian firm Bulk Invest filing for bankruptcy in March and Greece's DryShips last week expressing doubts about its ability to stay in business. Dry bulk shipping was heading for a consolidation period in which mid-sized, family firms like his may struggle to compete alongside giant commodity transporters, Louis-Dreyfus said. His firm had held up in the crisis thanks to its diversification into logistics and marine services, including dedicated vessels for industrial clients like Alcatel and Airbus, he said. These activities offset losses in dry bulk and allowed it to post a group profit last year, he said. The company does not publish financial results. The group remained committed to dry bulk, in which it has about 30 vessels, and expected its use of partnerships in countries like Indonesia to allow it to compete in a consolidating industry, he said. Philippe Louis-Dreyfus took control of the firm a decade ago by acquiring what was formerly the shipping division of global commodities group Louis Dreyfus. (Reporting by Gus Trompiz; Editing by Ruth Pitchford) China expressed thanks on Tuesday for the dozens of countries it says have offered support for its position on a case brought by the Philippines over Chinese claims in the South China Sea, saying they are speaking out to uphold justice. China has stepped up its rhetoric ahead of an expected ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague on the Philippine case. China refuses to recognise the case and says all disputes should be resolved through bilateral talks. The Chinese government says more than 40 countries have offered support for its position, the latest being the African nations of Sierra Leone and Kenya. Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said certain unidentified countries had been trying to blacken China's name over the South China Sea, confusing right for wrong and trying to control public opinion. "Against this backdrop, certain friendly countries which care about China want to understand what's really going on," Lu told a daily news briefing. "Once they've worked out the rights and wrongs and gotten the whole story, a fair few countries are willing to speak out from a sense of justice." "We express appreciation and thanks for this. It shows that a just cause enjoys abundant support and people have a sense of natural justice," Lu said. While a small number of countries wanted to blacken China's name on this issue, they cannot be said to represent the international community, he added. China claims almost all of the energy-rich South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of maritime trade passes each year. The Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia and Taiwan have overlapping claims. The Philippines is contesting China's claim to an area shown on its maps as a nine-dash line stretching deep into the maritime heart of Southeast Asia, covering hundreds of disputed islands and reefs. Despite China's protestations it has no threatening intent in the South China Sea, it has bolstered its military presence there with an ambitious land reclamation programme that includes building airstrips for military use. China's actions have drawn criticism from the United States. The United States is not a claimant in the South China Sea dispute but says it has an interest in ensuring freedom of navigation and overflight in the area. The United States and the European Union have called on China to respect the ruling from The Hague. The court has no powers of enforcement and its rulings have been ignored before. Reporting by Ben Blanchard Delaware State Police has taken delivery of its new dive boat, a RIBCRAFT 5.85. RIBCRAFT, manufacturer of professional grade rigid inflatable boats (RIBs), built the 19' RIB for the State Police's SCUBA team to be used in search and recovery missions in the many waterways of Delaware. Designed specifically as a surf rescue craft, the 5.85 is a favorite among departments for its versatility and rough water performance, the builder said. Configured specifically for the SCUBA team to provide ample deck space, the RIB features forward positioned rescue console with windscreen, open deck space to accommodate 4+ divers or Stokes baskets, robust antenna arch with integrated dive ladder, double skin tube reinforcement and dive flag signals. The electronics include VHF, digital depth gauge with transducer, LED navigation lights and dual battery bank with charger. Powered by a 115hp Mercury outboard, the boat reaches speeds in excess of 40mph while still providing unparalleled safety and unsurpassed performance. On the occasion of Electric & Hybrid Marine World Expo in Amsterdam, Barillec will focus on its VarShaft system, whose first prototype is now available in its showroom in Concarneau. VarShaft has been developed to improve energy efficiency of fishing boats and other service vessels. According to Barillec, many French shipowners already showed interest into this concept that allows them to improve the energy efficiency by reducing the fuel consumption up to 15 percent. Barillec marine proposes to ship-owners, especially from the fishing industry, an answer to the economical and environmental challenges of the fleet modernization and renewal. Barillec announced the development of this new marine apps on autumn 2015, and said feedback has been very positive with several requests made. Currently, several projects are being studied, particularly in cooperation with naval architects, to integrate Varshaft in the design of innovative vessels. To answer the demand and to propose a standard system that could work in many different configurations available power, fixed or variable pitch, etc. Barillec marine has built, on its own account, a prototype to bench the performance of the system. The first unit of VarShaft can deliver 60kVA of electrical power from 700 rpm to 2,200 rpm. The aim of VarShaft is to supply an efficient, stable and qualitative electrical network, no matter of propulsion engine speed. By using electronic drives, a variable speed generator can deliver a fix voltage and frequency to the network. While meeting professional needs, propulsion engine runs more efficiently and burns less fuel. Thus, VarShaft reduces significantly greenhouse gases emissions, contributing to reduce the environmental impact. VarShaft allows use of a fixed pitch shaft while offering enough power for a whole alternating current network. It provides power for traditional devices (pumps, hydraulic, chiller, etc.) that could be wisely fitted. It becomes easier to use and control the loads: this system avoids the stacking of auxiliary coupled on propulsion engine power take-off, always complex, hardly accessible and less efficient. For VarShaft design, Barillec marine said it takes advantage of its expertise in electrical energy production, conversion and storage. It uses technologies and equipment already proven in other projects for boats that are currently sailing. Among those, the solutions used for Fish2EcoEnergy project lead to a reduction of 20 percent of the fuel consumption. In favorable conditions for investment in new boats and equipment VarShaft is an effective and reliable answer to energy consumption and optimization matters, its developer said. While fuel prices are fairly low, return on investment is estimated between 24 and 48 months, depending on projects. 1777 - John Paul Jones takes command of the Continental Navy sloop USS Ranger. While commanding Ranger, the ship receives the first official salute to the Stars and Stripes flag by the French fleet at Quiberon Bay. 1777 - The Continental Congress adopts the design of present U.S. flag of 13 stripes and 13 stars. 1847 - Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry conducts the second expedition against Tabasco, Mexico, also known as the Battle of Villahermosa. 1945 - USS Sea Devil (SS 400) sinks the Japanese transport Wakamiyasan Maru in the Yellow Sea. 1945 - PB4Y aircraft bomb Japanese shipping off Banjarmasin, Borneo and sink Japanese (No. 470) shuttle vessel. 1985 - Steelworker Second Class Robert D. Stethem, of Underwater Construction Team ONE, is tortured and killed by terrorist hijackers of TWA Flight 847. He posthumously receives the Bronze Star for his heroism during this situation. (Source: Naval History and Heritage Command, Communication and Outreach Division) The Korean government has said that it will consider merging ailing Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) and Hanjin Shipping should they successfully normalize their management, according to The Korea Times. "Once the normalization program for the two shipping companies is wrapped up, the government will consider various plans including the merger of the companies," said Financial Services Commission (FSC) Chairman Yim Jong-yong. He said, The possibility of the merger is not so different from the direction of our restructuring plans for shipping companies revealed earlier. The two companies should normalize their business first by readjusting charter fees, adjusting debts with bondholders, adjusting debts with creditors and joining a shipping alliance. It means that we will review whether to merge the two companies or maintain the competitive system is better for the shipping industry only after both companies have been normalized. The two lines expressed an interest to pair up with other alliances, with Hanjin having been in talks with alliance members for a potential pair up. Both carriers have been struggling with poor financial performance for some time, and HMM had recently announced that it was looking to confirm self-rescue measures from its competitors. The Port of Kapellskar, Sweden, is being rebuilt to be able to accommodate larger vessels and meet market demands for current and future freight volumes. Now that the new 245 metre-long pier is completed, the port has two new modern quay-berths. The new pier has been operational from yesterday (13th June). The entire port is expected to be completed before the end of 2016, following three years of construction work. It feels really good now that the new pier is ready and we can see the results of what we have worked on for so many years, says Tobias Kednert, Project Manager for the Port of Kapellskar Development Project. As vessel sizes are increasing, we decided to install some of Europes biggest ramps on the pier, to be able to welcome even the next generation of vessels. The new port has a deeper harbour basin and five quay-berths with services providing electricity, water and waste water management. The new pier is a welcome addition that means we can handle increasing freight volumes and are ready to face the future with ever larger vessel sizes, says Peter Lundman, Technical Operations Manager at the Port of Kapellskar. Increasing freight volumes are continuing at the Port of Kapellskar. In 2015 freight transported was six percent more than in 2014. The Port of Kapellskar is one of the biggest freight ports in Sweden. The location of the port, in combination with the short approach fairway, makes it possible to rapidly transport goods and passengers between Sweden and Finland, the Baltic States and Russia. The three ports, in Stockholm, Kapellskar and Nynashamn, are strategically located in the heart of Swedens largest consumer area, and Stockholm is one of the most rapidly growing cities in Europe. GEs Marine Solutions business in Peterborough, Ontario is completing one of the first milestones of the companys seven-year contract with Irving Shipbuilding Inc.,(ISI) to provide electrical power, propulsion systems, installation and commissioning services for six ice-capable Arctic Offshore Patrol Ships (AOPS) for the Royal Canadian Navy. GEs power and propulsion systems will position the new vessels amongst the highest performance in their class worldwide. Four diesel generators and engines have been shipped to ISIs Halifax Shipyard, and GE has begun acceptance testing on the first AOPS propulsion motor, expected to ship in early July. GE suppliers located in Ontario are contributing to the project providing steel, skids, metal and machining. GEs collaboration with Irving Shipbuilding Inc. (ISI) on this important large infrastructure project utilizing best-in-class technology, created an opportunity for developing a made-in-Canada solution and also delivered new business opportunities to our supply chain, said Allan, GE Canadas President and CEO. The contract is part of the Government of Canadas National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS). To date, ISI has awarded over $526 million in contracts to companies in Ontario, generating over 3,500 direct and indirect jobs in the province. Across Canada, ISI has awarded over $1 billion in contracts as part of NSS. At Irving Shipbuilding, we believe that the innovative solutions Ontario companies, like GE, have to offer are vital to the growth and sustainment of Canadas shipbuilding industry, said Kevin McCoy, President, Irving Shipbuilding Inc. As Canadas chosen shipbuilder for Navy Combatants, were proud to engage companies across the country in building our Navys future fleet. During the past five years, GE, with assistance from the Province of Ontario, has modernized the Peterborough facility in order to increase the companys opportunities to win new business contracts from a wide range of industries. This has included investments in innovation, and advanced manufacturing technology, along with site and building improvements. The ISI shipbuilding contract is one of the first significant business wins for GE resulting from these modernization efforts. GE has had a long standing commitment to the City and County of Peterborough and its residents, said the Honorable Jeff Leal, MPP. I am pleased that our government has partnered with GE in the past to protect jobs, create new ones and modernize the Peterborough facility. The modernization of the Peterborough Plant has positioned GE to be successful when bidding on new contracts. There is great potential for growth at the Peterborough plant and todays announcement is proof that our investments are working. GE Canada is a pillar of manufacturing, as well as an historic and significant employer in Peterborough-Kawartha. I am extremely proud that our community will benefit from Canadas National Shipbuilding Strategy for the next six years and that well paid, quality jobs are being generated and maintained as a result. We are also proud that Peterborough-Kawartha is playing a role in supporting the women and men of our Royal Canadian Navy," said the Honorable Maryam Monsef, MP Peterborough-Kawartha. The Arctic is an exciting and challenging new frontier for commercial shipping, said Tim Schweikert, President & CEO, GEs Marine Solutions. The Royal Canadian Navy operates under some of the worlds most extreme weather and sea conditions making reliability a key factor. We are delighted that ISI has selected GEs technology to deliver ice capable vessels that will play a significant role in the development of new global opportunities in the Arctic. \ The US Navys USS Mississippi nuclear-powered submarine has arrived in South Korea as part of its maiden voyage to the Indo-Asia-Pacific region, says US military statement. With a crew of approximately 141 Sailors, Mississippi will conduct a multitude of missions while maintaining proficiency of the latest capabilities of the submarine fleet. This port call to Busan is a great opportunity, said Cmdr. Eric Rozek, Mississippis Commanding Officer. The visit allows the crew to contact their loved ones back home following several weeks at sea. At the same time, my Sailors will also get the unique opportunity to experience the heritage, culture and history of Korea and continue to strengthen our relationship with one of our Western Pacific partners. Part of the Navys 7th fleet, the Virginia-class attack sub is on its maiden voyage with a crew of 141 sailors. The nuclear submarine "will conduct a multiple of missions while maintaining proficiency of the latest capabilities of the submarine fleet." The 78-hundred-ton Virginia-class submarine of the U.S. Pacific Fleet was commissioned in June 2012. The ship is 114-point-eight meters long, around ten meters wide and has 137 crew members. It has a maximum speed of 34 knots and is capable of simultaneously firing 12 Tomahawk cruise missiles. It is also equipped with four torpedo launchers. All of the ships devices are digitalized. The statement describes the Mississippi as "one of the most technologically advanced and stealthiest submarines in the world," and stresses that "she adds tremendous capabilities from the undersea domain to provide the United States and allies and partners with anti-submarine, anti-surface, strike, naval special warfare involving special operations forces and mine warfare." The US currently maintains 28,500 soldiers in South Korea. The new Simrad M5027 optically bonded HD monitor for the commercial marine market is a 27 marine monitor designed to meet the color calibration requirements of ECDIS systems and the size requirements of 320mm CAT1 radar systems. According to the manufacturer, the Simrad M5027 monitor is built for long term, reliable operation with an optical bonded LCD as standard. Optical bonded displays eliminate the air gap issues of condensation, overheating and contamination common in lesser quality displays. Reliable touch menu controls and IPX6 rated water resistant flush mounting also contribute to long life design. Jose Herrero, MD of Simrad Commercial marine Division, said, TheSimrad M5027 monitor really does add to the appearance and elegance of a Navico styled CAT 1 GLASS-Bridge, adding, It has set the industry standards of monitors with its improved readability of the UI due to enlarged crystal-clear text and graphic information. When flush mounted, the Simrad M5027 monitor has a low profile (8mm) all-glass design, and complies with IP66 water resistant regulations. HDMI and DVI inputs are standard, as well as auxiliary analog video inputs. Bracket mounting or table top mounting options are planned to be available. Presenting a viewing area that is 597mm x 336mm, this extra-large widescreen features 20 percent more viewing area than a traditional 23 display. Crisp HD resolution of 1920x1080 pixels and MVA technology provide optimal viewing from anywhere on the bridge or pilothouse. Mariners benefit with larger informational workstations, less cluttered on-screen menus and improved, clarity of data presentation. As part of the type approved M-series family of Simrad monitors, the M5027 takes its place as the flagship of the monitor portfolio. The type-approved monitors in the M-seris now include the M5016 (16WS) and M5019 (19WS) for 180mm radars, the M5024 (24WS) for 250mm radars or ECDIS and the new M5027 (27WS) for 320mm radars and ECDIS display. Available in both AC or DC versions, the Simrad M5027 will be included in Simrad radar and ECDIS packages. The Simrad M5207 will begin shipping in August 2016. A smartphone application that allows users to scan the Mediterranean for boats in distress is being tested by a migrant rescue service, which hopes that crowdsourced information will help it save more people. The I SEA App, available on iTunes, divides a satellite image of the sea route migrants are taking into millions of small plots which are, in turn, assigned to registered users. Each user then monitors their plot through the app and can send an alert to the Malta-based Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) and the authorities if they spot potential trouble. After receiving an alert, the authorities analyse the image and launch a rescue mission if necessary. "The idea is that with more people getting interested you can cover bigger areas of the sea," Ian Ruggier, MOAS head of operations, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "It allows people to see that they are contributing towards saving lives. (The success) will depend on the popularity of the app," he said by phone from Malta. Migrants hoping to reach Italy from Libya pay hundreds of dollars to traffickers for a place in a boat. The vessels are often flimsy and ill-equipped for the journey across the Mediterranean. The crossing is far more dangerous than that between Turkey and Greece, which was the busiest sea route until a deal to curb flows between the European Union and Turkey came into force in March. So far this year more than 40,000 migrants have arrived in Italy after crossing the central Mediterranean, many fleeing poverty, repression and conflict in sub-Saharan Africa. More than 2,000 have died trying to make the crossing. Launched in 2014, MOAS is the first privately funded migrant rescue service. It is already using drones in its rescue missions in the Mediterranean. According to its website, MOAS rescued nearly 12,000 people in the first two years of becoming operational. (Reporting by Magdalena Mis; Editing by Katie Nguyen; Credit: Thomson Reuters Foundation) Leaders representing all eight coast guard agencies of the Arctic nations met to sign a joint statement establishing the framework for a multi-year strategic plan for the Arctic Coast Guard Forum. The Arctic Coast Guard Forum is an operationally-focused, consensus-based organization. Membership includes Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, the Russian Federation and the United States. Since the Arctic Coast Guard Forum was officially launched during a Principals Meeting in New London, Conn., last October, working groups have established strategies, objectives and tactics aimed towards achieving common operational goals in the region. In addition, agency representatives attended the Icelandic Search and Rescue Table Top Exercise in Reykjavik, Iceland, in April, sharing best practices and lessons learned. "Today's signing ceremony marks the culmination of months of collaboration by all eight Arctic coast guards," said U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Paul Zukunft. "The Arctic coast guards now have an established framework to exchange information and are finalizing a set of combined operating guidelines to enhance interoperability. This year we will hold a table top exercise culminating in a live exercise in 2017 to address safety of life at sea and the challenges of a mass rescue scenario as more and more cruise ships ply this harsh and unforgiving environment. The Arctic Coast Guard Forum will reconvene for an experts meeting in fall 2016. Austal Limited has attended the first forum hosted by the Government of Western Australias new Innovation Minister, The Hon. Bill Marmion MLA, in preparation for the States first Innovation Summit, to be held in Perth on July 28, 2016. As a WA-based builder of defense and commercial vessels, Austal participated in the forum and said it intends to play a proactive, leadership role in the Innovation Summit to help drive innovation development and investment in Western Australia. Austal Vice President of Strategy and Commercial Development Andrew Malcolm, who attended the forum, said, Austals successes, both here in Australia and overseas, are underpinned by our continued focus on innovation in vessel design, construction and support. We believe the current opportunities for Austal and the broader WA defense industry in the delivery of the Commonwealths continuous naval shipbuilding program including new Offshore Patrol Vessels for the Royal Australian Navy will lead to collaboration and even greater innovation by WA companies across the supply chain. Austals Western Australia-based team of naval architects, designers and production engineers have developed some of the worlds most innovative commercial and defense vessels, including the 127 meter Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) and 103 meter Expeditionary Fast Transport (EPF) for the United States Navy, and the locally built 58 meter Cape Class Patrol Boat for the Australian Border Force and Royal Australian Navy. Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems, a leading global system supplier for submarines and surface vessels, has received a service order worth around 40 million from the Peruvian naval shipyard SIMA. A key component of the order is the provision of consulting during the planning and realization of extensive modernization work on four HDW 209/1200 class submarines over a period of seven years. Among other things thyssenkrupp Marine Systems will perform engineering and technical services such as cutting and welding on the submarines and will make specialists available to provide local support. Andreas Burmester, CEO of thyssenkrupp Marine Systems: "We are pleased to be continuing our cooperation with the Peruvian navy. We have consistently expanded our service business over the years to be a reliable partner to our customers over the entire life cycle of naval vessels and submarines. This order shows we are on the right track." The four submarines named Angamos, Antofagasta, Pisagua and Chipana were built in the early 1980s at the thyssenkrupp Marine Systems shipyard (at that time HDW Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft GmbH) in Kiel and have been used by the Peruvian navy ever since, forming the backbone of the Peruvian submarine fleet. Modular training course program uses state-of-the-art simulation technology Dusseldorf, Germany, 14 June 2016 At this years TOC Europe in Hamburg, Germany, Terex Port Solutions (TPS) is presenting a newly designed training program for harbour crane operators, which combines the many years of experience of our instructors with the far-reaching possibilities of simulator training courses. This new program will help crane owners over the long term to fully exploit the potential of Terex Gottwald harbour cranes in terms of performance and cost-effectiveness. Modular concept The new concept offers specific modules, ranging from crane operator evaluation to safety training for experienced operators. Training courses with the new simulator are a central component of the comprehensive training program from TPS. Alexander Bongart, head of the training department at TPS in Dusseldorf, Germany, is delighted about the new possibilities: By individually combining the new simulator training modules with proven on-site training courses, we offer every crane owner customized concepts for high-performance and safe cargo handling. Investment in new simulator The simulator presented at TOC Europe in Hamburg uses state-of-the-art technology, including motion base and Oculus Rift. Thanks to the integration of original components, such as the crane control system, crane operator seat, joysticks and Visumatic monitor, especially realistic training scenarios are possible. Alexander Bongart confirms: Our new simulator satisfies the highest requirements and during the development phase experienced crane operators were impressed with how realistic the simulations were. Real advantages thanks to a simulated world Simulator training courses are especially safe since, in simulated extreme weather conditions and dangerous situations, real damage is ruled out. Terminal operators are using this cost-effective method more and more often, so that they can also use their crane for productive handling in the terminal while operator training courses are taking place. Another major advantage, Bongart concludes, is that future crane operators can be trained with the simulator before the harbour crane is delivered. Venezuelan crude oil sales to the United States rose nearly 4 percent in May to 762,000 barrels per day (bpd) after declining since January amid falling output and delays at the country's main oil port, according to Thomson Reuters data on Tuesday. The United States last month received 47 cargoes of Venezuelan crude, a 3.7 percent increase versus the previous month, but still a 2 percent decline versus May 2015, according to trade flows data made with preliminary figures. A larger number of shipments of diluted crude oil (DCO) and Merey blend received by PDVSA's customers, including its refining unit Citgo Petroleum, Valero Energy and Phillips 66, contributed to the growth. A backlog of vessels around PDVSA's main ports started easing in the last week on May, when PDVSA announced it had replaced a damaged loading arm at its Jose terminal. A payment agreement reached in recent days with BP has also allowed tankers to discharge. But concerns on Venezuela have now switched to the OPEC-member's crude production, which in May declined to 2.37 million bpd, according to figures officially reported by the country, its lowest monthly level since mid-2003. Venezuela's oil industry is suffering from shortages of spare parts, the retreat of oil services firms due to unpaid bills, maintenance issues, and crime, according to workers, union leaders, and foreign executives. Since last year, the country has regularly imported light crude to formulate exportable blends. That has allowed PDVSA to feed its Caribbean refineries while sending more Merey crude to the United States and other destinations. A lower crude processing at PDVSA's domestic refining network, which has been partially working this year, has also left more crude for exports, according to analysts. (Reporting by Marianna Parraga; Editing by Marguerita Choy) The Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG) will this month receive the last of the six new vessels it bought for the transportation of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to various parts of the world, says a report in The Nation. Five of the six vessels were already delivered between November last year and March this year, said NLNG Managing Director, Babs Omotowa. He added that the acquisition of the new ships became imperative as Train plant approaches nameplate capacity and LNG cargoes currently delivered to distant destinations across the world increases in response to changing business opportunities. To meet this demand, he said an arm of the NLNG, the Bonny Gas Transport, in 2013, ordered six new dual fuel diesel engine (DFDE) vessels to be constructed by Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), while Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) was ordered to build four. Financing for the six vessels, according to him, was arranged in two programmes: a-$310 million six-year additional programme debt (APD) facility and a-$1.1 billion 12-year new vessel debt (NVD) facility. The American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA)the unified and recognized voice of seaports in the Americas today is mourning the loss of one of Ohios most prominent politicians and citizens, George Voinovich, who died in his sleep early Sunday morning just weeks before his 80th birthday. According to AAPA President and CEO Kurt Nagle, the former Cleveland mayor, Ohio state representative and Ohio governor who later became one of the most popular U.S. senators of his generation, was instrumental in helping Americas ports enhance air quality in their communities. Sen. Voinovich was a unifier who represented the best aspects of a dedicated public servant, said Mr. Nagle. Along with Brian Mormino, Sen. Voinovich (R-OH) in 2004 welcomed a small group of loosely affiliated businesses and advocates that wanted to work together to find a way to improve air quality in communities across the U.S. That alliance inspired Sen. Voinovich to help draft what we know today as the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act, or DERA, which was co-sponsored by Senator Tom Carper (D-DE) and passed the U.S. Senate by 92-1 just days after it was introduced in 2005. That small group then grew into the DERA Coalition, which at times has counted hundreds of entities among its supporters, none the least of which are Americas seaports. Since its inception, the innovative DERA program has been of tremendous help to U.S. ports in reducing air emissions in their communities, Mr. Nagle added. Included among the initiatives advanced through DERA are clean truck programs, retrofitting or replacing yard equipment, installing shore power for vessels at docks, and retrofitting dredges and tugs. These grants also help fund clean air technologies such as emissions and idle control devices, aerodynamic equipment, engine and vehicle replacements, and alternative fuel options. Stock Market Sell Off Coming! This distortion between risk and return has created a bubble effect in all global equity classes. I informed my subscribers to exit the SPX on November 25th, 2014 and to enter cash. Their equity risk exposure was reduced to zero. Momentum oscillators are now extremely overbought and are very clearly trending bearish. I wait for confirmation before entering any new long SDS and long VXX positions. This week (Tuesday) there is another FOMC meeting. The news of this monetary policy will be released on Wednesday, June 16th, 2016. Expect choppier price going into the meeting and shortly thereafter. The Only Chart You Need to Read! The U.S. markets failed to break out! Daily Chart Of Bonds The bond rally set a record high in the rush to a new safe haven. We are now experiencing a global rally in government bonds which broke out last Friday, June 10th, 2016, while equities declined. We entered this new long term trade on for bonds. Daily Chart Of Gold Nothing will stop this new bull market in gold and silver. We entered this new long term trade on June 8th, 2016. Now there is a stampede into this much talked about asset class. Just take a look as the chart of gold below. In short, the major trends of all asset classes which have been in place for several years are coming to an end. The majority of investors have no idea what is starting to take place and will do what the masses do every time a new bear market takes place. They will hold their positions, watch the value of their nest egg get cut 30-60% in size, and then give up and exit equities near the bear market lows 6-18 months from now. It is unfortunate, but technically we need the masses to do what they always in order for things to unfold in a controlled fashion. In a recent post, I showed where the financial markets and sectors are within this major economic cycle. There are some new trades I will be taking very soon with my money and subscribers. If you want to be in tune with the markets and profit during chaos, then you should think about joining my morning daily video newsletter and ETF trade alerts service: www.TheGoldAndOilGuy.com Chris Vermeulen Join my email list FREE and get my next article which I will show you about a major opportunity in bonds and a rate spike www.GoldAndOilGuy.com Chris Vermeulen is Founder of the popular trading site TheGoldAndOilGuy.com. There he shares his highly successful, low-risk trading method. For 7 years Chris has been a leader in teaching others to skillfully trade in gold, oil, and silver in both bull and bear markets. Subscribers to his service depend on Chris' uniquely consistent investment opportunities that carry exceptionally low risk and high return. Disclaimer: Nothing in this report should be construed as a solicitation to buy or sell any securities mentioned. Technical Traders Ltd., its owners and the author of this report are not registered broker-dealers or financial advisors. Before investing in any securities, you should consult with your financial advisor and a registered broker-dealer. Never make an investment based solely on what you read in an online or printed report, including this report, especially if the investment involves a small, thinly-traded company that isnt well known. Technical Traders Ltd. and the author of this report has been paid by Cardiff Energy Corp. In addition, the author owns shares of Cardiff Energy Corp. and would also benefit from volume and price appreciation of its stock. The information provided here within should not be construed as a financial analysis but rather as an advertisement. The authors views and opinions regarding the companies featured in reports are his own views and are based on information that he has researched independently and has received, which the author assumes to be reliable. Technical Traders Ltd. and the author of this report do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any content of this report, nor its fitness for any particular purpose. Lastly, the author does not guarantee that any of the companies mentioned in the reports will perform as expected, and any comparisons made to other companies may not be valid or come into effect. Chris Vermeulen Archive 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication. The Air Care helicopter medical transport service carries 30 to 40 patients to distant hospitals each month. Fred Shaffer, a paramedic with the Air Care crew, gave that figure when Air Care representatives addressed Thursdays meeting of the Horsepasture Ruritan Club. The helicopter is stationed at the Blue Ridge Regional Airport in Spencer. Patients from the Horsepature area are picked up at the rescue squad and the fire department. Most of them are taken to Wake Forest Baptist Hospital or Roanoke Memorial Hospital, but sometimes they are taken as far as Richmond or Charlotte, North Carolina, Pilot Tom Schmitz said. Nurse Everette Lineberry described how the crew works with patients en route to the hospitals. After the dinner, people at the meeting went to the John Bradshaw Field to see the helicopter from the Wake Forest Baptist Health Critical Care Transport. Club President Mike Hundley directed the meeting and welcomed the guests, who included Susan Fulcher, Scott Fulcher, Billy Fulcher, Joey Beavers, Jimmy Clifton, Chris Dennis and Kayela Perdue from the Horsepasture Volunteer Fire Department who assist Air Car from the ground. Daphne Stone gave meeting minutes, and June Leftwich gave the treasurers report. Hundley thanked Doug Lindamood for getting new chairs and helping get the old chairs to the Horsepasture Fire Department. The club will hold its annual family cookout on July 14. A number of teachers left the Martinsville schools last year due to low morale, a parent maintains. During a Martinsville School Board meeting Monday night, Melissa White of Meadowview Lane, who has a child in the school division and another one who is a graduate, voiced her concerns about teacher morale and declines in the schools state accreditation rankings in recent years. Board members and other school officials did not respond to her comments. "At one time, the Martinsville City Schools were the gold standard" in education statewide, White said. About 50 teachers left the schools last year, she said, and those with whom she has talked have told her they left "due to a serious lack of morale." She also mentioned that some parents have taken their children out of Martinsville schools and enrolled them in Henry County schools instead. White claimed that city school officials have made "hollow excuses" as to why accreditation rankings have fallen. She provided the board a list of 10 questions for which she seeks answers. Her questions were: Has the school board set goals for itself that hold the superintendent (Pam Heath) accountable? If so, what are those goals? How is the superintendent evaluated? Is the school board holding the superintendent accountable for no schools being fully accredited now and does the superintendents evaluation reflect those issues? Since 50 teachers were lost last year, how many more do you project we will lose in the upcoming year? Will the schools be fully staffed for the upcoming school year, or will there be vacancies and substitutes for an entire year as in the 2015-16 school year? What is the school boards plan to recruit and maintain a good teaching staff? Has the school board addressed with the superintendent her lack of visibility in the community and her lack of communication with the community and fellow educational leaders? Has the school board addressed the issue of lack of communication between the superintendent and parents whether it be by phone, email or in-person visits as Lex Bendall discussed in a recent letter to the editor of the Martinsville Bulletin? Has the school board addressed with the superintendent the lack of trust from the community of her ability to get us out of the current dire situation of low test scores, loss of students, loss of teachers and loss of money (government funding) because of these factors? n How is the school system addressing the low morale among teaching staff in the schools? What was the criteria for awarding Big M trophies to graduating seniors? (She commented on her question list that it "seems unlikely that almost 1/3 of the graduating class would have qualified for a cream of the crop award." Neither board members nor Heath said anything about the questions or whether they believe any of Whites claims are valid. Regarding the morale issue, Brooks Taylor, who also lives on Meadowview Lane, said his wife teaches at Albert Harris Elementary School. The school has been rated a "priority school" among the lowest performing 5 percent of Title I, or high-poverty, schools in Virginia where improvements are needed. Taylor said his wife chose to teach at Albert Harris because of the opportunity to teach Title I students. He said that she has said "shed rather have (work with) 15 teachers who want to work there than 20 who do not." Concerning Whites statements, school board Chairman Victor Correa said after the meeting "everybodys entitled to their opinions." "Were working very hard to improve the state of the school system," Correa said. "Were moving in the right direction" and will continue to do so. In the meantime, "were doing the best we can," he said. More coverage of the school board meeting will appear in the Martinsville Bulletin on Wednesday. Mickey Powell reports for the Martinsville Bulletin. He can be reached at mickey.powell@martinsvillebulletin.com. On April 16, 2007, I was at Mac and Bobs Restaurant in Salem. I was a senior at Roanoke College at the time and one of my classes a novel writing class with just two students met there twice a week to discuss the finer points of crafting literature. On a good day, it was sort of like the Algonquin Round Table, except with more cheese fries and off-color jokes. This wasnt a good day. The reason that particular date sticks out in my mind is because that was the day Cho Seung-Hui shot and killed 32 people at Virginia Tech, just a short drive west from Roanoke College. It was a surreal time. While I didnt personally know anyone who died in the shooting, I was in the minority. Seemingly everyone I knew on campus lost at least one friend. You couldnt walk half a block without seeing someone crying. But what I remember most vividly from that day is the reaction from my professor in that novel writing class. As I sat at a booth at Mac and Bobs watching the horror unfolding on the televisions above the bar, my professor walked up to the table, slammed his planner down and began cursing. He was furious. He began talking about the shooting, about the hideousness of having to raise his young children in a world where a demented lunatic could easily wipe out 32 innocent lives for no good reason. He was angry at Cho. He was angry at the system that let Cho down. He was angry at the system that allowed Cho to buy guns in spite of his obvious long-standing mental problems. The fact that this professor was, under normal circumstances, a mild, even-keeled person made his rage all the more startling. Back in April 2007, the Virginia Tech shooting was the deadliest mass shooting in American history. With 50 dead and many others critically injured, Sundays massacre at an Orlando night club has now supplanted the Tech shooting and taken its place at the top of that terrible list. How many shootings have there been in this country between the two? I closely follow the news its an important part of my job and Id hesitate to even hazard a guess. Some of them stick out, of course. Just as Ill never forget where I was in 2007, Ill never forget where I was when the Newtown shooting happened in December 2012. I was doing an interview and the subject asked me if Id heard about the 20 children who were shot to death in Connecticut; I incorrectly assumed he had the number wrong. After most of these shootings, I have found myself wondering: Will this be the one where we finally do something? Will this be the one where we acknowledge that we have a massive problem with gun violence in this country and we need to take steps to solve it? I dont ask that question anymore. If we didnt do anything after Blacksburg, and if we didnt do anything after Newtown, then we arent going to do anything after Orlando. Until the majority of people in this country are personally affected by gun violence and become as enraged as my professor was back in 2007, we are never going to take meaningful action. Of course, at the rate were going, that may happen sooner rather than later. Ben Williams writes for the Martinsville Bulletin. He can be reached at ben.williams@martinsvillebulletin.com PITTSFIELD - Berkshire Bankcompleted its Xtraordinary Day on Tuesday, June 7, with 4,500 hours of service were contributed, a value of $128,000. This event was the first year that the entire Bank participated in community service events concurrently from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., closing the entire financial institution as a united effort for community involvement, according to a news release. During Xtraordinary Day, 95 percent of the Berkshire Bank team, which equates to 1,161 employees, completed 56 projects. From painting of elementary schools and cleanups of local parks to financial literacy lessons, over 4,500 hours of service were contributed, a value of $128,000. The projects helped 54 different nonprofit organizations and directly impacted more than 100,000 individuals across the Bank's footprint. The projects benefited nonprofit organizations and communities across the Bank's footprint in Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut and Vermont. This year's activities included: 2015 Springfield Restaurant Week FILE PHOTO: The Fort 's flat iron steak with white cheddar mashed potatoes, a mushroom ragout and micro greens. Want to see a new restaurant in Downtown Springfield? Telling others about your new idea can be as easy as sending a text message on your phone. coUrbanize, a Cambridge-based city development platform that connects communities, municipalities and real estate developers, tweeted today at lunch about the Springfield Innovation District's call for suggestions to fill a vacant storefront in the Downtown area. The photo with the tweet shows window clings on a Main Street building, encouraging people who walk by to send in a tip for what type of restaurant they would like to see in that empty space. Text restaurant recommendations to 413-207-9270 then share them with us in the comments below. Lutheran Muslim meal packaging.jpg Members attending the annual assembly of the New England Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, in Springfield, and members of the Islamic Society of Western Massachusetts sorted and packed food at the society, in West Springfield, June 11 to donate to food pantries in Springfield and West Springfield. The society will hold its Annual Interfaith Iftar Celebration June 15 at 7 p.m. (Submitted) WEST SPRINGFIELD - With the horrific memories of the Orlando shooting still on the minds of many, the Islamic Society of Western Massachusetts will join with followers of different religions at its annual interfaith Iftar, or "breaking of the fast," celebration for Ramadan on Wednesday. Representatives of the Islamic Society and the Interfaith Council of New England will offer statements and prayers for healing in the wake of the Orlando mass shooting. Omar S. Mateen, the New York-born son of Afghan immigrants, killed 49 people, and wounded 53 others before he was fatally shot by police during the attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando. During a 911 call, Mateen pledged allegiance to the radical Islamic State, though there is no evidence yet he was directed by any group. "This year, in addition to learning from each other about the tradition of fasting, We are going to devote some time about the tragedy in Orlando, and offer prayers for healing and express our solidarity with the victims and family," said Dr. Mohammad Salim Bajwa, a Holyoke physician and Islamic Society president. Iftar is the breaking of the fast during Ramadan as Muslims abstain from eating during the daylight hours of the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar. Ramadan began last week and ends with the three-day celebration of Eid al-Fitr in early July. The Rev. Lauren Holm, pastor of Springfield's Bethesda Lutheran Church and East Church Congregational, will be among those attending the iftar celebration. The Rev. Lauren Holm She was among the 70 volunteers who spent Saturday at the society's center sorting and packing food donations for the Parish Cupboard as well as Open Pantry Community Services in West Springfield. She was amazed that volunteers packed enough meals to serve an estimated 30,000 people, and by the hard work of the Muslim volunteers, despite their all-day fast for Ramadan. "They were such an inspiration to all of us," said Holm, "and then came Sunday and the violence in Orlando and the push to paint all Muslims as terrorists. It is very troubling." In the wake of the mass shooting, Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, has renewed his call for a ban on Muslim migration into the United States - and extended it to cover all nations with a history of terrorism. He vowed to impose such a system by using executive orders if elected president. Holm said she has "worked closely" with Bajwa, and was thrilled when the New England Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America decided to collaborate with the Islamic Society on a food project during the synod's annual assembly, which concluded Sunday in Springfield. "The collaboration would take part during Ramadan, when Muslims are aware of hunger because of the fast, and is also when they are encouraged to do service projects," Holm said. She added that the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is an inclusive church, welcoming all participants regardless of sexual orientation. In a posted letter, Bishop James Hazelwood, of the New England Synod, called Orlando a "symptom of a society increasingly focused on violence as the solution to all our debates" and said the tragedy "will continue if we allow these two communities, Muslims and the LGBTQ community, to be pitted against one another for political gain." Holm termed the project with the Islamic Society an example of "instead of going to church, we try to be church." "What better way to love God then to love your neighbor and take care of your neighbor," Holm said. Registration for Wednesday's event, which includes a welcome, reflections, breaking of the fast, prayer and dinner around 8:30 p.m., is appreciated by calling (413) 788-7546 or emailing masjidma@gmail.com or msbajwqa@hotmail.com BOSTON - The day before the shooting in Orlando, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey had marched in the Boston Pride Parade. "To wake up the next morning, the very next morning, and read about this terrible atrocity and tragedy, it's a real punch in the gut to so many of us, not just members of the LGBT community, but people like this, of goodwill and good intent, they want to see peace in our society," Healey said as she stood outside Boston City Hall, where hundreds of people had converged for a vigil in an offer of solidarity with Orlando. "We have just seen too many instances, one after the other, of these mass shootings," added Healey, who is the first openly gay attorney general in the United States. "Today is about coming together in solidarity to stand united." Gay clubs were often viewed sanctuaries for members of the LGBT community, according to Healey. On Sunday morning, 29-year-old Omar Mateen opened fire on people inside Pulse nightclub, killing 49 and injuring dozens. "The LGBT community is strong and will continue to be strong. Americans are strong and will continue to be strong. And now is the time to redouble efforts, to commit to fight for inclusion, to fight for equality, to fight against hate, prejudice, discrimination and the like," Healey said Monday evening. "And that's who we are as Americans. That's what we need to be about." At the vigil, amid rainbow flags, some held signs such as "more love is ok" and "We Can End Gun Violence." The vigil was hosted by Boston Mayor Marty Walsh. Attendees included Gov. Charlie Baker, House Speaker Robert DeLeo, Boson Police Commissioner William Evans and Boston City Councilors Michael Flaherty and Tito Jackson, among others. Before the vigil, Walsh announced a condolence book would be available for people to sign through the end of the week. The book will then be sent to Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, according to Walsh's office. Walsh also ordered City Hall to be lit with the colors of the rainbow flag as dusk fell. After the vigil, as officials headed inside City Hall to sign the condolence book, the crowd started to sing "Amazing Grace." Suffolk District Attorney logo.png Suffolk County District Attorney's office (Suffolk DA's Office) BOSTON - Jason Collura, a Lynn man, was arraigned this week in district court, charged with a weekend attack in the city of Revere and allegedly telling the victim to "go back to your country." He also allegedly spat on a police officer before he was put in a cell. Collura, 28, pleaded not guilty in Chelsea District Court. He was arraigned on charges of assault and battery to intimidate, disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace and a civil rights violation, according to Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley's office. The judge, Matthew Nestor, set bail at $2,500, ordered him to stay away from the victim, and acquiesced to prosecutors' request that his bail be revoked in a separate open case. Collura was charged in Boston Municipal Court with larceny. The alleged fight occurred near 1 Orr Square in Revere on Saturday and drew Revere Police and Massachusetts State Police officers. "Upon separating the two men, police noticed the odor of alcohol coming from Collura and observed that he was swaying as he stood and the groin area of his pants was wet, prosecutors said," according to Conley's office. "A bottle containing white [pills] was located on the ground where the altercation had occurred, and witnesses told police that it had fallen from Collura's pocket. Earlier, Collura approached the victim and two of the victim's friends, and allegedly asked where the victim was from. The victim, whose background wasn't released by Conley's office, told Collura, "America." Collura then allegedly said he and his friends weren't "from here," adding that they should "go back to your country" before allegedly launching himself at the victim. "The behavior alleged in the complaints is disgraceful," Conley said in a statement. "It has no place in civilized society, and we take some satisfaction in knowing that witnesses came forward to assist police in identifying the aggressor." Collura's next court date is July 20. Le ministre des Services Financiers et de la Bonne Gouvernance a fait une declaration a la Chambre le 5 avril 2022 concernant le retrait de Maurice de la Liste Noire de lUnion Europeenne. Mr Speaker, Sir, With your permission, I wish on a good note to make a statement apprising the House on the latest developments regarding the delisting of Mauritius from the European Unions List of High-Risk Third Countries. Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg for the indulgence of the House in view of the fact that the statement is unusually lengthy. In its Official Journal dated 21 February 2022, the European Commission concluded that Mauritius has strengthened the effectiveness of its Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) framework and no longer presents strategic deficiencies as initially identified by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). Accordingly, Mauritius was officially removed from the European Unions List of High-Risk Third Countries as from 13 March 2022. This is indeed another important achievement following the delisting of Mauritius from the FATF List of Jurisdictions under Increased Monitoring in October 2021, and from the United Kingdoms List of High-Risk Third Countries in November 2021. Mr Speaker, Sir, Along this process, Mauritius has demonstrated a strong political will and commitment to adhere to and to effectively implement the FATF global standards. This also signifies our commitment to reinforce the position of Mauritius as a reputed and trusted International Financial Centre. The delisting of Mauritius from the Grey and now the Black List bears testimony to our robust legal, regulatory, institutional and operational framework to effectively comply with the AML/CFT obligations, and to our ability to protect and enhance the resilience of the financial services sector. Mr Speaker, Sir, I will take a few minutes of the House to reflect on what we, as a Country, as a Government, have achieved together in strengthening and building a robust AML/CFT regime. It is important to highlight and enumerate some of the key measures behind this achievement within such a short time span. The House will recall that this Government embarked on an extremely ambitious exercise to overhaul the AML/CFT framework and address all the identified deficiencies following the Mutual Evaluation of Mauritius in 2018, both at the level of technical compliance and effectiveness of the regime. This exercise, under the patronage of the Honourable Prime Minister, resulted in the adoption of new laws and regulations, the reinforcement of the collaboration amongst institutions, the intensive training and outreach activities to develop technical capacity across the relevant institutions in the fight against financial crimes, money laundering and terrorism financing. It is also noteworthy that around 47 pieces of legislation were either introduced or amended since 2018. On the basis of these reforms, Mauritius is now compliant or largely compliant with 39 out of 40 FATF Recommendations. The application for the technical compliance re-rating for the only remaining Recommendation, namely, Recommendation 15 on New Technologies, has already been made to the Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG) Secretariat. Mr Speaker, Sir, This is a significant achievement as at the time of the adoption of the Mutual Evaluation Report in 2018, Mauritius was rated compliant or largely compliant with only 14 of the 40 FATF recommendations. The progress made in improving the technical requirements within this timeframe has also been recognised and endorsed by the FATF and its Global Network. This has not been an easy task and is evidence of the firm commitment of the Government and the hard work of our officers in ensuring compliance with international standards at all times. Mr Speaker, Sir, The House will surely agree that it is not enough to pass laws but we must also have the capacity to effectively implement them. Apart from these important legislative changes, we also focused our efforts on the development of human capabilities within the AML/CFT agencies in order to enable them in carrying out their functions efficiently. In this context, from July 2020 to March 2022, a total of 115 training sessions have been organized for the benefit of some 2,400 participants from Supervisory Authorities, Law Enforcement Agencies and other relevant competent authorities in Mauritius. With regard to the strategic deficiencies identified by the FATF in relation to the effectiveness of our system, Government adopted numerous measures and put in place strong and sustainable mechanisms to address those deficiencies. The measures taken include robust supervision of the global business and non-bank financial services sector; reinforcement of the regulatory landscape for supervising the activities of the Designated Non-Financial Businesses and Professions (DNFBPs); better control and regulation of beneficial ownership information, which includes a range of controls devised to ensure that beneficial ownership information remains accurate and up to date at all times; stronger monitoring of non-profit organisations, and enforcement actions at the level of investigation, prosecution, and sanctioning. All the measures which have been put in place by Mauritius are effectively contributing towards the protection of our economy, increasing our competitiveness, attracting foreign direct investment and reinforcing our reputation as a sound place to do business. Mr Speaker, Sir, I have mentioned this previously in this august Assembly and would do it again today, as it is important to recognise and put on record that this achievement would not have been possible without the sustained efforts of our people and institutions. I have to start with the Honourable Prime Minister himself, who has provided his unflinching and unwavering support in this overhaul of our systems. I wish to also acknowledge colleagues from the Inter-Ministerial Committee, who have been instrumental in ensuring that AML/CFT policies were promptly adopted and implemented to adequately address the strategic deficiencies. I also need to underscore the crucial role and efforts put into by the members of the Core Group in closely monitoring the implementation of the FATF Action Plan and providing strategic guidance to our AML/CFT agencies. Mr Speaker, Sir, Again, these positive outcomes would not have been possible without the hard work of the officers from various institutions, namely, my Ministry, the National Sanctions Secretariat under the Prime Ministers Office, the Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Development, the Attorney-Generals Office, the Bank of Mauritius, the Independent Commission Against Corruption, the Financial Services Commission, the Financial Intelligence Unit, the Gambling Regulatory Authority, the Integrity Reporting Services Agency, the Mauritius Institute of Professional Accountants, the Mauritius Police Force, the Mauritius Revenue Authority, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Registrar of Associations and the Registrar of Companies. They have worked diligently and tirelessly round the clock to honour the high-level commitment given to the FATF to implement the Action Plan. The private sector remains a key partner in this national effort to fight against money laundering and terrorism financing. In this respect, we engaged with the private sector on a regular basis to enlist their support in this process. I stress, our agencies and the private sector have displayed an unprecedented spirit of teamwork and collaboration. I would like to also place on records the assistance extended by the international community, namely, the ESAAMLG Secretariat, the EU Global AML/CFT Facility, the German Development Agency, the United Kingdom, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to support Mauritius in its endeavour to fight money laundering and terrorism financing. I am pleased to inform the House that Mauritius is now partnering with the EU AML/CFT Global Facility to deliver technical assistance to countries having strategic AML/CFT deficiencies based on the Mauritian experience. This bears testimony to what we have achieved in such a short period of time, and gives credence to the proficiency we have built, much to the satisfaction of the international community, that we are now a reference in the region. Mr Speaker, Sir, Now that this overhaul is done, now that we have completed the strengthening of our systems, now that we have laid the foundations of good governance in a holistic and systemic way for decades to come, and now that we have ensured that the reputation of our International Financial Centre is not blemished, it is imperative that we look ahead. It is essential that we translate all the work accomplished into business opportunities. We are therefore working towards a leapfrogging of our financial services sector to its next generation of growth and sophistication, as defined by late Sir Anerood Jugnauth in the Governments Vision 2030. The target is to double the size of the financial sector and grow its contribution to GDP in real terms. Such a growth would increase employment for our people, including our young graduates, and increase our tax revenue significantly. As such, our strategy is threefold: 1. Reposition our global business sector internationally, with a particular focus on the image and branding; 2. Increase the depth and breadth of services we offer as a jurisdiction; and 3. Ensure that the products we have are avant-gardiste and investor-friendly. We have successfully navigated through a number of thorough assessments of our jurisdiction, including on tax matters by organizations such as the Forum on Harmful Tax Practices (FHTP) of the OECD and the Code of Conduct Group of the EU, and AML-CFT matters by organizations such as the ESAAMLG, FATF and the EU. And we have fared remarkably well. It is now high time that we ventilate these achievements in a concerted manner internationally, afin de redorer le blason de notre centre financier. My Ministry will, therefore, coordinate efforts with relevant institutions and agencies to work towards enlisting services of global media and PR firms, as is so determined, as well as building capacities institutionally, to make our jurisdictions image visible in an assertive way. We are also re-activating all our synergies in the repositioning and marketing of our jurisdiction internationally so as to consolidate our existing markets such as India, Europe and Africa, and to access new markets Mr Speaker, Sir, Allow me to emphasize that the most noted systemic overhaul of our financial services products landscape was accomplished by the Honourable Prime Minister in his 2016-2017 Budget Speech, which saw the introduction of investment banking, family offices, headquarter and treasury management schemes, amongst others. The corresponding laws were enacted in the Finance Act which followed, and rules were subsequently made by the Financial Services Commission (FSC). The laws were avant-gardiste and provided the right foundations, and over the years since then, and in line with global financial complexity and structuring, the rules and regulations have to be updated or re-written to satisfy the aspirations of the operators and investors alike. Time has also allowed us to understand better about what most appropriate operational modalities are expected from the jurisdiction. Therefore, my Ministry, together with the FSC, will embark on a complete assessment of all the regulatory framework, and I will seek the support of the technical expertise of the Financial Services Consultative Council in this task. And, I hasten to add: since our operators are at the forefront of the use of such products, I will ensure that there are industry consultations, either individually or collectively as are so needed, when this exercise happens. I will also ensure that such an exercise is sustainable, so that a mechanism is well-entrenched for amending products whenever needed to maintain competitiveness in a timely manner, and to also ensure the same rigour is applied for the introduction of new products. Mr Speaker, Sir, I must further add that these delistings, ahead of the set timeframe despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, indeed demonstrate the resilience of our financial system, the efforts of our officers and perseverance of the whole nation to get our countrys name cleared. Government is maintaining this momentum by gearing its effort towards sustaining the reforms and ensuring the effectiveness of the measures undertaken. In this regard, the commitment of Mauritius to pursue the implementation of its reforms is clear and robust. I wish to also point out that as part of our preparedness plan, we are already working on updating our National Risk Assessment and devising a new national AML/CFT Action Plan for the coming 3 years. In addition, Mauritius will continue to conduct intensive training and outreach activities to develop technical capacity across the relevant institutions in our fight against money laundering, terrorism and proliferation financing. I wish to assure the House that, at the level of the Inter-Ministerial Committee, which is chaired by the Honourable Prime Minister himself, the Core Group under the chairmanship of the Financial Secretary and the National AML/CFT Committee chaired by the Permanent Secretary of my Ministry, we are sparing no efforts in investing in our people and infrastructure as well as in the development of innovative skills, methods and processes to achieve this goal. Thank you, Mr Speaker, Sir. Eddy Boissezion a repondu a la place de Stephan Toussaint, actuellement en voyage, a la Private Notice Question de Xavier Luc Duval a lAssemblee Nationale. N.B. Il a eu une meprise de notre part sur le nom de celui qui a repondu a la PNQ, mille excuses a Stephan Toussaint et a Eddy Boissezon. Private Notice Question 7 mai 2019 (29,3 KiB, 258 hits) Partager et informez vous aussi...... 0 shares Share Tweet LinkedIn Articles similaires pas de changement pour la nomination du DG de la MBC..... Chicken will be the best-positioned protein due to its low price position in times of pressure on consumer spending power but rises in production costs and the long-term impact of COVID-19 threaten to disrupt the sector, according to Rabobank. While this editor has often covered digital health within startups and early-stage projects, telemedicine innovation is not just the purview of small companies and healthcare incubators. Since 1976, Canon, Inc., the same multinational corporation that has been making cameras and other imaging devices since 1937, has also been involved in healthcare. Today, were looking at Canons efforts to improve the process of teleretinal scanning through their suite of devices and software designed for clinical use. For the long-time Medgadget readers, you may be familiar with previous posts from back in 2010 and 2011 when the Canon technology well be learning more about in this article was going through its FDA clearance process. Review of retinal scans, like those captured by Canons technology, are important for patients who have, or are at risk for, diabetic retinopathy. Diabetic retinopathy is a condition experienced by patients with diabetes in which damage to the small blood vessels of the eye ultimately leads to loss of vision. Traditionally, patients visit their ophthalmologist or optometrist for a retinal scan to assess the progression or risk of diabetic retinopathy. With Canons technology, which does not require dilation of the eye, primary or general care practitioners are able to capture high quality retinal scans, digitally share those images with an eye care specialist, and receive a diagnosis with recommendations for next steps. Medgadget had a unique opportunity to sit down with Tom Russo, Regional Sales Manager of Canon USAs Healthcare Solutions Division, to understand Canons vision and its technology, as well as Dr. Rajnikant (Raj) Shah, CEO and CMO of SmartCareDoc, to hear first-hand the impact that Canons technology can make in the clinic. Dr. Shah is also a cardiologist and associate professor of clinical medicine at Drexel University College of Medicine. SmartCareDoc uses Canons technology as part of its telemedicine platform. Mike Batista, Medgadget: Tom, Canon has long been known for its development of imaging and optical products, can you tell us about the opportunity Canon sees in teleretinal scanning? Mr. Tom Russo (Canon): Beyond the traditional use of retinal imaging systems by ophthalmologists and optometrists, we are noticing a growing trend among a number of primary health care providers to include diabetic retinopathy screenings, a leading cause of blindness among the adult population, as part of their preventive medicine disease prevention programs. The trend is supported by a growing number of health care plans that are starting to offer reimbursement for this screening, including Medicare and 3rd party insurers. The primary purpose is to initiate the early detection of this condition so that medical intervention can begin sooner to help avoid loss of vision. The high resolution retinal imaging technology solutions that we deliver today to the eye care practitioner can be also be utilized by primary care practitioners within many healthcare provider networks. The Canon Non-Mydriatic retinal camera systems do not require the eye to be dilated and can be strategically placed within the primary care clinics that provide diabetic patient examinations. Historically, Canon Non-Mydriatic retinal cameras have been used for teleretinal programs for about 15 years now beginning in the UK and then in the USA. Medgadget: Dr. Shah, tell us about your background and how you became involved with Canons teleretinal scanning program? Dr. Raj Shah (SmartCareDoc): This occurred through my affiliation with Temple University Health System. Temple purchased our SmartCareDoc Virtual Clinic System and was exploring new ways to use the system when they asked if there was an easy way to do diabetic retinopathy screening using the SmartCareDoc system. To do this well, I knew we would need to use a device that did not require dilation of the pupil. I recalled seeing the Canon camera at the 2015 American Telehealth Conference and I reached out to them to assess its potential. We found the camera could integrate into our system, and the answer was emphatically yes. We have now served over 300 patients using this platform. Medgadget: Tom, walk us through a typical scenario of how Canons teleretinal technology is used. Tom (Canon): The Canon Non-Mydriatic teleretinal camera and software solutions can be placed in primary care clinics that take care of patients that have or are at risk of developing diabetic retinopathy. The retinal camera system is used by technicians or nurse practitioners to acquire the retinal images, which are then processed by the system computer to store and forwarded to a central reading location within the healthcare network. The images are reviewed and graded by an ophthalmologist or optometrist who then generates a clinical report, which is entered into the electronic medical record for that patient. The primary care doctor then accesses or receives this report and informs the patient about the clinical findings within a day or two of the screening. Based on the clinical findings, the primary care doctor can assist with scheduling an appointment with the facilitys eye clinic or recommend that the patient seek medical attention with their existing eye care providers. Medgadget: Dr. Shah, which medical use cases is Canons technology used to evaluate? Dr. Shah (SmartCareDoc): Integrating the Canon camera into the system allows diabetic retina screening in patients at risk for diabetic retinopathy, which causes blindness when unchecked. Additional uses will be defined by our users as they become acclimated to our system and the great benefits utilization will yield. Medgadget: Tom, what is the historical standard of care for teleretinal imaging programs and how has Canon improved upon it? Tom (Canon): The historical standard of care for teleretinal imaging programs that have been deployed in the USA has involved the use of a tabletop non-mydriatic retinal camera to acquire one or more 45-degree photos of the central area of the retina. Screening programs began in the USA more than 15 years ago with the use of low resolution CCD cameras at around 1 or 2 Megapixels (MP). Fast forward to today, the Canon technology can provide very high resolution 18 MP or 20 MP digital camera resolutions, which improves the ability to locate early pathology. By combining the Canon EOS digital camera, Canon camera lens optics technology and automated camera acquisition features, we believe we can deliver one of the highest quality easy to use retinal imaging systems to the marketplace. The Canon retinal imaging solution is used by the practitioner to identify all stages of diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration, glaucoma, ocular hypertension and other conditions. In addition, the Canon imageSPECTRUM Image Management software can be used to manage the image data so that practitioners can record and share their findings across a computer network in order to make a diagnosis. Medgadget: Tom, building on that, how does Canons technology compare to mobile retinal imaging technology such as that available from Welch Allyn? Tom (Canon): The Canon 18MP or 20 MP retinal camera systems provide far greater imaging resolution when compared to a 3 MP hand-held instrument. The image resolution is very important when zooming in or enlarging the image to find early disease and conditions. The variability of image quality between imagers when using a hand-held instrument also varies considerably when compared to using a traditional table-top retinal camera system. Should the customer require mobility, the Canon retinal camera and laptop system can be made transportable using the custom transport travel case. Additionally, the Canon retinal camera does not come in contact with the patients head or eye as compared to using a hand-held instrument that requires hand or instrument contact with the patient or patients face. Medgadget: Dr. Shah, how do clinicians benefit from teleretinal scanning programs? How do patients benefit? Dr. Shah (SmartCareDoc): Clinicians benefit by being able to see patients that they have not been able to see in the past. Expanding patient access to their services makes the physician more effective and competitive. Patients benefit by greater access to physician services, either general practitioner or specialist services, that would otherwise be unavailable to them in a timely or cost effective fashion. Medgadget: Dr. Shah, how was the process of working with Canons teleretinal scanning technology? Dr. Shah (SmartCareDoc): The process to obtain the camera and integrate it to our system was made very easy by the support group at Canon. They also supported our training and installation at Temple University Health System very well. Today the program has succeeded in improving the HEDIS scores for Temple and we anticipate additional applications of the program based on this great success. Medgadget: Besides teleretinal scanning, what other healthcare products does Canon offer and what can you tell us about what we can expect to see from Canon down the road in this space? Tom (Canon): In addition to the CR-2 AF and CR-2 PLUS AF Canon Non-Mydriatic retinal camera systems that can be used for teleretinal screenings, we also offer the CF-1 mydriatic retinal camera that is used by ophthalmologists for fluorescein angiography retinal imaging and the CX-1 Myd/Non-Myd combination camera that combines both technologies. We also provide the Canon TX-20 Auto Non-Contact Tonometer [previous Medgadget article] that acquires the pressure reading of the eye. This is one of the tests for glaucoma in which the Canon RK-F2 automatically measures the refraction of the eye and can be used as an estimate for your eye glass or contact lens prescription. Down the road we expect to release the Canon OCT, which can provide detailed views and measurements of the ten layers of the retina. This product is pending 510(k) clearance from the FDA. The product is already for sale outside of the USA in the European and Asian markets. The growing needs and opportunities in the healthcare market are recognized by Canon and our commitment to continue to invest in the future is evident not only in our healthcare division, which includes eye care and digital radiology solutions, but also in the establishment of Canon BioMedical, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary announced on March 2, 2015 that will serve as a worldwide headquarters for its biomedical business. The new company will look for long-term future growth opportunities in previously untapped markets for Canon such as life science, healthcare, and medical analysis through the use of existing and emerging Canon technology, as well as strategic partnerships. In the future, Canon Inc, wants to open a research center on Long Island to support its entry into genetic testing for the diagnosis and treatment of disease. Medgadget: Dr. Shah, are there other use cases where you see an opportunity for telemedicine to make a meaningful impact? Dr. Shah (SmartCareDoc): I would turn the question around and ask if there are any clinical areas of support that telemedicine will not add value. When considering the system wide imperative of better access, higher quality and lower cost better known as the CMS Triple Aim there is no better tool to assist in this auspicious goal than a telemedicine program. Links: Canon Eyecare products; SmartCareDoc by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, June 13, 2016 Jeff Flake, a Republican senator from Arizona, is urging Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler to back away from "onerous" privacy rules that would require broadband providers to obtain consumers' opt-in consent before using data about their Web-surfing activity for ad targeting. Flake argues in a letter sent to Wheeler last week that the rules would violate Internet service providers' free speech rights. "The use of customer information for marketing purposes by ISPs is non-misleading protected commercial speech," the lawmaker writes. Last month, Flake unsuccessfully asked Wheeler to delay the timeline for considering the new rules. He now argues that targeted ads are protected by the First Amendment, and that restricting the use of data for behavioral advertising "presents constitutional problems." advertisement advertisement Flake elaborates that the FCC hasn't justified its proposed rules by showing why they further a government interest. He also says that any threat posed to privacy by ISPs is "wholly theoretical." "Like the thousand-eyed Argus of mythology, ISPs are supposed to be the all-seeing watchmen of our personal information, according to the FCC's view," he writes. "But this alleged threat to privacy is wholly theoretical. The FCC points to no patterns of abuse by ISPs of their customer information, let alone the kind of particularized abuse that could properly rise to a significant, government interest." This is not the first time that critics have argued that restrictions on behavioral advertising might violate companies' rights. In 2008, the Newspaper Association of America argued that a Federal Trade Commission proposal for voluntary privacy standards could infringe companies' free speech rights. Those potential guidelines called for companies to allow consumers to opt-out of most forms of behavioral advertising, and to obtain opt-in consent before using "sensitive" data, including information about health conditions or sexual orientation, for targeted ads. The NAA argued at the time that ads are a form of speech, and that it has the right to serve them, provided that they are not misleading. Ads displayed to readers based on their online behavior are "not only truthful advertising speech, but advertising speech that meets their interest," the group wrote in its filing. The following year, the group retreated somewhat and voiced support for the idea that Web companies should voluntarily allow users to opt out of online behavioral targeting. by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, June 14, 2016 Perhaps lost in the hoopla of Microsoft committing to acquire LinkedIn, and Apple releasing Siri and Maps to third-party developers, Google said Monday it would introduce two new cloud services for customers of its Google Apps for business. Microsoft has always been one step ahead of Google when it comes to business applications, but Google has always kept one step ahead of Microsoft in search. At an event in Tokyo, Google introduced two apps, a new application and the rebuild of another -- both with some machine learning techniques built in. The new product, called Springboard, replaces the discontinued Google Hardware for searching corporate online documents and puts Google in a better position to compete against the cloud services of Adobe, IBM, Microsoft, and others. advertisement advertisement Springboard enables Google Apps for Works customers to search through the content of the documents they store in their Google Drive such as Gmail, Docs, Calendar, along with contacts entries. It also uses artificial intelligence (AI) to automatically find relevant information to what the individual's working on. Prabhakar Raghavan, VP of engineering for Google Apps, in a blog post points to a McKinsey survey that suggests the average worker spends the equivalent of one full day per week searching for and gathering information. In addition to Springboard, which uses machine learning, Google's engineers also rewrote Google Sites, a Web site building tool for the business in early preview. One of the new features in the Web design tool uses machine learning to automatically suggest graphic design elements for your site, similar to Wix, the DIY Web site building service that launched an "artificial design intelligence" (ADI) service to automate the process of building Web sites. In Google Sites, if the designer makes something dark on the Web site page, the technology automatically make the text brighter. Raghavan explains that the classic version of Google Sites will remain functional for at least one year. And in the future Google will provide options for moving content from classic Google Sites to the new version. by Thom Forbes @tforbes, June 14, 2016 Following younger workers returning to the cities, McDonalds yesterday announced that it was relocating its global headquarters from suburban Oak Brook, Ill., to the space in Chicagos West Loop neighborhood that once contained Oprah Winfreys Harpo Studios. We are a brand on the move in more ways than one, McDonalds president and CEO Steve Easterbrook said in a statement announcing that the transition to 1045 W. Randolph St. would be completed by Spring 2018. Moving our headquarters to Chicago is another significant step in our journey to build a better McDonalds. This world-class environment will continue to drive business momentum by getting us even closer to customers, encouraging innovation and ensuring great talent is excited about where they work, he said. advertisement advertisement Put another way, as Mae Rice does parenthetically for Chicagoist: Subtext: No one liked working in Oak Brook. The Chicago Tribunes Phil Rosenthal is a bit kinder to the burbs and their allure to folks who like to rake leaves, but he essentially winds up in the same place. There have been advantages to standing tall among the trees for McDonald's the last 45 years, employing about 2,000 people in a community of around 8,000 where it is the only Fortune 500 company, he points out. But the company's goals are more diverse than they were in the early 1970s and, so too, are the people it needs to guide it toward them. Any bright young person willing to even consider taking on the negatives of living anywhere near Chicago these days is bound to figure he or she might as well actually be where the other bright young people are, not a half-hour or more from them. McDonalds was based in Chicago from 1955 to 1971. I can't wait to break ground and cut the ribbon, current Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in a statement. Bloombergs Tim Jones ledes with a different perspective on the Windy City: The number of Chicagoans murdered this year is up more than 50%. Pension debt tops $20 billion, and taxes are soaring. Illinoiss governor calls the citys government corrupt and its financially teetering schools 'crumbling prisons.' But, he points out, Motorola Solutions, Kraft Heinz and ConAgra Foods have also recently announced they are moving their headquarters or major offices into Chicago. Theyre following the labor force and they dont want to be in the cornfields, out of sight and out of mind they want to be where the action is, Donald Haider, a professor at Northwestern Universitys Kellogg Graduate School of Management, tells Jones. The current shift in favor of more urban office space began around 2010 when the parent of United Airlines started relocating to downtown Chicago from Elk Grove Village, Steve Stratton, international director of JLL, a commercial real estate services company, tells the Associated Press. And not just in the Midwest. Downtown areas typically have better access to public transportation, which can make them more appealing to young professionals. General Electric Co., for example, announced earlier this year that it would move to Boston from its sprawling suburban Connecticut campus, according to the AP. It's a race for talent, says Stratton. In a January analysis in The Week titled This Is How The Suburbs Die, Michael Brendan Dougherty wrote: The elite in our culture have almost always viewed the suburbs with some contempt. They are places scrubbed of physical danger at the cost of mediocrity, soulless consumerism, and despair. But in recent times, gentrification in cities is pushing the poor into the suburbs leading to a shift to more European model, of fantastically wealthy cities and increasinglyslummy suburbs. McDonalds move back to Chicago has been rumored for some time. Most recently, the move ends speculation that began nearly two weeks ago with a report in Crains Chicago Business, write Mitch Dudek and Fran Spielman for the Chicago Sun-Times. Oak Brook village manager Rick Ginex said he got a call about 9:55 a.m. Monday morning from a McDonalds executive confirming the move; that was about five minutes before the company issued its news release. But Ginex, perhaps taking his cue from conflicted empty nesters everywhere, wished them nothing but the best. by Sarah Mahoney @mahoney_sarah, June 14, 2016 Wayfair, the e-commerce home furnishings juggernaut, is looking for new ways to get Americans excited about throw pillows and accent tables. It recently recruited its danciest employees to star in a new ad. And its introducing WayfairView, an augmented reality app, which helps shoppers visualize furniture options at full scale in their homes, making decorative decisions easier. The new TV spot was written, produced and performed by employees, who auditioned by video to win parts in the song-and-dance effort. Its airing on decor-friendly networks like HGTV, Lifetime, CBS and Hallmark. advertisement advertisement We have the best and brightest engineers, data scientists, marketers, analysts and merchandisers on our team, says Nancy Go, Wayfairs VP, in its release. We have also discovered we have more than our share of talented dancers and performers. The new campaign also includes a social-media contest, inviting fans of the e-commerce company to create their own audition videos, and it will include the winners in future videos. (Its also handing out $50 gift cards to top entries.) With WayfairView, the company hopes the AR app, available in Google Play, will ease some of the reluctance shoppers have when it comes to buying furniture online. Developed by Wayfair Next, the Boston-based companys R&D team, it helps people visualize everything from chandeliers to full-size sofas in their own home. The 3-D approach will be on the PHAB2 Pro, the upcoming Tango-enabled smartphone by Lenovo, due out in September. By digitizing our vast catalog through 3-D scanning, we will dramatically improve the visualization of products to create the best possible shopping experience for our customers, the company says. The app then connects to Wayfairs shopping app, to make purchases seamless. Wayfair -- which also owns Joss & Main, AllModern, DwellStudio, and Birch Lane -- has seen its revenues soar, last month reporting first-quarter revenues jumping 76.1% to $747.3 million, and that it now has a 6.1 million active customers, a gain of 68.9%. But expenses are rising too, including the costs of stepped-up advertising. The companys losses widened to $41.2 million, compared with losses of $27.1 million in the same period a year ago. by Philip Rosenstein , Staff Writer, June 14, 2016 While Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has pledged to fight for the Democratic nomination up to the convention in July, a number of signs suggest he is edging ever closer to conceding the race. Most notably, Sanders will meet with presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton this evening, following the final Democratic primary in Washington, D.C. The conversation will reportedly revolve around the type of administration Clinton would lead, were she to win the White House. Sanders has said he vows to make every effort to defeat Donald Trump. He may finally be accepting that he will have to do so as part of a Democratic team backing Hillary Clinton for president. Recent ad data and personnel decisions also betray the staunch position Sanders has kept in the closing weeks of the Democratic primary. Over the past few weeks, Sanders has diminished his presence on TV. From June 3-12, Bernie Sanders For President ran 560 TV ads in the top 60 DMAs, according to Media Monitors. This is compared to a much more robust 7,060 spots run between April 8 and April 17 in the same DMAs. advertisement advertisement For reference, while Hillary Clintons activity in those markets has slowed as well, as expected at the tail end of a primary cycle, it has remained comparatively heavy. A total of 4,477 spots ran in the April period and 1,717 from June 3 - 12. Supporters have also started to get the hint, with fundraising slowing quickly from the $40 million+ raked in from small donations earlier in the primary cycle. Reports also surfaced last week of widespread layoffs in the Sanders camp, another sign that things are coming to a close. It is undeniable that Bernie Sanders has changed the tone of the Democratic Party. He has dragged Clinton over to his side on a number of issues, including trade and to some extent minimum wage policy, among others. How much of the eventual Democratic party platform will be in line with Sanders preferred policy is unclear, but the campaign has succeeded in placing a number of friendly people on important committees at the convention in Philadelphia. After President Obama and Elizabeth Warren endorsed Secretary Clinton last week, it wouldnt be surprising to see Sanders graciously concede sooner rather than later. On stands June 16, the magazine issue will be updated and streamlined to reflect the increasing need for guidance on whats worth watching, per the company. TV Guide Magazine has refreshed itself to serve as the ultimate resource for TV enthusiasts looking for in-depth and behind-the-scenes coverage of the best programming available, stated Paul Turcotte, president of TV Guide Magazine. He added that the magazine now provides a platform to discuss, dissect, distill and determine what is worth viewers time" in one "intuitively designed package. advertisement advertisement The first issue of the revamped magazine features new sections and an increase in exclusive content, such as a guest column by host of The OReilly Factor on Fox News Channel, Bill OReilly, on why history is making a pop-culture comeback. Upcoming guest contributors include Seth Meyers, Chris Wallace and Chris Matthews, who will guide viewers through this summers Democratic and Republican conventions. A new Out & About page will highlight TV Guide Magazine parties and panels and Ask Matt will return, in which senior critic Matt Roush answers readers TV questions. Producers Spotlight will profile some of televisions top talents, such as The Good Wifes Robert and Michelle King, who dish on their next project Brain Dead. The Meet the Crew section will introduce readers to TVs behind the scenes artisans and the Whats Worth Watching section will curate the best content available now, organized by weekly prime-time highlights, daytime, late night, sports, streaming and newly available movies-on-TV. Tonight, the unveiling of the revamped magazine will be celebrated at The W HotelTimes Square in New York City, hosted by Turcotte and honoring Meyers. by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, June 14, 2016 Google is trying to help retailers track in-store visits and sales by connecting real-time data from beacons and converting them into messages and advertising on smartphones while consumers peruse the store or after they have left. The beacon transmits the data in real-time. The smartphone listens to the beacon and talks directly to Google's Chrome browser on any Android or iOS device. Once an individual opts in, the retailer can initially connect with the consumer in the store and reach out to them through an SMS message or email on their smartphone while they shop or after they have left the location. Consumers must opt in to location services on their phone to allow retailers to send an ad, coupon or other message or capture location data for later use, according to Sunalini Sankhavaram, direct at Zebra Technologies. advertisement advertisement The technology format -- called Eddystone and developed by Google -- also allows retailers to count the number of consumers who walked into the store and the percentage of them who made a transaction, similar to the way that advertisers track online consumers who visit their Web site. "Similar to the online world, where the technology recognizes the consumer and shows recommendations for other things they might like based on past buying history, location services in the store now allows retailers to collect information such as the number of people spending time in a specific department," Sankhavaram said. Sounds innovative, but here's the reality. Only 11% of companies are piloting or testing beacons, and 3% regularly using the technology, according to Forrester Researchs online global survey of 3,600 adults. Unlike Macy's, some 56% of companies have no plans to test or use beacons. Opting in to location-based services allows the retailer to track the individual through the store and retarget them with discounts and specials either while they're in the store or after they left. "You don't want to get a message in every department in the store because people will consider it spam," Sankhavaram said. While retailers will collect data from the phone as the consumer walks through the store, the shopper will likely only receive one push notification based on points of interest in the store. by Joe Mandese @mp_joemandese, June 14, 2016 I dont see how I can fill in for Wayne Friedman on todays TV Watch and not acknowledge Sundays massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. I call it a massacre, because that is what it was. To call it something else -- attacks, or even terrorist attacks -- reduces it to a media meme of mass shootings all lumped together on a spectrum that ranges from the lunatic fringe to existential threats. Already media coverage is conflating Pulse with everything from Sandy Hook (a lone lunatic) to 9/11 and the ISIS directed or inspired Paris and San Bernardino massacres. While the culprit said he was acting on behalf of ISIS, there already is evidence suggesting he may have had other issues. I call him a culprit, because calling him anything more gives media weight to his actions -- and that is not something I want to contribute to. advertisement advertisement Its something Ive been thinking about my whole life -- but more deeply ever since 9/11: What role does media play in any mass tragedy? In the case of 9/11, I think media was a huge factor -- before, during and after. Before 9/11, I cant help feeling that part of what has radicalized Islamic fundamentalists is the way media have disrupted their belief systems, and brought a dissident culture into their living rooms, desktops -- and, nowadays, the palm of their hands. During 9/11, media -- chiefly television -- was as powerful a weapon as the commercial jets that crashed into the Twin Towers. Media distributed the carnage across the globe, giving Al Qaeda more weight and value than it ever could have had without it. After 9/11, media coverage has had a mixed effect, enabling greater vigilance on the one hand, but creating more anxiety than ever before. Worst of all has been the conflation of gun-related massacres as one integrated thing. Its not. There are some common elements, like the ease of access culprits of any kind have to guns, especially the kind of assault weapons used at Sandy Hook, San Bernardino, Paris, or Orlando. But thats where the analogies end. And instead of contributing to a better dialogue over gun policy, media coverage of these events just exacerbates the problem. The stocks of gun manufacturers spiked, not crashed, on news of the Pulse nightclub massacre. Id be one of the last people to argue that the media have a collective consciousness. But I do think the more enlightened among the media should exhibit more of a conscience and treat maniacs for what they are. Im not saying they should be ignored altogether. No, quite the contrary -- they should be investigated, studied and used to prevent similar incidents. What they should not be, is treated as media celebrities. Their names, their images should be obscured, and they should be treated as something unworthy of personal media attention. The media should treat them like something that should be disposed of -- like garbage. People who find it difficult to fall or stay asleep may be surprised to learn that new research suggests they should try spending less time in bed as a way to prevent chronic insomnia. The finding supports the idea that the way to tackle insomnia is to avoid increasing sleep opportunity instead, it should be decreased to match sleep ability. Share on Pinterest The study found that the participants who developed acute insomnia and recovered from it reduced the amount of time they spent in bed, whereas the participants who went on to develop chronic insomnia increased it. In fact, the study led by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) in Philadelphia found that what may have helped 70-80 percent of participants with short-term or acute insomnia from allowing the problem to become chronic or long-term was a natural tendency to restrict time in bed. For example, if they fell asleep at 11 p.m. and intended to get up at 7:30 a.m. but found themselves awake at 5:30 a.m., then they would get up anyway and start their day, rather than lie awake in bed. Study leader Michael Perlis, an associate professor in psychiatry and director of the Penn Behavioral Sleep Medicine Program, says people who go on to develop chronic insomnia typically do the opposite they extend what he and his colleagues call their sleep opportunity. He explains: They go to bed early, get out of bed late, and they nap. While this seems a reasonable thing to do, and may well be in the short term, the problem in the longer term is it creates a mismatch between the individuals current sleep ability and their current sleep opportunity; this fuels insomnia. The research findings feature at SLEEP 2016, the 30th annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC, in Denver, CO, June 11-16, 2016. Getting up and getting on with your day rather than staying in bed trying to sleep is not only a useful tip if you have acute insomnia, but it is now also a formal part of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for chronic insomnia. The American College of Physicians now recommend CBT as the initial, first-line treatment for chronic insomnia. They came to this decision after reviewing evidence that CBT can improve symptoms without the side effects of sleep medication. NIH-funded study suggests an optimal level for pregnant women, particularly those who are obese. Proper maternal folate levels during pregnancy may protect children from a future risk of obesity, especially those born to obese mothers, according to a study led by researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health. "Maternal nutrition during pregnancy can have long-lasting effects on child health, as well as the health of a mother after pregnancy," said the study's principal investigator, Xiaobin Wang, M.D., M.P.H., Sc.D., from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. "Our results suggest that adequate maternal folate may mitigate the effect of a mother's obesity on her child's health." The study, published online in JAMA Pediatrics, was funded by NIH's Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). Obesity (link is external) in children and adults is a serious health issue in the United States, contributing to such conditions as heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes. During pregnancy (link is external), maternal obesity also increases the risk for a range of pregnancy complications, such as stillbirth, birth defects and preterm birth. Furthermore, babies born to obese mothers have long-term health risks, including a higher risk of obesity in childhood. Folate, an essential B vitamin, reduces the fetus' risk for neural tube defects, which are malformations affecting the brain, spine and spinal cord. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that women of childbearing age take 400 micrograms of folic acid (link is external) (a synthetic form of folate) daily to reduce their children's risk for neural tube defects. However, the role of maternal folate levels on a child's future obesity risk was not known, especially among those born to mothers who are obese during pregnancy. In their study, the researchers investigated the health outcomes of mothers and children (ranging from 2- to 9-years-old) in the Boston Birth Cohort, a predominately low-income, minority population with a high prevalence of maternal and child obesity. The study team analyzed health records from more than 1,500 mother-child pairs, including information that was collected before, during and after pregnancy. To gauge a mother's folate level during pregnancy, the researchers measured folate from stored plasma samples that were collected two to three days after delivery. The study team found a wide range of maternal folate levels, but observed an "L-shaped" relationship between maternal folate levels and child obesity. In other words, the lowest levels of folate correlated with the highest risk of child obesity. When folate levels reached approximately 20 nanomoles per liter (nm/L), which is within the normal range for adults, further increases in folate levels did not confer additional benefits, indicating a threshold or ceiling effect. According to the researchers, this threshold is higher than the standard cutoff for diagnosing folate deficiency (less than 10 nm/L). Obese mothers in the study tended to have lower folate levels than normal weight mothers. However, when the researchers examined obese mothers only, they found that children of obese mothers with adequate folate levels (at least 20 nm/L) had a 43 percent lower risk of obesity compared to children of obese mothers with lower folate (less than 20 nm/L). The children in the latter group had higher body mass index-for-age z-scores (BMI-z) - a measure of body fat in children. According to the authors, establishing an "optimal" rather than "minimal" folate concentration may be beneficial for women planning a pregnancy, especially obese women. "Folate is well-known for preventing brain and spinal cord defects in a developing fetus, but its effects on metabolic disorders, such as diabetes and obesity, is less understood," said Cuilin Zhang, M.D., Ph.D., NICHD senior investigator and a study co-author. "This study uncovers what may be an additional benefit of folate and identifies a possible strategy for reducing childhood obesity." The Boston Birth Cohort has been funded continuously by NICHD since 2002 (R01 HD041702, R01 HD086013). The cohort also received support from NIH's National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, as well as the Health Resources and Services Administration's Maternal and Child Health Bureau and the March of Dimes. Multiple sclerosis looks different from person to person. In many individuals, though, the difficulty in maintaining a sense of self and in keeping up intellectually can be the disease's most devastating manifestations. With this in mind, University of Michigan researchers are exploring a new way to improve cognitive issues, such as memory, attention and mental processing in MS patients: by examining sleep. People with MS face an elevated risk of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), a disorder in which the throat collapses during sleep, causing the patient to repeatedly stop breathing for periods of 10 seconds or longer throughout the night. OSA can lead to a decline in mental functioning. A U-M pilot study published in Sleep is the first to find an association between sleep apnea severity and cognitive dysfunction in patients with MS. "Since obstructive sleep apnea is a treatable condition that is also commonly seen in MS, we wondered, 'What if some of the thinking and processing difficulties that MS patients experience do not stem directly from the MS itself, but from the effects of sleep apnea or other sleep problems?'" says Tiffany Braley, M.D., M.S., the principal investigator and co-first author of the study, and an assistant professor of neurology at U-M. MS affects nearly half a million Americans and is the leading non-traumatic cause of neurological disability among young adults. Braley's team studied 38 adults with MS who had questions about their sleep or cognition. The patients performed seven cognitive tests, which included tasks of word list recall, calculation, and reproducing figures and pictures. They also spent a night in the Michael S. Aldrich Sleep Disorders Laboratory for polysomnography, an overnight sleep test. Thirty-three of the 38 patients met the criteria for OSA. "Multiple measures of sleep apnea severity directly correlated with poorer performance on several cognitive tests," said co-first author Anna Kratz, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist and assistant professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation. "In particular, problems with attention and multiple aspects of memory, including memory for words and images, and working memory, which plays a role in problem solving and decision making, were all associated with poorer sleep." Apnea severity measures accounted for between 11 and 23 percent of the variance in cognitive test performance. The investigators also observed relationships between other sleep quality measures and poor cognitive performance. "Current MS treatments can prevent further neurological damage, but do little to help existing MS symptoms and damage," Braley says. "Our focus on sleep is part of a larger collaborative initiative to identify previously overlooked but nonetheless treatable conditions that could be affecting patients with MS. Identifying and successfully treating conditions like OSA could help us find new ways to improve the cognitive function in MS." Next steps Now, the researchers will replicate their findings in a larger sample of MS patients, and treat those patients diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea with positive airway pressure therapy (CPAP), the first-line treatment for OSA. The new clinical trial, led by Braley and funded by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, will investigate whether cognitive function in MS patients improves when sleep apnea is treated. In the meantime, the investigators want to inspire more conversations in the neurology clinic. "We hope neurologists will ask their patients with MS about sleep, and the patient should be encouraged to openly discuss sleep concerns with their neurologist," says Neeraj Kaplish, M.D., assistant professor of neurology and medical director of the U-M Sleep Laboratories. "Given the high prevalence of treatable sleep problems in MS patients, and the fact that many patients with MS rate fatigue as one of their most bothersome symptoms, physicians should have a low threshold to refer MS patients who report sleep disturbances to sleep specialists," says last author Ronald Chervin, M.D., M.S., professor of neurology and director of U-M Sleep Disorders Center. The research was funded in part by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health, the University of Michigan Sleep Disorders Center and the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. Braley is principal investigator on a clinical trial that receives material, but not financial, support from Biogen. She is site principal investigator for several industry-funded studies of MS immunotherapeutics at the University of Michigan (sponsors include Genzyme-Sanofi and Genentech-Roche), but receives no personal compensation for this work. She is also named in a provisional patent, held by the University of Michigan, concerning treatment for sleep apnea. Chervin serves on the board of directors for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and is named in copyrighted material, patents and patents pending, held by the University of Michigan, for sleep apnea and sleep disorder diagnosis, assessment and treatments. Please complete this form and we'll send you a personalised information that is requested You may use this for your own reference or forward it to your friends. Please use the information prudently. If you are not a medical doctor please remember to consult your healthcare provider as this information is not a substitute for professional advice. Advertisement Dr. Patricia Pietrantonio, a Texas A&M AgriLife Research Fellow in the entomology department at College Station, said after mating,females immediately search for a blood meal from a human host. "They are highly anthropophilic, meaning they are attracted to humans," Pietrantonio said. "They may even follow people indoors. If female mosquitoes are infected with viruses they may transmit them to humans when they acquire a blood meal." The blood meal supplies the protein source female mosquitoes require to produce eggs, she said."However, in the field, if human hosts are not present, females will feed on sucrose solutions such as nectar from flowers, though they prefer a blood meal to a sugar meal but male mosquitoes feed only on nectar. Certainly sugar feeding is one of the two feeding modalities for adults of this species.""We found that a synthetic peptide that was designed to mimic a peptide naturally present in mosquitoes triggers an aversive fly away, walk away or jump away behavior in female mosquitoes."If the same aversion could be tied to a blood meal, she said a totally new and effective mosquito feeding deterrent may be in the offing, one that perhaps would cause the mosquito to pass up the required blood meal needed to lay eggs. Doing so would either disrupt the life cycle and/or reduce disease transmission. However, this is far from being accomplished, she said."One of our team designed a peptide mimetic of the kinin peptides, which are diuretic hormones in mosquitoes, to be resistant to enzymatic degradation," Pietrantonio said. "These mimetics are more potent than those found naturally, because they take longer to be degraded by the insect. These diuretic hormones make mosquitoes lose water after a blood meal, but we also found the peptidomimetic blocked sugar perception. This is a completely new and unexpected discovery."The research team localized these receptors in the feet and mouthparts of mosquitoes. What is really new, they said, is that this type of receptor proteins known as GPCRs, were not previously considered to be important for "taste" in insects and further, contact with the peptidomimetic made the mosquitoes fly away."In sum, we unequivocally verified this kinin receptor is present in the taste organs of the legs and labella, the pair of lobes at the tip of the proboscis."Pietrantonio said their observation that the peptide blocks sugar perception is interesting because the peptide is insect-specific, therefore, the receptor represents a target for further applied research to find ways to diminish the ability of female mosquitoes to feed. Doing so would likely reduce their lifespan or reproductive capacity."We had a lot of fun doing this research within the frame of an international, multi-institutional and multidisciplinary collaboration," she said.Pietrantonio said the team will continue to study the system in the hope of developing an effective mosquito feeding deterrent in order to stop what is arguably the greatest foe to mankind on earth.Source: Eurekalert Advertisement This is a better system than using untrained volunteers as the models with a clinical instructor to perform the exams and train the students-and far more instructive than when, in decades past, students' training was done on a rudimentary mannequin. (Advanced mannequins are still used in conjunction with MUTAs and GTAs, but they are no longer the primary teaching method.)The MUTA and GTA teaching model helps maximize the physicians' time, and it ensures that all students are taught a single, standardized way of performing an exam that is based on evidence-based practice. "If you get 25 physicians teaching different groups of students, you'll get several different ways of doing an exam," Dr. Livingston said. "Having MUTAs and GTAs teach the students eliminates this issue." In fact, a report by the the Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics indicated that GTAs are the best way to teach pelvic and breast exams.GTAs teach sitting up so they can better communicate with the students-and so the students can learn how important it is that they can see their patient's face. "You can absolutely do an exam with the patient sitting up at a 90-degree angle," Knutson said. "It may seem a little strange at first, but even during a real routine exam, the person should never be lying flat on the table. Patient empowerment and interaction is a big part of what we're teaching."They do so by imparting new vocabulary and communication skills to help ease the anxiety of the patient."If patients don't come in to have these exams because they feel uncomfortable, we're not really doing our job as health care providers," said Laura Livingston, associate director of the CLRC. "We're teaching our students to be the best patient stewards possible-and that also means reducing the mental stress of the situation so people keep coming in for these exams."The detailed information and feedback students learn from MUTAs and GTAs allows them to approach exams in an entirely new way. Patients are no longer seen as a "problem visit" and students aren't just trying to find "what's wrong", instead the intricacies of the feedback from these specialized instructors allows students to learn how to teach patients about their own bodies and to encourage two-way communication with their patients.Something as simple as teaching new vocabulary to students can open a lot of doors to this approach to health: an approach where patient and physician work together for the good of the patient.No longer is the cover referred to as a "sheet", but now as a drape. The word "stirrups" is no longer used for where patients place their feet. No longer are patients asked to "lie down".Beyond the simple uncomfortableness of these exams, they can be downright traumatic for patients who are assault and abuse survivors, or for patients who had painful experiences with previous physicians.Although Knutson herself has a nursing degree, no medical degree is needed to become a good GTA. Before instructing students, GTAs go through 56 hours of intensive training, developed and approved by obstetricians, to become experts at teaching the exam. "I was a GTA before I was a nurse," Knutson said. "All that's really required is a good knowledge of your own body and a willingness to use it in this way."Luckily for Texas A&M students, many people do seem willing to do so."The program has blossomed, absolutely blossomed," said Knutson, who was one of the first GTAs and the first trainer of other GTAs. "It started in Bryan, and it is now on all five campuses: Houston, Dallas, Round Rock and Temple, in addition to Bryan.""The medical and family nurse practitioner students who interact with MUTAs and GTAs always have such wonderful feedback for us," Knutson added.Although the GTA program at the health science center is well established, the MUTA program is still quite new, getting off the ground in February 2016. "We have stayed at the cutting edge to use everything that is out there to teach our medical students," Dr. Livingston said. Relatively few schools have their own MUTA program, and instead rely on commercial companies to provide the MUTAs for their students.MUTA interactions start with a 20-minute didactic portion to reinforce the significance of this type of male exam for students, who can then pass this information on to their future patients. "Women's health care is something that is emphasized in our culture," Knutson said. "Men's health care appointments are far more often missed, and prostate exams are often turned into a punchline, it can be easy to forget that it's really so important."The next step for the CLRC is a physical exam teaching associate (PETA) program to teach students how to perform non-gender specific portions of a medical exam. "These instructors are trained using evidence-based medicine to do assessments," Dr. Livingston said. "They can tell the students, 'right here is where you listen to the heart, to the lungs,' and they can tell if the student is doing it correctly.""I love being able to help this program grow," Knutson said. "It's very rewarding to see students who are overtly nervous before their session-terrified, sweating, saucer-eyed students who have never performed a female pelvic exam or a prostate exam-walk out of their MUTA or GTA sessions smiling, happy and saying, 'That was an AWESOME way to learn and not as scary as I thought. I can do that in clinic!'"Source: Newswise Sulphonamide antibiotics are a group of synthetic drugs, which have antimicrobial properties. These drugs like sulfamethoxazole and sulfisoxazole were commonly prescribed earlier to treat various types of infections; in fact, sulphonamides were the first widely used antibiotics and paved the way for the antibiotic revolution. Sulphonamide antibiotic allergy has an occurrence of 3% and is almost same to penicillin. Sulphonamides can cause an allergic reaction from mild to severe and can also result in an anaphylactic shock which can be fatal. Sulphonamide allergy may be caused by the following antimicrobial drugs: Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, sulfadiazine, sulfisoxazole, and dapsone. Topical sulphonamide preparations of sulfacetamide, silver sulfadiazine and sulfanilamide. Some diuretics and anti-diabetic drugs also have the sulphonamide group, however, people who are allergic to sulphonamide antibiotics are not necessarily allergic to sulphonamide non-antibiotics. However, they are likely to be allergic to other sulphonamide antibiotics. Advertisement The intensity and severity of a sulphonamide allergy attack can vary from person to person and with the dose of the drug given. Sulphonamides can cause an allergy at various sites of the body. Skin Symptoms -Patients complain of irritation, rashes, and hives. There may be burning sensation with severe itching and redness of the skin. Swelling may occur and patients may also complain of intense sensitivity to light. A serious skin reaction called Stevens-Johnson syndrome / Toxic epidermal necrolysis may occur where sheet-like skin and mucous membranes are lost. It may result in dehydration, infection, shock, and clotting of blood, and can even be fatal. Respiratory Symptoms - Certain individuals may experience difficulty in breathing with wheezing. - Certain individuals may experience difficulty in breathing with wheezing. Anaphylaxis - In severe cases, patients may experience nausea, vomiting, drop in blood pressure, wheezing, and rapid heartbeat. Anaphylaxis is an emergency, which requires prompt medical care. - In severe cases, patients may experience nausea, vomiting, drop in blood pressure, wheezing, and rapid heartbeat. Anaphylaxis is an emergency, which requires prompt medical care. Blood Disorders - The allergic reaction can also cause a decrease in red blood cells, white blood cells and platelet counts. - The allergic reaction can also cause a decrease in red blood cells, white blood cells and platelet counts. Other Symptoms- Other symptoms of the reaction include kidney and liver damage. Fulminant hepatic necrosis may occur. There is no particular blood or skin test for diagnosing this allergy. The only way for diagnosis and confirmation is by symptom presentation and history of intake of sulphonamides preceding the allergic reaction. Avoidance of sulphonamide antibiotics is the mainstay of treatment. Anti-allergy medications called antihistamines should be started immediately in case of a mild acute attack. In cases of difficulty in breathing, bronchodilators are given. In cases of emergencies with anaphylaxis, hospitalization is required where adrenaline injections are administered. Depending on the severity of the reaction, corticosteroids may also be given. If you have had an allergic reaction with sulphonamides earlier, avoid certain foods during recovery period which contain sulphur and can interfere with the process of healing. These include celery, jams, radish, turnips, jelly, garlic, eggs, canned foods and packed and preserved food. The best way to prevent another allergic attack is total avoidance of sulphonamide drugs in the future. Other drugs which contain compounds similar to sulphonamides and other derivative of sulphur should also be avoided if possible. Advertisement Sulphonamides are a group of synthetic antibiotics used to treat many infections. They inhibit the growth of bacteria by interfering with their metabolism. They are sold on physician prescription only and are available usually in the form of a tablet or oral solution, or for local application. Sulphonamides can interact with a number of other drugs. Sulphonamides are totally contraindicated in pregnant and lactating women. Side effects to sulphonamides are very common and a sulphonamide allergy is the commonest drug allergy reaction. Sulphonamides may increase the skin's sensitivity to light. Health Tips South Middleton school officials are exploring the feasibility of a pilot program that would give special needs students or adults the opportunity to work as a custodian within the district. A vacancy was created on June 3 when an employee retired from working the right side of the second floor of the Yellow Breeches Middle School in Boiling Springs. Talks are underway to draft an agreement between UniqueSource of Harrisburg and the Special Education and Buildings and Grounds departments of South Middleton School District. School board members could vote on a contract at their next meeting scheduled for Monday, June 20 at 7 p.m. in the Boiling Springs High School cafeteria. Rick St. Peter, sales manager for UniqueSource, attended a recent meeting of the facilities committee that recommended the board approve the contract. Information on this proposal was distributed to committee members. UniqueSource is a nonprofit contract holder among 70 partner groups and state government, education and private customers seeking products manufactured and services performed by employees with disabilities. The ARC of Cumberland and Perry Counties is one such partner group, according to the nonprofits website. We make sure everything is done correctly, St. Peter told committee members. We are the interface. If the contract is approved, an onsite UniqueSource member will provide a supervisor and an employee to clean the second-floor classrooms and common areas of the middle school beginning with the start of the 2016-2017 year. The supervisor and employee will be responsible for this service for 261 days, which is equal to a current full-time employee. The information provided by UniqueSource outlined a number of program positives. Under the proposal, the full-time vacant position would provide an employment opportunity for several special needs individuals to be paid to work while gaining valuable life-skills training. South Middleton School District would benefit from the savings of reduced health care costs and removing a full-time custodial position from the retirement rolls. Prospective students from the districts Special Education program will be first in line for the employment opportunity created by this contract. This vocational training can be incorporated into the students Individualized Education Program, and training can be done at Yellow Breeches Middle School without transportation costs. If the contract is approved, school district staff will hold UniqueSource to a quality standard that would be enforced by regular check-ups and inspections, said Andrew Glantz, district director of buildings and grounds. This would be the first time UniqueSource has partnered with a public school district in Pennsylvania, St. Peter told committee members. He added the agency has a track record of quality work going back 60 years. Currently UniqueSource holds custodial contracts with East Stroudsburg University, Pennsylvania State Police barracks, interstate roadside rest stops, the PHEAA building in Harrisburg, the PennDOT Bureau of Construction and Materials Lab in Harrisburg and the state Department of Agriculture Vet Lab. UniqueSource employees also operate drivers license centers throughout the state. Its a great idea anytime we can help special needs people, said school board member Tom Merlie, who called the proposal a one-person pilot program. He added the intent of this contract is not to outsource the entire custodial staff, but to fill an already vacant position with an employment opportunity. In recent years Jordan has been coping with a difficult economic situation. The country, which suffers from a lack of natural resources and relies on foreign aid, is now also compelled to bear the economic burden of nearly 1.3 million Syrian refugees, and this has further aggravated the economic difficulties.[1] Figures recently published by Jordan's central bank indicate that, in the first quarter of 2016, the country's unemployment rate spiked sharply and has now reached 14.6%, the highest rate in the past decade.[2] In the recent weeks, this issue became the focus of a public debate in Jordan following two public suicide attempts by young Jordanian motivated by unemployment and severe economic distress. On May 11, 2016 five unemployed young men climbed to the roof of a building near Al-Dakhiliyah Square in central Amman and threatened to kill themselves in protest of economic distress and in demand for employment. Jordanian security officers managed to prevent the men from leaping to their death.[3] Several days after this incident, which was widely covered in the media, a group of unemployed young Jordanians opened a Facebook page on which they threatened to commit collective suicide opposite the prime minister's office on May 29, 2016, to protest "neglect by the government and exploitation by employers." The Facebook page said: "Since we are young people with potential who are prevented from realizing it, and due to the poor management of the Jordanian economy and the rampant corruption in the country, we, a group of young people, have decided after consulting and exhausting all options for a solution to commit collective suicide, in order to draw attention to our plight. The international media will be invited to [cover] the event." The page was shut down by Facebook a few hours after it was opened, on the grounds that it contravened Facebook's community standards.[4] Unemployed Jordanians threaten to jump off a roof (image: Al-Ghad, Jordan, May 11, 2016) Unemployed Jordanians on Facebook threaten collective suicide Also this month, an employee of the Hashemite University in Al-Zarqa tried to burn himself on campus in protest of his economic distress.[5] These incidents sparked an extensive public debate in the Jordanian press and social media. Senior journalists and former Jordanian officials said that they reflected the magnitude of the unemployment problem and leveled harsh criticism at the authorities, who they claimed were ignoring the problem and refusing to address it. This report will present some of this criticism. Former Jordanian Senior Officials Warn: Young People Are Losing Hope; Poverty And Unemployment Are Draining The People's Strength Responding to the case of the five who threatened to jump off the roof, former Jordanian prime minister Samir Al-Rifa'i tweeted: "Five Jordanian youths attempt suicide after they lose any hope for a decent job. We must sound the alarm bells, and make sure that the [first] issue on the agenda is unemployment, unemployment and again unemployment."[6] Al-Rifa'i's tweet Former MP Wafsi Al-Rawashdeh posted on his Facebook page a message to King 'Abdallah: "[The hardships of] life are draining your people's [strength]. Poverty, unemployment, injustice and oppression are eating away at them. They have become strangers in their homeland. Don't be fooled by those who tell you that we [the people] are all right as long as you [the king] are all right. By Allah, they are deceiving you and withholding the truth from you. It would have been more accurate [of them] to tell you that you are all right as long as your people are all right. The West and the [Jordanian] army will be of no avail as long as the people lack strength. I tell you this not out of hatred or flattery or cupidity for the throne... but as sincere advice from someone who loves his homeland and people."[7] Articles In The Jordanian Press: The Suicide Attempts Are An Alarm Bell; The Government Must Take Serious Measures To Address The Problem Al-Ghad Editor: The Young People Have Become A Time Bomb; What Have We Done For Them?! Jumana Ghanaimat, editor of the daily Al-Ghad, criticized the government's helplessness in handling the problem of unemployment among young people and warned that this was a time bomb that could go off. She wrote: "The suicide pact of the five young Jordanians is undoubtedly a terrible thing, whether they [really] intended to put an end to their lives or merely threatened to do so. Their action yesterday near Al-Dakhiliya Square in Amman is another sounding of the alarm bell that draws attention to the despair and frustration that many of our young people are feeling due to the rising levels of unemployment among them... "I wonder, what have we done on behalf of the young people? Has the current government, which has been in office longer than any of those that preceded it, presented any genuine ideas or initiatives to save the young people from the difficult reality in which they are living? The truth is that I do not expect answers from the minister of labor, the minister of planning and international cooperation, or the prime minister himself - because the answers are [already] known to the young people, nearly half of whom are drowning in unemployment. This time, the [real] answer was the anguished desperate cry of those young people who climbed to the roof of a building in Al-Dakhiliya Square and attempted to put an end to their lives, and their spokesman said: 'We have had enough of your promises and your lie'. Had the promises of all the governments to [these young people] yielded anything [concrete], they would have been busy planning their future and their lives instead of planning to kill themselves. "Jordan's suffering young people have become a time bomb that poses a grave danger throughout the homeland, because the young people are ultimately a force which, if not harnessed [for purposes of] productivity and creativity, can get out of control and cause destruction."[8] Columnist For Muslim Brotherhood Mouthpiece: The Authorities Are Betting On The People's Patience, But It May Run Out 'Omar Al-'Ayasra, a columnist for the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood mouthpiece Al-Sabil, wondered why the problems of the Jordanian citizen are not a matter of public debate, and accused the establishment of ignoring them. He warned that people's patience could run out in the face of the economic pressures, and urged the authorities to acknowledge the situation rather than bury their heads in the sand. He wrote: "In our country we speak about everything except for the Jordanian citizen... An employee at the Hashemite University burned himself to death in protest of his difficulties in making a living, yet the incident did not receive the attention it deserved in the public discourse. This [fact] is even more serious than the incident [itself]... Faced with these major and numerous concerns [that cause] the Jordanian citizen... to feel that he is running out of air, the authorities remain in denial, believing that we can bear an increasingly growing burden. They are betting on the Jordanian citizen's patience... [but] I fear that this patience will run out under the insufferable pressures... They are betting on the citizen's fear [of repeating] the experience of the destruction in Syria. Even if this fear exists, it might evaporate in the face of objective circumstances in which people will [simply] be unable to bear the suffering... The depth of Jordan's economic crisis is not [just measured] in figures, but [has an impact on] the street, the security [situation] and the people."[9] Cartoon in Jordanian daily Al-Ghad (May 12, 2016): Jordanian citizen burned not only by the heat wave but also by the economic situation Senior Journalist: The Authorities Must Tackle Unemployment By Inviting Serious Discussion And Adopting Feasible Plans Fahd Al-Khitan, a senior journalist for the daily Al-Ghad, wrote that the collective suicide attempt reflected the gravity of Jordan's unemployment problem, and added that the authorities must not sweep the problem under the rug but rather initiate a serious debate to find solutions. He wrote: "Nobody would conceivably think of throwing away his life and dying in such a horrible manner unless he was facing a critical crisis that was impossible to live with. The primary motive for suicide among young people today is the lack of hope in their lives and a complete certainty that death is the [only] salvation... When the five young people did was a desperate and nihilistic act of protest; it was apparently their last resort, following which [they hoped] they might be granted a decent job and decent living conditions... "The incident indicates the gravity of Jordan's unemployment problem and the lack of opportunities for a decent life - given that living conditions are difficult [even] for those who are employed, let along for those who are unemployed... Unless we think of creative solutions and adopt feasible plans to alleviate the grave unemployment [crisis], the suicide attempt of the five young people will become a [prevalent] phenomenon that many young people will imitate... What is crucial now is for the authorities to avoid covering up the incident of these five young people. [On the contrary,] courageously tackling the unemployment problem requires drawing attention to their problem and presenting it in detail, so that all the relevant elements in our society join the discussion of the issue. Perhaps together we can find solutions that will spare the country such embarrassing situations and open a window of hope for the [young] generation. In the [present] conditions, [these young people] may be driven to choose between suicide by jumping off a roof and suicide in the ranks of the extremist organizations."[10] Former Foreign Minister: The Government Must Adapt To A Changing World And Seriously Tackle The Young People's Problems Former Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Al-Mu'asher regretted that the state does not recognize the problems and needs of the young people or the fact that the world has progressed and changed. He said that, since the government is preoccupied with marginal issues and does not meet young people's need for education and employment, these young people have lost their faith in the government and seek solutions elsewhere. He urged the government to adapt to the changing world and create jobs for the young people, so as to utilize their potential. He wrote: "What saddens me the most is that the state apparently cannot or will not recognize the magnitude of the problem... This has led to the young people to lose faith almost completely in what the government says. This is a frightening phenomenon that is familiar to anyone who speaks with young people in the various districts. It should be an issue of daily concern for the government, which must immediately speed up [the process of] addressing its underlying causes... "There is an urgent need to hold a serious dialogue with the young people, in order to get a direct impression of the problems that are burdening them. There is also a need for a serious economic and educational program to ensure genuine and long-term job creation. I do not feel that the government is [even] close to [realizing] the major changes that are taking place among the youth or is doing enough to create a suitable environment that stimulates creativity and innovation. The world is changing very rapidly, and therefore we must choose between [two options]. [We can] adapt to this change and address the young generation in a language it understands - instead of using the old traditional methods comprehensible only to us - and thus create a new ecosystem that will make positive use of our young people's potential, as Dubai is doing. Alternatively, we can continue ignoring the young people's problems and insist on addressing them in a language that has no effect on them, which will produce frustration that can lead to extremism. The choice remains in our hands, for experience teaches us that a vacuum, once created, will be filled by others if we are unprepared to fill it [ourselves]." [11] Endnotes: In a June 6, 2016 interview with the Russian TV Channel, Rossiya-24, Russia's permanent representative to NATO, Aleksander Grushko, said that NATO policy inhabits a surrealistic reality that believes in the "myth" that Russia poses a threat to NATO. NATO exploits this myth to pursue its militaristic strategy. Below are excerpts from the interview with Grushko:[1] Russia's Permanent Representative to NATO Aleksander Grushko. Source: Missiontonato.ru "What we are seeing today in the Baltic states, as a matter of fact, is nothing but attempts towards force development [in line] with the hostile policy pursued by NATO in the recent time. I would not say that it is a direct threat for Russia but, nevertheless, it obviously creates serious risks as we see an absolutely new military reality forming along our border. "Recently the [NATO] secretary general [Jens Stoltenberg] visited Poland, and during these visits the Polish side was making statements that now Russia knows that an attack against Poland is an attack against NATO, which is completely absurd, as they are discussing a problem that does not exist. There are no plans to attack Poland. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Polish President Andrzej Duda met on May 30, 2016 in Warsaw to discuss preparations for the Warsaw Summit. (Source: Nato.int, May 30, 2016) "The policy [of NATO] lives in [a] surrealistic reality, and the most dangerous thing is that it now starts taking the shape of military planning and military preparations carried out on territories along our borders. "We know that additional measures on buildup on the eastern flank are [being] prepared for the [upcoming NATO] summit [in Warsaw]. "A Russian threat to NATO is simply a myth, which gives a possibility to pursue the policy that NATO pursues, and at the same time to solve other tasks of strategic nature. "NATO is seen as an additional band to fix unity of the West. "If we take a look at regional balances, NATO is playing there some unclear game, as if the NATO countries themselves are some states having no army, having nothing [and are therefore not calculated in the regional balance]... "All these games of NATO's fearfulness, they must end sooner or later, as it is difficult to live all the time in the smoke of an ideological campaign built on nothing. "I see no signs that NATO is going to change its position [towards Russia]. "The prospects are extremely complicated. "Partly, it is linked to the fact that NATO has given up all the previous programs and projects of cooperation [with Russia]...I do not see any signs that NATO may change its stance. "At present, we can see that NATO is trying to offer some measures to Moscow but, in our view, they are absolutely inadequate to what NATO is doing. If NATO could give up its military planning, which is hostile to Russia, we could hold more serious negotiations on how to jointly improve our common European security space. "We are no less concerned over bilateral programs implemented by certain NATO countries. In particular, they keep training Ukrainian special forces, Ukrainian armed forces...And we see that these trained forces are moving closer to the conflict zone. This fuels escalation and plays into the hands of the party of war, fueling revanchist sentiments". Endnote: No major comments appeared in the Russian media the day after the Orlando terror attack targeting the LGBT community, for which ISIS (The Islamic State) claimed responsibility. Russian President Vladimir Putin sent an official condolence message to President Barak Obama, saying that the Russian people share the pain and the grief of those who lost family members and loved ones as a result of the "barbaric crime."[1]However, the Russian media carried some reactions. The State Duma's Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman, Aleksey Pushkov, who is very active on social networks, posted harsh comments on Obama's foreign policy to his Twitter account. Pushkov wrote: "Obama has compared Russia to ISIS. But dozens of Americans were killed not by Russian hands but by those of ISIS. Obama has to retract his words." Actually, Obama never compared Russia to ISIS, but at the 69th General Assembly of the UN, the U.S. President said that today's three most significant global threats are: Ebola, "Russian aggression in Europe" and "the brutality of terrorists in Syria and Iraq."[2] (Source: Twitter.com/alexey_pushkov, June 13, 2016) The Speaker of Russia's State Duma Sergei Naryshkin had a different interpretation: the Orlando tragedy resulted from the negligence displayed by the U.S. intelligence services. Narishkin said: "As for the conclusions by the U.S. authorities, of course, this is a blatant error of the U.S. intelligence services. They admitted that they interrogated the terrorist three times at various times."[3] Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova took a strong stand against homophobic comments appearon Russian social network accounts, following the Orlando attacks. Although Russia itself has been frequently criticized by the West for its poor LGBT rights record. Zakharova on her personal Facebook account wrote unequivocally: "Comments like 'nothing to regret about those killed in Orlando - they are gays' are simply disgusting. It's beyond good and evil to state that 'they put a cross[hair] on their lives by being homosexual'. What if children with special needs were killed - would they say '50 spongers less?'. And what if the attack was aimed at a maternity hospital? - They should have checked the personal file of every pregnant patient? I want to toss to the same place people who assume that condolences are impossible due to - they state millions of reasons, starting with 'they do not show compassion to us' and ending with 'it's their own fault'. It's time to make a choice: does the compassion derive from humanitarian grounds or does it stem from social -political beliefs. I feel strange writing this but I'll do it: 1) It is impermissible to decide questions about any inclination by a weapon. 2) You cannot defend the most correct, traditional values if you lack compassion."[4] akharova.jpg" style='width:373.5pt;height:298.5pt;visibility:visible;mso-wrap-style:square'> Source: Facebook.com/maria.zakharova.167; June 13, 2016. As for the upcoming U.S. elections, the Russian media senses that after the Orlando attacks, the U.S. electorate will gravitate towards the Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump.[5] However, no particular preference was shown for one U.S. candidate over the other in the Russian media. On June 13, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov chatted over the phone with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. They discussed the situation in Syria and possibilities for cooperation Russia-U.S. cooperation in fighting terrorist organizations such as ISIS there.[6] Endnotes: On June 13, 2016, Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon was elected to head the UN Legal Committee, which is one of the UN's six permanent committees. This is the first time an Israeli ambassador will chair one of these committees, and his election came despite objections from two groups - one of Arab states and another of Muslim states. However, according to the London-based Qatari daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi, which reported on Arab and Muslim efforts to thwart Danon's election, at least four Arab states, which it did not name, had supported Danon's candidacy. As proof of this, the daily published Danon's statement following the vote, in which he refrained from criticizing any Arab state. The following are excerpts from the Al-Quds Al-Arabi report: Arab, Muslim Countries Opposed Israel's Candidacy And Worked To Thwart It Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported: "Despite the objections of the Arab group represented by Yemeni Ambassador Khalid Al-Yamani, and the Islamic group represented by Kuwaiti Ambassador Mansour Al-'Otaibi, the UN General Assembly today elected Israel to chair the sixth committee - the Legal Committee - one of the General Assembly's six important committees. Western European and other countries submitted Israel's candidacy for the post, for the first time in the history of the UN. "Prior to the vote, Kuwait's ambassador to the UN, who served as representative of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries, said: 'The state that is a candidate for the post must be a member state that obeys international law and that is actively working to implement UN resolutions - not a state that violates international law... and UN resolutions... States must bear the responsibility to present for this post candidates upon whom there can be agreement. This candidacy [of Israel] contradicts the principle of good intentions... Electing Israel, [a state that] violates the foundations of international law, international treaties, and UN resolutions, will damage the image of the UN." Danon Received 109 Votes; At Least Four Arab Countries Supported Him According to Al-Quds Al-Arabi, after the efforts by Arab and Muslim countries to thwart Israel's candidacy for the chair of the committee had failed, they demanded that the current committee chair, the Trinidad and Tobago ambassador, call a vote on Israel's candidacy. Such a move is against the accepted custom of arrival at a consensus in advance of the vote of approval in the General Assembly. Yemeni Ambassador Al-Yamani said on behalf of the group of Arab countries that opposed Danon's election: "We requested a secret ballot in order to register our vehement opposition to Israel's candidacy for chair of the Legal Committee..." Accordingly, a secret ballot was then held; in it, Danon received 109 votes of a possible 193, with the Arab and Muslim countries that opposed him writing in candidates. Following his election as committee chairman, Danon said that Iran had circulated an announcement calling for not voting for him. However, Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported that this announcement had actually been circulated by Kuwait; the daily noted that "Danon's statement [following the vote] included no criticism of the Arab group" that had opposed him, and added that "diplomatic sources say that at least four Arab countries supported the Israeli candidate." Palestinian Representative: U.S., Canada, Australia "Used All Manner Of Blackmail And Threats To Guarantee A Vote For Israel" According to the daily, Palestinian Permanent Observer Riyad Mansour said after the vote: "Although we only found out shortly before the vote that a group of Western European and other nations had decided to present Israel's candidacy for chair of the committee, we conducted intensive meetings with this group, and pressured it to refrain from rewarding, instead of punishing, a country that occupies the land of another while violating international law. "After that, we attempted to persuade countries in this group to present the candidacy of another country, but without success. We reached out to many in this group, trying to convince them to present their own candidacy, saying that we would raise the votes for them, but they refused. "Then, we discussed the matter with the Arab and Islamic group, in order to agree on an alternate plan. We agreed to divide the votes against Israel among candidates from that same group [of Western European countries] so as to prevent the Israeli candidate from receiving 50%+1 of the votes. We attempted to recruit all our friends to prevent the Israeli ambassador from receiving the minimum number of votes required, but without success. However, we did manage to deny him 84 votes, which is important and respectable. He only received 109 votes; the minimum required is 77. Had we managed to change the votes of another 16 representatives, his candidacy would have been automatically cancelled..." Mansour then warned that the non-unanimous vote for Danon could impact the work of the committee: "The heads of the five other committees were elected by consensus, but not [the head of] the sixth committee. The schism is clear from the outset. How will the committee operate during the 71st session of the General Assembly? There is a split in the General Assembly over Danny Danon's provocative personality. The sixth committee will grind to a halt because of this split." Mansour then thanked the Arabs and Muslims, and all those who stood by them, and criticized "a massive force" that he said "had used all crooked means, and extortion - particularly on smaller nations - to get them to vote for Israel. Israel did not succeed on its own - only thanks to the efforts of the U.S., Canada, and Australia, which used all manner of blackmail and threats to guarantee a vote for Israel. Many countries submitted to these pressures out of their fear of the superpowers, instead of standing with the truth and against the oppression represented by the occupation state. "We now face a double standard on the part of several countries. Israel is becoming increasingly extreme, and is turning its back on all peace initiatives, including the recent French initiative; it is expanding its settlement activities, and is violating international law in everything it does. [And after all this,] the international community rewards it. "We must carefully consider our next move. I believe that in a year or two, this group [of Western European countries] will present Israel's candidacy for the Security Council."[1] Endnote: State Police at Newport are looking for a man they say pulled out a handgun while driving on Route 11/15 in Watts Township, Perry County, on June 10. Police said a Florida man reported that a blue Chrysler Town and Country was traveling behind his vehicle on Route 11/15 south just prior to the Route 322 exit at 2:55 p.m. June 10. The other vehicle had tried to pass him multiple times. After the fourth attempt to pass him, the other driver brandished a black handgun, police said. Police ask anyone with information to contact them at 717-567-3110. India, Ghana sign three agreements Published: June 14, 2016 India and Ghana have signed three bilateral agreements to strengthen co-operation in varied fields. These agreements were signed after delegation level talks between President Pranab Mukherjee and his Ghanaian counterpart John Dramani Mahama in Accra. The signed agreements include one for visa waivers for holders of diplomatic and official passports and one for setting up a Joint Commission. Civil Nuclear Cooperation During the delegation level talks between Indian President and his Ghanaian counterpart, the African country has sought Indias civil nuclear cooperation to reduce its dependence on traditional energy sources. Presidents 3 African countries tour Ghana is the first country visited by the President during the six-day three countries tour as part of Indias agenda of deepening ties with the African countries. The other two African countries include Ivory Coast and Namibia . and . It should be noted that this is the first visit of any Indian President to Ghana and Ivory Coast whereas to Namibia, such official visit comes after two decades. India-Ghana Relations India is the largest foreign investor in Ghana with more than 700 projects. Most of these projects are in the manufacturing sector. In recent times, bilateral trade between India and Ghana has increased to 1.2 billion dollars from 538 million dollars in 2010. Ghanas main trade with India mainly consists of gold exports which accounts for nearly 80% of total trade. Ghanaian gold is in great demand in India. Ghana also has a very prosperous Indian-origin community, roughly around 10,000. Of this population 7,000 have Indian passports with some families arriving here as early as 1920s. Month: Current Affairs - June, 2016 Topics: India-Africa India-Ghana India-International Relations President Pranab Mukherjee Latest E-Books Scientists in Iceland turn CO2 into rock to combat climate change Published: June 13, 2016 In a unique experiment, scientists from Iceland have discovered a new way to trap the greenhouse gas (GHG) carbon dioxide (CO2) deep underground by changing it into rock. The new way was discovered as by Scientists from Columbia Universitys Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and other institutions as part of a pilot program called CarbFix project. The pilot program was launched in 2012 at the Hellisheidi power plant- the worlds largest geothermal facility in Iceland. Key Facts In the CarbFix project, scientists pumped CO2 and water, 540 metre underground into volcanic rock at the Hellisheidi geothermal power plant. In this method, CO2 is dissolved with water (termed as carbonation) is pumped into volcanic rocks called basalts. Later, the CO2 solidifies turning into a solid mineral (calcite), which can then be stored. In the research it was found that 95% of the gas was captured and converted in two years. Significance This technique the speedy carbonation has potential to combat climate change and may provide a safer, faster way to sequester CO2 and limit global warming. In future, it could be a viable way to store CO2 underground permanently and without risk of leakage. Month: Current Affairs - June, 2016 Topics: Climate change Global warming Iceland Science and Technology UPSC Latest E-Books : ; Deputy Foreign Minister Ioannis Amanatidis traveled to the capital of Mount Athos, Karyes, today, Tuesday, 14 June 2016, to attend the investiture ceremony of the new Holy Stewardship of the Athonite community. The outgoing first steward delivered the staff to the Representative of Great Lavra, who, following the service in the Holy Church of Protaton, handed it on to the new first steward, Elder Varnavas of Vatopedi. Following the ceremony, Mr. Amanatidis attended the reception in the Holy Communitys meeting hall, where he wished the First of Mount Athos and the members of the new Holy Stewardship a peaceful and fruitful years term. Mr. Amanatidis stressed that they are responsible for the smooth exercising of the administrative authority of Mount Athos and for ensuring dedicated cooperation with the other authorities of the Greek state, of which Mount Athos is an integral part. Local law enforcement officers will don aprons instead of protective vests at a Farmington restaurant on Wednesday night to help raise money for the regions Special Olympics. The special evening, known as Tip-A-Cop," will have officers serving customers from 6 to 9 p.m. at Pasta House at 931 Valley Creek Dr. in Farmington. Local police officers will be serving drinks and refills during the evening, said Chuck Hasty, the superintendent at Bismark School District. We encourage everyone to come out to dinner and support the Special Olympics. Pasta House co-owner and general manager Nancy Silvey thinks the evening should be an enjoyable evening for families and a great way to help raise money for a worthy cause. This is the first time for us holding this event, but we are honored they picked us, Silvey said. The police officers will be helping the servers with tea and water pitchers and kind of just following them around. It sounds like its going to be a lot of fun. Although this is the first time the regions Special Olympics is holding this event, Hasty believes the event will be a success. Special Olympics have held this event in other places, and they have been a success, Hasty said. I think we will do well. Hopefully we can raise a little money for Special Olympics, and if its successful, we will certainly do it again. In addition to the event helping Special Olympics, Hasty believes an event like this is good for local police and the community to come together. Police officers play a big role in Special Olympics, Hasty said. They help give out awards, and they do the run as well. They are involved from the very beginning. Unfortunately, police get a bad rap in the media. An event like this is a great way to build a relationship with the community. Robert Slameka's license was suspended last year after two misdemeanor convictions. He also has a long history of disciplinary problems. His critics include a University of Michigan law professor, David Moran, who played a major role in getting Sanford released from prison. In 2008, Slameka represented Sanford when the 15-year-old pleaded guilty to four murders. Sanford, now 23, was released from prison last Wednesday after prosecutors acknowledged police misconduct. Separately, a hit man has admitted to the slayings. Slameka didn't challenge Sanford's confession in court, although the boy was blind in one eye, 14 at the time of his arrest and could barely read or write. "Everything that was in Davontae Sanford's confession turned out to be false except the facts that the police already knew," Moran told the Attorney Discipline Board. The board is considering whether to reinstate Slameka's law license. His handling of the Sanford case was just one of many issues that were presented during testimony in April and May. "Everyone in the world has assumed that I forced this kid ... into pleading guilty," Slameka told the board, according to a transcript. "I had nothing to do with it. I advised him. I gave him all his rights. I visited him six times in jail. I got nowhere with him." Moran said he regularly scrutinized convictions in Slameka's cases when the professor was a state appellate lawyer in the 1990s. "He's the last person in the Michigan Bar Directory that I would want to have represent anyone close to me or anyone off the street for that matter," Moran said. Messages seeking comment from Slameka's attorney in the law license matter weren't immediately returned Monday. Slameka said he didn't have a traditional law office before his suspension but would regularly meet clients in the lobby of a Detroit casino. "I've never heard a complaint from a client meeting me in that location," he told the board. Board member Paul J. Fischer said Slameka sounded like the lawyer in AMC's "Better Call Saul," who meets people in a nail salon. "It just doesn't sound like what a lawyer does," Fischer said. Slameka pledged to get office space if reinstated. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday rejected the jury's 2014 award of $500,000 for defamation and $1.3 million for unjust enrichment against Kyle's estate. The court reversed the unjust-enrichment award, saying it fails as a matter of law. It also vacated the defamation award, but ordered a new trial for that portion of the case. Kyle, a Navy SEAL and the deadliest sniper in U.S. military history, claimed to have punched Ventura at a California bar in 2006 after Ventura said the SEALs "deserve to lose a few" in Iraq. Ventura, a former SEAL, testified he never made the comments and that the altercation never happened. HARBOR BEACH The East Michigan Conference of the Free Methodist Church of North America announces the appointment of pastor Jon L. Fruytier to the Harbor Beach Free Methodist Church at 249 South Second Street in Harbor Beach. Pastor Jon and his wife, Linda, are residents of Harbor Beach. He has been a teacher at Harbor Beach Community Schools for many years. For the past six years, he has been the associate pastor at the Bad Axe Free Methodist Church. Despite Flipping in Surf 4 Times in a Year, Marines Say New ACV Is the Future of Amphibious Warfare Some Marine veterans familiar with the vehicle and its operations have worried about the reliability of the ACV. A U.S. Army Reserve officer was among those killed in the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. Antonio Davon Brown, 29, was a captain in the Army Reserve and slain in the attack Sunday at an Orlando nightclub, Cynthia Smith, a spokeswoman at the Defense Department, confirmed in an interview with Military.com. The Pentagon plans to release more details about Brown's service record on Tuesday, according to Smith. Brown was a member of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) while a student at Florida A&M University. "We are especially saddened by the news that one of the victims was part of the FAMU family," the university said in a statement. "29-year-old Antonio Davon Brown was a criminal justice major from Cocoa Beach, Florida and a member of ROTC during his time on the Hill. He graduated from FAMU in 2008 and is being remembered fondly by classmates and fellow alumni on social media. We will continue to update you about plans for a memorial or service of remembrance for alumnus Brown," it said. "In the meantime, the Florida A&M University community stands with the entire Orlando community in the wake of tragedy," the university said. "Our thoughts, and prayers for peace, are with everyone in central Florida and across this nation." The gunman was identified as Omar Mir Seddique Mateen, a 29-year-old U.S. citizen and Muslim who lived in Fort Pierce, Florida, and whose parents were of Afghan origin. While he was apparently acting alone, he had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS. The incident was the deadliest mass shooting in American history, with at least 50 individuals confirmed dead, including the gunman, who was killed in a shootout with police, and another 53 injured. Several remain critically injured. The shooting began around 2 a.m. Sunday morning at a packed Orlando nightclub called Pulse, which caters to the lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender, or LBGT, community and lasted until around 5 a.m., when a SWAT team raided the building. The shooting is also the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil since Sept. 11, 2001, when al-Qaeda militants crashed airliners into the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon near Washington, D.C., and a field in Pennsylvania, killing nearly 3,000 people. One Twitter user said she and Brown served in the same ROTC class and that he served abroad in support of the U.S.-led war in Iraq. (He deployed to Kuwait from April 2010 to March 2011.) "I can hardly breathe," she tweeted. "I never thought any one of us from Class of 08 would die young. We all came back from war safely. "He killed my friend, my battle buddy," she said of the shooter. She went on to describe an incident during her senior year. After she was unsuspectingly dropped from her parents' health insurance, she got sick with the flu and passed out during class. Brown and his roommate carried her to his car and drove her four hours from Tallahassee to Fort Stewart, Georgia, so she could receive treatment from the Army. "Antonio saved my life when no one else could be bothered to care," she said. --Brendan McGarry can be reached at brendan.mcgarry@military.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Brendan_McGarry. The U.S. presidential candidates offered different responses to Sunday's mass shooting in Orlando, while one joined with some retired military generals in calling for more gun control. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump put the massacre front and center in his campaign by reiterating his call to keep Muslims out of the U.S., while Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton and the longshot Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson said the killings shouldn't be politicized as investigators work to get all the facts. Meanwhile, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an Independent and still officially a candidate for the Democrat Party, called the killings further evidence of the need to regulate semi-automatic weapons such as the AR-15 used by the gunman, Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old U.S. citizen and Muslim who lived in Fort Pierce, Florida, and whose parents were of Afghan origin. Mateen killed 49 individuals and injured 53 others in the rampage before he was shot and killed by police, authorities said. Speaking to supporters in New Hampshire on Monday, Trump said "radical Islam" has arrived on American shores and that if Clinton is elected she would continue an immigration policy that would result in more attacks. "What I want is a common sense," Trump said. "I want a mainstream immigration policy that promotes American values designed to benefit America." He said Clinton would continue an "incompetent" policy "designed to benefit politically correct special interests." During his speech, Trump warned that thousands of refugees slated to be relocated to the U.S. after fleeing the civil war in Syria represent a potential threat, and he reiterated his demand that no Muslims be allowed to immigrate to the U.S. without stronger background checks. Speaking earlier in the day in Cleveland, Clinton said that in the aftermath of the deadliest shooting in American history and the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil since Sept. 11, 2001, the U.S. needs unity. "President Bush went to a Muslim community center just six days after the attacks to send a message of unity and solidarity," Clinton recalled. "To anyone who wanted to take out their anger on our Muslim neighbors and fellow citizens, he said, 'That should not, and that will not, stand in America.' "It is time to get back to the spirit of those days," Clinton said. Johnson, meanwhile, called the killings "clearly a tragic and despicable attack. "Regardless of what the motivation is ultimately found to be, this violence against innocent people simply going about their lives is both cowardly and infuriating," he said. "We must allow the authorities to do their jobs, understand how this attack came about, and then respond accordingly. It is not a time to either politicize or jump to conclusions." Sanders the Orlando killings is further evidence of the need to ban the sale of semi-automatic rifles such as the type used by Mateen. In an interview Sunday morning on NBC's "Meet The Press" television program, Sanders didn't address Mateen's reported ISIS sympathies. "I've got to tell you, for 25 years now, I've believed that we should not be selling automatic weapons which are designed to kill people," he said. "We've got to do everything we can on top of that to make sure that guns do not fall into the hands of people who should not have them -- criminals and people who are mentally ill -- so that struggle continues." Just days before the Orlando shooting, a group of 23 former military and intelligence veterans who belong to a group called the Veterans Coalition for Common Sense called on lawmakers "to close the loopholes in our background check laws that let felons, domestic abusers and the dangerously mentally ill buy guns without a criminal background check." The organization's members include retired NASA astronaut Navy Capt. Scott Kelly, whose wife, former Rep. Gabby Giffords, was shot and seriously injured by a gunman in 2011; retired Army Gens. David Petraeus and Stanley McChrystal; retired Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, who also led the National Security Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency; and retired U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen. The group also said it is focused on strengthening existing laws and making sure "lawmakers and stakeholders have the resources and training they need to prevent gun tragedies" and "partnering with other groups in the veterans' community on suicide prevention and mental health." Offering his own take on the Orlando killings during an interview Sunday on Fox News, Petraeus said it's time to get back to the "very clear, basic principles" to which the U.S. has always adhered. "We have been an inclusive society," he said. "We have welcomed immigrants from around the world. Certainly, you should do the background checks. Certainly, you should safeguard against individuals who wish us ill will and also, by the way, safeguard against the extremist thinking that has been behind some of these attacks, it's quite apparent. "But we don't do that by being exclusive, or by hate speech or other types of responses," he added. "I think you do that by pulling together." Separately, the U.S. Army's top officer has said he opposes letting soldiers carry their own concealed firearms on U.S. military installations. "I've been around guns all my life," Gen. Mark Milley said during an April 7 hearing on Capitol Hill. "I know how to use them. And arming our people on our military bases and allowing them to carry concealed privately owned weapons -- I do not recommend that as a course of action." His comments came during an April 7 hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee in response to a question from Sen. Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah, who asked about letting troops carry firearms at military installations abroad. Congress last year approved language in the annual defense authorization bill to let commanders authorize more troops -- not just military police -- to carry guns on a military installation, reserve center, recruiting station or defense facility in the U.S. as a force-protection measure. -- Bryant Jordan can be reached at Bryant.jordan@military.com. Follow him on Twitter at@BryantJordan. The Navy is calling on senior service leaders to assist in a wide-ranging review of enlisted job titles, or ratings, designed to eliminate gender-specific language and provide clarity. Chief of Naval Personnel Vice Adm. Robert Burke announced Tuesday the Navy was extending its review through the summer and into the fall, allowing the service to assemble a new working group of Navy leaders to study "how potential changes to rating titles may affect related personnel policy issues." Navy Secretary Ray Mabus first ordered a review of job titles for the Marine Corps and the Navy in January as the services opened previously closed positions to women. Mabus targeted jobs like "mortarman" and "fireman" in efforts to provide a more inclusive environment for female troops. The new elements of the review followed a recent meeting between Mabus, Chief of Naval Operations John Richardson, and Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Mike Stevens, according to an announcement from Burke's office. During the meeting, according to the announcements, the service leaders agreed to develop a new approach to enlisted job titles that would go beyond simple making them more gender-neutral. They called for ratings that would also provide greater detailing flexibility, training and credentialing opportunities, and that would communicate jobs and roles more clearly to the American public. "As we move to achieve full integration of the force, mirroring more closely the nation that we defend, this is an opportunity to update position titles and descriptions to be more inclusive and better translate occupation and skill sets to prospective employers when Sailors and Marines leave the service," Mabus said in a statement. This approach will also align the title review effort with personnel changes that are part of the Navy's Sailor 2025 initiative, said Lt. Cmdr. Nate Christensen, a spokesman for Burke. Sailor 2025, among other things, aims to reorganize training to make it more relevant to specific job responsibilities and to deliver it as a sailor needs it in his or her duties, rather than front-loading most of it at the start of a career. It also follows the Navy's new billet-based distribution system, launched in February, that assigns sailors to billets in a more streamlined fashion based on rate, rating and Navy Enlisted Classification. The Sailor 2025 initiative reorganizes current Navy training and delivery methods into blocks of learning that will be delivered closer to the time of actual use in a Sailor's duties. Accession level training courses will be redistributed across the Navy's entry programs, initial service schools, and the first two operational tours of a Sailor's career. "We expect the results of this review to go well beyond new names for existing rates," Christensen said. The review was expanded after Stevens assembled a first working group of master chief petty officers earlier this year to evaluate the Navy's existing ratings system. According to a Defense Department official with knowledge of the process, the group developed four different courses of action with regard to the existing job titles. While a more comprehensive overhaul of the system meant more work, the master chiefs concluded that the time was right for such an effort, the official said. This new working group would be overseen by Burke and include senior enlisted leaders and officers from around the fleet and from the Navy's personnel staff, said Christensen. The group will examine possible second- and third- order effects of changing rating titles, from potential impacts to career advancement to exams, training and uniforms. "We envision a point where some combinations of today's rates, with similar training and experience, can quickly and easily cross into the occupations of other similar rates with a limited amount of additional training or experience," Christensen said. "This has the potential to enhance career flexibility and detailing options for our Sailors, while also improving 'fit' -- our ability to get the right Sailors with the right skills into the right billets across the fleet." The Navy expects to release the results of this review later this fall, according to the announcement. Meanwhile, a Marine Corps review of the service's own job titles is ongoing. Marine officials did not immediately respond to questions from Military.com about the status of that review. -- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck. Related Video: All three crew members are safe after a Navy MH-60S Seahawk helicopter crashed this morning in the James River, near Newport News, Virginia. The helicopter, assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 2 and flying from Norfolk Naval Station Chambers Field, went down at approximately 10:30 a.m., a spokesman for Naval Air Forces Atlantic, Mike Maus, told Military.com. According to news station WKTR, a fishing vessel discovered the crash and made a mayday call shortly after 11 a.m. The Seahawk's three crew members were taken aboard a private boat, which carried them to safety, the station reported. The Newport News Police Department also responded to the crash, Maus said. The crew members were ultimately transported to Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, about 25 miles away. Little information is available about their injuries, but Navy officials said they are believed to be non-life threatening. The cause of the crash will be determined by a mishap investigation board, officials said. This marks the fourth aircraft loss in less than a month for the Navy. On May 26, two F/A-18 F Super Hornets went down after colliding off the coast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. All four personnel aboard the aircraft were rescued. And on June 2, Blue Angels solo pilot Capt. Jeff Kuss was killed when his F/A-18C Hornet crashed shortly after take-off ahead during air show practice in Smyrna, Tennessee. -- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus appeared at the Iwo Jima Memorial Tuesday night to honor the women who staffed and participated in the Marine Corps' research on women in combat and to announce the naming of a new Navy Arleigh-Burke Class guided missile destroyer. DDG 123 will be named the USS Lenah H. Sutcliffe Higbee, Mabus announced, after a Navy nurse who served as superintendent of the Navy Nurse Corps during World War I, and was the only living woman to receive the prestigious Navy Cross medal. The contract for the $673 million destroyer in March was awarded to Ingalls Shipbuilding, a unit of Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc. The ship, expected to enter the fleet in 2024, will be the second named for Higbee; the first was a Gearing-Class destroyer in service for the Navy from 1945-1979. "In the Navy, per traditional ship-naming convention, our guided missile destroyers, DDGs, are named after heroes," Mabus said in prepared remarks. "As someone who defied traditional roles and made her own path because she wanted to serve, Lenah Sutcliffe Higbee's devotion to this country through the First World War laid critical groundwork for women in uniform today, and solidified her place in history as a true American hero," he added. Mabus praised the contributions of women to the Navy and Marine Corps, highlighting the sacrifices of troops including Cpl. Holly Charette, the first female Marine to be killed in Iraq in 2005 when a vehicle carrying explosives struck her vehicle, and Maj. Megan McClung, who was killed in 2006 in Ramadi, Iraq, when her Humvee hit an improvised explosive device. "American women have, time and again, proven their ability, tenacity and courage," the secretary said. "And they have and will continue to make our fighting force stronger through their actions." Mabus also thanked participants in the Marines' Ground Combat Element Integrated Task Force, a nearly year-long initiative in 2014 and 2015 to gather data on the impacts of women serving in previously closed ground combat jobs. When task force data released by the Marine Corps showed that teams with female members were more injury prone, slower, and less accurate than all-male teams, Mabus was quick to publicly voice his displeasure. In a September 2015 interview with National Public Radio, Mabus said the task force should have solicited more physically capable female Marines, and suggested the organizers of the task force had been expecting women to fail. "It started out with a fairly large component of the men thinking 'this is not a good idea,' and 'women will never be able to do this,'" he said at the time. "When you start out with that mindset, you're almost presupposing the outcome." Mabus struck a gentler note, however, in his remarks Tuesday night. "We are here tonight to say thank you to everyone who has had a role to play in the full integration of women into our armed services," he said. "To the participants in the Marine Corps' Ground Combat Element Integrated Task Force, to the people who I know were in the Pentagon during the holidays working around the clock to craft the policy change: your work was instrumental in eliminating yet another needless barrier." Mabus, who is wrapping up a seven-year tenure as secretary of the Navy, said he had traveled more than 1.2 million miles around the globe to visit Marines and sailors where they were stationed and speak to them about their concerns. "I've spoken with sailors and Marines about being deployed, about what sustains them throughout deployments, and about what drives them to be so good at what they do," he said. "And that spirit is not about gender, race or who you love; it's about selflessness and character - something hard to miss on an evening like tonight." -- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck. Related Video: President Barack Obama on Tuesday angrily hit back at the presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and others who routinely criticize him for not using the phrase "radical Islamic terror" when talking about the Islamic State or other extremists groups. The president said "the rhetoric and loose talk and sloppiness about who exactly we're fighting" has now reached a point where "the presumptive Republican nominee for president" proposes to ban all Muslims from immigrating to the United States. "Where does this stop?" Obama asked. Trump reiterated his proposal Monday during a New Hampshire speech where he cited themass killing of patrons early Sunday at an Orlando, Florida nightspot as further proof that "radical Islamic terrorism" threatens the U.S. He also said the killer, Omar Mateen, was "born an Afghan," but he was actually born in New York to immigrant parents. Speaking to reporters after a meeting at the Treasury Department, Obama, who is scheduled to travel to Orlando on Thursday to visit with surviving victims and families of those killed in the shooting rampage, denounced Trump's rhetoric. "The Orlando killer, one ofthe San Bernardino killers, theFort Hood killer -- they were all U.S. citizens. Are we going to start treating all Muslim Americans differently? Are we going to start subjecting them to special surveillance?" he asked. "We've heard these suggestions during the course of this campaign. "Do Republican officials actually agree with this?" he said. Obama has routinely been criticized by Trump, GOP lawmakers and others who say his refusal to use the phrase "radical Islamic terrorism" suggests he is playing down the Muslim religion's connection to terror. He called the criticism a political distraction. "What exactly would using this label accomplish? What exactly would it change?" he asked. "Would it make [Islamic State] less committed to trying to kill Americans? Would it bring in more allies? Is there a military strategy that is served by this? "The answer is None of the above," he said. What it would do, instead, Obama said, is serve the interests of the terrorist, who want the world's one billion Muslims to believe the U.S. or the West is at war with Islam. "There is no magic to the phrase 'radical Islam,'" he said. "It's a political talking point. It's not a strategy." Turning to the killings in Orlando, Obama said Republican lawmakers could adopt "common sense steps" to stop violence by giving the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms the resources to enforce current gun laws and by ensuring that people who are on a terror watch list that won't let them on a plane also won't let them buy a gun. Obama also said that the assault weapons ban should be reinstated. Regardless of the efforts made by law enforcement across the country, he said, unless there are stricter gun laws put in place, mass shootings will continue to happen. "Enough talking about being tough on terrorism," he said. "Actually be tough on terrorism, and stop making it easy as possible for terrorists to buy assault weapons." -- Bryant Jordan can be reached at Bryant.jordan@military.com. Follow him on Twitter at@BryantJordan. The U.S. Senate has approved a fiscal 2017 defense authorization that calls for a 1.6 percent military pay raise, reduced housing allowances and changes to the health care system. The upper chamber of Congress on Tuesday voted 85-13 in favor of the legislation, known as the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, which sets policy and spending targets for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1. The $602 billion bill would curb the military's Basic Allowance for Housing, or BAH, for new entrants beginning in 2018 by only covering what they actually pay in rent and also reduce the combined value of the benefit received by military couples or roommates, according to text of the legislation. The bill also calls for a 1.6 percent pay raise for troops, updating the military health care and weapons acquisition systems, and requiring women to register for the draft. "The NDAA contains the first major update to Pentagon organization in 30 years and sweeping reforms to the defense acquisition system necessary to harness American innovation and preserve our militarys technological edge," Sen. John McCain, a Republican from Arizona and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement afterward. "The legislation also modernizes the military health system to provide military service members, retirees, and their families with higher quality care, better access to care, and a better experience of care," he added. Now that both the Senate and House of Representatives have approved their versions of the annual defense authorization bill, a conference committee will convene to work out the differences between the proposals. It wasn't immediately clear when that work was expected to conclude. The House this week began work on a separate defense spending, or appropriations, bill. The authorization bills contain major areas of disagreement between the two chambers, including on the issues of the military pay raise and housing allowances. The House, for example, pushed for a 2.1 percent increase in pay in keeping with private-sector wage growth and didn't include the provision to overhaul the Basic Allowance for Housing. The Senate wants the housing benefit for military troops to be more like the one offered to the State Department's foreign service officers, who are compensated for actual rental or housing costs. The Senate legislation calls for beginning Jan. 1, 2018, setting the allowance for new entrants at "the actual monthly cost of housing" or an amount "based on the costs of adequate housing" for each military housing area, according to a copy of the legislation. It also states two or more service members occupying the same housing would split the allowance. Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine introduced amendments to strike the language from the bill. But they -- along with many others -- weren't debated due to a procedural obstruction from Sen. Mike Lee, a Republican of Utah, who refused to allow a vote on other measures after his proposal to prevent the government from indefinitely detaining American citizens captured on U.S. territory wasn't taken up. McCain blasted the parliamentary tactics, saying such maneuvering was never intended to be used to stifle debate and action in the upper chamber. "That's not the way the Senate was intended to function," he said during a speech on the floor. "That's not the way the Senate should function." McCain continued his criticism of the tactic in his statement. "I regret that the Senate was unable to debate and vote on several matters critical to our national security, many of which enjoyed broad bipartisan support," he said. "In particular, I am deeply disappointed the Senate was not able to increase the number of special immigrant visas for Afghans who risked their lives to help America in a time of war, and whose lives are still at risk today. "Too often throughout this process, a single senator was able to bring the Senates work on our national defense to a halt," McCain added. "This was a breakdown in the decorum of the Senate, and one that will have serious consequences." The chamber, however, was able to vote on some amendments, including one to strike a provision that would have crafted a pilot program to privatize some military commissary stores. On health care, the Senate bill would authorize three "new and improved" Tricare plans called Tricare Prime, Tricare Choice and Tricare Supplemental. It would eliminate existing cost-shares for services provided under the current Tricare Standard plan and replaces them with fixed co-payments. --Brendan McGarry can be reached at brendan.mcgarry@military.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Brendan_McGarry. Erik Jones celebrates in Victory Lane after winning Saturday night's Battle at Berlin 251 at the Berlin Raceway in Marne. (Photo courtesy of Tom DeVette) Byron's Erik Jones recorded an emotional victory Monday night at the Berlin Raceway in Marne. Jones, of Byron, captured top honors in the Battle at Berlin 251, marking the second consecutive year the rising NASCAR star has conquered one of the short-track's marquee events. The victory comes nearly one week after losing his father, Dave Jones, 53. Mr. Jones passed away June 7 to cancer, and Jones quickly paid tribute to his dad via Twitter after recording the win in the race featuring the CRA Super Series. Jones beat out Georgia driver Bubba Pollard, the race's pole sitter, by 2.335 seconds for the win on the Marne half-mile. Jones overtook Coopersville's Johnny VanDoorn on lap 194 and led the rest of the way. Wyoming's Brian Campbell appeared poised to challenge Jones in the waning laps before succumbing to a broken oil pump. In all, 10 of the 26 cars finished on the lead lap. Jones is the defending NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion who has transitioned nicely into the Xfinity Series this season. Jones finished fourth in Saturday's Xfinity race at Michigan International Speedway before making the trip to West Michigan. Jones, who started third Monday, has a pair of Xfinity wins this season. Click here for full results. Hartland Twp.png HARTLAND TWP, MI -- A 17-year-old driver lost control of her car and struck a mobile home, causing a gas line to rupture and explode, police say. At 10:05 p.m. Monday, June 13, Michigan State Police troopers responded to a report of a car crashing into a residence in the 13000 block of Denver Drive in the Hartland Meadows mobile home park, located about 30 miles north of Ann Arbor in Livingston County. The preliminary investigation shows the driver, who is from Hartland, lost control of her white, 2003 Lexus and hit the mobile home. The car hit a gas line and caused it to rupture and explode, according to MSP. Livingston County EMS transported the driver, who suffered minor injuries, to the University of Michigan hospital. MSP's preliminary investigation shows the driver may have used drugs prior to the crash. Hartland Township Fire Department, Highland Township Fire Department, DTE Energy, Consumers Energy and Livingston County EMS assisted at the scene. The crash remains under investigation. Lindsay Knake is a cops and courts reporter for The Ann Arbor News. Follow her on twitter or contact her at 989-372-2498 or lknake@mlive.com. ANN ARBOR, MI -- People can get a glimpse of celebrity life in a new way this summer at the University of Michigan Museum of Art. The exhibit "Catherine Opie: 700 Nimes Road" by photographer Catherine Opie documents the late actress Elizabeth Taylor's home, focusing not on her, but her mementos and knickknacks she had throughout her home. In 2010, Los Angeles-based Opie spent six months at Taylor's home located at 700 Nimes Road in Los Angeles just before Taylor died the following year. There, Opie photographed seemingly innocuous objects, jewelry and clothes that Taylor had at her house, curating over 3,000 images, to create the exhibition and a book of the same name. "We see things about a person that are quite intimate and personal," said Jennifer Friess, curator of photography at UMMA. "We see spaces and objects that really become a self-image of the celebrity. It makes it quite intriguing, to get to know a celebrity through these oblique views of her home." Opie's exhibit tries to capture the essence of Taylor's life through her mementos, showing viewers that she was an ordinary person while also communicating the same eccentricity that Taylor was known for. "It's an interesting way of shaking up the concept of celebrity," said Friess. "To take a celebrity and give the public some other way of approaching what it means to be a portrait or how identity is manifested in various ways is something that is very appropriate." The exhibition contains 50 images from the "700 Nimes Road" series as well as those from another series from Opie called "Closets and Jewels." The exhibit is a departure of Opie's usual work, which includes mostly portraiture and studio work. Taking a break from that and diving into a project that doesn't photograph anything but objects is what Friess said makes the exhibit compelling. "Her portraiture has a really direct quality about it," she said. "This series never actually represents the person they're alleged to portray. We never see Elizabeth Taylor, yet she's focusing on all these details from her home." "Catherine Opie: 700 Nimes Road" will be on exhibit from June 11 until Sept. 11 in the A. Alfred Taubman Gallery at the University of Michigan Museum of Art, 525 S. State St. in Ann Arbor. Admission to the gallery is free. Gallery hours are: 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, noon until 5 p.m. Sunday and closed on Monday. This Account has been suspended. Yet another area of Myanmars financial system is facing regulatory reform. Work on a leasing law is very likely to start this year, according to an official at the International Finance Corporation, which believes a leasing industry will improve financial access for small firms and ultimately promote economic development. Although a billion-dollar industry in many countries, leasing where firms or individuals rent equipment or vehicles rather than buy them is rarely practised in Myanmar. Leasing as an economic activity is largely unregulated here, and there is no specific legal framework. In developed economies, around 30 percent of the equipment used by firms is leased and in some sectors like agriculture the figure can be as high as 70pc, according to Daw Khin Thida Maw, the IFCs country officer for Myanmar. The IFC is keen to support the development of a leasing law in Myanmar. Existing and potential leasing industry players in Myanmar have strongly requested the IFC and the Central Bank to develop a leasing law, the IFC said in a note. A thriving leasing industry comes with several benefits. Rather than having to buy equipment, everyone from individual farmers to large firms can reduce expenditure by renting instead. Construction firms are key users of leasing services in many countries, and Myanmar has mammoth infrastructure needs across sectors like power and transport. Many of the countrys farmers also lack sufficient agricultural equipment to manage harvests, a seasonal shortfall that firms leasing agricultural equipment could help cover. Renting equipment through leasing contracts also helps businesses build up a credit history, which banks can then access to help manage risks when lending, according to the IFC. Myanmars lack of regulation has not stopped companies from providing leasing services, however. Yangon-based Yoma Fleet leases cars and small-scale construction equipment like cement mixers. Car dealerships like Hyundai Motor Myanmar offer leasing services, but only for their own passenger vehicles. International firms have yet to move into Myanmars leasing sector. BOT Lease the leasing arm of Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ expects to become the first foreign company with a representative office in Myanmar later this year. Local banks and financial firms are allowed to offer leasing and hire-purchase, where an asset such as a vehicle or piece of machinery is paid for in instalments and can be used by the buyer while the payments are being made. Hire-purchase has become popular, but leasing has not. The main issue is that there is no legal framework for dealing with defaults in either hire-purchase or leasing, said U Mya Than, chair of Myanmar Oriental Bank, whose subsidiary Oriental Leasing was set up in 1995. Oriental Leasing offers hire purchase on automobiles, some types of machinery and apartments. But if a customer defaults on payments, the firm may have to go through a time-consuming and costly court procedure to get the asset back, he said. Thats why we urgently need legislation on leasing and hire-purchase. Despite its name, Oriental Leasing only offers hire-purchase, because the challenge of retrieving assets post-default makes dealing in higher-value equipment that leasing firms in other countries typically offer too risky, he added. At a workshop on leasing held earlier this year, one bank offering hire- purchase services recounted a case where it took three-and-a-half years to recover a vehicle on which a customer had defaulted, said Allan Davidson, Yoma Fleets general manager. The key to growing Myanmars leasing industry and attracting new firms is a legal framework for repossessing assets, which would be covered in a leasing law, he added. A good leasing law would provide better protections for lessors, while lessees would enjoy smaller down-payments and lower collateral requirements, said Daw Khin Thida Maw. U Soe Moe Naing, business development manager at Yoma Fleet, said the down-payment for leasing was typically around 10 percent of the assets value, while for hire-purchase it is 20-30pc. As part of the IFCs wider efforts on secured transactions, the organisation also encourages the development a collateral registry. This could be used not only by firms to register the asset being leased, but also by banks, manufactures or wholesalers using inventory financing and the public, Daw Khin Thida Maw said. The Central Bank of Myanmar will extend its replacement scheme for old notes until next March, to take as many damaged notes as possible out of circulation, according to a June 13 announcement. The monetary authority has accepted decomposed, torn and damaged notes since August 2009 in a program that is renewed annually. Each year the scheme has been liberalised and now includes notes worth between K1 and K5000. The K10,000 note, the highest denomination in circulation, is not yet included in the scheme because it was only introduced in 2012 and is therefore not deemed sufficiently old to be in need of replacement. To be eligible for replacement, notes must have a full serial number and at least 70 percent of the surface must be intact. Old, torn or stained notes do not need to be patched up with tape, the Central Bank said yesterday. Notes damaged by fire or termites are also exchangeable at the Central Bank, if the holder can provide identity documents and a recommendation letter from their township administrator and the fire brigade or police. State-owned Myanmar Agricultural Development Bank is also now required to accept repayments on its agricultural loans to farmers, regardless of the condition of the notes. Notes in circulation in rural areas are often in worse condition than those in the cities. Cashiers at private banks are supposd to accept damaged notes, but frequently argue with customers and refuse to take money if it is damaged, because they fear they will be unable to use it or exchange it with the Central Bank. Customers [holding damaged currency] should come first to the Central Bank, or if not, they should go to branches of [state-owned] Myanma Economic Bank, said a Central Bank director who asked to remain anonymous. The Central Bank cannot force commercial banks to take damaged notes, but has asked banks to be more lenient, he said. The monetary authority has already asked private banks to open counters specifically for the exchange of old notes. Since 2009, the Central Bank and MEB have exchanged massive amounts of old notes, the director said, and supply seems obviously reduced. In its announcement yesterday the Central Bank said it had issued updated instructions to state banks. Even though internally displaced person (IDP) camps in areas controlled by the Kachin Independence Army have not yet faced ration cuts, there is concern about potential food shortages in the event that local and international donors reduce funding. [This is the second installment in a two-part Special Report. Read the first installment here] Je Yang, one of the biggest camps in Laiza, with 8780 IDPs, can provide residents with rice, oil and beans. But one-third found jobs just over the Chinese border after camp authorities stopped paying the monthly K7000 supplement. Both men and women work illegally on the other side of the border, across the creek, because its not easy to get a passport. They can earn good money, but sometimes the Chinese authorities arrest them, said camp leader Naw Sai. Men arrested in China for illegal immigration can be sent to prison. But women face the risk of being illegally trafficked. Tempted by the prospect of freedom from hunger and insecurity, many young women see entry into China as the way to a better life. But they are deceived. Hka Tawng, head of the local womens affairs committee, said, Recently one young woman came back to the camp. She had been sold for marriage to a Chinese man for 25,000 yuan [K23 million, or US$19,000] when she was 14 years old. After suffering daily beatings from her husband and family members, she returned to the camp with her young son. But she was then forced for lack of money to return to China to work. The camps womens protection group has arranged sewing training programs for young women to earn income within the country. But camp leaders say more such situations are likely to arise if rations are cut. People who have been living in IDP camps face several difficulties lack of food, shelter, health and education for many years. Their prospects are bleak, and no date can be set for their return home. But they are aware that the way back to their villages can only come through the establishment of genuine peace between the government and the KIA. Kachin State is rich in natural resources such as gold, jade and other precious stones, as well as significant teakwood forests. The state was among the most fertile regions of the country before it turned into a battleground particularly since a 17-year ceasefire established in 1994 broke down in June 2011. Formal peace talks between the government and the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), for which the KIA serves as the military arm, resumed in November 2011 in Ruili, China. Negotiations have been ongoing ever since, but the KIO declined to sign last Octobers nationwide ceasefire agreement. The conflict has been perpetuated by the lack of trust on both sides. The fighting taking place today is the result of many years of failed political negotiations. Going home is impossible without genuine peace. The lives of thousands of people are getting worse as both sides put their own interests first, not caring what is best for the people, said U Zaw Gum, leader of the Bung Long camp in Namkham township, Shan State. Displaced people in government-controlled areas say they received no help from the previous government, and politicians never even visited their camps except during the election campaign. Then all the parties came and told us they would help get us home if they won. We havent seen them again since the election, said U Zaw Gum. Many people living in the camps, having little or no confidence in the previous governments peace process, voted for the National League for Democracy in the hope that party leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi could bring genuine peace by establishing a federal system. We voted for her, but we havent seen any particular improvement in our condition on the part of the government so far. We had a significant shortfall in aid funding in 2015, and we expect things to get worse, but no NLD representative has come to our camps yet. They dont seem very interested in our troubles, said U Zaw Gum. Well have to wait and see what the NLD does and how much it will take into account the views of the various ethnic groups when adopting their policies, he added. The NLD has not yet revealed its plans for the IDPs in conflict zones. Last month, representatives of the Joint Strategy Team, which is made up of NGOs, met in Nay Pyi Taw with Relief and Resettlement Minister U Win Myat Aye. We explained the difficulties IDPs face in the conflict zones and suggested what could be done to sustain their lives under secure conditions. They were willing to help us and to cooperate with our activities, said Daw Mary Tawn, director of Wunpawng Ningthoi (WPN), founded by Kachin-based churches, community-based committees and local NGOs at the KIA-controlled border town Mai Ja Yang in June 2011, in order to respond to the needs of Kachin people affected by the war. KIO officials are optimistic about the new governments peace process and hope the NLD can deal with the military to build a federal union based on the outcome of a political dialogue. The KIO refrained from signing the nationwide ceasefire agreement, but they are willing to discuss political dialogue with the NLD government. The KIO has formed a new committee with 10 high-ranking officials to pursue discussions. We want talks with the government, but they must lead to all-inclusive political dialogue as a means of establishing a genuine federal system. We dont want any group to be left behind, said General Ji Nawng, head of the KIOs Eastern Division. He said all the problems, including IDP issues, could be addressed automatically in a future political deal between the government and ethnic armed forces. I assume there are many issues the government needs to resolve. Peace is a very sensitive issue for them. Thats why we should give the NLD the time to find a solution. Its not easy to get a genuine peace overnight after 60 years of fighting, he added. As chair of the KIOs IDP and Refugee Relief Committee, he said the KIO was capable of taking care of IDPs living in its zones even if international donors cut their rations. We can also support them with funding from individual donors. If the international donors cut their assistance, the KIO will have to try to get more funding. Its not a big problem for us. We could supply enough food for them to survive, if not much more, said Gen Ji Nawng. The KIO says it is keen to negotiate with the government on a peace deal. On the other hand, many IDPs have lost hope of returning to their homes after years of uncertainty. Most IDPs in KIA-controlled areas are unaware of last years election, as voting did not take place in those regions. When the IDPs were asked about the new NLD government and the name of the current president, most could not answer. They have heard of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, but seem to place little hope in her. Getting enough food to survive is a more pressing issue. Weve gone so long without meat. We eat mostly beans and rice provided by the camp, said Phaw Ran Lu Kyi at Je Yang camp. I would like my baby to eat nutrients like pork and beef more often, but I have no money to buy them. [This is the second installment in a two-part Special Report. Read the first installment here] Flooding in southern Rakhine State has left hundreds of people homeless and without enough to eat as torrential rain battered the area last weekend. On the night of June 11, houses were swept away in Thandwe and Taunggok townships, leaving villagers without supplies or drinking water, residents told The Myanmar Times. Ko Tun Thant Kyaw, a resident from Shwe Hlay village in Thandwe township, said that immediate needs include tents, rice, blankets and purified water. Many houses in Payit and Raycout villages were destroyed and over 700 people have been displaced due to the high water levels, he said. They have not received any aid yet from the government or the international community. Local civil society groups are providing aids to them now, said Ko Tun Thant Kyaw. According to the Thandwe Red Cross, over 45 houses out of 250 in Raycout village and nearly all 125 houses in Payit village were damaged in the downpour and subsequent flooding. Nearly 800 people in the township do not have enough to eat, the organisation said. People are staying in school buildings and monasteries. Some are staying with others in the houses that are left in the village, said a Red Cross official. He added that no deaths have been reported. Local media outlet the Democratic Voice of Burma reported on June 13 that six people had been killed in the floods across Rakhine State, including four in Thandwe township when a strong current swept them away while they were walking across a flooded field. According to the Rakhine State government, three ministers visited flood-affected areas yesterday to observe the impact of the rainwater and assess how to best to assist suffering families. Rakhine State Chief Minister U Nyi Pu said that the state government would provide aid and develop a resettlement plan. We are trying to help them quickly, he said. Resettlement is likely to be a lengthy process however, as most people lost all their belongings in the unexpected flood waters, and mud continues to cover most of the area, said Ko Myint Moe, a member of a local aid group in Thandwe. There was not much damage to crops because most fields were empty, he added. Aid needs to be provided but the areas are hard to reach now that infrastructure is affected. The government should try to provide aid, especially tents, but its been two days and they still have nothing, Ko Myint Moe said. On June 9, about 170 people lost their homes when a whirlwind caused chaos in a village in Minbya township, the Democratic Voice of Burma reported. On the same day, heavy rain inundated Kawlin township in Sagaing Region, leaving at least two dead and thousands of households stranded. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said his country wants to cooperate with the Myanmar government in dealing with inter-communal conflict in Rakhine State. Speaking in Nay Pyi Taw yesterday at a joint press conference with Minister for Foreign Affairs Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Mr Cavusoglu said Myanmar was a country of great cultural richness. Diversity shows richness. In terms of diversity, there are also Muslims and Christians here, so Im glad to know that the Myanmar government is working for them. In Turkey, we have also overcome such difficulties. We want to cooperate with the Myanmar government to deal with this problem, he said. Mr Cavusoglu said that during his two-day trip to Myanmar which ends today he would visit Rakhine State, where he would meet leaders from the different religious communities. There is a Turkish international aid group working in Rakhine, which has provided aid without discriminating against anyone. The organisation has already started some new projects, and there are plans to fulfill other needs, he said, adding that Turkey will provide additional aid in collaboration with the Union government and the Rakhine State government. Especially, as we have a good name in the world for constructing residential buildings, we want to work and share our experience in that sector, he said. Mr Cavusoglu said that because Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was leading the way toward internal peace in Myanmar, he was confident the situation in the country would improve. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said at the press conference that her government was working for a better situation in Rakhine, adding that she valued Mr Cavusoglus understanding of the delicacy of the circumstances there. She also requested reporters not to use inappropriate terminology when asking questions. In May she had urged avoidance of the terms Bengali and Rohingya, which she said have political implications that are not acceptable to many people. In his meeting with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Mr Cavusoglu also discussed education and cultural relations. He said Myanmar and Turkey both have a desire to improve diplomatic relations, and he expressed his hope that Myanmar would soon open an embassy in Turkey. We want to open embassies across the world, but it is difficult for us to open all of them at the same time, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said. We are trying all the time to improve our international diplomatic relationships. Mr Cavusoglu said he would also like to see direct air links between Myanmar and Turkey, as well as an increase in mutual trade beyond the current annual figure of US$38 million, which he said is too low. Id like to open an office for ministers from both countries over mutual relationships, and we want to increase trade between us, he said, adding that Turkey would also like to help Myanmar improve its health and education infrastructure. There are many things we could collaborate on. Both sides have the desire to collaborate, Mr Cavusoglu said. Translation by Zar Zar Soe and Thiri Min Htun Chinese officials are working hard to sell the Myitsone dam amid continued silence from the government about the suspended mega-project in Kachin State. Tian Shanting, cultural counsellor of the Chinese embassy in Yangon, told The Myanmar Times that the dam will not only have positive benefits for the electrification of Myanmar but could act as a source of water while much of the country suffers from dry reservoirs. Myanmar needs electricity. The current amount generated is insufficient for the country, especially during the summer season when blackouts are common, he said. And after the construction process, [the dam] can used as a water supply and can help resolve the water scarcity problem during the summer season. Daw Ja Hkaung, whose farmland in Tang Hpre village was confiscated due to the dam, scolded the cultural counsellor, and said the enumerated benefits are groundless given that there is no water shortage in Kachin State. He should know where most of the water scarcity problems occur in our country. His suggestions for restarting the dam are not reasonable, she said. Much of the controversy over the project, and the public resistance to it, stems from the fact that 90 percent of the electricity generated would betransmitted to China. Other criticism surrounds the dams environmental impact and effect on local communities, which then-president U Thein Sein cited when ordering the suspension in 2012. Emboldened by the National League for Democracys election victory, China has launched a charm offensive, lobbying hard to restart the project. On June 3, the Chinese ambassador was greeted by protesters in the Kachin capital where he met with state government officials. He was told the project could not be resumed without the support of local residents. The Upstream Ayeyawady Confluence Basin Hydropower Company the joint venture comprising China Power Investment Corporation, the Ministry of Electric Power and Asia World which is slated to build the dam announced last month that the suspension of Myitsone is a business issue to be solved through negotiations between countries. However, due to the sensational publicity in the international community and the deliberate distortion by a few groups with ulterior motives, the issue of suspension has been highly politicized, the announcement said. Just over one-third of students who sat for their matriculation exams this year in Mandalay Region have passed, the Department of Basic Education announced. The result is higher than the national pass rate of 29.9 percent announced in state media this weekend. Out of 91,688 who registered for the exam in Mandalay, 35.5pc or 32,551 students achieved scores high enough to matriculate. Those who passed will now be allowed to register for university education. Results revealed on June 11 were slightly down from last year, when 38.6pc of students passed. Last year the national pass rate was 37.6pc. I was so excited when I checked my results. I was worried, but I am happy because I passed with one distinction, said Ma Su Myat Phyo, who took her tests at the Aung Myay Tharzan township exam centre. Within Mandalay Region, the highest percentage of students passed in Mandalay district, at 40.58pc. The order from there was 38.06pc in Meiktila, 38.46pc in Pyin Oo Lwin, 31.32pc in Nyaung-U, 31.06pc in Myingyan and 29.55pc in Yamethin. Kyaukse District scored lowest at 29.44pc. I am relieved that my child passed the matriculation exam. It is important for them to be able to choose the right next steps for their future, said U Ye Win Aung, a parent from Pyigyitagun township, part of Mandalay district. Though unwilling to comment on the results, some parents said teaching methods have to be improved in order to achieve a higher graduate rate in the future. I am not in the position to comment on the percentages of the results. But, I would like to say that teaching for grade 11 matriculation students may need to change, U Ye Win Aung said. Out of all students who passed in Mandalay Region, nearly 25pc received distinctions, including 279 students who received distinctions for six subjects. Translation by San Layy Taking precautions against drought, the Ministry of Agriculture is encouraging farmers to stop growing summer paddy in areas where water is scarce, according to deputy minister U Tun Win. Though the previous government wanted farmers to prioritise growing paddy, with water reservoirs near empty in several parts of the country, farmers will now be motivated to grow crops that are more cost-effective, U Tun Win told MPs in the Pyithu Hluttaw on June 10. The deputy minister said that low water levels in storage dams as a result of climate change would make it more beneficial to grow crops that need less water than summer paddy. Growing 1 acre of rice needs the same amount of water as 6 acres of other crops like beans, sesame and cotton. Those crops are three times as profitable as paddy, U Tun Win said. U Nay Soe, an agriculture studies graduate, said that the previous governments aim to promote rice as the national crop was not realistic given the countrys water supply. He reiterated what the deputy minister said about water usage for summer paddy versus other crops, but added, This idea was left untouched, because paddy was designated as the national crop. Yearly, about 15 million acres of monsoon paddy and 2 million acres of summer paddy are grown in the country, according to official figures.If the 2 million acres of summer paddy are replaced by other crops, there will be no worries for the domestic supply, U Tun Win said. Farmers in Nay Pyi Taw welcomed the governments decision. If you ask farmers, they will answer that they will grow matpe beans instead of summer paddy, said Ko Myo Lin Aung, a farmer from Pyinmana township. The military regime prioritised exporting beans and pulses, but the previous government emphasised rice as the main export produce. The current government has not prioritised a specific crop. Paddy gets a good price on the market now, and so do beans and other crops. It will be easier for farmers to grow other crops than paddy. I would like to ask the government to give more loans to grow other crops, Ko Myo Lin Aung said. Currently, farmers can get loans of K150,000 per acre of paddy and K20,000 per acre of other crops. Translation by Khant Lin Oo The probe into an alleged US$100 million gems fund heist has only become more convoluted with the addition of counter-investigations and infighting within the association that launched the initial complaint. In May, more than 80 members of the Myanmar Gems and Jewellery Entrepreneurs Association called for an investigation into the disappearance of funds. The complaint implicated senior officials of the previous government including the former president in an embezzlement scandal, allegations the ex-mines minister and ex-information minister have both denied. Last week, the chair of the Myanmar Gems and Jewellery Entrepreneurs Association, U Yone Mu, joined the crowd of deniers, standing against fellow members of his organisation. U Yone Mu said that another investigation will be launched with the aim of scrutinising his colleagues and how they had allocated the 10 million euros (US$11.3 million) earmarked for holding gems emporiums. The committee will audit where and how the 10 million euros were spent and determine how much was used, he said. He added that the Myanmar Jade and Gems Emporium central committee had allotted 10 million euros for an emporium fund from 93 million euros collected from a 1 percent tax on the official sales of gems and jades. That tax has been temporarily suspended during the ongoing investigations, including for the upcoming emporium slated for June 24. The central committee allotted a fund for the [Myanmar Gems and Jewellery Entrepreneurs Association] to hold the gems emporiums, he said, adding that the larger account had nothing to do with the association, but was controlled by him, the vice chair and secretaries that comprise the central committee. U Yone Mu said an association meeting will be held on June 15 to discuss the various controversies and scandals hitting the sector. He also denied allegations that the former president and a former minister of the Presidents Office had pocketed vast sums from the gems and jewellery industry body. The association did not give money to U Thein Sein and U Soe Thein. As [former mines minister] U Myint Aung said, donations were made systematically. We dont even know that U Thein Sein was given 7 million euros or that U Soe Thein was given 5 million euros for sure, U Yone Mu said. Entrepreneur association executive member U Kyaw Kyaw Oo, who has led the complaint, said the accusations were based on information provided by officials close to the former administration. He maintains that the associations 93 million euro ($104 million) account was drained, and left with just 7 million euro ($8 million) before the new administration took office. The three-member Ministry of Natural Resources team investiating the heist said last week it has completed its report into the situation, having interviewed only members of the gems entrepreneurs association. The former president and the ex-minister for the Presidents Officer were not interviewed as they were not deemed relevant to the official probe. Members of the entrepreneurs association said if the report continues to be internal, a lawsuit will be filed. The head of the associations Sagaing division has already pressed for chair U Yone Mu to be removed. U Aung Gyi, chair of the Sagaing Gems and Jewellery Entrepreneur Association said a no-confidence letter has been sent twice to the Ministry of Natural Resources, once on April 27 and again on May 27. The letter requested U Yone Mu be suspended due to a lack of transparency in dealing with vast sums of the associations money. U Aung Gyi also charged chair U Yone Mu with electing to the central committee friends and associates who did not even attend meetings in person. In response to the complaint and accusations, U Yone Mu said, This country has laws. The truth will come out, so I dont need to worry about it. Translation by Thiri Min Htun The government has stepped into a dispute in Ayeyarwady Region where local farmers complained that their land was contaminated by seawater because of the operations of a crab farm. The farm has been closed, and the home affairs ministry has threatened to take legal action after a complaint by local paddy farmers. Speaking in the Amyotha Hluttaw on June 9, deputy home affairs minister Major General Aung Soe said two Chinese nationals running the illegal crab farm in Naukmee village tract, Phyapon township, would face legal action. The deputy minister was responding to a question from U Thein Swe, MP for Ayeyarwady Region. In the case of the foreigners, we will take action according to the immigration law. Similarly we have ordered the [crab farm] buildings and workers to get off the land by the deadline. They are not granted a permit and they are not allowed to post a guard, he said, adding that his ministry would collaborate with the regional government to enforce the order. The deputy minister told MPs that two Chinese citizens had arrived in the tract in April to run a crab farm under the name of Daw Aye Saing, the owner of the Swan Pyae Sone company. According to the Phyapon township immigration department, the two held business visas but no permit from the fisheries department. The Ayeyarwady Region government had told them to return to Yangon, the deputy minister said. He added that the Phyapon township land management department had told the Chinese to fill in the ditches that allowed sea water to enter farmlands, and the regional authorities issued instructions to remove the buildings erected to farm softshell crabs and shrimp by June 20. Daw Aye Saing had applied to local authorities for permission to run the crab and shrimp farm last December. On being asked to review the application, Phyapon township authorities had recommended that it should be granted if the land in question was vacant or virgin land. The regional government accepted in February. However, on February 27, local farmer U Min Kywel complained to the regional government that his paddy yield had fallen due to saltwater penetration. A subsequent investigation confirmed that farmland had been destroyed by saltwater from a ditch dug to access salt water for the crab farming. Phyapon township then recommended that Daw Aye Saing pay compensation to five farmers, including U Min Kywel, for damaging 10 acres of farmland. Township authorities also recommended that work at the farm be suspended and that the saltwater ditch be filled in. The recommendations were accepted, the deputy minister said. However, the deputy minister invited Daw Aye Saing to apply for a review of the case under the Vacant, Fallow and Virgin Land Law, but said the government would sue her company under that law if it failed to comply. Translation by Thiri Min Htun As Myanmars new government gets down to business, one thing is increasingly clear there wont be much to look forward to for the countrys 1 million or so Rohingya people. The West has rejoiced at the election of a new government dominated by the National League for Democracy and headed, in effect, by the partys leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner. But for the Muslims of western Rakhine State Myanmars new era is already turning out to be a disappointment. There is almost certainly worse to come. The Rohingya have endured decades of harassment, marginalisation and ethnic cleansing at the hands of Myanmars old military regimes (and the local Rakhine people), amounting, some argue, to genocide. Everyone knew that Myanmars new leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, has also been ambivalent toward their plight. She has refused to even call them by their own name, for fear of offending the countrys often-Islamophobic Buddhist majority in the run-up to last Novembers general election, which she won by a landslide. But surely Myanmars first civilian government since the 1960s would be better than the murderous, kleptocratic rule of the generals? Maybe not. First came the news, in mid-May, that Myanmars foreign ministry now headed by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi had asked the American embassy not to use the term Rohingya on the spurious grounds that it was controversial and not supportive in solving the problem that is happening in Rakhine State. The request was utterly disingenuous. The Rakhine people might indeed prefer to call the Rohingya Bengalis implying that they are illegal immigrants from what is now Bangladesh but this is an essential part of the exclusion of the Rohingya from the mainstream of Myanmar life that constitutes the problem in the first place. Prompted by the visiting US Secretary of State John Kerry, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi returned to the theme on May 22, saying that her government would be firm about not using emotive terms like Rohingya or Bengali. Yet, as has been pointed out, she has never asked anyone chauvinist Buddhist monks, soldiers or legislators to refrain from using the term Bengali. The Rohingya will also have been disappointed that US President Barack Obama recently relaxed sanctions against Myanmar as a reward for its shift toward democracy, without mentioning the fact that nothing has changed in the authorities mistreatment of the Rohingya. Furthermore, it is evident that the Rohingya will be excluded from the formal peace process that the new government intends to take up with the rest of the countrys ethnic minority groups, such as the Kachin, Kayin, Chin, Shan and more. This process, inherited from the last government of President U Thein Sein, is an attempt to find a lasting resolution to the civil conflicts that have plagued the country virtually since its independence from Britain in 1948. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has called for a second Panglong-style peace conference, invoking the memory of an agreement her father, General Aung San, negotiated with indigenous ethnic groups in 1947 before he was assassinated. The recent peace process, however, has involved only those groups defined as indigenous peoples under the terms of the controversial, military-inspired 1982 Citizenship Act. The Rohingya are not citizens under that act, and they have never been included in any such process. In all likelihood, the new government will simply try to park the Rohingya issue, which is viewed as marginal. Myanmars new president, U Htin Kyaw, has set up a grand-sounding Central Committee for Implementation of Peace and Development in Rakhine State, which consists of 27 officials, including the members of the cabinet and representatives of the Rakhine State government, to be chaired by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi herself. But the Rohingya fear that this is merely a bureaucratic device meant to postpone taking any firm decisions, and they also worry that they may not even have any input into the committee. Meanwhile, the government will get on with drawing up the federal-style constitution that is needed to satisfy the political aspirations of other ethnic minority groups. There is a lot of sympathy among members of Daw Aung San Suu Kyis party, the NLD, for the suffering of the Kayin, Kachin and others over the past decades. So the party can be expected to negotiate in good faith with these groups, who are also represented institutionally at the higher levels of the NLD. There is very little sympathy, however, for the Rohingya among party ranks the NLD is only marginally less riddled with Islamophobia and prejudice against the Rohingya than the last military government. Neither do the Rohingya have any voice or representation in the NLD. Indeed, for the first time in recent years, since last Novembers election there is not a single Muslim legislator in the entire country, despite the fact that the Muslim population of Myanmar numbers up to 3 million. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi knows that that there is no political constituency in Myanmar for helping the Rohingya, just as she also knows that they do not have an armed wing (as most of the other ethnic groups do), so their capacity to make life difficult for the authorities has always been correspondingly less. In other words, apart from the demands of her own conscience, Myanmars de facto leader has little domestic incentive to do anything at all for the Rohingya. The risk is that pushing the issue to the margins will have a devastating effect on the already desperate situation of the Rohingya. Separated from the rest of the population in refugee camps, or cooped up in their villages, their movement is tightly restricted. They have been cut off from their former sources of livelihood and live under an apartheid-like system in their own land. Ambia Preveen, a Rohingya doctor working in Germany, estimates that 90 percent of the Rohingya are denied access to formal healthcare. A recent study of poverty and health in Rakhine State by S Saad Mahmood for Harvard University shows vast disparities between the Rohingya and the Rakhine: There is only one physician per 140,000 Rohingya, but in the parts of Rakhine State dominated by the Rakhine, there is one doctor per 681 people. Acute malnutrition affects 26pc of people in the Rohingya-dominated area of northern Rakhine state, whereas the figure is just 14pc in Rakhine-dominated areas, and so on. If the Rohingya give up on any prospects of change from this new NLD government and well they might then they will probably take to the boats again, as they did last year, fleeing in the thousands to other Muslim countries in Southeast Asia. They will risk drowning in flimsy crafts provided by unscrupulous human traffickers, and the crisis will merely spread abroad once again. What can be done? Since there is no domestic imperative to help the Rohingya, its up to countries like the United States and Britain to exert all the pressure that they can on Daw Aung San Suu Kyis government over this issue. The Western powers have helped enormously in rebuilding the NLD as a functioning political party, in providing Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her ministers with technical expertise and practical advice, and in beefing up the institutions, such as the national parliament, that have been at the fore of the democratic transition. Given this leverage, it must be made clear that the 1 million Rohingya are an essential part of that new democracy, and that even if they are not technically citizens under the present constitution one which Daw Aung San Suu Kyi herself rejects, albeit for different reasons the government will be judged by how far it protects and gradually includes them. And even if the NLD balks at giving the Rohingya citizenship as the United Nations, for one, has demanded it could at least repeal repressive legislation passed by the last military government, such as the four so-called race and religion laws. Passed in 2015, these laws were inspired by the nationalist, sectarian monks of the Ma Ba Tha movement, and are aimed squarely at restricting the personal freedom and choices of Myanmars Muslims. If enforced with any vigour, these laws could provoke even more tension, especially between the Rakhine and the Rohingya. The NLD stood against these laws when it was in opposition. Now it is in power, the party should repeal them, sending a clear signal that the new government is genuinely concerned with the human and civil rights of all those who live in the country, and that the Rohingya are part of the wider reform process. But the countrys other minority ethnic groups, and the Rohingya themselves, also have a role to play. The latter have long been isolated from their fellow minorities, politically as much as geographically, and this has added to their marginalisation. Although the plight of the Rohingya is now well advertised outside Myanmar, little is known about them in their own country. Rather than investing all their hopes for change in the international community, the Rohingya should now take the initiative to build bridges with the Kachin, Kayin, Mon and others, who have also suffered at the hands of the Bamar-dominated central governments, to strengthen their political position and to make their case more visible. It is in their interest of these other groups to overcome their own prejudices against the Rohingya, as the latter bring considerable international goodwill, diplomatic support and potentially money to the negotiating table. As much good as the international community can do, real change will not come until the political dynamics of the Rohingya issue change within Myanmar itself. The Washington Post Richard Cockett is The Economists former Southeast Asia bureau chief and is the author of Blood, Dreams and Gold: The Changing Face of Burma. The threat level of the mobile ecosystem is getting worse as individuals and organizations increasingly use this technology as their primary communications and computing solutions. Hackers are now fully aware of this shift, and their efforts to exploit mobile vulnerabilities have increased dramatically in the past couple of years. According to TrendMicro, "The threat actors are creating malicious mobile apps at an incremental rate compared to what occurred in the PC world. So we know that this attack surface (mobile devices) is a very attractive one to cyber thieves." As a global provider of cloud infrastructure and business mobility, with a major presence in large enterprises, VMware has a vested interest in protecting its customers growing population of mobile users. So the announcement five leading cloud access security brokers (CASBs) have joined the VMware AirWatch Mobile Security Alliance (MSA), provides a level of comfort for current and future customers. The MSA includes some of the leading digital security companies in the world. Check Point Software Technologies, FireEye and Intel Security are among the 17 partners who work with VMware engineering to provide customers a comprehensive security management solution from a single pane of glass. VMware said, Blue Coat Systems, Inc., CloudLock, Netskope, Palo Alto Networks and Skyhigh Networks will add their expertise in coming together to resolve the many challenges of mobile and cloud security by supporting the VMware AirWatch Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) platform. Noah Wasmer, senior vice president, product management, mobile products, End-User Computing, VMware, said, "Optimized integration between VMware Workspace ONE and CASB partner solutions enable quick action and remediation against threats from a single platform, simplifying mobile-cloud security and management." The integration of Workspace ONE with products and services from the new partners will offer customers validated solutions that provide security, visibility and control of applications and devices, and secure digital workspaces from the cloud. Today's collaborative workforce relies heavily on mobile and the cloud to bring resources together no matter where they are or what device they are using. VMware AirWatch and VMware Workspace ONE make enterprise mobility, identity management and cloud security available as a comprehensive solution to give customers a secure and compliant environment. With these solutions in place, organization can quickly identify security threats and vulnerabilities in cloud applications so they can enforce the necessary action on their mobile deployments instantly. This ability will dramatically lower the risks to mobile devices that are now always connected to company networks and cloud resources. Validated and integrated solutions from VMware, Blue Coat Systems, Inc., CloudLock, Netskope, Palo Alto Networks and Skyhigh Networks are now available. Edited by Peter Bernstein 14.06.2016 LISTEN Airtel, Ghanas Best Data and Internet Service Provider, has partnered with Roverman Productions to premier their second quarter thought-provoking and sidesplitting live theater performance 'Dear God, Comma'. The show was premiered to Airtel customers, employees, partners and a selection of the media. We invite our employees, our premier customers and other stakeholders to the premiere of these plays to give them firsthand experience and to celebrate them for the relationship we share. We cherish our customers for making us the telecom Network of choice in Ghana, our partners for doing business with us and our employees for being the driving force behind our success as a business. Marketing Director at Airtel Ghana, Rosy Fynn said. Dear God Comma tells the story of Prof Fiifi Aggrey and Dr. Mrs. Effe Aggrey who got to the zenith of their career and started encountering unexpected challenges and events that threatened to make waste all their accomplishments. The enthralling drama, engaging dialogue and dramatic twists in Dear God, Comma eloquently testified to Uncle Ebo and Rovermans exceptional ability in storytelling. Dear God, Comma will continue showing the weekend of 25th and 26th June and the 2nd and 3rd of July at the National Theatre. Airtel is Ghanas fastest growing telecommunication company and leader in data and digital innovation. About Bharti Airtel Bharti Airtel Limited is a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa. Headquartered in New Delhi, India, the company ranks amongst the top 3 mobile service providers globally in terms of subscribers. In India, the company's product offerings include 2G, 3G and 4G wireless services, mobile commerce, fixed line services, high speed DSL broadband, IPTV, DTH, enterprise services including national & international long distance services to carriers. In the rest of the geographies, it offers 2G, 3G and 4G wireless services and mobile commerce. Bharti Airtel had over 353 million customers across its operations at the end of January 2016. To know more please visit, www.airtel.com About Airtel in Africa Airtel is driven by the vision of providing affordable and innovative mobile services to all. Airtel has 17 operations in Africa: Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. Airtel International is a Bharti Airtel company. For more information, please visit www.airtel.com , or like the Airtel Ghana Facebook page via www.facebook.com/airtelgh or follow us on Twitter via the handle @airtelghana. Musician Gyedu-Blay Ambolley originally from Ghana and inventor of 'Simigwa', a Ghanaian musical genre, on Sunday June 12, 2016 was one of the thousands of people that attended the "Odunde" --the largest African-American street festival in the USA which is held annually in Philadelphia. The festival features authentic crafts, goods and food from the African diaspora. Odunde is Yoruba for Happy New Year,. The annual event honors traditions from the Nigerian culture, including a noon procession to the Schuylkill River in the city of Pennsylvania located in the state of Philadelphia to give offerings to Oshun, the Goddess of the River. "To me "Odunde" festival is a demonstration of our African culture to America especially to African Americans who were brought from Africa and have lost their African culture because of the different cultures that their children were and are born into. I think it is a good thing because every race has a culture and it is a important for Africans everywhere to identity with their real roots" -- Gyedu-Blay Ambolley. Ambolley thoughts on Odunde Ambolley who for the first time attended the festival in its 41st edition further disclosed to TheAfricanDream.net that he was invited to witness the festival since he happened to be in the Philadelphia area a few days prior in the company of Nathan Pryce of Pryce Levenson Corporation; his USA management and the Deputy Ghana Ambassador to the USA; His Excellency Skido Achulo to receive a citation and Liberty Bell Award from Jim Kenney; the Mayor of Philadelphia, as part of the city's recognition of him and Ghana. "The "Odunde" festival is indeed one colorful and amazingly authentic African festival here in the Diaspora, I am really impressed with its organizers and attendance and personally excited about the wonderful work the state of Philly is doing here to very soon name a street in honor of Ghana's first president Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah." This year, the "Odunde" saw hundreds of vendors hailing from Ambolley's native of Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and other African countries. Tourists, city dwellers and curious participants thronged the event in their thousands in search for a cultural and ancestral connection and the best of African, Caribbean and Soul foods, crafts, jewelry, clothing and networking opportunities. The festival's African Marketplace has in the past 4 decades of the existence of the "Odunde" been offering authentic items from countries in Africa, the Caribbean and South American continents to give this truly Afrocentric event a highly cosmopolitan appeal. Performers headed to the South Street Stage for an outdoor concert that featured hip-hop group Brand Nubian and old school rapper Biz Markie. His Imperial Majesty Prince Adeyeye Ogunwusi; the 51st Ooni of Ife, the traditional ruler of Ile-Ife in Nigeria was the special guest at this years event. Although Ambolley did not perform, he told TheAfricanDream.net that he was really impressed by the performance of all the entertainers and artistes, something which has inspired him to begin looking into the possibility of performing at the 2017 event. TheAfricanDream.net can confirm that while in the USA Ambolley will be visiting the Embassy of Ghana in Washington DC to present the citation received from Governor Jim Kenney to His Excellency, Lt. Gen. Joseph Henry Smith (Rtd), Ghanas Ambassador to the United States. While with the Ambassador, Ambolley will also talk about his plans to spread authentic Ghanaian highlife music globally and other matters. This visit is expected to happen in June 2016 To find out more about Gyedu-Blay Ambolley visit www.ambolley.com information is also available on the "Odunde" at odundefestival.org Deputy Ghana Ambassador To The Usa His Excellency Skido Achulo (left), Receives Liberty Bell Award From Jim Kenney; Mayor Of Philadelphia. Photo By Mr. Cnn-3gmedia 14.06.2016 LISTEN Who you surround yourself with is much more important than how many are in your network. There are many levels of personal, social and professional connections that can lift you higher or take you down. Some of the people can motivate you, give you good sound advice, and can be resourceful enough to provide that boost to help you right to the top. Inside my connections you will meet many types of people. It is very important to know who may be a good or bad influence on your goals and productivity so that you can handle them accordingly. Here are the top six types of great people I like hanging out with, and I recommend them to you: The Dreamer These are people who are passionate about my dreams. There positive energy makes me enjoy my work and make my dreams come true. They are idealist who will listen to my ideas, we share insights, and work. We help each other achieve our dreams. They do not criticism or give negative judgment in my brainstorming phase, giving me the vital relief while I put the plan together with possible alternatives. The Mentor I try to surround myself with as many confident, successful people as possible, no matter their field of expertise. I enjoy meeting and talking with these people and to bounce ideas off each other. Their stories inspire me and give me hope. They share their wisdom and experience and give direction. I am so grateful to these guys. The Insider Inside solid advice from the experts who seem to have a good handle on industry trends make a big difference. An insider usually gives me many predictions and advice where I should focus my energy. They keep me informed on what I should be using and what is becoming a weak strategy in my niche. The Social Media Master I have few of them. They have a strong grip on popular social media sites, proper etiquette, and they can give the right amount of promotion. They empower me on how to take advantage of social media, promote and defend my online brand and projects, and they help check my online content. I take their advice seriously and swiftly. The IT Guru Yes, I have one or two IT gurus. These guys are masters in IT and have done a good job in keeping ahead of the pack in terms of technology. They keep me on top of the changing technology, new innovations, updates, hot products, software, apps, and devices that are trending. Befriend an IT Guru can make your social networking so much easier. The Protege These are people hungry for wisdom and opportunities to improve themselves. They are good learners who constantly ask questions to further their cause and reach their dreams. I pay special attention to them because they are the future. Be careful about your close connections. Surrounding yourself with the right people is crucial to your personal growth and development. To be honest you truly need good friends to assist you in this journey of life. If you enjoyed this article, share it with your most favourite friends! Please share your thoughts, ideas and comments below! Copyright 2014 by Its My Footprint, www.itsmyfootprint.com/blog . About Taka Sande: Taka Sande is an author, an entrepreneur and development activist. He has a passion for making a difference by influencing and adding value to peoples lives. He is the founder of the blog Its My Footprint, http://www.itsmyfootprint.com /. You can also follow him on Twitter , Facebook and LinkedIn . London (AFP) - Crowds flocked to vigils around the world in shock at the shooting of dozens of Florida club-goers in the deadliest ever attack on the gay rights movement. Thousands lined the streets in the central London district of Soho, long a hub for the gay community in Britain, bursting into chants of "we're here, we're queer, we will not live in fear" under rainbow flags. A policeman at the scene estimated the crowd at between 5,000 and 7,000 strong, as other rallies took place in cities from Berlin to Bangkok. "It's about solidarity, it's a way for our voice to be to be heard -- to try to tell everybody that love wins," said Julius Reuben, 35, wearing towering heels and a long black dress. "It made me feel more insecure," he added. "We shouldn't have to protect ourselves so much, we should be accepted for who we are." The crowd in London released 49 brightly coloured balloons into the sky for each one of the victims of Sunday's massacre at the gay nightclub in Orlando, the worst mass shooting in modern US history. Standing outside the Admiral Duncan, a pub where three people died when a neo-Nazi planted a nail bomb in a homophobic attack in 1999, Jennifer Hersey, a 36-year-old originally from Texas, wiped away a tear as she looked out onto the crowd. "It's amazing, because people could be scared. It's better that people gather and meet together. Every time that something horrible happens, people come out," she told AFP. The leader of Britain's opposition Labour party Jeremy Corbyn attended the vigil as did London mayor Sadiq Khan, the first Muslim to hold the post. "It was an attack on our freedoms and our values," Khan said in a television interview before the rally. "What's really important is that we stand shoulder to shoulder with the victims and their families in Orlando." - 'Act of hate' - In Australia, the landmark Sydney Harbour Bridge was lit with the rainbow colours of the gay community flag as hundreds gathered to condemn terror and homophobia. "This could have happened anywhere," Paul Savage told AFP at a candlelit vigil for the victims on the busy strip that hosts Sydney's annual Mardi Gras pride march. "He could easily have walked into a bar in Sydney," he said, though he added that Australia's tighter gun laws were "much more helpful" in preventing the mass shootings that claim hundreds of lives each year in the United States. In Berlin, more than 100 people gathered outside the US embassy to lay flowers, light candles and wave rainbow flags. And in the Netherlands, the first country to legalise same-sex marriage, hundreds gathered at Amsterdam's "Homomonument", composed of three pink triangles, designed to commemorate gay men and women who have been persecuted because of their sexuality. But in Moscow a couple were arrested as they tried to leave a tribute outside the US embassy, the RBK newspaper reported. Islam Abdullabeckov, a social media editor for the newspaper, and his boyfriend Felix Glyukman were trying to leave flowers and a sign reading "Love wins - Stay with Orlando" outside the embassy when they were detained, they told RBK. In an outpouring of solidarity similar to that seen after the Paris and Brussels attacks, social media were awash with messages of support for the families of the victims. The Eiffel Tower was lit up in rainbow colours and the colours of the American flag in solidarity, as the city still reels from November jihadist attacks in which 130 people were killed. The Islamic State group, which was behind the Paris and Brussels attacks, also claimed responsibility for the Florida bloodshed. In one of several vigils across the United States, hundreds gathered in New York's Greenwich Village on Sunday to leave flowers beside a sign reading "Stop Hate", and the One World Trade Center's spire was lit up in rainbow colours. Leaders around the world sent condolences, with Pope Francis expressing shock at Mateen's "homicidal folly and senseless hatred". US President Barack Obama denounced the attack at the Pulse nightclub by slain shooter Omar Mateen, which also wounded 53, as "an act of terror and an act of hate". Airtels Evolve with STEM has launched clubs in three schools to aid the study of STEM; The launch was attended by stakeholders from the GES, Airtel Ghana and the CIMG; The inauguration of the STEM Clubs is the second phase of the Evolve with STEM initiative launched last year to inspire belief and transform mindset of young people towards Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Accra, 13th June, 2016: Airtel, Ghanas leading CSR Company for Education has in collaboration with the Ghana Education Service and the Exploratory an initiative of the African Women Advocacy Project activated the third phase of its Evolve with STEM initiative with the inauguration of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Clubs for three schools within the Ablekuma Central Circuit. The Clubs will provide a practical and fun way for pupils to learn and engage with STEM outside of the classroom and provide the over 100 signed up pupils from the Holy Family Catholic, Anglican and Mataheko JT Schools the opportunity to engage in practical activities, undertake projects and learn basic computer coding and programming. Club members also have the opportunity to participate in educational tours, STEM experiential fairs and activity based learning to expand their thinking and entrench what they learn in the classrooms. Dr. Connie Chow, founder and lead at the Exploratory said These clubs will build on the lessons pupils take in the classroom and provide an informal and experiential environment for them to learn and grow. Club activities are hands-on and fun. Club members will be working on individual and group projects in STEM that they can showcase to their peers and parents. We [The Exploratory] are excited to be partnering Airtel Ghana on the Evolve with STEM project to impact the lives of young people. Airtel Ghana has demonstrated its commitment to education and to promoting STEM through this initiative. Airtel Ghanas Managing Director, reigning CIMG Marketing Woman of the Year and the Telecom CEO of the Year, Lucy Quist said Over the last 6 months we have spent time with more than 1,000 pupils from the Mataheko Cluster of schools and beyond to inspire belief and transform mindsets about STEM. We also invested to build capacity, sharpen the skills of our STEM teachers and empower them to shape the minds of our young people. Today, we are launching the third phase of this initiative through the inauguration of the STEM Clubs. Through these clubs, we are providing an avenue for our children to learn by doing, to experiment, to explore and to get involved in practical, hands-on projects that will shape their minds and empower them to fully realise their potentials. She continued At Airtel Ghana, we believe in providing the platform for young people to fully realise their potential. This is why we continue to invest in education through our Schools Adoption programme and the Evolve with STEM initiative to shape the minds that will shape our future as a country and continent. She continued I want to extend my appreciation and that of Airtel Ghana to the CIMG for their support and endorsement of this initiative, to our partners and all those who have supported us along the way specifically the Exploratory, the Rotary Club of Tema, Novan Education, Ghana Robotics Academy Foundation, the Circuit Supervisor and Head teachers of the various schools under the Ablekuma Central Circuit and to all employees of Airtel Ghana who continuously making us a true force for good. Mentoring session As part of the programme, Airtel Ghanas Director for projects, Hilary Arko-Dadzie, inspired and challenged pupils to believe in themselves and to strive for excellence in everything they do. STEM Kit Donation Airtel Ghana made a donation of books, STEM kits and other learning materials to the support the STEM clubs. The STEM Fair A STEM Fair was organized in partnership with various organisations that work to promote STEM and innovation in the country such as The Exploratory, STEM Centre, GH Scientific, Novan Education and ThreeSixtyGh. Employees of Airtel Ghana also participated in the fair, taking pupils through experiments to bring to life what they learn in their classrooms. Airtel Ghana is renowned for its contribution to education in Ghana having received several awards in CSR including Best CSR Company for Education at the Ghana CSR Excellence Awards 2015. Evolve with STEM has impacted the lives of over 1000 pupils and some teachers through inspirational talks, experiential exercises and capacity building for teachers. About Bharti Airtel Bharti Airtel Limited is a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa. Headquartered in New Delhi, India, the company ranks amongst the top 3 mobile service providers globally in terms of subscribers. In India, the company's product offerings include 2G, 3G and 4G wireless services, mobile commerce, fixed line services, high speed DSL broadband, IPTV, DTH, enterprise services including national & international long distance services to carriers. In the rest of the geographies, it offers 2G, 3G and 4G wireless services and mobile commerce. Bharti Airtel had over 353 millioncustomers across its operations at the end of January 2016. To know more please visit, www.airtel.com About Airtel in Africa Airtel is driven by the vision of providing affordable and innovative mobile services to all. Airtel has 17 operations in Africa: Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. Airtel International is a Bharti Airtel company. For more information, please visit www.airtel.com , or like the Airtel Ghana Facebook page via www.facebook.com/airtelgh or follow us on Twitter via the handle @airtelghana. The about thirteen thousand community health nurses, who laid down their tools over how their certificates had been labelled, have now called off their strike. They say, they have managed to resolve their grievances with the Ghana Health Service. The Service had appealed to the nurses to relax their stance but the Labour Commission last week, ordered them to return to work. The nurses were demanding their certificate which now bares the title; Nursing Assistants, should rather be Community Health Nurses. But speaking to Citi News, the President of the Community Health Nurses Association, Esther Bamfo said they have come to some form of understanding, hence their decision. Our issues were two;one with our employer and the other one with MMC but for now we are done with that of our employer, that is why we are calling off the strike. Our employers say for them, they will maintain our name Community Health Nurse and they will also support any drive aimed at amending the MMC laws to recognize community health nurses and then also give us a community health certificate, she explained. She further urged all the striking nurses to return to work since the industrial action had been called off. The strike is off so nobody should stay in the house, everybody should return to work and I am also urging them to put in maximum efforts to work and work well. They must change their attitude and work for Ghana. By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana Follow @EfeAnsah 14.06.2016 LISTEN The Pension Reform Act (PRA), which established the National Pension Commission (PenCom), was enacted by the National Assembly (NASS) in 2004 to create a body that would regulate, supervise and ensure the effective administration of pension matters. Before then, pension schemes in the country were bedeviled by many problems, including the fact that the public service operated an unfunded Defined Benefits Scheme. Though the payment of retirement benefits was budgeted annually, most times there were no funds to execute the scheme. The situation was even worse in the private sector where many employees were not covered by the pension schemes put in place by their employers, and even where they were covered, many of the schemes were not funded. So, the PRA was hailed as pragmatic, just like PenCom, the regulatory body that would formulate, direct and oversee the overall policy on pension matters by establishing standards, rules and regulations for the management of pension funds. But what the PRA did not envisage in setting up PenCom was the establishment of a regulatory agency that would see itself as being above the law or which would go out of its way to undermine the same organisations it was set up to nurse to good health. Unfortunately, that seems to be the situation now. PenCom has become a law unto itself. Its management is contemptuous of court judgments and treats well-meaning advice from constituted authorities with levity. In PenCom, bias against certain business interests trumps equity and justice. That is a dangerous value proposition for a regulator in such a critical industry. The story of the regulator-engineered crisis that has engulfed an otherwise frontline Pension Fund Administrator (PFA) is pathetic. It is a classic illustration of the might is right philosophy of those who think they control the levers of power in Nigeria. The contrived crisis which has hobbled First Guarantee Pensions Limited (FGPL) for over five years is orchestrated by PenCom headed by Chinelo Anohu-Amazu. I commented on this matter a few weeks ago, hoping that somehow the shenanigans will stop. But the impunity continues and I am appalled and horrorstruck by the propensity of a government agency to flagrantly disobey court orders. To recap, FGPL is a Nigerian company incorporated in 2004 and licensed as a PFA in 2006, with a total 37 shareholders. Despite the teething problems, the management turned around the fortunes of the company in 2010 and subsequently paid dividends, a feat PenCom acknowledged. So happy was PenCom with the performance of FGPL that on February 23, 2011 it released its annual report on the performance of PFAs. And guess what? FGPL was categorised as the most improved PFA in 2010. Yet, barely one month later, precisely on March 22, 2011, PenCom queried the same management style that had earned FGPL the honour of being adjudged the most improved PFA. Sensing the axiomatic hand of Esau in the very untidy scenario, the shareholders of FGPL went to court to stop PenCom from implementing the target report. On August 11, 2011, Justice D. U. Okorowo of the Federal High Court, Abujagranted an ex-parte order requesting all parties, including PenCom, to maintain the status quo ante and stop implementing the target report pending the determination of the suit. However, that was the beginning of the reign of impunity. Notwithstanding the court order, PenCom on August 15, 2011 dissolved the FGPL board and appointed an interim management. A very dangerous affront on the courts. Where did the regulator acquire such powers to treat an order of the court with so much scorn? When did PenCom become an institution that is above the law? What provision of the PRA empowers the regulator to spurn judicial pronouncements? Not wanting to jump into the puddle of illegality with PenCom, the aggrieved shareholders petitioned the then Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke, on the disrespect for court order. The chief law officer of Nigeria wrote two letters dated August 17, 2011 (referenced HAGF/PENCOM/2011/VOL.1/2 and September 8, 2011 (referenced HAGF/PENCOM/2011/VOL.1/2) requesting all the parties to abide by the court orders. But like the ex-parte order, the two letters were ignored. Then, on July 18, 2012, Justice Okorowo unequivocally nullified the Draft First Guarantee Pension Limited Target Examination and the Target Examination Report of First Guarantee Pension and upbraided PenCom for acting above the law and not obeying court order. The court not only ordered that the interim management foisted on FGPL by PenCom be removed but also requested the commissioners of police in Lagos and Abujato enable the board members take over their business. Almost four years after this verdict, and without a higher court annulling the ruling, the interim management is still calling the shots at FGPL. In utter contempt for the courts, the interim management declared illegal by Justice Okorowo made a filing at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) which restructured the shareholding structure of FGPL. The shares of its foreign partners, Novare, were removed as investors in FGPL and treated as deposit for shares. The shares of the founder and promoter of the business, Nze Chidi Duru, were reduced by 50 per cent from N248 million to under N122 million. Beyond flying in the face of court order, this action was illegal through and through because there was neither shareholders nor directors meeting where the decision was taken and, therefore, there couldnt have been a resolution to back up the illegality. Then, on June 13, 2012, one Ibrahim Kashim Imam, a minority shareholder, was purportedly elected chairman of FGPL board against the injunction of Justice Okechukwu Okeke of the Federal High Court,Lagoson July 10, 2012, restraining the CAC as well as Kashim Imam and his minority shareholders fromconvening and/or holding any annual general meeting of FGPL. But even if there was no restraining order, the purported shareholders resolution signed by one Funmi Olowo, which claimed that Kashim Imam was now the chairman and went ahead to either remove or replace the legitimate directors of the company would have still been illegal. Why? The resolution claimed that the decision was taken at an annual general meeting (AGM) of FGPL which allegedly held at the Valentia Hotel, Abujaon July 13, 2012. Meanwhile, in the advertised notice for the meeting, over which a restraining order was obtained, the venue was to be Niger Hall, Transcorp Hilton, Abuja. Now, the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA), clearly states that if for any reason the advertised venue of a meeting is moved to another venue, then that meeting will stand adjourned until the next week, and a fresh notice published. So, it is against the law to have a meeting already advertised to hold at the Niger Hall, Transcorp Hilton Hotel for June 13 to hold at the Valencia Hotel on the same day. Yet, all these illegalities are going on under the watch of the interim management committee appointed by PenCom. To ramp up the illegitimacies and build a monument of impunity, there has not been a meeting of the shareholders of FGPL in the last five years. Within the same period, the company has also not filed its annual returns and accounts with the CAC as required by law, not to talk of paying dividend to the shareholders or taxes to state and federal governments. Perhaps, the most pernicious impunity is the surreptitious attempt to sell off the company to a South African firm. On May 27, 2016, acompany, Alexander Forbes Group Holdings Limited, which claims to be a specialised financial services group established in 1935 and listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, impudently summoned FGPL shareholders to a meeting on July 20, 2016. The group said the meeting will discuss, among other things, its offer to shareholders of FGPL and proposal for the structure of the sale/share transfer. The letter was signed by Kelechi Umelo, Head, Investment Banking; and Femi Ogunjimi, chief executive officer of Cardinalstone Partners and titled, Presentation to shareholders of First Guarantee Pension Limited. It reads in part: Our client, Alexander Forbes Group Holdings Limited (Alexander Forbes or the Group) hereby invites you as a shareholder of First Guarantee Pension Limited (First Guarantee or the Company) to a meeting on the 20th of July, 2016. The purpose of this meeting is to present our offer to shareholders to acquire an equity stake in First Guarantee as well as our future plan for the business. The questions that arise from this are legion. Has PenCom concluded to sell FGPL? On whose authority is it doing so? Can PenCom sell the company without the consent of the shareholders? But most importantly, has Nigeria become such a Banana Republic where an agency of government can flagrantly disobey court verdicts without any consequences? For good corporate governance and the rule of law, the impunity going on at PenCom must stop. *Ikechukwu Amaechi could be reached with [email protected] File Photo 14.06.2016 LISTEN The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) will on Thursday, June 16, 2016 hold a forum with national-level communicators of the various political parties in Accra. The meeting is to deliberate on emerging issues in elections campaign communications and ways by which the 2016 elections will be issues-based devoid of abusive language. The Forum forms part of MFWAs project on Promoting Issues-based and Decent Language Campaigning for Peaceful Elections. The forum will provide an opportunity for the communicators to discuss the findings of the Language Monitoring reports. Issues and questions such as how is the monitoring done and what are the definitions of categories being used will also be addressed. The Forum is scheduled to take place at the Sunlodge Hotel in Accra at 9:30am prompt. The MFWA under its Issues NOT Insults project is monitoring and tracking the use of abusive language by politicians and activists on selected radio stations across the country. The Project also involves monitoring and reporting how presenters or moderators of the target stations handle their programmes. It names and shames politicians who use abusive language and radio station presenters who allow their platforms to be used to abuse others. The project spans April to December 2016 and is being implemented with funding support from OSIWA, STAR-Ghana and the EU (through Socioserve-Ghana). About 60 radio stations are expected to be monitored for hate speech during the project with reports issued every two weeks. Donald Trump 14.06.2016 LISTEN Donald Trump recently cinched the requisite number of delegates to be the GOP presidential nominee. In exploring the storied endorsement dance between Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan, the New York Times reported, from a conversation with Ryan: Mr. Ryan did, however, go on at some length about his displeasure with Mr. Trumps apparent lust for executive power. This is one of my big concerns, he said. Ryan is on to something big. It is something Trump just might find appealing. The first clause of the first section of the first article of the Constitution of the United States provides that All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States. Among other Congressional powers are those to lay and collect taxes, borrow money, regulate commerce, establish and uniform Rule of Naturalization and Laws on Bankruptcies, regulate the value of Money, write patent and copyright laws, declare War, raise and support Armies, provide and maintain a Navy, and appropriate (meaning spend) money. Thats a lot of power. The powers of the presidency, enumerated in Article II, are far more circumscribed. Those primarily include serving as Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, making Treaties (with two-third of Senators present), nominating (with the Advice and Consent of the Senate) Ambassadors, public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other constitutional Officers, providing information on the State of the Union, recommending for consideration measures he considers necessary and expedient, and taking Care that the Laws be faithfully executed. Over the years, the presidency has taken on an Imperial quality. This is a deformation of the Constitutions original intent. It also holds a distinct opportunity for the unconventional Trump should he choose to seize it: restoring the presidency to its true nature without surrendering any of the pomp. For those understandably dazzled by the White House, let it not be forgotten that many regular citizens walked into Abraham Lincolns White House to make an appointment to see the president to discuss issues relating to the business of the federal government. As recorded by Ronald D. Rietveld in The Lincoln White House Community, Volume 20, Issue 2 of the Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association : Lincoln never denied the peoples right to see him. More recently, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had a far smaller staff than that of a modern presidential motorcade. Nelson W. Polsby cited an observation by Joseph Alsop: There literally was no White House staff of the modern type, with policymaking functions. Two extremely pleasant, unassuming, and efficient men, Steve Early and Marvin McIntyre, handled the presidents day-to-day schedule and routine, the donkey-work of his press relations, and such like. There was a secretarial camarilla of highly competent and dedicated ladies who were led by Missy LeHand. There were also lesser figures to handle travel arrangements, the enormous flow of correspondence, and the like. But that was that; and national policy was strictly a problem for the president, his advisors of the moment (who had constant access to the presidents office but no office of their own in the White House), and his chosen chiefs of departments and agencies. The president is the Head of State. For many reasons, the president always had and always will have privileged standing and disproportionate influence. Yet the federal government is a multi-trillion dollar enterprise, larger than any president can cope with even with a White House staff (including executive branch career civil servants on detail) of over a thousand. Plus a massive federal career civil service in the executive branch. The sheer scope of the federal bureaucracy is mind-boggling. If it were a city it would rank close to Americas fourth largest, Houston. And it is a rather a mixed blessing. As President Obama recently reminisced : Because as Bob Gates told me when I first came in I think it was my first or second week I said, well, what advice do you have, Bob? Youve been around seven presidents. Youve served in Washington, in the administration. He said, Mr. President, the only thing I can tell you for sure is that youve got about two million employees, and at any given moment in any given day, somebody, somewhere, is screwing up. The pre-bureaucratized presidency seems like a fine fit for the self-confident Donald Trump: Asked on MSNBCs Morning Joe who he talks with consistently about foreign policy, Trump responded, Im speaking with myself, number one, because I have a very good brain and Ive said a lot of things. I know what Im doing and I listen to a lot of people, I talk to a lot of people and at the appropriate time Ill tell you who the people are, Trump said. But my primary consultant is myself and I have a good instinct for this stuff. Trumps statement, of course, evoked a great deal of incredulity in an expertise-besotted (rather than results-oriented) political elite. Do consider how badly the experts have delivered on the promise of economic growth with justice. Trump promises to be the greatest jobs president that God every created. A bureaucracy could be rather a hindrance. It is crucial to do the right thing, yet is just as crucial to do the thing right. Trumps spirit is willing but the ticktock of delivering tens of millions of good jobs can be daunting. Trump is more leader than manager. The solution? As I wrote recently in Donald Trump Confronts The House That Jack Built : Fuse Trumps intuitive grasp of the spirit of equitable prosperity with Ryans fine-tuned grasp of the way the world works and critical mass is achieved to the benefit of both and of America. The Kemp recipe for growth with fairness, a value both men share, is the great opportunity to unify the GOP and win this fall. This does not suggest that Trump, if elected president, should surrender the prerogatives of the presidency. Far from it. That said, as Wikipedia defines it, a prime minister is the official [to] execute the directives of the head of state. The fine points of such execution can be rather tedious. Ryan has the belly for it. America has no Prime Minister, an office implicit in a parliamentary form of government where the executive power is vested in the legislature . America is different. Yet this model could be an example worth emulating in part. As Paul Waldman at The Week aptly observed: House Speaker Paul Ryan, as you will learn in almost any article about him, is a wonks wonk, so full of wonky wonkiness that never before has Congress seen a leader who cares so deeply about the substance of governing. If Donald Trump authentically promised, and then fulfilled the promise, of making Paul Ryan the moral equivalent of his prime minister this could be a marriage made in heaven. It could fuse Trumps intuitive grasp of economic growth with justice with Ryans policy mastery. This recipe could make Trump the greatest jobs president that God every created and Ryan an historic Speaker and possible successor to the presidency. Win win. And then some. F.H. Buckley wrote recently in The American Spectator that The constitutional conservative wants to return to a constitution of 1787. Trump could restore Congress's constitutional role and thereby fulfill, in spades, the presidential oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. If Trump were to so do he might unite the GOP, Independents, and Democrats who are uneasy with the Imperial Presidency. He also could save himself a lot of the tedium attendant to the presidency. There is far more at stake than merely earning Ryans endorsement. Trump as president with Ryan as de facto prime minister might restore the Constitution as well as ignite job creation and economic growth with justice. Such accomplishments could go a long way toward Making America Great Again. Muhammad Ali 14.06.2016 LISTEN An iconic world figure in the person of Muhammad Ali [MA] passed away this month and all in the world of fame, influence and power, have paid him tributes. It is my desire to place MAs legacy in the context of the world in which we live today and to ponder over what his legacy tells us about the current state and future of an experiment called western civilization. MA exhibited a form of Courage, Convictionand Fearlessnessin standing for and speaking the truth; values that are extremely rare to find in the world today. In defense of his refusal to be conscripted into the US army to fight in Vietnam, he remarked that; My conscience wont let me go shoot my brother, or some darker people, or some poor hungry people in the mud for big powerful America. And shoot them for what? They never called me nigger, they never lynched me, they didnt put no dogs on me, they didnt rob me of my nationality, rape and kill my mother and father Shoot them for what? How can I shoot them poor people? Just take me to jail MA demonstrated to the world that he did not only know the consequences of his stance [ the hate, loss of his titles, fame & money, etc.] but that he was also willing to pay any price for standing by his convictions. In essence, he wanted to be remembered as a man who stood up for his beliefs no matter what. As the greatest human to have lived in this century, what is the relevance of Muhammad Alis legacy to the world today? Where is Alis courage, conviction and fearlessness in the worlds people today and how many are there that are willing to risk everything in pursuit of the truth and justice and ask the questions that shake the all-powerful pervasive system of oppression? Who and how many are they that have the courage to authentically represent the voices of the voiceless and speak the truth at all times regardless the consequences? What is humanity without the courage of MA and those before him and what is the status of men and women of courage, conscience and conviction in society today? How many veteran soldiers commit suicide annually after returning from occupied countries and why is it possible for them to commit suicide rather than refuse to go and kill innocent people, like MA did in 1967? Above all, why has the world gone silent on the above reflective questions whilst millions including powerful world leaders eulogize the greatest human of all time? This silence in itself is a testimony that Muhammad Alis death does not only symbolize the death of courage and conviction, but also the death of our civilization. Western civilization, which was built on the foundations of scientific rationalism, unchecked individualism and material universalism, has since its inception, been designed by its architects to promote a system of domination of the entire universe, thereby destroying anything (idea, country, race, system of knowledge or worldview) that stands on the way of this purpose. In the pursuit of its ultimate purpose, western civilization has not only succeeded in destroying courage, conviction and dissent the world over, but it has destroyed the soul of humankind-authenticity. I demonstrate in this essay how western civilization and its architects succeed in killing courage and dissent. Existence as the pursuit of interests To the architects of western civilization and the successive generations of those who control it, interest is all that matter in life and living. What is moral or not, right or wrong, true or false, etc. are matters subject to, and secondary to whatever interest is at stake. The pursuit of interest is important to the individual as it is to the nation, corporation, group, collection of groups, individuals, nations or corporations of any kind. Therefore, all human societies today are collections of interest-seeking beings who answer only to their respective interests. In the pursuit of our national, individual or group interest therefore, it is acceptable to kill, lie, exploit, destroy, deceive, or do any wrong conceivable as long as it serves our interest to do so. With subjective interest, individualism and material universalism as the key foundations of western civilization, its architects and their successors have succeeded in bringing to life, an all-powerful and all-pervasive system of domination and control that permeates every human endeavor and organization from international and regional bodies to nations, corporations, health institutions, religious and faith institutions, civic organizations, schools, colleges and universities, families and down to the personal level. Such a system has no match in power and resources and has inbuilt mechanism of control [reward and punishment] at all levels down to the personal level. Punish to Control Any individual or group of individuals, nation, or entity that dares act contrary to the dictates and interest of the system are met with a punishment that eliminates the tiniest noticeable trace of the threat and sends the strongest deterrent signals to those that watch in terror. Countries have been bombed back to stone-age and individuals including JFK, Martin Luther King, Malcom X, Kwame Nkrumah, and countless millions whose names never got into any official records, have paid the ultimate price [through mysterious deaths that are and can never be solved]. Millions more have found themselves in jails, prisons, detention centres and other places of exclusion and isolation. In the age of global terror complex, people daring to question the system become easily tagged, labeled and targeted as terrorists and in most cases, acts of violence are committed with their identities. Such was the fate of Nelson Mandela for instance until he [perhaps] got tired and sold out, gaining world fame instantly and bagging a noble peace prize simultaneously. At the micro-systematic level, punishments and control measures can range from outright dismissal from employment and other engagements, refusal of employment, harassments, constant suspicions, being followed and tapped, isolation and anything necessary to keep the individual in check or deter others. At the personal level, control is in the form of self-censorship out of the fear of the pervasive, powerful and all-seeing eye of those at the pinnacle of the system. Individuals therefore maintain acute awareness about what they say or do, who they associate or communicate with, which websites they visit, what books they buy or read, which TV channels they watch, what comments they post on the web. This perhaps is the worst form of the control because its effects are so pervasive regardless whether the controllers are watching the individual or not. The existent of this powerful systemic control over humanity is not new to western civilization but it is as old as humanity itself. The Pharaohs of Egypt used the same system to control and eliminate races that presented any threat to the system. When Socrates set out to educate the youth on critical thinking that posed thread to the system, he was executed under the guise of misleading the youth. Such was the fate of Jesus. When Muhammad begun his teachings in 7th century AD, the system did not only prosecute him and his followers but it also banished him and his ideas from his city of birth. The difference between the systems of old and that of today is that in old times, societies had some form of moral codes that served as checks on the system itself but today the word morality no longer exist in the vocabulary of any language anywhere. Also, globalization, internationalization and technological advancements have permitted a universal system of control that could not be dreamt of in times past. It is because of the all-powerful and all-pervasive systemic control that the courage of MA, MLK, JFK, etc. has become extremely scarce in the world today and those that have such courage today are the most endangered of any specie of the entire universe. Not only are these people unable to occupy any position of significance in society but they are also harassed, discriminated against and dismissed as confused conspiracy theorists not to be taken serious. Many academics who have had the courage to speak against the system have ended up without jobs. It matters not whether these academics have tenure or not. Reward to Control The most important power of the system is not in its ability to punish those who dare question it, but rather to reward those who labour for it. At all levels of the system, from the personal to the international, they are inbuilt reward mechanisms for those that work for the system. At the macro level, there are national and international awards and prizes with the famous Nobel prize at the apex. Those that serve the system in significant ways through ideas that sustain the system or through representation and carrying out important projects on behalf of the system are guaranteed the best of these prizes. These loyal servants [including any mainstream famous person and world leader] are then marketed to the rest of us as role models. This role modeling is then supported by systems of networks and mentorships, that individuals require in order to rise to the top. These networks help to recruit talented individuals who can become top level employees of the system. Since the system has already programmed us to pursue subjective self-interest through the media and all levels of education, we all begin life with ambitions of becoming celebrities, presidents, CEOs, renowned academics, celebrated generals, famous activists, just to mention a few. It is these interest that make our recruitment into the system very easy and keeps us extremely self-motivated in working for the system at all stages of our lives. It is for this that only a few are able to recognize the system in which they operate but remain loyal servants of it or keep quiet in order to survive and get along. To most of all, its the normal and the only way to live because our mediated world presents us with no alternative. Micro-level system rewards include job opportunities, promotions, prizes and awards, leadership opportunities and many more. At the personal level, individuals reward themselves by not having to fear being followed, tapped, harassed, not losing friends and associates, not suffering from rejection, not losing their dreams, jobs and dying paupers. Where is the future? Ecologist have taught us that the survival of the global ecosystem is predicated on the ecosystem species diversity at each level of the ecosystem functioning. This is truer of the human ecosystem than it is with other planetary ecosystems. In the case of the human ecosystem, diversity of ideas [diversity of ideas is not the expressing of the same idea in multiple languages or using different combinations of vocabulary] is the fundamental requirement for the survival of the human race. But the onset of western civilization has accelerated the development of a systemic propagation of one-eyed worldview, backed by scientific rationalism bent on destroying any alternative worldview. Such a system is not only designed to propagate ignorance, deceit, miseducation and above all, fear that prevents the emergence of counter ideas, but it also has a systemic power to stump out any such ideas, at all cost. To hold and openly declare ideas opposed to the system in todays world requires the courage and convictions of Muhammad Ali, Martin Luther King Junior, Socrates, JFK, Henry David Thoreau, Mahatma Gandhi, Kwame Nkrumah, Captain John Brown, among others. The death of these men and women of courage and the inability of society to replace them with their likes, therefore symbolizes the end of our present civilization. The end of courage, conviction and dissent is not the reason why the current civilization will end but it is certainly the reason why ours will be the shortest-lived civilization in human history. Many great civilizations have come and gone and ours shall not be any exception. The only way to extend the life of our civilization is for us to rethink the need for one worldview to dominate, colonize and civilize the other. For when you take away the need to dominate, colonize and civilize others, the perceived conflicts or tensions between the west and east, religion and atheism, black and white, male and female, gay and straight, rich and poor, left and right, etc. will instantly fade away, leaving no trace. It is only under the conditions of authentic diversity of worldviews that the human race can thrive and fulfil its purposes of presiding over the rest of creation, in harmony, peace and prosperity. But for such to happen, the current civilization must change its course or give way to a new civilization that will provide the underlying conditions for human diversity. I believe it is our purpose as a human race to work towards a harmonious, peaceful and prosperous world for ourselves and the rest of creation. But to do that we will require the Patienceof Ghandi, theLove of Jesus, the Courage of Muhammad Ali, the Persistenceof Luis Farrakhan and the Tolerance of all the marginalized peoples of the world. This, I think, was the underlying message in the life of Muhammad Ali, the Greatest of all time. Hardi. S. Wumpini File Photo 14.06.2016 LISTEN The May 26 police beating death of Mr. Osei-Tawiah, in the Krofofrom suburb of Kumasi, the Asante Regional Capital, ought to be thoroughly investigated and justice promptly meted the culprits involved (See Kofrom: Police Happy with Autopsy Report; Warn Against Further Protests MyJoyOnline.com 5/31/16). According to an autopsy report allegedly released by coroners/pathologists at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), Mr. Osei-Tawiah died of congestive heart failure. The Asante Regional Commander of the Ghana Police Service, Mr. Kofi Boakye, is reported to be claiming that the police are satisfied with the coroners report; and so it is not clear whether, indeed, the highest-ranking police officer in the Asante Region really understands the basic meaning of congestive heart failure, unless, of course, the Deputy Commissioner of Police is also cocksure that the massive heart attack suffered by the 22-year-old Mr. Osei-Tawiah had absolutely nothing to do with the latters having been considerably manhandled and allegedly Tasered by the police. In all likelihood, even if the victim was known to be afflicted with a congenital cardiac condition, it still stands to reason to assume that prior to his violent contact with the unnamed three police officers, Mr. Osei-Tawiah had not been in dire need of emergency medical assistance and/or treatment. Plainly put, it well appears that it was his violent contact with the three police officers and him being severely beaten and Tasered by his assailants that brought about the situation that resulted in his death. At any rate, merely informing the public that the apparent torture victim died of congestive heart failure tells us a diddly little about the minute details of the entire incident. For instance, the coroners report also needed to have informed the public about the general bodily, or physical, condition under which the mortal remains of Mr. Osei-Tawiah was conveyed to the KATH morgue, as well as the conditions under which the autopsy was performed. But what is even more significant are the circumstances under which the victim came to be confronted and allegedly beaten severely, tortured and Tasered by his certified law-enforcement assailants. So far, what we know is that Mr. Osei-Tawiah was mistaken for one member among a group of suspects being pursued by the police. We are not told, for example, precisely for what reason, or reasons, the police officers were in hot pursuit of the alleged suspects one of whom they mistakenly identified to be Mr. Osei-Tawiah. In other words, we need a thorough investigation of the matter in order to conclusively resolve the question of whether, indeed, Mr. Osei-Tawiah was accidentally picked up and tortured to death. This is what an evidently cryptic autopsy report, such as the one over which DCOP Boakye is reported to be jubilating, fails to answer. So far, the Member of Parliament for Manhyia-North, which also includes Krofofrom, Mr. Collins Owusu-Amankwah, has registered his reservations and utter dissatisfaction with the autopsy report. Mr. Owusu-Amankwah has publicly stated that he intends to see to it that the matter does not end where it is presently. Still, it is rather curious for Mr. Owusu-Amankwah to add that he does not intend to seriously challenge the clearly compromised contents of the autopsy report. If, indeed, he is really intent on seeing to it that justice is done to the late Mr. Osei-Tawiah, his family, relatives and friends, then Mr. Owusu-Amankwah had better call for prompt and thorough investigation of the matter. For it is quite clear that something has seriously gone wrong here. At the least, I can readily see the three police officers alleged to be directly involved in Mr. Osei-Tawiahs beating death being charged with manslaughter and being arraigned before a legitimately constituted court of law on misdemeanor assault charges, assuming that, indeed, they had genuinely mistaken Mr. Osei-Tawiah for one of the criminal suspects they were allegedly in hot pursuit of. Even in the event of these police officers being let off the hook, as it were, the fact still remains that something serious went awry with the way and manner in which the officers conducted themselves in this apparently quite delicate and sensitive situation. In which case, it would be perfectly in order for the government to consider compensating the family of the victim for so flagrantly and egregiously suffering a violation of his human and civil rights. Needless to say, the rather bizarre notion that, somehow, justifiably angry Krofofrom residents have absolutely no right to publicly express their conniption in the quite legitimate form of massive public demonstrations is nothing short of patent absurdity. I, however, perfectly agree with DCOP Boakye that any street demonstrations be conducted with peaceful restraint. *Visit my blog at: kwameokoampaahoofe.wordpress.com Ghanaffairs A lot more services in Ghanas Oil and Gas Industry are from now expected to be provided by local artisans rather than expatriates - to the benefit of the economy. This follows the opening of the US$1.6 million state-of-the-art Welder Training Centre on Saturday, June 11, 2016. The first of its kind in Ghana, the facility is located on the campus of the Regional Maritime University in Accra. Speaking at the opening, Transport Minister, Fifi Kwetey lauded the initiative as timely for the development of the local oil and gas Industry. Transport Minister, Fifi Kwetey With the coming on-stream of the 10 fields, it is cost strategic that MODEC and Tullow Ghana chose to focus on training in vocational skills. We can now produce the specialized skills that meet international requirements for the use of the many contractors involved in development, production and management of the fields. This is the area where the oil contractors are likely to employ a larger majority of man-hours and indeed with the effectiveness of the local content and participation would be greatly imparted he said The centre was constructed by oil services provider, MODEC in collaboration with Tullow Ghana to equip local artisans with the requisite professional skills and certification for developing the countrys oil and gas industry. This is to bridge the gap in requisite skills-set among indigenous artisans said to be unduly affecting growth in Ghanas petroleum industry. Presdient of MODEC International, Puneet Sharma outlined JOY BUSINESS how the initiative is expected to boost oil industry. Hopefully for future projects, a lot more of the work can be done inside Ghana where the welders get trained here. It will all depend on what other investments are made in the country. We as an industry and as a company have the effort on our own to help bridge the gap. We work with GNPC and the Ministry of Energy to identify the companies that want to do business in the oil and gas industry. We do checks on those companies and we provide that information back to the government. The government can then turn around and work with us to help bridge those gaps by identifying places to provide these types of training centres he explained. Chief Executive of Tullow Ghana, Charles Darko Emphasizing Tullows commitment to the countrys Local Content Agenda, the Chief Executive of Tullow Ghana, Charles Darko also noted the benefits of the centre would transcend the oil industry. Tullow Ghana set up a Jubilee Technical Training Centre at the Takoradi Polytechnic also to provide international accredited vocational training for Ghanaian nationals in the fields of instrumentation, mechanical, electrical and process engineering. The objective was to serve the technical needs of the industry and to support other sectors such as economy, mining and construction. This newly refurbished centre will go a long way to further address the need of the industry. Its graduates will not only serve in the oil and gas industry but many other sectors as well. For Tullow, this is a true meaning of our saying creating shared-prosperity that always guides our operations he said The Regional Maritime University will be accredited by the American Welding Society and its training programmes will be in modules which will accommodate 20 students at a time. The centre is expected to accept its first class of students in July, 2016. The opening of the Welder Training Centre was preceded with the congregation of the Regional Maritime University. Omar Mateen 14.06.2016 LISTEN Omar Mateen, the gunman who slaughtered 50 people and wounded another 53 at a gay club in Orlando, Florida, on 12 June 2016, used an AR-15 assault rifle to kill his victims. The American media have now christened this gun as the weapon of choice for mass shooters in the USA. Also known as "America's gun," it is owned by around 3.7 million American households, making it the country's most popular rifle. It is a military-grade weapon and is extremely deadly because its large magazine (clip size0 enables the user needs to reload it only once before causing a terrible massacre. Omar Mateen was equipped with this gun, plus a handgun, when he went on his killing spree at the Pulse Club in Orlando, Florida. It was the same type of gun that was used by a killer called Adam Lanza to shoot 26 people dead at Sandy Hook in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012; the San Bernardino, California, terrorists, who murdered 14 people in December 2015, also used AR-15s assault rifles; nine people were also killed at Umpqua Community College in October 2015 with AR-15s; and in July 2012, a killer called James Eagan Holmes used it to kill 12 people at a cinema in Aurora, Colorado, wounding seventy others. Despite the AR-15's horrendous reputation, anyone over the age of 18 can own it, without a licence, in the state of Florida, where the latest killings occurred. The same goes for pistols and shotguns. So Omar Mateen was unlikely to have resorted to illegal methods to obtain his arsenal. The question is: why does the US allow such weapons to fall into the hands of people who might be mentally disturbed and who, therefore, render invalid, the argument used mainly by the National Rifle Association (NRA) that guns are necessary to enable Americans to defend themselves, or entertain themselves, and that guns, as such, do not kill but people do? The answer is that in America, stupid arguments are sometimes allowed to override sane ones, provided the organisation or person peddling the argument is powerful or rich enough. A case in point is the progress Donald Trump is making in trying to become President of the Unietd States, despite the many crazy policies he has proposed. The N RA's argument against gun control is a nonsense, because although it is people who pull the trigger to kill, they could not kill anyone if there was no trigger to pull in the first place. In other words, without guns, no killer would be able to carry out his objective of murdering people, especially, large numbers of people. A person wielding a knife/machette or even an axe can kill all right, but just imagine the amount of effort he would need to be able to kill even three people, let alone 50. But a finger on the trigger of a gun with an automatic firing system can mow down dozens in a few second. The reason the NRA is able to campaign against gun control laws proposed by American lawmakers is that it is an extremely wealthy organisation. It spends about $250 million annually to carry out political lobbying. But because America's lobbying laws are nebulous, the NRA declares its lobbying budget to be only abut $3.5 million. The NRA's ability to help elect Congressmen who advocate the ownership of guns, while ensuring the defeat of candidates who oppose the ownership of guns, is hidden from the American public. According to the BBC website,the NRA' was founded in 1871 as a recreational group designed to "promote and encourage rifle shooting on a scientific basis". .In 1975, it began attempting to influence policy directly via a newly formed lobbying arm, the Institute for Legislative Action. In 1977, it formed its own Political Action Committee (PAC), to channel funds to legislators. The NRA is now among the most powerful special interest lobby groups in the US, with a substantial budget to influence members of Congress on gun policy. The NRA spends about $250m per year, far more than all the country's gun control advocacy groups put together....Considerable sums are spent ... via ... independent expenditures - funds which are difficult to track. The website adds: The NRA also wields considerable indirect influence via its highly politically engaged membership, many of whom will vote one way or another based on [the gun control] issue. The NRA publicly grades members of Congress from A to F, on their perceived friendliness to gun [ownership] rights. Those ratings can have a serious effect on poll numbers and even cost pro-gun control candidates a seat....The NRA has lobbied heavily against all forms of gun control and argues aggressively that more guns make the country safer. It relies on, and staunchly defends, a disputed interpretation of the Second Amendment to the US Constitution, which, it argues, gives US citizens the rights to bear arms. What has astounded Americans most about the latest shooting in their country is the revelation that the killer, Omar Mateen, was investigated twice by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for suspected terrorist sympathies, but that no evidence of wrongdoing was found relating to him. The FBI apparently focused too narrowly on terrorist activities by him and ignored other facets of his life that might have depicted him as dangerous to society. For instance, his wife parted from him after only five months of marriage, because (she says) she found him abusive and unstable. She even used the technical term for describing some mentally disturbed people, bi-polar, in relation to him. Why didn't the FBI talk to Maaten's wife? Do its officers focus too much on political crimes (of which terrorism forms a large part) while missing signs that might indicate that a person is dangerous to society generally? In the wake of the Orlando shooting, the Police Commissioner of New York City, Mr Bill Bratton, has fiercely criticized the system whereby the US government has drawn up a no-fly list and yet such people are not barred from purchasing guns. The idea [that] we have a terror-watch list, a no-fly list, and [yet] someone on that list can buy a gun thats the highest level of insanity, Bratton told CNN. He added that the probe into the Orlando shooter would have to take in whether there was anything from the FBI investigations that might have stopped him being able to acquire a firearm. I dont hold out much hope for that: obviously the United States is too afraid of the NRA at this time. Such shootings also occur in the US because, in addition to opposition from the NRA, it appears that not enough vetting of people who want to acquire guns, to establish their mental state, takes place. Because insurance companies and other interest groups oppose universal medical care for all US citizens, it is possible for persons who are mentally disturbed to remain in the society unnoticed., posing as sane persons. Then, one day, something touches them off, and out they go to commit mass murder and with weapons they are able to acquire because no-one takes the trouble to find out whether such persons are sound enough in the mind to use the weapons they acquire responsibly. The US needs leadership to fight off the NRA and get legislation enacted that would prevent lethal weapons from falling into the hands of then wrong people. But the country is chasing its own tail, as it were the NRA won't allow it to elect new legislators who will pass such legislation, and those elected already are afraid that the NRA would campaign against them and prevent their being re-elected. And so, the killings go on. The US has very tough laws against the possession and use of marijuana and cocaine and other mind-altering drugs. It has out millions of people in jail for breaking the laws that govern the use of drugs Yet it cannot legislate uniformly against the possession of guns, which are a million times more deadly than the drugs for which so many people are incarcerated. The absurdity of the situation is beyond belief. But you watch: the latest victims of the insane use of guns will soon vanish from the news their deaths will be buried in statistics, just as the deaths of so many innocent victims of guns have been buried in the recent past. File Photo 14.06.2016 LISTEN Introduction There is usually an exclusion clause, goods sold are not returnable written in front of the counter in many shops or boldly printed on sales invoices and receipts. However, the meaning and/or effect of this exclusion clause remains a mystery to shoppers and buyers. What this article seeks to do is provide an understanding of this exclusion clause, the circumstances for its applicability, the applicable laws and whether the goods sold are indeed not returnable. This exclusion clause simply means, once payment for goods are made, any exchange or refund on the goods is not allowed, even if the goods are found to be defective. Such exclusion clauses are used by shops/sellers to prevent buyers from returning goods purchased and/or obtain refund of the purchase price. In actual fact, anytime goods are purchased from a seller, a contract is being made with the seller. Ordinarily, any issue regarding defects in the goods should be addressed by the seller within a reasonable time. However, this is not the case due to the exclusion clause bodly displayed on counters or printed on sales invoices and receipts. Applicable law In Ghana, there is no law that proves this statement goods sold are not returnable. The Sale of Goods Act, 1962 (Act 137) (the Sale of Goods Act) provides under section 8 that, the sellers fundamental obligation is to deliver specific goods or goods substantially corresponding to the description or sample by which they were sold to the buyer. Where the seller is in breach of this fundamental obligation, the buyer may reject the goods and in addition, maintain an action against the seller for damages for the breach. Under section 55 of the Sale of Goods Act, the measure of damages is the loss which could reasonably have been foreseen by the seller at the time when the contract was made, as likely to result from the breach of the fundamental obligation. Judicial illustrations Where, there is a breach of the sellers obligation to deliver specific goods or goods substantially corresponding to the description or sample to the buyer, the measure of damages is premised on the loss which could reasonably have been foreseen by the seller at the time when the contract was made. In Tawiah v. Ghana Civil Aviation Authority & Ors [1989-90] 1 GLR 452-456, the buyer purchased the sellers old and unserviceable storage tank at a public auction for 16,000. Four days later, he approached the seller with a view to collecting the tank but the seller refused to deliver it on the pretext that the Ministry of Health had requested that the tank be released to Pantang Hospital to satisfy a national need. The buyer was not satisfied with the explanation and therefore instituted an action against the seller for damages for breach of contract. The seller stated the reason above for its inability to deliver the tank. Evidence was led to show the cost of a new tank and that of an old one at the time of the trial. The trial judge found that for its age and after rehabilitation, a similar tank could cost the buyer 600,000 at the current price. The court held that for non-delivery of goods to the buyer or for a breach of the sellers fundamental obligation to deliver specific goods to the buyer, the measure of damages was the loss which could reasonably have been foreseen by the seller at the time when the contract was made as likely to result from the breach of contract. The Sale of Goods Act also provides under section 13 that: 1. the goods sold must be free of defects which are not declared or known to the buyer unless the buyer has examined the goods in respect of defects which should have been revealed by examination; and 2. the goods should be fit for their intended purpose if supplied by the seller and the buyer expressly or by implication makes known the purpose for which the goods are required. Under the Sale of Goods Act, the buyer may not reject the goods which he has accepted. The buyer is deemed to have accepted the goods if he does not, within a reasonable time after delivery or acceptance of the goods, inform the seller that he rejects the goods. Time therefore, is a material consideration where a buyer seeks to repudiate a contract or reject goods delivered to him. This is because time helps to determine whether the buyer has obtained full ownership of the goods or whether the buyer has accepted the goods. On the other hand, what is a reasonable time is a question of fact which varies with the circumstances of each case. In the case of Rockson v. Armah (1975) 2 GLR 116-121, the seller sold a second-hand Mercedes Benz car to the buyer for 3,200. The buyer made cash payments of 2,200 and remitted two post-dated cheques of 500 each for the balance of the purchase price. Upon delivery, the car was found to have been involved in an accident and suffered considerable damage. The seller accepted liability and agreed to repair the car. Consequently, the seller approached Messrs. R. T. Briscoe to effect the repairs but found their estimates too high. The car was eventually repaired by a wayside fitter in a day and the buyer took delivery. However, after the buyer had used the car for almost two months he repudiated the contract on the ground that he had discovered some latent defects in the car. The learned trial judge held that the buyer was justified in repudiating the contract. On appeal against this decision, the main issue for the consideration of the court revolved around the right of a purchaser to repudiate a sale upon the discovery of latent defects. In giving judgment for the seller, the court held that, time was a material element for consideration in a contract of sale, since it was an element in the determination of the question whether the buyer has obtained ownership (and not possession) of the goods. A long period of possession can be equated with acceptance, ownership of the goods and the assumption of all risks. In effect any undue delay by the buyer in rejection of the defective goods amounts to a positive assumption that the buyer has ownership of the goods and therefore, cannot reject the goods. If the defects in the goods are brought to the notice of the buyer before or at the time of purchase, and the buyer still purchases the goods, he cannot reject the goods because he purchased the goods at his own risk. It is instructive to note that, if an item is bought from a shop and the next day the buyer regrets spending so much money, or simply does not like the item in the morning, the item cannot be returned simply because there has been had a change of heart or mind. The seller is not obliged to accept such goods if returned by the buyer. Other legislative intervention Government has initiated the process of enacting a consumer protection law to enhance confidence and strengthen consumer protection. The proposed law will establish a Consumer Protection Authority to oversee all issues relating to consumer protection. In addition, the proposed law will address the display or inscription of the exclusion clause. Conclusion Goods sold are returnable when the goods are found to be defective or unfit for their intended purpose unless the defects could have been detected upon reasonable examination of the goods by the buyer. It must be emphasized that, return of the defective goods must be done within a reasonable time. Where there are no defects with the goods, yet the buyer decides that he no longer requires the goods, the seller is not obliged to accept the goods if returned by the buyer. Daniel Imadi Esq. [Daniel is a lawyer and an associate in the Business & Industry practice group at Bentsi-Enchill, Letsa and Ankomah in Accra] If you require further information on this article, please contact Daniel at [email protected]. The Founder and flagbearer of the All Peoples Congress (APC), Hassan Ayariga, says his partys political philosophy is a hybrid of the ideologies of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP). He has described his party as a liberal socialist party. The APC came out of its first-ever national delegates congress at the Accra International Conference Center last Monday where Hassan Ayariga by popular acclamation was elected as its first flagbearer. Nine other national officers were also elected. Hassan Ayariga hailed the congress as a very, very exciting congress where he heard powerful solidarity message he has never heard in his lifetime". Picture: Emmanuel Quaye With the party almost set to contest in the November 2016 general elections, Hassan Ayariga explained on Joy FMs Super Morning Show Tuesday that the party has fashioned out a practical ideology that borrows from the strengths of the NPPs liberal democracy and the NDCs social democratic ideals. He said his manifesto would be outdoored soon and welcomed the NDC and NPP to freely borrow from his partys ideas. If you can copy and copy it well, I would be glad, he said. Hassan Ayariga dismissed perceptions that he is being funded externally. According to him, proceeds from his businesses, home and abroad, are being used to sponsor his party. I am a self-made man, he said adding I alone sponsored the APC...I put my own funds into the party and I don't expect to recoup the money spent. As a self-actualized Ghanaian, Hassan Ayariga said he is contesting for president because he is motivated by a desire to improve the lives of Ghanaians. I am thinking about Ghana and not thinking about myself, he explained noting that he is well off with enough cars in his house as testimony. Hassan Ayariga broke away from the Peoples' National Congress (PNC) in January 2016 after losing the party's presidential primary to veteran politician, Dr. dward Mahama. He led the party into the 2012 general elections but performed poorly. The party was certified on April, 22, after complying with provisions of the Political Parties Law (Act 574). The APC has become the 26th registered political party in Ghana since the return to democratic rule in 1992. Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com|Edwin Appiah The Minority Spokesperson on Legal and Constitutional Affairs in Parliament, Joseph Osei Owusu, has chastised the Attorney General's Department, saying it is not doing enough to retrieve judgment debts wrongfully paid to businessman Alfred Agbesi Woyome. Earlier this month, the embattled Woyome stopped officials of the AG's Department from valuing his property at Kpehe, as part of moves to offset part of the over Ghc51million paid to him. In the view of Mr. Woyome, the planned valuation was illegal. But the Bewkai MP is of the view that there has been little commitment towards the retrieval of the monies wrongly paid to Woyome and others, hence this turn of events. Last year, [2015], the Attorney-General upon a question that I raised on the floor, came to give us the steps they were taking to recover not only the money paid to Woyome wrongly but others including Isofoton. And she assured us that she will give us feedback within a year but she hasn't come back yet. I would like to know exactly what has been done because what we read in the newspapers are often short of full details. But if that is all there is, then it does appear to me that we are not taking sufficient steps and we are not pursuing the matter as vigorously as a private person will pursue his or her money. He noted that, the wheels of justice grind slowly; but if the people pushing the wheels relax, it will grind even much slower. There is also not sufficient information from government for us to know how the debtor Woyome is being dealt with in terms of getting his assets. Facts of the case Alfred Woyome was paid 51 million for helping Ghana raise funds to construct stadia for purposes of hosting the CAN 2008 Nations Cup. However an Auditor General's report released in 2010 said the amount was paid illegally to the NDC financier. The report triggered nationwide controversy with critics accusing government of misappropriating funds. Officials of the New Patriotic Party who were in government during the CAN 2008 tournament said Woyome did no work to be paid that whopping sum of money. The then Attorney General Joe Ghartey said Woyome was contracted to help in raising money for the construction works but he failed to meet the deadline. He said the NPP government had no choice than to abrogate the contract with Woyome. When the NPP left office in 2009, Alfred Woyome proceeded to court claiming his contract was illegally terminated and was demanding a judgment debt well over 2 million cedis. The government failed to defend the state. Rather the then Attorney General under the late Mills administration Betty Mould Iddrisu is said to have negotiated with Woyome for him to reduce his demand on government. He did and requested for 51 million cedis instead. The government went to court with a consent judgement. The court accepted and asked the AG to pay in three tranches of 17 million cedis to the plaintiff. The court was however emphatic that only the first tranche be paid until after the trial. The court again asked Woyome to present an undertaking that in the event he loses he would refund the first tranche of 17 million cedis but if wins the state will pay the two other tranches left. Betty Mould Iddrisu however decided to pay all the three tranches. Her Deputy Ebo Barton Oduro later publicly defended the payment to Woyome. Martin Amidu In 2010 Martin Amidu was appointed Attorney General to replace Betty Mould Iddrisu who was sent to the Education Ministry. That appointment and revelations in the 2010 Audit report changed the dynamics of the Woyome scandal. Amidu had Woyome arrested and charged for causing financial loss to the state. Two others, including Nerquaye Tetteh, the chief state attorney were also arrested. Whilst prosecuting the case, Martin Amidu was sacked from government under mysterious circumstances with Marietta Brew Hammond appointed to take his place. Civil Case Martin Amidu however proceeded to the Supreme Court as a private citizen and managed to secure a judgement for the state to retrieve the millions of cedis paid illegally to Waterville. But the judges stayed a verdict on the case Amidu brought before them because the matter was pending before the High Court. He later went on a review and had the court rule in his favour. Woyome was asked to refund the 51 million cedis to the state. By: Ebenezer Afanyi Dadzie/citifmonline.com/Ghana Follow @AfanyiDadzie 14.06.2016 LISTEN It is official that the authorities in Kenya have suspended the newly registered free thought society, the Atheists in Kenya (AIK). In a short letter dated April 29 2016, which was addressed to the Secretary of AIK and signed by the Deputy Registrar of Societies, Mukulu Kariuku, the Office of the countrys Attorney General has, after receiving concerns relating to the societys advocacy and public pronouncements decided to suspend the registration of AIK. I have followed closely the activities of this atheist group and find it difficult to understand what warranted this decision. The letter says that AIK has been suspended because their said advocacy and public pronouncements were prejudicial and incompatible with the peace, stability and good order of the Republic of Kenya. The letter did not mention any specific advocacy program or public declaration of the AIK that undermined public stability in Kenya. It is unfortunate that the authorities in this country have, as speculated, bowed to the pressure from religious and theistic organisations and decided to withdraw the licence of this foremost freethinking group. By suspending the AIK, the office of the countrys attorney general has indeed confirmed that there is official discrimination against atheists in Kenya because there is clearly no basis for this suspension apart from religious fanaticism, fear, prejudice and intolerance. There is nothing that AIK or its leaders and members have done that is against the constitution of Kenya or is incompatible with public peace, stability and good order in the country as stated in the letter. Since the organization came into existence, it has been working and campaigning to fulfill it legitimate mandate of promoting free thought in Kenya. The organization has engaged in advocacy programs and made pronouncements in furtherance of this goal and mission. Personally I am wondering which advocacy program or public pronouncements of the AIK were prejudicial and against public peace in Kenya. Is it the groups opposition to observing a public holiday during the visit of the Pope? Is it the groups proposition to ban religious indoctrination in schools? What has the AIK done that is incompatible to good order in Kenya? Is it their campaign against praying in public hospitals and buses? Did the authorities in Kenya examine the merits of their arguments and proposals? In actual fact, they said campaigns and declarations of the AIK are not really the issue because I am aware that religious groups in Kenya have been furious over the registration of a group that denies the existence of God and have been threatening the authorities and calling for the deregistration of the AIK. Evangelical groups in Kenya have embarked on a campaign of intimidation and harassment of the Attorney General since the AIK was issued with a licence. For instance, the Vice Chair of the Kenya National Congress of Pentecostal Churches (KNCPC), Stephen Ndichu stated in reaction to the registration of the AIK: "We ask the AG to quit office with immediate effect. We cannot have a legal advisor to the government who misleads the state on matters of religions. Freedom of worship is a constitutional obligation of every Kenyan, it should not be misrepresented for the interests of few individuals in the country". Now I ask: how is the legal recognition of AIK misleading in matters of religion or freedom of worship? Just look at that phrase freedom of worship. So Ndichus understanding of freedom of worship precludes atheism, right? Licencing an atheist group in Kenya actually leads the people aright because it shows that the state is not biased for or against any religious or non religious group. Particularly it provides Kenyans the creedal options in the marketplace of religious belief and unbelief. So, how is this important public service against the constitution of Kenya? Meanwhile, a muslim leader in Kenya said regarding the registration of the AIK:"We are a people of faith. We are now opening up to ideas that promote immorality through erosion of our values anchored on religion". Now in which way is atheism immoral or encouraging immorality? How is atheism eroding religious values and what are these values? Dogma? Blind faith? Is the attorney general of Kenya saying that peace, stability and good order in Kenya is defined by dogma and blind belief? The registration of the AIK has been equated to licencing devils worship, sexual perversions, drug abuse or any other outlawed indulges. In actual fact, a closer look at the controversy reveals that it is the advocacy and pronouncements of the Christian and Muslim groups, not those of the AIK, that may be considered (if we must) as prejudicial and incompatible with public peace, stability and good order in Kenya because they are informed by ignorance and fanatical hatred. The attorney general of Kenya has simply done the bidding of the religious establishment in the country, not his constitutional duty by suspending the AIK based on prejudicial narratives that demonize atheism and associate lack of belief in god with immorality and public disorder. Kenya needs free thought groups to help in tackling religious extremism and superstitions. The authorities in the country need to recognize freethinking organisations, not suspend them, so that they can freely work and campaign to awaken Kenyans from their dogmatic slumber. 14.06.2016 LISTEN Destiny Ugorji The prosecution team of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was dealt a heavy blow at the resumed trial of Nigerias former Head of Service, Mr. Stephen Oronsaye, Osarenkhoe Afe, and three others, Tuesday, at the Federal High Court, Abuja, as the presiding Judge, Justice Gabriel Kolawole ruled in favour of the defence team against an attempt by the Commissions first prosecution witness (Pw1), Rouqayya Ibrahim to use a chart to give her evidence. Rouqayya Ibrahim, an operative of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, who came as the Commissions first Prosecution Witness requested to use a Chart in the Court to explain the findings of the EFCC in the course of investigation of the alleged fraud in Pension payments in Nigeria. Opposing the request, lead Counsel to Mr. Stephen Oronsaye, Mr. Kanu Agabi (SAN), argued that the chart, as displayed, having photographs of the accused persons will not allow for fair trial. He argued that: the chart, having photographs of the accused persons will be prejudicial and will not allow for fair trial. When I saw the chart, I thought it was a document earlier frontloaded to us, but we just noticed that we received it here in Court. If it is a document they intend to use, they should serve it on us properly. Adding his voice, Counsel to the second and third defendants, Mr. Oluwole Aladoyele described the practise as strange to his team, arguing that it does not conform to the provisions of the Evidence Act, relying on Section 239 of the Act. He urged the Court to disallow what he described as a strange procedure, further describing the information on the chart as the personal opinion of the prosecution witness. Canvassing in favour of the use of the Chart, Prosecution Counsel, Mr. Adebisi Adeniye argued that the opposition to the Chart was misconceived. I submit that the opposition to the usage of the chat is misconceived. It is not a situation where we hope to tender the document in evidence. What the witness has said is that she has a chat with which she can demonstrate the investigation she carried out and her findings. Even under the evidence Act, this witness can refresh her memory. In his ruling, the presiding Judge, Justice Gabriel Kolawole upheld the arguments of the two defence counsels, disallowing the use of the demonstration chart. If the chart will not be tendered as an exhibit, of what use is it? If I merely have to listen to the PW1s explanations, of what use is it when the judgement will be written? If the use of the chart is merely to demonstrate how the fraud was perpetrated and not tendered as an exhibit, it will not be useful in judgement. I agree with the view of the counsel to the 2nd and 3rd defendants that the chart will be prejudicial. PW1 has not shown any sign of one with loss of memory. She appears to be clever and clearheaded. It is also important that the defendants are accorded fair hearing and fair trial. It is either the Chart is tendered as an exhibit or is out rightly discarded. My decision is to disallow this, which the PW1 introduced by herself without guidance by the prosecution Counsel. The Chart is disallowed from being demonstrated to the Court. Similarly, an attempt made by the same prosecution Counsel to pray the Court to accept a Statement made by the second defendant as an exhibit was also blocked by the defence Counsel, who argued that the said statement made in the office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission was written under duress. He made a case for a trial-within- trial, a prayer that was granted by the presiding Judge. I object to the admissibility of this document. It was made through oppression, using the exact words of the Evidence Act. I am particular about the statements made on the 24th of February, 2011 and 16th of March, 2011. They were made through oppression, as he was threatened, induced and harassed to make the statements and we intend to demonstrate this if my lord graciously orders trial within trial to demonstrate to you that these documents are inadmissible. He was bundled, he stressed. Delivering his ruling on the admissibility of the document, presiding Judge, Justice Gabriel Kolawole said: In view of the objection raised by the second and third defence Counsel, and relying on sections 28 and 29 of the Evidence Act, we will take a mini procedure, a trial within trial. The matter was adjourned to 21st of June, 2016 for the ordered mini procedure. It would be recalled that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission dragged Nigerias former head of Service, Mr. Stephen Oronsaye and four others before Justice Gabriel Kolawole of a Federal High Court, Abuja over an amended 35-count charge bordering on alleged corruption. Others charged by the Commission are: Cluster Logistics Limited, Kangolo Dynamic Cleaning Limited, and Drew Investment & Construction Company Limited. Osarenkhoe Afe is the managing director of Fredrick Hamilton Global Services Limited. Meanwhile, many well-meaning Nigerians have cautioned the Federal Government over what they described as the persecution of Nigerias former Head of Service by the EFCC, further describing it as a show of ingratitude to one who introduced reforms to the countrys Civil Service and exposed corruption in the system. File Photo 14.06.2016 LISTEN Access to Justice is crucial in any democracy. Whatever rights and responsibilities exist, they are of no value unless it is possible for all to access the law and the courts in order to ensure that those rights and responsibilities are fully observed. Legal aid has therefore become an essential element of democratic societies. Legal aid is the provision of legal assistance to indigent persons who cannot afford legal representation in court. Legal aid guarantees equal access to justice for all. The concept of legal aid is expressed in international human rights legal instruments such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), 1948 and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1CCPR), 1966. In this write-up, I would be discussing legal aid and its challenges and the way forward at ensuring the provision of true legal aid for the poor in Ghana. Obtaining the services of a lawyer in Ghana is generally expensive. The fees prescribed by the Ghana Bar Association for lawyers to charge clients for services I believe are unrealistic considering the general economic situation in the country. For instance, initial consultation fees alone for: (i) Senior Counsel, who is 10 years or more at the Bar is GH500.00 maximum (ii) Counsel who is between 5 to 9 years at the Bar is GH375.00 maximum and (iii) Junior Counsel under 5 years is GH250.00 maximum. The fee to be charged for bail application is between GH2,500.00 to GH5,000.00. For misdemeanor trials between GH5,000.00 to GH10,000.00. Furthermore, for felony trials it is between GH10,000.00 to GH20,000.00 and for indictable trials between GH20,000.00 to GH50,000.00. Even an amount of between GH10,000.00 to GH20,000.00 is the charge for criminal watching briefs. I believe many lawyers will agree with me that these rates are out of reach as many clients cannot afford. No wonder many persons have to suffer injustice because they cannot afford the litigation expenses and end up giving the matter to God. This is why legal aid is necessary. A person must not suffer injustice because he cannot afford legal representation. I would define true legal aid as free of charge representation by a lawyer to persons who cannot afford legal services. It includes such assistance as is given by a lawyer, in the steps prelude or incidental to any proceedings or arriving at or giving effect to a compromise to avoid or to bring to an end any proceedings. There is free lawyer consultation and filing of documents in court is at no cost. In fact, the whole process of prosecuting a case in court must be without charge and the indigent litigant or accused person or his relatives and friends must not be made to pay a dime for the services rendered. This is the ideal situation and the best practice as pertains in the developed world. Of course, some will argue that there is nothing free under the sun and that the indigent litigant or the accused and his family must bear part of the litigation expenses which is somehow a valid argument and so it is not uncommon for lawyers, NGOs and legal aid providers to demand monies from poor clients and family for especially filing of documents in court. The Legal Aid Scheme is supporting organizations in this regard by endorsing applications for filing in court. The official stamp of the Legal Aid Scheme ensures that the documents are exempt from the payment of filing and other fees and legal aid providers must take advantage of this opportunity and offer true legal aid to the public. Article 294 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana provides for legal aid. In pursuance of the constitutional provision, the Legal Aid Scheme Act, 1997 (Act 524) was passed and the Legal Aid Scheme was established. The State provides legal aid to indigent litigants through the Scheme. Ghana Legal Aid Scheme is a public service organization within the justice delivery system of Ghana. It is one of the component institutions over which the Ministry for Justice has oversight responsibility. The Scheme operates countrywide from ten (10) offices in all the Regional capitals. The Scheme is tasked under the Legal Aid Scheme Act 1997 (Act 542) to provide legal assistance to the poor and indigent, as well as other persons in the prosecution and defense of their rights under the Constitution of Ghana. Who is entitled to legal aid under the Scheme? According to Section 2 of the Act, a person is entitled to legal aid in connection with any proceedings relating to the Constitution if he has reasonable grounds for taking, defending, prosecuting or being a party to the proceedings. A person shall also be entitled to legal aid if he earns the government minimum wage or less and desires legal representation in any criminal matter or civil matter relating to landlord and tenant, insurance, inheritance with particular reference to the Intestate Succession Law, 1985 (P. N. D. C. L. 111), maintenance of children and such other civil matters as may from time to time be prescribed by Parliament or if in the opinion of the Board the person requires legal aid. A person who wants to benefit from the scheme has to apply to the nearest office of the Ghana Legal Aid Scheme Board. He or she is made to complete a form providing such details such as his full name, age, address, occupation, income, property owned, marital status, number of children and other dependents. Furthermore, the applicant must indicate whether he has ever applied for legal aid under the scheme and must state the nature of the case for which legal aid is sought. The information is to ascertain that the applicant genuinely does not have the financial means to go to court for the redress he or she is seeking. If preliminary questioning and further investigations prove beyond reasonable doubt that the applicant genuinely needs aid, the necessary process is set in motion. Where the officials feel that litigation is not necessary, they advice the applicant to have the matter settled out of court. The other party to the case may be invited, if necessary, for this purpose. Arbitration or any other form of amicable settlement is also resorted to. Where arbitration fails, the case may go to the courts. The applicant does not pay any fees to the lawyer even if the case is pursued all the way to the Supreme Court. After the final determination of the case the lawyer submits his bills to the Regional Director of the Legal Aid Board who, in turn, submits the bills to the national headquarters in Accra for payment. Under the Courts (Amendment) Act 2002, the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, the High Court or a Regional Tribunal may assign a Lawyer by way of legal aid and may do so with prior approval of the Chief Justice. The State funded Legal Aid Scheme is however woefully under-financed and ill-equipped to make any meaningful impact. In fact, I have heard the Director of the Scheme a number of occasions on air complaining about the problem and calling for more funding for the Scheme. Regarding personnel, Section 22 of the Legal Aid Scheme Act provides that, the National Service Board shall assign to the Board such lawyers liable to do national service as the Board may request. It further provides that, the Bar Association of each region shall with the approval of the General Council of the Bar, select legal practitioners who shall, subject to the approval of the Board, make their services available to the Scheme. Therefore it is obvious that originally the Scheme intended to rely on lawyers on national service and from the Bar Associations to provide legal aid for poor litigants, which meant that there would be a pool of lawyers to provide legal aid for the poor across the country but that has not materialized. Most of the few volunteer lawyers are also concentrated in Accra and Kumasi and other regions especially the northern regions are lacking legal aid lawyers. The National Service Scheme must ensure that some of the new lawyers who pass out of the Ghana School of Law and have not done their national service are posted to the Legal Aid Scheme to help solve their personnel problem. The Scheme in the future needs to establish offices even at the district capitals countrywide. Legal aid organizations such as Helplaw Ghana need to be commended for complementing the effort of State in the provision of true legal aid to the poor even though such organizations have their own funding challenges. In conclusion, lawyers aside their duties to their clients and to the courts have a duty to the society to uphold justice. All lawyers must consider it a moral and social responsibility to offer pro bono legal services to indigent litigants and accused persons. Even though the Ghana Bar Association encourages lawyers to offer pro bono legal services, I think it is high time it is made mandatory, just as physicians working in emergency rooms are required to treat all patients regardless of ability to pay. Mandatory pro bono obligations ought to be required of all lawyers, before renewal of license to practice law in Ghana. The Legal Aid Scheme must be well resourced by the State to provide true legal aid to indigent litigants and accused persons. NGOs providing legal aid are encouraged to render true legal aid to the poor, whiles donor agencies are encouraged to provide more funding for their work. Those who are fortunate to be within the chamber of justice and must do justice to all persons. As rightly pointed out by Martin Luther King Jnr. injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. The writer is a Human Rights Advocate and works with Helplaw Ghana(a private Legal Aid Provider) [email protected] 0205827490 14.06.2016 LISTEN The Northern Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr. Daniel Bugri Naabu, has condemned the meeting held in Accra between President John Dramani Mahama and some community chiefs from the Konkomba areas of the Northern Region. The meeting was reportedly arranged at the instance of the Deputy Chief of Staff and former President of the Konkomba Youth Association, Kenneth Wujangi. Mr. Daniel Bugri Naabu alleged that President Mahama had realised how impossible it is for him to win the 2016 general elections, and has thus resorted to the possible use of the chiefs in the north, who are much revered by their subjects, to smartly woo their communities to rally behind him and the National Democratic Congress (NDC). He was of the suspicion that the move by the President to meet those Konkomba chiefs was basically to entice them to influence their people to vote against the NPP and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in the coming election. Addressing a news conference at his residence in Tamale, Mr. Daniel Bugri Naabu observed that the mode of invitation of the chiefs to Accra was a recipe for serious possible confusion and misunderstanding between those chiefs and their superior chiefs, or the overlords of their traditional areas. Some of the invited chiefs, according to Mr. Bugri Naabu, include the Saboba Chief, Yankazia Chief-Unafebor, Sobiba Chief, Ugando Chief, Kpegu Chief, Nayili Chief, Kujoli Chief, Kunjul Chief and Napagu Chief. The rest are; Kpalba Chief, Kunani Chief, Ugbinbor, Nasuan Chief, Nasuk Chief, Gbintiri Chief and Bunbong Nayire Chief among others. I spoke with some of the chiefs, and they told me that they didn't know that they were travelling. They were invited by the Saboba Chief, and when they got there, vehicles were already waiting for them, and that they were only told that John Mahama wants to meet them in Accra. And some of them told me that they did not even inform their subjects and their paramount chiefs, and that they know when they come back they will have problem with them. Some of the Konkombas they called are from the Mamprusi area, but they did not tell the Overlord of Mamprugu Traditional Area, and others are also from the Dagomba area, and they live together with the natives, and, again, no information was sent across. This makes it very dangerous for those chiefs, since it is a complete affront to their paramount chiefs, and if the overlords get to know about this , you are going to create problems for these chiefs. 14.06.2016 LISTEN From William Nlanjerbor JALULAH, Bolgatanga The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has asked the people of Upper East Region to punish the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) and President John Mahama for taking them for granted in spite of the massive electoral support they received from region in previous elections by voting them out of power. The National Organizer and the Acting General Secretary of the NPP, Mr. John Boadu made the call in Bolgatanga, when the branch of the party in the region presented a list of failed promises by President Mahama. In the run-up to the 2012 general elections, President Mahama and the NDC had promised to revamp the Northern Star Tomato Factory at Pwalugu, revamp Zuarungu Meat Factory, construct Bolgatanga-Bawku road, construct a regional hospital and construct an airstrip. But as it stands today, none of these promises has been fulfilled, barely five months to the 2016 general elections. According to NPP executives in the region it was, therefore, not surprising that President Mahama postponed indefinitely his visit to the Upper East Region, which was slated for June 6 2016, because there were no projects for him to commission, as he did in other parts of the country he earlier visited. The postponed visit was part of the President's 'accounting to the People's tour', after he had already toured some regions. Speaking to the media on the sidelines of a meeting with party executives from constituency and regional levels, Mr. Boadu said considering the enormous electoral support the NDC has received from the people of the region over the years and the fact that the party has failed wholly to develop it, the electorate should punish the NDC in the upcoming election by voting them out. The NDC government over the years, because they get a lot of the votes from this region in particular and other few regions the Volta Region, the Northern Region and the Upper West Region, they turn not to pay particular attention to this region, knowing very well that since he (President Mahama) campaigned on the fact that he is a northerner, and he must be voted for, then of course if he is seeking for another mandate, he will go on that tangent, and the tangent of tribalism to ensure that he renews his mandate. I think that it is something that the people of Upper East Region must punish the government for, in order for them not to take them (people) for granted by voting massively against them, both at the parliamentary and presidential level. That is exactly the kind of punishment I want the people of the Upper East Region to mete out to the NDC and especially to John Mahama, for taking them for granted, John Boadu told the people. He stated that the kind of failed promises by the President and his party were things they could do, considering the kind of resources that have come their way. The massive taxes over the years, the borrowing they have done over the years, the SADA Savannah Accelerated Development Authority resources that have come their way, I think this is something that is not beyond them at all, he emphasized. Meanwhile, Mr. Donatus Akamugri, NDC Regional Secretary, in an exclusive interview with this reporter stated that the postponement of the President's visit was largely due to other busy schedules and not due to claim by the opposition NPP that the president could not visit the region because there were no projects for him to commission. 14.06.2016 LISTEN By Maame Agyeiwaa Agyei ([email protected]) The Eranove group, the leading group in General Electric Power, has announced that two of its companies have been awarded by EMEA Finance magazine at a ceremony held in London. The two award winning companies, Kenie project and CIPREL a subsidiary of Eranove Company, has developed with General Electric a project in Ghana called Ghana 1000 in Aboadze. General Electric is to develop a 1,000 Megawatts (MW) electricity project in Ghana. When complete, the project named Ghana 1000 will deliver more than 1,000 MW of electricity to Ghana's national power grid, helping to reduce the cost, and increase access to power for the population of Ghana. In addition to the Kenie project (which was awarded Best Water Deal) among the global EMEA award winners and having again won an award for the African region, the CIPREL combined cycle power plant also won an award (Best Sustainability Deal). CIPREL was established in 1994 to meet the growing energy needs of Cote dIvoire. The company has long been the largest independent power producer in Cote dIvoire, and indeed West Africa. The combined-cycle facility (CIPREL IV) that was initiated in February 2016, raising the plants total capacity to 556 MW, confirmed CIPRELs leadership in electricity production in Cote dIvoire. The combined cycle power plant technology, which helps produce more electricity without additional gas consumption, has led to, not only an optimisation of the production cost of electricity, but also the economy of national gas resources. Above all else, it has reduced annual atmospheric CO2 emissions by 500,000 tonnes. On its part, Kenie Energie Renouvelable signed a 30-year concession agreement with the government of the Republic of Mali. Under the agreement, the group will finance, develop, build and operate the Kenie hydro-electric unit, located on the Niger River. The facility, with its installed capacity of 42 MW, could produce around 175 GWh, which is equivalent to the average annual consumption of 175,000 households. The structure will also enable Mali make better use of its hydro-electric potential. The two prizes awarded by EMEA Finance confirm the relevance of our model of industrial development, said Marc Alberola, CEO of the Eranove Group. At a time when Africa is experiencing a tremendous economic boom, CIPREL and Kenie prove that it is possible to build innovative energy infrastructure that enable it to meet its electricity needs, while consolidating its commitments to sustainable development. Brief History about Eranove The Eranove Group is one of West Africas leading industrial providers of public utility management, and a major provider of water and electricity. The group has been active in Cote dIvoire (SODECI, CIE, CIPREL and AWALE) for several decades, in Senegal (SDE) since 1996, and in the Democratic Republic of Congo via a service contract with REGIDESO since 2013. With revenues from ordinary activities of 500,6M in 2015 (a 19.6% growth over two years), an operating generating capacity of about 1,250 MW, and a production of 400 million m3 of potable water, the Eranove Group employs more than 8,300 staff, harnessing their talents and expertise to meet the needs of its 1.4 million electricity customers and 1.5 million water customers. The group and its subsidiaries are fully committed to all aspects of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), and to achieving quality, safety, and environmental certification (ISO 9001, OHSAS 18001, ISO 140001). Dr Maame Yaa (3rd left) receiving the dummy cheque from Yeboah Asiamah Management of uniCredit, one of the leading savings and loans companies in Ghana, has supported the 90th anniversary celebration of the Princess Marie Louise Children's Hospital with an amount of GH20,000. Briefing the press after a presentation at the hospital, P.V Yeboah-Asiamah, General Manager of uniCredit, said the gesture was to boost the existing beneficial relationship between the hospital and uniCredit over the past seven years. We started this partnership with the hospital with the establishment of a needy fund to cater for the less privileged in 2009. Today, we are moving the relationship further, he noted. Mr. Yeboah-Asiamah said having come this far with the hospital, uniCredit considered it a special opportunity to support the hospital on the special occasion of its 90th anniversary. . He said the board and management were very committed to the partnership and will always be on hand to support the hospital. Touching on some key developments at uniCredit, Mr. Yeboah-Asiamah hinted that uniCredit has recently rolled out its e-banking suite, which is offering the much-needed convenience to its numerous customers. He said as part of efforts to make the uniCredit service experience accessible to many existing and potential customers, uniCredit is undertaking an ambitious expansion programme to open 26 branches by the end of 2016. Currently with 18 branches spread across the Greater Accra, Central, Ashanti and Western Regions of Ghana, the company intends to expand to the Eastern, Northern and Brong Ahafo Regions by the end of this year. Dr. Maame Yaa Nyarko, chairperson of the 90th Anniversary Planning Committee and a Pediatric Specialist at the Children's Hospital, said the support would go a long way to make the celebrations successful. A business desk report United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The UN Security Council on Tuesday authorized an EU naval force to intercept ships suspected of arms smuggling to Libya, moving to shore up Tripoli's unity government as it battles the Islamic State group. The council unanimously adopted a resolution drafted by Britain and France that expands the mission of Operation Sophia, which has been combating migrant trafficking in the Mediterranean. French Ambassador Francois Delattre, who holds the council's presidency this month, said the measure is a potential "game-changer," by cutting off the arms flow "that feeds the instability" in Libya. But Russia warned that the measure could deepen divisions in Libya, which has been in turmoil since the 2011 fall of Moamer Kadhafi. Operation Sophia's enforcement of an arms embargo is aimed at supporting the UN-backed unity government as it struggles to establish its authority over the entire north African country. Militias loyal to the UN-backed government of Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj are battling to retake the key city of Sirte from IS jihadists. Following the UN vote, EU foreign ministers were expected to formally task Operation Sophia with combating arms smuggling when they meet in Luxembourg on Monday. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said in a statement welcoming the vote that Operation Sophia would "play an important role" in enforcing the arms embargo. The embargo was imposed on Libya in 2011, but UN sanctions monitors have reported shipments from Egypt, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Sudan to various factions. British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said "the existing arms embargo has not fully stopped the flow of weapons" and that action was needed to prevent shipments from reaching IS fighters. Libya is awash with weapons, with some 20 million pieces of armaments of all types in a country of six million people, according to the United Nations. - Seize and dispose - The resolution invokes Chapter 7 of the UN charter, which allows for the use of military force. It grants a 12-month mandate to EU vessels to "inspect, without undue delay, on the high seas off the coast of Libya, vessels bound to, or from Libya which they have reasonable grounds to believe are carrying arms or related material to or from Libya." Russian Deputy Ambassador Vladimir Safronkov warned the measure could sow division by "helping some Libyans against others." Safronkov recalled that militias loyal to Libyan General Khalifa Haftar, who has refused to back the unity government, were "effectively pushing back" against IS jihadists. "It is inadmissible to ignore this," he told the council. In a concession to Russia, the resolution included a mention that the EU naval force must "make good-faith efforts" to first seek consent from the ship's flag state before carrying out any inspection. EU vessels are authorized to "use all measures commensurate to the specific circumstances to carry out such inspections" on the high seas, off Libya's coast. The EU force received UN permission to "seize and dispose" of the weapons and divert vessels and their crew to a nearby port. The adoption of the resolution coincides with a push to grant the Sarraj government an exemption to the arms embargo for purchases of military equipment to confront IS and rival militias. That request for an exemption, however, is conditional on receiving assurances from the unity government that it will properly store and keep track of the new weapons to prevent them from falling in the wrong hands. Council members also want Tripoli to provide a clear command structure of the various militias that are now claiming to be fighting on the unity government's behalf. you are here: business 'Good time to go public': IPO-bound Mahanagar Gas Rajeev Mathur, the MD of Mahanagar Gas expects the volume growth to be around 7-8 percent in the current fiscal. business Brexit impact to be more regional than global:Lakefield Partners Even though there is unrest over Brexit, devaluation in Europe is getting better than the US, says Bruno Verstraete, Partner at Lakefield Partners. 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Ireland United States Minor Outlying Islands United States of America Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe Our favourite Scottish singer-songwriter is coming to NZ in July 2023 for what will be two incredible shows! Privacy Overview This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful. True North Mortgage, one of the countrys largest mortgage brokerages, recently launched its own lending company but dont expect other industry players to follow suit, say two leading brokers.I see no batch of new, small lenders opening soon; some big brokerages will think about what Dan [Eisner] has done but right now most of those big brokerages are more focused on high yield MICs than anything else, Ron Butler , a broker with Butler Mortgage, wrote in an email to MortgageBrokerNews.ca. Being a CMHC approved lender is an expensive to start, slow to make a profit business.There is a reason that only one serious company, CMLS , entered the broker lending market in the last 5 years: They were already a large commercial / multi-residential lender who had existing relationships with insurers and investors so the capital and infrastructure was already in place.True North Mortgage launched a CMHC-approved lender arm, THINK Financial in late May. The news was first reported by Canadian Mortgage Trends.The national brokerage is no stranger to disrupting the industry; it was one of the first to rely on a rate buydown and rate site strategy as well as a salaried workforce.The launch of THINK Financial will help drive business to its brokerage, giving it a price advantage, according to Butler.Being a discount broker operating your own lender means you gain more basis points of margin that allows you to be more rate-competitive in the marketplace, Butler said.That said; dont expect other brokerages to hop on the bandwagon.Consider that TNM management, due to its salaried staff structure, has far greater control over where mortgages are directed, Dustan Woodhouse , a broker with Dominion Lending Centres Canadian Mortgage Experts, said.Then consider that a $1.1 billion dollar brokerage is essentially a collection of [individuals] who all run their books their own way and take very little directive from anyone on where they send files.Further, I would suggest that few broker owners would have the capital requirements in place, and [those] that do have that liquidity, fewer still would want to tie it up in such a venture due partly to the reason I reference above. German Rates Go Negative; Credit Scoring Trends - DU 10.0 & Trended Data Release Delayed "In about five years, I see myself with the same job title, about the same salary, and significantly more responsibilities." Time has a way of flying. An Experian survey finds about 45% of first time homebuyers say they have delayed buying a home in order to improve their credit score. Speaking of credit scores, investors and lenders continue to change guidelines - see below. Trends in credit scores? PERC, as part of National Financial Literacy Month, released preliminary results of a study on the effectiveness of personalized credit counseling services showing that more than two-thirds of consumers had an increase in their credit scores after receiving a credit counseling session. This is more than seen in a comparison group. The strong results from the study support efforts underway to convince policymakers to increase consumer access to this type of credit counseling information and services. Among the interim findings of the study, within 90 days after completing a personalized credit education session with a credit advisor from a nationwide consumer reporting agency included more than two-thirds of counseling participants (68 percent) had an increase in their credit scores, with 38 percent of the increases greater than 20 points. Nearly all participants (93 percent) reported they have a better understanding of the actions they need to take to improve their credit score. If you would like to read more of PERC's initial results, download the PDF report here. Wells Fargo has removed its policy overlay for court-ordered debt on Conventional Conforming Loans and will follow Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae's current guidelines. If you missed Mountain West Financials May bulletin with updates and additions to its guidelines, click here to view the bulletin. Tongues are wagging about Fannie delaying the release of its DU 10.0. Originally slated for June 25, the talk on the street has it pushed back to August, at least. "To support a successful implementation, we are postponing the DU Version 10.0 release that was scheduled for the weekend of June 25, 2016. As we prepared for the release, we experienced issues with the testing environment and decided it would be prudent to delay the release. We are rapidly addressing this issue in order to deliver these new enhancements to our customers to help provide even more certainty and simplicity while expanding access to credit and sustainable homeownership for creditworthy borrowers. We'll let you know as soon as possible and give you ample time to get ready. The industry, and credit reporting companies, was anticipating the release of this since the new version of DU incorporated "trended credit data" thought to help more borrowers. As Equifax puts it, "Trended, historical, longitudinal or time-series data is an invaluable tool for gaining practical perspective into consumer behavior. It works by measuring a sequence of data points at successive points in time spaced over uniform time intervals. Analyzing the data creates the opportunity to extract meaningful statistics and help predict future values based on previously observed values. When measuring trended data within a consumer credit profile, analysis on direction, velocity, tipping points and magnitude of changes within the profile can help provide valuable insight into consumer credit behavior." For its part, Freddie Mac, in its Single-Family Seller/Servicer Guide (Guide) Bulletin 2016-10 from last week, revised requirements related to the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) expiration, extending the Lender-Placed Insurance (LPI) deductibles mandatory effective date for certain Servicers, and more. "As the HAMP program winds down at the end of 2016, we're aligning with certain expiration dates and removing HAMP-specific forms and references from our solicitation requirements so we aren't promoting an imminently-ending program. We're extending the mandatory effective date for LPI deductibles for certain Servicers that use American Modern Insurance Group (AMIG) as their LPI provider. The revised effective date for Servicers that use AMIG is on or after July 1, 2017. Servicers must use IRS Form 1099-C when reporting a cancellation of debt in connection with a short sale." You can see for yourself at Summary of Upcoming Requirement Changes. In case you haven't heard, on Saturday, June 11, 2016, FHA implemented a technical change to its Technology Open To Approved Lenders (TOTAL) Mortgage Scorecard technology. Effective on June 11, the TOTAL Mortgage Scorecard will no longer return either Upfront or Annual Mortgage Insurance Premium (MIP) factors to an Automated Underwriting System (AUS) for subsequent return on the AUS's feedback certificate. Mortgagees should consult Appendix I of the FHA Single Family Housing Policy Handbook 4000.1 (SF Handbook) for applicable MIP factors. AUS vendors have been notified of this change, and are making accommodations to their systems in advance of the change. Do you need an avenue for a customer's major derogatory credit issue? NewLeaf's Access Product, per the company, might be your answer. Citadel Servicing Wholesale has partnered with Valuation Link allowing the capability to order Non-QM appraisals for 2nd MTG's. Borrowers can qualify with Up to 85% CLTV, 1-day seasoning from Short Sale, 1 year seasoning from Foreclosure or BK, Up to $1mil. combined loan amount, Loan amounts up to $500,000, Bank Statements used for income self-employed. Visit Citadel's website for complete details. Congrats to Credit Suisse, who is marketing the deal, Fitch, who rated it, and to Caliber Home Loan which has priced a $137 million mortgage bond deal, the industry's first rated non-prime home loan securitization in a decade. Critics quickly asked what was different about the usual rating agency being paid by the issuer to rate its deal than ten years ago, the fact that it "only" has an A rating, and to the relatively small size of the deal compared to the billions of residential loans being funded daily. But hey, its's a step in the right direction, right? Caliber is owned by Lone Star Funds and last year issued a string of non-rated securitizations of similar non-prime home loans. "Although the mortgage loans were originated to satisfy the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ability to repay (ATR) rules, they were made to borrowers who generally do not qualify for agency, government or private label non-agency prime jumbo products for various reasons described above. In accordance with the CFPB Qualified Mortgage (QM) rules, 2.6% of the loans are designated as QM Safe Harbor, 41.4% as QM Rebuttable Presumption and 51.8% as non-QM. Approximately 4.2% of the loans are not subject to the QM rules." Caliber...is the originator and servicer for all loans in the portfolio. "Wells Fargo will act as the Master Servicer, Securities Administrator and Certificate Registrar. U.S. Bank National Association will serve as Trustee." That means any advances required but not paid by Caliber will be paid by Wells Fargo. "The 368 mortgages were originated under five programs. Jumbo Alternative (35%) - borrowers with unblemished credit seeking larger balance mortgages. These loans may have interest-only features, higher debt-to-income (DTI) and loan-to-value (LTV) ratios, or lower credit scores as compared with those in traditional prime jumbo securitizations. 2. Homeowner's Access (50%) -borrowers who do not qualify for agency or prime jumbo mortgages for various reasons, such as loan size in excess of government limits, alternative or insufficient credit, or prior derogatory credit events that occurred more than two years prior to origination. "3. Fresh Start (10%) - borrowers with lower credit and significant recent credit events within the past 24 months. 4. Investor (4%) - borrowers who finance investor properties where the mortgage loan would not meet agency or government guidelines because of such factors as property type, number of financed properties, lower borrower credit score or a seasoned credit event. 5. Foreign national (0.4%) - non-resident borrowers holding certain types of visas who may not have a credit score." As mentioned yesterday, rates continue to benefit from the world political scene, as well as our economy not going gangbusters. Put another way, U.S. fixed-income securities rallied as risk assets around the world sold off on concerns that the U.K. will vote to leave the European Union on June 23. The probability of the U.K. remaining in the EU is now 64%, according to some odds makers. For news today, German rates have turned negative - arguably more important than news in the U.S. today. We've had the May Export Price (+1.1%) and Import Prices (+1.4%) as well as May Retail Sales (+.5%, stronger than expected). We closed Monday with the 10-year at 1.62% and we're down to 1.59% this morning with agency MBS prices better by nearly .125. Jobs and Announcements In wholesale job news, Plaza Home Mortgage spread the word that, "We are excited to announce a new career opportunity as an Account Executive position has become available in the Atlanta, GA market. The previous AE is retiring, so the incoming AE will take over a current pipeline with active broker accounts. This AE will have market exclusivity in the Atlanta market as this is the only rep from Plaza covering the area. Take advantage of this unique opportunity and join one of the top 5 Wholesale lenders in the nation! If you're interested in applying, please contact Mark Boleky, Sales Manager, at 866-915-3650 x2409. Plaza is an EEOC employer and follows all federal, state, and local laws relating to fair employment." Up the coast, Santander Bank is hiring for a Mortgage Wholesale Account Executive to work in the Northern Virginia/Maryland market. In this position, you'll help serve Santander's customers as part of one of the top banks in the United States. Santander offers aggressive mortgage lending products to help our customers reach their financial goals. You will be able to stand out in the DC Metro market by offering Santander's jumbo program which will be a "must have" for your clients. In addition, Santander offers aggressive agency high balance products, a non-warrantable condo program, an 80-10-10 product and much more. Responsibilities of this position include soliciting mortgage brokers, bankers and correspondents, developing and implementing sales strategies, presenting and discussing loan programs and reviewing customer scenarios. This is a great opportunity for an individual to be very successful and to be a leader in the market place. To learn more about this opportunity, please contact Regional Sales Manager Joe Kowalewski at 484-431-1953. On the operations side of things, Indecomm Global Services, a leading provider of mortgage technology, training, and outsourcing services is seeking experienced Senior Post Closing Quality Control auditors. Clients include prominent top tier, mid-tier lenders, and regional lenders as well as title and settlement companies. The successful candidate will Audit loan files in compliance with agency or private investor guidelines. Auditors may also be asked to perform reviews for State Compliance, HECM, Pre-funding, HELOC/Second Mortgages, Adverse Action, and/or Fraud Investigations. The position is remote. The ideal candidate will have 5-10 years of underwriting experience in the mortgage industry and possess strong written communication skills. Direct Endorsement Certificate and Compliance experience is a plus. Interested candidates should send their resume to HR Manager Candy Mechels. In personnel news, PRMG announced the hiring of Aimee Johnson as its National Operations Manager. "Aimee brings with her over 22 years' experience in the mortgage industry with an emphasis specializing in Underwriting/Credit Risk, Compliance, Business Analysis, Project Management, Training and Streamlining Workflows. Some of her most recent accomplishments include the successful implementation of Optimal Blue-pricing software, development of a Wholesale Broker Web Portal as well as a new Loan Origination System which required strong collaboration between operations, sales and management." Congrats! An East Coast lender, expanding its direct to consumer platform, is looking to acquire a small/medium size title company to support the retail origination platform. If you are a title company owner looking to join an exciting, growing company, please send your confidential contact information to me to pass along to the principals. (Please specify opportunity.) And in retail news Guild is hiring. "As Guild Mortgage Company continues the march to establish themselves as the leading privately-held mortgage company in the nation, expansion continues in its Texas Region which includes Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana. Founded in 1960, Guild Mortgage is licensed in 37 states. If you are a branch manager or loan officer, looking to align with a direct seller/servicer in one of these states, please contact Jed Rudd, District Manager (682.498.8990). Speaking of Guild, STRATMOR Group announced the expansion of its industry-leading MortgageSAT borrower satisfaction survey program to cover mortgage servicing operations as well as origination. MortgageSAT - Servicing will complement STRATMOR's popular MortgageSAT - Origination program that measures borrower satisfaction levels from pre-application through the closing of a mortgage loan. Guild Mortgage Company, headquartered in San Diego, CA will be the first lender to implement the new program. At Guild, the new program will initially function as an internal management tool strictly focused on gauging the satisfaction levels of Guild's own borrowers. But, as additional lenders enroll in the program, Guild and other participating lenders will be able to benchmark their servicing satisfaction scores against other (anonymized) servicers to identify best practices and continually gauge their competitive success in keeping customers happy. (For more information about MortgageSAT programs, contact Tim Ryan.) Peabody Energy Corp. is set to pay President Barack Obama's Harvard Law School mentor $435,000 this year to help the bankrupt coal producer challenge the administration's signature environmental law. The payments to Laurence Tribe, a constitutional law expert and legal icon spanning May to December this year were disclosed in a legal filing tied to Peabody's bankruptcy proceedings. They do not include any money Peabody sent Tribe before its April bankruptcy filing as part of the company's crusade against Obama's Clean Power Plan, which is designed to slash carbon dioxide emissions from power plants 32 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. The program encourages states and utilities to burn less coal and use generate more electricity from cleaner sources such as wind, solar power and natural gas. Tribe is set to receive monthly payments ranging from $17,500 in May to $75,000 in September, when the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington hears arguments in the Clean Power Plan case. The litigation ultimately is expected to be resolved by the Supreme Court, which includes two of Tribe's former students, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Elena Kagan. Tribe's work for Peabody has drawn a backlash from liberals who have regarded him as their top legal crusader. Tribe represented Al Gore before the Supreme Court in 2000 in the case that decided the presidential election and served in Obama's Justice Department, defending the Affordable Care Act and other administration initiatives. But now, Tribe's words are more frequently cited by Republican lawmakers lambasting Obama's environmental agenda than liberal stalwarts defending the president's policies. Tribe did not respond immediately to an emailed request for comment but previously said he's "not for sale" and "represents cases that I believe in." Environmental activists question Peabody's continued legal fight against the Clean Power Plan, even as some public officials question whether bankrupt coal producers will be able to clean up old mines. "Peabody plans to continue funding legal attacks against the Clean Power Plan while it navigates bankruptcy, even as there are growing doubts that the company will honor its obligations to communities and environmental reclamation at its mines," Joe Smyth, a researcher with the Climate Investigations Center, said by e-mail. "It's a telling reflection of the company's priorities." Sierra Club's director of federal and international climate campaigns, John Coequyt, has criticized Tribe's involvement in the case. "He can cloak it in all the academic legalese he wants, but the fact remains: Larry Tribe is no more than a hired gun for Big Coal-willing to make whatever 'absurd' legal arguments they want so long as his check clears," Coequyt wrote in a blog post. DALLAS Melisa Simon is poised, confident and a hard worker. She's also an undocumented immigrant, crossing the U.S. border from Mexico with her family at age 3. She was told by her mother early on that life in her new country would be tough. "I knew that I wasn't going to be able to have an actual career," Melisa said. But she trudged on, enrolling in Samuell High School's early college program and getting a work permit under President Barack Obama's initiative for young people brought to the U.S. unlawfully by their parents. Now she's on track to be Dallas ISD's youngest teacher as a teenager. Here's how the 17-year-old is making it happen: She completed requirements for her associate's degree this month from Eastfield College. She will graduate on June 2 with her high school diploma. In July, she'll start a program through Texas Tech University that will allow her to obtain a bachelor's degree and teacher certification in one year. She'll be turning 19 when she begins as a bilingual elementary teacher in August 2017. The only teacher in recent DISD history to begin that young turned 20 a month after starting work. "They prepared me really well," Melisa said of the staff at Samuell and Eastfield College. "At first I was intimidated now I'm involved in both campuses." Melisa lives in the Pleasant Grove area and was born in Mexico. She said that her parents put a big emphasis on education. Her mother didn't go to school past the sixth grade and her father stopped in ninth grade. She feels a need to do well for them. This means juggling classes, extracurricular activities and an evening job as an usher for Dallas Summer Musicals. "They crossed over the border with three little kids," she told The Dallas Morning News (http://bit.ly/1tg6cHl). "If they had to go through all that to bring me here, I think that I have to give back." Petite, with long dark hair, the teen teacher will be closer in age to her students' big sisters than their moms. To put her age in perspective, there are at least 1,430 students in DISD age 19 and older. But Melisa's youthfulness conceals a fierce determination to succeed, say people who know her. "There's definitely something there that is unique about her," said Zinab Munoz, the Dallas-area liaison for TechTeach, the teacher education program at Texas Tech that Melisa will begin this summer. "She's actually a trailblazer." Melisa is also among 57 students who will make up the first graduating class at Samuell Early College High School. Twenty-seven of them completed enough college hours to receive an associate's degree. Others earned dozens of college credit hours, according to DISD. Dallas ISD has five early college high school programs and will open eight more next fall. Jennifer Tecklenburg, assistant principal over Samuell's early college program, said students come out of the program prepared for a higher education and with lasting relationships. "The best thing that it does for them, regardless of how many credit hours they have, is that they know what to expect," Tecklenburg said. "They've been together four years. They're like a family. They support each other." The TechTeach program partners with various Texas school districts, including Dallas, Grand Prairie, Fort Worth and DeSoto. The goal is to put teachers where they are most needed and in their home communities. The participants take their college courses online and receive hands-on training at a school in their area. For Melisa, Dallas is home. It has been for as long as she can remember. "All my life has really been here," she said. "I don't really remember anything from there." She knows that some people perceive immigrants in the U.S. illegally as being bad people. She wants to shatter that belief. "I'm proud that I'm achieving all of this because I can prove people wrong, and I can be an example," she said. "You just have to work hard for it." Students in TechTeach earn certification in elementary general education and a supplemental certification in special education, bilingual education or English as a second language all hard-to-fill areas in school districts. Those who complete the program in the Dallas area are expected to commit to work in their area school district for at least two years, Munoz said. She added that the students can expect to work hard two years of college in one year. "It's very intense," Munoz said. Dallas ISD began the program in 2014 and has 83 graduates so far, according to Munoz. Participants are required to already have an associate degree and a minimum 2.75 grade-point average. Tuition for TechTeach is $18,000 to $20,000, Munoz said. Melisa plans to pay the costs using donations, scholarships and state financial aid. "My parents don't have a lot of money to pay for college," she said. Melisa is thankful for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA. The 2012 federal program provides people brought to the U.S. unlawfully as children with temporary work permits, renewable every two years, as long as they meet certain requirements. Federal officials say it's not a pathway to permanent residency or citizenship. But for immigrants, it means living without fear of deportation and a work permit. Of 1.36 million applications accepted under DACA through March 2016, 91 percent had been approved, according to a federal report. Most of the applicants are from Mexico, with many living in Texas or California. Melisa wants her first teaching job to be at Thelma Richardson Elementary School in Pleasant Grove, where she's lived her whole life. She believes that she can be a role model at the school where about 90 percent of students are considered economically disadvantaged, or qualify for free- or reduced-price lunch. More than half are learning English, as Melisa did in elementary school. "I just want to help them," she said. "I used to be one of those kids." Distributed by the Associated Press When Texas merged with the United States, the older U.S. already had a national flag, holidays and anthem. But Texas helped give the U.S. a lasting patriotic tradition: Flag Day. A century ago today, with the U.S. on the edge of the first World War, President Woodrow Wilson led a giant march on the first official Flag Day, and then delivered a chain-rattling speech warning against disloyalty and foreign sentiment pressuring the U.S. into war. Six years earlier, in 1910, St. Louis banker and cotton broker Ben Altheimer happened to be in San Antonio on June 14. The military flag ceremony that evening by soldiers at Fort Sam Houston, one of the Armys largest bases, stirred his heart. Back in St. Louis, the way he later told the story, he offered to provide flags for any shop that would put them out Flag Day. At that time, Flag Day was only an unofficial anniversary of the 1777 day Congress adopted Betsy Ross flag. By 1912, with Altheimer enlisting help from Christian and Jewish faith leaders, St. Louis declared an official citywide event. He is not the only Father of Flag Day. Wisconsin kindergarten teacher Bernard Cigrand was promoting the day in school in 1885, and a New York teacher followed in 1888. But Altheimer was among Wilsons invited guests in 1916 at the first official observance, and always claimed with some justification that his work in St. Louis started the flag-waving for Wilson to take the holiday national. Websites and Jewish community publications quote the 18 The New York Times news or feature stories about Altheimer, who went on to become a New York lawyer and philanthropist. In 1924, only eight years after the first celebration, a reader wrote the Times asking to give Altheimer official credit. That grand old man ... is the originator, reader Adolf Teschner wrote. It is unjust not to give due credit to the venerable gentleman whose suggestion and influence caused this date to be set aside. In Altheimers reply, he thanked the reader but wrote modestly that the military always observed Flag Day and he only helped bring it to the rest of America. In 1910, Fort Sam Houston was a growing Army base about to become the nations largest. I have done what I could ... to impress upon others the deep religious and patriotic significance, he wrote. In comments at a 1921 dedication ceremony, the German-born Altheimer appealed to Americans and God. You love your country, he said: Give it your aspirations and your efforts. Give it your love and devotion, your character. Give it the best you have -- yourself, heart and soul. This will enable you to pay in a measure to your country what it has given you and all its citizens -- independence, opportunity, freedom of conscience to serve your God and your religion in your own way. God save America. He never described the San Antonio ceremony or exactly what inspired him. But it probably involved a Texas-sized show of flags. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency WASHINGTON - While Democrats have largely been emphasizing the need for gun control and protections for the LGBT community in the aftermath of the Orlando massacre, Republicans have almost universally been emphasizing something else: fighting terrorism. We have to destroy the Islamic State, Florida Gov. Rick Scott, R, said Monday on CNN when asked what can be done to prevent another shooting like this. Republicans have plenty of evidence to make their case that Orlando was, above all else, an attack rooted in radical Islamic philosophy. The gunman pledged allegiance to the Islamic State while holding four hostages in a bathroom. The FBI said Monday they see no indication the plot was directed abroad, but they did say the shooter was radicalized. President Barack Obama said Monday it appears to be a case of homegrown extremism. But what can or might Congress - which is controlled by Republicans who are emphasizing terrorism and radical Islam - do to to stop it? Its a tricky political question to ask, because most roads ultimately lead to a place lawmakers from both sides have been loathe to go: approving and defining the use of military force in Iraq and Syria. But they might be more willing to take another look now that the deadliest shooting in U.S. history appears to have some connection to terrorism, said Kathleen Kidder with the Center for a New American Security. I think this is going to force a conversation in a way that not even the San Bernardino shootings did, she said. I think its becoming clearer the appeal that the [Islamic State] has. We spoke with Kidder to get a better sense of what Congress might do to fight terrorism in the wake of Orlando. Here are the three big ones: 1. Authorize military force This is the most obvious - and perhaps most difficult - step for Congress to take if it wants to fight terrorism. First, some background: Right now, President Obama has used airstrikes and sent in a very limited number of special forces in ostensibly non-combat roles under a 2001 authorization of force Congress approved after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Obama and his team have maintained theyre legally allowed to get involved abroad with that 15-year-old authorization, but the president has asked for a new one to put them on better legal and political footing. Lawmakers have resisted for a variety of reasons, but perhaps not least because of how many of their colleagues took a beating for voting to authorize the Iraq war (Hillary Clinton being chief among them). And then theres the uncertainty; theres simply no consensus in Congress for how long or where or even how America should fight the Islamic State, nor is there consensus on how much power lawmakers should hand over to the next, to-be-determined commander in chief. Republicans in particular are struggling with how to balance their demands that Obama get tougher on the Islamic State with the notion they could simultaneously be empowering a President Hillary Clinton - or even a President Donald Trump, for that matter - more than theyd be comfortable with. As for where we are now? If ever there was a moment for consensus, Kidder said, she thinks this could be it. Shes noticed a subtle shift since the seven-month-old San Bernardino, Calif., attacks, which also had elements of homegrown extremism. Now, she said, more lawmakers seem willing to at least consider the idea that Congress needs to get behind some military plan to fight the Islamic State. Theres an idea its continuing to send troops into a war without calling it a war, she said. In January, none other than Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., quietly introduced a resolution authorizing military force with a very broad scope. It surprised even his colleagues - but has yet to come up for a vote. This past week, two vocal proponents for authorizing force, Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., introduced a resolution to do just that. Well see where it goes. 2. Allocate money to fight the Islamic State Theres also a large amount of cash - $58.7 billion - to fight the Islamic State nestled in the military budget, which lawmakers are still debating. But Kidder says its unclear what the money would be used for. It could be going toward bombs and drones and the whole nine yards, and/or funding for troops on the ground, she said. It would probably depend on how the broader debate to authorize military force goes. 3. Give the FBI more power How to fight homegrown extremism is likely to get a lot of attention after Orlando, given the shooter was U.S.-born and the FBI twice investigated his propensity for extremism. (He was added to a terrorist watch list in 2013, then removed.) The confusion over one man who ultimately wound up perpetrating a horrible crime emphasizes what a hard job the FBI has, the bureaus director, James Comey, said Monday. Were looking for needles in a nationwide haystack and trying to figure out which pieces of hay will become needles, Comey said. If we can find a way to do that better, we will. On this, there seems to be some bipartisan consensus. Clinton has called for creating a team exclusively dedicated to finding lone wolves and possibly expanding who gets on the terrorist watch list. When asked by NBCs Savannah Guthrie on Monday about what he wants to do, Trump seemed to make boosting the FBIs needle-searching abilities a priority: We need far better intelligence-gathering; we have terrible intelligence-gathering right now. Both those things would probably fall under Congresss purview. Congress could also be more strict about what people on the FBIs various terrorist watch lists or no-fly lists can and cant do - like buy guns. An attempt to do just that failed after San Bernardino, when the Senate voted down 45-54 a proposal to block suspected terrorists from buying guns and explosives, but Senate Democrats are revving it up again in the wake of Orlando. The Midland City Council will vote today on a proposed ordinance that amends the current Midland city code regulations pertaining to taxicab businesses that operate within the city of Midland. The changes are a response to taxicab drivers who wanted a level playing field after the council voted last month for less restrictive guidelines for transportation network companies, such as Uber. Concerns centered around taxicab companies paying higher fees for licenses, as well as requirements concerning vehicle age, airport pickup and background checks. City council members called at that meeting to also revisit the taxicab regulations. Since then, according to city documents, the Midland Police Department has met with a group of taxicab owners and operators to discuss proposed changes to the current ordinance. After receiving feedback from the taxicab representatives, proposed changes were reviewed by the city manager, police chief and director of airports. The proposed ordinance includes the following amendments/changes: - the elimination of monthly inspections in favor of one annual inspection per vehicle; - the elimination of age and color restrictions for vehicles; - the elimination of the requirement to obtain a physical to be eligible for a chauffeurs license; - the elimination of the one-year Texas residency requirement to obtain a chauffeurs license; however, a Texas drivers license is still required; - a driver may use a taxicab for personal reasons, effectively allowing for use of taxicabs as couriers; - a taxicab company may base its operations in either Midland or Ector county; - a taxicab company is given 120 days to repair a vehicle if the fleet number falls below three or under the amount required by the companys operating certificate; - city fees: $200 per vehicle per year -- capped at $1,500 per operating certificate (The current ordinance does not contain a cap.); - annual airport cabstand fee: $300 (paid in one lump sum); - removed the requirement that not less than 20 percent of a taxicab companys fleet be allocated to servicing the airport; - the fare schedule for taxi services will remain the same. However, drivers will have the option to negotiate with passengers for the price of taxi services between two pre-established geographical points so long as the price is agreed to by the passenger before the initiation of any taxi services and the driver notifies the passenger of his or her right to negotiate. Lastly, a taxicab company may perform its own driver background checks or it may continue to have checks performed by the chief of police. If a taxicab company elects to perform its own checks, those checks must conform to the standards set forth in the ordinance. The company must certify that the checks meet the standards of the ordinance and it must continue to certify (on a yearly basis) that each driver passed the check and that each driver remains in good standing. The ordinance also grants the chief of police the authority to request documentation verifying that background checks performed by companies comply with the ordinance. "If it requires removing all cabinet ... Microphone and US Flag View Photos In the weekly Republican Address, Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colorado), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, discusses the importance of the bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to help support our troops and keep Americans safe. Gardner was Tuesdays KVML Newsmaker of the Day. Hi. Im Cory Gardner. Im proud to represent the great state of Colorado in the United States Senate. This past week, the Senate continued to debate the bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA. The NDAA is important because it supports our troops and families. It is also essential to combating threats around the globe and protecting our homeland, which includes blocking the President from moving Guantanamo detainees to the United States. These detainees are not in Gitmo for a parking ticket. They are there because they want to kill Americans and hate everything we stand for. They are the worst of the worst. Current law already prohibits the President from bringing these terrorists to communities in the U.S. The White House, however, has not ruled out unilateral action. Closing Guantanamo Bay and transferring the detainees to the United States would jeopardize our security. Heres why: Guantanamo Bay presents the opportunity to capitalize on our intelligence gathering capabilities, when additional terrorists are captured and detained. Closing its doors may mean the loss of an important tool that could prevent future attacks. Secondly, closing Guantanamo means that the Administration could accelerate the transfer of these prisoners to the United States or abroad. This is reckless. We like a real strategy to defeat Isis, and the threat of prisoners returning to the battlefield has been materialized time and time again. Three in 10 of the detainees released prior to 2015 in either have or are suspected to have returned to the fight against the united states. And upon release, we know some of them have killed Americans. The Obama Administration has even admitted this. Lastly, the detainees who are determined to be too dangerous to release, will be released into the United States and Americans across the country do not that. I stand with the American people in opposition. We live in a dangerous world with reckless characters, who seek to destroy the democratic principles that make our country so great. It also reminded me that when the United States retreats, a power vacuum is created that unprincipled and disruptive powers will fill. Thats why its critical that we continue to show our values that empower men and women. Freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press. These unalienable rights that are entrenched in our Constitution, are out of reach for many people around the world. That was clear to me on a recent trip to Asia, when I met with government officials and military commanders and reaffirmed our shared values. We discussed the importance of U.S. leadership and strengthening our alliance with allies in the region. It is more important now than ever that the United States sends a strong signal that it is ready and willing to work with our allies in and across the Pacific, and our crucial NATO allies to protect these rights. This requires not only maintaining, but growing our presence in the region. The President must sign the NDAA, because it will bolster our National Defense and equip our military with the resources it needs. At the same time, it reminds us what inspires our brave men and women to serve. And thats our freedom and the democratic principles that we cherish and our enemies fear. The Newsmaker of the Day is heard every weekday morning on AM 1450 and FM 102.7 KVML at 6:45, 7:45 and 8:45 AM. A California woman, who gained some fame for posting her work on social media, has pleaded guilty to damaging rock formations in seven national parks with her artwork. The Department of Justice reports that Casey Nocket, 23, of San Diego has pleaded guilty to seven misdemeanor counts of damaging government property. A U.S. Magistrate Judge has sentenced Nocket to two years probation and 200 hours of community service. She is also banned from lands administered by the National Park Service, US Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the Army Corps of Engineers during the period of the probation. During a 26-day period in 2014, stretching from September through October, Nocket vandalized Death Valley National Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado National Monument, Canyonlands National Park, Zion National Park, Crater Lake National Park and Yosemite National Park. Specifically at Yosemite she vandalized a location near the beginning of the John Muir Trail. She highlighted the work by posting some images on social media accounts and gathered a following. Charles Cuvlier, chief of law enforcement for the National Park Service, says, It is clear that the public cares deeply for the special places that the National Park Service represents, and the resolution of this case sends a message to those who would consider such inappropriate behavior going forward. The drawings were done with acrylic paints and markers. The work has been cleaned up and removed from five of the national parks, including Yosemite. A hearing to determine the amount of restitution Nocket will be required to pay will come at a later time. Sacramento, CA Today, as the Governor calls upon Californians to display the Stars and Stripes and remember all that it represents, the President asks all Americans to extend the commemoration in tribute to our leading guiding symbol. In commemoration of June 14th Flag Day, Governor Jerry Brown issued a proclamation, the full text of which appears below On June 14th, 1777, in the midst of our struggle to free ourselves from the colonial rule of Great Britain, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Stars and Stripes as the flag of the nascent United States of America. Since that day, our flag has served not only as a cherished national emblem, but also as a beacon of liberty and self-determination for peoples around the world. Our brave armed forces, marching and sailing under the Stars and Stripes, have vanquished far-flung and powerful adversaries for over two hundred years. The buildings where we make, interpret, and execute our laws all proudly fly the flag, as do the schools where our children acquire the skills they need to become citizens in a free society. The number of stars on the flag, symbolizing each of our states, has grown from thirteen to fifty, but the underlying principles of justice and equality remain the same. Each year, we celebrate the birthday of the Stars and Stripes on the anniversary of its adoption. I call on all Californians to join in this nationwide observance by displaying the flag at their homes and businesses, and by taking the time to remember all that it represents. Further Celebrating Old Glory Additionally, President Barack Obama asks that all citizens extend their thoughtful commemoration of our flag through National Flag Week through July 4th Independence Day. His proclamation follows here Two hundred and forty years ago, a small band of patriots declared independence, proclaiming in one voice that we are free to determine our own destiny and carry out the work of self-governance. Driven by their unyielding spirit and drawing inspiration from the Stars and Stripes, a string of 13 Colonies later expanded to become a united 50 States. Throughout our history, the American flag has steadfastly served as an emblem of this great experiment in democracy. On Flag Day and during National Flag Week, we pledge our allegiance to the banner that has served as a guiding symbol on our Nations journey, and we celebrate the hope it inspires in the American people. With hands over hearts, Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs have long saluted Old Glory and honored its legacy. Our flag persists as a powerful representation of freedom and opportunity. Waving high above capitol buildings and courthouses, military bases and embassies across the globe, and on the distant surface of the moon, it calls on each of us to remember our obligations to the Republic for which it stands and to carry forward the unwavering optimism that defines us. America endures because of the courage of servicemen and women who serve under this standard, and our veterans are forever draped in the red, white, and blue when they are laid to rest. Wherever the flag lies or flies, its message is clear: We rise and fall together, as one Nation and one people. The American flag invokes pride in our citizens and hope in those who come to our shores in search of a brighter tomorrow. In recognition of the ways it has embodied our ideals and sustained our Nation, let us pay tribute to the Star Spangled Banner and continue striving to create a more perfect and indivisible Union with liberty and justice for all. To commemorate the adoption of our flag, the Congress, by joint resolution approved August 3, 1949, as amended (63 Stat. 492), designated June 14 of each year as Flag Day and requested that the President issue an annual proclamation calling for its observance and for the display of the flag of the United States on all Federal Government buildings. The Congress also requested, by joint resolution approved June 9, 1966, as amended (80 Stat. 194), that the President annually issue a proclamation designating the week in which June 14 occurs as National Flag Week and call upon citizens of the United States to display the flag during that week. NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim June 14, 2016, as Flag Day and the week beginning June 12, 2016, as National Flag Week. I direct the appropriate officials to display the flag on all Federal Government buildings during that week, and I urge all Americans to observe Flag Day and National Flag Week by displaying the flag. I also call upon the people of the United States to observe with pride and all due ceremony those days from Flag Day through Independence Day, also set aside by the Congress (89 Stat. 211), as a time to honor America, to celebrate our heritage in public gatherings and activities, and to publicly recite the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America. The team of doctors, nurses and medical professionals at Orlando Health on Tuesday described the early morning hours Sunday at Pulse nightclub as "chaotic" and a "war zone." Meanwhile, while investigators continue to comb the scene around Pulse, the city of Orlando is reducing the size of the crime scene and reopening some of the affected area. However, Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings says Orange Avenue may not fully reopen for another week. Orange Avenue will now be closed between Kaley Street and Grant Street. On Wednesday morning, the city of Orlando will open a new center for those directly affected by the Pulse tragedy at Camping World Stadium. WATCH: Survivor Angel Colon describes horrors inside club TOP NEWS: LATEST UPDATES Update: 12:30 a.m. On Wednesday the city of Orlando will open the Family Assistance Center to help those directly affected by the Pulse tragedy. The center will open at Camping World Stadium at 10 a.m., and run until 8 p.m. The center will then open every day until this Sunday. Services available include: Air Travel Child And Family Services Consulate Services Counseling/spiritual Care Crime Victim Services Funeral Services Ground Transportation Health Care Assistance Identification Documents Language Translation Legal Aid Lodging Medical Examiner Senior Services More information can be found on the Family Assistance Center website. Update: 9:30 p.m. As Isabelle Hogu read out loud the names of the Pulse shooting attack victims Monday, she started to cry. I scrolled ahead to see how many names were left and I saw something I didnt expect, Hogu said. Hogu, a Melbourne vigil organizer, discovered one of her friend's was listed among the 49 people killed. The first thing that came to mind, as selfish as it sounds, is why didnt I communicate with that person more, she said. Then becoming overwhelmed with the magnitude of what thousands of people were now facing. Isabelle says she could feel the love around her though as people came together to mourn the lives lost. I felt love, I felt people touching me on the back, I heard whispers of people telling me, 'youre doing great, keep going, keep reading,' she said. As Isabelle does her best to move on from tragedy like so many others, she left a bit of advice. Dont wait until almost 50 people are gunned down in a city, to say 'oh maybe I should give that person a call.' I regret that, I regret that immensely. Isabelle said another candlelight vigil is planned for 7 p.m. Friday in the Eau Gallie Arts District. They expect that vigil will draw even larger crowds. Update: 8:30 p.m. Thousands crowded inside the University of Central Florida Student Union for a vigil to honor the victims of Sunday's shooting at Pulse. Two of the victims, went to UCF. Juan Ramon Guerrero was a pre-finance student, while Christopher Andrew Leinonen was an alumnus. Storms couldn't keep the mourners away as they gathered around UCF's signature pegasus logo to pray and to mourn and to be inspired. They lined the upper floors of the cavern-like building to listen. "Right now, take care of each other. Love each other," said former State Rep. Joe Saunders, who used to represent the UCF area. Update: 8 p.m. Orlando City Soccer has released its memorial plans for Saturday's game against the San Jose Earthquakes. The team had said Tuesday that they would not do any of their regular promotions, instead focusing entirely on honoring the victims of the shooting last Sunday. The plan includes: Ticket donations will be made for first responders and support service personnel Moment of silence during the game Special #OrlandoUnited t-shirts for sale, along with gameday posters for $5 donations, with all net proceeds going to the OneOrlando Fund Team members will wear comemorative patches Permanent rainbow memorial in section 12 of the new stadium Additional $100,000 donation from the Orlando City Foundation to the One Orlando Fund Orlando City also announced it would be a title sponsor for Orlando Pride Week in October. Update: 6:30 p.m. Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings says Orange Avenue could be shut down another week as FBI investigates. Update: 5:10 p.m. The Equality Florida GoFundMe page continues to break records. Since opening Sunday, the fundraiser for the victim's of the attack at Pulse has raised nearly $4 million -- $3.7 million in fact, at the time of this writing. GoFundMe says the page has broken the record for largest campaign ever by more than $1 million. Meanwhile, the new One Orlando Fund established by the city has already raised nearly $2 million from big donors alone. The city says the money will be used to help the community right now and in cases going forward. Take a look at the top donors for both campaigns. Update: 4:20 p.m. Omar Mateen's father spoke again to the media Tuesday. Seddique Mateen said he spoke to his son's wife, Noor Salman and his grandson, but would not comment on reports that she is being investigated as part of the plot. Seddique Mateen was asked today if he thought his son was gay, and all he said was people have a right to do what they choose. He brought up an unprompted topic during the interview -- saying the Pulse nightclub should have had better security, and that would have stopped his son from killing so many people. "Yes that would have been very good," Mateen said. "It would have eliminated him, and this tragedy would not have happened." Mateen also said he did not know his son had purchased the weapons. Update: 2:28 p.m. Angel Santiago said that while everything was happening too fast during the terror shooting at the Pulse nightclub, he was thinking about his family. He said that when the attack first started, he thought it would be over soon once he was in the bathroom along with other club goers, but he soon realized it wouldn't be when the shoots were getting louder and closer to the bathroom. "I consider myself lucky to be here today," a recovering Santiago said from a hospital bed in Orlando Regional Medical Center in front of the media. He also spoke about how much he liked the Pulse and how it made him feel protected. "Being a gay man and going to a gay club like Pulse, it's a safe haven. I can't go into a regular club because there is hate everywhere," Santiago said. "(The Pulse) is your safe zone." Just like Patience Carter, he is from Philadelphia, but he moved to Orlando in October. Both were taken to Florida Hospital on Sunday. Update: 1:59 p.m. In an emotional retelling of the horrific events in the Pulse, Patience Carter explained how she was prepared to die on the bathroom floor of the nightclub. "We were all having the night that we dreamed of. ... We went form the time of our lives to the worst night in our lives in a matter of minutes," she recalled. She said that she lay wounded on the floor of a bathroom stall along with her two friends. She said that she overhear shooter Omar Mateen tell 911 that he was doing this because he wanted American to stop bombing his country and he pledged allegiance to ISIS. She also recounted how Mateen said that there were other people involved with the night's attack and that he had snipers outside. "I honestly feel like he couldn't pull that off by himself," she recalled from a hospital bed in Orlando Regional Medical Center in front of the media. She said it was chaotic when the SWAT team burst through the way and there was gunfire everywhere. Once it was done, she looked for her friends. One of Carter's friends, Akyra Monet Murray, laid on the bathroom floor, breathing, but not moving. She picked up her friend's phone, thinking she can give it to her at the hospital. Later she would learn that Murray, the youngest of the victims at 18, died. Carter suffered severe leg injuries. Update: 1:01 p.m. In a speech to the nation about the Orlando shooting that has left 49 victims dead and 53 wounded, President Barack Obama said that "anti-Muslim rhetoric" from presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is not what America is based on, reported the Associated Press. The president attacked Trump for suggesting there be a temporary ban on Muslims from entering America. "In my speech on protecting America I spoke about a temporary ban, which includes suspending immigration from nations tied to Islamic terror," Trump mentioned in a tweet on Monday. The president said that talk like that makes Muslim-Americans feel like their government is against them. Obama also called for Congress to pass tougher gun laws and to renew the assault weapons ban, according to CNN. "We have to make it harder for people who want to kill Americans to get their hands on weapons of war that let them kill dozens of innocents," Obama said. Update: 12 p.m. One of the nurses who cared for Angel Colon described the night as "chaotic." Colon looked up to the nurse, and said: "I love you guys.' Added Cheatham: "The nurses are the true caregivers. ... The nurses did a phenomenal job." Dr. Chadwick Smith, of Orlando Health, added: "It was singularly the worst day of my career and the best day of my career." Smith said the scene was "patient after patient after patient." "They would just operate and as soon as the room was done, they would move the patient and send me another one," Smith said. Dr. Joseph Ibrahim described the hospital like a war zone. He said victims were coming in with wounds to the chest, abdomen and pelvis areas. Update: 11:15 a.m. Dr. Michael Cheatham, of Orlando Regional Medical Center, said disasters are something they plan for. But nothing like Sunday. "All trauma centers around the world (plan for disasters," Cheatham said. "You can never prepare adequately. This was the largest disaster that we probably could have imagined." Update: 11 a.m. Forty-four people were brought to Orlando Regional Medical Center during the early morning hours Sunday. Nine died within the first few minutes of arriving at the hospitals. Thirty-five victims were cared for, and 27 remain hospitalized as of 11:30 a.m., according to Dr. Michael Cheatham, of Orlando Health. Six remain in critical condition. Update: 10:45 a.m. Angel Colon, of Polk County, said he was inside the Pulse nightclub early Sunday morning with hundreds of other people as the night was coming to a close. It was shortly after 2 a.m. as they were saying their goodbyes. "It was a great night," Colon said Tuesday morning from Orlando Regional Medical Center. "No drama, just smiles, just laughter." Then shots rang out. Lots of shots. Colon said he started running but fell to the ground when he was shot three times in the leg. "I fell down. I got trampled over," he said. "I tried to get back up, but everyone started running everywhere. I got trampled over and I shattered and broke my bones on my left leg. By this time, I couldn't walk at all. All I could do is just lay down there while everyone was just running on top of me trying to get to where they had to be." Colon said he felt safe for a brief moment because he heard the gunman go into another room, but then 29-year-old Omar Mateen came back and started spraying more bullets. "He's shooting everyone that's already dead on the floor making sure they're dead," Colon recalled. Colon said Mateen then shot the girl next to him and then fired more shots at him. "I'm just there laying thinking I'm next, I'm dead," Colon said. Bullets were then fired at Colon's head, he said. They missed, but struck him in the hand and the hip. He pretended to be dead so he could try and make it out of the nightclub alive. Colon recalls Mateen then continued to fire rounds for the next five to 10 minutes. Colon said he thinks Mateen then went to the front of the nightclub and engaged in a shootout with law enforcement. That's when an Orlando Police officer got to Colon. This is how Colon recounted the next few moments: "I'm looking up and some cops which I wish I can remember his face or his name, because to this day I'm grateful for him. He looks at me and makes sure that I'm alive and he grabs my hand and says this is the only way I can take you out. I said, 'Please carry me because I'm in pain right now.' I couldn't walk or anything. So he starts to drag me out across the street to the Wendy's and I'm grateful for him, but the floor is just covered in glass. So he's dragging me out while I'm getting cut on my behind, my back, my legs. I don't feel pain, but I just feel all this blood on me from myself, from other people. He just drops me off across the street and I look over and there's just bodies everywhere. We're all in pain. We were able to get to the ambulance and they brought us over (to Orlando Regional Medical Center)." TEMPLE - The USDA now has an online web application, Conservation Client Gateway, that allows individual landowners and land users the secure ability to request conservation technical and financial assistance from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Conservation Client Gateway will save Texas producers time and money by not having to drive to our office to obtain a map or sign a document, says NRCS State Conservationist Salvador Salinas. This information will now be available to them at their convenience and on their schedule. Possessing Ministries As the wind lifted its edges and unfurled it majestically into the early morning sky, a young lawyer was moved to write a poem expressing his elation that it was still there in September of 1814. After nearly 6,000 Marines were killed and 17,000 wounded, it was secured to a length of iron pipe and proudly raised on Iwo Jima in World War II Its colors shone brightly when it was planted on the moon in 1969. Though ripped and scarred by the senseless attack on Sept. 11, 2001, it was lifted high above the rubble of the World Trade Centers - strong and defiant in the face of unspeakable tragedy. And when 2002 Olympic athletes paraded it reverently through the cold, starry night in Salt Lake City, millions of people were moved to tears. Its our nations flag - the Star-Spangled Banner, Old Glory, the Stars and Stripes - and a symbol of Americas greatness. June 14 is Flag Day in our nation - a day for celebrating the official birthday of our nations flag and to express appreciation for what it signifies to each of us. Flag Day parades are held across the nation, and we express our patriotism by displaying the flag outside our homes and businesses. Contrary to popular belief, Betsy Ross did not design the flag that was used for the 13 original colonies. Historians say that Congressman Francis Hopkinson was asked by George Washington to design the lag, which was then sewn by Betsy Ross, a Philadelphia seamstress. On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress passed an act to establish an official flag for our new nation. The resolution ordered that the flag have 13 alternating red and white stripes, with 13 white stars set in a blue field. In 1794, two stripes and two stars were added to the design when Kentucky and Vermont joined the Union. This was the design of the flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the Star-Spangled Banner. As states were added, the union (field of stars) was redesigned many times, and the stripes reverted to 13, representing the original colonies. The first Flag Day celebration was held June 14, 1861, at Hartford, Conn., during the Civil War. As celebrations became more popular, President Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation recognizing Flag Day on May 30, 1916. But it wasnt until Aug. 3, 1949 that President Harry Truman signed an Act of Congress officially designating June 14 of each year as National Flag Day. What does the American flag symbolize to you? A common response is freedom. But many other words are offered as well liberty, allegiance, valor, love of country, pride, respect and honor. To Americas military sons and daughters, sworn to protect our flag and our nation from enemies, the flag has special meaning. Millions know what it is like to invade foreign soil and spill their blood for the cause of freedom and millions more have paid the supreme sacrifice. To see a World War II veteran stand at attention and salute, or place his hand over his heart when our flag passes by is to understand the devotion and respect they have for this revered symbol. One WWII army chaplain has this to say: The Star-Spangled Banner was, and is, the symbol of the land of my birth. Through the years I have enjoyed parades led by the American flag and hearing the music it inspires. When World War II came long, I had just finished seminary and received my first appointment as a Methodist minister. I didnt like war, but the young men in the church were joining the armed forces and being drafted. I felt they needed spiritual guidance and support. I served as a chaplain with the 25th Infantry Division. The flag always symbolized the values I cherished: freedom, loyalty, courage and sacrifice. The flag of the United States of America embodies our countrys moral principles and the values we cherish as citizens. The flag represents the Constitution of the United States that I pledged to defend and support, even at the risk of death. The flag is part of every ceremony that involves the initial oath of enlistment into the military, the changing of military commanders and military funerals. Old Glory is so revered that it is raised up the flag pole every morning and lowered every evening in a military ceremony 365 days a year on every military post. The American flags significance is so ingrained into the military that even the folding of it has a very special meaning. The symbolism for each fold includes: First Fold: The symbol of life. Second Fold: Our belief in eternal life. Third Fold: Honor and remembrance of the veterans departing our ranks. Fourth Fold: Represents our weaker nature - is to God we turn in times of peace as well as in times of war for his divine guidance. Fifth Fold: A tribute to our country, still our country, right or wrong. Sixth Fold: Where our hearts lie It is with our hearts that we pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Seventh Fold: A tribute to our Armed Forces who protect our country and our flag against all her enemies. Eighth Fold: A tribute to the ones who entered into the valley of the shadow of death that we might see the light of day. Ninth Fold: A tribute to womanhood, and others who mold the men and women who have made this country great. Tenth Fold: A tribute to the father, for he, too, has given his sons and daughters for the defense of our country. Eleventh Fold: Glorifies in the Hebrews eyes, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Twelfth Fold: Glorifies God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Thirteenth Fold: Flag is completely folded with the stars uppermost, reminding us of our nations motto, In God We Trust. The completely folded and tucked flag takes on the appearance of a cocked hat reminding us of those who served under Gen. George Washington and Capt. John Paul Jones, followed by other in the U.S. Armed Forces, preserving for us the rights, privileges and freedoms we enjoy today. Our nation has seen a tremendous increase in patriotism in recent years but not revival. We have a lot of flag waving and flying. I realize this symbolism has been given numerous print space lately, but I wanted to share how to turn patriotism into revival. We simply go back to our roots and rearrange the order of things - God & Red, White, Blue. God is in everything - even the simple act of folding our flag. So when you see our flag flying or being used in a funeral be reminded and thankful to God. (Jack McClung heads a pastoral ministry called Possessing Ministries.) This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The FBI reached out to San Francisco police after this weekends massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando to offer added security for the upcoming Pride celebrations, while San Franciscos police chief expressed concern about the prospect of a copycat shooting. Anytime you have something like this happen, you worry about a copycat, said interim Police Chief Toney Chaplin on Monday, shortly before department officials met with Pride organizers to discuss enhancing security measures for events that include a downtown parade on June 26. So Id rather err on the side of caution and put more security out there and make sure that we have a high presence. Shooting highlights threats San Francisco Pride is one of the biggest events of its kind in the country, with an expected draw of around 1 million people. On Monday, several people in the Castro neighborhood said they still plan to attend the events, in part because they dont want to be cowed by fear. But they said the shooting at the Pulse nightclub underscores day-to-day threats faced by gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, even amid hard-fought progress in gaining acceptance and legal rights. San Francisco law enforcement officials would not comment on how security might be beefed up after a gunman in Orlando killed at least 49 people early Sunday before being fatally shot by police. But according to one source familiar with Pride planning, guests at the festivities can expect more patrolling police officers as well as snipers and bomb-sniffing dogs. Chaplin told reporters that there are no threats presently to San Francisco Pride. He urged residents to report potential threats. Oftentimes, someone knows something in advance, Chaplin said. And if theyll reach out to us and let us know, then at the very least, we can investigate it and stop it before it happens or minimize the damage. Hours after the Florida rampage, Santa Monica police arrested a man who allegedly had a car full of guns, ammunition and bomb-making materials and was planning to attend Los Angeles gay pride festival that day. Law enforcement officials considered canceling the annual parade, according to the Los Angeles Times, but went forward with the event with increased security. San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee said in a statement Monday that the city would continue to lead in the celebration of diversity and show the world despite the horror of Orlando, we will stand together with our LGBT community to celebrate Pride. He said the city is working closely with the San Francisco Pride organizers and our public safety agencies in a coordinated effort to make our renowned San Francisco Pride celebration an event where everyone can freely express themselves. Supervisor Scott Wiener, whose district includes the Castro, said that beyond the Pride events, bars and clubs are looking for guidance from police. This isnt about having the police in bars and clubs, he said. This is about making sure the bars and clubs have security plans in place that match the current reality we face given what happened (Sunday), and making sure the police know about those plans so that they can respond effectively. The pall cast over the Pride festivities this year is a marked contrast to the jubilation of last year, when the U.S. Supreme Court had just issued its ruling legalizing same-sex marriage. It feels like when we make progress, others hate it and then have to hurt us, said Sam Judice, while drinking a cup of coffee Monday morning at Eureka Cafe in the Castro, which his husband owns. They feel if they can intimidate us, kill us, then progress will go away. But you know, its an idea. Its not a person. And hopefully that idea will stay rooted. Heightened vigilance Judice said he still plans to attend Pride events, but will be more thoughtful and aware of his surroundings. A few feet away, a group of 15 teenage girls ate ice cream in the cafe. They were part of a church youth group from Tequesta, Fla., just south of Orlando. Youth minister Julie Bird said the tour of the Castro took on extra significance after Sundays shooting. It reinforces the importance of mobilizing and being understanding and loving and supporting everybody. We are all made in Gods image ... whatever religion we are, Bird said. The spreading of hate can be a very horrible thing. Emily Green is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: egreen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: emilytgreen This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Two hospitals in Belgium are starting to use SoftBanks Pepper robots to help arriving visitors. Fortune reported that when someone arrives, they can tell Pepper about their appointment, then the robot will direct them to the doctors rooms or walk them there. The robots may be up for more tasks as the hospitals get used to them. Fast fall San Francisco startup Zenefits will close its sales office in Arizona, restructure its operational division and offer to pay employees to quit in an overhaul that will include more than 100 layoffs, moves initially reported by BuzzFeed. CEO David Sacks said in a memo to the staff that the company is being restructured to create a more holistic and fulfilling experience for employees. Presumably the 9 percent of workers who will lose their jobs wont find it that fulfilling. The fall of Zenefits has come almost as quickly as its rise. After being valued at $4.5 billion last year, it cut about 250 jobs in February, when it also revealed that employees had been using software that would have allowed them to skirt training requirements. The Daily Briefing is compiled from San Francisco Chronicle staff and news services. See more items and links at www.sfgate.com. Twitter: techbriefing This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 5 1 of 5 Kevin Schultz / The Chronicle / / Show More Show Less 2 of 5 Kevin Schultz / The Chronicle / / Show More Show Less 3 of 5 4 of 5 Kevin Schultz / The Chronicle / / Show More Show Less 5 of 5 A construction worker stabbed to death on a South of Market street in San Francisco Friday was identified Monday as a 58-year-old city resident, and police said a woman and a man arrested in the killing are from Los Angeles. The victim, identified by the medical examiner as Mitzi Campbell, was flagging traffic at Fifth and Shipley streets when an argument broke out and she was stabbed repeatedly with a sharp-edged weapon, police said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Two weeks before a Los Angeles woman was charged with fatally stabbing a construction worker in San Francisco over the use of a portable toilet, she stabbed a parking lot attendant in a similar dispute, telling the bleeding victim, Die now, prosecutors said Tuesday. At the first court appearance for Lizette Cauich, prosecutors described in detail the two grisly attacks allegedly done at the hands of the 23-year-old, who is facing murder charges in connection to last weeks killing of 58-year-old Mitzi Campbell in the South of Market neighborhood and assault charges in the May 29 stabbing in the Tenderloin. Appearing alongside her was 42-year-old Oscar Mendez, who was arrested with her shortly after Fridays fatal stabbing of Campbell, and is accused of aiding her in the prior incident by stabbing the parking lot attendant in the back with a hunting knife. Cauich stood next to her court-appointed attorney, shaking her head as Assistant District Attorney John Rowland described the two attacks. His telling of the two incidents brought Campbells family members to tears, with several questioning outside court why the beloved mother and sister was put in such a dangerous situation in the first place. Cauich asked to use a portable toilet at a construction site at Fifth and Shipley streets just after 9 a.m. Friday, authorities said. She was denied, and Campbell, who was flagging traffic at the site, moved to escort her from the premises. At that point, Cauich used a sharp-edged weapon to stab Campbell once in the upper right chest and twice in the lower left abdomen, Rowland said. Cauich and Mendez, who is charged with being an accessory to Campbells murder, fled the scene, leaving Campbell bleeding on the street, but some of her co-workers followed them and called the police, who arrested them at Fifth and Folsom streets. Campbell died while being taken to a hospital. The victim in the May 29 attack survived, but with serious injuries. He too was stabbed after refusing to allow Cauich to use the portable toilet in his lot, Rowland said. The parking lot attendant was able to briefly fight her off with a trash can lid and began running for the Tenderloin Police Station, but she, Mendez and a third unidentified man caught him. He was stabbed at least three times, twice by Cauich and once by Mendez, Rowland said. Attorneys for Cauich and Mendez left court without commenting. Cauichs attorney argued that she had no prior criminal record. Mendez was on probation and had a lengthy criminal history out of Los Angeles. A judge ordered Cauich to be held in jail on $10 million bail and and set Mendezs bail at $5 million. Campbells son, Les Walker, 37, described his mother as beautiful, charming, caring, loving. She was a devoted fan of the Golden State Warriors and a dedicated grandmother to Walkers 13-year-old daughter. She had planned to take her granddaughter to New York on vacation next month and had dreams of seeing her attend Stanford University, Walker said. She was very down-to-earth, but most importantly, she loved to have fun, Walker said. She was the type that if she saw you on the freeway she would get out of her car and help you. She was always a helping, loving, caring, genuine person. Though she was a comedian at times, Walker said his mother took her job seriously and was always on time. A graduate of Balboa High School and San Franciscos CityBuild job-training program, she worked for the San Carlos company Dees-Hennessey Inc. for roughly 2 years in a traffic-flagging position. She always had a smile on her face, said Jason Myers, vice president and safety director at Dees-Hennessy. Our hearts go out to her family as they deal with this. Walker said his mother mentioned feeling unsafe in recent weeks at some of the construction sites where she worked because of homeless people. Outside court, Campbells sister, Jacqueline Battle, questioned why her sister was put in the position of escorting Cauich off the site. My sister wasnt a security guard my sister was a flagger and it was not her job to walk her out of there, she said. Walker said after learning about the alleged earlier attack in the Tenderloin, he wants to see justice served, not only for my family but for the safety of the community of San Francisco. He said there was surveillance video of the attack. Im going to really miss my mom, Walker said. Im going to miss her jokes and all the laughter we shared. The last thing we left on was her cracking a joke. One of her last text messages to me was that she was so happy and felt so good and that she had never felt better in life, he said. And that God was just so good, so so good. In addition to murder, Cauich was also charged with attempted robbery in connection with Campbells death authorities said she had rifled through Campbells pockets before fleeing the scene. Mendez was charged with possession of a dirk or dagger, possession of methamphetamine, possession of stolen property and providing false information. In the May 29 attack, both were charged with attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and battery. They are scheduled to return to court on Thursday. Vivian Ho and Kevin Schultz are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: vho@sfchronicle.com, kschultz@sfchronicle.com Twitter: VivianHo, @KevinEdSchultz This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A second police department in the East Bay has opened an investigation into whether its officers broke the law in their dealings with the same young Richmond woman who is at the center of a sexual misconduct scandal at the Oakland Police Department. Richmond police opened the internal affairs probe last week after receiving information from authorities in Oakland, said Richmonds assistant police chief, Bisa French. Several police officers who hold positions of rank are being investigated, she said. We have opened an internal investigation (into) whether any of the contact with the young lady is criminal or (involves) any policy violations, French said. Both the Oakland and Richmond police inquiries focus on an 18-year-old Richmond woman who has said she had sexual relations with numerous officers from the Oakland, Richmond, Livermore and Stockton police departments, and with deputies from the Alameda County Sheriffs Office during her stint as a sex worker. The woman, who uses the alias Celeste Guap, said some of these encounters occurred when she was underage, according to the East Bay Express, which first revealed the extraordinary scope of the scandal in a report published late Friday the day after Oakland Police Chief Sean Whent abruptly resigned. Chiefs departure Mayor Libby Schaaf told a news conference Friday morning that Whent made the decision to leave, and she deflected questions about whether he was forced out. Guap has not responded to requests from The Chronicle for comment. Schaaf has expressed outrage about the allegations in the Oakland Police Department, releasing a statement Saturday saying her administration will seek the most serious punishment and consequences allowable by law. We continue to be disgusted and outraged by the idea that anyone could abuse an underage victim of sexual exploitation particularly those who have sworn to uphold the law and protect our communities, Schaaf wrote. We are sickened to think anyone could even know of such abuse and not bring that information forward. Suicide note The Oakland misconduct probe stemmed from a suicide note left by Officer Brendan OBrien, who killed himself in September, more than a year after the June 2014 death of his wife, Irma Huerta Lopez, which was also ruled a suicide. OBriens suicide note has not been publicly released, but several news outlets reported that he confessed to a relationship with Guap and implicated other officers. In May, four officers were placed on administrative leave, and two of them Terryl Smith and James Taai have since resigned. Hours before Whents sudden departure, Contra Costa County prosecutors said they did not have enough evidence to charge Smith with forcible sodomy. With questions building about the integrity of rank-and-file officers and the departments ability to handle internal discipline, the Alameda County district attorneys office began its own review of the sexual misconduct case in May. The district attorney also opened a parallel inquiry into the Police Departments handling of both OBriens and Lopezs suicides. Representatives of the Livermore and Stockton police departments, and of the Alameda County Sheriffs Office, said they are not conducting internal investigations because no one has made any official complaints against their officers. Stockton police spokesman Joe Silva said his department had reached out to Oakland, but that he has not received confirmation that any Stockton officers were implicated. Similarly, Livermore Police Lt. John Hurd said his department had reached out to a variety of places but found no reason to start an internal probe. Sheriffs response Alameda County Sheriff Gregory Ahern said that upon reviewing the allegations, he didnt believe his deputies had done anything illegal. We had no indication that anybody paid for sex, disclosed (confidential) information, or did any other unlawful activity, he said. Meanwhile, this scandal and other misconduct cases have prompted the Oakland City Councils Public Safety Committee to consider a November ballot measure to create a civilian seven-person Oakland police commission and give it broad powers to discipline officers and terminate the chief. Council President Lynette Gibson McElhaney said that such a commission could help shift the culture at Oakland Police Department, though it wouldnt be a cure-all. Oversight alone cant change these things, she said. It cant stop a culture of power abuse. Whent could not be reached for comment. Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: rachelswan This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate At a time when Hillary Clinton is making history with her presidential run, a San Antonio woman is being celebrated for being a Hollywood trailblazer. Marcia Birenberg Nasatir, who was born in New York but lived here since she was a baby and still considers the Alamo City her hometown, shattered Tinseltowns glass ceiling when she became the first female vice president of production at a major motion picture studio. At the age of 90, shes still at it. Her current goal is to make a new feature of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Nasatirs story, filled with lively anecdotes and accolades by stars, directors, producers and literary figures including President Nixon aide John Dean, who conferred with her on his book about the Watergate scandal is chronicled in A Classy Broad, a 90-minute documentary film that will be screened Friday in San Antonio. In the film, Nasatir is credited for paving the way for so many Hollywood women. Shes also lauded by everyone from Jane Fonda and Glenn Close to producer and director Tony Bill and writer and director Lawrence Kasdan for fiercely backing projects that she believed in, even though they were deemed tricky or controversial by some. Examples are One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and Coming Home, which went on to scoop up Oscars. I always was a champion of difficult movies that should be made, Nasatir says in the film. A Classy Broad will debut here Friday evening at Thomas Jefferson High School. The 7 p.m. screening will be preceded by a presentation from WOAI-TV staple Cleto Rodriguez and followed by a Q&A with Nasatir and the films director, Anne Goursaud. The Jefferson setting is appropriate the school is Nasatirs alma mater. Its also where she received her first taste of journalism, a career path she initially pursued. She was co-editor of the schools paper, The Declaration, and after graduating in 1943, went on to study journalism at Northwestern University. I thought it was the most glamorous job in the world, Nasatir said in a recent phone chat, citing the movie His Girl Friday as an inspiration. But while spending a summer between semesters working for the San Antonio Light, she said, her ardor cooled somewhat. It was during World War II, she said. I was given a list of San Antonio servicemen who were killed or wounded. I had to call parents and ask how they felt. I just wasnt equipped to do that at 18. The film opens with Nasatir talking about her checkered journey to movie producer and studio executive. Ive had 15 different jobs, and I consider being fired from them a mark of honor, she says, her dry wit shining through. Although the film largely explores Nasatirs Hollywood phase, it begins with a look at her early years as a spirited girl growing up in San Antonio. Her sister and fellow groundbreaker Rose Spector, the first woman justice elected to the Texas Supreme Court, also is featured. Spector, the docs executive producer, remembers her younger sibling as fearless, an adjective given to Marcia by their father. She went places and did things that no other women had done, she says. In old footage, we get a peek at Nasatirs Jefferson years, where she was part of the schools pep squad, the Lassos. At one point, she re-enacts a routine with two younger alumnae; they twirl ropes while singing the school song. But it was the quieter pastime of reading that took hold of Nasatir at the age of 3 and never let go. As a girl, she was always reading, reading, Spector says of her sis. Nasatir agrees: Everything Ive done in my professional life has been for the love of storytelling. After college, she moved to New York, got married, then divorced and brought up two sons on her own. After jobs in publishing at Bantam and Dell, where, as she put it, I was the movie tie-in person she moved to Los Angeles to join legendary literary and movie agent Evarts Ziegler, representing prolific screenwriters Robert Towne (Chinatown) and Lorenzo Semple Jr. (Three Days of the Condor). While there, she also helped push the novel The Exorcist to the screen. Marcia was a very bright lady well-educated and could read, Towne says in the movie. It was always nice to have her read whatever you wrote. Actors also compliment her, and she returns the love. During our chat, she praised Jack Nicholson, whom she worked with on Ironweed, as a great talent and hes adorable, a darling man. Nasatir eventually was recruited by Hollywood big shot Mike Medavoy, West Coast senior VP at United Artists, to be a story editor at $50,000 a year, she says, when (that) was a lot of money. However, she held out for something bigger, saying shed take the job if she were made a vice president. UA caved, and, in 1974, Nasatir made history as the lone woman production executive in a team of men. Among the countless films she developed were Rocky, which she called the perfect fairy tale, and Coming Home, which starred Jon Voight as a crippled Vietnam War vet. Although the latter met with political resistance, she was determined to get it made. I remember saying we should do this story because, beyond the politics, everyone wants to know if Jon Voight can have sex with Jane Fonda. She looks back at her UA years as good times, even though they didnt end well. When her male colleagues broke away to form Orion Pictures, they didnt ask her along, and the new regime let her go. I was told, The stuff you like is too classy, Nasatir recalled. A memorable part of the film is when Nasatir picks up what she calls my favorite piece of being right a framed letter of her recommending George Lucas script of Star Wars as the best kind of motion picture. Of course, you do not see any of the times that I said yes and it was a disaster, she quickly adds, but thats the way the movie business is. One that definitely wasnt a disaster was a project she produced while working at Johnny Carsons production company: The Big Chill. In the doc, Close credits Nasatir with being largely responsible for getting Carson interested in the movie. The gems in this film are too many to list, including intimate moments with Nasatir, such as her recollection of one of her breakups. Pointing to her Cartier watch, she said it was a breakup watch. Better than sex. A Classy Broad is more than worth the price of a ticket $10. Getting to meet this woman is a bonus. For the Jefferson High event, go to aclassybroad.info or 210-410-8123. Jeanne Jakles column appears Wednesdays and Sundays in mySA, and she writes online at mySA.com/Jakle. Email her at jjakle@express-news.net. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A foreign food critic took to his publication, Eater, to denounce a Lone Star staple: barbecue brisket. Chris Fuhrmeister, a writer and editor based in Atlanta, wrote that while brisket is many things including tasty it isn't barbecue, at least to him. The self-proclaimed barbecue fanatic said that while he's open minded on many things, he knows that "pork that's slow-cooked with smoke" is the only accepted definition of barbecue. RELATED: 7 things you can learn at Texas A&M's BBQ camp "Before I become Public Enemy No. 1 in the state of Texas, I will admit that smoked brisket, when done well, is phenomenal eating," Fuhrmeister wrote. But, that's all the food critic would say about the brisket served up in Texas barbecue joints before going on to chastise those that have promoted the evolution of the definition of "barbecue" through their incorrect usage of the word. RELATED: Barbecue joint bans cross-dressing cowboy from the women's bathroom "'Barbecue these hamburgers' is a phrase that never should be uttered,'" Fuhrmeister said. "One does not really 'barbecue' anything. If you're preparing barbecue a noun you're smoking a whole hog or ribs or pork shoulder. Even many brisket-loving Texans who are about ready to ring my neck would agree barbecue comes from indirect heat and long cooking times." While the Atlanta writer included numerous insights from award-winning chefs, he failed to include commentary from the world renowned pit masters that lead various classes, solely dedicated to barbecue, at Texas A&M's BBQ Science camps that concluded Sunday. RELATED: Scenes from the 2016 Houston Barbecue Festival One of the classes, devoted to perfecting "the centerpiece of Texas Barbecue, the beef brisket," dispels Fuhrmeister's notion that brisket is not barbecue. While Fuhrmeister considers himself a barbecue fanatic, the professionals at TAMU are scholars of the Texas trade, teaching that brisket does, indeed, fall under the barbecue umbrella. MMedina@mySA.com Twitter: @MariahMedinaaa West Texas may not be known for opulent housing, but a mansion just listed in Lubbock is bound to impact the area's luxury home market. Situated in the exclusive gated community of The Enclave at Orchard Park is a custom mansion at 11201 Norfolk Ave., No. 5. Dear Mr. Premack: I am 71 and have been target shooting since age 12. I was a federal employee for 25 years. I live in a nice neighborhood but was accused of pointing a gun at my neighbor as he stood in the street in front of my driveway and would not move. I only pointed my finger at him. He called the police and when they came to my door one thought the bulge in my pocket was a gun. I showed them it was my charm bracelet. With everyone on high alert after the Orlando murders, I am afraid they might come back and arrest me. What happens to my estate and assets if they put me in jail? MH The detestable murders in Orlando do have law enforcement on edge. Violence, including religiously motivated violence, has no place in any culture. These victims were part of the LGBTQ community in Orlando. The gunman used an AR-15 rifle, which in its standard form is NOT regulated under the National Firearms Act. Texas is a gun-friendly state. Gun advocates say people are safer when more weapons are in the community. They posit that someone who is also armed could stop this type of mass murder. While there are no reports on whether any patrons at the club were armed, Florida like Texas allows concealed carry of firearms. In this case, at least, concealed carry did not stop the shootings. SEE ALSO: Who controls your medical and financial decisions when you're alone and sick or dying? You were not involved in a concealed carry situation. You were accused of making a threat with a firearm. However, in Texas it is legal to possess a firearm in your residence or on real property under your control. So let's look for criminal offenses you might fear. It is a Texas crime to: Display a firearm in a public place "in a manner calculated to alarm." You were not in a public place, and you did not display a firearm. Engage in conduct that places another in imminent danger of serious bodily injury, including pointing a firearm in the direction of another, even if you think it is unloaded. Again, you did not have a firearm. Commit an assault using or exhibiting a deadly weapon, like a firearm. You did not cause or threaten to cause imminent bodily injury, did not have a firearm, and cannot do much bodily injury with your finger from across your driveway. Threaten violence against a person or property with intent place that person in fear of imminent serious bodily injury. Again, you had no gun and could not have intended to cause bodily injury across your own driveway by pointing your finger. SEE ALSO: Who profits from Muhammad Ali's image and likeness after his death? Since you were not arrested at the time of the incident, it is highly unlikely that you will be arrested now. If you were arrested, you would be arraigned and bail would be set pending trial. You will need a well-trained criminal defense attorney to have the charges dropped. Your estate would be impacted, but mostly by the time and expenses you would incur in defending yourself. If convicted, you may be ordered by the Court to pay restitution to the victim (if the victim can document his losses). You might also be required to pay into the Crime Victims' Compensation Program ($50 in misdemeanor and $100 in felony cases). Further, if convicted of a felony you lose the right to act as Executor in someone else's estate. Paul Premack is a Certified Elder Law Attorney with offices in San Antonio and Seattle, handling Wills and Trusts, Probate, and Business Entity issues. View past legal columns or submit free questions on legal issues via www.TexasEstateandProbate.com or www.Premack.com. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate After a two-and-a-half hour "fight," a team of Texas anglers said they brought in a 9-foot bull shark on Bob Hall Pier in Corpus Christi on Sunday. The Texas Shark Slayers, based in Corpus Christi, told mySA.com at least 10 people used a Shimano Tiagra reel and about 100 yards of Extreme Braid fishing line and Jerry Tackle to bring in the massive catch. RELATED: Texas fisherman: Facebook removed photo of huge hammerhead shark for violating site rules "We hooked it at 6:32 a.m. Sunday morning after a 600-yard drop and got it to the pier at 8:40 a.m," Chance Bennett with Texas Shark Slayers said. "It took 10 grown men working together to pull up over the pier." RELATED: Corpus Christi man catches massive 13-foot-long hammerhead shark off the coast of Padre Island Bennett said the group, including members from San Antonio and Corpus Christi, did not have access to a scale certified by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and were therefore unable to submit it as a potential record-breaker for the state. Measurements by the Texas Shark Slayers put the catch at 9 feet, 520 pounds. The current, official state record for a bull shark was caught by Randall Rickerson on May 18, 2007 in Aransas Bay. Rickerson's catch measured 9 feet long and weighed 515 pounds. The Texas Shark Slayers Facebook page explained the bloody cuts along the fish's body were "mating wounds." Bennett said the group intends to eat the shark meat and will give some to disabled veterans who don't have the chance to shark fish. RELATED: 12-foot alligator found on road in Floresville killed by officials "It tastes good, kind of like pork," Bennett said. According to the TPWD's daily bag limits, Texas anglers are allowed one catch per day with a two-shark possession limit. There are 21 species of sharks, not including the bull shark, which are prohibited from being fished and listed on the TPWD website. The department advises fishers to release sharks they are unable to identify. mmendoza@mysa.com Twitter: @MaddySkye Stabbing victim dies TROY A 31-year-old man died Sunday night at Albany Medical Center after being injured in a stabbing and subsequent car crash, police said. Police have not released the man's name. Capt. Daniel DeWolf said detectives are investigating what happened before the crash on Hoosick Street and Fifth Avenue. Police believe occupants of the car carrying the stabbing victim fought with other people between 9:30 and 10 p.m. in the area of Madison and Second streets. The driver was trying to take the stabbing victim to a hospital when the vehicle was involved in a crash at Hoosick Street and Fifth Avenue, DeWolf said. An autopsy will determine whether the man died from the stab wounds or from the car crash, he said. Anyone with any information should call 270-4433. Jake Lahut Woman accused of identity theft CLIFTON PARK An employee of a senior living community charged about $800 on a recently deceased resident's credit card, State Police said. Karen Addo, 46, charged items at numerous Capital Region businesses, police said. The sum of those purchases to date is approximately $785. Addo was charged with felony identity theft and arraigned at the town of Clifton Park court. She was released pending a return to court on June 22. Staff report Fire quickly extinguished MECHANICVILLE An early-morning fire Monday was brought quickly under control after a person called the Mechanicville Fire Department and knocked on doors to alert residents, Deputy Fire Chief Jeffrey Alonzo said. The fire, reported at 12:53 a.m., started on a back porch at 222 N. Second Ave., Alonzo said. No one was injured. Alonzo said the porch of an apartment in the two-story, six-unit building had minor damage. Saratoga County Fire investigators said the cause of fire was accidental. Jake Lahut / contributed photo DANBURY - Emanuela Palmares, a Danbury resident and editor of the trilingual newspaper Tribuna, will receive the Commission on Childrens 2016 Robert Haller Memorial Award for Outstanding Community Service, according to a release. Palmares, a Brazilian-American, is the GOPs choice to challenge 12-term Democrat and Deputy House Speaker Bob Godfrey to represent the 110th District in the state House of Representatives in November. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Albany The federal government is suing Joseph Felix Strevell on allegations the one-time New York deputy secretary of state tried to scam his way out of paying more than $102,000 in restitution to the state by transferring money to his daughter. U.S. Attorney Richard Hartunian whose office is prosecuting a criminal case against Strevell for allegedly lying about his assets to conceal his ability to repay the money to the former Institute for Entrepreneurship, a state-sponsored nonprofit once headed by Strevell announced the lawsuit late Tuesday afternoon. It is filed against Strevell and his 30-year-old daughter, Nicole Strevell Childrose, a full-time college professor. "Instead of satisfying his court-ordered restitution obligation, Joseph Strevell decided to financially enrich his grown daughter by fraudulently transferring assets to her," Hartunian said in a statement. "Restitution is a mandatory obligation and no felon should be allowed to evade that obligation. Through this civil action, we seek to void the transfers and make the victim of his crime whole." Strevell, 54, pleaded guilty in 2007 to swindling the Institute for Entrepreneurship, where he went following his time as a deputy secretary of state. In 2009, a federal judge ordered Strevell to pay back $111,500 in restitution. Hartunian said it was to be at a minimum rate of $100 per month, or 10 percent of his gross monthly earnings, whichever was greater, and to pay full restitution immediately if he could afford it. The complaint that the federal government filed against Strevell said he still owes the state $102,337. It said while Strevell claimed he lacked the money the pay back the restitution, an investigation into his assets revealed that he transferred $157,646 to his daughter. "The transfers Strevell made to his daughter were made in incremental amounts and from various business accounts that Strevell hid from the government," the lawsuit stated. To pay for his daughter's wedding in 2014, the lawsuit said, Strevell transferred about $28,000 to her personal checking account in the two months before the nuptials. He purchased three wedding gowns that each cost between $1,400 and $2,500; paid $10,425 in cash for a wedding tent, tables, linens and place settings; hired a photographer for $2,246 and paid for the daughter's honeymoon at the Four Seasons Hotel in Santa Fe. "These transactions were made in such a way so as to avoid detection by the government," the lawsuit said. In 2015, when a property Strevell's daughter and her husband owned was scheduled to be sold at an auction, Strevell forked over $13,871 in cash to the Rensselaer County Bureau of Finance to pay for his daughter's unpaid property tax obligation. The six-count criminal indictment facing Strevell said he lied under oath when he told federal prosecutors he gave his daughter "a couple thousand dollars." rgavin@timesunion.com 518-434-2403 This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate ALBANY They fought in long-ago wars, died without the comfort of family or friends in the Albany VA Hospital and were buried in unmarked graves in a burial plot for veterans at St. Agnes Cemetery. On Tuesday, under an azure sky, with military ritual and heartfelt prayers, their names etched in new granite grave markers, these 27 forgotten soldiers received the gratitude and commemoration that had eluded them for decades. They came in an earlier century as immigrants from Italy, Canada, Austria, Lithuania, Ireland and Poland. They trained as American soldiers and fought for their adopted country in the Spanish-American War, World War I and World War II. Most died in middle age at the VA Hospital, essentially alone, in an era when shell-shocked veterans did not speak of their psychological wounds, and long before post-traumatic stress disorder had been diagnosed. "After six years, it's pure joy to have this done. Mission accomplished," said Kelly Grimaldi, the cemetery historian who began a quest in 2010 to uncover the requisite military documentation for the Department of Veterans Affairs to purchase a granite grave marker for the veterans. Grimaldi searched cemetery records, local archives and military records with the assistance of Linda Weiss, an Albany Stratton VA Medical Center administrator, who helped fill in gaps in the military records. Their tireless searching convinced the VA to purchase 24 grave markers for the forgotten soldiers. They could not find adequate documentation for the final three. Two anonymous donors paid $750 for grave markers for the remaining three vets, including Martin Timensky, a World War I veteran from Poland, who died Aug. 4, 1955, at age 66. That is all they could find on Timensky. "I just wanted enough documentation to get the grave markers," Grimaldi said. "Their stories will come later if we are able to discover more details." Of the 27 soldiers commemorated Tuesday, two were veterans of the Spanish-American War, 19 from World War I, five from World War II and one Frank Shannon, a Navy vet from Massachusetts who served in both World Wars. He died Feb. 6, 1955, at 53. "This is a country that honors its soldiers and veterans, and it felt right to give these 27 forgotten soldiers a military burial," said Maj. Gen. Donald Rutherford, a priest and Albany diocesan official who retired as chief of Army chaplains. He laid a commemorative wreath at Tuesday's ceremony, which included a bugler playing taps, a rifle salute, flag presentation and singing of the "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." The ceremony was held on the centennial of Flag Day, established on June 14, 1916, by President Woodrow Wilson with a proclamation that read: "We honor the dead, celebrate our nation and reaffirm our faith." "This makes me think of all the guys I fought with who died. I was one of the lucky ones," said Tony Schmitz, 92, of Albany, who was with a tank outfit that fought at the Battle of Anzio and across heavy combat in Italy during World War II. "I hope this sets a precedent that we won't let any veteran be forgotten again. Nothing is more important than honoring those who made the supreme sacrifice," said Joseph Nicpon, 90, of Menands, who served in the Pacific during World War II with an amphibious corps that battled through harrowing island invasions. "It's great that we were able to do this today, but they should have been honored many decades ago," said Robert Van Pelt, a Vietnam veteran and retired command sergeant major who served as master of ceremonies. "Veterans are a family and we look after each other." Grimaldi said she began her search six years ago after she received an email from a man in Ireland looking for information on an uncle whose family had lost touch with him. Grimaldi was able to determine the fate of the man's uncle, Charles J. McMann, a World War I veteran, who died Sept. 10, 1955, at 65. Grimaldi's research yielded the identities of all 39 veterans buried in the Stratton VA Medical Center plot purchased in the early 1950s. The only one of the 39 soldiers in that plot who has ever been visited by relatives to Grimaldi's knowledge is Henry Gaddor, a World War I vet who died in 1955 at 57. The effort to reclaim and honor forgotten veterans is as much a spiritual calling as a patriotic one, said Rich Touchette, executive director of Albany Diocesan Cemeteries. His organization has supported Grimaldi's previous research and helped purchase grave markers for Civil War soldiers and others buried in unmarked graves. "As Catholics, we believe cemeteries are sacred places," Touchette said. "This is one more example of how we honor the dead. It reminds people that death has a special religious significance in the Catholic church." The remains of 14 African slaves owned by the prominent Schuyler family unearthed in a 2005 construction project from an unmarked burial ground at the Schuyler Flatts farm along Broadway in Menands will be reinterred at an interfaith ceremony Saturday at St. Agnes. Grimaldi has been an organizer of the project and the cemetery donated a prime plot atop Founders' Hill, near wealthy families, with sweeping views of the Hudson River. A granite marker installed in advance of the weekend ceremony reads: "Here lies the remains of 14 souls known only to God. Enslaved in life, they are enslaved no more." Washington In the wake of the Orlando mass shooting, Sen. Charles Schumer is one among Democratic senators backing a renewed effort to ban gun purchases by anyone suspected of terrorism activity. "Are we going to take painfully obvious common-sense steps, or are we going to bow down to the NRA?'' said Schumer on a conference call with three other senators. "We're going to push to finally close the terror gap once and for all.'' The proposal by Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California would bar gun purchases to anyone suspected by the U.S. attorney general of suspected or active involvement in terrorist activity or support of it. Along a largely party-line vote, the Senate defeated the same measure in December in the wake of the San Bernardino, Calif., mass killing, which also involved a radicalized U.S.-born shooter. The Senate voted down a separate measure by Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas. The National Rifle Association and gun-rights activists have long opposed linking presence on the government's terrorism watch list to a ban on gun purchases. They argue that the list has names of many individuals who should not be on it in the first place. The Orlando shooter, Omar Mateen, killed 49 and wounded 53 at an LGBT-oriented nightclub with a military-style AR-15-type rifle and a handgun. He had been investigated and questioned by the FBI between 2013 and 2014 for expressing support for terrorist groups and links to an American who traveled to Syria and blew himself up in a suicide attack. Mateen's name was placed on the watch list while he was under investigation, but it was taken off after the case was dropped, the FBI said Monday. The Feinstein measure would give the attorney general greater flexibility to deny gun purchases to anyone when the Justice Department has a "reasonable belief'' persons are connected to terrorism. It would provide a legal mechanism by which individuals whose names are on the list mistakenly could get their gun-purchasing rights restored. Feinstein, who was on Monday's conference call, said the Government Accountability Office found from 2004-2014, those on the watch list purchased more than 2,000 guns a 91 percent success rate. Schumer, the Senate's No. 3 Democrat who is in line to become minority or majority leader after this fall's election, said Democrats would try to attach the Feinstein measure to an appropriations bill, which could be voted on as early as this week. But Republicans led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky could block the Feinstein proposal from getting a vote. After the Orlando massacre, the bill to close the "terror loophole'' stands a better chance of passage, Schumer said. "Our Republican colleagues (in tight races this fall) are going to find it very difficult to vote against this,'' he said. Democratic U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko of Amsterdam condemned the House Republican majority for voting against closing the loophole nearly a dozen times since 2015. "It is unthinkable that this is even a problem that needs fixing in the United States today,'' Tonko said. "Suspected terrorists should not be able to purchase firearms. It's that simple.'' Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik of Essex County, a strong Second Amendment supporter who has charted an independent course where GOP orthodoxy conflicts with her North Country district's interests, appears to be keeping her options open. The Orlando shooting "is a terrible reminder that the threat of terrorism on our homeland remains very real,'' said her spokesman, Tom Flanagin. Stefanik, who is completing her first term, will work with colleagues "to learn more about the attacker and how this happened so that we can stop something like this from ever happening again,'' Flanagin said. Representatives of the NRA and the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association did not return emailed requests for comment. Passage of the bill is a "no-brainer,'' said Leah Gunn Barrett, executive director of New Yorkers Against Gun Violence. "Making sure people on the no-fly list can't buy firearms (is) the least that can be done.'' dan@hearstdc.com WASHINGTON Plunging into the presidential race Tuesday, a visibly angry President Obama issued a scathing rebuke of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump for his proposal to suspend Muslim immigration in the wake of the Orlando massacre, tying Trumps ideas to shameful episodes of American history and mocking them as sloppy and dangerous. Never uttering Trumps name, Obama ripped into politicians who tweet, and said those who lump all Muslims with terrorists are doing the terrorists work for them. We hear language that singles out immigrants and suggests entire religious communities are complicit in violence, Obama said. Where does this stop? Trump responded by suggesting that Obama is too solicitous of enemies. President Obama claims to know our enemy, and yet he continues to prioritize our enemy over our allies, and for that matter, the American people, the candidate said in a statement. When I am president, it will always be America first. Backs Feinstein bill Flanked by top national security officials at the Treasury Department, Obama also called again for Congress to pass more restrictive gun legislation such as the bills by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, that would ban people on terrorist watch lists from buying firearms. People with possible ties to terrorism who arent allowed on a plane shouldn't be allowed to buy a gun, Obama said, adding that Feinsteins ban on assault weapons should be reinstated. Omar Mateen, the gunman in the nations latest mass shooting who claimed affiliation with the Islamic State terrorist group, was not on government watch lists at the time of his legal gun purchase. He had been removed by the FBI because there had not been enough evidence to warrant keeping him on a list. Although Feinsteins legislation is dead, Democratic efforts to bring Thompsons similar bill to a vote was blocked by House Republicans on Tuesday. Add to watch list In an interview, Thompson conceded that banning gun purchases by people on terrorist watch lists would not have stopped Mateen. For that reason, he said, a list tickler should be added so that if somebodys on a terrorist watch list and they are taken off and if they then go out and buy assault weapons, or truckloads of fertilizer or dynamite, then maybe the FBI should revisit it. In a clear departure from past calls for national unity in the wake of a terrorist attack, the Orlando massacre has put terrorism again at the forefront of presidential election politics. Trumps oblique suggestions that Obama is complicit with terrorists and his warning that radical Islam is coming to our shores through Muslim immigration threw his own party on the defensive. Not a war with Islam Just hours before Obama spoke, House Speaker Paul Ryan, the nations highest-ranking Republican, denounced Trumps conflation of Islam with radical Islam, words Trump accused Obama and presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton of refusing to apply in relation to the Orlando massacre out of political correctness. This is a war with radical Islam, said Ryan, who had endorsed Trump this month. Its not a war with Islam. Muslims are our partners. The vast, vast majority of Muslims in this country and around the world are moderate. Theyre peaceful. Theyre tolerant. And so theyre among our best allies, among our best resources in this fight against radical Islamic terrorism. Trump, in a prepared speech Monday, said: If we dont get tough, and if we dont get smart, and fast, were not going to have our country anymore. There will be nothing, absolutely nothing, left. We cannot continue to allow thousands upon thousands of people to pour into our country many of whom have the same thought process as this savage killer. Many of the principles of radical Islam are incompatible with Western values and institutions. At a campaign stop in Pittsburgh on Tuesday, Clinton also lashed out at Trump, blasting him for suggesting that President Obama is on the side of the terrorists. Just think about that for a second, Clinton said. Even in a time of divided politics, this is beyond anything that should be said by someone running for president of the United States. Clinton called on Republicans to denounce Trumps shameful talk, saying history will remember what we do in this moment. Obama opened his news conference by systematically laying out his administrations military actions against the Islamic State before leveling a ferocious attack on Trump, mocking the Republican candidates insistence on using the words radical Islam. The term, Obama said is a political talking point, not a strategy. Not once has an adviser said if we really use that phrase, were going to turn this thing around, Obama said. Warning on loose talk Obama castigated the presumptive Republican nominee of the United States for loose talk and sloppiness about who we are fighting, warning that such speech makes Muslim Americans feel their government is betraying them. He warned of past times when Americans acted out of fear and we came to regret it, recounting how the country was founded on religious freedom. If we ever abandon those values, we would not only make it a lot easier to radicalize people here and around the world, Obama said, we would have betrayed the very things we are trying to protect. Associated Press contributed to this report. Carolyn Lochhead is The San Francisco Chronicles Washington correspondent. Email: clochhead@sfchronicle.com Four Southeast Texas cities were named in a national safety report released on Monday that ranked the top 100 safest cities in the state of Texas. SafeWise, a home security and safety brand, conducted the study using the most recent FBI crime data from 2014, according to a statement from the company. Any cities with fewer than 10,000 residents or any cities that failed to submit a complete crime report to the FBI were excluded from the analysis. It's said that being near water can make you happier, calmer, and even more productive. You want to be reaping those benefits during a beach vacation, not worrying about unexpected costs or a credit card bill on the horizon. Of course, finding the most economic option depends on the type of beach vacation you're planning to take. A couple looking for a romantic getaway might fly to Thailand and opt for a cheap beach bungalow, whereas a family of four might be better off driving to the Outer Banks and staying in a 3-bedroom rental home. Check out the tips below to see eight ways you can save on a beach vacation this summer. Choose the Right Accommodations for Your Budget When deciding between a hotel, a beach house rental, or an all-inclusive resort, consider how many people are traveling and the type of vacation you're planning to have. Hotels If you're looking for accommodations, these are some of the top deal-friendly beach destinations, according to Priceline travel analyst Brian Ek. For June vacations, consider these destinations, with corresponding average daily room rates: Daytona Beach, Florida ($114.24) Clearwater, Florida ($126.06) Lake Tahoe, Nevada ($126.53) Fort Lauderdale, Florida ($127.72) Some of the best July deals are in these locations: St. Petersburg, Florida ($134.14) Fort Lauderdale, Florida ($134.99) Orange County, California ($137.81) Puerto Rico ($152.09) Galveston, Texas ($152.87) And here are the places where August travelers should look for hotel deals: Fort Lauderdale, Florida ($115.01) Myrtle Beach, South Carolina ($125.22) St. Petersburg, Florida ($126.54) San Diego, California ($147.05) Atlantic City, New Jersey ($149.91) SEE ALSO: 5 Once-in-a-Lifetime Vacation Ideas (You Can Actually Afford) When you're booking a hotel, check to see if it includes amenities like parking and WiFi. Priceline boasts a Hotel Freebies section, where you can find goodies like instant discounts, free nights, resort credits, room upgrades, and free breakfast. "Not all freebies apply to all room rates, so just keep an eye out," Ek says. Beach Rental Homes "Your budget will always be the biggest factor when deciding where you plan to holiday or what type of vacation you want to take," says Barry Choi, personal finance and budget travel expert and founder of Moneywehave.com. "Renting a vacation home or using Airbnb and cooking some of your own meals will definitely stretch those travel dollars." Rental vacation homes have cost-saving amenities like kitchens, grills, washers, dryers even private pools, says Melanie Fish, spokesperson for vacation home rental company HomeAway. Some homes also have things you can use on the beach, like towels, umbrellas, beach chairs, and bicycles, so you can pack less or avoid renting beach accessories. Just know what you can borrow and follow the house rules. "Each home is different, but not properly taking care of the rental home may result in losing your security deposit," Fish says. "To ensure this doesn't happen, review the rental agreement with the owner before you arrive. This way both parties will have an understanding of what is expected." "There is no need to squeeze into a one-room hotel with sandy feet when you can get the whole home." With an average cost of $217 per night for a three-bedroom home on HomeAway, a home rental can also be more cost-effective and roomier for groups. "Renting a whole home is a no-brainer, especially when traveling with a large group or multiple family members," Fish says. "There is no need to squeeze into a one-room hotel with sandy feet when you can get the whole home." All-Inclusive Resorts "All-inclusive resorts can offer good value if you travel off-season or look for deals where kids stay free," Choi says. "One mistake people tend to make when booking all-inclusive trips is forgetting about all the additional costs. Day trips will cost you extra; so will any meals you have off-site. There's also any vaccinations and travel insurance you may need to pay for, and of course, you can't forget about your shopping budget." Choi notes, "You could avoid any extra costs by staying at your resort the entire time and only doing free activities, but is that the type of holiday you want? If you've budgeted properly, it's OK to spend a bit more on experiences." Some less-expensive, all-inclusive resort destinations include the Dominican Republic and Roatan, he adds. SEE ALSO: Ask an Editor: Are All-Inclusive Resorts Worth It? Determine Whether Flying or Driving Is a Better Value The good news is that low fuel costs mean it's cheaper to travel by car and by air this summer. Travelers can expect flight prices to be cheaper this summer than they've been in seven years, according to research from the Hopper airfare app. And AAA predicts that gas prices will remain comparatively low; they're between 35 cents and 45 cents cheaper per gallon than last year. "If you have a little more time to spare, driving to the beach allows you the flexibility to stop at towns and sites along the way," Ek says. "Also, with low gas prices across the country, you may save more money driving instead of flying." SEE ALSO: The Ultimate Airline Comparison Guide: Reviews, Restrictions, and Fees for 98 International Airlines To figure out which is more economical, Ek recommends calculating the cost with a map app and the latest gas prices. (The current national average is about $2.36 per gallon). Then check against flight costs using a travel booking site, like Priceline.com. Make a Packing List Avoid having to buy marked-up items like sunscreen at your destination. Make a list of what you need, and take it with you. If you're staying in a rental home or a hotel with a kitchenette, stock up on groceries so you can prepare your meals. Book Early Planning ahead can pay off, though the ideal times to book accommodations and flights vary. "Booking in advance is the best way to secure the perfect vacation rental for a trip," Fish says. "The further in advance a traveler books, the more inventory there will be to choose from, making it easier to find a rental that meets the traveler's needs and a price that fits the budget." She recommends booking at least three months in advance. SEE ALSO: Use These 3 Hotel Booking Sites to Get Bonus Airline Miles When You Travel Data from TripAdvisor indicates that travelers can save 7% by booking a hotel stay within two months of a summer trip in the U.S., and within four months in the Caribbean. The best time to buy an economy ticket for travel within North America is about 57 days in advance, according to research from Expedia and Airlines Reporting Corporation. As indicated in an analysis of data from more than 10 billion passenger flights, it's best to book a Caribbean flight 77 days in advance, for a 5% savings; the optimum time to book a flight to South America is 90 days in advance, for a 10% savings. ... Or Book Late If you haven't booked a summer beach vacation yet, procrastination can sometimes pay off, provided your plans are flexible. Some experts say that in the case of last-minute bookings, negotiating a lower price might be easier. "You may have fewer homes to choose from, but you can also save money by booking last-minute," Fish says. Many websites and apps have special sections or features for last-minute deals. For example, HomeAway has a "Special Deals & Offers" filter that includes last-minute bookings. The Priceline app has Tonight Only deals added at 11 am daily, offering up to 40% off on hotels for same-day check-in; travelers can book a stay for up to four nights at the discounted rate. "For some of the major beach destinations, June tends to have more favorable rates than July or August." If you're willing to pack up and leave right now, note that June often has the lowest accommodation rates. "For some of the major beach destinations, June tends to have more favorable rates than July or August when the crowds really arrive, but you can gain savings by being flexible with travel dates," Ek says. Exercise Caution With Certain Locales Some travelers should be cautious when tempted by low fares, though, because fear of the Zika virus is driving down prices in certain cases. "The Zika virus has affected many popular destinations, which has reduced tourism dramatically; as a result, some destinations/resorts have started to reduce their prices," Choi says. "Of course, health always comes first, so consult your doctor if you have any concerns before traveling." However, you might be able to find deals on Caribbean destinations that have experienced cancellations but have been Zika-free, such as Turks and Caicos. Be Flexible With the Location At popular destinations, competition often helps drive prices down, particularly in the case of home rentals. Traveling to a slightly less sought-after spot might get you more for your money, though. "Gain even more savings leverage by being flexible with destinations," Ek says. "For example, you can go to Miami Beach and pay more for a four-star hotel, or you could go a few extra miles and stay in a four-star hotel on the beach in Fort Lauderdale for less." SEE ALSO: 8 Easy Budget Hacks to Use on Your Next Vacation Hotels and vacation homes that aren't right on the beach are often cheaper as well. For instance, hotels in a city's business district may have lower weekend rates. Just factor in any extra costs, like beach parking. Far-Flung Locales Can Be Cheaper Overall Paying a bit more upfront for airfare may save you money in the long run if your destination has what Choi calls "low ground costs." He says, "A flight to Thailand or Vietnam may seem expensive, but once you've landed, your costs will be pretty low. Meals in Southeast Asia cost just a few dollars a day, while resorts or beach bungalows are significantly cheaper than say, Jamaica." To save about 13% on flights to Asia, the Expedia/ARC data indicates that it's best to book 160 days in advance. Readers, what are some of your favorite tips for saving money on a beach vacation? Let us know in the comments below! This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate ORLANDO, Fla. The gunman who attacked a Florida gay nightclub had attended the club before the attack and had used a gay dating and chat app, witnesses said. Kevin West, a regular at Pulse nightclub, said Omar Mateen messaged him on and off for a year before the shooting using the gay chat and dating app Jack'd. But they never met until early Sunday morning. West was dropping off a friend at the club when he noticed Mateen whom he knew by sight but not by name crossing the street wearing a dark cap and carrying a black cell phone about 1 a.m., an hour before the shooting. "He walked directly past me. I said, 'Hey,' and he turned and said, 'Hey,' " and nodded his head, West said. "I could tell by the eyes." At least four regular customers of Pulse, the nightclub where the massacre took place, told the Orlando Sentinel on Monday that they believed they had seen Mateen there before. "Sometimes he would go over in the corner and sit and drink by himself, and other times he would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent," said Ty Smith, who also uses the name Aries. He saw Mateen at the club at least a dozen times, he said. "We didn't really talk to him a lot, but I remember him saying things about his dad at times," Smith said. "He told us he had a wife and child." As soon as West saw photos released of Mateen after the shooting, he said, he drove to his local police station, where officers summoned FBI officials, who showed him a photo of Mateen on a computer screen. "I said, 'That's him,' " West said, and turned over his phone and Jack'd log-in information to the FBI, which still had the phone late Monday, he said. Also Monday, officials said Mateen appeared to have been radicalized by Islamic extremists on the internet but expressed sympathies with radical groups that violently oppose each other. On Sunday morning, Mateen told a 911 dispatcher that he was attacking Pulse on behalf of the leader of Islamic State, FBI Director James B. Comey said at a news conference Monday. Mateen, 29, of Fort Pierce, Fla., was killed by a SWAT team and was among the 50 found dead at the site. Fifty-three more were wounded. But Mateen, who was born in New York, had also expressed solidarity with the 2013 Boston bombers and an American suicide bomber who belonged to an al-Qaida affiliate in Syria opposed to Islamic State, Comey said. The FBI previously investigated Mateen, a security guard, for 11 months for telling co-workers in 2013 that he had relatives connected to al-Qaida, the Sunni Muslim extremist group, while claiming he was a member of Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite militia, Comey said. Both groups oppose Islamic State and each other. The FBI also briefly investigated Mateen in 2014 on suspicion of watching videos by al-Qaida propagandist Anwar al-Awlaki and for attending a mosque in Florida with a man who later became a suicide bomber for Nusra Front in Syria, which also opposes Islamic State. Both investigations were closed without an arrest. Comey defended his agents' work but said the agency would still conduct a review. "We know that this killing is upsetting to all Americans. We hope that our fellow Americans will not let fear become disabling," Comey said. He added that fear "is what these savages want." ALSO Investigators look at possible Disney trip by Orlando shooter FBI agents scrambled Monday to recover data from Mateen's electronic media cellphones, computers and other devices hoping to find clues to what sparked the massacre at the nightclub, according to current and former FBI officials. The shooting also dominated the presidential campaign Monday. Democrat Hillary Clinton called for stricter gun control and Republican Donald Trump called for tighter immigration rules. As of midday Monday, all but two of the 49 slain victims had been publicly identified after notification of their families. They were mostly Latino men. "There was blood all over the street. You can see where people were dragged," said Patty Sheehan, Orlando's first openly gay city commissioner, pointing toward the building and grimacing. This is the heart of her downtown district. Sheehan knows the owner of the club and a bartender who witnessed the shooting and described to her how it unfolded. "When the police went in, they told people, 'Raise your hand if you're alive,' " she said. "Some of the living covered themselves with the dead." She and other officials have asked residents to hold off on staging a vigil until all the victims are identified. "We will not be defined by the act of a cowardly hater," Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said. "We will be defined by how we respond." Police responding to the nightclub attack had attempted to negotiate with Mateen for hours, Police Chief John Mina said, rescuing dozens of people and confronting the shooter only when he mentioned explosives and they believed "further loss of life was imminent." Mina outlined the police response during a Monday briefing near the nightclub, flanked by Florida Gov. Rick Scott, Dyer, federal investigators and prosecutors. The shooting was reported at 2:02 a.m. Sunday when an off-duty Orlando police officer at the club initially confronted Mateen near an entrance and the two engaged in a gunbattle, Mina said. When more police responded, additional officers entered the club and traded fire with the gunman. "At that time we were able to save and rescue dozens and dozens of people and get them out of the club," Mina said. Mateen holed up with four to five hostages in a bathroom, while 15 to 20 more people were trapped in another bathroom nearby, Mina said. That's when police backed off. "Based on statements made by the suspect about explosives and an explosive vest, we did retreat," Mina said. A team of negotiators arrived and began communicating with Mateen, who sounded "cool and calm," Mina said. Mina said negotiators didn't have much leverage with the gunman. "He really wasn't asking for anything," the police chief said. "We were doing the asking." Mina would not say whether Mateen appeared to be on a suicide mission. But police kept talking to him and shortly before 5 a.m., Mina said, "that talk became a crisis for us." Officials decided to enter the building, Mina said, because, "there was a timeline given (by Mateen) and we believed there was an imminent loss of life." Police made an "explosive breach" into the building, then used an armored BearCat vehicle to punch a hole about 2 square feet in the wall so that dozens could escape, Mina said. Mateen also emerged from the hole, armed with a long gun and handgun, and confronted SWAT officers backed against a wall who returned fire, killing him, Mina said. The police chief said Mateen did not shoot between the time he retreated to the bathroom and when police breached the building. Mina defended the decision to wait and attempt to negotiate with the shooter before police finally forced their way into the building. Mina said he was confident no one was shot during the delay nor was shot by friendly fire. "It was a hard decision to make," he said. "We believe it was the right thing to do. We believe we saved many, many lives." Mateen bought both of the guns used in the attack, and a third weapon was recovered from Mateen's car, said Regina Lombardo, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Officials would not identify the weapon found in the car or say whether any explosives were recovered from the scene. Mateen bought his guns at the St. Lucie Shooting Center, owner Ed Henson told reporters in a televised news conference. Henson said Mateen was "familiar to me vaguely. I don't know him personally." He said Mateen had multiple security licenses for armed and unarmed security work, and passed a background check. "He did not buy the handgun and the long gun at the same time; they were approximately a week apart," said Henson, who added that one of the sales came about a week to 10 days before the shooting. "He's evil," Henson said, and the shooting was horrific. "We happen to be the gun store he picked." President Barack Obama said Monday that Mateen appeared to be "inspired by various extremist information that was disseminated over the internet" but that investigators had found no evidence he was working with outside groups. Islamic State proclaimed him as a member of the group through a media affiliate after the shooting. FBI agents closed their 2013 investigation into Mateen after concluding that he didn't understand how al-Qaida operated and had not committed a crime. He told investigators that he had been lying and blustering about his terrorist ties. During the investigation, Mateen was placed on the FBI's terrorist screening database, an official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss an investigation. The list serves as a clearinghouse for federal and state law enforcement agencies to share information and keep track of potential threats, but it does not bar a suspect from boarding a plane or purchasing a weapon. Mateen was removed from that database after the bureau closed its investigation into him, an official said. In 2014, agents again questioned Mateen after learning he had attended the same mosque as Moner Mohammad Abu-Salha, an American who later joined Islamic State and was killed in Syria. The FBI "determined that contact was minimal and did not constitute a substantive relationship or a threat at that time," Ronald Hopper, an FBI official, told reporters in Orlando. Some who knew the gunman described him as a practicing Muslim who spewed homophobic and racist slurs. But it still wasn't clear Monday what motivated Mateen to attack the nightclub. His father, Seddique Mateen, hosts a show on the satellite network Payam-e-Afghan TV about the national politics of his homeland. In new video posted on Facebook early Monday, he calls his son well-educated and respectful to his parents, saying that he was "not aware what complexities he had in his heart, and what caused him to go to this gay and lesbian club and shoot 50 people," he said in Dari, one of the two official languages of Afghanistan. Seddique Mateen said he was saddened by his son's actions. But he added: "In this month of Ramadan, the gay and lesbian issue is something that God will punish," though "the servants of God shouldn't have anything to do with it." At a news conference at his home Monday, Seddique Mateen said he still thinks of his only son as a "good boy" but condemned his acts. "I don't want any father to go through what we are going through," Mateen said, clasping his hands and occasionally bowing his head as he sat on an ornate floral sofa surrounded by cameras and microphones. "I don't approve of what he did. What he did was completely an act of terrorism." Seddique Mateen, a U.S. citizen from Afghanistan, insisted on his love for and loyalty to his new homeland. "The United States is the house that has always taken care of me, my family, all the people from my homeland ... . I condemn what he did. I wish I didn't know that (is) what he was doing. If I could catch him, I would could ask him myself. The only thing I'll say is those people who lost their loved ones, they are my family. I apologize for what my son did, and I am as sad and as mad as you guys are. You are my family." He said he'd had no inkling that his son might perform any kind of act of terrorism. "If I did know of 1 percent that he's committing such a crime, my son, I would arrest him myself. I would have called the FBI. I would have called the local law enforcement." Mustafa Abasin, Omar Mateen's brother-in-law, stood in the doorway of his pastel pink, three-bedroom home in Port St. Lucie, a city close to Fort Pierce, about 125 miles south of Orlando, still struggling to make sense of what had happened. "Omar was a very good guy," he said. "You know, right now I feel that I'm grieving. I'm not awake. It's unbelievable. It wasn't him." On Sunday investigators swarmed Abasin's home, which was in Mateen's name, although he never lived there. When they informed him of his brother-in-law's actions, he said, he assumed there had been a misunderstanding. "The only thing that popped in my mind was it was an accident," he said. "Still, I can't believe it." When Abasin, a local insurance broker, last encountered Mateen at their local Islamic center on Friday, he seemed normal and chatted about family. "We had the usual conversation," Abasin said. "He was very respectful and polite. He said, 'Hello, how are you? How are the kids?' He loved my kids. I didn't see any emotions." He had never known his brother-in-law to talk about politics or violence, he said, and had not heard him express hostility toward gay people or African-Americans. "We feel sorry for those who lost their lives," he said. "We feel sorry for families who lost their family members. We pray for them." Abasin was anxious about the effect of Mateen's actions on his family. Along with investigators, demonstrators showed up outside his home Sunday. "We want to be living in peace," he said. "We have small kids and are living in this neighborhood." He described Mateen's father as a responsible member of the community. "He was involved in politics, but I don't think he agrees with extremism," Abasin said. "He's not a fundamentalist." ___ (Special correspondent Jarvie reported from Port St. Lucie. Times staff writers Hennessy-Fiske and Wilber reported from Orlando and Washington, respectively. Times staff writer Tracy Wilkinson contributed reporting from Orlando, and special correspondent Hashmat Baktash contributed from New York. ___ (c)2016 Los Angeles Times Visit the Los Angeles Times at www.latimes.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. London With nine days left before Britain votes on whether to remain in the European Union, the possibility of Turkey's becoming a member of the bloc has inflamed the debate, injecting divisive issues of race, religion and tolerance into the campaign. Supporters of a British exit from the EU say allowing Turkey in would leave Britain exposed to a new wave of Muslim immigration and more vulnerable to Islamic radicals. While Turkey has been pushing for membership, it faces considerable hurdles, and its entry, would be many years away. The debate over the vote, which has split Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative Party, has largely played out around fear. Those in favor of remaining, including Cameron, have emphasized economic risks. Those in favor of leaving, including other leading Conservatives, have stressed the social, cultural and economic risks of continued immigration from other EU countries, whose citizens are entitled to live and work in Britain. The emphasis on the supposedly imminent membership of Turkey, however, adds a new and darker aspect to the arguments for Britain's leaving: Turkey would be the bloc's second-largest country after Germany, and it is poor, is Muslim and borders Syria, where young British Muslims radicalized by the Islamic State travel to enter the netherworld of terrorism. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The Pearland Police Department was left reeling Sunday after a rookie patrol officer was killed in a horrific car crash allegedly caused by a drunken driver. The officer, 30-year-old Endy Ekpanya, was en route to a non-emergency call at 3:15 a.m. when he was involved in a "catastrophic" collision with a woman driving a gray Chrysler SRT near the intersection of 2500 Broadway and Liberty, Pearland police said. The woman has been identified as Amber Willemsen, 38, of Friendswood, according to Texas Department of Public Safety Lt. Craig Cummings, who is investigating the case. Willemsen is currently recovering from surgery in the hospital and has been arrested on a first degree felony of intoxication manslaughter, Cummings said. Willemsen has not been formally charged. "We have probable cause to believe she was intoxicated," Cummings said. "The investigation is still ongoing." The collision left both cars crushed and mangled, forcing emergency responders to extricate both drivers. Ekpanya was transported by helicopter to Memorial Hermann Hospital in the Medical Center, where he succumbed to his injuries at about 4 a.m., officials said. Pearland Lt. Onesimo Lopez said Ekpanya's death was "devastating" to a close-knit department of 163 sworn officers. "He was just a nice guy," Lopez said at a press conference. "He was very kind, courteous, would do anything for you. He was just that kind of guy. I can't say enough good things about him." Ekpanya lived with his fiancee and 2-year-old son in Rosharon. Pearland police expect to complete a reconstruction of the crash in the next week. DPS will continue working with the department to piece together more information on the collision. Officials plan to review video footage from Ekpanya's dashboard camera and any cameras at businesses in the area while they continue to track down any witnesses, Cummings said. "These things take time to get all the data out of there, to make sure we have the correct information," he said. "The officer, like all of us, came to work that night, expecting to go home, expecting to save lives, and instead, he lost his own life in defense of his community." Ekpanya's death marked the first officer fatality in the line of duty for the Pearland Police Department since the early 1970s, officials said. For decades the department had been touched by "good fortune," said Officer James Wells, a department spokesman. "It's a matter of time," Wells said. "Unfortunately, we were long overdue." Assistant Chief Johnny Speirs said it will take time for the department to heal. "The Pearland Police Department is devastated right now," Speirs said. "It's just going to take us some time to work through the process." At the department's headquarters at 2555 Cullen, officers lowered their flags to half mast and established a memorial outside the building. Officers also participated in a procession in honor of Ekpanya. With lights flashing, they drove along Highway 288 and past the crash site on Broadway before ending up at Jeter Memorial Funeral Home in Friendswood, where the officer's body was transported from the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences on Sunday afternoon. Throughout the morning and early afternoon, Pearland residents periodically stopped by the scene to contribute to a second memorial on a nearby patch of grass. The first resident to stop by, Adrienne Bell, lay a small bouquet of yellow flowers underneath a nearby tree. Bell, a 10-year resident of Pearland, lives a few blocks from where the crash unfolded. Although she did not know Ekpanya, she said she appreciated his service to the community. "He gave his life for us. That's it," Bell said. "I didn't know him personally, but he was out here taking care of me." Later on, Tom Hinds walked over to the growing pile of flower bouquets, a miniature American flag in hand. Hinds, a teacher, said he was saddened when he woke up to the news of Ekpanya's death. Since he moved to Pearland in 2002, he said the police department has always responded quickly and served the community well. The tragedy was a reminder to not take police officers for granted, Hinds said, adding that bringing the flag was the least he could do. A few minutes later, George Mellis also brought a flag. Mellis, a retired member of law enforcement in New Orleans, said he knew how Pearland police officers were grieving for their colleague. "It hits a little hard," he said. "It's a brotherhood and a sisterhood. You learn to take care of each other." This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A Lubbock radio host responded to the Orlando nightclub massacre, deemed the deadliest in modern U.S. history, by calling the scene where at least 49 victims died a "hook up bar" where patrons were "getting lit, using illegal drugs and spreading STDs." Wade Wilkes, the owner and host of Lubbock's KRFE AM580 radio station, has used Facebook to vocalize his views on the Pulse nightclub mass shooting since the news broke early Sunday morning. His most controversial post was published later that evening and remains on his public, personal profile as of Tuesday. RELATED: South Texas man among dead in Orlando massacre Wilkes, a West Texas A&M University graduate and retired Army Reservist, according to the KRFE website, posted a rebuttal to President Obama's remarks including one in which he said the victims gathered at the nightclub to "advocate for their civil rights," before being killed by a gunman. "Hello goofy Obama, it's a hook up bar," Wilkes said in his response. "No one was 'sharing' ideas or talking about 'civil rights.' They were getting lit, using illegal drugs and spreading STDs." RELATED: Former S.A. TV anchor talks about horror in Orlando The post fueled another debate between the show's listeners in the comments section. While some supported the commentator, he was challenged by others who prompted another Facebook response. "That was just a dumb response from President," Wilkes addressed Facebook users in the thread of comments attached to his post. "I agree with the loss of life but do not say they 'were just sharing ideas and conversing about civil rights.' That's just politicizing this horrible deal. Obama is a horrible person." RELATED: San Antonio's Bonham Exchange will donate weekend cover charges to victims of Orlando massacre Other listeners vowed to never tune into Wilkes' broadcast again. "You employ a bigot who turns a national tragedy as a way to push his agenda," a listener wrote on the KRFE - AM 580 Facebook page. "Until Wade Wilkes is no longer employed by you you have lost a long time listener." The station responded: "Wade owns the station, so I don't see that happening." Wilkes was not immediately available for comment Tuesday morning. mmendoza@mysa.com Twitter: @MaddySkye This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate SAN ANTONIO Open Carry Texas is offering armed escorts for members of the LGBT community during pride events happening this month following the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, which could have been "stopped" if patrons were armed, according to the group's founder. C.J. Grisham, founder of Open Carry Texas, said in an interview with mySA.com Tuesday the attack that left 49 victims and the gunman dead at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando prompted the group's decision to reach out to individuals and groups identifying as LGBT across Texas. MORE: South Texas man among dead in Orlando massacre "Our hope is that they see what happened in Orlando, had anyone been legally armed, (they) probably could have stopped the massacre," Grisham said, adding that Open Carry Texas has several members who identify as LGBT. Grisham said the group has offered armed escort to Pink Pistols, an organization for LGBT members who have an interest in shooting and self defense, but has not heard back yet. An email requesting comment sent to an address listed on the Pink Pistol website was not immediately returned Tuesday. RELATED: San Antonio's Bonham Exchange will donate weekend cover charges to victims of Orlando massacre The armed escort, Grisham said, is the group's way of showing "solidarity with the community" after the deadly Orlando attacks. Any pride event across Texas is eligible for an armed escort, he said. "Absolutely" Dallas, Houston, Austin and San Antonio included. June, the month when the Stonewall Riots began in 1969, was officially declared as LGBT Pride Month by President Barack Obama on May 31. June 26 will mark the one-year anniversary since same-sex marriage was legalized by the U.S. Supreme Court. Pride San Antonio will host a "Bigger than Texas" festival and parade, the organization's main event, July 2 at 9 p.m. at Crockett Park. RELATED: SAPD to increase security after shooting at gay club in Orlando Grisham, who is running for state senate in district 24, said Open Carry Texas has also reached out to individual members of the LGBT community but has not received a response, adding that it is hard to get in contact with organizers of different pride events. After the Orlando shooting, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus implemented new security procedures for gay bars in the area. New safety measures, including increased police force, went into place Sunday night and will continue indefinitely, he told the media Sunday. Members of Open Carry Texas have garnered national attention in recent years for demonstrations in which they carried long guns such as AR-15s into private businesses and in public in San Antonio and other cities during their push for an open carry law that passed in 2015. RELATED: Local activists, community members react to Orlando shooting kbradshaw@express-news.net Twitter: @kbrad5 The Fort Pierce Islamic Center, where Mateen worshipped several times a week, was under investigation by both the FBI and DHS as early as 2011 for ties to a worldwide Islamic movement known as Tablighi Jamaal which was linked to several terrorist organizations. But the investigation was shut down under pressure from the Clinton-ran State Dept. and DHSs Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Office out of fear of offending Muslims, according to recently retired DHS agent Philip Haney. The FBI had opened cases twice on him, and yet they found no evidence to charge him; it means they didnt go through the same basic, analytical process that I went through over a three- or four-hour period in which I was able to link the mosque to my previous cases, he told WND on Sunday. In other words, the FBI had limited options at stopping Mateen because it was ordered to back off its investigation into his mosque. Both Clinton and the Obama administration have a history of enabling Islamic terrorism. The San Antonio Police Department is working closely with the Secret Service to ensure security during Donald Trump's visit to San Antonio this Friday, Chief William McManus said at a news conference Tuesday. The Secret Service has the lead and we are in a support role, he said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The South Texas Blood and Tissue Center, currently amid a blood shortage of their own, gave a helping hand to the One Blood center in Orlando following the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history on Sunday. "All blood centers across the nation are in touch with each other," STBTC spokesperson Julie Vera told mySA.com on Tuesday. "The shortage of blood is nationwide. Other blood centers will pitch in to assist. We happened to have some units available, and we were able to provide them with those units." RELATED: Gay men limited as blood donors for Orlando club victims The center has experienced a decline in blood donations due to schools releasing for summer, which provide 25 percent of the center's blood through mobile blood donation stations, and new Zika regulations preventing individuals from donating blood if they have visited a Zika-affected country listed on the CDC website in the past four weeks. These federal regulations accompany already existing rules, such as those imposed on donors who have traveled outside the U.S. or Canada within the last four weeks, or gay men who have engaged in sexual relations with another man in the past year, that can lower blood donation intake. RELATED: South Texas man among dead in Orlando massacre Still, Vera said the center will give what they can during a national crisis. The generosity between blood centers is not novel to San Antonio. Less than two weeks ago, STBTC imported blood following a week of trauma victims, transplants and other surgical uses. "A few weeks ago when we had a rash of trauma victims there were two little girls who were shot we had to import blood from other blood centers," Vera said. "It was a week in which we had a lot of patients who needed blood and we didn't have supply on hand." RELATED: Walgreens cuts ties to blood-testing company Theranos In light of World Blood Donor Day, which falls on June 14 annually, Vera is encouraging those who are able to donate to do so. Vera said it was unfortunate that the Orlando shooting brought the national blood shortage to the public's attention and said "one donation can save three lives." MMedina@mySA.com Twitter:@MariahMedinaaa A judge has dismissed defamation claims brought against Kerr County and County Clerk Rebecca Bolin by three ex-staffers in the clerks office whom Bolin let go without explanation after she assumed the office last year. However, U.S. District Judge Orlando L. Garcias ruling in the federal lawsuit pending in San Antonio doesnt kill retaliation claims made against Bolin by her former co-workers Julie Garza, Sarah Trainum and Judith Rogers. Asserting their free-speech rights were violated, the women say Bolin fired them within minutes of taking the oath of office because of their earlier campaign support of incumbent County Clerk Jannett Pieper. Pieper lost in the Republican primary to Bolin, one of her deputy clerks, who was unopposed in the 2014 general election. Our clients are eager to get to court and prove up their case, said attorney Steve Skarnulis, representing the plaintiffs. The defamation claim stemmed from a local newspaper article in April 2015 in which Bolin said the plaintiffs werent fired for backing Pieper, but rather for hindering work in the office and based on job performance and attitude. Pieper, however, provided the court with an affidavit in which she described the fired women as good workers. Kerr County was sued based on votes by county commissioners authorizing Bolin to fill the three vacancies. A trial set last month was postponed by the defendants pending appeal of Garcias adoption on March 25 of findings contained in a memorandum by U.S. Magistrate John W. Primomo. Primomo found that Bolin wasnt entitled to qualified immunity as a government official on the retaliation claim and that a grant of summary judgment was not proper because a genuine fact issue exists as to whether the firings were politically motivated. Bolins reasons for terminating plaintiffs are ambiguous at best, he wrote in the Feb. 25 report. She has been unable to provide any specific examples of performance deficiencies that would justify the termination of any of the plaintiffs. Also, the timing of their discharges suggest improper motivation. Defense attorney Charles Frigerio said its the plaintiffs legal duty to prove their claim they were terminated due to politics. We dont feel there is any evidence to show that decision was based on politics, he said. She had the right to choose her staff on the first day (she) took office. She chose her staff and they were not part of it. It had nothing to do with politics. In recommending the dismissal of the defamation claims against Bolin and the county, Primomo said the limited waiver of governmental immunity doesnt apply in this case. zeke@express-news.net Robert Fox Landholt, an accomplished musician who traveled with various big bands during the 1940s and later attended Juilliard, might have been the next Harry James. But after marrying in 1949, Landholt discovered a new love. He wanted to raise a family, daughter Margaret Daisy Power said. He was so devoted hands-on with us. Even so, everything in our lives somehow revolved around music, Power added. We had a piano and organ in our house at all times. Landholt died June 11 at 92. A lifelong Catholic, Landholt attended parochial schools, where his self-taught skill playing the trumpet was recognized. More Information Robert Fox Landholt Born: May 25, 1924, St. Louis Died: June 11, 2016, San Antonio Preceded by: Wife, Nancy Griffin Landholt; parents, Conrad and Marcella Fox Landholt; son-in-law Stephen Birgel IV; and a brother. Survived by: Daughters Barbara Birgel, Teresa "Terry" Landholt, Karen Landholt, Christine Spencer and son-in-law Walter, and Margaret "Daisy" Power; son Nicholas "Nick" Landholt and daughter-in-law Lacey; seven grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; and two brothers. Services: Visitation at 5 p.m., rosary at 7 p.m., Thursday, at Angelus Funeral Home Chapel, 1119 N. St. Mary's St. Mass at 3 p.m. Friday at Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church, 223 E. Summit Ave. See More Collapse A nun told him he had a special talent, Power said. Studying the sound and technique of his favorite performer, bandleader James, Landholt was able to re-create the intricate characteristics for which the trumpeter was known. Harry James had a very particular style, Power said. Dad would listen to records in the basement and by ear, he would play. Because he had such an incredible ear, he could play anything. Landholt joined a big band group at 17 and traveled across the country, including to New York, where he attended an open call audition at The Juilliard School. His performance blew everybody away, his daughter Barbara Birgel said. At Juilliard Landholt met a vocal student from San Antonio, marrying in her home church of Our Lady of Grace in 1949. Moving to Ohio around 1950, Landholt played with the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra, also teaching at Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, before he and his wife moved to Texas. Part was for his health, Birgel said. He had asthma, and Cleveland was not kind to him in the wintertime. Landholt performed with the San Antonio Symphony under the direction of Victor Alessandro, and played at the Roaring 20s club for extra money. I can remember him getting ready, Birgel said. I would sit on the bed in my parents room and watch him put on his starched shirt, his cufflinks and his bow tie; then he would warm up for 15 or 20 minutes. Nobody ever looked as good in a tux as my dad. Landholt stopped performing professionally to open Conn Organ Center. Believing children benefit from early instruction, Landholt started a Yamaha Music School in the store. He believed that we are all born with a gift for music, Power said. mheidbrink@express-news.net Last year, a three-judge panel at the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with a lower court that Texas voter ID had discriminatory effect, but said the court should revisit whether the Legislature intended to discriminate. Last month, a full panel 5th Circuit judges returned to the topic at the urging of the state of Texas, which wants to preserve the law for the November election. Yes, intent and effect have different legal meanings and consequences. But the argument is silly because it presumes legislators didnt know precisely who would be affected by more restrictive voter identification rules. And if they knew who, they knew there would be discriminatory effect. Democratic legislators in 2011, when the photo ID law was enacted, told their colleagues precisely what the effect would be. It was, in fact, common knowledge in political circles its why these laws are so popular to those who benefit from a suppressed vote. If the legislative record doesnt contain any smoking gun on intent, its only because the Legislature knew better than to leave a paper trail. Lets call it willful and feigned ignorance. The who affected in this case are largely low-income minority, young and elderly Texans who disproportionately dont have any of the seven forms of identification the state now requires, and limited means to get them because of financial and transportation considerations. Oh, yes, a significant number of these people tend to vote Democratic when they cast a ballot. The Legislature is using the fig-leaf cover of claiming the law was necessary to combat voter fraud. And, as three federal courts that have tried to shut down this law have concluded, the in-person voter fraud that voter ID can prevent is exceedingly rare in Texas and elsewhere. Yes, the state offers free state IDs for voting purposes a grand gesture rendered much less so by the fact that too many Texans live a distance from the offices where these IDs can be obtained and many of these offices are part-time operations. The Legislature pumped more resources into the Department of Public Safety offices that issue these IDs, and still access is not what it should be when the ability to vote is at stake. Also, not everyone has a birth certificate. The 5th Circuit judges who heard the case last year said obtaining a birth certificate to get the state IDs didnt represent a poll tax. They were wrong. You cant get the ID without the birth certificate and they carry a price. Intent and effect. There is a difference, but the Legislature wasnt ignorant of either when it passed one of the most restrictive voter ID laws in the nation. If the 5th Circuit doesnt recognize this, it, too, will be indulging in willful and feigned ignorance. I was so happy to read the tributes by Cary Clack (All of San Antonio was in Father Bernals parish, Other Views, June 1) and Elaine Ayala (Popular priest touched lives far and wide, front page, June 1) for Father Eddie Bernal. I attended St. Pauls Catholic Elementary school with him, and I observed how this very special mans life evolved and flourished. Entering the priesthood later in life, empowered by his gift for reaching out to those in all walks of life, he stood as a champion for the poor, lost and forgotten. Father Eddie was not finished teaching us, and we were not finished learning from him. The lights of San Antonio will not dim from his passing, but rather burn brighter from his having come our way. Truly a servant of the Lord, Father Eddie, may you rest in the peace you truly earned. Viola Moreno No surprise As a Democrat, I celebrate my party for being the first to nominate a black man for president and, now, the first to nominate a women. As for Republicans, they have now nominated a racist. Why am I not surprised? Jesse Moreno Return of racism There it is. In plain sight. The bold-faced racism of Donald Trump is now in full view. Party leaders, having fallen behind him after much hand-wringing, were immediately aghast. They collectively expressed their disgust. Trump, instead of softening his words, doubled down and amplified his racist rhetoric. Here is the sad part. The Republican leadership, instead of taking him to the woodshed, has begun to whitewash (pun intended) its initial reaction. In essence, they are comfortable with their presumptive leader calling all Hispanics Mexicans. They are falling in line to protect their down-ballot survival, even if past years of discrimination, so vividly apparent in Texas, will resurface. It is not a stretch to see Hispanics, once again, being denied membership to business boards, civic clubs, social events and country clubs. Heck, many will not even allow their daughters to marry one. Al Dreumont Disgusting thought Re: Character counts, Your Turn, June 7: Yes, character counts a great deal. If you have issues with Donald Trump, I suggest you take a close look at Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. Bernie is a socialist to the core, which should be enough to deter anyone from voting for him. Then there is socialistic and secular Hillary. I doubt she has any integrity. She might end up in jail, once the FBI finishes with her. She lied about Benghazi, saying it was caused by a video about Muhammad, and we all know this is untrue. Then there is the email scandal. This woman is under investigation by the FBI and our own Congress for these acts. How this woman can stand before the American people and run for president is an abomination. The thing that is truly mind-boggling is that there are people who will vote for her regardless. The Clintons have degraded the White House enough already, with the Monica Lewinsky incident resulting in an impeached president. America will have sunk to its lowest point if she is elected president. We will just have another Obama term, and the thought is disgusting. Ben Moore, Spring Branch Insecure network Re: Rule-flouting by Clinton on server, emails inexcusable, Editorial, June 6: Your piece makes me laugh, especially the part about employees were supposed to contact an information specialist for assistance, when that specialist might be Edward Snowdens little brother. The more people included in any operation, the less secure it is. Even so-called archiving spreads ideas and negotiations throughout the bureaucratic network, making all less secure. These are the kind of government rules that make the system inefficient and ineffective. Most of what is deemed highly classified would be a considered a ridiculous attempt to cover up. Funny! Michael L. Vogelsang Fix low standards Re: Minimum requirements everywhere! Josh Brodesky, Other Views, June 3: Very interesting column, touching on many different facets of minimum requirements. He started with the Texas school funding decision by the Texas Supreme Court, which ruled that current school funding meets the minimum constitutional requirements. He ended his column with a haiku, a form of Japanese poetry, stating that the Texas Legislature does not care about funding schools. My question to Mr. Brodesky and the readers of this paper is this: Who is responsible for all the shoddy work created by society content with minimum requirements? We are all responsible. Mr. Brodesky feels that the Legislature does not care about funding schools, and heck, that is true. They do not care because there is no one making them responsible to get off their butts and do something. You the voters must do it. We must get out and do what we have to do, and not just sit at home and complain. We must get things done, speak to the gas stations about their unhealthy restrooms, vote Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller out, call TxDOT about highway signage, call the Alamo College Board about how the chancellor behaved at graduation. If we all become concerned, we would not have the mess we have now in this country. As for Mr. Brodesky, he might want to enroll in a cooking class, fix his broken dresser, hire a trainer for his workouts, converse with people of interest, and walk his dog. A happy day to you, Josh. Oscar Ahumada, Floresville Sadiq Khan, Londons first Muslim mayor, announced Monday that body shaming advertisements will no longer be allowed in Londons public transport. As the father of two teenage girls, I am extremely concerned about this kind of advertising which can demean people, particularly women, and make them ashamed of their bodies. It is high time it came to an end, Khan said. The mayor added, Nobody should feel pressurised, while they travel on the Tube or bus, into unrealistic expectations surrounding their bodies and I want to send a clear message to the advertising industry about this. Khan was not clear in what would determine which ads would be banned, as it doesnt include all images of people in underwear or swimming clothes. Most underwear and bikini models though can be assumed to have non-average bodies. Posted on 06/14/2016, 1:10 pm, by mySteinbach Ted Falk, Member of Parliament for Provencher, is reminding organizations in Provencher that the Canada 150 Community Infrastructure Program (CIP 150) deadline is June 22, 2016 at 3pm. CIP 150 is part of Canada 150 Celebrates, the Government of Canadas celebration of our countrys 150th anniversary of Confederation. Budget 2016 provided an additional $150 million over two years to Canadas Regional Development Agencies to deliver further community funding across the country, starting in 2016-17, with Western Economic Diversification Canada (WD) being responsible for administering the program in Western Canada. Canadas 150th anniversary of Confederation in 2017 is set to be an exceptional year for Canadians and their country, said Falk. I would like to encourage local organizations to submit their online applications for improvements to their community infrastructure. The Government of Canada will invest in projects that seek to renovate, expand and improve existing community infrastructure. WD, on behalf of the Government of Canada, is delivering this second call for proposals under CIP 150 in Western Canada beginning May 24th, 2016. Applications must be submitted by June 22nd, 2016 at 3pm CST. More information and an online Application Form for Canada 150 Community Infrastructure Program can be found online. I worked in the casinos in Mississippi in the 1990's in Tunica, Mississippi, which is about thirty miles south of Memphis. At the time Mississippi opened up first in the country, after obviously Nevada and New Jersey. At one time it was the third largest "gaming" destination in the United States, with one hotel, the Gold Strike being the tallest tower in the entire state. Now, most states have casino gambling because big government has pissed away all the money and just taxing people to death is just not that acceptable. Lots of casinos went under. I worked at Harrah's who wanted to be the McDonalds of casinos. Basically had the first casino, and made a shitload of money. Other casinos came in. One was called Southern Belle, a huge, gigantic property, sort of a Costco but with gambling (the biggest *** casino I have ever been in was Venetian in Macau. That was industrial scale gambling. Imagine if they turned the Pentagon into a gambling joint, you get the picture.) Off the subject. Harrah's sold the property to another company called the Isle Of Capri (known as the Isle of Crappy). Isle of Crappy lasted less than a year. It died. Southern Belle died, and Harrah's took the joint over, and remodeled it and had a few years. Had some ridiculous Mardi Gras theme, dressed us employees like clowns and paid us **** (not to mention bringing in the United Way to shake minimum wage employees down for "charity" so ****** Harrah's can get a tax write off). Then a casino company called Grand Casinos built this huge *** property with a golf course, skeet range, kids arcade (to keep the kids busy while the parents piss away their college fund). How many millions dumped in that place. After about two years, Grand bellied up. Harrah's bought that place. Made it go a few years, and then Harrah's stopped making money there and pulled out. No one else wanted this huge property after that and last year in 2015, the whole structure was torn down after only 20 years with a loss of about a thousand employees. My favorite casino was a place called Treasure Bay. The place actually looked like a real pirate ship. Again, lasted about a year or two. Died. That joint was doing so ****** they were doing $1 Blackjack and 25 cents Craps (I love craps) Some of their problems was location. People did not want to drive the extra miles after driving thirty or forty miles, and there is little incentive to go the extra mile. ------------------ To make a long story short, a casino is like any other business and has to compete like any other business. I don't know the official term, but casinos are limited businesses, which means that all the casinos were just alike, except for the wallpaper. All casinos have a Steak House, a (usually ******) buffet, an Asian restaurant, a snack bar, and a lounge with mostly crap music. All of them had these stupid membership cards that basically helped the casino "track play". Every time someone played money, we asked them "Do you have your 'Gold Card'?" What a joke. In the end, even Harrah's Corporation wasn't doing the deal and was sold to Caesars Entertainment in a fire sale. I can see even more shrinkage in Tunica in the future. Hollywood casino is a dump, so is Players Casino who took over the Southern Belle/Harrah's property. My understanding about Atlantic City (never been there or New Jersey) is that the casinos did almost nothing to rebuild AC into something and the casinos lived and died off the New York City junkets. Then Foxwoods in Connecticut opened, and now there are casinos basically a hundred or less miles from almost anywhere in America. Why go to crime ridden Atlantic City? I have not read to deeply about Trump and the casinos, but he made his money, and when they stopped making money, he pulled out. Look at all the dead Walmart stores which became obsolete in lieu of "SuperCenters" same thing. Closing a casino due to lack of business is very common. Just because you own a casino doesn't make it an automatic moneymaker. Just a rich corporation making money off the backs of minimum wage employees, and when the spread sheet goes south, put the employees out of work and tear the building down, or sell it to the next sucker for a song with their dreams of "turning it around" with penny slots. Ok. For the record, I like casinos. I will gamble a little bit, of course I want to make money, but it is more of playing a difficult game and a challenge. Some of these places, one can blow $2-300 bucks and maybe get a voucher or two to one of the restaurants, or maybe a show or even a free basic room. The bars work off of tips for the bartender. But gamblers are fools. My wife gambles and i want to kick her yellow *** for doing it (she is Chinese, a society of addicted gambler idiots). But casinos are not gold mines. By Sarah Hamaker NACS Ideas 2 Go shares innovative ideasboth big and smallfrom convenience retailers across the country. In addition to NACS Magazine articles, since 1994, the Ideas 2 Go video program has featured hundreds of interviews with retailers from nearly every state and five countries. To watch these retailers in action, visit nacsonline.com/ideas2go. Detroit convenience stores like Bazzi Oil & Gas have a new weapon in the fight against crime, thanks to Project Green Light Detroit, a partnership between community groups, the Detroit Police Department (DPD) and city officials. The initiative blends real-time crime fighting with community policing to improve neighborhood safety and promote revitalization and growth of local businesses, as well as strengthen police efforts in crime solving. Keeping our stores secure for customers and employees has always been a priority for our business, said Fadel Bazzi, owner and operator of Bazzi Oil & Gas, a premier Citgo Petroleum Marketer in the metro Detroit area. By being part of Project Green Light Detroit, we hope to not only further ensure the safety and well-being of local community members, but also make a positive impact here in our hometown. Joining the Program With eight locations throughout the city, Bazzi has always had a close relationship with city police. Since I had these interactions regularly with the DPD, when the mayors office started talking about how to make gas stations and convenience stores safer, I was part of that discussion, he said. Bazzi and nine other gas station owners gathered with city officials and the DPD to develop what eventually became Project Green Light Detroit. We met three or four times to put the pieces together to have an effective collaboration between the city, DPD and businesses, he said. Project Green Light Detroit launched its pilot program in January with 10 businesses, including a Bazzi Oil & Gas store. For the test, I picked a location near a major intersection but not one that had a problem with crime, Bazzi said, adding that he wanted to support the community and police by participating in the pilot program. To be part of the program, businesses must purchase and install specific high-definition indoor and outdoor cameras, as well as upgrade to a high-speed Internet connection over which to send real-time video feeds to the police. We already had a 16-camera security system in place that we kept, Bazzi said. For Project Green Light Detroit, we added four additional cameras. The new equipment cost him $6,000. The initiative also requests that businesses post Project Green Light Detroit signage, such as metal flag signs under station canopies, decals on doors and physical green lights above price signs. Gas stations also have to improve lighting both inside and outside their stores, which Bazzi had already done when he converted to LED lights at most of his stores. We now have extra bright lighting out- side our stations, which I see as a major deterrent to crime, he said. Real-Time Accountability The police department has staff devoted to effectively receive, monitor and analyze video feeds from Project Green Light Detroit partners. The project also aims to strengthen the local ties between participating gas stations, DPD precinct captains, DPD neighborhood police officers and community leaders and organizations. The system kicks into gear when a station employee or customer calls 911 to report a potential crime. The call center alerts the DPD, which has someone monitoring the video feed, Bazzi explained. Then the officer can help determine what type of response is necessary. He added that the higher-quality video also helps police investigate any incidents. Bazzi stressed that while Project Green Light Detroit is a collaborative effort that will likely bear fruit in reducing overall crime at convenience stores, he also is not slacking off on basic security measures at his stores. We have zero tolerance for loitering at our stores and have found that alone cuts crime in half, he said. Other security measures include clean stores and trained personnel. So far, Bazzi has been pleased with customer reaction to the signs touting his participation in Project Green Light Detroit. They are thanking us for making things safer and appreciate the extra effort weve taken, he said. For us, its been worth the investment. So far, Bazzi has been pleased with customer reaction to the signs touting his participation in Project Green Light Detroit. They are thanking us for making things safer and appreciate the extra effort weve taken, he said. For us, its been worth the investment. Now that the initial testing phase has ended, the program is open to any city business. Bazzi plans to add perhaps a location a year to the Project Green Light Detroit. Its a good community effort and a good way to collaborate with the police department on keeping our city safer, he said. Sarah Hamaker is a freelance writer and NACS Daily and NACS Magazine contributor based in Fairfax, Virginia. Visit her online at www.sarahhamaker.com. By Lambert Strether of Corrente. I added a few updates Theres too much happening! Lambert TPP/TTIP/TISA Its no secret that the agriculture community is one of the biggest supporters of the languishing Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, and today it gets a high-profile opportunity to try to build some momentum for the pact courtesy of a hearing set by House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Dave Reichert [Politico]. Cracks are finally emerging in the grossly imbalanced, plurilateral talks on a Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) being pursued by 23 countries, after the European Union and several other members voiced concern about the overall quality of the latest revised offers and the exclusion of Mode 4, maritime transport, and sub-federal categories among other sectors, [according to] several trade envoys [Bilaterals.org]. 2016 Policy Gun Debate on Hill Unchanged by Orlando Killings [RealClearPolitics]. Until Democrats stop taking money from private equity firms that own gun manufacturers (Cerberus owns Remington) and stop using the State Department to make arms deals for them, all this is mere virtue signalling. Shouting on the House floor? Dear Lord. CLINTON: And I will make sure our law enforcement and intelligence professionals have all the resources they need to get the job done [Hillary Clinton on Orlando (transcript), Time]. There speaks the candidate of the credentialed 10%, eh? Because, over the last fifteen years, the cars on the gravy train for these our professionals havent been full to the brim. And because they have such a great track record. Clinton breaks from Obama, calls Orlando attack radical Islamism' [Politco]. Radical Islam is a shibboleth that conservatives have been demanding that liberals pronounce. And Clinton did. So, apparently, conservatives can pull her right. And yet, were also constantly told that Sanders pulled her left. Hmm. UPDATE The near-certain Democratic candidate, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has reacted more soundly. Her comments on the Orlando shooting have been strong but temperate. She decried the attacks, but did so without making America look more hateful or without stirring up more hate as Trump did [David Rothkopf, Foreign Policy]. But as we have seen, Clinton, not Trump, advocates airstrikes on Syria, and accelerated ground force. How is that temperate, given the known reality of blowback? UPDATE Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton Call for Bombing ISIS After Orlando Shooting That ISIS Didnt Direct [The Intercept]. Based on current evidence, the Intercept is wrong. First, in his major policy speech, Trump didnt call for airstrikes or accelerated ground forces in Syria. In hers, Clinton did. Second, heres the quote the Intercept uses to support its headline: Were going to have to start thinking about something. Granted, Trumps rhetoric is bellicose. But Clintons rhetoric is both bellicose and, as is her wont, complete with concrete plans for action. I prefer jaw jaw to war war, thank you very much. Orlando Mass Shooting What if Donald Trump is exactly what people want after the Orlando shooting? [Chris Cilizza, WaPo]. Just as his campaign appeared to have lost momentum in late 2015, the terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif., happened in rapid succession. Most pols reactions were to offer sympathy and support for the dead and wounded while insisting that good will always be stronger than evil in our world. Trump? He proposed a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States. That plan was greeted by the political world with reactions ranging from eye-rolling to outrage. Politically speaking, however, it worked. Trump experienced a surge in the polls that he never relinquished. Cilizza then goes on to question whether people really want empathy from their political leaders. Its a good question, and one that was only answered by FDR with his fireside chats, but only partly. The other part? The concrete material benefits delivered to the suffering by the New Deal. I dont see either todays chats or concrete material benefits on offer from either presumptive Presidential candidate, but absent that, Trumps Our nation stands together in solidarity with the members of Orlandos LGBT Community will have to do; Cilizza seems not to have read Trumps speech. Corruption Cigna-Anthem Deal: Connecticut Gov. Malloy Signs Secrecy Bill That Could Shield Insurance Information From Public Release [International Business Times]. Malloy is co-chair of the Democrat platform committee. And Medicare for All isnt on the table. Coincidence? You be the judge. Senate and House Democrats surprising strategy to win the Senate: Be boring [Politico]. Let me translate: DSCC prepares to throw another election. Politico goes on: [Democrats are] intentionally playing it safe and boring, figuring their elections will mostly be a referendum on Trump and that animosity toward the real estate magnate will put them over the top in key swing states Most Democratic candidates are hewing to their talking points this year with almost robotic discipline. Questions about their partys own struggles are answered with platitudes about their problem-solving acumen and their opponents affinity for Trump, the Koch brothers or GOP leaders. Politico relies on Napoleons maxim: Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake. If the Democrats had a Napoleon, that might make sense. Id proffer a domestic alternative: You cant beat something with nothing. The Voters UPDATE Most Americans dont view Hillary Clintons presidential nomination as historic [Vox]. Overall, far fewer people appear to think its a big deal that a woman was nominated for president than you might expect. After Clinton became the presumptive nominee last week, the media widely referred to her nomination as historic. Even Clintons harshest critics in the press seemed to buy that shared premise. (A good example via Fox News: Hillarys historic nomination isnt a victory for women, its a betrayal.). So the political class is out of touch. Film at 11. But for whatever reason perhaps a long and drawn-out primary fight, hyperpolarization in American life, or general dislike of Hillary Clinton Americans just arent feeling the historic nature of the #ImWithHer movement. The Trail One key backer says Bernie wont give [the Sanders mailing] list to Clinton. He doesnt want to hand it over to Wall Street, said RoseAnn DeMoro, executive director of National Nurses United [BuzzFeed]. That speaks well of Sanders. Bernie has run a populist campaign and the campaign is not over, RoseAnn DeMoro, the executive director of National Nurses United, told BuzzFeed News. The campaigns in its nascent stages, really. Hes sitting on the greatest populist list in the history of this country. And he wants to use it for populist reasons. Knowing how the Democratic nomenklatura works Hi, Neera! [waves] theyd probably cross-reference the list with their employees, and Well, they wouldnt fire them. Theyd have conversation. About opportunities. Elsewhere. Hey, kidding! (Though I couldnt help but notice that this Shadowproof link was at the top of Bing search results, but buried in Google results, which were full of dupes. UPDATE Sanders To Address Supporters Via Video Live Stream Thursday [Talking Points Memo]. He will speak directly to supporters about how the revolution continues, campaign spokesman Michael Briggs said in an email to TPM. UPDATE Whats next for Bernie Sanders? [The Hill]. All the sourcing is Beltway pundits and Clinton supporters, but nothing at all from the Sanders campaign, not even a leak. UPDATE The campaigns top brass says that Sanders wants reassurances from Clinton [at their meeting later today] that she will not inch back to the center-right during the general election [ABC]. Irony is not dead. UPDATE And [Sanders is] convinced that if she ever released the transcripts of her speeches to the financial industry, she would put herself in the same big league as Joe DiMaggio when he was fronting for the Bowery Savings Bank. On camera the Yankee Clipper as pitchman asked: Is there anyone who couldnt use a bundle of cash?' [Counterpunch]. No duh! UPDATE This is a thing: Bernie Sanders Dank Meme Stash [Facebook]. Clinton, Warren, and the Vice Presidency [Robert Kuttner, HuffPo]. Warren will get the nod if and only if Clinton decides that Warren will make a major difference in November. Would Warren take the job? Yes. Kuttner doesnt give a source for that. But hes plugged into the Democrat nomenklatura. Trial balloon? The Obama administration starts work to save Clinton [Ed Rogers, WaPo]. Rogers is a member of the Republican nomenklatur, so this is foreshadowing on both Clintons privatized server and the Clinton Foundation: There is certainly more to come. It will be interesting to see just how bold the actions of the Clintons and their agents in the administration become as we get closer and closer to November and whether the media will eventually sit up and take notice. UPDATE Volatility voters theory makes the mainstream [Yahoo Finance]. As [James] Surowiecki sees it, the danger is, for those people who really support Trump, when they hear hes risky, you dont know what hes going to d they say well thats better than what weve been living through for the past eight years.' Exhibit A: Case-Deaton mortality figures. From there, go to labor force participation. Then go outside and look at your crumbling infrastructure. Clinton Email Hairball UPDATE Russian government hackers broke into DNC servers, stole Trump oppo [Politico]. But hackers didnt break into Clintons privatized, homebrew server, the one in the basement of her home. Alrighty then. Stats Watch NFIB Small Business Optimism Index, May 2016: The small business optimism index rose 0.2 points in May to 93.8, slightly extending Aprils 1 point bounce back from 2-year lows but remaining well below the 42-year average of 98 [Econoday]. And: The Index of Small Business Optimism rose two tenths of a point in May to 93.8, a negligible increase showing no real enthusiasm for making capital outlays, increasing inventories, or expanding [Econintersect]. Retail Sales, May 2016: Consumer spending proved to be the biggest surprise of April and is at least a pleasant surprise in May. Retail sales rose a very solid and better-than-expected 0.5 percent with strength evident, though to a less degree than in April, through the balance of the report [Econoday]. Consumer spending proved to be the biggest surprise of April and is at least a pleasant surprise in May. Retail sales rose a very solid and better-than-expected 0.5 percent with strength evident, though to a less degree than in April, through the balance of the report. The strength in the report is centered once again in nonstore retailers where sales, reflecting big gains for ecommerce, rose 1.3 percent on top of the prior months 2.5 percent surge. Year-on-year, nonstore retailers lead the way with at 12.2 percent pace. Restaurants, a key discretionary category, continue to show strength with an 8 tenths gain on the month and a year-on-year rate of 6.5 percent. Strength is definitely the theme of this report, one that ultimately reflects strength in the labor market and which is pointing squarely to another strong month for total consumer spending in May. However: Retail sales improved according to US Census headline data. Our view of this months data is significantly more negative, There was a decline in the rolling averages [Econintersect]. Business Inventories, April 2016: The strength of April now includes business inventories where strong sales limited the build to only 0.1 percent [Econoday]. Shipping: Although more than half of those surveyed have never used same-day shipping, a growing number say offers of free shipping greatly impact their ordering decisions. Over half of shoppers said they browse products online based on the available shipping methods, the survey said [Wall Street Journal, Online Shoppers Want Delivery Faster, Cheaper, Survey Shows]. The survey results underscore the big and growing role that shipping holds in the competition for e-commerce, a factor that is pressuring margins for retailers as they cope with the high cost of delivering goods to homes in a timely manner. Shipping: The Federal Aviation Administration proposed a $350,000 fine on the e-commerce giant for allegedly shipping prohibited hazardous goods by air, [Wall Street Journal]. [T]he FAA also says it was one of two dozen incidents in recent years involving Amazon, suggesting a history of violating hazardous materials regulations. With Amazon investing in air operations and its delivery networks likely to get more complicated, the company will be under greater pressure to get its fulfillment workers trained in handling dangerous goods. I can think of other ways for Amazon to seek that goal than treating its workers better. Shipping: In its website posting, the FAA alleges that on October 15, 2014, Amazon offered to United Parcel Service (UPS) a package containing a one-gallon container of Amazing! LIQUID FIRE, which the US aviation regulator describes as a corrosive drain cleaner for transportation by air from Louisville, Kentucky, to Boulder, Colorado [Air Cargo News]. In its statement the FAA said: While being transported, some of the Liquid Fire leaked through the fiberboard box. Nine UPS employees who came into contact with the box reported feeling a burning sensation and were treated with a chemical wash In its statement, the FAA said that Amazon has a history of violating the Hazardous Materials Regulations. From February 2013 to September 2015 alone, Amazon was found to have violated the Hazardous Materials Regulations 24 other times. As Amazon builds up its own freighter fleet, leaking Amazing! LIQUID FIRE isnt a good look Shipping: Third annual National Forklift Safety Day slated for June 14. Thats today! [DC Velocity]. Washington-based ITA represents manufacturers of lift trucks, tow tractors, rough-terrain vehicles, hand-pallet trucks, and automated guided vehicles in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. The organization promotes international standards development, advances engineering and safety practices, disseminates statistical information, and holds industry forums. So when is National Forklift Driver Day? In the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Shipping: Baltic beckons back break-away brokers [Splash247]. The Baltic Exchange says it will engage with the newly formed panellist group Competitive Ship Brokers Limited (CSBL), comprised of some panellists opposed to the Baltics proposed acquisition by the Singapore Exchange. ETFs: Handy chart of changes in ETF gold holdings, 20052016 [ETF.com]. Honey for the Bears: Fear has once again gripped markets with peripheral spreads melting down. As I noted at this hour yesterday I follow Italy and Spain in the 10 year sector versus US to gauge sentiment. By that metric markets are less than festive this morning. Last Thursday morning I had clocked 10 year Spain versus US at 29 basis points (Spain rich to US). That traded at 15 basis points at this time yesterday and rests at 5 basis points today. There has been a similar move in Italy. Last Thursday that spread as 40 basis points and yesterday it sat at 28 basis points. This morning that spread is 16 basis points. [Across the Curve]. Todays Fear & Greed Index: 48, Neutral (previous close: 55, Neutral) [CNN]. One week ago: 81 (Extreme Greed). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Jun 14 at 12:17pm. Another big drop, and a transition to neutral territory from greed. Class Warfare The typical American couple has only $5,000 saved for retirement [MarketWatch]. In other words, the typical American is one high medical deductible away from total reliance on Social Security. And if you dont think a Grand Bargain to cut Social Security isnt still on the table in the Beltway, then you dont understand the power of the FIRE sector. News of the Wired UPDATE A panel of federal judges upheld the governments net-neutrality rules Tuesday, handing a major victory to the Obama administration in its efforts to step up oversight of cable and telephone companies that provide broadband service. [Wall Street Journal, FCCs Net-Neutrality Rules Upheld by Appeals Court]. Heres the text of the decision. UPDATE This 2015 classic from Matt Stoller: So heres what I think the net neutrality fight means. First, it is the reemergence of populist politics into the industrial sector [Naked Capitalism]. Second, the entities who emerged in this populist movement included a whole host of small businesses, internet businesses that have become attuned to power and the need for democratic processes to place checks on authoritarian threats that come from private monopolies. Right on both counts, and applicable to the insurgent campaigns on left and right. Behold the new name of OS X: macOS. And because this is a new version of OS X/macOS, too and Apple decided to stick with its California names this new versions full name is macOS Sierra [TechCrunch]. Ive used Macs for hours a day for many years. And every upgrade of OS X since iOS UI idioms started creeping into it has been slightly worse; making my workflow slightly less efficient, making my machine slightly less stable, violating stable Human Interface Guidelines in favor of random cuteness, and in general treating my desktop, dedicated to productivity, as if it were a swipe-friendly consumption device like my (two, thank you very much) iPads. So this name change fills me with fear. * * * Readers, feel free to contact me with (a) links, and even better (b) sources I should curate regularly, and (c) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi are deemed to be honorary plants! See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) here. And heres todays plant (AEW): The sun came out today! Its 60F! Readers, I got a ton of pictures from you all! Thank you so much. * * * Readers, Water Cooler will not exist without your regular support. Your tip will be welcome today, and indeed any day. If you enjoy what youre reading, please use the dropdown to choose your contribution, and then click the hat! Originally published at Tax Justice Network As weve often said before, it is counterproductive (and an analytical error) to see the fight against tax havens in purely geographical terms. When the U.S. Justice Department started taking action against Swiss bankers, this was not a battle between Switzerland and the United States: it was a battle pitting wealthy, unaccountable elites against their own societies, which just happened to be played out on this particular U.S-Swiss terrain just as it is played out on many other terrains, day after day. Indeed, the U.S. has been fairly successful against the Swiss because it targeted Swiss banks, rather than Switzerland: the latter (geographical) approach would have been far less successful and would have resulted in the Swiss coming together in a defensive huddle to defend against Big Bully USA. For those keen on tackling tax havens, this is an important insight. Anyway, this context is important if we want to understand Luxembourgs latest gambit, apparently to support the cause of Tax Haven USA, which is continuing to emerge as a secrecy jurisdiction of extreme concern. More recently, Switzerland seems to be following Luxembourg and also collaborating with the U.S. secrecy machine. Why would these mucky European tax havens want to support an apparent competitor on secrecy? Whats happening now is an extremely worrying development, and the OECD needs to summon the courage to step in with an outbreak of honesty and urgently. This is about the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), the OECDs system for multilateral automatic information exchange of banking information, which will start operation for some countries next year, with more to follow in 2018. (As we recently noted, the CRS is one of a couple or more of global schemes and concepts that are needed, to crack down on financial crimes and abuses.) Now one thing that we have repeatedly stressed is that the United States is not a participating jurisdiction in the CRS. Basically, the bilateral Intergovernmental Agreements or IGAs with which the U.S. is supposed in theory to be hooking up with the CRS, are vague promises but not firm commitments to exchange information, and even then it rests on appallingly lax requirements, as our Loophole USA blog explains.) But in March, Luxembourg published a Reglement grand-ducal (or regulation) in which it classified the United States as a participating jurisdiction (and if you want to get really detailed, this helps explain some terms like NCD in the Luxembourg text.) Not to be outdone, as reported on the Best of Both Worlds site, Switzerland followed suit, also recognising the United States as a participating jurisdiction. So what is this all about? Well, under the CRS, it is not just banks and insurance companies that have to report the relevant banking information; it is also Investment Entities which means trusts, foundations, and certain kinds of companies. Lets take the example of a U.S.-based investment entity, beneficially owned by a wealthy Spanish taxpayer, which maintains accounts with a Luxembourg insurance company or a Swiss bank. The CRS rules state that if the investment entity is in a non-participating jurisdiction (that is, not participating in the CRS), then the Swiss or Luxembourg financial institution is required to look through the entity and identify its true beneficial owner(s). That Spanish taxpayer will have those accounts reported to the Spanish tax authorities under automatic exchange of information. But if now, by the stroke of a pen, Luxembourg and Switzerland have decreed (however erroneously) that the United States is a participating jurisdiction, then that requirement to look through the US-based investment entity to its controlling person is waived. So those Spanish assets will remain secret to the Spanish tax authorities. KPMG give a slightly wonkish interpretation confirming this: In order to prevent a circumvention of the AEoI, the CRS nonetheless foresees that the banks maintaining the accounts treat Investment Entities in Non-Participating Jurisdictions as Passive NFEs and therefore must report the relevant Controlling Persons. According to the Article 1 of the AEoI Ordinance, Participating Jurisdictions for this purpose are deemed to be not only the countries with which Switzerland has concluded AEoI agreements, but also all of the about 100 countries which have agreed to implement AEoI, as well as the USA. Therefore, a Swiss bank, which, for instance, keeps accounts for an Investment Entity domiciled in the USA but where the Controlling Person is resident in Germany, does not have to report this person under AEoI to Germany, even though the USA does not implement the AEoI and under FATCA only transmits limited data. All this clearly helps U.S. financial institutions willing to play the tax evasion game; and their privileged access to the U.S. secrecy machine also gives Luxembourg and Swiss financial institutions a competitive advantage over financial institutions in other jurisdictions, whose governments may have taken a more societally responsible stance and do not officially pretend that the United States isnt a gigantic tax haven. So, once again, dont get blinded by geography: we have a conspiracy here by Swiss, U.S. and Luxembourg financial institutions, against whole societies elsewhere. Tax Haven USA is one thing. Aiding and abetting the ensuing crimes are likely to prove very lucrative for the Swiss, Luxembourgish and doubtless other financial players who get into this game at great cost to societies around the world. Switzerland and Luxembourg have long been claiming that their murky and secretive financial sectors have been cleaned up. Here is yet more evidence that these leopards have hardly changed their spots. Read our long reports on how Switzerland and Luxembourg became secrecy jurisdictions. Endnote 1: the Swiss pretence is even more egregious than Luxembourgs, because Switzerland has signed a Model 2 IGA with the United States and under these models, information exchange is a one-way street: from Switzerland to the U.S., but not in the other direction. Endnote 2: Theres a very easy way to stop all this nonsense. The OECD can simply state that the United States is not a participating jurisdiction in the CRS. Which it demonstrably isnt. Will the OECD summon up the political derring-do to do the decent thing? Yves here. The idea of Russia releasing Clinton e-mails obtained by hacking into her server, whether directly or through proxies, would be a very aggressive move if it could be attributed to them (as opposed to a non-state actor). It amounts to a foreign power interfering in US elections (not that we dont do that, witness Obama telling British citizens why they should vote for Remain). The Wikipedia listing on the think tank that published this story is thin, but the organization does appear to have been around for a long time. Russia would not have gone public with this threat (notice the article describes it as messaging) unless it preferred the US to handle laffaire Clinton through conventional channels. But with Obama having endorsed Clinton, he has now committed himself to not indicting Clinton, and probably not indicting any of her aides (certainly not key ones like Abedin). So we will see in due course if Russia follows through on its saber-rattling. Given its history, Wikileaks would seem to be the logical outlet, and Assange has recently said more Clinton e-mails are coming. If the leaks are made and are as damaging as you would expect, the Republicans would go nuts. If Clinton is somehow elected despite that, she would be an incredibly weak President. The Republicans almost certainly will retain control of the House and having the real dirt on what was on her server and what foreign governments almost certainly saw means they would be looking for any thin grounds for impeaching her. By Defense and Foreign Affairs, a geopolitical news publication offered by the International Strategic Studies Association. Cross posted from OilPrice Reliable intelligence sources in the West have indicated that warnings had been received that the Russian Government could in the near future release the text of email messages intercepted from U.S. Presidential candidate Hillary Clintons private e-mail server from the time she was U.S. Secretary of State. The release would, the messaging indicated, prove that Secretary Clinton had, in fact, laid open U.S. secrets to foreign interception by putting highly-classified Government reports onto a private server in violation of U.S. law, and that, as suspected, the server had been targeted and hacked by foreign intelligence services. The reports indicated that the decision as to whether to reveal the intercepts would be made by Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin, and it was possible that the release would, if made, be through a third party, such as Wikileaks. The apparent message from Moscow, through the intelligence community, seemed to indicate frustration with the pace of the official U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the so-called server scandal, which seemed to offer prima facie evidence that U.S. law had been violated by Mrs Clintons decision to use a private server through which to conduct official and often highly-secret communications during her time as Secretary of State. U.S. sources indicated that the extensive Deptartment of Justice probe was more focused on the possibility that the private server was used to protect messaging in which Secretary Clinton allegedly discussed quid pro quo transactions with private donors to the Clinton Foundation in exchange for influence on U.S. policy. The Russian possession of the intercepts, however, was designed also to show that, apart from violating U.S. law in the fundamental handling of classified documents (which Sec. Clinton had alleged was no worse than the mishandling of a few documents by CIA Director David Petraeus or Clintons National Security Advisor Sandy Berger), the traffic included highly-classified materials which had their classification headers stripped. Russian (and other) sources had indicated frustration with the pace of the Justice Dept. probe, and its avoidance of the national security aspects of intelligence handling. This meant that the topic would be suppressed by the U.S. Barack Obama Administration so that it would not be a factor in the current U.S. Presidential election campaign, in which President Obama had endorsed Mrs Clinton. Moscows discreet messaging about a possible leak of the traffic, in time to impact the U.S. elections, was designed to pressure faster U.S. legal action on the matter, but was largely due to Russian concerns about possible U.S. strategic policy in the event of a Hillary Clinton presidency. Apart from the breach of U.S. Federal law in the handling of classified material, the Clinton private server was, according to GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs analysts, always likely to have been a primary target for foreign cyber warfare interception operations, particularly those of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC), Russia, and North Korea (DPRK), but probably also by others, including Iran. Her experience sort of blows. She was an unethical lawyer who nwas fired from one of her first jobs at the Watergate hearings, then went on to her unethical layering in Arkansas, and honestly has only gotten as far as she had becuase of her husband. She became Senator of a State she never lived in, and everyone knew that this was a stepping stone to the White House, did not really do anything of note there except to vote Yes on America's invasion of Iraq. Her record as Secretary of State speaks for itself. She allows and defends her husband for all the cheating, molesting and basically sexually assault women with her knowledge. The Clinton Foundation. This lady has more skeletons in her closet than a Paris cemetary. Trump is almost as awful. Almost but still awful. Researchers simulate wear of materials as they rub together (Nanowerk News) Forty years ago, MIT emeritus professor of mechanical engineering Ernest Rabinowicz calculated that 6 percent of the annual U.S. gross domestic product was lost through mechanical wear. His assertion gained enough traction that it became known as the Rabinowicz Law. Even so, the mechanism by which mechanical wear happens is one of the least understood areas of mechanics, said Derek Warner, associate professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Given that dollar figure 6 percent of todays GDP equals about $1 trillion the ability to predict the behavior of tribological systems (tribology is the science of interacting surfaces in relative motion) as they degrade would benefit numerous industries and disciplines. And Warner, along with researchers from the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland, (EPFL) have proposed a way of doing just that. An illustration of two different types of adhesive wear - asperity smoothing and fracture, dependent on the length of the microscopic nubs, or asperities - caused when two surfaces rub against one another. They have put forth a unified framework for simulating adhesive wear between materials with comparable hardness. The key factor is the size of the junctions between colliding asperities microscopic nubs on what appear to be smooth surfaces and their behavior when they exceed a certain critical size. The groups paper, Critical length scale controls adhesive wear mechanisms was published June 6 in Nature Communications. Warner heads the Cornell Fracture Group, which conducts research aimed at understanding and predicting the deformation and failure of materials and structures. Work on this paper started in 2013, when Warner was in Switzerland on sabbatical leave and worked in the Computational Solid Mechanics Laboratory of Jean-Francois Molinari at the EPFL. Research scientist Ramin Aghababaei, lead author of the paper, conducts atomistic modeling of wear from rough surfaces sliding against one another. During his time in Switzerland, Warner hypothesized that an approach he used to model crack growth in more realistic environments could also be very useful for modeling wear. In previous models, surfaces continually smoothed until they eventually bonded together, Warner said. And thats not what happens if I rub two pieces of copper together, or any similar material; you can continue to rub them. So there was a big disconnect there. The difference, Warner said, was due to the pureness of the materials and environment, combined with a difference in the length scale of the surface roughness, in previous models. Accordingly, the group devised a method capable of predicting adhesive wear in both regimes. They created a two-dimensional model, with adjustable surface and bulk properties, which can be studied and linked to the macroscopic behavior of real materials. The group performed numerous simulations with different geometrical configurations between materials. Admittedly, the paper states, their simulation setup simplified many of the complexities of real tribological systems. The groups modeling is the first to predict the formation of sustained adhesive wear debris at the nanometer scale. The results now explain why only a small fraction of colliding surface asperities form wear debris, Aghababaei said. Future work will focus on trends in adhesive wear and the mechanisms responsible for those trends. Discovery of gold nanocluster 'double' hints at other shape changing particles (Nanowerk News) Chemically the same, graphite and diamonds are as physically distinct as two minerals can be, one opaque and soft, the other translucent and hard. What makes them unique is their differing arrangement of carbon atoms. Polymorphs, or materials with the same composition but different structures, are common in bulk materials, and now a new study in Nature Communications (doi: 10.1038/ncomms11859 ) confirms they exist in nanomaterials, too. Researchers describe two unique structures for the iconic gold nanocluster Au 144 (SR) 60 , better known as Gold-144, including a version never seen before. Their discovery gives engineers a new material to explore, along with the possibility of finding other polymorphic nanoparticles. Setting out to confirm the predicted structure of Gold-144, researchers discovered an entirely unexpected atomic arrangement (right). The two structures, described in detail for the first time, each have 144 gold atoms, but are uniquely shaped, suggesting they also behave differently. (Image: Kirsten rnsbjerg Jensen) "This took four years to unravel," said Simon Billinge, a physics professor at Columbia Engineering and a member of the Data Science Institute. "We weren't expecting the clusters to take on more than one atomic arrangement. But this discovery gives us more handles to turn when trying to design clusters with new and useful properties." Gold has been used in coins and jewelry for thousands of years for its durability, but shrink it to a size 10,000 times smaller than a human hair, and it becomes wildly unstable and unpredictable. At the nanoscale, gold likes to split apart other particles and molecules, making it a useful material for purifying water, imaging and killing tumors, and making solar panels more efficient, among other applications. Though a variety of nanogold particles and molecules have been made in the lab, very few have had their secret atomic arrangement revealed. But recently, new technologies are bringing these miniscule structures into focus. Under one approach, high-energy x-ray beams are fired at a sample of nanoparticles. Advanced data analytics are used to interpret the x-ray scattering data and infer the sample's structure, which is key to understanding how strong, reactive or durable the particles might be. Billinge and his lab have pioneered a method, the atomic Pair Distribution Function (PDF) analysis, for interpreting this scattering data. To test the PDF method, Billinge asked chemists at the Colorado State University to make tiny samples of Gold-144, a molecule-sized nanogold cluster first isolated in 1995. Its structure had been theoretically predicted in 2009, and though never confirmed, Gold-144 has found numerous applications, including in tissue-imaging. Hoping the test would confirm Gold-144's structure, they analyzed the clusters at the European Synchrotron Radiation Source in Grenoble, and used the PDF method to infer their structure. To their surprise, they found an angular core, and not the sphere-like icosahedral core predicted. When they made a new sample and tried the experiment again, this time using synchrotrons at Brookhaven and Argonne national laboratories, the structure came back spherical. "We didn't understand what was going on, but digging deeper, we realized we had a polymorph," said study coauthor Kirsten Jensen, formerly a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia, now a chemistry professor at the University of Copenhagen. Further experiments confirmed the cluster had two versions, sometimes found together, each with a unique structure indicating they behave differently. The researchers are still unsure if Gold-144 can switch from one version to the other or, what exactly, differentiates the two forms. A physicist with a joint position at Columbia University's School of Engineering and Applied Science and Brookhaven, Billinge gives us a tour of his workflow at NSLS-II. To make their discovery, the researchers solved what physicists call the nanostructure inverse problem. How can the structure of a tiny nanoparticle in a sample be inferred from an x-ray signal that has been averaged over millions of particles, each with different orientations? "The signal is noisy and highly degraded," said Billinge. "It's the equivalent of trying to recognize if the bird in the tree is a robin or a cardinal, but the image in your binoculars is too blurry and distorted to tell." "Our results demonstrate the power of PDF analysis to reveal the structure of very tiny particles," added study coauthor Christopher Ackerson, a chemistry professor at Colorado State. "I've been trying, off and on, for more than 10 years to get the single-crystal x-ray structure of Gold-144. The presence of polymorphs helps to explain why this molecule has been so resistant to traditional methods." The PDF approach is one of several rival methods being developed to bring nanoparticle structure into focus. Now that it has proven itself, it could help speed up the work of describing other nanostructures. The eventual goal is to design nanoparticles by their desired properties, rather than through trial and error, by understanding how form and function relate. Databases of known and predicted structures could make it possible to design new materials with a few clicks of a mouse. The study is a first step. Virus nanocapsules to treat infections (Nanowerk News) Scientists at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB) and the Catalan Institute for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2) have developed a nanoencapsulation system with a liposome coating in order to increase the efficacy of bacteriophages in oral phage therapy (Applied and Environmental Microbiology, "Liposome-Encapsulated Bacteriophages for Enhanced Oral Phage Therapy Against Salmonella"). The research demonstrated that a liposome nanoencapsulation provides the bacteriophage with greater resistance to stomach acids and increases residence time in the intestinal tract of model broiler chickens in simulated poultry farming conditions. The technology developed could be applied to bacteriophages with different morphologies to be used in phage therapy, in both animals and humans. Confocal microscope image of liposome nanocapsules containing bacteriophages. (Image: UAB) The efficacy of encapsulated bacteriophages has been tested with animals treated with specific bacteriophages to fight against the zoonotic bacteria Salmonella. The results demonstrated a significant reduction in the concentration of Salmonella in the intestinal tract and prolonged effects when the treatment was administered using encapsulated bacteriophages, in comparison to the effects of nonencapsulated phages. Oral phage therapy has demonstrated to be a feasible and effective tool in the control of infections caused by different bacterial pathogens. In previous studies, the UAB Molecular Microbiology Group had published the isolation and characterisation of three virulent bacteriophages (UAB_Phi20, UAB_Phi78, and UAB_Phi87) specific to Salmonella, and demonstrated their efficacy in the reduction of the concentration of this zoonotic bacteria in models of specific pathogen-free (SPF) White Leghorn chickens, and in several experimentally contaminated food matrices. Nevertheless, in this research two limitations were observed in the use of orally administered bacteriophages: the reduced stability of the phages in extremely acid environments, such as the stomach, and short residence time in the intestinal tract. To overcome these limitations, researchers developed a nanoencapsulation system using liposome capsules and applied them to the three aforementioned virulent bacteriophages in order to compare the effects of liposome-encapsulated phages and nonencapsulated phages on the concentration of Salmonella in model broiler chickens experimentally contaminated with the bacteria. The experiment was conducted at the UAB Farms and Experimental Fields Services, with all the conditions of a real poultry farm. Thanks to the study, nanometric capsules were developed, with an average diameter of 320 nm and a positive charge of 33mV. The nanocapsules containing the bacteriophages were observed using a cryo-electron microscope (Cryo-TEM) and confocal microscope. Researchers observed how the liposome coating allowed the encapsulated bacteriophages to be significantly more stable in the gastric fluids. The coating also significantly improved the time the bacteriophages stayed inside the intestinal tract of the chickens. After 72 hours encapsulated bacteriophages were detected in 38.1% of animals, while only 9.5% of animals showed signs of still containing the nonencapsulated bacteriophages. In oral therapy experiments, once the treatment was suspended, the protection provided by nonencapsulated bacteriophages disappeared, while the encapsulated ones were effective for at least another week. The methodology developed allows encapsulating bacteriophages of different sizes and morphologies, demonstrates the advantages of using encapsulated bacteriophages for oral phage therapy and, moreover, the nanometric size allows adding it to potable water and fodder. Nanoprobe enables measurement of protein dynamics in living cells (Nanowerk News) A team of researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the Rowland Institute at Harvard University have used a specialized nanoprobe developed by the Harvard/Rowland investigators to directly measure levels of key proteins within living, cultured cells. As described in the journal Nano Letters ("Direct Tracking of Amyloid and Tu Dynamics in Neuroblastoma Cells Using Nanoplasmonic Fiber Tip Probes"), the investigators used the device to track levels of the Alzheimer's-disease-associated proteins amyloid-beta (A-beta) and tau in neurons and other cells exposed to an anesthetic known to produce Alzheimer's-like changes in the brains of mice. Their results support the view that the generation of A-beta is among the first steps leading to the characteristic neurodegeneration of Alzheimer's disease. The 50-nanometer tip of this nanoplasmonic fiber tip probe allows direct measurement of protein levels in living single cells. (Image: Qimin Quan, Ph.D., Rowland Institute, Harvard University) "To study the dynamics of A-beta and tau, we needed a way to trigger the expression of both proteins and a tool to track dynamic changes of protein expression," says lead author Feng Liang, PhD, a research fellow at the Rowland Institute. In 2008, some of the MGH members of the current team showed that the anesthetic isoflurane induced characteristic changes seen in Alzheimer's disease - including activation of cell-death enzymes and generation of A-beta - in cultured cells and in mouse brains. In 2014, the Harvard/Rowland researchers demonstrated the ability of their nanodevice to detect levels of intracellular proteins in living, cultured cells. The current study merges both of these accomplishments to investigate a key question regarding the mechanism of Alzheimer's disease - whether generation of A-beta precedes or follows the generation of the abnormal form of tau that characterizes the disease. The tip of the device developed by the Harvard/Rowland investigators is around 50 nanometers (billionths of a meter) across, about 200 times smaller than a single cell. An integrated gold nanorod serves as the biosensor for what is called surface plasmon resonance - an oscillation of electrons in response to a light signal that can generate an optical readout reflecting protein binding signals. Antibodies targeting specific proteins can be integrated into the probe to give specific measurements of protein levels. The team first demonstrated that it was possible to use the nanoplasmonic fiber tip probe (nFTP) to quantify protein levels in individual cells without affecting their vitality and viability. Using the nFTP device the investigators then tracked the changing levels of A-beta and the Alzheimer's-associated form of tau, which is characterized by excess phosphate molecules, in cultured cells that had been treated with isoflurane. The readings indicated that the increase in A-beta expression preceded the rise in phosphorylated tau levels by several hours. The team then showed that, while blocking A-beta expression reduced tau levels, blocking tau did not prevent the initial rise in A-beta. However, without phosphorylated tau expression, A-beta levels eventually began to drop, suggesting a sequence in which A-beta generation stimulates tau phosphorylation, which promotes further generation of A-beta. "We have brought the traditional immunoassay into living cells with exquisite sensitivity," says Qimin Quan, PhD, a junior fellow at the Rowland Institute and co-corresponding author of the Nano Letters report. "The device is still limited in its ability to measure a large number of single cells, requiring further improvement. But its high-sensitivity, label-free and single-cell capability make it a unique tool for diagnosing clinically obtained limited samples." SHARE James E. Wright. Wright has 15 years of experience working with organizations to attract diverse talent while maximizing engagement and contribution. (Courtesy Hodges University) By June Fletcher of the Naples Daily News No one knows what was going through Omar Mateen's mind when he decided to open fire at a gay nightclub in Orlando early Sunday morning. Which is why people should refrain from jumping to conclusions that the massacre was inspired by his Muslim religion, his Afghani heritage or other cultural factors, said Gail Williams, chief diversity officer at Hodges University. Noting that other mass shooters have come from a variety of backgrounds, she said that the one common factor is that anyone who kills strangers is obviously mentally unstable. And that unfortunate condition can afflict anyone of any race, religion or gender. "We're quick to put on labels," she said, adding that what's needed in the aftermath of frightening events like these is not blame but extra sensitivity and a commitment to come to a deeper understanding of what triggers such anti-social behavior. "He could have felt excluded. Who knows?" she said. "It's a great possibility." For Williams the best weapon against such behavior in the future isn't fear and a gun, but rather education and empathy that can "break down cultural silos." To help bridge these cultural divides, she created Hodges' first diversity community initiative, which will begin at 5 p.m. July 22 and run from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. July 23 in the John White community room on the Naples campus. The business-focused conference will include workshops, role playing, panel discussions and group activities. For instance, attendees will learn how to deal with a co-worker who makes hate-filled remarks, and how to report such activities to authorities without fear of recrimination. Business owners will learn that it's their responsibility to provide a workplace where everyone can feel safe and have a voice. "If you don't, productivity goes down, your products will be inferior, and you won't be able to compete because your employees will not be bringing their best," she said. Keynote speaker is James E. Wright, a Los Angeles-based diversity and inclusion strategist who has developed strategies for increasing diversity for NBCUniversal, Time Warner, Pepco Holdings and Verizon. In a phone call. Wright said that in the aftermath of the Orlando shootings, people tend to become more introspective about how they think about ethnicity and race, and to make an effort to become better acquainted with people who do not look, worship, recreate or act the same way they do. He also advocated showing zero tolerance for hate-based jokes and comments, saying, "These biases get passed down for generations." America has passed the right laws to make sure everyone is protected from discrimination, he said, but not enough has been done to change people's hearts and minds to be more inclusive. "We need to think less about 'How do I change everyone else?' and more about 'How do I change me,' " he said. "We have a lot of work to do." Cost for the conference is $50 for Hodges alumni and $100 for nonalumni. Hodges employees and students may attend for free. While the event is open to the public, professional participants such as mental health counselors, social workers, therapists and human relations managers can earn six continuing education credits through Genesis Counseling of Fort Myers. The Naples Depot Museum is pictured on Tuesday, Feb. 23. The museum is housed in Naples' restored Seaboard Air Line Railway passenger station. Patrick Riley/Staff SHARE By Laura Layden of the Naples Daily News Plans to move the Naples Visitor Information Center into an old baggage car at the historic Naples Depot are chugging along. On Tuesday, Collier County commissioners approved an agreement between the county and Southwest Heritage Inc., owners of the Naples Depot, to remodel the railroad car so it can house the visitor center. Under the agreement, the county could spend up to $200,000 on improvements to the car, which is sitting idle at the railroad museum in downtown Naples. The car hasn't been used for anything in years. The money for the renovation would come from a promotional fund supported by the county's tourist tax. The county charges a 4 percent tax on overnight stays at hotels and other vacation rentals, which pays for tourism marketing and beach projects and supports local museums and events. The project will include an entrance ramp that's compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, air conditioning, flooring, wall covering and other "historically significant" improvements, said Jack Wert, Collier County's tourism director. "It's not very big. It's only a couple hundred square feet," he said of the car. The Tourist Development Council, which advises the county on tourism issues, unanimously recommended in favor of the project. The visitor center is in the offices of the Greater Naples Chamber of Commerce at 2390 U.S. 41 N. after moving from its more high profile spot on Fifth Avenue South in downtown Naples last year. The chamber operates the center with one full-time employee and an army of nearly 80 volunteers. The new location is preferred for several reasons. "First of all it's very close to where the previous visitor center was on Fifth Avenue. So people are used to going in that area to find visitor information," Wert said. Also, he said, the depot is a visitor draw and it's likely to become an even bigger one with the transformation of a former railroad dining car there into a restaurant. The Naples Depot, Naples' first passenger train station, harks back to the Roaring '20s, the heyday of passenger rail travel. At 1051 Fifth Ave. S., the museum, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, shows the importance that railroads played in Southwest Florida's discovery and development. The chamber will sublease the baggage car from the county, which leases it from Southwest Heritage, a nonprofit group that acquired the property to ensure its survival in the 1970s. Before the renovation can begin, the county will ask for bids, then hire a contractor after getting the county commission's approval of the best proposal. The hope is to move full steam ahead on the project so the new visitor center can open by the next busy season, which traditionally runs from November to April. "We sure would like to do that," Wert said. "It's going to be a struggle to do that, but we want to do it as quickly as we can." Michael Dalby, the Naples chamber's president and CEO, said the visitor center has been a longtime partnership between his group and the county. The center serves an important role, he said. "It's a great service to our tourism and hospitality businesses and to all the visitors who come here," Dalby said. "You can get a lot of information over the internet, but people still like to be able to talk to somebody and ask them about different locations, different experiences and different activities." The chamber helps fund the center through its membership. The visitor center's new location will make it more accessible and much easier to find, Dalby said. Improvements, he said, will be done in a way that protects the historical nature of the railroad car and in keeping with the museum's historical feel. "It will be kind of a unique attraction in and of itself in Naples," Dalby said. SHARE By June Fletcher of the Naples Daily News Canadian builder Mattamy Homes has acquired a 37.5 acre site in East Naples for $8.7 million. The site at 4580 Bayshore Drive will be turned into "product that Mattamy Homes has targeted for the site," said Ron Zeigler, of SVN Florida Commercial Real Estate Advisors, who represented Mattamy. The sale included a $2.27 million impact-fee credit and possible density bonus. It was not sold on site-plan approval, and plans have not been finalized, Zeigler added. Notes from a pre-application meeting of the builder with Collier County's Growth Management Department show that 276 units are proposed in six-unit multifamily buildings. Two-story units are planned, with an option of constructing three-story buildings. Cars would enter along Bayshore Drive. For the plans to go forward, the site will need to be rezoned to a planned unit development and evaluated for wetlands, native vegetation, eagles' nests and gopher tortoise burrows. Now vacant, the site once was the home of the 200-unit Bayshore Club Apartments, which was torn down in 2010. A mixed-use project called Arboretum Village was planned for the site but was never built. Mark Strain, the county' chief hearing examiner and chairman of the planning commission, said it was "too early to tell" if the multistory plans will be compatible with the neighborhood. But Jean Jordon, operations manager of the Bayshore/Gateway Triangle Community Redevelopment Agency, said, "We liked what they're proposing." Before Mattamy's acquisition of the site on June 7 from an affiliate of Los Angeles-based private equity fund Colony Capital, "a lot of contracts fell through on the site," Jordon said. "The board thought it would be a good fit and a good improvement for the area," she said. Mattamy also has another development in the works, Compass Landing at 3725 Helmsman Drive in Naples, which will have West Indian-style single-family homes ranging from 2,000 to 3,700 square feet. Rheinmetall unveilled today the Lynx, its latest tracked combat vehicle at the Eurosatory defense exhibition in Paris. The new vehicle is one of two models developed by the German company, positioned as an independently developped, tracked combat system aimed primarily to compete in export markets. Rheinmetall already offers a similar Armored Fighting Vehicles (AFV)- the Puma, developed and produced in partnership with its main local competitor/partner Krauss Maffai Wegman (kmw). KMW now joined forces with the french prime Nexter one of Rheinmetalls main rivals in the international arena. While the Puma is designed to address the specific (and uncompromised) requirements of the German Army, the Lynx is designed as a more flexible and affordable platform, availabe in two hull sizes. One is designed as the Puma, to carry six ad eight infantrymen while the other is longer and adaptable to internatoinal standards. The variant unveiled today at Eurosatory is the Kettenfahrzeug (tracked vehice in German) KF31 that can carry a squad of six, along with three crew members. The longer variant designated KF41 can carry eight soldiers. Both are equipped with the Lance turret system, an off the shelf Rheinmetall product, mounting a 30/35mm cannon with firing anti-tank and high-explosive airburst ammunition, providing the crew with firepower, effective up to a distance of 3,000 meters, even on the move. The manned turret also has a coax 7.62 machine-gun fitted with a unique barrel replacement system that can sustain continuous firing over extended period, by replacing the machine gun barrels on demand. This innovative system enables the crew to continue fighting under armor without exiting the protected vehicle to replace barrels. The optronic systems consist of off-the-shelf Stabilized, EO Sight System (SEOSS) from Rheinmetall, which consiss of TV/IR optical system integrated with laser rangefinder and fire control computer. The system combines a gunner sight module with an independent, panoramic commanders sight. Laser warning sensors and acoustic sniper detection systems provide effective warning from battlefield threats, while rapid countermeasures dispensers provide instant smoke coverage masking the vehicle from potential threats. The protection system defends the Lynx from various threats, including ballistic, RPG and mine or IED blast. Spall liner is emplaced inside the vehicle, reducing vulnerability to ballistic or chemical attack. The company also offers the use of hul-mounted active defense systems (ADS), improving the vechicles survivability againt RPGs and other tandem, High-Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT) attack. The Lynx can also be equipped with another remotely operated weapon attached to the commanders independent, panoramic sight, providing the commander with the option to engage targets in sight independently of the gunners aiming. (in what company officials call killer-killer capability an evolution of traditional hunter-killer function of standard independent commanders sights. The turret also mounts a launcher with two Spike multi-purpose guided missiles, for long range engagements. Lynx is designed with its rear area reserved for mission equipment and carrying space for an infantry squad. This means that the engine is positioned in the front of the vehicle. Nevertheless, tIt is fitted with a wide access ramp for rapid access and dismounting. Two hatches are provided for infantrymen to be able to secre the vehicles rear area. The engine exhaust is channelled backwards, diluted with colder air to reduce the vehicles thermal signature. The acoustic signature of the diesel engine is also reduced to levels considerably lower than standard AFVs. SHARE Credit President Barack Obama for finally using the words he has desperately tried to avoid during his presidency. He correctly called the mass shooting in an Orlando gay nightclub Sunday morning, which killed 49 and injured 53, "an act of terror." It was, writes The New York Times, the "deadliest attack on a gay target in the nation's history." Discredit to the president for avoiding linking the attack to the Islamic State group and Islamic terrorism, even though the shooter, Omar Mateen, reportedly called 911 during the rampage and "pledged loyalty to the Islamic State." Jihadists everywhere quickly celebrated the carnage on the internet and, reports israelnationalnews.com, "... the al-Amaq agency which functions as ISIS's propaganda and media wing claimed that 'the attack ... was carried out by an Islamic State fighter.'" The president used the tragedy to make another pitch for stronger gun laws. Does he believe that someone who claims to be on a mission from Allah would not be able to obtain guns and explosives illegally? Mateen had been on the FBI's radar in 2013 and 2014, but reports The Daily Beast, the FBI "subsequently closed the case when it produced nothing that appeared to warrant further investigation." NBC News learned that Mateen traveled twice to Saudi Arabia in 2011 and 2012 "to perform a pilgrimage to Mecca," according to a spokesman for Saudi Arabia's Ministry of the Interior. Once again, we are reactive rather than proactive. The pattern following these terrorist attacks is now familiar. First comes extreme caution in which we say very little and refuse even to speculate about what seems obvious, followed, after the fact, as in the Fort Hood shooting, which was dubbed "workplace violence," by an attempt to quickly change the subject. Next comes the obligatory news conference in which a quickly produced imam or "expert," speaking for the Muslim community, is trotted out to say that the latest incident has nothing to do with Islam, which is a peaceful religion, and that we should all embrace unity. Mateen's father, Seddique Mateen, initially claimed there was no religious motivation behind the killings, but The Washington Post reported the father "is an Afghan man who holds strong political views, including support for the Afghan Taliban." Muhammad Musri joined law enforcement officers at the news conference in Orlando. He is connected to the Islamic Society of Central Florida, which is connected to the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), an Islamic umbrella organization that some believe has ties to terrorist groups. Musri's mosque was even used for a fundraiser that collected $55,000 for Hamas. There is also a 2011 video of Musri in which he blames the United States for 9/11. People like Mateen are not so much "lone wolves" as "known wolves." But before law enforcement can legally act, it's often too late. In wartime, certain liberties have been suspended in order to protect the country. This may be one of those times. Or should we wait until our enemies obtain a weapon of mass destruction? Congress should declare war on all terrorist groups. Websites that promote ideologies that encourage terrorist acts should be shut down. No more mosques should be built in the U.S. until we gain an upper hand against radical Islamists. It does no good to say most Muslims are peaceful if you have no mechanism in place to act against or even identify those who are not. On "American Idol," Randy Jackson would often say of a contestant that he or she was "in it to win it." We don't appear to be in it, but our enemies are. Semifinalists from the "13 and under" age category pose with judges following the Miromar Has Talent preliminary competition June 11. These 10 will compete again June 18, with finals scheduled for June 25 at Miromar Outlets. Laura Gates/Banner Correspondent SHARE Seven-year-old Christine Wu, the youngest Miromar Has Talent competitor, gets support from her mom, Cassandra Camp, after a bout of stage fright. Laura Gates/Banner Correspondent Eight-year-old Haley Piper strikes a pose to close out her dance number during the preliminary competition of Miromar Has Talent. She and other semifinalists will compete again June 18, with finals scheduled for June 25. Laura Gates/Banner Correspondent Morgan Boucher, 10, performs a dance during the Miromar Has Talent preliminaries June 11. She and nine others in her age group advance to semifinals June 18. Laura Gates/Banner Correspondent Ten-year-old Alex Cameron wowed the judges with his patriotic violin performance at the Miromar Has Talent preliminaries June 11. He and other semifinalists will compete again June 18, with finals scheduled for June 25. Laura Gates/Banner Correspondent By Laura Gates, Banner Correspondent Seven-year-old Christine Wu stood at the microphone, bashfully wringing the hem of her striped, cotton dress. She mustered the courage to whisper her name and mistakenly stated her age as 6, forgetting her most recent birthday. It was her turn to take the stage in the Miromar Has Talent preliminary competition. Although she's a songbird at home, Wu stood frozen in front of the judges and spectators gathered in an unoccupied space at Miromar Outlets outfitted with a portable stage and sound system. "She sings constantly in the car," said her grandma, Sheryl Camp. Wu has performed with the children's choir at church, but this was her first solo attempt. In the end, Wu's mom, Cassandra Camp, joined her on stage for moral support, as the petite girl finally smiled and sang a math version of Taylor Swift's "Shake it Off," which she learned at school to help students learn double digit addition. "It was a little scary at first, but I knew I could do it," said a relieved Wu, the talent competition's youngest participant. Although Wu did not advance to semifinals, the judges applauded her courage and encouraged her to keep singing. Others competing in Miromar's annual talent search were more seasoned performers who showed no signs of jitters. Fort Myers brothers Alex and Sean Cameron wowed the judges on violin. The two sometimes perform with their dad, Doug Cameron, who is a professional contemporary violinist. "Both boys picked up a violin as soon as they could hold one," said their mom, Juliette. Alex and Sean were lured to Miromar's competition by the potential opportunity to perform live at the outlet mall's 17th Annual Have a Blast Fireworks Show on July 2. The grand prize winner also will receive a $500 gift card to Miromar Outlets. The talent search is divided into two age categories: Under 13 and 14- to 20-year-olds. Last year's upper division winner, Jhen Watson, returned to defend his title, crooning a soulful version of John Legend's "All of Me." Saturday's competition also included a magician, dancers, vocalists and instrumental musicians of all sorts. "The talent just keeps getting better and better every year," said Jeff Staner, vice president of Miromar Outlets. Carling Witt, who recently graduated from North Fort Myers High, is hoping to find a greater audience for her music. She accompanied herself on acoustic guitar, beautifully singing an original composition titled "Everything that Used to Be." Two performers in the younger age group went patriotic with their music. Alex Cameron played the National Anthem on his shiny blue, contemporary violin, while Max Redder, 12, rocked it on his electric guitar. Both advanced to the semifinals. Haylie Piper, 8, danced her way to the semifinals in a sassy black leather, cutoff jacket and hot pink, lace hip-hop pants. "I want to be in a fireworks show," said the Vineyards Elementary student, who has performed in several competitions, including at Disney. Judge Jefferson Carani complimented Piper's outfit and clearly enjoyed the attitude oozing from her performance. The standout performance of the morning, however, was Alex Cameron's patriotic violin, which the judges asked to hear again as an encore while they tallied scores. "If you know how hard the violin is, he just killed it," said judge Mark Humenik, who plays a myriad of instruments, including the viola, cello, tuba, percussion and guitar. He currently plays electric guitar with local rock band Razing Cape. His eclectic career has included performing with the Naples Philharmonic Orchestra and touring Europe. "I'm the Simon Cowell of the group," Humenik joked of his role on the judges' panel. "I bring a different vibe to the competition." Envy Models & Talent Executive Director Suzi Hosfeld has served as a Miromar Has Talent judge since the competition started four years ago. This year, she brought along Miss Teen Florida Supermodel Jenna Knutson, of Cape Coral, to serve as an honorary judge. "This is a great place to find talent," Hosfeld said of Miromar Has Talent. "We are always looking." Miromar Outlets Special Events Coordinator Christine Nanio commended all of Saturday's contestants. "I think everybody's so brave," she said. "I get nervous going up there just to introduce everyone." Semifinalists will compete again this Saturday in Suite 67 at Miromar Outlets. The Under 13 competition commences at 11 a.m., while older contestants perform at 2 p.m. Finals are scheduled for June 25, at the same place and time. The two age division winners will perform live during Miromar's annual Have a Blast celebration July 2. The outlet mall typically hosts an "Independence Eve" fireworks show, but this year's event was moved up a day to fall on a Saturday, Staner explained. Festivities begin at 6 p.m. with live music by the lake. Guests are encouraged to bring lawn chairs or blankets, but coolers are not permitted. Pinchers is coming to Marco Island. It will be located at 591 Collier Boulevard, previously home to O'Donoghue's Bar and Grill. Owner Grant Phelan said he's excited about the opportunity to expand the business, and that opening a location on the island has always been a dream. Above, from left, are Phil Conway, Jim Blanke, Cam Marstellar, Grant Phelan, Beau Perry, Jimmy Dennis, Todd Borden and Tony Phelan. Submitted SHARE By Lisa Conley Break out the seafood bibs, Marco Island residents, because Pinchers is coming to town. The local seafood restaurant announced its plan to open a Marco Island location last week on social media. It will be located at 591 Collier Boulevard, previously home to O'Donoghue's Bar and Grill. Owner Grant Phelan said he's excited about the opportunity to expand the business, and that opening a location on the island has always been a dream. "When I was 19, I was a breakfast server at the Marriott," Phelan said. "I feel in love with the island and its beauty, so Marco Island has been on my radar ever since we first started Pinchers." Pinchers has several locations throughout southern Florida, but Phelan said he's never considered it a chain because it's always been and always will be a family business. "It's just my mom, my dad and me, so we really are a family-owned business that just happens to have multiple locations," he said. "I hope people are able to appreciate that." Phelan said he plans to add even more locations throughout the state in the future, but right now, all of his attention is focused on the island. "We want to make sure that we're providing great service, great food and great quality because we're so humbled and honored to be a part of this great community," he said. The Marco Island location is scheduled to be open in time for the 2017 season. Shelby Reynolds, shelby.reynolds@naplesnews.com The Naples Zoo's furry new residences a set of twin red-ruffed lemurs will be on exhibit starting Saturday. Named for their red, sideburn-like tufts of hair, the red-ruffed lemurs are considered critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Their numbers are dwindling in the wild due to deforestation, hunting and trapping for pet trade, according to a news release from the zoo. Native to the northeastern deciduous forests of Madagascar, the lemurs are one of the world's 25 most endangered primates. The Naples Zoo supports eco-friendly agriculture instruction, reforestation projects, anti-poaching patrols and other efforts to protect species on Madagascar, the release said. The zoo is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 1590 Goodlette-Frank Road, across from the Coastland Center mall. Admission is $19.95 for adults, $14.95 for children ages 3 to 12, and free for children under 3. Vandals spray-painted buildings, signs and a trailer at Estero High School some time between Wednesday night and Thursday morning. The Lee County Sheriff's Office is investigating. (Special to The News-Press) SHARE By Michael Braun, The News-Press Several people, including at least two white males, are being sought in connection with the vulgar pictures and obscenities spray-painted throughout the campus of Estero High School earlier this month. Between midnight and 4:30 a.m. June 2, several young adults broke into the high school campus on River Ranch Road in south Lee County. They painted vulgar images and messages, including Nazi and swastika symbols, causing more than $1,300 in damage to the school. Most of the damage was on the school's walls and a trailer used by the band. "While these suspects may have thought they were just engaging in end-of-the-school-year pranks, the reality is that they committed a felony crime," said Trish Routte, Crime Stoppers coordinator. The suspects could be charged with burglary and felony criminal mischief. Anyone with information on the identities of the vandals is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 800-780-TIPS (8477). All callers can remain anonymous and will be eligible for a cash reward of up to $1,000. Tips may also be made online at swfl crimestoppers.org or by texting a tip to CRIMES (274637) Keyword: REWARD. Mark Tesoro, Lee Memorial Hospital educator and analyst, speaks to a group of senior citizens at Step Smart Collier's event on June 9 at Iberia Bank. Tesoro spoke about the dangers of falls and how to prevent them. Lisa Conley/Staff SHARE Karin Hargunani, 68, tests her balance at Step Smart Collier's event on June 9 at Iberia Bank. The event focused on teaching senior citizens about the importance of fall prevention. Lisa Conley/Staff By Lisa Conley, lisa.conley@naplesnews.com Every three days, someone in Southwest Florida dies from a fall-related injury. That was one of many shocking facts senior citizens heard at last week's Step Smart Collier event on Marco Island. Step Smart Collier is an organization that strives to educate senior citizens about both the dangers of falls and how they can be prevented. Keith Dameron, chairman of Step Smart Collier and vice president of Iberia Bank, said fall prevention isn't talked about muchbut that it should be. "This is literally a matter of life or death to seniors," Dameron said. "It's a serious issue, so we're doing our best to educate seniors and try to help them live longer and improve their quality of life." Mark Tesoro, Lee Memorial Hospital educator and analyst, was the night's keynote speaker, who said he tries to drive home two points during every lecture: falls are not a normal part of aging and they are preventable. "Every fall has a reason that's either behavioral, environmental or physical," Tesoro said, "so find out why these things are occurring and how you can prevent them from occurring." One common reason why falls occur is because senior citizens lose their balance. At the event participants could take a free balance test to see if they're outside of the normal limits, in which case they should go see their physician, Tesoro said. "Their physician can tell them what to do to improve their balance," he said, "and it's much easier to make those changes before a fall rather than after when the damage is already done." Representatives from Marco Island Fire Rescue were also at the event to provide seniors with more advice about fall prevention, and to urge them to call for a free home fall risk assessment. "I'd rather see people before they fall rather than afterwards in the hospital," Marco Island Fire Rescue member Grady Harrison said. Harrison said Step Smart Collier is an important organization because falls can have more severe consequences than most people think. "Most people are in denial about aging," he said, "or they don't realize just how dangerous a fall can be. They think, 'Oh I'll just scrape a knee,' but falls can actually be deadly." Local author Don Farmer attended the event because he said he does understand the seriousness of falls. "Falls can be a prolonged and ugly death sentence," Farmer said, "and I don't want that to happen to me or anyone else." The average fall death rate in Collier County is 14 percent, which is more than 50 percent higher than the state average, despite the fact that the county only has 5 percent more seniors. "The statistics are just shocking," Dameron said. "This issue certainly isn't unique to Collier County, but it is much worse here." Michael Murphy, Marco Island Fire Rescue chief, said sometimes good intentions such as wives trying to help their husbands who have fallen or neighbors attempting to pick each other up can make the already bad problem even worse. "Just call 911," Murphy said. "Ladies, don't listen to your husbands when they tell you not to call us because this is what we're trained to do and we're here to help." For more information about Step Smart Collier and fall prevention, visit its website at stepsmartcollier.org. SHARE By Liz Freeman of the Naples Daily News Southwest Floridas only trauma center at Lee Memorial Hospital in Fort Myers will move to the more centrally located Gulf Coast Medical Center in Lee County by 2020 under expansion plans, hospital officials said Wednesday. The move is welcomed by Collier Countys Emergency Medical Services because helicopter transports of trauma patients from Collier will be shortened by two to three minutes and that helps save lives, Walter Kopka, EMS chief, said. Minutes are important. If we can shave off any of those minutes, it makes a difference, Kopka said. It is very good news for EMS. The trauma center, which the publicly operated Lee Memorial Health System opened in 1994 at Lee Memorial on Cleveland Avenue, serves more than 1,700 patients from five counties. Trauma patients predominantly are involved in auto accidents with life threatening injuries and require a multi-specialty care team. About 20 percent of the centers trauma patients come from Collier. In addition, cancer care and neuroscience programs at Lee Memorial will move to Gulf Coast, which is located at Daniels and Metro parkways, in Fort Myers. Relocating the three programs is included in the 275-bed expansion of Gulf Coast estimated to cost $315 million. Gulf Coast currently has 349 beds. The design work will take quite a while and the elected board of hospital board has to approve moving the trauma center. Still, moving the trauma center is logical because of Gulf Coasts proximity to Interstate 75 where many auto accidents occur that give rise to traumas, and because the aging Lee Memorial buildings cannot accommodate the mechanical and technology needs of modern-day trauma care, Jim Nathan, president of the hospital, said. The trauma center will be expanded but all of those details, including how many employees will be moved to Gulf Coast, is part of the design process with considerable input from medical staff, he said. The trauma center now has six trauma surgeons. They are going to be at the table to design their workshop of the future, Nathan said of the trauma surgeons. There is no plan to add specialty areas of care in the trauma center or to pursue a level-one trauma designation, which is the domain of university and teaching hospitals, he said. Lee Memorial is now a level two. Nathan said he does not expect any hurdles with the Florida Department of Health, which regulates trauma centers, and there is no certificate-of-need process where competitors can lodge objections. Trauma centers are expensive to operate and Lee Memorials system operated at a loss for years until it had a net gain in 2014 of about $368,000. Kopka, with Collier EMS, and his chief pilot on Wednesday reviewed Gulf Coasts location and air helicopter flights to Gulf Coast should be shorter from any region of Collier, including Immokalee. From Immokalee to Lee Memorial, the distance is 28 miles and 14 minutes and that will go down to 24 miles and 12 minutes to Gulf Coast, Kopka said. As the crow flies (Gulf Coast) is 2 to 3 miles south of Lee Memorial so it is closer, he said. Another plus is that the pilot avoids Page Field air space thats near Lee Memorial, although air ambulances are given life flight priority, Kopka said. It is just one less thing for the pilot to deal with, he said. From Oct. 15, 2014 to July 31, 2015, there were 260 trauma alert patients from Collier to Lee Memorial, Collier records show. The bulk are transported by air and a few go by a ground ambulance, Kopka said. Dr. Robert Tober, medical director of EMS in Collier and a member of the regional trauma services advisory board, said he and other advisory members, most of whom are not in medical fields, have been receiving written correspondence about the planned trauma center move for about six months. A lot of thought went into it, Tober said. Its very good for us. On the other hand, Tober said while it is good for trauma patients in Collier, the move may not be so good for trauma patients in Charlotte County because of added distance. The center also serves trauma patients from Hendry and Glades counties. Physicians Regional Healthcare System in Collier welcomed the news. We believe that Lee Memorials decision to move their level-two trauma center to Gulf Coast Medical Center will benefit Collier County residents by shortening the distance for patients with traumatic injuries to receive care, Marti S. Van Veen, spokeswoman for Physicians Regional Healthcare System, said in a statement. Nathan said the Lee Memorial system has experienced unprecedented volume growth and how medical care is delivered is changing dramatically to more outpatient programs. Lee Memorial hospital will continue operating a full service emergency department, which saw 43,000 visits last year, as well as other medical services with inpatient beds. The plan is to bring more wellness services, outpatient and chronic care management to the Lee Memorial campus. Those plans may include a community clinic for the uninsured and a skilled nursing center. We have a responsibility to care for people of Southwest Florida, so we are responding to these changes in ways that best meet the needs of our communities, Nathan said. We are in the very early stages of planning the Gulf Coast expansion and modifications to the Lee Memorial Hospital campus, and there is a lot left to determine. DAVID ALBERS/STAFF The site of the proposed Jay and Patty Baker Park on the Gordon River in Naples. SHARE By Joseph Cranney of the Naples Daily News The Naples City Council won't ask residents to increase their taxes to help pay for the $16.7 million Baker Park. But tax revenues could still cover nearly all of the park's cost, which Mayor Bill Barnett described as the most expensive taxpayer burden for a project in the city's history. To pay for a nearly $6.5 million shortfall in park funding, the council agreed Monday to pull the money from the roughly $11 million available in the city's rainy-day fund. The council's action means that, including the $3 million purchase of the land, taxpayers could end up paying more than $16 million on Baker Park, even though a previous council voted to cap public spending at $7.5 million. The council seemed to agree the cap was nonbinding and directed City Manager Bill Moss to draft a change to the policy. "That's what it's going to cost to build a complete park," said Barnett, who voted in favor of capping the spending in 2014, but said Monday the city needed to move the project forward. "We made a commitment years ago to the general public, to our community, to all of Naples to build this park," he said. "We've gone through a lot to get to where we are today." The council could have instead asked residents for a property-tax increase to pay for a 20-year bond on the park, but that would have required a referendum, likely delaying the project. With the pay-as-you-go method adopted by the council Monday, Moss estimated construction on the park will begin at the end of next year. Just before the March election, in which three council members were running for mayor, the council approved the park's design even though the plan cost $5 million more than what the council knew it had available in funding. The design for the park, planned along Goodlette-Frank Road at the southern end of the Gordon River Greenway, added $3.1 million in new features, including a $1.2 million cafe building. The council had previously adopted a more-lavish concept for the park in 2014 under then-Mayor John Sorey. Through a fundraising effort spearheaded by Sorey and his wife, Delores, the city collected about $3.8 million in donations for naming rights to expensive park features, including a carousel and a man-made lake. The council ditched many of those features due to concerns about the park's cost and sustainability. The park has been redesigned twice and about $1.1 million in donations have been refunded or have pending refunds. And even though the council, including three newly-elected members, expressed a desire Monday to alert the public to the park's progress, they were still left with a project that, though it's largely funded directly by taxpayers, is among the most expensive in the city's history. "Am I a little disappointed that some people are taking their donations back? Yes," Barnett said. "Was it our fault that it happened? Probably yes." But, he added, "I have really strong feelings about the way to do this." Barnett favored taking the money from the rainy-day fund, which is set up to protect the city against temporary revenue shortages or unanticipated expenses. To lessen that burden, Councilman Doug Finlay wants to transfer $1 million in revenues from the city's redevelopment district. The park, located within the district, will benefit the district's revenues and the district should contribute a capital investment, Finlay said. Councilman Sam Saad, vice-chair of the Community Redevelopment Agency, was opposed to the proposal because it would delay funding for CRA streetscape improvements. The council said it would reconsider CRA funding after its summer recess. Despite her condition Rina is still able to perform search and rescue tasks. Here, Rina finds Brad DeLuca after tracking him down with the aid of a left-behind wristwatch Friday in Golden Gate Estates. DeLuca, as well as Michelle Delaney, right, head up Big Cypress German Shepherd Rescue while training the dogs at Delaney's residence for search and rescue operations. (Luke Franke/Staff) SHARE Rina suffers from degenerative myelopathy, a canine disease that attacks the spinal cord and robs a dog of its mobility over time. Before her diagnosis Rina worked as a search and rescue dog and had obtained certifications from the North American Police Work Dog Association and the National Association for Search and Rescue. (Luke Franke/Staff) Rina, an 11-year-old German shepherd, takes a break from playing with Delaney's other pet German shepherds Friday in Golden Gate Estates. Rina suffers from degenerative myelopathy, a canine disease that attacks the spinal cord and robs a dog of its mobility over time. Before her diagnosis Rina worked as a search and rescue dog and had obtained certifications from the North American Police Work Dog Association and the National Association for Search and Rescue. (Luke Franke/Staff) Rina, an 11-year-old German shepherd, plays tug-of-war with Brad DeLuca after finding him in a mock search and rescue mission Friday in Golden Gate Estates. Rina suffers from degenerative myelopathy, a canine disease that attacks the spinal cord and robs a dog of its mobility over time. Before her diagnosis Rina worked as a search and rescue dog and had obtained certifications from the North American Police Work Dog Association and the National Association for Search and Rescue. (Luke Franke/Staff) North Collier Fire Control and Rescue District Lt. Michelle Delaney smiles while her dog Rina, an 11-year-old German shepherd, rests on her front paws after successfully conducting a search and rescue mission Friday in Golden Gate Estates. Rina suffers from degenerative myelopathy, a canine disease that attacks the spinal cord and robs a dog of its mobility over time. Before her diagnosis Rina worked as a search and rescue dog and had obtained certifications from the North American Police Work Dog Association and the National Association for Search and Rescue. (Luke Franke/Staff) Related Photos Rina, the Search and Rescue dog By Alexi C. Cardona of the Naples Daily News Rina's mission is to find one of her owners, who hides in the woods behind their Golden Gate Estates home. The German shepherd picks up a scent trail from a watch Brad DeLuca, a Collier County Sheriff's Office corporal, dropped in the grass for her to find. Rina walks and sniffs through dirt mounds and grass, dropping her body in front of the watch to signal that she found it. "Good girl, let's go find him," said Michelle Delaney, Rina's other owner and a lieutenant with the North Collier Fire Control and Rescue District. Nose and eyes to the ground, Rina focuses on following the fresh scent trail for about a quarter mile. When she senses she's close, she lifts her head and wags her tail. She found him. In a real search and rescue mission, Rina would be bolting through the woods, following her nose until she finds a missing child or endangered elderly person. Her senses would be so focused on the ground, she might run right into the person she's searching for. "Dogs have different innate abilities," Delaney said. "Some excel at tracking, others at apprehension or protection. Rina is excellent in scent work, so I was able to make her my tracking dog." She has helped with at least 10 searches throughout the state and toured schools and churches for therapeutic and educational sessions. After six years as a working dog, Delaney had to retire her late last year. In October, Rina was diagnosed with degenerative myelopathy, an incurable disease of the spinal cord that robs a dog's mobility over time. The disease degrades the fibers in the spinal cord that send movement signals from the brain to the limbs and sensory signals from the legs to the brain. Delaney first noticed the German shepherd's health issues in the middle of last year. "At home I noticed she started dragging her feet," Delaney said. "I thought her hips were just going, but then her feet started crossing. At that point we realized it was something other than her hips." Rina can barely walk. A wheelchair that holds up her hind limbs helps her get around. Delaney and DeLuca also use a sling to help her move her lower body. Rina uses rugs to glide through the house using her front legs. She doesn't feel any pain. Oral medication, hydrotherapy, massages and other forms of physical therapy help slow the degeneration. Friends Delaney and DeLuca help her stay active. Rina doesn't seem to think anything is wrong with her. During the short search in Delaney's yard, the dog's front legs propelled her while her hind legs dragged behind. With her search and rescue collar and pink leash, she eagerly indulged Delaney in the mock search. Rina did tire easily, though. "It's heartbreaking to see her like this because she doesn't realize she's limited," DeLuca said. "She's the cream of the crop lightning fast, so much will and determination. And she really loves to work." One of Delaney's other working dogs, Acki, helped in the search for Diana Alvarez, the San Carlos Park girl who went missing late last month. "Rina would wait for me to get her ready, too, and she'd cry when I'd leave to go on searches without her," Delaney said. "I'd break down every time I left." Delaney and DeLuca have been working together for about 10 years rescuing and training dogs. They founded a nonprofit called Big Cypress German Shepherd Rescue to rescue and rehabilitate abandoned, abused and disabled German shepherds. They have rehabilitated and placed about a dozen German shepherds since the organization was founded in November. "We've kind of become hostages to our hearts with these dogs," Delaney said. "People have left dogs tied to my fence. We want to do what we can to help and protect them." The organization will host a fundraiser at the Naples Italian American Foundation, 7035 Airport-Pulling Road, at 1 p.m. Saturday. For questions, call 239-206-3647 or email michelle@sk9dog training.com. SHARE Angel Colon, left, a survivor of the Orlando nightclub shooting attends a news conference with nurses and doctors at Orlando Regional Medical Center in Orlando, Florida USA, 14 June 2016. At least 49 people were killed and 53 were injured in a shooting attack in the early hours of 12 June. The shooter, Omar Mateen, 29, a US citizen of Afghan descent, was killed in an exchange of fire with police after taking hostages at the club. ( EPA/JOHN TAGGART) Angel Colon, 26, bottom, a victim in the Pulse night club shooting pauses while talking to the media at the Orlando Regional Medical Center on Tuesday, June 14, 2016. He is surrounded his family. (Andrew West/News-Press) Angel Colon, a victim in the mass shooting at the Pulse night club in Orlando is taken back to his room after speaking to the media at the Orlando Regional Medical Center on Tuesday, June 14, 2016. (Andrew West/News-Press) By Ryan Mills and Maria Perez of the Naples Daily News ORLANDO Trapped inside a bathroom of the Pulse nightclub with gunman Omar Mateen and other hostages, Patience Carter could only hope there would be no more bullets. She watched as bullets hit her and others. She listened as nearby Mateen talked with authorities, pledging solidarity with ISIS. She waited to be rescued. And when she thought she couldn't wait anymore, she prepared herself to die. "I made peace with God within myself," Carter said Tuesday She shared her story Tuesday at Florida Hospital in Orlando, offering reporters her account of the deadly shooting spree that killed 49 people and injured 53 others. Video: Watch the full press conference here. Angel Colon, 26, also shared his story from that night, how unable to walk with gunshot wounds in his leg, he laid still on the floor covered in glass and blood, trying not to draw the shooter's attention. At one point, Mateen went into another room. But he came back. "He was shooting everyone already dead on the floor making sure they're dead. I was able to peek over, and I could just see him shooting at everyone," Colon said during a news conference at Orlando Regional Medical Center. "I look over and he shoots the girl next to me. I'm just there laying down, I'm thinking I'm next. I'm dead." Mateen took aim at Colon. He fired. But instead of shooting him in the head, he shot Colon in the hand and hip. Colon didn't move, hoping the gunman would believe he was dead and move on. Colon and Carter are among dozens of stories of survival now being told in the shooting's aftermath. For Colon, the violence started shortly after he hugged his friends goodbye at about 2 a.m., after last call for drinks. He didn't see Mateen before he was shot, but he heard the sound of gunfire. Colon said he fell to the floor and played dead. The gunfire continued for, maybe 10 minutes, he said. After officers exchanged gunfire with Mateen, an officer approached Colon and looked at him to make sure he was alive. The officer grabbed Colons hand and dragged buhim out of the building, over broken glass scattered across the floor that cut and scraped his legs and back. "I don't feel pain, but I just feel all this blood on me from myself, from other people," Colon said. "He just drops me off across the street and I look over and there's bodies everywhere. We're all in pain." Related stories: For Carter, the gunshots began just as she was preparing to leave the club. She could hear the pops coming from the middle area of the building. Maybe the club was playing the sound of gunshots to encourage people to leave, she thought. But she became afraid, and fell to the floor. She started scooting backward, and without realizing it, she was outside. But she left without her friend, Tiara Parker, 20. So Carter went back inside. Everyone was running toward the bathrooms. "The gunshots were still going off rapidly," she said. "And it's still not real to me." A man closed and locked the stall's door. Carter believes he got shot for that. "The gunman entered the bathroom and he was shooting his machine gun," she said. "So we're all like scrambling around the bathroom, screaming at the top of our lungs." Then, the shots stopped. She realized she had been shot in her right leg. Another friend, 18-year-old Akyra Monet Murray, got shot in her arm. Carter said she wasn't sure, but that may have been when Tiara was shot in her side. For more than two hours, they laid on the bathroom floor. During the time they laid there, they hoped someone would come and save them, she said. They listened as Mateen, who was born in New York to Afghan parents, talked to officers on the phone. "Everybody could hear it, who was in the bathroom, who survived could hear him talking to 911, saying that the reason why he is doing this is because he wants America to stop bombing his country," Carter said. During the phone call, Mateen pledged allegiance to ISIS, she said. After he started to speak in a language that she thinks was Arabic. She said at one point, it sounded like he was communicating with other people involved in the plot, saying the police would come in. "They're gonna attack, but it's OK, we've got the snipers outside," Carter said she heard him say. Officers later told Carter that Mateen may have been talking to himself. Mateen asked the group in the bathroom if there were any black people among them. "You know, I don't have a problem with black people, this is about my country," she said Mateen said. "You guys suffered enough." His gun jammed at one point, Carter said, and she could see as she looked from under the stall that he put his rifle down and tried to fix the handgun. He told people to stop talking and texting on their phones. Carter said the last burst of gunshots came just before police made holes in the wall for them to escape. "He said, 'Hey you,' to someone on the floor inside the bathroom and shot him, shot another person, and then shot another person who happened to be directly behind me, who I'm told through the eyes of Tiara that shielded me with his own body to make sure that I wasn't hit," Carter said. The police told the hostages to move away from the wall. They bust in, told Mateen to put down his weapon and then exchanged gunfire. They killed him. There are other stories of survivors. When Angel Santiago, a 32-year-old consultant, first heard the gunshots, he immediately fell the floor. At first he thought it was a fight, he told reporters at Florida Hospital. But the gunshots kept coming. He ran with others into a bathroom, where people already were hiding in the handicapped stall. "I hid as best as I could underneath the sink," he said. "There wasn't much protection there, but I thought that was better than nothing." He believes that 15 to 20 people hid there "We just continued to hear gunfire, and I remember thinking, 'When is it going to stop?' Because if it was personal, usually that shouldn't last too long," he said. They tried to stay as quiet as possible in the stall, but the gunfire approached. And then the gunman fired against the bathroom stalls. Santiago never saw the shooter, he said, but he looked down to find wounds in his left foot and his right knee. A friend was also bleeding. . He dialed 911, trying to explain to the operator what was happening. "There was a lot of blood. A lot of people were hit," he said. The gunman went into another restroom, he said. They heard more gunfire and more people screaming. After a while, they heard police arriving, chatter on a police radio, and no more gunfire, he said. He wondered if they should try to escape. Santiago left the bathroom, and saw a police officer waving at him. He told the officer there were people in the bathroom, and they had been shot. "After seeing what occurred, I don't even know how I am alive," he said. Gabriela Lopez, 24, was in a bathroom stall when Mateen began firing. She heard a gunshot, and paused. She didn't know what it was. Then, more gunshots, and 15 to 20 people swarmed into her stall. "They went to the floor," she said. "They told me to get down." She escaped when a police officer opened the bathroom door. Scenes from the vigil that was held at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts for the victims and their families of the Pulse Nightclub shooting Monday, June 13, 2016 in Orlando, Fla. (Luke Franke/Staff) Orlando, June 2016: 49 dead, 53 wounded. Virginia Tech, April 2007: 32 dead, 17 wounded. Sandy Hook, December 2012: 26 dead, 1 wounded. San Ysidro, Calif., July 1984: 21 dead, 19 wounded. San Bernardino, Calif., December 2015: 14 dead, 22 wounded. Columbine, April 1999: 13 dead, 24 wounded. This list of six mass shootings in U.S. history is heartbreaking. More concerning is that it's representative, not comprehensive. There have been nearly 50 mass shootings in 30-plus years in the U.S. Many states claim one or two. Before the horrific weekend mass shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida's most recent was in June 1990 when 10 were killed and four wounded at a Jacksonville auto financing office. This is a time for mourning and healing, not just for families, but community and extended community among lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders brought to a sad reality that their life choice is reason enough in someone's mind to take target. Prayers. Sympathy. Flags at half staff. Donate blood. There's not much else Southwest Florida can do across the miles. Not immediately. After a reasonable time for healing, however, there will be. Presidential choice Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump and presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton are reacting. Predictably, they are drawing sides. However, for a significant number of potential voters who regret this is the choice they face, we suggest an alternative. As you watch the Republican National Convention unfold in Cleveland on July 18-21 followed by the Democratic National Convention on July 2528 in Philadelphia, pay attention to where party platforms land on anti-terrorism, domestic security, Second Amendment and human rights issues that are intertwined with the Orlando bloodshed. If you aren't thrilled with the Trump-Clinton choice, align with a party platform closest to where you stand on forcefully responding to nearly 50 mass shootings in 30-plus years, but don't stay away from the polls Nov. 8. U.S., state elections Moreso in Collier than Lee, but in both counties, there will be newcomers in federal and state contests. We need to hear from candidates on what occurred in Orlando and their plans to address nearly 50 mass shootings in 30-plus years. Collier and Lee will choose a new District 19 congressman and help select a Florida U.S. senator. Where do these candidates stand, with particularity, on Second Amendment issues such as background checks and the availability of fully automatic, semi-automatic and handguns? What measures do these candidates support to strengthen anti-terrorism activities and domestic security? In Collier, the state legislative delegation will be overhauled. For state candidates, a key question the Orlando (and other) shooter's background presents: Florida is next to last in per-capita state mental health spending what can be done to address this unacceptable ranking? Open carry Don't be surprised if some point to Orlando as evidence of the benefits of open carry, as was proposed in the last legislative session. Just the opposite. An off-duty officer in any mass gathering is trained to respond as occurred this time, without vigilantes creating confusion by adding to the cacophony of gunfire. First responders Support first-responders in every way reasonable, starting with staffing numbers, equipment and investment of tax dollars in multifaceted training. We can hope tactical gear of the nature needed to break through a wall to free hostages isn't needed here, but shouldn't be considered "toys" to have it at the ready. Know what you should do, as Collier Sheriff Kevin Rambosk outlined in a recent "Run, Hide, Fight" guest commentary in the Daily News. We plan to republish it Thursday. Lastly, understand and appreciate the stressful nature of the jobs done by medical and law enforcement first responders, as well as hospital personnel that can be overwhelmed suddenly with multiple trauma or severe injury cases. The stress level is but another reason we focus on why first responders and medical personnel shouldn't have to commute an hour each way from an affordable place to live to get to and from their jobs in Collier County. Gravina, Smith, Matte & Arnold Marketing and Public Relations has named Angela Bell and Jennifer Hamilton associate partners and welcomed Maryann Grgic as public relations counselor. Bell, who has been with the firm since 2008, has been promoted to associate partner. She has expertise in developing and implementing highly successful strategic public relations and marketing programs for leading corporations and nonprofit organizations. Bell graduated from Florida Gulf Coast University with a bachelors degree in communication. She serves on the board of directors for the Florida Gulf Coast University Alumni Association and Tiger Bay Club of Southwest Florida. Hamilton joins the firm from Hill+Knowlton Strategies, a global public relations agency, where she was an account supervisor in the companys corporate communications practice in Tampa. She has expertise in media relations and thought leadership programs, internal communications and social marketing/behavior change campaigns. She graduated from Florida Gulf Coast University with a bachelors degree in communication. PR News honored her in 2014 as a Rising Star 30 and Under, a recognition awarded to up-and-coming PR leaders across the country. Grgic previously served as community relations and governmental affairs director with Neal Communities, where she oversaw the companys public affairs practice, including community relations programs, public outreach and public policy strategy, media relations and crisis management. She holds a bachelors degree in business administration from Indiana University. The trio joins Kara Hado Minoui, senior public relations counselor, who has managed strategic marketing and public relations programs for the firms clients in various sectors since 2014. Minoui has more than 25 years of experience in publishing, account service, and nonprofit communications and holds a bachelors degree in English from Pennsylvania State University. Laurel Smith, APR, who joined the firm in 1984, is stepping back from account management and day-to-day operation of the firm in late-June and will serve of counsel. Tina McCain Matte, who joined the firm in 1999, becomes the sole managing member of the LLC, overseeing the firms nine full-time staff and numerous contract professionals. Gravina, Smith, Matte & Arnold Marketing and Public Relations was founded in 1983 and specializes in developing long-term, results-oriented marketing and public relations programs for Southwest Floridas leading businesses and organizations. For more information, call 239-275-5758 or visit www.GSMA.pro. Join PAWS Assistance Dogs of Naples in celebrating America and supporting our nations veterans on Saturday, July 9 at its first ever Paws Freedom Celebration Barbecue. PAWS, along with community partners, Post 9/11 Veterans Corp. and the City of Naples Fire-Rescue, will hold the BBQ at the PAWS Center at 3173 Horseshoe Drive, Naples between noon and 3 p.m. The cost is $20 for adults and $5 for children under 12. Admission includes food and a non-alcoholic beverage. Advance reservations are required. Call 239-775-1660 or go to www.pawsassistancedogs.org for reservations. All proceeds will benefit PAWS and Post 9/11 Veterans Corp. There will be a silent auction and raffle. Food will be provided by Naples firefighters who will be holding a chili cook-off featuring their famous Fire House Chili and Texas Tonys. PAWS dogs-in-training as well as dogs who are already placed in their homes with veterans will be on hand at the BBQ. PAWS service dogs will be hard work at this celebration so we ask that you leave your family pets at home. Founded and incorporated in 2012 as a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable organization, PAWS Assistance Dogs, Inc. provides fully-trained and certified service dogs to combat-wounded U.S. military veterans and children with disabilities. Preference is given to those living in Collier County and throughout Southwest Florida. PAWS is proud to say that our dogs are always placed at no cost to those they serve. Since PAWS receives no government funding of any kind, we are dependent on the generous support of organizations, companies and individuals to provide the financial means needed to accomplish our mission. PAWS dogs promote independence and enhance the quality of life for veterans and children. PAWS dogs are also out in the community in several PAWS canine-assisted therapy programs, working with children in local schools and libraries and with women and children at risk at the David Lawrence Center and the Hazelden Addiction Center. To learn more about donating to PAWS or how to apply for a PAWS dog, please visit our website at www.pawsassistancedogs.org. Connie Ramos-Williams, CEO and chief marketing officer of CONRIC PR & Marketing, has announced that the company will host an open house from 4-6 p.m. Thursday, June 30, to celebrate its new office location at 6216 Whiskey Creek Dr., Suite B, Fort Myers. CONRIC, a full-service public relations, marketing, advertising and publishing agency, moved into its new headquarters March 1. A ribbon cutting with the Greater Fort Myers Chamber of Commerce will take place at 4 p.m. followed by networking. Guests of the open house will enjoy an opportunity to mingle with the companys nine-person staff and take a tour of the office, located off of College Parkway and Whiskey Creek Drive in Oak Hammock Office Park. The unique, 2,366-square-foot office features six private office suites, a conference room, large reception area, kitchen and outdoor creative space. Light refreshments will be served. Next year marks the 10th Anniversary for CONRIC PR & Marketing, and our move to a larger, more productive office space is part of our overall strategic plan as we ready ourselves for our tenth year in business, says Ramos-Williams. She adds, The new CONRIC headquarters provides our team of professionals with a larger productive and creative space with room to grow as we continue to expand our client service offerings, update our technology, and introduce new and improved analytic reporting tools to provide our clients with optimal results. CONRIC PR & Marketing was founded in 2007. The award-winning, full-service PR agency provides strategic brand awareness campaigns, integrated public relations programs, marketing development and consulting services, advertising concept and campaigns, media buys, custom and niche publishing, creative writing and design, digital marketing strategies, website development and crisis communications strategy and implementation. The firm serves clients in many industry sectors including banking, legal, medical, government, not-for-profit, restaurant, manufacturing, construction, building and development, real estate, professional association, hospitality and salon & spa. CONRIC is an award-winning agency, winning multiple Image Awards from the Southwest Florida Chapter of the Florida Public Relations Association and Golden Image Awards from its statewide chapter, as well as Charlie Award honors from the Florida Magazine Association. It has also been voted one of the top three PR agencies in Southwest Florida for three years in a row. For more information on CONRIC PR & Marketing, please call 239-690-9840 or visit www.conricpr.com. Collier County School Board candidate John Brunner announced that he has suspended his campaign for the District 2 seat, and is proud to endorse Louise Penta. Brunner and Penta made the official announcement at a press conference held at 2 p.m. today at the Collier County Supervisor of Elections Office at 3750 Enterprise Avenue in Naples. Penta and Brunner both addressed the media and answered questions. Brunner informally announced his decision earlier in the morning in the form of a letter posted on his school board candidate Facebook page. In the letter, Brunner says, Penta is an excellent candidate, who I am proud to support wholeheartedly, and encourage my supporters to do the same. I feel strongly about the need for change, and realize that had I decided to stay in the race, the voices for constructive change on the Collier County School Board would be split between the two of us, lessening the potential for that change. Brunner and Penta platforms are similar on many issues. They both pledge to overturn common core, support a budget assessment and audit, committed to restoring local control and to implementing teacher merit to reward teachers. In a statement Friday, Penta announced that she has raised $56,000 toward her campaign in just two months, far outpacing the fundraising of any other candidate in the race. This is a testament to the confidence Collier County residents have entrusted to her. It means a great deal to me to have Johns support, Penta said of Brunner. I am honored that he has chosen to support me in the race and sees me as someone who is not only like minded, but who has a proven track record. I have the resources and experience to face challenges head on and make difficult decisions on behalf of our students, teachers and parents. For more information about Louise Penta, or to meet Louise Penta in person, join her on Wednesday, June 15, from 6-8 p.m. at the Coalition for Public Education Forum, Collier County Library Headquarters, 2385 Orange Blossom Drive, Naples; Wednesday, June 22, from 4:00-7:00 p.m., at Politics in the Park at St. John the Evangelist Life Center, 625 111th Avenue in Naples or visit her online at LouisePenta.com The Collier County School Board election is a countywide, nonpartisan election, and everyone in Collier County has an opportunity to vote for their candidate of choice from District 2. This will determine the future leadership for education in Collier County. Louise Penta grew up in the Boston area, where she raised her family. A full-time resident of Naples since 1999, she has fully invested herself in the community. Through various events in the last six years alone, she has helped raise more than $7 million to fund education programs. The Womens Foundation of Collier County honored her as a Woman of Initiative in 2016. Pentas personal mentoring of a number of local children has resulted in each advancing to the college level. To learn more about Louise Penta, visit www.louisepenta.com. ALBANY POLICE Burglary arrest 4:30 p.m. Sunday, 1700 block 15th Avenue S.E. A caller reported that she just got home and found someone in her house. Michael Douglas Gosnell, 35, of Waterloo, was arrested on a charge of second-degree burglary. His initial bail was set at $6,000. Cocaine arrest 1:25 p.m. Monday, Linn County Jail. Pedro Garcia-Cervantes, 28, of Corvallis, was arrested on charges of delivery of cocaine, delivery of a controlled substance schedule II, unlawful possession of firearms, driving under the influence of intoxicants and carrying a concealed weapon. Garcia-Cervantes was contacted during a routine traffic stop in the 1700 block of Thurston Street at about 9:10 a.m. on Monday. LINN COUNTY SHERIFF Stolen vehicle arrest 11:05 p.m. Saturday, Linn County Jail. Daniel Raymond Nofziger, 33, of Lebanon, was arrested on a charge of unauthorized use of a vehicle. He allegedly stole an ATV. His initial bail was set at $6,000. LEBANON POLICE Stolen vehicle 9:20 p.m. Saturday, 100 block E. Elmore Street. A primer black 1986 Nissan pickup was reported stolen. The vehicle was last seen the previous night at 10 p.m. Stray arrow 4:45 p.m. Sunday, 100 block S. Sixth Street. A caller reported that an arrow came through her fence. There was no damage. SWEET HOME POLICE Forgery arrest 6:08 p.m. Saturday, Linn County Jail. Jake James Sorrell, 19, of Sweet Home, was arrested on charges of first-degree forgery, identity theft and first-degree theft by deception. He was released from jail without posting bail and scheduled to appear in court on June 29. The axing of the direct Bus Eireann services between Carrick-on-Suir and Dublin will go ahead this month but its proposed that a shuttle bus will connect bus travellers from the town with the Clonmel/Dublin bus services stopping in Grangemockler. The axing of the direct Bus Eireann services between Carrick-on-Suir and Dublin will go ahead this month but its proposed that a shuttle bus will connect bus travellers from the town with the Clonmel/Dublin bus services stopping in Grangemockler. The National Transport Authority (NTA) has written to Carrick-on-Suir Municipal District Council proposing this pilot bus service from Carrick to Grangemockler,which will connect with the amended Bus Eireann Route 7 service and JJ Kavanagh private bus service to Dublin that stop in the village. The shuttle bus will also do return journeys to Carrick. NTA Chief Executive Anne Graham said a direct connection between Carrick-on-Suir and Dublin was not feasible at this time but recommended this pilot bus service to Grangemockler and back to Carrick as the most effective option. She enclosed a timetable for the shuttle bus and its connections with the Dublin bus services. According to the timetable, the shuttle bus will travel from Carrick to Grangemockler eight times a day and make a return journey to Carrick seven times a day from Monday to Friday. When passengers reach Grangemockler they will just have a 10 minute wait to connect with the Dublin bus services. There was a unanimous welcome for the NTAs proposed solution at Carrick-on-Suir MDCs monthly meeting last Thursday where Ms Grahams letter was presented. A deputation from the Council met with NTA chiefs in April and appealed for the retention of the direct bus link between Carrick and Dublin. Arising from this meeting, the NTA proposed that public transport users travel from Carrick to Clonmel by train or bus to connect to the Bus Eireann Route 7 bus for Dublin. Both options would have incurred greater inconvenience, extra cost and a lengthened the journey to Dublin and were criticised as unacceptable at the April meeting of the Council where it was decided to write back to the NTA outlining the local authoritys views. The NTA, in response, issued a letter to the Council on May 18 proposing the pilot shuttle bus to and from Grangemockler as an alternative solution. Council Chairman Eddie OMeara said it was a reasonable solution to their problem and he felt the deputations visit to the NTA had been worthwhile. Carrick-on-Suir Cllr Kieran Bourke (IND) said it was wonderful news and constituents who made representations to him about the loss of the bus services were thrilled when they saw the timetable. He pointed out that this solution looked after the residents of Carrick-on-Suirs Camphill Community who use the Carrick/Dublin service to travel to Callan. He paid tribute to the Councils officials and elected members for their work on this campaign and criticised Fianna Fail Cllrs Siobhan Ambrose and Micheal Anglim for accusing Carrick MDCs members of going on a solo run on this issue at a recent county council meeting. But for us looking after our neck of the woods, we wouldnt have achieved this. I think it was politically immature to interfere with another district, he thundered. Cllr OMeara agreed. I think Carrick-on-Suir MDC runs an efficient outfit. We dont need instruction as to how we run our business from anybody, he declared. Cllr David Dunne (SF) also welcomed the NTAs new proposal and said it looked after the most vulnerable users of the Carrick to Dublin bus services, namely the residents of Camphill. He believed the Council deputation had done a good days work and also paid tribute to the Save Bus No. 7 Campaign for Carrick-on-Suir volunteers who collected a petition, held public meetings and lobbied TDs and Senators on the issue. Cllr Dunne added that he was very disappointed that local Labour Senator Denis Landy didnt get involved in the campaign. Cllr Bourke proposed the District Council write to the NTA accepting its proposal. At Cllr Dunnes request, it was agreed to hold off on sending the letter of acceptance until the Sinn Fein councillor appraised the Save Bus No. 7 for Carrick-on-Suir campaign of the NTAs shuttle bus service proposal. Lenders are suddenly lining up again to make federally guaranteed loans to small businesses for real estate and equipment purchases. The reason? Later this month the Small Business Administration plans to unveil a permanent refinance option to its so-called 504 program that lenders and agency officials say could be a game-changer. "We see 504 refinance as a huge opportunity for lenders like us," said Alex Cohen, the chief executive of Liberty SBF in New York, which expects to originate more than $200 million of loans over the next 12 months thanks largely to the change. Its plan partly relies on financial backing from large financial institutions. Created in 1958, the 504 program provides a fixed-rate, long-term financing option for growth-minded businesses that want to buy commercial property or lease new equipment. Except for a brief span in 2011 and 2012, the program had always been restricted to first-time property buyers. The decision to back refinances was announced by Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet on May 27 and is scheduled to take effect June 24. To accommodate the expected surge in 504 refinance activity, the programs funding authority will double, to $15 billion. By comparison, the SBA's flagship 7(a) program has $26.5 billion in funding authority. Both programs are considered zero-subsidy, which means their credit costs are covered by fees paid by borrowers and lenders. To fund all those new loans, Liberty has raised $75 million from private investors and increased its existing credit facility with Capital One Financial. Liberty has also hired Raymond James to help it raise an additional $100 million, according to Cohen. In the same vein, Fountainhead Commercial Capital in Orlando, Fla., recently raised $23 million in part to take advantage of the 504 refinance option, CEO Chris Hurn said. "We just closed a big capital raise partly because we knew this was coming," Hurn said. "If you look at the historical 504 data, you can see volume dropped precipitously in 2013, after the refinance program expired," said Bob Coleman, author of the Coleman Report, a trade newsletter for small-business bankers. "I fully expect it to ramp back up." Unlike the 7(a) program, where banks originate many of the loans the SBA guarantees, 504 loans are originated through nonprofit certified development corporations. For first-time borrowers, banks are vital partners, since CDCs typically finance just 40% of a credit. Banks or other lenders provide 50%, and the borrower is responsible for the remaining 10%. Banks stand to be significant players in refinance as well. Liberty SBF, for instance, receives the lion's share of its loans via paid referrals from banks. Cohen said he wanted banks to view Liberty as "a secondary option" when they cannot extend credit to a borrower. According to Hurn, 504 refinance may provide banks with an opportunity to "prune" their portfolios by referring clients to CDCs. "If they can do it in a strategic fashion, it's an opportunity to free up bucket space," he said. Like 504 lenders, Ann Marie Mehlum, the SBA's associate administrator, said she is also expecting a meaningful increase in the program's lending volume as a result of the refinance option. "We are expecting additional business," Mehlum said. "We expect there is demand. We've worked hard to get it up and running as quickly as possible." Claire O'Rourke, the vice president for government relations at the National Association of Development Companies, has lobbied hard for 504 refinance. "It's definitely been a top priority, if not the top priority," O'Rourke said. Her boss, NADCO President and CEO Barbara A. Vorhyzek, called the new option 504's "holy grail." Vorhyzek, said she "conservatively" expects the program's lending volume to jump 20% to 30% as a result of the refinance option. In the four years since the refinance option was allowed to sunset, 504 lending activity has languished compared to the more popular 7(a) program. Indeed, while 7(a) appears all but certain to break its volume record for a second consecutive year, 504 is presently on pace to guarantee fewer loans than it did in either 2012 or 2013. "There has been more use of 7(a) for real estate in recent years for a variety of reasons, not all agency-driven," Mehlum said. Congress gave the SBA the power to create a 504 refinance option and to increase the program's funding authority last year, as part of the omnibus spending bill enacted in December. Since then, SBA officials have worked feverishly to translate the legislative grant into a working regulation. "We did it pretty quickly," Mehlum said. "I'm pretty proud of my team." The regulation Contreras-Sweet announced is actually an interim-final draft, which means SBA can still make some last-minute changes. Interested parties can also submit comment letters to the agency until July 27. Coleman said he has noticed few if any hints of dissatisfaction with the new refinance option as it is currently written. "I haven't heard anyone griping," he said. Coleman added that the quickness with which Congress and the SBA moved to reinstate the refinance option surprised him. "People have been calling for this for years, and it never got done," he said. "We're very fortunate small business is a bipartisan love affair," O'Rourke said. "This got done because everyone wanted it to get done." Istanbul, Turkey - September 18, 2015: Apple Iphone 6 screen with social media applications of Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Periscope while a male finger is about to touch on Facebook app. HStocks/Getty Images Social media is an attractive marketing channel for lenders because it gives businesses and their sales staff a way to interact with their customers in an informal manner. But the lines between professional and personal communications can easily get blurred, leading to inadvertent posts and messages that could run afoul of mortgage advertising rules that are increasingly coming into regulators' crosshairs. "It is an advantage and a disadvantage of these platforms that they are so personal," said Steve Garrity, co-founder and chief operating officer at Hearsay Social, which provides archiving and other support services. People use these platforms in everyday life to communicate, because they are informal and authentic. "That's what makes these connections so valuable." When crafting a social media policy, a lender should state whether the company will use social media, and if so, how and why it's going to use it. "What result [does the company] want from their social media engagement? If they are not going to use social media, they need to state that and they need to make it clear to their employees that they don't want their employees using social media in order to promote their products," said Yvonne Kita, a former compliance officer at two mortgage lenders who's currently the compliance manager at GTM Risk Management, a consulting firm based in Philadelphia. Specifically, "the company needs to write down what kind of texting they allow, the type of wording and they also need to write down what they do not allow," said Michael Riedijk, CEO of online archive services provider PageFreezer. After creating the policy, companies then need to train their staff on it. And then they need to monitor for compliance. One way companies look to stay compliant is by creating social media and web page templets for employees' online presence. These templates need to be updated frequently because there continue to be new vehicles for social media interactions, said Ben Olson, a former CFPB attorney who now works at the Washington, D.C., law firm BuckleySandler. Danvers, Mass.-based lender Mortgage Network has a social media policy that was created by its marketing and legal departments. "This policy includes situations in which loan officers must make certain disclosures, such as their licensing numbers, and provides advice on how to deal with negative reviews and internet trolls," said Executive Vice President Brian Koss. It does not provide templates for social media profiles, but branches and loan officers are encouraged to use images of landmarks and iconic places unique to their area offices. Mortgage Network does provide cover images and correctly sized company logos. On employee Facebook pages, Mortgage Network requires loan officers to use their name as it is listed in the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System database and must also use their licensed title as given to them by Mortgage Network. Employees can also state any professional accreditations like certified mortgage planning specialist, as well as if they are a military veteran or hold other designations. In the About section of a loan officer's Facebook page, the individual's NMLS number must appear on the profile, as well as the legal name of the company, which for Mortgage Network can differ based on what state the employee works in. As a result, the employee must display the company logo that matches the licensed legal name of the company. Finally, the licensed office address, telephone number and website need to appear. Cellphone numbers are also permitted, but not required. For example, the cover photo for the Facebook page of Alex Brockway, who recently joined the company and works in Portland, Maine, is a picture of a local harbor. His posts mostly consist of photos of his marketing fliers, although there is a video and news items are posted as well. Mortgage Network also requires a disclosure tab that it calls "House Rules" on all of its loan officers' Facebook page. This tab includes information about Mortgage Network's guidelines, what will not be tolerated on the page, disclaimers to third-party sties, materials ownership and Mortgage Network's legal license disclosure. The disclosure tab is updated yearly or whenever the legal department has changes to the disclosures. At Mortgage Network, loan officers must notify the company if they plan to use social media, and must read and sign the company's policy statement. "We constantly update the policy regularly to account for new social media trends and lending rules," Koss said. The blend between the personal and the professional on social media adds a level of complication to what customer data is allowed to be moved when a loan officer changes companies. That mixture creates less of a bright line than the one that exists when it comes to who controls the information that resides in a customer-relationship management system. What happens in the event of a separation is normally covered in the contractual agreement between the loan officer and the company. Prospective loans and loans in progress are owned by the company, but "the fact you may be talking to somebody about potential business is separate" from that, said Robert Lotstein, an attorney who specializes in mortgage compliance issues. "General communications with people, that's not something you really can control, or need to." In most cases, the loan officer is actually eager to disassociate himself from his former employer. Mike Anderson is a Louisiana loan officer who recently joined Mortgage Financial Services as its southeast regional director. For the first time in his career, he has an employer who encouraged him to have a business social media presence. However, Anderson has not discussed with his new employer what would happen if he were to leave. But because it is a Facebook business page, he believes it would be taken down by the company and he would want the company to take it down. Mortgage Network leaves the physical modifications of a former loan officer's social media site up to the individual, Koss said, primarily because the loan officers control their own passwords to the pages. But as part of its policy, managers are required to document on employee termination forms which social media platforms Mortgage Network needs to examine. "In reality, they usually need a little reminding. Oftentimes we've had to message them to ask them to take pages down or change information. Most of them comply right away, but a few never answer us," Koss said. Because social media mixes personal and professional sides, a company should also look for the reputation risk. Anything posted is out there forever, even if it is deleted, it can still be found, Kita said. And posters should take care to avoid making political and other controversial statements. It goes back to having policies, training and monitoring in place. "Once you find out that an employee is doing something wrong, you need to take action. Use the example to reiterate the policy so everyone knows they can't violate standards without repercussions," Kita said. About 140 students at North Albany Middle School roughly a quarter of the enrollment left early on Monday after an unfounded rumor of a student bringing a gun to school spread through the facility and community. Because of the incident in Orlando, some of the kids were frightened, said Jim Haggart, executive assistant to the superintendent for Greater Albany Public Schools. Many of those children contacted parents and said they wanted to go home. Parents were picking up children around lunchtime, Haggart said. The rumor started when a police officer came to the school to follow up on a case from the previous week, where four students had brought knives to school. A student texted a friend on another campus that the school was in lock-down because someone brought a gun, Haggart said. Lt. Marv Hammersley of the Albany Police Department said that there had been almost like a game of telephone that had been going on since the knives were found on Friday. One student who told another student who told another student, Hammersley said, explaining how the information can change and get exaggerated. Thats not atypical in the schools, where kids text each other and post on Facebook, he added. Haggart said that the school district found itself in the awkward position of debating whether to notify the community that everything was fine, and there was no lockdown. He added that he overheard some students in the halls saying that they were taking advantage of the situation to leave early. Parent Ray Wuitschick said that he was disappointed the school didnt notify parents about the incident on Friday and the rumor on Monday. You can contact parents or put something on your website when theres a two hour school delay, but you cant do anything with this? I still dont have any contact from the school, any statement from them, about what happened, and whether its a good idea for my kid to stay out of school until Thursday when school is out, he said on Monday afternoon. Its just too bad anything like this happened. Were concerned, Wuitschick said. Every day, 22 veterans commit suicide in the United States, and two local men want to reach out to potential victims of all ages in the mid-valley. Jim Justus and Dick Newkirk know how difficult it can be to adjust to daily life after serving in a war zone. Neither wanted to serve in the military during the Vietnam War, but when their country called, they set aside their desires and shipped out. 50 years later, they still deal with the horrifying memories of war, and for Justus the effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The two along with several more veterans who gather every month to support each other want to let young men and women returning from battle fields in Iraq and Afghanistan know help is only a phone call away. I want them to know that I have their back, said Justus, 71. They are not alone. They are not the only person with these issues or feelings. Both men were members of what the Navy called riverines, sailors who served on boats that patrolled the rivers and bays of Vietnam. The small boats were easy targets on the narrow waterways. Their experiences in country were different, but both men found their lives upended and struggled to find normal upon returning home. For Justus, there were decades of anger and bigotry. I am ashamed, but for a long time, I was a bigot when it came to anyone with dark skin, or if their eyes were shaped differently than mine, he said. Justus graduated from Albany Union High in 1963, and in 1965 learned he was going to be drafted into the army. So, he joined the Navy instead. I didnt want anything to do with Vietnam, he said. I really thought Id be serving on a ship out in the ocean. Instead, he was assigned as a mechanic on a landing craft, and from August 1966 to June 1968, he served on inland Vietnamese rivers. 1966 and the first half of 1967 were calm Justus said. We were based in the Mekong Delta, and then the TET offensive (Vietnamese new year) started building up and for a year, it was bad. We had heavy casualties. Justus becomes emotional talking about what he saw during that year. I remember looking through binoculars and seeing the Viet Cong building up ammunition dumps, adding men and equipment. But we were under a cease fire order and could not fire unless we were fired upon. As the battles progressed, his boat, the USS Monteith County, shuttled Viet Cong POWs to camps. They were shackled around their ankles to a big long steel bar, he said. I remember looking down at them and seeing nothing but hatred for us. It was terrible. I was just a young kid. Justus realized he had mental health issues during his last months in the Navy and sought help from government doctors. They wanted to put me in a mental hospital, and I refused, he said. They just saw me as broken. Justus said his family didnt know him when he came home. I was not the same young man they had known, he said. I was angry, bigoted. Justus said he has tried to deal with his issues over the years, but about six years ago, he was diagnosed with cancer and was treated at a veterans hospital, and doctors said he has PTSD. My wife agreed with them and said I needed help, Justus said. Ive been in counseling since, and it has helped. Justus said he never considered suicide as many veterans are doing because I try to live a Christian life, but says it took years for him to admit he has issues. Newkirk, 68, graduated from Albany Union High in 1965 and started classes at Oregon State, but during his sophomore year was notified his draft status had been shifted to 1A eligible for service. So, I joined the Naval Reserves, thinking Id make it through to graduation, Newkirk said. Instead, Uncle Sam called when I had just 12 credits to go. He was stationed in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska for much of his time in the Navy, but with a year to go, he was transferred to a PBR (patrol boat, river) in Vietnam. We were stationed just off the demilitarized zone, Newkirk said. My primary job was perimeter defense, which meant we watched the base day and night. Newkirk said the base was under constant attack by the Viet Cong, including individuals who would sneak onto base to determine distances for mortar attacks. He remembers one attack when all hell broke loose. Two choppers got hit and flew right over me, trying to get back onto the base. Their rotors hit each other and they crashed, killing several men. Newkirk said that often the Viet Cong would hide behind floating logs in the river to get close to the base. Every day, our lives were threatened, he said. Although he has never been diagnosed with PTSD, Newkirk admits he spent many years after the war pretty angry. And for him, it was nearly impossible to develop close relationships with others. He sought counseling five years ago and said it took a long time to open up. I was somewhat dysfunctional, but I worked every day, Newkirk said. In fact, when he came home, Newkirk went back to Oregon State and completed a degree. For the past year, Justus, Newkirk and several other veterans have gotten together at 4 p.m. on the first Sunday of each month at the Albany Assembly of God. They share their stories and offer support to each other. But, the two men say, most are Vietnam veterans and they know many young men and women are coming home today, broken, scarred and thinking they are the only person on earth with their problem. At 6 p.m. Friday, June 17, all veterans are invited to the church family center for a free barbecue to be followed by a showing of the documentary film, "Project 22." The movie title comes from the fact that 22 veterans per day commit suicide in the United States. The film follows two combat-wounded veterans on a 6,500-mile cross-country motorcycle ride to raise awareness about the high rate of suicide among veterans. Their goal: To let their military brothers and sisters know there is hope. During their trip, the men interviewed researchers, health care providers and veterans many of whom admitted they had considered suicide. "They can be healed. They can walk through the rest of their life in peace if they will only ask for help now," Justus said. "We are here for them. They are not alone." Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow met with the Defence Ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on Tuesday (14 June 2016) to sign a new Letter of Agreement on airspace management arrangements in support of NATOs Air Policing mission and other air activities in the Baltic Sea region. During the signing ceremony, Ambassador Vershbow stressed that this agreement between NATO and the three Baltic states will facilitate more air training opportunities in the Baltic region. He added that this sends a clear message of the Alliances shared responsibility and resolve to protect NATOs territory and populations. The newly signed agreement will also improve civil-military coordination, ensuring the safe and efficient use of airspace. It contains a comprehensive set of provisions for the execution of the NATOs Air Policing mission, taking into account the evolution of national regulations for airspace management in the three Baltic States. (As delivered) Good morning. In just a few weeks, we will hold our NATO Summit in Warsaw. And our countries face unprecedented security challenges. From the east and from the south. So at this landmark Summit, we will take decisions to strengthen our deterrence and defence across the Alliance against threats from any direction. And we will also step up our efforts to project stability beyond our borders. Over the next two days, we will pave the way for Summit decisions. We will agree on the deployment by rotation of four robust multinational battalions to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. We will take decisions on a tailored presence for the south-east region, with a land element built around a multinational framework brigade in Romania. We will also adopt a framework for NATOs further adaptation to the challenges from the South. We will look at ways to further improve the freedom of movement for NATO forces across Europe. We will strengthen our cyber defences. And we will review progress on ensuring the necessary resources for our defence. For the first time in many years, in 2015 we registered a small increase in defence spending amongst European Allies and Canada. And our estimates for 2016 indicate a further increase of 1.5 % in real terms this year. This is progress. But I will call on Allies to keep the momentum, and to do more. Because we need to match our defence spending with the security challenges we face. Tonight, we will meet with the EU High Representative Mogherini, as well as our partners Finland and Sweden, to discuss how we can make our cooperation even stronger. For instance, to boost maritime security and to fight hybrid threats. Tomorrow we will look at the broader arc of instability beyond our borders. And consider what more NATO can and should do to project stability. For instance in Iraq. In providing further direct support to the Global Coalition fighting ISIL. And in the Central Mediterranean. We will also meet in the NATO-Ukraine Commission. We will assess the latest security developments, Ukraines progress on the path of reforms, and stepping up our support. So we have a very full agenda at this ministerial. And I am confident that the decisions we take will pave the way for a successful Summit. And with that, Im ready to take a few questions. Oana Lungescu: We will start with Reuters over there. Question [Reuters]: Secretary General, what additional measures is the Alliance willing to take to discourage Russia in the Black Sea area, Romania, and Bulgaria? Thank you. Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg: We are looking into how we can increase our presence in the Black Sea region. We have already increased our presence with more air-policing, with assurance measures, with more naval presence and more exercises. But we are also looking into what more we can do. And we are discussing and addressing an offer from Romania that they can provide the framework, the headquarters for brigade which can then organize and facilitate NATO activities in the region, including exercises and also assurance measures. So this is on the agenda, this is something we are addressing, but the details have to be decided later. Oana Lungescu: ANSA, Italian News Agency. Question: SecGen, last week Italy announced that it will deploy missiles in Turkey in the framework of reassurance measures decided for this crisis. And Italy is by the way also one among the less spending countries for defence in NATO. During your recent visit in Rome to Premier Renzi did you get reassurances that Italy will take a different trend in defence spending? Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg: First of all, I welcome that Italy is going to deploy SAMP/T missile defence system to Turkey. They have started to do so and I welcome that because this is yet another example of how we show solidarity inside NATO with all Allies. And NATO has decided to have assurance measures, we they have already deployed different assurance measures to Turkey because they are bordering all the instability, all the violence to the south, Iraq and Syria. And therefore we have different kinds of assurance measures in Turkey. AWACS surveillance planes, we have Spanish Patriot batteries and have more naval presence in eastern Mediterranean. And the Italian deployment of SAMP/T will add and augment these efforts and this is something I welcome very much. It shows the NATO solidarity. Defence spending was an issue I discussed with the Prime Minister Remzi when I met him in Rome recently. I expect of course all Allies to make good on the pledge we all made together two years ago to stop cuts in defence spending and gradually increase and then move towards spending two percent of GDP on defence. Italy is committed NATO Ally. They contribute to many operations and missions but of course it is important that also Italy delivers on defence spending as it is important that all Allies deliver on defence spending. Oana Lungescu: Gentleman over there. Question: Secretary General, do you see a necessity of cooperation, NATO cooperation, with the EU mission Sophia in Mediterrenean Sea? And what would be the distinctive role of this mission, NATO mission? Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg: We need to enhance the cooperation between the EU and NATO. And we are actually doing that now. We have step up our efforts to enhance our cooperation. Just over last months we have been able to agree on an arrangement between the EU and NATO on cyber and we have also been able to agree on all the operational issues related to our cooperation in the Aegean Sea, where NATO vessel ships work together with Frontex and the Greek coastguard. So actually over last few months we have been able to agree more formal arrangement with the EU than in the previous thirteen years. So we are making progress and I would like to see also more progress in the Mediterranean. And that is exactly what we have asked our military planners, to come up with recommendation, with an assessment what more we can do building on experience from the Aegean Sea and then possibly moving to the Central Mediterranean. NATO has we have assets, we have ships, we have capabilities, we have intelligence, we have surveillance capabilities which can be useful in support of the EU mission Sophia. Exactly how we are going to cooperate and exactly what we are going to do are among the issues we will discuss tonight with High Representative Mogherini and the Defence Ministers of NATO. Oana Lungescu: Lady over there. Question [BBC]: Secretary General, what message are you going to give Russia as you are going to this important summit? Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg: Our message is that NATO will continue to protect and defend all Allies against any threats coming from any direction. And that is the reason why we implemented the biggest reinforcement to our collective defence since the end of the Cold War and at this meeting and at the Summit we will take new decisions, particularly related to forward presence of our forces in the Eastern part of the Alliance with battalions in the Baltic countries and in Poland and also with tailored presence in the south-east of Europe. At the same time we convey a very strong message about that we dont seek a confrontation with Russia, we dont want a new Cold War. We will continue to strive for more constructive and cooperative relationship with Russia and especially when tensions are high as now, I think its important that we continue to keep channels for political dialogue, but also military contacts because we have to avoid incidents, accidents like for instance the downing of the Russian plane over Turkey. So, we will continue to keep channels for political dialogue open to try to manage relationship with Russia in the best possible way. Oana Lungescu: One last question. Gentleman in the center. Question [Gazeta.ru]: Has NATO as an organization any plans to place some extra nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles in European countries, maybe in Eastern Europe? Thank you. Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg: We are going to have a meeting in the NATO nuclear planning group today. And we will assess and make sure that we will continue to have a credible, safe, and secure nuclear deterrent. And we will also welcome updates from both the UK and the US on their contributions to the NATOs nuclear deterrent. But I am not going to any specifics. We will continue to have credible and safe and secure nuclear deterrent as part of NATOs defence posture. Health Dignity slammed with lawsuit after refusing to cover penis implant surgery ACLU backs transgender healthcare coverage No evidence of discrimination (NaturalNews) The logic behind whatconstitutes a human right has become increasingly blurred, particularly in the wake of the Obama administration's sweeping directive to force all U.S. school districts to comply with what the Feds deem "transgender bathroom rights."As a result, restrooms across the nation, both on public and private property, have become gender neutral. It is my belief that those suffering the most in all of this are women, as they have been stripped of their right to private (and clean) restrooms, in order to accommodate a select few.But the freedom to use the restroom of their choice wasn't enough. Now, transgenders are demanding that health insurance companies fund transition-related care , including penis transplants, breast implants and hormone treatments.Joe Robinson of Chandler, Arizona, is suing his health insurance company for "discrimination," after it refused to provide employee coverage for transition-related care, according to The Arizona Republic . Robinson, an operating-room nurse at Chandler Regional Medical Center, was born female, but is currently transitioning into a man.In federal court filings, Robinson and the American Civil Liberties Union argued that Dignity Health has an insurance policy that discriminates based on sex, because it denied the plaintiff treatment for gender-dysphoria, instead labeling his condition a "personality disorder."As a result, Robinson paid "thousands of dollars" out of his own pocket for gender-dysphoria healthcare , including $7,450 for a double mastectomy. In addition to breast removal surgery, the plaintiff requested that his provider also pay for phalloplasty, or penis implant surgery.Robinson's request was denied. He did not move forward with the surgery because he couldn't afford the cost."I was shocked when Dignity, which is supposed to be in the business of healing and holds itself out to the public as a bastion of 'human kindness,' told me they would not authorize insurance coverage for my doctor-prescribed treatment," said Robinson."All I want is the same health benefits other, non-transgender Dignity employees receive, which is coverage for medically necessary treatments."However, Robinson isn't asking for the "same health benefits" as non-transgenders, but rather preferential treatment. Health insurance companies do not cover cosmetic procedures, unless deemed medically necessary.For example, healthcare providers do not pay for breast implants, Botox or nose jobs and for good reason, as they are cosmetic and considered luxury procedures.The ACLU disagrees, however, insisting that transition-related care is deemed necessary for individuals with gender-dysphoria, and should be covered under the Affordable Care Act."Every major medical association has affirmed that transition-related health care for transgender people is medically necessary," said Josh Block, one of three ACLU attorneys assigned to the case.Robinson's suit is unprecedented because it's "the first of its kind since the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued proposed regulations for health-care coverage of transgender employees in late May," which state that excluding gender-dysphoria treatment is not "based on science at all," and shouldn't be allowed.Dignity Health has acknowledged that it's aware of the complaint and is currently investigating the case.When Robinson first filed a complaint against his provider through the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in late 2015, the insurer responded: "Health benefits under the Dignity plan are not provided for any personality disorders, including sexual/gender identity disorders and behavior and impulse control disorders."Robinson then brought the complaint to Dignity Health's Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Dean, who ruled in November that there was zero evidence of discrimination."With specific intent, we deliberated whether our existing policies were discriminatory and inconsistent with our organization values as you stated in your letter. We found no evidence of discriminatory practice in the employee benefit plan documents, internal practice or the administration of the plan," said Dean.Robinson's lawsuit asks to be reimbursed for the out-of-pocket expenses he paid for transgender-related care including the double mastectomy, as well as legal fees.The outcome of this case is expected to be monumental, as it will likely lay the groundwork for transgender-related health coverage. Health insurance companies say that they're already burdened with unforeseen costs under the Affordable Care Act, resulting in upwards of 60 percent premium hikes for policy holders.Female-to-male sexual reassignment surgery, including mastectomy, aureola reduction and genital surgery, costs between $12,000 and $25,000. Earthquakes and spills Industry-funded regulators 85 percent of troops noted adverse reactions Symptoms and concerns brushed aside One third of vets afflicted (NaturalNews) The topic of vaccines tends to inspire strong feelings in people one way or the other, and the admissions made by a CDC whistleblower in the recent documentarycertainly added fuel to the fire. However, one aspect of the vaccine debate that many people can agree on is that forcing experimental vaccines on anyone is a questionable practice at best.In one of the most egregious examples of this, the FDA used its authority to force American military personnel to get an experimental anthrax vaccine while a civil lawsuit challenging the authority of the Department of Defense to mandate unapproved vaccines was pending.Since 1998, countless service personnel have reported becoming ill after being given a series of vaccines for anthrax before Middle East deployment. Those who refused to get the jab faced punishments including discharge. According to MintPress News , 30 percent of those in the military who received the vaccine ended up with vaccine damage referred to as Gulf War Syndrome, and the issues caused were career-ending for some, particularly pilots.MintPress News cites the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy's 2002 report, which says that the mandatory anthrax vaccines caused many Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve members to transfer or leave the military altogether. Data from a survey by the General Accounting Office (GAO) of Congress showed that 85 percent of the troops who were subjected to anthrax shots experienced adverse reactions, which is significantly higher than the 30 percent the manufacturer claimed. The survey involved a random sample of more than 1,200 guard and reserve personnel.This prompted the GAO to recommend that the DoD institute an "active surveillance program for vaccine reactions." According to GAO estimates, 77 percent of aircrew who received the shot would not have done so if they had been given a choice.Gulf War Syndrome is the name given to the set of symptoms experienced by military personnel involved in the Gulf War, and it includes chronic symptoms such as cognitive problems, muscle pain, fatigue, diarrhea, and rashes. Adding insult to injury, the military has called it an "emotional ailment" despite its measurable physical manifestations.While some higher-ups have tried to explain Gulf War Syndrome as the result of conditions on the ground, soldiers who fought there from Israel, Egypt and Kuwait did not end up suffering from it. Interestingly, those soldiers did not receive Anthrax vaccines.The National Academy of Sciences reports that more than one third of vets in the first Gulf War suffer from the ailment, and a 2009 study in thesuggested that the main culprit could be aluminum hydroxide , which was an adjuvant in the anthrax vaccine.Our military personnel face a lot of threats while performing their jobs, and many of the medical precautions taken to prepare them are sound ones that can help prevent illnesses and save their lives. However, a line has to be drawn when it comes to preventive measures with unknown side effects. How can we expect our military to defend our country if we are sending them out to fight with unapproved vaccines in their systems working against their own bodies? Our service personnel do not deserve to be treated like guinea pigs and then be accused of having emotional problems when they report the effects of those vaccines or voice concerns about them. He broke down in tears Sick and dying crewmen (NaturalNews) The death and sickness toll for U.S. sailors who were aboard an American aircraft carrier sent to assist the Japanese government in the hours and days following the March 2011 meltdown of nuclear reactors at Fukushima is growing, with scores more continuing to come forward.Japan'snews agency is reporting that the Japanese former prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, has lent his support to a group of about 400 U.S. sailors who have filed suit against the operator of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, claiming that the health problems they are currently suffering from were caused by being exposed to radiation following a triple meltdown at the plant.Speaking recently at a news conference in Carlsbad, Calif., which he attended with a group of the plaintiffs, Koizumi noted: "Those who gave their all to assist Japan are now suffering from serious illness. I can't overlook them."The suit was originally filed in 2012 against Tokyo Electric Power Co., the plant operator, which has recently been renamed the Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc. The plaintiffs include sailors and officers who were aboard the USS Ronald Reagan as it provided humanitarian and other assistance to Japanese officials following the damage to Fukushima , which was caused by a major tsunami that was launched following a massive earthquake.During his California visit, Koizumi met with 10 of the plaintiffs in the suit. He asked them about the nature of the disaster relief they provided, and about the kinds of symptoms they were experiencing."I learned that the number of sick people is still increasing , and their symptoms are worsening," he told the news conference, while also calling on Japanese whether for and against nuclear power to find ways to help the U.S. sailors.In a separate report, Japanese newspapernoted that Koizumi broke down in tears during the news conference:The paper noted further that Theodore Holcomb, an aviation mechanic on the Reagan at the time, was one of the sailors tasked with washing off U.S. helicopters that flew into areas where there was a high concentration of radiation . He would later go on to be diagnosed with synovial sarcoma, a rare form of cancer; he died in 2014, at the young age of 35.After his death, the Department of Veterans' Affairs cut short a study into a possible relationship between his radiation exposure and his sickness.His best friend in the Navy, Manuel Leslie, 41, has since become one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit on behalf of Holcomb. He told reporters that he just wants to get to the bottom of what happened and why so many are now sick.Another Reagan crewman, Ron Wright, 26, also worked on the flattop's deck. At the end of a shift one day he was ordered to remove his clothing following a high radiation reading. He later developed testicular swelling and underwent surgery four times after returning to the U.S. However, the pain became so intense that he had to rely on painkillers and sleeping pills to cope. He was never issued with protective clothing or iodine, and was told that there was no connection between the radiation exposure and his illness. Inventor of device used to measure methane emissions warned it was faulty Calls for new studies, tighter oversight and regulations (NaturalNews) An explosive new federal complaint finally sheds some light on the great mystery of why exactly the EPA, which is tasked with protecting the environment, inexplicably sits back and allows the fracking industry to destroy the earth.According to the environmental watchdog group NC WARN based out of North Carolina, the data regarding toxic emissions from fracking has been the subject of a long-term and systematic cover-up that involved payoffs from the gas and oil industry to at least one researcher for the EPA.According to a federal complaint filed by the group with the Inspector General of the EPA , "there has been a persistent and deliberate cover-up that has prevented the agency from requiring the natural gas industry to make widespread, urgently needed and achievable reductions in methane venting and leakage ('emissions') across the nation's expanding natural gas infrastructure."They stated: "Studies relied upon by EPA to develop policy and regulations were scientifically invalid."The group alleges that the man behind the cover-up is Dr. David Allen, who was the head of the EPA Science Advisory Board. They say that he concealed the under-reporting of two devices used to measure the release of gas from equipment used in the natural gas industry. Dr. Allen also happens to be a faculty member of the University of Texas at Austin, where he has received funding from the gas and oil industries for a number of years. Now it's all starting to make sense.NC WARN's Jim Warren points out that the body's resultant failure to demand that methane leaks are reduced has exacerbated the climate crisis. The group made this startling discovery after learning that the inventor of the primary device used to measure the gas released, the Bacharach Hi-Flow Sampler, had been trying to blow the whistle for years on its malfunctioning! It's not a small problem, either; according to the group, a critical failure makes the faulty instrument under-report the emissions of methane "up to 100-fold."The device's inventor, Touche Howard, says that such a failure could even cause "catastrophic explosions". He says he repeatedly tried to warn the EPA and Dr. Allen about the device's malfunctioning but was greeted with silence every time. NC WARN feels he was ignored out of fear that he would invalidate their studies. By showing methane emissions as being lower than they actually are, the EPA was able to say there was no need to require reductions, and it looks like the oil and gas industry made sure of that by having Dr. Allen in their pocket.The group is now calling for the EPA's internal watchdog, the Inspector General, to investigate the fraud carried out by Allen and other officials and retract their inaccurate studies. They are asking for new studies to come up with more accurate figures regarding methane emissions from fracking and an investigation into the EPA's dependence on researchers who have conflicts of interest.Taking it one step further, they suggest that the EPA put in place a zero-emission goal for methane and place tighter controls on the oversight, remediation and testing of the natural gas industry's methane emissions.With the EPA basing its recommendations on tools that can under-report methane emissions 100-fold, it's easy to see why they seem so lax about fracking . Of course, the only way to really fix the methane leak problem is to stop the practice of fracking entirely. It's been called "a silent death", and it leaves water and farmland ruined, contaminates the food and water supply , and sickens people and animals. This cover-up is absolutely appalling. The EPA is supposed to protect the environment , not the bank accounts of its scientists. Sixteen years ago, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) denied a petition that sought to unleash industrial hemp from the shackles of the Controlled Substances Act. Had the 1998 petition been granted, cannabis plants containing little of the psychoactive ingredient THC1 percent or lesswould have been removed from the schedules of controlled substances, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture overseeing licensing of industrial hemp. The scheduling criteria in the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) wasnt intended to be applied to hypothetical controlled substances," such as a granola bar that contained a low amount of the hallucinogenic LSD, noted DEAs then Deputy Administrator Julio F. Mercado in denying the petition. Furthermore, Congress didnt make any distinctions based on the percentage of controlled substance contained in (or potentially derived from) the plant," he said in a Dec. 19, 2000 letter. Congress provided that the penalties for unlawful cultivation of cannabis are based on the number of plantswithout regard to the percentage of THC in the plants," Mercado wrote. Times have changed. In a new petition requesting the removal of industrial hemp from the CSA schedules, hemp advocates noted Congress differentiated industrial hemp from marijuana plants in the 2014 Farm Bill. Section 7606 of the legislation authorized the growth, cultivation and marketing of industrial hemp under agricultural pilot programs in states that have legalized such activities. Whats more, language in an appropriations bill that was passed last year by Congress barred the use of funds to impede hemp activities carried out under the Farm Bill, the petitioners noted. Industrial hemp is defined in the Farm Bill as the plant Cannabis sativa L. and any part of such plant, whether growing or not, with a delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol [THC] concentration of not more than 0.3 percent on a dry weight basis." This is a juncture at which Congress has clearly differentiated industrial hemp from drug marijuana," said Joseph Sandler, an attorney in Washington who filed the petition earlier this month on behalf of the Hemp Industries Association (HIA). The petition was also filed by the Kentucky Hemp Industry Council, whose members include, among others, CBD wholesaler CV Sciences (formerly known as CannaVest), Dr. Bronners, the hemp soap company, and the hemp food maker Nutiva. The petition also cited a 2004 appellate court opinion, which invalidated DEA regulations that would have prohibited the sale of food and cosmetic products made from hemp oil and seed containing any trace amounts of naturally occurring THC. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit previously held that the listing of marijuana in Schedule 1 of the CSA excludes the plants mature stalks, fiber produced from the stalks, and oil produced from the seeds of the plant. DEA may remove a substance from the schedules if it finds it doesnt meet the requirements to be included in a schedule, the petition observed. Before initiating a rulemaking proceeding to revise the schedules, DEA and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are required under federal law to examine eight factors, including a substances potential for abuse and risks to public health, DEA has explained. To be included on any of the five schedules, a substance must have some potential for abuse," HIA and the Kentucky Hemp Industry Council noted in the petition. The industrial hemp plant, with a THC concentration of three-tenths of a percent or less by dry weight, has no potential for abuse whatsoever. First, ingestion of industrial hemp, whether by smoking, eating or otherwise, will not cause any psychoactive effect at all, as has been established by studies going back over many years." Hemp Defined as Marijuana under Federal Law Since 1970, when the CSA was enacted under the Nixon administration, marijuana has been classified as a Schedule 1 controlled substance. Schedule 1 is the most restrictive drug category also reserved for the likes of ecstasy, heroine, LSD and peyote. Botanically speaking, any plant of the genus cannabis constitutes marijuana under the CSA regardless of whether the plant is referred to as hemp, marijuana, or any other name," DEA spokeswoman Barbara Carreno explained in an emailed statement. Asked whether DEA presently distinguishes industrial hemp from marijuana, she reiterated the above statement. Carreno declined to comment on the June 1, 2016 petition or a specific timeline for responding to it. It took DEA more than 2 years to deny the 1998 petition. Applicable law does not specify a timeline" to respond to the petition, Carreno said. Were working to complete the DEA portion of the required analysis in the most expeditious means possible." If the petition were granted, it would clarify that states could permit the cultivation of industrial hemp for commercial purposes without violating federal law, explained Sandler, a member of the firm Sandler Reiff Lamb Rosenstein & Birkenstock PC, in a phone interview. The DEA has continued to maintain the position that hemp is marijuana and they dont acknowledge the Farm Bill changed anything other than that they now have to work with some states," said Eric Steenstra, executive director of HIA, in a phone interview. Im very hopeful that something positive will happen and that well see a change in the policy, but given the history of DEA Im certainly not holding my breath." DEA and Farm Bill 2016 marks the third year of growing hemp under the Farm Bill. In total, 29 states have passed hemp laws, according to the petition. Since passage of the Farm Bill, DEA has worked with various states and institutions to facilitate the importation of seeds," explained Carreno, who noted DEA continues to support individual states initiatives to conduct research on the viability of industrial hemp pursuant to the Farm Bill." Hemp advocates have blamed DEA for impeding industrial hemp programs carried out under the Farm Bill. In 2014, the Kentucky Department of Agriculture (KDA) butted heads in court with DEA because the agency had seized hemp seeds destined for Kentucky farms. Ultimately, then state agriculture commissioner James Comer reached a memorandum of understanding with the DEA, explained Jonathan Miller, a Lexington, Kentucky-based attorney representing the Kentucky Hemp Industry Council and a member of the law firm Frost Brown Todd LLC. While farmers in Kentucky have accused DEA of seizing seeds in past years, delaying the planting of hemp and hurting the crop, this year has been a smooth" one, said Miller, who represented a group of farmers in the 2014 litigation against DEA. This program is working but there is no reason we need to be going through this process," Miller said in a phone interview when asked about his support for the recent petition. Hemp is a crop that has no psychoactive effect and there is no reason why it cant be grown as any agricultural commodity, and the notion that it is scheduled on the Controlled Substances Act akin to heroine is an outrage." As part of a massive law-enforcement operation, INTERPOLthe worlds police organizationhas seized more than 12 million illegitimate medicines, including slimming and erectile dysfunction pills and nutritional products. Operation Pangea IX led to 393 arrests around the world and the seizure of potentially hazardous medicines worth more than US$53 million, the Lyon, France-based organization announced last week in a news release. The operation was a vast one that involved police, customs and health regulatory authorities from 103 countries. For instance, an FDA task force discovered that between August 2013 and January 2014, a 29-year-old man had sold 2.4-dinitrophenol (DNP) as a weight loss product on eBay, said INTERPOL, which noted that a U.S. customer died from ingesting the substance. Last month, FDA announced that Adam Alden of Bakersfield, California, admitted to distributing DNP, which the agency described as a chemical used as a dye, wood preserver and herbicide, among other things." Alden pleaded guilty to one count of introducing an unapproved drug into interstate commerce, but FDA said in a May 9 news release, It cannot be established beyond a reasonable doubt whether or not the DNP sold by Alden caused" the death of a Rhode Island customer who purchased the substance from Alden. About a year ago, INTERPOL warned about the dangers of DNP after a woman died in the United Kingdom and a French man fell seriously ill after taking the substance. DNP was used to enhance metabolism and foster weight loss in the 1930s, said INTERPOL, adding that it was taken off the market due to several deaths. Whilst the seizures on the ground prevent these potentially lethal drugs and products from reaching unsuspecting consumers, equally as important is shutting down the websites through which these criminals operate," said Tim Morris, INTERPOLs executive director of police services, in a statement. Raising public awareness about the dangers of buying medicines online is essential if we are to choke off this source of funding for organized crime which is making significant profits at the cost of peoples health and safety." INTERPOL also recovered more than 270,000 medical devices valued at an estimated $1.1 million, and customs and regulatory authorities recently seized more than 170,000 packages, according to the release. In Singapore alone, authorities recovered various products, including anabolic steroids, pregnancy test kits, sleeping pills, and drugs for infertility and weight loss. INTERPOL also referenced the seizure of anxiety medication tablets in Hungary and the taking of illegitimate anti-cancer medication in Myanmar. The world never sleeps. This may be true based on the recent findings published in Sciences Advances which states that 80 percent of the world's population is living under light pollution, making it difficult for eight out of 10 people to see the milky way galaxy at night. Artificial lights cause light-polluted sky. The excessively bright night sky, visible worldwide, can mostly be observed in Singapore, Kuwait and Qatar, while 99 percent of the U.S. and European population have light-polluted skies. What we would see at night without light pollution pic.twitter.com/lggcFpRnUm SciencePorn (@SciencePorn) February 2, 2014 Experts say that the sources of artificial light vary and the world is composed of these sources contributing to light pollution. "Street lights are a really important component, but we also have lights from our windows in our homes and businesses, from the headlights of our cars and illuminated billboards," said Dr. Christopher Kyba, from the German Research Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam, in an interview with BBC. According to the study called "The New World Atlas of Artificial Night Sky Brightness", the luminance of the artificial night sky causes artificial skyglow. The paper suggests that despite the interest of scientists in different ecological expertise, there is a lack of quantification and magnitude of light pollution. The study was presented to alleviate the problem of light pollution which is currently experienced by 80 percent of the population worldwide. Normally, in clear night skies without clouds, the Milky Way galaxy, or at least stars are supposedly visible to the naked eye. But due to light pollution, the Milky Way galaxy is now blocked to almost one-third of humanity, the study suggests. Light-pollution also hinders astronomers to do their job. The "luminous fog" covers their view of the sky. And experts say that excessive lights during the night can also affect the behavior of animals such as moths, and can potentially influence the growth of pollinating plants, according to a report by Popular Science. The medical community is also looking at the potential hazards of excessive night light to human beings. Aside from the biological effects of light pollution on the environment, the future generation might not be able to experience star gazing if the problem of light-pollution persists. Three Lego mini figures called "Legonauts" are Jupiter-bound aboard NASA's Juno spacecraft. The legonauts hitched hiked the Juno spacecraft not just for fun. NASA and LEGO specifically placed them there to inspire children to explore science, technology, engineering and mathematics. NASA's Juno mission was launched in 2011 to investigate the origin and composition of Jupiter, and is 24 days away from reaching its target destination. Unknown to many, the unmanned solar-powered spacecraft has its own passengers, the three legonauts patterned after iconic characters and were safely stored aboard the spacecraft. The custom-made LEGOs are made of aluminum which, according to Juno mission lead investigator, were made of the same material as the spacecraft. The set was designed as part of the LEGO Bricks in Space project, which is a joint outreach and educational program of NASA and LEGO group, according to LEGO's official website. The two LEGO figurines represent Roman gods Jupiter and Juno, the name of the destination planet and the spacecraft according to a report by TechTimes. While the remaining one was made after the image of Galileo Galilei. Happy 448th Birthday Galileo! Glad to have you on board, sir. http://t.co/2U27kOVR pic.twitter.com/aLd1ZQgw NASA's Juno Mission (@NASAJuno) February 15, 2012 The three characters were chosen because of their distinct characteristics. Jupiter, from the Greek mythology, uses a veil of clouds to hide himself. While Juno is seen holding a magnifying glass which symbolizes its search for the truth. Galileo Galilei, which is made holding a telescope, was considered because of his important discoveries about Jupiter, including the planet's moons. According to NASA, the figurines were sealed under a thermal protection case. @davidclose Lego figures are inside the spacecraft. Pic from before they were sealed in (zoom on the yellow box): pic.twitter.com/cDDHP7Ql NASA's Juno Mission (@NASAJuno) January 27, 2012 Only one more set of the three legonauts remains on Earth, which is now the property of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory JPL. NASA's Juno mission lead, Scott Bolton, came up with the idea of including the figurines in the mission. "It was just me making a cold call," Bolton said in an interview. According to a report, the remaining set will be present at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) when Juno arrives and attempts to enter Jupiter's orbit this July 4. After that, the Earth-borne legonauts will visit schools and museums to further inspire children to study about space, engineering and mathematics inspiring kids and adults alike. China is building an empire in the most unlikely location, underneath the surface of the disputed South China Sea. China considers most of the Islands on the South China Sea as part of their territory, creating a row between its neighboring countries including Vietnam, Japan and the Philippines. But despite the intense territorial disputes, China announced its continuous plans for building a "deep-sea" oceanic space station to hunt for minerals in the South China Sea. China is speeding up plans for an oceanic "space station" in the South China Sea https://t.co/2CAywgplDd pic.twitter.com/EuTcByAwbo Bloomberg (@business) June 9, 2016 The underwater science lab, others fear, may also be used for military purposes. The deep-sea oceanic space station would be about 3,000 meters below sea level, according to the Science Ministry presentation. Reports say that the acceleration and implementation of the project was ordered by China. "Having this kind of long-term inhabited station has not been attempted this deep, but it is certainly possible," said Bryan Clark, of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, in a statement published by Bloomberg. "Manned submersibles have gone to those depths for almost 50 years. The challenge is operating it for months at a time." According to reports, the underwater lab is equivalent to NASA's International Space Station, where mining and military observatories might be placed. Very little detail about the project was revealed but the pressure in the underwater lab is believed to be about 300 times more than that of the surface. Chinese President Xi Jinping announced their need for the project. "The deep sea contains treasures that remain undiscovered and undeveloped, and in order to obtain these treasures we have to control key technologies in getting into the deep sea, discovering the deep sea, and developing the deep sea," said President Xi Jinping, in a statement published by the Seeker. The South China Sea is one of the busiest trade thoroughfares in the world. Aside from that, it was proven that immense oil reserves are also present in the area, according to a report by Business Insider. China is adamant in building artificial islands in the disputed territories despite ongoing international tribunal and the clear opposition of its neighboring countries. Scientists have found a rodent that has a menstrual cycle similar to that of human females. Researchers at the Monash University in Clayton, Australia said that the spiny mouse (Acomys cahirinus) is the first rodent species known to menstruate and also seem to have a human-like menstrual cycle. Mice are often used in biomedical research laboratories. But since they don't menstruate, they make poor models for studying women's reproductive health. But as it turns out, not all mice are created equal. In the study, which was published in bioRvix, researchers tracked the periods of 14 female spiny mice. They flushed the animals' genitals with saline solution daily for 18 days. To ensure that the procedure was not the cause of the bleeding, the researchers treated five common lab mice the same way. They found that the mice averaged a 9-day menstrual cycle similar to human females, and three of the nine days - which represent 20 to 30 percent of their cycle - were spent shedding uterine lining or bleeding. This ratio is similar to that in women, who typically bleed 15 to 35 percent of their 28-day cycle, Nature.com reports. The researchers also dissected uteri from four spiny mice at different stages of the menstrual cycle. In a statement published in PopSci.com, the researchers are hoping that the spiny mice could be a model for studying human menstruation and menstrual disorders. Warren Nothnick, a researcher at the University of Kansas, told Nature.com that this discovery could help current studies involving endometriosis, a painful disorder in which a tissue that normally lines the inside of the uterus grows outside of the uterus. The current model for studying endometriosis, the baboon, is more expensive and time-consuming, and menstruating laboratory mice could be a better alternative. Nothnick considers it a "major breakthrough" if the researchers could identify if the mice would develop endometriosis. "There's some really simple studies that they could do to see if these animals would develop endometriosis spontaneously," he said. Endometriosis is known to affect 6.3 million women and girls in the U.S., 1 million in Canada, and millions more around the world. A doctor in China said he is planning the world's first full-body transplant on a living human being and will begin operation as soon as his team is ready. Dr. Ren Xiaoping of Harbin Medical University, who was nicknamed Dr. Frankenstein by Chinese media, told the New York Times that he is working on the details of his full-body transplant procedure, which involves removing the two heads of the bodies and connecting the recipient's head to the donor's body. According to Ren, the two heads will be removed from the bodies and the blood vessels from the body of the deceased donor will be connected to the recipient's head. A metal plate will be inserted to stabilize the new neck and the spinal cord nerve endings will be immersed in a gluelike substance that helps regrowth. And then the final step, the skin will be sewn up. Medical experts around the world, including some in China, were flummoxed with the idea, saying that Ren is "pushing the ethical and practical limits of science" too far. Leading doctors and experts pointed out that connecting the nerves in the spinal cord is a complicated matter, and failure might lead to the death of the patient. "For most people, it's at best premature and at worst reckless," Dr. James L. Bernat, a professor of neurology and medicine at the Dartmouth College Geisel School of Medicine told New York Times. Dr. Huang Jiefu, former deputy minister of health in China, also said in an interview that the plan is "ethically impossible." "How can you put one person's head on another's body?" he said. Earlier this year, Ren and his team had successfully carried out a head transplant on a monkey, and the animal lived for 20 hours. In past experiments, Ren conducted operations on 1,000 mice, but none survived for more than a day. Just recently, Ren told The Daily Mail that he and his team are getting closer to their goal. "We can't say it will happen tomorrow - but I am not ruling out next year," he said. The Chinese government has invested billions in scientific research and urged scientists to continue innovating as part of its drive to become a world leader in science. "A human head transplant will be a new frontier in science. Some people say it is the last frontier in medicine," Ren said. "It is a very sensitive and very controversial subject but if we can translate it to clinical practice, we can save a lot of lives." After 49 people were killed in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history early Sunday at a Florida nightclub, JetBlue Airways began offering free flights to families of victims and survivors heading to and from Orlando Monday. "Like many of you, we continue to watch reports of the Orlando nightclub shooting with great sadness," JetBlue's site read. "Our thoughts are with the victims and their loved ones." JetBlue said it would provide free seats on available flights to and from Orlando for immediate family members and domestic partners of victims killed or injured in the terror attack that killed 49 and hurt 53. In addition to free seats, JetBlue was offering to waive fees through Tuesday for affected travelers making last-minute travel changes due to the attack. The shooter, later identified as a 29-year-old American-born Muslim named Omar Mateen, opened fire on gay nightclub Pulse after calling 911 and pledging loyalty to the head of ISIS. Armed with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and a handgun, Mateen opened fire on the crowded nightclub before being shot to death by police. President Barack Obama said it appears Mateen acted alone and was inspired by extremist information found on the internet. Mateens father said the shooter may have been motivated by anti-gay hatred as he had witnessed two men kissing in Miami months earlier and reacted in anger. Anyone with questions or needing travel assistance was encouraged to call 1-800-JETBLUE for details. The easier it is for you to give, the easier it is for criminals to take. Thats the unfortunate tact we must take in considering whether to contribute to victims of the Orlando shooting spree. MANY SITES, MANY QUESTIONS We have seen multiple GoFundMe sites pop up since the massacre. Its nearly impossible to discern which are legitimate, since most anyone can post to GoFundMe. The Better Business Bureau cautions consumers that unresearched donations could end up in a criminals pockets. "We are already hearing about click-bait schemes and questionable solicitations," the bureau warned. "Watch out for vague appeals that dont identify the intended use of funds." ONE CLEARINGHOUSE The advocacy group Equality Florida is serving as a clearinghouse of sorts. The registered nonprofit has established a GoFundMe page that has attracted more than 50,000 donors and $2.5 million in contributions. Visit the page at https://www.gofundme.com/pulsevictimsfund. It also offers a helpful window of transparency. "Every penny donated will be correctly and quickly dispersed to the victims and families," the page reads. Equality Florida said it established the page in response to an outpouring of inquiries. "We have received a steady stream of emails and messages from those seeking to help," it said in a statement. Equality Florida states that it will work with National Center for Victims of Crime, which it says deployed funds in both the Chattanooga and Aurora shootings. TAX CONSEQUENCES Not all contributions are tax-deductible. The IRS treats donations to individuals and nonprofits differently. If tax benefits are important to you, it is vital that you verify whether the recipient is a registered charity before sending money. Dignitaries and celebrities gathered Monday to say farewell to the first lady of farm workers. Helen Chavez, the widow of labor leader and civil rights activist Cesar Chavez, was laid to rest Monday next to her late husband in Keene, California, just outside Bakersfield. She was 88. Cesar Chavez founded the United Farm Workers and began his work for civil rights in San Jose. Helen Chavez wanted a simple service, surrounded by the very people her late husband fought for - the farm workers. Her body was escorted into a modest chapel in the town of Tehachapi. Helen Chavez was a quiet woman in public life but a fierce defender of farm workers until the very end. We take offense at the notion behind every great man is a great woman," said her son, Paul Chavez. "You see, Helen Chavez never stood behind my father. She stood by his side - many times out in front. Helen Chavez gave up a middle-class lifestyle to follow her husband into the fields. Together, she and Cesar fought for human rights under the banner of non-violence. She always left the spotlight for her husband. But in 2002, Helen gave a rare interview at the unveiling of the Cesar Chavez postage stamp in San Jose. "Their struggle was one of justice and sacrifice, and theres a lot we can learn from what they taught us," grandson Cesar Chavez said. On Monday, one of her final wishes was honored - to be surrounded by farm workers on her last day and to be laid to rest next to her husband at the Cesar Chavez National Monument. Families planning on visiting Yosemite National Park this Father's Day weekend may catch a glimpse of the first family on the trails. In accordance with his accomplishment as the president to conserve the most land and water in history, President Obama organized a family trip to see Carlsbad Caverns and Yosemite next week. The trip is also a way for the family to take some much-needed alone time, where Obama and the girls will be able to experience the gushing waterfalls and blooming nature that reaches its peak during the summer. On a Facebook post made by The White House, Obama said, I want to make sure that the whole world is able to pass on to future generations the God-given beauty of this planet." Yosemite's Waterfalls Roaring The White House highlighted Obama's previous park visits, including Yellowstone in 2009 and the Kenjai Fjords and the Everglades in 2015. This will be his first visit to Yosemite. The National Park is welcoming Obama and his family with open arms, and The National Parks Conservation Association wished the president a great trip. "One of the best ways to find your voice for our national parks is to get out there and visit them fall in love with them and when they need you to speak up for them so they are protected for present and future generations," they posted in a comment. Earlier this year, Obama approved the conservation of almost 1.8m acres of California Desert, and protected the Mojave Trails, Sand to Snow and Castle Mountains as national monuments. This action nearly doubled the amount of public land he has protected. The first family's visit will be made just months before the National Park's Service 100th anniversary, on Aug. 25. Yosemite National Park was not immediately available to respond. On a quiet street in Rodeo, about 45 minutes from San Francisco, residents were shocked to learn their neighbor was the mother-in-law of the man who opened fire inside an Orlando nightclub early Sunday, killing 49 people in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. Many learned the news from reporters who camped out up and down the broad suburban street on Sunday night: Their neighbor, Ekbal Zahi Salman, a widow and mother of four daughters, was linked to gunman Omar Mateen. "[The shooter] was married to her daughter. I was surprised. It was a shock. Nobody can imagine that," said Rajinder Chahal, who lives across the street from Salman. "Yesterday my wife talked to her. She was weeping." Neighbors said Salman had four daughters, didn't speak English very well and lost her husband a few years ago. All described her as kind and normal. They said her eldest daughter Noor Salman married Mateen and moved to Florida about five years ago. Simrat Chahal, 19, said his mother and grandmother sometimes chatted with their neighbor across the street. "I find it really disturbing," said Chahal. "I actually didn't expect it from their family, you know? I'm not saying that that was their intentions too. But it just so happens to be that they're involved and that's tough on them." His grandmother, Sarwan Kaur, said Ekbal Zahi Salman cried as she complained to her neighbors that Mateen wouldn't let her eldest daughter visit her. "Like, even when she was in the hospital, her husband wouldn't let her come see her own mother," Chahal said. Shes a Very Sweet Girl: Orlando Shooters 2nd Wife Grew Up in the Bay Area Kaur, who hails from India's Punjab region, spoke in Punjabi about her friendship with Ekbal Zahi Salman, which began 17 years ago when she first moved across the street. "We were friends from the very beginning," she said. "The girls were all very nice; I watched them grow up. Noor is a very nice and sweet girl." Despite the language barrier, the Kaur and Ekbal Zahi Salman grew close, visiting each other acros the street, Kaur said. "I dont know English, so it was more like, 'Hi, Hi, Bye, Bye,'" she said. "But Ekbal and I chatted quite often. She would never eat anything in my house because we have a dog." Kaur said Ekbal Zahi Salmans husband died of a heart attack about 10 years ago. She said the Salman girls were close to their father, whom she also described as a nice man. The couples youngest daughter, who is 14, lives with her mother, according to Kaur. "The rest are all married and live with their husbands," she said, adding that it had been a while since she'd seen Noor Salman, who married Mateen in a Muslim wedding. Kaur said she had rarely discussed Mateen with Ekbal Zahi Salman. She remembers seeing her friend for the last time the day before the shooting. "Her blinds have been drawn since then, I havent seen anyone," she said. "Ekbal never goes anywhere Sometimes Ill see her when her girls come over." BREAKING: Widow of gunman who killed 49 people at a gay Orlando nightclub is acquitted on all charges in 2016 attack. A portrait of the Orlando gunmans wife began emerging on Tuesday, the day NBC News sources said she knew about the attack at the gay nightclub and tried to stop it and FBI agents visited her childhood home in Rodeo, California. On Tuesday afternoon, three FBI agents visited Noor Zahi Zalman's childhood house between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m., and where her mother still lives with her 14-year-old sister, an FBI spokesperson confirmed to NBC News. The agents, who were in plainclothes rather than FBI jackets, conducted a "knock and talk," typical of an investigation of this kind. The visit lasted less than two hours. The FBI said the visit was not a raid. At the time of the FBI's visit, there were other family members inside the house, including two of Salman's younger sisters and two nephews. Neighbors told NBC Bay Area they heard two women and a man say "FBI" when they knocked on the house next door. Video footage obtained by NBC Bay Area shows the agents leaving in their car. [[383169641, C]] Since the massacre of 49 people inside the Pulse nightclub in Florida Sunday by her husband, Omar Matteen, Salman has been cooperating with the FBI but could still face criminal charges, NBC News first reported. Salman told the FBI she was with Mateen, when he bought ammunition and a holster, several officials familiar with the case told NBC News. She also told the FBI that she once drove him to Pulse nightclub, because he wanted to check it out. And even though she told the FBI she tried to talk him out of it, NBC News reported that authorities are now considering whether Salman failed to tell them what she knew before the attack. Salman had four listed email accounts in a public records database, including one to the now-defunct Heald College in Concord. She did not respond to any of the four emails sent to her Tuesday by NBC Bay Area, though two bounced back. One of the emails had Mateen's name in the prefix. Calls to her phone number did not work. Neighbors on the quiet street in Rodeo, 45 minutes from San Francisco, told NBC Bay Area on Monday that Salman was the daughter of Ekbal Zahi and Bassam Abdallah Salman, who died of a heart attack several years ago. The couple has three other daughters - the youngest is 14. Salman's mother still lives at the home but did not come out to speak. According to neighbors, she attended John Swett High School in nearby Crockett, California. Salman married Mateen, neighbors said, and moved to Florida about five years ago, despite the fact that there is no known marriage license on record. All the neighbors described her as kind and normal, and a young woman who came from a nice Muslim family. Neighbors told NBC Bay Area they thought Salman looked beautiful in her dress on the lawn of the home before she headed off to her ritual Muslim wedding. [[383051821, C]] In fact, Salman's mother was so devout, neighbors said, she didn't eat at the home of her Punjabi neighbors because they had a dog. In strict Muslim interpretation, dogs can be seen as impure. A Miami news station reporter tweeted that Salman left Port St. Lucie, Florida after midnight on Tuesday, and lowered her head before the media frenzy camped out there. She deleted her social media accounts, minus one photo of her and Mateen with their 3-year-old son. It appears as though the couple has been together since 2013 based on mortgage records. Facebook accounts for her relatives show they are Palestinian, the Daily Beast reported. The Daily Mail obtained photos from inside Mateen's apartment, and also reported that Salman is a second-generation American, born to a well-heeled Palestinian family who emigrated to California from the West Bank in the 1970s. And it appears as though Salman had been married previously in Palestine and then moved to Illinois with Ahmed Aburahma from 2005 to 2009, NBC News reported. Aburahma moved to Tucson and has since remarried. "She's a nice person," he told NBC News. "She liked to go out. She liked to eat out. She was nice." He added he hadn't heard from her in a while. "I don't know nothing what happened after we got divorced," he said. "She went back with her family. I didn't hear anything after that." Mateen also had been married before. That ex-wife, Sitoria Yusufiy, told reporters this week that she left Mateen because of possible mental illness and abuse. Back in California, Rodeo neighbor Sarwan Kaur said Mateen apparently wouldn't let Noor Salman's mother visit her in Florida. "Like, even when she was in the hospital, her husband wouldn't let her come see her own mother," Simrat Chahal said on behalf of his grandmother. NBC News, Andrew Blankstein and Pete Williams contributed to this report. A memorial is growing for the 49 victims of the Orlando massacre, and doctors are hoping the 53 injured will recover soon. Michelle Roberts reports. The Richmond police said Tuesday its department has opened an investigation into the growing sex scandal involving an 18-year-old woman, who has alleged to NBC Bay Area that she's had sex with 28 police officers across multiple agencies. Capt. Bisa French said police "recently opened an internal investigation after learning about the connection of the young lady at the center of the Oakland investigation and several of our officers." French said detectives had not yet interviewed the woman known by her fake name as Celeste Guap, but they were hoping to sometime this week. So far Oakland police, the Alameda County Sheriff and the District Attorney are investigating her claims: That she had sex with officers, sometimes in exchange for money and sometimes in exchange for information related to prostitution sweeps, so that she could avoid arrests. As of Monday, five Oakland officers were put on leave stemming from her allegations and Police Chief Sean Whent suddenly resigned last week, even though Mayor Libby Schaaf said it was for "personal reasons." At least one Contra Costa County sheriff's deputy was also placed on leave following claims he had sex with the teen when she was a minor, the department said. Guap told NBC Bay Area that she's had sex with officers from the Richmond Police Department, the Alameda County Sheriff's Office and the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office, as well as a Livermore police officer, some in San Francisco, and a law enforcement worker based in Stockton. In all, she said she's had sex with 28 law enforcement officers throughout the Bay Area. Guap also told NBC Bay Area she befriended Whent's wife on Facebook and told her that she was dating an Oakland police officer when she was just 17. That number is double the number she described to the East Bay Express, which broke open the growing scandal, and the East Bay Times, which confirmed many of the details. A day after news broke that Oaklands police chief was leaving his post after 19 years in the department, Mayor Libby Schaaf on Friday made it formal: Sean Whent no longer has a job as the citys top cop. Bob Redell reports. Guap told those news agencies that she had sex with at least 14 Oakland officers, including three when she was underage; that two officers provided her with confidential police information, including tips on scheduled anti-prostitution stings; and that a retired OPD captain in his 80s paid $250 to have sex with her in a rundown San Pablo Avenue motel. In April, Guap posted a photo of an Oakland police cruiser in front of a Food Mart with this message: "Took me back to richmond (sic) in style #saucy." Sources also told both news organization that Whent's ouster was at the behest of the federal monitor overseeing the department over a growing sex scandal involving Guap, the daughter of a police dispatcher, who said she exchanged sex with officers for being tipped off about prostitution rings so that she could avoid arrest. Mayor Libby Schaaf originally told reporters on Friday that Whents departure had nothing to do with the sex scandal. NBC Bay Area's Stephanie Chuang contributed to this report. SAN FRANCISCO Across the street from San Francisco's main jail, business is booming at Auto Glass Now where more than a dozen motorists show up on an average day to replace windows broken by thieves. "It's been insane," said Julio Lara, the shop's manager who says nearby competitors are busy as well. "It's nonstop." San Francisco is in the grips of an auto burglary epidemic. No other place in the country not New York, Chicago or Los Angeles had as many "smash-and-grabs" per capita as San Francisco did last year. "We have an auto burglary problem in San Francisco," then-Police Chief Greg Suhr said in October after a California Highway Patrol officer's personal gun was stolen from his car. The gun was recovered, but the burglaries have grown far beyond a simple annoyance. They are fueling a bitter political feud between the city's police department and district attorney's office, who blame each other for not doing enough. San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee recently put some of the blame on local judges, who he said needed to get tougher on those arrested for the break-ins. "Now is not the time for one branch of government to be pointing the finger at one another," Presiding Judge John K. Stewart said in a statement late last month. "We should be able to work together to remedy these problems." The nearly 26,500 reported burglaries have also become a flashpoint in the debate over Proposition 47 that reduced some nonviolent crimes from felonies to misdemeanors. There were 19,871 reported auto burglaries in 2014, almost double from the 10,369 in 2011 and not everyone calls the police when they wake up to a burglarized vehicle. Police say they believe many suspects are affiliated with organized gangs or are among the city's ubiquitous homeless, but they struggle to stem a crime that afflicts tourist haunts and neighborhoods throughout the city. Investigators say experienced burglars use homemade hammers to quickly smash auto windows and clear out the contents of a vehicle in minutes. Thieves make off with a variety of goods, including electronics, gym bags and loose change. On nearly 60 occasions last year, guns were stolen from burglarized cars and several of them belonged to law enforcement officials. One of those guns belonged to a federal agent, who had his car broken into in June 2015. The next month, a homeless man living in the country illegally and recently released from jail is alleged to have found the gun under a bench on a San Francisco pier and used it to fatally shoot Kate Steinle, 32, as she enjoyed an evening walk with her father on July 1. Last year, an Oakland muralist also was killed with a handgun stolen from a vehicle in San Francisco. And so were a Canadian tourist in Golden Gate Park and a yoga teacher on Marin County hiking trail. San Francisco's police say combatting auto burglaries is a priority, but the department needs more officers. Before he resigned as chief last month, Suhr said he was hopeful 200 vacancies will be filled shortly. Suhr also created a special investigative unit, beefed up patrols throughout the city and ordered every burglarized auto dusted for fingerprints. "Evidence has shown this increase is due in part to repeat offenders," Suhr said in a written order last month to all officers. The stepped-up law enforcement attention has resulted in several recent arrests and convictions of prolific burglars, including Shawn Gibson who was sentenced in February to 5 years and 8 months in prison after he was convicted of breaking into 15 autos. Officials are hopeful the burglary rates will show a decline at the end of the year. Police are making arrests in about 2 percent of the reported burglaries. The district attorney's office says 80 percent of the arrests end in some form of punishment for the suspect. The San Francisco police officers' union has run radio ads blaming Proposition 47 for the spike and noting that District Attorney George Gascon helped draft the law. Gascon's office counters that other California cities haven't experienced the same increase in auto burglaries. Proposition 47 is not to blame for the surge, district attorney spokesman Max Szabo said. The measure made a theft of valuables worth less than $950 a misdemeanor. Previously, a felony could be charged for stealing goods with a value of $400. The district attorney, the governor and other supporters of Proposition 47, which also turned some felony drug crimes into misdemeanors, say the new law provides treatment instead of incarceration for drug addicts and the mentally ill, saving the state money by reducing the prison population. Whatever the reason for the break-ins, frustration is mounting at community meetings and repair shop waiting rooms. One recent Thursday, Lauren Smith was waiting at Auto Glass Now for her Lexus SUV's rear window to be replaced - at a cost of $350 out of her own pocket The day before, someone had broken the window while Smith was shopping at a grocery store. A witness chased off the man before he could steal anything. Smith was particularly galled that the window was a new one a replacement for one smashed outside her apartment in tony Pacific Heights a few months ago. "There should be something the police can do," Smith said. A 23-year-old Los Angeles woman was charged Monday with stabbing a construction worker to death a crime that NBC Bay Area has learned allegedly occurred after the victim refused to allow her accused attacker to use a construction site Porta-Potty. The Friday morning attack claimed the life of Mitzi Campbell, 58, of San Francisco. Two years ago, Campbell went through San Franciscos City Build construction job training program. On Monday, Mayor Ed Lee issued a statement of condolences to the victims family. Campbell was directing traffic around construction at Fifth and Shipley streets at 9:30 a.m. Friday at the time of the confrontation. The accused attacker, Lizette Cauich, was arrested soon after the stabbing and was charged Monday with murder, attempted murder and robbery. Sources told NBC Bay Area that Cauich became angry when Campbell refused to allow her use of the construction site toilet. Police say the suspect was with Oscar Mendez, 42, also of Los Angeles at the time of the attack. Sources toldl NBC Bay Area that Mendez was caught with the knife used in the slaying, and was arrested on warrants, narcotics and weapons charges. But authorities have since tied Mendez and the woman to an earlier, identical attack on another construction worker. Mendez faces attempted murder and mayhem charges for that attack which occurred at 1:30 p.m. on May 29 - at another construction site in the Tenderloin. Sources say that stabbing also followed the victims refusal to allow his assailants to use the Porta-Potty at a construction site. The unidentified victim was said to be critically injured in that attack. Illinois Rep. Robert Dold broke with fellow Republican lawmakers Tuesday, calling for expanded gun control legislation in the wake of Sundays massacre at an Orlando nightclub. Thoughts and prayers are not enough and its time for action, Dold said in response to the attack. The hateful terrorist attack targeting Americas LGBT community in Orlando is another reminder of the pressing need to come together and work across party lines to root out terrorism, prevent gun violence and put an end to bigotry of all kinds, Dold said Tuesday. An attack on one American is an attack on all of us. Dold joined Democratic lawmakers Tuesday, pushing lawmakers to take votes on bills that would prevent terror suspects from buying guns or explosives, require universal background checks for gun purchases and bolster the system for background checks. Additionally, Dold introduced legislation last year with Rep. Debbie Dingell that would prevent people who have abused their partners from buying or owning guns, expanding prohibitive measures on people convicted of spousal abuse. Dold also pushed this measure Tuesday. "We cannot allow partisanship to define this debate, the congressman added. During the speech, Dold claimed these were common-sense proposals for gun control that wouldnt impede on Americans Second Amendment rights to bear arms. There is no quick and easy solution to all the problems underscored by the Orlando terrorist attack, but if we are able to set aside partisan differences and unite in the best interest of our nation, we can make serious strides in the ongoing efforts to keep Americans safe and prevent future atrocities, Dold concluded. In the wake of the shooting, House and Senate Democrats are pushing for increased gun control measures. Democratic lawmakers erupted on the House floor Monday, criticizing House Speaker Paul Ryan and other Republicans for not addressing the nation's gun laws, NBC New York reported. Following a moment of silence for victims of the shooting, some Democrats yelled "where's the bill?" and "no leadership." Omar Mateen opened fire early Sunday morning at Pulse Orlando, a popular gay dance club, killing 49 people and leaving 53 more wounded, police said. Mateen pledged allegiance to ISIS during the attack. The shooting is being called the worst in the countrys history. Dold, who is facing a tough bid for re-election against Brad Schneider in November, has held moderate positions on gun control in the past, including the legislation proposed alongside Dingell. Schneider served as the representative for Illinois' 10th Congressional district from 2013 to 2015 before being ousted from office by Dold in the 2014 election. Schneider defeated Dold in the 2012 general election to win the seat. During an interview last week, former Rep. Aaron Schock admitted to making mistakes as a congressman, but denied violating federal law. Schock announced his resignation from the House in March of last year following questions surrounding misuse of funds in his campaign and congressional spending accounts, including reports that he redecorated his office with lavish decor inspired by "Downton Abbey." Schock was interviewed by the Peoria Journal Star after returning to the House floor last Wednesday for the first time since resigning from Congress over a year ago. The former Republican congressman told the Peoria Journal Star that he didn't have any details about the ongoing grand jury investigation into spending from his office allowance and political funds, but admitted to making "honest mistakes" during his time in Congress. "It's not like I'm the Gambino crime family," he told the paper. During the interview, Schock was adamant that he wasn't a "criminal," but admitted that he could have "done things better" during his time in Washington. Schock returned to the House floor Wednesday for the first time since resigning from Congress over a year ago. He was in attendance to hear India Prime Minister Narenda Modi address a joint session of Congress. The former congressman, who was particularly involved in India issues during his time in the House, shook Modis hand as he entered the chamber. Two west suburban Chicago mosques received email threats after Sunday's mass shooting in Orlando, the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago said Monday. Council officials said the shooting at Pulse, a gay nightclub, led to at least two threats being sent, to the Islamic Center of Wheaton and Islamic Center of Naperville. Its very unfortunate that some of our mosques have already received hate messages and even threats," Dr. Mohammed Kaiseruddin said. "We have passed those threats onto the local FBI office. The Orlando gunman, later identified by the FBI as Omar Mateen, 29, of Port St. Lucie, Florida, killed at least 49 people in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. "The Muslim community should not also be targeted against any hateful thing carried out by one individual over there, Kaiseruddin said. The Illinois chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) met with LGBT leaders Monday afternoon "to discuss ways to rise up together against the forces of hate, violence and polarization." "We recognize that these misguided and evil forces represent a common threat to vulnerable minority communities," the organization said in a statement. "CAIR-Chicago stands in solidarity with the LGBT community." In Chicago, police stepped up presence Sunday afternoon in the city's 19th District, which includes the North Side neighborhoods of Lake View, Lincoln Park and Boystown. First Deputy Superintendent John Escalante ordered the stepped-up police presence in the wake of the attack and the arrest of a heavily armed man near the LA Pride parade, according to a release from the Department. Increased police visibility will be present at all special events throughout the city and along the lakefront as well, according to Chicago Police spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi. "These measures are being done out of an abundance of caution," Guglielmi said. "There is no intelligence or threat against the LGBTQ community or any event within the City of Chicago." A San Diego woman was killed and a Chicago woman injured when they were taken hostage in their home in a violent attack, San Diego police said. A prowler broke into a home on Mill Peak Road at 11:30 p.m. Sunday. The home is located west of College Avenue and north of Interstate 8 in the Del Cerro neighborhood. Police said the prowler tried to break into one home but residents scared him off. Then he went to the home next door and smashed through a back sliding door using heavy weights. Inside that home were a 74-year-old woman and another woman in her 50s, police said. The suspect sexually assaulted the women at knife point. When officers arrived, they could hear loud screams from inside the home. SWAT officers immediately set up a perimeter outside the home and pinpointed the suspect and hostages in a locked bedroom. When officers entered the locked bedroom the suspect dropped a knife and surrendered to police. Eduardo Torres, 20, of San Diego, was arrested and removed from the home in handcuffs. It wasn't immediately clear if he had an attorney. The older victim died from stab wounds, according to SDPD Lt. Manny Del Toro. She was described as the resident of the home. The second victim a Chicago woman who was visiting San Diego suffered stab wounds to her upper body, police said. A 56-year-old man escaped the home unharmed, police said. No other information was immediately available. About 10:45 p.m., a man was killed in an Englewood neighborhood drive-by shooting on the South Side, police said. The 21-year-old was walking in the 5600 block of South May when a black car drove by and someone inside opened fire, according to Chicago Police. He was shot in the left side and taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said. About 90 minutes earlier, one man was killed and another was wounded in a shooting in the West Side Austin neighborhood, police said. The men, ages 21 and 28, were both shot about 9:15 p.m. in the 4500 block of West Gladys, according to Chicago Police. The 28-year-old was shot multiple times and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said. The younger man suffered a graze wound to the buttocks and took himself to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where his condition was stabilized. Earlier Monday, an 18-year-old man was found shot to death in the South Side Englewood neighborhood. Officers found the man dead with gunshot wounds to the head and hand shortly before noon inside a car parked in the 6500 block of South Ross, police said. The medical examiners office has not yet released his name. The latest nonfatal shooting happened just before midnight in a separate Englewood neighborhood attack. A 38-year-old man was shot in the back in the 5500 block of South Shields, police said. He was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was listed in fair condition. Additional information was not immediately available. Less than an hour earlier, five men were shot in the East Garfield Park neighborhood on the West Side. The group was standing outside about 11:35 p.m. in the 3200 block of West Congress when shots rang out, police said. A 32-year-old man suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was taken in critical condition to Mount Sinai Hospital. Another man, 28, was shot in the mouth and also taken to Sinai in good condition. A 33-year-old man was shot in the left foot: a 32-year-old man suffered a gunshot wound to the buttocks; and a 34-year-old man was shot in the left arm, police said. They were all taken to Stroger Hospital, where each man was listed in good condition. About 10:10 p.m., a 17-year-old boy was shot in the leg in East Garfield Parks 3100 block of West Monroe, police said. He was taken in serious condition to Mount Sinai Hospital. About 9:30 p.m., three people were shot in Austin. A 16-year-old boy, 21-year-old man and 43-year-old woman were all shot in the 300 block of North Pine, police said. The woman suffered gunshot wounds to the back and right arm and was taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where her condition was stabilized. The teenager was shot in the right leg, while the older man was shot in the left leg. They were both taken to West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park, but their conditions were not immediately known. About that same time, a 33-year-old woman suffered a graze wound to the leg in the 600 block of West 43rd Place in the South Side Canaryville neighborhood, police said. She refused medical attention. Ten minutes earlier, a 26-year-old man was shot in another Englewood neighborhood attack. He was in the 7500 block of South Union about 9:20 p.m. when someone walked up and shot him in the leg, police said. He took himself to the University of Chicago Medical Center, but his condition was not immediately known. About that same time, a man was shot in the Gage Park neighborhood on the South Side. The 19-year-old was riding a bicycle in the 5000 block of South Western about 9:20 p.m. when a white car pulled up next to him and someone inside shot him several times, police said. He was taken to Stroger Hospital, where his condition stabilized. Shortly before 5:30 p.m., a man and woman were shot in the West Englewood neighborhood on the South Side. The 31-year-old woman and 22-year-old man were sitting in front of a home in the 5700 block of South Bishop when a gray vehicle pulled up and several people got out and opened fire, police said. She was shot in the ankle and taken in good condition to St. Bernard Hospital, while the man was shot in the back and taken to Stroger Hospital, where his condition was stabilized. At 5:03 p.m., a 33-year-old woman heard gunfire and realized shed been shot in the hand in the Bronzeville neighborhoods 3800 block of South Rhodes, police said. She was taken to Mercy Hospital and Medical Center in good condition. Ten minutes earlier in Austin, a 19-year-old man was shot in the right calf in the 5600 block of West Division. He took himself to West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park, where he was listed in good condition, police said. About 1:45 p.m., an 18-year-old man was shot in the shoulder while standing on a corner in the 1900 block of South St. Louis Avenue in the North Lawndale neighborhood on the Southwest Side. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where his condition was stabilized, police said. Within the hour, a 20-year-old man was shot in the leg in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood on the Southwest Side. He was walking in the 6700 block of South Artesian about 1 p.m. when he heard shots and felt pain, police said. He was listed in good condition at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. About 11:45 a.m., a 26-year-old man was critically wounded in a Woodlawn neighborhood shooting on the South Side, police said. A friend drove him to the University of Chicago Medical Center with a gunshot wound to the lower back after the attack in the 400 block of East 62nd Street, and he was transferred to Mount Sinai in critical condition. Just before 9 a.m., a 28-year-old man was shot in the foot while driving in the 3400 block of West Huron in the West Side Humboldt Park neighborhood, police said. He kept going to Mount Sinai, where he was listed in good condition. Mondays first shooting happened about 3 a.m. in East Garfield Park, where a 22-year-old man was hit in the left leg while standing outside in the 3000 block of West Walnut, police said. His condition was stabilized at Stroger Hospital. The violence followed a weekend that saw seven people killed and 35 wounded in shootings across the city. An elementary school on Chicago's Northwest Side was placed on lockdown Monday afternoon after an employee made a threat against the school, according to police. Chicago police confirmed Ebinger Elementary School was on lockdown after two employees became involved in a verbal altercation and one threatened to come back and "shoot the school up." Students, faculty and parents were escorted out of the building by Chicago police officers. The school could not immediately be reached for comment. No one was in custody as of early Monday evening, but police said an investigation remained ongoing. Check back for details on this developing story. A Chicago police officer seen kicking a man in the head in a video posted to social media this week has been stripped of his police powers and placed on desk duty pending an investigation, the Chicago Police Department said. "Upon viewing the video, Superintendent Johnson immediately asked the Independent Police Review Authority to investigate the matter while the department gathers more information about the case," the department said in a statement. Footage that has been seen thousands of times on Facebook shows the officer attempting to arrest a suspect, identified as 24-year-old Shaquille O'Neil, running from police in the citys Lawndale neighborhood. It begins with the pair struggling on the ground in the 3900 block of West Grenshaw. Witnesses say O'Neil was running from police and appeared to be resisting arrest when the officer took the man to the ground. He was running from police, they had him face down on the ground, said witness Dre Powell. Started whopping him. Another officer arrives on scene and at one point kicks the man in the face. The officer came over there and kicked him in the face, said Terrance Hobson, who took the video. The footage was posted to Facebook Monday afternoon, where it quickly garnered more than 180,000 views and more than 9,700 shares in a matter of four hours. O'Neil was knocked unconscious and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital for treatment, according to the Chicago Fire Department. He was released from the hospital on Tuesday. "Really, really disturbing to see that video," community activist Jedidiah Brown said. "It outraged a lot of people in the city of Chicago." A small but vocal group of protestors gathered at police headquarters overnight. "Instead of turning around and putting his boot to the face of the young man, he was supposed to get down and properly handcuff him, as he has been trained to do." It was not immediately known why police were chasing the man. Police said pending charges against O'Neil include aggravated battery to a peace officer, resisting peace officer, possession of a controlled substance and reckless conduct. I dont know what he did, the guy they were detaining, said Hobson. But everybody seen what you did. That was wrong too. The Chicago Police Department said its investigation into the incident is ongoing. A man who recently moved from Chicago to Florida was among the 49 people killed in the weekend massacre at Pulse nightclub in Orlando. Angel Candelario-Padro, 28, worked at the Illinois College of Optometry and Illinois Eye Institute for nearly two years before leaving the city just a few months ago to relocate to Florida with hopes of continuing his education in chiropractic school, coworkers told NBC 5. "Our staff, faculty, and students are saddened by this tragedy and senseless loss of life," the institute said in a statement. "We will celebrate all that Angel was and draw solace from his life and the imprint he made on our community. Described by coworkers as always smiling, dancing and loving life, Candelario-Padro is being remembered for his "kindness, vivacious spirit, and passion for fitness and dancing." "He was our ICO idol," said Clinic Coordinator Roseanna Thompson. He started as a customer service associate at the institute but was quickly promoted to ophthalmic technician. Candelario-Padro's coworkers said he was a registered nurse in Puerto Rico and considered a "healer," always wanting to help people. "He as so excited and ecstatic to be involved with patient care," said Dominick Opitz, an optometrist at the institute. Sunday's massacre is considered the deadliest shooting in American history. At least 49 people were killed and dozens more were wounded. Friends say Candelario-Padro's boyfriend was wounded in the shooting and Candelario-Padro's death was confirmed Monday. "To see a young person's life come to a screeching halt when he had all these dreams and ambitions to pursue, it's very difficult," said Opitz. Hundreds gathered in support of Chicagos LGBT community Monday and to remember the victims massacred in Florida. The large group, which included Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, convened at Halsted Street for the vigil that became as much a rally as it was a somber remembrance to honor those killed. When there is hate, we in the city of Chicago bring love, Emanuel said. Time is running out for two federal programs designed to help homeowners who are facing foreclosure. The programs have already helped thousands of families in the Chicago area modify or refinance their mortgages, but the relief is scheduled to expire December 31. Consumers who qualify for the governments Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) and Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) could save hundreds of dollars each month. Both programs were created during the height of the countrys foreclosure crisis. According to Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago (NHS), a non-profit counseling organization that works with businesses, government and residents to revitalize Chicagos low-to-moderate-income neighborhoods, 27,639 Chicago-area homeowners are eligible for the programs. Its important that homeowners not delay in seeking assistance through these federal programs, said Karen Woods, director of homeownership services for NHS. Theresa Raborn of Midlothian said she will be certainly looking into options like NHS as she fights to save her home, which also serves as a homeschool for her three daughters. If I lose my house I cant work and my kids will lose their school and theyll lose their home, Raborn said. Raborn said she and her husband spent twelve months correcting an issue with their homes escrow. She said since they met their obligation, the lender has put some of her recent house payments in an unapplied account, where partial payments are held until they can be applied later. Raborn said she is being unnecessarily charged late fees. There was plenty of money in that unapplied (account) to make a full payment, Raborn said. This has snowballed to the point to where were behind on everything. Raborn said she is spending so much time dealing with the lender, she has had to limit her homeschool teaching. She also said her family now relies on a food bank. Our kids were doing great, but because of all of the stress in the house, its put stress on them, Raborn said. Freedom Mortgage said it graciously accommodated its customer and responded with a viable solution when the Raborns made additional requests. However, Raborn rejected the terms, including, she said, a provision that would have required her to keep the matter private. Im willing to be open to anything that they bring before me but I will not sign away my rights to speak and to associate in order to get a resolution, Raborn said. Housing counseling organizations that help homeowners learn more about HAMP and HARP said help is available to homeowners falling behind on payments or at odds with a lender. There are a lot of tools available to homeowners that they might not be aware of that we can help connect them with and help navigate the process, Woods said. Freedom Mortgage said it values and respects each and every customer. The company also said it has reversed the late charges and refunded the Raborns. A spokesperson also said Freedom has since responded to the customer and has tried to resolve again with good faith. Raborn said she is waiting on another agreement from Freedom Mortgage. Diggy the dog and his new owner, Detroit musician Dan Tillery, were all smiles when they finally became best friends, but after a photo of the pair went viral following Diggys rescue, police are saying the dog cant stay in town. Tillery adopted Diggy from the Detroit Dog Rescue after he had been at the shelter for nearly 100 days. A photo of Diggy smiling with Tillery at his new home quickly took over the Internet, but it also got the attention of the Waterford Township Police Department, according to the rescue. The Michigan city has an ordinance banning pit bulls or pit bull terriers. According to the ordinance, that includes "any dog which exhibits those phenotypical characteristics which substantially conform to the breed standards established by the American Kennel Club" for American Staffordshire terriers, Staffordshire bull terriers, or American pit bull terriers. According to the rescue, animal control and veterinary paperwork classified Diggy as an American bulldog, and the rescue called the township before approving the adoption. [[382833801, C]] But last week, city officials "made a visual identification on Diggy and classified him as a pit bull," the rescue wrote in a Facebook post Friday. "The identification came after several 'concerned citizens,' most of whom do not live in Waterford, flooded the police station with complaints," the post read. "Police now state that Diggy has three days to leave the township. Diggy was polite to the officers and played with them like the friendly dog he is, but now Diggy may be forced out of Waterford Township, MI. We understand that the police officers are just acting as agents for the community they serve and we look forward to resolving this matter with them." Police could not immediately be reached for comment on the matter, but told the Oakland Press they gave Tillery a three-day grace period to remove Diggy from the home. Waterford Police Chief Scott Underwood told the publication "it's a pretty clear case of an ordinance that makes it clear what's permissable and what's not." [NATL] Unbelievable Animal Stories: Dog Befriends Abandoned Baby Giraffe A petition looking to keep Diggy at his new home and lift the "pit bull ban" has since received more than 65,000 signatures. "This ordinance has been in place for many years," the petition says. "Many families have had to give up their family pets due to this law. It is important for all of us to come together and be a voice for not only Diggy the American Bulldog, but all of the pets and people that have suffered heartache in the past years. We must remember, it is not the animal that is the beast, it is man that creates the beast. Aggressive dogs come in all shapes, sizes, and BREEDS. This should be handled on a case by case basis." Tillery has taken to Facebook to address the controversy saying, "I just want our dog to stay home with us where he belongs." He wrote Monday that because Diggy remained at his house, he was issued a citation. "We are cooperating with the Waterford Police," he wrote. "All we can do now is remain hopeful that this can be resolved soon." Tillery added that he never wants "another dog to be discriminated against based off what they look like again." [[382834141, C]] Chicagoans looking to help victims of the Orlando massacre that killed at least 49 people and injured dozens of others can do so by donating blood. LifeSource in Rosemont said that while long lines of people waited to donate in Orlando, it could take days for those donations to be processed. Thats why the suburban Chicago facility quickly sent a shipment Sunday morning to help hospitals care for trauma patients. OneBlood needed blood to supply to the hospitals right away and so we took blood off our shelves that had already been processed, tested, labeled and shipped that to them, said Executive Director for LifeSource in Rosemont Eva Quinley. At least 50 people were killed in the massacre early Sunday morning at a gay nightclub in Orlando, the worst mass shooting U.S. history that occurred as the country celebrated LGBT pride month. OneBlood, a nonprofit clinic in Orlando, put out a call for blood early Sunday and by early afternoon it was thanking donors, saying it was at capacity and encouraging others to give over the next few days. Quinley said LifeSource nearly emptied their shelves sending donations to the area. I don't think I've ever seen such a massive need all at once like this, Quinley said. We've had shootings before and wrecks and those kinds of things but this was huge. LifeSource sent donations of all types of blood, including O-negative, a much-needed blood type which officials say is in need in both Orlando and in Chicago. "We did send them some O negative because O negative is obviously the universal donor and they had some patients that required that," Quinley said. "It's in short supply so we couldn't send them as much as we would've liked to send them." While LifeSource waits to see how much more blood they can send to Orlando, they are also asking donors to help them restock their shelves. It's very important we have a constant supply of donors, Quinley said. Sometimes in the summer, people get busy with outdoor activities and with family things, vacations and those sorts of things, and they forget there's a need for blood. In fact, the need for blood goes up in the summer. Blood donations has been a controversial topic in the wake of the shooting, as gay men face strict restrictions on giving blood. Only gay and bisexual men who have not had sexual contact with another man for at least a year are eligible to donate, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. On Monday, U.S. Representative Mike Quigley joined Rep. Barbara Lee and U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin called for the FDA to "life this prejudicial ban once and for all." "We find it unacceptable that gay and bisexual men are banned from donating desperately needed blood in response to this tragedy. Blood donations are needed now more than ever, yet gay and bisexual men remain unable to donate blood due to an outdated and discriminatory FDA rule," the group said in a statement. "For years, we have worked through both authorizing and appropriations committees to overturn the FDA's donor referral policy for men who have sex with men. We've made progress; this past year, the FDA reversed a lifetime ban to a 12-month deferral policy. But this revision does not go far enough in ending an outdated policy that is medically and scientifically unwarranted and that perpetuates inaccurate stereotypes. Tragedies like the one we witnessed in the early morning hours on Sunday show how crucial it is for FDA to develop better blood donor policies that are based on science and on individual risk factors; that dont unfairly single out one group of individuals; and that allow all healthy Americans to donate." If ever there was a year to wave the rainbow flag, this is it, said Staceyann Chin. It was that cry that led to a thunderous applause in Chicagos Boystown neighborhood Monday evening as hundreds gathered in support of the citys LGBT community and to remember the victims massacred at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida over the weekend. The large group, which included Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, flocked to Halsted Street for the vigil that became as much a rally as it was a somber remembrance to honor those killed in what has been deemed the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. When there is hate, we in the city of Chicago bring love, Emanuel said. The Chicago group lit candles in honor of each of the 49 victims, many mourning the heartbreaking loss while hoping the tragedy will also fuel change. Please take time to remember the victims and families in Orlando by recommitting to a peaceful dialogue where we can all live together in a free society, said Ald. Tom Tunney of Chicagos 44th Ward. David Sotomayor, whose cousin was killed in the massacre, said he is touched by the support in the wake of such loss. Its just so overwhelming, he said. And so amazing. The vigil comes as preparations continue for pride festivities in Chicago. Chicago police have already increased patrols in the Boystown, Lakeview and Lincoln Park neighborhoods and will continue to monitor the situation moving forward. Organizers for the Pride Parade had previously planned to add an additional 160 off-duty officers at the parades expense. Were not going to let one person or one group, whether ISIS or anybody else, put our community down, said organizer Richard Pfeiffer. Luis Burbano had escaped from the bullets flying across the dance floor at the Pulse nightclub into a narrow alley and through a hole in a fence when he stopped to help a young man who collapsed in front of him. "I grabbed him not realizing that his forearm was split in two," Burbano told CNN. "Then I realized he had a gash on his side as well." Burbano quickly took off his shirt to use as a tourniquet and, as he talked to the young man to keep him calm, he realized another man was pacing back and forth. And that man had a bullet in his leg, he said. "I did a tourniquet really quick on him as well," said Burbano, an employee of Florida International University, according to his Facebook page. "I had them both by my side until the paramedics came." Stories of bravery like Burbano's are emerging from the terror in Orlando, Florida, that began inside the gay nightclub around 2 a.m. Sunday when 29-year-old Omar Mateen, armed with what authorities said was an assault rifle and a handgun, opened fire. At least 49 people were killed and dozens wounded by the time Mateen was killed by a SWAT team. His motive for attacking the club is still under investigation, authorities say. In a 911 call immediately before the slaughter, Mateen swore allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS. His father told NBC News that Mateen had been infuriated earlier when he saw two men kissing. Joshua McGill, a nursing student, wrote on his Facebook page that as he hid under a car with a man who had been shot, he tied shirts over the wounds to stop the bleeding. "[A]nd got him secretly to the nearest officer who then transported us to the ER," he wrote. "Words cannot and will not describe the feeling of that. Being covered in blood.. Trying to save a guy's life that I don't even know regardless that I'm fine..just traumatized." [NATL] Deadly Nightclub Shooting Leaves Orlando Reeling The man was later identified as Rodney Sumter, a bartender at Pulse who was struck in his arms and back. On Monday morning one of his cousins wrote to McGill to say that Sumter was in good spirits, waiting for surgery. "Thank you so much for saving his life," Trina Brown Linning wrote. "If you had not stopped to help him, he could have easily bled to death. God bless you and your family." Christopher Hansen describes what he did to help save someones life. Christopher Hansen, a newcomer to Orlando, thought at first that the shooting was part of the music. "I looked over and I saw bodies falling, people screaming," he said. "The person next to me was shot and the blood splattered and then I fell down." When he got out of the club, he took off his bandanna for a man whose pant leg was drenched in blood, he told NBC News. A DJ at the club, Ray Rivera or DJ Infinite, mistook the shooting for firecrackers until he turned off the music, he told The Daily Beast. When club-goers began to scream and run, he ducked behind his DJ booth and was quickly joined by a man and a woman. The man made a run for it, but Rivera helped the woman escape. "I never imagined I would be at anything like this," he told The Daily Beast. "It was so terrible." Emilie Plesset contributed research for this article. // Ringo Starr, who spreads a message of peace and love every year on his birthday in July, said he wants that message to hit home even harder this year in the wake of Sunday's Orlando shooting. Starr said in an interview Monday that he doesn't understand the attack that left 49 victims dead and more than 50 hurt. "I don't understand that mindset that you could decide to injure and kill a lot of innocent people. I'm really not a supporter of wars either, but you can understand there's two sides having a go at each other. But this is so random," Starr told The Associated Press. "It's a difficult situation because it just happens," he continued. "Some guy so far it's always some guy isn't it, not some girl gets up in the morning and maybe is mad, maybe is angry we don't know, I don't know and decides to cause a lot of hurt, you know. It's sad." Starr says that's why his message of peace and love is so important. At noon on July 7 his 76th birthday the former Beatle is asking everyone to take a moment to ask for peace and love. He's been holding the event since 2008 and has celebrated in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Nashville, Tennessee, Hamburg, Germany and other places. The idea started when someone asked Starr what he wanted for his birthday. "And out of the blue I thought, 'You know what would be great if everybody at noon on the 7th of July went 'peace and love,'" he recalled. "Wherever you are on the bus, down the mine, wherever you could just go 'peace and love.' That would be ... a great gift to me." Starr is currently on a U.S. tour with his All-Starr band, which wraps on July 2 in Los Angeles. He said performing hasn't changed much since his days with Paul McCartney, John Lennon and George Harrison. "If you're thinking of the Beatles, the audiences were a lot bigger. But it's still the same. I started in clubs and I love to play that's why I'm here because I love to play. I've gotten into several good bands and of course ended up in the best band in the world," he said. "Paul's still out there, it's where we come from, we're not there to be famous, we're there to play." He added that he enjoys seeing older footage of him and the other Beatles when he comes across it. "It's good. I love them boys they were my brothers. I'm an only child (and) suddenly I got three brothers and we went through that brotherly thing, I thought. There were some downs, but there was so much up. But overall, the music is what was important and it didn't matter how we were fighting among ourselves. After the count in two, three, four everybody gave their best," he said. "I do think about it, and I do miss John and George as my brothers. They went one in a really bad way and one with an illness, which is a still a bad way but not as violent I don't think as the guy standing outside John's apartment block." The U.S. Coast Guard has rescued two men who were stranded on a raft in Long Island Sound for a day. Bob Ewing, a member of the Coast Guard Auxiliary, and his wife were heading from Port Jefferson in New York to Block Island, Rhode Island this morning when they came across a man in distress in an inflatable boat about two miles off of Milford. Ewing said it was 9:49 a.m. and the man in the raft was waving an orange windbreaker in a sign of distress. Together, he and his wife hoisted the man into their vessel. The man was somewhat alert, but in need of medical assistance, Ewing said, so his wife administered to him, treating him for shick and hypothermia, and they set off to meet the Coast Guard in New Haven. According to the U.S. Coast Guard, the man in the raft and another person had set out on Monday night. The other man who had been in the raft had jumped off to get to shore for help and the Coast Guard found him on Charles Island, off the coast of Milford. During the search, he approached the command officer said he was the person they were looking for. He's been on the island all night and was waiting for low tide to make it back to shore. Neither man sustained serious injuries. Emergency crews in Milford said this type of incident shows the need for proper equipment when going out on the water and the need to give a Float Plan to someone on shore, with details of the time you are leaving and when you expect to return, as well as your destination and route intended. Also bring proper equipment, they urge, including a waterproof light, a marine radio or cell phone, personal flotation device and a sounding device. They also warn to check the weather before leaving, including the high and low tides. Crowdsourcing website GoFundMe has verified the legitimacy of Equality Floridas popular campaign and experts suggest consumers do the same for any charitable organization before donating money. You dont need to take a couple (of) days, said Connecticuts Department of Consumer Protection spokesperson Lora Rae Anderson. Take a couple of minutes, maybe an hour, doing a little bit of research on where your money is going, because if you really want to help those involvedif you really want to help those who need ityou want to make sure your money is going to the most efficient place to help them. Equality Florida shows its registered as a non-profit in Florida and shows donors its registration number with a link to the states licensing website. Donors can hold Equality Florida to its promise to distribute the funds directly to victims families, as the LGBT non-profit says it is working with a team of attorneys and experts, including the National Center for Victims of Crime, which deployed funds in both Chattanooga and Aurora, to ensure funds are distributed correctly. Thats not always the case. In December 2012, Bronx-native Nouel Alba claimed one of the Sandy Hook victims, Noah Pozner, was her nephew. She raised so-called funeral funds through a Facebook page linked to a Paypal account. The account ended up being fake. Officials later sentenced Alba to eight months in prison and two years of probation. Unfortunately, after great tragedy theres typically an opening for scams, said Anderson. She suggests potential donors question legitimate charities, too. By the end of 2012, 64 different organizations registered as Sandy Hook charities state-wide, many of which were criticized for not distributing the funds effectively. Orlando could face a similar dilemma, as their healing process continues. Ask them where (the money is) going and when (it is) going there, said Anderson. They should be able to answer those questions, and people with their heart in the right place will be able to answer those questions for you. In this case, one sister's pain was another sister's laugh. A Connecticut teen posted a picture of her sister on Twitter after the 21-year-old was infected with poison ivy in her eyes. Days ago, Emily Petrozza, of Newington, noticed she had poison ivy on her arm after a day of fishing with her friends and taking care of feral cats in the neighborhood, her sister, Lauren, told NBC Connecticut. At first, Emily wasn't concerned but after taking out her contact lens, her face swelled a little and Lauren took some photos before the sisters went to bed that night. Lauren said the following morning, she heard her sister crying and saying she needed to go to urgent care. While, Lauren was still half-sleep, her sister went to a walk-in clinic and sent her sister a SnapChat photo. The pictures shows Emily with her eyes swollen shut. Lauren posted onto her personal Twitter account to get some laughs. "I think its funny. I thought people in my town would get a kick out of it," Lauren told NBC Connecticut. "But I guess everyone else did too." The picture has been shared tens of thousands of times. At first Emily was upset the photo of her inflamed eyes and skin was posted, but later found the response from people very funny. "A lot of people said the same thing had happened to them," Lauren said. "Some posted pictures of cartoon characters and said she looked like them." Lauren said her sister is doing much better, while still puffy, she is able to open her eyes and is on medication. Lauren Petrozza Police arrested an employee at a group home in Oxford after a patient who called 911 had allegedly been neglected for hours. Elisia Rotella, 45, is accused of second-degree reckless endangerment for not administering medical treatment to a bedridden patient who was having a time-sensitive issue, Oxford police said. The patient at Employment Options, a home for patients with developmental disabilities and traumatic brain injuries, was supposedly forced to call 911 for an ambulance after they were unable to get the medical attention they needed, police said. "We take all of these things very seriously especially people who are in homes and they're more vulnerable than the rest of us," First Selectman George Temple said. he Oxford ambulance crew members refused to comment about what they saw. Police say the patient was taken to Waterbury Hospital for evaluation. "I am worried that many of these places that are housing people have turned into human puppy mills. That's what I call them: human puppy mills. Warehouses for people with brain injuries," said Selectman Kathy Johnson. Johnson has advocated for brain injury patients because of her son, who was once an outpatient with Employment Options. "I had some good reasons why I took him out of there," Johnson said. NBC Connecticut called Employment Options and Rotella for comment but haven't heard back Rotella posted $500 bail and she's due to appear in court June 27. A former member of the Connecticut Air National Guard has been sentenced to 20 years after pleading guilty to using a computer to coax children to engage in sexual activity, according to the United States Attorney's office. Keith Haessly, 46, of East Hampton, was charged in June 2015 and found guilty of enticing numerous young boys to engage in unlawful sexual activity, according to court documents. Officials said Haessly posed as a young girl under the alias Amy Finch on Skype and Omegle and would use previously-recorded videos of females to entice the boys, said Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut. Haessly would record the boys' sexual activity and gave some of the images to an individual in Virginia. Investigators said they found images and videos of 950 children on Haessly's computer. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release. Though the gay nightclub massacre occurred in Orlando, Florida, the grief spread far and wide, including to San Francisco, 2,500 miles away. Starr Shelton, of San Francisco, said her ex-partner, 37-year old Kimberly "KJ" Morris, was a bouncer at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando and one of the 49 victims who died during Sunday's mass shooting. The Torrington, Connecticut native had started working at the club just two weeks ago. The two first met in Boston in 2014, but parted ways when Shelton moved to San Francisco to work on a masters degree. It was Morris' smile that first captured Shelton's heart. "I just knew she was the perfect person for me," Shelton said. Shelton said Morris recently moved back to Orlando to take care of her 85-year-old mother. Despite the distance, Shelton said they had still talked every day, including the night of the shooting. Hours before Morris was killed, she sent her "best friend" a text. "I said 'I miss you' and her last words back were 'I miss you too,' " Shelton said. She doesn't exactly know what happened Sunday night, but she can certainly guess: "I know in her her last moments, she would have helped people. She's never been a coward, she's never run away from anything." Shelton plans to fly out to Orlando for the funeral services for Morris. "I want people to know she's a wonderful person," Shelton said. "A great spirit bringing joy to everyone around her." A Killingworth, Connecticut, man made a bomb threat against a Milford car dealership to steal a new pickup, according to police. Police said Dylan Esposito, 43, of Killingworth, asked an employee of a Milford restaurant to borrow a phone, then called 911 and said there is a bomb at the Chevy dealership in Milford, then hung up. Police responded to Chevrolet of Milford, at 655 Bridgeport Ave., at 12:15 p.m. and evacuated the building. During the evacuation, one person being evacuated told officers a suspicious person had been walking in the parking lot. Police then found Esposito in the area and no bomb was found. As police detained Esposito, they found a firearm and said he doesnt have a valid Connecticut pistol permit. Police investigated and said Esposito had stolen a key to a 2017 Chevy Silverado earlier in the day and was planning on using the distraction of the 911 call to steal the truck. He has been charged with carrying a firearm without a permit, first-degree threatening, sixth-degree larceny and first-degree criminal attempted larceny. Esposito was released on $10,000 bond and is due in Milford Superior Court on July 12. A Bridgeport man suspected of trafficking assault rifles and other guns has been arrested. The statewide narcotics task force had an apartment on Hanover Street in Bridgeport under surveillance on Monday during an investigation into William Akeem Hooks, 29, of Bridgeport, and detectives saw him sell a GSG-522 .22 caliber rifle, according to a news release from state police. The gun, which had a pistol grip and silencer, is classified as an assault rifle Detectives later saw Hooks leave his home and stopped his vehicle, with help from the Bridgeport Police Department. When they arrested Hooks, police said they found him with one gram of crack cocaine, marijuana, and $1,320. When detectives searched Hooks apartment, they seized a loaded Smith & Wesson M&P 15-22 .22 caliber rifle with a high-capacity magazine that was reported stolen from Darlington County, South Carolina. Police said they also seized a loaded Glock Model 26 9mm semi-automatic handgun with a high-capacity magazine, the GSG-522 .22 caliber rifle and Hooks 2005 Dodge Magnum. Police said Hooks obtained the weapons from southern states along the East Coast and Troop G is holding them as evidence. The arrest comes a day after Connecticut lawmakers called on Congress to ban assault weapons after the mass shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida that killed 49 people and wounded 50 others.. Authorities contacted the Department of Children and Families because two children were in the apartment and Hooks was transported to Troop G, where he was held on $500,000 bond. Hooks was charged with illegal sale or transfer of an assault weapon, possession of narcotics, two counts of possession of an assault rifle, theft of a firearm and two counts of risk of injury to a minor. He is due in Bridgeport Superior Court today. Route 44 in Norfolk is shut down following a motor vehicle accident, a public information officer said. Officials are asking people to use a detour since Route 44 will be shut down for an extended period of time, Jon Barbagallo, a PIO for the Town of Norfolk, tweeted. The road is closed at the Colebrook line, he said. Two people have been transported to the hospital by LifeStar but no other information was released on the victims. This is a devleoping story. Please check back for updates. Vietnams leading oil importer and retailer Petrolimex has finalized the sale of an eight percent stake to Japan's JX Nippon & Energy for VND4.04 trillion ($178.3 million). The Japanese firm became an official stakeholder in Petrolimex on May 28, the latter said in a draft report that is to be presented at its annual shareholders' meeting on June 23. The Vietnamese government, through the Ministry of Industry and Trade, currently owns about a 95 percent stake in Petrolimex, with the rest held by the public and the company's labor unions. The company plans to continue selling shares to strategic partners until the government's stake is less than 75 percent as part of its restructuring efforts. Petrolimex said earlier this year that part of the funding from the sales will be used to finance its trading unit in Singapore, which is incurring losses. A Petrolimex gas station. Photo by Petrolimex. The two companies have been negotiating the deal for the past two years. Petrolimex had initially wanted to sell a 20 percent stake to the Japanese company, but a deal for eight percent has been finally agreed. JX Nippon & Energy signed a memorandum of understanding in December 2014 to become a strategic partner of Petrolimex. The two companies plan to set up a joint venture to invest in the proposed Nam Van Phong Refinery in the central province of Khanh Hoa. Related news: > Petrolimex to sell 8 pct stake to Japanese JX Nippon & Energy The managing directors of Sandy Hook Promise reject the narrative that nothing has changed since December 14, 2012. They say the latest massacre in Orlando is a reminder more people need to mobilize against gun violence. I understand what they are going through today and unfortunately understand the road ahead of them and it doesnt get any easier, Nicole Hockley, the managing director, said. Both Hockley and Mark Barden know the pain the parents of the Orlando shooting victims are feeling. Im so sorry because Ive been in that position of waiting to her if my little Daniel is alive or not, Barden said. We are here for you, and we can commiserate, and you can cry on my shoulder any time. The shooter at the Pulse nightclub opened fire with an assault style rifle similar to the one the gunman used to murder Daniel Barden, Dylan Hockley, their 18 classmates and six educators at Sandy Hook. It is ludicrous someone on the terrorist watch list can still legally purchase a gun, Hockley said. Advocating for sensible gun safety laws is only part of the mission of Sandy Hook Promise. No one snaps, Hockley said. These are events that are planned months or in the case of our shooter over a year in advance. That is why they are focused on educating students, teachers and parents to be on the look out for warning signs. Were training people to recognize those signs and signals and then to intervene and get that person the help they need before it turns into a tragedy like this, Barden said. As another community and the nation mourn for the victims of the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, Barden said if you are not addressing the problem, you are part of it. When this news cycle ends, these broken shattered families are going to be on this lifelong journey now and we are living examples, they are living examples that this can happen to anyone, he said. The Newtown Congregational Church organized an interfaith vigil for Orlando Tuesday night at 7 p.m. A Silver Alert has been issued for a 70-year-old woman from Southbury who was last seen in a nightgown, police said. Mary Zobbi is described as having black hair and blue eyes at about 5 feet 4 inches tall and 175 pounds, state police said. Zobbi may be operating a 2008 white Volkswagen Passport with Connecticut plates that read: 953MMC. Anyone with information is asked to call Connecticut State Police at (203) 264-5912. The trial over a copyright infringement lawsuit involving classic rock band Led Zeppelin's iconic anthem "Stairway to Heaven" is scheduled to begin Tuesday in downtown Los Angeles. The lawsuit alleges that the descending guitar arpeggio opening of "Stairway," released 45 years ago, was lifted from the 1968 instrumental "Taurus," recorded by the long-defunct Los Angeles band Spirit. The suit was lodged on behalf of Michael Skidmore, administrator of the trust of Spirit's late guitarist-songwriter Randy Craig Wolfe, known as Randy California. Wolfe drowned in 1997 off the coast of Hawaii. Defendants include Led Zeppelin band members Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, and three companies involved in the Led Zeppelin catalog. Jury selection in the case before U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner is set to start Tuesday morning. Last week, the judge denied a plaintiff's motion to compel the attendance of Page and Plant, but their attorneys previously stated the duo would attend proceedings. Klausner previously ruled that the jury trial would last less than a week and attorneys would have no more than 10 hours per side to present evidence. If Page and Plant do not show up to testify in court, video depositions, recorded in the United Kingdom, would instead be shown to the jury. The trust's attorney, Francis Malofiy, alleges in court papers that Page first heard key guitar parts later used in "Stairway" when Spirit performed "Taurus" on stage when they headlined over Zeppelin on the British band's first United States tour in 1968. The suit alleges that Led Zeppelin has "a deep-rooted history of lifting compositions from blues artists and other songwriters who they have repeatedly failed to credit." In the 1970s, the band made settlement agreements and granted writing co- credits to other artists for several songs originally credited to Page, including "Whole Lotta Love," "The Lemon Song" and "Dazed and Confused." "Attribution is the most important thing," Malofiy recently told City News Service. "What we want is for credit to be given where it's due. I'm a fan of Led Zeppelin, but in this situation, we want credit for Randy." In the liner notes to a 1996 reissue of Spirit's first album, Wolfe stated that "people always ask me why 'Stairway to Heaven' sounds exactly like 'Taurus,' which was released two years earlier... They opened up for us on their first American tour." In a six-page declaration filed with the court, Page said he didn't hear, or had even heard of, the two-minute, 37-second "Taurus' until two years ago. What to Know Google Fiber offers internet up to 100 times faster than current providers. Dallas is a potential city for Google Fiber. Currently, Austin has Google Fiber and San Antonio is in the works. Dallas is a city that is constantly growing and rapidly expanding, and the internet should be just as lighting quick as the city itself. At least, thats what the innovators at Google Fiber are thinking. Dallas is being considered as the newest city for the super fast internet program, Google Fiber. Fiber already exists in five U.S. cities, including Austin. If were able to bring Google Fiber to Dallas, it will mean more than a reliable connection, said Jill Szuchmacher, the Director of Expansion at Google Fiber, in a blog post. It will mean new ways for families to stay in touch and stream their favorite shows, and new opportunities for businessesespecially businesses in Dallas budding tech sectorto grow and be more productive. Google Fiber advertises its internet to have speeds that are 100 times faster than existing internet services for prices that are comparable or below average. Szuchmacher said the Google Fiber team is working alongside Mayor Mike Rawlings to see where the internet program could fit into Dallas infrastructure and topography. Google Fiber will help Dallas attract even more tech talent, and push the city further toward the future, Szuchmacher wrote. Because development for the Dallas Fiber program hasnt actually started yet, it could take several months or more than a year for the internet system to blaze its way into the lives of Dallas residents. San Antonio is an upcoming Fiber City. If Dallas were to join the Fiber community, it would be the third city in Texas that offers lighting fast internet connect. We look forward to working with Dallass leaders as we explore bringing Fiber to their city, Szuchmacher wrote. Its still early days, but well keep residents updated as we approach our decision. Other Cities With Google Fiber: Atlanta, GA Austin Kansas City, KS/MO Nashville, TN Provo, UT Upcoming Fiber Cities: An American Airlines flight returned to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Tuesday morning after reporting a problem shortly after takeoff. American Airlines Flight 1620 took off at 8:50 a.m. for Denver. Moments after departing, an alert forced the plane to loop around and return to the airport. The Boeing 737-800 with 154 people on board landed safely at DFW Airport after circling northwest Tarrant County for several minutes. The airline has not confirmed the issue, but an initial report indicated a problem with a stabilizer. The flight was scheduled to depart at 12:50 p.m., but as of 1:10 p.m. it's still awaiting takeoff. An Arlington officer under investigation by state and federal authorities in connection with a fraud scheme committed suicide Tuesday, Arlington police said. Officer David Vo committed suicide near his home, the department said. Vo and another officer have been arrested in the investigation, and a third officer is being questioned. Vo, 35 and a three-year employee of the department, was arrested over the weekend and released pending charges. He was on administrative leave. Officer Thomas Kantzos, 45, was arrested Tuesday. Kantzos, a 17-year veteran of the department, is being held in protective custody at the Tarrant County jail and is on administrative leave. He faces federal charges of fraud and related activity in connection with computers. Arlington police said Officer Craig Hermans, 34, is being questioned in the case. Hermans, a three-year police employee, is also on administrative leave. The FBI and Texas Rangers are investigating the case. The Arlington Police Department said it is "deeply disturbed by the actions of these employees" and is cooperating with the investigation. "Criminal misconduct by our employees is intolerable, as it damages the trust and confidence of those we serve," Police Chief Will D. Johnson said. "We will always aggressively pursue the arrest and prosecution of any employee engaged in this sort of behavior." More than 1,000 people turned out Tuesday evening at the Cathedral of Hope church in Dallas to hear the Turtle Creek Chorale perform in honor of the Orlando massacre victims. The free performance was titled "Songs for Healing." The all-male choir is known around the world. "Music has been used to build bridges and break down the barriers around homophobia, so we are delighted to welcome the Turtle Creek Chorale into our space this evening," said senior pastor Rev. Dr. Neal Cazares-Thomas. Security for the event was tight. At least two dozen Dallas police officers stood guard inside and patrolled the parking lot. The chorale's artistic director, Sean Baugh, said the music was meant to "bring people together and remind us all of the love we have for each other." The church sanctuary seats 1,000, and it was full. Hundreds more stood in the back, while others watched from a nearby chapel. "I hope we sing loud enough to make it all the way to Orlando," Baugh said. The chorale finished its 36th season of performances on Saturday night. Executive director Bruce Jaster said it was such a positive weekend that members wanted to continue that positive message in the wake of the negative news out of Orlando and help those in the LGBT community. "It's all love songs, it's all songs of peace and joy and happiness," Jaster said. Organizers accepted donations at Tuesday's concert, which they said they would send to the victims' families in Orlando. NBC 5's Chris Van Horne contributed to this report. Investigators have identified a woman believed to have threatened people at the Islamic Association of Tarrant County on Sunday afternoon. The FBI has interviewed the woman, but Fort Worth police tell NBC 5 it's not clear yet whether her actions will be considered a crime. One of the alleged targets of that woman's rant said Monday she is not the one with whom he's angry. The call to prayer is a constant rhythm in the southwest Fort Worth neighborhood surrounding the Islamic Association of Tarrant County. The chanting voice weaves through daily lives there and right now, it cuts through pain, grief and anger. "And there's that helplessness," added Babak Sekandari. He wishes he could stop every radical attack made in the name of his religion. "I was just so angry that this happened," said Sekandari. So when a woman came into the mosque on Sunday and told him, "50 people were dead in Orlando and I was personally responsible for that," it hurt. Sekandari said he also heard her say, "Get your smelly 'somethings' back to your homelands." Then outside, other mosque members said she told them someone was coming back to kill them. Fort Worth police and the FBI are investigating, but there are no charges so far and to Sekandari that's OK. "She was probably just grief-stricken and she felt helpless and she felt like she had to do something, and I don't blame her one bit for that," Sekandari said. He feels that grief too. "When I saw the faces of the victims in Orlando, I feel like the focus should be on them," he said. So, to him, one woman's comments seem small. "The woman that came into the mosque, I don't feel any anger or resentment against her. The guy that went and did that (Orlando shootings), I cannot begin to express the amount of rage I have against that guy and anyone that might have been on his side," said Sekandari. As the call rings out again, Sekandari prays for understanding. "To try to see it from the other person's point of view," Sekandari said. And he prays for peace for all. Mosque leaders say they are still working with local investigators and the FBI to see if this rises to the level of a hate crime, or other charges. Fort Worth police, meanwhile, are closely patrolling Islamic and LGBT centers throughout the city. Orlando shooting survivor Luis Lopez had moved from the Dallas-Fort Worth area to Orlando just six months before the massacre at Pulse Nightclub, where 49 people were shot by a lone gunman. Fifty-three others were injured. Lopez was at the club with his friends when the gunfire erupted. "When we started hearing the gunshots, me and my friend at first, we were like, is that like the song? Is it going with the song? But when the music stopped playing and we still hear the gunshots firing and we see people running out of there, like screaming, tumbling over each other, yelling and the shots are still going, it was just so much. I would see people with blood on their shirts, blood everywhere, blood on their faces," Lopez said. The 23-year-old, who lived in The Colony and worked in Lewisville for four years before moving back to Orlando, where he grew up, said the first thing he did when he heard gunfire was throw himself on the floor. He said he then decided to make a run for it. "I jumped over the fence, and I just started running and running and running, all the way until I felt like I was far away enough and even then, I could still hear the gunshots behind me firing over and over, nonstop," he said. "It was, it was just very, very overwhelming," he added. He said he later found out his friend was still in the building. "We were able to get in contact with him on the phone and he says, 'I'm scared. I don't know what to do. I see him shooting and he's laughing and he's shooting people and people are hurt and screaming and crying,' and so I called 911," Lopez said. "What can we tell him so he knows he's going to be okay?" He said his friend's mother was also at the club that night. "Unfortunately, his mom didn't make it. His mom was there and she got shot three times. She didn't make it. I'm in state of shock, still. I can't believe something like that especially after going there for so many years, that it happened like this," he said. Neighbors and property owners are boosting pressure to make a second Downtown Dallas DART rail line entirely below ground instead of partially below ground as currently proposed. Several meetings this week could advance the subway campaign. The downtown owners have sort of woken up and said we cant allow this, weve got to do this right, said Dallas City Councilman Philip Kingston who represents Downtown Dallas. DART last year proposed a surface route along Young Street that would have taken property from the First Presbyterian Church. A compromise Jackson Street route was offered, and the Dallas City Council voted to make Jackson Street the preferred route. Kingston voted against it, favoring a subway route all along. DART has agreed for years that that is exactly what they are going to do in Downtown Dallas. They owe us a subway and they are trying to welch out on their deal, Kingston said. Spokesman Morgan Lyons said DART hopes to have the new line operating by 2021 when high speed rail from Houston is expected to arrive in Downtown Dallas, but the D2 route is only 5-percent designed. Were working with a wide mark and were working with pencils, Lyons said. The agency claims entirely underground construction could cost $500 million more and could delay completion as much as 10 years with additional federal review. We just dont feel its justified right now, Lyons said. We havent ruled anything out. In recent public meetings, DART offered a new Young Street design that keeps trains entirely in the existing street and takes no First Presbyterian Church property. But it still reduces access to the existing church parking garage and puts a rail line between the main church building and other parts of the campus across the street. Property owners along the Jackson Street route were opposed all along saying trains on that narrow street would ruin redevelopment efforts of older buildings there. Kingston said subway construction would eliminate expensive right of way purchase expenses and produce a better product for Dallas in the long run that does not divide neighborhoods. This is one of those key features of developing downtown where the good really is the enemy of the perfect. And we can have the perfect in this situation if we simply focus our political will, Kingston said. A coalition that supports subway construction planned a meeting for Tuesday night. DART has two public meetings set for Wednesday to share the latest plans and receive input. The DART meetings are scheduled for 12 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. at The Scottish Rite Temple, 500 South Harwood Street, along the Young Street route. Vietnamese government's recent business policy starts to pivot around small and medium enterprises instead of large conglomerates as the country targets to have one million start-ups by 2020. Even though small and medium-sized enterprises account for 97 percent of companies nationwide, they have only recently come to be the focal point of policymakers, who are developing a comprehensive plan to empower SMEs to play a strategic role in the countrys growth. The Ministry of Planning and Investment is drafting a legal framework to support SMEs that will be up for the national legislatures approval next month, according to the government portal. If the lawmakers sign on, it is estimated that 550,000 SMEs will stand to benefit from these policy initiatives. Vietnam currently identifies SMEs as enterprises with fewer than 300 workers and annual revenue below VND100 billion ($4.5 million). Its generally agreed that we have been slow to support small and medium-sized enterprises, however, better late than never, said Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Dang Huy Dong in the government's website. He also admitted that the private business sector, including SMEs, has been weak and lacking in everything, while the government has yet to throw its full support behind them. All foreign direct investment companies and large-sized enterprises need to do is make a phone call to set up a meeting with top local authorities, but small and medium-sized firms may try for a month without success, said Chau Minh Nguyen, the chairman of the business association in the southern province of Dong Nai. We should not see this move as the government supporting a vulnerable business sector; we must consider the growth of SMEs to be strategically vital to the countrys industrialization, said economist and former lawmaker Tran Du Lich. He suggested that policymakers provide further incentives for SMEs in support industries which play central roles in restructuring the economy and shifting to a new growth model. Nguyen Van Phuc, vice chairman of the National Assemblys Commission for Economic Affairs, said state-owned companies and private conglomerates are usually in a better position than small and medium-sized enterprises in terms of accessing cheap credit and other resources from the government. However what SMEs need more than easier access to capital is a transparent and fair business environment, Phuc continued, which can only be created through administrative reform to cut the amount of cumbersome paperwork for businesses. Under the draft document prepared by the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the government will encourage commercial banks to lend more to SMEs, having at least 30 percent of their outstanding loans to these businesses. The ministry also suggested a variety of tax incentives that the government can utilize to boost the growth of SMEs. The ministry also said the government should offer at least 20 percent of public procurement contracts to SMEs each year, or for at least to 20 percent of the funds allocated for those projects to go to SMEs. Vietnam's start-up ecosystem is shaping as private companies contribute more to an economy once dominated by state firms and multinationals. Photo by AFP/Hoang Dinh Nam Start-up nation by 2020 Vietnamese policymakers are embracing an ambitious plan to turn the country into a start-up nation in the next four years. Recently, the Vietnamese government approved a package of fresh initiatives aimed at paving the way for the boom in technology start-ups Under the project, the government will provide legal and financial support for an estimated 2,600 start-up companies across the country over the next 10 years. The government plans to launch an online portal that will keep start-ups updated about technologies, policies and funding. The government will also set up co-working spaces where startup companies can gain access to operational infrastructure for a minimal fee. Start-ups will even receive financial support from the government for training, product testing and marketing. The Ministry of Planning and Investment has already developed a set of incentives that will draw local and foreign venture capital funds into the country. The goal, said Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue, is to have "one million start-up companies by 2020". Related news: > Ho Chi Minh City develops startup ecosystem with $1.3 mln fund > Deputy PM suggests setting up a stock exchange for start-ups > Stock market listings still a long way off for Vietnam's start-ups Dallas city leaders Monday received a briefing on a long-awaited future plan for Downtown Dallas freeways called City MAP, short for Master Assessment Process. The plan was developed by the Texas Department of Transportation over the past year as some urban planners pushed for demolition of a major overpass on one downtown freeway and neighbors cheered the success of a new park over another one. "They said, how can we fix some of the mistakes we've maybe made in the past? I like that attitude," Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said. The City MAP plan combines freeway planning with urban planning, a major departure from tradition for the agency. "We have experienced a real transformation in thought process here," said Texas Transportation Commissioner Victor Vandergriff. Options in the plan include replacing the elevated freeway link between Interstate 45 and U.S. 75/Central Expressway with a depressed road that would permit deck parks like the popular Klyde Warren Park over Woodall Rodgers Freeway. "The amount of lift in property values and people that moved into the area is phenomenal," said Vandergriff. The reconstruction of Interstate 35E/R.L. Thornton Freeway called The Southern Gateway, already underway, includes plans for a deck park near the Dallas Zoo. Rawlings wants Interstate 30 to be the next priority, starting with a link over The Canyon area between downtown and The Cedars neighborhood. "It is a huge chasm that divides our city, and as we go further east, it divides East Dallas to Fair Park and South Dallas, and is one of the reasons that we have not had the growth that we have needed," Rawlings said. The plan also includes a totally new suggestion of diverting I-30 to an entirely new path away from Downtown Dallas, opening all of the old I-30 path for redevelopment. Kleinman said the North Texas region could overtake the Chicago area in population within 20 years, with Dallas at the core. "It's the key factor in this," Kleinman said. Vandergriff said money is available to build the major new roads with new state transportation funding programs recently approved by voters. "It's a sustainable funding stream over an extended period of time. If we look at it as taking proper bites of the apple, we can do that," Vandergriff said. "I would consider my time on the commission a failure if we did not come up with a plan to address the downtown core of Dallas." Rail transit and high-speed rail connections are considered in the plans. Timelines for completion of the projects vary from six to 24 years. // CityMAP-Briefing-Compressed (PDF) CityMAP-Briefing-Compressed (Text) The Dallas County Medical Examiner's Office will determine how a man died while in custody at the Irving Jail Monday. Jail staff members found 41-year-old Gabriel Pedro Gonzales unresponsive in his cell just after 8 a.m. and immediately began resuscitation efforts, according to a statement from Irving police. Gonzalez was transported to Baylor Scott & White Medical Center at Irving, where he was pronounced dead at about 9:13 a.m., police said. Gonzalez had been in jail since his arrest Saturday morning on four misdemeanor warrants from Dallas and Grand Prairie. Police said there were no obvious signs of trauma that could have indicated a cause of his death, and they said an investigation into the death continues. Luis Vielma, a man with North Texas ties living in the Orlando area, was among those killed in the Orlando massacre early Sunday. His death left a gaping hole in his family, who gathered Monday in a small living room, looking at photos. "He's smiling. He's happy," Vielma's godmother, Jo Ann Sofinowski, commented. "Celebrating life, because that's what Luis did." The 22-year old lived in Sanford, Fla., and was going to college with plans to become a nurse. Vielma also worked at Universal Studios at the Harry Potter exhibit. "He loved Harry Potter," Sofinowski said. "And the fact that he was working in the Harry Potter exhibit made him jump up and get to work every day." Vielma was the oldest of three siblings in Sanford, with another sibling in North Texas. It was a connection shared with his godmother. "I was born in Dallas," Sofinowski said, smiling. *3e always talked about the Dallas Cowboys. He loved the Dallas Cowboys, and so we had a little connection." The family said Vielma went to Pulse nightclub to support a friend who wanted to go dancing. "I can understand why he was at that club," Sofinowski said. "It was Latin music and that boy loved to dance!" Sofinowski said Vielma's friend was wounded, and as of Monday afternoon, did not know Vielma was killed. "Things like this happen around the world," said friend, Sarah Martinez. "This is so close to home and it's just so hard, especially when it's somebody you know." More than one-hundred people attended a vigil for Vielma Monday night in a Sanford park friends called his "second home". They recited the rosary in Spanish and shared memories. Vielma's grieving father hugged every person who got up to speak and thanked the crowd "todos gracias" for coming. "I'm sure he'd love each and every one of you a lot more by seeing what you're doing," Vielma's younger brother said, choking back tears. "He was taken too soon from us." "Love your loved ones," a friend told the crowd. "Don't only love them on special occasions or when trying stuff happens like this. Every day look at them and tell them you love them. Appreciate them." The vigil ended with a balloon release and chants of "Luis, Luis, Luis!" "He's at peace. He's not hurting, but his family certainly is," Sofinowski said, through tears. "Heaven got an angel out of Luis." Even in the middle of the night people stopped at a growing memorial in downtown Orlando, the site of a massive vigil on Monday. People prayed, they hugged and lit candles in the site of collected grief more than 48 hours after a gunman shot and killed 49 people inside the Pulse nightclub. One of the people inside the club was Luis Lopez. The young man is originally from The Colony but recently moved to Orlando. Lopez told NBC 5 Pulse was a home away from home, a place where his friends came to have fun and feel safe. He was inside the club early Sunday morning hanging out with friends when that security was shattered. More of the signs left at the growing memorial in downtown Orlando. @NBCDFW #OrlandoUnited pic.twitter.com/8aW4U1Zabi Katy Blakey (@KatyBlakeyNBC5) June 14, 2016 "I see everyone jumping over the fences and going crazy and just trying to get out any way that they could have, said Lopez. Thats when I thought I needed to get out of here too. So then I ran straight to the fence. I jumped over the fence and I just started running and running and running all the way until I felt like I was far away enough. Even then I could still hear the gunshots fired over and over. It was non-stop it was very overwhelming," Lopez said. He came to a vigil held Monday night to honor the victims and said he can still not believe what happened. He told NBC 5 that he is okay and has heard from concerned family and friends back in North Texas. Families and friends grieve the loss of their loved ones killed in an Orlando nightclub over the weekend. A North Texas native currently working as a freelance journalist in San Francisco is reflecting on Sunday's massacre inside Orlando's Pulse nightclub. Christopher Jones has worked as an LGBTQ journalist for the past decade, including working in various capacities for Instinct Magazine. "Part of our job was to host events all across the country for Pride," Jones said. "Pulse and Gay Days Orlando were two events for many many years, and a lot of those people became my friends to the point where I would consider some of them my family." Jones told NBC 5 after the attack he looked at his phone, hoping it would not ring. "Because I knew if it rang, especially from any of my colleagues, it was going to be bad news," Jones said. "And it rang you know, it rang." Jones' friend Edward 'Eddie' Sotomayor Jr. was killed in the attack, as were at least two other people he knew. "I met Eddie on my first trip to Orlando, and I was still kind of a media journalist baby, and this kid came barreling out of nowhere and was like, 'I need to know you and I'm going to connect you to everybody,' and that was just the start of his energy," Jones said. "Him being gone is a big loss for the LGBT community," Jones added. Another of Jones' friends was severely injured. "It's just weird. I still consider myself young, and I'm just like it's weird to lose friends to things like this senseless acts of violence," Jones said. "It's a sad day, and I was devastated." Jones said the movement of support, including memorials, vigils and marches across the United States, show the impact of what happened. "We care, and we're not going to hide or be fearful. This is not a time this is Pride month and we shouldn't be ashamed of who we are," Jones said. "The fact that we wake up every day as LGBTQ people shouldn't be an act of bravery, we should just be able to live our lives without being in fear that we're going to be shot." Jones said gay bars and clubs are supposed to be a sanctuary for the LGBT community. "LGBT people, when you grow up and you get your first boyfriend or girlfriend, you're scared to hold hands in public, you're scared to show affection, because you don't know how other people are going to respond. These are supposed to be safe havens for us if our schools aren't safe, our universities aren't safe, if you can't even go out to a restaurant or bar and have a drink and be safe what is safety? In turn, what is freedom. This is not being free," Jones said. Jones says he is more vigilant following this attack, but says you can't live in fear. "You know, you do have to do things differently and I would say for me personally and probably for a lot of people in our community it's not so much different than what you're doing right now. We are all very vigilant, we're always looking behind our backs, we're always questioning our situations. You have to bring that up a notch, you have to be even more vigilant, even more aware of your surroundings and push though the pain and the fear of not living fully. Because if you do succumb to, 'Oh, this just happened, I can't go to the Pride parade, I can't go to the bar,' they win," he said. "You're not living your life authentically. We all deserve that, we all deserve that." The owner of a gun store where the Orlando nightclub shooter bought his weapons said Monday the gunman passed a full background check and that if he hadn't bought the guns from him, he would've purchased them somewhere else. Ed Henson, owner of the St. Lucie Shooting Center, told reporters during a news conference outside his business that Omar Mateen legally purchased a long gun and a handgun about a week ago but he didn't know exactly when. He said they weren't bought on the same day. Henson said Mateen had two security licenses, an armed one and an unarmed one. He added he is sorry the "evil person" bought the guns from his store. "It's horrible," said Henson, who according to NBC News is a retired NYPD police officer. "I'm just sorry he picked my place. I wish he picked no place but that's society." The 29-year-old Mateen was killed in a shootout with police after he attacked a gay nightclub early Sunday. At least 49 other people died in the attack. President Barack Obama on Tuesday delivered a scathing rebuke of Donald Trump's anti-Muslim rhetoric, blasting the Republican presidential nominee's immigration proposals as dangerous and "not the America we want." His comments from the Treasury Department come the day after Trump doubled down on his proposal to temporarily ban foreign Muslims from the entering the country. Obama argued that antagonizing Muslims would undermine American values and compromise safety by fueling the notion among ISIS that the West hates Muslims. "If we ever abandon those values, we would not only make it a lot easier to radicalize people here and around the world, but we would have betrayed the very things we are trying to protect." Obama said. "And then the terrorists would have won and we cannot let that happen. I will not let that happen." He said the terror group wants a war between Islam and the U.S. "They want us to validate them by implying that they speak for ... Islam. That's their propaganda. That's how they recruit," Obama said. "And if we fall into the trap of painting all Muslims with a broad brush and implying that we are at war with an entire religion, then we are doing the terrorists' work for them." The president pushed back against those who have criticized his decision not to use the phrase "radical Islam." "Calling a threat by a different name does not make it go away. This is a political distraction," Obama said. Instead, he said, there are ways to protect the Second Amendment while taking "common-sense steps that could reduce gun violence." Trump tweeted later in the day, "Thank you to the LGBT community! I will fight for you while Hillary brings in more people that will threaten your freedoms and beliefs." Obama called for the reinstatement of the federal assault weapons ban and said "people who can't get on a plane shouldn't be able to buy a gun." The president also pushed for more resources to enforce existing gun control laws. "We have to make it harder for people who want to kill Americans to get their hands on weapons of war that let them kill dozens of innocents," he said. Otherwise, Obama warned, "these kinds of events are going to keep happening and the weapons are only going to get more powerful." The president also highlighted progress in the fight against ISIS, saying the number of fighters associated with the terror group has reached its lowest point in 2 1/2 years. The president said ISIS is losing ground in Syria, Iraq and Libya and that coalition forces have taken out more than 120 leaders and commanders. "Our message is clear: If you target America and our allies, you will not be safe," Obama said. "You will never be safe." His statement came on the heels of the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, in which gunman Omar Mateen killed 49 people and wounded dozens more at a gay nightclub in Orlando early Sunday. Mateen pledged his support to ISIS on the phone with 911, authorities have said, and the massacre is being investigated as an instance of domestic terror. The gathering of top officials at the Treasury Department was scheduled before Sunday's mass shooting. NBC's Ari Mason contributed to this report. A dead 11-foot alligator was removed from a storm drain in Fort Myers, Florida Monday morning. A picture was snapped as Lee County transportation workers removed the gator. Authorities first discovered the gator after residents complained of a foul smell coming from the catch basin. Florida Fish and Wildlife officials say it's not uncommon for alligators to get caught in storm drains. The animal was later buried at a site designated for the disposal of dead animals. About 35 residents were evacuated overnight due to a warehouse fire that produced "ferocious" explosions in a community southeast of downtown Los Angeles and left thousands of customers without power. The fire was reported around 2:30 a.m. at a plastics business in the 3700 block of Fruitland Avenue, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department. More than 3,100 customers were without power early Tuesday, according to Southern California Edison. Firefighters battled an overnight fire in Maywood that produced several explosions due to magnesium in the building. "We had some very violent, ferocious explosions," said LA County Fire Chief Daryl Osby. Residents to the south of the warehouse were evacuated. They gathered at a nearby YMCA as firefighters continued to protect houses and other buildings Tuesday morning. Those residents are expected to be out of their homes until at least Wednesday morning, fire department officials said. No injuries were reported. Firefighters positioned on nearby rooftops prevented the fire from spreading to residences. At least two commercial structures were damaged, Osby said. The building likely contains several types of metals and possibly propane, Osby said. "We don't know exactly what is burning, but we do have magnesium in there," said Los Angeles County Fire Department inspector Gustavo Medina. "That's typical when magnesium heats up and we douse water on it. It produces these massive fire balls." 'Ferocious' Explosions Rock Maywood Warehouse Residents reported the sound of several explosions overnight and said smoke blanketed the neighborhood southeast of downtown Los Angeles. "It's horrifying, the heat that you could actually feel from here, and we're a block away from it," said resident Lizette Sanchez. More than 80 firefighters responded to the fire, according to LACFD. A cause was not immediately determined. The South Coast Air Quality Management District issued a smoke advisory. The agency reported that complaints about the odor from the smoke are coming in from throughout the area, including the San Fernando Valley, and experts are taking measurements to assess possible toxic concerns. Poor air quality was reported in central, south central and southeast portions of Los Angeles County, air quality officials said. Roads in the area were expected to remain closed into Wednesday. Air quality can be monitored by area here. NBC4's Jonathan Lloyd contributed to this report. A man accused of intentionally lighting a Westlake building on fire where five people were found dead was arrested on suspicion of murder Tuesday, the Los Angeles Police Department said. Five people, who had not yet been identified by authorities, were killed in the blaze, the Los Angeles Fire Department said Tuesday. The man accused of setting the fire was identified as Johnny Sanchez, 21, according to the LAPD Captain Bill Hayes. Officials said he was a transient. After a blaze ripped through what was supposed to be an abandoned building at 2411 West 8th Street Monday night, firefighters pulled three people from the blaze. One died later at the hospital, officials said. On Tuesday, detection dogs began scouring the rubble and discovered two men and two women, all deceased, bringing the death toll to five. The four were all found huddled together under a "significant amount of debris," fire officials said. The fire began on the second floor of the two-story building Monday evening at 7 p.m., quickly engulfing the majority of the structure. More than 140 firefighters battled the blaze at its height. As many as five people were also injured. According to the Los Angeles Fire Department, the people pulled from the building Monday were not allowed to be there as the building was vacant. Those killed appeared to be transients, fire officials said. Investigators said that though the cause of the fire had not yet been determined, they believe that Sanchez had a dispute with the other homeless people living in the building and intentionally set the fire. He was being held on $1 million bail, police said. He suffered minor injuries in the blaze. Police said the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office may seek additional charges after all of the victims have been identified. Sanchez has a history of narcotics and domestic violence violations, police said. When Paulette Jorrisset stepped out of her Reseda home Tuesday morning, she was hit was by an intense, chemical smell. "I took one little whiff and it just came over me. I immediately closed my door and windows and started contacting people," she said. Residents all over the Southern California area felt the after-effects of a fire through a pungent odor that settled over the region. Another resident, Justin Adams of Sherman Oaks, described the scent like a burning tire, a plastic-y smell. The fire began around 2:30 a.m. at a plastics business in the 3700 block of Fruitland Avenue. A smoke advisory was released late morning by the South Coast Air Quality Management District, advising residents to avoid unnecessary outdoor exposure and to limit physical exertion. Air quality officials are reporting poor air quality in the central, south central and southeast portions of LA County. South Coast Air Quality spokesman Sam Atwood said they have received around 35 complaints regarding the smell and smoke. Atwood said air quality officials took air samples in areas around the fire and are currently testing the samples for dozens of metals and constituents. The results will be coming out in the next couple of days. One of the metals already identified by the LA Fire Department is magnesium, which is the main contributor to the metallic smell in the air this morning, according to Dr. Cyrus Rangan, director of the Bureau of Toxicology and Environmental Assessment for the LA Department of Public Health. Magnesium is difficult to manage. Water can react with it, causing it to heat up and burn longer. Thats why putting out the fire is taking a lot longer than usual, Rangan said. Rangan said the best thing residents can do is to listen to the warnings and follow them. He also said its not required to stay indoors, but a reasonable measure to stay safe. The odor is not expected to be toxic outside of evacuation zones, though long-term exposure could cause irritation, said Rangan. For now, air quality officials are taking a broad, cautionary approach to the situation by issuing the smoke advisory. Though Adams, in Sherman Oaks, said the smell has improved throughout the day, he said he wishes there had been more information this morning by officials to let him know if it was safe to be outdoors. I still havent really heard anything, whether or not its safe. One of my kids was at daycare today at a park, so she was just outside running around in it, he said. One person was killed and five people were injured Monday evening as firefighters battled a vacant office building blaze in the Westlake District of Los Angeles, LA City Fire officials said. More than 140 firefighters were battling the blaze at 2411 West 8th Street at 7:30 p.m. The fire began on the second floor of the vacant two-story office building, and firefighters had to rescue five people. One of the five ended up dying, officials said. Residents in downtown Los Angeles complained of heavy smoke as the blaze burned through the roof of the building. Many across the Southland saw the smoke from miles away. "We were feet away, and they were like 10 to 15 feet high," Aurora Curtis, a witness, said of the flames. They burned close enough for Curtis to feel the intense heat on her body. "I just hoped the building was empty," Curtis said. The Los Angeles Police Department's arson unit detained a man for questioning, but had to yet to make any arrests. Amarillo SWAT officers shot and killed a man who took two people hostage inside a Wal-Mart Tuesday afternoon, police say.[[382976511,R]] Amarillo police tweeted the end of the hostage situation shortly before 12:45 p.m. saying the hostages were safe and the gunman was dead. Officer Jeb Hilton, with the Amarillo Police Department, said as officers were clearing the store they found the armed person and fatally shot him. Suspect has been shot by APD SWAT and is apparently dead. Hostages inside are safe https://t.co/gY8nVkbTml Amarillo Police Dept (@AmarilloPD) June 14, 2016 No other injured people were found inside the store, Hilton said, other than the one shot by SWAT officers. The Amarillo Police Department released a brief statement late Tuesday afternoon identifying the suspect as 54-year-old Mohammad Moghaddam. Police say he took two people hostage, including a manager with whom he had a work-related dispute. New surveillance footage is shedding a fresh light on a hostage situation at a Texas Wal-Mart. New surveillance footage shows the gunman leading the hostage all the way to the back room. No other details have been released about Moghaddam or what may have led to the incident. Police say neither hostage was injured. [[382976571,C]] As soon as we heard about the situation at our store in Amarillo, Texas, we acted immediately. All customers and our two associates who were held hostage are safe. This was a very difficult situation and we are thankful for the quick response from law enforcement," said Deisha Barnett, Wal-Mart spokeswoman. The Randall County Sheriff's Department said the Georgia Street exit ramp on southbound Interstate 27 was closed to all traffic and the entire area surrounding the Wal-Mart was closed to traffic during the incident. Sheriff's deputies added northbound I-27 was backed up and there are reports of crashes along on the highway. Police say a suspect has been shot and is apparently dead after officers responded to a reported shooting inside a Wal-Mart store in Amarillo. Miami-Dade Police used DNA evidence to arrest a man for attempted rape, according to investigators. MDPD said Donnell Johnson, 46, forced his way into a home on April 27 and tried to sexually assault a 75-year-old woman. Police said they found Johnson's DNA on a condom wrapper left at the scene. He is facing several charges including attempted sexual battery. It's unknown whether he has an attorney. A young couple says when they found out they needed to replace their roof, they did what they were supposed to do, they reached out to their homeowners association for approval. "I was thinking we were going to get approved within a week," says Ivan Paredes. But when weeks, turned into months Ivan and Krystle Paredes called NBC 6 for help. "It turned into the most chaotic thing that I could think of," says Ivan Paredes. "A disaster," his wife agreed. The Paredes purchased their Southwest Miami-Dade home in the Bird Lakes Community in May of 2014. A year and a half later, they noticed their roof was leaking. They called a roofer, paid him a $4,000 deposit and, on February 1st, submitted an application to their HOA. They say it wasn't until April 3rd - more than 2 months later - that they learned there was a problem with their application. In an email from an attorney for the association, they were told they had not submitted "everything required". In subsequent emails, the property management company said they told Krystle Paredes the application was missing items, including a sample of the roof tile, when she went to the office with the initial request. The Paredes dispute that claim. Meanwhile, with every storm, the condition inside their home continued to deteriorate. Mold could be seen growing inside their master bathroom and in other areas of the home. Adding to the sense of urgency, Krystle was pregnant with their first child. "Im not asking for anything crazy," says Ivan Paredes. "I just want to fix my roof so that way I can bring my baby here...without having to go rent somewhere when shes born." Because the HOA had not given the green light, Ivan says the roofer refused to start working. We reached out to the roofer, who agreed to return the $4,000 deposit. "They had me sign a hold harmless agreement and they finally gave me back the $4,000 check that I had been expecting for a little over a month and a half now," says Ivan Paredes. In a letter dated May 5, the HOA officially denied the Paredes' application saying "it does not meet the architectural standards of Bird Lakes Homeowners Association". The letter offered no specifics on what are those standards. NBC 6 saw at least a dozen different roof tiles throughout the community. We made repeated attempts to speak with the HOA board president, through emails, phone calls and visits. Instead, we received a call from the association's attorney, who declined to go on the record with NBC 6 about Ivan and Krystle's situation. Meanwhile, the Paredes' found a new roofer to do the job, without the HOA's approval. They are scheduled to do mediation with the HOA later in June. They hope to reach an agreement with the HOA so they can focus their energy instead on caring for their newborn girl who was born May 29. An early morning car chase caused chaos in one South Florida area after police tried to stop a man who allegedly stole a car from a Fort Lauderdale dealership. Police responded to a call shortly after 5:30 a.m. saying a man was stealing a car from the Mercedes-Benz dealership located at 2411 South Federal Highway. As the vehicle was leaving the lot, police confronted the driver and the chase started. It ended when the driver crashed into a bush near the intersection of Pembroke Road and University Drive in Miramar, where the suspect attempted to flee. 26-year-old Carlos Robinson of Miami Gardens was taken into custody. He has been charged with business burglary and auto theft, and possible additional charges are pending. A South Florida graduate is among those critically injured in the Orlando massacre. As she lies in a hospital bed, new information emerges on the 49 who lost their lives. "Just a horrific story of being stuck in the bathroom stall and there were 30 other people in that bathroom stall," said Deyni Ventura, friend of survivor. Stories of survival are now coming in from friends of people who were inside Pulse nightclub Sunday morning. "He had to climb over the bodies to try to climb on top. He says it's horrific, like every little noise is bothering him," Ventura explained. Dozens made it out alive, but many were seriously injured, including Laura Vargas from Miami. Loved ones sent NBC 6 a photo of Vargas recovering at the hospital after she was shot multiple times. 49 people, however, did not make it. Amanda Alvear uploaded a video to Snapchat while the gunman stormed in. Luis Vielma, an employee at Universal Studios, also died. "That shock of reality and coming to the conclusion that they're actually dead is devastating," a friend said. KJ Morris, Omar Ocasio-Capo and Peter Gonzalez Cruz are more victims of this senseless massacre. Relatives walked in to the family assistance center Monday afternoon with questions, but many left with the devastating answer they feared. "Just pray for us and my brother," said Julisa Leal, sister of deceased victim. "Take care of your kids. And teach your kids the right way, because you see what happened now," said Cesar Flores, father of victim. NBC 6's Laura Rodriguez went to high school with Laura Vargas. She spoke with her briefly Monday. She got very emotional when told there are many people praying for her. Vargas was devastated, however, because she her best friend died in the shooting. A GoFundMe page has been set up for Vargas. Click here to make a donation. In addition, a general GoFundMe page has also been established to help those impacted by this tragedy. Lanterns filled downtown Orlando's night sky Monday evening, as thousands raised up candles in remembrance of the shooting victims. A nearby church's bell rang 49 times. Every sound was meant to pay tribute to the 49 people who died in the massacre. "The bells wouldn't stop ringing and they kept going and it went on and on. That was incredibly emotional," said Eddie Mehnert, friend of victim. Community leaders and city officials shed light on the importance of love, tolerance and equality. The management and staff of Pulse nightclub also surprised the crowd and vowed to rebuild what many call haven for the LGBTQ community. Miami-Dade Police are on the hunt for three men who allegedly broken into a Kendall apartment earlier this year, stealing multiple items, including the victim's credit cards. Police released surveillance footage showing the men using the cards taken from the home, located in the Calusa Club complex off Southwest 88th Street and 127th Avenue. One suspect is described as a white male between 25 and 35 years of age, between 5'7" and 5'10" and weighing between 190 and 200 pounds, and wearing a light colored shirt. The other two are described as black males between the ages of 30 and 35. Each is said to be between 5'10" and 6'1" with one wearing a black shirt and blue pants, while the other was in a red tank top and had American flag shorts. Anyone with information on the suspects or this case is asked to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS. Three Democrats in Congress are objecting to restrictions that prevented gay and bisexual men from donating blood in Orlando after the massacre at the gay nightclub early Sunday morning. Even as donors waited on long lines to help the victims, many gay men were unable to give. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration forbids donations from men who have had sex with a man in the previous year. Illinois Rep. Mike Quigley, the vice-chair of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus, California Rep. Barbara Lee and Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin issued a statement asking the FDA to lift what they called "this prejudicial ban." "Tragedies like the one we witnessed in the early morning hours on Sunday show how crucial it is for FDA to develop better blood donor policies that are based on science and on individual risk factors; that don't unfairly single out one group of individuals; and that allow all healthy Americans to donate," they wrote. Omar Mateen opened fire at the Pulse nightclub around 2 a.m., exchanging shots with a police officer and taking club-goers hostage before being killed by a SWAT team, authorities said. Mateen was armed with an assault rifle and a handgun, they said. At least 49 people were killed in the massacre, the worst mass shooting U.S. history. It occurred as the country celebrated LGBT pride month. In Orlando officials on Tuesday urged people to continue to give blood and asked that they make appointments at their local blood banks. Stephanie Zaurin, a spokeswoman for OneBlood, a non-profit donation center, told The Associated Press that donors were coming "in record numbers." One of OneBlood's own team members was killed in the attack on the nightclub. On its website, it said that it was grieving the death of Rodolfo Ayala-Ayala, a supervisor at the center's Orlando laboratory. "He was passionate about saving lives and took great pride in the lifesaving work he performed," the center said. U.S. Food and Drug Administration spokeswoman Tara Goodin said in an email to The Associated Press that the Interorganizational Disaster Task Force met on Sunday to ensure that all immediate needs for blood were met. The continued appeal for blood donors comes on World Blood Donor Day, designated by the World Health Organization as a way to encourage people across the world to donate. The theme this year is "Blood connects us all." Only 62 countries get close to all of their national blood supplies from voluntary unpaid blood donations, WHO says. Thirty-four countries still dependent on family donors and even paid donors for more than three quarters of their blood supply, it says. That gay men were unable to give blood for a rampage at a gay nightclub was a twist not lost on social media over the weekend. "The awful irony that the blood banks of Orlando are not accepting gay donors is just awful," tweeted Nick Nazzaro, an illustrator in Boston. "Awful awful awful. Not funny irony, just awful." https://twitter.com/BeGeeM/status/742000327428186112 Another tweet, from Brian Gerald Murphy, co-creator of activist group Legalize Trans, urged the FDA to change its policy on blood donations. "Gay. Men. In. Orlando. Can't. Give. Blood. To. Their. Bleeding. Battered. Community. Dear @US_FDA, CHANGE THAT NOW," he tweeted. The lifetime prohibition against gay and bisexual men donating blood enacted in 1983 to protect those receiving blood transfusions from being infected with HIV was lifted in December, when the FDA announced the new policy. But some activists say the new policy is still discriminatory. [NATL] Deadly Nightclub Shooting Leaves Orlando Reeling OneBlood, the nonprofit clinic in Orlando, put out a call for blood early Sunday. By early afternoon, it thanked donors on its website, said it was at capacity and asked donors to give over the next few days. But on Twitter it also cautioned against false reports that FDA guidelines had been lifted. All FDA guidelines remain in effect, it said. South Korea agreed with Vietnam on Tuesday to push ahead with a joint project to remove land mines and leftover unexploded ordnance at the sites of hard fought battles in the Southeast Asian country. The Hanoi office of the Korea International Cooperation Agency, South Korea's state international aid agency, signed a memorandum on the agreement with the Vietnamese Defense Ministry. The project, which is scheduled to begin in the second half of the year and run through 2020, calls for South Korea to foot 62 percent of the entire $32.2 million bill. The project will cover 8,000 hectares of former battlefields in the two central Vietnamese provinces of Quang Binh and Binh Dinh, and will provide people permanently injured by land mines with vocational training as part of efforts to enable them to return to society. It also includes the establishment of an information system to manage the locations of land mines and unexploded ordnance and the status of their removal, and safety classes aimed at preventing local residents from being hurt. Unexploded munitions left over from the American - Vietnam War are used as fence posts in a village in the Plain of Jars, Laos, known as Bomb Village. Photo by David Coleman South Korea and Vietnam reached a basic deal on the project in 2014, when Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made a visit to Seoul. In Vietnam, about 40,000 people have been killed and another 60,000 injured by unexploded bombs since the end of the American-Vietnam War. An estimated 800,000 tons of unexploded bombs remain in the country, and only 3 to 4 percent have been removed. Due to the rising costs of the removal of military explosives, the Vietnamese government has been seeking support from the international community. Related news: > Scrap-dealer blowtorches a bomb-like object, kills four people in Hanoi massive explosion > Wartime bomb safely detonated in Bac Lieu > Mine clearance worker killed in explosion in central Vietnam A young Philadelphia woman who survived the Pulse nightclub massacre Sunday said gunman Omar Mateen "wasnt going to stop killing people until he was killed, until he felt like his message got out there." Patience Carter, 20, who graduated from University City High School and attends New York University, was wounded in the Orlando shooting and "laid there for hours and hours" bleeding on a bathroom floor, hoping police would come save her. Carter and another survivor, Angel Santiago, spoke Tuesday afternoon from Florida Hospital in Orlando. They were among dozens injured in the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. At least 49 others were killed, and a handful of survivors remain in "grave condition," officials said. Carter opened with a poem, saying "my healing process is writing." A young Philadelphia woman who survived the Orlando nightclub massacre is speaking out and sharing her account of the tragedy. NBC10s Denise Nakano has the details. "The guilt of feeling grateful to be alive is heavy," she read. Carter was shot while at the club with two friends, cousins Akyra Murray and Tiara Parker. The three were on vacation together. "We were all having the night we dreamed of, going out on the first night of vacation," Carter said. "We just went from having the time of our lives to the worst night of our lives all within a matter of minutes." She and Murray fled the club as gunfire erupted but ran back inside to look for Parker, who survived. Carter said they became trapped in a women's bathroom as Mateen wandered around shooting and talking on the phone to police. Authorities have said Mateen pledged his support to ISIS during a 911 call. "People were getting hit by bullets, blood was everywhere and there was a moment when he stopped shooting in the bathroom," she recalled, saying Mateen tried at one point to fix a jammed assault rifle. "The motive was very clear to us who were laying in our own blood and other peoples blood," Carter said. "He wasnt going to stop killing people until he was killed, until he felt like his message got out there." She said victims were draped over toilets and strewn across the floor. Murray, who turned 18 in January, was among them. She is the youngest confirmed victim in the weekend attack. Carter believed she, too, would die and prayed it would be quick. [NATL] Deadly Nightclub Shooting Leaves Orlando Reeling "[I was] begging God to take the soul out of my body because I didn't want to feel any more pain," she recalled. A bullet shattered her right femur and entered her left leg. Carter remembered being pinned beneath another victim and said she owes her life to someone who blocked her from the spray of bullets. "If it wasn't for that person shielding me, I wouldn't be sitting her today," she said. Finally, it was over. Officers blasted their way into the club and a SWAT team member lifted her from the floor. Carter said she grabbed Murray's cellphone on the way out, hoping she'd have the chance to return it to her friend at the hospital. She never did. Carter now struggles to reconcile relief with guilt, as she details in her poem: The guilt of feeling grateful to be alive is heavy Wanting to smile about surviving but not sure the people around you are ready As the world mourns the victims killed and viciously slain I feel guilty about screaming about my legs in pain because I could feel nothing Like the other 49 who weren't so lucky to feel this pain of mine I never thought in a million years that this could happen I never thought in a million years that my eyes could witness something so tragic Look at the souls leaving the bodies of individuals Looking at the killers machine gun throughout my right peripheral Looking at the blood and debris covered on everyone's faces Looking at the gunman's feet, under the stall as he paces The guilt of feeling lucky to be alive is heavy It's like the weight of the oceans walls uncontrolled by levees It's like being drugged through the grass with a shattered leg and thrown in the back of a Chevy Its like being rushed to the hospital and told you're going to make it, when you laid beside individuals whose lives are brutally taken A suspected drunk driver who plowed into an NYPD officer's house on Staten Island returned to the scene the day after his arrest to apologize to the family, and NBC 4 New York cameras captured the exchange. Louis Mester says his family was jarred awake just before midnight Monday when they felt what they was an explosion. They found a Volvo had crashed into the backyard of their Brandis Avenue home in Eltingville, taking out all but one of the posts supporting the deck, crushing a section of the pool, and sending debris and concrete flying all over the backyard. "We were in the pool earlier -- I'm just glad nobody was in the backyard," Mester told NBC 4. A driver stumbled out of the mangled car, reeking of alcohol, neighbors said. He offered to pay for the damage and begged Mester not to call police. But it was too little, too late: Mester is an NYPD officer. "He was moving around crazy, he couldn't stand still, couldn't keep his balance," said Mester. Mester said cars have been racing down the street behind the house, and that's why he installed surveillance cameras. "I've lived here eight to 10 years, at least five times a car has landed in the lot" right next to the house, said Mester. Mester said he's put in a request for a guardrail along Drumgoole Road. The Department of Transportation said the request is under review. The driver was arrested on a DUI charge but was apparently not in jail for long. He returned to the scene of his alleged crime Monday evening to say he was sorry, but claimed he doesn't remember the accident. "I don't know," said Michael Spallieri when asked if he was drunk when he crashed. "They're doing toxicology tests. I'll know Thursday or Friday." Mester didn't have much to say to Spallieri. His only focus now is getting the guardrail approved, and he said he's not letting his kids into the backyard until it's safe. A gay pride banner proclaiming "Too Gay" hanging from Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey, is spurring controversy in the wake of the massacre that claimed at least 49 lives in Orlando over the weekend. Sophomore John Bell says he came up with the idea long before Sunday's mass shooting at the gay night club in Orlando, and that the banner intends to ask a question, not making a statement. "In society, a lot of straight people may view people as 'too gay' or too flamboyant and when we are open about our gayness are we perceived as 'too gay?'" Bell, an advanced placement art history student who conceived the banner as his final project, asked in an exclusive interview with NBC 4 New York. Fellow student Bianca Bristol told NBC 4 New York that she felt uncomfortable entering school under a banner dealing with LGBT issues. "Not everyone is gay so those in the club should stay in the club," Bristol said. Bristol said she also worries the banner may make her school a target for the type of violence seen in Orlando. Other students dismissed that fear, applauding the banner for showing how inclusive the South Orange-Maplewood school district has become. Bell's project has the full support of the administration. Principal Elizabeth Aaron emailed parents that it was planned over several months. The U.S. military says the remains of a Marine from New York City who was killed in World War II have been identified and are being returned for burial on Long Island. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said Friday that 19-year-old Pfc. John F. Prince was among the 35 Marines whose remains were found last year on Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands, scene of a three-day battle November 1943. The agency says its scientists used dental records and other evidence to identify Prince's remains, which were found along with others by Florida-based History Flight buried beneath a parking lot. Prince served in the 2nd Marine Division. He was among more than 1,000 American servicemen killed while assaulting the Japanese-held island. A wake is being held Thursday evening at the Thomas F. Dalton Funeral Home in Floral Park, and mass will be held the following morning at St. Gregory the Great Church in Bellerose. He'll be buried June 17 in Calverton, New York. Authorities say seven people have been arrested in a heroin trafficking investigation that spanned Pittsburgh, New York City, and Long Island. Officials announced Monday that more than seven pounds of heroin worth roughly $1 million has been seized after a four-month investigation. Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas says some of the heroin was "exceptionally deadly." It was three times more pure than what's typically found on the streets. Officials say Victor McKeever ran the operation out of his Pittsburgh home. They say he used a stash house in Queens to try to distribute heroin elsewhere, including Freeport, New York. Four people, including McKeever, have pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges. McKeever's bond was set at $1 million last week. His attorney says he denies any wrongdoing. A 20-year-old man was critically injured after another man shot him and then drove off, police on Long Island say. The victim was shot in a parking lot on Grand Avenue in Baldwin just before midnight Monday. A man shot him in the chest before taking off in a black sedan. The victim was found lying in the parking lot and was taken to a local hospital in critical condition. Detectives were at the scene investigating early Tuesday morning. Police ask anyone with information to call Nassau County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-244-TIPS. A 20-year-old NYU student initially escaped the mass shooting at Orlandos Pulse nightclub with a friend, but went back to save another girl only for her friend to be gunned down and her to be wounded in both legs. Patience Carter, an NYU student originally from Philadelphia, was on vacation with her friend Akira and Akiras cousin Tiara on Sunday night, she told reporters at a press conference in a Florida hospital Tuesday. The three went to Pulse after searching online for the best clubs in the city, and were about to get an Uber ride home when Carter heard gunfire erupt from the clubs dance floor. We went from having the time of lives [to] the worst night of our lives...all within a matter of minutes, she said Tuesday. Carter and Akira scrambled to the exit and made it out of the club alive, she said Tuesday. But Carter urged Akira to go back in with her to rescue Tiara. While inside, Carter said, the three girls got trapped and raced to the bathroom where groups of people were crowding into the stalls. The gunshots were still going off rapidly, she said. We were actually the last ones to make it into the bathroom stall. The gunman made his way to the bathroom and opened fire, striking all three of the girls and a number of other victims who were hiding, she said. Carter and Tiara survived their injuries, she said, but Akira later died. Carter wrote a poem about her experience and shared it with the press Tuesday. In the poem, she explains feeling guilt about surviving while her friend was killed. If I would have told Akira to stay outside and just wait ... she didnt make it, she said after reading the poem Tuesday. Me and Tiara did make it. The Brooklyn teenager convicted last month of setting a mattress fire that killed a New York City police officer has been sentenced to 19 years to life in the arson murder. Marcell Dockery, 18, had been facing 25 years to life after being convicted in May of murder, arson and assault in connection with the April 2014 fire that killed Officer Dennis Guerra and injured his partner, Rosa Rodriguez. Dockery did not speak during sentencing. "We're satisfied," Guerra's mother told reporters afterward. "At least we know that justice was served." "We don't want him to suffer. But he has to pay the consequences," said Guerra's father. "While there was talk of forgiveness in this courtroom, forgiveness does not mean we forget. We won't forget what Dennis meant to this family," Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch said as Guerra's family stood behind him. Dockery's lawyer said they're continuing to work on an appeal. "He still maintains his innocence," said the attorney. Prosecutors alleged Dockery set fire to a mattress in the hallway of a public housing apartment building in Coney Island on April 6, 2014. Guerra and Rodriguez were responding to the scene when they were overcome by smoke and carbon monoxide. Firefighters found the two officers unconscious. Guerra died three days later and Rodriguez spent six weeks in a hospital. After the fire, Dockery, who lived in the building, told detectives he used a lighter to set the mattress on fire. A videotape of Dockery's interrogation was admitted as evidence during the trial. "I decided to take a lighter and light the top of the mattress because I was bored," he told police. But Dockery, who testified in his own defense, said he lied to the detectives and claimed he discovered the fire and tried to save other residents. He said police threatened to evict his family if he didn't tell the truth and that detectives told him he wouldn't be charged if he confessed. Some clothes, her 10-year-old son and high hopes of escaping poverty were all Nguyen Thi Hong, a poor famer, took with her on a fateful journey to China 22 years ago. Born in a poor village in the north-central province of Nghe An, Hong married a poor famer when she turned 20. Living in abject poverty spurred Hong to look for a way to change her life. And the opportunity came one day in 1994 when a stranger offered Hong her friendship and a cushy, high-paying job that required no specific skills or profession. The stranger said that Hong could bring her son with her to the dream land in the north of Vietnam. At midnight some days later, Hong quietly left the house with her son, taking with her only some clothes and leaving her husband completely oblivious to what was going on. The train did head north as the stranger promised, but crossed the border into China. Hong fainted after eating 'banh mi' provided by her new "friend", and when she woke up her son was nowhere to be seen and her friend was bargaining with a Chinese man who wanted to buy her to be his wife. At that time, all her hopes of a better life were dashed. She could not speak Chinese and did not have a penny in her pocket, meaning there was no chance of escape. Hong succumbed to her fate and married the Chinese man without resisting.Luckily, I was sold to a man who cared for and loved me, she said. Her new husband was 20 years older than her. Hong started to learn Chinese after the wedding. When she was able to speak Chinese, the trafficking story came out. The husband thought she had come voluntarily, but Hong told him how she had been tricked and sold in China. Sympathizing with his wife, Ly Ke Khiu accompanied her to search for her lost son. The couple suspected that the child had been sold to a circus. Time passed, and their hopes faded. A year after that, the woman ended the search and bore two children to the Chinese man. Five years ago, the husband passed away. Out of the blue in 2012, a Vietnamese friend from Hong's home village visited her. It turned out that he knew her son, who had just turned 32. He had been sent back to the village after the mother fainted on the train. For the first time in more than 20 years, Hong heard her sons voice again, but it took another four years for him to save up enough money to travel to China and bring his mother home. Hong, her son and grandchildren. Photo by VnExpress/Hai Binh I thought you were dead so I set up an altar for you, the son said to his mother. It was like a dream. I could not believe that my mother was still alive, he added. Hong now lives in Vietnam with her son and grandchildren, something she thought would never be possible. Related news: > Vietnamese woman trafficked to China returns after 22 years A homeless man who accidentally shot himself at Zabar's Tuesday morning claims he found the gun while going through cartons near the Lincoln Tunnel, police said. Authorities got a call about a man who had shot himself inside the iconic Upper West Side grocery store at about 10 a.m., according to the NYPD. When police got there, the man who shot himself had left. Police said that he turned up at Roosevelt Hospital with a gunshot wound to his leg. The man, who's homeless, told police he found the gun while going through cartons near the Lincoln Tunnel. He went to the store, ordered a bagel and coffee, and when he reached into his pocket, the gun went off, according to witnesses. The man was being treated at the hospital. It's not clear if he will face charges. Albuquerque police conducted a floor-by-floor search Monday night of City Hall after getting a flood of frantic calls about a possible shooter and hostage situation, but they said there was no evidence any shots were ever fired or that anyone was held against their will. Authorities set up a wide parameter around the government office complex in the heart of downtown Albuquerque after the first calls for help came. Albuquerque police spokesman Tanner Tixier said one man was being detained and investigators believed that person was "the initiator" who spurred calls from employees inside the building. The man, who was not immediately identified, had previous contact with the police department's crisis intervention unit and was known to have issues, Tixier said. Police had received reports of a man running through the halls and yelling that there was a shooter in the building. Police believe the situation may have been the result of a hoax, but they were not taking any chances. "We're going to make sure we do a very thorough and systematic search. We're going to make sure we don't miss anybody in any offices that may be hiding," Tixier said, noting that officers were not working an active hostage situation. The search of City Hall, which houses both city and county government offices, was expected to take a couple of hours, Tixier said. Albuquerque police Chief Gorden Eden was at the scene along with Bernalillo County Sheriff Manny Gonzales. Employees were escorted away from the building by officers in tactical gear. No injuries were reported. A day after a mass shooting in Orlando, Democratic lawmakers erupted on the House floor with loud criticism of House Speaker Paul Ryan and other Republican leaders for leaving the nation's gun laws untouched. Some protested by leaving the House floor during a moment of silence honoring the victims. Democrats yelled "Where's the bill?" and "No leadership!" Monday evening after Ryan held a moment of silence for 49 people killed at an Orlando nightclub early Sunday. The disruption came after South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn, the No. 3 Democrat in the House, attempted to ask Ryan on the floor when bills curbing gun use would be considered. Before Clyburn could finish, Ryan ruled his question out of order and directed the House to move to the next vote. After the disruption, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi told reporters Democrats have "had enough" of moments of silence after mass shootings when Congress does not act to tighten gun laws. A handful of Democrats left the House floor during the moment of silence, including Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes. Himes said earlier Monday in an interview that he's done with the moments of silence typically held on the House floor after mass shootings, calling them "obnoxious expressions of smug incompetence." His district is close to Newtown, where a gunman killed 20 first-graders and six adults at an elementary school in 2012. Leaving the House chamber, Ryan, R-Wis., declined to comment on the exchange. Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong tweeted that Democrats were politicizing the moment of silence, and called that "disheartening." Hines is not the first Democrat to complain about the ritual. When a moment was held to honor victims of a deadly shooting rampage in San Bernardino, California, in December, several Democrats criticized it. "We need to stand up, speak up, and take actions rather than another moment of silence," said Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Ill., in a House floor speech at the time. "It is deafening, and it is killing us." Monday in the Senate, Democrats planned to an attempt to force a vote on a proposal that owuld make it harder for suspected terrorists and people on government terror watch lists to buy guns, they said Monday. Top Democratic senators told reporters they'd seek a fresh vote on a proposal by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., that the Senate rejected last December in a near party-line vote. Democrats consider the bill "the logical and first and most likely to pass step" in response to the shooting, said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. Schumer, a member of the Senate Democratic leadership, said he believes Republicans "in a political season are going to find it very, very difficult" to oppose the legislation this time. The two parties are vying for control of the Senate in this November's elections. Spokesman Donald Stewart said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., will comment on Orlando when the Senate convenes Monday. The Orlando shooter, identified by officials as American-born Omar Mateen, 29, was killed in the Sunday morning shootings. FBI Director James Comey said Monday that Mateen had "strong indications of radicalization" and was probably inspired by foreign terrorist organizations. Officials said Mateen had twice come to the FBI's attention, including a 10-month investigation prompted after co-workers expressed concern over statements he'd made about possible ties to terrorist groups. Last December, Republicans offered their own proposal for curbing guns for people on terror watch lists that also fell short in the Senate. That measure by No. 2 Senate GOP leader John Cornyn of Texas would give the government up to 72 hours to block such a sale by proving in court that there was probable cause to do so. Democrats said they would try attaching Feinstein's measure to a bill financing Justice Department and other programs that the Senate could debate this week. A similar House proposal by Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., has gone nowhere in that chamber. A Philadelphia law firm is threatening to sue the Navy if it doesnt act quickly to take responsibility for water contamination on and around local military bases. That includes coming up with an abatement plan as well as testing and then monitoring the health of 70,000 residents in affected communities. The intent to sue notice was sent Friday on behalf of the Giovannis, a family of 5 living within 300 feet of the now defunct Grove Naval Air Station. In 2003, the Giovanni family moved into their Poplar Road home and used their private well water for 11 years. When they learned it contained high levels of PFCs -- more than 40 times times the EPAs health advisory level -- through EPA testing in 2014, they were given bottled water for six months and then hooked up to Warringtons public water supply, only to find out last month that too had toxic levels of the same chemicals. "The drinking water and health of almost 70,000 current residents, and untold numbers of past residents, to say nothing of workers at the facilities themselves, has been jeopardized said environmental attorney Mark Cuker. "Some have been exposed to PFCs from both private and public water supplies." According to the EPA, "PFOA and PFOS pose potential adverse effects for the environment and human health" including but not limited to kidney cancer, testicular cancer, thyroid disease, ulcerative colitis, pregnancy induced hypertension, high cholesterol, and other diseases. The notice of intent does not say if any Giovanni family members -- three adults and two children under the age of 18 -- have suffered illnesses they believe are connected to water contaminants. But it does say for all those years the Giovanni's, like many other people in the community and certainly on the bases, drank, bathed and brushed their teeth with water they thought was safe and blames the U.S. government for improperly disposing of solid waste or hazardous waste for decades. PFCs (perfluoochemical compounds), specifically PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) and PFOS (perfluorooctanesulfonic acid), are found in firefighting foam used on Willow Grove Naval Air Station and Naval Air Warfare Center Warminster, as well as more than 660 other U.S. military facilities. People who worked on local bases have organized through a private Facebook group over the last four years. They've tracked well over 100 cancers cases they believe are connected to chemicals on the base. Workers there, both enlisted and civilians, consider themselves the ground zero victims, drinking water from what's been a Superfund site since 1995. "Its almost ignorant to believe that the military did not know of this," said Paul Lutz who at 43 suffers from multiple myeloma. Lutz served at Willow Grove as a Flight Engineer from 2000 and officially retired in 2014. "Somebody had to order the chemical. Somebody had to review the hazards. Somebody had to say, 'How does it work, what does it do, how do we store it?'" The Giovannis notice of intent says waste from the two facilities got into the groundwater, polluting public and private wells in Warminster, Warrington and Horsham townships. Despite the facilities presence on the National Priorities List (NPL) for more than two decades, direct EPA oversight has failed to prevent ongoing PFC use and disposal at the Facilities, failed to prevent or abate contamination or migration of these toxic contaminants to local public and private drinking water sources, failed to prevent or abate drinking water contamination by PFCs, and failed to prevent ingestion and bioaccumulation of PFCs by the local population, including sensitive subpopulations of infants and children. These failures for more than two decades have left the Resident family, their neighbors and workers at the facilities exposed to toxic hazards from solid or hazardous waste. The intent to sue is a 60 day notice to the Navy, asking them to agree on a plan of abatement and health monitoring. If that doesn't happen within the time frame, Cuker says his law firm plans to file lawsuits in federal and state courts on behalf of the Giovannis and residents of the other townships. "People continue to be exposed to high levels of PFCs in surrounding groundwater" says Cuker, "from the chemicals migrating downstream from the Willow Grove site to Park Creek, Neshaminy Creek, and other waterways." Just last week, an investigation by The Intelligencer showed water contaminated with PFCs was still being released from the Horsham Air Guard Station (former Willow Grove NAS), into Park Creek which connects to Little Neshaminy Creek. Paul Lutz, married father of three, has endured radiation therapy, is on his third round of chemotherapy and trying to get healthy enough for a stem cell transplant. He wants anyone who worked on the bases from the time PFCs were introduced to be notified about exposure and included in any testing and health monitoring. Not only should all people -- on and off the bases -- be tested for chemical exposure, he said, but also for cancer. "This is technically friendly fire," Lutz said in an interview Friday about the water contamination. Another law firm, Weitz & Luxenberg, which works with consumer advocate Erin Brockovich, is talking with people both on and off the bases about filing suit as well. They announced an investigation into the water contamination last week and expect to send a team down in the next two weeks to talk in person with members of the community. Cukers environmental law firm, Williams, Cuker, Berezofsky, represented families in the Toms River children cancer cluster case and negotiated a multi-million dollar settlement that was divided among 69 families. The case became the subject of Dan Fagins Pulitzer prize-winning book, Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation. Earlier this month, Cukers firm reached a settlement with the chemical company Solvay over allegations of PFC water contamination for residents of Paulsboro, New Jersey. Preliminary testing among a small group of children under 12 showed elevated cholesterol levels, according to Cuker. Part of the settlement allows for blood testing of up to 5,000 Paulsboro residents this summer. We are awaiting response from the Navy on the intent to sue notification. A driver was killed after he crashed his car into a vacant home in Pennsauken, New Jersey Monday afternoon. Police say Quendell Riley, 41, of Camden, New Jersey was driving along the 6800 block of Rosemont Avenue in Pennsauken around noon when he lost control of his vehicle and crashed into a vacant home. Riley was pronounced dead at the scene. His passenger, Archie Walden, 38, also of Camden, was taken to Cooper Hospital where he is currently in stable condition. No one else was hurt in the crash. Police continue to investigate. A driver jumped the curb and struck a group of people possibly breaking limbs outside a popular South Street hoagie shop overnight. The 21-year-old driver somehow wound up smashing into Primos Hoagies at 326 South Street a little after 1 a.m. Tuesday, shattering a glass panel in front of the hoagie shop. The car struck three men and one woman. All four were rushed to Jefferson University Hospital in stable condition with possible broken arms and legs, said Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small. [[382901651, C]] The 21-year-old driver and her passenger remained on the scene and spoke to accident investigators, said Small. Police didnt expect to file and serious charges but the investigation continued early Tuesday as officers blocked off the 300 block of South Street. Primos, which has a four-star rating on Yelp, was closed at the time. A Delaware County woman was handcuffed, stabbed and shot before being dumped in Philadelphia's Fairmount Park, homicide detectives said Tuesday. Police said a driver found the Toy Charda Bryant's body around 8:30 a.m. along Georges Hill Drive near the Mann Center for the Performing Arts in West Philadelphia. The 26-year-old Chester, Pennsylvania woman had her hands handcuffed in front of her body. Detectives said she was stabbed multiple times and was shot once in the back of her head. [[383023991, C]] Homicide Capt. James Clark said Bryant had defensive wounds on her hands. "I believe she was in a fight for her life, and unfortunately she lost," he said. Detectives believe Bryant was killed in another location and her body dumped in the park. A couple headed to work called 911 after finding the body behind the Mann Performing Arts Center. Fairmount Park is one of the largest municipal park systems in the United States, covering more than 9,200 acres throughout the city. The murder sparked concerns that it was done at the hands of the infamous Fairmount Park rapist. Police have connected him to at least three attacks -- including one murder -- between 2003 and 2007. He was never caught or identified. Police said they don't believe the woman was sexually assaulted. Anyone with information is asked to call police at 215.686.TIPS. Police are investigating after a motorist driving through Fairmount Park in West Philadelphia stumbled upon a gruesome scene Tuesday morning: the body of a woman who had been handcuffed and stabbed in the stomach. NBC10s Pamela Osborne is live at the scene with the latest on the investigation. June 14, 2016 | 01:22 am PT l'Espace Director: Lam Le Cast: Vietnamese and French witnesses Length: 119 minutes, French, subtitles in Vietnamese and French A forgotten page of the miserable lives of 20,000 Vietnamese workers forced to work in France circa 1939-1940 prior to the Second World War. "Before the Second World War, 20,000 young Vietnamese were recruited to replace workers in arms factories in France who had been drafted to the German front. Mistaken for mercenaries, the workers were at the mercy of Hitler's army and rubber stamp bosses. The Vietnamese workers led miserable lives in France under the reign of German Nazis. They were also the first to plant and harvest rice in Carmague, southern France. Despite living in the colonial regime, they still contributed to Ho Chi Minh's liberation war. However, some were unjustly considered traitors for having work for the French. This disgraceful page of history about the Vietnamese workers in France was hidden from the public." Ticket price: VND50,000 Preferential price: VND40,000 Tickets are available at l'Espace. JetBlue Airways says it is providing free seats when available on flights to and from Orlando, Florida, for immediate family and domestic partners of people who were killed or injured in the weekend shooting at an Orlando nightclub. The airline is also waiving ticket-change fees for customers booked on flights to or from Orlando. "Like many of you, we continue to watch reports of the Orlando nightclub shooting with great sadness," JetBlue's site read. "Our thoughts are with the victims and their loved ones." New York-based JetBlue is one of the largest airlines at Orlando International Airport, with about 14 percent of the market, according to Department of Transportation figures. The airline also has a training center there. The airline is not sure how long the free travel will last because they are still learning funeral dates. Anyone with questions or needing travel assistance was encouraged to call 1-800-JETBLUE for details. Three puppies found shivering and alone in a Southern California park may end up with the police officers who helped rescue them. Escondio Police Officers Nathan Visconti, Christopher Dare and Jose Guerrero were called to Kit Carson Park Monday at 6 a.m. for the final call on their overnight shift. A woman running through the park stumbled on the eight-week-old lab mix puppies. The pups were barely bundled in a coat on the grass. Tracy Plowy left the pups to call for help, and by the time she came back, she said "three policemen (were) holding each of the puppies." "They were cold and scared," Visconti said as he described how he picked up one of the puppies and cradled it. Immediately, as soon as I saw those three puppies, before they even had a chance, I picked mine, said Officer Guerrero. "I told them it's game over." The puppies had probably been at the park all night before they found them, the officers said. We're like 'Wheres Jose and the third puppy','" Visconti said. "And we look over and hes holding it up and he was singing to it." As excited as he may have been, Guerrero denies there was any singing involved. "I will admit the dog was being held up like baby Simba," he said. Dare says it was like Christmas morning and an experience that they didnt want to come to an end. We were sitting on a curb playing with puppies. Thats not an ending you see very often, he said. At the same time Escondido Police were called, the San Diego Humane Society were told about the pups in the park. The officers said they are interested in giving the puppies a home but they still have to get their loved ones on board with the plan. "Mixed results," Visconti said. "We're working on it." They've each chosen the name "Leo." There's apparently some debate over which officer chose the name first. The puppies will be on hold at the San Diego Humane Society for the rest of the week while they receive medical exams. NBC 7s Candice Nguyen talks with Escondido Police Officers Jose Guerrero, Nathan Visconti and Christopher Dare and the call theyll never forget from Kit Carson Park. Photos of the pups courtesy Tracy Plowy. Thousands of San Diegans gathered in the heart of Hillcrest on Monday to remember and honor the victims of the mass shooting in Orlando, Florida. People spilled into the streets outside of the San Diego LGBT Community Center during the vigil. It was a night of singing, hugging, and thinking about a tragedy which, for this community, hits particularly close to home. I think no matter what, I think its going to be a special night, its going to be an amazing. Our communitys going to come together. Theres a lot of people mourning the losses and people still struggling so its an opportunity for everyone to come together and mourn together, Ian Johnson, Director of Events at the San Diego LGBT Center said. San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, San Diego Police Department (SDPD) Chief Shelley Zimmerman and other city officials were also present. Mayor Faulconer addressed the crowd inside the center and said that hate will not win. We stand with Orlando, ladies and gentlemen; we will continue to stand with pride, he said. About 1500 people RSVPd to the event on Facebook for what is being considered as the largest Orlando Strong event in San Diego. You cant help but just be proud for what we are, how far weve come, and Ive only been out for 2 years and my family and friends have supported us, said Sean OConner, a vigil attendee. SDPD shut down a portion of University Avenue for more than an hour to accommodate the crowd spilling onto the streets. People marched to the LGBT flag in the center of Hillcrest where a memorial had been set up. Someone released monarch butterflies as the San Diego Gay Men's Chorus sang in honor those who lost their lives. In an emotional conclusion to the vigil, the names of all 49 victims were read out at Rich's, a popular gay nightclub in Hillcrest. It couldve been any of us, at any place, at any time, and thats the worst part, said O'Conner. Flags were at half-staff around San Diego County Monday after the mass shooting in a nightclub in Orlando, Florida that claimed the lives of 49 people. NBC 7 spoke with some San Diegans who expressed mixed emotions over the tragedy. Some said they were heartbroken while others shared their frustration and hoped to see greater change in gun laws. Omar Mateen, a 29-year old American-born Muslim opened fire inside Pulse, a gay club that was hosting Latin night early Sunday morning. He shot and killed 49 people and injured more than 50 others. He was shot and killed by police. One woman told NBC 7 it makes her think about the possibility of something similar happening in her neighborhood. Some people said that law enforcement did not do enough to prevent the shooter from buying guns legally since he had been investigated by the FBI for possible links to terrorism. If it's a terrorist attack, if it is gun control, we should be really focusing on that. Families have lost many loved ones and thats where our focus should be, Jessica Gonzalez, a South Bay resident said. But others said they don't see how a change in laws could make much of a difference. People are going to make their own decisions and their own mind and do what they want to do, regardless of the consequences and how it affects othersm, Tabitha Bump said. But regardless of their views, everyone shared their heartache and prayer for the victims and their families. Two San Diego men have been arrested and accused of operating two separate criminal commercial sex enterprises to lure women into prostitution with offers of drugs and money, San Diego police said Tuesday. Dale Vinzant, 68, accused of operating San Diego Adult Service Provider, was arrested on Friday in the Mission Bay area. Codefendant, Christian Koalani, 66, the owner of American Escort Company, was arrested in Pacific Beach on Thursday. Police described the men as ringleaders in San Diego's booming sex trafficking industry that brings in about $810 million a year. Police said the two men have been investigated by the San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force for a year. The mens enterprises are separate, but they are known to each other, San Diego police said. Vinzants enterprise was an internet meeting place allowing customers and prostitutes a venue to link up and negotiate a sex transaction. The customers could then write and post a review on the site, police said. Called San Diego Adult Service Provider, the business was in operation for at least a decade and had about 50,000 members who paid $15 a month to view, buy and review women for sex, police said. Police said in a news release Koalani would use that internet meeting place to advertise his own escort service and ultimately profit from the sex acts provided by the young women he recruited and directed. Koalani has also written a book called Story of an American Escort, which police said chronicled his sex trade. Authorities have served a series of search warrants over the past several days and seized evidence on computers and other electronic media. Police said San Diego Adult Service Provider has 10 days to redirect clients to a website that informs victims and the public how to find help to prevent sex trafficking. Both suspects were arrested on suspicion of pimping, pandering, money laundering and conspiracy charges. In addition, an adult female, not named, has been arrested in Virginia in connection to the case. Koalini also faces a charge of rape of a minor. Reached for comment, Koalini's defense attorney said his client isn't guilty. Attempts to reach Vinzant's attorney were not immediately successful. The man accused of killing one woman and injuring another in an attack in their own home has a violent criminal past. Eduardo Torres, 20, of San Diego, held two woman captive for at least 15 minutes at their home on Mill Peak Road at 11:30 p.m. Sunday, located west of College Avenue and north of Interstate 8 in the Del Cerro neighborhood, San Diego Police Department (SDPD) Lt. Manuel Del Toro said. Torres allegedly tried to break into home home nearby, but residents scared him off. It was then that he broke into a second home. Inside, were a 74-year-old woman and another woman in her 50s, police said. Torres sexually assaulted the women at knife point, according to police. When officers arrived, they could hear loud screams from inside the home. SWAT officers immediately set up a perimeter outside the home and pinpointed the suspect and hostages in a locked bedroom. "The difficulty with this type case is you had to balance the urgency of the females in distress, but you also had a potentially barricaded hostage type situation which could have turned very violent. They had to do so tactically because the threat was that he had a gun and he was going to kill the people in there," Toro said. When officers entered the locked bedroom the suspect dropped a knife and surrendered to police. Police have not recovered any other weapons, including the gun the suspect claimed he had. Torres was arrested and removed from the home in handcuffs. He is facing homicide, sexual assault and burglary charges, Toro said. NBC 7 San Diego has learned Torres was arrested in the Chollas Creek area on a prior assault and vandalism charge, but pleaded it down to a misdemeanor vandalism conviction. The older victim died from stab wounds, according to Lt. Toro. She was described as the resident of the home. The second victim - a Chicago woman who was visiting San Diego - suffered stab wounds to her upper body, police said. A 56-year-old man escaped the home unharmed, police said. No other information was immediately available. NBC 7s Liberty Zabala reports on what SDPD homicide investigators are describing as a horrific attack inside a home west of College Avenue and north of I-8 in the Del Cerro community. Hillary Clinton brought a close to the presidential primary season with a win Tuesday in the nation's capital and a meeting with dispatched rival Bernie Sanders, hoping to set a tone of Democratic unity heading into next month's party convention in Philadelphia. Clinton's win in the District of Columbia, the final primary of 2016, had no bearing on her role as the presumptive nominee, but it nevertheless marked a transition in the lengthy primary fight between the two rivals. In virtually identical statements released after meeting for more than 90 minutes, the Clinton and Sanders campaigns said the two rivals discussed their primary campaign, "unifying the party and ... the dangerous threat that Donald Trump poses to our nation." Neither spoke to reporters after the session at a Washington, D.C., hotel a few blocks from the White House. Clinton told Sanders she appreciated his commitment to stopping Trump in the general election and the two discussed issues in which they share common goals, including "raising wages for working families, eliminating undisclosed money in politics and reducing the cost of college for students and their families." Both candidates agreed to work together on the development of the platform at the upcoming Democratic National Convention. Before polls closed in Washington, Sanders vowed again to do all he can to prevent Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, from reaching the White House but he declined to endorse Clinton. The Vermont senator had said the private meeting would help him determine how committed Clinton will be to the policy issues he has staked out during his 13-month campaign. "Our goal must not be to allow politicians, Donald Trump or anyone else, to divide us," Sanders said outside his Washington headquarters, telling reporters he will continue to "fight as hard as we can" to transform the Democratic Party. Sanders said he would push for new leadership in the Democratic National Committee his campaign has sparred with Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the party's chair along with a progressive platform in the summer convention and electoral changes, such as primaries that allow independents to participate and the elimination of superdelegates. "We need major, major changes in the Democratic Party," he said. Sanders was warmly received Tuesday by Senate Democrats at their weekly luncheon, where he offered an update about his campaign and some of the lessons he had learned during the past year. Lawmakers in attendance said Sanders did not indicate his future plans. "He had an opportunity to talk to us about his campaign and how it has changed him and what he has learned," said Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. "I think we all listened intently because we are anxious to always do better and grow as a party and be more inclusive." Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., who leads the Senate Democrats' campaign arm, said Sanders "absolutely will" support fellow Senate Democrats in the fall elections. "It was productive, it was good, it was vintage Bernie," Tester said. Sanders met last week with President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, who both later endorsed Clinton, and signaled to Democrats that he hopes to play a constructive role in helping the party regain control of the Senate in the 2016 elections. The self-described democratic socialist says he will take his campaign to the convention in July and advocate for his policy issues in the platform while urging Democrats to be more inclusive of independents, young people and working-class voters, all of whom were pivotal in his victories in 22 states. But what that will look like still remains unclear, and Sanders has been soliciting advice from supporters on how he should take his campaign forward. The mass shooting at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida, has commanded the attention of both campaigns and prompted Democrats to point to Trump's call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the U.S., an issue they view as a key contrast in the general election. Without mentioning Trump by name, Clinton warned during a speech in Cleveland on Monday that demonizing Muslims would only empower extremist groups. "We should be intensifying contacts in those communities, not scapegoating or isolating them," she said. Sanders attended a vigil in his hometown of Burlington, Vermont, on Monday night to show solidarity with the victims. Pointing to Trump's comments about Muslims, Sanders said the shooting was conducted by "one hateful person" and not committed by the Muslim people. Looking forward, Sanders has begun helping Democrats preparing for congressional races and the battle to regain control of the Senate. An early test of his clout came Tuesday in Nevada, where a Sanders-backed congressional candidate, Lucy Flores, competed in a three-way primary. Sanders has opened up his campaign's massive email donor list to several Democratic candidates, hauling in more than $2.4 million for his allies. Flores has been the top recipient of those appeals, collecting about $390,000 from an email Sanders sent in April on behalf of her and two other candidates. A Maryland man whose family operated a home day care pleaded guilty to producing child pornography and sexually exploiting a child. Steve Baker, 41, admitted having 50,000 images of child pornography and 1,000 videos of it on his computer at a sign shop he ran in Vienna, Virginia, and on his home computer in Kensington, Maryland, where state records show his family once ran a daycare operation through 2012. Prosecutors didn't go into details about any victims but said a lot of those images were downloaded by Baker onto his computers. The FBI tracked Baker by connecting online postings to an IP address belonging to a sign shop in Vienna, according to the FBI affidavit. FBI investigators interviewed Baker at the store, their affidavit said. When Baker was asked if he knew why the (FBI) agents were there, Baker stated, I have child porn on my computers, and, I have been waiting for someone to come, the affidavit said. The affidavit said, Baker stated, Im actually downloading a file right now. Do you want to see? Come on, Ill show you. Baker's attorney declined to comment to News4 after the hearing. Baker faces between 15 and 30 years in prison when he's sentenced in October. The U.S. Department of Labor is asking a federal court to order a new election of union leadership at WMATA's major union, the Local 689 Amalgamated Transit Union. The agency is questioning the legitimacy of the process used to elect union leaders in December 2015, which re-elected union president Jackie Jeter. The Department of Labor alleges Local 689 failed to allow other candidates a proper opportunity to run for her job. The Department of Labor, in court filings Tuesday, said Local 689 membership sought and voted to hold a re-election for leadership positions in January 2016, but were denied the opportunity to do so. The federal government is asking the court to order a re-vote for union leaders, personally supervised by the U.S. labor secretary. "(The union) failed to conduct its election in accordance with its bylaws and the International constitution when it denied individuals -- including Harry Johnson, Ozzie Andrews, and Glenn Jarret -- who were eligible for candidacy under the Defendant's and the international's bylaws and constitutions the right to be nominated and run for office," U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez said in his filing with the court. Local 689 is based in Forestville, Maryland, and includes 12,000 members, according to background information posted by the union. The union did not immediately return requests for comment. Four men and a juvenile were injured in four shootings that happened within hours of each other in Southeast Washington. The most recent shooting happened just before 1:30 a.m. Tuesday in the 200 block of 37th Street SE. When officers arrived at the scene, they found a man suffering from a gunshot wound. His condition is not known at this time. Minutes earlier, officers were called to a double shooting in the 300 block of 53rd Street SE. Police say a man and a juvenile male were injured in that shooting. Both victims are expected survive. Police are also investigating a shooting that injured a man in the 100 block of Upsal Street SE at about midnight, and a shooting that left one man injured in the 900 block of 5th Street SE just before 9:30 p.m. Monday. Police have not released suspect information in any of the incidents. A feedlot and several slaughterhouses in Vietnam have been suspended from receiving livestock from Australian exporters following alleged animal cruelty. The Australian livestock exporters took response to allegations of animal cruelty by Animals Australia, suspending a feedlot in Hai Phong City and several slaughterhouses in Bai Do Village, Phu Xuyen District, Hanoi, according to Alison Penfold, CEO of Australian Livestock Exporters Council (ALEC). There is no sidestepping the issue, if the evidence is of brutal treatment of Australian cattle such as sledge hammering or other cruel practices then individual exporter, feedlot or abattoir systems to oversee control and traceability have failed to detect them, Penfold said on ALEC's statement published on June 12. Besides the suspensions on the aforementioned feedlot and slaughterhouses, Penfold also added exporters had taken other actions to interrogate their supply chains which includes increasing overseeing staff, reviewing livestock number and CCTV system. According to the Meat & Livestock Australia Limited, Viet Nam was the second largest live cattle importer of Australia in the fiscal year 2014-2015 with 309,505 heads, valued at AUD328 million. One person was killed and 15 others were hurt Tuesday evening when a car and a bus carrying visitors from China crashed head-on on George Washington Parkway in Northern Virginia. The shuttle bus rolled over, landed on its side and slid, trapping passengers beneath it, U.S. Park Police said. More than a dozen good Samaritans are being hailed as heroes for lifting the bus off the victims. The crash occurred about 5 p.m. in Mt. Vernon and closed the parkway in both directions until early Wednesday morning. The bus with 18 passengers on board was headed northbound, away from the plantation home of George Washington, when it crashed with a car traveling southbound, near Stratford Lane. The bus fell onto its left side and slid off the roadway. The car, which had a driver and one passenger inside, crashed into a wooded area. At least a dozen people, some of whom were believed to be members of the military, stopped to help the victims. They were able to lift the bus and treat wounded people before EMS crews arrived, Sgt. Anna Rose said, describing "a noble act." Nineteen people were rushed to hospitals. One passenger on the bus was pronounced dead. The person killed had not been identified as of Wednesday morning. The Chinese embassy was working to contact the victims' family members and assist victims, the embassy said in a statement. Two women remained in critical condition Wednesday morning. The cause of the crash remains under investigation. The bus driver was not seriously hurt and is speaking with police. Police ask anyone who witnessed the crash, plus anyone who "participated in the heroic act of lifting the bus," to call 202-610-7500. A zoo baby is on the way! For the first time in 25 years, a baby orangutan is expected at the Smithsonian National Zoo, zookeepers announced Tuesday afternoon as they conducted an ultrasound live on Facebook. The zoo said Monday that an animal was pregnant, but kept the breed a secret until 2 p.m. Tuesday. The 19-year-old endangered Bornean orangutan Batang is pregnant after she was bred in January with Kyle, another of the six orangutans at the zoo. Zoo veterinarians conducted a human pregnancy test on Batang in February and found it was positive. Watching her fetus develop over the past few months has been incredibly exciting, and were making every effort to ensure our efforts come to fruition," primates curator Meredith Bastian said in a statement. Smithsonian National Zoo Batang's baby is due in mid-September. The zoo cautions that just like with any birth, miscarriage, stillbirth or a complication could occur. The first-time mom-to-be is being trained to care for an infant. Keepers taught her how to hold a "plush, bean-shaped pillow" upright and how to hand it to keepers when she is asked. She also has been trained to use a breast pump, in the event that she is unable to nurse. This training is especially important for a first-time mother, like Batang," assistant primates curator Becky Malinsky said in the statement. "It is our goal for the infant to be raised by her mother, learning how to be an orangutan from Batang and the other orangutans at the zoo." Orangutans are native to Indonesia and live in the tropical rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra, the zoo says. Some of their habitat has been destroyed because of growing human demand for palm oil products, pulp wood and food crops, according to the zoo. Visitors to the zoo can see Batang and the other six orangutans at the Great Ape House and in the Think Tank. For more information, see the zoo's website. [NATL] Adorable Zoo Babies: White Lion Cubs Nala and Simba Born in France The man accused of almost killing a couple during a violent home invasion in Virginia in November 2014 was found guilty of all seven charges Tuesday for the hours-long attack in which he stabbed, shot and tased the couple. A jury found Andrew Schmuhl, a former military lawyer, responsible for breaking into the McLean home of lawyer Leo Fisher and his wife, Sue Duncan, and then holding them captive for hours as he tortured them. In the weeks of Schmuhl's trial, prosecutors argued the incident was an act of revenge against Fisher, who had fired Schmuhls wife, Alecia, from his law firm weeks earlier. They said the attack was well planned and carefully executed, but the Schmuhls left out one critical detail in their planning. "They overlooked one vital thing -- that is the will of the human spirit," said Chief Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Casey Lingan. "The will of a human being to fight for their life. The will despite severed arteries and severed veins to pull an alarm." Investigators said they found Duncan's bloody hand print on the home's panic alarm after she had played dead in front of Schmuhl. The defense attempted to paint a much different picture of the events that unfolded in those hours. They claimed Schmuhl was taking dozens of medications for back pain and was so heavily under the influence of those drugs that he did not know what he was doing during the attack. The defense tried to pin the entire plot on Alecia Schmuhl, whom they say purchased prepaid cell phones and tasers while her husband waited in the car. But prosecutors said Schmuhl is a con artist and always has been. They claimed he made up his back pain to get access to prescription medications. The jury rejected the defense's claim that Schmuhl was "involuntarily intoxicated" by the litany of drugs he was on at the time. Schmuhl will be sentenced at 10 a.m. Thursday. The five most serious charges carry a term of five years to life. His wife will be tried in September. Fisher's law firm released a statement supporting the verdict. "We are grateful that the jury's guilty verdicts in the prosecution of Andrew Schmuhl for his brutal assault of our friend and colleague, Leo Fisher, and his wife Sue Duncan, mark the beginining of closure for them," the statement said. "This was a horrific ordeal no one can fully grasp." The White House Correspondents' Association says it stands with the Washington Post and other news organizations after Donald Trump announced he would revoke the newspaper's press credentials. In a statement Tuesday, the WHCA said candidates running for the presidency "must respect the role of a free and adversarial press,'' and warned that failure to do so "just because he or she does not like the tone or content of their coverage'' risked violating the First Amendment. Trump said Monday that he is revoking the newspaper's credentials "based on the incredibly inaccurate coverage and reporting of the record setting Trump campaign." He wrote that he's "no fan of" President Barack Obama, but faulted the Post for a headline posted Monday that he said read, "Donald Trump suggests President Obama was involved with Orlando shooting." The headline on the story Monday afternoon read, "Donald Trump seems to connect President Obama to Orlando shooting." Trump said in an interview on Fox News Channel Monday morning that when it comes to fighting terrorism, the president "doesn't get it or, or he gets it better than anybody understands." Post spokeswoman Kristine Coratti Kelly said in an email the headline was changed shortly after the story posted "to more properly reflect what Trump said." She added, "We did so on our own; the Trump campaign never contacted us about it." Post editor Martin Baron said Monday that Trump's decision "is nothing less than a repudiation of the role of a free and independent press.'' "When coverage doesn't correspond to what the candidate wants it to be, then a news organization is banished. The Post will continue to cover Donald Trump as it has all along - honorably, honestly, accurately, energetically, and unflinchingly. We're proud of our coverage, and we're going to keep at it,'' he said. Trump's campaign reiterated its decision in a statement Monday evening. "We no longer feel compelled to work with a publication which has put its need for 'clicks' above journalistic integrity,'' it read. A Post photographer and reporter attended Trump's speech in New Hampshire Monday afternoon without issue. Trump's campaign has revoked credentials from reporters at other news outlets including Buzzfeed, The Daily Beast, Politico and the Des Moines Register. Travel along the Baltimore-Washington Parkway is about to get smoother in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, thanks to a partnership between the National Park Service and the Maryland State Highway Administration. The interchange at Maryland Route 198 has been identified as the number one maintenance priority on the parkway. Work begins Monday, June 13, to mill and pave the northbound entrance ramp at Route 198 West and the acceleration and deceleration lanes on the parkway. This is a great example of how federal and state organizations can collaborate to create safe and smooth conditions for drivers, Superintendent Matthew Carroll said. We are grateful for the funding support from the Maryland State Highway Administration to help repair this important and scenic national park road that is also a critical transportation artery for Maryland drivers and commuters. In an effort to minimize traffic impacts, repairs, which will cost $350,000, will be performed weeknights between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. from Monday, June 13 through Thursday, June 16. Throughout the project, at least one lane on the northbound Baltimore-Washington Parkway will remain open at all times. Originally designed to serve as a dignified entrance to the nations capital, a military access route for federal installations and alternative to U.S. Route 1, the Baltimore-Washington Parkway now serves as one of the most important components of the region's transportation network. Its been nearly five years since the most recent episode of HBOs Curb Your Enthusiasm, in which Larry David triggered his usual self-wrought humiliation by accusing Michael J. Fox of exaggerating his Parkinsons disease. Davids proof: Hes convinced Fox purposely shook up a bottle of cola that exploded in Davids face (this came after David drew a Hitler mustache on a magazine cover photo of Foxs father-in-law). While fans have missed the show, Larry David, like that soda, has gone all over the place: His hilarious 2013 TV movie, Clear History, mixed a new take on his anti-social TV persona with a Seinfeld-like plot built upon coincidence and missed signals. He starred on Broadway in A Fish in the Dark, a gut-busting 2014 farce he wrote about family and death. And, of course, he spent more time on the Saturday Night Live stage this past season than some cast members, playing his vocal and physical doppelganger Bernie Sanders including starring in a clever mash-up called Bern Your Enthusiasm (Sanders blows the Iowa caucus by alienating individual voters over petty, David-style clashes). Now theres word that David will be back for a ninth season of Curb Your Enthusiasm. The news, to put it in Davidian terms, is better than pretty, pretty, pretty good its pretty great. The timing is pretty strong, too: His SNL appearances exposed his curmudgeonly charm to viewers too young to care that he co-created Seinfeld 27 years ago. Perhaps more significantly, Davids HBO comedy of bad manners can tap into a political-pop cultural zeitgeist where, for better or worse, some folks cant seem to get enough of blunt-talking, older New York-reared guys without social filters. David, in a press release, addressed his Curb comeback in typically sardonic fashion: In the immortal words of Julius Caesar, I left, I did nothing, I returned. But its a safe bet the co-creator of a classic sitcom about nothing has more big things to say about the trivial at a time when stakes are high all over. The worlds changed since Curb debuted in 2000, beginning an on-and-off initial 11-year run that brought the abrasive sub-current of Seinfeld to the surface with plots unabashedly tackling death, pornography and unfortunate obituary typos. David constructed season-long arcs around a meta Seinfeld reunion and putting himself on Broadway in The Producers. He took the yada-yada-yada of catchphrases to new levels with the stop and chat (unexpected sidewalk conversations he tries to avoid), the chat and cut (sneaking onto a line when you spot an acquaintance) and upstreaming (stealing someones cab by doing a run-and-hail). The exaggerated version David plays of himself helped usher in a post-Seinfeld era of the comedy of the uncomfortable, as evidence by programs ranging from both versions of The Office to Louie to Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Theres no word on exactly when the heavily improvised Curb for Enthusiasm will return. But it wont be soon enough for fans, old-school and newly minted, waiting for Larry David to shake up TV again. Jere Hester is Director of News Products and Projects at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. He is also the author of "Raising a Beatle Baby: How John, Paul, George and Ringo Helped us Come Together as a Family." Follow him on Twitter. The Boston Muslim community is reacting to the Orlando, Florida, nightclub shooting in which 49 people were killed, and the gunman's connection to ISIS. Gunman Omar Mateen had links to Islamic extremist group ISIS, an organization most Muslim leaders denounce. "I had my partner asked me if I planned on changing my FB name because it is a problem," said Xandra Minter. Minter is a gay Muslim. She says that after the terror attacks in Orlando, many of her friends are fearful to disclose their sexuality in public spaces. She added, "Yesterday was the first time that I've ever been so public about my sexuality, and I think that I'm only just understanding what the consequences of that may be." Minter also worries that she'll become an even bigger target for hate crimes because of her religion. Samh Alananzah, 21, says that she is often discriminated after terror attacks happen, just for being a Muslim. "Some people like in here in America, they see you with a hijab. They start looking at you like a different way," she said. Puerto Rican Ramon Rodriguez said in Spanish that ISIS ideals do not represent Islam. Rodriguez says his religion condemns any type of murder. Rodriguez said, "It's amazing to see how we can come together and be supporting of one another. There are so many messages of support." For her, living in fear is no longer an option. She said, "Because I feel that God is on my side. God is on the side of justice. And I really hope that world continues to see that violence and killing people is not the answer." Necn's Jeff Saperstone is also in Orlando reporting on this developing story. Tune in for live coverage. The nurses at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston have voted to authorize a one-day strike. They announced that 95-percent of voters said "yes" to the strike Monday night. The votes were cast in a secret ballot. The nurses have 10 days until they can hit the picket lines and the earliest they can start is on June 24. The hospital can agree to a contract settlement by that date. More than 3,000 nurses at the hospital have been trying to negotiate new contracts. The hospital released a statement that said in part, "While we are disappointed, we fully expect that authorization to call a strike will be granted to the union. We sincerely hope that we can reach a fair and reasonable contract and avoid a strike. Our focus, however, remains on providing safe, high-quality care to our patients, and we will be ready to do so should a strike occur," said Ron M. Walls, MD, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Brigham and Women's Health Care. The statement added, "The leadership team and the entire BWH community have the utmost respect for our nurses and the incredible care they deliver each day." If the strike takes place, it will be the largest nurses' strike in the state's history. The parents of a 19-year-old University of New Hampshire student who was raped and killed in 2012 are fighting to keep details about her past sexual history from exposure to the public. Seth Mazzaglia is serving life in prison for a first-degree murder conviction in the rape and killing of Elizabeth "Lizzi" Marriott, of Westborough, Massachusetts. His case is going through the appeals process. A Friday ruling by the state Supreme Court could open previously sealed documents relating to Marriott's "alleged prior consensual sexual activity" that form the basis for Mazzaglia's appeal. The New Hampshire Attorney General's office has won a temporary stay in the records' unsealing. The state and Marriott's family argue unsealing the documents would invade Marriott's privacy and undermine the state's rape shield law. A human sea of love flooded the streets of downtown Burlington, Vermont Monday night, honoring the victims and survivors of this weekend's shooting massacre in Orlando, Florida. A crowd the Burlington Police Dept. estimated at around 2,000 gathered for the solemn march down the Church Street Marketplace, and to attend a vigil where they heard from several city officials, advocates for the LGBTQ community, presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, and religious leaders. "It's definitely a powerful thing seeing everybody out here supporting one another, loving one another, and supporting people that they never even met before," said Tony Sawyer, who attended the demonstration. Burlington joined the rest of the nation in mourning the 49 people killed early Sunday when a gunman wielding an assault-type rifle and a handgun opened fire inside a crowded gay nightclub in Orlando. Authorities are investigating whether the attack was an act of terrorism, a hate crime, or both. Organized by the Pride Center of Vermont, the march and vigil went far beyond the LGBTQ community. Among its allies Monday night was Senator, presidential candidate, and former Burlington mayor Bernie Sanders, who said the large show of compassion is what makes his city such a special place. "One hateful person committed this horrible crime, not an entire people or an entire religion," Sanders told the crowd that ended up gathering in City Hall Park. "Our job is to take pride in our diversity, to bring our people together, and not let hatred divide us up." "Tonight we want to stand in solidarity with one another," said Kim Fountain, the executive director of the Pride Center of Vermont. "We want to stand against the hate speech and the narrow-mindedness that led to the shooting in the first place. We must meet violence with compassion. We must stand together as a community, locally, nationally, and across the world." An imam from the Islamic Society of Vermont also spoke, completely rejecting the actions of the killer in Orlando, and saying the murderer in no way spoke for peace-loving Muslim-Americans. The imam also called the killer "evil," adding that evil has no place in this country. Each year, Vietnams market management authorities detect about 10,000 cases related to counterfeiting and piracy, but only 14 percent are ever brought to court. Le The Bao, chairman of the Vietnam Association for Anti-Counterfeiting and Trademark Protection, said that counterfeit products are on display in many markets, supermarkets and shopping malls. Even anti-counterfeiting stamps, which are used to protect trademarks, are being faked. The chairman added that 60 percent of imported wine into Vietnam has fake stamps while many meat traders have copied the governments seals of approval and attached them on their products regardless of quality. Last year, the Market Surveillance Agency detected about 25,000 cases of counterfeiting worth $24 million, but only collected $3 million in fines. The fight against fake goods isnt easy as some products are imported to the local market in the form of spare parts rather than finished products, making it difficult for police to identify. In addition, many enterprises offer fake items that are 90 percent genuine, making it difficult for authorities to detect. Hoang Van Truc, deputy director of the Investigation Bureau of Economic Crimes, said that only one in seven cases related to fake goods is prosecuted, while the rest receive administrative fines. The deputy director added that theres a lack of cooperation between authorities, especially in bordering provinces, to prevent fake products from entering the local market. Many legal documents about counterfeiting and piracy overlap while the penalties arent enough of a deterrent. Truc said that even local companies, for fear of losing customers, are reluctant to admit their products have been faked. He called on these firms to work with authorities to find counterfeit products and play their part in the fierce battle against economic crime. Police in New Bedford, Massachusetts, say a man was seriously injured in a stabbing Monday afternoon. According to necn affiliate WJAR, the stabbing happened around 3:30 p.m. in the area of Nauset and Mt. Pleasant Streets. The victim, 50, was reportedly stabbed in the arm and abdomen behind a business plaza. The victim went to a McDonald's for help and was transported to Rhode Island Hospital in serious condition. Police say he was stabbed after an argument with another man. Anyone with information should call police at 508-991-6300. A Massachusetts native who was shot five times in the Orlando nightclub attack described the chaotic scene at a news conference Tuesday. "It was a great night, no drama, just smiles, just laughter. Out of nowhere, we just hear a big shotgun," Angel Colon of Framingham said in a press conference held Tuesday morning at Orlando Regional Medical Center. "We stop what we're doing and it just keeps going. We just grabbed each other, we started running." Colon said he was shot three times in the leg and fell down. He tried to get up, but was trampled, shattering and breaking bones in his left leg. "By this time I couldn't walk at all," he said. "All I could do was just lay down there. All I could hear was the shotgun, one after another, people screaming, people yelling for help." Colon said the shooter then went into another room, and more gun shots rang out. "I thought I was a little safe at this time," he said. "Unfortunately, I hear him come back and he's shooting everyone that's already dead on the floor, making sure they're dead. I could just see him shooting at everyone. I could hear the shotguns closer, and I look over and he shoots the girl next to me. "I'm just there laying down, I'm thinking, 'I'm next. I'm dead.' I don't know how, by the glory of God, he shoots toward my head, it hits my hand. He shoots me again, and it hits the side of my hip. I had no reaction. I was just prepared to stay there laying down so he wouldn't know that I'm alive. He's just doing this for five minutes - he's just shooting all over the place." Next, the shooter went up to the front of the club, where Colon said it appeared he was "battling against the cops." Colon heard more shots, and then he looked up and saw a police officer. "To this day I'm grateful for him. He looks at me, he makes sure I'm alive. He grabs my hand and says, 'This is the only way I can take you out.' He starts to drag me out across the street for a Wendy's, and I'm grateful for him but the floor is just covered in glass. "As he's dragging me out I'm just getting cut. I don't feel pain but I just feel all this blood on me from myself, from other people. He just drops me off across the street. I look over and there's just bodies everywhere." Colon said he was able to get to an ambulance, who brought him to the hospital. "If it wasn't for you guys, I definitely would not be here," he told the doctors and nurses at Tuesday's press conference. "Every morning, in the middle of the night, in the afternoon, you guys are always there. I will love you guys forever for doing that for me." Colon is the fourth Orlando shooting victim with New England ties. Stanley Manolo Almodovar III and Kimberly "KJ" Morris both died in the attack. Almodovar, 23, attended elementary school in Springfield, Massachusetts. Morris, 37, was a Torrington, Connecticut, native and lived in Northampton and Springfield, Massachusetts, for years before moving to Florida to care for her mother and grandmother. Jeffrey Rodriguez, who was born and raised in Leominster, Massachusetts, was shot three times in the attack. He remains in critical condition in an Orlando hospital. Necn's Jeff Saperstone is in Orlando to report on this developing story. Tune in for live coverage. Republican Gov. Charlie Baker has nominated three Superior Court judges to fill upcoming vacancies on the state's highest court. Baker on Tuesday announced the selections of Kimberly Budd, Frank Gaziano and David Lowy to the seven-member Supreme Judicial Court. If confirmed by the Governor's Council, the nominees would replace Associate Justices Fernande Duffly, Francis Spina and Robert Cordy, who have announced plans to retire from the Supreme Judicial Court by the end of the summer. Baker called the nominees distinguished and well-respected judges who have handled some of the state's most complicated criminal and civil cases. The three retirements from the Supreme Judicial Court, all announced within a matter of days earlier in the year, give the first-term governor an unusual opportunity to put his stamp on the high court. Baker formed a special judicial nominating panel to help vet candidates to fill the vacancies. Baker, a moderate Republican, declared earlier he had no "litmus test" for nominees and would seek jurists with the proper temperament, intellect and legal skills for the job. Budd, the daughter of former U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Wayne Budd, was named to the Superior Court in 2009 by Democratic then-Gov. Deval Patrick. A graduate of Georgetown University and Harvard Law School, she had previously served as an assistant U.S. attorney. Gaziano was appointed to the Superior Court by former Republican Gov. Mitt Romney in 2004. The Suffolk University Law School graduate previously served as a state and federal prosecutor. Lowy recently presided over the murder trial of Phillip Chism, a teenager convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the killing of his math teacher at Danvers High School. Lowy, a graduate of the University of Massachusetts and Boston University Law School, was first appointed to the state's district court and elevated to the Superior Court by Republican then-Gov. Paul Cellucci in 2001. All three jurists are under the age of 60. The mandatory retirement age for judges in Massachusetts is 70. The eight-member Governor's Council, which must approve all judicial appointments, will hold hearings before voting on the nominations. The Supreme Judicial Court, founded in 1692, is considered the oldest continuously sitting appellate court in the Western Hemisphere. The shooting in Orlando has security officials in Massachusetts keeping a close eye on the state's transportation systems in an effort to keep them from becoming soft targets. Gov. Charlie Baker is calling for an increased police presence at MBTA stations and airports. "History has taught us that public transportation systems are a soft target," Richard Sullivan, superintendent of MBTA police, said. "We have to be cognisant of that." Commuters will notice tighter security this week including K-9 units in some of the lobbies. Amtrak said it is also working with local and federal law enforcement to keep passengers safe. "You'll see an increase in uniform presence at high volume stations during peak ride times you'll also see an increase in explosive detective units out there," Sullivan said. Additional state troopers are on hand to monitor the terminals at Boston Logan airport. The extra patrols were visible outside the security checkpoints Tuesday morning. "Thank God for the TSA and for them being strict," James Betancourt said, who was flying back to Orlando from Boston Tuesday. "I live right around the corner from there, so I want to know how my city has prepared and what they have in place to prevent it." Security officials say it is a balance between creating an atmosphere of awareness and an environment of fear. Their efforts will continue across the state least through the rest of the week. A third victim of the Orlando, Florida, nightclub shooting has reported ties to Massachusetts. The Lowell Sun reports that a former Leominster, Massachusetts, man is fighting for his life after being shot in the Pulse nightclub. According to his brother, Jeffrey Rodriguez, who was born and raised in Leominster, was shot three times in the attack. Rodriguez, who now lives in Orlando, is listed in critical condition. His stepmother says he went to the club with a large group of friends and said he was among the 15 people who hid in a restroom. Two other victims of the shooting had connections to Massachusetts. Stanley Manolo Almodovar III and Kimberly "KJ" Morris both died in the attack. Almodovar, 23, attended elementary school in Springfield. Morris, 37, had lived in Northampton and Springfield for years before moving to Florida to care for her mother and grandmother. A Springfield, Massachusetts, teenager police say apparently accidentally shot his 15-year-old girlfriend to death has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder. Seventeen-year-old Anthony Diaz was held without bail at his arraignment Monday in Hampden Superior Court. His name has been made public because he is charged as an adult. Authorities think the April 8 shooting death of Daneyshkalis (DAY'-nish-kuh-lees) Davila was accidental. Police say the girl's 13-year-old brother witnessed the shooting and told investigators that Diaz was spinning the loaded chamber of a revolver when the cylinder snapped shut and the gun went off. The victim, a high school freshman, was struck in the abdomen. The suspect fled the scene but was arrested at a relative's home. Diaz's lawyer did not comment. Kimberly KJ Morris took one bite from a doughnut her mother left for her before leaving for work at Pulse nightclub in Orlando on Saturday night. On Sunday morning, Deborah Johnson-Riley saw her daughters doughnut was still there and KJ wasnt home from work. Then Johnson-Rileys mother called her. Something had happened at the club. I wondered. She didnt call me, she said of receiving no word from KJ. But she was grown, so. KJ, a 1996 graduate of Torrington High School, was 37 years old. Instead of heading to church like she planned, Johnson-Riley went to the hospital and waited for hours, but there was no word on her daughters condition. Then she went to the hotel where families were gathered and waited for hours more. At one point, a man who knew KJ said she had to have gotten out. She was a security guard at Pulse and worked outside, so she had to have gotten out. But Johnson-Riley asked him to call a manager and it was through Snapchat that she learned KJ had been inside the club, not outside of it. The call no parent wants to ever receive came to Johnson-Rileys mothers house, where the family was gathered. Then three officials came to the door and delivered the bad news. They told me she was gone, Johnson-Riley said. It was 7:30 p.m. on Sunday and no one would tell her anything about what happened to her daughter, just that she had identification and they had identified her. The investigation was ongoing. As families waited, the world learned that a gunman killed 49 people inside Pulse and injured many more. Morris had just started working at the club a week or two before. Shed only moved to Orlando at the end of March to be with her mother, a Torrington native, and her grandmother. In the short time mother and daughter were together in Florida, they enjoyed their talks, the pool and going to the movies together. KJ also worked two jobs. One was as a manager at Verizon. The other was as a security guard at Pulse, a club the owner started in memory of her brother as a safe haven for Orlando's gay community a community KJ was a part of. She came out in college, her mother said. But Johnson-Riley did not want her daughter working at a club in downtown Orlando at any club in Orlando. Its unfortunate and I begged her not to work there. I said. Please dont work downtown at any clubs its too dangerous. Theres a lot of shootings and she said, Oh, Ive done it before, Ive done it up north, Ive done it in Springfield. So, I said This is different here, and she wouldnt listen cause she is stubborn in a good way. Now Johnson-Riley is in shock. I feel devastated that she moved here and that someone had to do this to her, and she was such a good person, but they say the good die young, but she is going to be missed, Johnson-Riley said. She is holding on to the doughnut that her daughter took a bite from. I cant throw that doughnut away, she said. Her memories will forever be of KJs smiling face, her generosity, the good times they had together and the discussions. Im going to be grateful for the time I did have for her, because thats all I can do, Johnson-Riley said. Shes gone. I cant bring her back. But the grieving mother will keep her daughters memory memory going and let people know what a wonderful person her daughter was. A crash between a tractor-trailer and a bus on the Massachusetts Turnpike has resulted in closed lanes and massive backup on both sides Tuesday morning in Millbury. The rollover happened around 4:15 a.m. A tractor-trailer on the eastbound side crashed over the median after colliding with the bus. The driver of the tractor trailer had minor injuries, and was taken to St. Elizabeth's in Boston's Brighton neighborhood. According to Megabus, a bus heading from New York City to Boston was involved in an incident in Millbury Tuesday morning. They did not provide details of the incident, but say Megabus is "fully cooperating with the authorities with their investigation into the incident." That vehicle currently sits on the shoulder of the Mass. Turnpike eastbound. The tractor-trailer is still on its side with crews working to remove it. It took several hours for the right lane and breakdown lane on the westbound side to reopen, according to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. Click here for the traffic map. In the wake of the mass shooting in Orlando, Donald Trump doubled down on his controversial proposal to suspend immigration into the United States, not just for Muslims, as he had said previously, but from any country where there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States. Trump began by saying he would not be talking about is democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, but it didn't take long for him to criticize her immigration policies and "political correctness." Trump said Clinton has no clue what radical Islam is, that she is in "total denial," and that her positions broadcast weakness throughout the entire world. Trump also criticized Muslim communities for not alerting authorities to those with radical behavior. He said Muslims "have to work with us" and that they know who the bad ones are. Former Massachusetts Sen Scott Brown, an early Trump supporter, said Trumps speech was rock-solid. New Hampshire state representative Al Baldasaro, who has worked with the Trump campaign, said Trumps speech will be well received because the American people want to hear politicians tell it like it is. Neil LeVesque, Director of the Institute of politics at Saint Anselm College says he is not sure how smart the speech was but he does know that if it has put Trump, once again, in the middle of the front page story. Vigils, rallies and marches were held around the country Monday for the victims of the deadly attack at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. With heavy hearts, hundreds of people gathered Monday night at City Hall Plaza in Boston to mourn the staggering loss of life in the Orlando attack. Many carried rainbow-colored flags and signs calling for peace. At times they held and comforted each other. Speakers addressed the crowd in both English and Spanish. Angie Cotterman, who attended the vigil, said, "I've been in tears since the news came across the country." Deana Vraganca said, "I wanted to show solidarity. I was devastated yesterday by what happened so I just wanted to show my support." Boston Mayor Martin Walsh and Gov. Charlie Baker also attended the candlelight vigil. A condolence book is available for signing at city hall during business hours. The book will eventually be sent to Orlando. Necn's Jeff Saperstone is also in Orlando reporting on this developing story. Tune in for live coverage. Search continues on Wednesday after Vietnam People's Air Defense - Air Force lost contact with a fighter jet flying offshore the central province of Nghe An yesterday. One of the two missing pilots has been rescued by a fishing boat at 4:30 a.m., Senior Lieutenant Colonel Tran Cong Luc, Deputy Commander in Chief of Nghe An Border Forces, confirmed with VnExpress. One source in Nghe An Border Forces said the rescued pilot is Major Nguyen Huu Cuong. The status of the other pilot, Lieutenant Colonel, Tran Quang Khai, has yet to be confirmed. Refresh for latest updates Vietnam People's Air Defense - Air Force has confirmed it lost contact with a fighter jet flying offshore the central province of Nghe An on Tuesday morning. Major Nguyen Huu Cuong. The jet departed from Tho Xuan Airport in central Thanh Hoa province for training in the sea. The Su-30MK2 disappeared from radar at 7:29 a.m. Two experienced pilots are in the missing fighter jet according to a VnExpress source: - Lieutenant Colonel, Tran Quang Khai, Deputy Commander, Chief of Staff, 923rd Fighter Regiment (43 years old), - Major Nguyen Huu Cuong, Deputy Commander of the 1st Squadron, 923rd Fighter Regiment (39 years old) Deputy Minister of Defense has denied rumors that one pilot has swum to the shore. Based on fishermen's accounts of seeing a falling jet and last contact point, the search team has narrowed down the location of the jet to around Hon Mat Islan (Cua Lo Town, Nghe An Province), around 20 km from the shore. The status of the two pilots has yet to be confirmed. Military Command of Nghe An Province and Vietnam People's Air Defense - Air Force have mobilized helicopters and fishing vessels for the search. 6:00 p.m. Major General Do Minh Tuan said: "The search team has identified the exact location of the crashed fighter jet Su 30 based on many signs. Many vessels and planes are approaching for rescue. There's been no sign of the pilots." 4:30 p.m. Deputy Minister of Defense Nguyen Chi Vinh said that Ministry of Defence and relevant agencies are pooling all the resources for the search. Deputy Minister Vinh denies rumors that one pilot has swum to the shore. 4:00 p.m. The search team has found traces of oil to the north east of Hon Mat Island (Nghe An Province). The area has been marked for rescue planes and vessels to approach. Around the same time, fishermen reported to have spotted debris thought to belong to the crashed jet to the north east of Hon Mat Island, 40 km away from Dien Chau Beach and 200km away from the jet's starting point. Deputy Chief of the Vietnam People's Army, Lieutenant General Vo Van Tuan said he is on his way to Nghe An to oversee the search for the crashed jet. Search and rescue teams have not found any sign of the jet or the two pilots. Huynh Thanh Dien, Deputy Chairman of Nghe An People's Committee has just set up the Steering Committee for the jet's search and rescue headed by Dinh Viet Hong, Deputy Chairman of Nghe An People's Committee. The province will mobilize soldiers, fishery control and fishermen to work with Military Zone 4 forces under Ministry of Defense to search for the missing jet. Basic supplies are loaded onto the ship about to join the search. 3:00 p.m. Current temperature on Hon Mat Island is around 40C, wind blows South West at speed of 25 km/h, visibility is 10 km. One leader of the Air Force Helicopter Regiment 916 of Division 371 said, about half an hour ago, four Mi Mi 171 and 172 helicopters of the regiment joined the search. Basic supplies are provided for the ship searching for the missing jet. 2:50 p.m. Helicopter searching for the missing jet. Photo by VnExpress/Hai Binh At noon, Military Zone 4 has established a command post in Cua Lo Town (Nghe An Province) to oversee the search. The Provincial Military Command has advised Nghe An People's Committee to set up a Steering Committee for the jet's search and rescue. "We have sent three ships with 36 officers, soldiers to search around Hon Mat Island. There are more than 10 big fishing vessels and other forces too," said Colonel Tran Van Hung, Deputy Commander in Chief, Chief of Military Command of Nghe An Province. 2:40 p.m. Three rescue boats belonging to Nghe An Border Squadron 2 on duty at the port waiting for the command to join the search. The car carrying basic supplies waits at the port to top up two ships that have been searching all morning upon their return 2:30 p.m. Major General Do Minh Tuan, who is directly in charge of the search and rescue operation, said there's been no sign of the pilots. Besides information from fishermen who had reported seeing a falling plane, the team has narrowed down the location of the missing jet. However, the team is still working to identify the exact location. The Su-30MK2 might have fallen to the sea east of Nghe An Province, around 20 nautical miles away from the shore. Both pilots on the jet are highly experienced. 02:10 p.m. At least six ships are searching around Hon Mat Island, Nghe An Province. At the time Vietnam lost contact with the missing jet, wind speed in the sea was around 50-61km/h, equivalent to a tropical depression. According to an expert, during an emergency and depending on elevation, speed and flight direction, pilots have to pull the eject lever to escape. The plane cannot eject pilots automatically because this function could be dangerous. Location of ships searching for the missing jet. 2:00 p.m. 137 Squadron's ship searching for the missing jet near Hon Mat Island. Photo by VnExpress/CTV 1:00 p.m. Pilot Tran Quang Khai (43) is missing. This photo was taken in 2013 when he was on a training session with Su-30. Photo by VnExpress/Thanh Tung. 12:30 p.m. Two pilots are in the missing fighter jet according to a VnExpress source: - Lieutenant Colonel, Tran Quang Khai, Deputy Commander, Chief of Staff, 923rd Fighter Regiment (43 years old), - Major Nguyen Huu Cuong, Deputy Commander of the 1st Squadron, 923rd Fighter Regiment (39 years old) Both are experienced pilots. 10:35 a.m. A team of Su-30 fighter jets departed from Sao Vang Airport in the central province of Thanh Hoa this morning. By around 8 a.m., one of the fighter jets disappeared from the radar. Major General Do Minh Tuan, Deputy Commander of Vietnam Air Defense - Air Force told VnExpress that the jet lost contact when it was training east of Nghe An central province. Lieutenant General Le Huy Vinh (Vietnam Air Defense - Air Force) and Tuan are directly overseeing the search for the missing jet. Helicopters have been mobilized to search the sea in Nghe An and Ha Tinh areas. Around 9 a.m., at least six ships are searching in sea, around Hon Mat island, Nghe An Province. By 11 a.m., ships under military command, border guards, marine police, fishery control in Nghe An have joined the search. Colonel Hoang Bui Hai, Deputy Commander of the Military Command of Thanh Hoa Province said his unit has been informed of the incident and is sending forces to help with the search. The pilots flying the Su-30 are from the 923rd air regiment. Set up in 1965, this is the second air force fighter regiment under the Vietnam People's Air Force established during the American - Vietnam War. The Su-30 is a Russian fighter jet and it's considered to have many advantages over the generation four of U.S. fighter jets. Su-30MK2 during a training. Photo by VnExpress/Tung Nam Follow VnExpress International on Facebook and Twitter Norfolk Christians challenged to provide leadership Norfolk Christians challenged to provide leadership 2016: Christian Leadership in Todays World was the subject of a breakfast seminar held at St Stephens Church in Norwich on June 11 as part of the Celebrate Norfolk weekend. Around 50 Christian leaders enjoyed breakfast and then heard the views of three prominent Norfolk Christian leaders. Tim Sweeting, CEO of YMCA Norfolk said: If you are a Christian, then I believe that you have the chance to be a leader, because you have the chance to influence others for Jesus. There is a declining trust in authority. Membership organisations are seeing numbers decline. A lot of things are now done in a more ad hoc, free flowing way - the internet and social media has a much bigger influence on people. Authority figures are less trusted and less important and that means that there is a greater responsibility on all of us as Christians to be leading our faith in tangible and practical ways, said Tim. Young people are looking for role models are they going to be Christian leaders or are they going to be the celebrities and people in the media spotlight, who I dont believe should be. Young people are looking for role models whose actions match their words, people of integrity, people who are genuine. We should be those people. The world is looking for leadership and we can provide that because we have purpose. Dr Robin Heij, consultant anaesthetist at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kings Lynn, talked about medical teams in the NHS which often use a shared leadership model with people using their different skills and expertise to get something done. It is really about the quality of interactions rather than people having formal positions. There is also the self-leadership model, said Robin, where it is about asking yourself, what impact am I having in my team? and is there someone who could do it better than me? and if something is going wrong, asking yourself is there something I need to change? This is where I believe Christian leadership should be. Rev Madeline Light, vicar of St Stephens Church, spoke about the position of women in Christian leadership. She concluded: To be a son, in ancient times, is to be an inheritor. In scripture it is clear that inheritors of the Kingdom are not identified because of their gender, but by their faith and actions. Those who are victimised will inherit all this and I will be their God and they will be my children what amazing love God has for each of us, men and women, leaders and followers. Pictured top is Dr Robin Heij speaking at the breakfast. Art loving bishop receives degree in Norwich The Bishop of Norwich the Right Rev Graham James received an honorary degree from Norwich University of the Arts (NUA) on June 8. The Bishop was presented with his honorary doctorate at St Andrews Hall in Norwich alongside over 500 graduating students.Bishop Graham remarked that in an early school report, his art teacher commented that he takes no interest in this subject, something he would contradict today as he is an advocate for the virtues of the arts. He said that art is for all of us, not just those who are accomplished artists.The Bishop, who has his own collection of art, delights in the fact that art has a creative and living presence in the city. He has supported Norwich Cathedral as a venue for the arts, and written contributions for various art catalogues about religious art. He makes a personal commitment to NUA and its students and offers support to the university through the Bishops Art Prize.This annual competition invites students in their final year of study to submit work that explores Christian themes. Entries are exhibited in the Hostry at Norwich Cathedral and the first prize is 1,000 for the winning artist. In an effort to solidifying its footing in the still-shifting public IaaS cloud computing market, CenturyLink today announced plans to buy ElasticBox, a company that specializes in hybrid cloud management software. +MORE AT NETWORK WORLD: VMware buys Arkin to increase virtual networking adoption + During a week filled with mega M&A news, this deal cloud deal could fly under the radar, but it's worth noticing because it highlights important trends in the cloud industry. For CenturyLink CenturyLink has a compelling go-to-market cloud proposition. The telecommunications vendor has a strong backbone of network connections throughout the country combined with IaaS cloud and managed hosting services and a nationwide footprint. But, the company is not typically considered among the major IaaS cloud vendors, the way Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform are. CenuryLink is looking for ways to distinguish itself in the IaaS market, and hybrid cloud management could be one way to do it. Hybrid for all ElasticBox is a hybrid cloud management tool that allows users to deploy to multiple cloud endpoints, including Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, IBM SoftLayer, VMware, as well as OpenStack clouds and container management platforms like Kubernetes too. The companys software allows IT organizations to orchestrate the deployment of applications and create a self-service catalog of applications and infrastructure, according to CenturyLinks press release announcing the deal. The ElasticBox multi-cloud management platform frees businesses to focus on issues that are central to their organization rather than spending time and resources managing multiple clouds, said CenturyLink Chief Technology Officer Aamir Hussain in the release. CenturyLink believes it can help customers manage a multi-public cloud world, and use its network backbone to help customers provision to many different cloud providers. Its a similar take that Microsoft has on the market, although their strategy focuses more on hybrid cloud management in terms of integrating on and off premises resources. It will be interesting to see if other public cloud providers make strong moves to enhance their hybrid cloud management capabilities. And dont be surprised to see more M&A to help fill out that need. National Harbor, Md. -- Corporate employees who help carry out cyberattacks are increasingly being sought and are seeking criminals to hire them, a Gartner analyst told a group at the consulting firms Security and Risk Management Summit. A group of 60 CIOs and CISOs she worked with say this recruitment is more active and becoming a larger concern because of their use of the Dark Web to sell their services, says Gartner analyst Avivah Litan. +More on Network World: National Intelligence office wants to perfect the art of security deception+ She showed a screenshot of a Dard Web chat room in which a bank employee was seeking help to acquire and distribute a banking Trojan. An established criminal was trying to recruit the employee into a larger scheme. Theres lots of disgruntled employees out there, she says. They log onto TOR and make their service available. She introduced Rich Malewicz, the CIO Livingston County, Mich., who uncovered a ring of county employees pirating movies and stealing county data that included his own IT manager. The manager, who was actually leading the investigation into the piracy, and three others were caught and fired. +More on Network World: Gartner: IT should simplify security to fight inescapable hackers+ He caught on to the criminal activity because an employee notified him that when she came in in the morning her computer was on and she had turned it off when she left. It had also been moved. He discovered via logs that an IT tech, who had been coming in late, leaving early and playing video games on county time, had come in at 3:30 to use the machine. He used a tool from Observeit to track and record activity of the criminals, leading to their firing and criminal charges. But catching insiders requires a range of tools and methods starting with scrutinizing personal interactions. Litan says she knows of a nuclear power entity that does quarterly three-hour interviews with key employees to monitor their personal situations. Have they been arrested for drunk driving? Are they getting divorced? Has the quality of their work slipped? These can indicate someone ripe for insider abuse. Beyond that, businesses have to use detection and analysis tools to track these threat actors, she says. Its data driven by monitoring structured and unstructured data, email, and chats on the Dark Web. Analysis falls into four categories: descriptive, diagnostic, predictive and prescriptive. The first two try to answer what is happening and why. The third tries to project what will be stolen or tampered with and how that will happen. The final analysis tells what to do about the problem to prevent actual attacks. About 80% of these insiders can be caught using rules and monitoring employees behaviors and the pressures they face in their personal lives, she says. The other 20% can be uncovered using anomaly detection tools that reveal how they stray from their routine, authorized use of the network. Litan says insiders who compromise security fall into three categories, pawns, collaborators and lone wolves. The first are often unaware they are involved, having fallen prey to spear phishing that compromised their machines. Collaborators work knowingly with outside parties to compromise networks and data and lone wolves act independently, sometimes with just low-level privileges but also with broad privileges, such as NSA leaker Edward Snowden. To spot low-level insiders who have gone bad security pros should look for keywords they search for and IP addresses and URLs they seek out on the Dark Web. For more advanced rogue insiders, using HR resource sand outside information like bankruptcy filings and monitoring underground chats may be called for. Catching the most serious threat actors may require machine learning applied to this data in order to make connections between individuals and recruitment attempts, for example, that might not be apparent to less sophisticated tools. Even as these analysis technologies improve, though, there are some case in which human monitoring and investigation of individuals is the only way to catch them, she says. Technology will never detect a trusted insider doing normal things, Litan says. You need people involved. Mercury rises to 40C as Hanoi scorched by heat wave The current heat wave that's got Vietnam sweating is likely to continue heating up the northern region and central coast provinces over the next two to three days. Temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius were recorded in the center of Hanoi at noon today, according to the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting. The temperature has hit the hottest point so far this year, said meteorologists, adding that average daytime temperatures are rising steadily and remaining above 30 degrees Celsius at night. Weather forecasters said that the heat wave will continue until Wednesday, but will start to cool down from Thursday. The northern and central coast regions have been baking in the hot weather for the past several days. The highest average temperature during the daytime is hovering around 36-38 degrees Celsius, and has even reached 40 degrees Celsius in the centre of Hanoi. Photo by Ngoc Thanh At around 1 p.m. today, the temperature was measured at an average of 38 degrees in Tinh Gia District in the northern central province of Thanh Hoa and 38.5 degrees in Hanoi. Government authorities have decided to delay power cuts amid the prolonged heat wave. Chairman of the Hanoi Peoples Committee Nguyen Duc Chung has asked the citys sole electricity supplier not to cut power during the ongoing hot weather. The hot weather has driven up power consumption dramatically, said the citys power corporation, urging local people to use power economically, especially during peak hours. The corporation has also set up a hotline for people to report power cuts. Earlier this month, state-run Electricity of Vietnam in Hanoi announced planned power cuts in many inner-city areas. However, due to the current heat wave, the corporation will postpone maintenance work. Power shortages are common during the summer in Vietnam. The city has also asked municipal health authorities to take measures to prevent outbreaks of summer diseases and step up food safety and hygiene inspections. Related news: > Hanoians take cover as heat wave bakes city Creatively costumed sixth formers uphold tradition ANOTHER group of creatively-costumed sixth- formers have bid farewell to Kennet School. Following tradition, the 160 upper-sixth pupils attended their last day before study leave in fancy dress on May 27. Superheroes, sharks, monks, priests, police officers, mad hatters and March Hares were among some of this years cohort. Headmaster Paul Dick said: We wish this hugely talented group good fortune in their examinations and we look forward to stunning results in August and glittering careers for them in the near and distant future. They will be remembered. The group will return on August 18 to collect their A-level results. Trinh Xuan Thanh (right) at his inauguration ceremony to become Vice Chairman of Hau Giang People's Committee. Photo by Hau Giang Newspaper Party Chief Nguyen Phu Trong's decision to order an investigation into a provincial leader's alleged abuse of an official plate on his luxury car on June 10 has sparked public interest. A story broke on June 1 as public outrage rose in Hau Giang Province after Trinh Xuan Thanh, vice chairman of Hau Giang Province Peoples Committee, was spotted driving a VND5 billion Lexus 570 bearing a blue license plate. In Vietnam, blue plates are only granted to cars used by government officials, and the Lexus 570 that Thanh was driving far exceeds the limit of VND920 million set for vehicles allocated to provincial officials. While the initial criticism centered mostly around the car's price tag, the decision to investigate Thanh's case by Trong has raised questions about whether there is more to the matter than meets the eye. As the investigation continues, speculation has been on the rise while the media delves into Thanh's past, hoping to find a motive behind the party chief's decision. Prior to being assigned to his position in Hau Giang, Trinh Xuan Thanh was the chairman of PetroVietnam Corporation (PVC) from 2007 to 2013. In 2012, the company reported surprise losses of VND293 billion ($14 million). Despite the speculations surrounding Thanhs responsibility for the losses at PVC, he continued to move up to more powerful positions. Thanh left the oil and gas industry in 2013 and was appointed to important posts over the next three years, including a position at the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) and head of the Party Committee Office of the MOIT. In 2016, Thanh was elected to his current post. Its not simply just a reassignment, said Nguyen Dinh Huong, former deputy chief of the Central Organizing Committee a state body that manages the assignment of central government personnel. According to Huong, only officials who are considered key to the central authoritys personnel agenda can move from the ministerial sector to become a provincial leader, which often ensures their chances of moving up Vietnams political ladder. On June 9, the National Election Council announced that Trinh Xuan Thanh had been elected to the National Assembly. For the time being, questions around Thanhs rise to power remain unanswered. However, some officials and lawyers have already voiced their opinions about his alleged misuse of the blue plate car by citing legal regulations that say he is not eligible for one. Thanh previously made clear that he did not own the car but had borrowed it from a friend in Hanoi when he was transferred to Hau Giang. He also said the car originally bore a white plate with a Hanoi registration number 29A-79093. The blue plate was licensed by the local police after having been approved by provincial leaders of Hau Giang to help me do the job, he said. I am willing to return the plate if it upsets the public. Thanh added he would not ask for another public car as a replacement because Hau Giang is still a poor province. Yesterday the provincial Peoples Committee admitted they had been wrong to issue the plate to Thanh. This is not the first time this month public service vehicles have been in the spotlight in the Mekong Delta. On June 6, local police in Soc Trang also made the headlines for using money from traffic fines to buy four luxury Lexus 570s. Related news: > "Borrowed" luxury car lands Vietnamese government official in hot water > Public outrage after police spend traffic fines on luxury cars Indonesia's Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries has apprehended seven boats sailing under the Vietnamese flag for alleged illegal fishing in Indonesian waters. Our Orca 003 patrol vessel escorted seven boats from Vietnam, along with 55 Vietnamese crew members, to the ministrys Natuna task force on the island of Riau on June 12, said the secretary to the ministrys directorate general for maritime and fisheries resources supervision, Waluyo Sejati Abutohir, as quoted by the Antara news agency on Monday. Waluyo said the seven boats were reportedly fishing in waters off the Natuna archipelago on the morning of June 10 with illegal trawling equipment. The crew members allegedly failed to present permits for fishing in Indonesian waters. The crews face charges under Article 93 of the 2004 law on fisheries, which carries a maximum sentence of six years in prison and a fine of Rp20 billion ($1.5 million) Last week, the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) also seized two boats and detained 20 Vietnamese fishermen that were trawling Malaysian waters on June 10. Related news: > Malaysia detains 20 Vietnamese fishermen for intrusion > Vietnamese fishermen in custody after being caught fishing in Thai waters The female employee of Bach Mai hospital keeps chatting on phone while lines of patients are waiting. Photo from Facebook Head of Vietnam's Healthcare Management Bureau Luong Ngoc Khue has asked Bach Mai Hospital - one of the largest in Vietnam - to verify allegations that one of its female employees left lines of patients waiting while she chatted on her cell phone. The employee is believed to work in the Department of Obstetrics at Bach Mai Hospital. During work hours, she is alleged to have spent time talking on the phone while queues of patients waited. She only hung up the phone after being reminded by colleagues and when people started to take photos. Some patients also complained about the employees attitude, saying she turned grumpy and snapped at patients. The images and details of the incident at Bach Mai are being spread around the internet. The bureau has asked the hospital to look into the case and to strictly punish individuals or groups if there are signs of negligence. The agency also asked the hospital to publish its findings before June 15. Related news: > Father goes on Hanoi hospital rampage, accuses doctors of neglecting his child > District-level hospital makes breakthrough with successful liver cancer treatment > Vietnamese American arrested after fleeing Saigon hospital in stolen taxi During a recent visit to the Afar region United States Ambassador to Ethiopia Patricia Haslach had an opportunity to evaluate the efficacy of U.S. government-supported response to the severe drought affecting much of Ethiopia. Ambassador Haslach and Ethiopias Minister of Tourism and Culture Aisha Mohammed, first visited a rural school in Mille Woreda district that receives nutritional support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The McGovern-Dole School Feeding Program, as it is formally known, provides a nutritious mid-morning meal to 91,000 primary-aged students in Afar, who often arrive to school hungry. This regular meal promotes increased attendance and leads to improved academic performance. The Ambassador later visited a USAID-supported water rehabilitation project serving 300 households in Mille Woreda. The project, which has been replicated in various regions around the country, helped revitalize an unused water source with the installation of a gasoline-run generator and piping systems, construction of a reservoir, tap stand, and cattle trough. Now, this small community has access to safe, clean water and doesnt need to relocate. Finally, Ambassador Haslach visited an Emergency Operation Center in the regional capital of Semera to discuss the response of federal and regional authorities, and their international partners, to the drought, and the more recent flooding, in Afar. Ambassador Haslach met with Seyoum Awe, the Regional President of Afar, to discuss U.S. response to the drought and current conditions. She also emphasized the importance of both the private sector and non-traditional partners in developing the water supply sector. The United States is proud to partner with Ethiopia to mitigate the impact of the drought. Nonetheless, the next several months will be difficult. The rains have come, but it takes time from rain to grain.After several failed growing seasons, millions will be wholly dependent upon food assistance until the autumn harvest. Health resources will also be stretched, as vulnerability to diseases increases when people are in a weakened state. Ethiopia has done a commendable job in weathering this drought so far. Development gains have provided the country with greater resilience than ever, and the Government and international community reacted quickly and robustly. However, there is still some way to go before victory can be declared. In its most recent report on terrorism, the U.S. State Department cites ISIL, or Daesh, as the greatest global terrorist threat. Even though ISIL lost a significant amount of territory in Iraq and Syria in 2015, ISIL retains a formidable force, and has shown the capacity to carry out deadly plots beyond the region, and to inspire allegiance from other terror groups across the world. Also, while core al-Qaida has been severely degraded, its branches and affiliates still pose a danger and were responsible for a number of high-profile, mass-casualty attacks in 2015. But ISIL and al-Qaida are not the only terrorist threats facing the world. Iran, as U.S. Acting Coordinator for Counterterrorism Justin Siberell said at a press briefing, remains the leading state sponsor of terrorism globally: Iran continues to provide support to Hezbollah, Palestinian terrorist groups in Gaza, and various groups in Iraq and throughout the Middle East. Confronting Irans destabilizing activities and its support for terrorism was a key element of our expanded dialogue with the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, following the leaders summit at Camp David in May of last year. The State Department also reports that Irans destructive behavior is not confined to the Middle East. Acting Coordinator Siberell said that Irans destabilizing activity in the western hemisphere remains a high priority for the United States, andthat the United States has expanded cooperation with partners in South America, as well as in Europe and West Africa, to implement strategies to counter the activities of Iranian-allied and sponsored groups. In recent testimony before Congress, Acting Treasury Undersecretary Adam Szubin called the JCPOA, the nuclear deal reached last year between Iran, the EU, and the P5+1 countries, a tremendous breakthrough that represents a peaceful solution to one of the worlds most serious nuclear threats. At the same, time, he pointed out that outside of the nuclear file, the United States has maintained all of its sanctions designed to counter Irans malign activities. Ultimately, said Undersecretary Szubin, we have been and will remain clear-eyed about the nature of the threat posed by Iran, and we will continue to combat these threats using the range of tools at our disposal. In 2015, terrorism continued to bedevil significant portions of the African continent. In East Africa, the Somalia-based terrorist group al-Shabaab continued launching attacks and suicide bombings in Somalia, frequently targeting Mogadishu International Airport, Somali government facilities and hotels popular with government officials and business people. The terror group also set its sights on Kenya. In the Lake Chad Basin region, Boko Haram continues its attacks in northeastern Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, and Niger. In West Africa and the Sahel, terrorist groups have conducted attacks against hotels and a resort frequented by westerners. In 2015, one of the key developments in the global fight against terrorism has been the increased level of international cooperation and coordination in addressing cross-border and regional terrorist activity.So for example, the Lake Chad Basin countries formed the Multinational Joint Task Force to confront Boko Haram, while the Horn of Africa nations are coordinating their efforts against al-Shabaab in Somalia. The United States is deeply involved in assisting its partners in their efforts to degrade and dismantle these terrorist threat. The U.S, in partnership with Somali forces, supports African Union forces in maintaining pressure on al-Shabaab and weakening the groups territorial control in parts of Somalia. In North Africa, the United States helps support the Trans-Saharan Counterterrorism Partnership. Through this program, we have been working with Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, and Tunis to build the capacity and cooperation of military, law enforcement, and civilian actors across North and West Africa to counter terrorism. The Partnership For Regional East Africa Counterterrorism is a U.S.-funded and implemented counterterrorism partnership that includes Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania as well as Uganda, Burundi, Comoros, Rwanda, Seychelles, South Sudan, and Sudan. We are expanding engagement with African governmental and non-governmental partners to better understand the drivers of violent extremism and design effective responses, said Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Linda Thomas-Greenfield. The United States is committed to partnering with the people and governments of Africa to promote democracy, peace and prosperity. Venezuelan opposition lawmakers were recently attacked by pro-government groups as they tried to enter the electoral board headquarters to demand that procedures be completed without delays to allow a recall referendum against President Nicolas Maduro. The United States, said State Department Spokesperson John Kirby, "is deeply disturbed by reports that National Assembly Majority Leader Julio Borges and other opposition deputies were turned away from the National Electoral Council by police, and then subsequently attacked by a group of armed supporters of the Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela party while returning to their offices." Mr. Borges told journalists that these militant pro-government groups "acted with total impunity, they had pipes, motorbike helmets, rocks, explosive artifacts, and they used them against us." The United States condemns acts of violence designed to intimidate citizens exercising their democratic rights and calls on Venezuelan government security forces to maintain order in a manner consistent with international law and international commitments regarding human and civil rights. The clash between opposition members and militant pro-government groups came amid rising tensions in Venezuela, where falling oil prices have thrust Venezuela into a severe economic crisis and chronic food and medicine shortages fueling protests and demands for President Maduros departure. The United States remains concerned about the violence and the worsening economic conditions in Venezuela and joins the international community in calling upon the Venezuelan government to free all political prisoners, to respect the will of the people, human rights, the separation of powers within the Venezuelan government, and the democratic process. It is incumbent on Venezuelans from across the political spectrum to find peaceful solutions to the real economic, political, and social challenges facing Venezuela. Who is The Daily News Athlete of the Week? Here are the 7 nominees. high-school Reporter Tim Mitchell is a reporter at The News-Gazette. His email is tmitchel@news-gazette.com, and you can follow him on Twitter (@mitchell6). As a businessman wanting to improve the City of Elko, John Ellison has contributed to various aspects of the community through charity work and politics, currently serving as Assemblyman in the Nevada Legislature. John C. Ellison was born in Elko in 1953 to Charles and Ann Ellison. He worked on ranches in the area, graduated from Elko High School in 1971, and enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps. After being medically discharged, he and his wife Cindy settled in Elko and raised their four children: John Jr., Billy, Michelle, and Nicole. Ellison opened his electrical contracting business, Ellison Electric, and as a businessman he joined the Elko Chamber of Commerce and donated his companys services and equipment to various causes around Elko. Remembering his military service, John worked to establish the Veterans Memorial at the Elko County Courthouse. He became involved with raising money for the Fourth of July celebration and fireworks show starting in 1994 and is co-chair of the Veterans Day parade. John and Cindy became supporters of the John Wayne Cancer Institute where their son, John Jr., had been treated for melanoma. After his death, they organized telethons that hosted John Waynes grandchildren along with calling attention to assisting the families of children and teens diagnosed with cancer. Entering public life, Ellison became a member of the City Planning Commission. From those experiences and seeing Elko grow and change, he decided to run for City Council in 1993. He was re-elected to the council in 1997, serving on several boards including the Elko Convention and Visitors Authority, and as a liaison to the Elko County Fair Board. His growing concern about public lands use stemming from Jarbidges road dispute and involvement in the Shovel Brigade helped Ellison decide to run for County Commission in 2000. He served eight years and was chosen as chairman of the commission in 2007. While on the commission, Ellison traveled to Carson City and Washington, D.C., to discuss land-use issues and lobbied for the Payment-in-Lieu of Taxes bill. He met with then Interior Secretary Gale Norton and other federal officials concerning the South Canyon Road. Reporter Mary Schenk is a reporter covering police, courts and breaking news at The News-Gazette. Her email is mschenk@news-gazette.com, and you can follow her on Twitter (@schenk). One of Editor & Publishers 10 That Do It Right 2021 A paper by Brazilian researchers published in the journal Scientific Reports describes a study showing that a subgroup of olfactory neurons in the nasal cavity express a cellular receptor specializing in the transport of lipid molecules. Known as CD36, this membrane receptor is usually intensely expressed in fatty tissue, where it regulates lipid metabolism. It also plays a well-known role in the immune system, where it is required for phagocytosis of potentially harmful molecules by macrophages. Previous research has linked the presence of CD36 in the tongues of mammals with a preference for high-fat food. "The existence of CD36 in nasal sensory neurons is a novel discovery and appears to point to olfactory detection of lipids in mammals. Like the tongue, this may be linked to a preference for fatty food," said Isaias Glezer, a professor in the Biochemistry Department at the Federal University of Sao Paulo (UNIFESP). Another possibility is that this receptor is linked to perception of smells by individuals of the same species and to social interactions, since there is evidence of the existence of lipidic pheromones. The discovery was made in a study of the nasal mucous membrane in mice, in collaboration with the University of Sao Paulo's Chemistry Institute (IQ-USP) and the University of Campinas's Biology Institute (IB-UNICAMP), as well as with support from the Center for Research on Redox Processes in Biomedicine (Redoxoma), one of the Research, Innovation and Dissemination Centers (RIDCs) funded by FAPESP. The researchers now plan to confirm whether the lipid molecule receptor is also present in human olfactory epithelium. According to Glezer, the initial aim of the investigation was to understand the role played in neurons by CD36 and other molecules associated with innate immune response. To investigate the function of these olfactory neurons that express CD36, they performed experiments with two groups of mice, one wild-type group (not genetically modified) and another group comprising mice of the same lineage that did not express CD36. The researchers measured the times taken by each of the groups to explore a piece of paper soaked in saline solution and another piece of paper scented with a mixture of fatty acids. The wild-type animals (with CD36) spent far more time exploring the lipid-scented paper than the saline-soaked paper, while in the group without CD36 the difference was not significant. "On its own, of course, this doesn't prove that CD36 receptors in these sensory neurons are responsible for olfactory detection of lipids and the preference for this almost imperceptible smell, but it's strong evidence in that direction," Glezer said. "In addition, we showed that CD36 concentrates in the ciliary layer of the olfactory epithelium, the portion responsible for odorant detection. However, more evidence was required for the purposes of scientific journal peer review." Glezer and his collaborators therefore decided to investigate whether CD36 expression in the olfactory epithelium was linked to the expression of any other olfactory receptors. There are approximately a thousand different genes that encode olfactory receptors in mice, according to Glezer, and each olfactory neuron expresses only one of these genes. With the assistance of a UK research group who were studying the gene expression profiles of olfactory neurons one by one using single-cell RNA sequencing, led by Darren Logan at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, the Brazilian researchers were able to demonstrate a correlation between CD36 expression and expression of a gene that encodes an olfactory receptor called Olfr287. "So, we can state that there is indeed a subpopulation of neurons which express CD36 and Olfr287 concomitantly. This is no accident. It must have a function, and more research is required to discover what that function is," Glezer said. Among the research group's future plans is a project to explore in greater detail the functioning of the Olfr287 receptor in order to discover how it is activated and what happens to it in the absence of CD36, for example. To protect human health, Endocrine Society members called on the European Commission to adopt science-based policies for regulating endocrine-disrupting chemicals in an opinion piece published today in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology. The publication comes two days before the European Commission is expected to announce its final criteria for identifying endocrine-disrupting chemicals. Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) mimic, block or interfere with the body's hormones - the chemical signals that regulate brain development, reproduction, metabolism, growth and other important biological functions. EDCs can be found in common products including food containers, plastics, cosmetics and pesticides. More than 1,300 studies have linked EDC exposure to health problems such as infertility, diabetes, obesity, hormone-related cancers and neurological disorders, according to the Endocrine Society's 2015 Scientific Statement. Recent studies have found that adverse health effects from EDC exposure cost the European Union more than 157 billion each year in healthcare expenses and lost productivity. "A growing body of research has found endocrine-disrupting chemicals pose a threat not only to those who are directly exposed, but to their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren," said the Society's European Union Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals Task Force Co-Chair Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, MD, PhD, first author of the opinion piece, of the University of Liege in Liege, Belgium. "We need to protect the public and future generations with regulations that address the latest scientific findings and incorporate new information from emerging research." The European Commission has proposed four options for regulatory criteria identifying endocrine-disrupting chemicals. The Endocrine Society supports option 3, which would create multiple categories based on the amount of scientific evidence that a particular chemical acts as an endocrine disruptor. This option also allows for incorporating new data as more studies are published. In The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, the authors note that other options being considered either don't define endocrine-disrupting chemicals as clearly or include problematic criteria. Option 4 uses potency - the amount of chemical exposure needed to produce an effect - as one criterion. Since EDCs can have different and more dangerous effects when an individual is exposed to low levels, measuring potency could cause regulators to overlook endocrine disruptors that pose a true threat. "Because of the way hormones work, even low-level exposure can disrupt the way the body grows and develops," Bourguignon said. "Pregnant women, babies and children are particularly vulnerable, and science-based regulations are needed to protect them." Source: Endocrine Society Major rainfall across most of Texas triggering hordes of mosquitos coupled with seemingly constant mosquito-related Zika virus media reports from around the globe may have set the stage perfectly for what one researcher deems as a very significant discovery in man's war against earth's leading human disease carrier. Dr. David Ragsdale, head of the entomology department at Texas A&M University, College Station, credits Dr. Patricia Pietrantonio, a Texas A&M AgriLife Research Fellow in the entomology department at College Station, along with her students and colleagues from other institutions, with discovering a receptor on the legs of mosquitoes that when activated, keeps female mosquitoes from taking a sugar meal and makes them fly away. "This finding could lead to novel mosquito repellents," Ragsdale said. "This is really a big deal, a major achievement." Aedes aegypti females reject the sucrose solution containing the synthetic peptide. The sugary solution contained a blue dye to trace the meal in their gut. (Photo courtesy Dr. Patricia Pietrantonio, Texas A&M AgriLife Research Fellow) Aedes aegypti females reject the sucrose solution containing the synthetic peptide. The sugary solution contained a blue dye to trace the meal in their gut. Ragsdale said Pietrantonio has just had the article, "Leucokinin mimetic elicits aversive behavior in mosquito Aedes aegypti (L.) and inhibits the sugar taste neuron," on the work published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. To view the work and its authors go to http://www. pnas. org/ content/ early/ 2016/ 06/ 01/ 1520404113. abstract. "What makes this even more compelling is the work was with Aedes aegypti, the mosquito species responsible for spreading Zika, dengue, yellow fever and Chikungunya viruses," Ragsdale said. "This work is the culmination of over five years of study by Dr. Pietrantonio, her students and collaborators. With Zika a looming threat, this is a timely discovery." Pietrantonio said after mating, Aedes aegypti females immediately search for a blood meal from a human host. "They are highly anthropophilic, meaning they are attracted to humans," Pietrantonio said. "They may even follow people indoors. If female mosquitoes are infected with viruses they may transmit them to humans when they acquire a blood meal." The blood meal supplies the protein source female mosquitoes require to produce eggs, she said. "However, in the field, if human hosts are not present, females will feed on sucrose solutions such as nectar from flowers, though they prefer a blood meal to a sugar meal but male mosquitoes feed only on nectar. Certainly sugar feeding is one of the two feeding modalities for adults of this species." "We found that a synthetic peptide that was designed to mimic a peptide naturally present in mosquitoes triggers an aversive fly away, walk away or jump away behavior in female mosquitoes." If the same aversion could be tied to a blood meal, she said a totally new and effective mosquito feeding deterrent may be in the offing, one that perhaps would cause the mosquito to pass up the required blood meal needed to lay eggs. Doing so would either disrupt the life cycle and/or reduce disease transmission. However, this is far from being accomplished, she said. "One of our team designed a peptide mimetic of the kinin peptides, which are diuretic hormones in mosquitoes, to be resistant to enzymatic degradation," Pietrantonio said. "These mimetics are more potent than those found naturally, because they take longer to be degraded by the insect. These diuretic hormones make mosquitoes lose water after a blood meal, but we also found the peptidomimetic blocked sugar perception. This is a completely new and unexpected discovery." The research team localized these receptors in the feet and mouthparts of mosquitoes. What is really new, they said, is that this type of receptor proteins known as GPCRs, were not previously considered to be important for "taste" in insects and further, contact with the peptidomimetic made the mosquitoes fly away. "In sum, we unequivocally verified this kinin receptor is present in the taste organs of the legs and labella, the pair of lobes at the tip of the proboscis." Pietrantonio said their observation that the peptide blocks sugar perception is interesting because the peptide is insect-specific, therefore, the receptor represents a target for further applied research to find ways to diminish the ability of female mosquitoes to feed. Doing so would likely reduce their lifespan or reproductive capacity. "We had a lot of fun doing this research within the frame of an international, multi-institutional and multidisciplinary collaboration," she said. Source: Texas A&M AgriLife Communications Tracy C. Grikscheit, MD, pediatric surgeon and principal investigator at The Saban Research Institute of Children's Hospital Los Angeles, treats a large number of young patients who require surgery for various intestinal diseases. Since the intestinal microbiome is an important regulator of gut health and immune function, Grikscheit and her team investigated how surgical treatment of certain pediatric intestinal diseases have a long-term impact on intestinal flora. Results of the study, published in the journal Surgery, revealed that for inflammatory and ischemic disorders that require prolonged courses of antibiotics, the microbiome of the intestinal lining remained altered even after the medical condition clinically resolved. Intestine in children who had inflammatory and ischemic disorders had less bacterial diversity and different types of bacteria compared to children who needed intestine surgery that required only a few days of antibiotics such as in the case of obstructive conditions. They also found that patients who underwent intestinal diversion, resulting in digested food passing through just part of their intestine, had little change to their intestinal flora when sites above and below the diversion were compared. "Our study suggests that the disease process and antibiotic treatment could have a far greater impact on intestinal microbial diversity than surgical intervention," said Minna Wieck, MD, an investigator and surgical resident at CHLA and first author on the study. The current study differs from previous reports in that intestinal swabs, which provided a direct method of looking at specific areas of the intestinal mucosa, were studied instead of only relying on stool samples. Also, the researchers used a larger sample size -- comparing mucosal bacteria from 43 samples by age, breastfeeding status, disease, acuity and other parameters. "Alterations in the microbiome are linked to many disease states and may also be associated with increasing surgical complications and long term effects in the children we treat," said Grikscheit. "Now we need to determine if the disease process or the extended antibiotic regimen is responsible for the changes we identified so that we can effectively care for the medical condition while minimizing any unintended, and potentially, far-reaching effects." Families of children with severe hemophilia A may want to take a fresh look at treatment options from human plasma. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine on May 26 showed that participants who received a recombinant therapy the present standard in the United States developed antibodies or "inhibitors" to the treatments at almost twice the rate as those whose treatments were made from human plasma. Recombinant Factor VIII, derived from a hamster cell line, was associated with an 87 percent higher likelihood that the patient would develop inhibitors, which can make the standard treatment ineffective, than the alternative, Factor VIII derived from human plasma with von Willebrand factor, a naturally occurring protein apparently protective of Factor VIII. "Families will want to have a discussion with their physicians about how this study might impact the treatment options," said Dr. Mindy Simpson, a Rush University hematologist-oncologist who participated in the international study. The Hemophilia and Thrombophilia Center at Rush University Medical Center, the largest program of its kind in Illinois, was one of seven centers in the United States to take part in the study, Simpson said. The study, the Survey of Inhibitors in Plasma-Products Exposed Toddlers, or SIPPET, is the first randomized, controlled study of the associations between inhibitors and the two first-line treatments for hemophilia A. "Who is developing inhibitors, and why? This study is the first to try to sort out the answer to those questions regarding the factor treatment options," Simpson said. Genetics & Genomics eBook Compilation of the top interviews, articles, and news in the last year. Download a copy today Hemophilia is a rare genetic condition, affecting mostly boys, that hinders the production of an important clotting factor, Factor VIII in the more common hemophilia A, and Factor IX in hemophilia B. People with severe hemophilia can bleed excessively from even minor injuries. Untreated, hemophilia can be disabling and even fatal. The best treatment for a "bleed" caused by hemophilia, or in some cases even to prevent bleeds from occurring is injection with the appropriate clotting factor, either drawn from human plasma, or a recombinant product. Recombinant Factor VIII has been the preferred treatment for hemophilia A in part because patients died in large numbers after the human blood supply was tainted with HIV and hepatitis C in the 1980s, Simpson said. "Patients and families have been afraid of plasma-derived products even though they have been safe for decades," Simpson said. There have been no transmitted cases of HIV or hepatitis C in hemophilia factor products since the 1990s. The development of inhibitors, which occurs in about 30 percent of patients, is a major problem in the management of hemophilia A. When inhibitors appear in high titers that is, large numbers of antibodies per unit of blood the factor VIII replacement products are no longer effective to treat or prevent bleeding. That individual must then use more expensive and potentially less effective treatments. Patients who develop inhibitors usually do so early on, within the first 50 treatments. Voluntary, unpaid blood donations must be increased rapidly in more than half the worlds countries in order to ensure a reliable supply of safe blood for patients whose lives depend on it, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on World Blood Donor Day. This year, the theme of World Blood Donor Day is Blood connects us all, highlighting the common bond that all people share in their blood. The slogan, Share life, give blood, draws attention to the role that voluntary donation systems play in encouraging people to care for one another and promote community cohesion. Although we have many external differences, the same vital blood pumps through all our veins, said Dr Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General. Voluntary, unpaid blood donation is the act of giving life the greatest gift any person can give or receive. About 108 million blood donations are collected globally every year. Nearly 50% of these blood donations are collected in high-income countries, home to less than 20% of the worlds population. The average blood donation rate is more than 9 times greater in high-income countries than in low-income countries. However, in many countries, demand exceeds supply, and blood services face the challenge of making sufficient blood available, while also ensuring its quality and safety. An adequate supply can only be assured through regular donations by voluntary, unpaid blood donors. Regular voluntary unpaid blood donors are the foundation of a safe blood supply because they are associated with low levels of infection that can be transmitted by transfusions, including HIV and hepatitis viruses. Around the world, 25 countries are unable to screen all donated blood for one or more of these infections due to irregular supply of test kits, staff shortages, poor quality test kits, or lack of basic quality in laboratories. WHO encourage all countries establish blood services based on full voluntary non-remunerated blood donations. . Today, only 62 countries get close to 100% of their national blood supplies from voluntary unpaid blood donations, with 34 countries still dependent on family donors and even paid donors for more than 75% of their blood supply. Blood can be used whole, or separated into its component parts, such as red blood cells, platelets, plasma, and other substances that can be used to treat a wide range of diseases. A single unit of blood can be used to benefit several patients. Transfusions of blood and blood products helps save millions of lives every year, including during emergencies such as conflicts and natural disasters, transfusions and childbirth. It can help patients suffering from life-threatening conditions live longer and with higher quality of life, and supports complex medical and surgical procedures. Voluntary blood donors come from all walks of life but they have one thing in common: they put others before themselves people they dont even know, said Dr Ed Kelley, Director of the Department of Service Delivery and Safety at WHO. Each time they donate blood, they commit an act of selfless heroism. World Blood Donor Day has been celebrated annually since 2004, with the aim of improving the safety and adequacy of national blood supplies by promoting a substantial increase in the number of safe, voluntary, unpaid donors who give blood regularly. This year, the host country for World Blood Donor Day is Netherlands, through Sanquin, the national blood supply organization. The global event will take place on 14 June in Amsterdam, attended by His Majesty King Willem-Alexander. ELKO Candidates for public office had to file their contributions and expenses reports by Friday for the period from May 21 to June 9. Candidates in the Justice of the Peace race have pulled in the most contributions so far in their campaigns. Earlier this month, the Elko County commissioners set the base salary for the judge at $129,408. David Loreman reported the greatest amount of both campaign contributions and expenses of the available reports from the Justice of the Peace Department B candidates. His expenditures totaled $3,870 and his contributions $4,220. Loreman contributed $3,870 cumulatively to his campaign. The two donations are classified as a loan. KADO Properties LLC donated $250. The campaign has drawn in $100 total for contributions of $100 or less. The local attorney made advertising-related expenses of $3,870. Andrew Mierins reported the second highest amount, with a total of $1,261 in donations and $3,059 in expenses. The campaign has a total of $200 for contributions of $100 or less. Contributors include $200 from Rachele Olsen of Elko, $100 from Barbara Gallagher, $50 from Sharon Bates, $50 from Rick Wheat and $861 from Mierins $800 from this contribution is classified as a loan. Mierins also had exclusively advertising expenses. Elias Goicoechea, after reporting some of the largest expenses and contributions in the first period, did not list any expenditures or donations in the second period. Candidates Dennis Parker and William Lehmann did not have any contributions or expenses filed by Fridays deadline. County Commission All three candidates running for the District 3 Elko County Commission seat filed their reports. The county commission seat has a base salary of $27,453.62. Jeff Dalling filed Monday and reported $500 in contributions and $2,972.74 in expenses. The $500 contribution came from William Caldwell of Elko. The expenses were spent at a print shop and the Campaign to elect Jeff Dalling. Jon Karr filed Friday and reported zero contributions and $5,404.30 in expenses with local media. Ralph Sacrison filed Thursday and reported $200 in contributions and $152.01 in expenses. The contribution of $200 came from Robert St. Louis of Spring Creek. Sacrison spent his funds at Home Depot. County Commissioners Demar Dahl and Rex Steninger are running unopposed. Dahls first report still does not appear on the Secretary of States website but on Friday he filed his second report, which stated he has no contributions or expenses. Steningers second contributions and expenses report was not posted on the Secretary of States website by 3 p.m. Monday. City Council The Elko City positions have a base salary of $9,636. Two of the three Elko City Council candidates filed campaign and expense reports for the second period. Councilman Robert Schmidtlein reported zero expenses and $2,300 in contributions for the second period. Contributors include Canyon Construction in the amount of $2,000 and $300 from Patrick Lickly. Incumbent Councilwoman Mandy Simons reported $224.76 in expenses and zero contributions, one day after the deadline. The entirety of that sum was spent on advertising expenses. Simons did not report any contributions in the first period either, from Jan. 1 to May 20. Pedro Marin Jr., a candidate running for council, did not have a listing by deadline Monday. Penalties Candidates who file their reports late can be fined by the Secretary of State. Candidates who file a Financial Disclosure Statement (FDS) after the deadline may incur a penalty of up to $2,000 per NRS 281.581, said Kaitlin Barker, public information officer of the Nevada Secretary of State. The same penalties apply to those who fail to file an FDS or C&E as those who file late. The penalties increase as more time passes until they are capped at $2,000 (FDS) or $5,000 (C&E). If the report is no more than seven days late, the civil penalty is $25 for each day the report is late. If the report is seven to 15 days late, the civil penalty is $50 for each day the report is late. If the report is more than 15 days late the civil penalty is $100 for each day the report is late, according to NRS. The Secretary of State may waive a civil penalty for good cause, according to NRS. However, if a penalty is waived, the Secretary of State shall create a record of the waiver and make it available for review by the public. Connecting the Field of Medicine at MEDICA Christian Grosser NewsMedical spoke with Christian Grosser, Director of the MEDICA and COMPAMED trade fairs occurring in Dusseldorf this November. In this interview, we discuss the significance of trade shows in the healthcare industry and what MEDICA has to offer attendees. New Delhi: Public Sector Banks are on a quest to recover the Rs 9000 crores they have lend to former liquor baron Vijay Mallya back to India, but some of their efforts have reportedly led to a hilarious string of errors. A Firstpost investigation has revealed how banks are messing up the process of recovering loans given to Mallya. In December 2015, the Bank of Baroda, which lent Rs 550 crore to Mallya, started freezing accounts of those who stood guarantors for him. But some of them turned out to be wrong account holders, forcing the bank to admit it was 'a technical glitch'. First guarantor: The first victim of mistaken identities is Manmohan Singh, a marginal farmer from Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh, who is struggling to make both ends meet. He has to pay off Rs 4 lakh crop loan and provide for treatment for his wife who is suffering from brain tumour. In December 2015, Singh got a call from the Bank of Baroda telling him that he was guarantor to a Rs 550 crore loan given to defaulter Mallya. His account with a little more than Rs 1000 was frozen and he was warned of legal action. Singh showed the letter from the Mumbai head office of the Bank of Baroda to his branch in Pilibhit. The first four names on this list of guarantors include Vijay Mallya and three of his relatives. Manmohan figures fifth on the list. While all the Mallyas have their accounts in Mumbai, Bengaluru or Vadodara, Manmohan is the only one off the grid. Firstpost identified Manmohan Singh Kapur, one of seven directors on the Kingfisher board, as the real guarantor. He's a former chairman of Vijaya Bank and is also on the board of a clutch of companies. Second guarantor: The next guarantor on BoB's 9-member list is Subhash R Gupta. He works as a security guard and lives in a Slum Redevelopment Building in Mumbai's Vile Parle. He's supposed to be one of the people who acted as a guarantor to Mallya's Rs 550 crore loan. His account, which was frozen by BoB, had all of Rs 93 in it. Gupta had opened the account under the new jan dhan yojana. The actual guarantor is Subhash R Gupte, a former acting chairman and managing director of Air India, who was till recently on the board of Kingfisher airlines. Third guarantor: But the bank was not done embarrassing itself and moved fast to claim its third victim -- a vegetable vendor in Khar East, Mumbai. Subhash Ramdulare Gupta's accounts too were frozen because his name is similar to that of Kingfisher Director Subhash R Gupte. He has 2 fixed deposits and a savings bank account with funds totalling around Rs 2.5 lakh.When Firstpost contacted Gupta he had no clue his bank had ordered lien on his life's savings without as much as a notice to him. Later, when the bank realised it had confused directors of an airline for a farmer, a security guard and vegetable vendor, it reversed the orders and attributed the mix-up to a technical error. New Delhi: The important Goods and Services Tax Bill is a step closer to reality, with all states except Tamil Nadu backing it unanimously, the Centre said on Tuesday. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley who met finance ministers of 22 states in Kolkata said the Centre has the support of nearly all of them. While Tamil Nadu has some reservations against the GST, all other states backed in unanimously, Jaitley said. "Virtually all the states have supported the idea of GST today barring Tamil Nadu which has expressed some reservations. TN has offered a few suggestions which have been noted by the committee," Jaitley said. Hours after the announcement, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi and urged him to accept the amendments proposed by her government to the GST bill. She said the GST, in its proposed format, would affect the autonomy of the Tamil Nadu government. The GST Bill is the biggest tax reform in 10 years and the Narendra Modi government is desperate to pass it in Parliament over consecutive sessions. The government now hopes to have the Bill cleared by Rajya Sabha in the monsoon session of Parliament. It has already been passed by the Lok Sabha. GST which aims to bring the country under a unified tax regime was proposed by the Congress-led UPA government in 2006. Shedding light on Tuesday's meeting, Empowered Committee Chairman Amit Mitra said: "This was a historic meeting. Never seen such a large attendance of state Finance Ministers earlier. There was absolute consensus on GST in the meeting. Concerns were on dual control and the solution was GST will be on above Rs 1.5 crore turnout," said Mitra. Another round of discussion with states will take place in the second week of July, Mitra added. The other issue discussed at the meet, attended by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and 22 other state finance ministers, was the revenue neutral rate (RNR). "It will come up for discussion again in the next meeting to find out what is the optimal rate," Mitra said. While the panel of Chief Economic Advisor had suggested RNR of 17 per cent, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy put it at 26 per cent. The government had earlier targeted to roll out the nationwide single tax regime from April 1, 2016 but the Constitutional Amendment Bill on GST has been stuck in the Rajya Sabha due to opposition by the Congress party. On the contentious issue of the Constitutional cap on the GST rate, the Finance Minister said: "There is a complete consensus on that, there should not be any such ceiling as exigencies may arise in future. Now it is left to the GST council." On the issue of additional 1 per cent tax as demanded by the producing states, he said the Centre was flexible on the matter. As GST is a consumption-based tax, the producing states had been demanding this extra tax. Regarding the future roadmap, Jaitley said: "We will try our best to bring the Constitutional amendment in the monsoon session of Parliament. Then the CGST and SGST legislations will be put in place." (With additional information from PTI) Mahakal temple in Madhya Pradesh's Ujjain has come up with a novel concept to woo businessmen who repose too much faith in the Almighty. The only temple of Lord Shiva among the 12 Jyotirlingas will soon have a demat account, in the name of God. This will enable devotees to make deities as partners in their business and share the profit with the temple accordingly. They can also make investments in shares and bonds in the name of God. Interestingly, two other temples, 15th Century Khajrana Temple of Lord Ganesha and Ranjit Hanuman Temple of Madhya Pradesh are also on the list. "This government scheme is good for us as we get donation through cheque or cash but now the profits of share would directly be transferred to the temple's demat account," Rupesh Vyas, a priest at the Ujjain temple said. This scheme being made available at state-administered temples to enable devotees who are short on cash to make offerings in the form of bonds and shares. Yashodhar Raje Scindia, Religious Endowment Minister, MP said that the government wants to be very open to accepting any kind of instrument or money that a person plans to offer. "A person may not be having cash right now but he may have a particular kind of bond that he may want to offer to his God", Scindia added. NRI devotees too can go to God's demat account and make an offering or make God their overseas business partner. This is not the first time that a temple has opened a demat account. Around 50 trusts in charge of such places of worship have opened demat accounts. Famous Temples that have Demat accounts: Tirupati Balaji is the first temple to open a demat account in India in August 2015. Vaishno Devi Temple Swaminarayan Hindu Temple Shrinathji Temple in Rajasthan's Iskon Charities: Operated Gokulam Properties So does temple management turning to stock markets convert "faith "into a commercial venture? Indore DM P Narahari feels this is one of the best ways for ensuring security while donating towards development activities of the temple. "Now whoever wants to donate money or securities, or gold, it enables easy transactions into the accounts of these temples. Devotees ultimately want that whatever they donate, there should be enough transparency", he added. I support Donald Trump but Hindu Sena really needs to cut the crap. Sonam Mahajan (@AsYouNotWish) June 14, 2016 Mera Bharat Mahan Today Hindu Sena celebrate the Birthday of Donald Trump on 12 noon, 14 June 2016 at Jantar Mantar, Shabnam hashmi (@ShabnamHashmi) June 14, 2016 Tough to decide whether Hindu Sena is a dumb organization or does their Muslim hate make them do stupid things https://t.co/t5lTXDwMNK Raghu Ram (@tweetfromRaghu) June 14, 2016 I don't blame Hindu Sena. When your own messiah turns out to be a paper tiger, you've no choice but to look outside for messiahs. Shirish Kunder (@ShirishKunder) June 14, 2016 In the deep recess of a Bhakta's heart, Donald Trump is the new Narendra Modi. Rahul Pandita (@rahulpandita) June 14, 2016 While Americans are mourning the death of 49 people in the deadliest mass shooting in US history, fringe right-wing group Hindu Sena celebrated Donald Trump's 70th birthday at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Tuesday.(Photo: Reuters/Hindu Sena celebration Donald Trump's 70th birthday at Jantar Mantar)The celebrations included red and blue paper hats, balloons, a life-size poster of Trump in a suit holding a rifle and a cake weighing seven kilos. However, the group observed a minute's silence before cutting the large cake.(Photo: Reuters/Members of Hindu Sena celebrating Donald Trump's birthday at Jantar Mantar)About 20 members of group cut the three-tiered cake and held a piece up to a photo of Trump while singing "Happy Birthday to You."(Photo: AP/ Members of Hindu Sena' celebrate the birthday of Donald Trump in New Delhi)They invited journalists to the gathering under a tent decorated for the celebrations.Sena leader Vishnu Gupta said they were inspired by Trump's tough talk against Islamic militants, and called him the future "king of the United States." They also called him the "saviour of humanity" and "messiah against Islamic terror".This is the second event the group has staged for Trump in New Delhi. Last month, a dozen members performed havan and chanted mantras asking gods to help Trump win the US presidential election.Journalists and all those who attended the event shared pictures of the celebrations on social media and strangely there was no controversy. INS Mhadei, crewed by women officers of the Indian Navy, completed its maiden open ocean voyage on Tuesday.The vessel sailed for Mauritius with an all-women crew from its home port of Goa on May 24. It was flagged off by by INS Mandovi's R Admiral KK Pandey. The entire trip was managed by women officers.The boat was skippered by Lt Cdr Vartika Joshi. The crew braved strong winds of strength up to 35 kts and a sea state of 5 (rough weather). A sea state is characterised by statistics, including the wave height, period, and power spectrum.The crew are currently training to undertake a circumnavigation of the globe in 2017. The voyage is seen as a major breakthrough ahead of that trip.The crew will be stationed in Mauritius for 10 days and will call on the President of Mauritius.The return journey would start on June 24. New Delhi: In the coming years, the armed forces will see larger participation of women, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said on Tuesday. "This is just the beginning. Slowly, women in large numbers will be part of the armed forces," Parrikar said when asked whether more women would be encouraged to join the armed forces. He was speaking at an event where he felicitated the first ever all-girls National Cadet Corps (NCC) team which had climbed the Mount Everest. Flying Cadet Avani Chaturvedi, along with Bhawana Kanth and Mohana Singh, is on the threshold of entering history books in the country this Saturday by being the first three women cadets to be inducted for flying fighter aircraft. Thereafter, they would undergo advanced training for one year on Hawk aircraft in Bidar in Karnataka and would enter a fighter cockpit by June 2017. They will go to Bidar this month for their stage-III training for a year on Hawk advanced jet trainers, before they get to fly supersonic warplanes. Six women cadets were competing to become fighter pilots after the government, in a landmark move, approved an IAF plan in October to induct them as fighter pilots. However, only three trainees were selected for the fighter stream. The NCC Girls Mount Everest Expedition Team had scaled the world's highest peak on May 21 and 22. Parrikar said the NCC has been asked to encourage the girl cadets to take up such activities. "This is just the beginning. Many more girls will undertake such expeditions," he said. They scaled the peak after dividing themselves into two teams, where the first team led by the Expedition Team Leader Col Gaurav Karki, reached the summit on May 21 and the second team led by Lt Col Vishal Alhawat reached the top on May 22. This is the first ever successful expedition by the NCC Girls Team. All 10 girl cadets of the expedition team are between the age group of 17 and 21 years. New Delhi: Scientists from India and the UK will release underwater robots in Bay of Bengal to monitor how ocean conditions influence monsoon, which can help in better predictions of the rainfall. The Bay of Bengal Boundary Layer Experiment (BoBBLE) is led by two UK varsities, University of East Anglia (UEA) and University of Reading in collaboration with the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) in Southampton. Collaborators in India include the Centre for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (CAOS), the Indian National Centre for Climate Information Services (INCOIS), the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF) and the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT). Ministry of Earth Sciences Secretary M Rajeevan said the Indian Research Vessel Sindhu Sadhana carrying scientists will sail from Chennai on June 24. "Once out in the ocean, they will release seven underwater gliders to measure ocean properties such as temperature, salinity and current," he said. Meanwhile, collaborators from a partner project led by the University of Reading with collaborators across the UK and India will use a state-of-the-art aircraft to take atmospheric measurements at the same time. It is hoped that the combined results of this large-scale scientific campaign will help forecast the arrival of the Indian monsoon more accurately than ever before. Forecasting the precise timing and location of the rains is vital to the region's economy, which is dominated by farming, and for managing its increasingly pressured water resources. Lead researcher Prof Adrian Matthews, from UEA's School of Environmental Sciences, said "The Indian monsoon is notoriously hard to predict. It is a very complicated weather system and the processes are not understood or recorded in science. "We will be combining oceanic and atmospheric measurements to monitor weather systems as they are generated. Nobody has ever made observations on this scale during the monsoon season itself so this is a truly ground-breaking project". Matthews said, they are aiming for a better understanding of the actual physical processes. "What we have now are imperfect models for predicting monsoon rainfall when it hits land, so this will create better forecasts." He said they hope it will also help "to mitigate international disasters caused by extreme rainfall and flooding and better understand how the southern Asian monsoon affects the whole world's climate." Thiruvananthapuram: Online release of films will become the order of the day in five years' time, according to leading Malayalam film producer G.Suresh Kumar. Kumar, who is known for his Malayalam film production house Revathi Kalamandir, launched two new films titled Divider and Smell here on Tuesday. Kumar said that both the films are being produced by him, while the entire cast and crew of the film are made up of the students from the 2014-16 batch from his Revathi Kalamandir Film Academy located here. I predict that in five years' time, online releases will be the order of the day and these two films would be released online, said Kumar. By now, a few commercial films have been released online and by eliminating these segments (distribution and exhibitors), filmmaking will be about 20 per cent cheaper. Another aspect that increases the cost of production is the print and publicity which will be a minimum of Rs 2.5 million for an average film. That can also be eliminated when online releases pick up, he added. Actor Mohanlal and ace filmmaker Priyadarshan, who were present at the launch of the two new films, also echoed similar sentiments about the giant strides that have taken place with the influx of technology that has come into filmmaking. I am really happy. I am standing here at the very same place where my film career began 38 years back and I am witnessing the new era of filmmaking, said Mohanlal. Kumar also shared that the faster the online releases pick up, one will be able to see numerous new filmmakers who are waiting in the wings to explore into filmmaking as the present market of Malayalam films is a bit narrow. All set to start the climax shoot for #Baahubali2! Follow us on @Snapchat to c whats happening on the sets! @Shobu_ pic.twitter.com/EmdoizxIWs Baahubali (@BaahubaliMovie) June 13, 2016 SS Rajamouli and team have already started filming the climax portion of the much-anticipated Baahubali: The Conclusion. The film will be filmed over 10 weeks at the Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad. If reports are anything to go by, the budget for this particular sequence will cost Rs 30 crore which is twice the amount of what was spent on the prequel.Bahubali, which was released last year, became a global phenomenon in the purest sense of the word courtesy its mesmerizing visual appeal and compelling screenplay."After months of pre-planning and rehearsing, the team has started filming the climax portion. An epic war sequence will be shot in this final schedule and the shoot will go on till August. Prabhas (actor) has been training rigorously over the last couple of months for this portion," a source from the film's unit told IANS.International stunt choreographers have been roped in to shoot this portion."Lee Whittaker, known for his action direction in films such as 'Lingaa' and 'Baahubali', is also the action director of 'Baahubali 2', along with Brad Allan and his team, known for their work on Kingsman series," the source said.Larnell Stovall, who worked on 'The Hunger Games' series and Salman Khan's 'Sultan', is also part of the film. Morne Van Tonder, who had worked in 'The Hobbit' franchise, is key stunt rigger for the climax.The film also stars Rana Daggubati, Tamannaah Bhatia and Anushka Shetty.If everything goes as planned, the film will hit the screens on April 18, 2017.(With inputs from IANS) ELKO Members of the LGBT community celebrated Elkos second annual pride festivities over the weekend, including a drag show in Elko city park and a group tour of some of the bars around town. We had a lot of fun with people going out to the bars doing the Drag Queen Express and everything, said event organizer Steve Christean. The rapport with the public was great. We packed the bars. They made stops at Cowboys, the Silver Dollar Club, the G, and others. The tour got off to a bit of a late start as some of the drag queens were late getting to town. Everyone was very welcoming, said Christean about the bar tour. At Cowboys, patrons and drag queens danced together in a festive mood, he said. For the most part, Elko Pride went on as planned but the weekend was lacking support from local businesses. Christean hopes that changes when he puts on the event next year. All of our vendors came from outside of Elko, he said. If theyre not going to step up and theyre not going to support the event I will bring the people that will support the event because there are the people out there. The Saturday event in the park had limited attendance, but Christean felt that graduation and other celebrations took precedence. He wasnt discouraged, because the event is only in its second year. Four people, 40, 400, 4,000, we were out here and we made it happen and its going to happen again next year, he said. For the people who did gather in the park Saturday afternoon, Christean said being seen by the public is whats most important. Visibility is everything, he said. When you want to go after something you go after it and you dont back down. Its the only way well get anything done. Things picked up Saturday evening when the festival moved indoors. The show at the Red Lion was packed, Christean said. He estimated approximately 170 people attended the evening performance. Some of the performers commented that this was a very good venue, he said. Ethan Rose, who made the trip from Salt Lake City, said he was happy to see a town like Elko establish its annual pride festivities. With each year its going to start getting better, he said. Its definitely a step in the right direction. One event that Christean is hoping to see return next year is the Pride parade. This years parade was canceled due to a schedule conflict with the Elko Police Department that was already busy moving into a new police station. With the new police station opening in town they had the officers working doubled duty pulling all the files and moving and all of that, he said. Out of respect for them and the city we decided it was better to not do the parade. Christean said he was looking at a different weekend for the event next year, where theres not as much going on. Next year we will move everything to the end of July, he said. Kolkata: Welcoming the Bombay High Court verdict allowing Bollywood film 'Udta Punjab' take flight, overruling the censor board's suggestion of 13 cuts, thespian Soumitra Chatterjee said there was no need for any censorship imposed from above. "I will say it is a correct and good judgement, because I principally don't believe in any censorship imposed from above." The octogenarian said it was for the spectators to judge if something needs to be censored. "If the spectators think a portion is anti-national, or has crossed the limits of decency, they will take a decision and shun that film." Chatterjee said the Bombay High Court verdict has proved there was no provision of censorship in the Indian Cinematrography Act. However, he refused to hold the political class as a whole for controversies related to censorship. "There are those doing good politics. Why should they be blamed? It is the oppressors, those doing the politics of oppression, who should be held responsible," he said. At the same time, Chatterjee harboured hope that the verdict would change the overall scenario connected to such issues. "Politics is all pervading. The 'Udta Punjab' issue is one such happening. But the overall scenario will not change. Because is the system changing?" he asked. Not to disrespect but educate... Professional emails start with "dear". @smritiirani Ji Kabhi mudde pe jawab dijiye, don't circle around it. Dr. Ashok Choudhary (@AshokChoudhaary) June 14, 2016 Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani and Bihar Education Minister Ashok Choudhary were on Tuesday locked in a bitter war of words on Twitter after the Congress leader addressed her as "dear".Issues of etiquette in official communication also cropped up during the barrage of tweets unleashed against each other.Choudhary in a tweet on Tuesday referred to the Human Resources Development(HRD) minister as "Dear" Smriti Irani ji and said that rather than focus on politics and speeches, she should pay attention to the New Education Policy (NEP).Irani, who is currently touring Bihar, shot back askingChoudhary that since when did he begin addressing women as "dear". "Mahilaon ko 'dear' keh ke kab se sambodhit karne lage Ashokji?"Choudhary, who is also the state president of Congress, responded that it was "Not to disrespect but educate... Professional emails start with "dear"." In his tweet, he asked Irani to answer the real issue and not "circle around it.""@AshokChoudhary all my communications to you or any other person start with 'adarniya', but since you are now communicating allow me 1/3," Irani said in another tweet.The senior BJP leader further told the Bihar minister that his state's views on education policy had not been provided and "neither did you in your one on one meeting with me give any suggestions".She claimed that Bihar is possibly the only state which has not done grassroot consultations for the education policy.Choudhary, however, launched a counter-attack, tweeting, "@smritiirani ji has learnt a lot from Modiji...Fake promises and shifting blames to others for non-delivery is lesson1 in Sangh's book."He also wanted the minutes of his meeting with Irani to be made public so that "Doodh ka doodh, paani ka paani ho jayega (the truth comes out in the open)."Irani again fired another tweet, saying "Sir I hope you do find time in your busy schedule to contribute to the education policy. Await state feedback."The Bihar minister then responded with a jibe, tweeting "Thx for the high honor, glad to know delivery and non- delivery of NEP is on me. Hope Modiji shares the credit with me too."The battle of the ministers did not stop there with Irani asking the Bihar minister to "fill 2 lac teacher vacancies, land for KVs, CU Motihari."Choudhary responded, saying "I know how to deliver on my promises. Request you to deliver on what you have promised".The war of words erupted on a day when Irani was on a visit to Bhagalpur in connection with "Vikash Parv" observed by BJP-led NDA on completion of two years in the office at the Centre. On October 31, 1984, Sanjay Suri, a reporter with 'The Indian Express' was having breakfast at his house in South Delhi. A friend in the police called him up to say that Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had been shot by her bodyguards. Pata kar," he said in Punjabi, "Indira nu goli vajji ay. (Indira has been shot). In the violence that followed over the next three days nearly 3000 Sikhs were killed across Delhi and other cities in the country. Suri, who covered the anti-Sikh violence, gives a first person account of seeing Kamal Nath, then a Congress MP, exercising control over a mob that had gathered at the Gurudwara Rakab Ganj in the national capital. The details are also given in the book (1984: The Anti-Sikh Violence and After) which Suri later wrote. Suri is now CNN-News18's Editor, Europe. Kamal Nath had come to Rakab Ganj gurdwara from Teen Murti Bhavan that afternoon of November 1, 1984. Teen Murti was where Indira Gandhis body lay in state. She was assassinated the morning of October 31. She was taken to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, but she had died on the spot where she was shot by her bodyguards. Everyone seemed to have heard of the assassination soon after, even in that pre-Internet era, well before the official announcement that came only later that evening of the 31st. The body was kept in state for mourners to file past. That scene was being broadcast live on the government-owned Doordarshan Television. What the nation saw - what the nation was being shown by the government of the day - was far less an expression of mourning than a call to murder. Khoon ka badla khoon se lenge, Khoon ka badla khoon, column after column of men filing past the body screamed, and they were live on television. They acted on their calls to kill, almost immediately. They headed out to Rakab Ganj, the nearest gurdwara to Teen Murti Bhavan a fact evident from police records of crowd movements. The police had switched off from policing all over Delhi, barring some exceptions, very few exceptions, but crowd movements were being reported and recorded over the police wireless network. The case against the police those days rests on these two sets of recorded facts what the records show the police knew, and what the records show the police then failed to do in the face of that knowledge. At Rakab Ganj, at least two Sikhs were burnt alive. Far more were being killed of course in other areas of the city, mainly in East Delhi and west Delhi. I had set out reporting on my scooter that morning, as the crime reporter of The Indian Express newspaper. I followed columns of smoke, the most reliable guide I could find at first to what was happening to the city. That, and some alerts informally shared by friends in the police led me to Rakab Ganj gurdwara. By the time I reached the gurdwara, those two Sikhs had already been killed. A large mob was surging towards the gurdwara again and again. I saw Kamal Nath towards the front of that crowd, a little to a side. And by his side, perhaps a platoon of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) policemen standing in neat formation, watching the mob advance on and on towards the gurdwara. This was not just some threatening mob, it was a murderous mob, these people had killed, within sight of that police force. The police were given no orders to search out the killers, or to stop or scatter the mob. They just stood and watched, from front row position. A top police officer was on the scene, leading the police spectators. Additional commissioner of police of New Delhi range, Gautam Kaul, stood carrying a bamboo shield by the side of the police force, heading the police watching the mob. Delhi was divided into two ranges for police purposes, and within those, into six police districts. South Delhi, New Delhi and West Delhi were in New Delhi range, and East Delhi, North Delhi and Central Delhi fell within Delhi range. Gautam Kaul was second only to the Commissioner of Police in his area, and so this police idleness in the direct face of murder, in the face of an advancing mob threatening yet more, was being commanded by the number two in Delhi Police present at the scene for dealing with the unfolding violence. Management of the crowd, I could see, had been left to Kamal Nath. I spell out what I saw in an account in my book [1984 The Anti-Sikh Violence and After, HarperCollins, 2015]. I raise several questions over Kamal Naths presence and positioning at that scene, which itself seemed to betray a connection. Did I see Kamal Nath lead a mob Bollywood-style, commanding them to kill Sikhs, in some obvious and physical way? No, I did not. In fact, what I did see was that at one point the mob rushed up yet again towards the gurdwara, Kamal Nath had only to gesture lightly, and they held back. Kamal Nath said later he was only trying to control the situation. But it was clear that Kamal Nath and that crowd had a connection; he signalled, they listened. And they would only respond to him if they were from the Congress party and accepted him as their leader. Kamal Nath, as I said in my affidavit before the Mishra Commission, had control over them. I raise again below some questions about Kamal Naths presence at Rakab Ganj gurdwara that I raise in the book 1) Why was the crowd listening to Kamal Nath? Why in a situation where a murderous crowd was advancing yet again, would the police continue to stand to a side (and the officer leading them duck to a side) but a word from a Congress MP become more effective than any move from the police? What was the relation between Kamal Nath and that crowd that he had only to raise his hand towards them and they held back? 2) Could these have been just people with no party connections who had seen an MP shoo them back, and had gone back as a result because they held such innate respect for an MP, just any MP? They did not appear like a lot who had killed, who were now out to kill more, but would suddenly hold back because just any leader, and not their particular leader, had signalled them to hold back. 3) Why was the move to control left to Kamal Nath? Was that not for the police to do? And if Kamal Nath was on the scene as a responsible political leader, as he said he was, would it not be proper for him to do all he could to make sure that the police dealt with the situation? Instead, he was there in direct communication with the crowd, with the police idle to a side. 4) If Kamal Nath was playing a role as responsible citizen and leader, he would have pushed the local police later for investigation of the murders committed right there, and for prosecution of the guilty. We have seen no evidence that he made any firm move to that end. He was controlling the people his way; this was not the legal way. 5) What did the police themselves know about the mob, and who the mob were made of, that they could decide to stand back and place the situation in the hands of the Congress-I MP Kamal Nath? And then choose not to lift a hand against the mob? I do raise the likelihood in my account in the book that in failing to push for police intervention at that scene Kamal Nath may actually have contributed to the creation of a situation where more murders would be committed. Because those men at Rakab Ganj were left free to kill yet more Sikhs carrying a very loud message delivered by silence and inaction that the police would not stop them. It was a message they would have carried for themselves, and to others. And now to some thoughts on the new political twist the Congress party appointing Kamal Nath as the in-charge of Punjab. It is not clear where Rahul Gandhi found the sagacity, or from where he drew the advice, that Kamal Naths appointment will invite many more Sikhs to now vote for the Congress party. This is a party that has blood on its hands in Delhi, that of thousands killed over those couple of days in Delhi. This is a party answerable for the many more broken lives the dead left behind. Those dead are now forgotten, theyve receded into a number from the past. Three thousand innocent Sikhs were massacred, many of them burnt alive, in a pogrom led by the Congress Party and enabled by the police, and with no justice to follow to punish the killers, or to punish the police who facilitated the killing actively. Those killed were nobodys children. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday to discuss the financial package for her state and crucial pending legislations in Rajya Sabha like the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill. There are speculations that PM will seek AIADMK's support in the Rajya Sabha to help the Centre pass GST and other pending bills. AIADMK is the third largest party in the upper house and its support can prove to be very crucial. Jayalalithaa is also likely to seek financial assistance for Tamil Nadu which has a debt burden of over Rs 2 lakh crore. She will also seek the release of seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case and a corpus fund to deal with natural disasters in the wake of Chennai floods. A day after President Pranab Mukherjee rejected the Delhi governments bill seeking exclusion for the post of parliamentary secretary from the office of profit, Delhi CM reacted sharply to the allegations against the 21 AAP MLAs. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday defended the charges against his 21 MLAs of holding an office of profit and slammed PM Narendra Modi of playing dirty politics to malign the AAP governments image. "What problem does PM Modi have if our MLAs are willing to work for free of cost as Parliamentary secretaries? Our notification to them very clearly stated that they wont get any salary nor special privileges?", Kejriwal asked. Kejriwal reaffirmed that there is no conflict of interest and also asked what benefit will anyone get by disqualifying the 21 MLAs. Meanwhile, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra attacked the Kejriwal government and questioned the Chief Ministers audacity to attack the Presidents decision. "It is the EC and the President who is involved in the decision making. Why cant Kejriwal wait till the final verdict is delivered? Why was the need to turn it into a political battle?" Sambit added. Patra further alleged that the Kejriwal government knows that it has been caught red handed which is why it is trying to turn it into a political slugfest with the Centre. Brother I cannot help you in matters of a Refrigerator. I am very busy with human beings in distress. https://t.co/cpC5cWBPcz Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) June 13, 2016 Union External Affairs Minister (MEA) Sushma Swaraj, known for actively using social media to help those in distress, received a tweet from a man called Venkat requesting her to intervene in a refrigerator-related problem.According to Venkat's tweet, Samsung allegedly sold him a faulty refrigerator and the company also refused to replace it. "Venkat @M_VenkatM@irvpaswan @SushmaSwaraj Dear Ministers, @Samsung_IN sold me a defective refrigerator, they r not ready to replace," his tweet reads.His another tweet tagged to Swaraj reads, "Samsung refrigerator (RT28K3922RZ/HL), bearing serial # (03E04PAH201870M). @Samsung_IN is forcing me go for repair."It seems that Venkat was aware of Swaraj's helpful attitude and therefore he tagged his problem with lots of expectation.Swaraj was quick to reply and tweeted, "Brother I cannot help you in matters of a Refrigerator. I am very busy with human beings in distress."Recently, Swaraj was appreciated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for her initiative in rescuing Indians in distress in Libiya. On the last day of Bharatiya Janata Party's national executive meeting in Allahabad, Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised senior party Kalraj Mishra and called him a great friend. "Kalraj Mishra is my old friend. He is the first national leader in the party and in the Jansangh who I met," said Modi. The Prime Minister's remark has sparked speculation over whether the party is planning to project an upper caste face as its chief ministerial candidate ahead of the Uttar Pradesh elections in 2017. Speculation has been rife over who will be the BJP chief ministerial candidate for the crucial polls. However, the BJP has stated that the parliamentary board will take the call on the chief ministerial candidate closer to the assembly elections in the first half of 2017. Both the timing and selection will be determined by how the state politics unravels in the days ahead, party leaders said. BJP President Amit Shah had also claimed that the party is yet to decide whether a chief ministerial candidate should be projected or not. "We have declared faces in some states and we have not declared faces at times. We need to decide whether we need to announce a CM face, when we have been successful in both formats," BJP national general secretary Arun Singh had said. Home Minister Rajnath Singh, the last BJP chief minister in Uttar Pradesh, is also being seen as a "natural" face by many due to his experience. Singh in the past has said he was not keen on returning to state politics. What is though almost certain he will play a prominent role during the campaign. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday expressed hope of passing the Goods and Services Tax bill in the Monsoon Session of Parliament and said that the "idea of GST" was virtually backed by every state in the meeting of empowered committee of state finance ministers (FMs) in Kolkata. Post his meeting that was attended by a record 22 state Finance Ministers and around 100 representatives, Jaitley said that he is hoping to roll out GST by April 1, 2017. Jaitley said that the "idea of GST was virtually backed by every state" except Tamil Nadu which has certain suggestions all of which have been noted and will be addressed. This was yet another attempt by the Centre to muster support in Rajya Sabha for the GST Constitutional Amendment bill. Reportedly, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalaithaa is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday evening. Earlier, Congress spokesperson Sanjay Jha had claimed that the party wont budge from its earlier position on GST unless the Centre agrees to its demands. Congress had asked the GST rate to be capped at 18% and the additional 1% tax scrapped to compensate states for the revenue loss. Addressing the media post his meeting, Jaitely said he was open to discussion over the additional 1% tax although there was a complete consensus that there shouldn't be any constitutional cap. West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra who chaired the meeting said that the entire interaction was a success and Mamata Banerjee led TMC has given full support to the GST in principal. "I will be calling a second meeting in July to further build consensus," Mitra added. Sar mein sauda bhi nahin, dil me tamanna bhi nahin. Lekin is tarq-e-muhabbat ka Barosa bhi nahin. The loneliness of a gabled edifice amid a clutter of shopping centres built to optimise every square feet of the land available is accentuated by the gentry inside. They all look fifty-plus.While sipping coffee at leisure, the fans above swirl full speed to evenly spread a hot breeze rushing in from every conceivable crevice. The anachronism surrounding the Indian Coffee House on the Civil Lines in Allahabad is complete when a liveried waiter turns up at the table to take the order."Do you know why BJP is holding its National Executive in Allahabad"? Abhey, popularly known as Baba Awasthi asks me with a mischievous glint in his eyes. Awasthi, former vice-president of Allahabad university, is a quintessential Congressi.It's a precursor to the UP elections, I reply."No", he says emphatically.Awasthi pauses, gingerly sprinkles salt and pepper on his cheese sandwich, takes a bite and adds, "Allahabad Congress ki tirthsthali hai. It is a sort of pilgrimage for Congressmen. This executive here is an extension of Modi's call for a Congress-mukt Bharat."A man clad in white, with a saffron scarf wrapped around his neck, walks up to Awasthi and touches his feet. He's an aspiring BJP leader, I'm told."Is this a Congress-mukt Bharat or Congress-yukt BJP. The entire city is plastered with posters of Varun Gandhi," he asks as a sardonic smile flits past his quivering lips.The BJP leader simply nods and plonks himself on the next table.Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday morning laid a wreath at the Chandrasekhar Azad Memorial. Azad fell to bullets just a few kilometers from where we are.To mark the occasion, journalists at the media centre were treated to a special 10-minute monologue by BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu.Later in the evening, Modi spoke extensively on UP in general and Allahabad in particular. The PM lamented the plight of UP, seven decades after Independence. He rued the state of, what was once called, the Oxford of the East. Of its most illustrious alumnus, he mentions only Dr Murli Manohar Joshi.There have been many before and after the former BJP president to have made a name for themselves. From Firaq Gorakhpuri to Gulzarilal Nanda, Chandrasekhar and VP Singh, it's a long list.Allahabad is a city to have given four PM's to the country. The first one, Jawaharlal Nehru, represented the adjoining Phulpur constituency till his death.Congress President Sonia Gandhi has already made two visits this year to the twin Nehru family mansions-turned-memorials, Anand and Swaraj Bhawan. There is a strong buzz in town that Congress is planning a nation-wide campaign to mark Indira Gandhi's birth centenary, beginning later this year. It will coincide with UP assembly elections. Will it have political overtones? Pramod Pandey, in-charge of Anand Bhawan, says he cannot shed any light on the issue.Pandey also says he has received no information about the Prime Minister visiting Anand Bhawan or Swaraj Bhawan during his stay in Allahabad.BJP, in its national executive, underscored many times its emergence as a truly national party. Party president Amit Shah rubbed it in by inducting two new members to the executive recently- Vijay Bahuguna and Hemanta Biswa Sarma. Both are from the Congress stock.BJP calls it the atrophy of the Congress. Baba Awasthi however is still quite hopeful. But corrective measures need to be taken on this road to redemption."Manmohan Singh said minorities have the first right on the resources of this country. No other statement has damaged the Congress as much as this one," he laments.As we bid goodbye, I wondered whether Awasthi has ever considered quitting Congress for greener pastures.I couldn't get myself to ask him the question.Walking back to my hotel room, I found myself humming Firaaq's famous ghazal rendered by the inimitable Beghum Akhtar.(There is no madness in my head, nor any desires in my heart.And yet I'm not sure if this relationship has come to an end) New York: A nine-year-old Indian-origin girl has earned the distinction of being the youngest app developer at Apple's annual developer conference with her apps for children and she now dreams of meeting the tech giant's CEO Tim Cook. Anvitha Vijay from Australia is the youngest attendee at WWDC 2016 in San Francisco and has already built several apps for iPhone and iPad, a report in Fortune said. Vijay spent a year watching free coding tutorials on YouTube and the web, and learned how to program. "Coding was so challenging. But I'm so glad I stuck with it," she said. Vijay, who has been developing apps about empowering children, hopes to meet Cook during the conference. "It's my dream to go to WWDC and meet Tim Cok," she said. Vijay is attending WWDC as part of Apples scholarship program, which gives hundreds of free tickets to developers from around the world who are creating apps for Apple devices. Out of 350 recipients this year, 120 are students under the age of 18, Fortune said, adding that the number of women who applied for the scholarship tripled this year, and this year, 22 per cent of scholarship winners are women, which is an increase from last year. The report said Vijay's apps were inspired by her toddler sister, who was learning how to talk and identify animals. Her brainchild was the Smartkins Animals app, which uses sounds, and flashcards to help teach children 100 different animals' names and sounds. She then developed another similar interactive iOS app for children to help them learn colors and is now already working on her next app, which wants to help kids her won age with setting goals. "Turning an idea for an app involves a lot of hard work," Vijay said. "There are so many components to building an app, including prototyping, design and wirreframing, user interface design and then coding and testing." With WWDC, like most tech conferences, overwhelmingly dominated by white and Asian males, the company has been making efforts to diversify the attendance at the annual event. Scott Lilly, who is vice president of programs at the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, said that Apple approached his organisation to offer scholarships to WWDC last year. "I think they are making sure that diversity is represented," Lilly said. Under that programme this year, Lilly is sending two female African American college students and three African American men to WWDC. ELKO The bloody massacre that left 49 dead and 53 injured in Orlando has had a deep effect on Elkos LGBT community. That could have been us, remarked Steve Christean, local LGBT leader and Pride Festival organizer. Just coming out of Pride it hit really close, he said. We had performers here who had just performed at that club. Rural America Pride Corp. organized a candlelight vigil at 8:30 p.m. Monday in the Elko Peace Park. I feel like we should be concerned here in Elko, Christean warned. He mentioned comments that he had found on local social media and was disturbed by some of the cruel and negative banter concerning the victims of the Orlando crime. The gunman appears to have been a homegrown extremist who espoused support for a jumble of often-conflicting Islamic radical groups, the White House and the FBI said Monday. As Orlando mourned its dead with flowers, candles and vigils, counterterrorism investigators dug into the background of 29-year-old Omar Mateen, the American-born Muslim who carried out the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. So far, we see no indication that this was a plot directed from outside the United States, and we see no indication that he was part of any kind of network, said FBI Director James Comey. But he said Mateen was clearly radicalized, at least in part via the internet. Comey said the bureau is also trying to determine whether Mateen had recently scouted Disney World as a potential target, as reported by People.com, which cited an unidentified federal law enforcement source. Were still working through that, Comey said. The FBI chief defended the bureaus handling of Mateen during two previous investigations into his apparent terrorist sympathies. As for whether there was anything the FBI should have done differently, so far, the honest answer is, I dont think so, Comey said. Google is celebrating the 148th birth anniversary of an an Austrian and American biologist and physician - Karl Landsteiner.The ace physician has been credited for having first discovered the main blood types A, B, AB, and O way back in 1901. As a result of his groundbreaking work, the first successful blood transfusion occurred in 1907 which further led to advancements in the field of medicine.He is further acknowledged for laying the groundwork that led to the discovery of polio virus, a disease that affected millions of children worldwide, and still has traces left in some parts of the world.Thanking the renowned physician, Google has posted a doodle on its homepage with an animated Landsteiner standing besides four test tubes containing different blood type samples. 1. Free Siri 2. iOS 10 3. Revamped iMessage 4. Renamed OSX 5. Smarter Maps 6. Apple TV 7. Good Riddance from iOS Bloatware 8. Organised Photos 9. Mobile Payments Come to Desktop 10. Apple Watch At the World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) 2016, Apple took to stage to announce some of the anticipated news surrounding its products and services but the biggest highlight was the decision to open up Siri to third-party developers.From speeding up Apple Watch reaction times to the introduction of Apple's computer OS as macOS, here are the key takeaways from the tech giant's annual developers conference.Siri, Apple's voice-controlled digital assistant has been made available to outside developers which basically means users will soon be able to call an Uber or send a WeChat message through the virtual assistant.The assistant will also play a key role in home automation with the launch of Apple's first dedicated smart home app - Apple Home, for controlling everything from lights to door locks.iOS 10 will add Siri's intelligence into QuickType, Photos, and automate connected homes with the new Home app. The newer mobile operating system further brings a more cleaner and navigable Apple Music service including a new tab for downloaded music.Apple News also comes categorised in the new iOS along with support for subscriptions and breaking news notifications.Apple has given its messaging service a brand new avatar with predictive emojis, text effects, and in-line playing of videos. The emojis are now three times bigger than before and users can add effects to text in bubbles like make it appear larger if you want to shout through texts and smaller if you want to say something meekly.There is also an interesting addition - invisible ink. You can write a message which the recipient can read only after swiping on it. One can also blur the text until the recipient taps on it. The service now also allows third-party integration. Users can now send money or order food from compatible services, and so on.Most of these features have been already available on rival platforms like the Facebook Messenger.Apple renamed its computer operating system name OSX to macOS. The first version of the newly named macOS is called Sierra and it comes with a handful of improvements. The most notable improvement is the arrival of Siri for the desktop, which eventually might spell the end of Finder - the current search tool on Apple computers.The operating system has been further enhanced to allow seamless working between your iPhone and desktop. For example, users will be able to copy and paste between their devices. The company announced that Sierra will be first available to developers with the beta arriving in July and consumer roll out to follow later this year.Bringing many of the already existing features on rival services, Apple Maps has been given a design tweak that now allows basic functions like pan, zoom, mid navigation, along with fuel station listings. It further allows for making table reservations at a restaurant, call them, or even hail a taxi ride.Siri will be able to find individual files sent by individual people at individual times but, when work is over and it's time to catch up on some television he (or she, depending on your preferences) will also be able to dig out a rare gem to watch.The latest update to Apple TV will let Siri search around in YouTube and third party apps for something fun to watch."The future of TV is apps, and Siri on Apple TV has changed the way we interact with our television and these expanded features will continue to deliver viewers what they want to watch even faster," said Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of Internet Software and Services.The set top box now supports 1300 channels including live TV and later this year in the US, owners will be able to access all of their individual pay TV subscriptions via a single sign on, and that could prove revolutionary.iOS users rejoice as Apple is finally bringing the ability to delete those never used apps from your iPhone. With the consumer launch of iOS 10 - touted to be the 'biggest release ever of the world's most advanced mobile operating system' - users will be able to remove 23 built-in apps from the home screen including Contacts, Music, and Mail. The entire list of removable apps is listed on Apple's support page Read Google Photos. The improved Apple Photos App now sorts images based on location, date, and person. With face and object recognition, the app is now able to better manage all the photos in the device.The difference between the rival service is that it is free in case you run out of storage but Apple will charge for iCloud should you need it. Also, Apple's machine learning is local, on the device unlike Google Photos.Apple's mobile payment system can now be used for immobile online shopping too. The new feature will let existing Apple Pay account holders use their i-Device to make and validate an online payment.As well as increased simplicity - there will be no need to keep typing in credit or debit card details - the system will add an extra layer of security thanks to Touch ID (Apple's fingerprint reader). The new feature will be initially available in the US, UK, Canada, Australia and Singapore.The Home app will also work on the Apple Watch and with the third iteration of its operating system, the bugs might finally have been ironed out, meaning that apps actually launch quickly and smoothly.So much so that Jeff Williams, Apple's chief operating officer said that the updates should make it feel like a "whole new watch." Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in NATO air strikes near Mosul close to Syrian border. Earlier June 11, Iraq claimed to have struck a convoy carrying Baghdadi in an air raid near the Syrian border but his fate was unknown. An Iraqi security statement issued recently, reads, "Iraqi aircraft hit Baghdadi's convoy as it was "moving towards Karabla to attend a meeting of the Daesh (IS) terrorist leaders." Karabla is on the Euphrates barely five kilometres (three miles) from the Syrian border in western Anbar, a vast Iraqi province which has long been a Sunni insurgent stronghold. Interior ministry spokesman Saad Maan had said that, "the strike was on Saturday afternoon". Baghdadi's death would give the war against the most violent jihadist organisation in modern history a much-needed boost. (With inputs from AFP) New York: 29-year-old Omar Mateen, who gunned down 49 people at a gay club in Orlando, himself might have been gay but chose to hide his true identity out of anger and shame, his former wife has said as authorities looked into reports that he had visited the Florida club several times and also used a gay dating App. Sitora Yusufiy said she had met Mateen online in 2008 and the two got married in 2009. He "might have been gay but chose to hide his true identity out of anger and shame", she said. A New York Times report cited a senior federal law enforcement official as saying that the FBI was looking at reports that Mateen had used a gay dating App. Patrons of Pulse, the club where he killed 49 people in the worst shooting case in US history, were quoted as saying that he had visited the club several times. Yusufiy said that her ex-husband had told her that he frequented nightclubs before their marriage, but that he did not tell her they were gay clubs. CBS News said in a report that club-goers have told investigators that Mateen had been at Pulse previously. The Orlando Sentinel and other news organizations also quoted regular customers at the gay bar as saying they had seen Mateen there a number of times. "Sometimes he would go over in the corner and sit and drink by himself, and other times he would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent," said Ty Smith, a patron at the bar. Smith said he saw Mateen inside the club at least a dozen times. Yusufiy, during an interview at her home in Colorado, said Mateen had seemed "perfect American enough for her free spirit and Muslim enough to please her traditional family. "This man was a simple, Americanized guy that was also from my culture. And, you know, had the same religion," she said. "So I was like, OK , this could potentially satisfy my parents." She moved to Florida, and they married in a quiet courthouse ceremony in 2009, but the short-lived marriage was marred by violence and isolation, she said. She had no friends or family in Florida, and Mateen preferred that she stay in the house. She said he sometimes returned from work angry and agitated, including one night when she fell asleep on the floor waiting for him to return home. Former US Ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzdad has slammed Pakistan for what he calls its 'two-faced' policy on terror. He said Pakistan risks becoming the next North Korea if it doesnt change its ways. "There was no way the former Taliban Chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour could have survived in Pakistan for so long without the military, financial and logistical support of the ISI," Ambassador Khalilzad insisted. Mullah Mansour was recently killed in a US drone strike in Balochistan province of Pakistan. Speaking to CNN-News18 on the sidelines of an MEA organised seminar in Mumbai, Ambassador Khalilzad said the whole world was running out of patience with Pakistans double-speak, including its 'all-weather friend' China. He also said the world should isolate Pakistan and stop giving it both military assistance and also development assistance through the IMF and World Bank. The Ambassador went on to say after Osama bin Laden, now the killing of Mullah Mansour has shown the world what Pakistan is really upto in the so called war on terror. At 42 years old, Yvonne Yonnie Schewel enrolled in law school at Liberty University in 2004. Her kids were ages 11, 13 and 15. The first semester I told [my kids] Im not making your lunches anymore, Schewel said. You have to learn to do your own laundry. That was really the only change in the house. For the last 30 years, Schewel has lived in Lynchburg. A native of the Netherlands, she first came to Lynchburg as an exchange student at Randolph-Macon Womans College from 1981 to 1982. Back in those days, it was kind of a popular thing to do something the year between high school and college, Schewel said. I had heard about an agency in the states that [gave] scholarships so I applied and I got one of the scholarships. The only kicker is that you dont know where theyre going to place you. Schewel spent that year in Lynchburg and eventually came back in 1986. Shes been here ever since. In those 30 years, Schewel has earned herself three degrees: an undergraduate from Randolph, a masters in education from Lynchburg College and a law degree from Liberty University. I always wondered if anybody else has a degree from each school, Schewel said with a laugh. For years, Schewel taught Latin on and off until she enrolled at Liberty. As for law, Schewel has practiced for the last 10 years. So what made a mother of three go back to school in her early 40s? I would hear the lawyers arguing and I would think, Well, gee. I could do this, she said. I just thought it was something I could do. Now 54, Schewel has done a little bit of everything in her law career. Number one, its not as glamorous as people think it is, she said. You know, youre in the trenches every day, especially the ones like me who just do the run-of-the-mill stuff. Two years ago, Schewel began volunteering with Virginia Legal Aid Society on its pro bono committee, which helps provide representation to those who cant afford it. For Schewel, it was a no-brainer to volunteer her time and resources to help those in need. I guess its how I was raised, she said. You do what you can for others; within your limits, of course. Debby Hudgins, the pro bono coordinator for Virginia Legal Aid, described Schewel as a delight. Shes got a great work ethic, Hudgins said. Shes all wrapped up into one package. In May, Schewel was named this years recipient of the Marion T. Baker Award for her pro bono work. Schewel said when she first got word from Hudgins, she expected to get fussed at, not win an award. The ones who are doing the most are always the ones most surprised and blown away, Hudgins said, laughing. No one ever gets a phone call from me because I do everything by email. I make one personal visit a year and thats for the award. You would think they would figure it out by now. Hudgins said the award has been given for the last 25 years but its name was changed this year. The award is given jointly by the Virginia Legal Aid Society (VLAS) and the Lynchburg Bar Association. Recipients are chosen from attorneys who have done work for VLAS over the last year and go the extra mile, Hudgins said. Schewel said she believes most of the clients shes represented over the years are good people who made a mistake or dont know any better. Ive had very few who I think are truly, you know, just [a] bad character, she said. Underneath it all, were all human. Yeah, most people are likeable. Theyve just done some bad things. Asked if its hard to be objective as a lawyer, Schewel said she finds it surprisingly easy. I just look at it like its just my case, she said. Its not my job to convict somebody. Its my job to help him or her. You know, its the Commonwealths job to prosecute. There have been a few cases where I let myself get personally involved in the outcome and thats not good. You cant take every case on personally. Few things have surprised Schewel over her decade-long law career. One is how many parents shes seen have their parental rights terminated. But the other is something Schewel never expected to encounter. Another thing that surprised me big time that I was not ready for is how often the client lies to his or her attorney, she said. I wasnt expecting that because Im the only one in this courtroom whos working for you. You tell me something that isnt true. So that was a surprise, but it happens all the time. Despite a late start, Schewel said being on the court appointment list helped her build connections. Of course, I had my age going against me, she said. But sometimes it is an advantage because Ive got some more years of experience in real life as opposed to fresh out of college. There are things Schewel said she misses about her native country. One is the candy, especially Dutch licorice. The other is the straightforwardness of the Dutch people. I think Ive gotten in trouble a few times just because people think Im too blunt, she said. But thats a typical Dutch trait. ELKO Polls open at 7 a.m. today for the Primary Election and close at 7 p.m. The Elko County Commission District 3 race only has Republicans filed for the partisan office, so whoever wins the primary will be the only name for the seat on the November ballot. The top two candidates for Elko Justice of the Peace Department B will advance to the General Election. Voters will choose from Elias Goicoechea, William Lehmann, Anthony Leiker, David Loreman, Andrew Mierins and Dennis Parker. Voters in Elko, which includes precincts 1-14 and 32, vote at Adobe Middle School. Spring Creek voters precincts 22-25 and 40 and 41 go to the Spring Creek Middle School multi-purpose building at 711 Boyd Kennedy Road. Carlin and Wells voters will cast ballots at their respective justice courts. West Wendover voters, precincts 20 and 21, go to the West Wendover library. Lamoille residents will vote at the old schoolhouse, and Mound Valleys precinct votes at the Jiggs Community Hall. All the other precincts are mail-in, said Elko County Clerk Carol Fosmo. If voters in a mail-in precinct havent sent their ballots, they must get them to the clerks office by 7 p.m. today. If anyone has questions they can call, Fosmo said. You can look at your sample ballot to see what precinct youre in. According to the clerks office Elko County has 23,363 registered voters 13,005 are Republican, 4,441 are Democrat and 5,917 are registered as Independent American, Libertarian, nonpartisan or other. Who is Cassie Lang - the comic history of the new Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania teen hero Cassie Lang is the daughter of Ant-Man - but she's got a superhero legacy all her own as both Stature and Stinger GamesRadar+ is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Heres why you can trust us. Home News Sports Social Obituaries Events Letters Looking Back Health Jewels Stitch in Time In huge emergency exercise, an earthquake that didn't really hit Seattle had a big impact on Boundary County June 13, 2016 So an earthquake didn't really happen at Seattle and the west coast last week, but that non-quake had a big impact on Boundary County, Idaho. In one of the biggest disaster drills ever undertaken, a four-day long scenario was enacted and drilled last week. The drill scenario was a 9.0 magnitude earthquake, followed by a huge tsunami, occurring in a zone along the west coast extending from northern California up into southern British Columbia. This (drill) earthquake and tsunami destroyed significant areas of Seattle and Portland, Oregon, and other coastal areas from California to British Columbia, covering an area with a population of over 8 million people who live in the zone. A real earthquake and tsunami in that area, known seismologically as the Cascadia Zone, would mean the destruction of bridges, roads, communications, and other buildings and infrastructure. Whole towns could be damaged or destroyed, with accompanying casualties. "A 9.0 magnitude earthquake along the Cascadia Subduction Zone and the resulting tsunami is the most complex disaster scenario that emergency management and public safety officials in the Pacific Northwest could face. [This] is an exercise to address that disaster," FEMA said in an information release. The drill exercise, named Cascadia Rising 2016, which has been in planning stages for about seven years according to Governor Otter's office, began last Tuesday, June 7, when the drill earthquake hit the area. Immediately, upon the announcement that the "earthquake" had hit, government agencies, the National Guard, the military, and a multitude of other entities large and small went into emergency response mode to address the situation. How did Boundary County become involved in all of this? The premise was that with all the destruction on the coast, hundreds of thousands or more of displaced people would tend to move inland, away from the destruction on the coast, seeking protection, shelter, and help. Eventually that wave of people would begin heading toward or would be directed to safer inland areas. And that is where Boundary County and other areas in Idaho and eastern Washington came into play. When the drill earthquake hit the coast last Thursday, the drill responses began. It was estimated that 20,000 people were involved as part of the drill throughout the Pacific Northwest, including federal agencies, the U.S. military, and state and local emergency response managers from Washington, Oregon and Idaho, Native American tribes and emergency management officials in British Columbia. Some examples: Sailors of the U.S. Navy built a temporary camp on an island in the Puget Sound to help with emergency response. Supplies were parachuted from Chinook helicopters, along with paratroopers, into the Shelton, Washington area, where they set up an operations center. Part of the logistics of the disaster drill was the assumption that the airfield at Shelton would be the airfield closest to the Washington coast to survive the earthquake. In other emergency drills, the Washington National Guard practiced decontaminating vehicles and first responders. The U.S. Army sent a team to set up a petroleum distribution system. Also planned for the drill was deployment of the National Guard to check the integrity of area airfields, a military chemical company team to address hazardous materials dangers, and other organizations working to set up a water purifying system. Add to all of this the massive search and rescue that would be required (a team from the Kentucky National Guard was scheduled to be deployed to help alongside Pacific Northwest teams, along with other out-of-area entities and agencies). Provision of emergency medical care was also planned, as it was assumed that no hospital would remain functional west of the I-5 freeway. Twitter communications ongoing throughout the massive drill showed ham radio operators communicating and helping to coordinate activities, helicopters shipping medical supplies, Emergency Management Centers filled with staff, and notices from the National Weather Service. Two days into the drill, on Thursday, June 9, the wave of impact from the disaster hit Idaho and Boundary County. The Panhandle Health District set up a medical needs shelter in Coeur d'Alene, and emergency response teams in Coeur d'Alene had to deal with the scenario of a plane carrying evacuees crash landing at the airport. Here in Boundary County, an Emergency Response Center was activated and operated for the first time, that facility going up at the site of the Search and Rescue Building on Riverside Street. As this was the first time such a center had been activated, "Most of the participants involved in the operation were somewhat concerned as to how it would go, would we know what to do, and could we get it done in a timely fashion," said Michael Meier, Boundary County Public Information Officer. (Story continues below this photo) Once set up and established, the county's Emergency Response Center was confronted with a multitude of emergency issues to deal with resulting from the Cascadia Rising drill earthquake and tsunami, and its Boundary County aftermath and spillover. "We had traffic backed up for miles on Highway 95 due to refugees from the devastated coast, including the Long Bridge in Sandpoint being closed," said Mr. Meier. "We also had gasoline, hotel accommodations, and food shortages to deal with. And to make it even more fun, the hospital received elderly patients from a Seattle nursing home, filling the hospital, which already had other emergencies already in progress," he said. Other tasks the Emergency Response Center dealt with included setting up Red Cross shelters at the schools, the National Guard Armory, and the Fairgrounds for displaced people. As Mr. Meier noted above, part of the drill for Boundary County included a busload full of displaced nursing home residents who had been directed to Boundary Community Hospital for evaluation and appropriate care and housing. A real bus filled with teen-aged actors playing the roles of the nursing home residents actually arrived at the hospital, where the hospital staff had to mobilize their resources to deal with the sudden influx of people who needed to be medically evaluated and to have proper dispositions determined. Calling in extra staff, nurses, and physicians, the hospital spent much of Thursday morning in drill and exercise mode, evaluating and dealing with this busload of evacuee patients. Elsewhere in Boundary County, ham radio operators worked during the drill to keep emergency communications up and running, and providing assistance where needed during the emergency drill. Mr. Meier's Public Information Office issued emergency notices and directives along the way, advising the public on issues ongoing in Boundary County related to the Cascadia Rising "emergency" drill. As the huge, four-day emergency drill came to an end on Friday, Boundary County was able to pack up its emergency response teams and equipment. "Thanks to all the staff in Emergency Management, those at Boundary Community Hospital, Law Enforcement, the Red Cross Representative, and Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) Amateur Radio Operators who participated," said Mr. Meier. "Also thank you to the Official Observer who judged our ability to perform our duties and made this event a learning opportunity, and a point from which to correct any mistakes and plan better any future catastrophe that may befall our beautiful North Idaho region. "To our citizens of Boundary County we also thank you for supporting your Emergency Management Team and giving us to chance to learn and better prepare for protecting you in the future," he concluded. Could such an event really happen? Scientists say there is a zone of tectonic plates lying offshore of the West Coast from northern California stretching up into British Columbia. [We are now talking real worldthis is not a drill]. This zone is called the Cascadia Subduction Zone. It is a giant fault approximately 700 miles long. These plates move irregularly, sometimes get stuck, sometimes release. With this movement and release, sometimes the stress among the moving plates builds up until it has a sudden break which can cause huge earthquakes. The world's largest earthquakes occur along this type of zone, ranging in magnitude from 8.0 to 9.0 and above. The largest on record was a magnitude 9.5 earthquake that occurred on the Chilean coast in 1960. Within the past 12 years, earthquakes from subduction zones of this type, and their accompanying tsunamis, occurred in Indonesia (2004), Chile (2010), and most recently in Japan (2011). Those disasters taken together caused nearly 250,000 fatalities. The last big earthquake at the West Coast's Cascadia Subduction Zone occurred in 1700, which experts estimate caused an earthquake of magnitude 9.0. That was 316 years ago. Experts have determined that big earthquakes like this happen in the Cascadia Zone on average once every 200 to 500 years. Though the next big quake can't be predicted, with the last one happening 316 years ago, the next one could come unpredictably at any time. Because of that, one of the largest disaster drills ever was held just last week. And Boundary County's emergency response teams and facilities were called upon to play their part in the huge drill. Questions or comments about this article? Click here to e-mail! WASHINGTON (AP) For Donald Trump, the mass shooting in Florida was a moment to redouble his call for tougher action against terrorism and to take credit for being right about the threat. For Hillary Clinton, it was a time to choose words carefully and reiterate her call for keeping weapons of war off Americas streets. The responses of Trump and Clinton to the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history 49 were killed and dozens were injured were a study in contrasts for the two presumptive presidential nominees one of whom will soon be leading a country fearful of terrorism, gun violence and the often merciless intersection of the two. The motive behind Sundays early morning rampage at a gay nightclub in Orlando was unknown when Trump and Clinton began weighing in although a law enforcement source later said the gunman, identified by authorities as Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old American citizen, made a 911 call from the nightclub professing allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State. As information began trickling out, Trump took to Twitter to say he was praying for the victims and their families. When will we get tough, smart & vigilant? he wrote. Within a few hours, the presumptive Republican nominee was back on social media saying that hed appreciated the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism. After President Barack Obama did not use that same phrase to describe Mateen in his remarks from the White House, Trump released a statement saying the president should step down. Trump kept up his criticism of the president Monday. He told NBCs Today Show that there are a lot of people that think that maybe (Obama) doesnt want to get the terror threat facing the country. Trump is hardly the first politician to try to capitalize on a tragedy, though hes more blatant than most in connecting his electoral prospects to incidents of unimaginable suffering. Shortly after last years deadly attacks in Paris, Trump said, Whenever theres a tragedy, everything goes up, my numbers go way up because we have no strength in this country. We have weak, sad politicians. After a deadly December shooting rampage in San Bernardino, California, Trump stunned many in his own party by calling for a temporary ban on Muslims coming to the U.S. Rather than sink his political prospects, it helped propel the businessman to his first victories in the GOP primary. For Trumps detractors, his comments can appear jarring and crass. But hes also tapped into a deep frustration among some voters who believe Obama has been handcuffed in his response to terror threats because hes worried about offending Muslims in the U.S. and around the world. We cant afford to be politically correct anymore, Trump declared Sunday. He canceled a rally scheduled for Monday, but planned to go forward with a speech in New Hampshire, changing the topic from his case against Clinton to national security. Clinton, who is more schooled in the political customs of responding to tragedies from her years as a senator and secretary of state, was careful in her initial comments. The presumptive Democratic nominee also made her first remarks on Twitter early Sunday, writing: As we wait for more information, my thoughts are with those affected by this horrific act. Like Obama, Clinton prefers to avoid early missteps even if that leaves her looking overly cautious. On Sunday, she waited for the president to declare the shooting an act of terror before doing the same. Clinton didnt avoid the prospect of a link to international terrorism in her statement, though she was vague in her language. In several televised phone interviews Monday morning, she warned against feeding propaganda by the Islamic State group that convinces new recruits the U.S. hates Islam. Turning against the Muslim American community is not only wrong, its counterproductive and dangerous, she told MSNBC. Clinton did use the shooting to raise the nations failure to keep guns out of the hands of terrorists or other violent criminals. Federal authorities said later Sunday that Mateen purchased at least two firearms legally within the last week or so. Clinton and Obama postponed plans to campaign together Wednesday in Wisconsin, a decision driven both by political appearances and an expectation the president would need to spend his week overseeing the governments response to the shooting. Still, Clinton planned to continue with solo campaign stops Monday in Ohio and Tuesday in Pennsylvania. Whether the tragedy in Orlando ultimately sways the trajectory of the general election campaign is unknown. If current trends hold, there will be more deadly mass shootings in the U.S. before voters head to the polls in November. Other unforeseen events will likely also shape the race over the next five months, as the 2008 economic collapse did in the closing weeks of that years presidential campaign. But as voters begin seriously weighing Clinton and Trump as their next commander in chief, Sundays shooting left little doubt that the choice between the two candidates is stark. Life through animation Kyle Stephen hopes his company, Second Floor Studios, will make TT the hub of the Caribbean and portal to the international animation industries. His business which began in 2011 is located in Frederick Settlement, Caroni. A former fine arts student of St Marys College, he decided on a career in animation after a relative pointed him to an advertisement. One day my aunt saw an ad in the newspaper about a UTT diploma in animation and digital media studies and the rest as they say is history, Stephen recalled. Back them, he did not know exactly what animation was, but he did know it entailed composing frames and he loved the fact that he could apply the same arts principle. I had an interest which grew into a passion when I learnt about the possibilities to make things move on a screen. For those of us who may not know what animation is, Stephen breaks it down in laymans terms: There is 2D animation where Disney films such as the Lion King, Sleeping Beauty and The Little Mermaid use linear drawings on each page frame by frame (or picture by picture). Then there is 3D three dimensional films such as Shrek, Transformers and Avengers that use animation using computer-generated imagery usually involving 3D models and props, unlike its hand-drawn counterpart. The company researched techniques that helped it evolve from a 2D company to 3D animations and today it is a full, visual-effects studio that produces stop motion, visual effects (CGI computer-generated imagery, matte painting, 3D modelling, rigging and animation, simulations). Stephens aim is to be the best at what he does and produce feature-length films, bringing a new element to the local animation landscape. But why would someone want animation, you may ask? Nowadays everyone wants moving content for their website, billboard, Facebook page and when you consider static versus moving, you will always be drawn to moving because theres more interaction Stephen explains. On average the services most in demand are two-minute videos and productions. Most of the companys work comes from film and production studios and ad agencies, however, it has done work for international companies. Stephens dedicated, young staff is responsible for storyboarding, pre-production, concept art and administration. His employees are the family he lost. I created the family who is my team and the team who is my familywe are not blood, but we behave like it, he said. He wants to make contact with large studios such as Disney and also liaise with TT and foreign entities. In addition, he wants to create a Learning Centre for people who may not have the finances to study animation at a beginners level. The name Second Floor Studios came about after an experience he had at school, while sitting on the second floor of the then John Donaldson Technical Institute, Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain. He was reflecting on the deaths of his mother and grandmother in the same year, followed swiftly by his favourite uncle, when he had a life-changing epiphany. Stephen who exudes the wisdom and philosophies way beyond his 23 years, shares that he had to cope with a great deal from a very young age including having to move from house to house after his mom died and and had to rely on himself for everything. I want the name Second Floor Studios to not only represent where and why my company got started, but also reflect my life as a man and as a spirit where clients bring their ideas to us and leave with finished products. The young entrepreneurs story demonstrates that good things come to those who pray. When people hear the Second Floor Studios name, he wants them to remember that it is a business started in Trinidad by a Trinidadian under Trinidadian circumstances. He wants others to see someone who started off in business with very little resources. Through his perseverance, he now owns his first home and a vehicle. His advice to others: It is important to channel your anger and frustration into constructive things. I want persons to know that theres always a way out because I survived despite hardships, grief, peer pressure, lack of support and finances. I spoke to God like I was having a conversation and started to see improvements in my life when I decided to become happy where I was. I have much to be thankful for I am alive, I have my two hands and I have my talent. He attributes his success in life and business to his grandmother Grace Stephen and his uncle Gerard Stephen . They laid the foundation for my faith in God who is solely responsible for my transformation throughout the years. He says his girlfriend, Tieneka Seebaran, has also been instrumental to his business in many ways and, of course, the UTT uStart Business Incubator for the space and access to machines. Animation veteran Camille Selvon-Abrahams, founder and creative director of Animae Caribe, was also a great inspiration to him and also his mentor, Rayhaan Joseph, CEO of Studio 19. Stephen wants to see quality work in the local film and animation industry via new ideas, stories and content and not just following typical textbook procedures in creating content. He says in India animation is a booming industry and if we can diversify our offerings to include animation, additional revenue can be generated for TT . Second Floor Studios is willing to collaborate with corporate and/or government bodies to boost animation. The same shows and blockbuster movies you see on television and pay big bucks for at theatres are the same work creatives like us do. Large corporate and even government entities may think they are taking a gamble by investing in the creative industry, but if more capital investment, networking opportunities and resources are made available locally, the sky is the limit for our efforts as we would be able to earn our spot on the map, Stephen says brimming with passion, confidence and hope. For more: Second Floor Studios - secondfloorstudiosproductions@ gmail.com. Facebook UNSPEAKABLE HORROR On behalf of the Government and People of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, I wish to convey heartfelt condolences to the President of the United States of America and the American people with respect to the unspeakable horrors of this mornings attack on an Orlando, Florida nightclub...the worst mass shooting in American history, Rowley said in a statement issued at 7.40 pm by the Office of the Prime Minister. He said this country was shocked and outraged. As the Government and people of the United States of America struggle to come to terms with this terrible tragedy, Trinidad and Tobago is also gripped by shock, sadness and outrage, the Prime Minister said. No nation should ever have to face such tragedy and it is hoped nothing of this nature will ever befall any nation again. Hours earlier, chairman of the Opposition United National Congress (UNC) David Lee also sent condolences. As chairman of the United National Congress I would like to offer sincerest condolences on behalf of the United National Congress to the families and friends of those who lost their lives in this mornings reported terrorist attack on a nightclub in Orlando Florida, Lee said in a media statement sent at 4.20pm. Though not yet confirmed, the evidence currently indicates that this mornings incident was a terrorist attack. The UNC strongly condemns all acts of terrorism as well as acts of a similar nature that result in the loss of human life. Lee continued, As a nation we implore all citizens to be vigilant against acts of terrorism and other criminal activities that threaten the security and lives of our citizens. As a population it is important that we all be our brothers keepers. Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi yesterday said security officials were on heightened alert and the National Security Council was poised to meet. We are, in fact, on heightened alert for a number of reasons, the Attorney General said saying there was a significant uptick of measures to tackle a range of issues including border patrols. The National Security Council - chaired by Rowley - was yesterday due to meet. On Sunday, US home-grown terrorist Omar Mateen shot dead 49 people and wounded at least 53 more during the massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. He called 911 just before the attack to pledge allegiance to international terrorist organisation ISIS. Mateen of Port St Lucie in Florida, reportedly laughed as he sprayed bullets into the crowded club before he was shot dead by a SWAT team several hours after launching his horrific massacre with a legally bought assault rifle and pistol. US AMBASSADOR: HATEFUL ATTACK US Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago John Estrada yesterday described as hateful and unconscionable the targeting of persons on the basis of their sexual orientation, as he condemned the Orlando attack as one of barbarity. Our hearts go out to the victims of the Orlando attack, as well as their families, friends, and communities, Estrada said. I used to live in the Orlando area, so this hateful act hits close to home for me. That people could be targeted for mass murder because of their sexual preference is unconscionable, as it would be if they were targeted for their race, religion, or gender. The Laventille-born US Ambassador who was phoned by President Anthony Carmona at midday on Sunday said terrorism is a global problem. This time, the attack occurred on American soil, but we know too well that terror is a global problem, and we must address it in solidarity with the vast majority of peopleincluding the vast majority of Muslims around the world who condemn and reject such barbarity, Estrada said. I appreciate President Carmonas kind words and Prime Minister Rowleys thoughtful message of condolence and promise that we will work with the government and people of Trinidad and Tobago to address this challenge together, as partners and friends. Presidents House yesterday issued a statement condemning the attack. The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago joins with the international community in condemning, in the strongest terms, the slaughter of innocent citizens in Orlando, Florida, on Sunday, a spokesperson said. President Carmona extended deepest condolences to the families and friends who had tragically lost their loved ones in this senseless, brutal assault. (He) had reason to recall the slaughter of the innocents, some 32 in number, at Virginia Tech in 2007, Presidents House also said. Carmona was further quoted as saying, Terrorism, home-grown or international, must never be tolerated by law abiding men and women. He said US President Barack Obama will be informed about the empathy, solidarity and concern shared by all of us in Trinidad and Tobago for the American people in their moment of hurt and anguish. The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago collectively prays for those who have suffered, are suffering and also those charged with the task of restoring a sense of comfort, security, peace and justice to the people of Orlando and by extension the United States of America, Presidents House said. Up to yesterday afternoon there were as yet no indications that TT nationals had been directly caught up in the events. Both Al-Rawi and Acting Foreign Affairs Minister Colm Imbert were conducting checks. A formal statement was due from the Foreign and Caricom Affairs Ministry last night. Al-Rawi said there were also no requests, both locally and at this countrys diplomatic offices at Florida, for any assistance from persons seeking information about loved ones who may have been affected. MP doing nothing Complete with stove, pots and foodstuff, the disgruntled residents from among several neighbouring villages within the sprawling La Brea constituency yesterday pitched camp early in the morning saying they would not leave until they get an audience with the woman whom they voted for, as the constituency struggles to deal with several issues including poor road conditions. Olivierre is also Minister of Energy. A big white tent has been erected in the yard and chairman of a pressure group known as People for Progress Victor Roberts told Newsday the protestors will not leave until she meets with them. He said they want to discuss with her, the high unemployment rate, rising crime and other problems affecting them in their respective communities. The protest began at six oclock in the morning. We wrote to her in January seeking an audience but to date, we have had no reply, Roberts complained. Last week I was involved in a school protest and last Friday I got a call from her (Olivierre) secretary telling me that the minister would meet me on Saturday at 9 am. Roberts said he found this call to be disrespectful and did not keep the appointment, saying the notice of the meeting was too short and he couldnt get a delegation together. Her office is saying that they dont know when the MP will be able to see us again and if that is the case, we will be here until (she meets with them) whether it takes a day, a week or a month. We want respect in the community and therefore we have to do what we have to do. There are 15 activists representing various communities stretching between Quarry Village to Erin, in the People for Progress group. When contacted yesterday, Minister Olivierre told Newsday she has always been available to her constituents. It is unfortunate that they chose this approach, Olivierre said. He (Roberts) was scheduled to see me two Saturdays ago. His name was down to see me but he didnt show up and I have not heard from him since. When I go down the road today (yesterday), if he is still there, I will meet with him because I am always reachable, Olivierre said. She acknowledged being aware of several concerns previously raised by constituents and said that these issues are receiving attention. Issues include poor road conditions and a problem with petty crimes including pick-pocketing This warrants thorough investigation Guidance on the best practice for investigating deaths in prison custody, as stated in the Inspector of Prisons Report 2012, ought to be followed and which is consistent with international practice. The investigation should be independent, Khan told Newsday, transparent and must be carried out promptly by the State to maintain public confidence and fulfil Section 4 of the Constitution, which provides for the fundamental right to life. The bereaved family must be kept informed to safeguard the deceased mans legitimate interests. This provides some measure of relief to the family, as well as reinforcing that justice will be served to provide the closure they seek, and to the populace, Khan said. In accordance with the Constitution and international human rights conventions to which the State is a party to, there is an obligation to protect the human rights of its citizens, and particularly those who it deprives of their liberty, the right of life being the most fundamental human right. Consequently, the State is under a statutory duty to investigate the death and the surrounding circumstances given that a prisoner is a ward of the State. The State, Khan said, has an onerous burden of proof to provide a satisfactory and convincing explanation in the event the right to life, and even that of a prisoner, is snatched away. In fact, accountability for deaths occurring under the responsibility of the State is an obligation. The results of the investigation should therefore be made public to secure accountability. It is the duty of the Prisons Commissioner to prepare a report on every death in prison and submit such to the Inspector of Prisons. Following a Coroners Inquest, the report is finalised to include the details regarding the prisoners history in prison, the result of any criminal investigation regarding the prisoners death, medical evidence, the results of the post mortem, the statements of the prison officers and an overview by the Prisons Commissioner. An investigation of any lesser degree falls afoul of the procedural requirements and opens the gates to public scrutiny as it renders a disservice to the public. I wish to highlight that prisoners are entitled to health care services of the same quality and range within the Prison Rules Policy 2012 as that available to those entitled to general medical services in the community. Given the reported death by hanging, inmates at risk of self-harm or suicide must have afforded efficient and effective mental health care access, Khan said. It is my earnest wish that the findings of the report and inquest are carefully considered and action taken to address any recommendations from the report into the death. This will no doubt be of benefit and importance not only to the State, but more so, in the pursuit of justice for the aggrieved families of deceased prisoners, he added. An autopsy yesterday at the Forensic Science Centre in St James, confirmed that murder and arson accused Peter Hyde committed suicide by hanging himself from the bars of his prison cell. There were no other marks of violence on his person, save for injuries which proved he hanged himself. While relatives were reluctant to speak to the media, Newsday understands that Hyde, formerly of Trou Macaque, Laventille, was found hanging by his neck at about 5.15 am on Sunday in his prison cell. Hyde is said to have used a bed sheet to take his life, while his cellmate slept. Hyde was accused of murdering three children and a woman, as well as causing grievous injury to eight other people, when he allegedly started a fire which gutted an apartment complex in Trou Macaque in December 2011. SRP pleads for help to rebuild house With no place else to go, SRP Reynold Charles, 39, mother Patricia Jycerie, 54, and Evelyn Antoo, 53, the latter who suffers with Downs Syndrome have been forced to find shelter under the burnt ruins of their Frasal Road home. The building is unsafe and it could collapse at anytime, but my family and I dont have a choice. We have nowhere to go and what is even more scary is that our lives are in danger because the person who firebombed our house is still out there, said a traumatized Charles. It is believed molotov cocktails (crude, home-made incendiary devices) were thrown at the familys home shortly after 1 am last week Friday. Everything was destroyed in the fire, all our belongings, clothes, documents everything is gone, Charles told Newsday. He said that since the attack he has been unable to sleep comfortably at nights. I keep thinking whover did this wanted us dead. I am worried for myself and my mom who is not taking this good. I am really concerned, he said. Since the incident there have been frequent mobile police patrols in the area. Charles has not returned to work since. I worked so hard from shift to shift to support my family and to have this done to me is very hard. How do I even start over, he asked. Yesterday, the policeman spent hours going to business places seeking financial assistance to rebuild. Sadly he was turned away by all. They told me things are really hard because of the recession and they could not help me. I dont know where else to turn, Charles said. He added that members of the Police Social Welfare Association visited him last week, but was told since he is not a member, they could not offer any assistance. No arrest has been made and Gran Couva Police officers are continuing investigations. Anyone wishing to help the family can contact Charles at 357-4472. Roget: PNM Govt will be assessed He advised, additionally, that JTUM would propose guidelines to Government on how to address the economic situation from thereon, without retrenching any more workers; and that Tubal Uriah Buzz Butler, the father of trade unionism in Trinidad, will be honoured on that day. Roget said, we will be doing an assessment on the performance of the government for the past nine months, how does JTUM see the government performing. We will also be doing an assessment of the Memorandum of Understanding, how did they honour it, or how did they not honour it, to what extent they honoured the Memorandum of understanding. And we will present a road map for the future of Trinidad and Tobago, dealing with the economic situation, and precisely saying how do we come out of this economic situation without retrenching any workers. Roget said the Labour Day march will be under the theme job security for all and protection for all workers. He said JTUM is demanding job security and protection for all workers. Roget affirmed that there are many workers who are still not aware of their rights and several who do not have the advantage of union representation. And some media owners, I say boldly, can fall in that category. They work their workers long hours, long and hard and difficult hours. When the media workers go out and they capture the story, in an honest and professional way, you have some of their editors as they would perhaps do for this particular event this morning, editing out some of the very crucial and important parts, simply because it does not represent the interest of the employer class. But we the collective, we the workers of this country, we are certainly going to be taking a very serious action going forward, he said. The rally will commence at 8 am at Avocat Junction in Fyzabad with workers making their way to Charlie King junction. A cultural show will follow, which aims to raise awareness of the labour and economic issues in the country Gridlock due to protest at Beetham dump This in turn slowed traffic from South and East Trinidad, headed west, to a virtual crawl for more than two hours, until the gates were re-opened around 10.30 am. Truck driver Jason Thomas, called for a tax-free backpay since the buying power of the TT dollar has diminished in the years following the signing of their collective agreement with SWMCOLs management. We are looking for an exemption from the tax (because) the value of that money is now zero. Gas alone gone up by 30 percent...when you go to the grocery, things gone up by $10 and over. The value of the money at zero (so) to suffer a 25 percent tax is really harsh on the workers, Thomas argued. Meanwhile, president of the Industrial, General and Sanitation Workers Union (IGSWU) Robert Benacia warned that the workers action will intensify and continue, until we resolve things in a decent way. He told reporters the union wanted meetings with SWMCOLs line minister Public Utilities Minister Ancil Antoine and with Finance Minister Colm Imbert. If these fail to come off by today, IGSWU is promising to step up protest action. Newsday was informed by a SWMCOL official that as of 4.15 pm yesterday, the companys CEO Ronald Roach, remained locked in meetings with staff and union officials. Roach went to the Beetham Landfill yesterday morning after learning of the protest and remained there all day, the official said, trying to address the backpay demands and unspecified problems with working conditions. Minister Antoine told Newsday he had not yet met with the workers following their protest. Once I get that information from the CEO or from the board, I would set up a meeting, the Minister promised. Asked to comment on the workers frustration over his alleged cancellation of a meeting earlier this year and not having responded to correspondence from the union, requesting a new date on which to meet, Antoine said, Ive met with all the trade unions during the course of my becoming Minister of Public Utilities. I may not have met with (IGSWU) as an individual trade union but I met with the group of trade unions and they were represented. On the call for tax-free backpay, Antoine told Newsday, thats a very interesting concept. Asked when SWMCOL workers could expect to receive their backpay, the minister reiterated the Finance Ministers recent statement that, the money would be paid June month-end. Told that the workers intended to intensify their protest if they are unable to meet him and/or Imbert, Antoine replied, Do I have new information to give them? Because June month-end hasnt arrived yet. Recall of Sleep Apnea Device Is Not Going Well Editor: I am a practicing attorney here in the Elko area. Prior to returning to private practice, I served as the Court Administrator for the Elko Justice/Municipal Court and as a Deputy District Attorney at the Elko County District Attorney's Office for seven years. I know personally the demands of our local Justice Court and I know them well. The candidate you select as our next Justice of the Peace will be responsible for presiding over a hectic caseload of criminal, civil and small claims matters. This person needs to understand the law, the rules of evidence and the procedural rules that govern the operation of the Court. I can tell you that one candidate is thoroughly prepared to take on this responsibility and that candidate is Andy Mierins. I worked extensively with Andy when he was a practicing attorney and I have appeared in his courtroom many times at the Family Court. He has earned not only my respect, but also the respect of the local bar and many in the law enforcement community. Andy will bring experience, dedication and leadership to the newly created Justice of the Peace seat at the Elko Justice Court and I would encourage you to support him. Jennifer M. Spencer, Esq. Elko A team of British researchers has come up with the new model that used climate change data to predict the occurrence of zootonic diseases such as Zika and Ebola. These diseases jump from animals to humans and can cause a deadly outbreak in a relatively shorter period of time. According to the researchers, their model is 'a major improvement in their understanding of the spread of diseases from animals to people.' The team believes that their model can be used by governments to predict a disease outbreak and prepare for it in advance. In addition, the model can be used to factor in risk when devising policies that can affect the government. The model can be effectively used by the policy makers to assess the impact of an intervention or modifications in international and national government policies, including conversion of grassland to agricultural lands. According to researcher Kate Jones of the University College London, the model has the capability to assess the impact of global changes on a multiple diseases at the same time. Almost 60 to 75 percent of the infectious diseases that emerge nowadays can be categorized as 'zoonotic events.' In such an event, the disease 'jumps' from an animal to humans. For example, bats carry multiple zoonotic viruses at the same time that are then transferred to humans. There are a number of diseases that have emerged from such zoonotic viruses, including Lassa fever, Zika virus, Ebola and Rift Valley fever. These diseases are expected to spread further with the change in the climate and have affected thousands of people already all across the world. The researchers created the model using the information from 408 different locations affected by the Lassa fever outbreak in West Africa between 1967 and 2012. The team noticed the changes in the land use, temperature, rainfall, crop yields, access to health care and behavior to come up with the model that related global climatic changes to the outbreak of a disease. Rajoy, Sanchez, Rivera and Iglesias on Monday night. ULY MARTIN The economic policies and corruption scandals of the eight years of acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoys administration came under a sustained three-pronged attack during Monday evenings televised debate between the leaders of Spains four main parties. Reflecting the political shift Spain has undergone in recent years, the debate was the first to put Podemos and Ciudadanos on the same footing as the Popular Party (PP) and the Socialists (PSOE), who between them have dominated politics for the last four decades. Over the course of the two-hour exchange, which will be the only four-way debate in the run-up to the June 26 elections, Socialist Party leader Pedro Sanchez, Pablo Iglesias of Unidos Podemos and Albert Rivera of Ciudadanos spent most of their time criticizing Rajoys austerity policies and his governments failure to kickstart Spains economy after two terms in office. They also highlighted the numerous corruption cases that have rocked the PP in recent years. Rajoy defended his record, saying: To govern is difficult, to preach is easy. Rajoy insisted that as the party likely to win the most votes is the PP, he should be allowed to form a government The four leaders each blamed one another for their failure to reach agreement on a coalition government in the six months since the inconclusive elections of December 20, which gave the PP a narrow lead, but insufficient to form a government on its own. Sanchez highlighted Podemoss decision to side with the PP in Congress by voting against an attempt by the Socialists and the center-right Ciudadanos to form a government. Iglesias was careful to avoid direct confrontation with Sanchez, instead calling on the Socialist leader to team up with Unidos Podemos (United We Can), a coalition with the Communist Party -led United Left. There are only two options: the PP or a progressive government, he said. Opinion polls indicate that the June 26 elections will be a replay of Decembers. A survey by Metroscopia, published in EL PAIS on Sunday, shows the PP will likely win 28.9% of the vote, with the Socialists taking 20.8% and Ciudadanos 15.9%. Unidos Podemos is forecast to win 25.4%. The four leaders pledged to do everything possible to avoid a repeat of the impasse of the last six months. There will be no further elections, said Iglesias, reaching out to the Socialists. Rivera said he would support a government of change, without going into further details. Sanchez said he would be mobilizing support among his partys grassroots, while Rajoy insisted that as the party likely to win the most votes is the PP, he should be allowed to form a government, calling on Ciudadanos and the Socialists to form an administration of national unity. Iglesias repeated his formula of a broad-left government with the Socialists that would install as prime minister the leader whose party garnered most votes. But Sanchez is unlikely to tolerate playing second fiddle to Iglesias in any future administration. Sign up for our newsletter EL PAIS English Edition has launched a weekly newsletter. Sign up today to receive a selection of our best stories in your inbox every Saturday morning. For full details about how to subscribe, click here. In short, Spains media agreed that there were no new proposals from any of the four, with no clear winner emerging from the debate. English version by Nick Lyne. The Daily News-Miner encourages residents to make themselves heard through the Opinion pages. Readers' letters and columns also appear online at newsminer.com. Contact the editor with questions at letters@newsminer.com or call 459-7574. New Delhi: President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday refused to sign a bill that allowed 21 AAP MLAs to hold a second paying position as parliamentary secretary. This was basically refusal to give assent to the Delhi government Bill to exclude the post of Parliamentary Secretary from the office of profit. Our Constitution prohibits legislators or parliamentarians from holding any positions with monetary or other benefits. Office of Profit is aimed at reducing conflict-of-interest situations for public representatives. Now this has raised serious questions over the fate of 21 AAP MLAs as these MLAs were appointed to the posts. However, Union home and law ministries told the President the Delhi government bill which allows MLAs appointment as parliamentary secretaries and exempting them from office-of-profit regulations violated existing laws. Now what may happen? If the MLAs are disqualified, it will be a major setback for Kejriwal government. Now the Election Commission, acting as a quasi judicial body to whom the President referred the issue has sought replies of the MLAs. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Washington: US Apache helicopters have hit an Islamic State target for the first time in Iraq, the Pentagon said today. US Apache helicopters conducted the first strike against a Daesh target in Iraq in support of Iraqi Security Forces in the Tigris River Valley June 12, Defense Department spokesman Christopher Sherwood said, using an Arabic abbreviation for the IS group. The Apache strike destroyed a Daesh vehicle borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) near Qayyarah, Iraq, he added. Qayyarah is south of Mosul, the IS groups main stronghold in Iraq. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Rome: Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the chief of Islamic State (IS) terrorist group has been killed in Syria in the US-led coalition air strike, reports have said. Citing IS-affiliated Arabic news agency al-Amaq, Iranian state media and pro-government Turkish daily Yenis Safak said that Baghdadi has died in an air raid on IS stronghold of Raqqa in northern Syria. According to the media reports, the statement published by Amaq claimed Islamic State's 'Caliph' Baghdadi died on Sunday. "Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed by coalition airstrikes on Raqqa on the fifth day of Ramadan," said the statement. However, there was no immediate comment from the coalition on the report. Iraqi TV channel Al-Sumaria had said on Monday that a coalition air strike on a location 65 kilometres west of the Islamic State-held city of Mosul left Baghdadi wounded on Sunday. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: With the President holding assent to a bill that protects 21 AAP MLAs, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of indulging in political vendetta and said the BJP is scared of AAP and unable to digest its defeat in Delhi. In a jolt to the AAP government, President Pranab Mukherjee has refused to give assent to a legislation that protects 21 party MLAs, who have been appointed Parliamentary Secretaries, and face the prospect of disqualification. We have given additional responsibilities to our MLAs but they are working for free. Our notification says that they are not entitled to any remuneration, perks, facilities or services from the government, Kejriwal told reporters. If they are working for free, what is troubling Modiji? If all people are disqualified and made to sit at home, what will they (Centre) derive from this. Modiji hasnt been able to digest defeat in Delhi and that is why they are doing all this to not let us work, he added. The Chief Minister further questioned why Parliamentary Secretaries of other states have not been disqualified. There are Parliamentary Secretaries in Haryana, Punjab, Gujarat, West Bengal and across the country. Those in Punjab get Rs 1 lakh per month, car and bungalow as well. But they have not been disqualified. Why only Delhi? Because he (Modi) is scared of Aam Aadmi Party, he said. Asked about the Prime Ministers role in the process as the bill has been turned down by the President and not him, Kejriwal said, President does not take any decision. Probably the file doesnt even go to him. The decision is taken by the government and Home Ministry decided this. Petitions have been filed with the President seeking disqualification of these MLAs on the ground that they occupied office of profit violating constitutional provisions. Acting as a quasi judicial body, the Election Commission to whom the President referred the issue, had sought replies of the MLAs. The Delhi Government had sought an amendment to the Delhi Members of Legislative Assembly (Removal of Disqualification) Act, 1997. Through the Bill, the AAP government wanted retrospective exemption for the parliamentary secretaries from disqualification provisions. The Bill was forwarded by Lt Governor Najeeb Jung to the Centre, which in turn was sent to the President with its comments. After examining the issue, the President has not given his assent to the Bill, official sources said today. On March 13, 2015, Kejriwal had passed an order appointing the 21 party MLAs as Parliamentary Secretaries. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Islamabad: Authorities have imposed curfew at the Torkham after Islamabad strongly protested to Kabul over the unprovoked firing by Afghan security forces at Torkham border crossing on Sunday night. Earlier on Monday, Pakistan summoned a top Afghan diplomat after security forces of the two countries exchanged gunfire over the contentious fencing issue at north-western Torkham border crossing. Afghan Charge d Affaires was called to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to convey Pakistans strong protest over unprovoked firing by the Afghan forces at Pakistani forces on Torkham border crossing, foreign office spokesperson said.The Afghan diplomat was told that the overnight firing incident was contrary to the spirit of friendly relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Afghan side was urged to thoroughly investigate the incident and share the findings with Pakistani authorities. It was further emphasised that all steps should be taken for avoiding recurrence of such incidents in the future, the official said. In the firing, an Afghan border guard was killed while two Pakistani soldiers and nine civilians were injured. Pakistan alleged that unprovoked firing was started by Afghanistans security forces when construction work began on a new gate on the Pakistani side. The gate is being constructed to facilitate the cross-border movement of people and vehicles. It was conveyed to the Afghan side that the regulation of movements at Torkham is part of governments policy to strengthen border management. Therefore, Afghan governments cooperation was needed as it would enhance mutual security and help combat the threat of terrorism, the spokesperson said. Last month, the border crossing was sealed for several days over the construction of the gate, causing hardships to thousands of people who cross it every day. Afghan government does not recognise the border, which is also known as Durand Line, and it opposes permanent structure. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Manila: Philippine authorities today confirmed that Muslim extremist guerrillas had beheaded a second Canadian hostage, as they defended their inability to save him despite months of pursuit. We strongly condemn the brutal and senseless murder of Mr Robert Hall, a Canadian national, after being held captive by the Abu Sayyaf group in Sulu for the past nine months, presidential spokesman Herminio Coloma said in a statement. A military statement also confirmed that a severed head, believed to be Halls, was found near the Jolo island cathedral last night. The discovery confirmed the brutal beheading by the evil, criminal ASG (Abu Sayyaf group) of a kidnap victim, the statement added. Earlier, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declared that his government has every reason to believe that Hall had been killed by the Abu Sayyaf, the second Canadian captive to be slain this year. Members of the notorious kidnap-for-ransom Abu Sayyaf gang had said they would murder Hall if they did not receive 300 million pesos (USD 6.5 million) ransom by yesterday. Hall was among four people abducted in September last year from aboard yachts at a tourist resort on Samal island in the southern Philippines. Another Canadian kidnapped at the same time, John Ridsdel, was beheaded in April after a similar ransom demand of 300 million pesos was not paid. The fates of the two other people abducted at the Samal resort - Halls Filipina girlfriend Marites Flor and Norwegian resort manager Kjartan Sekkingstad - were not known. The beheadings have taken place despite the heavy deployment of military and police forces to locate them in the strife-torn island of Jolo, the largest island in the Muslim-populated archipelago of Sulu, about 1,000 kilometres from Manila. Major Filemon Tan, spokesman of military forces in the south, said today that the kidnappers were evading military pursuers with the help of the impoverished Muslim residents of the island. They have relatives in the community. They are the ones that give them a warning when there are soldiers in the area, he told radio station DZMM. He also said the islands forested, hilly terrain, a broad coastline that allows for swift movement by boat and the kidnappers tactic of breaking up into smaller groups, were all hindering pursuit. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Pablo Iglesias during the interview in Madrid. PAULA CASADO Pablo Iglesias office, located on Madrids Princesa street, seems more suited to an administrative assistant than to the secretary general of Podemos, Spains second party according to the latest opinion polls. It is unclear whether hes just moved in its almost as though the provisional look of this place were an allegory for his own political situation. Iglesias is a leader in a state of flux who heads a party of morphing ideology. His goal is to win the general election of June 26, and so far, polling data suggests he has already established his party as the dominant force within Spains political left. Face to face with him, Pablo Iglesias is an engaging speaker who never loses his calm and never hesitates before replying. He seems to have interiorized the partys rhetoric, including its newer elements and its contradictions. His own office illustrates the point: there is a poster of Che Guevara, a painting of Khaleesi from Game of Thrones, a biography of Latin American independence hero Simon Bolivar, and another biography of Juan Carlos, father of current monarch Felipe VI and an instrumental figure during the countrys democratic transition. There is also a magazine with former Socialist leader Felipe Gonzalez on its cover. Question. The Podemos campaign poster looks a bit like something out of Star Wars or a Spielberg movie, dont you think? Answer. A little, yes. Podemos has already contributed to structural changes in Spain, and thats without even coming close to government. Imagine when we do... Q. And one gets the feeling that you are like the Sun, with everyone else gravitating around you. How much weight does Pablo Iglesiass charisma carry within Podemos? A. Fortunately, my charisma counts for less and less within Podemos. Were an organization born with a handicap: it depended too much on knowledge of me. At the European elections [of May 2014] we conducted a survey that showed that people knew very little about Podemos and a lot about me. And that forced us to make the unpleasant decision to use my face on the ballot. Fortunately, we now have a shared leadership and there are enough team members so that Unidos Podemos can display its various nuances and show its many faces. Q. Could Podemos survive without Pablo Iglesias? A. Absolutely, absolutely. The fact that I am dispensable is the best news for Podemos. Q. Are you considering stepping down once the party is in orbit? A. Yes, for two reasons: because politics is temporary and because one should always be ready to do the organizations bidding. I am under constant evaluation and I am ready to stop the moment I am told to. I want to be prime minister, and that involves an availability of four to eight years, but that can also be reviewed. Q. Do you have any desire to be the leader of the opposition? A. I would rather be the head of government. Being opposition leader would mean the Socialist Party (PSOE) has helped reinstate [Popular Party leader] Mariano Rajoy. And that would be bad news. Q. Is that the most likely scenario? A. I prefer to think not. I want to believe that the PSOE will not abstain to help Rajoy at the investiture vote, among other reasons because Socialist voters wouldnt forgive that. Podemos has teamed up with United Left, whose leader Alberto Garzon is pictured above, to run together as Unidos Podemos (United We Can). A. Alvarez (EFE) Q. But why would the PSOE help put you in office instead, if it didnt strike a deal with you back when Socialist candidate Pedro Sanchez could have been prime minister himself? A. They are at a crossroads: they are in the middle of a historical debate and they have two options. Either they reach a deal with the PP, or they reach one with Podemos. They already tried an alliance [with Ciudadanos] that didnt make up the numbers. And now they are faced with the same decision again. There is a new social democratic space that has to be built, but we cannot build it alone. We need to do it with the Socialist Party and what it stands for. Whatever happens on June 26, they will continue to be a fundamental party in Spain. Q. So are you debunking the paradoxical theory that goes that the modern Pablo Iglesias could kill the party that was founded by the original Pablo Iglesias in 1879? A. Anybody who says that doesnt understand Spain. In politics, it is essential to understand the makeup of forces. We cannot do it without the Socialist Party. We are already in power in Spains main cities thanks to them, and I think its good for the PSOE to take on this kind of collaborative role. Sign up for our newsletter EL PAIS English Edition has launched a weekly newsletter. Sign up today to receive a selection of our best stories in your inbox every Saturday morning. For full details about how to subscribe, click here. Q. Yet to the untrained eye, there is no sign of mutual understanding. One would think that all bridges between the PSOE and Podemos have been burnt. A. We need to think forward and about the balance of forces. Theres been some unfortunate statements on my part as well. I understand Pedro Sanchezs harsh tone during this campaign run, but I think that after June 26 things will have to relax. We will need to talk about Spain. If they opt for the PP, theyll be making a serious mistake. Q. Since you are admitting to mistakes, what would yours be? A. Sometimes Ive been too harsh in my tone. There are things that dont need to be repeated once theyve been said. I am thinking about quicklime [alluding to the dirty war against ETA in the 1980s]. I think it was fair to mention it in the speech, but it was a mistake to repeat it in the debate. And sometimes, I guess the dynamics of parliamentary aggressiveness drew me like a magnet. Being in politics is also about maturing. You have to be like [Muhammad] Ali in the ring: float like a butterfly and sting like a bee. Q. Does maturing mean mutating? A lot of people are really disconcerted about Podemos ideological position, about this journey from communism to social democracy in a matter of months. Where does Podemos really stand? A. Since 2014 I have always said that we have a social democratic program. In the 1970s, European communism incorporated key elements of social democracy, which has its roots in Scandinavian countries. The weight of neoliberalism in the 1980s and 1990s pushed social democracy towards what Tony Blair called the Third Way. They ended up being absorbed by the conservative parties, which defend dogmatism in economic policy. This open space has made it possible for political forces such as ours to emerge. We are the result of the failure of the Third Way. Q. Podemoss latest discrepancy was its abstention at the vote asking for the release of political prisoners in Venezuela. Why did you not vote in favor? A. We proposed several amendments which were all turned down. We defend mediation, UNASURs position, even some statements by the foreign minister and the role played by [former Spanish prime minister Jose Luis] Rodriguez Zapatero. But dont count on us to support those who are trying to use Venezuela as a campaigning tool back in Spain. There is a new social democratic space that has got to be built, but we cannot build it alone. We need to do it with the Socialist Party and what it stands for Q. Why has Pablo Iglesias not been back to Venezuela? A. I was only there three times in my life: in 2006 and 2007 to give some lectures, and then for a month in 2011, and that was it. Q. Do you want to put some distance between yourself and the chavista sympathies that Podemos is believed to harbor? A. We have said very clearly that we dont like the situation in that country. The Venezuelan government has made many mistakes involving the confrontation between the legislative and the executive. We share that feeling of disappointment with regard to chavismo, which was a source of hope at first. Q. What do you admire about Mariano Rajoy? A. He is a sarcastic guy who performs well at the podium and I think hes got a lot of experience. Q. What do you admire about Pedro Sanchez? A. He is tremendously friendly. And thats important. And hes made great efforts to change things within the PSOE. Q. What do you admire about Ciudadanos leader Albert Rivera? A. He is enormously astute and clever. He is in charge of a party with very little weight, and what he has achieved is truly impressive. Q. What dont you like about Pablo Iglesias? A. Sometimes my spontaneity plays tricks on me. There are times when it pays to be more self-contained. I am learning. Q. Have you ever lied in politics? A. I dont think so. And I pay for it. A lot of advisors have told me that sometimes it is better not to tell the truth, but I dont want to stop being who I am. Iglesias' public speaking abilities are credited with attracting a lot of voters to his cause. Albert Garcia (EL PAIS) Q. What is the worst part about your experience in politics? A. Not having the time to do the things I like. I used to read a lot more. And I was anonymous enough that I could go out for a beer or with friends. But this is an incredible journey. Because of my training in the social sciences, to study history is fascinating, but to be making it is even more fascinating. Q. In between recent statements about the death of social democracy and the non-existence of communism, we find that Podemos is now a social democratic party that has married a proud Communist in order to create Unidos Podemos, your alliance with the United Left. Can you clear up this contradiction? A. I understand the need for labels and the chest-pounding, but historical context is important too. Ever since the 1970s, Western communisms platforms have been social democratic in nature. There are a lot of coincidences between us, and that is why there is common ground. Q. Dont you think that your affinity for Pope Francis links you to a policy of gestures, words and good intentions, but of few facts on the ground? There have been no real changes in the Vatican beyond superficial ones. Does Podemos run the same risk? A. I strongly believe in the ability of language to help bring about change, and much more so when the speaker is the head of the Catholic Church. What the Pope says automatically creates a reality. And its the same in politics. Podemos has already contributed to structural change in Spain, and thats without even coming close to government. Imagine when we do... Q. Isnt there a contradiction in defending sovereign europeanism outside our borders and a plurinational patriotism back home? A. There isnt. They are perfectly compatible. We are patriots, but we are not France, we are not a Jacobin country conceived out of a single language and a single culture. Spain is a plurinational and a diverse reality, and this needs an institutional way out. Its the people that make the homeland, not the symbols. Sovereign europeanism means maintaining the passion for a common Europe while democratizing its institutions. We are profoundly pro-European. And in Spain, we represent a barrier to movements like Frances extreme right, which foments euroskepticism. Q. Where do you see yourself 10 years from now? A. I see myself as a lecturer in class, which is what I am passionate about. Ive been very lucky, Ive been paid to do what I like: studying and teaching. And I would like to clown around on television. After I am prime minister, I will walk away from politics. Q. So you see yourself as prime minister? A. Yes, yes. English version by Susana Urra. Kairana: The issue of 'Kairana exodus', the alleged migration of Hindus from the town in Shamli district in western part of Uttar Pradesh, has rocked not just the state but the entire country. This has also led to a continued war of words between the political parties. According to BJP leaders, scores of Hindu families have migrated from Kairana. Why did these families leave? Where have they gone? What troubles are they facing currently? News Nation has tried to find the answers to all such questions. From Saharanpur to Uttarakhand's Haridwar to Rajasthan's Kota, News Nation reporters found some of these families. They tried to find out what made these families leave their own home. Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh government has ordered a probe in the matter. BJP MP from Kairana, Hukum Singh has alleged that 346 families have been forced to flee the town, which has 85 per cent of Muslim population. Watch video for News Nation's exclusive report. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. New Delhi: With the Centre releasing the model GST law after evolving broader consensus with states, India Inc today hoped that the landmark indirect tax regime will come into effect from April next year. The government has put up the model Goods and Services Tax (GST) legislation for public consultations and hoped to get the bill passed during the monsoon session of Parliament starting next month. We look forward to the positive movement and with these initiatives, it is expected that implementation of GST with effect from April 1, 2017 will become a reality, said CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee. The model GST law, which has 162 clauses and 4 schedule, was released by the government after a meeting of Empowered Committee of state Finance Ministers on the long awaited indirect tax reform. Virtually all states have supported the idea of GST except Tamil Nadu which has some reservations, said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who chaired the meeting. Lot of hard work seems to have been put in for arriving at broader consensus with the states...Hectic times ahead for industry. All eyes on the monsoon session now for passage of the constitutional amendment bill, said Pratik Jain, Leader - Indirect Tax, PwC India. The GST billwhich will help create a single national sales tax to replace several state and central levieshas already been approved by the Lok Sabha and is pending in the Rajya Sabha where the government doesnt have a majority. The main opposition party Congress has demanded certain changes in the bill. Sachin Menon, Partner and Head, Indirect Tax at KPMG, in India said by endorsing the model GST law, the Empowered Committee of Finance Ministers have shown that they are committed to introduce GST in their states irrespective of political affiliations. The model GST bill will put an end to the never-ending disputes about taxability of works contracts and lease transactions, as the bill classify the same as service, irrespective of whether the transactions involve goods and services, he said. In his comment, Mahesh Jaising, Partner, BMR and Associates LLP, said the model GST indeed reflects that the government has been working in full force towards the implementation of the legislation. Washington: Orlando shooter Omar Mateen who gunned down 49 people at a gay club in Orlando was a lone actor influenced by the ideologies of Islamic State militant group, US President Barack Obama said today. Terrorist groups like ISIL have called on people around the world and here in the United States to attack innocent civilians. Their propaganda, their videos, their postings are pervasive and more easily accessible than we want, Obama said at the Treasury Department after his meeting with his national security team. This (Orlando shooter) individual appears to have absorbed some of that and during his killing spree, the shooter in Orlando pledged allegiance to ISIL. These lone actors or small cells of terrorists are very hard to detect and very hard to prevent, he said. Mateen killed 49 people and wounded another 53 before he was killed when police stormed the Pulse, one of Orlandos most prominent gay venues, on Sunday. Obama said that the government is doing everything it could to stop these kinds of attacks. But across our government at every level, federal, state and local, military and civilian, we are doing everything in our power to stop these kinds of attacks. We work to succeed 100 percent of the time. An attacker, as we saw in Orlando, only has to succeed once, he said. Obama said extremist groups have perverted Islam to justify terrorism. As President, I have called on our Muslim friends and allies at home and around the world to work with us to reject this twisted interpretation of one of the worlds great religions, he said. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. More information Trump agita la islamofobia tras la matanza de Orlando Donald Trump, the Republican presumptive nominee to the White House, said on Monday that he will ban all Muslims from entering the United States if he becomes president. He then insinuated that President Barack Obama may be complicit in the Orlando massacre where 50 people were murdered by a lone gunman on Sunday morning. He doesnt get it, or he gets it better than anybody understands. Its one or the other, Trump said. A few years ago, the real estate mogul was among the main proponents of a conspiracy theory claiming that the president was a Muslim. Those remarks about Obama, expressed in an interview on Fox News, were sufficiently understated to allow Trump to distance himself from them later on. He told NBC that many people think the president does not want to understand terrorism. I happen to think he just doesnt know what hes doing, but there are many people that think maybe he doesnt want to get it, he doesnt want to see whats really happening. The Republican presidential hopeful was among the so-called birthers, a group that claimed Obama was not born on US soil and demanded that he publish his birth certificate for verification According to a 2015 survey, 43% of Republicans believe Obama is a Muslim. Trump knows he is speaking to those voters. The Republican presidential hopeful was among the so-called birthers, a group that claimed Obama was not born on US soil and demanded that he publish his birth certificate for verification. That campaign, steeped in racism, questioned the loyalty of the first black commander-in-chief of the United States and made Trump a prominent figure among the ranks of the paranoid right-wing. The reality television star-turned-politician did not even wait a day after the Orlando shooting, the worst mass killing in US history and the worst terrorist attack on US soil since September 11, 2001, before using it in his campaign. He rewrote a speech he planned to give in New Hampshire about Clintons past scandals to focus instead on immigration and terrorism, two issues he believes are related because terrorists, he says, enter the United States as immigrants and refugees. During the speech, Trump said the law allows the US government to deny entry to any group it deems a threat to US interests. I will use this power to protect the American people. When I am elected, I will suspend immigration from areas of the world where there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe or our allies, until we understand how to end these threats. He failed to mention that Omar Mateen, the Orlando gunman, was born in the United States and was a US citizen. In short, Trumps ban on Muslim immigrants would not have prevented the massacre. Still, the New York businessman smugly congratulated himself on Sunday because, he says, the shooting proved his point about Islam. He demanded that Obama resign and that Clinton abandon the presidential race for her refusal to use the term radical Islam. We cannot continue to allow thousands upon thousands of people to pour into our country, many of whom have the same thought processes as this savage killer Donald Trump Trump told the crowd in New Hampshire that Clinton wants to allow radicals who enslave women and murder gays to enter the United States, and that the American Muslim community knows who the criminals are but do not want to turn them in. He compared refugees and immigrants to the Orlando shooter, saying: We cannot continue to allow thousands upon thousands of people to pour into our country, many of whom have the same thought processes as this savage killer. Clintons proposals on immigration could be a better, bigger version of the legendary Trojan Horse, he added. The White House has refrained from using the phrase radical Islam arguing that this kind of language plays into the terrorists hands by allowing them to identify themselves with a religion. The United States wants to avoid turning the fight against the so-called Islamic State into a war between religions or cultures. Still, according to Trump, and most Republicans agree with him, not calling a spade a spade is falling prey to the dictatorship of political correctness. If you do not identify the enemy, you cannot defeat it, they say. Today is not a day for politics, Clinton said on Monday in a speech in Cleveland, Ohio. The former secretary of state explained her plans to combat terrorism and prevent tragedies like the Orlando shooting. In keeping with Obamas strategy, she wants to bomb ISIS targets, work in concert with allies and strengthen restrictions on the purchase of assault weapons like the one used by Mateen. Her speech was pragmatic rather than a call to arms. Clinton is cautious where Trump is brash. Look, were led by a man that either is not tough, not smart, or hes got something else in mind, Trump told Fox News in an interview on Monday morning. "And the something else in mind you know, people cant believe it. People cannot, they cannot believe that President Obama is acting the way he acts and cant even mention the words radical Islamic terrorism. Theres something going on. Its inconceivable. During an election campaign, every crisis becomes fodder for the propaganda machine, but few candidates have used them as boldly and quickly as Donald Trump. He clinched the Republican nomination a month ago, a triumph some thought would inspire him to quell his incendiary remarks. But he has not changed. His allure resides precisely in the fact that he says what his voters think but do not dare utter out loud. Orlando did not change Trump. Trump is still Trump. English version by Dyane Jean-Francois SUBSCRIBERS OF UCOMS ALL TIME BEST OFFER TO ENJOY ADDITIONAL BENEFITS Armenia-Azerbaijan: EU sets up monitoring capacity along the international borders PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia concerned by reports of alleged war crimes or inhuman treatment perpetrated by Azerbaijans armed forces There is still 35% gender pay gap: Sona Ghazaryan Google Ad Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans provided 136 million AMD support for the overhaul of the Myasnikyan statue, which was in unsafe state of disrepair Believe me, as a representative of a country which uses the Schengen system very often, it is quite important. Vardanyan I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox UCOMS SPECIAL OFFER OF THE UNLIMITED INTERNET IS NOW TERMLESS There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol Armenia and Azerbaijan to do so without delay An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan". UCOM AND PES-PES CONTINUE COOPERATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF EDUCATIONAL PROJECT The statement of the meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Aliyev, President Macron and President Michel of October 6, 2022 Largest Corporate Bond Program at the Securities Market of Armenia Completed Successfully Google Ad The statement of the Defender on the video of the execution of Armenian PoWs by the Azerbaijani armed forces LEVEL UP ONLY FOR STUDENTS: UCOM OFFERS X2 AND X3 MORE INTERNET STATEMENT BY SECRETARY ANTONY J. BLINKEN This criminal act is another proof that the Armenophobia policy. Tatoyan Nikol Pashinyan, Nancy Pelosi discuss a number of issues related to the Armenian-American agenda and regional developments Delegation by Nancy Pelosi Accompanied by Alen Simonyan Visits Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi Arrives in Yerevan Armenian Revytech, global technology leader SAP and financial services software specialist SAP Fioneer sign a cooperation agreement With 120 million drams donated by Mikael Vardanyan, the defenders of the homeland will be treated in a new building OSCE Chairman-in-Office and OSCE Secretary General call for immediate cessation of hostilities along Armenia-Azerbaijan border Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh USA Embassy Message for U.S. Citizens ANCA Issues National Call to Action to Stop Taxpayer Funding of Aliyevs Aggression Armenian Assembly of America: We will always stand in solidarity with Orlando WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Armenian Assembly of America (Assembly) released the following statement in response to the mass shooting by an ISIS supporter on Sunday, June 12 in Orlando, Florida: "The Armenian Assembly of America and all Armenian Americans mourn the victims of the Orlando massacre, the deadliest in United States history. We pray for the victims, their families, and friends. The Assembly condemns the barbaric acts that occurred and the pervasive intolerance, hatred, and inhumanity represented by the perpetrator and those who think like him. A few months ago, Secretary of State John Kerry declared that ISIS is 'responsible for genocide' in Syria and Iraq, including Armenians as one of the groups under attack. As Armenians, we know the fear of being targeted and killed, as we were by the Ottoman Turks during the Armenian Genocide in 1915, Azerbaijan starting in the late 1980s, and again by ISIS today. As we face these depraved acts of terror, the imperative of rising above and achieving victory over the perpetrators and their enablers is clear. While our heads are bowed in respect for the painful human loss, we will always stand in solidarity with Orlando." New ISIS kill list said to target police, government employees and ordinary Americans (NationalSecurity.news) A new kill list allegedly being distributed by the Islamic State is calling on ISIS loyalists in the U.S. to target Americans, including police in Minnesota, State Department workers and ordinary citizens, Vocativ reported Wednesday. A pro-ISIS hacking group that calls itself the United Cyber Caliphate distributed the kill list earlier this week, claiming to include lists of names, home addresses and email addresses belong to some 8,318 people, which makes it one of the longest targeting lists such ISIS-linked groups have distributed. In a post uncovered by Vocativ on the messaging app Telegram that was written in English and Arabic, the caliphate called on supporters to follow those listed and kill them strongly to take revenge for Muslims. The Web site reported further: Most of the names and the accompanying addresses listed appear to belong to people in the United States, Australia, and Canada. Out of 7,848 people identified as being in the U.S. alone, 1,445 were listed as having addresses in California, 643 in Florida, 341 in Washington, 333 in Texas, 331 in Illinois, and 290 in New York. Another 312 names and addresses allegedly belong to people in Canada, while 69 allegedly belong to people in Australia. Another 39 are affiliated with the U.K. and the rest are listed with addresses in Belgium, Brazil, China, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, New Zealand, South Korea, Sweden and Trinidad and Tobago. It wasnt known if the list, which was posted to Telegram on Monday, boasts any new information or details that werent publicly available online. Also, it wasnt clear why specific names and addresses were selected, whether they are related, or if they were just chosen at random. In addition, the so-called cyber caliphate is dubious. A recent study by Flashpoint, an intelligence firm, showed that the United Cyber Caliphatea merger of pro-ISIS groupsis incompetent when it comes to hacking. Their highest-profile hack involved taking credit for others work, according to the study. Still, the latest list shows how ISIS-affiliated organizations claiming to be hacking coalitions are continuing to use a well-known tactic, even if it is potentially superficial: Post kill lists calling on ISIS supporters to target various groups of Americans or Americans in general. Counterterrorism officials cannot agree on whether such lists are efforts to instill fear or whether those listed are actually in danger, according to The Wall Street Journal. The United Cyber Caliphate also published satellite images on its Telegram channel showing U.S air bases around the world on Monday. The same images can be found on Google Earth, Vocativ reported. Nevertheless, experts say simply ignoring such lists is not an option. Theyre putting out the lists that they are finding online and theyre sending it to their followers and they are saying these are good people for you to attack, Thomas Galati, chief of intelligence for the New York Police Department, told WSJ. You cant discount it. More: NationalSecurity.news is part of the USA Features Media network. Check out ALL our daily headlines here. Submit a correction >> This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Xerox via BusinessWire. Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Show More Show Less 3 of 3 Xerox hired a former Infosys executive to be CEO of the new business process outsourcing company it is creating as it splits into two publicly traded corporations. Ashok Vemuri most recently was CEO of New Jersey-based iGate Corp. prior to its sale to Capgemini. Before that, Vemuri was the lead Americas executive for Infosys. NEW MILFORD Bats that have lived in an old tunnel on the Boardman Road Quarry for decades will get a new home in the coming weeks as O&G Industries constructs a new cave in preparation for blasting thats expected to affect the bats current home. The man-made cave will be less than a mile from the current cave near the quarrys entrance, which is closed to the public. Bats will be able to hibernate there from late fall to early spring. Were being proactive, said Ken Faroni, director of planning and permits at Torrington-based O&G Industries. The idea was the sooner we build it, the higher the probability they would use it in the winter. O&G has been working with the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection for at least five years to create a new seasonal resting place to protect the bats as the quarrys work spreads throughout the site. They hired consultants to expand on a template design to ensure the cave would be appropriate for bats in this part of Connecticut. Theres no magic formula, theres no one size fits all, Faroni said. The habitat will include a 40-foot long tunnel thats six feet wide and seven feet tall. It will feed into an underground chamber thats 17 feet wide, 10 feet deep and 15 feet high. O&G worked with engineers that specialize in caves to ensure the humidity, temperature, air circulation and other factors are ideal for the bats. Were pretty optimistic that once its done, the bats will move to it, said Jenny Dickson, a DEEP wildlife biologist. Work is expected to start Monday and last two to four weeks. Dickson said bats are known to travel 100 miles to find suitable hibernation sites, so it wouldnt be unusual for them to move to a different location on the quarry. Theyre pretty curious by nature, she said. Theyll investigate things like this on their own. Its not uncommon for them to check something like this out in the fall. Dickson said this project is important to protect area bats, which are threatened by white nose syndrome, a disease caused by a fungus that has killed millions of bats in 25 states since 2007. Shes seen some populations decline as much as 90 percent because of the disease. The quarry is home to a very healthy population of big brown bats, said Jenny Dickson, a wildlife biologist with DEEP, who has seen about 200 bats at the site. When we see that many in one spot, we get really excited, Dickson said. She hopes the site can be used by both the bats already there, as well as bring back bats who were historically there, including little brown bats, northern long eared bats and tri-colored bats. She said some of the bat populations are so small because of the disease that its unlikely to see them in the new cave and could be some time before others join the big brown bats. My goal would be to have multiple types of bats use the site, Dickson said. That would be a huge success. Dickson said O&G has done a lot over the years to protect the quarrys bat population, including staying away from the tunnel and being proactive in creating a new hibernation habitat. Its a tremendous help for us and our conservation efforts for species that are declining as fast as our bats to have a partner like O & G step up, Dickson said. The quarry project is the second effort this spring to protect endangered bats in New Milford. The owner of the popular Torys Cave, the Weantinoge Heritage Land Trust, has decided to close the cave immediately instead of opening it to the public as usual for the summer in order to protect a bat population that was monitored over the winter by DEEP. kkoerting@newstimes.com; 203-731-3345; @kkoerting This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate NEWTOWN One day removed from the worst mass shooting in U.S. history, the sentiment on town streets is sadness that no one is shocked anymore about lone gunmen taking out their troubles on scores of innocent people. In a town still trying to gain ground on the grief and trauma of the 2012 Sandy Hook shootings, people expressed dismay Monday that the country seems unable to prevent more bloodshed. We let it happen, said Newtown businessman Ed Nebinger, as a late spring wind whipped an American flag flown at half-staff at the CVS pharmacy on Church Hill Road. I think the FBIs hands are tied, because they are not allowed to do a lot of the things they need to do. While politicians and law enforcement agencies debated how the murder on Saturday of 49 people in an Orlando nightclub could have been prevented, Newtown residents said the insidious thing is the danger the country is becoming desensitized to gun violence. We are becoming numb to it, and that is the saddest part about it, said Forrest Weatherby, 17, eating lunch with a friend on a deck in downtown Sandy Hook. This just keeps happening, so when you hear over the weekend that 50 people were killed, you just sort of move on because it is something you have grown used to, which is very, very sad. His friend, 18-year-old Reed Bryant, agrees. It still kind of brings back memories, Bryant said, referring to the 26 first-graders and educators who were slain by a troubled gunman at Sandy Hook Elementary School. I feel like nothing has changed. The issue is particularly sensitive for Newtowners, whose trauma can be triggered by out-of-town shootings. I was here when (the Sandy Hook shootings) happened I brought flowers over to the church a few doors away, said Anthony Bracey, 24, a Newtown man until a few weeks ago when he moved to Danbury. To be 100 percent honest with you, I dont really want to discuss this because it does bring it back, said Bracey, outside Caraluzzis Newtown Market. It does bring back a lot of the bad stuff. Braceys friend and co-worker said the terrible truth about the latest mass murder is people are no longer surprised it happened. I am not shocked at all by the human behavior, said Ryan Johnson, 31, of Danbury, who works with Bracey at a relocation service in Newtown. There are a lot of people out there who dont know how to cope with their inner turmoil. The shooting, which President Bbarack Obama declared a terrorist act, happened one day after the Connecticut premiere of a documentary about the aftermath of the Sandy Hook shootings. A half-dozen other Newtown residents, who expressed distress and sorrow about the latest shooting on Monday but did not want their names used in the newspaper, said the crime had opened old wounds, and set back feelings of progress toward recovery. Some said not knowing where the mass shootings will end leads to a sense of hopelessness. Johnson said while the gun-violence crisis is deeper than politicians can reach in the human heart, politicians could help contain the problem by regulating the AR-15-type assault rifle used in the Sandy Hook and the Orlando shootings. Someone profits off the sale and distribution of these products and at the end of the day, those people dont have the greater good of the American public in their heart, he said. rryser@newstimes.com; 203-731-3342 Donald Trump has had some rough spots in his campaign. He damaged his credibility early on as a candidate by making a string of confusing and ill-advised statements about punishing women who have an abortion and expressing scant concern about nuclear proliferation. His campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, had been dogged by charges that he assaulted a Breitbart reporter. Even worse was the shellacking Trump took in the Wisconsin primary, losing by a shocking double-digit margin. Reports had said that with the Make America Great Again campaign was in evident disarray, Trumps team of advisors were working on a reboot. As the presumptive Republican nominee, there a bright spot in this story. The reboot. After years of studying collaboration at the Wharton School of Business, we concluded that the best performing teams do it all the time. As situations change, they change. In other words, they reboot. We have no special insight into Trumps nomination, but as teamwork experts, we do feel the candidate deserves credit on this key point. Related: 5 Marketing Lessons Learned From Donald Trump Lets look a little more closely at what the man who wrote the book on deal-making can teach us about the art of teamwork -- and especially the reboot. Trump launched his campaign with the clear goal of broadcasting his message directly to voters. He all but ignored the traditional retail activities such as meet-and-greets at churches and state fairs, rubber chicken dinners, and gatherings with local politicians. Delivering taunts, insults, and over-the-top promises at debates and large rallies generated what many observers have claimed is over a billion dollars of free PR. His new convention manager, Paul Manafort, said the campaign model was predicated on a historic approach to communicating with the public. But then, as the gaffes mounted, this shoot-from-the-hip approach stopped delivering easy victories by late March. What to do? Thats right: time to reboot, and redirect energies. Which Trump did -- and fast. Because, even with an impending nomination, there are still obstacles ahead. Trump brought in Manafort, who has his own team of like-minded aides who will also join the campaign. Lewandowski has hired specialists who worked with Ron Paul and know how to win over delegates, one tough-talk conversation at a time. Related: Donald Trump Has Mastered These 5 Psychological Tactics to Get Ahead Desperation moves? Recent media coverage might lead you to that conclusion. We see a different perspective. The Trump campaign is like a team of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who raised money, launched a venture, recognized quickly that their business model was failing, and -- to use a popular high-tech term -- pivoted. Successful teams at Facebook, Slack, Pinterest and many other companies had to pivot several times before they became winners. This is not easy to do for a startup or campaign team and it often produces conflicts. Not surprisingly, Trumps meetings with his staff have been reported as highly contentious. So, how to have a successful reboot? When we advise executives about managing their teams, we emphasize a few guidelines illustrated vividly by Trumps latest public moves. Always work toward a goal but avoid becoming too attached to it, because situations change and you might have to adjust. Define and redefine roles on your team as your work evolves, and seek to put the right people in those roles. Have frank discussions -- which will often be contentious -- about what they need to do. Be clear about how you want the members of your core team and related teams to work together. As Gen. Stanley McChrystal puts it, leaders need a team of teams to run an organization. Above all, remember that it is really hard work to align and re-align a group of people collaborating on achieving a common purpose. Related: Donald Trump's Top Speaking Tips for Entrepreneurs Because managing a successful pivot is such hard work, most teams fail to deliver hoped-for results. Yet at the moment, we think Trump's campaign is increasing its chances of officially clinching the victory soon by rebooting. You might even consider doing it on your own team, if recent performance has been disappointing. Of course, in politics as in business, despite the promises of overconfident leaders, there are no simple solutions and no guarantees. But by following a few guidelines, you can give your team the best shot at achieving what Trump himself might call yuge" success. Related: Copyright 2016 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved At present 81 percent of society is ready to head to frontline This year confidence towards the Armenian army has increased by 2.7 percent. It is the result of the poll carried out by Gallup International Association. The association carried out the poll after the Four-day war in order to find out the impact of the war situation on the people. The same poll showed that at the moment 81 percent of the society is ready to leave for the frontline. The majority of the society, 86.4 percent, received information about the military operations on TV, 44 percent from Facebook, 43.8 percent from the surroundings, 19.7 percent from the Facebook page of the MoD spokesperson Artsrun Hovhannisyan and 15.1 percent from the news websites, noted Aram Navasardyan, Director of the Armenian representation of the Gallup International Association. The results of the poll showed that 86.4 percent of the society thinks that the repetition of April hostilities may be excluded by obtaining new military equipment. 38.1 percent answered that the repetition may be ruled out by elimination of corruption in the army, 29 percent- by increasing the military readiness of the servicemen, 20.5 percent- by increasing the number of contractual servicemen. It is useful information so that both the army and the ministries can find the shortcomings in their work and try to correct them, noted Mr Navasardyan. The MoD spokesperson Artsrun Hovhannisyan stated that the Ministry didnt participate in the conduction of the poll, I learnt about it only yesterday, he noted. Arman Navasardyan added that they carried out the poll at their initiative. The poll was carried out after April war, on May 13-24, in the RA territory, among 1106 citizens above 18. Should your company support a social good? Should it pursue a cause that benefits others beyond your immediate stakeholders? If it is a social good that I feel strongly about, then the answer is a resounding yes. Of course, I jest, and answering this question requires much more consideration. Related: Why Profits Over People Is Destined to Fail We should start by clarifying the difference between "social goods" and "corporate responsibilities," the latter of which are obligations that businesses have to their stakeholders. Companies should be held responsible for protecting their employees and the environment and otherwise conducting business in a manner that is not harmful. Performing and committing to these causes is not a social good -- it is the law. A social good, on the other hand, is traditionally defined as "an action or item that benefits society, such as education, potable water or even access to services such as healthcare. The term implies a positive impact on an individual or society as a whole." It is not the responsibility of entrepreneurs to provide these services, though they can certainly support them through their businesses. There are strong arguments why pursuing a social good is bad for businesses. Kevin OLeary, a well-known investor on ABCs Shark Tank, opined that "businesses are designed to provide returns to shareholders -- not to solve problems of communities." Further, some critics claim that the pursuit of social causes could be hurting the bottom line and creating an unsustainable businesses. Moreover, many startups with a strong social cause find it difficult to raise seed funding. Toms Shoes, the business founded by legendary entrepreneur, Blake Mycoskie, was built and gained notoriety for its business model of donating one pair of shoes for every pair sold. Toms grew to a valuation of $625 million in 2014, but since has had problems meeting investors' expectations and hinted at scaling back its one-for-one model. Related: How to Define and Implement a Social Mission for Your Business Also, Toms Shoes is not without critics, who speculate that donating shoes to underprivileged communities may be causing more harm than good by creating a culture of dependency -- the old adage "give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." Of course, Toms Shoes is just one example among many, and for certain there are thousands of businesses who have found success pursuing a social good. The reality is that entrepreneurs should not pursue a social cause if doing so harms the mission and goals of the company, and they should certainly avoid doing so simply because it is fashionable. Instead, entrepreneurs should pursue social causes if they are truly passionate and committed to them. Companies that have a social cause ingrained in its DNA stand a much better chance of finding success at the end of the philanthropic tunnel. Because the passion and vision must be set and embodied by the top management, including the founders, any hint at regret or changing course could ultimately derail the effort. Also, I believe the argument that social causes hurt the bottom line are misaligned. A social cause, be it a one-to-one business model or donating a portion of revenue, is no more or less an investment than that of a new piece of equipment, a new sales manager or a new office. In fact, one could argue that capital investments are much more prone to risk and failure, since these costs are fixed rather than variable. Entrepreneurs and stakeholders need to approach any commitment to a social cause as what it is -- an investment in the companys future. And like any capital investment, these investments have a life cycle and need to evolve and adapt to the companys changing business model and the changing market attitudes. Further, with government approval at an all time low and an upcoming election with two of the most disliked candidates in decades, we may simply be no longer able to rely on the actions of our elected officials to regulate social goods. Our entrepreneurs and businesses need to lead and police each other, and while the profit motive should and will always align with rules, we need leaders to prioritize social goods to the same degree. Related: Why Should Your Business Care About Social Responsibility? So the question for entrepreneurs is not whether they need a social cause to pursue -- but rather do they want one. Once committed, entrepreneurs need to be resilient to the criticisms and stay the course, just as one would do with a new piece of machinery. Only in the long term can you measure the return on investment (ROI) -- and I believe we will all conclude that any ROI on social goods will always be worth the investment. Related: When Should Entrepreneurs Pursue a Social Good? Why Profits Over People Is Destined to Fail How to Define and Implement a Social Mission for Your Business Copyright 2016 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved Air France pilot strike affects Paris-Yerevan flights Pilots of Air France airlines have declared strike since June 11, demanding to increased salaries and improve their working conditions. The official website of the airlines issued a statement, which runs as follows: Further to the call for strike action issued by several airline pilot unions, for the period from June 11 to 14, 2016, our flight schedule operated by Air France is disrupted. Please note that Air France flights operated by an aircraft of other airlines, including HOP, KLM and Delta, are not affected by this strike. For today, Tuesday June 14, we plan to operate around 85% of our long haul flights, around 80% of our domestic flights, and around 75% of our medium-haul flight to and from Paris - CDG. Our flight program for June 14 is up to date. Last minute disruptions are not excluded. Our operations is planned to resume on June15 and minor disruptions may occur, due to legal and operational constraints. Our flight program for June 15 is updated. Before going to the airport, we advise you, to check flight information updated in real-time on our website, in the Flight and airport info section. For more information on the flights here According to the Associated Press, 35 percent of Air France employees are on strike, according to it, every fifth flight of the airlines has been cancelled. The Armenian office of Air France states that they arent authorized to give a comment whether Yerevan-Paris flights have been postponed or not. Though, we learnt from the website of Zvartnots airport that yesterday, June 13, Paris-Yerevan flight was cancelled, and later it became known that Paris-Yerevan flight scheduled today in the evening has also been cancelled. CALGARY, June 13, 2016 /CNW/ - Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust ("BEI.UN" TSX) Boardwalk Rental Communities ("Boardwalk", "The Trust") is pleased to advise that all nine of its Communities in Fort McMurray are now open to welcome home its Fort McMurray Residents. No major damages were sustained to any of its Fort McMurray Communities All units have been professionally cleaned to remove any residual smoke and soot Boardwalk will be offering newly furnished suites in Fort McMurray Over the past two weeks, Boardwalk has professionally cleaned all of the common areas and units of its Fort McMurray Communities to remove any residual smoke and soot from the fires. To date, all nine buildings have been completed, and are ready to welcome home its Resident Members. Boardwalk has been in constant contact with its Resident Members providing updates on their homes. Sam Kolias, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Boardwalk REIT commented: "We are so proud of our entire team and all of their efforts to ensure the safety and comfort of our Resident Members. From the courtesy phone calls to each Resident Member, to the immediate cash reimbursement of May's Rent, or to the special rental packages offered to displaced Residents, and by going the extra mile to have all of our homes professionally cleaned, we believe that we continue to offer the best rental communities. Thank you again to all of the first responders, all levels of Government, and the Community for all that they have done to help with the return of Residents in Fort McMurray. Welcome home." Boardwalk will begin offering newly furnished suites in Fort McMurray. Rob Geremia, President of Boardwalk REIT provided the following details: "Through the conversations we have had from our rental inquiries as well as with displaced residents, we often heard requests for furnished units. We believe that a product offering which includes furnishings along with our quality communities and superior customer service may provide a unique housing product and are excited to offer a select number of units fully furnished." Boardwalk's Fort McMurray Portfolio: Boardwalk's Fort McMurray apartment portfolio represents a total of 352 units or approximately 1% of its over 33,000 apartment units across Canada. Working with both Provincial and Municipal agencies, Boardwalk's team has been on location in Fort McMurray since the last week of May to prepare its Communities for re-entry. Boardwalk is pleased to advise that no major damages were sustained to any of its nine Communities, and only localized smoke damage was present in a small portion of its units and common areas. To date, Boardwalk has remediated all of the common areas, and occupied apartment units. We are excited to welcome home all of our existing and new Resident Members. Since the evacuation, Boardwalk had offered a special rental package to any displaced resident of Fort McMurray which has included flexible lease terms, no security deposit, and discounts to rental terms. Boardwalk has opened its doors and welcomed home over 600 families who were evacuated from Fort McMurray. Over 500 families have joined our Edmonton Communities and another 100 families have been welcomed in Boardwalk's Red Deer and Calgary Communities. Boardwalk will continue to work with Municipal and Provincial Agencies to provide housing in this time of need as well as offer special rental packages to displaced Fort McMurray Residents. It is Boardwalk's understanding that any damage caused in excess of the Trust's deductible will be covered by our existing insurance policy. Similar to the Insurance Coverage used in other circumstances such as the 2013 Flooding in Calgary, this includes assessment, restoration, business interruption and income loss. Resident Members are encouraged to contact Boardwalk Customer Service if they have any questions or concerns: Boardwalk Customer Service Contact information: Toll Free Phone: 1-800-310-9255 Email: [email protected] Website/Live Chat: www.bwalk.com About Boardwalk REIT Boardwalk REIT strives to be Canada's friendliest landlord and currently owns and operates more than 200 communities with over 33,000 residential units totaling approximately 28 million net rentable square feet. Boardwalk's principal objectives are to provide its Residents with the best quality communities and superior customer service, while providing Unitholders with sustainable monthly cash distributions, and increase the value of its trust units through selective acquisitions, dispositions, development, and effective management of its residential multi-family communities. Boardwalk REIT is vertically integrated and is Canada's leading owner/operator of multi-family communities with 1,400 Associates bringing Residents home to properties located in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and Quebec. Boardwalk REIT's Trust units are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, trading under the symbol BEI.UN. Additional information about Boardwalk REIT can be found on the Trust's website at www.BoardwalkREIT.com. SOURCE Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust For further information: Media Relations: David McIlveen, Director of Community Development, 403-531-9255, [email protected]; Investor Relations: James Ha, Director of Finance and Investor Relations, 403-531-9255, [email protected] PETERBOROUGH, ON, June 14, 2016 /CNW/ - GE's Marine Solutions business in Peterborough, Ontario is completing one of the first milestones of the company's 7-year contract with Irving Shipbuilding Inc.,(ISI) to provide electrical power, propulsion systems, installation and commissioning services for six ice-capable Arctic Offshore Patrol Ships (AOPS) for the Royal Canadian Navy. GE's power and propulsion systems will position the new vessels amongst the highest performance in their class worldwide. Four diesel generators and engines have been shipped to ISI's Halifax Shipyard, and GE has begun acceptance testing on the first AOPS propulsion motor, expected to ship in early July. GE suppliers located in Ontario are contributing to the project providing steel, skids, metal and machining. The contract is part of the Government of Canada's National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS). To date, ISI has awarded over $526 million in contracts to companies in Ontario, generating over 3,500 direct and indirect jobs in the province. Across Canada, ISI has awarded over $1 billion in contracts as part of NSS. During the past 5 years, GE, with assistance from the Province of Ontario, has modernized the Peterborough facility in order to increase the company's opportunities to win new business contracts from a wide range of industries. This has included investments in innovation, and advanced manufacturing technology, along with site and building improvements. The ISI shipbuilding contract is one of the first significant business wins for GE resulting from these modernization efforts. Quotes: "GE's collaboration with Irving Shipbuilding Inc. (ISI) on this important large infrastructure project utilizing best-in-class technology, created an opportunity for developing a made-in-Canada solution and also delivered new business opportunities to our supply chain," said Allan, GE Canada's President and CEO. Elyse Allan, President and CEO, GE Canada "At Irving Shipbuilding, we believe that the innovative solutions Ontario companies, like GE, have to offer are vital to the growth and sustainment of Canada's shipbuilding industry. As Canada's chosen shipbuilder for Navy Combatants, we're proud to engage companies across the country in building our Navy's future fleet." Kevin McCoy, President, Irving Shipbuilding Inc "GE has had a long standing commitment to the City and County of Peterborough and its residents. I am pleased that our government has partnered with GE in the past to protect jobs, create new ones and modernize the Peterborough facility. The modernization of the Peterborough Plant has positioned GE to be successful when bidding on new contracts. There is great potential for growth at the Peterborough plant and today's announcement is proof that our investments are working." The Honourable Jeff Leal, MPP "GE Canada is a pillar of manufacturing, as well as an historic and significant employer in Peterborough-Kawartha. I am extremely proud that our community will benefit from Canada's National Shipbuilding Strategy for the next six years and that well paid, quality jobs are being generated and maintained as a result. We are also proud that Peterborough-Kawartha is playing a role in supporting the women and men of our Royal Canadian Navy." The Honourable Maryam Monsef, MP Peterborough-Kawartha "The Arctic is an exciting and challenging new frontier for commercial shipping. The Royal Canadian Navy operates under some of the world's most extreme weather and sea conditions making reliability a key factor. We are delighted that ISI has selected GE's technology to deliver ice capable vessels that will play a significant role in the development of new global opportunities in the Arctic." Tim Schweikert, President & CEO, GE's Marine Solutions About GE's Marine Solutions GE's Marine Solutions is dedicated to power and propulsion systems for customers in the workboat, merchant, offshore and naval industries. Smart engineering coupled with software analytics, we provide customers with data-driven efficiency. Connecting the physical and digital worlds, GE helps power, propel, position and predict the marine industry for operational excellence. www.gemarinesolutions.com About GE GE (NYSE: GE) is the world's Digital Industrial Company, transforming industry with software-defined machines and solutions that are connected, responsive and predictive. GE is organized around a global exchange of knowledge, the "GE Store," through which each business shares and accesses the same technology, markets, structure and intellect. Each invention further fuels innovation and application across our industrial sectors. With people, services, technology and scale, GE delivers better outcomes for customers by speaking the language of industry. www.ge.com About Irving Shipbuilding Inc. Irving Shipbuilding Inc. (ISI) is part of the J.D. Irving, Limited Group of companies which includes operations in Agriculture, Construction & Equipment, Consumer Products, Energy, Food, Forestry & Forestry Products, Retail & Distribution and Shipbuilding & Industrial Fabrication. ISI's primary site is Halifax Shipyard, with four other locations in the Maritime Provinces. ISI was selected in 2011 as Canada's Combatant Shipbuilder under the merit-based National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy and is in the early stages of a 30-year military shipbuilding program SOURCE General Electric Canada Inc. Image with caption: "Left to right: Hon Jeff Leal, MPP Peterborough, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rurual Affairs, Jerry Dias, President, Unifor, Hon Maryam Monsef, MP Peterborough-Kawartha, Minister of Democratic Institutions, Kevin McCoy, President, Irving Shipbuilding Inc., Elyse Allan, President and CEO, GE Canada, Jim Irving, Co-CEO, Irving Shipbuilding Inc. (CNW Group/General Electric Canada Inc.)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160614_C5070_PHOTO_EN_713351.jpg For further information: Rahim Ladha, Director Communications/Public Affairs, GE Canada, (647) 281-7073, [email protected], www.gereports.ca; Mary Keith, Vice President, Communications, J.D. Irving Limited, Work: (506) 632-5122, Cell: (506) 650-8209, [email protected], www.shipsforcanada.ca, Twitter: @IrvingShipbuild OTTAWA, June 13, 2016 /CNW/ - The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today announced immediate and targeted mental wellness support for Indigenous communities. The Prime Minister made the announcement after meeting with youth from Nishnawbe Aski Nation. Some Indigenous communities in Canada particularly those located in rural, remote and isolated areas are facing distressing mental health and suicide crises. These communities too often lack proper access to vital services and support, and the service offerings that do exist are not always culturally-appropriate or properly aligned with community needs. New funding of approximately $69 million will support immediate measures that will provide urgently needed help and support while the Government of Canada works with Indigenous Leaders in the context of the Health Accord to develop a long-term plan to address these important health issues. Quotes "I have spent much of the last few months meeting with and listening to members of Indigenous communities, and the loss of life to suicide and the feelings of despair being felt in their communities especially by their youth is tragic and completely unacceptable. We all need to work together to find effective, sustainable and culturally appropriate services and programs that address the very real challenges being confronted by these communities." - Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada "While we will continue to engage Indigenous partners in finding long-term solutions to these pressing issues, we know that urgent action is needed and it is needed now - to address the health and mental wellness crises being faced by Indigenous people." - Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada Quick Facts The Government of Canada currently provides close to $300 million annually for community-based mental health and addictions programming on-reserve and in the territories. currently provides close to annually for community-based mental health and addictions programming on-reserve and in the territories. This new funding to be provided over three years will support various measures, including: Four crisis response teams to provide surge capacity for rapid response services and crisis coordination in regions located in Ontario , Manitoba and Nunavut identified as having the greatest need; An increase of mental wellness teams from 11 to 43 for communities most at-risk in order to strengthen existing community supports; Training for existing community-based workers to ensure that care services are provided in a culturally appropriate and competent way; and The establishment of a 24-hour culturally safe crisis response line. New measures will also involve working in close collaboration with Inuit partners to develop a community-led suicide prevention approach. Additionally, funding has been provided for two permanent mental health workers to deliver care in Attawapiskat . This document is also available at http://pm.gc.ca SOURCE Prime Minister's Office For further information: PMO Media relations: 613-957-5555 TORONTO, June 13, 2016 /CNW/ - LCBO's focus on excellence in the customer experience, expense management and operational efficiency has contributed to another record year. LCBO's financial results for fiscal 2015-16 show net sales growth of 6.8 per cent, at $5.57 billion. The provincial agency transferred a dividend of $1.935 billion to the Ontario government (excluding HST), $130 million more than the year before. Net income for 2015-16 was $1.97 billion, an increase of 8.2 per cent. The Office of the Auditor General of Ontario has yet to review these figures. It was LCBO's 21st straight year of record sales and 22nd consecutive dividend increase to the Ontario government. The annual LCBO dividend pays for provincial government priorities such as health care, education, infrastructure and other important public services. Net sales of Ontario wine through LCBO wines category and Vintages in 2015-16 were $456 million, an increase of 8 per cent. Ontario craft distillers continue to see strong sales growth, up 63.7 per cent to $3.7 million. Sales of local craft beer were $69 million, up more than 35 per cent over the previous year. Locally produced craft cider had an increase of 54 per cent to $5.1 million. Key net sales figures by category (excluding Private Ordering): Spirits $2.13 billion, up 5.7 per cent Wine including VINTAGES $1.96 billion, up 5.4 per cent Beer and Cider $1.18 billion, up 11.7 per cent Gift Cards $88.5 million , up 10.6 per cent In fiscal 201516, the LCBO also expanded its wholesale channel, as it became the wholesale supplier of beer in grocery stores. This was part of the recommendations from the Premier's Advisory Council on Government Assets. In the 2015 Ontario Budget, the Province announced it would proceed with this recommendation. Sales of beer to grocery stores during a four-month period starting in December 2015, totaled $7.9 million. Later this year, LCBO will also be the wholesale supplier for both cider and wine in grocery stores. For the first time, net sales at LCBO's Queens Quay store in Toronto surpassed the $50 million mark. The final number came in at $51.5 million. LCBO's top-selling stores also include the flagship Summerhill store in Toronto ($47.2 million), and the Rideau St. and King Edward Ave. store in Ottawa ($30.4 million). LCBO ensures beverage alcohol is sold in a responsible manner throughout Ontario. The commitment and vigilance of our frontline staff in protecting the people of Ontario is reflected in the Challenge & Refusal statistics. In fiscal 2015-16, LCBO retail staff challenged more than 14.5 million people who appeared underage, intoxicated or were suspected of purchasing for an underage or intoxicated person. Nearly 346,000 individuals were refused service; 85 per cent for reasons of age. LCBO's Integrity Shop Program, which is conducted by a third-party, verifies our retail employees' compliance with our Check 25 policy, which requires staff to check ID for anyone who appears to be under the age of 25. Last year's overall score was 90 per cent. Similarly, LCBO retail stores are mystery shopped for customer engagement and last year's average score was 87.5 per cent. LCBO is committed to making a positive difference to the people and communities we serve. Customer donations at LCBO checkouts and employee fundraising efforts raised $10.9 million for worthy causes in 2015, an increase of 14.7 per cent over the previous year. Charitable organizations that benefit include the United Way, MADD Canada and Ontario's four children's hospitals, along with numerous other provincial and local charities. QUOTE "This year's strong results allowed the LCBO to deliver another record dividend to the Ontario government in the amount of $1.935 billion. Fiscal 2015-16's record numbers are the result of a continued focus on helpful and knowledgeable customer experiences, expense management and positive market conditions, " said LCBO President & CEO George Soleas. "In the year ahead, LCBO will face a more competitive landscape, but by continuing to invest in training our frontline staff as product knowledge experts, innovations like e-commerce, and upgrading and expanding our store network, LCBO is well-positioned to deliver an excellent shopping experience and financial dividends for the people of Ontario." ADDITONAL RESOURCES For year in review video content click here For additional infographics click here SOURCE LCBO Image with caption: "LCBOs focus on excellence in the customer experience, expense management and operational efficiency has contributed to another record year of $5.57 billion in net sales in 2015-16. (CNW Group/LCBO)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160613_C8377_PHOTO_EN_712032.jpg For further information: Christine Bujold, LCBO Media Relations Coordinator, Tel. 416.864.6772; Cell: 416.587.3729; E-mail: [email protected]; Genevieve Tomney, LCBO Media Relations Coordinator, Tel. 416.864.6875; Cell: 647.339.5428; E-mail: [email protected] The new members in Poland, Hungary and Romania will support growing PRG Alliance demand for technical production services in the region. NEW YORK, June 14, 2016 /CNW/ -- The market is changing and major producers are bringing more projects to Eastern Europe. The region is hosting major international events in segments such as sports, music festivals and corporate events. In order to keep up with this demand, PRG Alliance welcomes two new members to its international network: ARAM Multimedia in Poland; and Visual Europe, covering Hungary and Romania. ARAM is one of the largest companies in Poland specializing in full production solutions with an emphasis on event design; creative video technology applications; and project management for large scale events, offering a wide range of services from concept to delivery. Visual Europe is a new group in Hungary created by the merger of the companies DCN Rental and AV Control. The company today is owned by Garangold Venture Capital Fund, a private equity fund that is now investing in new technology, and soon in the acquisition of another company in the country. They will open a new office in Romania to follow its vision to be the largest technical event production company in the region. The two companies explain the benefits in being members of PRG Alliance: "Now that we have invested in the creation of Visual Europe as one company, we need to have a strong partner in Europe to learn from them and to generate new business opportunities for both parties. We believe that our clients will be the ones to gain from the application of the technical knowledge we will get from the relationship with the other members," says Szabolcs Botond, CEO of Visual Europe Group. "ARAM has a similar strategy as PRG as we can support larger, more complex productions. We see a lot of synergy also with the other members of PRG Alliance and we believe this partnership will bring many benefits for both Polish and international markets," comments Rafal Mrzyglocki, Managing Director of ARAM Multimedia. "We are pleased to welcome these new partners in Eastern Europe," said Tom van Hemelryck, PRG Alliance Director. "Our clients and Alliance partners are seeing a growing demand for events across the region, and the addition of these new rental suppliers to the PRG Alliance ensures we can expand our high quality of service into even more countries." The partnership has already started with the companies collaborating with the PRG Alliance members for support in productions in their regions and abroad across this busy summer season. About Production Resource Group Alliance: PRG Alliance is the premier global network of companies partnering to provide access to the best in event production technology, service and expertise, providing global clients consistent production support worldwide. For more information about the PRG Alliance, please go to www.prgalliance.com. SOURCE Production Resource Group, LLC For further information: US Media Contact: Lisa Shao, +1 201 758 4338, [email protected]; UK Media Contact: Alison Barclay, +44 208 335 6004, [email protected]; Europe Media Contact: Morten Carlsson, +49 40 670 8860, [email protected], http://www.prg.com TORONTO, June 13, 2016 /CNW/ - Street Capital Group Inc. ("Street Capital" or the "Company") (TSX: SCB), today reminded shareholders that the Annual Meeting (the ''Meeting'') of the shareholders of Street Capital Group Inc. (the ''Corporation'') will be held at the TMX Broadcast Centre, The Exchange Tower, 130 King St. West, Toronto, Ontario, on June 15, 2016 commencing at 4:00 p.m. (Toronto time). W. E. Gettings, Chief Executive Officer of Street Capital will provide a business update presentation during the Meeting. For those unable to attend, a webcast complete with slides will be available at the link, below. Webcast & Presentation Details Link to webcast http://bit.ly/232ED08 Presentation slides may be accessed through the webcast link above, or by navigating to the Street Capital investor relations site, at: streetcapitalgroup.ca/investor-relations About Street Capital Group Inc. (www.streetcapitalgroup.ca) The Company (TSX: SCB) is a financial services company operating in residential mortgage lending through its wholly owned subsidiary Street Capital Financial Corporation (www.streetcapital.ca), one of the largest non-bank mortgage lenders in Canada. Founded in 1979 and a public company for more than a quarter century, the Company's goal is to create shareholder value by building a substantial, diversified financial services organization. Street Capital Financial Corporation sources its mortgages primarily through a network of independent, high quality mortgage brokers across Canada with whom it has built relationships. Street Capital Financial Corporation offers a broad lineup of high ratio and conventional mortgages, to prime borrowers, and sells the mortgages it underwrites to top-tier financial institutions. Business revenues are almost entirely from the gain on sale of mortgages. SOURCE Street Capital Group Inc. For further information: W.E. Gettings, Chief Executive Officer, Street Capital, [email protected]; Jonathan Ross, LodeRock Advisors Inc., Investor Relations, [email protected], Tel: (905) 334-0095 If it was up to the HHK, no provision of the Electoral Code would be changed (video) There is already consensus on the Electoral Code, says the NA Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) faction member Hovhannes Sahakyan. In that case for what has the European Union entered into negotiations with the opposition, the authorities and the civil society, The Armenian National Congress (HAK) raised the issue, it seems that the format will again be 4+4+4. Mr Sahakyan considers the information that the European Union puts pressure on the authorities to find a common language with the HHK to be just rumors. The HAK faction secretary Aram Manukyan says that if it was up to the Republican Party, it wouldnt change any provision of the Electoral Code, it is even possible, They could care less about anything and do not change anything. Though, even in case of consensus, says Mr Manukyan, they cannot say that the parliamentary elections of 2017 will be legitimate, Voting instead of another person, voting for many times, voting with 10 documents will become less. But it doesnt mean that the authorities will surrender and will allow fair elections. But it doesnt mean that after the consensus the opposition will be satisfied and wont touch upon the political issues of the Code, in particular, rating voting. By the way, Levon Zurabyan, Head of the Armenian National Congress (HAK) faction, informed A1+ that 4+4+4 format negotiations between the authorities, the opposition and the civil society may be resumed tomorrow. It is supposed that the negotiations will at least end with the statement on consensus between the political forces. One week after they were granted bail by the Federal High Court in Abuja, cousin to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Robert Azibola an... One week after they were granted bail by the Federal High Court in Abuja, cousin to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Robert Azibola and his wife, Stella, are yet to regain their freedom from Kuje Prison.The couple, who are answering to a seven-count criminal charge bordering on alleged $40million contract scam, have been unable to fulfill the bail conditions that were handed to them by the trial court. Justice Nnamdi Dimgba had in a ruling on June 8 granted the defendants who are facing trial alongside their firm, Oneplus Holding Limited, bail to the tune of N1billion.They were directed to deposit N500million each, as well as produce two sureties in the like sum. The court maintained that the sureties must be owners of landed properties in either Maitama or Asokoro Ditrsicts of Abuja and must produce evidence that they paid income tax for the past three years.It stressed that the registry of the court must verify and confirm that all the conditions were perfected, before the defendants could be released from Kuje prison. However, the defendants who secured bail through their lawyer Chief Chris Uche, SAN, had yet to fulfill the conditions which they said are very stringent. A family source who revealed on Tuesday, blamed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for orchestrating the harsh bail conditions to be met by Robert, his Wife and company, Oneplus. There was drama yesterday, as Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders returned to their bitter struggle for the partys control. The Oust... There was drama yesterday, as Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders returned to their bitter struggle for the partys control. The Ousted National Chairman Ali Modu Sheriff took over the secretariat in Abuja, proclaiming himself the authentic leader and dismissing the Ahmed Makarfi-led Caretaker Committee as an illegal body.But the Makarfi camp wrote to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), demanding to be recognised as the authentic leadership of the party.INEC was yet to take a decision on the PDP crisis last night.It was gathered that the electoral commission was awaiting the decision of the court on all pending issues.Sheriff yesterday staged a dramatic return to the partys national secretariat.With Sheriff were erstwhile National Secretary Prof. Wale Oladipo, ousted National Auditor Adewole Adeyanju and a former presidential aide, Ahmed Gulak. There was a small crowd of supporters.An initial attempt by the party chiefs to enter the building as early as 9a.m. was blocked by policemen manning the gate apparently on the orders of the Ahmed Makarfi-led caretaker committee.Undeterred, Sheriff went to confer with Inspector General of Police Solomon Arase, at the Force Headquarters and got permission to be allowed into the building.On arrival at the secretariat, Sheriff said his tenure as chairman remained valid till December 2018. He dismissed the caretaker committee as an illegal body.Said he: After due consultations with serious-minded stakeholders of the party and my lawyers, against the background that I have remained committed to lawful procedures, I have come, fully armed with all the necessary court orders, to resume as national chairman, as directed by a court of competent jurisdiction.As we settle down to move the party forward, we wish to call on all party members within and outside the country to come around so that we can together reposition the PDP for future challenges.We have served the necessary court orders on the Independent National Electoral Commission, which is the impartial arbiter in matters like this; the police as custodians of the law and we will make same available to you gentlemen of the press, so that you can make informed analysis of the issues involved. We hereby seek your own cooperation as we continue the task of re-engineering the PDP.I wish to use this opportunity to thank all those who stood on the side of the truth and the law, and wish to place on record that never again shall the PDP return to wallow in lawlessness and impunity.Last week, key party organs, including the governors, Board of Trustees (BoT) and National Assembly caucus, handed over the partys affairs to the caretaker committee.But Sheriff said the caretaker committee was alien to the PDPs constitution and that if there was any need for setting up such a committee, he, as chairman, ought to have presided over the exercise.Against this backdrop, I hereby declare as null, void and of no consequence whatsoever, any action taken by any person or group of persons, except by my leadership which is recognised by law, he declared.He called on prospective aspirants for the upcoming governorship election in Edo State to obtain their nomination forms for N10 million as against the N16 million fixed by the caretaker committee.Any aspirant who obtains nomination form from the caretaker committee would have themselves to blame because the only National Working Committee recognised by law is the one presided over by me, Sheriff said, adding:I therefore call on everyone to shun all acts that will tend to portray the party as being lawless. We must learn to obey our laws first before we can hope to provide the desired leadership.The former Borno State Governor accused the party of promoting illegalities and impunity in disobedience to court orders. He described the caretaker committee as one of such cases of impunity.According to him, he stayed away from the party in deference to a court order restraining him from parading himself as chairman. The said order lapsed after 14 days, Sheriff said, adding:I have all the while kept away from the office in strict compliance with the ex parte order of the Port Harcourt Federal High Court, which lapsed on the 9th of June and not because I sanction the illegalities being committed by some few members of our party.Makarfis committee writes INEC to demand recognitionThe Ahmed Makarfi committee wrote INEC Chairman Prof. Mahmood Yakubu last week.The committee based its request on the outcome of the National Convention of the PDP in Port Harcourt and the decision of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the party.In the letter, the caretaker committee said it was put in place at the National Convention, which was supervised by INEC officials.It also asked INEC to deal with it henceforth on any issue relating to the party.A source, who spoke in confidence, said the Caretaker Committee based its letter on the mandate given to it by the National Convention in line with Section 33(5) of the PDP Constitution.The section says: The National Convention shall have and exercise authority to (a) formulate policies and programmes of the party; (b) elect or remove the national officers of the party; (c) elect the presidential candidate of the party; (d) demand and receive reports from the National Executive Committee and from any other committees or organs of the party and take appropriate action on such reports; (e) appoint such committees as it may deem necessary, desirable or expedient and assign to them such powers and functions as it may deem fit.The source added: If you read this section very well, the National Convention is empowered to raise the Caretaker Committee.In fact, Section 31(5)(g) mandates the Board of Trustees to offer advice on party matters to the National Executive Committee of the party.It was on these constitutional premises that the Caretaker Committee approached INEC for recognition. As a matter of fact, INEC supervised our National Convention.A highly-placed source in INEC confirmed the receipt of the letter.He said: We have received a letter from Makarfis committee seeking recognition.We have refrained from replying the letter because there are many cases in court on the crisis in the party with INEC joined in some matters.We are therefore yet to take a decision to avoid committing any act of subjudice. We are yet to issue a letter of recognition to the Caretaker Committee.I think we may go by the pronouncement of the court on this crisis.Asked when the INEC management will meet, the source added: At the appropriate time. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has seized a mansion worth N3.58bn ($18m at the official exchange rate of N199 to a dollar) ... The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has seized a mansion worth N3.58bn ($18m at the official exchange rate of N199 to a dollar) in the Asokoro area of Abuja allegedly belonging to the former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke.The acting Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ibrahim Magu, said this during an interview with Al-Jazeera, a Qatar-based news network.Magu, in the interview, monitored by NE on Monday, noted that the items in the house included jewellery, furniture and a bulletproof gym worth about $2m.He stated that the house was part of the $10bn in cash and assets that had been seized by the Federal Government in the last one year.We have been able to take on a lot of big shots that were hitherto untouchable in the three arms of the military, political class. We have recorded 164 convictions in just one year, he said.He denied claims that the fight against corruption was politically-motivated.No, not my EFCC; not the EFCC of today. We are not politicised. If there is an allegation against anybody, we will go after them, he said.The commission had revealed in April that it seized wristwatches worth 2m from the wife of the Chairman of Atlantic Energy Drilling Concepts Nigeria Limited, Mr. Jide Omokore, and Diezani.The anti-graft agency seized a wristwatch worth 1.4m from Omokores wife, while a wristwatch worth 600,000 was seized from Diezani.The wristwatches were said to have been seized during various raids on houses of some suspects on Banana Island, Ikoyi, Lagos, and other places.Meanwhile, in a statement on Monday, the spokesman for the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, said the commission had the right to seize properties believed to have been acquired with stolen funds.He said, In recent times, a lot of interest has been generated by the action of the commission in freezing the accounts of suspects that were investigated or are currently being investigated. Some commentators have tended to ascribe vindictive motives to this action.In order to prevent misinformation, it is imperative to explain the reason behind the commissions actions in this regard. Freezing of accounts suspected of being used for commission of financial crimes is a mandatory investigative step backed by law.Indeed, Section 34 (1) of the EFCC Act 2004 empowers the commission to freeze any account suspected of being used for financial crimes.The section stipulates that the chairman of the commission or any officer authorised by him may, if satisfied that the money in the account of a person is made through the commission of an offence under this Act or any enactment specified under Section 6(2) (a)-(f) of this Act, apply to the court exparte for power to issue or instruct a bank examiner or such other appropriate authority to freeze the account.He argued that the aim of these provisions was to ensure that the commission safeguarded suspected proceeds of crime pending the completion of its investigation.Court adjourns hearing in Kola Aluko, Omokores suitIn a related development, a Federal High Court in Lagos has adjourned till June 29, 2016, hearing on the seizure of assets belonging to Diezanis associates, Kola Aluko and Jide Omokore, and their company, Atlantic Energy.Aluko and Omokore have been accused of suspected business transactions that illegally transferred the countrys oil assets to them and their companies.The Federal Government had approached Justice Oluremi Oguntoyinbo, seeking a global freeze of $1.8bn in assets allegedly stolen by Aluko and Omokore.Their company was allegedly granted enormous contracts from the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company on the instructions of Diezani.According to reports, when Diezani granted Atlantic Energy contracts through the Strategic Alliance Agreements, the company did not legally exist.According to legal documents, Aluko and Omokore took more than $1.7bn from the Federal Government.While Aluko is a subject of an INTERPOL investigation, Omokore had been arrested several times by the EFCC.Some of the assets the government seeks to specifically freeze include three mansions in Los Angeles; two high-end apartments in New York City; properties in Santa Barbara, California; numerous properties in Lagos, including 43 apartments on Banana Island, 58 vehicles, the Galactica Star yacht and three aeroplanes.Meanwhile, former President Goodluck Jonathan has denied owning a 15m property in the United Kingdom.A former Editor of the UK SUN, Kelvin Mackenzie, had said in his weekly column on Saturday that Jonathan had bought a property in Surrey.He had said, I hear the aptly named Goodluck Jonathan, the former President of oil-rich Nigeria, has bought a 12,000 square foot house on the ultra-expensive and well protected St Georges Hill estate in Weybridge, Surrey.Im sure he gained his wealth legitimately but these houses are 10-15million a pop, so, perhaps the ex-President could explain where his money came from as he has been at the forefront of the fight against his countrys corruption. Surely, it cant all have been good luck.However, Jonathan, through his media aide, Mr. Ikechukwu Eze, denied the report and demanded a retraction from the newspaper.The statement read in part, Nothing could be further from the truth. Dr. Goodluck Jonathan takes pride in the fact that he does not have any property or accounts outside Nigeria. He stated this publicly while in office and his commitment to Nigerias economy remains total even after he left power.As the Nigerian President who signed the Freedom of Information bill into law, Dr. Jonathan is well aware that the United Kingdom is a nation with good record keeping at county and national levels and as such, it will not take a serious and responsible media long to verify ownership of property before rushing to the press with potentially libellous publications.It is hoped that this publication will correct its error and do a retraction and that other media will likewise follow up on this story to put the lie to the details it contains. Rogers Nicholas, a major-general and head of the Nigerian army civilian and military relations, wants politicians to leave the army alone... Rogers Nicholas, a major-general and head of the Nigerian army civilian and military relations, wants politicians to leave the army alone.Nicholas was addressing controversies surrounding the mass retirement of senior officers in the army who were found guilty of corruption and partisanship in the 2015 general election.On Sunday, TheCable published names of 41 affected officers and stands by its story although the army has disputed the figures.Speaking on the NTA breakfast show on Tuesday, Nicholas urged the public to allow the army focus on doing its job professionally.What has happened now should not drag the army into political debate. We advise the politicians to just leave us alone and let us do our job professionally, he said.We dont get involved in politics and they dont get involved in the military. The Nigerian army of today is highly apolitical and highly professional.On the conduct of the dismissed officers, he said: You are supposed to do your job and provide enabling security for these elections to take place but when you take sides, you are looking for trouble.An open hearing was made and people tendered evidence and memorandum against some of these officers. After the initial investigation, another thorough investigation was done to ascertain the credibility of the report of the inquiry.He added that due process was followed and that the exercise was imperative to clean out the system.It is an open secret that a lot of people went for an inquiry set up by Mr President in the NSAs office to investigate those that were involved in the arms scandal and some of the officers involved have been arraigned in the court by the EFCC.So people should not see it as anybody being witch hunted or being discriminated against. Its just that due process has to be followed and the Nigerian army has to remain highly apolitical to sustain the tenets of democracy.Asked how the army draws the line between partisanship and political neutrality, Nicholas said that for elections and every exercise conducted in this country, there is a documented code of conduct guiding the conduct of officers.Officers who were interested in politics were asked long ago to put in their papers and go and join politics, he said.Every officer involved in this exercise was given a fair hearing and that if any officer feels aggrieved about the situation, he can appeal to the Commander in Chief or take a legal option.He also refuted the claim that the exercise had something to do with ethnicity, saying that it is unfortunate that at the particular time of the general elections of 2015, some of the officers involved were from a particular segment of the country.It is issues of military deployment. When they were deployed to those appointments, people didnt see them as being from the north or west or from the south, he said.Simply that somebody has misbehaved in his conduct or professional attitude does not turn into the issue of people being sentimental. According to TMZ, the rappers lost consciousness when the seizure attacked him on the aircraft which was air bound at the time.When his plane landed, Wayne was reportedly black out and was transported to the hospital by ambulance.The popular rapper was on a flight to California from Milwaukee when the seizure attacked forcing an emergency landing in Omaha, Nebraska.This will be the third time Wayne, had suffered seizure, in 2013 he had a fatal attack and also during a flight, in 2012 he had an attack two days in a row in his private jet which also ended in an emergency landing. The Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Ogunwusi, has commended the management of Arik Air for flying the flag of Nigeria high and reiterated the need... The Ooni of Ife, Oba Enitan Ogunwusi, has commended the management of Arik Air for flying the flag of Nigeria high and reiterated the need for Nigerians to patronise what was theirs.This is contained in a statement signed by Arik Airs Communications Manager, Mr Ola NEW-OONI-OF-IFE-ARRIVES-ILEAdebanji, on Tuesday in Lagos.The statement said the airline received the royal endorsement when the first class monarch and his entourage flew Arik Air from Lagos to New York on a tour of America recently.It said the Ooni, who was accompanied by his wife, Olori Wuraola, was received by a team from Arik Air led by the Chief Pilot, Capt. Adetokunbo Adekunbi, at the departure lounge of Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.According to the statement, Ogunwusi said his decision to fly Arik Air to New York was a deliberate one aimed at reinforcing the need to patronise our own.The statement said the Ooni, while reiterating his foremost position in Yoruba land, expressed optimism that his flying Arik Air with other traditional rulers would bring good fortune to the airline.It said the Oonis entourage, numbering over 50, had no fewer than 10 other Yoruba traditional rulers from Oyo, Osun and Ekiti States.NAN reports that Arik Air is Nigeria and West Africas largest airline and operates mainly from two hubs at Murtala Mohammed Airport Lagos and Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja.The airline operates a fleet of 28 state-of-the-art regional, medium haul and long haul aircraft, including two Airbus A340-500..It operates a combined number of about 120 daily flights from its hubs in Lagos and Abuja and currently serves 19 destinations. Striking workers in Ekiti State have resorted to spiritual means to seek ways of ending the industrial action by declaring 3-day of fastin... Striking workers in Ekiti State have resorted to spiritual means to seek ways of ending the industrial action by declaring 3-day of fasting and prayer to seek the face of God.The labour centres in the state, through a statement on Monday, said they had declared a three-day fasting and prayer for striking workers in the state.The statement, signed by the secretaries of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Mr O. P. Olayemi; Trade Union Congress (TUC), Mr J. A. Adebayo and Joint Negotiating Council (JNC), Mr Oladele Ayodeji, said the spiritual exercise would begin on Tuesday (today) and end on Thursday.They said: In view of the current situation in Ekiti State as regards the ongoing strike embarked on by the entire workers in Ekiti State, all workers in Ekiti State are invited to a three-day fasting and prayer from Tuesday to Thursday, June 16. It is expected that this should be replicated at all the 16 local government areas in Ekiti State. The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Saad Abubakar III, has urged the Nigeria Customs Service to consider lifting the ban on importation of rice ... The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Saad Abubakar III, has urged the Nigeria Customs Service to consider lifting the ban on importation of rice through the land borders.The Sultan made the call when the Comptroller-General of the Service, Col. Hameed Ali (retd), visited him in his palace in Sokoto on Monday.He said that the order had brought hardship on the Nigerian masses as it had aggravated scarcity of the commodity in the country.The policy should be revisited with a view to make amends and ameliorate the suffering of Nigerians, he added.The sultan said that he had been receiving cries from the masses on their plight over hardship in the land, and appealed to the service to address the issue urgently.There is no food in the country hence the need for the borders to be reopened for rice importation, he said.He, however, commended the renewed efforts of the Federal Government to boost domestic production of rice.The monarch assured that the traditional institution would continue to sensitize the people to the need to support the policies of government at all levels.He condemned smuggling and charged the service to mobilize the people to offer information that could aid the arrest and prosecution of perpetrators.Nigerians must be duly informed about the negative effect smuggling has on the nations economy, he said.Earlier, Ali had said that he was in Sokoto to effectiveness of enforcement of the ban on rice importation through land borders.He said that the order was a measure by the Federal government to encourage and protect local production of the commodity.Ali solicited the support of the Sultanate council in ensuring the success of the fight against smuggling. Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump called Monday for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States u... Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump called Monday for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our countrys representatives can figure out what is going on.In the most dramatic reaction to date from a presidential contender to recent terrorist attacks, Trump argued that anyone belonging to the faith should be considered a potential threat. The ban would presumably apply to immigrants, tourists and business travelers. It would also include Muslim-American citizens outside of the country who are looking to return, Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks confirmed to The Hill in an email.Without looking at the various polling data, it is obvious to anybody the hatred is beyond comprehension, Trump said in the statement. Where this hatred comes from and why we will have to determine. Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in Jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life. If I win the election for President, we are going to Make America Great Again.The email cites a 2015 study by the Center for Security Policy, a group that advocates a more aggressive response to Islamic radicalism, that found 25% of Muslims living in the United States agreed violence against Americans was justified as part of the global jihad, and 51% polled agreed that Muslims in America should have the choice of being governed according to Shariah law. The survey, which was not published with a margin of error, was completed online under procedures that were undisclosed had a sample of 600 self-identified Muslims.The director of the Center for Security Policy, Frank Gaffney, recently stopped appearing on panels for the Conservative Political Action Conference, one of the largest annual gatherings of conservative activists, because he argued the group had been under the malign influence of leaders with involvement in the Muslim Brotherhood. One of the leaders Gaffney targeted was Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist, who has no personal involvement with the brotherhood.The White House promptly responded to Trumps call. We should be making it harder for ISIL to portray this as a war between the United States and Islam, not easier, said Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser to President Obama. Its totally contrary to our values as Americans. . . . Its also contrary to our security.Trump is not the first GOP candidate to suggest restricting Muslim immigration, though he is certainly the first to call for a complete shutdown. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, a frequent sparring partner of Trumps, called for restricted immigration, including a denial of visas and refugee status, from 34 mostly Muslim countries, including Mali, Turkey and Morocco. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz have suggested only allowing in Christian refugees from Syria.In response to Trumps press release, Democratic underdog candidate Martin OMalley tweeted a rapid condemnation of Trump. He is running for President as a fascist demagogue, the Tweet read.Video credit: WSJ Chief Ralph Uwazuruike led Biafra Independence Movement (BIM) has accused the All Progressive Congress (APC) led Federal Government for al... Chief Ralph Uwazuruike led Biafra Independence Movement (BIM) has accused the All Progressive Congress (APC) led Federal Government for alleged plots of transforming Nigeria into an Islamic State to the advantage of the Moslems in Nigeria.Uwazuruike who spoke through the Biafra Director of information, Mr. Chris Mocha revealed that the Organization of an Islamic State (OIC) is an organization that does not hide its ambition to Islamize any country not only its member states but the whole world, urged Igbo tribe and our Niger Delta brothers to resist any attempt to extend the jihad that is bound to come to their territory.According to him, For some time now, some Northern Muslim leaders who are also members of Arewa consultative forum (ACF) had approached Buhari and advised him to transform Nigeria into an Islamic State. I urge my people to resist any attempt to Islamize the country as they are always targets and worst hit of every crises in the North and south West.He however disclosed that already the former Nigerian Military President Gen. Ibrahim Badamosi Babargida (Retd) had in 1986 unilaterally took Nigeria to OIC, saying that the testing of sharia in Zamfara State and other Northern States, it appeared tested the waters for the Islamic State in Nigeria.The BIM leader also raised the alarm over steady influx of armed fulani herdsmen into Enugu, Imo, Delta and Anambra States and alleged and regretted that Igbo tribe is likely to be the worst hit of attempt to Islamize Nigeria just as Igbos were the major victims of the sharia crises in the North.Some local communities have already received the warning letters of possible attack by the Armed Fulani herdsmen including Okpanam, Iselle-uku, Irete, Mberi, Okigwe. Others are Achalla, Atani, Igbariam, Umumbo, Omasi and Nimbo in Uzo-uwani Local Government of Enugu state he alleged.The group however condemned the murder of an Orodo, Imo state born late Mrs Bridget Agbahime killed in Kano by Muslim extremists and stated that the late Mr. Gideon Akaluka who was also beheaded in Kano in 1994 by some Muslim fundamentalists, formed part of reason for the renewed agitation for Biafra by its leader and founder of MASSOB, Chief Uwazuruike.BIM demanded for an open trial of the suspects arrested for the murder of Mrs. Agbahime but lamented that none of the culprits who committed similar heinous murder against Igbo Christians in the past were ever brought to book by either the State or the federal government pointing out that their statement only ended on the pages of Newspapers he lamented. Former Head of State, retired Gen. Abubakar Abdulsalami on Tuesday urged the Federal Government to dialogue with militant groups in the ... Former Head of State, retired Gen. Abubakar Abdulsalami on Tuesday urged the Federal Government to dialogue with militant groups in the Niger Delta.Abdulsalami gave the advice when he received members of the Niger State House of Assembly who visited him on his 74th birthday in Minna. All we need to do is to sit down on a round table and discuss these problems. Even if you fight a war and win, you must sit down with the people you conquered. The insecurity we are going through now is uncalled for.For the Boko Haram, nobody knows what they want. The Avengers are now out, what are they avenging?, he asked. Abdulsalami decried a situation where the people are going through hardship because of the activities of Boko Haram insurgents, Avengers and Biafra agitators. The former head of state said there was need for the avengers to understand that they were destroying their land by blowing up of oil pipes, leading to oil spillage. He said the action of the avengers had brought crude oil production to the lowest level in decades.Abdulsalami advised the avengers against vandalism, saying it would negatively affect the 13 per cent derivation accruing to the region due to sharp decline in oil revenue. I hope they will come back to their senses and let us try to give this country peace.We do not deserve what we are going through. We need peace and I am begging everybody in the spirit of Ramadan. Whatever religion anybody is following, please let us give peace a chance, he said Alhaji Ahmed Marafa, Speaker of the assembly, expressed gratitude to God for using the former head of state to restore democracy to Nigeria. Marafa described Abdulsalami as an illustrious son of the state whose counsel had guided the assembly in legislating for good governance in the interest of the people.He said they came to wish the former head of state well as he attained 74 years of age on Monday. The Chairman Senate Committee on Privatization, Senator Ben Murray-Bruce, has said Nigeria has no business signing rail deals with China,... The Chairman Senate Committee on Privatization, Senator Ben Murray-Bruce, has said Nigeria has no business signing rail deals with China, when the tracks can be produced in the Ajaokuta Iron and Steel Company.Murray-Bruce, who stated this on Tuesday in Ajaokuta, Kogi State, when he led the Senate and House of Representatives Joint Committee on Privatization to Ajaokuta Iron and Steel Company, said such deals with China makes no sense and shows lack of coordination.He said the present state of the steel company which was almost 90 percent complete but abandoned by previous governments does not speak well of the country.He said: For 22 years they should have had a plan through the minister of national planning. The minister of national planning should be the one integrating the policies of any government in power at the particular time.When you go through the detailed presentation and listen to arguments it is difficult to draw conclusions. When you dont listen to the reasons why you are here in the first place?That is why it was important for all of us to listen to the arguments and understand the reason why. But let me say this, I am really touched by the presentation and the kind of leadership you have here. What is really clear to me is that the management of Ajaokuta Steel plant has on board very patriotic Nigerians because you must never sell your soul for money.First of all, you are a Nigerian, secondly you want to develop this beautiful country and create job opportunities for your people, and more importantly you want to create an environment where those of us in office will look back and say while I was there I did something for my people, but obviously this is not the case.He said the committee will meet with the Minister of Solid Minerals and Steel, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, and hold a public hearing on the Ajaokuta Iron Steel Company on Thursday. Former Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Admiral Ola Saad Ibrahim (Rtd) has revealed why it was the Nigerian troop could not defeat the Boko Har... JERSEY CITY -- A 2-year-old child was found dead inside a Union Street home in Jersey City this afternoon, the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office confirmed. Ray Worrall, a media relations officer for the HCPO, confirmed the child has died but did not have any additional information to provide. Police said over the radio that the child was found unresponsive inside a crib at the home between Mallory and West Side avenues at around 12:15 p.m. The child's aunt and 4-year-old sister reportedly left the home at some point and were not immediately located by authorities, according to radio transmissions. Gene Rubino, the acting chief of investigations for the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office, said the county's Homicide Unit was going to the scene but he could not provide any further information. Four current and former Jersey City police officers have been indicted on numerous charges, including official misconduct and falsifying records. Hudson County Prosecutor's Office confirmed that a grand jury handed up indictments against retired Capt. Joseph Ascolese, Lt. Kelly Chesler, Police Officer Michael Maietti and Police Officer Michael O'Neil. News12 was first to report the news this afternoon. Ray Worrall, a media relations officer for the HCPO, said the officers were indicted on more than 100 counts of conspiracy, falsifying records, official misconduct and pattern of official misconduct. The News12 report noted that the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office had been investigating whether some Jersey City police officers were paid for no-show off-duty work in connection with the Pulaski Skyway project. The News12 report said the indictments also stemmed from excessive overtime and the violation of a city policy that prohibits or restricts the use of take-home vehicles. "We have taken an aggressive approach to root out corruption that has plagued Jersey City for decades as this is the second high-profile case we initiated ourselves through the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office," Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop said. "Today's 100-count indictment speaks to the extensive nature of the abuse by these individuals. We are thankful for the partnership with the HCPO and we will continue to change the culture by rooting out employees who take advantage of the public trust." Last July the city said it initiated an investigation at the Jersey City Incinerator Authority that resulted in a handful of arrests. JERSEY CITY -- Three Jersey City police officers have been suspended without pay after being charged in a 100-count indictment, officials said. Ray Worrall, media relations officer for the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office, confirmed that four current or former officers from the department have been indicted on charges of conspiracy, falsifying records, official misconduct, and pattern of official misconduct. Worrall said the officers charged are Joseph Ascolese, Kelly Chesler, Michael Maietti and Michael O'Neill. News12, which first reported the story, identified Ascolese as a retired captain, Chesler as a lieutenant, and Maietti and O'Neill as officers. At least one of the four has also been charged with theft by deception, Worrall added. Mayor Steve Fulop said in a statement that the city initiated the investigation with "an aggressive approach to root out corruption that has plagued Jersey City for decades." "Today's 100-count indictment speaks to the extensive nature of the abuse by these individuals," Fulop said. "We are thankful for the partnership with the HCPO and we will continue to change the culture by rooting out employees who take advantage of the public trust." In 2014, News12 reported Ascolese, Chesler and Maietti were paid "excessive overtime" while working for the Emergency Services Unit and now dissolved Jersey City Motorcycle Squad. Jersey City spokeswoman Jennifer Morrill said the officers have been suspended without pay effective today. According to a copy of the city's payroll dated February 2016: Chesler was hired with the department in 1999 and is paid $143,380. Maietti was added to the city's payroll in 1994. He is paid $112,330. O'Neill also joined the force in 1994. He is paid the same salary at Maietti. Chesler and Ascolese filed a civil suit in March 2015 against Jersey City, Public Safety Director Shea, Police Chief Phil Zacche and other police officials who they said ignored Chesler's claims that she was sexually harassed by a member of the motorcycle squad. Ascolese, who says his complaints about the alleged harassment were also ignored, oversaw the the squad with Chesler. Maietti filed a separate lawsuit against the city, the police department and a superior officer, alleging the sergeant falsified a crash investigation report to make it look like the officer used derogatory language. Further details are expected from the indictment tomorrow, News12 reported. The Jersey City Police Officers Benevolence Association has not yet responded to a request of comment on the indictments. Big Ups by Tiffany Yoon.jpg Brooklyn's post-punk noisemakers Big Ups will play Monty Hall on Friday, June 24, opening for So So Glos. (Photo by Tiffany Yoon) One of Brooklyn's most exciting young bands will make its Jersey City debut when Big Ups comes to WFMU's Monty Hall on Friday, June 24, opening for the godfathers of millennial DIY punk, the So So Glos. Big Ups exploded out of New York City's underground with a manic live show that focused on frontman Joe Galarraga, a shirtless, sweaty dynamo whose performances combined the aggression and catharsis of hardcore with subtler spoken-word rants. The band -- which includes Brendan Finn (drums,) Amar Lal (guitar,) and Carlos Salguero (bass) -- met as students at NYU about six years ago. But with Before A Million Universes, the group's critically acclaimed second full-length album released earlier this Spring, Big Ups seems poised to be the next local band to win over a national audience. Critics unanimously hailed Big Ups' second album as showing real growth, expanding the band's sound from fast and often goofy rock rants to, in Pitchfork's words, "a greater emphasis on quiet moments, on gradual buildups... Every phrase Galarraga screams, every phrase that he does not, every burst of noise within a track's connective fiber are carefully calculated tabs on their audience's emotional pulse." "Our modus operandi is that it's always been just the four of us doing whatever we want to do," said Galarraga, speaking shortly before embarking on the East Coast tour that will bring them to Jersey City for the first time. "It's not like we really sit down and talk about what we want our next record to sound like, it's just more that we all have ideas. It's really become much more collaborative in terms of our songwriting than when we started, when really it was just something I wanted to do to help pass the time." As college students in New York in 2010, Galarraga explained, it seemed like it would be fun to play in a band and become part of what at that time was starting to coalesce as an exciting music scene in Brooklyn. "But we never thought this would become as big a part of our lives as it has," he said. "The longer we did it, the more we approached the band with a certain level of seriousness, because it has become this thing that we all spend a lot of time on. When we started, musically, it was pretty much just three-chord punk rock, really short songs, and it was kind of funny. Now we're trying to explore where we can go musically and how we can explore longer song forms, and also it's a way for me to express myself lyrically in a much deeper way than I was doing before." Before A Million Universes still has its share of loud, fast moments, and Big Ups still inspires mosh pits at its shows, but increasingly the band uses the space between its hardcore clatter to explore emotions and thoughts with spoken-sung monologues. "We've grown up a lot in the past six years and I think the songs reflect that," Galarraga said. "Once you've been playing music with the same people for a while, you just naturally go from a place where everything's pretty simple to a place where it gets more abstract and involves a lot more thought." Galarraga, who grew up in Baltimore, said Big Ups' reputation as a live band stems from the music he was exposed to as a teenage. "When I was in high school, I saw a lot of bands who were up on stage performing, not just standing there," Galarraga noted. "There were a lot of dramatic frontpeople who were more performance-art oriented. Everything was about the show and about being in that space at that moment. "I think that had a big influence on the way that we play our shows. When I got to New York City and started going to shows, there were a lot of bands who were interested in just recreating a studio sound on stage and didn't really concern themselves with connecting to the audience. That's not us. If you come to a Big Ups show and just listen, you're not going to get it, you really need to interact with what we're doing," he said. Getting to tour with the So So Glos, one of the bands that Big Ups discovered when they first arrived in New York for school, feels like a sign that his band has arrived in a way, Galarraga said. "They've been around for so long, I think that they're extremely important for the Brooklyn scene," Galarraga said. "Not just as a band, but because they were involved with creating spaces like the Market Hotel and Shea Stadium, where new bands get to play all the time in a really supportive environment. "Shea was where we learned how to be a band. And beyond that, they're just a great band - the songwriting's fantastic, they're wonderful people, and more than that, they're just great ambassadors for New York City. There are a lot of 'Brooklyn' bands but these guys are really from Brooklyn. New York City means more to them than to a lot of other bands because it's their home and where they grew up. Big Ups is a hodge-podge of transplants, but the So So Glos are the real thing, and I think that shows in a lot of ways." IF YOU GO: The So So Glos, Big Ups, and Honduras will perform at Monty Hall (43 Montgomery St., Jersey City) on Friday, June 24. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. and admission is $10 advance, $12 day of show. WASHINGTON (AP) The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol has issued a subpoena to Donald Trump. The nine-member panel sent a letter to the former president's lawyers on Friday, demanding his testimony under oath by mid-November and outlining a series of corresponding documents. The decision by lawmakers to exercise their subpoena power comes a week after the committee made its final case against the former president, who they say is the "central cause" of the multi-part effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election. It remains unclear how Trump and his legal team will respond to the subpoena, if at all. Community Its now easier than ever to connect and chat with others in your local area. You can connect with your community by asking general questions, give area updates and recommendations and even let your community know about local events that are taking place. The contest is one of the activities to mark the 45th anniversary of Vietnam - Denmark diplomatic ties (November 25th). This contest, the first of its kind, drew 50 entries from students in Hanoi. Contestants collected pictures from different sources on Denmark and enclosed with them an essay in English explaining why the pictures inspired them. Pham Tam Dan seized the grand prize at the contest Pham Tam Dan, a 9th grader, from Nguyen Sieu secondary school seized the grand prize, which is a two-week full scholarship to Niels Brock business school in Copenhagen. The organizing board also presented second, third and consolidation prizes to winners. On this occasion, the Danish Embassy in Vietnam established a alumni-network for Vietnamese and Danish students, which will host culture, education and business events./. Tony Makuch has resigned his post as vice-president of Canadian operations at Lake Shore Gold , and will take on the position of CEO at Kirkland Lake Gold . Tony Makuch has resigned his post as vice-president of Canadian operations at Lake Shore Gold, and will take on the position of CEO at Kirkland Lake Gold. The news was relayed in a June 13 press release, which simultaneously announced the resignation of George Ogilvie from KL Golds top spot. "After careful consideration, the board of directors has determined that Tony is ideally positioned to lead Kirkland Lake Gold into the next stage of its development," said Eric Sprott, chairman of the board of directors. "Tony's track record of leadership in the gold mining industry and his demonstrated ability to grow and optimize production will be excellent assets for Kirkland Lake Gold." Makuch brings more than 25 years of management, operations and technical experience in the mining industry. Under his leadership, Lake Shore Gold increased production and reserves, lowered costs and increased margins, leading to substantial value creation. Most recently, he was president of Canadian Operations at Tahoe Resources Inc. Kirkland Lake Gold will hold its annual general meeting on June 13 in Toronto. President Tran Dai Quang meets Vietnamese investors in Laos (Source: VNA) He hailed efforts made by the Association of Vietnamese Investors in Laos and businesses themselves to overcome difficulties and ensure their projects are implemented as scheduled. He asked the association and relevant ministries to maintain coordination with the Lao side to better facilitate operations of the businesses, with the focus on energy, mineral exploration, exploitation and processing, agriculture, tourism, finance and banking. Businesses were requested to raise their social responsibility in order to contribute more to reducing poverty, protecting the environment and ensuring social welfare. Vietnam currently ranks third among countries and territories investing in Laos. As of early 2016, the country had 258 investment projects with a total registered capital of USD5.3 billion in the neighbouring country. When in Vientiane, the State leader also had a meeting with Secretary General of the Laos-Vietnam Friendship Association Saykhong Sayasin, during which he affirmed that Vietnam gives the priority to consolidating and strengthening the Vietnam-Laos relations. He requested the two countries friendship associations continue close coordination to better educate their people on the time-honoured friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Laos. The associations should also work together to organise activities to mark the 55th anniversary of the Vietnam-Laos diplomatic ties and 40 years since the Vietnam-Laos Friendship and Cooperation Treaty was signed in 2017, he suggested. President Tran Dai Quang paid a visit to former Lao Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong. He also visited the Kaysone Phomvihane Museum, and a memorial to late President Souphanouvong, and laid a wreath at the unknown martyrs monument in Vientiane. On the afternoon of June 13th, the President and his entourage left Vientiane for Champasak province./. President Tran Dai Quang is welcomed at Pakse airport (Photo: VNA) The tour of Champasak was part of the Presidents State visit to Laos the first visit to a foreign country since he took office in April. At the provincial administrations headquarters, the leader met with the Secretary of the Party Committee and Governor of Champasak, Bounthong Divixay, who described the visit as an important milestone in the two countries time-tested friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation. He said Champasak, the southernmost province of Laos with an area of 15,350 sq km, is a rice and fish production hub of the country. It has a population of about 694,000, including more than 3,500 Vietnamese people. It now boasts cooperative relations with 18 Vietnamese localities. Vietnam has invested USD326 million in 44 projects in Champasak, making up 51 percent of total foreign investment there. In its Vision 2030, the province wants to enhance multifaceted relations with Vietnamese localities and solicit more investment from Vietnamese businesses, the official noted. President Tran Dai Quang said during his talks and meetings with the Lao leaders, both sides lauded the sound collaboration between their localities, especially paired and border provinces. He appreciated the connections between Champasak and Vietnamese localities, particularly in education training, manpower development, and rice and commercial tree cultivation. Wishing the province greater successes, he also asked its administration to continue giving favourable conditions for Vietnamese companies and expatriates, while considering support for those whose businesses suffered from the fire at Dao Heuang Market on May 17th. On this occasion, the Vietnamese leader gave Champasak 100 computers to serve local educational activities, along with USD10,000 to assist Lao people who sustained damage after the Dao Heuang Market fire. In the evening of June 13th, the Champasak Governor hosted a banquet for the Vietnamese President and his entourage./. Photo for illustration. (Source: VNA) Mr Lee Hyuk, who recently took office as Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Vietnam, conveyed the Korean Governments decision for humanitarian aid during his conversation with State President Tran Dai Quang on June 9th, 2016, following the presentation of his credentials. The Embassy of the Republic of Korea is working closely with the National Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control of Vietnam and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, to timely and effectively distribute the humanitarian aid, especially to women and kids. The Republic of Korea is now the biggest foreign investor and the 3rd largest trade partner with Vietnam. By January 2016, total registered capital of over 4,600 Korean companies has reached USD45.1 billion. Last year, the two-way trade revenue between Vietnam and the Republic of Korea accounted for USD37.6 billion, and is expected to sharply increase in the upcoming time, thanks to the Vietnam - Korea Free Trade Agreement that took effect on December 20th, 2015. The two nations strongly expect to see annual trade revenue reaching USD70 billion by 2020. Reconfirming that Vietnam continues to be the most important development partner for Korea, Ambassador Lee said that the Government of the Republic of Korea is willing to share its experiences through development cooperation projects with Vietnam, to help the nation basically become a modernity-oriented industrial one by 2020. The ODA source from Korea stands at around USD300 million/year, covering fields of infrastructure, education, health care, and rural development./. Sharks back-rower Wade Graham says the past 24 hours have been a roller coaster but he is ready to fight his grade one careless high tackle charge on Wednesday night in a bid to make his Origin debut. Graham experienced the elation of an Origin call-up as a direct replacement for injured Blues left-edge back-rower Boyd Cordner after his team's Monday night win over the Cowboys before learning on Tuesday morning his Origin dream could be over before it begins with loading and carry-overs from a semi final loss against the Cowboys last year enough to push him over the points threshold to miss a game. That game, cruelly, would be Origin II at Suncorp next Wednesday. Speaking to media upon landing in Coffs Harbour on Tuesday morning, Graham said he would spend as much time in camp as possible before flying down to Sydney to plead his case in front of the judiciary panel. "Obviously it's been a bit of a roller coaster the last 12 hours. Firstly getting selected and now being charged," Graham said. "It's a bit hard to process at the moment but I've got 24 hours to get through it. I'll take a breath now that we're in camp." His initial feeling upon learning of the charge had been disappointment. "I'll have to go back down to Sydney now and fight it. I've been in contact already, I've been working with NSW Rugby League and obviously we're going to fight the charge. That'll be tomorrow night so I'll get back down to Sydney and see how we go. "I haven't really looked at [the tackle on Maroons and Cowboys playmaker Johnathan Thurston] too much. I'll look at it now, probably over the next 24 hours we'll sit down and have a look at it and get our case ready and get it sorted. "Over the next 24 hours we'll work out more information about what the process will be but I'll stay up here as long as I can and fly back to Sydney when I have to." Meanwhile South Sydney's Nathan Brown, Parramatta's Kaysa Pritchard and Melbourne's Cheyse Blair have all entered early guilty pleas to match review charges but won't miss any matches. Brown and Blair accepted grade one dangerous contact cahrges, while Pritchard pled guilty to a grade two careless high tackle. Wade Graham's State of Origin debut for New South Wales is in doubt after he was charged with a grade one careless high tackle by the NRL match review committee. Graham was charged over a 64th-minute high shot on Johnathan Thurston during Cronulla's Round 14 NRL Telstra Premiership win over the Cowboys on Monday night. The charge would normally not amount to a ban but with 50 per cent loading from a prior similar offence and 33 carry-over points to his name, Graham is pleading not guilty and will need to be successful at the NRL judiciary on Wednesday night in order to be avaialble for NSW. The base penalty for a grade one high tackle is 75 points. With Graham's prior similar offence in the last two years, the base penalty gets a 50 per cent loading, taking it up to 112.5 points. An early guilty plea gets a 25 per cent discount, taking the points down to 84. But Graham's 33 carry over points from a prior offence takes his points up to 117. A one-game ban is 100 points. Pho (noodle soup) is a traditional food favored by foreign tourists. The website has announced the list of nine countries with the best gastronomy for solo travelers, based on surveys and assessments of UK holiday makers. According to the website, Vietnams cuisine is really fascinating with many dishes mixed from various recipes and traditional flavors. Up to 4.7% of the participants voted for Vietnam. The exotic tastes of Thailand also proved to be popular with 18.2% of UK tourists looking to visit the country to taste its well-known dishes, such as pad Thai and tom yum soup. Thanks to its tasty tapas and flavor some paella, solo UK travelers have named Spain as the top destination, at 19.6%, said the website. Other popular countries for food-related travel included the UK (14.8%), the USA (13.5%), Italy (8.8%), Portugal (7.4%), Australia (6.7%) and India (6%)./. Steel import permit applications rose 16 percent in May to 2.9 million net tons, according to the U.S. Commerce Departments most recent Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis data. Import tonnage for finished steel rose 2 percent to about 2.08 million in May, the American Iron and Steel Institute reported. As compared to April, steel imports from Turkey rose 25 percent to 153,000 net tons last month, while imports from Japan soared by 46 percent to 128,000 net tons. In May, imports of oil country goods were up month-over-month by 89 percent, and tin plate shot up by 71 percent. The United States also saw substantial increases in imports of tin free steel, reinforcing bars, heavy structural shapes and wire rods. So far this year, steel imports have captured 23 percent of the market share in the United States, including 24 percent for finished steel products that wouldn't require any further processing here. An unprecedented surged of cheap imports captured a record 29 percent of the market share last year, leading to mill closures and more than 15,000 layoffs nationwide. But trade cases, tariffs and tougher new laws have throttled back on the rush of cheap imports, which often are subsidized and dumped, that is, sold for less than it would in its country of origin in violation of international trade laws. Total steel imports are down 31 percent through the end of May to 12.9 million net tons. Finished steel imports also have declined by 31 percent to 10.5 million net tons. The catchy sounds of Gershwin's hits will be in the spotlight when "Nice Work If You Can Get LAPORTE A Michigan City man received a 30-year prison sentence Monday for the beating death of his girlfriend's 2-year-old son. Tommy Shannon Jr., 25, was convicted in LaPorte Circuit Court of felony battery causing death. Defense attorney Larry Rogers of Valparaiso cited his client's troubled upbringing and argued for a sentence closer to the 20-year minimum. Judge Tom Alevizos, who had rejected two previous pleas that called for 20 and 25 years respectively, said he could not overlook Shannon's four previous battery convictions and the outcome of his most recent actions. "A child died at his hands," said Alevizos, who pointed out Shannon might get to spend the final year on community corrections or be released sooner if he makes good strides at rehabilitation. Nizier Brown died in 2013 from a punch to the stomach rupturing his spleen and had other internal injuries that resulted either from that blow or previous beatings, authorities said. The boy's mother, Regina Brown, 27, is still awaiting trial on two counts of felony child neglect counts for knowing the beatings were occurring but taking no action to stop them. VALPARAISO The Porter County Sheriff's Department on Tuesday released a photo of items recovered from a home in Portage believed to be stolen from other homes in Northwest Indiana. Four people have been arrested in connection with the string of burglaries. Jessica L. Spillers, 29, of Hobart; Erika E. Johnson, 30, of Portage; Aaron M. Marcadis, 31, of Portage; and Ronald W. Thomas, 53, of Lake Station, each were charged in connection with a total of 11 burglaries between Jan. 27 and May 10 in Crown Point, Hobart, unincorporated Lake County, Merrillville, Schererville and unincorporated Porter County. Charges have been filed in both Lake and Porter counties. On Tuesday, the Porter County Sheriff's Department issued a statement saying officers are still processing items recovered during a search of a home at 951 Camelot Manor in Portage. The Porter County search warrant was the result of an investigation of a burglary suspect by the Hobart Police Department, which led to a multi-jurisdiction investigation. While processing the evidence obtained from the search warrant, the Sheriffs Office, along with the assistance of the Hobart Police Department, the Merrillville Police Department, and the Laporte County Sheriffs Office, has identified recovered stolen property from several burglary victims in Porter, Lake, and LaPorte Counties. Porter County police on Tuesday said once all of the evidence is processed the department will release information on how victims can recover their property. Several of the defendants told police they were burglarizing homes to feed a heroin addiction, according to court records. The investigation is ongoing and more charges are possible, police said. CROWN POINT The trial of a Gary man accused of killing his 5-year-old son in 2010 was vacated as attorneys continue plea negotiations. Wearing a Lake County Jail uniform, Leon D. Burns, 34, appeared Tuesday in front of Lake Criminal Judge Clarence Murray. He previously was scheduled to stand trial June 27 on charges of murder, neglect of a dependent, battery and false informing. The state is seeking a term of life without parole against him. Leon Walker died April 28, 2010, after his vertebrae was separated by force from his skull, according to court records. He was scarred so severely that a pathologist told detectives he had never seen any person beaten as badly, according to the affidavit. Defense attorney Timothy Ormes filed a motion asking that the trial be vacated. He said the defense was investigating something that recently had come in the case. It appears the case could be settled with a plea agreement. Ormes said he also wanted time to negotiate one part of the plea agreement the state has offered his client. "I'm very confident we are going to have this resolved," Ormes said. Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Aleksandra Dimitrijevic said the state was ready to move forward with the trial. She said the state offered Burns a plea agreement that called for him to plead guilty to neglect of a dependent, a Class A felony. Under those terms, Burns could face 20 to 50 years in prison. Dimitrijevic said any changes to the plea agreement would have to be approved by Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter, because the case involved a child. Murray granted the defense's motion to vacate the trial. He said he was always willing to allow attorneys time to negotiate if it was going to be fruitful. He also noted the June 27 trial date could have been problematic because of the Independence Day holiday weekend, and he said an agreement would spare the county money it would have spent on a trial. Burns' then girlfriend, Rochell Johnson, was sentenced in 2013 to 25 years in prison after she pleaded guilty to neglect of a dependent for her role in the homicide. Burns' next court hearing is Aug. 2. Dont let the quirky name fool you. They call it the PoCo Muse, but while the Porter County Museum may indeed be small by big-city standards, its a vital, expanding center of activity. Executive director Kevin Pazour explains how the name came about. PoCo Muse was an inside joke and rallying cry. Were pocowere littlebut we try to do big things, and do them as well as the big museums, scaled to our size. Its easy to hear the enthusiasm as Pazour and museum communications coordinator Megan Telligman talk about celebrating the museums 100th year. Telligman explains that for Indianas centennial celebration in 1916, the state wanted township residents to bring items for a historic exhibit. When the centennial celebration ended, so many people didnt pick up their items that the Porter County Museum was formed, she says. We look to connect people to their history, to hear more of their stories so we can tell their stories. In last month alone, a few of the small but active museums offerings included: Local collector Mark Waywood explaining American patches from WWII and how their authenticity is determined. Executive director Kevin Pazour leading two walking tours of downtown Valparaiso featuring the histories and architectural styles of its buildings. A Family Treasures Preservation Workshop on how to preserve family photographs, documents, and more. Brand-New Digs The biggest buzz at PoCo Muse these days is a substantial renovation project at a whole new venue. The current museum, at 153 South Franklin Street, will have an additional location at 16 Indiana Avenue, with nearly 10,000 square feet for exhibits, programs, offices and artifact storage. Pazour, named Porter County Historian in April, cant help but share a little of the Indiana Avenue buildings colorful history. Combined in 1963, the site was initially two structures 16 and 18 Indiana Ave. 16 Indiana Ave. was built in 1878 by John Wilson, who also built the courthouse across the street. The buildings have housed City Hall, the central fire station, police department, boot and shoe store, billiard hall, tavern and Campbell House of Music, among other things. The timing of the renovation is exciting for us, Pazour says. In May the museum celebrated its 45th year at its present location. Now, for the first time in a century, well have a location designed to be a museum from the start created from the ground up, with 25,000 artifacts and counting. Its going to be great. The building will be Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant, have an elevator and climate-controlled storage space. This will allow us to be really good stewards of our collection, Telligman says. Pazour adds the hope long-term is for the current museum to be climate controlled as well. Completion for work at 16 Indiana Ave. is planned for the end of 2017. We want future generations to know that great things have happened here in Porter County, Pazour says. The museum is one of many things that improve the quality of life here. Many Helping Hands Preserving history and presenting it in engaging and appealing ways calls for a lot of hours of paid and unpaid effort. There are four full-time people on staff, including one AmeriCorps member, and scores of volunteers, about 100 of them throughout the year and a dozen every week. We couldnt do without them. Theyre really dedicated, helping with anything and everything, says Telligman. One of them is Valparaiso University graduate Tori Binelli, in her third year as volunteer. A history major, Binellis interest was piqued when a project brought her into the museum. She helps wherever she can answering the phone, greeting visitors and such but two more specialized areas are her favorites. When I can help Rachel Hulslander, the collections coordinator, I get to look at all kinds of artifacts. I learn a lot about ways of preserving things, like using a less harmful form of lamination, Binelli says. Her other favorite is working with the exhibits, getting to see what people think is important to save, and organizing information to make for interesting exhibits. Among the museums collections are war memorabilia, local Native American items, exhibits about long-ago cowboys, and bones from a mastodon skeleton found on a nearby farm. Now we have the staff and vision to really develop the new renovated space, says Telligman. We have better policies to be good stewards of our collection. We receive items every week; with the expansion well be able to show more of our artifacts. There will be new programs, too. The museum already offers Family Days at least quarterly, from school kids Spring Into Art project recently to Day of the Dead in November, in addition to other programs. Open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, the museum is free, sustained primarily through private donations, a membership program, and with support from the Porter County commissioners and Porter County Council in a public/private partnership with the Porter County Museum Foundation. Says Pazour, Im overjoyed to be someone who share all of this information as Porter County's historian. After me, I know someone will be able to pick up the torch. If we dont continue sharing local history in fun and engaging ways, when that history is lost, its lost for good. *This article has been changed from the original. BP Products North America Inc. has agreed to a settlement to resolve alleged water and air violations at its Whiting petroleum refinery, which require the company to pay penalties of $275,000 and further reduce pollution. The agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said the company has agreed to take steps to reduce an estimated 23,500 pounds of pollution annually from its Whiting Refinery to resolve the alleged violations of the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act. The Whiting facility is the nation's sixth largest petroleum refinery, producing up to 430,000 barrels a day. "Ensuring BP's compliance with the Clean Water Act is critical to protect Lake Michigan," acting EPA Regional Administrator Robert Kaplan said in a statement. "Identifying hazards and maintaining a safe facility will prevent accidental releases from occurring." BP spokesman Mike Abendhoff said "BP is pleased to resolve the U.S. EPA claim under the Clean Air Act related to the March 2014 discharge at the Whiting Refinery and we remain committed to safe, reliable and compliant operations." In March 2014, the U.S. Coast Guard and the EPA responded when BP discharged up to 39 barrels of oil into Lake Michigan. The Coast Guard previously assessed a $2,000 penalty against BP for the spill. Following the spill, the EPA launched an investigation of environmental compliance at BP Whiting Refinery. According to the agency, BP failed to implement its spill prevention, control and countermeasure plan, and failed to provide appropriate containment to prevent a discharge of oil. BP has agreed to update its plan and pay a $151,899 civil penalty to resolve those alleged violations. The agency also said it found that BP exceeded the limits of its wastewater discharge permit in April and November 2011. BP has agreed to install new monitoring equipment, implement an inspection and cleaning schedule for a wastewater treatment device and enhance stormwater controls and inspections to prevent unauthorized discharges. BP also has agreed to pay a $74,212 civil penalty to resolve these alleged violations. The company also agreed to implement enhanced procedures when installing equipment at the refinery and pay a $50,313 civil penalty to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Air Act's chemical accident prevention requirements. The proposed consent orders and final orders are subject to a 40-day public comment period. for more information. The Boys & Girls Clubs of Northwest Indiana has a new young professional board. The Great Futures Auxiliary Board was created to provide local professionals an opportunity to individually and collectively use their time, talent and energy to fundraise in support of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Northwest Indiana, said Megan Henning, development manager for Boys & Girls Clubs of NWI. Since January, the board has been hosting a Mission Mingle each month. The group will meet at 6 p.m. Thursday at Catch 22 Bar & Grill, 500 E. 80th Ave., in Merrillville. Mission Mingles are open to the public. We are looking to recruit young professionals who want to give back to their community in a positive way," Henning said. "The board is a fundraising board and a great way to meet new people and share ideas. The end goal is to produce an annual event that raises $50,000 for our clubs. We serve thousands of youth every year and strive to offer them the best programming and after-school experience. Being a part of the lives of children is a passion for Katie Kirley, the board's vice-chairwoman. Its a common interest we all share to positively impact the future, starting with the children, Kirley said. Last months committee meeting members discussed ideas for additional programming. Sometimes we discover people who want to reach out in a charitable manner, but dont know where to start," said Kirley. "The Boys & Girls Clubs of Northwest Indiana is a wonderful place to begin and get involved. Once people are in the clubs, they realize the impact. For more information, go to www.facebook.com/greatfutureleaders. MUNSTER Residents are angry and upset about the overpayment of School Town of Munster funds, and they packed the administration building Monday night to express their concern and called for some board members to resign. The Indiana State Board of Accounts released a special investigative report asking that former superintendents William Pfister and Richard Sopko repay the district $851,000 in money that was overpaid to them. Parent Julie Compton said those board members who were on the board during Pfister and Sopko's tenure should resign. "They had the responsibility to ask the right questions, and they didn't," she said. Parent Kevin Cappo said some of the board members have been on for 16-plus years, and they had one job fiscal responsibility and they failed. Munster High School senior Tim DeRolf questioned why there were no term limits for School Board members. "I'm going to contact state legislators about that," he said. "It's a poor reflection on the school system. Bu I think the positives outweigh the negatives. It's a good school corporation. "More than 330 seniors graduated, and 228 of them are attending college. Some of this year's graduates had the highest ACT scores in the school's history," he said. The Munster School Board released a prepared statement that said, in part, that the board "self-reported" the potential misappropriation of funds to Pfister and Sopko to the Indiana State Board of Accounts and the Lake County prosecutor's office. In response, state auditors conducted an independent investigation, and the board and administrators cooperated. Board members said the law prevented them from commenting on the investigation. Board President Melissa Higgason read the complete statement into the record. She made no other comments. Representatives from the Lake County prosecutor's office and the Indiana attorney general's office said they both received the report, and it is under review. Neither could say how long that review would take. Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy ORLANDO, Fla. The murky picture of Orlando gunman Omar Mateen grew more complex Tuesday with word that the FBI is investigating whether he had been a regular at the gay dance club he attacked and had been living a secret life as a gay man. As victims described the bloody horror of the massacre during a riveting hospital news conference, investigators continued to gather information on the 29-year-old American-born Muslim and took a close look at his wife, too for clues to the attack that left 49 victims dead. An official who was briefed on the progress of the case but insisted on anonymity to discuss a continuing investigation said authorities believe Mateen's wife knew about the plot ahead of time, but they are reluctant to charge her on that basis alone. A number of possible explanations and motives for the bloodbath have emerged, with Mateen professing allegiance to the Islamic State group in a 911 call during the attack, his ex-wife saying he was mentally ill, and his father suggesting he was driven by hatred of gays. On Tuesday, a U.S. official said the FBI is looking into a flurry of news reports quoting patrons of the Pulse as saying that Mateen frequented the nightspot and reached out to men on gay dating apps. The official was not authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity. Some psychologists raised the possibility that Mateen was sexually conflicted and that those feelings might have contributed to his lashing out against gays. Jim Van Horn, 71, told The Associated Press that he saw Mateen repeatedly at the bar and talked to him once. "He was a homosexual and he was trying to pick up men," Van Horn said. "He would walk up to them and then he would maybe put his arm around 'em or something and maybe try to get them to dance a little bit or something." The attack early Sunday ended with Mateen being shot to death by a SWAT team. Of the 53 people wounded, six were listed in critical condition Tuesday and five others were in guarded condition. At a news conference at Orlando Regional Medical Center, shooting survivor Patience Carter described praying to die as she lay on a nightclub bathroom floor covered in water and blood. She said Mateen talked about wanting the U.S. to "stop bombing my country," a possible reference to his father's native Afghanistan. "I really don't think I'm going to get out of there," Carter, 20, recalled. "I made peace with God. 'Just please take me. I don't want any more.' I was just begging God to take the soul out my body." In Washington, President Barack Obama said investigators had no information to suggest a foreign terrorist group directed the attack. He said it was increasingly clear the killer "took in extremist information and propaganda over the internet. He appears to have been an angry, disturbed, unstable young man who became radicalized." The president also blasted Donald Trump's anti-Muslim rhetoric as dangerous and contrary to American values, challenged Congress to reinstate the assault weapons ban, and lashed out at his Republican foes who have criticized him for not using the term "radical Islam." "If someone seriously thinks we don't know who we're fighting, if there's anyone out there who thinks we're confused about who our enemies are," Obama said, "that would come as a surprise to the thousands of terrorists we've taken off the battlefield." Gay dating app Jack'd said it has been unable to confirm so far that Mateen had a profile on the service. Grindr officials said they "will continue to cooperate with the authorities and do not comment on ongoing investigations." And Adam4Adam said the company is looking at conversations and profiles in the Orlando area for any activity by Mateen but hasn't found anything yet. Mateen's father, Seddique Mateen, denied his son was gay and said that if he had been in the nightclub before, he may have been "scouting the place." The elder Mateen, who lives Port St. Lucie, Florida, said that apart from the time his son got angry a few months ago over seeing two men kissing, he never saw any anti-gay behavior from him. Psychological studies have shown that some men with repressed same-sex desires may express anti-gay views, especially if they grew up in families that opposed homosexuality. "People who are struggling to come to terms with their sexual identity do at times react to that by doing the exact opposite, which could be to become more masculine or more vocal about their ideals of a traditional family," said Michael Newcomb, a Northwestern University psychologist. Mateen's ex-wife, Sitora Yusufiy, said earlier in the week that he was mentally ill, controlling and abusive. Amid the latest reports about his clubgoing, she told CNN: "Well, when we had gotten married, he confessed to me about his past that was recent at that time and that he very much enjoyed going to clubs and the nightlife and there was a lot of pictures of him." "I feel like it's a side of him or a part of him that he lived but probably didn't want everybody to know about," she said. The FBI has recovered Mateen's phone and will use location data to verify whether he previously visited the club, said a third official, who was not authorized to discuss the case and spoke on condition of anonymity. Investigators working to determine whether anyone had advance knowledge of the attack have spoken extensively with Mateen's wife, Noor Salman, and are working to establish whether she and Mateen were recently at or inside the club, the official said. The official said investigators have not ruled out charging others, including the wife. LOS ANGELES Police found a loaded assault rifle with magazines rigged to allow 60 shots to be fired in quick succession, along with 15 pounds of chemicals mixed and ready to explode in the car of an Indiana man who said he was headed to a gay pride event, authorities revealed Tuesday. James Wesley Howell, 20, of Charlestown, also had two other loaded rifles, ammunition, a stun gun, a buck knife and a security badge when he was arrested early Sunday in Santa Monica, they said. Howell made his initial court appearance Tuesday and pleaded not guilty to three felony weapons and ammunition charges. The judge set bail at $2 million. Alone, each item found in Howell's car might not indicate anything sinister, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Keith Schwartz said. But together, they "just don't pass the common sense test." "I cannot in good conscience think of any reasonable reason that somebody would be traveling across the country with all of these things," he said. Howell recently drove from Indiana to Los Angeles because of pending charges against him in his home state, according to statements he made to police. Authorities haven't disclosed any evidence that Howell intended violence at the LA Pride event in West Hollywood that attracts hundreds of thousands of people. Friends in Indiana described Howell as a gun enthusiast with a short temper. In October, he twice was accused of pulling a gun and making threats, once against his then-boyfriend and once against a neighbor. Howell was convicted in April of misdemeanor intimidation for the incident with his neighbor. Under the terms of his probation, Howell was not allowed to have weapons or leave Indiana. When he was picked up in Santa Monica, there was an assault rifle in his car's passenger seat and 15 pounds of "Shoc-Shot," two chemicals that explode when mixed and shot. The assault rifle was loaded with a 30-round magazine, which had another inverted 30-round magazine taped to it, according to police. Deputy District Attorney Sean Carney said gun enthusiasts don't mix Shoc-Shot until it's ready to be used, as federal regulations require, and the amount that Howell had "far exceeds any amount that would reasonably be used." Howell's attorney, Pamela Jones, told the judge there was no evidence Howell planned to detonate the chemicals. She said a black hood found in his car was "just a clothing item," and nothing indicated Howell planned to use it as a mask, as police contended was a possibility. James Wedick, a former longtime FBI agent, said the manipulation of the gun magazines would allow someone to reload 30 rounds in less than 2 seconds. "It doubles your killing capacity by 100 percent," he said. For a civilian to have a weapon rigged as such, "it suggests his purposes are deadly." The FBI took the lead in the investigation and its probe continues, spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said. Federal agents searched Howell's Jeffersonville, Indiana, home Monday but declined to release any details. Rebecca Lonergan, a former federal prosecutor who teaches national security law at the University of Southern California, said filing the state charges keeps Howell in custody while the FBI continues building its own possible case. "In the atmosphere we have where there is such great concern about active shooters, about terrorism, about hate crimes, both the state and federal investigators are going to want to thoroughly look at this guy," she said. On Tuesday, the sheriff's office in Clark County, Indiana, said Howell also is the subject of a sexual assault investigation. The alleged incident occurred May 31, about two weeks before Howell's arrest in California. ___ Davies reported from Indianapolis. Associated Press writers Christopher Weber and Christine Armario in Los Angeles, Claire Galofaro in Jeffersonville, Indiana, and Dylan Lovan in Charlestown, Indiana, contributed to this report. WASHINGTON Sophisticated hackers linked to Russian intelligence services broke into the Democratic National Committee's computer networks and gained access to confidential emails, chats and opposition research on presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, people familiar with the breach said Tuesday. The firm, CrowdStrike Inc., said the DNC asked it to investigate a suspected breach of its systems, which began as early as last summer. CrowdStrike said it quickly found traces of two of the best adversaries in the hacking arena, both tied to the Russian government. The newly revealed attacks join a host of high-profile digital breaches affecting current and past White House hopefuls, underscoring vulnerabilities in digital networks that increasingly hold sensitive data about political candidates, their opponents and their donors. DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz called the incident serious and said the committee moved quickly to "kick out the intruders and secure our network." The DNC said donor, financial and personal information did not appear to have been accessed by the hackers. But an individual knowledgeable of the breach said at least one year's worth of detailed chats, emails and opposition research on Trump were stolen. That kind of research, a staple of political campaigns, often contains detailed information sometimes factual and sometimes specious about a candidate's personal and professional history. The individual, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss the breach, said DNC officials first learned about the hack in late April when its technology staff discovered malware on its computers. CrowdStrike reported Tuesday that one group of hackers was able to execute computer code remotely on systems running Microsoft Windows. Another was capable of recording keystrokes. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said last month that U.S. officials have seen indications of foreign hackers spying on the presidential candidates. He said the U.S. intelligence community expects more cyber threats against the campaigns. Foreign hacking was rampant during the 2008 presidential election, and President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney were targets of Chinese cyberattacks in the 2012 campaign. In 2008, Obama and Republican nominee Sen. John McCain were also targeted. CrowdStrike said one of the hacking groups identified in the DNC attack, dubbed Cozy Bear, had previously infiltrated unclassified networks at the White House, the State Department and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Another group detected, called Fancy Bear, had targeted private and public sector networks around the world since the mid-2000s. The two groups involved in the DNC hacking had penetrated the system separately, CrowdStrike said. Dmitri Alperovitch, CrowdStrike's co-founder and chief technology officer, said the hackers specifically targeted the DNC's research department and obtained opposition documents prepared about Trump. He said the firm is confident the DNC's network has eliminated the threat. But, Alperovitch said, "the Russians' interest in the political campaign will not stop at this incident. We fully expect that they will try to get back in." A representative from the Russian Embassy in Washington did not immediately return phone calls and emails seeking comment Tuesday. The incident was first reported Tuesday by The Washington Post. "It should come as no surprise to anyone that political parties are high-profile targets for foreign intelligence gathering," said Democratic Rep. Jim Langevin of Rhode Island, who co-founded the House's cybersecurity panel. "Nonetheless, it is disconcerting that two independent operations were able to penetrate the DNC, one of which was able to stay embedded for nearly a year." Cybersecurity experts have previously told The Associated Press that neither Trump's nor Hillary Clinton's campaign networks are secure enough to stop attacks. Clinton's use of a private email server while secretary of state raised questions of how well her personal system was protected from intrusions; her campaign has said there's no evidence it was breached. A man was sentenced to life behind bars Monday for a deadly crime spree on Staten Island nearly two years ago. The District Attorney's office says 27-year-old Tyrell Brown was sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison without the possibility of parole. He was convicted of four counts of murder last month. Prosecutors say on July 6, 2014, Brown robbed and fatally shot 23-year-old Devon Powell. About 15 minutes later, he shot and killed 40-year-old Kuwan Collins in an attempted robbery. Brown later stole a car from another person at gunpoint. Officials say the next day, he drove the stolen car through a closed-off portion of the Verrazano Bridge and nearly hit a police officer. Brown crashed the car on a service road and ran off. He was arrested the next day. Brown was also convicted of robbery and handed a 25-year sentence for that charge. The NYPD is taking new measures to protect the gay and lesbian community following the deadly terror attack on gay bar in Orlando. Gay bars around the city are on heightened alert. "Yes, I'm always concerned, extremely concerned for my patrons," said Tommy Greco, owner of The Ritz Bar and Lounge on West 46th Street. Greco says he's taking the massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando very seriously. The Florida man who did the shooting proclaimed allegiance to the Islamic State terrorist group. "Basically doubling up on security. As you can see we don't have many entrance points. There's only one entrance point so we can get a good handle on exactly who is coming in to see if there is anything suspicious that we can kind of defuse the situation outside," said Greco. The NYPD also has been stepping up security, visiting LGBT establishments with this brochure about issues facing the community. "They contacted me yesterday about doing more patrols in the area, said Greco. Last night they had a few cars stationed outside. Got to chat with the guys, everybody is on the same page." Monday evening another cop car was sitting out front. Police say you can expect to see the same thing at other bars and clubs. "We will be committed to defending every aspect of this city. Every component of the vitality of this city and that includes the community that this month is celebrating so many gains they have made over this last number of years," said Police Commissioner Bill Bratton Bratton promised increased security at the Pride Parade later this month. But the police commissioner and local politicians also said restricting access to guns has to become a priority. Senator Charles Schumer exhorted lawmakers from across the country to step up to help prevent tragedies like this one. "Congress ought to stop bowing down to the extreme position of the NRA which even says that a terrorist on a no-fly list or a terrorists watch list should be able to buy a gun," said the Senator. Schumer says he hopes as early as this week, legislation will be introduced once again to try and ban the sale and purchase of assault weapons like the one used in Orlando. Five teenagers were hospitalized after being shot at a Brooklyn playground Monday afternoon. It happened at the Harry Maze playground on Avenue D near East 56th Street in East Flatbush just before 5 p.m. Investigators say another teen between the ages of 17 and 20 walked up to the group and opened fire, before running off. The victims, ranging in age from 15 to 17 were all taken to the hospital where they are expected to recover. One neighbor described the scene. "We heard the kids screaming, yelling and running and when I looked I realized somebody really got shot and they were laying on the ground and I picked the phone up to call 911 and in the process of calling when I realized the kid was laying on the ground I just dropped the phone and just ran to help," the neighbor said. "They were really scared a lot of them were crying." Police say they believe the incident stemmed from a dispute over an MCM backpack. The alleged shooter was last seen wearing a red shirt and jeans. No arrests have been made. Anyone with information on the case should contact the Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS, or text CRIMES and then enter TIP577, or visit www.nypdcrimestoppers.com. Two years after he said that the conditions at LaGuardia Airport reminded him of a third-world country, Vice President Joe Biden appeared with Governor Andrew Cuomo at a groundbreaking ceremony to kick off construction of a new airport. NY1's Grace Rauh filed the following report. A new and improved LaGuardia Airport was the reason Vice President Joe Biden swooped into New York on Tuesday afternoon. But with the country reeling from the deadliest mass shooting in American history, he spoke also about security and had kind words for Police Commissioner William Bratton. "I listened today to New York city's commissioner of police, who I think is one of the best in the nation, one of the best in the world," Biden said. The vice president's support comes as Donald Trump is criticizing the city's police department for doing away with a Muslim surveillance program that had been in place under Mayor Bloomberg and his police commissioner, Ray Kelly. Biden argued the police work being done in New York is the best in the country. "What you are doing in the state, the vigilance of the New York City police department, the way they coordinate and work with the FBI, it surpasses every other city in the country in terms of the cooperation and the intelligence sharing," Biden said. The vice president did not stick around to actually break ground on the project, but his criticism of the airport two years ago appears to have played a critical role in bringing the state here. He famously said it was reminiscent of a third world country. "He really did put his finger on it," said Governor Andrew Cuomo. The airport will remain open throughout the construction. When complete, officials say there will be an AirTrain moving passengers throughout the airport and transporting them to Manhattan. "And this is not just going to be a rebuilding of what was. It's not going to be a rebuilding of LaGuardia. It's going to be a whole new airport," Cuomo said. The $4 billion project is expected to finish in 2021. GET OUR APP Our Spectrum News app is the most convenient way to get the stories that matter to you. Download it here. There are just three days left to go in the legislative session in Albany and there are still no agreements on some of the most controversial remaining issues, including mayoral control of city schools and ethics reform. But as State House reporter Zack Fink explains, there does seem to be progress on some smaller issues. On Monday, groups representing restaurant and tavern owners gathered in Albany to urge passage of a bill that would end the last remnants of New York States blue laws. Restaurants and bars still cannot serve alcohol before noon on Sunday, even though stores can sell it. "It is time for New York State to upgrade this out of date prohibition-era law and allow patrons to order their drink of choice on Sunday mornings as they are allowed to do on every other day of the week," said Melissa Fleischut of the New York State Restaurant Association. Last week, Governor Cuomo outlined his top three priorities for the end of the legislative session which concludes Thursday. They include a bill to address opiate and heroin addiction, a better program for breast cancer and ethics reform. On Monday, the Governor added three new priorities to that list in a letter to legislators. They are combating the Supreme Court's Citizens United Decision, improving rail safety - an agreement on rail safety was then announced hours later - and updating the alcohol beverage control law which includes the Blue Laws. "We are flexible and there seems to be interest by our members to do something on it," said Joe Morelle, State Assembly Majority Leader. Not listed among the Governor's priorities is a bill to spread ride sharing apps like Uber to upstate, which appears to be dead for now. Assemblyman Anthony Brindisi of Utica took issue with the lack of progress on the ride-sharing app bill. "It seems like we are still far apart in terms of insurance coverage for the first period of the ride sharing app," Brindisi said. "The problem I have is that many cities across upstate New York, the ones that probably have the poorest cab service are the ones who are going to lose out because they will not have access to ride sharing." Also not mentioned by Cuomo is extending mayoral control of New York City schools which expires this month. Some believe that could be the key to deals on everything else. "Well, there are issues that are in the must do category, mayoral control being one of them which is a high profile issue that mostly everyone wants to get done. That can help drive the end of session process in terms of other big bills," said Blair Horner, Executive Director of the New York Public Interest Research Group. For a session in which leaders have seemed rather disengaged, insiders believe that may have been compounded by the Orlando shooting. This may mean even less is likely to get accomplished in the next three days. DAKAR, Senegal A military coup in the tiny southern African kingdom of Lesotho has chased out the prime minister and apparently put the army in control of the landlocked nation, witnesses and journalists in the capital said on Saturday. Residents woke to the sound of gunfire before dawn on Saturday, with soldiers storming the seat of government in the capital, Maseru, apparently looking for Prime Minister Thomas Thabane, said the publisher of The Lesotho Times, Basildon Peta, in an interview from Maseru. Speaking with Al Jazeera from South Africa, where he had sought refuge, Mr. Thabane said: They were all over the State House looking for me. What they were hoping to do, I dont know. The army is doing what it wants to do without any recourse to lawful authority, he said. All these things can only manifest one thing, a government that cannot be regarded as normal. When you put it all together, that leads to a coup detat. In 1993, Stephen Shore traveled to Luzzara, a rural district in Northern Italy, to photograph its residents. The resulting portfolio paints a picture of a traditional community slowly embracing modernity. In one image, a young woman holds a child whose disposable diaper is visible behind the edge of his bodysuit. In another, a woman smokes a cigarette astride an old bicycle, protected from the weather in a zippered plastic rain jacket. These portraits are juxtaposed with images of ornate wrought-iron work, immaculately tended fields and crumbling plaster walls. Forty years earlier, Luzzara had been the subject of a celebrated study by the American photographer Paul Strand, who evocatively captured postwar life there for the influential book Un Paese. In the early 1990s, the Reggio Emilia region launched a project called Linea di Confine (Boundary Lines) and commissioned leading photographers to document the area and its inhabitants. It was for this project that Shore came to Luzzara. It was simply a coincidence that it happened to be 40 years after Strand was there, Shore tells T. But they thought that since this was the case, they should invite an American photographer who used a large-format camera. So thats how I wound up there. Traveling to Luzzara, Shore who had had his first retrospective at MoMA in 1971 said he had no expectation. He adds: I had never been to the city before, never been to anywhere in Reggio Emilia. I wasnt interested in doing to Luzzara what I did in the U.S. 20 years previously I had moved on. He knew Strand and his work and owned a copy of Un Paese, but felt no need to pay direct homage to the older artist. Strands work tended to be limited by his political outlook: He was looking for an idealized agrarian village, explains Shore. While he photographed Luzzara in 1953, there wasnt anything in his pictures that couldnt have been made in 1913, 40 years earlier: There were no telephone lines, there were no cars. His view was, to my mind, highly idealized, and I wanted to reveal Luzzara as it was. The union, which provided the statements and arranged for the interview with Ms. Gay, says that changing the return policy is among its top priorities as it negotiates with Macys for a new contract by Wednesday. In an email, a Macys spokesman, Jim Sluzewski, called the companys return policy fair and equitable to employees. A spokeswoman for Nordstrom, Tara Darrow, said in an email that we provide our employees with a commission agreement when they are hired that explains how we calculate commissions, and they can always get a copy of the commission agreement. For decades, department stores have used commission as a way to motivate employees. Hone your sales skills, help customers and you, too, can share in the rewards. Returned merchandise has also long counted against an employees sales, which are used to calculate commission. Such policies help protect retailers from some legitimate concerns. For example, it prevents an employee from trying to game the system by selling a product to a friend, knowing the product will be returned after a commission is paid. Mark A. Cohen, director of retail studies at Columbia Business School, said companies commission policies can help stop employees from overselling products that consumers would be more likely to bring back anyway. It may create a distortion over a period of time, he said of the variable paychecks. But at the end of the day, the sales associate is being compensated for their net sales, and that is a typical practice. Still, the surge of returns has changed the dynamic. Online retailers, many of which have made generous return policies a prime selling point to shoppers and which do not pay employees based on commissions have led the push. Amazon, the worlds largest virtual merchant, and many other e-commerce sites offer flexible and sometimes free returns. Online-only retailers have conditioned consumers to be able to touch and feel products and then return them if they change their minds, hassle-free, Kevon Hills, vice president for research at StellaService, a customer research firm, said in an email. Donald J. Trump on Monday said his campaign would revoke the press credentials of The Washington Post, effectively prohibiting journalists from one of the nations largest newspapers from joining the traveling press corps of the presumptive Republican nominee. Barring journalists is an almost unheard-of practice for a modern presidential candidate. The Post is the latest major news organization that Mr. Trump has barred from his rallies and events this year, following Politico, BuzzFeed News, The Huffington Post and others. In a Facebook post on Monday, Mr. Trump accused The Post of incredibly inaccurate coverage and reporting and deemed it phony and dishonest, although he has granted frequent interviews to the papers editors and reporters in the past. It was not immediately clear if Mr. Trumps announcement meant he would end all his communications with Post journalists. Mr. Trump has a propensity to attack the news media, but he is also a keen cultivator of journalists, and he has been known to criticize reporters, then meet with them cordially shortly afterward. Id long wanted to report on school segregation in New York City, but I had decided early on I was not going to write about my daughters school. For one thing, it seemed like a good idea to have a wall between my personal and professional lives, and I thought it important to keep some distance from the subjects I cover. But as the months went on, I felt increasingly compelled to tell a story about the battle to integrate P.S. 307 precisely because I was both personally involved and deeply aware of the history of contemporary struggles against school segregation. So, I pitched the story to my editor, who loved the idea. And then I immediately regretted having done so. To do the story justice, I would have to be honest about the arguments I had with my husband about where to send our daughter to school, and about my own internal conflicts about it. I would have to open our lives not just to all the Times readers I will never know, but to all of our acquaintances, as well. Not only was I giving up my privacy, but I was giving up some of my childs privacy too. And, Id have to navigate carefully with parents, teachers and staff at my daughters school. Id have to decide when I was there as a parent and when I was there as a journalist. I did not want anything I wrote to change the way my daughter was treated at school. As a journalist, I am used to putting words out to the world and having the world respond both kindly and harshly. But its different when you put yourself and your personal choices about your child into the world and subject them to scrutiny and criticism. I dont care what the newspapers say about me as long as they spell my name right. Words to live by for many politicians, businessmen, authors and con artists, even if no one knows whether this bit of insight originally came from P.T. Barnum, Mae West, George M. Cohan or someone else. But which of the potentially many versions of a persons name does a newspaper like The Times choose to use when it refers to an individual in a story? The name of that brash kid from Queens first appeared in The Times on Jan. 28, 1973, in a story about his father, Fred C. Trump. He was simply, Donald Trump. His middle initial premiered in another story 10 months later. Both versions were in play for a couple of months, before The Times settled on: Donald J. Trump. Mr. Trump, whose business has largely become his name, long ago perfected a signature with a distinctive, dense string of vertical lines and a machine-like precision, if not legibility, seeming to spell out Donald J. Trump. (The J. stands for John.) In recent years, however, Memorial Day ceremonies outside the structure have underscored its fundamental purpose. All of a sudden, people in the community realized, Wow, this is a memorial, said Toba Potosky, president of the nonprofit Cadman Park Conservancy. The conservancy and the New York City Parks and Recreation Department hope to reopen the main hall of the Brooklyn War Memorial while there are still World War II veterans alive. It becomes more of a debt, as the years go by, to honor what theyve done, said Stephen A. Varone, president of Rand Engineering and Architecture, which is surveying the structures condition for the conservancy. The building now reached by steps must be made accessible to wheelchairs, a process that includes the construction of a ramp, the installation of an elevator and the alteration of bathrooms. Money is in hand to begin that work, said Martin Maher, chief of staff in the Brooklyn parks office: $3.5 million from the federal government as compensation for using part of Cadman Plaza as a construction staging area; $1 million allocated by Eric L. Adams, the Brooklyn borough president; and $500,000 allocated by State Assemblywoman Jo Anne Simon. Five million dollars gets us what we need to get people inside, Mr. Maher said. Over the years, the hall was used by the Heights Opera Company, the Marionette Theater Company and the Creative Artists Public Service Program, which held a competition in 1971 that gave the place the look of a gallery that has been in a collision with a rummage sale, as The New York Times described it. The Board of Regents, New York States highest education authority, voted on Monday to make it easier for some students with disabilities to graduate from high school. Under a new regulation, students with individualized education plans would need to pass two Regents exams English and math rather than five. They would still have to take three other exams, in social studies, science and one optional subject, but if they did not pass, their district superintendent could still grant them a diploma if they demonstrated proficiency in those subjects through coursework. The students would not receive the more-rigorous Regents diplomas, but would receive local diplomas, which are accepted by colleges, the military and employers. These students would have to achieve scores of 55 or higher on the English and math exams, or successfully appeal scores of 52 to 54. This is a chance to turn this school into one of the best schools in the country, Mr. Xu said. Shes a world-class educator. In an interview, Ms. Zhang noted that at 56 she was eligible to retire with a sizable pension that she could add to her salary at the academy, which she said was comparable to her current Stuyvesant salary of $157,000. She said she was excited by the challenge of revamping a private school with the authority to hire staff and shape matters in a way she could not within a large municipal bureaucracy influenced by powerful unions. The fact that the schools owner is Chinese and that many of the students are expected to be Chinese was also a factor, said Ms. Zhang, who was born in China. I always dreamed for years of doing something that combined the two cultures, she said. For the first time my cultural background and language will be part of my job. The wind off the coast of Hammonasset Beach State Park in Connecticut ratcheted up to more than 20 miles an hour by sundown on Sunday, but in the early evening, it felt still enough to a group of four people to head out into Long Island Sound by kayak and paddle board for a dusk ride on the water. But the four, including a little girl, were swiftly overwhelmed by buffeting winds and strong tide that hauled them across the wide sound. By morning, two were dead and the other two a woman and her 8-year-old daughter were rescued nearly 20 miles away from where they launched, the police said. The two were found by a resident who heard them screaming for help after they washed up on a beach on Long Island. According to the Southold Town Police Department, the four, all Connecticut residents, spent the night battling waves as the vessels were carried across Long Island Sound. 3. The F.B.I. investigation turned to the second wife of the Orlando gunman, Omar Mateen, to determine whether she had been aware of his plot. The wife, Noor Zahi Salman, is not in custody, but indicated she had accompanied him on one trip to the club and to buy ammunition, and tried to talk him out of waging an attack, a senior law enforcement official said. _____ (Want to get this briefing by email? Heres the sign-up.) Good morning. Heres what you need to know: The Orlando investigation. The F.B.I. is defending its handling of an inquiry three years ago into Omar Mateen, the gunman in the Orlando, Fla., attack, who had been placed on a watch list at the time. The agency has found no sign that Sundays massacre was directed by a terrorist cell. Many details of the police response to the rampage remain unclear, particularly during the hours Mr. Mateen retreated to the bathroom of the gay nightclub as he spoke intermittently to officers. There were red flags, but nothing prevented the gunman from legally buying the weapons he used. Our analysis finds that no other wealthy Western country comes close to the U.S. in gun homicides. Both sides also promised to keep driving the expansion of renewable energy sources. In Paris, India pledged to invest heavily in wind and solar power, and in just the first six months of this year has installed more solar capacity than it did all last year. The two sides also announced two new programs, to be jointly financed, to attract new private investment in renewables and to provide renewable energy to Indian villages that are not connected to the grid. No less important is the growing cooperation between the two countries on defense issues. The United States formally recognized India as a major defense partner, making it eligible to buy some of the most sophisticated American-made weapons and technology without first having to receive a license. The two countries have stepped up joint military exercises. If there was any doubt that a message to China was intended, Mr. Modi told Congress that India appreciated Americas role in Asia and endorsed its commitment to freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, which Beijing is claiming largely as its own. The two sides also announced plans to complete a deal under which India will buy six nuclear reactors from Westinghouse by June 2017, thus fulfilling a promise India made when it persuaded Mr. Bush in 2005 to lift an American ban on selling nuclear technology to India. The deal has dragged on for years. Other vital issues will need work, now and far into the future, including the India-Pakistan-China nuclear competition that threatens the region. It will be up to the next president to build on a relationship that is on stronger footing now than it has been for some time. Donald J. Trump wants you to be afraid. Very, very afraid. That much was abundantly clear in a speech he gave on Monday, reading with faux gravitas from a teleprompter about the shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando that killed 49 people early Sunday morning. This is a tried-and-true political strategy. Whenever theres a tragedy, everything goes up, my numbers go way up, Mr. Trump bragged last December, after the shootings in San Bernardino, Calif. And so Mr. Trump has continued to ratchet up the fear factor with each subsequent attack abroad or at home, always using it as proof of his own rightness. While its a tactic that helped him win the Republican nomination, that doesnt mean it will work going forward. Alan Abramowitz, a political scientist at Emory University, said that Mr. Trumps strongman rhetoric and fear-stoking portrayals of Muslims may have worked in the Republican primary, but arent likely to win that many voters over to his side in November. THE massacre in Florida is a horrifying reminder that terrorists dont need airplanes to kill scores of people: All they need are commonplace firearms. Gun-control groups are already issuing calls to do more to keep suspected terrorists from buying guns, while those against stricter gun laws say we shouldnt deny people their constitutional rights on the basis of mere suspicion. They are both correct. But there is a solution. Federal law bars felons, the mentally ill, drug addicts and people convicted of domestic violence misdemeanors from possessing firearms. Nothing, however, prevents a suspected terrorist from walking into a gun store and buying as many guns as he wants. According to a report by the F.B.I., more than 200 people on the terrorist watch list legally bought guns from federally licensed dealers in 2010. Islamic terrorists seem to be well aware of this loophole, and some have urged their followers in America to take advantage of our lax gun laws. In a 2011 video, a spokesman for Al Qaeda noted the easy availability of weapons in the United States and asked sympathizers, So what are you waiting for? Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the government has kept suspected terrorists from boarding airplanes by placing them on no-fly lists. Isnt it time we also had no-buy lists? In a speech on Monday, Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, seemed to support this idea, saying, If youre too dangerous to get on a plane, you are too dangerous to buy a gun in America. First, and unbearably, there are the dead. Forty-nine young men and women at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., doing what young men and women everywhere do on a Saturday night singing, dancing, enjoying one anothers company. Forty-nine more lives obliterated, 49 more families torn apart. A nation terrorized again and again, and again, and again by the uniquely deadly combination of twisted hatred and weapons of mass destruction as easily available as cough medicine. Now the politics. All mass shootings convulse the nation, but this one falls in the middle of one of the nastiest, most divisive presidential campaigns in memory. And if there is anyone who might try to turn one of the worst atrocities in modern American history to his own warped ends, who could draw all the wrong lessons from the horror of what happened in Orlando, it is Donald Trump. One can take the measure of a leader from his or her response to national trauma. So what did Mr. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, do first? He congratulated himself, on Twitter, for having predicted such an assault and called for President Obama to resign. On Monday, he said, cryptically, Look, were led by a man that either is not tough, not smart or hes got something else in mind. This summer on Long Islands East End, one exhibition features artwork thats a far cry from the stereotypical blue-chip Hamptons summer style, with utopian aspirations and often provisional aesthetics. Radical Seafaring, organized by the Parrish Art Museum curator Andrea Grover, brings together 25 artists and collectives who create, as she writes, land art, only afloat: installations and performances designed to be experienced off dry land. The show traces the history of the genre, from midcentury Conceptualists such as Bas Jan Ader (who was tragically lost at sea during a 1975 sailing performance), Chris Burden and the obscure Japanese collective The Play to contemporary makers like Mark Dion, Duke Riley and Swoon. And for two weeks this summer, the New York-based artist Mary Mattingly brings the exhibition truly offshore with WetLand, a houseboat sculpture docked beside yachts at the Long Wharf in Sag Harbor. Mattingly, 37, follows the tradition of environmental artists who devise alternative ways of living in the face of impending ecological disaster: she seeks to explore what you can do on the water that you cant do on land, she says, and considers the sea an extension of the commons. In a 2009 work, the Waterpod project, Mattingly and four others lived on a self-sustaining barge that navigated New Yorks waterways, kitted out with solar energy, edible plants, a water filtration system and chicken coop. Mattingly initially conceived WetLand a repurposed 1971 Rockwell Whitcraft houseboat for the Philadelphia nonprofit FringeArts in 2014. Collaborating with over 30 organizations, Mattingly gutted the 45-by-12-foot vessel, outfitting it with solar panels and varied species of wood stripped from a gym floor in Iowa. She describes the dramatically sloping boat as something between sinking and rising, a shack and a palace. It symbolically evokes the housing market crash, and is literally reminiscent of collapsing homes. At the Parrish, as in Philadelphia, WetLand functions as a semi-sustainable residency and a platform for Mattingly to demonstrate DIY solutions. The boat contains a rainwater purification system, a composting toilet, a bathtub, a library and edible perennial plants. The project, and Mattingly herself, attract a loyal following last Wednesday, a duck even spontaneously laid eggs on the vessel. And the utopian thinking that informs WetLand carries through to Mattinglys next venture, Swale, which launches at the end of this month: a floating food forest, host to perennial crops like figs and huckleberries, on a 130-by-110-foot barge that will sail around the city. Last year, I clocked 14,500 miles just driving upstate, says Kate Orne, who crisscrosses from the Catskills to the Berkshires, even down to Connecticut, to interview and photograph subjects for Upstate Diary, the art-oriented publication she launched in 2014. That figure on her odometer is more or less the distance from New York City to New Delhi and back again, and yet Orne betrays not the slightest hint of fatigue as she describes her project with an almost evangelical passion. When Orne, a former fashion and editorial photographer, first moved from Manhattan to the Hudson Valley in 2009, she sometimes found herself feeling isolated, and began seeking out conversation with other creatives in the area. From this informal, back-roads networking eventually emerged an online journal documenting the lives (and gorgeous cabins, farms and studios) of the painters, writers and designers who have made the region beyond New York City their home. The first print issue of Upstate Diary followed in August 2015; and the second, this past April. (Issue Three is slated for August.) Soon after the publications debut, Orne also began holding a parallel series of salons to get creatives to come out of the woods (both literally and figuratively), get to know one another and even collaborate. Which is why one recent evening found Orne who in person is a commanding presence with no shortage of opinions (Please dont call Upstate Diary a magazine, she insists. Its a publication, because I see it as something more timeless) at the Hillsdale, N.Y., home of the art dealer Paul Morris and his partner, Dr. Sam Grubman. Guests included the artists Duncan Hannah, Josephine Halvorson and Carlos Vega; the photographer Jeannette Montgomery Barron; the young filmmaker Blair Dorosh-Walther; and the gallerist Jack Shainman. As everyone gathered over cocktails and dinner to toast Morriss new role as an Upstate Diary contributor, talk swirled around living and working in the countryside, and its many joys (the quiet, the beautiful light) as well as challenges (the frigid temperatures). Shainman, who represents such talents as Carrie Mae Weems (a subject of Upstate Diarys inaugural issue) and the late Malick Sidibe, relayed his misadventures in purchasing and renovating the 30,000-square-foot, 1920s school building in Kinderhook, N.Y., that now serves as his sprawling exhibition space called the School. The first winter was so cold, he said, that he and his partner (Vega) burned through 30 gallons of oil per day, despite never heating the space above 60 degrees. And Morris who along with the dealers Matthew Marks, Colin de Land and Pat Hearn founded the Armory Show in 1994 described how being in the mountains in recent years has freed up his mind and inspired him to take up rustic pastimes such as knitting. (He makes throws and scarves with wool from sheep on an adjacent farm.) Since its inception, LinkedIn has been hailed as the professional network, considering itself a Facebook for business. LinkedIn, a Silicon Valley start-up, chugged along for years before going public in 2011. Wall Street bought the story that LinkedIn was a Facebook for professionals and its shares traded at 50 times earnings at their peak. But while the company, based in Mountain View, Calif., has grown tremendously, Mondays announcement that it will be acquired by Microsoft makes clear that LinkedIn was not destined to be as big as Facebook as an independent entity. Here is a look at LinkedIns biggest moments: 2003 In 2002, Reid Hoffman, formerly chief operating officer of PayPal, had formed a small team with colleagues to work on what would become LinkedIn. The site was introduced in 2003. ORLANDO, Fla. One of the survivors of Sundays attack at the nightclub Pulse, a man closeted from his family, called his Latin American parents abroad to tell them that a close friend who was actually his partner had died in the bar. Their response: You werent in that bar, were you? That attitude, a throwback to an earlier era, seemed the rare exception as relatives of those gunned down in the club, many of them Puerto Rican, mourned their deaths and celebrated their lives on the streets of Orlando. The moments of mourning seemed to show how far gay culture has progressed from a time when it was frequently hidden from loved ones. And so Eddie Justice, a 30-year-old gay accountant, texted his mother, Mina, Mommy, I love you, as bullets flew and the gunman, Omar Mateen, headed toward the Pulse bathroom where he was hiding, according to The Associated Press. Mr. Justice was confirmed dead on Monday. In the hours since the attack, there have been countless homages on social media posted by friends and relatives, who extolled the accomplishments of their loved ones and embraced their sexual identity. And there were the families of the anguished victims, who gathered around tables and in conference rooms to await word about whether their sons, daughters, cousins or uncles gay or straight had died. It is a seismic shift from the atmosphere four decades ago after the firebombing of the UpStairs lounge in New Orleans. Back in 1973, some relatives refused to claim the bodies of their gay sons, banishing them to potters fields and the New Orleans community joked that the ashes of the dead would be buried in fruit jars. Thirty-two people died. It is not necessary to reach that far back to feel the progress, which has galloped swiftly ahead in the past 10 years. Despite setbacks and plenty of lingering hate, a new generation of gay people and lesbians feels far less weighed down by stigma and fear in todays rapidly evolving embrace of gay rights. A mother texting with her son and saying he was afraid and he was going to die, said Juan Cantu, a theatrical director of Mexican descent who lives here and was once a Disney World performer. That is a milestone. In my generation, Im 42, I kept it hidden and I didnt have the kind of relationship with my family that I would have told them that I was at a gay bar. But, he said, we are not there yet. It was Latin night at Pulse on Saturday, which meant that a large number of Latinos gay and straight came out to dance salsa and listen to music; most of them were Puerto Rican (a half a million live in the Orlando area) with a sprinkling of Mexicans and Colombians in the mix. While the club advertises as a gay bar and has a large gay clientele, it has always attracted a diverse group. Scores of people were already lying dead or injured inside a crowded Orlando nightclub, and the police had spent hours trying to connect with the gunman and end the situation without further violence. But when Omar Mateen threatened to set off explosives, the police decided to act, and pushed their way through a wall to end the bloody standoff. That was a critical decision one of many made by the police early on Sunday during the mass shooting at Pulse, a gay nightclub, that left 50 people dead, including the gunman, the authorities said. A day after the shooting, many details of the police response remained in question, and the police account continued to contain crucial gaps perhaps most critically, what happened during the hours that Mr. Mateen was hiding in a nightclub bathroom as he spoke intermittently to the police by cellphone. But law enforcement experts said that based on the initial accounts, the Orlando police appeared to have acted appropriately, following well-established tactical protocols that may have prevented further carnage, despite a nearly three-hour gap between when the shooting started and when Mr. Mateen, 29, was killed by police officers. The officers acted very heroically and courageous and saved many, many lives during this operation, said John Mina, Orlandos police chief, at a news conference on Monday. Jeffrey L. Ashton, the Orange County state attorney, announced on Monday that his office would work with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate the use of force by the police once the criminal investigation, led by the F.B.I., was concluded. The authorities on Monday described a complicated series of events and a changing crime scene that forced them to shift their tactics. Protocols have changed since the Columbine High School massacre in 1999, but the evolving situation in the club led the police to use both the current tactics of moving forcefully against a gunman, and the former strategy of stalling and buying time to draw the gunman out. According to the authorities, the first police officers arrived on the scene not long after Mr. Mateen opened fire with an assault rifle and pistol. Shots were exchanged in two separate bursts, but then Mr. Mateen retreated to the bathroom, where he connected with the police by phone. The police waited for nearly three hours, they said, to try to convince Mr. Mateen to surrender. That approach continued until Mr. Mateen threatened to deploy explosives, including what the authorities described as a bomb vest, which prompted officers to discard the notion that they were facing a barricaded hostage situation. No explosives were found. If there is a window of opportunity for us to resolve the situation peacefully, well take advantage of it, said Ed Allen, training program manager at the National Tactical Officers Association. But when the suspect escalates the level of violence, we are forced to intervene. Rarely has American reaction to a human tragedy been as divided as the striking and complex array of opinions about the deaths of 49 people in Orlando. While gun violence often cleaves people into predictable, politically identifiable camps, and terrorist attacks tend to unite countries in grief and resolve, Orlando has so far defied easy categorizations and conclusions. Mr. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, for instance, seized on the attacks on Monday to renew his call for a ban on Muslim immigration, but he also lavished empathy on gay people many of whom oppose his bid and defended their desire to love who they want and express their identity. His Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, and many party leaders argued that fighting homegrown terrorists required tougher gun laws. Yet some liberals and intellectuals argued that gun control was not the only problem, noting that there were parts of Islam and the Quran hostile to homosexuality. The left is very worried about homophobia but its also very worried about Islamophobia, so there is going to be some real cognitive dissonance on the left as people talking about a Muslim killing many gay people, said Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist and professor at New York Universitys Stern School of Business. And many gay people, while agreeing that Orlando was a terrorist attack, said they were offended that some Republican officials have refused to acknowledge that the massacre could be considered a hate crime or even to use the word gay in talking about it. In remarks from the Capitol on Monday, Senator Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, condemned the Islamic State as a group that crucifies children and beheads women but notably omitted any mention of gays. In Britain on Sunday, an openly gay journalist stormed off the set of Sky News program, which was founded by Rupert Murdoch, after becoming frustrated that the shows host was portraying Orlando as an attack on the freedom of all people rather than discussing it as an attack on L.G.B.T. people. ORLANDO, Fla. As the sound of gunfire in the nightclub grew louder, a patron named Orlando and a female friend took cover in a cramped bathroom stall, contorting their bodies on top of the toilet so their feet could not be seen. The gunman burst into the bathroom, went straight to the stall next to them and shot the people inside. People were screaming, begging for their lives, Orlando, 52, said in a telephone interview, asking that his last name not be used out of fear of retaliation from terrorist sympathizers. The gunman, Omar Mateen, was silent, then left the bathroom. He went out and started shooting outside again, Orlando said. For three sickening hours on Sunday morning, a life-or-death game of deception played out in a bathroom where the assailant holed up with hostages after killing dozens of people inside the Pulse nightclub. Orlando and his friend desperately tried to avoid becoming two more victims. LONDON On Friday the worlds most popular modern art museum, the Tate Modern, opens a new 10-story wing designed by the Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron. Called the Switch House, the extension will show off contemporary work, including film, installation and live performance, and will add 60 percent more space to the already enormous former power station on the banks of the Thames. Few anticipated when the Tate Modern opened in 2000 that it would transform both the idea of a museum and the nature of museum-going. Its director, Nicholas Serota, hoped for two million annual visitors. More than five million have passed through its doors each year. They have flocked to its gigantic Turbine Hall to watch a glowing sunrise from hundreds of tungsten lights in Olafur Eliassons The Weather Project, sifted Ai Weiweis hand-painted sunflower seeds through their fingers and heard actors telling intimate stories in Tino Sehgals These Associations, among many highlights. What will be in the new space? And what should you see first? Here is a users guide to planning your first trip. The composer John Adams and his frequent collaborator, the librettist and director Peter Sellars, are getting the band back together with Girls of the Golden West, a new opera about the women of Californias Gold Rush. It will receive its world premiere at San Francisco Opera in 2017, the company announced on Tuesday. The two men have collaborated on operas that have become part of the American canon: Mr. Sellars directed the first productions of many of Mr. Adamss works, including Nixon in China, The Death of Klinghoffer and Doctor Atomic, which was also set to his libretto. Their new opera, which is drawn from historical sources, will weave together the stories of women living in a small mining community in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in 1850. Mr. Sellars said he was drawn to the period after he came across a trove of historical material while he was working on a production of Puccinis Gold Rush opera, La Fanciulla del West, which is usually translated in English as The Girl of the Golden West. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has identified possible suspects in its long-running investigation into the murder of a banker in Puerto Rico, but it is now asking the public for help in solving the 2011 killing. Five years ago this week, Maurice Spagnoletti, a top executive at Doral Financial, the holding company that owned a Puerto Rico bank, was gunned down on his way home from work in San Juan. The F.B.I. announced on Tuesday a $20,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest and began advertising the reward on billboards across Puerto Rico. An F.B.I. spokesman said that investigators had identified suspects, but that the agency was looking for more information to put the finishing touches on the investigation. A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that the merger of two large Illinois hospital systems could proceed despite the efforts by the Federal Trade Commission to block it. The decision represents a significant setback in the agencys continuing attempts to police the industry during a flurry of deal making among hospitals and physician groups. Without explaining his reasoning, the judge, Jorge L. Alfonso, denied the agencys request for a preliminary injunction to block the proposed merger of Advocate Health Care, the states largest health system, and NorthShore University HealthSystem. His decision will be made public after the parties have the opportunity to redact sensitive competitive information. The case was heard in the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. Last December, the F.T.C. sought to prevent the merger, arguing that the 16-hospital system would dominate the North Shore area of Chicago. Federal officials said the combination could result in people there paying higher prices for medical care and receiving lower-quality care. But the hospitals justified the merger by pointing to the major changes occurring in health care, including health systems being held more accountable for the overall cost of care for their patients. Hospital executives said the proposed merger was in keeping with the federal governments goal of promoting alliances among hospitals and doctors so they could better coordinate care and improve quality while reducing prices. Im almost always the one who gets the chicken. For review meals, I try to let my guests choose their own food. Then I pick something nobody else wants. Often, this is the chicken. I think this can be explained by a remark a friend made recently. I never eat chicken in restaurants, he said. I can make chicken at home. So can I, but every time I go to a new restaurant, I hope the kitchen may know things about poultry that I dont. Every once in a while, Im right. At Le Coq Rico, a three-month-old restaurant on East 20th Street, I was right. In fact, I think I have finally found the perfect restaurant to take people who think they can make a better chicken at home. Wed ordered an old New England breed of chicken called Plymouth Rock for $95, along with a guinea fowl that cost a dollar more. Carved and fit back together, each bird was placed in the center of the table in its own iron roasting pan. Our eyes locked in on the bronzed skin and tapering curves of drumsticks with fixed and purposeful stares that, if we had not been humans looking at poultry, I would call lust. Headliner Salt & Char After about 10 years in Hong Kong, the acclaimed former Lespinasse chef Gray Kunz is back in New York. That is, upstate New York. He has joined the Adelphi Hospitality Group, which owns the newly renovated Adelphi Hotel in Saratoga Springs and his new steakhouse next door. I always wanted to do a steakhouse, he said. This is in an area where there are farms and local markets filled with meat and produce. He knows the territory well, having had a home in the Hudson Valley for decades. He expects to serve what he calls forgotten cuts, the lesser-known steaks that are attracting attention in New York. His executive chef is Braden Reardon, who was at the NYY Steakhouse in Manhattan. Christophe Chatron-Michaud, who may be familiar to many New York restaurantgoers, is returning from Asia to be the general manager. Mr. Kunz will not sever his ties with Cafe Gray Deluxe, his restaurant in the Upper House, a boutique hotel in Hong Kong. As for a New York City encore, there are plans to come back to Manhattan, he said. But not right now. (Opens Friday): 353 Broadway, Saratoga Springs, N.Y., 518-450-7500, saltandchar.com. Opening Cafe Medi The dramatic new skylit hotel restaurant, done in bright splashes of blue, evokes the Mediterranean. The chef, Vincent Chirico, who owns Vai on the Upper West Side, offers cucumber tartare, fluke ceviche, octopus and grilled fish, with fruit- and herb-based cocktails by Allen Katz. (Wednesday): Hotel on Rivington, 107 Rivington Street (Ludlow Street), 212-796-8040, cafemedinyc.com. Carla Halls Southern Kitchen A very on-again off-again soft opening, including friends and family nights, has been in progress. But now, Carla Halls taste of Nashville, notably the hot chicken at various notches up the Scoville scale depending on the chile treatment, is about to be fully up and running. The restaurant is a first for Ms. Hall, the chef and host of The Chew. With well-burnished chicken there are many sides, including potato salad, collards, coleslaw, biscuits, cornbread, a kale salad and pickles. Lemonade, iced tea, beer, wine and cocktails are on tap. The space is compact, with a diner look at the front counter where orders are placed, and communal tables beyond, with an open kitchen pass. Countrified touches include a white hutch filled with goods for sale. Ms. Halls business partner, Evan Darnell, said he was surprised at the demand for takeout, which is more than half the orders. (Friday): 115 Columbia Street (Kane Street), Columbia Street Waterfront District, Brooklyn, 718-855-4668, carlahallsouthernkitchen.com. Chuck & Blade, Buns Bar As its name suggests, this steakhouse highlights some less common cuts. And a sandwich shop sibling around the corner specializes in unusual sliders like shrimp tempura. Both are the work of Sam Weinstein, a son of the Ark Restaurant founder and principal Michael Weinstein, and several partners: 184 Eighth Avenue (19th Street), 646-370-3494, chuckandbladenyc.com; 263 West 19th Street, 646-370-4321. The best local answer to the malaise of blockbuster season, BAMcinemaFest offers New Yorkers a chance to survey the glories and limitations of American independent cinema. Each year, the program at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (which starts its eighth iteration on Wednesday) plucks promising features and documentaries from Sundance, South by Southwest and elsewhere, and arranges them into a bouquet of puzzles, provocations and delights. The unevenness of the offerings is part of the festivals appeal, and so is a palpable but hard-to-define consistency of themes, methods and attitudes. Image Michael Barbieri, left, and Theo Taplitz in Little Men, directed by Ira Sachs. Credit... Eric McNatt The dominant style might be described as an observant, cautious realism, an interest in small-scale stories shot in expressive, shallow-focus, closeup-heavy digital video and inflected a few degrees toward comedy, drama or even horror. Those generic distinctions are not always terribly important. Little Sister, Zach Clarks sweet-and-sad tale of a young nun and her family, could be classified as a comedy, since it sometimes takes a gently mocking view of its characters and situations. But the opening-night film, Little Men, Ira Sachss latest investigation of love and real estate in millennial New York, is probably a bit too melancholy to qualify. (Todd Solondzs Wiener-Dog, the festival centerpiece, is a Todd Solondz movie, which is a genre unto itself. It opens commercially next week, so Ill deal with it then. Werner Herzogs new documentary, Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World, is also, as you would expect, beyond category.) Only days after a mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Florida, the judge in a hate-crime murder case in New York invoked the massacre on Tuesday as he sentenced a man to 40 years to life in prison. The defendant, Elliot Morales, 36, was convicted in March of murder as a hate crime for killing Mark Carson, a gay black man, in the West Village in Manhattan three years ago, after spewing homophobic invectives at the victim and his companion. I cant help but perceive or observe the parallel tragedy in Orlando, the judge, A. Kirke Bartley Jr., said as he imposed the sentence in State Supreme Court in Manhattan. That parallel is revealed in hatred, self-loathing, fear and death. Mr. Morales was convicted after a two-week trial during which he represented himself, assuming the dual roles of defendant and defense lawyer. Addressing Mr. Morales, Justice Bartley said the defendants ability to appear calm, intelligent, well prepared, well behaved could not deter from the fact that he also seemed to be something worthy of a character in a Stephen King novel in short a monster. The 10 Newtown plaintiffs argue that the AR-15 is a weapon of war its cousin, the M-16, was the rifle of choice in Vietnam and therefore should never have been marketed to civilians. They say, in effect, that the availability of a high-velocity weapon capable of inflicting such rapid carnage constitutes such negligence. The novelty of the approach is that it doesnt depend upon an argument that the manufacturer knows that a particular shooter is a high-risk buyer, said Heidi Li Feldman, a professor at Georgetown University Law School, who has followed the Newtown litigation. The novelty is that it substitutes the general public for a particular individual. The timing of the attack in Orlando, where 49 people were fatally shot, may invigorate and inflame the legal challenge against the gun industry. Gun-control advocates and victims rights groups have embraced the case as a way to knock down stalwart gun protections, while gun makers and dealers are watching the case intently. Eighteen months after it was filed, the lawsuit naming the manufacturer, Remington; the wholesaler; and a local retailer is still in the early stages. But the case has not yet been tossed out of court. Even some plaintiffs were startled when Judge Barbara N. Bellis of State Superior Court, who has yet to rule on a final effort to quash the case, set a trial date two years from now and ordered the defendants to disclose marketing materials and other internal documents. Image The Bushmaster AR-15 rifle that Adam Lanza used in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in 2012. Credit... Connecticut Department of Justice, via Reuters Also central to the case is the way that gun makers and dealers promote assault rifles. Just before a hearing in April, Bill Sherlach, whose wife, Mary, a school psychologist, was killed in the Sandy Hook shooting, said he was eager to see company memos. We look forward to the discovery process, where we can see what goes on behind the curtain, Mr. Sherlach said outside the courthouse in Bridgeport. The defendants have been vigorously seeking to have the lawsuit thrown out, and they have one last chance at a hearing on Monday in which both sides will make their cases. The judge has until October to decide whether the case will go to trial. The gun companies had asked Judge Bellis to delay the discovery phase until she ruled on the defendants motion to strike the case. The judge denied the defendants request, saying that the plaintiffs had waited long enough and that the parties should start exchanging information immediately. Image Mark and Jacqueline Barden with their children. Their 7-year-old son, Daniel, center, died in the Newtown shooting. The Sandy Hook families legal team has requested numerous documents relating to the marketing of the AR-15, as well as the companies desired customer base and use of video games for promotion, among other things. Mark Barden recalled watching his wife, Jacqueline, at the computer in the first weeks after their 7-year-old son, Daniel, died in the 2012 shooting. She was trying to research how the kid around the corner got his hands on a military rifle designed for combat, Mr. Barden said, and carried it into our sons school to murder him. Using an AR-15 model known as the Bushmaster, Adam Lanza, a disturbed 20-year-old who lived near the Bardens, shot his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School. In less than five minutes, he fired 154 rounds. His mother, Nancy Lanza, whom he also killed, had legally purchased the weapon. The Bardens were stunned, they said, to see how gun companies advertised the weapons online to the general public, using militaristic language and macho phrases like Get your man card and The opposition will bow down. Some of Junes gay pride celebrations happened last weekend, but many are still ahead. The one in Louisville, Ky., is among them. Theres a parade scheduled for Friday. Thats your state, Mitch McConnell. You should go. If youre not comfortable marching, mingle on the sidelines. If parades arent your thing, make an appearance at one of the other pride events in Kentucky in coming days. Just show up. And by doing so, show that the absence of gay or L.G.B.T. in your statements immediately following the Orlando massacre and in the statements of so many other prominent Republicans isnt because you place us and our concerns behind some thick pane of glass with a Do Not Touch sign that stays up even when blood and tears pool beneath it. For more than 48 hours, Paul Ryan also seemed to avoid any mention of the kind of nightclub that the Orlando gunman chose and one of the reasons its revelers were marked for death. On Tuesday morning that silence finally ended, as Ryan told journalists in Washington that he wanted to be clear. Members of the L.G.B.T. community were the targets, he said. They were simply attacked for who they are. He thus joined his 2012 running mate, Mitt Romney, who sent out a tweet midday Monday offering a special prayer for the L.G.B.T. community that was the focus of this attack. Ryan also joined Donald Trump, who mentioned L.G.B.T. Americans repeatedly in his formal remarks on Monday afternoon, expressing solidarity with the members of Orlandos L.G.B.T. community and asserting that the gunman wanted to execute gay and lesbian citizens because of their sexual orientation. But more conspicuous than what Romney and Trump said was what so many other Republicans didnt. Bemoaning the carnage, they justly condemned the Islamic State and violent extremists. They rightly paid tribute to first responders. But this specificity didnt extend to the lives and loves of the people killed. Even Rick Scott, the Republican governor of Florida, initially sidestepped the subject, failing to emphasize that many of them spent their final terrified minutes in a place where they had sought precisely the comfort and belonging that they didnt always feel on the other side of its walls. We still have much to learn about the exact mix of the gunmans motives. There are reports that he cased other locations. His unhinged diatribes apparently extended to women, blacks and Jews as well as gays. His past behavior and his call to 911 demonstrated an overarching hatred of America, with its celebration of diversity and individual liberty. The revelers in Pulse epitomized that liberty, and what happened to them is part of a bigger story and a bigger struggle that affect all Americans. But that doesnt preclude an acknowledgment of their sexual orientations, and it doesnt excuse any reluctance to discuss that. Roman Catholic leaders, too, shied away. Statements by the bishop of Orlando and by the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops said nothing about a gay nightclub or gays. Such omissions so troubled the Rev. James Martin, a best-selling Jesuit author, that he posted a video commentary about them on Facebook on Monday afternoon. Twenty-four hours later, it had been viewed about 700,000 times. If the murders had happened, God forbid, in a church of a particular Christian denomination, Catholic leaders would decry the murders and then naturally express their solidarity with members of that denomination, he said in the video, adding that for the most part, this was not done for the grieving L.G.B.T. community. He told me on Tuesday that there were exceptions, including Bishop Robert Lynch of St. Petersburg, Fla., who wrote a blog post in which he conceded that religion, including Catholicism, often breeds contempt for gays, lesbians and transgender people, and that this contempt can lead to violence. Lynch stressed that the Orlando victims were all made in the image and likeness of God. We teach that, Lynch wrote. We should believe that. We must stand for that. We includes leaders of both parties. If Ted Cruz can mourn Orlando as an attack on gay people which, in fact, he did then every other Republican can, too. This is one of those moments, in the wake of terror, when we find the most apt and evocative ways to underscore our oneness and renounce our fear. When we make grand gestures. When we make pointed ones. So Majority Leader McConnell, pick your rally. Speaker Ryan, accompany him. Governor Scott, attend the funerals of gay victims. Other Republicans and Democrats, recognize L.G.B.T. Americans with both your words and your presence at gay pride celebrations. You want to show our enemies what America stands for? Then stand with us. CLACTON, England It wasnt supposed to be like this. The original plan of Prime Minister David Cameron was to call a referendum on Britains membership in the European Union, renegotiate new terms with the powers that be in Brussels and then use the machinery of government to persuade people to vote to remain. A source in Downing Street tells me that Mr. Camerons circle was expecting the Remain campaign to be comfortably ahead by now. Yet, little more than a week before the referendum, the polls show that the two camps are neck and neck. Although the Leave campaign of which I am a founding member is still the underdog, there is a real chance that Britain will vote for independence from the European Union on June 23. What is going on? There is an honorable, decent case for Britain to stay in the union. The problem for the Remain camp is that no one has been making it. Throughout the campaign, the Remainers have highlighted experts from bodies like the International Monetary Fund, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the Bank of England, which all think that Britain should stay. They talk of being shut out of the room where decisions are made in Brussels. To the Editor: Re Twice Scrutinized by F.B.I., Orlando Killer Exposes Gaps in Fighting ISIS-Inspired Acts (front page, June 14): It is sad that 15 years after 9/11, a lone-wolf terrorist who had been in the cross hairs of the F.B.I. at least twice was legally able to buy an assault rifle and turn it on his fellow Americans in the worst mass shooting in modern American history. Throwing more money at homeland security will not solve this problem. Bringing the fight to ISIS will not solve our vulnerability at home. We willfully facilitate weapon purchases by the radicalized, the insane and the plain evildoer by doing little to stop them. As President Obama has stated, failure to act on gun control now is a conscious decision not to act, and we are all responsible, especially our elected representatives who have the power to make these weapon purchases more difficult or even impossible. The loopholes in our gun laws are being exploited by terrorists and criminals, and it is beyond time for Congress to act in the interests of the populace at large and ignore the National Rifle Association apologists. JOHN CONNOLLY San Mateo, Calif. To the Editor: Could we please stop investigating the motivations of deranged killers who murder first graders or former co-workers or a bar full of strangers? I find that I no longer care about their sad biographies. BOSTON When General Electric decided to leave its longtime home in Connecticut and chose the waterfront district here for its new headquarters, it thrust a once-windswept province for fishermen and dock workers into the spotlight. Still, beyond the arrival of G.E., long a bellwether of the American economy, the South Boston waterfront is growing at breakneck pace, a sign of this citys popularity with global investors and solid reputation as a fountainhead of research and development. Thomas M. Menino, a city mayor who died in 2014, had envisioned the area, just across the Fort Point Channel from downtown as an innovation district, with state-of-the-art office space, plenty of walk-to-work apartments, numerous restaurants, and pedestrian-friendly streets and parks. Since 2000, the area has gained 10 million square feet of development and more than 4,000 residents. And in recent years, the appetite for a Seaport address has only increased, such that 2,700 residential units and 1.3 million square feet of office space are now in some stage of construction, according to the Boston Redevelopment Authority. From upstart technology companies to cutting-edge biomedical firms to traditional corporate giants, the Seaport is attracting businesses to both brick-and-beam style office space in old industrial buildings and to new glass office towers overlooking Boston Harbor. In October 2014, the company was embroiled in a scandal after it emerged that Facebook researchers used its news feed feature to try to manipulate the emotions of its users. The incident resulted in an overhaul of its user research methodology. Last month, Facebook grappled with accusations of political bias and fears about how much it could influence the views of its members. The company really has to walk a fine line here, said Dr. Jennifer Stuber, an associate professor at the University of Washington and the faculty director of Forefront, a suicide prevention organization. They dont want to be perceived as Big Brother-ish, because people are not expecting Facebook to be monitoring their posts. Facebook said it had a role to play in helping its users to help one another. About a third of the posts shared on the site include some form of negative feelings, according to a study released in February by the companys researchers. Posts with negative associations tended to receive longer, more empathetic comments from Facebook friends, the company said. Given that Facebook is the place youre connected to friends and family, it seemed like a natural fit, said Dr. Jennifer Guadagno, a researcher at Facebook who is leading the suicide prevention project. Facebook has a team of more than a dozen engineers and researchers dedicated to the project. Facebooks new suicide prevention tools start with a drop-down menu that lets people report posts, a feature that was previously available only to some English-speaking users. People across the world can now flag a message as one that could raise concern about suicide or self-harm; those posts will then come to the attention of Facebooks global community operations team, a group of hundreds of people around the world who monitor flagged posts 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Posts flagged as potential self-harm notes are to be expedited and reviewed more quickly by the team members, who also examine posts that Facebook users have reported as objectionable. Community operations team members who evaluate potentially suicidal content are given special training, Facebook said. NEW HAVEN Repression begets rebellion, particularly in teenagers. This simple equation is dramatized with exuberant humor in Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour, a small-scaled musical about a group of Catholic-schoolgirls-gone-wild being presented at Yale Repertory Theater here as part of the citys International Festival of Arts & Ideas. A coproduction between the National Theater of Scotland and Live Theater, Newcastle, the show was written by Lee Hall, who wrote the book for the hit musical Billy Elliot and adapted Shakespeare in Love for the West End stage, and is based on Alan Warners novel The Sopranos published in 1998, before that title became indelibly attached to a certain television series. The music, played by a live trio, is wonderfully if weirdly eclectic, including classical snippets by Mendelssohn, Bach and Ralph Vaughan Williams but also a handful of songs made famous by the 1970s pop-rock group Electric Light Orchestra. Oh, and the finale of sorts is the Bob Marley staple No Woman, No Cry. All are sung by the six gifted young women who make up the cast, portraying members of the chorus at a Roman Catholic school in a small city somewhere in Scotland. We first meet them when they are dressed demurely in their school uniforms, preparing for a trip to Edinburgh to participate in a choral contest that will be nationally televised. Theme parks in Orlando like Disneys Magic Kingdom Park and Epcot, Universal Orlando and SeaWorld Orlando are being more vigilant following the shooting in the city early Sunday morning at Pulse nightclub that left 49 people dead. In an email, a spokeswoman for Disney, Jacquee Wahler, wrote, Unfortunately, weve all been living in a world of uncertainty, and during this time we have increased our security measures across our properties, adding such visible safeguards as magnetometers [metal detectors], additional canine units, and law enforcement officers on site, as well as less visible systems that employ state-of-the-art security technologies. Few of the representatives for the other parks were willing to comment on any specific security measures being implemented following the catastrophe over the weekend, but a handful did say that they were being more vigilant. In an email, a SeaWorld spokeswoman, Suzanne Pelisson Beasley, said: The safety of our ambassadors, guests and animals has always been our top priority. Our security teams work closely with law enforcement and we have enhanced security measures at all our parks. A mass shooting takes place, followed by emotional vigils, intensive news media coverage and sorrowful statements by politicians. But what does it actually mean for laws and policies around guns? Lots of gun laws are proposed in the aftermath of an attack, new research shows. But in terms of what actually is enacted, the results arent what you might expect. In states where a mass shooting happened, 15 percent more gun-related bills were introduced in state legislatures, three Harvard Business School professors found in a working paper published last month. But in states with legislatures that were led by Democrats or divided between the parties, a mass shooting wasnt followed by any statistically significant increase in gun laws enacted. It was different in states with Republican-controlled legislatures. After a mass shooting, the number of laws passed to loosen gun restrictions rose by 75 percent. In other words, in places where mass shootings lead to any legislative changes at all, it tends to be in the direction of guns becoming more easily available, like lowering the minimum age to buy a handgun to 18 from 21 or eliminating a waiting period for a gun purchase. ORLANDO, Fla. Ortiz. Rivera. Gonzalez. Almodovar. As the names of the victims of Sundays massacre here rolled out, this slice of the United States known as the unofficial 79th municipio, or municipality, of Puerto Rico felt a communal shudder. It was a roll call of Puerto Ricans, gay and straight, who had gathered to dance and hear salsa music at the club and died in the barrage of bullets. Like so many others, they were here, in this booming Central Florida metropolitan area of nearly 400,000 Puerto Ricans, because it has become a Puerto Rican touchstone: Spanish flows freely; the smells of Mallorca pastries and mofongo waft from bakeries and restaurants; the hot and humid weather feels like home. Its as though it had happened in our own family, said Yolanda Rivera, 71, who works at the Melao Bakery, a popular shop in Kissimmee, just south of Orlando. We are praying to God he heals their pain for the loss of their children. We Hispanics have become a little closer because of this. A staggering 90 percent of the 49 victims killed by Omar Mateen, the gunman who opened fire in a gay nightclub, were Hispanic or of Hispanic descent, including Mexican, Colombian and Dominican, community leaders said. Of those, 23 were Puerto Rican. This has stunned Puerto Rican residents across Florida where there are a million islanders, rivaling the number in New York State and on the island, where the deaths have set off a national mourning. For Puerto Ricans here, the heartbreak is especially strong. Orlando was meant to be a haven for Puerto Ricans who fled the island because of its imploding economy and spectacularly high crime rate. The fact that so many young Puerto Ricans died in a spasm of violence during a night of dancing seems a particularly bitter twist. Ramona Nazario, 67, who arrived three years ago from Ponce, P.R., said the shooting reminded her too much of what she had left behind. The same things are happening here the killings, the drugs, Ms. Nazario said in Spanish. You dont feel so well when these things go on. People here fail, too. More than a century after Georgetown University used some of the profits from the sale of 272 enslaved African-Americans to help ensure its survival, John J. DeGioia, the universitys president, took a first step on Monday toward making amends to their descendants. He walked into the public library in Spokane, Wash., for a private meeting with Patricia Bayonne-Johnson, a great-great-great-granddaughter of Nace and Biby Butler, two of the slaves who were sold in 1838 to help keep the college afloat. The 45-minute meeting, which was followed by a lunch at the nearby Davenport Hotel, may well have been a historic one. More than a dozen universities have recognized their ties to slavery and the slave trade. But historians say they believe this is the first time that the president of an elite university has met with the descendants of slaves who had labored on a college campus or were sold to benefit one. The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio sued the city of Cleveland on Tuesday, saying that it was violating protesters free speech rights with undue restrictions on demonstrations during next months Republican National Convention. At issue are a set of special rules that the city adopted on May 25 that are meant to be in effect during the convention, which runs from July 18 to 21, and cover an area of about three square miles in downtown Cleveland, referred to by the city as an event zone. The lawsuit challenges a number of the restrictions, including limits on street marches to 50 minutes per group and to a single approved route over a bridge, and on three of the four convention days to the hours of 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., hours before the major convention activities. The suit also contests the citys refusal to issue any park-use permits for the event zone, except for art and public installations in two small parks. Severe limits imposed by the city on the rights of the people to freely assemble and to express their political and other views are arbitrary, unduly restrictive, and without rational justification, lawyers for the A.C.L.U. wrote in a complaint filed in Federal District Court in Cleveland on behalf of a pro-Donald Trump group, an anti-poverty group and a homeless advocacy group. The lawsuit said Cleveland was also further trampling First Amendment rights by delaying the processing of applications for permits required to engage in First Amendment activities during the convention. WASHINGTON With little affection or trust between them, Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders met privately for nearly two hours on Tuesday night to size each other up as they started exploring what kind of alliance they might build for the general election battle against Donald J. Trump. Yet Mr. Sanders chose to withhold his endorsement of Mrs. Clinton, several Sanders advisers said, because he wants her to take steps to win his confidence before the Democratic convention, where his supporters expect him to speak and Clinton advisers hope he will give her his full-throated backing. Aides to Mrs. Clinton said she had never expected his endorsement Tuesday night. A statement from the Clinton campaign after the meeting described it as a positive discussion about their primary campaign, about unifying the party and about the dangerous threat that Donald Trump poses to our nation. They discussed issues like raising wages and reducing college costs, and agreed to continue working on their shared agenda, including through the platform development process for the upcoming Democratic National Convention. WASHINGTON A coalition of prominent social conservatives is banding together in an effort to nudge the Republican platform further to the right at the partys convention next month. The organizations involved include those that have been front and center in the culture wars over abortion and same-sex marriage like the Family Research Council Action, the March for Life and Concerned Women for America. Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council and a platform committee delegate from Louisiana, said that while he expects the Republican Party to remain committed to the core values of life, marriage, family and religious freedom, there are new questions that need to be addressed because they have arisen in the four years since the platform was last revised. The 2012 platform, many Republicans believe, was one of the most conservative on record. Over the last four years, a number of issues have surfaced that social conservatives say they want to see included in the platform. Those include the 2015 Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage, the passage of religious liberty legislation that allows businesses to refuse certain civil rights protections to gay and lesbian couples, as well as the recent debate over transgender rights. Kyiv's Holosiyivsky district court has arrested former top manager of the East European Energy Company (VETEK) Andriy Koshel, who is suspect in the liquefied gas embezzlement criminal case, for two months, with an option to pay a bail of UAH 200 million. "On June 14, 2016, the investigation judge of Kyiv's Holosiyivsky district court arrested Koshel, the head of a criminal group affiliated with VETEK for two months with an option to pay a bail of UAH 200 million," the public and media relations department of the Prosecutor General's Office reported on Tuesday. Koshel was detained on the Ukrainian-Polish border on June 12. Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office reported that he was detained on suspicion of committing crimes under Part 4 of Article 28, Part 5 of Article 191 and Part 1 of Article 255 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (embezzlement of state property via abuse of office and creation of a criminal group. It was one of George W. Bushs most viscerally powerful commercials against John Kerry in the 2004 presidential race: a pack of wolves lurking in a forest as a narrator accused Mr. Kerry of slashing intelligence gathering against terrorists. Weakness attracts those who are waiting to do America harm, the ad warned, as the wolves started running toward the camera. Turns out the metaphor was subtle, at least by Donald J. Trumps standards. In his apocalyptic speech on Monday warning that terrorism could wipe out the United States There will be nothing, absolutely nothing, left, he said Mr. Trump substituted Muslim immigrants for the wolf pack. A single gunman carried out the Orlando massacre, he said. Can you imagine what theyll do in large groups, which were allowing now to come here? Exploitation of fear has been part of the American political playbook since colonial pamphleteers whipped their neighbors into a frenzy over British misrule. It took on new potency in the nuclear age with Lyndon Johnsons Daisy ad against Barry Goldwater in 1964 and Jimmy Carters warnings about Ronald Reagans finger on the button in 1980. But Mr. Trump who drew harsh condemnation from President Obama on Tuesday has intensified the power of fear in presidential politics by demonizing an entire religious group. And he has expanded the use of that power by stirring up fear in the aftermath of national traumas, like the San Bernardino, Calif., attack and now the Orlando shooting, that traditionally elicited measured and soothing responses from political leaders. I dont see any help, he said. I see a lot of hassling. If you get food stamps, we are going to hassle you to do a drug test for food stamps and God knows what else. Wheres the help? What are you doing here, Paul? Wheres the job guarantee? Some conservatives who have applauded Mr. Ryans proposal, such as Robert Doar at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington, said Mr. Ryans decision to focus on poverty might seem incongruous in the current political environment, particularly given the rise of Donald J. Trump. How Times reporters cover politics. We rely on our journalists to be independent observers. So while Times staff members may vote, they are not allowed to endorse or campaign for candidates or political causes. This includes participating in marches or rallies in support of a movement or giving money to, or raising money for, any political candidate or election cause. Learn more about our process. Mr. Doar, however, said that was a credit to Mr. Ryan. Theres a lot of middle-class economic anxiety, and House Republicans decided to focus on the difficulties of the poor, he said. I think they, at least in the speakers case, he and the Republicans have to be taken at face value. They think the problems of the poor are a really serious issue. He wasnt putting his finger up in the wind and saying how does this play politically. Mr. Doar did acknowledge that there could be more specifics, adding, Having Republicans talk about early child care or postsecondary education and talk about government as part of the solution, and work supports, to me that is a step in the right direction. Others said that Mr. Ryan and the Republicans needed to rethink their starting point and acknowledge the gains that have been made. On the war on poverty, the we fought a war on poverty, and poverty won idea, I think our work has sort of debunked that, said Christopher Wimer, the co-director of the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University. His research shows that poverty in America has fallen 40 percent since the 1960s. In the 1960s, most of the antipoverty programs we spent money on was actually cash, he said. Today, they come in the form of in-kind programs, food stamps or housing subsidies, or through the tax system, the earned-income tax credit, child tax credit or various other tax programs. Those simply arent counted. The terrorist attack that killed 49 and wounded 53 in Orlando, Fla., was the largest mass killing of gay people in American history, but before Sunday that grim distinction was held by a largely forgotten arson at a New Orleans bar in 1973 that killed 32 people at a time of pernicious anti-gay stigma. Churches refused to bury the victims remains. Their deaths were mostly ignored and sometimes mocked by politicians and the media. No one was ever charged. A joke made the rounds in workplaces and was repeated on the radio: Where will they bury the queers? In fruit jars! Outpourings of grief from politicians and everyday people have followed the Orlando shooting, but for those who remember the fire in the New Orleans bar, the UpStairs Lounge, its lonely memory has loomed large over conversations about the carnage this week at the Pulse nightclub. LONDON Oscar Pistorius, the South African Olympic star convicted of murdering his girlfriend in 2013, has to pay for what he did, the victims father told a judge on Tuesday, while emphasizing that he and his wife had forgiven the athlete. In tearful testimony that was broadcast live across South Africa, the father, Barry Steenkamp, said that the death of his daughter, Reeva Steenkamp, had plunged him and his wife into an abyss of grief, and contributed to his having had a stroke. Mr. Steenkamp, 73, who is diabetic and uses a cane, said the pain from his daughters murder had been so severe that he would use his insulin syringe to hurt himself. I would take the needle and shove it into my stomach and my arms to see if I could feel the same type of pain, but no, he said, weeping. Many others in the courtroom cried, including Mr. Pistorius, who pressed his head into his hands. Ms. Steenkamp, a law school graduate, model and aspiring reality-television star, was 29 when Mr. Pistorius fired four shots through a locked bathroom door in their Pretoria home on Feb. 14, 2013, killing her. Mr. Pistorius, at the time a gun enthusiast, said that he thought an intruder had broken into the home and that the killing was an accident. MANILA Philippine officials confirmed on Tuesday that a Canadian man held captive by the militant group Abu Sayyaf had been decapitated, the second hostage from Canada killed in the war-torn southern Philippines this year. The man, Robert Hall, was abducted in September with three other people one of dozens of such abductions carried out in the last few decades by Abu Sayyaf, an organization of several hundred fighters that has functioned as a hostage-for-ransom gang. The group has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. The severed head of a man believed to be Mr. Hall was found in a plastic bag near a Roman Catholic church on the southern Philippine island of Jolo on Monday night, the Philippine police said on Tuesday. HONG KONG A book written by Gao Zhisheng, a Chinese human rights lawyer who spent years in prison, has made it out of China and been published in Taiwan. In the 446-page book, Mr. Gao describes his time as a prisoner from 2009 to 2014, when he was released and sent to his home in the northwestern province of Shaanxi to live under round-the-clock police surveillance with his older brother, a farmer. The book was introduced in Hong Kong on Tuesday by his daughter, Grace Geng. Mr. Gao, an army veteran, rose to fame taking on cases that pitted ordinary people against powerful interests, defending farmers from land seizures and suing the police for abuses. He became one of the best-known lawyers in the country, but his advocacy for practitioners of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement put him at odds with the government, which shut down his Beijing law firm in 2005. Image Gao Zhisheng, a rights lawyer, in Beijing in 2010. Credit... Gemunu Amarasinghe/Associated Press Mr. Gao, 52, became increasingly critical of the Communist Party and renounced his membership. Detained in 2006, he recanted his confession upon release and described the abuse he received from the police. In early 2009, he disappeared, with the government providing no explanation of his whereabouts for more than a year, prompting international condemnation. After being briefly released from prison in 2010, he disappeared into police custody again, only to be released again in 2014 and transferred to house arrest. HONG KONG The president of Taiwan does not travel much. China, which claims the self-ruled island as part of its territory, tries to block its leaders from visiting other countries. So trips are largely limited to the 22 countries that recognize Taiwan, with occasional stopovers in other places on the way. Less than one month after he stepped down, the former president, Ma Ying-jeou, has found that, even out of office, his travel is restricted. This week, Taiwans new government barred him from traveling to Hong Kong for a speech at a news association awards dinner. The government made the decision based on a 2003 law that limits the travel of high-level officials for three years after they leave office. Concerns about Mr. Mas previous access to classified information and the short time between Mr. Mas application and the event, on June 15, prompted the decision, said Alex Huang, a spokesman for President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan. Hong Kong is a place with a high level of sensitivity for Taiwans national security, and the risk of a former president visiting Hong Kong is difficult to control, Mr. Huang said in a written statement. LONDON Rupert Murdochs Sun tabloid, Britains most popular, came out on Tuesday in favor of a British exit from the European Union, as a series of opinion polls suggested that the campaign to leave the bloc is picking up support, inducing anxiety in the financial markets and in No. 10 Downing Street. The country will decide the issue in a referendum on June 23, and there is a growing sense on both sides that the early confidence of those who support remaining in the European Union has given way to recognition that the vote could go either way, with historic if hard-to-predict consequences for Britain and the Continent. Measuring public opinion has been difficult, both because of problems plaguing pollsters everywhere and because there is no sure way to compare this referendum with previous votes. Although different polls using different methodologies have found widely varying results, established pollsters have generally given the edge to those favoring remaining in the bloc. MOSCOW After 55 years of preparation, a landmark effort to promote unity among the worlds 300 million Orthodox Christians turned into a showcase of disarray on Tuesday after the Russian church, the biggest of 14 Orthodox jurisdictions, announced that it would not take part in a historic conclave of church leaders scheduled to start this weekend. The gathering, known both as the Holy and Great Council and as the Pan-Orthodox Council, is scheduled to begin Sunday on the Greek island of Crete and to run through June 26. It had been under discussion since 1961 and has been billed as the first council of its kind since the eighth century. While it did not rule out participating in a future gathering, the Moscow Patriarchate, the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church, said late Monday that it was impossible to participate in the council because not all Orthodox churches would be present. At least four branches of the Orthodox faith, mostly with historically close ties to Russia, like the Serbian Orthodox Church, had complained about aspects of the Crete council and indicated that they might stay away. The Russian decision threw into doubt the opening of the gathering and highlighted longstanding doctrinal disagreements among Orthodox Christians as well as a struggle over the direction of the church between the Moscow Patriarchate and a rival leadership based in Istanbul, the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. Millions of migrants have fled war and poverty in their homelands. But two reports released on Tuesday highlighted the perils they face as they seek refuge and a better life in other countries. In one of the reports, the International Organization for Migration said that thousands of migrants had died trying to cross seas and deserts. Many of their bodies were not found, and those that were recovered were often impossible to identify. Along one of the busiest sea routes to Europe, a third of the dead were children. In the second report, the United Nations Childrens Fund warned of growing threats of abuse, exploitation and death for unaccompanied minors fleeing to Europe. Here are a few conclusions of the International Organization for Migration report, Fatal Journeys: Counting the dead A grisly record was set last year, with 5,400 migrants worldwide dying in their attempts to cross national borders, up from 5,000 in 2014. In the first five months of 2016, 3,100 people died. Where they are dying The Mediterranean was especially treacherous: 3,770 died trying to reach the shores of Europe, and 130 more died on European soil, including 71 who suffocated in the back of a truck in Austria. They were among more than a million migrants and refugees who crossed the Mediterranean in 2015. Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze has said that the Ukrainian defense and industrial complex should be audited involving NATO experts. "We should additionally audit the defense and industrial complex here in Ukraine with the help of NATO experts," she said at a meeting of the Ukraine-NATO inter-parliamentary council in Kyiv on Tuesday. She said that Ukraine hopes for cooperation with the Alliance in combating Russian information aggression and creating a trust fund to finance mine lifting programs in the conflict-hit territories of Donbas. GENEVA A Russian diplomat at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva has been accused of sending a threatening message on Twitter to a member of a human rights organization that supports activists in Russia, according to rights activists. The intimidating message was sent in March to Florian Irminger, the head of advocacy for the Human Rights House Network. It showed an image of a flayed and bloody body from the popular television show Game of Thrones and said, Our blades are sharp. The Council president, Choi Kyong-lim of South Korea, denounced the message as completely unacceptable, and told the Council during its opening session on Monday that he had taken up the issue with the head of an unnamed mission. An investigation traced the message to a diplomat seated at Russias place in the Council during a discussion of a resolution promoting the protection of human rights defenders, Mr. Irminger said. Long before Omar Mateens victims had all been identified, the presumptive nominees for president of the United States were clashing on a seemingly narrow question: Was the massacre an act of radical Islam? Donald J. Trump and other Republicans have long used the phrase, partly as a way of suggesting that President Obama privileges political correctness over keeping Americans safe. Democrats have avoided it for fear of exacerbating Islamophobia and legitimizing terrorists claims to represent a religion. On Monday morning, Hillary Clinton broke with Mr. Obama, using the term herself to describe Mr. Mateen, the Florida security guard who perpetrated the mass shooting. This debate over terminology might seem like a distraction, but it also speaks to the hardest and most contentious question of all: When a troubled young man murders dozens of people, invoking a group with which he appears to have few real links, how do we classify, and thereby make sense of, what he did? Orlando, like previous attacks, has prompted an obsessive search for clues that might allow us to place this violence within a familiar context. Standing near an ice sculpture of a phallus encased in a condom, Charlie Sheen took the stage at an event on Monday evening in Manhattan to help introduce a prophylactic called HEX from a Swedish luxury sex-toy brand. He emerged through a glass door in the corner of the room, shortly after a video of him, speaking frankly about his diagnosis of H.I.V., played on a television in the center of the room. As the real thing suddenly popped into the room, dressed in a charcoal suit and seeming smaller and far more upbeat than the man who last made public rounds in November, when he announced to the world that he was H.I.V.-positive, the crowd gasped. It was a surprise appearance at the Midtown party for HEX, a latex condom with a resilient honeycomblike structure developed by the brand LELO. Before Mr. Sheens appearance, the event had consisted of photo booths and party games like pricking a pin through condoms stretched across LELO vibrators. Widowed after a long marriage, Joy is a persuasive character, intelligent, independent, with a flair for witty responses and wry thoughts, though in fact everyone in Schines narrative is given to sharp comment and occasionally manic behavior. Despite its subject matter, They May Not Mean To, but They Do is a very funny novel. It is also a novel suffused with guilt. Joy dreads the prospect of having her children feel obliged to put her in a nursing home and feels guilty at her classic situation of being a burden. Molly is full of guilt because she lives in Los Angeles and cant visit her mother in New York as frequently as she might. Daniel feels guilty because he cant ask his mother to live with his wife and daughters. In other words, everyone is classically guilty about being a parent or a child. Emotionally confused but also entirely united, the Bergmans are a family bound together, as Freddie notes, with insular ferocity. This is a situation plenty of readers will recognize. There are particular ingredients here this is a Jewish family, though theyre not especially observant Jews, and some fun is had with Ruby, Joys granddaughter, who suddenly decides she wants to keep kosher and go to the synagogue, to the confusion of her secularly inclined father. And there is of course the long shadow of past events Aarons fecklessness with money, his frittering away of a family fortune, Daniels desperate illness at the age of 18. Schine reminds us that a family is as united by its trials as by its triumphs. I must confess, though, that I did get a touch irritated with Joy at a certain point, frustrated by her inability to do anything about an apartment apparently awash with papers, with files marked urgent, with unopened letters and so forth. Come on, Joy, its just a matter of gritting your teeth and getting down to it! And here I can speak with a certain authority, being myself an octogenarian. But I am my own sort of octogenarian, and that is the whole point. Old people do have certain collective features mostly the age-related disabilities but otherwise were as distinct from one another as are people of any age. Schine deserves credit for taking on the challenge of writing about an age of which she has no personal experience and, on the whole, making a convincing job of it. But novelists worth their salt must write beyond their experience most of the time imagining different genders, ages, situations in time and space. Schines particular fictional exercise focuses on the way the members of a family cope with the challenges involved in disparities of age, of needs, of agendas. While Joy must make the best she can of her last years, her children have their own lives, their own problems. They are all bound to her by love and duty, they all mean well, but they are not always acting for the best. And then there is Karl, a friend of Aarons and an old flame of Joys. When she meets him on one of her walks in the park, hes propped on a red wheeled walker and accompanied by a Polish caregiver. But when it looks as if their friendly chats may lead to a deeper relationship, the rest of the family is horrified. After Joy invites Karl to the first family Passover since Aarons death and later proposes that he be invited to Rubys bat mitzvah, her children react by yelling and stamping their feet like toddlers. LOS ANGELES The rage was immediate. As soon as the Hollywood trades reported that Sony Pictures was going to reboot Ghostbusters with women in the lead roles, internet trolls tumbled out of their caves to insta-condemn the effort. As with most online nastiness, the face of the outcry was a blank one. Most of the negative comments and social media posts were anonymous, courtesy of peaches like Grungemaster93, GargoylePhlegm and Neanderthal101. Reinventing their beloved 1980s-era comedy? With women busting the ghosts? Not on their watch! Then came James Rolfe. And with him arrived a lesson about the digital age. Mr. Rolfe, whose YouTube channel, Cinemassacre, has 2.1 million subscribers, posted a video last month that takes aim at the new Ghostbusters, which is set for release on July 15. Looking into the camera, he criticizes the visual effects shown in an early trailer, and, with flashes of anger, condemns Sony for sweeping the 1984 original movie under the rug like it didnt happen. But the true ingenuity of a smart device is the way it upends traditional models of ownership. We dont really buy and own network-connected household goods; in essence, we rent and operate these devices on terms set by the company. Because they run on proprietary software, and because they are connected to the internet, their corporate creators can always reach across cyberspace and meddle with them. In 2009, Amazon deleted from customers Kindle readers copies of 1984 that were sold without authorization. Dealers have begun installing starter interrupt devices on cars bought with loans, so that they can kill the engine from afar should the borrower be late on his payments. Consumers will have little possibility for redress, much less rebellion no way to outsmart these once-dumb objects. Using a smart device for anything but the purposes explicitly sanctioned by its manufacturer risks violating a warranty, bricking a device or even breaking the law. (Its fitting, albeit a touch melodramatic, that unauthorized tinkering with an iPhone is called jailbreaking.) The very same elements making these things smart connectivity, sophisticated software, semiautonomous intelligence can also make them more frustrating than any devices weve ever seen. At its most expansive, smart produces a world where we no longer exert control over objects weve bought from corporations, but corporations exert control over us through things we pay for the privilege of using. And when smart is crudely applied to the cities we live in to our crumbling infrastructure and militarized police forces we give in to forces of privatization, algorithmic control and rule by corporate contract. It seems an indelible symbol of the times that New York City neglects essential but mundane services like public restrooms while promoting other putative municipal innovations, like the mass conversion of pay phones to Wi-Fi kiosks. As with other smart devices, which subsidize their costs with data collection, these kiosks are free provided you submit to the collection of your personal information and location data. The commons becomes simply another site for private companies to spy on people. Whether its the routes we drive, the songs we listen to or the prices we pay for airline tickets, our lives are increasingly shaped by opaque systems that assess and sort us according to inscrutable criteria. Every one of these systems is, in some sense, smart. But that label elides the more important judgment of where power lies and how it operates. A smart tampon may provide some useful information, but many women simply need better access to health services, and laws that preserve their ability to control their reproductive lives. Fitness trackers might help some folks, but they have also become favored tools of insurers and corporate wellness plans while doing nothing to address the underlying causes of obesity. Self-driving cars represent a potentially lifesaving innovation, but they are increasingly cast as replacements for embattled mass-transit systems that millions of people rely on. Amid the ritual enumeration of tech specs and price points, we risk ignoring how smart devices represent another example of consumer capitalisms bulldozing past political questions. One of the animating myths of American capitalism is that of the savvy consumer. Informed, discriminating, wise to manipulation and deceit, this person fluidly navigates the waters of everyday consumption. And through these small decisions, replicated over and over again by millions of others, the free market improves life for all. Essential to this myth is the notion that influence and power work transparently. Experience shows that this isnt the case, yet we continue to flatter ourselves by adorning our bodies, homes and cities with smart gadgetry and claiming that it serves us. Perhaps the real smarts on display here are those of the tech-industry mandarins who convinced us that we needed all this stuff in the first place. LOS ANGELES In Swiss Army Man, Hank (Paul Dano), a castaway stranded on a deserted island, spies a body washed up on the beach. Driven half-mad by hunger and despair, he rushes into the surf, only to discover that the body, played by Daniel Radcliffe, is lifeless. Or is it? To Hanks surprise, the corpse breaks wind, loudly and lustily. Moments later, Hank whoops with glee as he pilots the gas-powered Mr. Radcliffe across a sun-kissed ocean. When Swiss Army Man had its premiere at Sundance in January, it became one of the festivals most talked-about films, eventually winning a directing award. But despite positive reviews (Variety said it was constantly inventive, and The Hollywood Reporter called it bizarrely poetic), festivalgoers walked out in droves and Vanity Fair wondered if it wasnt the strangest film in Sundance history. For online commentators who hadnt seen the film, Swiss Army Man, a.k.a. Daniel Radcliffes farting-corpse movie, became an easy target. The premise kind of lends itself to that, acknowledged Daniel Kwan, the films co-director. A lot of the knee-jerk reactions online have been about how stupid this movie sounds. Known professionally as Daniels, Mr. Kwan and Daniel Scheinert have created some of the most inventive and visceral shorts and music videos of the past decade. Other directors, like Spike Jonze and Antoine Fuqua, have graduated from music videos to feature films, but few have made music videos as unsettling as Daniels work. Which was why no one was pounding on their doors to make Swiss Army Man. Positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Donbas came under fire 40 times in the past 24 hours, the press center of Kyiv's army operation said on its Facebook account on Tuesday. "Nineteen strikes were recorded in Donetsk region, 18 strikes near the city of Mariupol, and three in Luhansk region," it said. Mortars were used against Ukrainian military positions near Leninske, Novhorodske, Opytne and Avdiyivka in Donetsk region, the press center said. Ukrainian army fortifications in the vicinity of Kamianka and the Butovka mine came under large-caliber artillery fire at around midnight. Large-caliber machineguns and grenade launchers of different types were used against Ukrainian fortifications near Luhanske, Troitske and Avdiyivka. Small arms, large-caliber machineguns, grenade launchers, infantry fighting vehicle weapons and mortars were used against Ukrainian positions near Talakivka, Pavlopil and Slavne, located in the vicinity of Maryinka and Krasnohorivka near the city of Mariupol. Ukrainian military positions came under random fire near Novozvanivka and Bohuslavske in Luhansk region. This is the deadliest mass shooting in the history of the United States and it reminds us once more that weapons of war have no place on our streets. It was horrifying to wake up to reports of a mass shooting at an L.G.B.T. nightclub in Orlando in what appears to be the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. Representative Adam B. Schiff Democrat of California, and ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee Klimkin to take part in Oslo conference on armed conflict mediators on June 14-15 Ukraine's Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin will go on a working visit to Norway on June 14-15. During the visit, the foreign minister will take part in the annual international conference on armed conflict mediators in Oslo. Klimkin is scheduled to speak at the panel "How to negotiate ceasefires and silence the guns," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry's press service reported on Tuesday. Klimkin is also scheduled to meet with Foreign Minister of Norway Borge Brende to discuss the state of the implementation of the Minsk agreements, current political situation and the progress in systemic reforms in Ukraine, as well as topical issues of bilateral cooperation. By the time he retired in 2009 after 54 years with the Walt Disney Company, Marty Sklar had been at the opening of every Disney theme park. But attending the opening of Shanghai Disneyland was not in his plans. That changed, of course. Sklar was asked to head to China, and is in Shanghai checking out what Walt Disney Imagineering, the arm of the Disney company that designs its theme parks, has done. He fully approves. Shanghai is the best park weve ever done, he said. He should know. Sklar was the head of Imagineering for many years. During his tenure he oversaw the development of Epcot Center, Tokyo Disney Seas, both parks in Europe, Disney California Adventure, Disneys Animal Kingdom and Disneys Hollywood Studios. He also worked on all the others prior to Shanghai, and wrote scripts for many Disneyland attractions when Walt Disney was alive. Sklar started his career at Disneyland, one month before it opened, working as the editor of The Disneyland News, a mock newspaper that was handed out to visitors to Disneyland. He ended up at the design company, which he eventually headed up. If you reflect on 1955, who could have envisioned this, he said of Shanghai. Sklar arrived Monday and immediately began touring the soon-to-open park. He liked the attention to details. The paving changes from land to land and area to area, he said. That is impressive. He added the rock work and facades (of the buildings) are really amazing. He started his tour of the new park on Shanghais version of Main Street, only there it has a different name. Mickey Avenue is all about fun, and thats what its supposed to be. While many of Disneys classic films have not been released in China, way back in 1938, Disneys first full-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, was shown in Shanghai. Walt was ahead of us, as usual, said Sklar. He added that Disney would have wondered why it took the company so long to build a theme park in Shanghai. But as he walked around the new Disney theme park with some of the Imagineers (who used to work for him), he couldnt help but smile. It was worth the wait. Contact the writer: meades@ocregister.com In the hours following the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, the number of Orange County residents requesting permits to discreetly carry guns spiked by as much as 400 percent. Typically, between Sunday and Monday, the Orange County Sheriffs Department gets 20 to 30 emails from would-be permit holders, according to Lt. Mark Stichter. This weekend, he said, We had 100-plus. Just after 2 a.m. Sunday, Omar Mateen entered a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., armed with a semiautomatic rifle and 9 mm handgun. Three hours later, 50 people, including Mateen, were dead and another 53 were wounded. Authorities said Mateen declared allegiance to the Islamic State group in the minutes before his attack. Hed also been investigated twice by the FBI over incidents suggesting hed become radicalized. Still, the 29-year-old was able to purchase weapons used in the attack. And he maintained a concealed carry permit, which he used in his job as a security officer. The shooting added more fuel to the gun-control debate, with one side pushing for stricter laws and the other calling for more citizens to arm themselves for protection. Every time theres one of these man-made disasters, we always get a spike in business because people start to realize how vulnerable they are and how little they can do to protect themselves, said Bill Murphy, a police officer who owns Firearms Training Associates in Yorba Linda. Business also picked up at Gunslingers Gun Shop in Glendora, where owner Jeff Taverner said every customer was talking Monday about Orlando. Five gun sales on a Monday would be a really good day, but hed sold that many by 1 p.m. Every one of them was a brand new gun owner, Taverner said. Other dealers including Vince Torres, owner of the Bullseye Sport store in Riverside said firearms sales do not appear to have skyrocketed as they did after the Dec. 2 terrorist attack in San Bernardino. Theres been zero uptick in sales nationwide, said Scot Thomasson of the American Firearms Retailers Association in Alexandria, Va., which represents many of the countrys largest gun sellers. T.J. Johnston, owner of AllSafe Defense Systems in Orange, suspects his business hasnt spiked due to two factors that shouldnt matter, but seem to: that Florida is much farther away, and that the target in this case was a gay nightclub. It was a unique crowd, rather than the general population of a movie theater or school campus, he said. A lot of people dont feel threatened by that, so people dont feel quite as vulnerable. While sexual orientation shouldnt be a factor, Johnston said, the Florida shooting tells him that the LGBT community may have extra cause to arm themselves. Johnston pointed to the Pink Pistols, a national group dedicated to helping members of the LGBT community arm themselves for protection. This is exactly the kind of heinous act that justifies our existence, Gwendolyn Patton, a spokeswoman for the Pink Pistols, said in a statement. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, on the other hand, cited the Orlando shooting as evidence that tougher gun control laws are needed. The bottom line is that in this country, it is far too easy for those who hate and are intent on doing harm including terrorists to access guns, President Dan Gross said. We owe it to the people of Orlando and to all of the 90 Americans killed each day by guns to do everything in our power to prevent this kind of violence. The gun control debate had already been intensifying after a ruling Thursday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. The court overturned an earlier decision and said gun owners dont have a constitutional right to carry concealed firearms, upholding a California law requiring applicants to show why they need to carry guns. Before that ruling, the O.C. Sheriffs Department, after an opposing decision by a smaller panel of the 9th Circuit, had loosened its justification requirement for concealed weapons permits, sending the number of active permits soaring from 906 in early 2014 to more than 9,000 now. The department is handling this weeks surge in concealed carry permit requests the same way it has been, Stichter said, since it was already requiring residents to show good cause. But Lt. Matthew Stiverson said staff now guides applicants through the process, with permit numbers remaining high. Contact the writer: bstaggs@ocregister.com or ddowney@pressenterprise.com My deepest sympathies to the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting and the people of Orlando. As a Muslim, it grieves us even more that this terrorist, who claimed to be inspired by ISIS, killed human beings in the holy month of Ramadan. The Quran states clearly, Whoever kills a human being, it is as though he has killed all mankind. And whoever saves a life, it is as though he has saved all mankind. Law enforcement agencies reached out to Muslim communities in Southern California a month ago and informed us of almost a thousand cases of homegrown terrorism and that they needed the help of all communities to be vigilant partners. We all need to step up and realize the threat of radicalization is very real. The enemy is now within. Additionally, we must all make a concerted effort to stop hate speech against any groups. We must not stay silent when we hear bigoted speech against Muslims, against Jews and blacks, against Israel, and the LGBT community. It is not acceptable to stay silent anymore. Hate speech against one group is hate speech against all. Anila Ali Irvine As an Ahmadi Muslim living in Orange County, my heart pours out in sorrow and prayer for the victims of the tragic terrorist attack in Orlando. There is no place for this senseless and barbaric action in Islam or any religion. True Islam requires one to be engaged in worship and charitable acts with increased focus during the holy month of Ramadan. These actions are antithetical to everything I stand for as a Muslim. The Khalifa of the Ahmadiyya Community, Mirza Masroor Ahmad, has called for Muslims to unite and forcefully dissociate from all acts of terror. It is high time we all answer this call. Ahsan M. Khan Fullerton I am tired of the hate. Gay hate, Mexican hate, immigrant hate, Trump hate, Hillary hate, Obama hate. At church on Sunday, we offered prayer to the victims and families in Orlando. I find myself asking if prayer is working. How did this Christian nation become a nation of hatred? I am brokenhearted for the victims and for the fact that a mass shooting is just an event we have become used to. So we offer prayers and thoughts once again, but prayers dont seem to overcome or change the hate. Lupe Ramirez Anaheim A mothers six-month search for her son ended happily as the pair boarded an Air Canada flight bound for home, said Jeanene Jones, a family friend who lives in Huntington Beach. In December, Ryan Robichaud, 24, from Ontario, Canada left the family home without warning, after a car crash, and began checking in from cities across the U.S. Robichauds mother, Tracy, flew to California in April and spent a week canvasing parts of Orange County, where he had been seen last, with posters and pictures. He resurfaced on June 2, this time in Palm Springs where police discovered him camping behind a church. He talked with his mom via a borrowed cell phone. Later that day, he was located in Palm Springs by Josh Chandler, a private investigator from Orange County who spent several hours trying to get Robichaud to speak with his mother by phone again and, perhaps, agree to go home, Jones said. He was apprehensive, Chandler said. It was a very delicate operation. There are bad people out there who want to take advantage of good kids, he said. So it is very important that we do our best to get the missing person off the streets as quickly as possible. The mom booked a flight back to California the moment Robichaud said he might be willing to return home. After hours of conversation and reviewing comments left on social media sites, Jones related that he said, I never knew that many people would care. He hugged us, Jones said, and I told him we loved him, and he said he loved us too. On Saturday, mom and son boarded a plane at Los Angeles International Airport for home. Contact the writer: 714-796-7802 or jsudock@ocregister.com Orange County congressmen Dana Rohrabacher and Ed Royce confirmed Monday they met separately in 2014 with the father of the killer in the worst mass shooting in U.S. history, but they characterized the visits as inconsequential. My records indicate that on Nov. 18, 2014, I was paid a visit by Seddique Mateen, father of the Islamic terrorist who committed the heinous mass murder in Orlando I simply do not recall that specific meeting, Rohrabacher said in a written statement. I have a long history with many of the actors in Afghanistan, indeed a personal relationship with the current leadership of that country. It appears Mr. Mateen labors under delusions about his own power and influence. He is unmistakably an estranged individual there. We may say that his son, likewise, was an unhinged individual in this country, Rohrabacher added. Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs committee, also issued a statement. About a year and a half ago, we had a brief and inconsequential meeting. I routinely meet with Afghan-Americans, and I vaguely recall a discussion about the issue of Afghanistan-Pakistan relations, Royce said. According to the Associated Press, three separate, grainy photos posted on Facebook by Seddique Mir Mateen show him standing next to Reps. Royce, R-Calif., Rohrabacher, R-Calif., and Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y. Mateen came to the U.S. from Afghanistan three decades ago and has made a series of rambling political videos about his former homeland. Rangel downplayed his meeting as well, the Associated Press said. Hannah Kim, Rangels spokeswoman, said the congressman didnt meet with Mateen and doesnt remember the encounter. Kim said the photo with Rangel was taken on the day of President Barack Obamas State of the Union speech in 2015 when strangers constantly stop members for a photo in the hallways. Contact the writer: tsaavedra@ocregister.com However great the shock of the massacre in Orlando, it is only a matter of time before we start hearing again the fact-free dogma that diversity is our strength. Is diversity our strength? Or anybodys strength, anywhere in the world? Does Japans homogeneous population cause the Japanese to suffer? Have the Balkans been blessed by their heterogeneity or does the very word Balkanization remind us of centuries of strife, bloodshed and unspeakable atrocities, extending into our own times? Has Europe become a safer place after importing vast numbers of people from the Middle East, with cultures hostile to the fundamental values of Western civilization? When in Rome, do as the Romans do was once a common saying. Today, after generations in the West have been indoctrinated with the rhetoric of multiculturalism, the borders of Western nations have been thrown open to people who think it is their prerogative to come as refugees and tell the Romans what to do and to assault those who dont knuckle under to foreign religious standards. The recent wave of refugees flooding into Europe include Muslim men who have been haranguing European women on the streets for not dressing modestly enough, not to mention their sexual molestation of those women. Smug elites in Europe, like their counterparts in America, are not nearly as concerned about such things as they are about preventing Islamophobia. Legal restrictions on free speech in some European countries make it a crime to sound the alarm about the dangers to the culture and to the people. In the lofty circles of those who see themselves as citizens of the world, it is considered unworthy, if not hateful, to insist on living according to your own Western values or to resist importing people who increase your chances of being killed. But if you dont have the instinct for self-preservation, it will not matter much in the long run whatever else you may have. Americas great good fortune in the past has been that Americans have been able to unite as Americans against every enemy, despite our own internal differences and struggles. Black and white, Jew and gentile, have fought and died for this country in every war. It has not been our diversity, but our ability to overcome the problems inherent in diversity, and to act together as Americans, that has been our strength. In both World War I and World War II, the top commanders of American troops who went into combat against the German army were of German ancestry Pershing and Eisenhower, respectively. So too was General Carl Spaatz, whose bombers reduced German cities to rubble. Whatever their backgrounds, they were Americans when the chips were down. Today, that sense of American unity is being undermined by the reckless polarization of group identity politics. That affects not only how Americans see themselves, but how others in our midst see America. Some people demand American citizenship, as if it is an entitlement, while burning the American flag and waving the flag of Mexico. And the apostles of diversity and multiculturalism watch in silence. That includes the president. Probably most people in most groups are decent. But if 85 percent of the people in Group A present no serious problems and 95 percent of the people in Group B present no serious problems, that means you can expect three times as many serious problems when you admit immigrants from Group A. Unfortunately, there is remarkably little interest in the relevant facts about immigrants from specific countries. Most debates about immigration policies are contests in rhetoric, with hard facts being ignored as if they didnt exist. Tragically, the massacre in Orlando seems unlikely to change that. Too many people have too much invested in their own particular position to change, especially in an election year. SEAL BEACH With little fanfare, a city worker swung open the gate to the Seal Beach Pier on Tuesday morning, almost a month after a fire caused its closing. Once again, pedestrians strolled and children romped on the planks that form one of the longest wooden piers in California. Spectators peered through a chain-link fence at the charred remains of the structures that caught fire May 20 at the piers end. The affected area had already been off-limits. Since the closing of Rubys Diner in 2013, three vacant buildings that once housed the restaurant, a storage shack and a bait shop have been boarded up. At the City Council meeting Monday night, Orange County Fire Authority Division Chief Ken Cruz said an investigation confirmed the cause of the fire as an electrical malfunction beside the bait shop, allaying suspicions by some in the community that the fire was sparked by an arsonist. It was comforting to us to know that the fire was accidental and not arson, Cruz said. The investigation report submitted by OCFA explained that electrical wiring remained active at the bait shack, which had been abandoned for three years. A transformer on the south end of the pier supplied power to a boat ramp used by offshore oil workers and, at one time, to the buildings, according to the report. When the buildings were vacated, the power to them was turned off at the supply feed meters and the electrical connections were still in place, the report said. This left the neutral wires and grounding wires still connected to the complete system. Investigators found that, inadvertently, power was still being supplied to the circuit breaker panel in the bait shack through the neutral wire. Eventually, years of corrosion and low voltage energy through the neutral wire created enough heat to reach an ignition temperature, the report said. The damage to the pier is estimated at $5 million, the report said. Patrick Gallegos, the citys administrative manager, told City Council members that about 8,000 square feet of the damaged section needs to be rebuilt. Demolition will begin in two weeks and should be completed in five weeks, Gallegos said. Repairs to the pier will take eight to 12 months. The Southern California Edison transformer at the end of the pier will have to be hauled away by helicopter, he said. The pier is owned by the state and maintained by Seal Beach. The city insures the pier with the Joint Powers Insurance Authority, which specializes in public entities. During demolition and repairs, the pier will occasionally be closed to the public for safety concerns, Gallegos said. We understand the economic importance of the pier, especially over summer, he said. The citys website will post hours or days that the pier will need to be closed, Gallegos said. Mayor Sandra Massa-Lavitt agreed that the pier is important to attract shoppers and diners to Main Street. People stay longer when the pier is open, she said. We want people walking around and looking in store windows. Contact the writer: sgoulding@ocregister.com Lithuania's Ambassador to Ukraine Marius Janukonis has said that at present there is no reason to discuss lifting sanctions against Russia, and, if fighting escalates in Donbas, the sanctions need to be toughened. Speaking at the meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Interparliamentary Council in Kyiv on Tuesday, the ambassador said that the situation in Donbas remains tense and Russia does not observe the Minsk agreements, in particular their clause on ceasefire. "We can hardly call this the violation of the ceasefire, as there has not been any ceasefire there for months," Janukonis said. "We must not be tempted to feel weary of the Ukrainian issue. The country is in a state of war. One should not be afraid to openly state this fact," he added. At the same time, Janukonis said that the Minsk agreements remain the only key to resolving the conflict. According to the Lithuanian diplomat, one must be consistent in the implementation of the Minsk agreements, but be realistic at the same time. "We must understand that there can be no election on the de facto occupied territory of Ukraine's east until the security situation improves and the occupants are willing to accept the internationally recognized standards of elections," Janukonis said. "Therefore, we must continue to exert pressure on Russia, which is directly responsible for the violence in Ukraine's east. There can be no question of possible lifting of the sanctions under the circumstances. Moreover, if the situation gets worse, we will need to think about their strengthening, because this is a crucial time for Europe and the entire civilized world, which should to protect the "civilizational" choice of Ukraine. " Reporter Keith Sharon and photographer Jeff Gritchen have traveled from O.C. to China for the grand opening of Shanghai Disneyland. They will be reporting on their trip as they go. Here are the latest dispatches from the worlds newest Disneyland destination. Times and days are noted in Shanghai time, which is 15 hours ahead of Pacific Daylight Time. 4:35 p.m. Tuesday: The 7-foot-tall Lopez twins Its hard to miss the Lopez twins, the seven-footers who play in the NBA (Robin for the New York Knicks and Brook for the Brooklyn Nets). They were bouncing around the World of Disney store in Shanghais Disneytown. Robin wore an Indiana Jones-type hat. Brook has an ankle injury and walked in a boot. They said they had been to Shanghai on the Disney site when it was just a pile of dirt. Now theyre excited to see it again. Its a little overwhelming in a good way, Robin said. Its amazing to see the progress theyve made, Brook said. Weve been losing our minds ever since we got here. We couldnt contain ourselves. They were shopping for trading pins, trinkets and souvenirs to commemorate the grand opening of the park later this week. I wonder how theyll fit on the rides. 3:47 p.m. Tuesday: Lost in translation? I watched Toy Story 3 today because Im staying in the Toy Story Hotel. And I noticed something. This hotel is a cheery place with all the cast members smiling, waving and saying, Have a magical day! almost every time they see you. But the gift shop and the cafe are named after negative parts of the Pixar movie. Lotso gift shop is named for the bad-guy bear who betrays Buzz, Woody and the rest of the toys. And the Sunnyside Cafe is named for the daycare center/prison from which the characters must escape in the movie. Something must be lost in translation. Currently, there are no trumpets allowed at the Toy Story Hotel at #shanghaidisneyland A photo posted by Jeff Gritchen (@jgritchenphoto) onJun 13, 2016 at 6:49pm PDT http://platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js 8:30 a.m. Tuesday: A terrifying ride to the Toy Story Hotel Just checked into the Toy Story Hotel, where they give you a complementary umbrella. Its a sunny day today, but were in the middle of the rainy season in Shanghai. Theyve also got three sizes of Toy Story slippers. My room has a view of the TRON Lightcycle Power Run ride and the Enchanted Storybook Castle. We barely made it to the hotel alive after another harrowing taxi ride. We were stuck in traffic for a moment until our driver decided to dart across the middle of the road straight into oncoming traffic. We sped straight ahead, playing chicken with the car in front of us until our driver mercifully zipped back onto the right side of the road. As photographer Jeff Gritchen reached for his seatbelt, the driver told him emphatically, NO. So Jeff rode the entire 20 minutes without a seat belt. Im thinking Disney should create a ride called Shanghai Taxi. Shanghai taxi driver decides he doesnt want to wait for traffic passes cars by driving on the wrong side of the road. Unfortunately, this is not a ride at #shanghaidisneyland A photo posted by Jeff Gritchen (@jgritchenphoto) onJun 13, 2016 at 5:51pm PDT http://platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js 2:52 p.m. Monday: Sitting on a TRON Lightcycle for the first time I cant wait to ride TRON Lightcycle Power Run. That wont happen until later this week. But I did get to climb onto a lightcycle. Its going to be a unique riding experience. You have to wedge your body into the cycle with your weight over your belly and your knees. Your hands are outstretched in front of you, like you are grabbing the ears of a racehorse. Your feet are on pedals stretched out behind you. A pad flips up to cover your back. Weve heard its the fastest ride in the park. TRON Lightcycle Power Run goes through testing before the grand opening of #shanghaidisneyland #disney #disneyland A photo posted by Jeff Gritchen (@jgritchenphoto) onJun 13, 2016 at 6:28am PDT http://platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js 1:20 p.m. Monday: Looking for a familiar face Were constantly searching for Hidden Mickeys in Shanghai Disneyland. So far, we havent found many. Theres one over the clock tower at the entrance to the park. Were wondering if the concept of the hidden Mickey translates into Chinese culture. Weve heard they do have churros and turkey legs here, so well be searching for those too. Note from an editor: Keith has really been trying to find these, and sent me this photo in a text late Monday night. Mango pudding, he wrote. Would you call that a hidden Mickey? I told him its not hidden. He didnt respond Im guessing out of disappointment. MORE FROM SHANGHAI: Full coverage Shanghai Disneyland: Guests call rainy grand opening an experience of a lifetime Is Shanghai Disneylands Pirates of the Caribbean ride better than the original? Shanghai Disneyland: Get a sneak peek at Soaring ride, also coming to California this week Heres a look at Shanghai Disneyland Hotel, a world-class resort Shanghai Disneyland: Retired head of Imagineering has been to every Disney park opening, but nearly missed China Shanghai Disneylands Toy Story Hotel: Take a peek inside and out Shanghai Disneyland: Notes from Days 2 and 3, including a sneak peek inside the park Shanghai Disneyland: Notes from Day 1 on the trip to China Shanghai Disneyland: These super fans explain why theyre trekking to the grand opening A close-up look at Shanghai Disneyland: the biggest Disney Park ever DISH subscribers in the region are probably wondering what happened to KTLA. Tribune Broadcasting Company ended DISH customer access to 42 local channels in 33 markets after a dispute over carriage fees. The blackout began Sunday and affected WGN America access nationwide. In Los Angeles and Orange County, KTLA (the CW network) was blacked out, while in San Diego KSWB (Fox) was blacked out. Tribunes decision was done, intentionally harming and exploiting millions of innocent consumers in an effort to raise carriage rates and gain negotiating leverage for an unrelated cable channel with declining viewership, WGN America, DISH said in a press release. Tribune is demanding an unreasonable rate increase for channels that are available for free over the air, said Warren Schlichting, DISH executive vice president of Programming, in a statement. Actions like Tribunes are what drive price increases and feed customer frustration for our industry. Gary Weitman, spokesman for Chicago-based Tribune Media, said in a statement that Tribune has reached agreements with other distributors but DISH refuses to reach an agreement based on fair-market value. DISH claims Tribune is force bundling the unrelated, and low-performing cable channel, WGN American, with its local broadcast stations. DISH argues that this move is using local viewers as leverage to raise rates for WGN America. DISH, which has almost 14 million subscribers, is offering free antennas that will allow customers to watch Tribune local channels for free. Contact the writer: hmadans@ocregister.com or Twitter: @HannahMadans Donald Trump doubled down on his call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the U.S. while Hillary Clinton emphasized banning assault weapons and rooting out lone-wolf terrorists, as the two presumptive nominees on Monday addressed the massacre in Orlando. The two also attacked one another. Republican Trump claimed Clintons immigration policy would allow thousands of potential terrorists into the country. Democrat Clinton argued that her opponents proposals were anti-Muslim and helped fuel the efforts of radical jihadists. With the campaigns entering the general election phase, the vastly different approaches increased the clarity of the choice facing voters and offered a preview of the campaign battles ahead. Donald Trump is addressing those who are tired of nuance and talk of unity, and want something more aggressive, said Dan Schnur, director of the Jesse Unruh Institute of Politics at USC. She says hes reckless. He says shes a coward. She says shes being smart. Omar Mateen, killed 49 people and wounded 53 at a gay nightclub in Orlando on Sunday before he was killed in a shootout with police. The 29-year old, who was born in New York to Afghan parents, made a 911 call declaring his allegiance to ISIS before the rampage, according to authorities. In a Cleveland campaign speech Monday, Clinton recalled the bipartisan response after 9/11. She noted that Republican President George W. Bush visited an Islamic community center shortly after the attack in an effort to reach out to Muslims and ease the perception of some that Muslims were the enemy. It is time to get back to the spirit of those days, the spirit of 9/12, Clinton said. Schnur said Clintons call for unity was a tried-and-true campaign strategy. For 15 years, politicians have recognized that kind of approach appeals to undecided voters, he said. Trump is putting that to the test. Hes arguing that we need a different playbook. Trump, frequently looking to a teleprompter during a speech in New Hampshire, called for a partnership with the Muslim community. But he immediately went on to claim that members of the Islamic community knew about plans for the Orlando attack and a terrorist shooting last year in San Bernardino County, but didnt come forward. When people know whats going on and they dont tell us, there must be consequences, he said. Bad consequences. So far, no evidence has emerged publicly to indicate others were aware of Mateens plans to attack the nightclub. Trump said he would push for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country until a more thorough screening process can be put in place. He particularly emphasized the need to ban Syrian refugees, calling them a Trojan horse and attacking Clintons support for allowing 65,000 to come to the U.S. Clintons speech never mentioned Trump by name, but referred to statements he made both before and after the Orlando massacre. Inflammatory anti-Muslim rhetoric and threatening to ban the families and friends of Muslim Americans as well as millions of Muslim business people and tourists from entering our country hurts the vast majority of Muslims who love freedom and hate terror, she said. Both candidates called for the intelligence community to be given more resources for attacking terrorism. Trump accused the Obama Administration and Clinton while she was secretary of state of failing to address the threat of terrorism. Clinton on Monday discussed her preferred strategy for improving security and defeating ISIS. She said as president she would lead an effort to dismantle the terrorist network that raises money, spreads propaganda, recruits and transports arms. She applauded recent gains in fighting ISIS in Syria thanks to increased bombing, and said the FBI is working to build relationships within Muslim communities. We should be intensifying relations in those communities, not scapegoating or isolating them, she said. Meanwhile, Clintons call for a ban on assault weapons a renewal of a law in place from 1994 to 2004 was harshly rejected by Trump, who characterized her proposal as vastly more far-reaching than anything shes proposed. She wants to take away Americans guns and then admit the very people who want to slaughter us, Trump said. Both candidates embraced the LGBT community as part of the fabric of the country, with Trump claiming he was a better friend of the community than Clinton because she would allow more terrorists in the country. Earlier in the day, Trump expressed suspicions on Fox News that President Barack Obama may sympathize with terrorists since hes not doing more to prevent attacks. He doesnt get it or he gets it better than anybody understands, Trump said. Its one or the other. Trump didnt repeat the suggestion during his speech, in which he stood in front of U.S. flags and appeared to shift between reading a teleprompter and speaking spontaneously. His handlers are clearly trying to get him to act more presidential, said Jodi Balma, who teaches political science at Fullerton College. But he cant resist going off script. He keeps coming back to what works, which is fear. Hes definitely appealing to that anger and fear. Contact the writer: mwisckol@ocregister.com LONDON With nine days left before Britain votes on whether to remain in the European Union, the possibility of Turkeys becoming a member of the bloc has inflamed the debate, injecting divisive issues of race, religion and tolerance openly into the campaign. Supporters of a British exit from the EU say allowing Turkey in would leave Britain exposed to a new wave of Muslim immigration and more vulnerable to Islamic radicals. While Turkey has been pushing for membership, it faces considerable hurdles, and its entry, if it ever happens, would be many years, if not decades, away. The debate over the vote, which has split Prime Minister David Camerons Conservative Party, has largely played out around fear so far. Those in favor of remaining in the bloc, including Cameron, have emphasized the economic risks of a vote to leave. Those in favor of leaving, including other leading Conservatives, have stressed the social, cultural and economic risks of continued immigration from other EU countries, whose citizens are entitled to live and work in Britain. Most of the recent European immigrants to Britain have come from Poland, the Baltics, Spain and Greece. The emphasis on the supposedly imminent membership of Turkey, however, adds a new and darker aspect to the arguments for Britains leaving: Turkey would be the blocs second-largest country after Germany, and it is poor, is Muslim and borders Syria, where young British Muslims radicalized by the Islamic State travel to enter the netherworld of terrorism. The debate is happening when attacks like the one in Orlando, Florida, have raised concerns about both Islamic radicalism and Islamophobia. An unofficial group advocating that Britain leave the EU sent a controversial tweet on Monday, warning of Islamist extremism and urging an exit from the bloc before we see an Orlando-style atrocity here before too long. After immediate criticism, the tweet was deleted. In the Vote Leave campaigns official leaflet, which will go to some 40 million Britons, Turkish accession is a prominent theme, and a map shows how Turkish membership would mean a EU border with Syria and Iraq. Vote Leave also has asserted that Turkey has higher levels of criminality, gun ownership and gangsterism. Since the birthrate in Turkey is so high, we can expect to see an additional million people added to the U.K. population from Turkey alone within eight years, Vote Leave said. Trevor Phillips, a former chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission in Britain, said that there really isnt any doubt that what they are appealing to here is straightforward prejudice. Yvette Cooper, a Labour member of Parliament and former shadow foreign secretary, accused the leaders of the Vote Leave camp, Justice Secretary Michael Gove and the Conservative former mayor of London, Boris Johnson, of lying to voters and putting social cohesion at risk with their exaggerated warnings about emigration from Turkey and assertions that Turkey could be a full EU member by 2020. Cooper said the discussion was utterly shameful, since both men know that Turkey is many years away from joining the EU. Any member nation also could veto the countrys entry, including historical enemies such as Cyprus and Greece. They are deliberately manipulating the facts, they are deliberately telling lies, she said. It is shameful, utterly shameful. In the past, Cameron, who is the leader of the Remain campaign, has said it is government policy to support Turkish membership in the bloc when the country qualifies, a position that Johnson himself, whose great-grandfather was Turkish, also embraced enthusiastically at one point. Now, Stephens wrote, Johnson lets the Islamophobia hang in the air. Cameron and his deputy, George Osborne, the chancellor of the Exchequer, have pointed out that Turkeys membership is unlikely to happen, and would be decades away even if Cyprus and Greece went along. The authoritarian shift of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is driving away even Turkeys previous allies in Europe. Further, the government points out, Britain is not part of the Schengen area of visa-free travel. So even if the Turks won some form of visa-free travel for Schengen countries, which Erdogan is seeking in return for helping Europe control the flow of Syrian refugees, such a deal would not affect Britain. In response, the Leave campaign denied charges of racism and said: The government must now urgently clarify whether its policy on Turkey has changed. Is it now promising to veto Turkish membership? On Sunday, the visa issue surfaced again with some leaked British diplomatic cables in The Sunday Times of London discussing the debate over whether to grant Turkey EU visa liberalization in return for its efforts to house and control Syrian refugees. One cable from a British diplomat in Ankara, Turkeys capital, discussed whether Britain might itself grant visa-free status to 1.5 million Turkish special passport holders, who are mostly civil servants, as a significant and symbolic gesture to Turkey, in part to keep Erdogan from carrying out his threat to open the floodgates to Europe for migrants. The government responded by calling the article selectively leaked quotes that are designed to give a completely false impression that the U.K. is considering granting visa liberalization to some Turkish citizens. Both Cameron and Osborne have suggested that the Leave campaign has devolved from a more high-minded discussion of Britains role in the world and its sovereignty to the anti-immigration theme that has been the calling card of the U.K. Independence Party and its leader, Nigel Farage. We dont want Farages vision of Britain, Osborne said, calling it mean and divisive. Farage, in a television debate last week, said British women could be at risk of sexual assaults from immigrants if Britain voted to remain in the EU. Referring to reports of sexual assaults by migrants on German women in Cologne on New Years Eve in 2015, Farage called this the nuclear bomb of the referendum campaign. Gove said the EU should be protesting Turkeys erosion of democratic freedoms instead of granting it concessions. The referendum on June 23, Gove said, is the only chance for Britons to have their say on the free movement of Turks. Loading... OilVoice will be with you shortly... The government of France has made it clear that European Union's sanctions against Russia must be kept in place until Moscow impalements the Minsk agreements in full and this position remains unchanged, French Ambassador to Ukraine Isabelle Dumont has said. "The position of the French government was announced earlier: France continues the sanctions, this is the decision of the EU. The position of France on this issue is clear sanctions must remain in place, as Russia does not observe the Minsk agreements," the diplomat said during the presentation of the study on the Ukraine-France relations in Kyiv on Tuesday. According to her, the French Senate simply expressed its opinion and desire regarding the lifting of the sanctions. The French economy is suffering from the sanctions, so there is such a desire, Dumont explained. The European Union (EU) seeks to support various initiatives intended to develop the Black Sea region, EU Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Karmenu Vella has said. The idea is that each country has own challenges in this region and there are common challenges for the whole region, he said at the Third Black Sea Stakeholder conference in Odesa on Tuesday. Vella said that the EU backs the region in general. He added that he sees the largest potential for development of the Black Sea region in the tourism industry. Conference participants discussed the prospects for increasing the region's attractiveness for tourists, scientific cooperation, sustainable use of the Black Sea and other issues. Farmer-advocacy groups say they want potential producers of chickens to be able to make an informed decision when it comes to partnering with the company that has proposed a Fremont-area poultry plant. Theyre planning a series of meetings that they say will help educate area farmers about potential problems that can come with signing a contract to raise chickens for slaughter. The meetings are in response to retailer Costcos proposal to build a chicken processing plant in the Fremont area. To do that, the company would need to create a network of area farms to supply the plant with chickens. The groups, including the Nebraska Farmers Union, will play host to four meetings next week featuring national experts on poultry contracts. Such contracts have caused controversy in some circles. Opponents of the Fremont plant say chicken producers in the nations Southeast get a raw deal from poultry processors there. The opponents dont want the same kind of thing to happen in Nebraska. Nebraska farmers and Costco have an opportunity to lead the way to much needed improvements in the contract poultry industry, Carolyn Mugar, executive director of Farm Aid, said in a statement Monday. A representative of the Costco project told The World-Herald in May that the contracts that would be offered to Nebraska farmers would differ from those that are controversial in the Souths poultry belt. Walt Shafer, project manager for Georgia firm Lincoln Premium Poultry, which would operate the proposed Costco plant, said the Nebraska contracts would guarantee a certain base pay for farmers. Farmers would face no penalties that could lower the pay, he said. That differs from some companies contracts, which critics say pit growers against other growers and penalize those who deliver fewer live birds or birds of lower weights. The contracts, which Shafer said would contain performance incentives, also would promise growers that the company would deliver a set number of flocks of birds each year for 15 years, allowing farmers enough time and work to repay a bank loan. Those are the types of terms farmers in other parts of the country are fighting for, industry watchers have told The World-Herald. Speakers at the meetings will include Mike Weaver, president of the Poultry Growers Association of the Virginias, and Lynn Hayes, program director of the Farmers Legal Action Group. Other organizations involved in the events include the Organization for Competitive Markets and Nebraska Communities United. The planned meetings are on: June 20, noon, Nielsen Community Center in West Point. June 21, noon, Columbus Library. June 22, 7 p.m., Saunders County Historical Society in Wahoo. June 23, 7 p.m., Arlington Multipurpose Senior Center. The farmer meetings are separate from a series of Fremont city meetings, planned for June 20, 21, 27 and 28, regarding annexation and zoning changes needed to accommodate the proposed plant. The farmer meetings are open to the public. Organizers have asked attendees to RSVP to Nebraska Communities United Director Randy Ruppert at 402-936-4870. Costco representatives are welcome to attend the meetings, Ruppert said. Contact the writer: 402-444-1336, barbara.soderlin@owh.com This story has been corrected to reflect that meeting organizers welcome Costco representatives to the meetings, but that they have not extended a formal invitation. Malleshwaram blasts- Accused had sold explosives to bomber at Rs 2,000 Bengaluru oi-Vicky Bengaluru, June 14: The arrest of Daniel Prakash in connection with the Malleshwaram blasts is a breakthrough for the Bengaluru police. Prakash a resident of Tiruvenalli was arrested by the Central Crime Branch police. During the course of the investigation, it was found that Prakash had sold the gelatine sticks to his childhood friend, Syed Ali an accused in this case. [Malleshwaram blasts- Bengaluru police arrest prime suspect] He told the police that he had sold the gelatine sticks as well other explosives for Rs 2,000. It is however unclear if Prakash knew what Syed's motive was. The CCB police say that Daniel would steal the gelatine sticks and sell them to quarries. He had stolen the gelatine sticks which were placed outside Pudukodi in Tamil Nadu and sold it to Ali. The police say that the gelatine sticks had been stored to undertake a water project. Background: On April 17 2013, an explosion took place outside the BJP's office in Malleshwaram, Bengaluru. 16 persons were injured in the blast. Investigations had shown that ammonium nitrate had been used in the explosives. It was also discovered a motor cycle stolen from Hyderabad had been used in the blast. In October 2013, a chargesheet had been filed against several persons in connection with this case. The police had named Basheer, Kichan Buhari, Sait Azgar Ali, Rehamathulla, Valayil Hakeem, Syed Suleman, Suleman, Zulfikar Ali, Mohammed Salim, Panna Ismail, Bilal Malik, Fakruddin, Pravai Basha and Ali Khan Kutti. The police had suspected that the attack could have been the handiwork of the Al-Ummah which is based in Tamil Nadu. OneIndia News From 89 cuts to one cut: Freedom of speech wins the Udta Punjab battle Feature oi-Oneindia By Maitreyee Boruah Of late, we are witnessing how politicians and government machineries are working hand in glove to control what we eat, say, watch or wear. At times, our right to love a person of our choice also comes in direct conflict with the prescribed social norms-hardly backed by any law books. These kinds of conflicts are in direct contradiction with the dream to make India a world superpower. It seems the Aam Aadmi (the common man) has lost his/her discretion to lead a free life without any interference from the state machineries. During such a slippery stage of our lives comes a Bollywood movie-Udta Punjab. If not for its content or style of filmmaking, the directorial venture of Abhishek Chaubey will be always remembered for its bitter battle against censorship laws in the country. Thankfully, after the Bombay High Court on Monday (June 13) cleared the film with just one cut, as opposed to 89 cuts proposed by the Censor Board of Film Certification (CBFC), we can proudly say it is a major victory for freedom of speech. Freedom of speech upheld Freedom of speech and expression is the most basic of all freedoms granted to the citizens of India in the Constitution. It allows us to freely express our ideas and thoughts through any medium such as print, visual, and voice. The upcoming film faced harsh "scissor cuts" from the censor board. The chairperson of the CBFC Pahlaj Nihalani proposed 89 cuts and removal of any reference to Punjab from the film, including the title, before it could be released across the country. The makers of the film, including its co-producer Anurag Kashyap--who himself is a film director--vehemently opposed the decision of the censor board to muzzle the "creative voice" of the director. Hence the cast and crew of the film knocked at the door of the Bombay High Court to get justice. "None can dictate to the maker how to make his film and what should be the context...It is entirely for them to choose the setting, the under-lying theme and storyline," the court observed. The court, without mincing any words, honoured the right of filmmakers to make films on subjects of their choices and they have all the freedom to tell stories in their own individual styles. Drug abuse: Politicians drunk on power In the crux of the controversy lies the large-scale spread of drug abuse in Punjab--the subject of Udta Punjab. The members of the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Punjab alleged that the film showcases the state in a bad light. As the assembly elections are scheduled in Punjab in January 2017, the film became a battle ground for SAD-BJP alliance on one hand and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress on the other. Allegations and counter-allegations flew thick and fast. There were allegations that the film was produced by AAP to defame the ruling parties in Punjab. The AAP is contesting the upcoming assembly elections and its leaders continuously spoke against the failure of BJP-SAD alliance to curb the drug menace in the state. Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi kick-started the party's election campaign in Punjab by talking against prevalence of substance abuse on Monday. "The government here encourages the drug trade because it benefits them. We can solve the problem in one month if we are voted to power," Gandhi said. "All that needs to be done is give the police a free hand. Free them from the clutches of the Akalis. Once that is done, the business of drugs can be ended in four weeks," the Congress leader added. Udta Punjab is a film, not a political propaganda The Bombay High Court has a message for those who alleged that the film is a propaganda strategy of rivals to attack the ruling parties in Punjab. "The film is not made keeping in mind elections in Punjab," the court stated. The HC also has a message for the censor board which has come under sharp criticism for taking arbitrary decisions on behalf of the audiences. "Punjab is the land of warriors, freedom fighters and martyrs. The censor board need not be so over-sensitive in a matter of art," stated the HC. It also asked the censor board to not act like a grandmother and change as per times. The film--which has generated so much curiosity among the movie-buffs-because of its makers' battle with the censor board will finally be subjected to audiences' scrutiny. After all, no one but the audiences should have the final say on a film. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, June 14, 2016, 9:45 [IST] Anupama Shenoy's two contradicting resignation letters India oi-Shreyas Bengaluru, June 14: After high drama, largely in social media the home department accepted the resignation of Deputy Superintendent of Police, Kudligi, Anupama Shenoy. Shenoy has wrote two resignation letters, both of which are in possession of OneIndia. In one resignation letter written on June 4, Shenoy said "I have continuously made efforts to uproot supply of illicit liquor in my subdivision through exercising stern actions. But the mafia in Kudligi Taluk of Bellary district is hugely powerful and many low rank officers have surrendered to the mafia." Anupama further wrote protest demonstration that was staged against her in Kudligi was a political one. In her letter, Shenoy also took the name of Bellary district-in-charge minister saying protests were done under the influence of labour minister Parameshwar Naik. She also said some officers in the police department too allegedly influenced protesting mass to do so. Follwing are the images of two resignation letters of Anupama She expressed in her letter submitted to Home Department that she has failed to thwart protest and is ready for any punishments by the department. In her final statement she said "I am distressed by the developments and hence decide to resign from the post." However interestingly in another letter written on the same day, Anupama cited personal reasons for her resignation. She wrote "Due to personal reasons I am unable to work in the department thus tendering my resignation." This letter contains a seal of police superintendent office and this was the letter accepted by the home department. OneIndia News Man booked for tweets against Maha CM; has a history of such posts against leaders Art of Living to hold Yoga Day celebrations in 100 countries India oi-PTI Mumbai, Jun 14: Social organisation Art of Living will be holding International Yoga Day celebrations on June 21 not just in India, but across 100 countries of the world. Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar will open Yoga Day celebrations at the European Parliament, Brussels by leading the parliament members through a guided meditation at the prestigious Yehudi Menuhin Hall. We haven't damaged Yamuna floodplains ecology: Art of Living He will also lead a series of public events on Sudarshan Kriya, yoga, and meditation in the cities of Washington DC, Boston, Columbus, Minnesota, San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle as well as the United Kingdom," according to a statement issued by the foundation here. It also said that over 20,000 people are expected to take part in Yoga Day programmes to be held in Delhi, while about 16,500 in Mumbai at four venues. In Mumbai, a programme will be held at Borivali East on June 19, while the other three would take place on June 21 at Carter Road in Bandra, Poisar Gymkhana in Kandivali West and in CIDCO exhibition ground in Navi Mumbai. "Just like the sun, yoga is age-old and yet ever-new. It is a holistic way of life that integrates all elements to make a prayerful discipline uniting the body, mind and soul," Kamlesh Barwal, Global Head, Art of Living said. PTI The Ukraine-NATO Interparliamentary Council has called on NATO member states to increase their assistance to Ukraine, co-chairs of the council Andriy Parubiy and Raynell Andreychuk said. "We call on all NATO countries to increase bilateral assistance to Ukraine. The Euro-Atlantic community should demonstrate patience as vis-a-vis Ukraine implements military, political and economic reforms," they said in a joint statement issued in Kyiv on Tuesday. The NATO-Ukraine Interparliamentary Council also urges Ukraine to continue the successful implementation of the Annual National Program of cooperation with NATO in 2016. In addition, the Council called on Ukrainian politicians to accelerate the pace of reforms and to eradicate corruption and oligarchic influences. "The Summit in Warsaw will be an important opportunity for NATO Allies to assess Ukraines progress with reforms and to confirm their support for a sovereign, independent and stable Ukraine," Parubiy and Andreychuk said. At the same time, the co-chairs of Ukraine-NATO Interparliamentary Council expressed regret over the fact that the Minsk agreements have not yet been fully implemented, and urged Moscow and its supporters in eastern Ukraine to stop regular ceasefire violations in Donbas. In addition, Andreychuk and Parubiy called for the continuation of international sanctions against Russia. Baliga murder: Police seize Naresh Shenoy's Toyota Innova car India oi-Shreyas Mangaluru, June 14: It appears Mangaluru cops are inching closer to nab Yuva Brigade leader Naresh Shenoy, main accused in RTI activist Baliga murder case. On Monday, June 13 a team of police seized Naresh Shenoy's car from B C Road in Dakshina Kannada district. According to sources Toyota Innova belonging to Naresh was captured from a hotel in B C Road and is now placed in Barke police station in Mangaluru city. The car bearing registration number KA 19 MA 9501 was secretly hid in an upscale hotel by an aide of Naresh Shenoy, Vijay Shenoy. It reliably learnt from the police sources that, Vijay was once enquired by the police. However after seizure of the car, Vijay is making all the desperate attempts to set his foot on run. The cops have to be extra careful in keeping radar on Vijay so that he won't be slipped out of hands. Moreover, sources say Vijay too was part of a conspiracy played by Naresh Shenoy to slay RTI activist Vinayak Baliga. Arrest of Vijay will make the cops to move nearer to Naresh Shenoy. In all likelihood, Vijay would be having information of Naresh which will further facilitate the cops to nab accused Naresh who is still at large. OneIndia News Prashant Kishor claims Nitish Kumar in touch with BJP says don't be surprised if he joins hands with it again BJP MP makes U-turn on Kairana migration, says it's not a communal issue India oi-PTI Muzaffarnagar, Jun 14: Making a U-turn, BJP MP Hukum Singh today said the "migration" of Hindus from Kairana in western Uttar Pradesh was "not communal" in nature but had more to do with the law and order situation even as he claimed the number of families that had to flee can go up to 400-500. "It is not about communal incidents... It is not about Hindus or Muslims," the Kairana MP told reporters here, adding it has more to do with the law and order situation. "The list (of those who had to flee) will go on further, I believe. It can go up to 400-500. There is not one accused (who forced people to migrate), they are here in dozens," Singh said. He had earlier said that from the names of the accused, "one can grasp who are these people", hinting at involvement of members of the Muslim community. The MP had earlier released a list of 346 families who had been forced to flee the town, which has 85 per cent Muslim population. Kairana is in Shamli district which witnessed communal riots in 2013. Today, Singh released another list of 63 Hindu families and claimed that they had to flee Kandhla town in Shamli district. "These Hindu families have left under duress," he claimed. When asked that some Muslim families too have left the area, he said, "Others have gone for their (own) purposes." Shamli District Magistrate Sujeet Kumar, however, ruled out any communal and law and order issues behind some people leaving the area. "Till now we have investigated the list of 119 families. Around 10-15 families, mentioned in the list, still live in Kairana and around 68 families have migrated from the area 10-15 years ago. They moved out because of economic reasons. Till now, we have not found any case where there has been a law and order problem. "There is no communal activity, the Karaina town has always been peaceful... During Babri Masjid demolition in 1992, the area remained peaceful, and even during Muzaffarnagar riots of 2013, people here sent a strong message of brotherhood," Kumar said. Top BJP leaders, who were in Allahabad for the two-day national executive meeting, raked up the issue of alleged migration of Hindus from Kairana to attack the Samajwadi Party government in the state ahead of the Assembly election to be held early next year. PTI Two arrested for firing at a person in north Delhi Chhath Puja fasting rules: What one must keep in mind during the 4-day festival BJP to project Dr Murli Manohar Joshi as next president of India: Reports India oi-Preeti Panwar New Delhi, June 14: BJP has projected its veteran leader Dr Murli Manohar Joshi as the candidate for the next year presidential elections in India. As per a report published in India Today, 82-yearold Joshi recently held a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and othet senior leaders of the party, in the race to the Rashtrapati Bhavan. On May 22, Joshi had also met PM Modi over dinner at the 7 Race Course Road and held talks in the same context. After meeting PM, Joshi met Bhagwat at RSS headquarters in Nagpur earlier this month. Since then, he is in constant talks with the BJP and RSS leaders. On June 6 and June 7, he met some RSS leaders in Mumbai. Sources said that PM Modi and BJP national president Amit Shah have taken this decision, in an attempt to honour Joshi, by nominating him for the country's top post. If Joshi's candidature is finalised for the country's next president, then this move of the BJP will also help the party in strengthening its position in next year Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. Joshi's nomination can help BJP in fetching Brahmin votes in 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls. According to a report published in India.com, other high-profile names that are doing the rounds for India's next president are- parliamentary leader Venkaiah Naidu, Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan, Thawar Chand Gehlot, Uttar Pradesh governor Ram Naik, Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar. The five-year tenure of the incumbent President Pranab Mukherjee comes to an end in 2017. Joshi nowhere in posters at BJP meet in Allahabad Once one of the three pillars of the BJP along with Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani, Murali Manohar Joshi is now nowhere on the party's leadership spectrum here at the National Executive meeting. Joshi, a former party president, was nowhere to be seen on the posters and hoardings here, even in those that feature both Vajpayee and Advani. BJP sources said Joshi, who represented this city in Parliament for three terms, has been here for two days, but no one from the party has paid him any attention. After being pushed out from Allahabad, Joshi contested the Lok Sabha election from Varanasi in 2009 and from Kanpur in 2014. OneIndia News CBFC needs overhaul, Nihalani's ouster not enough: Kashyap India oi-PTI Mumbai, Jun 14: Welcoming the High Court's verdict in favour of their film, "Udta Punjab" co-producer Anurag Kashyap today sought censor board chief Pahlaj Nihalani's removal and overhaul in CBFC. "We have a humongous problem with Mr Nihalani but if he goes who will come in? What's the guarantee that if someone comes in, he will not interpret the Cinematograph Act and the law the same way, or may be worse or better. The system needs overhaul. It is not just Nihalani, who needs to be replaced, which we want," he told reporters here. Kashyap was at the forefront of the fight against the board, which had asked for multiple cuts in the drug-themed drama, directed by Abhishek Chaubey. The producers had moved the Bombay High Court against the the Central Board of Film Certification's decision (CBFC). The court cleared the film for release with just one cut. Kashyap said they were careful in not letting the film get dragged into politics while they were fighting the censorship. "Something that we have consistently seen that in such cases, the issue always gets lost, gets too political and people get too defensive. It kind of loses scope. This fight was about the film, about what we believed in. I think it stayed singular and the industry joined in," Kashyap said. The filmmaker said he has realised that they can win such fights if the industry comes together. "I have never seen so many people come together. Seeing that response somewhere, they have also realised that industry always needed to come together. It became one this time. That has put pressure on them." Kashyap said people get offended easily nowadays and the industry becomes a soft target. "We are soft target and we should stand against this and say 'Stop making us a soft target'." When asked why they were not as vocal as Kashyap on the issue, film's lead star Shahid Kapoor said they were relatively new to the problem and wanted a more experienced voice to defend the film. "I think me and Alia are still new to the censorship issue... So we chose to do it in a way that was as balanced as possible. I think the representation was not from the point of view of what will get more headlines but who will speak better and represent the film better. I have to thank Anurag for doing that," said Shahid. He praised Kashyap for fighting for the movie at a time when he was busy on his own directorial venture's release. "It is a very busy time for a filmmaker. It is very selfless on his (Kashyap's) part," he said. PTI This UP village lights up on Diwali, for the first time ever! UP elections may have some surprises: Rahul ruled out as CM, Cong silent over Priyanka India oi-Pallavi Lucknow, June 14: As the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections inch closer, there has been a growing speculation over the chief ministrial candidate in the state. While Congress has ruled out Rahul Gandhi's role as the CM, it is sitting zipped-mouth on the launch of Priyanka Gandhi as the new face of Congress. Ghulam Nabi Azad, however, says that the party can come to a decision only after strengthening its footing in the state. He said, "Uttar Pradesh chief minister will be announced at the appropriate time. Rahul Gandhi is our national leader and there is no question of him being made a chief minister." On popping Priyanka's question, he said, "We will project a Congress face before the polls, but only after getting the party strengthened in the state." Made in-charge of the Uttar Pradesh affairs Azad said that he would make the people aware of the forces that divide them in the name of religion. Referring to the Muzaffarnagar riots and the more recent Mathura and Kairana incidents, Azad said that the opposition party is trying to divide the state on the basis of religion. Blaming the Center for its inefficiency of checking such hate mongers, Azad further said, "On the other side, they (Centre) is providing them assistance. The Centre is itself involved in a conspiracy of dividing people in the name of religion for the vote bank politics." He also said that several parties are involved in polarisation for the sake of votes. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, June 14, 2016, 12:48 [IST] A sigh of relief: Delhi air quality improves to 'poor' Interim stay on construction of Uttarakhand's Tiger Safari Two arrested for firing at a person in north Delhi Delhi LG approves Chhath ghats, warns CM against 'premature publicity' over it Chhath Puja fasting rules: What one must keep in mind during the 4-day festival Police arrest UP siblings wanted in separate rape, kidnapping cases Delhi minister Gopal Rai quits over Health Issues India oi-IANS By Ians English New Delhi, June 14:Delhi Transport Minister Gopal Rai, facing charges of corruption, has resigned, official sources said on Tuesday,June 14. Gopal Rai resigns citing health grounds issues. According to reports, PWD and Health minister Satyendra Jain will take the charge of Transport ministry. IANS ISIS is a marketing wonder- Exercise caution before crediting it India oi-Vicky New Delhi, June 14: A tweet by Mehdi Hassan a presenter on Al Jazeera read, " ISIS thrives on publicity and fear. Republicans and CNN spent the whole night publicising them and being afraid of them. Job done." In this context one must also look at an article written Chris Doyle the director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding states, ISIS wants a five star ticket to publicity. It gets it." Success lies in propaganda and this is exactly what the outfit thrives on. 90 per cent of their beheading videos are fake. Their clarion calls for establishing a Caliphate is laughed upon by the sensible Muslim. The ISIS was quick to take responsibility for the Orlando incident in the United States of America and why not, it was a major event and signals their arrival at the most powerful country in the world. ISIS designs currency for Jammu and Kashmir Credit with caution: The experts believe that the FBI was right in not immediately attributing the attack to the ISIS. The ISIS believes in a cost effective way of spreading terror. They are happier claiming credit for attacks carried out by lone wolves who do not depend on the outfit for funds, arms or logistics. It is clear from the Orlando incident that the entire operation was planned by Mateen Omar. However he did the ISIS a favour by calling 911 that fateful morning and pledging his allegiance to the outfit. In the aftermath of the Paris attacks, it was found that all the terrorists were associated with the ISIS. However the entire planning and execution was carried out by the terrorists involved in the attack. They need to approach the high command for funds or arms. What the ISIS believes in is running the group in auto pilot mode when it comes to operations outside of Syria and Iraq. The youth who are radicalised on the net form a module on their own and plan attacks. All they need to do is credit the ISIS at the end of an attack and the outfit is happy with just that. ISIS celebrated death of VHP leader Ashok Singhal The Orlando attack clearly shows that Omar was self radicalised. He just believed in the ideology and decided to credit the outfit. The experts feel that the ISIS will claim credit for any attack in the US or Europe, but one must exercise caution while trusting them. If intelligence and investigating agencies go with the flow and blame the ISIS for the heck of it, it does the outfit more good as such publicity helps them rope in more radicals. A marketing wonder: The ISIS since day one has been a marketing wonder. The call for the Caliphate their biggest advertisement which led to many believing that the ISIS was the true answer to Islam. The second gimmick were the Jihadi John videos in which brutality was painted all over. In addition to this there were other gimmicks of photographs with children holding guns being circulated. Officials say that 90 per cent is propaganda and fake. What the ISIS has managed to do is capture the imagination of several youth. There is a very rosy picture painted by the ISIS. They sell the dreams of a Caliphate and also the imposition of the Sharia law. The ISIS like the al-Qaeda has also set up a studio with state of the art cameras where beheading videos are shot. Most of them are gimmicks and meant to breed fear. For a radical mind, it is brutality that attracts. For the ISIS, it is more important to be in the news. Its members are extremely active on the social media. All day long they speak of propaganda and brutality. If one were to look at the some of the cases against this outfit being investigated, it clearly shows that there is there is a lot of talking and planning. An NIA officer says, the bigger danger that the ISIS poses is taking over the minds of youth and turning it radical. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, June 14, 2016, 9:40 [IST] Truth has come out, says Sasikala in reaction to OPS's remark before panel Jayalalithaa death probe: TN cabinet to decide on enquiry against Sasikala and others Never interfered in medical treatment of Jayalalithaa: Sasikala denies all allegations levelled by panel Jayalalithaa arrives in capital to meet PM Modi India oi-PTI New Delhi, June 13: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa arrived here on Tuesday,June 14 on her first visit after her election victory during which she is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. She was given a guard of honour by the Tamil Nadu Special Police contingent at the Tamil Nadu house. The chief minister is meeting Modi when she is likely to pitch for central assistance to development projects in the state. She is also likely to meet union ministers Nirmala Sitaraman and Pon Radhakrishnan and discuss central schemes with them. PTI India always views war as last resort, but... : PM Modi to armed forces in Kargil Modi govt reaches out to public to rate its initiatives India oi-PTI New Delhi, Jun 14 Having completed two years of governance, the Narendra Modi government has reached out to public to rate its various initiatives through the 'MyGov' platform. "As you are aware, Jan-Bhagidari (people's participation) is a cornerstone of the governments governance efforts. In keeping with this spirit, here is an opportunity to give your feedback on these initiatives through the 'Rate My Government' survey," reads a post on MyGov website. Besides rating government's initiative on the website, people can also participate in the suvey through a toll free Number 1800-11-7800 or give a missed call at 09514200100. The total number of responses through these two additional streams will be collated in the final tally on the website. "Your responses will help the government in further improving these programmes, serving you better and making India great," the post said. The Modi government last month celebrated its two years in office with a gala event, which had a smattering of Bollywood actors. Also, the Prime Minister had asked his Council of Ministers to reach out to people to create awareness among them about the schemes and initiatives launched by his government in the last two years. PTI Prashant Kishor claims Nitish Kumar in touch with BJP says don't be surprised if he joins hands with it again Now, allegations of land grab against another Maha minister India oi-PTI Mumbai, June 14: After former Revenue Minister Eknath Khadse, allegations of land grab have surfaced against another BJP leader and state minister Girish Mahajan, with Congress on Tuesday,June 14 accusing him of "forcibly" acquiring land in Jalgaon district in 2002 under the pretext of setting up a sugar mill. Congress also alleged that the Water Conservation Minister purposefully kept the "illegal" land deal under wraps and did not disclose it in his electoral affidavits. The party threatened to approach court against Mahajan, seeking his disqualification as an MLA for "concealing the details of his land ownership from election affidavits in subsequent Assembly elections (after 2002)". Meanwhile, the NCP said Mahajan has "no moral or legal right to continue as minister after a series of misappropriations". Addressing reporters here, MPCC spokesperson Sachin Sawant alleged that "in 2002, Mahajan, along with Khadse, forcibly and illegally acquired around 5 acres of land at Mangaon village in Bhusawal taluka in Jalgaon district under the garb of starting a cooperative sugar mill, which never came up". The Congress leader alleged the land deal was executed without taking permission from the then government. "If he (Mahajan) wanted to start a sugar mill, why was the land transferred in his name? On top of it, this is 'Mahar vatan' land, which cannot be transferred without the government's permission, which in this case was not taken," Sawant alleged. 'Watan' lands are 'inam' (gift from a ruler to a subject) for service. The term is generally used in a wider sense to denote any alienation in land with or without service. NCP MLC Kiran Pawaskar said the Congress should instead move court against Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for "shielding" Mahajan. "This is not the first time Mahajan has been accused of indulging in wrongdoings. Firstly, he has violated his oath that he took before becoming a minister by keeping illegal property in his name. Also, he is a habitual offender. There was no action taken against him when he had once carried a revolver while visiting students in school," he said. Pawaskar said that Mahajan has no right to continue as minister. "Such a person has no right to be a minister. Either the CM takes immediate action against him or the Congress, instead of approaching the court against Mahajan, should instead do so against Fadnavis for shielding and not taking action against his errant minister," Pawaskar said. When contacted for his reaction, Mahajan merely said that he could not recall clearly whether he had purchased any such land. Khadse had resigned recently over allegations of graft and conflict of interest in the purchase of land in Pune district in name of his kin. PTI The Venice Commission has urged Ukraine to the repeal the law allowing parties to exclude candidates for MPs from their party tickets after the announcement of the election results but before the recognition of this candidate as an elected MP by the Central Election Commission. At its plenary meeting on June 10-11, the Venice Commission adopted an opinion on Ukrainian law No. 3700 on the amendments to the law on the election of Ukrainian MPs on the exclusion of candidates from party lists, the commission's press service reported on Tuesday. "The Venice Commission has already expressed itself on the powers entrenched in the Constitution of Ukraine whereby a deputy who changes his or her political formation can be deprived of his or her parliamentary seat by decision of the original political formation. It has deplored this constitutional regulation enabling the dismissal of elected MPs," the commission said in a statement. In conformity with its previous comments on Article 81 of the Constitution, the Venice Commission "considers as contrary to international standards the empowerment of political parties ex post facto to deny the electorate its choice and choose who to place on its party list in a position to be elected." The power of political parties to remove from their lists, after an election has taken place, candidates who at the time were 'deemed unelected' but retain a potential to be elected, should be removed in the light of European standards, the commission said. The commission also said it remains at the disposal of the Ukrainian authorities for any further co-operation on this matter. As reported, on February 16, the Verkhovna Rada passed bill No. 3700 on the amendments to the law on the election of Ukrainian MPs, which gives political parties the right to exclude candidates for members of parliament of Ukraine from their party tickets in a multi-member election district after the announcement of the election results but before the recognition of this candidate as an elected MP by the Central Election Commission. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed this bill on February 25. The bill says that subject to a resolution of the congress (meeting, conference) of the party, it can exclude candidates from the party's electoral list after the announcement of election results but before their recognition by the Central Election Commission. According to the document, a candidate can be excluded from the party's election ticket at any time after the election day before the CEC issues a decision to recognize this candidate as the one that has been elected to parliament. Previously, the non-governmental organization the Committee of Voters of Ukraine (CVU) called on the president to veto the law, noting that this document actually establishes "the dictatorship of parties" in Ukraine. Parliamentary elections in Ukraine take place under a mixed voting system. Over 12,000 Hindus gather in Kashmir to celebrate Maha Kumbh India oi-IANS By Ians English Srinagar, June 14: About 12,000 Hindus, mostly migrant Kashmiri Pandits, on Tuesday gathered at the 'Sangam' (confluence) of the Jhelum river and Sindh stream in Ganderbal district of Jammu and Kashmir to celebrate 'Maha Kumbh'. "Last time we had such alignment of celestial bodies was in 1941 and today after 75 years and 10 days the same celestial alignment is in place," said Ashutosh Bhatnagar, 44, who had come from Delhi to take part in the Maha Kumbh though he is not a Kashmiri. The Sangam at Saidipora village in Ganderbal has always been sacred to the local Pandit community for the immersion of the ashes of their dead, he said. "Maha Kumbh is an event that the devotees could not miss and that is why we have come in such large numbers to be part of this auspicious occasion," Bhatnagar said. The Maha Kumbh this year has been declared by Omkar Nath Shastri, an astrologer whose family is known for publishing Panchang (Hindu almanac) for Kashmiris before the Pandit migration took place in early 1990s. "At this confluence of Jhelum river and Sindh stream Kumbh is celebrated every 12 years and Ardh Kumbh every six years," said Bharat Raina, convener of Tuesday's function at Sangam. Raina said a 12-hour long 'Havan' (offerings to fire) was started on Monday at Sangam and will end on Tuesday. "On this day, the devotees take a bath at the holy Sangam to wash away their sins and then proceed to the little island at the confluence where a Chinar tree has been growing since long," he said. "This little piece of land at the confluence is the sanctum sanctorum of the holy place. Devotees offer water to the Shivling on this island. After the Havan, the devotees will take 'Prasad' and distribute it among their near and dear ones back home," said Raina. This is the first time since the migration of local Pandits from the Valley that they have come in such large numbers to be part of the Maha Kumbh at Saidipora Sangam. However, in 2011, around 35,000 Hindus, mostly from south India, had gathered at Sangam in Saidipora village to celebrate 'Pushkar' which is basically a south Indian Hindu celebration taking place at river banks. Authorities have made tight security arrangements for the devotees who will start leaving the Valley on Tuesday evening. IANS Want Sabarimala to be national pilgrim centre, says Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan Vaishno Devi pilgrim dies in J&K (Katra) India oi-PTI Jammu, June 14: A Vaishno Devi-bound pilgrim died apparently after falling off from a cliff in Katra town of Reasi district. The body of the 25-year-old pilgrim, identified as Lakshmi Gupta, a resident of New Delhi, was found in a stream in Lambikeri area en route to the Bhavan today, a police officer said. The body was shifted to sub-district hospital Katra for legal and medical formalities, he said. He said that the woman, who got married on March 10, had come along with her husband. A case has been registered and investigation initiated, he said. PTI What does the US actually want in Syria? US has seen 2 more mass shootings after Orlando; it seems the tunnel is endless International oi-Shubham Washington, June 14: Even as the American authorities and the people are struggling to come to terms with the horrific shooting in a gay nightclub in Orlando on June 12, two more instances of mass shooting have taken place at public places after that. Orlando Shooting Though none have been killed in the twin incidents that occurred on Monday (June 13), 10 have been injured. ['Orlando massacre maximised Trump's chances'] 2 mass shootings took place on Monday, June 13, though none was killed The first post-Orlando mass shooting occurred in southeast Fresno in California on Monday morning in which four teenagers were injured in gunshots. According to the police, "many, many shots" were fired at a party. The victims include two 19-year-old men and a 16 and 14-year-old boy. One the 19-year-old was shot several times in the lower body while the others sustained injuries in their limbs or chest. A pit bull dog was also shot at. The shooter was yet to be traced. Opening fire at the slightest provocation The police were alerted to the shootings by its ShotSpotter system. They added that the shootings happened at a house which was prepared for a big event, possibly a graduation party. Alcohol and plastic drinking cups were found inside the venue. The shooting could have happened as a gang retaliation or carried out by an annoyed ex-boyfriend. Shooting over a bag! The other shooting incident took place over a pricey bookbag at a playground in Brooklyn and it left five teenagers injured, the police said. The youngsters ran for cover as gunshots started at the playground shortly after 5 pm. Though police said five people were injured, other sources said the number was six. While four victims were taken to the hospital, two walked on their own, said sources. None of the injuries looked life-threatening. The police said the teenagers were arguing over an MCM bookbag and it led to the fire. After Pranab Mukherjee, Modi likely to visit African countries International oi-PTI Accra, Jun 14: Close on the heels of President Pranab Mukherjee's maiden visit to three African nations -- Ghana, Ivory Coast and Namibia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also likely to visit a few countries of the continent soon as part of India's to outreach Africa. The indications of this plan was given by Mukherjee while he was addressing the Indian community here Monday during a reception hosted by the Indian High Commissioner to Ghana K Jeeva Sagar. In Ghana, President Mukherjee calls for UN reforms Recalling 'age-old' friendly relations of Indians with Africa, the President said the relationship has deepened over the years. "My first visit as President of India to three African countries is not accidental," he said, adding it was a follow-up action initiated by the Prime Minister after India Africa Forum Summit held in New Delhi last year. "Very recently, just a few days before Vice President Hamid Ansari visited Tunisia and Morocco. I am visiting these three countries and shortly Prime Minister is also going to undertake visits to four-five African countries to give a message that 'Africa, we stand by you'," the President said. Speaking to the Indian community, he asked them to join the campaigns launched by Prime Minister Modi such as 'Digital India', 'Startup India, Stand up India', 'Clean India Mission', 'Smart Cities' etc. The President said India's trade with Africa is over USD 70 billion and investments worth about USD 35 billion. Addressing the community, he said their efforts were complementing many foreign policy measures taken by the Indian government to assist the friendly countries in Africa, including Ghana. He said India has extended over USD 400 million of concessional credit to Ghana in the last few years for various projects. "Exim bank is also providing funding for a railway project. India-Ghana bilateral trade has reached USD three billion and Indian investments in this country are estimated at around USD one billion," the President noted. Mukherjee, during his talks with Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama, said both the sides have agreed to take the trade to USD five billion by 2020. He also praised the Indian diaspora for its engaging role as "force multiplier" in the country's economic growth. "These giant strides would not have been possible without the active role of the diaspora. You have become force multipliers of India's growing economic strength. I thank you for your commitment," he said. PTI Israel for the first time wins UN committee chair International oi-PTI United Nations, Jun 14: Israel has been elected to chair a UN committee for the first time in the world body's 71-year history, triggering strong protests from Arab countries and the Palestinians. Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon won the chair of the legal affairs committee of the General Assembly yesterday by picking up 109 votes from the 193 member-states. Danon's candidacy was put to a vote by secret ballot at the request of Arab countries. All of the other committee chairs were chosen by consensus. Palestinian envoy Riyad Mansour criticised the regional group for putting forward Danon's candidacy, saying he was divisive and unworthy of the task. "They should have advanced a very responsible qualified candidate and not a big violator of international law," Mansour told reporters. Yemen's Ambassador Khaled Alyemany, who heads the Arab Group at the United Nations, said he had sent a message to all member-states to protest the election of the Israeli ambassador. "We cannot accept that a country like Israel, violator of international law and humanitarian law and the last colonial force existing in the world, has the right to rule on all legal affairs," said Alyemany. Danon said he was "very proud" to be the first Israeli to head a UN committee and declared that it was "a pitiful moment to see some of the Arab countries trying to block that nomination." Israel's candidacy was backed by the United States and European countries. Most of the work on resolutions adopted by the General Assembly is done by committees, which present measures that are agreed by all UN member-states. AFP Orlando shooter might have been gay: ex wife International oi-PTI New York, Jun 14: 29-year-old Omar Mateen, who gunned down 49 people at a gay club in Orlando, himself might have been gay but chose to hide his true identity out of anger and shame, his former wife has said as authorities looked into reports that he had visited the Florida club several times and also used a gay dating app. Sitora Yusufiy said she had met Mateen online in 2008 and the two got married in 2009. He "might have been gay but chose to hide his true identity out of anger and shame", she said. A New York Times report cited a senior federal law enforcement official as saying that the FBI was looking at reports that Mateen had used a gay dating app. Patrons of Pulse, the club where he killed 49 people in the worst shooting case in US history, were quoted as saying that he had visited the club several times. Yusufiy said that her ex-husband had told her that he frequented nightclubs before their marriage, but that he did not tell her they were gay clubs. CBS News said in a report that club-goers have told investigators that Mateen had been at Pulse previously. The Orlando Sentinel and other news organizations also quoted regular customers at the gay bar as saying they had seen Mateen there a number of times. "Sometimes he would go over in the corner and sit and drink by himself, and other times he would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent," said Ty Smith, a patron at the bar. Smith said he saw Mateen inside the club at least a dozen times. Yusufiy, during an interview at her home in Colorado, said Mateen had seemed "perfect American enough for her free spirit and Muslim enough to please her traditional family. "This man was a simple, Americanized guy that was also from my culture. And, you know, had the same religion," she said. "So I was like, OK , this could potentially satisfy my parents." She moved to Florida, and they married in a quiet courthouse ceremony in 2009, but the short-lived marriage was marred by violence and isolation, she said. She had no friends or family in Florida, and Mateen preferred that she stay in the house. She said he sometimes returned from work angry and agitated, including one night when she fell asleep on the floor waiting for him to return home. PTI Donald Trump does it again, says 'US must consider racial profiling' Post Dallas attack, Jihadi telegram channel urges followers to instigate blacks against US Orlando shooting: LGBT communities hold vigils for victims in London International oi-Jagriti London, June 14: The LGBT communities in Britain held vigils to extend their support to victims of Orlando shooting, media reported. At least 50 people were killed and dozens injured after 29 year-old Omar Mateen attacked a gay club in Florida on Sunday. Thousands of England's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities gathered in London's Soho district. Vigils and memorials were also held in other towns and cities including Manchester, Leicester, Brighton and Nottingham. The Pride flag was flown at half mast from City Hall in memory of those killed in the shooting in deadliest attack in US history. Orlando shooting: LGBT community shows support on social media "The capital stood "shoulder to shoulder" with Orlando, ahead of vigils around the country,"Mayor Sadiq Khan was quoted as saying. Vigil in Soho was held outside the Admiral Duncan pub in Old Compton Street, Soho, where three people died and many more were injured in a bomb attack in 1999. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, June 14, 2016, 13:10 [IST] Pak religious body declares honour-killing 'un-Islamic' International oi-PTI Islamabad, Jun 14 An Islamic religious body in Pakistan today declared that killing of women in the name of "honour" is un-Islamic, days after 40 influential clerics issued a fatwa against honour-killing. "There are laws in the country to deal with the obscenity and other moral crimes so one cannot kill other in the name of honour," Conservative Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) said in a statement. The CII's statement came after several cases of killing of women by close relatives for marrying against the wishes of their family. The Islamic body enjoys constitutional status in Pakistan and gives non-binding proposals to Parliament to make laws according to Islam. It said, "Provocation after witnessing a moral sin by a close relative is an element of human nature but there is no room to kill someone after being provoked, as punishments for the same exist in the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and the Sharia." "Every accused should be brought before the court," it said. The Islamic body further said that only courts can punish a person or excuse an accused in a case of honour killing, and asked the government to implement the laws. At least 40 clerics of the Barelvi school of thought in Pakistan on June 12 issued a fatwa against honour killing, declaring it 'un-Islamic and unpardonable sin'. The clerics under the banner of Sunni Itehad Council (SIC) said that honour killing is kufr (infidelity). At least 1,100 women were killed in the name of honour in Pakistan last year by their relatives on the pretext of defending what is seen as family honour. Earlier, the CII came under heavy criticism for recommending in a new women protection bill that a husband can 'lightly' beat his wife. PTI Pakistan: Transgender shot multiple times for resisting sexual advances International oi-PTI Peshawar, Jun 14: A transgender was shot multiple times in Pakistan for allegedly resisting sexual advances by a group of armed men who barged in her house. The transgender was at her home when three armed persons barged in and started making sexual advances towards her which she resisted, police said. Following which they shot her multiple times. The attackers managed to escape from the scene. The victim has been shifted to a nearby hospital for treatment. She is said to be in a critical condition, police was quoted as saying the Express Tribune. The incident took place yesterday in the country's northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. The shooting incident sparked unrest among the transgender community which took to the streets to condemn the murder attempt and criticised the police for not providing them security, the report said. A case has been registered against the three accused men, police said. The attack comes weeks after a transgender activist succumbed to her injuries after being shot multiple times in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa's provincial capital Peshawar and denied treatment at the hospital. PTI Donald Trump does it again, says 'US must consider racial profiling' Trump thrusts expanded ban on Muslim immigrants to the US International oi-Pallavi New York, June 14: The Orlando shooting has further accelarated Trump's demand to ban on Muslim immigrants in the USA. Donald Trump insisted that Muslims from those areas of the world that have a history of terrorism should be temporarily banned. He also insisted on the rewriting of US counterterrorism policy that he believed was essential to protect the peace and safety of women and gays in the country. Born in New York, the Orlando Shooter got refuge among the Muslims in the US, said Trump. "The Muslims have to work with us," Trump. He further said,"They know what's going on. They know that [Orlando gunman Omar Mateen] was bad. They knew the people in San Bernardino were bad. But you know what? They didn't turn them in. And you know what? We had death and destruction." [Read: The more Orlando-like instances happen, the more Donald Trump will gain] While Hillary Clinton also spoke about combatting terrorism, Trump denounced both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for "deadly ignorance" and warned that they were endangering lives with weakness and indecision. He also said, "We need to tell the truth also about how radical Islam is coming to our shores. We need a new leader. We need a new leader fast. . . . They have put political correctness above common sense, above your safety and above all else. I refuse to be politically correct." As a counter-reaction to Trump's statements, Hillary Clinton said that "inflammatory anti-Muslim rhetoric" alienates the peace-loving Muslims and generalises the community. Farhana Khera, executive director of Muslim Advocates, justified what Clinton meant. She further rationalizes that such statements could trigger hate crimes against American Muslims. Khera said, "These kinds of comments give a green light to the American people, and unfortunately some people who might be feeling particularly emotional or other unstable people, to engage in acts of hate." [Read: Orlando shooting: Donald Trump seeks Obama's resignation ] Targetting the Democrats, Trump criticized the issuance of guns and said that the machines go to the wrong people who use it to their advantage and the other people's disadvantage. "This should be checked," said Trump, reiterating his support for gun restriction. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, June 14, 2016, 11:49 [IST] A motorcade carrying Ukrainian citizens Hennadiy Afanasyev and Yuriy Soloshenko, who were released from prison in Russia earlier on Tuesday, is on its way to Kyiv from the military section of the Boryspil airport, the 112.Ukraine television channel reported on Tuesday. A medical van apparently carrying Soloshenko and Afanasyev, escorted by several vehicles, came out of the airport's gates and proceeded to Kyiv. The Ukrainian presidential website had reported earlier in the day that, immediately after arriving in Kyiv, Afanasyev and Soloshenko would be brought to the scientific and practical medical center belonging to the state affairs department, where President Petro Poroshenko should meet them. Would have handed him over to FBI: father of Orlando shooter International oi-PTI Washington, Jun 14: The Afghan father of Orlando gay nightclub shooter Omar Mateen on Monday said that he would have had himself handed over his son to the police and the FBI if he had even one per cent inkling of what his son was planning to do. "I am sorry again. It is very sad news today for all Americans. I am very, very mad. If I did know one per cent that he is committing such a crime, my son, I would address it myself. I would have called the FBI. I would have called local law enforcement," Seddique Mir Mateen told reporters. Barack Obama to go to Orlando to pay respects to victims Seddique's son Omar, who carried an assault rifle and a pistol into the gay club in Orlando in the wee hours of Sunday and killed 50 people while injuring 53 others, was later shot dead by the police. Seddique has been a political activist and the most recent video on his YouTube channel shows him declaring his candidacy for the Afghan presidency. Both father and son lived separately in Orlando. "I don't know why he did what he did. I wasn't aware of it. And I always paid attention that he should get higher education and serve the United States of America. And I thank you all for coming in here. And I am very sorry and I am very upset that he did what he did inside the United States," he said. Meanwhile, the US State Department refuted reports that its officials had met Seddique. "We have no record of any meetings between State Department policy officials and Seddique Mateen," State Department Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner told PTI. However, the State Department is aware of reports from social media purporting to show Seddique meeting with State Department officials, he said. A day after Orlando shooting, Trump, Hillary cross swords "While we continue to review our records, at this time, we believe he was photographed outside of the State Department's office on Capitol Hill (where we work on consular issues for Members and their constituents)," Toner said, referring to the pictures being circulated on the social media. Seddique said his family is completely shocked by the terrorist act of his son. "We can't believe what did he do. And I want to take this message out. I don't allow nobody to do any kind of crime or terrorist act inside the United States. And I don't allow it," he said. "My principle as a father, my principle as a US citizen, I am against -- I've been, throughout my life, against terrorism, against injustice, against what anyone can do against US, especially my homeland, the US," he told reporters in response to a question. Seddique said he has no idea why his son took such a action of killing people. PTI Chhath Puja fasting rules: What one must keep in mind during the 4-day festival AAP's dual office bill rejected after legal opinion was sought: Officials New Delhi oi-Vicky New Delhi, June 14: Following a major set back on Monday, June 13, the Aam Admi Party has decided to re-introduce the dual office bill. In a meeting held on Monday the AAP leaders accused the centre of influencing the President of India who had rejected the bill. The bill introduced by the AAP had sought to protect 21 MLAs who were occupying additional posts and this was considered to be unconstitutional.The AAP is likely to re-introduce this bill soon. AAP's dual office bill withheld by President of India Meanwhile sources say that the President of India had refused asset to the amendments in the Delhi Members of Legislative Assembly (Removal of Disqualification) Act, 1997. This union government after a considered opinion and also consulting with the Attorney General stated to the President that the Bill cannot get the nod. 21 MLAs could be disqualified With this bill being withheld 21 Aam Aadmi Party MLAs run the risk of losing their membership on the dual office profit issue. This however would not affect the Delhi government as the AAP has 67 MLAs in the 70 member house. The MLAs are those who were appointed parliamentary secretaries by the AAP government in Delhi on March 14 2015. A BJP leader had filed a complaint with the president of India calling for the disqualification of 21 parliamentary secretaries, on the grounds that they were holding dual offices of profit. Arvind Kejriwal in a bid to shield the MLAs from being disqualified had passed a bill in the state assembly exempting parliamentary secretaries from the ambit of the dual office of profit law, with retrospective affect. The bill was then sent to the Lieutenant Governor and the centre for its approval. Constitutional expert Subhash Kashyap says a legislator who holds an office or post under the government - even if no renumeration is received but enjoys perks would be deemed to be holding an office of profit. He further pointed out that office of profit means is a broad term and is applicable to parliamentary secretaries. Only receiving remuneration and cash is not office of profit, it also would mean giving favours in kind or able to influence decisions," the expert also states. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, June 14, 2016, 8:32 [IST] Chhath Puja fasting rules: What one must keep in mind during the 4-day festival Abduction of Indian lady in Afghanistan: Delhi optimistic of breakthrough soon New Delhi oi-Vicky New Delhi, June 14: Officials in New Delhi coordinating with their counterparts in Afghanistan are not giving away too much but state there is progress being made to secure the Indian lady who was abducted. Judith D'Souza, an aid worker in Afghanistan, was abducted last week. Her family members have even written to the Prime Minister seeking to speed up the process, but officials say that it is a delicate matter and needs to be handled with caution. It is now clear that the abduction was carried out by a gang. Indian lady abducted: Afghan abduction cartel behind it? We are in touch with our counterparts in Afghanistan who are working hard on this case to secure her release, the official added. Delicate stage In Afghanistan at least 10 persons have been questioned. However the persons who have been questioned are not involved in this case, but were able to provide inputs about the group who may have carried out the abduction. The Afghan authorities are speaking to several persons including those from break away militant groups to get more clues. It is a sensitive matter and needs to be handled carefully. We understand that the family is getting impatient, but if these matters are not handled carefully, then it could go wrong, an officer in New Delhi in the know of the developments informed OneIndia. The Afghan police have not yet got any message regarding a ransom claim as yet. None have come forward to claim responsibility either. The police in Afghanistan are tapping every possible source to seek out information so that they could get in touch with the gang that kidnapped her. The officer says that it would be wrong to say that there is no progress being made. We have some positive information, but it cannot be immediately shared, he also noted. OneIndia News Chhath Puja fasting rules: What one must keep in mind during the 4-day festival Sushma Swaraj's hilarious response to a man who wants refrigerator fixed New Delhi oi-Sandra Marina Fernandes New Delhi, June 14: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj made three things clear with her latest Twitter post. One- she is a busy person; two- she is prompt on Twitter when citizens ask for her help and three- she is one of the most funniest and wittiest ministers we have. Known for her quick response on Twitter to those in distress in the country and abroad, one man tried his luck to get his faulty refrigerator fixed and turned to Swaraj for help. When Venkat found that there was no way to get his faulty Samsung refrigerator fixed, he tagged Ram Vilas Paswan and Sushma Swaraj in his tweet and said: "Dear Ministers, @Samsung_IN sold me a defective refrigerator, they are not ready to replace." For someone like us we would clearly ignore such tweets, but pat came a hilarious and honest reply from Swaraj who tweeted, "Brother I cannot help you in matters of a Refrigerator. I am very busy with human beings in distress." Brother I cannot help you in matters of a Refrigerator. I am very busy with human beings in distress. https://t.co/cpC5cWBPcz Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) June 13, 2016 Swaraj's reply soon was retweeted several times with many apppreciating her response. One user said, "Sushma Ji, it was so kind of you to even revert for this tweet. Really appreciate this." Here is what some users said: @SushmaSwaraj Sushma ji: Next, you will be called to help out fights between husband and wife. Suresh Kochattil (@kochattil) June 13, 2016 @SushmaSwaraj @gabbarni kaise kaise namune hai desh me? Udta Super Natwarlal (@vichupedia) June 13, 2016 Swaraj is known for her quick reponse on the microblogging site and in the past has helped several people specially those who are abroad and need to return back to the country. OneIndia News 2008-2022 One News Page Ltd. All rights reserved. One News is a registered trademark of One News Page Ltd. KYIV. June 14 (Interfax-Ukraine) Representatives of some nongovernmental organizations in the healthcare sphere have said that consequent and systemic steps in reforming the healthcare system are required. "A single healthcare concept has not been drawn up in the past year. All proposed reforms do not meet the articles of the Constitution and Ukrainian legislation," Chair of Kyiv City Trade Union of Health Workers Larysa Kanarovska said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Monday. She said that no reform program pays attention to the financing system, how the money will be earmarked and what money hospitals will receive. She said that Kyiv City Trade Union of Health Workers expects that Health Ministry will publish information about spending the money allocated by various international organizations, including for healthcare reforms. "We insist on publishing all figures of the budgets, Health Ministry and our department [the healthcare department of Kyiv City Administration]. Since early 2016 we have been ringing the alarm bell and asked the Health Ministry to say where this money, tranches from the WHO, international organizations have gone. We have not seen and heard in two years where this money went. We asked: stop the minister, let him report where the money of international organizations sent to improve public health. We have only one formal reply from Health Ministry - that a check will be scheduled and conducted for funds received in 2014, 2015 and early 2016," she said. Kanarovska said that staff issues are important for the healthcare system. She said that Kyiv has a serious staff problem. "Staff policy in Kyiv is difficult. We have mostly pensioners in emergency medical service. We lack 500 primary care physicians, 100 roentgenologists and 100 infection disease doctors. Primary health brigades go on emergency calls and this means that we fall short of 200 doctors. Young people do not want to work for such low salaries. We have 200 people of 80 plus age working in the city. Soon we would be left without doctors and nurses She pointed out the problems with provision of modern medical equipment to intensive care hospitals the creation of which was declared by Kyiv City Administration. There are problems with payment of utilities fees by medical institutions due to the increase of utilities tariffs. Kanarovska said that the utility service debt in one healthcare institution is around UAH 150,000-170,000. If it is declared insolvent, someone with deep pockets could arrive and take over hospital. Deputy Chair of Kyiv City Trade Union of Health Workers Serhiy Kubansky said that healthcare reforms are conducted without broad public discussion. "As in 2011 the healthcare reform was implanted from above, the same happens today. The state sidesteps its responsibility," he said. Head of the Health Department of Dniprovsky district of Kyiv Daniel Karabayev said that bills on reformation of the healthcare system registered in parliament should be passed as quickly as possible. "We are waiting for the adoption of the bill on doctor self-governance which authorizes doctors to influence state policy in the healthcare sphere. We hope that the bill on medical insurance will be passed and lay the foundation for changes next year," he said. Computer software giant Microsoft Corporation announced on Monday that it will acquire business-oriented social networking service LinkedIn Corporation for 26.2 billion U.S. dollars, to seek new growth opportunities for its business productivity tools. Under a definitive agreement, Microsoft, once the world's No. 1 software giant for personal computer (PC) and now a multinational technology company, headquartered in Richmond, Washington, will buy LinkedIn, based in Mountain View, California, for 196 dollars per share in cash and the transaction is expected to close this year. In Microsoft Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Satya Nadella's words, the deal, the biggest since he assumed the position in early 2014, is to bring together the world's leading professional cloud with the world's leading professional network. Microsoft, which has moved its Office application suite from a set of PC productivity tools to a cloud service known as Office 365 and now has 1.2 billion users, finds a connection with LinkedIn, which runs an online network connecting more than 400 million professionals worldwide. "We are in pursuit of a common mission centered on empowering people and organizations," Nadella explained in an email to employees. "Along with the new growth in our Office 365 commercial and Dynamics businesses, this deal is key to our bold ambition to reinvent productivity and business processes." Microsoft Dynamics offers businesses an integrated productivity solution. Nadella said when people find jobs, build skills, sell, market and get work done, they need a connected professional world which brings together a professional's information in LinkedIn's public network with the information in Office 365 and Dynamics. About LinkedIn's growth and strength, Microsoft listed a number of parameters registered in the past year: -- 19 percent growth year over year (YOY) to more than 433 million members worldwide; -- 9 percent growth YOY to more than 105 million unique visiting members per month; -- 49 percent growth YOY to 60 percent mobile usage; -- 34 percent growth YOY to more than 45 billion quarterly member page views; -- 101 percent growth YOY to more than 7 million active job listings. "The LinkedIn team has grown a fantastic business centered on connecting the world's professionals," Nadella said. Microsoft was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975. Over years, it has been dominating the PC operation system market, with DOS in the mid-1980s and Windows since mid-1990s. However, as the world goes mobile and PC market shrinks worldwide, Microsoft has been working hard to catch up the trend and keep itself relevant. It reported 93.58 billion dollars in revenue in 2015. Linkedin was founded in 2002. As of 2015, most of the company's revenue, reportedly 2.99 billion dollars, came from selling access to information about its users to recruiters and sales professionals. The transaction between the two has been approved by the boards of directors of both LinkedIn and Microsoft. As part of the deal, Jeff Weiner will remain CEO of LinkedIn and report to Nadella, while LinkedIn will retain its brand, culture and independence. "Just as we have changed the way the world connects to opportunity, this relationship with Microsoft, and the combination of their cloud and LinkedIn's network, now gives us a chance to also change the way the world works," Weiner said. "For the last 13 years, we've been uniquely positioned to connect professionals to make them more productive and successful, and I'm looking forward to leading our team through the next chapter of our story." Wibbitz Top Stories 24 Oct 2022 Happy Birthday, Drake!. Aubrey Drake Graham turns 36 years old today. Here are five things you may not have.. AFP English 25 Oct 2022 New Delhi wakes up to toxic smog after Diwali revellers defied a firecracker ban and risked jail to celebrate the annual Hindu.. SeattlePI.com 11 Jun 2021 MANILA, Philippines (AP) A polio outbreak in the Philippines has ended, according to the World Health Organization and the.. 'Nail house' in Shenzhen, the last old building in the area A house whose owner refuses to give it up has been flanked by new buildings in Shenzhen, southern China's Guangdong province, June 13, 2016. In 2011, for the 950 square meters of building space located in the Longhua New District in Shenzhen, Guangdong province more than 20 million yuan was offered as compensation by property developers who would demolish it and build new apartments thereat. But an agreement was not reached between the owners and the developers. Five years on, the lonely seven-story building is now flanked by new buildings and it has attracted the media's attention again due to the newly emerging land king located in the Guangming New Area recently. The area is half-an-hour drive from the Longhua New District. On June 8, a 152,400-square-meter piece of land in the Guangming New Area was auctioned for 14.06 billion yuan, with the land pricing at 92,232 yuan per square meter. It is the highest amount ever paid for a single piece of land in China. However, the location of the Guangming New Area is not as good as the Longhua New District. A house whose owner refuses to give it up has been flanked by new buildings in Shenzhen, southern China's Guangdong province, June 13, 2016. In China, "nail houses" are houses that are left standing amid development in cases where the owners are unwilling or unable to reach an agreement on the demolition of their property. "Nail houses" are a phenomenon of rapid urbanization. Accesswire 26 Apr 2022 *NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / April 26, 2022 / *Since February 24th, at least seven journalists have been killed while covering the.. Our website uses cookies to improve your experience. Learn more Will Michigan Be the Fourth State to Legalize Online Gamling? Published June 14, 2016 by Elana K A bill that would legalize online gambling and poker in Michigan made it past the first round of approval last week, with the Senate Regulatory Reform Committee voting in favor of it during a hearing last Wednesday. A bill that would legalize online gambling and poker in Michigan made it past the first round of approval last week, with the Senate Regulatory Reform Committee voting in favor of it during a hearing last Wednesday. The bill was approved in an 8-1 vote, and will now head to the Senate floor. However, while the initial vote was a landslide, it is not certain that the bill will make the cut-off for this years legislative session. Michigans legislature will adjourn at the end of the month, and lawmakers are still working on a final version of the states budget. This means that there might not be enough time to consider the online gambling bill. If not, it will get pushed off until next year. Michigan's Fast Work Unlike other states (such as California) that have been struggling with the online gambling issue for years, Michigans iGaming bill was introduced only in April of this year by State Senator Mike Kowall. An informational hearing was immediately held in May, during which Kowall revealed that he had all the states casino stakeholders on board. He expressed confidence that the bill has the potential to be passed, providing that Michigan approves its state budget in time. Also working in Kowalls favor is the recent selling of online lottery tickets to the Michigan Lottery, which began in 2014. So far, online sales have boosted the states revenue, and online gambling has the potential to do the same. At a time when Michigan is suffering from the water crisis in Flint and continued criticism of its public schools, additional revenue is sorely needed. Other States Vying For Fourth Place At the same time that online gambling is being propelled forward in Michigan, other states such as New York, Pennsylvania and California have also been fighting to pass legislation. But in all states, the legislative sessions are soon coming to an end, which means that if any of these states want to legalize online gambling this year, they need to act fast. Copyrighted Image? DMCA In late May and early June, I, along with Chicago group Voices for Creative Nonviolence, organized a 150-mile walk against indefinite detention, solitary confinement, and the racist U.S. prison system. For two weeks, 20 of us walked across the state of Illinois from east to west, interacting with hundreds of passers-by, carrying placards to give a momentary reminder to thousands of motorists, and holding public face-to-face discussions at churches and libraries. We began on May 28 at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown Chicago and then walked through Chicago's west side, the western suburbs, on to DeKalb and the rural northwest part of the state. In late May and early June, I, along with Chicago group Voices for Creative Nonviolence, organized a 150-mile walk against indefinite detention, solitary confinement, and the racist U.S. prison system. For two weeks, 20 of us walked across the state of Illinois from east to west, interacting with hundreds of passers-by, carrying placards to give a momentary reminder to thousands of motorists, and holding public face-to-face discussions at churches and libraries. We began on May 28 at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown Chicago and then walked through Chicago's west side, the western suburbs, on to DeKalb and the rural northwest part of the state. Our march swelled to 35 by the last day, June 11. When we arrived in the small town center of rural Thomson, IL, we noticed that 18 police cars were staged in this town of 600 residents. Undeterred and carrying placards saying "Education Not Incarceration" and "Hospitals Not Prisons", we continued walking the final mile up to the Administrative U.S. Penitentiary, Thomson, which is expected to open in 2017. The word "administrative" is a euphemism for a facility that consists entirely of isolation cells, in this case 1,900 of them, according to the watchdog organization Solitary Watch. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons would try to fill these cells by taking prisoners from other prisons to bring them to Illinois, a state where activists have spent decades furthering a general awareness of solitary confinement. The general disgust with solitary confinement in Illinois recently forced the state assembly to consider a House Bill 5417, legislation that requires a documented reason for putting any prisoner in isolation confinement and which limits the duration of such confinement to not more than 5 days. Speaking at the rally, I admonished the U.S. government for not releasing the remaining prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, who for 14 years have not been charged with any crime. It is thought that Thomson prison may still be part of a murky and politically expeditious plan to avoid releasing these detainees by simply moving them around. Similar to having people wait years and years without a speedy trial in Cook County jail, indefinite detention without charge or trial is a government crime, the brunt of which falls on poor people and on people of color, especially black people, who on the national level in 2008 were 6 times more likely to go to prison than white people, according to the NAACP. Our walk to Thomson prison is a recently woven row in the vast tapestry of work being done to challenge the prison system. The more work that can be done to engage people on the issue of mass imprisonment, the better. Facilitating dialogue and sparking people's imaginations can eventually lead to a diversion of public resources away from building prisons and into alternatives that help to build a healthier society. It contained five proposals, each of which if implemented, would reduce gun violence -- if that is what the American public wants. The title question is, "does the American public really wish to reduce gun violence," or does it prefer to address small side problems, while pretending it is doing something about the main cause of gun violence? The "more-guns = less-gun-violence" myth is akin to "more anger = fewer anger crimes," or "more greed = fewer crimes of greed." Reality doesn't work that way. If you really want to make sure someone stays lost, then give him a bad roadmap. Sending him on a wild goose chase will waste his time and energy far better than simply doing nothing. In that vein, today I saw an article titled, "Omar Mateen, an 'Americanized Guy,' Shows Threat of Lone Terrorists" Here are a few excerpts to show how far off course we have been sent: Omar Mateen had been on a terrorism watch list for incendiary comments he once made to co-workers at a local courthouse. But the F.B.I. soon ended its examination of Mr. Mateen after finding no evidence that he posed a terrorist threat to his community. Thus, we see the beginnings of the "blame the FBI" bad roadmap. The notion is that if only the FBI had done its job, Mateen would have been prevented from killing all those people in Orlando. That is what the gun manufacturers want you to believe. They want you to waste your time, energy, and intellect trying to find ways to make the FBI better able to stop gun violence. They want you to follow a bad roadmap. The government investigation could take months, but an early examination of Mr. Mateen's life reveals a hatred of gay people. This is the second bad roadmap -- the search for reasons why this individual did what he did. The hope is that if we knew he killed those people because he hated gay people, we could prevent future killings by . . . by what? By somehow convincing bigots that gay people are good people? Is that the plan upon which we will expend thousands of hours and millions of words? He was a man who could be charming, loved Afghan music and enjoyed dancing, but he was also violently abusive. Family members said he was not overly religious, but he was rigid and conservative in his view that his wife should remain mostly at home. The F.B.I. director said on Monday that Mr. Mateen had once claimed ties to both Al Qaeda and Hezbollah -- two radical groups violently opposed to each other. He could act like the NRA's mythical "good guy," and he also could act like a "bad guy." No news there. That describes millions of Americans. Where does that lead us in any effort to reduce gun violence? Investigators now face the question of how much the killings were the act of a deeply disturbed man, as his former wife and others described him, and how much he was driven by religious or political ideology. Let's say that after wasting months of tedious investigation, we conclude he was "deeply disturbed" (whatever that means). What then? How does "deeply disturbed" get us one inch closer to preventing the next gun murder? Arrest all the "deeply disturbed people, forever? Unlike Al Qaeda, which favors highly organized and planned operations, the Islamic State has encouraged anyone to take up arms in its name, and uses a sophisticated campaign of social media to inspire future attacks by unstable individuals with no history of embracing radical Islam. So, shall we search for all the "unstable individuals with no history of embracing radical Islam"? How many millions of those do you think live in America? What about your dopey brother-in-law, or your goofy next-door neighbor. Are they unstable, with no history of embracing radical Islam? What shall we do when find them? Arrest them all and keep them in jail indefinitely, for being "unstable"? Mr. Mateen might have been gay but chose to hide his true identity out of anger and shame. A senior federal law enforcement official said on Monday that the F.B.I. was looking at reports that Mr. Mateen had used a gay dating app, and patrons of Pulse were quoted in news reports as saying that he had visited the club several times. So he may have been a guy ashamed of his identity. Should the FBI arrest all Americans who secretly are insecure about some aspect of their lives? He came to the F.B.I.'s attention in 2013, when some of his co-workers reported that he had made inflammatory comments claiming connections to overseas terrorists, and saying he hoped that the F.B.I. would raid his family's home so that he could become a martyr. The F.B.I. opened an investigation and put Mr. Mateen on a terrorist watch list for nearly a year. Mr. Mateen said he had made the incendiary remarks "in anger" because his co-workers had ridiculed his Muslim background and he wanted to scare them. The F.B.I. closed its investigation and took him off the terrorist watch list. The F.B.I. interviewed Mr. Mateen a third time, but determined that his ties to the suicide bomber were not significant. The bureau had no further contact with Mr. Mateen. Mr. Comey defended the work of his agents, although the bureau's handling of the case is likely to be the subject of scrutiny and criticism in the coming weeks. They interviewed him multiple times and put him on a terrorist watch list, all to no avail. Meanwhile, the gun industry laughs at their efforts, for none of this has any effect on gun violence. It's all misdirection. In fact, the inevitable failures to prevent gun violence beget more gun purchases. Orlando will prove to be another financial windfall to the gun makers, as more people are sold on the false notion that carrying a gun will protect them from future mass murders. Still, cases such as these rankle F.B.I. counterterrorism agents, who believe they draw criticism for any choices they make -- either for leaving cases open too long, or for closing cases that don't seem to have enough evidence. Don Borelli, a retired F.B.I. counterterrorism supervisor in New York, said there was a danger in criticizing agents who close investigations for lack of evidence. "Can we allow people's futures to be affected if there is no proven basis for it? That's the flip side to all this," he said. Sally Yates, the deputy attorney general, told reporters on Monday that the Justice Department might look to adopt new procedures that would alert counterterrorism investigators if someone who had been on a terror watch list tried to buy a gun. And if she had been alerted, then what? How would Ms. Yates use that information to prevent future shootings? "Why did he do this?" his father asked. "He was born in America. He went to school in America. He went to college -- why did he do that? I am as puzzled as you are." To prevent our finding answers, the gun lobby and their voice, the politicians, has led us down a number of false paths. The purpose is to misdirect us. They say we should scatter our efforts by asking: --"Why did he do it?" --"What can be done about terrorism?" --"What can be done about mass murder?" --"What can be done about undocumented immigrants?" --"What can be done about Muslims?" --"What can be done about the mentally unstable?" --"What can be done about hatred and bigotry?" --"What can be done to preserve gun rights?" Thousands of Americans are shot every year. Only a tiny percentage are shot by terrorists, mass murderers, the mentally unstable, undocumented foreigners, Muslims, or bigots. The vast majority of shootings are done by people who do not fit into any of the above categories. The shooters are people who suddenly get angry, or who want to steal something, or who are part of a street gang guarding its turf. They are husbands and wives and children. They are smart and stupid. Trying to solve the problems of terrorism, mass murder, the mentally unstable, etc., will make only the most minuscule difference in the overall shooting statistics. Each of these problems is more a diversion than a path to a solution. That is the gun lobby's plan. Change the subject. Change the focus, so no solution can be found. The gun lobby doesn't want you to know this, but the one common denominator for those thousand of American shootings is the easy availability of guns. Anyone in America can buy a gun. Even if you are a convicted sex offender, multiple murderer, proven terrorist, child molester out on bail, you easily and legally can buy a gun. Simply go to a gun show. Simply buy one online. Simply buy one from your neighbor or from a stranger in the street. There is one, and only one way to reduce the vast number of gun murders: Reduce the availability of guns. Period. Today, we hear politicians and media pundits debating everything from terrorism to insanity, pretending they are looking for solutions to all the gun murders. It's all a facade, a pretense. It's like preventing dog bites by putting up a "no-collies allowed" sign. Even if the sign worked, and you eliminated all collies, there still will be thousands of dog bites. The only way dramatically to reduce the number of shootings is to reduce the availability of guns as described in: Five Solutions to Gun Violence: --Interpret the Constitution properly --Remove the profit motive from gun manufacture and sales --Eliminate gangs --Greater penalties for gun carry during felonies --Make gun ownership expensive; tax and license gun ownership If we don't do this, the gun lobby will continue to have us chasing our tails, searching in the wrong places for small solutions to small problems, while the big problem continues to bedevil us. We return to the question that started this post: Does the American public really wish to reduce gun violence, or does it prefer to address small side problems, while pretending it is doing something about the main cause of gun violence? Rodger Malcolm Mitchell Social Media Pages: Economist since 1995. Wrote the book, FREE MONEY. Economics blog is at http://www.rodgermmitchell.wordpress.com. Also maintain a site at www.rodgermitchell.com The views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors. OpEdNews depends upon can't survive without your help. If you value this article and the work of OpEdNews, please either Donate or Purchase a premium membership. Academic papers, which have been published in recent years, document large-scale fraud in e-government in Israel over the past 15 years, at a level which should be considered unannounced regime change. Where is the Shin-Bet in this story? (Image by The Marker) Details DMCA Figure 1: The number of voters in the last 2 hours of polling in successive election year [2] OccupyTLV, June 12 - a writer, identified only as doodi, has published last night in The Marker (business supplement of the respectable Haaretz daily) the latest in a series of posts, which claim that serious fraud was perpetrated in IT systems of the Central Election Commission in the last Israeli national election (2015) . According to his analysis, the fraud added to Netanyahu's Likud party about 8 mandates . In the 2015 national election, Netanyahu won, according to the official count, thirty ( 30 ) mandates (out of 120 in the Knesset -- Israeli parliament). The next biggest party was the Labor party alliance, with 24 mandates. Therefore, the alleged fraud entirely changed the political landscape in Israel. According to doodi's analysis, the fraud was perpetrated in the last couple of hours of the polling day, by adding votes of people, who did not exercise their right to vote. [1-2] The analysis is primarily based on checking the statistics from various sources, regarding the number of voters in individual polling stations. The writer reports that he had filed complaints with the Israel Police, and that initially he suffered some serious retaliation. However, later he claims that he noticed "very, very serious treatment of the complaint by law enforcement"... There is room for concern that the doodi is seriously naive... The immediate questions is: Where is the Shin-Bet in this picture? The Shin Bet is charged with security of critical State IT systems, like the Secret Service in the US and similar agencies in other nations... There is no doubt that IT system of the Central Election Commission should be deemed a critical State IT system. However, reports, which have been published in recent years abroad (no Israeli media would accept such publications), subject to academic peer review, document large-scale fraud in critical State IT-systems in Israel over the past 15 years, where the Shin-Bet and the judiciary are the senior partners... These reports suggest that computer fraud at such level amounts to unannounced regime change in Israel... [3-5] It should also be recalled that reports by senior IT experts in the US, document that US electronic voting machines are vulnerable to fraud, but the US government refuses to address the issue. [6] Netanyahu has been plagued for years by various corruption scandals, but due to his tight control of law enforcement, he has faced neither true investigation, nor prosecution. The worst of these scandals relates to a murder case during his tenure as Minister of Treasury.[7] The latest corruption scandal, still unfolding, has been recently exposed in a French court, during the "Sting of the Century" trial of tycoon Arnaut Mimran. Mimran testified in court that he had donated EURO 170,000 to Netanyahu's election campaign. [8] Such undeclared donations are not permitted by Israeli law. Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Solidarity vigil in Orlando for victims of the Pulse Nightclub massacre. (Image by Fibonacci Blue) Details DMCA Sadness marks this day after the horrific massacre in Orlando, Florida. at the PULSE nightclub (Sunday, June 11,2016). As a lesbian and a sociologist, my thoughts grapple with "Why?" Omar Mateen and James Howell are both Americans born and raised in the United States. While there are protestations that these two men have nothing connecting their activities, that is flatly wrong for they share not only deep seated homophobia, but the belief that they have the right to act on it, and likely that they would be "heroes" for doing so. Homophobia runs though the veins of U.S. culture, and it is woven into the fabric of our society by misogyny, and socialization into sex roles as they are constructed in mainstream culture. These biases are legitimated in the arguments about "political correctness" and the persistent and deliberate misunderstanding about "protected classes" and "hate crimes." This article attempts to draw these arguments and issues together in a critique that illuminates the reality of inequality and bias in U.S. society, and how it gets legitimated and even fanned, into the rhetoric that is commonly used. Omar Mateen Wesley James Howell Omar Mateen, the homophobic beserker who went on a killing spree in Orlando, Florida, was a "security guard" for G4S (a global security firm formerly known as Wachenhut, and the 3rd largest publicly traded company in the world).1 It took awhile for the media to acknowledge that Omar Mateen was a homophobe, but that was hardly out of their mouths before they were off speculating that he was an Islamic terrorist under orders from ISIS. This shift in the story line is important from the perspective of not addressing homophobia, and trying to link it to a presumed "larger threat" to the country. This morphing of the story is consistent across various disasters and incidents. The media creates a world of hypotheticals pointing every direction except for those that would allow some progress on addressing very serious issues. Donald Trump, in his usual uninformed spouting, blasts that the massacre is because of " lax" immigration laws and accused President Obama of "political correctness" in not targeting "radical Islam." (The Wrap) Never mind that Mateen was NOT an immigrant. Further, neither was James Howell (arrested yesterday), the other homophobe arrested in LA with guns and bomb making materials in his van heading for the LA Gay Pride march. Of course, you have to feel a little bit of sympathetic (not) for the sticky position that the Trumpster is in. After all, most of his "fifth column" are homophobes too. They are just way right, and Christian evangelical right, homophobes. So poor Donald can't say anything too sympathetic for the victims of Mr. Mateen or he risks offending his base. However, the corporate media is not doing much better than Trump, and with relief they are jumping from the uncomfortable issue of homosexuals as victims of this atrocity, to Islamic "terrorism" or even "home grown, Islamic terrorism." For nobody wants to confront two very nasty facts. First, that Mateen and Howell and all the other U.S. homophobes are products of U.S. culture, and their homophobia is the homophobia embedded deeply in this culture. And second, that hate crimes ARE terrorism; that is what makes them hate crimes. The constant media and governmental protestations that Mateen and Howell have no connection to each other is a lie on the face of such a statement. Mateen and Howell share two very important things. 1) their homophobia ran deep enough, and 2) they felt that they had some right or permission to violently attack the targets of their hatred. I am sure that no one wants to go there, but Trump bears some responsibility for creating an atmosphere that fans this hatred at the same time that he encourages people to act out that hatred violently. People do not want to address the unfortunate reality that there really are deep veins of misogyny, homophobia, racism, and classism that run through US society. They always have, and looking the other way, or attributing to the biases held by some people (not "us" of course) does not make them any less real nor less devastating. These biases are deeply engrained in the culture and reinforced thousands of times in images and references that most of us hear every day. We hear and see them so often that we rarely even notice as they traipse across our consciousness. This lack of awareness of the systemic nature of these cultural biases (that become writ large in devastating ways at times, as with the massacre in Orlando), also reinforces the persistent misrepresentation of hate crimes. The distinguishing characteristic of hate crimes is that the message sent by the perpetrators is to the whole target GROUP. Hate crimes are perpetrated upon an individual (or sometimes a small group or property), but the message is to the group. For example, the torching of black churches or mosques or synagogues, are not aimed at that specific place of worship. The message is to all people who worship in that way. Likewise when a person of perceived "hispanic"2 descent is beaten up at a bus stop. The message is to everyone who "looks like" that person that they should not be there, or sometimes anywhere. The message sent by hate violence is to the whole group, and it is intended to "terrorize." So, in effect, hate violence is terrorism even though there is great legal resistance to recognizing it as such. Further, violence against women is also hate violence (and hence a form of terrorism), but legislators really do not want to start down that path. For while (perhaps), acknowledging that hate crime is different from regular crime, to acknowledge that in the case of women would challenge the basic structure and operation of sex roles within the U.S., for they are by their very nature unequal. This fundamental cultural atavism over women, the feminine, and gender roles, lies at the very heart of homophobia. Whenever the issue of "hate crime" comes up, or there is pressure to have something prosecuted as a hate crime, there are many folks who get up in arms. They argue that it is discriminatory to have "extra" penalties, and "special" prosecution for some crimes simply because they happened to someone who is a person of color, and most particularly for reasons of gender or sexual orientation. "Why should "they" get "special" treatment under the law?" The answer is two fold. One, because the message sent by the perpetrator is to ALL people with that characteristic. It is not a "personal" crime. Two, anyone can be the victim of a hate crime, but people of higher social status (white, male, heterosexual, or middle class or above, Christian, or any combination of the preceding) rarely are the victim of hate crime. They are protected in many ways, not the least being social constraint based on deep socialization. However, it is the STATUS of race, ethnicity, religion, that is "protected," and everyone has those statuses - not just people with lower status in each of these social categories. In other words, everyone has a race, everyone has a sex, everyone has a sexual orientation, everyone has a religious designation (even atheists), and everyone has a social class. This, unfortunately, takes us back around to the ever popular spout of "political correctness." For at its base, the real anger over political correctness is that people with low (or lower) status should not have the "right" to be treated with equal courtesy and respect. We should not have the "right" (or the social expectation) to name ourselves or expected to be treated as equals. The anger over "political correctness" is that whites, and particularly white males, should not be "burdened" with "having to watch" what they say. They shouldn't have to be "burdened" with having to worry about how some "over sensitive" woman/queer/Black/Asian/Mexican/Indian/ (and most specifically since 9/11/2001) "Arab" f e e l s about how they have been addressed, acted towards, or talked to or about. Nor should they have the "right" to complain about it if they are offended and pull the "race card" or the "sex card." This is the coding and legitimation of deeply seated oppression in the 21st century. So some may wonder how the hell we got from a massacre of folks in a "gay" night club to the issue of "political correctness." The answer is that the rancor that is evoked about political correctness points directly at the root of the systemic inequality that ends up with folks feeling that they have a moral and social right to harass, beat up, or even kill, people of one of these "lesser" groups. Of course, those with fundamentalist religious association may also feel that they have a religious responsibility and god given authority, to put "those" folks "in their place" (or in the ground). If you do not believe that there is tremendous anger over "political correctness," then listen to one of Trump's stump speeches and the response he gets back from the crowd; or bring up the topic in casual conversation at a family dinner or at work. This same outrage carries over to deciding to call (and particularly prosecute) something as a "hate crime." Remember the outrage over George Zimmerman's murder of Trayvon Martin (also in Florida) being prosecuted as a hate crime? The same is happening with the flight to "terrorism" in the case of Mateen, and the deep relief on the part of corporate commentators to not have to deal with the combination of homosexuality and hate crimes. Instead, they deflect the issue to ISIS and Islamic terrorism where the real issue becomes not these 103 people whose lives have been violently shoved onto a different course because of one person's deep hatred for who they were assumed to be (homosexual). Nor for the millions of homosexuals who are getting not only the message of how very dangerous it is to be an "out" LGBT in this society, but how much the society still does not want to deal with homophobia or structured inequality. This country is never going to have the conversations it needs to have until it admits and accepts the we are deeply unequal and must address it. That conversation will not happen until we can identify the issue of privilege and confront it in the heart of the structure that we live in every moment of our lives. Progressive Content Not Found Sometimes, authors delete their progressive content after publishing. To see if the progressive content was renamed or re-published, please click here. Photrons FASTCAM Mini AX, UX, and WX High Speed Cameras with Double the Memory at 32GB Photron's FASTCAM Mini High-Speed Camera Series Offers Double Memory at 32GB www.photron.com www.photron.com www.photron.com The high-speed video cameras in Photrons FASTCAM Mini AX, UX and WX product lines offer twice the memory from previous 16GB models, now at 32GB.SAN DIEGO, CA - Photron, Inc., () a global leader and manufacturer of high-speed cameras and software for slow motion analysis, announces the new 32GB memory option for the FASTCAM Mini AX, FASTCAM Mini UX, and FASTCAM Mini WX High Speed Camera Systems.The new memory option is doubled at 32GB; other memory options still available are 4 GB, 8 GB, and 16 GB. Photrons recently introduced product families are also renowned for their remarkable light sensitivity. The Mini AX family provides genuine ISO 40,000 (mono) and ISO 16,000 (color), as measured to the industrys true ISO Ssat 12232 standard, with the IR filter retained as per ISO 12232, not removed to produce fictitious T values. The camera systems have high-performance Gigabit Ethernet interfaces, making it convenient and easy for the user to view and analyze slow motion video data from their desktopor laptop PC.With the new memory option of 32GB, Photrons FASTCAM Mini cameras are exceptionally well-suited for demanding high-frame-rate imaging applications suchas onboard and off-board automotive safety testing, biomechanics, material sciences, military/aerospace research, fluid dynamics such as PIV, life sciences, and critical laboratory research. The compact, rugged FASTCAM Mini camera systems are also designed for high-G, high-shock environments, tested to 100 G, 10 ms, 6 axes.The superior light sensitivity featured in Photrons FASTCAM Mini camera systems enable the video capture of extremely high speed events, without the need for additional, and often expensive and high-temperature-generating lighting packages. Superior light sensitivity also enables faster frame rates, shorter shutter speeds, and/or greater depths of field, under the same lighting conditions, to be used without added illumination.To learn more about FASTCAM Mini high speed video cameras with up to 32GB of memory, please visit: http://photron.com/product-category/cameras/fastcam-minis/. Or for more information, please call 1-858-684-3556.# # #PHOTRON, INC.9520 Padgett Street, Suite 110San Diego, CA 92126-4446Contact: Andrew Bridges, Director, Sales & Mktg.Phone: 800-585-2129 / 858-684-3555Fax: 858-684-3558Email:abridges@photron.comWeb Site:Submitted by Media Contact: Marlene MooreSmith Miller MooreEmail: marlene@smithmillermoore.comPhone: 818-708-1704Photron, Inc. (USA) (- San Diego, CA) is a leading worldwide manufacturer and supplier of digital high-speed cameras, including the worlds fastest megapixel video systems. High-speed imaging products range from low-cost solutions to highly specialized, intensified systems for biofluorescence and combustion analysis. High- speed, slow-motion cameras featuring high definition (HD) resolution up to 2,000 frames per second are available for motion picture, reality TV, sports, and broadcast applications. For production fault-finding, Photron offers high-speed imaging systems with multiple miniature cube or pencil camera heads. For extreme or hostile environments, such as vehicle crash testing and/or military weapons proving, Photrons high-G rated camera systems are utilized. Cameras include standard and custom, high-resolution, high-speed imagers, software, and systems to meet R&D, automotive, commercial, medical, and defense-related motion image analysis requirements.PHOTRON, INC.9520 Padgett Street, Suite 110San Diego, CA 92126-4446Submitted by Media Contact: Marlene MooreSmith Miller MooreEmail: marlene@smithmillermoore.comPhone: 818-708-1704 China's independently developed C919 large passenger jetliner will take its first flight later this year and complete the follow-up technical verifications as early as 2017 before being delivered, Economic Information Daily reports on Tuesday. The success of the maiden flight indicates that the domestically produced large passenger aircraft C919 has achieved substantive results, which will not only further promote the rapid development of the country's large aircraft industry but also accelerate large domestic aircraft industry clusters to take shape. C919, the first China-developed large passenger jetliner, rolled off the assembly line on November 2, 2015 and the test aircraft has completed system debugging and the installation of instrumentation equipment. After the first flight, system tests such as the avionics, flight control and hydraulic checks will be carried out, as well as integrated tests regarding the airborne systems and static tests of the entire aircraft. If the first flight and the follow-up work go smoothly, the C919 will complete technical validations and be delivered as soon as 2017. China attaches great importance to the aviation industry, represented by large jets and will introduce a number of industry promotion policies. A blueprint on the strategic emerging industries during the 13th Five-year Plan will be issued in the second half of this year. It will focus on the development of medium and short-haul transport aircrafts with 130-200 seats, single channel and high subsonic and long-range transport aircrafts with 250-350 seats and dual channels. In addition, advanced turbofan regional aircrafts, turboprop aircrafts, 70-seat turboprop regional aircrafts, as well as unmanned aerial vehicles will also become the focus of development in the next five years. AircraftEngine Corp of China, the 12th military industrial group of the country incorporated in Beijing on May 31, has been described as having a special mission. Up until now, Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac), the manufacturer of the C919 jetliners, have received a total of 517 orders from 21 customers. It is predicted that by 2030, global demand for 160-seat and single-aisle jetliner will reach about 14,500, among which China is expected to need around 2,650. The Comac says it will sell at least 2,000 C919s and if the price is 50 million US dollars per aircraft, the market size of the C919 will exceed 100 billion U.S. dollars (about 650 billion yuan). More importantly, with the production and delivery of the C919, the relevant upstream and downstream aviation industry will get rapid development and will accelerate the shape-taking of industrial clusters with a market size on the scale of one trillion dollars. New Online Journal from IAABC Journal front page http://iaabc.org/resources/journal Continuing their expansion into the animal behavior education space, the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC) announced the first issue of their new journal, available online today atThe journal is aimed at sharing best practices and insights into solving behavior problems across all of IAABCs divisions: Dog, Cat, Parrot, Horse, Shelter and Working Animals. This issues authors include Sally Foote, DVM, who works extensively in fear-free handling; award-winning blogger Eileen Anderson; and Karen Pryor Academy faculty member Laura Monaco Torelli.Format and focus make the IAABC journal unique, with videos embedded alongside text. Including video has allowed authors to show behavior problems and solutions directly, which gives the reader a clearer picture of the practical applications of science-based approaches to behavior modification.IAABC aims to make high-quality education in animal behavior accessible to everyone. Therefore, the journal is free to read online for members and non-members alike.The journal will be published three times a year, with the next issue scheduled for release in early October. The editing team is currently seeking new authors and case studies, especially individuals from diverse backgrounds and with unique areas of expertise.The IAABC is a professional organization whose mission is to support its members in promoting Least Intrusive, Minimally Aversive (LIMA) principles in their work with companion animals, and to become a resource for the public. We strive to assist companion animals and their humans by interrupting and preventing the cycle of inappropriate punishment, rejection, and euthanasia of animals due to behavior problems. The IAABC promotes professionalism and continuing education in the field of animal behavior consulting.The IAABC was founded in 2004, recognizing that the practice of assisting the public with companion animal behavior problems was a growing field that encompassed many different professionals: veterinarians, animal trainers, animal shelter employees, academics as well as practicing consultants who didn't always fit neatly into one of the aforementioned categories.Our goals were to standardize and support the practice of companion animal behavior consulting, while providing resources for pet owners needing advice. The organization is growing and currently has over 700 members throughout the world.IAABC members have diverse practices and methodologies, and believe in the study and science of behavior consulting. We understand that animal behavior consultants can assist owners in managing and modifying problem behaviors, and in the process help strengthen the relationships between an owner and pet.The IAABC provides networking and educational opportunities for members through on-line discussion groups, guided studies, webinars and conferences. We offer three tiers of membership in five different divisions (dog, cat, parrot, horse, working animal) to match different interests and skill levels. Certified and Associate members are listed in our Member Locator at no additional fee.Animal behavior consultants respect the client's right to self-determination and embrace a non-judgmental approach. Our Certified members are required to demonstrate competency in six core areas including assessment and intervention strategies, consulting skills, knowledge of animal behavior, and species-specific knowledge. Our Certified Associate members are required to show competence in at least three of the six core areas of competence.IAABC members work to minimize the use of aversive stimuli and maximize the effective use of reinforcers to modify animal behavior. The LIMA (least intrusive and minimally aversive) principle is useful as a general rule. Within that framework, the IAABC welcomes diversity and openness. Positive regard, and respect for differences are among our core values.International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC)Jesse Miller, Managing Editor - journal@iaabc.orgCranberry Township, PAUSA The Interrogation Premieres Across The Country in June. www.blackrosedagger.com www.kevinwendell.com Maryland, 2016 - Premiering in June (beginning on the 20th) in cities across the country, The Interrogation is a hair raising and chilling film that features Tia C. Polite (Dark Awakening: A Star Wars Fan Film, Dark Awakening: Battle of Krotanna) and Steven Huff (Burp Girl, Chuck Ransom)After a successful release of the hit film, Dark Awakening: A Star Wars Fan Film, Tia C. Polite, director and writer of Black Rose Dagger Films, has teamed up again with cinematographer, film editor, sound designer and composer Kevin W Jones to produce "The Interrogation an unfiltered story which has been creating a buzz thanks to rave reviews."Kevin identified themes from the footage and selected and edited valuable material that enabled me to play out different scenarios of how to present the core vision of the story" Tia C. Polite wrote in a statement, "which was crucial for me as a film director, as it should be to film communities, to represent in true form the nuances of language and culture by working with an editor, who can interpret meaningful themes and who can help to build the language that the film needs to communicate."Tia C. Polite is the director and writer of Black Rose Dagger FilmsFor more information on Black Rose Dagger Films, visitKevin Wendell is a film a cinematographer, editor, photographer, visual effects artist, composer and sound designerFor more information, visitBlack Rose Dagger Films was launched in 2015 by Tia C. Polite a of veteran film industry executiveBlack Rose Dagger Films is an in-house production company that provides production, distribution, marketing, and other ancillary services. The company is headquartered in New Carrollton, MDBlack Rose Dagger Films8629 Annapolis Rd Suite 101New Carrollton, MD 20784 Qriyo develops an Algorithm inspired from ancient Indian art of Kundli Matching. The Qriyo Logo. Qriyo, a Jaipur-based EdTech Startup uses Teacher - Student matchmaking to provide the perfect teacher. Mudit and Rishabh Jain, two ex-IITB alumni, co-founded Qriyo. For those wondering what difference does or would Qriyo make, Rishabh has an answer. Dry air contains 78.09% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0.039% carbon dioxide. If you change the composition, will it be the same? When there is a perfect composition or match, magic happens. Air is like magic, and we like to think our teacher-student matchmaking algorithm as magic too.Research shows 93% of students perform better when given personalized attention. Schools cannot provide the personalized attention in classes packed with students. The ratio of teacher to student is sometimes as high as 1 to 40. A lot of guardians seems to understand this, and they send their kids to private tuitions. Sometimes the ratio goes down but again most of the time the ratio climbs even higher. Asking a teacher to come to home is one solution, but a good teacher is hard to find. The online listing sites provide the number but not the assurance that the teacher will be suitable for their need. Parents have to play a find and verify game till they get a perfect match.Finding a perfect match in the first go, this is where Qriyo steps up. Qriyo has evaluated more than 1400 teachers. When a customer books a course, based on gathered customer information, Qriyo compatibility score or QCS is automatically calculated for every evaluated Guru in Qriyo database and teacher with highest QCS is assigned to him. If the customer likes the teacher, the matchmaking is deemed successful else a failure. The failed match is worked upon so that it wont fail again, the next time. The matchmaking is done based upon some 25 parameters comprising of subject knowledge, educational background, work experience, personality, behavior, location, etc. Adequate research is done before deciding these parameters. Mudit says through the Matchmaking Algorithm, they are currently achieving 80% First Demo Conversions.Qriyo is a leading platform for courses by freelance instructors (at customer's home) in the field of extracurricular, academics, co-curricular and fitness. For the consumers, we solve the problem of discovery, evaluation, reliability, quality instruction, community and also provide many more valuable features. We aspire to be the de-facto go-to place for consumers and providers for the learning based services. For the freelancers, we help them get better at their skills and help them get business for the fields they like.Name:QriyoPostal Address:414/418, Mansarovar Plaza, Mansarovar, Jaipur - 302020Contact: +91-7300088826Press contact: +918067417787contact@qriyo.com AEA International Lawyers Network Congress 2016 in Cyprus http://www.lawsenate.com/ AEA International Lawyers network is an international network of lawyers from all over the world. Every year AEA has its annual conference in any of the countries of the members. This year the said Annual conference was held in Cyprus on 27th May at Capo Bay Hotel at Protaras, Cyprus. The Congress was attended by more than 150 lawyers / law firms from 60 countries including China, Algeria, Israel, India, Japan, Brazil, Canada, New Zealand, United States of American and many of the European countries.Law Senate law firm, an Expert Arbitration law firm in Delhi and Mumbai was the only law firm invited for the conference. Mr S Ravi Shankar International Arbitration lawyer in India, participated and made a presentation about the firm. Law Senate is the only law firm in India having an exclusive expertise in the field of international arbitration. S Ravi Shankar is the only arbitration lawyer in India having expertise in this field. S Ravi Shankar also explained about their experience with Asian Arbitrations under the Rules of ICC, SICA, KLRACA, HKIAC, LCIA, ICA and IDAC India. He also explained the impact and effect of Arbitration & Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2016 which changed the arbitration scenario in India. The President Mr Pedro Beltran appreciated the attendance and the presentation of Mr S Ravi Shankar.The Members of AEA appreciated the knowledge of S Ravi Shankar in the field of international arbitration. The next AEA Congress will take place in Parague, on June 1st and 2nd, 2017. Mr S Ravi Shankar requested the President of AEA to consider hosting an AEA Congress in New Delhi in near future.Law Senate is a Professionally Managed Indian Law Firm, Providing Corporate and Personal Dispute resolution services including International Arbitration, Domestic Arbitration, Infrastructure & Construction Arbitration and related Litigation in Supreme Court of India & related services. The Firm has an expertise in handling, Domestic and International Arbitrations in India, commercial litigation, Supreme Court cases, Delhi High Court cases, and Consumer cases. The Managing partner Mr Ravi Shankar, arbitration lawyer in Delhi, has about 21 years of Corporate Law Practice in New Delhi.B3/73, Safdarjung Enclave, Lower Ground Floor, New Delhi - 110029 India.website url:-contact no- +91-11-26102873, +91-11-26104773 Discount Coupons Website Launched for Customers Delight www.maddycoupons.us www.maddycoupons.us MaddyCoupons, a new name in the coupon industry, is launched to offer customers new opportunities of saving money on shopping for occasional and daily products.June 14th, 2016, Lebanon, New Hampshire: The online shoppers are here going to experience more money saving deals with the launch of new discount coupon website,. 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Here we go!.Contact details10 box bixby stLebanon, New Hampshire - 03766Contact Number: 6034439920Email : contact@maddycoupons.us DUBAI, June 14 -- Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC) said Tuesday it received a green light for a five-year unsecured loan worth 230 million U.S. dollars from China's Industrial and Commercial Banking Corporation (ICBC), for the expansion of its business. The ENOC said in a statement the loan was secured from the bank's branch located at the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). "The trust placed by ICBC in us is a big testament of our robust business and financial performance," said Petri Pentti, Chief Financial Officer at ENOC Group. ICBC is the biggest bank in the world in relation to assets and market capitalization. Pentti added that the ENOC has a long-term strategy in place, "which is not greatly impacted by the change in the economic climate of the region." The loan will help ENOC fund its new projects and support the company's expansion strategy and business operations in light of the challenges faced by the international oil and gas market. Susan Faludi In the Darkroom.jpg "In the Darkroom" recounts Susan Faludi's discovery that her estranged father was transgender and her subsequent attempts to learn more about him and his life. (Author photo: The Associated Press; book cover, Henry Holt & Co.) As Susan Faludi published best-selling books about femininity ("Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women") and masculinity ("Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Man"), little did she know that her own father was struggling, and had long struggled, with gender identification. In the summer of 2004, after a quarter-century of estrangement, Faludi received an unexpected email from her father. There'd been a name change; there'd been sex reassignment surgery. Steven Faludi had, as a septuagenarian, become Stefanie Faludi. "Write my story," she told Susan. Two months later, Susan Faludi, who lived in Portland at the time, flew to Stefanie Faludi's native Hungary on the first of many trips to interview her and learn her story. It turned out to comprise multiple layers of identity: a Hungarian immigrant turned American suburbanite, a Jew intent on celebrating Christmas and Easter, a family name changed after the Holocaust, a father who'd seemed a man's man exulting in appearing as a proper lady. "Identity is ... it's what society accepts for you," Stefanie Faludi said to her daughter at one point. Susan Faludi's resulting book. "In the Darkroom" (Metropolitan Books, 432 pages, $32), was published June 14. She recently answered questions by email. Q: Your other books have been about societal issues: feminism, masculinity, terrorism. What was it like to research and write a book that was about a similarly overarching topic but that also had highly personal overtones, especially given your fraught relationship with your father? I've always written about gender as a public and political issue--and always at a journalist's remove. Despite my feminist bona fides, the personal for me has tended to stay personal, at least in my writing. But this time around, I wasn't allowed the luxury of operating at a distance. My father had brought one of the central gender questions of the age right into my backyard. I found myself in a situation where the issues I long weighed in had become issues that I couldn't begin to think about, much less write about, without admitting to my own experience. Q: When your father came out to you by email, the email was signed "your parent," a gender-neutral word. But throughout the book you refer to Stefanie Faludi as your "father," a word with inescapable connotations of masculinity. Why? This was my father's preference. As she liked to remind me, "I'm still your father." On all matters of gendered naming and pronouns, I went with my father's druthers. Q: If Stefanie Faludi had not invited you to tell her story, do you think you would have? Why or why not? No, I couldn't imagine writing her story without her consent and cooperation. This was a decade-long collaboration between the two of us. And, in good measure, I took on this project as a way for us to reconnect and come to understand each other. Because I'm a journalist, the most obvious way for me to do that was to assume the role of the reporter--and, I should note, my father loved being interviewed! Q: What do you hope readers take away from this book? Ultimately it's a personal exploration of one particular daughter's experience with one particular father--for the record, a difficult father and a difficult daughter--and it's the story of our struggle to see each other across a dark room. But I did a lot of reporting and researching and thinking along the way to understand the larger context of identity--sexual, national, or religious--and the history of transgenderism. And I hope that readers come away with a richer understanding of the vexed nature of identity and the role it plays in making meaning in our lives. Here's an excerpt from "In the Darkroom." *** In the summer of 2004 I set out to investigate someone I scarcely knew, my father. The project began with a grievance, the grievance of a daughter whose parent had absconded from her life. I was in pursuit of a scofflaw, an artful dodger who had skipped out on so many things--obligation, affection, culpability, contrition. I was preparing an indictment, amassing discovery for a trial. But somewhere along the line, the prosecutor became a witness. Whose story I was witness to would remain elusive. In the course of a lifetime, my father had laid claim to so many identities: assimilated child of privilege in post-Habsburg Budapest, adolescent fugitive in Holocaust Europe, canny Copenhagen entrepreneur, swashbuckling filmmaker in the Brazilian outback, or, when I joined the scene, suburban dad in Westchester County with a commercial photography business in Manhattan. My father explained this ability to cross borders in the accent that never seemed to fade: "I'm a Hungaaaarian. I know how to faaaake things." If only it were that simple. Even before the last decades, when my father became a repatriated Magyar nationalist and then a post-millennial trans woman in the supposedly borderless and sexually liberal European Union, those many shifting identities had seemed to be in a race with something immutable and inescapable, furies both historical and personal. By the spring of 2015, I feared the furies were catching up to her. My father had asked me to tell her story, or rather dared me to. She was, despite the invitation, a refractory subject. Most of the time, our collaboration resembled a game of cat and mouse, a game the mouse generally won. My father, like that other Hungarian, Houdini, was the master of the breakout. For my part, I kept up the chase. I had cast myself as the bloodhound sleuth, tracking her many selves to their secret recesses. I was intent on writing a book about my father. It wasn't until the summer of 2015, after I'd worked my way through many drafts and sent in the manuscript to my publisher, and after my father had died, that I realized how much I'd also been writing it for her. She had become, in my mind at least, my primary, imagined and intended reader--with all the generosity and hostility that implies. It wasn't an uncomplicated gift. "There are things in here that will be hard for you to take," I'd warned her in the fall of 2014, when I called to announce that I had a final draft. I braced myself for the response. My father, who had made a career in photography out of altering images and devoted a lifetime to altering her own, would hate, I assumed, being depicted warts and all. "Waaall," she said, after a silence. "This is very good. You know more about my life than I do." For once my father seemed pleased to be captured, if only on the page. Excerpted from IN THE DARKROOM by Susan Faludi, to be published June 14, 2016 by Metropolitan Books. Copyright (c) 2016 by Susan Faludi. All rights reserved. bz.aircrane.130.JPG Portland helicopter company Erickson Inc. has agreed to settle a class-action shareholder lawsuit. The company employs nearly 800, half of them in Oregon. Fredrick D. Joe/The Oregonian (Fredrick D. Joe) Portland aviation company Erickson Inc. and the private equity company that controls it have tentatively agreed to pay $18.5 million to settle a shareholder's class-action lawsuit, according to court documents. Edward Montgomery, an Erickson pilot and shareholder, in 2014 sued his company alleging the Erickson board breached its fiduciary duty to shareholders when it OK'ed Erickson's 2013 acquisition of Evergreen Helicopters. Montgomery claims the Evergreen acquisition was a thinly disguised bailout of ZM Private Equity, Erickson's largest shareholder. Montgomery claimed Quinn Morgan, then Erickson's chairman and the head of ZM, personally negotiated the deal to ensure ZM got repaid the $62 million it was owed by Evergreen. "ZM Defendants violated their fiduciary duties by using Erickson for their own personal benefit to the detriment of Erickson's minority stockholders," Montgomery claimed. The Evergreen deal has proven disastrous for Erickson, burdening the company with a crushing load of $355 million in debt. Erickson's stock has collapsed below $1 a share in recent weeks as it struggles through business setbacks and a mounting liquidity crisis. Most of the $18.5 million settlement will be divvied up among shareholders who held Erickson shares between March 18, 2013 and June 16. It is not nearly enough to cover the loss of value suffered by shareholders as the stock Shareholders have taken a beating. Erickson's stock closed Monday at 76 cents, down from $19.03 a share when Montgomery filed his suit. The case was set to go trial in August. Erickson, which has denied any wrongdoing, declined comment Written into the settlement are new limits on Erickson's ability to conduct major corporate purchases or sales, particularly transactions that involve ZM. Erickson will have to get approval of a committee of independent Erickson boardmembers before it moves ahead, according to the settlement document. The settlement must be approved by a judge, which probably won't happen until early fall. Last week, the 800-employee company announced it had hired an investment banking firm to advise it on a possible restructuring. Jeff Roberts, the company's chief executive, acknowledged the company has too much debt and not enough liquidity. -- Jeff Manning 503-294-7606, jmanning@oregonian.com lightbar A Clark County sheriff's deputy shot at a man suspected of robbing a Vancouver bank on June 13, 2016. The man was taken to a hospital. He was shot after law enforcement officers tracked him to Northeast 10th Avenue and 219th Street -- about 11 miles north of the U.S. Bank branch he's suspected of robbing. (The Oregonian/OregonLive/file) Law enforcement officers pursued a man suspected in a Vancouver bank robbery on June 13, 2016. The pursuit came to a head at Northeast 10th Avenue and 219th Street -- about 11 miles north of the U.S. Bank branch he's accused of robbing. A Clark County sheriff's deputy shot at a man suspected of robbing a Vancouver bank Monday afternoon, police said. The shooting happened after law enforcement officers tracked the man to Northeast 10th Avenue and 219th Street -- about 11 miles north of the U.S. Bank branch where the hold-up occurred, according to a police spokeswoman. He was taken to a hospital, said Vancouver police spokeswoman Kim Kapp. She didn't know whether the deputy hit the man, the man's condition or whether he was armed. Vancouver police received an alarm call from the bank branch at 1607 Main St. around 2 p.m., Kapp said. He made off with an undisclosed amount of cash that had a tracking device with it, she said. Vancouver police, Washington State Patrol and Clark County sheriff's officers tracked the man, Kapp said. A sheriff's deputy performed a "pit maneuver" -- a technique to box in the man's car -- and the shooting happened around 2:16 p.m. Kapp didn't identify the man or the deputy. The robbery and shooting are under investigation. No officer was injured. This report will be updated if more information becomes available. -- Jim Ryan jryan@oregonian.com 503-221-8005; @Jimryan015 UPDATE: Deputy who shot at bank robbery suspect identified as 18-year sheriff's office veteran Authorities have identified a man who died after he was shot at by a Clark County sheriff's deputy Monday afternoon. Kenneth Allen Pointer, 43, of Portland, was taken to a hospital where he died, said Kim Kapp, a Vancouver Police Department spokeswoman. She did not say whether the deputy shot him or whether Pointer was armed. In a news release, Kapp said the Clark County Medical Examiner's Office will release information about Pointer's cause and manner of death. The Regional Major Crimes Team is investigating. About 2 p.m. Monday, Vancouver police received an alarm call from the U.S. Bank at 1607 Main St., Kapp said. The suspect, whom police identified as Pointer, made off with an undisclosed amount of cash that had a tracking device with it, she said. Vancouver police, Washington State Patrol and Clark County sheriff's officers tracked Pointer. A sheriff's deputy performed a "pit maneuver" -- a technique used to stop his car -- and the shooting happened shortly after 2:15 p.m. at Northeast 10th Avenue and 219th Street, more than 10 miles from the bank. No specific details were released about what prompted the shooting. On Monday, Kapp said she didn't know whether the deputy's gunfire hit the man. The deputy has not been identified. This story will be updated as more information becomes available. Jim Ryan of The Oregonian/OregonLive contributed to this report. -- Rebecca Woolington 503-294-4049; @rwoolington lightbar Police said a fight at Vancouver's Washington Elementary School ended in gunfire on June 13, 2016. (The Oregonian/OregonLive/file) Two boys and a man were arrested Monday evening on suspicion of being involved in a fight that ended in gunfire. They're suspected of fighting with another group of boys at Washington Elementary School, police said. After they stopped fighting, someone fired shots toward the other group. The suspects got into a car and left but were later stopped and detained, Vancouver police said in a news release. No one was injured, and police have seized the car because they think the gun is inside. Police said the two boys and man, who weren't identified by name, are facing first-degree assault charges. The fight happened around 5:40 p.m., police said, and the case is under investigation. No additional information was available Monday night. -- Jim Ryan 503-221-8005; Portland's bike-rental program will launch on July 19, and annual memberships go on sale Tuesday. Officials with Portland's Biketown are keen to kick-start sales because because annual memberships, along with corporate sponsorship, are key to sustaining bike-share programs. They're hoping to sign up 1,000 annual members before launch day, and they're offering incentives in hopes of reaching that goal. Pricing Annual memberships, which will be available Tuesday at biketownpdx.com, will cost $12 a month, with the first 500 receiving one month free, paid for by the Metro regional government. The first 1,000 members will get a T-shirt and a limited-run "founding member" keycard to access bikes. A membership entitles riders to 90 minutes of ride time a day, with additional time charged at 10 cents a minute. The program will also launch with per-ride and day pass options. A single trip of up to 30 minutes will cost $2.50. A day pass for up to 180 minutes in a single day will cost $12. Stations and locations The transportation bureau also identified where it will put 100 stations, where bikes can be rented and returned. (Bikes can also be left at any public bike rack for an added $2 charge.) Biketown, Portland's bike-share program, will launch with 100 stations. Click to enlarge. The stations will be spread out throughout the Biketown service area, but the concentration is higher on the west side, where there will be 18.9 stations per square mile. On the eastside, the concentration falls to just over 9 stations per square mile. Steve Hoyt-McBeth, a transportation bureau project manager, said he wishes the program had enough resources to be twice the size. "If we had 200 stations, we could easily have put down 200 stations," Hoyt-McBeth said."But we had to make some hard choices." Stations were selected in part based on an online survey, but Hoyt-McBeth said the city made a concerted effort to put stations near areas with heavy foot traffic and near affordable housing. "Bike share works best not only when you put stations in high-demand areas, but also when you have a high level of service within that area," he said. Of 100 bike-share stations, 20 will be outfitted with kiosks where people can sign up for an account. (People who have previously used bike-share can reserve a bike using its onboard computer rather than the kiosk.) Motivate, the bike-share operator, will start installing stations by the beginning of July, Biketown general manager Dorothy Mitchell said. -- Elliot Njus enjus@oregonian.com 503-294-5034 @enjus Southern Oregon University searched far and wide to find its next president. They found her more than 3,000 miles away. Southern's Board of Trustees named Linda Schott, the president of the University of Maine at Presque Isle, as the school's thirteenth president on Monday. Schott, 59, signed a three-deal contract and will be paid $240,000 per year. Southern Oregon will also pay up to $30,000 in Schott's moving expenses. Presque Isle is a more than 3,000-mile drive from Ashland. Her first day on campus will be Aug. 1. Bill Thorndike, Southern's board chair, said the trustees chose Schott over 75 other applicants identified by a search firm. "She's a very well-qualified academic," Thorndike said of Schott, who worked as a dean and department chair in Colorado and Michigan before becoming president of the small Maine school in 2012. "Her story is just so positive." The Southern board was attracted to Schott's academic pedigree, but also her life story as a first-generation college student. Linda Schott is the next president of SOU She grew up on a ranch in the Texas Hill Country, where she helped raise angora goats, cattle and pigs. Neither of her parents graduated from high school, but Schott went on to attend Baylor and Stanford University. Schott said her parents always pushed her to get a good education because they didn't. "I understand the difference that education makes in a life," she said in an interview. "It's taken me from that ranch to the presidency of two institutions." She will arrive in Ashland as the school is still rebounding from several years of financial, enrollment and leadership uncertainty. She will also work with an independent governing board which is still learning the ropes after first forming in 2015. Schott will succeed interim president Ray Saigo, who was appointed in 2014 to replace Mary Cullinan. Cullinan was hired as Eastern Washington University's president, but she left under a cloud, which included a vote of no confidence from Southern's faculty. As with Eastern Oregon, Southern is being monitored by state higher education officials. In January, state officials said the school had stabilized its enrollment at roughly 6,200 and was in better financial shape. "Much work has been done," officials wrote, "much work remains." Schott said she's aware of the school's retrenchment plan and new leadership structure. "That's one of the most exciting things about the job," she said, "even though it's an institution with a long history, it's in a sense it's being reborn." Schott was one of three finalists who visited the Jackson County campus in the past few weeks. Thorndike said hundreds of Southern Oregonians filled out surveys and attended meetings with the three finalists. "I was just so excited and thrilled with the participation we've had," he said of the school's first presidential search with an independent board. Schott is the fourth new president hired at Oregon's seven four-year public universities in the past year-and-a-half, joining those hired at Western and Eastern Oregon University and the University of Oregon. The Oregon Institute of Technology is also hiring a new president. -- Andrew Theen atheen@oregonian.com 503-294-4026 @andrewtheen Portland leaders including Mayor Charlie Hales and Multnomah County Chairwoman Deborah Kafoury on Tuesday called on Oregon Gov. Kate Brown to use her bully pulpit to pressure Washington's governor to reject a large oil train terminal in Vancouver. The group, which included a tribal representative and the first emergency responder at the fiery Mosier oil train derailment June 3, said Brown must work with President Barack Obama and Oregon's federal leadership to press for a permanent ban on oil trains. "It's not safe, and it's not responsible," Hales said. "We need to move in a different direction." Brown, who previously had not taken a stand on the terminal, responded that she was "concerned" about any new oil facilities on Washington's side of the Columbia River, referring to both the oil train terminal and a refinery proposed downriver in Longview. The governor stopped short of an outright call for Washington Gov. Jay Inslee to reject the terminal. Inslee has final say over the $210 million terminal, capable of bringing a total of 15 million gallons of oil through the Columbia River Gorge in four trains each day "I am closely monitoring the evaluation and recommendations about siting that Washington agencies will make to Governor Inslee," Brown said in a statement. If built, the oil train terminal proposed by Tesoro Corp. and Savage Services would be the Pacific Northwest's largest. Tina Barbee, a Tesoro spokeswoman, said tank cars going to the facility will exceed federal standards, making them stronger than those that punctured in the Mosier wreck. "We recognize the serious nature of the derailment near Mosier, and will be examining the results of the investigation, once complete, to determine any lessons learned that can be applied to enhance the safety of transporting crude oil by rail," she said in a statement. The local leaders' opposition isn't new. Months ago, both Hales and Kafoury supported resolutions calling for an end to oil-by-rail transportation locally. But their continued pressure at an event organized by the Stand Up to Oil Coalition, a consortium of environmental groups, comes with those groups looking for ways to raise the stakes for Inslee after the Mosier derailment. The June 3 wreck spilled 42,000 gallons of oil, sparked a raging fire and created a small oil sheen on the Columbia River. The incident caused no injuries, but damaged the city's sewage treatment plant and forced nearly 300 people to evacuate their homes. The derailment has forced oil train safety onto Brown's radar. Her predecessor, John Kitzhaber, ordered a thorough review of state safety in response to the swift rise of oil trains that occurred while he was in office. At Kitzhaber's urging, the Oregon Department of Transportation hired four new rail safety inspectors to patrol railroads across the state. Since Brown took office, crude-by-rail traffic has declined. Allen Good, a Morningstar analyst who follows Tesoro, said the latest derailment won't help the company's efforts to build the Vancouver terminal. But Good expects it to be built, despite environmental opposition. Opponents already had evidence of what happens when oil trains derail. Good said he wasn't sure one more derailment "will be material enough to swing the decision one way or another at this point." -- Rob Davis rdavis@oregonian.com 503.294.7657 Final preparations are being made ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's latest international trip. He's due to leave Friday for stops in Serbia, Poland and Uzbekistan. Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic says the Chinese president's arrival is going to be extremely lucrative for his country. "During President Xi's visit, Serbia will sign 24 cooperative agreements with China, such a number has never been the case during any world leaders' visit to our country. Those agreements include not only those at national level, but also those focusing on economy, investment and cultural exchanges. China's investment to us is of great importance, and could solve a variety of problems which we could hardly deal with by ourselves." Following his 2nd stop in Poland, Xi Jinping will then travel to Uzbekistan to wrap up his trip with a 2-day meeting of leaders from Shanghai Cooperation Organization countries. HANOI, June 14 -- The China-ASEAN Expo 2016 (CAEXPO 2016), which will be held in both China and Vietnam, is expected to promote cooperation between enterprises of the two countries, said a Vietnamese official here on Tuesday. Ta Hoang Linh, vice head of the Department of Trade Promotion under Vietnam's Ministry of Industry and Trade made the remarks at a press conference held on Tuesday to introduce the event. The CAEXPO Vietnamese Exhibition 2016 will be held in Hanoi from Thursday to Saturday while the 13th CAEXPO 2016 in China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in September. According to Linh, China has many good businesses but not all Vietnamese enterprises know them. Therefore, through the event, many Vietnamese enterprises can discover Chinese brands, said Linh. As Vietnam is a big importer of Chinese goods, many Vietnamese enterprises often buy raw materials and machines from China, Linh said, adding that the exhibition will help Vietnamese importers find suitable Chinese partners for better cooperation results. According to Yang Yanyan, vice secretary-general of the CAEXPO Secretariat, as many as 166 Chinese enterprises from 13 provinces and regions will attend the CAEXPO Vietnamese Exhibition 2016 in Hanoi to showcase their products at some 330 stalls covering around 5,000 square meters. The products to be displayed at the event include those in machinery, food packaging machines and technology, energy equipment, automobiles, among others. Meanwhile, around 200 Vietnamese firms are expected to attend the 13th CAEXPO 2016 in China's Guangxi in September. Vietnam is the country of honor of the 13th CAEXPO. (Global Times) 09:19, June 14, 2016 Local LGBT groups call attention to other forms of violence in China Flags are lowered at half mast on the Washington Monument grounds to honor those killed by a lone gunman at a night club in Orlando, Monday in Washington, DC. At least 49 were killed and 53 wounded in the shooting. (Photo/Xinhua) In their largest coordinated effort in history, over 190 gay rights organizations across China on Monday released a joint letter strongly condemning terrorism and violence based on sexual orientation, after a gunman killed at least 49 people in a US gay club. Analysts said the letter indicates that Chinese gay rights activists, with growing political awareness, are eager to join the global campaign to change the social taboos imposed on their group. "We, the members of China's lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community, wish to express our deepest sympathies to the victims and their families, friends, and loved ones, and all those affected by this monstrous act," read a joint letter released by the LGBTQ organizations. "Together with them, we grieve the loss of so many innocent lives and strongly condemn terrorism and all forms of violence based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression," the letter read. The letter, which was initiated by LGBT Rights Advocacy China, a Chinese NGO, called for united actions among Chinese LGBTQ organizations to participate in related initiatives and petitions across the globe. It also called for supporters to switch social media profile pictures to one related to the Orlando attack and forward information on opposing violence and discrimination. At least 49 people were killed and 53 others wounded, including a police officer, early Sunday in a mass shooting at a popular gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. It is the worst mass shooting in US history and the deadliest terror attack since the September 11 attacks in 2001. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the shooting. However, the father of suspected gunman Omar Mateen said that his son was not driven by religious ideology but homophobia. He said his son grew "very angry" after seeing two men kissing in Miami a few months ago. "The massacre is a reminder that homophobia and transphobia are still prevalent and causing devastation throughout our world today. Although private ownership of guns is banned in China, other forms of violence, such as conversion therapies, bullying of LGBTQ youth in schools and other discriminatory treatment occur on a daily basis," Peng Yanhui, an initiator of the campaign and director of LGBT Rights Advocacy China, told the Global Times on Monday. Peng said he was "devastated" to see a good number of Chinese netizens commenting with prejudice toward LGBTQ groups when they found out that a gay bar was attacked and that some Chinese media also downplayed the factor of homophobia in the attack. "We haven't made specific plans but we would like to take this opportunity to participate in future initiatives proposed by US LGBTQ groups as part of a global campaign," Peng said. Important as Stonewall Peng Xiaohui, a sexologist at Wuhan's Central China Normal University, said the mass shooting could be a "key point" in the gay rights movement and that the number of Chinese LGBTQ groups participating in the campaign this time is "unforeseen." "This event could be as important as the Stonewall riots The riots showed oppression from the authorities and the Orlando shootingdisplays the horror cast by civil society," Peng Xiaohui told the Global Times on Monday. The Stonewall riots were a series of violent confrontations between police and gay rights activists outside the Stonewall Inn in New York City in 1969. The riots were considered the beginning of an international gay rights movement. "The Chinese LGBTQ people feel the same pain as those in the US, which is that their lives are directly threatened because of their sexual orientation," the sexologist said. However he cautioned Chinese gay rights activists to show restraint. He said the organizations should take one step at a time to change how LGBTQ people are viewed by society without "politicizing the event too much by mixing it with other demands." Offering condolences Chinese President Xi Jinpingon Monday called his US counterpart Barack Obama to offer condolences over the deadly shooting. Chinese Premier Li Keqiangalso expressed deep sympathy and sincere condolences to the US government and the US people. The shooting has also prompted some discussion on gun control in Chinese cyberspace. Many said it is lucky that China does not allow civilian gun ownership. Chen Youxi, a lawyer from the Hangzhou-based Jingheng Law Firm, said on his Weibo account that he hopes the Orlando shooting could reinitiate Obama's gun control bill. "Chinese authorities pushed for gun control and the people supported it. The truth is, gun control is the key reason China has seen fewer cases of bloody murders," Chen said. Zhao Yusha and agencies contributed to this story (Global Times) 11:04, June 14, 2016 Illustration: Liu Rui /GT After a landslide victory on May 10, Rodrigo Duterte was announced by the Philippine congress as the next president of the Philippines. He is scheduled to take the oath of office on June 30, and start his six-year tenure. How he will act over the simmering tensions in the South China Sea has been put into the spotlight of global attention. In a contrast to the outgoing Philippine President Benigno Aquino, Duterte's China policy seems a bit more positive. He has shown approval for bilateral talks with China, called for joint exploitation of oil and gas resources in the South China Sea and asked for more Chinese investments. China has also responded actively to Duterte's gesture, sending warm regards to his election. It seems that China and the Philippines are going to break the ice in their frozen relationship. But actually, they are not even close. Duterte is nicknamed the "Filipino Trump" for his extreme positions and wild rhetoric, which has helped subvert people's traditional thinking about politicians. Duterte expressed goodwill to China over the South China Sea dispute, but he also made aggressive and tough statements, such as defending the Philippines' interests at the cost of war with China and through outside allies' help. Therefore, constructive statements do not represent the whole picture of Duterte's comments on China. Besides, his headline-grabbing remarks are mostly for victory in the election. It is another matter how he will formulate his China policy after taking office. Duterte's caprice over the South China Sea dispute and the Sino-US relationship has confounded outside observers. There are two possible scenarios. First, Duterte has not come up with a well-thought-out China policy, nor a South China Sea strategy, because as a mayor, his political life lacks experience in dealing with foreign affairs. The second is that Duterte's South China Sea strategy, just as he says, is a flexible and shapeless policy. So far, the second scenario makes more sense. The 71-year-old president-elect has been mayor of Davao for seven terms, totaling more than 22 years. As a senior politician that has been leading a complicated political life for decades, he is crafty and cunning. Duterte doesn't want to fixate a South China Sea policy right now, because he wants enough wiggle room in the future. This tactic is actually a political speculation. As an opportunist, Duterte is different from Aquino who sticks to an unbending approach to siding with the US and confronting China to the end of the day, and has navigated the Sino-Philippine relationship into an impasse. He does not only wield a stick, but also offers carrots. So he insists on a principled stand, but has also sent messages to China for rapprochement and cooperation. The presidential election can serve as a reset button for China and the Philippines to reverse their deteriorating ties, and Duterte's stand and strategies on the South China Sea dispute, in essence, depend on his understanding of the Philippines' national interest. Duterte is expected to trade on the tensions between China and the US in the South China Sea, and seek benefits from both sides. The result of the international arbitration filed by the Aquino administration is very likely to favor the Philippines, giving Duterte leverage in bargaining with China. Manila and Beijing might reach a reconciliation: The Philippines will be asked to employ a low-key approach to the result of the arbitration and turn to bilateral negotiation with China; in exchange, China will incorporate the Philippines into its "Belt and Road" initiative, expand investment in the Philippines and seek larger cooperation in infrastructure. Duterte is more an experienced mayor than a seasoned diplomat. His focus on internal affairs can put a gloss on his rule more easily. Duterte is well aware of the fact that the Philippines is in dire need of investment in infrastructure, so he has shown willingness several times to conduct joint development of the South China Sea with China. Once both countries have agreed to put aside their conflicts and separate economic cooperation from maritime dispute, the Sino-Philippine relationship will start to roll toward a positive end. The US, however, has a major impact on how far Duterte can go on his new path. The traditional US-Philippine alliance assures Washington's dominant influence on the Philippines, a fact that can hardly be changed by a new president. Washington won't allow Manila to veer off track or disturb its rebalance to the Asia-Pacific. As for the Philippines, without Washington's support, it won't have any leverage in bargaining with China. Generally speaking, there are some hopes in Duterte's South China Sea policy. Aquino's abolishment of the Philippines' balance between major powers and adoption of siding with the US to counter China have proven detrimental to both China and the Philippines. Duterte's ascent might bring in a rebound of the bilateral relationship. If Duterte can put straight Aquino's deflected China policy and strike a kind of balance between China and the Philippines, the heavily disturbed Sino-Philippine relationship will recover. The author is a postdoctoral researcher at School of International Studies, Peking University. [email protected] Follow us on Twitter @GTopinion BEIJING - Citizens' civil and political rights have been effectively protected, and the people have been guaranteed and supported to act as masters of their own country, according to a report reviewing the human rights development from 2012 to 2015 released by the Chinese government on Tuesday. The supervision and examination against extortion of confession by torture and other illegal acts have been strengthened, it said. Between 2012 and 2015, procuratorial organs made 869,775 remedial proposals on illegal acts during criminal investigations including abusing compulsory measures, collecting evidence through illegal means and extorting confessions by torture, according to the report. In 2015, China handled 208 cases against 243 procurators for their violation of laws and disciplines, it added. According to the report, between 2012 and 2015, procuratorial institutions across the country proposed release or changing compulsory measures for 83,341 people who were involved in cases unnecessary for detention, and case-handling organs accepted such proposals for 77,591 detainees, with the adoption rate standing at 93.1 percent. Between 2012 and 2015, the people's courts at various levels found 3,369 suspects not guilty, the document said. Tighter checks have been placed on the application of the death penalty. In August 2015, nine crimes were removed from the list of crimes subject to the death penalty in the Amendment (IX) to the Criminal Law, and therefore the number of crimes subject to the death penalty decreased from the previous 55 to 46, according to the report. It added, in 2012, the Supreme People's Procuratorate established the Oversight Office on the Review of the Death Penalty, in an effort to strengthen legal supervision procedures on the review of the death penalty. Second trials of death penalty cases have all been conducted in open courts. More importance is given to listening to the opinions of defense lawyers in the course of reviewing death penalty cases, the report read. Freedom of religious belief is fully guaranteed. The work on the protection of pilgrimage activities of Muslims has constantly improved. The State Council established the mechanism of the inter-ministerial joint meeting on the work of pilgrimage made by believers in Islam, the document said. Between 2011 and 2015, a total of 200 million yuan was invested in the renovation and expansion projects of religious places in Tibet, it added. In terms of the right to be informed, between 2012 and 2015, the State Council Information Office organized 322 news conferences on the major meetings, major decisions and major work of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the State. The CPC Central Committee, the State Council and local CPC committees and governments organized more than 9,300 news conferences and news briefings, according to the report. The system of people's self-governance at grassroots level has been further improved. The Ministry of Civil Affairs has formulated the Regulations and Procedures on the Election of Village Committees, and more than 98 percent of village committees are directly elected according to law, the document said. It also read, social groups have become an important channel through which the masses of people take part in social management and public service. By the end of 2015, the number of social groups registered nationwide according to law had reached about 660,000, an increase of 32.3 percent over the corresponding period of 2012. Social groups of various types nationwide had generated incomes of around 260 billion yuan, providing about 8.5 million people of various kinds with employment, and accepted donations of approximately 90 billion yuan. In terms of the rights to be heard, the internet information platform has enriched channels through which citizens can have their voices heard. By the end of 2015, China's online population had reached 688 million and the internet penetration rate had reached 50.3 percent, according to the report. (Global Times) 10:26, June 14, 2016 An article published in the China Youth Daily on Monday called for a "solemn" retirement ceremony for Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) officers, accounting for half of 300,000 military personnel who were cut as part of China's military reform. Retirement ceremonies were recently held for military personnel from the Western, Central and Eastern Theater Commands. However, the article said that a grand ceremony was usually held for retired soldiers while those PLA officers left silently which has caused lasting sentiments in their heart. Xu Guangyu, senior consultant of the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association, told the Global Times on Monday that it's very difficult to organize a ceremony for retiring officers because of their scarcity on a team. "They have fought and made relentless contributions to the army and face many uncertainties in life. The ceremony will warm and encourage them," the report said, adding that all kinds of ceremonies in the military, including an enlistment oath-taking ceremony and one for promotions have been improved, some of which have been institutionalized in regulations and laws. "However, we left out one for retiring officers.Holding a ceremony for officers is a way to express our gratitude to their service to national defense, contributions to the country, and affirmation of their honorable military career," said the report. "It also sends a message to those still serving in the military that they will be treated well," said Xu. In 2015, Chinese President Xi Jinpingannounced 300,000 troops would be cut from the PLA as part of the military reform, which also includes a redrawing of the regional military command system and streamlining the Party leadership, aiming to develop a modern military system "capable of winning information-age warfare." The cut represents about 13 percent of the 2.3 million-strong military force. By 2020, the PLA will have finished mechanization of all forces and made important progress in incorporating information and computer technology, according to a five-year military development plan. Delta College and McDonalds have formed an articulation agreement allowing restaurant employees in various roles to earn college credit toward an associates degree. The credits will go toward applicable degree programs, such as business and general studies. Eligible students at Delta College may receive up to 10 credits for an associates degree in business or general studies. The college will issue credits to McDonalds employees in managerial roles, crediting them for work in shift management, department management, general management and systems management. We are very pleased to create a relationship with McDonalds which will truly benefit students, said Dr. Jean Goodnow, president of Delta College. We offer a variety of ways for students to earn credit for knowledge theyve gained through employment or military training. This allows us to help more students obtain a college degree. The earn and learn agreements with Delta College will provide a win-win for our employees and McDonalds, said Tony DAnna, owner and operator of nine McDonalds restaurants in Mid-Michigan, including Bridgeport, Chesaning, Frankenmuth, Marlette, North Branch, Pinconning, St. Charles, Standish and West Branch. At McDonalds, we believe education is the true game-changer. We are ecstatic that our team members in Mid-Michigan will have the opportunity to pursue a stronger path toward receiving a degree, DAnna said. The articulation agreement is part of McDonalds ongoing efforts to lead our industry in promoting workforce education that supports the business and ensures employee success and advancement. Through this investment, we will strengthen the business by building the talent pipeline, improving retention and driving employee capability. In addition to earning college credit, McDonalds also offers employees tuition assistance through its Archways to Opportunities program. Employees can work toward their educational goals through Archways programming in tuition assistance, English education, high school completion, and resources and support that help eliminate barriers for employees returning to school. As of March 2016, Archways to Opportunities awarded more than $450,000 in tuition assistance to more than 350 McDonalds employees in Michigan. McDonalds employs 32,000 people statewide at more than 500 restaurants, which are owned by more than 100 small business owners. For more about Archways to Opportunities, visit www.mcdonalds.com/archwaystoopportunity. BAY CITY (AP) Michigan Sugar Co. is warning Bay City residents that the cleaning of ponds used to store and treat water likely will create some foul odors. The cooperative owned by sugar beet growers says Monday that sediment and organic material are being removed from the ponds. Michigan Sugar says the cleaning process is expected to take several weeks and is aimed at reducing odors in the future. The mass exodus of Detroit residents over the last 30 years has been tragic. But, for Katy Locker, the exodus went from California to Detroit. The Midland native went against the flow, and made it a point to move specifically to Detroit in 2004 and has embraced a city that a lot of people have written off. The Detroit program director for the Miami-based Knight Foundation has seen her influence grow over the years in the revitalization of Detroit. For her contributions to the renewal of Detroit, Locker has been named as one of 100 Most Influential Women by Crains Detroit Business. I love the work that I do and the city that I do it for, but its particularly special to be recognized as a person who is able to yield influence to accomplish the work. Ive worked very hard to build a community of relationships that represents many facets of the Detroit community, Locker said. The Top 100 includes some powerful names, including Midlands Jenee Velasquez, executive director of the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation; Martha Firestone Ford, owner and chairman of the board of the Detroit Lions; Barbara McQuade, U.S. attorney, Eastern District of Michigan; and Patti Poppe, Consumers Energy president and CEO elect. The list of women is remarkable and it is humbling to be included among them, Locker said. Women should not be dismissive of their own potential or feel hesitant claiming power. Those who have achieved success have a responsibility to recognize those who helped them and to fulfill the circle of karma by helping the next generation of aspirational women. Women need to be reminded how powerful they are. A graduate of Cornell University and the University of Michigan Law School, Locker practiced redevelopment and public law in California and served the Judicial Council of California as a policy analyst before returning to Michigan. The Midland High graduate began her Detroit tenure at Community Legal Resources, specializing in legal policy work involving land banking and land use. She followed as director of the Coalition for a Detroit Land Bank. In 2008, Locker became vice president of programs for the Hudson-Webber Foundation. Locker sees her tenure at Hudson-Webber as the most significant pivot point of her career, saying it prepared her to run her own local program at the Knight Foundation, stated the Crains article. In 2013, Locker joined the Knight Foundation, which supports transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts. I think Detroit is the most interesting city in the country right now. When I returned to Detroit in 2004, it was already interesting, Locker said. During the last 12 years, Locker has been able to witness the Kwame Kilpatrick years, the auto industry crisis, the bankruptcy and the Grand Bargain, the successful rescue of the Detroit Institute of Arts. There are many people who wished to write off Detroit and, sadly, many who still would. I believe that Detroit has a unique character and strength that more and more people are coming to know and appreciate, Locker said. That appreciation began with her parents and has been embraced by Locker. It stole my parents hearts in the years they lived there and it has now stolen mine. I live in the heart of the city and get to experience the arts, the changing streetscape, the vibrant riverfront, Eastern Market, and so much more, Locker said. She also serves as chairman of the board of directors for Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Show More Show Less 3 of 3 Fourth-graders from the classrooms of teachers Kelly Kraatz and Sarah Westervelt at Midlands Eastlawn Elementary School visited Lansing Thursday to tour the state Capitol building. Along with learning about the historic building, watching legislative sessions and introductions from the House floor, the students had a surprise visit with state Rep. Gary Glenn, R-Midland, for questions and answers about state government. Children and families are invited to start their school vacation by attending the 15th annual D.E.A.R. at the Zoo Drop Everything and Read event, sponsored by the READ Association of Saginaw County. The one day literacy event on Wednesday will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Childrens Zoo at Celebration Square, 1730 S. Washington in Saginaw. All children who attend will have an opportunity to select a new book to take home and keep for their own, and in honor of READs 50th anniversary every child will also receive a red tote bag. Sixteen organizations and businesses will partner with READ and provide literacy activities and prizes. Booth sponsors and partners include: Barnes and Noble Saginaw: Boy Scout Troop 342; CAN Council Great Lakes Bay Region; the Castle Museum of Saginaw County History; Childrens Zoo at Celebration Square; Freezies Photo Booth; Greenhouse Books; Mid-Michigan Childrens Museum; Mid Michigan Waste Authority; Public Libraries of Saginaw; Covenant HealthCare Foundation Reach Out and Read Program; Saginaw Community Foundation FORCE Youth Advisory Committee; Saginaw County Birth to 5 Program; St. Marys of Michigan; Target; and Wildfire Credit Union. Michigan Author Shutta Crum will be the visiting author and is noted for her fun and informative programs for all ages. Her noon program during the event will encourage children and families to join in finger plays and a draw-and-tell silly story, along with sharing one of her favorite books. Crum is the author of 13 picture books, two novels and many poems. Many of her books will be available at the zoo for purchase and author signing. Crum is a retired librarian and was awarded the Michigan Library Associations Merit Award in 2002 as the states youth librarian of the year. The Z to A in the Great Lakes Bay book, written by Saginaw Township residents Maryann Czolgosz and Nancy Owens, will also be available for purchase at the event for a special one day event price of $5 per book. The local community resource book takes readers on an alphabet reading adventure through Saginaw, Midland, Bay City and Mount Pleasant. Proceeds from the book benefit the READ Association of Saginaw County. The event will also feature many literacy activities and summer reading ideas, including making a photo bookmark and appearances by costume characters and puppets. Selected books will be read in the zoo amphitheater throughout the day. The amphitheater schedule includes: 10:30 a.m. Wild About Books by Judy Sierra 11:15 a.m. Animal Boogie by Debbie Harter Noon Michigan author Crum 1:15 p.m. Sometimes I Like to Curl Up in a Ball by Vickie Churchill 2:30 p.m. The Cow Loves Cookies by Karma Wilson The event is possible due to the generosity of the Harvey Randall Wickes Foundation, the Saginaw Celebrates Summer program, sponsored in part by Hemlock Semiconductor Group and coordinated by the Saginaw Arts and Enrichment Commission, and READ Business Novel Sponsors: Covenant Healthcare, the Hemlock Semiconductor Sub-fund of the Dow Corning Foundation and Means Industries, Inc. All activities of the D.E.A.R. event are included in the zoo admission price, which is $5 for adults and children (infants through 11 months are free). Group Rates are available by calling 759-1408 prior to the event. Carousel and train rides are $1 per person per ride. Zoo members get in and ride free. For directions and more information about the zoo, visit www.saginawzoo.com. This event takes place rain or shine, except for severe inclement weather. In the event of inclement weather, the event will be at the Mid Michigan Childrens Museum, 315 W. Genesee. The American Red Cross is urging eligible blood and platelet donors to give this June in honor of World Blood Donor Day on Tuesday. Every two seconds, someone in the U.S. needs a lifesaving blood transfusion. The Red Cross must collect approximately 14,000 blood donations every day to meet the needs of patients at 2,600 hospitals and transfusion centers nationwide. To the editor: On June 2, Michigan House Republicans introduced a brand new and improved genital inspection bill to the five member, GOP-chaired Committee on Government Operations. This latest piece of patriotic civil rights and privacy legislation is designed to potentially embarrass and knowingly bully just about everyone blessed with both a gender and healthy excretory system whos living, working, being educated in or visiting Pure Michigan. With a well-gerrymandered election looming in November, it should be no surprise that Gary Glenn, Midlands conservative Republican state representative for the 98th House District and homophobic president of the Judeo-Christian based American Family Association of Michigan, is a proud co-sponsor of this clearly partisan human waste-reduction plan. Unlike Republican Sen. Tom Caspersons Senate Bill 993 (http://1.usa.gov/217nZe8) which, if it actually became law, would apply only to transgender students in Michigans schools, House Bill 5717 (http://1.usa.gov/1tgN5wN) universally targets everyone needing to use shared spaces everywhere in the state with a legalized form of sexual discrimination! The Occupancy of Public Facilities Act (HB5717), would prohibit any and all transgender people in the state from using any bathrooms and changing facilities aligned with their personal gender identity if the facility is owned or leased by any state agency, school, or university, as well as any Michigan city, county, or township. Think about it! In order to avoid prosecution, how does a responsible, law-abiding school superintendent, principal, teacher or guidance counselor; college professor, business tenant or owner; city, county, township employee or municipal administrator determine someones gender identify without asking everyone who wants to enter their multiple occupancy bathroom or changing facility for proof of ownership? Voters and visitors to the Comeback State are both understandably outraged at the mere thought that either of these Republican supported bills ever becomes law. Soon there would be no place left to pee, poop, clean up or change clothes in Michigan without conservative lawmakers like Glenn demanding either an inspection of all users birth certificates or official state identification cards and/or requiring a legal examination of their genitalia to prove their identity. According to Midlands current Republican state representative, people in Michigan with ordinary, everyday excretory needs or natural elimination urges should be able to trust that state government will do something as simple as telling us the truth, in this case, the simple biological truth. Simple biological truth should also be the only acceptable standard when it comes to issuing an official government ID that legally authorizes the license holder to access public restrooms, showers and locker rooms, Glenn recently told the Detroit News. http://detne.ws/1tbrVzF Whaddya think about the GOPs latest personal protection plan that gives truth-telling lawmakers the authority to require you justify your sex or else look inside your pants every time you have to use a restroom in Michigan? Is what you did or didnt vote for the last time working for you yet? ERIC ANDERS Midland (Global Times) 09:27, June 14, 2016 With a population that has shrunk to become even smaller than that of the endangered giant panda, protecting the Yangtze finless porpoise is an urgent task for Chinese scientists and fishery administrators. Yangtze finless porpoise In March 2015, eight Yangtze finless porpoises arrived in their new home, around 500 kilometers away from where they grew up. Compared with the jam-packed Yangtze River, dubbed the "golden water route" because of the huge volume of trade that moves up and down Asia's longest river, the porpoises' new home is expected to be the "ark" that will save the critically endangered species. This relocation program may be the last chance to save the species from extinction. Their new home was once part of the Yangtze, before the river shifted its route toward the sea. Administered by the Ministry of Agriculture, several institutions that specialize in porpoise protection and research have joined the fishery administration to move the water mammals, thepaper.cn reported. Yangtze finless porpoises are on the brink of extinction. A study conducted by the China Academy of Sciences (CAS)' Institute of Hydrobiology found there were only 1,040 Yangtze porpoises still alive in 2012, less than 60 percent of the giant panda population. There may be none left in as few as five years. This will be a huge blow to the eco-system of the Yangtze, sometimes called China's Amazon due to the wealth of biodiversity it once had. A species native and unique to the river, Yangtze finless porpoises are at the top of the river's food chain and their fate reflects the health of the whole river. "The (now probably extinct) baiji dolphins have left us, now the finless porpoises may be next," CAS expert Wang Ding said. "Human beings may follow them." Bye-bye baiji Nineteen ships lined up on the shore to search for the finless porpoises, when suddenly the lead-gray animals surfaced near the far bank. The flagship directed others to approach the animals and surround them. The finless porpoises live in the Yangtze and two of China's largest lakes - the Dongting and Poyang - which are both linked to the river. After spotting them when they surface to breathe, the researchers drive them into the shallows while using echolocation to track them. The plan is to move the porpoises to Tian'ezhou, or Swan Island, a State-level nature reserve dedicated to protecting the river's porpoises. It was established in 1990 to save the Yangtze's baiji dolphins. However, only one baiji was ever moved there and now the species is considered functionally extinct. Gao Daobin, former deputy director of the Swan Island reserve, led the program to relocate the baiji. "We found several baiji, but the local government wouldn't let us relocate them and said they would protect them. We could only relocate one baiji that we found elsewhere, and it ended up dying in the nature reserve alone," he said. Wang Sheng, a researcher at the CAS Institute of Hydrobiology, often reflects on his experiences with the baiji. In the summer of 2006, he was part of a multinational group of researchers that looked for the few remaining baiji. They spent more than a month traveling more than 3,000 kilometers on the Yangtze between Yichang, Central China's Hubei Province and Shanghai. Their efforts were in vain and Wang, who had studied whales for two decades, admitted that the team's search was fruitless to the media. In 2007, researchers declared that the baiji was probably extinct. It's extremely rare for two types of porpoises or dolphins to live in the same river. Aside from the Yangtze, only the Amazon has also been home to two kinds of dolphins. Scientists believe that the number of baiji began to plunge after the 1950s as human activities on the river increased. By the end of the 1990's, researchers estimated that there were only a few dozen baiji left in the river. Porpoise haven The Swan Island nature reserve, in Shishou, Hubei, received five migrant finless porpoises in 1990. Researchers wouldn't or couldn't directly move the baiji there, so they first moved porpoises there as an experiment. The first-generation immigrants quickly adapted to their new home, and their population has grown steadily. In most of the years since then, three to six porpoises have been born there, and the number of births is increasing year-on-year. This year, nine finless porpoises are expected to be born in Swan Island, pushing the total population to 70. Swan Island is the only place where the porpoises' population is increasing. The 21 kilometers of old Yangtze riverbed around Swan Island are particularly suited to be a new home for these endangered animals. As part of the old course of the Yangtze, it had remained largely pristine, in contrast with the bustling traffic and industrialization along the Yangtze. However, the animals still face challenges here. In 2008, southern China was hit by an unusually harsh winter, and Swan Island's lake was covered in 30 centimeters of ice. In order to surface to breathe, the porpoises had to headbutt their way through the ice. Six were later found dead from head wounds. No one expected that a lake in the usually warm south would freeze. Moreover, the Economic Information Daily reported that the area has also been faced with increasing environmental pressure caused by economic development today. Zhang Zhenhua, deputy director of the reserve, said the water quality around Swan Island is now even worse than that in the Yangtze. Although farming is forbidden in the reserve's core area, some villagers simply ignore the ban, and there is no punishment to deter them. The nature reserve, which was planned to be about 70,000 mu (4,666 hectares), has shrunk to around 30,000 mu due to the encroachment of farming. According to Zhang, in 2014 construction started on a food processing factory in the reserve's protected zone. The city government refused to act, and the nature reserve had to report the problem to the provincial government before the factory was dismantled. "We can't put all the eggs in one basket," Wang said. As the porpoise population expands, inbreeding will eventually harm the community. In 2012, the Ministry of Agriculture held a symposium on porpoise protection. During the meeting, experts and fishery administrators agreed that given that conditions in the Yangtze will not radically improve in the short term, it is necessary to establish new reserves for finless porpoises. After the meeting, the ministry entrusted CAS to draft a Yangtze Finless Porpoise Salvation Plan, which focused efforts on finding reserves. Wang Ding said they hope to establish five to 10 natural reserves in the next 10 years on the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze, and porpoises will be rotated among the preserves to ensure genetic diversity. Three years ago, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) proposed establishing another reserve for finless porpoises in Hewangmiao, Hubei. After surveying the site, scientists found the environment there had been well preserved. Local people fish in the lake, which is regularly filled by the Yangtze and has no industrial pollution. It could well accommodate 100 porpoises if maintained properly. Under the CAS plan, eight young and strong porpoises were selected, aged between 2 and 5, and were relocated to Hewangmiao and Swan Island. SASEBO, Japan - American, Indian and Japanese Sailors began exercise Malabar 16 with a welcoming ceremony and press conference at U.S. Fleet Activities Sasebo, June 10. A trilateral maritime exercise, Malabar is designed to enhance dynamic cooperation between the Indian Navy, Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) and U.S. naval forces in the Indo-Asia-Pacific. JMSDF hosted the welcoming ceremony for the Indian Navy shortly after the last Indian ship, INS Kirch, pulled into port, mooring alongside other Indian naval vessels and near its American and Japanese counterparts. Afterwards JMSDF Escort Flotilla 3 Commander Rear Adm. Koji Manabe, U.S. 7th Fleet Deputy Commander Rear Adm. Brian Hurley and Indian Navy Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command Vice Adm. Harish Bisht, took questions from local media about the exercise. I'd like to sincerely thank my Indian and Japanese counterparts for making it possible for the U.S. Navy to once again partner with your fine maritime forces and professionals so we can better learn from one another and strengthen our friendships, which in the end is really what this exercise is all about, said Hurley in his opening remarks. Malabar will be composed of two phases, an in-port phase that will be carried out in Sasebo and at-sea in the Philippine Sea. The navies will train together in areas such as maritime patrol and reconnaissance operations, surface and anti-submarine warfare, medical operations and visit board search and seizure operations. Indian Navy fleet tanker INS Shakti (A 57), missile corvette Kirch (P 62) and stealth multi-role frigates INS Sahyadri (F 49) and INS Satpura (F 48), Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force helicopter destroyer JS Hyuga (DDH 181) and U.S. Navy guided-missile cruiser USS Mobile Bay (CG 13), were in Sasebo for the in-port phase of the exercise. Participants in Sasebo will have professional exchanges and training on carrier strike group operations; maritime patrol and reconnaissance operations; surface and anti-submarine warfare; medical operations; damage control; explosive ordnance disposal (EOD); helicopter operations; and visit board search and seizure (VBSS) operations. Malabar began as a bilateral American-Indian exercise in 1992 but has included Japan since 2007. The seas are continuous, India can be a neighbor of Japan, Japan can be a neighbor of India, said Bisht. There is always enough scope for expansion as far as maritime security is concerned. Malabar 2016 builds on progress made during previous exercises, improving participating nations ability to conduct joint and multilateral operations, and improves multilateral coordination and capacity. For a list of participating Indian forces, please refer to the Indian Navy Headquarters. For a list of participating Japanese forces, please refer to the Japan Maritime Staff Office. Virginia-class fast attack submarine USS Mississippi (SSN 782) arrived at Busan for a routine visit as part of its maiden Indo-Asia-Pacific deployment, June 13.With a crew of approximately 141 Sailors, Mississippi is conducting a multitude of missions while maintaining proficiency of the latest capabilities of the submarine fleet."This port call to Busan is a great opportunity," said Cmdr. Eric Rozek, Mississippi's commanding officer. "The visit allows the crew to contact their loved ones back home following several weeks at sea. At the same time, my Sailors will also get the unique opportunity to experience the heritage, culture and history of Korea and continue to strengthen our relationship with one of our Western Pacific partners."Mississippi's visit is essential to the strengthening and broadening of the U.S. and Republic of Korea bilateral relationship, while expanding on the existing strong naval bond. While in port, Sailors will volunteer some of their off-duty hours in support of a joint military-to-military community relations engagement, which includes recreational activities with children from a local orphanage and facility maintenance.For many of the crew members, this is their first time traveling outside of the U.S."I'm extremely excited to visit Busan," said Culinary Specialist 3rd Class Adam E. Esaw, native of Sarasota, Florida. "I'm looking forward to immersing myself in the South Korean culture and experiencing the indigenous food and local market life."Measuring more than 360-feet-long and displacing approximately 7,000 tons when submerged, Mississippi is the one of the most technologically advanced and stealthiest submarines in the world, and has the capabilities of supporting a multitude of missions. She adds tremendous capabilities from the undersea domain to provide the United States and allies and partners with anti-submarine, anti-surface, strike, naval special warfare involving special operations forces and mine warfare.For more information, visit http://www.navy.mil/ http://www.facebook.com/usnavy/ , or http://www.twitter.com/usnavy/ For more news from Commander Submarine Group 7, visit http://www.navy.mil/local/csg7/ Submarine tender USS Frank Cable (AS 40) arrived in Puerto Princesa for a scheduled port visit June 11.The port visit will allow Frank Cable Sailors and Military Sealift Command mariners to enjoy some rest and relaxation and allow them to experience the Philippine culture.Frank Cable's Commanding Officer, Capt. Drew St. John said these opportunities to enjoy liberty in a country with a close and historic relationship with the United States are important to the mission of the United States Navy and Frank Cable."Our two countries have strong ties we trace back to the shared sacrifices of World War II," said St. John. "This visit is special to my crew, including many who have close personal ties to the Philippines. Our Sailors act as diplomats for the United States every day, and through their varied interactions with the local population they strengthen the bonds of friendship and cooperation between our two countries."One way Sailors will interact with the local community is through various community service projects, sponsored by the ship's religious ministries."Doing [community service projects] is one of my favorite parts of visiting foreign ports," said Hull Maintenance Technician 2nd Class Caleb Bednarz, a native of Chesapeake, Virginia. "We are here on liberty to experience the culture and make a positive impact with the local community. I think there is no better way to do that than by giving some personal time up."Many Sailors will also be able to spend time with their families and friends who are residents of the Philippines."It has been truly a blessing going back to my homeland," said Machinery Repairman Fireman Carl Paguirigan, whose family lives about three hours away. "The last time I [was] here was December 2014 when I spent Christmas with my family. I plan on surprising my mother; she's dying to know when I'll be coming back. I cannot wait to taste my mother's home cooking again."Frank Cable is on a scheduled deployment in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations to conduct maintenance and support deployed U.S. naval force submarines and surface vessels in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region.For more information, visit www.navy.mil www.facebook.com/usnavy , or www.twitter.com/usnavy For more information on Frank Cable, find us on Facebook at USS Frank Cable (AS 40), or http://www.csp.navy.mil/frankcable/ For more news from Commander Submarine Group 7, visit http://www.navy.mil/local/csg7/ President Xi Jinping meets German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Beijing on Monday. PANG XINGLEI/XINHUA Xi looks for anti-dumping decisions to end against domestic enterprises China expects Germany and the European Union to stop resorting to an unfair practice of making anti-dumping investigation decisions against Chinese enterprises before Dec 11, President Xi Jinping said on Monday. "I hope Germany and the EU can objectively view the connection between competition and cooperation and properly handle China-Europe trade frictions," he said. During a meeting in Beijing with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Xi called for the timely implementation of Article 15 of the Accession Protocol of China's entry to the World Trade Organization, as agreed when China joined the WTO in 2001. This stipulates that all WTO members should stop following subrogate country measures in anti-dumping cases against China before Dec 11, 2016. According to Chinese media reports, the WTO doesn't clearly define so-called subrogate countries, leaving loopholes allowing the EU to exploit its anti-dumping policies against Chinese exports. Merkel said Germany attaches importance to the implementation of Article 15. Chen Fengying, a world economy research fellow at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, said the discriminatory practice adopte by some countries of using prices in other nations to gauge the cost of Chinese products has caused unnecessary losses for Chinese enterprises in anti-dumping cases. Xi also said Beijing's ties with Berlin have entered a "very mature" phase, adding that the two countries should look after the core interests and concerns of each other to continue the healthy development of the relationship. China and Germany signed more than 20 cooperation agreements on Monday in a dozen fields after the fourth China-Germany intergovernmental consultations, co-chaired by Premier Li Keqiang and Merkel. During the consultations, Li and Merkel listened to reports by heads of 26 departments from both countries, including finance, commerce, education, transportation and healthcare, who later signed the agreements. More than 100 cooperation agreements have been signed during four consultations since 2011. Li said the two nations should strengthen high-level exchanges and strategic trust, and oppose trade protectionism amid a sluggish global economy. He called on Germany to accelerate negotiations and sign the China-EU bilateral investment treaty. The premier said, "Both countries should reinforce policy coordination under global frameworks such as the G20 Summit, link their national strategies and boost industrial cooperation in smart manufacturing and sustainable development." He also said China is willing to advance academic and research exchanges with German universities, research institutes and enterprises. Merkel said Germany is willing to work with China on smart manufacturing and new energy vehicles, and to tap into business opportunities in other markets. Contact the writer at [email protected] BLOOMINGTON St. Johns Lutheran Church will host a peace vigil on behalf of the victims of the Orlando mass shooting from 5 to 8 p.m. Wednesday. Wed like to express our profound sorrow about the hate crime in Orlando and about violence around the world today, said the Rev. Christine McNeal, associate pastor for member care and connections. This will give the Bloomington-Normal community the opportunity to grieve together. Fifty people were killed and 53 others injured in Sunday morning's gay nightclub shooting. People of all faith traditions are encouraged and invited to participate at the vigil at the church, 1617 E. Emerson St., Bloomington. "As people of faith we have an opportunity to gather together in unity to lift up in prayer those who are hurting and to witness to the truth that love is stronger than hate," said the Rev. Julia Rademacher, associate pastor for family ministry and missions. Participants will be able to light candles, pray silently, and gather together in community. St. Johns Lutheran Church is a 144-year-old community congregation with more than 2,000 members. It is part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. BLOOMINGTON A McLean County Board member is calling for an investigation and potential removal of three Board of Health members who may have violated the Open Meetings Act by using emails and closed meetings with the health department director. In a statement Monday, Carlo Robustelli called on County Board Chairman John McIntyre to investigate email correspondence between Director Walt Howe, board of health President Becky Powell, Vice President Jane Turley and Secretary Cory Tello. McIntyre could not be reached for comment. A story in Sunday's Pantagraph detailed 4,000 pages of emails in which Howe and the three officers discussed board business and shared their opinions some negative about County Board and other health board members. "I am shocked and outraged by the behavior of the McLean County Board of Health," Robustelli said. The Pantagraph offered Powell and Howe an opportunity to respond. Powell, in a five-paragraph statement, said: "Mistakes were made and they were corrected. Feelings were hurt and apologies are in order. "But for the good of our county we must move forward in the present and believe in the future," Powell wrote. "I recognize there are many opinions about the current relationship between the County Board and the Board of Health, including inside our own ranks, but that should in no way detract from the exemplary job the health department is doing every day to meet the needs of the citizens of McLean County," wrote Powell, a 12-year member of the board and a health educator at the Community Cancer Center. Robustelli said the emails show "a pattern of behavior through which the (health) board has shown open contempt and disrespect for county officials as well as engaged in blatant attempts to circumvent transparency in government." He asked McIntyre to remove Board of Health members "who engaged in these types of behaviors." State's Attorney Jason Chambers has asked Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office to investigate possible violation of the state's Open Meetings Act. The County Board also has been trying to get more information on the health department's "high level of fund reserves," Robustelli said. "Simple questions about this and other issues asked by County Board members have gone unanswered or have been met with long, evasive answers that do not address the question," he said. But Powell wrote that as other county health departments are discontinuing services or reducing hours or staff because of the state budget impasse, McLean County Health Department is using its reserves "to keep the doors open and the lights on." At the same time, the Board of Health has reduced its reliance on property tax support, she said. "The Board of Health should be proud of what we've been able to accomplish with the assistance and hard work of Walt Howe and all the employees of the McLean County Health Department," she said. Powell's term ends in July; she's not seeking reappointment. Turley and Tello will remain on the board, but not as officers. FARMER CITY A 45-year-old Kentucky man died early Tuesday in a single-vehicle accident on Interstate 74 near Farmer City, the DeWitt County coroner's office said. Preliminary autopsy reports indicate Grant A. Bennett, 45, of Bowling Green died of multiple blunt injuries, Coroner Randall J. Rice said in a news release. The accident occurred near mile marker 160, said Rice, whose office is investigating the accident with the Illinois State Police. The man was pronounced dead at 6:31 a.m., said Rice. The state police declined to release any information on the accident. CLINTON On a Saturday or Sunday, particularly when striped bass are running, you'll find fisherman standing nearly shoulder to shoulder below the spillway at Clinton Lake. On nice summer days, boaters line up on roads leading to the ramps, passing signs warning against launching unless parking is available. All that could change if Exelon Corp. follows through on plans to close the Clinton nuclear plant by June 1, 2017. Exelon's announcement earlier this month after the General Assembly adjourned without passing a nuclear energy subsidy plan has raised questions about the future of Clinton Lake, which was built as a cooling reservoir for the plant. The plant closure decision can be reversed, but only under narrow circumstances, and a reversal becomes more difficult as time passes, according to Brett Nauman, Exelon's communication manager for the Clinton plant. While there are no definitive answers to questions about the lake's future, one thing is certain, based on comments from residents and lake users: The lake itself and surrounding parkland are valuable recreational and economic resources. People come from as far away as Chicago to use the lake, according to Greg Forrest, manager of the Clinton Marina. Nearly all of the 226 slips at the county-owned marina are rented, with about 90 people on a waiting list for next year for slips that accommodate boats 32 feet long or less. Forrest said the marina also has about 180 to 280 boat rentals a year. The marina was donated to DeWitt County by the plant's owner in 2003, along with nearly $400,000 for upgrades. The county recently put more money into the marina to add slips and make repairs and improvements to meet requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The water and land encompassing the 9,300-acre recreation area are owned by Exelon. The current lease between the state and the utility runs through Sept. 29, 2026, but can be terminated by either party by following certain procedures. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources has declined comment on what might happen to the Clinton Lake State Recreation Area if the plant closes. Clouding the issue is a requirement under federal law that when nuclear reactors are decommissioned, the area must be returned within 60 years to the conditions that existed before the plant was built. People are questioning whether that would require eliminating the lake. It's a question that has been asked, and we're looking into it, said Nauman. As the potential for closure becomes more and more real, the public is concerned about it and I understand that. It's a great recreational resource. Nauman isn't the only one without answers. I've had customers ask me (about the possible closing), but I don't know what to say about that, said Kayla Wilson, owner of Boondocks Grill. It's really scary. Boondocks is located in the Mascoutin area of Clinton Lake, between the beach and the boat ramp. It has a restaurant and also carries camping and picnic supplies, bait and tackle, ice and firewood. Over Memorial Day weekend, from Friday through Monday, Wilson said she had 2,216 customers for food and ice cream that doesn't count those stopping in for bait. One of her recent customers was Rick Langlois, commodore of the Clinton Lake Sailing Association, which hosts sailing races, family sailing days and educational programs. Langlois said there is no other lake that fits the association's needs like Clinton. The shape of it is really unique, giving us an opportunity to sail off many different points of the wind and develop good sailing skills, he explained. It's not just a matter of taking over the lake and surrounding land that the state DNR is already managing. The lake has a huge dam with it. There is a liability with that, Nauman pointed out. Even if the lake remains, the closing of the nuclear plant will mean the end of warm water discharges into the lake. That draws people to the lake early in the year when other lakes are still at least partially frozen. Take that out of the equation, and it's like any other lake, Forrest said. Nauman said a number of factors are involved in the ability to reverse the plant-closing decision. Those factors include costs associated with starting the shutdown process, fuel purchase commitments, loss of skilled staff and lost of interconnection rights, according to Nauman. NORMAL Although the mass shooting in Orlando occurred more than 1,000 miles from Bloomington-Normal, it was close to the minds of Twin City police officials, the Muslim community and an Illinois State University professor who has studied school shootings. Normal Police Chief Rick Bleichner said, Across law enforcement, there is a realization that you don't have to be a New York, Chicago or Los Angeles for something like this to happen. Likewise, McLean County Sheriff Jon Sandage said that although larger cities are more likely targets because of their larger populations, it can happen anywhere. Specifically, Bleichner noted that terrorist groups have said they want to wreak havoc in the heartland. Both Bleichner and Sandage said it is important for people to report anything or anyone that seems suspicious or concerning. A lot of it boils down to, if you see something, say something, Sandage said. Anything that's out of the ordinary. People have a pretty good sixth sense if something doesn't look right or feel right. Because the shooter, Omar Mateen, reportedly pledged allegiance to the radical Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, the incident has drawn attention to Muslims. The entire Muslim community of Bloomington-Normal, including Masjid Ibrahim and Islamic Center of Bloomington-Normal, condemns the gruesome and barbaric attack in Orlando and offer our heartfelt condolences to the families and loved ones of all those killed or injured, said Mohammed Zaman, president of the Bloomington mosque, Masjid Ibrahim. We join our fellow Americans in repudiating anyone or any group that would claim to justify or excuse such an appalling act of violence and terror." Zaman added, In this holy month of Ramadan, a month of compassion, worship, generosity and mercy, we pray to God that He hasten the day when all people, regardless of faith, race, beliefs, will live together in understanding, harmony, and peace. Julie Webber, a politics and government professor at Illinois State University, sees connections between Sunday's shooting in Orlando and school shootings, such as the Columbine High School shootings in Colorado in 1999. They are attracted to the spectacular visibility of Columbine and try to outdo the other, said Webber, who has written a book about school shootings and has another nearing publication. Another link between Columbine, Orlando and other mass killings is the use of assault-style weapons, she said. Part of the script from Columbine, she explained, is to do as much damage as possible in a short time, which assault-style weapons enable. Banning such weapons wouldn't mean tragic events such as what happened in Orlando wouldn't happen, but it would limit one method, Webber said. Another step needed to prevent such attacks is better mental health care, she argued. The mental health system in this country is really messed up, said Webber, pointing to a need for more options for families and employers who see someone who is troubled or has disturbed ideas. The Illinois General Assembly is the most ineffective legislative body in the United States, maybe the world. So logic would say that when 158 of the 177 positions are up for election, the competition to replace the current inhabitants would be intense. This is Illinois politics. Logic doesnt live here. After the recent deadline for candidates to file for a spot on the November ballot, we know now how the races are shaping up. Its not a pretty picture if youre a fan of representative government. Out of those 158 possible races for the General Assembly, 62 are contested. Nearly 60 percent of the races are walk-overs the candidates dont even have an opponent. In the House, 50 out of a possible 118 races are contested; in the Senate, 12 out of 40 are contested. About half of the contested races are in Chicago and its suburbs. That means most Illinois residents wont have an opportunity to change the makeup of the General Assembly. There are a lot of reasons to vote in November, but for most Illinois residents, making an impact on state government wont be one of them. There is a tendency in politics to hate the institution, but love the representative. While a lot of people are disgusted with the lack of progress in state government, fewer blame their local representatives. Politicians are adept at blaming the institution, rather than taking personal responsibility. However, this lack of competitiveness is built into the system. It is a reason why Illinois needs to change the way its political map is drawn. When politicians draw the maps, the result is what we currently have a gerrymandered system aimed more at protecting incumbents than representing citizens. The Independent Map Amendment has gathered the signatures necessary to get the amendment on the November ballot. A court challenge, orchestrated by a friend of House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, is the next hurdle. The amendment is important because it would remove the map making process from the politicians. The proposed system would result in fairer political maps and more competitive elections. But that's what Springfield politicians are afraid of: members of both parties are comfortable with the status quo, which keeps most of them drawing big legislative salaries with few worries about competitive elections. Many legislators will say they voted for redrawing the maps during the last session, which technically may be true. But that was a charade. The two houses considered different re-mapping resolutions, with no intention of the Senate and House working together on the required similar language. The budget impasse, the unfunded pension liability, the inability to properly and effectively fund education are a result of the current map-drawing process. Illinois residents want a chance to change their dysfunctional government, but that wont happen until the map-drawing process is changed.